Let's talk about NAPPIES!

So yesterday I donated a solid 30 minutes of my life to researching nappies on the internet. This is something I NEVER pictured myself ever doing with my time. That nap time is precious, so let me explain how I ended up in that unfortunate situation.

The other day I purchased a box of nappies, the same brand we always use which can cope with the pressures of the overnight stretch... They were on special at the supermarket and worked out to be about 28c per nappy which was a huge discount. Normally I'd pay about 40-50c each for a Huggies (I think).

When it comes to nappies I tend to weigh up cost and performance. I want a nappy that can cope with explosions and floods but that won't break the bank and needs to be readily available so we can always grab more at short notice.

I chose Huggies as our go to nappy brand. We've tried Homebrand, Treasures and Naty with varying success, but I've always found myself returning to Huggies. They never let me down and you're guaranteed to find them on special often and in many retail outlets.

So my latest score - a jumbo box of nappies at 28c each was great. 72 nappies will keep us going for a while and the savings were greatly appreciated by my bank account. Once I finished up our previous stash, I opened up the new box.  I noticed two days in a row that there was a very prominent petrol smell coming from the rear region of my child. Naturally a cause for concern! After some investigation, I smelt the nappies in the box upstairs. It definitely smelt like fuel of some sort which is obviously concerning given the product is on my kid 24/7.

After some self doubt and deliberation I rang Huggies to let them know. They've arranged for my box of nappies to be returned to them for investigation. Credit goes to them for really taking my call seriously. I did feel a bit like I'd really reached a new level in complaining and I could see Mr D rolling his eyes... you complained about nappies? .But I've smelt some other huggies ones we had at home and there is no petrol smell whatsoever, so I'm sure this is limited to this batch. I'll update you on what Huggies say after they've investigated.

So this is how I ended up back online researching nappies. My criteria changed. It was no longer about cost and performance, but now about chemical exposure too. I don't want to come across neurotic, because I think I tend to be pretty relaxed and open minded about a lot of stuff when it comes to this parenting gig, but seriously after realising your baby smells like petrol... you do become a little more concerned. Obviously if I wanted to go chemical free then cloth would be the best... but I know myself... and that is just not going to work with our lifestyle. So what disposable options do I have?

These are the ones I've come across so far in NZ.

Naty - Chlorine and Fragrance Free. $23.99 32pk + delivery

I've used Naty before. They were beautifully soft and looked very comfortable. We didn't have any leaks, but I did have to change him a bit more as the nappy wasn't AS absorbant as Huggies... but still very good  I ordered them online and had them delivered to our house which was quite convenient but took some forward planning. They weren't bleached, so were an off white colour and didn't have big colourful pictures all over them which I liked. (I don't buy nappies because they have Winnie the Pooh on them... and Art doesn't show any preference to what is printed on his nappy pants...).
Cost = 90c each 






The other brand I'm looking into is Moltex.

 I haven't used these before but I might get a sample to try. These are only 56c each and have free delivery + a free pack of 80 wipes... and you know you're ALWAYS running out of those, so that could be a handy freebie. It will probably cost around $25 a week to put Art into these which I think could be worth it - as long as they don't leak at night too often and I increase my washing load!








The only other nappy I came across that a friend of mine liked was Earth's Best.

These are also chlorine free and low in petro-chemicals, latex free, fragrance free and has natural absorbent material - so gel free.
My only concern with these ones is the price... at around $36 for 35 nappies, that's nearly $1 a nappy which isn't the most economical option.








I don't know if it all deserves this much thought or 30 minutes of research.. and maybe my next pack of Huggies won't smell at all and I'll go back to loving them again... but in the meantime, we're going to play around with some numbers and samples and see where that leads us. So for now the winner is Moltex (pre trial)... and hopefully they perform almost as well as the Huggies.

Who thought you could write so much about nappies. I'm so boring. I bet you're all off smelling your nappy stash though.

Please let me know if you have anything else to add to this or any advice for me!? The whole point of this blog is sharing!

Whilst on the subject of nappies, perhaps I could pass on some of my findings in the nappy world - aside from the chemical issues.

• Don't stock up on newborn nappies when you're pregnant. Art was born 3.8kg and newborns were good up to 4kg. So after 2 weeks he was wetting through constantly. I ended up donating a lot of nappies to pregnant friends (who had smaller babies!). I'd stock up on the Crawler and Infant nappies. 
• It works to use a cheaper nappy in the day and a more durable expensive nappy at night. In Canada we found overnight nappies which were awesome - but I don't see them often here. 
• Bigger lasts longer - so although bulky, you can try putting a bigger nappy on at night for extra absorbancy and then stick to the better fit (smaller) during the day. 
• I keep a 'nappy changing kit' in the car, pram and every hand bag. I use a small zip clutch purse (on sale often at places like cotton on for a few dollars), and put in 3 nappies and a pack of travel wipes. You just have to remember to top them up if you use them.

And that's what I have to say about nappies. 

I'm in awe yet saddened at how much nappy information is in my head. 

Now.... let's talk formula.... haha. Just joking. I need a wine. 

Here's Harry Potter baby after a trip to the fancy dress shop the other day. 

Happy Nappy!

Mum, can you help me?

Arthur is obsessed with his shape sorting ball at the moment. I won't pretend he can select the correct window for each correlating shape... he is not yet at that moment of brilliance, but he can pick up the shape (using his right hand), then uses his left hand to reposition the shape and pass it back to his right hand all ready for placement. It's an intricate exercise, and adorable to witness. He holds each piece so delicately. 

I have to select the correct window for him, and he has to turn and adjust the piece until it magically disappears inside the ball. It's nice because it's something he needs me to help him with... and it's nice to be needed sometimes for things other than a nappy change or bottle.
He grabs the shape sorter out of his toy basket and pushes it over to me... it's pretty cute. Despite what I'm doing, I find I have to stop and sit with him for a moment, just so he can complete the task. I can't resist. 

I like to say the name of the shape as he selects them. This is where I fall short. What is the technically correct name for these pieces? (my friend is laughing because she knows I have an obsession with naming everything with the absolutely correct term) 

Give me some credit, I know square, triangle, circle, oval... the easy ones. I even impressed myself that I knew hexagon and pentagon...Honestly, I was terrible at maths.  I just was starting to feel a little bit bad that I was calling one shape the 'wedge' and the other one a 'polygon' because it sounded right... even though I knew it wasn't. My husband and I couldn't agree on what it should be called. We were both amazing at maths. Obviously. 

So I Googled it. Thank you Google for making me a better parent. 

Turns out the 'polygon' is actually a TRAPEZIUM. A quadrilateral with one pair of parallel sides. Some fuzzy parts of my brain started coming back alive...Trapezium sounded very familiar. I LIKE that word. 

Turns out a Polygon is defined as a flat shape consisting of straight, non-intersecting line segments or "sides" that are joined pair-wise to form a closed path. So I wasn't far off... but I wasn't correct. Today we shape sorted about 10 times and each time he selected that piece I proudly announced it was a T-R-A-P-E-Z-I-U-M. Arthur, that is a TRA-PEEEE-ZI-UM. He thinks I'm smart now. 

Oh and the 'wedge' is called a pie wedge... 

Lesson over. You're welcome. 

For some reason, he really doesn't like the star. He leaves it to last all the time. Funny kid.

Coconut CousCous

There's a trend with my baby food recipes... FAST! I'm not one of those mums who has time to oven bake stuff for a few hours, or stand over a stove for a long period of time. My attempts at bite sized muffins have so far failed... and a risotto is about as time hungry as my dinners get. This is why I love couscous. So versatile and fast.

So without further ado I present coconut couscous. So yummy that you'll hope your kid doesn't finish it so you can. As always this recipe will probably make more than one meal. It is great cold too... but I would save the leftovers before adding the coconut milk and water. I'd add in the coconut milk later when you're reheating it - otherwise serve it sans coconut.

I'll let you in on a little secret. This dinner started as left overs. I made the couscous the day before for Art's dinner when we were away using whatever was in the fridge and pantry and served it as a side dish with his lamb cutlets. To make the meal above, I added in the spinach and coconut milk, heated it through and voila! a new meal!

Art is just at that point of eating what we eat now, but as we eat in peace at 7.30pm with a civilised glass of wine in hand, and he eats at 5.30pm ... He doesn't tend to 'eat what we eat' at dinner time. Bearing this in mind, I do like to mix it up for him, sometimes serving simple meals and flavours, and other times more sophisticated flavour. This way, if our eating times ever coincided (like at a restaurant, or weekend dinner), I feel positive that he will eat whatever we are eating. Does that make sense?

Keen to hear from anyone who uses the recipes. Do your kids like them? Loathe them?

Time Out

Very close friends of ours were back on home soil for a weekend and suggested we get away to their bach up north for the weekend. Ummmm. OK!
I've spent a fair bit of time working recently, so it was nice to take a full day together to go on a little road trip - just me and the bear for the day!

We took off in the morning. Made a quick stop so I could get some new shoes. Essential. But in the process he lost one of his shoes. Annoying. We headed on our way up North in the rain, singing songs and Arthur did a lot of clapping and not too much napping, but that was ok, he was in good spirits.

We stopped off half way to get some groceries for the weekend. He charmed everyone in the supermarket as we cruised the aisles, and I felt guilty about having bottles of wine in my trolley at midday.  I needed a sign on my back "please don't judge me, these are weekend supplies..." Then again, every second person in this shop had a few bottles in their trolley and being judged is just part of the parcel in this parenting gig... so I didn't feel too bad.

I had spotted a great park and playground as we were pulling into the supermarket, and decided we would have a picnic there. By the time we left the shop it was raining. Typical. So we ate our lunch in the car together. He had to 'suck' his lunch out of a pouch because I forgot spoons and wasn't about to do 'finger food' in the front seat. He still enjoyed it, because he knew it was special. The FRONT seat... SO exciting!

We headed on our way and got to our destination that afternoon. It was just the two of us. No TV, no computer, just us. Peace and quiet! It was bliss. I lit the fire while it poured with rain outside and we played with his toys and sang songs. It made up for all of the time I didn't spend with him during the week while I was working. I felt the stress melt away, and was able to focus solely on him for a good few hours. He went off to bed at around 7 and I made dinner, poured a glass of wine and read a magazine by the fire.

What a fun weekend! Good friends all back together again for a weekend away. It's funny to be bathing your baby in the supertub and remembering past liquored nights at that bach pre children days. Not to say some didn't continue the tradition... just not me. When your day starts at 6.30/7am without fail, 7 days a week, you learn that a hangover just doesn't fit into the equation. I've learnt that lesson!

Anyways - just recapping really on a great relaxing weekend with my awesome little family and great friends.

 Climbing. Standing. Moving. He's all about it. 

 I think that's a definite 'selfie' face right there. So awkward. But I do try to be in the photos sometimes with Arthur as he might be interested in what we looked like when he was a baby. 

 I spy little teeth! 

 Centre of attention. 

 Getting good use of the winter woolies made by his Grandma. 

It's always a bit of an effort to pack up the car and relocate for a night or two - but worth it.