Friday, September 30, 2011

Woolies iPhone App


I am a supermarkets dream shopper. I am too lazy to go to multiple stores, and I am easily persuaded by flashy advertising and free products. Oh how I love a free cookbook that comes with an ingredient I never knew I needed. And if they happen to offer me a rewards card, well then, even better.

Now, given I am a very loyal nerd, and the very easily convinced household shopper, I had a slight jizzim attack when I saw that Woolies had FINALLY launched their iPhone app.

Things I like about it: 

  • Easy to navigate
  • Shows items in my shopping lists in the order they are within my local store
  • It lists every item stocked by the store - not just a small selection of their stock
  • The catalogue is updated weekly - terribly handy when my catalogue man does a runner
  • You can even read the catalogue and add items to your shopping list
  • There is even a recipe database - handy if you don't know what to make for dinner
Things I don't like:
  • It lists the back wall of my supermarket as an Asile. Not a huge thing, but kinda annoying when it tells me to get the milk and I am still at the start of the store
  • It lists a lot of products that aren't carried by my store
Should you download this App
If you shop at Woolies, and own an iPhone or Android phone, then sure, it is free afterall. If you shop elsewhere, there are other generic shopping apps that might be better suited to you

Pin It

Thursday, September 29, 2011

Eliza Wears


Pin It

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Eliza - 3 Months



Weight: 5.48kg
Height: 60cm

Feeding: Our weekly email suggested that you might start to become distracted when feeding, and oh boy they were right! Somedays we can not get you to turn your head towards the breast, as you are too busy starting at the fan. 

Otherwise you are doing well, you are cutting back on your feeds now. Zantac has made such a big difference to you, you have a small dose three times a day which keeps the pain at bay. You no longer scream in pain during and after a feed, and you have even starting to do proper burps.

Sleeping: People hate it when I say this, but you are now sleeping through the night, and have done since you were 9 weeks old. You now go to bed between 6.30 and 7 o'clock tonight and wake up from 6 o'clock in the morning. In the last four weeks you have woken up during the night three times. We have been out a few nights, and even if you go to bed later in the night you will still wake up at the same time each morning.

Personality: Your personality has started to really show. You let us know when you are unhappy about something and will continue to be grumpy until you get your own way. Luckily you tend to be pretty agreeable on most things. 

You love having your picture taken and will dish out the smiles as soon as you see the lens come towards you. 

Looks: You are still a tall little girl, sitting on the 75th percentile, but you are still wearing 000 clothes. Your dresses are starting to get a little short now, but we just wear them with leggings. You have inherited your dad's flippers and have outgrown a lot of your socks though, and are now wearing 6-12 month socks!

There is some debate on who you look like these days, some people say Daddy, some say Mummy. You have Mummies colourings, nose and chin, and of course, her hair. You do have Daddies eyes though. Either way you are impossibly cute!

Activities: You still love the bath, though you have stopped screaming when we get you out of the bath which means we can both enjoy massage time. I am thinking that we will enrol in a massage class to learn how to do it properly, as we both enjoy it.

With your reflux easing with Zantac we have been letting you lay on the floor more, which means you get to stare at your new best friend, the ceiling fan. You enjoy spending time under your activity centre, but only when we play it on the Super Mario music - which unfortunately makes my ears bleed.

You celebrated Aunty K's birthday in great style, you flaked early into the night and slept in your capsule whilst we ate dinner. Once home you were a little unsettled, and promptly vomited all over Nanny and Poppy's lounge suite.

Daddy has been working away a fair bit, so we have had a few trips to visit him. We have been to Geelong several times where we went on our first trip to the beach, went to see the Home of the Elephant Book and met some more family members. Mummy does love going to Geelong as there are different shops to what we have at home. We have also been on a few shopping trips to Melbourne where you have got some very lovely clothes for summer.

Finally, your newest playmate was born at the end of the month, after making you wait 12 weeks! Hopefully Miss Anna will be more playful in the coming months.

The last three months have flown by, and we have to pinch ourselves to remind ourselves that you are all ours.


Pin It

Monday, September 26, 2011

Jack of it


Toodle pip to the old concrete. I still maintain that my idea of resurfacing it would have been a lot easier though - there is three tandem trailer loads of cement there which all required being picked up by hand!
Pin It

Friday, September 23, 2011

Happy Lab

On a recent shopping trip I ventured into Happy Lab in Highpoint Shopping Centre. I wasn't sure what it was, but it looked interesting, and lets face it, I like food, so any store that sells food is a winner in my book.

It was a pretty funky store, set out like a pharmacy, where the shop assistants wear lab coats and the chocolates come in test tube bottles.

The chocolate was pretty darn good, which was a suprise, as I expected cheap tasting chocolate, but this was well above decent, bordering on fan-bloody-tastic. And I got to keep this funky jar (I brought one of the triangle tubes in the bottom of the second picture) and fill it with my own chocolate when I ran out. Bonus!

Apparently they are opening more stores around Australia, so if you happen to walk past one backtrack and walk inside. You won't regret it.


PS - Happy Lab have no idea about this post, I am just sharing the love for free. Pin It

Thursday, September 22, 2011

Eliza Wears


I am seriously loving that orange dot Oobi dress on Eliza, it is so cute! I brought it on sale and wish I could find the matching hat somewhere.

Oh, and see the brown giraffe dress - that is our new favourite stance - quarter roll (to see the tv). Screw going the whole way, she gets onto her side and thats it, she has no desire to go the rest of the way, much to my disappointment. All of her friends who are the same age are rolling!
Pin It

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Beach


The husband has been working away for the last few weeks and we decided to go visit him for a few days. It didn't hurt that the weather was in the low 20's and sunny - perfect weather for Eliza's first trip to the beach.
Pin It

Monday, September 19, 2011

Veranda Poles

A few weekends back we decided to start work on our veranda (I swear it was how the husband shut me up about moving house). We knew one pole was rotting, but we didn't realise just how much - it was being held up by the lattice work! And both poles were the same. No wonder our veranda was lopsided (something we never saw until we jacked up the roof to replace the pole!)



The husband busted up the concrete by hand to put the poles, which was no mean feat given the footings of the veranda were half a metre deep!

Now to break up the rest of the concrete, but luckily the husband is borrowing a jackhammer from work for that task!
Pin It

Friday, September 16, 2011

Hats

I love children's hats, they are just so cute! I wish Eliza would tolerate them.



All hats from Little Bird Lucy

I love the reindeer hat, it would make an awesome prop for a christmas card!
Pin It

Thursday, September 15, 2011

Eliza Wears

A few days back my mum commented on how Eliza will never wear all the clothes she owns twice (probable), and how I should take her photo in each outfit for those who brought them for her. Which got me thinking, why not make it a picture a day thing?
(click on the image to see it in more detail if you wish)

The overalls she wore on Saturday were a pair I brought in the last few weeks of pregnancy for our baby to wear home if we had a boy. Kinda glad we didn't as they are still too big on Eliza at 14 weeks of age!
Pin It

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Sleep School



As a newborn Eliza was great at sleeping, usually falling asleep during a feed. Which was great for those first few weeks, and then she started to wake up a little more each day, and suddenly we had trouble getting her to sleep. It didn't help that her reflux showed its ugly self, and she had terrible wind.

Somewhere around 8 weeks she dropped her night feed and started sleeping through the night, which was very welcome in our household, however it caused her day sleeps to become very average. On a good day I would get a 2 hour sleep in the morning, and two 1 hour sleeps in the afternoon.

The hardest part was when it would take me 2-4 hours to settle her to sleep of a night. There was one night where the husband was working away, my parents were on holidays, and it took me 7 hours to get her to sleep. I cried most of that time, as nothing I did helped and I felt like a failure. Surely, after 10 weeks, I should be able to put my child to sleep. It was a very dark night in our household, and the next day my Child Health Nurse booked me into Tweddle Sleep Program.

We had a 2 week wait for a place, and in that time we watched the Tweddle dvd many times, implementing many of their suggestions. And Eliza responded accordingly, though we still relied on her dummy and being tightly swaddled to get her to sleep, both things that are discouraged. I was nervous about going to see someone about this, as I have this fear that they will tell me I am doing everything wrong and tell me I am a terrible mother.

And here is where you would normally read that I needn't have worried, but alas that is not how it went. Within 15 minutes of being at the clinic Eliza was labelled as "chronically tired" and I was made to feel terrible that she sleeps through the night. According to the nurse, I should  be waking her to feed through the night, and her night sleeping won't last (a common theme that I get told frequently and have vowed to slap the next person who says it to me). We struggled to get her to sleep, having to resort to her dummy. The day continued with little difference. We left with heavy hearts, as we help so much hope that things would change.

That said, it was the catalyst that ended our sleep association with the dummy. We went cold turkey and wore earplugs for the first few nights. It was tough. There were tears. But it will be worth it (apparently). Each day it gets a little easier, there are a few less tears. And we have resorted to some interesting methods to get Eliza to stay asleep - like the photo above. Nothing like a stuffed toy to trick her into thinking that it is mummy's hand.

Being a parent is hard work. Hard, sleepless work.
Pin It

Monday, September 12, 2011

Colour Me This

As a kid I loved to colour, and have fond memories of going to my Grans house with the worlds largest collection of colouring books. Her collection spanned all the way back to when my own mother was a girl!

As my nieces and nephews have got older and started to enjoy colouring, I have started my own collection, however mine is a slightly more electronic version. See, I scan all the pictures before they are coloured, so that we don't have arguments if two little people want the same picture.

But, I have since discovered these silicon colouring mats that can be wiped clean after use and reused! Genius!!!

Pin It

Friday, September 9, 2011

Cubby House

Given that I now have a child, I feel it is perfectly normal to start planning a cubby house (prior to children it was just kinda weird).



So, whilst stalking the internet one night, I found this little beauty and saved it to the inspiration file. Isn't it lovely! You can see more at Birdie Blue
Pin It

Thursday, September 8, 2011

Chair

Freedom, though it isn't listed on their website

Many moons ago, when I was waddling like a duck (ie pregnant) I spotted a chair. The snuggliest of chairs you ever have seen. And because I was pregnant and waddling like a duck, I sat in it. Oh my lucky stars, it was like sitting in a cloud.

Unfortunately the husband baulked at its price tag and pointed out that we don't have space for said chair.

Humph!

Pin It

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Charging

I was flicking through Twitter recently, and saw a concept that I think is pure genius - powerpoints with USB points.

As someone who recently had to buy a new iPhone charger because I left it in a hotel, I think this is a great idea. Majority of smart phones are charged by USB, so why not. And if you need a regular powerpoint, its right there.

Pin It

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Baby Messages



If only my baby could read!
Pin It

Monday, September 5, 2011

Out they come...


...my renovating thongs!
Pin It

Friday, September 2, 2011

One Year

August the 28th was a big day for me, it meant that I had been a mummy for a whole year. It was on that fateful day that I started another cycle, a cycle I thought was doomed due to some very poor timing and a very full social calendar. It was the last cycle we had to do before our review, and as luck would have it, the last cycle was the lucky one.

I found this post in my drafts file the other night, and thought it was time to reflect back on the year that was.

First time I cried hormonally at something random: Watching an episode of How I Met Your Mother, the episode where Barney and the gang have to pack up his childhood house, and Barney's brother finds out who his dad is. I cried for poor Barney, as it was terribly sad he didn't know who his dad was. I love HIMYM and never find it sad (quite the opposite), so that was a bit odd. (4w2d)
{I watched that episode again recently and still cried, so I am going with it is just a sad episode}

First time I saw those two lines: Before work on a Thursday morning, I screamed for the husband to come look, and got terribly frustrated when he didn't understand what it meant. Then I couldn't remember what the hell a HGC test was as it looked exactly the same as the ovulation test. (4w4d)

First bout of morning sickness: A Thursday morning at work, five minutes after someone asked how I was feeling and I replied I was feeling fine. Murphy's Law. (5w4d)

First time I saw you on the screen: We had an early scan as part of our treatment, and got to see our little bean. You looked like a little baby dinosour, and were then called Dino. (7w4d)

First time I was a fierce Mamma Bear: After surgery when a nurse kept poking at my stomach really hard. I asked her if she would like it if I poked her really hard. No? Then stop poking my baby! (15w4d)

First time you scared the living shit out of me: The morning that I woke up with wet pants. I was home alone and rang the husband in a fit of panic demanding that he come home and take me to the hospital. Turns out it was just a cold playing havoc with my fluid levels. I wasn't quite ready to meet you then (34w)

First time mummy almost went into labour at work: When the man I sit with showed me a dead mouse. We all know what a fan I was. Never show a pregnant woman a mouse, especially a heavily pregnant one!

First time mummy and daddy were ready to meet you: The second Monday of maternity leave. I was sick of being home all day. So I ate Thai Green Curry to bring on labour. It worked. I went into labour that night. (39w1d)

First time mummy decided she didn't want to do this anymore: After 18 hours of labour. And again at 35 and a half hours. Luckily you were born at 36 hours! (39w2d and 39w3d)

First time mummy decided you were worth every heartache, tear and pain she ever complained about: About 10 minutes before this moment when they put you on my chest and I got to meet you in person.

Pin It

Thursday, September 1, 2011

You have gotta spend money to make money...

But do I need to spend $1350 to save money?

Even I, who uses the line "but the Aussie dollar is so good right now" more times in a day than I change a nappy, can justify that!
Pin It