What ever happened to Mummy

I've always been one for using first names.  Even as a child I remember finding it odd if I had to call a friend's parent Mrs something-or-other.  It seemed so impersonal, like I don't know them or care to.  When we were in England himself and I really noticed this cultural difference as it is the norm there to only address people by their title and surname until formally introduced and being given permission to use their given name.  Feels just plain wrong to me!

When I was teaching I was the odd one out in the school, for various reasons, the main one being that I allowed the kids to use my first name.  Many of my colleagues argued that it was a respect issue and that it was like the final frontier had been won if you got all friendly and were on a  first name basis with your class.  Ultimately though my belief that the use of my first or surname made no difference in the respect my class held for me or I held for them and so they called me by my given name.

With Mother's day knocking on the door I thought it was a good time to write about the new name calling in our house.  In the past our oldest as called me by my first name, especially after friends were over, as part of the natural trial of language.  It's never bothered me as I know that she knows I'm Mummy too.  However lately this has all changed as I'm being driven mad by the constant first name calling.  Somehow a repetitive 'Mummy' didn't phase me, a repetitive "Yossarian" does!!  Maybe it's a case of feeling like I'm being nagged at by my mum or maybe that Yossarian said 600 times a day ends up sounding hard and cold where as Mummy brings thoughts of soft and cuddly things, reminding I have little ones. 

We have now got to the point where I'm lucky if I get a "Mummy" once a day and that is usually in the middle of the night.  When I don't respond fast enough I get my full 3 names called out!!  Himself finds it hilarious, probably because he is still "Daddy", and keeps telling me it will stop soon.  I just want to know when, when will I be 'Mummy' again?

Like mother like daughter

I've seen the signs for a while now.  You know the type - standing the same way, coming out with a familiar phrase, biting your lip exactly the same way.  It is the age old terror that haunts every person (in our family anyway) - turning into their parents!!! 

Since we've been in our rental property we've had an on going problem of ants.  Weather doesn't seem to change their constant trails inside to find anything remotely tasty and sweet.  The fact that our youngest views the floor as an extension of his plate probably doesn't help.  Anyway that aside, each morning I go on a squashing and spraying (all Eco and child friendly of course)  spree to rid the shelves of our visitors.  They target the honey and golden syrup even though they are clean and sealed properly so obviously we have X-men type ants that have a mutant sense of smell. Considering this I really did need to take drastic action as I'm not very good at letting nature co-exist indoors with me. 

While we were down staying with my Mum over Easter I had to smile when I was told to go and get the biscuits out of the microwave.  My Mum has used this appliance as a storage spot for years, mostly in an effort to find a spot where her animals couldn't get de-frosting meat.  Nowadays with the animals dwindled to 2 (that come inside that is) the microwave is still in use only now it is a spot where her visitors can't see the goodies easily!!

Today a great void was crossed as I followed a suggest by himself to store the ant's desires in a different place.  My first instinct was to put them in the fridge, the thought of rock hard honey in the morning made my quickly rethink.  Yes, you guessed it I took one look at the microwave, sitting there idle and unused, and thought perfect!! A secure, room temperature safe.  It appears that the saying really is true in this case - Like mother like daughter.

The search continues

Each weekend we have been out doing the open home circuit.  It's true it is a buyer's market and there are loads out there in our price range just none that we have been completely in love with.  Although in saying that there are a few we are keen on and one that we even put an offer in - rejected unfortunately.  We are very open to location, size of house and condition however not on the size of the section.  Ultimately the dream is to have a lifestyle block that I can run the business (http://www.bcominghealthy.com/) from.  When funds allow of course!!  For now we are searching for that iconic 'worst house on the best street' with a decent sized section.

Considering this and the prospects of shoving the kids in and out of car seats for an indefinite amount of Sundays we decided to place an advert in the local paper.  'Wanted to buy home for young family'.  We have had quite a few responses already and it is encouraging to know that people are willing to cut out the middle man.  They are all lovely houses and, it must be said, great size sections but still no clear winners.  The callers do their best to sell it, sharing all the best points and forgetting all the not so good ones like the fact it is across the road from a substation, next to a quarry or in the area of the proposed expressway.

Are we being too picky?  Perhaps, or maybe we're just playing a good game of wait and see what the market brings.  In any case there are a few contenders now and we are getting a really good feel of the true value of places.  Searching this long means that we are aware of homes that have been on the market for a while and thereby have vendors that are more likely to negotiate on price.  For now the searching, shoving and waiting will have to continue.

Cold and Flu fixes

Considering that I am now on the casualty list in this house, with a cold, I thought that I would put on some natural remedies that I find work and some that are mentioned in my course notes.  Try a few, see how they work and let me know.

1. As much rest as possible early on.
2. Plenty of fluids - non fizzy, decaffeinated that is. Herbal teas, clear soups, juices and water are all good.
3. Chopped/crushed raw garlic with a teaspoon of honey.  This is definitely one to do when you not expecting company for a while but it works a treat.
4.  Echinacea - a few drops in water during the early stages of a cold or flu can stop it in its tracks.
5. Sage tea for a sore throat and bronchitis.  This is an antiseptic and analgesic.
6. Hot Lemon and honey drink.  A few slices of lemon and a teaspoon of honey is soothing for the throat and helps eliminate toxins.
7. Honey to soothe the throat and ease coughs. You can also boil onion in it for an added expectorant.  This is taken a teaspoon at a time and stored in the fridge.
8. Grated, sliced or juiced radish for loosing catarrhal congestion.
9. Have a juice day.  Make sure that it is a day when you can lounge around as much as possible and only having juices.  It enables the body to be free of working on digestion while it still gets nutrients.
10. Cherry bark licorice tea for relief from viral infection.
11. Gingko Biloba tea for fighting viral and respiratory infections.
12. Eat spicy food to cut down congestion.
13. Propolis.  This can be taken in lozenge form.

Hope you find these useful.

Natural Health

For us the best decision was not to immunize our children, for now. This decision wasn't taken lightly by any means, months of research (the whole pregnancy of our oldest and more) went into weighing up the pros and cons. It is however a decision that is questioned by many, including ourselves at times.

Many a doctor in Ireland and England gave me the third degree and informed me that I was basically leading our children to an early grave. These words always ring in my ears every time the kids are unwell, keeping me more vigilant than normal. Along with not immunizing we have endeavoured not to start the intervention cycle - where prescribed drugs lead to more illness and hence more drugs. We are trying to strengthen immune systems naturally thereby allowing a fever to run its course rather than mask it with Calpol, encouraging rest, good food, fluids and using natural remedies to assist the body to heal itself.

So far so good and the most we have had to give our kids is Calpol for a fever that stayed longer than I was comfortable with. We are definitely not against Allopathic medicine, often we go to the doctor's for a diagnosis and medication to have on the ready, it has after all cured and saved millions.  It's just that we feel that the human body is so amazing that given the right conditions it can heal itself perfectly, just as Hippocrates believed.  Disease is so often a  product of environmental factors, diet, and living habits that in changing these for the better you can change health for the better too.

Knead a plan

My normal plan of attack when the kids are under the weather is to stay at home having a chill out day with DVDs and books. Recently this has all gone up in smoke as himself forwarded an e-mail article proclaiming that t.v. for under 2's was unacceptable and that with every one hour of t.v. that children (any age) watched their chances of having a behavioural disorders went up 10%. ARRRRGHHH!

And so arrived Monday morning, after a rough night of waking from the oldest, with two kids not really sick just not really well. With breakfast down (some of it re-presenting), dressed and jobs out of the way by 8am the next question was how to maintain calm without the ease of DVDs?

Since we have got back into NZ I've been making my own bread in a bid to give the kids food with the least amount of additives in it. It's been my Monday morning ritual for some weeks, kneading and enjoying the preparation of a loaf. My Easter blip has seen the flour sitting on the shelf lonely for some weeks now and I thought this Monday I would get back into it - this was before I knew about the kids. No fear though, I'd try and start them off on something and then get kneading for 20 min - Ha! Life had other plans obviously and after trying to fight it for a while I eventually went with the flow.

The savages (the pet name himself has for them, which this morning was quite accurate) were instantly calmed as they took turns measuring in the ingredients. We broke the dough out into 3 bits and moved to the table to begin our kneading. I expected the 'thrill' to last about 2 seconds - low and behold however they actually sat there the whole 20 min! Working their dough carefully while watching me for tips, it really was a fantastic experience. The end result? Two beautiful little bread rolls and a lovely loaf which created a brilliant lunch. Going with the flow ay? Who'd of guessed that it would work out so well! P.S. My a... was convinced and 5km are under my belt for another day.

Run Forest Run

Last year two of my sisters completed a 10km walk to and from Wellington Stadium, in an awesome time - they are the two most competitive! This year we've decided (two of us anyway) that all four sisters will compete. Two of us - the youngest - are going to run the 10km and the older two are going to walk, hopefully not passing me in the process.

Fitting in nicely with my new year's resolutions of making more time for family I was keen as - that is until the reality of the work involved sunk in. To be fair I was doing really well running 5km three days a week with a 10km on the weekend, that is until Easter hit. Easter brought with it daylight savings and an attack of chocolate that I'm still trying to recover from. Now I realise that the race is a mere 8 weeks away and a slight panic has begun.

Being down in Christchurch for the school holidays (2 weeks of gorging other people's food) I was mighty proud of myself for continuing to run every second day not realizing that running on the flat was somewhat less effort and work than up on the hills (that's how I perceive them anyway). All that extra food only secured the fact that it was more effort to run as fast or as often. Slowly but surely I decreased how often I managed to drag myself out of bed until the three times a week runs are now down to one and the weekend run is down to 5km.

For the two weeks I've been back from holiday I've been moaning to himself that I really should stop eating so much and I really should get my a... out of bed in the morning to run. Finally last night he snapped. "Bloody do something then instead of just whinging" "Hummmp" I thought maybe, just maybe he has a point. So bright and early this morning by the light of the moon I ran a glorious 5km (yes I know it was meant to be 10 but I was so happy with even getting up that I gave myself a break). It felt great to be out again and now I just need to remember that on Monday when the alarm sounds and my a... trys to snuggle in.