a peek inside my head right now

I love being a mum. And I love staying at home with my kids. And I wouldn’t change the way our life is now for the world. But sometimes I can’t help but wonder ‘what if’.

Seeing all my friends finish up another year with their classes, getting excited to see who is going to be in their class next year… I must admit I feel a tad jealous. I taught for a year, but I didn’t get any of that. I loved DE, I loved stretching myself in writing curriculum (I still can’t believe that I achieved writing an entire distance education curriculum for a year level!) and learning about and delivering education in an e-learning context. It was exciting and hard work, but I missed kids. Distance Education is like a whole other job from teaching in a regular classroom, and you miss the part where you actually get to see kids have their ah-huh moments, and for me that’s where a whole lot of the job satisfaction comes from. Seeing a bunch of kids learn and develop soooo many new skills over a period of year, and being able to look back and see how far you’ve brought them. That is something I’m yet to experience, and I yearn for it.

I’m in a weird place in my head, because I love being at home with my kids and don’t want to miss out on this time with them. I’m not begrudging my current life choices, but I just want to know what that feels like. I don’t want to get to the point when all my kids are finally in school and I can go back only to find that my skill set is wrong…. I guess I’m scared that maybe they won’t have me. I have concerns that my only experience since graduating is in distance education and e-learning, and that potential future employers will look at the big gaping hole of classroom and behaviour management experience. I don’t won’t to be pegged into that one field, because as much as I enjoyed my work there, it didn’t give me that vocational satisfaction that I went into this career for.

I’m so proud of my husband. He’s working in a job that, let’s face it, pays far less and has longer hours and shorter holidays than he really could be entitled to as a qualified teacher. And to top that off, he has to do further TAFE study to be qualified properly for the early childhood field (go figure). But he loves his job, and has great job satisfaction and can see himself being a kindergarten educator long term. I think he’s awesome. And as the kindergarten program gains momentum and parents begin to see it’s importance in preparing their children for the Australian Curriculum Prep Year (which is much more akin to what year one used to be than what we remember as ‘preschool’), I know that more and more schools will implement their own kindergarten programs, and it’s not unreasonable to foresee that he could end up teaching in his preferred field in an actual school and getting the award that he really does deserve.

What a ramble. I guess I’m just feeling a bit sad today, and the pessimistic side of me is wondering why I bothered with five years of studying when no one wants me. Which is ridiculous I know. I have chosen the position that I am in right now, and there’s no saying that someone wouldn’t employ me if I started applying for jobs tomorrow. Maybe I’m too scared to in case I do get rejected. Mostly I’m happy to stay at home, but I do want to put my feelers out and keep my skills up to make sure that in a few more years, when I’m ready to get back out there, someone will have me. I am a good teacher. I know that I am. I just need to have a chance to prove it.. to myself mostly.

Until then, I’ll be here window shopping online at postgraduate certificates and diplomas that might help to expand my skillset a little, and next year I’ll get the ball rolling with my Education Queensland registration so that I can try and pick up a bit of supply work and classroom experience, and money to fund said further education (yikes is it expensive!). I’ll be back out there. One day I will. In the meantime I’ll just concentrate on the most important teaching job I’ll ever have: being a Mama.

us right now

I’ve been somewhat of a slack blogger lately, and I thought I’d just pop in a quick update of us, right now.

{Peter}

Peter has been working in Early Childhood almost all year now. He moved over to a new centre not long after Reuben was born, and love love LOVES it. He is the kindergarten teacher, and is thoroughly enjoying almost everything about his work (EC teachers have a LOT of paperwork – he’s not so in love with that!) and adores working with the age group. It makes me so happy to watch him going off to work each morning excited about his days.

He has introduced a lot of great stuff with his kids, including a literacy program – and is so proud that he will be sending almost all of his kids off to Prep next year with the ability to recognise all of their letters, tell you the sounds they make and recognise and write their own names!

Pete came home very excited last week because a brand new mobile interactive whiteboard had been delivered to his room. He mind instantly was full of exciting and engaging learning he could do with his kids using this great tool. Then on Monday this week, he was delivered four iPads and a new laptop also for use in his room! Add this to the mini computer-lab with three PC’s and his kindergarten classroom is more technologically advanced than most primary school classrooms I know of!!

His biggest time consumer at the moment is writing Transition Statements, which are basically like report cards that tell you where your kids are at in regards to the Kindergarten Curriculum before they start school. He has set himself such a high standard with these, and each one takes him hours. It’s paid off though, because he has gotten some really great feedback from his regional director, and been told that his are the best quality of any of the other centres in her care! I believe they’ve even been used as an example to some other teachers who are struggling with what to include.

I’m so proud of him, and all he has achieved and accomplished this year. I love how much he loves his students, and how hard he works to make sure that they are learning and playing and having FUN!

{Me}

As you know, I’m loving life as a stay at home mum. My days are filled with playgroups and playing with my kids, baking for my family and keeping house. I don’t know how I could possibly do everything that I’m doing AND work!

I am eligible to have (unpaid) maternity leave until term 2 in 2014, which is the year that Mayana starts school. Next year is her last at home, and I really don’t want to miss out on this special time with her. I have decided that I won’t be returning to work in 2013, at least on a full time basis. I’m considering putting in for relief work at some local schools, but only being available 1-2 days a week. I’m still undecided as to what I will end up doing in 2014… who knows, maybe by then we’ll be ready for a Baby Three!

I’ve also started doing Mary Kay. This is mainly because myself and my mum and sisters have fallen in love with the product, but it’s also turned out to be a great way to meet people and get out of the house and talk to adults (you know what I mean Mums, right?) and make a bit of pocket money. It’s just something a bit fun on the side.

Now that we’re mostly settled in our new home, I have a hankering to get back into my sewing and maybe see what I can do in reviving my little online business. We’ll see. I don’t want to get too deep into anything other than being a Mama for my two kids. They are definitely my number one priority.

{Mayana}

Mayana is growing up at an unbelievable rate. My heart hurts a little when I think about her turning four in a few short months. She’s definitely not my baby anymore.

She’s a genuinely delightful little girl, and I love spending time with her. She’s a real girl, and loves princesses and mermaids and fairies and all things pink. This year she has done a dance class on Tuesday afternoons, and her year’s work culminated in a concert last Sunday. I don’t think I’m being biased, but I’m pretty sure she was the cutest little dancer in her class. While not the youngest in her group, she is certainly the smallest, and just looks so darn cute in a little fluffy tutu, even if she is half a step behind everyone all the time!

Mayana still loves to learn, and is enthralled by letters. She is always saying things like, “dog…. d-dog starts with d. Dippy Duck (a letterland character for the letter d). What else starts with Dippy Duck? d-dump truck, d-dimple……” and so on. She’s so clever, I just want to do everything I can to stretch and challenge her and  make sure she doesn’t lose her love for learning.

Mayana still is at kindy two days a week. She really enjoys playing, and is benefiting from the social aspect of dealing with kids her own age. Next year she will advance to the Kindergarten room, and I’m looking forward to seeing how she enjoys that new level of learning. She’s already excited about going to Prep when she ‘gets five’, even though it makes me a bit teary thinking about it – yep, I think I’m going to be one of those parents!

For now though, I’m enjoying this all-to-short period of Mayana, my little girl, who still calls me mummy and loves nothing more than climbing into my lap with a book or six.

{Reuben}

This boy is also growing at a rate of knots. He’ll be seven months next week, and I’ll do a big post all about him then. He’s just delightful, and developing a very spunky personality. He’s baby-hood is whizzing by and I’m afraid that if I blink I’m going to miss it!! Like I said, lots more about our ReubsCubes and how he’s going next week!

So there you go, you’re all caught up!!

What have you been up to?

Mama to two

It’s an interesting thing, being at home with two kids. I love it. Love it sooooooo much. And I’m learning how to balance my time so that my kids get equal shares of me, and the house keeps running, food keeps appearing… and I get a little bit of time to myself as well.

Mayana has been an absolute trooper since Reuben was born. When I was pregnant I was told plenty of horror stories about jealousy, and to be prepared for Mayana to really act out as she adjusted to this big change.

We have had a few rough weeks here and there, and there have been times when Mayana has tested my patience, but overall, Mayana has really taken this whole big-sister thing well in her stride. She hasn’t shown any jealousy at all really, and absolutely adores her baby brother.

That aside though, I know that she craves my attention, and I know that I could probably try a little harder to do more with her and make some wonderful memories for her.

Now that Reuben is sleeping predictably through the day, and his feeding has settled into a routine, I really want to make a conscious effort to devote more time to Mayana.. and one-on-one time when possible. It dawned on me last week that next year is the last year of Mayana being home before she starts school. That hit me pretty hard. As much as I loved working, and love that Pete got to have an awesome year at home with his girl, I feel like I missed a lot last year. The year that Mayana was two… it was really her last year of being a ‘baby’ and I missed most of it. If I’m being honest that does make me feel pretty sad. I don’t want to have any regrets about this season of Mayana at home. Especially since I have the opportunity to be at home with her right now. I want to make the absolute most of it, and have her look back on these days with a smile in her heart.

Mayana loves to make and to learn and to do things with me. Sometimes its as easy as pulling out her rice tub or getting into her play kitchen for some imaginary pancakes.. but she also likes to do craft (and lots of it) and other hands-on activities. I want to be able to provide some great experiences for her, and have lots of fun and do lots of learning in the process.

Pinterest is an absolute wealth of ideas and information (and a lot of fun and a little addictive), and I’ve been trying to use it more productively lately to find some fun things I can do with my girl.

The problem with Pinterest though is that you tend to find and collate all these fabulous ideas, and then they just kinda sit there, and you think, “Oh I was going to do something really cool that I saw on Pinterest… what was it again?”. So my plan is to not let that happen anymore.

I’ve made this cute printable to keep on the fridge. When we find things that look fun (Mayana likes to pinterest with me on the iPad), we’ll not only pin them, we’ll write them on our list. And when we’re looking for inspiration for things to do, we’ll know exactly where to look! If you like it, you can click on the picture to download a PDF file of it. You could even laminate it and use a whiteboard marker to write your ideas and wipe them off when they’re done.

I want to make Mayana a part of this, with her helping to choose the things that are on the list and then picking activities that interest her. I don’t want to structure our time or make any type of rigid schedule or to-do list, just a reminder of the things we’ve talked about and thought would be fun. Bringing pinterest to life! And having fun with my favourite girl in the process.

Can’t wait!

20 Days to Organise & Clean Your Home // Week 2

day six

Today’s task was all about bathrooms. We have two in our house, and while I keep them tidy I haven’t given them a ‘deep clean’ in quite a while. So I grabbed my trusty cleaning caddy and set to work.

I think I mentioned last week that I’ve been using a water and eucalyptus oil mix for a fair bit of my cleaning lately. This really does a great job in the shower. I spray it on, leave it for a few minutes, and with a bit of elbow grease it gets rid of all that gross soap and hard water build up very well. Plus it has the added bonus of clearing sinuses!

I’ve also discovered Aldi’s cleaning wipes. They sell at $2.49 for a pack of 40, and they have different wipes for general surface cleaning, glass and bathroom. The bathroom ones are flushable, and work brilliantly. I used these to clean my vanity and toilet, and to give the shower a quick wipe-over when I was done with my scrubbing. The glass ones also do a lovely job on mirrors.

Bathroom One

Mayana got involved in cleaning the bathtub in our second bathroom. She stripped off, and I gave her the Eucalyptus oil spray, a scrubbing brush and a pair of gloves (she insisted) and off she went. She definitely had lots of fun, even if I did have to give the bath another once-over when she was done

Katrina also asked us to declutter our bathroom vanity and get rid of any products that were past their shelf life. We don’t really have much of a vanity but I did give our little bathroom cabinet a good once over and culled a plastic bag full of things I no longer wanted or needed.

day seven

Today was fridge day. I was actually looking forward to this day because boy did my fridge need doing! I pulled everything out of the fridge and and removeable piece came out too. I culled anything that was out of date or that was, you know, growing its own ecosystem. I washed every piece of the fridge with warm soapy water and scrubbed the inside of it so until it was sparkling clean and smelling pretty.

Then it all went back in, in a very organised fashion. I liked Katrina’s idea of not putting fruit and veg in the crisper. I’ve never found that our crisper lived up to its name to quite honest with you. I can’t afford schmancy tupperware containers, but I got myself some Decor fridge containers (half price at Big W people!) and am storing my veg in there instead. I actually had started cutting up things like celery and carrots when I’d bought them a few months ago, and found that they lasted waaaay longer cut up and stored in an air-tight container than they did in the so-called crisper.

I’ve always used baskets in my fridge so that things are easier to get to and I don’t have to reshuffle two thousand jars to find that pesky crushed garlic. I have one basket for condiments (sauces etc), one for things I use often in my cooking (garlic, tomato paste, hell sauce etc) and one for things I don’t need to use all that often (curry pastes, pickled ginger etc). That’s on the top shelf, along with the little deli caddy that comes with our fridge that is now being used for cheeses. Our middle shelf is for drinks that don’t fit in the door and left-overs, and down the bottom is now the home of my fruit and veg. As you can see I took this pic before purchasing my new containers. It looks so much prettier now. Oh and we have that deli drawer right up the top. That has medications and is the secret hiding place of a little box of treats (Mayana can’t reach that shelf!!).

In the door are our drinks, some sauces that are too tall for the shelves, Mayana’s lactose free milk and a shelf for Reuben’s bottles (did you know that current WHO recommendations are to make up your bottles on boiling water at the beginning of the day and refrigerate immediately, and reheat just before serving. You’re not even supposed to sterilise your bottles anymore.. apparently it’s pointless because the formula itself is not sterile.. hence the need to make up the bottles with boiling water in the first place!) Because we get three fresh eggs delivered to our door every day (literally, the chooks have taken to laying in a cardboard box outside the back door), there are always far more than would fit in the fridge. Plus I prefer to have them at room temperature anyway, and they live in a crystal bowl on the kitchen table. So I use the designated egg-spot for our butter and big block of cheese instead.

We were also asked to declutter our cookbooks today, but since ours live on a shelf on our pantry I had already done that as part of our pantry task last week. Oh, and we also had to do meal planning.. but I’m already in that habit as a part of my budgeting from the uni-bum days!

day eight

Today we were asked to clean a toy room, craft room, spare room or second living area. We have the first two of those in our home. The craft room is in a horrifying state, and I couldn’t face the thought of attacking that on my own with two kids in tow, so I chose the first one: the toy room.

I actually did a de-clutter of this back when we changed it from Mayana’s room to the playroom. It really just needed tidying and reorganising. Now that Reuben is showing a bit more interest in things, and I’m sure is only a few months off being on the move (eeek!) I wanted to make sure there was an accessible place for him and his things. A lot of the toys Mayana has will be for both of them, but I feel it is important for them each to have some special things that are just theirs.

Mayana helped me with this room, mainly by keeping her brother entertained, and it was greatly appreciated.

I also did a declutter and tidy up of the little end of our living space that serves as our ‘office desk’. It’s really my old dressing table from when I was a kid, but it suits the space and serves us well. You wouldn’t believe how much crap I got rid of from this tiny space!

This was the day that we got an awful letter in our mailbox, informing us that we will have to move out of our home in November as our owners are wanting to renovate and sell. It was a sad day, as we love this home and have lived in it for less than twelve months, after having this very same happen to us when I was pregnant with Reuben last year. We were pretty devastated and I considered giving up on this challenge as I felt that it was a waste of time and I had no motivation to continue prettifying a house that was no longer ‘mine’. After sleeping on it and coming around to the idea of moving though, I realised that I should definitely continue, because decluttering and cleaning our home in this two months is going to make moving and the bond clean a much easier and less stressful process.

day nine

Today I really had a bit of a day off. The cleaning task for today was ceiling fans, and the five minute task as to dust the lights. Our house has twelve foot ceilings, and I am five foot flat with no ladder, so this task was definitely not for me. Situations like that should definitely be left up to husbands!

The declutter task was to tidy a junk drawer. I don’t really have a junk drawer in this house – well aside from the drawers on my computer table that I had cleaned yesterday anyway I suppose.. so I decided to declutter the top of my ‘glory box’ cupboard that sits in our dining room. It had a lot of strange and random things on it and definitely needed a tidy.

The last order of business was the ‘organise’ task, which asked us to reoganise our diary or calendar for the rest of the year. Peter and I already have a system in place, using the Google calendar with our g-mail account, and have it sync with both of our phones, the iPad and our computers. It works so well for us – I would highly recommend it if you don’t have a system already!

day ten

I groaned when I opened up today’s task and saw a picture of an oven. Then giggled as I read Katrina’s words,  “I’m sure I’m hearing moans all over at the moment”.

I hate cleaning the oven! I’ve only ever done it with a commercial oven cleaner which absolutely made me feel ill. So I was rather relieved when I read on and discovered that Katrina had an alternative way of doing it, using bicarb soda, vinegar and napisan! (yes really!) Oh my word. I am never EVER buying that putrid oven cleaning chemical EVER again. Seriously. This way worked so well.. way better than I thought it was. It required hardly any scrubbing, and has left my oven looking pretty much brand new. I am so impressed.

While we were waiting for the bicarb and vinegar to do its thing in the oven, we were meant to declutter two of our kitchen cupboards. I actually did this recently – one cupboard a couple of weeks ago because nothing in it had any specific place it belonged and it was driving me CRAZY. And my ‘Tupperware’ (in inverted commas because I pretty much own maybe two actual Tupperware products) cupboard I did on the same day as the fridge, out of necessity… because you know all those ecosystem-growing-leftovers that I talked about? Well they were in plastic containers that wouldn’t fit in my cupboard no matter how hard I tried to force the door shut. So I culled and organised that then. Luckily really, because I ended up having a stupid crazy day with a son getting an awful allergic reaction and heading to emergency and all the rest of it. (More on that another day).

this week’s verdict

My house is looking awesome. The only rooms that are seriously looking left out are the kid’s room and our making room. The routines and new habits that I’m putting in place are doing wonders to the running of our household and to my peace of mind. I feel so much more relaxed in my beautifully clean home, and I love knowing what I need to do each day to keep things going. For the first time since I started maternity leave the washing pile isn’t overwhelming me. I like having a plan, and knowing that I only have to wash one load each day and it’s never going to end up on top of me if I just keep plodding along at it. I’m finding it all much easier to maintain now that I’ve gone the hard yards and gotten it to such a great point.

I’m so so so disappointed that I’m only going to be here to enjoy it for another two months or so. But like I said, I’m going to reap the benefits of this in our moving and cleaning too. And hopefully moving into a new home I can set things up in the same way from the get-go and we’ll not end up in that place with half-unpacked rooms and clutter and the rest of it. I’m trying to see the bright side here, okay?

Looking forward to seeing what’s happening next week!

20 Days To Organise & Clean Your Home // Week 1

Just a word of warning. This post is slightly epic. But I’m really proud of everything I’ve done this week, and I want to show it off!

day one

Our first challenge was the kitchen.  We needed to clean and declutter (focussing on the kitchen surfaces), and organise under the kitchen sink.

Pete and I actually had done a mini kitchen overhaul on the weekend, and gotten rid of a few things that we didn’t need anymore. The job still kept me fairly busy though, as I scrubbed and swept and got rid of even MORE stuff. It felt really good actually, and I was very proud of the end result.

Looking spick and span, and scrubbed within an inch of its life! (just FYI, I actually don’t keep anything under the kitchen sink except for the cleaning caddy I bought myself for this challenge so I didn’t need to do that part of the challenge).

Our five minute challenge for the day was to tidy one bookshelf. I chose the one that’s in my main living space. I was surprised how much I got done in the 5 minutes, including straightening things out and dusting my pretty things on top. It’s amazing how productive you can be when you give a set amount of time to it!

day two

Tuesday’s focus room was the main bedroom. Boy oh boy. This was one room I was seriously dreading. It was completely shameful. When we moved last year, I was still working and Pete did most of the unpacking and arranging of our home. Our bedroom got fairly left behind, and was never really unpacked properly. Then Pete started working full time too, and then Reuben was born.. and it just never got done, and it was really out of hand. I don’t think any of our friends have ever seen our bedroom, because I was too embarrassed to show them! So erm, there is no before shot for this room.

It was a big job. I got lucky, and both the kids had a HUGE day sleep, so I got almost three hours to just get in there and do it. I was actually surprised that that’s all it took. I must admit, I didn’t deal with all the clothes that were on the floor. They all got put in baskets and relocated for later. In fact, Pete has said that that will be his contribution to the cleaning of our room (suits me!). I got a broom and scooped up all the other clutter and stuff that was on the floor and under the bed and then I started sorting. I couldn’t get over how much of the kid’s stuff was in my room… clothes and books and toys. I don’t know how or when it got there, but I filled nearly two baskets with it! I also chucked away a heap of stuff, and did a whole lot of sorting. I can tell you I had mega hay-fever by the end of it. Again, I was pleasantly surprised by how quickly I was able to get such a big task done when I just put my head down and went for it. I even vacuumed and mopped the floor. The task called for cleaning, decluttering of bedroom surfaces and organising the bedside table drawer. Our bedside tables don’t have drawers, but I did organise my dressing table drawers instead.

I think this is the first time since we moved into this house that you’ve been able to see the surface of my dressing table. It’s so good to feel organised… and to be able to find my makeup in the mornings!

The kids woke up just before I vacuumed, and posed for a photo on my freshly made bed (including washed sheets, thank you very much!). I later went and bought two more pillows and put on the cases that go with our bedspread. In today’s post, Katrina had suggested that decorative cushions make a bed look fabulous… but at $6.00 for two, a couple of extra pillows have done the job just as well! And she’s right, it does make a big difference!

day three

Today’s room was the laundry. I didn’t get to it until much later in the day, as I had a big and busy day with two appointments for Reuben – one was needles and he was pretty clingy for the rest of the day!

I got there eventually though, and the job only took me about an hour – including all of the times I had to see to Reuben who wasn’t handling not being held.

Our laundry is downstairs under our house. It’s the first place we’ve ever lived where the laundry wasn’t just a tap and a sink in a corner of the garage, and I love it. It sometimes feels inconvenient though, and I feel like it would be easier to pop in and get stuff done if I didn’t have to leave the kids upstairs on their own to go down or lug the baby and the baskets of clothes down when I want to do work down there. So it probably does get neglected a little.. though I have been trying harder to keep on top of Mount Washmore!

I am in love with Katrina’s laundry sorting system, and maybe one day when we visit Ikea or somewhere similar I’ll be able to implement something similar, but for now I’m going to have to go with a line of laundry baskets up against the wall.

I scrubbed the sink, wiped the benches, cleaned the floors and walls, and sorted my piles. I even found some linen for the cot that I thought I had lost! When I was done it looked like this:

The ‘organise’ part of today’s challenge was to create a laundry routine. I loved Katrina’s idea of having some wall art in the laundry room as a reminder, so I made these:

So I guess the ongoing part of today’s task is to stick to it, and keep that laundry churning baby. Maybe once I feel on top of that I’ll get brave enough to bring out my cloth nappies again!

day four

Today it was time to hit the lounge room. I had done a reasonable tidy yesterday in preparation for a house inspection, but I knew I did have to do some decluttering and dusting.

Once Mayana was at kindy, I popped Reuben in his Jolly Jumper and set to it. I moved furniture and dusted and polished and vacuumed (floors and couches!)… I couldn’t believe the things I found behind and under the couch! Seriously, I have found so many things this week that I thought were long gone – it’s been great! The only task that I haven’t been able to do in each room is cleaning the light fittings and fans. We have twelve-foot ceilings, and I am about five foot flat and don’t own a ladder. I’m gonna leave that to my hubby to figure out!

The biggest yuck in the lounge room was the weird corner I have between our two couches. We have our DVD cupboard in there, and it’s also where I keep Mayana’s crocodile beanbag, Pete’s heated throw, and let’s face it – a whole bunch of my crafting (crochet) crap. One of the goals that I had for this overall challenge was to organise my crafting supplies and get rid of excess stuff. I have a box in the lounge room that is meant to be for my current project/s (there’s never just one!), but of course it is always overflowing with other balls of wool that I ‘might use soon’. I do have a set of drawers in my making room that is meant to house yarn that is not being currently used for a project, but for whatever reason (presumably laziness) it never quite gets there. So today, I attacked that damn corner. I found partly finished projects, completed projects, wool that could go back to the making room (two plastic bags full!! eek!) and lots of bits and pieces that I really didn’t need anymore. Now I really do only have my current projects in my crochet box, and it’s the only thing in my corner … no more bags full of escaping wool.. no more mess! It looks great, and I feel more organised, and I guess that’s the point.

In case you’re wondering, the two black tubs in the corner of the top photo belong to the kids. Whenever I find anything of Mayana’s lying around the house, it goes in her crate. The idea is that she is meant to clean it out each afternoon/evening or whatever’s in it will mysteriously disappear (I’ve threatened the bin but that probably isn’t true). Reuben’s box usually holds only a couple of things that I use to entertain him when he plays on his mat through the day. As you can see both of the boxes are today overflowing with the things I have found in my bedroom and the lounge room that belong to Mayana. She’ll be going through that when she gets home from Kindy.

And there’s my previously horrid little corner. Cleaned out, vacuumed, dusted and looking spick and span.

day five

I can’t believe I’m one week through the challenge! It’s exciting knowing that I’ve got the weekend ‘off’ to spend with the family, and enjoy our sparkling home.

In between baking a cake to take to Pete’s work, I spent part of the morning decluttering the pantry. I actually did a major pantry overhaul only a few weeks ago, so really today I was just honing my storage system and doing a general quick tidy. I adore my pantry, and it feels good to have it neat!

Today’s cleaning task was the floors. Vacuuming and mopping. I have to tell you, that with a home whose floors are polished wood throughout, I was not so excited about this challenge. I’m not the hugest fan of mopping. I also had a few other things on today, and a baby who had decided after a fantastic week of day-sleeps that sleep is, in fact, for the weak. Fun times.

But after a healthy does of procrastination I bit the bullet and got to work.

I vacuumed the entire house first (well except the playroom. The playroom needs some work before it’s ready to see a vacuum cleaner… what was that about the weekend off again? *le sigh*). Vacuuming is an okay job with our fabulous Dyson. An added bonus was that the sound of the vacuum cleaner seems to put Reuben to sleep… and that’s a pretty good incentive on days like today.

For mopping, I used Katrina’s idea and used hot water and about half a cup of vinegar. I also added two capfuls of eucalyptus oil, partly because it smells flipping awesome, and partly because it gives a really nice shine to our polished timber floors. We for some reason don’t have an actual mop bucket (might have to rectify this) so I got creative and used the baby bath instead… whatever works huh?

So I mopped myself into the computer chair and I’m typing while the floors dry. Now the floors are shining and there’s a delicious smell of Eucalyptus in the air and I’m sweating like a pig and feeling like I just did a crazy workout but also very satisfied.

the verdict

I’m feeling really happy with myself and my house after this week’s efforts. My husband has been really impressed when he’s come home from work each day, and we’ve both looked forward to the afternoon’s emails telling us what’s on for the following day. I know some people have been after a list with everything that’s coming up, but I personally enjoy the anticipation of working day to day. I am really glad I’m a stay at home mum at this moment, I’m almost positive that I would not have the energy required to complete this task if I was working full time at the moment.

Even our three year old daughter has gotten in on the act, and has added a few new chores to her repertoire this week. Now not only does she help with unstacking the dishwasher, she also puts her own plates and cups and utensils in there after she finishes eating. She also now has the job of doing the dustpan and brush after I’ve swept. Today she even sat down next to me and helped me fold some of the clothes I’d gotten off the line! What a little star!

I feel like I’m doing a great job at maintaining what I’ve done so far. I’ve kept right on top of the kitchen and the bedroom and they look as good today as the days that I cleaned them. I’m also getting into the swing of my new laundry weekend.

I think this challenge was exactly what I needed to get motivated. Having this seemingly mammoth job of spring-cleaning a house broken down into daily tasks makes it seem much more manageable and less overwhelming. So thanks very much, Organised Housewife. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate it.

Getting my {domestic} Goddess on…

So I’ve mentioned before that since I started this stay at home mum gig, I’ve been working really hard on my sweet domestic skillz.

I’ve been doing okay. I’m figuring out routines that work for us, trying my darnedest to keep on top of the dreaded and ever-growing Mount Washmore, and giving it my best shot to keep at least the living area of my home as tidy as I can. When I succeed I feel really, really good… and I want to do better.

So when my friend Amy posted on instagram about this fabulous challenge that has been put out there by the uber organised Kat of The Organised Houswife, my interest was piqued. And when I read a bit more and discovered that the challenge included beautiful printable, checklists, list-making, and a ring-binder folder… I was hooked!

Long story short, I’m officially on board for the ‘20 Days to Organise and Clean Your Home’ challenge (see, it’s in the sidebar over there –>). Each week I’m going to give a wrap-up on my blog of the challenges, and how I’ve gone with them. I’m pretty excited, but it is only day one. If the feeling of pride I had when I completed the first task today is anything to go by… well, it’s gonna be a great four weeks (you only have challenges on week days, in case you’re wondering how twenty days turns into four weeks). Maybe by the end of it I’ll even achieve actual Domestic Goddess status.

Like I said, today was only day one, but last week was full of pre-challenge tasks, that mostly consisted of printing out the cute printable and popping them in my cute folder (have I ever mentioned how much I adore organisational stationery? I nearly die when I walk into Kikki-K).

First tasks were to buy the folder and the tabbed inserts (oh love) and to stock up your cleaning kit. I didn’t buy all of the things that were recommended, because I like to use mostly eucalyptus oil (I cannot get over how well it cleans the shower!) or vinegar and bicarb soda for a lot of my cleaning. I did pick up some of the cleaning wipes (surface wipes, bathroom wipes and glass wipes) from Aldi though. Super cheap, and they work so well. Anyway, I got my kit together and it’s sitting in its cute little caddy under the kitchen sink.

Next up was getting together some routines…

It’s really important to me that Pete is part of this. He’s very keen for us to be doing this challenge together, and we have always been equally involved in ‘keeping house’. I’ve actually tweaked both of these routines after sticking them for a couple of days and figuring out things that did and didn’t work. We’ve always had a ‘kinda routine’ for mornings and evenings, but having actually sat down and talked about how it would work has made a huge difference… especially in the amount of rushing we no longer do in the mornings. It’s lovely actually.

The last challenge of the week was to write down some goals that we want to get out of this challenge, following some prompts that Kat gave us.

Here’s mine:
1. I want to feel relaxed and house-proud when I’m at home.
2. I want to spend more time playing with my kids.
3. I want an area of the home where I can make and learn with Mayana, and run my kid’s art group from.
4. I want to organise the making room!
5. I always lose my motivation.
6. Something I don’t need anymore but am having trouble parting with is excess crafting supplies.

So… we’re off and running, and I am actually really excited about this. I love the fact that every morning I’ll wake up to an email with some instructions and lists of things that I need to do and can tick off. That works for me. I’m most productive when I’m working off a list… and there is nothing more awesome than crossing things off!

If you want to join in.. it’s not too late! Just click here and subscribe (it’s free!)

Being at Home

Can you believe Reuben is only 15 weeks old and people are already asking me if I’m ready to go back to work yet. Admittedly it’s mostly people from work… I can’t help it if I’m just so wonderful that they can’t go on without me! But there are a few who are seriously asking if I’m over it.

In a word, the answer is no. I am not a career-driven type of person. I love my work, and I get great satisfaction from it, but nothing can beat being a full time Mama. It’s seriously awesome. And busy. And much, much different and more work with two than it ever was with one.

But I honestly really love it. People wonder what a stay-at-home-mum does all day… well I can tell you that my days don’t include Oprah or Doctor Phil.

So here’s a snapshot of what my life as a stay at home mum looks like.

Every day, we get up and have breakfast together as a family. If it is sunny, we go out to the veranda, which is the warmest place in our house on a cold wintery morning. We all hang out and chat together and Pete gets lots of cuddles before he heads off to work. Once he’s gone, I get the kitchen tidied up, and often Reuben will go down for a nap… it depends what is on that day. I have found that having a certain ‘thing’ that we do on each day helps to put some routine and structure into our days, and Mayana especially likes to know what is going to happen each day.

On Monday’s, Mayana and I ‘do learning’. This means that we do our letter of the week in our alphabet book, and do some pages out of whichever of her ‘learning books’ takes her fancy that day (these are just a collection of various number/letter/preschool activity books that I have picked up around the place…. she adores them). I try to do some kind of art project in this time as well.

This week we worked on the letter ‘B’

Sometimes this is cut short if Reuben decides to have a short nap, but we pick it up later in the day or work around him. Monday’s are fairly cruisy. I catch up on washing and housework. We often will go for a walk down to town to do some errands. We try to go for a walk most days. We don’t live far from town, and it does all three of us good to be out in the fresh air. Sometimes I put Reuben in the sling and push Mayana in the pram, but a lot of the time she would prefer to walk. I sometimes can’t get over just how far she can go.. she rarely runs out of steam! If I need something little from the shops, I find it easier in some ways to walk to town than to get the kids in and out of the car and find a park. Plus the exercise feels good! 

Reuben generally has three naps a day, with one of them usually being a good long one. He is usually happy to have these wherever we are, but I do like to try and let him have at least one of his naps in his own bed. Mondays are probably the only day that he gets to have all of them at home.

Tuesdays are our busiest days. We have Mainly Music (a singing dancing playgroup with a killer morning tea) in the mornings. Mayana loves this.

Mayana likes to be up the front ‘helping’ Petrina show everyone how it’s done.

Lately we have been walking to Music.. it is about a 10 minute walk around the corner. We leave for this at the time I usually put Reuben down for his nap. I find that if I put Reuben in the ‘magic sling’ (which is what we call my Moby Wrap because of its magic ability to immediately put Reuben to sleep), he will nod off before I’m out of the driveway, and stay asleep for the whole music part of the morning.. waking just in time for his mid-morning feed at morning tea time. Perfect! If we need to go to town for anything, we will do that after music, but usually we just go straight home. This week I had a few things to get in town, and we went for a big walk. I ended up with two sleeping children, and treated myself to a thickshake to celebrate!

A sleeping Mayana? Unheard of!!

On Tuesday night Once Upon a Time is on TV. Mayana adores this show, and the deal is that if she has a sleep she can stay up and watch it (the mummy-censored version which often includes a lot of blankets over heads and blocked ears). Her having a sleep also helps her to be a little more focussed for her dance class on Tuesday afternoons. Her classes are at my school, and we often go a little earlier so that I can pop in and say hi to my friends at work. They like to see Mr Reuben, and are all wrapped around Mayana’s little finger.

We usually make it home from dancing a little while before Pete. Every day when Pete gets home from work, he takes the kids for a bath. It is nice to have a little bit of ‘me-time’ at the end of each day, and Pete laps up the short parts of the day he gets to spend with his kids. I will often go for a shower and then get dinner started. I feed Reuben after his bath and pop him into bed. He’s usually asking to go to bed by about 6.30pm. Once he’s down we have dinner together.

On Wednesdays we go to the library. Our local library runs a fantastic ‘Storytime’ program for free. It includes singing and a story, followed by a craft. Mayana loves it, and I’m super impressed by how good the program is.

Getting our craft on at the library.

We usually drive down to that, but this week Pete took the car so we walked. I hadn’t walked to the library before and was surprised that it only took us about 20 minutes. I think providing the weather is good, we might make that more of a habit too. One of the best things about the library program is that it runs in three sessions.. at 9.30, 10.30 and 11.30. So depending on how our morning goes, will are generally guaranteed to have one session that will work for us.

We do our grocery shopping every second Wednesday. I like to wait for Pete to get home from work and do it together, as I have NOT enjoyed the times that I have done groceries on my own with two kids. When we are all together, of course they are both perfectly behaved angels… last night for example I had Reuben asleep in the trolley and Mayana very helpfully collecting items from the shelves as directed. But when I am on my own either one or both of them spends at least half of the time screaming, and I end up very on edge and snapping at the other and making everything worse. So it is better for everyone’s general health and safety to have two parents on hand for grocery shopping.

Thursday and Friday are Mayana’s kindy days. She loves kindy and gets a lot out of it. She goes to a brilliant centre, with wonderful teachers, and I feel that for her, the social experience that she gets to have with other children and without me present is very beneficial for her. As an eldest child, she has spent most of her life around adults, and it does her good to learn how to interact with little people her own age .

On Thursdays our town has a market. I like to buy fresh produce and beautiful flowers from the markets, and Mayana likes the popcorn stand which hands out free samples. We will often leave not long after Pete does and pop through the markets before I take Mayana to Kindy. Once she is dropped off, Reuben and I come home and get things done. Thursdays are a good day to get lots of washing and jobs done without a Mayana underfoot. I can never get over how different it feels to just have one at home with me!

Market flowers!

Fridays, after Mayana gets taken to Kindy, I head into town with Reuben to visit Alison, our wonderful health nurse. Reuben and I often pop into a coffee shop afterwards, and occasionally we get invited to a playgroup by one of our friends. The rest of the day I tend to have a ‘me’ day. I mean, of course Reuben is there, and I have to tend to him --- which oftentimes doesn’t leave much time for me at all… but I just don’t do too much. I might read a little, or catch up on some crochet, or bake, or just play with my boy. I pick Mayana up at around 3-ish and we sometimes go on an afternoon tea date. And then Papa gets home and it’s the weekend!!

So no, being at home is not boring. It couldn’t be more busy and I can't imagine fitting work in with all of this! At this point I can’t figure out which day/s I’d be willing to sacrifice to even go back to work. Pete and I are still in discussion about our plans for me for next year. I have a bit more praying to do about it… give me another few months and I’ll get back to you.

For now, I’m just revelling in this season of being a stay at home mum, and thanking God every day that I’m blessed enough to be able to do it!

Out and About

When you have a baby, your life can quite easily slip into revolving around them. You like to be home for sleep time, be somewhere convenient for feed time… and before you know it you find yourself housebound.

I tend to go a bit crazy when that happens to me. I get mopey and over it – especially if the weather is foul like it has been so often lately! I need to talk to big humans, and to be out, having a life. This week I’ve been making more of an effort to do that. I’ve been walking into town, exploring parts of of it that I haven’t before, and enjoying the fresh air and exercise.

Today, I got really brave. I decided to take the two kids off to the beach (and for a spot of shopping) on my own for the day. Eeek!

I let Reuben have his morning sleep nap at home, then off we set. First we went to a shop that my sister discovered a few weeks ago, that sells all types of bulk food.. grains, bread mixes, flours, dried fruits, nuts, lollies…. it’s all kinds of great. I loved looking at everything, even if I was slightly distracted by the baby strapped to the front of me sleeping (see we don’t have to be at home after all!), and the three year old who wanted to touch everything. The bribe promise of the beach was enough to keep her going, and before too long we were off!

It was such a beautiful sunshiny day today. Mayana was insistent that it was a warm summer day, but the water definitely reassured us all that it’s still definitely winter.

We sat on the grass near the sand, and Mayana ran on the beach and collected shells and built “tainer castles” (with her container, since we left her bucket at home), and chased the ducks (who were actually seagulls) and had the time of her life.

After a feed, Reuben laid happily on his blanket, in the shade of his pram and enjoyed the feeling of grass and sand between his toes for the first time ever. My poor winter baby has very rarely been barefooted, and he seemed quite happy to be sock-free for a while!

Mayana came back for the occasional snuggle, and to tell ‘Reubsi-Cubes’ that when he got a big boy he could play in the sand with her too!

Reuben didn’t seem to bothered by the fact that he was confined to his blanket though.

While Mayana played, he got uninterrupted Mama time.

Before we left, Reuben and I wandered down onto the sand so Mayana could show us some highlights. These included a large piece of driftwood that Mayana was convinced was the tail of a big huge whale. It did in fact look quite whale-tail like.

Reuben loved poking his toes into the warm sand, and cried when I picked him up.

Mayana gathered her spoils, and I told her that she could choose three pieces to take home with us to add to the incredibly large amount of shells that she already owns.

I had such a lovely time with my favourite kids today, and I’m going to keep my eyes and mind on the memories of the beach… and not the scream-fest that happened when we got home. This was the second afternoon in a row that I’ve ended up with half an hour of two screaming crying children who desperately need to sleep and yet refuse to. But. I’m not going to think about that. I’m going to think about sun and sand and waves crashing and smiling babies with happy toes and carefree three year olds laughing and twirling and running.

It’s a much prettier picture.

{3 Months}

My darling Reuben

I can hardly believe that three months has gone already. You are such a part of our lives sweet boy, that it’s hard to imagine that you’ve only been around for thirteen weeks.

This months it feels like you have ‘grown up’ so much. You no longer live by a cycle of eat-poop-sleep. You have lots of happy awake time now, and you are learning new things every day. You smile a lot. Especially at strangers. You are such a flirt when we are out and about, and I even have shopkeepers asking for cuddles!!

You are getting bigger, slowly but surely. You are a bit over 4.5kg now, not too far from doubling your birth weight. When I look back at your sister’s weight records, she was nearly a full kilo lighter at this age than you… so people who give me a hard time about how small you are don’t know what small is!

Baby Maysi

Baby Reuben..

You’ve put yourself into a bit of routine lately. It’s quite flexible – it has to be because unfortunately our days cannot always revolve around you! However you are happy to have your sleeps in the pram, car or sling (oh how you love the sling!), and even if we’re out you still follow your little routine to a degree.

You had been almost sleeping through the night, but over the last week you have reverted to waking a few times (last night was more than a few times *yawn*) to feed. Our lovely child health nurse, Alison, assures me that you are right on schedule for a growth spurt, and that you are busy working on increasing my milk supply. I hope you’re done with that soon!

Another fun thing you have learned this month is that you can control your hands! You think they’re just great, and you delight in getting various fingers and/or thumbs into your mouth and having a good old chew and suck. Sometimes you get a bit over zealous and stab yourself in your gums with your nails, or make yourself gag but shoving your hands too far inside your mouth. When this happens you look at me as if it were my fault!

You also like to grab things with your hands. Sometimes it’s my hands (or Papa’s or whoever happens to be holding onto you), and they also tend to go straight into your mouth for a munch. Just in the last few days you’ve shown a lot more interest in your toys, and you like to hit or grab them or, of course, put them in your mouth.

Playing with your toys in the car…

You are drooling like crazy, and when I had a look in your mouth the other day I spotted two tiny white teeth under the surface of your lower gum. Mayana cut her first teeth at around four months, I wonder if you will beat her, or if those teeth will sit there taunting us for a few more months!

While you smile freely and often, you still haven’t figured out how to laugh yet, and I am so looking forward to the day when you do. You like to make happy coos every now and again, but you’re not much of a chatterbox just yet (give you time, I’m sure!)

Mayana is still one of your favourite people in the world. She makes you so happy, and you give huge gummy grins whenever she enters your line of vision. You seem to miss her when she has her days at kindy, and when she gets home you will not let her out of your sight. You love it when she sings to you, and watching her play is your new favourite  pastime. I know you just can’t wait to be able to get down there and join in! We have been putting you in the bumbo occasionally, and that gives you the opportunity to get a little bit more involved in your big sister’s games – or at least a little closer to them!

Your sister loves to sing to you..

Another favourite activity of yours is bathtime. It doesn’t matter whether it’s in the tub or the shower, you just love being in the water. We have a little towel bath stand that we lay you in in the bath, and you grin and squirm and kick like crazy. If your sister happens to be in the bath with you, you look so happy you could just about bust! In the shower you snuggle into me or Papa, and when we let the water run over your back and head you close your eyes and enjoy the sensation.

Reuben, I just love your guts buddy, and I am enjoying getting to know you. I know that this next month is when you will really start to become super alive and alert, and I’m looking forward to learning more about your personality.

I love you, my precious Sunshine.

Mama