She has a 2-year-old toddler, called Ana and this Friday Melinda called me to ask if they could come and visit us within 2 hours. Well, no problem at all, I was very happy to see them, but what could I offer them? Well, I used my brain and opened the internet to search for a muffin recipe as I thought they would like it.

Anyone who has ever made muffins before, knows, that they are easy to make and adored. Well, this banana-nutella muffin is JUST LOVELY, I can only recommend it to everyone. Even my nothing-to-eat, thin-like-a-rod daughter, Hana ate 3 pieces of them, and it is A thing! I will post the recipe so you will all enjoy these delicious and soft muffins:

BANANA-NUTELLA MUFFIN

Ingredients to make 12 muffins: 2 eggs, 12,5 dkg butter, 10 dkg sugar, 2 large ripe bananas, 10 dkg Nutella, 1 dl milk, 1 teaspoon baking soda, 25 dkg flour, 2 teaspoon baking powder

How to make the muffins:

1. Put the eggs, butter and sugar in a bowl and cream them together (even the hand mixer will do the trick), then add the squashed bananas and the nutella and mix well

2. Pour the milk in a jar and add the baking soda, then stir well

3. Put the flour and the baking powder in a third bowl and mix well

4. Add the milk and the flour mix to the nutella-banana cream till everything is combined

5. Now put the batter in a clean plastic bag, cut the edge and now carefully squeeze the batter into the paper-lined muffin tins.

Bake them in a preheated oven on 180° Celsius for about 25-30 minutes. Top them with icing sugar and since they are not too sweet, it will do good to them. If you cut out from paper a little star or heart or anything you fancy, you can make a nice topping.

The left-overs at the end of the day:

Lovely Banana-Nutella Muffins for toddlers

I took this recipe from Niki’s blog, and I send my greatest appreciation for this lovely muffin recipe.

The day's 'nicedress'

We took the usual 9:12 train and asked a nice lady to help to put the pushchair onto the train – Hana now tells me before we depart from home, that it is a big task to ask someone nice to help us. Well, the pushchair’s been heavy enough as I had to pack everything for two days – but we, with small children all know, how important to have enogh set of clothes for all weather conditions and numerous other life-saving objects:) Only men would argue why to store “so much useless pieces of clothes” to make the bags heavy:)

Ready to go

I tend to think that our outings make the special days of the week not only for  my Grandma, but also for my cousin, Viki, just as for my Godmother and a couple of old ladies around my Grandma’s house. These latest would drop by to have a look at those “BeautifulGirls,EspeciallyTheSmallOne”. I do not mind it so much, but so does Hana. She doesn’t like those strangers wining around telling her how beautiful her sister is… it is stupid anyway to tell such a thing to a toddler, isn’t it?

Anyway, Grandma will never forget this little outing, not only because she’s been so happy to have us around, but also because we turned her room upside-down the moment we entered the house. Well, even for a night’s sleep, I had to rearrange the whole place to make it babysafe. Thanks Viki for helping me in it! The girls would banked up soon enough her beds and had a great time, playing there.

Ready for a good night's sleep

Hana would sleep on a pull-out bed and Dana and I shared the king-sized sofa-bed. The night was a disaster, as Hana’s bed was just two narrow for her usual attractions of the night so she would woke up every hour and cry – well, that’s great. The rest of the time I could either not go back to sleep, or Dana would wake me up by lifting her hand and dropping it back onto the bed or just making a move or anything really… well, I knew it before that I couldn’t sleep when a baby is in my bed, so I don’t know what I expected really:) From about 1 am, I’d been just hoping for the morning to come and it came at 6 am, when Hana woke up:) – thanks, Darling!

Rather playing then sleeping

Apart from the horrorous night-time, we had a great time, though. Right away on Monday, we visited my GodMother at her workplace, who is a childcarer at the local kindergarten. Hana loves these visits. She can go anywhere she likes and she can play with the kids. I made a few photos to get inspiration, what to do with Hana when the weather is gloomy. The funny thing is, that I used to go to this kindergarten before we moved with my parents, when I was a toddler myself. I have to tell you, that this place is JUST the same as it’s been. Amazing, that even the decoration is the same, though in the room I used to go to, they just painted the wall in white to get rid of the gingerbread house of the witch…

On the way home we got just soaked through in a heavy shower, thanks to the experience of the older. We just left the kindergarten and headed home, when a few big drops of rain fell. I asked if we should go and see my cousin just next door, but the two experienced childcarers chilled me saying that it will be nothing. In about two minutes after that we found ourselves under a nut tree with a baby and a toddler in the middle of a summer downpour. In a few minutes the rain would fell on us and Hana started to moan that she got wet:) thanks God, I could fold Dana in her pushchair, and we’d been giggling with the women, we could go for a wet T-shirt competition… at the end my GodMother called my cousin’s husband who gave me and the girls a lift to Grandma’s house just a street down. The funny thing is, that we had to stay in the car even in front of the house, as leaving the car would have meant to got soaked, if getting wetter would have been possible:) At the end my GodMother who’s name is actually Mary, well, she walked home, pushing the pushchair in one hand and her bike in the other…. Within 2 minutes the clouds were gone and the air was even hotter than before, thanks to humidity…

In 10 minutes we were already set for the swimming-pool party at my GodMother’s house. Hana just loved it, she wouldn’t leave the pool for a moment. Even Dana had a little dabble in a tiny little bath tub Mary found. At least she could wear her swimsuits she inherited from Hana:)

In the pool

The smallest swimsuit I've ever seen:)

The next morning, following that awful night, we got ourselves invited to play with Ana, the little girl, Hana made friends at Viki’s wedding. To be honest, the main reason for staying the night over was to have enough time to visit them too. And we needed time, as they live on the other side of the village… You know, the whole village has about 4 streets in line, but they can be long enough to make distances… Walking there’s been easy, as Hana entertained herself with picking flowers for Ana and we’d been singing and telling stories. However coming back to Grandma would have been a nightmare, but I put Hana on the top of the pushchair so this way we survived… She got really tired in those 2 hours we spent with Ana and her family. They are really nice and funnily enough, Ana, who is half-a-year older than Hana, has a little sister, called Esther, who is now 11 months old. What a coinsidence it is! Dana will also have a little playmate later on, but the sympathy is already in them.

So at the end of the day, everyone’d been satisfied. We spent 2 lovely days at Grandma and she’d looking forward to our next visit. We shall visit her next week, but NO sleeping-overs for a while, I believe:)

They definitely enjoyed the trip

In the morning, we prepared some peach for Hana, as she got so much constipated yesterday, that she cried for 10 minutes on the loo, but could not produce anything. At the end she only succeeded in it, when I put a piece of suppository in her rectum. So we agreed with her, that in order to make an easy way of production, she will have to have some peach every day. Well, easier said then done… Though she loves to grate the peach into liquid, but from that moment it is over. She did not want to eat it, so, sorry to say this, but I had to terrorize her a little bit so that she would eat it all. At the end it worked with some little tricks and thanks God, she had an easy delivery in the afternoon. Now she knows it, that it helps and she said, she would eat peach again tomorrow. Well, I am very much waiting for it…

The main point of this whole peach-eating is really, is that once the peach-juice was ready, I put a little spoonful of it into Dana’s mouth. She was so funny! She made faces while she’d been tasting it. I couldn’t say, she’d fallen in love with peach for the first time:) Well, I gave her maybe 3 little spoonfuls of the liquid and thought I would try again the next morning. However, just tonight, when Tareq arrived, he also had a couple of peaches and Dana just got stuck with them. She started to lick the peach and then all of a sudden she was already sucking it, just like a nipple. She was sooo cute! She definitely liked it. Hang on a minute, now I have a 3 and half year-old, who eats peach grated as babies do, and a 4 months old eating peach just as it is???

Of course I made a photo of Dana eating THE peach.

Eating peach just as it is

So, I was preparing dinner and heard funny noises from the bedroom, she wasn’t crying, it was rather moaning and groaning and it made me curious what she was up to. I was quite surprised to find, that she was on her stomach, and she was struggling to get her arm free. She was so cute. In two day’s time, she was already be able to release her arm and this morning, she turned back from her stomach to her back as. Now she has one more tool to entertain herself and I am glad that she uses it:)

This photo was taken yesterday, when Dana took a turn and Hana lied down beside her.

The big love

See, how cheeky she is?

Oh, yes, it is definitely in her eyes

Viki and Karesz

The bridesmaids were asked to stand in a line beneath the bride and groom, so Hana and Ana wasted no time but proudly stood by the older girls. No laughter, no running around, just as little ladies should behave. I wish, she would have stored some of this for the future:) I could do with it sometimes…

The little and the big bridesmaids

After Viki was officially proposed, given her parents and sister’s blessing, we all set off to walk to the marriage registration office first. At that moment, a few raindrops fell and Viki admitted later on, that she got really scared, as it’s been her dream all her life to walk through the village on her wedding day, to be admired. Well, she’s definitely been admired by the villagers. On the other hand, I would rather die, than do the same, so thanks Tareq again for having our wedding party in your kitchen:)

Hana really enjoyed the march too, she chose my parents for her company and she’s been jumping all the way long. I wonder if they had SUCH a great time too:)

Hana jumping in the march

Baby Dana behaved just lovely all day. She had some sleep every now and then, but when she was awake, she made no fuss at all. I felt sorry for her though, as it was a rather hot day and she had to stay in the chair most of the time, but she’s been like a little heroe. I am sure though that it helped a lot, that now she is able to entertain herself with some little toys she is given, otherwise she’s been busy seeing everything around her. So no wonder, all the family members were just amazed how calm a baby she was and they were all carried away by her beauty too.

My little pretty

After Viki and Karesz got through the marriage registration, we set up again and walked to the church now. It was again a very important scene in Hana’s day, as she and Ana took the task of throwing the rose-leaves walking the bride and the groom into the church. I wasn’t sure if she really was serious when my godmother asked her, but yes, she did it! They were so cute! Hana didn’t threw too much, probably she’s been saving them for an other time. No wonder, she’s been asking me eversince then, when the next wedding party would be, we were attending!

Throwing the rose-leaves

Dana got really hungry during the ceremony, so I brestfed her in the church and this way I could stay a little longer to see the service. After a while I had to go out though not to disturb those, who were still listening and I found Hana outside, playing busy with Ana and an other Hana, daughter of my cousin. At the end of the day, we had some photos with the husband and wife and then while they departed to the wedding party, we set off to catch the train home.

I thought Hana would be crying, seeing the others leaving, but I told her, they were just driving around beeping for a while and we had to go home anyway as we were tired. She understood it and there was no problem at all. I was very proud of her, just as of Dana since both girls behaved very well all day and it’s been a beautiful day for all of us. Once we get the official photos from Viki, I will post a family photo so you will see, how “beautiful” we’ve all been, as we were described!

My cheeky Hana in her lovely "nicedress"

We set up pretty early with the girls, so that I would have enough time to put Hana down for a little nap, before the whole party began. We took the train to my grandma, just as we do now once nearly every week, when weather is fine enough for an outing. I love these trips with them. They are just great, no sound from Dana and no fuss from Hana. Hana loves the whole idea, walking to the station, asking someone nice to help us lifting the puschair onto the train and then going for a ride. She always shouts to the train “Hello” which makes all people smile… so we are not without a notice that we are accompanying them for a while. Though after we are on, there’s no trouble at all. Once again when we arrive, we have to ask someone else for help, but people seem to be better and better at it, they offer help even without asking.

Baby Dana ready to go

So this particular Saturday morning we took the 9:12 train and when we arrived Hana started to pick some flowers for Great Grandma and thanks to this, we nearly missed my Grandma who walked to the station to see us. No problem, as it is rather common to shout in Szigetcsép, the village where they live, so I felt no shyness and I have to tell you, it is an effective way. We walked to the house of my godparents where Viki, the bride has already been taken care of by the hairdresser. She looked quite scary with her hair all messed up and no wonder, Hana didn’t even want to stay in the same room with her. However the result was beautiful later on, thanks God:)

The party began at 1pm, so I had to beg Hana for some rest, which was not an easy task since her usual sleeping time is around 1 pm originally. It took me more than half-an-hour but at the end I went into bed with her and it helped. So by the time the first couple of family members, including my own parents, brother and Tareq arrived, she was already asleep and woke up just before we had to depart. She woke up all smiling, knowing that it is time to wear the “nicedress”.

1pm it started with the so called “guestwaiting”, when the bride’s parents are inviting her guests for a cold lunch, spirits and refreshments. It provides a chance for guests to get to know each other and Hana took the opportunity of knowing Ana very well. Ana is half-a-year older and they became friends in an instance. From then on, they didn’t want to go anywhere without the other, till we went home.

Ana and Hana, the two little ladies

It was around 2:30 pm when the groom and his party arrived, walking from his house, accompanied by a brass band.  It is a real feast for all the village, as everyone is curious to see the march. To be continued…

Thanks God, I’ve been very lucky with Hana so far, as we had hardly any problems in these 3 and half years. However this spring put me to the test. Dana was born early March and soon after I caught a cold that Hana caught from me too. The doc told me that since Dana was breastfed, she was protected but as soon as Hana was infected she infected Dana as well. No wonder as she’s been clinging onto her eversince she was born. Now from then on for one and half months, one of my babies was always sick. It was not a good feeling. I was especially sorry for Dana who was just too small to suffer like this.

I searched through the internet and found many interesting ideas about how to cure a baby cold. I found useful information, but there are methods I do not agree with and I’d like to share my experience with you. I decided to run a section within my blog that would be giving hints to other mummies on baby health. Hope you will find them useful.

And the tip of the day: a video about how to relieve a baby’s stuffy nose.

Next time I will tell you about the symphtoms of baby cold and give you hints about how to prevent babies from a common cold.

Baby Dana with her two best friends, Cow and Sheep

She is always up to some fun, she is a lovely, happy little duckling. So fond of her sister, Hana and thanks God, Hana loves her so deeply too. They are just great sisters to each other.

It’s been quite depressing the last couple of days, raining all day since Saturday and it was also quite chilly. Due to the bad weather we couldn’t go out and Dana suffered from it. She can not really sleep inside in the afternoons so she really misses the afternoon walks. Sunday it was alike, she was awake since 4 pm and after passing out into a half-an-hour sleep at 7 pm, she was wide awake afterwards. We were all together in the bedroom when Hana started to fool about, made faces and started to laugh. I just couldn’t believe my ears when this little monkey, who was hanging on my shoulders, started to giggle so laudly and clearly… I couldn’t control myself, I started to laugh as well, it was an overwhelming moment, when you forget about all your troubles. Then you understand, that it is really worth to be living. And of course my babies are my life. They are the most important to me in life.

Hana and Dana embraced by their proud Daddy

Saturday , 30th May, was the day for the celebration. Thanks God, my friend, Ancsa came around to see us and she helped to blew a large number of balloons we could later on use to decorate the playground in the garden, where the party was held. Hana was very excited about the whole party and of course enjoyed the great balloon-blewing morning:) Probably she was the only one enjoying it. I just can’t image why they produce unblowable balloons???

We also organized some little games for the kids, but most of the time they were just running around and chatting about. They are so cute, ranging from 0 to 4 in age, many of them just starting to walk, most of them not talking at all and some of them, like my Hana, just can not control herself when surrounded by her friends and talking continuously.

Huray, here is my best friend, Botond!

The most popular venue of the party was the tent-site, where we installed a number of childrens’ tents and they could just crawl and hide and run-around chasing each other. Some of the smaller kids were fishing with the magnetic fishing rods on the trambulin that replaced the water pool, due to the miserable weather we hade to survive in.

Most of our little angels made their painted hand prints with Hajni or a plasticined hand print with Izabella remembering this first Children’s Day of the house.

We also packed each little one a bag filled with small presents and they were so excited getting them and of course the number one gift proved to be the bubble pipe for all of them.

At around 7 pm it started to be so chilly that I had to dress Hana in winter coat so we just thought it would be wiser to call of the party but agreed on organizing a number of parties during the summer as it was not only a great time for the kids but for the parents as well. I am up for it and so is Hana!

Baby Dana, the happy little kitten

My great friend, Andrew who is a nice English guy, very consolidate, and polite but always up for having fun, well, he gave me some hints when I was planning to open this blog. Thank you for that, Andrew! Just yesterday, he posted me this link, warning me not to turn my blog into a vlog, inserting too many videos into it. Well, I do not plan at all to follow this path, however, ever now and then I will post videos to share the beautiful moments of our happy life here in Hungary, with you guys!