22 Months!! :)

What a little BOY i have!!  It's just ALL about the Trucks/Trains/Planes/Cars and playing in Dirt!!  Getting grubby and climbing are this wee lads forte, and he does it well!  I often find him on the table/window sill/in the bath/on the backs of the furniture!  You name it, he's there!!

His truck driving Uncle gave him some truck magazines and this kid 'reads' them Non-Stop!!!  He shows us all the pictures saying "Truh, truh!" or occasionally "Truck"

Very rough and tumble!  Sometimes to the point of a growling for hurting.  He's learning...slowly!  He loves running around the house and is usually shrieking and yelling "go go goooo" as he runs!  He's also come to expect Horsey-Rides from anyone that happens to crouch down near enough for him to jump on.  Occasionally he'll just hang out on your back....

Loves being Outdoors the best, especially at his Aunties farm, surrounded by chickens and ducks and Ride-on-Tractors!! (and the goat/sheep/cows/dogs/50 million cats...or 4)

Did i mention that he's never without a Machine of some kind?  Or at least has one nearby at all times...

Except for this pic....

Oh, there it is!!

And here's some more!!

Doesn't like being told 'No'.  Especially when he can see a truck on the road that he's sure needs his attention!!

Lachy's getting so Independant it's scary!!  I think i'm half clinging to his jealousy because it makes him stay near me instead of disappearing off and doing his own thing!! (Is that bad??)

Best thing this month??  How gentle and loving he's been with his brother!!  From getting his dummy to giving him proper hugs and random kisses, to 'holding' him (i help a bit, as you do) to helping to wash him during their bathtime!! (In between admiring his bellybutton!)  He's just been the Best Big Brother Ever!! 

And so this is the Cuteness i focus on when Lachys being a 'Terrible Toddler', throwing his food around, spitting his water out and biting me (He's still got 2 eye teeth coming in...Stupid teeth), and then i calm down a wee bit...at least til the next tanty anyway!!

Love you Monkey-bum!!! 
(and i promise i'l get ya a hair cut soon!!)


(Please excuse any spelling errors, i'm tired and my spell check seems to be on strike!!)

Renee  :)

'Not all who wander are lost'

The Evil Troll...part 2

...And so the Family searched high and low, looking for the Cottage that would replace their Magical Home, and contain Laughter and Song as well!!

The search was long and tiring, and while they searched the Evil Little Troll gained New Followers that wanted to become Evil Little Trolls too.

The Family did their best to ignore the Trolls that watched them, their horrendous shrieks, the dragon poop that appeared on their lawn, and the disappearance of the Magical Solar Light.  They focused on their search around the Kingdom and Surrounding Lands, until finally, one Magical Sunny Day....

...a cheerful Laird suggested the Family come and see what his Outlying Cottage had to offer!  The Family went, and were Amazed!!  After one look it was clear that this was the Magical Cottage the Family had been searching for!!!

The Lovely Warm Cottage, was Light and Airy with lots of space to Sing and Dance, and was surrounded by Acres of Forest (of the orchard kind) and only one neighbour!!!  The lack of a magical dish washing appliance was more than made up for by the Magical Chicken Coup, and the 2 Trusty (guinea-pig) Steeds, Brian and Ryan!!

As sad as the Family were to be leaving their Magical Cottage because of one arse-hole Troll, they were so happy to be going to an Amazing New Magical Cottage, that was completely Evil Troll Free!!! 

HOORAY!!

The End



Renee  :)

'Not all who wander are lost'

The Evil Troll...

Once upon a time there was a Family that lived in a Magical Cottage!!  In that cottage there was laughter and song, the gardens provided food and room for adventure, and everyone was happy (even though the magical cottage had no magical dish washing appliance)!! 

One day an Evil Little Troll came to the cottage and started to cause trouble.  The Family were angry, and consulted with the Village Guards, but this angered the Evil Little Troll even more, and he started to damage the pretty things around the magical cottage and light fires, making the Family fearful!!  Due to the Evil Little Troll being a minor, there was no knight in all the land that was able to stop him!!

And so one day, the Family said 'Enough!', and the search for another Magical Cottage began!!  The search will be frustrating and tiring, but soon the Family will have a Magical Cottage that will once again be filled with laughter and song, and parents that can sleep at night, and children that sleep well and wake up ready for adventure!!! (and maybe even a magical dish washing appliance!)

To be continued....


*This story is based on real events.  Names have been changed because i don't want to deal with even more crap, should the Evil Little Troll be related to anyone that reads this*

Renee  :)

'Not all who wander are lost'

Bloglovin

Jumping on this band-wagon before GFC disappears!!

You can follow me here!!
Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Renee  :)

'Not all who wander are lost'

Things i'm loving!

What a great way to stop and appreciate the good things in life, no matter what's going on!!
 Linking up with Meghan at MNM's for


I wholeheartedly believe that no matter what is happening in your life, there is always something you can be thankful for..no matter how simple it is.


#  Juicing!!  I'm even used to the slight grass taste!  Anything can go in (well, nearly anything), and a whole lotta goodness comes out!  Even Lachy drinks them!  Even if i never changed any other part of my eating habits, i feel better just for drinking our juice!!

 
#  Space and weather for a year round garden!  I'm not the most skilled gardener, and seeing a bug that's bigger than an ant can keep me hidden indoors for a week, but i love that thanks to our wonderful climate, we can have fresh produce on a daily basis! (Not to mention a lot of dirt and bugs for Lachy to play with/eat)

#  Lachys snuggles!  Yes his clinginess can be hugely a tad frustrating, but one day (hopefully not soon) he's not gunna want my snuggles anymore, and when i try to kiss him he'll probably run away!  So for now, we can be all about the cuddles!!

#  Hearing my kids laugh!! Olly has just started laughing and it sounds Delicious!!!  We spend ridiculous amounts of time trying to make him chuckle!!  Lachy's laugh occasional borders on crazy, but is still music to my ears!!

So there's a couple of things that i'm loving right now!  The list could be a whole lot longer, but i'm really loving a hot shower and sleep right now so everything else can wait for the next link up!!

What things are everyone else loving right now???


Renee  :)

'Not all who wander are lost'

10/52

And now i'm up to date!!  Here's my portrait for week 10!!

Two unimpressed kidlets!!

Don't they just look so pleased!!  You can almost hear them both saying 'mum, what the heck were you thinking, this isn't fun!!'

"A portrait of my children, once a week, every week, in 2013"


Renee  :)

'Not all who wander are lost'

8...9..../52

So i may have gotten just a wee bit behind on posting my weekly portrait of my handsome lads, so this post can be a quick rehash of weeks 8 and 9, and then i'l link up my week 10!!

8/52

A rare moment!

 A rare photo of my boys together!!  Lachy can be such a sweet big brother, and snuggle up and give Olly kisses, the second i grab the camera he yells 'Chhheeeeese' and runs away!


9/52

Enjoying some different scenery after change time!

One of Lachys close ups!! Love those big brown eyes!!

"A Portrait of my children, once a week, every week, in 2013"


Renee  :)

'Not all who wander are lost'

Eating Clean---ish...

So did i mention that we watched Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead?  Or that (aside from my initial scepticism..i mean, in the greater scheme of things he wasn't that big aaaannd he had a lot of money to throw at fresh fruit and vege) we went out the next day and purchased a juicer....Sucked in BIG!!

 

 And guess what, those lovely American ladies were Spot On...the first couple of juices tasted just like grass and smelt just hideous!!

 

A couple of days, a farmers market and a bit of experimentation later...We are The Juice Masters!!  Honestly, our array of ingredients are impressive (by our standards) and the taste has most definitely improved!!  

Most of our juice contains a combination of the following...

 

# Apples

#  Carrots

#  Spinach

#  Pineapple

# Cucumber

#  Paw-paw

#  Wheat-grass

#  Celery

# Coconut water

#  Grapes

#  Broccoli

#  Pear

#  Nashi pear

#  Capsicum

#Kale

Sometimes all at once, sometimes just a select few! These juice drinks are DELICIOUS!! (i wont lie, we do still get the occasional dud that nearly exits via the nose)

 

Our very first Juice!!  So proud, even if we did gag a bit drinking it!!

 

We decided to try growing our own wheat-grass, and you know what, 'it can grow like the wind blows!!' (Thanks Forest)  It's awesome!!  That, combined with the kale, baby spinach, strawberries (yup, they're still going), broccoli and watermelon we're growing, will hopefully reduce the cost of our juicing venture (We do smoothies too) by a wee bit.  Im even more excited for next summer when all the fruit trees we planted start to fruit!!(I don't think i said that quite right?...oh well)

 

Our first attempt at growing our own wheat grass from seed :)

 

  For our smoothies, i've chopped a variety of fruit and vege, put it into individual freezer bags and chucked them into the freezer so that when we feel like a tasty treat, all we have to do is chuck the frozen stuff into the blender with a green tea brew and push "Mash" (Or whatever that button says)!

 

Smoothie packs ready for the freezer!!

 

  And then there's the Farmers Markets!!  What an awesome wee world that one is!!  What's even better than the locally grown, cheap produce, is that a lot of the stalls have bulk packs of their 'not-so-pretty' fruit for use in jams/smoothies etc, for a fantastically reduced price!!

One of our baby watermelons!!

 

I know this isn't the whole kit and caboodle of clean eating, but for a family of four on a tight budget, that has a taste for all things processed, it's a good start!! (Also, because we bought the juicer and all the fruit and vege/new plants for the garden, we can't afford take out any more, so that's another bonus!)

Our cucumber thinks it's an apple-cucumber....

 

We're investigating home kill for unprocessed meat (and reducing our red meat intake too), and looking at other processed foods that we can make ourselves, but for the moment i feel good with the few little changes we've made!! (Like literally feel great physically too!)

 

Lachy helping harvest our ripe capsicum and chilli's

 

If anyone has any more suggestions or comments on this topic or juice/smoothie ideas i'd LOVE to hear them, comment down the bottom or flick me an email!! :)

Renee  :)

'Not all who wander are lost'

How to deal with a bad day...

Today was one of those days. 
I spent the bulk of my afternoon cursing Hubby's evening shifts, stopping my toddler from climbing on the bath/drawers/cupboards/furniture/windows/tables/fireplace mantles (who knew he could get up there huh!?) and also dealing with the aftermath of tears when i didn't get to him fast enough and he fell from the above objects.  All this whilst balancing one unhappy, spilly, screaming baby that didn't want to be put down.  (This is on minimal sleep for 2 of us)
 By 7.30 we were all in tears, and desperate for sleep.

I bet you're wondering what i did to get through my evening??... (actually, a lot of you are probably saying 'that's nothing, you should hear about my day')  Honestly, i didn't deal with it at all.  I have no idea how to deal with it!!  With one kid was bad enough, i'm not sure where the delusional thought that i could handle two came from!!

So now, it's 9pm, and there's finally silence.  Except for the sound of Jim Croce and me crunching down an entire box of dark chocolate covered scorched almonds.  Yup, i'm eating my emotions, and they're tasting damn good right now!!

Nom nom nom...

Now that i'm able to collect my thoughts i'm trying desperately to think of ways to get through evenings like this with happy kids and a couple of brain cells left over, and i'm not coming up with a lot (obviously i was not left with any brain cells tonight).  Is there a trick that i don't know about?  A magic word? (A magic sleep medicine??)  I have the strange inkling that there is no magic suggestion, and sometimes all you can do is hang in there till it's bed time... Would that be right??

For now i'm going to just survey the damage that is my home...the washing (that started out clean and folded and ended up...well, not), the dirty dishes, leftover dinner, the toys everywhere, the bathtub that looks like a pea and carrot pie exploded in it...exhale, and continue to munch through this tasty box of therapy.

And in case your day's been a fair crapper too, have a random song to make everything better!

Sleep well folks!


Renee  :)

'Not all who wander are lost'

3 Months old!! :)

My little chub is getting BIG!  Looking so much like his big brother these days, between the two of them i'm just the proudest mama ever!!

 Still on breast milk alone, Ollys weight is 6.3kg ( and 63cm long).  In 2 more weeks we will be starting him on a little baby cereal, i'm kinda hopeful that it will make an impression on his (mild) reflex so that we can stop the Omezol and Gaviscon!  He Loves watching us eat, occasionally looking like a little Labrador pup with a lot of drool!

He sleeps so well most nights, often doing a 7 hour stretch before a 3am feed, and then a 3 hour stretch! (Sometimes he decides he should wake every hour, but you get that sometimes!)

The Bumbo and Exersaucer are my new best friends (so long as i can keep Lachy from trying to climb in them too), Olly just adores having a new view of the world!!

 He's a real chatterbox (especially in the morning) and will 'talk' to his Daddy for ever in the morning with the hugest smiles!!  He's started doing a little laugh/chuckle too, which is just the most delicious sound!! (Aren't baby-laughs wonderful!)

Baths still aren't fun, but this evening i sat him up after he was clean, so he could sit next to his brother and he was pretty happy sitting there!! (Yay!!) Lachy thought it was great fun too, and was busy pointing at Ollys bellybutton, then his own, just amazed that they both had one!

Olly's pretty tolerant of Lachys rambunctious style of love, but we keep a pretty close eye on the two of them anyway, so he's pretty safe (It's amazing how fast Lachy can move though!) He loves watching Lachy running and jumping around the lounge! I can't wait til they can run and jump together!! (Please guide me back to this post when they're doing just that and are uncontrollable!)

So that's my wee chunka! Doing well, stealing our hearts and making us complete!!

We love you Olly-pop!!


Renee  :)

'Not all who wander are lost'

DIY Nursing pads!!

Yup, i'm pretty budget nifty when i want to be!!  Sick of paying exorbitant amounts for disposable nursing pads only to find that you're allergic to the plastic in them??  Sick of paying for fabric reusable nursing pads that lose their absorbancy after (or during) one feed??

ME TOO!!!

After a wee bit of Googling, however, the basics for making your own Nursing pads started coming out of the wood-work!

I would need....

# A sewing machine
# Polar fleece
#  Flannel
#  Another 'inner' fabric
#  Scissors
# Something round and booby-sized

My hot chocolate lid and flannel

To start, i found an old flannel blanket that was never used, an old towel, and some polar fleece!  And a hot chocolate lid that i thought might fit...

Did i mention that it was a cute kids flannel blanket?! Bonus pics!

 I cut 2 flannel rounds, 1 towel round and 1 polar fleece round.

I even got a fabric marker for the occasion!!  I'm that Flash!

The stacks :)

I tried to make sure that there would be a bit of overhang in the polar fleece rounds so that even if the flannel and towel fabric got soaked, the overhanging fleece could still 'repel' the damp from going through to your clothing. (It seems to have worked)

Yes, i cut matching pictures for each pair of boob-pads!!

Some stitched up pads :)

I put 1 flannel, 1 towel, 1 flannel together (in that order) and sewed them together using a straight stitch, then used a zig zag stitch around the outside (i don't have an over-locker).  Then i put a piece of the polar fleece under the flannel bit, and sewed that on using the same 2 stitches.

The finished project :)  Success!!

If you're feeling a bit fancy you can contour your boob-pads by cutting a slight wedge out of them, and stitching the two parts back together.  (Make sure they're joined properly or the pads will leak through the gaps)  Being the non-sew gal that i am, i just whipped over them again and again with a zig zag stitch, and that seems to have done the trick!!

So there you have it!  I'm now the proud owner of 5 pairs of home made nursing-pads that actually do work!!  I'm a bit of a legend cow, so knowing that i'm not going to leak in public is pretty huge for me (I did test them at home before i wore them out in public!!).  For the record, i do soak the pads, but it's only gotten through the polar fleece part twice, and both times was when my supply was trying to keep up with my growing boy!

Another thing i'd like to point out, these things are comfy, and are fitted enough that they don't leave funny lumps and bumps showing through my shirts!!

Let me know if you've found a different, nifty way to make these, i'm keen to see some different techniques!  And let me know if you try to make any, i'd love to see how anyone else has gotten on with them!! 
Thanks everyone that thinks up/figures out these things and puts them on line for the rest of the world to benefit! You folk are fantastic!!

*These pads were not my own design, i found the style and instructions on line on Heaps of different sights, however i was unable to re-find the specific blog that i first saw them on! :( *


Renee  :)

'Not all who wander are lost'

Pirongia - Humble Beginnings

This is the start of something!!  Not a blog series or anything, but the start of something else!!  Anyone remember back to number 28 of my  40 before 40 list?? Neither really, i have to look at it weekly to remind myself of what's on the darn thing!!
Well number 28 is to climb Mount Pirongia and Rangitoto, and just last week, we did a wee teensy warm up!!

We loaded ourselves down with packed the bare, bare essentials (kids, nappies, changes of clothes, snacks, water, wet wipes, sunscreen, hats, front pack, kiddy harness, picnic lunch, dummies (as in pacifiers not mannequins), blankets) and drove the 30min drive to the base of the ancient volcano, Mount Pirongia!!

We chose a short walk (1 hour) that we thought we could manage, aware that Lachy would end up being carried at some point, (Olly was snuggled up to me in the front pack) and set off into the wilderness!! (For the record, we're not Cub Scouts or crazy bush folk, we followed a path, it's just that 'set off into the wilderness' sounds so much more exciting and romantic!)

The rest of this post is a bit of a photo dump (excuse the quality of the pics, i was too busy pretending to be fit to hold the camera steady).  The point is we had fun, we were amazed with the Beauty and Stillness of Pirongia, and Lachy was flippen' amazing, managing to walk just over half way!!

Lotsa creepy critters in the dead trees...

Getting their walk on!

Amazingly tall trees!  Lachy loved them!

Snug as a bug in a tree trunk!

Lotsa info signs for greenhorns like myself

Trying to get a pic of monkey in a tree hollow...Fail!

Our beautiful ferns

Proof i was there...Don't be hating on the sunhat!!

Sigh....

Halfway!

Lunch time!!!

And then i asked Hubby to get a nice pic of me for my blog post...these were the pics that i got to choose from....

Thanks Hubby....(At least Olly looked gorgeous in all of them!!)


Renee  :)

'Not all who wander are lost'