Cheese & crackers lunchbox

In yesterday's lunchbox I packed a cheese & tahini sandwich; some more cheese & rice crackers, some grapes; and a salad of avocado, cucumber, capsicum & a cherry tomato. We also popped in a soy milk popper in the hope that it might help her relax at nap time (which is after lunch). Previously Lily napped almost everyday at preschool, but she hasn't napped for over a week now and she is fading quickly in the afternoons...

When I picked her up the crackers & cheese were gone, as were the soy milk; half of the grapes and part of the salad, but the rest remained. She decided to eat the cheese sandwich while we were still gathering her stuff though, so all up it was a successful lunchbox.

Sushi lunchbox

In yesterday's lunchbox I packed some tofu & avocado sushi with some little packages of soy sauce; some salad and a little tub of cream cheese for dipping; some grapes & rockmelon; and a tub of berry yogurt.

You may have noticed that we have gone back to the old lunchbox. Sigh. Sadly Lily has informed us that she prefers this one, because it fits inside her "Elmo lunchbag" (photo below). Double sigh. Stupid branded kids crap. Boo hiss.

Anyway, this was too much food, again (possibly because they cooked pesto pasta for morning tea and she had lots of it!). She ate her yogurt and all of the tofu sushi, plus a bit of the fruit and salad, but the rest of it had to wait until afternoon tea. Even then the avocado sushi was dismissed.

Lily’s ‘big bed’

Over the last few weeks Lily has decided to try sleeping in her own bed.

Your reaction to that last sentence will probably depend on what you think of co-sleeping. Some people, for example, will be thinking, “It’s about bloody time!” For them Lily has been ‘too old’ to share our bed for quite some time. In fact, for many it was always a bit of a suspect thing for us to do.

In contrast, my reaction was fairly mixed. It was one of pride, of excitement and, in all honesty, of deep sadness.

I loved sharing our bed with Lily. From the moment we brought her home my instinct to physically comfort her at night was overpowering. My sleepiness dulled the shock of all the changes that this new life involved and I found that I could just nurture (and feed) her without thought. Sharing the bed with her Papa also meant that they got to bond quickly despite his full time job.

As time went on Lily began to snuggle us back. The warm feeling of her little arms wrapped around me and the rhythm of her breath would often lull me back to sleep when I woke during the night.

These last few weeks I have missed her little body next to mine, but I am also enjoying her pride in claiming her own space and we’re still finding time for plenty of cuddles – especially when she creeps back in during the night.

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Do you have a co-sleeping story to share? Perhaps you'd like to enter it into the Co-Sleeping Essay Contest? See Blue Milk from more info.

Three! (or my adventures with veg jelly)

On Sunday Lily turned 3 and we had a party for her. Here she is with the 'pool cake' that she insisted on having.

I had a bit of drama making the 'jelly' in the middle. There is only one brand of veg jelly crystals in Australia that seem to make a lime flavour (none of them do 'blue') - Vitarium. However, Coles only stock their raspberry flavour and although Vitarium said that they would post me a sample of their lime flavour, it never arrived in the mail. So, on Saturday night I followed a recipe that P. googled for making jelly with agar agar (which, by the way, costs $18 for 50 grams!).

Can I just strongly recommend that you do not follow that recipe yourselves? When I followed the instructions to the letter I ended up with a few large lumps of solid agar agar jell suspended in lime cordial juice. It didn't look appetising (not that I find jelly particularly appetising, to be honest). So, in a small panic, I heated the whole lot back up on the stove and found, to my relief, that it did dissolve again. I then added some extra water to cover any that may have evaporated and (after it had cooled somewhat) popped it in the fridge overnight.

In the morning I got the 'jelly' out of the fridge to find that it was now a very solid lump. I let it warm up a little, but nothing changed, it was like a massive, bowl-shaped jelly baby. Ahhh!

So, in the end, I mashed it with a potato-masher and spooned it into the middle of the cake... Looks 'fabulous,' doesn't it?

On a more serious note, poor Lily got a fever on Sunday afternoon after all the guests had gone home and was quite sick until sometime on Monday night. She had had a pretty exhausting week at preschool (a week of no naps) and I think that the excitement of the party may have just all been too much for her. (Hopefully it wasn't the 'jelly'.)

I'm just glad that she was OK for the party itself, because she had such a good time.

Tempeh wrap lunchbox

Friday's lunchbox was a tempeh wrap (with a bit of extra tempeh on the side); a local autumn plum; some rice crackers & cream cheese; and a blueberry & vanilla yogurt.

When I picked Lily up from preschool her crackers and cream cheese were gone, as was her yogurt (but she told me that she dropped it and I don't know how much she had before that happened) and a few pieces of tempeh. The wrap, however, was still mostly intact and the plum had barely been touched.

I asked her why she didn't eat her lunch and she said that she was too tired. I think her preschool is just fabulous, except for one little detail: they don't sit the kids down to lunch until 1pm. To me that is absolutely crazy! Lily is generally ready for lunch around 11:30-12 (aren't many adults?), and she is exhausted by 1pm. I've talked to them about it, but nothing seems to have changed...

To be fair, they do have a decent morning tea around 10:30-11am with fruit & veggies, and yesterday the children had cooked a 'cheesy vegetable bake' and eaten that with their morning tea (and this is fairly common). So, I may be overreacting. I do, however, wish that they would eat a little earlier.

Fortunately most of the food didn't go to waste. We had tofu, veggies & rice for dinner, and I added in the rest of her tempeh & the veggies from her wrap to her plate.

I covet

image via design inc.

I have been yearning to put a tree on the wall in Lily's room for ages now. The problem is, of course, that we rent. In Australia this means that we have extremely limited rights to do anything at all to our home (i.e you need permission to put up a picture hook!) and we only have a 12 month lease, so anything we do do may have a pretty limited lifespan...

image via home sweet home

Despite all this, I thought that I would share some of my recent finds with you. Maybe you'll be able to use them? Or, maybe they'll still be available next century when we can afford to buy our own house...

First up there is this gorgeous fabric wall sticker from I love my messy room.

I particularly like it with the addition of animals and the fact that it is fabric is pretty cool too. Apparently it can be re-used and will come off the wall without damaging it...

Next up is a wall sticker from the wall sticker company. This one is made of vinyl, but it is a Lara Cameron pattern that I have always loved...

It's also available in wallpaper, which would be very cool (but would really really need to go on the wall of a house that you weren't renting...)

Soba noodle lunchbox

In yesterday's lunchbox I packed a soba noodle salad with broccoli, tofu & sesame seeds, next to it are a few sugar snap peas and a little tub of miso sauce for the noodles, up the top is a nashi pear and a few tiny teddies.

Sadly Lily was exhausted by lunchtime and barely touched her lunch. Fortunately, she ate it all up for dinner (when served alongside some fresh miso soup), so all was well in the end.

Oh, and it turns out that she prefers her nashi pear peeled... Not sure how long I should cater to this preference though - isn't there a ton of nutrients just below the peel?

Lunchboxes... back with a vengeance

One of the things that compelled me to start blogging again was our recent acquisition of a new lunch box for Lily. It's a Laptop Lunchbox (bought from here) and I love it. (Pathetic, aren't I?). Anyway, be prepared for an onslaught of lunchboxes for a little while as I work through my excitement...

This is a picture of yesterday's lunch: animal pasta & cheese, with a little tub of tomato sauce, some watermelon, a salad of capsicum, tomato, avocado & cucumber and some blueberries & yogurt.

In case you were wondering: Yes, it was too much food. She demolished the pasta, ate most of the watermelon & blueberries, but that poor salad was barely touched... Next time I think I'll pack less pasta.

I'm back

Dear blog

I've missed you. Without you I seem to have stopped recording and reflecting on the little moments that make up my life. Despite good intentions I haven't written a single 'letter to Lily' and I've barely taken any photos. To make matters worse, I don't seem to have more time either. In fact, I've realised that you were a great solution to writer's block and I've been a little, well, blocked without you.

So, I guess what I'm saying is: will you have me back? I can't promise to be faithful or devoted, in fact, perhaps it would be best for the long term if I avoided even thinking such thoughts. But I do promise to respect and value what you add to my life.

love
Cristy

So long and thanks for all the fish

From out of nowhere, it would seem, I have completely lost the desire to blog. It's gone.

Anyway, I thought that it was time to acknowledge this fact and take a break from blogging. I think that it's time to move on.

If I get the urge to blog again, and it is a big 'if', I think I'll probably start something new. This blog is starting to feel old and cumbersome.

Thanks for all the comments, fascinating posts, sense of community, friendship, etc. You (and I hope that you all know who you are) have been amazing. I don't know how I would have survived the last few years without you. Honestly. I really don't.

Take care.

Cristy