Help please! The big O-N-E....

Little Red isn't one for a few months yet but I'm already thinking about his bash and I need your help. What to do? Do we have a big party with family, our friends and all his little buddies or do we just keep it small with family and close friends?

On one hand I think it should be big - Red's important to us and a lot of other people and it's such a milestone (having said that though, we'd do a 'no presents' policy so he doesn't end up with mountains of stuff) and on the other hand, I think maybe it should just be small as he has no idea what's going on and it's more of a milestone for us as parents, right?

So I want to know what you guys did for you littlies first birthdays. Comment below or email me at bonniesaysyes@gmail.com. 

Thanks ladies x

Dearest Christchurch....

If I could bundle all your people up in the palm of my hand I would give them a big kiss and a cuddle and tell them everything would be OK. 

If I could rebuild your city like I build Redford's Duplo I would build you the loveliest, brightest city there ever was (complete with a giant Robo-Duck in the centre of town).

If I had a magic wand I would bring back all the loved ones you've lost, find all your pets and clean up your mucky footpaths.

If I had the biggest oven in the world I would make thousands of cupcakes with sprinkles and if I could I would make hot chocolates to go with them with extra chocolate, extra marshmallows and a Whittaker's Sante bar dipped in each one.

If I had loads of money I would give it all to you.

I could go on, but I won't. You get the point. And I'm pretty sure hundreds upon thousands of people not only in NZ but in the world feel exactly the same as I do. And maybe I can't do the things above but I can do something.

Last Thursday I washed and packaged up three sets of big people bedding and four sets of little people bedding, pillows, blankets and two huge boxes of baby clothes, socks, hats and toys and sent them down on a truck. When I delivered my donations to Wigan Street I was totally overwhelmed by the manpower and amount of.... stuff that was waiting to be sent and I was glad I could do my part.

Over the next couple of days I'm going to make some lovely creations to be auctioned through Handmade for Christchurch and then I'm fishing out my most prized possession (my red and gold brocade, fully boned Zambesi dress) and selling it on Trade Me with all proceeds going to Red Cross (I just need to top up my account first, oops!)

And oh! I wish (and hope) I can do more. It just melts my heart to see everyone mucking in and doing their part for a city and it's people who need all the help they can get right now.

What have you done? I want to hear all of it!!

Big snuggles for everyone xx

You know you're a Mum when....

you see people's lives torn apart on the news and all you want to do is desperately hug your kids. Life is put into perspective. You find yourself standing over your baby's cot watching him sleep and reminding yourself just how lucky you are.

You know you're a Mum when....

you look in the mirror at the end of the day and realise you've been walking around with mashed Weetbix in your hair. 

All day. True story.

The day I fought a losing battle

Lunchtime. Mess. Brainstew. Aaaaaaaaaaargh!

 The culprit - couscous, sweet corn, pumpkin & banana.

 A deft ninja whack of the spoon while I had

my head turned sent lunch running down the

cupboards - woe is me!

The floorboards are enjoying their meal. Thankfully we

have the neighbour's cat to clean up the scraps. Although

she does seem to be getting increasingly fat....

The face of a boy who is getting bathed VERY soon.

Aaaand it ends up on the legs too. 

Everywhere but in his tummy it seems.

 

 Hey Mum, do you like seafood?

Not particularly.

SEE FOOD!!! And lots of it.

 

I'm reminded somewhat of a muddy dog

restrained on a towel until the bath is run.

Clean and mess free. Now to tackle the kitchen

floor. And the cupboards. And the bath. And the

clothes. And the....

Ahem. Just for good measure, this was after-dinner pudding. 

Plum, banana and avocado. This time I fed him in the 

nuddy and pre-ran the bath. Such is life with a piglet!

 

You know you're a Mum when....

you know the morning weekday cartoon schedule off by heart.

The magic pudding

Sometimes getting Redford to finish his dinner is like getting Nick to willingly do the vacuuming - near impossible. A lot of coercion is needed, including singing, many spoons, rice cakes, you name it, I've tried it. He does get there in the end but unfortunately he's half me and has inherited my incredibly short attention span and would rather twist in his highchair a little too Exorcist-ish for my liking and try rub his grubby hands on our nice new curtains.

Last night though, I hit the jackpot. We stumbled through his dinner (bolognaise, rice and kumara), with him getting more and more distracted and me getting more and more frustrated as the minutes went on. Dinner down, we moved onto pudding. I had a beautifully ripe avocado that I was desperate to use and wanted to pump Little Red with some good fats yet for some reason he's vetoed avo as of late - why, I have no earthly idea. So I got creative and mashed a quarter of it with half a banana and half a black doris plum and holy moly, I've never seen the child eat so fast! And he cried when it was all done.

As you can see, he morphed into somewhat of a sparrow - sticking his neck out as far as he could and opening his gob wide (for once):

Booyah! That is freaking good:

The last remnants, I can feel the tears welling already:

It doesn't look that appetizing but I had a wee taste and I have to admit, I struggled to give it to him.... I wanted to keep it all for myself! It was absolutely scrummy. We did it again tonight and yet again, it went down a treat - you'd think all Red's Christmases had come at once! 

So if you're after a healthy, oh-so-delish pudding, I totally recommend this. And don't keep it all for baby, shove some in your gob too!