A Healthy Snack for Troy & I...(Was also last night's dinner!)

Before I had Hudson I worked as a Sales Rep for vitamin company and as much as my first preference is getting nutrients from great foods as part of a healthy diet I'm a fan of 'topping the tank' with some good quality supplements. And due to still breastfeeding I particularly like to do this!
So I give you my favourite snack ...
4 tablespoons of Vaalia French Vanilla Yoghurt with 1/2 cup of mixed berries & a teaspoon of either Grainfields Australia 'Grains & Greens' or 'Super Greens' I have both of these supplements and I've mentioned them previously as I sometimes mix them in with a smoothie for breakfast. I'm a bit of a sook with powders particularly if they aren't very tasty and I try to just mix with water and drink it but I much rather taste a tinge of it in yoghurt or a smoothie! Troy just has the yoghurt and fruit as he isn't big on the powders, I get him to take 'Swisse Men's Multi' but that's because Ricky Ponting is the ambassador for Swisse! (Troy is a MASSIVE cricket fan)

Yesterday Troy was able to come home for lunch so I cooked Chicken Curry and dinner last night was this! (Troy had Noodles also).

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Entree ...Mixed Vegie Bag

I've been giving Huddo finger food portions of vegies for a while now but I wanted to set up a way that I could have some chopped mixed veg on hand ready to steam or pan-fry for either Huddo's dinner or lunch but be happy with the serve and variety. So I thought that at the start of each week I would try to do up a bag per day of  a 'cup' of vegies with a mix of what I have for that week and then keep 2 in the fridge for the first and second days of the week and the rest in the freezer.

This week in the bag: Sweet potato, carrot, broccoli, cauliflower, zucchini, peas, mushrooms.
A cup size serve gave about 3 pieces of each veg.
To chop up enough for the week I used: 3x carrots, 2 small sweet potatos, 1/3 of head of cauliflower, 2 small heads of broccoli, 1 cup of mushrooms, 1/2 cup of peas, 1 zucchini.
I went shopping on a Sunday afternoon this week after visiting the family down the coast for the weekend, so Woolies was looking a little bare by this stage. I've got so many containers in the freezer at the moment from all the cooking lately so there is even more variety and vegies for my Huddo to come over the week also. Each day I'm going to cook them a little different-
Tuesday (today): Pan fry in a little butter and garlic
Wednesday: Steam.
Thursday: Pan fry with a bit of basil paste and olive oil
Friday: Steam with a touch of dill.
Saturday: Panfry with garlic & rosemary.
Sunday: Pan fry with a bit of seeded mustard and little butter. For his other fingerfood serving of the day whether it be lunch or dinner I'm playing around with Annabel's Finger Food book.

Climbing and General Chaos....

I think this is where I lend out words of wisdom to some...."Be careful what you wish for"....for those that may be closely following this blog and saw the post where I mentioned a while back that Huddo needed to get on the go a bit more so that it pushed me to lose a bit more weight. Well even though Hudson took his first steps about 6 weeks ago he is still just taking 4-5 steps at a time and generally choosing crawling as he is very quick at that when he has a bigger distance to go. But something that has really kicked up a notch is his climbing and this is enough to give a heart attack.
Due to Huddo being so tall he just climbs up on everything with ease. And I get a little embarrassed because my not-even 10 month old can chin up his own body weight better than I can. He loves doing this on the kitchen bench to try and get a better look at what he can grab that isn't his. So safe to say I'm on guard every waking minute trying to teach him what not to touch and don't get me started on the amount of times a day I say "Nooooooo!!!!" I know there are heaps of child safety locks and devices available and on the real hazards I have implemented this but with some things I am trying to teach him the meaning of "No" and following instruction. ....I'm sure some are laughing and saying "Good luck with that" but hey like everything...I'm trying.
Every morning now Huddo comes out into the living room and climbs onto the couch and hands me the remote (or more like tries to operate himself) to turn on his morning shows and even when we went for a trip to the doctors on Wednesday he insisted on getting out of his pram and climbed up on a chair next to me to sit and wait at the doctors.

Then when climbing something a bit bigger or just that bit too tall for him, he does the good old stand on something to get him up a bit....which scares me more than anything....this is a picture taken yesterday of his efforts...

so with this in mind....new rule...the train is not allowed in the playpen!!!
Then there was what happened yesterday....
On Mondays & Thursdays I take care of my friend's little boy Dallas who is 6 weeks younger than Huddo and just as I was changing Dallas' nappy and elbow deep in a destructo-poop Huddo is going straight for the kitchen...he was taking a few steps and since he still isn't very steady I was watching him and doing my usual "Be careful matey"...within the next 5 seconds Huddo was at a cupboard in the kitchen opened the door and pulled out a stack of bowls.....SMAAAAASSSSHHHH!! First time in my life I was grateful to have 3 dirty bowls in my sink because five of my eight were now destroyed. So with Dallas in one arm and a clean nappy only half done up I bolted to Huddo and scooped him up in the other arm and put both boys in the playpen so I could clean up the mess and prevent either from hurting themselves on the bits of smashed bowls. (Inside the playpen I did Dallas' nappy up....didn't want anymore mess!)
Huddo was losing it big time from the noise but I just had to get the bits cleaned up.
So once every bit of bowl was either in the bin or the vaccum cleaner I jumped into the playpen with the boys, gave my Huddo a cuddle and tried to do the whole "Now that's why you aren't allowed in the cupboards!" and then apologised to both boys for being silly since really I only had myself to blame.....Hindsight: Definitely should've put Huddo in the playpen while I changed Dallas' nappy! Oh we live we learn. 

Annabel's Sauce & Potato Pizzette Bites & My Tuna Risotto.

Last week Troy bought me another Annabel Karmel book. This time I got the 'Top 100 Finger Foods' to expand on the variety of 'entrees' I give Huddo before his purees at lunch and dinner and as usual I'm loving the ideas! Yesterday I used 2 of the recipes from this book- the 'Quick Tomato Sauce' & 'Potato Pizzette Bites' and with the left over sauce I had I made a Tuna & Veg Risotto and froze some sauce for another day. Here's a pic of the result of my cooking efforts-

 The sauce itself was extremely easy and gave me an amount of about 450g, so with some of it I made 'Potato Pizzete Bites' which was simply slicing a potato and baking in a bit of olive oil for about 15 minutes on each side then topping each slice with some of the sauce and sprinkling grated cheese (I used a mix of parmesan and cheddar) the recipe also states you can use mozzarella. Then pop bake into the over to bake for 2-3 minutes until the cheese has melted. I gave 3 for an entree for lunch and 3 for an entree at dinner....

Since these seemed quite popular I froze a few portions in an ice-cube tray and then with the other half I made a risotto. Here was what I came up with, with what I had....

Ingredients-
200g Annabel Karmel's Quick Tomato Sauce
1 cup rice
1 cup vegetable stock
1 95g tin of tuna
2 carrots (diced quite small pieces)
1 zucchini (diced quite small pieces)
1/2 cup baby rice (I use Rafferty's Garden)
1/2 cup grated parmesan

Method-
1)Simply put all ingredients (except parmesan) into a pot and cook covered on low until rice and veg are soft (stir every 2-3 minutes to ensure rice doesn't stick to bottom of the pot). I needed to add half a cup of water at 2 separate times just to give more moisture for the rice to absorb in order for it to soften.
Since I was going to give this to Huddo without pureeing, I wanted to make sure it was very very soft so this took about half an hour to cook on low. I find that you don't want to cook rice on high in this sort of dish as it just sticks to the bottom and burns way to easily so slow is best.
2)Once cooked add parmesan and stir through.
3)Divide into containers. (puree if wanting finer pieces)

Note: I added some baby rice also as I like the iron content in bubba rice.

Snack Options for Huddo This Week...

For the last month Huddo has been having both morning and afternoon tea and with that came a new element for me to think of and attempt to keep some variety over the week. Below is a pic of the options he has this week (some will last into next week also)....

I still make the 'ice-cube' trays of fruit purees that I mentioned in the week I started this blog. And I use the puree cubes to mix in with breakfast and give as a dessert after lunch and sometimes dinner but these above are some finger food morning tea and afternoon tea snacks I give. (These are the ones I have this week anyway). Trying to keep variety is a challenge because once again I think of the week and say 7 days that means 14 snack times! So if I have 6 different ones for the week....I think I'm doing ok in the variety department.

So pictured there is:
-(bottom left)  Mixed Berries: I buy these frozen and thaw them out about 20 minutes before I give to Huddo. I posted about blueberries last week, but to once again, 'mix it up' I went with mixed berries this week for something different.
-(top left) Vaalia Baby Yoghurt 6m+ (6 x75g pack $3.97 about 67c a tub) : I think I have mentioned previously that Huddo hated yoghurt. Yes well that is now past tense. The little boy that I take care of for a friend of mine 2 days a week had yoghurt for his lunch the other week and I gave Huddo a little bit to see if he still disliked it.....He decided he now likes it and kept trying to grab it off his little friend so I now make sure I have some in the fridge.
-Mini Macro Organic Sultanas (6 x40g pack $3.99 I give about half a box (20g) for one serve therefore will get 12 serves from this making cost about 34c a serve): I found these at Woolworths this week and compared them to other brands and found they were the lowest in sugar and still around the same price.
-Packham Pears: (they were $1.98/kg this week!)..don't worry I dont just give him the whole pear and see what he does. I peel and chop into fingers as a snack for Huddo. Oh and the pears are Niiiiiiiice at the moment!
-Mini-Muffin of the Week 'Carrot with Cream Cheese Topping': Since these muffins have a 'cream cheese topping' that consists of cream cheese with a little icing sugar and bit of vanilla essence I left out the caster sugar out of the muffin mix and did double the amount of carrot so they were not so sugar-laced.
-And finally pictured in the centre is 'Go Natural: Fruity Bites' (6x30g packs $5.99 about $1 a serve): My really good friend Danni put me onto these and informs me that one bag of these little coconut fruit balls is '1 serving of fruit'. They are gluten free, preservative free and also have added non dairy calcium.....oh and they are yum!

Hudson's Chicken Dinner.....Keeping it Simple

Tonight I made Huddo a really simple Chicken dish. And even though it was a puree, I wanted to eat some!

Ingredients:
100g Diced Chicken
1 potato (peeled and chopped roughly)
2 carrots (peeled and chopped roughly)
1/4 of a butternut pumpkin (peeled, chopped roughly)
1/2 cup of peas
1/2 cup of cous cous
1 cup of vegie stock
1 clove of garlic
knob of butter

Method:
1)Put all ingredients into a pot. Cook on medium heat until soft (may need to add a bit of water to just cover veg but not too much that have to drain any liquid before pureeing)
2)Puree to desired consistency.
3)Divide into containers. Yuuuuummmm....

Wonder Weeks...Part 2

When Troy got home from work tonight Hudson was doing something he never does...was sucking his thumb. Immediately Troy went over to him and picked him up and said "Awww you teething again buddy?"
I pulled out The Wonder Weeks book and said "Nope, we are hitting a leap.....BIG TIME!"
On the page that lists the Signs My Baby is Growing Again we have.....

-Cries more often and is bad-tempered or cranky.....check. Huddo is such a happy little chap but has definitely not been himself the last few days.
-Is cheerful one moment and cries the next....check.
-Wants to be kept busy, or does so more than often.....check
-Clings to your clothes, or wants to be closer to you....CHECK! For the last few days I have had to get the housework done with a 12.5kg bubba constantly grabbing my legs and swinging from my clothes. My 9 month old son was hanging off my pants so tightly yesterday they fell to the floor. I think he was shocked at the sight of my bum but then started laughing....so far there doesn't seem to be a reference about the understanding of toilet humour or that dacking someone is funny.....but Huddo seemed to think that was hilarious and then tried to do it again and again while I was attempting to do the dishes!
-Acts unusually sweet...check...but I like it!
-Is mischievous...CHECK! Just when I thought I had had a breakthrough in the meaning of "No"..today Huddo decided he did not care a bit about his toys and just went from one drawer to another, to cupboards and pretty much everything else that he is not allowed to touch...CONSTANTLY!
-Throws temper tantrums, or throws them more often than before...check..."No" was not well received today to say the least.
-Is jealous....check.
-Is sheer with strangers than before.....check.
-Wants physical contact to be tighter or closer...check...well due to tantrums from constantly being told "No" today after he would stack on a turn he would come up to me and want extra long and tight cuddles. I seriously forget how much he is driving me crazy when he does this, but then he's ok, gets down and within 10 minutes is back at another drawer even with me on the floor playing with him and his toys.
-Sleeps poorly..check...there have been some shockers lately. Which is unlike Huddo as since he was first home from hospital he has always slept well at night.
-Seems to have nightmares...check...poor little mate has been crying a bit in his sleep lately.
-Loses appetite...Nope. I don't think anything would slow up my kid's eating habits.
-Babbles less...check. He has definitely been a bit quieter.
-Sometimes just sits there, quitely daydreaming...check.....and below is Exhibit A (more like standing there daydreaming.)

-Refuses to have diaper changed...check...but that's nothing new. Huddo doesn't like staying still for things like getting dressed and nappy changes.
-Sucks thumb...check. When he NEVER does that normally.
-Wants to cuddle toys, ...nah just wants me to cuddle him more often.

So there you have it. I think it's safe to say Hudson is in the thick of growing again. (Loving this book) Because normally I seriously would put this sort of behaviour down to teething.

The Wonder Weeks....Part 1

Before I start my post on this awesome book I just want to say that I wish I had heard of it earlier!
To give a brief rundown, The Wonder Weeks by Hetty van de Rijt & Frans Plooji is about how to stimulate your baby's mental development and help him/her turn the 10 predictable, great, fussy phases into magical leaps forward. The most important developmental leaps in your baby's first 20 months.

I'm reading this book similarly to how I read What To Expect When You're Expecting when I was pregnant. I'm not reading it in its entirety at once. I'm reading the stage that applies to where Huddo is at currently. He will be 42 weeks tomorrow. So I have currently read most of the beginning up to the upcoming stage which is at 46 weeks. It's amazing to see how the little mind of a bubba may work and like everything I'm sure it isn't for everyone but I personally have found what I have read to be right on the money. I'm finding it helpful in giving me ideas of things to do with Hudson to stimulate the mental development. To give a simple example he is currently being a little fussy and showing signs of coming into the next stage which is about The World of Sequences so when we got into the elevator in our apartment building the other day I let the doors shut and go "We need to push the button. Huddo push the button to get it moving" The look on his face when he pushed the button for our floor and the lift started to move. It was like I could see the lightbulb go off in his head that that button was part of the sequence of us getting to our apartment!
However, I didn't really think much of things like that at this age. I seemed to associate pushing the button as something a 3 year old does when they get in a lift. It might seem trivial but this was just one thing in a long list of things to check off in this stage. ....more to come on Huddo's progress.

Keepsakes...Part 4...Teeth Chart

In the scrapbook I have for Huddo, which is basically a big book for all the bits of paper that don't go into the baby books I have a 'Teeth Chart'. I've been marking on it the date each tooth cuts and how old Huddo was at the time. I find it really interesting looking at the average age that each tooth cuts and the expected sequence. Once again just something to look back on because I can see how in years to come some of the details become a little foggy. ...

...To get one all I did was go to Google Images and type "Baby Teeth Chart"

this is one of the first ones that come up.



Huddo so far.....

Blueberry & Ginger Mini Muffins

In keeping with the battle against cold & flu, I made some blueberry and ginger mini muffins yesterday afternoon (Huddo had one for dessert last night) I kind of winged it so I was happy they turned out!
The recipe was as follows:

Ingredients
150g flour (sifted)
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
50g caster sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 eggs
2 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon honey
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
1/2 teaspoon of freshly grated ginger
1 cup blueberries
butter (for greasing the tray)

Method
1. Preheat oven to 180oC and grease a mini muffin tray with butter
2. Combine in a bowl, the eggs, milk, honey, vanilla, ginger and blueberries with a wodden spoon
3. Add in the flour, baking powder, sugar and cinnamon and stir well.
4. Divide ingredients into mini muffin tray (fill each hole about 2/3)
5. Bake for 20 minutes.
6. Allow to cool and then store in airtight container.

The main thing that I was really happy about with this recipe was that  when I cut one of them open they turned out to be more of "blueberries with a bit of muffin" ...rather than "muffins with some blueberries" making them definitely quite a healthy little snack.

lots and lots of blueberry goodness.....

seriously.....this kid loves everything I give him! Love my happy fella!

("Hey Huddo you dropped a bit on your shirt".....5 seconds later it was gone!)

A Cake...Before the Cake Course...

On Sunday Troy, Huddo and I went to visit my best friend Katie for her birthday. I made her a birthday cake for the occasion. Keep in mind it's the 3rd cake I've ever made and the prior 2 were thanks to good old 'Green's Packet Mix'.....I made this from scratch. All of my fondant kit and bits and pieces I've been ordering off ebay haven't arrived yet so I just did a basic buttercream icing cake. But I tried to get a little fancy...it looks more along the lines of for a 6 year old girl rather than a 26 year old woman but hey....once again, I tried. Katie loved it which is what I was going for...

The big mistake I made and purely just because I was eager to decorate was that I didn't wait for the cake to cool completely before icing. (You can see the icing is substantially darker in the middle on the top)
As much as this is not a terrible effort I am definitely glad I'm going to be doing a course!! The recipe I used for the cake itself was quite good tho. Very tasty. Little note to self though, I think if I'm going to get into baking on a regular basis I need to set a ground rule.....NO LICKING THE BOWL!

Keepsakes...Part 3....Hand & Foot Prints...REALLY???

Due to Huddo becoming 9 months old on the 28th May I filled in the appropriate pages in the baby books for '9 Months Old'....One of the books had a page that wanted the hand and foot print. Now I've been putting this off for the last 2 weeks, because I know my Huddo. He doesn't sit still. The kid is ALWAYS on the go. So I've been a little concerned that once I got the paint on his hand and foot what would happen...

Ok so I layed a couple of big pieces on paper on the bathroom floor and thought I'd get him to do a few practice attempts before the page in the book. Oh he HATED it. I did the hand first and thought I'll do the hand, clean it off then do the foot. He hated that I was taking control of his hand and trying to use it as a stamp. So before he lost the plot completely I just went ahead and pressed his wriggly little hand on the book. Wiped his hand clean and he was just trying to get away and out of the bathroom. I quickly put some paint on his foot and pressed the book against it as he was getting away so the foot is upside down. So I've come to the conclusion that this book was not put together by someone that has had an active 9 month old...WORST BABY BOOK TASK EVER!!!!

Ps: Huddo does have toes....he just smudged them completely. Oh well, I tried....... :)

Protein = Up...Carbs = Down..Snacks = GONE!

Ok, well despite walking more and more last week. Nothing is happening with these few kilos I want to shake. And it's Monday so I'm prepared to .So this morning I made myself a protein rich brekky with a bit of carbs to keep me going and keep up the milk supply. I had 2 eggs scrambled on one piece of multigrain toast.....and put NO tomato sauce on it, and didn't cook up any bacon for the side. (I'm such an Aussie and add tomato sauce too regularly.) In terms of the modifications I'm going to make to other meals to cater to for more of a weight-loss goal, stay tuned I'll add these into my recipes that I do post. As for snacks, I'm giving up my Grain Waves, and Jatz & Cheese and sticking to a small handful of blueberries for morning tea and small handful of almonds for afternoon tea. Let's just see if this makes a difference.

Going to go for a walk this arvo. (I do about 5 kms) Then I am going to attempt at getting back into a routine of doing my pilates dvd! I have 2 dvds that I was (yeah fully haven't for the last month or so) rotating between each day, the '10 Minute Solution: Pilates Perfect Body' and 'The Tracy Anderson Method Presents: Post Pregnancy Workout'....oh the goals the goals. But hey it's Monday and I'm both keen and optimistic. :)

Snack Time....BLUEBERRIES!

I've given Huddo blueberries in puree form before on its own and also mixed with mash banana but yesterday and today I gave him whole blueberries as a snack for afternoon tea. Well, good thing our apartment is warm because I stripped him down to a nappy for this exercise. Wish the photos picked up more of the purple stains that he had going on because they seriously cracked me up!

Some Fun Facts about Blueberries and the many reasons why I love them myself:
-They are rich in antioxidants
-Vitamins A, C & E
-Great amounts of B6
-Minerals such as potassium, manganese, copper, iron and zinc.
-Specifically the Zinc, C & antioxidants make blueberries a great all-round 'Flu Buster'

A Legume Dish for Hudson...

This afternoon I made Huddo a legume dish that I pretty much 'winged' with what I had. So cute that it turned out to definitely be the biggest winner this week! He was literally giggling and applauding in between mouthfuls and leaning as far forward as the highchair would let him with his mouth open. So funny and it was really easy.
The recipe:
Ingredients-
200g (Half a tin) 5 Bean Mix
200g Butternut Pumpkin (diced)
Half a large sweet potato (diced)
Half a head of broccoli (broken into small florets)
1 cup vegie stock
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup cous cous
teaspoon butter

Method-
1)Put all vegies & beans into a saucepan
2)Cover vegies in stock and water
3)Bring to a boil. Once boiling turn heat down to simmer, stir in cinnamon, cous cous and butter and place lid on saucepan.
4)Cook until vegies have softened.
5)Either mash or put through food processor until desired consistency.
6)Separate into containers.

Meal Planning Sheet...

Last week when out having a wander around the shops I went into Kikki K Stationary store. I've always been a lover of a good stationary store with pretty folders, notebooks, etc.... and saw the cutest sheet to help with writing up Meal Planning.

It's a pad of just heaps of copies of this sheet for $9.95.......definitely a lot better than the scraps of paper I find to scribble the meals for the week down on that's for sure.

Dinner for Hudson....Beef with Asian Greens & Ginger.

As I mentioned in previous posts I'm pretty big on proteins and also the natural immune boosters. So with these in mind last night for dinner I made Huddo a beef stirfry with Asian greens and Ginger.
The recipe was as follows:
Ingredients:
200g Diced beef
2 pieces of bok choy
2 pieces of pak choy
half teaspoon of freshly crushed ginger
1 clove garlic (crushed)
2 carrots
quarter of a head of cabbage
half a head of broccoli
2 handfuls of bean shoots
1/2 cup mushrooms
1 cup vegie stock
1 teaspoon of soy sauce
1 teaspoon honey

Method:
1)Chop up loosely all the vegies into smallish pieces
2)Place into a saucepan, all vegies, ginger, soy sauce, honey, vegie stock cook on medium with the lid on. Cook until veg are soft.
3)Cook beef in fry pan with garlic and splash of olive oil.
4)Once beef is cooked through put into saucepan with with vegies for 3 minutes. (Option: Leave a couple of pieces of beef out for finger food)
5)Take off heat puree until desired consistency add some baby rice for carbs.
(This should give about 4 servings)

Keepsakes...Part 2

Part 2 of Keepsakes is about photos and baby books. I was never very good with photos until I got together with Troy and had Hudson.
For Troy's and my first Christmas together Troy started a photo book comprising only of the photos of him and I. Even now with having Hudson this particular photo album is strictly for Troy & I. However, we do have a couple of photo albums that are for everything but it is mainly pictures of Hudson! (To give you an idea, since Huddo was born in August of last year we have filled one '360 Pocket' album and the second one is well on it's way. And that was being picky with what we got printed as we have on our computer approximately 1850 photos.)
In the photo albums I'm all about the 'date the pic was taken'....keeping all the pics in date order is so easy with computers as when I get a batch printed I just sit with the album and the laptop and check the dates on the laptop that pic was taken to ensure they go in the right order and also I love writing how old in weeks and days Huddo was. Seeing the changes is just so amazing.
I also love all the things you can do with photos. With our professional photos we had done, I have had some canvases made for the wall and I selected my favourite 85 of the 250 and made a photobook online. Here are some pictures of my favs in our house....

Troy & I on our First Date....

Open is the photobook I made from our first professional family photoshoot........

And finally another place I put photos of Hudson is in his baby books. Now I know this is going to seem really silly, but I have 3 baby books. I bought a 'First 5 Years Record Book'  when I was pregnant (The white one you can see in the pic above), then I was given another 5 Year Record Book and a First Year Book, and each one was just quite different and had different things to record that I couldn't help myself and I continually write in each of them and stick in various photos....

A little trick I found with Baby Book dates of milestones if I haven't had the time to fill in the books for a few weeks....I go through my iPhone and look at the dates on the text messages I sent Troy. (Pretty much anything Hudson does I text Troy straight away if he's at work!)

Now for everyone who likes to be money savvy, I use The Harvey Norman Photo Centre. I order everything online and update the photo albums when they have 9c prints and I did the photobook and canvases when they had 40% off. When you join up online you receive emails when they have deals on. (It's 9c prints at the moment I might add....and a I just placed my order of pics from the last 2 months!)
For those of you that are Sunshine Coast residents and looking for a professional photographer I highly recommend Images by Andrew he was well priced and we were so happy with the photos I will definitely be getting him to take our pics again next year!

eBay....Selling=Fun

This week I have been doing a lot of what I seem to do every 3 months. De-Cluttering & Re-Organising our apartment. Having a child as most will agree just brings so much more stuff into your home. Yes Bubba stuff is soooo cute but it takes up space and the turnover of 'things' that they need is very quick to say the least. In our current living situation we struggle to have the space for some of the things we need little though the things that we no longer need so in this case along with the everyday cleaning I forever tidying and re-assessing cupboards with the question of "Anything needing to be piffed?"

Something I have been quite fond of for a long time is eBay. I like finding a good bargain on there but most of all the thrill of the sell is something in a league of its own for me. The elements of eBay selling that definitely don't go astray for us.
1)Freeing up the space in the apartment
2)If it's a bigger item and you have 'pick up only' on it...basically someone pays you to come and take it away at generally NO inconvenience to you...YAY!
2)Bringing in a bit of extra $$$...

Whenever I put something for sale up on eBay, Troy & I together just become obsessed with the thrill of how many people are 'watching' the item and how many bids it has.
Here are a few eBay selling tips I have found to be valuable-
1)Schedule your item to start & finish around 8pm....people have generally had dinner and are sitting at their computers clicking around at this time and therefore are going to be able to have the time to get active in a potential bidding-war...
2)Have the starting amount on your item for the bare amount you would accept for the item. In many cases putting the price you WANT as a starting price can be a bit too high for people to get into, but just by starting something that bit lower can tweak their interest and just may find they 'have to have it' and you still get above your original 'wanting' price in the end.
3)Have your auctions finish around the end of the week or close to Thursday & Friday. This is most people's pay day and some can tend to be a bit more 'bid-happy' if they have just got paid.
4) Look at what other similar items are selling for first. You don't want to be the only $100 starting price of an item when someone has something the exact same starting for $20. The $20 is going to have more 'bids' on it and even though may eventually surpass $100, I believe that with eBay some people hit a point where they no longer really care for the bargain....they care for a WIN!

 ...If you are looking for a baby capsule..I'm selling one on eBay currently..