Day 65

65 days down...300 to go! Wow, that seems like a lot of days. So far so good, updating this blog daily is pretty much the only thing I've managed to stick to lately. Almost every other project has either been deferred or culled! Photography practice though is never a chore ... but always a pleasure.

We went to the bank today got our ticket and sat down to wait our turn. There were a row of people sitting  just behind us. Sam turned around, pointed to everyone and said as loud as he could "Are they people, Mummy?"... hehe it made me laugh, as well as everyone else in the bank. :) 

Day 64

I was pottering around getting things ready to head off to Sunday School, and I could hear the boys in Jacobs room... and Sam chattering away about Superheroes.  I came around the corner and saw this. Sam said they were both Superheroes now that they had bib capes on.  :)

Even Superheroes need kisses...

Jacob saw his reflection in the laundry cupboard and he was chuckling away trying to reach out to grab it. 

At Sunday School, the kids put money into a little box shaped house, that goes towards sponsoring a child in Haiti. Sam was very happy about the new responsibility of taking care of the money bag until it was time to put his 50c into the collection box.

I managed to quickly take one photo before Sunday School started. Note the money in his hands, Sam takes his new responsibility very seriously!

To finish off, some more Sam artwork :)

Day 63

The fun starts early in our house...and I'd already been up for 45 minutes before I took this photo. Luckily I'm a morning person. I love getting up bright and early, making a coffee, sitting on the couch, cuddling my boys while we ask each other "did you have a good sleep? any nice dreams? did you dream of the fairies in the garden?".

Sam had a special morning out with Nanna today. They started by going to the pools to cool down, then to an Indian food store in Balcatta and finishing off with a trip to the Galleria for lunch. Lucky boy!

Sam was dressed in his bathers for 3 hours before Nanna actually came to pick him up. He was beyond excited about his day out.

As for my little Jacob... let's just say.. this boy loves his food. So much so, that when I was giving him his pear and banana cereal this morning, after awhile he grabbed the spoon and tried to feed himself. When he wants his food, he wants it NOW! And mummy obviously wasn't up to the task, so he took matters into his own hands. Love it :)

With Jacob happily playing, Lewy on the PS, me in a toddler-free lounge room (which = me being able to watch whatever I want on TV that isn't Lazytown, Handy Manny or Grandpa in my Pocket), I decided to make the most of it... so yes, I will admit it ... I watched my taped shows - How I Met Your Mother, Grey's Anatomy and Desperate Housewives all in a row......and finished off with some Packed to The Rafters  (Thank You Channel 7, I love you)

 We made parmesan and garlic bread... delicious!

And I was still a responsible mother... I supervised Jacob crawling around by looking under the couch while I was laying on the rug watching TV. 

I'm loving this simple life. My usual high expectations of myself have rapidly dropped to a more realistic level...which still involves a dose of OCD here and there.. but that's who I am and that's what keeps my house clean and dinner on the table every night.. so that needs to stay. But for everything else... ahhh it feels good to be so relaxed! 

Day 62

This is all I have for today.. I know, only ONE photo! I have been on a blog-bender lately haven't I?!

We ventured out this morning to grab some DVD's, came home, shut all the blinds, cranked up the air con and this is how we plan on spending our day. Stay cool everyone!

Day 61

Another day at Kindy for Sam... another masterpiece :)

I'm aware that I'm becoming "that mother".. the one who gushes constantly about her children and posts endless pictures of them and their handiwork!  I apologise in advance, because this post is no different!

The first thing Sam did when we got home was strip off all his clothes. Then he put one of my tops to wear so we had an impromptu little photo session. Note to self: Clean your windows before you take photos in front of them!

Day 60

I'm all about 'simplifying' at the moment. If I had my way, I'd pack up, sell the house and move our family to a remote and quiet place in the world and live off the land... but hey, that's not likely to happen! So the next best thing, is to make my world here as simple and uncluttered as possible.

The kitchen was on my target list this morning...I took every single thing out of every cupboard in the kitchen, cleaned them out and re-packed. It was a big job.... this photo was taken half way through. I threw out 3 large garbage bags full of 'stuff' that I obviously didn't need or use, but was cluttering up my cupboards anyway!

All done! Shame you can't see inside my cupboards... they are spotless and tidy! 

Sam was a big help with the kitchen... so his reward was an ice-cream (and I rewarded myself too.. :) Again, Sam with no clothes on... you can do anything and everything in the nude apparently! 

After a productive morning, once Jacob had woken from his nap.. we all went into his room and played. Okay... I will admit I was tired, so all I did was lay on the floor while the boys played around me :) 

It did give me a chance to look under Jacob's cot and I found a heap of toys that had gone missing... mystery solved! 

Jacob is doing really well starting solids, so far he seems to like anything and everything I offer him... he really is such a dream! Notice the little tear .. this tear was caused by hunger, and me not getting the food to him quick enough! 

And finally - a new book. Purchased from Red Dot of all places, for $5! So far, so good! I couldn't bear to force my way through the other book I was reading. This one is about a husband in England, who in 1903 goes on an expedition to the Amazon, but when he returns he is sick, mute and 'changed', the story unfolds as the wife tries to work out what happened while he was away. Will let you know what I think of the book when I'm finished!

Happy Wednesday everyone!

Playlist

Just found this cool new little Playlist app thing, and have put some of my favourite songs on there. The first song "Flightless Bird, American Mouth", you have to listen to - I'm totally in LOVE with this song at the moment. Hope you enjoy the tunes while you are checking out my blog!!! xxxx

Day 59

A morning of hanging around in PJ's and reading books...

A trip to the park before lunch... where I ran into someone I knew! Good surprise and nice to have a chat while Sam played with some new friends.

Sam spent the afternoon catching fish...

I adore, adore, adore the time I spend cuddling Jacob in his room, rocking on the chair. It's priceless quality time and I soak it in every time we get the opportunity.

Jacob loves the water.. I have another water baby on my hands :)

In other news, I'm so sad for the people of Christchurch. There just seems to be one disaster after another at the moment. :( Lots of prayers for all those affected by the earthquake.

It occurred to me today, that lately my blog makes it look like I don't actually do anything productive apart from hanging out with my boys! It's a little bit true... life has certainly gone from crazy busy, to a sudden halt after being sick.. and I really really love it. I've gotten into the habit of only turning on my laptop at the end of the day, so work is limited to one specific time rather than ongoing throughout the day. Even when the boys are napping, I am more likely to pick up a book or a magazine rather than sit at the laptop... I like the change, the quieter and slower pace of life, enjoying the moment rather than busily working through a To Do List.

All is good :)

Day 58

At our local shops, it is becoming a social event whenever we go. There is a gorgeous Indian family that own the little gift shop across from Woolworths and they have adopted Sam as one of their own.  While I'm at the checkout with Jacob, the norm is for Sam to head over to the gift shop where he hangs out with the family, gets lollies and helps out. Today he helped stock the shelves, the other day he helped serve customers :)

There is a lovely lady who works at Woolworths and I always try to go through her checkout if I can... she makes my day, and I have been going through her checkout since Sam was a baby.

And today we met the lady who works at the bakery. We bonded over our recent purchases of a Quilt Cover.. from a little stall set up in the middle of the store. We showed each other our chosen pattern and asked each others opinions... which led to talking about our children, to food, to our families etc etc.

By the time I left the shops, I felt like I'd just had a wonderful catch up with friends!

Back to the Quilt Covers... even though the RRP was $119.95, they were on sale for $20.. I'm under no illusion that they were actually that expensive, but all the same, the material feels like good quality and I like it:)

The boys like it too.....

I also spent some time today doing this....


ready for Jacob's meals.

A good day today... a nice balance between house-wifey type duties and spending lots of time with my boys. Love days like these.

Day 57

Day 57... is going to be a quiet day. I'm sitting at my laptop, enjoying my coffee and avocado on toast, Sam watching cartoons, Jacob napping, Lewy reading a mag, the house is pretty quiet.... 

and it is so so nice.

I asked Sam if he wanted to go to Sunday School or stay home... and was secretly pleased when he said he wanted to stay home. I think after yesterday's big day, we are all feeling in a chilled out mood and not in any hurry to get out of our PJ's. Wishing you all a relaxing, chilled out Sunday :)

Day 56 The Birthday Post

At 12.05am 3 years ago, after a long, hard 27 hours of labour, my Sam finally made it into the world... well, forcefully dragged into the world actually....he was in no rush to leave my obviously very comfortable belly...and the doctors had to take matters into their own hands and tell Sam enough was enough he was meeting the world whether he liked it or not!!!

The very first thing I remember about Sam were his eyes... oh boy, those eyes.... I can remember exactly how I felt like it was yesterday. I fell in love HARD when I saw those eyes. I hadn't slept since Saturday night and he was born in the early hours of Tuesday morning... but even though I was beyond exhausted and in a world of pain... I could not take my eyes off him and we laid together in the bed staring at each other for hours. Every time I shut my eyes, I would open them 2 seconds later just to stare at him again and touch his face and hold his little hands.  My precious, precious boy.

3 years later, he is just like I imagined he would be. Full of life, with those big blue eyes still dragging me in, making me melt and feeling overwhelming love every time I look at him.

To celebrate Sam's birthday, we started our day by going out for breakfast, then visiting the Landsdale Animal Farm.

Sam only had one request for his birthday... it wasn't for presents.. but for everyone to wear party hats while we sang Happy Birthday to him. Classic :)

The Caterpillar Cake was a big hit with Sam. He was so excited and we all put on the hats and sang Happy Birthday just like he wanted.

My mother in law Sharon and I started a tradition for Sam's 1st birthday, which is to make the birthday cake together. It's always a fun and memorable occasion... where the kitchen gets completely messy, we get completely messy, there is lots of laughing, lots of "oh no does this cake look okay?" moments, lots of chatting and always with Lewy hanging around giving 'advice' on how to decorate the cake....all ending with our finished creation. We plan on continuing this tradition with both Sam and Jacob's birthday cakes every year :)

The beautiful sky as we said goodbye to our family who came to celebrate Sam's birthday. It was a big day, but a fantastic one. Sam and Jacob are now tucked up in bed, soundly sleeping.

I've poured myself a nice glass of red, ready to sit back and watch a DVD to finish off a wonderful day.

Happy Birthday, my lovely Sam!!