A week in my life - Tuesday

So today is the second day of my week long blog about our daily life.

Today Eilidh woke up at 7am and we came downstairs and had toast and yoghurt for breakfast.

 I had a Flat White (courtesy of the coffee machine we got ourselves for Christmas, its taken me eight months to master it but now I make a mean coffee!)

We had an early start this morning and had to be out of the house at 9:45, Eilidh is watching some TV while I ran around like a headless chook finding the baby wipes.

 My 10am appointment was my Weight Watchers meeting, and I lost two pounds, eleven in total now (5kg in other measurements)  in three weeks, I am so pleased!  After WW I went to my weekly ante-natal group catch up.  Eilidh is playing with P who was born on the same day, in the same hospital as her.  Incidentally P now has three teeth and E is a toothless wonder....

 Usually there are six to eight mums and their babies at our weekly catch up, but for some reason this week we only had three of us, this meant that I could make soup - leek and sweet potato, mmmmmm!

 E spent the afternoon playing with her mini-friends and snoozing in her pushchair, thankfully I have a very easy going baby who sleeps anywhere!

 While E slept I hung out with Miss Molly, my friend Jo's super cute dog, and don't you just love that jug on her hearth!

 This is us just after E woke up, hence the confused face!

 We hung out at Jo's for most of the day and came home around five when Eilidh and I played for a while and then she had a snooze till her Dad came home.  I am always amazed at how she gets so excited when the key turns in the lock!

 Just after Andrew got home we had a conversation about dinner, and it turns out that when you're having fun all day you don't necessarily think about cooking for your husband, ooops!  So we did what all couples with a seven and half month old baby do, go to the bowling alley!

 Tuesdays is half price night at our bowling alley so we played some games and ate some wings.  E is such a good baby when it comes to altering her (non-existent) schedule, she had a great time watching the other bowlers and eating her tea.  She is such a people person.

 I got one strike and a few spares, not as many as I used to (we had lessons a few years back, sad but cool!)

Oops, how did that get in here!

 Not the most healthy of dinners I know, but hey I've got another seven days till WW, bring on my exercise DVD!

 

 We got home about 10:15 and Chicken slept in the tank AKA the fully reclining pushchair till Andrew took her to bed half an hour ago, which is where I'm headed now, night all!

Pudding time

Yesterday my friend Liz hosted a BBQ at her house.  We met Liz and her husband at our ante-natal classes, and we've been hanging out with the rest of our group on Tuesdays since our babies were born.  Well actually thats not quite true, Liz was hanging out with us before her baby was born, her boy was the last of our group so Liz was our tea and coffee girl while we veged on the couch with very little babies.  Anyway, once again I am off track.  Liz's kitchen flooded before their baby was born and so they spent a long time getting the whole bottom floor of their house dried out and fixed, and to celebrate the 'new' house they held a BBQ.  I asked Liz what pudding aka dessert I could bring and she said I could choose, oh the options!

For those of you who know me, you know I love to bake, actually I love cooking in general, but I love love love to bake.  So I spent this week pouring through my cookbooks, canvasing opinions on FaceBook and generally getting my knickers in a twist because I couldn't decide what to make!  In the end I went with three desserts, two of which I've made before and one that Andrew had.  I would have loved to experiment, but a BBQ with people I don't know is not the time to take risks.

The first pudding I made was Chocolate Guinness cake from Cake Days from the Hummingbird Bakery.  I have both their cookbooks and they are well thumbed, the recipes are very very tasty.  This cake is rich, dark and moist, and most of all ridiculously easy.  I may even post the recipe later on in the week!  The most amazing thing to me about this cake is that it only contains cocoa powder, no chocolate!

 This is the outside, it has a cream cheese icing which is is really yum!  I made this cake for my friend Patrick's 30th a couple of weeks ago and it was also a huge hit then!

I'm sorry but after trying a bajillion times to post this photo the right way up, I give up!

The second dessert was for my friend Jo, who can't eat wheat, so no flour.  I'm really enjoying experimenting with cooking gluten free food for her (well cakes and cookies anyway) so I knew she'd love this Pavlova.  Pav as it is more commonly known in NZ (where it was first created!) is our national pudding and everyone has their version.  Most New Zealander's would put kiwi fruit on top or crumble a flake chocolate bar or slice strawberries.  Not me, I love my pav with raspberries, which is what we had.  Essentially a pavlova is whipped egg whites with sugar added, a meringue cake(ish).

The final dessert was profiteroles, and I have to say, I think they may become my dinner party staple.  So so easy!  Andrew made these for me on Mother's Day, and well if he can make them, I certainly can!  On Friday night I made the choux pastry and piped and baked the 'balls'.  On Saturday I filled them with cream and iced them with a classic chocolate icing.  Mmmmm!

PS  My friends bought me the cake stand as a party of my baby shower presents, not your typical present but very loved!  

 

And now post of mine would be complete without some baby photos, this is Chicken in her party frock.  Unfortunately she wasn't as lady-like as a wearer of such a frock should be.  From stealing her boyfriend's toys to scratching the host of the party on the face she did it all and had a great time, coming home with grass stains all over the feet of her frilly bottom tights.

Friday Five - Things I've been doing instead of blogging

Well its been two weeks now since I last blogged, I just seem to be so busy lately, the older she gets (seven months now) the busier I get!  So I've decided to share some of the more exciting things I've been doing.




1.  Pick your own.  We've been to our local Pick Your Own farm twice to pick raspberries.  Raspberries are my favourite berry and these ones were huge!  Its so much more rewarding (and so much cheaper) to pick them yourself too.  Two good things about picking raspberries are that the canes are mostly at standing height and therefore the berries are easy to pick.  The other thing is that they don't (well these ones anyway) have thorns so no scratches or pricks!

2.  Scrapbooking.  I'm going to try and get my A into G (as my dad would say) and post some of my latest layouts because I'm quite proud of them.  I've scrapped my baby shower, Eilidh's birth story, a picture of our god-daughter Emma at our wedding, us at Andrew's work Christmas party two years ago, and us at the Eiffel Tower in Paris.  At the end of each year I go through all our photos and make a list of the layouts I want to do and then cross them off when done.  I try and make sure I scrap older photos and newer ones, otherwise I'll get behind on the old ones.

3.  Cooking.  I've been cooking meals for Chicken.  I've got a post coming tomorrow or Sunday about her food so I won't go into too much detail, but let it be said, that girl likes to eat!!  This weekend I'm going to make spaghetti bolognese, some sort of chicken dish, more rice pudding and a custard for her.

4.  Hanging out with my baby friends.  Usually the girls from my ante-natal group and I meet every Tuesday, but this week we went back to our tutors house for a pool party (the babies paddled and we held them)  and today we tried to go swimming.  I say tried because we got to the pool and it was shut so we went to an overcrowded playground and sat at an overpriced cafe (and didn't buy anything) and fed the kiddies.  My lovely friend Jo and her adorable son George have been driving us around.  Indecently George is Eilidh's boyfriend, she likes her younger men you see (G is three weeks younger than her).

5.  Saying goodbye to a good friend.  My lovely friend Michelle has left London after living her for nine years.  Michelle and I met at high school 15 years ago when we went on a school trip to Barcelona Spain.  We hung out there and then when we got home to NZ.  Michelle and our other friend Jonelle are some of my oldest friends, and I'm really going to miss her.  Eilidh and I went to Heathrow to wave goodbye as she left to start her new adventure in Hong Kong where she is going to teach in an international school.

So there you go, that's been my last couple of weeks, Eilidh is now in a more reliable sleep pattern in the day so I'm going to try and blog then, fingers crossed it works!

A list of ten things on Monday

1.  My house was a mess at the start of the day, it is now much (but not completely) cleaner.

2.  I have my ante-natal group coming over for lunch tomorrow, hence number one, I'll do the hoovering tomorrow.

3.  Chicken and I had a huge nap this afternoon, from 5pm till 6:30pm, good thing we're not too big on routine!

4.  I have pin-wheel scones and a cake to make tomorrow before the people arrive.

5.  I'm probably only going to manage the scones, and I might squeeze in some biscuits (much quicker than cake!)

6.    Andrew mowed the lawn tonight so we can sit outside if its nice.  I should have found out how to put up the gazebo to make shade for the babies.

7.  Now I've said there might be sun, it will probably be cloudy!

8.  I have a £4.55 worth of fines to pay at the library, I hate library fines!

9.  We are going to go for a walk on the moor tomorrow, hopefully my shoes don't get too muddy cause I'll have to get them washed in customs in New Zealand!

10.  Thats right, I'm going to New Zealand.  On Easter Sunday Chicken and I are going home for three weeks.  My wonderful Mum and super Dad have missed their little Possum so much they had to see her again, I have the best parents ever, thanks G, and Pops!

And now for a few cute photos taken at Kew Gardens last week, Chicken enjoying the warm sunny weather!

Raisin Oatmeal Cookies

Today I baked raisin oatmeal cookies to take to my coffee group.  Last week I made hot chocolate cupcakes and to be honest, they didn't go down that well.  They tasted great but I think icing and wrappers are just a bit tricky while looking after a baby.  These cookies are my all time favourites and I could eat them all the time!  I even made a batch the day before I went to hospital to have Chicken and took some with me, and I can tell you at 3am they were the best thing ever!

Raisin Oatmeal Cookies

makes about 20 cookies

135g butter at room temperature

80g caster sugar

80g soft brown sugar

1 large egg

1/4 tsp vanilla extract

190g self raising flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp cinnamon

55g rolled oats

110g raisins

1. Pre-heat the oven to 170c (325f)

2.  Cream the butter and sugars until light and fluffy, add in the egg and vanilla and continue to beat till well combined.

3.  Add the dry ingredients and beat until well mixed.

4.  Stir in the raisins with a wooden spoon until evenly dispersed (sometimes I just use the beater)

5.  Using a dessert spoon scoop even sized amounts on to a tray (I have to bake this in batches) and bake for 12 to 15 minutes, or until they are going golden brown.

6.  Leave on tray for a few minutes to cool and then transfer to a cooling rack to finish.

Top tip:  You don't want them over cooked, chewy cookies are the best!

Enjoy!

Coffee mornings

Meeting up with other mum's at 'coffee mornings' is something that I really enjoy, and hopefully when Chicken is older she will too.  Sharing successes and challenges, getting and giving advice and generally having people around you who are in the same boat makes things a lot easier.  Most weeks I go to a few groups and I'm now starting to make new friends, very exciting!

On Tuesdays I meet up with the seven other girls that I went on my ante-natal course with.  The idea of the course was to prepare us for labour and childbirth so we could make informed decisions and make friends with other people in the same situation as us.  The first baby arrived in early December and the last in early February, with five boys and three girls.  We take turns hosting at our houses and chat and compare notes.  My Chicken for example is one of the worst sleepers, but has no trouble feeding.  The other girls offer some suggestions and generally lend a supportive ear, basically they make you feel like you're not alone, which is really important at 4am when you've been woken for the fourth time that night!  Its also a chance for me to indulge in my baking hobby, which the girls are always grateful for!

On Friday's I have my school coffee group of two.  Alice and I work together and had babies 9 days apart.

This is Robbie, Alice's boy who is staring adoringly at my little madam, while she screams at the top of her lungs!  We usually meet up at a cafe, and have lunch and then go for a walk around a park.  Alice is one of my closest friends in the UK, and its been great to have someone else to go through all of this with.

My final group is a breastfeeding group run by my local children's centre.  I first went to to get some support and the lady who runs the group suggested I kept coming and so I have.  I didn't know anyone there and Eilidh was quite a bit younger than the other babies, but I kept going and now I've started to make friends with some of the other mums.  Today I ran into two of them in town and we had coffee and have made plans to go to a singalong session at the library on Thursday.  I am very excited about this!  These groups don't suit everyone, but I'm enjoying the support and friendship of the other women, and its nice to get out of the house especially when it needs a clean, hehe.

PS Chicken had her month immunisations today and was a real trouper!