My son has special powers

Ever since he was a tiny newborn I have noticed he was different, special. Of course he is special, he is mine and I am biased!. But what I noticed was something different, something I couldn't really put my finger on. And after a few weeks into motherhood it hit me: he is a psychic! 

Let me explain how I got to this conclusion: 

1. He can sense when we are about to eat: EVERY SINGLE TIME! It doesn't matter if it's lunch or dinner, and it doesn't matter if we keep changing our meal time to confuse him! He knows exactly when the hot meal is on the table so he will kick up a fuss because he doesn't want to miss out. How dare us leave him out?! At the end of the day a warm unreheated meal is overrated, right? 

2. He wakes up at any attempt of laying him flat, except when it's on mom and dad's bed: you have spent the best part of an hour rocking him to get him to sleep. He is in your arms asleep and you feel victorious, so you start the walk to the moses basket. As slowly as possible, you are even tiptoeing, you put him down. But wait, your arm is stuck under his head, Damn! You consider sleeping on the floor like that or attempting to get it out. You try, but at the sightliest move he wakes up and resets all what you've done to zero. You need to start again! Slow, fast, with a hot water bottle to heat up his spot beforehand, nothing!!! Every time: fail! Unless... He is in the big bed. How does he know?!?!?

Read Next: 3 Things As Scariest As Birth

3. He can tell the difference between you standing and you sat down: the oldest trick in the book and the one that never fails is gently bouncing the baby while vigorously moving him left to right. It is the last resort and it normally comes accompanied by you walking in circles around the room in an attempt to calm yourself down too. Finally, the little cherub is calm and asleep in your arms so you slowly stop the walking (but continue all the other moves) and prepare to sit down because, who needs all that exercise?! you have to save your energy for getting in and out of bed ten times tonight. But he knows! As soon as you feel that comfy sofa on your bum and you excel with relief he starts crying again which only makes you bounce back to the standing position like a spring. But how does he... Oh, who cares...

Being Spontaneous

One thing I've learnt while living in England, is that you need to be spontaneous if you want to make the most of a sunny day. Chances are you will wake up to a sunny morning and decide right there and then to make the most of it by having a picnic near a lake or river, or driving down to the beach or having a BBQ. 

Well, being spontaneous has a whole new meaning once you have a baby. It's almost impossible to leave the house quickly when you have to consider nap times, feed times and sudden poop explosions. By the time you actually leave it'll be raining or it is so late that the idea of being stuck in traffic with a hungry baby makes you set up the picnic in the living room of your house. 

To avoid disappointments here are some tips that will hopefully help you leave the house quicker. You have probably been awake since 6am anyway so you will most likely beat the traffic!

1. Keep at least one picnic blanket, cool box and a beach towel in the car

2. Before the weekend comes group the beach/picnic essentials and put them somewhere they are easy to find and reach. There is nothing more time consuming that running around the garage trying to find the beach umbrella, recliners, etc. 

3. Keep the baby sunscreen and a spare hat in the baby bag

4. If you know the baby is due for a nap but you're still not ready to go, put him on the car seat (or push chair) so if he falls asleep the disruption is minimal

5. Always, and I mean, ALWAYS be prepared for the rain

6. Stop quickly by the supermarket to buy snacks: when you're trying to be spontaneous there is no cooking involved, just get some crisps and sandwiches from the supermarket

7. Go somewhere you have been before: there is no time to waste trying to discover new picnic places or beach spots, you can't plan ahead the route, so just pick somewhere you have been before 

8. Go with the flow: if you manage to get out of the house at all then you should consider yourself lucky, so if you change your mind and decide to stop by the country pub and have a family lunch instead then enjoy it. 

Carrot Cake

This cake is a family favorite, and it is so quick and easy to make! For the cake on the picture I used two different size cake tins, but I have also done it before using just one cake tin and cutting the cake through the middle to fill it with frosting. Let me know how you get on! 

Ingredients
300g caster sugar (or brown sugar, or any sugar)
3 eggs
300ml sunflower oil
300g plain flour
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
300g grated carrots
100g chopped shelled walnuts

Cream Cheese Frosting
300g icing sugar
50g unsalted butter at room temperature
125g cream cheese, cold

Preheat the oven to 170 degrees C

Put the sugar, eggs and oil in a bowl and mix using a handheld electric whisk like me (or if you are lucky use your KitchenAid) until the ingredients are well incorporated. Now add all the dry ingredients: the flour, bicarbonate of soda, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, salt and vanilla extract and continue to beat until well mixed. 

Finally, add the grated carrots and walnuts and mix by hand with a spatula. 

Pour the mixture into the prepared cake tin (I coat the tin with butter and flour, I am rubbish at using greaseproof paper) and bake in the preheated over for 25-30 minutes, or until golden brown or like me, use a skewer or toothpick to see if it's cooked. Leave the cake to cool down before putting the cream cheese frosting over it. 

Cream Cheese Frosting: Using your hands, mix together the icing sugar and butter until there is almost no more loose icing sugar. You can use an electric whisk or mixer to do this but a cloud of icing sugar will raise from the bowl and you be tasting the sugar from your utensils for all eternity (so you might want to cover the bowl when mixing). Add the cream cheese in one go and beat until it's completely incorporated. Continue beating until the frosting is light and fluffy. Do not overbeat as it can quickly become runny. 

Dummy: Love or Hate?

I find myself in a love-hate relationship at the moment with the dummy. It makes my life easier in some desperate moments, but equally terribly miserable some other times. Let me explain to you why...

It all started a couple of weeks after he was born, in one of those nights when there was nothing I could do to stop him crying. 

Even before I had him I knew I wasn't going to be one of those moms, you know, the ones that use the dummy as a cork to quiet my boy. I would totally understand what he needed and calmly work things out with him. No way; no child of mine would ever use it, ever I say! How deluded was I?! 

So on that particular night I found it, hidden away between the toys on the shelf, the dummy I got as a present and I promised never to use. 

I was desperate, I would have even accepted an exorcism if it meant it would make him stop crying. So I crumbled and gave it to him, and it was love at first sight! Suddenly the room was quiet, and I could here the snoring of my husband (over the ringing of my ears). And so it began... 

Sometimes I gave it to him to make him fall asleep, sometimes he would spit it out and I knew he was hungry. It was my safety blanket when out and about because I knew if things got out of control I would stop all the looks from other customers at the coffee shop with it. The dummy made everything better. It was magic... It was love! 

But then, without me even realising it, it got out of control! I would use it every time all the time, and my baby would ask for it all the time too! I couldn't, for the love of me, make him go to sleep without it.

And then it started... The hate. 

He would wake up at night crying for it. He wasn't hungry or needing a nappy change, he just didn't know how to go back to sleep without it. I would give it to him, he would then go back to sleep and I would go back to bed only to hear it falling from his mouth and knowing I would have to get up again, and again... And again...

I used to play with the idea that I had mental powers. That if I thought about it strong enough the dummy would stay in his mouth for another 20 minutes but it would never work. 

Now here I am, at 4am in bed after I have given him the dummy, knowing that I will have to go to his room soon because I have heard it fall; hoping that he will grow out of it so don't have to go through the "letting him cry himself to sleep" tactic... 

So let me ask you, is it Love or is it Hate?

7 Must-Have Apps For New Moms

As a new mom I suddenly found myself overloaded with things to do and no time to do anything... You have no idea how demanding this 8 pounds size human can be! Here are my top apps that are making my life easier and hope they will help me through the first year:

1. Meal Planner Pal (free)


Awesome app to organized the meals for the week so the husband knows exactly what to cook each day! 

2. Relax Melodies (free)

It has white noise to help the baby sleep (including the vacuum cleaner!), and all sort of other melodies. The best part is that you can mix two or more sounds to create your own relaxing melody. 

3. The wonder weeks (paid)

I love this app! It gives you personalized information about your baby's development that not only explain the periods of fuzziness of your baby but also how to help him achieve the new skills for his age. 

4. WebMD Baby (free)

I have spent so much time on this app! Thanks to it I have only called the doctor twice a week instead of, well, constantly! 

5. Baby Tracker (free)

Believe me when I tell you that you will get obsessed with poop, sleep and eat. So you better keep track with this app. 

6. Shopping apps (free)

It is not all about the baby, you can't forget about yourself! Here you have loads to choose from, my favorites are Asos, H&M and Topshop.

7. Kick ass games (various)

When you are done online shopping why don't you just kill some time at 2am by playing a game? The crowd's favorites are Candy Crush (of course!), Hay Day and Fruit Ninja. 

Is there any other app that has make your life easier after your baby was born? I would love to know!

4 signs your baby is teething

Teething is an unsettling time for a baby and for a parent, so it is completely understandable for you to have spent the last three days researching in Dr Google exactly the symptoms and how to help your baby through this time. 

It is reassuring to know that it could happen at around 6 months... hold on, it could happen from birth... oh no no, from 18 weeks... well, clearly nobody really knows exactly, so I just hope the below can put your mind at ease!

1. Dribbling and drooling

If you have to use several bibs in one day or change his clothes because they are wet then that is a definite sign he is teething... Or it could be that he is just a baby and that you actually have the type that drools as much as a Great Dane!

2. Hands in his mouth 

If your baby constantly has his fingers, hands or fist in his mouth then he is definitely teething. Even more so if he has both fists in his mouth, which is pretty impressive so please take a picture and share it! ... Or it could be that he is just a baby and is discovering his mouth. 

Read: The Odyssey of His First Night Alone

3. Flushed cheeks 

This is a sure sign your baby is teething because of the pressure of the teeth trying to break through the gum are making his cheeks flush... Or maybe you just need to turn the heating down or give those oh-so-kissable cheeks a rest.

4. He is really cranky and cries all the time 

If your baby is really unsettle and cries more than usual then he is most likely teething... Or he might be just hungry, or needs a nappy change, or is going through a growth spurt, or he might just need you to get your head out of Dr. Google and pay him some attention! 

So if your baby presents any of the above he must be teething, but just in case let's call the Dr. for a third time this week just to be completely sure. At the end of the day, it's our right as first time moms!

If you want real information why don't you try the NHS website, or BabyCentre. 

The Motherhood Pact of Secrecy

Have you ever been afraid to go on a roller coaster? and your friends trick you by telling you it’s not bad at all? And then when you are stuck in it, at the very top, they turn around and laugh at you because it is actually worse than you have ever imagined? Well, may be the roller coaster example doesn't apply to you, but you get the gist, right?

I have a theory: I think moms take an oath, a pact of secrecy, not to tell anybody about how difficult motherhood really is. From pregnancy, to the oh-so-horrific birth, to the weeks and months to come with a newborn.

“Motherhood sometimes sucks, and this is why” – I wish someone had said that to me when I asked, instead of the repetitive “it’s hard to explain”. Let’s be honest, as if there was nothing to tell people! It is not a crime to admit you didn’t enjoy breastfeeding, or that you didn’t like the newborn stage, or that after 6 months you are still struggling with the lack of sleep.  Why don’t we honestly talk about it?

Read: The odyssey of his first night alone 

I am not stupid, I knew motherhood wasn’t going to be easy, and I know everyone is different, but let’s start sharing! I wish women feel more comfortable talking about it. I mean, REALLY talking about it.

So next time someone asks you, don’t try to mask it by pointing at that tiny human giving you those toothless smiles, just tell them as it is. At the end of the day, they are asking you for a reason, don’t waste their time. Think about it as the Sisterhood of Motherhood, where moms get the support they need to go through it.

4 hospital bag must haves

Packing my hospital bag felt like I was packing for a holiday abroad. It was exciting and nerve wracking. The prospect of this new baby you have been waiting for so long and the fear that overcomes you when you put that tiny nappy on the bag knowing that you have never changed one before (don't worry, you will be sick and tired of nappies soon). 

I had my bag ready three months before the due date, but I think I must have unpack it and re-pack it every week. And still, when I was in hospital I realized there were some things that I needed. Nobody tells you about these things, so here they are...

1. Baby nail clipper

As you probably know babies are born with hair and finger nails. What you don't realize is that those tiny fingernails are like razor blades; 10 tiny very sharp razor blades. 

So pack the clippers and take advantage of how much they sleep on the first few days. Your boobs and probably the rest of your body will thank you for it. 

2. Nappy rash cream

The advice says with water and cotton you are good, but the baby's delicate skin is constantly exposed to pee and poops. Seriously, for being something so tiny the volume of poop that comes out of them is ridiculous. The last thing you want is also having to deal with nappy rash, so don't forget the cream.

3. Bottles

You really don't know how baby feeding is going to go. You might be ok with breastfeeding from day one, or you might struggle. In case of the latter it is better to be prepared, and have a couple of bottles of your choosing sterilised in your bag. At the end of the day the baby needs feeding, and in case breastfeeding doesn't as expected it's better to use your own bottles rather than hospital ones.  

4. The mother of all treats 

Is there a chocolate bar or packet of biscuits that you have always wanted but never bought because you thought the price was a bit too much? Well, this is your chance to get that treat and put it in your bag. At the end of the day, you just push a watermelon size baby out, you deserve it and there is no better time to indulge/celebrate with it. 

5 people who will test your parenting skills

Being a first time mom is hard. You are suddenly responsible for this tiny human being that is so incredible demanding, and let's be honest, you have no idea what you are doing. 

I find myself doubting about every single thing I do. "Is this the best brand of nappies?" "Is this the best washing tablet for your delicate skin?" "Why are you still crying?!?! I've fed you, changed you, fed you again. Is it your ear? Or your throat? Or a rare condition that I might not be aware of?!?! Let's call the doctors for the third time this week". 

It is hard work, especially when you feel you are playing it by ear every day. So imagine on top of that having people second guess you?! 

1. Your own mom

My mom is a pretty good starting point as a role model goes. And in all honesty, I think she has done a pretty good job! So it is hard not to doubt yourself when she second guesses you. 

I personally have to deal with questions like "isn't the baby sleeping too much?", "which doctor recommended the formula powder you are using?", or my favourite "his cheeks are pink, are you sure he doesn't have a fever?!?!" (to give you some context, this was through Skype). This last one sends me into panic mode and even though I know for a fact he doesn't have a fever I still get the thermometer out and check him at least three times to be sure. 

2. Your mother in law

It is point 1 all over again, but the difference is you cannot tell her to back off. 

3. Friends with no kids 

I have to admit, I used to be one of those. Having to be louder than the kids running around you in order to have a conversation, or having to arrange a get together way to far in advance so they can arrange for babysitters, used to put me in the worst mood. "How do they let it get so bad?" I used to think. "When I have kids I will still have time for uninterrupted conversations" I used to tell myself.

I now know what it feels like to be on the other side, and it's not remotely as easy as you thought it would be when you didn't have them. 

4. People at a restaurant, at the shops, on the street (you name it)

Have you ever had the need to explain to complete strangers why your baby won't stop crying?

Those moments when you need a break from the routine and the cream coloured walls of your living room. You decide it is safe to go for walk into town and have a coffee. And then, as soon as you sit down, all hell breaks free and there is nothing you can do to calm your baby down. 

It is so hard trying to avoid all the disapproving looks from everybody at the coffee shop. Even the ones that smile at you because they want to be nice! You know deep inside that they are thinking you are a terrible mom! 

5. Your own baby

Nobody, and I mean, nobody, will put your skills to the test more than your own kid. They are born with special powers to push your sanity to the limit, and it doesn't matter if they are a baby, a toddler or a teenager, they will have no mercy when they use this power.  

It is impossible not to feel like you are been judged all the time. Therefore I have a mantra that I repeat to myself every day (sometimes twice a day if it has been one of THOSE days): "he is still alive so you must be doing something right, you are clearly awesome".

Perhaps there are people that make you doubt how good a parent you are? I would love to know so put it in a comment below. 

7 Positives Of Having A Baby

Despite of having a cynical view about motherhood, I decided to start the blog on a positive note – and I actually found seven!

1. You can spend the day on your pyjamas

2. Having a glass of wine every day of the week is mandatory to survive

3. You don’t need a dietitian – the baby keeps you so busy that you barely have time to eat

4. He is the best contraceptive – after a 36hs labour, don’t even think about it! EVER!

5. Out of the blue you have the most amazing cleavage

6. Because of the new amazing rack, you have a perfect excuse to go shopping and renew your wardrobe

7. He is the best listener and knows exactly what to say – you can complain to him about how hard all this is and he will reply with the most beautiful toothless smiles

Read: 4 hospital bag must haves