Chasing Butterflies Daily

Because those with achondroplasia have a delicate spine that needs extra care (to learn more you can read one of my previous posts: Caring for a baby with Achondroplasia ) I was not sure what that would mean for weaning Elis onto solids. I knew that I wanted to do baby led weaning, I had done purées with our eldest as that was the only option doctors seemed to force upon me in Belgium and as a first time mother I didn't question their knowledge. I hated it and as I wanted to make everything from scratch it was extremely time consuming even when I pre-freezed portions. When we found out we were having a second child I dreaded the prospect of doing purées again, I did not know where I'd find the time with two children aged 2 and under to make the food. Baby led weaning (BLW) had already sounded tempting to me, there seems to be far more benefits to letting them feed themselves from the start, as it seems to help promote the muscles needed for speech and chewing abilities, you g...

I don't know about you guys but when I was little I was told to suck it up a lot of the time (especially by my dad) whenever I hurt myself. He repeatedly told me he just didn't understand why there was such drama over the smallest cuts and bruises and then when I actually injured myself seriously I would cope quite calmly. I never had an answer for him, but like with a lot of things, I am totally with him on that one now I'm a parent. Other things he constantly banged on about included posture and table manners, which for all that it annoyed me as a child I really appreciate now, good table manners cost nothing but make a world of difference to an meal with someone. One of his favourite Swedish sayings that I also now appreciate is: "Låt maten tysta mun" (Let your food silence your mouth). I used to think he was so strict (he wasn't really) but now I have children who genuinely never stop talking, I totally get where he was coming from. When I've got foo...

From the minute you announce your pregnancy you get bombarded with advice and opinions from everywhere from your friends and relatives to the TV and social media. The list of do's & don'ts is frankly exhausting as you try to figure out the balance between the mother you had hoped to be and the mother you actually are (I think a lot of us aren't prepared for the many ways motherhood changes us, and I'm not talking about the physical changes; the gap between expectation & reality is often greater than you'd previously thought). There are two frequently used terms that I have mixed feelings about; they both usually come from a well meaning place, but I think they both cause a lot of unnecessary pressure, especially on new mothers but I've also seen and experienced it myself in the transition from one to two plus children. These two phrases are:  "sleep when the baby sleeps" and "treasure every minute"  and as I said my feelings towar...

There are few flavours I enjoy as much as lemon and coconut, they don't have to go together but I sure do love them when they do. Another thing I really love are simple and quick to make recipes. With three little ones there are short windows when the baby sleeps that allow for baking with the girls (their brother is waaay too active to keep an eye on him to prevent him from injuring himself while I monitor the kids' baking). I found this oat and coconut recipe a while back when my husband and I both really fancied some biscuits but had very bare cupboards at home (because we live rurally there is no "just nipping" to the shop if you've forgotten something in the evening), the biscuits came out tasty but I felt there was room for improvement. So here is my tweaked recipe: Ingredients 125 g melted butter 100 ml sugar 250 ml oats 100 ml desiccated coconut 100 ml flour 1 tsp baking powder Juice from a lemon (I used all the juice but if you aren't a...

Our firstborn was a late speaker; I just put it down to her being brought up bilingual as I had heard plenty say that they often are later speakers as they have more to take in. I believe there are studies that have come out that suggest that it doesn't play into it (it certainly didn't slow down our second child's speech development), so it is probably far more down to how each individual child is built and processes things. Personally it didn't bother me too much, the exact reason wasn't so important to me in any case. The way I see it is that all babies and toddlers have so much to learn that they all prioritise different skills at different times. Our firstborn had great fine and gross motor skills for her age so I just thought the speech would come on it's own as and when she was ready. She definitely understood everything we said to her in both English and Swedish, so even if she couldn't respond verbally most of the time she made herself underst...

Babies may not be able to speak but they still find ways to show how much they love those around them. Here's a list of how ours have shown us affection since birth: Try to claw your face off;  this is also how they let you know it's definitely time to cut their nails and I'm fairly sure they mean to scar you at least once so you're marked like cattle. Each one of ours has left their mark on me, luckily they've also given me more wrinkles so you can hardly see the scars. Try to gouge your eyeballs out;  they say the eyes are the windows to your soul, your baby essentially own you anyway giving them access to your soul isn't a big ask of you think about it! Fish hook you,  preferably so they rip off layers from your gums - you guessed right, if they draw blood they really, really love you! Head-butt you,  this is especially terrifying when they barely have any neck strength - I believe they want you to prove your reciprocal love by stopping it fr...

Most kids like to make a mess, ours love to make as much of a mess as humanly possible. I mean I've seen other children look on with horrified expressions when our two girls get stuck in as they seem to be on a mission to get as dirty as they can (no idea what #3 will be like but considering he already loves to follow them about I won't be surprised if they teach him to behave the same). Before kids I thought all children loved a certain level of mess making but being a parent has taught me that children are all so different; what some find fun and intriguing is an overload to the senses for others. Our girls NEED to feel everything, it seems to be a strong compulsion. If the paints come out in our house I have to know that I've got time to throw them in the shower after because we have yet to make it past the 5 minute threshold before one of them starts to paint themselves (which only encourages the other one), I don't try to stop them any more because they ha...

Last week I was taking our two youngest ones to a Halloween party being held at their weekly baby & toddler group - Nova was delighted (I think she mainly wanted the brownies she'd seen that I had baked, she kept walking about saying "Happy birthday" mixing that and Halloween up completely). Upon seeing her Halloween costume - which I hasten to add, she had picked herself in the shop and even worn a couple of days ago for actual Halloween - she completely lost it and started screaming. She's a toddler and doesn't need a reason in case you've not encountered one before and are wondering why she'd do this. To set the scene I need to backtrack a little: this is early in the morning, I have three young children which by it's very nature means I'm incredibly sleep deprived. I had just been decorating the brownies with icing to make them look like they're covered in spider's webs and blood for the two Halloween parties we were attendin...

I've got a rehearsal tonight and one of the other cast members had asked me to bring any left over brownies to it from the school Halloween party. The brownies are long gone so I thought I'd make one of my other easy favourites. I always end up making at least a double batch of these as well as my husband and I can't help but pig out on them. It's another very popular treat in Sweden and the only reason you wouldn't find it in a bakery is because they've sold out. I have over the years adapted it and created some really tasty non-child friendly truffles by adding different liquors. Today's batch has some Tamnavulin whisky in it but I've found brandy to be a safe bet, and Grand Marnier gives it a delicious citrus kick. Personally I can not stand Amaretto but I could imagine that would be popular with some, so feel free to experiment! I tend to use an electric whisk or blender to make the mixture as smooth as possible, but you can mix it with y...

I feel like the blog deserves a wee post explaining the reason for it's name and our family's general obsession with butterflies. I blame it all on our firstborn as we weren't always so crazy about them (don't get me wrong, we've always loved them, but the kids have taken it to a whole other level!). While expecting our first my husband and I struggled with finding a name for our daughter that we could both agree on. It seemed like we never felt love for any of the names the other would suggest, there were names we hated, names we felt lukewarm about and names that we both did quite like but they just weren't "the one". When we had broken our pregnancy news a few months previous to a close family friend her first comment had been a cheeky remark about what a nice name she had. We had all just laughed it off though and not thought anything more of it. Fast forward back to our name discussions that were getting nowhere fast despite having known the...

I don't normally add icing, but these were for the school Halloween party. I've had a few requests for my Chocolate Brownie recipe so I thought I'd share it with you guys on here. The recipe is for a Swedish Kladdkaka (Messy/Gooey cake) and is a popular cake in most homes. My one has been passed down by my Great Grandmother, Essie, and to me it brings back a lot of childhood memories, my mum served it as dessert at dinner parties often and I've yet to see anyone turn their nose up at it. I still make it as a cake but it goes down so well in our house and is so easy to make (I know it off by heart now) that I have started making a double batch to bake brownies. It's sugary, chocolatey and so so gooey it's dangerous to have sitting about the house, well at least it is if your self control is anything like mine! Below is is the recipe for my Gran's cake for which I use a round 23 cm (9 inch) pie dish, the cake is quite thin but full of flavour; it's...