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

you can't see the TV show you're watching clearly for all the greasy fingerprints all over the screen!

Can someone please tell me....

why it is exactly that ECE hours are only applicable for three and four year olds?


Perhaps I've the wool pulled over my eyes, but it makes sense to have it for one and two year olds too, right?


The reason I ask is, I'm looking at going back to work and holy heck daycare is UBER expensive. YEESH. It really is for the rich and famous!


Is there anything that caters for parents who aren't so keen on footing up close to $300 for 3/4 days of care?


Now I know it's what's best for your child and if I know that Redford will get the most super care at creche out of anywhere else then I'm happy to pay the bill, but honestly, is there even a choice? 


What about parents that need to go back to work and can't foot the cheque? Or single parents? What happens then? Where do their kids go and how do they afford the care?


I just don't get it....

Little Red turns one.

So the wee monster turned one on Monday and we celebrated in style the day before. A great day was had by all, even Redford who took it all in his stride (and thoroughly enjoyed his piece of cake). The highlight? Putting him in the sailor suit that his Daddy wore 31 years ago when he turned one!


The feast! And all homemade! We had lamingtons, cheese straws, rice paper rolls, animal biscuits, pikelets...

and then there were pepperdews stuffed with brie, egg, ham and salmon sammies, mint truffles and lime and white chocolate rocky road. Yum!

We even had goody bags! No party is complete without goody bags.

But who could forget the most important part? The cake! Vanilla butter cake with vanilla buttercream icing. Mmmm!

There was plenty of bubbles for the adults....

Me and the birthday boy (who's not all too happy about wearing such a silly hat) x

Family photo! Daddy's not too happy about the hat either - "But I look simple!"

Opening presents, what a lucky wee boy our Redford was!

Cake time! A big happy birthday followed by the clap game.... which was pretty short seeing as though there was only one clap....

Redford wasted no time in munching down his piece of cake (we may have created a monster) with Daddy.

The infamous sailor suit!

Cuddles with Daddy - recreating the 1980 photo with the next generation.

Redford's actual birthday - his first fluffy (which went down a treat, particularly the marshmallows!)

Eyeing up the $350 wagon that he'd quite like for his next birthday. Dream on, buddy!

Holy heck! I'm IN the mirror! Admiring himself at Te Papa.

And to top off a lovely day, naked fun times with the balloons. Red thought all his birthday's had come at once.

Now it's Mummy and Daddy's time to celebrate! We crack open our bottle of 2008 Alana Estate Reisling Aperitif, bought waaaay back on our first trip away together. Bliss!

And thus concludes Redford's lovely birthday! Bring on number two, I say! I'm planning it already....


x

Counting down to the big O-N-E!!

So my baby boy is one in T minus four days!! I can't quite believe how fast yet slow this past year has gone. I find it absolutely incredible how much Redford has developed in such a short time. He's gone from a mewing, wide-eyed newborn to a grape guzzling, trolley pushing wee character and I love him more and more every day.


We're having his birthday party on Sunday which started off low key but has grown somewhat.... 


My favourite part has been concocting a scrummy menu for all the peeps to eat! We have cheerios and T sauce for the littlies (and for the oldies - who doesn't love a sneaky cheerio?), iced animal biscuits, cheese biscuits, lamingtons, brie and pepperdew bites, avocado, cucumber, ginger and coriander rice paper rolls, pikelets and finger sammies. All homemade (minus the cheerios)!


And of course, who can forget the main munch - the cake! I'm attempting a vanilla number 1 cake with butter cream icing and edible decorations. Oh, and there's take home bags - mint truffles and lime and white chocolate rocky road. Mmmm....


I promise pictures aplenty come Monday for onscreen drooling!


Now to work on a gift that Little Red will enjoy just as much as the paper it's wrapped in....

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

you thank your lucky stars for a sleep-in. 


I.e. You get woken up by incessant chattering at 7:20am - a whole twenty minutes later than usual! 


Yippee!

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

Your rubbish bin always smells like poopy nappies.

Bad Bonnie!

Holy guacamole! As my dear friend and TMD cohort Nikki pointed out, I haven't written a BB post in over five weeks! Tsk tsk. My blog has suffered immense negligence. I have returned to find it cowering in the corner with tears in it's eyes. If it was a Tamagotchi, if would be floating around on the screen with wings right now. Lucky I don't own any house plants. Or fish. Now I see why my basil didn't survive.....


In fact, I'm surprised I still have any followers!


Well, well. What's been happening? Or, should I say, what hasn't been happening?! Little Red is *tear* the big O-N-E in just under two weeks. I'm finding it rather hard to comprehend that my wee man is going to be all grown up. Hell, he'll be lolling around in bed til noon soon telling me to F Off. Sometimes I can't bear the thought of him not wanting my cuddles and kisses one day.... well, better get them all in while I can!

What else? Redford is crawling like a rocket (he quite enjoys taking Heinz the Reindeer for a walk). 

He's been pulling himself up everywhere. Walking round things. Enjoying a cuppa with Daddy.

Mainly he's just been catching up on some reading and getting into as much trouble as possible in the short space of time it takes me to have a wee or put the washing on.

 Or.... trying to change his nappy, ahem....

So! That's what's been going on here. Oh, and he has six teeth!


I promise promise promise to never stray for so long again and keep your eyes open for lots more Baby Bump posts from now on!!


B x

TMD's first giveaway!

My lovelies! Head on over to The Mummy Diaries and check out our very first giveaway. Like us and follow us and we'll give you pressies!

xx

Where's Redford?

The new fave game - peepo with hats!

Happy days x

Handmade for Christchurch

 
So one of my fave Christchurch relief set-ups is Handmade for Christchurch. It's unique, it's crafty and it's just oh-so-lovely. I donated two 'essential pouches' from my up-and-coming label (watch this space.... more info to come soon!) which will be auctioned along with two synergy blends made especially by Gillian over at Le'Esscience. 

Each pouch has been hand crafted and stitched by yours truly.

Put 3-4 drops of the synergy blend onto a tissue, fold and tuck into the pouch.

Be sure to check out the auction on Trade Me. And also head on over to Handmade for Christchurch to have a looksee through all their gorgeous stuff. There are plenty of things in there that I'm very tempted to bid on! x

FYI: It's OCD

So I have this "thing". Well, quite a lot of "things", really. I'm a tad on the OCD side. OK, quite a bit on the OCD side. It drives Nick (the most laid back of all the laid backs) close to insane. We're a good mix (most of the time) and we balance each other out. Where I'm highly strung, he's calm. Where I'm prone to worry, he's a glass-is-half-full all the time kinda guy. I'm a run around at a million miles an hour and get ten thousand things done in the space of an ad break person and he's a why don't you just sit down, put your feet up and have a beer type of dude.

I think I'm slowly getting better at relaxing and not being so anal retentive. Slowly. However, it still bugs me when the coffee table or the foosball table don't sit flush with the sofa (former) or the wall (latter). I can't handle the volume on the TV or the radio to be at an uneven number unless it's in multiples of five or ends in a three. And any even number that ends in four needs to be upped one so that it ends in five.

What else? I loathe going to bed without a shower. I just imagine yucky little daytime germs crawling all over me and through the bed. I can't handle dust. I don't like things being left on the floor (Red's things, I'm slowly learning to accept - not that I have a choice - but when Nick gets home and dumps all his crap on the floor, well, that's another story). The shower curtain needs to be pulled along to the right spot when not in use. There can't be gaps in the drapes when they're closed and when open, they have to be all the way open. Things must be in straight, neat piles. I don't like my bedside table to be cluttered. The spare bedroom door must be closed. Towels must be folded in a particular way. Things in the pantry must be correspondingly grouped neatly. God, I could go on.

I'm crazy. I know. But none of this particularly bothers me. What does bother me though is this: yes, I've learnt to chill out a bit since becoming a Mum BUT when it comes to having time out I feel like it's such a precious time that it needs to be perfect. Like right now. My Mum has taken Red away for the afternoon and there's things I want to do. I want to have a nap, I want to read my book, I want to start making some necklaces and also string the paper cranes I made for Redford's room. In order to make this all feel perfect however, there needs to be no clutter. The house must be tidy. At this very moment I can't rest while knowing that there's Duplo scattered all over the nursery (plus it needs a hoover), there's washing in the dryer to be folded and mine and Nick's room has an unmade bed and clothes on the floor. I can't see this (I'm in the lounge) but I know it's there and I keep thinking about it and I can't "relax" til it's done. 


QUESTION: How the heck can I get over this?! I want to be able to sit down and have time out as soon as I'm given the chance no matter what state the house is in. I have so little time to enjoy my own company and I can't even enjoy it!


What to do? What to do? If you've got an answer, please, let me know! I don't think I could ever be one to live in a constant state of disarray but I want to, at least, be able to sit down and have a cuppa while a basket of washing to be folded and Redford's toys remain untouched on the floor.

Pockets. Pock. Ets.

Why, oh, why do babies have pockets on their pants? 

So I get why their jeans have pockets because jeans have pockets. But Redford's jeans have twice as many pockets as mine do.

He has many pockets on his shorts and even some on his leggings.

In fact, he even has pockets on some of his shirts and t-shirts.

What, pray tell, will he put in his pockets? His cell phone? His car keys? His ID for when he pops down to the off-license for a 12 pack? 

Is it just because pockets are cool? That baby jeans would look a bit naff without pockets? Why not use fake pockets? Like on womens jeans when they sew the pockets closed and cut them off so they don't make your hips look enormous.

I just don't get it. The only thing Redford uses his pockets for is to store food in. A bit of soggy banana sandwich here, a slice of melon there. Problem is though, he forgets he stores them there and then I find them hanging from the top of the washing machine drum or smooshed (and dried to a nice crust after being hung on the line) into the inner cup of my bra.

Pockets. Why?

And just for a slight change of subject. Here's a bit of Arj & Poopy for you. Shpants. Why put pockets on baby clothes when you could make shpants?

 

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!

Love Monday's - the couscous monster strikes again!

So over on love miss bonnie I've started love monday's which is dedicated to what YOU love! Over here on The Baby Bump, I love my little couscous monster. I'm a big fan of the stuff so I was pretty chuffed when Redford gobbled it all in one go the first time I gave it to him. Here's some pictures (cute, but hella messy!)....

 I heart couscous!

 The couscous beard.

 More please!

The monster strikes again....