About Me

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I live in Kent with my husband, toddler Tilly (henceforth known as Monkey) and another baby due in November. We have two cats, Duncan and Lady Macbeth, and four chickens who kindly lay us eggs daily. We live in the picturesque seaside town of Broadstairs. I enjoy reading, knitting and cooking. I'm trying to be a bit 'greener' (not sure how successfully), and to be a gentle parent. Extended breastfeeding and co-sleeping don't freak me out, we use cloth nappies and try to follow some of the ideals of Attachment Parenting. If that sounds as if I know what I'm doing, I don't! I am also a psychotherapist with an interest in Focusing-oriented therapy, and I have a small private practice in the area.

Thursday 26 March 2009

Update from us: crafts and feeling fat!

Goodness, it has been a while since I sat down and blogged. We had a lovely weekend in Lisbon and returned home safely and swiftly. It was probably one of the easiest journeys we've made so far, travelling to and from Portugal with Monkey was a breeze, although Lisbon itself didn't appear to have much in the way of facilities for families with babies. I do wish I were a better traveller though. DH laughs at the speed in which I go into Panic Mode. I guess I just get very nervous when out of my comfort zone. Which is a shame because there are lots of places in the world I would still like to visit.
Monkey's Adventures With Food continue, albeit very slowly. She likes to try lots of different things and there hasn't been anything yet that she's given a look of disapproval to (including sucking lemons!). However, she doesn't have more than a few sucks of something before she throws it on the floor or gets bored. This means of course that not a lot is getting digested, and I'm finding it hard to resist putting things in her mouth. Now I know that's not BLW, and it's also a surefire way to make her gag, so I'm having to resort to sitting on my hands, I think. I have continued to give her porridge in the mornings because she really seems to like that and gets quite excited when she watches me prepare it.


I've been struggling a bit with food and my weight, in fact, I weigh more now than just after Monkey was born. A combination of stress/ boredom at home with the baby, and plain ole greed/ lack of self-control. I do think that I need to get back to Slimming World. It's the programme that suits me best and I respond well to the motivation of being weighed each week (and getting stickers, yikes), but in the long run, hopefully once I'm down to a more sensible weight, I want to just be able to eat healthily and model sensible behaviour around food to the Monkey. Excitingly I won a bicycle that I was bidding for on eBay today, so I'm looking for a child seat and looking forward to taking the babe out exploring. Photo is of some wholemeal blueberry muffins I made this week... well, the pitiful 4 that remain, lol! They were lovely and at least a little bit better for us than shop-bought versions packed full of sugar.

In Craft News, this is a photo of the bird mobile that I sewed for Tilly using scraps of Amy Butler fabric. I attached the finished birds to the willow ring that was my gift in the Green Parent winter season swap, and changed the ribbons. It looks quite sweet. I haven't picked up my knitting for ages but I've been slowly teaching myself to crochet. My goal is to do some amigurumi toys, and thanks to Mon at Crooked Hooks I've been pointed in the direction of a really helpful YouTube tutorial which makes the technique look relatively easy. Now I just need to decide what to make: a cheeky monkey? a duck? a owl? 

4 comments:

Daisie said...

I love your little Amy Butler birdies, so cute!

Have you tried the monkey with some avacado (can't stand the things myself) but Elizabeth (terrible eater) used to really like slices of it in her hands. It's not fibrous like other friuts and not hard to chew like most veg and very calorific. Just a thought?

Glad you had a lovely time together as a family!

xxx

Joxy34 said...

Aww that mobile is beautiful hon.
Did my explanation of what the pattern meant make sense?

We must all get together soon again and do that crafty thing...maybe try for a little earlier time so we have more time to craft and do lunch :)

As for BLW yeah be patient honey, remember food is a huge novelty for her and mostly she'll just think of it as a toy; just keep letting her try it and explore and before you know it she will be eating more and more

(although adding full fat cream cheese to carrot/veg sticks is another way of getting some calories into their little bodies )

Joxy.

willow81 said...

Hi guys!
Oh yes, Tilly does like both cream cheese and avocado, in fact, that's exactly what she had for lunch today :-)

Joxy, I did 'get' the pattern in the end, thanks, but now I've been playing around with spirals in preparation for some amigurumi... my lounge is covered in scraps of crochet begun and abandoned!

xx

Unknown said...

I didn't put on much weight during my pregnancy. But now I weigh more than after I gave birth!

Also due to stre, tiredness, boredom and spending too many hours too near a kitchen, yeah, and making muffins too....

I haven't found my mojo for starting anything yet... and Summer is looming....