The Great Eight

Blended, Blessed and Barefoot

recent posts

  • Sick!

    You know that smug feeling you get when everyone around you is dropping like flies from the latest viral bug, and by some crazy magic you stay completely healthy? Yeah, that was me the last few months. While the rest of the house drudged through seamingly endless headaches, vomiting, head colds, and fevers, I armed myself with high doses of vitamin C and thought i was invincible. But germs are patient sneaky little things. Especially when they’re delivered by tiny, adorable, germ-infested gremlins (aka children). One minute you’re playing nurse, handing out tissues and lemon honey like a hero, and the next… BAM. Scratchy throat. Aching joints. The betrayal! Never assume. I dont know if you have heard the saying “if you ASSUME you make an ASS out of U and ME” 🤣

    So, lessons for next time, should you (or I) choose to follow it

    Vitamin C is great and all but it’s not a guaranteed shield. If you’re in close proximity to someone who’s sick, especially in the same household, you need to go beyond just supplements.

    1. Wash your hands like youre Adrian Monk. 20 seconds NO LESS!

    2. Hydrate like you mean it! Get one of those fancy bottles with the times to drink on the side and go for gold. Fluids help flush out toxins.

    3. Sleep: 🤣🤣🤣 ok stop laughing, if you follow my blog, chances are youre a parent who is lacking sleep. However, try your best, choose sleep over chores, and get all the help and support you can gather.

    4. Zinc and Vitamin D are your allies! While vitamin C gets most of the attention, zinc helps shorten colds and vitamin D is crucial for immune function.

    5. Don’t share anything. As tempting as it is to sip from your kid’s juice box, steal a bite of their snack, or give them kisses on their adorable snot covered faces, just don’t.

    6. Sanitize!! Surfaces that get touched a lot, like, door handles, light switches, remote controls, phones. Clean them daily when illness is going around!

    There’s no shame in getting sick, especially when you’re surrounded by tiny germ distributors who love hugs and don’t understand personal space. But being proactive (not just popping vitamins) can make all the difference.

    And remember: never ASSUME! You know why now. Don’t make an ass out of yourself .. like me haha. Stay healthy! 😷

  • Introductions

    “I know what I’ll do!” I thought to myself as I busied about my day, getting overwhelmed by children asking ten thousand questions and relentlessly using the word Mum, “I’ll add something else to my ever growing list of things to do and start a blog!”

    This is something I have thought about for a while, not because I’m bored !! Far from it. But because I am now 40 years old with 8 children and I thought I could share some of my knowledge with some home schooling, large family, craft and food loving families and give some tips on what we do to, somewhat, hold it together.

    It must look like we know what we are doing from the outside, but I’m here to tell you

    IT’S CRAZY IN HERE! There are days I’ve truly hit bottom, and I want to tell you, you are NOT alone! I see you! So welcome to my Blog. In it I am adding in tips and tricks for large families, recipes, patterns, amazing links to amazing people and my own personal stories and testimonies.

    Let me start by introducing myself. My name is Melanie, I’m a person who absolutely LOVES crafts and children. I have many of each of those things in my house. I live in beautiful New Zealand in a smelly old town called Rotorua. I have birthed 6 children who are living with my partner and I full time and I have 2 bonus children who live with their mum but we are lucky enough to have stay regularly. Their ages range from 14 years to 7 months. 4 of them are children from my previous marriage so my partner is their stepfather, and we had 2 children together. So a total of 8 between us. It can get incredibly noisy and expensive in our house! 3 children are home schooled, 3 are at school, one is at a Steiner Kindy and one is currently attached to my body, breastfeeding. So we have a wide range!

    My partner and I have been through an incredible journey the past 5 years. The trials we have been through would have broken most relationships, but we are stronger than ever. In upcoming blogs I promise to write a bit about my journey through the family court system and my mental health, in hopes that I can help others keep going through tough times.

    ❤