Ghetto Fabulous - Fruit & Veg

We all want out baybays to eat the best they can (insert precocious quote about them being fresh slates for an organic, vegan life here), and per my previous post I cook everything for the Princess myself. I shop Waitrose and Ocado, and frankly if I bought all the fruit and veg the Princess consumes from there, well frankly I'd be out of pocket a mani pedi combo a week. We're blessed to have a great local market nearby (West Londoners - Shepherds Bush Market - check it out. Truly ghetto, limited fabulous) - and most places I've lived in Sydney, New York and London have something similar. Even when we were in Chelsea/ Earls Court - North End Road is only moments away!
Get yourself down to the market with the buggy/ pram/ stroller once a week. Get a latte on the way. It's a great walk and bit of exercise for you and the bub, the produce is way cheaper and also they only sell what is in season (none of this ripen at home rubbish - basically frozen/ unripe stuff picked half a world away), and frankly I find the quality better. Take your own bags to save the environment too.
Take a look at what I bought for £8-something this week at my local market, and yes, they are plums not tomatoes. You'd pay 2 to 3 times as much at a supermaket for that! The money saved enables you to buy organic meats for your little one (and sneak in a mani from the grocery budget too!!).
K, getting off my ghetto soap box now. x

Home Made Goodness

Basically, if you don't already own the amazeballs Phillips Avent Steamer Mixer thing, you need to. I'm not a cook at ALL (you can freely hate me - my husband cooks.. everything) and yet thanks to this little beauty in the two months the Princess has been on "solids" no packet food has passed her lips. Everything has been home made thanks to me, the steamer mixer thingy and a little help from Annabel Karmel's amazing recipes (SO EASY and so delish - some of the Princess' faves are the chicken, carrot and apple, cheesy cauliflower, sweet potato and peas - which I add chicken to - to name just a few).
How does it work?
Chop up your meat/ veg/ fruit - whack it in the steamer, steam it (the instruction booklet says how long per ingredient type), when the bell dings, turn it upside down and whizz it. DONE!!! Huzzah, it's dishwasher safe too. Then, you can store the extra meals in the freezer. I make a few different things up on the weekend so we're all set for the week. I also posted a while ago about storage containers - Avent as well, still loving them.
Here are some pics:

Chopped up vegies in the steamer... 

... are then turned upside down and blended to desired lumpiness/ smoothness. 

As always, here are links to every Mum's lifesaver, Amazon:

Philips AVENT Combined Baby Food Steamer and Blender

Philips AVENT VIA Baby Food Storage Set

Annabel Karmel's Complete First Year Planner

Two Mummy Medicine Bag Must Haves

The Princess has had a bad run lately with her second tummy bug in one month striking on Sunday. Our GP sent us down to A&E (aaarrrggghhhh!) on Monday as she was a little dehydrated. I have to say the staff at Chelsea Westminster Paediatric A&E are wonderful, but I digress. The Princess avoided an IV drip as she very cleverly kept the electrolytes I needed to orally syringe into her mouth down - 5 mLs every 5 minutes for 4 hours.
She's on the mend now, but the hospital sent me home with some electrolyte sachets (Dioralyte) and oral syringes (see picture for both). Both are available over the counter. It's a good idea to have these on hand if your baby has a tummy bug/ gastro and you want to help them get hydrated again quickly. I'll be keeping a stash at all times. And of course, if you think your baby is sick - straight to the GP or A&E. I'd prefer the GP to roll their eyes and think I'm over protective than for me to miss something being seriously wrong.
xx

Ghetto Fabulous Toys (and some non-ghetto ones)

We have lots of 'it toys' in our house, and of course we've not one but two types of Sophie. But nothing can compare to the big, bright 'Happy Birthday From All of Us' helium balloon that's been in our lounge room for the last two weeks. The Princess is enamoured. I'm talking literally 30 minutes straight of staring and smiling and more recently pulling the string so it bounces up and down (what fun!). I thought this may just be a Princess thing, but no, I had 3 baby friends over yesterday, all about 7 months - and they were all equally awe struck. We had 4 babies just staring and smiling at the balloon for 10 minutes. If it wasn't so adorbs it'd be creepy.
Get yourself to a balloon shop/ florist/ hospital and buy one for your baby - they'll worship it for weeks. The Princess does try to bite it though so just be careful it doesn't pop and scare the bejesus out of them.
Other ghetto fabulous toys:
- yoghurt pots for stacking and knocking over
- tupperware for banging
- muslins
- key
- your hair... if you can stand it. I can't!

And just to be serious, here are a few of the Princess' favourite store bought toys in case you're looking for non-ghetto inspiration:

Thank Yous - Just Do It.

I think all Mummys have been guilty of receiving a(nother) present for our babies and instead of being touched and amazed at how generous everyone is, you think "OMG - that's another thank you card, I'm already behind and have at least 37 to write that are overdue". To non-Mummy's this sounds incredibly ungrateful and selfish, but hey, this is a blog for Mummys and we get it. Newborns + life + husbands + house are all time consuming enough - add correspondence and it's overload! 

So, this is simply an encouraging post to say just try to write a few more today. It's awful but true - thank you cards are like flowers, beautiful in the early days but leave them too long and they wilt and loose their significance. (But hey, if you do get behind, everyone understands!). 

PS: it drives me crazy when I give presents to children and don't receive a thank you - if the child can write, they should be sending a thank you. Email is fine. It's just good manners! 

x

Killer One-Two Punch For Glossy (Body) Skin

With the Princess and I stripping down to our swimmers every Thursday for her swimming classes, I've started thinking about swimming costume season again. (HORROR!!!). I was wandering around Boots and found two products that I'm about a week into using and both are great so I wanted to share. The Garnier Summer Body lotion is a body cream with a little tan in it to take the moon shine off my skin, but in no way makes me look (or smell) like an extra from TOWIE. The Jergens Cocoa Butter moisturiser is GORGEOUS - it transports you to a great beach memory in moments and it's really moisturised my skin. I used to use Palmer's Cocoa Butter until my husband told me it smelled like sour milk (??) but this one has passed the husband test.
Also, both products (I don't use them at the same time BTW - I alternate days!) make me feel like a yummier mummy. And that's a good thing.
x

A must read: fab book on how to raise a happy child

This is the 3rd time I'm writing about something recommended by a specific YM friend who is an amazing mother, wife, friend and fashionista. She told me about this book while I was still pregnant and I devoured it and live by it. I hope I can continue to live by it all the way through the Princess' life.
It covers parenting styles and how to bring up a happy, smart and well balanced child. Examples of some good nuggets: praise effort not IQ (ie: "you tried so hard, I'm so proud of how hard you worked" vs. "you are so smart, of course you nailed it"); finding your place on the parenting scale of demandingness and responsiveness - and understanding the consequences (ie: being an authoritative/ authoritarian/ indulgent/ neglectful parent); and there's a great chapter on what having a baby does to your relationship with your partner (eek!).

Easy Breakfast - Weight Loss Included

I've just started this back up again, but have found in the past it's a great (and healthy) way to gentle weight loss. It's not rocket science, it's just smoothies for breakfast.
When you make it to the kitchen in the morning wondering what day it is, find the 45 seconds it takes to chuck all this into a blender:
1. rice, soy or almond milk (easier to digest than dairy and just better for you*),
2. frozen fruit to taste (this is the secret ingredient - the frozen fruit in a bag means it is SO easy to chuck in with no prep - who wants to wash and cut strawberries at 7am? PLUS the frozeness makes it all icy and yummy when mixed with the non-dairy milk),
3. sometimes I add water as well to make it stretch without the extra calories of more (non-dairy) milk,
4. if you're not breastfeeding add some whey protein (Jay Robb is an excellent brand recommended to me by a nutritionist - quite hard to find in the UK though). The protein helps thicken it and also keeps you fuller, longer.

I drink the smoothies in the morning and usually make a few glasses (who can be bothered to measure an exact quantity for one glass?) and keep it in the fridge and drink it til it runs out mid morning. What an easy way to get some of your 5 a day in!

If you can bare to, take a look at Kendra Wilkinson's smoothie recipies too. Say what you want about her - love her or hate her - girl lost a lot of weight after her baby and she has great smoothie recipes on her site. I like her "household" one which is a mix of fruit and veg with no dairy: http://kendrawilkinson.com/blog/post/my-household-smoothie

These + water - literally all you need!

*I know this is a controversial statement, and I am not a nutritionist, but based on everything I have read it's what I believe. The smoothies obvs work just as well with dairy if you prefer. (And yes, I drink my lattes with dairy - only one of my many contradictions in life).

Bikini Line Woes - Sorted.

Some of the new Mummys out there may think I'm mad but I promise, you do one day after giving birth (OK many, many, many days later) decide it's time to go get the Brazilian/ Hollywood/ whatever it was you used to get done again. I was filled with fear - I delivered a 9lbs 9 baby the 'old fashioned way', so trust me - I GET IT! I digress.
Point is this post may not be relevant for some of you now - but trust me, it will be again one day soon!
In the zillions of years since I've been waxed, I have tried literally every lotion and potion to avoid unsightly ingrowns (why does that feel like taboo to type?). I found one a couple years ago that actually WORKS, does not smell offensive and the best bit? It comes in a roll on like deodorant so you don't have to pfaff about with cotton wool. I usually buy it at Strip in London and have just discovered it's also on Amazon (I so heart Amazon) for cheaper: Tend Skin Refillable Roll-On For Men And Women 2.5 Fl Oz (75 Ml)