Lamb & Bear

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ALDI Baby & Toddler Event – Order Specialbuys Online!

aldi baby & toddler event pinOn the 21st April Aldi will be holding their next Baby & Toddler event and there’s something extra special about it. For those of you who don’t live near an Aldi store, you can now buy their special buys online!

This month Aldi are trialling their jumbo boxes of nappies online for a limited period. So if you want to stock up nows your chance! What’s even better is Aldi are offering free standard delivery on special buys to celebrate their online launch offer!

aldi baby & toddler event collage

To celebrate the Aldi Baby & Toddler event and and the launch of their jumbo boxes online I’ve been given the opportunity to giveaway a box to you lovely lot!

You can enter via the form below. Good Luck!

Ax

a Rafflecopter giveaway

T&Cs
UK entries only. No cash alternative.
Winner will be drawn at random within 48 hours of competition ending.
Prize will be sent by the brand/PR and is not supplied by Lamb & Bear.
Prizes are subject to availability. Colours/products may vary and alternative prizes will be offered if not available. 
All entires will be checked and verified. People who do not fulfil all requirements will be disqualified.
Invalid URLs left on blog post comments will be disqualified. 

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Cheap and Easy Beef Bourguignon Recipe #livepeasant Challenge

This week Simply Beef and Lamb asked me to take the #livepeasant challenge and create a ‘peasant’ recipe using cheap ingredients. We were asked to look out for the ‘Red Tractor’ logo on either beef or lamb. You may not be aware of the Red Tractor logo, but buying meat with that little red tractor on the packaging means you are buying farm assured meat.

beef lamb red tractor

Simplybeefandlamb.co.uk tells us more about the Red Tractor scheme…

“Many farmers have both cattle and sheep on their farms and the Red Tractor scheme covers quality beef and lamb production as well as a range of other agricultural produce. The assurance standards encompass food safety, animal welfare, environmental protection and traceability from farms to pack. The welfare needs of sheep and cattle must not be compromised at any stage of their lives including transporting them in safe, suitable vehicles and farmers must ensure that their farming practices do not damage the environment. Animals need to be identifiable and traceable back to their farms of origin, and the beef and lamb produced meets standards of hygiene so that it is free from contamination and safe to eat. – See more at www.redtractor.org.uk”

I was recently sent some Aldi wine to try out as part of their Mamia Parent Panel, but of course I can’t drink it, so I decided to cook with it instead! I’ve never made Beef Bourguignon before but it turns out it’s a really simple recipe with limited ingredients needed! I actually managed to buy everything in Aldi, meaning this is also a super cheap recipe too.

beef pin

INGREDIENTS (SERVES 4)

  • * 700g Diced Beef – remember to look out for the red tractor!
  • * 200g smoked bacon lardons.
  • * 100-200g chestnut mushrooms – chopped. I’ve put 100-200g because I like a lot of mushrooms. so tend to put in a whole packet!
  • * 2 cloves of garlic – peeled and sliced.
  • * 400 g carrots – peeled and sliced.
  • * 1 medium onion – peeled and sliced.
  • * 6 sprigs of thyme.
  • * 425ml red wine.
  • * Salt & pepper.
  • 1 medium potato per person.

METHOD

This couldn’t be simpler… chuck it all in your slow cooker and cook for a couple of hours! I served our beef bourguignon with fluffy mashed potatoes.

I love using my slow cooker. As a soon to be mum of 2 I find preparing an evening meal quite challenging, especially as my 3 year old likes to go to bed later than he should. I’ll soon have a newborn attached to me feeding around the clock, so my slow cooker will be my life saver when it comes to making evening meals. It’s so convenient for busy families. I can make our dinner first thing in the morning and leave it to cook slowly throughout the day. I can also batch cook to pop in the fridge or freezer for another day. I’ll be doing lots of this over the next couple of weeks in preparation for our new arrival!

beef ingredients

beef bourguignonIMG_9792beef bourguignonThe approximate total for these ingredients is £7.35. A bottle of red wine from Aldi costs around £5. The total cost per person for this meal is just over £3! Incredible how cheaply you can create such a delicious meal.

Why don’t you take the #livepeasant challenge and see how affordable your meals can be?

Ax

*This is a collaborative post with simplybeefandlamb.co.uk

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A-Z Blogger Challenge – I is for Improvement

improvement titleThe terrible twos never really hit our household. We always said between the age of 1 and 2 was harder. We knew we wouldn’t get away with it lightly though and prepared ourselves for the threenager stage.

Well, lamb has been 3 for almost a month now and what a challenging month that’s been.

It seems he’s turned 3 and found this new confidence to expect what he wants, when he wants it. Don’t forget the huge tantrum he had in B&M car park and I wrote the post about the woman who stared.

Like every other 3 year old, Lamb has found an obsession with surprise eggs. I remember my brother and sister in law warning me about this new craze as my nephew was already hooked. Well, lamb had been sucked in too. Almost everyday he asks for an egg or to watch eggs. It’s crazy. Unfortunately there are days where I use them as a way of getting him to do simple things like get in the bloody car so I can get to an appointment on time. Yes I’m that mum.

This week I had enough of bribing with eggs, it’s costing me a fortune! So I’ve introduced a Reward Chart, something I used in the past but slowly gave up on, but something I know could work with Lamb as he loves stickers.

I only introduced the chart on Wednesday but I already seen improvements, which I’m amazed at. Lamb has 4 sticker colours. Orange is for sleeping, purple is for eating, green is for helping and blue is for being good.

The rules are simple. Once Lamb has 10 stickers (which I will try drag out over a week or at least a few days) he gets a present, which he has decided is a surprise egg. That’s fine, they’re only 99p!

One thing Ive really been trying to crack down on is his sleeping. It’s been awful since he was 1. He’s rarely slept through the night for the past 2 years and with baby number 2 arriving very soon I wanted to tackle this problem as soon as possible.

Well this week he’s turned a corner. He’s slept through every night! We introduced a Gro Clock recently which has taken around a month to take effect. He now wakes up and tells me the clock is yellow and Mr Sunshine is awake. I’ll be writing a more thorough blog post on our experience with the Gro Clock soon. It really is an incredible product for kids who don’t sleep well. It just takes a bit of time to kick in.

Finally, I wouldn’t say we’ve seen an improvement in Lambs eating, but he’s started eating a bit of fruit again which is great as his diet is appalling. He’s always loved satsumas but because his diet is so limited he goes off them quite easily, the same goes with apples. This week he ate a number of satsumas at home and finally ate his apple for a snack at nursery. Breakthrough! I’ve asked nursery to let me know when things like this happens so I can give him a sticker on his chart.

After introducing his reward chart I’ve definitely seen an improvement in his behaviour. I have to keep reminding myself he’s only 3 and it’s not going to be a quick fix. It will take time for him to get used to and he will forget the rules every now and then. There are times I’ll say if you do this or that you’ll get a sticker and his reply is “how about now?” Meaning how about I get a sticker now! Bless him, he’s a little spoilt I think.

I’m actually really proud of Lamb this week. I just hope it continues for the rest of this pregnancy and when his baby brother arrives!

Ax

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A-Z Blogger Challenge – H is for Home

home pinAs you know our family will soon become a family of four and if I’m like the majority of pregnant woman I will start nesting in preparation for the new arrival. Well, the thing is, I’m quite an untidy person. Yep, I’ll put my hands up and say I’m messy. Don’t get me wrong, the mess is organised and I know where things are, it’s just usually in a few piles around the house! Lets call it organised chaos. 😉

Well, enough is enough. We have a small house and it needs to be adapted to make room for the many products a baby needs. Lamb has his own kitchen cupboard and baby will need one too. The thing is, they are all full – overflowing even. His bedroom lacks storage yet we will have a whole new collection of clothing, nappies, muslins, bibs etc to find a home for.

It’s time for me to ‘nest’. I’m looking at ways or adding storage here and there.

We are very lucky to have a cellar. A cellar that was renovated by the previous owners and is a usable room. Laminate flooring, electricity and heating. Not like your typical cellar.

For the nearly 5 years we’ve lived here the cellar has been used for storage. Christmas decorations, multiple prams, gym equipment. When Lamb was born I realised I desperately needed a tumble dryer so we have that and our freezer down there, and since launching my brand I began using it to store my leggings.

Things were getting a little out of control and we needed more storage racks and I’ve been asking hubby for a work surface for months. My super duper in laws love a project, especially if it involves home improvements, and last weekend they kindly reorganised everything down there. My father in law is a DIY whizz and built me the most amazing work surface that sits over the tumble dryer and freezer. He also gave me another set of shelving racks to store my boxes of leggings.

IMG_9816Having that room organised has really lifted a weight off my shoulders. I’ll soon have tonnes more laundry to sort and now I can use the work surface to keep the piles of clean washing neat and tidy for when I have the time to put it away. No more screwed up piles on the floor!

My leggings are beautifully organised into different tubs meaning it’s nice and easy for me to access when I get orders, like this week, when I had 10 to pack up after going on sale.

IMG_9821My wonderful father in law has also built me some shelves above my cellar stairs. Such a clever idea! I can now keep small items like medicine bottles in little tubs and free up some cupboard space in the kitchen for the baby. I’ve also decided to keep cereal boxes on the top shelf as these take up so much room in the kitchen! There’s so much you keep in a kitchen, but rarely need, so I’ve found these shelves so helpful already. I’m sure I’ll swap things around until I find the perfect balance of what I want in the cupboards and on the shelves but at least baby has his own cupboard now!

home shelveshome shelfWe are also going to be putting coat hooks along the lefthand side wall above the cellar stairs so I can hang things like spare carrier bags and winter coats. The little ledge along the side will probably become home to our wellies boot too. 🙂

I love how much difference these little changes have made to organising my clutter. Let me know of any clever little storage solutions you’ve done in your home that I might be able to do too.

Ax

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Baby Number 2 – 35 week pregnancy update

*Apologies this is a couple of days late*

35 week pregnancy update pinI’m now 35 weeks into my second pregnancy and I’ve finally started thinking about preparing for this baby to arrive. I’ve got a couple of changing bags to use, one that I won in a competition on Twitter and one that I bought myself.

The one I won is the KeriKit Luxury Aryella Cognac Baby Changing Bag. It’s absolutely stunning. So luxurious and stylish. Exactly what I want in a changing bag this time round. The only downside is it’s super heavy due to being made from 100% leather, so a little impractical if I’m going I be using the bag for long days out. A little trip to a friends, or a coffee morning with other mums will be fine, but I wouldn’t be able to carry it for long once it’s full with nappies and clothes.

The bag that I bought is the BabyBeau Isabelle Changing Bag and I absolutely love it. I spent weeks researching high end changing bags and this one just stood out to me. It’s only partly faux leather, so not as heavy as the KeriKit bag but still has a little weight to it. I’ll be using this as my hospital bag.

I’m also going to be reviewing the brand new toTs by smartTrike Infinity Grey Changing Bag, which I will be using as baby’s hospital bag. The reason I chose this bag is because it’s dark in colour, contemporary and a rucksack so perfect for daddy to use too. It will also be ideal for when I’m baby wearing.

Yesterday I sent daddy lamb into the loft to get out Lambs baby clothes. I’m going to spend this week washing everything ready for our new arrival. Unfortunately everything seems to be a little stained (which I’ve been told could be breastmilk – yuk!) I’ve washed everything twice on a hot wash and used 2 types of Vanish stain remover (that stuff usually gets out everything). If the stains don’t come out it will be emergency newborn shopping as I haven’t bought anything smaller that 0-3 months. If baby boy is like his big brother, he will fit in tiny baby clothes to begin with, so I’ll need some small clothing items.

I’m going to do a couple of blog posts on what’s in our changing bags so keep an eye out for these coming soon.

Last week I went for a growth scan at the hospital. I was offered an extra scan because I have an under-active thyroid and this can cause low birth weight. I haven’t been concerned at all about baby’s growth, my bump is telling me he’s growing fine! The scan was great, although you can’t really see much of the baby at this stage as he’s so big! They charted him just below the 50th percentile and have estimated his weight to be 4lb 8oz. Wouldn’t it be lovely if he was a dinky 6lb 12oz like his brother!

I’ve had a few comments recently that my bump is low. I’ve got a midwife appointment on Friday so I’ll hopefully get to know if he’s engaged and if he is, by how much.

Baby is moving like a crazy kid. My belly makes the strangest shapes! I can’t believe how active he is compared to Lamb. My friction burn at the top of my bump is insanely painful, but hey, I’ve struggling for months and there’s only a few weeks left. No point complaining now!

I kinda feel a little more energetic than last week. Last week I was falling asleep on the sofa everyday, but this week I’ve not been as bad. She says, while yawning…

I’ve always been the sort of person that works better under pressure and against the clock. Maybe that’s why I haven’t got anything prepared for his arrival. I mean, I have everything we need (I think) but nothing is organised in to the right place. There are bags in Lambs bedroom, boxes in the cellar. All I have done is put a few packets of nappies in a drawer and wash the first batch of clothes. I’ll be more prepared by the end of the week as next week we are in Butlins and by the time I get home I’ll be almost 37 weeks e.g full term! Yikes!

Not much else has happened this week. Lamb is being really lovely towards my bump. Every now and then he leans down and puts his head on my tummy and says “I’m cuddling the baby”. He also keeps asking for baby to be out now, adorable!

My next update will be on Sunday when I will be 36, yes 36 weeks pregnant! Lets hope I have a good week in preparation for our Butlins break.

Ax

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