I love IKEA

Over on {aka}design they have the 2012 IKEA catalogue.

I must admit, I love IKEA, a passion which Husband does not share or understand, but for those who do, here is the link

Breastfeeding - an apologetic

I found this fabulous article on breastfeeding, all about the myths that people perpetuate when they talk to people who breastfeed their babies.

I am still breastfeeding Rona, who is 16 months old. Many people have been vocal that I should wean Rona, and should have done so many months ago.

The most vocal are my parents in law. My Mother in law only breastfed her children 4 months each (so technically I have breastfed my one child the length of time she fed all 4 boys).
My father in law says that it will help Rona's independence (totally untrue, but that is a whole other issue). And my mother in law just hated breastfeeding and thinks that people shouldn't do it for long at all.

Others have mentioned that I should wean her, but the judgement of my in laws is particularly harsh.

Husband says that it is totally up to me, how long I breastfeed Rona or any other children we may have.

Personally, I love breastfeeding. We had a nightmare of a time the first couple of weeks, I ended up with bleeding and scabbing, but once that healed, it has been fantastic. I love the bonding, the quiet time I get, and also I just love it.

Does anyone else have any stories (good or bad) about breastfeeding?

You must check this out!

I found this fabulous tutorial about how to sew buttons with your sewing machine!

It is on Make it Love it

Surprised by Oxford by Carolyn Weber

Surprised by Oxford: A Memoir [Paperback]

Carolyn Weber

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A girl-meets-God style memoir of an agnostic who, through her surprising opportunity to study at Oxford, comes to a dynamic personal faith in God.

While this story is mainly about her journey of finding God and the decision to put her faith in Him, it includes many stories of her life that relate to that decision and her first year at Oxford. While the story was quite long, it was enjoyable and thoughtful and varied enough to keep one's interest.

Her story was full of quotes from poetry or other literature, which was lovely, I love it when people use quotes.

This book reminds me a little of Lauren F Winner’s “Girl Meets God”, which is one of my favourite books, they are both thoughtful, researched memoirs of the author’s struggle to reconcile their life experience and previous beliefs with the truth of who Jesus Christ really is.

I would recommend this book to others, particularly to those who enjoy biographies and the questions of those who struggle with questions of faith.

I received a copy of this book from BookSneeze and Thomas Nelson publishers for the purpose of this review.

Sudoku

I have gotten back into Sudoku puzzles, I did lots of them a few years ago, and I have recently gotten back into them.

Not that I am particularly good or fast at them.


So check some puzzles out here

What else I have done lately

Remember a while ago I said I was remaking this for Husband



And so I have redone it and it turned out like this



and now it is up on the wall, with Husband's Warhammer 40K figurines in it

More things I am doing around the house

When you are a stay at home mum like me, you tend to do a lot of things around the house, because you are "stuck" there a lot of the time.

I have been looking for some good shadow boxes to put up on the wall, and I found some at a craft store.

So I painted them black, to match the frames on the wall and put Rona's hand and foot prints I made last year.



I am quite happy with this at the moment, I am planning on adding to the wall over the next few months

Way too many ideas on the Internet

I recently found this post on I Design, all about hand cutting maps.

So I decided to give it a go.

I got this map



And started cutting

And it ended up like this



I am reasonably happy with it, but if I was to do it again, I would choose a map with wider streets on it, rather than the line drawing I chose.

And Husband is happy with it too :)

Time is getting away from me

At the moment, I am running around like crazy, with barely any time to think about writing, let alone writing in this blog.

Rona is keeping me very busy at the moment, she has just turned 16 months, and is a very active toddler!
So I will leave you with some photos, and keep trying to make time to make this blog interesting :)

Rona got into the pantry the other day.... I am still finding hundreds and thousands everywhere!

Rona has well and truly gotten the hang of building blocks, I mean, what 16 month old can build a 9 block tower without assistance?

Rona has well and truly gotten the hang of building blocks, a 9 block tower without assistance :)

'Tis the season

All my in-laws' birthdays are around July, so we had a 4 birthday get together. I offered to make the cake, so I made 4 cake decorations to encapsulate each of the birthday people.

This is for Husband, he loves formula 1, man that horse was hard to draw on icing though.

These two guitars were for Wittle and Matthew, and they promptly ate them, even though I warned them the guitars had a LOT of food colouring in them.

And this is for my father in law, who likes to play golf :)

And this has kept me busy for quite a few evenings, I don't know if you can see, but the guitars have the detail down to the right number of strings, frets etc.

Photography hints

I recently found this post by iheartfaces, it details how to get the best smiles from children when taking photos.

This is great, because I have 5 nieces and nephews, as well my lovely girl Rona to take photos of.
Samuel and Charlotte especially make really cheesy grins when asked to smile.

Some of the tips are:

Say ANYTHING but cheese is my motto.
Or make I tell them to make their silliest face, and then answer their face with my silly face which produces a lot of giggles
Remember that not all smiles need to be toothy. I love a soft smile. As long as it’s real, sign me up.

So, go and check it out, this post is definitely worth looking at!

365 Books

Here is a great blog 365 Great Chilren's Books

It has a great range of books, and some that I am trying to track down through libraries etc.

I am liking having good reviews on good books, ones that Rona and I can read now and in the future.

I am trying to instill a love of books in Rona and I am enjoying finding new books that we can love.

Money is stupid

I know, I know, it isn't really money that is stupid, an inanimate object cannot be stupid.

But at the momet, money is a problem for us. As much as I budget and stuff, it feels like that we are constanty going backwards.

Part of the problem is stuff that I haven't budgeted for. Like some car troubles that were extremely expensive to fix, some medical expenses and stuff like that.

And the other problem is we need to get used to having only one wage, we have been on one wage for a year now, and it is hard.

Money is hard anyway, no matter how much you have, there will always be problems with money.

We aren't in debt (except for the mortgage) which is good, but at the moment, that is as much as I can do.

Sorry to vent, but it is really getting to me, I must remember to be thankful for all the blessings that God has given me.

Just wanted to share this

 

My country from here

What a great idea

I recently read this post by "Life as Topher's Mama"

It is about Gin making a comment resolution

I am not that clever to be able to come up with 10 comments every day.

But I am going to resolve to make as many comments as possible, I know how much comments mean to me, so I am determined to "spread the love".

So wish me luck, I am going to try to do my best :)

This is a fabulous, moving book, I would definitely recommend this book to any parent, or anyone who wants to become one.

This is a great book for every parent, and even those who are considering parenthood. This brilliant book shows us how God is in the details of our family life. Grant weaves a beautiful story of how love and an international adoption grew her family.

Anyone who has ever welcomed a child, whether through birth or adoption, will see themselves in this sweet family memoir. Jennifer Grant writes beautifully, evoking laughter and tears, often on the same page, as she shares her family's journey. Her story is not just about adoption, but about how motherhood transforms us.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com <http://BookSneeze®.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 <http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html> : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

A link for August - How to make an icing race car

I thought I would share the tutorial I found to make Husband's formula one car for his cake

I found it here on Cake Journal

Here is Husband's car



And here is the one from Cake Journal