Preparing for a Party

We are in party mode this week!

Miss Berry will be 6 and we are having a carnival themed party this weekend. I must say I am enjoying all the preparation - perhaps that's because I am ignoring the weather forecast. Yes, it's going to rain on the day.

But enough doom and gloom.

 

How about some party hats to brighten the day.

And just in case there was any confusion, some signs for the food. I'm trying not to offer too much food because I've found the kids don't eat much. So I'm doing the standard party pies, sausage rolls, fairy bread for lunch and some popcorn and fairy floss. They will end up taking a lot of lollies home from the piñata and pass the parcel.

 

I'll post details of the cake next week but I am also making some cup cakes for the mums and dads so why not continue the theme with these toppers?

 

I am super happy with how the party bags have turned out. Especially the flowers made from lolly pops.

 

I've put in them some bubbles, an eraser, the lolly pop, some party mix lollies and a friendship bracelet kit. It's a very simple kit for the girls to make a friendship bracelet out of yarn. I'll post more about them as well as instructions after the party.

Wish me well and fingers crossed for a dry day in Sydney tomorrow.

It Must Run in the Family

Wow. Talk about busy. Little Master Berry is almost 6 months old and an absolute delight. But with three young children I (actually we) are stretched to our limit. My hat goes off to patents with 4, 5, 6+ children. I honestly don't know how they manage.

I've been doing a bit of sewing and knitting when I get the chance and dreaming of big plans for next year but more on that later.

In the mean time I have budding sewer. Miss Berry has been showing interest so it's time for her to begin her hopefully lifelong love affair with fabric.

An Elna mini. It is seriously the cutest thing ever.

How lucky is she?

Look what I made!

Our new addition is 4 weeks old now.
Master Berry #2 is doing very well and keeping us busy with lots of cuddles.

A Lovely Thought on Parenting

I've been cruising around the internet tonight (because once again I have too much time on my hands) and I came across an article on Slow Parenting at Wellbeing.com.

Within in the article is this quote:

"....while there is no ideal model because there are lots of ways to grow up, there are basic ingredients all kids need: “healthy food, enough sleep, time to play and get bored, freedom to think and explore the world, the right to chose their own path in life, love, security and affection with no conditions attached”."

 

This is timely for me as I've spent the day listening to some families compete on how many activities their five and six year olds do - soccer, football, violin, piano, dancing etc etc. We don't do much in the way of activities so I wisely kept my mouth shut. This article reminded me of why we keep the kids schedule reasonably free.

We're Quitting Sugar.

Talk about new things.

After a long discussion with my husband the other night we came to the conclusion that the health of our family is a top priority. And the best thing we could do for our children is to quit sugar.

For well over a year I have been reading and re-reading David Gillespies books Sweet Poison, The Sweet Poison Quit Plan and Big Fat Lies. I have also done my own research and I am convinced that sugar is giving us all kinds of grief and that there can be no such thing as moderation. (At least for us. We always seem to go nuts with sugary foods.)

So on the weekend we began the process of removing sugar from our lives. To help keep me motivated and to remind me of why I am doing this I've started a new blog How I Quit Sugar.

So why such an extreme move? I've known about the effects of sugar for a while now and I've must admit I hadn't really tried too hard to eliminate it. Lately I've realised how much sugar my kids eat. It's steadily growing. I've always battled with my weight and I've always said that I don't want my children to go through what I went through (and still go through). But the other day that really hit home.

We were at Miss Berry's kindergarten orientation and there was a performance from some of the older students. Four pairs were doing ballroom dancing and three of the girls were slim and one was on the chubby side. Actually a bit more then just on the chubby side. The poor girl stood out like a sore thumb on stage, especially in comparison to the other three who really did look like you would expect dancers to.

My heart went out to this girl and it brought back all the memories of myself at that age. I was the fat one at school and back then I was pretty much the only fat one in my class. I was always the last in the sport races, the last to be picked on the sporting teams and the first to get puffed when doing sport or running around in the playground. Growing up is hard enough, let alone when you are different and seeing this girl made me determined to do everything I can to make sure Miss and Mr Berry do not become that child.

And guess what? Sugar makes you fat. As well as leading to all sorts of illnesses including Type 2 Diabetes which is becoming more prevalent at even younger ages.

Interested in my journey or to know more? Please come over to How I Quit Sugar and join me as I break our addiction.

Time Has Flown

Wow, it's been almost 2 years since I have blogged. Things have been very busy here at the Berry Patch but honestly, I must admit that blogging has just not been a priority.

We have a new (or now not so new) addition to the Berry Patch.

Master Berry is 18 months and is just the cutest toddler ever. I love this age and would freeze time if I could. He is so mischievous and keeps up on our toes, but the things he does are so funny and cute. I love toddlers.

Miss Berry is almost 5 and over the last couple of months has really grown up. I keep wondering where the last 5 years have gone. She is starting school next year and she is so excited about it. I am a little sad about it but at the same time so very excited for her as she moves on to the next stage in her life.

And, we are expecting Berry number 3 in February. (Sorry, no picture. We will all have to wait.) The pregnancy is going smoothly and is similar to the other two, except that I am also running after a toddler and young child. As you can imagine I am somewhat tired.

Mr Berry and I were talking over the weekend about our goals for the family and I thought about my personal goals. Over the past year in particular, but I suppose it would have started two years ago, I have drifted from our simple, eco life. Rather then living deliberately I have been in crisis management and just trying to get through each day. Obviously with 2 children things do get hectic and I have been trying to do too much and also expecting too much of myself.

I must admit I have also been feeling pressure to contribute financially to the household. Not from Mr Berry but from myself and I think society in general.

As with any choice made as a mother, you are saying that I think my choices are better than yours(compared to those who choose different things that is). Because if you thought that their choice was the right thing to do then you'd be doing it too. I know we don't usually consciously think like that but I do think it is implied. Combined with the whole mothers guilt thing it can make people quite defensive in their decisions.

Think about any conversations you had about breast feeding vs bottle feeding, cloth vs disposable nappies, organic vs non organic foods or the big one - going back to work or staying at home. Some of these can get pretty heated and even if they don't, I have found that a lot of mothers seem to defend their choice to those that have made a different decision.

And I guess that is why I have felt I 'should' be working. People do define themselves by work. It is often one of the first questions someone asks you and I have received the 'oh' and then silence when I've told people I'm a stay at home Mum. Work is also a very common topic of conversation and when you are with a group of people who all work and are discussing (or complaining) about the trials of work I do feel left out and find myself internally justifying my decision. I know it sounds extreme but I think you are discounted in society because you don't go to work.

I think I had lost sight of why I am a SAHM (stay at home mum) and what I do contribute to this family. I also needed to really think about and define what gives me purpose in life. More money is not going to make us happier. It may not sound very ambitious but I do not need a career to make me complete. What I do want is to bring up our family so they can be well adjusted, successful adults. (successful in life, not necessarily in a career). If I can do that then I know my life will have had meaning and purpose.

Last weekends adventure. The Royal National Park.

So I am going to commit to continuing this blog to keep me on track and to help me remember why I have made the choices I have. I may not blog about serious environmental issues and I will admit our lifestyle can at times be full of materialist consumerism. But I will blog about our trials and tribulations as well as the joy of our family. I'll also keep you up to date with my home-making as I embrace my Stay-at-home-Mum-ness.

My Little Cook

Miss Berry loves to cook and for the past few months she has told me when she grows up she wants to be a chef and bake cakes. (And no, this is not because of MasterChef).

Personally, I am encouraging her cooking. I figure by the time she is 5, I can get her cooking most of our meals. A five year old can use an oven and cook top unsupervised right? Imagine all the spare time I would have to catch up on my web-surfing if I didn't have to cook dinner each night.

The cleaning of the kitchen may be another matter. Once we have done the cooking, Miss Berry suddenly finds the whole thing very boring and moves on to something else, only to return in time for the taste testing.

Here is Miss Berry being totally absorbed in Play School whilst I cleaned up the flour she managed to sift everywhere but into the bowl this afternoon.


But even though I have been demoted to kitchen hand, I am really enjoying the time we spend together in the kitchen. And so far, she seems to be a good cook. Here is the (little) cake she made today:

A carrot, zucchini and pineapple cake.

I made one too, although mine is a more grown up size. Miss Berry's is sitting on a saucer to give you the idea of the size. Mine is also iced in an equally grown up lemon cream cheese icing. Yum.

Thankfully this cake is a weight watchers recipe because we also made caramel slice. I think I have put on 5kgs just by inhaling the smell of the cooking caramel and the chocolate topping.

I am sure the two will balance each other out. Or perhaps they cancel each other out.

What Are My Chances?

Miss Berry is now 26 months and we have been trying to coax her into toilet training and failing miserably. Our last try ended like this:

Mummy: "Honey, why don't you do a wee on the toilet?"

Miss Berry: "I don't want to do a wee in the potty, I want to do a wee in my pants".

Mummy: "Oh, OK."

That was about 2 months age. I did not want to force the issue in case she realised she was able to manipulate the household with toilet antics, so things have continued as normal. Also, I don't think you have any where to go to when your 2 year old gives you a straight up answer like that.

Anyhoo, we were at Montessori earlier in the week and the teacher handed out an article on toilet training using Montessori methods. Brilliant, new ideas to help get the ball rolling again. One point they make is to put the child in training pants so they can get the feeling of being wet or dirty. The idea is the child does not want to be wet and will thus be encouraged to use the toilet/potty.

So, good in theory huh? I thought so and decided to dive in with a lovely colourful purchase.


Even if the plan goes straight down the toilet (pun intended) at least the training pants look adorable drying on the line.

Starting on the Back Yard

I have just gone through my photos and realised I don't really have a complete before shot of the back yard - oops.

Here is the best photo I can find (at least it has the area we began work on).

Our backyard is basically edged with weeds that have become trees or shrubs, ten ill-placed pines down one side, a sterile mulberry tree and a camellia. All of which have been left to go nuts. That's just two sides of the yard. The other side has a shed (yeah!) a pergola and a beautiful old frangipani tree that has paving right up to the trunk. There isn't any grass in the middle, just a few weeds and dirt.

The great thing about this is that we can pretty much design the garden ourselves. I am working on a design and I will post it as soon as I can figure out how to.

Yesterday, Mr Berry started on clearing the backyard. There were seven (yes seven) small pines planted along the north-eastern fence (there are still four absolutely huge ones there blocking a lot of the morning sun - they need a professional). Seriously, they were about 70cm apart - who would do that? They were chopped off and mulched. It took just about all day but by nightfall this is what remained:

I don't know if you can see the stumps at the back. Mr Berry only had time to get three of them out. Around the trees was full of Wandering Jew so we needed to do as much weeding as possible before lifting the stumps.

And, all seven trees were turned into this:

Not even a cubic metre of compost. I was sure I would have enough for a hot compost pile. I haven't checked the pile yet to see if it is heating up at all. If it's still cold by lunch time I will pile it into my smaller bin and start it cold composting.

Now that the sun can get to the ground there, we are going to make an interim veggie patch. In the long run I want a mandala garden for the veggies but that will take some time.

-------------------------------------------------------

And a big Happy Father's Day to all the Dad's out there. I am lucky to have my Dad and Miss Berry feels the same way.

Rhonda from Down to Earth wrote a post earlier in the year that reflects my thoughts on Father's Day.

It's true, the boys are often lurking in the background of the blogs and we get glimpses of them now and then. In reality, Mr Berry is the opposite. He is at the forefront of our family, supporting, guiding and following. He is my team member, and makes up for my weaknesses and helps my strengths to grow. Thank you Mr Berry for being a wonderful husband and father. I love you.

An End to the Mouse Saga

I told you about our little mouse here.

By Saturday we still hadn't caught the bugger. He was still eating the bait off the traps without setting them off so we headed down to the new and super big Bunnings store to get more traps.

We bought three different types.

The three traps at the top are the new ones. The plastic grey one on the bottom was the original one we used - it didn't work.

So, we set them all with peanut butter that night (he seemed to like peanut butter the most). And went to bed with our fingers crossed.

Sunday morning we woke to find our little friend had been caught in the nice humane keep-him-alive trap.

Great.

He was such a tiny little thing and whilst we were happy for him the be caught and killed in one of the other traps, now that he was caught alive we couldn't bring ourselves to kill him.

So Mr Berry bundled Miss Berry and the mouse (not together - the mouse was in a bucket. Miss Berry wouldn't fit in the bucket so we put her in her car seat) in the car and set off for Oatley Park. A nice large recreational park with lots of bushland. He and Miss Berry let the mouse go on the edge of the bush and they were happily watching the little thing scamper away.

All of a sudden the mouse changed direction and headed out onto the grassed area of the park and before you could say 'oh look at that little mouse' a bird swooped down and took him.

Mr Berry was speechless.

Miss Berry said 'Where did the mouse go?'

I don't think I need to say any more.

We'll Keep on Looking - and Saving

We didn't get the house.


We decided that it would be too risky for us at the moment to buy at auction. One bank (one of the big 4) has still yet to look at our application for a pre-approval - it has taken them 4 weeks so far. With the banks taking so long at the moment to give pre-approvals we had absolutely no confidence in them getting the loan organised in time for settlement. The house sold for $20,000.00 more than our upper limit anyway, so even if we had our finance sorted out we wouldn't have won the auction.


I do feel empowered in the decisions we made during this exercise. Even though I loved the house (it was perfect) we (or should I say I) was able to make rational decisions about the price we were willing to pay, the loan options we wanted as well as the ultimate decision about risk concerning the auction. I understand some people will pay anything and take any loan they can get in order to buy a particular house. That then leaves them with a lovely house, but with huge debt that they really can't afford to repay. I have heard stories of people living off their credit cards because their mortgage repayments are so high. They then roll the credit card debt into their mortgage as the house increases in value so they can start the cycle again.


This was exactly the situation we do not want to get into. Last year we made the decision to live off one income so we could give Miss Berry what we believe is the most important thing - time and attention that comes from having one parent stay at home. This means that we not only have to rent for longer whilst we save for a deposit, but also that we need a bigger deposit so that our mortgage repayments are low enough to maintain our current lifestyle on one income.


Although it will take longer to get our own house, I am happy with our decision. It has made it a lot easier to stay on budget and i think it's because the decision was ours. If we had been forced into this it would be a lot harder.

So we will keep on saving and I will keep on looking. I am sure the right house will come at the right time. There are after all, a lot of houses in our area. Surely some of them will be perfect?

Oh How Far We've Come

This morning we went to our first Wiggles concert.

If someone had told me ten years ago that the highlight of my week (or more like my month) would be to attend a Wiggles concert I would have thought them seriously deranged.

But there I was, lining up with the rest of the groupies children waiting excitingly with my ticket in hand. Not only me of course, Miss Berry was there and Mr Berry also took a personal day. We had a wonderful morning although I think Miss Berry was in shock for half the concert. She just stared at the stage and didn't move for ages and then would point and say 'Dorothy', 'Jeff' or 'Murray' like she couldn't believe they were actually there.



I also got completely sucked in to the Wiggles merchandise (and also wanted to silence a rapidly building public tantrum - Miss Berry's not mine). On the way out they were selling Wiggles balloons. Dorothy is Miss Berry's favourite so I went over to get her one and was shocked that the lady took my $20 and then turned to the next person in line. Yes that's right - $20 for a balloon. Do you think I can save it for the next Birthday party? Can we say 'Dorothy theme'?

A Wonderful Day

Well, it started raining yesterday around lunch and it hasn't stopped since. And it's great rain. It's not the light-not-really-get-anything-wet rain, nor is it the torrential-flash-flooding-wash-everything-away rain. It's the constant-middle-of-the-range rain and I love it.

The sky is dark and even with all the blinds open, the house is still dark and most rooms need a light on (not all at once obviously). It isn't too cold though, so we can open the front door and sit and watch the rain.

All the pot plants are out and the veggies are getting a good water. Every time it rains like this I wish for the day when we have our own home and can get a water tank.

So what do we do on a day like this? Other than cuddle up under a quilt or sit and watch the rain? We have a big pile of books to read, tea parties to play and beautiful pictures to draw. Unfortunately some of the chores need to be done, but I think some can be put off for another day so we can enjoy the weather.

More Doing, Less Blogging

I have spent the last week or so away from the computer (and internet) and have been doing a lot of the things I read and write about. As I have said before, I can lose hours reading all the wonderful blogs I subscribe to.

Miss Berry and I have had a wonderful week. She is such a delight and I love watching her grow and learn about her surroundings. I have also begun to introduce her to craft and have decided we each need our own project so I don't take over hers and turn into the imposing Mum (turn into? you ask). The big winner has been pavement chalk. We have a path to the clothes line and underneath it is covered in lovely toddler scribbles. I also drew her a hopscotch and she has been practising her jumping. Chalk is messy though - try to avoid the dark colours if you can.

Australian Tomatoes from Coles. The label says "Australian vine ripened".

My quest to reduce our food miles is still continuing. I found a brand of canned tomatoes at Coles that says it is Australian Made. It is twice the price of the imported ones that you get from Aldi which is insane. How can a product that comes half way around the world be half the price of a local product. But, it is still a cheap ingredient at $1.60 ish a can so I will stick with the Australian made one.

Thanks Fiona for the link to an online Australian Made grocer - https://www.onlyoz.com.au/. If you are interested in buying Australian made this site is a great resource.

I have also began a big autumn clean inside the house. We have venetian blinds on all the windows and they are looking really dusty so I am working my way through the house and giving each room a big clean. I feel so much better when the house is really clean.

The oven is next on my list and I keep putting it off - I hate cleaning the oven and I am not sure why I hate it so much. I don't use a commercial cleaner so I don't have to worry about fumes or anything. It's going to be a big job as I haven't cleaned it since Christmas when I cooked the pork in it which of course splattered everywhere. Worth it for all that yummy crackling though.

The Capsicum is growing strong with heaps of fruit forming as well as new flowers.

My basil crop. Everytime I look at it new flowers have formed. I keep harvesting the stems with flowers to try and keep it going for longer.

So, this weekend we are going to spend it in the garden. The remaining beds need to be prepared for planting, the seeds already sowed need to be thinned and the compost needs turning.

One of the beds I planted up this week. I have sowed Kale, Silverbeet, Cauliflower, Broccoli, Leeks and Radishes here. The punnents are sweetpeas to put at the back of the bed.

Anything to keep me away from cleaning the oven.

A Quick Drop In

This is just a very quick post today. We have been away for the last few days and of course today will be spent washing all the clothes – why do they seem to multiply when you are away?

Anyhoo, for those interested we went down the coast to Merimbula and stayed in an eco-cabin. We had a lovely time surrounded by bushland. Miss Berry met kangaroos, a goanna and lots and lots of birds.

One of the local beaches - we were the only ones on the beach.

Miss Berry chasing the ducks outside the cabin. They were not impressed.

These two roos came right up to the back door looking for food.

An absolutely stunning open garden called Foxglove Spires at Tilba Tilba.

So, I am refreshed and ready for the new year. Because it was an eco-cabin it gave me a lot of food for thought about how we can reduce our carbon footprint even further this year. Our first step is to get a couple of chooks.
Chicken tractor here we come.

Biddy Taylor – My Nan

My Grandmother passed away over Christmas and today was her funeral. The past few days I have been thinking about what to write about my Nan, especially in relation to simple living. Through necessity, Nan and Pop lived a simple life as did most people of that time. I asked her once what she did before cling wrap and she had to think for a while and said ‘I’m not sure – we just did’. I suppose that is simple living in a nut shell – just doing. Getting by with what you have not because you want to, but because you have to.

Nan was born the sixth child and second daughter of Howard and Florence Simmons on the 4th March, 1920. Nan grew up in Maitland, NSW and in 1942 she married my Grandfather Jack. They stayed in Maitland where my Mum and two Aunties were born and the family moved to Belmont in 1959 and then in 1962 they moved to Sydney.

My first experience of home grown veggies and meat came from Nan and Pop. Pop had a wonderful veggie garden and I remember Nan bottling up the excess – beetroot and rhubarb in particular. They also had chickens and our baked dinners often had the odd feather left under a wing – whilst Pop had killed the chook, Nan cleaned and of course cooked it. I remember being terrified of the chickens, especially after Mum’s stories of freshly killed hens chasing her around the back yard.

Mum said they always ate best when they were broke as they would have to ‘live off the land’ – however small a piece it may be. Pop would also fish and set traps for crabs.

My Nan was a wonderful lady. Although my Mum and Aunties tell stories of how strict Nan was when they were young, I remember Nan always being gentle and kind – I am pretty sure she spoiled us rotten. I remember being allowed to have an ice-cream cone before dinner and when we were out at the shops we often got a treat.

My first experience with a button tin was at Nan’s. I remember the wonderful feeling of running my fingers through the buttons (a feeling I still love). Nan also had a tin full of old cottons – the ones with the wooden spools.

I remember playing a lot with Nan (and Pop) as a child. Their home was one I always looked forward to visiting. There were lots of things I could play with – real things, not just kids toys - like the button tin and the cotton reels and I don’t remember Nan ever scolding me or telling me to stop touching things.

Of course there were things I knew I wasn’t allowed to go near. Nan had a china cabinet that was completely off limits. I was always fascinated by the cabinet and all the beautiful things inside it. Nan gave me the cabinet a few years ago and it is still filled with beautiful things – most of them are hers but I have begun to add to the collection.

My Nan was a wonderful, kind, generous person. Her legacy is her three daughters, seven grandchildren, fifteen great-grandchildren, and one great-great grandchild.

Nan, we love you and you will be sorely missed.

Jack and Biddy Taylor

Oh Christmas Tree

Our usual family tradition has been to put up the Christmas tree and decorations on the 1st of December. This year, a spanner has been thrown into the works – a cute yet active spanner named Miss Berry.

There is absolutely no way that I could have a tree up in the lounge room full of sparkly decorations and expect her to not be at it constantly. I looked at getting a play pen to put the tree in but they were very expensive and frankly I don’t think it would’ve worked as Miss Berry would have figured out how to climb over it in about a week.

After spending most of November trying to think of a solution I realised I was thinking about this the wrong way. I was holding fast to our traditions when really our family had outgrown them. I was assuming that the tree must go up on the 1st. Previously, our household was just 2 and we could have the tree up all December but now our household is 2 plus the aforementioned spanner and holding onto a tradition that is not practical anymore would do nothing but give us all huge amounts of stress and make Christmas miserable. It would defeat the whole purpose of Christmas; enjoying time with friends and family. It’s time for a new tradition to be created. One that will suit our family of 3. One that will make everyone happy and make our home a place to enjoy Christmas.



So, out with the old and in with the new. Now we are going to spend December decorating the house with garlands, quilts and good ornaments up high so our spanner can’t break them and on Christmas Eve we will put up the tree and Boxing Day will be the day the tree comes down.

Our plan is that there will be so much happening on Christmas Day that Miss Berry will be somewhat distracted and will leave the tree alone and I won’t have to spend December chasing after her and constantly telling her no. By decorating the rest of the house we can keep up the Christmas Cheer for all of December.

I think our new tradition sounds great – in theory anyway. I’ll let you know how that works out for us.

Bread and Biscuits

I have had a really slack week on the housework front and so yesterday I did all the housework. I usually like to spread the jobs over the week to keep the house looking somewhat respectable.

If I get everything done by Friday then nothing has to be done over the weekend and we can spend it as a family and do things we enjoy without having chores hanging over our head.

It wasn’t all hard work though, I did some baking in the morning so when Miss Berry went down for her nap I made myself a pot of tea and sampled my efforts.

Home baked bread with jam and oat and apricot biscuits

Both Mr Berry and Miss Berry have pretty much polished off all the bread I made yesterday so it looks like I will have to make some more. That’s the problem with taking the time to bake things – they get eaten!

Rain has been forecast all weekend but the sun is out at the moment and I am getting ready to venture into the garden and do some much needed weeding. I also have some winter vegies that are well and truly gone to seed and need to be pulled up.

When I am out the back my fingers just itch to pull up some of the many overgrown weeds we have. The back garden near the vegies is really overgrown and I don’t think it is safe for Miss Berry to go down there with me, so the weekends are the only time I can get stuck into it. Here is a picture of the area I am talking about.

Electricity and Water Update:

For the past 2 days our electricity usage has averaged 6.5kw and our hot water 8kw. This is down from 9kw each from the previous day. Our water usage has gone from 330L to 280L.
I thought we have been pretty good with our energy and water conservation but it just goes to show you that you can always do more if you try.

The big change we have made with our electricity use is to turn off the computer and any other appliances we can at the power point. Now the lady at the electricity company told me not to bother as it doesn’t save you much money over the year and maybe it won’t, but it has reduced our usage by 18%. We may have been a tad more diligent in turning off lights as well but it is still a huge reduction.

After reading the comments on my last water and electricity posting here, I had a look at the todae site that Sarah recommended – thanks Sarah!

Our toilet is very old and has a lever on the side rather than a button so I need to check that I can use a cistern weight but I have filled 2 soft drink bottles with water and placed them in the cistern (the cistern is so big that they are well away from any parts). This means that we are saving 3L every time we flush our toilet. It is making small changes like this that will add up to make the bigger savings.

Thank you to everyone for your comments and suggestions.

Back on Track with Modern Cloth Nappies (MCN)

I ordered some more nappy covers for Miss Berry from ecobabe and they arrived yesterday.
Before Miss Berry started solids we were using cloth nappies about 90% of the time. With the introduction of solids it became a bit too much to bear and I have been using disposables all the time. I am now beginning to work my way back up to using cloth nappies.

Here is our collection of different brands of cloth that we are using now:

My favourite brand is Tot Bots and they are the covers I use. I also have some second-hand Mother-ease one size nappies that are really good. There are 2 different types of liners in the photo; the biodegradable Eenee and some home made silk liners.

It really isn’t any harder to use cloth nappies rather than disposable, you just need to get your head around it. They are fitted nappies so they are worn just like a disposable and you don’t need to soak them or use a hot wash. And of course line drying them will anti-bacterial-ise them.

So, I just need to be aware of using the cloth nappies instead of automatically reaching for a disposable. Also, I think starting small will help the transition. I am aiming to use 2 cloth nappies each day and then increase that number over the next few weeks.

Here are some pics of my girl modelling her new nappy cover. As you can see it isn’t too bulky – but it is super cute!

She is sitting on a pack of disposable nappies. Does this represent the triumph of cloth nappies over disposable?

The Babysitter - Television

Miss Berry loves television. It began over Christmas when she was 3 months old and the cricket was on. She would just stare at the screen. Now she loves The Wiggles, Play School and In the Night Garden and will sit in front of the TV for as long as it is on.

I find it is so easy to turn on the TV when I need to get something done or if I need some peace. Actually, it is too easy. Last week I realised I was letting her watch too much TV. The amount she was watching had slowly increased over time without me realizing it; I was using it as a babysitter.

So the TV was turned off and since then Miss Berry hasn’t watch any TV.

You know what? I still get my jobs done in the morning (it does take a bit longer – she is such a great helper). I still get to have a cup of tea and write my blog. We are still able to get out of the house at the same time.

Miss Berry has not looked for the TV or her favourite shows. She is very happy to sit on her own and read her books or play with her toys. Every now and then she will come up to me for attention so we will sit down and read together or play with whatever toy she has and then I can continue with my jobs. She now helps me make the bed and tidy the house too.

Speaking of which, Miss Berry is tugging on my leg now – we are off to finish our morning jobs. Why did I ever think it would be easier or better with her watching TV?