7 Days - The tantrum

Mini egg nails//new hair//photoshoot//Rosie decided to apply make up//photoshoot

 

I have been a terrible blogger of late and my only excuse is that I have been quite busy with work and also have developed a terrible addiction - to Candy Crush. If you don't know what that is then never find out as it will take over your life!

Last week was really quite uneventful in our household, Monday to Thursday involved the usual activities such as work, nursery, swimming and such like. Friday we had a bit of a situation; we had gone into town to do some odds and ends which began with a visit to the Post Office as I had about 14 parcels to send and Tom had to update his driving license photograph. The queue is always massive at this Post Office and they are so slow at serving - unusually so, but as we walked in I noticed they had a new touch screen pay and go parcel machine. Thinking this would make my life much easier I told Tom that I would just use that whilst he was waiting in the queue for the fancy DVLA photo booth. Rosie was sort of dotting between us which was fine until Tom got further away and the place started to get busier. I asked her to come over and help me, which she did for about 3 seconds before deciding she wanted to go back to daddy. I explained to her that she had to stay with me and as she tried to escape I grabbed her hand. We then experienced the mother of all Meltdowns. She was screaming and kicking and lying on the floor. All with me trying to hold on to her hand whilst weighing and scanning parcels through this machine. If I could of I would have stopped what I was doing but there was a man waiting behind me so I just tried to do it all as quickly as I could. At one point I glanced up and all I could see was these faces just staring at me as if to say "Look at that terrible child, the mother can control her" etc etc. As soon as I could I took Rosie over to the side and sat her on the seats. A lovely kind lady came across and asked if I needed any help or if there was anything she could do for me. She also tried to talk to Rosie to tell her that she had to help mummy. A minute or so later Tom came across and I actually just burst into tears I was that mortified. My heart was racing and I could feel my blood pumping, also in the process I had managed to hurt my back. Tom managed to calm us all down and we finally got the parcels posted. I never want to experience a situation like that again and will definitely make sure Rosie is always in a pram! Goodness knows what it will be like with two!!

After the trauma of the Post Office we did actually go to a nice little tea room for some lunch but I was still so flustered by it all that I didn't really think to take any pics - it was delicious though. Rosie was unfortunately still playing up. She has been so naughty lately!

On Saturday I had a Bridal trial in the morning which was great fun as my clients has decide she wants to go for a Cara Delvingne look which shakes it up a bit from the usual requests. After the trial I went and got my hair chopped off. I think about 6 or 7 inches must have came off it and it is now it a lovely long bob style which is so much easier to maintain that my long, thick, main was and it feels so much healthier. Here is a before and after pic:

 

Sunday, Rosie and Tom went off to Tom's parents for my nephews 3rd birthday party whilst I worked on a photo shoot. It was a hard day and we worked from 12 till 7 but got some brilliant shots and had such a laugh. When I came home I was ready to collapse in my bed but not after a few rounds of Candy Crush!!

 

Love Sophie

xox

 

 

7 Days

Pancakes//my face//20 week scan//cute toddler Toms//meal planning//a delicious dinner (thanks Charlotte & Rosie)//baby top knots//cake face//k2

So the other week I did a list of what's been good or bad in my life but I have decided to change that and instead do a weekly round up post. Purely because that's what I enjoy reading and as I want this blog to be an online journal of my life I think it fits in better. I am hoping to post these every Monday but it true "me" style I am already a day late with that!

 

Sunday

It is the start of wedding season for my business which unknown to many isn't May to September but actually more like February to November so really the only two months I have off is Dec and Jan. Through out those months I have been chomping at the bit to get back to the swing of things so was very happy when I had an appointment booked in for a trial on Sunday morning. Off I went to meet my lovely client and work out some wedding day looks for her. She was so sweet and had the cutest little boy! I love clients that you can have a right good laugh or chat with. After her trial I went and did a quick food shop before coming home to do some admin work. Tom and Rosie were staying with his mum and dad so I had the house to myself to get on with those bitty jobs that you never get round to doing. When they got back I gave R such a big squeeze and the we had some fun playing whilst Tom cooked a delicious tea of sweet and sour chicken, then it was bath, story and bed for R and then some blog time for me!

 

Monday

As well as working freelance I also work 15 hours as a medical secretary at our local hospital. Monday is a day that I work there and always begin with a totally mad dash of getting up, ready, getting Rosie ready, packing bags and dropping R off before heading to work. It is always such a crazy rush and I am always at least 5 mins late for work. I just never have enough time! I finished work at 2.30 and then headed home where I had a few ours to myself to tidy the house and more importantly catch up on blogs! My mum has R till around 7pm so when she gets home it's just a case of putting her to bed and having a catch up with my lovely mum.

 

Tuesday

Tuesday is swimming day, well it has been since last week. I just wanted to spend some more quality time with R, especially before K2 comes along so decided we would go once a week. She was so good and I think only had 2 tantrums, one brought on by the little accident we had... They have a wee toddler pool bit with a cracking slide that has been there since I was about 4, to get up to the top there is two narrow sort of enclosed stair cases either side. I was hoping that for some stupid reason R wouldn't notice the slide (it's pretty much the focal point of the pool) as normally there is me and Tom there. One to help her up the steps and the other at the bottom to catch her. Of course she spotted the slide and was desperate to have a go so I reluctantly allowed her, telling her to be very careful. Are two year olds ever careful? No. So of course she wasn't paying attention going up the stairs and of course she ended up falling down half of them, backwards! I was horrified, I rushed out to see she was ok - which she was, after a few moments of tears and kisses better. But she wanted to embarrass me more and when I told her that she couldn't go up again cause it was to dangerous she had a melt down. This was worse that the fall. A kind man asked if she was ok and suggested that his son could take her up the stairs, so off she went and finally had her shot on the slide. As soon as she hit the bottom, I caught her, thanked the man and rushed off totally mortified. Swimming totally wears R out so when we got back we had lunch and then she went for a 3 hr nap whilst I sorted through some stuff to pack as we are moving in the next few weeks.

 

Wednesday

Today was another work day but only till 12pm so after work I decided to grab some ingredients and have a go at making a chocolate cake with the help (or hindrance) of R. After that it was time to cook tea before story bath and bed. I was totally shattered after R went to bed as Tom works late Monday - Wednesday so it's constant go go go.

 

Thursday

Another work day till 2.30 - it seemed to be hectic at work yet time passed so so slow. I hate days like that. I had taken some chocolate cake in for my colleagues which was very much appreciated, try it for yourself here. It's funny how I work with a team of Dietitians yet there is always some sort of cake/treat in the kitchen! After work I nipped to B&Q to get a starter switch for our light. Does anyone else feel totally out of their depth in there? I must always have a look of sheer confusion, or they have very good customer service and someone always asked if they can help! Thank goodness as otherwise I would have been there for 3 hours instead of 5 mins! I got the switch and headed home with the intention of fixing (or rather watching Tom fix) our stupid kitchen light that has been on the blink for weeks, I was totally over cooking in the dark! I proudly presented the vital part, however it turned out that wasn't the problem, the bulb had gone too! I was livid. What a fail.

 

Friday

Friday was our 20 week scan day which you can read about here.

 

Saturday

We were supposed to be heading to a 2nd birthday party but both Rosie and Tom were suffering from colds and were a bit under the weather so we decided not to go and instead had a cosy day in, where I sorted through bags and bags of Rosie's old clothes. I actually cannot believe how much stuff she had, most of which was given from kind friends who's babies had outgrown them. Sorting through the clothes actually took around 4 hours! It was a bit of a non eventful day really!

 

Sunday

Tom was working all day today so again me and Rosie just hung out, watched about a thousand episodes of "Jake and the Neverland Pirates" and "Doctor McStuffins", made puzzles, coloured in and just made a mess. I decided that I was going to have a go at Rosie from Cider with Rosie Bee's Chicken and leek pie recipe and what better to go with it than Charlotte's Roasties recipe. Oh my - it was delicious! Seriously the best meal I have cooked for a while. You need to try it now! Also a bonus is that it's really pretty simple. I have added it to my list of favourite meals. After stuffing my face to the point where I needed to lie on a cold floor, I helped Tom put Rosie to bed and then chilled out with some blogs.

Love Sophie XoX

 

 

Groceries #2

Something rare happened this week - Tom unpacked the shopping!!!! Whilst this was a lovely rare occurrence unfortunately he manage to do it before I had realised that I hadn't had chance to take a picture. I am really not doing well at the picture thing this week! I promise to try better next week. If you would like to see more of my photos then feel free to follow me on Instagram. I normally post at least one picture a day there!

I was going to type out the list but with the above picture it's not really necessary as its pretty obvious what the items are. FYI " easy fit pants" are R's nappies!

Again it was a pretty cheap week, so along with Tom's discount and the coupons we had it was about £35!

Here is an idea of our meal plan this week:

Bacon & leek pasta

Home made Nandos

Chicken & leek pie with veg and roasties

Roasted red pepper pasta

It's just me for meals on Monday night and only me an Rosie on Tues, Wed so we normally have left overs on those nights or cheeky freezer meals such as fish fingers!

Love Sophie XoX

 

The best chocolate fudge cake you will ever make!

Quite a claim but this cake is so absurdly easy and so so so yummy. The only down side is that it is packed full of sugar, not so good but fine as an occasional treat. Unfortunately I am the words most messiest cake decorator so the above image is a from weheartit, but you get the idea.

 

Ingredients

For the cake:

250g Self Raising Flour

325g Golden Caster Sugar

1/4 tsp Bicarbonate of Soda

3 heaped tbsp Cocoa

250g Butter

250ml Coca Cola

125ml Milk

2 Medium Eggs

1tsp Vanilla Extract

 

For the frosting:

200g Butter

4 tbsp Coca Cola

3 heaped tbsp Cocoa

400g Icing sugar

 

Combine the flour, sugar, cocoa and bicarbonate of soda. Melt the butter together with the coca cola and then add to the dry ingredients along with the milk, eggs and vanilla. Gently combine before putting in a lightly greased cake tin. Bake at 180 degrees/ gas mark 4 for 40 mins or until a knife comes out clean. Cool on a tray.

 

For the frosting melt the coca cola with the butter and pour into the icing sugar. Add the cocoa and beat until smooth and thick, let it cool slightly and then spread over the cake.

 

I then put the cake in the fridge to let the icing set firm and fudgy!

 

Serve with cream or ice cream or by itself as its a super moist cake. Let me know if you try this recipe and how it turned out!

 

Love Sophie XoX