threelilprincesses.com

Category: Raising Girls

How to make a doll house from a cardboard box (take 2)
I KNOW sometimes you post an innocent little doll’s house made from a cardboard box on your blog and it becomes one of your blog’s most searched items via Google. I know that I’m really wishing I hadn’t actually made that doll’s house out of a … beer carton. Yes, there’s been some hugely disappointed Google searchers land on that post.

So, finally, I’ve found some time to upgrade the doll family from its humble abode into a nicer and bigger home – this time via a much classier postal box. Which, quite frankly could have been used to send off a parcel and save me money. But anyway, Google takes precedence.

So, if you came to this blog looking for a doll’s house made out of a cardboard box, here it is:

If you want to see the old one, then make sure you’re sitting down before you check it out. There’s some nudie action happening over there.

Anyhow, here’s what I know about building a grand doll’s house fit for a princess (as opposed to a bogan, as the beer carton house was):
- Take a Bx4 postal box (430mm x 305mm x 140mm) cardboard box.
- Take blank sheets of paper, a ruler and pencil and draw lines horizontally across each. Then make vertical lines between them to make bricks (see photo). Glue these to the entire outside surface of the box.
- Cut a door into the front of the box and draw, then cut out, a window.
During the weekend, we’ll be attempting to make some furniture for the Little Princess who has taken up residence in the grand doll’s house.

Do your children play with boxes? What have you made together?

I’m linking up with Yay for Home as part of Things I Know.
August 19, 2011
Listen with your eyes: the rainbow edition

WHILE trying to build our new (non beer carton) doll’s house – I stress “trying’’ because we’ve run out of sticky tape, which is like trying to build a mud house without water – I asked Ella what colour we should make the door. Her response: “yellow’’. Not just “yellow”, but twist your fingers at the top of your forehead Auslan sign language “yellow”.

She then proceeded to teach me black, blue, green and pink in Auslan. Did you ever doubt pink would be included? “Wait, I’ll get the camera,’’ I say and off I canter with the idea for another blog post. On my return, I find she’s gone all shy. No, please, not again. You’re never going to make it in Hollywood at this rate. *sigh*

After some pleas, begging and chocolate bribery, we filmed “the news”. (Watch for her saying: “goodbye to the news”). So, finally, here’s a heavily edited version of a once-again shy Ella teaching the colours of the rainbow in Auslan. Please, leave your payment at the door after you leave. Ella said: “That’ll be 100 20 50 dollars, please.’’ Good luck figuring that one out.

For another 100 20 50 dollars, you can click on the following links to learn: “how are you?’’ and “good, thank you’’; along with “mummy/daddy/brother/sister, I love you’’. Oh, and let’s not forget “stinky breath’’. We’ve already found ways to use that in everyday life.

August 16, 2011
How to survive the witching / arsenic / feral hour
A teething Baby Holly

A FELLOW mum has started going solo of a night now her hubby is working a late shift. She wanted some tips on how I survive witching hour on the nights The Bloke in The Shed is at meetings ‘til late. That time of night when supernatural creatures are particularly active. Oh, sorry, wrong witching hour.

I was sure I had plenty of tips and magic spells to turn little ferals into perfect, patient angels. Like, move to another time zone when 5pm hits. Seriously. I thought our nights ran less like battling peak hour traffic and more like a ballet dance. I might add, not Ella’s ballet, where last week the teacher asked them to “sit there, girls” and every one of them got up and followed her to the instrument cupboard.

As I was in the midst of trying to juggle everything tonight – a teething Baby Holly biting my shoulder while I jiggled her up and down on one hip, stirred food with the other hand and pushed pencils in the direction of Princess Ella via a foot as she complained she was “huuuungry’’ – I wondered if maybe I could be doing it better. Or is that called coping?

Here are some of my witching hour coping strategies and suggestions:
- Put young babies into a baby carrier or older babies into a Jolly Jumper. Not unlike bike riding, going “hands-free” can still end in tears for someone. Especially if your door opening isn’t very wide and you have an overactive jumper.
- For preschoolers and older, get them involved in cooking the meal. Children are more likely to eat the main meal if they’ve had a hand in preparing it. Yes, sometimes even broccoli.
- Give them a new toy. Which really just means something stashed in the cupboard that they’d previously become bored with. To them, it’s new.
- Set up an activity they’re able to do themselves for 20 minutes – drawing, play dough, craft or dancing (concerts are a highlight here). It’s just enough time to peel the spuds and get the meat into whatever appliance it needs to go into.
- Press the action button on the Zhu Zhu pet and watch them go silly. It causes giggles (and ear piercing squeals) for a good 20 minutes.
- Have lots of leftovers and freezer food. We tend to do big cook ups on the weekends now and freeze some of it or have it as leftovers early in the week. This helps make mealtime preparation shorter.
- Feed them sultanas. I know, I know, never eat before dinner time. It doesn’t appear to have affected either of their appetites I might add. Yes, big eaters. Plus, sultanas seem to take forever to chew.
- If all else fails, just keep pedalling.
Then it’s onto the nightly routine:

6pm: Dinner time

6.30pm: Bath time (also known as “let’s see how wet we can get the bathroom floor’’)

6.45pm: All pile into Ella’s bed for books, songs and milk. If Baby Holly is so tired she can’t stay awake for books, I leave Ella to read to herself, feed and put Holy to bed, and come back and resume the routine with Ella.

7pm: Everyone tucked up into bed. Hopefully asleep. Yes, wishful thinking.

How do you cope with witching hour? What are your tips for surviving each night?
August 11, 2011
SHED: Family will always come first

THE memories of going into my dad’s work with him as a kid remain as vivid as if they occurred yesterday. I still recall every step up the stairs to the office where he ran a construction company and I even remember the distinct, peculiar and unique crisp smell of the carpet which I have never rediscovered to this day.

Being a bit of a mistake, my arrival was towards the end of my father’s office professional life, but the occasional journeys with dad into his work were brilliant. It felt like I was being let into a secret society. It may even be why I trended towards an office career than a trade like so many of my brothers.

Last weekend I took my three Princesses into work with me. Princess Ella has been into my work often for short stints with me, Kel used to work there before becoming a mummy blogger and PR consultant and Baby Holly won’t remember it anyway. But being in there as a family reminded me of my memories with dad.

My life has got a whole lot busier of late. Some of you may have, but probably not, noticed I’ve been spending a lot less time in The Shed. A work promotion has taken all my focus and left little time for thinking about tinkering here.

A little over a year ago, just to add to the schedule, I joined a service club to give back to our community and I’m clinging to a lesson from that club. “Family first, work second and service thereafter’’.

While I’ve been working hard to establish my new work position and will continue to do so, family is the most important thing in life. I’ve tried to devote as much quality time with the girls as possible, hence the weekend’s excursion. The girls, particularly Princess Ella, loved it – interacting with the people there and discovering a dish of chocolate caramels (otherwise known as “motivators’).

It’s a delicate balance, but I hope it shows my girls they are always included and a part of my life, as well as acknowledging none of it could happen without their support.

Did you ever visit your parents at work as a child? What are your memories?

August 9, 2011
What’s YOUR ideal family size?

WHAT’S the ideal age gap between children garnered quite a lot of interest from readers. It then led to a conversation about the ideal family size. So, this week, I’ve asked mums (and a dad) what THEY love about the size of their family and why that number works for them.

One child: Caroline from Nightwolf’s Den

We’re a one child family at the moment. I love that I can give Miss K all the attention (and I’m not worried about spoiling her). I don’t know how those with more than one cope. LOL. Hubby and I discussed how many kids we wanted pre-kids and thought maybe two, but now we have Miss K we are happy being a family of three (well five if you include our two cats). I think three is a nice comfy number for us at this stage, especially after taking so long to get pregnant.

Two children: Alex from Dad’s Ramble On

Having two kids is the perfect family size, as it means that as parents you are less likely to be outnumbered when the kids start scheming (especially in their teen years). It also allows each child to form a close bond with their other sibling, which establishes a good basis for how to relate to others out in the “big world”. It also helps with the smaller things in life, such as purchasing cars – try fitting more than two car seats in the back of a standard sedan. And we drive a Rodeo! I can also remember trying to negotiate a double pram down at the shops with the boys. No idea how we would wrangle them if we had any more children.

Three children: Cathy from The Camera Chronicles

Many people think it’s one child too many because children outnumber adults, or even one child too little because it’s an odd number and some say one child is always left out. However, for us it just seems like the perfect fit! Having three children makes it feel “not standard” and adds some variety via the different dynamics between the boys. Sometimes they all play together, sometimes it might be the two eldest playing together or sometimes it might be the eldest and youngest together. In a practical sense it also suits us. They each have their own bedroom and we don’t need to upgrade the family car because everyone fits. We were blessed to get the number we wanted, but I think no matter what you are given, you make it work and there are advantages and disadvantages to each size family.

Four children: Kate from Picklebums

We have four children – seven-year-old twin girls, a four-year-old boy and a one-year-old boy. We didn’t plan to have four children before we started (initially we were thinking of having two) it’s just how it turned out. There are many reasons why four works well for us. On a practical level, we have two girls and two boys so that makes sharing bedrooms easy and, although it meant we had to get a ‘bus’, we still have two spare seats in the car for extras. It also just feels right for our family. Four kids means things are always busy, and often a little crazy, but there is always someone to play with, someone to chat to and someone to cuddle. For me there was no definite amount of kids that I really wanted to have. We decided to have each child because it felt right and we have decided to stop because it feels like it is the right thing for us and our family, even if I’d really like to have just one more!

Five children: Kate from Puddles and Gumboots

If you had told me 10 years ago when I had my first child that I would end up having five kids I wouldn’t have believed you. However, I love our family size and wouldn’t have it any other way. With five kids there is always something happening in our house, someone to play with, someone to talk to and something to do. We’re busy, we can be loud, we turn heads when our little tribe is out and about but we are very happy and there is lots and lots of love around here.

Six children: Glenda Rouxel, youth pastor and author of “The Embarrassed Evangelist”

Six kids is perfect for the Rouxel family! We have three of each, between eight and 15, plus a handsome paramedic husband and a rather absentminded laid back Mum (me). Four of our kids came the natural way but two of ours are through foster parenting. Six makes for a full car, a full dinner table and a very active games night, especially when it’s Boys Vs Girls! I think six is best – we all loved the Brady Bunch, didn’t we?

Seven Children: Naomi from Seven Cherubs

We always planned to have a large family in the Ellis house. Originally we planned to have 10 children and we always said that we would take one child at a time and stop when we felt we had reached our limit. So imagine our surprise when twin boys came along and threw out our whole plans!! We decided to stop at seven and we have four girls and three boys in our family and find it is a wonderful mix of fun, energy and enthusiasm for family games and activities. It also means there is a lot of washing, housework and food shopping but we work together as a team to keep our house running and functioning so that we have a house of order and time for fun. As a mother to seven children it is very tiring and exhausting some days and I work really hard at making sure I have a close relationship with each child to make sure they are happy and feel loved. Sure we get stares, sure we are noisy, sure as parents we are seriously outnumbered and sure we are large but I would totally have seven children all over again for the joy and happiness that they bring to my heart each day. Seven is our perfect number and we love our seven cherubs. Of course this also means that I should hopefully get many grandchildren in the future and I am looking forward to that day!!!

What’s YOUR ideal family size and why does it work for you?

August 8, 2011
Tips that MAY help make breastfeeding easier (for World Breastfeeding Week)
Breastfeeding Baby Holly

WHEN it comes to breastfeeding, somehow I lucked upon good babies, or good boobies – not sure which. However, as you’ll note by the title, I’m not giving you sure-fire tips to breastfeeding success. I’m also not going to beat you over the head with my fully loaded knockers about why you should breastfeed. Sometimes things just don’t happen that way, as Penny so wonderfully put in her post on Sshh, mummy’s on the phone this week.

So you won’t find any corny slogans like “mummy’s milk is better than any udder’s milk’’ and “silly Daddy, boobs are for babies’’. Instead, as part of World Breastfeeding Week, I thought I’d share some of the things I know about breastfeeding. What worked for me and how I managed to get through.

So, here’s what I know about breastfeeding:
- Get as much help as possible. I’m not ashamed to admit, with Ella, The Bloke in The Shed did much of the latching on. On my boobs, not his. For the first two days, he was responsible for the “midwives whack’’. Which brings me to the next point…
- There are lots of techniques, but for me it was the “midwives whack’’. Pretty much, tickle bubs cheek ‘til they open their mouth wide like a yawn, then quickly whack the babies head onto the boob, aiming for the roof of their mouth. (It sounds terrible, doesn’t it?).
- If bub doesn’t latch properly, don’t persevere with the feed. Take bub off, by breaking the suction with your little finger, and start again. Otherwise you’ll regret it. Yep, ouch.
- Relax. I know, yeah right. It is important though. My trick was to breathe in for four seconds, hold for four seconds and breathe out for four seconds. Do this a couple of times and you’ll start to feel your letdown happening. Alternatively, a hot drink can also do the trick. This can work for expressing milk too.
- Don’t do major physical exertion in those early weeks. After walking all the way to the shop and back, Ella screamed for the next six hours. Turns out, I’d over exerted my body and therefore the milk tankers were temporarily out of action.
- Use a pillow for greater comfort. Don’t listen to the midwife who snaps: “you can’t take a pillow out in public with you’’. Lucky I stay home then, isn’t it?
- Pethidine will play havoc with breastfeeding. Baby Holly was drowsy for “weeks’’ and therefore a lazy sucker. Umm, you know what I mean… I wish someone had told me this, because I would have had another all-natural birth. Obviously, this can’t always be avoided.
- If colic, ear infections or teething have bub wrestling with you, put them in a more sitting position to feed.
- Some foods may upset bub. It’s all trial and error. With Ella, it was tomatoes, broccoli and cauliflower. Holly will drink it, regardless of what’s in it. She ain’t fussy.
- TRY and avoid caffeine – chocolate, coffee and tea. Or suffer the consequences. Some days, I’m happy to suffer the consequences.
- During developmental leaps (when baby goes feral – aka The Wonder Weeks), baby will be fussier when it comes to feeding. These are the times most women give up. Try, if you can, to get through it. It is only temporary.
- Go easy on yourself. It’s not the end of the world if it doesn’t happen. Strangely, when your bub turns 18 and goes for their first job, one of the questions won’t be whether they liked boob or not.
I am not a breastfeeding expert, Just a mum with weapons of mass lactation. So please contact your local lactation consultant or the Australian Breastfeeding Association if you need assistance.

What are your breastfeeding tips? If breastfeeding didn’t happen for you, what was your experience like?

I’m linking up with Yay for Home as part of Things I Know.
August 5, 2011