fun for free: art gallery

We hoped to take the train to britomart and get all fancy in the down town precinct then the weather looked iffy and we thought, ugh all Olive will want to do is crawl about and we will be wrestling our 9 month old on our shoulders for so many hours. Today the forecast had changed and we had a rethink about where we actually wanted to go and realised the art gallery was a great plan.

We braved the bus into the city. I know! 

Dad chose my socks. 

15 minutes into the journey we were still in Onehunga and I was loosing my nerve. The girls were having a blast, Olive waving at our fellow passengers and Ada chomping on some crackers or looking out the window. I was busy worrying about the fact it was 25 more minutes till we got off. Cam talked me down and I reassumed positive outlook and lo and behold no meltdowns on the way there! Hallelujah! 

Finally using hand sanitizer?!!

Our bus dropped us outside the Civic and we went across to the takeout Korean Pancake place. Yum! We ordered cinnamon, beef and cheese and vege and cheese. These are delicious filled pastry-like pancakes and are cheap as! We ended up eating them in the art gallery cafe, no askew glances noticed by me, so they probably didn't happen. Ada said no and ate all the feijoas instead. No problemo the cinnamon pancake went very well with my long black. We try to not just go to a cafe each Saturday, but lo and behold, there we were again. We had a little book to ourselves overlooking the rotating L's outside. "Look they're turning!" Ada could sit in the high chair and Olive could walk around the buggy and not get covered in mud. Win win win people. 

The art gallery did not go as smoothly as our trip to the Wallace Centre, only that the girls attention span was getting short. We did get a good 15 minutes in on the ground floor but there was only paintings there. Olive walked a good 8 steps in the big rooms! Ada would point out one she liked in each room, I couldn't always decipher why each one was liked. 

Considering the brush strokes. 

The education room was good fun though! Tables for drawing, a tv playing peekaboo, placard signs to wield! Olive looked adorbz playing in a round window until she hit her lip. Blood not so adorable. She stopped crying super quick but we went outside to the bean bag book corner for safety's sake. 

Crazy eyes.

We only hung about in the city for a total of 90 minutes but Cam and I totally felt like it was a breath of fresh air. So many little victories. We took just enough snacks. Go raisins! Go crackers! Ada is toilet training and on the bus home she told me she needed to do a wee wee, so I whipped off her tights and threw on a pull up. Success! No wees on me or the floor! Finally 15 min from home, the bus taking the full HOUR to travel home, Ada got to look through photos on Cam's phone and then when we were almost home Ada said she was tired and it "might be bottle time". We made it. Home and two girls asleep in beds in 10 minutes flat. 

I am a big believer in plan b, or what's the worst that could happen, we can always just go home, not today! In the words of Dora and Boots  "we did it, we did it, yay we did it!"

9 months!

Well little miss Olive hit 9 months last week! She is a wee bundle of joy and in particular loves to share a laugh with her sister and a cheeky grin with me, squinty eyes, two teeth and a little heh sound. Olive is loving herself some new motor skills; waving at new friends, animals and us, she dances, clapping and bopping to the beat. It is all rather adorable. She has ventured out on her own two feet, so far she has taken 5 tiny steps. Quit it!
 
eight months.
seven months.
six months.
five months.
four months.
three months.
two months.
one month.
Ada at 9 months.

milk boosting treats: dairy free oaty cookies and lemon truffles

Gosh, I had it easy with Ada, girl just fed and fed. Olive was a bit trickier. My milk supply was great, then average, then non existent at certain times of the day. I tried a couple of things to increase my milk production, lots of water, special tea but brewers yeast was the one that had the most effect. To give your milk supply a big boost in quality and quantity try making this milkshake found at breastmates.co.nz, a great website for breastfeeding support of all kinds. Clothes! Encouragement!

When I discovered Olive couldn't tolerate milk I found two other tasty ways to incorporate brewers yeast into my diet that wasn't sprinkled on soup or toast (not for me).

Lactation Cookies

A tasty little recipe that will help to improve the quality and supply of breast milk.  2-3 smallish ones a day will help balance out your supply but if you need to boost the supply eat more. The oats are a great mood stabiliser and I don't need to explain the necessity of chocolate. To make these dairy free use margarine and very dark chocolate chips.

·       1 cup butter

·       1 cup sugar

·       1 cup brown sugar

·       4 tablespoons water

·       2 tablespoons linseed (flaxseed) meal*

·       2 large eggs

·       1 teaspoon vanilla essence

·       2 cups flour

·       1 teaspoon baking soda

·       1 teaspoon salt

·       3 cups oats, thick cut if you can get them

·       1 cup chocolate chips (optional, add cranberries or almonds or similar if that suits you)

·       2 tablespoons of brewers yeast* (be generous)

Preheat oven at 180ºC

Mix together 2 tablespoons of linseed meal and water, set aside for 3-5 minutes

Cream margarine and sugar. Add eggs one at a time, mix well.

Stir linseed mixture and add with vanilla to the margarine mix. Beat until blended

Sift together dry ingredients, except oats and chips. Add to margarine mixture.

Stir in oats & chips

Scoop small balls onto baking sheet lined with baking paper.

Bake 8-12 minutes, until they are just browning and smell like cookies

NB: MUST BE BREWERS YEAST,  not bakers yeast, I bought some at the local health shop. This recipe makes 6 dozen small cookies so you can freeze the dough or bake the cookies and then freeze them. I think I did both!

Lemon and Coconut Truffles

These are adapted from the recipe found at a lovely local blog petite kitchen a great resource for dairy, gluten, refined sugar free recipes, if that is your bag baby! 

·       1 1/2 cups unsweetened desiccated coconut

·       1/4 cup for coating

·       1 cup ground almonds

·       1 tbsp brewers yeast

·       4 tbsp extra virgin coconut oil

·       4 tbsp honey

·       zest and juice of one lemon

·       1 tsp pure vanilla extract

·       a pinch of sea salt

In a food processor or bowl mix all of the ingredients until the mixture starts to mix together like a dough.

Use your hands to form small balls.

In a separate bowl, add the extra coconut. Roll the balls in the coconut until well coated then transfer to a plate. Place in the fridge for at least half an hour to set

NB: The truffles can be kept at room temperature but they are best kept in the fridge and will keep about 4 days.

chalky make up