Thinking frugally...

Eeeeek! You know it's going to be a long week when you only have $35 to your name until this time next week...


This is going to require some out of the box thinking. Our meal plan for the week is currently being "padded" out by my very generous in-laws. So to repay some of the huge debt of gratitude I now owe them, I'm baking them a Christmas cake. My Christmas cake is no ordinary fruit cake. Nope, the only fruit it contains are dried dates! Mmmmmm love those dates! It also has copious macadamia nuts, almonds and lashings of dark chocolate. And brandy...lots and lots of brandy! (Or, as in the case of the other night, when  you don't have brandy, IMPROVISE! Lol. Ours had Jack Daniels in it instead!)


But I digress.


Food plan for this week:


Wednesday = One pan chicken
Thursday = Babotie
Friday = Slow cooker beef
Saturday = Vegetable frittata
Sunday = Soup and scones
Monday = Fish cakes
Tuesday = partial payment = STEAK!!
Wednesday = Payday! = GROCERIES!


Now the only problem with all of this, is I can't go very far due to only having 1/2 a tank of petrol to last me to Wednesday....Hmmmm, I wonder if I can persuade people to come to me???


Wishing you all a peaceful and harmonious week! xoxox

Bonsoir, remember me?

Well hello again! It has been a very long time since I last posted. I have no idea how to catch you up on all that has happened in that time, so please forgive me..


I'm soooo very excited!! Christmas is coming!! I ADORE Christmas. I love everything about it, all the traditions, the giving, the shared joy. So I'm uber excited that I have been allowed to start Christmas early in our house. LOML and I are heading to the US for a business conference in Las Vegas, followed by a hasty tour of LA and San Diego. This is great, but means that I miss out on almost two weeks of valuable Christmas time, and there is so much I want to do with Monkey this year, now that he kind of realises what is going on. So decorations are up, and mucho sewing and creating is occurring by Mama.


I'm making Monkey an advent calender that he can do while we are away - kind of a way of us still being here with him too. I can't believe I'm going to leave my baby for nearly 2 weeks!!!


Anyway, tomorrow's job...Christmas cake creating. I'll be sure to pop back and show you my creations!


Biscous xx

Oh my......!

Today, MIL and I have been on a mission. There is far too much 'stuff' cluttering up both of our homes from our gorgeous wee monkey, so the packing has begun! A trip to the storage unit is planned for this afternoon so that we can get LOML's car back into the garage, and set up a play area in there for Monkey and Miss S.


We started off at MIL's, as her cupboards were on the verge of exploding into their own life form.. and low and behold the first things I come across are Monkey's premmie outfits. Cluck, cluck, cluck, cluck, cluckity, cluck!! He was so very small, and it just astounds me how much he has grown and developed!


Compulsory rest time at the moment, as Monkey has crashed on the couch - but back into it once he wakes. I suspect more cluckiness is imminent!

Bonsoir, hello and nice to see you again!

Ok, so I'd got a bit over the appearance of my blog (hence the very late night!). And being the highly visual creature that I am, I have now reworked my blog to look much more appealing to be written on.


Much has happened since I last checked in. Monkey is now walking AND running everywhere. He is such a delight to so many people. We had the time of our lives at Kmart this morning when Ouma suggested toy shopping for Monkey and Miss S who is soon to join us from South Africa.


I'm looking forward to seeing Monkey interacting with his cousin, and getting my brain ticking over again as I home school her for the remainder of the year.


Speaking of which, I have signed Monkey up for Playcentre starting next term. We are both so excited!

Just one of those days...

I knew fairly early on that I shouldn't have gotten out of bed. But the mission was on to get Monkey's and my passports sorted, so alas I didn't really have a choice!


Firstly, photographing a monkey for his first passport is quite a palava, they put him on a stool and got me to hold his legs while bending down out of the view of the camera - HA! Said Monkey thought we were playing a game of peek-a-boo! He would not stop grinning - not quite the look for a passport photo. So I had to try and wriggle my way under the stool so he couldn't see me, and keep my head down so he DEFINITELY couldn't see me. After about 20 shots they finally managed to get a reasonable picture.


Secondly, the passport forms. I had previously filled these out for our Hamilton address, of which we no longer reside at. So I phoned hubby and asked him to collect the appropriate forms on his way home for lunch. Unfortunately, the guys at the travel agents need to finely tune their listening devices as, yup, you guessed it he came home with the wrong adult forms. Back he got sent, and finally I had the correct forms to fill out.


Next came the witnessing. The person who was suggested for this task decided that he hadn't known me long enough to sign these. Mad panic ensued. Luckily I managed to track down a dear friend who lives about half an hours drive away. The calm of the storm. We even managed a lovely catch up in a coffee shop while her beautiful babe slept away (mine was left at home with hubby). Documents signed, and the return trip home.


Auckland traffic is not to be sniffed at. 45mins to get out of said suburb, and then another half an hour on the motorway. Sigh. Petrol light starts flashing dangerously. Thank goodness for a well placed BP station!


Home, but passport job still not complete, none of the other jobs I had set for myself, and to top it all off the housecleaner hadn't been. Sigh. Bed, I think you sound very promising!!

Well hello again :)

It seems I have had another blogging holiday, but I didn't mean to be gone this long. It has bee a grueling couple of months, and while things are still difficult at times, we seem to be coming out of the fog.


I have found my love for sewing again, and after a weekend in front of it - I confess I feel much more contented. Soooo, roll on more sewing!


Pinterest! If you haven't discovered the miracle of this wonderful site, I suggest you go exploring pronto! Oh my goodness, it is all to beautiful and addictive - I must confess I spend a great deal of my time delving into all manner of inspiration.


My wee baby turned into a toddler overnight, and now walks EVERYWHERE. His Daddy even took him for a big walk around the block two nights ago - and he walked the whole way! Proud Mama moment!

I hope all is well in your world as well xxx

I've been distracted...

For those of you on pinterest I need not say anymore, for those of you who aren't..you need to be!!! Holy moly, it is a sea of fabulousness and I'm so inspired to create, create, create everytime I hop on there!


In other news, I have had the best day today. My family (girl) and I escaped from our boys for the day and went shopping. Ahhhh Kikki K, you are my new and dearest love!!

Q & A

I read the following on Little Sabine's blog:


I read the following on Latte Junkie's blog:


"There's nothing quite like reading a blog and thinking "Wow, great idea" and then discovering that you have been tagged to do it too"


Then i had the same done to me...he he. I love these so there is no stopping me now!!! Luckily, this lovely lady is a good friend of mine and understands I love these as much as she does! xoxox

Q & A

Which living person do you most admire, and why? My Mum is the person I admire most in the world. She was a SAHM until I was 10, and in all honesty, she is the original 'supermum'. She had 3 of us in 4 and a half years and she still managed to sew, knit, bake, cook, and make us feel like the most loved children on this Earth - I only hope I can do the same for my children (of which there is one so far).

When were you happiest? When I heard monkey's heartbeat for the very first time - my husband and I had tears in our eyes.

What was your most embarrassing moment? The night I served up still frozen vegetables - I swear I thought those things were cooked!

Aside from property, what’s the most expensive thing you’ve bought? 
My collection of English bone china - worth every penny.
What is your most treasured possession? A photograph of monkey the night he was born (weighing in at 1.94kg), he was so tiny, and he recognised me immediately - was so amazing. Other than that, my mother and child charm that my husband bought me for my pandora bracelet after having our boy.

Where would you like to live? So many choices, I have loved every place I have lived. It would need to be somewhere warm with close access to the beach.

What’s your favorite smell? Freshly mown lawn 

Who would play you in the film of your life? I don't know how many people would want to watch that film but I think Kate Winslet would be a good choice.

What is your favorite book? Lately I have to say it was 'House Rules' by Jodi Picoult

What is your most unappealing habit?  Biting my nails

What would be your fancy dress costume of choice? A princess. 

What is your earliest memory?  Going in for surgery at age 3 with my teddy bear.

What is your guiltiest pleasure?  Chocolate!!

What do you owe your parents? A lot, they are the most wonderfully supportive parents - they gave us half our deposit on our first home too!

To whom would you most like to say sorry, and why? To a family friend - I wrote the names of the keys on their piano with nail polish when I was younger!

What or who is the greatest love of your life? My Uncle Maurice. He was one tough cookie who never gave up trying to live his best life til his last breath.

What does love feel like? Amazing, it's like a drug, once you've had it, you never want to let it go.

What was the best kiss of your life? With my husband on our wedding day.

Which words or phrases do you most overuse?
What doesn't kill you only makes you stronger.

What is the worst job you’ve done? Checkout chick

If you could edit your past, what would you change? Nothing, experience has sculpted the person I am today.

What is the closest you’ve come to death? Acute pancreatitis, I have never been so sick in my life, I narrowly avoided a trip to the ICU.

What do you consider your greatest achievement? My beautiful boy

When did you last cry, and why? A couple of days ago, I tend to cry a lot.

How do you relax? Exercise, cuddle my sleepy boy, in a nice deep hot bath with a good book.

What single thing would improve the quality of your life? More sleep!

What is the most important lesson life has taught you? To aim for the stars, dream big, and make the most of every moment - and to maintain a sense of humour!!


Hmm i tag a couple of mama's:
raising rural ratbags
emerson-j handmade

Happy Easter Sunday!

Normally, we would have started the day with an Easter egg hunt - but its funny how things change once you have children! Monkey is so almost walking, his Ouma and Oupa have bought him a trolley to walk behind and he loves it. He also does not like chocolate...very strange child, given how much I love the stuff! So LOML hid the eggs for me and I went hunting once Monkey had gone down to sleep. Mmmmm chocolate!!


In other news - my BIL bought up my camera for me so I can take some photos and upload them, hooray!!


My Easter present from Mum and Dad was a gorgeous marshmellow egg from Silky Oaks in Hawke's Bay (mmmm), and my Easter present from my IL's was another 2 pandora charms for my bracelet...tres lucky I say!!


xx

Happy Easter and the things I am grateful for...

Easter Friday, the first day of an extra long weekend, and the day of Jesus's passing. It amazes me that so many people don't even know that. Easter, like Christmas has become a day of commercialism and just another public holiday that we take for granted. We are not overly religious, but both LOML and myself have had a religious upbringing. It amazes me that we study the significance of all our other public holidays and yet there is little understanding of why the dates for Easter change, or which days are which.


Today we started the day with hot crossed buns (chocolate ones, mmmmm) and had a lovely quiet family day at home. And we will be doing the Easter egg hunt, but we will also be aware of the significance of the day and the symbolism of the eggs.


My Mum and Dad arrive tomorrow, YAY! This is very exciting - its the first time I have seen them since the great move northwards. Monkey will be spoilt rotten this weekend, one set of grandparents tomorrow and the other set return from Malaysia on Sunday!




Okay, things I am grateful for...


My beautiful boy, and sleepy cuddles
A wonderful LOML who accepts and loves me wholeheartedly
Great friends
Walks on the beach (being close enough to the beach to make this an option)
Making my own cleaning products and cutting my grocery bill in half
Stormy nights when we are all tucked up in bed
The smell of rain in the morning
Waking up to the most amazing view every morning (can't wait for my camera to arrive so I can show you all!!)


Wishing you all the most wonderful Easter. I hope you are all indulging in beautiful moments with your families, and of course, oodles of chocolate!!


xoxox

I'm so impressed with myself!!

Groceries - an essential part of our existence, we all need to eat right? Well, our budget has taken a fair whack lately, what with moving and life stuff. So a fortnight ago, I went to Pack n Slave (my pet hate, if you can't tell), and still managed to come out with a whopping $266 food bill. This got me thinking, what exactly was I spending all our precious coin on? Well the necessities I thought..turns out this was not quite the truth.


On my mission to downsize our foodbill, I managed to do our groceries for this week without stepping foot in a supermarket, or a warehouse! I got everything we needed from Binn Inn, Mad Butcher, and the fruit and vegetable shop.....and da da da da dahhhh it cost me a measly $120!! Yeah, I couldn't quite believe it either. So, not only will we be saving money, but we will be eating totally nutritious  meals where I know exactly what went into them.


Yes Wendyl, I think you are my new idol....

Time for a new goal..

I have all these good intentions of getting things done that make me feel better..blogging is one of them. I can tell you exactly what makes me feel good and what makes me sink a little lower into a PND haze. Is it just me, or do you find that you make excuses from doing these things too?


I had a wonderful visit from a very dear friend and her darling little boy today, and it got me thinking..how much of my anxiety is caused by me not doing the things that make me feel better simply because other 'stuff' gets in the way?


So today I set a new goal. To blog at least 3 times a week (and that means actively writing and not just reading and running). And to do at least a little bit of sewing everyday. Means the machine won't have a chance to grow cobwebs and my creative juices can be let loose.


My highlight of today? Other than this lovely visit? My little boy had a 3 hour afternoon sleep! Woohoo!!

Hello again!

Well, the granny artwork has come down, and I'm working on the enormous amounts of dusky pink that is taking over this house. I wish I could take some pictures and show you just how bad it is, but my camera is still in Hamilton - so won't be back until the weekend (next weekend!). My other dilemma has been that I had my brother in law brought up my sewing machine for me and oh-oh, what do you know...he forgot the peddle and the power cords. Luckily Mother in law has gone away on a holiday so I have free use of hers! 2 out of 5 sets of curtains made and ready to hang!! So excited!!!

hello world!!

My goodness, we made it! We are now officially relocated in Orewa, and do you know what? I'm thinking I might like it here! The house has an AMAZING view over the estuary, but falls a tad short on the decor. So it is my mission to de-grannyify this house as quickly as I can. It started today with 8 canvases covered in simply gorgeous fabrics (and when I unearth my camera I'll add some pictures - I'm really stoked with how they have come out!). My BIL's partner now has eyes for my gun stapler, ahhh the  hidden treasures an ex-teacher has in her stationary cupboard!


I'm happy, enough said!


xxxx

Arrrrghhhh!!

Moving cities....'nuf said! Ok, I'll elaborate..after 11 years in this beautiful city of bridges that I call home, we are uprooting ourselves and moving about 2 hours north. Scared? Yes. Sad? Yes. Not making progress with packing? Yes, yes and yes!! Packing with a 14month old is just plain impossible. 3 more days to get the last of the house sorted and packed away, ready for the tenants to take over. Again...arrrrrrgggghhh!!

Mucho excitement!!

We are moving next weekend, from Hamilton to Orewa. This makes me smile. Not because I am happy to be leaving my wonderous friends and support networks, but because I have always been a beach person, and in a way, I kinda feel like I'm going home. Weird, as the in laws will be living over our back fence, and definitely not Hastings (where I grew up). They say home is where the heart is, and this is definitely true for me, as my heart (the LOML) has been there from Sunday to Friday for the last couple of months at least. Anyway, I digress, the reason I am so excited.....the house we are going to has 5 bedrooms! Yes, that's right, 5!!!! Which means that the following will happen...1 bedroom for us, 1 bedroom for monkey, 1 bedroom for guest room, 1 bedroom for office, and dadadadaddadddddaaaaaahhhhh....1 bedroom for SEWING ROOM!!!!!!! Bliss...I don't think I'm ever going to want to leave!!

Sunday-itis

Way back when I was a working girl (as in working at work), I was very familiar with Sunday-itis. That looming feeling of trepidation for the coming week. I haven't really noticed it so much in the last year and a half, because every day seems to merge into another. But since LOML has been working away from home (in another city entirely), the Sunday-itis has returned. I get excited because its Friday and that means he is coming home to us, and then before you can blink it's Sunday again and it's back to solo parenting we go. Now, normally this isn't too much of a major - but add packing up a house, selling a house and keeping a very active nearly 14month old out of trouble....well....blood pressure rising, rising...


I know that this is all 'just for now', and I know that there are a LOT of people out there at the moment who are significantly a lot worse off than us...but man, it's hard. If I'm not an emotional, blubbering wreck for some of the day, I'm ready to stab someone's eyes out. I am a PND Mama, and I know that these aren't symptoms to be taken lightly, but these are also normal responses given my situation. Sigh.


It ain't easy growing up in world war 3, never knowing what love may be...ahhh PINK, how I heart you!! See, someone is always worse off than you.

Things that I'm loving..

Thanks once again must go to the wonderful paisleyjade, for providing the inspiration to this post - and making me reflect on what in my life!!


So things that I am loving....


1. Sewing!!! I had the really odd scenario this week of no LOML or child and really put my sewing machine through its paces - it was great!!


2. Marshmellow easter eggs!! It has to be the large Cadbury ones and they HAVE to have been in the freezer! Mmmm....


3. Hot bread! The aroma of a freshly cooked loaf and the opportunity to have a slice and a cuppa with the gorgeous ladies at Hauora (currently responsible for my state of mind!).


4. Having my LOML home for the weekend after a week of being separated - even though we are both too exhausted to do much, I love, love, love having him home!


5. My monkey - he is an absolute delight! I love watching him grow, develop and explore - just watching him makes me smile.

Still home alone...

Yes, that's right, LOML and darling child are still away...they come back tomorrow. But do you know what..that lost feeling has gone and I am having a ball!! I have my sewing machine out and I'm whipping up a storm! 3 pairs of pj pants made in less than 30 minutes! I have a fridge full of chocolatey goodness and the reassurance that unless I go on a midnight raid, that it will still be there in the morning. I also know that I will have a fantastic sleep - I didn't wake until 11am this morning, who does that with a child! If it sounds like I'm beaming, its cos I literally am!!

Wednesday in pictures

Ahhh, latte how I love you!!

Teddy bear's picnic - oh so many children!

Teddy bear's bouncing on the tent

Playing in the park with Mama!

The all important bottle - we love this one!

I'm feeling a little strange..

After a revolting night with my little monster, I woke up feeling not human, infact, I felt like monsters had invaded my stomach. At 1pm I put out the SOS to LOML to come home (he is working in Auckland) and look after monster child. The short story is that he did, but had to pack said child up and take him back with him as he had the journalists coming in the morning.

So here I sit, starting to feel a little better, with no LOML and no child. What does one DO with oneself? I keep roaming the house because I'm sure I'm hearing noises (curse the heavy footed neighbours who built their house far too close to ours). Maybe a bath, a long soak with a good book? Hmmm, so many options!

THANK goodness!!!

Ok, I have become absolutely fascinated with Made by Rae. She is devoting this month to all things little boy - and as a Mama to a little boy, this has served me with mucho inspiration!! Recently she made a fleece dressing gown for her wee boy, and I was in *swoon*!! Bless her kind heart, she even supplied the pattern reference.

Last night I received an email informing me of a sale at spotlight - so off I trekked and what do you know...they had run out of said pattern. Boo. I think if I was a 2 year old I would have been in full tantrum at this point! Any how, after spending the best part of the afternoon trying to track down this pattern, and nobody having it - I did a bit of research, and what do you know...you can buy patterns over the net and download and print them off! Ingenious!! So now I am equipped with fleece, pattern and all things necessary to have a day of creating tomorrow! I'm very excited about this prospect! Lets all cross our fingers that no potential buyers want to come through the house in the morning!!

Things I am thankful for...

As a Mama with PND, I find it all too easy to focus on the negative. So, when I saw a post on paisleyjade about this very subject, I thought what a fabulous motivator! Therefore, in the world of Mama j'adore, I am thankful for....

My loving, wonderful husband:

My fabulous, supportive family (both mine and hubby's)

Good friends, health and mucho happiness

Cooking, sewing, and a muriad of other crafty pursuits - and the time to get these things done (mostly)

Waking up to this smiling face every day:

Being so well supported by Hauora, that I'm almost back up to 100% functionality!

Profound poetry

A very dear friend of mine sent me this poem, when I was very much in need of it. In every aspect of my life it has resonated ever since...

You Learn

After a while you learn the subtle difference
Between holding a hand and chaining a soul,

And you learn that love doesn't mean leaning
And company doesn't mean security.

And you begin to learn that kisses aren't contracts
And presents aren't promises,

And you begin to accept your defeats
With your head up and your eyes open
With the grace of a woman, not the grief of a child,

And you learn to build all your roads on today
Because tomorrow's ground is too uncertain for plans
And futures have a way of falling down in mid-flight.

After a while you learn...
That even sunshine burns if you get too much.

So you plant your garden and decorate your own soul,
Instead of waiting for someone to bring you flowers.

And you learn that you really can endure...

That you really are strong

And you really do have worth...

And you learn and learn...

With every good-bye you learn.

Translation by Veronica A. Shoffstall

by Robert Burns.

Another busy day...

Well things are in lift off mode here. After a day of rushing here, there and everywhere I managed to squeeze in a quick half an hour of sewing and look what I produced

I downloaded this pattern off madebyrae.blogspot.com - absolutely a dream pattern to work with, I over estimated the size of monkey's waist though, so will need to spend some time with the quick unpick. Totally stoked with them, yay!

Just as I was sewing my last seam, the real estate agent called and asked if someone could come and look at my house. Obviously I had to say yes - but oh what a time - smack bang in the middle of dinner for the little man! To distract him from the strange people wandering around our house, we made our way to the spare room bed.

Dum dee doo...

I was bad. I ran out of my night time medication for my PND, and now I can't sleep. Botheration. Hopefully my hot milo will do its trick soon. Nothing like testing the waters to make you realise just how much I still need my meds.

Creating, creating

I have re-acquainted myself with sewing since I bought my own machine whilst I was pregnant with monkey. I was a mad keen sewer at intermediate and the early part of high school. But life got in the way, and it suddenly wasn't 'cool' anymore.

Anyway, I'm now a self-confessed sewing and fabric addict - I have many projects on the go and waiting in the wings. I'm hopeful that I will get some time on my machine tomorrow (having cancelled a previous appointment).

Here are some of my creations thus far

Time for a change

Do you ever have those days when you just want something different? Well today is one of those days for me - as evident on my newly transformed page. The banner picture is of my wee monkey - doing the things we do when someone decides sleep is far too boring, and over rated! Bubbles, bubbles, bubbles..makes up for the fact that Daddy is working in far distant places during the week.

Today was a quiet day at home for us, and monkey and I laughed and played, then he ate some dirt and chased some snails around the garden...ahhhh bliss!

Yes, I am still alive ;)

My word! It can't have been January the last time I posted! This has the potential of being quite a long post, so bear with me - so much has happened in the last month and a bit!

My nephew turned 2! Which means that we also had our 2 year anniversary (my darling nephew was born the day after we got married - good boy for letting Mummy and Daddy come to our wedding!). I got a bit nostalgic and realised just how much we had accomplished in the last 3 years. But most of all it made me realise just how lucky I am to have such a wonderful and supportive husband (awwww).

My husband got a job! He is working about 2 hours drive from our house, so I have been solo mumming it for the week and he comes and sees us in the weekend. He is working very long hours as him and his Dad work frantically trying to set up a preventative medicine business in Orewa.

Decisions have been made...we are selling our very comfortable wee house and leaving Hamilton to migrate north. So the house was listed on Monday and I had the priviledge of getting it ready for selling with a very helpful 1 year old in the mix (his favourite job is unloading the dishwasher - shame its only the cutlery and shame it doesn't go on the drawer but on the floor!).

Such a helpful young man! Does slow down the process considerably though! Thank goodness Mum was up to help my sister out with nephew #2 who arrived late February. Another gorgeous wee boy, makes me very, very clucky. So my beautiful Mum helped me get the house and the gardens ship shape, a very good thing as we had an early potential buyer come through in the weekend (before the agents and the photographer have even been through).

Hmm next? Oh yes, my beautiful wee boy had his first birthday! Which meant I had my first birthday party to organise. It wasn't a flash affair, my PND reared its ugly head during this time, but it was lovely and relaxed - which after all is all we really wanted.

There has been a lot of madness as of late, I'm surviving but often don't have the time nor the inclination to get my thoughts in order. Not that I think this post is particularly chronological, but they are my ramblings in as ordered fashion as I can muster at the moment.

This week is going to be yet another frantic one - the photographer comes tomorrow to take stunning pictures of our house (I was out gardening at 9pm lol). Agents are through on Tuesday, and I am ever hopeful that an offer will present itself, so we can be a family unit again.

Claire

busy busy

My new addiction (well, not that new to those who have known me for a while) - sewing! I have recently purchased off Trademe a wonderful sewing cabinet, solid pine, for a very reasonable price. I get to go and pick it up on Friday - I'm so excited!! Tomorrow night might be interesting  - adult version of the night before Christmas!

I can't wait to get it home and set up my little corner of paradise and get going on some more gorgeousness.

My recent sewing attempts have been thwarted by my now, very mobile little boy. He is either chewing on the power cords, or sitting on the pedal in attempt to *help*. He is my sewing sidekick - his favourite toy is my tape measure, and he adores scraps! However, it will be nice to have a place that I can close off to him if I so choose.

PND - you're a prickly thorn and I don't like you!!

Its been a while since I last posted about this particular aspect of my life. To some extent I have been living by the 'if its not mentioned, its not there' philosophy. What a shame it doesn't work!!

Today has been a mare of a day. I had to go with my hubby to WINZ, which was a stressful enough scenario (had to time feeds, sleeps etc and actually leave the house to make the appointment on time - none of which are easy for me). We manage that, and then discover that they have written down the wrong date yet again and in fact we aren't due for another week! If I could have climbed over the desk, I would have quite happily clobbered HER into next week!!! So home we trot and hubby packs himself up and heads to Auckland (quite important as he is yet to find a job since April!) to look for work. But I was in such a state by then, with a very assertive baby on my hands. There were a few tears to be had.

I had my occupational therapist come round this afternoon, which was good, but I would have much rather buried myself in a hole as sit there and discuss 'strategies' to help with my stress levels. And I have to go to the doctor on Thursday, lucky me!

To top it all off, monkey was being a nightmare tonight, so I just left him to it and pottered at the back of the house. BAD, bad move. He completely destroyed his birth certificate, so tomorrow I need to get another one sorted out - can't organise a passport for him without a birth certificate. My word for today....GAH!!!!!

Hot, hot and more hot!!

Summer, you are the bane of my existence - how did we get her my dear friend?? I have always been a summer girl, the hotter the better was always my turn of phrase. But summer with a little dot isn't particularly kind. Cale, it seems, has inherited his father's love of the cooler climes, as opposed to my warmer ones. Add heat to teething and a perfectly timed tummy bug and you end up with an incredibly grouching, sensitive child.

In my quest to have a sleeping baby, I put Cale down to sleep on our bed, with the heat pump set to cool (medium) and a fan in the hallway to move the air around. Well, said child has now been asleep for 3 hours and hasn't moved so much a muscle. I'm now contemplating where his father and I are going to sleep tonight - sadly we are both a smidge too big for his cot! Oh the things you do for a sleeping baby!

Good bye 2010...Heelloooo 2011

How did it get to be the 10th of January before I managed a welcome to 2011 post? Things are certainly busy, and it doesn't appear to be slowing down any time soon.

It is one week til my 2nd wedding anniversary, and just over 3 weeks until my little guy turns 1!

I haven't had much time to do any sewing as of late, my wee monkey is getting quite mobile these days. Tonight I came out of the kitchen to find him sitting facing the front door - a self imposed time out? He really is a cheeky wee thing.  

Here are a few pics of our WONDERFUL holiday at the beach. Cale loved his time with his grandparents and free access to as much attention as his heart desired.