Eve's first swim

Eve's first swim - 17 weeks old

Last week, a couple of days after Daddy arrived home from Greece, we took Eve swimming for the first time at Henbury Leisure centre in Bristol. 

I worked really hard on getting Eve to 'like' baths whilst Sam was away on his dj tour. Thankfully just one day before Sam got back we had the first bath-time without any tears. Hurrah! This was perfect as I had planned to take Eve swimming during half term (last week) so that Sam could join us whilst he was on holiday.

She fit the swim suit really well which had been leant to us. Though the size 2 Huggies Little Swimmers nappies that I bought were a little bit on the small size. I know they are supposed to be snug but they really did seem small compared to the weight of the baby that they are supposed to fit. Slightly annoying as I had to buy a pack of 12 nappies - but hey ho, I can pass them on to friends for their babies. Hopefully Eve will still just about fit in them for a while as I'm hoping to try to take her swimming each week. I can't wait until the Lido pool is warm enough in the summer so that Sam and I can take her early on a saturday morning.

When we got to the leisure centre they were re-filling the baby pool and due to that it was much cooler than it should have been. However, Eve was a little wonder as usual and didn't cry at all. She looked a bit concerned and clenched her fists the whole time. We were so pleased that she didn't cry when Sam pushed her under the water. What a result! The small things that make a mum happy...

My sister Claire and her boyfriend Jody with Eve and her new Paddington Bear

Eve's first Grand National - watching the race on the tv in the pub. She loved it and then promptly fell asleep.

First time on the jungle play-mat!

First time out of the pram in St Andrews park with Daddy during half term.

We found these glasses whilst on a walk around the harbour with Dan, Ocky and Arthur. I felt a bit bad about taking them but they didn't belong to anyone around us. Eve seemed to like them - well, we found it quite amusing anyway!

 Daddy with Eve in Goldbrick House

Eve's first time in the high chair. She can't eat from it yet but we just love having her next to us when we eat a meal. She definitely seems to enjoy being up with us and not down on the floor in her little bouncer-chair.

Prepping for 'First tastes' of food

My mum came to visit us this week whilst Sam's been away in Greece. With her she brought a big bag of organic parsnips grown by my step-dad Bev. He has an allotment on the cliff by the sea, in Polruan, Cornwall.  I didn't think that I would get round to eating them without Sam here to share them so I cooked them up for one of Eve's first tastes of food.

Eve will be 18 weeks old next week and I'm already excited in anticipation of her starting to eat real food. Guidelines state that babies should not be given food until they are 17 weeks or older, as it can harm their stomachs. Their gastrointestinal function isn't mature until that point. I'm thinking about starting on week 20 - and have already bought little spoons! 

I really enjoyed preparing the parsnip. Freezing it and then popping out the little parsnip cubes was most satisfying. I've now stored them in a freezer bag, so they are ready to go when needed. I can't wait to try other vegetables and fruits.

I've bought organic baby rice to go with purees and milk, but also want to try baby-led feeding as well in six weeks time once she is six months old. I don't see why I can't try both, and I don't want to wait for six weeks until starting on solids so this plan feels right for me and Eve. I understand the thinking behind purees and swallowing compared to baby-led chewing and that chewing should come first but hey ho! Let's see what happens, I'm just going to let Eve do her thing, just like she does the rest of the time with sleeping and playing.

Some great tips for baby-led feeding:

http://www.babyledweaning.com/some-tips-to-get-you-started/

Annabel Karmel's book (above) is really good. It has lots of useful tips, information and ideas. I'm lucky that my lovely sister-in-law Katie Jane leant it to me. I've been enjoying reading through it. Karmel is a leading child nutritionist, her website has lots of useful info too.

http://www.annabelkarmel.com/food-parenting/weaning/introducing-solids

Best first vegetables (babies like the naturally sweet tastes)

Carrot

Potato

Swede

Parsnip

Pumpkin

Butternut Squash

Sweet Potato

Best first fruits

Apple

Pear

Banana (no need to cook)

Papaya (no need to cook)

This morning I cooked up some apples that weren't being eaten, and added a good pinch of cinnamon. Some guidelines state not to give babies herbs and spices until they are 8 months old, but Annabel Karmel says that cinnamon should not cause allergies or upset the digestive system. You could use a cinnamon stick when cooking the apples if you prefer. In my opinion bland food is horrible. There's no reason for babies to have bland food. In India a variety of herbs and curry powders are added to a baby's food from a young age. In Latin America babies are exposed to coriander, cumin and even chilli. As long as you introduce things and wait a few days to make sure the baby is fine then everything should be ok.

Some good ideas for adding different herbs and spices to baby's food:
http://wholesomebabyfood.momtastic.com/tipspices.htm#.U0jlu61g5pU

Springtime in Bristol

Birdcage Walk, Clifton Village, Bristol

We've been having a lovely time whilst Samo-Daddy has been away in Greece. We've missed him lots but have been enjoying our time together.

One lovely afternoon that was memorable this week was seeing Ocky and Arthur. It was a beautifully sunny afternoon so we took the babies out in their baby slings. We walked up to Clifton Village, through Birdcage Walk with Medieval St Andrews Cemetery on either side of us, past the green where St Andrews Church used to be (destroyed during the Blitz of WWII) and on through the village. You feel like you've stepped back through time when you walk under the archway of lime trees.  I volunteered to work with a community gardening group when we first moved to Bristol.  I cut back some of the overgrown foliage that covered many of the graves at that point. It's nice to see the cemetery looking so well kept now. 

Tamo n Eve selfie (ha!)

We stopped and bought a nice cool drink and then sauntered back to my place, chatting about our

baby's and wot not. It was wonderful. Before Sam and I conceived Eve I dreamt about taking our baby for a walk in a sling in the sunshine. Now, it is finally upon me. I cannot help but grin from ear to ear whilst walking around with her like that - it's a real dream come true.

Eve and I have been up to the allotment almost every day this week. I'm so proud of her, she's done so well. She slept for quite a long time on a few occasions which allowed me to do a fair bit of digging - just what the allotment needs. The potatoes are going in this weekend hurrah!

Eve on the allotment - not looking that happy here, though she enjoyed seeing the tiny frogs in the pond and drinking milk in the sunshine.

Sorry, I don't mean to get on the Will n Kate bandwagon but I just have to post this photo of them taken in New Zealand this week. It is just so lovely, they all look so happy.

Prince William and Duchess Catherine with 8 month old baby Prince George 

Grand National Day

Oh ho! It's Grand National Day today... one of my favourite days of the year. My step-dad took me to the bookies on Grand National Day when I was 16 to place my first bet. I won that time and kept winning (small amounts) most years, that is until I met Sam and then my betting luck seemed to shift to him as it's usually him who wins now. (However, he's away so perhaps it's my time to win. Thank you for the money!)

After our morning routine, I put Eve into the baby sling and off we went, down to the bookies on Whiteladies Road. Sam and I have been going there to place our bets for The National in the mornings for years now, bit of a tradition, even though we could do it online, it's so much more fun amidst the atmosphere of the betting shop.

(Ok, so I had to write my bets down outside the shop as children are not allowed in the bookies - thought I might get away with it seeing that she's a baby! - but it was still fun).

I worked at Ladbrokes for a couple of years whilst I was at University at Oxford Brookes. It's so long ago that it was before they brought in the computerised tills - crikey, I sound like an old Grandma already! We had to add it all up in our heads, and add on the tax onto the betting amounts. I'm not that great at maths, but somehow I seemed to get a good understanding of the patterns when adding on tax. It was good fun working there, and there was never a dull moment that's for sure. It's a really fast paced industry to work in, and I got to meet a lot of very interesting and different people. I couldn't believe how many people literally live in the bookies from the moment it opens until the moment it closes...

During my time in Oxford I really enjoyed going to 'the dogs' (dog racing track) with friends quite a few times - you always gotta have a bet on 'the red dog!' It's a shame there isn't a dog track close to Bristol, but there we are, I have others things to do these days anyway.

The infamous Becher's Brook jump

The Grand National is a National Hunt horse race which was first officially run in 1839. It's held annually at Aintree Racecourse in Liverpool. It's a handicap steeplechase over 4 miles 3 and a half furlongs, with horses jumping 30 fences over two circuits.  It is the most valuable jump race in Europe, with a prize fund of £1 million in 2014.

Anyway good people, if you fancy a bit of fun today, and perhaps you've never tried it before, betting on The National is such a joyous thing to do. The betting shops have made it super easy for the general public to bet on The National - you simply have a paper slip with all the names of the horses printed and mark down which ones you want to bet on, and whether you want to bet 'each way' (horse comes in first four places), or 'to win'. It's as easy as that. In the olden days of my time at the bookies it all had to be written down by hand.

Of course you can bet online and will be offered free bets of perhaps £20 to £50 if you sign up.

Just before posting this I saw an advert for  a 'Horse Tracker' app - it's a free app which tracks your horse throughout the race, so that you know exactly what is happening:

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/channel-4-horse-tracker/id618192154?mt=8

Another of my weird routines or superstitious ways is that I never look at the names of the runners until I walk into the bookies. I don't know much about horses or the jockey or the form, I purely go with the names of the horses and my gut feeling - it's more fun that way.  I don't usually put on more than £20 - spread across a few different horses with different odds - you never can tell, a horse that is 100/1 could possibly win it - that's the craziness of The National - really anything can happen!!

To get a free matched £50 bet at Ladbrokes:

http://www.ladbrokes.com/ppc/sports/grandnational/generic1/?AFF_ID=604406&gclid=CN23l8vTx70CFWT4wgodE18AUQ

Go Get 'Em Frenic!

Daddy is off to Greece this morning for his DJ Tour across the country, visiting 9 different city's. I will miss him terribly but am so glad that Eve is here to keep me company.

Tour Manager Dean Hewins - AKA MC Boogaloo Dee - will be taking care of Sam as they go on their travels. I'm very glad that my crazy husband is in good hands!

I am of course disappointed that I could not go with Sam but little Eve requires attention and it wouldn't have been fair to take her along. Even though it will be a lot of fun, there is a good deal of travelling involved and late nights of course - not what a baby needs unfortunately. I'm sad to not be seeing the many friends that we have made in Greece too.

Yesterday Eve had her 16 week jabs, I'm so glad that now these are at an end until after she is one year old. She did very well though, a bit grumbly yesterday but slept a lot and is fine this morning after a good nights sleep. She was weighed on Tuesday and now weighs 12 lb 12 oz, she's even outgrown her first sleeping bag. My sister Claire and her boyfriend Jody visited me and Eve yesterday so we had a nice lunch with them and relaxed the rest of the time at home.

While Dad is away though we can watch the lovely video that I took of him and Eve together the day before he left:



I'm very proud of Sam, he is so talented and works very hard at music production and DJing. I know that his Greek fans are just going to love the show that he puts on for them!

Have a listen through Frenic's Soundcloud account to listen to and download lots of cool tunes:
soundcloud.com/frenic

Here's an oldie but a goodie - one of my favourites - 'Punish Me':

The Idle Parent - Tom Hodgkinson

Tom Hodgkinson writes the family column for The Telegraph newspaper. We were given this book for Christmas from Sam's brother Ben and his partner.

Eve is 4 months old this Thursday. I have only just managed to start picking up books to read - and not for long so far, maybe 20 minutes at a push. But, I am going to make sure that I create more time for reading each day - less tv.

I woke up before Eve the other day and started to read this book. It really captured my attention right from the get-go. He writes humorously, with complete honesty about real life with children. I haven't read it all yet, but I really like what he is saying. It makes complete sense to me.

I had been worrying lately that perhaps I should be doing more things with Eve but this made me realise that perhaps I don't need to push it, or her, or myself. I take her out nearly every day (weather dependent) and she enjoys looking out the window to see what's happening on the street below.  We play on the play-mat and have fun with the hanging animals over her cot everyday, but I leave her to it a lot of the time whilst I'm cleaning, cooking and pottering about. She loves cartoons and I can tell how much she enjoys watching them - however I am trying to make sure that she doesn't watch too much. That said, I can't bear to take her away from an episode of 'Adventure Time' until it's finished.

My husband is going to Greece on Thursday for a 10 day DJ Tour. I am setting a goal that I will finish this book by the time he returns. Let the challenge commence!

Anyway, everyone has completely different ideas on bringing up children, maybe this one is not for you, but maybe it is. Perhaps give it a go and see what you think. I'm not sure if I'll agree with everything he says but I'm definitely looking forward to reading the rest of it.

Like Hodgkinson says "there's carefree and careless, there is a difference".

An article in The Telegraph (2008) by Tom Hodgkinson about his book:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/mother-tongue/familycolumnists/3356183/The-Idle-Parent.html