The Smack

Did you watch 60 minutes last night? I did and I wasn't shocked at all by the amount of debate it has raised today.

The story was whether or not we should smack our children. If you missed the story you can watch it here....
http://sixtyminutes.ninemsn.com.au/stories/8465814/the-smack 

After this story I had to admit I was torn on the issue. I admit I have smacked Emily. This is not something I'm proud of. As a parent you can sometimes feel at your wits end repeatedly saying no over and over again with no positive response. Sometimes she would even look at me and laugh. I justified in my head that smacking was OK if she was going to hurt herself (i.e. strangle herself with the blind cord or burn herself on the stove).

After watching last nights show I really sat down and thought hard about when I smacked Emily, why I smacked her and what effect it had on her.

Hubby hardly ever smacks Emily. When he says no she listens. Why is that? Why is it that when I say no she pushes and pushes until she's pushed all my buttons?

I thought about the various types of punishments we have dished out in our house and what has worked most effectively. At the moment the 1,2,3 and then a time out in her room seems to be the most effective. My hubby likes to hold her close when she's having a tantrum and remove her from the room until she's calmed down and initially I thought this was awful. I'd watch her scream and squirm in his arms completely frustrated. However it works. Eventually she stops and now he only has to say a stern "no!" and she stops the bad behaviour as she knows Dad means business. Geez I hate it when he's right!

I thought about Emily's response each time I smacked her and the first time I did it she was shocked (and so was I) and she cried. Now days she either bites or scratches me in return so I think what I've taught her is that it's OK to be violent when you don't like something.

Looking back on last nights program there was a young man who was featured in a 60 Minutes program some years ago on the same subject. His Mum consistently hit him with a spatula and his response years later was very interesting and thought provoking. He said that he found it hard to respect someone who didn't respect him as a child. He felt she didn't respect him because she hit him. She pointed out that they are from different generations and would naturally disagree on this issue. This may be true. But she inadvertently pointed out that as the new generation of parents we can learn from our parents mistakes.

I remember when I was 12 or 13 I was really testing the boundaries with my parents. I would sneak out, deliberately disobey, play one of against the other. I was a mean, mean girl who had lots of hormonal angst and God help me if Emily does to me what I did to them! (She probably will and more since I believe in Karma) This one particular day I had my mother in tears and my father just couldn't take it anymore. He grabbed my arm and smacked me hard. This was probably the second or third time I was ever smacked (and the last) and my response was to run away. Probably not the response my parents hoped for. They wanted me to behave. Instead I did the opposite and ran from the house and kept going until I'd walked right across town and to a friends house. Obviously my friends mother did the only responsible thing she could do and called my parents who immediately came and got me. I look back on that moment now and think I must have pushed them beyond their boundaries to feel they had no other option but to smack me. However I also know that the smack didn't get the positive response they wanted from me.

Physics law says if you put a positive and a positive together you get a positive. If you put a negative and a negative you get a negative. It makes sense that if I want a positive response from my child I should use positive reinforcement.

How do you discipline your child? I'm really interested to know what other Mums and Dads do and does it work?

A Place In The Sun

Hooray for the sun coming out! We've got 12 days left of our holiday here in Ireland and the first couple of days here were glorious and sunny. But for the last week it's been overcast, raining and we've had bitterly cold winds. When it's like this there's not much you can do but stay inside and keep warm.

We're staying in my mother-in-law's 2 bedroom cottage and it's gorgeous, but probably better suited to 1-2 people, not 3 adults and a toddler who just wants to run around all the time.


On Thursday night we picked up hubby's other two children who live here in Dunfanaghy. Now we have two teenagers, 3 adults and a toddler in a two bedroom house. It's slightly crowded to say the least however I think we're all coping enormously well.


So when we woke this morning and say blue skies and felt the sun through the kitchen windows we were all so happy. My mother-in-law Helen has taken the children swimming this morning and hubby has gone to the gym. Emily is asleep for her midday nap and this has given me some peace and quiet to do some writing and just relax. Aaaahhhhhh.......

Early morning sun hits the hills and we wake up to a glorious view of the valley

I love that everyone lives next to each other here. That is that my father-in-law Jimmy has the house next door to Helen's (they separated some time ago but remain friends) and my brother-in-law Adam and his partner Olivia and son Reuben live in the little cottage next to Jimmy's.

Adam and Olivia's little cottage next to the main house

Having everyone at your doorstep has been fabulous. Both the little ones have been sick at various times and we've been able to run panadol back and forth and bulk buy nappies and wipes since they're both the same size. We've shared food and wine such as the delicious Rhubarb Crumble cooked by Helen with Rhubarb from Jimmy's garden, and Spaghetti Bolognaise cooked by Jimmy and eaten here by the whole family.

One decimated patch of Rhubarb

Every where I look here there are reminders of a wonderful family life. There are animals everywhere and gardens that are well looked after. Emily has fallen in love with the little white horse named Holly who lives across the road behind the house. 

Holly the friendly neighbours horse

Helen has a little dog named Coco Michelle and she was happily sleeping on my feet while I was writing this until the sound of typing must have annoyed her and she moved to the little bed next to me on the couch.

Coco Michelle having a wee nap

Jimmy has a wonderful vegetable patch with potato's, leeks, carrots, spring onions and strawberries growing. He also grows Christmas Trees that he sells at the end of the year. The whole family is musical with Helen playing guitar, base guitar, saxophone and various other instruments, Jimmy plays the guitar and is a very well-known musician around here, brother-in-law Adam plays the drums and is in high demand with local bands and hubby plays guitar and base guitar. I keep waiting for them to break out into some sort of partridge family type gig but they are all way too cool for that.


Tonight we're heading out with the in-laws for a bit of frivolity and fun at the local pubs. We'll watch my Jimmy play in his band and drink some Guinness. Tomorrow we'll all wake up with headaches and no doubt Adam and Olivia will wander down at some stage to join in with our recollection of previous nights antics over a bite of lunch. At some stage Jimmy will wander through the trees that divide the house and pop his head in the door to just say hello and see how we're going. The kids will play and run about in the garden chasing the cats and dogs. It's a lovely life and I'm quite happy to just relax and enjoy it for now.

Emily walking up the lane

The Best Day Ever!!

Today was the best day ever! I mean it, it was awesome.

On Monday I put a Facebook post up saying there would be a big announcement on Thursday. On Tuesday I posted a reminder and on Wednesday I said I had not one but three big announcements to make.

Today was the Albury Gold Cup and a gazetted public holiday from midday which meant no childcare and therefor no shop open after midday. At first i thought it was a disaster. I need the income desperately at the moment and half day closing meant I would struggle to meet my sales target.

So these were my announcements that I made on Thursday:

Announcement 1: It's almost been a year since I bought the shop and to celebrate my 1 year anniversary we are doing a bit of a make-over in the shop. Over the coming weeks you'll see a new color scheme, play area, shop fittings (I've started this already) and a new logo. A huge thanks to Kath from Doodlebugs who has been madly designing the new bear and logo. I can't wait to show you all!

Announcement 2: With the success of new labels Gaia Organic Cotton, Eternal Creation, Mizzle, Walnut and Skeanie added to Bearly Worn over the last year I've decided to expand the range for summer 2012! I'm very pleased to announce I have just signed orders for Koko & Co., Milky and Freshbaked. There will be more to come so keep your eye on Facebook as I'll list them her as they're confirmed.

Final announcement for today! To celebrate Albury Gold Cup I am having a one day only SALE! Come in between 10am and 12pm tomorrow and get 10% discount on all new winter stock from Gaia Organic Cotton, Mizzle, Skeanie, Uh-Oh! sleepwear and... Walnut Melbourne. This is for TOMORROW ONLY with no exceptions, rain checks and not in conjunction with any other offer. So come in and save some $$$ on your kids winter wardrobes! See you tomorrow :-)

 

Well turns out a lot of people read my post about the sale and at 9:30am there were people lined up at the door. In two hours I did a weeks trade and I couldn't be more chuffed! Honestly i wasn't expecting this at all and today I finally feel like I made the right decision buying the shop. It's been a really hard slog this last 12 months and days like this give me hope that it's all worth it.

 

Anyway, not to worry. I hope tomorrow is just as good and that the trend continues. Next on my list of many things to do is the new radio campaign. Anyone good with writing jingles?

Super Mum

Why is it that when a Mum is sick, she's still a Mum? When my hubby is sick he's just plain sick and can't even look after himself.

Yesterday he came home at 3pm with a migraine. He walked in the door and went straight to bed, much to the confusion of Emily. "Daddy nigh nigh?" she asked and then looked outside at the sun shining.

At 4am he woke and couldn't get back to sleep. He tossed and turned until I kicked him out of bed.

Today he was sent home from work with a viral infection and high blood pressure and was straight back in bed. He could have had Emily with him today as all he'd have to do is supervise, but instead he sent her to Mum and Dads so he could rest.

A couple of months ago I had a very severe case of bronchitis (something I get a lot of in Albury thanks to pollen hanging around for 9 months of the year). I couldn't call in sick to the shop, who was I going to call? Myself? So I go to work, sick as a dog apologising to customers all day for my incesant coughing. That night I pick up Emily from childcare, take her home, bath her, make her dinner and put her to bed. I crawl on to the couch for an hour or two watching SVU or NCIS until I fall asleep and hubby wakes me to get into bed.

All night I cough and splutter and just as I fall back asleep Emily wakes crying and wanting a feed. I go back to bed, coughing again and hubby complains that I'm too loud and wants me to stop coughing. I would if I could! I go back to the couch until I wake to Emily crying in the morning.

My point is, when I'm sick I suck it up, I do what I have to and get on with it. On the other hand I also take so much longer to get better. Tonight hubby is already feeling better and has let me sit on my ass and blog instead of doing dishes and cleaning the family room (after cyclone Emily was there earlier).

Sometimes I feel like telling him to "suck it up princess", then when he's feeling better I just want to hug him and kiss him because at least he tries to make up for his winging and inability to do anything.

Sometimes I think I should stop trying to be such a super Mum and let others handle it for the day, even if I don't exactly like how they do things.

Hubby and Emily playing games on the computer tonight while I cooked dinner. Obviously he's well enough for that! 

FIGJAM

My weekend was pretty uneventful.......

I weeded and harvested the vegie patch before the deluge of rain hit.

Then I made a lasagne with the herbs and a salad with the lettuce we'd picked.

Then I made some cheese and chive muffins....



Then I organised my new sewing and craft chest of drawers....

This was my fathers chest of drawers and his mothers before that. There is a stamp on the back of it stating it was made in 1923. I just love it.

Then I made a dress for Emily......

Then I made a pair of denim pants for Emily......

A bit daggy but suitable for Childcare I think

Then I made some Oat Bran Biscuits for hubby's lunches this week.....







Then I made a Silverbeet and Potato Gratin with Pork Chops for dinner.....

I really did mean to take a photo of this but.....

With all the housework, washing and ironing done I'm now sitting back tonight thinking I can achieve a lot when it's pissing down rain and you can't go out!

How was your weekend?

PS> My thoughts tonight are with the flood affected areas of NSW, VIC and ACT, especially my hometown of Urana NSW which is being air evacuated as I type this. 

Planes, Trains and Kids In Style

Friday morning I flew to Sydney for the Kids In Style expo. If you've never heard of it, imagine all the new and existing fashion labels, accessories, toys and loads more for kids under one roof. Retailers and industry folk go to look at what's coming up, find new and interesting products for their shops, pick up samples and order for next season.

So I thought I'd share a few pics of the trade fair so you can get an insiders view to the industry:

The entrance to Kids In Style

Skeanie and Uh-Oh! in the left corner had some amazing new styles

The board with the list of exhibitors.....totally mind boggling!

How cute are these dinasour badges for boys!

Colored jeans have made a come-back and these are sized 00. So cute!

I saw so many great products and kids clothing ranges and met some wonderful and talented designers. I've spent the last 24 hours going through the massive bag of price lists, catalogues and samples I bought home and I have to admit this has got to be the most fun part of my job. The hard part will be not buying everything and making sure what I do get fills a gap and compliments the rest of the shop.

I spent quite a lot of time talking to Natasha who owns Skeanie and Uh-Oh! It seems we have quite a bit in common having both previously worked in recruitment and both moving from Sydney to the country. We also both decided to start our own businesses once we had our first child and Natasha has done a brilliant job with hers. She's definitely someone I admire.

Anyway, best get Miss E's bag ready for her first day at the new daycare centre tomorrow. It's looking to be a huge day of pricing, hanging and new window display at the shop as well as trying to ensure Miss E transitions well to the new center. But this is the life of a Mum running her own business........

A Very Angry Mum!

Tonight I'm seething! I picked up Miss E from childcare today and her face was grazed, small cut above her right eye, bruising and both knees grazed. Now I know accidents happen, toddlers run and fall, but no one can actually tell me what happened ad there was no incident report for me to sign. To top it off it's clearly a head injury and regardless of how minor it is, legally they are required to call me and report it.

About two months after we put Miss E into this childcare center I began to think it wasn't the best place. I don't know why, maybe it was other Mums telling me of the problems they were having, maybe it was the center director running around like she had ADD and making all her employees nervous wrecks, maybe it was because aftyer 2 months Miss E still cried and clung to me every time i tried to drop and run.

Childcare spaces are limited in my town so I put her on a waiting list for one a block from the shop and on meeting with the director and doing a tour, one I felt immediately comfortable with.

We have had several incidents in the past 3 months with our current provider. Actually I can count them, five to be exact. In each occurrence the she had scratches, cuts, bruising or head injuries severe enough to contact me however the call wasn't made. In each case the incident report couldn't be provided at the time because the casual who was supervising the children had gone home and didn't fill it out. Each time I could seriously question the amount of supervision given because of things like Miss E was eating strawberries from the garden and no one realised till they saw the white shirt she was wearing had red juice down the front. Come on!

So this is my baby after I picked her up today. She was very grumpy and the bottle was the only way to keep her settled. It's a pretty bad photo and you can't see the grazing that well. It's not even the severity of the injury, it's the balls they have in blatantly breaking policy and the law!

Anyway, I'm happy to say we've been accepted to the new childcare center and she starts next Friday. Tomorrow morning I am definitely going to make a huge complaint to the director, and then I'm making a complaint to the Departments of Community Services. Five times in three months is way too much.

Have you ever experienced anything like this and what did you do about it?

Little Me Market

Very soon we have a new handmade market coming up in Wodonga called the Little Me Markets. It specialises in baby and children's handmade items and I'm determined to make something worthy of it.

My idea is simple. A bag. A library/childcare/swim/wet bag to be exact. I've ordered a heap of fabric on line because nobody likes to see fabrics they can buy at Spotlight.

Last night I began making my prototype with a cheap fabric I had lying around the house.

I started with a bag 30x40cm and my intention was to sew a clear plastic window on the front that you can slide a card or piece of paper into to write the child's name, class and school on. The plastic PVC was too thick and my sewing machine just pulled it along and wouldn't sew it to the fabric. The bag was also too small to be a decent library bag. Kids picture books can be big and i wanted a bag big enough to fit a towel if used for swimming classes.

This was my second attempt tonight and I purchase thinner PVC earlier today hoping I would be able to sew it on. I ended up hand blanket stitching it and I'm still not happy with the finial outcome. Whilst the rest of the bag is great, the plastic window looks shonky and hand stitching it means I can't turn out 20 or so bags by market time as it'll take too long.

So back to the drawing board and I'll have a third attempt tomorrow night.

One success of the night's crafting was my stand for the new boys accessories range I have at the shop. They're fabric covered magnets and badges and they look very cool. Apparently boys love these. I grew up in a house of girls so I'm taking Mum's with sons word for it!

The stand was originally a slate grey color so I covered it in white fabric and the two ribbons were hot glued to the top and bottom of the stand so I can attach the badges to them. I can't wait to put all the magnets and accessories on it tomorrow and see how it looks.

Finally this is my little munchkin this morning pretending to blog while we watched retro mummy on Channel 9.

I love that she's my walking advertisment for the shop in her Gaia Organic Cotton Tee and Leggins and her Walnut Melbourne Mary Jane shoes.

The Flip Side

What a weekend. I think I could write 10 posts with the amount of stuff that happened. But I guess I'll just write about the most significant.

My baby girl has a severe ear infection, even after getting grommets put in last November. It's heartbreaking watching her wreath in pain and I can't even brush her hair on that side of her head as it's so sore. Luckily we're off to the ENT specialist tomorrow and hopefully we can get it sorted.

A very sad little girl :-(

We've just spent the majority of the weekend in and out of doctors and the emergency department at the hospital. I am seriously lacking in sleep and as I write this I am praying she stays asleep tonight as I've just spent the last hour driving her around trying to settle her.

On the upside we received some very exciting news. We are going to Ireland in April! My husband is Irish and has been here for 3 1/2 years and is dying to get back and see his family. He's from the Northern part of Ireland and it's probably also the coldest part. 

My head is racing already. It's at least a 30 hour trip to get there and we have a toddler!

During this horrific weekend with the ear infection I've learnt that Nurofen makes Miss E drunk. She races around like a maniac falling over and giggling until eventually it all ends in tears and I'm left driving her around to get her settled. I can only imagine what Phenergen would do to her which is what hubby thinks we should stock up on before we go.

Anyway, I guess I've got lots of planning to do (which I secretly love) deciding what clothes to pack, do we take a stroller or buy one there, what do I do with the shop, etc. etc. etc. In the meantime first things first, get my baby's ears fixed!

Goodnight x

My Sensitive Soul

I've just read a post by Mrs Woog about her son and his feelings about his new class and it's made me think about my own little miss.

I was a very independent child who could always walk into a room full of strangers and just start talking away about whatever was going on in my head at the time. It got me in trouble on more than one occasion.

My little Miss E on the other hand is very different to that. She is clingy and sensitive and doesn't like disruption to her routine. She gets very attached to her carers at childcare and if a new person comes in she freaks out.

Last weekend we went to a birthday party. It was only the second one we've been too since I lost my mothers group when we moved to Albury. The party was for the three year old child of a friend of mine so when we arrived there were about 30 kids running around in the play centre. Miss E totally lost it. She clung to me like glue, arms and legs wrapped tightly around me and any attempt at putting her down resounded with "no, no, no!"

Luckily we were late and they were up to cutting the cake so while all the kids went into the food room to sing happy birthday, Miss E and I had the bouncy castle all to ourselves. At first she just stood on it looking scared while I made a complete fool of myself leaning onto it (because the age limit is 8) and saying "Oooohhh, aaaahhhh, c'mon jump!" and holding her hands attempting to get her to jump. After a couple of minutes she moved, then tried to jump, then giggled, jumped again and before you knew it she was having a great time.

The other kids came out of the food room one by one after about half an hour so by then we had moved to the slippery slide and she was pretty calm. About 10 minutes before the party ended Miss E decided it was safe to play with the other kids.

I know now that I should get to a party early so Miss E has time to gradually get used to the kids arriving and is not overwhelmed by huge crowds. I also know I may have to ease her into playing with others and be aware when things might change to help her adjust.

Parenting is definitely challenging. I have very little patience and Miss E challenges that every day. Maybe that's why we were put together. She teaches me to be patient and I teach her confidence.

By the way Mrs Woog from Woogsworld is up for a Bloggie. I think she's awesome and if you agree you should definitely vote for her at http://2012.bloggi.es/

What my six year old neice did today....

I was going to write about my day today. I was going to tell you how when I got to work I decided to put together the new Ikea bookcase that I drove 3 hours and battled crowds in a hot smelly warehouse to get, only to find that one side of the box had been damaged by what looked like a forklift tyne.

I was going to tell you how I ended up putting it together anyway because it would cost me more money and hassle to return it and just put the damaged side on the floor. It turned out pretty good!

I was going to tell you I put together a new window featuring Eternal Creation which is now on sale at 50% off and how proud I am to stock such a great Australian label that is Fair Trade certified.

I was going to tell you that on the way home I saw the most amazing site. Five grey kangaroo's eating green grass on an empty block in a residential street. Truly amazing that they weren't even freaked out when I pulled over, rolled the window down and started taking their photo's.

I was going to tell you that I am now relaxing with a Vodka, lemon and lime, blogging whilst my hubby sits next to me watching Star Wars (he's a massive nerd!).

But then I got an email. It was an invite for a blog. It was my 6 year old niece's blog! I'm not even going to debate whether she's too young to have one, I think it's cool. Six years old and already writing.

This is today's post....

The best friend club

In a school there was a girl. her name was Sarah. her best friends name was Milly.her 2nd best friend was Isi well also 1st!they were in the best friends club.they made necklaces.

One very proud auntie here.

Handmade SquigglePop

Why is handmade so damn popular at the moment? I would love to be creative and make something divine that people loved and wanted and I could sell in my little children's clothing shop. I can sew, I can copy, I can color, but coming up with an original idea is something I would struggle with.

I have several handmade suppliers in my shop, all of whom I love. The way I usually choose what to stock is common sense. "Would I buy it?" is first and foremost. Sometimes they're items I've purchased at markets and fallen in love with and then approached the creator to see if they want to supply. Most importantly it has to be original. There's no point in me stocking something everyone else has.

I think this blog I read today said it perfectly:

The tale of the grey Rhombus! (why copying matters in the handmade world)

January 22, 2012 By Lou Lou

I think it's important to distinguish yourself from everyone else. I'm definitely no marketing guru or branding expert (I have my own challenges in the shop with that!) but I think when it comes to handmade baby clothing and children's clothing it's definitely a competitive market. Everyone is making pillowcase dresses, applique t-shirts, hair clips, headbands, baby singlets etc. So when I stock these things I want to ensure I have a product that is so different to everyone else's that people will come back for more.

A perfect illustration of this is my lovely supplier SquigglePop. Mrs SquigglePop is a mother who loves to sew. She is a fantastic sewer/artist and she has come up with the most amazing yet simple idea. She created the bungy cord. What's that you ask? Well it's an elasticised cord that has a loop and toggle at one end and a clasp at the other end. It's similar to the old fashioned dummy cords but this one is stretchy so you an attach one end to the pram or car seat and the baby or toddler can stretch the toy, bottle, dummy or whatever up to their mouth. The elastic loop at the other end can be adjusted to fit something as small as a dummy or as big as a wide neck drink bottle. Honestly I don't know how we survived before she came up with these!

Mrs SquigglePop also  makes gorgeous terry backed bibs. Now there's nothing different about that I hear you say. But when she puts them into cute little noodle boxes with her bungy cords they all of a sudden become this very original baby shower gift idea!

So now here's what happens when you hand make something and it becomes a hit. I now have mothers coming in saying "so-and-so i my mothers group had this gorgeous bib and matching dummy cord by SquigglePop and she told me you sell them" Viola! The rest is history.

I've just put a big order into SquigglePop as her bibs and bungy cords were so popular in the lead up to Christmas that I've almost sold out. Every time I receive a parcel from her it's like opening a present because unlike buying from big name labels, I never know what designs I'm getting. I can't wait for this lot to arrive!

Fresh

Sometimes it's hard to come up with new ideas. Yesterday I spent most of the day trying to decide on what to put in my window. It shouldn't be hard to do a window. But when it's the end of a season and you've seen the same Gaia Organic Cotton and Eternal Creation Clothing for the last 6 months it's hard to decide what to put in it.

So this is what I picked:

I decided on a handmade mixed with the current season. I have Walnut Melbourne Cruise Shoes in Taupe, a Skeanie cowboy hat, Gaia Organic Cotton Bodysuit, Handmade by Terri Applique singlet, Eternal Creation shirt and shorts, Three Potato Four dress and C for Cat reversible dress. The Mummy and Bubby owl set by A Dor able is one of my favourites. The baby owl has a rattle in it and the mummy owl is the perfect size for a cot throw cushion. The teddy has been with the shop since I bought it last year.

In my quest to increase sales for kids clothing online I went to see Mrs Doodlebug to get some artistic help with drawing a bear and coming up with a color scheme for the shop. After we'd told each other our life stories, ate a bowl of cherries, played with her gorgeous baby (who coincidentally has the same name as mine), wondered about how she's English born in August married to an Aussie and I'm an Aussie born in August married to and Irishman who we both met our husbands whilst on holidays immediately getting pregnant and both our husbands have their birthdays in January, we finally put pen to paper and drew the most quirky, whimsical bear I have ever seen. She truly is talented. Mad but talented! We also picked out a new color scheme for the shop but you'll have to wait to see what that is.

Next I helped her with deciding on a Madeit.com shop, Etsy shop or Pinterest. It can be so confusing when you have a great product that your ready to take to the next level and there are so many choices. I suggested she stick to Facebook and Madeit.com and the rest would come when she perfected these. So I was wrapt today when I got and email to say she had opened her Madeit.com Doodlebugs shop!

I think it's great that we can help each other with our businesses. We get to double up on promoting our business through each other and our networks so it's win win.

Potty Talk

This morning my 18 month old started pulling down her pants, doing this strange dance and making this weird whiny sound. "Muuummmmyyyy" she was whining. I couldn't figure out what was wrong with her. So I ignored it.

Half an hour later and I'm in the shower and the same whiny "Muuuummmmyyy" comes through the door. This time the pants are off and she's almost got the nappy off. Next thing she lifts up the toilets seat. I bolt out the shower screaming "noooo!". She of course started crying. Could she want to sit on the toilet? I pop her on and voila! She wee's!

This is something I wasn't prepared for. Talking, yes. Moving to a big bed, yes. Toilet training......seriously at 18 months?? I really didn't think I'd be dealing with it for another 6-12 months. Plenty of time to read up and learn all about it. Plenty of time to stock up on training pants and buy a potty. And I thought it would be me showing her what to do, not her showing me that's she's ready.

Maybe it's because when they stop wearing nappies they're no longer babies. Miss E is the only baby I'm having so I'm trying to hold onto those baby years for as long as possible. On the one hand I'm really proud to have such an advanced child, on the other hand I'm sad that she's growing up so fast.

So tonight I'm spending time researching toilet training and potty's. Fun!

Soon she'll have her own blog!

Al Olio

It's been a gruelling couple of days at the shop. I have my summer sale on and people have been going crazy over the recycled children's clothing. Weird because it sat there for the last 4-5 months and didn't budge, now all of a sudden it's on sale and they're swarming like bee's. I don't think I could have fitted any more women in my shop this morning. Mum's with kids, there mum's tagging along watching the little ones who insist on trying to run off out the door (luckily I have a child gate locking them in).

By 11am (I open at 10am) I had met my sales target for the day. Brilliant! Now I can sit back and relax. Wrong, wrong wrong! I check my emails and 3 suppliers want me to go to viewings of Summer 2012/13 stock. What! This summer is not even over. This is something I've learnt. You buy 6 months in advance and designers design 9-12 months in advance. Lucky I'm an organiser so planning this far in advance is kind of fun. Although I've already forgotten what I bought for winter 2012.......

Hubby had an overnight installation job (he works in IT) so I feel like I've hardly seen him the last couple of days. We wave at each other in the driveway and kiss each other when we get a second. Because of the type of work he does and who he works for he often has trips away. Unfortunately we are both away one week or another for most of February and Miss E will be in a one parent household for most of the month. Great timing since she's decided to be super clingy now.

So to unwind tonight I thought I'd make myself a late supper of Spagetti Al Olio with a little chilli, relax in front of my laptop and catch up on my blog. I love cooking. There's something so relaxing and cathartic about creating something special to sit and enjoy at the end of a hectic day. Well I put way too much chilli in the spagetti and now my mouth in on fire! All I can do is laugh.

Life is busy and throws us challenges every day. It's how we handle them that matters.  How do you unwind?

Goal Setting

Today is all about goal setting. I'm reading lots of "I'm not doing New Years resolutions" on a lot of blogs at the moment and it got me thinking. In my head I know what I want to achieve this year but I've never publicly written it down and ticked off what I've done.

I have some personal goals (the usual) and some business goals I want to achieve so I'm writing them down and I'm going to tick them off as I achieve them all.

Here's my personal list:

1. Loose 10kg (I think I start all lists like this!)
2. Sort out my superannuation
3. Pay off credit card
4. Change Miss E from disposable to cloth nappies (she's incredibly tall and needs a narrow width so it's actually harder than it sounds)
5. Finish the back garden beds
6. Go on a holiday!

Here's my business list:

1. Finish my 2012 Business Plan
2. Finally conquer the paperwork and bookwork mountain
3. Get one on-line sale a day
4. Fix website so it's "prettier" and easier to use
5. Add two new brands into the "New" section of the shop
6. Sort out a new advertising budget and advertising that is consistent and targets the audience I want
7. Become the Number 1 destination in Albury Wodonga region to buy kids clothes!

I really love the idea of sitting back at the end of the month, quarter or year and saying "Wow! Look what I did!". My list will probably grow and evolve over the course of the year and that's OK. As long as I have goals to achieve I'm moving forward rather than backward.