Food, glorious food

Today we've spent most of the day indoors. It's been windy and stormy outside and we only left the house to go to the baby clinic to have Una weighed.

The health visitor was mildly concerned about her weight curve dropping slightly. She is still in the same percentile she has been in for the last 3 months, but she is in the lower part of the line. She started off in the 75th as a newborn, but is now on the bottom of the 25th. If she goes any lower she will be in the 9th. The health visitor gave me some advice about weaning and upping her calorie intake to get her weight up. I am not overly worried and definitely don't want to get in to a pattern of fussing over her eating and creating a problem. She is not a big eater and she never has been, but I will think of ways to boost her calorie intake, such as adding cream and butter to her food. I have also been giving her oat porridge for breakfast, which I know is very filling. I might start giving her greek yoghurt instead, she should more calories in that way. I was also advised to cut back her afternoon bottle (she normally drinks 8 ounces) so she might eat more at dinner time. in any case, I am not worried. She is very alert and active and I have no reason to believe that she is malnourished. We musn't forget that these guidelines are, well, guidelines. They are not set in stone and I know my daughter better than a health visitor and a chart in a red book. Enough about that.

One thing I finally got done today was ordering some photo prints online. I want to make Una a photo album and also frame some baby pictures. We only have one picture of her framed so far (dis-organised, as usual!). They should be delivered in a couple of days, very exciting. I miss the days when photos were physical things you could frame and flick through in actual photo albums, rather than facebook ones.

Now Una is in bed and I am going to make myself some dinner and hang the washing. James gets back from a week in Ireland tonight so I'll be staying up late to wait for him to come home.

Dinner and breakfast

We are about to head out to playgroup this morning and have just enjoyed out breakfast together. Una had blueberry porridge, I had a boiled egg and blueberry yoghurt. We are almost on time this morning, I just need to make my face look decent and then we will head out in the sunshine. I am going to attempt to walk sloooowly, to prevent me being so flustered and soaked in sweat (yuk) when I get there.

Yesterday we met up with Aga for lunch at Westfield. I got Una a few tops in H&M but am no nearer to finding her some winter clothes. Too stressful. I'll try again another day.
We had lunch in Wagamama. Cheap and predictable (in a good way). Una had cuddles with Aga.
 
Afterwards we caught the bus back to Aga's to have coffee. We ended up having such a lovely afternoon and she invited me to stay for dinner. Steve, her food and drinks enthusiast boyfriend, rustled us up a pre-dinner french martini before cooking us a delicious sausage and bean cassoulet. Steve has a  very interesting cocktail website, check it out! It's full of boozy news and recipes. Una was a delight as usual, sleeping in my arms by the end of the evening, before we headed home at around 9.30. It was such a great!

Halloween dinner

Friday night my sister and my friends Kathi and Ema came over for dinner. Ema is gluten intolerant and Kathi and Sabina are vegetarians, so I had a challenge in creating the menu! I decided to make a few different dishes that everyone could pick at. I love buffet style food. I could make it all in advance so I was able to relax and enjoy the evening, rather than being stuck in the kitchen.

Feta, spinach and pine nut quiche, with an almond and sesame seed crust.
Wheat free crepes with a creamy mushroom and tarragon filling, topped with parmesan.
Warm puy lentil, halloumi and cherry tomato salad.

Dessert - Chocolate mousse.
Cheese board


We had a brilliant evening. The conversation flowed really well, in fact we were all fighting to get a word in!



As the night wore on and the bottles of wine were emptied, one by one, we got more and more silly.
Ema had brought a pumpkin that she tried her best to carve in to a lantern. She didn't do a bad job, though it doesn't have a lid and looks a bit on the happy side. Good effort nonetheless. It was a fantastic night and such a great way to celebrate Halloween, much better than running around some nightclub in a silly costumes.

Winter wear confusion

God morning! Today Una and I are going to Westfield to get her some winter clothes. The weather has really turned cold in the last few days and I haven't even got Una a winter coat or gloves yet (disorganised as usual). I only just got a footmuff for the pram a couple of weeks ago.... I

am totally confused about what to get though. If I lived in sweden I would obviously get her a warm and cosy snowsuit. I'm not sure if that is necessary here in London or if I should just get her a little coat? Will her little legs be warm enough with just the footmuff? Confused. I'm hoping I'll have some sort of epiphany at the shops. I definitely need to get her some little mittens and a good hat.

We might also meet for coffee with a friend who lives in the area. I better get off my ass and get myself ready for the day while Una naps.

Una time

Una and I have had the flat to ourselves this weekend and it's been a busy couple of days. Friday night I had a little dinner party, I'll show you some photos tomorrow. Saturday I was feeling a tiny bit fragile, so I spent most of the day chilling out at home before going out for some food with Sabina and my friend Kathi. Today I had a friend over for lunch. She is the sister of one of my best friends who moved away a few months ago. I hadn't seen her since then so it was great to catch up. I wanted to cook something quick and simple, so we just had scrambled eggs with smoked salmon and roasted asparagus. For dessert I had baked a kladdkaka, a swedish sticky chocolate cake. We had that with whipped cream and raspberries and nice cup of coffee. She had got Una some cute pyjamas on a recent trip to New York, so sweet of her.

It's cold and miserable outside so Una and I have enjoyed the rest of the day indoors. The flat is nice and tidy, it's quiet and I have been able to relax and focus on spending time with my little girl. As cheesy as it sounds, I love her more every day that passes and cherish all the little things like playing peekaboo, making her laugh, kisses and cuddles. Last night she slept in the bed with me and I absolutely love having her next to me all night. I could happily sleep like that every night, but I know she sleeps very well in her cot so it would be quite selfish of me keep her in the bed every night for my own sake. It is tricky walking that fine line of showering your child in love and affection and enjoying them, whilst encouraging their independence and not smothering them. I could hug and kiss her all day long, but I am pretty sure she needs time to play and explore without a needy mum attached to her all the time!

Now Una is in bed and I have just had some dinner and am about to enjoy a piece of cake for dessert. I am a pretty sociable person but it is nice to have the flat to myself for a change, I've lit candles, am watching crappy TV and will heading to bed early.

Morning muffins

Una decided to wake up at 6.30 this morning, she's been doing that a lot lately. I took her in to bed with me, in the vain hope she might go back to sleep. Instead she shouted in my ear, kicked and pinched me until I finally gave in and got up at around 7. We had a nice morning, chilling out before she went down for a nap. We are going to my friends house this afternoon to hang out and I have promised to bring us treats, so I decided to bake some chocolate muffins. She is pregnant and so in my opinion deserves lots of treats. I used the quickest and simplest recipe I could find, of course. They looked like they had turned out fine but of course I needed to taste them, just to make sure. Just a small piece.

Before I knew it I had devoured the whole thing, so I guess they got the seal of approval. Or maybe I am just greedy.

Now Una is playing and I am about to write a shopping list before heading to Sainsbury's to get supplies for the dinner I am cooking tomorrow, I have three girls coming over for some food, wine and a good chat.

Yummy Mummy vs Slummy Mummy.

The days and weeks are flying by at an unbelievable speed. Even though I get up earlier than ever before and have developed serious multitasking skills I never seem to get around to all the things I need to do. Una is more active and so requires more time and attention. She is also highly entertaining which means I want to chat and play with her while she is awake, rather than trying to get stuff done. I really wonder how mothers manage to have several kids, a full time job and neat and tidy houses. I have none of the above. Nevertheless we are getting on fine, I am trying to enjoy every day that passes and not worry to much about the mess. We went to Rookie Rockers this morning, as we do every Wednesday, and Una loved it as usual. I met a couple of Swedish mums there, which was nice. Yesterday we attended a playgroup in Holland Park and I met a Swedish mum there as well. Must be something in the air.

When I was pregnant I planned to do lots of activities as a mum. I imagined myself as some kind of baby-mummy-group social butterfly. Looking glowing and slim in some cool outfit, with a cute baby kitted out in an equally cool outfit, I would whiz around all the West London kiddie activities, take away coffee in hand. Baby yoga, baby massage, underwater swimming classes, baby cinema, coffee mornings....the possibilities where endless and the imaginary diary booked up.

As it turns out, I am still the lazy, forgetful, clumsy and disheveled person I was prior to having a baby. Actually, scratch that. I am more forgetful, clumsy and disheveled than I used to be. If you ever hang around West London and spot a woman with her hair in Britney-style messy bun, wearing porridge stained jeans, practically running down Clarendon Road with a crazed look in her eyes, it'll be me running late for playgroup again. When arriving at playgroup, after my sprint, I am usually so sweaty and flustered that it takes a good half an hour before I am able to compose myself and have a normal conversation with all the chic, together looking mums. How they do it, I'll never know. Any yummy mums reading this feel free to pass on your secrets. In the meantime I will continue enjoying being a slummy mummy.


Slumming it on the floor with Una against a backdrop of washing in various states.

Saturday

Our day started at 7.15 this morning, Una drank her morning bottle slowly, slowly, like she always does. I had some breakfast before handing her over to James so I could go to a spinning class at 9.45. It was my second spin experience and I enjoyed it. I think it will become part of my weekly routine. Once home I gave Una a bath and whizzzed around the flat tidying, washing up and putting a wash on. We've now had a big lunch of sausages, white pudding, potato cakes and fried eggs and I am about to Skype with my friend Maria. After that I'll need to quickly get myself ready and then head out with Una to meet my sister in Scandi Kitchen for coffee. There are not enough hours in the day!

Hello!

And I've done it again. Dropped off the face of the earth. I am wholly incapable of blogging on holiday and the past couple of months have been full of those. We returned from Sicily a couple of weeks ago and since then I've just been busy with... well, life!
Recent achievements includes getting a high chair for Una. I am in disbelief of how quickly she is growing and developing, thus not quite keeping up with the new things she requires. She is on three meals of solids a day now and really enjoying it. She also sleeps through the night now, from around 7.30 in the evening to 7.30 am on a good day, sometimes waking early at 6.30. I knew she would sleep through when she was ready, if I just gave her time. My clever little girl.
I'm writing this on my phone as I wait for this evenings body pump class to begin, multitasking at its best. It's not just the blog that's been neglected over the last couple of months, the gym has too.