Collingwood Children's Farm

Yesterday was a glorious day - the kind of Winter day when you become thoroughly convinced that Spring is just around the corner (until you check the weather forecast and see a week full of rain and frost ahead).

Our mothers' group ventured out to the Collingwood Children's Farm, one of my favourite places in Melbourne.  As with last time, and the time before, I forgot my camera (actually, my memory card this time).  There seems to be some kind of farm/camera curse upon me.  Never mind, one of the other mothers in our group kindly emailed me a few snaps of Tabitha enjoying the farm.

Here is Tabitha peering over the fence at the lovely, kind, gentle goats.  Their ears are so silky:

One of my favourite parts of the Children's Farm is the guinea pig room - Tabby adores them too!  They are calm and nice to hold and stroke.  At long last, Tabby is learning to be gentle with animals, and can actually pat one, with supervision.  This guinea pig is called Possum, just like one of our cats!  Possum the guinea pig is a Grey Agouti, with gorgeous, thick, tufty fur:

In honour of our trip to see the animals, Tabitha wore a sweet top with a navy blue bunny on the front, with a pink ribbon and real bell around its neck. She also wore her bangle with the little baby fawn.

I wore my Marc Jacobs 'mousie' shoes, and a leopard print scarf.  Many people would think that wearing black and white spotty shoes, with a leopard print scarf, and a blue-and-white pinstripe jacket is a grave crime against fashion.  Not me!  I do love my prints, and never shy away from wearing them all at once.  Plus, as a mother, I have realised that prints really come into their own around babies and children - Vegemite smears do not show up nearly as much on leopard print as they do on plain colours, and bits of egg seem to camouflage well against a cheerful floral background!

Tabitha was in quite a funny mood today - she didn't want to be in her pram, didn't want to be carried (unless she was pushing the pram - without mummy's help thank you!).  She wanted to walk along, holding the pram, which is very slow.  Plus, every few steps, she wanted to stop and eat dried grass and dirt.  Hmm.  So, as you can see below, we got into a couple of battles of will - here, she wants to push the pram, and I cannot seem to prise her away from it!  It looks like she is hanging from the pram.  I think this is all just part of becoming a toddler - suddenly she knows exactly what she wants, but lacks the communication skills to tell me.  So if things don't go her way, she gets quite cross and upset.  I completely understand!

It is so fascinating, watching as Tabitha learns more about the world, and starts to express her own preferences and desires.  Although this can be frustrating for her (and me) if I don't understand exactly what she wants, it is so exciting to see her start to communicate much more.  She points to shoes and says 'zzzoezzz' or 'ooozz'.  If anyone says 'no', she shakes her head wildly from side to side - such as 'no biting', 'no touching' but even if I say no in another context (such as telling my husband, on the phone, that we have no milk), she will start to shake her head!  Cute.

Overseas Trip Thoughts - Part One

I promised to write up some of my thoughts about travelling overseas with Tabitha.  Of course, I am no expert, and each baby and family is different - what works well for us will not necessarily work for another family, and vice versa.  That said, I think that sharing our experiences is useful!

First up, let me say this:  the holiday was fantastic!!!  The Daddy and I both agree, wholeheartedly, that we absolutely recommend travelling with a baby of Tabitha's age.  We would do it again in a heartbeat.  Many people tried to tell us we were 'crazy, mad or just naive' when we mentioned that we were taking our 11 month old daughter on a month-long trip to the US.  But honestly, it was far easier, and more enjoyable, than we'd hoped.  We tried not to rush or cram too much into our days - we generally went for a morning walk, grabbing breakfast and a coffee, and giving Tabitha some play time in a park or garden, then came home for her morning nap.  We then went out for lunch and an afternoon of activity.  We either stayed out and had an early dinner, getting her home by 7:30 for bed, or else came home for a little rest before setting out for dinner (sometimes getting home a little late, but almost always by 8pm).  So the pace was quite relaxed, and while she had her morning naps, we had time to tidy up, plan our day, or even lie back and read a book.  Overall, the holiday felt more relaxed than other overseas trips we've taken, not less.

With regard to hotels, I recommend staying at full-service type hotels.  We've always loved little boutique places and bed-and-breakfasts, in the past, however these are not ideal with a baby or toddler.  Too many knickknacks (vases, old books, pretty ornaments, exposed electrical cables, non-secured televisions and furniture, curtains which can be pulled down etc), and sometimes unsafe features such as staircases, opening windows on high stories etc.  We stayed at an apartment in the West Village (not a traditional, hotel-style serviced apartment, but more like a bed-and-breakfast type setup), and a bed-and-breakfast in Lancaster County.  While we completely adored the B&B in LC, falling in love with the property, its hosts and their amazing breakfasts, it was tiring being in our cottage - we had a flight of stairs (which Tabby can climb, but not get back down safely), as well as about a billion little delicate decorator touches and knickknacks.

For most of our trip, we stayed in traditional, full-service hotels.  With room service, pillow options, spare blankets and sheets, toiletries supplied, laundry services and the like.  The rooms were spotlessly clean, there were minimal delicate items.  Everything was in good working order.  There were small fridges.  Ahhhh this made life easy!  I have never appreciated good hotels like I do now!  Being able to call downstairs for a meal if Tabitha crashed out asleep early.  Being able to call downstairs for extra towels when Tabby had a bout of stomach flu. And plenty of space with soft carpet for our little monkey to play.  Having a concierge was also most useful with a baby - calling ahead to check the availability of high chairs, advise on good local parks, directions to a 24-hour chemist.

When travelling, it is useful to take a mini-child-proofing kit with you.  Some outlet covers for electrical points, and possibly some blackout fabric and tape, for windows in case the curtains aren't sufficient.  I also recommend taking a big role of masking tape and gaffer tape!  It's amazing how useful these tapes can me - for keeping draws and cupboards closed, for keeping toilet lids closed, for securing furniture.  Good gaffer tape is nice and strong, and not easily peeled back by a baby or toddler!

When we arrived at each hotel (we spent about a week at each), we made the effort to properly unpack.  Everything went into draws, cupboards or in neat piles on desks.  Rummaging through suitcases for clean baby singlets, bibs or spare wipes is not efficient.  Taking half an hour to unpack properly saves time overall, and means that everything remains neat and folded, making re-packing a breeze.  At each hotel, I set up a little 'nappy changing station' with nappies, wipes, change mat, disposal bags, barrier cream and spare PJs on the desk, so all the bits and pieces were handy.

Most hotels offer laundry service, however it is generally ridiculously overpriced - $12 for a top, $20 for a pair of pants?  No thanks.  Before we arrived, I checked in advance to find laundromats near each of our hotels, and we did one or two trips to the laundry each week.  Doing two loads of laundry at once (darks and lights) and then a load of drying (on low heat to avoid shrinkage) didn't take more than an hour and a half, and we took it in turns to sit and read, while the other took Tabitha for a walk, play or lunch.  The lovely AKA serviced apartments we stayed at in Upper Midtown, NY, had free laundry facilities in the basement for guests.  This is a brilliant feature if you are travelling with children - well worth seeking out when booking accommodation.

Most American hotels offer free WiFi, which is brilliant - we took our laptop and used it a lot for planning our days, email, google maps and the like.

While planning our trip, I made note of the closest supermarkets to each hotel.  Wholefoods is by far my preferred US supermarket - in fact, I will admit that I get quite sad and grumpy that we don't have a similar supermarket in Australia.  I could happily spend hours in Wholefoods!  In Boston, Shaw's is an excellent supermarket too.  As soon as we arrived, I went and bought oatmeal, organic milk, some fresh fruit and vegetables, some wholegrain bread and some snacks (dried fruit, organic dry cereal such as puffed corn and rice etc).  This meant we always had the ability to whip up a meal for Tabitha, even without a kitchen (for example, mashed banana or avocado sandwich, porridge, cut up fruit and vegetable sticks).

When out and about, it was useful to take some snack foods - dry cereal, dried fruit, as well as cut up fresh fruit and vegetables.  Often, I would get a snack of a bagel or hot dog, and I didn't want Tabitha snacking on endless white carbs or hot dogs (hypocritical, I agree!).  So it was good to always have something nutritious to give her to munch on.  Also, if there was a wait at a restaurant for our meals, having snacks was good distraction.  If you get caught in a restaurant without a snack, most are more than happy to bring your baby some oyster crackers or bread.

The Wholefoods hot food and salad buffets were excellent - babies like to eat lots of little bits and pieces, so grabbing a container to fill with a piece of capsicum, some stewed chicken, some pasta, a bit of tuna, some cucumber and a little naan bread was perfect, if we wanted to sit and have a picnic in the park, or if we were tired and wanted to sit in our room and give her lunch.

Eating out - I am pleased to report that, after a full month in America, Tabby has still never tried a chip or french fry.  When eating out, it was generally fairly easy to find food for Tabitha to eat.  Most restaurants offer sides of vegetables (Americans tend to add butter and oil to steamed veggies, so if you'd prefer them plain, it's worth specifying).  Some veggies, a little bread, some steak or other meat from our meals and there is a complete meal for Tabitha.  She really loves seafood, and throughout the East Coast, the famous lobster rolls are everywhere.  I love them too, so I often ordered a lobster roll and gave Tabitha plenty of lobster meat, along with some steamed veggies.

Even if you are eating somewhere which may initially seem challenging, such as a burrito chain (delicious!), you can generally manage to come up with something.  For example, while we ate burritos, I picked out little pieces of steak and Carnitas, smeared some guacamole on some tortilla for her, and gave her a little pile of beans to eat - which was not only nutritious, but kept her occupied for a while, picking up the individual beans.

If you are stuck in a not-so-nutritious restaurant (for example, Denny's or IHOP or another chain, on the road), it's always easy to order something like a children's cheeseburger (meat, bread and cheese!) or chicken strips with a side of fruit or veggies.  Hey, it's not ideal, but it will certainly suffice for a single meal.  Remember - nutritionists always advise looking at someone's diet over a week, never just based on a single meal or even day.  So if you have a day full of less-than-perfect food, don't worry too much.  One thing I was impressed with was that many of the US chains (for example, Denny's) serve fruit as a side by default for all children's meals - if you want fries, you need to request them.  I hope that Aussie restaurants follow suit in the future.

In places like Boston and DC, in fact, most of America, high chairs are readily available in all sorts of restaurants - even bakery chains such as Au Bon Pain have high chairs.  However, in New York City, where space is a premium commodity (even square foot is another potential paying customer), high chairs are far less common.  Generally, you can use your pram as a high chair - we did this a lot.  Just sit the pram upright at the table, and try to make sure that the handles aren't sticking out into the pathways of waiters or patrons.  High chairs that DO exist are often inadequate for a climbing, wriggling baby or toddler - many, many US restaurants seem to have a sort of boxy high chair without a harness, and sometimes without even a waist strap!  Within seconds, Tabitha is up and out of these high chairs, climbing onto the table.  We learnt quickly, and started taking a couple of long scarves out with us, to fashion a little harness or waist belt for her, keeping her in the high chair.

Some restaurants, despite not having high chairs, also do not allow prams!  Serendipity 3, I'm looking at YOU!  In these cases, it is worth getting creative.  You can use a wrap, such as my Vatanai, to strap the baby to a regular chair, wrapping it gently but firmly around their legs and torso, in a sort of harness, and tying it to the seat and back of a chair!  This is even better if you have a booster seat (which some non-high-chair places do have) to work with, which will elevate the baby to table-height.

Now, we do have a travel high-chair.  It's the HandySitt, and we love it.  We use it a lot in Australia, but decided it was too bulky to take overseas, and to lug around with the pram.  Having our time again, we would probably take it with us - or another similar type of thing.

Other restaurants (such as my beloved Bubby's) offer high chairs, but do not allow prams.  You are expected to leave your pram outside on the street.  If you know this in advance (call ahead and check), you can take the baby in a carrier and leave the pram at home, however it is generally seen as quite safe to leave a pram (with nothing in it) outside.  In theory, I suppose you could take a bicycle chain and secure it to something!

Streamlined the 'nappy bag' for each day - even if we were going to be out all day, all that we needed was 2 bibs, wipes, a couple of nappies, snackball with some dried fruit and snacks, drink bottle (luckily, Tabby can drink from a regular bottle, or her mummy, if we didn't bring the drink bottle).  Everything we needed, including the camera and my phone/wallet, could easily fit in my Longchamp totes (which I used instead of a handbags overseas) or in the Ergo / pram.

For carrying the baby, we took both the pram (our Bugaboo Cameleon) and a couple of carriers (our Ergo and my Vatanai woven wrap).  The Daddy wasn't keen to take the pram, initially - he thought we could manage just fine with the Ergo, and thought that taking the pram, in its massive Travel Case, was overkill.  Indeed, it is bulky to take - the pram in its case needs to be checked in at the 'oversized luggage' section at the airport.  But the travel case has room to stuff HEAPS of stuff in, around the pram - we fitted in a month's worth of disposable nappies, a few pairs of shoes, and other random bits and pieces.  Plus, airlines generally do not weigh the pram case, so it's a good place to sneak in heavy items.  But ultimately, we were really glad we took the pram - when you are out all day, it is nice to have a break from carrying the baby, and Tabitha enjoyed sitting in her pram, waving at everyone who passed by (Americans, being ga-ga for children, all obligingly wave back - even harried businessmen).  Many places do not have highchairs, so the pram was useful for feeding her in.  And if we were out shopping, being able to stow packages under the pram is helpful.  In theory, you could buy a cheaper umbrella-style stroller when you arrive on your trip.  But it won't be as comfortable for your child as a regular pram, and isn't as useful for shopping.  But it's certainly an option.

While we used the pram a fair amount, at least ever couple of days, the Ergo got a real workout.  For quick trips, for morning walks, or for longer trips where she might get fussy (such as museums and galleries), the Ergo was perfect.  It's easy to put her in and out (great when you have a mobile, crawling or walking baby who frequently needs to get down and let off some steam), and great for crowds when you don't want your baby face-to-bottom with strangers.  I also used the Vatanai woven wrap, though not as much as the Ergo.  In DC and Lancaster County, where the weather was hot, the Vatanai was good.  But it's certainly not as useful for getting your baby in and out - better if you are going for a walk or something, and are not likely to need to stop for a meal.

When out and about, we found that changing nappies was straightforward.  Because we had chosen to use disposable nappies for our trip (laundry facilities were not always available, we didn't have access to good drying space, and they are bulky to pack), nappy changes were a little more flexible - with cloth, you generally need to change every 3 or so hours, however you can get away with stretching this out a little with good quality disposables.  So, if we were out, we could normally wait until we got home OR until we were somewhere with a change-table (department stores, some restaurants, most Starbucks, hotel lobbies).  To compensate for being in her nappies a little longer, we used plenty of barrier cream at each change, to protect her skin.

We took enough nappies to last us for nearly the entire trip.  We ran out during the last week - so we went to Target in Lancaster County to buy some Huggies.  Interestingly, there were several kinds of Huggies - sensitive skin Huggies, active baby Huggies, and others I can't remember.  We bought the only one which came in a 32-pack in Tabitha's size (I think the active ones) and actually found them to be pretty ordinary.  They leaked more easily than the Huggies I have from Australia, and were not differentiated between boys' and girls'.  Based on my experience, I would recommend taking your own nappies with you - if you know what works, best to stick with it.  There were, however, nice sensitive skin wipes available in the US - lots of types, and much cheaper than in Australia.  Same for disposable breastpads.

If you need to buy commercial babyfood (unlikely if you are doing Baby-Led Weaning), there is plenty of variety in the US - lots of good organic ranges, with all the normal flavours and varieties.  The one thing I didn't seem to see was the instant baby cereals we have here - Bellamy's and the like, for example banana rice cereal.  There was plain rice cereal, but not organic and not of the quality we have in Australia.

Drug stores (chemists) in the US are really brilliant.  Not only do they have all the regular pharmacy items (and then some!) such as painkillers, first aid, baby care etc., but also incredibly extensive aisles of beauty products, haircare, household cleaning products (including my beloved Method products), magazines, food (cereal, biscuits, snacks, frozen foods, milk, fruit etc) and things like CDs, stationary and the like.  Most large drug stores are more like mini supermarkets.  Go have a wander in one for fun!

Over the coming week, I will write another post - focusing on evaluating our packing list (what worked, what didn't), our choice of airline and experiences with air travel, discussing breastfeeding in America (Americans overall are slightly more conservative than Aussies), and the pros and cons of taking your own car seat (we did not).

I hope that some of this might be useful to someone, one day...

Pork Belly, Rice Pudding and Presents

The Cozy Coupe toy car needs to go back to the toy library, sadly.  Tabitha will miss it dreadfully.  As much as it is taking up SO much room in our house (room which we do not have), I think we will have to buy one for her.  The new ones, though, are kind of ugly.  I prefer the older style.  So I am trying to find one on eBay!

Tabby likes to put things in the car and push them for 'rides' around the house, such as a toy lamb.  Yesterday, while I was unpacking groceries, I found her pushing around a whole head of broccoli in the car.  After that, she carried around the broccoli and took bites out of it, raw.  She is a funny little girl!

She is helpful when I am unpacking groceries.  More helpful than the cats, who try and climb inside the bags and steal my meat.  She passes me the items:

I am of the opinion that, no matter how simple or small the gift, beautiful wrapping is essential.  Even a tiny token, such as a small chocolate block to say Thank You, is elevated to another level when wrapped with pretty paper and ribbon.

We have a couple of first birthday parties in the coming weeks.  I can't tell you what's in the gifts, but I can show you the nice bows:

And look at this gorgeous little gift tag - a circus pony with glitter feathers and bridle:

To make a fancy bow like these, you need 3 or 4 (or more) types of ribbon, preferably including a medium-to-wide sheer organza type, a medium-to-wide satin ribbon, and a couple of others (a metallic or textured or grosgrain looks nice).  You pick just a couple to wrap around the present, then tie firmly in a double knot.  You then just loop and knot the ribbons one by one, layering them up (you get a giant fat knot in the middle).  Cut the ends in forks.  Basically, it's not hard but you need to really take your time and be quite careful.  The clever people at Card and Caboodle taught me.  To be honest, it's a little fiddly and often I choose my paper and ribbons then let them do the wrapping for me.  But it is nice to know how to do a fancy bow!

For dinner last night, I made roasted pork belly with rice and stir-fried Gai Lan.

For the gai lan, I just wash two bunches, then cut each piece in half (separating the leafy bits from the stalky bits).  I then heat some oil in a wok or stainless steel frypan, and add a few cloves of sliced garlic and about a teaspoon of finely chopped fresh ginger.  Take care not to burn.  I then add the stalks, plus half a cup of chicken stock and a good glug of rice wine, and stir fry until starting to soften a little.  I add about 1/4 cup oyster sauce, then add the green leafy parts, and toss over the heat until all combined.  I drizzle with a tiny amount of roasted sesame oil:

Always lots of rice.  The Daddy and I eat massive amounts - we buy it by the 20kg bag.

The pork was delicous, I must say.  I always find it a little stressful cooking anything vaguely complex for the first time, and this was no exception, but I will certainly cook it again (and again) and I imagine it will be quite a simple meal once I've done it a couple of times.

My dear friend Amy, who was over for dinner, declared, "This is THE BEST thing I have ever eaten.  In the world."  Amy is a frequent restaurant-goer, and has travelled quite a bit, so I was flattered beyond belief.  Sure, this is not fancy, pretty food, but gosh it did taste good.  Sorry, it doesn't photograph well.  Trust me that it looked great in real life:

Crackling glorious crackling:

To make the pork, you will need a 1.5kg piece of pork belly.  Score the skin really well (as much as possible) and poke a whole lot of 1/2cm holes in the flesh side with a sharp skewer.

Sit the pork on a rack in a tray, skin-side up, and pour about a litre of boiling water over the skin.  Straight away, wash the pork in a bowl of ice and water, to cool it down.

Then, sit the pork on the rack, skin-side up, and use a blow drier to completely dry the skin (yes, you read correctly).

Prepare the marinade in a bowl - note, these quantities are very rough.  Mix and match as you wish.

• 2 tablespoons Chinese five spice powder
• ½ tablespoon white pepper
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 2 teaspoons freshly grated ginger
• 4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 4 tablespoons rice wine (mirin would do)
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 6 tablespoons soy sauce

Sit the pork, flesh-side down, in a flat dish (like a large baking dish) in the marinade.  You don't want the marinade to come up high so that it touches the skin.  The skin must be DRY!  Rub the skin well with salt, and leave, sitting in the marinade, overnight.  Uncovered - the fridge will help dry out the skin.

Take the pork out of the fridge a couple of hours before you start cooking it.

Now, this is the way I cooked it, with much advice.  But below, I have written the way I will cook it next time.

Preheat the oven to 220 degrees.  Sit the pork on a rack, skin-side up, in a roasting tin.  Add water to the roasting tin, about 2cm or as much as you reasonably can without it touching the pork.  Brush the skin with a little oil, and roast at 220 degrees for half an hour.

Turn the heat down to 160 degrees, and roast for a further hour.  At the end, brush the skin with white vinegar, turn the grill on (or the heat RIGHT up) and leave for 15 minutes or until the skin is blistered and crackly.

Now.  This didn't work brilliantly for me.  The pork was actually cooked in much less time than the above - I took it out after only 40 minutes, including the initial 30 minute blast.  And the skin wouldn't crisp with the high oven heat - as the pork sat resting under foil and cloths, I put the skin under a grill to crackle it up.  Worked brilliantly, everything was delicious, but it was a bit fiddly and stressful, changing tactics.  So next time, I will make like Thomas Keller and separate the skin before cooking.  I will cook the pork at around 150 degrees for an hour or so, covered in foil, until cooked, letting the fat render down into the flesh.  While the pork is resting, I will then put the skin under a grill to crackle it up.

Anyway.  It worked out fine and it was great!

While the pork is cooking, cook your rice, cook your gai lan, and put the marinade into a small saucepan, bring to the boil, and boil for a few minutes.  Add a little cornflour if you'd like to thicken it up.

To serve, I sliced the pork, poured the thickened marinade over it, and then cut up the crackling and sat it on top.  Writing about it now is making my mouth water.  I think this will be on the menu again next week!

After dinner, we had rice pudding.  I made two enormous dishes of it - one for us, one for my parents and sister (my father is recovering from surgery and so I'm dropping off as much food as I can - he scored the pork leftovers today, lucky man!).

Rice pudding is incredibly easy.  Grease a shallow 4-cup ovenproof dish, rinse 1/2 cup rice well under cold water and drain. Put rice in the dish, with 2 1/2 cups milk, 1/4 cup caster sugar, 2 tablespoons sultanas and a teaspoon of vanilla. Stir gently with a fork, then drop little pieces of butter across the top (a couple of teaspoons) and some nutmeg or cinnamon. Bake at around 150 degrees for around 2 hours. I stir the 'skin' on the top back into the pudding a couple of times (around 40 minute mark and 1.5 hour mark) because I think it makes it creamier and nicer - you still get a crisp skin, but not so thick and tough.  If you have a larger dish, it is easy to double the mixture or do 1.5 times.

 

Today, the sun is shining.  It feels like Spring is coming (though I know it is not, sadly, for quite a while).  This afternoon, our mothers' group is meeting at the Collingwood Children's Farm for lunch, then to have a peer at the animals.  Lovely day for it - I know the babies will have a great time.

Snippets

My aunt and two little cousins came to visit Tabitha on Saturday - they had been unable to make her party, so dropped in to wish her a happy birthday.  Tabitha is much smaller than my young cousin, who is years older than her, however she still tried to boss her and climb into her lap in the little car (which sadly has to go back to the toy library.  Tabitha will miss it a lot!).  Can you sense the alarm in poor cousin G's little face?  She is afraid she will be squashed by 9kg of baby!

The cousins brought gifts for Tabitha - including a cute pink corduroy cat - and some beautiful yellow tulips for me.  They are sitting, in their pot, on my windowsil, adding cheer to the kitchen:

Look at all of Tabitha's lovely birthday cards!  She is such a lucky girl, and loves her cards - in fact, I am having to work to stop her climbing up the bookshelf to pluck down some cards to play with.

When Tabitha was born, we recieved more cards than you can imagine - well over 100.  I bundled them up with some ribbon, and they sit on her shelves.  I hope that one day she will enjoy looking at them.  I have done the same with her Christening cards, her first Christmas cards, and will also with her birthday cards.  I can't bear to throw them out - people have written such nice, kind things.

Here are her birthday cards, and behind them in a frame, a gorgeous postcard of a young ballerina sent from Paris from her honorary great-aunt Penelope (who I used to call Pelepone, and the name has stuck):

For her birthday, Tabitha recieved lots of beautiful, special gifts, including some of her very own jewellery - a pearl bracelet from The Daddy and I, a silver 'Little Lamb' fawn bangle from my parents, and a divine little ladybird charm for her Pandora bracelet, given to her by her Godmother Sophie.  She also received beautiful soft toys, fun games and puzzles, lovely books, pretty dresses and shoes and even a song, written - music and lyrics - and recorded for her by her talented 14 year old Godfather Noah!

Here are some of her new toys - at the back, a gorgeous wooden cart with the nicest little handmade animal 'bowling pins' and a wooden bowling ball, as well as several handmade felt and wooden farm animals for playing with:

She received two pairs of shoes for her birthday - some stunning metallic pink ballet shoes (in the box) and some super-cute Marc Jacobs 'mousie' shoes, back right, with pale pink leather 'ears' and little spiky whiskers.  With over ten pairs of shoes, Tabby has more nice pairs than her mummy!

My favorite shoe brand for baby shoes is Bobux.  They are designed in New Zealand, and the quality is superb.

You are not supposed to put MCNs (modern cloth nappies) such as our Itti Bitti nappies in the dryer - the heat degrades the waterproof fabric and the elastic.  You are allowed to dry them on 'low heat' however I generally line-dry them to save power.  But since our cats destroyed our indoor clothes airer (naughty cats!) I put her nappies into the dryer (on low).  WOW!  They are so, so soft!  I don't know if I can go back to line drying...  I will, I know I will, but I will be sure to give them a turn in the dryer every now and again to soften them up.

In Tabitha's nursery, she has a large wall unit of shelves - the top shelves house books, the middle shelves house delicate things (such as porcelain money box, jewellery, small toys, photos and the like), and the bottom shelves house basket storage, and also toys she enjoys playing with.  Often, I hear her go into her bedroom on her own, and start playing her little xylophones!  I snuck in a took a couple of photos - here she is enjoying making some music:

In feel-good news, I received a package in the mail today.  A woman who I had donated breastmilk to had posted back my containers, and had so generously included brilliant Peter Rabbit 'buggy book' and a kind card.  What a lovely surprise!  But - why oh why does the postman always press the buzzer (for about a minute!) when Tabitha is asleep?!

Well, it seems that Tabitha has officially transitioned to one nap per day.  She hasn't yet decided exactly what time she would like to sleep - she has been going down between 10:30am and 3pm, depending on the day - but overall, we are trending towards a nap from roughly 12pm - 1:30pm or 2pm.

She has also really stepped up a level with her monkey climbing skills - not only can she now climb up onto the sofa, bookshelf and our bed (dragging something like a tissue box or a boot to stand on, if required), she can now climb up her high chair and onto the dining table!  Goodness!  Dangerous and alarming.  I cannot take my eyes off her anymore!  Apparently at the same age, my mother caught me half way up a ladder against the side of the house.  I cannot imagine what a fright that must have given her.

Today is a lovely day.  Sun is shining, house is clean, baby is giggly.  I have been laying on the sofa reflecting on how much I adore being a full time mother - I can honestly say that I am completely fulfilled by our days together.  At so many moments through the day, I find myself getting almost teary with the complete love and adoration I feel for my sweet, funny girl.  The overwhelming 'motherly love' is almost like a drug, rushing through my entire body.  I know that things will get harder, no doubt, when more children come along, but being a mother is simply the most wonderful thing I could have imagined.  Not a day passes when I don't feel this way, even when I am tired.  I cannot tell you how lucky I feel.

Milestones and Eating Update

Since I started this blog, partially, to keep a record of Tabitha's activities (since my handwriting is too dreadful to keep an attractive baby book), I ought to update things.

She has been 'walking' around with a walker/pushing a pram/holding our hands for a couple of months now.  She can do this for great distances, and does not tire easily.  She can also stand on her own for a little while - up to ten or so seconds, sometimes - but at this stage, has expressed no desire to walk on her own.  She will once she's ready!

She loves to point.  She extends her Pointing Finger and bunches up the rest of them, into a proper pointing gesture. It amazes me how they pick these things up.  She then likes to point at all sorts of things which interest her - people, balloons, dogs, pictures on walls.  She generally does this with a frown, and a 'UHHH' noise.  I like this stage - it is fascinating to learn the things which interest her enough to point.

She likes copying things - you can teach her new games or tricks quite easily.  My little sister taught her to wave and 'high five' many months ago, but more recently, she has learnt things such as blowing kisses, and the 'blinking game' which involves blinking back and forth at each other.  It is most amusing, because she tries to watch you the whole time - so her face contorts as she tries to blink with her eyes open.

She was given two toy cars for her birthday - an eco-friendly, ethically made pink race car, and a fancy plastic car which has one of those clever, battery-free motors which propels itself along if you give it a good push.  With both of the cars, she will push them around on the rug, making 'BROOOM BROOOOOOOM' noises.  It seems terribly grown up.

Like most other modern babies of her age, she enjoys taking a mobile phone - or, indeed, anything vaguely mobile-phone-sized, such as a block, remote control or piece of cardboard - and holding it to her ear, yelling 'YAYAYAYAYAYA!' into the phone.  It occurred to me, after watching this, that I must speak very loudly into the phone, since she seems to be under the impression that one must YELL into the phone.  Hmm.  Food for thought.

With regard to eating, Tabitha seems to have turned a corner.  While she has generally been an adventurous eater (as most babies are), she has always had a bird-like appetite, picking and nibbling but rarely making much of a dint in her meals.  This is fine by me - Baby Led Weaning says that food is just for fun, until the child is one, and the ABA and my MCHN have both reassured me that Tabby gets almost all the nutrients she needs from breastmilk.  However, in the past couple of weeks (since she turned one, roughly), she has started to eat slightly more heartily.  For example, yesterday for lunch, she ate:

• A small piece of veggie burger (roughly the size of a nugget)
• Half of a wedge of pear
• Half of a corn thin with cream cheese
• Half a piece of cheddar cheese
• A nibble of toast with green pickles

Her diet remains mostly protein, fat and carbohydrates (this makes sense - she is getting all her vitamins and minerals from breastmilk, so what she probably needs is more calories, protein and iron).  I continue to offer her a variety of fruit and vegetables, but she generally prefers to eat meat, seafood, pasta, breads, cheese, eggs and the like.  She sits at the 90th centile for height and the 30th centile for weight, so, as my MCHN says, "she is a clever little thing and knows not to bother filling up with apples when there is schnitzel on offer!".  I have faith that Tabby's body knows exactly what it needs - and I am grateful that she gets so much goodness from her 'milkies'.

At occasional care (which she goes to for an hour or two on a Friday morning, to practice having some playtime without mumma hovering over her), we are required to send a snack:  a sandwich, and a piece of prepared fruit.  The first time I picked her up, the lovely ladies told me, "she ate all of her sandwich, but she showed great disdain for her fruit!  She tossed it across the room!"  Yes, that sounds like my babe.

Here is Tabitha enjoying some pear:

Tabitha will still not take a bottle of expressed milk - she took one beautifully when she was younger, until around 4 months, so don't believe what they say about needing to introduce one early so they will always take one.  She knows her milkies is just as much about a nice special cuddle with 'mum-mum', inhaling deeply the scent of my skin.  She gets quite cross if anyone tries to give her a bottle!  Regardless, I do keep pumping and expressing milk, keeping some in the freezer.  For one thing, I have to admit, I just love the fact that my body can produce milk!  It seems so awesome that my boring old body can produce so much food for another human being.  I saw a bumper sticker which read, "I make milk.  What's your superpower?" which made me smile.  I might get one.

Anyway, in the meantime, I am thrilled to be able to donate our excess breastmilk.  I use the website Human Milk 4 Human Babies, which operates through facebook.  I have donated to a couple of mothers who have problems with producing enough milk for their babies - both are working like no one's business, trying desperately to increase their milk production, but in the meantime, they prefer for their babies to drink human milk from another mother, instead of cows milk or artificial soy / goat formulas.  I am in awe of these mummas, who are working day and night to build their supply - pumping, taking medications, drinking teas - as well as driving all over Melbourne to pick up donated breastmilk for their babies.  In the early days, I donated a fair bit of milk to other mothers via my midwife.  I am most passionate about human milk donation.  I attended a panel discussion on the ethics of milk donation a few months ago.  Fascinating stuff!  But too complex to go into on this post.

Now that she is a Big Girl of One, she has, a few times, cut out her morning nap.  I have tried to put her down, as usual, at 10 or 11am, and after half an hour, she is still merrily chatting in her cot.  On these days, I have fetched her back out of bed, and she has managed to stay awake until 1pm or so.  So, on these days, she has only had one nap.  I guess she is transitioning to a One Nap Age, however apparently this can be a gradual process, so we are playing it by ear for now.

As a general rule, Tabitha is a 2-4 hourly waker overnight.  She tends to feed at roughly 10:30pm, 2am and 5:30am, then wakes for the day around 7:30 or 8am.  However, on the day she turned one, she slept an eight hour stretch!!  I do not lie.  She slept from 11pm until 7am.  It was amazing.  My breasts were dreadfully engorged, hard and lumpy (Concrete Breasts, as I call them), but goodness I was thrilled.  Unfortunately, the event has not been repeated, however I am quietly confident - she did that all on her own, so I believe she will do it again once she's ready.  For now, I am making sure I relax and just enjoy the middle-of-the-night feeds.  This stage will pass, and I know that I will miss the time alone, in the darkness, just Tabitha and I, with her sleepy hand patting at my bare skin.

In other, more worrying news, Tabby can now climb up onto the sofa by herself.  She has also been able to climb stairs - quite rapidly - for a couple of months.  This is terribly cute, but alarming, because she can not yet safely get down.  So we have to watch her like hawks.  

In cuter news, Tabby loves to dance and bounce away whenever music is on.  Some of her toys play jaunty tunes, and whenever they come on, she grins and bounces her whole body up and down, poking her little bottom out.  Her favourite song is currently 'If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands'.  We sing this together, and clap our hands at the appropriate times.

Finally, two and a half molars are in.  Jeepers creepers, these have been nasty.  We didn't really have problems with her previous eight teeth, but the molars have caused her some grief.  She has been thoroughly cranky.  I will be pleased when they are all in!

Here is a picture of Tabitha rooting through my wool cupboard.  Her and the younger cat, Possum, like to do this together.  Between the two of them, they can make quite a mess in an alarmingly short amount of time:

The First Birthday Party!

What a fantastic day!  Tabitha's first birthday party (held at my parents' house) was loads of fun - she had an absolute ball, playing with her little friends and happily being cuddled and carried around by lots of her 'big friends'.  She even managed to keep her dress and white tights clean, and her little pearl bracelet avoided breakage.  I was terribly proud of her!  Here she is playing with one of her current favourite toys - a Cozy Coupe car on loan from the Toy Library:

Tabby wore white woolen tights, little white patent leather shoes (with bows), a pale pink knit dress, with pleated skirt and a bow at the waist, and a little pink and taupe fluffy tulle hair clip, all from Seed.  She also wore a little pearl bracelet, a gift for her from The Daddy and I.

In the days leading up, I kept saying, "You are having a balloon party!".  "These are plates for your balloon party!"...  "You will have such fun at your balloon party!"  So I thought I ought to produce a decent number of balloons.  We got 300 - it is a surprisingly modest number in an average living room.  The balloons were a great hit with the babies - when held in someone's arms, a baby can easily pluck balloons down from the ceiling and cling to them.  Most of the babies took some balloons home.

After a hectic few days preparing, baking, cleaning and picking things up (glassware, loan toys, helium etc), once the party started, I enjoyed forgetting it all and enjoying some Champagne, catching up with friends, and showing off my beautiful baby.

The food went well - most got eaten, though we had enough leftovers to enjoy spending the evening picking at bagels and cake, with half a dozen of our friends who stuck around until Tabby's bedtime.

Some baby cupcakes - I like a pale green icing with coloured flowers, a little like grass or leaves:

We had egg sandwiches, and also chicken and chive sandwiches.  Rye bread, just for a change:

Mini bagels (from Aviv, natch) with smoked salmon, cream cheese and chives:

Chocolate crackles with little pink dragees - carrying on the dot theme from the wrappers:

Honey joys, which are always a favourite:

Little cupcake toppers which matched the invitations - we dipped the buttercream frosting in some shredded white coconut.  This is an easy 'cheat' if you'd rather not bother with piping neat buttercream swirls.

Fairy bread - because, apparently, one cannot have a first birthday party without it:

The birthday cake was a bit of a wild card - I'd vaguely planned on doing a three-layered chocolate cake with pale pink boiled fluffy frosting, however when I made the frosting (less than an hour before the guests arrived!), I discovered that the quantity I needed would not fit in the Kitchenaid (I discovered this by splattering bits of egg white and boiling sugar syrup all over the place).  Thankfully, I'd set aside the ingredients to make a delicious rich chocolate frosting, just in case, so I managed to pull that together within 30 minutes, including frosting the cake!  I decided to use all FOUR cake layers, which I had baked the day prior, resulting in quite a tall, glossy, chocolate-tastic tower of cake.  I sort of tossed little handfuls of ivory and pink dragees at the frosted cake, and hoped for the best.   I think it looked okay!

Actually, I will certainly be doing this cake again, next time I need a birthday cake for a crowd.  Because the cake holds together well, and is layered, it really easily cuts into at least 48 or more neat, triangular slices - you simply slice 12 (or even 16 would be fine) tall regular slices, then divide each slice into its four layers - each little triangle then has some frosting on the outside, some on the top or bottom (from the layers) and the top pieces have lots of frosting!

Tabitha stared at her candle most intently, but did not, of course, understand that she was expected to blow it out:

So I did it for her, and everyone clapped - including the guest of honour.  She certainly knew that something exciting was happening, as she squealed and grinned and clapped and kicked her legs about:

I had feared that Tabby might be overwhelmed by all the guests at her party, and spend the afternoon clinging, koala-style, to The Daddy or myself.  However we were pleasantly surprised - she happily flitted from person to person, lavishing all of the guests with Tabby Love.  I did, of course, still manage to sneak in plenty of Mum-Mum cuddles:

Having snuggles with Godmother Sophie:

And Godfather Noah:

With 'Auntie' Amy, my best friend:

A few of her favourite things:

Pointing at things she likes or wants...

Playing with phones - and talking into them 'YAYAYAYAYAYA!!!'...

Showing off her pretty pearl bracelet, a gift from myself and The Daddy...

Cuddles with her grandfather, a.k.a. 'Gra' (my father).  He is the only person, apart from The Daddy and myself, who she reaches for when she is feeling clingy:

If you click on this photo, you will see the most hilarious face.  She is telling her friend Millie a story, and is obviously right in the middle of the important part:

Tabitha has had quite a fancy for her little friend Joseph since they were wee babies - she used to hold his hand every time she had the chance.  Yesterday, she spent quite a bit of time pushing him around the living room in the little car.  He seemed happy enough!

More 'pointing'.  She kept pointing at a balloon she wanted, across the room, and we had to work out which exact balloon she was pointing at, out of a couple of hundred!

At the end of the party, she spent some time playing in the little plastic garden, eating a sausage roll.  This qualifies as an Excellent Time in baby land!

 

Her Godfather, Noah, played 'peekaboo' through the little letterbox in the plastic garden - Tabitha was absolutely delighted with this game:

After a while, the cheeky little girl reached through the letter box and grabbed his face!

Having some cuddles with my little sister, her Aunt Q.  Look at them, both with little flower clips:

After most of the guests had left, half a dozen or so of us stood around eating cake and sausage rolls and washing dishes - my gorgeous friends even helped with the vacuuming, putting away platters etc!  Of course, they were sent home with plenty of honey joys for their kindness...  

We also sat and let Tabitha open all of her beautiful gifts - she had a wonderful time, and reacted with joy and excitement to each new present.  I think that, by this point in the day (6:30pm) she was so completely wired, that she was about to boil over with excitement!

After the house was clean, the dishes were done and order was restored, we then gave her some dinner, and took her home to bed.  She was fast asleep in bed by 7:30pm, and I had time to sit in bed with some tea, writing thank you notes.  It was a tiring day, but a wonderful one!