From the sewing room

Been a bit busy for updates here lately, so in the meantime here are some snippets from the sewing room…

My new Korean podaegi baby carrier

A wedding guest book quilt

And summer sunhats for my little Nate

An adventure: Camping with babies

So we went camping over the Australia Day long weekend. Yes camping! Four families in three tents with four babies between 6 to 13 months.

 

The place we camped at needs an ancillary mention. We booked two sites at at Beachlands Holiday Park in Busselton. According to the email confirmation, our group was guaranteed two side-by-side grassed sites.

However when we arrived we were shown two separate (non-side-by-side) sites on concrete slabs located close to the edge of the road. There were no trees providing any shade and you can imagine how hot it was in 40 degree weather.

 
Crappy camp site vs. Proper camp site

The worst thing was that the proprietor was barely apologetic and basically told us that there was nothing he could do. Unfortunately it was impossible to find any vacancies at other places at the last minute. However thanks to some clever manoeuvring and negotiation skills of my friend Jamie, we managed to find a compromise situation.

We resolved to move past the bad reception and enjoy the place for what it was. Frankly, the camp site has great facilities - including a dry playground, water playground, swimming pool, a giant jumping pillow, clean and spacious family bathrooms, a camp kitchen and bbq area, free wireless internet etc.

Thanks to the great company, we had a wonderful time and agreed that we should definitely organise a joint family getaway like this again. However the bad experience with the Beachlands proprietor left a sour taste in all our mouths - so we haven’t decided yet whether we would go back there again.

Anyway moving on, here are some highlights from our trip…

The open air playroom/nursery we set up for the kids

 

Nathan’s first girl roommate - Sophie, sitting on far left in the pic below

 

The water playground - the biggest highlight for Nathan

 

Fresh herring (caught by hubby) shared between eight adults

 

And this absolutely gorgeous moment with the kids as we were out shopping for supplies (youngest member of the gang not pictured)

My verdict on camping: totally doable and heaps of fun. I would do it again… hopefully in less searing heat and next time I’ll bring along really good earplugs.

Sunday caveats

It just occurred to me that some non-parents might be puzzled at the timeframes outlined in my previous post. 25 minutes to feed a child??? You can’t be serious. Well I know some folks who need to dedicate ONE HOUR just to shovel food into their kid’s mouth.

So here are a few additional caveats to add further context our Sundays:

• Feeding children is a looooong and slooooow process. And not forgetting, messy.
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• When you become a parent, you will understand what the big deal with naps is all about.
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• Children create a lot (and I really mean a LOT) of laundry.
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• Packing supplies for going out with kids is like getting ready for a big military operation.
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• Having kids is like a mega adventure ride. All ups and downs. Highs and lows. And in the end, it’s all good.

Sundays

Circa 3 B.C. (Before Children) - I watched parents fumble into church, often 15-20 minutes into service, lugging prams and bags of baby supplies. I wondered over this crazy world of parenting… How hard could it be to start 15 minutes earlier? Maybe wake up earlier? Prepare everything in advance?

Present era: 1 A.D. (After Delivery) - I am now living the reality. I decided to document a typical Sunday morning routine to illustrate the typical challenges parents often face:

6.30AM Nathan wakes up so we’re up too. Start the day with the usual wash up, morning cuddle and nappy change.

6.45AM Feed Nathan breakfast. Weetbix and milk.

7.10AM Clean up Weetbix and milk mess from chair, floor and clothes. How did he get Weetbix into his ears?

7.20AM Load laundry into washing machine (I did laundry yesterday and the day before but I still have a backlog to clear before Monday when I’m back at work)

7.30AM Breakfast time for hubs and I. Nathan sits by and nibbles bits from our plate

8.00AM Clear table and wash breakfast dishes

8.15AM Lay out clothes for church, start packing diaper bag - check that there’s spare nappies, wipes, spare change of clothes, snacks, sippy cup etc.

8.30AM Pause to look at clock and contemplate the big question “To Nap, or Not To Nap”. Is it too late to bother with one or should I still push it to avoid risking a cranky bub meltdown at church later?

8.35AM Give Nathan his milk and try to put him down for a nap. It’s an hour earlier than his usual nap time but decide to try anyway.

8.45AM Laundry load done. Unload washing machine and hang washed clothes up to dry

9.05AM Nathan not asleep yet. Contemplate whether to pick him up or let him try and settle himself. Decide on the latter so that I get on with doing stuff around the house.

9.10AM Prepare Nathan’s lunch for later - rice and lentils with potato and chicken. Nathan still not asleep but seems happy talking to himself. Decide to leave him for a while longer to get on with doing stuff. Finish lunch preparations and pack everything into my bag

9.25AM Hurry to change clothes, slap on some lipstick and run a brush quickly through my hair.

9.35AM Attend to Nathan… quickly change his nappy and clothes, put on his shoes etc.

Nathan in his Sunday best

9.45AM We’re on the way out the door by now, but often at this point some drama happens to delay us - sometimes it’s a poopsplosion or throw up or a spill or mess. Today Nathan happen to slip and fall down hard, flat on his back and proceeded have a major meltdown. He’s probably disoriented as he hadn’t had a nap yet. We pause to check for injuries and to soothe the boo-boo.

9.55AM Finally everything and everyone is the car and we’re off. Start mentally planning what to do if Nathan falls asleep in the car.

10.20AM Arrive at church (finally). 20 minutes late but we made it! Nathan’s still awake but looks tired. Hmmm… should I leave him at creche or take him with me and try to get him to nap in my arms?

10.45AM Slip Nathan into my sling and try to rock him for a short nap whilst listening to the sermon.

11.05AM Nathan not cooperating. Decide to bring him to creche.

11.15AM Creche room is understaffed - too many babies and too few carers on duty today. Decided to help ease the load by changing Nathan’s nappy myself and feeding him an early lunch.

11.45AM Managed to get just a little over half of Nathan’s lunch into his tummy. Decided to give the remainder a break. Should we head out for lunch or head home? Nathan’s been holding up pretty well but was clearly getting tired.

12.15PM We’re in the car on the way home. Decided it would be too much of a stretch to push Nathan further without a nap.

12.30PM Arrive home (finally). Nathan is fast asleep in his seat. Should we move him or leave him there a little longer?

And that’s our Sunday morning! How was yours?

Btw, I would not say my routine should be seen as the ideal example to follow. I’m sure other mothers out there manage even more efficiently than this. If we add another kid or two down the track, somehow I’ll need to up my game even more.

Leonardo da Nathan

We’ve been sending Nathan to daycare for about four months now. We started at once a week so that I could pop into the office to check-in for meetings and stuff. I was able to work from home on other days.

Toward the end of the year, it became increasing challenging to be productive at work with Nathan at home with me. So we decided to increase the number of daycare days per week.

As our existing family daycare had no other slots available, we found a second family daycare centre to share the load.

Family daycares are my absolute top choice of daycare options. The carers operate out of their own house which I found to be more homey and cosy. I love the fact that they are smaller scale (maximum of four kids per household) which provides a more intimate setting for the kids to interact in.

I also think the risk of contagious sicknesses spreading is a lot lower in family daycares. So far over the past year, Nathan has never fallen ill or caught any sicknesses as a result of going to daycare.

On the other hand, I thought that the downside of family daycares means that the activities are less structured and they provided less formal tracking of the day’s programme. However the new daycare we just stared at has blown away all such preconceptions.

Here is a glimpse into the daily record book our carer has to note down all the details of the day…

She notes down details of what the kids eat for morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea; exact times of nappy changes/toileting; time and duration of naps; how much milk they took from the bottle; and my favourite is notes on activities they did that day.

Also, she has been very conscientious in organising art & craft activities or some sort of textural play. These are a couple of recent masterpieces Nathan has brought home with him plus excerpts of the carer’s notes on the artwork he did that day…

“…Finger painting with food colouring mixed with cream…”

“…Collage with red paper and ribbons - he can put glue with glustick and pick up small pieces of paper…”

“…Finger painting - introduced primary colours…”

She’s also done some cooking/baking and included Nathan in the activity: “…We made gingerbread men today - he enjoyed watching and feeling the dough and tried to put it in his mouth…”

Plus there was also the handprint painting which I featured in my new year post. It’ also inspired me to do my own art & craft activities at home. Still it’s great that Nathan’s getting plenty of opportunities to express his artistic side with someone else to deal with the mess :)

Wordless Wednesday: Sugarcane