Bummed about Glasgow

I love Glasgow; I've lived here for almost 6 years now and love the people, shops, restaurants, you name it. However, Glasgow has me seriously confused right now.

I'm sure y'all have seen ads for the new Reebok Easytone shoes that help you firm your legs and bum with balance ball technology. Well apparently their ads are too racy to be advertise on the side of Glasgow Black Taxis and Glasgow City Council have banned the ad. Say What?

This is a city that lets lapdancing clubs advertise on the sides of taxis, but a pair of bare legs and the word bum are indecent? I don't know about you, but that is CRAZY to me.

So myself and some other ladies decided to show Glasgow that Easytones and bare legs are not offensive and should be allowed. So here we are in front of Glasgow City Council in our Easytones: Moms, Teachers, Students, Business Owners--Women who want these shoes. What do you think? Are we horribly offensive and indecent? You tell me...

Kiss Me and Smile for Me

While Blondie Boy chalked up 15,882 air miles before being born (yes I totally googled it), we are about to embark on his first flight outside the womb. We've got a short flight followed by a long flight and I need all the help I can get.

We've got a few new toys he's never seen before, requested (but aren't guaranteed) a bassinet, plan to give him a pacifier during take off/landing and have a wrap to wear him in to get through security, but what's your best advice?

What are you best tips for flying with a baby?

...and if you have any tips for helping a baby to adjust to an 8 hour time difference those would be most appreciated, too :)

This S*&t is Bananas, B-A-N-A-N-A-S!

From apples we've moved on to bananas. They are probably one of the easiest first foods since there is no cooking involved. You just mush up a banana until it's a consistency you like. Two bananas yielded one ice cube tray for me.

I then mixed the banana with some formula and baby rice to get it to a thickness that Blondie Boy would like. He prefers a somewhat thin, yogurt like texture to his food. I was worried that it turned brown, but I've been assured that it's absolutely fine and not to worry. Your frozen banana cubes will go brown, too.

He ended up getting covered in banana, it was definitely the messiest food so far, but the next few times weren't as messy as below. NotBlondeHusband was convinced Blondie Boy would hate bananas since he does (and did as a baby as well), but he's had them three nights now and was diving at the spoon tonight, so I suspect he likes them!

My Bare Knees Boy

Kilts have been around since the 16th century and today are the traditional formal attire for Scottish men. NotBlondeHusband wore a kilt at our wedding and I usually talk him into wearing a kilt to most weddings we attend, because I think he looks really handsome in one.

Blondie Boy was invited to two weddings this month and I knew straight away I wanted him to wear a kilt. I started looking but they were either really poorly made or really expensive and I was getting frustrated until I found Bare Knees.

Libby, the kiltmaker and owner of Bare Knees was a solicitor but after having two wee boys, works from home making and selling custom made kilts. She originally started out intending to make adult kilts (and still does), but has found the demand is much higher for baby and toddler kilts.


Baby kilts are attached to a short sleeved onesie/vest and wraps around just like an adult kilt, but attaches with poppers rather than buckles. The kilts are made from proper tartan fabric (not printed cotton like some cheap baby velcro kilts) and are pleated perfectly in the back. Bareknees also makes makes and hires out toddler kilt packages.



Blondie Boy wore his kilt to a wedding in Edinburgh last Saturday and I can not tell you how many guests came up, commented on how cute he looked and asked where we got it. I loved seeing both my boys looking so handsome together in kilts.

My only critique would be that it would be nice if somehow the onesie could detach (it's sewn on to the back of the kilt) and be washed, but I'm no seamstress so I have no idea if such a thing is possible. Blondie Boy managed to have a bottle without spilling all over it, but I as babies tend to be messy, I think we got lucky. I plan on very carefully handwashing just the onesie (keeping the kilt out of the sink) if it starts to look a bit dirty.

I can't wait for him to wear it again this weekend! If you are in the market for a baby or child's kilt contact Libby at Bare Knees; most tartans are available and she even does a buy-back scheme so when your baby has outgrown their kilt, you can still keep them looking stylish! I can't recommend her enough!
Transatlantic Blonde received this product to review.

It's not easy being Green

The Gallery Week 13: Friendship

I spent hours looking through all my pictures and found some great ones of my friends and I, but I didn't want to leave out any of my amazing friends and most of the ones I loved weren't taken by myself. So here is my entry for this week:

Blondie Boy and his Froggie

Running for Lillian

Since getting pregnant with Blondie Boy I have made some amazing friends online. There is a group of us who bonded and their help and support have been invaluable to me the last year. I'm going to meet up with a lot of them this summer and I can't wait!


Two of these ladies, Vanessa & Beth, are running the Marine Core Marathon 10K in honor of another one of my friend's daughter, the beautiful Miss Lillian who has Prader-Willi Syndrome. Lillian's flourishing and growing so well with the help of her amazingly dedicated parents, but there is no cure.

If you have the cash, please donate to this more than worthy cause by clicking on the button above, which can also be found on my sidebar to the right. If you'd like to learn more about Prader-Willi, click here.

Keeps the Doctor Away

So now we've moved on to apples. You cook them basically the same as the carrots; peel/core, chop, cover with water and boil until tender (only takes about 5 minutes).

Then put in a food processor, blend until smooth adding reserved cooking water as necessary. You can keep the leftover cooking water in the fridge and add a few drops to your baby's water or use it to thin out the apples later.

Again I stuck them in an ice-cube tray when it was cooled, wrapped in plastic wrap and froze. Once they were frozen I popped them out into a labelled ziplock.

This is the first time I haven't mixed a solid with formula, but while he sometimes makes a somewhat sour face (which is HILARIOUS) he seems to like them.

We've also started giving him rice cereal after his first bottle of the day as well. He looooves his rice cereal and hopefully the "schedule" will help him adjust to the time zone changes when we go to the States.

Wordless Wednesday

First time swinging (part 1) from Transatlantic Blonde on Vimeo.

Swinging (Part 2) from Transatlantic Blonde on Vimeo.

C'est Moi

The Gallery: Week 12

This week's prompt is "Self-Portrait." Some of my favorite photos ever are the ones taken at arm's length. While I have some cute ones of Blondie Boy and myself I've taken that way, I'm going to be a purist here and post one of just myself and no one else.

I like that I'm wearing a Bengals jersey, because even though I live in Scotland and before that lived in DC, being a Cincinnati girl is part of what defines me. I can not wait to go home and for Blondie Boy to visit the Nasty 'Nati :)

What's up Doc?

After sweet potatoes didn't go down so well (he stuck out his tongue and screamed), we decided to try carrots. I bought two large carrots (for 19p/27¢-SCORE!), washed, peeled and chopped them and put them in a pot with just enough water to cover and boiled until soft, about 10 minutes.

Almost all of the cooking water will boil away, but put what's left aside. Throw the carrots into a food processor and pulse with the leftover water until blended. You can add a little bit of the cooking water at a time if you like, but I ended up using it all.

It will come out thickish, but don't worry, you'll thin it later. I put some aside for Blondie Boy's dinner tonight and put the rest into an clean ice-cube tray. Once they cooled I wrapped in plastic wrap and put in the freezer. Once they're frozen I'll pop the frozen cubes out of the tray and into a labelled freezer zip-lock bag.

When it was time for Blondie Boy's dinner I mixed the carrot puree with half a scoop of formula and water until it was the right consistency. The amount looked as though it had doubled in size and went from bright orange to a more muted coral.

He didn't gobble it down like he does with the cereal, but he certainly tolerated it more than he did the sweet potato. Although judging by this photo I think he might have preferred take-out to Mom's home cooking :)

...and just in case you were wondering I most certainly did not give my son a Chinese take-away menu to play with so I could watch Grey's Anatomy. What kind of Mother would do such a thing?

Sans Fards

So "sans fards" seems to be another trend that's all the rage. Jessica Simpson did it in Marie Claire (well, maybe not) and a blogger in Australia has come up with bloggers without makeup day.

When I first saw Emma at Me, the Man & the Baby, blog about this I thought "hell no, not me." The more I thought about it though, I thought what was I so afraid of? I love makeup, don't get me wrong, but even when I go out pretty much all I wear is eye-makeup.

So here I am, in all my translucent eyelash glory; no Touche Éclat, nothing. I took the plunge, so what about the rest of you? Will you go sans fards, too?

Vlog Interview

You may have noticed that vlogs seem to be all the rage on blogs right now. I thought I would take the plunge, but I had no idea what to say! My friend Stacia was in the same boat so we decided to "interview" each other; since we are 8 time zones apart, we sent each other the questions, so I guess it's more of a survey than an interview, but I digress.

NotBlondeHusband says my accent is all over the place, but I refuse to watch it because then I might not post it. Here it is in all it's glory; please go easy on me!

Untitled from Transatlantic Blonde on Vimeo.

My Boys

Each week Tara at Sticky Fingers hosts a theme at The Gallery and this week the theme is Men. I've wanted to join in for a while now and when I saw the theme I knew exactly what to my entry would be. I used to have one boy and now I have two and I love them both more than anything.

Sweet Potato

So we originally planned for Blondie Boy's second taste sensation to be oatmeal, but after visiting two stores and googling that idea was nixed. We couldn't actually find any baby oatmeal for sale and it seems like there is no guarantee that oatmeal is gluten free and we don't want him to have gluten before 6 months.

So since I already had a sweet potato in the house and it is one of the least allergenic first foods, we went for that! We baked the sweet potato in tin foil and then I scooped the flesh out and pushed it through a sieve.

The sieve produced a smooth puree, but was quite time intensive and now my finger is sore, so next time I'm just going to use the food processor. Once it was sieved I portioned it out into some plastic tubs I got on sale at Tesco.

Two pots went in the fridge (it's suggested homemade food can last 48-72 hours in the fridge, we are going for 48) and the rest in the freezer (where they can last 1-3 months, again we'll air on the side of caution and use within a month).

I then added about a 1/4 of a scoop of formula powder and enough cooled, boiled water to make the sweet potato runny, but not liquid.

He seemed to make a "yucky" face a lot more, but ate about 1/2 of what was there. It was definitely a bit thicker than the rice cereal, so that's to be expected. It also seemed a lot messier than rice cereal, but that could just be because it is a lot brighter! We'll see what the next 4 days bring :)

Oh and the whole time I was writing this post, this was in my head, thanks Joel McHale....

Food Glorious Food

There are all sorts of things you can read about when to start your baby on solid foods. Cues to look for, milestones to meet, but I'm not here to tell anyone when to start feeding their baby solids.

After talking to our Health Visitor, we decided to start Blondie Boy on solids. He's up to 8oz a feed and isn't always satisfied, stares at us eating, eats his hands, but most of all I do not believe he will wait until July (6 months) to start solids. I want him to be here in Glasgow when we start in case he has any allergic reactions. He is at a higher risk for food allergies (more on that later) so it is important to me that we try the same food for 5 days and that he can see his own doctor if anything happens.

So today will be Day 5 of Rice Cereal for the boy. I mix up 2 baby spoons of the rice cereal with half a scoop of formula and enough cooled boiled water (a tablespoon+) so it's smooth and almost runny, but not quite.

He seems to like it so far! Any suggestions for what to try next?

Happy Mother's Day!

4 months

Age - four months

Weight - 13lbs 9oz

Height - 25 1/2"

Sleeping habit - He is sleeping in his big boy crib in his own room! He sleeps from 12am-8/9am.

Eating habits - Eating 8oz 4-5 times a day. Just got the okay to try baby cereal!

Favorite activity - Swimming, reading, talking, blowing spit bubbles

Milestones - 4 month vaccines, rolling over & grabbing his feet

Firsts- swimming, Bounce & Rhyme session, sleeping in his own room, time alone overnight with just Mom, bath in the big tub, shower...

(sorry for being one day late, but we were getting him weighed today)

Miércoles Mudo

(Happy Cinco de Mayo! I'll post Blondie Boy's 4 month post tomorrow after we get him weighed/measured)

Remember Fred Durst?

Keep rollin' rollin' rollin' what? That is stuck in my head because I got Blondie Boy rolling over on camera! Not only did he roll over, he rolled over ten+ times in a row-- sometimes he went left, sometimes right, but every time we put him on his belly he rolled over!

Roll on, Roll on from Transatlantic Blonde on Vimeo.

I think he'll be quite happy because now that I got it on camera I won't shove a camera in his face whenever he has some tummy time :)