Food Glorious Food!

Tags

annabel karmel, first tastes, food, motherhood, weaning

When you start to get into the swing of the whole weaning thing, it really can be kind of fun. Introducing your baby to new foods and flavours is weirdly exciting, it almost feels like an important kind of game, making sure they eat all their portion, get the right amount of the food groups and so forth.

It is also a massive and scary responsibility.

I don’t want Amelia to have any food hangups. None of her Dad’s irrational dislike of seafood or mushrooms, none of her Mum’s issues with…actually I don’t have any food hangups, I’d pretty much eat anything. And have been known to. Frequently. Actually maybe that’s my food hangup. ..

Ahem…anyway, where was I? Oh yes, since we started weaning Amelia, she has tried so many different foods, from avocado to chicken, and more recently we have begun to move her on to small finger sized sticks of food. Cheese, toast, carrots and so forth.

This. Terrifies. Me.

It is the silliest thing, and a Mum friend of mine recently reminded me that babies gums are really hard and they will be able to chew on their food and they won’t shove the entire stick down their throat. She is right, of course, but I’m watching Amelia like a hawk every time I give her a stick of food. But so far so good, she is learning fast and is enjoying most things we give her. I need to chill. Out.

I’m starting to really look forward to making her meals now that she is trying more foods, I have a great Annabel Karmel cookbook that has some lovely recipes for first tastes.

So onwards and upwards with the weaning. I wonder if I could persuade her Dad to try some pureed mushroom? I think I would have a better chance of getting him to prance around in a frock and high heels to be honest…

Scooby Dooby Doo, we love you! Baby’s First Halloween

Tags

baby, costume, crafts, halloween

I LOVE HALLOWEEN.

I. LOVE. HALLOWEEN. I REALLY DO. I’M WRITING IN CAPITALS SO YOU CAN FEEL MY ENTHUSIASM. I LOOOOOVVVVEEEE HALLOWEEN.

Okay, we’ve established that I love Halloween. Therefore, like every so-called sensible parent, I fully intended to pass on all my obsessions, interests and opinions onto my impressionable child. As you do.

This includes an appreciation of dressing up at Halloween. And even though she won’t ever remember it, or care, or be bothered about it in the slightest, I dressed her up for her first Halloween. It was totally self indulgent and a little bit silly, but I’m glad I did it, and it was a bit of fun.

What did I dress her up as, I hear you say? Well, since we were staying with her Godparents, it had to be a group costume, and what else except The Scooby Doo Gang? I went as Velma, The G Man (Dad) went as Shaggy, Uncle B went as Fred, Aunty C went as Daphne, and Amelia went as Scooby Doo. I was very (sadly) proud of all our efforts to do the Scooby Doo Gang on a budget, and also I was able to make Amelia’s costume by dying one of her old baby gro’s brown, sticking felt spots on to it and cutting the sole off a Scooby Doo slipper and making it into a hat. I had waaayyyyy too much time on my hands! The joke will be on me when I go back to work!

All in all it was a Happy Halloween, especially when after we put Amelia to bed, we watched ‘Scream’ for old times sake and Uncle B nearly wet himself with fright. He will HATE me for telling you that. Serves him right, the big baby.

Baby Face… :)

Tags

baby, competition

Okay. Judge me all you want.

Or not.

Either way I did it. Yes, I’m one of those Mums.

I entered my baby in a competition. A ‘Bonny Baby’ competition.

Don’t get all high and mighty on me, it’s not like she is wearing lycra and glitter lip gloss – I haven’t gone that far…sheesh!

It’s a local competition in a newspaper and the prize is £1000 for first place.

£1000

One. Thousand. Pounds.

I could really do with £1000.

Really.

I could buy £1000 scratch cards (oohhh, tempting)

Or I could buy £1000 worth of Mars Bars.

Or a holiday to America.

Or liposuction….oh just occurred to me, that’s a good one.

But I won’t. It will be deposited into Amelia’s bank account for future university fees or to buy her a car when she is old enough.

Maybe you could spread the love and vote for my little baby? I would vote for yours, really I would! All you have to do is text 84555. Text the word BABY then a space then 155. Texts cost 50p, and feel free to text more than once if you’re rich. 🙂

Maybe you could ask your Dad, Mum, husband, wife, sister, brother, cousin, Aunt, Uncle, or a friend to text the number too? Tell them you will love them forever/do the hoovering/pay for dinner etc. It will make you feel like a good person. And it could win us £1000.

Thanks in advance!

**Bear in mind, if she gets through to the semi-final I will be repeating my pleas!!

Have baby, will travel.

Tags

baby, motherhood, parenting, travel

Emergency banana.

Those two words completely encapsulate what it means to me to travel with a baby in a car.

Emergency banana. Emergency. Banana. You MUST have the emergency banana packed in the changing bag.  Forget about all the other baby travel essentials. Without the emergency banana, you cannot relax, you cannot enjoy, you cannot plan ahead for the journey. As long as the emergency banana is there, all will be okay.

And you know what? That’s true. Seriously.

I lost count of the amount of times I asked the G Man; “Did you pack the emergency banana?” while we were visiting Amelia’s Godparents, Uncle B and Aunty C, in Bristol. Please bear in mind, it wasn’t the same banana for the whole week, we did refresh the said banana many times, and it was also consumed in part by Amelia on several occasions throughout the week, we did not repack the same banana each time…just felt I had to clarify that…Also, she ate many other things that just one banana….I’ll stop now.

Anyway, we had our first major trip away from home with a 6 month old, and we survived! This was partly due to good planning on our part, lots of support and help from the people we were visiting, and the fact that Amelia is, on the whole, a very good natured baby, and therefore a good natured traveller. She did SO well in the car and on the ferry, I was SO relieved. I had visions of her screaming and bawling in the lounge on the ferry and bothering people, but she didn’t – she was fairly quiet and slept for some of it. Phew.

That was a first. And there were lots of firsts on this trip to England which I will enjoy telling Amelia about when she is older:-

1. The first time she stayed in her Godparents house.

2. The first time she was in Wales and England.

3. The first time she was in Devon (a place very close to our hearts due to the wonderfully kind hospitality of Uncle B’s parents)

4. The first time she was at the beach.

5. The first time she fed ducks.

6. The first Halloween she celebrated (a separate blog post to come on that one!)

7. The first time she ate cheese (yes, more to come on that, too)

…and many more. We had the most wonderful time on our holiday. I know many people will understand when they read this, but there is something so lovely about staying with good friends who totally ‘get’ you, who are almost like family to you. That’s how we feel about Uncle B and Aunty C, Amelia is so lucky to have them as Godparents, as we are to have them as friends, and it will be lovely to look back on this holiday with fond memories in the years to come and remember that it was Amelia’s first proper trip away – and we all loved it.

I especially loved it.

Thanks to the emergency banana.

🙂