DAY FROM A LIFE OF A WORKING MUM…

2 months ago I have written a post about my heartbreak of having to go back to work. How I didn’t want to do it, and I couldn’t imagine how I will cope with leaving Chloe. I must say that as all of you advised; it wasn’t that bad. 

 Don’t get me wrong, first week was hard!!! Evening before going back to work I was a mess !On the first day I cried all the time, and I didnt enjoy being back at work. By the end of week two it felt as if I had never been away on maternity leave. 😊

 I am lucky to have a job which I am passionate about and which keeps me so busy that the day just flies by.

 It’s not easy being a working mum (especially living with the guilt of leaving your child all the time) but if you get organised its not that hard at all. The key is to rest once everything is done; not the other way around 😂😂😂 That way you are tired  but you have everything under control. This is an example of a day of a working mum:
4:15 am – Alarm goes off , it’s time to start the day ! On a good night I will sleep undisturbed for a whole night , on a bad one I will be lucky to get 2 hours all together! (a teething baby is worse than having a new born baby!!!!!) Get ready for work creeping around the house so that I don’t wake up Hubby or Chloe is the norm, (I even worry that my bones are making too much noise). 

4:50am- make sure that everything is ready for my parents in law to look after Chloe (notes, food etc) or that Chloe has everything packed for the nursery.

5:00 am – out of the house to get a train, then a tube … and another tube … This also is my breakfast time, and that’s when my caffeine deprivation starts to kick in … It’s 5 am and I had only one coffee !!!!!!   

6:00 am – start work and keep dreaming about coffee until around 10am – that’s my next caffeine fix 😁. Once I get to work I don’t have time for anything, it’s full on from 6am until 3pm. This is great as I don’t have the time to miss Chloe (or eat). I make one quick phonecall to make sure that Chloe is ok and to hear that she is doing amazingly well and isn’t  missing her mummy at all (which is great but also a little bit upsetting… How can you not miss your mummy ?!) 

3:00pm – finish work (or should have finished but its very rare that I get out in time) and run home as fast as I can to see my baby.

 4:00pm – 5:30pm is the precious time I get to spend with my daughter! Sometimes I get home to an amazing welcome with happy screams, hugs and kisses. Sometimes to Chloe screaming with excitement at the sound of the door then seeing that it’s me, saying Heeyyyaaa and going back to play …( Eehh thanks for that… I haven’t been missing you all day at all…)

 This is the precious time that I have with Chloe to play and have quality time with her.  I leave my phone and don’t look at it (95% of the time😁), I dont tidy, I don’t cook I just enjoy her.  It is by far the best time of the day.

 5:30pm -6:00pm prepare dinner for me, my husband and Chloe. You see I don’t cook in the week I prepare all of my meals over the weekend and just finish them off on the day or just reheat them. Chloe’s precious 2 hour nap in the afternoon is a 2 hour cooking session for me. I tend to cook one meal and prepare another one for the evening. 

6:00pm Daddy comes back home (at best but it can be much later dependent on his work) and we have a family dinner. 

6:30pm bath and bed time story. 

7:00pm Chloe is alsleep and us (Chloes little servants😂) get to work with preparing food for Chloe for the next day, writing notes for grandparents, preparing Chloe’s clothes, etc. 

7:30pm -8:00pm tidy up all of the toys and then we can sit down with a glass of wine,  relax and have some grown up time. 

10:00pm – ZZZZzzzzzzzz

 It is a very full on day, and you don’t stop until you collapse on the sofa in the evening. But if you are organised it’s not hard at all (just a little bit tiring) 

 CHICKEN NOODLES STIR-FRY 

ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER MEAL …
CHICKEN NOODLE STIR-FRY


This is an adapted recipe of Ananbel Karmel : First beef noodle stir-fry. I have changed the recipie a little bit by making it with chicken and slightly adapting ingredients of the sauce. For original Anabell Karmel recipie head to her website.

Ingredients:

– 75g carrot (piled and diced)

– 75g egg noodles

– 50g frozen peas

– 1 small chicken breast (diced)

Sauce:

– 1/2 an apple (grated)

– 1tbsp soy sauce

– 1/2 garlic cove

– 4 spring onions finely chopped

Cooking method :

Cook egg noodles according to cooking instructions.

Boil water and cook carrots for 5 minutes or until soft.

Fry chicken for 5 minutes, add peas and cook for another 2 minutes, then add noodles and carrots.

Mix sauce ingredients together and add to the pan.

Meal is ready to serve. Hope that your precious one will enjoy it as much as Chloe did.

BABY DEVELOPMENT APP

As our baby grows and develops so has to our imagination to create great games. It’s natural to want to check that our precious baby develops “right”, does the “right” thing at the right time (I must stress in here that each child develops at its own pace and does things at its own time!!! ; Look at Chloe walking at 9 months but still only 2 teeth at 14 months😂) 

 When Chloe was around 6 months old I started looking for help/inspiration on how I should play with her. We had our games but there is just so much you can play the same repertoire over and over again! I wanted our games to be fun but also to support Chloe’s development. 

 I came across an App called Baby Sparks and I have been using it ever since! I love this app and would recommend it to everyone. 

  
What I love about it?

– It has a month-by-month Baby development guide. This has helped me to understand baby development and what I should expect to happen in the near future. 

– Daily program. This is full of activities for the day. Those change constantly so your play time is never boring. What is great is that all of the activities are divided in to groups : 

* Gross motor skills

* Fine motor skills

* Cognitive

* Speech 

* Sensory

* Self Care

* Emotional 

  
 You can choose what part of your child development you want to concentrate on and practise that day. 

 Main purpose is to help your child develop but it’s done in a very fun way! It keeps your days versatile and your play time interesting. 

–  Another great feature is the ability to brows the activities by: Category, Place, Milestone.  You don’t have to stick to the daily plan you can just freestyle 😊

 You can also mark activities as: Completed, Favorite and Archive. 

 The App is available for different ages. It’s not a free app but it’s not expensive; at £3.99 in my opinion it is worth every penny! 

Photos of few examples of the exercises in the app. Each of the exercises also has a video showing how to do it. 

   
    
   

ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER OUTFIT, ANOTHER MEAL …

ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER OUTFIT…


ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER MEAL …

PUMPKIN A’LA CARBONERA PASTA

Ingredients:

– 100g pumpkin (cut in to small cubes)

– 1 slice of bacon (cut up small without fat)

– 20 ml of cream

– 10g of parmesan

– 50g pasta

– 1tbsp parsley

Cooking Method :

Cook pasta according to cooking instructions.

Fry bacon in tiny bit of olive oil for 3 minutes then add pumpkin and fry for 10 minutes untill soft.

Add cream and parsley and cook for a minute. Mix with pasta, add parsley and it’s ready to serve !


Fancy Jogging bottoms

 Who said that jogging bottoms need to be boring ?! 

 I must admit I am not a fan of dressing Chloe in jogging bottoms but there are times when putting nice clothes on is just silly (nursery, soft play, day at home) 

 There are some cute joggers out there. Those combined with some cool t-shirt would make a great outfit! 

H&M

hmprod-22hmprod-23hmprod-21

hmprod-18hmprod-14hmprod-3

NEXT

366-000ss5355-464s

PL_04_T78_1890T_Z0_X_EC_0

   
 ZARA

   
    
 
LINDEX

   
  

ASDA

 
   
    
   

Mamas and Papas amazing Spring Collection ! 

Mamas and Papas has their new collection out and you must get your hands on it asap! As always theirs clothes are cute and quirky. There is lots of fabulous prints which are Mamas and Papas signature. We already got our hands on quite a few of the items … Get yours before they sell out ! 

GIRLS : 

  
    
    
  
 
BOYS :

   
  
    
    
 

SPRING IS HERE !

Spring is here …. not “here” but in the shops 🙂 Yes I know you must be thinking that I have lost my mind; We just had Christmas and New year, its still cold outside and I am talking about Spring. But as you know the fashion world works in  its own way, and fashion

 

H&M

hmprod-24hmprod-26hmprod-27hmprod-28hmprod-25hmprod-33hmprod-29hmprod-30hmprod-31hmprod-34

Marks and Spencer

 

SD_04_T78_9051A_ZZ_X_EC_0SD_04_T78_9056A_A0_X_EC_0SD_04_T78_1241A_ZZ_X_EC_0

 

Lindex

S0000007398859_F_W22_20151203130026
Next

362231123581389-474s371-824s111-276-X57s360-535s
Tesco

aq521612_isaq525273_is 

Mother Care


Monsoon 

 

River Island

815432_main815416_main813240_main

 

Matelan

girls-heart-printed-dungarees-3mths-5yrs-girls-floral-print-denim-pinafore--3mths-5yrs-

 

                         ……..  BOY  …….

H&M
hmprod-8

hmprod-11hmprod-2hmprod-6

hmprod-10hmprod-12hmprod-13hmprod 

River Island

409002_main409003_main409060_main409062_main

NEXT

376-374s4
366-348s2122-971ss4387-663s906-511s

Matelan

boys-2-pack-long-sleeve-tops-3mths-5yrs-

MESS FREE ART

I love this toy!!!!

  
Chloe has recieved it as a present for Christmas. I must say it’s a brilliant toy and both me and Chloe love it.

Chloe doesn’t like to get messy (I know its very unusual for a toddler; she obviously got OCD from her mum:-) ) and I don’t like mess.

This mat is amazing for big babies (yes I still cannot bring myself to call Chloe a toddler) who just start to learn what drawing is and how to do it. This matt has a pen which you fill with water, kids can draw on the mat with “water”( yes water ! This means no colourful marks on the floor, furniture and walls … for now anyway) and as the water dries up the drawing disappears.

I would highly recommend this !

http://www.elc.co.uk/Mini-Artist-My-First-Aquamagic-Mat/132970,default,pd.html

YORKSHIRE PUDDING WITH FRUITS! 

ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER MEAL…

YORKSHIRE PUDDING WITH FRUITS

 This is a brilliant idea for a dessert or a snack. Yes I did say a dessert! And there are so many options to serve it!

Ingredients:

– 125g flower

– 125ml skimmed milk 

– 125ml water

– 2 eggs

– handful of raspberries and blueberries 

– 2 tbsp soft cream 

Cooking method:

 Sieve the flower in to a bowl and make a well in the centre.

 Break eggs in to the well and whisk together with flower. Mix water and milk together; pour little by little in to the well. Whisk until all liquid had been used and until your batter is nice and smooth. 

  

Chill mixture in the fridge for minimum 30min. 

 Preheat your oven to 180C gas /200C fan. Heat up muffin tray until hot then as tiny bit of oil in to each hole and heat again for few minutes. Pour the butter in to the holes and bake for 30 min until Yorkshires are crisp and gold. 
 

  

 Blend fruits together, then add soft cream and combine.  

 Cool your Yorkshires then put 1 tbsp of cream on to the pud and serve. 

  
This is a tasty and healthy dessert that your kids will love!

 You can make lots of different toppings from blended banana, grated apple to just pouring kids yogurt on to it.  

 For the not so healthy version, you can have them with jam and custard. 

ROCK & ROLL BABY ! 

  I love cute and pretty baby clothes … But a woman needs a change from time to time. There is nothing cuter than baby rocking this cool rock look! This is really trendy right now with a lot of celebrities dressing their babys/kids in that way.

There is lots of lovely, cool pieces available on the high street now. This is my favourite few :
                …….. GIRLS ……..

River Island

814273_main815490_main815356_main812875_main815361_back815017_main815270_main

 

Next

 

394-955s390-424s

 

Lindex
S0000007369667_F_W30_20151109094651

Kidsen

kids_1133x1000_123

La Redoute

324490492_0_PR_1_324490492-de12df89-4dd6-4d77-9218-abb68e063d54

ZARA

4003103092_2_3_1
                      ……. BOYS …….

H&M

 

hmprod-15hmprod-19hmprod-20hmprod-4hmprod-17hmprod-16hmprod-9hmprod-7

 

RIVER ISLAND

408028_main408278_back408405_main408667_main408840_main409222_main