Mel in a Nutshell

New URL

2009-10-09T19:56:00.003+11:00

My much neglected blog has a new (free) URL. it is now melinnutshell.blogspot.com (not mel in "a" nutshell - thats already taken!). so update your links & ill attempt to post more than 6 times a year!

mel :)

Gotta love the devo face

2009-07-22T21:27:00.002+10:00

"i look pretty mummy"

2009-07-22T11:25:00.001+10:00

I've just been sitting on the couch wishing i could take a mental health day and enjoying 10 mins of quiet while jet was playing in his room. Then i hear "i look pretty mummy" and out comes jet covered in texter! Huff!!!

Free Online Training Pants Patterns & Tutorials

2009-07-15T12:16:00.013+10:00

Free Patterns:
* Wee Weka Knickers
* Wee Weka Side Snap Training Pants (this is actually for a side snapped nappy but can be modified for training pants) S/M Size - M/L Size
* Ditto Daddy - Trainer Pattern 1
* Ditto Daddy - Trainer Pattern 2
* Easter Bunz Trainer Pattern
* Goodness Gracious Pocket Training Pants (Front Piece / Back Piece)
* There used to be another one HERE but it seems to have gone, still stuck the link in in case it comes back.
* Wool-in-two Training Pants

Tutorials Only:
* Mama or Minx
* Chloe Toes - Pocket style training pants

Paid Patterns:
* Ditto Daddy - lots of different styles to purchase
* Stellar Transitions
* Darling Diapers - Potty Dance Pants
* Fern & Faries T-shirt Trainers Pattern (uses old t-shirts!)
* New Conceptions Training Pants
* Bumbles Training Pants

if you know of any more please let me know & ill add them to the list :)

My first cable project!!!

2009-07-15T09:56:00.004+10:00

I just made my first cabled project!!! Its a Nakiska headband. It was great fun!

here's some pics:

I cant wait to try some more challenging cables now, maybe ill brave the owl baby vest pattern next - Ive had my eye on it for a while but wasn't brave enough!

Jets First (full) Day of Preschool

2009-07-10T17:28:00.005+10:00

A few weeks ago we decided to start jet in Pre-school one day a week, mainly to increase his social time with other kids. He plays really well by himself or with older children but not so well with kids his age...when i say not so well i mean i spend the ENTIRE time breaking up fights that he started, just usual toddler behaviour: refuses to share anything, hitting, pushing, grabbing etc but very frustrating for me ;)

So anyway, last week was the first time i left him there by himself (the week before we attempted it but we got there & he threw up all over the car park - rocky bought home a spew bug from work!) we had been in to visit a few times together before that. He only lasted till nap time then absolutely cracked it!!! so i had to pick him up early, but this week he did really well. he was a bit upset when i left & when i picked him up but he is in a fantastic mood tonight & is talking about all the things he did there so he must have had a good time, he said he wants to go back too which is good! One of the loverly ladies there made him a poster of his day with pictures of things he did (mainly just to prove to me that he was happy at some stage i think!):

& heres a painting he did me, he did rocky one too:

Ive just spent the whole arvo on line looking for iron-on labels to do all his clothes so we dont loose them all, this is the cheapest place i could find:

& if you google their name with "promotional code" youll find a bunch of places that can give you a code for a discount :) it only ended up costing me about $13 for 60 iron on labels - free postage too!!!

we are also starting to toilet train jet (not good timing doing them both together i know!) so thats fun! He is actually doing really well at it though which is great, he has known what to do on the potty for ages but just wouldnt do it & he just looks way to big to be in nappy's now (plus his poos are sooooo messy to clean up by the time he lets you change his nappy) so i cracked it & told him there were no more nappy's when we were at home during the day. we are still using them at night & when we are out at the moment - not sure what to do about that??? any tips?

THANK YOU!!!

2009-05-31T12:09:00.003+10:00

I just wanted to say a long overdue thank you to two loverly ladies.

First off, April - thank you soooooo much for the beautiful star blanket you knitted Bae!!! we LOVE it, its fantastic to use in his hammock over him at night because its round it tucks right into the pillow, the perfect shape, & its nice & warm too! it must have taken you hours & hours & hours to make & we really appreciate all the love & care that went into it!

April made this blanket for Bae when she found out i was pregnant as part of a pay it forward thing, which no one ever responded to on my blog (there are two comments there but they are from people that loved the idea but didn't want to take part) - so if you want to then the post is here, i will warn you though you wont be getting anything as spectacular as the blanket April knitted me, i just don't have the patience for blankets!!!

Secondly i want to thank Hayley. Hayley very kindly gave me a whole stack of newborn cloth nappies which have made our cloth journey soooooo much easier than with jet (we just used terrys for him in the newborn stage). lots of them are her creations & they are just fantastic! he's wearing one in the pic below, if i was smart i would have taken a pic of all of them before he was born (but I'm not!), now most of them are either waiting to be washed, being warn or waiting to be put back together so i didn't have many to take a group pic of (slack arse i know!).

so..... A HUGE THANK YOU TO HAYLEY & APRIL!!!!

sorry its taken me so long!

Bae's Birth Story

2009-05-20T13:09:00.003+10:00

Bae Theo Wolters

Birth Details
Born on the 18/5/09 at 11.10am Gosford Hospital.
Weight: 3.6 kilos/8.15 pounds
Length: 51cm
Head Circumference: 35.5cm

Why we chose his name
Bae – a Korean name meaning inspiration (Pronounced like Bay)
Theo – One of Rocky's (many many) uncles, who he stayed with in Holland when he was 19. He means a great deal to Rocky & shares Bae’s birthday so it seemed fitting to use his name as Bae’s middle name.

Birth Story
On Saturday the 16th I had a bit of a show at around 3pm, followed by some light contractions through the night (most of which I slept through). Once I got up in the morning they subsided & I only had a couple of very light contractions throughout the day. That didn’t stop Rocky from cleaning the whole house & running around with a huge smile on his face in anticipation of the big event.

I had another show Sunday afternoon & then more contractions Sunday night. They were a bit stronger, about 1 every hour or so but I still managed to get allot of sleep. I got up at about 6.30am on Monday & had a shower, the contractions quickly started to come quite regularly & grew more intense. I called our wonderful midwife (& family friend) Bernadette at around 7.20am, not really sure if I was in labour since the contractions felt different to the ones I experienced with Jet.

We left for the hospital at about 8.10am, luckily for me my contractions died down in the car, I think I only got 3 in the 30 minute trip! We arrived at the hospital at about 8:40am. I was a bit concerned that I wasn’t in labour because the contractions had subsided in the car (even though they started up again once it got out), but at about 9am Bernadette checked me out & said I was already 7cm dilated.

I spent the next hour or two going in between the shower & the bath, then settled into the bath & moved into the last phase of labour. I think I only had about 10 big contractions & then out he came (over about 15 or 20 mins). His head came out in one contraction & he was posterior so we could see his little face all scrunched up in the water, then he giggled himself around & with daddy’s help managed to wiggle his shoulders out with my next contraction & that was it – he was out! He cried straight away & fed within about 10 mins of the birth. Rocky was very excited that he got to deliver him & cut his umbilical cord.

I settled down onto the bed with our new little son while we decided on a name (after consulting his astrology chart!) & called the grandparents to congratulate them on the arrival of their second grandson! My mum was looking after Jet (who desperately wanted to come with us when we left) & as soon as soon as he heard we were on the phone he started pulling grandma towards the car. Mum bought him all the way to Gosford to come & meet his new little brother, only to have him fall asleep in the car from all the excitement, so she turned around & took him home again.

4 & 1/2 hours after the birth we were discharged & came home to all the grandparents & Jet who proceeded to point out that Bae had two eyes & ears & then settled down to hold him on the couch for the next 20 mins.

The birth was completely natural, no gas or other drugs used. I had no tearing, only a few tiny grazes which haven’t given me any trouble at all. Funnily enough the thing I’ve found most painful after the birth is my sternum, it made a popping or cracking sound at some point in the last stage of labour & now all the muscles in my chest feel very fatigued & sore!

Introducing...

2009-05-18T11:53:00.001+10:00

Bae Theo Wolters born 11.10am today. Beautiful natural water birth :)

40 Weeks Today!

2009-05-17T17:18:00.002+10:00

I thought today might be the day, i had a show yesterday at about 3pm & had sporadic contractions through the night then when i got up in the morning they stopped! Ive had more of a show today & maybe a few light contractions here & there but nothing solid yet. Maybe bub is just trying to hold out to be a Gemini! If he comes any time after 7.40am on the 21st he will be so only a few days to wait....or maybe he is just indecisive like his mummy & cant decide if he wants to come out or stay in.

Anyway, I'm just resting up & trying to get as much sleep as i can so i have some energy for the birth. I'm actually looking forward to it - i had a great birth with jet (although if you asked me at the time i would have told you it was bloody awful & i never wanted to do it again). With him i was one week overdue, i had a show in the middle of the night then got contractions through the day but i didn't know that was what they were, they were only like light period pain. Then when we were eating dinner they started to get stronger. I think we went into the hospital at about 10 or 11 & he had a water birth at 5:50am. i would say there was only about 3 hours of pain, no tearing, i used a bit of gas but no epidural or anything else (i did crack a tooth on the gas mouth piece though - oops!). So they say you can halve your labour second time round - if that's the case this time should be a breeze!

ill sms a pic of bub & the birth details here once he is born - hopefully not to long away :)

More Longies!

2009-05-15T16:59:00.003+10:00

A friend from the ABA (Australian Breastfeeding Association) had her 5th bub at the beginning of april & she is a fellow cloth nappy user so i decided to make her some longies for her bub (these are the little turtle knits picky pants ones.

I made the small & the medium size, theres quite a difference between them! Hopefully the small will fit her now & for another couple of months, the medium might even fit her next year?

Heres some pics:

Ive ordered the Ladybug Loops pattern because im not keen on how chubby the legs are with this one, but i havent got it yet. When i do though im sure there will be even more pics of longies on this site!!!

Crochet Felted Nursing Breast Pads

2009-05-09T15:42:00.003+10:00

I found a pattern for felted breast pads on Ravelry & since ive managed to crochet one thing i figured id give these a go. Somehow i ended up with more stitches than the pattern said i should but hey, they look ok! Ive felted them up & they look like their the perfect size - just got to lanolise them now, then wait for bub to arrive & my milk to come in!

Heres some pics, this is both felted & unfelted:

& these are ones after felting:

& before felting:

Sorry, no action shots this time ;)

My First Crochet Project :)

2009-05-07T20:16:00.003+10:00

Ive been wanting to learn to crochet for a while but havent been able to work out how to do it! Anytime i picked a pattern to try i just couldnt get my head around it, so i asked the wonderful ladies on nappycino for a suggestion & Claire reccomended the Brrr Baby Beanie, so i gave it a go & i did it!!! :D

Heres some happy snaps:Its a bit big for Jets baby:

Im so happy ive finally made something! Now all i have to do is figure out what should i do next? ;)

Wooly Outfit for Bub #2

2009-05-02T20:31:00.004+10:00

Ive been knitting so i thought id share!

I knitted a pair of picky pants for bub #2 & thought id make a jacket to go along with it. I did size 0-3 months for both patterns.

Here's the jacket, i used snaps instead of a button, i don't think its meant to fold over quite that much but i figured it would keep him warmer. This isn't my favorite jacket pattern, the bottom sits a bit funny but hopefully it looks ok on bub!

& here's the pants, i just love the picky pants pattern! i did the ribbed waist with an i-cord tie & ribbed cuffs at the bottom. Jet actually has a matching pair (same wool but i used the little turtle knits longies pattern which is skinnier in the legs), i don't think Ive ever blogged about them though!:

Teddy likes it but its a bit big for him!

& a little small for mr frog (plus its not really his colour!!!):

& one last pic:

Not long to go till bub gets here now - I'm 38 weeks tomorrow! We still haven't got any idea about names, we have a list of about 50 but I'm just not really that into any of them, guess we will just have to wait & meet him!

Setting up mobile blogging!

2009-04-23T10:15:00.000+10:00

Im just setting up my mobile so i can sms a notification when bub is born. Not long to go now - less than 4 weeks till my due date :)

White Chocolate Chip & Banana Muffins - Yummo!!!

2009-04-10T11:21:00.003+10:00

I was just reading a post on Tracy's blog about some yummy muffins she made...& i couldn't help myself, i just had to make some too, they just looked to delicious (i am 7.5 months pregnant after all - i can blame cravings cant i?)! Here's her recipe if you want to make some too (go on, you know you want to!)

Dream Parenting

2009-04-06T21:55:00.003+10:00

I just wanted to share a link to a site i found that offers a kinder more gentler approach to getting your child to sleep through - its called Dream Parenting so check it out if your having issues!!!

Ring Sling for a Friend

2009-04-01T08:37:00.005+11:00

We headed down to Sydney for a few days last week & i was going to visit a friend i only see a couple of times a year who has just (well...3 months ago) had a new bub. Last time we were chatting on the phone she was wishing she had a few different slings so i thought id make her one.

I picked up more material from Campbells Cash n Carry (im growing to love that shop!) for $2 per metre, im not exactly sure what it is but its a nice olive colour (not my colour at all but i knew she liked it). I used the sling rings i bought ages ago (cant remember where) that are a bit thick & heavy & they are a bit smaller than the ones i used on my sling. Its a bit hard to pull the material through them, im not sure if it will loosen up with washing? it does the job though, so hopefully she liked it! I used the instructions on Sleeping Baby again. Heres some pics:

I also knitted her bub a caterpillar. I stuck a cat toy with a bell in it in the head so it rattles & i knitted it out of that fairy floss stuff you can get a lincraft so its nice & soft & fluffy! sorry the pics are a bit blurry, i snapped them on my phone last minute before we left!

I made a Hot Mama Nappy Bag!!!

2009-03-31T15:27:00.006+11:00

I am so very proud of me right now!!! Ive spent the last two days neglecting the house work & while ants have run rampant ive managed to actually sew a nappy bag! Its a Hot Mama Messenger Style Diaper Bag by Wired up Designs - i bought the pattern over a year ago & just never got round to attempting it, but i have a whole room to do sewing in now which makes it easier to make stuff cause i can just walk out & shut the door on all the mess when i dont have time to do any more!

I thought it would be way to hard but i just took it one step at a time & eventually i got there! Its out of the same material as the ring sling i made (which only cost me $2 per metre from Campbell's Cash n Carry!!!), it probably isnt a sturdy enough material for a nappy bag really but hey - it matches my ring sling! Heres a couple of pics -

I actually lined it with some white PUL i have lying around (i bought a couple of metres of the stuff in a co-op a year or so ago), you probably arent meant to use a material like that to line it but i figured it would make it water proof, so i did it anyway.

Heres the inside of the bag. Theres 4 largish pockets for nappies, wipes etc, a mobile phone holder, a little key holder that you can snap over your keys, a change pad (which i made too) with a little loop to keep it in place & a wallet pocket (which my wallet is far to fat to fit into):

Theres also two of these drink bottle holders on the outside (one on each side):

& the shoulder strap has padding in it & everything!

Heres the change pad i made to go with it, your meant to use the same fabric to back it (so it would have been purple on the back) but i wanted to keep my fabric so i just used PUL - makes it water proof anyway! Its topped with maiden mills fleece & has wadding on the inside so its nice & soft & cushy!

Notice that there are absolutely no close ups of any of my sewing...thats because its pretty freakin dodgy in lots of places...but i dont care! im just so glad that i actually managed to complete it! & it only took me two days which is pretty good for someone with my complete lack of sewing experience i think.

So what should i try & sew next??? i picked up some more cheap material today so ill have to find a new project for it :)

Trip to the Second Hand Baby Markets

2009-03-29T16:43:00.004+11:00

We went to the second hand baby markets this morning & picked up some bargains (as always!). Excuse the picture quality, im having trouble locating the camera so these were taken on my mobile.

I got this big cardboard book for 50 cents:

A stack of clothes for varying prices:

A sheepskin cot liner (its folded in half here) for $7. Im planing on using this one for over the pillow on my happy hangup (the baby hammock) because regular sheepskins are a bit hard to fold over it:

A sheepskin car seat liner (i dont think this one was ever even used) for $10:

A toddler seat for our pram for $20 (normally $100!):

A pram & baby for jet $6:

Mum bought jet this scooter for $15 - not sure if thats cheap or not?

Some maternity clothes for $6, the skirt is a bit big, might have to stick some elastic in it:

A(nother) nappy bag (well, its a nice one!) for $5:

Think thats it! I love going to the baby markets, you can pick up such great stuff at really cheap prices. Its especially good for clothes although you mainly find newborn to size 2 there, you cant get much for the bigger kids which is a shame.

Sewing a Ring Sling

2009-03-17T18:00:00.009+11:00

Ages ago i bought some rings to make a ring sling from somewhere (cant quite remember where) so i figured i might as well make one for the new bub. I went to the local Campbell's Cash & Carry store & bought a couple of metres of beautiful purple fabric for $2 per metre - bargain! i have no idea what it is, probably some type of cotton??? it has the slub (if that's what they call it) through it which i think gives it a nice look. Here's a close up:

Anyway, today i decided id start working on it, & low & behold i managed to finish it too! I didnt end up using the rings i had (which was my whole reason for doing it in the first place) because Hayley has MUCH better rings, they weigh heaps less & are slightly bigger & they dont make a clinking sound. So i ended up getting a couple off her & using them!

I attempted to follow the Jan Andrea instructions (the only reason i say attempted is because i haven't sewn for so long i had even forgotten how to get thread onto my little bobbin thingy - not because her instructions are hard to follow, im sure for a non-pregnant kinda competent sewer they are great). Here's my attempted pleating of the shoulder bit, i think it worked ok for a first attempt (I'm proud anyway!), you can also see the fab sling rings i got from Hayley clearly here:

I left the tail pretty long because i want to be able to flick it over my shoulder if im in the middle of the shopping centre walking along & feeding (should i ever manage to master that skill). Ive got a teddy in it here:

& heres the long tail bit flicked over:

& here i am attempting to breastfeed a teddy bear - lol:

I even managed to convince Jet to get in for a few seconds so i could get a real action shot:

You can kinda see my baby bump in those pics too - really should stick some bump pics up shouldn't i!

I hope the material i used is ok! It feels a little slippery (not to much but more than a drill would), not sure if thats ok??? I left the full width there, it fits through the rings fine so hopefully that works alright too. I havent stuck a pocket on it yet, i might do that after bub is born, im just not sure where would be best just yet.

Ive still got a few metres of material left so im going to attempt to make the Hot Mama Nappy Bag i saw over on Tracy's blog ages ago. I bought the pattern as soon as i saw her creation, im not quite sure im ready for such a big project though!

Interested in free Jewelery?

2009-03-17T08:08:00.002+11:00

Visit my blogging buddy CanuckleHead's site. He is giving away a free Tungsten ring valued at up to $120 & all you have to do is leave him a comment on his blog! Its to celebrate the second anniversary of canucklehead.ca.

While your there check out his laugh section, he has stacks of jokes on there to cheer up your day - they always make me laugh!

Confessions...

2009-03-16T19:36:00.003+11:00

I clicked on the About Me tab at the left of my tabs & my bio currently reads: "Im a 27 year young cloth nappying, breastfeeding, co-sleeping, baby carrying mum. Jet (DS) - 15/12/06 Rocky (DH)- 29". But...most of those things aren't exactly true:

Im not 27
Jet is mainly in disposables at the moment
Im no longer breastfeeding
or co-sleeping
or baby carrying
Rocky isnt 29 any more either

I think the only truth in my bio is that im a mum! So heres an update:

Im now 29, i just had my birthday on the 10th of March, & Rocky turned 30 last year.

Jet is pretty much exclusively in disposables at the moment due to most of the nappies in my stash just not being effective - some of them have lost their elastic & most others just cant hold the volume of wee he manages to pump out!

Im also no longer breastfeeding. I breastfed Jet for 2 years, i think his last feed was a week after his second birthday. 2 years was always my goal & having reached it while i was pregnant, still sleep deprived & totally exhausted i decided it was time to wean him, i cut his feeds down to once a day (first thing in the morning only) a couple of months before he weaned. At first he fed religiously every morning for about 40 mins, which i would have been happy to continue (because it bought me extra sleep), but eventually he started skipping days, then he would only feed two or three times per week, then once a week, then once every few weeks, by his second birthday he hadnt had a feed for a week or two, then fed again a week after his birthday & that was it. he has asked me a couple of times since but ive just told him that its all gone!

We moved jet into his own room just before he turned 2, he ended up back in with us for a few more months but we decided we should try & get him comfortable in his room before the next bub comes along. We have had our ups & downs (which has always been the case with his sleeping). At the moment he is sleeping through sporadically, once every few nights, most nights he just wakes up once & some nights he wakes up 5+ times. *Hopefully* he gets the hang of it (& keeps it that way) before the new bub arrives!

As for baby carrying, Jet just got to big!!!

So anyway, im *trying* to rectify the whole cloth nappy vs disposables thing. I am disgusted at how long you can leave a disposable on, the things just soak up sooooo much fluid! if you didnt have a heavy wetter you could probably leave one on all day & thats just disgusting. i hate the thought of all the chemicals that could be leaching into jets skin & i also hate contributing so much to land fill. So ive made another cloth nappy purchase. Ive gone back to basics. Bamboo fitteds with covers & Baby Beehinds have some really well made affordable nappies so ive gone with them. Also a fellow ABA (Australian Breastfeeding Association) member is now the central coast rep for them so i can order it all through her! I decided to buy 10 x Bamboo Fitteds, 2 x Large PUL Covers, 1 x Small Wool Cover, 2 x Medium Wool Covers & 1 x Large Wool Cover (all the wool covers were on special because they are discontinuing the coloured varieties).

I find bamboo the most absorbent of all the materials used to make cloth nappies & also it doesnt tend to get that smell that hemp does. Fitteds with a cover tend to absorb more than pockets & AIO's (in my experience anyway) so they should suit jet better for now & *hopefully* he will discover the inspiration to toilet train some time soon (he knows what the potty is for & when he is weeing etc - he just doesnt care one bit if he has a wet or pooey nappy on - go figure!). So heres a pic of my new haul:

Thats my spiel for the day! Thanks for 'listening' :D

A Stop at Gresford Markets

2009-03-15T21:22:00.004+11:00

Today we went up to Allyn River (about 3 hours north of where we live) to Rocky's cousins son's party (we just claim him as jets cousin). We had a fantastic time, Allyn River is such a beautiful spot, one of our faves to camp at!

On the way up there we stopped in at the Gresford Markets...& decided to buy some chickens!!!

Jet is sooooo excited & absolutely loves them! They are bantams & *hopefully* female (otherwise the neighbours will kill us!!!). We haven't named them yet - so please tell me your suggestions!!!

I also got some beautiful handspun angora wool, it hasn't been dyed that's the natural colour, isn't it gorgeous!!!

Presents for two special little boys :D

2009-03-14T22:18:00.010+11:00

Today i went to Hayley's son's birthday party, one of them turned 3 & the other turned 1. Since Hayley made Jet a fabulous little sling for his birthday (the type he can carry a doll around in - which i will have to blog pics of!) i thought i should go to the effort of making presents for them. So... i made them each a pair of picky pants & a matching beanie. Here's some pics:

I was so petrified they wouldn't fit but i *think* they should be ok.

While I'm at it i might as well stick some old pics in here. About 9 months ago (when i was being totally slack & not blogging anything!!!) i made Hayley's (then) new little bub a bear out of the last minute knits book. She stuck pics on her blog of it which ive been meaning to nick to post on here - so ive finally done it, thanks Hayley!

Present for Briony

2009-03-11T11:08:00.010+11:00

Thought id stick some pics up of one of my latest projects. I was planning on going to a friends baby shower this weekend but cant make it cause one of jets cousins (well, rockys cousins kid) is having a b-day party. So i made her a little pressie to send. heres some pics:

The octopus (thats what the top 2 pics are of just in case you couldn't tell!) is from this pattern, i stuck a little cat toy which has a bell in it inside so it jingles when you rattle it.

For the hat i kind of modified a pattern out of the lincraft baby book, for some reason they never stick patterns in that are knit on the round!!! heres my modified pattern.

Gumnut Baby Hat:

I used Fairy Floss Yarn from lincraft (less than one ball), & 5mm double pointed needles.

Cast on 42sts, work in the round in stockinette stitch untill work measures 12cm

Decrease as follows:

rnd 1 - * K4, K2tog, repeat from * to the end.

rnd 2 & all alternate rounds Knit all stitches
rnd 3 - * K4, K2tog, repeat from * to the end.
rnd 5 - * K3, K2tog, repeat from * to the end.

rnd 7 - * K2, K2tog, repeat from * to the end.

rnd 9 - * K1, K2tog, repeat from * to the end.

rnd 11 - * K2tog, repeat from * to the end.

rnd 13 - * K2tog, repeat from * to the end.

on next round reduce stitches so there is only 3 left (cant remember exactly how many K2togs i needed here, if any???).

Knit 3 stitches in an icord till the icord measures 12.5cm then tie it in a knot! thats it! :D

Happy Hangup - Baby Hammock!

2009-02-15T20:40:00.003+11:00

I got my baby hammock! & i LOVE it!!! Its fantastic!

I'm so glad i bought a Happy Hangup, i was going to get one of the cheaper varieties of baby hammocks that are available on eBay but you can only use them for about the first 6 months, these ones can be used up to 20 kilos (kids will grow to long for it before they reach that weight limit!).

Ive stuck it up in Jets room for the moment & he has been asking to sleep in it. he hasn't slept a whole night in there yet, he normally gets up after a few hours & wants to go back to bed but he's only tried it two nights so far. it looks so comfy & cosy! I hope bub #2 loves it! Here's jet posing for some action shots:

Hello! Yes...I am still alive...just lazy!

2009-02-04T12:47:00.008+11:00

ive been a 'little' negligent of my blog (to say the least!). i figured id better come on here & post before i hit a record of a whole year without posting!

So my big news is that im pregnant with bub #2, due mid may, which is very exciting. Heres my little widget tracking thingy:

We recently went on a bit of a road trip, so heres some pics:

Jet is now 2 & very very spirited! He is sleeping MUCH better than he was which is fantastic & is definitely developing a very strong mind of his own.

ive recently made a new purchase for bub #2, since jet was such a bad sleeper im going to give a baby hammock a go. I went onto a few forums to discuss the different types available & i finally settled on a happy hangup. Its still in the mail & i cant wait till it arrives! i might even set it up before hand so jet can get used to it!

ok, thats it for now, its not much but its a start!

Drum roll please -

2008-05-05T21:43:00.002+10:00

The winner of my cash give away:

is...

Pinay Jade from Life and Me - Congrats!!!!!

Its a Womans World Contest

2008-04-26T21:59:00.002+10:00

Petula from Its a Woman's World is running a great contest where 10 lucky people will win a ScanDisk Cruzer Gator Flash Drive!!! Unfortunately i cant enter because its only open to people with a US postal address - but i wanted let all of you know about it :D

Click on Petula's beautiful little button for more info:

Come Visit Australia:

2008-04-23T21:16:00.005+10:00

I found this over at My Little Drummer Boys Blog - very funny!

If your up for any more laughs check out my blogging buddy Canucklehead's blog, he has stacks of recorded jokes in his Laugh section that are hilarious!!!

I knew it wouldn't last

2008-04-21T21:07:00.003+10:00

My google page rank has dropped back to 0 again! It was at 3 for about a month & a half, i have no idea how it got to a page rank of 3, i kept seeing other blogs with much more traffic than mine with a lower rank & wondering why mine was higher, well, whatever it was its all over now :(

Just for Laughs

2008-04-19T21:23:00.003+10:00

My auntie sent me an email yesterday with this joke on it & i thought it was funny so i wanted to share it with you:

The boss wondered why one of his most valued employees had not phoned in sick one day. Having an urgent problem with one of the main computers, he dialled the employee's home phone number and was greeted with a child's whisper. ' Hello ? '

'Is your daddy home?' he asked.

' Yes ,' whispered the small voice.

May I talk with him?'

The child whispered, ' No .'

Surprised and wanting to talk with an adult, the boss asked, 'Is your Mommy there?'

' Yes .'

'May I talk with her?'

Again the small voice whispered, ' No .'

Hoping there was somebody with whom he could leave a message, the boss asked, 'Is anybody else there?'

' Yes ,' whispered the child, ' a policeman '.

Wondering what a cop would be doing at his employee's home, the boss asked, 'May I speak with the policeman?'

' No, he's busy ', whispered the child.

'Busy doing what?'

' Talking to Daddy and Mommy and the Fireman ,' came the whispered answer.

Growing more worried as he heard a loud noise in the background through the earpiece on the phone, the boss asked, 'What is that noise?'

' A helicopter ' answered the whispering voice.

'What is going on there?' demanded the boss, now truly apprehensive.

Again, whispering, the child answered, ' The search team just landed a helicopter .'

Alarmed, concerned and a little frustrated the boss asked, 'What are they searching for?'

Still whispering, the young voice replied with a muffled giggle...

' ME .'

Back to Suburbia!

2008-04-18T21:28:00.004+10:00

Well, were back from the farm. We've actually been back for a week...Ive just been really lazy :D

Thought id stick in a couple of pics. First of all i should say its Rocky's parents farm - here it is, 160 acres of undulating hills:

They are very excited because they got some cows a while ago & lots of them have had calves recently. We happened to be there on the day where they were giving all the carves some kind of vaccination, a tag thingy in their ear & um....turning all the bulls into steers :( poor little things!!! not sure I'm cut out for farm life!!! Anyway, here's some cows...you know...in case you don't know what they look like ;)

Jet had lots of fun playing with Sam, he's much more responsive than our dog. We have a little Maltese cross called Oscar who doesn't play fetch & turns his nose up at any food offered to him so hes not much fun for Jet, Sam on the other hand can play catch for HOURS & HOURS!!! So they both entertained each other for quite a while:

Rocky's dad has a motorbike up there to help round up the cows (or something) which Jet was absolutely fascinated with, even before he got to ride it. His grandpa took him on a little ride around & be loved it! he does this thing where he goes "owwwwwwwwww" when he sees or does something exciting & his mouth makes an O shape, well, after the bike ride he kept that face for about 20 mins!!!

& of course Rocky had to have a go as well:

& just for fun here's a pic of me & Jet:

Jet wasn't happy when we had to leave:

Luckily we didn't see any snakes or spiders or anything else scary on this trip - few!

See ya soon!

2008-04-07T22:24:00.002+10:00

Were off to Rocky's parents farm for the week so ill be away for a couple of days, so don't get up to mischief while I'm gone ok!

Ice Cream Cone Muffins!!!

2008-04-05T21:13:00.004+11:00

Recently after a local ABA meeting i was chatting with a couple of mums & we were discussing the bad food grandparents had fed our kids. I told them that my mum bought a bunch of ice cream cones for jet, which i wasn't to happy about because i don't really want him eating ice cream unless its a special occasion.

Anyway, one of the mums gave me a fantastic idea about what to do with the ice cream cones! She said you can bake muffin mixture in them, they turn out looking like little ice creams, they are fun & best of all Jet doesn't leave crumbs all over the house when he is eating them - plus he absolutely loves them! the only problem is he gets all worked up & keeps doing his little "ehh ehh ehh" sound when he sees them come out of the oven & wants to eat them straight away before they cool!

Here's a pic of Jet thoroughly enjoying his ice cream muffin:

& here's a pic of my ice cream cone muffin, i haven't quite figured out the right amount of muffin mix to make it rise into a proper ice cream shape, but hey! oh, & i added a little raspberry on top just for looks :D

While we are talking muffins i thought id share with you my favorite recipe, its healthy & very very yummy!!! This is another recipe i got from the regular emails i receive from Brindabella Baby.

Muffin Recipe

Ingredients:
* 2 cups wholemeal self raising flour
* 1/2 cup honey
* 2 apples diced (or 2 bananas
* 1 teaspoon cinnamon (or nutmeg if using bananas)
* 1/4 cup olive oil (i use coconut oil instead sometimes)
* 1/2 cup apple juice (freshly squeezed works really well if your keen)
* 2 eggs

Method:
* Preheat oven to 180 degrees celsius
* Line muffin tray with paper cases (or grease tray)
* Sift flour into a large bowl, stir in the honey, fruit & spice. Mix well
* In a separate container mix together oil, juice & eggs
* Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients & mix well
* Spoon into muffin tray
* Bake for 15 - 20 minutes or until they start to brown on top

Makes approx 12 yummy muffins

Almost finished the renovations!

2008-04-04T16:29:00.002+11:00

We have been renovating our house for the past 2 years & its been going very very slowly (you know what they say about builders & their own houses!) but its finally almost finished. There is just one room to gyprock & paint & one bathroom to do & that's it!

There are lots of fantastic sites on home improvement & while browsing through some of them I stumbled across one site called Luxury Housing Trends & discovered a Periodic Table Shower Curtain - lol, how funny, you should have a squiz at it!!!

I didnt get shafted!!!

2008-04-02T21:06:00.002+11:00

I just went over to All for Women & discovered that i didn't get shafted off their top 100 Aussie Women's Blogs! YAY!!!! Not only that but I'm no longer #100 Ive moved up the list & I'm now #82 :D

Questions & Pictures Meme

2008-04-01T21:28:00.003+11:00

I saw this meme at Carrie & Petula's Blogs & im pretty bored tonight, not much on tv plus i loved reading (well...looking at) their answers so i decided to give it a go myself. Here are the rules:

1. Go to http://www.photobucket.com/
2. Type in your answer to the question in the “search” box.
3. Use only the first page.
4. Insert the picture as your answer.

Sounds like fun so here i go!

What is your relationship status?

What is your current mood?

Who is your favorite band/artist?

What is your favorite movie?

What kind of pet/s do you have?

lucky mine aren't made of chocolate otherwise there wouldn't be any of them left! oh & it was this or a pic of two bunnies doing the dirty.

Where do you live?

Where do you work?

What do you look like?

What do you drive?

What did you do last night?

What is your favorite TV show?

Describe yourself?

lol, loved this pic, very clever!

What are you doing today?

What is your name?

What is your favorite candy?

lol, that was great fun, some interesting picture answers there! Does anyone else want to give it a go? Let me know if you do because id love to see your answers!

My Fave Quick, Easy, Complete Vegitarian Meal

2008-03-31T21:41:00.005+11:00

I'm not a vegetarian, but i don't like eating meat every single day. So I'm on the hunt for some good vegetarian recipes. The thing i don't like about a lot of them is that they just look like glorified side dishes or they don't contain very little protein.

I'm not sure where i found this recipe but i love it, ok, so the picture doesn't look fantastic but it is yummmmmy! Its also great because it doesn't have many fresh ingredients so i can keep everything i need for it in the pantry & have it as a back up meal. The only fresh ingredients are basil, which we have an abundance of in the garden & tomatoes & there are always some of them in our fridge. Best of all it only takes about 30 mins to make! So here it is:

Chick Pea Curry

Ingredients:
* 1 1/2 teaspoons Massaman Curry Paste (or red curry paste)
* 2 Onions, chopped finely
* 5 cloves of Garlic, crushed
400g Coconut milk
3 tablespoons Soy Sauce
1 can Chickpeas (approx 400g)
2 Tomatoes, cut into 1cm cubes
1 1/2 cups fresh Basil
3 tablespoons Sugar

Instructions:
* Heat oil in a large saute pan, Add the curry, onion & garlic & briefly saute.
* Add the coconut milk & soy sauce then bring to the boil. Simmer for 5 mins stirring occasionally.
* Add the chickpeas, tomato, basil & sugar then bring back to the simmer for a few minutes
Serve with Jasmine Rice

If anyone has any other recipes to share id love to hear them & if you have a go at this one id be interested to hear how you liked it.

Home Made Playdough

2008-03-26T21:52:00.003+11:00

Today i made some playdough for Jet. I used a recipe that i received by email from Emma at Brindabella Baby - i love receiving emails from her because she always puts something fun or interesting on them. She stuck a fabulous muffin recipe at the end of one of her previous emails & now its one of my faves! ill have to take a pic of the muffins next time i make them & post the recipe for you all - they are sooooo yummy!!!

Anyway, today i thought id give playdough a go, ive never made it before but it worked out really well. Jet's probably a bit to young for it, but he had fun mushing it with this rubber hammer thingy he nicked from granddad's tools & one of my kitchen utensils (actually, its one of his, since that's really all he likes playing with i bought a set for him!)

Here's the recipe for anyone that's interested:

Ingredients
1/2 cup salt
1 cup flour
1 tbsp oil
2 tbsp cream of tartar
1 cup cold water
Food colouring

Method
1.Mix everything together in a non-stick saucepan, adding the water a little at a time.
2.Cook over low heat while stirring. When the mixture starts to congeal and leave the sides of the saucepan, turn out onto a floured board.
3.Knead until smooth.

It will keep in the fridge in an airtight container for a very long time.

Just a tip, don't do what i did & make it then separate it into batches to colour, cause you end up with....well...this:

& food colouring takes quite a while to wash off, my hands were that colour most of the day :D

Dont you just love a bargain!

2008-03-25T21:57:00.004+11:00

I love perusing the baskets of stuff outside my local lincraft store, they often have some form of yarn out there that they are trying to get rid of. Recently while delving into one such basket i made a rather pleasant discovery! They were getting rid of some stuff called 'big wool', its just lincraft brand 100% wool & it varies in thickness if that makes any sense, ie it has about an inch of really thick stuff then gradually over 2 inches or something goes to about an inch of thin stuff.

Initially i bought 6 balls, they were only $1.50 each. Then a week later i went back & in the bottom of the basket i discovered they still had some so i bought another 6!!! Its great for making scarves & beanies out of so I'm going to make a couple for friends & me ofcourse :D

The first set I've made took 2 balls for a scarf & 1 ball for the beanie. Here's some pics:

Think I'm going to pass this one onto a friend who's having a birthday soon.

The scarf pattern i just made up, its basically just CO 14, knit in stockinette stitch until you've gone through 2 balls, on the last row k2, drop 1, k2, drop 1, k2 drop 1, k2, drop 1, k2. Cast off very very very very loosely. Unravel the dropped stitches. Put tassels on the ends in the dropped stitches bits. I really like the look of it, its not all neat & pretty, its all a bit uneven & it curls in on itself but i think its really nice!

The beanie pattern went something like this: CO 48 stitches. Do 1 inch k1 p1 ribbing. 5.5 more inches in stockinette stitch. then start to decrease:
1. k6, k2tog - repeat for entire row
2. knit all
3. k5, k2tog - repeat for entire row
4. knit all
5. k4, k2tog - repeat for entire row
6. knit all
7. k3, k2tog - repeat for entire row
8. k2, k2tog - repeat for entire row
9. k1, k2tog - repeat for entire row
10. k2tog - repeat for entire row
break yarn with a 6 inch tail & thread through remaining stitches. that's it! :D

The yarn is really really chunky, 50g ball approx 50m, tension is about 10st x 15 lines per 10cm x 10cm. I used 8mm double pointed needles for the beanie & same size straights for the scarf.

Simple Reviews

2008-03-25T16:21:00.004+11:00

Simple has two fantastic competitions running at the moment. The first is for a cloth diaper pail liner from Kidalog & the second one is for a Me4Kidz meddibuddy ...i just couldn't help entering them both :D

- how true is their slogan!!!!!

Happy Easter Everyone!!!

2008-03-24T22:37:00.002+11:00

i logged on today & realised this post was empty, it was just displaying a heading, which is weird because i definitely wrote something in here...oh well, think it was just me blabbering on about eating WAY too much chocolate & finding aluminum foil in jets poop because he nicked a couple of those little eggs when i wasn't looking & evidently doesn't think the taste is spoiled with the wrapper intact.

Anyway...i hope everyone had a fab Easter & didn't put on too many chocolate related kilos :D

If you like me...

2008-03-22T22:44:00.002+11:00

& you have Technorati - can you favorite me pretty please! The top 100 women bloggers thing (of which i am number 100) uses Technorati as one of their tools & I'm scared ill get kicked off their list next month so i thought id do some groveling to all of you - so if you've taken pity on me then please click the little button thingy:

thanks :D

Sleeping Success Finally!!!

2008-03-22T21:40:00.002+11:00

Jet has never been a good sleeper. Until recently he was waking every 2 or so hours & most nights he would just end up in bed with us because i was sick of constantly getting up! I wouldn't have minded that so much except that once he started crawling at around 10 months, he would just roll over in the middle of the night, pull his hands & knees up under him & crawl around the bed banging his head into everything including us & none of us got any sleep! Once he reached that stage we decided it was time he went back into his cot. But Jet of course has other ideas!

He is still breastfed which kind of aided the sleep problem a bit, because he just wanted to feed constantly through the night, which can be quite draining! Also we currently live in a one bedroom apartment so we cant put him in another room & i do know that's part of the problem to because he always sleeps better if I'm not in the room.

Anyway after 15 months of sleep deprivation, hardly ever having more than 3 hours sleep in a row & not once in that 15 months getting an 8 hour sleep i finally cracked it after one night around two weeks ago. That night Jet fed 2 hours straight, wouldn't settle in bed with us, kept tossing & turning & crawling all over, wouldn't sleep in his cot, he'd just wake up & scream a blood curdling, attention seeking scream. Not because there was anything wrong but because he just wanted to feed & i didn't want him to. He wasn't happy with just cuddles, he wanted booby & he wanted it NOW! Id had enough! honestly, i tried the whole attachment parenting, co-sleeping thing, but Jet just doesn't seem to be a very 'attached' kinda baby. Neither of us wanted to go down the whole controlled crying path either though.

So, the next night while Rocky was working in Sydney i slept in the lounge room on the couch. Expecting many many wakings & very disgruntled screaming. But...he only woke up twice & even more incredibly all i had to do was go in there & explain to him that there was no more booby at night & that it was time he went to sleep. I had to go back in & give him another cuddle or two but he did go to sleep on his own. The second time he woke I only needed to give him one cuddle. This pattern continued for a couple of nights, when rocky came back he slept in the room with Jet which didn't seem to affect him either way. Then mysteriously after about a week, he must have realised that if there was no booby he couldn't be bothered getting up & he just started sleeping through. We have had a couple of good nights since then & a couple of not so good ones, but I'm back sleeping in the room & jet is (more often than not) sleeping from around 7.30-8ish to 6-7ish in the morning!!!!!!! OH JOY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We now give him a sippy cup with water in it in his cot which i think has helped allot, i hear him grab it & suck on it in his sleep & its always pretty much empty by morning. I'm hoping this change will last, he knows he can still have cuddles through the night but I'm refusing to breastfeed him because I'm to scared we will slip back into our old pattern. Besides, when he wakes up in the morning he comes into bed with us & feeds for about an hour straight...so I'm sure hes not missing out on too much nutrition wise!!! So here's to a restful nights sleep :D

Im Loving Pay Per Post this month!

2008-03-21T22:53:00.002+11:00

Since my page rank mysteriously rose from n/a or 0 to 3 virtually overnight for no apparent reason, there's heaps of paid posts for me to do at pay per post & I'm loving it! The past 11 days Ive done about 8 posts which will earn me over $90! not bad for a couple of minutes work :D

I highly recommend PPP to anyway who has a blog. Just for signing up you get to do a $20 post. you can just write a short post on your experience with PPP, even if you haven't done a post before & earn yourself a quick $20 - who couldn't use that, its practically free money.

It took me ages after i signed up to actually do a post because i was a bit scared what people would think. I do all my paid post in grey so people can tell whats a paid post & what isn't. Because I'm not in north America allot of the post options were not available to me when i started, but even with a 0 page ranked blog in Australia i still managed to earn over $160 which is pretty good (that's not including the $90 Ive earned since my page rank increased). Anyway, if your interested click on the link below to find out more, go on - give it ago!!!

Personality Test

2008-03-20T23:02:00.013+11:00

I saw this over on Tracy's blog & thought id give it a go - we actually got the same results! The test seems kind of familiar so hopefully i havent done it before (life is always exciting & new when you have a bad memory!!!). Anyway, here it is:

You Are An ISFP
The Artist

You are a gifted artist or musician (though your talents may be dormant right now). You enjoy spending your free time in nature, and you are good with animals and children. Simply put, you enjoy beauty in all its forms and live for the simple pleasures in life. Gentle, sensitive, and compassionate - you are good at recognizing people's unspoken needs.

In love, you are quiet and sweet yet very passionate. You love easily.
You have an underlying love for all living things, and it's easy for you to accept someone into your heart.

At work, you do best in an unconventional position. You express yourself well and can work with almost anyone. You would make a good veterinarian, pediatrician, or composer.

How you see yourself: Sympathetic, kind, and communicative

When other people don't get you, they see you as: Incompetent, insecure, and overly sensitive

What's Your Personality Type?

Tagged again - its been a while!

2008-03-20T21:58:00.003+11:00

I was tagged by the loverly Ying :D

Firstly, here are the rules:

1. Link to your tagger and post these rules on your blog
2. Share seven facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird
3. Tag seven people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs
4. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

Righto, 7 random and/or weird things about me

1. I would definetly call myself an Aussie...but i was actually born in New Zealand (shock horror - lol). i only lived there for the first 6 months of my life though & have only been back a hand full of times...not even that. the last time was when i was about 13 i think!

2. I eat pretty much anything & i tend to excesses. Chocolate is a bit of an addiction for me & the only way ive ever managed to really dislike a food is to eat so much of it that it made me throw up (happend once when i was a kid with baby frozen carrots, cant stand them now!). Anyway, a couple of years ago i decided i was going to cure my chocolate addiction once & for all, so i bought stacks of chocolate & decided that would be all i would eat untill it made me sick...i lasted 3 days eating only chocolate, & it still didnt make me sick...so i gave up!

3. I am just a little bit weird! (see the last point for confirmation)

4. One of my favorite things in the whole world is lying under a tree staring up at the sky through its branches, not sure why, just love it!

5. I like eating frozen stuff - mainly berries, banana & peas (definetly not baby carrots!)

6. Im currently studying to be a breastfeeding counsellor with the Australian Breastfeeding Association (ABA) & i havent done any study for a week & a half now, very naughty!!!

7. My favorite hobby at the moment is reading, i think thats mainly because i get to sit still & do pretty much nothing while letting my imagination take over.

Now for the unsuspecting victims im going to tag: April, Petula, Pinay Jade, Mel & Carrie - ill try & come up with another two soon!

Jet's First Ice Cream

2008-03-19T13:53:00.006+11:00

We had quite a busy weekend (so busy that I'm only getting around to writing about it on wednesday!). On Saturday i went to a hens party, it was an all day winery tour in the hunter valley which was really lovely. I was a bit scared about going for two reasons - 1. I think since i got pregnant with Jet the total amount of alcohol i've drunk wouldn't be more than 3 glasses of red wine & 2. Ive never spent a whole day away from Jet - i know, i know, he's 15 months already, but he's still my baby *sniff*, that & he is still breastfed so i wasn't really sure how he would take it. It all went really well though, I stopped "tasting" when the room started spinning at around 3pm & by the time we got home i was sober (lol, think it only took 2 1/2 glasses over 5 hours to get me tipsy!) & jet was fine without me ofcourse, although he was a bit clingy the next day.

Sunday we went to Jet's cousin's (well, rocky's cousins son) 1st birthday party which was great fun! There were loads of kids there, a jumping castle, a little kiddy's pool & a play gym thingy with a slippery slide. Jet had an absolute ball! We generally don't like Jet eating junk food or fizzy drinks. He pretty much survives off breast milk, water, fruit, veggies, bread & meat with the odd cracker thrown in here & there. But having said that, I'm ok with him having less than healthy food at birthday parties, so in the spirit of partying, jet managed to get his hands on his first ever ice cream - do you think he liked it?

He did learn a valuable lesson though, while everyone tells you sharing is good, sharing with daddy is most definitely not good - he steals half your ice cream!!!

He also managed to score some birthday cake & a couple of smarties which he was very pleased with, ofcourse he is well aware how yummy chocolate is because he was introduced to the flavour in utero & receives it often through breast milk :D

Jets Second Hair Cut

2008-03-18T21:12:00.006+11:00

Just before Christmas Jet got his first ever hair cut. We took him to a hair dresser & it was just a basic trim, i had to stick him on the boob to finish it, was the only way to keep him still!!! (yet another fantastic benefit of breastfeeding!). Last week we decided to give him another one, we used the clippers (you know...so we didn't end up stabbing him with the scissors or something horrible like that) & i had images in my head of him cracking it half way through & having this awful hair cut that he wouldn't let us fix....but he was actually really good.

He seemed quite intrigued by the feel & sound of the clippers buzzing away on his head, he just leaned his head forward a bit & stayed really still, for most of it anyway! i didn't really manage to get his side burns short enough. I didn't want to take of the clipper head in case i ended up taking a whole section out of the front or something & i definitely didn't want to use scissors, so they are a little long. But since his hair is blond you can only tell when your up close, so...I'm just going to leave it!

I gave it a second go a day or so later because the clippers didn't do a very even job the first time, i guess because his hair was so fine & it wouldn't go through them properly. Once his hair was shorter (& spikier) the clippers did a more even job. Anyway, here's some before & after pics.

A couple of days before:

A couple of days later:

Its amazing how much difference a hair cut can make, he looks so grown up now (& like such a cheeky little ratbag!). I cant believe my baby is growing up so quickly!

Home Grown Watermelons

2008-03-14T09:29:00.005+11:00

We decided to plant watermelons a while ago & have been eagerly watching them grow. Then the other day Jet was stomping around the garden & he broke one of them off the vine. Its quite small & we cant quite remember what type of watermelon we got, but it is possible it was a baby watermelon plant because the stem bit (is that what its called???) was all wizened & brown so maybe it was ready to drop off anyway? Regardless though, it was ripe & very, very yummy!!! Here's a pic of it, you can see how small it is compared to the size of my hand - not quite the size of a regular watermelon hey!

It was even going a little brown around the edges which makes me think also that it had reached its full size & maturity. Jet certainly enjoyed it:

We have so many yummy fruit trees in the garden now. We planted orange, lemon, mandarin, lemonade, lime, cherry, blueberry, raspberry, blackberry & passion fruit about a year ago now. We picked all the fruit off most of the trees for the first 6 months or so because the place we bought it from told us the trees would grow more if we did (wouldn't have to put all their nutrients into growing fruit i guess). Unfortunately, maybe because of the odd weather. We also have 2 mango trees that are about 7 years old now. We got quite a few mango's from them last year but unfortunately something went wrong this year & all the buds went black & fell off. Bugger!!! Hopefully next summer we have more fruit than we know what to do with - YUMMY!!!!!!

Breastfeeding in Literature

2008-03-11T22:05:00.007+11:00

I'm currently reading a book from the a trilogy called The Nightrunner Series by Lynn Flewelling called Stalking Darkness. Ive read 4 of her books previously which i borrowed from the local library's & i LOVE them all so far.

Anyway, while reading this book i came across a couple of paragraphs where a woman breastfeeding is mentioned, you just don't seem to come across this much anymore. On TV soaps women are almost always bottle feeding & i don't remember any other fiction books Ive read that even does so much as mention breastfeeding. So i thought id share the passage with you all:

The door between the kitchen and landing room was open. Through it he could see
Cillia serenely nursing Luthas in the middle of the dinnertime bustle, sorting
through a basket of apples with her free hand as she did so. The baby sucked
greedily, tugging at the lacing's of her open bodice. Her exposed breast throbbed
gently with the rhythm of his demand.

then a couple of paragraphs down:

"Could you hold the baby a minute before you go?" she asked, pulling Luthas off
the nipple and holding him up. "My arm'll break if i don't shift over." Taking
the child, Alec held him while Cillia moved her baskets and uncovered her other
breast. It was swollen with milk; a think stream jetted from her nipple as she
moved. Alec was close enough to see the pearly drops that fell across the deep
red skins of the apples. He looked away, feeling dizzy. Luthas let out a sleepy
burp and nuzzled at the front of Alec's cloak. "The way he eats, you'd think I'd
not have a drop to spare, but just look at me!" Cillia exclaimed merrily, taking
the child back and putting him to breast on the other side. "Maker's Mercy, Ive
got more milk than Grandmother's goat".

What emotions do these words illicit in you? I bet some people may think that parts of the passages almost sound pornographic (definitely not "that" type of book i can assure you). Its sad that breastfeeding isn't considered the "norm" any more, seeing a woman breastfeeding in public always seems to provoke some responce, whether it is "YAY - its fab to see someone breastfeeding in public" "ohhh, how sweet" or "Boobs!!!...don't look!!!" or "OMG - is that woman breastfeeding?!?", ideally we would just walk past without a second thought, just simply viewing it as the normal thing to do, as if you were strolling past a toddler drinking water from a cup - why should breastfeeding be viewed any different, it is after all the most natural way to nourish a baby.

I'm in the Top 100 Australian Women Bloggers

2008-03-11T13:54:00.003+11:00

....well, just anyway. I'm actually number 100, but that's kinda special in itself don't ya recon? I'm stoked anyway! Its really weird, i spent about 6 months & one or two hundred bucks (that i earned from paid posts mind you) on trying to increase my blogs popularity & page rank, & while i made quite a few new blogging buddies my page rank didn't budge at all. Now all of a sudden my page rank has jumped to 3 (was lucky if it said -0 before) & Ive been mentioned on a couple of other fantastic sites which is just amazing. Now i have a whole lot more paid post opportunities that have opened up to me too which is great too - more money to spend on eBay & cloth nappies!!! :D

I'm also very honoured to be listed as one of Jodie from Nappies Covered fave blogs! She runs a fantastic online store where you can buy anything you could ever want related to making cloth nappies all in the one place. She has lots of really cute fabrics that i often drool over. Unfortunately i haven't had much time to get my sewing machine out lately, but I'm hoping that ill get a bit more sewing done soon.

So anyway thanks to everyone that has linked to me, i greatly appreciate it. I'm not sure how long my google page rank will stay at 3 for, lol - i keep looking at it expecting it to drop back to 0 any minute, but ill enjoy it while I'm here!

Nappy Review - Bubble Bubs

2008-03-11T10:14:00.005+11:00

Its been a while since i did a cloth nappy related post - so for any of you that are wondering, yes, I'm still a cloth nappy nut!!!

I thought id share with you my experience with my most favorite cloth nappy. Let me start by saying that i have never found a cloth nappy that everyone loves or one that suits everyones needs or bub. But...my fave nappy would have to be Bubble Bubs!!!

Why you ask? (well, if you were bored with the whole nappy talk you would have stopped reading ages ago!). There's lots of reasons. I think Ive used at least 20-30 different varieties of cloth nappies (its what us cloth nappy nuts do) & there are different things i like or dislike about each of them. Bubblebubs are an All in One nappy (or AIO) which means that they are kinda like a disposable. There's no folding to be done & no inserts to clip on or stuff in - which for one thing makes it easy for the main victim of the average cloth nappy nut - the husband or partner, who has no idea which insert goes with what nappy, what needs a cover & what doesn't etc. Basically they consist of an inner layer of suede cloth or flannelette (with very cute designs might i add), an absorbent layer of bamboo (or hemp if you have the older variety) & an outer layer of PUL & fleece (or even cuddlefleece, minky or shag material).

Bubblebubs are the most absorbent day time nappy i have tried & the only ones i will trust to put on Jet when we are out & about because i know i will never have a problem with leaks. I prefer the regular fleece variety than the minky (or other type), partly because of the price but i also personally find they perform just a little bit better. The other reason i like them is because they are so frickin cute!!!

Breastfeeding in the News...

2008-03-11T09:29:00.000+11:00

Unions press for more paid leave to breastfeed - Article in the Sydney Morning Herald

My Little Cowboy

2008-02-25T20:32:00.003+11:00

Just thought id stick some pics up of my little man: bit grumpy at me for continuously stickin the hat on his head in this one:

A Bit of a Break

2008-02-18T21:17:00.003+11:00

Hi All,

Just wanted to let you know, in case you hadn't figured it already from my total lack of blogging recently, that I'm taking a break. See...i totally suck at this whole house wife thing, cooking, cleaning...its all a bit of a struggle for me. But i decided i better start "learning" how to do it while i only have one bub & an apartment to look after otherwise before i know it ill have 5 kids running around in a messy house eating out of cans!

Ive started a goals book. At the end of it Ive written down all the goals i want to achieve & all the things i want to be doing on a regular basis by the end of the year. The goals include house, cooking, fitness & personal goals. I started at the beginning of the year with just a couple of easy goals, stuff like going to bed by 10:30 instead of 12, not compulsively eating after dinner, loading the dishwasher every night & adding a new recipe to my personal recipe book. Every week i add a new goal to to the list so that i can gradually build up the amount of things I'm doing while working them into my daily routine.

So far its going really well, but its not leaving lots of time to muck about online, so there have been sacrifices! I will still update every now & then & of course i will try to keep visiting my fave blogs!

Thanks for stopping by!

Mel :D

Foliage 4 Me :)

2008-02-13T21:47:00.003+11:00

I finally completed a Foliage beanie successfully & i LOVE it!!! It took 3 attempts to get it right, mainly due to my laziness, not using life lines or doing a gauge, but I'm so happy with the result. now if only it was cold enough to wear it! Ive actually made another two since, one i didn't like & frogged (it was in a multicoloured yarn & looked crap). The other one i made for my mum to give to my auntie. Ive got to do another one for my mum cause she loved it so much. Anyway, here are some pics: I used some yarn i got from lincraft ages ago called heather, its just acrylic fluffy stuff but it worked really well. love it love it love it!!!!!

Pay it Forward

2008-02-09T21:18:00.000+11:00

I found this on Aprils Blog - such a fab idea!

The first three people to comment on this post will receive a gift from me (Aussies & NZ'ers only please), sometime within the next 365 days. Who knows when it will turn up, or what it will be, but rest assured, it will arrive. All you have to do is promise to make the same declaration on your blog, and send out gifts to three of your lovely readers.

Easy Peasy!

Knitting needles!!!

2008-01-27T22:09:00.000+11:00

I scored a bunch of knitting needles off ebay from a great seller. For $30 i got 5 DP needles in 15 different sizes. Such a bargain. Bamboo works great with DP needles too cause the stitches don't slip off them. I nicked this pick from the sellers store:

If wanna know more you can see the sellers store here, think they sell world wide. I just wish they did 16" circs!!!

Lazy Me!

2008-01-12T10:18:00.000+11:00

Ive been very lazy over the whole chrissie/new years period, Ive hardly done any blogging at all!!! We have had a bit of an eventful time though. Christmas went well, we had a great time, New Years we spent in hospital, jet had temps that were up around 40 degrees, turns out they think it was just a viral thing, he didn't have any other symptoms at the time.

About a week ago we were walking along the foot path at the beach, Jet was holding an apple in his hand & then decided he wanted to grab onto the dogs lead too. The dog started walking faster & Jet lost balance, he could of let go of either the apple or the lead but noooooo he didn't want to do that did he, so...he face planted right into the concrete. He grazed up his nose pretty good but apart from that he was ok. I swear if we had a video camera we could of won a great prize on funniest home videos - it did look really funny when he did it (such a bad parent, i know!!!). Anyway, his face has healed so quickly, he only has one tiny little bit of the scab left!

Then the other day he woke us up in the morning & when Rocky got him out of his cot he noticed a big red smear on his sheet, & a red patch on the back of Jets head, we thought he must of cut himself or cracked his head open or something through the night, but he had been in & out of our bed all night & there was nothing on our sheets. I got him up & was looking for a cut & then i noticed his hair was really more orange than red, & realised that he must off chucked up the coff syrup i gave him then rolled his head in it - ewwww! its a natural one to with honey in it so it was all sticky!

i think that's about it, except that we all have the flu now - lol, at least we are getting all this stuff over at the beginning of the year right? All smooth sailing from here on in!

Toddler Teething Tip

2007-12-28T22:20:00.000+11:00

Jets getting his first molar & boy has he been grumpy! Anyway, I thought id share with you all a toddler teething tip i leaned from a friend - Frozen Blueberries!!! Well, any frozen berries or fruit would do i guess but blue berries are great because they are packed full of antioxidants so they are nutritious as well as delicious. Because they are frozen they are nice & cold on bubs gums which helps numb them & it also means you can get them from the freezer section of the supermarket all year round. The only problem is that you may have a partially blue baby on your hands when they have finished! Jet absolutely loves them, he scoffs them down quick smart: Hope everyone had a fab chrissie!

Ho Ho Ho...

2007-12-25T21:44:00.000+11:00

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!

Wishing you all a fantastic day full of lots of love, cheer & pressies of course! Enjoy drinking & eating way to much then moving on to another relos house & doing the same thing over again.

Heres another little christmas vid from us to you:

Don't send a lame Holiday eCard. Try JibJab Sendables!

Healthy Snack Bar

2007-12-20T22:51:00.000+11:00

Thought id share with you a recipe for a healthy fruit & seed bar i made recently that rocky absolutely loves.

2 cups puffed rice cereal
1 1/2 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup mixed seeds (you can include nuts here too if you like)
200g mixed dried fruit
1/3 cup rice flour
1/2 cup (125ml) liquid glucose
1/4 cup (90g) honey

* Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius (or 350 Fahrenheit). Line the base & sides of a 29 x 19 cm tin with baking paper.

* Gently heat liquid glucose & honey in a small saucepan (over a medium heat) for 2 minutes or until runny.

* Combine all other ingredients in a large bowl & mix well together.

* Stir the glucose syrup & honey & mix well to coat.

* Press the mixture firmly into the tin, place a sheet of baking paper over the mixture & with the back of a spoon spread it evenly. Remove the top sheet of paper.

* Bake for approx 20 mins or until golden brown

* Leave to cool & crisp in the tin before lifting out & cutting into fingers.

Thats it! You've just made some healthy crunchy yummy snacks for the whole family (well, maybe not the littlelies but everyone else)! Store them in an air tight container in your fridge :D

$10 up for grabs!

2007-12-20T22:11:00.000+11:00

My blogging budy Lincoln over at Canucklehead has a comp to win $10 running at the moment, but you'll have to be quick to enter. All you have to do is buy one of his top spots, which will cost you $2 but you will be buying a link on his very popular site in exchange, & one lucky person will get a 500% return on their money - if you want to enter click here for more info.

Latest Projects

2007-12-19T22:17:00.001+11:00

Ive finished some knitting projects recently so i thought id share them with you.

I did these two widdle wabbits, the blue one is for Jet & the orange one is for a friend's new little bub. The pattern is one of lincrafts handouts & i used the recommended yarn which is lincrafts fairy floss:

I made this beanie & scarf for a friend for Christmas. I bought this yarn ages ago to make her something with cause she loves blue, its from lincraft, think its called Heather? I only got two balls of it cause i was just new to knitting then & i was only planning on knitting a scarf, but i know shed like a beanie so i wanted to make her both. The beanie took up most of one ball so i had to do the scarf out of one & a bit. I knitted that ball of yarn 3 times trying to get the pattern right. First i did a ribbed scarf (stupid i know cause it takes up more yarn) then i did the pattern i used in the end but i did to wide so i made it thinner & did it on fatter needles (9mm). Here they are with me modelling (using the term very loosely) them:

& heres a close up of the pattern, not that you can really see it. Basically you just have to cast on 14 stitches (or any multiple of 3 + 2 extra) then k1 *k1 yo k2tog & repeat from * to the last stitch then k1. Cast off after you've reached your desired length & thats it.

The beanie pattern was really simple, its from the book Last Minute Knitted Gifts which has quite a few fab patterns in it. The beanie pattern has lots of variations but i just did the basic rolled brim variety.

Christmas is Almost Here

2007-12-18T15:19:00.000+11:00

& so the silly season begins:

Don't send a lame Holiday eCard. Try JibJab Sendables!

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!

An Award & Two Meme's

2007-12-17T11:46:00.000+11:00

Ok, all of these are pretty overdue - sorry mel & carrie!!! So heres what im going to do. I have an award & two meme's below. The people i am giving the award to im also tagging for the meme's, but you only have to do one of them if you get tagged, not both so take your pick, unless you want to do both!

This is the fab award i got from Carrie at Rantings of a Woman - thanks Carrie I love it!!!

I would like to pass this award onto & tag these fabulous people, all of them make me smile & laugh regularly!!!

April - A Day in the Life

Lincoln - Canucklehead

Hayley - A Blog in Progress

Donna - Cinderella's Stash

Drea - Fina Drea

Mel (Such Simple Pleasures) & Carrie (Rantings of a Woman) im tagging you both with the meme's that you havent done :D

Heres the first Meme, i was tagged by Mel at Such Simple Pleasures. This meme is pretty cool. You need your iPod - in saying that i dont have one but we have stacks of songs on our computer so i just did it from here. It's a list of questions that you answer with the title of a random song. So i just listed all the songs in media player then hit shuffle & here are the questions with the song title answers (i dont know all the artists cause for some reason there not listed next to the songs & i suck at music trivia)

1. Would would describe your personality? All in the name of pity - Skunk - Gee thanks!

2. What do you like in a guy/girl? Mental as anything - Live it up - No! cant have amental guy, two mental people in a relationship just wouldnt work!!!

3. How do you feel, today? Jealous again - The black crows

4. What's your life's purpose? Now im here - Queen - well, this is kinda true i think, just to "be" here & not floating off in lala land

5. What is your motto? Opportunity - Pete Murray - maybe i should adopt this motto, doesnt sound like a bad one!!!

6. What do your friends think of you? When the music stops - Eminem

7. What do you think of your parents? Bat out of Hell - Meatloaf - well they are kinda wild

8. What do you think about very often? Tearing - Rollins Band - lol, think this is a reflection of my mental state!

9. What do you think of your best friend? Destitute Illusions - Jamiroquai

10. What do you think of the person you like? Wish you were here - Incubus - oh, thats sweet!!!

11. What is your life story? Lets see action - The Who - lol, im a bit lazy so this kinda fits

12. What do you want to be when you grow up? Closing Time - Semisonic

13. What do you think when you see the person you like? Another Love Song (dont know the band?) - not sure thats a good thing!

14. What do your parents think of you? Head Over Feet - Alanis Morisette - this was espeically true when they took me skiing when i was younger, i was always stackin it!

15. What will be played at your funeral? Fashion - David Bowie - hmmmm maybe not, im probably the most unfashionable person around!

16.What is your hobby/interest? Indian Summer - The Doors - well i would love to go to india!

17. What is your biggest secret? Black or White - Michael Jackson - hmmm?

18. What do you think of your friends? All for Believing - Missy Higgins

19. What should you post this as? Allergic (to thoughts of mother earth) - Placebo

lol, you get some funny answers!!!

Few! One more to go!!! Heres the last Meme, Carrie from Jabber Jaws tagged me with this one:

Another year is coming to an end...What did 2007 mean to you? Share your memories of 2007 with us.

~ Start Copy ~

Rules :

1. Copy from "Start Copy" until "End of Copy".

2. Before "End of Copy", share your best memories of 2007 include your name and your URL blog.

3. Share this tag to your friends.

For me, the year 2007 had a lot of happiness (and hope for 2008). Happiness because i see my son, grow and grow day by day. I have a great husband. I met lots of new friends from around the world via blogging ^_^ - Juliana RW

The year 2007 has been a good year for me. Me and my husband had our 10th anniversary, my children are healthy, I got a new great-nephew, and I made a lot of new friends through blogging. ~ Mom Knows Everything

The year 2007, oh wow what a busy year this has been for my family but a lot of great memories. After a fast, busy, hectic long distance move for us we took a much needed summer vacation camping and hanging out on the beach. We had the time of our lives and didn't want to see it come to an end but it had to and we are looking forward to going back next summer. What a year. My greatest memories are getting to spend this time with my husband and children. And blogging I can't forget all the great friends I've made. I couldn't ask for anything more. :0) Rantings of a Woman and Jabber Jaws

The year 2007 for me has been all about learning to be a mum. First building up lots of ideas about motherhood, then putting them into practice, succeding at some, failing at most & realising that you can have an idea of where your going but pretty much you just have to go with the flow. This years been great, wouldnt trade it for the world & i look forward to many many more watching my little monkey learn & grow. Mel in a Nutshell

~ End of Copy ~

How much better is home grown!

2007-12-16T21:09:00.000+11:00

Rocky's been doing lots of work in our garden. I spent Saturday morning walking around to all the neighbours houses with cucumbers cause we have like a billion of them growing down the back.

My favourite thing in our garden at the moment though is the strawberries, they are soooooo yummy! Its amazing how much better stuff you grow yourself tastes than the stuff you buy in the shops. I went out to the garden & picked a handful of strawberries for Jet & I to eat after lunch - they look gorgeous & they taste even better:

Yummo!!!

How Much??? Doubt It!!!

2007-12-16T19:44:00.000+11:00

I saw this little test over at Melinda's Blog. It tells you how much your blog is worth. Im not sure what its based on but i sooooo havent had any offers in this ball park lately (or any offers full stop - lol!):

My blog is worth $14,678.04.
How much is your blog worth?

So how much is yours worth?

2007-12-16T19:37:00.001+11:00

Happy 1st Birthday Baby Boy!!!

2007-12-15T22:28:00.000+11:00

Jet turned one today *sob*, i cant believe the past year has gone by so quickly. Before Jet was born i couldn't imagine just how much life would change, i didnt think it was possible for it to change that much! Now i cant even really remember what it was like without him, its like hes always been part of our little family!!!

Over the past year there has been lots of giggles, stacks of smiles & something new every day. There have been tears & tantrums (both mine & jets) & many many many sleepless nights. There have been snuggles & hugs, kisses & bites. Ive had my fare share of both baby vomit & poop on me, not always at the most convenient time. We have taught Jet a little & he has taught us alot. There has been a whole year of breastfeeding, a whole year without 8 hours of solid sleep & a whole year of gazing into his eyes in amazement as i watch him grow & learn.

Happy Birthday Little Man - We love you more than you will ever know!!!!!

Here I am with Jet one year ago today, all wrinkly & newbornish, ohhhhhhh:

& here he is today walking around with his new blocks & waggon dump truck thing we gave him for his birthday, oh how much can change in a year!!!

I thought id stick these pics in to. We kept his placenta & brought it home then planted a tree on it (i have a pic of the placenta before it was planted to but it just looks like a big bloody piece of meat so i figured you didnt need to see that). in the first pic jet is about 2 or 3 weeks old & he is sporting one huge cloth nappy (we started with terry squares).

The Sun Finally Came Out!

2007-12-14T20:30:00.000+11:00

We have had really shocking weather here the past week or so, raining, overcast, stormy. The other night there was lightning, thunder & hale. There were at least 3 strikes of lightning that were really close which was a little scary! Since that storm the phones have been out too, but the internet still works???

Anyway, wheres all this going? Oh thats right! Today was absolutely beautiful, sunny & warm, just gorgeous!!! So...it was the first day in at least a week that the washing got dry. I gave up on bringing it in & hanging it back out again & i got sick of piles & piles of clothes lying around the place so i was still doing all the washing & sticking it out on the line to get rained on. I had a whole clothes line full + two big clothes horses full aswell (the clothes horses are under cover though). So anyway, today all the washing got dry...YAY...hmmm but then i had to put over a weeks worth of washing away. This was the pile:

It took me over an hour to put away & now im exhausted!!! Of to veg in front of the TV :D

2007-12-14T10:27:00.000+11:00

And the winner is.....

2007-12-14T08:13:00.000+11:00

***Drum Roll***

Carrie from Rantings of a Woman!!! Congrats Carrie :D

Its kinda hard to see but this was my list:& i used a random number genorator to get the winning number:Thanks to everyone who entered! & thanks to Pay Per Post for creating such a fab way to make money online so this comp was possible!!!

Comp still open for a couple more hours

2007-12-14T00:01:00.000+11:00

Im going to close my competition tommorow morning, figured id leave it till the 13th is over everywhere in the world + jet isnt having a fantastic night so i dont have time to do it now. It will still be drawn & the winner will be notified by the 15th so im still on schedule.

in the mean time check out this funny pic i found on Sam's Blog, made me laugh so i just had to share it!

Last Chance To Enter!!!

2007-12-12T23:08:00.000+11:00

Just a reminder to all that my comp to win $50 is finishing tommorow night!!! So if you havent entered & you would like to CLICK HERE to find out how.

Good luck to everyone thats entered :D

Felted Bag Success!

2007-12-10T22:33:00.000+11:00

My first attempt at felting was a success (well, my first purposeful attempt, i have done it once before by accident!). Its a bag i made for a friend for Christmas (who hopefully wont read this!) - its from a free Lincraft pattern. Im quite happy with it so hopefully she likes it! Heres some pics -

Before felting:After felting:

Im not sure i felted it enough cause you can still see lots of detail in the stitches? But it is quite a bit firmer (its stuffed in the pic by the way) so i think its ok. It turned out lots better than i thought it would - i was quite scared putting it in the washing machine. But anyway, YAY!!!!!

Houston, we have a Pooroblem

2007-12-06T18:02:00.000+11:00

Today, has just been one of those days. You know the ones, where absolutely nothing goes right. Its doesn't have to be big things, its the little things that all add up & make you want to go sit in a cold dark corner & rock back & forward while singing happy songs to yourself. Stuff like spilling milk all over the floor, then the wheatbix & the washing getting rained on (for the 4th day in a row).

The thing that really pushed me over the edge today was that i put jet in his cot to have a sleep (which is a struggle in itself) then went back into his room 5 mins later cause he was kicking up quite a fuss & the first thing i noticed as i entered the room was this terrible smell. I thought "smells like someones done a poo". Then i looked over at Jet & his dummy was all yellow (normally white), & then i realised his face was too, & his t-shirt has smears all over it & the sheet & his cot - oh joy (come on, you can picture my face after already having a fantastic day, one of my eyes was probably doing that "im going to crack at any second" twitching thing).

Anyway, needless to say we both had very early showers today because there is just no other way to get a poo smeared baby clean - i just chucked Jet, still fully clothed, into the shower! As for the dummy, im afraid to say its on its way to dummy heaven.

Thankfully today is almost over, tomorrow i think ill go to the end of the bed & get out there, you cant get out of the wrong side of the bed if you get off the end of it can you? i guess technically its a side, but ill do it anyway just to be safe!

Jets Walking!

2007-12-05T22:23:00.000+11:00

Ravelry

2007-12-05T09:18:00.000+11:00

OMG!!! I finally got my Ravelry invite & i love it! Not really sure what im doing yet but im sure ill get there.

Im NeptuneDiva on there if anyone wants to be my friend :D

Awards

2007-12-04T22:36:00.000+11:00

Ive received a couple more awards from Carrie & one from Bradley. Thank you so much guys!!! sorry its taken me so long to blog about them - its been hectic around here lately & i haven't had much time to get on the computer! So, here they are with details on who im passing them onto:

I have to pass this award onto by two bestest blogging buddies:

April from A Day in the Life &
Hayley from A Blog in Progress

This one i want to give to:

Mel from Such Simple Pleasures

This one has to go to:

Petula from Its a Womans World

& last but definitely not least i want to give this one to:

April from A Day in the Life (even though ive already given her one - you soooo deserve two April!!!) &

Jennifer from The Life of a School Bus Driver

Enjoy! :D

Few....December is Here!

2007-12-01T22:51:00.000+11:00

Which means Movember is FINALLY over, no more kissing a prickly weird looking husband! He took this pic on his mobile before he shaved his moe off just after 12 last night (lol, must have been itching him or something!)
Rocky managed to raise around $300! Good work honey!!!

R.I.P Little Avocado Tree :(

2007-11-30T23:06:00.000+11:00

Remember my cute little avocado tree sprout i grew from a seed that i posted about last week? Well, my little monkey was playing out side & i turned around for two seconds & when i looked back to my horror i discovered this:

In one fowl swoop Jet had managed to undo my months & months of hard work & care (well...not really, all i did was stick a couple of seeds in a pot & neglect them for months...but still!) *sob* the good news is one of the other seeds has sprouted - there's 3 seeds in a massive pot. The third seed has cracked too so maybe that one will sprout soon. I'm hoping that maybe another shoot will come up through the old stem or something with this one - poor little plant!

The First Letter Of Your Name...MEME

2007-11-29T20:52:00.000+11:00

I was tagged by Carrie from Rantings of a Woman with this "The First Letter of Your Name" meme - it looks hard but ill give it a go!

Rules: Just use the first letter of your name to answer the questions. They have to be real answers though, nothing made up and you can't use your own name as an answer.

Since my name is Melanie all my answers have to start with a "M".

1.Famous Singer: Missy Higgins (love her!)
2.Four Letter Word: Mate
3.Street: Main St, Gosford
4.Color: Mauve
5.Gifts/Presents: Movie Tickets
6.Vehicles: Motor Bike
7.Things In A Souvenir Shop: Mug
8.Boy Name: Mason
9.Girl Name: Mikah
10.Movie Title: Memoirs of a Geisha (so not as good as the book!)
11.Drink: Mocca
12.Occupation: Midwife
13.Celebrity: Madonna
14.Magazine: Mode
15.U.S. City: Massachusetts?
16.Pro Sports: Martial Arts
17.Fruit: Mangos!!!
18.Something You Throw Away: Match Sticks
19.Something You Shout: Merde (french - basically means "oh crap" - that's the polite version of course, heard my dad say this quite a few times growing up!)
20.Reason for being late for work: Morning Sickness (lol think i used that one a couple of times when i was pregers with jet!)

Now for the real tricky bit! Here's the people i tag:

Petula - Its a Womans World
Steph - Adventures in Babywearing
Drea - Fina Drea
Eilleen - Consumption Rebellion
April - A Day in the Life
Mel - Such Simple Pleasures

ill have to think of a couple more people to tag (trying not to tag the same people twice in a row!)

7 Things

2007-11-24T22:49:00.000+11:00

I've been tagged by Its OK to be WEIRD.

Here are the rules:
Link to the person that tagged you and post the rules on your blog. Share 7 random and/or weird facts about yourself. Tag 7 random people at the end of your post, and include links to their blogs. Let each person know that they’ve been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

7 random / weird things about me:

1. Once when i was little i ate a whole bag of baby frozen carrots (while they were frozen) then threw them all back up - i can no longer eat baby frozen carrots!

2. I can touch my nose with my tongue

3. I put everything off to the last minute, once at college i wrote an 11,000 word assignment in 24 hours (i had all the research done but hadn't written one word before then). Rocky was doing the same course, he started his assignment 6 months before & we both got the exact same mark.

4. The toe next to by big toe is bigger than my big toe.

5. My nose has a button, that sounds weird i know, but if you push the end of it on the left side it feels like your pressing a button, theres this little thing inside that clicks...or something.

6. My husband reckons that when im pissed of i do a little head wobble thing, im not conscious of it at all & dont know how to duplicate it.

7. I have a special talent, i can ask someone for directions, listen intently & nod while they are telling me where to go, then completely forget everything 3 seconds later.

Ok, thats all the weird things about me for now. Now who should i tag? Bwahahahahahaha

I tag:

April from A day in the Life

Hayley from A Blog in Progress

Jennifer from The Life of a School Bus Driver

Mel from Such Simple Pleasures

Carrie from Rantings of a Woman

Loren from Musings at Windyridge

Lisa from Life on the Moon

I cant wait to get to know a bit more & here some weird & wacky stuff from all of you!!! if you dont want to do it let me know & ill nominate someone else & leave a comment once its done & ill make a note of it next to your name with the post so people know where to go to read it.

Award

I have received another award from the generous, wonderful, amazing Carrie from Rantings of a Woman - thank you so much Carrie you are soooo sweet!

I would like to pass this award onto the following people:

Petula from Its a Womans World
Chervil from Green Living
Kirsty from Gobblers Run

Hope you like your awards! They are very well deserved :D

Dont forget about my competition to win $50 - the odds are pretty good at the moment, theres only about 15 entries! if you want to know more click here

Knitted Pressie for my Cousins New Baby

2007-11-23T16:34:00.001+11:00

My cousin & his wife just have a brand new baby boy & my parents will be going to visit them early next week so ive made something for him:

The hat & booties are from a pattern book i got from lincraft for free cause i bought way to much yarn & the other one is another Joe the Caterpillar.

I dont have any bubs around to try them on to see if they are ok so im just hoping for the best!

Just as a side note, while i was cropping the pics etc to put in here & typing out the message i looked over at the window & what was my cheeky little monkey up to? He climbed onto the couch, then up onto the very top of it & was playing with the window. The couch cushions are on the floor since hes been up & down on the couch all day & he hasn't really figured out the down bit too well - thought he could use some padding!

Video's & More Awards

2007-11-23T13:11:00.000+11:00

Thought id share a couple of vids ive made of Jet over the past few days -

Heres one of him getting up to mischief:

& here he is walking on his walker - wont be long now!

Do babies normally climb before they walk? He's climbing on everything at the moment, climbs up onto the bed, the coffee table, the couch, the stairs - little bugger!!!

Awards

The wonderful Petula from Its a Woman's World has given me two more awards - Thanks Petula, i feel so special!!!

This one i would like to pass onto:

Tracy from Mad Quilter

Donna from Cinderella's Stash

& even though she's already got one -

Jennifer from The Life of a School Bus Driver

This award id like to pass onto:

Elina from Mom 2 BB Reviews

Hope everyone enjoys their awards - i know i do :)

Awards for Me? Owwww Shucks!

2007-11-22T11:02:00.000+11:00

I feel so special! Carrie from Rantings of a Woman has given me my very first awards - two of them!!! Thanks sooooo much Carrie :D

Here are the awards & who i have chosen to pass them onto:

How cute is this award! Ive chosen three very special people to send this one onto, so without further adieu:

April from A Day in the Life
Hayley from A Blog in Progress &
Drea from Fina Drea

This award i choose to pass onto three blogs that i love & frequent regularly:

Adventures in Babywearing - Musings at Windyridge &
Such Simple Pleasures

Congratulations lovely ladies - i hope you like them!!!

Twins In Cloth Custom - How Lucky Am I!

2007-11-21T22:52:00.000+11:00

Back when the Great Down Under Nappy Hunt was on i entered a comp on the Twins in Cloth website, you just had to fill in a survey about cloth nappies & you went in the draw to win a custom Twins in Cloth nappy. Well...i didnt win any nappies in the GDUNH - but i did win the custom!

Being as indecisive as i am in couldn't decide what i wanted, so i gave Julie a couple of ideas about what i like & this is what she came up with (from left to right - front, back, inner):

I love it! its absolutely fantastic! Its got 3 layers of bamboo fleece sewn in the nappy & a lay in booster with another 2 layers of bamboo fleece & 1 layer of suede cloth. Its my first front snapper (well, i do have one NB fitted front snapping nappy, but thats beside the point!) & its so trim! Heres some action shots:How cute is it?!? I love it soooooooo much - THANKS JULIE!!!

If you want a fantastic nappy like this one then make sure you check out the Twins in Cloth website (current stock is here while website renovations are taking place) they have other stuff to, so go on - have a look!

Growing an Avocado Plant from a Seed

2007-11-20T22:48:00.000+11:00

Im so proud of myself - for once im actually doing the opposite of killing a plant (im not exactly known for my green thumb). I go through fazes with food, i get fixed on one thing i just have to have & at the moment its avocados. As a result we have stacks of avocado seeds, so instead of putting them in the compost i decided i was going to attempt growing an avocado tree. So a couple of months ago i did some research & came up with two ways to germinate an avocado seed.

The first way is to stick 4 toothpicks into the seed about half way up, then place it on top of a jar & fill it with water so the bottom quarter of the seed is covered. The seed needs to be pointy side up (so the broad side is on the bottom).

The second way is to put the seed pointy side up in a pot with gravel in the bottom & soil in the top (so it drains well). Then make sure the top quarter of the seed is sticking out of the soil.

I attempted both of these methods, i got a big pot & stuck 3 seeds in it & put it just outside our front door & i put two seeds in water on our window sill. I watched them for one month, then two, then three & nothing happened. I might have gotten rid of them & just stuck them in the compost if i wasn't so lazy - so i just left them there ;)

When we came back from holidays i got the most wonderful surprise. Two of my seeds had sprouted. One in the pot & one in the water. The one in the water only has a root out the bottom so far though, nothing out the top. Here's some pics:

The poor little pot plant one got snapped at Jets party *sob*, its snapped almost the whole way through but it still looks as though the leaves have grown & opened out more since then so hopefully it will be ok.

Im so proud of my little plants. My plan is to plant two in our backyard then grow a stack more to take up to Rocky's parents farm to plant an orchid of them - lol!

If anyone wants any more info on growing avocado trees from seeds check out this link they have lots of great info on their.

What's Your True Color?

2007-11-19T18:08:00.000+11:00

I found this quiz over at The Life of a School Bus Driver so i thought id give it a shot. Heres what i got:

You're green, the color of growth and vigor. Good-hearted and giving, you have a knack for finding and bringing out the best in people. Green is the most down-to-earth color in the spectrum — reliable and trustworthy. People know they can count on you to be around in times of need, since your concern for people is genuine and sincere. You take pride in being a good friend. For you, success is measured in terms of personal achievement and growth, not by status or position. Rare as emeralds, greens are wonderful, natural people. It truly is your color!

So what colour are you?

2007-11-19T18:05:00.001+11:00

Movember Update

2007-11-18T18:59:00.002+11:00

Well Movember is half over so i thought id give you an update on how Rocky is doing. Here is a pic of him sporting his wonderful (i cant wait till movember is over!) moe:lol - looks like a mug shot. Is it just me or do moe's just seem to make people look weird/creepy? So far he has managed to raise $195 for mens health! Thanks very much to April from A Day in the Life for your contribution!!! If anyone would like to sponsor him you can either do it directly through the Movember website by credit card or you can donate via pay pal through the Chip In button on my side bar.

Jets First Birthday Party

2007-11-17T21:04:00.000+11:00

We had Jets first birthday party today, he wont actually be one for almost another month but my parents will be overseas then so we decided to have his party early. He was a bit grumpy & overwhelmed by all the people, but he went to sleep easily for once tonight!!! He had his first lolly (not sure where he got it from but when i saw it in his mouth he chewed it up & swallowed it quick smart) & some chocolate crackle (which his naughty grandma gave him!).

Here's a pic of him just before we sang happy birthday, he totally cracked it once we started singing!We were also lucky enough to have Jets uncle Larso back with us, he has been overseas since i was about 3 months pregnant or something so he only met Jet for the first time a couple of weeks ago. His fabulous girlfriend KC flew in a couple of days ago so its been wonderful getting to know her to. Can you tell they are brothers? This is Rocky's cousin Corrie, the pics in here cause i made her a head thing with the calorimetry pattern & told her she had to pose for a pic so i could show you guys, not that you can see much of it, but i think it looked great!
This was jets fantastic cake, no it wasn't made by me *shock horror*, i figured Jet deserves one beautifully crafted cake in his life time & a family friend offered to make it (she is just fantastic at making novelty cakes - she did our wedding cake to, a sand castle - was so cute!):We had a great day, as always there was way to much food though!

Want to win $50?

2007-11-13T18:08:00.000+11:00

Yep, you read right! I am giving away $50 (USD). Why you ask? Well, this money is purely money ive earned doing paid posts & in order to get more paid posts i need to increase my google page rank. So in an effort to do that im puting a competiton on here - got to spend money to make money right?

First off let me say that you absolutly have to have a pay pal account to enter this comp, payment will ONLY be made via pay pal. You also need to have a blog - but thats it.

So what do you have to do to enter? Two things - First write a short post linking to my main page http://www.melinanutshell.com/ including info on this competition. Then stick my cute little badge somewhere on your site, heres the code:

After youve done that leave a comment here so i know youve entered, please leave a link to the blog you are using in the comment too. This comp will run for one month, finishing on the 13th of December 07. On the 15th of December ill allocate everyone numbers thats entered & draw a number out of the hat then notify the winner. ill also make a note below when the competition has closed.

For anyone thats interested in paid posts it really does work. You can click the button on my nav bar that says paid posts to see all the ones ive done - my total earnings (that is actually in my account) so far is $100.21 (USD) & ive been going for just under two months(ish). If your interested in giving it a go click the button below, theres nothing to loose & just for signing up you get to do a $20 post!!!

**THIS COMPETITION IS NOW CLOSED**

The winner is:

Carrie from Rantings of a Woman - Congrats Carrie!!!

Jet, Joe & Picky Pants

2007-11-12T20:57:00.002+11:00

As promised (for once) here are some shots of Jet & Joe hangin out, Jets also wearing his matching picky pants (cause everyone needs pants with a matching caterpillar!). Look how clever my little boy is, he can stand up without anything around him, think he's been doing it a week or so now, im pretty sure he started while we were on holidays. I guess that means life is about to get more tiring cause people are telling me he is probably going to start walking in a couple of weeks.I highly recommend Joe as a toy for kids, Jet absolutely loves him. Cause he is long & bulby he can fling him round everywhere & try & bit his tail, head or antennae off (what ever he is in the mood for).
Think im going to have to make another Joe for my cousuns new little bub! He is so quick & easy to make & such a great toy!!!

2007-11-12T20:57:00.001+11:00

Meet Joe...

2007-11-11T21:20:00.000+11:00

He is a friendly caterpillar & my latest knitting project! Isn't he cute!!! At first i thought he was going to be really hard to make, you have to just cast on 4 stitches then spread them over 3 or 4 double pointed needles which i found really tricky, but once you get going he is really quite simple to make & so much fun!

Jet & Joe get on really well already, although Jet does love to grab Joe by the head & whack stuff with him & he loves biting his tail. Ill take some pics of them playing together tomorrow - maybe ill even stick jet in his matching picky pants, but for now here's some more shots of Joe just lazin around:
If you want to make your own Joe the Caterpillar click here for the pattern.