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. 

Loving the baby sling

This weekend was all about walks, and what better way to walk than using a baby sling. There are some lovely lakes near where we live so we decided to go for a quick walk while the sun was out, which in England is very rare and as expected it was very briefly. 

I have found that Seb has a better day if he has some fresh air so I tend to go out almost every day with him. By 'better day' I mean I get to recharge my batteries and therefore I have more patience to tackle the sleepless night. I use both the push chair and the baby sling, but let me tell you why I love the later. 

1. It's cuddle time - who doesn't like cuddles with their little ones? The sling let me do that even if I am out and about

2. Bonding time with dad - it is actually the best excuse to get some 'me' time while dad carry those 13 pounds of love around the shop

3. He gets to be in all the action - Seb is now old enough to be facing forward so all the drools and dribbles are contented on the sling rather than my t-shirt 

4. Freedom - I have both hands free to do other stuff like carrying an umbrella or even take selfies!

5. Sleep - it works every time

6. Spontaneity - It is my best friend on those days when you feel like you want to run away but you really can't. I just put the baby on the sling, go for a walk, and it allows me to escape from the messy house, the dirty dishes, the empty fridge without all the fuff of the push chair. 

Have you got any other positives for using the baby sling?

Funny Memes

This post is going to come back to bite me on the bum. When I am older and living in a care-home, we will know why! But hell, he pulls to many funny faces to let the opportunity pass by... 

Let me know which one is your favourite, or even better, other quotes that can be used with the images. 

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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?

I'm using my son's baby products!

Some baby products I didn't know existed before I had Seb. Now that I have tried them I'm so in love with them that I am sure I will keep buying them long after he has stopped using them. 

1. Baby shampoo 

Who has time to have a proper shower now a days? Most of the time they are a 5 minute soap-only shower, and if I am lucky I might be able to add some shampoo into the mix. 

Well, the other day I tried the baby's shampoo. It was actually a mistake driven by the lack of sleep, but I am so glad it happened because it made my hair look so amazing I couldn't believe it! I have tried it several times after that to make sure it wasn't a one-off, and still loving it.

Let's call it the silver lining from being awake all night. 

2. Baby wipes

Like the shower, I consider myself lucky if I have time to brush my teeth and wash my face in the morning before I have to start changing nappies again. Let alone having time to put some make up on; that would be such a treat - no, actually, sleep would be a treat... 

Anyhow, sometimes I manage to get some make up on, but after giving birth my skin became very sensitive, probably due to the hormones, so I need to make sure I remove it before bed. The problem: I can't, for the love of me, be bother with that step, EVER!

So I tried for the first time one of baby's sensitive skin wipes and it did a great job. Even better than some of the proper make up removal products I have. SCORE - it only took me 30 seconds to get the make up off! 

Read: 5 people who will test your parenting skills

3. Baby oil

There is no time to go to the salon for a "tidy up", so you buy those waxing kits from the supermarket. They are good, but it is extremely annoying to find only two oiled wipes when you are supposed to have several uses from it. I found out something much much better than the oiled wipes, BABY OIL. It works wonders after waxing to heal the skin and lock the moisture.  

Have a go at these products and let me know how you get on. I would love to know if you get the same results as me! Is there any other baby product that you use??? Share the secret!

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!