For selling fab stuff !!!

With this nasty wet weather and four people's worth of washing to do including a set of cloth nappies, I have been struggling to dry washing on the outside line. The couple of old maidens I have are literally falling to pieces and can't cope with the amount and weight of washing we now do. I have both maidens permanently full and I still have a growing washing mountain in my kitchen.

Enter Ikea and the Antonius clothes dryer.


It is massive, taller than me tall with bags of hanging space. I have been washing all evening and have hung up just under three loads already on the airer and it will definately take the next one currently in the washing machine. It is 'just under' three loads as I am hanging the very heavy jeans and pants on a seperate maiden, as I don't think the new airer would take very heavy stuff. It also folds up very neatly, remaining the same height but becoming very narrow and fairly easy to carry. Eventually it will be located under the spare bed when not in use in that room, but it is currently up in our dining room, whilst I play catch up with the laundry.

If I have beams in the right place, I hope to get this Antonius ceiling dryer for heavy jeans, bath towels etc, to hang upstairs over the landing.


I am confident that the washing mountain will soon be flattened, onward and upward towards the island of ironing

My little boy is growing like a weed

He has a beautiful smile and he struggles to sit up when you hold him in your arms. He is getting more vocal by the day. Highchair stares hard at me, concentrates and manages to push out 'Grrrr', looking kinda surprised at his verbal efforts. I do wonder how much my baby understand and what he thinks about his life.

He smiles at his sister and tolerates her rough affections with a grin and saves his best smiles and giggles for his beloved daddy

My mobile phone and I parted company several weeks ago now.

I did try ringing it and I heard the ringtone from the living room but as I can't hear directions I couldn't find it. By the time Deckchair got home the mobile (which only had a low charge at the time of being lost) had stopped ringing and was going straight to the answerphone. Despite looking everywhere for weeks it was nowhere to be found. I assumed our bright active toddler Babychair had something to do with the disappearance and I was hopeing the phone would turn up again, like a set of house keys had done some months before.

At first I wasn't bothered, to be honest it was a bit of a relief. Mobiles can be a hassle, remembering to keep them charged, carrying them around all the time and feeling obliged to answer them when they ring. I much prefer email, when you can answer in your own time.

But as days turned into weeks, I started missing the damm thing. I started finding myself saying, I'll just ring Deckchair, my mum, check the opening times for the children's music group and of course no mobile meant I would have to wait until I got back home.

On top of finally missing my mobile, there was the concern from my parents and husband at being out in the world with two young children and no way of calling for help, if say my dodgy car broke down when I was away from home, so I decided it was time to do something about it.

I rang our mobile company Virgin Mobile (Virgin Mobile Website) and spoke to a lovely lady in their customer service department. She was polite, friendly and ever so helpful, because I had an account with them for a few years and as I was willing to have a 'new to me' rather than a brand new phone and didn't need (nor want) the latest model, she found me a wonderful deal. So I end up with a 'new to me' pink mobile and my orginal number back for just over £12 !!! What a bargain. Plus she reordered a new sim card with my original mobile number on it, free of charge !!!

So Virgin Mobile is on my very short list of companies with an excellent customer service department.

Roll on the end of the week and my new(ish) phone arrival and I'll be contactable whilst out and about again

Tandem Nursing often leads to Tandem Sleeping !!!

Deckchair came home and found me pinned to the sofa with two sleeping babies and not daring to move them in case one or the other woke up

Closeup - Aren't they sweet


On a serious note....Tandem nursing is going well, I prefer to nurse them seperately, so I can still read, eat whilst nursing. When I nurse them together I sometimes feel very touched out and have to concentrate on them feeding and can't do anything else. But it is a handy parenting tool at the end of the day when Highchair is hungry and Babychair is tired and needs comfort. Tandem nursing instantly stops everyone from being cranky...including mummy

Serves
4 large portions

Ingredients
500g Stewing Beef
1/3 cup flour
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
vegetable oil
6 small potatos
2 medium carrots
1 large onion
1/2 small bottle of Black Sheep Ale
Pint of Beef Stock (Oxo cube & boiling water)

Instructions
1. Put flour, paprika, half the salt and pepper in a plastic food bag.
2. Add stewing beef cut into small cubes into the food bag and shake until all the meat is covered with flour.
3. Heat up vegetable oil in frying pan and brown the beef on all sides. Takes about 5 minutes.
4. Place sealed beef in slowcooker.
5. Add beer to frying pan and allow to collect flavour from the frying pan, add to slow cooker.
6. Make up beef stock and pour over beef in slow cooker.
7. Clean and peal all vegetables. Add sliced carrots and cubed potatoes to slow cooker.
8. Cook on the HIGH setting of the slowcooker for 5 hours.

Time
20 minutes to prepare
5 hours to cook in slow cooker

Result
Nice enough that Deckchair bagged the leftovers for his lunch the next day !!!
Definately will cook this one again.
Potatoes were slightly firm, maybe pre-cook potatoes before adding to the slow cooker next time.

Deckchair disappeared into the kitchen, I thought to make a cup of tea but he returned with a cup of tea AND a lovely 'bitsa' breakfast for me, him and DD.

His fab 'Bitsa' meals are bits of different food which don't necessarily normally go together on one plate but always taste lovely.

This one has nice crackers, cucumber, lovely smoked cheese, grapes, strawberries and branston pickle.

Mmmm, Just what I need after a broken nights sleep due to newborn and a cold.

The cutest pictures to date of Babychair and Highchair

Babychair


Highchair


Say it with me....Awwww

Background..We ECed our daughter Babychair from being a little dot (10 weeks old) and she has been totally clean from 9 months and considently dry by 12 months. We have a few wee misses which never bothered us.

We always backup with cloth nappies for naps/nightime but if I wake her up in the morning she is dry. So I know she has nighttime control.

Fast forward to Babychair being 2 years old and having a new baby brother, Highchair. She has started to refuse nappies at night, she tells me, she is not a baby...bless her. So over the last week I have had wet sheets (and waterproof sheets) every night.

The frustrating thing is that, she will get out of bed in the morning, take off her dry nappy and get back into bed. Sit at the top of the bed with the quilt around her reading books or playing and then wee. But if she needs a poo, she will do it (2 so far) in the chair potty next to the bed !!!

I have talked to her and she still insists that she doesn't want a nappy and promises to wee in the potty but maybe she forgets by the morning.

I have tried cloth and disposables nappies and all types of clothes and backwards vests but she still gets them off and/or undone underneath the clothes (even backwards vest)

Any ideas.

Oh, we are pottying her brother Highchair and she loves to watch him wee and having his nappies changed. She is really lovely with "her baby"

Update
Bought some disposable pull ups, I'm feeling very guilty about the cost (20p each !!!) and having to throw them away, however she leaves them on and so no wet bed sheets.

She was dry from her afternoon nap and so I reused the pullups for overnight, so at one pair a day it is not too bad.

Smiles Everywhere.

Highchair has started to giggle in his sleep and he now smiles for his mummy, daddy, grandma and grandaddy and his smiles are wonderfull

Month old Highchair sitting on a blue baby bjorn potty



ECing is going well with Highchair. We catch several wee's a day, mainly after naps but also had success after misses when I am doing a nappy change anyway and when he is grumpy.

He often farts on the potty and we get bits of poo but I doubt we'll get all of it until he is on solids around 6 months. Poo wise he tends to do one or two big poos in the morning, rather than the earlier spots all day, which is easier.

I am loving the new Bumgenius version 3 one size nappies we have bought for Highchair. The inner are much fluffier and the outers feel like soft fabric rather than plastic like our older Bumgenius nappies.

We started using Elimination Communication with Babychair when she was ten weeks old and this time we started with Highchair when he was four day old !!!

Babychair helping mummy to bath baby Highchair

Last night...Highchair slept between 10 pm and 4:30 am at a month old !!!!

Doubt it will happen again soon but I will enjoy it if it lasts

Nothing unusual in this house, however this is an overnight unsupervised potty. Babychair had got out of bed took her nappy off, poo'd in the potty next to her bed and called for me.

It took me a while to figure out what Babychair was saying, whilst pointing at the mantlepiece.

She was insisted that she needed to speak to her Aunty. So I rang my sister on her landline no answer and then got though to her on her mobile and handed the phone to Babychair. Her face was a picture, she seriously spoke and babbled happily to her beloved aunty on the phone.

Babychair loves my sister and always remembers her, despite not seeing her frequently in real life.

Awww

Babychair signed her first sentence 'little, more, milk, sleep', with breastfeeding pillow in her hand and a big smile...I had earlier told her no more milk until naptime...but it was only 6pm. She decided to take the milk early, even if that meant an early bedtime.

Highchair woke up this morning, did a big wee in the potty back into clean nappy and fell asleep again into a deep sleep. Giving me a couple hours of additional sleep...bliss

Mum drove me and the kids to a local NCT mother and toddler group, I have been far to antisocial recently just baby mooning at home with Babychair and Highchair. Us against the world It was lovely to get out and speak

I am ashamed to admit that I haven't dare go out on my own with my 2 year old Babychair and one month old Highchair !!!

So my poor toddler, is doing lots of playing on her own in the garden and watching too much Cbeebies...sadly 'C bee bee' is her newist word along with 'Tee Ava' ie.TV.

In my defence I am waiting until I am OK to drive again and then I will tackle the outside world with both children in tow.