25 Mar 2022

Mini Book Reviews From My Feeding Chair

The Maid - Nita Prose

Not a lot gets done with a newborn; we're not going to discuss the state of the house or the fact that I have sick on my shoulder. However, being stuck under a feeding/sleeping baby does allow quite a lot of time for reading which is a perk I wasn't expecting. Just need to figure out an easier way to turn the page one handed! Here’s what I’ve been reading in those quieter moments of those intense newborn days:


Ghosts - Dolly Alderton 


I really loved Dolly’s memoir Everything I Know About Love so was intrigued when I saw she’d written a novel. Ghosts follows Nina, thirty-something food writer, and the ghosts in her life; the new relationship starting on a dating app, the friendships struggling under the weight of children and moves to the suburbs, the ex-boyfriend moving on, her dad vanishing into dementia and the mysterious neighbour living downstairs. Over the course of a year, we follow Nina as she learns to adjust to a new phase of life, with witty observations on millennial living. Very enjoyable. 4/5 


The Fell - Sarah Moss


The Fell is the first book I've read that is set during the pandemic & I'll admit it does depress me a little that it has now been going on for so long that we have novels on the subject. But I found it really interesting to read a story set in such recent history; a time that is still very present and raw for a lot of us. Set in the November 2020 lockdown and told in stream-of-consciousness form by four characters - Kate & her son Matt who are self-isolating, their neighbour Alice who has been shielding for months and Rob who is part of the mountain rescue team - this follows the events of one evening when a desperate Kate breaks quarantine to go for a quick solo walk across the fells and ends up having a serious accident. It really captures the claustrophobia of lockdown as well as making subtle observations on the impact the pandemic had on society's behaviour and the place the world has become since March 2020. 5/5


The Gilded Cage - Lynette Noni


This is the second in The Prison Healer series; a dark fantasy full of magic and battles for the throne. I loved the first book so had high expectations for the second that it didn’t quite live up to. As before, I really loved the characters and the world but felt like I spent a lot of this book waiting for the action to kick off. I felt this suffered a little from ‘second book syndrome’; overshadowed by the first and setting the scene for the finale. Another good twist at the end though and I definitely will be reading the third in the series when it’s out in June. 3/5


The Gilded Cage - Lynette Noni


The Maid - Nita Prose 


A cosy murder mystery told from the perspective of a socially awkward protagonist who is struggling with her loneliness following the death of Gran, her only family member. It's heartwarming without being too sickly and there's a few unexpected twists along the way. Not sure it quite lived up to the hype but I enjoyed it all the same. 3.5/5


Small Bodies of Water - Nina Mingya Powles 


A collection of essays exploring nature, swimming, migration, food and family, amongst other things. I loved a lot about these essays, particularly the swimming diaries, the explorations of home, belonging & racism and the descriptions of growing up with the fear of earthquakes, but I did find some a little disjointed and like I was missing the point at times (which, of course, may have been just me!). 3.5/5


Love & Saffron - Kim Fay


Written as a series of letters, this gorgeous little book follows the friendship of two women living in 1960s America. It starts with a fan letter and a gift of saffron and develops into a deep friendship as they write back and forth with recipe tips, food stories and moments from their lives. It’s just so wholesome and will leave you feeling comforted, wistful and really hungry! 5/5 


Send Nudes - Saba Sams 


A stunning collection of short stories about girlhood and all the complexities of growing up as a young woman. I think it’s a real talent to keep the reader turning the pages with a short story collection because it’s very easy to dip in and out, but I found myself really invested in each story and character and unable to stop turning the pages. 5/5


Happy reading folks x 


Send Nudes - Saba Sams


21 Mar 2022

12 Weeks Of You

 Fourth trimester

We have emerged out of the fourth trimester and quite frankly, I need it written down in black and white that we made it. It was quite the wild ride, but we survived. 

You try and prepare as much as you can before having a baby and then naturally it’s the things you didn’t consider that come and get you. I wasn’t prepared for the shock of a fast birth. Of a dramatic delivery. I wasn’t prepared for the ‘journey’ we would go on with feeding: a baby with tongue tie, the horrendous pain of nipple trauma (I’d take labour any day), the inexplicable emotions of breastfeeding or the ordeal that is having your baby repeatedly weighed. 

It feels like it would be very easy to linger on how it ‘should’ have been, to replay the traumatic moments over and over in my mind but I want to draw the metaphorical line in the sand. Allow time to process, sure, but I want to be able to look back on the next three months and beyond and say that we did more than just survive. 

Baby boy, otherwise known as bubba, slobber chops, milky cheeks, little moth, snuffle piglet, buddy or doodle, smiles at his mama more than anyone else (insert slightly smug face here), refuses to stay still for more than a second, stares very intently and has incredible head control. He loves standing (all the damn time), his feet being tickled, belly kisses, chatting, lights and watching tv on the sly. He’s responsible for my clothes being stained with a whole array of bodily fluids, my camera roll struggling to contain the ridiculous amount of photos of his face and the fact that you can see my eye bags from space but he is an absolute bloody joy and I can’t wait to watch him grow. 


20 Mar 2022

Weekend Walks Around Wicken Fen

Wicken Fen

 As if turning thirty and having a baby wasn’t making me feel ‘adult’ enough, for Christmas, my parents generously bought us a year’s membership to the National Trust. And, well, it turns out there’s a reason lots of people with children do this. Because often you get to the weekend, look at your baby and think how the heck are we going to fill the day?! 

Our nearest National Trust place is Wicken Fen, a gorgeous nature reserve full of wildlife and clear waters reflecting the big skies synonymous with the fens. There have been a couple of Saturdays now where we’ve headed straight there, put baby boy in the carrier and gone for a brisk walk, either in the nature reserve where you can stroll along the boardwalk or in the surrounding countryside which stretches out for miles and is very pretty. Either way, we always finish off in the National Trust café where they do excellent pasties. Our weeks can feel pretty relentless at the moment and sometimes like we’re moving around each other as we deal with the demands of our mini human so this is a small joy that we’re really appreciating; getting out the house at the start of the weekend and debriefing the week whilst getting a fresh air fix. And you gotta love a National Trust café! 

Wicken Fen, Cambridgeshire

Wicken Fen, Cambridgeshire

Wicken Fen, Cambridgeshire

Wicken Fen, Cambridgeshire

Wicken Fen, Cambridgeshire

Wicken Fen, Cambridgeshire

Wicken Fen, Cambridgeshire

Wicken Fen, Cambridgeshire

Wicken Fen, Cambridgeshire

Wicken Fen, Cambridgeshire

Wicken Fen, Cambridgeshire

Wicken Fen, Cambridgeshire

Wicken Fen, Cambridgeshire

Wicken Fen, Cambridgeshire

Wicken Fen, Cambridgeshire


9 Mar 2022

Notes On My Thirtieth Birthday

30th birthday

Guess I can no longer refer to myself as a 'twenty-something' eh?

I always have a moment to reflect around my birthday but as this was the big Three Oh and the postpartum hormones were going strong, this was an even bigger reflection than normal. A few notes from my thirtieth birthday:

~ I feel very lucky to be able to say that I wouldn’t change anything about my twenties (aside from perhaps Covid). There were many anxieties and learning curves along the way but I wouldn’t change the opportunities, experiences and people it brought me for one second. What springs to mind when I think of the last decade: those intense but magical years at university and taking the tentative first steps into the adult world, working and falling in love in London, the privilege of travelling to some amazing places, the gorgeous years we spent in St Albans, getting-married-buying-a-house-having-a-baby, learning a lot about who I am and what makes me happy, having some all-round cracking times with family and friends, old and new.  

~ I am so grateful I started my blog aged 23. Having the memories of my twenties so well documented is priceless. Whether it continues via the blog or some other format, I endeavour to do the same for my thirties. 

~ I doubt I really had an idea of what I wanted from the decade ahead when I turned 20 years old at university but I’m almost certain I wasn’t expecting to meet my future husband just two and a half years later. Meeting Gary definitely changed the path I was heading down and whilst I’ll never know where I would have gone if we hadn’t gone for a drink in a crappy pub on Great Portland Street, I have no desire to know either. I’m so bloody happy we went for that drink and have spent the last seven years having a whole host of adventures together. He is, without a doubt, the best decision I could have made in my twenties. 

~ Getting older is a privilege (as they say; it’s better than the alternative). It’s also exciting. Knowing yourself better and being a little wiser to the world has so many advantages. There are many good days yet to come. 

~ I spent my 30th birthday surrounded by my favourite people and that is the best way to spend life. 

~ Generous gifts on my 30th included a bread machine, gorgeous hand-painted bowls, book vouchers, a huge box of chocolates, pyjamas, bath goodies, nail vouchers and a Le Creuset pan. I am content with everything these things say about me. 

~ The little joys are a huge part of that elusive key to happiness. It’s spouted so much that it starts to sound like a cliché but when the truth of it clicks in your brain, it feels like an epiphany. I have believed it for a long time (my very first blog post was a list of small, happy things) but it has taken a big chunk of my twenties to feel the power of it. Find the little joys in the everyday, get excited about them, take the time for them and life will be ultimately better. 

~ Key things that bring me joy: my family & friends, writing, reading, baking & cooking, taking photos, documenting memories, exploring new places, being organised, cafés & pubs, baths, the seasons changing, home. 

~ If something makes you happy, however big or small, for however long; throw yourself into it with no limits. If someone sneers at your thing, question why they would want to pull away something that brings you joy and what kind of person that makes them. 

~ Less is more so much of the time. Trying to have too much of something or to always be after more can make you desensitised and accidentally greedy. It’s better to appreciate what you have and fully enjoy new things and experiences then being both overwhelmed and underwhelmed by too much of everything. 

~ Never underestimate kindness; being kind to others and the underrated joy of being surrounded by kind people.  

~ I don’t know what the next decade will bring and I’m okay with that. The open possibilities are exciting. 

~ Never, ever miss the opportunity to eat something delicious. Life really is too fucking short. 

~ Rounding off my twenties by having a baby feels very poignant. Starting off the new decade with a new life chapter and hoping it will be just as good as the last.  


A small handful of photos from my birthday below. We had a big family meal the night before, I was treated to presents and breakfast in bed (a very delicious bacon, cream cheese & honey bagel) in the morning and then we had a tea party with my immediate family & close friends in the afternoon which was also an opportunity for everyone to meet our new baby boy. I couldn't have asked for a more lovely weekend. 

30th birthday

30th birthday

30th birthday

30th birthday

30th birthday

30th birthday

30th birthday

30th birthday

30th birthday

30th birthday

30th birthday

30th birthday


4 Mar 2022

Little Joys From February

February Joys

My new pink leopard print cardigan. Bookshop wanders with an abundance of birthday book vouchers burning a hole in my pocket. Doorstop toasties from the local cafe. Peanut butter & honey on toast every morning. Baby babbles. Baby smiles. The inexplicable way the baby grins whenever he looks at the blind. Newborn fingers unfurling. StoryGraph to keep track of my absurd to-read pile. Snowdrops. Cakes & hot chocolate in a cosy cafe. Cold, bright, blue days. The new Bastille album. This Is Going To Hurt BBC drama. Sandi Toksvig Extraordinary Escapes. Day trips with my mum. Baby massage class. Reunions with the lovely NCT gang. Baby dungarees. COOK freezer meals. Booking a weekend away. Generous, gorgeous gifts from family & friends. Turning thirty. A fabulous birthday cake. The biggest box of Hotel Chocolat chocolates I ever did see. Discovering an excellent podcast and having four series to catch up on. The smell of freshly baked bread from the new bread machine. Those brief moments where we feel like we are nailing this parenting thing. Baby giggling for the first time. ❤️