Picture the scene: Elizabeth is sat next to me at the dining table while I finish my lunch. She's playing with her recorder and entertaining Toby. I'm reading a blog post by Cosmic Girlie and I snort with laughter, just as I've taken a bite of my toast.
E: (with a suddenly serious face) ''What the matter Mummy?''
Me: *trying to chew, swallow, stop laughing and shake my head all at the same time*
E: (serious tone) ''Stop laughing Mummy. Eat.''
Me: *more laughing*
E: (helpful, motherly tone) ''Chew Mummy'' then shows me how to chew.
Me: *more laughing*
E: ''Mmm, yummy food. Go on, chew'' followed by more chewing actions.
Me: *finally able to chew and swallow*
E: ''Good girl.''
Hmmm, yes....
Friday, 31 May 2013
Thursday, 23 May 2013
The Photo Gallery: Drink
Oh, there could be so many funny photos that I could share with you that have the tag 'drink'. However, as this is (supposed) to be a blog about Being Mum and my journey through motherhood, I feel that it's more appropriate to share this photo instead.
This is a photo of Toby using his cup properly for the first time. He picked it up and put it in his mouth and drank! Sounds pretty simple, right? He's becoming more coordinated as the days and weeks pass, slowly turning him from my tiny baby boy into a toddler. Although he's far from toddling, thankfully!
This post is for The Gallery over at Sticky Fingers. Go have a gander at all the other drinkers.
p.s. I know I'm a mean Mummy putting him in a pink highchair.
This is a photo of Toby using his cup properly for the first time. He picked it up and put it in his mouth and drank! Sounds pretty simple, right? He's becoming more coordinated as the days and weeks pass, slowly turning him from my tiny baby boy into a toddler. Although he's far from toddling, thankfully!
This post is for The Gallery over at Sticky Fingers. Go have a gander at all the other drinkers.
p.s. I know I'm a mean Mummy putting him in a pink highchair.
Monday, 6 May 2013
Toby's First Tooth!
Toby has very clearly been teething for quite some time, having bursts of sobs for no particular reason and them stopping as quickly as they started. The rosy red cheeks, temperature and general unwellness (is that a real word?) have all been there too but the last few days have also seen swollen gums, lots of dribbling and irritability. Calpol (English medicine containing Paracetamol for kids) has definitely been our friend! Yesterday morning I could see the tooth trying to break through the gums and it finally made it in the early afternoon. What a different son we have now!
The second tooth isn't far behind though as his gums are still swollen and bumpy and I can see a hint of tooth number two lurking below the surface. Watch this space...
Tuesday, 23 April 2013
Clothopoly and Real Nappy Week (RNW) 2013
Real Nappy Week (RNW) 2013 has finished now (it ran from April 15th to 21st) but the very addictive game of Clothopoly still has one day left. Everyone taking part has until midnight on Wednesday 23rd to enter. We've all spent a ridiculous amount of time trawling through websites and begging for clues to find each website's letter, in the hopes that we'll be able to answer the final part of the game. So each URL (of the page where you found the special letter) that is found and entered onto the board gives you one entry into the draw to win some real nappy goodies. All of the letters that have been collected can be arranged into a phrase and if this is guessed correctly then you're entered into the grand prize draw!
The phrase is pretty hard to work out, I think, even considering the large number of clues that have been given out. I'm pretty sure I've got the first 10 words correct but I'm struggling with the last 5. I've found a couple of clues from other people via Facebook but hopefully I'll be able to figure out the last piece of the puzzle tomorrow and enter the draw.
Even though this has been a time consuming project - and I did think about giving up shortly after I started as I've got plenty on my plate already - this game has shown me some amazing companies that are out there. There are some that I already knew about and love (Cheeky Wipes and My Little Patch spring to mind) but some companies like Dimplebum are just extraordinary! Some of the nappies she's made are wonderful and her one-off painted nappies are simply incredible. I wish we didn't already have our BumGenius nappies so I could go and buy so many more wonderful nappies for Toby. Even in the (almost) three short years since we bought ours, cloth/resuable nappies have changed so much. I wish I could convert everyone to the way of the cloth nappy as they really are so easy to use. And so much better for the environment, not to mention your own pockets. This image sums it up wonderfully.
The phrase is pretty hard to work out, I think, even considering the large number of clues that have been given out. I'm pretty sure I've got the first 10 words correct but I'm struggling with the last 5. I've found a couple of clues from other people via Facebook but hopefully I'll be able to figure out the last piece of the puzzle tomorrow and enter the draw.
Even though this has been a time consuming project - and I did think about giving up shortly after I started as I've got plenty on my plate already - this game has shown me some amazing companies that are out there. There are some that I already knew about and love (Cheeky Wipes and My Little Patch spring to mind) but some companies like Dimplebum are just extraordinary! Some of the nappies she's made are wonderful and her one-off painted nappies are simply incredible. I wish we didn't already have our BumGenius nappies so I could go and buy so many more wonderful nappies for Toby. Even in the (almost) three short years since we bought ours, cloth/resuable nappies have changed so much. I wish I could convert everyone to the way of the cloth nappy as they really are so easy to use. And so much better for the environment, not to mention your own pockets. This image sums it up wonderfully.
Baking cupcakes with Elizabeth
Friends and family will know that I'm not much of a baker - that's my sister Emma's department (and she's fab at it!) I can follow a recipe, provided it's simple, but I lack that special something that's needed to make the finished product edible great. In the past, cookies have fallen apart, cakes haven't risen and cupcakes have got burnt.
So it'll probably shock everyone that I chose to do some baking yesterday with Elizabeth. It's something that I've been talking about doing for a while and in fact we did try and make some pancakes together for pancake day (which very much ended in disaster. Put these things together and you'll probably work out why: hard floor, falling, screaming, crying). So yesterday morning I just decided we were going to bake some cupcakes. It wasn't planned. At all. But it turned out great! Here's how it went...
Ingredients:
115g self-raising flour
115g caster sugar
115g room temperature butter
2 eggs
Instructions:
Pre heat oven to 150 degrees. Put all ingredients into a bowl and mix together. Slop it into cases before putting in the oven for about 15 minutes. Use icing sugar and a little water to make the topping and add food colouring if you like. Top tip - you only need a little bit of water. Pouring loads in is definitely not a good idea. Drizzle the icing over the cakes and try desperately to keep it there. All that extra water I talked about causes the icing to run off the top of the cakes as fast as possible. This can get very messy, very quick. Et voila! Congratulations, you survived making cupcakes with your toddler :)
So it'll probably shock everyone that I chose to do some baking yesterday with Elizabeth. It's something that I've been talking about doing for a while and in fact we did try and make some pancakes together for pancake day (which very much ended in disaster. Put these things together and you'll probably work out why: hard floor, falling, screaming, crying). So yesterday morning I just decided we were going to bake some cupcakes. It wasn't planned. At all. But it turned out great! Here's how it went...
Ingredients:
115g self-raising flour
115g caster sugar
115g room temperature butter
2 eggs
Instructions:
Pre heat oven to 150 degrees. Put all ingredients into a bowl and mix together. Slop it into cases before putting in the oven for about 15 minutes. Use icing sugar and a little water to make the topping and add food colouring if you like. Top tip - you only need a little bit of water. Pouring loads in is definitely not a good idea. Drizzle the icing over the cakes and try desperately to keep it there. All that extra water I talked about causes the icing to run off the top of the cakes as fast as possible. This can get very messy, very quick. Et voila! Congratulations, you survived making cupcakes with your toddler :)
Saturday, 2 February 2013
The Gallery: Bond
My friends and family that read this blog will know that my mind instantly went to thoughts of 007 when I saw this week's theme for The Gallery. I've been a massive James Bond fan for a great number of years and can even remember the moment I fell in love with him. Although I'm not sure how old I was at the time, I can't have been any older than 11 or 12.
But, as Tara at Sticky Fingers has said in her original post, the theme is not about my favourite spy but about the bond between people.
I think it's fair to say that Elizabeth and Toby have bonded well. She has taken to being a big sister like it's part of her DNA, like it was always supposed to happen. My two children go together beautifully and I couldn't have asked for a better response from Elizabeth. And Toby lights up every time he sees his sister. I know they're going to be best friends as they grow up.
However, the bond that has surprised me is the one between Elizabeth and Frankie, our dog. I've blogged in the past about E's love for our four legged friend but it's more than that now. We brought Frankie home 10 months ago and Elizabeth and Frankie have this uncanny link. It started with them just instantly getting along. Then Frankie started to show some protective instincts towards Elizabeth. Lately Frankie has been responding to commands from her, which is pretty impressive considering us humans have trouble understanding her half the time. Then today, the icing on the cake. Elizabeth has been feeling under the weather and Frankie clearly wanted to be near her. She got off the sofa and sat on the floor and Frankie rolled onto his back. Elizabeth continued watching the TV whilst stroking his belly and the two of them were just enjoying each other. I hope their bond continues to grow with time.
You can see all the other entries here.
But, as Tara at Sticky Fingers has said in her original post, the theme is not about my favourite spy but about the bond between people.
I think it's fair to say that Elizabeth and Toby have bonded well. She has taken to being a big sister like it's part of her DNA, like it was always supposed to happen. My two children go together beautifully and I couldn't have asked for a better response from Elizabeth. And Toby lights up every time he sees his sister. I know they're going to be best friends as they grow up.
However, the bond that has surprised me is the one between Elizabeth and Frankie, our dog. I've blogged in the past about E's love for our four legged friend but it's more than that now. We brought Frankie home 10 months ago and Elizabeth and Frankie have this uncanny link. It started with them just instantly getting along. Then Frankie started to show some protective instincts towards Elizabeth. Lately Frankie has been responding to commands from her, which is pretty impressive considering us humans have trouble understanding her half the time. Then today, the icing on the cake. Elizabeth has been feeling under the weather and Frankie clearly wanted to be near her. She got off the sofa and sat on the floor and Frankie rolled onto his back. Elizabeth continued watching the TV whilst stroking his belly and the two of them were just enjoying each other. I hope their bond continues to grow with time.
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Thursday, 31 January 2013
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