A big transition

On Friday night after some some discussion over the dinner table, it was decided that the time had come to convert Jacob's cot into a toddler bed. He had been attempting to scale the side any time it was lowered and Luke had caught him trying to scale it when it was not lowered!

We decided to do right there and then so Luke and I went upstairs to take off the sides and put on the two bars that turned it into a bed. It looked very grown up for our little boy but he was very excited about it. The other thing was he would no longer sleep in his sleeping bag so he would have to learn about sheets and blankets and how to mange the covers.

This all changed when it came time to actually go to sleep and he tearfully told Luke that it wasn't "his bed". We had little fingers creeping under the door, banging on the door with 2 hands, shouting and crying but eventually he calmed down in Luke's arms and went to sleep in his own bed. That night he woke up at 3am cold and unable to get back under the covers but went back to sleep as soon as Luke re-covered him. Then he woke at 5am because of "the birds" so I brought him back to our bed where he went back to sleep for another 1.5 hours.

Since then he has been going to sleep quickly and mostly staying asleep the whole night. Nap time is a little more challenging but I discovered I can fold myself into his bed to give him "na-nas" which is a nice way to go to sleep after a hard morning playing.

Coming clean

while I've posted a little recently, I have been hibernating for a while and there's a very good reason for that.
I'm pregnant and due early February.
I have had bad morning sickness again but not nearly as bad as last time and it almost seems to be gone.
Mum has been here helping out and consequently I have hardly had to lift a finger which I think has greatly contributed to how I've been feeling.

We went for the 12 week scan this morning and saw Baby no.2 wriggling around. No pictures unfortunately which I think is what happens when you go through the public system but he/she looked very cute.

More sourdough

I made bread today!
It turned out fairly well for a first attempt using my starter, it didn't rise as much as I hoped but I think that's usual for the first loaf.
The crust had the little bubbles you get with a sourdough loaf and the texture and taste were great.

Sourdough beginning

I'm attempting to make sourdough bread by creating my own starter.
Sourdough doesn't use commercial yeast, you instead capture wild yeasts in a fermenting mixture of flour and water.
Once you have a fully active starter you then use this to make a sponge or active mix of more flour and water and after leaving this to activate you then turn this into your dough reserving some sponge to carry on as your starter or mother.

So far, day 5 after creating my starter I have a very sour fruity smell and bubbles. Overnight it has grown by a a third and in a couple of days I'm going to attempt to make bread. My first attempt probably won't look very impressive but should taste great.

I have been using a combination of strong flour, rye flour and filtered water as starter food and for the first few days you keep feeding every 24 hours but by day 4 when I had bubbles starting, you remove most of the starter and replace it with a greater volume of the same mixture and the small amount is enough to keep the starter growing. You do this for a couple of days until the starter is active enough to start making bread.
I have found this site invaluable and there are lots of other good places on the web as well .