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:

Baby Sleep Sheep - Allegedly the 2 Best

OK, so this is the only post I've ever written that is not first hand experience. I've never used a sleep sheep  or anything like that with the Princess - I have my reasons and it's worked fine without so if it ain't broke don't fix it. BUT - plenty of my Mummy friends have and swear by them and I seem to keep hearing the same two brands as the ones they swear by over and over. So, I wanted to pass on the tips in case you are looking for a good sleep sheep whatsit. Links to both:

Easidream Ewan the Dream Sheep
and
Cloud B Sleep Sheep

Sweet dreams! x

No Cradle Cap - Promise.

The Princess has never had Cradle Cap - and I swear it's thanks to this golden stuff. A very wise Mummy I know put me onto it (she gave it to me) for the Princess and promised it worked. I watched as all my little baby friends succumbed to the nasty flakes and foul yellow build up, we never did. I use it every night - still. I put a friend's 4 month old onto it recently - she had bad Cradle Cap, it was gone in days. The whole Mustela bebe range is heaven actually - the Princess loves her nightly foot massage (not joking) with the massage oil.

Mustela Foam Shampoo for Newborns on Amazon

x

Sippy Cup Blues

The Princess has been struggling with her sippy cup - got a great "duh!" tip the other day - don't put more than 20mls in the cup when they are just learning how to use it... otherwise it will be too heavy for them to lift and tip to their lips. I warned you it was a "duh" moment. Been trying 20mls the past few days (vs the 100mls I had before) and we are making better headway.... x The Princess' Sippy Cup - £3.49 on Amazon (also available in blue - obvs!)