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  • FEATURE: The book that stopped me crying

    FEATURE: The book that stopped me crying

    Baby Holly

    BABY Holly won’t sleep, is clingy, grizzles no end and fusses over everything. That’s where we’re at right at this moment. However, instead of letting out a *sigh*, a *huff* or showing off a :), I’m jumping for joy. Well, kind of.
    You see, amid Baby Holly’s Naomi Campbell-style hissy fits, I’ve been able to finally get my hands on The Wonder Weeks book. No, this is no Fred Savage tale, although The Wonder Years was a damn fine TV show.
    Written by Hetty Vanderijt and Frans Plooij, The Wonder Weeks has uncovered the eight “fussy’’ phases in the first 14 months of bub’s life and shows you how to turn them into magical leaps forward. Yes, those cranky pants baby episodes are bub simply developing new skills. Cool, huh?
    We’re at the very challenging Wonder Week 26. This one is about relationships, so Baby Holly is beginning to understand that something can be inside, outside, on top, above, next to, underneath or in between something else. Of course, the most important element in all of this is the distance between her and I. When I’m not in the room, all hell breaks loose.
    Here’s one of the most important pages in the book – the one which shows when the Wonder Weeks are (the fussy periods) and the Sunny Weeks (where they’re happy having mastered their new skills and go back to normal). More of those please.

    The book, compiled after studying mums and bubs over a long period of time, shows you which games and toys are best for your baby during each key week and how to encourage each leap forward. Of course, it won’t turn your baby into a genius. Drats!
    Here is a quick guide to each Wonder Week, but really you should check out their website The Wonder Weeks (they even have a leap alarm to sign up to) and grab a copy of the book. I’ve been a bit stingy and borrowed mine from the library, but I may just have to buy a copy (and the more updated version goes through to toddlerdom).
    Wonder Week 5: The World of Changing Sensations
    Wonder Week 8: The World of Patterns
    Wonder Week 12: The World of Smooth Transitions
    Wonder Week 19: The World of Events
    Wonder Week 26: The World of Relationships
    Wonder Week 37: The World of Categories
    Wonder Week 46: The World of Sequences
    Wonder Week 55: The World of Programs
    Now you know when to lock yourself inside the house and ban all visitors. Or put a sign on the door saying: Beware: feral baby inside.
    I’ll give more detailed info on each as Baby Holly experiences them. So first, here’s what we’re doing to help her development during Wonder Week 26:

    • Reading more books, as Holly is now more interested in them
    • Playing with our stacking blocks (building towers and showing how they fit inside each other).
    • Singing and talking to her when I leave the room, so she knows I’m still there.
    • Encouraging her movement (some babies can now start crawling), by giving her plenty of floor time and doing exercises with her arms and legs.

    For more information, I have reviewed the book and had author Frans Plooij guest post. You can also buy the book (affiliate link).

    Have you heard about The Wonder Weeks? How do you cope (or not cope) during your baby’s fussy periods?

  • FEATURE: Hot Cross Mum

    FEATURE: Hot Cross Mum

    I’VE been a bit of a hot cross mum lately. Princess Ella has been testing my patience to the point I’ve had to resort to ringing Easter Bunny. At this stage, Easter Bunny won’t be visiting our house due to someone misbehaving (at this rate, not for the next 10 years).

    Usually I wouldn’t stoop so low, but with the end of daylight saving, 4am starts to the day and Baby Holly popping two teeth at once and going through Wonder Week 26, I veered off the path of good parenting and picked up the phone. I will, of course, ring him back and invite him to drop off some eggs. I am not that mean.

    The real problem is two-fold. Firstly, there’s a little girl who’s not getting enough attention because mum is always throwing her boobs about breastfeeding Holly or trying to get Holly to sleep. I try my best to do as much craft, drawing, “hairdressers”, telephone calls to Dorothy the Dinosaur and hide and seek (with the bonus of getting five minutes shut eye under the bed) as I can. However, for her, it’s just not quite enough.

    The second problem is, dare I say it, me.  Romina from Martyr-hood put it best when she said

    “ how you feel about yourself, actually reflects in your own children’’

    and that

    “anxiety is contagious’’.

    This struck a chord with me because, well, the reason Ella is a grumpy pants, is because I’m a grumpy pants. Time for new undies, I say.

    After reading many blog posts about mums being grateful for their lot in life, I’m determined to change my ways. Naomi of Seven Cherubs has started a Happiness Project that I’ve jumped on board and I’ve already posted by first edition in Maxebella Loves’ I’m Grateful For meme.

    So Tuesday morning, as I set off on the road to get Holly’s six-month immunisation shots (yes, more reasons to jump for joy), I decided to get up and get happy.

    So I started singing at the top of my lungs – always guaranteed to make me feel better. I belted out a stellar rendition of Play School’s Ning Nang Nong where the cows go bong and the monkeys all say boo, and was halfway through Der Glumph went the little green frog one day when I realisedd Ella wasn’t even in the car with me.

    A little embarrassed, I quickly flicked on the radio and got rather disappointed by some bumpin’ grindin’ pop tune with no melody. It was at this point I realised how old I was. Back to the Ning Nang Nong.

    The end result was, however, that I’d released the beast and felt much better. I’d recommend it too. And if that fails, there’s always chocolate. Although, I’d better go ring Easter Bunny first.

    So come on, sing it with me…

    How do you overcome “challenging’’ days with the kids? What makes you feel good?

    Read about the follow-up phone call to Easter Bunny.

  • MEDIA: How to take a photograph the media would want to use

    JUST as important as a good quality press release, is attaching a print-ready photograph as part of your pitch to the media. The media won’t necessarily use your photo, but it’s best to have one for those times when a photographer isn’t able to get to you.

    There are a few rules though. That grainy photo, with last year’s Christmas decorations in the background and someone’s arm poking out at the side isn’t going to cut it. Here are some things to consider before taking your shot:

    • Consider your background. Is it clear and uncluttered? The only reason you would go with a busy background is if you were going to blur the background (use bokeh) to draw attention to the subject
    • Make the photo relevant to what you’re pitching. If you’re pitching your craft business, then have a photo of you with your craft items in it. If you’re pitching your photography blog, how about you holding a camera?
    • Use props where possible. A photo of you staring at the camera smiling can be dull. No offence.
    • Never send in a photo of a cheque presentation. It won’t get used. If the photo looks boring to you, then it will probably look boring to everyone else too.
    • Take a look at a newspaper or magazine and see what type of profile shots they’re taking. Do they have props, what’s in the background, how is the subject positioned etc.
    • Never try and cram too many people into the one shot, otherwise their heads just become dots in a photo. It’s best to aim for no more than three or four people.
    • Make sure it’s at least 2Mb, 200 dpi and in jpeg format. Anything less than this and it will become too pixelated for print media.
    • These days, it’s best to send in a digital image. The days of sending in a hardcopy are fast going. While it’s not impossible for these to be scanned in, it is however creating more work at their end.
    • If you are using an image someone else has taken for you, make sure you have their permission or own the copyright to distribute it first.
    • Where possible, provide more than one option (preferably a horizontal and a vertical).

    Next week will be the final in the Media Room series here on Three Li’l Princesses. However, don’t despair, the series will be continued on a new site dedicated to helping bloggers, small business owners and other organisations pitch their stories, brand or product to the media.

    Subscribe to this blog so you don’t miss any of the coming announcements and feel free to click any of those “share’’ buttons below.

  • SHED: New Woolworths CEO through the eyes of his brother

    SHED: New Woolworths CEO through the eyes of his brother

    Fishing with family – this is the Grant we know.

    IT IS not every day you learn your brother has been made CEO of one of the country’s biggest companies.

    I shouldn’t have been surprised; he had been on that career trajectory for a while. But hearing the news come through the car radio that my older brother was to be the new CEO of Woolworths nearly made me veer off the road.

    Everything else aside, it was a proud moment for what is a large and close family – seven children in all. Watching him on national television was more than surreal.

    This was a bloke I grew up idolising, more for his ability on the football field than his future abilities in the boardroom.

    He was much older than me, but the trips to Canberra and then south to Clarence to see him play footy remain some of the best memories of my life.

    Even greater still were the memories of kick-to-kick alone in some vacant park oval. They remain vivid to this day.

    The grief I gave his poor then future wife was regrettable now, but at the time I felt she was taking my big brother away from me. Silly, I know now.

    As time went on, he and his family provided what felt like a second home for Princess Kel and I in Sydney as our own relationship grew.

    Covering the 2000 Sydney Olympics was as memorable for the time spent with his family as it was for the Olympic experience itself – including my first introduction to pull-up nappies while babysitting his youngest (which time and an entire box of Wet Ones could not erase). But that’s a whole other story which I might tell with her approval one day…

    To me, he’s not the CEO of Woolies. He’s the bloke who had long straggly hair, dodgy early taste in cars and who was more capable of installing a new power point than reading a board report (he started working life as an apprentice sparkie).

    And while it is that way for siblings, it appears it’s the same for mothers and their children.

    My brother relayed a story to me last night, which illustrates my point exactly. He rang my mum yesterday morning to tell her the news of his appointment before the announcement was made nationally.

    “Mum, I’ve just been appointed the CEO of Woolworths,’’ he said.

    “That’s nice, dear. How are the children?’’ Mum said.

    Yep, sums it up nicely, I reckon.

    Feel free to leave a comment and “like” us on Facebook.

    Also, don’t forget to cast your vote in the Top 25 Daddy Bloggers.

    We’re linking up with Where’s My Glow’s FlogYoBlog Friday.
    FYBF

  • SHED: It ain’t all black and white

    SHED: It ain’t all black and white

    Ella dressed in Julian's Collingwood scarf and hat

    SHE must have caught me at a weak moment. I know a deal was done, I just don’t exactly remember when or how.

    Let me explain. When Princess Kel was pregnant with our first (which turned out to be Princess Ella), we agreed: If it was a boy it would be a Collingwood supporter; a girl would be a Carlton supporter. Yep, Kellie supports the Blues and I follow the Pies (and despite this we still are happily married and have been for eight years).

    For a while the deal remained true. Kellie would take great delight when I screamed out “GO PIES!’’ and Ella would reply “go the Blues’’.

    But then the tide turned. Ella started to see in black and white. It could have been the fact Collingwood had a winning year last year so she saw the joy it brought me, the fact I constantly played the club song to her during the final series or me getting her a Collingwood footy.

    Whatever, but when I sing out “Go Pies’’ now, Ella echoes it. She even requests “Good Ol’ Collingwood Forever’’ instead of “Twinkle, Twinkle’’ during our bedtime sing-a-longs. She was also more than happy to don my beanie and scarf for a photo which I posted on Facebook (as you can see). These were some of the responses –

    Moya: “child abuse’’.

    Jason: “Now that is just wrong on so many levels’’.

    Angus: “Congrats on giving your child the best possible start in life.’’

    Emma: “Stop it Julian, you’re embarrassing her!! Kel, make it stop!’’

    Kellie: “ I’ll never have an afternoon nap ever again. My poor Carlton-loving daughter…’’

    Deep down, I know I’ve brain-washed my little girl and deep down I know Kel thinks I have reneged on a deal. She can hardly complain though. There is a long tradition of first-born daughters following their father’s footsteps. Why does Kel support Carlton? Because her dad does ….

    Have you influenced which footy team your child supports?

    Don’t forget to vote for Julian in the Top 25 Daddy Bloggers.

  • Grateful for underpants

    Grateful for underpants

    Holly's new toothy smile

    This week I’m grateful for:

    1. Underpants. Thankfully, Ella had knickers on at dancing this week. If you have no idea what I’m talking about, may I suggest you read When life goes bottoms up. Good if you like to have a giggle at someone else’s expense!
    2. Toothy pegs finally breaking through. Baby Holly popped her first tooth this week… and her second. There’s no point doing things in halves!
    3. My first paid PR job, including “Skype meeting’’. The wonderful Kat Cho from Deals for Mum gave me my first (unexpected) PR job this week. And my business isn’t even set up yet! I spent ages doing my hair, makeup, dressing nicely (well, from the waist up) and even sprayed on a bit of perfume to hide the baby spew smell (just in case you can smell someone while Skyping them! Cue: hubby rolling his eyes).
    4. Most importantly, the fact that when sleep deprivation has been all too much (due to No. 2), there’s always been something to make me giggle (see No. 1) and smile (see No. 3). I love my life!

    Tell us, what are you grateful for this week?

    I’m joining with  Maxabella Loves to share what I’m grateful for.