Olympics Fever @ The Puma Yard

Living in the greatest city in the world, whilst the greatest sporting event in the world is taking place means that olympics fever is infectious. Everywhere I look, I see some whimsical olympics pop up or creative outdoor space which has been set up in tribute to the most exciting 2 weeks of the leap year. Living in East London, I am lucky to have experienced some of the best, with my absolute favourite so far being the Puma Yard Jamaican Base Camp which has been set up on Brick Lane opposite the Truman Brewery. With a mini beach, photo booths, endless bars, mock sprint races, giant beanbags and performers such as Plan B and Groove Armada, this has got to be the coolest place in the world. After heading down with Baby M and my girl AA, we chilled in the sun drinking mojitos and watching the diving. Next week I'll be heading to the vegetarian pop up on Rivington Street, and then drifting by Victoria Park's BT Live festival. I am so spoilt for choice. I wish the Olympics would last 2 months instead of the inaugural 2 weeks. I love London 2012!

Summer inspiration

This week I have:

• Taken Baby M swimming at Shoreditch House
• Eaten the best granola quite possibly in the world (again at Shoreditch House)
• Gone to a fashion show (Africa Utopia) and had second row seats
• Had the most luscious afternoon tea at the Park Lane Hotel
• Spent quality daddy, mama and baby time at London Fields Park 
• Gone to the gym EVERY SINGLE DAY like a freaken champion

I feel lush lush lush. Summer in London is the best place in the world and I am buzzing on my own adrenalin. I never thought that being a mama could be so fulfilling, but every day I wake up and I am inspired by my baby to be faster, better, stronger. I used to think I was organised and multi-tasked well, but that previous self isn't a shade on my new post baby self. I was looking in the mirror the other day and noticed that despite my stretch marks and slight belly, I looked good. In fact, I looked strong and together. I am turning into the woman I have always wanted to be. There have been some days during the last 5 months that I have thought that perhaps I wasn't quite cut out for motherhood and that all those sleepless nights would last forever (along with my post baby belly). I can clearly remember being snappy at every little thing, and obsessing over internet blogs over every cough, hiccup and blink my poor Baby M would do. Looking back, I can see that I was taking a hiatus from myself to exist solely for my child. But slowly, and surely, my little Baby M is growing. He is smiling, giggling and loving me. And through his love, I am loving myself. If you had told me that post baby, I could run 6km through a park, or complete 8 workouts in 7 days, or be a good wife whilst being a good friend whilst being a good mother, I would have told you that something has got to give. I feel so inspired at the moment by my abilities that I am forever dreaming up new projects. I love that my child has come to not only define me, but has inspired me. I am ready for tomorrow because of today

White Cube Gallery

The perfect place to explore on a rainy day with baby (and boy, have we had a lot of those lately!). White Cube Gallery Hoxton Square

Mama's cooking

Ahh the weird and wonderful world of solids. Due to Baby M getting over the whole breastfeeding malarkey (wooooo hooooo!!! ayayayayaya!!! **high fives everyone in the vicinity**) and me feeling that it was time he slept through the night, we started weaning at 4 and a half months. Yes I know its early, Yes I know that you are meant to wait til 6 months, but its also important to remember that whole business about minding one's own beeswax. The first few weeks were simple, basic one taste purees once a day,  but now we are in week 4 and starting to think about more interesting meals and combinations to satisfy my little baby's desire for food (and boy does he love food). I started with the basic baby rice, pureed sweet potato and some pureed apple. But this week, we have broken out the big guns and moved to some bad ass recipes. Avocado, Banana and Pear anyone? Or how about Coriander Chicken, Broccoli, Peas and Broad Beans? Anyone fancy some Apple, Banana and Cinnamon, or maybe some Cauliflower Cheese? I am starting to think that Baby M is eating better than me! The only drama with feeding is that it is MESSY. My clothes, hair, ears, eyes and bellybutton are filled with unknown quantities of pureed goop. And I am constantly washing. Washing bottles of formula, washing spoons, pots, blenders etc etc etc. BUT despite all the the man hours I am investing in cleaning, I have seen the most miraculous change in my beautiful baby. He is gaining weight. He has this glorious glint in his eyes and he is so happy to grab the spoon from my hands and mash food all over the place with the most delightful squeals of joy! And most importantly, for the first time in 5 months, he is sleeping for longer than 3 hours without waking for a feed. The change in me is palpable, and I am smiling at everything. Who would have thought that pureed carrots and broad beans would change my life?! Who cares- I am going to get my beauty sleep and dream of my beautiful Baby M.

Pimp my pram

Oh my god. Does everyone in the whole entire world have a yellow bugaboo pram? I knew straightaway when I was pram shopping 8 months ago (woah time flies), that it wouldn't do for me. Firstly, I have 2000 stairs which I need to climb to get into my flat, plus I wanted something that looked fairly fun and aerodynamic. So I picked the Quinny Zapp Xtra. Yeah, yeah, yeah, it was all fun and cool in the beginning when pram pushing was a novelty, but in the last 5 months I have slowly started to get bored of my Baby Blue Quinny. So I decided that today was the day. I was going to pimp my pram. I headed down to Dalston to Ridley Road Market and found myself some of the funkiest, on trend African print fabric I could find. Before you could say "Bad Mamma Jammas," I found 6 yards of it for £5 and I soon got busy. One hour later, I have put together a fully detachable, foldable pram cover with a matching blanket. Rustic I know, but banging it is. I love my new pram. But the best part is that I will be changing it to something new in a few weeks time. Lush pram for my Lush Baby.

Lush Mama Convention - MM at mine

Hmm... I find certain mama and baby groups to be rather passe (NCT, council run, competitive nursery groups blah blah blah), especially as you end up chatting rather aimlessly with a group of mamas who you might have nothing in common with at all about topics which you might only have a vague interest in. But I still love finding lush mamas who have a life- who love fashion, art, music and life as much as I do. So I have counted my blessings every day since I met the gorgeous Jenny from Mothers Meeting, who has invested her blood, sweat and tears in finding funky, cool mamas to hang out together (Thanks babe). Through Jenny, I am lucky to have met a core group of girls who I would say are some of the coolest belles around (baby or no baby). And to celebrate the crazy times we have had so far, I invited a few over to mine for a day of cupcakes, champagne and polaroid madness. Lets just say we all had a few giggles, a bit too much to drink and our babies staring rather stunned into the camera each time we attempted to pose with them. We even made some drunken cards for Daddies. What a giggle- I love my mama friends.

I love my mum

As a bona fide daddy's girl, I have never really thought too hard about my relationship with my mother until I became one myself this year. My mother is someone who has always been in the background, always polite, friendly and well... there. But it wasn't until I took off my daddy's girl blinkers and look to see what my mother is really like. She has always been the person who had every meal ready and waiting for me on the table. She was the one who kept all my drawings, knew my friends names and remembered all of my stories, no matter how insignificant. She was the person who would get into trouble with her boss for leaving work early every day to come and collect me after school. She has always been the person who never wore expensive and stylish clothes, but always made sure I did. She was always the person who would wait up until 4am for me until I came home after a night of clubbing, just to see that I was safe. She ironed, cooked, cleaned, painted, scrubbed, cried, laughed, worried and cared about me even if I was stubborn, obstinate or rude. She never asked for thanks and never made any demands on me. She loved me before I could love her back and she has never stopped. She helped me give birth to my son and would wake up at 3am to take him from my arms when I was in tears at my own lack of sleep. That is love, and she has never asked me to love her back. But I do. With all my heart. I only hope I can be half the mother to Baby M that my mother has been to me. My lush Mama, one lush Grandmama xox

Dalston Roof Park

Oh this little gem is almost too good to share. After being invited to the uber funky "Do the Right Thing" rooftop party for a Brooklyn circa '89 themed bash, I decided to take advantage of the rainless Sunday and my gorgeous hubby's generous offer to occupy Baby M. I threw on my funkiest threads, stiletto boots and loads of bling to throw some mad shapes on the dance floor with my girl JL. We spent the afternoon drinking red wine and hula hooping and listening to some mad DJ chicks rule the world. It couldn't have been a more awesome Sunday, oh except for the gorgeous two dozen red roses my hubby surprised me with earlier that day. Amazeballs!

My new hangout

Pitfield London. So beautiful. So healthy. So amazing. A cheaper version of Ottolenghi, with stylish homewares and gift ideas to peruse on your way out. I love that my Shoreditch is so beautiful on the inside. Perfect venue to be hanging with my superstylin yummy mummy gfs after our weekly shop at American Apparel down the road- Lush mama all the way x

New discoveries

Wow- I think I may have possibly found the coolest sweet shop in all of the world. Monster Supplies on Hoxton Street looks rather unassuming, (and rather unappealing set outside a pound shop and next to a kebab shop). But wander inside and you will be as delighted as I was this morning to discover some bad ass sweeties hidden in amongst the most kitsch idea possible- spooky Halloween style treats. Premised on disgusting monsters and their inevitable "supplies," sweets are cleverly hidden amongst stylish tins with a spooky story hidden inside, ranging from Vilest Bile, Fresh Zombie Mints and Fang Floss. Brilliant, simply brilliant! I walked out with my monster blood lollipop, with my head full of kooky thoughts. Too cool for school

Swimming conundrum

This Wednesday, I am taking Baby M for his first swimming lesson. As I was bought up in Sydney Australia, the importance of water skills hasn't been lost on me. I want to be able to take him swimming in the ocean as he gets older, so I am delighted to be able to be able to have my first swim session with my little one. Whilst my aims for taking baby M swimming are largely altruistic, the fear of entering into a swimsuit only zone has suddenly put the fear of the devil in me. I keep sucking in my stomach trying on my old bikinis (which barely cover my gigantic breastfeeding jugs!), and all I see are stretch marks. I know I am in fairly decent shape post pregnancy, thanks to regular workouts and running, but there are always going to be parts of my body that wont ever look the same again. So in many ways, I have had to come to terms with that and make the best with what I have. This means, finding glamourous one piece cut out swimsuits that cover all the parts I don't like! As I totally am in favour of feeling good in my own skin, and being a lush mama, I will wear my monokini with style, stretchmarks or not! Check out my lush lust haves:

 Flamingo Sands:

 Woolen Mermaids (Mix of Zimmerman, Tigerlily, Anna & Boy, Jets)

Mar De Rosas Tribal Monokini

 Paradizia

Separation Anxiety

Soo, one of the big things I have had to overcome, is leaving my baby and doing things on my own. Don't get me wrong, I am more than happy to leave baby with daddy to go to the gym for an hour or two or hop to the local tescos to grab supplies, but actually spending a full day away from him has still been a bit of a psychological barrier I have had to overcome, especially as I don't have many family members in London who can babysit (and I'm not quite ready for a distracted teenage babysitter just yet). BUT, upon waking up this windy Sunday, I decided it was time. As I am winding back my breastfeeding, it seemed the perfect opportunity to leave bub with daddy today for a boys bonding day and go shopping on my own. I wore ridiculously high stiletto heels for the first time in ages. I wore my glammiest skinny jeans and scotch and soda scarf and headed out faster than you can say "Baby Got Back". Boy, was it awesome. Don't get me wrong, my baby is absolutely my favourite thing in the whole wide world (along with hubby of course), but I needed a break just for myself. I came back with loads of swag, full from my pinkberry froyo and more refreshed than I have felt in a long time. I feel like I needed that day for myself just to read a book, wander aimlessly through the shops and try on bikinis for the first time (Yes, I actually bought something). A happy mummy is a lush mummy. Baby M was covered with kisses and cuddles upon my return, and hubby was rewarded with the naughtiest wifey kiss I could muster. LOVE MY LIFE