A wee while ago I was chatting to Ally who was 32 weeks pregnant about mum-to-be life ...she asked me, and I quote "How do we introduce our slightly nutty cat to the baby when it arrives?" Little Sophie Baker arrived on 7th April, so I'm way too late to help out the Baker family BUUUUT it did get me thinking (albeit slowly): Baby and Dog, Baby and Cat...that's actually quite a tricky little meeting!

We don't have any pets. I really want a blue (apparently that's what grey dogs are called) whippet but our downstairs is all hard wood floors, which don't mix with scratchy little claws. Oh, and I couldn't handle having a baby and dog, and still manage to look after myself. So I looked to my more 'with it' pals (one's a doctor, one's a dentist, need I say more?) to tell me how they introduced their pets to

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Taking Baby Swimming - A guide to underwater swimming

Build up to it - for younger babies and first time swimmers, don't do more than 3 or 4 submersions in 1 session, increase the number each week (or each day if you are on holiday!)

Cover the head - always ensure your baby is fully submerged, the water must cover their head. Be decisive and aim for about an inch of water above baby's head, leave them for a couple of seconds and then bring them back up to the surface.

Listen to baby - if they protest a lot, build up even more slowly. It's meant to be fun so take the lead from your baby!

Reuben isn't very keen on this but we keep persevering! 

Ready?

Go!

Piece of cake!

It's been a week since we went travelling with baby to Gran Canaria and although we've been back a week, I'm still not through the washing pile!! So, while I wait for the next load of washing to finish I thought I'd evoke that last minute packing feeling (yes, I am the kind of person who packs at 9pm the night before leaving for holiday) and tell you all what I packed, what I didn't need and what I wished I'd taken!

In case you haven't been keeping abreast of our family trips (you are forgiven), here are the details so you know whether to cut the amount for shorter trips or double it for longer (it's a bit like a recipe!), or increase/decrease the clothing layers.

Destination: Gran Canaria,

Duration: 7 days

Other details: all inclusive (not to make you jealous, but in case you want to take more baby food!)

Travelling with baby

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My nick name as a kid was water baby. When we were near water, I'd be in it. Even when we were out walking, if I could hear a stream or spy something watery looking in the distance, I'd be running off to find it, stripping off as I went. Despite this love of water, I never made anything of it - the training was too early and other things became interesting to me (boys). Even so, one of the first questions I asked my midwife when Reuben was born was 'when can I take my baby swimming?' My friend had sent me a swimming costume for him and I couldn't wait to get him in it! Of course, then life happened and just trying to exist day to day was hard work so it wasn't until he was nearly 5 months that we finally got round to it.

check out my

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This week is Real Nappy week, so to honour the occasion I am going to talk about...real nappies!

At the beginning of the year I blogged about Hattie, from free our kids, and her ambitions to live for free for a year. In the post, I wrote about how she inspired me to consider using Real Nappies. In the comments of that very post Kerry recommended that I get in touch with Aggie who runs Grow up Green, a personal service real nappy retailer.  Aggie offers a 2 week trial of no less than 17 real nappies, plus all the accoutrements you need (bucket, bucket liner, nappy liners, full instructions for how to use each nappy, etc), for £20.. It's a great idea as it means that you can try out a whole bunch of nappies to see which type suits you and baby's bum the best. The only difference is that normally when

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Happy Easter! This post does involve a chick experiencing some baby massage but I'm afraid that's as Easter-y as it gets. I hope you're having a lovely long weekend though!

Aaaaaaages ago, I was exchanging emails with Ally who commented on my blog post about breastfeeding in public. One of the things she said she'd be interested in me blogging about was...

By my calculations, Ally should have a 2 week old baby now so this post should start to come in handy in the next couple of weeks...I remember when Reuben was about 3 or 4 weeks old, I suddenly found myself starring at a baby who wasn't crying, feeding, pooing or sleeping. I literally didn't know what to do with him between then and the next time he'd need something! So I did my best to entertain him. It was pretty lame. After that it was clear that we were

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Right. It's 2 weeks since I started project 'being Annabel Karmel' now I'm weaning a baby and I'm actually loving it. I have been really busy making baby food (while working out and on the odd occasion cleaning, of course!) and taking loads of photos, but I've got so much to say on the matter that I've managed to get bloggers block! I don't know where to start.

As a recap, here are the rules:

I will make all the recipes that are suitable for Reuben's age and stage

I still have to do all the other things I normally do - if this is to be a true test of the practicality of being Annabel Karmel, I can't go on strike and only make baby food. AK wouldn't.

Weaning a baby - Peach Puree

 Cheers! 

Yesterday I FINALLY got Reuben a high chair. I feel like a terrible person because a) I've been feeding him either on a bouncy chair or in him bumbo (both of our preference is the former) and b) for that reason I've not been giving him hardly any finger food. The mess, oh the mess! So now we have a high chair, today we've been trying out some baby led weaning recipes.

Hello, I'm cute

So, back to baby led weaning recipes...

It seems, however, I've got baby led weaning recipes all wrong though. It's not just steamed veg and bread sticks. There are websites (and books no less) dedicated to proper recipes - I'm talking beef casserole, chicken soup, and mushroom risotto! I've got a pal who's baby has recently rejected the spoon and she's having to go whole hog baby led, so, the fact such recipes exist is good news for her.  And, here's

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A few weeks ago we went to Center Parcs Whinfell. We went with Mike's mate, Julian, and his family and it was great. I was really impressed by the quality of the chalets - the kitchen work tops are granite for gawd sakes! Here are my tips for enjoying it to the full, even with the littlest ones.

1. Pretend your money is monopoly money - otherwise you will get pissed off at the prices and the fact you have to pay for everything, and ruin your holiday.

2. Book activities in advance - Everyone says you need to book your activities in advance and this is definitely true for the kids stuff as we got the last 3 places for the princess and pirate party. However...

3. Don't do what I did and panic hire a bike in advance - unless you are actually planning to use it! Gabby used her bike a lot

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Now Reuben has turned 6 months, it's full steam ahead with project weaning a baby and, thus far, we've been trying a combination of baby led weaning recipes with some mushy stuff. He's loving it and only a crap ice cube tray from ASDA has been harmed in the process (they really are only made for water!)...

Swede ice cubes. Do not put in Rum and Coke

A couple of years ago I watched Julie/Julia the film about a woman who decided to make all 536 recipes in Julia Child's catacomb of a cook book - Mastering the art of French cooking - in 1 year. I loved it so much my mum said I should really read the book. There was a lot more emphasis on the process Julie went through. She made a few dishes in the evenings and then blogged about it the next day. I was really inspired by

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