Comforters

Daddy and Eve out for a stroll on one of their mornings together

It's so great being able to share information online.  I love writing this blog in the hope that some of our experiences, good or bad will help someone out there.  It's great when it happens the other way round too. After my last post about Eve's sleep a friend messaged me to say that I should get her a soft fleece blanket that she could use as a comforter when she's in bed.

As I mentioned, we've been giving her a muslin prior to that in bed so I thought I'd give the fleece a try for sure.  I looked online but wasn't that blown away by what I saw, so I dashed into town on my lunch break this week and popped into Primarni (always best to go there during the week, Saturdays just don't bare thinking about).  I bought a really lovely, soft fleece blanket for £4. Fairly simple in a pink colour with white polka dots and a small embroidered logo.  It is a good size - not too big, which some of the ones I saw online were.

There are so many styles of fleece out there and because they're a micro-fibre are pretty cheap to buy.

Eve has taken to her new fleece blanket very well. That night I picked her up from nursery and she was crying already, just in a vest, soaked in drool and not looking well at all.  I know the staff at the nursery are good and look after her well, I just always think that they don't give her medicine in good time.  They always seem to leave it until it's too late and she's in mega pain.  I suppose it's difficult for them as she is not their child and they are still getting to know her.  As a parent, the 'when do I administer medicine' saga gets easier and easier over time. The early days were crazy, whilst she screamed waiting for the medicine to work.  Now Sam and I are on it and can tell as soon as she looks under the weather and don't bash an eyelid about giving her a spoonful.

I carried her home up the hill going absolutely ballistic.  I could tell she was in agony but there wasn't anything I could do as I was laden with bags, it was dark and cold so I couldn't really stop.  She writhed around in the sling as I tried to tell her that we'd be home in a few minutes.  As I approached the Co-op the bottom of my bag broke and everything I was carrying fell on the pavement - one of 'those' moments you really don't need.  Poor Eve was still screaming and people were looking at us. Thankfully a lovely builder chap came over and picked up my stuff for me.  He nipped into the shop and grabbed a carrier bag and helped me put everything into it.  Phew! These are the things that put your faith back into humanity.

Hurrah for friendship!

That night even though Eve was ill she really didn't sleep too well and was hugging on to her fleece.

The last couple of nights have been the same.  She's woken up, but hasn't drunk much, just likes to cuddle up to me holding on to her blanket.  One time with Sam she just stayed in the cot whilst he rubbed her back and she fell asleep again.  So, dearest Torgo, thank you for your good advise! It seems like such a small thing but seems to be making a big difference.

I suppose the main thing that had kind've put me off getting any kind of blanket for Eve was the fact that I've always been strict that nothing is ever in her cot except her musical seahorse (she wears a sleeping bag in bed).  Now that she's older I can see that it's ok now.  It's difficult to stop seeing your child as a little baby sometimes.

Sleep, Changing Patterns

After months of sleeping through the night for 11 hours at a go, when Eve was 5 and a half months old she got really bad teething pain which lasted for weeks, along with us travelling quite a bit which lead to her waking through the night.

As we were either away on holiday, or in the hectic and tiring process of moving house we kept giving her bottles of milk to go back to sleep. If given milk she goes back to sleep fairly quickly, as long as she's not feeling ill and hasn't woken up due to pain (she won't often accept water).

Her waking during the nights seemed to get better as we settled into our new home - and then she started nursery which seemed to throw everything off again.  Sometimes there appears to be a pattern, and sometimes not at all. On Sunday night she woke up 4 times - at 10.30pm, midnight, 2am and 5am (and then we got up at 6.30am - yes Monday was mega tiring), however on Monday night she only woke up once at 4am, so Tuesday was a joyous day for me.

For the past couple of weeks we've been dropping her afternoon naps to see if it would help with her sleep during the night. I think it is helping but unfortunately I don't think this is going to cure her waking up for comfort in the middle of the night.  I put her to bed quite often lately clutching a muslin cloth in the hope that if she seeks comfort from that she might not cry out if she wakes. I think it helps a bit.

I've been told to slowly decrease the amount of milk that she drinks in the night-time, but this does not appear to work - she still cries and wants to finish a whole bottle.

I've been putting off thinking about the next strategy as it's so much easier to give her some milk, go back to bed quickly and get some sleep.  However, now that she has 7 teeth I'm getting more concerned about tooth decay. Plus, I also read that babies who drink through the night can have problems as they grow to be older children with bed wetting.

Eve's bedtime routine has always gone well and she is very good at going to bed awake and singing herself to sleep.  She has a bath and then one bottle of cow's milk (160ml), I then put her in her cot. We always brush her teeth at bath-time before her bed-time milk but I'm worrying that I'm going to have to start changing the routine so that she drinks it before her bath and is then put straight to bed.

I'm aware that there are loads of different methods and ideas, but today I read the following article - which some other mums were chatting about online. Sam is going to Greece to DJ at the end of March so I've decided that I'm going to have a serious go at Jay Gordon's Sleep strategy as I should have a good week/ten days to work on this.  

The First Three Nights

At any time before 11 pm. (including 10:58) nurse to sleep, cuddle and nurse when he wakes up and nurse him back to sleep, but stop offering nursing to sleep as the solution to waking after 11 p.m.. Instead…..   When your baby awakens at midnight or any other time after 11 p.m., hug him, nurse him for a short time but make sure he does not fall asleep on the breast and put him down awake. Rub and pat and cuddle a little until he falls asleep but don’t put him back on the breast (or give him a bottle if that’s what you’ve been doing). He must fall asleep with your comfort beside him, but not having to nurse to feel comforted enough to drift off.

During these first three nights, repeat this pattern only after he has slept. He might sleep for fifteen minutes or he might sleep for four hours, but he has to go to sleep and reawaken to get cuddled and fed again.

These will be hard nights. (Oh yikes!!)

Again, during these first three nights, between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m., cuddle and feed short, put him down awake, rub, pat, talk until he falls asleep and repeat this cycle only after he’s slept and reawakened. At 6:01 a.m., do whatever you have been doing as a morning routine ignoring the previous seven hours’ patterns. Many babies will roll over, nurse and cuddle back to sleep and give you an extra hour or so. Some won’t.

The Second Three Nights

Again, the nursing to sleep stops at 11 p.m. When he wakes up, hug him and cuddle him for a few minutes, but do not feed him, put him down awake. Putting him down awake is a crucial part of this whole endeavour because it really does teach him to fall asleep with a little less contact and then a little less. Not feeding is the big change during these three nights. One-year-old babies can easily go for those seven hours (or more) with no calories. They like to get fed a little through the night, but physiologically and nutritionally, this is not a long time to go without food.

During these second three nights, some babies will cry and protest for ten minutes at a time and some will go for an hour or more. Your toddler is aware that you are right beside him, offering comfort and soothing. It just isn’t the mode of comfort he wants at the moment. It is hard to listen to him fuss, but it will work.

The Next Four Nights

Nights seven, eight, nine and ten. Don’t pick him up, don’t hug him. When he awakens after 11 p.m., talk to him, touch him, talk some more, but don’t pick him up. Rub and pat only. No feeding either, obviously. He will fall back to sleep. Repeat the rubbing and talking when he reawakens. By the end of the ninth night, he will be falling back to sleep.

After

After these first ten nights, continue to cuddle and feed to sleep if you like and he wants to, but do nothing when he wakes up except to touch a little and talk to him briefly. This may continue for another three or four nights but occasionally keeps going for another week or more. Then . . . it stops. He has learned that he is just as well-loved, gets virtually everything he needs and wants all day, but must give seven hours per night back to his parents and family.

See the full plan here:
http://drjaygordon.com/attachment/sleeppattern.html

Baby-Sitters n Sippy Cup Success

Sam, Joe and Lamorna

It's been another wonderful weekend.  Friday 16th was my birthday, so I finished work at midday and had a nice walk across Bristol in the sunshine.

I quickly did some cleaning when I got home and started baking a quiche for Eve's dinner (lots of ready roll pastry in the freezer left over from Christmas). My dear friend Laura and her little girl Agnes (who is one in February) stopped by for a cup of tea in the afternoon. It was really nice to catch up as we hadn't seen each other for a while. She gave me a lovely pair of earrings as a present.

Eve playing at Jilly and Joe's place

I collected Eve early from nursery (she was having a great time - in the middle of a group singalong), and took her up the road to our doctors surgery for her 12 month immunisations. The nurse was really nice and we had a good chat, but I did feel for poor Eve having 3 needles stuck in her legs. She really cried hard, but by the time we got out to the reception she was happily munching on a rice cake and enjoying a cuddle with me in the sling.

Even though I burnt the quiche (doh!) Eve really enjoyed it and ate a fairly big slice for dinner.  As she's not been having afternoon naps and she had also had the injections I bathed her a bit earlier than usual and put her to bed as she seemed pretty worn out.  

The injections didn't seem to make her ill at all, though she was wary of adults yesterday - I think she thought they might try and stick needles in her! However, this morning when I pulled off the plasters I realised that her skin had reacted to them and where they had been were big, red, blotchy marks. So, I think we may have to be careful with plasters in the future.

Jilly and Lamorna

We drove over to Eastville yesterday afternoon in the pouring rain to visit Jilly, Joe and their new baby girl Lamorna Violet.  They are all doing really well which was great to see. Little Lamorna is super gorgeous and has lots of thick dark hair.

I had a lovely surprise whilst at their place, Joe brought out a yummy chocolate orange cake that he'd made for my birthday, with candles n everything. Thanks Navi!

In the evening, just before Eve's bath, Sophie who lives just down the road from us came over to babysit. She was recommended on a Facebook group for our area.  It was so easy to find her, and great that she is CRB checked, holds a certificate in child first aid and qualifications in childcare; this really put our minds at rest as it was the first time that we were to leave Eve in the hands of someone who is not a friend of family member.

I could tell that Eve liked her immediately as she waved and hi-five'd Sophie when they met.  I just managed to get Eve bathed and into bed in time as the taxi arrived outside.

Sam took me to a lovely Sardinian restaurant called Marco's Olive Branch on Victoria Street near Temple Meads. We had an absolutely fantastic evening, the Sardinian waiter and Greek waitress were both really lovely and we enjoyed speaking a bit of Italian and Greek with them.  The food was really good. We both had the Carpaccio to start and then I had Seabass Ravioli with salad and Sam had venison with green peppercorn sauce.  We were both blown away by the main courses, they were mega tasty.

In the background of the photo of me in the restaurant you can see the Sardinian flag which shows four moors wearing bandana's (the heads are taken to symbolise the defeated Moors, first used in the seals of Aragonese kings and later transferred to the Kingdom of Sardinia. Quite an interesting flag we thought).

For dessert I ordered tiramisu, and it seemed to take ages to arrive. I was just saying to Sam that I thought they had forgotten about it, when Sam said 'Oh look, I reacon this is it now' as the waiter came up the stairs.  Suddenly it went dark and what sounded like fire crackers started going off and everyone was singing Happy Birthday.  I was looking around to see who's birthday it was, and suddenly realised they were all singing to me - it was very lovely!!

Sam worked out that the staff were banging metal plates together, but it really did sound like fire crackers at the time. He hadn't even asked them to sing Happy Birthday or anything, so it was a surprise for us both. I really enjoyed myself.  A romantic meal was just what the doctor ordered.

In the picture above I'm wearing the lovely earrings that Laura gave me. Strangely enough Sam gave me a necklace for my birthday which matched the earrings perfectly. I'm a very lucky girl!

http://www.marcosolivebranch.co.uk/

When we arrived home Eve hadn't woken up whilst Sophie was babysitting so it had all gone very well.  She slept pretty good last night, just waking up once at 3am.  She woke up at 7am this morning and whilst I was giving her a bottle of water she started holding on to it until I could let go and she was still holding it.  I was over the moon! She said 'Hello' to all the toys in her room and then we went downstairs to eat scrambled eggs on toast together with Daddy. I just love for us all to be able to eat the same stuff now, it's great.  

Spurred on by the bottle hold, whilst I was at Asda early this morning I bought Eve a different sippy cup - a Munchkin Mighty Grip trainer cup with soft spout (only £3).  As Soon as Eve woke up when we got home I handed her the cup still in it's packaging - and she was taken with it straight away. Dad sat her in the highchair with her new cup full of water and she had a great time drinking from it and chewing it.

The Munchkin Mighty Grip Trainer Cup

Eve's vocabulary is coming along really well. For the past week she's been saying 'Baa Boo, Baa Boo' and I thought she was saying it towards me. Then, last night after 'Bug Band' (singing bugs), which is one of her favourite shows on baby tv, I took her for her bath. I was singing the song from the show 'oh bamboo bamboo....' and then Eve started singing 'baa boo, baa boo' and I suddenly realised this is what she's been saying all week.  She also said 'Henry', after hungry Henry on tv yesterday. Other words she says are: no, yes, hello, I love you and, what is this?

I received some lovely presents for my birthday and have had such a relaxing weekend, it's been simply fantastic. One of the best presents I received was Eve using her sippy cup and becoming more involved with using a spoon when she eats. A couple of very proud moments for Mumma. Thanks everyone for making this weekend so special and rejuvenating for me!

Eve loves the kitchen race track!

Thought I'd share this video of Eve enjoying walking around the kitchen. She's so close to walking unaided now and we are most excited (as you can tell from Dad's exuberant clapping!)

Afternoon Tea

A walk through Arnos Vale Cemetery

As usual, hurrah for Facebook! An old school friend read my blog about the Joie Stages car seat and has sent me a link for a friend of hers who also runs a blog.  Have a look at the blog called 'A rear facing family' - there is a post about how to deal with short seat belts and the Joie Stages car seat:

http://erfmission.com/?p=1277

This is really good news as now I feel like I can go and buy this car seat and not be worried about having issues with it. The Internet is great - there's always someone in the world going through the same thing as you.

We didn't do much at the weekend, storms were raging most of the time so we just enjoyed pottering about at home.  The only time that we ventured outside was on Saturday afternoon for a stroll through the cemetery. Daddy carried Eve on his back and I had a great time with the perfect sized walking stick, from a fallen branch.  We stopped in the cafe in the cemetery and had a quick drink.  Eve shared a piece of lemon polenta cake with me and absolutely adored it. A tricky thing for her to hold as it was quite crumbly - needless to say her coat is a bit of a sticky mess now...

On Sunday afternoon I made a loaf of wholemeal bread (in the bread maker machine - I'm not super mum I'm afraid), so Daddy took a break from his music production upstairs in the studio and came down to eat fresh bread and drink herbal tea with me and Eve.  My dear muth had given us some natural Cornish honey at Christmas so I put some on Eve's bread. Due to government guidelines I've been a good mama and have waited patiently for Eve to reach her first birthday before trying honey (it contains spores of a bacterium called Clostridium botulinum, which can germinate in a baby's immature digestive system and cause infant botulism, a rare but potentially fatal illness).  She investigated it for a good 5 minutes before finally thinking it was ok to try. Sam and I laughed when we saw her expression when she started eating it - her face seemed to say 'Wow! This is delicious, why have I not had this before?'

Eve looking very grown up here, with her hair clip in her hair

We're attempting a new strategy with Eve's sleeping at the mo, and are seeing if one nap per day (she has a long one in the morning, usually 2 hours) will help her sleep more during the night time. So far it seems to be working well.

Welcome to the world, Lamorna Violet!

I'd like to take this opportunity to say Massive Congratulations to my dear friends Jilly and Joe who have just had their first baby. Lamorna Violet Pridmore arrived on Friday 9th January at 18.52.  I've known Jilly since I was 12 years old when we lived in Cornwall and am absolutely thrilled about her little girl's arrival.  'Lamorna' is a fishing village and cove in West Cornwall.  Jilly is a proper Cornish maid so Lamorna is the perfect name for their baby.  Sam, Eve and I are really looking forward to seeing them at the weekend.  I cannot wait to have cuddles with this little lady.

Freedom, Failure, Success and Responsibility

'Freedom, failure, success and responsibility' - I saw the below item today on Facebook and thought I would post it; to remind us that children need to work out how to deal with these things during their childhood.  As much as we want to protect them and keep them wrapped up in cotton wool, we must remember that enabling them to deal with a variety of social situations will protect them more in the long run and will help them become well rounded individuals.

I am towards the end of this era (I really am!) and thankfully we did have the original NES and video games - (Oh, how I loved the Sega Mega-drive too).  I have great memories of my friends mum supplying us throughout the day with bacon butties whilst we played games for hours at a time. Whoever wrote the below was spot on about most of it. I used to go out playing with my friends in the nearby woods all day long, making camps and things. During the summertime we'd come home at the end of the day when the street lights started to come on. I'm so glad I had such a free childhood. Often we would play in the garden whilst my mum baked in the kitchen looking out on us, but generally we were allowed to run free and explore our village and surrounding area. I feel that we learnt from our mistakes and were always given explanations why we should or should not do certain things.

I remember getting in to trouble as a teenager. My friend who was in trouble with me - her mum grounded her for a month. I remember my mum telling me how disappointed she was with me and that there was no point in being grounded as it wouldn't do anything. At the time (and now), I felt so awful to have cast myself in a bad light towards my mum that I made sure to act differently from then on.  I learnt a lot from that lesson which was incredibly short and which my mum did not make a big deal out of.  As long as I can follow from her example, hopefully I'll be on the right path with my gorgeous Eve.  

Of course you have to take this with a pinch of salt (the health and safety aspects are a positive and welcomed change now I'm sure) and look through the romanticised nostalgia....

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL BORN IN 1930's, 1940's, 50's, 60's, 70's and Early 80's !!! First, you survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while theycarried us. They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a tin, and didn't get tested for diabetes. Then after that trauma, your baby cots were covered with bright colored lead-based paints. You had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when you rode your bikes, you had no helmets, not to mention, the risks you took hitchhiking .. As children, you would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags. Riding in the back of a van - loose - was always great fun. You drank water from the garden hosepipe and NOT from a bottle. You shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and NO ONE actually died from this. You ate cakes, white bread and real butter and drank pop with sugar in it, but you weren't overweight because...... YOU WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING!! You would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on. No one was able to reach you all day. And you were OK. You would spend hours building your go-carts out of scraps and then ride down the hill, only to find out you forgot the brakes. After running into the bushes a few times, you learned to solve the problem . You did not have Playstations, Nintendo's, X-boxes, no video games at all, no 99 channels on cable, no video tape movies, no surround sound, no mobile phones, no text messaging, no personal computers, no Internet or Internet chat rooms..........YOU HAD FRIENDS and you went outside and found them! You fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no lawsuits from these accidents you played with worms(well most boys did) and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever. You made up games with sticks and tennis balls and although you were told it would happen, you did not poke out any eyes. You rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just yelled for them! Local teams had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!! The idea of a parent bailing you out if you broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law! This generation has produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever! The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas. You had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and you learned HOW TO DEAL WITH IT ALL! And YOU are one of them! CONGRATULATIONS! You might want to share this with others who have had the luck to grow up as kids, before the lawyers and the government regulated our lives for our own good. And while you are at it, forward it to your kids so they will know how brave their parents were.

12 Month Development Check

Eve playing with her toys on New Years Day before the Christmas tree was taken down

I've been wanting to post this for almost 2 weeks but have been having issues with iphoto. Finally it's almost sorted. Well, I have photos for this post at least...

Just after Christmas our rather lovely health visitor Carla stopped by for Eve's one year check-up. We haven't had any concerns, so as expected she said that Eve was doing fine, and that she is developing well, in line with her age.  She hadn't lost weight but she hadn't gained much either - due to crawling and being active, along with the consequences of bad teething pain over the last few weeks (not eating much and bad nappies). Eve now weighs 19lb 2oz.

Carla is really nice and has a positive and realistic approach. I'm so glad. When I told her that I still haven't managed to get Eve to stop drinking milk during the night-time when she wakes, she told me that if it's working for us at the moment then that's fine, and that we should work on it over the coming months.  I was speaking to a friend the following day about this and she said that her friend had mentioned a very similar thing to her health visitor who had been quite strict about it and had already made an appointment in the near future to check that she has rectified the situation. That seems a bit stressful to me - too much pressure. We've been so tired, and Eve's been ill so much over the last couple of months that we didn't want to push this.

Now that tooth number 7, the pesky blighter, has completely popped out Eve seems much better in herself.  I'm really hoping that as we approach spring Eve will feel better, and consequently won't wake up so much during the night - and therefore, won't be needing to drink so much. Fingers massively crossed anyway. Carla said 'when you get some time, work on the night-time drinking with a recommended method'. This is easy to say but when you only have 3 weeks worth of holidays to take over the coming year it's tricky to work out when it might be possible to do that whilst working etc.

I know that she's in a bad habit with the milk drinking in the night-time and I am worried about curtailing it, I'm hoping that if I try harder for her to use a cup during the day time, rather than her bottle for water that this may help with the evening drinking.

Nuby

Eve just hasn't got on well with a sippy cup at all over the last few months, and I know that we are behind other kids on this part of development.

We've also tried a Nuby cup with a straw, and have also got handles for her MAM baby bottle. Nothing so far has worked but we shall keep persevering. When she was about 4 months old she would hold up her bottle, but over time she has realised that she wants us to do it and gets grumpy when we try to make her use a sippy cup.  Oh the trials and tribulations of this weaning malarky!!

The thing that I haven't yet tried is a soft spout on a bottle, like this MAM Starter cup which is kind of in between the bottle and a sippy cup. However, we've decided that we'd like her to get to grips with the Nuby cup if possible as sippy cups are bad for a child's teeth if used for too long.

I sent Eve off to nursery yesterday with her bottle with handles attached and the nursery staff said she simply would not touch it or let them give her a drink with it, which in turn meant that she barely drank anything all day. They said they were worried about her becoming dehydrated.







When we arrived home she guzzled down a bottle of water with me during story time last night before her bath. I know that people say 'if a child is thirsty they will drink' - but maybe not in some cases. She is quite a determined little thing.

After Carla's visit I gave Eve cow's milk rather than formula for her bedtime drink for the first time. I made up one bottle of normal milk and one bottle of formula in advance - thinking that she may not like it. But thankfully she drank the whole 160ml straight down without a fuss. Phew! I knew that I could give her cow's milk to drink from 12 months but I wanted to check with my health visitor before going ahead with it.  I'm so pleased it has worked without any tears. Perhaps this is going to help towards the night weaning.

Our good friend Fonz came to visit just before New Years. It was a sunny, but freezing day. We had a lovely walk through the park with some friends and their kids, and then had drinks in the cozy 'Star and Dove' pub. Unfortunately my camera ran out of batteries which was a pain so I couldn't get any shots of the wee bairns together.

Eve's friend Jake gave her a cool inflatable bear for Christmas. You fill the bottom with water which acts as a weight. She's been really enjoying playing with him - he's kind of like a mini punch bag rocking back and forth, ha ha.

Eve and Bo Bo the Bear

Eve is a funny little thing and is constantly waving. She pretty much says 'Hello' and 'I love you' now (well, to mine and Daddy's trained ears this is what we hear) and she also likes to 'high-five'.

During the Christmas hols Eve has been having a lovely time racing round the kitchen with her walker. Once she starts she's off like a shot. It's most amusing and we are ecstatic with delight every time we see her walking. She pauses every so often to take her hands off the walker and just stands for a moment or two before zooming off again. I think she'll be walking unaided in no time.

Joie Stages Combination Car Seat 0-18kg plus

Following on from a previous post about car seats and whether to choose a rear facing or forward facing I've found out about the Joie Stages Combination Car Seat, which is suitable from birth to approximately 7 years of age. 

As well as rear facing it also has a forward facing option from 9-18kg, (although it is much safer to keep children rear facing for as long as possible). Once the 18kg limit has been reached, the Stages seat can be used forward facing as a booster seat until the child weighs 25kg, (about seven years old).

The difference with this one, as well as turning into a booster seat so that it lasts longer is also the fact that it costs £150 rather than £300-400. The high cost was the main thing that was putting me off buying a rear facing seat, but now that I've found this one I must say I'm quite excited.

I've checked with Joie and they say that fitting it in a Ford Focus (the car that we have) can be a bit hit and miss due to the short seat belts. So I'll need to investigate this further. It's good to know that there are rear facing seats that are more affordable.

See their website for full spec:

http://www.rearfacingtoddlers.com/joie-stages.html

I've got to say that Facebook is great for easy research - I simply put a question on to a Bristol Mum's page about more affordable rear facing seats and a few days later got an email from Joie. They say that this product can be bought from most Mothercare and Halford stores.

Like their Facebook page: www.facebook.com/RearFacingToddlers

Leon Family & Friends Book 4

I've been wanting to post for about a week now but am having an issue with iphoto, so I've not been able to upload new photos for the blog. I'm taking my mac to the apple shop tomorrow - fingers crossed they can repair it - I'm slightly concerned... Any-who that's the reason I'm not posting any family photos today.

However, whilst not being able to work on my blog I've had a little bit of time to look through a lovely new cookbook that we were given for Christmas from Sam's mum's husband Chris (Thanks Chris!)

Not being from London means that I've never heard of  the restaurant chain Leon. Their vision is basically healthy fast food. I've really enjoyed flicking through the book so far. Book 4 is full of healthy recipe ideas for the modern family. There is a nice section on 'Cooking with kids', a Nutrition section with many of the recipes being low GI, low saturated fat, wheat free, gluten free, dairy free or vegetarian.

The recipes are accompanied by photos of their friends and family, who have either given their recipes for use in the book or are related to the dish in some way. There is a fun section called 'Things on sticks' - a variety of tasty, healthy party food, and then something I'll try in the future when we're ill is 'Kays Hard Core Cold-Buster' which incorporates 20 cloves of garlic, water, dried sage and honey. Sounds disgusting but they say it works!

If you live in London there are lots of their restaurants in different areas. They serve fresh lunchbox ideas, quick, hot flatbread wraps, meatballs, curries and falafel to name a few.

http://leonrestaurants.co.uk/