cycling with children

For a while now I have been after a new push bike. Well when  I say new, I mean one at all. I have been borrowing my father in laws, which was always a big too big and then with pregnancy and spd I haven't ridden for ages. The next big question, other than which bike for me ( I was thinking along the lines of a nice ladies bike, call the midwife style ) which seat for the baby? some friends have given good reviews of some once he gets to a year or so For munch we had a tag along trailer but I hated not being to interact with her so didnt want to go along that route again.

Last year I came across an advert for the taga which I think is awesome, unfortunately it is also out of my price range. Today I came across another great bike zigo which looks even better. Unfortunately it is also out of my price range and only available in Canada.  Still we can all dream I guess, unless anyone would like to send me one of course x

Today was a very productive day....mum came round to help catch up with some housework. All been a bit under the weather recently and we are also having a big clear out, hoping to simplify things and de clutter. We are adopting a simplified Steiner approach in our family rhythm, well hoping to anyway. The beauty of home ed is that we can 'cherry pick' the best bits of philosophies which interest us, without necessarily subscribing to the philosophy as a whole.

After a lovely omelette brunch we dropped Mum home again and popped over to a local home ed meet. Lots of fun had by all, although sadly it will be the last meet at this particular venue. Thankfully we will be meeting at the beautiful Barton's Point, over the next few months at least, with big plans for the future. The lovely lady who owns/runs the park has big plans too which we are excited to be a part of.

This evening was spent relaxing, reading stories together and trying to practice patient parenting with a toddler and demanding 8 month old and distracting the 10 year old from deliberately winding her little sister up. Amidst the usual evening chaos I have been planning our advent activities as the festive season is looming on the horizon. My crafty friend sent me a link to her old blog which is filled with past advent ideas so hopefully I can come up with a lovely seasonal surprise for the girls. I will be sure to show you the results.

I read a news article today which I have very mixed views about....and which has caused much debate in a number of groups I am involved in....government is trialling a scheme which would pay mums an incentive to breastfeed. Whilst I am very pro breastfeeding, having overcome many difficulties in order to be able to breastfeed successfully, I am not sure this is the way forward and neither it seems are many others. We will just have to wait and see how this saga unfolds ......

my name is schwarna and I am a fluffaholic....

Busy evening spent sorting out the nappies for library hire kits....oh my gosh when you see it al in one place there are a lot...too any to photograph in fact. Hubby was less than impressed lol. so now we have

2 newborn kits, each with around 20 nappies and accessories
1 small kit
4 medium kits

2 large kits
xl kit plus night nappies

each kit has around 18 plus nappies and accessories, liners, nippers wraps etc so as you can imagine that is a whole lot of nappies.

now we just need some extra wetbags in medium and large to complete the kits, until something new comes out at least.

Some scary german art from the first world war that is now hanging above a door in the royal engineers museum. A lovely home ed mummy had aranged a eork shop for us on Why we remember. The girls really enjoyed looking around and it was especially poignant as it was my grandads old regiment and when he died earlier this year my nan donated his medals to the museum.

stop yelling at my kids

This is the challenge some friends and I have set ourselves. Somewhere in the last few months of chaos, illness, depression, baby bits and toddler tantrums I have turned into my mother.  It's hard to stop yelling,  especially when you feel like you need to in order to be heard above the constant whinging, screaming and general hulabaloo.  A friend posted a link to a 30 day challenge Stop yelling at the kids so far we are on day 3 and I haven't managed it yet, however, I am trying and certainly am much more concious of my tone of voice and certainly shouting less. It is not helped by the ginger ninja also being mr shouty man and making situations much worse when I am trying  to deal with things calmly. We have had talks and ironed out some issues, with coping mechanisms for him so hopefully things can only improve. Watch this space.

Also, we are looking at more ways to try and save some money whilst improving our eco credentials too. Cue lots of recycling for crafts etc and hopefully some home made christmas presents. (a work in progress as many of you know I am not so crafty as I would like and lack many skills) I have joined some local mummy friends in a sewing circle which I hope will spur me into action...so far I have cut and pinned 2 taggies and 1 baby shoe prototype and shredded a couple of old sheets to crochet a rug with. Unfortunately I am finding it almost impossible to crochet with despite my giant crochet hook.

And some random pictures from the last month x

Seasons turn ....

and as summer draws to a close to make way for cosy nights in with warm fires, fluffy slippers and a good book I thought I would post a few pictures of the summer that was.

storm clouds are gathering

In my mind at least. I am struggling still beneath the cloud of depression. I usually cope by being out as much as possible but don't always have the energy to muster the troops....too many arguments over shoes, car seat straps, car windows make it hard work.

There have been lots of adventures. Crabbing, rock pooling, beach combing,

 walks, parks,

 gardening and boot fairs plus cake making, family visiting and ice cream eating.

there is a burger, bacon, salad etc hiding in there too.

 Even a bit of nanny baby wearing (first time ever)

 Mostly just us as we have been partially in quarantine as Tinkerbell had impetigo....highly infectious, started out looking like a couple of gnat bites under her chin but quickly spread across her neck and chest....looked like awful infected cigarette burns at one point :-(

Munch has been away this week to camp. I went as a child and so did my brother. She has come back bouncing around and talking everyone's ears off about all her adventures and what a great time she had. She also became a christian which is a big decision for her. I hope she finda the strength to continue her journey when alone in a crowd.