Rocky Road

My Mum and Dad recently gave me the Hummingbird bakery cookbook and I have had a wonderful time flicking though the many pages of promised deliciousness. My parents know me so well! There are several recipes in the book that I am keen to try, but the one that really jumped off the page and screamed 'Make me! Make me now!' were the rocky road bars. It is one of those recipes that makes you gain weight just reading it! I decided to halve the recipe, which originally called for, amongst other things, 1.4 kg of chocolate and 8 Mars bars! The resulting rocky road bars are absolutely heavenly and I will certainly be making these again. Though, for the sake of our health, possibly not too often! I am excited to try some more recipes from this fabulous book.

Just need to add the melted chocolate

Rocky Road! 

World Prematurity Day 2014 - Tom's story

Today is World Prematurity Day, raising awareness of premature birth and the effects being born too soon can have on babies and their families. Premature birth is still the biggest cause of death amongst newborns. Thankfully, my own little preemie celebrated his tenth birthday last month, so he is one of the lucky ones.

Tom was born six weeks early in October 2014. My pregnancy had been completely problem free right up until my waters broke unexpectedly six weeks before my due date. I was staying with my parents at the time as Mark was out of the country on business. I rang him straight away and he started his own epic journey across Ireland late on a Sunday night to try to get the quickest flight back to the UK.

My parents drove me straight to hospital and I was admitted. The baby's heartbeat was fine and as I wasn't having any contractions my parents went home and I spent a restless night on my own, thankfully in my own room. I was in complete shock and just couldn't get any sleep. I started mild contractions in the night and the next day the doctor told me that as I was at 34 weeks they wouldn't try to stop the birth. The contractions gradually got stronger as the day wore on, but thankfully Mark made it to the hospital late that morning, having driven across Ireland all night to catch the first flight out in the morning. My labour progressed normally and my precious firstborn son made his way into the world at 8 o'clock on Monday night. He was a tiny 4 lbs 6 oz and looked like a little doll.

Minutes old

My first cuddle

He breathed straight away and after he was dressed I was able to hold him for a brief time before he was whisked away. I didn't see him again for two hours and when I did he was in an incubator with a feeding tube coming out of his nose.

Although little, Tom was quite a tough little chap. He never needed help breathing. This meant that I was able to have the odd little cuddle with him, although he couldn't be out of his incubator for long as he couldn't maintain his body temperature. Mark and I soon learned to change his teeny tiny nappy and give him his feeds through a tube. I think because Tom was my first baby and I had nothing to compare him too, I was never intimidated by his size, I think if I had had a full term baby first and then a preemie I would have been terrified by his fragility. As it was, it all seemed quite normal to us.

Changing Tom's nappy in the incubator

4 Days old

Tube feeding

I remember being so excited when Tom was deemed well enough to move from his incubator into a specially heated 'hot cot'. We were taking one day at a time and it seemed like real progress. The most upsetting time for me was shortly after this when Tom developed jaundice and he had to go under the UV lights. He really didn't like it and it was the first time I cried over the whole situation. Having a premature baby is a bit of an emotional roller coaster!

Tom in his 'hot cot'

Under the UV lights for jaundice

Tom finally graduated to a proper cot and once we had a feeding routine established we were able to take him home. We were in Transitional Care for 11 days before we finally got to bring our little boy home. Thankfully my Mum and Dad had not been idle during my stay in hospital. We had only moved into our new house a few weeks before and had next to nothing for the baby. They made sure we had all the essentials ready for us when we got home, right down to the Moses' basket. We went home to a house full of boxes with our tiny boy.

Finally in a big boy cot!

We didn't leave the house with Tom for a month. It was a cold autumn and we wanted to protect him as much as possible from the temperatures and any potential illnesses. We kept the house pretty toasty and just stayed home and enjoyed him as much as possible.

Tom was small for his age for the first five years and was always behind his peers in his developmental milestones. He has now fully caught up to where he should be and is now a very happy and healthy ten year old.

Tom does have a few minor issues, but we will never know if those were because he was premature or whether he would have had those anyway. We will also never know why he was born early. I have since had three other children, all of whom were full term. All I know is that I am incredibly grateful that my story ends with a happy, healthy ten year old boy. Looking at him now, you would never know he was premature and I will always be grateful to the lovely doctors and midwives who played such a crucial role in his earliest days.

Tom with his six month old baby brother

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Washington Old Hall

A portrait of George Washington

Washington Old Hall is a manor house situated in the town of Washington in Tyne and Wear. The manor was the ancestral home of George Washington, the first president of the United States of America. It is from here that the family took the surname 'Washington', although it hasn't been owned by the family since the early 17th century when they sold it to the Bishop of Durham. The building was turned into tenement flats in the 19th century and then gradually fell into decline until it was declared unfit for human habitation in 1936 and threatened with demolition. It was rescued by a local teacher by the name of Fred Hill, who started 'Friends of the Hall', a group committed to rescuing the building. Restoration work was completed in 1955 and the building was taken over by the National Trust in 1957.

For a relatively small property, there is an awful lot of history crammed between its stone walls and it was an absolutely fascinating place to visit. The volunteer in charge on the day we went was a very interesting and friendly man who obviously knew a lot about the place and was a veritable fount of information. The children's trail for Washington Old Hall was the most in depth we have come across in the National Trust and we all learnt a lot from helping the Podlings with it. They certainly earned their certificate on that one!

I particularly enjoyed the room that was set out as it would have been in the building's tenement days. Many of those who lived in the flats as children have been able to help out with information as to how life was at the time and how the flats were laid out. One of the old residents who was born in the flats in the 1920s apparently still occasionally drops into the hall for a cup of tea and a chat. I would have loved to have met him!

The day we visited it was absolutely pouring with rain, so I didn't hang around to take a photo of the exterior and most of my interior shots are out of focus, but we absolutely loved our visit to Washington Old Hall. It is definitely worth your time if you are in the area.

These 17th century painted wooden figures were apparently used to fool passersby into thinking the property was occupied, thus deterring thieves!

Emma with Martha Washington's fan

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My heart on a sofa

Anyone with multiple children will know how hard it is to get a picture of them all together looking more or less at the camera and happy. I was pleased to be able to get this photo of my four favourite little people when we were on holiday. Emma is particularly camera shy in group photos at the moment for some reason, so it was great to catch her on a day when she was prepared to cooperate! Love my little people!

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6 Months Old

Alexander celebrated his half birthday yesterday. How can he be six months old already? He now weighs 16 lbs 12 oz and has started wearing 6-9 month clothing. He has recently been introduced to the joys of weaning and it's fair to say that he loves his food. I have seen an improvement in his nighttime sleep since introducing some food, though he still doesn't sleep through. He goes to bed at seven, has a bottle around 1 am and then wakes up at 5 am for a cuddle. He will then stay asleep with me until around seven when I have to wake him up! I expect he will drop the nighttime bottle once he is on three meals a day. I can't say that I mind too much, knowing that he is my last baby. I'm not in a hurry for him to grow up and whilst sleep is nice I am well aware that they don't stay little for long. I shall enjoy my nighttime cuddles while they last.

Alexander is a delightfully happy baby. He smiles all the time and has the most delightful giggle. Lily can get the most fantastic laughs out of him. He is very laid back and whilst he loves to be held, is quite capable of entertaining himself if I put him down with a teddy or a rattle. He adores his siblings and has a special smile for his Daddy. He is an absolute delight and we love him very much.

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Cragside Again

Cragside is an impressive Victorian country house, home of the inventor and industrialist, Lord Armstrong. We explored some of the specatular grounds during our weekend visit to Northumberland in September, but didn't have time to see the house on that occasion. We were keen to rectify this omission this time round, so made sure we got to Cragside in plenty of time.

I love the Victorian era, so the house was a real treat for me. I could have moved straight in! It was an absolute delight to explore. Photography is allowed, but trying to take decent photos in low light with a point-and-shoot camera, no flash and a baby in a forward facing sling proved challenging. Most of my photos of the rooms were unfortunately really blurry, so I have just shared a few of my decent shots. Luckily I have the lovely photos in the guide book to remind me of the beautiful interior.

After exploring the house, we took a walk through the grounds to the formal garden, following the science trail for children that the National Trust were running during half term. The Podlings had fun finding the steps on the trail and answering the questions and were thrilled to receive a sticker and a badge as a reward for the their efforts. These trails are a great way to keep children interested and engaged during our visits. We were followed along the trail by two different cats, much to the delight of the children!

The whole family have fallen in love with Cragside. It has utterly captivated us and I feel sure that we will visit it whenever we are in the area.

 

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Halloween 2014

My happy little pumpkin on his first Halloween

Obviously, we were in a caravan in Northumberland for Halloween this year, but that didn't mean we let the day pass by without a little fun. The Podlings were greeted by their usual pile of Halloween treats when they woke up. I don't allow them trick or treating, so I fill a basket of treats for them every year by way of compensation. Plus I love to treat my Podlings!

When we got back from Holy Island, where we spent the day, the big Podlings changed into the costumes sent to them by their Nanny and Grandad. Alex wore the Happy Little Pumpkin babygrow that I bought him all day. He was hard to miss in bright orange! The pictures are rather out of focus, but they do show how much fun the Podlings have dressing up!

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