For the most recent 6 interviews I kept it local and interviewed fellow RADeladian bloggers. Here's a recap of what Kylie, Liv, Sarah, Nichole and Beth have been up to.
July - Kylie from Octavia and Vicky
Thank you to Lauren for inviting me back for an update. Pebble is now a BIG Year 1 student (second year of school) and Rocky is turning three in just over a month. THREE!? Where did THAT time go?
Since my first interview I've had some pretty big changes in family and work. For a number of complicated work reasons I increased my work time from three days a week to four days a week. I have thrived on the work, I just love teaching and sinking my teeth into an extra day has been fabulous! At the same time we decided to move Pebble to my school, instead of her local school (they are only seven minutes drive apart!). It's kind of a long and complicated story... involving me teaching Pebble for the last term of her first year of school. Yep, I taught my own child! That was a bumpy road at first but in the end it was a real blessing and a very special time that I'll never forget. I'll go on to work four days again this year, teaching Reception, lucky me (yes, I really mean that!).
Pebble is READING and writing and doing gymnastics and swimming. She is still an awesome bundle of creative ideas, and loves to do things her own way. She's our rules girl, she loves routine and boundaries, but she also loves looking at things differently and plays and creates in her own individual way.
Rocky has changed child care centres this year, from one that we very much adored to one that is more local, and also wonderful. We're so lucky to have awesome choice in our area. Being closer to home will make his transition to school a little smoother, when the time comes (we hope!). Rocky has really grown up to be boisterous, energetic and a little comedian. He loves to make us laugh. He's also throwing some ripper tantrums these days... but that's another story. At the end of the day he is super cuddly and loving and has big love for his family.
While Paul has gone back to work the three of us have been enjoying school holidays together, with only one more week left to soak up. We have spent LOTS of time with our huge family and awesome friends. As always we made a trip to the city, this time for a ride on the Popeye and a visit to the South Australian Museum. The Museum has changed quite a lot since I last went, or perhaps I just had more time to look around this time, now the kids are a bit older. The kids especially love all the drawers to pull open and examine specimens of one kind or another. One last thing we'll be squeezing in before the end of next week is a trip to the Adelaide Zoo. Always a winner!
With all this going on I'm afraid that blogging on Octavia and Vicky has really taken a back seat. I have been so reluctant to formally call an end to my blogging days in that space, but it has fizzled out to almost nothing now. It remains a wonderful part of my life that I feel so lucky to have enjoyed. Perhaps I will come back to it with fresh eyes, it may include more teaching posts than parenting posts. Or perhaps I'll never write again. I really should stop sitting on the fence and decide! For now I have this beautiful family and awesome job to keep me going.
Thanks again, Lauren, I wish you all the very best on your blogging ventures!
August - Liv from Eenie Meenie Miney Mum
Liv recently wrote a fantastic insight into life with twins. A great read...
You've probably seen her memes popping up all over social media because they're so awesome. Here's four of her most popular...
And here's what Liv has to say...
Considering 2015 was the year eeniemeeniemineymum.com was born, it was a pretty big year! So many instances of nearly accidentally killing my children and/or publicly humiliating myself to share, so little time. No really, so. little. time. And so. many. instances.
Although I have to say, as the festive season (along with every family birthday in basically my entire family because we all apparently only procreate in one single month of the year) drew nearer, and I discovered that I have an uncanny knack of making plans and then not wanting to actually do them when the time comes... my momentum stalled a bit. The faster my littlest baby learned to crawl (or, as is now the case, walk), the less able I was to smash out a blog because she was, you know, smashing all our stuff. Destroying the twins duplo masterpieces. Systematically pulling every book we own off their shelves. Etc etc.
That said.. There is a shining beacon looming down upon us. My twins turned four at the very end of 2015. And you know what that means.
KINDY.
Two and a half beautiful days a week in which someone else is instructing the direction of their little minds and suggesting they not use their vegemite sandwich to wipe up the water they just spilled all over the bench top.
Oh, kindy. How I plan to love thee with all the fervour of my highly caffeinated heart. Oh kindy, how I plan to wistfully smile at just the mere thought of you as I while away my hours sitting watching my single non-kindy age child in the playground, or eating double coated tim tams without having to hide in the cupboard to do so.
So watch this space! 2016 could just be the best year for eenie meenie miney mum yet. Or maybe not. In any case, I'm planning on buying a Dyson stick vac. And if that's not exciting enough news, I don't know what is.
September - Sarah from Working Mums Collective
Well 2015 certainly flew by. It feels like only a few weeks ago that we were getting ready for our little man to start school and now he is getting excited about being in year 1 this year.
Last year was a big adjustment for us getting into the routine of all the school activities. Thanks to a facebook group started by one of the parents in the class we got through and were kept up to date with all the activities, excursions and other important school dates.
It was an bigger adjustment for me to get into the routine of working three days and being home two. After working full time for so long, it was hard to get into that routine.
This year will be another adjustment period for us as I will return to work full time and my husband will be doing more flexible work and will be responsible for the school drop offs and looking after our daughter a couple of days a week. From a work point of view I am looking forward to being back five days a week as I struggled to adjust to only being there three days and was doing a lot of work at home. But I will miss being there for two of the drop offs and pick-ups and will miss my time with Ashlee but it will be good for them to have more time with Dad.
Who knows what the routine will be like the year after… only time will tell.
Things were a bit quieter with working mums collective this year but I have blog plans for 2016. In January I will launch the working mums collective magazine. This gives me an opportunity to combine my passion for design with my passion for supporting working mums and have some great contributors and articles to share for the launch issue. This will then be a quarterly online magazine for working mums. (Get your copy here!)
October - Nichole from You Clever Monkey
Big news for Nichole over at You Clever Monkey is that she now has an online store where you can purchase her printables - such as visual timetable, desk mats, 2D shape challenge cards and much more. She also compiled a list of her top 10 posts from 2015 - here. There's some great stuff! And I always see You Clever Monkey pop up on Facebook sharing fantastic teaching resources (teacher friends you should definitely follow her). She was busy redecorated her children's bedrooms these school holidays and they look beautiful. Even the story books are arranged in rainbow order! I love it! Like all other Aussie teacher's, Nichole is busy preparing for the start of a new school year.
November - Beth from Almost Posh
We really enjoyed Christmas this year, as it was the first time Miss L had any kind of concept of what was going on (and the Father Christmas carrot was dangled a LOT for best behaviour during the lead-up! We kept gifts to a small handful but she certainly didn’t go without and has enjoyed playing with / using everything she received, including bathers and beach towels. Father Christmas also took her bottles away to give to the babies who don’t have any and now she’s got a non-spill cup of water to take to bed (which I’m super happy about). Our pre-childcare routine has improved out of sight lately; I think letting her choose her own outfit has been a big part of it. Next step: toilet training! Wish me luck!
Beth recently wrote about our fun RADelaide bloggers meet up here.
In December I interviewed Hayley from Adelady!
If you missed it you can read it here.
You can also catch up on what Hayley's been up to in her recent feature in Working Mums Collective magazine.
And I only just recently interviewed Angela from Finlee and Me.
Check it out here :)
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I'm looking for some feedback now - if you're a regular reader of Teacher Types, have you enjoyed reading these interviews? Have you found a great new blogger to follow because of one of my interviews? Is it something I should continue this year? Or maybe keep the general idea but with a different approach? Bloggers from elsewhere in the world? Bloggers from other genres with a specific focus eg healthy family recipes, maternal well being, fitness, fashion? OK too many questions - but would love to know your thoughts.
Lauren xx
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