living here....

When we step out of our garden boundaries, we get to be here. The boys come and play here alone or with friends. We visit this little spot so often.... (um, sometimes daily) and it still feels brand new because it changes from one day to the next. I come here to gather my strength and I do literally feel life seeping back into me. It's so good. It makes living here feel like home.

the super exciting cleaning post

This was inspired by a post I read over at inspired-housewife. I mean the real post was all about how to get pee stains out of a mattress (vital tips even with all of the so called mattress protectors in zee world). I mean three little ingredients could do that? Well I'm game. And excited (sigh), I really was. And just that day, luckily for me, the cat sicked up a partially digested bird onto Felix's white camel hair filled duvet. I tested it out and wham, white as a dove, clean and bright again really quickly. So this lead me on to thinking that I got rid of the last newborn car seat, but that the second one we bought Esmé was also newborn to late toddler or something. It has been in the garage for about three years though, collecting all of the nasty things a garage can inflict; like bird poop from visitors making nests in the rafters, and I just don't know what else, gunk even from when it was in use and I decided (unwisely) to wash it later. Quite a bit later it turns out. The pale gray straps were dark brown, the chair cover had mould spots, but I didn't want to resign it to the dump and go buy another. Just so...... wasteful. Anyway. I skipped along to the pharmacy and bought a bottle of 3% hydrogen peroxide (like a pound or something cheap) and I already had loads of bicarbonate of soda (baking soda) and of course dishwashing liquid soap. All set.



I picked a super sunny day. I threw the cover in the washing machine and then left it for about 24 hours in the sun to dry and clean further. Still grubby looking and mouldy. But it was the straps that grossed me out. Imagining fastening them around a sweet little baby? Just yucky. So I scrubbed the entire chair down with soap and dowsed it off with water. Then I applied loads of dish washing soap, then sprinkled a liberal coating of bicarb and then spritzed on the peroxide which I had decanted into a tiny empty spray bottle. I mixed it up and coated it all over the straps front and back with my hands; it was all gloopy and slightly foamy.



I was too hasty in seeing if it had worked and began rinsing it off. So had to reapply another coat. Luckily for the mixture (since I am impatient and may have repeated the whole peeking and rinsing thing) I was called away for some such thing and it was about half an hour before I could get back to it. I took an old scrubbing brush and went to it, really scrubbing it all in as hard as I could. I applied a bit of everything again and left it for another five minutes. Then, bucket load by bucket load I rinsed and rinsed and rinsed the whole chair. Half a day's sun later and it was totally pristine, with clean pale gray straps once again.





But the cover? Still stained and ugly. I looked into ordering a whole new cover. But it was pretty much as expensive as a new chair. I remembered my friend Melody making one for her dd from some thick fabric..... but the sheer amounts of slits and flaps on this chair totally put me off. I am not that good at sewing, and knew it would be frustration city for me. Then I found online a pure cotton towelling summer cover which would fit, pretty cheaply on top of the clean but stained seat cover (and since it had sewn in padding ) was unsure how to fix that too. With the sheepskin I bought on sale at Green Baby it's like a fab new chair.



Yep. That was my super exciting cleaning post. I am pretty pleased with it, which is sort of boring, but also feel thrifty and glad I discovered a pee cleaing solution. Everyone with multiple children/beds knows you need one.

egg hunt

This is not a belated Easter post or anything.... we have a hen problem, or two. Mainly they just won't stay in the run and even though my patient and by now surely bored-of-our-hen-issues Man just made a net covering all over the place, they are still by and large out. I like truly free ranging hens, truly I do. In theory. I just don't like their shit. Literally. Especially when it's on your doorstep or kitchen window sill. I am also exasperated that 2 out of 3 of the new chicks are cocks. Bleh. If only one could select by looking at eggs whether or not they were female, then we could simply toss the male eggs (I mean eat). I'd have no problem with this. I know, there are people beaten to death over such ideas of gender selection. But trust me, if you have hens you'll know that the girly sort are best. One cock per household is enough (I am seriously not going anywhere else with that, I am on a schedule.... else I'd more bawdy.... or something).



Anyway. Not only are they out more than ever they have stopped laying one by one in their lovely nesting box and are laying... some other places. We have such a huge area to search it is only possible to stumble across a cache of eggs and think yourself lucky. Which is what Felix did the other day (while out early in PJ's playing with a bamboo-cane in the drive way). Esmé then jumped in saying she too had found it (lie).



Even though they look very cooperative here don't be fooled or foxed my these sweet images. If only you could hear the bickering over how many eggs each had 'rescued' you would think them less cute. Then if you could see one small girl scream and run off and kick the garage and stamp around a bit because she was not the person who picked up the very last egg, you might wonder if I had some maniac children. That would be true. But the nice thing about children (thank the stars) is that their moods can change quicker than our lovely temperate weather. And soon she was struggling over solo hold of the basket and conquering her more kind and gentle brother. and smiling again, of course. Queen of the world with a basket of eggs.



It's still kind of cute that they magically were wearing matching PJ tops. A marvel, I could not have planned since mostly Esmé will wear only the opposite of what I ask (I must have suggested short sleeved PJ's the night previously.)



No, I did not forget that fabulously informative cleaning post I promised either, it will be up in just a jiffy, or as soon as my laptop uploads from my camera. I have been so instagram mad of late (so quick! so easy!) and had so little time to sit here (what is with the pregnancy-nesting-painting walls--cleaning thing already?) time has blown on by.



But anyway, we have eggs. For once. And still lots of chicken shit every where. But still nice yolky rich eggs. I have to break each one open in a small pot or glass and sniff and look at the firmness of white before deciding if it's safe to eat (in case you were wondering). I estimate only two weeks old tops for the very worst egg. Most shop eggs are estimated at least 6 weeks old anyway. Yuck. These have all been very good. So far. No one is sick anyway, which means good.

sweet

My body feels so huge this time, this far along, and I am getting so tired. So quickly! I end up crying by bedtime, but really I am actually ok, I feel pretty happy, and I am working out ways to get more rest, and so far am sleeping fine (I just want more of it, that's the issue).



I am enjoying the new change-arounds in our home, just little things, but sometimes little things make you feel so much better.

new knitting spot

I am so appreciative of a man who really insists that I go and walk with them all and the dog, and I heave my baby-bulk out with them and then feel so much better. Continually feeling very lucky that we live surrounded by such beauty, on such scale and that we really do have no masses of people to share it with. That is such a gift, selfish as it sounds.





It means we can walk and walk and not bump into people. I so love that (unsociable as it sounds, really I just like being with my family, outdoors, and uninterupped by the rest of the world).



Feeling daily challenged by my feisty beautiful girl. Sometimes I meet the challenges she presents me with. With creativity and love; and when I do and both of us end up pleased and happy it's such a big lovely thing. And sometimes I don't. And we have little battles of will. Mostly though I remember. I am the adult, and this means that she has very little control of her world. I need to take my own 'time out' and challenge what conventional parenting would asume I do (like insist on my way since I am the perfect adult, or be the dicatator). When I can back down and see things her way what I end up seeing is that really she wants my comfort and a hug and some reassurance that what she wants is not wrong. It just conflicts with what I want in that moment. Is not that she 'wins', it's that I am big enough to know that if I looked back I wouldn't want to 'win' over a tiny lovely learning little girl. I'd want her to know that her opinions and wants and desires and needs were valuable. Even the weird shit. Like wearing tights in the full sun on a hot day, or that apparently it really does matter that no one else ever touches your cutlery before you do. Yeah. Weird stuff. I see her little tree fairy face in the first pic on here and think how lucky I am to get to share my world with such interesting teachers ;)



Nice weird: When we sniff the honeysuckle, standing there too long, we think that we might get dizzy and fall into fairyland.



Am doing well pretty much with my low carb, paleo style eating. Except the fruit. I just crave watermelon All The Time. So I eat it. I don't think pregnancy is a time to ignore cravings :) Who knows why my body needs watermelon (or um, chocolate brownies). It's tricky to distinguish nutritional needs from desires with cravings. But yeah, pregnancy is a time to be easy on yourself I think.



The Man's sweet early morning gift yesterday.



edited because I just found this in my photo account. It's blury and black and white (and sort of nakid so maybe it will get removed or something). I guess it's my 28 week shot. But hey, I am HUGE, and feel it and still have two months to go :) Lovin' my belly and baby tho, aches and all :) Also - that towel rail behind me? That was where I stood and birthed my last baby..... its sort of cool to constantly be using the space that is so ordinary and yet so special. That is birth though; ordinary and special.

in and out

The weather is totally dictating our days. When it's sunny we are out and when it's not we are pretty much in. Out meaning garden and Festival, in meaning the bathroom mostly. Or eating. I am deep in a melon addiction. And salad and fruit of any sort.







I took four baths in about 24 hours at one point this week. My back was sore, but really I am just enjoying baths.





I finally finished the guilt-knit pants. Phew. I also knit some tiny cashmere socks for my newest few day old niece but forgot to photograph them. Now I am knitting yet another hat. But this one is very necessary. The pattern is the Kanoko Pants and the yarn is two strands of Rowan cashmere/merino 4 ply held together.



We are painting bathroom number three right now in sage green and soon shall be moving on to peach pink girly painted bedrooms. Whooo hooo. We have this tiny walk-through room that joins a bathroom to our bedroom and we are trying our best to squeeze it into a space just for Esmé. She seems her brothers with their rooms and wants her own too. But there are simply no more in this house. The Man bought her this horrific hot pink clothing cupboard from Ikea (not sanctioned by me) the other day which she adores and so finally I sorted out her clothing and re-stashed it all. It was quite a good thing to do for my sanity but actually now everything is sorted into sections and she finds it far too easy to dress and re-dress herself about seven times a day. This is not good for my sanity, as what to do with the cast offs when one finds them? Are they laundry worthy? No. But nor are they cupboard 'clean' either. Meh. I will have to invest in several hooks to hang so she (or I) can put them *some where*. I am a tiny bit bored with the painting but do find it relaxing and useful at odd moments, say I feel the baby is in a weird position I get on my hands and knees and paint skirting. It does the trick.





Not feeling much prepared for this babe right now in terms of 'stuff'. But don't feel to stressed by it. I have my bed and breasts after all :) I have my knits of course, which I am sort of embarrassed to photograph in their entirety for fear of ridicule over sheer volume. I am building up to it. I will certainly have to dress this child in a different knit every single day in order to get wear out of things. Mmmmmmm. It's a nice silliness though I think. Better than say - a coordinating nursery or something similarly strange and other worldly (to me at least who has never even bought or used a moses basket, never mind full blown cot or pram). I do have a stash of cloth nappies and wool wraps (in need of pre-washing and lanolising still - excitement for me, I am saving that for some good weather days), and a few little organic cotton tiny things to wear and that is it so far. And oh yes! The car seat! How could I forget. That will have to be a whole other separate post because it took me a whole day to complete (and I did do photographs). I did a super makeover/overhaul on The Beauty's old baby/toddler seat. It was vile and has been in the garage for a couple of years collecting bird droppings, mildew, mould and worse. Worse I say. And now it is freshly covered, scrubbed to cleanliness and lamb-skinned to baby newness. I have some secret newly learnt cleaning tricks to share so will get on to that post ASAP. For surely you are all in need of additional cleaning tips (insert yawn here if desired).





I saw my new independent midwife Annie this week too. She is as sweet, knowledgeable and as wise as you would want a midwife to be and lives a stone throw away from me (considering IM's need paying for petrol too this is indeed a bonus). I have super low blood pressure (80/40) again this pregnancy. It makes me pretty tired. Not sure what is causing it, perhaps anemia, perhaps not. I am having blood drawn to check for that. Any suggestions welcome. So far I have been told to up my salt intake an keep hydrated. Am wondering if sea salt baths might help? And ideas?



This weeks photo dump seems pretty unrelated to the wording, sorry about that: the girl and I are always on the look out for foxglove, not sure why. Just prettiness.





Foxglove and orange poppies we are both in love with, so we treasure hunt them. The boys are sorely lacking too in my pics but they are just so off and busy with things unrelated to me, plus they are more concious of my photographing them so I need to moderate it since they are not natural posers like The Girl.





Garden picture overkill but I cannot help it, it's so lush and embracing out there. I feel my best surrounded by green and listening to my garden stream, or weeding in my veggie patch. I need to kneel to do so now rather than bend but it's worth it to see the mud surrounding my fingernails at the end of the day and to kneel back looking at the things growing just because I put them there. Sooooo satisfying. . My favourite ruby chard is on it's way up and I am rubbing my hands with glee anticipating it sautéed with garlic and a dash of tamari.