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How To Find Out If You’re Pregnant

So I pee on this stick right?

But how will that find out if you’re pregnant. How will I know if I have a baby growing inside me?

How to find out if you’re pregnant; the question everybody just loves to hear out of the mouth of a 6-year-old.

Miss Charlie and I were walking home from school recently and having a little tête à tête catchup. This kind of thing is a rare occurrence now that The Twins are at the same school. Miss Charlie much prefers to walk home with her cooler, older, big sisters instead of her now cast aside but once cool Nanny (even if it does mean she misses out on wrangling an ice cream out of me)!

I had brought Viv along to get some fresh air after a couple of rainy days inside. Perched on my hip, she babbled away to no one in particular and waved her arms around a lot; ahh the sweet life of a baby. We squashed close together at one point to side step a rather large dog and it’s owner (consequently, that saying about dogs and their owners was proved to be true) and Viv stole the opportunity to tug rather forcefully on Miss Charlie’s hair.

As usual she complained, rubbed her head and scolded the baby; who just giggled with a look on her face to say, who me? Which of course made us both laugh too. She then said,

I love having a baby sister, and I love that it’s Vivienne. She’s so cute and happy and funny! I was hoping for a baby sister even before Mummy knew she was pregnant. Getting pregnant is so disgusting!

At this point I nearly died. Are we really going to have the Birds and the Bees talk now! I thought this was just an average mid-week afternoon, must we have it so soon? And can’t I at least power up on another coffee so that I’m alert and ready to dodge the tricky questions and divert over to something else? Please, I silently begged the gods. However it seemed I was let off the hook. She’d already had the talk and was ready to fire away about it. It was clear as soon as we delved into it that she might not have had quite the talk I thought she’d had.

You have to pee on a thermometer to get pregnant. That’s so gross!

OK. Air goes in, hold, air goes out. This isn’t going to be as bad as I thought. Yes well, it does look like a thermometer doesn’t it, I said. But it’s actually not a thermometer. It tells you if you are pregnant and going to have a baby. Then you should always go to the doctor to do some more tests and make sure. I was deftly avoiding having to properly explain the difference between getting pregnant and being pregnant.

You have to wait a few minutes and then if two lines come up, it means you’re pregnant. When mummy did it, it felt like ages to wait for the lines. It took forever. I was wishing for it to hurry up!

Yes, I’m fairly certain that those, ‘no less than 3 minutes but no more than 8 minutes,’ feel like an eternity to everyone!

Then mum showed me and we were both jumping up and down we were so happy. But I was also a bit grossed out that she was holding a thermometer she had just peed on. Eww!

Ignoring her thermometer quip again, I asked why she wanted to have a baby sister?

Because now I’m not the youngest anymore, and I’ll always be older than her. Even when she’s 6.. [pause, stop, think] I won’t be 6 anymore, I’ll be.. [pause] .. much older!

Hmm, I guess we need to work on those Maths skills little Miss. But I’ll happily take that little compromise. We can work on the adding and subtracting and leave the heavy stuff, like ‘But what did Daddy do to make the thermometer show two lines,’ to another day. A day when you’re much, much older. And yes, she did just ask me that question. How to find out if you’re pregnant; fun times in the #nannylife!

Have you ever had to handle a tricky conversation like this? How did it go?

More They Said What?!

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread Recipe

This recipe is more bread-like than cake-like, makes for a great breakfast (either toasted or fresh) and can be altered to suit preferences.

Miss 7 loves this Chocolate Chip Banana Bread recipe. It’s pretty much a one-pot type method and easy enough for the kids to jump up and lend a hand.

Recipe: Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

Ingredients

1/2 cup Rolled Oats
300ml Milk (I use almond milk, but anything will do)
up to 3 overripe bananas, mashed
240g Self Raising Flour (You Can Use Wholemeal)
1 teaspoon Baking Powder
1/3 cup Soft Brown Sugar (I often leave out the sugar and add more honey)
1 teaspoon Ground Cinnamon
3 tablespoons Honey
1 Lightly Beaten Egg
1/4 cup chocolate chips
roughly 85g Roughly Chopped walnuts (can use almonds, banana chips, cranberries, raisins etc.)

Method

1. Put the oats in a bowl, pour the milk over them and leave to soak for up to 30 minutes (give or take a bit depending on how distracted you got by kids trying to smash eggs together)

2. Pre-heat the oven to 180°C (350°F/Gas 4).

3. Lightly grease and line a 1 kg (2 lb 4 oz) loaf tin with baking paper.

4. Sift the flour and baking powder into a bowl and stir in the rolled oats, banana, sugar, cinnamon, honey, egg, chocolate chips and walnuts. Mix together well.

5. Spoon the mixture into the tin, level the top and sprinkle with the extra almonds. Bake the loaf for 45 minutes, or until it is golden brown on top and cooked through.

6. Leave it to cool a little in the tin before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Enjoy!

Chocolate with banana is the best kind of combo! #bananabread @hopefornannies

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>>> Banana bread is such a great staple for busy families, perfect to freeze and have for snacks!

How To Make A Sensory Board For Toddlers

This is a really easy, cheap and fun artsy DIY activity! I scoured the local thrift stores and dollar stores to pick up little nick knacks and bits and bobs that you wouldn’t ordinarily be able to find in Art stores. I used a Hungry Little Caterpillar theme at the bottom of my board with a garden and flower theme. Mostly my idea was simply to create a highly visual and vibrant sensory board that would captivate Little Viv, 9 months, and make for vibrant play. This board took an afternoon’s work. However I was free from the pitter patter of little feet.

What You Will Need:

a large workspace
acrylic paints & mixing palate
paintbrushes
a glue gun & lots of refills
PVA glue
scissors
stencils or computer generated images (optional)
tinfoil
oil pastels
a large board e.g. white canvas, cardboard poster etc.
I used an up cycled IKEA frame because I knew when finished, it would be light enough to hang on the wall
sensory materials e.g. popsicle sticks, felt, textured card, coloured paper, straws, pipe cleaners, beads & jewellery, stickers, raised foam letters, buttons, pom-poms, dried flowers, goggly eyes, glitter and sequins etc.

> Now create a design or theme and go crazy with the squiggly scissors! I turned to pinterest for inspiration.

How To:

Assemble all utensils, clear a large workspace and lay out your designs
Paint and redecorate your chosen frame/board (if up-cycling) and allow to dry
Turn on your glue gun and allow to heat, resting on tin foil so as not to stick
Glue down your materials onto the board.
I used PVA glue to stick the paper and also for the glitter!
Note: be careful not to use too much hot glue on the smaller objects (i.e. buttons) as it will run up the sides when pressing down and likely burn your fingers. And that hurts.
Allow the board to dry completely, testing each item to make sure they’re glued down properly
Note: As many of the sensory items used are small, they present a chocking hazard to small infants if not glued down correctly
Give the board to your little ones and watch them explore a whole new world of touch, sounds and colour!

The perfect DIY discovery sensory board for young inquisitive minds!

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>>> What kind of crafts have you been creating recently?

My Battle With The Bedtime & Bath Routines

The Mum Experience

I got a taste of ‘The Mum Experience’ last week. As in the REAL mum experience. Not just the 8am to 6pm shift that I usually take on. Not even the occasional 6pm to 11pm babysit either. I’m talking the real deal mum experience, the evening shift complete with bath times and the dreaded bedtime routines.

My cameo as Army officer was so that BossMum and BossDad could go out to celebrate their anniversary. We’d discussed the evening routine and I had it down. Nothing I hadn’t done before. Nothing I couldn’t handle. Oh those famous last words! Early on I decided on a plan. I would tire them out in the pool and the rest of the evening would go by with an easy transition of sleeping kids. How wrong I was! It went a little something like this..

5.25pm
I thought it was 5.15pm

We came in late from the pool – the clock was wrong (off to a good start) to find the mother of Miss Charlie’s friend, Fiona*, waiting to pick her up. I frantically gathered all of her clothes, school bags, hats, blazers, pens, lunch-boxes and other random items that were scattered in the usual walk-in-the-door-drop-my-bag-and-run. It was an effort to look as though I was in fact seriously organised and not at all fazed by the fact I’d forgotten her imminent arrival. #Fail

5.35pm
Game On.

Leaving the rest of the kids (Miss6 and The Twins) in front of the tv homework station, I set my sights on Viv. I wrestled the crawling, wriggling, naked baby back into a nappy and into something that had once resembled a clean bib. I then dumped her into her high chair so that I could shovel some lovingly prepared organic baby mash into her mouth. This was in-between tired pac-man style swipes of her arms and angry protests as though to imply she no longer wanted any part of this mundane feeding process. #Win, I think

6.05pm
Right, doing good.

Holding the baby at arm’s length so as to restrict the inevitable transfer of dribbled food onto my clean clothes, we relocated from kitchen to the bath tub. Waiting for the temperature to right itself (over zealous with the hot tap) I once again disrobed the baby and called to Miss 6 to join us in the bath. I called, again. And again. And again. #Fail

Letting Bub babble to herself in the bath, I half angled myself out the door, the eyes in the back of my head watching for fear she should decide to ‘inhale the water and go swimming’, and pulled out the old: 1…2… don’t make me get to 3 Miss Charlie! You. Bath. Now. Tout de Suit! She promptly joined us. #Win

6.30pm
This is awesome. I’m rocking this! Miss 6 in pyjamas. Baby in clean, baby-vomit free jumpsuit. Night bottle done. Miss 6’s school readers done. Off key lullabies happening. Baby on the way to peaceful sleep. #Win

7pm
Mission accomplished – baby asleep!

I descend the stairs to find Miss6 and The Twins have emptied the entire contents of the pantry into the lounge room. I announce that dinner will be ready soon. They’re not hungry – see empty wrappers everywhere. Awesome. ‘Too bad, you’re going to have dinner too’. #Win

I cook the chicken nuggets (here’s one I prepared earlier) throw in some broccoli and corn and start on the school lunches for tomorrow. Suspect grunts and a frown at the ‘foreign looking green thing on my plate’ tells me I’m doing my job right. I mediate an argument over Tomato sauce v BBQ sauce and throw some green veggies into a pot for my own dinner. #Win

The monitor lights up and cries are heard in stereo as Bub starts up for the night. #Fail I turn my pot of veg off and go to check on Bub. Giving her back her dummy, she soothes and I think, ‘she should settle again now’. Wishful thinking!

7.10pm
She doesn’t settle. I pick her up and cradle her to me, gently rocking her. She screams. I sing to her. She screams louder. I ‘shh’ her. She screams more. I do all at the same time and get a half giggle, half cry. #Win I breathe a sigh of relief (too soon!), she starts crying again. I sit on the floor of the dark room and rock her, improvising lyrics to lullabies I can’t remember. #Fail

7.20pm
Phew, that wasn’t too hard!
Bub is asleep again and back in her cot. I head back downstairs to the rest of the kids. They’re glued to the tv. My questions about how their dinner was fall on deaf ears. I repeat it again. A grunt and a quick glance answers my question. #Fail I turn my veggies back on, load the dishwasher, clean the kitchen and keep going with the school lunches. #Win

7.25pm
Bub starts crying again.

8.10pm
I finally get Bub back to sleep. Baby nurofen was employed. Kids singing was employed. Pacing the house was employed. A whole lot of silent prayers were employed. Some silent naughty words may have been employed. #Win, I think

Back downstairs, I warn Miss6 that she’s only got 20 mins left before absolute lights out. She says she’s fine with it. I know she’s lying. She knows I know. Realise I forgot to turn my veg off. They’re now cooked grandmother style (boiled the life out of them). I throw them out.

8.20pm
The girls want a fruit bowl for desert. I cut up all the fruit I can find. Discover an entire bag of too soggy peaches at the bottom of the crisper. Try not to gag as I throw them out. Eww. I clean the kitchen.. Again. I remind Miss6 that she’s now only got 10 minutes left to brush teeth and go to bed. She says she knows.

8.30pm
Not loving this!
Bed time. Miss 6 complains. Cue major-scale tantrum! I pick her up and carry her to bed. She grumbles. I shush her and in my best ‘angry whisper voice’ tell her to shut it or she’ll wake the baby. She whines. Bub wakes up. Bub cries. Then screams. #Fail I down tools and rock Bub back to sleep.

8.50pm
‘But I’m not tired’, Mis6 whines. She did this on purpose the little rat. She just wrangled 20 more minutes out of me. I tuck her in and lay down with her. She starts to discuss the meaning of life. Seriously, just got to sleep. please!

9.15pm
Miss6 is asleep. Finally. But she’s on my arm. And in my bed. Awesome. Carefully I extract myself. 2 down, 2 to go. #Win I descend the stairs to find The Twins fighting over the tv remote. I’m fairly certain they have homework they should be doing.

9.35pm
‘I’ finish doing ‘their’ maths homework. #Fail Bed time for them. Yes!

10pm
The Twins are finally in bed and asleep. No more kids. #Win I clean the house, again.

10.30pm
Realise I didn’t wash the school uniforms. Realise I didn’t finish making the school lunches. Realise I didn’t have any dinner. #Fail

11pm
I find myself eating a bowl of coco pops on the couch and watching Disney channel before noticing that no kids were around and I could actually watch something that didn’t flash bright colours at me at the risk of an epileptic attack!

11.45pm
The Bosses come home

They ask, ‘How was your night?’

‘Oh fine, it was a breeze. We had so much fun. They were angels’. Yes, I know, I lied. #Fail

Midnight
BossDad is asleep on the couch. Bub starts crying. Boss mum gets it. Miss 6 wakes from bad dream, I get it.

1am
Eyes are drooping. Bed time. Remember that Miss6 is in my bed. I gently relocate her. She doesn’t wake. Oh thank god! I lay awake in bed suddenly not tired thinking about all the things I was going to do that day that I didn’t do. #Fail And then I realise that it’s already another day and we’re going to do it all over again. This was the evening shift, at it’s best. I battled dinner wars, bath times and bed times to fulfil the evening routine with kids.

In complete seriousness, I give full hats off to Boss Mum. With an intensely demanding 9-5 corporate job, a hobby side project business and 4 and a half kids (Boss Dad) she manages it all and still juggles the overnight stint on the foreign trade markets. She’s one talented lady. I don’t know she does it! Sweet dreams everyone, tomorrow is another day and we’re going to do it all again!

What’s the worst part about your evening routine with the kids?

Do You Know Your Enemy?

I’d be a whale

#Disclaimer: reader’s discretion is advised – this post contains potentially offensive material

In the Summer School holidays I took Miss Charlie to the Sydney Sea Life Aquarium. Similarly as to when the BF came to the zoo with us, thankfully my mum was in town and came along for the ride also. Meaning she could toddle on behind with Viv leaving me to be able to give my 110% attention to Miss Charlie. We raced around the Aquarium, stopping briefly to read the sign posts and to complete the quizzes. But mostly, we just couldn’t wait to see all of the animals. It was a great day out and we all learnt something new. Always a bonus!

We were sitting by the water having an ice cream afterwards when Miss Charlie posed an interesting question: If you could be any sea animal, what would you be and why? (Although perhaps she should have said, do you know your enemy?)