TV break and toys

Also on the topic of TV, we've had a couple of TV free days this week. I've been relying on the tele a lot lately to keep Hamish occupied, because I've been quite tired and he was sick for a few weeks too, but I figured it was time for a rest from it.

It made for a more peaceful house, although it did mean a bit more work for me in finding things to keep him occupied. My aim is to keep TV to use as a backup when really needed, rather than part of the daily routine.

I've packed away the bulk of his toys too - the loungeroom was way too crowded with them all, and I think he was getting bored with a lot of them. Plus picking them all up at the end of each day is getting harder for me as the inside baby gets bigger! I'm going to try just getting a couple out each day, so there's less to tidy up and he can focus a bit more on one or two things at a time.

Vale, VCR

Adam and I decided to get a PlayTV for Christmas - it's a digital receiver for the Playstation 3 and allows us to record TV to the playstation, and fastforward and rewind live TV.

It only cost $125, which is far cheaper than the alternatives (Foxtel IQ or Tivo being the main ones) and we now have access to all the digital channels.

But - it means we don't really need the VCR anymore. I remember buying my first VCR back in 1996 before I headed off to uni - it was a big deal for me, partly because it was my first big purchase once I'd started working, but mainly because I was seriously into television back then.
I used to tape and keep all sorts of junk - Medivac being an example that springs to mind!

That VCR ran for years. It died a slow death - it used to freeze up and I'd have to take the lid off to get it working again. We put up with that for some time before eventually getting a new one. Even then, it was years before I could bring myself to chuck the original one in the bin.

So I feel sort of wistful and sad to pack away the VCR today. I know all technology will have its day, but this is one piece of it I am a little emotionally attached to.

Easy biscuit recipe

I've made this a few times lately, it's so easy and versatile.

125g low fat margerine
half cup sugar
1 cup flour
1 egg
Whatever else you've got that you want to chuck in!

Mix the margerine and sugar together, then add the egg. Sift in the flour and mix it all up.

Then add in whatever you want to add some flavour - I've used oats and sultanas for a healthier snack, and choc bits, cocoa and orange essence for a less healthy treat!

It makes about 20 small biscuits - which don't last all that long around here...

Advent

I've been inspired by Nicole's advent posts to think about what we're going to do in the lead up to Christmas.

An exciting part of Christmas growing up was all the food in the house - Dad would go all out to stock up on tasty treats. The loungeroom would be heaving under the weight of it all - and we'd spend the school holidays making it all disappear. Yum! So this year I think we'll do something similar, although on a smaller scale. I'll buy a few extra things each week leading up to Christmas, and then we can hoe in from 25th on.



I've got some nice Christmas choral music, including a copy of Handel's Messiah, and these will be on high rotation for the next few weeks, particularly around dinner time.



And we're doing our own advent calendar - not every day, but once a week or so Hamish and I will sit down to do some craft, and then stick it up on the wall. This is the first one:







The other ones will use these verses:

• 'We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him, the iniquity of us all' Isaiah 53:6 (Craft - cotton wool sheep)


• 'When they saw the star, they were overjoyed.' Matt 2:10 (craft - stars of course!)


• Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom His favour rests.' Luke 2:14 (craft - angels)


• 'For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.' John 3:16 (Craft - manger scene)

Ned Kelly

Mo Wrap

Adam finished up Movember in style. He was happy though in the end to lose the mo, as it was getting itchy!

He raised about $250 and is really grateful for everyone's support. It was lots of fun - for him and for those of us who got to watch it grow!

Iris

On The March

The cicadas are out in force at the moment. We've found quite a few shells in the garden.

I used to love collecting the shells from Grandma and Papa's place when I was a kid, I remember doing it around Christmas time and filling icecream containers with them.

Kids used to take live cicadas to school in buckets to show off their collection, until the teachers banned it. There used to be all different sorts of cicadas with funny names, like Floury Baker and Cherry Eyes. I don't know if they are all around anymore, we only see one or two varieties here.

Mo Town Update

Adam's mo is gaining ground - he's keeping it neat and tidy, and it's thickening up. I don't know about you, but I wouldn't mess with him.

Although he tells me he saw a man at work yesterday, who had a much more serious looking mo, who told him 'You need training wheels for that thing!"

Hamish was a little uncooperative this week so we resorted to technology to show what he would look like if we could get him to stay still long enough to 'grow' a mo!

Scary

Hamish has a bit of a fascination with opening and shutting doors at the moment. He goes into a room, shuts the door, then knocks on it till I open it, to his great amusement.

This evening, he shut the bathroom door.

And managed to lock it.

I was only a few feet away so I heard the click of the lock and rushed over, but couldn't open the door. He was locked in the bathroom! Aargh! I freaked out and didn't know what to do - I rattled the handle but it wouldn't budge, and Hamish started to get upset.

I ended up ringing Adam who left work straight away to come home and bust the door open. In the meantime, I stood on one side of the door telling Hamish a story to keep him calm, all the while frantically trying to get the door to open.

I realised the handle had a little hole on the outside, and pushed a hairclip in it - something clicked and the door opened. What a relief!

Hamish rushed out, not looking overly concerned. I on the other hand, burst into tears. Hamish thought I was laughing, so he joined in with hearty laughter of his own.

I saw him playing with the lock a few minutes later, so I think he must have pushed it out of curiosity. Will definitely not let him anywhere near it in the future!

Blue Food

Yesterday I made some playdo. It was super easy - I was surprised by just how easy in fact! Flour, salt, water, oil and food colouring.

Hamish enjoyed squishing it and pushing things into it...

...and of course it didn't take long for him to see what it tasted like!

(Not good, apparently.)

Silly Me

I should have known gardening with a toddler and two big dogs on the loose was a bad idea.

I dug a hole - Saffy joined in. I put the plant in the hole - she kept digging. In the same spot! So the poor plant got a bit squashed. And I had to heave her out of the flowerbed - she was very reluctant to move!

While this was going on, Hamish pulled a whole lot of little baby green tomatoes off the plant. Then he sat there biting into them, in between laughing at my attempts to move Saf.

I did get all the plants into the ground eventually, but not without a lot of huffing and puffing and telling the dog to bugger off...

The Mo - one week in

Here Comes the Mo - Day 1

Today, being 1 November, is the first day of MOVEMBER. Adam has started his mo - here he is with Hamish (who is currently mo-less but not for long!).

I think Ad's mo will be somewhat disturbing once it's a bit bigger...I don't know if you can tell from this photo but he's going for a Chopper Read style (!).

Thanks to those of you who have sponsored him already!

Halloween

The streets around our house are swarming with halloweeners - or hallo-teensters as perhaps they should be referred to. The average age of the kids seems to be at least over 10, and I find I object to the concept of giving out lollies to kids that whose ages are in double figures. It seems a little mercenary of them somehow.

And can I just say how inappropriate some of their costumes are? Particularly the girls. I haven't seen many spooky outfits - more vampy if anything. Angels, fairies and demons seem to be the go this year - and pretty racy looking ones too! Seriously - I wouldn't go knocking on strangers' doors dressed like some of these kids.

Luckily for us, we have left Ruby out the front on border patrol, so we haven't had any knocks on the door. I'm all for handing out treats to younger kids - in fact one of my favourite halloween moments was in Leichhardt a few years back, when a dad from up the road came over with some lollies, and asked us to give them to his little girls when he came around with them later that day! It was very sweet.

Baby

As most of you would already know, Adam and I are expecting our second child. And not only our second child, but our second boy! We are really looking forward to having two little men in the house, and I just feel so blessed.

Bub is due to arrive in late March, so I've got around 5 months to get ready...and to enjoy full nights sleeps!

Hamish will be 21 months old when his brother is born, and I'm basically expecting life to be quite tough for the first six months or so, if not longer - but having been through the newborn stage with Hamish I know that the hard work does pay off in the end - and that spending that time building a relationship with your child is so precious.

Movember!

Adam will be growing a mo for Movember, an event that helps raise awareness and funds for men’s health. You can view his progress, and sponsor him, at http://au.movember.com/mospace/70967/

As an incentive, here's how he could be looking at the end of the month!

Water, water everywhere...

Hamish is obsessed with water at the moment. More specifically, with drinking it. Not out of a cup (although he does do that regularly) - he's more interested in water coming out of a tap, a watering can or in a puddle on the ground!

We had a puddle on the path out the front this week and he spent quite a long time sitting in the water, putting his head down trying to suck some up. It was really funny to watch - and I think he managed to get some in the end! He also walked away with a mark on his forehead from where it kept hitting the ground, not that it seemed to worry him.

This afternoon I caught him standing under a tap in the garden, his mouth wide open trying to catch the drips. Sadly for him it wasn't turned on so it was a bit futile.

I guess it's a good obsession to have, going into summer...

No TV?

As if mothers needed something else to feel guilty about - new guidelines recommend that kids under 2 don't watch any television.

I can see that it might not be optimal for their development to spend hours in front of the screen, but we don't live in a perfect world, and I reckon TV is a Godsend some days. It has a place when used wisely.

Online vs Real Time

I've realise that, when it comes to having decent contact with adults, I've been looking in the wrong places. I've been looking to the online world of facebook and parenting forums for connection and a sense of involvement in the wider world. I've also been missing old friends, who I find it hard to keep in touch with now we don't live anywhere near each other. A phone call every couple of months isn't the same as a regular coffee together, and reading someone's facebook status is a pale shadow of the same.

I read an article the other week by someone who had given up facebook - he had 200 facebook friends, and when he cancelled his account, only 3 got in touch with him. He described the way people use facebook as 'broadcasting' which struck a nerve with me and went some way to explaining why I had been finding it so unsatisfying. It's generally a very shallow and self centred approach to keeping up with people.

Although it has its uses - I've found out via facebook over the past few weeks that four people I know have had babies, and it is good for emailing and photos. It's just if I depend on it for real connections with people, it will more often that not let me down. I usually end up feeling more lonely after spending time on it, not less.

So - I haven't really worked out yet how to move on and develop more rewarding friendships, but at least I've identified the problem! I guess I need to get to know local friends more, and get off the computer and actually ring people up. There's no substitute for actually talking with people is there!