news

Today was the 1st day back to kinder for cody, its term 3 he's doing well. here is a pic he drew today.

I got my blood test results everything but 2 were normal, i have high white blood cells and low iron.so now i have to increase my iron tablet doseage and also get more tests to find the cause of my high white cell count.

It's been a while

wow i didn't realise it's been almost a month since my last entry. Bit of an update on things
*budget- well it went out the window and now is being re-drawn up lol
* meal plan- in a effort to get tyson to eat vegies i'm now starting to puree them and put them in food he already enjoys.i'm still putting unpureed vegies on his plate in the hopes he will eat them.
*domestic godess-i recently got a steam mop and i love it no idea how i lived without one.it makes cleaning floorboards less of a chore.I'm slowly getting each room more oragnised and increasing storage.

cody- his blood tests came back, the genetic ones were normal and so were all his vitamin levels.so thats good. he does a cognitive test some time soon.he still scratches his face alot but he is learning to just escape the frustration either by reading books or going to play in his room.

tyson- is very much the drama filled tantrum throwing terrible two's,he is 3 in october.he is fully potty trained now no accidents he is very proud. he actually informs everyone he sees what he did on the potty haha.like today at a friends he yelled to everyone 'me did wee on big potty'. he still struggles with knowing when he needs to poo and when he is hungry but we are working on it.he's sleeping on his own and rarely creeping in our bed.

charlie- is 9 and half months now he started trying to take steps on his own to walk without holding on to stuff he has managed 1 step but then he becomes unsteady and falls.he is very much intrested in his brother's and what they do.he has grown recently his feet dont fit in his jumpsuits that have feet,and he is almost too big for his car seat in height.

me-i'm waiting for some test results for some health issues.i dont think my issues are serious.

Latest creation

I made a pair of split croth pants(pattern link) for Charlie.I used an old pair of pants.

Here is a picture after I drew the pattern on the pants.

On the right is the pants ready to be sewn.

The picture below was taken when i popped them on him to check sizing.

I still have to put elastic in and hem the legs.*more pics to come will add them once i finish*

things i made today

I have made some sunflower cookies to use up the sunflower seeds. The recipe i used is found here (link) also going to make more chicken balls the boys really liked them.

The verdict from cody on the cookies is they are yummy. He ate 4 in a row after his nap hahaha!

Also made something simple for dinner for boys(what kid doesn't love tomato sauce??)My boys loved this (look at charlie in the photo on right)

Animal pasta

1 pack animal pasta we use a gluten free one

1 can of condensed tomato soup

a few shakes of italian mixed herbs

dash pepper

cook pasta drain,then stir soup through pasta add herbs and pepper mix well then serve.

2 things i made today

Today i made soy apple muesli gluten free pancakes for the boys for lunch.
I used:
1 egg
1 cup orgran self raising flour
1 cup s26 soy formula(just use whatever milk you like )
4 tablespoons farex apple muesli cereal

The boys loved them.

Also made chicken balls (thanks to SS ladies for idea)
1 can chicken noodle condensensed soup
bread crumbs &flour
put in bowl to form dough then cover in breadcrumbs.and cook.

Boys are yet to taste them (made them ready for dinner -they are in the fridge waiting to be cooked ).We are doing the simplesavings.com.au challenge of $7.50 per person per week for the month of june for shopping,so expect more creative meals !

Start of another diagnosis journey

Tyson had his check-up yesturday,in the end its bittersweet.He is being reffered to the local developmental assement clinic, while its great he will be assessed alot quicker then Cody was. I feel sad knowing that we have started this journey with another child,depsite suspecting something wasn't right for a while.I guess in a way I half hoped to be told he was just normal,going through the terrible two's etc.

I guess the pain of being told yes you're child needs to be reffered for assessment,doesn't ever go away as each child goes through it.Allan took the news rather badly intially,mostly because we dont really know what has caused cody's problems,he's worried we'll just be put on a list and forgotten about for a year or so.My plan is if he ist seen by the end of the year i will go private.

We will be getting a specialist in to figure out settling techniqes for Tyson(still likes to be wrapped and with heavy blankets on him).This should be happening in a few weeks.

Allan is off to get a mole on his arm checked today after he showed me his arm and asked what i thought caused the mystery lump,I told him it coud be a eary sign of melanoma.He is pretty worried,given that he quit smoking just before Charie was born but had been smoking since he was 12,(he's now 24.)

eye test results

Cody has perfect vision the optometrist said. which is great.He was very co-operative for the eye test too.Not like cody at all lol.

Tyson is off to the Maternal child Health Nurse (MCHN) today to see if he is developing ok,I am bit worred about his speech and his tip toe walking,the fact he needs to be wrapped to sleep.

eye test

Tommorow afternoon Cody gets his eyes tested.Hopefully he doesn't need glasses or anything I dont know how we'd get him to keep them on.

<---that picture shows he's taken to gouging out his eyes again :(

Well i'll post the results afterwards.

Shopping this week-will i stay under budget?~weeks 3 ~

*This page will be edited as I shop and end of the week i'll add my weekly total to this page (here)
Sunday: $11.73
Monday: $175.03
Tuesday: $89.65
Total:$276.41

charlies's room makeover part 3

bit of an update

<-----I moved Tyson's toddler bed ,in the corner is a chair.

charlie's cot--->

<----charlie

tyson----->

gluten free pizza dough

thanks to linda for this


Pourable Gluten Free Pizza Crust:
2 eggs
1 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup milk
1 cup gluten free multi-purpose flour, brown rice flour, or other gluten free flour of your choice
Corn meal
Optional herbs such as ½ teaspoon oregano, ½ teaspoon thyme, ½ teaspoon garlic, ½ teaspoon basil, or other herb of choice
Toppings of your choice, such as ground beef, vegetables, mozzarella cheese, Parmesan cheese, etc.
Directions: Grease a 13”x9”x2” baking dish. Sprinkle with corn meal so that entire pan bottom is covered, then dump out the excess corn meal and set aside. In bowl, combine flour, eggs, salt and milk. Add spices, if using. Pour into baking dish. If you’re going to be adding ground beef, you can top the batter with the ground beef before baking. Bake at 400 degrees for 15-20 minutes. Remove from oven. Spoon pizza sauce onto hot pizza. Add toppings and cheese. Return to oven for 15 more minutes.

tye dye fun

Charlie now is the proud owner of 6 tye dyed jumpsuits from Rosella clothing on ozebaby.com.au .

Those 4 pics above are of the rainbow one.

<---- this one is red orange yellow

____>blue green

below is blue with green collor and a purple/blue one

on the phone

So today,I've rang the optometrist and booked cody in for an eye test next monday in the afternoon.I also booked Tyson& cody in for dental check ups which aren't until july 10th(first available appointment).

Next I am going to try and get cody and tyson's hearing tested. For cody its just to be sure he is hearing words and his speech is just a articulation issue. And for tyson we want to be sure its not hearing making him not talk so much.

Tonight's creations

I made a tester pair of training pants for Charlie using scrap fabrics tonight.The pic below is of my mother in laws sewing machine she has trusted me with (no i havent broken it yet )its so cool :-) its older then me.

.

Here on the left is a pic of the training pants half completed.

On the right is a picture of the finished training pants minus snaps and fold over elastic on the side bits.

Shopping this week-will i stay under budget?~week 2~

*will be updated as i shop*end of the week i will post an update (here)
Sunday- $82.64
Wednesday-$116.94
Total: $199.54


*updated on the 8week challenge page*

Today's progress

Today,I've done heaps of washing & lots of cleaning in the kitchen. Also made a batch of pork nuggets (discovered what i thought i grabbed out freezer wasn't chicken mince but in fact pork after it thawed lol) hope the kids like them....
Guess dinnertime will be the testing time.

Charlie's update: He now refuses to wee in nappies lol so I have to get the timing of how long to keep on potty for.We are going to get 2 more potties.I want different colours for each of the kids.also going to make "designated potty areas" for thier potties in the bedrooms and lounge and potty mats to catch those misses.He also is going through seperation anxiety stage,He doesnt like to be by himself not even for 1 second.

Cody update: tried to get peadtrician appointment sooner then june 6th but receptionist said its either keep that time or wait another 3 months to see someone.nothing was available sooner. :-(
Also hoping to hear back on whether or not he can see a nuerologist for his sleep patterns.And if The Currajong school will have him for prep next year,we are still homeschooling.In speech therapy last night he was very defiant and refused to do anything.We are at a loss on where the defiance has come from as he doesit at home too and even with rusden.

Tyson update: Tyson will be seeing a MCHN about doing a refferal for central intake for specialist childrens services on the 26th may.his anger,speech,behaviour and the sensory issues are going to be talked about then.

Menu Planning time

Things to go in the freezer to join my growing stock pile of Gluten Free(GF) foods:

Fusion Risotto cakes

corn & tuna fritters

pizzas

pasta sauce

chicken nuggets

fish fingers

*these meals are all from the destitute gourmet stunning food for small change cookbook* I just adapted some things for GF things like rice crumbs for breadcrumbs, GF bread for bread,GF flour for normal flour (not a real hard thing to work out).

Also plan to have some chips in the freezer made the way the failsafe cookbook suggests. I'm planning to use sweet potato,normal white potato and carrot for the chips.

Once I figure out the logistics of GF pasta making I hope to get some pasta into our stockpile.

I have all these cookbooks and i barely refer to them ,mostly as some cookbooks require so many ingriedents or the methods are confusing.

I have 3 or4 jamie oliver ones, 2 destitute gourmet, 3 baby relates cook books ,1 pasta one, 2 cake ones,1 failsafe cookbook,1 deceptively delicous cookbook.I have my favourites that i have used and the ones i use alot. I could rehome a few but then i think,i might need it one day lol.So,my bookshelf of cookbooks grows.right now I'm looking atgetting more destitute gourmet books,some allergy friendly ones and some freezer friendly ones (recommened your favourites please!!!)

Who am I?

I am on alot of sites,blogs etc.
I am maysa on naturalparenting.com, teamblue on essential baby. Jessgray on bubhub. willow_eyes on mumz2bubsnbeyond.
In yahoo groups i am lilbubbelz2000.

homeschool anthem

the 8 week challenge

**This will be edited after my weekly shoppings totaled up**
My challenge is to reduce my spending each week even more :-)
Week 1: spent: $236.49 Under budget by: $13.51
Week2: Spent: $199.54 Under budget by: $50.42
Week 3: spent:$276.41 Over budget by: $26.41
*started the simple savings $21 challenge week4(aiming for $37.50)*
Week 4:spent: $79.19 Under normal budget by: $170.81 Over challenge budget by:$41.69
Week 5: spent: Under/Over budget by:
Week 6: spent: Under/Over budget by:
Week 7: spent: Under/Over budget by:
Week 8: spent: Under/Over budget by:

Shopping this week-will i stay under budget?

this will be edited as I shop (i tend to shop over a few days)
Monday's total= $82.63
Wednesday=$153.86
Grand total=$236.49....I'm $13.51 under budget yay.

EC

Yes,that's Charlie on the potty. We've started EC (read about EC here ) i've found a few patterns for little undies and pants for the EC'ing baby.

EC patterns are here: http://doityourselfec.blogspot.com/search/label/What%20is%20EC%3F

few how to's ive found

How to make rice flour
Soak rice in water for 2-3 hours, keep a little bit of water, and drain away the excess, put the rice and water in a blender, blend for a while,(or stone grind it), pour the grinded rice inside a cloth bag, put the bag in a seive or on something with holes so that the water can be drained away, put something heavy on top of the bag to help draining out the water for a few hours. What is left inside the bag is rice flour, if you are not using it immediately, you will need to dry it before keeping. From: Bread-Bakers Archives: ftp.best.com/pub/reggie/archives/bread/recipe Recipe By : rmsy@... (Rose)

How To Make Your Own Chickpea Flour
Chickpea flour — also known as besan, gram flour, channa flour, harina de garbanzo — is a popular ingredient in many Old World cuisines. Chickpea flour can also be a great substitute for wheat flour in many recipes and for thickening sauces. Good news for those who want to go gluten-free!
Here's how to make your own. It should yield around 1 1/2 cups.
2 cups of dried chickpeas
Add the chickpeas, 1 cup at a time, to a food processor or blender and process until pulverized and smooth.
Run through a sieve to remove any large particles. Use as directed in recipes.
Toasted Chickpea Flour: toast the chickpeas in a 400°F oven for 15-20 minutes, or until the chickpeas start to give off a toasted aroma and are lightly browned. Cool and proceed with the recipe above. from:http://www.whats4eats.com/blogs/chefbrad/how-to-make-chickpea-flour

shopping budget/meal planning

So this week is our first week of gluten free and ive managed to get a rough estimate for our shopping ($209)I think it may blow out to closer to 250 but alot of the food is freezer friendly.
This week I plan to make:
4 loaves of rice bread
1 loaf of gluten free fruit bread
35 gluten free muesli cookies
24 mini tuna,corn,sweet potato frittatas
Also doing a big batch of Gluten free chicken nuggets.

frugal foodies

http://bringonthebeans.blogspot.com/ found this blog its great.



quiz here: http://www.gotoquiz.com/frugal_food_find_your_groove i got comfort food


My goal now is to reduce the $$ in shopping.This will be a chalenge but i need to adjust our meal planner anyway.

cody needs to avoid oats,salmon,strawberries,dairy,soy ,yeast,bannannas ,red meat and gluten/wheat.
tyson needs to avoid gluten/wheat,cinnamon.
charlie for now needs to avoid corn &dairy (we are going to get tests if he still funny with them in few months)

charlie's room makeover photos"before"

These are just the Before type shots.

-----> the drawes in the corner will be stained a darker colour

<---bulit in robe bit of a mess

The bed on the left is tyson's toddler bed. the sofa couch is going to be recovered in amy butler fabric. those white drawers are moving to a new room.

Tests:Update

We got Tyson's results today. He is bug/virus/parasite free and also tested negative for lactose intolerance. So now we think its Gluten/wheat.

Also going too mention to peadtrician when we see them, Tyson can't tell the difference by touch if somethings hot or cold. He can if you tell him "this is hot"but if he isnt told he touches it scolds himself then wonders why he hurt himself then does it again. He still likes being wrapped to go to sleep.Right now he has infected eczema on his bottom,poor thing ,we have cream for it but the dr said if that cream doesnt clear it up within 7days to come back and he has to go see a dermatoligist.

So tyson will have a few friends hahaha,allergist,peadtrician,dermatoligist,gastroentolgiist... and depending on his heart scan maybe a cardiologist 0_o lots of "gists"there.

We need to make sure Tyson hasn't got this condition called: Coarctation of the Aorta(click here for info)its what Allan has.

Cody is goingto have his heart checked for that too. Ahh yes Jess has her plate full lol

Freecycle

I love freecycle(link here for more info).

<---- our first freecycle pick up no thats not my house lol to get it in our house we had to enlist the help of 4 neighbours (we already had adam (BIL)and gwenda (MIL) and allan ).

<---this is the desk we got recently yep theres the rest of charlies cot lol

<---black velvet sofa bed that now lives in the study.

we also got a coffee table but the pic wont load :(

<----change table we got today it has 2 shelvevs under the top one and is on wheels.

Photos

<---tyson &cody eating lunch today

<---Charlie enjoying lunch today

<----Charlie last night after he ate dinner

<---this is how tyson looked after a nap his top is on back to frount &inside out he dressed himself

today's lessons

Today Cody &Tyson coloured in pictures of cats and the number 4 & the Letter C. Cody also drew a picture in his journal of jimmie.Cody really enjoyed "school". Cody had been upset about Jimmie going to the Vet clinic.Cody attempted to write today.we also made Bannana muffins.

<----tyson joined in too

----->drawing Jimmie

<----colouring in cats

<----his writing.