serialdeviant.org(y)

I made itek tim.

Correction. I made itek tim with a quantity of pork ribs (they needed to be used up) and a block of silken tofu. ‘Twas good. I had the leftovers with noodles at a later date.

Met Office issues snow alert and warns of travel disruption: maybe we can use that snow suit after all! w00t!!

An ‘outtake’ from her Singapore citizenship application ‘photo session’. D’you think she’ll have a better chance if I used this one?

In talking to other mums, I think it’s very true that most first-timers in the mothering game really only focus on the pregnancy and labour, and very little on what happens after. I certainly did. I’m very lucky most friends and family are already experienced parents and furnished me with lots of things I never thought would be essential. Like a ring sling and Moby wrap, because I never thought my baby would require so much cuddle time. I never thought babies had to be helped to sleep, nor mine quite so much.

So I’ve ended up attachment parenting without ever intending to — but it really ended up being the natural thing for us. And now we’ve made it to the weaning stage (the British definition), I’ve ended up doing Baby-Led Weaning, which I’d never even heard of until a friend told us about it.

It’s my fault, because Anne was being so insufferable while I was eating that I let her try some banana. Then some avocado. Then when we were out, we just let her try all sorts of fruit and vegetables that were part of our own meals. And any attempts by me to spoon-feed her mashes and purées have been rebuffed, i.e. a firm no to mashed potato but a resounding yes to (cooked, of course) potato sticks.

To be honest, she does fling and drop her food all over the place, but finger foods are a lot easier to clean up than mashed and puréed vegetables.

I’ve written all this so I can post this video of her with some potato.

First I incubated, then we finally got to meet Anne. Who has pretty much taken over our lives.

It’s been quite the year. Neil and I are both totally in love with our little dragon monkey girl.

Have a good one, see you in 2013!

You know your computer is out of date when mobiles boast a processor that didn’t even exist when the former was purchased.

Anne is also six months old today!

Today I’m going with the ‘dark circles / puffy eyed’ look because Anne was totally over-tired and a new sleeping environment equals practically zero sleep for her mummy.

All good things come in threes. Good tip.

SRSLY? Not all of them, of course. More proof that it’s all about moderation.

We have started weaning the little miss.

She also likes red onion, lemon, and orange. Peculiar!

Neil, Anne, and I were out on the weekend, and we were pushing Anne around in the buggy at the Swindon Designer Outlet because she’d fallen asleep, and all parents know what I mean when I say we’ll walk around aimlessly for an hour if that’s what it takes for the baby to have a good nap. So we get to Gap, which is having a sale. As I can’t help myself, we go in. Anne woke up as I was looking at some 6-12 month stuff, and Neil was carrying her around. I held up two possible candidates: a denim dungaree dress and a pair of jeans, and asked her, “Which one do you like?” She immediately reached for the jeans. *proud*

Kristen posted Why You’re Never Failing as a Mother on Facebook. I should read it every time I worry I’m not doing enough for Anne.

Seriously. But not really, since Hugh beat Jamie without any real effort.

Thanks to my mother doing so much cooking while she was here, we realised how much money we were spending eating out, since I hate cooking. So we decided that we should definitely try to cook and eat at home more often than not. Mum left a bunch of recipes and we were doing okay, then the race to be Christmas’ number one cookbook began.

(When Jamie’s 30-Minute Meals was published, it stayed at the number one spot for what felt like months. It consistently sold thousands every week. I bought a copy — Kristen wanted one.)

We went to the bookshop to check out Jamie’s 15-Minute Meals, because the series looked interesting enough. But I also wanted to check out Hugh’s Three Good Things on a Plate. Neil made the decision in favour of Hugh — the recipes looked more achievable and he thinks Jamie Oliver puts it on a little too much.

Of the handful of recipes we’ve tried so far, my favourites have been halloumi, asparagus, and potatoes, as well as pasta, blue cheese, and tomatoes.

Tangent: Neil took over the cooking of the pasta dish after I did the prep. Anne took my hand and shoved my finger in her mouth for a good chew. She wasn’t expecting to taste garlic. The look on her face was pretty priceless — the very picture of distaste.

(What the hell has happened to me?)

I don’t let Anne watch too much teevee, but of the programmes she’s seen, the two that seem to catch and hold her attention are Alphablocks and Countdown. Seriously.