#a regular 12oz can is far too much

[ephemeral-winter]

so crazy the extent to which my mental health since my injury has depended upon drinking a mini-can of coke at lunchtime

[ashfae]

i request that u do go on at length about how most of the united kingdom of great britain and northern ireland does not understand chocolate chip cookies. u are welcome.

All right, you asked for it. I will preface by stating I have lived in the US for 23 years and Scotland for 19 years and as such my knowledge and opinions are not so much informed as very mixed up. (see also my spelling)

So. Biscuits and cookies.

The common statement is that in America it's a cookie and in the UK it's a biscuit. This is both true and misleading. Let us define our terms.

Generally speaking, cookies in America are about the size of your palm, usually soft and chewy rather than hard and crunchy. Some will even call them a bit cakelike. (Trivia: the word 'cookie' comes from the Dutch word 'koekje', or 'little cake'.) Sure, there are exceptions, especially if you're making them at home and have added too little flour or butter that's too soft or baked them so long that they've turned into charcoal briquettes. But the best type of cookie has a little bite to it (al dente, like pasta!) and then turns into softness on the inside. Also, they're inevitably sweet. They're best when fresh out of the oven and a smidgen gooey and if you take chocolate chip cookie dough and refrigerate it and then eat it it's divine. Cookies are a dessert.

The UK's biscuits are not cookies. They are smaller, easily half or a third the size of an American cookie. They are definitely crunchy. Also they are not necessarily sweet. It is difficult for me to describe the concept of the digestive biscuit because after almost two decades of living here I still find them to be these bizarre neither sweet nor savoury neutral things that seem pointless and pleasureless. Biscuits are lighter and less dense than cookies and not at all cakelike. They are not a dessert so much as a thing designed to be eaten alongside a hot drink, and also to be dunked into it. The hard crunchiness that at first seems a sad reminder of lost cookies from across the pond is actually very practical as it helps keep the biscuit from falling into your tea/coffee/hot chocolate and becoming a sad mess of soggy crumbs ruining your drink. They are not cookies but they are delightful in their way. They are usually not very satisfying without a hot drink to accompany them, though there are notable exceptions such as custard creams. (Also the chocolate caramel digestive, which transcends all natural laws of biscuits and digestives and has achieved a deliciousness I cannot properly explicate)

As a side note, hot drinks are not an affectation here but a necessity because everything you've ever heard about rainy cold weather in the UK is true and the cold moldy damp seeps into your bones in a way it just doesn't anywhere in the US and there's a reason we're all so religious about our hot drink of choice and getting regular access to it. I still don't like tea and expect the immigration authorities to discover this and kick me out of the country at any time.

So far, fair enough. For the most part the US and UK acknowledge each other's cookie/biscuit differences, and even regard them with affection. There is some overlap. You can find US style cookies in UK supermarkets, and they will be proper cookies, chewy and delicious and not really suitable for dunking. Best of both worlds, yes?

Alas, there are a few catches.

First off, too often when you are offered a chocolate chip cookie, you are not given a cookie. You are given a chocolate chip biscuit. It will be small and hard and have teeny tiny chips and be okay if it's dipped into a hot drink but not really appealing otherwise. This is fine if it's what you expect but sad if what you wanted was a chocolate chip cookie. My theory is that the phrase "chocolate chip cookie" is so ubiquitous that even if in a biscuit assortment everything else is called a biscuit, the chocolate chip thing will be called a cookie despite manifestly not being one.

But second. Second is the difficulty of buying chocolate chips for baking with.

In the US when baking chocolate chip cookies, you get a bag, usually 12oz. My heart belongs to Tollhouse semisweet chips and I bring back several packs every time I'm in the US. These added to a recipe will make a roughly 40 cookies. A 12oz bag is heftyish, not at all hard to lift but awkward enough that you couldn't juggle it easily.

I can only guess that no one in the UK bakes more than six or seven chocolate chip biscuits at a time and no one at all bakes chocolate chip cookies, because for years all I could find were titchy little 100g bags of substandard milk chocolate chips, where the chips were as small and uninteresting as the bag they came in. TITCHY, I tell you. 100g = 3.5oz (roughly), so I'd need four of them to make a US style batch of chocolate chip cookies. There are better ones available now (thank you, Dr. Oekter) with much better chocolate plus the chip size is large enough that you can actually taste it, as opposed to it just ending up as a tiny smudge that once saw chocolate from a distance. The bags still tend to come in only 100g amounts. I've never bothered figuring out how to make a small enough batch of cookies that 100g of chips would be enough, there hardly seems any point. I think they're sold to be used as decorations more than chocolate chip cookie essential ingredients.

There are exceptions, of course, places that sell larger bags of chips for those of us passionately determined to bake chocolate chip cookies as opposed to biscuits (looking at you Lakeland, thanks). But on the whole chocolate chip cookies are not as big a thing in the UK as in the US, and most of the UK does not know what it's missing and thinks small hard chocolate chip biscuits or grocery store made preservative-laden cookies are sufficient, and have never had fresh baked melty chewy chocolate chip cookies with decent chips, and that seems a pity to me. I am amending this where I can, however. My most enthusiastic converts are my in-laws, and I have been known to pay for goods and services with chocolate chip cookies. Fortunately I have an excellent recipe (the Tollhouse one, but with some minor tinkering and a secret ingredient). They are delicious but dangerously addictive, which is excellent for my plan to convert those around me to their service and gradually turn the whole of the UK into my own chocolate chip cookie empire. All hail Ruth Graves Wakefield!

This concludes my babbling about chocolate chip cookies for today. Tune in next time when I'll reveal my other nefarious plan to force the UK to understand and accept pumpkin pie.

[nachtgraves]

KuzuHina Week - Day Four

Still the 17th for me so I’m not late. But here’s a continuation of dragon!fuyu, the dinner date! You can read the first part here or on ao3.

Title: Wine and Dine // AO3 Word Count: 2,333 Warnings/Tags: T. Alternate universe, dragon!fuyu, unresolved sexual tension, minato is now my default rando unimportant oc name apparently. Prompt: Alternate Universe

Hajime spends no less than an hour getting ready for his dinner with Fuyuhiko. An hour after a lengthy shower and his bed is covered in shirts and pants and ties. Fuyuhiko had sent him a text with a time and the name of the restaurant he made reservations for but that was all, so Hajime could do nothing more than look the place up. It’s a fancy steak place, four dollar signs and a dress code, reservations only. In the end, Hajime ends up calling Chiaki for advice and she tells him to go with the dark green shirt that brings out his eyes and black slacks and tie. The shirt is a bit tight, he’d filled out in his chest and shoulders since he’d bought it, but it’s nothing obscene. The pants will be hell to get off past his knees but they make his ass look admittedly good. He tames his hair as best he can and spritzes cologne he was gifted at some point but never used. Then he has to leave or he’s going to be late.

Fuyuhiko’s waiting for him out front. He’s in all charcoal grey and black save for a glossy gold tie with some sort of embroidered decoration in a burnt gold tone. Hajime jogs up to him, heart in his throat. “Hey, sorry I’m late. Did you wait long?”

“I just got here,” Fuyuhiko says. He looks Hajime up and down slowly, lingering at his chest and Hajime starts to regret not changing. But Fuyuhiko smirks and draws his bottom lip between his teeth, meeting Hajime’s eyes. “You look good.”

Hajime short-circuits but manages to stumble out a, “You too” voice cracking and going an octave too high.

Fuyuhiko leads the way inside, Hajime keeping to his side and feeling well and truly out of place. They go up to the host and Fuyuhiko gives his name. The host grabs two menus and leads the way to a table covered in a silk eggshell colored tablecloth and even though it’s only set for two, there are more plates and utensils than Hajime’s ever seen outside of movies.

The host says their waiter will be with them shortly and suggests some wines before leaving them to it. The wine menu is extensive, to say the least, and Hajime doesn’t want to image the cost per glass much less per bottle.

“Are you a red or white wine sort of person?” Fuyuhiko asks.

“White, usually. I haven’t really acquired the taste for red yet.”

With a snort, Fuyuhiko says, “If a taste needs to be ‘acquired’, it’s not worth it.” Knowing that Fuyuhiko has a huge sweet tooth, it doesn’t surprise Hajime that he doesn’t like red wine. He almost feels like he’s passed a test.

But then their waiter arrives. He introduces himself as Minato and asks what they’d like for drinks as he sets down a basket of assorted bread and pours them chilled water. Hajime must make some sort of panicked expression even though he tries to keep his face neutral because Fuyuhiko grins at him and takes over, saving Hajime from figuring out the wine menu. He rattles off some sort of wine that Minato commends and then they’re left alone to peruse the menu. Hajime tries his best to contain his reaction to the prices.

“Don’t worry about anything, it’s on me so order whatever sounds good,” Fuyuhiko says. He’s not looking at the menu, instead just watching Hajime with his whisky gold eyes.

“Uh, I don’t really know what most of these are,” Hajime admits, laughs a bit self-deprecatingly.

“If you want, we can go somewhere else,” Fuyuhiko offers. He comes across sincere, looks ready to tell the waiter to never mind, they won’t actually be dining with them tonight.

“No, no, this is fine, great! Just, outside of my comfort zone. I, uh, can’t exactly afford to go to places like this.”

“Then take full advantage,” Fuyuhiko says. “I don’t do this often so I will be.” His tone implies that there’s more to his words and Hajime has to look back down and carefully read through the salads because Fuyuhiko’s grin is filthy.

There are a lot of unfamiliar items listed and whole sections that are for paranormal specific diets in a variety of other languages. Hajime sticks to somewhat familiar items that are safe for mundanes. Fuyuhiko asks for his opinion on appetizers and everything either sounds good or completely unfamiliar and he doesn’t want to pick something that Fuyuhiko might not like.

“I’m good with anything that won’t kill me, so whatever you think is good,” he says. There’re too many choices and he’s already nervous enough as it is. “I’m not a picky eater.” Picking his entrée is more than enough for tonight.

By the time Hajime’s narrowed down his decision between two cuts of steak Minato returns with their wine and Fuyuhiko goes through the fancy wine tasting ritual before declaring it fine and two modest glasses are poured. The bottle is set at the edge of the table in an ice bucket.

“Would you like a few more minutes to decide?” the waiter asks.

“I’m set,” Fuyuhiko says. “Hajime?”

Hajime nods and Fuyuhiko takes the lead, Hajime only chipping in to order his main. The waiter repeats their order, takes their menus, and then goes off. Once he’s gone, Fuyuhiko raises his glass. Hajime clinks his against it gently and takes a sip. The wine is the lightest wine he’s ever had, crisp and a touch sweet.

“How is it?”

“Good.” Hajime eyes the bottle to see the name and make a mental note. It’s probably way out of his price range but for a special occasion, he might be able to make an exception. “Light and sweet.”

“It’s why I like it. Not the best for steak, I’ll admit, but it tastes good and doesn’t fill you up.”

Hajime helps himself to one of the rolls and tears it in half to slather it with the butter. It’s not regular butter and it’s one of the best things he’s ever had. He tries to sneakily coat probably more than the recommended amount on his roll but Fuyuhiko nudges the little bowl over to him and pick one of the sliced breads to eat plain.

“It’s champagne brie butter,” Fuyuhiko says. “My favorite thing about this place, after their filet.”

Hajime pushes the butter back towards the center. “I’m not going to hog it.” Especially if it’s one of Fuyuhiko’s favorite parts of the restaurant. Fuyuhiko just shakes his head at him but he butters his bread with liberal blob and licks his lips of all stray traces of butter.

“So,” he says, picking out another piece of bread, “you’re going to the local university, right? What’re you studying?”

“Mostly education and literature. I want to teach. And I’m minoring in paranormal studies.”

Fuyuhiko selects a roll and breaks off a piece, popping it in his mouth. “And what have you learned about dragons in your studies?”

Hajime feels warm, wants to shrink back at Fuyuhiko’s pointed gaze. If there’s one thing he’s learned from being a mundane in paranormal-centric classes, often the only mundane at that, it’s that he has to tread very carefully when talking about a race to their face.

Luckily, he can dodge this potential bullet for now. “I haven’t taken that class yet.”

“There’s a class just on dragons?” Fuyuhiko sounds intrigued, maybe a touch smug.

Hajime nods. “Unlike the region based classes, dragons are from essentially every corner of the globe. Even amongst the Eastern dragons there’s a lot of differences and variations so there’s actually an Eastern dragons class as well as a Western one. For one of my requirements I’ll have to do at least one of those.”

“If you take the Eastern class, I could tutor you,” Fuyuhiko offers and the images in Hajime’s head make him squirm in his seat and reach for his wine. He’s being ridiculous, taking every innocent comment and twisting it. But he chokes on his generous sip when Fuyuhiko reveals that his offer is not far from Hajime’s gutter-drenched thoughts. “Although I can’t say that what I could teach you would be something your professor would test you on. At least they shouldn’t be.”

Fuyuhiko licks bread crumbs and butter from his finger with one long lazy swipe of his tongue.

Hajime downs the rest of his wine and hopes it can excuse his flaming cheeks and ears. He doesn’t know if he’s grateful or not to Minato who returns with their entrée. It’s a shrimp dish, the shrimps large and glazed in a brown sauce that smells like spicy barbecue.

Minato tops up Hajime’s wine and Hajime makes a mental note to slow down. His tolerance isn’t terrible but he wants to keep as much of his wits about him as he can. It’s hard enough as it is, he doesn’t need to self-sabotage by drinking too much.

They go back to safer, innocuous topics. Hajime talks about his classes, his degree, what he’s planning on doing after. Fuyuhiko tells him about how his sister was an absolute terror until high school where she became a different sort of terror.

“She hated me growing up,” Fuyuhiko says and Hajime can’t imagine anyone hating the dragon before him. “Everyone wanted her to be the heir, but I just happened to be born first and take to my dragon form a lot quicker. I spent more time as a dragon than as a human when I was little.”

Hajime easily imagines a tiny gold dragon taking naps on windowsills and stealing cookies. He imagines a tiny Fuyuhiko, smaller than he already is but eyes big and round in the way of children. He wishes he could see pictures. Fuyuhiko must have been absolutely adorable.

They get through their entrée with minimal provocation and choking on behalf of Fuyuhiko and Hajime, respectively. Hajime’s still taking his wine slow though, but Fuyuhiko’s almost on his third glass. He doesn’t seem affected thanks to his dragon blood, quick metabolism and high tolerance. Their main course arrives, Hajime’s a simple 6oz steak and Fuyuhiko’s a 12oz with a lobster tail, and Hajime’s mouth waters. His is a perfect medium rare and from the ruby red, Fuyuhiko’s a good, bleeding rare. Fuyuhiko’s eyes flash, his pupils narrow into slits. When he opens his mouth to take a bite, his teeth are a touch more pointed than the dulled, flat edges of a human’s.

“How is it?” Fuyuhiko asks when Hajime takes his first bite.

“Amazing,” Hajime answers truthfully. “Probably the best steak I’ve ever had.”

Fuyuhiko’s smile is pleased. “Their swordfish is also really good. I’d recommend that for next time.”

Hajime manages to smile and nod, maybe a bit too widely and little too aggressively considering he’s not the biggest seafood. Next time echoes in his mind on loop. Fuyuhiko’s talking about a next time. A smile is fixed on Hajime face as they work on their meals and carry on conversing. Despite his awkwardness, conversation is easy with Fuyuhiko. They talk about movies and books, work and school, friends and family, and whatever else comes to their minds. There’s only minimal suggestive teasing from Fuyuhiko but Hajime has to force himself to keep his eyes from Fuyuhiko’s mouth wrapping around his fork. Just meeting Fuyuhiko’s molten gold eyes that spark and light with intention as if he can read Hajime’s mind does more than enough.

At one point, Hajime accidently nudges Fuyuhiko’s foot under the table. His apology is cut short when Fuyuhiko’s foot, slipped free from his shoe, slides up the side of Hajime’s leg while the devious, teasing dragon asks about Hajime’s favorite books he’s studied in his classes.

The dinner overall is a test of restraint and willpower but Hajime manages to get through without jumping Fuyuhiko right then and there. His pants are tight for two reasons. He’s never eaten so much in one sitting but the cost weighs on his mind and he makes sure to eat every bite, on that it’s much of a hardship when it comes to how great it all tastes.

“That was amazing,” Hajime says. His wine glass is still a few swallows from empty but he’s feeling that heady lightness from the alcohol fuzzes the edges of his senses. Fuyuhiko has his last few sips, throat working and tongue licking away a stray drop from his lips when he’s done. Hajime busies himself by emptying his glass, looking at the ceiling to gather his wits.

Minato comes by to take their cleared plates. “Would you like to look at the dessert menu? We also have coffee and some excellent cognac that just came in.”

There’s no doubt their dessert will be fantastic, but Hajime’s full to bursting and can’t imagine trying to eat anything more, much as he might want to. But he knows Fuyuhiko has a sweet tooth, dessert probably his favorite part of any meal and leaves the decision in Fuyuhiko’s hands. Fuyuhiko has a thoughtful expression that turns mischievous and bodes ill for Hajime’s self-restraint.

“Could you give us a minute?” he asks. When Minato’s back is to them, Fuyuhiko turns on Hajime with dark, promising eyes.

“I have a suggestion. We could sit here for dessert and coffee and I’ll savor their delicious chocolate and whiskey mousse.” The image alone has Hajime squirming. He’s barely survived as it is and he’s under no illusion that Fuyuhiko won’t try to break him with dessert. “Or. Or, we can get dessert to go and you can taste the mousse and cognac I have at home off of me. However you image that.”

Hajime imagines that a lot of ways, none of them fit for public without threat of arrest for public indecency. “To go,” he says, blushing furiously. Fuyuhiko grins and asks for one mousse and their check.

[marineclarity]

River Isle – IBC Winter League 7 – 14th January 2018

It got cold in the week and with hardly any rain, the river was back to being low and clear and with eleven booked in we’d have to use Hambridge again but how would it fish this week? We hadn’t had a frost and it actually felt fairly mild which hopefully was a good sign. I got to the bowling club for the draw and along with the regulars, it was great to see Ben Simmonds again and it’s always lovely to see Terry ‘The Toast’.

Between me, Steve P and Baz we sorted out the pegs, pools and boards etc and when everybody had finished eating, it was time to draw. I was holding the bucket of hope and as people started pulling out pegs there was the usual array of face pulling as the anglers expressed their delight or disgust. Baz finally got his wish (after 104 years of fishing the Isle) as he’d drawn 128 for the first time, Big Frank was on 126, Steve P pulled out 125 and young Stu had the choice of 124 or 124a. Adie drew 120 and despite saying he didn’t want it, I fancied it to do well, Terry and Fieldy were on 108 and 110 at Redbridge and as they hadn’t been in for a while it would be interesting to see how they fished.

Ben, Jake and Karl were at Hambridge which just left one ball in the bucket and I pulled out 123 which wouldn’t have been my first choice. Frank won off it with over 18lb in one of the early matches but it hasn’t done much since, it’s just one of those pegs I can never seem to get on with although it did nearly 5lb last week so at least I should get a few bites.

We got to the river and Stu had a look at 124a and 124 but decided on the latter which I thought might have been a mistake as it hasn’t produced the last couple of times it was fished. My peg looked really nice and I could get my box in quite low to the water. I set up a 1 gram bodied float to fish down the middle and a 0.6 gram DH16 for fishing across where there were two bits of cover which would hopefully hold a chub or two. On the menu for the day were the usual bronze and red maggots, casters and Bait-Tech Super Seed hemp.

Peg 123

On the whistle I started with the heavier rig and two red maggots at 8.5 metres down the middle, feeding casters and hemp just upstream and also across but I wanted to leave that as long as possible before trying it. Second run through, the float buried and a fair bit of elastic came out before I netted a nice chublet of 8oz or so, next chuck I had a small dace come off as I shipped back and it felt like there were a few fish there so I thought I’d try two sections to hand. I had a small roach quite quickly but the next few bites resulted in minnows so I stuck another section on to inch the float through just this side of the main flow and tried a caster for the first time. The float buried and the strike met with a pleasing amount of resistance and I netted a decent roach.

I started getting some nice roach

It was a bite a chuck and I was catching small roach, dace and gudgeon with the odd better roach and quite a few minnows (which I didn’t count) and after an hour I had 20 fish for around 3lb. The second sixty minutes was similar and I added another 15 fish for 2lb or so and was really enjoying myself and I was sure a chub would put in an appearance sooner or later. Going into the third hour, bites started to slow and I was catching quite a few gudgeon so I went a section further over and had a brief flurry of fish including a couple of nice roach although I bumped one and had one come off shipping back.

With three and a half hours gone, bites had slowed right up so it was time to pick up the other rig and go across to the far bank for the first time, the flow was going back on itself and I tried holding back and inching it through but it just wasn’t quite right and after ten minutes I hadn’t had a proper indication and felt like I was wasting my time. I swung the rig towards the far bank on my left just off some dead reeds, I knew I was well overdepth but I started getting bites again and had several roach including a couple of net fish.

A chap called Chris who’s a regular reader of the blog turned up and said he’d just come from Redbridge and he hadn’t seen them catch a lot, he stayed for a bit and I had several roach while he was there but because I was so far overdepth, a couple of times I didn’t see the bites and as I lifted the pole up, there was a fish on! He left me to it and went to see how the others were doing, I plumbed up again and shallowed the rig up but bizarrely, then I couldn’t get a bite! I added a few inches and started catching again, including some lovely roach.

Chris got back and said the two below the bridge (Frank and Baz) were winkling out some small fish before wishing me luck for the last half an hour, it was nice to meet him again and as always it’s lovely when people say they enjoy reading the blog, cheers mate! I had a few more roach including a couple of proper clonkers around 10-12oz and ended up with 77 fish (plus loads of minnows) and I was hoping if they averaged 2oz apiece I wouldn’t be far off double figures.

I packed up and walked down to give Stu a hand with the scales, he said he’d had a cracking day catching two big perch, two chub plus quite a few roach. We started the weigh in with Steve who had 2lb 14oz which included some nice roach, then we got to Stu and he had a lovely bag of fish, out of interest we weighed the perch on it’s own and at 2lb 2oz it was a new pb for him, altogether he weighed 9lb 11oz and it was going to be close between me and him. He also had some pike trouble which has cost him some fish today but he had really enjoyed himself and made the right choice of peg this morning.

Steve had 2lb 14oz which included some nice roach

Stuart had a lovely net of fish weighing 9lb 11oz from peg 124

We walked up to me and when I pulled my net out, I knew it was going to be really tight and was relieved when the needle swung past 10lb and Stuart called it a 10lb 5oz. We got back to the cars as Frank and Baz arrived, they’d weighed 4lb 15oz and 6lb 10oz respectively although Frank said he’d spoken to Jake at Hambridge who’d had 15lb odd and Ben had 10lb something from H4 so I was down to third and we hadn’t heard how they’d done at Redbridge yet!

I had bites all day to weigh 10lb 5oz

Back at the results and as people started handing me the weigh boards, I saw that Ben had actually weighed a level 10lb so had I sneaked second place?, no was the answer because Adie had weighed 11lb 15oz from the ever consistent 120, Fieldy had 3lb 2oz from peg 110, apparently he had a chub early and then had nothing for the rest of the match and Terry ‘The Toast’ had a chub late from 108 to weigh 4lb 5oz. Karl was the other angler at Hambridge and weighed 4lb 6oz despite suffering from pike trouble, he even landed four of the toothy critters! Thanks to Jake Woodard for the photos*

A rather blurry Jake had a lovely net of roach to win with 15lb 3oz*

Ben had a nice day catching10lb of roach and perch on the waggler from H4

So I ended up third again and picked up £23 plus the all important nugget off of Steve and I have to say I really enjoyed today, I’ve had bites all day and it feels like there’s a lot of fish in the river at the moment, I bet pegs 122 and 129 would have fished today. I also think a few pegs lower down at Hambridge would fish as well, might be worth looking at for the next IBC match.

1 – Jake Woodard (Ilminster) – 15lb 3oz 2 – Adie Bishop (Taunton) – 11lb 15oz 3 – Jamie Rich (Against Men and Fish) – 10lb 5oz

Sections A – Stuart Aplin (Ilminster) – 9lb 11oz B – Ben Simmonds (Ilminster) – 10lb

After seven matches and dropping the worst result, this is how the league looks so far,

Jake Woodard – 12 pts (dropping 4) Adie Bishop – 13 pts (dropping 4) Jamie Rich  – 14 pts (dropping 30) Graham Field – 17 pts (dropping 30) Stuart Aplin – 27 pts (dropping 30) Frank Woodard – 34 pts (dropping 30)

I’ve also updated the list of framing pegs so far in the ten matches we’ve had on the river,

120 – 7 times (won 2) 110 – 4 times (won 2) 128 – 4 times (won 1) 126 – 4 times (won 2) 123 – 2 times (won 1) 128a – 2 times H4 – 1 time (won 1) H1 – 1 time (won 1) 124a – 3 times 125 – 2 times 125a – 1 time

I might actually tweak the format of this a bit to actually reflect how many times a peg has been used because as it stands it doesn’t really show how consistent a peg has been, for example, H1 has only been in twice and won once compared to say 125 which has been used several times but only framed twice so maybe I’ll have a play around with percentages.

We’ve had eight different winners so far with Frank Woodard and Adie Bishop the only anglers to win more than one match.

Hurf asked me to remind people that it’s Ilminster AA’s AGM at the bowling club on Friday 23rd February at 7:30pm.

Lastly I’ve got some really exciting news regarding big changes coming to the blog soon, I can’t say too much yet but all will become clear soon enough. I’ve got lots planned for this year including some great competitions and collaborations so please keep reading and get in touch with catch reports, photos and guest blogs.

Next up – River Isle

Coming soon – My next trip down memory lane

Check Out – My latest guest post (below)

[goodlifexplorers-blog]

This 7 Months Baby Update is full of developmental milestones and a scary mysterious illness.

Baby R has accomplished so much in the last month! It’s like his neurons and motor coordination are just on steroids right now.

As a family, we spent our 4th of July at the farm with my in-laws. He loved being surrounded by other kids and getting so much attention from his grandparents. I feel grateful that we were surrounded by loving family members and that we have been able to connect with family near and far away.

Now let’s get into this 7 months baby update!

Baby R’s Stats

At Birth:  6lbs 12oz, 19.5 inches tall, size newborn clothes and diapers.

2 weeks old: 7 lbs 3oz and measured 20.25 inches tall, size 0-3 months clothes and size 1 diapers.

2 months old: 11 lbs 11oz and measured 22.75 Inches tall, size 3-6 months clothes and size 2 diapers.

4 months old: 15 lbs 6 oz and measured 25.5 inches tall, size 9 months clothes and size 3 diapers.

5 months old: 16 lbs 14 oz and measured 25.75 inches tall, size 9 months clothes and size 3 diapers.

6 months old: 17 lbs 10 oz, 27.5 inches tall, size 12 months clothes and size 3 diapers during the day and 4 at night.

7 months old: 18 lbs 8 oz, 27.5 inches tall, size 12 months clothes and size 4 diapers.

Feeding

Roark is loving his solid food. He eats 3 times a day and recently I have started introducing him to a snack every once in a while. He can use a sip cup for water during meals.

He doesn’t like chunky food, but I have introduced whole pieces of food so he can work on holding the food with his hands. It usually ends up crushed by his hands and all over his hair, but hey, that’s part of learning, right?

He still breastfeeds, specially when he wakes up, before his naps and before he goes to bed at night.

I think he is somewhat outgrowing his dairy/soy intolerance as I am trying to reintroduce some dairy to my diet and he hasn’t had as bad of reaction as he used to have.

Diapering

We have recently started having more pee leaks at night, which tells me an upgrade in diaper size is in order so he’s on number 4s all day now. One thing I haven’t mentioned before is that his stool has changed a lot since we introduced solids to him. We had a good schedule going before solids, but now there is no timeframe for number 2. We haven’t had any more blowouts, but he does sometimes experiences constipation. Nobody warned me that as soon as babies start eating solids their poop starts to stink big time. I am glad we decided to buy the diaper genie. Even though the refills are a little more costly, the diaper genie has kept our house odor free and let me tell you, it is a good thing!

Sleeping

Sleeping is getting to be a big issue for us this month. Roark is really reluctant to sleep during the day and as a result he gets really cranky. I am not sure if he is going through a sleep regression phase.

The only advice I’ve seen to get him to sleep is the cry-out method, however I’ve tried it a couple times and after 45 mins of crying, he still won’t go to sleep. I feel awful about letting him cry and he still gets no rest, so I am in need of some advice and help. To make things even worse, he refuses to sleep on his crib or pack and play during the day, only falling sleep in my arms. As soon as I go to lay him down, he wakes up screaming. I’ve tried several things and nothing has worked yet.

Developmental – 7 months update

Has 2 teeth! (bottom front)

Crawls

Pulls up on things – I was reading his daddy’s baby book. Apparently, his daddy started pulling up and walking around furniture at 7 months as well.

“Waves”

Says mamma and reaches for me- now I know it’s intentionally. His first word was mamma.

Sits by himself and sits unaided

Laughs with us or by himself

Grabs our mouths/noses

Sucks on his toes

Does the dab!

Uses sip cup

A scary illness

At the same time Roark was teething and turning 7 months, he developed a really high fever of 104F. At first I thought it was due to teething, but after giving him a warm bath and putting cool rags on his head and giving him some Tylenol, it became clear it was not going away. I called the pediatrician right away and they asked us to go the office for an exam. After a physical exam and 2 strep tests that came back negative, the doctor that saw us (our regular pediatrician was not in) recommended that we administer Fever All suppositories. We tried giving Roark Tylenol and Advil, but he would throw up more than half of the dose each time because of the taste and consistency, so after a couple days fighting/trying to administer oral medication, the fever would not break so we reached a new point of desperation. His fever hit an all time high (111F, but we are not sure the thermometer was right) and so we called the doctor and gave him Fever All. We were on our way out of the door to take him to the hospital and the fever went down. Since he had no other symptoms, the doctor said we should stay put as long as the fever stayed lower than 102F because the hospital wouldn’t be able to do anything else for him that we were not already doing. Other than the fever, he had no other problems. He was eating and he was hydrated. The poor kid was burning up for 4 days and we had to keep giving him Fever All and cooling him down with baths and rags. The doctor thought it could be Rosalea, but Roark never got a rash which is a tell tale sign of the virus. Just as mysterious as it appeared, it disappeared. After 4 days, his fever broke and his temperature went back to normal and he was a happy camper. We still don’t know what happened, but it was certainly scary. We are just glad he’s back to normal and healthy now.

Post-partum update

There is quite a bit to update, so I am going to write a separate post. My pelvic situation has to be one of the things that no one tells you about pregnancy!

Some Thoughts on Motherhood

This month, I am realizing more and more how time flies when babies are little. Yesterday I was giving birth, now I am thinking about his first birthday party.

I am also starting to feel the long-term effects of sleep deprivation with a precocious child that won’t stand still or sleep, I can’t keep track of time anymore. Everything is a blur.

And although time is flying by and it seems like I am stuck in a day to day rut of childcare and housework, I’ve started developing guilt and anxiety about capturing Roark’s milestones and our lives more. I have noticed recently that I am not picking up my camera and phone as often lately because I am falling into a state of blasé. I tell myself, “Oh! He will do that again tomorrow. I will take a picture then…” instead of rushing to my camera and begging him to repeat whatever motion he just did. It’s a dangerous territory, because I should know that my baby is growing way too fast and maybe he won’t do that tomorrow. He may already have learned something else by then.

I also need to let go of my perfectionist streak because when I look at pictures of Roark on my phone of the first months, those are the pictures I treasure the most, not the ones I posed and dressed him. Those pictures have a place in our walls, his baby book, on greeting cards – but the ones that live on my phone remind me of how little and fragile he was. How he smelled, how he felt against my skin. How even though my body felt battered and I couldn’t believe I would feel normal again, I was overwhelmed with love and joy. I love those pictures, I love what they represent. That is why I need to make more of an effort and worry less about the messy house in the background, the mismatched outfits he wears when I am too tired to look for something else, the composition and light in our family room where we spend 90% of our time and all the other technical and aesthetic aspects of photography that keep me from capturing those moments.

It is so true that “the days are long, but the years are short” and I should make more of an effort to document our everyday lives. I want Roark to have these mementos because he won’t remember these years. I want to have these mementos because in this state of blur I am living in right now, I may not remember too much of this time in a few years. That is why I push myself to write this blog when I should be sleeping.

Oh, what a vicious circle!

As always, I am a work in progress, so as Roark develops, I am also working on developing myself in this new world of motherhood.

What are your struggles? 

I hope you enjoyed this 7 months baby update. If you would like to see Roark, watch the video here.

For other baby updates and pregnancy tips, click here.

xoxo

Jana

7 Months Baby Update This 7 Months Baby Update is full of developmental milestones and a scary mysterious illness. Baby R has accomplished so much in the last month!