Family Snapshot: a bushwalk together

We took the kids on a bushwalk to find a waterfall.

They found adventure and nature's beauty along the way.

I love family moments together. Sundays are my favourite day of the week.

Meeting Giggle, Hoot & Hootabelle

Isn't this a cute family picture of us?

Just playing happy families... me, Miss E, J-Man, and well, Jimmy Giggle.

Of course Jimmy Giggle in no way replaces our beloved Mr D, but last Friday when I took the kids to the ABC studios in Ultimo, I couldn't help but feel a little 'twang' of attraction for the energetic Jimmy Giggle. There's something very appealing about a man who is amazingly good with kids. Jimmy Giggle (as you would expect as a child's entertainer) had the kids practically eating out of the palm of his hand.

We received our invitation to this exciting event in January and Miss E in particular had been counting down the weeks ever since. She couldn't wait to see Giggle & Hoot and be introduced to their new owl pal, Hootabelle. Hootabelle is her favourite because she's purple - her fave colour.

It was quite a journey to get there. We drove to the outskirts of the inner city, and then caught the train into Central. Public transport as you can imagine with pre-schoolers is equivalent to meeting the Easter Bunny. It was incredibly exciting. Keeping them behind the blue and yellow line on the train platform was less exciting for me, and more harrowing.

Somehow we made it from Central station to the ABC studios without our pram - which Mr D had decommissioned after removing it's wheels for the purpose of making a billy cart for Big Bro. Hmm, thanks for that boys. 

Lugging the kids, a DSLR camera, and a heavy-laden hang bag full of all the kid-related essentials meant that I was relieved to walk into the ABC building to happily occupy a teeny tiny Ikea stool while the kids did some arts and crafts and had some morning tea.

Still recovering from the exhausting walk, I allowed an opportunity to chat with Mia Freedman pass me by as she sat mere centimetres away on another lime child-sized stool, attempting to keep her own child occupied before the show was due to start.

The number of introductions and segways that entered my head in those ten minutes was ridiculous. But still I sat there and failed to tap the talented Mia on the shoulder and say something as simple as; 

'Mia. Hi. I'm Fiona and love your work. You might remember I wrote an article for Mamamia.com last ANZAC Day...'

Nope. Muted silence and frenzied tweeting and texting instead. 

Finally Mia's group was called in to watch the show and I waited with my kids, wiping Hoot & Hootabelle cupcakes off their faces and trying to interest them in photo opportunities.

In the end, there was an hour to wait with the kids before it was our turn to see the show. The kids were bored and over-excited and their behaviour was something similar to treating me like a hammock and a trampoline. I was frazzled to say the least.

But finally it was our turn to see the show, and boy was it amazing.

This crew should definitely produce a live touring show. They were gold and the kids just lapped it up.

You can check out my amateur video recording here:

Thanks Giggle, Hoot & Hootabelle, you guys were awesome!

 

The 52 Week Project: playground fun

Week 12, 2012

The kids had been asking me all week if we could go to the park.

I don't have a problem with the park.

I love how it makes them happy and burns their energy.

I generally sit and watch and day dream.

This time I took my camera with me and got snap-happy.

I watched their joy as they jumped and played, spun and climbed.

I watched their silliness as they made crazy faces and their determination as they tried to jump higher than each other.

It's always a good way to spend the afternoon and tire them out.

We came home as the sun was setting, ready to make dinner and push them through the dinnertime and bedtime routine.

I love the park!

Are you a park-lover?

It's not for everyone.

P.S You can link up for The 52 Week Project below. 

4 lessons learned from working with brands

Over the last 12 months of blogging on My Mummy Daze I've had the fortunate opportunity to partner with some great brands, big and small. 


I threw myself in at the deep end with this, not having a clue what I was doing when I first began. It certainly has been a steep learning curve.


At the time, I thought working with brands and running giveaways was a simple way to boost traffic and grow a readership for my blog.


I also thought it was a great way to get free stuff.


Very quickly PR emails began streaming in and I felt obligated to say 'yes' and 'how high?' to every proposal. It was a bit of an ego boost and I thought that reviews and giveaways was how blogging worked. I also thought that was what my readers wanted.

It wasn't very long before I was working my butt off to churn out quality reviews for no coin in return. More than 50% of my blog content was a review.

So the learning curve began.

{4 lessons learned...}

1. Terms and conditions 


If you are going to run a giveaway be sure to include terms and conditions for your readers and giveaway entrants to note. This basically covers yourself from being left out of pocket or dealing with a disgruntled reader. 


In the case of one particular giveaway, I learned the hard way the importance of stipulating that it was open only to Australian residents. When a reader from the United States won the prize I had unfortunately put myself in the position of honouring my giveaway, and sent a 5kg parcel via airmail to Wisconsin. 


Don't ask how much that one cost. Ouch.


2. Communicate ground rules 


When you are running a giveaway for a brand it's really important to agree on time-frames and expectations for reviews to be blogged and prizes to be mailed. 


To avoid incurring the cost of posting out giveaway prizes yourself, you can request that the brand does this. However, be sure to agree on an appropriate time frame for the giveaway items to be sent to the winners and request that stock be put aside for once the giveaway has been drawn. I learned this the hard way when a giveaway I ran in December was not mailed to the winner until March.


This left me in a very awkward position, stuck in a never-ending email cycle between the unhappy winner and the brand PR.


3. Always make an impression 


View each interaction you have with a brand as an opportunity. Your relationship with a brand may not pay you an immediate gain, but it might just land you a trip to New York. Being polite and professional, demonstrating ethics and high standards will leave you in good stead. You represent your blog and the blogging industry as a whole when you engage with brands and PR. Remove the 'Mummy' from the Mummy Blogger title and interact with the corporate side to blogging like it is your 'real' job. 

 

4. Your time is worth something 


Your time as a blogger is worthy. Taking the time to travel to a site or event, to meet and greet, and to engage with the brand all costs you. To thoroughly review a product, edit the photos and produce the blog post can take hours. Invitations and review opportunities may provide an initial ego boost, however a free pizza tasting doesn't pay the bills. 


Consider what kind of potential revenue your blog posts could create for a brand. Your time is worth money. I learned this the hard way when I spent hours reviewing a product on site, interacting with the company, and creating blog-worthy content. I received no payment. At the time I didn't realise I was in a position to negotiate.

It took me a ridiculous amount of time to realise that my work on my blog is worth something, and unless there's something in it for me, or my readers, I'm not going to lift a finger to help out a company that is essentially taking advantage of free advertising.

In saying that, not all brands fit the same mould. Sometimes I've been happy to share the love and help a start-up business. And some very noteworthy brands have been highly respectful of my role as a blogger and have demonstrated this throughout the course of our brand partnership.

As a whole, I've definitely changed my tune about working with brands. I love working with brands but have a greater understanding of my place in the blogging industry and know my value.

In the scheme of things it is very early days with blogging. There are no industry standards, there is no union. We set our own prices and terms as freelance reviewers and writers. I urge you to consider what you are worth and don't let yourself be taken advantage of.

If it is worth a company to take the time to contact you and request you review their product or service, I'd suggest you have a significant monetary value to them.

So long as bloggers are doing reviews and giveaways for free, brands will continue to devalue our industry. And let's face it, you're worth more than being paid in a packet of biscuits.

A happy bloggy makeover

{Image Source}

I'm in love with colour right now. Bright and vibrant, up-lifting colour. 

It makes me feel motivated and happy.

Somehow these colours enter my psyche and fuel me.

It's a good feeling, especially coming from a head space that was so sad, dark, low and all-consuming.

I'm a little tentative to say it aloud, but I'm fairly confident that I've left my depressed & anxious days behind me. The combination of medication, a fantastic relationship with my counsellor who I really connect with, as well as very much wanting to overhaul my life has meant that I'm powering forward in the right direction.

Woo hoo!!

Just give me a mountain top to stand upon and I'll scream it to the wind and the village below.

I'm not depressed ANYMORE!!

Being alive is AMAZING!

I'll do everything I can to surround myself with happiness and colour to hold off the return of my private darkness.

I want the space around me to be exude vibrancy and colour to match my jubilation for life.

My blog is my space.

In many ways it is my journal - quite a public one.

I want it to be a happy place that reflects my mood. I want it to be a place where I go and feel uplifted and surrounded with positive energy.

So it was high time my blog had a makeover.

My Mummy Daze has come a long way in the last year in terms of it's 'look'.

The first of which involved some orange and blue cushions for a very boho background design, of which I didn't even have the sense to take a screen shot of before I updated it.

Then came the progressive evolution of my trademark fridge magnets.

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Until finally my very design-savvy bestie introduced me to Sass from MooZoo Designs.

And so came my happy place that you see now.

Welcome. This is My Mummy Daze.


My mummy days.


The honest journey through the tedious and joyous daze of motherhood.

The 52 Week Project: escaping the chaos

Week 11, 2012

Some days the routine goes out the window.


The kitchen stays messy, the wet washing stays in the machine, and the beds remain unmade.


Days like this can typically happen on a Monday at our place as I try (and fail) to kick-start the week.


I can wander about in a daze, wondering where to start and how.


It doesn't take much to feel completely overwhelmed by the monotony of being a stay-at-home mama on these days.


Sometimes the best thing to do is to snap out of that headspace by escaping our little house.


We might go to the park, do a bit of grocery shopping, or have a play date with friends.


Getting out of the house and away from the visual reminder of the mess and chaos is the best bet.


So today that's exactly what we did.


We went to Auntie Jo's house where the kids could run a muck and spew toys onto her floorboard instead. Thanks Auntie Jo! Of course I softened her with home-made choc chip cookies, still warm from the oven.


We let our kids burn off some steam and play together while we drank peppermint tea and caught up on a few weeks worth of gossip.


I took this week's selfie as we sat on the floor chatting, while the kids stacked a tower of bricks before smashing them all to the ground.


The kids were happy, so we were happy. They were occupied, and for the most part they were out of our hair.


There were two of us and three of them, but although we were still outnumbered, it was much easier to manage their shenanykins with two grown-ups as referees. We dealt with the chaos together.


Of course after the much needed reprieve, there came the time when I took a deep breath and returned to my household responsibilities.


And so here I am... on the blog!

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You can link up for The 52 Week Project below. 

High Tea with Woolies for their new Baby

{All images by Carrick Visions}

There's some pretty cool perks of sharing your life online.


Some fun opportunities can come your way.


For me, certainly some amazing doors have been opened since beginning My Mummy Daze last year.


Last week I was able to attend the launch of Woolworths' brand new baby - it's called the Woolworths Baby & Toddler Club.


A couple of days prior I'd been invited to chat with the Woolies marketing team and the gorgeous, friendly brains behind this new website for parents of littlies.


It was great to chat with Jo, Siobhan, Donna & Karina and to hear their passion for creating a space for parents to connect online and find great advice, tips, recipes and get money-saving rewards to boot.


I couldn't help but be caught up in their enthusiasm for the Woolworths Baby & Toddler Club. These women have grand visions for this site to create a sense of community that goes beyond the boundaries of cyberspace. They have a passion for helping families through the many hurdles of parenting, and understand the need to create helpful forums where parents can feel safe to chat without being judged by their parenting style.


I've been pretty pumped about this website, and have already been sharing some great links in the My Mummy Daze community via our Facebook Page.


I was able to share with this vibrant team your feedback about your shopping experiences at Woolies. 


I was so pleased to see these women intently listening to the comments that you left on the Facebook page and that they genuinely wanted to improve your shopping trips to Woolworths to make it an easier experience for mums.

Some of the many comments that Mummy Dazzlers wanted Woolworths to hear.

Then last week the official website launch was at the Sir Stamford Hotel in Circular Quay.


As is typical of my mummy daze, I didn't read my invite intently enough and rocked up to High Tea in jeans and sandals. Not entirely appropriate, but at least they were foxylicious red chinos!


There was a real buzz in the room with many inspiring women, some who had contributed to the content on the Woolworths Baby & Toddler Club website.

Kim McCosker ( recipe contributor & author of 4 Ingredients) and Nutritionist Emma Sutherland both get passionate about great food!

It was a really fun event catching up with Donna from Nappy Daze and Maria from Mums Word. 


Donna and I did our best to convince the event's MC, Catriona Rowntree to start a mummy blog. As is typical when I chat to women about starting a blog, Catriona wondered what she would write about if she had her own. 


"Anything!" was my enthusiastic response.


We had a great time chatting with Kim and Michelle from 4 Ingredients. It's always a pleasure to meet talented and lovely ladies. So inspiring!


To top the day off, Woolies shared some freebie-love with a jam-packed hamper of gorgeous baby and toddler products featuring all the great lines you can get fantastic discounts on by joining the Woolworths Baby & Toddler Club.


The day in the life of a blogger. Don't mind if I do.

{All images by Carrick Visions}

Wordless Wednesday: morning sunshine

 

Linking up with My Little Drummer Boys for Wordless Wednesday

The 52 Week Project: waiting for the son

Week 10, 2012

Mr D and Miss E went adventuring down to Canberra this weekend with the scouts for some bike touring.


They love their daddy-daughter time.


I loved time with J-Man to myself.


Although, without his little playmate to occupy him, he did become quite demanding of my time. We enjoyed lots of story-time and laying train tracks for Thomas and his friends.


Saturday lunchtime I packed us a picnic and decided we'd drive out to my beach for lunch. Unfortunately, despite my best efforts of radio blaring, windows down and loud cringeworthy singing, he feel asleep on the way there.


Not one to wake my kids, I let him sleep while I soaked up some Autumn ambience and watched the surf from afar.


I played with my camera and relaxed.


It was good to have a rare opportunity to have nothing to do.


Eventually, I unbuckled his sleeping body and cradled him over to the grass. I thought this might rouse him, but instead he just nuzzled his sweet little head under my boobs, and fell into a deeper sleep.


I ate my sandwich and apple with him in my arms and loved every second of it.


The sea breeze swept my hair about, tickling my face and whistling in my ears.


I was mesmerised by the constant surging and crashing of the waves.


Lots of people were out and about enjoying the radiant, sunshiny day.


It feels good to be alive on days like that.

You can link up for The 52 Week Project below.

Autumn nostalgia: pregnancy daze

Mr D and I.
6 months pregnant with Miss E.

As much as I adore Summer, I must admit I warmly embrace the change of the seasons.

I appreciate the cooler temperatures, the dissipation of that horrid, sticky humidity, and the fresh, cooler breezes that drift through my back door. Everything smells different in Autumn. The air is clearer somehow, and the vista of our escarpment is unclouded by fog and veils of smog.

There's a fresh fragrance in Autumn that forever reminds me of the last impatient weeks of my pregnancy with Miss E. It's amazing how an indistinct fragrance can transport you to a different place in time. The Autumn quiet in it's slower pace and more comfortable climate takes me back to March and April 2008 when I waddled about, busily nesting as I prepared for the arrival of my first child.

I washed her linen and her teeny, tiny baby clothes in LUX flakes. I spent mornings enjoying the golden sunshine on our back deck quietly painting canvases with bright, baby animal prints to decorate her room. I sat heavily in my bean bag sucking homemade chocolate thick-shakes and watching Oprah. In the commercial breaks I would eye-off the empty baby room, it's pristine, uninhabited cot and long for a baby to slumber in there and to occupy my time.

I longed for the baby in my belly to be nestled in my arms, her head tucked up under my chin. I desperately wanted to be able to close my eyes and breathe in her sweet, newborn fragrance as she nuzzled her warm, soft body into mine. 


Those days were filled with daydreams and pregnancy hormones, of nurturing thoughts and impatient feelings. 


That Autumn was the last time I felt truly alone and independent and absolutely bored.

I nostalgically recall that special period of my life, and smirk as I realise how that cumbersome, pregnant girl had no idea just how much her life was about to be turned completely upside-down by the birth of her child.

What does Autumn remind you of?

Does it transport you to a special place, like me?

Toilet Training: 5 reasons why I'm glad it's almost over

J-Man has been a pro with toilet training. 


He was super quick to get the hang of it, then plateaued out for a while, but re-gained momentum and has been having dry days and dry nights since the end of January.


It's been quite a relief given the length of time it took Miss E to fully toilet train (sneaky poos were an exhausting, messy & smelly issue).


Of course it's hard to say if J-Man's technically toilet trained yet.


He still prefers using the potty over the toilet, he needs me to wipe his bottom, and he can't hold the urge to go for very long. Although we're making steady progress there's still the occasional  accident once a week or so.


I can't help but express my jubilation that the light is at the end of the tunnel.


Having a toilet trained child makes me feel as free and independent as not having a babe on my boob or a limpet on my hip. It's right up there with uninterrupted sleep.


But of course it's never enough.


I want it completely finished. I want it done and dusted and to have my children wiping their own bot-bots and leaving me uninvolved with their toilet business.




Here's 5 reasons why I'm ready to wave toilet training goodbye:


1. I rarely wash my floor and am always battling with piles of un-washed and to-be-folded washing. Having random piddle puddles appear on my floor boards and soaking up board shorts and Spidermen underpants only creates more work for me that I'm already drastically behind in. 


2. Once I complained that my house smelled like curdled breast milk, or the yeasty odour of newborn baby poo, but these days it's more like stale urine. No matter how much pine o'clean I introduce, no matter how many fragrant candles I burn, there always seems to be an underlying Eau de Wee Wee tormenting my nostrils.


3. Shopping trips, running errands and days out of the house are a challenge with children at the best of times. But when a small bladder-in-training is in tow, I am perpetually rushing to fit in with narrow wee wee windows and to keep 500 metres from public toilets should nature call. It's exhausting and yet another ball that needs to be juggled.


4. My fashion accessory of preference is generally a tired, tattered nappy bag leather hand bag, but lately I'm accompanying my outfits with a shiny, white potty to picnics and family functions in a classy supermarket shopping bag. I drive with the potty in the boot and I push the pram with a potty in the parcel basket. I'm foxylicous germ-a-licious.


5. It turns out that little boys have external genitalia. Who knew? The penis may be handy when it comes to aiming and controlling urination flow, but this is only possible when the young man in question has a necessary skill called 'coordination'. Only this morning I mopped up the bathroom tiles from a stray urine stream and washed some terry-towelling undies when a certain penis was left poking 'out' of the potty instead of poking 'in'.


6. Finally, my potty-obsessed little man does a fantastic job of getting his brown business in his little poo poo chair. My issue comes down to the removal of said bodily wastes. Let me just say, there's nothing fun about the splash-back that I must encounter when I plop his salami-sized grogans into the toilet. I'm washing my hands (and bare feet) again just thinking about it. And I'll be wearing goggles from this point on.

Wordless Wednesday: my morning cuppa

This is what my new morning 'anxiety-management' routine looks like.


Linking up with My Little Drummer Boys for Wordless Wednesday.

The 52 Week Project: the morning quiet

Week 9, 2012

This year, all two and a bit months of it, has been a roller coaster of emotions.


My depression and anxiety levels have been up and down.


It took me a ridiculous amount of time to realise that forgetting to take my medication for a fortnight has a direct correlation to my mood.


I've been seeing a great counsellor though, who I really connect with. Her personality and style are a good fit with me.


We've been working on ways to fit more 'me' into my life. More self-care and nurturing to help battle the daily mummy grind.


By sheer luck I worked out that getting up at the crack of dawn is actually a good thing for me. I didn't realise it at the time as I cursed J-Man for waking at 5.50am that random morning, but I'm thanking him now.


That morning while he quietly munched on some sultanas and watched some morning ABCKids, I took advantage of the morning quiet while the rest of the house slept.


I soaked up the morning sunshine and quietly breathed in the fresh, still air as I sipped my morning Earl Grey at our back step.


It wasn't rushed. It wasn't interrupted. It was just me, the sunrise and my tea. It was almost meditative .


Once I'd sat with just myself for 10 minutes I still had time to write a list for my plans for the day, to tidy up any mess from the night before, and put on a load of washing. All before the rest of the house was awake.


This simple act of waking an hour before the chaos started put me in charge of my day. I felt in control of the day ahead instead of feeling at it's mercy.


This new daily routine has had an incredible effect on my anxiety levels. Being able to start the day without the sensation of a jackhammer in my chest is always welcome.


You can see what my morning cuppa looks like here.

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Linking up with Cake Crumbs & Beach Sand for her Self-Love Soiree and for my 52 Week Project.

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