I recently had to take a bit of a break from Altbub due to some upsetting circumstances. Some readers may know that I was expecting our third child, due on the 19th of March. Unfortunately, on the 19th of February we found that, at 36 weeks gestation and for no known reason, my baby’s heart had stopped beating. I delivered a stillborn baby girl that afternoon, we named her Robyn.

As a lot of writing for the blog involves looking at baby sites, obviously it’s not been something I’ve been able to deal with, but I’m slowly feeling better, and I’m determined to make the site into everything I hoped it would be when I started it a couple of month ago. I am trying to gain something positive from what, at times, has felt like living in a nightmare, and part of that is a renewed ambition to aim high and achieve everything I hope for.

I won’t be discussing Robyn or dwelling on what has happened at all on the site, but if you do want to keep up with how we as a family are all doing, my personal blog can be found at  Not Another Mummy Blog.

If you wish to learn more about stillbirth, or support the research into discovering the causes and prevention, please visit The Still Birth Foundation.

"We bought you a pair of shoes, a trumpet you can blow on and a book of rules, of what to say when they pick on you, because if you stay with us you're going to be pretty kooky too."

Lyrics from ‘Kooks’ by David Bowie

I’ve listened to Bowie for as long as I can remember, not until I was pregnant with my eldest son (the crocbait pictured above) did I truly grasp the concepts behind ‘Kooks’. One of the album tracks on Hunky Dory. The song was written by David for his newborn son, Zowie Bowie (now known as Duncan Jones!). The basic idea behind the song is reminding his new son that although his parents may not be exactly “textbook” in their life, they love him and will believe in him always.

My entire parenting philosophy has been summed up within this one song, and as I look at my now almost three year old, his one year old brother and the rather large bump in my abdomen that keeps me awake all night, I can’t help but feel proud that so far my husband and I have done a pretty good job raising our kids in a less than conventional way.

And so that brings us to Alternabub. Australia has some amazing resources, stores and hand crafters that are catering to alternative children and their families, what it’s lacking is one central point to gather all of that information together, and THAT is what Alternabub aims to be.

Most importantly I encourage acceptance of everyone’s tastes, beliefs and parenting techniques. So whether you’re goth, green, straight, gay, punk, retro, just barely al-dente or full on granola crunchy, if you’re parenting and family style is a little “out there” then Alternabub is the place for you. I hope to highlight some of the wonderful products from around the world, share inspirational stories of parenting and showcase nurseries and kids rooms from around the world that tread the slightly less worn path of design. No matter what your level of ‘kook’ is you’ll find something for it within the pages of Alternabub.