Another week, another meal plan. I managed to bring my food shop in this week at £32 and I’m really happy with that. I’m using a whole large chicken for 4 meals and I already have haddock and salmon in the freezer. All these meals will be for me, hubby and Eleanor, so they’re suitable for baby led weaning.
Sunday
Lunch: Roast chicken
Dinner: Homemade 2 ingredient pizza
Monday
Lunch: Jacket potato
Dinner: Chicken, leek and mushroom pie
Tuesday
Lunch: Cheese on toast
Dinner: Chicken stir fry
Wednesday
Lunch: Pancakes with fruit
Dinner: Chicken and mushroom risotto
Thursday
Lunch: Lentil soup
Dinner: Haddock, mash and vegetables
Friday
Lunch: Toast with peanut butter
Dinner: Salmon pesto parcels
Saturday
Lunch: Out
Dinner: Pasta bolognese
Do you write a meal plan? What are your favourite meals for the whole family?
Author: Deborah
I have been feeling so guilty recently about the amount of rubbish we’re throwing out. When Eleanor was first born my mum had to take bags of nappies home to put in her bin as ours was always too full. Although now we are disposing of fewer nappies, we seem to have more food waste instead.
Anyway, here’s a chatty update and rant video all about my thoughts on food waste, plastics and cloth nappies. I needed to film a video to just get everything off my chest.
Let me know your thoughts and any ideas you have that might help. Do you have any tips for reducing waste?
Author: Deborah
With only a couple of months left of my maternity leave, I really wanted to create a bucket list of everything I want to do with Eleanor. I can’t believe I’ll be going back to work soon and sending little E off to nursery for a couple of days a week. I know she’ll love it but it makes my heart ache.
This summer we are going to get out and about lots and try some new things. So here’s what I have planned.
Messy play
I took Eleanor to a messy play group the other week and she hated it. She cried when she touched the jelly. So this summer I’m going to try and slowly introduce some messy play ideas at home and see how she gets on with them. And maybe leave the jelly until last.
Our local farm
I bought an annual pass to our closest farm and I think we’ll be going there lots of the summer. We’ve been a couple of times a week since we bought the membership and it’s great. They have a small under 2’s soft play area too which is perfect if it’s raining.
Signing
Our Sing and Sign class may be over but I’m determined to keep signing to her over the summer. She’s trying to sign more and drink at the moment and has been signing milk for awhile. I’m so proud of her. Also if we practise lots it will stop me forgetting them all. We know lots of animals so they’ll come in use at the farm and zoo.
Go to the beach
Eleanor adored her first visit to the beach so I really want to take her again. Hopefully we’ll get some lovely weather in September when the schools are back on so it will be a bit quieter for us.
Family picnic
I really want to get some family together and have a picnic in the New Forest. We often have picnics there and when I was pregnant I dreamed of having picnics with a baby crawling around us.
Find family friendly independent pubs
Go on the hunt for some family friendly pubs that won’t mind the huge mess that Eleanor makes. We love trying out new restaurants and pubs but have stopped since having Eleanor. If you have any recommendations in the Hampshire area let me know.
Tick off more National Trust
There are some amazing National Trust properties within 75 minutes drive of us. It’s quite a drive on my own but I really want to venture on more days out alone with Eleanor while hubby is at work. I really want to take advantage of our membership rather than visiting the same few places all the time.
What’s on your summer bucket list?
Author: Deborah
At 10 months old Eleanor has been weaning for a good few months now. We’re doing baby led weaning and she really enjoys her food. However I have been desperate to try some new recipes with her. I was sent a copy of the Flavour-Led Weaning Cookbook and flicking through the recipes I got really excited.
Now I have to point out that I am fussy, I’ve always been fussy. Until the age of 16 I didn’t eat potato, rice, pasta and no vegetables at all at that age. I do NOT want that for Eleanor. I want her to experience a wealth of flavours and want her to be excited about food.
The Flavour-Led Weaning Cookbook
The Flavour-Led Weaning Cookbook is written by Zainab Jagot Ahmed and is packed full of recipes. She says the objective of flavour-led weaning it to prepare your little one for the usual flavours that you eat as family. Flavour-led weaning works alongside however you choose to wean your baby.
The book is laid out in stages: 1 being purees through to stage 4 which is big table meals (family meals).
As we’re doing baby led weaning and my daughter is 10 months old I only flicked through the first stages. Here you’ll find lots of traditional weaning blends like strawberry, basil and banana puree and tangy apple dhal.
I would have loved if the chunkier meals (ages 10-12 months) were in family portions instead of baby portions. They’re all meals that we would eat as a family like mushroom and broccoli risotto (one of Eleanor’s favourites) and I’ll have to adapt the recipe to make it for the 3 of us.
I think Zainab does shy on the edge of caution in regards to choking and making sure things are very soft at 6 months but you just need to go with your gut instinct. For me, I’m using the whole cookbook rather than sticking to the age ranges, but if you are traditional weaning then they are a helpful guide.
What are the recipes like?
There’s a lot of different flavours for you to try with your little one. For example I loved the addition if dried apricots to a bolognese, I’d never thought of doing that before. Most of the recipes look like they’ve got a long list of ingredients but they’re made up of a lot of herbs and spices so don’t be put off. You might want to top up on your spice rack. There’s also a list of food essentials which will help you stock up when you’re starting out.
Every stage (except family meals) comes with a weeks meal plan which is great if you’re starting out.
The photography makes me want to try recipes that I wouldn’t usually eat. Like the simple garden vegetable paella, which doesn’t have any meat in, that doesn’t sound like me at all, it just looks so good! There’s quite a few curry and fish recipes that I can’t wait to try.
I also loved that at the back of the book there’s a list of what herbs and spices can help as natural remedies. For example, cardamom can help with teething pain and it includes the corresponding recipes to try.
Juicy Beef Burgers
We decided to try the juicy beef burgers for lunch on Sunday with some sweet potato fries. They were super easy to make and took 8 minutes to cook. After I’d prepped the onion and made some breadcrumbs it was just a case of mixing it all together and forming burgers. I popped the cheese in the middle and put them in the fridge to chill. I’d picked up some brioche buns from Aldi which were lovely for me and my husband to have. The burgers were so juicy and my husband gave the recipe a 10/10. Does anyone else put score marks next to recipes or is that just me?
I filmed a what my baby eat’s in a day video (shown below) featuring these yummy burgers.
I will be including recipes from this book in every meal plan now. It’s really exciting to try new flavours with my daughter, especially ones that I might not have tried myself either.
The Flavour-Led Weaning Cookbook is available from Amazon in both hardback or Kindle editions.
Disclaimer: I was sent a copy of the Flavour-Led Weaning Cookbook. All opinions and thoughts on the product are my own. This post contains affiliate links. This means that I may receive a small commission (at no cost to you) if you purchase something through the link provided. I won’t post a link to a product that I haven’t used myself and love. Thank you for the support!
Author: Deborah
I am on the hunt for a fitness tracker. A fitness tracker that doesn’t look like a humongous beast on my arm. I have tiny little wrists. I struggle to buy watches and bracelets all the time. It didn’t occur to me that I’d have the same problem with fitness trackers too.
I have a running watch which I use while running (obviously) but it’s so bulking I never wear it any other time. It’s a shame as it does come with an activity tracker in it. I love the colour of it too but it’s just too big.
The reason I want a fitness tracker is so that I can make sure I’m getting out and doing some exercise each day. I want to have a target and be able to see that progress throughout the day. My phone has a steps counter but I often head out without it.
Fitness trackers for skinny wrists
I thought I’d share my hunt for fitness trackers for those with slender wrists. I’ve narrowed down my search to 4 watches but I just don’t know which to go for.
Fitbit Alta
My friend has one of these and I tried it on and was amazed it actually fit. I have tiny wrists and this comes in small or large so is perfect. I adore the teal colour but I have seem leather pale pink straps which I really desperately want.
The Alta keeps track of your steps, calories, distance travelled, active minutes and your sleeping patterns. I can actually find out how little sleep I’m getting! It functions as a watch and also you can get notifications from your phone when you get a text or call. I am all for the multi use wearable tech!
There is an Alta HR (heart rate) version but it doesn’t come in teal.
Fitbit Charge 2 HR
The Charge 2 HR is a bit bigger than the Alta but it does all the same things and more. It gives you a wrist-based heart rate, which you might like. I remember using this when I started running as I had a heart rate monitor with my running watch. I don’t think this is important for me but I love this watch’s looks! Plus it also has a small wristband and comes in teal, which I’m just a little bit partial to.
Tomtom Touch Cardio
The Touch Cardio by Tomtom also comes with a heart rate monitor. It tracks activity every second of the day and also your workouts. You can create goals and set daily and weekly targets to aim for. The Tomtom doesn’t come in as many colours but black goes with everything, right?
Withings Activité Pop
I love that Withings fitness trackers look like a proper watch. They also have an outrageously long battery life of up to 8 months. I wish wish wish they’d have different sizes as the face looks a bit big on my wrist. I bought this in black for my husband for Christmas and he’s worn it every day since. It tracks, walking, running, swimming and sleeping. It automatically recognises when you’ve switched from a walk to a jog. Does the battery life on this make it an easy winner? Plus the sand colour is just lovely.
It seems Nokia now own Withings so I wonder how long this beauty will be available for. The Nokia version that similar would be the Steel. I don’t know how I feel about this. Maybe I’m a bit snobby but Withings sounds much better than having Nokia written over the watch.
Do you have a fitness tracker? I feel so unmotivated to get out and exercise – hit me with your tips please.
* This post contains affiliate links. In plain English, this means that I may receive a small commission (at no cost to you) if you purchase something through the links provided. Thank you for the support!
Author: Deborah
Having my own desk space is really important to me. My husband and I share an office and the same desk. I do sometimes use his desk but since turning my dressing table into a work space I’m so much happier with it.
Using the dressing table meant that I couldn’t use the PC. I have an old laptop that I used to use but then hubby put Linux on it and I really don’t like it. So I needed to come up with a solution for me to blog while hubby used the computer.
My mum kindly gave me her old iPad. I think it’s an iPad 4. It does the job. When I got it I thought I’d be able to prop it up on my desk and then type away. I ordered a Bluetooth keyboard, which I absolutely love. I don’t know how I’d use a tablet without it. Now I just wish you could use a mouse too!
The kind folks at Filofax sent me a case for my iPad. I adore this geometric pattern print case – as soon as I saw it I knew I had to have it. I wish they did a Filofax A5 organiser in this pattern.
The great thing about these cases is that you can rotate the tablet 360 degrees. This means I can stand it up in the case portrait to type a document or landscape to watch Netflix while doing the washing up.
The case also has pockets for a notebook or other bits you want to keep in there. I leave notepaper inside so that if I see anything online I can quickly make a note of it. There’s also a handy pen loop too, which reminds me of my old Filofax planer.
Being able to work at my “desk” has really helped me become more organised. I can work whenever I want (when Eleanor is asleep) and transport my office setup around the house.
I wouldn’t have thought Filofax wouldn’t be my first port of call for tablet cases but they have such beautiful designs I’d definitely recommend having a look. You can find this case and others on the Filofax website.
Disclaimer: Filofax kindly let me pick a tablet case from their website. As always, all opinions are my own honest views.
Author: Deborah
Eleanor has tried a few classes. She has swimming and baby sensory every week and we’ve dabbled with baby massage and sing and sign.
I have 4 months left until Eleanor starts nursery and I return back to work so I am determined to try out a few more classes with her. I’ve found it quite hard to find local classes as they all seem to be by word of mouth or they’ll have a Facebook page that will get shared in a local selling group.
There’s an app for that
I recently stumbled upon the Hoop app and thought it sounded amazing. However when I downloaded it it said it wasn’t available in my area. That was a few weeks ago. Then someone reminded me of it and I tried again. This time it was available and it was full of lots of different coffee mornings, activities and classes to go.
You can sort the classes by age and location. So for Eleanor I was looking for groups for under 1 year olds. I was then able to choose a date and how far away I wanted to travel. I found the perfect activity for the day I was looking for.
I’ve been on the lookout for a messy play group for ages. I’ve seen other parents take their little ones to similar groups on Instagram and I have been dying to take Eleanor to one too. They look like so much fun.
The app told me what the class is, where and when it is and how much it costs. I am super excited to take Eleanor to her first messy play session. Luckily it’s a drop in class as it clashes with nap time.
If you haven’t already installed Hoop app I highly recommend checking it out. Just search for Hoop in your App Store.
Hi there, I’m Deborah. I live in Hampshire with my husband and spend my time baking, making and getting out in the fresh air. Find out more or get in touch.
