Peanut Butter and the Chipmunk.

Tabitha has started doing something quite cute.  Whenever she is eating something crunchy, like a ricecake, she keeps taking a bite, then looking at the main piece, then taking another bite, and so on until her mouth is completely full, like a little chipmunk.

She then chews and chews, letting some fall OUT of her mouth, so that she can continue to bite off and cram more in.  She looks Very Serious while she is doing this.  It really is hilarious to watch.

On the kitchen floor, keeping cool, with bed hair, munching on a peanut butter on a ricecake.  Notice her sitting up, on her own!  This is new, just the last couple of weeks:

Hey mumma!  Look how much I can fit in my mouth!

Hehehe!  Aren't I cute!  Giggle!

Awwwww that cheeky little smile.  Makes me melt even when it is full of chewed up food!

Favourite Food Books

There are dozens and dozens of 'favourite' recipe books that I have on my bookshelf which I would consider well-known, owned by most of the food-obsessed.  For example, to list a few:

• Stephanie Alexander's The Cook's Companion and The Garden Companion - the first, I read cover-to-cover when I was first given it, 7 years ago, and I now open it at least weekly, looking for reassurance of a basic muffin recipe, guidance on choosing a suitable fish for a curry, or simply to curl up and read about offal.
  
• Japanese Cooking A Simple Art* - an incredibly comprehensive, beautifully written and straightforward guide to Japanese cuisine, including tools and ingredients, theory behind meal composition and hundreds of recipes.
  
• Martha Stewart's Baking Companion - such pretty photographs!  An inspiring read whenever I feel like baking something ambitious, and a useful checkpoint for classic recipes.
  
• Nigella Lawson's How To Eat - I literally taught myself to cook using this book!  I was given it when I was around 20, and read it cover-to-cover at least three times during the first year I owned it.  It is probably the most battered, food-splattered and 'loved' book I own.  I learnt to cook brilliant roast chicken, pastry, custard, roasts, soups, stocks, as well as loads of great lunch and dinner menus.
  
• David Thompson's Thai Food (try and find the original pink fabric cover, so lovely) - David Thompson's knowledge of Thai food, from ingredients to recipes to history to customs, is legendary, and whenever I feel like cooking Thai, this is the first place I check.  It is also (in its original edition) one of the prettiest books on my shelves.
  
• Anthony Bourdain's Les Halles Cookbook  - I was given this by my Godfather, whom I adore.  I have eaten at the Les Halles restaurant in New York, and the meal was extraordinarily good.  Nothing fancy - a rustic terrine, steak Bearnaise with frites, and a creme brulee - but one of the most memorable food experiences I've had.  The book reads like Bourdain speaks - that is, rough, direct and incredibly funny.  Worth reading even if you don't want to cook any of the recipes!
  
• Secrets of the Red Lantern - such a beautiful and haunting book.  The enticing and authentic Vietnamese recipes and interspersed with the bittersweet true story of the authors' family's journey from communist Vietnam to Australia, via refugee camps, leaking boats and a number of small business ventures.

The above are standards on any 'top cookbooks' list.  But now I hope to share some less well-known books, and maybe someone will discover a new favourite...

• Soul Food and Brown Sugar - the venerable Joyce White is arguably the Queen of Soul Food.  Her two hardcover books comprise of recipes collected from black churchgoers around North America, each with a little story about the contributor and their home church.  The recipes are well-tested, and are, on the whole, not shy of fat or butter.  I had the pleasure of interviewing Joyce for my thesis on American food and its relationship with community - she is so passionate, witty and warm, and listening to her talk would make even the most disciplined dieter yearn for chicken'n'dumplings, smothered chicken-fried steaks, spicy simmered greens and sky-high layer cakes covered in ethereal sugary frostings.
  
• Hungry Monkey- written by the laugh-out-loud funny Matthew Amster-Burton (restaurant critic and former rock journalist), Hungry Monkey comes with a ringing endorsement from Anthony Bourdain.  Subtitled 'a food-loving father's quest to raise an adventurous eater', this book (part recipe book, part memoir) chronicles Amster-Burton's life as a stay-at-home dad to little daughter Iris.  Their main common interest is food and cooking, and through the ages 0 - 4, Hungry Monkey shares hilarious anecdotes, tips and recipes for parents - and anyone else who enjoys food, really!  I initially stumbled across this book at the library, and devoured it in two days before running to purchase it online in hardcover.  I have since read it twice more.
  
• Cherry Cake and Ginger Beer - This is another book that I discovered by chance at the library, and instantly fell in love with.  For anyone who enjoyed losing themselves in books like Famous Five, Milly Molly Mandy and Paddington, this book is an absolute treasure.  Author Jane Brocket has created and refined recipes for so many literary favourites, from sticky marmalade buns to dense and fruity cherry cake to homemade lemonade for a picnic to treacle-laden rice pudding.  Each recipe begins with an introduction, describing the book and context from which it is taken.  The entire book is a joyously nostalgic journey - and best of all, the recipes are brilliant, I have yet to try one that isn't fabulous.
  
• Ladies, A Plate - given to me as a wedding present by two of my mother's lovely friends, both from New Zealand, this is a compilation of home recipes from women around New Zealand (recipes dating from between 1920 - 1970 on the whole).  The title comes from days of yore, when invitations to social events would conclude with the phrase, "ladies, a plate" meaning that women were expected to bring a plate of something homemade, sweet or savoury, to share.  My most frequently used recipes from this book are the date loaf, the Afghan biscuits and the chocolate Highlanders.
  
• Laura Calder's French Food at Home - this is 'home cooking', French-style.  Healthy, fresh ingredients, not too many of them, simple cooking instructions and lots of small dishes.  Canapes, entrees, salads, mains, light desserts - few are even vaguely demanding, most are perfect for after-work dinners or relaxed weekend lunches.  Some of the recipes I love from this book include salmon poached gently in olive oil;  'Housewife Chicken', a one-pan meal; chicken cooked in carrot juice (brilliant!); flounder cooked in parsley; and the most treasured recipe I have found, her instructions for scrambling eggs over low, low heat for close to 20 minutes - words cannot describe how good this is! There are no pictures whatsoever, which normally disapoints me in cookbooks, however Calder's writing is so evocative that I don't miss the photos, and still feel great motivation to try new dishes.  As a bonus, there are plenty of little notes and tips, for example on boning a bird or 'nice and useful things to know about souffles'.
  
• The Moosewood Cookbook - my parents were vegetarian when I was born (close to vegan, really), and my father even worked part-time at Soul Foods, which is something of an institution in Melbourne and was one of the first Vegetarian cafes.  The Moosewood Cookbook I own was their copy, and is well-loved.  A true celebration of all things hippy, the recipes are all hand-written, the pages covered in beautiful illustrations and swirls.  First published in 1977, it has since been revised, and I'm sure the new version is lovely too.  Even if you never cook 'vegetarian food', there are so many wonderful dips, salads, sides and vegetable dishes in the Moosewood.  The recipes cover a range of styles including recipes either taken from or inspired by the cuisines of Japan, Mexico, Brazil, France, Italy, Russia, America, Switzerland, Hungary, the Ukraine, India, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, the Balkans, Macedonia and others.  There are loads of really interesting (yet still simple) recipes, FAB desserts, and honestly, the pages are so beautiful that it's worth buying the book to read and admire.
  
• The Oxford Companion to Food - this is a reference book, not a recipe book, but for anyone who enjoys food, it's great to have on the bookshelf.  I often grab it to check something simple (for example, where Carob comes from) and find myself curled up with the oversized book, an hour later, immersed in a world of obscure mushrooms, the origins of bread, traditional cereal grains, or the history of African cooking.  It's also wonderful to have on hand to settle disputes, if you are nerdy enough to get into arguments over such things as to what dish the word 'Kugel' originally described.
  
• Bubby's Homemade Pies -I have a lot of pie books, and while I consider Ken Haedrich to be the expert on pies, Ron Silver ('Bubby') opened one of my favourite places to eat in New York, Bubby's, and this book, with its gorgeous cover, heavy-weight pages and elegant illustrations, is a real treasure.  Bubby's uses mostly organic, local ingredients, and makes everything from scratch, and this slow-food ethos is reflected in the book.  Recipes include, for example, a pear pie with caramel sauce and creme fraiche, a ginger-honey apple pie, home-made 'pop tarts', a goat-cheese pie with pomegranate molasses, as well as indulgent classics such as blueberry-peach pie, Southern-style fruit cobblers, sour-cherry lattice pie, pecan pie and chicken pot-pies with homemade stock, as well as recipes for things like marshmallows, candied pecans, ice creams and curds.  PS - go to the Bubby's website and check out the menus.  If you're anything like me, they will make you want to get on a plane right now to go eat some breakfast in NYC!
  
• James Lileks Gastroanomalies and The Gallery of Regrettable Food - Lileks collects hilarious, disturbing photographs of 'cuisine' from the 1950s and 1960s, annotating them with his own witty remarks.  The sort of books that leave you howling with laughter, tears rolling down your face...  for example, he laments the travesty of black-and-white newspaper food photography, with one image captioned 'meat or ice-cream?  Can you tell?'.  Take a sneak peak here, 

One last word - Booko.  I know everyone raves about Book Depository ('cheep cheep' prices and free delivery worldwide!) but you must use Booko.  It is an Australian site which scans the whole internet, in real time, and gives you a foolproof summary, in Australian dollars, of the total price (including shipping) of any book, collected from dozens of websites including Book Depository, Amazon, Readings etc.

*A funny story about my copy of Japanese Cooking - A Simple Art.  Years ago, in roughly 1985, I was a little girl and my father was studying psychology at university.  A classmate of his by the name of Roza Pakin lent him her copy of this book - she wrote her name and home phone number in the front cover.  It was a new book, and being such a large hardcover, would have been very expensive.  Anyway, Roza stopped turning up to lectures, and at the end of the semester, dad called her number (no answer) and even tried going to her house (she'd since moved).  So dad kept the book - but he was always so tortured about not being able to return it (and with the name glaring at him every time it was opened) that he could never bring himself to use it!  Dad is the sort of guy who drives 30 minutes out of his way to return money if a shop accidentally gives him $20 extra change, you see.  So a couple of years ago, he passed it on to me.  I adore it, and use it loads.  But if anyone knows the whereabouts of Roza Pakin, I will happily return it.  Maybe ;)

Just quickly...

Hello!

This will, again, be brief - no uploading of photos, this will have to wait until I am back in Melbourne.

I just wanted to share a little tale from today...  Please, the below ramblings are probably only relevant  to those interested in breastfeeding, and will likely be boring otherwise.

I had to take some medication, unexpectedly, today.  Don't be alarmed, everyone is A-OK.  I told the pharmacist that I was breastfeeding as I handed over my script.  He smiled and said, casually, "oh that's fine.  You just can't breastfeed for the next three days."

Um.  WTF?!  Mr Chemist Man, breastfeeding isn't a hobby, it's not something I do for fun, when I feel like it, dude.  It's how my baby eats, drinks, and generally stays alive.  She is not a Sea Monkey, I can't just put her aside for a few days.

He looked at me strangely when I said "that isn't going to happen" or some shocked mumblings to that effect.  He replied, "you'll just need to give her formula for a few days."

Cue slightly hysterical blinking and stammering from The Mummy.  "I'm not giving my baby artificial milk!  It should only be used as the final resort!  I'm going to call the ABA, I'll be back soon."  NOTE:  The World Health Organisation (see previous link) states that breastmilk is best for babies, followed by expressed milk from the mother, followed by breastfeeding or expressed milk from another woman, followed by artificial milk as a last resort.

So off I went to call the Australian Breastfeeding Association (1800 MUM 2 MUM).  Ordinarily, I would call the breastfeeding drug information line at the Royal Women's Hospital, however they are closed over the weekend.  The ABA cannot give medical advice, however I hoped that they would guide me in the right direction.  The lovely woman told me to call the Poisons Information line - 13 11 26. 

The Poisons Information line (goodness this feels like that song, The Old Woman Who Swallowed The Fly) snorted with laughter when I told her about not breastfeeding for 3 days, saying that the drug companies issue 'CYA or Cover Your Ass' advice, and that in most cases (including this drug), feeding lightly contaminated breastmilk is still much better than formula.  She advised feeding, then waiting 8 hours before the next feed.  Normally, that wouldn't be a problem, as I have frozen milk at home.  What to do, what to do?

I decided to feed her, then hand-express as much as possible (my excellent, efficient Medela Swing electric pump was, of course, in Melbourne).  I bought a bottle, and managed to hand-express just over 100ml, after she fed, which I am quite proud of!  This was at 2pm.  I wasn't supposed to breastfeed again until 10pm.  I knew I would need milk for bedtime, at 7pm.  The problem was, how to get from 2pm until 7pm with no milk feeds?!

This brings us back to baby-led weaning.  Tabitha is going really well, enjoying chewing up (and spitting out, mostly) bits of toast, veggies, meat etc.  The problem is, she is still not really swallowing much, so expecting her to go 5 hours without milk (particularly in the evening, when she normally cluster feeds) is a big ask.  So I grudgingly decided to attempt to spoon-feed her a little puree.  I bought some organic broccoli/pea/pear/whatever mush, and she ate it happily enough - though The Daddy had to gently hold down her arms, since she wanted to grab the spoon and try to feed herself, as she normally does, which results in food going everywhere except her mouth, and today we really needed her to eat.  She obligingly opened her mouth and swallowed about 8 half teaspoons of mush.  In fairness, the BLW book explains that it is okay to combine true BLW with a little spoon feeding, as long as you carefully watch the baby's cues, and stop as soon as they seem to have 'had enough', as indicated by no longer opening their mouth, or turning their head away etc.

A few hours later, however, Tabitha started to become quite upset and was clearly hungry for milk, despite her puree meal.  She kept looking miserable and lunging from The Daddy's arms towards me, pulling at my top.  Honestly, I found this quite upsetting, and was surprised at how distressed I became - I'm used to being able to feed my baby whenever and wherever she needs it, and it was confronting, emotionally, not to be able to comfort her immediately.  We heated up her bottle of expressed milk.  She wouldn't take it from The Daddy - she kept looking around for me and pushing it away, squealing.  I gave her the bottle, cradling her as I would for breastfeeding, and allowing her to stroke my bare chest - even so, she kept pulling off the bottle and pulling towards my chest.  It made me so sad to watch.

Sigh.  A difficult day.  But we got through it, and I can feed her again, normally, in just one more hour.  No formula needed, medication taken, no harm done.

Down Under The Land Down Under

We are in The Apple Isle.  The boat trip was painful.  This is an understatement.

Tassie is spectacular, we are having a wonderful time, taking lots of photographs, eating lots of incredible produce.

Highlights so far include a farm with literally DOZENS of tiny baby chickens running around, a spectacular meal at Stillwater in Launceston, finding a peacock feather, meeting my friend Mel and her four (that's right f-o-u-r) gorgeous boys, and visiting Evandale, home of the national Penny Farthing Bicycle Race (The Daddy was not as excited by this as I).

We also went on a chairlift over the Cataract Gorge with Tabby in the Ergo.  I freaked out half way - it's a long way down, and even though she was snug and safe, I am a little nervy around heights, so this tested me.

Excuse the brevity, I am posting via the iPhone.  I will certainly update with photos and tales galore, once I have better internet connection - within the next week.

OH!  And thanks to darling Mel, I have learned how to wear Tabitha on my back in the woven wrap - I will post a photo of this, it is quite impressive (if I do say so myself).

The Aquarium

In an effort to escape the heat, yesterday we went to the Melbourne Aquarium.  The Daddy studied marine biology at university, and loves all things oceanic, so he was very keen to see the baby hammerheads currently on display.

Entry to the aquarium is $33.50 per adult, incidentally - that seems expensive to me!  $10 more than the Melbourne Zoo, which I think is much more exciting.  Anyway.

I hadn't seen the penguins before, and I must say they were very impressive!  So tall and majestic and clean and white.  They are funny creatures - so graceful and lithe underwater, and so awkward and clumsy on the land.  We watched one guy trip and stumble about a dozen times before managing to clamber up into a rock several inches off the ground.

There were two penguins who stood together, right against the front glass, peering out at the people and happily posing for photographs.  It was quite surreal - they really looked as though they were at the zoo themselves, checking out the People Exhibit.

Here is Tabby with the posing penguins:

Here they are again - don't eat the yellow snow!

So graceful under the water...

I could have sat and watched the penguins for hours.  They are so amusing!

Going to the Aquarium with The Daddy is excellent, because he knows loads about all the creatures and will answer all my silly questions, such as 'why does that fish look so sad' ('well, it's not actually a fish, it's an X, and that's because it is a filter feeder so it's mouth is shaped like blah blah' etc.).  

There were some enormous lionfish - they are so beautiful!

I adore sea dragons - they look just like Dr Seuss characters, even the way they move.  Here are two of them drifting along...

Sadly, you can't really see the scale of the below, but these are no ordinary goldfish - they are giant koi, as long as my ARM!

Again, there is nothing to show scale here - but these are tiny, tiny little baby stingrays, around the size of side plates.  So cute!

I like this frog.  He is a happy little dude, sitting there smiling to himself...

Tabitha got up close and personal with some creatures in the rockpool - although I didn't trust her with the sea stars, she could have injured one by accident.  Here she is feeling a Port Jackson shark egg:

She liked the teeth on this crocodile...  It made me laugh, because she is always fascinated by mouths!

Tabby having a grand old time - sure, she thought the colourful fish were interesting.  But only in the same way that people are interesting.  Or pigeons.  Or serviettes...

Here is a really enormous octopus.  Cephalapods are incredibly intelligent, so aquariums generally provide them with baby and dog toys to play with...  Below, you can see his Mr Potato Head, lying on the bottom of his tank!

A few very cute baby sharks, hanging out together on the bottom...

At last!  One of the many adorable baby hammerheads.  They are the most bizarre creatures, you could not imagine a stranger design...

Last time I was at the aquarium, I fell in love with this funny fella at the end - so I was pleased to see him again.  He swims around with a very determined air, and has a cute little expression with wide eyes and pursed lips:

Tabitha thought the stuffed hammerheads at the gift shop were far more interesting than the real ones.

Meals and Allergies

Some people have been asking me about what, exactly, Tabitha eats.  If she doesn't eat pureed chicken/sweetpotato/pear sort of things, what does she eat?  Well, in short, she pretty much eats what we eat, with some modifications (nothing that is a choking hazard like whole nuts, whole grapes or cherry tomatoes, food needs to left to cool, and I try and keep things in vaguely 'finger' shaped pieces for ease of handling).

When I cook our meal, it can be a pain having to let Tabitha's food cool down, because we all want to eat together at once.  So I keep a plate in the freezer while I cook, and put her food onto the cool plate as soon as it is ready - this cools it down super-fast!

Tonight, The Daddy and I had teriyaki salmon with rice, toasted sesame seeds and broccolini with sesame oil.  So Tabitha had a few bits of broccolini sprinkled with sesame oil and sesame seeds, plus some rice (which I firmly pressed into a rectangular block), some bits of salmon dipped in teriyaki sauce, and a few sticks of raw capsicum (because I happened to be snacking on some myself while I cooked dinner).  Here is what her meal looks like - although I take her food off the plate and just put it on the table, because otherwise she tries to pick up and eat the plate!

Normally, Tabby picks out one or two bits of food from her 'meal' to focus on, spending the whole of the time (10 - 20 minutes) working on eating that food.  Today was no exception - she became quite transfixed with the broccolini, holding one piece in each fist, and really getting stuck into it.  She tried a little salmon too, and enjoyed playing with the rice.

Here she is offering The Daddy some broccolini:

Yum!

Happily, I have given Tabitha nut products several times now, with no reaction.  This morning she tried crumpets with peanut butter and one with golden syrup (treat from The Daddy).  She really likes peanut butter!  Because peanut butter tends to be high in salt, sugar and fairly processed, I prefer to give her (and eat myself) a more nutritious nut spread, such as Almond Spread or the delicious ABC Spread, which are high in good fats.  If you haven't tried them, you should - they are incredibly good!  Generally available in the health food section of the grocery store.

Last week, on two separate occasions, Tabitha seemed to have a mild allergic reaction to a food - each time, a red blotchy rash (the colour of sunburn) developed around her mouth.  It didn't seem to bother her, and both times disappeared within an hour.  Thinking back to what she ate at each of those meals, I suspect the allergy is to egg.  Next week I will try her with a little plain egg and see what happens (I chatted to my local ABA counselor about this).  Here is her allergic rash:

Another food which has given Tabby some grief is 'sharp toast'!  A couple of times, we have given her some toast made from rustic dense sourdough breads, which make an impressively sharp crust along the top.  Each time, she has burst into very upset tears, so we concluded that the toast was cutting her gums.  Only soft toast for a little while I think - until we have some more teeth.

The other day, my mother offered Tabitha a little bit of chocolate ice cream on a spoon.  She tasted it, and looked at me with an alarmed face!  After the initial shock of cold wore off, she decided that it was delicious and went back for more.  Incidentally, at the same time, I tried a 'banana pavlova' ice cream from Trampoline - it was so good, banana ice cream with passionfruit pulp and chunks of meringue through it.  I recommend!

Today Tabitha also tried some home-baked, warm date and walnut loaf.  She definitely approved.

Toys

When I was pregnant, I kept falling in love with really beautiful, simple, classic and often Waldorf-style toys.  My mother kept telling me that even though I liked these toys, the baby would prefer colourful, garish and loud toys, whether I liked it or not!  I would pick up some stunning pastel blocks, and mum would laugh and point to a pile of brightly coloured plastic rings.

Being stubborn, I persisted and bought lots of simple toys.  They look gorgeous in her nursery (we call it that even though she sleeps in our room), and she likes to chew on some of them, but overall she does prefer the hideous colourful Lamaze-style toys.  Que sera, sera.  I just make sure that I choose good quality colourful toys, without BPA and generally from Europe.  These toys are generally a little more expensive, but I feel more confident that they are free of scary things like lead paint, and the quality is brilliant so I know they will last for a long time.  And we both love Sophie the Giraffe - what is it about this simple toy that all babies love so much?!

Some of the pretty toys that her Mummy likes:

The sort of toys that Tabitha prefers - this one makes a jaunty barn-dance style musical outburst when you touch the hand pads.  This elicits peals of hysterical laughter from Tabby:

 

My mother bought Tabby a lovely wooden colourful fish that moves around when you hold it.  It is a perfect mix of classic wooden, and colourful baby-friendly.  Tabitha likes it - but she prefers a hot pink plastic cup from Ikea that mum also had lying around.  Ahhh babies!

 

Speaking of toys - isn't my sister's toy poodle Posy beautiful?  She is a little exuberant, being only two years old, but is very sweet.  She weighs less than 2.5kg.  I had a little black toy poodle, Alice, for nearly 18 years.  She passed in April, two years ago.  In fact, she passed the day that Posy was born, which is a massive coincidence.  Alice was the most beautiful soul I've known.  I might talk more about her one day.  Anyway, here is Posy:

While I had the camera out at mum and dad's, I snapped a photo of my mother's Limoges tea set.  I adore the pretty colours, like a pile of jewels.  I wish these lived in my house!

 Look!  Tabitha can sit up now!  She will sit up and hold a toy and generally freak out with excitement until she gets so excited that she wriggles too much and falls over:

She is also nearly crawling.  For a few days she's been up on her hands and knees, rocking, and now she can take one or two 'steps' of crawling forward.  Won't be long now - uh oh!

 One of Tabitha's other new favourite things to do is to wave around a colourful, noisy maraca, and then giggle when Possum (our youngest cat) bats his paw at it.  It keeps both of them happy for quite a while!

My current favourite places to buy toys are:

• Jasper Junior - really the best toy store in Melbourne, in my opinion.  Located in a few places including Royal Arcade and Chadstone, stocks the most beautiful stuffed toys, wooden toys, wind-up and tin toys, little cars, art sets, hand puppets, costumes, dollhouses, and so much more.
• Parenthood - there are two locations, both near my house, so I often pop into Parenthood if I need a gift.  It has a great range of books and toys for ages 3 - 10 in particular.  Also really lovely Christening / birthday / new baby cards.
• Windmill - primarily educational toys, this store supplies a lot of kindergartens and schools.  Lots of large wooden items like play kitchens, balance bikes, puzzles, art supplies and lots more.
• Honeybee - this is such a beautiful little shop.  I always feel very peaceful and happy when I walk in.  They have incredible wooden sets of Noah's arks, castles, dollhouses etc., lots of Waldorf and Steiner toys, art supplies, great European baby toys and teethers, music etc.
• Readings - although a book store, I definitely consider books to be toys, and Readings is really one of the best book stores around.

Favourite Things

In the spirit of feeling (and looking) overtired, these are a few things that are keeping me happy at the moment:

The Sacred Truth face mask from Lush, makes skin look plump and glowy and luminous.

Yves Saint Laurent Touche Eclat (number 2 for me), makes skin even and luminous and fresh and healthy.  Unlike cheaper versions, it is not a cream / concealer, but more of a tinted fluid.  Recently had its price reduced from $79 to $55 (I think), often I just wear this and some mascara (my eyelashes are invisible, courtesy of being a redhead).

Fernleigh Farms Hot Chorizo, made from Wessex Saddleback pigs.  I have visited the farm, these piggies are amazingly happy and well cared for and have loads of bushland and mud to romp around in.  And their products are incredible.  For the easiest, quickest dinner, I put on some penne, pan fry some sliced chorizo, add a handful of chopped tomatoes / halved cherry tomatoes, cook them down, then add the drained pasta to the pan of chorizo and tomato, add a handful of freshly shaved Parmesan, stir and serve.

Camelbak drink bottle - the easy bite valve means I guzzle it all day, and manage to always drink the 3+ litres of water a breastfeeding mother seems to need.  I have a black one.

Elevit.  Even though I'm well past the pregnancy, I am still taking these vitamins.  I stopped taking them for a while and noticed I felt so much more tired.  Once I started taking them again, I felt better within a couple of weeks.  I'm not sure if it's the iron or something else, but these are working for me, so I'm sticking with them.  Chemist Warehouse often has them for an insanely decent price in the bulk packs.

And a final one for the women - my Lunette.  Wow.  This has kind of changed my life, in an amazing way.  Less pain, shorter duration, less waste, cheaper, brilliant.  Took me a while to get my head around the idea but now I love it!

High Chair Number Three

Yesterday I realised that our fantastic HandySitt portable high chair does not fit on the very high-backed dining chairs at my parents' house.  I had to hold a very wriggly baby all through dinner last night.

So today I decided to purchase an inexpensive high chair to store at mum and dad's house, since Tabitha eats there fairly regularly.  I have heard countless rave reviews about the simple Ikea Antlop high chair - costing only $29.99, plus $10 for the tray, it is incredibly simple to assemble, and the whole thing can be easily wiped clean or even washed in the trough.

It is plain white and fairly unassuming, but can be quickly pulled apart for easy storage.  Really, at under $40, it's hard to go wrong, but this is genuinely a great high chair.

While at Ikea, with Tabitha in the Ergo, I bought one of their $1 hot dogs (which are a highlight of any Ikea trip for me, to be honest, but don't tell anyone!).  Tabby kept trying to eat my hot dog - there is no way I would let her eat it, who knows what garbage is in them.  This made me laugh, of course, because I was happy enough to eat it myself!

In other eating adventures, I found Tabitha's Moosie (my mother) feeding Tabitha jam on toast for breakfast.  She pointed out that it is nice handmade jam from organic fruit on my aunt's farm in Tasmania, but it still seemed like quite a sweet treat to me.  Never mind, I suppose that's what grandmas are for!  Tabitha and I are sleeping at my parents' house for a couple of days, since The Daddy is re-painting our house - he's a good man.

Tabby also had avocado on toast, a sneaky bite of hotdog bun, some pita with dip, some salmon, dill and potato croquettes, and a bit of calamari.  She developed a slight rash after her evening meal, around her mouth, which has me wondering what could have caused it - dill?  Seafood?  Tomato in the dip?  It disappeared completely within an hour so I'm not too worried, but I am interested to see if there is any reaction next time she eats seafood.

Porta-Cot Adventures

My parents have kept the porta-cot that was new when my sister was born, 9 years ago.  It hasn't had much use, so we planned on using that one and not needing to buy a new porta-cot.

However it is SO heavy!  No kidding, I can barely lift the thing on my own.  It is large, bulky, heavy, and when unfolded, takes up a lot of room.  So after trying it out, The Daddy and I decided to bite the bullet and purchase a new porta-cot after all.

As with almost any baby product, there are seemingly infinite options out there, with each one being hailed as The Best Option by some people whilst being panned as Absolute Rubbish by yet others.  After some research, I ascertained that there are 'bells and whistles' models, with features such as built-in change-tables, vibrating soothing action, night lights etc., as well as 'cheap and basic' models, which are large and simple, and finally 'new generation' models, which tend to be very compact.

• Bells and Whistles models - the most popular and highly rated of these seems to be the Chicco Lullaby.  Doing multiple duty as a porta-cot, basinette, change table and musical play-pen, this model costs around $400 and weighs around 11kg.
  
  
• Cheap and Basic models - Target and Toys'R'Us have a number of large, heavy options which are nevertheless sturdy and safe, costing well under $150.
  
  
• New Generation models - Phil&Teds Traveller is a brilliant option, and is generally reviewed highly favourably.  It is seriously light (3kg, less than most newborn babies) and folds up to around the size of a sleeping bag in its case.  Other awesome features include:  a) You can access the baby from the side, not just the top, which is handy for being able to pat and settle young babies, or easily lift out heavy toddlers.  b) It is large and long enough for a tall 3-year-old yet takes up much less room than a standard porta-cot.  c) It is relatively inexpensive at $199 or less, when on sale.  It also is great for camping or the beach etc. since the whole top zips up, enclosing the entire cot in mesh, and the mattress is thermo-insulated, keeping away any chill from the ground.
  
  

Things to look for in a porta-cot:

• Mattress comfort - most porta-cot mattresses are really nasty, thin and hard.  The Phil&Teds is excellent because it is an easily inflatable insular mattress (the type adults sleep on when hiking).  Some of the top-line models like the Chicco are also decent.  A cheaper porta-cot may require some additional padding such as a sheepskin.
  
  
• Size and weight - some porta-cots are seriously heavy.  I mean, I can't even carry some of them.  They are also massive, taking up a large section of most car boots.  This is probably fine if you are using one for a long time in one location (e.g. set up at a grandparent's home).  If you plan on actually traveling a lot, and / or hiking, a light and small option is a better choice.
  
  
• Cost - some options are quite expensive, so do consider how much use it will get (e.g. multiple children, cousins to pass it on to etc.)
  
  
• Use - will it just be used for sleeping?  Do you need a change-table or are you happy to change babe on the floor?  Do you want to use it as a play-pen as well?
  
  

After doing a fair amount of research, and traipsing out to a few baby megastores, we decided on the Phil&Teds Traveller.  I think we were a little traumatised by the weight and size of the hand-me-down, so we gravitated to the lightest possible option!  We are also going on two holidays in the coming months (Tasmania and the US) where we will be moving location several times, so we want to minimise the junk we need to carry.  

The main complaint people have with the P&T is that it is a little fiddly to set up (I've had people tell me it took them 20 minutes the first time, and someone even told me it was 'completely impossible'), however most people report that after a few uses, it doesn't take any longer than a regular porta-cot.  Well, sure enough, I set it up today and it took maybe 10 minutes, tops.  And I am positive it will be much quicker next time.  So I don't know what all the fuss is about!

The other concern some people have is that the mattress sits within a pouch at the base of the cot, meaning you can't tuck a sheet in (the baby is supposed to sleep straight on the nylon bottom.  Tabitha is a tummy-sleeper, and I don't like the idea of her face being pressed against the nylon.  So I did some research, and learned that Phil&Teds advise that the mattress can instead simply be slipped into the bottom of the main cot area.  So you can use a fitted sheet.  Although a fitted sheet doesn't really fit properly, so I am planning on simply sewing a 'slip cover' for the mattress - this will just require a length of cotton or flannel fabric and a few straight seams, and it can then slide over the mattress like a sheath.

I will report back with more after our trip to Tassie in mid January - hopefully she sleeps well in it for the trip!  Here is a short demo clip from Phil&Teds:

 

One last tip - they claim the mattress is 'self inflating' however I recommend breathing in a few puffs of air.