From here

The unpacking is done and what little remains are those boxes of 'extras' that will no doubt remain packed for the next few years. They will stay packed and eventually forgotten about until the next move.

This place feels like home already. Even without the pictures on the walls and the finishing touches 'finished' it feels like we belong here. My husband says he feels 'happier' here. I think we all do. The house is free standing so has more windows and more light. You can't underestimate the value of light - of views of the sky and trees and clouds and roof tops.

This is Louis and I in playroom - the sunniest and most relaxing room in the house. And even when it's looking like it does here, people always say they love this room. Louis is asleep, at the breast. Relaxed, happy and dreaming in this new old house.

Moving...

Well 'moved' is more appropriate as we have done it. The nightmarish thing that it is - all the packing and cleaning and transporting of crap to a new place. A new place that is total chaos with all the unpacking and cleaning and finding places for all the crap.
I am exhausted from it all. We all are.
But we love the new house - all 400 meters from the old house. It's bigger and brighter and pretty and old. But I don't feel like this 'change is as good as a holiday.' I need a real holiday - one with a beach and the sun and housekeeping...

wearing this friday

wearing - skirt: $2.99 Brotherhood of St Laurence Op Shop - needed new zipper which I replaced last night
leather belt: $2.00 as before
yellow necklace: $1.00 as before
tee-shirt: $10.00 Tokyo, Japan
shoes (not shown - animal print suede ballet flats): $5.00 Salvo's Store, Carlton North
photo - iPhone 4S, bad light, blurry.

the spanner...

I don't like it when my boat is rocked; when there is a spanner in my works; when there us a hornet in my nest. Things have been going along oh so well. Long summer days, happy (and mostly healthy) children, settling in and feeling at home here in the new-old house. But this home is not ours. When we sold up and moved to Melbourne we decided to rent for a while, find what we like and wait for me to return to the paid workforce. So we rented a great house in a great street in a great suburb. Now the house may be sold and we just can't afford to buy it at the moment.

It's not the worst thing that could happen but its nonetheless unsettling for my little family. Another move, another house.

This morning when I felt crappy and angry at the world, I pulled on my trainers and headed out for a long walk in the sun. Louis fell asleep in the pram and Molly plodded along beside me, fulfilling her duty as a 'persons best friend.' Any like most of my walks do, this one led me to my favourite op shop. The one where they know my name and cut me deals and talk about their days. Just there waiting for me was a cute yellow necklace. Little hearts, all bright and cheery, reminding me that the sun will always shine and that my lovely, lovely family is far more important than all of these annoying spanners...

summer

The summer holidays are over too soon. With weeks filled with visitors and trips away, the days have disappeared. Our list of things to do still has many lines uncrossed - already waiting for the next holiday. The big girl is in grade 1 this year. Someone heading towards two full steam ahead. When does it slow down?

1/52 - things to do with children

Anyone with children knows that the school holidays are here and well underway. Christmas and New Years are done and the hot weeks spread lazily out in front of us. At the 'new old-house' the holidays seem to be whizzing by already as we have a lot of visitors and visits planned. But, there is no doubt there will be days that will seem to last forever....

At the start of every school holidays we write of all this things we would like to do; everything from an IKEA meatball lunch to zoo visits to making a new skirt. We sat down before Christmas and our summer holiday list includes sewing, museums, a party (for a super special just-turned-6 year old), french knitting, gardening, and science experiments.

Minnie, like most children, has a real interest in the sciences, from the workings of her inner ear to the tectonic plates and the many stages of an urban sewage treatment plant. I recently read that there has been a marked decline in the number of senior school students taking science subjects, which I am sure you agree is a real shame for the future of science, technology and the engineering fields in Australia (ahem). So to get your little ones involved and interested, try this fun and very visual experiment illustrating surface tension! Yippie for science (perhaps the RMIT can use that as their new slogan...)!

1/52: Easy Science Experiment - 'Magic Milk.'

What you need: Plate or shallow bowl * Jug * Several different colours of food colouring * Washing up liquid.

1. Pour some milk onto the plate or bowl - at least a few mils in depth (a plate with a wide rim is good).
2. Add a few drops of food colouring to the centre of the milk on the plate - use at least a few different colours
3. Drop a small amount of washing up liquid in the centre and watch what happens! No need to stir, move, bump or fiddle - just watch.

What's happening and Why: When you pour the milk onto the plate the fatty milk molecules pull each other together, stretching the surface into an invisible skin - this is called surface tension. When you add the washing up liquid the fatty molecules are 'upset' by the soap liquid and they move apart. This causes the food colourings to swirl and mix without you touching or bumping them.

This experiment and information is from 'Make and Do Science,' Priddy Books, 2010 (ISBN 978-1-84915-298-3)

Travel with Children - tell me your stories

21 month old Minnie in Hong Kong - catching a few zzzz's

We all have stories about travelling with children; the good, the bad and those so ugly that they can never be repeated, ever until the end of time. We have heard many tips and tricks, some of which can backfire in amazing fashion (sedatives that don't sedate). But we all know that even with all the bad bits, travelling with children can actually be a whole lot of fun. Even though we had some real moments in Japan (I was seen throwing noodles as I had a major tantrum at the 5 year old) we look back, ignore that bit, and remember how fantastic it was.

The last story I wrote for Modern Handmade Child was all about planning flights and accommodation for a trip away. My story in the next edition (due out in the northern hemisphere spring) will focus on planning on packing, the itinerary and offer suggestions on the most important factor in travelling with children - how to keep them entertained. This is were you step in. Please leave your ideas, advice, what-not-to-do, and potentially melt-down saving advice here as a comment. We need you!
And while you are at it, please pop over the Modern Handmade Child facebook page (if you are into that kind of thing) and say hi. I am the faceless person behind the status updates these days and I would love to hear from so friendly peeps.

Modern Handmade Child - new edition out now!

Don't worry - you do not need to rush to the news agent or your local news stand. In fact you don't even have to move from where you are reading this now. Follow this link and enjoy the Winter (US) edition of this super little online magazine. The photo above is of some handmade goodies that accompany my story on traveling with children. For more great products and all the who, where, and how to buy biz, read the article!

In the next few days I will be calling on you for help with the next article I am writing. So start thinking about your top tips for travelling with children. In the mean time though, you have any advice on this post, please help me now!

Thanks Pocket Carnival, Sparrow Bee, Edward and Lily, and Podnip for your photos.

sleep

Late one night in Tokyo, Steve captured as all in a content moment of sleep...

Sleeping has been a long running issue in our house; about 5 and 3/4 years long in fact. Before that, it was generally great with lots of Sunday mornings spent in bed and pretty much 8 hours solid sleep every night. But with the arrival of the little people it's been problematic to say the very least. And this Mama is getting tired.

We thought that Minnie was a 'bad' sleeper and she was always fed to sleep and woke every 3 or so hours over night for more feeding to sleep. This went on until she was 2 1/2, when I weaned her from the 'book,' as she called it. For day time sleeps, I drove her around the coast and spent a lot of time sitting in the car reading. But we eventually got her to put herself to sleep at night and to only spend 1/2 the night in our bed. I think Minnie was almost 2 before she slept longer than 5 hours in a go.

The boy though, that's another story. From almost day 1 we have co-slept. Actually is was day 2 as the first night he was in NICU. Day 2 in the hospital the midwives actually suggested (after going through the standard warnings they have to advise) that I sleep with him. We had co-slept with Minnie so it was no drama - I knew what to do. We thought that we would do it a while and he would get the hang of sleeping next to but not with us. Louis is almost 18 months old and has spent every night in our bed. Every night being fed to sleep, which would be fine if he actually stayed asleep for a few hours, like his sister did. But the LouLou only manages 40 minutes or 20 or 5 or if I am really, really spoiled, about 1 hour. Then he wakes and cries and I spend another 30 or 40 minutes feeding him back to sleep. As you can imagine this makes my evening less than relaxing. I eventually fall asleep, usually fully dressed, as this merry go round spins into the night. Steve spends his evenings talking to the dog and listening to me complain, during the brief moments I am actually in the living room. Some days I don't mind. We know that it will pass, one day, and that babies do grow up so quickly. We just smile as I head up the long hallway for yet another 'getting him back to sleep' feeding session. Other days I have had it up to my bloodshot eye balls and feel completely helpless about the situation we are in.

Just so you know - Louis does not have a dummy or softie or cuddly. He does not know how to self settle and he drinks as much or my milk as a new born (well not quite but he is very attached to his 'susu')

So what do you do? What have you done? Have you tried comfort settling?

sewing: dusting off the machine

It has only taken 5 and a bit months but the machine is out, dusted off and temporarily set up in the dinning/play room. I have been reluctant to get it out, given I no longer have a dedicated sewing room. In the move from Sydney to Melbourne we lost a few rooms along the way and we are still getting used to the different spaces we have. It always seemed like such an effort to get out the sewing things, set them up and then have to most likely put them away 2 minutes later when one of the children is waking or having a meltdown. But of course its not a hassle and I was being lazy. So we are doing a little school holiday sewing here. Minnie requested a skirt with an ice-cream on it. Today she chose the fabrics and we appliqued the design in place. And yes, it was a 'we' effort as Minnie controlled the foot peddle, with 'go, stop, slow down' directions from me. The skirt itself its made from light blue linen fabric and will have an elasticised waist. The fabric is already hemmed as its a piece of IKEA linen intended for a table runner. Easy peasy.

Yesterday, after many months of requests, we finally had the opportunity to make something out of Minnie's sewing book 'Made By Me' by Jane Bull. I got this book for Minnie last birthday and it is full of great little sewing/knitting/needle work projects for girls (most are suited for older girls who can wield a sharp needle on their own). We made the little pouches and once again, Minnie chose the fabrics and controlled the foot peddle. All is left to do is to thread through some ribbons for the draw cords and she will have 3 little pouches for pretty things and papers and pens.

I have a feeling the machine may be out for the time being. Softies to be made for the huge school fete coming up, some summer outfits for the little people and I have the beginings of idea for a dress... Stay tuned.

Tokyo Two

We love to eat. We love to eat lots. Don't include Minnie in this - she likes to eat a few things and little amounts of them. You can however include Louis as he is happy to give anything a go. Going to Japan got us super excited about all that we could eat. Here is some of the food that we enjoyed eating and looking at.

The empty plate was what was left of the most delicious Yakatori. Yakatori bars are fantastic and the skewers of chicken, chicken skin and chicken offal are easily one of my favourite things to eat. You will see Minnie and Louis above, chowing down on some yakatori in their prams. Japanese restaurants are very child friendly, with an abundance of high chairs and great kid friendly meals, like the one pictured above. It contained some Japanese potato salad (a chunky mashed style salad), some rice, a tempura prawn, some greens, a soft beef 'pattie' in gravy and a juice drink. It also included a jelly and fruit. Louis, in particular, loved these meals with all the bits he could sample.

We all loved the drink vending machines. It doesn't matter where you are, there are vending machines. Minnie would constantly be asking 'anyone need a drink from the vending machine?' We did use them, a lot. I got a bit hooked on the sweet, milky coffee in a can and on the super hot days, we all enjoyed a cold 'Pocari Sweat' (don't you love a drink with 'sweat' in its name - so enticing?)

We ate lots of great sushi and Tonkatsu (fried pork cutlet) and miso soups. We ate lots of ramen and soba noodles and great snacks from Muji like pea chips (love that store). We sadly didn't take nearly enough photos.

Tokyo

We have been away on holidays and now we are back, a little tired and in some ways, sad to be home. We went away to one of the most vibrant, alluring, enthralling and instantly 'fall-in-love-with' cities in the world. Tokyo. What a place.

There will be lots more for you to see but here is the beginning.