A Quick Update

Ah, life has been so hectic around here the last week or so. I have so much to catch up on with blog posts, I recieved a lovely gift in the mail the other day from a fellow blogger, I will be back for tomorrow to share it all  with you. For now, I will share some pictures I took of my two yesterday, I plan on getting some of them together when the 'no cheese' or 'no pictures' boy decide's that it is ok, the poor child has been photographed to the extreme his entire life I think he is a little over it! I hope you enjoy them :).

I took lots more, but for some reason blogger keeps turning them sideways when I upload them. You can check on the rest on my photobucket album here or on the breif slideshow to your right --->

We are off to the local show tomorrow, I hope you all have a lovely weekend. xx

Etsy in Tasmania

I love my town. Just as much as I love being a citizen of Tasmania. Did you know that in our small state we boost a large community of extremely talented crafter's? Here are a few of my favourite Tasmanian Etsy finds, I hope you enjoy.

Dream Bunting by Dancing in the Garden | Buttongrass Pinafore by 3 Red Buttons | 'Friends' Hair Ties by Little Itty Bitty | Red Pants by Bear Bumz

A Change of Behavior

I've never been much a reward chart kind of mumma, we have a pretty relaxed and easy going household or maybe I should say we 'used' to have that kind of household.

Lately I feel as though I am butting my head against a brick wall with Charlie. People keep telling me its because of the new baby, but me, (being his mumma after all) I feel like he is slowly growing out of his 'little boy' persona and is testing the waters of life as a 'big kid'. 

Charlie has never really been a child to misbehave, and I'm not just saying that because I am his mumma, but seriously with this child I have been blessed with a very well behaved little boy.

Over the past few weeks though, times are a changing. While I wouldn't call it 'naughty behavior', he is certainly testing the limits. Ignoring people, when asked a simple question like 'could you pass me those socks' he launches into a completely different conversation and then laughs at the end of it and tells me that he was playing the 'ignoring game' with me (and still doesn't pass the socks, he just repeats the 'game'). That and his tea time habits (in the past few weeks I've gone from a near perfect eater, to tea time horror stories) are frustrating me the most.

I have tried my normal approach to helping him understand that sometimes his behavior is just not nice, call me soft but I am just not the growling type, I try to focus more on the positive behavior. But its just not working.

So I thought I would give a simple reward chart a go. I've only focused on four things that I feel are completely manageable for him, one being brushing his teeth which is a given anyway, just something included that he knows he can accomplish with limited fuss. Then there is listening, packing toys away and last but not least, eat dinner. I don't except him to be perfect in each area, but just done with a lot less fuss than is currently happening.

We have the local show coming up in two weeks, so I have made that the reward, first week he will get the show tickets, second week I will let him pick a show bag to buy. He doesn't have to fill all the areas up with stickers, he just has to have more stickers than white spaces by the end of the week, do you think that is a reasonable ask of a 4 year old?

A 'time out' area has been suggested by many of my friends, but this is just something that I don't feel will work with my parenting style. Since he was old enough our 'time out' has involved grabbing a book and jumping into bed to have some 'relax' or 'chill out' time (yes, exactly what I call them). Sometimes that involves me reading, sometimes it just involves Charlie by himself, it just depends what he wants. People tell me that I am spoiling him doing this, that he is not learning anything. I feel as though I am teaching him by doing this is that there are others ways than yelling/screaming or doing what ever to calm down, reading is relaxing for him and certainly calms him down and improves behavior. What do you think? What do you do in your own household?

Who knows if this will help us out or not, but at the moment I think its worth giving it a try. 

A precious moment... (even if I had to pay for it!)

See this photo... it cost me $20. That boy there is my little (but slightly humongous) brother, Daniel. He is 17 and thinks that he is just too cool for school.

He was around a few weeks ago and I caught him talking to Ava in her swing... I said you can pick her up if you want matey which prompted a 'hell no', a retreat to the hall way and denying that he, the man of the family, was ever talking to a baby!

So, last night I bribed him and gave him $20 to get a picture of him and Ava... and it was totally worth it, don't you think.

Handwritten Letter Swap

So, after thinking about it a bit more, and getting a little bit of interest form a few of you in blogging world (and a few of my friends who aren’t) I have sorted out the ins and outs of the Letter Swap.

Once a week I will post a topic, they will be open ended so that you can make the letters your own. I will do this for 10 weeks, hopefully by this stage you will have swapped enough letters with numerous people and have a gage on whom you may continue to be old school ‘pen friends’ with. At this stage, you will be writing to everyone who signs up for the swap – but if the numbers grow large I will group people up.

To get you thinking about your first letter, the topic will be ‘Hi, my name is...’, tell your reader/s who you are, what you are about, what makes you ‘you’ and the things that you enjoy. Each person will send this letter to their recipients and then when the next topic is posted, your recipients reply to your letter (and you to your own letters you have received) including the new topic.

You can join in the swap at anytime, you will just have to start with a ‘Hi, my name is’ letter and then continue with the next topic.

Does that make sense (it seems to in my brain, but I know what I’m trying to say).

I have enough interest at the moment to begin, but will leave the ‘offical’ start of the swap until September 20^th to give people a change to sign up.

To sign up, leave a comment below with your email address so that I can contact you to get your details and also to let you know your recipients details, maybe leaving a link to your blog would be handy to so that people can see a little about you and maybe have an idea on things to write about in their letters. Don’t forget to let your friends who may be interested know about the swap, the more the merrier! 

Have you met Amanda?

A few months ago, whilst reading a blog I love (thank you Cat!) I was introduced to the lovely and ever so talented Amanda Fuller of Calico & Co. and Lemon Tree Lane fame.

Over at Calico & Co, not only will you find a blog that is super fantastic to read, you will find lots of lovely giveaways (one of which I can claim fame to winning), Amanda is also a great supporter of other handmade / indie artists in her Handmade Heaven section of her blog.

She has recently launched her stationary line 'Lemon Tree Lane' on madeit & ETSY and I can tell you from my own purchase for fathers day that the products are just divine (I could of kept the card for myself if it didn't say the word dad!)

And to top of her already impressive list of creative talents, she is also a fantastic blog designer... have a look at Beloverly for an example.

I'm introducing you to Amanda for two reasons today, number one being she is SUPER talented and number two I have hired Amanda to work on something for me that I hope to unveil to you all in the next few weeks and she is doing such a fantastic job, I can't wait to share it with you!

I highly recommend that you have a look at Amanda's wares via the links above, or you could even check out what is on Amanda's Desk.

For now I will leave you with a few of my favourite piece's of Amanda's work.

A Dying Art Form...

image from here

After reading Cat's post here, I started to have a think, I'm one of those over-thinker type of people, once my brain gets going it just does not stop.

The last time I really sat down and wrote something was probably in a University lecture a few years ago and the last time I wrote a proper hand written letter was probably when I was 12! I think its sad really that gone are the days of receiving a letter in the mail that does not consist of typed words or worse, bills!

So thats when I got thinking, (and haven't really stopped) who would be interested in a handwritten letter swap? I haven't really thought of the ins and outs of the whole thing yet, but maybe I could set a topic, or a series of questions that you could write about in your letter to an assigned partner (or group if there is enough interest) and then you could all send away and hopefully receive one in return... who knows, you may even find an old school pen-friend in the making, and maybe we could put a bit of life back into this dying art.

So are you interested?

restful Weekend

Charlie spent the weekend just gone with his dad, and now that Ava is becoming more aware of her surroundings I really think that she missed him being around. As soon as he was home at eight o'clock this morning she only had eyes for him.I have a feeling when she starts moving around, a little boy I know is going to have a little shadow following him everywhere!

Charlie teaching Ava how to play the playstation

I feel so refreshed after the weekend, I don't think that I realised how much running around after a 4 year old and looking after a baby takes it out of me. Ava actually slept fantasically on Saturday night, she slept from 9.30 till 6.30 which gave me a much needed boost in the energy department. It was a once off I think because she had been awake for around five hours before that, but I'm still happy with that effort even if it only happens once in a blue moon. I hope you all had a great weekend. :)

A sneak peak

Here is a little sneak peak into something that I am creating... I can't give to much away because it will ruin the surprise of a big unveiling I'm hoping to have in the next few weeks... so stay tuned!

Creative Love

One of the best things that I have found since becoming a blogger is all the amazingly talented creative people out here in the blogging world.

'Wouldn't it be Loverly'

Bramble and Bear

Tiger & Hare
(I bought this for the little miss)

Go and take a look at what else these talented people have to offer, I promise you won't be disappointed!

Discovering Music

If there is one question that I struggle with when it comes to music, it is naming my favourite band/artist or a favourite song. See the thing is, I could answer both those questions if I could continuously reel of names, but most people just don't have the time to stand there all day and listen to me drone on ;p.

So, for the hell of it today I am going to share with you seven of my favourite songs, in no particular order. Whats more is that I am thinking that I might make this a weekly thing, this sharing of my musical candy, what I feel are mouth watering songs and artists in the hope that maybe I can pass my love for them on to you all.

1. Last Goodbye - Jeff Buckley (This and No Women, No Cry as morbid as this sounds, are my funeral songs, so if I really had to pick one favourite song, Last Goodbye would be it)

2. Creep - Radiohead

3. Love Will Tear Us Apart - Joy Divison

4. No Woman, No Cry - Bob Marley

5. One More Time - Daft Punk

6. Hearts a Mess - Goyte

7. Better Man - Pearl Jam

So there you have it, my seven for this week. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.