Autumn thrifting

Linking with Her library Adventures Flea Market Finds
 

This beautiful mirror picture was a measly $2.

A thermos to add to my collection at $5.00, I had to have it.

I needed a saucepan this size, having it be orange was a bonus. 

Orange is my colour of late, this one is for Beatrix.

I picked this beauty up earlier this month and fell in love as did the kids at 5.99, a steal

Starts whingy but...

In our house of four children it's hard to spend time with the kids one-on-one.

With every extra child we've added, somewhere in the equation someone is missing out. It's becoming more difficult to do things together that they'll all enjoy. With a two and a half year old we rarely find the chance to even play a board game. Even just the logistics of getting us all out of the house are difficult enough.

I am finding though that my littlest one is sucking all of the time away from anyone else, even my lap she claims as "just hers." I spend so much time with her - we read stories, we ride round the street on her scooter, she's even given up her day sleeps so she is often found in a heap crying at my feet whilst I prepare dinner. If she sleeps during a school pick up she is awake till nine pm hopping out of bed for the tenth time or needing to go to the toilet. I find myself becoming upset at her on those nights, I feel her taking more from me. The last few months she's even been sleeping with us for part of the night, I wake up next to her every morning. I will admit to you that she is still breastfed. (I hear my family cringing from here.) Nobody in my family really believes in breastfeeding beyond six months, or feeding at all. My girl is two and a half and I am struggling to give it up. I have been away from her for several days and I know we could do it. I just don't want to yet. At the same time I don't want to be the woman in The Slap feeding a four or five year old.

Not because I have an issue with that It's just that I think I'd want my boobs back by then.

At home I find myself resorting to some TV just to get some me time, where I am usually found mopping or hanging out laundry. "Me time" in the house is any moment I can have without a child clinging to me. I took up a gym membership recently which has been amazingly good for me, I am doing balance and yoga classes and some gym work. I finally got the two youngest children into care at the gym, which they love. It's funny but I avoided any kind of care for my littlest, why? I cannot even answer, I don't know why. I have even found myself without friends with children her age.

A long time ago I avoided coffee mornings with the mums from school just because it might be hard, then I found that it just stopped altogether. I didn't make enough effort, now we sit in a café usually just the two of us or with Eliza when she isn't at Kinder. I long for adult company for a group of Mums to chat with,I missed the boat it seems. I see them in the parks and at school, but they're all so clique-y. I am a little hesitant to just join in. I want to be one of the mums not really watching their child because they're engrossed in listening to one of the other Mum's talking about the sex she is or isn't having, more likely though they're talking about their renovation in which case I'd be glad not to have to listen.

I was meant to be writing about how I usually try to get away from my youngest at any opportunity, I love her to death but sometimes I feel crowded, squashed literally I spend about five hours each night sleeping in a 30cm space she has left me. I was meant to be writing about how today instead of getting away from her I took her out one on one, and I really enjoyed it. I took out the very one that takes most of my time, the one that I have a push and pull relationship with. I enjoyed it because, We weren't rushed for time, there were no groceries I had to buy or children we had to pick up or drop off. It was just our time.

I was meant to tell you how we walked to the Lebanese bakery for a pitta the op shop where she found some tiny crocs with butterflies on them, and our local café for a croissant and coffee she even scored a free fresh apple juice. We went to the toy store where we picked up some tiny animals for her, she took care of those little animals all day. She wanted mandarins so we bought some, she again scored a freebie her own mandarin. Round the corner from home she didn't forget that I'd promised a stop at the park, even though my feet ached from my new shoes I obliged, I couldn't let her down.

I realised in writing this that there are some things I am missing, that I am envious of, that there is a lot that I have given up. I also realise that this time is short lived and that it's been worth it.

Mother daughter side by side art

A while back I subscribed to Big Kids Magazine, it's a bi-annual magazine for kids. Its editor is eight years old! Made in Australia and sold in several countries, I believe.

This magazine is choc full of inspiring artwork made by some very talented little people. Many of the artworks are side by sides, an artist responding to a child's artwork. I think this is a wonderful way to really give children's art recognition and a platform with which to really celebrate their creativity.

I am always just blown away by the magazine, It has been well read and looked at this last week. Beatrix, my eleven year old, and I were inspired to create our own side-by-side artwork. When I saw what she came up with I was really impressed and I knew immediately what I wanted to have as my side.

She went off to bed and I sat there feeling excited but afraid of ruining her work. That pattern on the sort-of-kimono is just gorgeous, I thought could I do her justice? I know she enjoyed seeing my response and was intrigued by how I came to use the bird.

I think we will do a few more of these, I really enjoyed it.

If you'd like to subscribe here is the link link again.

the two year old gave herself a haircut

I have three girls and one boy, and I never really thought too much about their hair.

I never did the pink "it's a girl" bows on any of my newborn's heads, I always thought that looked silly. I never made them seem obviously girl or boy in putting in hair pins or gel or any other adornment. I just let their beautiful baby hair do it's own thing, even when on three of them it grew upward and upward in a kind of rub your head on a balloon kind of way. I recall when my boy was about five months old and sitting up in his pram the many smiles I got one afternoon, when I decided to look in and see what all the fuss was about. I saw this tiny face big big eyes and about three inches of hair sitting sprionnnggg up, static or something, too funny. 

I remember there came a point where I thought Ok, I cannot count on that hair to do the right thing. Time for it to get cut, and a trip to my-sister-the-hairdresser's it was. He was being christened and I knew that years down the track he'd thank me when he looked at the photos. Aaron (difficult as usual) cracked a sad since I hadn't discussed the haircut with him first. Men are funny.

Anyway, as I said I really don't give a darn what my kids hair looks like half the time, we keep a hairbrush in the car for the school run. My eldest at the moment is growing out a fringe, al a violet of the Incredibles, most of the time I cannot see her right eye. She had school photos last week and was horrified that she was made to wear a headband by the photographer.

My four year old has a wonderful mass of thick hair, in every way she is strong, even her hair.  I recently gave my son another haircut, his hair is light blond, slightly wavy, beautiful, it grows all surfy looking when we let it go. I am getting better at this haircutting thing. 

On we get to the almost two and a half year old. She had thin baby hair, she hates having it combed, cries when I wash it. Me I love to smell her head, unwashed or baby doll clean smelling, I love it. At Christmas I thought I am getting fairly good with the scissors, so I sat her in the basin with chocolate, a handful of it. I snipped and snipped, I made the back shorter the front slightly longer, a cute just above the eye fringe. She looked so darn cute. It was like I'd shaped this little baby into a little girl, before my eyes she looked older even though she still only stood 3 feet tall.  

It was like that for a few months, I'd tickle the back of her neck and admire my wonderful new found cutting skills. Then she met scissors, she and scissors loved each other, she'd sit herself down for ages at a time the yellow ones blue ones green ones whichever ones she could find. Paper would mound around her, little piles, she was in heaven. Then one day she found the sewing scissors, sharper, bigger, shinier. She snipped a chunk out of the side of her hair, I gasped when I saw it. At the time I thought she'd ruined my haircut. 

Now I'd give my own hair to have it have ended there. 

The other day she found my really sharp haircutting scissors, this must have been like finding a stash of lollies to her. She hid in the bathroom closet, almost buried in towels and she had maybe 10 minutes of uninterrupted blissful cutting.

Then I heard Eliza say "Circe's cutting her hair." I left the shnitzels I was breading, I left the cake in the oven the dish water running ('cause I was multitasking). Stuff all that she was cutting her hair, that beautiful ginger blond hair. I didn't know where to look, It was like that panic you get when they've hurt themselves and they're screaming out for help, you don't know which way to run. 

That was me she hadn't hurt herself, luckily but she'd taken that beautiful haircut I'd given her and completley trashed it.

I saw the mound of locks before I even saw her head. At this stage she was turned into the closet, her head down. She knew I would be crushed, upset, and I was. I even think I said "you look horrible". I went on to to tell her she'd given herself a mullet, she didn't know what that meant, but she knew it wasn't a good thing. I actually thought of all those smiles she gets, the way she stops people in their tracks all of that, I thought  it would all stop. This hair was awful, I texted my husband saying "nothing will prepare you for the mullet."

She looked at me and said so sweetly "can't you just stick it back on." It occured to me that she didn't know what she was doing, she wasn't trying to hurt me and my stupid idea of what a little girls hair ought to look like. She was just cutting, enjoying the thrill of seeing her hair in her little hands, just as she would if it were paper. 

In those first few days after I'll admit I was even picking out her clothes differently. She's got this slight punk thing going on, even when she acts up now she looks more angsty.  this whole thing is all in my imagination, she's not acting any differently,  she's still the same little person she was before, except sometimes I think she looks slightly like she could be a coal mine kid, particularly when she's all scuffy looking.  This is all too much, I am over thinking this whole stupid innocent thing, we will laugh at this in six months time. 

A week on and  I realise she still gets all the same smiles, people still stop when she is around, it was never really cause she was cute.  It was because she's articulate, clever beyond her 2 1/2 years, she is bright sparky friendly and just wins you with a look into her big brown almost black eyes. She's even working that new look, today she sat painting in just a headband around her neck. I think I'm actually liking this new hair, It actually suits her off-beat, one gumboot one shoe nature.

Wish I could take back telling her I thought she looked horrible, you should never do that to anyone never, poor little baby. 

Pallet vertical garden

I was really inspired last week to make myself a vertical garden after seeing this.  There are instructions there on how to make your own. So we did.
Here is our attempt, which was both fun and easy to do. I cannot wait till everything grows and is all spilling out.  This would be a great way to grow strawberries too.

Stopped for some nosh half-way through. All very virtuous and "from the garden" like. But it wasn't, really.

I looked around a bit more after that, loving the pallets full-stop. Check out the site here for some amazing ways of turning pallets into unique pieces of furniture.

my sunday

My Sunday: Getting ready to do too many things in too little time! I love my life.
 

A beautiful Monday

Monday's public holiday saw us heading out to see friends in Musk.

Oddly, first thing on getting there the kids took an outside bath, it sits over a fire pit and when smoldering it heats the water beautifully. Overhead, the afternoon sun glowed orange through a long, smoke-hazed afternoon. We spent it eating, picking raspberries, planting seedlings.

As the light was fading there was a ride on a vintage tractor, still with its original 62 year old wheels. Even I took a ride with Aaron and our two smallest children, my knuckles were white my face a little pale. Don't get my wrong I enjoyed it I was just a little scared, even though we were only going 10 kmh. Those big wheels are just too close! I just loved this old tractor, though.

Birthday cake for Aaron (no photos of that, it went fast!) then washing up and home time. I was glad I had my camera with me that day, lots of beautiful things to capture.