The Pram Saga Continues...

I experienced a moment of complete joy this morning when a package from Britax arrived.  The seat!  Finally!  Only three weeks after the last ETA I had been given!  After being out of action for three loooong months, the Strider would be coming out of retirement.

And more importantly, the Brick (as it has lovingly become known) would be going back INTO retirement - and not a moment too soon.  Last week the suspension on the back wheels broke so it's not overly usable anymore.

I did a little happy dance (away from the windows so the neighbours wouldn't see).  The cats thought I'd gone bonkers and ran away.  Alex got very excited and started clapping and bouncing up and down.  

I tore the box open, tipped its contents out, grabbed the seat frame from under a pile of fabric in the sewing room (!) and got to work.

Imagine my horror when I finished attaching the seat to the frame and discovered that parts of the harness were nowhere to be found.  Two of the five harness points missing.  Gone.  Not there.   HOW THE EFF DOES THAT HAPPEN?!??!?!?!?!?

So now I have a new seat that I could put Alex in, so long as I don't mind her falling out as we walk along.

The lovely customer service lady in Auckland has contacted Australia to see what happened, but she hasn't heard back from them yet.

I might just cry.

Or fly to Australia and set fire to their office.

The Great Debate

Nev grew up eating Vegemite and I grew up eating Marmite, so we've always had both in the pantry.  We have had many great debates about which is better.  

"You suck"  .... "**** you!!"

I'm open to eating Vegemite (it's not terrible), but Nev is completely anti Marmite.  No child of his will eat that sweet muck!

Oh really?  

om nom nom

You'll note the photos were taken at the beginning of her meal.  She ended up with Marmite all over her face (including her eyelid after she rammed soggy toast into her eye for some reason), through her hair, up both arms and down both legs.  Her bib escaped relatively unscathed.  

Now I'm being accused of withholding Vegemite because I know she'll like it better and I will lose the argument.  Pffft.  I'm just not bothering to give it to her as it will be a waste of perfectly good toast!  Although he's welcome to take over and make her lunch for me this weekend if he'd like to prove his point...  *cough*hint*cough*

Weekly Photography Challenge - Week 20: Tracks

The council dug up someone's lawn just down the road from us, and parked diggers and portaloos all over it for a week.  They very kindly flattened out all the tracks and sprinkled lawn seed over the mud when they were done though.

Caterpillar Tracks, originally uploaded by rattyree.

And here's what Alex thought of going out in the cold to take photos of tracks:

Words of Wisdom

Since taking on my new role as Domestic Goddess I have learned many things.  I thought I'd share some with you.  Gosh, aren't you lucky!

Typing anything with a baby on your lap only works in two situations:

1. Baby is not yet old enough to sit up by themselves and/or reach the keyboard 
2. You have your screen split with a TMBG DVD so baby watches that while you type in a tiny squished up window on one side of the screen.

Failure to comply with the above results in something along the lines of this:   

     dd ds  `  rffv fvrtc fff, a spotlight search, your window minimised and a slimy keyboard.  

Every fine day is a blessing.  Wash everything you can, heck, even find things to wash.  If you don't, mother nature will punish you with five days of rain.
  

No matter how much you hate folding washing, it is always (always!) quicker to just fold it and put it away than it is to rummage about Mt Washmore every time you need something.  This is extra true when a baby is involved as they always need socks, a flannel, a new overnap.  Do you know how hard it is to find a pair of tiny white baby socks in a pile of clean (white) nappies??  Also:  cats like to sleep on clean washing.

Speaking of the felines... If you are owned by cats, shave them to save having to vacuum every day.  OK maybe not.  But it will be damn tempting, especially when your tiny human is mobile.  (I'm guessing - Alex likes to stay where I put her.)

Lists are great, particularly when sleep deprived.  If you write a list of things and complete a task that isn't on the list, add it just so you can cross it off.  Completely satisfying.

If you'd like to get your pre-baby body back (or better!) don't buy any exercise equipment, just use your baby as a weight!  Resistance increases as baby grows, and you can do all kinds of exercises while holding them - squats (picking up baby), crunches (baby sitting on your stomach), arm curls (holding baby, extra fun if baby is in their jolly jumper harness) - just use your imagination.

Not knowing how to drive helps with weight loss too.  When you're going stir crazy being stuck at home all day, you have no choice but to exercise in order to go anywhere.  Try living at the top of a hill for added exercise..!  *cough wheeze die*

Any good domestic goddess bakes treats for her family (mostly herself) every week.  If you're going to be baking anything that uses baking powder or baking soda, wait until the child is asleep for a guaranteed long nap or for the evening.  Otherwise, as soon as you add the wet ingredients and the mix becomes time sensitive, your baby WILL all of a sudden require cuddles/milk/new nappy. IMMEDIATELY, if not sooner.  It's just not worth the risk!  This is why we often have Afghans in the cupboard instead of cakes.

Finally, there is no shame in writing a blog post while baby is asleep.  Even when you should have been folding Mt Washmore or vacuuming up 39487532 clumps of cat hair.

Weekly Photography Challenge - Week 19: Artificial

Set focal point, put glasses in shot, hope for best.

Artificial Lenses, originally uploaded by rattyree.

Weekly Photography Challenge - Week 18: Red

Yet another meh week. Alex has been snuffly/feverish/not sleeping so I didn't get out and about as planned. I'll get my mojo back next week, right??!

This is a little heart that a friend made. It used to sit under my monitor at work, and now it sits under my monitor at home - next to a Totoro, a rock with googly eyes and a mini kewpie coke bottle.  Yep.

Happy Heart, originally uploaded by rattyree.

Postnatal Regrowth

When Alex was three-four months old, ALL MY HAIR FELL OUT.

Well not quite.  But I did end up with a clogged shower drain and a couple of bald spots at the front.  I had two choices - I could tie my hair back and show off the bald bits or leave my hair down and have Alex McGrabby-Hands constantly tugging on it.  I chose option C:  haircut!

Four months on my hair is growing back in the form of fluff that constantly tickles my forehead.

We are not amused.

I can usually sort of sweep most of it off to the side, but the fluff in the middle refuses to cooperate.  And today it was all pointing forward after I had been walking in the rain with my jacket hood on.  Guh.