Ah, teething.

Merry Christmas Mummy! You get the teething stage as a Christmas present. Joy. We have the bonjela, Sophie the giraffe, and possibly an amber teething necklace waiting in the wings.
Nothing seems to beat Dad's knuckle at the moment though. If we could work out how to chop that off, we'd be doing really well.

Thank God she's asleep at the moment though. Teething and hot weather (38C, 39C, 40C, 39C, 40C...etc.!!) does NOT mix. Especially not after Christmas day.
We have aircon, and a little wading pool though. Well, sort of little. It's big enough for the hubby to fit into at least! He reckons he's going to sleep in it tonight.

Christmas presents turned out really well - the coffee machine being near the top of the list I think. We're just cracking onto this 'pod' coffee technology now here in Australia, but according to my Dutch rellies here for a visit the technology's been around for at least 8 years over there.

So, Boxing Day in Australia. My husband summed it up nicely this morning when he ducked out to the chemist. He nearly reversed out of the driveway into a skateboarder with a beer in his hand. At 9:30am. Yes, Boxing Day seems to be all about recovery (translation: drinking and eating even more than Christmas Day), cricket (Australia vs. Sri Lanka), and fixing Christmas presents that broke. Or building copious amounts of Lego constructions. Take your pick. No Lego in this house yet. But we'll see - in a few years time our little girl might be interested. Her mummy certainly hopes so, as it's the easiest Christmas/Birthday present to buy EVER. And the best part is that they're around for most of the year, so you don't need to worry about it going out of fashion before you've had time to save up for it!

My personal Christmas was very cooking related this year. Although cooking will not be happening over the next few days much. I'd melt if I stood in my kitchen for longer than 5 minutes!

More Christmas craftiness

And so it continues! These were the product of a day at home with my little girl. Naturally she didn't assist practically, but she did assist by sleeping for 3 hours which allowed me to finish them off!

It's getting warmer and warmer, day by day here. Hopefully Christmas day will be warm, but not a 40C wonder like in the past. 

Attempting a Jamie meal tonight, with the usual adaptations by yours truly because we either a: don't have the ingredients available in Perth and b: I still like cutting corners even on a 'cutting corners' recipe!

Trying to work out when I'll have to do some shopping again, as Christmas is on a Tuesday. To be honest, the world ending would kinda help in this department! I'm definitely not keen to go food shopping on Monday. I might just have to stock up a little more on Saturday...

Keeping good food, i.e. fruit and veg, fresh in my fridge is a real pain in the backside. Although I've learnt that shopping at a chain grocery store is a bad idea and a guaranteed way to get ripped off with overripe and poorly grown fruit and veg. Best to go to a veggie shop, and even then you have to be choosy. Unfortunately the best one that's closest to me is a half hour drive away. But then, that's pretty darned good compared to the distances some people have to travel for food and water! And they have to do it every day/twice a day!!

Speaking of which, I bought Mum and Dad a Christmas pressie from Opportunity International. They're an Australian charity that specialises in getting people to help themselves. Micro loans for people in various countries who just need a little push and assistance in getting a small business up and running and therefore supporting their family and others around them. 

We won't be able to afford much in the following years for ourselves, so it's nice to know that what little we can give will go a long way.

Chocolate brownies and griping

There is a reason I don't follow recipes to the letter. Usually because it just doesn't work. For example, when baking a cake and the recipe says 180C and 20 minutes it usually works out in my oven to be 40-50 minutes instead. 
Why recipes bother printing a time frame I have no idea. Every oven is different....*rant, rant*.

So the brownies stayed in for around half an hour instead of the 12-14 mins specified. Yes, they're still gooey and under-cooked as they should be Jamie! 
My first taste tester will be here after lunch. The mix tasted damn good so I'm assuming the oven wouldn't have wrecked that. We may need to eat them with a spoon though...

Still haven't gotten to Spotlight to finish my Christmas decorations off. I plan to get there next week. Busy waiting for the sparky to come (hopefully this week) to get my ceiling fans installed. 

Rellies arrive next week! So looking forward to meeting them - even if they are old enough to be my grandparents. 

Christmas craft

I can do this! Didn't think I could but apparently the proof is in the pudding. Or the Christmas tree, love heart and various pipe cleaner shapes.

Anyone who knows me knows that me stitching something is nothing short of a small miracle.

Thanks for a fantastic afternoon Diana! Great suggestion, and roll on Easter...more excuses to decorate.

The 'Brown Betty', aka fruit slice, turned out well. I didn't have a slice baking tray, so made do with a muffin tray and they worked beautifully. Next week, brownies a la Jamie Oliver...

Christmas gifts and beetroot?!

First up, thanks a million to Taz for the lovely homegrown beetroots. They were awesome - I roasted them with olive oil and seasoning as suggested. However it might be best if I showed more restraint next time as I ate half of them and hubby ate the other half. No tummy aches, but, well, beetroot does tend to stain things quite well!
If I get another pot then I'll definitely consider growing some myself and storing them.

I keep seeing gifts (mainly books) that would be great for our little girl. Problem is she's only 4 months old, so what I'm really seeing is gifts I want.

Book Depository is such a dangerous place.








So the Christmas tree is finished, and I used some clear sticky hooks to hang some of the leftover decorations in the shape of a tree on the front door. It looks pretty good - at least I think so.

More baking tomorrow I hope - I mean to make some 'Brown Betty' slice for Saturday's crafty arvo at a friend's place.

O Christmas Tree...

So, I have this large Christmas tree (larger than I would have liked) left over from last year's Christmas. Up till that point we didn't have anything except a cute little table tree. But because we hosted Christmas day last year we felt obliged to have a tree. Silly us!

I do love Christmas decorations though, so it's probably more my fault. So the tree is once again standing in the lounge room ready for decorating. The only thing under it at the moment is the vacuum cleaner because I hate picking up all the plastic bits that shear off the tree as you're putting it up/decorating it. 

Come to think of it, the vacuum cleaner could be decorated and left under the tree! We don't have any presents to wrap to put under the tree this year, so I'll have to find something to decorate the bottom with. Otherwise the tree looks a bit naked. A ribbon round the vacuum cleaner would make it look very pretty, no? 

We are grateful that we will get 2 Christmases of no understanding whatsoever from our daughter! Next Christmas she will be 1 and a half, and naturally she won't remember this year so we'll be all sorted come the third Christmas. 

I do look forward to decorating the tree with her next year though. She watched me put the tree together the other day and didn't show much interest. She didn't even bat an eyelid when I stroked her hand and foot against the tree (different textures, blah, blah, blah). 
So next year will be more fun.

Christmas time, inevitability, leads to Christmas baking. At least, it seems to for me this year. 
I have made the Christmas pudding/s, so now I tried a little Dutch Christmas treat. The biscuits were made from a recipe called  'Oma's biscuit recipe', but they seem to be similar to Jan Hagel cookies which are apparently a Christmas specialty. 

Here's the link if you're interested. Kids could cook 
this and you get to mix it with your hands! http://www.bestrecipes.com.au/recipe/Omas-Biscuits-L6607.html 

Christmas Pudding

It's the foodie time of year - and for once I'm happy to be in the spirit of things as I actually have time for it! 
Well, that's not strictly true. I just held cleaning and washing and gardening above cooking fancy/baking because people don't see the end results of fancy cooking. Although..."moment on the lips..."! 

Anyhoow, went ahead and made a couple of Christmas puddings with Mum yesterday. They turned out beautifully and should taste delicious. May need to buy some fake holly to decorate with as I'm pretty sure Mum's is on it's last legs and should be shown to the bin. 





Hard to tell from these pics, but the one above is smaller than the one on the right. The recipe was designed to serve 10 people, but we had to 3/4 it due to the steamer and pudding bowl not being big enough. Here's a link to the recipe if you're interested - dead simple and not too sugary which is nice if you want to let the fruit speak for itself. 

http://aww.ninemsn.com.au/food/cookbooks/789545/easy-christmas-pudding

Cloth nappies and blogs

So I was looking around for some more blogs to subscribe to (geez there's a lot of recipe ones! Need to make sure I've eaten before blogging next time) and noticed that when I searched 'mothering' as a profile requirement that 'cloth diapers/nappies' showed up a heck of a lot.

Now most, if not all of the profiles showed up as location: US. But I was most impressed that ladies out there like to list cloth nappies as an interest! 

They are definitely a way of life. For me they started out as a curiosity; a google search that wasn't necessarily going to go anywhere. Then I saw all the awesome colours and patterns you could get, and the convenience of them compared to what I wore when I was a baby. I was hooked. (http://www.hippybottomus.com.au/)

So, what's the low-down? Well, I have a nappy bucket (no soaking required though) so I only have to wash every second day. During summer (especially here in Australia!) it's best to wash everyday as the smell hits you more when you take the lid off! Keep the lid on and the smell is contained though. 

I use flushable/biodegradable liners, so that cuts down on the scrubbing. I use a small bucket of warm water and some Sard soap to sort the dirty ones out and then chuck everything into the washing machine together. They always come out sparkling clean! You have to use a gentle detergent though, not the hardcore stuff advertised on t.v. all the time. If you want an extra boost though, I add bi-carb of soda into the wash slot and vinegar into the fabric softener slot. And no, your washing does not come out smelling like a fish and chip shop!

Back to the profile searching in blogger. There's just so many! You really could keep this as a private diary as unless people go specifically hunting for you, you're just one in a crowd. So maybe blogging is just all about talking to yourself in a socially acceptable way? Hmmm...!

Pic of the day: fairies? 

Western Australians should know where this is. If you don't, you've missed out - my photo doesn't really do this beautiful area justice. Comment if you'd like to know where this is. 

Working vs baby?

Here we go, the debate to end all debates! To work or not to work, that is the question. 

For me, it's all just about keeping your hand in, so to speak. And getting some 'adult' thinking time. Plus I love where I work and the people I work with, so I'd be mad if I didn't stay on in some capacity.

 

Thankfully I have some options which don't involve me missing out on my daughter. Hopefully I'll be able to continue on in a casual/part time capacity, mainly for a few hours late arvo to early evening. Should be interesting to see how that goes. However, I've just seen the work load and it's going to be a hard slog to get back into the game just doing casual work! 

Where there's a will...

Well, here's the pic of the day...some obliging daisies I photographed and then photo-shopped a while back. 

Organised

Well, Christmas is sorted I think. Pudding by Mum and I this year, tree up on the 1st December and it looks like the Day will be spent at the beach, in-laws then my family then home! 

I'm sure my little girl will take it all in her stride. And yes, I have been looking at the little 'my first Christmas' rompers. But that's something that will probably be purchased (much like most years) by Daddy on the 24th December at 4:59pm! 

Found a decent rattle for her that should hold her attention and entertain her for at least a year or so. http://www.kidsii.com/brightstarts/p-201-flexi-ball.aspx 
A friend of mine introduced me to it the other day - my daughter took to it instantly (tried to put it in her mouth) and greatly amused us both! 
So I went out to get it after the visit. Cheap n' cheerful and it will be fascinating to watch her chase it around the house once she's mobile. At the moment it's just entertaining watching her get her tongue through the holes to lick the rattle ball inside!! Classic. 

Back to Christmas: it's an organised time of year for my lot. We don't really plan anything so I suppose that's why. Christmas just isn't that big unless there's kids around I guess. My little one won't know what's going on for at least another year, so thankfully that's one less gift to sort out and buy. 

Forums and opinions

Well, just been reading some posts over on the 'Essential Baby' forum. I was so tempted to sign up and post some replies, but there seemed to be quite a few negative people hanging around so I thought it was best to give my opinions here instead where I'm less likely to be either a: noticed or b: slammed for my opinions!

One poor woman had posted that her baby just really, really hated being in the car. I've got a friend who's having that issue at the moment too. 
Anyway, this woman was trying to work out if she should acclimatise the baby to the car by driving him around more or should she keep him out of the car as much as possible or.... etc. 
It got me thinking that this is a classic example of what I guess we all do with our babies. We all try different things to 'fix' the problem and when it's fixed we assume it was the last thing we tried that worked. Problem is, it might not have been! It may be the second last thing, or perhaps the baby just grew out of it while you were still hunting for solutions. 

Personally, I've given up trying to analyse problems with my daughter! It is so much easier to just go, 'OK, this is how it's going to be today/this week/this month' and go with the flow. 
Generally speaking most of the annoying/upsetting problems tend to disappear within a week or so. 
I wanted to reassure this woman with the car/baby problems that it's probably just a stage and it's just a patience/time thing. But I know that that's not really comforting, and besides there are probably others out there that will disagree in the nastiest possible way. 

So the lesson of the day is: stay out of forums! 

And the photo of the day is: 

the most spiritual and peaceful place I've ever been to. The top of Mt Sinai (standing on it, so not pictured!).

Mothering and walks in the park

This week’s current challenge with mothering: how to get my daughter to go more than 2 hours between feeds.

Mind you, it may not be worth bothering with. She’ll have a whole new plan for me next week most probably.

I seem to be acting the same way really. I thought last week that I wanted to go to university at some point in the near future. I have now decided that a second child is more likely to present more learning opportunities, and that’s something we’re probably going to have to look at in the next couple of years anyway!

My daughter is now 3 and ¾ months old. How many weeks? I don’t know. I love the way doctors and the like expect you to remember. Here’s the birth-date  You have a calendar, you care then you work it out! I have better things to think about, like when her next feed is due and how I’m going to get the washing and gardening done while she’s asleep for an hour.

Being a mother now isn't very hard emotionally (I stress the word ‘now’!). It’s become a lot more pleasant since she started smiling. But it did take 2 ½ to 3 months for it to all start smoothing out. Before that, well, let’s just say ‘colic’. For those who have been there, done that, there is no explanation needed. And for those who have not been there, thank God you’ve been spared.

I have no doubt that things will get ‘harder’. I also know that ‘hard’ is just from ‘a certain point of view’!

We enjoyed a lovely walk yesterday along the Swan River with a friend and her baby (2 week’s difference between hers and mine which is fantastic!). Unfortunately I copped an unwelcome souvenir that has been the bane of my existence – sunburn. I am an ‘English rose’ unfortunately. So much so that the international students I used to talk to never really believed I am Australian!

Anyway, the photo of the day…hmmm. How about a random pocket of beauty in amongst some clutter? 

Beautiful Spring weather!

Absolutely gorgeous weather today. Went for a walk of course, but this photo was taken a week or so ago of our front yard. Planted out around the side recently too, but I haven't had the chance to take a photo of that yet.

Speaking of which, better go water the plants now!

Banana Cake!!

Ok, so it's a little lopsided and the icing is a tad runny. But I can guarantee it's going to taste awesome. Recipe was out of The Basic Cookbook- isbn:1741101417

Random first 'test' post.

Currently downloading Picasa...this could be a blessing and a curse according to various reviews on the internet. We will see. This blog is just a little online diary of sorts for me to blab about stuff. 

By the way, if anyone out there actually reads this and knows blogger, I'd appreciate knowing how to tell it that no I don't live in New York. I live in Perth. Western Australia. You know, that continent above Antarctica. That's the one at the bottom of the planet (!). 

Shall I do a 'photo of the day'? Yes, yes I think I will. Later. When my banana cake has been iced! In the meantime, here's a random photo anyway. 

This was taken by my Mum a long while back...Perth doesn't look like this anymore folks! This is before all the cranes moved in.