Wonder Mum

Meet Benton. By far Baby A's most favouritest pussy cat (aka Meee-oww). Benton was sadly hit by a car when he was just a youngster and he lost his leg. But don't be fooled into thinking that stops him. Far from it. He can still run, climb and jump seemingly as well as any other pussy cat. And he can certainly out run a certain Baby A. Needless to say these were taken when she was asleep. Miaow. WM x

This made me chuckle today :) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R55e-uHQna0&feature=youtube_gdata_player WM xx

It is very rare for me and Mr Big to sit down and enjoy a film together. Until recently, frankly we didn't get the time uninterrupted for long enough as a certain Baby A was either not yet in bed, or was in bed but was waking up a lot and therefore one or the other of us was constantly tending to her. Now we have a proper structured bed time routine, you would think the problem of enjoying a film together would have gone away. Except now we can't agree on what to watch. You see an average film is approx an hour and a half at a guess. Post baby, that is now a serious investment of time. So neither of us wants to watch something mundane, mediocre, or worst of all, that we don't like. As we both have different tastes in our film choices, let the battle of wills commence. That was until, believe it or not, we saw Bridesmaids. No one was more surprised than me when Mr Big brought this back from the local DVD shop. I'm sure most of us would be forgiven for thinking w...

Baby A's grandad has been a bit poorly the last couple of weeks and I think a certain little lady is missing him. He used to be called 'Danda', but that has changed to 'Dan Dan' the last time she stayed over (probably while we were demolishing the kitchen). I know Dan Dan reads this blog, so Dan Dan, this one's for you!  Hope you are feeling better :) xx

I just love this game at the moment. My favourites are monkey and Father Christmas.  Not forgetting the hoopoe of course! Let this phase last just that little bit longer!  Please! WM x

So, we intended to put the Christmas stuff up in the loft yesterday (finally - I might add it has been carefully boxed-up and patiently waiting to be taken into the loft since 4th Jan)... ...so Mr Big decides yesterday was loft day and finally the boxes would make their way into the loft.  In the many years of knowing Mr Big I have realised, he will get round to things.  In his own time.  In his own way.  And that is how it is. Patience has become a virtue of mine.  Well, not quite, but I have learned there really is no point rushing him on some of the smaller things in life - especially when there are larger priorities like THE KITCHEN to deal with! So finally the Christmas boxes make it into the loft.  However, when in said loft, we realised just how many boxes of clothes we had put up there that we could actually now do with.  Error.  We now have way more boxes OUT of out loft than we actually put IN! And guess what?  They all smel...

I was listening to BBC Radio 2 the other morning, when I heard a really touching poem called The Dash.  If you've never heard it before, it's basically a reminder of how important it is to spend whatever time we get in our lives on the priorities that genuinely matter.  It was especially poignant to me as one of my close friends has recently lost her Mum to cancer.  I hope these words bring some comfort and serve as a reminder to us all that it's what we do with the time we have that matters the most. I'm definitely guilty of not following that advice.  I've always had such aspirations that I'm often so busy looking at where I'm aiming, I forget to pay attention to what is happening around me in the here and now.  And since becoming a Mum, time goes so fast.  It's so easy to let it slip away.  It creeps away, silently unnoticed. Here is a link to the poem on youtube.  The author is Linda Ellis. http://youtu.be/zsY6UrFIsNs ...

Baby A is into giving kisses at the moment.  And it's adorable.  Even if sometimes her unsuspecting toys are rather forced into it.  A kiss is still a kiss...

Decisions, decisions. Here are some of my fave styles so far...

Now I'm no PW (the Pioneer Woman see fave blogs page), but we did have fun baking our cakes the other day. Said person has received their cake now and thoroughly pleased they were with it too! Here are some pics of the final article as well as some 'work in progress' shots. We both started off wearing chefs hats and aprons!  It wasn't just me! Thankfully the sponge was lighter than it looks here.  What a beast! Yep - that's as much tolerance as I got for photos today I left the greaseproof around the edges this time - bit of a pain putting the mixture in, but very easy to get out and gave the sponge 'character'! Baby A's first cake This is what it looked like by the time I'd finished with it Ariel pic - pre 'Space Cake' Oh yes.  Check out that bad boy.  It could hold open a door!

Thought this series might make you laugh... xx

Hmm... ...so here's the quandry.  I have a DIY video I was considering posting as it shows me smashing down a kitchen wall with a hammer. I'm also in my PINK Dickies one-piece worksuit (very clever idea of my Sis in law).  Watching me in a one-piece is in itself likely to cause amusement I am sure.  However I am rather proud of my DIY involvement and I thoroughly enjoyed the destruction part of demolishing the kitchen walls. However, I also have a real 'bum wobble' going on.  Which is AWFUL. And some rather improvised 'safety goggles' which probably don't meet any health and safety standards whatsoever, but they do protect against UVA rays, which is good to know. So, do I post the video, or not?  That is the question...! ... ...oh screw it.   Enjoy yourselves!

This post probably sounds more interesting than it actually is. Of course, I didn't actually give Baby A a 'space cake'. In fact I probably wouldn't know how to make one. Albeit it can't be that difficult. Look who eats them - hardly the most cognitively aware (I generalise but you catch my drift!) (mum, if you're unsure what I'm talking about, just check google.) Everyone else - I'm pretty sure my own mother does know, but I prefer to think that she doesn't! Anyhoo, Baby A and I did our first proper baking together today. And she did help me by pouring things into the bowl. And even attempted folding in the flour. Well, stirring the flour - but hey, that's a pretty good start! We had a great time and got all dressed up in our aprons and chefs hats! Well, you've got to look the part, right?! So here is the space cake I referred to: Ok so really it's a butterfly cake, but we ran out of cake tins! Oh and by the way, we didn...

Ok, so I am not famed for my height. At 5 foot 2 and a very important half inch, I am not the world's tallest person. However, I seem to go through life relatively unscathed by my shortness. Yes, I am forever regarded as 'cute', which doesn't bother me now so much as when I was a pouting teenager and wanted to be 'sexy' (because if course pouting and sulking is really sexy behaviour generally). I have suffered much mockage for my smallness over the years. But then again, I figure if people don't have something obvious to mock, it's worse, because then they start looking! Mr Big, being a commendable 6 feet, relishes every mockage opportunity, so my height presents the perfect example. He often uses me as a resting post. Or laughs as I try to reach things (even our kitchen cupboards require me to leap onto the kitchen workshop in order to reach the top shelves). I say 'leap'. That is more like 'heave', post baby, but you catch my dr...

I don't know what it is, but they say the gender stereotypes become apparent early.  I don't know if this is nature or nurture, but I do know I have never deliberaltely 'included' Baby A in any sort of clean up operation.  I also know she has not seen me doing any DIY - not because I don't do any (you have seen the proof!) but because she is not here when it is happening for obvious reasons. So quite where she gets these things from I do not know: Yes, I know I praise her efforts relentlessly - but that's my job - I'm her Mummy.  And it is a great help if she decides to tidy things away as opposed to make a mess for me to clear up!  Albeit she decided to do this all on her own - I did not show her or encourage.  Maybe there IS more of me in there than I had first realised.  One thing is for certain...she did NOT get that from Mr Big! xx

Wow!  What a week.  We have actually slept, with unbroken sleep, for most of the week, thanks to the time controlled crying technique care of Supernanny!  If you haven't read my pages on this and are interested (yes, this is interesting to me now - how things have changed!), check them out - there are 3 in total and summarise what we did and our progress, so have a read. OK it may not have stopped my inability to do 2 things as once, as per last post, but I see that as a genetic mishap - not sleep-related!  I've always been that way! The sleep thing is on the brink of miraculous.  I've even been watching past videos of Baby A this week and I couldn't help remembering how completely shattered I felt when they were taken.  I think you just plod on through the fatigue because you don't think there is an alternative, so you just put up with it and console yourself that this what being a parent is like.  BUT IT ISN'T! I am amazed not only by how ...

I don't know what it is, but despite all my needs to be able to multitask, I seem to have missed out on the 'standard' female gene to be able to do more than 2 things at once. Maybe I was meant to be born a boy. Or maybe it's being raised in a family of all boys (until my adult years when finally I got my step-sisters). Either way, I cannot seem to do what all other women are famed for. My closest friends and poor, long suffering Mr Big will vouch - I simply cannot do 2 things at once without my brain going into overload and everything getting confused. I learned that lesson again today. I'm ashamed to say I took the i-pad into the loo with me with the intention of writing my blog post. Well, I've got to take what moments of uninterrupted time I can get! Anyway, needless to say today's post topic has changed as I tried to type and pee at the same time, only to find I peed on my belt. You see. I can't do 2 things at once!

I had nearly forgotten about this little gem until dear Mr Big thought he'd remind me by sharing the story with my Mum - much to her merriment! It all started off so well. Mummy & Daddy and Baby A all sharing a nice morning cuddle up together. Every day we ask Baby A our names and she says in the cutest possible way 'Daddy' and 'Mummy' and sometimes she even names us the right way round! Baby A has also been amazing us lately with her ability to learn and remember different names for other things. From apple, and banana, to saying please and even knowing where her eyes and ears are and so on. Well, as we were all sat in bed having our morning cuddle, Mr Big thought he would point out to our darling daughter that Mummy has 'boobies'. Baby A duley pointed and learned quickly where Mummy's boobies were and would point and say 'boobies' several times in a row. Mr Big was I'm sure feeling very pleased with his work as I said on repeat ...

This was taken to show off Baby A's new dress and thank our friend who gave it to her.  We didn't realise until afterwards that we had inadvertently co-ordinated it with the peg bag! Poor little poppet, although I'm sure we will commit worse fashion crimes in future! Isnt that every parents prerogative?!

Hi all, Random post today regarding coffee and pages.  Yes these are separate items, in case you are confused! Random coffee purchase is as per pic below.  Ahead of sleep training week, I figured I may be up A LOT, and therefore I would need a caffeine kick to keep me going during the day.  So I invested in some decent, easy to make, no fuss coffee.  And it's brilliant! So, for all tired Mum's out there, this gets my vote.  You just pour in water, like you would if making a cup of tea from a tea bag - except this is really good filter coffee instead.  Yum.  There is no mess, and nothing to clean - and no stupid cup thing you have to put on top and wait for it to filter through.  You simply pop in a 'coffee bag' and dispose of it afterwards.  Simple. N.B. It will say 'Good Morning' on the one on the left when it's on the supermarket shelf - that in itself is rather nice to be told every day - even if it is by your coffee! (do...

Gotta love playing with hats! I like the last one best - it's like she's on a 'shoot' or something! xx

Just in case you were wondering, I thought I would explain where the name, 'Wonder Mum's Kitchen' came from. While I did think it sounded a bit super-hero-esque to call myself 'Wonder Mum' (and let's face it, ALL Mum's are superheros because it takes that just to do this job) it was born more out of the fact that I am a Mum who does wonder how on earth my life came to be the way it is today.  As a Mum, I wonder A LOT of things - from whether I'm doing the latest Mummy parenting task correctly, to whether my baby is getting enough sleep, the right nutrition, the right childcare, her development and so on and so forth - so basically, the 'wonder' in 'Wondermum' is less about my abilities as a Mum as my worries about doing this particular job right.  As Mr Big likes to remind me, if there was an award for worrying, I would win it every time.  (So nice to have my strengths pointed out) xx A friend of mine once told me, being a parent w...

Hello all and welcome to my blog. I have abolutely no idea what I'm doing, so bear with the inevitable mistakes/embarrassing boobs I'm bound to make while I figure it all out! I have my dear friend Cath to thank for this idea. She's a smart cookie is our Cath and she ever-so-delicately planted the seed that a blog would be a good idea for me to do well of a year ago. I think she's right, as this offers me a chance to create an online journal/diary which I can share over the coming days, months and years, to document what an earth I do with my time (!) as well as to keep a lovely record of the ever-more-adorable daughter of mine, so no one misses out and you can all keep track! I think Cath also thought I needed to do at least one thing a day for myself in a vain attempt to stop me going completely mad. The transition from career girl to Mummy-house refurbisher-household manager-business woman was a bit of a shocker. Hence the name, Wondermum! Well, it is my blog, so...