Munchkin's Mum

The Genius of Play

2012-02-27T15:52:00.000-08:00

Our son is lucky enough to attend one of the few Steiner based child care centres in New Zealand - Kowhai Childcare. When I was working part time, I worked at the Waikato Waldorf School just 200m up the road from him.


Kowhai Whare, the original centre. Cadell attends Tui Whare just two years old, built for increasing enrolments

I kind of fell into the Steiner philosophy, as in I didn't seek it out. But these things come into our lives for a reason. One of my good friends who I used to teach with in a mainstream school who also happened to have a baby at the same time I had Cadell, returned to work as the Manager of Kowhai. When I started back doing some relieving and finding more regular work she suggested I come and look at Kowhai. I had intentions of starting Cadell at a Montessori childcare. I visited our local one, and although it seemed nice I just didn't get that great vibe you look for when letting your precious child go into the care of others. So I took my friends advice and headed down to Kowhai. I fell in love with the place instantly. The smell of home baking and the kitchen being the heart of the centre, and children being free to play. Best of all there was no busy stinky road close to it.

And so Cadell has called Tui his second home Tui Whare for two years now. Being a teacher you'd think I'd be all focused on academic achievement for my own children, preparing them for school, and teaching them early reading and writing skills. Funnily enough I couldn't be more opposed to this. Learning more and more about the Steiner approach, I truly believe that Cadell is not yet ready for any of this. I want him to appreciate diversity in culture and people, to learn to manage his emotions and relationships, develop motor skills, good work habits, and reverence for the simple things in life and what nature provides for us. The Steiner approach does all of this.

We are lucky enough to have access to some wonderful books in the Kowhai library and one I am thoroughly enjoying now is called "The Genius of Play: Celebrating the Spirit of Childhood" by Sally Jenkinson. What an amazing approach to raising children and opening my eyes to the true value of play for my son.

Here's a little excerpt that rang true for me:

In Steiner kindergartens and in other settings where early academic pressure has less of a hold, the tradition of embracing children in adult work is still maintained. Cleaning, cooking, baking, gardening adults accompany the children and invite them to participate in real, observable work. Exposure to adult work helps develop good work habits and is a tremendous incentive to play. So much work is carried out by unseen by sophisticated machines these days that children have little opportunity to see human hands doing more than button pushing.

I also felt reassured by this passage:

Working adults of the past had little time to play with their children. Today, we think it is our duty to play with our children, rather than to work with them, and we rush to finish our tasks so that we can have 'quality time with the kids'. Entering shared reality levels together in play can be enormous fun, but children nearly always play best when left to their own devices, in, or just out of the shadow of the working adult. Because we are always so busy, the involving of our children in our work, especially when they helpfully unmake the beds we have just made, can seem difficult. It probably requires a more relaxed attitude to house keeping and a more tolerant attitude toward child-keeping. Beds can always be remade - children can't.

I particularly like this one because I often feel bad that I don't sit and play, solely focused on Cadell. I love baking (my procrastination tool) and I used to do it when Cadell was at day care, but I am doing it more with him now, and he is really reaping the benefits of being able to work with me. Even though it is stretching my tolerance and turning me grey! As we made hot cross buns together and he helped to measure, tip in and mix the dry ingredients, he said "Should I make a well?" I felt so pleased that he is learning the language of baking, and also the motor skills required to stir with a wooden spoon and keep ALL the flour in the bowl.

It also makes sense to take the time to teach children these skills to build their independence, and as I recall when reading in one of the books that Diane Levy recommended, to do something independently builds their self esteem and self confidence to try new things. The reality of this is I really need Cadell to get changed without my help in the mornings while I am feeding or tending to a new born!

I had a discussion with my mother in law, who, like all grandparents, believe that her grandchildren are special and very talented. She asked if Cadell will go to a Steiner school, to which I replied "Most likely" She was concerned that by starting school at 6 years old and learning to knit and craft before being formally taught to read (rest assured it is a language rich environment) that it was all left too late. I would like to think that in my experience as a teacher I will pick up on cues that he is ready to learn to read, but certainly won't be pushing him. In today's world where media is in our faces constantly and as stated above children don't get to see human hands doing work as often, I want Cadell's schooling years to be more traditional, perhaps even old fashioned, simple, fun and without academic pressure. Certainly there is academic rigour, it is just less obvious to a person used to the "instruction" children receive in schools today. Cadell's home life exposes him to TV, computers, stylised images, and all sorts of things that aren't very Steiner like, so school will offer some reprieve from all those influences.

That's my Steiner spiel for the week.

Gorgeous Girl and Gorilla

2012-02-27T14:42:00.000-08:00

Rachel's beautiful little girl is enjoying her new Gorilla, thanks to one of our Munchkins Giveaways. Rachel sent me these photos

So cute that they are nearly the same size! Thanks for the photos Rachel

Our First WINNER!

2012-01-31T13:03:00.000-08:00

Huge Congratulations to Rachel who has WON cuddly Milo the Gorilla! We'll be in touch Rachel and get him on the way to you ASAP.

I love giving stuff away! Make sure you check out our website and find something you really like and leave a comment on the Mouse House blog to be in with a chance to WIN the Baby Head Rest.

When our Facebook page hits 200 likes we will have another great giveaway.

Enjoy the warmer weather!

Give Aways A Go Go!

2012-01-25T01:07:00.000-08:00

Welcome to our new followers, great to have a few new "faces" reading about the behind the scenes and screens of "Munchkins".

Our very first competition to WIN a gorgeous and cuddly Milo the Gorilla soft toy from Nici has just under a week left to run. All you have to do to win is "Like" us on facebook and

Facebook Page

Sign up to follow us here on our blog, and

Visit our website to subscribe to our quarterly newsletter, or email me at laurene@munchkins.co.nz

Munchkins Website

Special thanks to Megan at Mouse House for arranging our new Baby Head Rest Giveaway. Here's a little more about this awesome product.

How does baby head rest work?
The baby head rest is not a pillow and does not lift baby's head. Rather it provides gentle cradling to eliminate pressure on the skull.
Using the baby head rest from day one may dramatically reduce the risk of baby developing flat head syndrome and the need for corrective treatment, such as helmet therapy.

You can find more information about the Baby Head Rest here www.babyheadrest.com
And of course this great product is available on our Munchkins website under the "Accessories" tab.
But make sure you check out all the competition details to win one at "Mouse House"

I'm looking forward to giving away our cuddly Gorilla!

Munchkins Prepare to take Aussie by Storm!

2012-01-18T16:08:00.000-08:00

We have just reserved our Give Away day with the "Big Aussie Giveaway" in May this year. We will be giving away one of our exclusive Munchkin designs "Africa" including: cot quilt, change pad cover and matching lamp shade. The person who wins will be the person who talks most about us online, by following our Facebook page, our blog and subscribing to our newsletter. It's VERY exciting for us, I certainly hope it goes VIRAL.

We will also be giving away one of our new products I have posted about previously the "Baby Head Rest" via Megan's blog
Mouse House
Her blog is incredible! Well Megan is incredible really, domestic goddess, super dooper crafter, and I can only imagine an awesome Mum! She has over 600 followers on her blog, take a look and you'll see why.

We have a few new products on the website too. Cute as little Paisley Pickle Horses from the Lily and George range. We have used our exclusive Munchkin quilt designs and made these into duvet covers for our bigger Munchkins beds.

The Munchkins New Year has started really well, word is slowly spreading and I'm sure our up coming advertising will only improve our sales. Knowing my luck and what is going on with our Munchkins family, we will end up homeless as our house will go to auction on February 23, with a new born in April or May, and Munchkins will get crazy busy!!! Oh well it keeps life exciting doesn't it!

Enjoy this small amount of good weather we are having!

All things New and Healthy

2012-01-12T17:00:00.000-08:00

Our wee family spent Christmas afternoon until the 30th at a bach in Whangamata. It was a lovely time despite the fact that Cadell decided that "Mum" was only ever allowed to read to him and put him to bed. He also cried almost when ever I went out without him! So despite my hopes of sharing the parenting load with the other half on holiday, grandparents and aunties and cousins around it didn't work out as I had hoped!

In fact I probably came home more knackered due to the late nights you inevitably have when on holiday with extended whanau!

However we made some great discoveries while up there. Craig went trout fishing in the Tairua river up in the hills, a wicked spot for a fresh water swim. Though Craig suspects that there are actually no trout in the river!

The Grandparents when on an early morning walk stopped in at Olivers Bakery and bought home Rosemary, Raisin and Rocksalt bread. It is to die for! So I couldn't wait to get home and try making my own. I found Jamie Oliver's recipe and have made several loaves already. Here's the link to the recipe Rosemary and Raisin Bread
You really have to try it. Making bread is so cathartic, and this recipe has not failed me yet. The smell of fresh baked bread is to die for at the best of times, but laced with the fragrance of Rosemary as well is the stuff I dream of!!!

My darling sister gave me Wendyl Nissen's book, "Mother's Little Helper" an old fashioned guide to raising your baby chemical free. Which you can buy from her Green Goddess website. You will also find many other useful bits of info there. She has a "No Knead" bread recipe, which I haven't yet tried, but she also inspired me to keep on making my own bread. I can't believe how ridiculously cheap it is to make your own bread. I get two very large loaves of Rosemary and raisin bread, each loaf lasting 2-3 days. They cost no more than $2 a loaf to make, where as a loaf of Molenberg I was buying previously can cost between $4-$5, and certainly doesn't last any longer.

More about Wendyl and her wonderful inspiration in another post.

This is Caramelised Capsicum and Onion relish (recipe below courtesy of Nosh magazine) sheeps feta and ham served on a slice of delish roasemary and raisin bread, drooling just remembering it!
Caramelised Capsicum and Onion Relish
Super dooper easy to make, only down side was that my fiancee and I ate it all in one sitting!
1 red onion, finely sliced
1 red and 1 yellow capsicum thinly sliced
olive oil
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 cup brown sugar
basil

Heat dash of oil in pan then add onion stir for a minute before adding capsicum.
Gently caramelise for 15 minutes, allowing onion and capsicum to soften but not not get any colour.
Add vinegar, brown sugar and some torn basil and stir. Continue to cook for antoher 15 minutes or until all liquid has evaporated.
When cool store in airtight container in fridge, if there's any left to do that!

I didn't add basil, mainly because I couldn't be bothered going to my neighbours who is my supplier of all fresh herbs! But I'm sure it would give it a great kick. I also left my capsicum in long slices, making it a bit tricky to eat, next time I'd cut them smaller. Next time I would also double the recipe, so there is some to share with others!

My New Year's resolutions (if you can call them that) are
1) to keep tracking at the less than 4kg of total weight gained throughout this pregnancy. That is I weigh 4kg less at 25 weeks this time than I did last time.
2) to get rid of many of the chemical nasties found in our household cleaners, laundry powder, baby bath and lotions, and facial cleaners by using Wendyl's recipes and other products I've found.
3) to manage our household spending with greater scrutiny, with a strict budget.

I'm the big spender in our house what with buying groceries, clothes, all of Cadell's activities, petrol, eating out, personal products/services etc. I know I'm incredibly fortunate to have a partner who works hard to ensure I am able to stay at home, so now I really need to pull finger and get Munchkins humming, and manage our family expenses. December was a ridiculous budget blow out - all on FOOD! Anyone would think we feed a family of 12 the amount of money I spend on food!

All three of these goals relate to preparing for our new family addition in late April early May, and our aim to finally get married on our new bubba's first birthday in 2013 in Aitutaki, Cook Islands. I'm finding it a bit scary to set a date and commit to it after 13 years together! Some how we will also get our beautiful home on the market and hope to buy a home with some land so we can have our own chooks, orchard and a veg garden that is big enough for the jungle like tomatoes I grow. More recipes next post, and an update on Munchkins.

Tarts, Flat Heads & Spotty Giraffes

2011-12-13T16:09:00.000-08:00

Due to the massive glut in strawberries from our picking expedition on Cadell's birthday I found a scrummy looking tart recipe and made this master piece...

Actually the strawberries were on the turn and I baked the pastry case a little too long! And when you compare it to the one where I found the recipe, it is a bit average - tasted good though!

Find the recipe here: Strawberry Tart

So after the tart creation it was back to updating the Munchkins website and in particular the Meta Information to help with our Search Engine Optimisation. Quite a process but it also means I'm trying to update the site more frequently and increase our Google hits.

Our facebook ad is humming away quite nicely with 71% of our fans being female and in the 25-44 years age group. About 4 new people everyday like our page, which is very exciting. I think this is the next best thing to word of mouth. What kind of advertising and where is the advertising, that you see that will make go and visit a website? Is it online or in magazines?

I would like to launch a new product that helps to prevent our tiny babies from getting a flat head while sleeping. Its called the "Baby Head Rest" and here's the information...

Baby Head Rest

Made from shape memory foam with a soft cotton cover, the Baby-Head-Rest has been developed in Australia. It provides gentle support for baby’s head and allows natural head movements in babies 0-4 months of age.
Baby-Head-Rest does not restrict the movement of baby’s head in any way.
Baby-Head-Rest was designed in response to the dramatic increase in the incidence of Flat Head Syndrome (plagiocephaly) partly due to the successful SIDS Back to Sleep program. Medical professionals say that it is still very important to sleep babies on their backs to reduce the risk of SIDS.

I think it would be great, as I know my little guy would sleep on his back despite being firmly wrapped and wedged. I know my nieces have done the same too.

If you can let me know what you think about the product, and can share this info on your own blog to reach as many people as possible please let me know - I can even send one to you for a free trial.

Munchkins is about to have new samples made for a new style of cot quilt "Spotty Giraffe"

It will look similar to this. Giraffes seem to be an all round favourite, so what do you think?

I always enjoy any feedback so please leave your comments.

Once again have a Merry Christmas and remember to follow our blog and subscribe to our newsletter to win a huge and cuddly Milo Gorilla soft toy!

The Big THREE!

2011-12-11T16:36:00.000-08:00

What a huge weekend we had here in the home of Munchkins!

Friday started with hearing exciting news from a friend; a wonderful personal achievement for this time of year, then making the Gingerbread dough and settling it in the fridge to freeze. Cadell headed off to stay at my best friends house in the afternoon and I headed off to stock take at our local Kids Korner Toy Library in the evening (what a mission). Despite having no child on Saturday morning I was up at 6:30am baking the gingerbread house, and tidying the house. My fiancee and I had his work do at the Te Rapa races in the afternoon and my best friend and son were off to another friend's son's first birthday. So it was a mad dash to get the house ready to construct and our house clean and tidy for family staying the night and guests arriving on Sunday for Cadell's party.

Off to the races we went and had a lovely time. My sister and her family had come over from Papamoa to stay, and it is always lovely to have them here and have my sisters wonderful support. By 9pm we had the little cousins in bed and asleep after all sorts of antics in their room! 9:15 we got into "Operation make the tramp"

NZtramps have great quality and well priced tramps. My other half was vehemently opposed to getting a tramp for our son (lawn mowing obstacle, novelty will wear off and various other complaints!) but I went ahead and got the 12ft anyway. When I rang about picking it up, they had none in stock 'til after Cadell's party! I was gutted but the boss Matt rang me back and upgraded us to a 14ft tramp! I was stoked, but needless to say, fiancee... not so impressed! Thankfully we had the extra hands of my sister and her husband to put it together, and some near divorce moments! We had it up and ready at 11:15. Completely exhausted we all went to bed.

Sunday 5:30am both kids were awake! We managed to keep them both happy and awake by going to pick berries at the "Olde Berry Farm" We now have about 1kg of strawberries too many so any suggestions for great strawberry recipes greatly appreciated! Tired out the kids went to sleep, and so began the great house construction and decoration. A total team effort came into play and this is what we got...

Complete with stained glass edible windows, strawberry patch, letter box, milk bottles at the gate, and Hansel's white pebbles he dropped to find his way back home.

I was completely stoked with it, and so were two of the kids at the party who pretty much sat beside it until it was finally time to sing happy birthday and eat it! One was my niece who tried several times to get the ball rolling by just starting to sing, but she didn't have support and it was wasted.

The kids had a blast in the pool and on the tramp, or eating. And Cadell, his Dad and I finally got to sleep on Sunday night about 9:30pm.

Cadell woke at 6:30 only to come upstairs saying he was sick, then started vomiting at 7:30 which has last all morning.

Our first Munchkins shipment is on its way to us as I write this from the Auckland port. Really looking forward to getting our Munchkins stock in.

We now have an amazing shipping agent at Fliway Transport who have been incredible to deal with.

Brolly Sheets are in stock, and we have some gorgeous new Nici soft toys making their way to us.

Have a great Christmas everyone, and remember to sign up to win the cuddly Milo the Gorilla.

Welcome to our new Blog followers!

2011-12-04T18:12:00.000-08:00

Great to see a few new followers coming on board! Good to see I'm not blogging away to myself!

What do some of you know about SEO Search Engine Optimisation? I'm about to go through the process with my web developer, it all sounds pretty straight forward (just a lot of work).

We started a Facebook Ad campaign nearly two weeks ago and so far it seems the most effective advertising we've done. It isn't cheap, you pay by "click" but we already have many new fans, which is great to see.

I am feeling financially drained... as many of us do at this time of year. But one of the very hard things about creating a new business is that your suppliers expect you to pay by cash for the first few months or orders. This means we run close to the line as we have to have the stock ready, and so paid for, but not bought by a customer.

On the plus side we are getting some GST back, for our first period - that's always better than paying it!

I have completed my first GST return with the help of my other half's amazing "office girl" (not her official title!) and MYOB. It's like learning another language for me.

Cadell will be turning three this weekend. I always enjoy making his cake and this year we decided to make a ginger bread house.

Here's how the trial one looked, courtesy of Australian Master Chef recipe...

After a few hours sitting in this humid heat the windows started melting and over night the roof sagged and began to crack! So it got rushed down to Tui to be eaten by all the kids there, before it looked like the squatters had moved in!
Until next time....

In other news...

2011-11-22T17:20:00.000-08:00

We are through the Chicken Pox and back to daycare goes my little man. Cadell has the best daycare in the world, if you live in Hamilton and you want an at home care type of experience for your little Munchkins then please come and checkout Kowhai Childcare it is simply the best. The staff are wonderful, the chef the best, and better still it isn't stuck by a busy road - in fact the kids look out to bare land at the moment. All of the activities are based on the Steiner Philosophy, which ultimately means good old fashioned playing. Here's my little guy after the "Spring Fair"

For those of you who don't know the story "The Gruffalo" He looks a little something like this. My niece had the best Gruffalo party created by her clever Mumma, so the horns and ears are from his outfit I made for him, complete with purple prickles, knobbly knees and turned out toes.

And just because I love talking about my gorgeous wee boy, if you think he looks a little familiar, you may have seen him on the shop windows of RD1 stores, and in the mailer. This is him last year on the window...

I think he just expects to know all children he sees in pictures now!

I also realised I didn't update my half marathon progress! I got injured about 2 weeks out, I even had to get the other half to come and pick me up from a training run. Lots of physio and resting, and hard core strapping meant I was able to run on the day - thank goodness otherwise it was 6 months training down the gurgler. My training partner dropped me after about 1km, but that was ok I really wanted her to come in under 2 hours so that I felt that uninjured I could do under 2 also. I was also 10 weeks pregnant, so was hardly going to push like the crazy lady doing the NY marathon who gave birth 3 hours after completing it!!!! I was on track for 2hours, then 2hours 10 min, then 2 hours 15min, but eventually came home just under 2h17m, not too bad for up the duff and injured really.

I think this was with about 8km to go. I'm holding my phone because I had serious doubts about my ability to complete the 21km. I tried to smile when I saw the camera, rather than grimace, because I knew I wanted number 2 Munchkin to have a photo of running his/her first half.

So my friend completed it in 1hour 55min! She was super stoked, as was I. Now I'm wondering if I can run it next year... 5 month old....probably still breastfeeding....hmmmm.

We are trying to confirm plans to have Munchkin #2's first birthday in Rarotonga, or Aitutaki really, because after what will be 2 1/2 years engaged and 14 years together it will really be about time!

Anyway, not much about Munchkins the website in this post sorry! But at least some of my customers out there in Cyberspace know a little more about who you are dealing with here now.

One more post before Christmas, get following and subscribing to win Milo the Gorilla too!

Our Latest Giveaway!

2011-11-22T16:47:00.000-08:00

Welcome to our past customers who may be visiting our blog for the first time!

If you subscribe to our Newsletter which we hope to send out quarterly and follow our blog you will be in to win one of our gorgeous 50cm Milo the Gorilla soft toys! He is so super super cuddly. The draw will be made at the end of January.

Until the 15th December we are also offering a 10% discount when you buy a sheet set with your quilt.

It's all coming together!

2011-11-01T18:27:00.000-07:00

Check out the new bags we'll be using to send our products in.....

Soooo excited! This one was just a sample we got made in China. I love that China can do things ridiculously cheaply compared to NZ, but it means you have a huge Minimum Order Quantity. We have also had a few misunderstandings with the language barrier!

I am very happy with the quality. Thank goodness for good old graphic designer friend Selina, who could translate colours from RGB to CMYK to Pantone, phewph!

Our shipment of stock is still held up with all the flooding in Bangkok, we really have no idea when it will be here - not such great news.

But our manufacturer sensed my eagerness to see our new LadyBug design and sent the sample through by airmail, and here it is..

I just love it! So we will be selling this and all the other accessories that go with it; sheet sets, nappy stackers, change pad covers and cot bumpers. It's so great to have a new line coming in.

I also ordered new woven pip labels today from nutype.co.nz and I'm about to follow up on the stickers I ordered months ago.

It's great to have all this happening now the website is working its flashy little self through the world wide web! It's just a shame that last week I couldn't do much due to my limpet aka Cadell my son having chicken pox, and this week me having a tummy bug and being SHATTERED. Here's what I try to occupy him with while I get onto my emails!

If you want a great finger paint recipe check out my sisters blog www.focussedlenz.blogspot.com
She has some great ideas on there for keeping little ones entertained, my niece is a fire cracker and loves all these things her super mummy helps her do.

Anyway,with any luck I'll have a healthier family next post!

It Has Finally Happened!

2011-10-30T20:26:00.000-07:00

We would like to welcome the new look Munchkins! Our new website is finally live. Unfortunately i can only see it on my phone not my computer, because of caching my computer is still being directed to the old site. Hopefully I will be all go within 24 hours.

Feedback greatly received, especially typos! Two spotted already - on ya Leenies!

The Website wait is nearly over!!!

2011-10-27T19:28:00.000-07:00

Wowee developing a new website is an intricate thing! These web developers certainly earn their money the hard way. www.munchkins.co.nz may possibly go live today!

Unfortunately it will go live without our ANZ E-Gate payment gateway, but we have a PayPal option.

We also don't have any stock yet!!! The floods in Bangkok are holding up our delivery. I'm really looking forward to this shipment, not only because then I might feel like I actually run a proper business!!!! but also because our new sample design of "Ladybug" is in there waiting for me to cast my eye over it!

Good news is that our new bags are ready to be approved. I can't wait to ship off our products in our funky re-useable bags.

On a personal note my little boy has Chicken Pox, which has meant that all work (including house work!) has been put on hold while my little limpet doesn't let me out of his site. Fortunately he has it very mildly with only about 40 spots in total. We've had one particularly bad day, preceded by a few long sleepless nights, so now at least I can get some work done while he sleeps rather than sleep myself!

Sorry no pics on this post - no time for that today!

The Near Demise of "Horsey"

2011-10-12T16:34:00.000-07:00

Horsey was given to Cadell when he was born by his Nana Carol. At first he never took much of a shine to Horsey, who is actually a Donkey. He was dummy obsessed, but by two months old he only ever had a dummy at night time to get to sleep, and occasionally would wake crying because he'd lost it. By 6 months he started losing interest in his dummy and looking at Horsey a lot. By 8 months, we'd put him in his cot, give give him "Horsey" and he'd make this funny little "oooooh!" noise as he snuggled into him. The dummy was a goner - thank goodness!

Cadell soon found Horsey's tail. The tail replaced the dummy. And poo-ey did it get stinky! Horsey became rank pretty quickly, and made frequent hurried trips to the washing machine between sleeps. I always washed him in a lingerie bag in case he got decapitated during the spin cycle.

Horsey is in mint condition here in the early days.

At about 18 months Horsey tail went into his mouth much less often. But at nearly three years old, Horsey is still his greatest comfort. If he's sad or tired you'll find him in his room desperate to get up on to his bed to grab Horsey. When his eczema is really scratchy or sore or he hurts himself, a little press of Horsey's tail on the sore spot will fix it! Even when I'm sore I get offered Horsey's tail as a remedy.

Cadell ended up with a gastro bug on our final flight home from being away for four weeks and ended up in hospital for several nights, but Horsey was there to watch the drip go in and everything. He now goes to sleep flicking Horsey's tail between his fingers.

Horsey traveled with us earlier this year to Dubai, Switzerland, Germany, France and Kuala Lumpur. He didn't get to see many sites, because he wasn't allowed to leave the house or hotel room we stayed in for fear of losing him!

Horsey was close by on our flight home from KL to Melbourne

A few nights ago, I went out to a meeting not realising I had Cadell's day care bag in my car with Horsey!!! He managed to get to sleep with his dog "Kuri" and Eeyore "Donkey". When I got home I put Horsey near his face, and he reached out in his sleep to grab him, like a sleeping dog smelling a bone!

Several weeks ago, I lay Cadell on his bed to put a nappy on and get into his PJs. He was cuddling Horsey, nothing new there. I picked him up to put him under the blankets, he's still clutching Horsey tightly. I look back on the bed where he was lying and there...... is.....

The be-headed "Horsey"

HORSEY's HEAD!!!!

Cadell was none the wiser and I hid my trauma and Horsey's head from him as he happily cuddled Horsey's headless body (of course his tail was stilll attached) and went to sleep. I carried the decapitated head out to Craig with a mix of surprise and devestation which erupted into laughter as Craig saw this head sitting in my hand like a trophy piece!

When I knew Cadell was asleep, I prized Horsey's from his grip and sutured his head back onto his body. Now he's as good as new, and still carrying out his comforting duties.

It was like the death of a dear friend but I also couldn't stop laughing at the whole situation either!

So the moral of my story is this: When you email me desperate to have a soft toy delivered to you as fast as humanly possible because your little one has lost their treasured friend, I don't think you are crazy, I FULLY UNDERSTAND!

And when you order several of the same soft toy, I also don't think you're crazy.

IN FACT you are more sane, clever and onto it than we ever were with Horsey. Horsey's friends are extinct now, even 10 months after we got him Nana and I have never been able to buy a replacement. The funny thing is his cousin one year older, has the same toy in pink, adores it, and it is just as smelly!

MY ADVICE: Always buy two of these little guys! It may go missing, kicked out of the buggy, or get into a complete state of disrepair.

Probably 75% of our soft toy sales in the last three months have been a call of desperation looking for a replacement. From as far as the UK and the USA.

Long Live Horsey!

Getting Close Now!

2011-10-12T15:02:00.000-07:00

I have spent many hours in the night loading products onto our new webpage, which is great I'm learning a lot about how it all works.

The most exciting part is loading our new products, like Brolly Sheets yes that's right! Munchkins will be selling the amazing Brolly Sheets. Click on the link to check out there page.

AND..... we are the first NZ store to stock "Minkie Mary the Dummy Fairy" this is super exciting for us. Minkie visited our wee friend down the road before her third Birthday to help her put her dummies away. She has been truly magical as Em's hasn't ever asked for them again.

We will also be selling the beautiful Merino wraps and sleeping bags from Baby Bundles that I have talked about in previous posts. My sister has been using the wrap and loves it for her baby girl.

We are just waiting for our Merchant details to be approved for our E Gate online payment system, and to tweak some of our designs on our product pages and we'll be away.

I have decided to give up my part time teaching job, which I love doing, but it meant I was slipping behind on all things Munchkins, the business and the boy. Cadell gets very aggressive when I get on the computer as he knows I switch off to him and I'm not present for him. So I was finding the odd hour or two before work, in the wee hours of the night, or when he slept to get work done. As you can imagine the house looks like a bomb site!

If you're interested you can check out our test link here to see what it looks like before we go live

Munchkins

Always happy to hear your feedback :-)

Progress!

2011-09-17T20:59:00.000-07:00

So much has happened since I last found time to post! During the weekend of August 20, we attended the Gift Fair in Auckland. It was fantastic to meet our wonderful suppliers face to face, and meet others who have products that I think will extend our range of quality children's bedding.

There are so many products available out there, it becomes difficult knowing where to draw the line and keeping a clear head about the direction and merchandise of your business. There are several manufacturers that produce some beautiful and very cheaply priced duvets covers for kids beds. They are generally printed onto polycotton so retail for around $60-$70. I have ummmmed and arrred over this range, as it could add valuable stock turn over for us, and it would widen our market to include the more price conscious buyer. However, I really don't want to lessen the value of our embroidered and hand quilted duvets, and hand made quilts, which are high end and exquisite. At this stage we will keep to our Munchkins and Whimsy Ranges.

Munchkins have had two international orders! To England and to Australia. It amazes me that we can spread our name across the world! Again I am surprised by the open communication that occurs via email. Our wonderful Mum (customer) in the UK, found us and our Nici soft toys online after searching and making a previous order from Germany, only to receive the wrong product. Of course I willingly sold her one of tigers, after emailing her a pic to make sure she got what she was after this time. The Tiger was to replace her eight year old daughters little lost friend. But this tiger had special significance, it had been a special friend since she lost her Dad earlier this year...... it was very rewarding knowing I was sending off something so little that meant so much to this little girl. I think I even had a tear or two when her Mum told me the story of losing her husband at such a young age. So wicked that the internet has come to her daughters rescue!

My confidence in our business has been boosted with two orders for Munchkins cot quilts which I have requested an early delivery for from our manufacturer. Several orders in the last few weeks have been over $200, so maybe I can really keep Munchkins humming!

Our Web developers at Vo2, are steaming along with the new webpage coming together nicely. Check it out here

Munchkins Web Development Project

Products aren't loaded correctly yet, but the links and pages are being built and put together. I'm hoping that the page will go live in two weeks. I am very anxious about this, one because a great deal of our Munchkins stock will only arrive mid-late October, and I think it is going to be very busy! Which of course is a great thing.

I have sourced a new supplier for high quality Merino sleeping bags and snuggle wraps. The Snuggle wraps are similar to my favourite Miracle Wraps that I haven't been able to source yet. Baby Bundles have wonderful products and I am so proud that Munchkins can now stock these.

The wrap has a pocket at the botton for the baby's feet, and two equal length flaps to snuggly wrap around your bub, so they can't houdini out of them!

The instructions here show how the wrap works. The quality of this merino is so fine and soft. My sister is using one with her beautiful new baby girl, and has given it the thumbs up!

I am also interested to know, what do you look for in children's bedroom furniture?

Unfortunately my preferred furniture maker will not supply online only stores.

However! I have just found the beautiful Bloom Baby range. Again it is high end, but incredible European styling. Check it out and tell me what you think.
Bloom Baby Products

I predict the prices will be comparable to Touchwood products, I used a touchwood cot with my first.

I am also off to meet with the great and fantastic graphic designer friend who will help me set the font for our slogan, so we can get business cards and a sticker for the car underway, very exciting times.

Second Concept

2011-08-19T00:07:00.000-07:00

Spot the differences!

I've asked for our wee munchkin animals to appear by the logo.
The buttons will change to read Babies Quilts Duvet Covers Accessories Furniture
Each of those buttons will have a drop down menu, with options of Neutral, Boys, Girls, Safety. With Accesories dropping down to Soft toys, Blankets, Sheets sets, Safety, ....

I have also asked for the background colour to be in more grey tonings.

First Concept for the Website

2011-08-17T23:31:00.000-07:00

This concept has already gone back to the designer. Our awesome new logo wasn't included!!! Within the next few days I should be able to post our second concept.

Both photos will be on an automatic slideshow, the larger picture showing room coordinates, with the smaller pic the components that create the room look. The text box will describe the items as they appear.

"Discount Deals" and "Free Shipping" info will also move in the slide show box. De-cluttering some of the space below.

So... I would love your feedback! Leave it here or on our facebook page
Munchkins Facebook Page

New Look Munchkins!

2011-08-11T02:24:00.000-07:00

Wow what an exciting few weeks it has been for Munchkins!
My girlfriends and I aim to take a weekend off to just "hang out" at our friend's parent's bach at Whangamata. It is such an awesome space to be away from the piercing eyes of housework and the demands of children. The first time we did this trip over a year ago, it rained almost non-stop! Perfect weather to watch Steel Magnolias, Bridget Jones Diary, and what ever else we could get our hands on. We ate Bing's Chocolate Truffles (recipe below), and drunk wine. Nothing better, especially surrounded by your best friends.

This time however was a Munchkins development weekend. My friend and graphic designer, Leen's took her laptop up and created the new branding for Munchkins - much more modern and fitting with our new extended range.

The colour combo of grey and teal are my favourites! The little munchkin animals carry some continuity from the previous branding, and "pink" it up a bit. By the way the pink animal is meant to be a Kiwi!

I've also been in contact with a local interior design company who are interested in developing a partnership with us. We haven't discussed details yet, but I'm hoping they will be able to match fabrics for upholstery, drapes/blinds, wallpapers, and paint colours that will team up with our beautiful hand made quilts.

Our manufacturer is underway with our first big order. Our South African stockist is ready to order her first shipment for her new stores "Cranberri Babi" This is our first stockist of exclusive Munchkins Quilts under our ownership so we wish Marilize the best success with her new business. Especially because she also aims to be able to spend more time with her beautiful boy by having her own business too!

We are finally getting our new courier bags sorted, a postman sak style which is waterproof, meaning our products can be shipped in these reusable bags. These have come at somewhat of an unexpected expense, but I hope that they continue to advertise our business as parents use them for swimming bags, book bags, nappy bags whatever bags!

We have received two separate orders from suppliers, including Nici Soft Toys; our ever popular Giraffe, and the cutest Elephant I have ever seen! And the beautiful Whimsy Duvet Covers, so beautiful, more so in the real. As I have said before, I'm not really into Pink but the REAL detail in 'Blossom Pink" is stunning.
It is the kind of design that once you receive it you will be far more impressed than what what you previously thought.

Our new website is getting closer and closer. I can't wait until it is launched!

The only downer of the last few weeks is that Cadell (Munchkin #1) has another cold, and has had very bad asthma as a result, nothing the nebulizer can't fix! Though he has also watched a shed load of TV due to my busy-ness (or business?) and I sometimes wonder if this new adventure means I will have more or less time with him?!?!?!

Try these AWESOME decadent, indulgent truffles! Simple recipe but a little finicky to make, but TOTALLY worth the effort!

BINGY'S CHOCOLATE TRUFFLES
1 pot of cream cheese
2 packets of mint slice (mint treats) biscuits
1 block of Dark Chocolate

In a food processor crush biscuits, add cream cheese. Freeze for 10-15minutes to make it easier to roll into balls.

Melt chocolate in a double boiler (don't boil the water! You will burn the chocolate, and it will go chalky. Straight from the kettle is good)

Dip the rolled balls into chocolate, leave to set. DEVOUR!!!!

These are best kept in the freezer, especially when its warmer. I've made these with Oreos, but I fund the mixture quite dense. White Choc Tim Tams covered in white chocolate - devine! And Berry sensations, covered in milk chocolate, almost like a Jelly Tip.

Enjoy! See you in the next adventures of Munchkins!

My Tips for Buying an Online Business

2011-08-01T20:14:00.000-07:00

We bought Munchkins for two main reasons; firstly it seemed like a reasonable asking price for an existing business which seemed relatively easy to run; secondly my aim is to be at home as much as possible with my son and to continue staying at home if we are able to have more children and still have a steady income.

Before we purchased we sought some advice from an accountant friend (who happens to work with our wonderful accountant at KPMG) I spoke to several friends who would likely be in our target market, and asked the current owner as many questions as we could think of, we viewed financial statements, and checked the quality and condition of the stock that came with the business (well my excellent sister did that for us!)

Personally, I also put a great deal of faith in the opinion of my loyal fiancee. He manages our industrial refrigeration business "Excel" here in Hamilton. I am constantly in awe of his business mind and ability to make sound financial decisions. At times he seemed more keen than I was to buy the business!

Here are some things I would have researched further, in hindsight;

Google Analytics. Find out everything you can about these for the current website. This will give you information on how many hits the site gets per month, what key words bring people to the site, what pages they are looking at and how long they are on your site for. From this information you will gain an overall picture of how well the site is working for the business - crucial if you are solely an online business.
ask about the costs of running the website. This will include hosting fees (often around $60 incl. per month), any license fees or other associated fees. There maybe a support programme already in place with the web designer, find out the ongoing costs of this, and how long the contract is for. You are likely to need some support in the first month at least unless you are a website whizz. There maybe small changes you want to make, so your web company should be able to help.
talk to the company that designed the site. You may already have a few ideas about the design or other functions you'd like to explore, and you will quickly learn if the company that did the design work is worthwhile continuing with or not. If they're not, be aware that a good design could cost upwards of $7000
Check current stock. All the stock we purchased was in good condition but, much of it was sale stock or end of line items.
ask the previous owner to notify all suppliers of your change of ownership, this just means its less of a surprise when you ring them to set up a new account!

We were lucky that the website we purchased was functional and has allowed ongoing sales. What was a surprise was the analytics. The site hadn't been search engine optimised, meaning that we still popped up on about page 6 of a google search for "Childrens Bedding". If you're like me I look at 2-3 pages of google search results before I lose interest or redefine my search terms.

I hope that is some help to some one out there! Or at least some interesting background info for those of you thinking about getting into e-commerce.

Good Luck!

Invaluable Friends

2011-07-28T22:02:00.000-07:00

You can't put a monetary value on friendships or any relationship really. I was always amazed when I had Cadell (over two years ago now) at how my very true friends who hadn't had kids yet were there for whatever I needed, and still are now. Then there are my amazing friends that I may never have got to know as well as I do now if it weren't for our children and shared experiences of pregnancy and the challenges of being a Mum.

My friend, who is very conveniently also my neighbour is an amazing and inspirational Mum. She has a full time high flying job working with the government, and from home. She is an incredible Mum, and together we met and worked with another massively talented woman Stacey Hancock - personal trainer and nutritionist. I could rave on about Stacey and what she does all day, but better still read my testimonial on her website http://www.staceyhancock.co.nz/blog/view_post.php?id=191#post

Through Stacey's incredible knowledge of nutrition and our human bodies in general I went from being an often sick 69kg to a healthy and energetic 62kg. See my tragic pictures below...

Its a little hard to see a lot of result in these pictures, but I lost a huge amount off my bum and boobs! And I was probably about 64kg in the second pic. Stacey also inspired my friend and I to train for a half marathon. My friend had lost nearly 15kg through Stacey's Food First programme, and we were feeling up for a new challenge. So that is why I have my racey lightening bolt yellow shoes on in the 2nd photo! So my moral in this story is, friends are so important to me for so many reasons, and these friends apart from being incredible women have helped me become a more healthy and fit person.

Being a teacher affiliates you with a whole school community, so many new friends of all ages. I once had the priveledge of teaching at Ohaupo School. The best rural school I know. My first class of kids are nearly old enough to be seen at the pubs, thank goodness I don't have a social life in town - I'd hear "Miss Williams!" across the dance floor! I taught siblings in some families, and some I keep in contact with even now, four years after leaving the school.

My "School Community" friends, support me in what ever I do, so I try to help them in the small ways I can too. I taught a gorgeous young girl Livi, who is now a talented and very mature young lady. She is interested in Computer Science, so I took her along to my first consultation with a web designer, she never ceases to amaze me with her intuitive perception of the big wide adult world, at just 13 years of age. Her family are wonderful people, and without friends like this, I wouldn't have a baby sitter for Munchkin #1 while I met the web designer!

"Hey! That's my digger!"

My "Girls", are my long time besties, friends that date back to Std 2, and Primary School Netball days! All have wonderful talents and add fun, laughter, support, wine, good food, baby sitting, and numerous other things to my life. One is an amazing graphic designer, currently working for RD1, but was also Senior Art Director for "hER" magazine. She made #1 Munchkin famous Nationwide in last years RD1 mailer and on shop windows around the country. This beautiful friend will help Munckins out with her graphic work helping me design our new Munchkins Logo, catalogues, business cards and other printed material - better still her brother has a sign writing business!

Another talented friend and Mum to two, is Steph. She can whip up anything with her super iron and sewing machine! She has her new brand "Owl & Hedgehog" gorgeous Baby clothing shoes, dribble bibs, aprons, clutch looking change mats, nappy bags, and other things. She came last week all the way from the bay, two kids (the Owl and the Hedgehog) in tow, overlocker, sewing machine and all the other bits required to sew up some new Munchkin quilt designs. With out Steph, I'd still be sitting down hand sewing my sample to send to our manufacture right now, and making a right botch up of it! Steph uses amazing fabric sourced from around the globe, so you can be sure what you buy from her is extremely unique, and made by a talented at home Mum. Beautiful retro style fabrics.

"Photography by Sacha" another of my fun and talented friends, obviously an amazing photographer and Mum to two. Another friend met through a "being a Mum" community. Has offered to teach me how to stage and shoot our beautiful hand made quilts and other products. Check out her business on the link above. Get in quick, Sacha is so amazing she is booked up about a year in advance!

My last "friend" I have to mention is by chance my inspirational sister. Another qualified and highly experienced teacher and educational facilitator, stay at home fun, patient, and caring Mum, exceptional cook, wonderful wife and bestest sister I could ever ask for. She continues to support and encourage me in whatever I do. She has helped to contribute to my Munchkins journey by guiding me through this blog creation, and other online communities to gain exposure for our online business. Thanks Sister you are incredible! You can read her blog here "Through a Focused Lenz"

So to all of my wonderful friends, you add so much to my life and all have contributed in some way or another to our Munchkins journey. Thanks for just being you!

Beautiful New Stock

2011-07-27T16:05:00.000-07:00

I can't wait to get our new website designed and live! There will be loads of gorgeous new duvet covers for those who prefer these on your toddlers beds rather than a quilt. Whimsy have beautiful designs, excellent colour schemes and best of all very reasonable prices. Here's my two favourites...

This is called "Faraway Tree". For those of you that know me, know I'm not a huge pink fan, but you can't help but love the tree design, really, come on?

Again this design appeals to me because of the stylish colour scheme. And everyone loves planes aye?

Look out for the rest of the designs coming soon to our website. We also stock Freckles, and of course our stunning hand quilted Munchkins designs.

Web Design

2011-07-27T03:28:00.000-07:00

I had no idea the costs involved in website design for online sales or "e-commerce". Today I obtained quotes from $2500+gst right through to a potential $20,000. These are all just quotes however and some of these cheaper designers may not have delivered, meaning a waste of $2500+ and my time. It can also take the design team anywhere from 15-48 hours of work to create your website, more of course if you aren't happy with the creative process and outcomes.

This morning I had the absolute pleasure of talking with Peter at Enlighten Design The team here are really and truly fantastic. They gave me such genuine advice, and I felt that if I chose them I would be getting a totally customised, search engine optimised, fully operational and highly spec-ed website. Unfortunately our budget can't stretch as far as I would like it to in order to employ these people, but if money grew on trees they would certainly be my first pick. However if money grew on trees I wouldn't have bought this business in the first place!

Again today has presented yet another learning curve, when a web designer asks you what do you want your site to do, "Sell stuff" isn't the answer they are looking for!

Create your dream website, with all the whizz bang bells and whistles you can think of. You may not need them all now, but it pays to see if the web creators you are going to employ know how to do this stuff. For me, I found it hard to understand which of my bells and whistles were going to cost me my arm and leg in programming/coding, and which were standard things offered by the "e-platform" (new word today, and I'm pretty handy at dropping in "e-commerce" now too!) the company would use for our site. There are also many "plug-ins" (really extending my vocab today) available that could easily do what you need too.

For example, we will be running MYOB software for our accounting side of the business (a whole new language for me to decipher) and there are apparently plug-ins for inventory control that work with MYOB and your inventory system to allow a "low stock" message to be sent to you warning to order more stock in, and when items are out of stock, not only does MYOB remind you to order in but the plug-in posts an "out of stock" message on the website for customers to see.

Nothing annoys me more as an on-line shopper than purchasing something on-line only to find out that I can't have it. Broken links in a website also drive me insane. So I apologise right now to any of my customers out there - I am still in set up phase, please be patient while I get my new bells and whistles up and running on the website! In the meantime, email any orders to me and you can pay using internet banking.

It is frustrating for me too. I want things happening now, but so many of these things in these early days of setting up a business just take time. Time to discover what the problems are, time to find the right people to fix it, time and money invested in stock and advertising, and time to get the return on your investment.

Time is a great healer - but by god its frustrating too!

Payment Security

2011-07-27T02:48:00.000-07:00

How safe are your credit card details online?

Just this evening my partner had a call on his mobile, basically from a telemarketer. When asked how the caller obtained his mobile number, he was told, "You will have purchased something online and entered this phone number and we access to all of those details". Somewhat invasive, and it made me think about how often I blindly click "Accept Terms and Conditions" buttons without even glancing over the actual terms and conditions, possibly sending my personal details out to third parties.

In setting up Munckins I have also learnt a great deal about making secure payments or shopping online. Using a secure third party such as PayPal, Pay Station and DPS are all incredibly safe and secure systems backed by web designers. There is a thought out there that many Kiwi's don't like using PayPal, I have had my troubles personally with them, but they have always been incredibly efficient at solving my problems with phone calls, and follow up emails even with a transaction as small as $30. I would be interested to hear what you think about PayPal or other online payment systems and if you have ever had any complications?

Re-launching Our Business

2011-07-27T02:38:00.000-07:00

We bought "Munchkins" just over 10 days ago now, and what a massive 10 days it has been.

My dream is that one day this business will be the leader in Nursery and Children's Bedding - a one stop shop for bedroom and sleeping solutions. With this, I hope I can then be a Mum full time to the first Munchkin on the scene, my beautiful two year old boy.

When we bought Munckins I was amazed at the work that the previous owner had done to set up manufacturers and suppliers, she however had the benefit of being a sewer, a skill I now dearly wish I had!

Now it seems that there is still so much work to be done, and perhaps we didn't research "e-commerce" all that well before we jumped into it.

Week one was almost entirely spent, ringing, faxing and emailing our suppliers to change over accounts. I also hope to stock a greater range of products, so new accounts and relationships have to be developed.

Here's a wee sample of the beautiful hand quilted quilts we currently have in our range.

Jungle is my absolute favourite! The colours are so rich and neutral, the Jungle Animals are cute and the quality of the hand stitching is simply beautiful. Absolutely no mass produced, machine stitching involved in the quilting here at Munchkins!