Honesty Blog: Pregnancy in ALL its glory!

The last Honesty Blog was a hit! I feel SO much better about my "housekeeping" skillz!

How about this time we tackle the not often talked about sides of pregnancy... we all know about heartburn, nausea, exhaustion... but what about the OTHER side effects of pregnancy, good or bad, that you don't usually like to share??

Also if you have any remedies for said side effects, make sure you share those too!

Peace

Honesty Blog: Housewife Shmousewife!

I have decided to start a new series of "Honesty Blogs"... I find that many answers given to questions on facebook are not the whole truth, nothing but the truth, so help us GOD!

There are a few reasons... some of us have "friends" who stalk everything we do on FB, so we are reluctant to share certain information! Also, there is no way to do it anonymously (unless you have fake accounts). And some shit is just, well, embarrassing!

So here's the deal. I'll ask a question on this blog, and answer it HONESTLY, but ANONYMOUSLY! I have my comments set to moderation, so if anyone comments under their real name, I won't post that reply. So make sure you do make is ANONYMOUS!

To start I am going to ask you about what kind of housewife you are. Me? It is REALLY not my forte...

Here are the questions I would like the REAL answer to! Hopefully this will make me feel better about my own slovenly ways, not worse!

How often do you do the following...
1. Change the sheets on your bed
2. Vaccuum
3. Mop
4. Clean bathrooms/toilet
5. Dust
6. Clean windows
7. Wipe down dining room table
8. Clean your stovetop
9. Clean your oven
10. Clean out your fridge

Don't be scared, no one will know who it is! I hope not, anyway, because the answer to some of those questions, for me, is abysmal!

Next blog will tackle some parenting issues, and I am open to suggestions. I am sure some of you would like to know the TRUTH about some things! Recently I reached out and asked a question on FB, thinking my AP friends would shoot me down for considering it... then I find out they all did it too! Knowing your not alone is such a relief!!

{Peace}

Messy Fun Day!

Today was a whirlwind of water, rice, spaghetti and paint...


I had my continuum concept mothers group around for a day of intentionally messy fun! We often just plonk our kids down at each others places and let them make their own fun while we gas bag. Today was all about making sure there was enough activities to keep them happy all day long! And the best kind of fun is messy fun, right?

Raw spaghetti... crunch crunch crunch!

Bird seed with small toys hidden inside! One sausagey prince LOVED this one, he shovelled the seed into another container exclaiming, "I'm a pirate, searching for treasure!"

Shovelling rice
Rice is such sensory fun! Although I hear rice takes a lot of water to grow, so make sure you reuse the rice as long as possible! Surprisingly not much was spilt today!

Patio chalk drawing

Painting! We also had finger painting, homemade

Sink or float activity... rocks, coins, metal spoons for sinking and BPA free cups and Boon toys for floating! Butterfly loves doing this!

Swimming!

Playdough and drawing table! A combination of home made and eco clay

I made coloured icecubes... I was particularly proud of my layered ones! Harder than it looks!
I used Queens natural food colouring, although the fruit ones I made looked better anyway and tasted good!

Water for melting the coloured cubes

I also made ice cubes with pureed watermelon, and some with grapes in them! YUM! These were a hit :)

The ice cubes drew a crowd! I also made a huge layered ice block, where I froze some water with toys in it, and then added more water and toys etc until I had a solid ice cream container! I think this would be best done with coloured water, and plastic toys (I only had wood! :S) It was very experimental! Note: as you add more water it tends to melt the layer before it, so use ice cold water...


Sketti! I boiled up half a packet of spaghetti in the morning, and added cold water so that it was not too hot to handle (but still warm)... this one was surprisingly popular! They all ate the spaghetti and squished it :D

The kids really seemed to have fun! Different activities appealed to different kids, and fights over utensils were few and far between.

I had also planned on chopping a watermelon in half and letting them go nuts with teaspoons, but to be honest there was enough activities going around! One of my friends suggested giving them coloured water to mix together, which sounds great too! Butterfly would probably drink it, though!

If I have any advice to anyone thinking of trying this (and I think you should!) is that 6 toddlers is definitely enough! Also that it might be better to stick to wet fun or dry fun, we could have gotten away with just water activities (or just dry) I think. The rice and birdseed stayed dry, but cleanup was interesting! And don't think that just because you put a bunch of effort into outdoor activities that they don't all want to go inside, I could have been better prepared indoors!

All paints and playdough was homemade (save for some eco clay) and the bird seed and rice are being reused. The bird seed is for making bird feeders later on! Water was poured on gardens. Some spaghetti was used, but if you saw them enjoying it, it was totes worth it!

It sure was a messy day! But in reality, not as messy as you would expect of 6 toddlers! I say, give it a go... this is the stuff childhood memories are made of!

Its time to get SERIOUS!

I have hit a bit of a plateau in my eco journey. I have changed everything in the house, from the washing detergent to the handwash, to totally pure, natural alternatives. I can't do much garden-wise as we are in limbo waiting to move. I find I am the best "admin" on my page when I am searching for greener alternatives for myself. Lately I've been a lazy bum!

There is room for improvement, however, in my day to day behaviour. I figure my biggest environmental downfalls are a) energy consumption and b) consumerism.

Lets start with energy consumption. I am pretty good, really. I turn everything off at the wall, I don't have appliances on unnecessarily, I don't use a clothes dryer, I try to deal with the weather BEFORE turning on the air con, and we keep the TV off (most days) until around 4pm. So I'm not overly wasteful. But still, we use a lot of energy.

So what I plan to do about it is start "Technology free Tuesday". To go a whole day, each week, without using electricity! If you would like to try something similar, there are 3 levels of TFT you could try...

Level 1: Keep the TV and Internet off ALL day
Level 2: Keep the TV, internet, including all other appliances (toaster, dishwasher, washing machine) ... but allowing for air conditioning and cooking appliances for dinner
Level 3: Keep ALL appliances off all day, including air conditioning and cooking appliances. This could be a great opportunity to seek out some "raw" recipes for dinner, which is great for your health!

Even at the third level, however, I reserve the right to use the baby monitor. Our house is large and its a safety issue. And lights. You could be all hardcore and use candles, but I am totally phobic when it comes to fires. So I'll just keep lights to a strict minimum.

You might think that the third level is unattainable, its really not. If its hot? Have a cool bath with your kids. No cook recipes? Yep, why not? After all, its only one day a week. But you get to set your own rules. Be as hardcore or as pansy assed as you like!

I am looking forward to implementing this! We had a net and TV free day yesterday and Butterfly and I had the best fun EVER! Getting back to basics and having fun in the backyard. She usually asks to watch the "Wiwis" (Wiggles) a few times a day, but she was having so much fun she forgot about them!

NEXT? Consumerism. Yeah man, this is my achilles heel. I love me some shopping! Especially for Butterfly. A good friend of mine told me of a blogger she loved, who had a spend free week every month! Yep! You heard right! I think this is ingenious! So here are the levels of "Watch your Wealth Week"

Level 1: Buy nothing but groceries, petrol, lunch if you are out and gifts if you have a function. So basically NO impulse buying! No toys, clothes, activities that cost money.
Level 2: Buy nothing but groceries and petrol
Level 3: Buy nothing. NOTHING! Groceries from the previous week will HAVE to last you. This may take some creative cooking! If you run outta petrol, you stay your ass home! If you have a function, well, surely you were given more than a weeks notice. If not, make a gift.

I'm thinking the 1st to the 7th of each and every month.

OK by now you are laughing at me (especially if you know me!). I ain't kidding people! I aim to be at level 3 as soon as possible! I spend money all the time on stuff we could have done without! A week isn't that long to go without spending. I bet that even if you were told to hit level 3 right now at no notice, you would totes survive. A lot people live at level 3 due to necessity. Those whose breadwinners get paid monthly will be nodding their heads! But seeing as its snake breeding season and my family has some spare $ each week, this is a kick up the ass to save some money (and stop trying to buy happiness! Even if it usually IS for other people! My sister in law is going to score BIG time from my current baby spend-a-thon!)

So thats where I am at. When we finally move, I will be getting my green thumb on! Until then, I have to try to convince a puzzled hubby why the above ideas are worth implementing...

Peace

Dear Eco Toys, thanks for the F@#$!

So I am back from my weekend in Melbourne! While I was there I knew I had one day to myself as my Footprint Fella was at a boring reptile show... it was time for Butterfly and I to hit the shops! But where to start?


Then I thinks to myself, "Hey, isn't Eco Toys in Melbourne?" I LOVE LOVE LOVE Eco Toys, I have bought off the website before, and thought I might take a look at the products in the flesh!


So we dropped hubby off at the reptile show, plugged '651 Burwood Rd, Hawthorn East' into the GPS, took a deep breath and set off for an adventure! I did pretty well on the way there, didn't make any wrong turns and found a park easily! BUT I was still hyperventilating when I stepped into Eco Toys! From then on I continued to hyperventilate... but because of the ECO AWESOMENESS!! I took some photos for those of you who have never been...

Butterfly and I... frazzled but we made it!

I was like a kid in a toy shop! Hehe

I spent an hour and a half in the store and still... I look at the photos and think, I didn't see THAT!



Butterfly hamming it up in front of the BOON!

Isn't it wonderful???

See the white organic bear comforter hanging on the line? I got one of those for my pregnant sister in law :) (hence empty peg) I also got her a nature rattle

There is an empty spot on that shelf behind Butterfly... again, that was MEEE!! I can't tell you what it is in case you are reading this, Rhiannon!

I ended up going a little crazy, I bought 4 gifts for pregnant pals, and I also bought Butterfly some presents for her second birthday. Some O'bon coloured pencils and the green recycling truck that I've had my eye on for EVER! Butterfly mispronounces "truck"... unfortunately she calls them "FUCKS!" People must think I am raising a foul mouthed toddler!

If you live near Melbourne and haven't been, SMACK YOUR BUM! The store is AMAZING, and if little ol' me can get there, having never BEEN to Melbourne before, with only a hire car, GPS and a tummy full of butterflies, so can YOU! I'm already planning on buying more from the website (I wanted the wooden workbench as well, but try explaining to hubby how we are getting it on the plane! I'd rather pay postage :)

It was unfortunate I didn't get to meet Melinda (although I did see her delightful daughter!), her friend Laura was most welcoming and friendly! Thankyou for having me, Eco Toys, and Butterfly says, "Thanks for the FUCK!"

xx

The BEST age!

Butterfly is almost 20 months, and this is the BEST age! I have to laugh at myself for saying that, because I have been saying that every month since she was born... but parenthood just keeps getting better!

Butterfly's speech has exploded of late, she can say so many words I have lost count, and even strings together three words sentences, "Daddy find lid?" And can count to THREE!

Its an absolute delight to hear whats on her little mind, and I was super surprised to hear her tell me a story that happened 3 days prior... "Elmo, dance. Jossie pop. No Fee!" Translation: when we were at Seaworld watching Elmo dance, I gave Butterfly a lollipop and one to her friend, Fee (much to Butterfly's distaste!)

She LOVES to go and help Daddy with the snakes (he breeds pythons), she told me yesterday, holding up a little hand "Mummy stay. Jossie, Daddy nakes"! OK baby, I will stay here while you and Dad check the snakes! She knows the drill, she waits till Daddy opens up a box, she takes out the water bowl, waits for Daddy to pick up the newspaper to find the baby snake, and puts out her hands for a hold! Bindi Irwin, eat your heart out!

Holding a hatchling carpet python...

Here she is telling me, "Nake, bite!"

She wasn't bitten, but she knows that they can!

We also play hide and seek every night, it is SO much fun! Daddy and Butterfly are a team, and I am on my own. It is adorable to hear her squealing in anticipation as I get close to finding them. The best spot for me to hide is under her unicorn next to the mirror in her playroom... its actually a pretty lame hiding spot, except Butterfly is so taken with her own reflection that she rarely notices me! LOL! She asks to play hide and seek by saying, "Find, one, two..." counting on her fingers, then squealing and running away with Daddy when I start to count! Oh, Butterfly, I love you!

Yesterday I asked her what Mummy milk tasted like... "Dusoo" she replied? Whaaaa? "So is it yummy?" I ask

"No"

"So its yucky?"

"Yes"

"So why do you drink it then?"

*Laughs at herself* "Ohhhh, Jossie!"

What a sausage!

She is such a joy and a laugh at home, that I forget the stage she is going through in relation to her peers. She is currently claiming ownership of every toy ever invented (hers or not) and will push the other kids in the face if they get too close/want a turn of a toy. At first I was really self conscious about it... being an attached parent I am paranoid that people expect my daughter to be an angel ALL the time, and that I must not be doing it right. It is still very awkward when your child hurts another child, but I have come to the realisation that it is just a phase, one that many kids go through. I can remember her cousin being the same at the same age, and recently had a friend ask me on facebook about their own child lashing out.

I recently watched the film, "Babies" (make sure you see it!), and the opening sequence eased my mind greatly. Two little African tribal babies were sitting pounding rocks together. One reached over to take a squashed bottle from next to the other one, who snatched it back. So the baby bit him... and got a good smack in return! PHEW! It IS normal!

My current strategy for dealing with Butterfly's behaviour is to stop her from hitting the other child (when I can), telling her we don't hit, and having a LOT of practice at home taking "turns". A wise mother once told me that the concept of sharing is difficult for babies, because it implies that they can't have anything to themselves (and toddlers are, by nature and through no fault of their own, selfish). Taking turns is a much more appealing concept, because they get a toy to themselves for a time, then the other child has it for a time.

Its hard yakka, though, I often have to fight for a "turn" of my own breakfast!

Now, I dislike parents badmouthing their kids on the internet, and thats not what I am doing here. Butterfly is a loving and kind hearted child, who I ADORE! I don't hold this phase against her, she is simply being a toddler. But I wanted to write about it to reassure any other Mums who are currently dealing with the same thing!

Peace

Giving Great Gifts is GREEN

SO! I thought I had it all sussed for this Christmas, it was going to be the greenest one yet!

Well it was, but I was still sickened by the waste created by the holiday!

The positive green actions we achieved:

• The majority of Butterfly's toys were hidden in gift boxes or set up for her to find, ready to play with, on Christmas morning!
  
• Her presents were green... wooden toys, upcycled containers for her kitchen, we supported WAHM's also (buying wooden toys online = less plastic packaging)
  
• Didn't buy any new decorations, we made do with the ones we had
  
• Used the crockery and cutlery on the day, instead of disposable shtuff
  
• We only turned the Christmas tree lights on for an hour before Butterfly went to bed for her to enjoy




• Wrapped gifts for the grandparents in Butterfly's drawings (scribbles?)
  
  
• Made my own bonbons using upcycled materials

BUT I have learnt the following lessons...

• The relatives LOVE to wrap presents (and to be honest B loves to tear them open!) so next year I am going to suggest newspaper. YES newspaper. They can present the gifts in a sack or gift bag (which they usually do anyway, we sent Grandma home with her giftbag for next year), and she can still have fun opening. I mean, it was OBSCENE this year! BOTH sets of grandparents and BOTH aunties rocked up with sacks full of wrapped gifts. She opened from 6.30am until 2.30pm!

• Only put out about a third of the nibblies you think you will need. If you pour the whole bag of chips, the whole bag of choc coated peanuts and the whole bag of cherries on the table, most will be uneaten and by the end of the stinking hot day, uneatable. AND thrown away. Best to err on the more frugal side, you can always top up if you need to.
  
• HALVE the amount of salads you made last year. I ate salad, pasta salad and potato bake for 3 days straight and still threw away half of it!
  
• Be honest with people about what you allow your children to play with. I was lucky this year, the wooden toy issue had sunk in! There is no point in letting the grandparents buy plastic rubbish that you then have the dilemma of either throwing away OR giving to charity... knowing the toys are potentially toxic to another child.

And remember...

• its always great to buy gifts that encourage green living... Organic body care (organic ANYTHING!), Eco Toothbrushes, Wild Soapnuts, Modern Cloth Nappies, Handmade gifts, a plant?




• Giving great gifts is green. Buying something that will be used or treasured is sooo much better than getting something that might end up in landfill unused. I LOVE gift certificates, everyone does! I also love donations to charities in my name.
  
• REGIFT. This is a touchy issue, but I think its eco friendly! If someone buys you something you won't use, but know someone who will, why not pass it on? In the past I have had a cupboard full of beauty products that I never EVER used, and threw out after a few years collecting dust. Selling on ebay is another option. Can be considered rude, but so is putting no thought into a gift IMO.

• Gift packs are a great idea, but they usually come with a LOT of unnecessary packaging. Why not make your own?

So whats GREEN about dressing your cat up in your child's new dress? Nothing. But its fricken HILARIOUS!!

----> Buttefly wouldn't let me try it on HER

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas, and have some ideas on how to make your next one GREENER!

Peace