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