Mr Eli turns 2!

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I can hardly believe it. Our darling little boy turned 2 on Wednesday!

We had a wonderful day celebrating. We started off our day at 5:30am, (as we do most days!), we had lovely cuddles in bed before heading downstairs. We’d set the living room up the night before, ready for Eli to pounce bright and early the next day. We sauntered down the stairs and said a big “1, 2 3… HAPPY BIRTHDAY!” as Eli entered the room. He stood completely still, mouth gaping, in utter shock! It was amazing. We must have stood there for a minute before he gathered that all these bright and exciting presents were actually for him! It was so sweet. He spent the entire morning overwhelmed, not quite sure where to look or where to run to next. It was amazing to see him opening presents this year, and even better when he realised what was actually beneath the wrapping paper. Just the best feeling in the world – I could have watched him all day,  as he was just enjoying EVERYTHING. He even blew out his candles himself this year! (I spent the day previous baking his cake – never have I ever been so stressed in the kitchen in all my life! Blog post on the cake to follow)

We went off to the Big Smoke a little later than anticipated due to the present-opening overload. The weather forecast was torrential rain for the day… but it was bright when we got to London Zoo; and swelteringly hot by mid-afternoon. We went to Colchester Zoo for Eli’s 1st birthday last year… think we may make a Zoo visit it an annual thing for Eli’s birthday as he absolutely LOVES the animals! To the extent that he cried when we would leave a section of the zoo to move onto the next area! His highlights were definitely the giraffe’s, hyena’s, goat’s (!!!) and all the different monkey’s (takes one to know one!).

We had a very full day at the zoo and Eli had TWO naps! TWO! We had a not-so-good experience at Strada in Camden and headed home – we didn’t get in until 10:30pm! Time certainly does fly when you’re having fun!

Eli is the happiest little boy who loves adventure’s. It’s incredible seeing him grow – I never thought we’d actually be able to see it happening before our very eyes, but he is developing every single day. He completed our lives he arrived on 6th August 2012 and we couldn’t be prouder parents. Eli is quite literally magic.

Our precious boy, always ask questions – always be curious. We love you to the moon and the stars and back!

Here are some snaps from Eli’s 2nd birthday celebrations!

#MrEliTurns2

MM.

x

#MrEliTurns2

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So there we have it. As of 21.43 on 6th August, we have our very own 2 year old human!

 

 

 

 

Recipes | Harissa Chicken and Bulgar Wheat Salad.

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We’d tried this lovely Harissa Chicken and Bulgar Wheat salad a few times, from the Hairy Bikers ‘Hairy Dieters’ cookbook before we even knew about the 5:2 diet! It really is a delicious, well rounded meal – very tasty! And better still, it’s very filling – just what you need on a Fast Day! This cookbook is perfect if you’re also undergoing the 5:2 diet. A lot of the recipes are under 300 calories! So perfect for Fast Day’s.

So here is the recipe!
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HARISSA CHICKEN AND BULGAR WHEAT SALAD*.
SERVES 4 – PREP 15 MINS – COOK 20 MINS
270 Calories, per portion.

Bulgur wheat salad:
100g Waitrose bulgur wheat
150g  cherry tomatoes, halved or quartered if large
1/4 cucumber, diced
4 spring onions, trimmed and finely sliced
1 garlic clove, peeled and crushed
Small bunch of flat-leaf parsley (about 10g), plus extra to garnish
Small bunch of fresh mint (about 10g)
Finely grated zest of 1/2 unwaxed lemon
Freshly squeezed juice of 1/2 lemon
Freshly ground black pepper
Harissa chicken:
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/2 tsp sunflower oil
1 tbsp Harissa paste (preferably Tose Harissa, I used Waitrose Ruby Rose Harissa).
Lemon wedges, to serve

1) To make the salad, rinse the bulgur wheat in a fine sieve and tip it into a medium saucepan. Cover with cold water and bring to the boil, then cook for about 10 minutes until just tender, or follow the packet instructions. Rinse the bulgur in a sieve under running water until cold and leave to drain.

2) Tip the cooked bulgur wheat into a large serving bowl and add the tomatoes, cucumber, spring onions, garlic, parsley, mint, lemon zest and juice. You’ll need about 3 heaped tablespoons of each herb once chopped. Season with lots of freshly ground black pepper, toss everything together well and leave to stand while you cook the chicken.

3) Place each chicken breast between 2 sheets of cling film and beat with a rolling pin until about 1.5cm thick. You need to make the chicken breasts about the same thickness so they cook evenly.

4) Brush a griddle pan or non-stick frying pan with a little oil and place over a medium-high heat until hot. Griddle or pan-fry the chicken breasts for 2 minutes, then turn them over with tongs and cook on the other side for another 2 minutes.

5) Brush the chicken breasts with half of the harissa on 1 side only and turn over. Cook for a minute while brushing the reverse side with the remaining harissa. Flip over and cook for a further minute or until cooked through. Check that there is no pinkness remaining.

6) Transfer the chicken to a board and leave to rest for 3–4 minutes before serving. Garnish with extra parsley and the lemon wedges and serve hot with the bulgur salad.

ENJOY!

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Do you have any 5:2 recipes to share? Get in touch! I’d love to try them out!

 

MM.

 

*Extracted from THE HAIRY DIETERS by Si King and Dave Myers published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson priced £14.99.  Copyright (c) Byte Brook Limited and Sharp Letter Limited, 2012. 

 

Happy (post) Halloween!

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As previously mentioned, at Halloween Mr Eli is ALWAYS going to be a Mr Skellington (complete with Converse!). Here he is in his second year of skellyton-ness! This year his outfit is actually pyjama’s from Gap KIDS: Glow in the dark skeleton sleep set. It’s sold out at the minute, but always comes back in stock.

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We love this little Skeleton Boy SO MUCH! 

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Flying Mr Skellington!

After Mr Skellington Eli had his bath, Daddy asked if Eli could indeed go to bed in his skeleton outfit pyjamas. Who are we to decline a skeleton of his threads? So Mr Skellington did indeed go to bed suited and booted! He was a little confused at his outfit when he woke up I think…

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Please do share what your little ones dressed as this Halloween!

 

MM.

Halloween costume inspiration, for kids!

We LOVE Halloween. But, we’d already decided before Mr Eli arrived that he was ALWAYS going to be a skeleton, with Converse on, at Halloween. Well, until he’s old enough to say “NO MORE NOW, PLEASE!”, of course.

But I can’t help but adore these following costumes I’ve found on Pinterest. Most of them would work at any time of the year too, not just Old Hallows Eve. ENJOY!

(Below is a small selection of the costumes I’ve pinned, to view the whole lot, click here >>> Halloween Inspiration)

UP!
UP, image taken from Pinterest.

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E.T, image taken from Pinterest.

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Fox costume, image taken from Pinterest.

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Lady Liberty and Honest Abe, image taken from Pinterest.

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Spray painted toy soldier (not sure how the poor bairn walks!), image taken from Pinterest.

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Cardboard box dinosaur, image taken from Pinterest.

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Don Draper (not sure how appropriate this is!), image taken from Pinterest.

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Jesse and Walt (REALLY not sure how appropriate this is, either!), image taken from Pinterest.

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Zombie kid! Image taken from Pinterest.

MM.

GUEST POST: Wriggly Rascals | Best toy’s for babies.

Click here to head to WrigglyRascals.com

The lovely ladies from Wriggly Rascals asked if I’d do another guest post for their wonderful website, and of course I said yes! This time we’re looking at the best toy’s for babies. Christmas is coming up, so take a look at the full blog post, here: Best Toy’s for babies.

And don’t forget to sign up to the Wriggly Rascals website to join the conversation!

MM.

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If you need any parenting reassurance, ask @wrigglyrascals for help. www.wrigglyrascals.com

@wrigglyrascals is a new community to help newmums, join in. www.wrigglyrascals.com
About Wriggly Rascals
Wriggly Rascals was set up by Shona Motherwell, a frustrated mum of twins Mhairi and Archie to get mums together to share pregnancy, baby and toddler advice via quick surveys to get the facts about what other mums do. Our mums pass on loads of great tips to mums who have asked for help. If you would like some advice, get in touch at www.wrigglyrascals.com

Help needed! Songs, nursery rhymes and lullaby’s.

After coming to the conclusion that *most* nursery rhymes are actually pretty frightening (Humpty Dumpty dies… Jack, from Jack and Jill, smashes his head open and ring-a-ring-‘o roses is about the plague for crying out loud!), I turned to my iPod for exciting sounds for baby boy bump to listen to.

He favoured The Beatles, Enya and Fleetwood Mac. But that’s about it.

I’d like to actually sing mumble through some ‘classics’… What songs or nursery rhymes or lullaby’s did you yakkety yak sing to your bump and then continue to murmur sing when your buddle of joy was born? What songs did your bump respond to most?

Would love your thoughts on this one!

MM.

Today I’m making…

…Curtains! These are for our nursery.

What do you think of the IKEA bunting print that we’ve chosen?

 

MM.