K is for Knitting

Hello everyone!

As you know, I {heart} crafts. I've been doing a lot of knitting recently. It's the perfect winter occupation for a person like me who has to stay home in the evenings while baby sleeps, has no TV, and doesn't enjoy computer games (my husband's favourite pastime!)

I'm quite slow (read: very slow) at knitting. But that doesn't bother me. It took me until Sophie was almost out of her carrycot to finish the pram blanket! So, I decided to knit her another one. I used a pattern online that I'd been wanting to try for ages. It was actually quite quick to knit because it was on big needles. We use it to keep Sophie warm in her cot at night.

Lovely wavy stripes

Happy baby!

The wool I used is a soft baby double knit wool by Sirdar. In the past I've not usually been too fussy about wool, but I'm getting increasingly 'into' it - oh dear. The trouble is, it can be so expensive! However, if I'm going to spend a lot of time making something, I should use quality materials, right?

Anyway, as a result of all this knitting, I've got a stack of hats, hairbands, and hot water bottle covers ready to give as Christmas gifts. When will I find the time to make something for myself?!

Laura x

Breakfast special: American pancakes

Baby-led weaning is more like baby-led mess a lot of the time. Here's Sophie demolishing some Oatibix, which she loves, and some banana:

Most days, we eat cereal, toast, fruit, or porridge for breakfast, but some days I like to make something special. One of our favourites is pancakes, or drop scones as they're often called this side of the Atlantic.

American pancakes

Takes 15 minutes

Makes about 8-10 pancakes (easily doubled)

125g flour

150ml milk

1 egg

Oil or butter for frying

Whisk the egg and milk together. Make a well in the flour and gradually add the milk mixture, whisking all the time until it forms a thick, smooth paste. 

Heat some oil or butter in a large non-stick frying pan. Lower the heat to medium. Drop tablespoons of the batter into the pan and cook for 2-3 minutes. Flip, and cook 1-2 minutes on the other side. 

We eat ours with maple or golden syrup, fruit, or yoghurt. Sophie absolutely loves them for breakfast, lunch, or dinner! 

They freeze really well between sheets of greaseproof paper. 

Variations: add fruit (blueberries, banana, raspberries...), cooked vegetables or grated cheese to the batter.

Baby destination inspiration

It's Tuesday, it's half term, and it's wet. Urgh. In half term, almost all baby and toddler activities are cancelled. So this morning (after getting Sophie weighed - she is now a hefty 8.4kg or 18lb 8oz!) I met with some other mummies and babies at the Central Library. The babies had a great time exploring all the books and generally creating havoc, but it was lacking something for the mummies - something hot, energising, and decadent... coffee! One of the other mummies commented that it's a shame there aren't many baby-friendly places to go in the city centre. Sure, there are plenty of cafes, but hardly any of them have enough room for a herd of giant prams and the associated rabble of noisy, crawling, teething babies. Funnily enough, at the clinic this morning the Children's Centre manager and I were talking about the exact same problem, and I joked that I should set up a children's cafe in the city. Maybe not such a funny idea? Mummies could come with their babies and toddlers to a safe place with toys, good changing facilities, baby-friendly food, and lots of coffee (and cake, of course!). Food for thought for me, as I prepare for life as a stay-at-home-mum. (Which, by the way, I'm really excited about - though I haven't yet told my employer and that will be a difficult conversation!)

Just imagine a whole cafe filled with faces like this one:

We'd need a lot of baby wipes!

Baby-led weaning

Sophie's nearly eight months now, and for the past six weeks or so we have been venturing into the realms of solid food alongside her milk feeds. However, like a lot of parents, we are eschewing the traditional pureed veg, baby rice and stewed fruit in favour of 'baby-led weaning'. This involves allowing Sophie to feed herself a range of family foods - not mashed, not puréed - from the start. In practice this has meant giving her finger foods to play with and eat if she wishes. She's tried all sorts: steamed carrot, broccoli and corn; baked sweet potato and chicken; rice cakes, pitta bread, and toast; banana, avocado and steak. Since starting, the amount she has eaten has definitely increased, and even though a lot of food still ends up on the floor, she's certainly eating a fair amount. Believe me, I can tell.

Before I started to think about weaning, I was all in favour of baby purees, and even got as far as researching ice cube trays to freeze portions in. Then I found out about baby-led weaning, read the book (by Gill Rapley) and was convinced it was the way to go. Yes, it is very messy, and yes, it is a slower transition from milk only to predominantly solids than with spoon-feeding, but there are so many advantages:

• No need to prepare separate foods (this is a big one for me, as I am lazy)
• Baby continues to manage her own appetite, as she has all along when breastfeeding
• Helps development of motor skills (Sophie can now pick up and eat a slimy piece of avocado, which she couldn't even almost do a week ago)
• Baby learns to chew first, swallow second - the thinking is that this reduces the risk of choking compared to puree-fed babies who don't know how to cope when food with lumps is introduced
• Baby is part of family meals
• Baby can explore a range of tastes and textures from the beginning
• Apparently babies weaned this way are generally less fussy eaters than babies who are spoon-fed

It's really not that radical, loads of families do it (whether by design or accident - apparently when there's more than one child at home the older ones like to feed anything and everything to the baby), and even the NHS is moving increasingly towards recommending it as a great method of transitioning from milk alone to proper food. I'm absolutely not opposed to families choosing to wean their babies in the more 'traditional' way (though apparently it's only really 'traditional' in modern Western culture), as it clearly works for some, but I'm glad I don't have to mash up carrots as a pastime, or play aeroplane games to get my baby to eat!

Babies don't keep

A poem by Ruth Hulbert Hamilton:

Mother, O Mother, come shake out your cloth,
Empty the dustpan, poison the moth,
Hang out the washing, make up the bed,
Sew on a button and butter the bread.
Where is the mother whose house is so shocking?
She's up in the nursery, blissfully rocking.

Oh, I've grown as shiftless as Little Boy Blue,
Lullaby, rockabye, lullaby loo.
Dishes are waiting and bills are past due,
Lullaby, rockabye, lullaby loo.
The shopping's not done and there's nothing for stew,
And out in the yard there's a hullabaloo,
But I'm playing Kanga and this is my Roo,
Lullaby, rockabye, lullaby loo.

The cleaning and scrubbing can wait til tomorrow,
For children grow up as I've learned to my sorrow.
So quiet down cobwebs;
Dust go to sleep!
I'm rocking my baby, and babies don't keep.

Sophie's new blog

Sophie has a blog!

sophieannlouise.blogspot.co.uk

April already

Where did March go?

We've done lots of fun things recently. We took Sophie on her first holiday, to the Lake District.

Sophie has also been having a little bit of food. Lots of mess has ensued!

We had a visit from Nana, Grandad and Aunty Rachel. I made my usual Easter nests, and some simnel muffins, fruity and delicious and much less rich than traditional simnel cake. It doubled as a birthday tea party for Dad / Grandad!

Sophie's getting bigger, stronger, and more fun by the day. Here's a recent photo. I couldn't do a blog post and not include one!

Finally finished!

I started knitting a lace baby blanket for Sophie when I was only a month or so pregnant. I finally finished it last week! It should keep her warm in her pram as we approach spring. There are crocuses out in our back garden now. I can feel the air getting warmer!

My next projects are a baby jumper for friends who are expecting a little boy in May, an easy colourful stripy blanket for Sophie's cot, and to finish the jumper that I started making for myself about two years ago. No more new projects until they are done!

Here's an utterly gratuitous new picture of Sophie!

Recently

Sophie's first lunch with mummy and papa in M&S Cafe

Learning to lift my head

This year's Christmas cakes

And our Christmas Day desserts

A hand-knitted present for baby James

Our Christmas reindeer!

Introducing Sophie

It's been a while since my last post. Things took an unexpected turn and we have been somewhat busy since then. Our little girl Sophie was born at 12.06 on Tuesday 4 September, six weeks and two days early, weighing 3lb 14oz at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford. She arrived in a hurry, came out screaming, stayed in hospital for ten days, and has been bringing joy and night wakings to us ever since! We have been overjoyed to see her grow and progress. She's more or less doubled in size since she was born, and she gets more beautiful each and every day. Nick and I absolutely adore her and she is starting to show signs of adoring us, which makes my heart feel like it will burst.

The first few weeks at home with a tiny baby who could not breastfeed consistently were very hard. Sterilising bottles and expressing breast milk on a four-hourly routine was laborious, tiring, time consuming and a bit soul destroying. But seeing our Sophie grow and thrive made it all worthwhile. We have been blessed with amazing help from family, friends, and some wonderful professionals who have made all the difference to us. I am certain that I would have given up breastfeeding had I not had such help and encouragement. Happily Sophie is now fully breastfed and although we don't get it absolutely right each and every time, she is growing and is for the most part a happy baby. Parenthood is easy, broken sleep is hard, but we are getting through it as a team and we are so thankful for our gorgeous girl.