Wordless Wednesday - Cheeky Monkey

Playing along with My Little Drummer Boys and Faith Hope and a Whole Lotta Love
xx

Kudos to Cudo

I've admitted on here before that I am addicted to online shopping. Shoes, clothes, baby stuff! When the deals come straight to your inbox how can you not click BUY? They sound so great!

So I have a few daily emails with super dooper deals sent to me and I casually flick through and delete all the laser treatments and teeth whitening ones (which seem to be there almost daily) and ponder the food deals. I love food and B loves not spending money. ever. bargains. So way back in March I bought a deal for a restaurant in St Kilda. Now I may or may not have already let one of these deals expire so I decided I would not let that happen again and have called a few times to try and get a booking - but nights free of the little man are rare (which is how I like it) and they have been booked out when I have called.

The last time I called, the friendly waiter dude told me to try mid week as you didn't need to book so far in advance. Nice tip :) So yesterday my childcare plans for tomorrow fell through and I had to make other arrangements which needed to include the little man sleeping at his grandparents place which is over an hour away as there is no chance of dropping him off before work. So suddenly B and I had this 'free week night' that the waited dude had spoken of. So I booked and off we went.

I tried to take a photo of the Melbourne skyline on the drive in but iphone and dirty car windows made it almost impossible. B attempted to warn me annoyed me by telling me it wouldn't work so I am posting this photo in spite of him and to maybe try and prove a point even though I know it looks terrible.

The voucher was $39 - but I had a ten dollars off coupon so paid only $29. This entitled us to a antipasto tasting plate, two mains, two desserts and a bottle of wine. I thought it sounded pretty good!

B and I have never been huge on the eating out - I think it was because we lived together early on so we never had much to discuss at dinner, so we'd eat and leave quickly. Since having the little man in our lives we probably value that time more though and it was lovely to just sit for a couple of hours and chat uninterrupted.

The food was delicious! I had a steak with some yummy potatoes and B went for a beef stroganoff. Usually he chooses whatever meal he thinks will be the biggest - he's a tight ass value for money kind of guy :)

I really enjoyed relaxing with B and was very impressed with the quality and quantity of the meal. The suckered me in with a chocolate mousse at the end too. Ahhh well gym tomorrow.........

I'm off to find my next online deal!
xx

Destructo-Man

He cannot walk - He cannot talk! But my oh my can he make a mess!


The little man is getting around the place faster and faster these days. Toys are apparently now obsolete for the most part. whacking and dropping remote controls, tissue ripping and pulling washing from clothes horses seem to be the most entertaining things to do so it would seem.

I've always had a thing about playpens. I guess it's one of those things that as a mother you either use or don't use. I don't really like the look of them - Whilst I can definitely see the merit in them (especially today....) it's just something that I've got a thing about. I have no idea if it stems from my childhood? (Note to self to ask parentals if we had one).

To say the little man dislikes tissues is an understatement. He throws a massive turd like tantrum dislikes it intensely it when you try to wipe his nose. So it makes me smile when he sees a tissue lying around or even the box of them and his eyes light up like it's Christmas. He looks at you cheekily and even if you say NO (which frankly seems to encourage him) and rips it to shreds. I'm not talking ripping in half, literally piece by piece ripped apart and thrown on the floor. It's like he thinks 'haha you can't get me with this one!'.

So constantly now I am having to monitor his every move. As soon as he is on the floor he either crawls to the TV cabinet pulls himself up and bangs it like a drum, finds tissues to destroy or chases his ball around the floor and when he sees the clothes horse pulls all the washing in his reach off. I don't love hanging washing out. But I really dislike hanging it out again and again and again. I do not like this game little man. It does make it fairly hard to get any facebooking/blogging housework done whilst he is awake.

Today I had a plan......We have a safety gate on his room so that Malibu and Roxy are deterred from entering. He loves playing in his room and I have babyproofed it all so he can only reach things that are safe for him. So I changed his nappy and left him in there to play while I hung a load of washing out.

This is when destructo-man came to visit.....

I walked back in and heard silence - Which ever parent knows means only one thing.... I'm doing something I shouldn't be doing.

This is the trail of destruction a 10 month old cause in less than 3 minutes :)

I wonder if he found what he was looking for?

Spot the baby :)

So all the toys were pulled off the shelf. Poor teddy got thrown around a bit! He obviously tried to find a book to read :) Pulled clothes and nappies out (not his MCN's thank god!) but the funniest part was that I actually had to look to find him! He was under the change table and he thought he was pretty funny yes? I love the fact that he knew he was being cheeky!

Ahhh that face makes my heart melt.
xx

A little dose of Sunshine

This week Melbourne has turned on the weather and it has been fantastic! I'm the first to admit that I hate winter so having 5+ 20 degree days smack bang in the middle of it has been quite enjoyable.

Before I had the little man in my life I think my hate for winter wasn't as passionate but as any parents out there would know - with winter comes sickness and to be honest I am SO over having a house full of snot :) The little man has had an on/off runny nose and cough since April and for want of a better word it SUCKS!

So because of the never ceasing sickness and lack of sunshine over the past few months there have been few opportunities to get outside and enjoy the weather. Last Saturday with the sunshine gods turning it on B and I decided to take the little man for a play at the park - and also to suss out a place suitable to have his birthday party.

We packed the pram and some lunch, tried to find a hat that fit the little man and off we set. The place we found would be perfect if it wasn't for all the graffiti (note to self - email council about that). It has a BBQ area and seating and an awesome playground for the kidlets. The most important part though was that the little man gave his tick of approval.

It was only his second trip to the park - but I think that he is definitely going to be an outdoorsy kid! He had so much fun bouncing around, sliding and even playing in the sand.Afterwards we took him for a nice walk around the lake, it was a lovely family day out in the sunshine. I am so looking forward to many more of these throughout summer!

The sunshine this week got me thinking about how a little vitamin D improves my mood. I found it easy to get out of bed every morning and hit up the gym (something that I constantly battle with) which in turn increased my motivation and energy levels! I had such a lovely week - but am I the only one who feels these effects from sunshine and beautiful weather? Anyone else have these feelings?

Keep it up Melbourne - I'm loving it

xx

How much is too much?

So Fathers day is less than 10 days away - Is it wrong that I am so excited about it?

I decided to make B a photobook as his gift. It took FOREVER! I expected it to be a little time consuming (I made some for gifts at Christmas time) but it honestly took me a few days to complete. Mainly because now that the little man is 10 months old and on the move, I cannot just put him on the floor with a few toys - He is destructive and fast! but that is another post entirely...........

So basically I found all the photos of B and the little man as well as some of our favourites from the past 10 months and combined them with some captions written by the little guy (if he could string words together). I love it and I'm really hoping B feels the same way!
Then came all the fathers day catalogues..... So now I'm thinking do I need to get him something else? B is an active/outdoors kind of guy and has wanted a table tennis table for aggggggggggggggges.

We have never really had anywhere to store it though but now we have an undercover area out the back which would suit it well I think. So now I am contemplating getting him one but is it relevant? too much? should I wait until christmas? arghhhhhhhhhhhh

I really want to make the day special for B as he is such an awesome dad - So i'm thinking of heading to the beach with my little family and having a picnic :) Hope the weather holds up!

What are your fathers day ideas? Any family traditions for the day?

xx

Party Time??

I am starting to organise the little man's 1st birthday party. I have always said I wasn't going to go huge - but when I sat down to make a FB event write a list I was amazed at how big it got so quickly.

I do have a big family but am I going overboard? I want to invite friends that have already played a big part in his life too. Clearly I know the little man is not going to remember the day but isn't it also about celebrating us? a year of being a family? The year that our lives changed for the better?

I don't know......

Well anyway my ideas for the day go like this. A BBQ at a local park where there are playgrounds/skateparks etc for the older kids. This way I dont have to make my house spotless, nor will I have guests still hanging around well into the night!

We will do drinks/sausages/salads and have a pinata and maybe some lolly bags if I get around to it :) Mostly I just want to have a low key day celebrating the first year of the little mans life.

I have never organised a kids party before so I really don't know what else I should do. Any ideas for me? I'm feeling a bit under pressure, particularly when speaking with the mums in my mothers group! They all have such creative ideas.
I'm thinking of going with a NEMO theme as that is what is on the little mans walls (and his daddy is a obsessed fisherman!) Think blues and greens and maybe a splash of orange.

And then comes the big part - THE CAKE!?!?!?!?!?!
Think I might have to cruise the net for a Nemo cake :) It is going to test my chef skills thats for sure.

So if you have organised kids parties and have a tip or two for me please share. I need all the help I can get!
xx