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Thursday, May 28, 2015

Why I love my mothers group

Mothers groups tend to get a pretty bad wrap. I knew all about this reputation before I started going to mine and I have to admit I was extremely nervous before I went to my first "meeting". My child health nurse at the time had been suggesting I join a mothers group and I'd quite successfully dodged that conversation for weeks. The thought of leaving my safe little house and venturing out to an unknown location to meet a group of strangers, who I actually had to talk to, quite frankly scared the crap out of me. I'm normally quite introverted to start with and back then my anxiety was on hyper-drive as I was smack bang in the middle of postnatal depression so the idea of deliberately challenging that anxiety made me physically ill.

But after a few weeks of gentle encouragement from both the child health nurse and my psychologist I decided I had to challenge my anxiety if I ever wanted to overcome it. I was still completely terrified, but I was determined I wasn't going to sit at home and be scared of the world forever. 

Driving to my first meeting I'm pretty sure I was sweating bullets. I'd checked the route about 4000 times the night before but I somehow still convinced myself I didn't know where I was going. The one thing that calmed my nerves a little was that I knew someone in the group I was meeting. One of my friends {who happened to have a baby 6 weeks before me and happens to live not far away} had invited me to join her mothers group so I wasn't going cold turkey to a government run group {although that's where they'd all met about 3 weeks prior}. I'm pretty sure that was the only thing that convinced me to get dressed and spark up the courage to actually leave the house that day. But I'm glad I did because that scary group of strangers are now a bunch of really close friends and I can't imagine what I'd do each Thursday without them.


Why I love my mothers group:


We support each other and treat each other as equals. Even though we're all different ages and have come from various backgrounds with different life experiences we were all new first time mums when we met, so as far as parenting is concerned we're all equals. We've all had similar concerns and questions along our mothering journey and we've all been there to support one another through sleep deprivation, teething, tantrums etc etc. Its nice to have a group of women to turn to for support when you have no idea what you're doing.

There's no judging. Not all of us do everything the same and that's ok. We all have different views on things at times but we don't ever judge each other. The way I see it whatever works, works, and that's all that matters.

It gets me out of the house and in those first few months that was absolutely necessary to overcome my anxiety and help with my depression. Although I was petrified of driving to new places each week, each time I did it I grew more and more confident and my anxiety became less and less. Of course nowadays I spend more time out of the house than at home, but I still look forward to our catch ups every Thursday.

I made new friends. I'm lucky that I had a lot of friends before, but anyone who's had kids will know that at least half of those friends magically fall off the face of the earth and disown you once you have a screaming mini me. Its always nice to make new friends who also have kids and don't mind spending time with you and the mini me together.

Ours kids are all growing up together. Bub now has six cool little dudes who are all within six weeks of her age to grow up with {although I'm sure daddy would like there to be a bit more of a balanced boy/girl ratio}. There are two more new babies to be added to the group this year as well :)

We eat cake. I hear you all thinking wtf, but bear with me. Firstly never underestimate the fabulousness of eating cake. Secondly, in the beginning the fact that we used to meet up for lunch was amazing. I got to eat out every week which not only ensured I ate lunch, but I ate awesome lunch. We still eat lunch when we meet up but its morphed into the bring a plate version as the little people require containment a restaurant can no longer provide {so sometimes I'm forced to eat yucky stuff like tuna or coconut, but its still worth it}.

I wouldn't change my Mothers group at all {except maybe banning tuna from the menu}.

Are/were you part of a great mother's group too?

Toni x
Monday, May 25, 2015

Toilet training with BabyLove Charlie & Lola training pants + giveaway

For a couple of weeks now I've had a niggling voice in my head telling me I should start {or at least attempt} to toilet train bub. She's become quite interested in the toilet, pointing at it every time T or I go {in addition to following us into the toilet as usual}. She's also started pulling off her pyjama pants and occasionally trying to undo her nappies. Then the other week at mum's house her cousin was on the toilet and bub kept walking in trying to sit on her lap on the toilet with her {much to her cousins disapproval}. So I figured it was time to give this toilet training thing a go...

We've been using nappy pants for a while now as nappy change times have been quite challenging since she realised she could get up and run away {thankfully she doesn't need many changes each day now}. I always intended on moving from nappy pants to training pants when it came time to toilet train, so when BabyLove contacted me to see if I was interested in trialling their new Charlie & Lola training pants I decided it was finally time to jump on the toilet training bandwagon.


Moving from nappy pants to training pants always seemed like a natural progression to me. I'm not one to go cold turkey and move her from nappies straight to undies, partly because I didn't want to deal with the inevitable mess on the floor, but also because I didn't want it to be a huge shock to her. I'm also not prepared to lock myself away at home for days on end while she learns to go to the toilet herself. I always wanted to ease her into toilet training and follow her lead to determine whether we should push on or whether we pull back and wait a bit longer.

The training pants are great because they're a mix between a pair of undies and a nappy {they look like undies at the top with a nappy through the bottom}. They'll hopefully give her a smoother transition from nappies to undies by gradually taking away the nappy feeling instead of going cold turkey. They come in two different sizes, 12-18kg and 16kg+. Bub's been trialling the 12-18kg size {she's 14.5kg}, but I'd be interested to see what the next size is like on her. This size fits but due to her chunky thighs they're a little more difficult to get on and off than I think they should be {although they're a nice snug fit when on}, At the moment she's happy for me to pull them on and off, which probably isn't that bad because otherwise we'd more than likely have a half naked child running around the house most of the day.


Obviously the part bub likes most about the training pants {and the part I'm sure most toddlers will like} is that fact they feature Charlie & Lola on the front. Before I even opened the packet bub noticed Charlie & Lola on the packaging and got super excited exclaiming "muuuuuuuum, dere dere!" while pointing at them. It was exactly the same when I got out a pair of pants to put on her. I've literally never seen her so excited to put on pants before.




The training pants have a feel wet liner which lets kids feel like they're wet before the moisture is absorbed so it stays feeling wet on the inside for longer than nappies do. Its designed to help kids realise when they've gone and help them learn bladder control. I can tell that its working just by the feel of the pants, but I'm not sure its making much of a difference for her at the moment. I have a feeling she just isn't 100% fully cognitively ready for toilet training yet, but I'm sure over time she'll get used to it. The wetness indicator shows kids when their pants are wet, but again I don't think she takes much notice of it, its more useful for me than her.

The major difference I've noticed between the nappy pants and the training pants is that they don't hold as much wee, which is obviously deliberate because the child should be at least doing some wee in the toilet. For this reason I only put her in them when we're at home when I can still place her on the potty at certain times. When we're out I leave her in nappy pants because I don't have a potty with me {and I think if I sat her on a normal toilet at this stage she'd freak out}. She also still wears nappies at night, but I imagine she'll be doing that for a while longer, even after she's properly toilet trained {to avoid night time accidents}.

So where are we at with toilet training? Well, its only been just over a week and at the moment she's showing promising signs when it comes to the potty. She happily sits on it when I put her on there and also goes up to it numerous times to sit on it herself {with her pants on though}. She hasn't done an actual wee in there yet, but I figured that'd be a small miracle within a week, so I'm not too worried by it. At the moment I plan on continuing with my softly and slowly approach putting her on the potty throughout the day and asking her if she needs to do wee wee's. We'll continue using the training pants throughout the day and hopefully with time she'll learn to take them on and off herself and realise when she needs to go to the toilet without being prompted. 

Ideally the training pants would be perfect for a toddler who's slightly more ready to toilet train than bub, but they're still working fine for us. 

Disclosure - I was sent some BabyLove Charlie & Lola training pants in order to provide a review. All opinions expressed in this review are based on my experience with the product {and toilet training} as per my disclosure policy. I did not receive payment for this review. 
Thursday, May 14, 2015

How to Transform Shadow Boxes into Sonny Angel Houses {Kmart Hacks}

So you've started collecting Sonny Angels and now you need somewhere super cute to display them, but don't know where to start. Don't worry those of us who are thoroughly obsessed with Sonny's have worked it out for you. Kmart currently stock a heap of different shadow boxes which all provide the perfect storage solution for Sonny Angels. They're a bit plain to start with, but below are a number of ways to jazz them up to provide a cute and stylish storage option to fit any decor.

how to hack kmart shadow boxes into sonny angel houses


HOW TO TRANSFORM KMART SHADOW BOXES INTO SONNY ANGEL HOUSES


The house display shelf is the original shadow box that was available at Kmart and the one that really started the whole shadow box craze. It comes in a light wood with a fabric covered backing. It's not ideal for hacking as the fabric makes it harder to paint, but being the first one released it was the only choice at one stage. I've spray painted two of them gloss white. They do take a whole can of spray paint because the fabric soaks up a lot of the paint. The newer house shelf is easier to hack, but I prefer the shape of the original one as it has higher top shelves which are better for the taller sonny angels {rabbit, fawn, reindeer etc}.


Ruby Two Shoes {@RUBYTWOSHOES_} painted her shadow box white and added some extra flair with different coloured paper in each box. Its perfect for storing Sonny Angels and LaLaLoopsy dolls.

HOUSE SHADOW BOX


This is the newer version of the house shadow box and comes with different printed backing paper. You can keep this house as is, however the sonny angels show up better with plain backgrounds. Most of the hacks of these ones are simply spray painting the create a plain background, although some people have also removed the top t-bar to allow for more room at the top. 
TIP: If you're spray painting the backing board knock it off and spray the white back instead of spraying over the paper.

Jules {@tas_and_ellie} has transformed her shadow box with a coat of gold on the backing board. It looks super cute styled with the felt garland.

Mandy {My Lovely Little Nest} painted her entire shadow box yellow.

Junessa painted the back of her shadow box pale pink and also cut out the top t-bar section to make more room.

HEXAGON SHADOW BOX


One of the newer shadow boxes is the hexagon shadow box which is white with a neon pink background. The space between the shelves is a lot higher than in the house shadow boxes so it allows for taller sonny angels or can be used for other bigger toys. I have a hexagon shadow box but at the moment I've kept it as is and am storing other toys in it {mind you if my collection keeps growing I may have to convert it to a Sonny house too}.

Krystle has changed the backing to a lighter pink and styled her Sonny's with cute little ice creams and cakes.

Mandy {My Lovely Little Nest} has painted the inside edges of her hexagon shelf yellow and retouched the backing board to make it a lighter pale pink then finished it off with polka dot pink washi tape. As a washi tape addict myself I'm loving the edging.

Laura has gone all out with her shadow box hack transforming it into a vertical garden for her Sonny Angels. She's spray painted the whole box gold and added fake grass and gorgeous little heart pins. She took inspiration from all the vertical gardens being featured on The Block lately and it looks AMAZING.

KIDS HOUSE STORAGE BOXES


The newest addition to the Kmart shadow box range is the kids house storage boxes which come in a set of two with one large house box in aqua and a smaller house box with a shelf in bright yellow. I've just bought this set which I'm going to spray paint gold to store Sonny Angels in one and Schleich animals in the other. Of course I haven't finished mine in time for this post so here's some inspiration from others.

Amy {The Wild Collective} spray painted her smaller house shadow box copper and removed the backing board.

ORIGINAL HOUSE STORAGE BOXES


The original 2 pack of house storage boxes aren't as ideal as Sonny Angel houses because they're so tall, but they can still be used for them. They also make good storage for bigger toys and can be altered to match any decor.

Fee_loves_  painted her shadow boxes white on the inside and teal and lavender to match her daughters room. There's a few pictures of them on her Instagram feed styled in different ways.

Megan {@indieandsloan} has kept the shadow boxes as is and styled one in her sons room and one in her daughters room with their respective Sonny Angels.

That's a wrap for all the Kmart shadow boxes, however if you still want some more Sonny Angel house inspiration these are two examples of a shadow box from New Zealand store The Warehouse for you to lust over. I would love to get my hands on one of these!

Anna {@shoeless_kiwi} is the lucky owner of this gorgeous shadow box and Sonny Angel collection.

Nicky {@mamma_loves_2babes} also owns one of these gorgeous shadow boxes and I love how she's used the wooden block to display her Sonny Angels.


Shadow boxes can be transformed into all sorts of houses, not just for Sonny Angels. Find out the step by step processed I used to transform a shadow box into a fairy house here.

Toni x

Disclosure - All images used within this post were used with express permission from the original owner. This post contains some affiliate links which means I may earn a small commission, at no extra cost to you, should you make a purchase.
Tuesday, May 5, 2015

The Ultimate Guide to Sonny Angels - What are they & where to buy them

I have to admit up until a few months ago I had no idea what Sonny Angels even were. Having a baby certainly opens you up to a whole new world that seems to exist in a parallel universe. Sonny Angels have been alive and well for years, only I was oblivious to their existence. Well not now! I've developed a pretty healthy obsession with them and it appears I'm not the only one. 

What are Sonny Angels?

If you're reading this and wondering what the hell Sonny Angels are, don't worry here's the short answer. Sonny Angels originate in Japan and are essentially a smaller version of the popular kewpie dolls. They're a miniature cupid style boy who's naked with angel wings on his back {I know it sounds weird}. 

What makes Sonny Angels unique is that they all have different head gear. There's a huge range of Sonny Angels including four different animal series, a marine series, fruit series and vegetable series. There's also a patisserie series as well as special edition series released to celebrate occasions like Easter and Christmas.