Oscar's photo shoot at Fontaine Studio

Having a baby will get you a fair amount of presents (for baby). The majority is usually baby clothes that said baby will grow out of in a matter of weeks. Sometimes, they can never fit into the baby clothes at all. Seriously, Oscar wore newborn for a matter of days it seems like.

Our friends the Fontaines, Dee and Sareta, gave us the wonderful present of a photoshoot for Oscar. As you can see, the results were amazing and something to forever cherish.

NCT Sale!

I do love a bargain. I must have gotten that particular trait from my Momma! Well we hit the Nearly New Sale with a few things in mind. Didn't get any of those things, but o well. We were initially looking for some cloth diapers (which, we talked to a woman volunteering at the sale and she said generally you don't find them there) and a jumperoo. I think we may end up buying our own because all the ones we saw either had stains on them or looked pretty banged up. But some of the GREAT stuff we found:

-Cath Kidston cowboy blanket. These usually retail for £15 and I got it for £3!!!

- Dr. Sears Fussy Baby Book. Retails for £10 got it £4. (Oz isn't a fussy baby, but you never know, right? And I love some Dr. Sears.)

- a set of 3 John Lewis long-sleeved onesies for £1.50

- a mobile for £2.60

- Baby swim seat that retails for £7.40 for £2

...and a few other things. We spent £20 the whole day and then found a £5 on the floor on the way out! I don't feel so guilty spending money on Baby Gap clothes when I get so many good deals like these.

Baked Ziti

My friend, Tracy over at Forked blogged about this dish the other week. We make it pretty regularly in this house and it definitely qualifies as Comfort Food. This dish is so easy. Ridiculously easy. I will give you measurements, but 1) we usually cut it in half because there's the 2 of us and it makes enough for 2 lunch portions for the next day and 2) once you make it once, you can make it again without looking. It is that easy and such a quick meal to make! Make a starter salad and add some bread and butter and everyone's happy!

Ingredients:

454 g Ziti Pasta

680g Ricotta cheese (2 pots)

455 grated mozzarella cheese

1 egg, beaten

896g spagetti sauce (2 jars)

25 g grated parmesan

To Cook:

1. Cook pasta till tender

2. mix pasta, ricotta, mozzarella, egg and most of the spagetti sauce together

3. heat over to 375 F (190 C)

4. lightly grease a big enough baking dish and pour in pasta mixture

5. top with remaining spagetti sauce and sprinkle parmesan

6. bake for 30 minutes and then let stand to cool

Unfortunately, tonight's dinner of Baked Potato Soup didn't go as planned. It was too freakin' hot today. What is that about England? Fuckin' up my menu....sheesh.

Car Booty and Green Glass finds

A few weeks ago we found out about a MASSIVE car boot sale that happens every Sunday on the road behind us. I have no idea how we have lived here for 2 years and NOT known about this. So we go to check it out and find all sorts of treasures. We bought a stuffed dragon for Oscar, some books for Griff, some books for Oscar, a funky 70's canister for my kitchen, 3 Harry Potter dvds that I needed to replace and a Patsy Cline cd. And of course I had my eye out for some new pieces for my green glass collection. I think the whole morning we didn't spend more than £20 and had bags full.

I found these 2 pieces individually and spent £2 for the decanter and £1 for the salt container. I love them both so much and are great additions for my collection. It's about time to find another shelf to continue on to.

And while I've never thought I would expand the collection to blue glass as well, I found this beautiful little vase for £2 and wanted it. I can't wait to put some gerber daisies in it!

Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup

The combination of being sick and the weather beginning to feel like fall made me want nothing more than comfort food. All week. So this week we've done an entire menu dedicated to our favorite comfort foods. Fatty? Yes. But totally worth it.

Here is the recipe for Chicken Noodle Soup. Griff cooks this one in our house, and it made me feel so much better! I have gotten a nasty cold (part II) after just getting over one. So here it goes:

Ingredients:

4 cups chopped, cooked chicken

1 cup chopped celery

1/4 cup chopped carrots

1/4 cup chopped onion

1/4 cup of butter

8 oz. egg noodles

12 cups of water

9 cubes of chicken bouillon

1/2 teaspoon dried marjoram

1/2 teaspoon ground pepper

1 bay leaf

1 tablespoon dried parsley

To Cook:

In a large pot, saute celery and onion in butter. Add chicken carrots, water, bouillon cubes, marjoram, black pepper, bay leaves and parsley. Simmer for 30 minutes. Add the noodles and simmer for 10 more minutes.

It is too lovely! We found this recipe on Allrecipes.com, but as always we sometimes play with amounts (for example this last time there was more bay leaf!). Guaranteed it's better than ANYTHING you can buy in a can.

Down with the Sickness

So far I have really just shared all my new mommy joy. Yes, most of the time it does feel like all sunshine and butterflies but today I wanted to share something that has been hard for me.

Being sick. Being a new mommy and being sick IS HARD. It is the worst conflict ever, because your body wants to stop, sleep and rest and you have this itty bitty person who still depends on you 100% and has NO CLUE that you don't feel well. On top of that, you still want to love and cuddle itty bitty, but you know you shouldn't because of GERMS. UG. It's been a rough week people. I'm ready to feel like super-mom again.