Coyo - dairy free yogurt

A few people have asked me what I miss most now that I'm strictly egg and dairy free. You'd assume chocolate or tea, but you'd be wrong. Yogurt is what I miss most. It was something that I pretty much ate every day, either for breakfast or as a snack. Yogurt, berries and granola is my favourite breakfast and I'd do anything for a sneaky bowl of it now. There are decent alternatives available for chocolate and other treats, but until today I hadn't found a good yogurt alternative.

My friend told me about a brand called Coyo that our local Tesco had recently started stocking, so I picked one up today and I have to say, I LOVE it. I had a dollop with some diced mango as a snack and it was soo good. It's basically made from coconut and tastes like a really good, thick and creamy coconut flavoured yogurt. You'd never guess that it was dairy free. 

I was a little concerned that it was pretty expensive and also has quite a high fat content but I quickly realised that you don't eat much of it in one go. It's really rich and a small spoonful is easily enough with some fruit or granola. Apparently they do other flavours too so I'll definitely be looking out for them this week, I can't wait to try them. I think Henry will love it too, I'm going to add it to some pineapple, banana and oats this weekend to make him some breakfast smoothies...almost like a piña colada for babies!!

I'm going to treat myself to strawberries, granola and Coyo in the morning and I'm looking forward to it already...oh the exciting life of a dairy free mama!

Dear Henry - June 2014

Dear Henry,

It's that time of the month again my gorgeous boy. June has flown by, being back at work makes the weeks just whizz by. Being back isn't as hard as I imagined and you are loving being at Marmar's. She loves having you too, you two have a different little routine for every day of the week and you are so happy to see her every morning when I drop you off. My best part of the day is getting home to you on a lunchtime. When you see me coming through the door your whole face lights up and you kick your little legs until I pick you up. Best feeling ever. You are quite clingy with me at the moment, a definite mummy's boy. I think it's your age as well as the fact that I'm now back at work. It's difficult when you only want me but I secretly love that I'm your favourite person in the world. You adore your Daddy and Marmar and Parpar, but no one compares to Mummy and I feel the same about you, you are my very best.

You have learnt to do so many amazing new things this month. You are now crawling around the place, mainly after naughty things! Your favourite thing to crawl to is George's bone. He loves to steal your toys and now you're after his...what are you two like?! You can wave and clap your hands and you're starting to cruise around the furniture and you love to walk holding our hands. I can't believe how grown up you're getting, you've got a definite little personality that's starting to show through, not just a baby anymore. You are such a lovely little boy. When we're out and about you smile at everyone and love attention from strangers.!You're always charming old ladies in cafes and the ladies on the tills in Tesco love you too.

We haven't done anything hugely exciting this month. Mostly our weekends have been spent sleeping and resting because I'm exhausted being back at work and still being up several times a night with you. You are such a terrible sleeper, I know that one day when you're old enough to read this you'll probably sleep all the time and I'll moan about that too!! To be fair you are improving a little, we had a 7 hour stretch of sleep this week...your longest ever. The next night you were awake 3 times though so it didn't last long. Never mind, like I say I know it won't last forever and I don't want you to grow up too fast anyway. We went to look round a few new houses last week. I'm not sure when we'll end up moving but we want our next house to be our 'forever' house. The one that you'll really grow up in, the one that you'll love coming home to when you're all grown up. We want it to be perfect so we're not in any rush to move. Exciting.

That's about all that's new this month lovely boy. I can't believe the next time I write you a 'Dear Henry' letter you'll be 10 and a half months...so close to being one! We are starting to really think about your birthday party now too, more on that next month.

I love you more and more every day beautiful boy, I'm so glad that you are mine.

Mummy xxx

Eating out 'dairy free' in Durham - El Coto

We love tapas and always make sure we squeeze plenty in when we are in Spain. Generally English tapas are pretty rubbish, I'm not a fan of the typical chain Spanish restaurants like La Tasca, they're just so different from authentic Spanish food that I don't really see the point. That's why we love El Coto in Durham. It's Spanish owned and always have Spanish waiters too. Their food is so authentic and delicious, I've had much worse tapas in Spain which is always a good sign!

Since being dairy free I've found eating out really difficult. Labelling on menus is pretty rubbish and I don't like to cause a fuss at the table if we are eating out with other people. For a small restaurant, El Coto are brilliant for allergy labelling. Their actual menu in the restaurant indicates gluten free and items that contain eggs and they have this on their website:

Every single dish that is dairy free. So useful for people with allergies to have a look through before going. As you can see there's also loads of choice. I'm getting a bit sick of eating out where I only have one real option to choose from.

The other thing I love about El Coto is the fact that they have sensible high chairs. Everywhere we've been apart from Yo Sushi has those ridiculous wooden ones with no tray that are the wrong height for the table. Henry is no bother when we go out for dinner if we just give him loads to eat or play with...that's a massive issue when he doesn't have a tray on the highchair and doesn't reach the table properly!! This is what El Coto provide:

A lovely little booster seat with a tray. Couldn't be better. You can always rely on the Spanish to be baby friendly! Henry was an angel today, he tried so much of the tasty Spanish food and loved it. He had potatoes, beef casserole, bread, olives, tuna, peppers, carrots and tomatoes....not to mention the food that I'd also brought along for his lunch!! 

We decided to go for the set menu for 3 people (don't worry, we had my father in law with us, we weren't just being greedy!) which was £15.95 a head. It included bread, alioli, olives, Serrano ham, Manchego cheese, tomatoes, patatas bravas, fried chorizo, chicken in a creamy tomato sauce, garlic king prawns, meatballs, pork in a creamy blue cheese sauce, fish croquettes, dates wrapped in bacon and homemade beef stew. We had SO much food left we could easily have fed another adult, it was a shame to waste it because it was all so so good.

Here's my gorgeous boy tucking into some bread and beef stew.

Overall it was a great meal. It's not cheap, but worth every penny. We'll be back soon and if you're looking for somewhere tasty and baby friendly in Durham, I can thoroughly recommend it.

Trusting my mummy instincts

Generally I feel like I know what I'm doing with this whole 'mummy' thing. For things I don't know, I always have my mum or Google to ask, and I have a lovely group of mummy friends with babies a similar age that are good for advice, sympathy or just an ear to moan to about lack of sleep etc.

But then there are the people with the advice that you never actually asked for and certainly don't want. You know the type, the ones that tell you never to feed your baby to sleep, certainly don't breastfeed longer than 6 months, leave your baby to cry blah blah blah. Now I have no problem with people doing these things with their babies, but don't be telling me how to bring up my baby if I haven't asked for advice. I would never tell someone else what they were doing was wrong, even if I thought it inside. It seems that not everyone is so kind.

Generally I don't listen, but yesterday I let this unhelpful 'advice' get to me a bit. I started doubting myself and the instinct that us mummies have had for millions of years. Henry feeds to sleep every night. Breast feeding is meant to be comforting, breastmilk contains oxytocin, prolactin and melatonin, all hormones that are designed to make us happy, relaxed and sleepy. Why, then, do we listen to advice time and time again that tells us not to feed babies to sleep? 

Last night Henry woke up at 11:30pm. I knew he couldn't be hungry so decided maybe I was doing something wrong. Maybe all these people were right and I was wrong to be feeding Henry to sleep every night. So I decided to try to get him to sleep in other ways, rocking, singing, cuddling...you get the idea. It was hell. I had a screaming baby until almost 2am who would not sleep. He wasn't crying for a feed or rooting around for the boob, there was something else unsettling him, I think probably his teeth. But I could have settled him back to sleep in 2 minutes with a quick feed. I wish that I'd just listened to my mummy instinct and done that. I'm so cross with myself that we had a completely unnecessary horrendous night. 

Don't get me wrong, Henry will nap during the day without a feed and often goes back to sleep on a night with just a quick cuddle. But why is breastfeeding an unhappy, unsettled baby such a crime? 

Needless to say, tonight I won't be sticking to the same plan as last night, sleep is way too precious at the moment. If those horrible teeth are giving my baby pain and mummy's milk can help, then that's exactly what he will get.

Throwback Thursday

I love this photo of me with my grandad on holiday in Spain when I must have been around 7 or 8. My Grandad used to come with us every year and he spent the entire holiday in the pool playing with us or playing cards on the terrace with us. He never moaned, never complained. He was the best Grandad ever, he was the gentlest old man in the world and I feel so lucky to have had him.

On another note I remember loving this swimming costume, it made me feel like a real life bumble bee, such a stylish child....not!!

What we ate Wednesday

Breakfast

I had a mini raisin and cinnamon bagel with berries and a glass of fruit juice. Henry had breakfast with Daddy once I'd left for work so I didn't get a photo. He had mini shredded wheats which he loves to feed himself.

Snack time

At break time at work I had a banana and some apple and raspberry rice cakes. These are actually from the baby aisle and I love them. They're only sweetened with fruit juice so have nothing else added like the ones from the 'grown up' section! 

Lunch

My mum kindly makes my lunch when I go to collect Henry. Today she'd made me a chicken fajita wrap. Sorry about the dodgy photo, I was too hungry to waste time trying to make it look pretty!

Dinner

I made spaghetti bolognese for dinner for me and Mr B.

 

Henry had SO much to eat tonight, I couldn't believe he was still hungry. He had homemade salmon, red lentil and vegetable casserole, rice cakes, carrot sticks, raspberries, blueberries and a stick of flapjack! 

Snack

Once Henry was in bed I had raspberries, strawberries and watermelon for my snack.

Overall a pretty normal food day for us, nothing exciting but plenty of tasty treats nevertheless.

A much calmer day in the life of a working mummy!

Well here it is, a much less stressful, quieter day than yesterday. I forgot to take photos of loads of things but you'll get the idea of how our day goes.

6:15 Wake up time and sleepy milk feed in bed for Henry. I actually love this time of morning. Henry is sleepy and cuddles in as he feeds, I enjoy the peace and closeness before a busy morning at work. Henry usually drifts back off after his feed which he did this morning. I then get ready while he sleeps.

7:00 Leave the house. I remember taking Henry to Tesco when he was 10 days old and it took me a good 2 hours to leave the house. Amazingly on a morning I can now get us both up and dressed in 45 minutes, I'd never have believed it possible if you'd told me 9 months ago. I drive to my Mum's and have a quick 5 minute chat with her before leaving for work.

7:45 At my desk with a long to-do list and a cup of lemon and ginger tea. Definitely quiet before the storm, so to speak!

9:00 The kids arrive and it's manic until I leave at 12:30. I was on playground duty today so I didn't even have a break.

12:45 Back at Mum's for lunch, a bacon sandwich today. What a treat. Henry is always SO excited to see me and this is probably one of my favourite times of the day.

13:30 Breastfeed and nap time for an hour back at home. Henry would usually have a longer nap but as we were seeing friends this afternoon, I had to wake him up. 

15:00 Off to a friend's house for tea and biscuits. I had black tea and Oreos, delicious. Totally forgot to get a photo but I took one of Henry's afternoon snack which we took with us for him to have with his little friend.

17:00 Playtime back at home. This is Henry's toy box in the kitchen and he loves sitting and pulling everything out while I get on with the cooking.

17:45 Henry's dinner time. This afternoon he had homemade chicken, tomato and herby pasta. I buy baby pasta and mix it with the same pasta sauce that I make for us, minus the salt. He ate loads and loved it!

18:00 Daddy's home!! This is Henry watching Daddy come through the door. He always gets a huge grin and cuddle when he comes home.

He came with treats for Mummy tonight too. He discovered the Morrisons Free From aisle and picked up these delights for me. Yummy. 

18:30 Our dinner time. Chicken, spinach and onion curry.

19:30 Baby's bath time which meant a 10 minute sit down for me while Daddy bathed Henry. I got time to start my blog.

19:45 Baby's bed time. He usually has a really long feed in bed before I put him into his cot. I love our last sleepy cuddles of the day so much.

20:00 TV and snack time. We are trying to be a bit healthier this week so we had some fruit whilst watching some tv. This is the time in the day where I have some time to myself or with Mr B. Mr B had work to do, so luckily for me I got to catch up on Keeping up with the Kardashians rather than watching football like usual!! Our eyes are always glued to the baby monitor and I had to go up and settle Henry a couple of times this evening before he settled properly for the night.

22:30 Shower and bed time. A busy, but very lovely day.

A day in the life of a working mummy...

I had today's blog post all planned out. I was going to take plenty of pics on my iPhone and do a 'day in the life of a working mummy' post about our daily routine now that I'm back at work. 

Well this post is a more realistic one about the day in the life of a working mummy. 

I had about 3 hours sleep last night due to an unsettled baby and a dog being sick at midnight. I spent my precious minutes this morning cleaning up more dog sick in the kitchen, washing up the dishes that we forgot to do last night and frantically changing nappies, outfits etc. so that I wouldn't be late for work. I handed my baby over with a kiss at 7:30 and switched into work mode, a mode that I didn't switch off until 5:30 on the drive home. Mr B had picked up Henry already so I rushed home to relieve him so he could walk the dog, start dinner and do some work on the laptop. After spending a very precious hour with Henry, it was time for his bath time, a long feed and bed time. I then had time to snatch a quick shower, a glass of squash and I had 2 minutes to hang the washing on the airer before collapsing into bed myself....

It was then that I remembered the blog post I'd planned to write tonight. I hadn't taken one photo or had time to even give it a second thought. My mind had been on breakfast time, outfits, cardigans, car seats, strollers and changing bags. It had been on educating and keeping 30 children safe, planning and mapping out an entire new curriculum for September and organising a production for Year 6 in 3 weeks time. My mind had been on engorged boobs thanks to a dropped feed, what was for dinner and what time I'd be home. It was on my JLAD who I was worried about, my mum who was busy looking after my precious boy, my husband who had an important meeting and my baby who I think about every minute of every day. Even now while I'm writing this I'm also half thinking about what time I need to be up in the morning. 6:10, just in case you're wondering.

So there you have it, this is a day in the life of a working mummy, laid totally bare. No pretty photos or Instagram filters to cover up what was simply a very busy day. I'll try really hard to do my more lighthearted photo post tomorrow.

Dirty baby, happy baby!

I remember wondering to myself a few months back whether I wanted Henry to have a bath every day. I figured that he probably didn't need one but it was a good routine to get into, so we started giving him a bath at 7:30 every night with Daddy before going upstairs for his feed and cuddle with Mummy. Like I said we really only did this for the routine but it turns out that older babies definitely need washing every day!! Some nights Henry is filthy. His face is usually covered in dried food and more recently, snot too. Nice. His clothes are always dirty and his hands always need a good wash.

When he was younger I was obsessed about him being clean and keeping the high chair spotless. If he dropped something during a meal I'd clean it there and then, mess really bothered me. I was so envious of how laid back my mum was when Henry was at her house. If he had a stain on his clothes, I'd change him straight away too...the washing and ironing pile was proof of that.

I have to say that a few months of mess has changed me a lot, I see it as proof of a good day now. If there's mess on his face and clothes, it's just a reminder of a lovely day, of all the adventures he's been on and the fact that I've let him be a lot more independent...which nearly always results in mess! Yes, letting him feed himself will get messy, but it's a vital skill for him to learn. Yes, it's a massive pain having to clean the highchair 5 times a day after every meal and snack, but it's so worth it and realistically, it takes 30 seconds each time. Of course I'd rather his clothes were spotless, but a stain here and there doesn't hurt and Vanish spray is a miracle worker!

Today Henry was having his snack on his oilcloth snack mat and at one point I looked around to see what he'd eaten. I couldn't see the strawberry so said "Ooh good boy you've eaten the whole thing". He then started crawling away and we looked down at his bum to find that's where the strawberry had been the whole time, squished under his little bum! Here's the evidence...

So my advice to you if you're a bit of a clean freak like I was, is to get over it, for a good few years at least. Invest in a good oilcloth sheet for snack time and other messy activities too. Ours was less than a fiver from Dunelm Mill and it's been brilliant. Always have antibacterial spray in the cupboard but don't obsess about it...germs are good in moderation after all. Let your baby be independent and worry about the mess later. This baby stage is going so quickly and before long I'm going to have a toddler on my hands, I'm determined to enjoy every minute...even the mess!

Henry at 9 months

My little hen has officially lived outside my tummy as long as he lived inside! 9 whole months today. Here is his monthly update...

Weight: I haven't had Henry weighed this month but I'd imagine he'll be around 21 pounds now.

Routine: Henry has dropped this 3rd nap and now has a short morning nap of around half an hour and then a longer afternoon nap that is anywhere between 90 minutes and 3 hours. He gets up around 6:30am and goes to bed at 7:30pm.

Food: Henry eats 3 meals a day with snacks in between. His favourite thing is beef casserole, he can't get enough of it! Other things he loves are watermelon, rice cakes, carrot stick crisps and bread.

Sleep: Henry's sleep is definitely better than it was but it's still very hit and miss. We have great nights with only one wake up and then hideous nights with 6 wake ups! There's no reason for it or any pattern so I'm just going with it for the time being. I'm also trying to nap on an afternoon when he's asleep which definitely helps keep me sane and helps me function properly at work.

Sizes: Henry is in size 9-12 clothes and is wearing size 4+ nappies.

Milestones: 

• Henry now pulls himself up on pretty much anything, the cot, my trouser legs...you get the idea! He's much happier being on his feet, he always has been.

• Henry has properly crawled once for Marmar and Daddy. Typically I missed it as I was working and he hasn't repeated it properly since! He can move pretty far through shuffling, rolling and lunging forward though which he's doing lots of! 

•  He will now walk whilst we hold both of his hands. He's an expert in his baby walker too, it's so cute watching his little feet go.

• Henry claps has hands all the time. He'll do it when you ask him to and he's also started doing it when he's excited; when we build him a high tower with his blocks or when Marmar arrives!

• He is constantly babbling away. He says 'mamamama' over and over and is always blowing raspberries. He's definitely a very vocal baby.

That's it for this month. I miss him desperately while I'm at work but I love spending my afternoons with him and watching him grow up into the gorgeous little boy that he is. I can't believe he's almost a year old already.

Bargain of the day

I love shopping and I always love a bargain! Imagine my delight when I spotted these beauties on the sale rack in M&S earlier today. They were down from £6 to £1.99, but when we got to the till they were only 99p! What a bargain. 

Henry can't walk on his own yet but he pulls himself up now and will walk holding our hands. We find that he's a lot more sturdy on his feet when he has shoes on so hopefully these will come in handy in the next few weeks.

You're enough...

I think there is some ridiculous human instinct to always want more than we have, or at least we are socialised this way in the consumer driven western world. Last night I was looking on Right Move at million pound houses and at one point I actually felt badly done to because we can't afford one. How ridiculous. Never mind our beautiful, new 3 bedroom house on a lovely estate. Never mind our small mortgage that means we can afford plenty of luxuries every month. Never mind that most importantly we are all healthy and happy and so fortunate in countless other ways. No...all I wanted was a million pound house. I gave myself a stern talking to, closed the computer, gave the baby a snuggle and remembered what was important.

It happens with babies and children too. We all seem to be in this mad dash to get them to grow up and do more and more. We no longer focus on all the amazing things they can do, it's about what's next and what they can nearly do! Then, when that milestone finally arrives, we're on to the next thing. I'm making a really conscious effort to try not to be like this with Henry. I felt like at one point all our efforts were in getting him to sit up, and as soon as he could do that we were doing 'tummy time' trying to get him to crawl! Now that he's mobile we are constantly holding his hands to help him to walk. How ridiculous. The things that he has learnt to do in 9 months are amazing, truly amazing. Why are we always looking to the next step? What kind of message is that sending to our children?

I want the message that we are sending to our son to be one of acceptance. He is enough, and he is perfect, just as he is today. Not a tiny bit cleverer or bigger or stronger. We are proud of every little thing he can do and we are happy for him to learn things in his own time. Yes there will be children that can walk earlier, count to 10 sooner and know all of their colours. Yes, there will be children at school (when the time comes) that are better at maths or can run faster. I want Henry to always know that he is his own person and he will grow up and develop in his own time. And when he comes third in the race at sports day, he won't have the disappointed parents asking why he didn't win, he'll have a mummy and daddy that are beyond proud of him, no matter what. When he gets 67% in a test, that's the percentage we'll be focusing on, not the 33%. 

I want him to always know that he is enough, that as long as he always does his best, we will be so proud of him and we will always love him, no matter what. That's what unconditional love is about I suppose, I just wish we were better at showing our children that.

If you buy one thing...

...let it be the Connecta baby carrier. Yes, they're on the pricey side but when I think how much we've used ours and what good condition it's still in, it was totally worth every penny. They also sell amazingly on eBay for almost their RRP, especially in some colours and designs so that's worth thinking about if you aren't sure you can justify spending so much.

Henry had reflux when we was a newborn (linked to his dairy allergy but we didn't know this) and he HATED lying flat in his pram. He would eventually cry himself to sleep but we couldn't take him shopping in the pram without him screaming down the shop. We tried a friend's Connecta and I loved how easy it was to fasten so I took myself off to the North East Sling Library which is held in Meadowfield, Durham*. I borrowed one for a fortnight and fell in love....it was a miracle worker. Taking Henry shopping was so easy, he was so happy being carried around everywhere and would almost always fall asleep within about 10 minutes, leaving me to shop in peace. It's been great for beachy dog walks and carrying him around the airport on holiday. It was a lifesaver on days when he wouldn't be put down but I still had housework calling my name. It kept him warm and happy and I love having him close to me and his little head close enough to kiss when I'm carrying him around. I honestly can't recommend these enough, any friends or family having a baby anytime soon will definitely be getting one of these as a present from Auntie Bee and Henry!!

Here are a couple of photos of us using ours...

Fast asleep doing the Christmas food shop!

On the beach...pretty sure he slept through this walk!

A very wet Daddy walking to the pub with a snug baby tucked away!!

Mummy and Henry selfie!

A walk in the woods...not very buggy friendly!

* I can't recommend sling libraries enough either. Ours was fab, so cheap to hire the slings and Rachel who runs it is so knowledgeable and helpful. Not every sling or carrier will suit everyone so I definitely recommend trying as many as you can.  There are surprisingly plenty of libraries dotted around the country so it's definitely worth Googling to see if there's one near you.  Many of them can also arrange postage too.

Check out the North East Sling Library here: http://thenortheastslinglibrary.weebly.com/
Check out Connecta Baby Carriers here: http://www.connectababycarrier.com/

Beef casserole for babies - recipe

Henry's very favourite food for dinner is Mummy's beef casserole. When he has it for dinner I literally can't get it in his mouth fast enough! While I'm filling up the spoon he's usually crying for the next mouthful, he loves it. Beef is really good for babies because of its iron content and my casserole also contains 9 different vegetables which are obviously great for vitamins too. I wouldn't even call this a recipe as such, I just put in whatever I have in my fridge at the time. I think this is the first recipe I've shared on my blog, hopefully it'll be of some use to other mummies. We get our meat from the butchers at our local farm shop and it is just amazing, it melts in the mouth. Our veg is also from the farm shop so it is organic and usually local too. If you want to make this for adults, the only thing I do differently is add a large glass of red wine before the stock and passata.

You will need:

150g Aberdeen Angus stewing steak 

Half a parsnip

Half a carrot 

A small piece of swede

1 clove of garlic

Half a red onion

Half a sweet potato

Half a medium potato

5cm piece of leek

A handful of green beans

300ml tomato passata

Half a litre of fresh stock or baby stock

1 sprig of fresh rosemary

2 bay leaves, fresh or dried

Black pepper 

1 tablespoon olive oil

Method

Dice the vegetables and meat into small pieces suitable for your baby's age. If you're going to totally purée this, don't worry too much about the pieces being too small. Finely slice the green beans, leek and garlic and chop the rosemary.

Heat the olive oil in a pan and add the beef. Cook until the meat is nicely coloured and then turn down the heat a little. Next add the onion, garlic, leek and rosemary.

After a minute or so, add the rest of the vegetables along with the passata, stock, bay leaves and pepper. Give it a good stir and leave to simmer gently for around an hour or until your meat and vegetables are well cooked and tender.

Remove the bay leaves and give it a good stir. Blend with a hand blender according to the age of your baby or not at all. Leave to cool and then serve or freeze for future meals.

This makes 8 portions for Henry but obviously it'll make more or less depending on the age and appetite of your baby. Keep an eye on the casserole while it's cooking and add extra water if you think it looks a little dry. I freeze individual portions in a silicone muffin tray and then once they're thoroughly frozen, pop them out into a ziplock bag to save space in the freezer.

Happy Fathers' Day

Happy 1st Fathers' Day to my lovely hub. Henry absolutely adores his Daddy and I've loved watching my husband go from being a nervous new daddy 9 months ago to the confident, fun daddy that he is  today.

And Happy Fathers' Day to my JLAD and Henry's Parpar. JLAD stands for 'just like a dad' and that's exactly what he is...in fact he's even better and I love him so much and so does Henry.

I hope you've all had a lovely day celebrating the men in your life. We had a lovely breakfast at the local farm cafe then came home for coffee and to open pressies. Then the 3 of us went back to bed for a nap, expecting Henry to sleep for around an hour....we woke up almost 3 hours later! What a treat. I've spent the afternoon making casseroles and dinners for the week and tonight we are getting Daddy's favourite curry takeaway. What a perfect Sunday! 

Loving the NHS

British people love a moan, I'm guilty of it myself. We complain about everything that's wrong with this country and spend very little time thinking about how bloody lucky we actually are to live here. 

I woke up earlier feeling worse than I had all week despite an epic lie in thanks to Mr B. I couldn't look at the light without my eyes hurting, I had a temperature and a banging headache...not a good way to start a Saturday. Anyway I knew that I couldn't wait until Monday for an appointment and really didn't want to have to call in sick on Monday when I've only just come back from maternity leave. I called 111 and they made me an appointment at a surgery up the road for an hour later. I was seen straight away and it turns out I have an ear infection and sinusitis, no wonder I've felt rubbish all week. I got a prescription, which was free because I have a baby under a year old, and off I went. It didn't cost a penny and I know that I'll start feeling better soon. 

There are so few countries in the whole world where I would have been able to do that this morning, particularly on a weekend and I'm so grateful for the NHS and for our tax system that funds it.

Little Bits of Life #2

Blue frame, from top left, clockwise

The deep, dark wood. 

Daddy and baby bath time fun.

Beautiful chubby toes.

Best friends.

Fish and chips on Seaburn beach.

Yellow frame, from top left, clockwise

Mini moos, tasty dairy free chocolate.

Standing up boy.

In need of new work trousers!

Down at the farm.

Ball pool fun.

Eating buttercups.

Tesco Lifestyle Food Fair

Now Tesco are pretty infamous for their rubbish attitude towards allergies, pretty much every single one of their goods contains a 'may contain....' label just to cover their backs. Not all that helpful when you are trying to buy food that wont be harmful (or potentially, fatal) for you or your children.

Anyway they've redeemed themselves slightly with their Lifestyle Food Fair which is taking place until the end of August in most of their bigger Tesco Extra stores. It basically includes foods for alternate lifestyles...things like vegan products, high protein items and lots of 'free from' products for people with allergies. Obviously we were interested in the vegan and free from sections...I left the high protein well alone, I haven't turned into a crazy gym buff, don't worry!

Anyway here are all the treats that I picked up...

•Enjoy Life soft baked cookies (I got these in 3 flavours - chocolate chip, chocolate brownie and gingerbread). This is an imported product from America and doesn't contain any of the top 10 allergens. They are all made from natural products still which is fab, you often find that free from things are full of artificial crap!! The chocolate chip are the only ones we've tried so far and they are SO yummy....Henry had a sneaky taste too and they were a hit with him.

• Enjoy Life sugar crisp cookies. Similar to the above, but crispy instead of soft baked.

• Nature's Store chocolate orange rice cakes. I thought these would be good as a healthier treat for me to try.

• Nākd bars and fruit bites. I've tried products from Nākd before and I really like them. They're totally natural and are usually made up of dates, fruit and nuts. They do quite a few chocolate varieties which are great for a healthy chocolate fix and they're dairy/egg/gluten free too.

• Nom bars. I've never tried these oat and fruit bars but they looked tasty so worth a try. They were pretty pricey though, about £1.20 each I think.

• Dairy free white and milk chocolate buttons. I've had these before and they're actually really good considering they aren't proper chocolate. Good for a little treat!

• Rice milk. This is for Henry to try on his cereal and porridge on a morning and for supper. Although I'm happy to keep breastfeeding, I'm finding expressing a massive pain now that I'm back at work, so this is our alternative. Obviously it's not replacing any feeds so it's fine for him to try while he's so little. Hopefully he'll like it. 

• Free From banana smoothies. Again, these are for Henry. He adores the Ella's kitchen 'The White One' pouches and these are really similar. It's a mix of coconut milk, banana and apple and he loves them. These work out way cheaper than the Ella's Kitchen ones too.

And that's it! I'm really impressed with the new products that Tesco had in stock and will definitely be back to restock if we like these items. Ah the exciting life of a mummy breastfeeding a baby with allergies!!

World Cup fever?

Henry made a little England flag for his Daddy at baby group this morning with Marmar. Daddy is super excited for the World Cup but I'm feeling a little underwhelmed by the whole thing. I think it's the time of the matches, there's no way I'm staying up until 11pm to watch an England game, sleep is way too precious these days!! It also means I'm pretty much husbandless for the next month and I certainly won't be able to watch much crap tv, Kardashians will have to be squeezed in between football matches or on an afternoon before Mr B gets home. Boo!

Feeling poorly

Sorry for the lack of blogging over the last few days. I am currently lying on the sofa feeling very sorry for myself, hoping more than anything that Thomas the Tank keeps Henry occupied for the next 10 minutes so I don't have to move (bad mummy alert). I have a cold, cough, sore glands and headache and wish that I could crawl into bed and stay there for 2 or 3 days until I feel more human, but unfortunately I have to work every day and have a baby that needs my full attention day and night! I'm also really sad that so far this week has been a total write-off and poor old Henry has just been stuck in every afternoon with a poorly mummy. Bad times.

Proud Mummy

Before I had a baby it used to really annoy me when people said they were 'proud' of their children for doing silly little things, learning a new skill, winning an average certificate at judo class, you know the type of thing. I completely understood why you might be proud at a child's graduation or when they got their first job. I could even understand why you'd be proud of them for sharing their toys, doing something kind or just being a really nice human being. I just didn't understand why you'd be proud of your child for crawling or waving their hands....after all, nearly every person in the world can do it, why would it evoke feelings of pride when your son or daughter could too?!

It turns out that it's just a parent thing. Today Henry learnt to properly clap his hands. He's been doing it a little bit for weeks, but not really on purpose or on demand....more just to make a noise! But today he's been doing it all day for my mum and tonight, when Makka Pakka came on tv, he clapped and clapped and did a little excited dance. I was SO proud of him. How utterly ridiculous. I've turned into a crazy parent who is proud of their child for silly things. Give it a few years and I'll be posting photos to Facebook of Henry's artwork, proclaiming to the world  how talented he is and how proud we are. I'll be uploading every meaningless school certificate that he ever wins and every football trophy that he receives. I apologise in advance to every blog reader, Twitter follower or Facebook friend that has to endure my 'proud mummy' posts, I know how bloody irritating they are!

Magical moments

This is last night. A poorly baby that wouldn't settle in his cot so wanted to be on his Mummy's chest in Mummy and Daddy's bed. It was a bit stressful, there was lots of crying prior to this but it led us to this magical moment. My baby's skin on my chest, his little hand holding on tightly. I kissed the wispy hair on his head, breathed in his amazing scent and enjoyed every minute of this perfect moment.