In our house, we have one morning each week when our family can lounge a little, stay in pajamas a little longer than usual, NOT rush out the door at 8am, not huddle in the cold at rugby or hurriedly scoff porridge before work, school and kindy. Sunday …
I have an ‘easy dinner’ method of making chicken pies for those nights when you have zero time to get some good-enough food on the table. Basically I layer spinach and feta on 1/4 of a chicken breast, season with garlic salt and salt ‘n …
It pains me to write that as, if I’m being honest, I’m a total control freak, and I have lost control in my own house.
We’ve all fallen victim to a smiling assassin. 16kg of pure cute that does what he likes, bites whomever he chooses, throws tables and stools willy-nilly, draws on walls and furniture when the mood takes him, rides dogs when he feels the urge, demands cookies before breakfast and snaps his fingers for an Ipad and can justify his outlandish behaviour by batting his eyelashes at you and explaining his actions with the eloquence of a preschooler twice his age.
We are in so much trouble.
It sounds naive, but this rather unacceptable state of affairs has crept up on us as over time. Certain behaviours have become the norm over a period of a few months, mostly since Nixie’s last hospital stay, until things have reached their zenith over the past 7 days and I’m at my wits end trying to contain the ‘baby’ when he goes into hulk-mode.
There are many factors that have combined in a perfect storm of parenting fails;
He has us wrapped around his chubby fingers and he knows it. He has his fake cry on point, when I ask him if he’s watching people unwrap toys on YouTube he says “No Mummy” and quickly switches back to Tayo or diggers, he has said the word yes one time in his whole life – I’m pretty sure he’s actually allergic to any form of willing compliance at this stage. A lot of this can definitely be attributed to his recent stay in Starship. Traumatic things happened to him in order to get him well again and receive the medicines he needed, but it fuelled his instinct to resist and to fight. He still hasn’t stopped fighting. Every diaper change is a massive ordeal and can be really physically demanding. We liken it to alligator wrestling if you’re wondering.
But, Nixon {#nonixonno} needs to be disciplined. I say that in the nicest possible way one can say that one’s two year old needs discipline, but we can’t deny it any longer. The child is on the fast track to the naughty step and it’s time for Dave and I to step up and get down to business.
I can’t write all of this though without recognizing Nixie’s beautiful nature, compassion (usually towards his brother) and his gift for making you feel like you are the most amazing being in the universe. His beautiful smile reaches me when little else can and reminds me of all that’s good. He’s also a freaky FREAK with numbers and can tackle like a five year old who has no time for rippa rugby.
Heart melt Nixon.
Now BEHAVE!
This little blogging gig does wonders for getting me out and about and exploring different parts of Auckland – it’s also pretty deadly on the credit card as I discover more and more fabulous businesses that are doing things so right in this very competitive retail …
I LOVE picture books and I love it when my kids love books. In our house that means rhyming and animals. The latest offering from Giles Andreae, author of Giraffes Can’t Dance, is a gorgeously illustrated romp introducing nature’s most MEGA animals. There’s a dino, a tiger, …
I AM IN AWE OF THE MANY INCREDIBLE MUMS OUT THERE, DOING A FAB JOB OF RUNNING THEIR OWN SUCCESSFUL BUSINESSES WHILST SIMULTANEOUSLY HOLDING DOWN THE FORT AT HOME. I’M FORTUNATE ENOUGH TO HAVE ‘MET’ MANY OF THESE LADIES ONLINE AND CAN’T WAIT TO INTRODUCE YOU TO SOME NEW FACES AND THEIR AWESOME ENTREPRENEURIAL ENDEAVOURS. IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO GET INVOLVED AND HAVE YOUR BUSINESS FEATURED, PLEASE SAY HELLO! MELISSA@THEBESTNEST.CO.NZ
Yay! It’s Monday! No? Will Say hello! help?
Today we meet a gorgeous blonde Mum-duo who are super passionate about whole foods and making them convenient and accessible to even the most time poor amongst us. Lucy & Cushla are Limon & Coco, and are totally dedicated to whipping up clean, lean snacks so you don’t have to.
These fabulous Mum’s just exude positivity and though I’m pretty sure they would fit right into the ‘selling ice to eskimos’ category, their range of clean snacks is both incredibly moreish and incredibly nourishing.
Lucy is a mother of two and a personal trainer with over 20 years experience in the fitness industry. Her holistic approach to health and fitness means nutrition and maintaining healthy eating habits are two of the cornerstones in any client’s potential lifestyle change.
Cushla began her own healthy eating journey to aid in her recovery from illness. She describes the rush-rush habits that we as mums are all so guilty of perpetuating, and credits following the 80/20 rule with maintaining a happy, healthy diet for herself and her family.
1. You’re obviously both really busy Mums outside of Limon & Coco. How are you managing the daily juggle of business and family commitments?
It’s very tough at times but we are both totally committed to our business and our future plans. At this stage we don’t feel it is affecting our family life but we are both blessed to have wonderful supportive families to help us on our journey.
It’s all about time management and prioritizing the important things, communication and great team work is key for us.
2. You both seemed to have ‘arrived’ at Limon & Coco via quite different routes! How do your differences work together to make your brand what it is?
We met through our love of health and fitness. Our paths met when Cushla needed a personal trainer and found Lucy, and the rest as they say is history.
Lucy is a real people person and loves nothing more than motivating her clients. Cushla has a hold on all the technical stuff. Together though, we love creating different healthy snacks. Both bring different skills to the business which put together make a fantastic combination.
3. There are SO many conflicting messages around what to and what not to eat, how do you two navigate this when deciding what ingredients to include in your amazing products?
This is really easy for us as we only use Whole foods, nothing processed and as near its natural state as possible.
4. If you could give other Mum’s three pieces of advice to help them make some healthful changes in their diet what would they be?
Eat more whole unprocessed foods…..Drink water….lots of water…! Sleep…give your body time to rest and recover.
5. What’s ahead for Limon & Coco?
Oh! so much… We have a lot of plans for the future which will be revealed when the times are right. At this stage we are just concentrating on growing our brand and helping others with easy healthy eating options.
This week I was privy (loathe to use that word as it sounds like a privilege which was definitely NOT the case in this instance!) to some communication that was just so nasty and unnecessary that had it been intended for me, I would have …
We have been in our house for just over three years now and the little lemon tree we planted has produced it’s first serious citrus bounty. Luckily we all love the addition of lemon in baking so my new oven {{sigh $$ sigh}} is set to …
We get to see a lot of the ‘latest and greatest’ kids products here at The Best Nest so I hope you trust me when I say, this new offering from Munch is one of the coolest, most useful things I’ve received in quite a long while.
The Baby Food Tray is quite simply, genius. I made all of Ethan and Nixon’s baby food and would have loved the simplicity of this container. I was forever digging deep within the freezer trying to keep track of little pots of baby food, the dates always rubbed off or stickers fell to their deaths deep in the ice………you get the picture.
Made from food grade, BPA free silicone (which is super sturdy btw, not all floppy like most silicone trays), you can just push up the bottom to remove a perfectly portioned 1/4 cup serve.
Obviously we are way past feeding Nixon purees and mashes but there are so many other uses for this container. Nix loves it as a meal tray, exploring the 7 compartmentalised options has definitely resulted in an increased uptake of new foods. The novelty factor is a big win!
The lid snaps on super firmly so is also a perfect on-the-go snack box. I find having to fill 7 spaces is making me get a bit more creative and think outside of my normal options for the little guy. There are so many other ways you could use this marvel of the tupperware drawer (do other people call it that or is it just us?), I’m thinking freezing stocks (you can write on the lid and it washes off with soap and water!), gravy, mini jellies, lemon juice, it’s oven safe so you can even use it to whip up perfectly sized mini-muffins or quiche for kindy/school lunch boxes!
I AM IN AWE OF THE MANY INCREDIBLE MUMS OUT THERE, DOING A FAB JOB OF RUNNING THEIR OWN SUCCESSFUL BUSINESSES WHILST SIMULTANEOUSLY HOLDING DOWN THE FORT AT HOME. I’M FORTUNATE ENOUGH TO HAVE ‘MET’ MANY OF THESE LADIES ONLINE AND CAN’T WAIT TO INTRODUCE YOU TO SOME NEW …