My Little Poppets

Little Men

My little men

It hit me with a bang yesterday that I am the Mother to 2 little boys, not that i was under any illusions before then as to their gender but yesterday they started really behaving like little boys.

Putting it simply they went outside to play in the garden ( empty of toys, so if you have childrens toys filling up your garden that you want rid of let me know ) and found some toys to play with, well I say toys but they were really the pots full of planting mix that the previous tenants left behind

anyway shortly after finding them they had emptied the dirt onto my patio and were playing with it, pushing mounds of dirt around with their hands after the obligatory taste test of course..

This ended up with them covered head to toe in dirt, Anyway naptime arrived for Elliott so i picked him up and dusted him down and tucked him up in bed to come back down to find that Nate had collected a variety of toys from the living room plus my brush and shovel and taken them to play in the dirt with him. oh how fun.

anyway I kinda left him to it knowing i could clean up come late afternoon when i  needed to have him inside and that i would put them both through the bath before bed. Shortly later I hear the crash of a pot hitting the patio tiles and breaking, uhoh but oh well pots are replaceable and im trying not to sweat the small stuff in an effort to be a calmer parent.

anyway to cut to the chase I now have a broken planter pot and a pile of potting mix on my patio as i no longer have a pot to refill, and the boys loved playing in the dirt. Im so proud that they get along so well together most of the time

Potty Training

The time has arrived....

Nathaniel has made the choice he doesn't want to wear a nappy anymore, he made it very clear on Saturday when he took off his nappy after doing a poo and ran to the toilet , he did the same thing yesterday except as he was in his room for naptime he couldnt make it to the toilet so we had a mess to clean up thankfully not too much.

He pee'ed on the Potty or Toilet when asked for the last 2 days and took himself to go a few times even trying to empty the potty himself too ( gotta watch out for that one ) He held it till we got home after a trip to the shops on Saturday and pee'ed on the potty

At home we have been letting him run around with a naked bum with the potty out so he can use it when he needs and im trying to keep track of how often etc... to catch what hes doing before needing to go so it makes it easier when we are out and about if I know what I am looking for in the way of cues.

He does seem hesitant to poo on the potty or toilet hes only done it once although he shows a huge aversion to being in a dirty nappy and wants it off right away. I think I have some convincing to do to get him to poop on the potty.

anyway i'll be back with more potty training tales later Im sure as this will take us a few days to get the hang of

Mothers Day 2011

Mothers Day 2011

March 3rd 2011 and I have been a Mother of 2 for 1 year 1week and 1 day, and Mother to my eldest son Nathaniel for 2 years 9 months 1 week and 2 days. and to be completely honest it seems like yesterday that I was telling Michael that it was simply not possible for me to be pregnant and he was wasting his money buying a pregnancy test for me, and yet I was expecting our darling firstborn son and we were extremely excited about it too. Then to find out only a week following Nathaniel's First birthday that we were expecting again this time with Elliott our darling second born who has just a week and a day ago celebrated his First birthday then our joy cannot at the moment be more complete. Im a very proud Mummy to my darling Sons and extremely grateful to have been blessed with them as they are such sweet children even in their more challenging moments they find a way to make me smile.

This morning I woke to Elliott alerting me to the fact he was hungry and wanted nursing and when Mike went to get him from his cot and free'ed Nathaniel then my darling Firstborn came and climbed into our bed and said a very nice "Good morning Mummy" in his happy cheerful way that starts every day off with a smile, Mike had vanished downstairs and reappeared with a box of chocolates and a lovely card that contained Vouchers for different things from the dishes and drying up being done ( obviously to be redeemed using Michaels services not the boys since they cant reach the sink yet) to promises of a period of peace and quiet from the boys and ones for Hugs,Kisses and the like...
Of course on sight of the Chocolates then I had 2 boys trying to convince me to share so I split one between the 2 of them and then played hide and seek in the duvet with Elliott while Nathaniel enlisted Mike's help in his morning routine before Mike taking the boys down to make them breakfast.
I got a chance to check my emails and spend some time at the table with the boys while they waited for their breakfast with Nathaniel periodically getting up on the table to point out the balloons still hanging over the window from Elliott's birthday party last weekend. 


Michael cleaned up the downstairs whilst the boys and I ate all the while monitoring the boys behaviour and helping Nate with his newfound potty skills and the boys have been happily playing both inside and out in the garden for the remainder of the morning so far.


Mothers Day 2011 has been lovely so far and I look forward to see what the rest of the day holds, If the weather continues like it is then a trip to the playground might be in order later this afternoon. For the moment I am going to log off and spend Mothers day with the people who love me most.

cutie bootie baby

Ok I Promised a blog on cloth nappys and here it is 

Cloth Bums, the why,how and wherefore's of it.

Ok to start at the very begining, 

My first introduction to Cloth nappies was through my Mother she choose to use Terry Cloth Flat Nappies as pictured below and PINS 

Thankfully these are no longer in regular use today due to the invention of MCN/MCD's Modern Cloth Nappies/Diapers.

Above is a selection of my "Stash" as we term it in the mysterious world of cloth Mama's who make, buy and sell, New and used nappies through internet forums and online shops.

This isnt a complete picture of my stash by any means its not even a very current picture of what I own as to get a complete stash picture they all have to be clean which means the baby needs to be wearing a "sposie" or disposible nappy otherwise you are missing at least the one the baby is wearing unless you include him/her in the picture too lol.

Cloth Nappies are a world away from what our Mothers ( if your over 25 like me you probably wore cloth nappies at some point ) and Grandmothers used on us, Gone are the days of soaking the nappies in big buckets or tubs and scrubbing to get stains out, stabbing yourself with the pins you fasten them with etc... its really very different, im going to chart how a normal day goes for me with EJ in Cloth Nappies so you can see what I mean.

Get up and change nappy putting clean nappy on, If night nappy is dirty ( poo ) rinse dirty part either using shower head into bucket or toilet ( we have a shower head you can take off the wall on a hose ) or hold in toilet and flush ( the flush does remove most of it ) wring out most of the water ( if clean skip to here ) and put in the lidded nappy pail under the sink,

Go about the day breakfast etc... playtime

3-4 hrs on and its Naptime so we head upstairs collecting a clean nappy from the storage box in the hallway where i keep the clean ones and Change Ej's bum again, repeating the steps from the first nappy change to deal with nappy after ive tucked him into bed.

after Naptime its Lunchtime then post lunch we get another nappy change following the same routine as before. 

another change 3-4hrs later post dinner into a night time nappy and we are done for the day.

If its wash day then i would then bring the nappy pail down from the bathroom and put the nappies into the machine, set a rinse cycle and leave it to do its thing, after the rinse i add 1/4 the normal amount of powder to the drawer and wash at 40degrees on the standard cycle and then as it finishes i stick it on another rinse cycle to make sure all the detergant is out of the nappies then they get hung up to dry overnight. 

All my pocket nappies will dry overnight as will the cotton prefolds that I use to boost them , Night time nappies and any bamboo or hemp inserts take a day and a night normally to dry hung on my airer in the living room an on a nice morning i'll put anything not quite dry outside on the patio for a nice bit of sun bleaching.

To make things easier on myself i use fleece liners in all my nappies so when EJ does poo then i only normally have to rinse the liner , overall I get 65% less leaks from cloth than i do from disposables and about 85% less instances of bum rash ( which EJ is prone to get when teething ) I vary rarely get stains on the nappies and when i do the sun is normally enough to bleach the stains out , even in cloudy old England. and it saves us about £30 a month on disposable nappies for EJ which is well worth it for us.

Not convinced, just google image search cloth nappies and have a look at the bright colors and cute prints, find out the facts about cloth nappies like they are 1 degree cooler for a baby than a disposable, and if ive still not convinced you then try wearing plastic or paper pants for the day and see how much you enjoy it then go back to your normal pants and see how much more you enjoy wearing something soft and breathable.

Ladies theres more to come im going to review CSP's and diva/mooncups soon so keep tuned

in the meantime I must go and put my wee EJ into another one of his funky Cute soft cloth nappies

Go on try it..... Use the coment box and contact me for more info 

mothering boys

Sometimes it can be hard work mothering 2 active cheeky boys but the payoffs are huge when they come around.

Today for example started with tears and tantrums as soon as Mike left for work but soon turned into fits of giggles on the floor as the boys tickled each other till they were nearly in tears.

Then as we spoke to my parents via skype they rubbed their honey toast into their hair and the carpet and played with all the nosiest of toys and banged on the piano before asking endlessly to watch Chuggington on BBC-Iplayer.

After EJ went to bed for his nap then Nate decided to keep making huge amounts of noise to see if he could wake his brother back up and pulled both trainsets out and spread them all over the living room so i couldnt so much as stand up without standing on something, only for him to tackle me and try to tickle me and make me laugh.

its never long till things change and the mood swings good or bad in this house it sure is very very entertaining and i wouldnt miss a moment of it no matter if that be stressful or calm.

Birthday Party time

This time last year I had just received a call from the MW telling me to be at the hospital for 9pm to be induced and i was having semi regular early labor contractions anyway so was busy packing my bag and organizing and texting Mike to let him know the news.

Its Elliott Jason Odendaal's First Birthday tomorrow, Im so excited for him that hes 1 year old lol much more excited than he is thats for sure. I should be really wrapping his presents i guess but blogging is so much more fun esp when the boys arent even asleep upstairs yet and probably wont sleep for their entire naptime lol typical that I would have the kids who cant both go to bed awake at the same time hehe. Theres tons of stuff I still need to do before tomorrow including icing the cake but ive not got alot of motivation right now after already re-arranging my living room. it will happen just got to wait till Mike is home lol

Countdown begins

Time really does fly... My baby is going to be one in 8 days time Im struggling to grasp how that can be as it doesnt seem like a year ago that i was at the MW's office begging her to induce me as i was already overdue. So much has happend in the last year but so little has changed in my head.
anyway im not going to ramble on i have a house to clean and party to prepare for

Home at last

Our holiday has come to an end, It was fantastic getting to see my family again and to get to meet my nephew and welcome a new brother into the family, it was also great to see my bestie friend again ,meet her husband and her darling son and get to spend time with them, also got to meet another natural mumma who i know via a website and we got to go visit and meet in person which is awesome.
Lots happend during our holiday and it is nice to be home with usable running water and my own bed , so here are some photos of the trip

Rakaia River Gorge

Mike and Mum

Monkey at Willowbank

Francinne and Karl

Phil and Ruth

Dad, Elliott, Lydia, Joel and Ruth

O'Callaghan/Van't Wout Wedding

Back now from our Holiday and just thought id upload a little Collage I made of some of the Photos taken at my sisters wedding,
Im in the top left corner with blonde hair, in the photo below is Lydia ( the younger one ) my youngest sister and Lauren who is one of my sisters good friends, across from her holding the puppy is Hannah who is Ruths Best Friend and Maid of Honor, and above her pictured with myself again is my Older sister Tanya we were cold waiting for the boys to stop messing about lol,
and of course central to the Collage is Ruth the lovely bride who looked fantastic and stunning as always

Disaster Zone City

WOW, still kinda shocked, we found out halfway through our flight ( LA stopover) that Chch had suffered another very large aftershock and half the central city had come down, arrived to find a national state of emergancy and our flight from auckland canceled and had to rebook as standby to Chch we managaed to get out of Auckland only 3 hours later than planned and get to Chch where we were told to use the toilets at the airport as there was no water or toilets working in the city and that over half the city was still without power, we decided to stay that night with Mikes brother in Kaiapoi which was good as they had shower and toilet facilitys and fuel still avalible, we have since then been staying in the City with my friend and her husband just literally a hundred meters or so from the police line that is blocking off the central city. anyway we are off to do something today to take our minds off all of it i'll take lots of pictures and report back

Holidays are here

Well its time and im all packed as much as I thought i wouldnt be, got the house sitter organized and everything is going smoothly just hope the post office is open to do the currency exchange and so DH can post his letters while hes down there getting nappies for the trip.
I must dash have to find something in the house for the boys to have for breakfast and not forget to eat myself as else i will defo feel sick on the flight and that is defo not what we need or want happening, I dont think i slept a wink last night im so excited

Friends aye, what would life be without them

Man i really love my friends, they are awesome and when i do let go enough to tell them whats going on then they are always without fail there to support me, I guess i should open up more sometimes and let them see all the good and not so much of the bad in my life. I really am so Thankful for all my friends around the world ( yes i have friends on every continent except Antarctica currently but who knows one of my friends husbands might get a job there and they might move there one day) I sometimes wouldnt get through the week without my M8's caus with Family so far away and the 13 hr time difference plus of course they have their lives to run and sort out then I do really need my friends some days.
With this holiday back to NZ then ive been thinking of how things there will have changed and trying to prepare myself. My Nana ,God rest her soul, Passed away when I was pregnant with Nathaniel in fact i found out she was gone when I called my Mum to tell her that she was going to become a Grandma herself, I miss Nana and really really dont know how I will react seeing my Grandad and not seeing her. Before I left NZ I tried to go visit her at the home as much as i could around work and we got close so i really dont know how i will react, ( somehow im crying while typing this , just thinking about her makes me cry ) caus i guess with being pregnant i held myself together so much i never really mourned her passing at all then life got in the way after Nate was born and its been a rollercoaster ride since.
Also Chch has had a MAJOR earthquake just in case you slept through September and missed the news and they have had sizable aftershocks as recently as Feb 10th they had a 4.0 and the most recent was Wed 16th a 2.5 measurement. so that understandably has affected the city and the way things look and how i remember them being wont nessacarily be how they are now.
Also my family has changed, the adults not so much but my younger siblings ( including the sister getting married ) have all grown up by 6 years and are so different now to the sisters and brother I remember leaving behind me. Thankfully through Skype and the internet I have had video calls and of course long telephone conversations with family over the years and seen photos of them pretty frequently but that isnt going to change how it will feel to have my little brother ( i last saw him when he was 8 yrs old ) almost as tall if not taller than me and a teenager no less !!
Im really looking forward to the trip and meeting my Nephew for the first time and seeing my bestie friend and meeting her little boys and husband ( she didnt even know of him when i left now they are married with a darling son ) and catching up with all my other friends, thankfully my sisters wedding is a good way to do this as everyone basicly is coming to that and will be there and it will be easier than going to all their houses in the time we have. im gonna finish off here caus i really should be packing, i just wanted to say a big THANK YOU to everyone of my friends whos been there for me

Online life

Sometimes i think my life online is a bit too much work, trying to be nice , always watching what i say and how i say it, thats why i Love my blog caus its just me its my opinion expressed in my way and if people dont like it then they dont have to read it lol, My Blog is just that is MINE. I use so many parenting forums as well as facebook (which is where i can only imagine the now removed annonymous comment on my last entry came from although who on mine or my Husbands friends lists would say something like that I have no idea) and there is always so much drama over things that people who dont even know each other have said normally in relation to someones veiw on a particular sensitive topic. Theres always gonna be people who do things differently and say things differently and cultural and social protocols that will define us as humans but thats part of the charm and interest that there is in this world. So what if I'm a Married woman at only 25 yrs old? who cares really, Does it really bother people that much that although I breastfeed that my son also gets expressed milk from a bottle, or that even though I try to do the best for the enviroment by reducing waste produced by my household and therefore I cloth nappy one child while using disposibles for the other, is it really so important that people feel the need to slag off my choices and the decisions that my husband and myself make for our family?

I feel like i need a reality check sometimes or to give one to somebody whos being overly concerned about stuff that really will have no impact on their own lives but they just like to stick their nose in. Long and short . Part of who I am is that I say what I think and like everyone Im not perfect about thinking of the impact my words will have but I do try. Yes I use my blog to vent , big whoop wanna fight about it, If it bothers people then they dont have to read my blog its easy.

Next time whoever you were who complained about me complaining, say it loud and proud and show your  face, admit who you are if your going to cast judgment , dont hide in the shadows and be nasty theres just no reason to.

Drama

Well after getting the flights booked and confirmed yesterday we had a load of drama about the passports caus we had misplaced them, thankfully we now have them but i spent the whole day pulling the house apart to find where the kids might have hidden them just for them to be in the car the whole time

Needless to say im happy that we have them and have sorted the ESTA clearance visa for the USA even though we arent even going to offically set foot into the USA  we have to have it since we are being offloaded while the plane refuels. I think its just a way for them to get money off people who are transiting through on Long Haul flights going elsewhere and not staying in the USA.

Loads to do still around the house with everything got to sort so much but im sooooooooooooooo tired too