Top 5 must-have baby items....

I'll start by saying that this is most definitely not a sponsored post (although I will happily accept freebies!). But I thought I'd put together a list of the extra things that I have found that make my life a whole lot easier with my babies.


1. A baby carrier

I don't think it matters what brand it is, but a baby carrier is one of those items that I find incredibly helpful in my day-day-life. I wear it all of the time. It's so handy, especially while shopping, cleaning, and on those days when you cannot put the baby down. I have a Baby Bjorn that has lower back support, and have found it to be more than worth the price tag. But I have a friend who swears by her Ergo carrier. I think the most important thing is that the carrier has good back support. I have used side slings before, but I found them harder on my back and shoulders, plus I prefer to have my hands and arms free, (especially when chasing a toddler!).


2. Amolin and Bepanthen Nappy cream (technically two items... but lets ignore that)

I know there are a lot of nappy creams that people swear by, but I have used a fair few nappy creams when I worked in childcare, and I always found these two to be the best. My sister always used these as well, and we have both never had many dramas with our kids getting nappy rash.


3. A bouncer

There are all kinds of whizz-bang baby holding contraptions, but in my opinion, a good old fashioned bouncer is one of the better ones. Bouncers are cheap, light, and easy to carry around and great in summer. We were given two rockers when we had Georgie, and she hated both of them, so when Charlie was born, Mum got a hold of a bouncer for me, and I've used it more than I ever used the rockers.

4. A vaporizer.

Again, it doesn't matter what brand. But Vaporizers, or humidifiers, are a Godsend when it comes to sick babies. It helps them breathe so much easier when they have blocked noses, and I have found mine to be the difference between a good night's sleep, and a really horrible one when my babies are unwell.


5.


You know what? I honestly couldn't think of a number 5. I tried really hard, but I just couldn't, and I don't want to put something on the list just for the sake of it. I'd love to rattle off a list of things that  would make baby-rearing a breeze, but the fact is, there really isn't anything that is essential. Fair enough you need nappies, clothes and somewhere for the baby to sleep, but when it comes down to it, everything else is just 'stuff'. Some of it might help you as a parent, I know the things in this list have made my life easier. But, really, when it's all said and done, babies don't need as much gear as we think. Feed, them, change them and love them. If there's one thing I'm noticing with Charlie, it's that the time they are babies goes by so fast, and generally, you won't screw things up too badly if you just do the best you can.

Did you find anything to be absolutely essential when you had babies? Could you add a number 5 to the list?


Linking up with Diary of a SAHM for I Blog on Tuesdays. Why not pop on over and see who else has been busy? And say hi to Jess while you're at it!

Wordless Wednesday... I love my big boy!

Georgie at 5 months

Charlie at 2 and a half months

Same 00 suit. He is a big strong boy!





Linking up with Trish at My Little Drummer Boys for Wordless Wednesday

Mars and Venus

 
I love my boy. He is such a content little guy and he seems to have such a good nature. But there's one thing that really threw me when I had him.

One day he will be a man.

I started thinking about the fact that he is a male, and the way the world will treat him, and it made me sad. And angry. I never really thought about it before. But the truth is, it's not a man's world anymore. It's a woman's world now.

Now before anyone comes after me with a torch and pitchfork, just listen. I know that in the past women have not been treated equally. I know that in many third world countries, gender equality still does not exist and often women are mistreated because of their gender. But generally, in first world countries, I worry that the pendulum may have swung too far the other way.

I think it first started for me when Charlie was just born, and the midwife who helped me with him on the first night, started chastising him gently for not feeding well. She kept on saying 'A big boy like you should know how to feed properly.' And I remember thinking, he's just a baby, they all need to learn how to feed. What difference did it make that he was a big boy?

All of a sudden, in our culture, it seems to be okay to put men down. It is deemed socially acceptable to run a man down, or make fun of him for his masculine qualities. But so many times, if a man even jokes about feminine weakness, he essentially puts a target on his head. It seems what's good for the gander is not what's good for the goose (I will however, make one concession here in regards to teasing men; Man-flu).

Don't get me wrong, I don't necessarily hate feminism. I think that gender-equality is important. But I do not support anything that boosts itself by putting others down. I cannot approve of a feminism that promotes itself through the emasculation of men.

I don't agree with those who say women are better than men. In my opinion, men and women are equally valuable.  I don't need to prove my worth by showing that I can do everything a man can do, because I can't. I'm not a man. But I am a woman, who plays a vital role in this world, as a woman. Not as a woman trying to be as good as a man. I already am just as good as a man, just in a different way.

When the midwife said what she did about Charlie, I was conscious of a sense of wanting to protect him. I want to shield him from those who will seek to put him down because he is male. He will be my son, to love and train and teach. I want to help him understand that there is nothing wrong with being a man, and I want to help him become the best man he can be. And I really want to help him understand how important it is that everyone is treated equally.

Linking up with Jess, at Diary of a SAHM, for I blog on Tuesdays.

Fun and Games...

A while ago, back in February, Erin from Eat Play Bond tagged me in the latest bloggy game. But I have been really slack and haven't done it yet. So I am finally getting myself into gear and getting onto it!


Describe yourself in seven words
Content, passionate, mother, christian, busy, driven, helpful

What keeps you up at night?

At the moment I'm watching Greys Anatomy. Generally it's Charlie, but its also me. I stay awake for no good reason, to blog, or read, or do nothing in particular, just because I like to have a little bit of time without the kids. It's stupid, and most nights my eyes are hanging out of my head, and yet I still do it. I'm also much worse when Shane's away, because it takes me much longer to go to sleep when he's not next to me.

Who would you like to be?
An amazing mother, wife, daughter, sister, and friend.

What are you wearing right now?
My pajamas; a black nursing singlet and purple stripey pajama pants.

What scares you?
There are so many things that scare me, but the thing that terrifies me the most is the idea of the people I love going to hell.

What are the best and worst things about blogging?
The best, for me, is the writing. I love being able to put words down and having them mean something. I like what it does for me, it makes my life better, being able to write, and I love it when I make a connection with someone else through my writing and someone 'gets' what I've written.

The worst, is probably when I let blogging get too big, too much, too important and let it impact upon my life negatively and I start to judge myself harshly and compare myself to others.

What was the last website you visited?
Facebook. I've just been doing up my page for my blog, and it's all pretty and stuff.

What is one thing you would like to change about yourself?
Only one? That's hard. Honestly If I answered straight away without thinking I'd probably choose to lose weight and get to my goal weight immediately. It's very superficial of me.... but it's the truth. If I thought carefully and was being profound I'd probably want to be able to control my temper better.

Slankets - yes or no?
Slankets, snuggies, call them what you will, they are just plain wrong.

Tell us something about the person who tagged you
Erin is one of the earliest bloggers I started following who I found and I felt like she was just like me. A mum, telling her story. She is different to me in lots of ways, but at the same time we are quite similar. There is an authenticity about her that I like, and she is very, very funny sometimes!


Now the fun part continues. I get to tag five bloggers so they can now share ten things about themselves.

Karlee at The Mother Experiment

Veronica at Mixed Gems

Anna at Green Tea n Toast

Amy at Amy Lime and Soda

Rhianna at A Parenting Life

 

and so it begins....

Today Shane is going away for a whole month to Canada. It is going to be really tough. He has been away before, but never for so long, and he has never been so far away before.

I know Georgie is going to miss her Daddy a lot. She is very much a Daddy's girl. I'm going to struggle with solo parenting, especially in the early evenings when we do the dinner/bath/bed routine. The distance is also going to be really hard. Shane has been away before, so I tend to cope reasonably well, especially because my family is so great. But the fact that he is going to so very far away is going to be difficult.

The time difference is also going to be a problem. Normally when Shane is away, we tend to talk on the phone often. But it won't be that easy this month. However before he left, Shane did set up Skype, so we will be able to communicate a bit.

It's also going to be really hard for Shane to be so far away from the kids for so long. Charlie is going to be 3 months old by the time he gets back! Plus, he is going to be away for most of Easter, which is something I'm quite unhappy about. But it's not his fault. He did ask that he could be home by Easter, and his boss who organised the itinerary for his trip, has him leaving Canada on the Thursday before Good Friday, but didn't think about the time difference. So he won't be back in Australia until Easter Saturday, and then he has to wait for a plane to come back to our town on Sunday. So he won't be back until Easter Sunday afternoon. That's a bit hard.

I'm really excited for him, as this is such a great opportunity, but I must admit I am a little jealous. I've only ever been to New Zealand before, and would LOVE to go to Canada. He is flying into Vancouver, but will be doing a bit of traveling, and he is going to Calgary, Banff and Red Deer. I would love to see Banff especially, and would love to go skiing there. But we have decided that one day when the kids are older we will try to take a family holiday there.

It is tough. But at the same time, I know that Shane doesn't want to be away from us. Whenever he has the choice, he always chooses to be with his family. And that makes a huge difference. While he's away I have a few projects around the house that I'd like to tackle. Hopefully I can keep myself busy.  A month really isn't that long. We will just do out best, and hopefully this time will pass quickly.

Linking this post with the lady Glow today :)

Power in worship

For the past week Charlie has slept through every single night. It has been great. Unfortunately, Georgie has not. She has been suffering from a viral bug, and last night she was up often. It takes a good hour to settle her once she is awake, as she gets quite upset. So this morning I was feeling a bit crap.

The crapness continued after I had gotten up for the fourth time with Georgie at 5am, to go back to bed at 6am, after saying goodbye to Shane, who went to work early, for a tiny bit more sleep before Charlie woke up. I had just gotten back to sleep only to wake up to the sound of a dog vomiting. It seemed that Chloe had snuck into our room at some point in the night to sleep on our bed. She's not allowed to, but occasionally she does it, and this morning she did it, and then vomited all over my quilt.

I was not amused, and took her outside. I cleaned up the bed and soaked the quilt (surprisingly both kids slept through it all) and then when I let her back in, she immediately jumped on the couch, and vomited again. I thought (and said) all manner of bad words, and took the couch cover out to soak too and then locked Chloe on the tiled floor.

The day didn't get much better. The kids woke up, and the whole morning was just hard. Charlie was a bit unhappy and had a pain in his belly, and Georgie was sick and didn't know what she wanted, but it was whatever she didn't have. The Wiggles helped us through. I had a solid parenting moment when I was bathing Charlie, and Georgie came up next to me to watch with half a weet-bix in her mouth. I wasn't thrilled, but thought, 'Oh well she must have just gotten into the pantry.' However, when we finished bathing Charlie and I went out into the kitchen, I saw that the pantry door was shut and the childproof hook was locked, which begged the question... where did she get that weet-bix from? Parenting at it's finest, I know.

By lunchtime we were all tired and sick of each other and my temper was fraying badly. I was in shouty mode and it was not good. I put Georgie in her chair with some lunch, then sat down next to her to feed Charlie and promptly burst into tears. I got angry at God and was asking him why things had to be so hard. After a good cry I settled and then I started singing. I just sang regular praise and worship songs that we sing in church. And it helped.

I was just reminded of how much power there is in praise. How powerful it is when we bring a praise offering to Him, especially when we don't feel like it. It's easy to sing praises when things are good and when you feel like it, it's much harder when you don't feel like it. But I think there is so much power in honoring God when it doesn't come easily.

And I think it is so important too, to remember to honour God, not for anything he has done, or is going to do... but for who he is. I think we Christians sometime have a habit of talking about how great God is because he did this, or he has done that. But we need to remember to talk about how good God is simply because he is God, and he is holy and righteous and perfect. We need to honour him, for being him.

I'd like to say that the day was wonderful after that. But it wasn't. It was still hard work. Georgie was still sick, and life was still life. But it was easier. I was easier. It made a difference. There is great power in worship.

*This post was originally started on  Friday, but has taken me a few days to finish.

Linking up with Jess for IBOT.