Baby Showers (plural!)

In the last couple of months we have had not one but TWO baby showers for our baby dragon!

The first one we had was a surprise one organised by some of the lovely members of the Cardiff ward. It was funny because I had no idea until the day that something had been planned, despite little clues accidentally being left in the lead up to the party! It was such fun, we played some hilarious games and enjoyed some good food and it was lovely spending time with some of the members of the ward before we left Cardiff.

The beautiful cake made by my beautiful YW Emily!

Which tasted amazing! (The other slice was Ethan's...)

We then had a second baby shower/leaving party in Leighton Buzzard (where my parents live). We didn't really need another baby shower but we wanted to have a little leaving party to see some of our friends and family before we go to Spain and I really wanted to make some of the cute food you get at baby showers (according to pinterest at least, I've never attended a baby shower before...).

Cakepops!

Me trying to eat a cakepop...

We had an entertaining quiz that consisted of questions about babies in Spain, the names of baby animals (who knew a baby platypus was called a puggle or puggler as Ethan called it) and then questions about Ethan and I as babies, such as what was our most memorable tantrum about and how much did we weigh when we were born.

One of the games we played



On the event on facebook we had put that it would end at 11
which we thought was quite late and people would probably
end up leaving earlier. However everyone seemed to have
a pretty good time and ended up staying till quite a bit later
which was great, the only thing is Ethan and I are not quite the
party animals we use to be and we got out partied! Haha
 (I've not been soleeping well at all in the last month, and
 accidentally wake Ethan up a lot with my fidgeting etc. so both
 of us get so tired recently). I felt really bad that we actually
left before some of out guests but I figured they must be
 having a good time for them to still be there so everyone
 must be happy... :)

Gorgeous nappy cake that my best friend Amber made!

A little early insight into parenthood

When we first found out we were pregnant I felt that all we had to do was reach the 12 week mark (the likelihood of a miscarriage goes down greatly after 12 weeks) and everything was completely smooth sailing with nothing to worry about from there.

That was until I was in the car with friend who mentioned someone they knew who had had a still born, which made me realise that anything could happen from that point until the baby was born regardless of whether it was past the 12 weeks.

Then I heard about someone whose toddler died unexpectedly in an accident which made me realise just how fragile life is. Nothing is guaranteed. As a mother or someone who cares very much for another there is always the constant worry that something is going to happen to that individual that you care so much about. 

But then there is the issue of how cautious should you be. Do you make your child live life in cotton wool and not take any risks like climbing trees or go to the park with friends without adult supervision? Or do you let them explore and find their own boundaries? I think that is a very difficult balance to find for a parent and is something that is different for each child let alone family. It's something I'm yet to decide on. Part of me feels children are often good at knowing their limits and what they feel safe doing, the other part says there is no way my little boy will be joining my dad and brother in climbing huge oak trees with makeshift ladders made from rope and wood and all the other crazy things that they get up to! 

I think part of the issue is there is such a dualism in the media regarding children. Half the time you hear about how children have been stopped from doing things like having conker fights and the newspapers all state what an outrage this is and how it is an example of health and safety gone mad. Then as soon as something goes wrong and a child gets injured in any way parents are criticised for being irresponsible and negligent. For example parents have been criticised for not letting their children go and play outside and doing things like playing football in a park like children used to do*. Yet the parents of April Jones who went missing from a park whilst playing with friends in 2012 were criticised by some for being negligent and irresponsible parents for allowing their child to play without adult supervision.

 In reality I think there is no winning, you just have to decide what is best for you regardless of other people as there is always someone who thinks they know better...    

*There is an old but very good article on the BBC that
 criticises over cautious parents http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7540076.stm 

The World's Best Flapjack Recipe

In school we had the most amazing cakes made by one of the loveliest ladies I know. Honestly, every single cake was just DIVINE to the point that once I had finished 6th Form I got my younger sister to buy me a cake from school every now and then. My sister also loved the cakes which led to her asking for the recipe for the flapjacks. I only discovered today that she had this recipe and so the first thing I did was try it out!

Ingredients:

280g/10oz Rolled Oats

200g/7oz Margarine/Butter

100g/3.5oz Brown Sugar

180g/7oz Golden Syrup

1. Melt margarine, brown sugar and golden syrup in a pan.

2. Take off heat and mix in oats.

3. Spoon onto a tray* and flatten down.

4. Bake in the oven at 180C for 15-20 minutes (until golden on top).

5. Cut while still warm.

6. Enjoy!

When I tried the recipe I was a bit impatient with the oven and put them in before it had reached 180 degrees which meant that they had to cook for longer, causing the flapjack to be a little drier and crumblier than it should have been. So lesson learnt, be patient. That said, my family two or three pieces each and my sister said they were the best homemade flapjacks she had ever tasted!

Flapjack is such a quick and easy treat and this recipe is the best! (In my opinion at least...)

*the tray size depends on how thick you like the flapjack, 9x9 inch would make slightly fatter flapjacks, a larger one would make thinner ones.

Year Abroad - Q&A

It is exactly 2 weeks today until we move to Spain for 5 months! I decide to mark this occasion I would do a question and answer style blog post as people seem to ask the same questions alllll the time! 

1. Will we be having our baby abroad?

We are, with the European Health Card we are entitled to the same state health care as the Spanish and their health care is pretty good. We have got the forms we need from the NHS that means they will fund our health care over there. I'll admit there was a point where I had read a few things online from British mums who had given birth in Spain and they had had experiences that were quite different from what is usual in the UK which made me panic and led to us looking into all the different options in coming back the the UK to have the baby (none of which were either practical or cheap). However after talking about all the options with Ethan we have decided to stay having the baby in Spain, none of the experiences I read online had any effect on the healthtiness/safety of the delivery, all of the babies were born healthy, it was just the experience was different to what you would expect in the UK as obviously it is a different culture that has slightly different ways of doing things. And so because we're aware of the fact that they do things slightly differently in Spain we are prepared for that unlike the women online and so are very happy with the plan of giving birth in Spain.

2. Have we got where we are going to be living sorted?

Yep. We have a lovely flat a few minutes from the sea which comes FULLY furnished (crockery, towels, bedding etc.) so we don't have to bring over/buy anything for the flat which saves us so much money! It also is very spacious which I think will be quite nice for having a newborn in, and has a spare bedroom with 2 beds and a sofa bed which means that our family and friends can come and visit us really easily as they only need to sort flights! (My family had their flights booked before we even had ours booked!)  

3. How are you going to cope knowing no Spanish?

I have actually learnt Spanish for 4 years in total and so although I'm by no means fluent I know the basics to be able to get by and can understand enough to be able to cope. So with that I plan to pick up as much as I can while we're there and who knows, maybe I'll be fluent by the time we leave... ;)

4. What will you be doing there?

Me - Having a baby and getting a tan. Ethan - he has a university placement at the University of Valencia for the Autumn semester (then a placement at the University of Pavia in Italy for the spring semester). However because you learn a language best by being immersed in the culture, he only has to take half the number of modules than his other 3 years of his course so we will be spending as much time as we can enjoying the Spanish culture with our little baby dragon :)

5. Will your baby have a Spanish name?

Most likely not, although we haven't decided on any names yet, we have a few we like but are going to wait until the baby is born to see what he suits best. Although it would be fun to give him a Spanish name it would just be very out of place in the UK, however there are a few Italian names that are a bit more 'acceptable' in the UK but they might be used for later children, we shall see...

6. Are you scared about moving to abroad for a year/having a baby abroad?

Nope, we are so excited! It's a logistical nightmare working out how to get our things and all the things we have for the baby like a pushchair, car seat etc from the UK to Spain, Spain to Italy and Italy back the the UK, although we've got it all sorted out for taking to Spain at least :) But other than that I don't think there is actually a better time to have a baby as financially we are in a very good position thanks to student finance and Erasmus and it will be so lovely for Ethan as he will have twice as much time to be able to spend with the baby and support me than if he was at uni in the UK and 10 times more time than when he's graduated with a full time job.

7. What about your degree?

I've just finished my second year, I'm taking a year out which is all sorted and approved and then we are both finishing our final year the next year. My course has very few contact hours so in reality baby dragon will only need to go to the uni day care for a couple of hours a week. If people can go back to work full time after 6 weeks, finishing a practically part time degree after a year is not going to be an issue :)  

I'm sure there are probably more questions that people ask, but I can't think of them right now and I think they get less interesting too so I shall stop there for the greater good of everyone... :)

 

Tiffin!

As many may know, I love baking! I love making pretty cupcakes and even use to sell them before I started university. I find it very therapeutic baking anything and making them pretty! I also love Pinterest for having SO many recipes, the only problem is they are pretty much all American, using American measurements and American ingredients. After spending many hours whilst baking flicking from measurement conversion charts and Google trying to find alternative ingredients that we have here in the UK, I decided I will write a post or two of my favourite recipes suited to a British Baker!

So today's recipe is Tiffin! Which is a fridge tray 'cake' covered in chocolate.

Ingredients:

10.5oz/300g Milk Chocolate (a mix of white chocolate and milk is the best)

8oz/225g Rich Tea Biscuits

4oz/110g Butter/Margarine (I generally use margarine personally)

2 tbsp Golden Syrup

2 tbsp Caster/Granulated Sugar

4 tsp Cocoa Powder

1 handful of raisins (optional, or could add marshmellows for a rocky road type cake or nuts etc. the possibilities are endless...)

Method:

1. In a pan melt the butter, sugar, golden syrup and cocoa powder together, stirring to make sure it doesn't burn, don't allow to boil.

2. Crush up the biscuits, they can range in size but you don't want any bigger than a 5p piece roughly or you'll get gaps in the base.

3. Add the crushed biscuits and the raisins to the melted mixture (if you have extra sauce add a biscuit or 2 more to make it a bit stiffer).

4. Spoon mixture into a 9x9 inch pan and press down firmly until evenly spread in the pan and flat. (You can add grease proof paper to be able to take it out of the pan just for convenience, but it doesn't need greasing)

Something like this...

5. Melt the milk chocolate and pour over the mixture. If using a combination of white chocolate too, pour in horizontal lines of white chocolate down the milk chocolate, then using a cocktail stick or something of that shape 'draw' vertical lines down the chocolate, causing a pattern to form.

6. Place in the fridge to set for an hour then cut into pieces.

7. Then enjoy!  

I might do another recipe post soon as we have our baby shower/leaving party next week that I'm going to be doing lots of baking for! :D

Baby Envy

Over the last two days HRH The Duchess of Cambridge has given birth to the next-next heir to the throne and two friends have given birth to a baby girl and boy. Seeing the gorgeous photos of their brand new babies has made me even more excited for our baby and very jealous that their waiting is over. And then there are another two friends who are due this week and next!

We also spent the last couple of days with Ethan's family up north and one of his cousins has a cute 8 month old daughter and his other cousin has 2 year old and 10 months old boys who are also ridiculously cute! While we were there they kept telling us how much we are going to love being parents and how wonderful it is! The end of October seems such a long time to wait for something so wonderful and life changing (a lot of hard work too I'm sure but 100% worth the lack of sleep etc). In reality it will probably go really quickly as our next month is jam packed with good things happening that will fill the waiting time and I'm sure you can never prepare too much for a new baby :)

Until then here are some photos from our weekend up north :)

Nancy working the sunglasses!

Ethan's interesting choice of attire for the day...

Seth, Kels and Rachel :) 

Ethan and Gabe playing 

Gabe dribbled right into Simon's mouth! (If you look closely enough or click on the photo you can see the dribble!)

The ball provided hours of entertainment haha

Ethan stole Barney's hat I think

SO cute!

Seth and Barnaby

Introducing Our Baby Dragon!

I feel its time to officially introduce the world to baby dragon. We've nicknamed the baby this since the very beginning when we found out but for some reason we've only really used the phrase around our families. At the beginning it was our way of making the abstract idea of a baby that we could neither see or feel a bit more personal and real, but now it's just our little affection way of referring to our little baby!

It started because when we were living in our flat we didn't use the heating over winter because the radiators we had were pathetic so it seemed a waste of money to use them. So often when we'd breathe out you'd get the steam or whatever it was appear that made you look like a dragon which led to Ethan naming me Jo the dragon, leading to baby dragon :) 

And today our little baby dragon is 26 weeks, which means the third trimester has started! Amusingly we had a midwife appointment last week and somehow I had managed to lose count of the weeks and thought I was 24 weeks and was actually 25 which was a very nice surprise, it felt like I had been told I was only to be pregnant for 39 weeks rather than 40 which is always a nice surprise because 40 weeks is a long time to be waiting for our beautiful baby! 

So I've decided the best way to get through these next 3 months is to not keep track of the weeks and then suddenly I'll have the baby and think 'oh are those 3 months over already?' ...haha something tells me that is not going to happen! 

The second trimester has been everything people say it is. I've been felling great, no sickness, aches or anything unpleasant, my bump has started growing and my hair started to be in really good condition (I only need to wash it twice a week now, it's wonderful!) and lots of people said I was blossoming which was just lovely to hear! 

However in the last 2 or 3 weeks my ribs and coccyx have started aching whenever I'm sat down and my back has just started aching a lot, particularly when I'm sat down or laying down. And sadly I imagine its only going to get worse as baby dragon grows more over the next 3 months! 

The good thing is it's definitely worth it, we cannot wait for our gorgeous baby boy to come, we already have so much love for him but apparently that feels like nothing compared to the love you feel for the baby once it's born! We genuinely can't wait! :)