Monthly Archives: July 2016

Ass into gear!

Posted in Lifestyle by

I am fat! There, I said it. I don’t like the fact that I am fat. In fact I hate it. But fat I am nonetheless.

I wasn’t always fat. I was actually a very healthy weight up until I went to university, not that I thought it. I had a terrible body image and throughout my teenage years I would go on all sorts of fad diets. I look back now and wonder what on earth I was thinking!

So anyway, I really am fat now and I need to get my ass into gear and do something about it. I joined slimming world a few months ago and lost just over a stone in a month. I then hit a wall! I just lost all motivation. I went back last week and although I have been good this week, my motivation is still awol.

Now people can tell me until they are blue in the face that it is easy to lose weight but do you know what, I don’t find it easy. I know that I have to eat less, eat better and do more exercise. I know that! It’s easier said than done though. I can go to bed with all the will in the world and the determination to get up half an hour earlier the next morning to work out before the children wake up. 2 night feeds, countless dummy trips and a screaming toddler later the workout is literally forgotten. I honestly mean that I have no recollection of my intention the previous evening. The eating is another big issue. Some days it goes well and I stick to my healthy meal plans and feel amazing. The next day, by the time I have made breakfast for baby boy, fed baby girl, made more breakfast for baby boy, cleared up the mess that baby girl threw all over the floor, stopped the tantrum that baby boy started over his toast being the wrong shape and then put baby girl down for a nap, I am either no longer hungry or I have to leave the house to go out. This pattern can carry on all day! I then get myself into a mad panic about the fact that if this is how things are now then how much worse will they be when I go back to work in September?! It sounds like I’m making excuses but I’m just telling it how it is.

I envy the women who have their sh*t together. The women who can fit in a run before the children wake up. The women who make healthy meals for the whole family (and those meals are actually eaten). The women who haven’t let life get the better of them! The women who are actually fit and healthy!

I envy them and salute them! I however am stuck in a rut with very little light at the end of the tunnel!

Image credit – http://www.someecards.com

Allergy Weaning

Posted in Feeding by

Weaning: it’s a marmite topic! Some parents love it yet some parents hate it. I am well and truly in the hate it camp (weaning that is, not marmite – I love marmite). Weaning baby boy was difficult and stressful but weaning baby girl has opened up a whole new world of torture.

Baby girl has cows milk protein allergy as well as a possible soya allergy. Until I started weaning this time around I had no idea just how many foods contained milk or milk products. Soya is even worse! These things hide themselves in the unlikeliest of places. I find myself checking the ingredients on product packaging like a mad woman. I must have checked every single loaf of bread in Morrisons last week before literally throwing the last one back on the shelf and stalking off, muttering obscenities under my breath. I eventually found one in Aldi. Now before anyone even thinks of saying the words ‘Free From’ to me, I refuse to pay over £2 for what is the equivalent of half a loaf of (foul tasting) bread.

Baby girl has mostly been consuming fruit and vegetables so far. You can’t go wrong with fruit and vegetables I thought. And then she reacted to peas! Peas! So now, not only am I checking labels for any trace of milk and soya but we have added peas to the list of ingredients to look out for as well. Also, did you know that some chickens are fed soya which can then lead to a reaction when the chicken is eaten? No? Neither did I! If I were at all organised I would just save myself the trouble and make everything from scratch. Unfortunately it is not often that I am in domestic goddess/supermum mode (I still need my mum to come and help me get my house in a presentable condition).

Some people moan about the mess when weaning. That part doesn’t bother me. In fact I quite like to watch my children have a play with their food, it is good for their development. I once tipped a pot of chocolate yogurt onto baby boy’s highchair tray and let him go wild. We both enjoyed that one. The bit about weaning that I don’t like is, well it’s just the weaning in general. The worrying over how much they are eating, whether it is healthy enough, whether there is too much salt, whether that particular food is going to cause an allergic reaction etc etc.

I try my best to make at least 1 family meal a day that we can all sit down and enjoy together. Catering for no milk and soya has its issues though and I am running out of ideas. If there are any chefs out there interested in a 7 day a week, unpaid position, please get in contact! Until then I will just muddle through and hope that my children, by some miracle, don’t grow up to be the world’s fussiest eaters.

Have you weaned children with allergies? Any tips?

Diary of an imperfect mum

Funki Flamingo *Review

Posted in Babywearing by


I love to babywear and luckily for me my babies love to be worn (well carried but you know what I mean). It really helped me to develop a bond with baby boy when he was newborn and I carried him whenever I could. If he was ever unsettled I would just put him in one of our wraps and within a few minutes he would relax. When baby boy reached the age of about 20 months however he stopped wanting ‘ups’. I was gutted. Luckily though I was pregnant with baby girl and so I knew that I didn’t have long to wait until I had another little squish whom I could carry around to my hearts content.

Now I’m not one for sticking to just one baby carrier. We have a large variety in our house. You never know which type of carrier will come in handy; ring sling for quick up and downs, structured carrier for longer trips, woven wrap for everyday. However, for the newborn stage and first few months the only carrier I like to use is a stretchy wrap. I had a moby wrap for baby boy which I was going to use again for baby girl but I happened to see a Facebook post from an American company who were moving into the UK market. Funki Flamingo were looking for people to try their stretchy wrap! I jumped at the chance.

I couldn’t wait to try it out when it arrived but I still had a way to go before baby girl was due. A brand new stretchy wrap was sat there staring at me and I had no baby to wrap. Well what was a girl to do? Bribe the toddler of course! In a ‘very bad Mummy’ moment, I promised him chocolate in return for cuddles in the wrap. It worked and a few minutes later he was snuggled up to me, securely held in the funki flamingo. Now he is small for his age but he’s not exactly tiny so I was shocked at how supportive this wrap was. If he hadn’t wanted to get down after only 5 minutes I think that I could have carried him around for a good hour if not more in this stretchy. If it felt this good carrying a toddler then I was very excited to carry a newborn.

It was a few weeks before I could put baby girl in the funki flamingo after she was born. A Caesarean section meant that I was too sore to carry her to begin with but once I felt able I went for a little walk with baby girl in the wrap. It was bliss! The fabric was smooth and soft and had just the right amount of stretch to it. Baby girl was instantly weightless and I could have carried her all day long. Some stretchy wraps are very wide but the funki flamingo is narrower than most. I see this as a good thing because it means that I didn’t have to fold it in half and therefore add an extra layer to the wrap. It made it much easier to keep baby girl at the correct temperature. Wrapping with the funki flamingo was and still is easy. The fabric glides over your shoulders and tightens really nicely. I have never had a problem with it sagging halfway through wearing and so unlike with some stretchies, I have never had to readjust it. The neutral colour means that Mr K is happy to wear it, although he still prefers a structured carrier as he hasn’t got the patience for wrapping. Despite this I would still love to see a range of colours. A bright pink one would suit me! When you are not using it it has its own little fabric, drawstring bag to keep it in. This saves room and keeps it from getting dirty. It is a little bit like wrestling a crocodile trying to get it in though. You have to roll the wrap very tightly.

Baby girl is now 7 months old and I still carry her in the funki flamingo wrap. It is still extremely comfy and I can honestly say that I will probably still be able to use it when she is well over the age of 1.

Have you tried the funki flamingo wrap? What are your thoughts?

I was given this wrap in exchange for an honest review on Amazon. All thoughts and opinions are my own.