The Facts of Life

When Jack was four he asked me about how babies are made.  And I said something along the lines of;

"Daddy put a seed inside of mummy, and like a plant does, it grew into a baby"

When Jack was around five he asked me how daddy's get the seed inside the mummy's.  And I said something along the lines of;

"You know how mummy's have an egg inside them, well to grow they need some of daddy's sperm to make them into a baby.  So when a mummy and a daddy love each other and want to make a family, daddy puts his penis inside of mummy.  Actually I have this great book, would you like us to read it?"

This lead to some very detailed and interesting questions and answers that lasted a few weeks.

Last week Jack asked me "Mum if Ella has two mum's how was she made, cause she doesn't have a daddy to put sperm in anyone?"

How do you explain single gender parents to a six year old?

Let's just say that after a slight pause on my behalf the answer went something along the lines of;

"Well, umm, ahh, some mummy's need sperm if they don't have a husband that has any sperm.  So they can get it from the doctor.  So Ella's mummy's got some sperm from the doctor and the doctor put it into her vagina, just like a daddy's penis puts it into a mummy's vagina.  Then the same way as the daddy's sperm finds the mummy's egg, the sperm from the syringe that the doctor uses finds its way to the egg and the baby grows"

PHEW!!

Today Jack asked if someone on TV was a man/woman, like those man/woman's we sometimes see?

This whole raising an aware and open child is fantastic, but I have to tell you that I don't quite feel ready to talk to my child about transvestites and alternate gender identification just yet, so I said something along the lines of;

"Maybe ... are you hungry?"

New Spaces

Art and craft has always been a huge part our the boys play. From very young they would spend at least part of the day doing something with pencils or playdough or sticky tape.
Until recently it has been done on the little table in our lounge room (this is also the table where they eat). But recently we have become keenly aware that the space was no longer big enough.
For months, art has started taking over the house. They have either been working at the huzby's and my desk (getting kicked off when we needed out own spaces back) or on the lounge room floor (not optimal for comfort, or the fact that my lounge gets covered with pencils, scissors and little bits of paper).
Today we moved some furniture around and, thanks to a divine neighbor, got a gorgeous new (old) table. We grabbed some old chairs from our shed, otherwise known as the furniture TARDIS. And ta-da they have an art/homework/creative corner all of their own.
Now for some cork boards covered in material to hang their favorite pieces, some comfy cushions on the chairs and some more effective pencil holders but until the last pieces fall into place at least we wont have to bargain for desk space or tread on pencils as we walk through the lounge room.

Today's Haul (6) aka the Book Extravaganza

It's been a while between 'Haul' posts. Mainly that's because I really haven't been secondhand (or firsthand) shopping much for months.

But today as it was a rainy looking day, Andrew was working from home and I had two happy but energetic children at home I thought a little second hand browsing was just what the doctor ordered.

We only went to two different op shops, but I have the bug now and think we may have to browse a bit tomorrow as well.

So the haul included (at the whopping price of $22)

- 17 books (five of which aren't included in the photo as three were for the little girl we had over for a play and two have gone to bed with Hamish)

- A magic 8 ball with a little less fluid inside than is optimal but still works if your happy to wait for the bubbles to pop before you get your answer. And if your wondering the first few questions were
Q. Is mummy the best mummy ever?
A. Yes definitely :)
Q. Can I go through this door?
A. Don't count on it
Q. Will mummy let me buy this ball?
A. Ask again later (followed by without a doubt)

- A junior scattergories game without the mission cards. But for $2 it has the 26 sided letter dice and we have made our own way to play and the writing pads, egg timer and pencils.

- A 'Jack Lives Here' keyring. If he knew what it really means it's not exactly child appropriate but seeing as he doesn't it's completely Jack appropriate.

- A spangly bracelet for the friend.

God I love second hand shopping. It fills two opposing parts of my personality. The part that loves beautiful things and wants beautiful things. And the part that doesn't like spending a lot of money. Today's little expedition has fulfilled both perfectly.

Quiet on the Blog Front

It's been very quiet on the blog these last few weeks.  Firstly we had the pox, and now it's school holiday's.  All in all life hasn't put much in my path that I feel is blogworthy.  I mean realistically I have been almost completely stuck in the house with various amounts of kids for about 6 weeks now (and yes I'm feeling every moment of it but no I haven't gone insane yet).

I have talked with Jack about making a movie quite a lot in the last few months but haven't been able to 1. Get him motivated to start (mostly due to 2.) 2. Haven't been able to come up with a good way to start or do it.

Then yesterday one of the neighbours started talking about making a movie with the kids, stop motion style, using playdough.  The group of 6 kids didn't have the focus to complete (or even really start) the process but Jack was keen when he got home to give it a go.  And so we played with many ideas last night.

Today we had a little friend over for the day, and about 20 minutes before we had to drop her home they started taking photos for a stop motion picture.  It was done in quite a half hearted way and so the photos and clay work were a little rushed.  But after she left I whipped them together and Jack picked out a sound effect. 

He marveled at the outcome and I realised he really didn't understand what the process was going to achieve.  Now he does, he is talking about putting together a longer film and has very specific ideas about the sound effects we should use.

So I thought I would show you their little effort and then hopefully sometime soon I can show you the larger idea that Jack is working on.  Or like so many six year olds he could well loose interest .... only time will tell.

The Dreaded Pox

You know the funny thing about chicken pox? .... Nothing! The truth is that the kids survived their bouts of chicken pox with relatively few issues, but then I got them.

Yes, I have had them before (well at least my blood test during pregnancy said I had had them) but apparently cuddling my pox covered child morning noon and night was more than my immunity could cope with.

So the Sunday before last as I lay in the bath, I noticed a few little spots, I asked the huzby if he thought it was the dreaded pox and he reminded me that I often came up in little red anonymous spots and not to worry. That night as I cuddled pox riddled child number 2 I felt like I had prickly heat. My entire body was prickly but I put it down to my overactive imagination.

Monday morning arrived and I heard AB about to leave for work, I rushed downstairs to have a look at my bod in the full length mirror (figuring if it wasn't my imagination he was going to need to stay home) and sure enough, there were a lot more spots.

Cut to mid afternoon, and picture me walking around the house crying as my whole body felt like a combination of being on fire and like I was laying on a cactus. This went on for about 72 hours until finally the antihistamines kicked in enough to let me sleep and I woke up feeling sore and sick but much less itchy.

Now like everyone I have a certain amount of vanity and the next three days I was thankfully still in quarantine because my entire body including my face was covered in red stingy pustules. I looked as though I had severe acne and everything hurt.

This Monday was my first day officially out of quarantine. All up from Hamish's first spots till my last, we have been in quarantine for a month. It's been a long road. There were actually a lot of fun times with the three of us being stuck in the house but I'm glad for the freedom of children at school and me being able to do small things like run out to get some milk or talk to people on the street.

So the blog has been quiet for a while, but I'm back in the land of the living and feeling like a trooper for having survived the most physically painful thing I have ever had to endure. Now finger, toes and anything else you can think of crossed that AB doesn't get it (he has passed the usual incubation time)!!

Watching - Some new movies, Black Swan (liked it a lot), Skyline (pretty great special effects, ordinary storyline), The Box (worst movie I've seen in a long time) and for the kids, Tangled and Diary of a Wimpy Kid (Tangled wins)

Listening - The Gossip, Lamb, Joan a Policewoman

Reading - About two pages of Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell a night. I'm tried and trying to heal so reading isn't high on the agenda

State of mind - Tried, slightly traumatized and so glad that life is headed back to normality.

People you Meet

The longer I live in this area the more I love it!

On Friday a friend and I decided to go out for some child free time. As always I said I wanted to go to the pub. For me there is no better place to chill out on a Friday night. You always end up meeting people or listening to music or just generally getting silly in a way you wouldn't do in a restaurant.

Because of budget constraints we decided to go to our local. It's a bit of a tradie/old man/parents with kids pub and not exactly 'the' place to go when your childless. Saying that I love that no matter what pub you go to in our area, the chances are you'll meet some interesting characters.

My night started with meeting an old school friend and talking for an hour. It always surprises me that even though I now live an hour away from where I grew up, I rarely go out without seeing someone I knew from school. It was fun seeing how one of the quirkiest people from my school days has turned out as an adult.

Then my friends arrived and we moved to dinner and chatting/laughing and general mischief making.

Two guys asked if they could join us and more hilarity ensued. Including some very candid conversations about circumcision, being gay in your 40s and leather play (I little too much information).

What was going to be a quick fun but fairly quiet dinner out turned into something quite different. Hence why I love where I live, it's all about the people you meet!

Watching - Child number 1 come up with the pox.

Listening - General kids noise and some complaining about the pox.

Reading - Same as last time, it's a big book and reading isn't high on the agenda.

State of mind - Refreshed and slightly hungover, ready for another two weeks of quarantine... Kind of!

Fort Building

This is quite timely, seeing that a gorgeous friend recently told me to build a gigantic fort to keep the kids occupied during pox week.  I love this idea.  Mind you I love any idea that screams, young, idealistic, creative and world changing ... one fort at a time!

Forts and the Inbetween from Wesley Bruce on Vimeo.

App-aholic

It's no news that I love my iPhone.  In fact Andrew often comments that he thinks I'm addicted.  He's not entirely wrong;

ad·dict·ed

[uh-dik-tid]

–adjective

devoted or given up to a practice or habit or to something psychologically or physically habit-forming.

By this definition, actually, he's right.  The reason being that my iPhone does so much! It has replaced many different utensils in my life.  It is my phone, my gaming device, my book, my email program, my web browser, I check facebook and Twitter, I listen to my music, check the weather, It's my camera, my filofax, my blogreader and my torch. There are so many things that I use my iPhone for that it is rarely out of my hand.


The best thing is that these uses just keep growing.  The more I search through the online AppStore the more uses I find and the less often it is out of my hands.


So here is a list of my favourite Apps, skipping over the obviously useful and popular ones like email, facebook and internet readers:


Hipstamatic - Hands down my favourite photo app.  Its got some beautiful lenses and films.  Suddenly those great arthouse type photos I have coveted for years are at my fingertips, no skill required beyond picking the right camera set-up for the shot. ($)


Icredibooth - A very close second favourite photo app, but it's more specific.  It takes photos like you are in one of those old photo booths in the shopping centre.  At every chance I was dragging Andrew and the kids into these old booths because I love the candid photos they take.  Now I have one at my fingertips.  It doesn't quiet replace the proper photo booth photos because part of the fun is trying to fit four people into a space made for one, but still at $1 for the app (versus the $7 per photo at the shopping centre) it's a great app. ($)


iBooks - There are loads of ebook readers out there but this is the one that I use.  It works well, sure on the iPhone, its a small screen but I have decent eyesight so that isn't a problem for me.  And the fact that its backlit means that I no longer keep Andrew awake with my bedside lamp.  Plus I have 200+ books to read when I am out and about.  It was brilliant when I was in India because it meant that I could have a range of books without having to find space in my luggage. (free)


Soundhound - I can't tell you how many times I have been watching TV or listening to the radio and a song has come on that I don't know but wish I did.  In the past I have found some of these songs by spending time searching the web or waiting for another 4 songs to play before the radio announcer finally tells me what I was listening to.  With this app you turn it on and it listens to the music then it comes up with what the song is, most of the time with the lyrics and a link to buy it from iTunes.  You can even sing to it and it guesses what your singing, although you have to be able to kind hold a tune for this one. ($)


Soundtracking - Its a new app and I'm loving it.  I feel so out of the music world these days and this is a great way for me to see what people are listening to at the moment.  It is like Twitter but for music.  You can follow what people are listening to or see what music is trending and listen to a snippet.  It's linked to facebook and/or twitter and adds a post to tell other people what you're listening to at the time to shares the love. (free)


Words with Friends - Simply, it's online two player scrabble.  But unlike other online scrabble games you don't have to plan to have the time to play a whole game all in one go, you just take your turn when you have the chance.  I have been playing with someone called Metallican for weeks, we finish one game and start another but each game takes us about two days to finish.  I love word games but rarely have the time to sit down with actual people and play so this is a good filler. (free)


Honorable Mentions:


Games
- Plants Vs Zombies - It's plants fighting zombies, what's not to like ($)
- Tiny Wings - the little bird can't fly so you help it jump from island to island, its cute with very sweet (basic) graphics and they give you missions to make the novelty last longer ($)
- Carnivores - guns, dinosaurs and spaceships that pick up your dead dinos, bring you ammo and move you around the map, I'm a pacifist, against hunting truly I am but boy I love this game (free)
- Fruit Ninja - cut fruit ... its that easy, best of all you can play online with real opponents ($)


Utilities
- Flixster - check out what movies are on and when locally with the touch of a button (free)
- XE Currency - saved me when I was in India! Seeing that I'm terrible with numbers it was a quick currency converter that helped me decide what price I was willing to pay for things (free)
- Ocarina - lets you use your iPhone like a woodflute.  Why? Why not! (free)
- iTorch4 - turns the flash on your iPhone 4 into a torch, believe it or not I use this all the time (free)
- Netnewswire - news feed reader (blogs mainly) (free)


There are so many more, and quiet a few that I've tried and they failed me but the exciting thing is that I also know there will be more, and the uses for my iPhone will continue to grow.  What apps do you love? use all the time? Found and are just obsessed with? paid for and stink?


In the end Andrew is right, I may be addicted but seeing that it is the most useful device in our home and from my point of view saves us money in the long run, this could be one of those addictions that is a positive thing.


Reading - On my iPhone
Listening - On my iPhone
Watching - Myself killing dinosaurs or cutting fruit or my kids playing and photographing it on my iPhone
State of mind - well and truly but happily addicted to my iPhone :)

How To: Steampunk Goggles

Another groovy video from the web!!!  I talk all the time about how much I love the weird, wonderful and innovative things people decide to do and then share on the internet.  This one makes me wish that I had a random baseball hanging around the house. Then again I could grab myself some leather and make some for both the boys!!  (Ok, Ok for me as well :)

How To Snakes

I loved my modular snake as a kid. I also was addicted to the snake game for quiet a while as it and frogger were the only two games we had for our Macintosh. ( I can still hear the frogger, snake and insert disk sounds in my head if I close my eyes)