My daughter at 5.5 months

Posted on October 27, 2011 by admin

*A quick update for mum.

My daughter is super awesome. She has pink pudgy cheeks. Everyone comments about how you can squeeze them. She is very tolerant to shopping and outings. She loves to sleep in her cot. She has reached that point where she can play by herself on the mat. She is just about to start rolling over (she currently half rolls unintentionally, and doesn’t seem too interested yet on doing it on purpose). She can sit and play with a toy, but once she loses focus she also loses balance. She’s starting on solids already and has tried porridge, several veggies, bread, toast, and fruit already. We’re doing baby led weaning with her, so not too many purees. I’m going shopping for her tonight to buy some cute jumpsuits for her.

Give it a Crack

Posted on October 27, 2011 by admin

It’s my mums birthday, or it was rather, last week. It’s no special birthday, but I always like to put some effort and thought into her presents. She is quite a lovely sentimental person and loves pictures of, and cuddles with my daughter, so this year I’m attempting to put my daughters hand prints (and foot prints) made out of clay onto a terracotta pot which is growing an apple tree. The idea would be to add future grandchildren’s prints every year on her birthday.

The problem is I have no idea how to do this so I Googled how to do it. I know my daughter won’t be able to hold her hand in a pot of jelly for three minutes without getting very upset, so we’re gonna have a go with play doh and hopefully we’ll be able to pull off something reasonable. Fingers crossed.

Time Management – ZDay

Posted on October 8, 2011 by admin

I had an epiphany this morning which I am quite excited about. I’m usually quite good when it comes to time management. I have good forethought and can usually put a fair bit into my day. I get the laundry and dishes up to date, sweep the floors, usually have a bit of computer time in the morning (such as this), get meals ready, usually cram an outing in every day, etc, etc. But there is usually something I miss out on doing. It could be shopping, or a workout, or cleaning. No matter what I do, and how much I do, I never really seem to get it all done. It then gets pushed over to tomorrow and the process begins again until things inevitably get pushed to the side and I’m left with a guilty feeling about not getting it done.

That is until this morning. Talking to my hubby about how I never seem to find enough time to keep up with my workout routine I had a moment of clarity. I have termed it ZDays. I have no logic behind the name, just that it’s easy to say and remember

The thought behind it is that my problem is a psychological one. I see a day as 24 hrs and fill it. I then push things over to the next day because they don’t get done in time before this window shuts and a new one begins. So I’m seeing the problem here as the thought of what I call a day – 24 hours. But what if a day wasn’t 24 hours? What if it was 48 hours? In my head I do 2 loads of dishes a day, a load of laundry, sweep, an outing, meals, etc. But what if we changed the idea of a day to 48 hours? I could do 3 loads of dishes in a Zday, one large load of laundry, one sweep, two outings, meals, one workout, etc, etc. All of a sudden I could do 2 outings in the first 24 hour block, and do none in the second 24 hour block. I could do a load of dishes for lunch, then breakfast, then dinner. Make sense?

If I can reduce the number of things I do in a Zday compared to a 24 hour day, then I have more time theoretically. Hmm… Now that I think of it I could also think of things in term of a week, but lets start with my Zday – 4 days a week.

Anyway I’m gonna try out my theory. Oh and I’ve decided that Sunday is a Zday on it’s own – it’s full enough to be anyway.

Wish me luck.

Simple Pleasures

Posted on October 6, 2011 by admin

Our new found, surprisingly enjoyable hobby IS…. Car watching!

I know we’re girls, but I can’t say how much fun we’re having car watching

We sit outside on the garden ledge and Annabel with her squidgy little hands grabs at plants until a car drives past. We wait, and listen, and then whip our heads around to spot the cars going past. The best times are when people notice that we’re watching them and give us bizarre stares back. There will soon be a car accident on our street I’m sure because of this new hobby, but when that day comes I’ll tell myself “it was so worth it.”

A Taste of the Pie

Posted on October 5, 2011 by admin

I had no idea what the online blogging world had to offer before this week. Previously I’ve sat at my laptop and searched for interesting mothering facts, sewing patterns and tutorials, or cute parenting stories. That is, until earlier this week when reading the blog Mini Must Have, I stumbled across a giveaway she was offering, a Beatrix NY backpack from Kiddy Couture. So thinking, “how cute, why not enter?” I did just that… And lo and behold I won!

The win was a great thrill but it has also given me the taste of a bloggers life. I’m quite anti the idea of engrossing myself in something which takes away from me (ie. energy and time) instead of giving back to me. But using this blog to record my babies stories, to share my thoughts on life, and to every now and then enter other competitions (tee hee), then why can’t blogging actually offer this little mum a positive outlet on her lovely life?

So here we go – the creation of Shoogle – because every mum needs help to settle every now and then (not just our babies).