Spending time together | parenting | Date night | Vegan UK Mom

As parents we all love spending time as a family , all together . We have amazing holidays , amazing days out , great times with the boys and our friends , picnics , time with grand parents ...

However , I do miss just " us " time . Time where were able just to go out, get glammed up, have a meal out, or go to a hotel , without a care in the world . 

When Pauly and I first met , we'd spend the weekends Seth was seeing his Dad going out, having romantic time alone.

The other day while I was at work , I came up with the idea of date night - a simple meal for us when the boys are in bed , with no distractions - no tv , no phones on , unless of course one if the boys wakes up , it was just us . Just Pauly and I.

We had our second "Date Night" last night , it was lovely . A toy free living room , just us having a chat , sounds a little mean , but sometimes were just glad to have a little us time . We don't feel it's for us to leave the boys with other family members as they're too little , so for now this is the perfect solution to us missing nights out . 

How do you & your spouse like to spend time together ? What do you like to do together ? ( we like playing Marvel vs Capcom - I always win ) 

Do share ! 

One for the co sleepers.

It's. 6:04 am .

Opeie woke up around 6-9 times last night. I didn't get to bed until 10:56, and yeah it's a reasonable bed time - but with that amount of wakes & feeds you know your not getting a deep, relaxing recharge. 

Yesterday while I was working at Seth's school I was talking to a teacher who i admire - i really find him an interesting person , we were talking about various things and I mentioned my strong belief in Attachment theories , and nurture . He agreed and said that you can tell the children who've  been left to cry as babies, not been picked up or had much attachment in their early years.  This I completely agree with . 

He gave me a book to read called 'The well balanced child' - which I will report back on. 

I moan and speak to friends about how co sleeping is tough , I tell my patients at work that my son at 2 yrs old doesn't sleep through the night , and I feel drained I won't lie . I believe in co sleeping , and breastfeeding , i know its the right thing to do for babies , we all get tired from it, I remember my friend Aida saying how hard co sleeping is when i leaned on her for advice and her advice was , " it will get easier , it will pass" amongst other brilliant,funny,witty advice. It's a hard job . But .....

( sadly ) it's not forever . 

The reason I say sadly is because , our children are only small for a tiny amount of our lives .... Before we know it they will be all grown up , and won't 'need' us like this anymore . So, it's ok to complain your tired - being a parent is exhausting , but try to embrace it ..... 

.... I'm learning to enjoy being woken every hour or more . 

Raw Vegan Reece's Peanut Butter Cups recipe . | Reese's Raw Dairy Free

Reece's peanut butter cups - a more ish guilty pleasure ?! Not anymore!

Yesterday while the boys played in the garden , I was talking to a few friends online whilst making some raw vegan fudge and thought - I've been meaning to make some Reece's peanut butter cups for ages .... So I threw caught to the wind and started making it .... Not really following a recipe - just guessing - I told my friend who goes to the same trainer as me if they turned out ok , I'd take him some . 

They turned out fabulous ! 

Here's how I made them - 

Ingredients used

For peanut part - 

1/2 cup peanut butter - unsweetened I salted , I used Meridan. 

4 tbsp coconut oil melted 

5 tbsp agave / raw pure maple syrup 

1 tsp vanilla extract

Pinch salt . 

For the chocolate 

1/2 cup raw cacao butter . 

6 heaped tbsp raw cacao powder

5 tbsp agave - or maple syrup 

Pinch salt 

Chocolate - Melt at a low heat cacao butter , add agave and salt , then mix in the cacao powder , leave to thicken . 

Peanut - mix peanut butter ( I used crunchy but will use smooth next time ) with melted coconut oil , agave and salt . Press into cupcake cases ( I only had muffin cases so mine turned out huge - the boys didn't mind ) top with melted chocolate & put in freezer ! Longer the better .... 

I added too much cacao powder first time round , but I've altered he recipe for you . Enjoy. ! 

Poorly Seth & Opeie & a tired poorly Moma, Juicers and Dehydrators

Since cutting out dairy , eggs , soya , going from veggie to vegan my health has improved no end. I'm lucky to say * touch wood * that Opeie's only been poorly and few times since he was born . I'm not sure if that's to do with breast milk or luck , but I'm grateful either way !

This week Seth caught a cough cold bug and generously dished it around Opeie and I , Opeie has been very unhappy , and because he's been refusing to eat / fever / crying / awake all night wanting a milk feast I've been exhausted ! So much so that I had to cancel my course I've been doing for my career development, which I was looking forward to & also the immense snows not helped !


It's been cold, snowy and windy all week , and making me crave crave crave junk food ! Which .... I've been able to keep a hold of, only having a couple of Opeie's crisps last night when I could have eaten about 4 packets ! I've been on a more raw food focused diet these last few days, and have been really focusing on my oil intake too ( omega oils ) and I'm starting to feel less sluggish ! Having had some time to sit ( all night long and google most nights whist feeding opeie ) I've uncovered some interesting articles about raw foods , vegan-ism , wholefoods , and dehydrating instead of cooking - oh and juicing for immunity / general health . ( I've actually just purchased a juicer whilst sitting here ( for 2:25hrs with Opeie asleep on my lap ) from Amazon. So I'll let you know how that shapes up . )

I'm unmmmmmming and arring about buying a dehydrator ?! They seem expensive (£200+) And, you don't seem to be able to get much in them ? Or is that the Internet making things look tiny?

I'm not sure if it'd be a fad purchase? Anyone know much about them or love theirs ?

I'm also contemplating buying a special thermometer that can go inside our range cooker so I can use that to raw cook food under 40 degrees and keep all the goodness & enzymes intact .

When Opeie , Seth or Pauly and I are poorly under the weather I try and dose us up with lots of citrus, mango, grapes and apples. I'm looking forward to getting the juicing as I've been reading how grapes are brilliant for shifting colds . Interesting !It'll also hopefully be good for Opeie, as he's refusing solid foods whilst poorly, and hasn't eaten much at all in 5 days, just alittle bit of Hummus, raisins, and