Ladybell.com

The last leaves left on our ornamental grapevine. Winter is well and truly here.

I’m not sure many people know what pure drinking water tastes like anymore, ie water not contaminated by chlorine, dozens of inorganic minerals and forced medication with fluoride. There’s only one brand I know of in the major supermarkets – Noble’s Pureau – which is truly pure but unfortunately is encased in such excessive packaging I feel guilty buying it (only for Sam’s bottles). I once drank nothing but that for a week and on drinking tap water again I had a rude shock. I was drinking from the world’s best tasting water supply and had to spit it out.

A 5-year-old can spout that fluoride is good for the teeth and if that’s true I thought brushing with it would suffice. Apparently not, though if you check the supermarket health section shelves you’ll find fluoride-free toothpaste too. Someone discovered fluoride is practically a poison and didn’t want it in their mouth let alone their drinking water.

So why are we forced to drink it? Can anyone guarantee that the fluoride added is not of the industrial waste variety? If I get my daily eight glasses from the tap what will this toxic accumulation do? Will I get arthritis or maybe a brain tumour? Who knows? Ready to kill you slowly? Maybe.

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2008/08/19/why-tap-water-can-harm-your-kids.aspx
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2007/11/22/fluoride-damages-your-brain.aspx

Today is one of those days. I woke to a crying 9-month-old at 6.00 in the morning, bathed him, made breakfast for three, vacuumed my house, caught up on email, blogged, did grocery shopping which is becoming more of a nightmare with an almost 3-year-old, lugged it all in, put it away, made a healthy lunch, changed a pooey nappy, virtually begged my daughter for a whole 10 minutes to go to the toilet before her nap – and now they are tucked in bed.

All the while I was thinking I really need some chocolate. I just need to sit down and listen to silence. I haven’t done anything new or interesting today but it mystifies me why these simple tasks still tire me out so. At least I have some Belgian Fruit and Nut to get me through the afternoon shift.

While visiting the Trial Bay Gaol in Arakoon last month we couldn’t help noticing old inscriptions left by actual inmates during World War I where it was used as a German internment camp. During the 50s and 60s the Gaol was also a popular romantic spot after dances and social events in town. The Gaol overlooks spectacular beaches – it’s even possible to spot whales in this beautiful part of Australia. I can imagine arm in arm walks amongst the ruins on a clear starry night.

Unfortunately, although the inscriptions are interesting from a historical perspective, people today  still feel the need to also deface. Almost every cell wall is covered. However, I spotted this bit of graffiti which I couldn’t stop looking at.

A picture of youth and innocence as a new year is started. I wonder where these two people are now 42 years on? Are they alive? Are they still together? Did they marry? Did they actually have a relationship? Did Dianne know about Jeremy’s love? Did she even know he existed?

These two people would have been from my own parents’ generation whose own relationship is still going strong. Sadly nowadays, for any relationship to last that long is quite phenomenal. Still, I have hopes for Jeremy and Dianne. That they’re out there somewhere and that Dianne knew of Jeremy’s love. That she felt the same way and that they got married. That they had their ups and downs but they pulled through together. That they remembered what they wrote on New Year’s Day of 67 and came back to show their children.

And that Jeremy still loves Dianne.

There’s a book out now called Thirty something and over it. I’ve not read it but I heard an interview with the author on the radio the other day and I think a lot of people can relate to the idea.

Sometimes you come to a point where you’ve had enough. Or you think you do. Your general routine for instance. Being tired of the same old. Not happy with your job, your location, what you have, the people around you or just life in general. This isn’t me or so I thought – perhaps not to that extent and not until a couple of weeks ago.

Recently I’ve realised major life decisions are exciting but fairly straightforward and easy for the single person. However, those same decisions can have a huge impact where a family is concerned, and the amount of unknowns in the picture can potentially be either extremely positive or majorly hazardous for the family. It could even break that union apart.

I wouldn’t consider myself a risk taker but I’m usually up for a challenge or just a bit of change. But I cannot be selfish where the results of such a decision are unknown and which could even in the end negatively affect my children just for the sake of change.

Admittedly, sometimes it’s easy to look at someone else’s life and compare yours with those who have more or something different. An opportunity knocks and all that’s rosy about it is all you see. It’s easy to forget the millions who have less than us and can only dream of living the lives we lead.

It’s a wise person who recognizes all this and prays for guidance and admits to what could have been a very costly mistake. It’s amazing where that has led us. It’s led me to a place where I am satisfied with where I am and what I am doing. I’m perfectly content. And if God were to speak to me in a booming voice to go somewhere or do something – well then I think I’d be up in a flash.

Recently we returned from a trip to sunny north coast NSW. It was the first time we had left our children overnight without us – ever. Fortunately we are in a position to do this with family members happily taking charge of them.

The whole trip felt almost surreal for various reasons – one chiefly being the absence of two familiar small and noisy creatures. It felt like luxury to be able to be spontaneous, to enjoy some quiet or to actually spend an afternoon out (our two happily nap whole afternoons away…hmm maybe I shouldn’t complain!). By the second day though, I was desperately missing them which really took me by surprise.

We called home a couple of times and I tell you there is no sweeter sound than your own child’s voice (when they’re hundreds of miles away that is). Katie was cheery at first but then asked when we were coming back. I could tell she was a little sad. I couldn’t finish the conversation I was too overcome with emotion. I don’t think I have ever felt such a deep longing for my children as I did then.

It was 10:30 pm the next day when we finally arrived home. I opened Sam’s door and just stared at his sleeping face. I wanted to pick him up and hold him. In the dim light I was sure I could detect a boyish change in him. He half opened his eyes and saw me. His eyes grew bigger and he began to kick his limbs about excitedly. I stepped out quickly into Katie’s room and as usual she had thrown her blankets off. I noticed how tall she was getting. I decided to whisper my presence to her and she immediately turned to me and mumbled a sleepy slur.

I tucked her in and realised just how glad I was to be home and how much my children are growing before my very eyes

The other day I thought I’d experiment with making some home-made biscuits especially for Sam. He’s been on solid foods for a while but has soon learned to swipe at spoons and generally anything placed within inches of his face. I marvel at how fast he is sometimes. He’s also teething which is always fun.

Finger foods are now a firm favourite – for him not me. The little man much prefers to examine and explore his food himself, however most of it ends up anywhere but his mouth. Really I’d be quite happy continuing to serve him thick soups and stews forever since they’re usually consumed relatively quickly and cleanly.

The following recipe is taken from Practical Cooking for Babies and Toddlers published by Choice.

1/3 cup caster sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla essence
2/3 cup plain flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
2 tbs ground nuts (I used almonds)

Beat sugar and egg until pale in colour. Mix in vanilla essence. Sift together flour and baking powder. Fold into egg mixture. Add ground nuts and gently mix until combined. Spoon onto baking paper in a long 6 cm wide sausage. Cook in a moderate oven for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool. Slice into 2 cm biscuits. Stand biscuits on an oven tray and return to a moderately slow oven to become crisp, approximately 15 minutes. Store in an airtight container. Makes approximately 24.

I only had self-raising flour on hand and couldn’t find my vanilla essence. Despite that it turned out really good and reminded me of Italian biscotti. It won’t crumble easily and Sam can nibble on it for ages. Katie is never far away so when finally flung it never goes to waste either.

Melbourne Mum is making a departure. I decided to change things around again, this time including a new domain name (ladybell.com – live now), new blog platform and web host.

I’ve realised when anyone decides to start blogging you need at least a couple of months to settle in and find out what it is you are on about. It can be irritating to readers and I apologise. Blogging was an experiment at first but I’ve decided that I like it a lot. I doubt I will ever claim to be good at it but it’s an outlet and an enjoyable, creative one at that. I also didn’t want to permanently define myself by my location or by one of the many roles I play in this life. A lady is far more fitting!!

I’ve been wanting to make the change for a while now but the famous “5 minute install” of Wordpress actually turned into a week. A sordid ordeal indeed but well worth it – even a nontechie like me was able to eventually succeed. If anyone else is thinking of migrating to Wordpress (self-hosted) from Blogger I do recommend it, just for better functionality and control. There is so much conflicting info out there regarding the whole process but I did find this particular article quite helpful.

It was sucking up a lot of precious time though that I almost gave up. In the end I rewarded myself with some of Katie’s poo chocolate (see previous post). The fun part now is experimenting with all the wonderful themes and plugins so the site’s look may still change from time to time.

There’ll be some kind of redirect from the old site to Ladybell soon but I’ll let you know of Melbourne Mum’s demise before it happens. Sorry for the self-indulgent spiel – I just wanted to assure you I hadn’t died. Future posts will now be at the new site. I have a nice baby biscuit recipe that I’d like to share but for the next little while I want to be miles away from any computer screen.

Today marks a special milestone for Katie.

About two weeks ago we bought a huge Easter egg for Katie which we set on top of the fridge. It was a special red egg all boxed up. We told her she was free to eat that egg any time – on one condition. She was to do a number two in the toilet. Not in her nappy but in the toilet. Like all big boys and girls do. We repeated this to her every time she asked about the egg and she absolutely understood what she needed to do. In fact each time she mentioned the “big choccat egg” we asked her what she had to do to be able to eat it, and she promptly answered “do poo poo in toilet”.

Well it’s been an interesting two weeks. I think the whole process is a very frightening one for a two and a half year old. Day-time number ones have been sorted but it was taking a while to get to the next stage. The chocolate was a good enough bribe but Katie still waited until her nappy was on at nap times and at nights. I eventually told her mummy would just eat the egg in the end. That was this morning.

Without going into unnecessary detail, except to say it had been a few days since a dirty nappy, we had a winner. There were a few tears – it is a horrid ordeal to go through at first – but she tucked into a nice bowl of chocolate and told auntie and grandpa all about it on the phone later.

But maybe I shouldn’t get too excited. Katie has come downstairs up from her nap along with the familiar scent that signals a nappy change is in order. Guess I’ll be buying more chocolate – for Katie of course.