Munchkin White Hot™ Inflatable Safety Duck Bath Review

Picture from Argos website

I always like to share products that I have found really useful on my blog. Parenting is such a minefield that anything that can make it easier is a blessing.

One item I have used daily since Archie was about 6 months old (old enough to sit up and not need his Angelcare Soft Touch Bath Support, which I reviewed here: http://becomingmamalucy.blogspot.co.uk/2015/07/angelcare-soft-touch-bath-support-review.html) is the Munchkin White Hot™ Inflatable Safety Duck Bath.

I really love this product. It has made bath times a lot safer, well I feel it has for me and my baby. Archie has been pulling himself up to stand (and is now walking) for some time. Once he started doing that he wanted to try standing at bath time. Of course I discourage it because water, soap and bath = slippery baby and surfaces... but sometimes babies don't listen. :)

The Munchkin duck bath has meant I can wash him in a smaller, baby friendly bath environment. It is a smaller amount of water, the sides are supportive and the bottom is less slippery than a bath tub in a bathroom.

The inflatable sides also helped support him when he started to sit up. Meaning he would have a little support sitting if he needed it during the early stages of him sitting independently.

There is also a temperature sensitive dot on the bottom which tells you if the water is too hot.

It also saves on water as I don't have to fill up a whole bath tub for him and it has a plug in the bottom which you can drain the water from.

Another great aspect to this is that you can deflate and inflate as needed. We generally always keep it inflated at home (as we used it nightly) and then use the suction pad on it to hang it on the wall. But when we travel we deflate it and take it with us.

It has been so useful when staying places that only have a shower and when deflated it barely takes up any room in your luggage.

This is a great item to have for bath time and I continue to use it now, Archie is 13 months old. I would highly recommend it and it would also be great for holidays with babies and toddlers.

I did a quick search and it is currently on sale at Argos, at £9.99: Click Here

Something sweet...

I have become a real cafe junkie since becoming a Mum, due to my need for caffeine combined with a desperation to escape the house some days. This has led me to enjoy some great cafes around S11, including Eve's Kitchen... A beautiful little artisan kitchen and handmade doughnut shop. But these doughnuts are not your average doughnuts!

Eve's Kitchen makes doughnuts with amazing flavour combinations and the fluffiest dough I have ever tasted! (So light you could be forgiven for thinking it was healthy). With flavours such as matcha and white chocolate (this is my favourite at the moment!), lemon meringue and mango and passion fruit...

And when I heard that they make festive themed doughnuts at Christmas (for instance mince pie doughnut)... well I almost had a meltdown in excitement and anticipation. I know where I will be getting my lattes and sweet treats this winter.

While I wait for those coffee filled colder months they also offer iced teas for those rare sunny days. The other day I went in, needing a doughnut fix after a toddler-tantrum filled morning, and it was one of the very few sunny June days we have had. I was desperate for an iced tea. I had been dreaming of a delicious iced tea for a few days to be honest, and when I asked what cold drinks they offered I was silently pleading, please say iced tea. And they did!

The answer to my iced tea dreams were answered with this... (just wow)...

How can I not love a place that offers delicious doughnuts, pray answering iced tea and food that makes a blog look this beautiful!

I cant recommend this place highly enough.

Link to their website: http://www.evekitchen.co.uk/
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/Evekitchen-372212209645336/
And twitter: https://twitter.com/eve_kitchen

Vegetarian Lasagna: a dish for you and your baby

As Archie approaches his first "official number" in years, the big 1... I am feeling more confident about the foods he can have, and that he can have what we are eating.

In an attempt to cook a meal we could all eat, I made a massive vegetarian lasagna the other day and was really pleased with it. Veggie lasagna is a firm favourite of Archie's when I have given him baby food from a jar (I know some Mums will be horrified that I did such a thing but I frankly don't give a damn). Anyway, I wanted to try and reproduce a family version at home, cutting out any additional salt that I may have previously put in for flavour..

This does make a massive lasagna, which is perfect for feeding parents for 1 meal and then making several smaller portions/meals for your little one.

A couple of additional, but important notes, don't give this to young babies, I would suggest this is more suitable for 10 months plus. I also whizzed the portions for my son through a food processer so that they would be easier for him to chew and swallow. This made for a nice textured and tasty meal while reducing any choking risks.  

Ingredients (feel free to use whatever veg you want though).
Red sauce:
2 carrots
1 onion
3 gloves of garlic
3 sticks of celery
1 large pepper
1 courgette
Handful of olives
1 whole broccoli
500g of Pasata
1 tablespoon of tomato puree
1 teaspoon of pesto
Sprinkling of pepper
1 tablespoon of butter

White Sauce:
25g of butter
25g of plain flour
600ml of milk

Sheets of Lasagna
Handful of mature cheddar cheese.

Method:
We need to make the red sauce first...
Firstly peel, top and tail and cut the ends off any of the vegetables that you need to... i.e. peel the carrot and cut off the ends, cut the trunk off the broccoli, aka apply common sense ;)
I then put everything through my food processor using the slicing extension, so all the vegetables ended up being in thin slices. (Lazy, but quick).
Then put the butter into a large frying pan, along with all the veggies and cook for around 10 minutes. Until the vegetables have started to soften.
Now add in the pesto, pepper, pasata and tomato puree, mix well then leave to simmer for a further 10 minutes.



While that is simmering make the white sauce...
Firstly melt the butter in a pan then add the white flour. Mix with a whisk until the butter and flour bulk together like a yellowy, thick paste.
Now add the milk a bit at a time and whisk thoroughly between adding milk. You need to whisk on a low heat until the mixture begins to thicken. You are looking a for glue like consistency...

You can now build the lasagna. Layer it red sauce, white sauce, lasagna sheets and repeat. I found this made about 2 layers of each and then on top I had a layer of red sauce with white on top. I then topped it off with a handful of mature cheddar cheese.

Cook in the oven for 25 minutes on 190C.

It will be a perfect meal then, ready to be eaten by parents. Lovely with a spring salad. (It needs to cool down before baby can eat it).

I then saved the rest, which was over half. I portioned it off into baby sized portions. I have been mixing these portions in a food processor, then heating them in the microwave for 30 seconds. Mixing well, to distribute the heat, then feeding to Archie. (Always check the temperature of any food you feed to a baby).

I hope you and your family like this if you make it. :)

And lastly, please always be careful with any allergies, especially with babies and children. This does contain some allergens.

Cake Smash!!

I have booked my son in for a cake smash photo shoot this month, for hist 1st birthday.

I am excited to get some professional pictures taken and let Archie have a fun time smashing up a cake. I have no doubt my little man will look super cute covered in cake!

Deciding to go all domestic goddess I planned to make the cake for him. It didnt have to be perfect after all, he is only going to smash it up. But I wasnt expecting my first attempt to be this bad...

Luckily my second attempt has gone a lot better and I am more confident I can make something half decent for his cake smash...

 

If my final attempt is any good I will put a picture up and maybe a "how I made it" blog post. :)