oh baby

1. Bicarbonate of Soda is basically magic. It has approximately a million uses (including making cakes rise - essential) but here are two that are especially awesome:
   cradle cap - mix some bicarb in a little bowl with some water to form a paste, and smear it on baby's head. It looks fairly ridiculous, like a white swimming cap, but bear with me. Allow it to dry - 10 mins or so - then wash it off in the bath with water & a sponge (shampoo optional). When the hair is dry use a soft toothbrush to brush the cradle cap. It should all flake off over the next 24 hours or so! 
   bed wetting - despite best efforts, toddler wee infiltrating the mattress is inevitable. Sprinkle the wet patch generously with bicarb and then pour boiling (must be boiling water) over, scrub with a cloth then leave to dry completely before hoovering up the dry bicarb. It will not smell AT ALL. Not even a little bit. Magic! Available from all good supermarkets, and cheap too!
2. Papaya Ointment - Lovely and natural and fixes lots of baby ills - eczema, dry skin, nappy rash, chapped skin.... from Whole Foods, Amazon etc...
3. Coconut Oil - Number one best best must must buy! Please don't bother buying baby creams full of God knows what kind of scary, unnecessary crap. This stuff smells like holidays and dreams and is the loveliest, most gentle moisturiser for baby. And me - I have basically stopped buying moisturiser and just use this instead. Lovely. And a £6 jar lasts FOREVER (like, 9 months...) From Waitrose or any health food store
4. Arnica - Even if you're not a hippy - and I'm really not much of one - this homeopathic remedy is essential and absolutely proven to work. They even prescribe it post-plastic-surgery to help with bruising! And hopefully you've been popping them to heal up after the birth. The little pills are perfect medicine for the endless times your kids throw themselves headfirst off tables, or run into walls. We don't really use any meds beyond this and occasionally Calpol. The cream is good too! From Boots, health food shops...
5. Weleda Weather Protection Cream - Babies are as allergic to bad weather as I am. When it's extremely cold their little cheeks get all chapped and it's a little bit sad. This cream is a lovely balm that protects their skin. I've found it great and soothing on rashes too. From Born.
6. Earth Friendly Baby Shampoo & Body Wash - The squids aren't particularly prone to skin reactions, but having tried a few of the baby shampoos from the all natural end of the spectrum this has always seemed the gentlest, smells lovely and isn't too whoppingly expensive. From Born. 
7. Almond Oil - If you take a little virtual journey to Amazon you can get this lovely oil by the litre for £6.99. A lovely, simple moisturiser and massage oil. I decant it into a nice pump bottle. Lasts forever and is very gentle on baby's skin, plus you can add scent to it if you wish. 

sunday sunday

Growing up (in the US), buttermilk pancakes for breakfast was a weekend ritual. With obscene amounts of bacon and buckets of filter coffee and probably a few stray teenagers crashed out from the night before. Brunch was a once in a while mega-feast, usually at a restaurant with whole cake bars and omelet chefs and buffets of tiny bagels, sausages, immense waffles and rainbows of melon. These days Pablo demands pancakes or waffles at least once a week, but having people over for brunch is a bit more exciting. Brunch is perfect because it gives you an excuse to eat two meals-worth in one, and to basically get a bit merry at breakfast-ish-time (bucks fizz! bloody marys! yay!). It's also not too much of an undertaking to whip up brunch for friends, and when you're up with the cubs from something painful like 6:30am it's nice to have people over for a meal around midday and then have the last couple of hours before bedtime free for a family movie, rather than spending all morning and early afternoon cooking and then sitting around in the dark eating a roast exhausted... 

Kristyn, James and very pregnant Laura came round and we feasted on papaya, mango and blueberries, stacks of waffles with cream and syrup and some pretty impressive Eggs Benedict with home made hollandaise (thanks, Kristyn!). Then Indiana helpfully had a mega nap so we could weep with laughter playing Cards Against Humanity and slurping grapefruit juice mimosas...

Indy mostly continued her standing up all over the place

After a 4pm dusky stroll in the park, everyone headed home and we curled up for Pablo's first taste of Home Alone. I nearly cried watching him laugh so hard.