Moog’s meanderings

Over the weekend we went to a Christening.  Hubby and I were both becoming Godparents.  It was a lovely weekend in lots of ways.  It was the Christening of the third child of a couple we know from University.  Various of us shared a flat together at different points so we know each other pretty well!!  It was really good to catch up with them as we stayed next-door the night before and spent the evening together.  Also to see the kids and for Munchkin to play with them too.  Their church is a very lively Anglican church and I really did enjoy the service (a usual Sunday morning service with baptism thrown in).  Sometimes I think we could do with a bit more liveliness at our church - possibly some more young families too!  The congregation at our friends’ church was predominantly young families and was vibrant, with lots of things going on for the groups of children of different age ranges.

I managed to survive both the awful cold (that I still haven’t managed to throw off yet) and a migraine (very mild by usual standards but worrying as I haven’t had one that I can recall for about 2 years) and all in all the good bits of the weekend outweighed the bad.  Not least for seeing a little one welcomed by a happy and supportive church family with open arms.

Yesterday I spent the day in London.  I must be crazy!  I probably should have spent the day in bed.  However, my Aunt arrived at 7am to spend the day looking after Munchkin (just as I was leaving).  Hubby made sure she was happy and that everything was sorted then went off to work himself.  Apparently it all worked out very well with both Aunt and Munchkin having a good day.  Munchkin was also supposedly very well behaved!!  I had worried a little because he was still asleep after both of us had gone and I didn’t know how he’d react to someone he didn’t know appearing when he woke up, but apparently he just did a bit of a double take and then was a happy camper all day.

Personally I spent the day in a meeting.  I did feel as though I made a contribution and it was nice to get out and re-establish some links.  However I got through a lot of tissues and obviously one cannot inhale or make cider vinegar and honey for relief in such a situation.  I managed ok but having had a bad night I now feel rather as though the left side of my head will explode at any moment.  It did occur to me beforehand that the better thing would have been to spend the day in bed.  However it seemed strange and not right somehow to not go to the meeting which I had asked my Aunt to babysit for.  And I would probably have ended up looking after Munchkin all day anyway.  In a lot of ways I suspect that sitting in a meeting may have been more relaxing (just not the racing down to London and back).

Hubby was a star and had dinner and a bath ready for soon after I got home.  Awww! :o)

I have just ‘inhaled’ - sat with my head over a bowl of just boiled water with a few drops of ‘olbas oil’ (branded eucalyptus mix) in it and a towel over my head to prevent the steam escaping.  I used to detest my mother forcing me to ‘inhale’ when I had a cold and was really bunged up as a child.  However, it is one of those things that does actually provide a bit of relief and I now feel a little less as though my head has been hit with a sledgehammer.  The other day I took a decongestant tablet before going to bed to give myself a bit of relief overnight and hopefully sleep better.  They’re pretty good!  However it was the following morning that I discovered that one shouldn’t really take them whilst pregnant.  So we’re over to other ways of trying to make myself feel just about human enough to look after boisterous Munchkin.  I have also been drinking Cider Vinegar and Honey (1 tablespoon of Cider Vinegar and 1 tablespoon of honey made up with hot water).  This is something my grandmother used to drink all the time and I find a good soother for sore throats and the like.  Also, Cider Vinegar is supposed to boost the immune system.  The other useful thing is to carry a tissue around with a few drops of ‘olbas oil’ on it and sniff it occasionally.

I believe that everyone who should know has been told so now I can broadcast to the wider community that hubby and I are expecting another baby!  If you saw me in person you’d definitely be asking yourself the question whether I was just overdoing the beer and getting a bit of a gut or whether there might be more to it..!  This one we shall refer to as Pumpkin.  Pumpkin is due at the end of April so I am almost 16 weeks now and (apart from this horrid cold) I am feeling well and generally happy.  The first trimester was pretty exhausing, especially with the sickness bug I had, but things are good at the moment.

Hubby and I are very excited and really looking forward to having two.  Although I must say that I do have occasional moments of ‘how on earth does one cope with a newborn and a boisterous toddler at the same time?!’.  However lots of people do and I am lucky to have hubby around working at home quite a lot so that makes things a bit easier.  Lets hope that the Lupus behaves itself again this time and doesn’t cause problems - so far, so good!

Typically, it was in the last week when the wibsite transfer was happening that there were a couple of occasions on which I had the time and inclination to blog.  Now I am all set up (hooray - and thanks to you amazing techy people that made it happen) but still figuring it all out so please bear with me.

I have a really nasty cold at the moment so not really in the mood for much at all, but here’s the first post on the flashy new system :o)

I have spent the better part of the last couple of days in bed suffering from what was probably the notorious (in the UK) norovirus. It was not fun and hubby has had to take time off to look after Munchkin. I feel a LOT better now!!! However I still ache all over and am rather drained. Hubby has take Munckin to Tiny Tots at our church, and then on to Tumble Tots. I managed a bit of breakfast this morning and while my stomach feels a bit bruised and possibly surprised at the intrusion, I don’t feel unwell as a result!
Next week Mum-in-law is coming to stay for most of the week (Dad-in-law will be joining us for the weekend). She’s going to be looking after Munchkin while I go away for a couple of days to the Wives Fellowship Autumn Conference. It will be the first time I have been away by myself since Munchkin was born! I am looking forward to it as it will be an opportunity to meet new people and hopefully have a bit of space. The first day (well, afternoon!) is a boat trip and a service in the local Cathedral. The evening consists of concurrent dinner parties hosted by local members (the one I’m allocated to is at the home of my host for the night). The following day there will be three speakers throughout the day, I think a couple of which are on faith subjects.
On a similar subject (of having time to oneself), at the end of the month I have a two-day (weds/thurs) meeting in London. Munchkin is going to stay with my Mum for that one. It turned out that for various reasons I wouldn’t be able to get back and pick him up until at least Friday afternoon. Mum happily agreed on top of that to keep him until Saturday to allow hubby and I to enjoy Friday evening/night and Saturday morning entirely by ourselves!!!!!! I am trying not to think about how much I am going to miss the little one not seeing him at all for 3 whole nights (I’ve only ever left him once overnight before), but the time with hubby will be very welcome.

The other day we all went to the allotment. There’s a lot to do so Hubby went off in the car with Equipment while I took Munchkin via the playground in the pushchair. We had a lot of fun climbing on the climbing frame, going down the big slide together and going on the swings. Then we went to help Hubby. He was digging. Fortunately I had remembered to put in a small for as I anticipated that Munckin would want Daddy’s Big Fork and to join in. He still wanted the Big Fork but eventually was placated with the small one and proceeded to help. Not sure whether he was very successful at removing weeds though..!

Munchkin is still asleep. Very unusual.

Well - depending on your point of view!

I did a significant amount of surfing the net last night (when I really should have been sleeping - that’s what I most need - but hey ho!) and discovered a couple of things relating to the gluten-free thing.

Buckwheat flour is also known as Sarrasin Flour
Sorghum flour is also known as Juwar flour
Millet flour is also known as Bajri flour
Teff flour is available in the UK (but really expensive).

This will mean that a range of recipes I thought I’d never be able to put together are now feasible (Apparently Juwar flour is available in the Asian aisle of bigger Tesco stores). The Sarrasin thing is quite annoying because I have had buckwheat flour for ages and hardly ever use it but apparently most of my recipes refer to Sarrasin so no wonder!!!!!

Has it really been two weeks since I posted? Well, our visit to see Munchkin’s godmother went very well. We had a lovely afternoon and thoroughly enjoyed meeting her little girl. I know it’s something that everyone says but you forget how tiny there are once yours grow bigger! Munchkin is quite a heavy bundle these days (I don’t carry him in the sling very often anymore!!). We spend the Sunday of that weekend at Hanbury Hall. We had a fab day just the three of us. They had a good little playground and munchkin had lots of fun climbing and on the swings. We also did a tour of the walled garden which was really fascinating. It’s a kitchen garden and the variety of veg they were growing was fantastic. We’re planning to go back there on Saturday because they’re having an ‘apple day’.

This last weekend we went to another National Trust place - Attingham Park - to meet up with the in-laws for the day. Again we had a wonderful day. The weather was lovely and Munchkin was very pleased at the presence of lots of cows (one of his current favourite things) and a very friendly labrador (his new favourite thing!!). There was a food fayre going on and we re-discovered something we came across once a few years ago. Blackcurrant Gin. This particular one is made by Tipsy Fruit Gins, Ltd and I had not been able to get hold of it since that one time. I made a 250ml bottle last well over a year but never was able to replace it. Now I have!!! If anyone is into that kind of thing I can very much recommend this.

The allotment is doing well and getting out of hand at the same time. The runner beans are finally slowing down considerably and will soon need cutting down. The courgettes are practically over. The peppers are still trying to produce - there are loads of tiny ones coming - but I really think that it’s too cold now for much more to happen. Next year’s purple sprouting is going crazy, the leeks seem to be doing ok too. The kale is nearly ready for picking. Not sure about the spring cabbage we planted for autumn (or for spring) because I didn’t really look when I was down there earlier. There’s loads of weeding and digging to be done otherwise the veg will get strangled and we won’t be able to plant the over-winter broad beans. So much to do and so little spare time during fine weather spells!!

Ok, so here’s the subject of this post. Last night I made Banana Muffins. The recipe is courtesy of Ginger Lemon Girl. I made a couple of substitutions (golden granulated sugar for agave nectar, sultanas for nuts - to remove choking hazard for Munchkin - and sunflower oil for healthy heart oil) but they worked out really well. Munchkin ate a whole one for breakfast (as well as half a banana, half a pear and a bowl of cereal!). Sorry I didn’t take any pictures but take my word for it that they are lovely!