Goodbye 2013

Well this day has had it's ups and downs and Conor and I are ready for the children to be fast asleep!

Neither of us have ever really enjoyed New Years Eve parties, so we don't really feel like we are missing out on anything by going to bed at our usual time.

Tomorrow we'll go to Mass at 9am and then we'll be having some friends over for breakfast afterwards and the kids can play around.

On Saturday we went to some other friends for dinner - friends who have kids very close in age to ours, and who are also homeschool, and who are regrettably moving to Tasmania in the New Year - and they had gotten a slip and slide for Christmas so they broke it out and the kids had a blast.  The next day Conor got out a big piece of plastic and made our own slip and slide!

Finn absolutely loved it.  Elle wouldn't go anywhere near it - so we started just grabbing her and throwing her down!  Then I went and got my bathing suit on and went down as well.  It was pretty fun! I would chase after Elle and go down with her and she would be so excited - then I would ask if she wanted to go again and she would run away screaming "no!" at the top of her lungs!

Getting the slip-n-slide ready

Elle was pretty happy to wear her cute bathing suit!

Finn was LOVING it!

It should be nice tomorrow so hopefully the kids will get some use out if it again.

Goodbye 2013 - you've been an interesting year, to say the least!

Merry Christmas!

I've got to admit that until a few days ago, I was NOT in the Christmas spirit.  The kids and I had all been sick for over a week and I was so over it, and the older two were misbehaving and throwing tantrums and I missed home so much.

Conor had his last day on Friday before some time off and it has been GREAT!  We've had an awesome few days, not even really doing anything too special, but with everyone feeling better and me having Conor home, it's really made a world of difference.

We didn't really do anything too special on the weekend, but on Monday morning I dropped Conor and the kids off at the mall to get my present and something for Thea, and Thea and I went to Mass and picked up a couple things on our way home.  We had a short video chat with my family who were doing their Christmas celebrations, so everyone was at my brothers house.

Today was what I really wanted though.  After breakfast I did a bit of house cleaning and then after Thea had her nap Conor took all three kids to the park!  I had 2 hours to myself, in my own house! I finished cleaning up a bit and then made myself an iced coffee and read in bed! It was much needed and very much appreciated.

I think the thing that REALLY got me into the Christmas spirit though is Finnian.  He is so so interested in what's happening.  In his head it's all about Santa! Haha, we try to remind him that Christmas is really about Jesus and that there wouldn't be a Christmas if baby Jesus hadn't been born...he listens for a second and then reminds us for the 100th time that we have to leave cookies out for Santa! I love it - I love hearing all if his questions and seeing him process it all.

After dinner today we let the kids open one present - Christmas PJs (and the girls ones are matching ones!!) Finn was very happy because his came with a hat.

After bath and desserts they got their Jammie's on and I got a few pictures.  Then Finn got upset because the coffee table was infront of the fireplace and we needed to move it out of the way so Santa could get in (but why doesn't Santa come in through the door? He's so silly that Santa!), so we moved the table and he ran to help Conor get cookies and milk. We hung the stockings up, and then off to bed the kiddies went.

Can't wait until tomorrow!  We'll eat breakfast and then open presents.  Then it's off to Mass and then Christmas Lunch with some good friends.

We are very blessed.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Colds and Christmas

The kids and I all have colds and we're pretty miserable... especially since it's been 5 days for me and more than 5 days for all of the kids.

The house is a mess.

I can't wrap my tired mind about what I need/want to have done and organized for Christmas (and I know I still have a week BUT the stores are just going to get more and more crazy...next year I've decided that whatever isn't bought and organized by the first week of December is just going to be cast aside)

I went to Big W yesterday to order our Christmas prints to send out... HOW did I not get around to this sooner!?!... anyways it was 6:15pm, and the photo lab closed at 6pm.  Ugh, what a head ache, so now I have to go back again tonight, and then still go again to actually pick them up.

We don't know what we're going to eat on Christmas Day yet, because I got the kids out of the house yesterday to do grocery shopping and Elle was so miserable and sick that I couldn't concentrate on anything, but we made it out alive, but with no Christmas dinner.

The house is a MESS!  And the floors are dirty... Thea is pretty much filthy all the time.  And apparently she found a peanut on the floor... so another sign we REALLY need to clean up around here!  But you can't wash floors that are littered with toys and clothes and paper and crafts.  The craft table has layers and layer of things of top of it.  Two days ago Elle did some water painting... all of that was still out, and then something got put on top and knocked the water off.

I'm tired.

I can't wait until I'm over this cold enough to go a MASSIVE house clean so that I can relax and enjoy Christmas!

Memories

It still amazed me the kinds of things that Finn remembers from past events.  I know he's not just a little baby anymore, every year he gets older he'll remember more from the previous year than he would have previously, but it still gets me every time.

Yesterday we went to the library, a different library than we have been going to because it was Wednesday and the library we go to doesn't open until 1pm on Wednesday.  The closet library to us was open, but it has computers with games in the children's section, which means the kids won't even look at the books and just end up fighting over the computers, so we don't go there anymore.

Anyways, the library we DID go to we haven't been to in a long time, definitely longer than a year.  I think we actually only went there twice, maybe 3 times.  As we were leaving, Finn looked over to a circular table with some computers on it and I could see the gears in his brain working on overdrive.  Then he looked at me and said he wanted a stamp on his hand and pointed to those computers.  Puzzled, I told him I didn't think there would be a stamp over there, but he made me go look anyways.  Sure enough no stamp.  There were two other circular tables with computers at them, so he pointed at the next one, but then he said, "no not there" and then moved on to the last table, which is right near the kids section, and then it hit me.  One of the times we came was for a story time.  After the story time they got to do a little craft/coloring thing, and then when the kids went over to the table and showed the lady their craft, she would give them a stamp on their hand. And he remembered that.  and then he was upset that there was no stamp! haha

THIS also happened at the library - and then she proceeded to walk herself all along that step.
I'm still in shock - slow down baby girl!

Then today we had a home day because Thea had a runny nose.  It was really nice out and she had a really short morning nap so I had to get us out, so we packed up to go to the park.  Unlike when we lived in Italy and there was only ONE park, there are SEVERAL near us.  I didn't want to go to the closest two because I wanted to get a bit of exercise myself, so I decided to go to a farther one.  But as we were on our way I thought of ANOTHER park that we hadn't been to in a while, near a miniature train railway, so we set off for that one.  As we were walking Finn pointed to a trail off to the right and said we should go that way but I told him we still had quite a walk to get to the park.  So we kept walking... but then I realized that that WAS the right trail.  The park wasn't as far as I had remembered it being.  So we turned around and Finn said "remember, I TOLD you to go down that trail". haha.  I don't think he's been to that park since Conor's parents were here.

-----------------------------

On another note, about libraries.  Usually I'm having to keep a firm eye on Elle at the library, so I can't really browse the books as I grab them.  I just look at the cover and the flip it open to make sure there's not TOO many words inside, and also that there's not TOO little (some books look like they will be a good story book for Finn, but you open it up and there's only 3 words per page!).  Anyways, it's definitely hit or miss most of the time.  Today I read two misses!

The first book was just weird in general - about a boy who was worried about going to a birthday party without his mom and being lonely and not liking the food or the people.  I *think* it was supposed to reassure children, but it creeped me out, I can't see it being reassuring to a child.  Anyways, the mom and son know what street the house is on, but not which house, so at each house they look in the window to see if it's his friends house or not... and this was one of the houses:

What is going on here?!?
One person is blindfolded, there are snakes, someones being put in a box...what the heck!?!

Another page had two kids stuffing another big kid into a piggy bank or something.

The the next book I grabbed and Finn said "oh, remember when the cows poo in this one?"  It's called "cow school" - here's the page Finn was referring to:

Like kids his age don't already having enough potty humour going on!

It was quite annoying actually - those two books are now set aside so I don't have to look at them again until we take them back to the library, and I think I might tell the librarian that the first one just shouldn't be on the shelves.

Thea - 7 Months Old

Once again, better late than never - SEVEN MONTHS OLD!!

I'm over a week late with this post - and there are a few things I would LOVE to write about from the last week, but I want to keep this true to the 6-7 month so I'll hold off on those.

Sleep: has it's ups and downs.  Still waking up a couple times to eat, but I can live with that.  What I don't love is the early mornings!  I want to make some "blackout blinds" for our room and see if that helps her to sleep a bit longer in the morning, we'll see.  The biggest sleep issue right now is swaddle vs no-swaddle.  On the few really hot days we've had, I've had problems getting her to sleep because she wants out of the swaddle because she's too hot, but then she doesn't know how to fall asleep without it.... one night, the one night I wanted to go out in the evening to a poker night, the battle went over for 1.5 hours!

Off to our friends wedding!

Crawling: Like a pro now!  After that day before she turned 6 months she took a couple days to warm up to it and try again, but she def got the hang of it.  She mostly stuck to the living room for a couple weeks but now she's absolutely all over the place!  I've been trying to just make it a habit to keep the kids room and the spare room doors closed just in case they kids have left little toys on the floor (eg. Finn's lego!) and the hallway just stays bare so I can always keep an eye on making sure there's nothing dangerous for her there. We also have to make sure we close the back door, or keep an eye on her if it has to be open (if the kids are playing out there) because she seems to sense that there's unexplored territory somewhere and will make a beeline for it even from the living room!

Oh, and we've been working a bit on her sitting up again, I think she's could if she wanted to, but she much prefers to just crawl than sit!

Eating:  I thought Finn was a big eater at this stage (and he certainly was compared to Elle) but Thea's holding her own in this department!  I'm now doing a mix of baby-led weaning and puree/spoon feeding.  She is hungry, this girl - so most meals I put her in the high chair and give her some finger foods of whatever we're eating (eg. cucumbers & cheese at lunch, brocolli cauliflower & meat at dinner) - that way she's still practicing with real food and starting to consume more that way (you should see her devour cucumbers!) and I get to eat my food in peace.  Then when I'm done I give her some puree stuff which she just inhales!

Still no teeth yet - but I think they're on the horizon.

I could just eat this girl up... as could Elle. (and she does sometimes, eat Thea's hands for fun, and Thea loves it!)

Finn's Farm Book

Finn made this book a few weeks ago, and read me the story behind the pictures.

I taped the book together and wrote "FARM" - otherwise Finn did the rest

Left: A house for a chicken
Right: A barn for a farmer

Left: A tractor for Finnian
Right: A whirlpool for a lake

Left: Skates for ice skating
Right: A whale for an ocean

Left: a sandbox for a sand castle
Right: A speedboat for a river

The end

Finn at 5

Yesterday we went to the zoo to celebrate Finns birthday as a family, and we hadn't gone in awhile.  I'll put pictures down at the bottom, but first I just wanted to quickly write a bit about Finn.

We have our ups and downs, downs including asserting his independence, talking back, not sharing with his sister one second and then being rough with her trying to get her to play with him the next - but all of that is par for the course!

This year he's really come out of his shell - I love it!  Between his creativity bursting forth and his shyness starting to dissipate, I can really SEE him, if that makes sense.  Last year he didn't really get along with boys his own age.  Older boys, girls his age, or little boys (younger than Elle) were good, but not boys his own age.  He was also sometimes so terribly shy.  He still is sometimes but not nearly as much as last year.  Now he will just walk right up to his friends parents and say Hi, ask them how they are doing, tell them something funny, ask them for hugs (so sweet!).  He also gets along really well now with boys his own age (for the most part), friend or stranger.  Yesterday at the zoo it really hit me, but anytime we go somewhere with a play center (the local shopping mall, target, mcdonalds, yesterday at the zoo), he is so confident and just so sweet and will go right up to other kids (usually a boy his own age if there is one there) and he asks them if they want to play, and then off they go!

At the zoo near the meerkats there's a little play area with tunnels and stuff. Finn was playing in there and did NOT want to leave - since we were there for HIS birthday I stayed there with him while Conor and Elle went to see some animals.  Finn found a friend and they were playing and the other parents were trying to get their kid to come see some animals, because we were at the zoo after all, but they were just having too much fun!  Finally I got Finn out of there so the parents could go with their kid :) haha

Posing with an Elephant friend

There's a few sections where you can see the Elephants.  In this section we usually only see one (maybe the male?) and he's not usually doing much, then the moms and babies are in another area.
Today was great, there were about 5 or 6 of them in this area having baths!  The kids were so excited to see them catching big chunks of watermelon that the zoo keepers were throwing it, and watching the other zoo keeper splash them with water from buckets

Taking a break for some cheese and crackers

Decided to get a little treat as well - note the sticker on his shirt - he was pretty proud of it!

My mom wanted me to pick up something to give to him from her on his birthday, but I never got around to it -
so on our way out from the zoo we went into the shop and there was a big section of animals this size so I told him he could pick out one to take home.

After we got home from the zoo our neighbor gave us some watermelon - Thea got to try some for the first time!

Today (Sunday) Finn asked me a couple of times "is it not my birthday anymore?" Haha, but he still had a bit of birthday cheer from a phone call from Conor's Grannie and Papa singing Happy Birthday to him, and then we had a video chat with Conor's family and they sang Happy Birthday to him too :)

Finnian's 5th Birthday!!

Yesterday my big boy turned 5!  This just seems like such a big number to me.

We were originally going to invite a couple families over on the weekend for a meal/party, but it ended up not working out.  But a little bit last minute I invited the same two families (minus the daddies) for a morning birthday playdate on Friday (his actual birthday).  Conor made cupcakes the night before and I iced them in the morning.

FIVE!

The kids had a good play (minus a couple of time outs for the birthday boy!) and us moms had a good chat...and got to cuddle a newborn a bit!

Last year he was playing with these cards on his birthday and found the 4 and I took a picture, so I thought I would do another one this year

Of course someone couldn't be left out!

A little shy while we sang Happy Birthday

Finn got a magic set from one friend.  He totally doesn't get all of the tricks, but he loved the hat.  And there's a little rabbit, so he puts it in the hat, puts the hat on his head, waves the wand around and taps the hat and then slides it off to show us the rabbit inside! haha

We bought him real Lego this year.  He is pretty excited about it.
I woke up this morning to the sound of Lego being shuffled and scraped across the floor in the spare room (with the door closed, to hopefully keep the girls away from it!)

We had ANOTHER cake after dinner (hot dogs), so this is him pointing out the smoke after he blew out the candles.

Santa Picture 2013

I never thought I would do santa pictures with my kids, just because I thought that kids usually don't like it, AND they cost an arm and a leg.

Then last year we walked by Santa at one of the local shopping centers and found out he was free!  The kids weren't prepared but I finally convinced them both to sit on my lap and we got our picture.  It looked like we were trying to get as far away as possible from him!

This year we talked about it earlier (plus Finn is just obsessed with Santa), and then yesterday I showed them the picture from last year, as well as another friends Santa pictures (to which Finn pointed out that their Santa looked different than our Santa! haha), and apparently Conor even practiced with Elle how to answer Santa's questions and sit on his lap!

I got them dressed up, we went, and they did really well!  They answered all his questions, but were a bit quiet and shy and look a bit deer eyed in the picture.

I love that this Santa is free.  They just give you a code and password and you access the picture online - then you can edit it if you want (put a border on, etc) and then save it to your computer or email it and then do whatever you want with it.

Pictures

For Conor's Mom & Dad, and Grannie & Papa, and anyone else who reads this but aren't on facebook, I've uploaded more pictures onto facebook.

The links are always at the right there, but here they are again.

Oct 2013
Nov 2013

Sleep and "me" time

Both of these things are becoming less and less these days, or so it seems.

We've had a few hot days resulting in hot nights resulting in all the children taking progressively longer and longer to fall asleep at night.

Now thinking back to Finn at Thea's age, I really can't complain...but I will anyways.  Previously putting Thea to bed meant, well putting her in her bed and that as basically it.  I still swaddle her arms, so I do that, lay her down, sometimes I would have to replace her soother once, and that was it, she's normally be asleep within 10-20 minutes (until she was asleep I would lay on my bed playing candy crush or browsing FB), then head off to the living room for "me" time. Down time.  Time to veg on the couch watching tv with Conor.  Time to sew (a few times at least).  Fold laundry. Read.  Whatever a for a couple of hours before my 930-10 PM bedtime.

Then we had a warm night, and I think she was just unsettled and moving around a lot and figured out how to get unswaddled...and how to crawl around her crib...which she was excited about for a second before she remembered she was tired.  So I would reswaddle her... But it would happen again. And again. And again.

I should just bite the bullet and make her learn to sleep without swaddling...but instead I lay in my bed now for over an hour doing this annoying routine with her....which means by the time I leave my room, shower if I need to shower, fold laundry, get a snack...it's time for bed and I haven't had any real down time.

Then she's been waking up twice a night to feed (thankfully just one feed last night), and then she used to sleep until at least 7, now it's anywhere from 5:30-6:30.  All three of those result in a tired grumpy mommy.

This is just a vent.  I know it won't last forever, but it's just frustrating.  I really want to do some sewing, write blogs (NOT from my iPhone like this one is from), do some other stuff on the computer.

THIS is why we're nap dictators!

I'm one of those people who likes our routine, especially afternoon naps.  Ever since Finn was little, morning naps can be taken when out and about if you need to do shopping and stuff when they are still taking 2 naps.  Afternoon naps NEED to be consistent for me.

Well this week for various reasons (doctors appointment, friends coming over, her being exhausted and almost falling asleep at the table at lunch) there was 3 days in a row of Elle having earlier and/or shorter naps... and it's resulted in 5:30am mornings EVERY DAY!

Today she was up at 5:30 but I'm holding out til her normal naptime and hopefully, fingers crossed, she won't wake up before 6am tomorrow.

Different every time

So as it's turning out, we're doing a bit of baby-led weaning and a bit of spoon feeding purees with Thea.

As I recently said, I don't think there's one "right" way for everything parenting. Often one thing will work for one child and won't work for the other, you try something new and realize you love it or hate it, you compromise and make do.

Well Thea has been loving baby led weaning.  But the other day I found some jar baby food in the cupboard and thought I might as well use it.  I gave her some cucumber sticks or something while I ate my dinner and then tried the baby food on her and she LOVED it.  I only gave her a little bit to see how she would go.  Then a couple days later I gave her the rest and she just couldn't get enough! (And coincidently, or not, had a longer sleep before needing a night feed than the previous couple weeks!)

Anyways, I just decided I would go with it.  Depending on what we were eating, what we had in the house, I would keep done baby food around to supplement.  The other day after the LONG afternoon waiting at the doctors with Elle, we all went to McDonalds, so Thea didn't have anything to eat - when we got home I gave Thea some more purée and again she devoured it!

I still love baby-led weaning in that they really learn right away how to mush up their food in their mouths, and they learn about the texture of foods the way we as a family eat it.  But I see no harm in spoon feeding here and there - I mean, yogurt only comes in one form right, so it's not like she's never in her live going to eat a food of that consistency.

It was actually really cute though, when I was buying the pouches, first Finn thought they were those yogurt pouches and got all excited.  I thought he would be disappointed when I told him it was baby food, but instead he said "oh mommy, I can help you feed that to Thea when we get home!" - so I let him give her a few bites and he was really proud of himself!

*I wrote this a few days ago, last night I gave her some other baby food I bought and she ate really well and that night didn't wake up at all until 3am for a feed!!

Finn feeding Thea - Elle had to have a turn after she was done her food, of course!

No more puffer!

We've been waiting 3 months to see Elle's pediatrician.  I'm not sure how it normally works, but after we were in hospital a couple of times with her and they decided to start the steroid preventative inhaler for her, then we got a referral to the public pediatricians.  Then she was in hospital again (the last time - Jan) and they moved the date to see the pediatricians a little bit.

We saw them in March and at that point Elle was still having breathing problems every time she would get a cold, but giving her ventolin would make it better and we didn't end up in hospital again.  Since that was the beginning of winter they just said to keep doing what we were doing and if there were still no more emergency visits then they would look into maybe weaning her come summer.

So we had another follow up booked for Aug - except at that time they were upgrading their booking system so a few weeks before her appointment we got a letter saying it was cancelled and that we would receive another letter in a couple weeks at which time we would call in to book a new appointment....except another letter never came.  I called a month after her appointment was supposed to be and was told that we hadn't been forgotten and that we would be receiving a letter soon.  Then a couple weeks later Conor got a text that again, we hadn't been forgotten and would hear back soon.  Finally two weeks ago I got the letter saying I could call in, when I did the next available appointment was in 3 weeks (yesterday), so it was a full 3 months after we SHOULD have been seen. The doctor apologized and basically just said the new system is complete rubbish but there's nothing she can do about it.

Anyways, since March Elle had several colds, the first few we needed to use ventolin but haven't had to use it for the last 3 or 4 colds.  So today they said no more puffer!  No weaning it down or anything, just no puffer.

I'm happy but a bit wary, and I will probably be paranoid everytime she gets the sniffles now!  They said we'll get another appointment in May (and if Ihaven't  heard from them by April to call and not hang up until I have an appointment booked!) and depending on how she's gone, they'll decide if she should use the preventor again for winter or not. 

 We still have our "asthma plan", so if she does have breathing issues we use the ventolin, and of course go to emergency if that doesn't help.

Oh, and we were there FOREVER!  The appointment was for 2:45 (RIGHT in the middle of naptime - since Elle was up at 6 I just bumped everything forward so Elle still got a nap except it was earlier and shorter 12:30-2) - we finally saw the doctor over an hour later, and then after talking to the doctor she has to go consult her "boss", and then they all come back and tell you the plan.  We didn't get out of there until 4:30 or something! And it was so hot and the kids were getting so frustrated.  But I'm very thankful Conor could come home early and help me out!

*between seeing the doctor and waiting for the plan the kids were getting really bored and started hiding under the desk

My 31st Birthday

Tuesday was my birthday.  I woke up and the kids ran into my bedroom with cards they had just made for me (they get up anywhere from 6-7, 6:30 being the average.  Conor gets up with them and sleeps on the couch while they paints, play, draw, etc).  That morning, instead of sleeping on the couch, Conor made scones to go with our usual Tuesday morning scrambled eggs!

The kids were pretty well behaved that day, except Thea didn't give me much of a rest in the afternoon - oh well!  The night before, Conor had slaved away making me a delicious cheesecake!  We had Chicken Alfredo for dinner, and then the cheesecake.  It was amazing.  It also had a lot of Baileys in it, so we gave the kids a very small slice, with ice cream - and therefore had enough cake to last us a couple more nights for our bedtime snack.

MMmmmmm, baileys cheesecake!

On the Saturday before my birthday we went to the hardware/gardening store and Conor helped me pick out my birthday present.  A nice outdoor pot with a couple different flowers and grass to put inside, and he assembled it all the next day.  Can't wait to see it in bloom!

Can't wait to see the flowers bloom :)

My friend has kids who both have birthdays in November, one on the same day as me, so she also sent home a slice of their cheesecake with Conor (her husband works with him), so that was also very enjoyable!

The day after my birthday, I jokingly celebrated it again because it was then my real birthday according to where I was born, the kids made up for the no-nap the day before, and I got in 1.5 hour nap!!  It was amazing, and just what I needed!

Thea looked ready to attack my cake!

Last night was supposed to be a girls night birthday celebration, but for a few different reasons it just ended up being me and one other friend haha - but that's okay.  We went to Max Brenner and has A LOT of delicious chocolate, and just a really nice relaxing evening chatting.

All in all my birthday was MUCH better than last year!

Hair Woes

I just feel like I'm jinxed in the hair department in this country.  Back home I got my hair cut by one of Conor's cousins, out of her salon in her house - for an amazing price I was ALWAYS very happy with the haircuts I got.  Once I wasn't able to get to her (I think it was after we had just both had our second children) so I went to Conor's moms hairdresser - he was a bit crazy, but he only charged $25 and again, I was really happy with his haircut.

Here though I just have been going up to the mall. I was going to "Hair house warehouse" because I just didn't know where to go.  I've gone there twice since moving here and the first time the haircut was alright, and I think it was $45 (I asked for just the basic cut without all that fancy styling afterwards)... went again just after Thea was born and I was NOT impressed with the cut, and didn't get it styled (to save the $$) and she charged me $65!  I almost choked!

After that haircut do you want to know how many times I've worn it down?  1!  It was way to long, she didn't do anything with the front to shape my face, and the way she textured it made my usually soft, silky, never-tangles hair awful and always tangly!  On top of all that my hair has been falling out like mad (thank you postpartum body changes!) and for the first time in my life it's super oily.  I wash my hair, and whether I blow dry it, or let it air dry - it looks like I haven't even washed it.

I finally decided I just couldn't handle it anymore - I needed it cut, and to average out how much I spent last time I would go and get the "cheap" $25 cut from Just Cuts in the mall.  I showed her a picture of what I wanted (just a basic a-line medium length bob - then I could still put it up)...she started cutting it and basically just did a straight cut all along the bottom.  No layer, no texturizing just cut it straight.

Left: the haircut I wanted
Right: the haircut I got

Then she said she was going to blow dry it - that's standard these days, they dry it, see how it naturally sits, and then go in and do the rest.  Only she did a bit of fringe for me (I said I wanted a bit cut to shape my face), and I asked her to fix it up after the first cut as it was a bit longer, so she did.  Then she said "there you go" and took off the apron/cover thing.  That was all.  I decided to not even say anything because I was afraid if I told her that it wasn't what I wanted AT ALL, she still wasn't going to be able to give me what I really wanted.  She didn't even show me the back so it wasn't until I got home that I realized it wasn't even an a-line cut...that it was the same length in the front as in the back!

After I got home I ran the flat iron through it and wasn't as upset with it.  I mean, if it were a $10-15 haircut I wouldn't even complain, I needed to get rid of the length...but for $25 I still just feel cheated.  I mean, Conor probably could have done this hair cut!  And honestly, I'm tempted to just get him to do it next time... at this length, the worst that could happen is I end up going to Just Cuts and getting them to "fix" it - haha.

The tip ones are right when I got home, the bottom after I flat ironed it.

Anyways, we'll see how it is after I wash and style it myself.  I wanted to get some shampoo to fix the oily hair problem... but unfortunately my scalp is really really dry right now, so I need to get that sorted out first.

2 cribs

Elle is 2, and there's 3 big "changes" looming in the future for her: getting rid of her soother, moving to a big bed, and potty training.

For me, my parenting in general, there is never one ALWAYS right for these sorts of things. Before Finn was 2 he moved to a bed and shortly after he turned 2 we got rid of the soother.  The bed situation was very different than it is with Elle.  From the day he was born he spent the second half of the night in our bed and from 18 months we just stopped bothering with the crib altogether. I think that played a roll in an easy transition to a big bed, as well as the fact that he was still in our room since we were renting a one-bedroom in Italy. As for the soother, it wasn't planned and I didn't even realize until morning that he had slept all night without it, because Conor had put him to bed the night before and couldn't find the soother - well that was that.  He seriously never once asked about or alluded to it (until Elle came along, he would sometimes take hers, and he would point to it in pictures if he saw a picture of him with his binky.). Potty training I just didn't care and didn't want to deal with it until he was ready, that was at 3years old.

Elle's pretty much the complete opposite as far as the crib goes.  For a couple months we co-slept part time, and then she just stopped needing it.  From then on we never co-slept with her at all in Canada, and only 2 or 3 times here in Australia.  And she naps and sleeps SO well that I just don't want to ruin that by getting her out of the crib. Same with the soother.  

But back to the bed...when I was pregnant with Thea I knew Elle would definitely not be out of the crib before Thea was born, plus I would prefer Thea in a bassinet to start with anyways, so we bought a playpen with a bassinet attatchment.  Then my thought was, if she outgrows the bassinet but Elle's still in the crib, then we would just lower the mattress and she would sleep in the playpen.

Well the day came this week where Thea was starting to pull herself up in the bassinet (just for reference, we didn't lower Elle's crb mattress until she was 11 months!  Thea is so much more "advanced" than both Finn and Elle were at this age).  So I went ahead and took out the bassinet part. One night of having to bend all the way down to get Thea in and out of the playpen and I knew I was definitely NOT going to be doing THAT for long!

Then the anxiety started: time to get Elle out of crib...oh we should probably be getting rid of her soother too...when should we potty train her?  I vented on a mommy FB group I'm on "why does there have to be so many transitions for 2 year olds!?!?"  And many people said exactly what I needed to hear: "don't rush anything", "wait until you/her are ready", "society puts so much pressure on us, just relax." I then went straight to gumtree (like craigslist), and found a used crib, organized a time to pick it up, and now Thea is in her own proper crib and we're all happy about it!

I'm not ready to mess up Elle's sleep.  1 thing I can guarantee is she won't be in a crib when she goes off to college! Haha.  Regarding the soother - I'll be trying harder to make it that she only gets it in her crib at nap and bedtime. Then when we DO decide it's time, it might help a bit.

Potty training...well we'll see.  I HATE changing her diaper, she HATES having her diaper changed...but I just don't know if she's ready, and if she's not ready it will just be harder than it's worth. Once the weather is more consistently summery then I might tackle it - we'll see.

*Elle was pretty excited to try out the crib, since I never let her in Thea's playpen...big mistake on my part because now she always wants to go in!

* I was picking up the crib after the kids were in bed because I had to take out the car seats in order to fit it - they were pretty excited to play in the "flat truck"

Oh, and the place I picked it up was 30 minutes north of us in farmland - in one houses front yard I saw a dozen kangaroos!

Sewing: Coasters part 1

So I had a few people giving me tips when I wrote on facebook about my interest in learning to sew - and one person (my sister-in-laws mother) said that making coasters is a great way to learn sewing.

Obviously I didn't do them first, as I really wanted to do my ring sling, and all that needed was a few hems and a few more straight stitches.

Around that time, someone on a sewing facebook group posted a link to a "Sewing 101" blog post series so I had a look at it.  

Part 1 talked about machines, and what other kind of tools you would need.  Then part two was...coasters!

I went to the local fabric store and decided to get some christmas fabric for the coasters - who knows, maybe I'll make enough for gifts (I think I have enough fabric for quite a few coasters!)

This first coaster will definitely NOT be given out, as I botched it a bit.  Thea kept interrupting me, and I was getting frustrated so was rushing it.

I didn't leave enough of an opening to turn it inside out easily, so ended up pulling some stitches, and then I had problems getting the opening stitched over.

Live and learn!

Coaster #1 - Front

Coaster #2

Next night that I don't have anything to do I think I'm going to cut out pieces for more coasters, and then they'll be ready to just sew together another night.

I'm enjoying SEWING, but the prep work is a little bit tedious!

Feeling better *knock on wood*

Well I'm eating lunch with the kids and feeling MUCH better than I was even this morning.

Last night just before bed I thought I would try eating some banana, just so I could go to bed with something in my stomach... it was a very very bad idea!  Anyways Thea woke up to feed 3 times in the night, the first time was rough, I was so weak and dizzy, I thought I was going to pass out, so Conor had to take her for a minute while I steadied myself.  Then the next feed I woke up and my mouth literally felt and tasted like sandpaper, so Conor had to get me some water.

Thea woke up early so Conor took her while I rested and drank some more water, and had a few crackers.  Luckily by then I started feeling a bit better, I had some breakfast and then took a nap with Thea.  Conor took the kids to the park and I had another snack and rest and then was thankfully feeling well enough for him to be able to get to work.

Hopefully we all have a good rest this afternoon.  Finn apparently woke up this morning ready to go, and misbehaving (had to make up for being so sweet when he was sick yesterday, right?) but he's hardly missed a beat otherwise!

2 more down

Well it had been well over a day since Elle had thrown up.  I figured it must have just been something she ate.  We had been invited to a birthday party so I asked the mom what she thought: if we should just stay home, or if she thought we could still come.  She said she was happy for us to still come to the party.  So we went.  The kids had a blast and Conor and I enjoyed catching up with our friends.

We got home and had a rough evening of the kids misbehaving! (Too much candy probably, haha).  Anyways we finally got them to bed and I started on my next sewing project - Thea kept interrupting me, I finally did it get done though.

After we were all asleep, at some point Finn got sick, and stayed sick all night long.  Poor Conor hardly got any sleep, and then I was nursing Thea around 4:30am and had to basically throw her back in her bed so I could make it to the bathroom, and thus it began for me!

Until 10:30 or something Finn was still sick.  Thea had slept til nearly 9 so Conor took the girls to the park and I stayed home with Finn.  I don't think he was sick again after that, but mine has continued.

We all had our usual naps but Thea didn't sleep very long and I was feeling worse again at that point, so Conor took her.  She didn't nap again for the rest of the day, so Conor had to entertain her.

Anyways, the kids are all in bed, I'm feeling like another wave is just below the surface so I don't really want to go to bed yet, but I will soon.  Hopefully this is it!  Conor has a lecture to give tomorrow afternoon so I want myself to at least be feeling near 100% by then.

Blast these bugs!

Sewing: Ring Sling

Disclaimer: This is NOT a tutorial.  Please do not use my directions to make your own ring sling - I am VERY much a newbie sewer... find someone who actually knows what they're doing!

So as I said in my earlier post about finally learning how to sew, I've really always wanted to but for many reasons just haven't done it.  But then I got interested obsessed with babywearing. While it's not in our budget to spend more on more wraps etc, I really did want to try a ring sling.  And in order to learn to sew, you need to have things to actually sew in the first place!

(image from Google images)
If I did buy a ring sling, I love this Girasol one!

Thus my first sewing project became a ring sling!  I'm part of a "DIY babywearing" group on facebook, so got some tips on fabric etc (although ended up having to consult some Aussie babywearing friends because certain fabrics here go by different names in the states, and the DIY group is mainly North Americans.)

You really want to be careful what fabric you choose when making babywearing items because the wrong kind of fabric can be disastrous if it suddenly can't take the weight of the baby.  One type of fabric might work perfectly fine as a wrap, but would NOT work as a ring sling because the seams that secure the rings might not be able to bear the weight of the baby.

So after talking to some local babywearers, I decided to go with a "drill" fabric. I really really wanted a chevron print, and usually with ring slings you want a fabric that has the print on both sides since you see the "wrong" side in the tail (the fabric that comes down from the rings)...but as the fabric was on sale, I decided I would just try it anyways.

The next important thing for a ring sling is the rings!  You need rings that are weight bearing tested (NO craft store rings) - slingrings are pretty much the go to, some people might try rings from hardware stores, but I just decided to go with the "industry standard".  Plus they come in lots of pretty colors!

I had actually already bought the rings previously to use with a current wrap as a no-sew ring sling, but I just found the wrap too long for this purpose.

So I googled how to make a ring sling and came across many many many websites and blogs. Someone on the DIY group linked this this page, so I got a lot of my info from there.  I decided how wide and long I wanted the ring sling, hemmed the two long sides and the tail end, and then used the video for a "gathered shoulder" on that site which shows how to pin it so that you can easily sew the rings on.

Conor had picked up this ironing board when we first moved here... but I don't iron!
I DID finally buy the iron a few days before the sewing machine :)

The point of this post is not to SHOW you how I did it, because again, trust a tutorial by someone else... but here's my ring sling!!

I actually made a "mistake" right off the bat.  I had bought an off-white thread to use on the wrap, but at the same time bought a black thread just to use for practicing, assuming I would someday need black thread for something else.  Well I completely forgot to change the thread in the machine until I had hemmed the one short tail end.  I showed Conor and said I would just change the thread then, but he said it would probably look weirder to have the one end hemmed with black than have the whole thing with black thread.  I'm very glad I listened to him, and I'm actually very happy with the black.  I can "see" my handiwork (or mistakes!) easier!

My model was sleeping so I pulled out good old "hospital bear"

As you can see in the picture, you can see the "wrong" side of the fabric hanging out, but I actually don't think it looks bad, and if I want I can wrap it around the rings so that there's no fabric hanging down at all.

Thea seemed to like it the next day!  I just popped her in for a picture.

If anyone wants to know about the length.  I cut it to be 30" wide, and the length before sewing on the rings was 2 m (I think it's about 8 or 9 inches shorter than that now).  Most people actually buy more, and I meant to, but then totally forgot about the length I would lose with the rings, but I'm happy with the length!  I don't really like a lot of excess wrap hanging down.  If I had bought it longer I likely would have chopped it to the length it is now, or else folded up the end so use as a "pocket" at the end.

So another reason I didn't want to spend a lot on a ring sling is because, so far, Thea doesn't actually like to be worn on my hip, she squirms and screeches... it's not fun.

But you CAN wear the baby a bit closer to your chest with ring slings, so I tried it out the other day.  I had a doctors appointment right at lunch time, and the kids were really well behaved so we went to McDonalds next door for lunch.  After we ate and the kids played in the playplace, I popped Thea in the sling and started chatting to another mom there.  Then I noticed her head was flopping around.  She fell asleep!  THAT is a sign of a good baby carrier - so we'll call this project a total win!