A present for Livinia's first Christmas
Evie's new sunglasses from Nana & Pa
Pa holding Evie's new Henry the train
Livinia's first waldorf doll, a star child, gifted by Moonchild studio from Etsy
Evie's new wooden stove, with toys being shoved into the oven.
Livinia was one week old yesterday. We're doing pretty well so far, life is very busy though. I picked up conjunctivitis on Monday for the first time in my life (great timing), so have been to the Doctor's twice in 2 days as the first lot of eye drops I had an allergic reaction to. That was not fun. Getting over it now though, and looking forward to Christmas.
This is our little Christmas tree, a potted woolly bush, which is native to Albany, Western Australia. It is called the woolly bush because it feels so soft to touch. It is decorated with 7 Ostheimer angels, it needs a star on top though. Hopefully we'll get a few Christmases out of it before planting it in the garden.
Now it's the first of December, I'm "allowed" to put up Christmas decorations, my eager little helper just wants to play with them all though :) Here's our Ostheimer 'mini' nativity scene, minus the king's animals, hopefully they'll join us next Christmas. Evie is loving all the angels in our house :)
I couldn't resist this cute 'Echino' patchwork fabric with planes on it- Evie loves planes (and boats and trains!) I thought she'd like a "stirt" made from it. There's enough left over for a pair of pants for next year, or whenever she grows out of size 2. I made the skirt big for her to grow into, it is almost down to her ankles! I'm not a fan of little girls in long skirts- just looks like it restricts their movement too much, so she probably won't wear it much this summer. It was super easy to make, being a patchwork print, you just cut out along the lines, and everything's straight. I like a quick project :)
This is what I've been working on this week- we picked up this raw pine chest of drawers last week we had on lay-buy for the baby's clothes and nappies, Andrew put the first coat of paint on, and I did the next two. I was trying not to paint as I have strange cravings whilst pregnant (smells I think I might like to eat!), and yes, mineral turpentine I am strangely attracted to amongst other things. I didn't drink it though, don't worry :)
What a difference a month makes in the garden! The rainbow chard has gone berserk, and I've had to chop the heads off the coriander twice in the last week. There are 3 roma tomato plants hiding behind the coriander, and they are doing pretty well too. We've just planted zucchini and canteloupe in the lower bed at the front. I've been collecting about 2 buckets of clean water a day from running hot water for face/bum washers, so that's mostly what keeps the vegies alive, the thick layer of mulch really helps too.
Just had to add a self portrait of Evie, she likes to takes pictures when she can get hold of the camera :)
We went to the Freshwater Creek Steiner school spring fair and open day on Saturday, I'm regretful that we didn't think to take the camera :( There were chooks, calves, sheep & lambs, and a pony that Evie was quite enamoured with, and we were able to have a look around a few classrooms, and market stalls. I was staggered at the amount of fruit trees dotted around the place, and there were plenty of vegie and herb gardens, a real sensory experience for the children who attend the school. It was great to be able to buy the above books in "real life", rather than over the internet, and of course we didn't have to pay postage, a major bonus. Your average book shop doesn't tend to stock books like these, many books on the Steiner book lists are Dutch or German, and have been translated. I hope we can make it there again next year.
I had a chance and some motivation to do some sewing over the last couple of days, so I made this little pinafore in size 2 , and 2 of the little skirts in size 1-3. They are in my Etsy shop now.
Concentrating...
This is Evie's Spring Lyre from Palumba on Etsy, that I bought earlier this year. It is made from cherry wood, and has a beautiful sound (when it's in tune!) It will be great when Evie (and her sibling) can play us a few tunes.
Evie & Jonty
A garden bed we made last week by ripping up some grass- mandarin and orange trees at the back, and lettuce, tomato, chives, strawberries, silverbeet, carrots and parsley seedlings.
An established and very heavy laden healthy lemon tree.
A start on a native garden
Our berry patch- left to right: blueberry, thornless loganberry, 2 raspberries, and strawberries along the front
Evie pointing to some lettuce
Evie standing between a nectarine tree and a dwarf apple tree
This is one of my favourite environmental tips for around the home: use recycled paper toilet paper. You see, if you're going to go to the effort of recycling your papers, bottles, jars, cans and so forth, you also need to close the loop and buy products made from recycled goods. Brown toilet paper is an easy way to get started, it even comes packaged in recyclable brown paper. Recycled paper toilet paper has come along way, it is no longer scratchy, and you can even get it in white and I think peach, if brown doesn't suit your toilet decor :) It's quite cheap too, and Aldi (in Australia) sells it for nearly $1 cheaper for 6 rolls than other major supermarkets. All those trolleys filled with velvety soft, aloe vera infused, gardenia scented, white and printed toilet paper make my stomach churn, people wiping their bums on virgin forests is just not an option these days!
I've been waiting for soup weather for a long time now, it seems I will have to wait a bit longer, as the weather just hasn't cooled down much, it just doesn't feel right. I'm used to the change in seasons, which I really like, I don't at all mind the cold in winter, I much prefer it to the heat of summer. Weird, I know, but I just don't like heat. Anyhow, this is the second batch of chicken and vegetable soup I've made this week. I'll just pretend that it's soup weather. Soup is very handy to have in the fridge, you can get many meals out of it. Good timing too, as Evie has just come down with a cold, and I've been sneezing a bit too. Evie will only eat bits of chicken out of it though (if you're lucky). She's a bit interested in chickens and ducks at the moment, so when I tell her it's chicken soup, she says "Bck bck", I wonder if she thinks about how the chicken got into the soup?
This is the Eastern most point of Australia, at Byron Bay. We had a long weekend holiday there last weekend, we stayed at Lennox Head, about 15 minutes south of Byron Bay. It was a lovely relaxing weekend, we'd never been to that part of Australia, so there was a bit of exploring to be done. We went to a great market in Byron Bay on the Sunday...we might need to go back sometime.
The Cape Byron Lighthouse
Lennox Head
And Evie, who fell asleep just as we pulled into Byron Bay. We gave her Phenergan as she often gets car sick, and were hoping that she would become drowsy and fall asleep for the 2 hour journey, one of the happy side effects of the medicine. Unfortunately she stayed quite alert until the last 5 minutes.
Just had to add this pic, Evie has always been drawn to these boxer shorts that I made for Andrew years ago. Not sure if it's the colour, the silkiness, or the mouse and cheese print, but today she wanted to put them on :) Bit big though...
Just a pic of Evie looking pretty happy with herself, sitting on a side table with her basket of books :) Enjoy!
This is our clothesline full of cloth nappies in the late afternoon sun. We've been using cloth since Evie was born, and we're really happy with the savings we've made, the environmental benefits, and the most important factor- no yucky chemicals being absorbed by Evie's skin. We have a range of different brands and styles of nappies, at the moment we're mostly using all in ones (good for wriggley toddlers), which are nappies that have a cover built into them. Most of the nappies in the picture are made by the Itti Bitti Nappy Co, but there's also a Tots Bots Bamboozle in there (the yellow one) and as the name suggests, is made from Bamboo fibres. The Itti Bittis are made with either hemp or bamboo absorption layer, with a microfleece liner, and a minkee or PUL outer. We also use Bubblebubs, Swaddlebees, and Baby Beehinds bamboo nappies. It certainly feels good not to have to put a packet of disposable nappies in our trolley every week, they must be very expensive as you can tell when they're on sale- there will be trolleys full of packets or boxes of the things! Sadly, 90% of families use them in Australia though, and that creates enough landfill to fill the MCG 3 times over, every year. Every disposable nappy uses 1 whole cup of crude oil in it's manufacture, and takes up to 500 years to break down. Yuck!
I was ready to catch a bus home after "Babies, books and rhymes" at the library this morning, when I caught a glimpse of Evie in a reflection in a window (she was in a Beco carrier on my back). She was holding something, but I hadn't given her anything. I eventually got her to hand it to me and it was a little shoe- complete with a Myer sticker on the sole. She had just pinched it from Myer, and we made it out the door with no-one knowing! I didn't have time to take it back, but I will when I get the chance.
I've had a bit of a forced blogging break due to technical difficulties with our card reader- can't blog without pictures...and Mum's visiting at the moment, so it's a little busier around here. Andrew wanted me to blog about his Turkish delight- he made it himself! And it's rather delicious, not bad for a first attempt. I can see many more batches being made in various flavours.
I read 'Beyond the Rainbow Bridge' over Christmas, and have just finished 'You are your child's first teacher', and I'm so glad I did. I'm not a fan of parenting manuals, but these ones make sense to me, and fit in well with my personal philosophies. They have helped me to understand Waldorf philosophies on home life and education for the child, what the child really needs, rather than what society tells us the child needs. It worries me that children are being pushed into academics at younger and younger ages, being taught to read and write before they are developmentally ready, like it's some race. There's no evidence to show that this benefits the child, but there is evidence quite the contrary to show that it can be detrimental to their education down the track. While it is possible to teach these things to small children, it doesn't mean that we should. Waldorf philosophy states that we need to wait until the intense period of bodily growth is completed (at the change of teeth, around age 7) until concepts are taught. In the meantime, we need to let them play, watch us go about our daily tasks, and imitate what they see in the world around them, which helps them to process it in their minds. The world is a new place for them, their is so much to absorb, we don't need to be overstimulating them. They are children for such a short time, and adults for (hopefully) a very long time, there's no hurry to grow up!
Evie recently learnt how to say "Dolly", so I thought I'd share some photos of her Waldorf dolls. The 3 sitting in a row are from Little Jenny Wren on Etsy, and they have flown over from Launceston In Tasmania. The one in the middle is a cushion doll, and the other two are 12" dolls. I love that they have hand knitted singlets and knickers, as with Waldorf philosophy, children must be kept warm so that their internal organs can develop properly, so the dollies need to be kept warm too. I made their clothes.
