My Wishes For The Perfect Homebirth

We have the midwife coming to see us tomorrow to discus our planned homebirth, this has had me thinking and we have spent the last few nights discussing the "ideal" and thought I'd put it down in words now.  It will be interesting to see how it all compares to the actual event!

I will have my first twinges late afternoon with the BigD around.  This will give us time to put my Mum on standby at a reasonable hour - We plan to have my Mum there to be with D1 &D2 so The BigD can give me his undivided attention.  Things will progress fairly slowly giving us chance to put the little ones to bed with their usual routine.

When we reach the point we feel we need to call the midwife we will call my Mum first.  Based on my last homebith I went from 3cm to feeling the urge to push in 45 minutes so I would like to think that things will happen fairly quickly at this point.

When the midwife feels that things are starting to happen (AND providing they are happening smoothly AND I am showing very little outward signs of discomfort) we will wake D1 who is 4 so she can watch and welcome her little brother enter the world. People have very mixed opinions on children being present at the birth of siblings but she is very mature for her age and we have prepared her well with discussions, story books and home birth videos.

D1 welcoming D2 into the world.  She didn't witness the birth but was woken within the hour.

When the time comes to push I want to try and take it as slow as possible, to almost breath the baby out if you like. I have had two tears previously and the last time I wasn't stitched so I don't have much left to tear if you get my drift....

I would love to own the bragging rights to having birthed a child on 2 paracetamol BUT that isn't going to happen. I will be using gas & air. Based on previous experience biting down on that mouthpiece really does help and it can provide great focus.

I will have a natural 3rd stage - hopefully with more success than previously, when my body just didn't want to deliver the placenta. Providing the birth is smooth and trouble free then we will be declining the vitamin K injection but that is a decision we will make at the time and with the guidance of the midwife.

And finally.... The midwife and my Mum will have packed up and left before 2am and we will all climb into bed together!

Now lets see how it really happens...

Ernie The Elf Comes To Stay

Today Ernie the Elf has come to stay in the Mayhem household. He will be staying with us until Christmas and will report back to Farther Christmas on the children's behaviour.

He will be meeting D1 for the first time tonight after school and has brought with him a little note to introduce himself. Now he looks quite sweet and innocent with those BIG brown eyes but don't let appearances fool you, he has all kinds of mischief lined up. Tonight he will raid the Christmas treat box and D1 will find him, in the morning, on the living room floor, surrounded by the contents of a large tub of quality street! Naughty Elf. He has also told me that he thinks knickers make great Christmas tree decorations so there is another little adventure for him.

I would love it if you have any more ideas of things our naughty little house guest could get up to.

Homemade Toys - Picture Discs

I made this game/toy for my youngest daughter (D2) who is 19 months old and I must say I am so so pleased with the play value it has provided - even my 4 year (D1) old loves it.

Initially I made them just to give D2 a way of looking at photographs.  She absolutely loves sitting at the computer with me looking at pictures of people she recognises so I wanted to find a way that she could do this by herself.  Our efforts have 21 faces but can be as large or small as you like.

They were so simple to make - the trickiest bit will be finding enough jar lids (You could always mount your pics on cardboard but I feel the Jam jar lids make them really easy for little fingers to handle and should give a little more longevity too).

You will need:

• Photos of close friends and family
• Scissors
• A pen/pencil
• Glue (I found the only glue that would hold the pictures firmly in place was super glue)
• Jam jar lids or similar
• Something to cut round (I found a pastry cutter to be the perfect size)
• Half an hours peace and quiet to get the job done.

What to do:

• It really is as simple as cutting out the faces and glueing them in to the discs/lids.
• Leave plenty of time for the glue to dry.

Ways to play:

1. Just allow your child to explore them alone.
2. Look at them together and talk about each person.
3. Play sorting games for example:
• Who lives in our house? (The BigD's family all live in NZ so we do that too)
• men/women
• Adults/Children
• Hair colour
• Explore relationships - "Can you find Daddy's Mummy", etc...

If you dream up another way to play with them then I would love to hear it.  Please leave me a comment below or email with suggestions and I will add them here.

If you liked this post then you may also like to take a look at the "Busy Day" personalised story book we made.

Not suitable for really young children that are likely to put things into their mouths as the glue, I am almost certain, will be full of toxins!

I'm NOT Nesting

The theme over at The Gallery this week is "The Kitchen". When I read this I certainly didn't have to think twice.

Over the weekend The BigD and I were planning the dinners for the next few days trying to decide how we were going to use up the left over veg when I came across a rather manky looking lettuce right at the bottom of the veg drawer. That was it. Out came the lettuce, out came the drawer and out came the antibacterial wipes. The BigD was set to work at the sink washing the drawer whilst I set to work with the wipes, the drawer was closely followed by every shelf and compartment. I am now the proud owner of a spotlessly clean and beautifully organised fridge!

I then set to work scrubbing the entire bathroom, every nook and cranny of it! It was at this point The BigD dare to ask "Are you nesting?" No. I'm not nesting! Just in case I haven't mentioned it before, let me tell you I am 34weeks pregnant, and of course, it is just absolutely essential that the fridge, bathroom and coat cupboard all get an extra good spring clean!

I'm NOT nesting though. Well perhaps, maybe just a little bit.

Now you've seen what happened in my kitchen over the weekend click the link above and checkout what others were up to!

Moroccan Style Lamb Tagine - Dairy Free Slow Cooker Recipe

Throw the ingredients listed below into a slow cooker for about 8 hours:

• 350g Diced Lamb (I use stewing lamb to keep costs down but any is fine)
• 1 Tin Chickpeas
• 1 Tin Chopped Tomatoes
• 3 medium Onions (Small dice - Red or white is fine)
• 1 1/2tsp Cinamon
• 1tsp Turmeric
• 2tsp Ground Coriander
• 2tsp Ground Cumin
• 200mls Lamb or Chicken stock
• 1tsp Ground Ginger
• 2 tbsp honey
• 3 cloves garlic (crushed)
• 1 mansized handful sultanas
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp Lemon juice (if using a real lemon throw the zest in too)

About half an hour to an hour before serving stir in:

• 50g Ground Almonds

tip - I don't use those fancy measuring spoons, just a good old fashioned teaspoon. For this recipe use GOOD heaped spoonfuls.

I serve this with Salad Couscous:

• 200g Dried Couscous (made up as per pack instructions)
• 2 Carrots 
• 1 onion (Red is best)
• 1 Pepper
• 1/2 Cucumber
• Lemon Juice
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• Salt/Pepper
• Chopped parsley/Coriander (optional)

Finely dice all the veg (The finer the better if you have a fussy eater like me) and mix with the couscous.  Add olive oil and Lemon juice to taste, you will probably need quite a lot of olive oil.  Season with salt and pepper.

We usually have quite a bit of the couscous left over - perfect for lunch the next day! 

Dear Car Driver

Picture the scene... You are driving along in your car when you spot a harassed looking, heavily pregnant mum standing on the pavement waiting to cross the road with a buggy, some shopping bags and a 4 year old in tow. You feel sorry for her so you stop your car and wave her across. She glares at you , tries to tell you something you probably can't hear and makes some funny looking hand gestures. You get all confused, confusion turns to frustration and you drive off in a huff - "There's NO helping some people. STUPID woman".

No. Let me tell you this, the woman really isn't stupid. She is trying to teach her 4 year old a bit of road safety with the biggest lesson being do NOT cross the road in front of a car!

Photo by Flickr user (Dominic's pics)

So. Dear car driver, next time you see an adult accompanied by small child waiting to cross the road PLEASE DO NOT stop your car and wave them accross - They are, most probably, trying to educate their children and it really really is not helpful. NOT helpful at all.  If said situation arises at a pelican crossing, it is especially not helpful to hoot and beep and try to encourage them to cross before the little green man appears. If you really must be helpful then save it for little old ladies, they, I am sure, will be very grateful and appreciative.

I hope that we have cleared a few things up and we understand one another better.

Kind Regards,

Harrassed Mum of 2 (and a half)

Silent Sunday

Saturday is Caption Day 2

Can you dream up a caption to accompany this picture?

Wot so funee?

D1 tells me this is a picture of a man and an aeroplane!

Homemade Toys - Personalised Story Book

Last week I made a special book for D2. We called it "(insert D2's Real name here) Busy Day" I thought I'd share with you what we did.

We took the camera out with us for the day and captured the things we do on a daily basis. I chose a Wednesday as it is D2's favourite day - we go to "Booby Club", the local breastfeeding support group. I tried to mainly include things that happen EVERY day, breakfast time and getting dressed for example, with only a couple of pics that represent what happens on a Wednesday.

Once I looked at all the pictures we had taken throughout the day I soon realised there were going to be far too many things to hold her attention so I managed to get it down to 11 pictures.

Finding the right photo album for little hands was one of the biggest challenges. I wanted the book to be D2's, not something that only Mummy gets to touch. I found this one from boots, it has got a tightly bound spine, is just the right length, reasonably priced and I think it will last more than 5 minutes! The Pattern isn't one I would have necessarily gone for but beggars can't be choosers - If anyone finds a better one please let me know.

One final tip. Take all your pictures in the same orientation (All landscape or whatever is dictated by your chosen album). I leant the hard way and so a couple of the best shots didn't make it into the book.

If you liked this idea then you might want to take a look at my post on home made picture discs.

Something I am Proud Of

This week over at The Gallery the theme is "Something I am Proud of". Now this got me thinking... The first thought that came to my mind are my children. Absolutely nothing in the world could make me prouder. I would have struggled to decide between the hundreds of pictures I have of them.  I am also very proud of the unborn child I have in my tummy right now - How could I capture all 3 babies in one picture??? Time for a re-think.

What else am I proud of? In the early part of the year I was on a major fitness binge, pregnancy has slowed this down somewhat, and I decided I was going to run 5k. Me run 5k? Ha bloody ha, I was always the one that forgot their PE kit, or it was "that" time of the month or failing that I'd have an asthma attack!!

Anyway below is a picture of me just before I ran my first 5k. I went from couch to 5k in 7 weeks - I could literally only manage the distance between 2 lamp posts when I started. I am so proud of this and I aim to take part in a 10k run this year once Baby D3 had made his appearance.

P.S. Baby D3 was in that tummy too but we hadn't told anyone at that point...

What Makes My Children Laugh

Day 22 of NaBloPoMo and I feel I am starting to struggle, actually I have been struggling for a while now.  It's not that I don't know what to write about, it's having the time to plan ahead and actually sit down and prepare some of the things I'd like to share.  I am not sure setting myself such a challenge so early on in my blogging journey was such a good idea BUT I have started so I WILL finish and I hope/promise that my content will improve once it is over!


So for day 22 I went with one of the Britmum's Blog Prompts - One thing I do that makes my children laugh is…

Aeroplane Rides

The girls both love Aeroplane rides.  Once I have them suspended in mid air with no way of getting down I put on my sternest voice and demand that they "GET DOWN RIGHT NOW".  Cue fits of laughter every time.  D2 even calls it "Get Down" instead of an aeroplane ride.

The Sock Game

We love a good family game and we are slowly developing a small stash, acquired mainly from the local charity shop. As soon as the word "Game" is mentioned D2, who is 18 months, begins to shout "Play, Play, Play" over and over building up to quite a crescendo until the game makes an appearance.

Guess Who is a massive hit with D1, who is 4, and Connect 4 is loved by both D1 & D2, although they don't play by any of the rules I have heard of. The most loved game of all is The Sock Game, it costs absolutely nothing and everyone can join in.

You will need:

• Socks - Lots of them (Folded in pairs)
• A large basket (D1 has quite a small sock drawer so we just tend to bring the whole drawer downstairs)

Rules:

• Place basket/drawer in the middle and take aim.
• If you want to get competitive then you can keep score but my lot just tend to enjoy it for the game itself.

Silent Sunday

Saturday is Caption Day

Okay here goes... See if you can dream up a caption for this picture (See below). I will pick a favourite tomorrow - Sorry no prizes though.

Is It Acceptable to Order in a Take Away on Christmas Day?

This morning I posted the above as a bit of a throw away status, thinking out loud if you like, on Facebook and I was totally surprised at the response it received - I have just put the phone down from my Mum who is absolutely horrified at the thought that I might deprive my children of the traditional roast.

I think the majority of people assumed that I don't want to be cooking Christmas dinner in an extremely fat, pregnant state! Actually the truth is I HATE Christmas dinner. Can't stand it in fact. I even hate roast dinners. I hate any dinner with sliced meat, three veg and gravy. There I said it.

Confession time:
Mum I used to tell you I wasn't hungry and that I'd nuke my dinner later.  I would wait for you to go upstairs, turn the microwave on so that you'd hear it ping then I'd scrape my plate down the back of that climbing plant you had against the fence!  It was a really pretty plant to - what happened to it I wonder?

Now the BigD usually gets given a turkey from work and if that was the case then I would have made the effort. This year (I blame the credit crunch again) he will not be receiving one so that is decision made. I will not be serving up the traditional roast.

I would like to start a Christmas tradition that my children remember, whether that be a take away or another kind of festive meal I am yet undecided.

Do you tuck into an alternative Christmas dinner on the big day?

Homemade Soap Powder (Well liquid actually)

Money is short and times are hard in the Mayhem household at the moment so I have been scouring the internet for cost saving ideas. I recently stumbled upon a post by Frugaldom giving a recipe for home made laundry detergent. We ran out of our usual supply this morning so thought I would give it a whirl...

I must say is was surprisingly quick and easy to make and made loads:

Ingredients:

• 1 bar of soap (grated) 
• 1 cup washing soda (Soda crystals)
• 2 litres water
• A few drops of essential oil.

Method:

1. Bring water to the boil.
2. Dissolve remaining ingredients.
3. Transfer to a bucket and make the mixture up to 5 litres - (On the Frugaldom website they suggested making it up to 7litres - so I went for 6)
4. Leave to cool.

Instructions for use:

• Add a ladle sized quantity (aprox 150ml) to a laundry ball and place in washing machine.
• Wash as normal.

Cost saving:

My usual detergent 18.5p/wash

Home Made detergent 1.4p/wash

I do a load EVERY day so that is a saving of £62 per year!!

D1 does have eczema so I usually only use Persil non bio. I will update this post at a later date and let you know if it had any adverse affects on her skin.

Liebster Award

I was thrilled to be awarded this by Rollercoaster Mum last week - Thank you very much indeed!  My very first award - How very very exciting!

Well what does it all mean?  The Liebster Blog Award is given to up and coming bloggers who have less than 200 followers.

Definition of Liebster:

n. sweetheart, beloved person, darling

adj. dear, darling; beloved, liked very much; affectionate, loving

adj. favorite, preferred above others; liked or loved above others

Here are the Rules:

1. Thank your Liebster Blog Award presenter on your blog.

2. Link back to the blogger who awarded you.

3. Copy & paste the award onto your blog.

4. Nominate 5 blogs to receive the award.

5. Inform them of their nomination by leaving a comment on their blog.


They have to be relatively new bloggers with less than 200 followers and one of their followers must be the award winner

So... It's my turn to pass on the award.  Oooh who shall I pick?  *Goes off to search the www*
Coffee, Cake & Tantrums - Another trired Mummy
Trouble Doubled - She does it in secret!
Having Fun - Spending Less - American Pancakes, yum yum.
Nearly Perfect Mother - A great read.
The Singing Mummy - I am waiting with baited breath for an update...


Wow that was harder than I thought it would be, finding five worthy winners.

Sweet Chilli Sauce

I went to the cupboard earlier for some chilli sauce to serve with my home-made wedges and was horrified to find it all gone. You can't have wedges without chilli sauce. You just can't. I did though!  So I thought I'd share my recipe with you.

I once had this recipe scrawled on a scrap of paper. I have no idea where the scrap of paper is any more and haven't seen it for the past 12 or so months. I have made it so often and given it as gifts many times that I know it by heart - although I feel sure it has changed from the original.

Enjoy!

Basic Ingredients:

• 2 cups sugar
• 1 cup water
• 1 cup vinegar (Rice vinegar is best but I use the seriously cheap malt you can buy from most most supermarkets - Think value range, this is the credit crunch after all)
• 1 bulb garlic (Peeled. About 8-10 cloves)
• Red Chillies (De-seeded. About 4)
• 2 tbsp Fish Sauce (Or light soy sauce if you prefer)
• Paprika (This is just for colour so entirely optional)

Method

1. Add the sugar, vinegar, paprika and half the water to a large saucepan and bring to the boil.
2. In the meantime add the garlic, red chillies and water to a small bowl and blitz with a hand blender, once smooth add to the sugar vinegar mix.
3. Once mixture has come to the boil turn the heat down to a vigorous simmer until mixture has reduced by at leastr a quater. Stiring occasionally
4. When mixture has reduced stir in the fish sauce and cook for 2-3 more minutes
5. Allow to cool, bottle up and enjoy.

Variations

• Substitute some of the vinegar for juice of a couple of limes. Throw in the grated zest too.
• Add a 2-4cm of ginger to step 2.
• Keep the chilli seeds in if you like it really hot!
• Add some thickly diced red peppers to the mix then blitz the whole lot together at the end.
• Add a tsp of cornflour mixed with a little water for a slightly thicker sauce.
• 1tsp Salt.

The basic rule is equal quantities of sugar to liquid. Variations on the water vinegar ratio work well too.

Fairy Princess Tent - Competition and Review

Friday was a very exciting day in the Mayhem household. We received a very large box from the lovely people at Garden Games who sent us a Fairy Princess Play Tent to review. As you can imagine this went down rather well with D1 who is 4 and is a lover of all things pink and princess related.

The fist thing that struck me, upon opening the box, is the quality of the construction - No flimsy plastic poles here. All the poles are solid wood and are secured into the fixings with screws. The tent itself is made from waterproof canvass so highly suitable for indoor and outdoor use.

Before the tent arrived I had seen pictures and I must say that it is bigger and better in the flesh. The girls loved it and, of course, the second construction was complete it was deemed absolutely essential that fairy costumes were donned.

The play value is fantastic and is spacious enough for more than one child along with the dressing up box and other bits of play equipment. D1 had an entire house set up in minutes flat and in no time at all we were watching a repunzel re-enactment!

Competition Time
The Fairy Princess Tent was erected in my living room for 2 days only and has now been packaged back up as good as new and is ready and waiting to be shipped to a lucky winner. I must say we were very tempted to keep it for ourselves but I wanted to offer one of my readers the chance to have this at home in time for Christmas.

How to enter:
Visit the garden games website http://www.gardengames.co.uk/acatalog/Wigwams.html and leave a comment below telling me what your favourite item is. Don't forget to leave a way for me to contact you - Twitter Tag or email.
Additional entries:
For additional entries do one or all of the following (For additional entries to count you must leave separate comments for each action telling me what you have done)

1. Following @garden_games on Twitter.
2. Follow @Managingmayhem on Twitter.
3. Tweet "I want to #win a Fairy Princess Castle Tent with @Managingmayhem http://managingthemayhem.blogspot.com/2011/11/fairy-princess-tent-competition-and.html  #giveaway".
4. Like Managing the Mayhem on Facebook.
5. Share the Managing the Mayhem page on facebook.
6. Follow Managing the Mayhem with Google connect.
7. Follow Managing the Mayhem with Networked Blogs.

• Open to UK residents only
• Winner will be chosen using Random.org.
• Competition closes Friday 9th December 2011 and the winner will be notified on the 10th December.
• If winner has not responded to claim prize within 48 hours then the competition will be re-drawn.

This competition is now closed congratulations to @GrooveHeart1

10 Dec

ThePrizeFinder - UK Competitions

Silent Sunday

Saturday is Caption Day

Have a look at the picture below and see if you can dream up a caption.  

Click here to hop on over to Mammasaurus to take a look at other great photos

It's NOT a Pussy Cat

Now I don't know about any of you but I can't stand expressions such as "Pussy Cat" "Bunny Rabbit" or "Choo Choo train".  I mean for Pete's sake it's NOT a pussy cat it's just a CAT!  I can't express how much it winds me up.  It's not a "doggy" it's a DOG!  You get the idea.

Why do we teach our children to say these things when later on we tell them it's babyish and to say it properly?  I have ranted about this on more than one occasion to friends.  One kind friend pointed out that although I don't allow such words to be used, I do use phases such as "Oooh it's chilly-willy-woo-wah today".  I think she has a point.  Perhaps I should relax a little and not allow my blood to boil when old ladies stop and ask if we'd like to stroke the doggy.  I just can't help it and I want to correct them but the polite side of me stays quiet and I seethe in silence.

A work colleague once told me, after one of my rants, that to use such words was actually beneficial to the speech development of younger children.  She may have a point but I wasn't swayed.

Now I know I'm being silly, really I do.  What really silly things bug you?

Bye Bye Booby - Is this the end?

I 100% breastfed my 2 girls. I fed D1 until she was about 18months and I must say it was me that forced the weaning process - I regretted this almost as soon as she stopped asking and tried to reinstate it.  She was having none of it and totally appeared to have lost the ability to nurse.  That was the end of that.

With D2 I was determined to undo my wrongs and do things differently.  As some of you may know by now, I am 31 weeks Pregnant with Number 3.  Around 24 weeks into the pregnancy D2 was barely nursing at all and when she did show an interest is was for, literally, seconds at a time.  At this point she would have only been 15 months - A little young for self weaning.  One day she just looked at me and said "Gone".

I tried hand expressing.  Nothing!  Out came the breastpump.   Nothing!  I had dried up - I have since read that this is quite normal for that stage of pregnancy.  I felt terrible.  I cried.  I felt that I had failed.  I felt guilty for being pregnant again and that I was depriving her of her needs.  She continued to ask for "booby" on the odd occasion and I would always oblige but it was only ever for a few seconds.

I was 29 weeks and my breasts almost changed overnight.  Woohoo.  My milk had returned, only it was more colostrum than milk.  D2 was still asking on the odd occasion and this time would suckle for, perhaps, about a minute.  After a minute she was pulling off, screwing her face up and declaring it "YUK".

Two nights ago I realised she hadn't asked for 24hours so I asked if she wanted some booby.  The answer was the most definite "NO" I have ever heard.  I must say I feel a little better about this, I feel that I am producing something beautiful and nutritious and if she doesn't want it then it's not my fault.  Don't get me wrong I am still gutted as I was determined to reach at LEAST the 2 year mark, as recommended by the world health organization, and I would have like to experience tandem feeding.

Does anyone else have experience of breastfeeding whilst pregnant?

Feeling Tranquil - Wordless Wednesday

The Nameless Child

I am 31 weeks pregnant with Baby D3, a boy this time! I have 2 little girls aged 1 and 4 so my world is very much Pink. I am very excited to be having a boy and he will be a very loved addition to the family.

We have known he was a boy since our 20 week scan and our picture leaves this in no doubt whatsoever. This leaves the BIG question what do we call him? We have gone through, what feels like, every name under the sun and, still, we don't have a name we absolutely love. I fear the child may be nameless for quite sometime.

A friend of the family recently had the first baby girl after a long line of boys and there was much excitement about this. They, like us, found out the gender of the baby at the 20 week scan. 20 weeks later and the announcement of her arrival filters through but she is nameless. 3 weeks later and still no name. The bigD and I just cannot quite get our heads round this and say things like "It's not like they didn't know they were having a girl!" I now think there is a very strong possibility we will be in exactly the same situation in 9 weeks, or so, time.

It's not like we can't agree, it's just that there is nothing out there we love. We have a (long-ish) short list and we will more than likely just have to wait until we get to know him and see what fits best.

Cooking with Kids (Dairy Free Recipe)

D1 has an egg and dairy allergy. We are not talking Lactose Intolerance but a full blown allergy - Swelling, hives, vomiting, extreme itching and pain.

The BigD and I are both food technologists (Not to be confused with nutritionists) so we are probably quite lucky that we have a greater awareness of where hidden milk proteins and sugars might be hiding. Did you know that lots of pre-sliced sandwich meats contain milk?

I remember in the early days how daunting dealing with it all was so thought I would share with you the odd example of typical family meals in our house. For ease we all tend to eat a dairy free diet - it saves cooking separate meals as we did a lot of in the early days. Don't get me wrong D2 and I still use cows milk on our cereal and eat yoghurt and chocolate, etc. I am just talking about the main family meal.

We have done a lot of work in desensitizing D1, it has taken 18+ months to do this. She can now tolerate a small percentage of milk as a processed ingredient in foods and some margarine type spreads containing buttermilk straight on her toast. This has been an absolute godsend as it has taken the fear factor away and generally makes eating out so much easier. I do have a post about our journey planned for the future so before I waffle on and tell our whole story I will crack on with sharing what we had for dinner last night!

In our house D1 is chief carrot peeler, sauce stir-er and stock cube crumble-er!

The Simple Stir-Fry

Ingredients:

• Chicken breast/Beef (whatever you fancy - I only had 1 small chicken breast left in the freezer so BigD played "spot the meat" when I served his meal up.
• Veg (Whatever you have to hand - I used peppers, some leftover sugar snaps, red onion, 1/8 of a cabbage and a rather large carrot)
• Vegetable oil

For the sauce:

• 2 tbsp honey
• 6 tbsp soy sauce (If you want more sauce the general ratio is about 1 honey:3 soy)
• 2 tsp cornflour
• 3 tbsp water

Sauce variations: (We went for the five spice)

• large handful chopped coriander
• Five Spice
• Cashew Nuts
• Sesame oil

Mix all sauce ingredients together in cup/jug.

In separate bowls coat thinly sliced meat and veg in oil - not much is needed.

Stir-fry meat, remove from pan and set aside.

Make sure wok is really hot and add veg, when just about done return meat to pan and stir in the sauce. Add more water if the sauce is too thick or a little bit more cornflour if you prefer a stickier/thicker sauce.

Serve with rice or mix the whole lot in with some noodles (You can get some great egg free ones)

Silent Sunday

Thoughts on this November Day

Follow this link http://thesimplewomansdaybook.blogspot.com/ to read other wonderful November daybooks.


FOR TODAY
Outside my window... 
It is grey and dreary - The central heating is on.

I am thinking... 
How peaceful the house feels with the BigD and the LittleD's at Dad's Club and how much more peaceful it could feel if the housework were done already.

I am thankful...
For a wonderful, caring and loyal husband, Two beautiful daughters and for the new life growing inside my tummy.

In the kitchen...
A mess awaits my attention.

I am wearing...
My comfiest maternity yoga pants/jogging bottoms.  I am yet to run a brush through my hair.

I am creating...
A blog - A new project for me.  Hopefully my daughters (and son-to-be) will look back in years to come and appreciate the stories, pictures and anecdotes of their lives.  A kind of diary if you like.

I am going...
To crack on with some housework once I have finished this post - Honest I am.

I am wondering...
If the D's are having a good time at Dad's club and what we can do with the rest of the day that will be productive.

I am reading...
Or perhaps, I should say, I have started... about 3 books in the last year and finished non of them.  I have a Husband, 2 and a half children and not enough time to read as well.  I must make time to do more of this.

I am hoping...
The housework fairies have sneaked in through the back door when I get downstairs.  I am a dreamer.

I am looking forward to...
The future and to meeting my new son in early January 2012

I am hearing...
Silence.  Punctuated with the odd sound from the washing machine downstairs.  Bliss!

Around the house...
There is a lot of work that needs doing - every room in fact!  We have been here less than a year and achieved, quite frankly, not a lot!

I am pondering...
I am ALWAYS pondering.

One of my favorite things...
Sitting alone in a coffee shop, a steaming cup of strong black coffee with lots of froth on top in one hand a book in the other.  I haven't done this in months, perhaps years!

A few plans for the rest of the week:

To keep up with NaBloPoMo and also to sell some of the girl's out grown clothes on ebay to raise some, much needed, funds for Christmas.

Here is picture for thought I am sharing...

Eat "Crap" Friday

Here in the mayhem household everything almost everything is cooked, everyday, completely from scratch and served up to include a good count towards our "five a day".

Last week, however, I was quite poorly and by the time Friday came around I just couldn't face it!  So I made the executive Mummy decision and decided the BigD was going to cook.  We had sausage, egg, chips and beans (Although I did insist the chips were still made from Scratch).

This went down a storm with everyone, particularly with my Fussy Eater, so it got me thinking...  Are meals like this really that BAD?  Am I a terrible mother? (I felt like a terrible mother and made up for it by serving up home made vegetable soup for lunch as well as jam-packed-with-veg stir fry for dinner the next day.)  I have since arrived at the conclusion that once in a while meals like that are not so bad and there is nothing wrong it.

And so the tradition has been born.  Fridays will now be known as Eat "Crap" Day AND what's more as BigD finishes work early on a Friday he can be in charge.

Tonight we are having shop bought (eek) wedges, onion rings and pizza!  I am quite looking forward to it...  Shhh!

A cheap alternative to potentially toxic baby products

I recently read a report written by Amy Westervelt highlighting toxic ingredients in Johnson & Johnsons's baby shampoo and other beauty products (Click the link for more information).

This reminded me of an incident when the wall in my hallway was attacked with a well known brand of washable felt tip pens.  In a bid to remove the offending marks I reached for a packet of nearby baby wipes (I would like to point out that the baby wipes were not Johnson's but a well known supermarket's own brand).  Yes, the baby wipes did a fantastic job of removing the pen marks.  They also stripped the paint from the walls.  Can wipes really be good for a baby's bottom?


With this memory and reading the above mentioned article I was prompted to dig out an AMAZING book sent to me from New Zealand by my mother in law.  It contains recipes for all kinds of cleaning and beauty products using mostly simple and natural ingredients.

Being new to blogging I am unsure of the rules surrounding sharing with you the recipe for some of her baby products BUT I have found them all freely available on the WWW.

Click Here for a link to Wendyl Nissen's website and all her baby product recipes.

I am now armed with a shopping list of ingredients and I will let you know how we get on!

T is for Tired!

I am on week two of my Blogging Journey and day two of NaBloPoMo and I have decided to join in with The Gallery's weekly photographic challenge. This weeks theme is the letter T.

T is for tired.  D2 is currently in a transitional stage, moving from 2 daily naps to just 1.  We are having a few teething problems though and making it past lunch time is a struggle.  We have, as a result, now moved lunch forward to 11.30am to try and rectify this, but as you can see this isn't always successful.