Two Ingredient Pancakes? | Guilt Free Baking With An Empty Cupboard

Set the scene. It's Shrove Tuesday; your all hyped up for your pancakes, the golden syrup dripping down, the fluffy texture, the sweet treat to pick up your mood in dreary February: your pan is at the ready, and then you realize, that like so many of us, you have absolutely nothing to make your pancakes with. I've done this more or less every year since I was old enough to touch the cooker. If I wasn't forgetting to buy every ingredient on the list, then I was probably on some far fetched diet that meant I couldn't partake in the happy day anyway, so it's safe to say Pancake Tuesday was never really my thing. Or at least, that was until I discovered two-ingredient pancakes. I make no claim to have come up with this recipe; whoever did was a bit of a genius, it's so simple, but so effective. I stumbled across it originally while looking at ways to make pancakes whilst following a fairly strict diet; but found it's also perfect for those of us who never remember the date of Pancake Tuesday...

How To Overcomplicate Your Holiday Essentials | Could I Be A #MarkWarnerMum

If I asked you me to show me what your Top 10 Holiday Essentials were, I'd bet you any money you wouldn't choose to draw them by hand, create a very realistic (depending on how bad your eyesight may be) background, rope in a less than pleased boyfriend and an over excitable four month old and sit on the floor in an attempt to convey them. No? I probably wouldn't do it ever again either. This Sunday was dedicated to our entry for the Mark Warner Brand Ambassador Competition, and it quickly became a lot more of a task than ever anticipated. In our attempts to do something a little bit more creative, we went through two cardboard boxes, one sketch book, ran out three different colored markers and overcame two full blown tantrums (mine, not the babies). But we got there in the end.

Travel has always been a big part of my own life; a s a child, I never had to miss out. I was fortunate enough to be able to go abroad every summer, and my own memories of my holidays are only positive. Each year I'd look forward to pretending to sunbathe with my mum, getting overly involved with water-polo with my dad, to seeing the sights, to spending too much of my time on the banana boats: I longed for summer every year so that we could have the quality time I loved so much.   I can imagine nothing I'd love to do more than give Harrison the opportunity to travel, to see the little corners of the world and to be able to experience different cultures, just as I was able to. I've spent 4 months in America, three months traveling across Europe on the trains, I soaked up as much culture as I possibly could in my adolescence, and now it's time to introduce that to my own child. With such a young baby, we'll have plenty of travel essentials, don't get me wrong, but only being allowed ten options, we picked the ones we probably couldn't manage without.

Wishing Away The Newborn Days | The Essential One

My son is four months old, and I've spent the last four months, longing for the next stage. The next month, the next milestone, the next step. It’s time we stop wishing away our days. I’ve been the first to do it: I couldn’t wait for the big milestones; for him to sit up, to talk, to crawl, to walk - if I'm honest, I still can’t wait. But being so focused on all of the things to come has meant that I have very much been complacent with the little milestones he’s already accomplished. I didn’t celebrate the first time he blew a raspberry, because I was waiting for the first time he said mummy, or the first time he grabbed at my hair, because I was still waiting for him to be able to grab his toys. It's not that I wasn't recognizing these milestones, I was, and I was happy about them, I was always just more focused on what else was to come. It’s easy to wish away the days, to not be able to wait for the crawling stage, or the running around stage, but I’ve spent all of my newborn days wishing for the next stage, and those newborn days I've wished away have all but disappeared. It's taken me four months to realize, but I'm now  making more of a conscious effort to take everything about every day with my son in; my time on maternity leave is quickly coming to an end, and with it, I say goodbye to my ability to fully relish in the tiny moments.

H is 4 Months Old

I'm not going to mention how quickly this last month has gone, because it would seem that it's all I ever do in these monthly updates. It's hard to find another way to start these off as it is the truth; the early days pass so quickly, and with each update I can't help but realize we're quickly leaving them behind. Harrison's fourth month has been my favourite one yet. He's now more interactive than ever and super alert, but he can be a cheeky little sod and has forgotten how to sleep again, yet still, it's been my favorite month so far. In the last two weeks especially, we've bonded in a way that we never have done before, and I feel like I'm finally stepping into the role of being a mum, rather than simply a caregiver. A friend asked me today if I was enjoying being a mum, and I still don't have a straight yes or no answer - but I'm definitely beginning to enjoy it a lot more than I had been in previous months. I had never realized there was a difference before, but now, my feelings have completely changed, and I've completely rid myself of the baby blues that I've held onto for so long. He's my son, my little best friend and my motivation to make the most of our lives. He's also growing up to be one hell of a little character.

5 Reasons You May Not Be Losing The Baby Weight

It's not easy to lose weight post-partum. Let’s face it. Losing weight can be hard. Losing weight as a parent, can be extra hard. Prior to having children, it’s more of a mental barrier than anything else - whilst you may claim to have no time to exercise, or the lack the means to afford to eat healthily, or the energy to get your butt to the gym - although we may convince ourselves it’s a task too difficult to even attempt, nothing compares to the difficulty you may face after having a child. Roughly one quarter of all women retain 11lbs or more a year after giving birth, and after joining mum club, I can now empathize completely. You have less time, you have less money, and there’s no arguing with the fact you have considerably less energy - heck, I had none for the first 4 months. No one is denying it is difficult that it can be challenging to lose the excess weight, especially if your not yet in the mindset to get really stuck into it. Despite what many think though, there is no need for a complete lifestyle overhaul; there may in fact be a key reasons you cannot shed those extra few pounds, and a few small changes you can make that will make a massive difference to the results you are personally seeing.

Our Relationship Is Not The Same

I could never have imagined just how much our relationship would have changed after having a baby. Sure, we'd have less sleep. less time together, a few more financial worries, but I always thought we'd still be us. Our circumstances may change, but our relationship would always be the same. I was naive about having a baby and the impact it would have on us;  I expected our child to simply slot into our life, whilst everything else remained in tact and unchanged. Ha. If only. We've struggled, we've bickered, but we've adapted. I'm now convinced, anyone who says their relationship did not change after having a baby is blatantly lying. Going from two, to three (or more, god help you), changes everything, and whilst it is not a bad change, it’s a change accompanied by pressure, bickering, and considerably more shit than before - in the literal sense.

Living Arrows | 6/52 Take The Damn Picture

You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.

– Kahlil Gibran

This year I'm taking part in Living Arrows - Donna's project that celebrates all things childhood. A photo a week to document the everyday moments - 52 lots of photos I can look back on at the end of the year and see the change in him.

How To Make Teething Suck A Little Less

Teething is brutal. It absolutely sucks. I was supposed to have months before I had to even think about it never mind deal with it. Teething can turn an absolutely perfect little angel into what can only be compared to a demon child overnight - and there’s very little you can actually do about it. Teething is frustrating. It’s been less than a month, and already I’ve had to deal with the feeling of helplessness, the exhaustion, the searing desire to find a mute button for your own flesh and blood, and it’s only going to get worse from here as we deal with his teeth cutting in. With Harrison, it went from 0 to 10 pretty much overnight, so we were very much thrown in at the deep end, and only now have we managed to find our feet a little bit in the big bad world of baby teeth. Teething sucks, and there is no getting around it unfortunately, there is no magic fix, but we have found a few things that have managed to make teething suck that little bit less.

Coming To Terms With Hating My Post-Partum Body

When I fell pregnant, I did not think about how it affect my body post partum. I found myself frustrated at gaining weight the entire way through, angry as my thighs got closer, upset as my arms lost their shape and angry as my face filled out. I did not resent my bump; my bump was my baby, and that was a necessary part of having a baby, but in my own mind I couldn’t accept the changes that occurred across the rest of my body. My pregnancy body was not my body anymore, it was simply a means to an end: to have my baby, I would have to put up with being a ball for nine months. After those nine months, I would snap back and my pregnancy body would be a thing of a past. After all, in my head that’s all this was. My thicker thighs and undefined arms were part and parcel with pregnancy, when the baby left so would they and I could go back to calling myself fat at 110lbs. I never thought about my Post Partum body, because I never thought it would look the way it does. I hate my Post Partum body, but most of all, I hate the fact that I hate it.

Living Arrows | 5/52 Daddy's Boy

You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.

– Kahlil Gibran

This year I'm taking part in Living Arrows - Donna's project that celebrates all things childhood. A photo a week to document the everyday moments - 52 lots of photos I can look back on at the end of the year and see the change in him.

I've been struggling a little this week with the motivation for continuing with this blog and what it actually means for anyone bar myself. I'll talk more about it later in the week, but regardless of whether or not I want to continue a 'parenting blog' I want to continue to document Harrison's first few years, and Living Arrows is one way to do that. No matter where I stand with my blog, I want to make sure by the end of the year I have 52 of these posts, if not, I can promise you now it's something I will deeply regret.

Travelling With A Baby | The Winter Essentials With WaterWipes

With a newborn baby, packing for a holiday was never going to be easy. I’ve tried making lists upon lists, and I’m now perfectly aware that it’s easy to pack everything but the kitchen sink despite the fact we're only going away for a few days. I’ll be honest, I will definitely overpack, and chances are, I'll definitely forget a good few bits we probably need. Given that it's a short winter break, as long as we a few certain essentials packed away with us, we should be able to make do, so I've made sure to look out our winter essentials for traveling with a newborn. Unfortunately we're not jetting off to the bahamas - if only: winter sun is nothing but a dream on the scraps of maternity allowance - we’re simply heading down to London for a weekend. It'll be bitter, cold and probably more stressful than needs be, but it's a break, and everyone could do with one of those to pick us up from the January Blues. It goes without saying there are many more essentials I'll need to pack with a baby - these are simply the ones you might not think of straight off the bat, but could make a big difference to your little one... We have gone off of recommendations from Water Wipes and Michelle Comrie, a midwife at Southampton Princess Anne Hospital to help us collate this list, and it should help us to keep Harrison content over our Winter Weekend.