Dirty fun

Dirty fun

Wednesday, 26 June 2013

Had a lovely morning at the Gold Coast Regional Botanical Gardens (Benowa) for the "Make your Very Own Dinosaur Garden" workshop presented by Earthy Little Fingers (GCCC Healthy & Active program).

Miss 3 made a dinosaur out of clay & planted her own sage, leek and garlic among other things. Good fun!

Thankfully it was under a marquee so we managed to stay dry.

Miss 3 was unusually quiet - perhaps just enjoying everything that was going on around her.

 

 

 

The Make your Very Own Dinosaur Garden…Raaahh!  was the first of a series of

interactive gardening workshops by Earthy Little Fingers that take children on

an imaginative “edible” gardening journey.

The workshops have been designed by Horticulturist and Gold Coast mother of two Katherine Unwin. 
“Children will enjoy creating a clay dinosaur and planting their very own seeds, seedling, cutting and bulb to grow some delicious dinosaur (and children) food! This workshop is a wonderful outdoor activity for earthy little fingers and  among other things, will help children to understand that some canned, dried and processed produce actually comes from the earth and that it’s easy and fun to grow themselves,” she says.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Earthy-Little-Fingers/679095978771100

Katherine completed a Diploma of Horticulture (Landscape) in 2003 and has been designing gardens in Victoria and Queensland since then for her own company as well as for high profile Melbourne based Landscape Designers. 

Katherine’s priority is to grow and provide wholesome foods for her family, friends and charities and to teach basic permaculture and organic kitchen gardening principles to young children with the hope that they will play an important part in looking after themselves and ultimately, our planet.

For more fun activities to try out these school holidays, visit:

http://www.gcparks.com.au/userfiles/file/Active%20&%20Healthy/A&H%20June%20July%20holiday%20program%20full%20-%20web%20version%203%20low%20res(1).pdf

or

http://www.gcparks.com.au/

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TWINS on board

TWINS on board

Thursday, 20 June 2013

We're thrilled to announce we're expecting TWINS this November!

Yes, that's right, we will have four under the age of three-and-a-half! Hee hee!

I'm now 18 weeks, and all is going great.
It has been so exciting to tell everyone our fab news!

My bump is already the size it was when I was six months pregnant with my first two!

My all-day nausea is just starting to fade (thankfully).
From seven weeks up until now, the only thing that has helped me feel like I’m not about to throw up or pass out has been pasta, risotto, rice (with Thai curry), jacket potatoes, wedges.

Basically carbs carbs carbs. All the stuff I had been avoiding in the previous months while trying to regain my pre-second-baby figure.

I completely went off all forms of chocolate from seven weeks until 18 weeks (crazy for me as I’m usually a chocoholic).

But I did enjoy a trip to Max Brenner this week where hubby & I (along with my sis & her partner) enjoyed some chocolate treats.

I’m already absolutely loving feeling the twinsies kicking – and am still amazed that there are TWO babies in my belly!

We discovered we were pregnant at seven weeks and had a dating scan where the two sacs were immediately visible on screen!

Our 12 week scan was great – got to see both bubs moving around and then last week, at 17 weeks, we had another quick scan in the OB/GYN’s office to see our twinsies having a fab old time bouncing around and kicking back at the ultrasound probe placed on my belly.

Now we’re just hanging out for the next scan – the morphology scan – in two weeks.

We’re getting all the baby clothes sorted and arranged into sizes and genders, and have already got a new Strider Plus infant carrier (capsule) to match the one we already have – as they can both be used with our Strider Plus pram (not at the same time).

Now I’m busy reading up on all things TWINS, YouTubing clips on the logistics of breastfeeding two babies at once, spending as much time with Miss 3 and Mr 17 months as possible (& involving them – very cute when they kiss & blow raspberries on my belly), and trying to stay as healthy and active as possible.

Mr 17 months also recently weaned from his last feed – the feed before bed time– and all went well with that thankfully.

Since 2009, when we fell pregnant with our first, I’ve been continuously pregnant-breastfeeding (til 15 months when 3 months pregnant with no.2)-pregnant-breastfeeding (til 17months when 4 months pregnant with the twins)-pregnant.

Miss 3 and Mr 17 months were both decent-sized babies (8lb 7oz / 3.8kg and 10lb 3oz / 4.55kg) so will be interesting to see how big the twins get.

We’re just going with the flow and hoping they’ll be as happy and healthy as possible – and hopefully make it as close to full term as possible.

(The twins are in separate sacs and placentas which we’ve been advised is favourable).

It’s such an exciting time, though we know things are certainly going to be hectic once we bring our twinsies home – being a family of SIX with four kids under the age of three-and-a-half!

I look forward to sharing our journey with you.

Do you have a big family/have any tips to offer?

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Super FUN run!

Super FUN run!

Wednesday, 12 June 2013

The Swisse Color Run was recently held on the Gold Coast, and, of course, we just HAD to get our piece of the action.

The 5km fun run/ event was originally scheduled to take place in April but had to be postponed due to extreme weather (and the venue – Gold Coast Country Club– being seriously water logged).

So on June 2, my family of four, along with my Mum and one of my sisters, all headed to Helensvale to take part in the happiest 5km on the planet.

Clad in all-white, hubby and I, along with Miss 3, and my sis, were very excited as we waved goodbye to my Mum who was minding Mr 17months for us at the start/finish line.

Hubby, sis, Miss 3 and I all laughed, sang, skipped our way through the course, getting covered in a variety of colours along the way.
Miss 3 enjoyed plenty of piggy backs, and wore protective glasses/goggles to protect her eyes and enjoyed being covered in colour in the colour zones.

The fact that we started the untimed race half an hour after the majority of participants (due to super-horrendous traffic jam that saw us wait 30 mins outside Helensvale Westfield) meant we could take it easy and enjoy our walk at our own pace.

 

As we neared the finish line we called my Mum who made sure she and Mr 17 months were at the finish line ready to cheers us on as we finished.

Then we all headed over to the Finish Festival where we all got covered in even more colour and enjoyed a mini colour fight (emptying the packets of colour powder over each other).
Though I did cop an eyeful, but as the colour is made from food grade corn flour, there was no major drama.

After going through the Dry Zone, where people holding leaf blowers successfully managed to blow off the excess powder on our clothes and skin, we got changed and headed home.

A great time was had by all! And we look forward to taking part again next time!

http://thecolorrun.com/australia/gold-coast/

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