I love my slow cooker. I work full time, and my diet would probably be pretty terrible without it.
I am also incredibly lazy, and it means that chopping veg and chucking herbs, spices and meat into a dish = a tasty dinner to come home to!
Today in my slow cooker, we have lamb and pearl barley stew. I found pearl barley in my cupboard whilst mooching for dinner ideas and figured I'd give it a go! It's cheap, thickens stews and bulks them out, so it's a winner in my books!
Lamb and Pearl Barley Stew
400g Diced lamb
1/2 courgette, chopped
3 carrots, chopped
1/2 leek, finely sliced
1 red onion chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 sticks of celery, chopped
45g of pearl barley
1 tsp rosemary
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 pint stock (I use what I have, beef today!)
salt and pepper optional, I chose not to as the small Bears will be eating it.
I'm way too lazy to be browning meat, so I chucked it all in for 7 hours and it wasn't the prettiest of meals but it was lovely with crusty bread! It's bloody cold outside today, and coming home to a comforting dinner already cooked was wonderful.
Wednesday, 27 March 2013
Friday, 22 March 2013
I'm a very busy mummy bear...
Okay, so I'll give you a breakdown of a day in the Bear household...
6am: Hear Baby Bear wake up. Ignore crashing of toys, pattering feet and shouts of 'mummy, I awake!'
6.30: alarm goes off. Press snooze.
6.31: Squishy Bear starts grabbing my face and attempts to rearrange it whilst singing. Get out of bed, say good morning to BB and open stair gate. BB flees his bedroom and disappears down the stairs. Collect neat piles of clothes prepared the night before.
6.35: Catch BB and change his bum and get him dressed. Find SB who has learnt to zombie crawl and is attempting his escape. New nappy and dress him also. Feed BB
6.50: Make coffee. Give BB fruit and a drink so I get five minutes peace. Doesn't work.
7am: Hang out nappy wash.
7.10: Get dressed. By this time both babies will decide they want my attention and begin to whine.
7.20: Feed babies.
7.30: Drag BB to bathroom, wash his face and get our teeth brushed.
7.45: Put pram up and load it up with their bags and lunchbags.
8am: Eat breakfast. By this I mean run around the living room with my sons chasing me whining for more food whilst I try and shove porridge down my throat.
8.15 Make sure everybody is ready to go, and wake Daddy Bear.
8.30: shout a load of instructions at a half awake DB and run out of the house.
9-5.30: work a shift in a busy lab.
5.45 pick boys up from nursery. Load up pram. Drag to tired whiny boys home.
6pm Bath, PJs, night nappies, stories, cuddles etc etc etc.
6.30 pm: give BB milk, shut stairgate and door. In theory, he is done for the night. Sometimes he does wake, but he's fairly easy to settle. Start feeding SB. He's a monkey to feed and fidgets badly when he's tired.
7pm Pop sleeping baby in his crib. He WILL wake up the second his back touches the crib. Leave the room. SB will wail for about 30 secs before falling asleep.
Rest of the night will be spent putting on washing, tidying toys, packing mine and the boys lunches, packing bags for the next day, cook dinner, wash up, sterilise bottles... By the time I sit down it will be about 9pm, when DB comes in from work. I am usually falling asleep by this point.
This happens four days a week. One day is slightly easier as my mum has the boys and I don't have to sort nursery thighs out and she gets them ready for bed. Weekends are spent cleaning and general pottering I don't have time to do during the week.
I still use cloth, I still breastfeed when baby is with me, he has formula during the day as a) my damn breastpump broke. b) SB feeds so much I can't pump between feeds anyway, I still use slings (I've started tandem wearing at home!) so I still get to parent my way :)
desperately needing time off
xxx
6am: Hear Baby Bear wake up. Ignore crashing of toys, pattering feet and shouts of 'mummy, I awake!'
6.30: alarm goes off. Press snooze.
6.31: Squishy Bear starts grabbing my face and attempts to rearrange it whilst singing. Get out of bed, say good morning to BB and open stair gate. BB flees his bedroom and disappears down the stairs. Collect neat piles of clothes prepared the night before.
6.35: Catch BB and change his bum and get him dressed. Find SB who has learnt to zombie crawl and is attempting his escape. New nappy and dress him also. Feed BB
6.50: Make coffee. Give BB fruit and a drink so I get five minutes peace. Doesn't work.
7am: Hang out nappy wash.
7.10: Get dressed. By this time both babies will decide they want my attention and begin to whine.
7.20: Feed babies.
7.30: Drag BB to bathroom, wash his face and get our teeth brushed.
7.45: Put pram up and load it up with their bags and lunchbags.
8am: Eat breakfast. By this I mean run around the living room with my sons chasing me whining for more food whilst I try and shove porridge down my throat.
8.15 Make sure everybody is ready to go, and wake Daddy Bear.
8.30: shout a load of instructions at a half awake DB and run out of the house.
9-5.30: work a shift in a busy lab.
5.45 pick boys up from nursery. Load up pram. Drag to tired whiny boys home.
6pm Bath, PJs, night nappies, stories, cuddles etc etc etc.
6.30 pm: give BB milk, shut stairgate and door. In theory, he is done for the night. Sometimes he does wake, but he's fairly easy to settle. Start feeding SB. He's a monkey to feed and fidgets badly when he's tired.
7pm Pop sleeping baby in his crib. He WILL wake up the second his back touches the crib. Leave the room. SB will wail for about 30 secs before falling asleep.
Rest of the night will be spent putting on washing, tidying toys, packing mine and the boys lunches, packing bags for the next day, cook dinner, wash up, sterilise bottles... By the time I sit down it will be about 9pm, when DB comes in from work. I am usually falling asleep by this point.
This happens four days a week. One day is slightly easier as my mum has the boys and I don't have to sort nursery thighs out and she gets them ready for bed. Weekends are spent cleaning and general pottering I don't have time to do during the week.
I still use cloth, I still breastfeed when baby is with me, he has formula during the day as a) my damn breastpump broke. b) SB feeds so much I can't pump between feeds anyway, I still use slings (I've started tandem wearing at home!) so I still get to parent my way :)
desperately needing time off
xxx
Friday, 1 March 2013
I haven't disappeared!
Gone insane, yes. But I am still here!
The reasons for my absence are individually very easy to cope with. All together, I'm quite surprised I'm not in a loony bin.
1) my laptop died. It suffered the seven beeps of death before failing to turn on ever again. Luckily, all of my photos of my bears are safe, the motherboard died but my hard drive is fine and residing in my paperwork cupboard, until I can afford a new laptop.
2) I lost my iPhone. After my laptop dying, I was using my iPhone as my main source of Internet. And then First buses suffered my wrath after expecting me to get on a bus with no pram facility, and three steps. Bloody hell. Cue carrying on toddler, and sitting him in a seat, then running off of the bus, grabbing squishy bears car seat from the pram and putting that next to bb, then back off again to fold my pram, drag it up the stairs and heave it into the storage bit. At some point I dropped my phone but didn't realise until I got off of the bus. This time I have lost all of my pictures. My own fault for not backing it up but without a laptop I couldn't, but I'm devastated to be honest.
3) I moved house. Never ever want to move house ever again. Not until the boys are big enough to not cry constantly throughout the move! Almost finished unpacking, also very difficult with two under two.
4) I start a new job on Monday. Full time. And the boys are going to nursery. Sob.
5) my post natal depression has gotten to a point where I don't feel like me anymore. My gp won't see me because I've moved out of area, so I'm a bit lost now until i find a new one. I hate feeling like this.
So there you go. Quick update! Will post again with more detail when I get a chance.
The reasons for my absence are individually very easy to cope with. All together, I'm quite surprised I'm not in a loony bin.
1) my laptop died. It suffered the seven beeps of death before failing to turn on ever again. Luckily, all of my photos of my bears are safe, the motherboard died but my hard drive is fine and residing in my paperwork cupboard, until I can afford a new laptop.
2) I lost my iPhone. After my laptop dying, I was using my iPhone as my main source of Internet. And then First buses suffered my wrath after expecting me to get on a bus with no pram facility, and three steps. Bloody hell. Cue carrying on toddler, and sitting him in a seat, then running off of the bus, grabbing squishy bears car seat from the pram and putting that next to bb, then back off again to fold my pram, drag it up the stairs and heave it into the storage bit. At some point I dropped my phone but didn't realise until I got off of the bus. This time I have lost all of my pictures. My own fault for not backing it up but without a laptop I couldn't, but I'm devastated to be honest.
3) I moved house. Never ever want to move house ever again. Not until the boys are big enough to not cry constantly throughout the move! Almost finished unpacking, also very difficult with two under two.
4) I start a new job on Monday. Full time. And the boys are going to nursery. Sob.
5) my post natal depression has gotten to a point where I don't feel like me anymore. My gp won't see me because I've moved out of area, so I'm a bit lost now until i find a new one. I hate feeling like this.
So there you go. Quick update! Will post again with more detail when I get a chance.
Friday, 1 February 2013
The Sudocrem Debacle...
Okay, so let me set the scene.
I went to my mum's for dinner. Daddy Bear has been working lates and some days, when the Bears have been hard work and the thought of putting them both to bed on my own makes me want to run and hide, so I take the Bears to see nanny. We ate dinner and it was getting late, Squishy Bear had gotten fractious and ended up falling asleep in the sling, Baby Bear was running around like a loon, so I decided it was time to go home and put them both to bed (blood pressure raising by the second). Tried to get BB's coat and shoes on... Full scale melt down.
Nanny Bear: He could stay here but the cot isn't here... (Currently moving so it's at the new house)
Me: No probs, he'll be fine as soon as I catch him to put his coat on.
Baby Bear: Noooo, stay with Nannyyyyyyyyy
Me: No baby, come on. Let's go home.
BB: *wails* nooooooooooooo!
NB: Look, just leave him here he can sleep in the single bed. He'll be going into a proper bed at the new house anyway.
Me: Okay.
So I went home.
8pm: NB's facebook update - BB fast asleep in his big boy bed, so proud of him.
8.30pm: NB's fb - Okay, perhaps BB not asleep, just heard the bedroom door open and him calling nanny...
9pm: I phoned NB, she can hear him still chatting away to himself so leaves him up there.
9.15pm: NB's fb - BB seems to think I won't notice if he opens the door and runs into my bedroom to hide. He thinks I'm silly but he is nothing on his uncle!
10pm: Receive text from NB: BB fast asleep, been quiet for last half hour. See you in morning, lots of love.
10.30: About to go to bed. Phone rings.
Me: Is he okay?
NB: I'm so sorry, I thought he was asleep. (Sounds tearful. Cue panic)
Me: What happened?
NB: Is Sudocrem toxic?
Me: No... We get patients in all the time who've eaten it... Why?
NB: Uncle Bear wanted to put him to bed, he must have left a tub of Sudocrem in the bedroom.
Me: Oh, mum...
NB; It's in his ears, up his nose, in his eyes, he's painted his hair, his sheets, the walls. He was asleep but I had to wake him to clean him up, he's screaming for you, I'm so sorry!
Me: I can't come get him, SB is asleep :(
NB: He'll be fine, I'll give him some more milk and get him off. It's not like he can do anything else now.
His hair still feels weird.
He's staying in a cot forever.
I went to my mum's for dinner. Daddy Bear has been working lates and some days, when the Bears have been hard work and the thought of putting them both to bed on my own makes me want to run and hide, so I take the Bears to see nanny. We ate dinner and it was getting late, Squishy Bear had gotten fractious and ended up falling asleep in the sling, Baby Bear was running around like a loon, so I decided it was time to go home and put them both to bed (blood pressure raising by the second). Tried to get BB's coat and shoes on... Full scale melt down.
Nanny Bear: He could stay here but the cot isn't here... (Currently moving so it's at the new house)
Me: No probs, he'll be fine as soon as I catch him to put his coat on.
Baby Bear: Noooo, stay with Nannyyyyyyyyy
Me: No baby, come on. Let's go home.
BB: *wails* nooooooooooooo!
NB: Look, just leave him here he can sleep in the single bed. He'll be going into a proper bed at the new house anyway.
Me: Okay.
So I went home.
8pm: NB's facebook update - BB fast asleep in his big boy bed, so proud of him.
8.30pm: NB's fb - Okay, perhaps BB not asleep, just heard the bedroom door open and him calling nanny...
9pm: I phoned NB, she can hear him still chatting away to himself so leaves him up there.
9.15pm: NB's fb - BB seems to think I won't notice if he opens the door and runs into my bedroom to hide. He thinks I'm silly but he is nothing on his uncle!
10pm: Receive text from NB: BB fast asleep, been quiet for last half hour. See you in morning, lots of love.
10.30: About to go to bed. Phone rings.
Me: Is he okay?
NB: I'm so sorry, I thought he was asleep. (Sounds tearful. Cue panic)
Me: What happened?
NB: Is Sudocrem toxic?
Me: No... We get patients in all the time who've eaten it... Why?
NB: Uncle Bear wanted to put him to bed, he must have left a tub of Sudocrem in the bedroom.
Me: Oh, mum...
NB; It's in his ears, up his nose, in his eyes, he's painted his hair, his sheets, the walls. He was asleep but I had to wake him to clean him up, he's screaming for you, I'm so sorry!
Me: I can't come get him, SB is asleep :(
NB: He'll be fine, I'll give him some more milk and get him off. It's not like he can do anything else now.
His hair still feels weird.
He's staying in a cot forever.
Thursday, 24 January 2013
Itti Bitti D'lish SIO Review
So I got a few of these in the closing down sale of the UK Itti Website and I wish I'd bought more! I really like them!
Fit - 5/5
Now when I first started our cloth journey I had an Itti Tutto, and I sold it on after a few wears because I didn't like the fit. Turns out I just didn't get it. Itti's are meant to be trim fitting. They're really narrow between the legs, slim fitting so they fit nicely under trousers. The Medium on Squishy Bear fits a dream. He's a 16lb 9oz chunk with a little waist and thunder thighs so he can be quite awkward to fit, but the D'lish fits him really nicely without giving him an enormous bottom. I have also borrowed a large D'lish out of curiousity from the Nappy Library, so see how the fit was on Baby Bear. I was pleasantly surprised that he also fits well in them, despite his big bum and skinny waist.
Absorbancy 4/5
Even without the mini boosters, the D'lish last about 3 hours on SB, and bout 2.5 on BB. Impressive! I think I'm going to buy some mini boosters when they come back into stock everywhere.
Containment 4/5
Few nappies without a double gusset contain breastfed baby pooplosions. And given SB saves up a good 5 days worth before he explodes so I can only pray its in a decent nappy. And the itti isn't bad! There's no poo fence, so although nothing escapes out of the sides a small amount did a Houdini and escaped up the back and onto his vest, but it was only a tiny bit and nothing compared to some others! We've had a few pooplosions since which have been completely contained so I'm pretty impressed.
Ease of use 3/5
So stuffing isn't hard. Unless you find yellow poppers to yellow poppers and purple poppers to purple poppers hard... There's two inserts, a bamboo trifold and an hourglass one with a staydry top that lays on top. Simple. It's the putting on that gets DB. He can do poppers. Ish. But where the D'lish is so trim, you need to run your finger around the leg elastic to tuck it right into the knicker line to get a nice fit, and that's to complex for him.
Drying Time 3/5
I tumble the inserts for half an hour on high, pop them over the radiator and they're dry in a day. Lovely stuff. They will dry in about a day and a half without a drier, which is still fine!
Overall 4/5
Love them. Want more! Might not be fantastic for childcare/daddies but I love them and the prints are amazing! We have red, orange, zebra, stripes and giraffe print, and I have plans to collect many more, mwahahaha!
Fit - 5/5
Now when I first started our cloth journey I had an Itti Tutto, and I sold it on after a few wears because I didn't like the fit. Turns out I just didn't get it. Itti's are meant to be trim fitting. They're really narrow between the legs, slim fitting so they fit nicely under trousers. The Medium on Squishy Bear fits a dream. He's a 16lb 9oz chunk with a little waist and thunder thighs so he can be quite awkward to fit, but the D'lish fits him really nicely without giving him an enormous bottom. I have also borrowed a large D'lish out of curiousity from the Nappy Library, so see how the fit was on Baby Bear. I was pleasantly surprised that he also fits well in them, despite his big bum and skinny waist.
Absorbancy 4/5
Even without the mini boosters, the D'lish last about 3 hours on SB, and bout 2.5 on BB. Impressive! I think I'm going to buy some mini boosters when they come back into stock everywhere.
Containment 4/5
Few nappies without a double gusset contain breastfed baby pooplosions. And given SB saves up a good 5 days worth before he explodes so I can only pray its in a decent nappy. And the itti isn't bad! There's no poo fence, so although nothing escapes out of the sides a small amount did a Houdini and escaped up the back and onto his vest, but it was only a tiny bit and nothing compared to some others! We've had a few pooplosions since which have been completely contained so I'm pretty impressed.
Ease of use 3/5
So stuffing isn't hard. Unless you find yellow poppers to yellow poppers and purple poppers to purple poppers hard... There's two inserts, a bamboo trifold and an hourglass one with a staydry top that lays on top. Simple. It's the putting on that gets DB. He can do poppers. Ish. But where the D'lish is so trim, you need to run your finger around the leg elastic to tuck it right into the knicker line to get a nice fit, and that's to complex for him.
Drying Time 3/5
I tumble the inserts for half an hour on high, pop them over the radiator and they're dry in a day. Lovely stuff. They will dry in about a day and a half without a drier, which is still fine!
Overall 4/5
Love them. Want more! Might not be fantastic for childcare/daddies but I love them and the prints are amazing! We have red, orange, zebra, stripes and giraffe print, and I have plans to collect many more, mwahahaha!
Wednesday, 23 January 2013
Tots Bots Easyfit v2 Review
Okay so I figured it was time to start reviewing my vast collection of cloth... I know I'm a relative newbie, I clothed BB from 14 months, and SB from 2 weeks, but I've tried a fair few types of nappies, plus I help out at our local nappy library - does that qualify me??
Tots Bots Easyfit v2
Fit - 4/5
These fit both my long skinny toddler and my chubby baby. They're quite chunky poppered down on a diddy baby, which makes for huge bottoms but I find that quite cute ;). Admittedly, whilst they do fit BB (Who is a 30lb 21 month old) they're getting a bit tight but they still go on comfortably, and cover his tush nicely. The rise is still poppered on the smallest setting on SB (16lb 4 month old), but he's' starting to get a builder's bum so i guess it's time to change ;)
Absorbancy 3/5
So I have two heavy wetting boys. They pee like racehorses. I can get two hours out of an unboosted Easyfit on BB but for us, they are useless for naptime as he drinks milk before he sleeps and wakes up soaked. However, during the day, I tend to pop a bamboo booster in an they last three hours :). SB also gets about 2-3 hours.
Containment 5/5
Have had no issues with my Easyfits containing, the flap at the back catches the most explosive of poos, and despite the lack of a second gusset there haven't been any accidents :)
Ease of use 5/5
These get full 'dad-proof' marks. I wash all nappies, and stuff when dried, which simply consists of folding the insert in half and stuffing it in the pocket, therefore all DB has to do is velcro it onto one of the Bears. Simples.
Drying Time 3/5
Once wash I throw them in the tumble drier on low for 20 mins, naughty I know. But with two in cloth and endless loads of washing to do it's the only way I don't end up running out of nappies! Bamboo does have a longer drying time than microfibre, so hanging over my radiator airers has them dry in a day and a half-ish.
Overall 4/5
So they're not the most absorbant nappies, but they are easy to put on so brilliant for daddies/childminer/nursery, they're not bulky so they fit well under clothes and don't take up too much room in your changing bag, and they come in cute patterns! They are easy to boost too so you can adjust them to your LO's needs.
Tots Bots Easyfit v2
Fit - 4/5
These fit both my long skinny toddler and my chubby baby. They're quite chunky poppered down on a diddy baby, which makes for huge bottoms but I find that quite cute ;). Admittedly, whilst they do fit BB (Who is a 30lb 21 month old) they're getting a bit tight but they still go on comfortably, and cover his tush nicely. The rise is still poppered on the smallest setting on SB (16lb 4 month old), but he's' starting to get a builder's bum so i guess it's time to change ;)
Absorbancy 3/5
So I have two heavy wetting boys. They pee like racehorses. I can get two hours out of an unboosted Easyfit on BB but for us, they are useless for naptime as he drinks milk before he sleeps and wakes up soaked. However, during the day, I tend to pop a bamboo booster in an they last three hours :). SB also gets about 2-3 hours.
Containment 5/5
Have had no issues with my Easyfits containing, the flap at the back catches the most explosive of poos, and despite the lack of a second gusset there haven't been any accidents :)
Ease of use 5/5
These get full 'dad-proof' marks. I wash all nappies, and stuff when dried, which simply consists of folding the insert in half and stuffing it in the pocket, therefore all DB has to do is velcro it onto one of the Bears. Simples.
Drying Time 3/5
Once wash I throw them in the tumble drier on low for 20 mins, naughty I know. But with two in cloth and endless loads of washing to do it's the only way I don't end up running out of nappies! Bamboo does have a longer drying time than microfibre, so hanging over my radiator airers has them dry in a day and a half-ish.
Overall 4/5
So they're not the most absorbant nappies, but they are easy to put on so brilliant for daddies/childminer/nursery, they're not bulky so they fit well under clothes and don't take up too much room in your changing bag, and they come in cute patterns! They are easy to boost too so you can adjust them to your LO's needs.
Wednesday, 16 January 2013
Babywearing - trials and tribulations of a toddler tantrum in public
Babywearing 1 - toddler 0....
Baby bear isn't such a baby anymore. And the older he gets, the more stubborn he gets.
He wasn't impressed we had left nanny's house early to run errands so decided at the end of nanny's road he didn't want to walk. Squishy bear was snoozing in the pram ( a rare sight, he usually refuses point blank to sleep in the pram so I rarely take the double).
Mb: bb why are you stopping? Come on let's go home!
Bb: no.
Mb: come on bb...
Bb: no.
Mb: do you want to go in the pram?
Bb: NO!! Cue foot stamping, screaming etc etc
Mb: okay, let's walk then.
Bb: mummy carry?
Mb: (looks at the 30lb toddler staring back at her) erm...
Bb: carry me mummy?
Now I was wearing the wrap around my neck as a scarf as that way it does take up room in my bag, so I took it off, removed his reins, wrapping it around him and super manned him onto my back without him even dropping his biscuit. Now I was quite impressed. I can do a double hammock in my sleep but with a four month old baby, not a 21 month old toddler... He's only ever been on my back once for all of five minutes so he was quite confused and wriggled as I did the quickest ruck of my life. Once he was in place I started walking, and he was happy enough talking to passers by and shouting at birds in trees. Now it wasn't the best of carries, the seat wasn't as deep as I'd have liked it and we both had coats on so it all felt a bit loose but it held all the way home! Can honestly say carrying a child that large was much harder but the ellaroo is only cotton do with a more supportive wrap I think we would do better. I look forward to carrying him more, I think I'm going to attempt a tandem next!
Baby bear isn't such a baby anymore. And the older he gets, the more stubborn he gets.
He wasn't impressed we had left nanny's house early to run errands so decided at the end of nanny's road he didn't want to walk. Squishy bear was snoozing in the pram ( a rare sight, he usually refuses point blank to sleep in the pram so I rarely take the double).
Mb: bb why are you stopping? Come on let's go home!
Bb: no.
Mb: come on bb...
Bb: no.
Mb: do you want to go in the pram?
Bb: NO!! Cue foot stamping, screaming etc etc
Mb: okay, let's walk then.
Bb: mummy carry?
Mb: (looks at the 30lb toddler staring back at her) erm...
Bb: carry me mummy?
Now I was wearing the wrap around my neck as a scarf as that way it does take up room in my bag, so I took it off, removed his reins, wrapping it around him and super manned him onto my back without him even dropping his biscuit. Now I was quite impressed. I can do a double hammock in my sleep but with a four month old baby, not a 21 month old toddler... He's only ever been on my back once for all of five minutes so he was quite confused and wriggled as I did the quickest ruck of my life. Once he was in place I started walking, and he was happy enough talking to passers by and shouting at birds in trees. Now it wasn't the best of carries, the seat wasn't as deep as I'd have liked it and we both had coats on so it all felt a bit loose but it held all the way home! Can honestly say carrying a child that large was much harder but the ellaroo is only cotton do with a more supportive wrap I think we would do better. I look forward to carrying him more, I think I'm going to attempt a tandem next!
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