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Board Games

Written on September 27th, 2011 by Hear Mum Roar in Art, Cognitive, Good times, Handmade, Language, Preschool aged, Saving money, School aged, Social

One thing I love about Missy 10 belonging to such a small school (50 kids total!) is that they have time to do such cool things. Sure, at the end of term, they had the usual watching of DVDs, which I don’t mind. But they also had the kids make their own board games.

I’m happy, because I was going to eventually post about this idea myself, now the school has saved me the hassle. Although this is loads of fun for kids, there’s many benefits to be had without them even realising:

Having kids make their own board games let them:

- Make choices and design something, giving them a feeling of autonomy and creativity

- Have an opportunity to problem-solve and mentally plan something in advance.

- Have a maths experience that is more fun than usual. It also doesn’t feel like maths!

- Be sociable, take turns, share, cooperate and be a good sport.

- Use their own imagination.

- Have ‘something to do’ during school holidays; not only as they play the game, but during the creation of it.

- do something fun that is cheap and resourceful.

The name of this game is an insect themed version of snakes and ladders. Missy 10 has added instructions on how to play at the bottom. You can make counters out of just about anything: buttons, coins, even cut up paper or cardboard. You can use a dice you already own, make one out of a box or create a spinning dial. Anything extra that needs to be made just means your kids will be busy for longer.

Of course, you have to be careful if you have under 3′s in the home, due to the small parts in the game. I’m loving that my youngest child is now three, because all three kids are at the perfect age to get pleasure, educational benefits and social skills out of it. Most importantly, they’re all interested!

Missy 10 plans to make more of these over the holidays. I will post her different versions of the games over at Hear Mum Roar’s facebook page, if you’d like to see them. If you have any board games your kids have made, I’d love to see photos of them too, so please upload them to the ‘school holidays’ album so we can all be inspired!

What are your kids doing these holidays? Are you over it yet, or still enjoying the break?

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Kellogg’s Bloggers’ Brunch

Written on August 31st, 2011 by Hear Mum Roar in Food, Good times

Hi guys, how are you doing? Things have been very busy here, still stuck in my bout of depression, and trying to worm my way out of it. I hope you are all well.

I thought I’d talk about my trip to Sydney to visit the Kellogg’s plant. It’s been a year and a half since I’d been to Sydney (we moved here from there). It’s funny, at the time I couldn’t wait to get out of the rat race, yet as time goes by I’ve of course come to miss it. To say I was excited to go back would be a glaring understatement.

Special thanks to the lovely British backpacker who helped me to get a gratuitous Sydney shot for old times’ sake.

The people who greeted us at Kellogg’s were absolutely lovely to us all. Us, being Veronica, Liss, Mrs Woog, Fiona, Lucy, Zoey and Louisa Claire from Brand Meets Blog, who organised the event. It was great to see Veronica and Zoey again, and everyone else whom I hadn’t met before.

A Current Affair was also filming on the day. I really didn’t know what to say at first when we all sat down together. The reason I was so taken aback? Because all Kellogg’s wanted to know was what we wanted as mothers. Hunh? You don’t want to just shove a press release at us, or make us tell our readers to buy Kellogg’s? I just could not get my head around the idea that they really just wanted to sit back and listen to our thoughts on their products, or the challenges we face when feeding our kids.

Which is hilarious, given that this blog is titled Hear Mum Roar and I like to bang on about how important it is that mothers be heard. It’s just that… well, sometimes as a blogger, you do tend to brace yourself for a company asking to use you.

They showed us a little bit of the plant, and we got to suit up in some dead sexy lab coats and shower caps.

I don’t know how they got such a feel-good shot of this, but I did have a chuckle at how wholesome and sweet we all looked in our new clobber.

We talked about a lot of things on the day. Sugar, nutrition, then sugar again. Then we agreed we all give our kids chocolate at some point. I mentioned Mr 5, who at the time was going through a vegemite sandwich obsession. He was refusing to eat anything else for every meal and snack. Two at a time, to be cut into rectangles. I was chuffed at the suggestion of offering the Sultana Bran Mini Buds as a dry snack. I bought some once I got home, and lo and behold, it worked! He ate something different.

We talked about sporting ‘heroes’ being used to advertise cereal, and a lot of us were quite annoyed by it. Before I go on, I’ll share the ACA footage in case anyone wants to see:

Mr 5 loved seeing Mum on the telly. We told him about half an hour before the show started that I might be on it. The little guy thought I was actually going to get on a train to Sydney before it started to go live on tv! I apologised to my children afterward for swearing..

One thing I did want to clarify, though. At the end, I know it sounds like I’m saying that big companies are too afraid not to listen to us mums (because obviously we’re such ball breakers. Eye roll..) What I was asked beforehand was do our husbands (or in my case, partner) listen to us when it comes to shopping decisions. To which I said, ‘oh yeah, I think they’d be too scared not to listen to us!’ Because let’s face it, if your man comes home with the wrong thing, of course you’re going to kick their arse. Figuratively speaking, of course. So yeah. That’s my, ‘I know I come across as a wanker, but not as much as it sounds’ spiel.

Now, I don’t know why I loved this next part so much, but we all got our own personalised cornflake boxes! Why is that so cool? I don’t know, but it just was.

Apart from being made to feel so welcome and having our opinions valued so much, there was no catch at the end of the whole thing. No pressure to write about this if we didn’t want to, nothing. But, of course, I’m happy to, after having had such a lovely day.

Oh! For those of you watching my Weight Watcher’s progress, yes, I have hit a slump. I’ve gained a kilo back, and have found myself in a rut. I still know the program works, the problem is that I lost the habit of using the program. I’m not giving up though! So, if anyone has a virtual cattle prod or a kick up the arse for me, I’ll be bending over here for a short time only.

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Weight Watchers: More Success!

Written on August 16th, 2011 by Hear Mum Roar in Challenges, Good times, Health and beauty

So, if you’ve been following my progress with Weight Watchers, you’d know the first week went really well. A recap for those who don’t know: I went to the Bloggers’ Brunch at Melbourne, and received a free six month membership to the online program and grabbed it with open arms.

Here’s some before and after shots to today:

In case you can’t tell, the photo on the left is before I started and the right is now. I still have a long way to go, but the pants I’m wearing in this shot are constantly falling down nowadays. I just wanted to wear the same outfit to help see the difference. I probably will have to wear something smaller, possibly more snug to be able to tell in the next photos. Now front on…

Again, left is before, right is after. I think it’s harder to see a difference in this pic. The main changes I see here are a more prominent collarbone and my shirt sits lower now because I’ve lost some boobs (love that!).

But you probably wanna hear some numbers, right? Ok!

This week, I lost 1.5kg. I think that’s pretty awesome. All up, since starting two weeks ago, I’ve lost 3.5kg. I’m still finding the program easy, although this week after my first weigh-in, the reality of doing this over an extended period of time set in and I was a little overwhelmed by that. Then my pedometer and a cookbook I ordered came in the mail and got me all pumped up again.

I haven’t tried any recipes in the cookbook yet, but the pictures make me drool like Homer Simpson. I’ve been using the pedometer everyday, and as you can see on today’s reading, I earned an extra two activity points just by counting my steps and trying to get more incidental exercise into my day.

Since last week’s measurement screenshot was hard to read, I’ll just quickly jot down my measurement changes:

Weight: 59.5kg (Week one, it was 63kg)

Bust: 96cm (Week one was 101cm)

Waist: 83cm (Week one: 87cm)

Hips: 100cm (Week one: 101cm) Yes! I managed to lose something off this area this time, unlike last week, when it wouldn’t budge.

Arms: 26.5cm (Week one: 28cm)

Thighs: 50cm (Week one: 54cm)

Size: 16. This is the same size I started out with. I checked a sizing chart, and it appears I’m inching towards a 14 now, but I read somewhere on the Weight Watchers site that it takes roughly 5kgs of weight loss to drop a size.

Oh! I forgot another cool bit of info; I reached a Weight Watchers’ milestone this week! Looky:

See that star? That means I’ve reached the 5% weight loss goal. I’m thrilled to have achieved that in just my second week! I love that Weight Watchers manages to present this in such a motivating way, to make me feel as though I’m getting somewhere early on. On my community page (think of it like a facebook ‘wall’), these are my awards thus far:

I’m finding the whole site so encouraging. Filling out my points online each day is like playing a computer game, not the drudgery I was worried it might be before I started.

Other changes are that I’m loving eating breakfast, I feel lighter going about my day, I have less neck, back and headaches. I’m becoming increasingly aware that I’ll need to buy new clothes much sooner than expected before I embarrass myself with a public (accidental) pants dropping.

I feel much happier already, and sleep much more soundly thanks to all the exercise I’m doing. I’ve been having one rest day per week from exercise, just to avoid injury and because well, sometimes I just get a bit sore and tired.

Just remember, if you’re interested, you can follow my Weight Watchers diary here and also, I’m giving away a Weight Watchers online membership to one lucky person at my new giveaway site, Winning Mums’ facebook page. Unlike most giveaways I run, this one does come with conditions, so please make sure you read those before entering. If you’re a member of Weight Watchers online, I’d love it if you come to my diary or page and say hello, even make friends! It’s the community support that helps so much with this program.

I hope you’ve enjoyed following this so far. I must say, knowing that I’ll be writing back and being held accountable to you guys has been a primary motivator as well.

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Weight Watchers – My First Weigh-In

Written on August 9th, 2011 by Hear Mum Roar in Challenges, Good times, Health and beauty

I’m not a great one for fan fare at the moment, I’d much rather just launch right into my results:

I LOST TWO FREAKIN’ KILOS!!!!

Ahem. Hurray! I’m so happy with that result. Let me go into my measurements, also:

I’m so pleased to have lost so much from my bust, as my partner and I have been frequently discussing whether or not I should get a breast reduction. Prior to starting the program, we always agreed it’d be better to try to lose weight first. My boobs were starting to give me headaches, neckaches and backaches. My small frame just can’t carry it. I do notice that I’m less ache-y this week.

I’m sorry I couldn’t make this picture for you a little larger to read, but it would’ve burst out of my columns!

So, what have I been doing differently? I’ve been making sure I exercise daily. This week, I’ll make sure I give myself a day’s rest from it somewhere though, to avoid injury. I’ve been using exercise DVDs, but mostly the Xbox Kinect. (It’s a bit like a Wii, only better, because you don’t stand on a board, or hold any gadgets in your hands)

I’ve been tracking what I eat, and using the ProPoints system with Weight Watchers. It’s felt incredibly easy, so far. I mean obviously, I had to put the work into my exercise and really work up a sweat, but it was a pleasure to be moving again. I’m normally the type of person who thrives on exercise, so I think it explains why this last year mostly without exercise has been tough on my energy levels and emotional well being.

I’ve still been eating foods I enjoy, if anything, I enjoy what I eat so much more now. I’ve been so busy and tired prior to starting this program that I was forgetting to eat breakfast and lunch most days. Once the afternoon hit, I’d be understandably starving, and grab whatever junk I could get my hands on. I’m sure you can easily imagine how much more energy I now have due to eating properly throughout the day again. It’s so funny; I would never let my kids go that long without eating! So why is it, it was ok to do that to myself?

The important thing though, is that behaviour’s had a stop put to it. I still crave chocolate. And I have it. But instead of a block of chocolate like the old days, I now have a Weight Watcher’s brownie or one of their mini chocolate rolls. Easily as good as the real thing. Easily. I ate MacDonald’s french fries on my first day. But only half of a kids’ sized package. Yes, I actually stopped myself after a taste!

I’ve been filling up on point-free food, such as vegetables and fruit, a lot more. One ‘danger’ period for me is after dinner when the kids are in bed. That’s when I’d always want to snack a lot. I still do, but instead of junk food, it’s now the point-free foods instead.

I’m so in love with how doable it all is, and how well it’s fitting into my life. I love how the Weight Watchers online community is just like facebook, only more supportive. I love how in the first week, I’ve already made friends on there and we are supporting each other through the triumphs and the hard bits. I love that I can blog over there, and I love the Weight Watchers facebook page. All of these things show me that I’m not in this on my own. I spend a lot of time at both sites each day, to learn, to look at the hundreds of inspiring before and after weight loss pictures, to get tips and to enjoy hearing about others’ successes.

Yesterday, I was nervous about weighing in today. Funnily enough, I saw a lot of members on the site yesterday, experiencing great weight loss. I was over the moon for all of them. Of course, it encouraged me too, and made me try just that little bit harder with my program on the day leading up to my own weigh in. I know there are people there who are wishing me the best of luck for a good result, and that feels awesome. I love that we can all send each other these cute little tokens for encouragement, too. I sent out a few ‘proud of you’ tokens for members who’d lost weight yesterday. And of course, I can’t wait for the community members whom I’ve made friends with to see how I’ve done after my first weigh in.

If you’re doing Weight Watchers, or even trying to lose weight another way, please let me know how you are going.

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The Melbourne Bloggers’ Brunch

Written on August 8th, 2011 by Hear Mum Roar in Good times

So, as I’ve mentioned recently, I was delighted to be invited to the Bloggers’ Brunch at Melbourne! This was my first time I’d ever been to Melbourne, so I was pretty excited.

I jumped on a train at 1:39am (yes, you read that correctly!) for a long trip, which saw me arrive at Melbourne at 7:55am. Whew! I was knackered before I even got there! But at least I caught a few hour’s sleep on the train. Once I got there and met some familiar faces, I was too excited to be tired!

As soon as I stepped in the door, I was greeted by the lovely Nicole from Planning With Kids, which was great, as I’d wanted to meet her for a while. I stopped to chat with Jolene from Mum’s Lounge, and we both found our bearings for a few minutes. The next bit, I’ll admit was a blur, because all these familiar faces started pouring into the venue, and I’m afraid I can’t remember them all!

I was so excited to finally meet Veronica Foale, Norlin Mustapha and Tina Gray.

Then, we listened to some excellent guest speakers, starting with Melinda Gainsford Tayler, followed by Nicole Avery, and I can’t remember all the names of the other speakers, but I do remember one was called Bernadette Black. They all spoke about working towards goals as mothers in varying capacities, and it was an inspiration for me.

One thing I’m frustrated about, is that I was too tired to remember to whip out my camera! Argh. Being my first ever blogger get together, I hope you’ll forgive me for my noob mistake.

The brunch was sponsored by Weight Watchers, which by now you probably know that I’ve signed up for their program (psst! First weigh-in tomorrow!) Soon I’ll have a little something from Weight Watchers for one lovely reader, I’m just picking my moment. How about we say… when I lose my first kilo? Hehe.

I had some time to kill before my train rode out the same day (yes, I am starting to think I might have some sadistic tendencies), so whilst I waited, I met my good friend Violet Le Beaux for the first time ever. By now I was quite sweaty and exhausted, but again, excitement took over! Thankfully, Violet had the presence of mind to suggest we get a photo:

You can see the lack of sleep has taken its toll, huh? For me, that is, not Violet! Haha. She very patiently let me grab some sushi. Since I’ve moved from Sydney to the country, I get serious sushi withdrawals, and not many places out here make it very well. I’m trying to learn to make it myself, but hey. It’s always better when it’s already made by someone else, that’s my motto!

So we had a lovely chat and caught up a little, then I made my way off to the station. I think my train home was 7:55pm? My memory’s foggy… I got back home at I think 1:45am, and was utterly, utterly bushwacked.

I didn’t really fit in a lot of time to get to ‘know’ Melbourne very well, so I’m hoping to go back to check it out soon. My first impressions are that the buildings are a bloody eyesore, but the people are so much more lovely and relaxed than Sydney siders. I didn’t see one whacko the whole time I was there, and was very surprised to find that in a city… I also noticed, unlike Sydney, if you buy food, it tastes good! For example, the sushi, but later I got a doner kebab (haven’t had something like that in years!) and it was fresh and delicious. In Sydney, I found it took ages to figure out who made the half decent foods of all my favorite foods. Very hit and miss…

I’ve had a few giveaways on facebook already, of some of the goodies we were given on the day. There’s more coming, too, *wink*.

I’d like to thank Kids Business and Room to Grow TV for putting on such a great event for 50 of us mum bloggers. I had a ball! Also, thank you so much to the following companies for sponsoring the event, and for their generosity on the day:

Gosh, I hope I didn’t leave anyone out!

I’ll be writing about some of these companies in the future if I haven’t already, but felt it only fair to stagger it out for you guys, so it’s not overkill.

And next time I’m at a blogger type event, I’ll be sure to get some photos!

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He’s Five!

Written on June 4th, 2011 by Hear Mum Roar in Good times, Parenting, Preschool aged, School aged

Today is a special day for us, as it’s my son’s fifth birthday. I always think five is such a big one, because they’re no longer pre-school aged (not that he goes to preschool anyway!), and it’s so close to school-aged, although he’s not quite there yet.

Today I’m forced to face the reality that next year, my little mate won’t be here every day of the week. He won’t be able to lie on his puppy dogs and stroke their ears whenever he wants, as he loves to do. He’s going to lose his cute little chubby cheeks in no time at all, I just know it. And, get this: he got his first wobbly tooth today!

It’s all over. My baby’s not a baby, and next thing you know, neither will Missy 3 be! I don’t know how empty nesters do it. Look at me, getting all weepy just because he’s five, for chrissakes…

Then I think about how much he loves school when he goes once a week for the school preparation program. When I used to take him last year, he was painfully shy and this year, I can feel just how ready he is. Don’t get me wrong, there’s still a few things he needs to do in preparation at home. But what I mean is, he’s ready for the excitement of this now. He’s ready for more freedom, independence and to learn ‘bigger’ skills. He’s getting ready to be able to separate more from me than he’s ever had to before.

And as much as it pains me every time I realise none of my children are babies (which in itself is an odd realisation, because I find having two so close together made it feel as though I was looking after babies for an eternity. A blissful eternity.), it’s exciting. Because all those years when I was tired, looking after two babies, I would tell myself, one day this chapter in your life will end and life will get that little bit easier – once they’re all off to school.

The thought of them all being at school is bittersweet. So much more freedom than I’ve had in a very long time. So many more possibilities of what I can do during the day. So many more things I’ll get done. But the chubby cheeks will be gone, the funny things they say will quickly fade away. I’ll no longer have my wide-eyed shadows following me around the house. The long days of laughter, and cuddles, and ‘I wuv you mummy’.

The other night, Mr 5 had a bad dream. I slept with him that night to settle him, and relished it. I enjoyed letting him be my baby, as I’m realising my chances to mother him this way are numbered. I used to find it so draining when the two younger ones would both wake up at night at the same time, crying, not wanting me to share my attention with the other. I don’t feel guilty that I found it draining, because, well… it was. I’m just so glad they’re at an age where I can appreciate all three of my children now more than ever. I’m no longer in any sort of a hurry for them to get older. If anything, the danger is that I try to hold them back! Well, not really, but it’s tempting.

Happy 5th birthday, my animal loving, beautiful son. I love you.

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Walk or Scream?

Written on May 7th, 2011 by Hear Mum Roar in Challenges, Good times, May 2011, Relationships, Soap box

Although tomorrow is Mothers’ Day, I’ve already got my presents. I’ve been given a delish cake just the other day, and some cupcakes to munch on tonight. Mr 4 has even proudly presented me with a free magazine from the supermarket and coyly told me, ‘this is for you, Mum’. Missy 10 has told me she can’t wait to give me the present she made for Mothers’ Day.

So, I’m all set. Feeling nice and appreciated. I hope for the same for all mothers everywhere tomorrow. If you’ve been reading, you’ll know I recently got to ring my mother on her birthday. I’ll be ringing her again for Mothers’ Day tomorrow.

A little back story for those of you who don’t know: a few months ago, my mum, who is quite young, had two strokes in one day. (Well, technically, one in the evening, then one later that night). She’s now in rehab, and has been learning to swallow food and fluids again. She’s already mastered this, after a lot of hard work. She’s also been working on getting more movement in her right arm/hand, walking and doing more things for herself.

She needs to spend eight hours a day working on her program. It’s highly intensive work, including time in the gym, having electrodes on her to stimulate her arm and doing many other tasks that would be menial to most of us, over and over again. Constant repetition.

She was admitted into rehab sooner than was expected, because her progress was astounding, even at that point. Everything she’s acheived so far, has happened much, much earlier than is the norm, none of the staff expected any of it.

The result of her putting in so much hard work, has meant that she’s also now walking. Not all the time, but a little more everyday. A few days ago, she was asked to walk down the corridor so everyone could see her do it, since they’d all heard she was now walking, but wanted to see (the staff have been wonderful, and excellent cheerleaders). She walked that corridor, and everyone who saw her cheered and clapped loudly. Her and my Dad were proud enough to burst.

When someone has a stroke, one big problem they can face is depression, which can hinder their progress drastically, if morale isn’t kept up. And yes, my mum does have days like this, but thankfully the good days sound as though they’re outweighing the depressing ones. She has the added bonus of having been given a more intensive program than she would normally have, because the staff know she’s so determined to put in the hard work. This has only made my parents happier.

When I talked to Dad on the phone yesterday, he told me there was another lady in the same situation as my mum. Staff put her in the wheelchair to take her to the gym, and she screamed the hospital down, ‘I don’t want to do it, don’t take me, I don’t want to do it!‘ and putting up quite a fight. The staff knew they couldn’t do anything to help her that day, so they put her back in bed.

My mum looked at Dad, and said, ‘that’s not me. I want to walk out of here.’

Although it’s a very simplistic story, and may not take into account what the other lady might’ve been going through, I still can’t help but be inspired by her attitude. It’s all about strength, knowing what you want, and working hard for it. Accepting the bad days, and trying bloody hard to ensure the good days outweigh them. I have been amazed three times in my life, watching all my children learn to walk over time. But how many of us get, as adults, to watch our own mother learn to walk all over again? That’s amazing.

My mother didn’t ask for a stroke or two. In fact, what’s eery about her stroke, is that a few hours before she had the first one, she and my father were talking about someone they knew who’d had a stroke and ended up being a vegetable for 20 years. My mum said to my dad, ‘I think that’s the worst thing that could ever happen. If that happens to me, please don’t let me be a vegetable!’ So you can imagine how frightened she was when she had hers.

It’s made me realise that when the tough times hit, as they do for all of us, at one time or another, that we have a choice. None of us ask for the tough times that are thrown our way. We can scream that we don’t want to do the things that could help get us out of our situation and refuse to do them, or we can decide what we want, then slowly and painstakingly walk out of it.

So, are you going to walk next time things don’t go your way, or are you going to scream?

Happy Mothers’ Day.

How Can Mums Get the Exercise They Need?

Written on May 5th, 2011 by Hear Mum Roar in Challenges, Good times, Gross motor, Health and beauty, May 2011, Parenting, Saving money, School aged, Teens

I’ve been a lover of exercise since my late teens. Not the crappy PE-type exercise we did at school, or team sports. I’m more interested in workouts such as walking, using weights, aerobics and yoga. I’ve tried pilates in the past and enjoyed it, but I haven’t really gotten into it in a big way as yet.

When we lived in Sydney, we had *horrors* no car. We were in a fairly toffee-nosed suburb, and I would be walking to and from school, half an hour each way, twice a day. (Thankfully, I had some wonderful mum friends who’d offered to help me with lifts when I needed it) When my youngest started kindergarten (first year of ‘big’ school in NSW), I sported a pregnant belly. When my son was born, I’d be out pushing the pram, and very soon after, another pregnant belly. Then, I graduated to a double limosine-style pram, and I can tell you honestly, that put me through my paces. Once my fiance got sick and wasn’t working, I would leave the younger two kids with him as I took my eldest child to school, which made it faster, plus reduced the strain on my back, not having to push that heavy thing around so often.

There were only two types of responses I’d get from the other mums: horror (‘I couldn’t survive without a car!!’ Not really what one wants to hear when they’re trying to be stoic) and encouragement. I’m sure you can imagine which group I made a higher number of friends in! Although this regime was a little too extreme for my joints most of the time, I never had to watch my weight. I ate pretty much what I wanted. It was only once I stopped pushing that heavy pram that my metabolism slowed down a little. Once we got a new car a few months before we moved here, man, I got fat fast.

In some ways, I don’t regret taking such a drastic break from exercise for so long. I have a horrible hip injury from giving birth to my eldest daughter, and I find that an hour a day of exercise is perfect to stop it from jamming up. More than that just aggravates it. After so many years of walking two hours per day, five days a week, either pregnant and/or pushing prams, my body honestly needed the rest. I enjoy walking long distances, but the amount I was doing became a bit of a drag.

Since we’ve moved to a remote country town and need to drive to most places, my exercise slipped even more. You guessed it, I kept gaining weight. My hip started getting stuck and sore again. I’m only 5’1, and small-boned, so the slightest weight gain really puts a strain on my joints.

It’s funny; a year ago I wrote this post, about wanting to get into a new exercise routine. I dabbled in walking, but found it not so inspiring. A walk around the block in this town doesn’t take long at all, then once I’ve done that, I don’t know where to walk next! There are no hills, which I’m used to, and everything’s completely flat. I find it hard to raise a sweat at all, walking around the block. Having grown up as a child in a beach town, and now living further inland than I ever have before, has made me homesick for a good ocean walk. I found a walk I enjoyed, walking in the outskirts of town, and I loved it. No oceans of course, but lots of beautiful farms to look at, and dams with ducks swimming in them. Canola fields and sheep.

Being a new habit and a new town, I didn’t get to go walking as often as I would’ve liked. There was also my partner’s anxiety to consider. I couldn’t/can’t just up and leave the house or the kids with him whenever I feel like it. I’m needed here. It’s far too hot in summer for the farm walk, not to mention snaky.

Recently, my partner and I had a group meeting with his and my support workers about his situation. It became rapidly apparent that I had a need for relaxation, and fast! I suggested yoga, and suggestions of classes flew in, thick and fast. Being in a remote area, this would be costly for us in terms of petrol in addition to the cost of the actual class. I was pretty sure the class timetable wouldn’t fit into our schedule and I knew my chances at actually being able to do my yoga was heavily dependent on what sort of day my partner was having.

So, out of a need to bring some relaxation techniques into my life, I’ve stumbled into creating a fully-fledged work out area. We have an office attached to our shop, in which we had stored a tv and coffee table gathering dust until we found a spot for them. We went to Big W and purchased a simple book on yoga with a DVD yoga session attached for roughly $11.

The result evolved into this:

It’s nothing fancy, but hugely practical. I had a floor mat handy, so I used that to define the space (these were moved to the shop), and pad the concrete floor for extra comfort. (As you can see, the tv is quite grotty, but I took this photo soon after setting it up and cleaned up the area soon after)

I had a bunch of exercise dvds and equipment I hadn’t been using. I tried using them in the lounge room, but it was too disruptive with children so close by. Even if I waited until their bedtime, the two younger ones would be too distracted by what I was doing to sleep! So although this area started out solely for yoga, it’s opened up the opportunity to solve my exercise problem also. I can go to this area by myself when I know it suits my partner and do what needs to be done.

Once I started getting back into exercise, I realised how much I’d missed this! The stress release, the adrenaline, the feeling of accomplishment. I’ve had a little break from working out for the past few weeks as I’ve had the flu, but I honestly can’t wait to get back in there.

I know some mums who read this will be thinking, ‘that’s all well and good, but she has a separate shop, not everyone has that!’ and this is true. Trust me, I can relate, having moved from a cramped two-bedroom cottage housing five of us. I also know how it feels to get stuck in a fitness rut, completely willing to exercise, but finding it hard to make it actually happen, due to being a mum.

Here’s some tips I think might be helpful for mums who are truly finding it a challenge to get that much-needed workout time in:

Wear a pedometer during the day and work towards a step-count goal. Incidental exercise is recognised nowadays as being just as effective as time set aside to work out. It’s a good way to ease back into being more active. I did this a few times when we first moved here, and it encouraged me to do a little more, and planted the idea of looking for places to walk. (Admittedly, I was disappointed with the offerings, but just because it didn’t work for me this time, doesn’t mean it wouldn’t for others)

Look at your obstacles to exercise and try to find creative ways to make it happen. If you can see a chunk of time in your day where your kids can be looked after by someone else, make the most of that time. If gyms and classes don’t suit you due to money or clashing timetables, don’t let that be your reason to give up. If you are able to exercise with your kids and are happy to, then that’s great too. I personally prefer to exercise on my own at the moment, because I find the alone time is better for my stress levels.

Think about what you’ve got that could help you. Do you have an exercise bike or dumbells gathering dust? Don’t be put off using them just because you may not have been up until now. Maybe you just need to find a more suitable time/place to use them. Where would be the best place for you to exercise without disruption? What time would that be?

Ask for support. If you have a partner, ask them to help you make this happen. You might need them to look after the kids, or help move your family schedule around a little to ensure you get this time. Although my partner has severe mental illness and needs my help with a lot of things, there are still times in the day when he’s capable of spending time with the kids whilst I disappear to exercise.If you’re a single parent, can you get anyone to help you with the kids? If not, can you make walking to school with the kids your exercise? If your kids are older, you can ask them to respect this time of yours, and to avoid distracting you unless it’s urgent.

Where suitable, get the kids involved. It’s really dangerous to have little kids hanging around your treadmill, but there’s lots of ways kids can be involved. If you have a wii fit, you can play that together for some family fun, or run around together at the park or in your backyard. Sometimes Missy 10 will have a go of my yoga dvd. She loves the relaxation it brings, and I think it’s great that she finds a stress release right before the teen years. It’s also her NAPLAN year again, and usually she gets a little stressed about it. As mentioned, you can also walk together. I’m going to mention bike riding here too, because although I hate bikes with a passion, I know lots of family do this, enjoy it and it works for them.

Talk to other mums and find out what works for them. Often brainstorming and sharing ideas can lead to inspiration, especially if it’s a recommendation for a great gym or walking route. Also, let’s talk to each other here, share our ideas and see if we can add more solutions to this list.

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Happy Birthday to Missy now 3

Written on April 26th, 2011 by Hear Mum Roar in April 2011, Good times, Handmade, Preschool aged, Projects

Can you believe it?? It feels like we only just celebrated her 2nd birthday, and yet here is our youngest daughter, growing up on us and turning three. I tell you, you can’t afford to blink with this parenting gig, can you?

I feel so guilty. I know she would’ve loved her very own birthday party, just like Missy 10 had last year. We were genuinely going to have one, then, argh! Life happened. I hadn’t gotten around to taking her to playgroup yet, so although we know some other little kids around her age, there wouldn’t be too many kids to invite, as we still settle into this town. Also, time really has gotten away on us. I’ve been weighing up my options with regard to visiting my mother, who as some of you would know, has recently had a stroke. She’s now in rehab, and doing much better than was originally expected. I’ve not been able to visit her yet, but want to as soon as I can.

Then, there’s the issue of my partner’s treatment. Would you believe he will be getting admitted to hospital after all, even after my recent announcement that he wouldn’t be? We’ve been making plans for that time, stepping up his appointments, getting extra workers, and so on. It’s basically been consuming all the time we’ve got, lately.

So yeah, not only do I feel guilt about so many things these days (and obviously, wanting to fix my blog back to its former glory or better), but I’m trying so hard to fight the feelings of guilt about giving Missy 3 a great birthday. I’ve been floundering under the pressure of everything going on lately, to the point where the time immediately after my mother’s stroke is just this blur that I don’t remember very well. I do know, though, that I wasn’t much help to anyone. I wasn’t writing down my partner’s appointments, or helping to ensure he was getting to them. It really felt that my brain had packed up and gone elsewhere. It still feels a little like that, but less so.

So, no party this year, and we managed to bugger up the cake as well! Because her birthday was on Sunday and all the shops were closed from Friday onward, we ended up giving her her birthday cake days earlier, because we had to buy a cake, due to not yet having an oven at this house. I was worried about confusing her, but she and the other two kids were happy, so that’s all that matters, and no amount of self-flagellation will make a difference.

Missy 3 and my mother actually share a birthday, too. I’m normally not able to talk to my mother on the phone, because the rehab doesn’t allow it, but they made an exception for her birthday. This was the first time I’d spoken to her since her stroke, so it was good to be able to catch up. Of course, it re-ignited the guilt about not having visited her and round and round we go… But hey, it was good for both of us, and made the day even better.

I made these two cute toys for Missy 3:

A knitted gingerbread man and snake. I know how much she adores the story, and she loves handmade things. I had been working on this toy for a while, and was pleasantly surprised to see how big and cuddly it ended up! As for the snake, I discovered a knitted rectangle in my sewing drawer the day before her birthday. It was for a door snake for blocking drafts that I started making a long time before I had our last two children. Knowing how crazy my daughter is for snakes (she likes to get pieces of wool and make believe they’re slithering all through the house), I quickly fashioned it into a cheerful snake toy.

Well. She hated the gingerbread man! (Keep in mind, I’d shown her the pattern months before, and she’d said she liked it) So, we talked about being polite when getting birthday presents, then gave it to Missy 10 who’s besotted with it. Missy 10 agreed that if fickle Missy 3 changed her mind later down the track, that she’d give it back (she knew I was planning to make one for her in future, also). Missy 3 has since teetered from loving the toy to loathing it. I think she’s just getting used to it…

She really loves the snake, which I find hilarious, given its simplicity and how little time it took to make it!

All in all, despite an insane amount of mummy guilt this year, it was a great day. I just keep reminding myself of the important things in all of this: the five of us got to spend time together as a family (we were expecting my partner to go to hospital before this, so we felt very lucky) and no matter what’s going on, how buggered up our plans have been this year, and how scrambled mummy’s brains are these days, is that she knows she’s loved. Everyday Missy 3 tells me, ‘I love you Mummy, I make you happy. You love me, and you make me happy’. In all of this craziness, I just have to hang onto the stuff that matters the most with both hands and know that that’s what will get us all through this. And you know what? Despite everything that (in my mind) went ‘wrong’, we all had a truly lovely day.

Now, please make me feel better by regaling me with your stories of birthday guilt!

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Aussie Mummy Blogger With the X-Factor

Written on March 30th, 2011 by Hear Mum Roar in Good times, March 2011

Well, if this isn’t enough to cheer a girl up! I’m talking about the Aussie Mummy Blogger With the X-Factor awards. I was pleasantly surprised to be included, albeit a little terrified on finding out that caricatures would be made of us. I’m sure if you’ve read all about See Mum Shine, I won’t need to explain why…

But, you know what? The illustrator did an awesome job! I had a giggle at the cartoons of mine and other great mum bloggers. I was bemused to read that I was described as: ‘the brain behind Hear Mum Roar chooses to remain anonymous’, but hey. We’re not going to have a diva moment when there’s an iPad at stake now, are we? Hehe.

I’m looking at this as not only a pleasant form of recognition and great fun (I mean really, this could be the first and only chance to be immortalized on the back of a dinosaur) but also a fantastic motivator to get in and fix this blog much faster. It’s like being at home, slobbing away in front of the telly. The house stinks of pooey nappies and my shirt stinks of baby spew. Next thing, visitors knock on the door.

So this will be the equivalent of me running around like a mad thing, plumping cushions, hiding the dirty laundry and repeating, ‘it’s not normally like this around here!’ Except I don’t actually plump cushions, but I’m sure you know what I mean.

Anyway, if anyone would like to vote for me, the link is here. You can read the interview, and voting is done by clicking the facebook ‘like’ button under the heading, or the ‘retweet’ button right next to it. The blogger with the most retweets and likes wins the iPad.

I’ve got something fun for you guys tomorrow too, so I hope you’ll be here to check it out.

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