You say potato

I mostly write my blog for me. Memories of what we have done as a family or my personal thoughts... like a diary for me to look back on in years to come. But for anyone else who has read them, you will know that I am pretty hung up on food. And my kids. And making food with my kids. And being healthy.

So when I was faced with a challenge of replacing my butter with a spread by Meadowlea, I accepted with some sceptisicm. Not a sceptic of Meadowlea or their abilities to make something yum, but more so of me being able to give up on my French 'Lescure' imported butter that costs me $10 for 250grams.

Sounds a bit snobby I know but I do love my gourmet foods. Apart from saving me some serious dough though, this challenge might also save my little ticker (65% less sat fat than butter).

These are some of the chicken tortillas we made with the kids this week (butter meadow lea them on one side, fill with your fav savoury ingrediants, sandwich with another tortilla on top & pan fry lightly till all melty & gooey). A bit like a Spanish toastie :)

 

 
So far there has been no difference. Taste wise, my family hasn't grunted 'but muuuuuuum, it tastes different" however I have noticed that it does look different when heated then cooled. Not better or worse, so it has been easy to do the switcheroo and there wouldn't be any reason to undo the 'roo either.
 So you say potato, I say putatoh. You say butter, I say Meadow Lea!

Father's Day

We had a picnic for fathers day this year. It's not a tradition(yet), but the weather forecast seemed promising and I wanted to get the kids active, not just sit in another cafe.

We were going to go into the Dandenongs but ended up at Albert Park Lake after a long chain of events altered our location.

Once we got there the kids got right into it. I felt a bit left out and like I was missing out on spending time with my family. The moment we got their they got straight into it. They had done so much and I hadn't even got half way through feeding Ashar. They were all over the playground, were ready for a bike ride AND had played a round of kick to kick with their Dad within minutes.

Some time later and once Ashar was asleep, we enjoyed our picnic lunch and had another play and did our Great Daddy Gift Treasure Hunt. Shaan being two, was wondering why we left presents all over the park and kept picking them up & returning them. 

Part two consisted of me having a chance to run around (puff, puff, puff.....) and finding out some beautiful friends of ours were at the same location.

There were a few competitions which took place...

Best handstand (you decide!)

 

 

Biggest sunglasses

And a lookalike competition. Apple. Tree.

We had a happy get together and the girls marched around wonderfully together. It always helps to have friends that you love who have kids which your kids love.

Suprisingly we all got sunburnt lips & noses on this second day of Spring, but a nice hot bath & fruit salad once we got home worked wonders.

Breastfeeding a baby is sometimes a lonely job, especially when everyone else is playing and having fun but today was about the kids having their Dad available to them to no end and that's what he did.

He is the backbone of our family and plays a very important role, like all loving Dads, so I have decided I didn't really miss out on anything. I have everything I could ever dream of.

Yo family so big....

I haven't really considered our family to be 'big' before.

Each of our four children came along planned and I knew before I had had any children that I was on my way to four. These days families with two children seems to be the average for my friends (pppffft, amateurs) and sometimes there's a third 'mistake' :)

Lately I have been paying attention to little things indicating that maybe we are big. So how do you know if you have a big family?

When there are a family of slippers that live at your front door...

When your refrigerator is often mistaken for the supermarket milk department...

When your Medicare card is not a Medicare card. It is Medicare cards, plural! (Seriously they couldn't use a smaller font to make us fit on one card or is this some sort of sick joke they play on 'big' families?)

When there is more than just a 'his' and 'her' towel in the bathroom...

You know you have a big family when you have to complete a headcount when leaving the house and you still can't answer the question immediately when asked at a restaurant 'how many for?'. We just seem to look around at each other waiting for someone else to answer.

Now that's big! : )

Dear Donna

I don't know about you, but when I crave something, I have to have it. It doesn't matter if it's right at that moment, that day, that week or some time that month. As long as I have it. You see you might think to satiisfy a craving a month after the desire for it is not that satisfying but you would be wrong to assume this in the world of Sev. In fact, it intensifies in this time and doesn't leave my mind until it has been fulfilled.

Today I satisfied another craving.Donna Hay hot jam donuts and Granny Smith donuts.

Off the topic sort of, doughnuts (they are made from dough) or donuts??

We made them and we enjoyed them. A little too much.

The kids ended up eating fresh green apples instead after their donuts to get over the sugar hit. Happy Sunday : )

Accidental party

Last weekend we celebrated Shaan's birthday.

I don't normally have big parties for anything but their baby showers or their first birthdays. That is unless there is something else that is worthy of celebrating & I throw a double celebration party.

That wasn't the case this time. And by big I mean inviting all of our friends and family and making an effort to have a theme that flows from decorations to food to take home party bags (I don't call them lolly bags & if you have been a guest at my parties you'll know why).

It started off with my folks saying they were going to come around for a visit so I thought I'd invite my sister - oh, and of course Alex's Dad & brother...oh and my BFF. We never do really get to catch up as often as we'd like so I have to grab any oppurtunity.

Oh and maybe one other friend who I haven't seen in a long time. And God, must invite my neighbour.. she has been a life savour these last few weeks. And a friend I love dearly who over the years is almost my 2nd chance BFF. Hmm...

I found I was faced with that horrible situation of not knowing where to stop. My non-party was turning into a major do. And then Alex started asking if it would be too much to invite this person or that. I found myself saying 'yeah it's just another two people' but then arguing with myself that if I invite them then I should extend my circle and invite another few.

It's very tricky being able to keep these things small without offending anyone but I had to draw the line and kept it at just our four chosen friends - for this event. Our future parties will probably be another mix of people or just everyone again. Not sure which is harder!

Birthday boy had a great time, loved blowing out his candles, loved the attention when being sang to and most of all loved his new boy toys (he's finally got trucks & cars instead of just his sisters strollers to push  around)

We love you very much Shaan Jemil, x

T.t & pee pee

Today is a very special day. A very special someone is celebrating something that will be remembered for a long, long time each anniversary. Her family will treat her like royalty. She will be adored by those close enough to let her know what a great achievement she has made and it will be remembered as the historical event that it deserves to be. Today, my three year old F I N A L L Y worked out toilet training.

Oh yeah, and it's also the Queen's birthday. Pffft.


Training my first daughter was done in a day at our second attempt. One single day. Wees and poos and out of night nappies in a weeek. This time it has been completely different, with the training going on and off over the last six months or so. One day, six months...Big difference and a hell of a lot more nappies (and frustration)too.

Being the second child everyone told me how much easier it would be with her. Heck, easier than one day? I thought that should mean she would turn two, rip off her nappy and climb up onto the toilet herself. Spoiler alert; that did not happen. Not even close.

However, with the constant discussing of it, keeping positive, waiting for her to show signs of readiness, reading books with her on the topic, promising anything she could think of in her wildest dreams (actually she asked if she could pat a dolphin when she was trained..damn wild dreams!), and making it a fun and pleasant experience (we'd read books to her in there whilst waiting for that magical sound of tinkling, I'd sing and just about do a Broadway performance to keep her on there as long as possible, we even bought a musical fairy potty for her to 'enjoy' whilst watching tv), nothing worked.


Until this weekend. Thank you long weekend.

We tried over the Summer, spent whole weeks at home in the holidays focussing on it but the one thing that didn't factor into our equations was her desire to be out of nappies. She didn't care. This weekend, she just decided.

I've had her in nappy pants for two and a half days to make sure it wasn't another false alarm (we had a few hit and miss attempts recently), but yesterday when we were out all day and her nappy was
still dry after 12 hours, that feeling of frustration became relief.

The tricky part about this new stage is knowing how strong her bladder and sense of control is. We were on the way back home last night and she very happily announces with a song 'M-um, Daaaaad, I have to ......pppppppeeeeeee'. How long do you want to make an 'in-training' pre-schooler wait? We can't use the at-the-next-servo-that-comes-along trick that works on the five year old. We exit and drive for what seems a further 15 minutes in the only part of Melbourne with no service stations, no shops, no Golden Arches and all those other great p-stops.

Short of knocking on someones door, we pull into the first place we see with lights on; a 24 hour drive through florist. The male attendant politely allows my pyjama clad princess to use the toilet. How could he not?

Today at breakfast, she runs back to our table at the cafe and announces 'I did a pee in the toi-let!' and the girls on the next table smile with admiration and then I see one reach for her phone almost instantaneously to post on Facebook '...what this little girl at the next table just sang out..Lol'.

SO now this very cute blog about my gorgeous daughter is about to end in too much information and a little bit grossly (unless you're a parent). She has been delighted to look back into the toilet to see what she has achieved but today when her poo dissappeared, the look on her face was priceless. I tried hard not to laugh but I assured her she did do a poo, it just washed away before she could see it.

And that for me is priceless. Thank you Zahra. I am a very happy mummy. x

Poo bums, wind & cuddles

Every night when I am bleary eyed and feeding my newest & final arrival, Ashar, I groan when I glance at the clock through one squinted eye but I also love it.

No one enjoys being woken by a baby whose hunger wakening sounds are similar to that of a machine gun, but there's just something about these early few days & weeks that are just precious and so limited...

My husband says 'they're boring at this age' and he has stuck with that theory since our Aliya was born five years ago but for clucky ol mother hen me, this is it. The last time I can gaze at him for as long as I like, the last time the smell of soured milk on his collar will be attractive, the last time such helplessness and dependance on me will be something I like and find purposefullness in.

He is what people call a 'good baby'. Feeds well, lets me sleep, poos like a machine and is doing all the right things...

Last night I was particularly tired though because I haven't yet learnt how to go to bed early (before 11pm) or at a reasonable time. Even though he has his last feed and is in bed  by around 10.30pm, I am still up. Four kids later you would have thought that I would know to 'sleep when they sleep' as I tell all my friends with newborns, but somehow it is not as easy to listen to own advice. So eventually when he did wake me an hour and a half after I had gone to sleep, I was almost cursing. That is until his little hand reached for my giant finger and he managed to wrap those teeny fingers around my finger and just held on. Yes I know it's just a reflex & he doesn't really mean to reach out to hold mamma's hand but in my mind he was. And when he pooped just after I had cleaned him from his first pooey nappy, I know it was his little joke. And as for the smiles while he's dreaming or looking up at me, well, others call it wind, but I call it love - and no one can take that away from me.

Welcome to our lives Ashar Kian. I love you (and I will have to re-name the blog Mmmlicious4 in your honor...soon, promise)x

Cheese burger with salad please

Holidaying with three kids while 30 weeks pregnant can be a recipe for disaster, but thankfully we have holidayed & returned home this week unscathed.

A week spent in Queensland was actually relaxing and enjoyable - and I say actually because I expected mayhem with the trips to the theme parks, burnt, tired children and a lack of local knowledge.

Instead we had luck on our side with many things. Something you wouldn't normally get excited enough about to blog on would be your luck with carparking, EXCEPT when you are as pregnant as I am and can barely waddle let alone walk.

Food is always something to consider when travelling with (my) kids and so on our visit to Seaworld I had lunch and loads of healthy snacks packed which lasted us throughout the day & the trip back to the apartment. However on our second visit to the parks later in the week, we decided we would only take 'the essentials' (fruit, drinks, bathers, nappies)and buy the rest... Wow, what a mistake!

I stood in line for 30 minutes to order a burger. Then when I asked if they could add salad to the kids burgers (it was cheese & tomatoe sauce only), the middle aged woman just answered 'no'. I think my jaw must have dropped because she attempted to explain why. 'We don't have a button to add any extras'. I said that was fine, could she just let the kitchen know manually & I would pay her extra. 'No' Okay this time I think I was saying a lot more with my expression so she decided to walk to ask her manager. She came back, pressed a button & it was done for an extra 60 cents.

When we were at the Seaworld water park, we realised we had to pay a seperate fee to enter the pools. It was stinking hot & 300% humid so we decided the money was worth it & jumped in line. Then someone came up to us & gave us there wrist bands. Awesome.

Had a splash & on the way out I decided we should pay it forward. Found a large family and asked them if they were going in. They also weren't sure but when I flashed the passes, they said that had made their answer easier. Feels good to beat the system sometimes, especially when you have already spend a bazillion dollars on entry and salad for your kids lunch.

Our fridge back at the apartment was probably a little to well stocked for a holiday but I did do cook around half of all of our meals. Funny the things you notice when you're doing everyday things on holidays; I missed my knives and chopping board and also my pillow. Also turning on the hot water tap to have hot water run out immediatley made me laugh.

I couldn't help myself and on our last night I also baked. I made brownies which we shared with our good friends & travel buddies. Thanks for having us guys.