How would you spend it?

I was recently really chuffed to win a writing competition for Aptaclub's new Parenting App with this poem about my third trimester.

The prize (I came third) was a £100 Amazon voucher which is amazing!

The thing is, the old me would have just spent it all on treating myself to expensive makeup and makeup brushes. Whilst I was always careful with money, the opportunity for a 'treat' - especially a free treat - would never go without some serious spending in the makeup department.

Now though, I'm really not that interested in spending it all on makeup. I've become, sadly, a lot more sensible. And mummy-ish.

I have ordered a Russel Hobbs slow cooker, a black out blind for Ollie's room, a cool bag and fun animal ice packs so I can keep his lunch and water cool when we're out and about, and a keepsake box for him as I have a pile of things and no where to store them! Expect a post of his keepsake box coming up when it arrives!

So not terribly glamorous. But very practical.

But what I want to know is, what would you spend a £100 Amazon voucher on?

x

Mama Cooks: Chicken Paella

Hi all, thought it was time for another recipe and this one is really easy.

Ingredients for 4 portions
2 large chicken breasts cut into chunks
1+tbsp Paprika (powdered)
1 large onion
3 cloves garlic
100g chorizo
200g paella rice
650ml chicken stock
1tsp dried rosemary
1/2tsp saffron sticks
1 can chopped tomatoes, excess liquid drained
1 red pepper chopped into chunks
2 tbsp frozen peas
Bunch of parsley finely chopped
Half a lemon

Method
1. Rub some of the paprika over the chicken
2. Gently brown the chicken in a little oil
3. Add the onion and garlic
4. Once the onion is transparent add the chorizo
5. When the meat is soft, add the rice, stock, 1 tbsp paprika, saffron and rosemary
6. Cook on a medium heat for 15 minutes, adding boiling water if the rice soaks up all the liquid and starts to stick
7. Add the tomatoes, pepper and peas and cook for 10 minutes, again adding water if necessary. At this stage you could add some prawns and or mussels if you wanted to make it more traditional
8. Before serving stir through the parsley and squirt half a lemon into the dish

Let me know if you try it! :)

x

The Month of May

The month of May marks spring begun,

Festivities in the garden sun,

Bank holiday weekends and barbecues

And blossom on the trees.

The month of May is one I dread

The month my darling Dad was dead

The date he left us all bereft

The 11th of May

So every year as May draws near

I start to feel this sense of fear

This empty sadness rolling in

Like clouds which block the spring-time sun

And whilst all others celebrate

I sit alone and contemplate

His death, the shock, the clouds, the rain

Like God was crying too, that day

When we said goodbye

Eighteen years ago this year

The May that changed all others

x

I'm linking to Wednesday's Words and Prose for Thought (tomorrow)

My Best Friends

I am a planner. I always have been. Every little detail of my life that I have any control over is meticulously thought out before it happens.

When I was pregnant (which in itself was planned to the exact month of conception), I planned as much as I possibly could about my life with my little boy. He would have a blue bedroom with Mothercare's 'precious bear' bedding. He would wear tiny sleep-suits in pale blue and navy and when he was older little stripey tops and dungarees. I would breastfeed, use disposable nappies, no nappy wipes before he was 3 months old, and wean him using purees. He would be called Oliver Anthony after his late granddads. I would take photos of him every day and fill out a Peter Rabbit 'My First Year' book charting his milestones. We would go to baby classes. I would meet other mums.

But would they become my friends?

One of the worries I had when I was pregnant, ridiculous though it seems, was whether I would have any mummy friends to share it with. Of course I worried most about the health of my baby, but after that- I was desperate to build myself a network of new mums to surround myself with. I was and still am the only one of friends to have a baby. I knew no other babies or mums and I had nearly a years worth of maternity leave stretching ahead of me.

Of course, being on maternity leave is about spending time with your baby. Of course it is. But babies, however much you adore them and would give your last breath for them, are not the most entertaining of creatures in the early days. There's a lot of sleeping, feeding, pooing, crying, and that's it. And it can be a very daunting and worrying time when you don't really know what you're doing half the time and are surviving on next to no sleep.

So having other women to go through that with, to share stories with and above all else to help out with the multitude of unanswered questions and worries every new mum has, really helps. And actually becoming friends with those women, well it's worth it's weight in gold.

That's why I joined the NCT, which is a private charity where you basically pay (a ridiculous amount) to go to antenatal classes with seven other couples who live in your immediate area with babies due within a month of yours. In other words, you pay to meet other mums. To meet other couples whose whole lives are about to be turned upside down as yours is. To have the opportunity to, potentially, hopefully, make friends.

And I have.

I am so so lucky.

Four of the eight of us have become friends. The best of friends. I seem them nearly every day in the week. We laugh. We cry. We talk about our relationships, our deepest fears, our funny stories and about the love we hold for our babies. No one is thought to be showing off when they dazzle us with stories of their child, no one judges when one of us cries because we're so exhausted or moans because our husband is being useless. We share a common sense of humour, and a dislike of our useless NCT councillor who refused to discus pain relief or bottle feeding. We talk about nappies, weaning, the exact consistency, colour and smell of our child's poo and the state of our nether regions. And above all, we talk about life. We bring out the old in each other- the 'before-I-was-a-mummy' side. We talk about makeup, sex, celebrity gossip, good books, our university days, our careers, our families. We take our babies to baby classes together and marvel at how wonderful they are. We play with our babies together who are now at the wonderful age where they are starting to become really interested in each other and enjoy playing as a group. We go for shopping trips, long walks and picnics with the babies sat on a picnic rug. We meet up for pub lunches and nights out and bbqs at the weekends with our husbands.

Having Oliver has changed my life. His presence in my life is the greatest gift I have ever been given. I adore him and he brightens every moment of every day. But second to that is the gift of these three women, who have been my laughter, my companionship and my support on this wonderful journey. My best friends.

x

Ball pool fun

We have a new toy in our house, which has usurped the jumperoo as the new favourite place to be.

A paddling pool, complete with 200 balls and assorted toy treasures, hidden and ready to find with little chubby fingers.

The pool is fantastic as it has high enough sides that if Ollie topples over (still mastering staying upright when distracted by something - like finding Sophie the Giraffe amongst the balls), he is totally cushioned. It is also not ridiculously large so doesn't take over the whole room, AND it can be used as an actual paddling pool in the height of summer.

The balls are soft enough so that, again, in the case of a topple, they are not painful or uncomfortable to lie on (face-forwards, sometimes, totally unfazed). 

Aside from this being a great toy for your baby, I think it promotes motor skills as Ollie is constantly reaching for things, grabbing the balls, passing them from hand to hand etc. It's also good storage for all his loose toys as they are chucked in.

Furthermore, the whole lot is really cheap - the paddling pool retails at Argos for £3.99 and the balls are two packs of 100 for £8. You can also buy a really similar pool and sets of balls in George Asda and Tescos.

Good for chilling out in the garden and entertaining the girlfriends (this is a slightly smaller version belonging to one of the girlfriends - same principle!) :)

What's your baby's favourite place to sit and play?

x