RAVES of the Week!

These are my raves of the week. Totally my own personal opinion, if I want to promote someone I will because they deserve it.

Delight Face Painting - Daphne did our face painting at the RAD Kids Xmas Party. One word - amazeballs!
https://www.facebook.com/delightfacepainting/ 

The Warehouse - right now their home ware section and outdoor living are amazing! I got the coolest lime green picnic rug for rrp$15. It's a Beach Works brand and rolls/folds up. Can't wait to use it! I also stocked up on drinking glasses - 8 small, and 8 large classy looking ones for $12 on sale.

Christmas Club - any Christmas Club really at this time of the year is such a relief. I have The Warehouse and New World. Both give rewards if you don't use them before December and I can tell you, I was so relieved to get a couple hours kid-free and not have to "pay" for any Christmas pressies!

McDonalds Greerton - am loving that they now have McCafe in their drive-thru!! Especially love my flat white coffee while stuck in morning traffic. They even have a reward card - buy 5 get one free yeow!



Lollipops Playland - we recently had our twins 3rd party here and both kids and adults had a fab time. They have stepped up their game recently - the food was great, party set up a hit (Thomas the Tank Engine of course) and our hostess was super friendly with the kids.
http://tauranga.lollipopsplayland.co.nz/

Thin Lizzy - this stuff is awesome!! Usually I'm a full coverage foundation kinda girl, but over summer wanted something easier and this has much better coverage than when I used it a few years ago. Thumbs up to Farmers too - for $34 I got the compact and brush plus an extra lighter compact, extra brush, powder puff and lip balm!

Olivea Anstis Hair Studio - I have been ringing all around town looking for GHD prices and info. I am finally (after wanting some for about 5 years) shouting myself some after my Vidal Sassoon then my mums Remington hand-me-down straighteners died a slow death. Olivea was the ONLY person who was genuinely interested in helping me find what was right for me, and even had $30 off! Thumbs down to a certain hair place at Papamoa Plaza - your receptionist wasn't interested at all.

Being a SAHD - Stay at Home Dad

Being a SAHD – Stay at Home DAD

A peek through the window of stay at home dad of twins, Jay

Ok, ok first: you’re all wrong and I’m totally right about everything!! As long as we have cleared that up we can move forward.

Things you will find in this blog:

•  I love my kids, but by Jesus they drive me fucking crazy

•  FYI this post will contain swearing

•  Not everyone's experiences are the same

•  WE ALL TAKE THE PISS OUT OF OUR KIDS (don't even try to say you don't)

•  This is just fun and contains little insights into the life of a stay at home dad

Here's what I've learnt so far:

There aren't that many of us around.

Little suits that snap up the back are evil. Hide or destroy them. You will not be able to figure them out in your 15th week of sleep deprivation. Buy front-snaps only. It doesn't matter how cute they are. Except for the Pooh outfit. You can keep that one, but only for special occasions.

There's nothing wrong with duct tape.

Get help. Have people visit. One approach is to make it clear to them that they are there to take care of you, not the babies. Another is to give them baby duties. Whichever you do, make it as clear as if you were talking to employees.

Put Velcro tape under the baby wipe box. It stops you fighting with it while you juggle a baby with a poo explosion in the pants. Seriously is it just my kids that have that instant reaction to put their hands down there once those tabs on the side of the nappy get pulled??

Bouncy chairs. Get two. Rock one with your foot while you hold the other baby. They're also for feeding two babies at a time. Insert babies into bouncers, insert bottles into babies. It’s obviously why they were made :)

Sleep and the Lack Thereof.....

The sleep deprivation will be worse than anything you can imagine. I once went 96 hours straight on ahh film project? Yeah we will go with that (AKA:  Xbox game Halo4). Thought it was pretty macho. That was nothing. This kind of sleep deprivation tilts all the way over into mental illness. You will say things you don't usually say, see things in ways you don't usually see them, and probably piss some people off. It's okay. When you start sleeping again, it'll gradually get better. It will. It really will.

It gets easier. It does. I promise. For us, it started to ease when our twins hit around 4 1/2 months of age. As of today, we can count on both babies sleeping from 7pm until 6am. I know right!?!  Holy shit.... eating, and then sleeping from 8:30am until 10:30am.  That's 2 hours. If you're still expecting, 6 hours in 3-hour blocks sounds like torture. If you've got newborns, just hang on to this thought: in a few months, you'll get 6 hours of sleep.

That doesn't mean we're chipper and perky. We're exhausted. We're just not that kind of exhausted.

You can put two babies to sleep by jiggling them in one bassinette, but it takes a while as they keep waking each other up.

And finally we reach the end of this blog for the first week. I’ll leave you with a small picture each week that you might find amusing... if not sod off lol

The Christmas Grinch - Or Not?

Why I need to budget for Christmas throughout the whole year!

It is the 4^th of December right – how many Christmas parties have you been to yet?

How many gifts have you had to buy for pre-Christmas gatherings? 

My answer – too fucking many!

My tree is half up, my house is themed Semi-Christmas/Semi-something else, and my kids have already had their share of Xmas gifts - We have only just stepped foot into Decembers door.

How bloody ridiculous!

Don’t get me wrong, I am not the Grinch of Christmas, I actually freeking  LOVE Christmas!  So much so that I start planning it in November.

But I do think we are getting a little bit away from what we had as a kid – Santa used to throw out lollies at Parades and that was about as much Pre-Christmas excitement we had.  And that was enough!  That was until the lolly scrambles were banned due to too many PC precious Mums and Dads.

These days we are buying $5 gifts for every Christmas party our kid has to attend.  We could be spending up to $50-$60 even before our kids have set out the plate of cookies for the Big fat Man (Am I even allowed to say ‘Big Fat Man’ – you know, living in a PC world and all)
And then there is always that handful of Mums/Dads that end up buying their kid a $50 gift, while all the other kids sit around in the circle watching this spoilt little brat wave their prized possession in front of all the other kids who’s mums and dads actually followed the rules.

Bring back the Lolly scrambles that almost took an eye out – that’s half the fun right?  Dodging imminent injury and winning a prize for the courtesy?

Chucking kids in fairy costumes with drag queen make-up and sending them down a stretch of road waving to the crowds is enough!

Having Santa throw a bag of sweets at the heads of unsuspecting 2year olds is enough!

Opening gifts on ACTUAL CHRISTMAS is enough!

Participating in the tradition of Advent Calendars stating the religious reasons behind Christmas is enough! (totes not preaching, but the ridiculous amount of Advent calendars with no particular meaning except to feed your kids more garbage is beyond me!)

Eating mounds of deliciously fattening and ‘mid-day nap’ inducing spreads on Christmas day ONLY is enough!  Let’s face it, we don’t need the pre-feast, our asses are letting us know all about it!

Let us not bring this up at the Jingle Jingle Rad Xmas party, but I will enjoy bitching about it after!

Be Rad - Janine

How We Became So RAD #3

Ainsley, Toby, Zach, Mason & Tyler

 

Hi, I'm Ainsley - wife to Toby, and Mum to 11 year old Zach and 3 year old twins Mason and Tyler. Although Zach is my step-son, we have an amazing mum/son bond and I love him like my own. Even when he's lippy and grumpy upon being woken up by the boys at 6am!

 

Life is hectic at times with Toby and I working full time, Zach about to enter intermediate school and the boys in a mix of daycare and home based care. Needless to say 99% of the time I'm uber organised and that 1% I'm freaking out!
 

I went back to work when my boys were 11 weeks old, a decision I now regret as I worked for a total toss-pot at the time (insert really naughty words here) and felt my employment was in jeopardy if I took longer off than entitled to. I now have a job I LOVE (on the beach front even!) with people who are genuinely awesome. Although I've struggled long and hard with the " working mum" dilemma's I feel as a family we're now in a really good place with routines - I am the Queen of Routine! LOL.

 

Having twins 8 years after Zach was a baby (yes, I've been his step-mum since he was born. Long ugly story but not nearly as juicy as some would like to believe!) I found I forgot a lot of basics and that there were WAY more cool things for babies than there used to be.

 

After a whirlwind three years of full on baby/toddlerness I feel we are both semi-expert in the art of sleep and toilet training - two of our most recent achievements in parenthood. Yes extremely dorky!

The story behind the three of us Mum's joining forces, was for me stepping down from my position on our local multiple birth club as Membership Co-Ordinator / Buddy Support person after becoming increasingly disappointed in the direction the club was going. I'm more keen to see kids and members being focused on than they were. YOLO!!

So there you have it. The three of us quit the club, got together (AKA bitched and moaned via Facebook messenger until we decided to do something about it) and now we have Rad Inc.

We plan to do fun stuff (we have a "team building weekend" coming up), post ridiculously funny and sometimes interesting articles, write blog pieces and reviews on places we go, things we do, services we receive and shit we buy.

Look out for lots more RAD things to come!

PS: Here are my Raves of the Week:
Timeless Beauty in Pyes Pa (awesome eyebrow tint).
Blomquist Greerton (Large flat white or anything basically is great from here)
Coin Save Gate Pa (fantastic selection of Xmas shit and car remote batteries are so cheap!)
New World Gate Pa (Thomas the Tank Engine resin dinner set $9.95)
My Greengrocer Gate Pa (always has the BEST fresh fruit and veges at excellent prices)
Aussie Butcher Gate Pa (amazing ribs for the BBQ, thanks Janine for the tip on these)
Jamberry Nails (I'm addicted thanks to my supplier Gemma - get in touch if you wan deets)

 

How We Became So RAD #2

Neena, Jay, Paige, Ashton & Scarlett

Hi :) I am Neen..also Neena and Neens. I love a good coffee...heck I love most coffee!

I have a few roles. I am fiancee to Jay, Mum to 10 year old girl Paige and 1 year old boy/girl twins Ashton and Scarlett. I am also the step mum (not a fan of the title) to Scott who is 15 and coming to live with us soon, and also Genna and Corbyn 12 and 11.

With our twins being so young still we had to make the call who was staying home with them. I'm not sure who drew the short straw but Jay is the stay at home dad now and I am working full time. Our life is busy and full of challenges and our kids are certainly teaching us a lot as we go.

I used to be the Nappies/Bellyful co-ordinator and Treasurer on the Tauranga Multiple Birth Group. I handed over the nappies role as unfortunately I was running out of time for it all. I'm now stepping down in my Treasurer role as I feel I have done my dash there and I'm looking forward to some more social, light-hearted parenting fun in the RAD family.

We are anything but 'normal' and that's what works for us. We have a beautifully diverse blended family who yell and fight and laugh and hug. We try our best to do our best and some days we fail but we get up and try again. 

I look forward to getting to know more like-minded people through our new blog and FB page so stay RAD until then!

How We Became So RAD!

 

Once up on a time, not so long ago there once were 3 ladies (out of 11) who sat on a committee for a charity.  Things got a little heated (to say the least) amongst this committee and suddenly these 3 members felt a smidge alienated and a smidge and a half ripped off, so much so that they ran out of Eff’s to give and decided their time on said committee was well and truly over.

Let me tell you, I could go on about how crap the situation was, but nevertheless, it led us to here and hey -  we,  are super excited!

What we had found in amongst all the muck was that we wanted to provide a platform for open honest social networking, where we mums and dads could just be frustrated mums and dads.  Sometimes the best pieces of advice are from those that are struggling alongside you and not necessarily those who have a degree and can tell you why your child is behaving in such a way.

Now don’t us wrong, we love us some professional advice.  Professional advice is what keeps our babies/children/relationships safe – so there is always a place for a doctor, midwife, psychologist, specialist, the list goes on…
But what we felt we needed was just a good old vent session with those who are suffering the exact same battles.  We just want to be able to bitch and moan and drink and feel ok about doing all that!

We just want to be Rad and Grow Rad children and hang around with equally Rad other mums, dads and children.
And so came about the Page and Blog Site – Growing Rad Kids.  A place for social networking and a place to create as many ‘informal catch-up’ opportunities as possible, because like we have said time and again – Raising kids is hard, Let’s do it together.

And just so you know who we are, here is a little bit about ourselves:

Jared, Janine, Grayson and Dylan

Hey, I am Janine! Wife to Jared and Mum to Grayson and Dylan, Fraternal Boy/Girl 4 year old twins.
I previously ran events and was secretary to the Tauranga Multiple Birth Group and while I enjoyed most of my time with the group, I felt that my time was up and I was ready to pursue other challenges.
I am a fulltime+ working mum and Jared is a Fulltime+ working dad.  We have a SUPER busy life that consists of a lot of beer, coffee, takeaway food, large laundry piles that sit on the couch for weeks, a gauntlet of a hallway, deadlines, late night and weekend work phone calls, partially renovated bedrooms, Floor closets, 5 minute showers, hands free calling in vehicles, to do lists, to do lists for to do lists, untouched gym equipment and numerous other time eating activities that relentlessly eat up our lives.
However, there are also a ton of positives going on for us too – we have careers with a lot of future, we love to lazy Sunday, hit up local attractions, go ‘To the pub’ and just generally hang out and enjoy our kids.
Our kids are pretty awesome, a couply weeks ago I would have probably called them ‘assholes’ 60%-70% of the time, but a month heading into their fourth year they have actually turned into human beings that follow direction and listen to what you are saying…some of the time.

You could say that we are a typical modern working family, with typical modern attitudes, however we have very old school family values of which we hope to teach our kids along the way… along with ‘how to ignore idiots’ and ‘appropriate uses for sarcasm’.

Jared, Grayson, Dylan and I hope to meet you in the near future, preferably where there is a bar nearby or a generously stocked chilly-bin.

Janine

 

 

Weekend Break - Neena

Weekend Break.... this used to mean "Yay! I've worked all week, time for a break!".

As years and children happen, this now means "I have mentally broken the weekend down to get more done".

So, the weekend has transformed from my younger years of two days off work for partying, sleeping, adventures and more partying into the present: three nights, two mornings and two afternoons in which to get shit done!

Yes, I'm now a working Mum. 

I feel like after our "at home child count" went from one to three, shit got real. Shit got real, fast.  Planning, organizing and deep breathing were very essential in survival. With four month old twins, a 10 year old and both parents working, getting everything done over one weekend was HARD.

Did I happen to mention at that point I was also on a committee and managing Miss 10's hockey team?

It was exhausting and I found myself in absolute awe of people in similar situations and had to find a strategy. There had to be some kind of plan.

This bought about the weekend break. By turning weekends into parts, I can then plan those parts into what we want to achieve over the weekend.  Two days seems such a short time when there is so much to do as a parent. So now with it broken down I can plan more.  

There is a list of must do's and a list of want to do's. Something along the lines of: housework, gardening, social time, rest time, one on one with Miss 10 and I'm sure there's more I need to add to the must do's.

It sounds completely and utterly boring!!!!! But.... it's worked for me. We all have our coping mechanisms and this is mine. And sometimes I fill up all the broken pieces with social time and feel 100% indulged!

This took me way too long to write....and about four attempts to do it over my weekend break! So the moral of my story is do what works for you and be kind to yourself - you're no use to anybody if you're rocking in the corner mumbling unmentionables wishing your weekend away.

Over and out... Stay RAD!

(Neena is a working Mum of 14 month old boy/girl twins, a 10 year old girl and fiancee to Jay)

Welcome!

Let me just say, we are not writers.

We are just mums and dads (all of which have twins) that like to hang out, eat and drink rubbish and share stories about typical situations in every day family life.

We also have a Facebook group in which we share meaningful pieces mixed with total nonsense either posted to brighten ones day or sympathize because lets face it, being a parent is hard!  Being a parent of multiples is doubly hard!

If you are like us - just trying to survive every day with sanity intact then welcome, pull up a pew and get comfy.  We'd love to have you, we'd love to suffer with you, we'd love to help you just get through it, one beautifully difficult frustrating emotionally wonderful moment at a time!
 

~ Three Rad Mums and Three Rad Dads