Midweek Musings: kitchen tables and life without a laptop
Hello y'all. You may (or may not!) have noticed that I've had a little pre-spring clean of the blog! I loved my old template but I realised it was quite difficult for people to find older content as it wasn't really signposted anywhere, and I noticed lots of people were searching for my old pregnancy updates. Hopefully now they are easier to find - and not too in your face?! If you like the template, then can I recommend its designers Pipdig, who I've been really impressed with. They have lots of clean, efficient designs for bloggers and are really good value too - check 'em out. Is it just me or does January feel like it's dragging on?! I've had enough of the cold and dark now - I'm ready for spring. On a more cheery note, finally, our new kitchen table arrived! As I've mentioned before, in my titchy kitchen I used to have a small Victorian table that I picked up for £40 at Ardingly Antiques Fair (sidenote: if you love furniture, it's a must-visit). It suited my purposes pre-baby, but we knew that when we started to wean Chip we would need something bigger as we'd have to give up our TV dinners in the living room *hangs head in shame*. Obviously, choosing a new kitchen table is a task that's right up my street thanks to my day job, so I couldn't wait to get stuck in.
It's not a huge space so we were limited in what would fit. This was the one I wanted (LOVE LOVE LOVE Ercol furniture, have lots of it in my living room)...
ercol-chiltern-table-lifebylotte
But here's what we ended up with.
ikea-lisabo-lifebylotte
I know. I'm disappointed in me too. I weighed it up for days (ask Oli, it's true) but decided that as we're (fingers crossed) going to be moving house soon, it was daft to spend rather a lot of money on a small kitchen table, when hopefully in our new place we'll have space for a really big one (ooh er). So we went with the cheapie option (£120!!!), and actually I have to say considering the cost, it looks really lovely. The Ikea democracy strikes again.
In other news - and I've already tweeted about this, sorry, snore snore - my stupidly expensive shiny gold (pah) Macbook is currently in hospital after suffering from one too many ailments. Seriously, I love this machine - it's the lightest computer I've ever owned and the screen is beautiful. But it's shit. Really. I only bought it last summer and ever since then I've had no end of annoying issues with it - first up, it drops the Wifi connection for no apparent reason after about an hour. You have to disconnect then reconnect and then it works again. Not the end of the world, but enough to get irritating. Then I noticed the keyboard (it's got this new fancy pants 'butterfly' keyboard which means there's not much of a click when you hit a key) started sticking randomly, meaning I'd have to properly whack keys to get it to type. Difficult if you're a fast typer (and no, I didn't spill anything on it). Then one day the keyboard gave up completely and the whole computer when mental - basically the keyboard switched itself into some weird mode, sylliric (sp?) or something, which meant when I turned it off, it didn't recognise my password. I can't even remember how I fixed that now. And then finally, last week, the cable gave up charging. Rubbish!
Anyway it's been sent away to Exeter (random) to be fixed and in the meantime, I'm laptop-less, which sucks!
I wish I could take it back and swap it for a Macbook Air. I had a Macbook Pro before and no complaints. They're just heavy and more powerful than I need. In fact, this is my first Mac computer that's given me any grief. Just a little warning if you're thinking of getting one, as they're not cheap!
Finally, a little request if I may. Not the most cheerful of topics, but does anyone have any tips on getting a will done? I've realised that now we have a baby it's time to be GROWN UP about this stuff, and I really don't have the first idea where to start. Are online wills kosher? Or do you need a proper solicitor? Any advice gratefully received! Ta muchly.
THE RIVAL, my novel about career and motherhood, is on sale now. You can find out more about THE RIVAL here, and order here if you want to make my day. UNFOLLOW ME will be published in June.
Midweek Musings: Back on the job
Last week marked the official end to my maternity leave, as I started a new part-time position at Houzz UK as staff editor. It's pretty much the dream position for me actually, because I get to work with one of my close friends and also get to work for one of the most exciting digital companies in the interiors field today. Plus it's part time, as I said, so I still get to be a mummy who lunches the rest of the time (not going to give that up in any hurry).
It was a shock though, setting my alarm, putting on something other than pyjama bottoms and battling through the commuters like the old days. I had forgotten just how busy London is at that time, and I'm not going to lie, I felt OLD. It made me genuinely want to run away to the country and open a cattery or something.
Once I got to the office however, things improved. I'd missed the buzz of working with a big team, and a company with the investment to actually make things happen. I'd also missed lunches from EAT. Ha. I'll be writing features as well as managing some of the professional contributors who submit articles for the site and am really looking forward to getting stuck in. It'll be especially nice to be back on the journalism side of the fence after spending the last two and a half years doing commercial work.
Other than that, this week has been quite quiet as both Daph and I have had a cold so we've been in hibernation. Babies with colds are not fun. We did however, take Daph to be weighed finally at the health clinic - first time since November - and were somewhat alarmed to be told she now weighs a whopping 15lb 5. It's official, she's a porker. She's now on the 50th percentile! (I've banged on about this loads but she was on the 2nd when she was born). The health visitor was a bit snooty and said we had to keep an eye on her - at one point she stared past my shoulder and said sadly 'this is what happens with formula babies you see' and I had to resist the urge to bop her on the nose.
I won't be putting Daph on a diet any time soon (everyone says as soon as she starts crawling the weight will drop off) - in fact we're going to start properly weaning her TOMORROW as her high chair and dining table are arriving. More on them in another post - but I'm so excited to finally be getting a big table that we can actually use for the kitchen, and I'm hoping we can do more mature mealtimes with all of us sitting around the table talking about our days together.
As for weaning - we've already given her a taste of baby rice and she loved it - but my god what a mess it makes. Shall have to hide my OCD self in a cupboard or something...
Midweek Musings: New Year, New Everything?
A very happy new year to you all! I know I'm a bit late to the party but I've just got back from Dartmouth in Devon, where I spent my 35th birthday. I'll gloss over the whole 'turning 35' thing because to be honest it REALLY doesn't seem important anymore - just a bit random. Like, I remember every now and then how old I am and think 'huh, that's mad, how did that happen' then carry on doing whatever it is I was doing. Age is just a number blah blah.
Dartmouth was Chip's first official 'holiday' and it went pretty well, all things considering. Four-month-old babies certainly don't travel light - we managed to squeeze her buggy, cot, Sleepyhead, Perfect Prep machine, baby bath and car seat in my old Golf, along with ourselves and our own luggage of course. She coped pretty well with the five-hour journey, bless her, although she did decide to do a poonami both on the way there and on the way back, meaning we had to try to change her at the side of the road twice. Top tip: the parcel shelf makes a very good changing mat.
I've already written about Dartmouth so I won't go into too much detail again. But it was lovely to have Chip there with us in our favourite place, and my parents and sister also came down too so for once I had my whole family around me on my birthday. Oli and I even got to go to the cinema (Star Wars - can't remember a dicky bird about it now) - the first thing we've done together without the baby since she was born!
Best of all, I got to visit my favourite art gallery, Baxters, and bought myself a new piece of art - this serene lithograph by Alan Stones. I'm going to hang it above my pink sofa, instead of the triptych of Vogue ladies (they're framed in cheap Ikea frames and the mounts have gone a not-very-attractive shade of yellow).
Anyway I'm quite glad to see the back of 2015, although all the bad things that happened pale into insignificance when I see my little girl beaming up at me first thing in the morning. But 2016, I have high hopes for you! Namely: we need to find a new home and I need to find a new career. No pressure then...
Midweek Musings: Christmas, Christmas, Christmas!
Just a quick one this week - to wish you all a very happy Christmas!
We're spending Christmas week down at my folks', and have already enjoyed two family Christmas get-togethers and far too much cheese! Daph is being spoilt rotten by my parents and all the visitors we've had. And I've been getting some lie-ins as Granny looks after Daphne for me ;)
We also bought her a projector light show for her cot, which has worked really well at entertaining her for a bit while we groan when she's decided 6am is the time that the day should start.
Oli and I always do rather OTT stockings for each other, so I'm looking forward to that! He also said he's bought Daphne a few bits which will be a nice surprise for me :) And he already surprised me on Saturday by giving me this beautiful handmade decoration as a reminder of Daph's first Christmas! Again, I cried. Ridiculous.
I'm going to have a little break from blogging now as no one wants to read posts over the Christmas holidays. But I'll be back in the New Year (soz). Thanks to everyone who reads my ramblings, and thanks even more to those who leave comments! It's so nice to have an outlet when I'm not working - although I will be starting a new freelance job in January (eeek!) which is very exciting - more on that in the New Year...
Hope you all have an absolutely wonderful Christmas break, filled with friends, family and the aforementioned cheese! See you in 2016!
Afterthought: this post is severely lacking in snark. Must be the Christmas spirit getting to me.
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Midweek Musings: Instagram, Anaemia and Stylish Storage
I'm writing this during one of those sacred forty minutes that happen (if we're lucky) four times a day. Naptimes. Except that for some inexplicable reason my neighbour seems to be drilling in their garden (IN DECEMBER?!) so I'm not sure how long I've got before Daph decides she's had enough of the racket. Fingers crossed.
This has been a funny old week. First off, I noticed about three weeks ago that the corners of my lips were cracked. Not chapped, but actually cracked. It was starting to get really painful, and every time I ate or spoke (let's face it, these are things that happen a lot) it hurt. It got worse and worse, until I started to resemble The Joker. I consulted Doctor Google, as ever, and was informed of a condition called angular cheilitis. Which can either be caused by thrush (!), a bacterial infection, or an iron/vitamin B deficiency.
Anyway, I continued slathering on Vaseline and Eight Hour Cream in the hope that it would go away, but to no avail. Hence me rocking up at the doctor's in desperation, only to be told that anaemia is really common after you've had a baby, as the baby nicks all your iron stores (little sods). And that an iron deficiency was most likely to be the cause, especially as my periods have restarted and I've had three heavy f*ckers since having Daph.
The whole situation has been compounded by the fact that I decided to give up red meat for a month when Daph was about 10 weeks old, because of some Horizon programme or something I'd vaguely watched while half asleep one evening, that said red meat gave you bowel cancer. So just when I needed to eat more red meat, I'd cut it out completely. Massive Homer-Simpson-style DOH.
I'm rambling, but my point really is: women who have just had babies! Do not give up red meat! Eat more steaks. Drink more blood. You need the iron. Here endeth the lesson.
Luckily my lips are getting better with the aid of some athlete's foot cream (Nice! it specifically says DO NOT USE ON THE FACE on the packet, but I'm hoping my doctor knew what she was doing when she prescribed it...) and lots and lots of burgers. And steaks. And spaghetti bologneses. Cutting out food groups is a mug's game.
Onto more salubrious topics! I've been searching for a few weeks now for some attractive storage for Daph's ever-expanding toy collection. But everything I found was really dull, or super twee. Until I turned to my trusty friends at Nordic House, and fell in love with this amazing set of three felt woven baskets - I love everything about them! Nordic House have got some really great storage pieces on offer - and their beautiful white-painted furniture range is also extremely covet-worthy. Have a look!
Finally, like most bloggers, I use Instagram (hey! you can follow me here!). However, unlike most bloggers, my Instagram feed is not a thing of beauty. Most of my friends who blog have Instagram feeds that could basically be printed out as they are and set into a collage and framed in a tasteful white-painted frame and sold for £75, whereas my feed is just the most random mish-mash of stuff I've seen/done, and that - here's the kicker - I've REMEMBERED to Instagram. I always forget about Instagram, hence it's a bit of a mess.
But this video has made me feel ever-so-slightly better about it... worth a watch, apologies if you've already seen it, enjoy if you haven't. It really made me laugh.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFzKi-o4rHw
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Midweek Musings: Snoring and Sweater* dresses
*Yes OK, that should be 'jumper' dresses, but I liked the alliteration. I thought I'd start sharing some mini weekly updates of stuff that's been going on with me because there's all kinds of random things that happen during the week that don't quite deserve a blog post of their own, but nonetheless I feel the need to share/rant about. (I know I should call this my 'Gratitude List' or something but that would mean I wouldn't be able to moan ever. And I do like a good moan. So 'Midweek Musings' it is).
First up, this week we have a new neighbour in the flat downstairs. We are both very upset about this as we loved our old neighbours - they were a Bulgarian couple and the man was ridiculously good looking. I mean, RIDICULOUSLY - he looked like a model. I think even Oli fancied him. They had two kids under three and were very friendly and nice and neighbourly and took in parcels for us and stuff like that. But (perhaps understandably) when their second baby was born they needed to move to a bigger place, so they left at the end of November.
I have yet to actually MEET our new neighbour, who moved in last weekend, but he has certainly made his presence known. He snores SO loudly that I can hear it through the floor - even with my new carpet. When the baby wakes at 3 for a feed, I now find it impossible to go back to sleep thanks to the low-level vibrationathon going on below me. It has to be the world's most irritating noise - mostly because it's not constant but just repetitive and too low to be drowned out even by my white noise app. This morning at 5am I was tempted to write him a note saying he snores so loudly he's stopping us sleeping and would he mind killing himself or moving out, but resisted. And yes I am aware we have an oft-screaming baby and thus are massive hypocrites, but long-term sleep deprivation tends to bring out the psychopath in you.
Anyone got any hints for drowning him out? I'm trying ear plugs tonight - hate the things as they usually fall out but am getting desperate!
In other news, we are both totally addicted to this new iPad game - Wordbrain. It's kind of like a load of crosswords but without clues. Hard to explain but worth a look if you're at all a fan of word puzzles. It's SO addictive! Even though I'm rubbish at it. And Oli is brilliant. Which is slightly annoying.
And finally, I've completely fallen in love with Hush clothes. They seem perfect for new mothers who don't just want to slob about in trackie bottoms all day. I want the whole damn AW15 collection, but I have just treated myself to this amazing jumper dress. It's literally like a great big sweatshirt made into a dress. Pared with my maternity leggings (which I am steadfastly refusing to give up until Chip is at least 21) it makes the perfect not-too-scruffy-but-still-super-comfortable outfit. I'm in love. I also want this fab silk shirt, but will have to wait for the sale for that one...