The Xmas Advent Adventures 2011 Day 1 and 2

Hello world,

On the first day of Christmas my advent said to me:

Put up your Christmas tree!

Pie wasn't too sure what was going on -
there are spikey green plasticy things everywhere!

Exploring some lights while having a dinner break!
Typical kid, let Mum and Dad do all the work!

Wow!

And on with the special ornaments:
Baby Piper at 5 weeks old

And one for hubby - clearly a fan of the green machine!

The battery went flat on the camera!
But here is the finished tree :)

And then comes the attempts to pull down the decs!
"Nearly....nearly... just stretch a little further..."

"Wahoo!!!"
Good job wiggling on that cute butt Missy!

"What?"

Me and my girl - not a great pic but the only one where she
wasn't trying to eat my nose or pull my hair!!!

On the second day of Christmas my advent said to me:

Write a letter to santa!

See - there it is in my messy hand writing :)

Poor kid, was too cold for the usual topless
painting so she had to wear a smock!

Getting busy on her Santa letter:
This year she decided to communicate artistically!

Really getting the message across to Santa!

Taking an inspiration break on her 2nd piece of art

The finished letter:
What she said is clearly between her and Santa.

"Yay! I wrote my first Santa Letter!"

"Oh and Santa, PS...."

jodi xo

Water fun

Hello world,

Its amazing how much fun the simple things can bring to a bub. And how wonderfully grounding enjoying the simple things with your baby can be. Today Pie and I played with her new water tray (a Granny present that couldn't wait til xmas!)

So excited by all the toys!

Pie has been a little nervous around water, she often takes a few sharp breaths when we put her in the bath or if the shower water runs over her face, she really didn't like the beach when we took her but I think it may have been the cold and the sounds that scared her most. Last weekend however she went swimming with her Dad in the pool at my parents place and once she was used to the cold she really seemed to enjoy herself BUT nowhere near as much as she enjoyed today.

Its funny how just tipping water out of a little bucket can be so satisfying. Pie wasn't too sure where to start - there was lots to look at in our little water tray! But once I showed her how she could tip the water out of the bucket and watering can they quickly became favourites! Pie would tip them up, the water would run down her arms and all over me and the play continued :)

Me and my gorgeous Pie!

I think I know what to get for stuffing fillers - some little cups that she can use to move the water around as the bucket is big and tricky to fill for a little person!

I'm sure this is a pretty boring blog BUT today I was reminded of how wonderful being a Mum is and how lucky I am to have this wonderful little person in my life! So I'm blogging to remind myself to cherish these moments even more than I already do and to make time to make simple memories!

Hi Mum, don't I look cute in my tie dye singlet
(thanks for the freebie Rascal Rumps!!!)

 Piper also discovered the pure joy of sucking the water off my hands and out of the watering can but I didn't catch a shot of that ;)

What fun simple play do you and your kids enjoy?

jodi xo

Bring on the festive season - Advent Calendar!!!

Hello world,


Last blog I mentioned the advent calendar I wanted to purchase and today I did, so I thought I'd share it here tonight :)

Picked this one up for $10 from Big W but you could make one or find a different one online somewhere if you can't get the Big W one I've got. (The pockets didnt come filled - I just forgot to take a photo before I had put them all in while I figured out the activities!)

To fill the pockets and write our day by day Christmas activities on I also bought a pack of gift tags - they were $6 for 50 so I've got half of them left to use on gifts and they fit well in the assorted pockets. I'm a bit funny so I've been cutting out bits of cardboard all night to cover the TO and FROM on the back of the cards. If I had a printer I would have just printed out the activities and glued them on the pack but I don't :) If you did have a printer you could print them straight on cardboard and cut them out to use rather than buying some.


So after all my prep pasting little bits of cardboard to other bits of cardboard I needed a list of 24 activities to write on them - and here it is in no particular order (except xmas eve dinner which clearly will be occuring on xmas eve!)

1. Put up the Christmas tree
2. Put up the outdoor lights
3. Write a letter to Santa
4. Choose a special Christmas treat (I will wrap up a few special christmas treats that Piper and her future siblings can pick from in the future - may not do it this year as she is 9mo and won't really get it - but I might do it anyway!)
5. Place your special ornament on the Christmas tree
6. Drive around and see the Christmas lights
7. Mail out the Christmas cards
8. Visit Santa
9. Go for a walk to collect pine cones
10. Go to the library to pick out some Christmas books
11. Make Christmas Cookies
12. Drive around and see the Christmas lights
13. Buy a gift for the wishing tree
14. Listen to Christmas carols
15. Do a Christmas craft
16. Wrap some presents
17. Make pinecone bird feeder and hang outside
18. Make candy cane play dough
19. Watch a Christmas movie together
20. Go to Carols by Candlelight and have a family picnic dinner
21. Make handprint/footprint ornaments
22. Fish and Chips for dinner down at the beach
23. Unwrap a special Christmas treat
24. Have traditional xmas eve dinner with family
    
    
    You probably noticed that I doubled up on a few, I did this intentionally, you don't have to!
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    And here are some awesome blogs for inspiration for creating your own Christmas activites advent calendar:
      
    
    
    Puddles and Gumboots 
      
    Untrained Housewife  
    
    
    The Artful Parent 
    
    
    Code Name: Mama 
    
    
    Kiddley 
    
    
    all things simple
    
    
    
    
     The Christmas Book Advent Calendar is an idea that I love and will be putting to use - maybe not this year as I've got 2 days to buy 24 Christmas books - but definately for future Christmas'
    
    
    So another tick off the list waiting for the christmas month to arrive - one family activities advent calendar :
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    Jodi xo

Bring on the festive season - Part 2!!!

Hello world!

Well after last nights blog we've got my little Pie's xmas wardrobe sorted. Now to the house:

Todays blog is about the decorations:

Last year - when I was pregnant and stuck on chair rest (like bed rest but basically had to sit all the time!) is when I took up sewing, I'd never had any interest in it before that and one of the first projects I did was to make felt christmas decorations. I made some green and red and whites ones to use to decorate gifts - silver gift wrap, white ribbon and a little felt decoration looked quite nice:

 

These are so easy to make, so I thought I'd share a tutorial (with no step by step photos cos I dont have any!) for you all.

So start by collecting the felts you want to use - as a preschool teacher I've made many a felt play set so I just used my scraps bags for mine but if you need to buy specifically then get yourself along to any cheapy shop - the crazy clarks/go-los/$2 shops of the world or a craft shop and you'll find plenty - its about $1 a sheet of felt. Also get a little thin ribbon for hangers and you can use scraps of bright ribbons to decorate them - like I've done to these colourful decorations I made to keep for our 2011 xmas tree (cos they didn't at all go with 2010 colour theme):

 

 Ok cut shapes out of the felt - google xmas decorations stencils - you will find heaps of inspirations - or you can just do circles like on this christmas garland version I made last night:

Cut out all of your shapes - if you're decorating them then use a little craft glue to hold the pretty blingy bits in place or pin them there.

 

Once ur happy with how they look:

For decoartions - tack a loop of ribbon to wherever u want the hanger to go on ur decoration

For garland - tack the decoration to whatever you're using for the garland - I used ric rack, you could use string, ribbon, even tinsel, whatever floats your boat ;)

Then (for both types) place a piece of felt on the back side ensuring that it is big enough to cover the entire decoration with a little extra around the edges - and sew the pieces together. Trim off the excess back felt leaving a little margin of felt like in the pictures - DONE! Continue til they are all finished :)

This is really a simple craft and because felt is such an easy to work with fabric you can easily do this with children - get the kids to use glue instead of sewing them and you can later sew them together so that they will be long lasting! You can also up the anti and make a really special set of felt ornaments like these or these, a pretty gardland like this or a gorgeous 3D garland like this one. I sewed vintage buttons on to my garland for something a little different (photo to come!) Hit google or pinterest and let yourself be inspired!

Now this year I was really keen to make an advent calendar BUT its only 3 days til it will be time to use an advent calendar so I think I'll end up buying a felt one I saw at Big W. It will last us a few years and by then I might be clever enough to make a really gorgeous one! I'm loving the idea of a reuseable advent calendar with little cards in each pocket with a Christmas activity for us to do as a family - inspiration thanks to Pinterest here - put up the christmas tree, make cookies, go see Santa, look at the Christmas lights, watch a Christmas movie, listen to christmas carols etc. When Pie is older (If her dairy intolerance gets grown out of!) I'm sure she will still want a little advent calendar with chocolates BUT I really want her to enjoy the experience of christmas, not just the presents and junk food!

Another decoration I've 'made' this year is a photo ornament - I got a free one by going here and I plan to make a photo ornament every year - imagine when I'm older and my baby (and her siblings that I hope we will have in years to come) are all grown and have left home and I'll still have all of their beautiful faces throughout the years right there on my xmas tree!

Again I would love to hear about or see any xmas decoration crafting you and your family have been making!

 Jodi xo

Nappy Review - B Cheeks One Size Nappies

Hello world,

 

Tonight I'm going to be talking about B cheeks - which I also love - if you're looking for bad reviews then this isn't the blog to go to BUT my reviews are honest ones so don't think they are just crap, I just don't review products I'm unimpressed by :)

I was lucky to discover B Cheeks when Daily Baby Buys had the PUL ones for half price - I got the VHC (cos I love the VHC) and as soon as I got it I wished I'd gotten the dotty one too cos its such a great user friendly nappy. 

Here's what the website says:

"New BumCheeks One Size Embroidered Nappies will fit your baby from birth right through to Toilet training!

Made from beautiful printed PUL, exclusive to Bumcheeks these nappies have a layer of waterproof PUL inside and a soft suede cloth lining. The pocket has two hidden layers of  fast drying micrfibre and a fold over 2 layer Bamboo Insert. 1 row of 10 snaps and 2 Rise settings mean that they have a large variation in size, 3 snaps on the arms means no wing droop. Soft elastic legs do not leave marks on even the chunkiest thighs. 4-16"

So now for my say: lets start with the outside -

I am now the proud owner of the PUL very hungry caterpillar, the orange minky embroidered VHC and the pink minky embroidered VHC. The embroidered nappies have been discontinued so I won't bother discussing the embroidery (except to say that the VHC is adorabley bright - but you can see that in the pics below!) As mentioned on the website - they have 3 snaps on the arms, this was the first feature I noticed and it made me so happy - wing droopage drives me crazy! The nappy has 3 rise settings and a single row of snaps around the tummy (and as discussed - 3 snaps per arm!). Its elasticated at the back and legs and is front snapping. The back elastic pulls it in really nice and tightly over the butt and its not a very bulky nappy.

Fabrics - the minky colours are so bright! when I opened my package of embroidered VHC I was blown away by the colours and the first thing I told my husband was that they were the brightest coloured nappies I'd seen. He later spotted them hanging on the line and even he commented on how bright they were. The embroidered ones I have, have a thin band of cotton fabric (in this case the VHC spot fabric) across the back of the nappy and spreading down each arm (see below). This is really well stitched and placed to sit nicely both when the nappy is stretched to fit the biggest bubs and cinched in to fit the tiny ones too - and adds a lovely contrast to the look of the nappy.

The PUL is sturdy and soft to touch without feeling too plasticy like some PULs - the print is good too.

 

And now for the inside:

The inside layer is suede cloth. This nappy has a hidden stitched in booster - so its like an AIO with a pocket to add extra boosting power! The hidden microfibre layers are soft and fluffy and if you had to you could use it briefly without the bamboo inserts cos they would soak up a fair bit of wee. 

The pocket is a good stitched down envelope pocket which has enough cross over to keep things concealed and is low enough that you don't have to worry about Daddy or Nanny putting the nappy on with the pocket flaps hanging out over the back! 

The insert is a long fold over bamboo insert which snaps together to make it easier to insert and leaves you with 4 layers of bamboo (plus the 2 layers of microfibre - its a thirsty nappy!) 

Having the fold over insert makes it faster to dry but the nappy shell with the hidden layers of absorbency is a little slower to dry than pocket nappies that don't have this - but faster to dry than your average AIO. If I put them on my drying rack indoors I have to turn them inside outwards and then flip them over a few hours later, to let everything dry - on the line with a bit of a breeze they usually dry fine throughout the day.

The fit:

(Photograph of my beautiful girl by Willowtree moments) Although these nappies don't have gussets or thigh snaps they fit snuggly around Pie's thighs - and they fit well when her thighs were much skinnier too. They sit a little higher than some nappies (Pipers on the shortest rise setting as is 9mo, 8.15kg and 70cm tall) and they are so thirsty that they can go a while without changing - they are a fave for shopping days as they usually see us through the whole trip! You can also buy trifold boosters to use your BCheeks nappies for night nappies (or for really heavy wetters).

Styles - B Cheeks do plain minky colours, denim with cotton printed bands and pul nappies. I haven't tried the plain minky or the denim but from their description I think they are made to the same pattern as the PUL and embroidereds. They also make a newborn cover but I've only seen this on their site. Their current christmas nappies are apliqued minky so I'm crossing my fingers that they might replace the embroidered with appliqued but only time will tell.

You can check them out on facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/B-Cheeks-Modern-Cloth-Nappies/208091333759

And their website:

http://www.bcheeks.com.au/

And here is a list of Aussie stockists too:

http://www.bcheeks.com.au/pages/Australia.html

Jodi xo