I'm Joanna, a busy married mum of two beautiful boys aged four and three. I'm sharing my experiences as I navigate the wonderful world of motherhood! Mistakes, routines, mum / life hacks, cleaning, beauty…little bit of everything!
Let’s shout out to all those deserving wonderful Dads and partners who also cook up a storm n give us a break!
Today, I was out running business errands all day and didn’t walk in door with our boys after school til 5:45pm…hubby also worked all day and beat me home by barely 10 minutes.
Our 5yro and 3yro boys ate spaghetti from a can… A yummy but very rare meal nowadays… but I literally didn’t have time to even defrost a frozen meal… They were very very hungry…
Hubby said “we can eat later, I’m just going to make pasta”. Okay…cool. I ran about feeding boys, tidying up, bathing and putting them to bed.
Come out to the kitchen to find it transformed into a disaster zone…but so worth it! He loves to cook!
Glutenfree pasta with a lovely spritzer from hubbys recent work trip to the wine country. 🙂
Fresh Carbonara pasta, with mushrooms, pancetta & grated pecorino n parmasen cheese. Normal & glutenfree pasta for me.
I’ve been served worse in a genuine fancy Italian restaurant… it was AMAZING!
Normal pasta… Such a difference! With the TV remote in his control, of course… 🙂
Let’s just say…he can “just make pasta” any time he wants!
Well…that’s me done for the day…🥱…took 4 hours with 3yro ‘helping’ but I managed get 90% of this room decluttering done before 5yro school bus home.
I ruthlessly filled my car with Op shop donations, created a tidy corner in shed for bags of electronics etc (husband to sort, I wasn’t tossing potentially important cords etc…), and threw out lots of unnecessary packaging, broken items etc.
I wiped surfaces with Earthchoice chemical free surface spray then cleaned floors with my trusty cordless Dyson V10, and Ayers spray mop.
We have our guest bedroom back and functional office. Now to tackle the kitchen dishes and dinner I’d neglected all day in the process.
I still need to pull stuff from under bed and declutter it. Plus go through the drawers and paperwork, but I’m happy with what I got done today. Now I can tackle those smaller tasks in a more relaxed space without rushing.
(It’d become basically a storage area for random things, toys, equipment, broken items need of repair, electronics etc…not dirty as such.)
Do you like the topic of decluttering and organising spaces? Check out these related blog posts, and there’s more to come so please hit that FOLLOW button!
All parents worry about their kids… but I do honestly worry about my eldest 5yro more than my 3yro.
(Autism diagnosis process at the moment, it’s been a long frustrating journey…)
He comes home from school in tears quite often, or cries at bedtime as he tells me about his day… about how his classmates aren’t his friends, won’t play with him, or don’t like him. He tries so hard, in his unique way, to gain a connection with others & it’s heartbreaking to see look on his face when he feels rejected.
This cold morning I decided to focus entirely on boys instead of housework. He’s completed over ten puzzles, more or less without my help just a little prompting, and assisted his brother building other puzzles too.
I’ve noticed traits, hand gestures & behaviour pattern I’ve not really noticed before… He communicates, learns & processes knowedge in a different way to other children.
Somehow watching him happily using logic to find & spin pieces into place, noticing & sourcing the different animals/patterns has been eye opening…
I’ll always worry about him… but I worry just a little less now.
He’s going to figure out where he fits & rock this world, in his own special way.
My three year old n I just got back from our morning after-schoolbus drop beach and woods walk.
I took him to the toilet and on bottom of his trouser leg we found this little fella.
He was all distraught, thinking he’d hurt it…but it wriggled n he said “he’s okay mum! Where does he live?…Lets give him a new home?!”.
So he bravely held out his hand (he’s never seen a catapillar) and I put it on his finger. He then walked so carefully n carried it outside, and we placed it on a tree.
He was so happy and now is asking to learn all about catapillars.
Sometimes, I get anxious that we’re failing at raising our boys with kindness and love as we make so many mistakes…and yell more than we should…
But then they do something like this and I think that maybe we’re doing something right, after all.
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Facebook, being Facebook, came up with memories of previous years anniversaries…and I was prompted with the words I wrote on our first anniversary.
It teared me up… and I thought I’d share with you! (Edited slightly to remove specifics)
💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗
A year ago today, I married my best friend. My soul mate. My rock.
We’ve been through so much in the past year…Many situations set to test our love, strength and trust in both ourselves as individuals & each other.
But none more so than the events of the past week… The unexpected news that at 36w3d our precious baby boy was breech, floating in 30% amneotic fluid he needed and size of 34w2d…
And that whilst he and I were both at risk the longer he remained unborn…his health on the outside was not certain and difficult times lay ahead.
The strength we drew from each other, the support my husband gave me during the process as everything seemed to be falling apart around me…
And the fantastic teamwork, skills learned and difficult moments we’ve experienced since becoming parents to a tiny boy not yet ready for this world have only drawn us closer still.
I awoke this morning, not to cliche roses or jewellery or dinner plans, but to the sight of our beautiful boy sleeping on his exhausted father’s chest for comfort because he didn’t want to wake me.
And I’ve never been so happy. I love you babe.
💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗
I could’ve written this again exactly same after our second son was also born unwell, bringing with him more challenges and love.
When have you done a task, knowing you wouldn’t be able finish it 100% properly, but chose to do it and see what difference you could make anyway?
I cleaned our shower today. It had been too long…green n pink mould and soap stuff was starting to build up…I’m almost afraid to post photos…
I knew I’d not be able to clean it perfectly…but I had thirty minutes spare and I couldn’t really use chemical cleaner as it was shortly before bathtime and I didn’t want boys inhaling it.
I sprayed it all over with EarthChoice Bathroom Cleaner, waited fifteen minutes (during which I prepped beds, pyjamas etc) then scrubbed grout with an old toothbrush, wiped with microfibre cloth and sprayed with nozzle jet.
My three year old was all up in my space the whole time…frustrating at the end of a long day…but I threw him a wet cloth and he cleaned the floor n wall tiles. That kept him happy and occupied.
I’ll need go over it soon properly…clean the bits I missed…but I still made a difference, despite having littlies underfoot.
I’m certainly glad that I took the effort to make a difference, despite knowing from the beginning that I wouldn’t be able to finish the task completely.
Only the other day, Mr Almost-Five was asking for his birthday to have somewhere special to store his many books cause his tiny bookcase was too small…
He must’ve read my mind cause I’d already arranged for these bookcases.
Exploring…
His birthday isn’t til tomorrow but I decided to surprise him early, and he was ecstatic when his Grandpa arrived with these bookcases! (Collected them for me in his bigger vehicle)
Even more so when I came out with armload of ‘new’ books I’d been storing away for him. (I regularly buy books from secondhand stores because I don’t think kids can have too many!)
A happy boy reading himself to sleep.
He absolutely loves reading and now he has a place in his room that can grow with him to store all his precious books.
(And so does his younger 3yro brother, who happily inherited his cars bookcase.)
PS: Our biggest baby turns FIVE tomorrow! Where oh where did that time go?!
PPS: He has other gifts coming though his main birthday present isn’t in a box…it’s a memory… His Dad & Grandpa are taking him to the Zoo! He adores animals!
I always check the discount sections at supermarket.
I often find fruits, veggies, bread, baked goods, dairy etc on heavy discount prices.
Most often, there’s nothing wrong at all with product. Sometimes store simply has an excess of new fresh stock so needs to turnover older products, or its nearing/just past expiry, or product is absolutely fine with damaged packaging. If it’s fresh food ie veggies, incorporate into a meal within a day or two.
Today I picked up two packs of these Hot Cross buns, expire today. They’re still soft, would last days in fridge and less than half price.
I kept one pack in fridge for this week for recess and after-school snacks. Other, I buttered them and wrapped individually to freeze in my “snack drawer”. Easy to add to fridge / lunchboxes in evening, and by next day they’re perfect to eat. (Or grab out n bung in microwave for 30-45secs for easy home snacks).
I do this with cheese n bacon rolls, tiny hotdog buns, muffins etc. Saves money and time each day.
So don’t forget to check your supermarkets discount section.
You could be surprised what you find!!
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My three year old can sure be a handful sometimes…but today my eldest is home on half-rest day. (He’s almost five, and having difficulty adjusting to full-time school so trialing some rest periods).
Despite waking 5am, I wasn’t going to nap him but he asked to go to bed, and 3yro was quietly watching Ipad in his room so I was able to focus on reading and getting him to sleep.
Afterwards, I lay on 3yro’s bed with him…as he had short nap earlier & just wanted quiet time.
I must’ve crashed out… because I awoke twenty minutes later to find myself covered in four blankets, my phone next to me & him holding my hand.
“You fell asleep! You tired Mummy! I put blankets on you! I put phone next my Ipad! I held your hand! You feel better now Mummy?!”
I try to remember these sweet times when my boys seemingly morph into devil-like beings and drive me crazy… It’s moments like this that make me feel we must be doing something right raising our boys.
Forever Young Aussie Mum 