Santa's been!

Big presents will be opened later when the Grans are here.

Tonight I get to help Santa

I can't wait. Wee man won't understand any of it but it will be fun nevertheless.

Happy Christmas to you all Xx

Baby led weaning - the aftermath!

Raspberries were a hit but rather messy. Hmm - perhaps nakkie feeding should be considered.

Recipe: Honeycomb

Every year a couple of friends and I swap home made Christmas presents. This year I thought I'd make honeycomb.

Ingredients:
200g caster sugar
4 tablespoons of golden syrup
3 teaspoons of bicarbonate of soda

Method:
1. Put sugar and syrup in large saucepan and bring to the boil.

2. Continue boiling for a few minutes.

3. Take off heat, add bicarbonate of soda and whisk. The mix will bubble up.

4. Pour onto a baking sheet lined with lightly oiled greaseproof paper and leave to set.

5. Wrap.

Carroll cartoons Inc.

This years cartoon in our card from the parents in law - drawn by my father in law.

Baby led weaning

The latest weaning recommendations are to wait until the baby is around six months old before you start them solid food. This is great because you can feed them pretty much anything at that age.

You can even go a step further and do something called Baby Led Weaning. This is where you put the food in front of them and just let them crack on. No need for mush - no purees to make, freeze and warm up - no letting your dinner get cold while you shovel it into their little mouths. Sounds great doesn't it!

Wee Man shoves everything he can in his gob so we though it would be simple - put food in his hand and he'd insert it in his mouth. But for some reason he doesn't put food in his mouth - he looks at me and opens his mouth like a little bird. If I pop a bit of food in there he munches away happily, but just looks at the food in his hand.

After a few days we had some success with a cucumber stick today - yay!

Twins?

Chicken pox - or not...

My Parents in law popped over yesterday to see Wee Man. As usual he was cuddled to within an inch of his life by his Granny (I think she quite likes him). Father in law managed to pry Wee Man out of her arms for a cuddle and they were playing happily when his Grandad mentioned the red spots on his face. Instant panic! Chicken pox?

Mother in law and I both rushed to check - there were 3 red/purple spots on his face. Oh no we both said and went in for a closer look. Something didn't look quite right though so I rubbed one and it disappeared. We had been eating cherries at lunch time and yes, they were splashes of cherry juice.

Lessons learned:
1) Don't panic until you have to.
2) Wee Man definitely takes after his parents and is a bit of a pigpen - he managed to get cherry juice on the back of his head!

Today is my birthday

Today is my birthday - and what a year it has been!

I have finally become a mummy after a long, long wait. It is everything I thought it would be - and more. I can't believe how much love you can feel for a tiny person. He has made my life complete. Every day brings new delights and changes so I thought I'd keep a diary of our life so he can read it when he's older. What better day to start than on my birthday.

My big man is working today so wee man has been entertaining me by practising blowing raspberries - he nearly has it cracked.

I went out for a birthday lunch yesterday with my lovely friends and was totally spoilt. Wee man was on best behaviour - even though he missed his morning snooze. When we got home he slept from 2:30 until 5:15. Bless him - entertaining a group of ladies is such hard work!

I hope the next year is half as amazing as this one has been. Although I think it might be even better.