This boy knows

This boy knows what's best.
He knows what he needs
Teaching me wordlessly
With his patient suckling.
Forget my self-imposed schedule
He needs mamas milk
And nothing else right now.
No bribes, no treats will coax him
From where he needs to be.
I'm antsy, frustrated -
Then I feel his hot little hands and feet
And it all makes sense.
Though he ran laughing a little while ago,
His tiny body is still working out the virus
And for now I have to go at his rhythm.
He leads, I follow
He needs, I comply.
Because he knows what he needs.

Banana poppyseed muffins

I'm eating these as I type. A few long days of intense tandem feeding to beat this virus had me scouring the store cupboard for ingredients. Luckily I buy bananas in bulk as Charlie will sometimes eat 2 a day.
Muffins are a great way to use up the small amounts of muesli/nuts/fruit you may have lying around. For these I:

Pre-heated oven to 170'C (mine runs hot). Oiled a 12 space muffin pan with rapeseed oil. Using fingers as I've donated my pastry brush for artistic endeavours.

Mashed 2.5 bananas (one half was a discarded snack)
Mixed in 2 large eggs (same fork-save on washing up)
Mixed in about 3 tablespoons of ground soaked flaxseeds (I'm grinding and soaking a bowlful these days and adding to smoothies/pancakes etc - great veggie alternative to cod liver oil for omegas etc)

Melted about 1.5 tablespoons of butter and added once cooled slightly.
Added more poppyseeds than I meant to, about 6 tablespoons.
Added a handful of muesli.
Added a splash of milk.
Stirred in enough self-raising flour to make a wet, porridge-y type batter (a cupful?)

Spooned it into the muffin pan, filling them to the top- these don't rise for me. If you know why please let me know. Too little flour?

My temperamental oven cooked these in about 15 minutes. We're enjoying them with raspberry jam, they are light and moist and cake-y. I'd use grated apples in place of bananas and expect the same results. Yum and healthy.

Unfortunately the kids are eschewing them and asking for chewing gum and boobs respectively.
Hope you're all well
Nee x

Electronics

This electronic kit cost me 2e in a Christmas fair. We kept in the attic until yesterday. It's proving very popular with Charlie and his friends. You build circuits and add switches,  lights, a radio, sound effects etc. It's a great introduction to electronics and the whole world of science.
The chemistry set Santa gifted him remains unused, I think it's a couple of years beyond him yet- he wants baking soda and vinegar fizzes and very disinterestly grew crystals.
It's been a busy week here- hence the sporadic posts. I've had two wonderful evenings out with friends and the local kids have taken to congregating in our house, playing cops and robbers. The game seems unchanged since my childhood except the cops now wear earphones around their necks.
Go on, now, and don't have me stopping you again, ok? (Said like an officer of the law)
Nee x

1 Dress, 3 Ways

I've teamed up with Boob Design (http://www.boobdesign.com/) to style some nursing dresses for S/S 13. 

I'll be styling one dress each week, and I'm excited to show how I would dress them up or down. I'm all about making your clothes work hard for you, and a dress is so versatile. I hope you like my ideas!

Here's the second dress, the Blossom nursing / maternity dress in pink/purple (79e - it also comes in blue/green): 

Here's the dress

Drawstring feature under the bust for easy nursing access and to define your shape. The wide straps mean that your bra straps should stay hidden.

Elasticated inner layer pulls down for nursing

Look 1: Casual - tan leather gladiator sandals, vintage bag and pink cardigan

Look 2: Dressy - pink cardigan, orange satchel bag and coral heels. I love this look!

Look 3: Edgy - black cowboy ankle boots and black leather bag. I'd add an oversized cardigan for warmth.

This link here will take you to the Boob Design website. This dress is fun and so pretty for the warmer months. I know I'll be wearing this for years to come, and I love that it will fit me however my shape may change!

How would you wear it?
Nee x

*These dresses were sent to me by Boob Design to review. I did not receive any payment for this review and all opinions are my own.

Car boot sale haul video!

Watch "Haul! Car boot sale - feat. Swan teasmade, Vans" on YouTube

Great bargains today! Vintage homewares, bag, toys and teamaker! Check out the video x

Mama Selfies

"Selfies" are apparently self-portraits used mainly by hipsters for social media purposes. It's damn near  impossible to get a minute to myself to take one, so here's my trick:
Find a large well lit mirror. I found one in a toilet in the zoo.
Provide a distraction for your kids. This is the time to whip out those sweets you carry around, I just turned on the tap.
Snap away to your heart's content.
Results below:

Whipped chocolate body butter

I recently bought 250g of cocoa butter for 10e with the intention of making my own skincare products. I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it is. I made a body scrub bar, will share the recipe in another post. Today with the 100g I had left I made the most luxurious body butter, it smells like chocolate and melts into your skin leaving it soft and delicious-smelling. 

I've been detoxing recently as you all know, and it was a natural step to want to cut down on the amount of chemicals I put on my skin. I love the idea of not using anything you couldn't eat, or conversely only using products that are so natural and harmless you could eat them. They rarely exist in shops, so I've been researching recipes online. I stumbled across this one here and robbed it. Here's how I did it:

I melted 100g of cocoa butter and 50g of coconut oil and added 50ml of vegetable oil. That's it, you could add perfume / perfume oil / essential oils. Or use another liquid oil like olice / vitamin E. Easy peasy lemon squeezy. I used it on my face and it was lovely too. 

The ingredients with lump of cocoa butter melting in a cup. Blitz it for 30 second bursts in microwave until melted.

Cocoa butter adding to melted coconut oil and vegetable oil.

After a while in the fridge most of it goes opaque, some still runny. Start whisking with electric whisk.

Like over-whipping cream and getting butter it gets whiter and grows in volume

Put into a lidded tub for using in bathroom

It melts on contact with skin, gorgeous!