the beginning of something new

My baby (not really, he's 18 months now!) is having his first sleepover at Nanny's house tonight. I'm so excited. Probably because he woke us at 5am this morning and could not be tricked into having another snooze, so breakfast was at 5:40am instead of the usual 6:30-7am. But not tomorrow, sonny jim. Ha ha!

I do believe that with your children you have to be 'ready' to do something, like leaving them with others for the first time, pushing their limits and your own trying by something new. Others will encourage and push you to do things- my Mum was all set for us to go to a large family gathering at a restaurant when he was 2 weeks old, which I was not doing at all. And I was glad we didn't go because I wasn't ready to tackle that scenario. But with this sleepover I am totally ready. I thought to myself this morning that I will feel no guilt at all leaving someone else to cope with him for one night and morning. So I must be ready. Because if there's one thing I am it's a guilt ridden mother. Especially about leaving him. But he so loves it with my family and he sleeps most of the night, so what is there to worry about?

Now if only we had a bathtub to luxuriate in, my evening would have been perfect.....And for sure I'll be awake by 6:30am anyway, but ooohh, not having to get up is a secret thrill. And not being woken up by the sound of someone whining and grizzling is another secret pleasure. And I'm saving the good parts of the paper to read with my hot cup of tea at breakfast. Without having to sing Wiggles or Bananas tunes. Oh, the life I miss!

my decree

My kitchen has disappeared, temporarily. We are building a new one this weekend, but the plumbing comes first, then cabinets, then life goes on.

What shocked me was how much I had crammed into my second and third drawers in the short time we have lived here. I chucked out so much detritus, and it has only accumulated in three months! I knew I was cramming stuff in there, but I couldn't see why, and then I had to unload it all and voila! All was clear.

You must do this too. Go to that drawer that you just keep stuffing crap into, even if it's your socks or undies drawer, and pull it out. Find out why it's so full, and free yourself. I reckon I'm going to do this at least twice a year from now on. Because amongst the detritus there was gold too.........

the organic thing

On the 5th Sept the government announced compulsory unit pricing in all supermarkets. Hooray! Those of you who follow this blog closely will know that I am a huge advocate of this price labelling system, which I have seen around Europe and the UK but thought we'd never get here, such is our retailers dislike of competition and fairness for consumers...

And, as with the way of the world, you put something out there and the universe sends something back. Since announcing our push towards organic life I have found two great articles concerning this matter. One from our brilliant friends at Choice, surveying and reviewing organic foods. This was very interesting reading. I loved finding that I don't have to watch out for potatoes and that we should all watch out for our information sources. The UK/European research does not always apply directly to us, since we have different rules and circumstances, especially concerning production of meat.

The other was this article from my beloved Guardian.

It's a bit of homework for you if you are interested.

Overdue

Thank-you, kind friends, for checking in and sticking with me! I hate starting off with apologies, but nearly two months since a post is just unforgivable. I am sorry to have neglected my duties as a blogger and have resolved again to try harder. In reference to the last post, we got sicker before we got better, there was much blubbering on the couch before we recovered. I found rejuvenation through acupuncture, which has helped immensely both with my sciatica and chesty cold. I think I'm the best that can be expected one month from my next due date. I feel much, much better, and am my mobile, agile self again.

Trying a bit harder at blogging involves squeezing more from my day and at this stage that seems like a huge task. My list of 'must do's' is as long as my arm including 'clear out and set up the baby's room', 'organise self for hospital stay and G for sleep-overs at Nanny's house,' along with the dumb things that I've let slide like changing addresses after we moved, cancelling redundant bank accounts, tax and related book-keeeping chores. No small tasks these, and yet the time to do it just escapes me.

I can't see why, since G, my darling, 18month old first born has adjusted to daylight savings before it's actually begun, and is now waking at 6am. I preferred it when he woke at 7. We were able to trick him by resettling him in our bed and getting another hour of peace. Not so any more. He's awake, he's hungry and he will not lie still. Up we get. By 9am it feels like the day is half over, when it's only just begun, and we still have 2 hours until sleep time (of one hour only, argh!), and then another six or so hours to fill. But by the time we do morning things, go to the library/pool/toy library/food shopping, snack, sleep, lunch, play, wake Dad and prepare dinner, it's 4:30, I'm knackered and it's time to wind up for the day. It is a relentless day, without relief.

But the upshot of early rising and my feeling better is that we have been spending quality morning time in the garden. G loves to 'help' and we have the makings of good vege patch and many, many strawberries coming this summer. We have put in a forest of aloe along the shady side of the house, and are hoping that they will love the crappy, dry soil and conditions there. My compost is humming, our lemon trees have taken root for future years of joy and I am very happy about it all. Just waiting to put in the tomatoes and basil, but we'll have to accomplish that post-new baby.

Another hurdle we've faced during my two month blogging hiatus was my Dad being diagnosed with cancer in his tongue and jaw (no, he's not a smoker, actually, just unlucky). Well, Mum and Dad's life has become a circus of hospital and specialist appointments with day long stints in waiting rooms and Dad is just home from almost a month in hospital after an horrific operation to remove the cancer and repair his mouth. He is not the man we sent in there. That man was mobile, agile, vibrant and just had a callous on his tongue that bothered him a bit. The new Dad looks like he was hit by a truck, bewildered by everything that's happened in the past month alone, and having actually survived this unbelievable operation, is now facing radiation therapy and chemo to finish all this business off, we hope and pray.

We've had to adjust to this life quickly. I went from having them as the other main carers for G to being a part of their care-sharing regime (one of my sister's is intellectually disabled, lives at home and needs a certain level of supervision most of the time, and my grand-mother is 82 and living alone with degrees of success.) Helping with this, where we could, was not an issue, at all, as family is family, of course, you know.

In terms of my life, it just means I've had less time to get to that 'must do' list, and much less time to blog. Furthermore, my mother-in-law, another helper for me, has just jetted off to Europe for six weeks.

Oh, and I decided that I must have to kitchen finished before the baby comes, so this weekend we are demolishing the cabinets and building new, shiny flatpack ones, chiselling the tiles off the walls, doing the electrics, and having a dishwasher installed. I suppose it's one less thing on the 'to do' list. It means that other stuff isn't getting done since I'm emptying and storing the existing cabinets of their contents, holding panels for drilling and generally fretting about whether or not we can pull it off. We have limited DIY experience and this project is an expensive one to cut your teeth on!

So, well, that's us in an short update. There will be more, and sooner than later, so stay with me!

falling to bits

What a shocker. We are falling to bits in this house. No, not the house, the inhabitants. How did it get this way? We are on a super health drive!

Well, it started when I spent last Sunday dutifully washing up at work and since it wasn't busy, I was in the sink for about three hours. Three hours, pregnant and hunched over.

So by about 5pm I was hobbling and the next day I couldn't walk. Or the next. Sciatica, and still 12 weeks out from having this baby. In the words of my chiro- we are going to be battling this for the next 12 weeks. Which reduced me to tears, since I need to bend and carry and can't even barely stand and most certainly can't take to my bed for hours, since I have a 16 month old. I knew this would happen, as I suffered the same thing towards the end of my last pregnancy, but not with 3 months still to go. Grr.

But the baby boy is struggling even worse than that. Last week he got his first childhood illness- foot, hand and mouth disease, then came through that to develop a snuffly nose this week. He capped this off yesterday by dropping a heavy wooden chair straight on his big toe and smashing it. Blood, screaming, swelling, writhing, blood. It was really awful. But it's mostly ok- not broken or needing stitches, just fat and blue.

So he and I are both hobbling, he's sneezing and dribbling, I'm intermittently crying from tiredness or pain, since G's ailments are waking him up so no one is sleeping properly and we are a big old mess.

Thank goodness for the baker, who can still bend to do the bath, lift the rubbish bin and not complain when I'm complaining too much and have eaten all the chocolate gelato from the freezer. What a soldier.

organics revisited

Just a note about our mission to be predominantly organic. It's really disrupted the budget. I'm now back to my old habits of trying to find the best and cheapest, but this time organic and some of it is a bit shocking. I never really believed that organic was so much more expensive, I always thought it was just a bit more. A tin of tomatoes, the cupboard staple for us, regular, from 55c to 99c. Organic, $1.67 or more. Three times the price. Milk, regular, 2 litre, $2.80-$3.50, organic, $4.98- $5.33. This is really putting me to the test.

I am loathe to admit this but there is a void in my day since Big Brother finished. And I wasn't even a big fan. But for my half an hour wind down, after the baker has gone to work and I've put G to bed, the pointless machinations of the people in that program were lite and distracting.

I wish Bridgette or Nobby had won. Unhinged people are funny. Battlers are not. And I just know channel 9 is going to mess it up.

feed me

Feeding a toddler is fun and tricky. Or not fun and distressing. Sometimes it's fun and distressing at the same time. Timing is everything, as is repetition. It's a learned skill and something I'll probably obsess over forever.

I know that it's tricky, not only because of my own experience, but because I browsed 'kid's food' at the library and found just how much has been written about this issue. It's serious. I left with three books, just as a starter! And then there's what I find online.

I read a bit when G first started on solids and have topped up my reading when my motivation has been low or I've found myself at the end of my tether with a baby who goes for days on only avocado, sultanas and yoghurt. It's a huge topic to cover, with nutrition, fussiness, development, and then the massive allergy issues. Something I know our parents really didn't worry so much about. 'Peanut butter and eggs for everyone! Soy? Isn't that for dim-sims?'

But my interest in food and nutrition was re-invigorated recently. I was having a guilty moment, reflecting on how much my unborn baby has been ignored during house preparations while I considered the detrimental impact of the chemicals I had been practically bathing in for two weeks. What was I thinking? Bleach, sugar soap, paint, carpet chemicals, metho, caustic, all being processed by my body into that of the tiny foetus inside me. I still shudder thinking about it.

I decided I had to take some steps to right my potential wrongs. I was worn down, dry, wrung out and felt yukky. Imagine how G and that poor baby were feeling! But where to start? I had taken loan of a book from my bosses wife, an avid 'natural' mum. This book I knew of before, but I had only glanced it's way, as it seemed a bit too full on for me.

Anyway, I read it and found it wasn't so radical, afterall. Through this chiroprators advice I could see a way to making changes that could benefit the whole family, back-up our commitment to our health and well-being without having to immediately strip back our whole life and start again. Me and my babies would feel better.

Firstly, organic. As much as I can get where we are. I started with the chemicals. As I may have said before, I am a devout, passionate enjo user, so we don't have any household cleaners anyway. But my hands were still shredded from all the washing with detergent, and that stuff is not the purest I can buy. Switch. Same for the body and baby washes. Organic, phosphate free etc. G's skin is already improving and I feel better about it, if nothing else. As other things of this type run out I'll simply be replacing them with the pure stuff. Washing powder all switched, with no bother since I hated the fumes from regular powders anyway.

Then to the kitchen. Organic milk was simple to get. Yoghurt ditto. It stretched the bakers brain to accomodate the cost, since I'd been so pro-cost cutting, but I just looked at him like 'we HAVE to, ok?' and he hasn't said much about it since. But I'll tell you what I've noticed- regular milk stinks to me now. I'd rather have black tea. Revelation. I have also sought out alternative cheeses- sheep's milk and goat's- to vary our dairy consumption. It was easier than I thought. Pecorino is a great sub for parmesan, in fact a bit sharper if you like that, and goat's cheese comes from spreadable through to hard, so there's enormous choice. And the sheep's feta (from Bulgaria) is so tangy and delicious, a better accompaniment for my avocado on toast diet cannot be found!

Then the other switches I've made have involved seeking out alternative grain/wheat/flour sources. Not just organic, but different flour, to vary our diet and displace a bit of our white flour consumption. Millet flour, buckwheat, quinoa and rolled barley (like oats) have all found a place in our cupboard without a hitch. When I've been baking I go half/half flour substitution, without much difference, except for the flavour. Millet flour has a mild flavour, while buckwheat can be quite overpowering for some things. Fine for adding flavour to plain baking (scones, pikelets, fritter batters) but where there are other ingredients, like nuts, fruits or chocolate, it can over-ride those easily. Which just makes your cake taste funny. And the gluten in these flours (or lack of) can really mess your recipes up. A case of try it and see, and make sure you write down what you did. Or like me, you'll forget and forever be testing recipes!

In some cases I didn't even have to seek out 'special' foods. For many foods it was as simple as reading the ingredients list. Stupid, I know, but a bag of sultanas HAS an ingredients list, since it's not just sultanas in there, but often oil and sometimes a preservative of some kind, like sulphur dioxide. It's very common, such that you'd think it was normal, but if you look hard enough, you can find natural sultanas with nothing else, in the supermarket. Dates too. Apricots and figs you may have to hit the healthfood shop for. It's worth thinking about if you are concerned about food sensitivities and your toddler. Once again I am struck- cooking for yourself from basic ingredients will always win out, cost and healthwise. So why are our supermarket aisles choc-a-block full of crap?

I'm seeking out organic meats. I think contacts must be made through the local farmers market. Vegies is a tricky one, since I'm so addicted to my home delivery box, and it's such good value. I have made a commitment to get our own organic garden going, so we can supplement with 'own grown' delights.

Making these changes was so simple, in terms of finding alternatives easily in supermarkets and healthfood shops locally. But the choice to do so covers so many issues I shan't be going into it here. I can feel the personal hysteria bubbling below the surface. From farming techniques, processing and transport, sale and cost, across the spectrum of mass food production issues to an individuals health preferences and lifestyle aspirations, the choice to try and be more natural and organic is political, environmental and personal. I know about all these things, but for me, it's about health and well-being, vitality and simplicity. While meeting the budget, that is!

Funny what happens. I was just trying to find something to feed my toddler!

What's been going on?

Behold, where once there was a kitchen, now there is none. And from behind ancient wood panelling a door appeared. Then came the wallpaper revelation and the saga of removing the thirty year old wallpaper.
Gobbing great streaks of liquid nails on the dappled concrete walls. Rotting lino. The kitchen bench sitting in the middle of the room. A baker with a heavy heart.
The pregnant lady on a ladder. Shouldn't somebody have done something?!?
But then, it was cleaned. And all painted. And the floors went down. And it was ok.

There is a mania that occurs, for me, anyway, when you move house. It comes through not being organised, and living in a muddle of boxes and spending all your time getting everything 'the way it should be', instead of maintaining a decent and balanced lifestyle.

Usually I have it all sorted within a week or so and life goes on. But this time it's different. Living with a toddler demands good organisation- you can't be hunting for a pan and shuffling about for the grater when it's lunch time. It's LUNCHTIME. That's what they demand. So the speed with which I have been able to settle in has been halved, since a lot of my day is planning and preparing for a toddlers needs and then having to go out and do things with him, since a house full of boxes is too much for him and me to cope with.

But just last night, in one of those mid-pregnancy energy bursts you get, I managed to unpack and clear out several of the boxes that have been bothering me, line up my cookbooks, sit on my couch, in my newly carpeted and painted loungeroom and think about cooking. So I think we are getting there. Today I even took him for a walk in the pusher. This means I did not spend an hour unpacking, and that is something, too. Walks are much better for everybody, aren't they?

I have even made some head-space for blogging. Be ready for some great, cheap cooking, gardening and spending anecdotes once again, as I/we re-focus on our life and asses the aftermath of the move and renovation...... In the meantime, I hope the happy snaps justify my absence over the past month.

we're in

We're in!

I don't even know where to start.

Unfinished rooms are now stuffed full of boxes. Temporary curtains cover our paint and grime streaked windows. The to-do list is long and full of shitty jobs needing something from Bunnings to be completed. I am annoyed about the job done on our floors. I am going to send two angry letters to the stores we have dealt with. Just as soon as I can find the printer....Thank goodness for my Dad and his ute, the runs to the tip have been endless. Thank goodness for my Mum and her patience. The baby boy has been well occupied by her during this rollercoaster ride, which is brilliant. One less thing to worry about. Any thought of the new baby has been pushed aside until my poor addled brain can think straight again. The only thing keeping me on track there are the obstetric appointments!

But, we're in!

Photos and more soon. We just got the internet re-connected, I have too much mail to deal with.

the surprise

The house has consumed our lives. Poor G has been with Nanna and Grandad non-stop for the past four days. He is fine there, and well occupied and adored, but he's a bit lost. He clings and grizzles all the way home, all through dinner and struggles to go to bed. It's going to take a bit for him to recover from this experience. And then he'll have to move into a new house!

The baker and I wake up energised, full of plans and strategies. We get to the house and wander in circles, attending to bits and pieces. People come by, we stop and give them a tour, explain what's happening. By then it's about 4pm, time to collect the baby boy and wind up for the day again. I feel like we are getting nothing done. It's very frustrating.

But so much has happened!

We had a lot of little jobs to attend to preparing the walls for painting. We set to pulling off the faux wooden panels that lined the walls. Reveal lines of ancient glue needing to be scraped off with a blade or removed with solvent. Reveal a huge gap between concrete panels on the feature lounge wall. Gap filler, metal strip, leave it?

That was sidelined when we found the carpet rotten in front of the bathroom and along the wall in the little bedroom, meaning that the shower may be leaking. Huge issue, since we are putting down all new floor coverings and do not want them ruined by damaged plumbing. Investigate that. No real solution yet, but much discussion about ripping out the shower and putting in the bath. Back to the panels. Reveal sticky 70's wallpaper lining the kitchen walls. Steamer and scraper needed. Reveal a hidden door in the loungeroom wall.

Well, this was something we wanted to do later on- put a doorway through the kitchen to the lounge. But look! It's here already! However, on the other side of the door our kitchen bench and wall cupboards cover it. They are attached to the wall. Do we demolish the kitchen and utilise the doorway? How can we live without a kitchen? Why would we not use the doorway when we wanted it anyway?

So the kitchen is ripped from the wall and the termite riddled door smashed through. Wow. But oh, wow, you know? Suddenly we are in the middle of a renovation. One we were not going to do. In fact the discussions have been all about a kitchen and bathroom renovation. The two most expensive and time consuming things to do in a house! Money and time we do not have. We have time for paint and carpet.

The simplest ideas have snowballed and we are having to decide and react quickly in circumstances completely new to us. On a deadline. Thank goodness for those family members who have shown up with their reno experience and skills. This week I have realised how good it is to know useful people, and how many useless people there are in the world. Including the 'customer advisors' at Bunnings.

So where are we after three days? It's amazing, really. The bedrooms have been washed, holes patched, and two of the three ceilings painted. Tomorrow I am going to finish the bedrooms. And wash the hall. And prepare the doors, maybe. That's half the house done.

The baker has fixed the ceiling, scraped the glue. His Mum painstakingly removed the wallpaper, so tomorrow he'll be fixing the gap in the lounge and set about washing the ceilings and priming the walls to paint. I think. He may have other plans.

We must call the carpet guys and demand 10% off the quote they gave us. We must call the laminte guy and have him back to re-measure, since the kitchen has gained another couple of metres of floor space. We must find a plumber to confirm where our leak is. I have to call the water people and the council.

Oh, and tomorrow our current house is open for inspection....

the smell

We have the keys to our house. It's ours.

But it doesn't feel like mine yet. Mostly because it doesn't smell like anywhere I'd live. Smokers. Grr. Did the tenants have, like, 25 people chain smoking 24/7 for the past four years? How can a place smell like that?

And grime. Grr. The young, male tenants who lived there before us did not clean anything, for a long long time before we came. There's dirt on the inside of the windows. The kitchen is a greasy grime fest- I'm actually going to have to throw away the kitchen blinds, they're so putrid. They didn't even vacuum before they left. What is wrong with them? I mean, I couldn't leave a house looking like that.

Being pregnant I'm not allowed to bleach or use caustic or bomb the house to clean it. Fighting the urge to White King the whole place is taking all my energy. I like a clean house and I like to clean my own house, you know? I am a passionate Enjo user, but I'm not using my beautiful cloths on that house until I have sugar soaped and bleached every surface. Then we can go chemical-free cleaning!

Also I know it's silly to spend too much time cleaning, as we are ripping out the carpet, painting the walls and doing something to the bathroom, within the next three weeks. But I just can't have it so grubby in the meantime. Because of the smell.

the house

Settlement on our house TOMORROW. Finally we can get in there and it will be ours! Well, the responsibility will be ours. Owning the building will take another 30 years, according to the bank.

So much checking and running around to be done all last minute. Plus appointments with builders to look at repairs and minor improvements, carpet and floor guys measuring up and all we want is to start ripping that hideous fake wood paneling off the walls.....

mother's group

Thank goodness for Mother's Group.

This free resource that new mums are encouraged to join is my saving grace in times of trial. I love it, and all the mums I have met, who, with their wonderful and desperate stories, and delightful babies, make my week, every week.

We are currently battling disrupted sleep (again). Initially, after brilliant mothers group counseling we tackled controlled crying (very successfully) at about 11 months. I thought it was going to be smooth sailing after that. And it was until a couple of weeks ago. Now G wakes at 11pm and 4am, without fail. Like a new habit. And me going in there does not settle him, it seems to make him worse. I pat and calm him, he gets worked up, I leave, he quietens and sleeps. But if I don't go in, he's inconsolable. And at 4am, he just wants to come into our bed, which I am trying to avoid. But I end up patting him for an hour and it's just seems pointless when in our bed we all just drop off and sleep until 7am.

Knowing I'll be able to float this problem at mothers group makes the waking and tiredness a bit bearable. It's the light at the end of the tunnel, the ten mums who may have a clue about what is up with my baby, since I am totally stumped. You think your baby is unique, and he is, but at MG you learn that babies are all pretty much the same, developmentally.

Lo and behold, several of the good sleepers had been waking and disrupted too. No-one had the answer yet, we couldn't find a solution, but we compared notes on possible causes- cold nights, new teeth, full moon - and what strategies had already been attempted. But for me the relief was in acknowledging each others trials and issues and knowing you're not the only bleary-eyed freezing zombie, stalking the hallway at 4am.

I never expected that MG would be like this. I was so self sufficient and felt so capable in my pre-baby life, I'd never relied on others to help me much. But honestly, I couldn't live without it, and if I didn't have these girls, I'd be at the mercy of every baby self-help book and a lost and confused soul (presumably with a screaming and neurotic baby!).

Free support and advice, solicited or not, true and correct or not, this resource is one of the most important available to new mums. Other mums, with no agenda, nothing to sell you and not 'invested' (like grand-parents and well meaning family members) are a breath of air in those first weeks. And longer....

a million dollar tip

Here's a free business idea for someone with the cash and space to do it. Ready? Set up a children's farm/petting farm, near me.

It's so silly that there isn't one. My Mum's best friend used to run a brilliant one near here. She was busy all the time with schools, parties and groups and on weekends it was sheer madness. Over-fed chickens and ducks and tormented pigs and goats everywhere. The kids just loved it. She and her family ran it for years, then the lifestyle got the better of them and off they went to see Australia. The new owners only open irregularly.

We were so thrilled when G started to understand what animals are, I was desperate to take him to the zoo or a farm. It just seems ridiculous that we couldn't find anywhere to show him a cow or a chook. We live well out of town, and yet to find a 'farm' we had to go to into the city. And it cost us $8 each to walk through, which is just wrong. You can't even feed the animals, just look at them. For all my moaning, we did have a fantastic day, G loved it, moo-ing and clucking all the while. He was thrilled with the geese and the ducks.

But surely there's some call for this kind of resource locally? What do the kinders, schools and general public do? Wait for the annual, local agricultural show? Not see farm animals at all? Take up the challenge and open a farm, dear readers, someone, anyone. It's a million dollar idea, just sitting there, waiting.

mini-break

I've had a lovely week off work, and realised how good it is to be at home all the time. It's a big step for me, who rushed back into a job when G was just five months. Not because we needed the cash, but because I'd always worked before and was lost as to what I was supposed to be doing. But it's easy to see now. I should be at the park, feeding ducks, going to the pool, putting bread out for the birdies (see left. I know- bend your knees, pregnant lady!), checking for doggies over the back fence, taking adventurous walks, climbing through tunnels, sewing, knitting, sorting out piles of baby junk, preparing good lunches and dinners for my starving boys and taking time to look after my own health and well being.

I was also amazed at how quickly we got into a rhythm and the effect it had on G, who adjusted his pattern to one big sleep in the middle of the day. He also passed another milestone, mastering climbing (see left).

The week allowed me to see where I fit into this picture and how life is when I'm there. I know I miss things, working the few hours that I do, but it was much more than that. It was having enough energy to get through the whole day. Feeling on top of the chores and our meals and the washing pile, and still wanting to hit the park or the playground without thinking 'I can't be bothered with this today,'. That's how G (and I) benefit from me being home.

I'm on the countdown to the end of working....Just as my boss needs me to ramp up and take on more work! It's lucky for him we have grand plans for the new house. Currently I have a large 'carpet monkey' on my back and am grabbing every extra hour I can (and calculating the broadloom metres as the clock ticks past each hour.)

the chiropractor

With regard to health, I have natural, holistic leanings, balanced by a respect for Western medicine and its place in the world. I embrace the principles of yoga, even if I am slack in my practice, and read keenly about naturopathic and Chinese medicine. I am probably attracted by their foundations in nutrition and bodily processes as a point of interest. I am lucky, since my sister has studied naturopathy, the texts are lying about Mum and Dad's place.

That said, I have never undertaken an elimination diet of any kind or consulted with anybody to assess my yin-yang balance. I have obviously not suffered an affliction so dire as to resort to drastic measures. 'Cut out wheat? Oh, no, I'm fine...'.

But something that has caught my attention is the 'new' chiropractic. My sister-in-law converted me back to chiropractic care after G was born. While in London I had heard a lot about cranial osteopathy for newborns, it was the 'in' thing for hip London mums. Apparently the gentle manipulation of a newborn's head plates can undo any damage they may have suffered during birth and set right issues such as reflux and crying. But back in Australia, I couldn't find anyone who wanted to talk about it, even my own osteo, and so let it go.

Then my sister-in-law told me of her amazing success with her allergy/asthma kids through chiropractic care. Which I thought was ridiculous. I had given up on chiropractors ages ago, the twice weekly visits and pointless crunching. For physical pain I was into the osteo and the physio as a better solution for me.

But it turns out that chiropractic care is now being used for naturopathic type functions. By encouraging your nervous system ( housed the length of your spine ) to work at optimum levels, your body's own processes can fight reactive conditions such as allergies and asthma. And everything else, they'll say, since the nervous system is central to the functioning of your body. Chiropractic care is then best way to manage your spinal/nervous system.

The more extreme purveyors of this practice will advise you not to immunise and poo-poo germ theory. This attitude flies in the face of my healthy respect for western medicine. But the beauty of our health system is you can take on what you like and avoid what you don't. I am critical and cynical, and read widely before embracing the radical claims of a left of centre practice.

We took little G along for a check-over at six weeks old, and without even getting a history from us, the chiropractor was able to tell us the few issues he had been suffering (feeding difficulty on the left due to a sore neck, unwilling to lie on the floor because his sacrum was 'out', random mild reflux and crying). He was adjusted and we set off wondering how it would all go. Brilliantly, as it happens, and we haven't looked back. An adjustment after each immunisation, and our monthly check-ups hold him in good stead. I can only suggest that it must have helped us avoid the colds and infections that have passed through mother's group. Any time I feel he's very unwell we head off to the regular doctor, who looks at this clear-skinned, sparkly eyed child I have and tells me if he was sick, he'd look sick.

Having embraced the chiro for our son's 'wellness', we have been pretty slack on taking it up ourselves. But this week I bit the bullet and checked both the baker and I in for an assessment. The baker was a bit shocked by his diagnosis, but is on board with having regular treatments and I am loving the neck and shoulder relief, and the chiro telling me we will be avoiding sciatica with this pregnancy. Hooray.

In terms of savings is this another case of spending money to save it? Hmm...well, I haven't cancelled the health insurance yet, since starting this, as it pays back quite well, and I figure since I'm paying for it, use it! But I'm sure we are spending money when two weeks ago we were not. However, maintaining our health is an imperative with the mortgage burden. Visiting the chiro has inspired me to find time for a bit of self-guided yoga practice, good for general living and reinforcing the chiro's work. The government has recently been banging on about preventative medicine, after telling us we are all too drunk and fat to look after ourselves. I'm sticking with it.

I'm not joking about my second trimester energy levels. They are just soaring at the moment. And I can think again. I think about how I feel and what I want to do and eat, whereas before now, I was a zombie. I couldn't decide toast or tea, let alone make it!

I made myself some muesli, as I crave high energy, high nutrient, slow release food. I make it without all the awful, shriveled, inappropriate fruit they put in. Mango and paw-paw, I mean, really? And no fluffy, puffed bits, or oatbran noodles either. Old school- oats, wheatgerm, toasted with honey and all the good nuts and seeds. A few natural sultanas and a packet of dried blueberries I found in the back of the pantry. It's a comparably cheap but luxurious breakfast. Also there's a secret twist in the recipe, learnt from a lovely B'n'B lady in Byron Bay many years ago. I'd love to tell you, but I won't. Unless you ask.

Recently I received a gift of some gorgeous Meredith blue cheese, purchased before the giver knew I was pregnant. Not being one willing to miss out, today I decided to make it into cheesy biscuits, so everyone could enjoy it, though I will of course eat the lions share. They are flaky and melting, with a hint of mustard and freshly ground pepper. Divine.


The final highlight of another high energy day- I took baby G to the pool for the first time. What a ball we had! First we checked out the pelicans at the pier, fed our old bread to the swarming seagulls and then headed in to splash away a bit of time. Not long though, swimming totally knocks him out, and he was all ready for a morning sleep by the time we got dressed and walked back to the car. Which was all part of my cunning plan. Except that I was all tuckered out too! I going to make this a regular weekly date for us. He swims for free and I pay less than $5. Another item to factor into the budget, but happily.

Just a quick reminder- the last episode of Doc Martin tomorrow night. I'm going to curl up on the couch, barrel of cheesy bikkies and cold glass of Maggie Beer's Desert Pearl wine (non-alcoholic, another thoughtful gift, purchased when the giver did know I was pregnant!) and giggle and sob for an hour. Have a lovely weekend.

Golden, luscious love.

The colder weather has invigorated my appetite for cheap home-made puddings. Over the past two weeks we have had Lemon Delicious (using up lemons from the heaving tree), Chocolate Self-Saucing Pudding (trying a new recipe from a 'cooking for toddlers book', but that much sugar is NOT for a toddler!) and tonight, Golden Syrup Dumplings. Except that we had no golden syrup, so they were brown sugar and treacle dumplings. No matter. Still so good.

I actually made them today at work, to sell tomorrow. My boss thinks we won't sell many, but I know he's wrong. Our first customer today demonstrated this for me. Harriet is a lady of a certain age with flair, a lust for life and a yellow Peugeot. The farmhouse kitchen I work in is right at the end of a rutted dirt road past a turn off to nowhere. I'm amazed we have any customers, let alone ones who would find getting there such a challenge. But she's a devoted regular and she interested in the more unusual things we cook. She wants tagines, not casseroles, rhubarb pudding, not fruit cake. She loves the flavour of juniper in her pork pie, as it goes with her taste for gin, she says. I get her.

Today she came in and once she'd collected together her purchases, I asked if she likes Golden Syrup Dumplings.
'Ohh, hmmm,' she said, eyes widening.
I said 'Great, I've just made some, but I bet you don't make it home with them, they're still warm,' and at that, she surged past the counter, around to my bench, fished out one fluffy, sweet orb of dumpling, still hot from its pan and promptly gobbled it up. An eighty-something old woman, twin-set, tweeds and sturdy shoes, cheekily swiping one of my dumplings, dripping syrup on the bench and grinning like a sugared-up loony!

It made my day. And since today is my wedding anniversary, I decided to make my husband's day, too.

Golden Syrup Dumplings.
It may feel a bit daunting, but just think of these as scones baked in a pot of syrup. Easy-peasy.
I wish I had a photo, but it would be of the empty pot. Sorry, next time.

for dumplings-
1 cup self raising flour
40gm softened butter
pinch salt
1 egg
50ml milk
Rub together the flour, salt and butter. Stir together the egg and milk and pour into a well in the middle of the flour mix. Stir together with your fingertips until a dough forms. Don't knead it, just bring it together.

for syrup-
2 cups water
1 cup sugar
4 tablespoons golden syrup
squeeze of lemon
Place all ingredients in a wide bottomed pot and stir over heat to dissolve the sugar. Bring to the boil and drop in golf ball sized pieces of dumpling dough. Reduce heat to a simmer and cover. Cook for 20 mins or until a skewer comes out clean. Serve at once with dollops of heavy cream. Do not mention to anyone if there are leftovers, you'll be kicking yourself when there's none for a late supper.

Happy Anniversary, baker man.

Dear, beloved friends, you have been so patient with me, while so much has happened here...

This month we bought a house! As I moaned earlier, this is a long process, where decisions must be made quickly, but the time between decisions is fraught with worry. That is all over now, and we are heading towards settlement, trying to choose carpet and paint colours for a home we have seen twice.

It's great though, a big step towards our other goal, of owning our own business. Brilliant.

Meanwhile, it has come to pass that we are also expecting our second baby! Very exciting. It explains why I found decision making so difficult the past few weeks and why I've been feeling nauseous every afternoon at 4pm. So onward and upward to November. We'll be well settled in our new home, freshly painted and carpeted, summer seedlings established by the time the new little one is here. Although saying that now makes me feel exhausted. So much to do!

Our savings plan is under heavy, heavy scrutiny, since we will shortly be back to one income.
Also, owning a house has brought along a new world of expenses to consider, and it seems that everyone wants money from us. My biggest bugbear at present is insurance. They prey on your worst nightmares and then find a way to really hurt you. Get this- one policy will pay you an amount if you get a serious illness, but this payment renders your life insurance void. So if (ahem, when) you die, your family will not be entitled to a lump sum payment, since you already received one while you were alive. But, there is a buy-back option, where you can opt to buy back your 'death' insurance, in the event of having cashed-out on the serious illness policy. Thoughtful, no? It's a really ugly business. I have encountered a lot of sheepish looking sales people, peeping guiltily out from under dropped eyes. They know it's bad too!

We are doing our utmost to avoid and minimise new expenses, without being foolish, but there's not much room to move now. Our repayments are managable, just, and we need to use this time with two incomes and no mortgage to get a bit of cash stashed for later. It's tricky, because I find myself tempted into spending by thinking 'Oh, soon we won't be able to do this at all..'. Self sabotaging must end.

Now that my energy is level and my stomach sits steadily, my savings enthusiasm has returned also. I am very aware that this will only be for the next three months, and I'll be making the most of that too. The investigating I have to do over the next months (I hope) will be useful for everyone. Now that we're moving with reasonable notice, I can properly check out telephone, gas, electricity and internet providers and set us up with a good deal. Movers, decorators, conveyancers, insurers will all be needed and utilised with minimum expense to us. I hope!