Silent Sunday

But why?

No. Stop. Rewind. I'm not ready yet. It's too soon. She's too young. I haven't prepared enough. I'M NOT READY.

But she is ready. And so it begins. Words that strike fear into the heart of any Mother...

"But why was that Mummy?"

Yesterday morning we had over twenty repetitions before 7.30am. And I hadn't had any coffee yet. There should be a law.

When she started saying 'why?' a few days ago I thought it was endearing, cute, smart even. It's a one off, I thought. A two-off at most. Don't get me wrong I love that DD's so chatty. I love her little phrases like 'that's a good idea', 'that is so beautifully kind of you' ,'oh sorry Mummy, I did not mean to do that' and the way she often says 'by the way...' before she asks me a question. And she's not yet two and a half.

But yesterday morning's conversation was a sign....

DD, up early: 'It's still dark Mummy.'
Me, sans coffee: 'Yes it is Booba.' (baby nickname *chuckles*)
DD, thoughtful face: 'But why Mummy?'
Me: 'Because it's still very early.'
DD: 'But why Mummy?'
Me: 'Umm...because you woke up early.'
DD: 'But why Mummy.'
Me: 'I don't know, you tell me?'
DD: Because the Moo Cow woke me up.'
Me, gratefully: 'Oh, ok then, good.'
DD, quiet for a moment, then: 'But why Mummy?

At this point I dissolved into puddle on floor and contemplated a future scouring the Encyclopedia Britannica for answers to every question every asked.

And so it has begun.

Image: Master isolated images / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Reasons to be Cheerful

<center><a href="http://mdplife.blogspot.com/search/label/reasons%20to%20be%20cheerful"><img width="150" alt="Reasons to be Cheerful at Mummy from the Heart" src="http://i902.photobucket.com/albums/ac230/RebaMc/reasonstobecheerfulv2-1.jpg" height="150" /></a></center>No, don't change the channel, you're not hallucinating, it's me and not Mich here, guest hosting again for the most cheerful linky on the interwebicle. Huge thanks to Mich for letting me loose with her 'baby' for a second time and to the other guest hosts - A Matter of Choice, Kate on Thin Ice, Seasider in the City and Lakes Single Mum - for keeping us on the cheerful straight and narrow. 
New to #R2BC? Let me hand over to Mich for a moment:

Reasons to be Cheerful 1, 2, 3 (or #R2BC as it is affectionately known) is a simple link your blog up which is open to everyone and particularly easy for a new blogger to join in... Go on, jump right in, we are all friendly here! See? It's all super easy and fun. All you need to do is write a post about the things that have made you cheerful this week and link it up below. Great to have you on board. Read some of the other posts if you have time and share the love.

So without further ado what are my reasons to be cheerful this week?

Christmas Crafting - I love crafting, and Christmas is one of the best seasonal excuses for going craft loopy. This week I've made a snowman and a big Christmas tree out of craft paper and stuck them up in DD's play room. Over the next few weeks we're going to make baubles together out of card and paper, print off family portraits to decorate them and stick them up all over the tree.

Parenting perspectives - I've been running this series of guest posts from parent bloggers around the world for over two months now and I can't believe that so many lovely bloggers have given up their time to jot down their views on parenting for this little 'ol blog. It makes me most cheerful indeed.

New kitchen  - It's almost here! Work starts on our kitchen refresh next week and I'm so terrified at not having a kitchen for almost 2 weeks excited about it. Operation 'create a make-shift kitchen somewhere else in the house' starts today. Any tips people?

Right, over to you! Have you got reasons to be cheerful this week? Link 'em up below and get that lovely #R2BC glow!

P.S. Becky over at Lakes Single Mum is hosting Reasons to be Cheerful next week, so please do stop by her place and link up your positive vibes for us all to share. Have a great week all!

Parenting Around The Planet - Texas

Welcome back to week nine of this series on parenting perspectives around the world. Last week Flour Sack Mama shared her views on parenting activism and two completely different 'stroller brigades'. This week we have another post from the USA, this time what it means to be a Texas football Mum. And that's American football, by the way, the one with spangly cheerleaders and more shoulder padding on the boys than the girls. Not to be confused with English football, or soccer, with spangly footballers wives and padding worn in an entirely different place altogether. Enjoy.

Denise Keene has been a Special Ed teacher for 15 years and likes to write articles about various related topics. She is the mother of two great boys; a junior high football star and a fourth grader who loves to read…just like his mama! She also owns the site Masters In Special Education.

What it means to be a Texas football mom

There are two things a mother living in the great state of Texas takes very seriously; managing her household and local high school football games…especially if your son is on the team. There are some essential features that make up a Texas football mom, and unlike soccer moms, Texas football moms aren’t shy about yelling at the ref from the sidelines; even if it does embarrass our children (I tried to keep quiet, but really, that was a horrible call). Below are the five things that make a Texas football mom the greatest thing since sliced bread.

We make the best chili…quite possibly the best in the world: There is a recipe that only Texas football moms know, and we are sworn to secrecy. The recipe is very simple; just add a pinch of love and a dash of spunk. Truthfully, it is probably the best in the world, because we are serving it to very hungry, growing boys who will eat anything. Seriously though, you must become an expert at chili making if you are to be a good football mom. 

We know how to get grass stains out…the first time: This takes some learning and a few phone calls to senior football moms, but once you know the right way to get out the grass stains, you become a master at it. Not that I enjoy laundering football uniforms, but I am proud of my grass stain removal skills. 

We like to make our own designer fan attire: I never thought that I would become the lady who bedazzled her clothes, but I am the proud owner of a Bedazzler. For those of you who don’t live in the United States, I have posted a picture of this amazing tool below. In addition to creating our own attire, we are also the best team banner makers and face painters this side of the Mississippi.

We love to help one another: Life can get crazy, as most Texas football moms also work a full-time job in addition to managing the household. We football moms lean on one another for support and help. If one mom has to stay late at work, there is always another mom available to give her child a ride to and from practice. There are some moms who even tote more than one teammate around. We also carpool from game to game; helping each other save gas money and creating time to bond as mothers. 

We are good sports: Every now and then a bad sport will crop up in the bunch, but for the most part, we support other’s children as much as we support our own. We even support other teams as much as we support our own. After all, we know this thing called football is just a game at the end of the day. I may rant and rave in the stands, but when the game is over, I don’t hold a grudge or make rude comments about the other team. I have found that most parents have the same respect I do for others. We know it is best for our children and teaches them how to be mature, thoughtful adults.

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Would you like to write a guest post for Parenting Around The Planet? Drop me a line at bodfortea (at) gmail (dot) com.

Reasons to be Cheerful

Another week closer to Santa's visit and I'm starting to feel the Christmas spirit creeping into my toes. Over the next few weeks it will likely spread up my pins until it's all consuming, making me totally sick of it full of festive joy by Christmas morning. Ho ho hmmmm. In the meantime here's three reasons I'm feeling cheerful this week...

1. Christmas prep - I've decided on my theme for this year; antique gold, and started preparing for the 'one step forward two steps back' decoration of a house with a toddler. Just ordered some lovely mini ivory buckets as table favours which I'll be dressing with gold organza ribbon and sprigs of holly from the garden before attaching a reindeer place name tag to the handle and finally popping in a gold champagne truffle from Thorntons. Yummmm.

2. Car - As I write this (although not as you're reading it I should point out, typing on my phone keyboard it's fast too annoying for that and I actually wrote this yesterday, if that's not totally confusing) I'm sitting waiting for my car to be repaired. OH and DD are having fun destroying the house playing at home while I read magazines and drink coffee. Who knew car repairs could be such a blissful oasis of mummy time?

3. New laptop - Oh so cheerful about the arrival if my sparkly new pooter. The less said about the reasons for it, the better *sniff*. (More about this at yesterday's post Position Vacant.)

Got reasons to be cheerful this week? Stock 'em down and link up over at this week's guest host for the loverly Mich's Reasons To Be Cheerful - Seasider in the City



Image credit: Carnmeal.com

Silent Sunday

Position vacant

I shouldn't be here. I should be there, in that little dark hole, with a gallon of coffee and no windows, bashing away at my novel. I should be helping Charlotte to escape the clutches of the evil wizard, kiss the boy next door (again) and re-bandage the scar from her branding (yes you read that right).

But My NaNoWriMo dream is over for this year. My laptop, yes the one that had a crisis of confidence last week and checked-out, finally passed on yesterday. All efforts to revive it were futile. The hard drive's fried. And along with it the first seventeen thousand words of the little tome I've been writing. It was hard enough to write them the first time around. I don't think I can bear to try and do it again.

And the worst of it all? I was on track to win this year. Not that it's a competition, but reaching 50,000 words in thirty days is a win in anyone's book. (Pun unintended, although I rather like it.)

So the hunt's been on for a new laptop. I've been interviewing all this week. Here's the job spec:

 WANTED: Blogger's laptop 

• Must get up at the crack of dawn and not look or act in any way like it's the crack of dawn (that position's already filled). 
• Must have large enough screen so that I don't grow any more lines around my eyes from squinting and must have a full-size keyboard for my stubby fingers. 
• MUST BE BLOODY FAST and able to multi-task to at least six simultaneous Google Chrome tabs without freezing up or sulking.
• Must have large enough hard drive to cope with the odd photo or thousand. 
• Must not require second mortgage to buy. 
• Must not comment or otherwise make derogatory noises about blog posts as I write them. Keep your views to yourself (and don't tweet them either, I'm watching.)
• Must be duck-like (look pretty but paddle like the clappers).
• Must resist all attempts to trap biscuit crumbs/coffee stains/Rice Krispies/chocolate in it's keyboard. (Get your own snacks.)
• Ability to make coffee and amuse a toddler a bonus.

So who have I hired? This little number from Samsung. For the techies amongst you it's a Samsung RC520 15.6 inch notebook (Intel Core i5 2410M 2.3GHz, 6Gb, 750Gb, DVD SuperMulti DL, WLAN, BT, Webcam, Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit) in Black/Silver.

I HEART YOU

It should be delivered at some point next week. In the meantime I'm bashing away on OH's little notepad which I am, of course, eternally grateful for but which is...errr... rather slow.

And my NaNoWRiMo novel? Well, I'm not going to be breaking my back to get to 50k words by the end of the month now, but I can't leave Charlotte battling away on her own, now can I? *Wanders off in search of inspiration to keep writing...*

What would the job spec for your latop/computer be?

Image: Michal Marcol / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Parenting Around The Planet - Green USA

Phew! Has it only been a week since we were here reading last week's Parenting Around The Planet guest post? Time certainly flies when you're having fun bashing the heck out of your keyboard to try and cross the finish line for NaNoWriMo. Oh and please don't ask me about my latop. It's not back from sick bay yet and  Dr Spock has a raised eyebrow. I'm trying not to let it get in the way of my characters. They're having a tough enough time as it is with attacking rats, wizards and a plot that veers wildly from one direction to another.

I need a break. Will you join me in a cuppa and enjoy this week's green-flavoured guest post from the USA? I might even be able to find some biscuits if you give me a half a mo.

Anne Brock is a stay-at-home mother of two and blogger who writes about simple living topics with a green twist. The intro on her blog made me really sit up and think...

'What if we could all breathe clean air, drink safe water and eat healthy food without spending a fortune on it? When will we get serious about preventing cancer and other terrible diseases, even if it means taking an honest look at everything in our environment?

Good questions eh? You can check out more of her posts at FlourSackMama and follow her on Facebook and Twitter.

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What’s parenting in the USA all about? That’s a bit like asking a hundred different cooks how to prepare Thanksgiving dinner and getting a hundred perfectly valid recipes in return. I agree with mommy bloggers who point out we should all be less judgmental and more supportive of each other. Yet, none of us defends an absolutely dirty kitchen (different than messy, yes mine is often messy) or spoiled food. At the risk of sounding judgmental, I’d like to share with you my recent experience with two different sorts of stroller brigades.

The first was a state-by-state effort by moms who want common sense reform to the United States’ Toxic Substances Control Act. This 1970s measure gave little more than lip service to the idea of protecting consumers. Since TSCA, the coalition Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families says the Environmental Protection Agency has required testing on just over 200 of the 62,000 chemicals grandfathered under the law. Meanwhile, scientific research is showing more and more reason to be concerned about many of those chemicals such as a large group of them called endocrine disruptors. So parents trying to educate themselves can find out that from crib mattresses to children’s toys to food and beverage containers, we’re usually on our own to figure out what’s safe and what’s not. If there is an alternative product considered safer, it usually costs more. We’ve also heard that companies sometimes sell the safer formulation of a product elsewhere in the world while selling the more questionable version in the US. When a small group of concerned parents and even a grandmother turned out for the peaceful Stroller Brigade asking our state’s US Senator to support the Safe Chemicals Act, most of our friends – the ones who otherwise turn out for play dates and parties and school functions – were not there to support us.


The other stroller brigade that I accidentally got involved in turned out hundreds if not thousands of parents and kids just a few days later. It was a free admission weekend at the local zoo, and many families took advantage of the fun outdoor event. In addition to the understandable lines where my children and I waited to play in activity centers or view the lions, was waft after waft of cigarette smoke. I remembered my manners and clutched my bag carrying a rescue inhaler for my child who’s had some breathing issues. Sometimes we just gave up and moved on to another spot when the smoke got too annoying. Usually the smoking adult was moving along with children of his or her own. There were several strollers at the zoo that day. I suppose I shouldn’t have been shocked to see a young man with the cigarette pursed between his lips while he pushed a very young baby in a stroller. I bit my lip and moved on.


I’m the least of all people to say I’ve mastered perfect parenting. There will always be a wide range of parenting styles just like there will always be (I hope) a wide range of political, faith, business and lifestyle choices in our free country. While I want to respect our differences, I wonder why we can’t care more as a free society about the welfare of our most vulnerable citizens. The babies neither have a say over the chemicals used in their crib mattresses nor over the tobacco smoke. Science shows us reasons to be concerned about both. If we the people can’t do more to protect our children as the at-risk consumers they are, then parents are called to be even stronger advocates than ever for our children’s health and safety.

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Do you fancy writing a guest post for Parenting Around The Planet? Drop me an email to bodfortea (at) gmail (dot) com

Listography - Top 5 Randoms

Gosh it's been *counts weeks on fingers and runs out* far too long since I took part in a Listography with the lovely Kate over at Kate Takes 5. When I read the top five random things she likes I found myself thinking about mine and had to pop 'em down just to get them out of my head so I can back to bashing out drivel writing my NaNoWriMo novel.

So here's the top five random things I like...

1. Peanut butter and grated carrot sandwiches - started in pregnancy and never stopped.

2. The smell of WD40 - petrol head? Moi?

3. The delicious pain of eyebrow waxing - ok I know I'm alone on this one.

4. The ridiculous NaNoWriMo challenge - madness on a stick but I'm a sucker for a challenge.

5. Collis Browne medicine - did you know it used to have morphine in it? Just saying...

What are your top five? Link up over at Kate Takes 5.



Image credit: WD40.com

Silent Sunday

En hommage a...

Dear So and So... *sob*

 

Dear laptop,

Please, please get well soon. Six months worth of sigh enducing photographs of our lovely DD, the ins and outs of blog gubbins, countless software programmes (most of which I now can't remember using for months but that's not the point), my iTunes collection *wails at remembering this* and almost 17,000 words of this year's NaNoWriMo novel are contained within your poorly plastic shell and I want them all back. A lovely young whizz kid is going to be fiddling about with your private parts for a while. Don't worry, he'll be gentle. Give yourself to him and let me sleep easy again.

Yours in utter despair,
Laptop Mummy.

**********

Dear NaNoWriMo novel,

We were doing so well weren't we? Ahead of our word count targets every day and full of the joys of a plot in progress. We weren't creating the next Booker Prize Winner or anything close but we were trotting along nicely; characters walking about, taking matters into their own hands, drinking coffee and fighting plagues of rats. And now it looks like we're fated to part. All 17k words of you are trapped in a plastic box with keys that won't play ball. I've tried writing you with pen and paper but the tip-tapping helps the creative process for me and besides, my wrist has seized up. It was a short, passionate affair. I hope it's not over yet.

Hugs and kiss,
Your lovestruck author.

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Dear Electronic Gods,

Seriously? Did it give you a cheap thrill to strike her down in the prime of her life? I hope your milk goes off and your post gets wet before it's delivered. *Realises she really needs to work on her insults...*

Yours very angrily,
A grieving laptop owner.

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Dear NaNoWriMo buddies,

Hello my lovely fellow nutcases - @ghostwritermumm, @rantybeast, @jigsawtherapy, @susankmann and others. Thank you, thank you for your lovely words of encouragement and support, your suggestions for repair options and your commiserations. Fight the good fight with or without me, keep the faith, and whatever you do, BACK UP YOUR WORDS EVERY DAY.

Yours in gratitude,
Almost ex-NaNoWriMo participant.

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Dear bloke,

A piece of advice. When a woman tells you she's done something stupid like not backing up her precious work every day and then losing the whole lot when her laptop throws a wobbly, telling her 'well you should have done a back up' isn't really going to get the most positive response. May I suggest an alternative strategy? A dash of 'Oh no!', a sprinkling of 'What a shame!' and perhaps even a 'You poor thing!' or two is what is required. Suspend your natural 'I told you so' reflex for a moment. I think you'll like the results much better.

Yours,
The gobby one spitting expletives at you.

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Do you have any Dear So and So letters this week? Link them up over at Kat's place Three Bedroom Bungalow.

Parenting Around The Planet - Malaysia

Welcome back to this series of guest posts from parent bloggers around the globe. Huge thanks to Sarah over at Dear Baby G for last week's perspective from Australia. We are hopping over to Malaysia this week for our seventh perspective and a beautiful post that, for me, sums up the universal challenges of parenting.

As for me, I've been battling away with my NaNoWriMo novel (yep, 50k words in 30 days, sheer madness) and frankly all was going rather more spiffingly than I'd anticipated. My characters have been doing their thing, the plot is starting to come together (there's been the odd plague of rats to be disposed of but that's nothing I couldn't handle), all good. Until yesterday. Yesterday the electronic gods decided that all was going rather too well and whispered sweet nothings into my laptop's ears. It promptly keeled over and died. Now my novel is sitting in limbo somewhere on my dead computer and I'm having to use OH's notebook to write even this *sob*. Fingers crossed it will be sorted out tonite by a whizz kid that I'm bribing with food cooking dinner for in the hope that he'll be able to restore normality. Please keep everything crossed for me, I'm off to sob quietly in the corner.

In the meantime, this week I'm delighted to hand over to Germaine of Kiddothings. Germaine is a Malaysian SAHM of two; a 4-year-old boy and a 2-year-old girl. She blogs about humourous adaptations of her life as a mother, wife and blogger. I particularly love her Tipsy Friends series!  You can find her at Kiddothings, Twitter and Facebook.

I am truly honoured to be 'representing' Malaysia here at Parenting Around the Planet. Many thanks to Bod for tea for the invitation and Alison of Mama Wants This! for recommending me.

As much as I would like to write a parenting post from a Malaysian perspective, I just couldn't think of how I could make it sound Malaysian. I could only draw inspiration from my experiences as a parent of 56 months to 2 lovely children. As I pondered on my life since I became a mother, and thought about my daily life as a SAHM, I've come to realise that it takes a lot to be a parent. And I am pretty certain that what it takes to be a parent is universal. This has become a reflective post in which I look at the qualities that have helped me along my journey as a parent thus far...

Dedication...to wake up everyday in the early hours of morning when you would rather be sleeping in. To ready the family for a new day.

Hard work...to care for little beings who are totally dependent on you. To make sure their basic necessities of life is taken good care of.

Lots of Patience...to deal with the whining, the crying, the tantrums and the defiance of a child on a daily basis. To let them go through the phases and wait for them to grow up.

Creativity...to come up with activities that challenge a child's mind and keep them entertained in a stimulating way. To nurture their mind and soul.

Wisdom...to make the right choices for the kids. To know when to say "No", "Yes" and "That's enough".

Love...the unconditional kind that never ends no matter what your child does. To love to infinity and beyond.

And at the end of each day I find myself asking for...

Forgiveness.

For times that I have lost my patience and screamed at the kids.

For times I should have encouraged instead of pushed.

For times I should have reasoned instead of punished.

For times I should have spent learning and playing with them instead of doing something else.

Being a parent isn't easy but we all try our best. It's no different over here in Malaysia. I am a parent just the same, trying my very best to create a nurturing environment for my kids. And I would one day know that I have succeeded as a parent when my kids grow up...

With the wisdom to make the right choices for themselves.

With dreams and goals that they would work hard to achieve.

With patience to know that sometimes that is all they need to find the answer.

With the compassion to forgive and feel the sufferings of others.

With the ability to love unconditionally.

With gratitude for the life they have been given.

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Would you like to write a guest post for Parenting Around The Planet? Drop me a line at bodfortea(at)gmail.com

Reasons to be Cheerful

What a whirlwind of a week! The electronic ups and downs of the last few days have left me more breathless than my lung disease. Confused? All will be revealed in this weeks Reasons to be Cheerful (excuse the drama, I'm all fictioned up at the moment and even the postman's daily 'afternoon' is starting to have speech marks around it)...

1. NaNoWriMo - Ok, so I'm really struggling to be cheerful with this one. If you've read yesterday's Dear So and So letters then you know that my laptop decided to check out sans back-up and 17k words of my NaNoWriMo novel are trapped inside it's poorly shell. So what can I selvedge from this tragedy? Well OH spent much of yesterday researching our best options for a replacement and if my sick laptop can't be revived *sobs in anticipation* then at least I'll have a nice shiny new one as an early Christmas present. I won't have the files back that I've lost but hey, every silver lining has a cloud, right?

2. Door plaques - small one this but I've ordered two lovely door plaques from Precious Parcels. They're just lovely and great value. Can't wait for them to arrive so I can hang one on DD's bedroom door and the other on the play room door.

3. Health - After feeling poorly for a couple of months I've finally been diagnosed with Sarcoidosis. Not your usual reason to be cheerful, I'll grant you, but having some knowledge about what's going on and how to treat it is a vast improvement on where we were a few weeks ago. We're playing a waiting game at the moment rather than jumping in with both feet, and not being on medication for a while is a great reason to be cheerful.

Do you have reasons to be cheerful this week? Pop 'em down and  link up over at this week's guest host Kate on Thin Ice.

Silent Sunday

Parenting Around The Planet - Australia

Welcome back to this new series of guest posts from mummy and daddy bloggers around the World. Last week's thought provoking piece from India had a few of us rallying to change the National Curriculum! Perhaps if all school children read Pranietha Mudliar's account of life for these children they'd realise how lucky they are to have the gift of education handed to them on a plate. I know I'm going to try to make sure DD appreciates how lucky she is.

This week we're travelling 6431 kilometres from India to Australia to meet Sarah who blogs over at Dear Baby G. Sarah takes beautiful photographs as well as writing about her family. And while I'm trying to ignore the very unroyal (but actually probably very accurate) post about our lovely HRH the Queen (gawd bless 'er), I love the garlic shot that's up on the homepage today.

Now, if you're a regular reader you'll know I've stupidly signed myself up for another year of furious wordsmithing for National Novel Writing Month, so if you'll excuse me I'll leave you to enjoy Sarah's perspective on antipodean parenting while I bash away at today's wordcount. Enjoy!

G’day from Western Australia!

Hi I’m Sarah, almost 35 years old, I’m married to Brad (38) and together we have six children who are 13, 12, 12, 10 and 8 years. Three are mine, two are his, one is ours. We are a ‘yours, mine and ours’ big blended family. We live in Perth, Western Australia in a big old two storey house on a ¾ acre block. I blog over at Dear Baby G which I initially started as a pregnancy blog but has slowly evolved into something much more.

I love this Parenting Perspectives series so I thought I would take part and contribute on what it is like to be a parent in Australia. I’m a Registered Nurse/Midwife but lucky enough to stay home on maternity leave for now. Maggie is 5 months and it’s an absolute joy to be her mum without any economic/financial pressures to return to work soon.

Most of my days are spent ferrying my older children off to school, picking them up etc. Maggie & I have just started swimming lessons which she absolutely loves, plus there is mother’s group, catching up with friends and running our small family owned daycare centre. It’s busy, busy, busy here all the time but I guess that is no different to any other Mum.

Before Maggie Rose came along we spent a lot of time travelling around Australia and overseas. Camping is one of my favourite things to do and Australia is perfect for that. This picture below is from Karijini National Park. I have never seen snow except for in the North of India in Dharamsala and that was from a distance and I couldn’t touch it.

We are getting ready for summer here. Our summers here are hot and dry! We have weeks where the temperature hits 42-44c and hovers above 35c for days on end the only rain comes in the form of a thunderstorm after a cyclone has crossed northern Australia. We have severe water restrictions in summer and I expect Miss Maggie will wear not much else besides a cloth nappy and a singlet when the warmer weather hits.

Maggie - 15 weeks old

Yup! We are a little bit hippy here. Maggie was born at home, we love all things babywearing, cloth nappies (diapers), breastfeeding, baby led weaning and co sleeping. There seems to be a greater awareness of natural & gentle parenting and hopefully this develops into a growing trend.

Maggie at 5 months, in the Ergo

What I love about Australia is we have so many choices and our free to do whatever we please and hopefully most of us use that for the general good of humankind. We have a right to free healthcare and free education for our children. My kids are free to be to be just that … kids. We entertain a lot at home, rarely do we meet friends at a restaurant. Lots of lazy summer days are spent enjoying many bottles of wine, good food and friendship.

Oh and no-one says ‘G’day’ over here in Oz unless you're pushing 70 or over.

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Would you like to write a guest post for Parenting Around The Planet? Drop me a line at bodfortea(at)gmail.com

Fussy Eaters Support Club - November

We've had some progress in the Bod for tea household this month. DD has tried a few new things including a home-made potato rosti recipe that gets veggies in her without her really noticing (see recipe below) and a boiled egg. How has this fantastical feat been achieved? Thanks to her new best friend at the table - HP Original Classic smoky BBQ Sauce. I made the fatal mistake of offering her a little taste one day on her fish fingers and she woofed down the lot. Why was this a mistake I hear you ask? She's eating, no? Yes, but now it's BBQ sauce with everything. EVERYTHING. And it's mostly BBQ sauce on  her finger. Dip and lick. Dip and lick. (Wow, that's gonna get the search bots going...) Anyhoo, I've resisted sauce with breakfast so far and frankly I think it's another phase that will (hopefully) peter out. In the meantime there is food going in. And that's something I'm grateful for.

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Bod for tea's Potato Rosti

1 large potato, grated

1 or 2 carrots, grated

Large lump of cheese, grated

2 eggs

Bacon, grilled and chopped into pieces

1. Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees.

2. Combine everything in a bowl and mix well.

3. Heat a frying pan with a little oil and tip in mixture, patting it down so that it covers the base of the pan quite thickly. Cook for about 3-5 mins until it's lightly browned on the bottom.

4. Now the hard part - flip the rosti as well as possible and brown the other side. It might fall apart. If it does just flip as much of it as you can and pat it back into shape in the pan.

5. When it's browned all over slide it onto a piece of foil on a baking tray and put it into the pre-heated oven for about 10 mins.

6. When it's cooked and cooled cut into pieces. Dip in BBQ sauce (optional).

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How are you all getting on with your little one's eating habits? Any hints and tips to share since we last got together? Link up and share your stories...

Here's a reminder what the Fussy Eaters Support Club is all about...

One of the things I love most about blogging is knowing that I'm not alone in the the trials and tribulations of mummyhood. A problem shared is a problem, well not quite halved, but it's certainly a lot less stressful knowing there are some other rowers in the same boat as you. My current trial du jour is the seemingly never-sending saga of DD's fussy eating habits. We've tried puree, we've tried baby-led weaning, we've tried eat-this-or-nothing, we've tried it all.

I got to thinking that there must be other Mummys and Daddys out there who have the same goal that I do; for DD to eat as much as she wants of what we're eating as a family, but to at least eat some of it. Perhaps we can support each other? And so the Fussy Eaters Support Club was born. Each month (or so) I'll post up a linky thingy for anyone with a fussy eater to air their story, share recipes and their tips for what works (and what doesn't), to celebrate their fussy eater successes or to just have a good old fashioned whinge about it all.

Welcome! 

The Fussy Eaters Support Club doors for NOVEMBER are now open!