Frenic Monomyth T-Shirts - Ordeo Clothing

After the great success of my lovely husband, DJ Frenic's last tour of Greece, Monomyth T-shirts are now available to buy online.

The T-shirts are made from organic cotton and show the image from the Monomyth album cover. Sizes available are Medium, Large and X Large.  They are on sale at the moment for £15 (reduced from £20) and will be sent to you including a free boxed copy of the full album.

If you haven't heard the album yet, you are certainly in for a treat when it arrives on your doorstep.

Delivery costs are only £3.49 for the UK, and £6 for International shipments. You can't go wrong peeps, get one today or buy one for a friend!!

Click the link below to get involved:

http://www.ordeoclothing.co.uk/product/frenic-monomyth-tee/

Bank Holiday Heaven

Eve and Jake at The Atrium Cafe, Arnos Vale Cemetery

Eve has been sleeping amazingly well lately and is sleeping through the night almost every time, with much relief for me (a year's worth of interrupted sleep is so tiring). Having a full nights sleep is a major blessing, it's brilliant feeling full of energy when you have a busy day ahead of you.

Early on Saturday morning our dear friends Sarah, Dwayne and their little boy Jake arrived from Oxfordshire. After cups of tea, chats in the kitchen and playing with the kiddos, we took them in their prams and wandered through the woods towards Boca Bar.

We stopped off at the cafe in the cemetery so that Eve and Jake could have some fun together. They had a great old time, as you can see from their cheeky grins in the photo above.

The Veg Fest and Love Saves The Day Fest were both on in Bristol, so Boca Bar was very quiet. It was just us and one or two other families. It was kind've nice though as the kids could wander about with ease and us adults had a nice time catching up. Mumma Sarah and I had both packed corn on the cob for their lunch and it was quite funny watching Eve and Jake enjoying munching them down.

 First corn on the cob of the summer

Sarah had brought one of Jake's toys - a chick inside a layer of egg shells, which they both enjoyed playing with.

Daddy played a gambling game with Eve, of guess which egg the chick is under. 

She thought it was hilarious.

The Jones' left by 2pm so I had a nice afternoon pottering about at home. I made Elderflower Cordial with blooms cut from a tree, right by our house (what a result), potted up tomato plants, did some cleaning and played with Eve.

My sister Claire, me and Sam - Drinking homemade Tsipouro with a long lunch - Greek style!

On Sunday afternoon, after a lovely lunch at our place with my sister, Jody and baby Jago; Sam and I went for our first walk around the block to the park with Eve. She gains confidence daily and just loves walking about outside, though she does get tired easily and wants to be picked up.

Our first walk down the street together

Eve continues to ask us to put her in her high chair to do drawings multiple times a day. This weekend she tried using a biro for the first time and was absolutely delighted with the marks it made on the paper.

After a lazy bank holiday Monday morning, we wandered down to Windmill Hill City Farm yesterday afternoon. We had a great time strolling around the allotments and looked at different animals on the farm. Eve was funny when she saw a huge sow walking into a shed with big teats bobbling about. At first she looked curious, and then her face changed and she looked rather disgusted. Sam and I both laughed.

Eve loved watching the geese

Playing on the tractor

She loved playing with the wooden toy ducks

It was such a relaxing weekend and much needed. Having three days of playtime with my girl was wonderful, and I even made Elderflower Champagne last night as well, hurrah.

A walk in Wedmore

Daddy and Eve - Westhay Moor Nature Reserve, Somerset

The weekend started with laughter, as I went out for Ocky's 30th birthday in Bedminster. The weather was good so I walked from my work in Redland across town and over the harbour to South Bristol. My sister had given me keys to her house. I arrived about 5.30pm and let myself in, whilst she was upstairs bathing Jago and putting him to bed.

I had a pleasant welcome, finding lovely homemade hummus waiting for me with some tasty olives, and lotions and potions for my face. I had a relaxing time getting ready for the meal. Sitting down in front of a mirror, quietly doing my make up and hair was quite a revelation. It's certainly been quite sometime since I straightened my hair and wore heels.

http://www.fever-tree.com/

Once Claire had put Jago to bed we had a chat and she made me a much needed gin and tonic. I've had Fever Tree tonic a few times at festivals and things. I'm not usually a big fan of tonic as I find it too sweet, but this stuff is the absolute bomb! Definitely transforms a g and t that's for sure.

We spent a few happy hours in Zazu's Kitchen in Bedmo; the food was great and seeing the gals was even better. Ocky has been such a good friend to us over the years and it was fab to see her celebrating her 30th birthday with her pals. It was really good having some girly chats. Of course I missed Eve loads, but I knew that Daddy would do a excellent job with bath and bedtime.

http://www.zazuskitchen.co.uk/

I arrived home, and the spaghetti bolognese sauce that I was going to make on Saturday morning for Eve's lunch had already been made. This was great news because it meant that on Saturday morning I could spend my time cleaning and rearranging the kitchen. Eve's flapjacks and snacks have had to be moved to a secret location!! Plus, she's now enjoying getting into the cupboards, so I moved cleaning chemicals to higher shelves, out of reach of her little hands. A good bit of spring cleaning done.

Eve played downstairs whilst I was cleaning. Daddy shouted to me to come into the lounge. Eve has been running at the sofa for a few weeks now, laughing wildly as she hits the soft cushions. She's been climbing down from sitting on our laps for ages, but on Saturday she climbed up onto the sofa and sat on the edge to watch tv next to Dad. It was very cute.

In the afternoon we had fun in our little courtyard garden playing with the bubble gun. Eve loved trying to catch the bubbles before they popped.

Grandad Col and Jeggsy's Garden

During Eve's nap on Sunday morning we drove down to Wedmore (45 minutes from Bristol) to visit Sam's Dad and Jeggsy for lunch. We had a lovely time wandering about their garden, which is under construction but already looks fantastic. After a yummy spring lunch of salmon and veg we played with Eve outside on the grass. The garden is quite steep so Eve found it a bit tricky staying upright, but it was great fun kicking a ball about and watching her interaction with their golden labrador, Saffy.

Touch Down!!

The weather brightened up in the early afternoon so we took a quick 5 minute drive down to Westhay Moor Nature Reserve. Daddy put Eve into the baby rucksack and off we went.

We had a great ramble around marshes, reed beds and lakes. As my father-in-law was telling us about a rare species of bird called the Bittern (a thick set, brown Heron), and was explaining how they made a sound kind of like when you blow over the top of a glass bottle; we suddenly heard one somewhere in the reed bed. They are a secretive bird so we didn't see it, but hearing it was quite thrilling. It is a red list species and is one of the most threatened in the UK.

Watching the wildlife

Cotton Grass in a stream, in the old peat works

Daddy and Eve enjoying a cool bird sculpture 

Westhay Moor Nature Reserve for more information:

http://www.somersetwildlife.org/westhay_moor.htmlgclid=COLHocDAy8UCFWmx2wod0WAASQ

Grandad Col in the bird hide

Daddy and Eve in the bird hide

Eve enjoyed singing her way around most of our walk and seemed to be absolutely delighted to be wandering about in such beautiful surroundings. She's so communicative now, it's exciting to hear her repeating words that we say.

The end of a fab outing

Eve has been blowing kisses for a couple of weeks now, and this weekend whilst playing with Mrs. Tiggywinkle, Daddy told Eve to kiss her; and she was off trotting round the kitchen kissing Mrs. Tiggywinkle non stop!

The little Mrs. Tiggywinkle that Eve plays with belongs to me. I've had her for years, and couldn't bare to give her away, as she's always been my favourite Beatrix Potter character.

Potty Training Prep

The BabyBjorn Potty Chair 

Thoughts on potty training have been crossing my mind for a few months. Eve will be 1.5 years in a few weeks time. I received an auto email this morning from a company about discounts on potty training equipment, which prompted me to start looking into this further.

First of all I reviewed best potty's and potty products, along with tips and advice on potty training. Some ideas work for some people and different ones for others. I'm open to potty training, but mainly I want to stay well clear of disposable pull up pants if we possibly can.

I've been reading online that parents in South East Asia, South America, parts of Africa and Eastern Europe use a bare bottom technique from an early age or start potty training far earlier than we do in the west. Within the bare bottom culture of some countries, disposable nappies are seen as unnecessary and even disgusting. It makes total sense to start earlier if it's possible, as you will then decrease the amount of disposable nappies going to landfill. Also, the older a child gets, it becomes more difficult to change their habits. 

Bum Genius cloth nappies - a fantastic product, I could not fault them

We used Bum Genius cloth re-useable nappies from 1 month (Eve was too small to fit in them until that point) until 9 months. Around the 9 month mark we had been travelling lots, had recently moved house and Eve was suffering with her teeth very badly. This upheaval meant that I was up sometimes 4-5 times a night and she was getting through a crazy amount of bottles - sometimes 5 of them. At that point we had to ditch the cloth nappies as there was just too much liquid to be held in them (even if I changed her in the middle of the night).

I felt bad about using disposables, but there just wasn't a way around it. I was worried about the amount that Eve was drinking through the night, but thankfully as she became comfortable with her new surroundings, started eating more varied food; and when she finally got used to nursery things started getting better during the night-time. 

I've got to say I'm glad that stage is over. I went back to work full time in October and was completely exhausted by the end of December, but then things finally started to improve. Eve hasn't been drinking milk at all during the night-time for the past couple of months. She now just has a little bit of water before bed and that's it. She's sleeping through the night fairly often, except when another tooth is coming through, then I'll get up and give her medicine and a bit of water in the middle of the night when she's in pain.

                                                The BabyBjorn Potty Chair in turquoise

From what I could tell, though fairly expensive, the BabyBjorn potty chair seemed like the best potty to go for. It has a high back which makes it easier for toddlers to get on to, and a high front pee guard. It seems easy to clean and has a rubber bottom to stop it from slipping. We are lucky with hand-me-downs and most of Eve's clothes, toys and bits and bobs I buy from charity shops, so I felt that I could justify the cost of the BabyBjorn items, which will have a lot of use.

Have a look on this link for more information. They come in lots of different colours, which is quite fun too. I chose the turquoise shade, mainly because it was on offer on a website. BabyBjorn also make a smaller toilet training potty that could be used at a later stage.

http://www.babybjorn.co.uk/bathroom/potty-chair/

I also figured that I would buy a safe step at the same time in a matching colour. I know that Eve probably won't be able to use it for a while but I think it's probably a good idea to have it in the bathroom where she can sit on it, climb on it, play with it and generally get used to it.

http://www.babybjorn.co.uk/bathroom/step-stool/

If you're interested, here is information on the 'Potty training in three days' strategy outlined in Julie Fellom's Diaper Free Toddler program.

This link below gives step-by-step instructions on how to make it work for you. There are of course pros and cons, but I think we will give this a go when we know that a warm weekend is coming up.

The technique involves no pants, and being naked from the waist down as much as possible. I know that potty training may take some time, but I'll remember to speak to the nursery staff to find out what is allowed and what they will work around.

http://www.babycenter.com/0_potty-training-in-three-days-or-less_10310078.bc?page=1

                                        I found this potty training do's list quite helpful too:
                                       http://happilyevermom.com/potty-training-must-dos/

Sunshine Sandpits

I've been waiting for a sunny day to come along for a while now, as I wanted to take Eve to the sandpit in the park near our house, to build sand castles.

Today has been the nicest day for a while, and though I was happy to go off to work this morning and leave Daddy and Eve to have a good time; part of me felt disappointed that I couldn't be with them.

The photos that Sam sent me made up for it though. It fills my heart with joy when I see pictures of Eve enjoying herself.

The little kid in the background doing yoga looks like he's having a good time too!

Eve has been trotting off to grab her socks and shoes when Daddy tells her to for a few weeks now. As soon as she's had breakfast each day she usually brings Daddy's shoes to him as well, as she is so desperate to get out the door to nursery. We both chuckled this morning when he asked her to get her shoes. She went and got them and said very clearly, 'Shoes!'

Daddy and Eve

Finnish Baby Boxes

I read about this online today and wanted to share it with you. It's such a fantastic idea.

Finland has one of the lowest rates of infant mortality in the world. Every expectant mother is given a box filled with all the necessary things a newborn baby needs. Finland's government has been giving these boxes for the past 75 years. Some parents even use the box as the newborn baby's first cot, as the base itself is a mattress with a sheet and sleeping bag included. 

The box includes things such as cloth nappies, breast pads, condoms, teething toys, inner and outer wear for the baby, towels, scissors, hairbrush, nappy cream, bath thermometer. Read the link below for more information.

A photo from the Finnish Labour Museum from the 1930's. These boxes were at first only available to those on a low income, but in 1949 they became available to everyone.

There is a short news clip at the bottom of this link if you fancy watching it:

http://www.idealistrevolution.org/every-newborn-in-finland-sleeps-in-a-cardboard-box-for-the-most-brilliant-reason/

Bank Holiday Buddies

Eve wandering about in Granny's garden

I've had some kind of virus for the past month, which has kept coming and going. Of course, it seemed to culminate on Friday at the start of the bank holiday weekend. I got home that evening, with Sam as well as me feeling absolutely awful.

Thankfully we had planned to visit Sam's mum in Oxfordshire. We drove up on Saturday morning. Eve loves looking out of the window in her big girl car seat - though promptly fell asleep before we'd even crossed the city. It was great having an hour long chat with Sam during the journey. Uninterrupted conversation is something we don't seem to have enough of these days.

Oxfordshire was looking so beautiful as we drove toward Blewbury. Golden fields of rape were lined by blossoming trees. A real feast for the eyes.

Upon arrival, my mother-in-law's wonderful cooking and constant supply of hot tea made us feel so much better. After a lovely lunch of Jambalaya, Sam and I took Eve out for a stroll around the village,  chatting about our memories of the village and our time spent there with friends and family.

Blewbury Cress Beds - Feeding the ducks was great fun

Approaching the lovely, old Anglo-Saxon church of St. Michaels

Daddy and the ancient cobwalls

We had borrowed a friend's Infantastic travel cot for the weekend. After watching Youtube video's we worked out how to put it up. Last summer in Greece we spent ages, getting very cross, trying to assemble one there. We thought it was broken. Of course, it was just a small thing we were doing the wrong way round which wouldn't allow it to be constructed. Knowledge of baby/child equipment construction could be added to your cv - it's always so tricky! 

We were supposed to have a game of family poker that night, but due to feeling ill we didn't feel up to it and left it until the next time. Sam and I are so proud of Eve - she behaved really well at Granny's house, and only woke up once at 11.30pm for a sip of water and then went straight back to sleep. 

Playing paper aeroplanes in Granny's garden

Eve absolutely loved getting to know Granny's two dogs, Stumper and Monty. She loved shouting at them through the window, but got quite upset when one of them licked her face. The next morning they seemed to be firm friends though; walking up to each other and then wandering off elsewhere, without any drama.

As you can tell from her shouts of joy - she is saying 'Dogs! Woof Woof!'

The rest of the long weekend we spent in Bristol, with Eve getting down to some serious work on her multi-media art creations. She's very good at mark making. I spent a nice time updating our fridge- gallery of Eve's pictures. Putting our girls artwork on the fridge is something I had only ever dreamed of before. It's amazing for these experiences to now be reality, we are so thankful every single day.

Drawing at Granny's

After Eve and I had breakfast yesterday morning, Daddy got up and came into the kitchen. I love listening to Classic FM as it's so relaxing. The main theme tune to 'Braveheart' (James Horner, London Symphony Orchestra) came on the radio. Daddy took Eve in his arms and started dancing with her around the room. Eve moved her arms in a graceful swaying motion and started singing along to the music.

I love the film 'Braveheart'. The theme music is emotive and beautiful, and Eve was really feeling it. I had tears in my eyes, it was a magical moment. She now plays her own made up chords on the Casio keyboard.