Jets Second Hair Cut

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

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

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

....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

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...

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

My Little Cowboy

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

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 :)

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

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!!!

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!

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!