Baby Bookworm

I am a prolific and passionate reader- I seem to continually have at least two books on the go, plus I also follow a host of bloggers. I completed a BA, specialising in English Literature and one of my absolute favourite parts of teaching was reading aloud novels with a my intermediate aged kids. 

Up until now Miss Muffet has been far too busy to sit and actually listen to a story, which you could imagine broke my heart a little. Action Dad and I persevered and played around with different times and places to read to her and found that the winning combo was reading to her while she was in the bath and was fairly contained. She also insisted on only being read Hairy Maclary From Donaldsons Dairy, complete with different voices for the various dogs. And only Hairy Maclary From Donaldsons Dairy. If we attempted to read anything else she lost interest, so over and over we read the kiwi classic of the adventuring dogs and her personal fave " Scarface Claw, the toughest Tom in town!"  I even made her second birthday cake, a Hairy Maclary cake 

 

 

Just after Buttons arrived, Uncle Bogey gave us a collection of board books which his three boys had grown out of. The perfect present for a toddler who has recently gained a baby sister - we have put the basket of books by the sofa where I breastfeed and I invite Miss Muffet to come and read with me while I am feeding. It's lovely to be able to give her some special attention during this crazy time where frankly she is getting half as much attention as she is used to.

 

There are lots of awesome books in this bundle- classics like Spot, Peepo and other books by Lynley Dodd and some more modern titles like the Gruffalo and The Gruffalo's Child. 

Being Miss Muffet, with all her quirks, she has latched onto one particular book. It has become the new Hairy Maclary From Donaldsons Dairy. The book I can now recite by heart.

 

Miss Muffet adores this book and her favourite parts are of course the flaps for lifting. It is a cute, rhyming story and is short enough to hold her attention. The pictures are sweet and the book is sturdy enough to stand up the toddler test . 

To be honest, I don't care how often I have to read Miss Muffet's favourite book of the month. I think it is so important to read to kids every day- they learn vocabulary, phrasing and it extend their world view. It is a special way to bond and share attention with children. It sparks curiosity and creativity.  I hope Miss Muffet and Buttons inherit my love of reading and this is the best way I can think of to introduce them to the world of reading. 

To b

Makara Beach Visit

As far back as I can remember, my family have visited the rugged coastline of Makara for beach walks and BBQs, Sunday drives, rock pool scouring and hot chocolates at the nearby cafe.

 I have strong memories of visiting there as a little girl 

When Action Dad and I first got together, I introduced him to the rocky shore and we regularly frequented the cafe to read magazines and drink coffee while the wind  outside shook the windows. 

This weekend we decided to introduce the girls to Makara and managed to pick the perfect weather for it. It wouldn't be Makara without bone chilling cold and wind so strong it pushes you backwards! After winding our way through Ohariu Valley, Buttons needed feeding, so I sat in the car watching Miss Muffet and Action Dad playing outside. 

They threw rocks in the sea and chased the sea gulls. Miss Muffet tried to compete with the howling wind by shrieking. She had an absolutely awesome time 

 

I love this picture of her, all rugged up in her woollen coat that Nana made! Note the pigtails blowing backwards in the wind? 

 

We had to bribe her to come in from the cold with hot chips from the cafe. The Makara cafe has been there as  long as I can remember, with the same menu, old magazines and mismatched chairs. 

We had a really lovely family outing and I hope my girls will grow up with fond memories of Makara, just like I have.  

Saturday Smiles

At the moment I am surviving on very broken sleep, a lot of coffee and copious amounts of sugar. I have a constant foggy brain and am needing to write down anything that even remotely needs remembering. I am also learning to quickly survey double meltdown situations where both of my girls are howling and decide who I need to attend to first and who can manage to wait for a few more minutes before they implode.

Luckily, I have a lot of lovely, kind and funny people in my life who help me to smile. So for the next few weeks I am going to try and write a post every Saturday which details some of the moments in my week that made me smile.

My Choo Choo Girl

Funny little Miss Muffet is a big fan of trains and we are very excited that her slowly expanding repertoire of words includes the word " choo choo". The other night, as I headed off to bed, I stopped in to check on Miss Muffet and make sure that she was actually in bed and not asleep on the floor. This is what I found:

 

Little Miss Muffet fast asleep and cuddled up to her favourite trains, which she has smuggled to bed without Action Dad noticing. Love her!

Daylight Robbery
Today we went to visit Amazing Sister, Mr Darcy and Mr Expression. Mr Expression sidled up to me and showed me a wee plastic bag of his treasure- a collection of small stones he had decided were Very Important and Most Special. Mr Expression very kindly offered to gift me one stone which I accepted. He then sat and thought for awhile before announcing that he was going to go outside and that he required a table because he was going to sell his stones. Amazing Sister and I tried to convince him that this may not be the best idea and I offered to buy a second stone. I scrounged $1.20 in loose change from my purse and counted out $1. Mr Expression gave me my original stone! I offered him the further 20 cents, which he took. When I asked what that would get me he replied - " one! And you already have it! ". That boy is going to go places.

Flowers

We were so lucky to receive beautiful bunches of flowers to celebrate the arrival of Buttons. I have had them all sitting on our kitchen bench and everytime I see them, they make me smile. 

 

A Tale of Two Rascals

 

Miss Muffet, Mr Darcy and Stinky Teddy

Miss Muffet is incredibly lucky to have a whole bunch of cousins who all adore her and spoil her rotten. One of the major reasons that we wanted to move home to Wellington was so that she could grow up with her extended family around her. She has five cousins on my side, who are all boys; three cousins on her dads side, who are all girls; and three half cousins! They range in age from 10years -18 months and she is quickly establishing friendships with them all. 

Two of Miss Muffet's most favourite people in the world are Amazing Sister's little men- Mr Expression ( aged 4, insanely intelligent and wins the prize for best use of eyebrows and hand movements for expression) and Mr Darcy ( aged 3, tall, dark and handsome, cuddly and funny) Miss Muffet's whole face lights up when she sees " her boys" and they spend all their time racing around, playing trains and giggling uncontrollably. 

On Saturday, Mr Expression and Mr Darcy came to visit us at home and spend some time with Buttons. They were heartbreakingly adorable, cuddling her and marvelling over her tiny hands and cooing at her- Real melt your heart stuff! 

 

Mr Expressions and Buttons 

 Mr Darcy and Buttons sharing a smooch 

Action Dad and I were enjoying a cuppa with Amazing Sister and Awesome Uncle when we realised that A) Miss Muffet and Mr Darcy were no longer in earshot and B) the house was suspiciously quiet. Action Dad went on a hide and seek hunt to try and find them, calling their names and opening doors and cupboards searching for the two missing minors. 

When he came to our bedroom, he immediately noticed that our wardrobe door was closed- unusual and totally suspicious. Upon sliding the door open, he found Miss Muffet and Mr Darcy on the floor with a quarter bottle of sparkling raspberry soda, sharing swigs like naughty 14 year olds with rocket fuel before  a dance! 

Apparently they both had absolute deer in headlights looks on their faces and the fact they were caught red handed and with raspberry stained mouths and that they were dead end in the wardrobe all just added up to a hysterically funny tableau- I wish , wish, wish that Action Dad could have taken a picture! 

Miss Muffet and Mr Darcy are all kinds of naughtiness together and I am looking forward to hearing what antics they get up to when Miss Muffet joins him at Crèche in a few weeks time- I feel very sorry for their poor teachers! 

Miss Muffet turns Two ( Part Two )

Party Food and Decorations
I wanted to keep the party  really simple- to be honest, I am far too pregnant and too tired to have organised a huge affair and I also want Miss Muffet to enjoy and appreciate the simple things in life before she inevitably has her expectations raised.

We bought a large pack of balloons in a variety of colours and hung half around the living room in clusters. Of course we also had to hang some by the letter box- the Kiwi way of letting the world know that a party is going on! Amazing Sister had held a party previously and bought balloon holders ( long stems for individual balloons to be held by) so we copied and had a balloon for each child- they had a ball whacking each other with them! I also hung some bunting that we already held up and covered the table in a black and white polka dot table cloth. My final great idea was to buy reusable, brightly coloured, child sized, plastic plates and cups from The Warehouse. They looked nice and festive and the kids could differentiate which set belonged to them by the colour. Plus, I can use them in the future!

For savoury food, I prepared the following :

Chips and Classic Kiwi dip
Mini pies and sausage rolls
Pizza
Southland Sushi- also known as South Island Cheese Rolls a lot of people at the party had never had these and they were a huge hit!  Recipe here
 

For dessert, we had the following:
Lolly cake- made using The Little Housewife's amazing recipe
Cupcake liners filled with grapes, mandarin segments and kiwifruit slices
Amazing Sister and Amazing Brother in Law made individual jelly cups filled with layers of different coloured jelly, topped with strawberry mouse and sprinkles- they looked stunning!

This was the perfect amount of food as we hardly had any leftovers afterwards which was fantastic!

The Cake
Finally, I set myself a bit of a challenge to make a Hairy Maclary inspire cake. Every night we read Hairy Maclary to Miss Muffet before she goes to sleep and it is a firm favourite- she adores Scarface Claw and tries the mimic his shriek!

 

I made Hairy Maclary out of gumpaste earlier in the week and roped a gorgeous friend into helping me to make the flowers on one of our craft nights. The cake was a double layer of vanilla sponge cake, filled with cookie dough flavoured filling, wrapped in vanilla butter cream and topped with the gumpaste decorations and a wee bunting that I quickly made the night before. I was really happy with how it turned out and it received a lot of compliments at the party as well.


Miss Muffet enjoyed her party so much that the next morning as she was "helping" to unstack the dishwasher, she took the party plates and cups back to the table and set them up in the hopes of another party!
 

Miss Muffet Turns 2 ( Part One)

 It is hard to believe that my little girl is now 2! She is no longer a baby and has moved firmly into her pre- school years. Having only recently moved cities and with me being heavily pregnant, we decided to keep her birthday relatively low key- I also figure that she is still so little and so happy with such small things that I would keep it simple and as fuss free as possible while still making sure to celebrate!  I am going to split this post up in to a few sections so it doesn't turn into a long novel.

Presents 

I found it really hard to buy for Miss Muffet this time- we now have a playroom and she can have all her toys out instead of rotating through a box, which is what we did in Auckland. She is so happy rediscovering all her toys and has so many awesome toys that she has been handed down from her cousins that I really struggled with what I would buy her. I like to stick to the saying  "something to wear, something to read, something you want and something you need"  as it keeps me from going overboard on just buying her clothes! I am also really try hard not to buy toys that will only be used for a short period of time and prefer to buy more classic toys. 

We ended up buying her gumboots and shoes, ( need)  a dress and pinafore, (wear)  and an awesome train set which we picked up from Kmart ( want)  I want to get her a book about being a big sister and haven't found one I like yet, so will keep an eye out over the next few weeks. If anyone has any ideas, I would love to hear them!

The train set was a huge hit and needed to be set up immediately.  Miss Muffet loves visiting her older cousins, and insists on getting out their trains each time so I knew she would be very happy with her own set. I mentioned this to Amazing Sister and was blown away when her boys wrapped up a few trains from their collection to give to Miss Muffet- I understand that a lot of negotiations went into which trains could be gifted! 

 

Miss Muffet also received a drink bottle, play dough set, crayons and felts, tea set, warm jacket and Peppa Pig jewellery set from her array of wonderful cousins, aunties, uncles, Nana, Grandad, Papa and Gran- she is so spoilt, so loved and so lucky! 

Tradition 

Last year I started a wee tradition where in Miss Muffet's birthday card, I write down all the things she is really enjoying and the milestones she is reaching. I hope to keep this up and give them all to her for her 21st birthday. 

 

Party

We invited family only and found that it was more than enough! We had Amazing Sister and her equally amazing husband and two boys, Uncle Bogey with his wife and three boys, my lovely sister in law with her partner and three girls, my Mum ( Nana), Action Dad's father ( Papa) and Action Dad's half brother and his fiancé. You can see how that would be more than enough guests for a party for a two year old! It also reminded me of why we made the move back to Wellington- so Miss Muffet can grow up surrounded by her family.

The party ran from 1pm and was held at home- we are so lucky to have a huge garden which is perfect for chasing each other, playing ball, riding bikes and general fun. We didn't set a finish time and our last guests left at 4.30 pm. We decided not to have party games as we wanted the party to be relaxed and also because we were catering to children ranging from 18 months-8 years. Instead we let them just have fun playing together and once they had eaten til they were stuffed,  gave them each a bubble wand. Seriously, bubbles are the universal crowd pleaser- every single child raced around with their wand, popping them, laughing and burning off energy. The funniest thing was that Amazing Sister was right there in the thick of it- clearly bubbles are her happy place.

 

I carried a watermelon

Did you know that the average watermelon weighs about 9kg?  And at this precise moment I feel like my lovely tummy tenant is aiming to break the records and match that weight. 

As of today, I am 36 weeks and four days pregnant. Those four days are very important as they mean I am inching closer to 37 weeks and towards the finishing line. Because I have officially reached the Over It Stage. 

I am now waddling like some kind of grotesque duck and am waking through the night because my hips ache. I am super tired and scratchy and the littlest things are setting me off. I am just so damn tired and all I want to do is lie on the couch and watch MKR and eat black liquorice. 

You too could wear a sexy turbi grip ! 

Apparently, Miss Muffet has got the memo that life is about to change and that she will need to share her role as the centre of our lives. While she generally tends toward curiosity and light mischief making, she seems to know that I can't keep up with her and has veered towards actual chaos. In the last week we have had the following situations: trip to A&E after she stuffed flowers up her nostril, attempted escape from the playground at the mall, smearing the contents of a dirty nappy all over herself and the carpet and then just yesterday ANOTHER sudocreme incident. You can bet Action Dad heard all about that last one as he was the one who left it out- remember I said the littlest things are setting me off? Read RAGE! 

All signs and scans are pointing towards baby weighing between 10-11pound. Miss Muffet came in at 10.8 pound so it's not like I should have been surprised, my family just breed big babies. To be completely frank, I am floating between denial that I will need to give birth to a baby the size of a 3 month old and fear. I am scared because I know how hard it will be and I know that the recovery is long and painful. 

My lovely, amazing and wise older sister has been all of the aforementioned things she is known for and has taken Miss Muffet for some afternoons so that I can get a break. Amazing Sister is very good at getting me back on track with knowing that I can get through this labour, that I have done it before and actually when it comes down to it, baby is coming one way or another whether I like it or not. Told you she was wise. Yesterday she ran into Miss Muffet and myself at the mall and upon looking at me, told me to go home and lie down, she would take Miss Muffet home with her. When I picked her up later, I was given a cup of tea and piece of cake and a good Talking to. Amazing Sister knows exactly what to say and how to handle me and put me back together when I am falling apart. Bless her and her wisdom! 

I have been set up with an appointment with the hospital specialist,  a week before baby is due. At my most recent midwifes appointment I was given the advice of accessing my inner drama queen and making sure that the specialist knows that I am so uncomfortable and not sleeping and that my hips are pelvis are so sore, in the hopes that we can stop me from going ten days overdue like I did with Miss Muffet.  

In the meantime I am going to be having acupuncture and will start some stretch and sweeps. I will be crawling on the floor and trying to keep up my daily walks. But I will also be counting every single day and being unapologetically pathetic- sorry friends and family! 

The Saga that is Grocery shopping

Today, I am feeling a wee bit excited. And then when I think about why I am excited, I actually feel a bit pathetic. Because tonight I am going grocery shopping ALL by myself. It's not even fun shopping, like shopping at KMart or buying shoes or anything lovely that my pre child self would have bought without having a second thought. Just your general food shop from our local Countdown. Oh Jenn, how the times have changed.

Up until now, Miss Muffet has accompanied me on our grocery shopping expeditions. As you will soon find out, I basically live in two modes- hyper organised or in total chaos, and one of those modes leads to me sobbing in the corner. So as a result, I am the queen of lists and have broken down my chores and errands and activities so that I have a weekly schedule. But I digress.

 Last week, Miss Muffet and I arrived at Countdown with our list, which had been carefully made so that we were shopping for seven planned dinners plus our weekly baking and we had shopped the cupboards so were not going to be doubling up on anything we already had at home. I had packed a snack box ( grapes and crackers) and had Miss Muffet's water bottle ready to hand out as she inevitably reached the point of no return. We left early in the morning so that she wasn't too tired and the store wasn't too busy. We were ready.

The first Big Huge Mistake occurred as we entered the store. Miss Muffet's eyes lit up as she saw that  a car trolley was free and she broke free from my hand hold and raced over to it, claiming her prize. For those who live the blissful existence of not knowing about the car trolley, they are huge trolleys which have a plastic car built around them for kids to sit in. They have a little screen inside which talks to them and a seat belt and are incredibly hard to turn around corners and do not have enough actual trolley space for a proper weekly shop. And Miss Muffet was NOT going to hop out once she was in. And I was tired and weak and gave in. Big Huge Mistake.

We started our shop with me struggling to push this damn thing around the fruit and vegetable section  and Miss Muffet happily tooting the horn and waving at people who smiled and told me she was "so cute".As we got around to the proper aisles, I looked through the back "windshield" and realised that my dear darling was collecting items from the shelves and storing them in her car. Because the damn car was so huge, you had to drive it along the far side of the aisle so that anyone else had a chance of passing you by. Which meant Miss Muffet was having a lovely time shopping all by herself while I was checking my list and naively enjoying the quiet. My second Big Huge Mistake.

I put all the extra items back and handed out the snack box to try and distract Miss Muffet from further chaos and we carried on our merry way. Until my sweet pea of a daughter realised that she could slip out of the seat belt and jump from the car trolley. So now I had a toddler in the loose. And of course she thought this was hilarious- heavily pregnant mummy waddling after her, trying to get her back in the damn cart. So she was running as fast as her little feet could take her. And lots of lovely members of the public were smiling and laughing at my cute little girl as she giggled and dodged me like a seasoned rugby player. Each time, I caught her and man handled her back into the cart and tried in vain to tighten the seat belt, the game just got to be more and more fun. And I got that little bit more fed up. Fail, Mummy. Fail.

We raced around the remainder of the store and reached the check out. Now the thing I didn't realise about the car trolley, my final Big Huge Mistake, was that you can't actually take them in the car park. You need to swap over to a normal trolley at check out. It makes  sense- there are limited numbers of the car trolleys and I bet they are expensive to replace. But none of that logical, sensible stuff really sinks in when you are nearly 2. So Miss Muffet needed to be wrangled into a normal trolley. Miss Muffet proceeded to make her feelings on the subject very clearly known to the entire store and probably the parking lot as well. We had a lovely check out girl who tried to distract her with Disney cards and I tried to distract with the snack box but my dear girl is extremely determined and at that moment she was displaying her displeasure. Loudly. And trying to escape from the trolley.

When we got home, I realised I had managed to leave out seven items from my list as we had raced around the rest of the shop. And of course they were all essentials likes milk and  rubbish bags. But there was no way I was going back anywhere near the store with Miss Muffet. Probably ever again.

So tonight, when Action Dad finishes work, I am going shopping. All by myself. My list is ready and I am going to drift in peace along the aisles, noticing the lovely new products and comparing prices and probably even reading the magazines at the checkout , even though that's naughty. And I am not taking a damn car trolley. 

And Though She Be But Little....

 Print from Missprint

Throughout my life, I have been labelled as " good with kids". I knew from a really young age , about 7, that I wanted to be a primary school teacher and before having my own babies, my life revolved around my job.  And being completely honest and not caring about being seen as bragging for a moment - I was a damn good teacher. I really cared about "my" kids and invested a lot of time in getting to know each and every one of them as individual, special people so that I could plan the best lessons for them and ensure that my classroom was a place that they wanted to be in and where they felt valued as learners and as people.

 It was important to me to earn the respect of everyone in my school community and I was often chosen to teach students who has been labelled as "challenging". Challenging for a variety of reasons- some with high learning needs, some with social needs and some with medical issues. I spent time learning about them and their needs and tailored my classroom as much as I could so that I was giving them every chance to be successful. 

My classroom was a place where I felt in control and somehow I came to make the link that because I was good at teaching, that I would be a great parent too. I imagined myself with my darling little children doing  fun activities, in a clean and organised home. My children would be settled and polite and well behaved. We would sit and read books together and my children would listen to me. 

And then I gave birth to Miss Muffet. 

And Shakespeare said it best - "She may be but little, but she is fierce". And my God is she fierce. From Day One Miss Muffet has known exactly what she wants to do and how she is going to do it- regardless of her physical abilities to complete her task or if what she wants to do is actually something that can be accomplished! Her determination is incredible and I often need to remind myself that this is a good thing. I want her to know her own mind and to be a strong, independent person... It's just hard to take in a nearly two year old when she is so frustrated that she can't communicate what she needs or can't complete her set task due to stupid constraints such as gravity. 

Miss Muffet is my greatest teacher. I have had to throw out every preconception I previously had and a lot of the time, I have to follow her lead. I have to step back and allow her to take risks and show me what she needs. Terrifying when this is at the playground and she wants to rock climb up a wall at 20 months, but she did it. All she needed from me was encouragement and to be there to catch her is she fell. I have learnt that I need to trust her. 

I heard somewhere that young kids can only focus on developing one area at a time- eg teething or crawling or talking. Miss Muffet has alway been a fast learner when it came to the physical side of things and was an early walker, climber, dancer, jumper. However, at the moment she is not a communicator. She has about 15 words and prefers to take you by the hand and show you what she wants or needs or is interested in. She clearly understands a lot more than she can verbalise but this gap can be the root of a huge amount of frustration for both her and me. I can see her clearly trying to tell me that she needs something and if I can't work out what that is it can lead to meltdown territory. I am talking full blown throw yourself on the ground, shaking with anger, frustration. And it breaks my heart. I try to talk to her calmly and spend a lot of time reading to her and naming items and narrating what we are doing- I just have to trust that she will talk when she is ready. 

That is all well and good when we are at home and I am calm myself and have had some uninterrupted sleep and some coffee and it is only the first meltdown of the day. The rest of the time.. I am that parent with the child who is shrieking in the cafe. Or clinging with all her strength to the damn car trolley at the end of the of the grocery trip and refusing to let go. I am the parent of the child who is face down, kicking and screaming at GymJam because it is not her turn on the roller coaster car ALL of the time. I am the parent on my hands on knees, trying to hold her and talk to her and help her ride out the frustration of whatever inequity life has thrown at her. 

I see the parents around me whose children are playing quietly and calmly and I wonder what on earth they have given their child to sedate them. I see the smug looks of "glad that's not my child" and I heard it when the man in the grocery store commented that she just needed a damn good slap. And I think back to the times when I could survey my class of 30 children, all doing what I had asked them to do. And how I had naively thought I was good with kids. 

I know it is just a stage and I catch glimpses of the strong, amazing, determined person that Miss Muffet is becoming. I have to make the decision to love the person she is and not get upset about who she is not. Because even through all of the heart wrenching, teeth gritting, frustrating melt downs- she is still my fiercely loveable little love, my greatest teacher and the person who made me a mother.

Weekly Baking

I really enjoy baking and get a lot of satisfaction from knowing I have made something from scratch. I try to fill my baking tins on a weekly basis and have a collection of tried and true recipes that I like to use, although I am always keen to try something new! 

This week, my cravings for ginger are still in full swing. It's getting a bit out of hand really! Miss Muffet and I went for a walk/ waddle up to Janus Bakkerij (amazing!) and I saw they had gingerbread men by the counter. Unfortunately Miss Muffet was not exactly in a social mood- read screaming at the top of her lungs, people turning to look at us kind of situation-  so it was a very quick in and out trip and when we got home I remembered the gingerbread men and decided to try my hand at them! 

I like to try and involve Miss Muffet in my baking so a chair is pulled up for her and she likes to mix a few ingredients in her own bowl and of course lick the beaters. I am sure licking the bowl is technically not good for her but I did it as a kid and I turned out OK.

 

She particularly liked watching the dough being rolled and of course needed her own piece to play with and nibble on 😀

I made some royal icing and had a little play around with piping when the biscuits were cooled down which I really enjoyed and wished I had more time for. 

Verdict? Pretty good! Action Dad had one for afternoon tea and was gobbled it straight up. Miss Muffet licked all the icing off and then handed a soggy biscuit back to me- toddlers!!!! 

Miss Muffet's new room

One of our first jobs when we moved into our new house was to sort out Miss Muffet's room. It originally looked like this:

This was actually one of the real estate photos so has had lots of magical trickery done to it- the room is actually much smaller than it looks here and that rather *special* colour was a shade of dark mustard. Lovely! And rather dull and dark looking too- not so nice for a nearly two year old!  

And here it is three weeks later! 

Warehouse linen,  alphabet print by Joe McMenamin, rabbit print by Olivia Bezett. Birth announcement was a gift, monogram cushion from Rixtrott

 

Bunting from Look Sharp, framed print of her baby feet, I made the hearts piece using all the lovely cards people sent us when she was born. Asta chair from Mocka 

We knew we wanted to paint her room white( Resene Black White) so that it would reflect all the light that comes in through the French doors. Poor Action Dad had to do three coats to cover that mustard yellow!We kept the curtains as they were in great condition and decided not to carpet her room, but instead add a big rug which is actually an off cut of carpet which was over locked and came from Carpet Court

Her big girl bed was a Trade Me find and the linen is all from the Warehouse. The bunting is from Look Sharp in Auckland and we bought cheap blond wood frames from Kmart for her pictures.

I would like to add some pink decals ( probably spots) and she needs a lamp for bed time stories but other than that I am really pleased with the results. Oohhh and I also have added recovering her Mocka Asta chair to my never ending wish list of creative projects ( not that I know how to recover chairs but that's what YouTube and Pintrest is for!) 

She is loving her room and we often find her in her bed during the day.  So far she is staying in bed through the night but I'm not going to saw we have won that war yet and still expect to hear her little feet visiting us at 3am most nights.  

A Little Bit of Space

Being a Mumma to nearly 2 year old Miss Muffet often means that I have no space. Last night was a perfect examples of this- Miss Muffet is full of a cold and cutting an incisor so ended up sleeping in my bed. All night. Most of the time she was wrapped around my head like a little boa constrictor but as a new party trick, she also dabbled with tucking her lovely cold toes down the back of my P J pants. When I got up to use the bathroom, she came too and stood and watched and sniffed. So understandably I am craving some space. And knowing that we are expecting our second bubba in about six weeks, realistically I am not going to have any physical space for a good few years to come. So I have decided to carve a wee bit of Internet space- my space in which to write... Or rant depending on how much sleep I get.

Introducing Me
I am Jenn, a Mumma in her 30s who has recently moved cities, leaving behind my circle of mummy friends who have known me since Miss Muffet appeared and with whom I feel comfortable enough to to wear a bare face, slippers and mismatched clothing. I am a stay at home mum who previously taught primary aged students- I like organising, life hacks and being the boss. I am married to Action Dad and enjoy crafty goodness, crappy tv, reading and a good list.

Action Dad
Action Dad works from home and cannot sit still- hence his standing desk! He is lovely and hard working and the best sound in the world is hearing Miss Muffet and him laughing as they place chasing games. Action Dad cannot function without exercise and can usually be found  running, biking or swimming. I have been known to throw his trainers at him if he has been inside too long as he gets very grumpy and antsy!

Miss Muffet.
Miss Muffet will be two in May and is the centre of our lives. She is stubborn and strong willed and gorgeous and brave and hilarious.