Well, if you want to drink it you can but I prefer to dye with it. Its is hard to get Kool Aid in Australia but I got some off the net so i could colour some Treliske wool to knit up. I have used food colouring but the KA is more fun and oh my does it smell fruity!
I am looking forward to knitting it up. Will post pics soon (of course).

Mr Cranky showed me his teeth yesterday. He has 2 new teeth up the top. It could very well explain his crankiness.

          

These shorties are not for my baby this time. I was asked to knit them for another bub. They are green - 3 tones. I hope Luca likes them.

                     

Erica's nappies, Very Baby by Erica, Cuddlebun dinosoars with red velour inner,
2x Bummi whisper wraps, 2x soy/bamboo side snapping cutetooshies, and another cutetooshies
with the greenbums AIO as well.
Okay so we have enough nappies surely......

I bought this nappy at a local shop. It is a great shop with all natural parenting products eg. slings, cloth nappies, clothing, woolen handknits, bath products, etc. These things I have only seen online so it was more than amazing.

We went to the playground yesterday. My hubby had an rdo so it was great fun for the kids and relaxing for us. They had a train the kids can explore so it made my boy happy!

       

These woolies I knitted for my baby for next year -they are way too big and warm for now! They are knitted from 12ply so very thick and warm. They also have a gusset which I have never done in this way before. It took some patience....need more practice with that.

www.theboogiewoogies.com.au

My big kids went to see a kids rock show yesterday with their Nan. The Boogie Woogies are a huge hit in particular with my rock chick girl! She was actually lucky enough to get the autographs of them all on their activity books. She wont stop talking about it! They liked her cos she got up and danced. She was wearing a real rock outfit too - a black vinyl skirt, with black leggins underneath.!!!
"My fave person was Loveable Sally and I was hoping mum would like Guitar Dave. And when Super Mandy does stuff, she puts her leg up like ppl do when they do exercises. Tricky Tony is hard to find."
Gig review courtesy of my girl!



The shapes represent each member of the band! So my girl tells me.
My boy loves the shapes but certainly doesn't know as much as my girl does.
Ahhh the fanatic!

These nappies are gorgeous and so soft. The bright one with lions and elephants is from Erica's nappies and the one on the right has dogs on it is a Very Baby also made by Erica in Australia. It is too big for my baby but I look forward to using this one! It is side snapping which I think will stay on my skinny baby better!

And the kids loved it. My girl said - This is the best day ever! We were suppose to go to the post office but will do that tomorrow. Its sad when I see the playground not being used that much. I wish i took my camera.
I am worried about my boy as he has something strange in his mouth. I thought it could be oral thrush but now I am not so sure.

I wanted to knit a soaker with gusset so I found a great pattern. This soaker is one of his more roomy soakers so should last longer esp with a high rise. It was knitted flat which I haven't done for a while. Excuse the weird photo. He is actually feeding! He doesn't like to stay still much any more. He is also wearing a cotton singlet I knitted, which I love! It isn't the best photo though. I am looking forward to warmer weather so we can play outside and take photos in the sunshine. Yeah!

Yesterday was awful for my boy. He just slept and I could hear how bad his asthma was. He was vomiting but he seems much better today. Meanwhile my girl has a terrible cough. So her turn to rest today.
I worry about my kids but I guess that is my job!

Have to show this new nappy - Disana knitted nappy and a soaker I knitted.


The knitted nappy ties up over a prefold and looks so cute and cool!

                                       
I love the soaker too - its quite big and roomy!


My baby loves the weather like this - he can explore!

It was a beautiful day yesterday - actually hot. Today it is a little cooler.
I have some more to show off! I have just started using ebay. I have bought a few things! My best buy so far has been these pinstripe pants new with tags bought for $20 including postage. They are made by Petit Bateau and usually retail for 35 pounds (about 100 AUD). They are a size 3 but fit my boy perfectly and are a tailored fit. It says samurai temuraire with a dragon. I think they are just gorgeous.!

    

These are my happy beautiful kids all dressed for Church! Can you tell I am not biased in the least!!!

So far I have cleaned out the kids rooms. At least we can walk through the rooms. I am sure it wont last long though. I think I will have to stop buying things.!!! Maybe...

My brother in law is having a baby at Christmas so that is exciting. I am going to have to knit a layette or something.

The big kids are wanting to go to their Nan's tonight. I want my girl to help me finished her room - mainly her bookcase - sorting out her books.

I have changed my avatar. I was going to put up a pic of myself with my baby. My boy took the photo - he is very clever. I am too shy to put up though!

My girl finished term 3 yesterday.It is now Spring Hoildays here.
I am hoping that I will be able to continue with the cleaning and tidying - it isn't looking good!
Yesterday I got a shock when my boy went to the toilet for number 2s all by himself - he truly is a big boy!
It is looking beautiful outside. My husband has gone to a buck's night (day!) activity. They are going shooting. I know he will enjoy that.

Trying to get some motivation to get into Spring cleaning. I am sure we will get there eventually!
Spring goes for 3 months!

Hubby was home today so we went shopping. WE don't have much money at the moment so we went op shopping. We went to Savers and I bought some jumpers for as little as $2 each. The plan is to convert them into bumjumpers - longies which act as covers over cloth nappies. I have no idea what i am doing but I can only give it a go!
Pics coming...!

By the way I should mention our excitement over what we received yesterday. Its a robot that cleans - Roomba - which I won from minti. Yay! Thankyou Clay, Rachel and Matthew and minti!!! My girl wasn't too fussed at first - she was hungry! My boy was rapt. He is an engineer boy - he wanted to know how it works. So we need an adaptor which we should get tomorrow. We tried it out on half a battery (not supposed to but I was curious) and wow! so cool! It cleans so well and no work on my behalf....
I am being brave and showing photos of our floor before the Roomba had a go of cleaning!


Typical floor!                                      Crumbs                                              Clean

When my hubby came home he was impressed too. We don't have much carpet so he wanted to know if it works on floor boards and lino. Yes! So bye bye brooms and welcome Roomba. My baby was wondering what it was. He had just gotten use to our hand held vacuum. Even my boy had just started using the vacuum when tidying the loungeroom. We had a friend came over. My daughter said to her, "we got a new vacuum cleaner" She told her "Well, you better help your mum and vacuum" I quickly said "No its a robot, it does it itself!" She didn't know what to say, but said she will have to come and have a look next time.

My boy is growing up so fast. He now wees standing up just like his Dad. He now goes by himself and doesn't want my help any more! I want to cry though I am happy. I can even see in his face how much he is growing up - not a baby now. He isn't as sick as he was - very happy about that. He has eczema on his face near his outer eye but its not so bad in comparison and his asthma has settled. I am hoping things will continue to improve for him.
My baby is eating us out of house and home. He just never seems satisfied. He is still sleeping well at night and during the day. He sleeps 8-6 at night then 2x 2hr naps during the nap though it does vary. He has been cranky though it could be just due to this growth spurt or teething. He has 4 teeth and probably due for more. He now stands a lot. He stands by himself (no support) for a few seconds at a time. He thinks it is hilarious and enjoys being a big boy! Probably wont be long before he walks., runs, goes to school, eeek!
My girl had either a nightmare or a terror last night. She was crying and I thought it was her brother. I went to aske her what was wrong. No answer. She was calling her Dad and just cried for about 5-10 minutes. I couldn't console her and then it occurred to me that she was asleep. When I asked her why she was crying, this morn, she said "oh I didn't know - was I crying?" She might be a whinger but she rarely cries like that. I worry about her, I feel like that there may be something on her mind that she needs to tell me. I am keen to spend some time with her - one on one quality time.
Hubby has a full day off tomorrow. I hope as he has more time off I can spend some quality time off with each of my kids - one on one time.  My boy wants to go on a train, tram and bus with me - a transport day! When he was a baby we used to go on trains and buses quite often when his sister was at school. Things have been different this year. His health and the addition of his baby brother has made it awkward to go anywhere.

Oh how I love to go shopping. Went to our local shopping centres over the weekend. I went to 2 surf shops and bought some great bargains. Surf boardshorts for $5 for my girl - she was rapt! I was complaining to hubby that I can't get boardshorts for less than 30 dollars on special (RRP $50 for kids sizes) for our boys. Then I saw clearance racks at a surf shop - everything $10!! So I was stoked. I was able to get a pair of boardshorts for my boy plus 2 pairs of jeans for myself, boardshorts for hubby, pants for my girl and a shirt aand walk shorts all for $70.  That is a saving of at leaast  $500. Oh how exciting to get these bargains. I like clearance time.

This post is from from my other blog here


I really like these shorties. I knitted them from wool combined with silk. I hope I can get some more of this to knit with.
What else of interest we have? Silk liners, which I was given, which was nice. Have yet to use these. We have plenty of boosters but don't use that many. I don't think my baby is a big wetter.
Since discovering soakers and longies I have also discovered addi turbos so I have finally learnt to knit in the round. I find them hard to knit with and though I appreciate the quality I don't see how they make it quicker to knit with. I have also knitted with Treliske organic wool. I appreciate this as my boy has severe eczema and rather buy organic where I can.
What am I waiting on? A Disana knitted nappy. It cost me 7.50 and is what I can tell, a tie on flat cum fitted. I am interested in trying new nappies (as if any are old to me?!!!)
What do I want to try? A soy/bamboo nappy - very soft. An itti bitti nappy (hah! good luck!) - these are hard to obtain but well loved by those who are lucky enough to have used one on their bubs.
I am trying to ban myself from buying more nappies but its so hard when you see all the amazing things people make. There are many talented WAHMs making nappies and covers (not to mention other things) and I like to support them as well as having nice, rare, beautiful and practical things.
How to justify the buying of these beautiful things - money makes the world go around. Better to support this than waste it on things at dept stores or disposable nappies even. Isn't that a great reason?
And reason enough?

This post is from from my other blog here

We received Fluffy Mail from Green Kids early this week. One green anytime and one Thomas print Funtime. We are yet to use these.

Other nappies we use (pics to come) include Baby Greens - I love this one, I want to get more. It is so soft and absorbant and the fit is great. Pea Pods pockets - I bought these on clearance at 10 for $130. We have 4 M and 6 L (for next year). I like these pockets and I didn't think I would. The fit is good though they are alittle big on my baby (he is on the smallest setting studs) I have been suprised by these. A great bargain buy.
We also have a Baby Eco prefold, bamboo flat and organic cotton flat, a Baby Eco contour.
I do prefer natural fitteds (organic cotton, bamboo, hemp) but I don't mind the ease of pockets either! We have two AIOs. A Magic All by Wonderworks which I tend to use at night, and a Nature's Child AIO which is lovely and different. I use the Magic or a bumGenius at night. We have 2 bumGenius pockets - one blue and one yellow. They are effective as a nappy but not my fave.

This post is from from my other blog here




The top photo show BabyBeehinds 2x hemp 1x bamboo plus a wool cover and a PUL cover.
The bottom pic is what I won first time I bidded on eBay!! I originally just wanted to see what eBay was like and bidded on the train print. I am not impressed with the velcro on these Olliemates- you DO need a cover for the nappy to stay on. It isn't very absorbant either. These nappies cost me 30 for 3 so they are what I call budget nappies. I also have 4 others - Snugglebutts and they are softer with more cool prints - no better as a nappy though.
Above is the BBHs as I said. I like these but my only gripe is that they need cover to stay on. They tend to slip. I may have to try and put it in a newborn shape to fit my baby. He is 10 mths but must be quite skinny.

This post is from from my other blog here


I knitted these longies but the rise was too short.
I also bought some fitteds from ebay. These are cheap and I am not overly impressed with them though they have nice prints! Will post pics soon.

This post is from from my other blog here


I ordered a starter package from Nurture Nappies, BabyBeehinds and Green Kids. I was also knitting 3/4 length longies (as above) and then shorties and full length longies.

This post is from from my other blog here



I had knitted 2 soakers and 2 cheap covers which I alternated. We used flats and Baby Eco fitteds part time while I waited on more fitteds.

This post is from from my other blog here


So we started using flats with a few covers while I waited on some fitted cloth. Our first was Baby Eco., as seen top^. These are made from organic cotton sherpa and have a snap in booster with snaps on the outside. WE have a few of these now.

This post is from from my other blog here

This is my boy in a coloured flat. I bought a 8 pack Bright Bots terry towelling cloth nappies from Coles for $10 on special when I was pregnant with my baby. I thought to myself I will just have a few nice coloured ones for emergencies - they are practical and useful. I bought about 2 dozen white ones when I had my first child in 2000. She was in cloth for 3 weeks. It was a little too much - dealing with a newborn, my first baby and I was dealing with a postnatal illness. Soaking, washing and folding - aahhhh!

Modern cloth is different. I discovered modern cloth last month. I am an avid knitter and was on a forum talking about knitting when I was shown a pic of a coloured soaker. WoW!!! I wanted to knit one...so I did. I didn't know it was meant to be used on a cloth nappy bum. I knitted it in cotton as a nappy cover for Summer. I soon realised soakers are meant to be knitted in wool. I hadn't used wool in a while due to my 3 year old boy's eczema. I bought a few balls of pure new wool at the op shop and made a real soaker from The Alice pattern (as seen above). I have since knitted more, and have more than enough. He also has longies and shorties.

So he was in flats with one pin! and we had four covers part time- using disposables when he ran out.

How is modern cloth different? No soaking, no folding, no pins. So cloth just goes in a bucket til wash day. It is fitted to baby so much easier.

I have so much to say and show today!
Had to mention my sister's birthday is today. Michelle would have been 30 today. She passed away when I was 14. I still think about her and I tell my kids about the aunty they never knew. The kids often remind me of Michelle.

These are new nappies for my baby. My 3 year old loves Thomas but this is for my baby! Luckily my boy is happy with that and with wearing undies. He is doing well wearing underwear. I promised to buy him Thomas underwear, so that seems better I am sure!
My boy is doing well with going to the toilet. He hasn't had an accident in the past 2 days. I am only concerned with #2s. He missed the other day and with no running water I was frustrated about that. So I am watching him today, fingers crossed he understands. I know he does, maybe just a fear about it. He avoids going to the toilet when we are out too, and will only go at home.

I won this necklace through a beading magazine. I like to bead but don't feel confident with my results. I much rather knit!!!



I like this necklace very much. It is much more beautiful than you can see in the photo. It is my favourite colour. It is filled with Swarovski crystals including diamante. I love it! Its so gorgeous. When I received it, my girl tried to convince me that it is too small for me so she should have it!

These longies I made are quite nice, I think. They are green and cream with specks of colour. The soaker is blue Tussock NZ wool with red polyester specks. I am looking forward to lanolising these and my baby wearing them. That is the end of my good wool stash for now. I am tempted to buy more!



These knitted pants my baby is wearing today. I made these when I was pregnant with him last year. They are made from 4 ply wool. I think I am getting slack now knitting with 8 and 10 ply wool!!

The ups and downs! This is my big kids on my girl's new trampoline at her Nan's house. She is being kind and sharing with her brothers.



Things will get back to normal, won't they? Hah! Its wet today, just as  I get the water back on. Need to get some nappies dry soon! The plumber came back today to fix the pipes in the laundry. Some great looking holes in the wall! So happy to have running water and no leaks.
Hubby is still working every day til next week. Last night we enjoyed dinner out with the kids. Love not having to cook....or wash up!



My kids on the new tramp.

This morning I heard a hissing noise. I just assumed it was rain. It wasn't until late morning I discovered it was a pipe that had sprung a leak. It really threw a spanner in the works! The plumber has to come back tomorrow to fix another leaking pipe in the laundry....

On Sunday we went for a drive and had a picnic. It was fun and we all enjoyed the day with a nice lunch and the kids played on the playground by the beach. And did you think I remembered my camera...hmmm! No!
My hubby has taken the day off today as we are all tired! My girl has gone to school for a half day excursion at Road Safety School. She was very excited though she can't ride a bike. She has been asking for a bike so I said for Christmas.....It isn't too far away now.
My baby is now 10 months old and he stands up by himself. He enjoys that!
My boy is doing well with tt. He tells us when he needs to wee and has too many stars on the calender! He had no accidents yesterday which was great, esp since we went out to a few places (church and the beach) and I didn't take any changes for him.
Today he is been good too.

I have been so busy and tired lately. Hubby now tells me he has to work every day til mid September. At least we should be able to afford to go away for a night - have a break. Now its Spring, I feel the need to clean the house from top to bottom, but the motivation isn't lingering. I am just too tired.

My boy is doing okay with tt. He still has accidents but he does get to the toilet most times so i am happy esp when he tells me he needs to go. He has about 15 stars on the calender. I will have to get him some Thomas underwear. I think he has hinting at a Thomas toy! Will see.

My girl now has her glasses to wear every day plus a patch to wear for 2-4 hours a night. she looks awkward wearing them and complains. She did wear them for the 2 hours last night before going to her Nan's house. Her Nan bought her a trampoline so she is rapt!