101 ways to reuse a formula tin...

Finally a guest blogger on my site! I could say well finally a blog, i know its been a long time, sorry about that :)

Anyway today my gorgeous friend, Ollie's Mum is going to prove she is a star when it comes to reuse - check out what she can do with the humble formula tin :)

Oh, and 101 may have been a slight over statement - but you get the picture ;) 

Hi! I'm Ollie's mum.

So, like many mums before me, breastfeeding didn’t work out for me and my darling boy, so while it was upsetting at the time, I was thankful to live in a day and age when formula is an excellent back up, but as a result of the change in diet, and a pair of parents that may* have an issue with throwing away anything that “might be useful one day” we now have what could only be described as an apocalyptic hoard of empty formula tins. 

When we recently had a discussion about maybe needing to move some to the shed I realized it was time to do something with them…but what?  I scoured the Internet for ideas and the recurring theme seemed to be “cover it in wrapping paper and hide stuff in them”

‘I can do that and more’ became my mantra and so operation ‘formula tin rebirth’ was born.  My hubby and I took three cans each and got straight to work 

I gave each of my three tins three coats of super pretty cherry red gloss paint.  I use the stuff that cleans up with water….so very much easier than the stuff you used to have to clean up with turps – ERK!...I didn’t bother sanding or priming I just slapped the paint on and it worked out tops! here’s a picture:-

Once a formula tin.. now a red tin. What will they become next...?

Is there really such a things as a work/life balance???

The short answer I fear is: no.

The slightly longer answer: well maybe, kinda but no not really...

Well that's how it feels around here at the moment. Honestly, I have to take my hat off to all of those other Mums and Dad out there working and raising a family, especially those who appear to be keeping it together way better than I am currently.

And single parents - woza you guys rock.

My household is really no different to that of so many others here where I live. Many of the people here are commuters - lots of families have both parents doing the big trip in and out of town everyday, thankfully there is only one of us doing that here but still its a massive drain.

I read somewhere the other day something like 40,000 people from our area commute an hour or more each way each day for work. Yes 40,000!

That's 40,000 people spending an extra 2 - 3 hours a day travelling for work. Amazing.

How on earth do you get a balance when that is standard in your house?

When is a wet bag not just a wet bag?

When its a Hatchlings Cloth Nappies Deluxe wet bag that's when!

Before I go on... so sorry that its been quiet on the blog front - we have had the worst run of illness in our household, the joys of toddlers germs. Anyway its made getting on here impossible* so I apologise. Anyway, back to wet bags...

A few weeks ago (ok probably months ago now, as I said LOTS of illness..) I posted this photo on my Matilda's Mum facebook page...

This package brings much excitement and just a little trepidation -
my first product review! What could it be??

So what was in the package you may ask? Well it was a gorgeous wet bag from Hatchlings Cloth Nappies.

Deluxe wet bag by Hatchlings Cloth Nappies

You see Liz from Hatchlings posted on her facebook page looking for people to review her products on their blog - after a bit of prodding from my sister I offered to give it a whirl and here we are!

Its time to talk nappies, cloth nappies.

Before I start... I am not here to start an argument, I'm not here to judge your parenting choices and I am most definitely not an expert. This is just my opinion on something I feel passionate about and am proud of the way my family have embraced it. So if you have an issue with this post - stop reading it, go away and come back when I write something you do like, ta.

Ok, now I have that out of my system lets talk cloth nappies. When I told my family that we would be using cloth nappies they looked at me a little like I had been drinking - the general opinion was along then lines of "why on earth would you want to 'go backwards', life is so much easier now with disposables why would you want to add to your work load like we had to do".

Then there was the reaction of friends, colleagues and acquaintances some of whom were parents, new and experienced and some of whom we not. So many of them looked at me condescendingly and nodded "you'll never keep up with the washing", "I give it a couple of weeks" and most annoyingly "you know they are not more environmentally friendly than disposables, so you are really not doing any good anyway". Arrggghhh!

My response varied depending on who was judging my choices but often I pointed to the fact that we had just renovated the laundry (which included a full repaint of the roof, new gutters and the installation of a rainwater tank - because it was all linked) and said "do you really think I would have gone to all this trouble to give up?" that usually kept people quite.

Anyway sixteen months on and we are so happy that we made the decision to go cloth. It makes so much sense for our household. I really don't find the washing an issue in fact I quiet enjoy hanging out a load of nappies as it reminds me how many disposables we haven't added to landfill.

A freshly folded stash :)

Please keep reading...

The joy of recycled toys

It seems like a lifetime ago when I wrote about getting into some hands on arts and craft with Matilda and making her some keepsakes and toys - how fast life seems to go as you get older.

Well I thought it about high time that I brought that discussion back, why? Well as I chased Matilda around the hotel room on Easter morning, trying to get a good bunny shot I realised something - when deciding what toys to bring along with us, we had to pick some of her very favourites, we only had limited space and they needed to be able to keep her entertained. And THIS is what we packed...??

 

Yup that's right we brought three old chocolate wafer tins with us!

That might seem a little mad on first glance but actually its genius - they are some of her favourite toys and they can be almost anything.

In the photo above they were being fitting into one another, along with some small balls, then they become drums:

And they can be all sots of other things - towers to stack on top of one another, laying on their side they are great for rolling balls into, they roll around themselves (with a little reshaping) and sometimes its just fun to carry them around full of 'stuff'.

So far from being the craziest thing we did - it was one of the more successful.

That is unless you're our neighbours in the hotel when Matilda is playing the drums, sorry about that ;)

I just love that some of the best fun comes from materials that could have been thrown away without a thought, but instead provide hours of fun and learning. I am constantly trying to come up for uses for other materials we have around the home - thank goodness for those crafty mum blogs out there.

Oh and BTW - they weren't the only toys we took :)

Why is it so hard to say the V word?

Vagina

There I said it, well actually no I didn't, I typed it didn't I?

This one little word have had me thinking this past week. Not what you were expecting read, right? :)

To fully understand I am going to take you back to that imaginary list we have spoken about before, you know the one you tend to make years before you have children of all the things you are going to do as a parent when you do have children?

My list had things I had picked up from other parents, like keep the room dimly lit with no TV, phones or any bright lights or loud noises for night feeds, it helps them feed and then drift of back to sleep - you too (it really does!)

It also had teach your kids the proper name for their 'bits', after a conversation with a friend years ago about her kids and the day care they went to. And that's exactly what I had planned to do...

That is until push came to shove.

And now, well its the plan but we are having trouble saying it.

Yes for some stupid, crazy, completely irrational reason Matilda's Dad and I find it odd to say vagina to our daughter.

Why??

I have no idea.

Well its happened, I have a toddler!

Yes it's true - Matilda can walk!

Want to see it? Cause its totally cute... :)

Suggested reading for this wet weekend

I've been doing a little self indulgent blog reading this morning. It's amazing how honest, raw and touching these amazing writers can be.

This morning's reading was so good I decided to share, even if it means I send the few people who read my little blog off to read a much better one! Why? Well they are really good for one, and we all have to have something to aspire to.

So a few choices this morning - you can start with the heartbreakingly honest and amazing story of baby Nella's entry to this big wide world, followed by her brother Dash's or you can go for a colourful description on the trials of labelling your parenting choices.

Your choice.

But I'll list them in the order I would (and did) read them. Get a cuppa and the tissues ready, you'll need it.

First I would Welcome baby Dashel into the world, its a beautiful story, and then get the tissues out for his big sister Nella's arrival, then once the tears have subsided settle in for a laugh and discover where one of our more colourful phrases may have come from (I laughed out loud at this point) in Why I Am Over the Attachment Parenting Community.

And finally, because I always love what she writes, head on over to Latte Mum's blog and ponder her Humpty Dumpty moments.

Have a beautiful weekend xoxo

Did you always know he would be a good Dad?

I did. Well I thought he would be, but I actually have a photo of the moment I knew he would be a good Dad.

I love these photos as it brings back that same feeling I had on the night, that moment when my instincts screamed "That right there is a good Daddy in the making".

Believe it or not that was back in 2005. We were not yet engaged, let alone married and we were most definitely not thinking about kids yet. It would be nearly seven years until we welcomed Matilda into our family and yet there it is, the moment I knew.

I had the same feeling the last night when I walked in the door, late after a big 'week' at work and there was Matilda and her Dad - Matilda all fed, bathed and dressed for bed, our dinner ready and the two musketeers up to mischief.

Why is it so hard, ok nearly impossible, to ask for help?

Does anyone else have this problem?

Sometimes I wonder how strong, smart, intelligent , confident women can find it so hard to ask for help.

I've been thinking about this since late last week. You see I returned to work this week (thats a whole other post) and as you may have read, my darling Matilda is not loving the drop off at day care.

Update for those playing along - its getting much better, well not the drop off so much but she is enjoying being there a lot more. And she did get two molars this week, that wont have helped.

Anyway, knowing that I have always struggled to get myself to work on time I was all in a bind about getting us both ready on Monday morning, getting to day care then work all without rushing Matilda and making her feel worse.

Then I had a brainwave - maybe Matilda's Dad could work from home on Monday and take her to care for me? Great idea, all I had to do was ask.

Mummy, what is a fraud?

Ever had one of those experiences that made you feel like a complete and utter fraud? Me too and there seems very little I can do about it for now.

You see a couple of weeks ago I posted about taking Matilda to day care for the very first time. I was understandably nervous but optimistic as Matilda loves kids and is usually a happy go lucky little creature.

Well I was right to be optimistic that day, she had loved every minute of it. When I arrived to pick her up she was sound asleep. When I eventually woke her she was excited... to show me the fan in the bedroom (she loves fans more than almost anything), when I brought her out of the sleeping room she clambered down to continue playing.

Phew. That was so much better than it could have been. Day two was similar to day one and I had one happy little girl on my hands.

Somehow I think she would rather be at the beach...

Happy first birthday baby girl

So I have been thinking about the best way to blog about my girls birthday, and then someone did it for me!

Please read Jennifer Burch Photography's A very special family, its a very beautiful, honest and touching account of my girls first year from the outside.

My family is lucky to have met this amazing photographer and I cannot express how much this posts means to us.

Happy 1st Birthday baby girl xoxo

So I dropped her off at day care today...

Yikes.

Yup I could actually stop right there, yikes.

Its funny though my anxiety about Matilda heading off to childcare today wasn't actually about how Matilda would react. She is such a social butterfly childcare will be heaven for her. It was more about being prepared for her, having everything she could possibly need in her bag so that her day could go to plan.

Lets hope that's what I have done! I've probably packed enough food to feed Matilda, all the other kids and the staff!

Sitting talking about today's activities last night, Matilda's Dad said to me "Now remember tomorrow, conscious parenting" Ha! Easy for him to say he was off to work and could be as anxious as he liked away from home...

But actually he was right. We don't believe in teaching Matilda to be afraid or to pass on our anxieties to her. So this morning we had a great time getting ready for school, we talked about it on the way there, sung songs and then sung the "My mummy comes back" song.

Come on Mum lets go!

We walked into the centre happy, said good morning to everyone one we met and then she was off!

Happy New Year!