It's a bit of a moot point to say that I am having a blogging break - I think it's already been two weeks.

I didn't mean to - real life just got in the way.

After the Easter party extravaganza I was a bit burnt out then bam Mother's Day arrived before I could even catch my breath.  We hosted another function all while I was nursing a very very sore back.  Due to my stubborn determination to soldier on I ended up spending the following 3 days in bed in a lot of pain.  I'm on the mend now and family life is slowly returning to normal. Which means I can no longer rely on Rob to do absolutely everything and I must say I was getting quite used to it.

Blogger (the site that hosts this blog of mine) was having a bit of a meltdown (well they called it an upgrade!!) as well but it seems to be back online now.

I will be back next week with lots of news.  I have baby scans to discuss and photos to share.

Happy Weekend everyone

Wiggle Free Zone

We live in a house devoid of The Wiggles.  I'm proud of the fact that in Noah's almost 3 years we have managed to  avoid the biggest marketing juggernaut in the under 8's crowd.  He knows the Wiggles vaguely from other kids but he's never seen their show or a DVD - we are a strictly Play School only kinda house.

As a result we are generally very 'branding' free and have managed to avoid almost all merchandise (barring some Toy Story figurines and Mr Potato Head but that doesn't count because he is a real toy).  I've become a bit of a tyrant about it.  I don't know why but I just hate all that stuff - why must everything be so heavily branded for kids.  Do you know how hard it was to find underpants for my newly toilet trained boy that didn't feature a TV or movie character on them??  It makes me cringe when I see kids dressed head to toe in Thomas/Ben10/Wiggles etc etc - sometimes a mash up of all of them - yikes.  Not only is it unnecessary branding those clothes are uh-gly.

Every single one of the following items I have purchased for Noah came in various 'brandings' and I had to search to find generic versions.

Scooter
Bike
Fold out sofa
School bag
Musical instruments
Bedding
Train Set
Cricket Bat
Ball
Boogie Board
Every conceivable item of clothing - even shoes FFS.

Don't even get me started on the ice cream/milk/yoghurt/biscuits/cheese/snacks - all loaded with more sugar than the standard varieties.

Anyhow I digress - yesterday we went to see one of the children's concerts by The West Australia Symphony Orchestra (which by the way are fantastic if you haven't been).

It was all going nicely and we enjoyed some fun and dancing to 'Flight of the Bumblebee' and the 'William Tell Overture' when lo and behold The Wiggles.  Every kid in that place and their parents knew those damn songs except me and Noah.  He looked around as the packed house did every move and sang every word.  My poor deprived 'Suzuki' music kid who knows every traditional children's song and nursery rhyme was the odd one out.  I actually felt bad - am I doing him an injustice?  Are the Wiggles an institution of childhood that no child should be deprived? Have they been added to UNICEF's 'The Convention on the Rights of the Child'?

What do you think?  Are you pro Wiggles or anti Wiggles?  Do you care one way or the other?