That's a LARGE Skinny Flat White

Week two of returning to work and Eva has an ear infection and The Husband a throat/head cold. I'm missing my afternoon nap!

I'm a caffeine addict, for just over 18 months I have been either pregnant or breast feeding. And have been very good at sticking to 1-2 cups a day. Returning to work and having to engage your brain and all my hard work has gone out the window. There is no such thing as a lie in when you become a parent, and no such thing as just make it through the week and crash on the weekend. I have to be asleep early during the week to function, so limiting my caffeine intake is in theory going to keep me awake and my brain functioning during the day. I thought I would share the tips for reducing the number of coffees I have each day. I'm going got give this a go this week and will let you know how I get along.

1. Save your first cup of coffee until late morning if you can.

2. Give your self a wake up shower by turning up the old then hot water. This will stimulate blood flow around the body and help wake you up.

3. Take a brisk walk in the morning and lunch times, even if it around the block at work.

4. Make sure you're having your 2L of fluids a day - ideally from water or herbal teas. 

5. Balance your carbs and fruit through the day to maintain energy levels. I prefer porridge for breakfast, a lighter lunch with a banana for energy, and fruit or nuts for your afternoon snack. Apples are a personal energy boosting favorite.

6. If you need more energy try a muesli bar (watch out for the fat and sugar contents). 

7. Most importantly when you have your one cup a day, make sure its a good cup, so you don't feel cheated.

 

At last the Royal baby has arrived.

And it's a boy. I can not be more excited.  Not only is the arrival of a new a baby a joy. But he could one day fall in love with my little princess and she could become the queen. There's nothing wrong with dreaming big !!

I wish the Prince and Duchess all the best, I'm sure they'll have a team of people to help,  but they are new parents and will have the same worries and experience the same joys as parents the world over.

Duchess gives birth to baby boy http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-23413653

1st Birthday Party

Eva has turned one! As parents we've reached our biggest milestone yet and survived. Eva is no longer a baby, but a little person in the making, walking or almost walking and a great little  personalities starting to shine through.

Let the joys of toddler hood begin!

The first birthday party was so much fun, she was such a little socialite, working the room (on her knees in her version of getting about - a cross between walking ad crawling). Making sure she spoke with every little guest, and of course assuming all fairy bread belonged to her.

I had so many things I wanted to do for the party, with family visiting and me starting work the following week I scaled back. There was more than enough food and plenty of sweets. If you're looking for ideas here is my list of first birthday party food:

Party Food:
- Vegemite and ham and cheese triangle sandwiches- Homemade sauge rolls
- Fairy bread, cut into number 1 and butterflies with a cookie cutters
- Cupcakes
- Chocolate crackles
- Of course birthday cake. 5 layers of pink, green and purple, iced hot pink with pink and purple butterflies.

Party Drinks:
- Strawberry milk in milk bottle with stripped pink straws
- Juice
- Cola
- Sparkling water

Vegtable slice

This slice can be packed with any mixture of veg you have in the fridge, so feel free to experiment. I also like to swap out onion for leek. They are really tasty, and won't last long.

Ingredients

2 cups of root veg, chopped  - such as potato, sweet potato and carrots
1/3 cup peas
2 sheets of puff pastry
1 small onion or equivalent volume of leek
light sprinkle of herbs - try parsley or thyme





Directions

Pre-heat oven 180° C and line a tray with baking paper.

Steam or boil root vegetables until soft

Saute onion or leek.

Mix vegetables together and lightly mash.

Cut each sheet of pastry in half. 

Fork mixture along the long edge of pastry and gently roll, so the pastry fully covers the mixture with a small over lap.

Brush party with milk or egg.

Place in oven 7-10 mins until  brown.


Sweet corm, parsnip, pumpkin and swede are also great fillers.

Problems getting baby to eat greens

My daughter will eat pretty much anything if its covered in cheese, butter or mashed with sweet potato. She's almost one and I'm keen to get her to start eating family food. Here are a few suggestions which I found to help:

- cook veg with a few slices of apple
- cook with unsalted chicken stock
- stir-fri veg with ginger, leek, apple
- cook broccoli and pear in the same pan

Persevere, persevere and persevere! What they don't eat one day they will love the next.

Home Made Rattle

I love these, free and easy to make with items around the house. 

What you need:
- Water bottle
- few grains of rice
- super glue

Other suggestions:
- feathers
- beads from an old necklace
- ribbons
- coloured rice (use food die)

1. Add your decorative items, mixing 2-3 colours and textures.

2. The rice will stop condensation and mold forming once the bottle is sealed.

3. Super Glue the lid on, allow a good 10 mins to be sure it's dry.

Quinoa Bites

The problem with quinoa bites is they are so yummy they don't last long. Quinoa is such a versatile grain, it goes with most vegetables.  This evening I used zucchini and parmesan, as suggested by Little Grazers. Pumpkin,  sweet potato,  mushrooms are equally tasty.

Ingredients

200g uncooked quinoa (or 250g cooked)
60g grated parmesan
1 grated zucchini
1 egg
Filtered water or unsalted stock

Directions

Cook 1 part quinoa to 2 parts liquid. Approx 3 mins, until moisture has been absorbed.

Mix quinoa,  grated parmesan, grated zucchini and egg.

Place in mini muffin trays and bake. 10mins at 160 fan. (My oven tends to run hot, 180 for 5-7 mins may work better if your oven is better behaved than mine).

They should by lightly golden on top. Leave to cool in tray.

Self Designing a Dress

This is my first self designed dress. It was a first attempt and I'm proud of how it turned out.

Traditionally you would unpick an existing garment to create your template. I liked the dress I was copying the shape from and didn't want to ruin it. So I free styled it.











 
I measured and dress a copy of a smaller sun dress, added 2 inches around the edge and adjusted the style.

Instead of an A-Line skirt I incorporated pleats by cutting x2 the width of material I needed and folding and pinning at regular intervals.

Baby Shoes

I came across this super cute tutorial for baby shoes on Fleeting Thing

I made a pair for a friends little girl.  A little fiddly to make but great fun and worth the effort for such a cute little gift.

Sawmillers Reserve, McMahons Point

Sawmillers Reserve, McMahons Point is approximately 35-40 mins walk from Crows Nest, or 10 mins walk from North Sydney. I love this park, it has some great views of the harbor and is relatively quiet (unless you are breast feeding when a group of arrive for their boxercise class!!)

Its a hilly walk and a little hidden from the road, if you enter via Dumbarton Street, there is a steep,windy path - much easier to access with the pram then then steps at the other end of the park.

There are no bathroom facilities.

Non mobile babies: ideal, mum can eat lunch and enjoy the view or read a book. Baby has plenty to look at  with the birds, boats trees and the mid week boxercise classes.

Crawlers: lots of flat grass to explore, but you will need to keep a close watch as the park leads directly to the bay.

Toddlers: not really ideal. There is plenty of space to run around, but the park leads directly to the bay with no fence. The look out might provide some entertainment, but not for long.

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Waverton Park

Waverton Park is about 35 mins from our place. It's a hilly, but a lovely walk through Wollstonecraft. There is no play ground, plenty of grass, and a walk along the old gas storage facility, which is fenced off.

Non mobile babies: ideal, mum can eat lunch and enjoy the view or read a book. Baby has plenty to look at  with the birds, kids kicking balls.

Crawlers: lots of flat grass to explore, and some fantastic tress line the edge of the park.

Toddlers: plenty of space to run around, kick a ball and have fun, but no play ground.




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Surviving the First Day: State of the Worlds Mother's

Save the Children released their annual Save the Children Surviving the First Day report. Phew moving from the UK to Australia meant my daughter had a better chance of survival during her first 5 years of life. Not surprisingly the war torn African countries come in at the bottom of the list. The factors looked at in the report were -  education, income and political representation of women among other factors.

The best and worst places to be a mother.

3,000,000 babies die within the first day of their life, Save the Children announced this morning on ABC news. They go onto say that around 1million of these could be avoided by relatively cheap intervention. The biggest problem being access to any medical assistance.

Major Causes of Newborn Deaths

Save the Children are promoting 4 life saving solutions, which they are seeking donations to fund the purchase and distribution.

Major Causes of Newborn Deaths

1. Corticosteroids: Speed up the development of lungs in preterm births. 

2. Chlorhexidine: clean cord care, protecting little ones belly buttons from fatal injection.

3. Antibiotics: treating injections such as sepsis and pneumonia.

4. Resuscitation Equipment: to help babies take that first vital breath.

 

To read the Mother's Index Report click here.

Donate to Save the Children.

Mini Banana Muffins – Sugar Free

I friend gave me a great sugar free muffin recipe. Her son loved them. I made them and they were  - well not the yummy bundles of scrumptious I envisaged. I forgot the baking soda and didn’t adjust the cooking time for my hotter than normal oven. I made a big pot of custard and my husband and I ate them for dinner.

A bit of experimenting and tweaking of the recipe and Eva has a one in each hand chomping on them as fast as her 2 little teeth will let her.

Ingredients:

3 large bananas – the softer the better

1 tsp cinnamon

1 egg

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. baking powder

1 1/2 cup whole wheat flour (or plain white flour)

90g. of unsalted butter – melted

Preparation:

Pre heat oven to warm (approx. 200 degrees). 

Mash bananas.

Add cinnamon and slightly beaten egg.

Melt butter (20sec in microwave) and add to mixture.

Sift dry ingredients together and mix until combined

Place in a non stick mini muffin tray (or grease your tin)

Bake for 15 minutes. DON’T open the oven door early.

  

Notes:

The softer the bananas, the better.

If your bannanas are small, use 4.

If the mixture if a little dry add a little more butter – don’t overdo it. The mixture should be sticky and not runny.

Bake for 20 mins if making normal size muffins.

You can swap out wholemeal for plain flour if you prefer.

Treating Nappy Rash

This morning my daughter woke with a raw bum and back. It looked like she had burnt her bum and back. I hadn't heard of nappy rash going this far up the back. She’s had a horrid cold for a couple of weeks and has been swallowing so much snot it’s making her vomit and filling her nappy.

Everyone has their own miracle cure for nappy rash. In my experience the treatment depends of how server the nappy rash is and how sensitive your little ones skin is. Below are a few of my tried and tested tips for managing nappy rash

Bare Bum – this is by far the best cure. The more you can have the better. For newborn and non mobile babies, it’s relatively easy – just lay them in a warm spot, on a pile of towels under a mobile. If they’re mobile, try and distract them with their favorite toy or snack to keep them in one spot and contain any accidents. I tend to sit my daughter on towels in her high chair during meals. I place a cloth nappy on her lap to catch food.

Barrier Cream - There are quite a few barrier creams on the market, but sudocrem is the best. You don’t need much a thin layer works better then smothering it on.

Paw Paw & Barrier Cream – this is my favorite for persistent. The paw paw helps heal the skin and barrier cream to protects it.

Vaseline – acts as a water proof barrier which doesn’t absorb into the skin. It works really well for tummy bugs or viruses when you are changing nappies every few hours.

Corn Flour – a light dusting is ideal for drying out blisters. You can also use your normal baby powder, but this is much quicker, it heals within a few nappy changes. Once dry, use paw paw and a barrier cream to heal the skin.

Use your own judgement, if it really looks sore and isn’t clearing see your GP.

Welcome to MummieV

Welcome to my new blog. Nine months ago my world was turned upside down - or more precisely my Sydney apartment was - when my beautiful daughter Eva Grace was born. Having spend the last 12 or so years focusing on my career, and having oodles of fun living the dream in London and some pretty fabulous holidays along the way. It was a bit of a shock to the system to be at home being a mummy, cooking, cleaning and the endless loads of washing.
 

When I bought my first flat in London, a friend bought me a mug with the words "I only have a kitchen because it came with the house". Which pretty much described my domestic skills. Oh I can bake bread, produce a scrumptious self saucing chocolate pudding, and make a mean Sunday roast - Yorkshire puddings and all. But that's pretty much it. Everyday cooking - that's what restaurants and take always are for. Cleaning - why do it yourself when you can create employment for someone else.

Oh how things have changed! I tried to hold onto my former self. Within the first week of bringing my daughter home, I went and bought 30 more bids and an enormous bundle of oneness so I didn't have to put on 2 loads of washing everyday. We even went to dinner when she was 2 weeks old. But as she's grown, I've grown - and learn to cook. We'll sort of! And have started getting in touch with my inner domestic-ness.

This is my journey and I hope you enjoy it!