Lots of changes a foot!

Well its been forever since I last blogged! How time flies when you are busy with 2 kids, a small business run from home, a part time job that I've been doing extra hours in plus just keeping up with friends and family and sleep and the housework, not to mention my study to become a lactation consultant.

I welcomed Judith on board this month to help me out with Breastfed Babes. Her support and ideas have been invaluable and I am so glad to have her on board. We are planning on hitting some markets and seeing how they go, and if they go well then we'll look into registering our little business as an official one! How exciting.

We have had to raise our prices a little, just to make sure we are earning some income which will help keep us going. It means we can look at actually doing markets and getting a product shoot and maybe a webpage and lots of other things.

In the meantime we have been sewing up a storm and yet again improving the breastfeeding covers. So now they look even more amazing!

We also have a new slogan!!

Breastfed Babes - Out and About in Confidence!

Have also been getting some lovely and amazing feedback on the covers and it is so rewarding to know that the covers are helping mothers feel more comfortable to breastfeed in public!

Well that is all for now, I hope I can be a little more diligent with this blog! But we'll see.

Bye for now!

June stocking coming soon!

There is some excititing things happening at Breastfed Babes!! I am going to be collaborating with the lovely Renee Sweet Cheek Crafts, check out her facebook page for more info http://www.facebook.com/#!/sweetcheekcraftsau .

I am just waiting on some more material and stock to come in before I do my stocking, also gives me time to get the rest of my covers made. The covers have also been revamped and are looking gorgeous! I am very excited and can't wait!

Also with this stocking I am going to be doing a bit of a discount offer. I'll be offering free postage on my products for any customer that buys a product from some of my fav business, will let you know which businesses later!

One will be Sweet Bubba Eco store! Who at the moment is having an amazing giveaway! They are giving away a pack of Munchkins Skin Delight, just check out their facebook page for details http://www.facebook.com/pages/Gold-Coast-Australia/Sweet-Bubba-Eco-Store/376930399678 or blog http://sweetbubbaecostore.blogspot.com/

For now you can have a sneek peek on my facebook at page of things to come......

As promised Recipe Sunday!!!

And to kick off Recipe Sunday.....

The most amazingly delicious Raspberry Cake!

Ingredients

1/3 cup plain flour
2/3 cup almond meal
1 cup of icing sugar
90g of butter melted
3 egg whites lightly beaten
1 tsp of vanilla extract
1 cup of frozen or fresh strawberries

What to do

Preheat oven to 180 degrees (160 for fan forced).
Combine flour, almond meal, icing sugar, butter, egg whites and vanilla in a bowl. Mix until smooth.
Fold berries through.
Spoon into a greased and lined with baking paper, 18cm round cake tin.
Pop into the oven for 35-45 minutes or until golden brown and the centre springs back to gentle touch.
Let cool for 5-10mins then remove from cake tin and let cool further.
Cut and serve with fresh whipped cream and fresh raspberries.

Yum!!! I promise you this is the most amazing cake ever. And when warm the berries are like little pockets of berry sauce that explode in your mouth!

The added beauty of it is that you can double the mixture for a bigger cake or make it into cupcakes instead.
You can add mixed berries frozen or fresh, or try any sort of fruit that you like!
I think it would be wickedly indulgent with some white choc chips and the raspberries.

I have even served it warm with a raspberry and white chocolate sauce and ice cream as a dessert!

Hope you enjoy!

PS the photo was of the one I made last night with mixed frozen berries, was the best comfort food ever!

Hmmm haven't posted in ages

Eeeep haven't posted since January!! Holey moley, the reasons I am sure are numerous (went back to my paid job, lost my passion for sewing thanks to a dying sewing machine etc). But now am back!
I recently celebrated my 28th birthday and my awesome Daddy surprised me with a brand spanking new sewing machine, which of course reignited my passion for sewing.

So I have big plans of pjs and jackets for my boys for winter, softies (soft toys) to use up my scraps of material and I have 4 breastfeeding covers ordered and am just waiting on fabric to arrive.

In the meantime, winter is well on its way and the winter lurgies have made themselves comfortable in our household. I am still recovering, as is my hubby and my 10 month old is struggling after 3 weeks of different illnesses. So life is stagnating a little for now, but am sure we'll be back up and running soon.

In the meantime, I am thinking of some new ideas like Recipe Sunday, Kiddie Fun Monday and maybe some more.
So watch out for tomorrow post, I will post the most amazing raspberry cake recipe every!!! It is highly versatile and awesome warm just out of the oven so come on back tomorrow to check it out and it is an easy one!!

For now I hope you are enjoying your weekend!

Will someone please take these lactation cookies off me......

I have been struggling, the last few weeks, with a distracted 6month old, who whenever is breastfeeding, would rather pull off and watch his big brother or other various things in the room. As a result my supply dropped and then James (my 6 month old) started to get cranky at the breast as of course then there wasn't enough milk.
So I got frustrated and started giving him top ups after feeds and of course my supply plummeted further and if he even saw the bottle he wanted that instead of the breast grrrrrrr.
Anyway, I had admitted defeat and was going to just let him have a bit of both, but with him starting daycare this week, I decided I really wasn't ready to stop feeding him and oh my gosh, bottles are a pain in the buttocks with all that sterilising and having one ready at all times in case we need to go out. Having boobs is just so much easier.

So hoped onto the Nappy Addicts forum and got some inpsiration from the girls on there to keep going and build my supply back up. I hit the fenugreek and blessed thistle hard, started pumping like crazy, feeding James as much as possible and if he was distracted I put him down and let him get hungry again before putting him back on (worked a treat), ordered some breastfeeding tea from Nursing Angel as well as some pump parts I needed and the girls on NA gave me the lactation cookie recipe. Oh and ordered myslef some more Mumma Rocks, these awesome necklaces that are designed so that if baby tugs on them they won't break, they keep James occupied while feeding as he can play with them till his heart is content.

So since then I have been eating these damn cookies like crazy (they are yum) and well my supply has well and truly returned, James hasn't had any formula for days and the last bottle he had was at daycare on wednesday. Woot woot, yeah, so happy to have gotten it back up and I really thought I didn't have it in me again to boost my supply, but I managed to commit myself to it and I just kept thinking "I am giving James the optimal nutrition he needs and how can I take that away and give him something sub-optimal?"

So that brings me to sitting here eating lactation cookies for breakfast (the last ones left, thank god) and tomorrow will be a new day with no cookies in the house and I can get back to eating consciously.

In the meantime I am consoling myself that at least eating these cookies is helping me feed my son, I'll just keep on believeing that for now.

So because of all that, and my NA addcition, I haven't gotten to doing anymore sewing. But am hoping as this weekend is a long weekend that I will get the last 2 covers sewn and start playig around with a new summer design as it has been so hot here in Brisbane that I am finding my little boy sweats like crazy under the cover, so am looking at making some muslin covers, but need to play with them a bit first.

That's all for now, I promise I will write more often (not that anyone reads this do they?) and I will stop eating cookies and I will do some sewing.......