A Harmless Grinning Idiot

Skype a la Babies

2012-01-29T09:46:00.001+10:30

I dont think that Andrew's parents got as much out of yesterday's Skype session as Tiny did. Addie was invoking her two year old right to wear no pants and say no to everything, so the extent of her interaction with her grandparents was to moon them.

Given that we let Tiny have full reign with the iPad. This resulted in a whole lot of touching noses on the screen and lots of kissing and hugging the iPad as well as holding it right up to her face in the way that kids are compelled to do that.

Skype is so valuable to us in enabling the girls to remember their grandparents on both sides because they only physically see them a few times a year. It's nice for the grandparents to see them and certainly reduces the 'send us pictures' pressure that we'd otherwise get, but primarily it's for the kids.

It's both adorable and heart breaking when Addie tries to reach through the screen to hug someone. The singing and tickling games are pretty hilarious and in short the girls get to have some of the relationship with their ancestors that they would otherwise miss because of distance.

FYI our iPad wears a kid proof case called Drop Tech iPad case by Gumdrop. It is fantastic and more than worth the $70 it cost.

Caking

2012-01-14T18:44:00.000+10:30

Tiny turned One this week and today was her party. This photo shows what my ouse looked like yesterday after a week of crazy making party food and props - therefore letting the kids play however they wanted and not cleaning up.

And more. Charming hey? I'm pleased to say that today it is all much nicer. Here is one of the things I was doing instead of being a good mother.

Making the Carousel Cake!! See here two 28cm cakes, one is cut be the top of the carousel. Both have been covered in ganache.

Working on the fondant. Mmmm. Pink Marshmallow fondant is the best. Much nicer to work with than shop bought stuff [sorry shops].

Smoothing with my fancy tools - aka fist!

Adding some cute detail.

DISASTER!!! This was my favourite horse, but the dowel hole dried too small and it broke in half when I tried to skewer it. Some eggwhite, fondant slurry and string to the rescue and it all ended up okish.

The finished cake. Its pretty cool, and I'm happy with it. I'm not happy with my personal execution of some parts like a few joins and edges, but I had to chose between being an insane perfectionist, or being reasonable, and for once I chose reason - and am now regretting it, ha ha. Nah its fine. Addie said that it was beautiful and that the stars are lovely. I think it kicks the butt of the one in the book - just quietly.

Happy 1st Birthday Miss Clementine Audrey Schultz. [BTW last night when she was up at 3:30 am happily playing, she spotted the cake and wanted to have it there and then.]

A carousel horse in the making

2012-01-08T14:06:00.001+10:30

Gosh it's been a while. Been busy and frequenting other corners of the Internet. Anyway, while the Internet is awesome, I felt that it failed me lately when I couldn't find a tute to show me how to make a carousel horse for Clementine's birthday cake. I had to *gasp* be creative all by myself. Eep.

So, to help others who may want so tips, here is how I did it! First, find a picture, or draw one. I can't draw as well as a 4 year old, so I used google and printed off this pic.

Then I used some clear sheet (overhead projector sheets in this case) and traced around the bits of the image I wanted to use.

I wanted it to be a bit more 3d, so for my first tracing I ignored the legs on the far side, and for the 2nd I ignored the legs on the near side and filled in the gaps with my imagination. I was left with these two shapes which I cut out.

Now we are up to making the horse. I made marshmellow fondant - its awesome, you melt marshmallows and mix in icing sugar and hey presto fondant! Roll up a ball of fondant in your hand and then roll it out, mine was probably about 7mm thick.

Using something sharp to trace around the outline of your horse. You can see my fondant is cranking at the sides, because I am dodgy and it got too dry before making this horse. Obviously you will be better than me and not let your fondant dry out.

With a sharp implement cut away the fondant around the horse. I like this bit, it's like being an archeologist and excavating an exciting object. When it is all cut out, use your fingers to smooth the edges and any dodgy bits.

Go and do likewise with the second shape.

To make this a carousel horse, you're going to need to stick it on a pole. I'm using dowels from the shop that sells cake deco stuff, these will hold up the 2nd tier of cake as well. I intend to wrap them with ribbon and make them pretty but for now I just want to make sure that I have a hole big enough for them. Press the rod gently onto the back piece of your horse, then paint the piece with some water. It just melts the fondant a bit and creates a glue to hold the front piece on. Now put the front piece on top, smoothing it around the pole shape. My fondant cracked a little bit (I mentioned it was dry) but I'll cover that in a bit anyway. Give the dowel a twist to make sure it is free to move, you don't want it stuck there yet.

At this point I make sure all the bits on the horse match and smooth away bumps that looks funny etc. Making sure that the front and back are joined so that you now have a horse with 4 legs and a hole through it.

We're up to the saddle! Colour a small piece of fondant to make the horse saddle. I used gel colours because they work great and don't melt the fondant. Roll it out thin - like 2mm and cut out your saddle shape. Mine is very plain but you can go crazy if you want to, you have my permission.

Hello horsey with a saddle. I took the pole out, put the saddle on and poked the pole back through. Use the water paint/glue thing to stick the saddle to Mr Horse.

To make the mane, colour more fondant and roll a piece out nice and thin, 1mm if you can. I cut a funny shape that I will crinkle to make the mane look volumous, like as if the pony uses Pantene and floops it about to to make other horses jealous. (Also, see the stars? I have these nifty little star punches that I got from eBay for $3. Seeing as I didn't need the saddle fondant any more, I cut the scraps into stars to use later for the cake, or just as decorations for cupcakes or cookies or something.)

Arrange the mane piece on the horse, I still don't know the best way to do it, but you know, do what works, and when you like what you have, water/glue that toupee down. Next make a tail shape with the same colour as your mane, and cut a wedge out of Mr. Horse's bottom. Wet the pointy bit of the tail, and stick it into the wedge, squishing right in. In this case my tail was a bit long and I shortened it before sticking it in.

To finish, remove the pole, you will stick it back on when the fondant has dried and you are setting up your cake. I stuck a little star on Mr. Horse's saddle before putting him out to pasture with his buddies. They are all super jealous and want a star now too. If you were fancier than me, you could add all sorts of details with royal icing, like eyes, mouth, bridle, stirrups, whatever. The world is your oyster (yuck!) go forth and make fondant horses!

A colour and some extensions please.

2011-10-29T14:14:00.001+10:30

This is me, 18 hours ago. I dreaded my hair (again!) six weeks ago, and they've been settling in well, with the usual loose hairs, bumps and wanna be dictator dreads that have to be stopped from taking over all the other dreads. If you've had dreads, you'll know what I mean.

Anyways, I was thinking about how to make these deadlines more socially acceptable for my sister's wedding- not that I Care, but I care that she might feel a bit embarrassed if I getup to do a reading looking like a hedgehog. I'm not entirely sure that what I've don't now goes anyway to fixing the issue, but I love it none the less.

Starting about 8 pm last night, I hand rolled some knitting wool into dread pieces and attached them to the stubby ends of my Sideshow Bob-esque dreads. Bye by Bob and hello rainbow!

The first few.

A while later.

Finished, the view from the back.

The end result.

You can see the roots of the real dress sitting in an odd way, but that will rectify itself over the next week or so as they get used to suddenly being heavy and subject to gravity. I miss my spiky hair, but I do love these soft beautiful woolies. Addie is very impressed with mum's "colours", Tiny likes to rub them between her fingers, and Andrew well, he said he's happy that I'm happy, bless him.

Death is Life's Best Invention

2011-10-06T12:41:00.001+10:30

Apple's Homepage 6/10/2011

I dare say these words will be published more than a million times in the next day or so, but in memory of Apple visionary and inventor Steve Jobs whose ideas I use everyday, here are his own words about death.

"Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything - all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important.

"Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.

"No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new.

"Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true."

I must tell you about Addie's birthday

2011-09-19T23:53:00.001+09:30

Adelaide Margaret is two. Ask her and she'll tell you "two" holding up her thumb and pointy finger.
She celebrated with her friend Joel who is also two by inviting a bunch of people to a party on a Saturday afternoon.

We had cake. Lots of cake! Green on the outside, red on the inside. Yummy dinosaur cake.

She ate 'stwarbys' (strawberries) and stained her dress with the delicious juice before the guests arrived.

I think she ate some cake?

Clementine slept, snuggled tight by her Godmother.

She knew how to steal the limelight too

A sunny family picture for the photo album

A very happy birthday girl.

Baby wearing should not be deadly

2011-09-19T16:31:00.001+09:30

I'm upset about a story in the media today. It's about a baby who died while it's mum was wearing it in a bag style sling.

I'm upset because it shouldn't have happened. The mum was clearly not following safe practice, as she was wearing the sling under her top and jumper. A baby's face should never be covered. Ever. I'm upset for the mum who probably thought she was doing a good thing for her baby. When it comes to babies and equipment always research! Don't assume that you can use it however you want. I'm upset too that a particularly dangerous style of sling is still for sale. Bag slings are notorious and should not be used. They should be banned.

The other thing that upsets me is that I saw a baby being worn in one of these bag slings the other day and I could see it was in an unsafe position, but I was too scared to tell a stranger, so I didn't. I should have, and I will in the future.

There is a recommendation for Australian standards in manufacture and instructions to be included in slings for sale. That is GOOD! An excellent article is available online with tips and pictures about safe babywearing. I encourage you to bookmark that link for future reference. Baby wearing should be something that enriches the life and happiness of both the mumma and bubba, that is why I practice it and advocate for it. Please do it safely.

Late/early

2011-08-16T01:43:00.001+09:30

I should be asleep right now. It is way past bedtime, past midnight and well into the early morning. Andrew is home from work. I have been in bed, trying to help the little one understand that it is time to turn her body to 'snooze' until daylight. I am tired, but this wee girlie is not. On the up side, we can play with no bossy big sister stealing all the toys.

My Place and Yours: Orange

2011-08-03T11:29:00.001+09:30

This week's theme is Orange, pretty exciting for me because I love love love orange! Especially when I was pregnant with Addie there was a rich orange theme running through everything that I bought and used. I was also addicted to eating the fruit, orange which is odd for me because I don't usually enjoy eating oranges.

Orange combines the energy of red and the happiness of yellow. It is associated with joy, sunshine, and the tropics. Orange represents enthusiasm, fascination, happiness, creativity, determination, attraction, success, encouragement, and stimulation.
To the human eye, orange is a very hot color, so it gives the sensation of heat. Nevertheless, orange is not as aggressive as red. Orange increases oxygen supply to the brain, produces an invigorating effect, and stimulates mental activity. It is highly accepted among young people. As a citrus color, orange is associated with healthy food and stimulates appetite. Orange is the color of fall and harvest. In heraldry, orange is symbolic of strength and endurance.

-from Color Wheel Pro

The old bedspread that covers the day bed in the living room

Bright orange nappy

Mandies - Addie's favorite fruit ever

My favourite little orange-head.

Go to Kate's place for more orange.

Little Miss not quite 2 years old.

2011-07-29T20:57:00.000+09:30

I love her

I really really really do

But sometimes, lately 90% of the time,

she does my head in

Actually, I think she does her own head in

One day, we'll laugh about it

My Place and Yours: Cookbooks

2011-07-26T23:30:00.002+09:30

Here they are, my proud collection of cookbooks. There are a lot of Australian Women's Weekly, some Jaime Oliver, Bill Granger, Cookery the Australian Way and Stephanie Alexander. There are a bunch of others too that are cool, like my 1960's Encyclopaedia of Cooking and a couple of great vegetarian cookbooks that I collected in my vego days and still get a lot of use from.

The books are in the kitchen next to the pantry cupboard so that I can use them. I still have spaces there from short cookbooks, but you know what? I still end up getting a lot of recipes online because I can't find *quite* what I'm looking for. Ridiculous really!

Go to Kate & Michael +3 to see more collections of cookery books.

Learning

2011-07-22T23:12:00.001+09:30

Playing with my new camera Fujifilm Finepix S3300 from Target
and a new program Flare from the Apple App Store. I used an effect called bleach, but my reason for sharing is the soft, bright, innocent and wonderful look on my big girl's face.

The Three Days of Potty Training

2011-07-20T22:09:00.005+09:30

So the twenty minute method was given up. It didn't suit us and Addie was getting annoyed at the constant pottying. After a week's break we tried a different method.

The three day potty training method is fairly popular in internet land. The people who have tried it promise 3 awful days, but a potty trained kid by the end. The author of the particular ebook that I bought firmly believes that any child from the age of 22 months can be toilet trained.

It it pretty straightforward, once you take your child's nappy off on the first day, it never goes back on again. Not for naps, not for shopping trips, never. They wear big kid [not training] undies. You watch for their wee/poo signs and shove a potty under them as they start. The idea is that they learn to associate the "wee is coming" feeling with the potty, and do their business there.

Day 1 - Addie was great at holding her wee and we caught the poo in the nick of time. The wee never made it in the potty but there were lots of encouraging start stickers to go around. A very exhausting day, but no pain no gain.

Day 2. Lots of catching Addie and putting her in the potty and it resulted in a poo and wee at the same time. Lots of star stickers and telling anyone we could about it. The rest of the day resulted in long wee holding sessions, and big wets on the floor.

Day 3. Not so much wee holding today, and poos in undies. Ewh. The stress is starting to really wear me down and there are tears.

Day 4. Still bravely persisting, but not getting anywhere. Feeling like I'm going insane by staying at home ad watching Addie's bum for 4 days. Lots of wee. Lots of tears [mine still].

Day 5. Make a command decision that this is not going to continue in this manner.

Make no mistake, potty training has not ended, but has morphed. More on that next time.

I think the 3 day method has some wonderful strengths. Addie is showing some great improvement now and I'm sure that the intensive start has helped, but given the combination of our personality types it wasn't fully working for us, despite our best efforts. Addie was at the front door the past two days crying and saying "Car, shoes, pram, shops". We couldn't go anywhere because it would wreck the program. That just doesn't gel for us. She missed her friends, I missed my friends. Tiny was missing out because I was spending every second on Addie and nothing NOTHING was getting done in the house for fear of missing a wee. Its not all doom and gloom and I reckon its a great method for heaps of people, and I learned so much about potty training from it. Stay tuned for part 3!

Read about our first attempt The Trials of Potty Training here.

Doing Dinner

2011-07-20T19:04:00.000+09:30

Andrew works most nights from around 4:30 - midnight or later as a pizza delivery guy. This leaves us girls at home for dinner and here's how it goes.

Tiny in her Bebe Pod

Clementine won't eat mush on a spoon. Nup not having it, and despite the child health nurse telling me to give it to her until she does [force feeding?] I'm not going to make her. What she does is grab anything she can and gum it. So, we give her big fingerfood sizes of softish food and she picks it up and turns it into mush herself. Its funny seeing big chunks of food come out the other end an hour or two later.

Nearly Nakie Addie's Dinner

What Tiny eats comes out of my bowl or plate. Addie doesn't do well eating out of her own bowl at this time of night, so she sits on my lap and we share our meal. We usually sit on the living room floor because its easy and warm. As they get older we'll make more use of the table, but while they're babies this works and we enjoy our shared meal.

My Place and Yours: Show me your backyard

2011-07-19T12:43:00.001+09:30

Here is our backyard.

Taken from the left corner of the yard here. The clothes line has a fence around it so that next year we can plant vegies in there out of the way of free range chooks and babies. The drums are fire buckets that Dad had fun burning prickles in when he was down, and I think Andrew likes playing around with them too. The plastic playpen is to keep Tiny safe from chooks who would see her and think "I'm going to eat that enormous juicy bug" and her sister. Under the big trees is an area covered completely in leaf litter - this is where the chook pen is - and where the chooks are confined to when not ranging about conducting border controls. Up the very back is a diseased lemon tree - must find out whats wrong with it and maybe next year I'll be a lemon mogul.

To the side [yes, our yard is so big I couldn't fit it in one shot. Sorry Kate] are the swings and Addie's slide that she loves. The green blob near the swings is that sandpit, and finally the milkcrates on the bench there are filled with glass jars that I've hoarded in the hope that they might be useful one day.

Oh yeah, and with all this space and grass... we have a human powered push-along mower - no motor, no power, just blades and our brawn. Go us!

Kate would like to see your backyard too.

The trials of potty training!

2011-07-18T16:10:00.003+09:30

I've been dreading potty training since December 2008 when I found out we were expecting a child. Ok, so perhaps it wasn't forefront in my mind when I saw those little pink lines, but it really has lurked ominously in the distance for us.

I've heard many things bout potty training. Some say train 'em young when they're not so set in their ways. Others say train them old so you can have a proper conversation with them [I personally think that 26 is to old to be potty training]. I hear use incentives, don't use incentives. Use nappies for going out, going to bed, use pullups, don't use nappies use training pants, use "proper" undies. Train in summer, train whenever. Use a timer, make them sit - never use a timer, no way should you let them 'try'. Even if you've never attempted potty training a human, I'm sure you can see why this might be a little daunting.

Our first attempt at potty training was a couple of weeks back when my parents visited. We bought a timer, little kid undies and sat Addie on the potty every 20 min (20 minute timer method). We soon found out that she liked her "panties". She also had good bladder control, able to hold for 4 hours at a go. She liked her potty and thought sitting on it was fun, but she would not pee in it. I gave her some demos, and she cheered me when she saw wee, but it didn't help. I made a doll go wee by hiding a syringe and she cheered the doll, and next time we said potty time, she put the doll on and called her a good girl. She thought her potty books were great and enjoyed reading them, and pressing the button on the noisy one.

It ended up that we had accident upon accident - in fact nothing that wasn't an accident so I was happy after 4 days to have a break and leave the nappies in place. She was sick of the potty and didn't want to sit on it and no further progress had ensued. I decided to try again in a little bit, using the 3-day method which a number of people recommended.

Stay tuned to find out about how potty training version 2 went.

The Three Days of Potty Training

Clementine's Semi Birthday.

2011-07-13T06:56:00.002+09:30

The lovely baby Clementine was 6 months old on Saturday the 9th July. Its a case of how on earth did 6 months disappear so quickly?

Just like I did for Addie's 6 month birthday, we had Macdonalds for breakfast, and Tiny munched on a little piece of hotcake, while her sister made a big mess of hotcakes, I ate mine properly and Andrew paid a stupid amount of money for a teeny little bagel, and went hungry. My parents, Grandma and Grandpa to the girls, and Aunty Tori were with us as well so it was a lovely breakfast.

Tiny at 6 months can finally roll in all directions, and is close to sitting unassisted. She'd prefer to be sitting than lying down and loves being in her Bebe Pod. While her sister is a whiner, Tiny is a sooker, and can be most upset it it suits her but what she doesn't know is that it is pretty funny from where we stand.

She still cosleeps and breast feeds. She sleeps in her hammock during the day, and loves it still, even though her feet touch the end. She won't eat mushy food at all, but she'll happily gum anything she can hold in her hand, so we're looking at baby led solids - its messy but not as messy as a baby not interested in mush.

Tiny loves Dad, thinks mum is her personal property [as does Addie, hence a few of our daily struggles] and adores Adelaide, despite the fact Addie sits on her every 10 min on average, her hugs are really chokeholds and when Addie feels powerless she takes it out on the baby. All things that we're trying to modify. Addie also seems to be taking an active role in Tiny's nutrition, always sharing food and drinks with her despite our protestations. On Sunday I found she'd even shared an old teabag from my cup with her. Mmmm. Tiny loves when Addie talks with her, tickles, sings to her [today Addie was playing "row row your boat" with Tiny and making her do the actions, hilarious].

She is adorable, lovely, beautiful, kissable, chubby, cheerful and our very special very loved Clementine.

Healthy Tab - What does she do?

2011-07-13T00:12:00.002+09:30

Recently I asked myself a series of questions - to be answered over the next little while.

What does Healthy Tab do?

Healthy Tab is busy, as far as she isn't stressed by that activity. It is purposeful and thoughtful. Healthy Tab spends time at home as well as out, and does the mundane tasks of keeping the house safe and liveable [note, not perfect] as well as the fun things.

Healthy Tab spend time with the girls that isn't just task focused, but that takes in who are they are and gives them the love and attention that they need.

Healthy Tab spends time creating, writing, talking and thinking. She shares her life with others but has an innerlife that she cares for too.

Healthy Tab spends meaningful time with Andrew and enjoys his company.

Healthy Tab makes sure that her brain is exercised and made good use of.

Healthy Tab knows that she doesn't have to take on every challenge that presents itself, just as she will not hide from one just because it is difficult.

Healthy Tab takes care of her spirituality and spends time with those that are likeminded and nurture that life.

Healthy Tab sleeps, eats well and takes care of her physical body.

Healthy Tab is kind to herself.

Going to the shops.

2011-07-11T14:42:00.001+09:30

Today Addie learned how to unlatch the gate. I discovered this in a not too pleasant way this morning. Addie was playing out the front pushing her pram around and carrying her handbag, stopping every so often to pick leaves or other things and put them in her bag. Both gates were latched and I tied a rope around the one that opens when you jiggle it, and double checked the other, then went inside to feed Tiny who was due for a feed and nap.

Having fed and settled Tiny, I was just going outside to see what Addie was up to when I heard a knock on the front of the house, where an elderly man was asking "is this your little girl?" he was pointing down the road to an indignantly bawling Addie, pushing her pram up the street to our house, accompanied by an older lady. Addie wasn't scared-crying, she was angry crying, and I was relieved, embarrassed that she'd been able to get out and definitely grateful that she was ok.

I went and picked Addie up and asked her what was wrong, and she tearfully said "bye, shops" and kept repeating shops. So from what I can gather from her rescuers, she had undone the gate latch, crossed the nature strip and was walking down the middle of the road to the shops with her pram and bag.

I was scared because I know about strangers, cars, all those dangers, but can you imagine how exciting it must have been for her to set out for the shops and get so far, I can see the look of purpose that would have been on her face, and She was probably chattering "bye mum, bye bye Tiny, see you in the morning" and the dissapointment when the lady brought her back - I heard that bit. Poor girly.

Clearly our gate needs something more secure to latch it, and somehow Addie needs to be a little less independent, while I need to be more watchful.

What does a Healthy Tab look like?

2011-07-11T10:56:00.000+09:30

What does she do?
How does she feel?
How does she dress?
What language does she use?
What thoughts does she entertain?
Who does she spend time with?
What does she value?
What does she spend time on?
What are her 'danger zones'?
What does she avoid?

Clementine's Dedication

2011-07-05T00:29:00.000+09:30

Sunday the 3rd July, we held Clementine's Dedication ceremony.

It wasn't as fancy or planned or attended as Addie's last year, but she is just as well loved and precious to us. The Schultz Christening Dress made it just in time, thanks to Australia post, and my parents came down to have a little holiday and see their granddaughters, which has been lovely.

The Dress and the Baby

Tiny, her parents and Godparents.

Some of my family

To add a touch of drama, Tiny had a few projectile vomits, including one after the dedication, lucky for the dress she was on such an angle that it didn't get soaked. Thank goodness for that, because it is about 84 years old and I was terrified we would somehow ruin it.

Addie doing her own thing.

Addie wasn't down with standing there looking pretty so spent the entire time running up and down the hall screaming like a kid on a fun park ride. She enjoyed the party at the end, and helped her friend Joel in providing us with some delightful mood music.

Am I enough?

2011-07-02T00:16:00.000+09:30

This week I've been rushing and working and juggling - sort of. I feel like all the balls that a mother and wife should keep in the air have crashed to the ground. The feelings of failure and inadequacy have grown all week and I've ended up a sobbing mess more than once - over a measly small essay of all things.

When I broke it down and there was nothing left in me, it came down to one sneaking suspicion that gutted me. I'm not enough. I can't be whom should be. I'm failing myself and everyone else. I want to cancel everything for this weekend and the rest of the year.

Have you been there and felt that? How do you recover?

Its not true though. I am enough. Maybe not in my own right, but the gospel that gives me my life says that when I'm not enough, Jesus is. Wasn't that the whole purpose of his journey to earth?

I am enough. I have been made enough and I always will be. That is the truth of the matter and anyone who says otherwise is telling a lie.

So how does that change this week and the juggling balls that are all on the ground? If the scales of life say that Tab is unequal to expectations, but my value is unalterable - then my expectations must be the variable. What is important in my life? What are my absolute responsibilities? What can I change, stop, do better?

I think this is the question always facing mothers, wives, daughters, women of all life stages. We need to keep speaking truth in love to each other - like my sister-friends have done to me this week - have each other's back, and constantly reassess our lives to weed out the rubbish that creeps in.

MPAY: So what's your favorite song?

2011-06-27T23:36:00.000+09:30

Kate's MPAY theme this week is

So what's your favorite song? Share your youtube video or a picture of your favorite CD. Is there a story behind it or do you just love it?

How can you chose one song? So I thought of the one I've probably had in my head most this year. Thanks to my Glee Kareoke Revolution, I'd say it is My Life Would Suck Without You by Kelly Clarkson. She's not the type of artist I usually like, but I like that its easy to get a good score in this song! Really, I just like the chorus, because I think of Andrew when I sing it and while we're two cranky, messed up, broken, selfish people who don't get it right most of the time, truth is that my life WOULD suck without him, bigtime. Soppy much, but true.

Follow the link to play and add your favourite song.

What files? I don't have any files.

2011-06-15T23:42:00.000+09:30

Do you know what it means when your macbook shows this picture?

I do. It means that your 21 month old daughter [whom you love with all your heart, of course] has dropped your computer on the ground several times in the last year, and has just now kicked it because her foot wanted to occupy the same place in space as the macbook currently does.

I'm not sure that my hardrive so much died, as it voluntarily gave up, sick and tired of the abuse metered out by a most gorgeous chubby grotty stubborn impulsive toddler. Unfortunately the political statement by this harddrive [no doubt it was making a push for a universal declaration of computer rights] has cost me dearly. It has cost me all the original photos of Tiny's life to date, a fair chunk of photos of Addie's life, my uni assignments in progress [that'll teach me for actually doing the work on time instead of just before the due date] countless documents that I will realise are missing over the next few weeks, and finally my rich collection of website bookmarks, which were seriously good enough to be published in a book!!! Oh and $109 for a new harddrive.

I know, I should have had a back up. I know. I even asked Andrew to back up a bunch of stuff but we were busy and it never happened. So I'm learning, I hope. Google Docs is my friend and will store my works in progress, we will invest in an external hard drive, and maybe one day when we're rich we'll pay Abbey from NCIS to get the photos off the old hard drive.

Thankfully this blog and facebook have many photos of the girls from this year, not in printable quality but at least they exist and we can still look at them and reminisce.

Just thinking, I'm pretty sure my brain shows this picture quite frequently these days. Again, I blame the toddler.

Couldn't be cuter baby than you are.

2011-06-11T00:25:00.000+09:30

5 months and eating Zebras

Clementine just couldn't get cuter. I'm sure of it. She's still not eating solids, unless they are made of fabric and hobby fill like this zebra she was given by friends when she was born.

Piggies!!

Our beautifully boofy Addie has morphed into a little girl with the entrance of her own pigtales! She skyped grandma to show her the "pretties" as she called them.

Square eyes

Yep, this is how she watches TV. I'm sure its bad for her, but I can't remember why. Isn't she gorgeous?

Sisters

A sweet moment where Addie lay down on the daybed with her sister and read to her about trucks and earth movers :) They love each other almost as much as I love them.

Better than Masterchef, I kid you not!

2011-06-09T19:46:00.001+09:30

Hey there masterchefs!! I admit, I do love the Masterchef show - I form attachments to some contestants, and those that I bravely despise I make cutting comments about from the safety of my living room. I'm so grown up. Really though I like it for the cooking. I think I've learned most of my cooking skills off TV, or at least after watching how someone cooks something I've thought "I can give that a go". So yay for cooking and TV.

Do you know what is better than that though? Manjula's Kitchen. We had Potato Curry with Yoghurt Gravy for our dinner tonight with crappy shop bought naan. The curry was devine!! I added chickpeas with the potato, and added frozen peas in the last 2 minutes which added to the taste and freshened it up amazingly.

Her recipes are available in written format on her website which is great but the videos are even better!! Manjula seems like a gorgeous lady and I'd love to meet her and watch her cook in real life. My new culinary hero :)

Colin

2011-06-05T23:14:00.000+09:30


As a baby, Addie received this giraffe from my long-time friend Heather

She took to it quickly and soon took it everywhere.

We named him Colin because we listened to a lot of Colin Buchanan

He watches TV

Goes with her in strange situations

This year we found a second Colin so that the original could be washed!

He is her muse

Her comfort

Constant companion

And friend.

We all love Colin the strange giraffe.

I Love Lucy's Drab 2 Fab

2011-05-05T07:00:00.000+09:30

I love Lucy's blog, Diminishing Lucy. She makes me want to eat better, feed my family better and just says a load of good stuff.

Lucy has a new thing going called Drab to Fab and she's linking posts from bloggers who exemplify what she's on about.

press the button

Click on the link to see what I'm talking about. I also had better disclose that she has linked one of my recent posts about ditching the shampoo which is why I'm linking back to her again :) Lucy is Fab, so go visit!!

MPAY: Whats on your bed?

2011-05-04T16:42:00.000+09:30

Here's the answer. As you can see, this is totally unstylised :) The doona cover is a blue and white stripe bought at IKEA on our way home from our honeymoon, and it is the only doona cover we have. To wash it I have to wash it first thing and make sure that it is dried by bedtime.

Kate has just taken on the role of host for My Place and Yours, so thanks Kate :) I'll try to keep up this time. Its a fun game to play! For more of what is on people's beds, go over and see the list of link's @ Kate & Michael + 3

Oh my darlin'

2011-05-02T23:09:00.000+09:30

Addie's First Easter Egg Hunt

2011-05-01T13:06:00.000+09:30

We visited Ma & Pop, who are Andrew's grandparent's [the girls' great grandparents] at Easter this year and did an Easter Egg Hunt for Addie in their back yard. None of the eggs were hidden, just scattered on the lawn so she could pick them up in her basket. Addie had a mixture of plastic eggs filled with dried fruit or little chickies, and a few small chocolate eggs. She has named the little chickies "yummee" I think because she got them at the same time as the chocolate. It was very very cute!

Ditching the shampoo

2011-04-26T23:09:00.000+09:30

Care for these bodies we've given should be simple and uncomplicated. As a part of my belief in this, I've stopped shampooing my hair. Roll your eyes if you must, but once you've done that, read on.

I blame Trish at Little Eco Footprints for this one. She mentioned that she no longer shampoos or conditions her hair, along with a bunch of other cosmetic free practices that she has in a post called How to detox and simplify your personal care. It piqued my interest and I clicked around internet-land learning what I could about a shampoo free lifestyle.

Check these good links.

New Urban Habitat - Are you still using shampoo?

One Green Generation

ABC- Is shampoo a rip-off?

So basically the idea with this one is that you don't need to use shampoo to have clean hair. I have very oily hair that looks like BP have busted an oil well by the end of the day and can smell a bit funky when it isn't washed. Funnily enough when I had dreads and didn't use commercial shampoo my scalp wasn't flaky or itchy or smelly, but with mainstream hair and commercial shampoo it is. I haven't been a shampoo fan for a long time so not using it sounds good for me.

There are a few 'no shampoo' methods, and the way I do it it this. Dump some dry bicarb soda on my hair and rub it in. Get in the shower and straight away quickly wet the hair. Massage the bicarb in and let it sit for a minute while you soap up your body or whatever you do. Rinse. Then I splash some diluted vinegar [1-2 tablespoons in a cup of water] from an old popper that Addie once drank out of, just on the ends of my hair. Leave for a minute and rinse for a couple of seconds, done!

At the end of the day & not even gross!

I like that you don't need to try very hard to make sure all the product is washed out the hair because its nt sticky, it just comes right out. Doing this is really quick and easy and uses less time than needed for regular commercial products. I love that my fine straight hair is bouncy, shiny and soft [yes I have all three!!] and that my scalp feels fine. I am hooked by the fact that it is cheap, fast and that I'm not using added colours and fragrances where they are just not needed.

I've found that I only need to wash every couple of days - though depending on weather conditions it can sometimes get a little oily in between. If I don't have time to wash it [or want to give it another day] I can just pop a bit of bicarb on the roots under the top layer of my hair [so I don't look like I'm greying!] and it soaks up the oil slick and gives back some bounce to my hair until I get up to washing it next.

So, yep, I'm sold. I'm using this for the girl's hair too - why should they have shampoo dumped on their sensitive baby skin? Andrew isn't jumping at the idea, but he's a bit more conservative than me and doesn't think too hard about what goes on his hair at the best of times. Maybe we'll get him onside one of these days, especially if I stop buying shampoo! At the moment he thinks that I'm just a looney who has an addiction to bicarb and vinegar. I do, but thats because they are so awesome.

If you want to know more, google "no shampoo bi carb" or "no poo hair" and stuff like that. Tons of people have blogged about their shampoo-free experiences - both positive and negative.

Made it to 30!

2011-04-25T13:13:00.000+09:30

Tabitha April Bird,1981

Thanks Mum and Dad for kicking things off and raising me, and thanks to everyone who has been in my life til now and helped make me who I am. 30 years down and hopefully a few more to go yet!

More crazy.

2011-04-13T15:20:00.001+09:30

If you know me, you know that I don't like taking a long time to put my plans into action. Usually I get an idea and then set off madcapped to fulfil it - at least until I get bored, or distracted with something else. You'll be pleased then to know that nothing has changed.

A couple of days ago, Andrew made the comment that if I'm keen to homeschool our kids, then it would be advantageous for me to study towards a teaching degree. Today I'm enrolled in my first subject in a Bachelor of Education [Primary]. I'm thinking that unlike the past 3 degrees that I've enrolled in, I may just finish this one. Maybe.

Here's the low-down. I'm studying through Open Universities Australia, a Bachelor of Education [Primary] delivered by Curtain University. It is all delivered online with the exception of the teaching pracs that I will have to do. I'm planning on completing a minimum of 4 subjects per year, which would see the degree finished in about 8 years. If I get more done in a year, then that would be even better.

There is some irony [as I understand irony] in being reticent to send my kids to school, yet at the same time training to teach in such a school. I figure that you've got to know the enemy [joke!]. I think that if I'm going to home educate, then the more that I understand about education, numeracy and literacy the better. I also think that it is smart to have qualifications that can be used in case of emergency - for example, if Andrew for some unknown reason was unable to work, or if we were in a difficult financial situation. Also, once our kids have grown, I'll have a good amount of working years left in me anyway and some training would be advantageous. In addition to this, teaching goes well with my previous study in Disability Services. The two qualifications will give me many possible areas of paid or volunteer work.

The guy on the phone at OU said that many SAHMs* are choosing to study this way.I think its a great example to set to my kids that I value learning and that if you don't know what to do with your life at 18, not all is lost. There is still plenty of opportunity, even for a serial drop-out like me.

*SAHM = Stay-At-Home-Mum

Tiny is 3 months!

2011-04-10T21:36:00.001+09:30

I've been remiss in posting about Tiny. Its not because I don't like her, or don't want to share its just that I've been busy enjoying her little-babyness and to be quite honest she doesn't do anything that remarkable yet.

Clementine is a lovely baby to have. She has her quirks, like Addie she only goes 2 hours at the longest between feeds, likes short naps and mostly sleeps fairly well at night if she's cuddled beside me.

For the most part she is quite easy going. She used to be a bit wonky, and curled in a C shape to the right, but since we visited Kiro Kids she's straightened quite a lot and can now support her own head most of the time, smiles more and seems to be very happy.

Addie and Tiny share a very special relationship. Tiny has a plethora of smiles and giggles for her sister. Addie loves to give her lots of kisses and put her dummy in - even if Tiny doesn't want it she still opens her mouth for Addie to put it in. Addie also very kindly tries to feed Tiny bits of biscuit saying "ahhhh" to encourage her to open her mouth. As their parents, we discourage that. We also discourage Addie from sitting on Tiny but it can be quite a challenge at times protecting our little baby from a beautiful boofhead of a toddler.

Tiny is in love with her dummy and has recently discovered that she has hands that move. Its an exciting time to be alive!!

Just putting this out 'there'.

2011-04-08T23:45:00.000+09:30

I need to apologise. To all the people who I said were fruitloops for homeschooling their kids, [note: I did not call ALL homeschoolers fruitloops, just a couple]. To all those who heard me say "I'll never do that to my kids". Um, what can I say, I'm sorry and I shouldn't be such a Judge Judy.

At this point home education is high on my list of things I'm thinking about for the future of our family. Noted that Addie is only 19 months old, and Tiny is 3 months so its quite early in the piece but I'm thinking none the less.

You can rest assured that I'll have more to say about this in the future, regardless of what we decide. What I'd like from you is your thoughts, experiences and mostly your questions to help me think and see it from all different angles. While I wait for those [over the next few years I guess] I'm reading about it, what people have done, what is legally required and how people have experienced it. As a home schooled kid myself I hope that I'd be able to avoid the pitfalls that me and my parents experienced, and along the way create a whole new set of issues I'm sure.

A website I'm finding useful is Home Education Association Inc. It covers the legal requirements, different styles of schooling and has a ton of useful links.

I've borrowed some public library books too, one of them cracks me up...

Cos we want Dummies educating kids... right?

I thought it was pretty funny anyway, but so far a useful book.

30th Birthday Swap Party.

2011-04-07T19:23:00.001+09:30

Despite what one invitee first thought a Swap Party is NOT like a swingers party. Glad we got that sorted.

Most people that I invited hadn't heard of a swap party before, and I'd never been to one so it was a new experience for most. One or two had been and they did it a little differently, so here I'm going to share what we did. I'd love to also share lovely pictures, but I was too busy and forgot to take any. Oops.

The Invite

So thats the invite I made. Its redundant to copy the info from the invite, but just in case it isn't viewable for any reason, here is what it said.

**How the Swap Works**

A swap is a fantastic way to exchange things that you don’t want or use for things that you DO want and would use!

1. Bring items that are in good condition [see the list opposite for suggestions] but that you no longer need or use or want.

2. Look at what else others have brought, and decide what you might like.

3.For each item you bring, take home something else that will hopefully be more useful to you!

4. To make the swap work well, bring between 2 and 5 items, or a couple of groups of small items to swap together.

Some ideas:

Kitchen gear, books, Homemade items, potplants, handbags, Kids toys, Clothes, DVDs, CDs, and so on. If you could ebay it you can swap it!

Look in your wardrobe, at the back of your linen cupboard, in the bottom of your kitchen cabinets and the corner of your shed. You never know what has been lurking!!

********************

**The Nitty Gritty**

I had a friend who is great at this stuff be in charge of receiving all the swap goods. She gave each participant pegs for the items they brought, and labelled them with the labels I had made. These served to clearly distinguish what was for swapping and what was a part of the landscape, and helped if any information needed to be shared about the item, and gave a reference so we knew who the original owner was.

Swap Label

It took much longer than I expected to do this initial part, but once it was done everyone got a couple of minutes to look around and then on my word the 1st pegging round began. Participants could peg as many items as they had pegs. If more than one person pegged an item by the end of the round, the pegs were put into a raffle and whoever's peg was drawn out won the item. The remaining pegs were returned to their owner. If you REALLY wanted an item you could put more pegs on it to have a greater chance of winning it.

After the first pegging round, we gave the items with one peg to their new owners, raffled the things with more than one peg and returned the remaining pegs to their owners. Then round two began, with the people who had pegs and the unclaimed items, and so on until almost all the items were gone.

At the end there were a couple of books and random things left. The original owners either took them home or left them for me to keep or donate to Lifeline.

*********************

And thats how you do a swap! I have heard from almost everyone that they felt like they "really scored". I ended up with a handbag, some non-slip matting, a cocktail shaker, a bunch of necklaces and a sweater, vest and longsleeved shirt, plus a couple of novels to read.

Make your cake and eat it too.

2011-04-02T19:54:00.000+10:30

For a number of reasons I had my birthday party a little early this year. I really wanted a party because this year I'm turning 30, but I wasn't inspired to make a cake until I flipped through my Women's Weekly Children's Birthday Cake Book. The sewing machine looked cute, so I thought I could give it a shot.

My 30th Birthday Cake

The cake in the book.

Swirly!

The cake itself was a buttercake that I divided into 3 and added a LOT of food colouring. You need a lot of dye to get the brilliant result. I swirled it in the pan to get a marbled effect.

Inside. Pretty.

Here is the cake before icing. I built up the front, top of the right top corner and bottom with extra pieces to give the same look as a 201k Singer machine. It looks pretty psychedelic without the icing on.

Now the cake is more respectably clothed, and with a few bits of fondant and cooking twine we have a yummy cake sewing machine.

Hey Cuz

2011-03-23T21:42:00.000+10:30

Rachael Wiseman [6 months]
Adelaide Schultz [18 months] & Clementine Schultz [2 months]

This week we're in Ballarat for my niece's Christening. Its the first time this little gang of girl cousins have played together and they were all very cute - but it did end in tears as these things tend to do.

She's 18 months old already.

2011-03-08T20:45:00.000+10:30

Perhaps the past 18 months have gone by slowly, or even at regular speed for you, but for me they have zoomed past me and I'm left grabbing at the memories! 18 months ago I became a mother for the first time when Adelaide Margaret was born.

I sung happy birthday to her this morning and she brushed me off so she could go into her castle and read books. We went to a brand new playgroup today, and my big-little girl walked herself the whole way from the car to the hall. Then as I was introducing myself to the lady running the group she took off and begun painting a picture. She didn't need mummy's help at all, though she was still happy to have me there [that is nice, I dread the day I become obsolete].

My one-time baby now walks, talks, talks back, sings, jumps, dances and spends WAY too much time looking at herself in the mirror. She has picked up a habit of saying "no" while gesturing with her index finger, and doing the same when we say no to her. She is insanely stubborn, at least as funny as she thinks she is and so much fun to have around.

I love how she comes over to look at her little sister, shoves Tiny's dummy in her mouth whether she wants it or not, asks for cuddle from her sister and gives her lots of big loud *mwah* kisses.

I'm trying to remember all the beautiful little things that she does because I know I'll blink and she'll be 18 years, instead of 18 months.

Can YOU look super cool with paint on your face,
playing with dirt, in a paint smock? Thought not.

Paint a pretty picture then cover it in red.
Also paint the concrete, yourself
and the plastic car.

Playing with the chickpeas she repeatedly stole from the pantry.

A little Holly Hobby

Just really cute

Caged Birds.

2011-03-07T12:33:00.001+10:30

This weekend I did something that I've been thinking about for a year or so. I've had this bottomless cage hanging around [another thing Andrew shook his head at, but thankfully he indulges me despite thinking that I keep really stupid things], and I wanted to put a bird in it. The pic here is dodgy thanks to Addie smearing the camera lens so you can't see the bird well, but go over here and you'll see the original birds and a link to the pattern I used. Its been really popular around the place - and I'm sure that I'm not the first to put one in a cage, but there you go. To see what otehr people have done with the birds, check out the spoolbird flickr group.

The cage needed a bottom, so I painted a piece of cardboard black and sewed it to the cage. Andrew suggested a seed treat too, just to make it look like a real bird. I have another cage now, and grand plans to make these birds on a smaller scale and populate the new cage with tiny stuffed birds.

It was a little risky giving this as a birthday gift, but it was received well, which is awesome because I would love it if someone gave me one!!

No Need To Knead

2011-03-05T23:20:00.002+10:30

Freeform Boule

Recently I stumbled across a recipe for "Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day". It has been around for a few years, so I'm a bit slow on the uptake. Pretty much, you make this dough which only has water, flour, yeast and salt and let it rise, put it in the fridge and leave it there. When you want bread, you pull some out, shape and rest it then bake. It doesn't need to be kneaded, and the uncooked dough lasts up to 2 weeks in the fridge. It can take on a sourdough like taste as it ages and seems to require no skill at all!

To find the recipe, go to this article written by the creators of the recipe. I've ordered the official UK edition of their book and I can't wait to get it!! Just note, that the recipes on their website are written in US measurements which are NOT the same as Australian cups and spoons, so you need to allow for that.

Dinner Rolls

Not only does the recipe make loaves, it is also good for crusty dinner rolls, and naan bread. I forgot to photograph the naan because I was too busy eating it! A cast iron skillet [which I don't have] is recommended for cooking naan, but I used the BBQ and it did the job much better than the oven [lots of naan recipes use the oven]. Addie is loving the fresh bread too, she gets way too excited when she sees me get out the bread knife.

What was my 2litre pyrex dish. RIP dear dish.

This bread making gig has seen me go through a LOT of plain flour in the past two weeks, and it also claimed my pyrex dish as victim. Apparently glass pyrex is NOT suitable for pouring hot water into in the oven. Of course, I read a warning to that effect on the bread in 5 minutes website about 1/2 hour after I shattered my handy 2.1 litre pyrex dish. Other handy tips about making this bread are found here.

Sunbeam Bakehouse $5

All this bread has made me hungry for more bready type things and I thought that a breadmaker would be lovely for helping me mix up doughs, but I told myself that I could not justify another appliance, plus it was not a priority financially. As I resigned my arms to getting a work-out mixing up dough and kneading it, fate showed me that I'm not always as clever as I think. At the tip-shop this morning I stumbled across this Sunbeam Bakehouse from the glorious 90's. I supposed it was missing something and was surprised to see it looking quite shiny inside, and in possession of the tin, mixing paddle and instruction booklet!! I asked the money-lady for a quote and she said $5. My heart skipped a couple of beats, I shoved $5 into her hand and yelled for Andrew to "quick put it in the car before someone else tries to get it!". I felt some scepticism in his body language [feel free to correct me Andrew!] but he complied. I have a feeling that tonight when he comes home from work his tune will change because....

Hot Crossed Buns cooling on the tray

I used it to make Hot Crossed Buns!! The machine mixed, kneaded and did the first rise for me in about 1.5 hrs. I then had to knead [it was fun] shape and rise the buns for another 30 min, decorate them with crosses and bake for 30 min, and lastly glaze them when cooling**. Mmmm, these taste good!!!

**I had a giggle when reading the recipe for the HCBs because the direction reads "spread glaze on hot buns". Its funny no?

Castle Schultz

2011-03-02T22:16:00.001+10:30

I was so lucky to have my two BFFs visit me last weekend. Kelly, I have known since I was 10 - making this year 20 years of being BFFs. Heather we met when we were 16, and so she's been in the mix the past 14 years. In the next few months Kel is jetsetting off to England and Heather is having a little baby so life will never be the same!

While they were here got my grabby little hands on a really cool cardboard box. A friend of mine owns a fantastic business called Bells MilkBar, and some equipment had been delivered to them in this box but they no longer needed it so it ended up at my place yeah! For a day or so Addie was entertained by running in and out of the plain four sided box but I knew we needed to pimp it big time!!

Bienvenue à Châtaeu Schultz!

What do you think? It features arched windows, curtains, an impressive front entrance and a post box.

Kelly painted the bricks with a sponge, and she did the creeping vine freehand. I was responsible for designing and cutting out the windows and doors and making requests of the exterior decorator.

I was responsible for interior decoration also, hot gluing one of my great vintage mesh curtains to the door and windows. It gives the castle a romantic feel, gives Addie something to "hide" behind, and me something to see through!

Inside I mitred the corners of the bottom flaps, so it makes a kind of floor that stabilises the whole thing and doesn't become a tripping hazard. It also helps the walls stay at the angle which we've arranged them in.

The finished castle houses Addie's bookshelf, a couple of toy teacups and her couch. In the days since we made her the castle I've seen her wander in there so many times, choose a book, sit on her couch and come out when she's done. She also goes in there to poke her head out of the windows, draw on books where I can't see her, and throw tantrums. Lucky for both of us I can't "see" her when she's in there so the tantrums are wasted but they must make her feel better.

It takes up a good deal of our living room - but whats the point of having space if you just look at it. right? I totally love our castle - hopefully it lasts us for quite some time and both the girls can play in it/

Addie's Painting

2011-02-19T11:17:00.001+10:30

Addie started painting this week. First time was at the Toy Library where they kindly have it all set up - no clean up, woo!

I thought it'd be good for us to do at home still, so I got some paints, found short chubby brushes at the art shop and made an easel from a pice of cardboard propped against her climbing gym and stripped her down to a nappy. I am making her an 'art smock' but until then bare skin works well.

I put the paints out, and the paper and watched to see what Addie would do. At first she decided to paint the climber, but once I put a single dot of paint on the paper she felt free to paint on it. What impressed me was the way in which she thoughtfully but freely put brush to paper, refreshed her paint when the brush ran dry, changed colours and played. It took her a good 15 min to even eat the paint.

It would have been really easy for me to make it a horrible experience by directing her moves, making sure that she didn't paint anything else etc, but she figured the whole game out by herself. I know that probably no one else thinks her painting is special but I see a masterpiece!

Celebs I can relate to.

2011-02-15T20:45:00.002+10:30

The Burtons on their way to School

I followed a link from the SMH today to a pile of pictures of celebs picking their kids up from school. Why? Maybe its something to do with my current mini-struggle with body image and fat distribution post baby [I had the same thing after Addie, and while I know its all for a good cause, and its not like I was hot-stuff beforehand it still takes some getting used to and I would like to be able to wear some of my favourite clothes already.] Maybe I was feeling like I needed some extra fodder for some healthy self loathing.

So anyway, I click, click, clicked through the pictures, wondering how the mums had time to get dressed so pretty, or how on earth they were comfortable in those sky high heels [and learned that tights are really 'in' right now if you have sexy sexy legs]. Suddenly, boom!! This wonderful, beautiful picture of Helena Bonham Carter and Tim Burton popped up. Ahhhhh, like a drink of cool water after warm sticky fizzy drinks, this picture was soothing, cleansing and felt good!

Carry that baby!

2011-02-14T20:36:00.000+10:30

You know, I'm a BIG fan of my baby carriers. I have several types, and have written about them before now a couple of times, but I'm going to bring the topic up again.

I made a cheery yellow pouch style sling [commonly known as "peanut shell" after a company that sells them for ludicrous prices] which is a really handy sling to have. They are easy to put on, easy to learn to use and babies love them. Their down sides are that they aren't one size fits all, so if your husband, partner, grandma etc wanted to use it, chances are they'd need a different size. Also they are a one shoulder carry, which if used correctly shouldn't be a problem for most people, but can cause issues if you have a back problem or want to use it for hours on end.

If you have a back issue, I recommend you use a mei tai, stretch or woven wrap. For a look at different types being used in different situations, look at this fantastic slide-show by Baby Carriers Downunder.

So anyway, I mentioned to a group of friends who have newborns that I would make them one if they wanted, and I got a bunch of yeses. I've dawdled and gotten distracted along the way, but finally I've finished!

Pretty Pouch Slings

Tiny loves being in a sling. She is as happy as larry in there while I do the shopping, go to church, chase a toddler, do some washing. Sometimes when I don't even need to walk around but she's unsettled it does the trick of calming her down. Yesterday Addie needed cuddles at the same time as tiny and I was able to carry the both at once! Many people of baby boomer vintage and older stop me to comment on how "safe" and comfortable she looks when I'm carrying her, and the women often add " I wish we had those when my children were babies. I can't tell you enough how great these things are. To make one yourself, follow the instructions given by My Karma Baby or if you don't sew, buy one off them. I think their work is excellent, and someone needs to support them bc they so kindly give out the info on how to make them.

Tiny and me

Enid Gilchrist Sunbonnet

2011-02-12T11:39:00.001+10:30

I had a sudden desire to dress Addie in a cute bonnet. Her pudgy cheeks would look so cute framed in a bonnet! I dragged out my Enid Gilchrist books [I only have 4, I wish I had more!] and found this pattern in Enid Gilchrist's Baby Book.

At the top right of the collage you can see a diagram with measurements. This is how all the patterns are given in Enid's books. Its called a self drafting pattern, and pretty much you have to draft the pattern using the measurements provided. Its not had, but you have to be careful and it takes some time. For this reason I drafted onto cardboard from Wheet-bix packets this time.

The Sunbonnet is VERY cute! The most sunsmart of all hats too, with a little neck flap and generous brim, I'm very impressed. What I'd like to do now is to use an Enid pattern and make Addie a gingham dress to match the bonnet! How cute would that be?!!

For more detail, go to my post on Enid Inspired.

Go read this

2011-02-10T22:22:00.000+10:30

Sorry I don't have a post of my own - but if you can take time to click once more, follow this link to Emerging Mummy who talks about being a professional at her own life. I like it because it rings loudly with truth.

Pimp my Newborn

2011-02-06T15:08:00.000+10:30

Sometimes I get carried away, especially when I read blogs like homemade by jill and just have to copy the cute things that she makes. In particular I was inspired by this headband roundup and all the cute headbands that she made.

I had hot pink felt and half a stick of glue for my glue gun, so a flowering I went. The original design actually comes via homemade by jill from I Am Momma - Hear Me Roar. Its not bad for a first effort.

I also made a smaller one to use as a broach type embellishment for Addie. I am so lame that I like my girls to be matchies. Our family is going to look like one of those weird american family photos - if you know what I mean?

In addition to a ridiculously huge felt flower growing out of her head, Tiny also has a very cute dummy clip that I made her the other day. Together they make for one accessorised baby.

It is a cute textured white satin ribbon, with a pearlish snap fastener. Its the first time I've managed to use one of the pearl ones without cracking it down the middle - presumably the cracking happens because of my enthusiastic banging with a hammer when applying the snaps.

I know the flower is stupid... but it can be so stupid that it is cute... right?

Cooking Fail

2011-02-04T21:38:00.000+10:30

I really tried to cook a nice pot roast. I carefully seared the outside of the rolled brisket, and cooked it gently in my cast iron casserole pot, but 40 minutes in BOOM! The strings the butcher at Woolworths put on it slipped off and it continued cooking as an unrolled brisket.

Lesson learned: tie your own meat and don't trust the butcher! Still tasted good, but lacking in presentation.

Australia Day was Perfect

2011-01-29T11:59:00.000+10:30

This year Australia Day was just about perfect. I'm not in a position right now to think very hard about anything, so I didn't think about invasions, refugees or sickening nationalism. Instead I thought about what makes us Australian. We invited a bunch of people, some we hang out with a lot and others that we're just getting to know, tided up the backyard a bit and had a BBQ. Andrew and I were is a silly mood when we went shopping, so we had blue, red and white plates, cups and plastic cutlery. We still have a lot of spare disposable plates cups and cutlery! We also got streamers and Andrew flung them around, and hung an Australian flag from the carport.

Andrew wore his blue chesty bonds, and I wore an Australian singlet and the same shorts I wear every year - mainly because they are comfortable. We ate Sao biscuits with Vegemite, tomato and cheese, with little Australian Flags on top, and Fairy Bread [which is uniquely Australian did you know?] and enjoyed the company of our friends. After the BBQ lunch we had a pav [pavolva originated in NZ but we like nicking stuff off NZ- its like a national pastime], which went down a treat.

Aussie Pride Pav

Proper Aussie Bogan Wear

Addie eating the dirt in our carport - as you do.

Addie wearing Nannie's silly hat

An unflattering picture of Tiny and I having an Aussie snooze

Chalk and Cheese

2011-01-22T00:53:00.000+10:30

Forgive me. I'll be writing about my girls a bit for a while. What can I say? They are my life right now and I'm so gosh-darn proud of producing them - even though I've really had quite little to do with it. DNA, happy coincidences and divine intervention have really been the main players to date.

Tiny is coming up to 2 weeks old. 2 weeks of breathing, snorting, pooing, wriggling and looking around at this big world. We have a long way to go, but I feel like I'm starting to get to know her - and let me tell you, Clementine and Adelaide may have the same parents but they are nothing alike.

Addie kicked more in the womb, Tiny wriggled. As a newborn Addie threw her arms and legs around, but Tiny actually covers distance by wriggling forwards on her belly and sideways on her back/side. Tiny is dark, Addie is a light ginger with blue eyes. Addie was born with epidural drugs in her system and I was so exhausted, feeling sick and awful that though I cried tears of joy and relief when she was pulled from me, that I couldn't breastfeed her on my own until the next day. Tiny was born completely drug free, placed directly on my chest and fed immediately. I felt an intense passion and connectedness with Addie right from the beginning, but a slower but no less deep love for Tiny that grows every moment.

Tiny sleeps apart from me quite happily. Addie could never sleep apart from me - nor I from her. [I can't sleep as well away from Tiny, so when I need sleep, she still comes with me]. My milk came in slowly, painfully and reluctantly with Addie. This time it has come in sufficiency and almost "on time" and even very well for someone with small infrastructure and a PPH. Addie fed 1-2 hourly, and was awake for up to 10 hours at a time as a matter of course, Tiny feeds at greater intervals [except when she needs to cluster feed which is normal anyway] and sleeps they day away.

Addie looked at the world with great excitement, eager to see everything. Tiny looks straight at you, and into you, drinking in what she sees with intensity and insight [at least thats how it seems].

Chalk- Addie

Cheese - Clementine

I find myself worried that there is something wrong with Tiny because of the ways in which she is different to Addie. Its impossible not to compare them. I'm so grateful that she is more relaxed and "easier" than her sister, and I'm curious to watch as she develops and we learn her strengths, weaknesses and character. I'm glad that she's not Addie - I have two beautiful but quite different daughters who will each teach me different things and contribute to this world in their own way. How blessed am I?

Anatomy of a Sister

2011-01-18T00:25:00.000+10:30

Two girls. Sisters. My Daughters. Miracles.

Clementine's Birth Story in Brief

2011-01-16T11:40:00.001+10:30

I find it incredible to believe that today marks 1 week since Clementine was born. In fact at this very time last sunday I was at the hospital, listening to her heartbeat on the monitor as our bodies worked together to birth her. I have more that I want to say about the birth, and I'm in the process of writing a more considered, but much longer version of events complete with my thoughts, emotions and reflections. For now however, for those who want details and a
snapshot of how it all went down, here it is.

Just an hour old

I woke Sunday morning with the same cramps that I'd had all the previous day, but this time they turned into contractions around 7:30 and were intense and regular soon after that. We took Addie to her babysitter's and got to the hospital about 9:30am. We found that the OB whom I'd seen that week and was supportive of a VBAC was still working and the midwife that I felt really comfortable with was to be our primary midwife. We we very relieved!!

At that point I was 4cm dilated [this means early but progressing well]. 20 min later I asked for the portable fetal scalp monitor [I had to be monitored continuously for the VBAC] which broke my waters. They were meconium stained but OB was satisfied that it was an older stain and that baby was ok. At that point I was 6cm [2 cm in 20 min, very impressive!] I stayed on the bed, on my side and listened to the heartrate. I used my HypnoBirthing breathing, as well as some pictures and quotes that I'd put together earlier to focus on what I was doing and to remind myself that I could do this. I repeated that phrase so many times like a mantra "I can do this!". During each contraction I thought I was a bit crazy for thinking I could do it without pain relief and between contractions I forgot :) I mostly zoned out during the in between times.

After a while I could feel movement as the cord on the fetal scalp monitor moved, first rotating [as Tiny moved into anterior position] and then down as she started moving through the birth canal. I began to feel the need to push through contractions, and told Andrew who passed it onto the midwife. She said "good" and watched to see what I would do. I asked if there was a way to make the pushing more effective, and she convinced me to lie on my back, inclined and pull my own legs back as I pushed. It felt good [I mean it felt effective and I was happy to use that position]. The midwife asked if she could guard my perineum [I wanted to say, no thanks, let me tear apart, lol] and discussed the delivery details, like "do you want to see baby's head in a mirror" and 'do you want baby delivered onto your chest". I said yes to both and watched as Tiny crowned. It seemed to stay in the one spot after many contractions, and finally they said "we need to get her out soon". I noticed a lot of blood and they said I'd torn up top, and that I probably needed an episiotomy. I agreed because the pain where it was tearing upwards was like none other, and I was a bit scared of how far it would go. They did the cut as I did the next contraction [I think] and Tiny SHOT out like a speeding, gooey bullet! I had a crying baby on my chest before I could even comprehend what had just happened. We had a wonderful hour of feeding while the placenta was delivered [that felt weird!] I was stitched [owch] and we thought that was it.

I got up for a shower, said 'I feel a bit dizzy' and they shoved me into a chair as I went unconscious. I woke up and they were apologizing for having to give me a sternum rub, but I have no recollection of it [apparently it really hurts so good for bringing around the unconscious]. Andrew was quietly freaking out. Blood was pouring out and it was all quite dramatic. Lots of fuss was made, they got me on the bed, with oxygen and bags of fluid in both arms. The OB came back in and discovered that the bleeding wasn't from the uterus, but from the upper tear. She restitched it [OMG talk about excruciating] and said that I had torn into the nerve tissue [hence the pain in stitching] ripping open blood vessels. So lots of "I'm sorry" from the midwives & OB [not like they'd done this], fluid, blood transfusion and strict instructions not to move.

I don't really care that the last bit happened. I asked for a natural birth and that is what I got. PostPartum Hemorrhage happens and I'm just glad that we're all ok. Clementine was born peacefully, without medication in her system and fed right from the start. What more could I ask for? It was the perfect birth and I'm so grateful!! Oh and get this - the midwife described my birthing as very RELAXING and Andrew admitted that he fell asleep during one point in the 3 hours we were at the hospital - the midwife also almost fell asleep!! Me - I was too busy to notice a thing.

[Yep... thats the brief version.]

At home with Dad

Tab thinks she's clever for having a baby.

2011-01-11T19:50:00.000+10:30

Introducing to the world,

Clementine Audrey Schultz

A little sister for Addie!

Born 9/1/2011 at 1.05pm after a 5.5 hr labour [VBAC]

Weight 3.2kgs [7 pound 4 oz]

Head circumference 33cm

Length 52cm

We love her!

Tab thinks she's clever for doing a kid's craft.

2010-12-24T09:47:00.001+10:30

I know that this is a child's activity, but I had so much fun doing it that I wanted to share regardless. PeaPillyBean showed us a window that her kids had decorated using tissue paper and glue, and I was inspired! Stained glass from tissue paper, woo!

The 'Stained Glass'

In context, and the view from our lounge.

I used clear gum to stick it to the glass. A friend who was visiting while I was doing it helpfully asked if the glue comes off. Um... I hope so? I honestly didn't do a test first [very silly of me] so I really hope so, but this will be fun to leave up for a few weeks anyway :)

Titchy Cute Thongs

2010-12-23T13:45:00.000+10:30

Addie had some cute 2nd hand Havaiana thongs [flipflops] given to her a while ago, but the elastic was all broken and even though I tried to fix them they were beyond wearing. Its a pity because she really liked them, and because she doesn't wear shoes she can't go outside on the hot concrete without burning her little feet! So today I decided to spend 4 times what I would pay for my own thongs on a pair for her. I'd seen similar ones at Big W. When we got there though there were no little toddler thongs. We checked Target and Payless too but nothing.

I was feeling sad that I couldn't find her any, and sad that we don't have a Clarke Rubber or similar shop from which I could buy foam and make her some. And so, we went home, thongless.

I decided to try to make her some fabric thongs, and found that I still had some upholstery macrosuede in my stash, so I traced around her feet and came up with these little things.

These are made from elastic, and 3 layers of macrosuede, sewed with a machine. Very basic, but they do the job of protecting the soles of her feet from the hot concrete and she thinks that they are wonderful. The other perk these titchy cuties have is that they are still a soft soled shoe, which is really what she should be wearing at this point in her development anyway, so its win-win-win.

Sewing frenzy.

2010-12-22T14:11:00.000+10:30

In addition to the Upsy Daisy Skirt yesterday, I did a few other sewing projects. I spent most of the day at my machine because it was about the only productive thing that I could do seeing as I can't walk very well due to my pelvis trying to separate from itself.

Despite the grimace, Addie actually loves this headband. Its a part of her Christmas present along with the skirt. Upsy Daisy's hair looks like this.

Its not easy to get her to stand still for a really good shot, so here is a collage of the many views of Addies' play suit. Various people have been making these recently and selling them for huge dollars online. Enid Gilchrist's books have several patterns for boy versions, but this one I made up myself... because I could. It was very cute all morning until she had a nap and did a pee the size of Sydney Harbour.

Lastly, my pants! These are from a vintage sheet that I shared previously. They are a nice weight cotton, and I decided to go for a straight leg capri length. I'm convinced that they could be both PJ's and house-pants. I also cut the pattern about an inch lower in the waist all around, scooping to 2 inches in the very front, to accommodate my small-for-its-dates but very very low belly. These will still be great post maternity, but if I find their low nature to be too much of an issue I can always add a stretchy band on top, but I don't think that I'll need to.

Upsy Daisy Christmas Skirt.

2010-12-21T14:52:00.000+10:30

This should be subtitled "Igglepiggle is a Crossdresser"

Andrew couldn't help himself but buy Addie this plush Igglepiggle that is almost as tall as her! He is a main character from her favourite show In The Night Garden. It is also my favourite show, because it means that between 5pm and 5:20pm I have some peace [which usually allows me to prepare an adult meal].

Does this make my bottom look big?

Normally Igglepiggle does not wear a skirt, but he is showing off the little Upsy Daisy skirt that I made for Addie's Christmas present. I had already bought the fabric for the skirt last month and planned to make it for her present. Now she will be able to wear it and play with her real-size Igglepiggle!! They will be so cute!!

The specs on the skirt are simple. It is a circle skirt made using the formula on Made. Its not like its hard to make a circle skirt anyway, but I was happy to have all the thinking done for me at this stage of things. The fabric is a super cheapo [in quality not price, unfortunately] jersey. The reason for that is that it will be comfy for Addie to wear, and I won't have to iron it in order for it to look good and fresh. The waist is wide undies elastic [like the kind used for men's trunks] encased in yellow jersey, and the toggle is a plastic belt buckle wrapped with purple ribbon. Unfortunately, it is not as cool as the real Upsy Daisy's skirt because when she pulls the toggle her skirt pops out to a full circle - a bit like how Batman's Cape takes form when it has a current passed through it. That will have to wait until Shape Memory Polymer is available at Spotlight. Apart from that its a pretty awesome skirt and I can't wait til Saturday now!

Pregnancy and Kidsafe Eggnog

2010-12-17T18:14:00.000+10:30

I remember mum telling me when I was maybe 6 that she couldn't make me eggnog anymore bc the Dr said it was dangerous. Boooo. I love love love eggnog!! We have our own chooks and I'm pretty sure they're healthy with no salmonella but I thought I'd make some "safe" stuff just in case.

Drank all the Egg Nog so you get a picture
of our chook eggs.

I did put rum in mine... because well you know... you've got to have some things right? But its such a teeny amount I'm sure bubs won't mind. Feel free to leve it out if you're a better mummy than me [which I'm totally cool with!]. Oh may I say Addie didn't get any.

Ingredients for 4 to 6 servings

Eggs -- 4
Sugar -- 1/3 to 1/2 cup
Milk -- 2 cups
Heavy cream or whipping cream-- 1 cup
Rum or brandy -- 1/2 to 3/4 cup
Nutmeg -- 1 whole
Cinnamon -- 1/2 stick
All Spice -- 5 or 6
Cloves -- 4

Method

Use a whisk to beat the eggs until they lighten in color. Add the sugar and beat until it is fully dissolved. Stir in 1/2 milk, and add spices [crush them slightly with mortar & pestle to release flavours]
Over a double boiler, heat mixture to 80 degrees as if you were making a custard. If you have no thermometer, you can test for readiness by testing to see if it coats the back of the spoon. Google custard making to get instructions on this part. It will take at least 20 min.
Once custard has reached 80 degrees, strain spices, add the 2nd cup of milk and chill.
Whip cream, [not sure if it does much good but do it anyway!] and mix with chilled custard/milk mixture.
If adding alcohol, mix in 30ml Jamaican Rum. [Bourbon or Brandy could be used as instead]
Check for flavour and serve!

Postpartum Leakage

2010-12-13T20:22:00.001+10:30

This is the 2nd of my Stop-leak posts. For some this will be too much information, so if you can't handle talk of body fluid, then go to my sidebar and find someone else's post to read.

I've written before about cloth pads for menstruation, but this is something slightly more hard-core. Following the birth of a baby, there is a fair bit of bloody discharge for 6-8 weeks. Its not gross, its just the run-off as the uterus returns to it's pre-pregnant state. It does pose a problem though, about how to stay clean and dry!

My nappy making offcuts are perfect for the job. I spent as much time mulling over how to do the best job of making these as I did actually making them, but its worth it.

The Postpartum Kit

Wow, it looks far less impressive like this! I have made 11 waterproof bases, and at least 30 soaker pads pictured above above the soakers.

The soakers are made from terry towelling sandwiched between a few layers of flannel and or cotton sheet. They absorb quite a lot, I'm very impressed. The idea is to use one or two soakers at a time with a base. The base has fleece on the bottom, followed by a layer of PUL and the topped with flannel. The bases have two bands of elastic on them to hold the soakers.

The underside and the undies band

Pictured here is the underside of the base pad. It has a small piece of velcro attached to the bottom. The green bit is not attached. I wanted to find a way to attach the pad like as if it had wings, but I've found that sometimes wings can leak to the side. So this fits under the pad, and wraps around the crotch of the undies. The velcro means I can easily and quickly change during the day, but it shouldn't shift around too much when wearing them.

Band Attached showing snaps

Here the band is attached to the underside of the base, and you can see one of the closure snaps. I used the sew-in kind because they are supposed to be non-rusting and I have heaps of them :)

All Together and a commercial pad.

You can see the whole setup at it's thickest here. There are two soaker pads which I tested and they will take about 1/4 cup of liquid without leaking. Not too shabby! Compared next to it is a standard maternity pad. They are super thick, quite ugly and don't provide as much coverage as my homemade pads. I'll use the disposables for hospital and then change to my nice ones when I get home. If you got to the end, well done! Its easy to make your own and heaps heaps better for the world and your wallet. Consider it!

So not glamorous.

2010-12-12T20:13:00.000+10:30

There are a few uncool things about babies, and one of them is the amount of leaking both the baby and the mum does.

I've written before about cloth nappies [diapers] which are also known as MCNs [Modern Cloth Nappies] and CD [Cloth Diapers]. MCN refers to nappies made from modern breathable waterproofed materials. I made most of the nappies that I use for Addie, from these patterns. Rita's Rump Pocket is a fitted nappy that is not waterproof, and needs a waterproof cover. It worked well for us until I ran out of covers as Addie grew. The nappies still fit well but I only use them as an inbetween [short use] nappy. The other pattern that I love for it's simplicity and frugal use of materials is this Back Closing Nappy. Due to time and energy constraints, as well as the fact that my machine needs a professional service therefore can't handle the PUL well enough, I'm going to buy a set of chinese-made cheap MCNs this time so that I have enough to keep 2 babies with relatively clean bottoms. If I had the cash I would buy 12 Cushie Tushies and 12 Itti Bitti Tutto, but for today I'm sacrificing one set of ethics for another.

What I have been making from all my scraps left over from the nappies I have made previously is the subject of my next few posts. First up, wipes!

There are a a number of ways to make your own bottom wipes. The old fashioned thing that probably most of our parents used is face-washers. They're ok but a bit abrasive on a tiny bottom and when I forget to put it in the nappy bucket and leave it on the sink... Andrew may well get more on his face than he bargained for!

Some of my friends [whom I dearly love] use paper towel cut in half and dunked in water or soap solution. This is better than the commercial wipes but still costly and ultimately wasteful.

What a lot of us are doing now is using a hybrid wipe. Hybrid makes it sound so fancy! Really all it is, is a flannel on one side and terry cloth [like a face washer] on the other. For these I used a 2nd hand flannel baby blanket that I wasn't going to use for the baby, and on the back a towel that no longer does it's job of effectively soaking up water. I cut both pieces to a usable size, and went around the edges with the overlocker. Done! You could do the same with a regular machine, just use a wide zigzag setting. I will still occasionally buy disposable wipes for out and about, but for the rest of the time these have been working great.

Grinch Deterrent

2010-12-12T08:00:00.058+10:30

Bah Humbug! I've been a bit cranky about Christmas this year. We haven't got a tree, I forgot to make the advent sacks in time and we're about to have a baby. [The last bit means less money than usual, less energy and other things to focus on, in case you're wondering]. I'm not one of those women who gets superpowers and can achieve world-change just before her baby is born.

That said, I started to feel like maybe I should acknowledge Christmas at least a little bit, and was inspired when I saw Talia's post about things she wants to make this xmas. It reminded me that I wanted to make a wreath this year.

I had previously wanted to make one when Homemade by Jill showed us her cool book wreath, but it requires a styrofoam wreath base, and one of the things about living in the back blocks of whoop whoop with the pygmy lepers* is that we don't have styrofoam wreaths lying about. So I shelved that idea but will keep it in mind when we visit civilisation.

I though I'd google "fabric scrap wreath" seeing as I have a lot of fabric scraps [understatement of 2010 right there]. I have seen some kind of weird and daggy looking scrap wreaths, but I knew that someone somewhere could show me a better way. I found one at a blog called Lindamade.

www.lindamade.com

Luscious and lovely! The only problem is that Linda used a special wire frame that was convex as well as circular, giving her wreath a fantastic depth. My solution was to cut some chicken wire up and twist it into a wreathish shape, which gave me a prickly but rustic looking object that I could have hung on my front door and claim I was being "Australian".

Wreath Base that could pass as "artistic"

Then following Linda's instructions, I cut strips of fabric from my scrapheap that were about 1" by 5" and tied them to the frame in a random fashion. I did stick more greenish scraps in than other colours, I swear! I do like how it has so many pretty bits of fabric in there. I feel more than justified to continue my hoarding ways, knowing that I have used at least some of my "they'll come in handy later" stockpile.

I could easily have put more fabric in and made it even more luscious and lovely, but by then my hands hurt from playing with prickly wire and I needed to go to bed. So this is probably how it will stay.

No Ebenezer lives here.

Hopefully it will help me feel more festive and joyous about Christmas?

*[I apologise to all pygmy lepers for singling you out by using that phrase]

Spotty etc.

2010-12-11T10:18:00.000+10:30

Poor Addie and poor me.

The first days of this week we had an Addie who had constant low grade fever and no appetite. She walked around all day with Colin [the stupid-and now getting quite stinky- giraffe] her dum dum, and wanted to go to bed a lot.

Finally Thursday produced lots of itchy spots on her face and neck which have proceeded to migrate down her belly back and arms. I'm not convinced they are Chicken Pox [though it is going around and is therefore likely suspect #1, but it doesn't look like it to me].

Lots of oatmeal cream, water spray and nice baths later and she's feeling somewhat better [though still tired and cranky] and her face spots are fading. This has been our first foray into childhood infectious disease.

One of the Toys

Her latest tricks include climbing into the toybox. You can see Colin's leg sticking out in front of her. Climbing in is all fun [when it works] and its nice to sit there for a while, but she gets pretty annoyed when she can't get out, and apparently blames the 'stupid box'. I'm guessing it's the box's fault for letting her get in in the first place?

Hitting the box bc it won't let her out

Birthing Book

2010-12-08T20:52:00.000+10:30

So, I'm around 34.5 weeks pregnant now, and still thinking and preparing for the arrival of the new baby. Addie still has no idea of whats going on as far as I can tell, but she'll find out soon enough.

I mentioned in an earlier post that one of the things I am doing to prepare, is putting together a book to use during the birthing to remind me of what I need to focus on etc. Some of the book is pretty boring, but useful pages of information, but I've also made some pages that don't require much to get their message across.

If you're interested you can find more pages and more explanations of the pages in an album over here.

Memories!!

2010-12-06T11:05:00.001+10:30

Today I felt a burning desire to listen to some bad music! This "bad music" got me through some very angst-filled teenaged years and reminded me that there is hope, agreed with me that a lot of the world sucked, and told me that in the end good wins. It was what I needed.

So I dragged out Intermission - DC Talk's 'Best Of' CD. Addie has been running around dancing enthusiastically, I've been singing and Andrew took himself off to bed muttering that you don't see him playing his old MXPX.

For those of you who'd like to reminisce on two honks and a negro singing some pretty terrible 'music' here's some Youtube.

And while we're at it, how about some Michael W Smith?

And since you're on Youtube, have a look at some Mariah Carey too :)

Two Little Ducks that I Once Knew

2010-12-03T22:09:00.000+10:30

What is it with kids and ducks? I remember my little brother as a maybe 5 year old sitting nudie in a bathtub with a washer for protection while half a dozen ducklings swam around him. The ducks grew up to be big and smelly and I don't rightly remember what happened to them.

Of late, Addie who is learning her animals walks around saying "quack quack quack quack" and smooshing her face into a duck toy that was bought for her by her Godmother the day I found out I was pregnant with her.

This week I've been making some ducks of my own.

Addie's new Duck.

Two Ducks

All wrapped and ready to go!

When I found out that a couple of friends beside myself were pregnant this year, I decided to make them these cute-as little bath ducks as published by the wonderful Martha Stewart. Here are the instructions on her website. So now you now how easy they are.

I have learned a couple of things by making these ducks. If it is cute Addie will want it. If you give a present to a newborn who has an 18 month old brother, he will want it. Lesson to take away - make sure all the toddlers are covered before you make a present for ANYONE else, especially if it is fluffy or cute. In this case I have to make another duck, this one for the newly-born Joshua who won't care about it for another 12 months in any case. I will be making even more ducks too because I have another friend who recently gave birth and hasn't gotten a gift from me, and 3 more due after me in town and another who lives far away but still deserves a duck!

15 months.

2010-12-03T12:58:00.000+10:30

Addie, Daddy and a doll

Addie is just about to hit 15 months! This morning she had a "cute" morning where everything she did was lovely and adorable and I didn't think "how am I going to cope with her and a newborn?". Lately though these times are fleeting.

We're well and truly in the toddler stages now. I catch her not only practicing facial expressions, dance moves and "how does this look" in the mirror, but I've seen her staging practice tantrums on the ground where it appears she is trying to decided which arm positions will have maximum impact.

She knows what buttons to push to get mum and dad's attention [negative is as good as positive] so she'll hold her sandwich at arms length over the side of the highchair saying "uh uh" and if we appear to notice then she drops it [and is sad because she can't reach her sandwich!!] She also knows if she feels like peanut butter that day [which is most days] or if she wants a change, but hasn't figured out a way of communicating that other than either eating or pitching the sandwich.

Sleep is again another struggle - one I totally identify with! No mater how tired you are, going to bed is always sad because of what you could miss out on. In 29 and 2/3rds years I still have yet to learn that lesson so I can't blame her there, but I also can't help but wish she were a little less like me! I've had less sleep because of her in the past few weeks than I did when she was a few months old. Apparently this is all normal.

Addie has discovered that paper sounds cool when it rips, and I think she's a bit like a shark who smells blood - even if she KNOWS she shouldn't do it, once there is a little rip she cant help herself from following through [and then eating the page, of course!].

I could go on with the list of things that she does, but I guess if you've seen a toddler you know what they're like when they know what they want but aren't quite big enough to get it.

On the up side she is completely adorable! Addie finally has some hair on her head - enough to be messy and cute. She can run [though its usually to places she shouldn't be going] climb, dances to any music she hears, spends ages playing on her xylophone, piano and shakers. She gives her toys lovely cuddles and patronising pats while saying "ahhhh". She also does it to Andrew and myself - its quite amusing being patronised by a 1 year old!

She's discovered on some of her baby dolls that you can make their eyes open by pulling up the eyelid and has been testing it on me when I have a nap. Sure enough it gets mummy to open her eyes.

Addie's language skills are increasing daily. She can name some animals, do the sounds of a few more and can say 'Ta' consistently without prompting and has learned the very important "more". I've never heard a word uttered with such hope or desperation as she manages to put into "more". She is using a couple of signs now too but like most toddlers, just because she tells you "ny-ny-es" and waves, it doesn't mean she REALLY wants to go to bed, "finished" [a sign] doesn't always mean you can take her food away, and "ta" might still result in a biscuit being tossed across the room. Still, she is learning.

She's learning to wear her hat outside, she knows that beads and necklaces make her look so beautiful and that whatever mummy is eating is bound to taste nicer than hers.

I could go on forever as mothers tend to do. I still haven't mentioned how much she loves "reading", sitting on my lap or watching "In The Night Garden". She has no idea that her world will soon be severely shaken with the addition of her sister in January, and though Andrew and I are concerned that another daughter could not possibly be as cute, funny or smart as this one, we know that all will be good :)

The Manslater

2010-11-28T11:23:00.000+10:30

If only...

I'm feeling old now!

2010-11-27T15:11:00.001+10:30

The other day I was talking with a my sister and her boyfriend [both are in their early 20's]. I can't remember what made me say this [perhaps we hit a slow point in the conversation?], but I asked "who do you think would win in a contest between Bear Grylls vs MacGyver?". I was expecting a lively debate to follow, but instead all I got was a blank stare.

Surprised they hadn't heard of the Man vs Wild show, I tried to explain but they quickly told me "Oh we know who Bear Grylls is". My husband Andrew [who is not as old as me] gently said "they don't know who MacGyver is".

I was shocked and horrified! How could they be so naive? My sister is a massive SG1 fan - how could she not have looked up Richard Dean Anderson's bio? How could they have missed the constant references [and even appearances] of MacGyver on The Simpsons [apparently that show is beneath them it turns out], how do they not know MacGyver!!!

I'm supposed to be in the same generation as these guys. At least according to the TV, Gen X starts with 1980. It can't be true.

Here are a few more MacGyver things that I found on our old-friend internet.

Who would you rather be with in a survival situation? MacGyver or Bear?

Join the Boob-olution!

2010-11-26T21:53:00.000+10:30

A bit behind the times because August was Breastfeeding month apparently. This is an internet video made by the popular pregnancy website thebump.com Make sure the volume is UP.

Hopefully given another generation, breastfeeding will be more normal than ever and breasts will be seen as what they are - amazing food producing glands, as well as being lovely ornaments.

Troubles in the Garden.

2010-11-20T19:34:00.000+10:30

Bolted!

I grew broccoli from seed and have been faithfully watering, mulching and fertilising it in anticipation of piles of fresh broccoli. I was going to have so much of it I'd have to work out how to preserve it or give a lot away. This hasn't happened.

Our broccoli hasn't seen fit to grow anything but leaves and teeny tiny flowers. We did all the right things and cut off the initial broccoli type bits in order to make it grow some good stuff, but it just grew taller. I've found out now that broccoli doesn't like getting it's roots warm. The climate here is too mild for the poor plant. See this article about growing Broccoli. Poo bum! The article says mulching can help keep the roots cool - but I had stacks of mulch on it!! I will look for some warmer weather varieties next winter [if they exist] and plant earlier so that they get cold weather, maybe put them in a more shady location and if all else fails, I'll water them with ice cubes? I will also do some research about what to grow in our climate :) For the time being, we ate a bunch of broccoli leaves in our lasagne tonight and the chooks are enjoying the broccoli plants as well.

I've also got aphids on the parsley, so I need to do something about that. I'm pretty sure the aphids are responsible for killing the beetroot seedlings that I had nearby. Well you live you learn!

We've got tomatoes and basil growing well at this point in time so perhaps we'll have some success there.

These stripes are made for dancing

2010-11-19T21:34:00.001+10:30

I've had a flare-up of my love for stripes lately.

There have been a few cotton sheets and pillowcases in the opshops recently and I've been very attracted to them. I think stripes should be used for all occasions, not just pyjamas and the sheets are perfect for summer.

BBPs in action!

Big Butt Stripey Pants

The Big Butt pants pictured are made from Made by Rae's Big Butt Baby Pants pattern which is available on her blog for $10us. It is worth every cent! The pattern is designed to accommodate the extra bulk that comes from a cloth nappy and as you can see has the cutest rear gusset! I made the 12-18 month size initially, but it was way too small for Addie. So those pants [made from a pillowcase] went to some friends of hers that are more dainty for their age. Addie got another stripy pair from a sheet I had [in size 2], and I love them on her. She has heaps of room to move and I just love the look. I've made her some more from a different fabric too.

Some stripes which are making me happy

These stripes are my most recent acquisitions. The rainbow stripes I was thinking of using for a January tunic-top. It will be hot and my belly will be large! Any left overs may become bunting. I like the blue and green stripes but haven't decided what to do with them yet. The top mustard/yellow ones will most likely become another pair of Addie pants. I was thinking of keeping the cuff on the bottom as a cuff on the pants, but as I write I'm leaning toward using it as the butt gusset. What do you think? A pair or two in newborn size might be a good idea too if I can hold my brain together long enough to remember.

Rosemary Shepherd's Pie. It's better than the traditional kind!

2010-11-05T20:55:00.000+10:30

I love lamb, and potatoes, and I love shepherd's pie!

I remember eating a really fantastic lamb and rosemary pie [not shepherds] in the town of Sterling on our honeymoon, and I've wanted to go back and have another one ever since then. So I thought instead I'd look up recipes for Rosemary & Shepherd's Pie for tonight's dinner. I liked it so much that I thought someone else might like to make it too. Here's how I made it.

****************

Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 25 minutes
Serves: 4

- 800g potatoes, peeled and chopped
- 1 tbsp butter
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1 tbsp oil
- 1 red onion, finely diced
- 2 cloves garlic, crushed
- 500g lamb mince
- 2 tbsp red wine vinegar
- 4 tbsp diced tinned tomato
- 1 tsp dried rosemary
- 2 tbsp plain flour
- 1 x 375ml Stock – Beef
- ½ cup grated tasty cheese

1. Preheat oven to 180°C.

2. Place potatoes in a large saucepan of boiling salted water. Cook for 20 minutes or until tender. Drain, return to saucepan. Add butter and milk then mash until smooth.

3. Meanwhile heat oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add onions and garlic, cook for 5 minutes until softened. Add mince and cook until browned.

4. Add tomato and rosemary, cook, stirring, for a further 2 minutes.

5. Remove from heat and stir in flour until combined. Slowly add stock, stirring after each addition. Return to heat and cook for a further 5 minutes, until sauce has thickened. Spoon lamb mixture into 2 Litre (8-cup) capacity ovenproof dish. Top with mashed potato then sprinkle over cheese. Bake for 15 minutes or until golden.

***********

I've changed the recipe a little from the basic one I found at Campbell's Stocks. The original is here.

My changes include the addition of red wine vinegar, using red onion [it's all I had], I omitted their grated carrot suggestion because I haven't yet met a grated carrot that I like! [I like them in sticks, steamed on the side], I also used at least 1/2 a cup of milk in the mash bc my potatoes were too stiff to spread on top otherwise. Oh and they used 2 tablespoons of tomato paste, but I didn't have any so I used 4 tablespoons of diced tomato. It seems like the flavours balanced even with my changes, so I like it!

Its not really a pretty dish - at least not when I make and serve it. I suppose if you did it in cute individual dishes it would look nicer, but otherwise it it's kind of a very tasty mess! I do recommend serving it with steamed veggies like peas and carrots.

Movember

2010-10-29T09:53:00.000+10:30

Its almost November!

This year my husband Andrew is organising a "Movember" group.

For those of you who spend large amounts of time under a rock [without TV] Movember has become somewhat of a phenomenon in Australia. Its more than just an an excuse for guys to sport terribly ugly facial hair for a month while their WAGs put up with it, its actually a major fundraising and public awareness campaign for men's health - in particular regarding prostate cancer and depression.

These things are NOT sexy!

Andrew is particularly invested in doing something about it, because he has a rather large black dog [black dog is a modern australian euphemism for depression] that he has a lot of trouble with. Sometimes its small and just in the background, but it gets quite large and terrifying not just for him but for those who are around and care for him too. So he's doing something about it.

So for Movember, I have to put up with Andrew's bare chin and upper lip, which will become all stubbly and itchy to kiss and then finally a revolting looking moustache. If you care about me, or Andrew or men's health why don't you donate to his Movember group?

By the way, in case you're looking for help with depression you're experiencing, if you're wondering if what you're experiencing could be depression, or you want to know how on earth to deal with someone who has depression [which trust me is really hard sometimes!] then I recommend that you go to the Black Dog Institute and or Beyond Blue were you will find tons of helpful resources about it.

El-cheapo Baby Hammock

2010-10-24T19:05:00.000+10:30

If I could spend lots of money on something special for our new little girl, I think it would be one of these:

Nature's Sway Hammock & Stand $329

The one I have pictured is the entry level product - you can go all the way to the Deluxe Model at $470

If I had the luxury, I would totally buy one, for a few reasons. Its portable, babies love the movement, the gentle curve is comfortable for them. Its just a wonderful product.

Lucky for me I don't let a little thing like money stop me! I've managed to put one together for $25.

Hanging from our messy bedroom door

My friend Amanda had a Jolly Jumper that her kids have grown out of. The spring and clamp are the same as the hammock ones, so I figured that would be the easiest way to create the setup.

So we don't have a real infant but the doll works.

I had done some googling previously to see if anyone had made one of these before, hopefully someone with a better idea of how they work in real life, than me who has only seen pictures. The best instructions I found were on Life on the Roof - a blogger in the USA. She had all the measurements that I needed.

I had to buy some calico, thread [which sort of doesn't count because you always need that but I included it in the costing to be fair] and a carabiner to attach the whole shebang to the Jolly Jumper setup. All together these cost me $25.

I also needed some ties so I used cotton tape, a mattress - I happened to have a spare one exactly the right size, and a pole to separate the top, for which I used the Jolly Jumper bar.

The blue Jolly Jumper hiding amongst the calico

The blue bar kind of cuts through the lovely light and organic feel of the calico setup, but we're talking function not fashion here you know?

Addie is WAY too big for it and her chunky legs dangle off the edge, but I laid her in it anyway and she loved the movement!!! Being a 1 year old she is smart enough to figure out that it moved when she kicked her legs, so those legs were going like crazy while her giggles were enough to make me want to make her a giant toddler size one! I didn't though.

While the mattress is fine, its just a light foam plastic coated bassinette thing. It'd be nice to have a lovely wool breathable deal, but we'll see if that ever happens or not. Apart from that the only improvement I'd like to see is a portable stand, but even the Jolly Jumper ones are pretty $$ so I'm not holding my breath on that one.

Preparing for Birth

2010-10-23T12:19:00.000+10:30

So, there are just under 3 months between now and when I'm expecting to give birth to our 2nd daughter. That means we're already over two thirds of the way through this pregnancy, if all goes to plan.

Naturally, as I did last time, I'm thinking about the impending birth and how to prepare for it. With Addie I read some books, made really long lists, and talked to people who had given birth and got a few ideas about how I might like it all to go. With all this information I wrote a plan and then we went through the real thing. As I had suspected, nothing can really prepare you for the real thing, and we had some birthing hiccups but ended up with a very healthy baby and a scar on my belly.

This time I've been doing some more reading, and listening and thinking about how to get the outcome that I want. I've ordered Active Birth [I read it last time but I didn't delve as deeply as I could!] and Hypnobirthing - both of which are making their way here [slowly...] from the UK.

In conjunction to the Hypnobirthing, I've been looking at relaxation methods and positive birth affirmations. I'm also making myself a birthing book. The birthing book is like a really HUGE birth plan, that has a few functions - one helping me to prepare my mind for the birth, helping me to remember what I really want and how to get it, and giving me some direction. It has pictures of pretty things that I've collected over time from magazines and various places, as well as nice paper and so far is fun to make. I'm also hoping that it will help me focus on the things that I need to during that time so that my mind doesn't become caught up with useless fears and anxieties.

In addition to reading about these things, I need to practice them, the positions and the relaxation. Lastly I found some preparation questions to help me identify what my hopes, fears and options are for labour. I am hopeful that working through these with Andrew as well will be good emotional preparation and help identify flaws in the whole process - and particularly if there is anything left hanging over from Addie's birth which might inhibit me during the birth of this tiny girl.

So thats where I'm at with the whole "preparing for the new baby" thing at the moment. I can't wait for my books to arrive so that I can get started properly!

Whats Your Story #3

2010-10-17T12:29:00.000+10:30

I Could Make A Difference...

We played my "Whats your Story?" cards around a meal last night with a group of about 14 people, some we knew well, some not at all, and all for less than 2 years.

The card I pulled said "I could make a difference..." and I'm going to share what was roughly my answer, not because I"m awesome or because it was well articulated but because it is something that I need to constantly remind myself of - and just maybe you need to be reminded too.

I could make a difference...
By running around trying to fix everything
By trying to help everyone
By being involved in everything that I can
By researching every unethical company and boycotting them
By buying only organic food
By buying only second hand
By supporting lots of sponsor kids

OR I could be me, live on purpose, do well the things that I commit myself to, and do it with love.

- I don't think that those things in the top list are bad of themselves, I just think that it is a trap to think that a list of activities and rules [guidelines even] can make a difference. It will just burn you out and leave you hollow and of no use to anyone. Without Love we can't actually achieve anything. St Paul told the gathering of Christians in Corinth this... "If I speak with the eloquence of men and of angels, but have no love, I become no more than blaring brass or crashing cymbal. If I have the gift of foretelling the future and hold in my mind not only all human knowledge but the very secrets of God, and if I also have that absolute faith which can move mountains, but have no love, I amount to nothing at all. If I dispose of all that I possess, yes, even if I give my own body to be burned, but have no love, I achieve precisely nothing... In this life we have three great lasting qualities - faith, hope and love. But the greatest of them is love."

In an Pickle

2010-10-14T22:21:00.000+10:30

Its harvest time for some of my garden. I don't think that I showed you our peas since they flowered - we were away when they were at their peak, but we got a bowl of pods off them and Andrew Addie and I enjoyed handfuls of fresh peas for a couple of days. Yum.

The beetroot looked liked they'd been in the ground long enough. I didn't actually make note of when they were planted, so I couldn't tell from how many weeks they were. I decided that pickling them would be the best bet - why not, everyone else is doing it! Check out these two blogs I read, Down To Earth and Living Shell.

1. The beetroot before I harvested. It is so beautiful with it's purple stems and rich green leaves. Its worth planting just for that! Lucky though it has a buried treasure.

2. The treasure!! Some of these were quite big, the size of my fist, and others were only golfball size or smaller. I'm not sure why there was such discrepancy when they were planted from the same seedlings at the same time? Is that normal, anyone?

3. Pulling them out was so much fun!! It wasn't hard, the ground was soft and as you saw they kind of grew half out of it anyway. There was something really satisfying about pulling it all up.

4. Mr Snail was having lunch on the leaves. We don't normally get a large amount f snails here, but the wetter than normal weather has encouraged them. I let Mr Snail keep the leaf.

5. The beets are washed, stems removed [and put in the fridge to cook for 'ron] and on the roasting tray. The other two ladies from whom I took my lead boiled theirs, but I like how roasting concentrates the flavours. It was a good move, they were very easy to peel and weren't waterlogged.

6. Pickles!!! Wooo! I got 2 spaghetti sauce jars and one crushed garlic jar full - probably about a litre. So apparently 11 of my little beets equal about 6 big ones. I think that mine are a small variety, but they taste great!

So, pretty much I cleaned, roasted and then sliced the beets. Then I boiled a brine made from apple cider vinegar, white vinegar, allspice, bay leaf salt and sugar, poured it over the top and put on the lids. Now I just have to wait a week or so for the flavours to infuse. They get kept in the fridge for me to eat on sandwiches. Yum yum! I have some more seeds soaking to plant tomorrow, and this time I'll make not of when they are planted.

I also want to make a list of things that we are going to grow ourselves this year and make a plan so that we don't miss out on planting and so we can plan the best use of space, and have lots of happy plants.

3000 words

2010-10-14T19:46:00.000+10:30

Living Room Revamp

2010-10-13T00:18:00.001+10:30

You heard last time that my couch had broken and how I was sad about it. Now I'm no longer sad, I'm happy and comfortable!

We bought a single bed base that I saw at the Junk Shop for $20 + $10 delivery. Then we bought a 10mm foam mattress from the furniture store for $78 + $10 delivery, and put them together with some pillows on top, hey presto a day bed/lounge = $118 that we didn't want to spend, but some things are important, and to be honest, I need a lot of naps at the moment and I just can't lie on my bed while Addie plays in the living room. [When we try that, she comes into our room and smacks me in the face to see if I'm awake. If I pretend not to be awake, she sticks her finger up my nose]

I love everything about it. It could probably do with matchy pillows, or ones with a stronger theme than "vintage stuff Tab likes. It also needs a long term solution for covering the mattress, I've got a sheet on it at the moment but I'll probably make a more fitted cover at some stage to make it more tidy.

Andrew wants to put sides on it so that it looks more like a day-bed, because he says "it looks like we just stuck a bed in our living room" which is exactly what we did! I don't think it needs sides, and we could run the risk of making the whole thing look a bit try-hard.

I love how it is firm but comfortable, I can lounge, or sit cross legged and there is plenty of room for me and my laptop, or all 3 of us to sit together. Its also going to be handy when the baby comes, and for those nights where I'm driven to insanity by Andrew's ridiculous snoring.

While I was at the fixing up the furniture thing, I did up Andrew's chair too.

His chair is classic nursing home fare. I would love to put a knee rug or doily on it but he gets funny about things like that. I don't care if it keeps him off my couch. [Last time he sat on my couch it broke...]

I actually love the original fabric of the chair - it used to be a beautiful rich emerald that has faded and ripped and needs some love. Love arrived in the form of a nowhere near as pretty light green upholstery fabric that I got at a bargain $1.50/m. Its a nice textured piece and also came in a BEAUTIFUL red, but no, I was informed that the red would not do [I think it was too happy for a chill-out chair in his world? In my world EVERYTHING is improved if it is red] and the man who sits in the chair chose the colour. Like I said, it keeps him off my couch.

The chair covers and foam were disintegrating even more than the picture shows, so I just put the new fabric right over top of the old one. I was afraid that removing the original covers would leave me with a pile of crumbled foam, and we're not in the market for a full reupholster, nice as it would be.

If you come to visit, don't judge it too carefully. It looks good and sits well but I didn't go overboard with the details [It was a 2 hour project max], so you'll see some slight puckers etc. It does the job though, and we're feeling very posh right now with our "new" furniture.

Eggs, a bump and a sad sad couch.

2010-10-07T23:24:00.000+10:30

Our chooks have become layers!! They produced their first dozen while we were in Sydney, so they were eaten by our friend who was feeding the chooks. So now between them, our girls have produced 12 more, making a total of 24 eggs - on average 8 each. Go you good things.

Tonight I made myself scrambled eggs for dinner. My favourite way to eat eggs are as icecream, as custard, sunnyside up, soft boiled and scrambled. There are a million 'secrets' to the perfect scrambled eggs. The middle pic shows one of mine - a pan with PLENTY of butter. Sorry Lucy. I also really like a pinch of basil in my eggs - thats what the dark specks are - I didn't drop them on the ground, I swear.

This is my baby bump at 25 weeks and 5 days. Its getting big enough to get in the way when I bend over, and I bump it into things. Sorry baby. Addie is just discovering body parts on herself and us, and thinks my flat belly button is hilarious.

Lastly, and this is very sad - not on the scale of world hunger, but its still a big deal to me. Say goodbye to the couch.

I must admit I've wanted a bigger couch for a while, but they are as rare as hens teeth and bees knees in Broken Hill - at least good 2nd hand ones are. I've been offered a fantastic couch in Sydney and another in Ballarat but those places are very far away and our car has no tow-bar.

Well, yesterday whilst Andrew was getting up off the couch there was an awful splinter and couch gave up the ghost, kicked the bucket and farewelled this planet. Its hard to see in this picture but the supporting beam on the bottom has separated from the frame in an irreparable manner. Thats quite impressive because we'll scavenge and fix almost anything.

Not meaning to complain, but as our car has been a bit of a high maintenance diva lately and we went to Sydney for Andrew's uni, we're not really in a couch buying position right now. That is bad news for my sore bottom [a pregnancy thing, if you don't understand, you probably don't need to]. So we're thinking about making the toddler bed that Addie isn't yet using, into a couchy thingo, we just have to get some foam cut for it because it has no mattress. I will let you know how that one goes could be a bit hit or miss :) Oh and everyone is teasing me with their nice, intact couches on Hello Owl. You could go there and have a look if you want.

Sydney in a nutshell

2010-10-05T10:45:00.000+10:30

We spent the last couple of weeks in Sydney. Andrew has to go there for on-campus classes at his uni a couple of times a year, and Addie and I get a little holiday. Here is a summary of our time there.

DIY Hair

2010-10-03T20:00:00.001+10:30

Sometimes I'm a real scrooge. I don't like paying for services when I think that I might just be able to manage it myself. As a result, I mostly cut my own hair. This activity usually has various degrees of success, but more often than not I'm happy and thats good enough for me. See with hairdressers, I can't see why I'd pay $30+ for something thats boarderline ok. I do know a hairdresser here that does an awesome job of my hair, but it costs $70 just for the cut and my hair grows so quickly that I'd be spending hundreds of dollars a year on it and I just can't justify that. Its just hair for goodness sake!

So here it is right now. I still love dreads, but they're not practical for me at this time of life. Next best thing is short hair that I can wash every couple of days, chuck a hair clip in and say it is done. I've figured out how to achieve this - after only about 28 years. {I'm 29, but I didn't have hair really til after my 1st birthday}

My hair is a little special, very very tough [I've never had split ends], dead straight - you can't make it hold a curl for anything, thin but there is a LOT of it and very shiny so that hairclips and other accoutrements fall out very quickly. Here's the trick, what makes the difference between flat, heavy, high maintenance hair, and bouncy, pretty wispy hair, is thinning it out. So I cut my hair to the length and shape I want and then go at it with a pair of these.

Thinning Shears

The result is lots of texture, a frightening amount of hair on the ground, and hair that I'm happy with.

I'm no hair dresser, but sometimes it pays to give something a shot - even if you're not sure you can do it! You might just surprise yourself.

Maternity Sewing

2010-10-03T09:34:00.000+10:30

I've started to outgrow my 'normal' and 'roomy' clothes, and suddenly found that I don't have a lot to wear. I do have some maternity clothes that I was given by various people, but most of it is for the end stages, or is in sizes that are just too large for me and the way my baby sits. So while on holiday I stumbled across this tutorial for a Peasant Blouse, and it looked too easy to pass up. All I needed for it was a man's business shirt and some elastic.

The shirt I got is made from Indian Cotton and to be honest would only suit a particular type of man! I loved the orange and blue stripes though. It cost me a whole $3.

In all it's original glory

In case you're too lazy to follow the link, I'll tell you how you do it. Its essentially a man's shirt with the top part cut off over the shoulders and scooped as much as you want. I'm a modest girl - [or I am when Addie isn't pulling down my top to see whats down there!] so I scooped it rather shallow at the back and slightly deeper at the front, but you could go quite a lot lower and it would still look pretty.

Clearly I didn't spend a fortune on a photographer
but you get the idea.

I opted for elastic in the arms and a drawstring at the front, which means its really versatile depending on how I want to wear it, and I thought the cotton drawstring was sweet.

It is very roomy - just what you need with a rapidly expanding belly, the indian cotton is super breathable and I can see this getting a lot of wear as we get to 30 degrees and above. I have a few ideas about making this again for post-maternity, but taking some of the fullness out of the back and adding a wee bit of shape by curving in the sides slightly.

Pretty Shirt!

Oh a quick heads up - wear it with fitted jeans or some shorts because this particular style [with no fitting near the waist] makes it look like you've jumped out of a time machine from the 1950's/60's - unless thats the look you're after of course, and in that case, skirt it up!

A Delightful Daughter

2010-10-02T14:05:00.000+09:30

Today is one of those days in which everything that Addie does is delightful. She began her day with 2 Wheet-bix and when she'd finished those she 'fed' me and her dolls with her empty spoon and bowl. Next she walked around the living room area, just wandering and singing. She got dressed with a minimum of tears, and spent an hour playing with her dad. She thought that his rendition of "In the Jungle" was the best thing ever and enthusiastically joined in with the "Weeee-a-wee-a-wee-amumaway" though hers was just an "Ahhhhhhhhhhh". She made breathy "ah" noises all the way through my cup of tea [the same I make to make her laugh at the end of each mouthful]

Later she played with her music "computer" and did actions to songs [actions she'd apparently made up]. When she was hungry she told me that she wanted a "nanna" for lunch - even though she couldn't see any around. She also thought that my long skirt was perfect for playing peek-a-boo. Se's going to love spring!

At the supermarket she made friends with an 11 month old boy behind us and they had each other in peals of laughter as they pulled faces and mimicked one another. At home she told me that the old teabag she'd fished out of my tea cup was "yum yum" and used her hand as a pretend mobile phone, apparently talking to dad.

I don't know what the rest of the day will bring. She didn't want a sleep, instead she sat in her cot playing with her freaky looking best friend, a giraffe named Colin and "reading" stories. Right now she's picking up imaginary objects of the floor and giving them to me, telling me to say "ta".

If only every day were like this!! For now I'm happy about today.

Pram Makeover

2010-09-25T15:23:00.001+09:30

Before After

Heres something that I did this week while on my holiday. My mother in law was kind enough to find me this Jeep Wagoneer double pram at the opshop where she volunteers, and it will make things easier when I'm carting around a baby and toddler next year. Its a pretty good pram in my opinion - while it kind of feels like a road train, it is light to lift, easy to fold and a breeze to manoeuvre.

Still, its a 2nd hand pram and I wanted to freshen it up a bit and make it feel like ours. I bought this spotty dotty fabric for pram liners before we knew we were having another girl, or else I'd have probably gone silly and bought something pink. I think the spots are a sensible choice though. The new liners freshen up the whole vehicle I think. I'm quite pleased.

The front The back

I was quite happy to find that the seats were already nicely padded with removable liners, so all I did was trace a template and make a pillowslip type covering with openings for the straps and velcro strips to keep the whole thing in place on the pram.

Machined Button Hole Opening Machined Simple Welt Opening

As you can see, I made strap covers for the new baby too. The point of these pictures however is to show the difference in the strap openings. The first cover that I made, I just used a regular straight machined button hole, which looks ok and will do the job. I decided for the second cover to try a welt opening. Its a very basic welt without the pretty little lips like you'd do if you were being proper, but I"m happy with it because its my first welt opening and I did it only going off my memory of a couple of diagrams I'd seen about them previously. I think that the difference between the two is enormous!! The work involved is comparable in my opinion so I think that I will hone my welt skills for the future.

Addie's First Birthday Party

2010-09-21T18:52:00.000+09:30

Family Photo

The Very Hungry Caterpillar Cake!

Dirt, not cake! But hey it was her party.

Taste Testing Masterchef Style.

And yep, its good enough to shove the whole thing in!

It was a little while ago now, but we celebrated Addie's 1st Birthday with a party at our house. We kept it fairly small, just a few of our/her friends, a BBQ and cake, of course! As you can see from the photos she sampled the backyard dirt but didn't get to eat any cake until after the party, but when she was finally allowed to eat some she made a good go of it!!

If you want to see any more pictures from her party follow this linky.

Warning: This might make you angry [either at me or the other people]

2010-09-13T10:58:00.000+09:30

This picture makes me angry.

I took this yesterday at "The Plaza" where we do our grocery shopping. I've seen this vehicle there many times, and each time I want to cover it up! Yesterday I decided to take a photo of it.

It makes me angry because it is rude, racist [because I'm sure they don't mean the English or perhaps New Zealanders] petty, small minded, ill informed and just bad manners. It also makes me want to live in a different country to them.

I've seen the owners of this vehicle and they're not special - at least not any more than me. They're white, and a bit ordinary looking but I suppose they are awesome because they were born in Australia and they have a 4WD.

This is the other reason it annoys me. I mean drinking Bundy, well thats their choice but the sticker is implying that they are "true aussies" [as well as that Bundy =Australia - whatever thats just advertising]. The combination of these stickers - one saying "we are true Australians" and the other saying "F$#@* off we're full" is very very dangerous, and unfortunately one echoed by too many people in our country. Its enough to make me wish I wasn't Australian. In case you haven't got it yet, I think that nationalism is BAD. Thats all I have to say about that.

101 things -reposted from Code Name: Mama

2010-09-12T09:38:00.000+09:30

This is related to my previous post about Addie, and I think it's a useful list from Code Name: Mama titled 101 things to do instead of yelling or spanking.

I know myself that there have been a few times that I've just reached my tolerance level and for whatever reason, I can't take anymore of the crying/screaming and these days whining. You know you're there because everything gets cloudy, you literally see red and there is only one thought in your head - make the kid shut up. I'm pretty sure that every parent gets there - some more quickly and more often than others. Sometimes a husband can make you feel like this too, no matter how much you love him!!

Something that I've found myself doing also is giving Addie junkish food that I don't really want her to have, just because it works for a while, but its a habit I want to break for us both. So for everyones sake check out the list. Ones that I've used before to break the situation are
1. Take a parental time out - [I think this means leaving the kid somewhere safe, in their cot or somewhere while you go into another room to regroup]
3. Go for a drive.

To the list I would add,
102. Put some make-up on - I don't usually wear it but when you're feeling bad it can be a good way to relax your face, calm and you get to look nicer too.
103. Go outside and blow bubbles [by yourself!!]
104. Plant a garden and water it.
105. Go talk to the chooks for a while - with or without the kid.

About Addie as a person.

2010-09-10T08:19:00.000+09:30

I think its safe to say that Addie has left much of babyhood behind.

She still wears nappies, and probably will for at least another year. She still cries in the middle of the night and sucks a dummy for comfort when she's tired and sad.

Apart from that, theres not much of the baby left there. Bittersweet for me! I've noticed some major changes in her over the last weeks, like the new sounds she makes and walking. She says "ta" and understands that it means "I want this, I want you to have this and thanks" even though she doesn't understand thankfulness yet. She comes up and gives little cuddles, and gives me presents of bits of rubbish she has found. She even managed to pick up all the pieces of a banana skin that she'd decimated, when I said "ta" for the bit in her hand.

She yells "hey Dad" when he's not in the room but she thinks that he should be. She knows the places that he'll likely be, and that when he has his dominos uniform on, puts on his hat and picks up his key that it is time to wave goodbye. She's figured out that different things open in different ways. You have to twist the lid off a tube, and a container with hinges gets pulled up. She's obviously taking notice of how I do things. She can't remove the lids yet but she has the right actions... it's only a matter of time.

She is having a love affair with books. Daily she empties her bookshelf, and reads herself a variety of books during the day. She's also added "reading" out loud as so goes through her books. She takes them to her cot and reads one before she goes to sleep, and then again when she wakes up. Her favourites at the moment are one about a TeddyBear going to bed, and a book of animals. She loves playing with her dolls though she's yet to learn that stabbing dolls with a fork is inappropriate.

When it comes to discipline, our Addie is certainly challenging. AT about 9 or 10 months we thought that she was old enough to learn what "no" meant. So to help her we would give her a small smack on the hand or if that wasn't doing anything, on the thigh. We decided to pick one thing for her to learn - which was "don't touch mummy and daddy's computer". Well she learned "no" and the lesson that we wanted her too, BUT she also learned that it was a really good game to play. She would crawl up to the couch look at the computer, shake her head and then touch it. If we didn't react she'd get our attention and do it again. Further smacks on the hand lead to her retaliating by smacking us on the hand or leg.

What to do? A friend suggested that we hold her hand and tell her "no smack mummy" but that quickly became an issue of her then grabbing and squeezing my hand. So it seems that physical punishment is not going to be effective discipline for this little one. I also firmly believe that yelling is completely out of the question and only demonstrates lack of self-control in my part.

At the same time I've been trying to praise the good that she does, make a big deal out of obedience and take possible temptations out of her way. I think that has been the good side to our approach. I've also found out that while time-out [in a tiny playpen] doesn't upset her for the whole minute she's in there, it is enough to break the cycle of whatever behaviour she was engaged in at the time. Of course she goes back and does it again later - but she's only 1! I am thinking that distraction is a key, as well as continuing to tell her what is good behaviour and praising her for things that we want to encourage.

I feel a bit worried sometimes, especially looking at friend's kids that some of my friends and maybe family will think that I'm not very good at this discipline game. Their kids have learned not to touch certain things and now don't even bother going near them. I wonder if they think that I'm just slack and thats why I have a disobedient 1 year old where theirs is compliant. That bothers me, and it bothers me too what her grandparents may think of how we're raising her.

Then I look at friends who are showing themselves to be excellent parents [they have older children so it's easier to tell] and I see that kids like Addie who are strong-willed, stubborn and determined need a different approach. Staging battles with them is more likely to entrench an unwanted behaviour. Sure there will be some battles that are worth fighting with her but being a parent isn't about winning but being a good strategist with an end goal - isn't it? That end goal for me is to produce an adult that is a respectful conscientious citizen of this world and of the Kingdom of God. I don't need a perfect 1 year old for that do I? I say this to reassure myself.

Anyway, thats where we're at with her. She's a beautiful, strong and funny child. Addie is loving, a little too clever and will keep me on my toes for a very long time to come.

[She's been standing at the TV a while now, imploring me with her eyes to turn it on. After a while of me telling her that Playschool doesn't start til 9am [she can't understand but I tell her anyway] she looked for and found the remote, brought it to me with a "ta". I wanted to turn it on just because she's so clever, but refrained. I'm still the boss!]

Adelaide Margaret 1 year on.

2010-09-08T22:08:00.000+09:30

Today was our Addie's first birthday. I've been so SO excited about it, it took all my self control to keep her presents hidden and going to bed last night I felt like it was MY birthday in the morning. Unfortunately when I woke up this morning it was a struggle to even get out of bed on account of a cold I've been fighting. Similarly Addie woke up somewhat tired and grumpy herself but as it was her birthday we didn't let something like that get in the way!

Presents Wrapped and Waiting.

She really wanted to open this one - her first toothbrush!

Addie was very excited about her pink laptop :)

A book from Ma and Pop Wood

No so impressed with Happy Birthday

Liked the cake though we didn't capture a smile.

Her first MacBook

A Spring Baby :)

2010-09-04T00:32:00.001+09:30

1986 - See the baby?

1989 - See the little girl?

This is my little sister Hope. Amazingly though, while in the 80's and 90's she was an adorable little girl, she grew up as they do, and this week she gave birth to her own baby.

My Niece Rachael

Hope and Jason Wiseman are the parents of Rachael Ava Wiseman, born on the 1st of September 2010. I can't wait to meet her in October so until then I do hope that her Ballarat Aunties and Grandpa send Aunty Tab lots of pictures and updates on this little miracle.

The Sewing Answer Book.

2010-08-29T22:47:00.001+09:30

Yesterday I took a rare opportunity to go to Mildura with some friends for the day. Mildura is 300kms from here and has the closest Book City, Cotton On, Kmart, Target [not Country Target] not to mention Spotlight and Lincraft. Addie came along and was incredibly good for us all day! When we got home at night it was a different story, but I guess she can't be perfect all the time!

I managed to spend lots of money on books, tshirts for Addie, birthday presents and fabric for dresses for both of us. What I want to show you though is a book I bought for me.

I do love this book. It's written in a question & answer format, so its easy to find the section you want. It kind of reminds me of the old Singer Sewing Book, with it's 'Why? Because' section at the end of each chapter. Some of it's information is basic, especially if you're experienced, but I'm still finding heaps of ways to do things that I haven't thought about, or that could be used as an alternative method. I also learned a better way of sewing on a press stud, and handy tip for turning the corner when topstiching. And I've only spent 10 minutes flicking through it.

I reckon it's a worthwhile buy. Plus, it's cute. You can't argue with a cute book.

And it's a ...

2010-08-24T09:49:00.000+09:30

August 23rd 2010 marks 2 years of marriage for Andrew and myself. We celebrated by having our 19 week ultrasound for Baby Schultz #2. Addie was in a fantastic but loud mood and dropped her rice crackers all over the floor.
Baby was awake and moving quite a lot so the sonographer was able to get all the pictures that he needed quite quickly. Thankfully we can report that he found everything to be where it should be and the baby looks healthy and well. We were even able to, by a stroke of good luck see it do a pee! Now thats pretty special :)

As for the gender the pee gave it away. Even in the womb boys and girls pee differently so we are confidant [borrowing from the sonographer's confidence] that we are expecting a girl. Addie will have a little sister to grow up with.

Below are some of the shots we were given to take home. Isn't she lovely?

Head Shot.

Profile

5 fingers on one hand, 5 on the other!

Birthday Cake of Sorts

2010-08-20T22:04:00.000+09:30

Happy Birthday!

Yesterday was Andrew's 26th birthday. He really likes roast pork, and because I don't cook it much I made it for his birthday dinner, along with all the usual roast trimmings. It was lucky that the meat took forever to cook, because by the time we ate Addie had already gone to bed, and hence wasn't trying to steal our food or finding other ways to annoy us.

Instead of cake I made a chocolate ganache tart with cream and raspberries, from the Masterchef recipe made by Fiona from season 2.

Chocolate Ganache & Raspberry Tart

I left out the lavender in the recipe and used some vanilla instead. It worked well. The raspberries are frozen, tart and make a great contrast to the rich ganache and cream. You kind of need something tart on top and these are the bomb. They are delish, easy to make and a little bit special.

Is it over yet?

2010-08-19T13:18:00.000+09:30

I know we're all sick of the election campaign. I am sick of being annoyed and frustrated at the games that the parties play and of being angry at how selfish we are as a nation. I have major issues with all of the major parties, as well as the wannabes. Yet we have the right and obligation to vote. I'm reluctant to make an informal vote, even though I don't even trust myself to make the right decision. I've researched as much as I can the policies of the majors, and have come out with the Greens as my preferred choice. They have one policy which I can not be at peace with [on the subject of abortion] but as I have discussed with a number of people, I've looked closely at it and I don't think that their policy will make a difference to what actually happens in Australia anyway. The Jesuits have a good article regarding this here.

My friend Jodie sent me a link to the very clever Voteamatic 2.0 that asks a range of questions about current issues and how strongly you feel about each. It takes 5 min max to do and will help to clear any confusion about where your beliefs lie. You should do it.

Another worthwhile link, if you're into social justice is the Make Poverty History website, and it's scorecard on the 3 majors.

I know its weird, but while I hate the election and it's processes [while I'm thankful that we live in a country which gives some power to the people], I love election night. I'll be in front of the Tv, with my laptop giving me updates [I'll probably watch the more amusing Channel 10 coverage, but use the ABC website] lapping up the coverage. I like the break-down of what happened, why it did, and what the future holds. Sorry for being a big lame-o on that one!