Double Puddle Trouble. . .

After a really good day with all three kids today I was feeling pretty happy.  We stayed up late, played board games, had friends over this morning and everyone was just in a good mood all day.
Tomorrow is the last day of the school holidays and I was planning a fun day. . .

Until tonight when I went to put the older kids to bed and stepped in a wet patch on the floor.

"Eww Kaitlyn, what's that. Did you spill some water?" I asked my oldest.

"Bradley weed on the floor" she told me and hung her head in shame.

"No mum, it was both of us, we both did it!" Bradley shouted at me.

I left the room.

When I calmed down I asked them again what had happened.

"I got right down and did a wee and so did Kaitlyn, she got right close to the floor and we both did it-but I was busting" Bradley explained.

"It wasn't me" Kaitlyn screamed at me.

"Why didn't you go to the toilet"

No one answered...they weren't busting otherwise they wouldn't have hidden in their bedroom to pee-they were simply being idiots. Complete idiots.

So tomorrow instead of homemade milkshakes and a special home made lasagne with garlic bread and all the trimmings, instead of a day at the pools and instead of a cooked breakfast both Kaitlyn and Bradley will spend the entire day in their bedroom....but first a bucket of hot soapy water to scrub the floor!

Seeing red doesn't even begin to describe how angry I am at them.
I'm disgusted and embarrassed and angry and disappointed and grossed out all at the same time.

I thought kids stopped doing gross shit like this at 2 years old, not at 6 and 4!!!!!!!!

The Uncelebrated Milestones...

As most mums would know there are many developmental milestones you go through with each baby, things like first words, first steps etc.. These things are usually celebrated by both parents-and many other family members.

But what about the uncelebrated milestones?
Miss Isla has reached two new milestones this week, and I've quietly celebrated them to myself (my husband thinks I'm going cuckoo).

First time sitting in a high chair at a restaurant. You call up and book for 5 people - instead of 4 with space for a pram. She sits in her own chair and watches what's going on, drools while she watches you eat and plays with the spare cutlery. No longer a sleeping newborn in the pram in the corner.

And today she reached up for me to signal for me to pick her up. It's the first time she's really reached out for a cuddle from me. And while at the time she was actually driving me nuts it was a beautiful little moment.

I love watching all three of my kids growing up. As a mum of one child with anxiety and one born with a heart disease we have celebrated many milestones that seem weird or insignificant to others-but to us they have been very special and meaningful 😃😃

BUSTED!

I hate toys with batteries. So do most mums. But I've accepted they are a part of life. So have most mums.

But once those batteries run out I NEVER replace them. Instead I tell the kids to use their imagination and make their own sounds/talking/singing.

My excuse? We don't own a screwdriver to open it up and replace the batteries.
My husband is a mechanic-we have screwdrivers in every section of the house and he has a truck FULL of tools. But the kids have blindly put their faith in me and I've deceived them.

For the past 6 years this has worked well.

Until today

Kaitlyn (6yrs old) was getting the duster out of the laundry cupboard, in the bottom of the laundry cupboard is a box with bits and pieces; Allen keys, light globes, gardening gloves, dustpan and brush, duster and SCREWDRIVERS!

"Mum, look I have a screwdriver, will this open up my toys to put new batteries in?" Kaitlyn came bounding out of the laundry holding up a perfect sized screwdriver.

"I'm not sure, Kaitlyn"

"Let me try it"

I held my breath and hoped she picked a toy that wouldn't open up.
I knew she had the right screwdriver

"Look mummy, it fits-can we open it, we have lots of batteries in the drawer"

Damn it! She knows I keep a drawer full of spare batteries.

I was busted!

"Mum, can you put new batteries in my dinosaur?" Bradley heard what was happening and came in with all his toys that needed new batteries.

So now not only do we have all new toys from Christmas with perfectly working batteries, we now have all their old toys with fully charged perfectly working batteries.

Moral of the story: don't give your kids chores. No chores=no rummaging through the laundry cupboard=not finding screwdrivers=No new batteries for old toys=happy, quiet house! 

Isla's Routine 4 Months+

Isla's routine 4 months+

A few months ago I shared our 0-3months routine on how we get our babies successfully sleeping through the night.
All of our kids have been very DIFFERENT sleepers. And very different personalities in general.

However this routine has worked for all three kids and we have had great results.

Kaitlyn slept 12 hours from 9 weeks. Bradley from 7 weeks and Isla from 4.5 weeks.

Around the 3/4month mark we shift from the 3 hourly newborn routine to the next phase and it looks a little something like this...

7am-wake up, breastfeed, get dressed. Playtime.

9am-sleep (remember I always put the kids to sleep when they are awake so they learn to self settle)

11am- wake up, breastfeed (from 5months she has also had a solid feed for lunch after her milk). Playtime

1pm- sleep.

3pm- wake up, breastfeed, playtime.

4:30pm- THIS IS MY BIG SECRET. To avoid 'witching hour' from 5-6pm I put my kids down for a quick 30 minute power nap, they wake up refreshed and they last till 7pmwith very minimal fussing!

5pm- wake up, usually quiet playtime in her bouncer watching me cook dinner

6pm- breastfeed (from 6 months I also do a solid feed after her milk)

6:30- bath and bed time.


During the school term her afternoon nap is from 12:30-2pm to allow for school pickup.

From about 8-9 months the afternoon power nap drops off as witching hour slowly fades away.

This routine will stay in place until about 12-18 months when she will drop to one sleep a day.

Remember these routines are MADE TO BE FLEXIBLE. If you have an appointment one day you can pull the routine forward by a half hour or push it out. It's important to be flexible with routines to make way for  last minute run arounds, and so you as a parent don't lose your mind if things go a little differently one day.

If baby is having a growth spurt and needs an extra feed don't be afraid to do it. Or if baby is extra tired and needs an extra 20mins at nap time that's fine! But once that 'phase' is over be sure to get back on track so you don't lose everything you have worked for!

These routines plus TONNES more helpful baby tips all come from my collection of Babywise books. Which starts from Babywise and continues up until Teenwise...find them online at koorong.com.au or word.com.au
At about $15 per book they are also a much cheaper alternative to some baby books!

Hero To Zero

The last couple days I've been super hero mummy.

There was a song that my mum sung to the kids every night when she was here for a visit. I don't even know what it's called but the kids loved it.

Ever since Mum left Kaitlyn and Bradley have been asking me to sing the song-but since I don't even know what it was called I couldn't even google to lyrics.
A couple days ago I text mum to write the words of the song for me.

For the past two nights I've been able to sing the special goodnight song to the kids and they have been soooo happy!!


So I thought it was time for phase 2 of being the best mum.
Grandma also makes tuna mornay for the kids-I never have.
So I asked mum for the recipe and decided last night to make it as a special surprise.

I had everything prepped and ready-all I needed to do was add the tuna.

Look in the cupboard, no tuna.
Look again, no tuna.
Rearrange entire cupboard, still no tuna.

Isla was sleeping, couldn't go to the shops.
What the hell am I going to feed them now?

"Mum, what's that AMAZING smell" Bradley asked as she wandered into the kitchen. I was pretty proud of making them a surprise special dinner, now what was I going to do.

"Pasta bake, darling"

Luckily the kids loved it and ate two bowls each!!

Next time I'll be sure to double check no one has eaten the last can of tuna BEFORE I start cooking! 

Trying To Raise Money Savvy Kids

"Can't you just buy a new one" Kaitlyn (6yrs old) whinged to me at end of last year after breaking a toy being careless with it.

"No I can't just go out and buy a new one, these things cost money, you need to learn that money doesn't grow on trees"

And so began my hunt for ways to teach my kids more about the value of money.

I've always been a budgeting, let's try and fix this not just replace it kind of person. I've tried not to spoil my kids, I set small budgets for birthdays and Christmas. I tend to buy clothes for them when the old ones are too gross to be allowed out. But sometimes they still just didn't get it.
I've always encouraged chores and helping out the family. I've given pocket money for things that go above and beyond the normal 'pack your toys away, put your dirty clothes in the basket' but the message wasn't getting across.

So I jumped online to see what I could find.

I got some great money boxes from moneysavvykids.com.au. It's a great little website with a range of colourful money boxes for kids.

The cool thing about these money boxes is there are 4 sections; save, spend, donate and invest.

I ordered a blue and pink one and they made great Christmas presents for Kaitlyn and Bradley.

Yesterday we sat down and had a chat. We had a list of chores and they had to pick 4 chores each (one for each section in the money box). If they do their chores everyday (Monday to Friday) they would get $2 per chore to put in their money box. So they could get a total of $8 a week.

Once we picked out the chores we jumped online and looked up charities for the 'donate' section.
We looked at children's hospitals, animals, horse rescue centres, the crisis in Sudan, cancer research and drought relief for farmers to name just a few.

Kaitlyn and Bradley chose two charities each that they would like to donate their money to.
At the end of the first term of school the money box will be emptied: savings money into their bank, spending money into their pockets for a trip to the shop, donate money will be forwarded to their chosen charity and the invest money-well I gotta do some more research about that but I'm hoping to find somewhere to invest those $$.

At the end of each school term we will do the same. They will have the opportunity to spend their money, pick new charities and help deposit their savings into the bank accounts.

I've created some chore charts for them and have stuck them on their linen cupboard outside their bedroom for them to look at and tick off each chore as it's done each day after school.

So far I'm very optimistic about this approach, we have let the kids take the lead by choosing chores and looking through charities, talking about investing money to make it 'grow' and adding money to the bank accounts mummy and daddy made for them years ago.

At the end of first term I'll write another post and let you know how successful we have been. I'm determined to see this through.

I want my kids to learn about what's going on in the world, and how many people there are out there to help others. I want them to learn patience in saving for what they want. I want them to learn to be wise with investing money and I want them to have fun!!

A bit of Blu tac and a pencil and the chore checklists are ready to go 

These are the fabulous money boxes we got from moneysavvykids.com.au 

Head over to the website for their range of colours and styles. 

You're Nothing But A Heart Breaker!!

"Mum, come on these swings with me"

"Not today Kaitlyn, it's too hot, I'm going to stay on these ones in the shade"

"YOU NEVER DO ANYTHING FOR ME"

And just like that my 6 yr old broke my heart.

I wanted to slap her, to shout at her, to tell her all the things I've given up for her, to tell her how much time and money I put into HER, I wanted to come home and not do ANYTHING for her for the next 24 hours to prove a point.

But of course I didn't. I jumped into the car and drove home (with the kids of course!)

I remember saying similar things to my mum when I was a teenager. I can honestly say I now know how much those words hurt.

But in my defence I was at least a crazy, moody, hormonal teenager.
My daughter is 6. Not 16. Just 6!!

This world we are living in is a scary world. Kids are forced to grow up too quickly, we are taught to leave our kids for others to raise and go back to work, we aren't taught respect and morals. And even if we try to change these things within our own family, our kids are sent to schools, playgrounds, play dates, friends houses and are exposed to so much more than an innocent child should see/hear/know.

Today my daughter broke my heart, but I know deep down she didn't MEAN what she was saying-just as I never meant the things I said to my mum when I was a teenager; doesn't make it any easier though... 

Road Tripping...

Boxing Day 2014, we decided it was a good day to go on a road trip to our 'nearest' shopping centre.
Thanks to the front shocks being stuffed on our 4wd (STILL waiting on approval from warranty place to get them fixed) we had to take the LONG way from Tom price to karratha.

And by long way I mean 600kms one way!!

Kids haven't been on a road trip in ages so it was always going to be 'fun'

We were totally set up-food, water, DVDs, notepad and textas for Kaitlyn, toys galore for Isla and toy animals for Bradley. We even had a piece of cardboard to put up at the window to block out the sun from Isla's side.

We left at 6am and were in the next town just before 7. We stopped to have breakfast, get the kids out of their PJ's and get DVDs set up.
Everyone still laughing and joking and excited at the prospect of McDonalds for dinner.

By hour 4 the fun was wearing off-we had made a number of peeing stops and a feeding the baby stop.

By hour 7 we were slightly less happy. Isla-although a very good traveller-is definitely not the 'silent, sleep the entire way type' that Kaitlyn and Bradley were.
I had woken with the head cold from hell and had used up all my tissues, had a completely red raw nose and was making my way through baby wipes.
Bradley chucked a tantrum at the only roadhouse-Fortescue Roadhouse-and they weren't serving enough food to satisfy us.

By hour 8 we had arrived!! We stayed at a caravan park. We had booked for 3 adults and 1 kid (as ALL rooms could only sleep a maximum of 4 people) so we didn't have to pay an additional $600 for another cottage we were a bit dodgy and tried to hide 2 kids... Oops!!

BUT Our cottage was within complete viewing distance of the front desk!!! 😁😁
We only had 2 aircons (not 3 like other rooms) the kitchen tap was broken and swinging around and it took us 20 minutes to lock the front door! But I dare not complain, upon arrival I was given a huge discount off the room, apparently they had a sale on. And since I was sneaking an extra 2 kids in (seriously why can't a baby in a port a cot NOT be included?!) I felt super super guilty!

We had our Maccas dinner and all went to bed early.
The next day we hit the shops-we got there at 8am and left by 3:30pm. It was a big day: school shoes, clothes, post Christmas sales, tools for hubby, new lunch boxes, shoes, drink bottles, storage containers. The list was endless.

But the kids were amazing!! They helped out, sat quietly while trying on their shoes, helped pick clothes, found where the torches were in the store. I couldn't have asked for better behaved kids. We had a morning tea stop and a lunch stop and the kids were allowed to choose their own food.
The biggest excitement at morning tea was having a babycino!! It's been so long.
Lunch was popcorn chicken from KFC. It was a weekend of junk food, not much sleep and lots of fun.

That night we decided to go out for dinner, but since I was still unwell and Phil appeared to be coming down with it too we opted for a casual pub dinner. Even then I was still super excited to be 'eating out.' That is, I WAS excited, until Phil brought my drink over to me and I was given a PLASTIC CUP. So much for 'a nice meal out' I was still drinking out of kiddie cups!! 😁

We got to see the beach (for the first and last time in months!) We saw the statue of Red Dog in Dampier-google the story or watch the movie it's amazing!!

I was still dying of my head cold and wasn't sure I would survive the day. But somehow I did-I think that was mostly due to having mum tag along for the trip, she was able to help with the kids so I could survive. We never would have made it without her.

The next day was leaving day. A trip to the chemist for baby panadol, One last Maccas run for breakfast and we were packed up, trailer full, new DVDs in the players and plenty of snacks.

The trip back wasnt nearly as joyous as our trip to karratha;

"shut up fish lips"

"shove it up your ass"

"if that smells your face is going to be imprinted on the window"

"look Grandma I can wink and eat at the same time" (along with a hilarious demonstration)

'What kinda pop corn is that?'
'Its watering popcorn'
'no mum it's MOUTH watering popcorn'

"Mum, why are you building Isla a for with blankets and cardboard"
"She likes to sleep in the dark-I'm making it dark for her!!"
Are just a few of the hilarious moments on the way home.

We were giggling like crazy-actually we were crazy! We had a few stops on the side of the road to pee. We had a feeding stop for Isla, we had an 'oh my god the esky is almost flying off the back of the trailer' stop, we had a 'look at the cows' stop.  But finally 8 hours later we made it home.
I was still sick, Phil was sick, and Isla had come down with a fever that day!!

Even through all the madness and rushing around we made so many memories and had a great time! The driving was painful but I'm sure I will remember some of the madness for many years to come.
In such a short time so many lifetime memories were made and so much fun was had.




Emma Currie

30for30 Fitness Challenge

Anyone that knows me will know I put a lot of time and effort into charities. I'll donate and help out whenever I can.

So this month I'm doing the World Vision 30for30 Fitness Challenge.

The following was taken from the World Vision Everyday Hero 30for30 Fitness Challenge website

"Join World Vision’s 30for30 Fitness Challenge and help a child survive past 30 days.

Weak immune systems and an inability to control regulatory functions – like maintaining body temperature – make newborn babies particularly vulnerable to infections such as pneumonia and meningitis. But 70 percent of those deaths are preventable, and you can help us prevent them.

Jump on board our fitness challenge and dedicate the first 30 days of 2015 to making sure the first 30 days of a child’s life aren’t their last.

Just choose a personal fitness challenge, get your friends and family to sponsor you – or sign up themselves, if they also want to make a difference -  and raise money to help stop millions of unnecessary infant deaths.

How does it work?

Set yourself a personal fitness challenge and fundraising goal to be completed in the first 30 days of 2015.
Create and share your online fundraising page with your friends and family.
Complete your challenge and help change lives.
We’ll be with you at every step of the way providing useful fundraising resources, support and updates on how other Australians are taking part too.

What can my fundraising do?

Funds you raise could help provide mothers and babies with access to clean, safe deliveries, breastfeeding support and vitamin supplements that help boost babies’ immune systems and prevent malnutrition, and vaccinations.

   $250 could provide 211 women with access to essential maternal, newborn and child health services.
   $500 could provide 147 toddlers with vitamin supplements to boost nutrition and protect against illness for a year.
   $1000 could provide access to vaccinations for 570 children under two and healthcare for 410 pregnant women through bimonthly outreach sessions in remote areas." 

Do you get the idea now??
How sad is it that so many children don't make it past the first 30 days of life?!
And it takes so little effort on our behalf to help them.

On January 1st - the first day of the challenge - $30k had already been raised to help these babies. That's a good effort!! Go Australians!!


My personal fitness goal is to ride 20kms a day. Before I got pregnant with Isla (now 6months old) I could quite easily ride 20kms. Since having Isla and my arthritis playing up again it was actually quite a challenge getting my fat, unfit ass on the bike yesterday and after doing my first 20kms I wanted to vomit. It was hilarious! My husband sat on the couch laughing at me, so of course I told him to put his money where his mouth is. He cycled 20kms a whole 6 minutes SLOWER than me!!!

If anyone can spare a few dollars it's all going towards a VERY worthy cause!! I'll pop the link to my donation page below and I would be so grateful for any spare change-$2 is still a good donation!

My target amount is a tiny $100 and I've nearly made it there already thanks to 2 super generous donations.
My mum is also participating in this particular challenge so of course it's also a bit of a competition between us as to who can raise the most 😃😃

I'm also open to any fitness challenges you want to give me. For example if you donate and give me $10 you could leave a comment saying 'I'll donate another $10 if you ride an extra 10kms today" and of course I'll pop the photos/video of me completing the challenge/dying on my Facebook page The Currie Way Of Life.

Link to my donation page is:
https://30for30fitnesschallenge.everydayhero.com/au/emma-currie



Emma Currie