Author: Oana

My Miracle Child

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Those of you who have been reading my blog consistently would know that since our precious boy was born we struggled with sleep and what we thought was a very strange case of reflux. Two weeks ago on Friday things took a turn for the worse and I decided to take Georgie into the A&E. He had this diarrhea he didn’t seem to be able to shake off and was starting to run a fever at night. Plus an extreme agitation and restlessness that kept us up basically all night. To cut a long(and very painful) story short, last Friday, following blood and bone marrow tests and two lumbar punctures, our sweet baby boy was diagnosed with acute megakaryoblastic leukemia, a subtype of acute myeloid leukemia.  He was put on chemo as soon as he recovered from the critical condition he was in, following the two medical procedures under anesthetic he went through last week. As you can imagine, we are still in complete shock. Our lives have been tilted upside down, with our baby …

Baby troubles

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If you have been following my blog for the past few months, you know by now that it hasn’t been an easy ride for me, having a baby. Not the first time with Emma, not the second time around with Georgie. We have dealt with stomach troubles with both. Diagnosed with reflux, they both struggled for the first three months to sleep for stretches longer than 45 minutes to an hour, cried uncontrollably at times and required me to enroll help, with my mum moving in with us both times for months on end… So you can imagine that I treasure peace and I seek to keep my babies as comfortable as I possibly can. I have convinced the doctors this time too to put George on special milk, in case he suffers from food intolerance. I go to bed ridiculously early, to ensure the baby gets the rest he desperately needs. I have no social life whatsoever at the moment because my kids are my priority. But there are things that enrage me as …

Hubby’s Fantastic Prawn Pasta!

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Let me start by saying that the picture doesn’t do the recipe justice. At all, like… Hubby started making this recipe last summer in Thessaloniki. With fresh from the open market, to-die-for prawns. He would have made it at the weekend, when he had the time. Cause, you see, he is Greek and Greeks don’t mess up with food! Food is as important as family to them and it gets as much attention in detail and preparation! It takes him hours to make it because the sauce involves a lot of simmering and adding of delicious ingredients. I finally coaxed it out of him this morning, so here goes: – A dash of olive oil, add a finely chopped onion and fry until translucent(not brown, never brown, folks!). – A knob of butter then your tomatoes. Half fresh, about 3-4, half canned, a can. Add them to the onion. – Simmer the sauce with bahari(a Greek spice mentioned in Politiki Kouzina), cinnamon and a drop of honey for 45 minutes. Add a drop of water …

Living Arrows – 16/52

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It has been ages I linked to the Living Arrows. Actually, it has been ages since I wrote anything decent on my blog. So, here is a rusty attempt at it! Emma, since I last wrote about you, you settled a good deal! It helped that you stopped going to the childminder, it was explained to me by experts that you were feeling kicked out of your own house by your little brother, I am sure that didn’t feel very nice!Daddy and I made conscious efforts to spend time with you alone, so that you feel reassured of our love. Here is us having coffee in Belfast, while Bica minded Georgie at home: You are happy enough to play on your own once you get home from playgroup and your Bica is constantly in awe of your games and the richness of your imagination and play! These last couple of weeks you were home, as you had your holidays, and she was able to enjoy seeing you around, being part of your coffee shop “clientele” …

Tommee Tippee Sangenic Plus Nappy Wrapper Tub – A Review

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I was over the moon when I was contacted by the lovely folk at BabiesRUs and informed that our application to become a babyologist family has been successful! The first product we got to try out and review was the Tommee Tippee Sangenic Plus Nappy Wrapper Tub. Bang on, I thought since I had a baby 12 weeks ago and there is definitely a lot of nappies being disposed of at the moment in our household!   The moment we received the product on the post I was a bit surprised to find it so light. As a “nappy disposal system” I expected something sturdier but it was actually a plastic bin with a film inside meant to wrap around and completely isolate the offensive smells emanating from the disposed nappies. I decided to put it to the test immediately. I found the system easy to use, the film is meant to be tied and secured inside so that the nappies don’t actually fall through. Easily done! Once the first dirty nappy was delivered that …