Mamas helper

With all of these developmental milestones that Dean has been reaching, he has become a great little helper! He's so happy to be able to understand what your saying, and getting to do something he sees us do, that he wants to do what you say! I know this wont last very long, but it's great while it lasts. Now, how he does things mightn't be very productive, but it is so funny watching him try little things and thinking that he is great!

He loves doing a bit of hoovering or sweeping, and is a professional polisher!  I think I have created the perfect man - watch out in twenty years or so!

Rocking the bandana while sweeping!

A bit of washing won't scare him off either, and he'll even have a go in the kitchen! Lock up your daughters ladies!

Dean is wearing his flower for Daffodil Day!

Stirring the sauce with Nonna

My son, the television star!

Ok maybe less of a star, and more of a prop, but you get the picture! Dean was a "model" for a feature on Xposé this evening, wearing a Creeper Crawlers baby grow.

A few months ago we got the chance for Dean to join in on a group photo for Ollwyn, the lovely lady from Creeper Crawlers, to go in a magazine advertisement. The photo shoot was great fun for all, and the photos turned out great! Then out of the blue I received a message from Ollwyn on Tuesday, asking could Dean lend a hand again yesterday!

The two babies had a great time again, and did a great job of playing up to the camera! It was a lovely feature, and Dean enjoyed watching himself on tv!

The Creeper Crawler suits are just lovely! They are not just your average baby grow, but have little rubber sticky bugs (similar to what's on the bottom of them fuzzy "slipper socks") along the legs, and a big bug on the soles of the feet. The idea behind them, is to help little babies grip the floor more easily when learning to crawl. The design is very cute, and they come in blue, pink and cream. I think   they would make a lovely gift for a new baby! Dean is the lucky owner of two now, since doing the photo shoot and video!

Looking good!

I have created a link above, and here to the Creeper Crawler website if you would like to have a look at the baby grows.  (This is not a sponsored post)

Lotion bars

The end result! 

Me and Dean made some lotion bars today! They were simple to make, and turned out great! Here's a quick run-down on the method that I used;

The beeswax took the longest to melt, so it was a lucky accident  that I cut the coconut oil and Shea butter up so much bigger !

I put equal (ish!) amounts of coconut oil, Shea butter, and beeswax into a glass bowl, and simply melted them together over a saucepan of water, stirring most of the time until the 3 ingredients were completely melted and combined.

Should have thought of these photos when I was getting dressed!

I then added in some essential oil and poured it into a muffin tin to cool and harden. I left them overnight, but they had hardened completely a few hours later. This morning I popped them out of the tin, and put them all into a Kilner jar to store in my bathroom.

This is when they had set

See all of the dribbles that I messily spilt on the tin, I scraped these all off along with what was left in the glass bowl, mashed in a very small amount of almond oil and put in a small glass jar to use as lip balm! The almond oil stops it from going fully solid, so it's easier to take a small bit from the jar using your finger. It works very well as a lip balm, and I'd say it will make a nice cream for Deans bum too (I'll let you know when I try it out!)

They just about fit in!

I haven't had the opportunity to use the lotion bars much yet, but have applied some to my hands a few times and they are silky soft! The oil rubs off on your skin, but it isn't too heavy and absorbs in very quickly and easily. They smell lovely with the essential oils (I made two lemon bars, two lavender bars, and two un scented ones too) and I would imagine 6 bars will last us a good while. The  whole thing took less than 10 minutes to do (apart from setting time that is) from start to finish, while chasing after a crazy toddler at the same time! I will update this post when we have all been using them for a while and let you know how they are working out!

I got this recipe from wellnessmama, her blog has been like my bible lately! For anybody interested in going green, I would highly recommend that you take a look at this blog. Just don't forget to come back to mine!

Sarah xx

Learning

Dean has started to get a grasp on some words, and has reach a whole new level of understanding of language. He understands everything you say to him, and he is making efforts to copy some words we say. "This", "yeah" and "dog" are his favourites at the moment, and he's attempting to say a few more as well. He listens so attentively (when he wants to!), and loves being told how to do things and trying it out.

Today, when we came in from the back garden Dean took his shoes off, and put them in the utility room beside my shoes - all with only a little bit of help! He is using a (small) fork to eat things like spaghetti now, and has pretty much mastered using it. He gives sequences of signs to explain what he wants, and makes enough noise about it to make you notice!

It really is great to get so much more back from this little person. He has a very distinct personality now, and he's so determind to show us exactly what he is thinking, it's so funny seeing him patch things together and discover new things. It's also helpful in a practical way, at bed time for example it's much easier to comfort Dean with words now, instead of feeding or rocking etc. .

I'm having so much fun looking after Dean at the moment. Our days are busy, he is very active and needs to be kept occupied, but it's all just great fun. He enjoys helping me stir things when cooking, or setting the fire (scrunching up newspaper!) or dusting the furniture (hilarious!) and everything he sees any of us do, he copies in an instant!

I hope I don't sound as if I'm gushing here! I'm not, I'm just attempting to capture times in our life, and document Deans growth as much as I can. I'm afraid that one day these memories won't be quite as vivid, and I will wish I had something to help transport me back to this!

What are the moments you never want to forget?

Going green - Homemade personal hygiene products

In an effort to reduce the amount of chemicals we are exposed to daily, I have been busy making simple, natural products for all of our hygiene needs. I'm only getting started, and still have a few more products to switch to natural alternatives, but here is what I've been trying out so far;

• Deodorant
• Shower gel
• Hand wash
• Facial cleanser & makeup remover
• Moisturiser (face and body)

All of the "recipes" I have used are a combination of ideas from a variety of different blogs and sources on the Internet. But I'm very happy with each product so far, there are some things (like shampoo, toothpaste and a few more) that I have either tried and not succeeded on the first go (shampoo!) or just haven't gotten around to making yet, but ill let you know when I do!

I LOVE the natural deodorant I made, it's incredibly easy to make and just as, if not more effective than the deodorant I did use. It's made by mashing coconut oil, baking soda, and cornflour together, then I add in some essential oil (I used lemon and some lavender), how easy is that?! The smell is delicious, and it's extremely effective too. I still feel fresh at the end of the day, and only need to use a very small amount every day. I feel much better knowing that there are no nasty chemicals sinking in to such a sensitive area every day too. This was one of the products I was sceptical about working, but I think it's actually my favourite out of everything that I have tried! I can't see myself ever switching back to my old brand!

For shower gel and hand wash I have just mixed 50:50 water and Castile soap, with some essential oils added to give a nice scent and to add anti bacterial properties (great for the hand wash) . I love the scent of lemon - which is antibacterial - tea tree oil would be very effective too. I ordered some lovely aluminium bottles with pumps from Bomar Aromatherapy, and I'm also using some old plastic hand wash pump bottles. These are fine, but I plan on "upgrading" to glass bottles/jars (to store all of my products) as soon as I can, to eliminate any contact with BPA (bisphenol A) or any other "nasties" that can seep from plastic into your products. Since changing hand wash, my hands are hardly dry at all, before now they were extremely dry, chapped and sore (I have suffered this for years now).

To remove makeup (mostly mascara, I actually haven't been using much more than that lately) I have started using coconut oil and I can't believe how well it works! It works as well as conventional eye make up remover, with out the stingy after feeling that it leaves! I just put a TINY bit on a piece of damp muslin (I cut up some old muslin squares into small squares), give it a squeeze to distribute the oil (coconut oil is solid at room temp) and remove my eye makeup as normal, then throw the muslin into the wash. I then use a mixture of almond oil, witch hazel and water (i put it in a spray bottle) on a bamboo face cloth to cleanse the rest of my face, then rinse. My face is left feeling fresh and clean, and I haven't needed to use a moisturiser since beginning this regime (if I did need an extra moisturising boost I would use some coconut oil) and my skin is much clearer and brighter looking than before.

I like to keep it simple when it comes to facial cleansing, and this seems to be working out great for my skin, but I will probably do some more experimenting in this area soon (it's not that I'm unhappy with the results - I'm very happy with them! - but I'm not sure if I could get even better results using something else.), so I mightn't stick with the witch hazel/almond oil combo,but I will definitly keep using the coconut oil for removing makeup. I also tried a very mild castile solution (about 1 part castile soap to 10 parts water) for this purpose, but it was quite messy and required a lot of rubbing,which obviously isn't great around the delicate eye area, so I wouldn't personally recommend this method.

To use as a body moisturiser I am planning on making some lotion bars (there are TONNES of different recipes for them on Pinterest) but despite having all of the ingredients I haven't got around to actually putting them together yet! So for now coconut oil is working out great. I simply break off a lump after showering and apply every where while my skin is still wet, then dry as usual! My skin used to feel itchy in spots, and tight after showering,but since swapping baby oil for coconut oil (and shower gel for the Castile soap) I haven't experienced this at all.

I also experimented with Castile soap as a base for "shampoo", followed by a vinegar rinse, which I have read of some people having great results with BUT this just did not work for my hair! It's the one disappointment I've had so far, which in itself is pretty good going, but I'm determined to find a natural alternative to shampoo that provides great results, minus the harsh chemical detergents. I have a few other ideas up my sleeve, so will be experimenting more soon, but for now I have been "cheating" with my old shampoo! I will be rectifying this soon, and as soon as I find something that works for me, I will describe what it is as well as anything else that didn't work for me. I think the Castile soap would be suited to somebody with pretty short hair that is less prone to getting greasy than mine. My hair is also very long, and reasonably thick, so I think that the weak Castile soap solution just wasn't able to get through my hair, and cut the grease.

I think that's about all of the changes I've made for now, as I said there are still more things I need to try and come up with practical affordable alternatives to, but as soon as I do I will let you all now how it goes! I am more than happy with everything I have changed already, and everything is just as convenient and hassle free as any products that I used to buy, so I'm giving all of my natural beauty products a MASSIVE thumbs up for now!

If anyone would like any (limited!) advice about anything I've mentioned above please don't hesitate to ask and I will try my best to help you!

What natural products have you tried, or which are your favourite? Have you had any natural product disasters?! Leave a comment below!

Sarah xo

Milky smile

My fondest memory so far of Dean is the moment when breastfeeding your tiny little baby, that they stop feeding to turn and give you the biggest milky smile. Even just thinking back to them moments gives me a warm little buzz.

Breastfeeding Dean when he was about two months old

It's hard work being a baby!

These are the moment that make being a parent worth it all!

More nappies!

More nappies arrived a few weeks ago! These are actually the first that I (attempted to) order, but they took the longest to arrive, so I was delighted to see the Alvababy package coming. The website says that delivery can take between three and four weeks, so they were actually early!

I LOVE the colours and patterns of the nappies I chose. It's nice to have a bit of variety, up until now I have only had solid colours, which are lovely, but the patterns make them look really special. A lot of the nappies also have a "minky" outer layer, which looks and feels so soft. The inside of the minky is PUL (polyurethane laminated fabric), and feels quite good in quality.

I also included 10 bamboo & microfiber nappy inserts in my order. It will be so handy to have spare inserts on hand, I find that these take the longest to dry, because there are so many layers. They are soft and a good size, so I am happy with these too.

I couldn't wait to try out the Alvababies and I have been pleasantly surprised with them! I am now spoilt for choice regarding colours, I can choose between stars and dinosaurs, giraffe print and Spider-Man pattern! I really  they have also been working really well, we have yet to have a leak, and they seem to be a really comfortable fit on Dean. I'm delighted, after all of the trouble I had when ordering, I was worried I had made a mistake ordering from them!

I will do a more detailed review of the Alvababies and the rest of the brands I have purchased to compare all of them to each other. Hopefully I might help some of you to decide on which brands to try out, if you are thinking of trying out cloth nappies. Keep reading for more!

M.I.A (and Happy Valentines Day!)

Sorry that I have been "missing in action" for a few days! I have been having problems with my iPad, and haven't had the time to sit down at the PC in peace!

I am working on a few new posts about going green, and some more personal posts too, about our daily lives.

My poor iPad still seems to be having trouble, so hopefully I won't be disconnected from cyber space for too long over the next few days.

I hope your all having an extremely lovey valentines day! Big kisses from me and Dean!

Freedom!

With Dean starting to walk, it has brought great freedom to him. He can now walk around outside (thanks to his new shoes, post coming about them soon!), and of course, he can get around the house much quicker then before too.

I also like to leave him to be free in other ways. I allow him to climb on everything he attempts to, and have discovered that he learns extremely quickly when left to his own devices! He has yet to fall down from something, and he seems to know his limits when he is trying something new. Obviously, I am always close by to make sure that he is safe, but I like to help him to make progress, rather than to just remove him from the situation. My motto is that you can't learn, if you can't try!

The stairs are a huge fascination to my little boy. Im guessing that about 100 times a day, I have to chase after my escape-artist son to take him away from the stairs. All he wants to do is climb up them, which he is brilliant at doing, but I can't risk trusting him to climb them all alone, so we chase and we chase and we chase! Eventually I will give in, and we will go up the stairs and explore wherever Dean chooses to go.

I long for the day when I can send Dean out to the back garden, with a pair of wellies (or bare feet in the summer time!), and a bucket and spade, and see what mischief he occupies himself with! I have visions of worms, slugs and god knows what else being shoved in front of my eyes by mucky little hands on a regular basis. I can't wait to see him venturing out into the big world, running and playing on the beach, in a forest, in a field...

I hope my boy is as enchanted by the outdoors as I was as a child, and still am. I love seeing children playing outside, there really is no better fuel for a child then fresh air and good food. My favourite memories of my own childhood all took place during various outdoor excursions. We spent a lot of time outside, and we had so much freedom while playing outside by ourselves. I hope Dean is lucky enough to experience the same kind of freedom that we did.

I hope that he is always free, free to be whoever he may be, and free to make whatever choices feel right to him. This is the first taste of freedom that I can give him, his first taste of independence, and I relish watching him grab the opportunity to do his own thing, at his own pace.

How lucky we are to experience this.

Long may all of our freedom last!

Tots Bots arrived!

Today a package arrived in the post (actually the nice post man waved me down as i drove by him to give me the package - thanks again mister!) with two Tots Bots v2 nappies that i ordered, and some flush able liners too.

The nappies look great, they have Velcro fasteners, instead of the snappers that are on the Babylands that I already have, and the inside is quite different too. I'm looking forward to seeing how well they work, especially in comparison to the other nappies I have, which were considerably cheaper than the tots bots. 

That was pretty much the most exciting part of our day. We went (window)shopping for a while, and had a lovely coffee and lunch in Starbucks. We also sent my ipad in to be fixed (the screen has been shattered for months now!), it will hopefully be ready tomorrow, I kept reaching for it only to remember it was gone today! How sad! 

Now I have a head ache so I'm planning on going to bed soon and catching up on some sleep. Dean woke up every hour last night, so I'm wrecked!

Sorry folks, but I just don't have what it takes to write about anything remotely interesting tonight! So I'm going to put my head in the sand for now, and hopefully be back in full swing tomorrow!

Night night,

Sarah.

P.S:

What a night - I'm freezing!

Lazy Sundays

I love lazy Sundays. As I type, me and Dean are sitting in the kitchen. I'm having the last few sips of my coffee, after polishing off a delicious pecan pie slice (thats after my lunch of pizza topped with mushroom and yellow pepper. Lazy but tasty, that will do for today). While Dean is still occupied eating and playing with his pizza, and a few pieces of my pecan pie!

After lunch, I will change Deans nappy (I sense a stinker in our midst) and then we'll all (Mama, Dada, and Baba) sit, play, read and relax in front of the fire for a few hours.

Perfect.

Dean may even have a sleep...

Even more perfect!

What's your favourite Sunday?

Teething

Dean is teething. He has been out of sorts for a few days, and hasn't slept much, but before now I didn't know for sure what was causing him to act like this. Then today after lunch I spotted them, two huge top molars are breaking through! Poor thing, It must be so painful!

Poor Dean almost falling asleep at lunch time

I've given Dean some calpol and teetha, which seems to have helped already. I hate when Dean is teething, it's so hard for him.

Still looking cool though!

What do you give your baby to sooth him or her when teething? Have you tried an amber teething necklace and had good results? I have been interested in buying one for a while now, but once he gets a new tooth and goes back to normal I forget all about it, until he starts teething again that is!

Another thing for my long, long list of things to do! Better get to it, I'm banning myself from the ipad for the rest of the day!

Bye for now,

Sarah

Sunshine and a nice breeze = dry cloth nappies

I washed my first batch of dirty cloth nappies (using soap nuts) this morning. They are now hanging up outside in the sunshine to dry. I will bring them indoors in a few hours to finish them off.

They washed really really well! They smell fresh and clean, there are no stains, and they are fluffy and soft. I was concerned that the bright colours would run a bit, but they haven't at all which is great! We'll see what happens when I wash the red one though!

They are drying pretty quickly too, especially the nappies, fleece liners and the muslin squares. The inserts are taking the longest to dry, but they are not doing too badly. With a few more hours in the sun (hopefully!) and the evening in front of a radiator or the fire, and I'd say they'll all be dry.

I have been using the cut up muslin squares that i mentioned above, with a spray of water and Castile soap (I filled a 50ml plastic spray bottle with water, and literally added a drop or two of almond scented Castile soap.) in place of baby wipes. I had a tonne of muslin squares already, that I had finished using, so I just cut them into smaller strips and squares. It was a really cheap way to switch to using reusable wipes, and they are cleaning Deans bum just fine. I find that I need to wet the strips quite a bit to clean his bum effectively, but I have still only used about half of the 50ml bottle in two days. They are also incredibly gentle on his little tush, which was a bit red before switching. The redness is completely gone now, I'm guessing this is because of the wipes, but also the nappies too.

I'm so happy to be getting such positive results with everything so far. I was optimistic about everything working well, but I didn't expect everything to run so smoothly from the beginning. I was expecting a bit of trial and error along the way, but apart from not using enough nuts in my first wash (which have still turned out grand) everything else has worked perfectly every time.

I have also been finding dealing with cleaning the soiled nappies simple. It really isn't half as *ick* as you would expect. I literally dump the poo into the toilet, pull out the insert and throw them all into the bucket. When I'm ready to wash, I pull the mesh bag containing all of the nappies out of the bucket, throw it into the machine and that's the hard part done! Easy peasy lemon squeezy!

I'm even more excited now for the Alvababy and tots bots nappies to arrive. In total we will have 24 nappies (10 babyland, 12 alvababy, and 2 tots bots), judging by how many nappies we've used the past two days, should definitely be a big enough supply to keep us going. I hope I'm as happy with the alvababy and tots bots nappies as I am with the baby lands.

Have you tried any of these brands, and how do you find them? Or what way do you find works the best to dry the nappies quickly? I'd love to hear how other people do things.

On a separate note, it's a beautiful day today. Chilly, but the sun is shining down, and there is a light breeze. It's amazing what a difference a little bit of sunshine makes to your mood. I love the sun, it's a pity that I live in a country where there's so little of it!

I hope your all enjoying this lovely day, And having a nice relaxing weekend! I'm off to catch dean, who has escaped the living room for the 50 th time so far!

Soap nuts work!

After trying two separate loads of washing with the soap nuts, I'm pleasantly surprised with the results!

The first wash that I tried them in, I could have added a couple more soap nuts, because when I took them out of the washing machine they had a slight damp-ish smell off them. I still put them on the clothes horse to dry though and the smell seems to be fading. I think I put too many clothes and too little soap nuts, plus I threw a few towels into the wash too, which I shouldn't have. We live in a very hard water area, and any thing that I've read about using soap nuts in a hard water area states that you may need to use a few more in each wash to ensure they wash properly. I have always used a little bit more washing detergent too while living here for this reason, so that seems fair enough to me.

The second wash I did, I threw about two more nuts into the same bag that I used in the last wash (you can re-use them a few times.) and this time the clothes smelt perfectly fresh when washed, so I'll just stick to this amount of nuts from now on (6 or 7).

Both washes contained grubby dribblers and clothes belonging to Dean and they came out perfectly clean (even the ones from the first wash). The real test will be washing Adams greasy/filthy work clothes (he works in the car trade), if his clothes wash well, I'm sold.

I have yet to try them with Deans cloth nappies, so that will be a good test too. I plan on washing some tomorrow morning, so hopefully it goes well. I have researched other people's results when washing reusables with soap nuts, and have that they are perfect to use as they leave virtually no residue, which can effect the absorbency of the nappies after a good few washes. They are also gentler all round on the nappies, so I imagine the nappies will last longer using them too.

So, so far I'm giving the soap nuts a big thumbs up. Well see how they work out over a longer period of time. I'm really hoping that they will help to improve Adams eczema.

So it's bye bye to Persil for now, and hello Mother Nature!

Ps:

I also bought a new clothes horse today in ikea for €20, it's really sturdy and fits a lot of clothes on it. Happy days!

Thank God it's Friday!

Happy Friday everybody! Have a lovely weekend!

I love the weekends, it's great having Adam here to share looking after Dean with, and just to spend some nice family time together.

We don't get out much, but occasionally we sneak out to the cinema and it's the nicest treat ever. This weekend we won't be doing anything like that, but it's still a break for me. I might even get a little lie in if I'm lucky!

Will you be doing anything this weekend?

Take it easy folks!

Baby got a ghetto booty!

Well my first batch of cloth nappies arrived today! I couldn't resist putting one on Dean straight away, he's got a big chunky bum now, it's adorable!

This lot of nappies are made by "Babyland", they are in the same price bracket as the "Alvababies" (I had to re-order from them, my fault not theirs, so fingers crossed they will arrive soon too.), so I ordered a set of ten and they have arrived within about two days. I knew that there was a possibility of getting any assortment of colours, so although pink and purple wouldn't have been my choice for Dean, I'm prepared to overlook that, in favour of quality and value for money. Plus I love the rest of the colours, so I'm pretty delighted with the whole set.

Minus one nappy!

To the eye, they look great, good quality and they feel incredibly soft too, so far so good. I've only had this one on Dean for an hour or so, so it's hard to say if they are effective, but I'm feeling positive. You are supposed to wash and dry them a few times first to increase the absorbency of the nappy, but as I said, I couldn't resist! I will expect them to be a little less absorbent until I wash them a few times.

I also purchased 20 fleece liners by "tots bots" to add to the nappies to help absorb a little more, these are beautifully soft too, so I'm delighted with these too so far.

I was so eager to get started, when the box arrived today I was like a child at Christmas! Great fun, of course Dean got more enjoyment out of the boxes ( happy mama, a few minutes of peace!) which was   enjoyable too. Who doesn't want to see a baby dancing to the radio,while standing inside a box surrounded by cloth nappies and packaging?!

As for the ghetto booty, I'm slightly jealous! I could do with a bit of perky padding around my derrière!

It will take a while to really know how these nappies really work for us, but I thought I would update our progress anyway and announce that we have began! There's no going back now! Wish us luck!

***Edited to add:

I put the first "Babyland" nappy on Dean just before he went for a nap at two, and by six o clock the insert was quite wet (to be expected) but the liner which is actually against his skin remained perfectly dry, and we had no leaks what so ever. I'm very happy with that result, especially considering that I didn't pre-wash the nappy to begin with. Good results so far, well see what tonight and tomorrow bring!

Baby steps

My tiny baby has suddenly become a walking, screeching, climbing, snot smearing little boy! He has taken a huge stretch recently, but it's more than that, it's his mind. He seems to have made a gigantic leap in his development, he understands almost everything you say to him (within reason of course!), he remembers how we do things, he tries to sneak away from me to explore by himself, he chuckles and squeals with laughter, he copies everything he sees us doing (including sweeping the floor, I'm definitely going to keep encouraging this!) and he gives the sweetest hugs and kisses ever!

I love this stage of Deans childhood, it's like he has just discovered there is a whole world aside from Mama, Dada and Baba. I feel like we get so much more back from him now, even if sometimes what your getting back is a handful of snot rubbed in your face by a hysterically laughing little monkey (yes, that happened today, lovely!). He calls my name, and chooses between me and Adam depending on his mood, laughs when we laugh, opens doors, climbs stairs (climbs everything!) throws the ball for Tiffany (our dog), dances and claps and "sings" to music and so so much more that I hope I'll remember every detail of. It's all so active, so exciting, and so liberating for Dean! He loves his new independence, when he walks his face lights up with pride, I love it! I can see the determination in his eyes, I only hope this never dulls.

Aside from his energetic fun loving side, my boy has such a gentle side too. He can be loving, tender and sweet, when he decides to be that is. He gives us countless hugs a day, cries when either of us leave, and hugs and kisses all of his teddies and even Tiffany too. Recently at a baby photo shoot that Dean participated in, the whole room full of adults bust into laughter and cooing when he decided to give two separate baby girls a big hug for the camera. He's either unbelievably sweet, or he is learning to charm the ladies already, you decide!

Theres something so heart melting about your boy putting his arms out, and knowing that you are the only one he wants. I know overtime he will do this less and less, so I enjoy every snuggle now, while looking forward to seeing my toddler becoming a big boy, then a teenager and eventually (I can hardly imagine it!) a man. I can't imagine his smooth soft little arms being strong and hairy, or his sweet little face being stubbly. It's hard to imagine we were all so small and innocent once, and our parents all wondered at what kind of adults we would become, how we would look, what we would sound like... I can't wait to see every stage pass us by, what a beautiful thing to watch the tiny newborn baby we created grow and change, our lives are charmed now, all because of Dean.

Seeing Dean taking baby steps is the funniest and cutest thing I've ever seen! I can't wait to see what he gets up to now when he really masters walking, things are about to get a lot messier here! So much fun seeing him grow and learn, let's see what the next stage will bring...

The grass is always greener...

I think there are moments that every mother - whether a working mam or a stay at home mam - long to be on "the other side" of the story. I feel stuck in a rut at the moment, I've never really achieved anything myself and while I want to devote myself to Dean while it counts, there is often a niggling voice in my ear telling me that I want something more. I'm not exactly sure what it is that I want, but I want to learn, I want to have personal goals that are more ambitious then how many washes I can get done in a day, or  how tasty our dinner is (although never underestimate the value of a tasty meal!), or how neatly the bed is made..

I know I'm not the only mother who feels this way, I'm almost sure that every woman (or man!) who has ever stayed at home with her children has at some point thought that there has to be more to life then the mundanity of doing the same old laundry, dinners and general housework everyday. I'm also pretty sure that we all feel some degree of guilt for feeling this way, after all we are living the dream aren't we? Getting to spend every day with my son is a gift I'm not sure I could trade for any degree or career, whatever the perks were. 

I have always known that I wouldn't want to leave any children that I may have, to go to work. I just didn't know that the reality of being here day in and day out can sometimes feel oppressive, isolating and, quite honestly, brain numbing. But, I know that if for some reason I did give up my stay at home status, that my heart would ache for all of the simple pleasures of our day at home. Like singing songs with my boy, seeing him munching on every meal I prepare, and sitting on the floor with him playing the silly games that one year olds love (like jumping out from behind the couch and shouting "BOO!", 200 times in a row..)  

I have yet to miss a mile stone of his, and I know that it would kill me to know that some body else had cheered him on when taking his first steps, or saying his first words etc. In years to come I think I would rather to regret going to college later in life, then to regret missing out on all of them important early days of Deans life. 

But, when sitting at home counting down the hours of the day, sometimes it's hard to come to that conclusion. I know that deep in my heart this is the place I want and need to be, but why then do I struggle so much with my decision? I know it's normal to occasionally feel exasperated with your life, but is it natural to feel this way most, if not every day? I don't know when I have crossed the line from exasperated, to downright depressed. 

I think what I need is a half way house between being the working mam, and where I am now. I need a hobby, but where to begin? I'm interested in lots of things, but interested enough? When money is tight, and weekends and evenings are devoted to spending time together as a family, all three of us (We do love having "the Dada" here at home with us at the weekends), it's difficult to come up with the time to spend on just me. 

A lot of how I feel comes down to me making this huge adjustment to being a mother. I don't think I ever felt this strong of an urge to DO SOMETHING before. Maybe I have just reached a level of maturity that I'm ready now to really work hard and achieve something with my life. I think I can stick out these next few years of staying at home, if I can cling on to the possibility that soon I will have more time, and more money to devote to myself and my education. 

It helps to break it all down like this, when I look at the bigger picture I feel better about my decision. I'm almost sure that part of my problem is that I don't utilise the time that I do have well enough to get something out of it to satisfy my own needs, rather than just my families. This year I need to learn how to combine being the mother I want to be, with the person I want to be, and come out with a balance between the two.

This post turned out a lot longer and in depth then I meant for it to be, so if any body has even gotten this far, I apologise for the moan! Who knows, maybe there are some other mamas out there feeling a similar way to me.. I'd love to hear how any body else deals with these feelings, so shout out if you can identify! Thanks for reading today,

Sallymama.

My pooch!

This is my collie cross, Tiffany!

She's about five now (I can never remember her exact age), and I love her so much! I rescued her from a dog shelter when she was just 6 weeks old (so they said, I believe she was younger.) and not in very good condition. Her poor little tummy was completely swollen with worms, and her legs were like match sticks. From what I could see, she was the runt of the litter and wasn't getting much food or water because the stronger pups were pushing her away. Luckily, she thrived once I brought her home, and has turned out to be a fine healthy dog. I couldn't imagine not having Tiffany, I believe we found each other as I wasn't even planning on getting a dog that day, but the instant I saw her I knew she was mine!

When I was pregnant and overdue I got stuck lying down on the couch one day, and Tiffany somehow managed to help me get up again, I would have been waiting hours for Adam to come home and save me had she not done that! My hero! When I was in labour she kept running up the stairs to try and get closer to me. She's extremely intuitive, and loyal as can be, I alway feel safe with Tiffany around.

I'm happy to say that Tiffany has accepted Dean into our family, and she behaves so gently towards him. Especially now that Dean is so mobile, he often climbs on her and gives her hugs, pulls her tail and all sorts, and she either leaves him to it, or moves away. They will be like best friends in a few years time, I can't wait to see them bond as Dean gets older.

We would love a new pup, but Tiffany needs some training first, she is not very tolerant of puppies, and strange dogs or humans, so we need to work on that. We would love a baby pit bull or mastif  or something along them lines, keep a watch out for adorable puppy pics in the future (i hope!)!

Soap nuts!

Today I received a delivery from Amazon containing 1kg of soapnuts that I had only ordered on Saturday (very quick delivery, gets the thumbs up from me!). I was so excited for these to arrive, and now I'm even more excited to try them out. They have a sweet kind of smell that I can't describe, and look like dried nut shells, and they came in a lovely little bag, with three muslin drawstring bags for putting the nuts in to the washing machine in. So far so good..

For those who have never heard of these before I'll give you a very brief description;

Soap nuts are actually berries grown on trees in India and Asia, and they contain a natural soap called saponin. They have been used for washing for thousands of years, and have also been used to treat many other conditions (head lice, epilepsy, chlorosis, anti venom, to aid childbirth,and to treat anaemia to name but a few!). Allegedly, they are the perfect alternative to washing detergent and fabric conditioner, especially for those who suffer with skin conditions like eczema and dermatitis as they are 100% natural.

The idea is to place a few (different sites have different opinions on how much you need, varying between 3 and 6 nuts) into a muslin bag and pop into your washing machine and wash as normal. Couldn't be any simpler really. Ill probably use about 4-5 at first and see how I go. The clothes supposedly come out smelling clean and fresh but (obviously) un perfumed, which I'm happy with but you could add a few drops of essential oil to the muslin bag if you would like a scent on your clothes (I'm not sure if the smell would remain after the clothes have dried).

I scoured the Internet looking for reviews on these little nuts, and was happily convinced that I should at least give them a try. I had originally planned on switching to a home made version of washing detergent to wash our cloths, but these would be cheaper to buy, less time to prepare (no preparation involved) and are as natural as can be, so I opted for these and called off the search for the ingredients for the washing powder. Hopefully they will work out well, making a laundry powder wouldn't have been much work, but these are even less work so would be the perfect solution to washing my clothes  without a heap of chemicals that will harm our earth and my family.

I have yet to try them, I'm being lazy today and not washing any clothes, (although I should!) but tomorrow I will be using them for the first time and I will give my verdict as soon as I'm done!

Have you or would you try soap nuts? What is your Eco friendly washing solution? I'd love to hear!

Stay tuned for my review of soap nuts!

Cloth nappies

I've just ordered about 15 cloth nappies from Alvababy and I'm so excited to receive them! Excited but apprehensive because the website never confirmed my order, yet the payment went through.. Eeek! Please please please let my order have gone through!

But moving on from Alva baby's less than professional website, I ordered some fab colours and patterns, deans little tush is going to look deadly in them! I've read a lot of good reviews about these cheap reusable nappies so hopefully they will work out well, and I won't regret making the change!

Any one else using cloth nappies? Which are your faves? What are the best things about using cloth nappies and the worst? What made you choose them over disposables?

For me the impact that disposables have on our enviornment was the main deciding factor in making the switch. I have been using disposable for over a year now, and each nappy I throw in the bin gives me a little pang of guilt, it's horrifying to think of just how long disposables take to decompose. I also don't like the idea of all of the nasty chemicals that are used to make disposables being against my babies bum 24/7, I don't even use bubble bath on the kid for similar reasons (he still smells delicious don't worry!) so sticking with disposables seems hypocritical to me.

I'm lucky that I know a few people who are using cloth, and I've been driving them demented asking every question imaginable the past few days, but there is a lot to think about; storing, washing, what to do with soiled nappies while out and about, and even the massive range of all sorts of nappies can be daunting. But so far there has been a practical answer to everything I was concerned about, so I'm raring to go now, I just have to wait for my order to arrive.

My main aim was to keep it cheap and cheerfull, but I can see how any one could go crazy spending money on these adorable nappies, there is no shortage of colours patterns and styles to choose from. Some of my favourites that I've ordered are a funky cow print, camouflage (G.I Joe!) and the plain old solid colours (cherry red, brown and lime green), I can't wait to see them in real life!

My favorite!

Followed closely by this bad boy!

I've been busy researching all things cloth nappy related, but the proof will be in the pudding when i receive and start to use them, wish me luck! I'll be regularly updating our progress too, so keep reading if your interested!

Numero Uno!

Here goes my first blog post! I know so little about blogging, so please excuse me while I get used to these things!

I'm hoping that this blog will help document my sons baby/child hood (if I keep blogging for that long!), and let me express some of my views on different things, and all sorts of other things that I think of along the way. 

Recently, I've been thinking about "going green" and getting rid of all of our usual household cleaning and personal hygiene products, to replace them with natural alternatives to save us money, eliminate sneaky chemicals from our home, and to play our part in conserving the environment. I'll be switching from washing detergent and fabric conditioner to soap nuts, disposable nappies to cloth nappies, and everything in between.

This blog will keep track of our progress with going green, and how successful my choices work out in practise. After all, reading other peoples blogs has opened my eyes to all of these possibilities, so maybe (if this blogging thing works out) I can help somebody else in beginning their own research in to all things green!

I'll also be writing about any random thing that takes my interest, from canines to babies, breastfeeding to family recipes, fashion (or my perception of style more like!), general news and updates on my families life. I'll try and keep it interesting, so keep reading please!!

Me and my gorgeous boy!