2 Years

Dec14

Almost 2 years ago I was very heavily pregnant and approaching my due date of the 16th December. It had snowed heavily and I was stuck indoors…bored! I didn’t mind too much though as it meant I could just sleep all day and at that stage in my pregnancy I was either completely tired all the time or wondering where my next lamb chop was going to come from. Even in the heavy snow. Lamp chops were my obsessive craving.

Thankfully this mental craving only lasted the duration of my pregnancy, after which I quickly went back to hating all fatty things and spending ages cutting it off any meat I touch.

Almost 2 years on I have a toddler that hates lamb. He doesn’t like the chewy texture and will chew for a while and then try to spit it back out again, much preferring chicken. Cottage Pie is a firm favourite though…on the days where he is in the mood to eat. One must be in the mood. And one mustn’t let food get in the way of playing.

2 years on we have a toddler that has changed our lives forever and continues to do so every day. The little whirlwind that doesn’t stop and who, over the last month, has taken to dancing to every tune that comes on TV. Not just bum wiggling but even groovy hand moves. Straight out of the 70′s. And everyone must join in!

2 years ago today I didn’t know whether we were having a boy or a girl. My instincts told me it was a boy but I couldn’t picture what he looked like. At this stage we hadn’t even chosen a name for him/her. We always meant to sit down and look through name books but I don’t remember touching a single one. We just rattled off names we liked and 100% were ruled out. It had to be right. We hadn’t found the right one. It took us until he was a day old to finally seriously start looking. In the end, naming him wasn’t that hard. And so he was named Little Z.

2 years ago I had no clue of even how to hold a baby. Before I had little Z I would only hold a newborn for about a minute if I was lucky before they started crying. I really only liked “solid” babies. You know, the one that could sit up and giggle. Then I could entertain for hours!

2 years ago I had no idea what it was like to have a baby in your life.

2 years on we have a little boy with his own personality. I can see my stubbornness in him. I slightly dread the teen years and hope he is a better teen than I was. I can see the OH’s slim build in him ( that will always be there no matter how many pizzas we try to feed him!) and a love of sport. I can picture us freezing at the side of the football pitch watching him run after the ball constantly. Even if he’s not meant to.

I remember when Little Z turned one and there was a big part of me that was very sad about it. He was growing up and it felt like those first months had gone by too quickly and that I’d never get them back. This last year has been SO much fun though. This last year was the year he grew into a little boy. The year he’s given us an insight into who he is as a little person and just that is a world of discovery in itself. Things he likes, things he doesn’t like, the things he says, the things he finds awesome and the way he makes the tiniest thing the centre of the universe for a while.

Dearest 23 Month Old

Nov27

Hello Toddler…we’re going on holiday!! Oh yes, after almost 2 years we are braving it and going abroad. Some (a lot) of people are saying we’re crazy to be taking a toddler on a plane but I’m sure it’ll be fine. Millions of people do it every day, right? I’m sure it’ll be ..umm…we’ll see. I’m slightly concerned you hate sand though. A week on the beach. Hmmmm.

Anyhow, you said your first 3 word sentence this month, hurrah!! It was “Look At DAT!!!”… So so cute. You don’t actually say hundreds of words so I was getting a bit worried that you might be referred for speech therapy ~~and planning on hiding under the window when they came round for your 2 year check~~ so was pleasantly shocked when you said it. You also like asking “What da doing??!” very regularly. You tend to just babble through, unconcerned, through any words you don’t know and just gesture wildly. It’ll probably come in use on holiday in parts they don’t speak English.

You’ve also learned how to open the most difficult doors at your Aunts house. You’ve been opening every other door in your existence for a whole now but, one day recently when we came back from watching Skyfall, we were greeted with an almighty booming declaration of “HE OPENED OUR DOORS!!”. We stopped dead in our tracks, petrified at first…then registered what was bring said. It brought back a flash of Jurassic Park. You know, that scene where the dinosaurs learn to open the doors to the kitchen and people realise they are doomed. Doomed!! (Not that you are anything like a dinosaur, you understand? Although you do regularly mess all my pots and pans up! And last week you managed to flip the lid of the cooking oil and spill 2 litres all over the floor. Do you know how hard it was to clean that up? I was sliding around 2 days later despite having mopped it repeatedly).

You’re much more confident in yourself now and show a bit more determination if someone takes a toy from you. Our stance is still very much “share share” but that secret worrying part of me now worries a bit less about your self confidence. And maybe I won’t sign you up to karate classes just yet.

We are going to have to start organising your 2nd birthday party soon!! I’ve already seen the perfect cakes. (yep there’ll be two, again!), both are Sesane street related. Actually, I should probably order both today. And maybe the decorations…and maybe all the plates and stuff too. Argggh, let the party madness commence!

So until next time ~~baby~~ Toddler….mmmmmwah!

A Mother’s Prayer for Her Child By Tina Fey

Nov16

I don’t usually repost posts – but I was stumbling around on Stumble Upon and discovered this. Its so funny but so spot on…..enjoy! Does this count as a Flashback Friday?

(Thanks to Melody Godfred for letting me repost this. Go check out her blog for some good read)…

A Mother’s Prayer For Her Child

“First, Lord: No tattoos. May neither Chinese symbol for truth nor Winnie-the-Pooh holding the FSU logo stain her tender haunches.

May she be Beautiful but not Damaged, for it’s the Damage that draws the creepy soccer coach’s eye, not the Beauty.

When the Crystal Meth is offered, may she remember the parents who cut her grapes in half And stick with Beer.

Guide her, protect her when crossing the street, stepping onto boats, swimming in the ocean, swimming in pools, walking near pools, standing on the subway platform, crossing 86th Street, stepping off of boats, using mall restrooms, getting on and off escalators, driving on country roads while arguing, leaning on large windows, walking in parking lots, riding Ferris wheels, roller-coasters, log flumes, or anything called “Hell Drop,” “Tower of Torture,” or “The Death Spiral Rock ‘N Zero G Roll featuring Aerosmith,” and standing on any kind of balcony ever, anywhere, at any age.

Lead her away from Acting but not all the way to Finance. Something where she can make her own hours but still feel intellectually fulfilled and get outside sometimes And not have to wear high heels. What would that be, Lord? Architecture? Midwifery? Golf course design? I’m asking You, because if I knew, I’d be doing it, Youdammit.

May she play the Drums to the fiery rhythm of her Own Heart with the sinewy strength of her Own Arms, so she need Not Lie With Drummers.

Grant her a Rough Patch from twelve to seventeen.Let her draw horses and be interested in Barbies for much too long, For childhood is short – a Tiger Flower blooming Magenta for one day – And adulthood is long and dry-humping in cars will wait.

O Lord, break the Internet forever, that she may be spared the misspelled invective of her peers And the online marketing campaign for Rape Hostel V: Girls Just Wanna Get Stabbed.

And when she one day turns on me and calls me a Bitch in front of Hollister, Give me the strength, Lord, to yank her directly into a cab in front of her friends, For I will not have that Shit. I will not have it.

And should she choose to be a Mother one day, be my eyes, Lord, that I may see her, lying on a blanket on the floor at 4:50 A.M., all-at-once exhausted, bored, and in love with the little creature whose poop is leaking up its back. “My mother did this for me once,”she will realize as she cleans feces off her baby’s neck. “My mother did this for me.” And the delayed gratitude will wash over her as it does each generation and she will make a Mental Note to call me. And she will forget. But I’ll know, because I peeped it with Your God eyes.

Amen.”

-Tina Fey

(That my friends, is what you call good writing. Click on the link and pick up Tina Fey’s book Bossypants for more.)

My 80s

Nov14

My 80′s were most of my childhood…

A time when you could play out till it got dark, by yourself

Run around the streets without fear of being knocked down by a car

When you could buy 2 pints of milk, a loaf of bread and crisps for less then a pound

When you bought sweets in ounces and quarters

When your PE bag and trainers were Gola and that wasn’t cool

When you were scared of the Daleks

When you loved watching the Muppet show once a week on Sundays

When you had never heard of the Internet or mobile phones

And it didn’t matter

When you had one computer to share around the whole of your primary school

When you had a Hitachi TV with fake wood casing

and no remote control

When Blue Peter was fantastic

As was Rainbow and Lets Pretend, Puddle Lane and All sorts

When you knew what “magic magic E” meant

And you were cool.

Oh so cool.

Those were my Eighties.

Check out the other 80s entries in the The Gallery this week

Arbonne – A Review

Nov13

I’m not one for much every day make up and usually stick to the concealer to keep my panda eyes at bay. I was, however, lucky enough to have my make up done by Arbonne International at the recent MADs awards and there was a tiny part of me that wasn’t sure what to expect for the final result. They did a brilliant job and, more than anything, it felt good and I didn’t feel like I was “caked” in it.

So when I was asked if I’d like to review some products I agreed. I was sent a berry blusher and an eye liner in an olive shade.

I was a bit unsure about the olive eye liner, having only ever worn black any time I put it on. Not being very adventurous I’d decided at first glance that I wouldn’t like it very much. Having tried it on though I was pleasantly surprised. Its not olive in the “green” sense but a very dark shade which looks off black and provides a hint of difference to the normal eye liner that most people wear. There is also a shimmer in it which means I wouldn’t wear it every day but it would be perfect for an evening out. It glides on really nicely and isn’t too inky which means a novice like me doesn’t end up drawing all over my own eye lid by accident.

The blusher is also shimmery and not something I’d probably buy myself. I always lean more towards matt shimmer-less shades but again this is, again, ideal for an evening out. I think I vaguely remember this being used on my own skin for the MAD awards and I loved it! Its probably a shade I need a push to wear out a few times before I got used to it. It was pinkier than it looked in its case but applied well and is a lovely colour.

It takes me some time to venture away from the one or two brands I usually use but I would definitely go for the eye liner. Simply because it applies so easily and well and I’ve always found it hard to find a good eye liner. The blusher was very nice too but the eye liner just tipped it slightly for me.

(I was sent the blusher and eye liner to review. All views are my own).

Being Superheroes

Nov12

Recently I keep coming across things that make out parents are in fact superheroes. Juggling family life with with long hours of work as well as raising children and spending hours driving around from club to club dropping off and picking up from their after school obligations. Heroes with invisible capes. With no ability to fly but with powers to juggle and organise and throw a party together in an instant and, mostly, to do it all without much sleep.

It got me wondering about the kind of superheroes we have in our little family of 3. Then it came to me. We would be the Avengers. It’s obvious when you think about it. Really.

First, The Other Half. With his assertion first thing in the morning of “YOU’VE GOT ONE MINUTE!!!” to get us all out of the door for work on time he would have the entire street, understandably, mistakenly believing we are all part of a critical world saving mission. And sporting his one red eye from “a suspected scratch on the cornea” he is only an eye patch and long leather jacket away (oh, and bald head) from being Nick Fury. The leader of the Avengers.

Next you have the toddler. Little Z. With his ever growing defiance and fear of nothing he could only be Tony Stark / Iron Man. His stunts include repeatedly trying to jump off anything with a good height and any kind of berating induces either a fit of toddler anger or just determination to do it again. He prefers not to wear the iron man suit though. Opting instead to do all his own stunts as Tony Stark.

(I know this post is about parent superheroes but he is Tony Stark. He doesn’t care about rules).

And finally me. With my powers of shouting at the other half and stomping around grumpily at everyone over the last week (“You said you’d clean the bathroom!!!”), I instantly rule myself out of being the black widow. Damn. With my stomping, phantom increasing blood pressure, and inability to touch my toes, I fit one of the other Avengers to a tee…

Our poor neighbours.

Maybe next week we will be less superhero and more 1900s silent movie.

(All photo credits to IMDB)

You Know You’re Addicted to Blogging When…

Oct5

You know you’re addicted to blogging when…

You check your stats about 3 times a day (At least!!!)
You absolutely love getting comments
You’re always thinking about your next post
Something hilarious / controversial / gossipy happens in real life and you wonder “Oooh could I blog about that?”
Your hubby immediately spots the glint in your eye and says “don’t put that on your blog!”…Dammit!
You spot something nice in the real world and think “That would make an excellent Silent Sunday / Gallery / Other Meme” photo
You love love love PicMonkey and pray it doesn’t disappear the way of other photo editing tools!
You start looking at photos in a completely different way…The colour! The contrast! The focus!
You can’t sleep and end up writing an entire blog post in your head. It is hilarious
Come daylight you can’t remember much of it. And its not that funny anymore
You’re worried your blog will be found out by those people you don’t like / that judge / your inlaws!
You watch your Tots100 score like a hawk as soon as it’s that time of the month! (Or that tweet comes out!)
You wonder if you could become filthy rich from your blog by turning it into a book
You wonder if you should change the design of your blog (again) and if its still “Fresh”
You read everything you come across on “improving your SEO”
You secretly still don’t actually get it
You think Meh! and keep pimping it on Twitter
You read some of your own old posts and laugh at the memory (sad I know).
You are a member of about 10 different social media networks, mostly for your blog
You have a couple of blogging buddies that have similar blogging subjects to yourself. They are your benchmark at times. They don’t know this
You meet a very popular blogger in real and are speechless. You manage a smile and wave!
You love meeting your online bloggy friends in real life. Hugs are involved. You chat as if you talked yesterday
You clamber over all emails to book onto the latest blogcamp
You stay up till midnight so that you can get linked up to that meme as soon as its gone live
You may have fallen asleep around 11.45pm occasionally waiting for it. Dammit

8pm

Sep25

PQ3XZMEFJKQ3

The theme in the Gallery this week is 8pm

I was huddled around the fireplace tonight at 8pm. The dishes needed doing. Little Zs bag needed packing. Eastenders needed watching on delay. But I couldn’t be bothered. I just wanted to lay in front of the fire after a long day at work.

Winter is coming (a la Game of Thrones).

I’m not much of a winter person. I don’t like dark mornings or dark evenings… or the cold! I’m completely in love with warm weather and sun and sunny blue skies. Alas… we have been in dark dreary weather for seems like the entire year. And coupled with the never ending, ark worthy rain, the only thing that makes it all better is to curl up in front of the fire and turn our house into a cosey warm bubble filled with long lie ins and Little Z sleeping through.
(Hurrah!!)