This weekend was a recovery weekend. Luckily , I was mostly the only one in need of recovery. Toddlers don’t seem to notice when they are sick and Josh seemed to be out of sorts for all of 24 hours before he started feeling better again.
To aid my recovery, on Saturday morning my sister picked up Riley to take her to see her great grand father. Frankly, I think she was pretty excited just at the idea of leaving the house.

Somehow, I don’t think that my company has been overly …

I like the idea and the reality of a family. You have company without having to get out of pyjamas. You get to be around somebody who has seen you at your absolute worst and still thinks you’re pretty awesome. You have in-jokes and non-secret codes. All in all, it’s a pretty sweet deal.
That is, until somebody gets sick. This week that person was me. I was the evil carrier monkey that brought this flu into our home. And then spread it to all and sundry. But even before I’d …

Welcome to the February Carnival of Natural Parenting: Love and partners!
This post was written for inclusion in the monthly Carnival of Natural Parenting hosted by Hobo Mama and Code Name: Mama. This month we’re writing about how a co-parent has or has not supported us in our dedication to natural parenting. Please read to the end to find a list of links to the other carnival participants.
******

Love and partners: How has a co-parent supported your dedication to natural parenting — or not?
When Riley was born, my relationship with my husband …

We took Riley to the park yesterday. I think the photo shows that she was a little bored.
Due to seemingly unending bouts of teething, illness and my exhaustion, I have gotten out of the habit of getting out of the house with the munchkin. There was a time where I would always, or almost always, take her down to the park in the afternoon for a run around.
But I’ve lapsed into other priorities, boring, menial and somewhat necessary. Doing the laundry, cleaning the play area (destruction zone) and painting the …

When Riley was about 14 months old she started reliably sleeping through the night and no needing my presence to get to sleep. Up until that point she was up three or more times a night and at nap time I would need to rock or stroke her to sleep.
Perhaps it was because I was no longer breastfeeding her, so there was less interest in night-time snacking, or perhaps it was that she had always hated the cot and I’d moved her to her toddler bed. Either way, I didn’t …

When I was pregnant I thought long and hard about immunisation. I wasn’t sure if it was the right choice. So I researched, and then researched some more. My concern was for two things really. Firstly I think that there is a trend towards over-medication which can lead to an erosion of the natural immune system. And secondly, I am paranoid about autism. There’s no rhyme or reason to it. It’s just one of those things that totally terrifies me. When I see Riley line things up in a perfect …

The Doctor told me it was most  likely the two year molars and that the high temperaturs had triggered a reaction in her lymphatic system, causing (among other things) her glands to swell up. He prescribed antibiotics and I noticed an almost immediate improvement, particularly with her temperature wich had been pretty scary high.
Keeping the fluids up. Very important. It’s just as well, she loves her water and bottles, because her food over the last week has equated to a few handfuls of nutri grain and licking the peanut butter …

The little googy has not been well. We think it’s teething – there’s plenty of drooling, diarrhea and a nasty high temperature without any other symptoms of infection. Most likely it’s her two year molars. I got quite a shock yesterday when I took her temperature (under the arm) and it was 39.6 (103 F). She didn’t even seem that unwell to me. And today it’s been similar, but at least it’s responsive to panadol and goes down pretty quickly.
She’s a very easy patient though, and was in high spirits this …

I read Best Blog Posts of 2009 at Scary Mommy and thought it was a pretty cool idea – if I have only got 6 months to choose from. I started this blog in July, thinking that it would be fun to do every now and then, but it quickly became more addictive than I’d imagined it could be.
July: Things I Learnt In My First Year (Part 1)
Breastfeeding: not as natural as you’d think
August: Things I Learnt In My First Year (Part II)
Sleep: apparently it’s optional
September: Crying It Out to …