The First of Many…

Last night we headed down to the park for our first barbeque of the season. It was warm, relaxed & fun… park barbeques always are. We’ll be back again. And again. And again…

I never used to be much of a fan of daylight saving – I’d have to get up in the dark to go to work, mumbling & fumbling all the while, at what was essentially an hour earlier… yuck!

Now though I definitely appreciate the extra sun, the extra time The Boy has after work to potter in the garden or kick a ball with Punk & the fact that even though “really” Miss Punk is still getting up at the same time everyday, when I look at the clock I feel as though I’ve had a nice lie-in.

Hanky Panky.

Okay… so it’s less Hanky Panky & more making a dress out a couple of bandanas.

I saw these CanTeen bandanas this morning while picking up some groceries (Bandana Day is October 29th) & thought they were really cute – not to mention for a good cause, so I picked up a couple & made The Punk a dress.

Joining in with all ye creative types at Kirsty’s, later but at least a bit more productive than usual….

More Blogtoberfest Thievery…

…I keep stealing people’s good ideas for Blogtoberfest posts, I can’t help it… I have to break up the baby-stuff posts somehow!

This idea is from Margaret at Konstant Kaos;

What would be the first song that would appear in iTunes (or any other music browser) if you pressed random or shuffle?

I’d love to know what comes up for you too – if you dare, & do listen to this song, it’s all seven kinds of awesome.

Not Just A Pretty Face.

This is my friend Lara & her two beautiful boys.

I say “friend” because even though we’ve never met in person, I’ve actually known her longer than I have known my favourite person in the world; Miss Punk! Lara & I connected on a baby & pregnancy forum when we were both pregnant, she with her second son & I with Le Punk & my only regret about that is that she doesn’t live around the corner from me (I’m sure she doesn’t regret that though – cold, drizzly south-west Victoria, or sunny everyday Brisvegas….?! Hard decision…).

Lara is a vegan warrior, super-Mum & sassy business woman – she is one of those WAHMs I told you about the other day, churning out adorable Modern Cloth Nappies for all, starting with her own kids, even though she’s close to popping with bubba#3. I know that can’t be easy, in fact, I know EXACTLY how hard it would be – we’re due on the same day!

I thought I’d give lovely Lara & her nappy business – Extremely Nappies – a shout out today for two reasons, the first being that this lovely piece of fluff, my first new piece of fluffy mail, turned up on the doorstep yesterday.

Can you see what that fabric is peeps?!

…and look who she addressed the envelope to;

…cheeky! So not-Arnold has the first of his very own MCN stash thanks to Lara. For reasons best known to her, she agreed to make this for me in exchange for some original art/illustration for her soon-to-arrive third born. I think she’s getting a raw deal, but hey… I’ve got a funky robot nappy!

The second reason I wanted to post about Lara is that she is supporting a fantastic initiative I only recently discovered called My Green Nappy.

I think this is absolutely brilliant, from the website;

My Green Nappy is a simple environmental initiative encouraging all families to have one green nappy for their baby to wear.

One will make a difference.

Every time it is worn, a single use disposable is kept out of landfill.

It’s Simple: Start with ONE!

Simple yet profound! How did nobody think of this before?! Everyone, EVERYONE, no matter how pro-the-perceived-ease-of-disposables they are, could handle using & reusing one cloth nappy, every little bit helps & surely just giving it a go would lead to new perceptions & behaviours… it’s win-win, really.

Quite apart from the wonderful idea, My Green Nappy is running a giveaway called The 100 Green Promise Nappies Initiative; where you can play along to WIN one of 100 green nappies generously donated by sponsors, one of whom is indeed Lara (her lovely contribution below). Go here for more details & to register.

So, I urge any of my cloth-nappying readers to check out Lara’s gorgeous nappies, & any of my disposable-using readers to really have a think about just ONE green nappy. For the rest of you, you can all admire her pretty face.

Well I’ll be….

So. I’ve been faffing about on Etsy & WAHM sites, a’lookin & a’dreamin about fluffy mail, and I’ve made an interesting discovery.

What ARE they I hear you ask? Circus tents for pet fleas? The new craze in fashionable hats for Barbie?

Nope.

They are small cones of fabric that people actually buy (…and for someone to buy it, remember, someone has to make it…) to place over their baby boy’s genitals during a nappy change, to prevent a well-aimed stream of urine splashing them in the face.

Never mind a flannel, a strategically placed wipe or even speeding the hell up with the nappy changes, what you need right there is a Peepee Teepee, a Weewee Tent, a Caution Cap or a Sprinkle Stopper (I WISH I were making these up…).

I find the whole concept, obviously, terribly amusing & feel there will be a wave of even more embarrassed than usual young men blushing over the slideshows at their 21st birthday parties in 21 years time.

I have linked the pictures. Just don’t tell me if you buy some, & I won’t ask.

PS, The first commenter to come up with a better name than the ones mentioned above wins not goods, not money, but my undying admiration.

PPS, There is a frikkin game about them!!!

I blame Kate.

A few days ago Kate blogged about the amount of emails in her inbox & how she can feel overwhelmed by them so she was embarking on ‘operation empty inbox’ or some such.

She asked how many emails we currently had languishing in our virtual mailboxes… & I am ashamed to say I had close to five thousand. Seriously. Is it my hoarding nature crossing over into the digital realm…? I don’t know, but I thought perhaps I’d do some tidying up.

After browsing through about a hundred messages & moving or replying to any that needed moving or replying to, I got over the whole thing & deleted the lot. That’s when I started to panic. Deleter’s remorse! What if there was something crucial in there… some important email I’d forgotten I meant to save, sandwiched between an eBay outbid notice & a blog comment from last August?!

I emailed Kate immediately & basically relinquished myself of all blame. “It’s all your fault” I whinged, & I warned her that I will be blaming her indiscriminately if & when I am horribly caught out. I mean… I even deleted the ones about how I have won the British lotto AND the ones pertaining to my dead European relatives leaving me millions of Euros if only I can pay the transfer fees….

(I know that picture says there is 18 in there… it’s creeping up again…)

Anywho… if you’ve asked me something & I haven’t replied, in the first instance, well, I’m lazy. In the second instance, I’m forgetful & in the third…?

It’s all Kate’s fault.

Wordly Goods.

I saw The Crafty Librarian playing with words Tagxedo style yesterday & thought “Well there’s an easy Blogtoberfest post for a Saturday morning…” so here I am. I see Cam has already had a go too.

Here, obviously, is ‘Punky & Me’ with words from the blog… I love it!

Here is another random cloud using yesterday’s post; It looks like a poster for reusable nappy week…

Very fun… go, have a play!