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Bumps, Bras and Baby

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I’m just into the second trimester of my pregnancy and unfortunately still feeling pretty lousy but I do have the odd day here and there where I feel fine so for that I am extremely grateful. I think I’ve stopped losing weight and my belly is most definitely there for all to see..wooo I do like a good baby bump. I am still at the stage however where I feel fat rather than obviously pregnant so no bump shots just yet sorry. I will however share with you this awesomely clear photo from our check up scan on Tuesday:

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All is fine with baby and if all continues to plan we won’t need another scan until 20wks which is a big relief.

I haven’t had any real obvious cravings yet although lemonade lollies have helped a lot with the nausea. My food aversions aren’t quite as extreme as they were a few weeks ago and I’m managing to eat meat again finally. Tiredness isn’t too extreme really but on the days where I’m sick I get pretty worn out quickly. 4pm seems to be my only really difficult time when it comes to keeping my eyes open.

Izzy is coping well with the more tired/less energetic mum and has been opting for lots of cuddle time. She also loves to stroke my belly and kiss it saying ahhhhhh baby. I really don’t think she gets it but its rather cute.

During the pregnancy so far I’ve been really lucky to receive items from a number of pretty amazing brands such as Blossom mother and child, Seraphine, Isabella Oliver and Bravado to review for the blog. Look out for reviews over the next few months, I promise to included lots of pics and honest opinions.

First up I want to tell you about a bra I was sent from Bravado following a twitter appeal for pregnant/nursing bloggers. When I opened the packaging I was a bit disappointed ( sorry I said I’d be honest) as it was a rather shocking pink. The colour was a limited edition and I can imagine a lot of people loving it but pink isn’t really my thing. Anyway initial opinion set aside I immediately removed my current instrument of torture and tried it on and it was instant bliss. It seriously is BY FAR the comfiest bra I’ve ever worn – it was also at a point when my pregnant chest was at its most tender and it felt like a comfy blanket supporting my dear friends. I’ve worn it under outfits ( when the pink can’t be seen ) also to bed.. its the only bra I’ve been able to wear to sleep lately and also just for lounging around the house. It offers a lot more support than most maternity bras I’ve tried and gives a great shape too. It washes very well too. I’ll keep you posted on how the bra holds up throughout the pregnancy. The one I was sent to try is: Body Silk Seamless Nursing Bra The colour I have is no longer available but it’s available in a range of others.. I’m quite tempted to purchase the black.

I’ll post pics when I take some bump shots but for now my bed is calling.

Night x

*I was sent the bra for free to review in exchange for my honest opinion.

Lucy’s Not really Macaroni Cheese

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I am very happy to share with you another guest post from the very lovely Lucy. If you follow Lucy on twitter ( @Lucy_SG ) you will know she makes delicious family food on a regular basis and most days will see a mouthwatering tweet with the hash tag #tweetwhatyoueat. Anyway today sees a really comforting, homely recipe that she has been making for a long time. Thanks Lucy for another delicious recipe which I will certainly be trying when I’m over the worst of this darned morning sickness!

Lucy’s Not really Macaroni Cheese

The title of this recipe is such because I can honestly say I have never in my life bought a packet of macaroni. So this recipe has only ever been made with fusilli or penne. Since having children, I always use wholewheat fusilli and there is really no difference between this and ordinary pasta. But you can pretty much use any pasta you like.

This is the very first recipe I ever attempted on my own. My mum is a wonderful, hearty home cook and when I was young, the kitchen was very much her domain so opportunities to cook for myself were scarce. She worked nine-to-five and my dad worked shifts that often meant, come the school holidays, he would emerge from his murky pit ravenously hungry at strange times of the day. He’d eat weird stuff like mahoosive serving bowls of cereal or entire packets of jumbo rice cakes. My mum had a tiny cupboard in the kitchen stuffed full of slightly crusty-round-the-edges 1970s cookbooks, so one day I pulled one out, found a recipe for macaroni cheese and made it for my dad. I remember hovering over the pans, checking the recipe every ten seconds, fretting and fussing. What if I destroy my mum’s pans? What if it’s a disaster? What if I’ve got all the weights wrong? But it worked! And he liked it! He said it was better than the pasta my mum made! This was my first experience of the utter pleasure to be had from other people enjoying my cooking.

My version has been tweaked a thousand times since my first attempt in my early teens. I know it by heart and often chop and change what I add to it but the basic recipe is still much the same.

Ingredients:
6oz pasta
1oz butter
1oz flour
½ pint milk
6oz strong cheddar, grated
1tsp English mustard
Pinch of pepper

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Method:
Stick the oven on to pre-heat at 200 degrees. Boil the kettle and pour it straight into a pan to cook the pasta. While the pasta is bubbling, get a larger pan and melt the butter on a medium heat. Once melted, add the flour and combine to make a dough. It won’t look pretty but squidge it around the pan a bit for a few seconds to cook.

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Gradually add the milk, each time combining it with the dough. Use a whisk if need be but keep working it so it has as few lumps as possible. Once it’s all combined, keep stirring it until it’s smooth and starts to thicken up.

Check your pasta. You do not want it to be fully cooked or it’ll end up pappy later on. At this point you can add peas, broccoli or cauliflower to the pan for the last few minutes of cooking if you feel like it.

When the sauce has thickened up sufficiently and you see one or two bubbles popping on the surface, remove it from the heat and add nearly all of the cheese.

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Keep some back for sprinkling on top. Stir it in until melted, then add the mustard and pepper. You don’t need any salt, as the cheese is already quite salty. At this stage, you could add some pre-cooked ham or bacon or some fried mushrooms. Or not. Up to you.

Drain the pasta/veg and tip into the pan with the cheese sauce. Give it a good stir and transfer the whole lot to an ovenproof dish. Sprinkle the top with the remaining cheddar and some parmesan for extra crunchy bits. A little cayenne pepper on top or some slices of tomato are special if you’re feeling a bit fancypants.

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Bake in the oven at 200 degrees for 20 minutes or until the top is all crispy and scrumptious. Serve with garlic bread or a side salad. It will be a gazillion degrees when it comes out of the oven but it’s well worth burning your tongue on account of it’s amazing tastiness.

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Rhubarb, Orange and Vanilla Jam

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Last year I was given a huge bag of fresh rhubarb from Izzys gran but I’m not really a massive fan of it on its own. I made some of it into a crumble and then I decided to make the rest into jam but I didn’t want plain old rhubarb jam so I used vanilla infused caster sugar and orange zest & juice to make it extra special.

You will need:

1kg of fresh rhubarb, washed and diced
100ml of orange juice
100ml of water
Zest of 1 Orange
400grams of vanilla infused caster sugar or 400g of caster sugar and seeds of 1 vanilla pod

Combine all ingredients in a heavy based saucepan over a medium heat for approximately 50 minutes or until thick. Ladle into sterile jars and seal.The jam will thicken more as it cools.

Store in the refrigerator.

If giving jam as a gift to friends/family or in a hamper as I do at Christmas time why not get some labels made up to make it look extra special? Hampers I made last year, including home made jam!

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You make me smile

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You are just 19 months old but sometimes you seem so wise. Like when you put your hand on your chin and say “Hmmmmm”

Every morning when you see my bare belly you point and say “Baby..hiyaaaaaaa” this is normally followed by an air kiss and a big mwah sound. You will be a fabulous big sister.

I can’t believe how much you have changed in the past month. You shock me daily with your new words and your fumbling sentences.

My favourite today: “Maaaaaaam…what you doing?”

You say gone or goned a million times a day. When I pull my top down over my stomach you say “Baby gone” when one of us leaves the room you say “Mammy/daddy goned me” tonight I asked you where daddy was and you said “gone work” – you are so clever.

If you drop a toy or some food you say “Oh no no no” in the saddest voice.

You are so good when we go out and you will eat nearly every piece of food we put in front of you but you are mischievous and stubborn in the cutest of ways. You know when you are doing something naughty and you look at me and say No even before I do – unfortunately this doesn’t mean you stop doing it. I can see your determination already and I can only imagine some of the tantrums that could be in store for us but I love your spirit.

Sleep is still pretty good for us. You still nap for around 90mins – 2 hours at midday and you sleep most nights from 7pm-8am. Most nights you ask to go to bed just before 7.. You don’t stop during the day so you must get awfully tired – just before bed we have baby cuddles where you lie in our arms like a baby. You are a big fan of this. You love your morning play in your cot with your special upstairs toys and it means occasionally we have a nice lie in. Thanks for that 😉

On days when I feel pregnant walking through lead tired and sick of feeling sick you seem to sense it and come over for cuddles and kisses much more than normal – my special girl.

You are so happy when you see us each morning and I hope that never changes.

You love your grandparents and your aunts/uncles and cousins. You are surrounded by love and you revel in it. You know when we get closer to Grandma or Nanas house and you tell us – this is new and amazed us.

You are a big dog lover and I can see us having to indulge this and buy you one when you are older. It also makes me a little wary as you always want to cuddle them.

You have nearly all your teeth and they look so darn cute.

You still love In the Night Garden and Mr Tumble who I imagine you will be so excited to see at Camp Bestival ..you love music and dancing..especially when we say freeze and you hold your pose just like they do on Show me Show me. You like the TV but we limit it and you love to play much more.

Daddy takes you out on his bike and he’s teaching you to skate..most days you are a real Daddy’s girl but I can live with that.. I know you love your mammy.

If Dad leaves to go to work within 5 minutes you will come to me and cuddle for the longest time as if you don’t want me to leave too.

You can now say Clock more or less correctly. It occasionally sounds a bit different. This is amusing.

I can’t wait for the baby to arrive and complete our family but I am loving this time too. With just you being you. I’m glad we have had this time.

I only wrote an update about you a month or so ago and this may never interest anyone else but me and you but this is for YOU. One day I will let you read this so you will know that every day you make me smile, make my heart burst with love and make us both so very proud to be your parents.

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Cinco de Mayo – Discovery challenge

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Ok so we are a little early for Cinco de Mayo but we were sent some lovely goodies from the people at Discovery and I actually felt well enough to cook last night – I don’t know if this will last as my morning sickness has been pretty rough so I took advantage of a nausea free body and cooked!

We were sent a fajita kit which contained: 8 flour tortillas, salsa and fajita seasoning. We were also sent garlic and herb sour cream and Cajun season n sauce.

Firstly I got to work on a side dish to accompany our fajitas. Part of this challenge was to create a new recipe using some of the ingredients we were sent so I decided to make Fajita spiced parmentier potatoes.

You will need:

4-5 medium sized potatoes
1/4 packet of Fajita seasoning
Olive oil

Preheat your oven to 200.Firstly put a pan of water onto boil. Then dice your potatoes so they look like this:

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You could peel them first but I never bother. Put your potatoes in your pan of water and let them bubble away for 5 minutes. Whilst your potatoes are cooking put a large glug of olive oil in a baking dish and place in oven to warm.

Drain your potatoes thoroughly and set aside. Get your baking dish out of oven and tip your fajita seasoning into the oil and mix well. Add your potatoes stirring to ensure they are all covered in the spicy oil and return to oven for 25-30 mins.

Whilst your potatoes are in the oven get to work on your fajitas:

You will need:

Packet recommendations: 3-4 chicken breast, 1 onion and 2 peppers

What I used:

2.5 chicken thighs – boneless, skinless and fat trimmed. Cut into strips.
1 large green pepper cut to strips
1/2 a large yellow pepper cut to strips
1 large red onion chopped roughly
1/2 pack of fajita seasoning

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Firstly add some olive oil and fajita seasoning to your hot griddle pan or frying pan then add your chicken and add some more seasoning until fully covered. When the meat is well browned add your peppers and onions and cook until meat is fully cooked through. Thighs take longer than breasts in my opinion.

Warm your tortillas as directed on packet ( I prefer to griddle them to get the nice effect but last night I was lazy and microwaved) we used 6, he had 4 I had 2.

Get your potatoes out of oven, they should look like this :

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The chicken in its sizzle pan:

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The potatoes were gooooood:

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And Cider for him.. Non alcoholic cider for me:

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Fully loaded:

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So that was last night…fast forward to tonight and I again felt well enough to cook so I decided to try the Cajun season and sauce and a new recipe for fajita seasoned tortilla chips.

Firstly I marinated 3 chicken thighs in the Cajun seasoning and some olive oil and refrigerated it for a few hours. I tend to marinate chicken in the packet..saves getting raw meat on another dish. Other than this step I pretty much followed packet instructions.

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When I was almost ready to cook I cut my two leftover tortilla wraps from last night into triangles, placed them on a wire rack and brushed them with a mixture of olive oil and the leftover fajita seasoning.

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I set them aside while I boiled water and put my rice onto cook them griddled my chicken thighs whole until browned.

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I then cut into strips and put back in the pan to ensure they were thoroughly cooked prior to adding my sauce. When the chicken and rice were almost ready I placed my tortilla chips in a preheated oven for around 5 minutes. Keep an eye on them as I may have slightly overdone mine.. Although they still tasted pretty awesome.

Serve your Cajun chicken on top of rice with a dollop of garlic and herb sour cream and coriander.

Dip your chips into the sour cream or the Cajun sauce or a combo of both. Delicious.

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* please note there is Parsley in above pic and not coriander as I ran out!

I’ve used Discovery products before and have to admit that as always I was impressed. Their products are easy to use and pretty tasty. I hope you have enjoyed reading about my meals and the two new recipes you can create using leftovers. I highly recommended the garlic and herb sour cream if you fancy a change from the normal sour cream as its really good!

Enjoy Cinco de Mayo and get creative in the kitchen!

* I was given these products by Discovery in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

The Sun has got his hat on.. Get in the garden :-)

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I don’t remember the last time we spent time in the garden in t shirts. Today may have been the first day since last Summer when I was quite happy letting Izzy run around with no coat, hat or cardigan. She loved it. I’m trying to get her interested in the garden.. At the moment she loves pulling up grass, trying to eat stones and chasing bubbles. In the last week or so we have been planting herbs, lettuce and trying to clear clutter.

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Our aim before summer begins is to sort out our patio and make the garden a child friendly place to be.

We also planted sunflowers this week.. They are my favourite flowers and I’m eager to see how tall they grow 🙂

I found some fab sunflower tips amongst others for planting seeds with children here

My happiest memories growing up involved being outdoors and playing in the garden whether it be building dens, planting potatoes with my Dad and playing in the paddling pool. I want my children to have that – good, clean (possibly muddy) natural fun. It’s not all about the iPads, Cbeebies and interactive toys. It’s so important to get your children interested in the great outdoors while they are still young enough to have some influence.

I used to love eating fresh peas straight after picking them with my mum sitting on the back steps and visiting our friends garden and running around stealing raspberries – the freshest juiciest raspberries I can ever remember tasting. I think a lot of my happiness came from spending time having fun with my parents around me – not stopping my fun but knowing they were there.

What are your musts for a garden for young children? What plants would be fun for them to watch grow?

She’s a good little worker!

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Hey Mam, I think I deserve a snack after all that work…

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*this post contains paid content

Literary love at Camp Bestival 2013

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If you haven’t booked your tickets yet I bet you will after reading the literary line up! I mean seriously. Wow. Camp Bestival has something for everyone and I am really looking forward to chilling on sofas with the Wake up with The Guardian roundups of the morning papers.

Last year one of our festival highlights was Howard Marks reading the bedtime story and I am really looking forward to watching his new show: Scholar, Smuggler, Prisoner, Scribe. Having seen one of Howard’s spoken shows previously at a local theatre I can highly recommend this.

Some of my favourite authors will be reading.. There are how to interviews with celebrities such as Whiley and Charlie Brooks.

Of course being a family festival there is plenty for the children including riveting readings and author events which will take place in the heart of the Dingly Dell woodland enclave, the Story Den. Gather under the canopy of trees and settle down to listen to Sam Lloyd and her Monster Mates, Laura Dockrill’s tales of Darcy Burdock, Guy Bass’s stories of Stitch Head and check out Jonny Duddle’s pirate doodles. Then at night, the woods will come alive with fire and dragons, and you will be able to hear a specially written story on headphones as you explore the trail in the trees. Or gather again in the Story Den, to watch the shadow puppets dance as the storytellers bring their legends to life.

I think it will be another action packed 4 days trying to squash in every single thing we want to do and I just can’t wait.

Tickets still available at: Tickets

With my compost..arium there is no place I’d rather be

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I don’t know about you but I can’t think of the word compost without singing the theme tune to Mr Blooms nursery. I guess if you don’t have a child of Cbeebies age you may not have a clue what I’m talking about. Mr Bloom is a character from a Cbeebies TV show who has as many mum fans as toddler fans…I don’t really know why…ahem.

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Anyway this post is not about Mr Bloom. Every year I think ah I want to get my garden in order but this year I actually am planning to. I love the idea of being able to get all my salad and herbs from my own vegetable patch. I already grow a lot of herbs.. Mint, oregano, parsley, lavender, tarragon, rosemary, thyme and sage to name a few and we have just planted rocket and basil and starting to think of what else we can have – any suggestions? I am not even remotely green fingered so I need a lot of tips. Next job is to make a compost heap or compost bin. I’ve scoured the web for some tips and here are the more useful ones I’ve found:

What can you compost:

grass cuttings
soft prunings
annual plant and weed remains before they have set seed
fruit and vegetable scraps
old cut flowers
tea bags and coffee grounds
Cardboard
Newspaper
Scrunched up paper
Straw

Do not compost:

diseased plants
meat and fish
dairy
cooked food
coal ash
cat and dog waste
disposable nappies
perennial weeds eg bindweed

Plenty more useful tips here

Apparently the best time to start your compost heap is Spring but I think I’ll be starting mine sometime one the next month.

If having a compost heap encourages my daughter to recycle and helps to stop our family adding more than is needed to landfill it can only be a bonus 😉

Any tips for me with regards to composting or what to plant at this time of year would be greatly appreciated!

*this post contains paid content

I’m dreaming of a new bathroom

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Is there anything more comforting than a bubble bath. If you have a hard day at work or a particularly gruelling work out ( ha not me) it eases your aching bones. When you are pregnant it soothes your stretching skin and after your baby is born a lavender bath can ease a world of pain.

I’m a bath girl, I really am. I don’t ask for much. A clean quiet space where I can spend my 30 minutes of me time..a few bubbles..deliciously warm water and a large vanilla candle burning away.

However at present my bathroom looks like this:

My cracked bath.. Patched up.

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The mess…

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More mess..

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It’s rather depressing. I don’t spend much time in here at all.

We had some problems with damp, hence the stripped walls. We have now been told that our bath and sink need to move to the opposite side of the room to avoid this happening again. Our bath is broken – cracked in two places with a panel hanging on by a thread. The floor needs to come up and the walls need to be retiled. All in all it’s a huge job but its not as if we have anything else on at the moment like an incredibly active toddler and oh yes I’m pregnant.

Ahhhh it’s a bit of a mess but at the moment it’s still working ( mostly ) and so it’s being left in sorry state of disrepair until we get the time and money to rectify it.

If I could describe my dream bathroom in one word it would be tranquil. As a mother I value the small amount of time I get to myself and a place to completely relax is the order of the day.

As a family we love the sea and so we would love a beach theme with driftwood and shades of water and sand in the tiles and floor.

I created a dream bathroom Pinterest board which you can see here

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B is for bubbles – myself and my daughter love a bubble bath! I want somewhere where I can relax and my child can have fun.

A is aqua.. I love images of water and find it very calming. I want our room to be heavily influenced by the ocean.

T is for tiles. My dream bathroom is tiled from floor to ceiling and is like a wet room. All the better for big, splashey fun!

H is for heated towel rail. Fluffy towels warm and waiting after a bath will be blissful in the colder months.

R is for romance. Big chunky candles and low lighting will make our bathroom a romantic room. Perfect for when the little ones are in bed and we want to share a bath.

O is for open space. The one good thing about our bathroom is that it is big! Bigger than my kitchen which is annoying but I want to keep the open space and avoid too much clutter.

O is for ours. This bathroom is OUR space. As much as I would love a space just of my own, pretty soon I will have two young children who will want to enjoy it so storage for toys and bath play things is essential! Keeping a shower is always something I have to to keep my man happy!

M is for money. At the moment we just don’t have the money to do this. Winning this comp would mean a safer, smarter bathroom and one major job crossed off the To do list before baby 2 comes.

The bathroom I have chosen from the 12 on offer is this one

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It’s pretty and functional and ideal for our family!

We would love to win this DREAM bathroom.

This is my entry to the Bathshop321 and tots100 dream bathroom competition.