Saturday 23 January 2016

Friend your freezer

Beer/meat fridge
We have three freezers. Yes, three. The normal one above the fridge, a bar sized one in the laundry which we bought to stock meals before the arrival of the twins and one in the shed which wasn't planned but is the top bit of Ed's massive beer fridge. It's lucky we have it as my parents generously bought us a third of a steer for Christmas so the shed fridge is now the beer and meat fridge. Man cave much?

Last week I had signed up for a freezer to lunch box challenge with Peta Lee from the road to loving my thermo mixer. If you don't know this website, even if you don't have a thermomix you should certainly check it out. I honestly think Peta has been one of the most influential people in my journey to becoming a housewife. There are literally hundreds of great recipes and I'm pretty sure they all have non-thermomix instructions too. 

I wasn't particularly committed to participating in the challenge but then I was unexpectedly approached about picking up some paid work. It may not eventuate but the threat of it has certainly made me get my act into gear. If I end up working 16 hours a week, something is going to have to give and it can't be food. We're all going to have to keep eating. So I stepped up to the challenge and now have enough snacks in the freezer to keep us going for quite a while. This is what I did in the course of about 4 hours over two sessions. One session involved the help of Miss 3 so you can probably take off at least half an hour if you don't have 'help'.

Freezer inventory
Before I started I actually did a freezer stocktake. This may sound mad but I am forever buying or even making things I already have in the freezer. I'm also guilty of leaving things in the freezer way too long. I now have an inventory. I don't know how good we'll be at keeping it up to date but so far I'm nerdishly into it so it's looking good.
Muffins and pikelets
Recipe 1 from the challenge was mini carrot cakes. Total success. Very small amount of sugar suggested and I reduced it even further. Perfect for little ones. I froze them in batches of six and kept one bag out to eat fresh and it's already gone. I also did some zucchini and chia muffins just because we had some zucchini that really needed using up. 


Pikelets for oven baking
While these were cooking I got onto Recipe 2 which was banana maple pikelets. I skipped the maple syrup so just banana really. Pikelets have been a staple for us for a long time but I've never made such a massive batch (or followed a proper recipe). My favourite thing about pikelets is they're not crumbly so you can confidently whip them out at doctors appointments, child-free houses and any other places where you'd prefer not to make a mess. This recipe produced so much batter that I tried to bake some in the oven rather than standing over the frying pan for too long. I'm going to say this only worked ok. The oven baked ones are a lot less fluffy and didn't brown up as much as the pan ones but hopefully nobody besides me will care. 

Bagged balls
Session 2 started with Recipe 3 of the challenge, chocolate balls. I was a little hesitant about this one because I'm pretty sure I have a chocolate addiction and the last thing I want to do is pass it on to my children. I looked at the recipe though and there was only a tablespoon of cacao powder so I figured they can't be too chocolatey. They're actually mostly sultanas. While I was at it, I also did some date and oat balls. The secret to making raw balls really quickly is to make sure your hands are quite damp when you're rolling them. If you have dry hands you'll just end up in a sticky mess. With damp hands, even Miss 3 made some pretty round balls. I bagged the two types up together so we have a mix when we unfreeze them.

Muesli pods
Recipe 4 was muesli pods which are like bite sized muesli bars. This was probably the least successful of the recipes because some of them were a bit too crumbly and didn't make it to the freezer. It didn't go to waste though because I make a batch of muesli about once a week and I just added the crumbly bits to that. I stored these ones in boxes separated with baking paper. I'm hoping this enables us to get them out one at a time. They might end up being for Ed and I rather than the children because they're going to be pretty filling and definitely crumbly. These are not the ones to take to a mess free environment!

Cheesy brocolli muffins
Recipe 5 was cheesy broccoli muffins. I don't cook a lot of savoury snacks. It's not that I don't like savoury things it's just I don't think you can go past cheese and biscuits for a savoury snack and that requires no effort what so ever. Anyway, they turned out well and cut in half, with a bit of butter or cream cheese and some ham could actually work out to be a nice lunch. It will be good to have something different. Sandwiches are our staple lunch. Sometimes toasted sandwiches. Occasionally wraps.

So I'm ready. If I ended up picking up some work, we will still have food. It will be challenging but I'm pleased to say we will still eat. 




Wednesday 20 January 2016

What is this sensory box thing I hear about?

It won't come as a surprise to you to hear that 21 month old boys who can't walk can be extremely frustrated and extremely whingy. It must have been about six months ago that I realised I was going to have to get a bit more creative with some activities for them. Expecting them to wander around and find things to do just wasn't working.

I googled activities and asked around and the term sensory box kept coming up. I tended to skip over it as for some reason just the term makes my eyes roll. Anyway, it's just a box with something in it for children to play with. Ideally something with a different texture that might be a bit interesting. Really not that big a deal. Not sure why I wasn't into it. I've embraced it now and and tried quite a few different things.

This is flour. Fun to put cars in because you can see the tracks they make. I've just saved it in a plastic bag labelled 'play flour' so we can use it over and over again.

These are oats. That is a three year old. The boys did have a bit of a go but the reality is that the three year old has a much greater attention span and lasts longer with pretty much any activity. Again, I've saved the 'play oats' and used them multiple times.

These are used coffee grounds. This was a bit more difficult to organise but between some friends and us it didn't take too long to gather enough coffee. The trick is that you really need to let it dry out for quite a while to make sure it doesn't go mouldy. 

With this one, the boys do actually touch the coffee and seem to enjoy squashing the little boulders. I think this is the 'sensory' idea... to actually feel the texture. 

This is water. Plain old water and of all the 'boxes' we've done, this has by far been the most popular. By the most popular, I mean kept people happy for the longest.

When they start to lose interest in plain old water, you can add bubbles and that keeps things going for a bit longer too.

Of course you can combine any of these things together as long as you're ok with mess. The coffee in water mix was particularly messy but also popular.

All in all I would say the sensory boxes have been successful but I don't think anything actually beats the sandpit in terms of time spent keeping them happy. This probably isn't because of the actual sand. I expect if we had a flour or oats or coffee pit it would be the same. I just think the sandpit is the best because it's big and they can really immerse themselves in it.

Possibly the only thing that makes the sand better is when we mix it with water. Again, it's more mess but you just have to be ok with that.


Thursday 14 January 2016

Two things for you

I didn't find the adjustment to being a mum too difficult but the adjustment to being a housewife was a struggle for me. Apart from anything else, you get next to no feedback at home. I remember Ed coming home and me being all like, "Hey, did you notice that I tidied that shelf? Is this food ok? Do you like it? Did you see that I swept outside? I alphabetised the spices. Are you sure this food is ok?" Ed was of course all, "Yes, you're amazing, I love you, thank you, blah, blah, blah". I'm pretty sure he was probably thinking something more upon the lines of "hmmm, I wonder how long this is going to last? Do I need to get my head around the idea of being a stay at home Dad. Is she going insane?"

In my defence, our situation was a bit weird because I was starting from a very low base. Ed had been off work or working from home for years leading up to Miss J's arrival so he'd been in charge of most of the house stuff. I knew nothing. I remember when we first got a notification in the mail saying we had to go and get a parcel from the post office, honestly having no idea where the post office was. I remember getting frustrated that the plastic bags I was getting at the shops didn't fit in our bin and Ed calmly telling me it was because if you go in the 15 items or less aisle they give you smaller bags. I remember thinking I was never going to just know things like that. Never.

Three years later, I'm confident to say I'm nailing this housewife thing. There's always room for improvement but I'm super organised and with organisation comes extra time and with extra time comes improvement. So I'm feeling pretty good about it all. I still can't say I'm an awesome cook but I am very proficient at following a recipe and I know where to find lots of good recipes. I've even become an occasional recipe tester for my favourite recipe app, 4 Blades (nobody is paying me to say that. I just really like it and use it a lot).

The other obvious difference between now and when I first went on maternity leave, is that we have now have three small children so things are a lot more difficult. Also, I don't feel like I need feedback as much. I have my plans and schedules and I know that if I'm meeting those plus keeping the children alive, than I am achieving. It's that whole thing about if you have a list and get to tick things off, you simply feel good. Even if you made the list up yourself. Or perhaps especially if you made the list up yourself.

I'm planning to write and share more about organisation in the coming months but for now I thought I'd share two things for you which I thoroughly recommend. These are for you. They will improve your life immensely.

1. Get a cleaner. If you can afford it, get a cleaner. Even if you only keep it up while you're receiving maternity pay, it is so worth it. We have two ladies, mother and daughter, who come fortnightly for an hour and a half. It's great. One person for three hours would be a bit annoying but to get out of their way for an hour and a half is easy. I am extremely happy to spend the $85 each fortnight.

It doesn't mean I don't have to clean at all but I don't have to do the big stuff. When that line of scum shows up on the bath, I don't think, "oh dear, I really need to clean that," I think, "Oh well, the cleaners will be here in a few days." It wasn't the actual cleaning that was getting me down, it was the constant feeling that I should be cleaning. I was finding it impossible to relax when there was always something to be cleaned. I no longer have that feeling and I love it. 

2. Embrace on-demand television. So now that I don't have to feel guilty about cleaning, when the boys are napping and Miss 3 is having quiet play in her room, I really do get to watch tv if I want to. However, there is nothing more soul destroying than mid afternoon tv. 

You don't have to put up with that. I've only used iview and tenplay but I'm pretty sure every channel now has some kind of on-demand facility. You can watch whatever you want, whenever you want. I watched the Bachelorette through Tenplay and I'm now enjoying Please Like Me on iview. We've also got Netflix now and I love it. It costs $12 per month and there are literally hundreds and hundreds of shows, documentaries and movies. You can binge watch to your hearts content. I've enjoyed Orange is the New Black, Jessica Jones, Suits, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Jane the Virgin and currently loving Master of None. 

It's not just the choice that makes this way of watching tv so much better than the old way. There are no ads and you can pause, stop and start as much as you want. Netflix has a 30 second rewind button so when Miss 3 comes out to ask me some terribly important questions, I simply pause, answer the question, rewind for 30 seconds and start again. It's so easy and so much more enjoyable than watching some rubbish you're not particularly interested in which is filled with ads. 

When you're down time is special, you need to make the most of it! Don't ruin it by having to worry about cleaning and don't waste it by watching ads. 

Get a cleaner and watch Netflix. 

You deserve it.

Monday 11 January 2016

Surviving gastro

I'm extremely pleased to say this is not my area of expertise. We've had bouts of illness but last week was the first time I have experienced anything like the horror of an entire family suffering gastro. It was a living nightmare. 

This is what I have learned.

Prevention is SO MUCH better than cure. Easy to say now. I thought we were pretty on the ball with general hygiene. Ed has had varying levels of a compromised immune system ever since his first round of chemotherapy back in 2009. So for almost seven years we've been fairly familiar with alcohol wipes, disinfectant and hand sanitiser. Admittedly we got a bit slack in 2014 when the twins had their eight week vaccinations and Ed ended up getting rotavirus. Yes, I had practically newborn twins, a just two year old and a husband with rotavirus. Not a time I look back fondly upon.

So what went wrong this time? I think some bugs are simply unavoidable but in this case I'm pretty sure the problem got worse because Master S vomited in the car and I didn't take the necessary time to clean up properly. We were on our way to the airport to pick up my sister. Instead of stopping I just passed Miss 3 the baby wipes so she could attempt to clean him while sitting in her own five point harness seat. This was a complete waste of time because those car seats really don't allow much movement so she couldn't reach anyway, not to mention she wasn't particularly committed to the cause. Probably just committed enough be infected by the evil bug but not enough to actually clean up. Once we arrived at the airport I cleaned up as best I could but it's not easy without running water so nothing was thoroughly cleaned until we got home.

I didn't actually think much of it from a contagious point of view. Master S has always had a bit of a weak stomach and there have been plenty of times when he's vomited a few times and then been perfectly fine after. I just thought it was another one of those occasions. 36 hours later though, Miss 3 and I were both in a world of pain.

Use the bursts of adrenalin. For me the vomiting started at about 10pm New Years Day. I'd been feeling not right for a while and actually was quite relieved to finally get something out. I went to bed feeling pretty rough but assuming I'd be fine in the morning. About 20 minutes later, there came almighty screams from Miss 3's room. At first I left Ed to see what was going on but it soon became apparent it was something serious. I walked into her room and I honestly don't think I've ever seen such a mess. It looked like she had vomited up an ocean. It was everywhere. Everywhere. The adrenalin kicked in and I just scooped her up and we drowned our sorrows together in the shower. I've never been so empathetic and she's never been so compliant with having her hair washed. It was just a disgusting mess that I never want to think about again. 

By the time we got out, she had calmed down and Ed had changed her sheets. I left Ed to settle her back to bed and collapsed back into bed myself. Adrenalin rush over but well used. I proceeded to wake and vomit at 12, 2 and 4. Miss 3 apparently had got it all out in one go and while there were a few extra spit ups I'm pretty sure she slept soundly from about midnight.

Relax the rules. Having not slept all night, regardless of health, I was feeling pretty broken in the morning. Ed of course also hadn't slept well having to deal with Miss 3 and me all night but he took first shift with the children. Unfortunately our bedroom is adjacent to the living room so it's pretty much impossible to sleep while the children are awake but I rested up knowing they were in good hands. We are usually pretty much a tv free household but there was a lot of Playschool watched that day. This was not the day to care about screen time. This was a day to survive.

I rested until I realised that Master L was vomiting. The difference between a three year old vomiting and a one year old vomiting is that you can reasonably ask the three year old to try to get it in a bucket. Not so much with a one year old. I lost count of how many loads of washing we did that day. I'm sure when we get our bill there will be a massive spike in water consumption over the new year period. Again, this was not the day to care about that.

Teamwork. By the afternoon, Master L had vomited himself awake during nap time and woken up his brother in the process. We were now dealing with not just illness but also massive over-tiredness for everyone in the house. By my 4am vomit, I had started to panic about how we would cope the next day. In an effort to save Ed's sleep, I'd resorted to vomiting out in the backyard, trying not to wake him. Despite my best intentions he still hadn't got much more sleep than me and now I could see he was fading fast and it was hours until we could reasonably put the children to bed. 

It was my turn to rally. I gathered my strength and headed out for a walk. We weren't far out the door when Miss 3 announced it was too hot and wanted to stay home. This would have been the wise move for all of us but I struggled on with the boys. In hindsight a drive would have been a much better idea. It was so, so hot and I was so, so fatigued. I only walked about 2km but it felt like a marathon. The upside was that it took ages and by the time I got home Ed had actually had a pretty decent nap. Together we battled through the witching hours.

Just give them pasta. Neither of us felt at all like eating but we had to at least offer the children something. They got pasta with cream cheese stirred through. Very plain, very boring, very easy. Pasta really is the easiest meal and I'm yet to come across a child who won't eat it. I think we continued to have pasta for the next few days with only slightly more exciting sauces. 

Call for help? This is a difficult one. We had my sister staying with us and she had little choice but to help out but I feel absolutely awful about it because she was on holiday and she did end up getting sick. The reality is that if you have someone in your life who you feel you can call upon in such diabolical times, no matter how much you suggest to them only to do 'clean' tasks, they probably love you and your children too much to really hold back. My sister was paranoid about picking up the bug and fastidious in her hygiene but it apparently was unavoidable.

It will end. This isn't going to be one of those situations which we look back and laugh about. It was simply horrendous. My only advice on this point is simply that it will end. It has to. There will be a time when you will want to eat again, there will be a time when you will laugh again, there will be a time when you will sleep again and there will be a time when your children will smile again. You've just go to hang in there.

Sunday 3 January 2016

The great moments

'Twas the morning before gastro, and all across the beach was a feeling of joy and hope for the year ahead. It was New Year's Day.

2015 had began with Ed having pneumonia and ended with Master S vomiting in the car. It also ended with me feeling a bit defeated. For 2016, I'd announced my new year's resolution was to bring out my positive self and find the good in things.

As we sat at the beach, I thought about how lucky we were to have my sister with us for New Year. I thought about how lucky we were to get a great car park. I thought about how lucky we were to bump into great friends while we were there. I thought about how lucky I am to have an amazing husband who bought me a rashie for Christmas.

I focused on how happy Miss 3 was to jump straight in the water when a year ago she would have refused to go anywhere near it. I focused on the smiles of the boys when they were happy playing and again thought about how lucky I was to have people around me to help out when they weren't so happy.

Me from late 2015 would have noticed it was a bit windy. It was, but actually where we were was quite protected. Me from late 2015 would have felt like there was lots of whinging and that there is always whinging. There was a bit of whinging but at any point in time at least one child was happy and there were also moments when all were happy. Those are the moments I want to absorb and remember in 2016. The great moments! It might be a minute, it might be an hour, it might be a day. Those moments of joy are what I'm going to see this year.

As we left the beach I was feeling like I'd nailed my resolution for at least half a day. Little did I know it was going to be tested in the most horrible of ways. Gastro has struck the family and right now the only positive I can see is that I'm pretty sure it's over. I'm going to write it off as a horrible thing that happened and move on to enjoy 2016.

There are going to be a lot of great moments in 2016 and I am going to enjoy them. That is my resolution.

Happy New Year!