The 'town bike' slice

Let's be honest here, with a name like the town bike slice, how could I not want to make this as soon as I saw it pop up on a newsletter from Stay at Home Mum? I was especially tickled with the explanation for the name of the slice: "Because it’s cheap, easy and everyone can enjoy it!"

It really was easy too. I was able to whip this up while Mr Fork and Ellie enjoyed some daddy/daughter time playing with her balloon balls. No need to mix or stir this recipe, it's as easy as measuring out a cup of each of the ingredients, layering then baking. My kind of recipe!

Chocolate chips - I used a mixture of milk and dark here.

Desiccated coconut.

Nuts - I used finely chopped peanuts and slivered almonds.

Rice bubbles.

Topped with a can of condensed milk.

Bake for 20 minutes at 180 degrees and allow to cool before slicing - that's it!

Now the most important part, the verdict. I'm a little sad to say that the town bike slice wasn't really a hit with Mr Fork and I. It was too gooey to take anywhere, so my plans of taking it to work to share were shelved as it really needs to be stored in the fridge and eaten straight away while cold. It's also  a little too sweet for our tastes (and Mr Fork loves his sweets so that's saying something!).

It's probably not something that I'll make again but it was nice to try something new.

Have you had a disappointing food experience with something that didn't match your expectations?

Fabric balloon balls

Ellie still loves to put things in her mouth. Seriously, it feels like every time I turn around I catch her eating something she shouldn't be. Most things are fairly harmless - various toys, books (this I'm trying to curb, telling her that we respect books in this house!). Some are gross - my slippers, the hound's pork skin chew toys. Some are just plain dangerous - the dishwasher tablet wrappers and small rocks and other things unidentified.

That being said, she also loves balloons. However as we all know, balloons can pop quite easily. Add an inquisitive toddler with sharp fingernails, an insatiable need to put things into her mouth and an inquiring mind into the mix, and I'm just not comfortable letting her play with these things unsupervised. Enter, the fabric balloon cover!

I'm a little chuffed with this sewing creation, as it lets me tick a few things off my 101 things list, it lets me be crafty and it lets Ellie have some sensory fun.  

What is a fabric balloon cover I hear you ask? Simply that, a cover that allows you to enclose a normal balloon inside. This results in several things:

• If the balloon pops, no problem! All the pieces are contained inside so exploratory small people can't eat them
• The cover gives the balloon really cool properties - one being, they now bounce!
• For extra sensory and educational fun, I like to add some dried beans to the balloon before I tie it off inside. This makes it roll in unexpected ways and makes the entire item into a giant maraca
• The covers are washable and easily portable for instant amusement  

It took me a long time to get the pattern right for these covers. I can't even tell you how many attempts I made! Some shapes were too big for the balloons, some too small. Some were the wrong shape entirely and some didn't fully enclose the balloon when tied up, negating the purpose. I even tried different materials until I found ones with the right properties.  But! Trial and error paid off and now I have a pattern I'm happy with (and Ellie has lots of draft covers to enjoy too!).

The covers here are off to a new home soon... I hope their new owner loves them.

What about you? Made anything crafty lately?

H for habits

When Ellie was still brand new and we were still in the getting to know each other phase, I joined a mother's group. It was one of the best things I did as a new mother, because it gave me something to commit to once a week (therefore making me leave the house), and it allowed me to connect with other new mothers in exactly the same situation as me. The mother's group I joined was one organised by a community health nurse, so for the first four weeks, we had someone come and talk to us about various topics, provide some gentle education and generally make us all feel that we were doing a good job and all these new feelings and emotions were completely normal.

One of the things the nurse said sticks with me through until now, almost a year later. I'm paraphrasing, but it went along the lines of, there is no such thing as a bad habit. You simply raise your child in a manner that you can accept. That resonated with me. How often has someone told you to put your baby down and let her cry herself to sleep? That, if you go and pick her up or rock her when she is sleepy, she is just manipulating you? Children are only small for a short time. They are born innocent and don't understand the concepts of 'winning' or 'manipulation'. A baby will cry because it needs something and why should you feel guilty for holding her and providing comfort if they ask the only way they know how to?

I have used that as my parenting mantra… that it is all about the habits that I am prepared to accept. There was a time when Ellie would only fall asleep during the day if she was lying on me. I loved that time, it was lovely to have that close connection and watch her peacefully dream and sleep in my arms. After a week or so when I hadn't gotten anything done because I was watching her sleep and couldn't move around, that habit stopped working for me… so I started to transition her to something else and found another sleeping habit that worked for both of us.

Similar story with co-sleeping. We tried having Ellie sleep in the room with us, and it didn't work at all. She didn't sleep well, I didn't sleep well (although Mr Fork slept beautifully), and so we found a solution that worked for us. I am actually a little jealous of those that can make it work for them as it would make feeding and resettling overnight so much easier.

Ellie is going through a phase at the moment where she wants to be close to me  all the time. She is almost like a little barnacle - if she isn't being touched, she is unhappy. I know that there is advice out there that would say, teach her to be independent. But why should I, when she likes to be cuddled and I like to give cuddles? She learns by being with us and seeing the everyday things that we do. This is where baby wearing - wraps, slings and the Ergo come in ever so handy. She gets to be close, and I still get to go about my day and get things done. Win all around!

Another habit which I really love at the moment is what I have dubbed the "Ellie tax". Our morning routine goes a little like this: Ellie wakes up at 5, and I change her nappy then get her bottle ready. While she is drinking that, I make my breakfast and coffee and sit at the dining table. When she has finished her bottle she will walk over to me, raise her arms to ask to sit on my lap, where she will then proceed to talk to me and tax every third bite or so of what I am eating. Sure, it's probably not the best habit to get her into, but I love a few extra minutes of closeness in the morning, and I've noticed that she is getting much better utensil control because she can see how I feed myself (and her) from the correct perspective. She won't be small enough to sit on my lap forever (she is already half my height!) so I'm going to treasure it while I can. After eating my breakfast, she will move to her highchair and eat her own food (which she sometimes will generously share with me too).

So that's what I ask myself all the time now – is this a habit I can live with? Does it work for me? If not, how can I modify it so that it does?

Do you have any habits which mightn't be very conventional?

Real nappies - super sized flats

I've mentioned before that we use mcn on Ellie. Getting to a stage where we found what worked for us was a real journey though. There was a time when she was just too small to fit her nappies well and we had leaks galore. There was the time when she switched from sleeping on her back to sleeping on her stomach, and the positioning of the boosters stopped being so absorbent in that position. As she grew bigger, her liquid output grew to suit and we had to put extra boosters in to cope. After certain meals, she would need several rapid changes... anyway, you get the picture. My point is that even after you find something that works, things change and you may need to revise your idea of success.  We tried a lot of different types of nappies and even though something didn't work at one stage, as Ellie grew and changed, we found nappies which previously didn't fit right were suddenly exactly what we needed.

One of the benefits of a flat nappy over a mcn, is that you can avoid a lot of the changing around and experimenting. A flat nappy is what most people think of when you say 'cloth nappy' - essentially those old school, towel like, massive nappies that need to be wrangled on, folded and positioned just so and pinned in place. Except these days, they're not so massive. And there are fabulous devices which means you don't need to use pins (like a snappi). And because you fold them to suit, there are SO MANY ways you can fold it that you can cope with newborn through to toilet training, front sleepers and back sleepers, boy or girl.  

Now, having said all of that, I looked at flat nappies and decided against them in favour of the less fiddly mcn. I still think they're fabulous though, and I actually have some in my stash. Just in case I need them, but they also have so many other non-nappy uses:

• Burp cloths
• Clothing protectors when you're cuddling 
• Padding a change table
• Lining the bed
• Light blanket in the pram and car
• Emergency towels
• Cleaning up spills and milk overflows
• Sunshade
• Bib
• Baby to sit on when playing
• Rolled up to help with tummy time

The list is really as long as you can imagine. So I was super chuffed to get a few Real Nappies in the mail because, even if I don't use them on Ellie as a nappy, I use them for so many other things.

These nappies? They're fabulous. First of all, they're huge, at 27" square. They also come in a cute reusable calico bag.

They're 100% cotton, but not a heavy towelling material, they're a lovely soft birdseye weave - just look how soft they are!

You can see how light the fabric is, so if I was using these as nappies, I can just imagine how lovely and soft they'd be against a baby's skin. It's almost a crime not to use these for their intended purpose... but I'm quite attached to my mcn, so I don't think I'm a flat nappy convert yet. I do have them stashed around though - in the car, in the nappy bag and around the house. They've come in handy when needed, clean up beautifully and dry in a jiffy. Love!

Do you have any items which you've repurposed to suit yourself? 

Disclaimer: I was provided with the nappies as a consideration.

Cuteness overload

There is so much cuteness in this picture I just don't even have words. I look at this photo and I just get a huge goofy smile on my face. Baby in a towel display. Love it! Clearly she does too!

What is making you smile today?

Slung, with love

I've talked about baby wearing before. I find it much easier when it's just me and Ellie to wear her, rather than getting the pram and pushing it around. It's comforting for me to be able to talk to her and drop little kisses onto her head when the mood strikes. I also think its nicer for her to see things from my perspective as well. I already have the Ergo and a wrap (or two), but I've been curious about ring slings and when one of the sites I stalk had a sale, I couldn't resist.

Although I can tie the wrap that I have into carries similar to a ring sling, it's quite a long wrap (size 5) and I find that I have meters of fabric that I have to wrap around me and tie into decorative styles to keep from stepping on it. I then have to untie them when I want to make adjustments, which can get annoying. I just love the colour of this wrap though and it's my go to for doing back carries (Mr Fork prefers the Ergo for everything).

Rocking a robbins hip carry on one of our walks

I bought a linen Sakura Bloom ring sling. It is unpadded, comes in one size and is lovely and thin, so it folds up small, but it's also very supportive and I have no hesitation in carrying Ellie in it (she is about 9kg now at 13 months old). It doesn't have any patterns in the Irish linen fabric but they do come in a choice of colours. After much deliberation I chose twilight, which is a dark blue and I think is quite versatile to pair with a lot of my wardrobe (so vain). The photo below has a lot of sun coming in - it's not so light in person. I even got a tea sample with my order (I love freebies!).

I'd done a bit of research into the fabric type I wanted and I figured linen was a good choice, despite the crease factor. As it comes from flax, it's a nice strong, natural fibre that wears well and is supportive, definitely something you want when you're carrying a child in it! It is also antibacterial and has great wicking properties, both of which are fabulous features which you have an infant who will spill things and maybe overflow a cloth nappy on occasion. The fabric is breathable and dries quickly, perfect for hot Brisbane weather and for when it needs to be washed. It is a sewn ring sling, which means that the rings are built in. I'm ok with that as I'm not one of those who need to change patterns or wraps all the time anyway and I don't want to be messing around setting up my sling with a new wrap constantly. The rings on the Sakura Bloom are made from aluminium so they're very light and since they're continuous, also very sturdy.

I know that many people have said that wrapping is uncomfortable, but honestly, that hasn't been my experience. With the wraps and ring sling essentially being long bolts of material, they are really adjustable and easy to make them sit just the way you like it. It's sort of like origami-ing your baby onto you. Ellie looks really pensive below, but she was just fed up after a long day out. The colour is a fairly accurate representation. Unpadded, I still find it very comfortable, even for long periods of time, and it's easy to get Ellie positioned nice and snug.

Too tired to look at the camera mummy

Long story short? I love my Sakura Bloom ring sling. It's portable, easy to carry around 'just in case', and very simple to use. Ellie loves it and I love having both hands free while I carry her and not have to mess with the longer wrap. Win all around. I've found that the more I use it, the softer it's gotten, and it wasn't even all that stiff to begin with so I'm really looking forward to having it fully broken into delicious softness. 

What's your favourite way to take bub out and about?

Things I wish I'd known about cloth nappies from the beginning

I've mentioned before that we use modern cloth nappies (MCN) for Ellie. It was something I felt strongly about, so I took Mr Fork and myself off to an education class while I was still pregnant. It was an eye opener and very useful, but there are things I know now that I do wish I'd known from the start. Here goes:

• They aren't that much more work than disposables. With a baby, there is lots of washing - clothes changes, burp cloths, bibs, sheets. What's a little extra work to throw in some nappies?
• The thought of being up close and personal to bodily excretions may seem gross, but you're actually supposed to flush solids from disposables down the loo anyway (most people don't do this). After a few weeks, let's be honest, you're a parent, nothing is going to seem disgusting after you've seen it all, smelt it all and been covered with it too.
• Try different brands and types of nappies. There are so many options: snap ins, pop ins, all in ones, all in twos, minky, PUL, sized, one-size-fits-most... and the thing is, you won't know until you try them which will suit your baby. They all have the same purpose, but some are better for tummy sleepers, some work better on chunky bubbas or at night, some are designed to wick away moisture faster or contain poosplosions... and what works well while they're a newborn might not work a few months (or weeks!) later.
• There is nothing wrong with buying second hand. After all, I keep telling Mr Fork, these things are just pretty poop catchers! As with anything though, do your research. Know what the going rate is for brands and types and quality. Learn what the acronyms sellers like to use mean, and ask questions. Make sure you get full disclosure about any stains, smells, crunchiness etc. Buy from a trusted source where the sellers have some kind of verification and safeguards in place. Of course, this means that you could sell yours off when you're done too. There is a genuine market for these items.

What's not to love about a cute fluffy custom butt?

• Strip wash. Especially if you're buying second hand. This term is thrown around a lot but it took me awhile to figure out how to do it right. Essentially it's a washing process to help break down any buildup in the nappies and assist in getting rid of stains or smells. If the nappies stop being absorbent or start to stink - it's time for a strip wash. It's also the sort of thing that you only do a few times a year. You do a wash using plain old dish washing detergent in warm water, then rinse, rinse, and rinse some more until there are no more bubbles.
• Sun! Oh my, the sun is your friend. It gets rid of some truly heinous stains. Sun those nappies well because along with being a fabulous stain remover, it's also a great sanitiser and the fresh air makes those babies smell fresh. (On this point too, don't use a drier. It is not your friend although you'll wish it was as you desperately try to dry nappies during rainy winter weather!)
• Nappy safe products. Nothing will ruin your (admittedly sizable) investment faster than using the wrong products. MCN are quite sensitive. You don't need to use a nappy cream as this can create a barrier in the inserts to stop them absorbing wetness. If you do feel the need to use something, make sure it doesn't contain zinc. I like MooGoo. Washing powders - you don't really need them, just plain water and sun will do the trick. If, like me, it's habit, make sure you use one without enzymes, as that deteriorates the plastic waterproof coating and rots the elastics. I use Aware, or Rockin Green. Canestan is also handy for killing any nasties.
• On the topic of cleaning, something like a Little Squirt will be your friend. I held off getting one for ages because I was outraged by the price. I couldn't believe my luck when I saw one pop up on my local Freecycle group. Now I couldn't live without it. If you're handy, I've also heard of people making their own, and it really does make fast work of cleaning out nappies.
• Hang them right. I mentioned elastics earlier, well you want them to last. So don't stretch them when you hang those nappies. Hang your nappies lengthwise to avoid putting unnecessary strain on them.

So many small, cute things in this picture!

So share with me, what kind of nappies do you use? What influenced your choice? Anything you would change? Any questions I can answer about cloth nappies?