Baby led weaning - a follow up

I posted a while back when Blossom was showing signs just before six months of being ready for solid food about my concerns with trying baby lead weaning. And as usual, I received so much help and support, advice emails, tweets from you guys that I decided to give it a go.

I am so glad I did as it has probably been one of the best decisions we have made for Blossom.

So firstly a big thank you to MTJAM, Kelly, Nick, Tasha, Claire lovely CW (who lent me the book) and Hannah. You all gave me so much advice and gave me the confidence to go for it and I have really not looked back.

It's quite liberating to not have pureed one single batch of anything and she basically eats whatever we do- this little lady really has been weaned on olives and humus!

Great early foods were sweet potato wedges, good quality sausages, split down the middle banana (great tip as if you cut it it is too slippery for little mitts) but the most resounding success has been blueberries. She loves them. Big style.

I have no worries food wise for my little lady and she really enjoys eating whatever is on offer. It has been so easy to go out to eat as a family, she's tucked into garlic bread, chunks of meat, roast potatoes, fried holoumi, fish cakes are a particular fave when dining out.

Sometimes I question whether I am a purist in baby lead weaning terms as after allowing Blossom free reign with a yogurt once I realised that this was an experience never to be repeated until her fine motor skills are finely honed. Ditto that with shepherds or fish pie. Oh and soup.So sorry but in those cases its spoonville. But never pureed mush.Just straight up exactly how we would have it.

So if you are reading this wondering whether to take the BLW route, do it! Chat to people on twitter by using the hashtag #BLW or comment on this post and I can direct you to lovely people.

But in the words of My Daddy Cooks 'Just give em what you have!'

And here she is enjoying her food. Good girl!

All hail the biddy tots!

On a Wednesday morning while lil legs is at nursery Blossom and I attend a Mum and baby/toddler group. Myself and my kooky friend have renamed  the group 'biddytots' on account of it being run by a group of church goers who are lets say, senior in years.

Each week we pay our fifty English whole pence for our pink wafer biccy and a cup of Iceland's instant coffee and stifle giggles as the biddies get run ragged by the toddlers and make inappropriate comments as only those past caring over seventy do.

I always find the experience surreal as my buddy Cheshire Mum spends her Wednesday with Coleen Rooney (you know the one that married Shrek .)   I know! Glam right? They go to the same toddler music group. And there we are experiencing a different type of Hollywood tan altogether. Mainly the pop sock forty denier kind.

These last few weeks both of us have had to feign excuses more believable than 'we are washing our hair' as the biddies are trying to force us to come to the Christmas party that's in the evening sans kids. There will be 'festive food such as lasagna, something with chicken and food for those vegetarian people snort and if you don't like that then I'm sure there will be quiche.' Apparently.Funnily enough we've both managed to weedle out of going but part of me thinks maybe we should go just to see what the biddies are like after a few pints of cooking sherry?

But  the star of biddy tots is Micheal Caine. Not the real one you understand. But he is pretty bloody close. He takes the fifty pence when you arrive and gets yelled at takes instruction from the main biddy. I'm not sure how the main biddy got the important role of main biddy. Maybe she was voted the main biddy? I'm doubtful. I think she probably forced the title on herself. I'm sure a Lord of the Flies scenario only with biddies is on the cards at some point. In fact if she's not there after Christmas I would put money on the other biddies having got fed up with her and putting her in the lasagna at the  adults only Christmas party.

Oh blimey.

Do any of you go to a similar surreal group run by senior citizens?

I *heart* Build a Bear. I mean my kids do.

Let us get the boring bit out of the way first huh? This is not a sponsored post, the payment I received for my review was two cuddly Build a Bears for my kids, and what Mummy would refuse her kids that hey?

Our adventure started here

and as we arrived at The Build a Bear workshop in Brighton Monty was, lets say, a little excited.

See! GRIN! The staff at the Brighton branch took care of us so well, I would personally like to thank Hayley, Jo and Perrie for really spoiling my children and they thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience.
Before we arrived I had mentally decided that Monty could choose what ever he liked and I would have artistic direction over Blossoms choices, that Blossoms Build a Bear would be a classy affair and Monty's would be just as he  wished. I had no idea Monty would choose a lilac sparkly bear, give it the star wars theme tune when you squeeze its tum and dress him as a policeman. Lets just say  'Teddyson' as Mo named him will definately be coming to gay pride this year and I am so proud of Monty for his choices.

So, once the bear had been chosen and a sound effect decided on Teddyson was then stuffed and a bar code was placed in him so if we were to ever lose him he could be returned to a Build a Bear branch, unstitched,identified and returned to his rightful owner. Bear genius that!

Monty then chose a heart to put inside his bear, and granted him lots of love, lots of brains and a full tummy always. Very cute to watch.

And then we got to the best bit. The clothes. Oh my lordy I was in hysterics. Build a Bear boxers? Got em! Hannah Montanna outfit for Bear? Of course! Along with flip flops, roller skates, a diploma scroll, a mobile phone.....basically all your bears needs are catered for. And catered for well.

Here is Mo holding up  his well dressed  bear!

Then every bear needs a birth certificate with name,date of birth, height and weight details all included of course.

Earlier I mentioned Blossoms classy bear as chosen by me. Well that was my intention. This is what we went for

I couldn't help it, next thing I knew I had chosen a mini skirt and sparkly cardi for an ice skating Hello Kitty.  I love her. I mean Blossom does. Obviously. Ahem.

The whole experience was a joy to watch as the kids had a whale of a time.

Price wise I think the sky is the limit, Bears start at around £15 on average, and outfits can be bought for around the same price including shoes. So they can be pocket money treats or big spends for a special occassion. It's up to you.

You can check Build a Bear out on facebook HERE

And their website HERE

38 weeks

In homage to my good friend Claire's lovely blog post about her beautiful daughter baby G when she reached the same age outside as she had got to inside. xxx



Dear Blossom

So 38 weeks. I never did manage to get to my due date. Your brother was the same.

38 weeks feels like an entire lifetime ago and it feels almost as though you were always here. But at the same time I feel as though you have just turned up to the party and still struggle terribly with there being two gorgeous beings for me to love unconditionally and uncontrollably.

These last few weeks have been hard, I've been to some grim places (a phrase only a Mother can understand.) You've had coughs and colds, sickness and then the chicken pox all in the space of six weeks.

You are a clingy baby, there is no denying it. You seem to feel as though the safest place for you is in my arms and anywhere else may prove the end of your little world as you know and understand it. I love feeling you close but sometimes I ache and find things very hard one handed.

But this soon shall pass and before I know it you will be running away rather than snuggling in.

So for now I'll hold you close and hold you near.

Love you forever and a day and to the moon and back.

Mummy. x

Who likes cupcakes? Meeeeeeeeee!

This is not a sponsored post and I have not been paid to write it other than in baking equipment to make delicious cakes.Yum.


When I was on maternity leave with Monty a gorgeous little cakery cafe opened selling the most beautiful cupcakes you have ever seen. I spent many an afternoon there, eating cupcakes and cooing over my gorgeous boy.

This is what their cakes look like. Amazing aren't they?

It was then that my cupcake obsession began. I try to bake and ice them as beautifully as they do at Parklife but usually fail. The last chocolate batch I did looked like curly dog turds but there you go.

And so with my adoration  for all things cuppity cake, I'd like to tell you about a competition over on the tescos website which opens today.

All you have to do is add a photo of your cupcake creations onto the Tesco website

There will be two winners and they will be judged on the beauty of their cupcake.

So what do you win? Well I am glad you ask because it is quite a treat if you like baking.  The lucky winners will be able to bring a friend and enjoy an afternoon of cupcake creating with a chef on Friday 10th December in London. Ten runner ups will win a cupcake kit (which I myself have sampled as  a thanks from Tescos for writing this post. I will be blogging my next attempt at creating the cupcake of dreams of course!)

The last day that you can enter is Monday 29th November.
Get baking and good luck!

And that's how Mo sees it (vol 3)

My boy is growing up so fast it makes me want to throw myself on the floor with annoyance and shake my fist at the sky.

Which is slightly ridiculous but there you have it.

His language and ability to throw a sentence together has me floored daily. He's like a little old man.

Some recent gems have been:

Mummy that is just i-dick-u-lous (storms off.) I have to laugh at the early stages of Victor Meldrew appearing in my toddler.

Then we have the Toystory obsession much like a lot of three year old boys. Normal yes? Yes. Do most three year olds shout 'To infinity and beyoooooooond?' Of course they do. Mine doesn't. Recently he was jumping up and down on my bed while stark naked shouting 'IN-FANNY- AND - BEYOOOOND'
a strange porny homage to the pixar classic I'm sure you'll agree?

Then we had the 'fark we got to make the bed' incident. This was coupled with the gorgeous husband stomping down the stairs and relaying to me that lil legs had just used afore mentioned phrase. After about 6 repeats it was obvious he was saying first not *ahem* the other word but I did snort at the immediate assumption that Mo had turned into the offensive Nan from the Catherine Tate show.

We are also dealing with a lot of indignance. Is that a word? Anyway, that is what he is. Indignant. A lot. I find it hilarious how I have managed to produce a two foot know all, apparently 'sea water does taste nice Mummy h'actuallally, yes, I sink it does.'
Oh really kid? We live about five minutes from the sea hows about we find out huh? The saddest thing in this scenario is that I actually want to prove to my three year old that sea water tastes of donkey piss by marching him down to the water. I know!

Don't call social services.

Please?

Photobox review

When the lovely people at Photobox contacted me and asked if I would trial a product of theirs of my choosing (for free) in exchange for  a post on my thoughts it was a bit of a no brainer for me. I got to choose some thank you photocards free of charge and it had just been Monty's birthday so these were very much in order- perfect timing!

So I went about uploading my image, playing about with it until I was one hundred percent happy with it. I then placed my order and within about five days I had my postcards in my hands.Great.

I am a bit of a thank you card addict.At twenty seven years of age I am still sending them. And I get a bit miffed when people cannot be faffed to say 'ta for the gift.' I know it is old fashioned but I am just a  bit like that, I like to put a bit of effort in so people realise that their kindness has been noticed. So I am an old hand at the upload your photo and choose a thank you card malarky. I have used all the big websites on offer. Photobox has been by far the easiest and the quickest and I would definitely use them again.

What I loved about the experience

• Ease of use
• Ability to really play with the image and make changes (I changed my from colour to black and white Without losing quality)
• Speed of delivery
• Price- if I had paid for this item it would have been just over £20 for the 40 cards. I think this is reasonable for personal cards and I have paid a lot more when doing Christmas cards!Hence I'll be back.
• The quality of the product was brilliant and I really could not fault it.