Greenbelt, weaning and everything

Goodness, it's a while since I last blogged.  Immy, Marc & I all absolutely loved Greenbelt.  It was brilliant seeing so many of my friends again and fun camping for the first time in ages.  Especially since it appears that all you have to do to pitch a modern tent is say 'Piff Paff Poof', pretty much.  I was very impressed as I have many memories of having to hold precariously arranged poles while my parents tried anxiously to drape the tent over it and prayed that it wouldn't rain during the whole tortuous process.  The speakers I saw were excellent and the music was wonderful.  Immy particularly enjoyed Julie McKee and the folk club. We were sorry to have to go when it all finally came to an end.

Since we've been back, weaning has obviously continued.  So far, Immy has tried: rice cakes, dried apricots, apple puree, sweet potato puree, greengages, mashed banana, butternut squash puree, carrot puree and a bit of apple & strawberry fruit leather (a lot nicer than it sounds!).  She appears to have taken a dislike to the greengages and the butternut squash.  Oddly, despite now having three lots of solids a day, the breastfeeds have increased.  Particularly at night.  Whereas previously she had just started on giving me 6-7 hours sleep at night, she is now back to her newborn habits of 2 hourly feeding.  I'm finding the whole process very draining and stressful. Marc keeps reassuring me that all babies are weaned in the end and I won't be having to send expressed milk with her to university, but nonetheless I worry and find things frustrating.  You have this image in your head of babies taking to solids like the proverbial waterfowl to their water and I have found that that is thoroughly incorrect.  I really hope things calm down soon! 

Millet porridge gets the thumbs up!

So, after a two day break to allow Immy's illness to go completely, we restarted her on solids today.   She had millet porridge for breakfast (1 tbsp millet flakes to 150 ml water for those who are interested).  It was to have had am ice cube of apple puree added to cool it down quickly, but I was too late adding it, so it stubbornly refused to melt.  However, as it turned out, Immy loves plain millet porridge.  Rather a lot.  Especially with her new 'Reggae for Kids' CD playing in the background (it's surprisingly good, actually.  The CD, that is.)

I therefore learned two things today.  Plain is often good.  And millet porridge gets absolutely everywhere and is a total swine to clean up.

It's about time....

... that I started blogging again.  Remarkably, despite the fact that this is basically a personal thing, I've been feeling guilty about not doing so.  Amazing the things that one can feel guilty about, frankly, but there you go.  Part of the reason for the guilt, however, is that I intended this blog to contain some record of Immy's progress and I have been very remiss in not noting this.

So, then, some basic Immy facts.  She started babbling on the Thursday of the final week of her 5th month (if that makes sense).  She managed 'baba' and 'dada'.  Rather irksomely, given that I'm the person she spends most time with, 'mama' was not amongst the list.  I appreciate that these were not real words and that she was just playing with making new noises and that 'm' is a far harder sound than 'b' or 'd', but I was, nonetheless, slightly piqued.  

We started weaning her when she hit 6 months.  It might have been sensible to wait a little longer, since she still has the tongue-thrust reflex, but never mind.  So far she has tried banana puree, apple puree, rice cakes, carrot puree and sweet potato puree.  Unfortunately all that has gone into abeyence (sp?) for a few days since she got a sick bug last week and we realised too late that the solids were prolonging it.  She seems a lot better today, though, thank goodness and seems to have acquired a fondness for 'The Proclaimers'.  (Her eccentric musical taste also includes John Philip Sousa and other military music such as 'Colonel Bogey' by Kenneth Alford, trad jazz - especially Kenny Ball and Chris Barber; Lonnie Donegan, La Bottine Souriante, reggae, calypso and some god-awful rock stuff that Marc likes.)

This weekend should be fun.  We are all going to Greenbelt.  Marc being a clever bod is writing some comedy for it and therefore counts as a Contributor.  Thus we are going to Greenbelt for cheapness, which is even more of a Good Thing (TM).  'T'will be interesting seeing how she fares camping, but since she's a very cheerful and resilient little soul, my prediction is that she'll have a whale of a time.  Quite how I'll cope with the night feeds on a tiny little supposedly self inflating mattress with no back support should I need to sit up, heaven only knows.  I intend to sink to the challenge (IYSWIM), however, and thoroughly enjoy myself.  Particularly since I shall be surrounded by lots of lovely friends.  Hopefully I'll get some nice piccies, too.

Momentous Occurrences

So, yesterday was the first time I left Immy alone with her Dad for more than just a few minutes.  It was the first time, in fact, that I went out alone in a very long while.  And it necessitated the purchase and use of a breast pump.

Goodness me, they're weird contraptions!  It took me quite a while to get the hang of it.  And when I did, it was very bizarre indeed.  The noise it makes, and heaven knows why this surprised me, is EXACTLY like the sound of goat's or cow's milk hitting the pail.  And I mean, exactly.  I managed to get 6 1/2 fl. oz, which I'm told is not bad for a first attempt.  I must have been mangling it to start with, however, since I managed to make myself sore in the process!  But it does at least mean that I have the option of going out again at some point in the future.

And what was the occasion that set this all off, you ask?  My first cinema trip of the year to go and see Sex in the City with a friend and friend to be (I hope, anyway, since she seemed very nice).  I thoroughly enjoyed it and recommend it to anyone who enjoyed the series.  Parts of it were very emotional, as per the series, really, I suppose.  But mostly it was funny and sweet and felt like just a long episode of the series.  Well worth going to see!

The only downside was that when I got home I found out that Immy had apparently been missing me so much that she cried non-stop from 9.15pm to 10.30pm and nothing would placate her.  I'm not sure whether it was helpful for Marc to tell me this or not because it was quite upsetting.  Although, I have to admit that a tiny part of me was a bit gratified since it's a bit difficult to tell if someone loves you if all they do is eat and sleep.  I mean, she does giggle and smile, but you don't know if that is because something is inherently amusing or if she genuinely enjoys your company.  Last night I realised that it was the latter.  Hopefully she will be less upset the next time I go out since she will now know that I am coming back!  Poor little mite.  Needless to say (so I'm going to say it!) she got lots and lots of hugs and seems contented enough now.  She is gurgling and examining her fingers as per usual!

May the Saints in heaven preserve us

Big Brother 2008 has just started and Marc, in his infinite wisdom and equal stupidity, has decided that he simply HAS to watch it.  It's enough to drive me completely demented (which state I'm not too far from as it is, frankly).  I've warned him that he can't watch the whole series, but I'm not convinced that he was listening.  Knitting was slightly distracting me, but not altogether and I'm worried that the stress of putting up with Davina MacCall (sp?) squawking in the background has thrown my tension off.  So I've come out of the lounge to use the computer instead, in the hope that something online will soothe me.

Progress on the scarf is coming along.  It's been slightly slower going than I'd hoped for because Immy has been teething over the past few days and she's not been best happy about it - poor thing.   I've calculated that it will take about 300 - 325 rows to reach 54" and I've now completed 240 rows.  Anna's birthday is on the 12th, apparently, so I'm hoping to have completed it by the end of the weekend (including blocking) so that I can post it on either Monday or Tuesday.   The yarn really is very lovely and there will easily be the best part of a skein left so I'll be able to make me a hat, which I'm very pleased about.  

People and projects

Well, Tilly's lunch was lovely.  Both the trifle and the poncho were a great success.  Claire preferred the loose fit, so I didn't need to worry about fitting the snap closures.  Which was, to be frank, a relief, as I was a bit worried about them pulling on the fabric.  Not sure I really trust anything other than buttons or ties with knitted items.  Owing to the weather, it wasn't really practical to get a photo of Tilly wearing it, but I'm hoping that one comes my way once the weather turns.

I'm now about half way through Anna's scarf, but I've not worked on it for the past couple of days since I feel that I need to concentrate on every third row.  So I've also started a baby hat, which will be my first foray into colour work.  I'm hoping it works as I'm interpreting a pattern rather than following precise instructions.  I do seem to have a case of starteritis, though, since I've also got a hat for me on the go as well (in Wendy Fusion - should be pretty!).  Let's just hope that I get them all done soon as there are loads of other patterns I'm hankering after and I don't think having more than three projects on the go is a sensible idea!

Cooking again!

I appear to have managed to make three things in the kitchen (which aren't dead simple - like boiled egg) in the past 24 hours.  This is an achievement, since I haven't been cooking properly since I was pregnant.  It's entirely possible that this might not last (especially if Immy has another growth spurt), but I just wanted to record the occasion for posterity (lucky posterity).  

Yesterday, it was the rather unappetizingly entitled 'Brown Stew' from my Mum's old Stork cookbook.  I varied it a bit by seasoning the flour with paprika and adding tinned tomatoes and porcini mushrooms.  And apart from a mini mini disaster in the shape of some of it sticking to the bottom of the pan (I managed to ignore the injunction to stir it occasionally), it was actually rather yum.  I think it might have to go onto the list of keepers (dishes Marc would like me to make again).

And today I managed to make the passionfruit trifle from the BBC Good Food Desserts cookbook.  I have no clue what it tastes like yet since it's to be taken to Claire and Kev's for lunch tomorrow.  However, it smells divine and it's taking me all my self-control not to wolf the lot and make up some poor excuse for its absence.  Cross your fingers for me!

I also made the pork chops in mustard sauce from Nigel Slater's Kitchen Diaries.  People, you have to try this recipe!  It's so gorgeous I could probably eat it all week.  Well, not quite, but it was seriously delicious.  We had it with mashed potatoes (Nigella style made with warm cream and freshly grated nutmeg) and peas.  This too is a keeper.

No knitting,  but half the day was spent shopping and then it was Too Darn Hot and humid to even contemplate it.  Plus I was shattered.  I'm going to try and manage something this weekend.