Just a minute

We've had a busy week, a little busier than usual and I've fallen off the organised train a little lot. So this morning when it was time for breakfast and we had no milk left for cereal and no marg left for toast or to make school lunches with, I thought we were in for a rough day. A quick look through my bag found enough change to buy the boys tuck shop for lunch, one crisis averted, for breakfast we snuck through the maccas drive thru for some pancakes, it's Friday after all. One maccas breakfast won't kill them.
So once we'd dropped the big boys to school Charlie, Will and I headed for Coles. I was still feeling pretty hopeless so we whipped around the shop past the deli for a cheerio for Charlie and with kiwi fruit and strawberries he couldn't go past we were out of there. As I was dumping all our stuff at the register an older lady that usually serves us walked past, she stopped and put her hand on my arm then this happened:

Her: 'I just wanted to tell you, you are a wonderful mother, whenever I see you in here no matter how many of your kids are with you, your always smiling, the boys are always talking to you and your listening to them, and your never as stressed as half the mums we get in here with just one or two kids with them, they are well behaved children your obviously doing a wonderful job'
With that she was done and red faced I stuttered out a thank you and tried to explain to her I am called cranky mum and she must have missed all the crazy shopping trips where I'm dragging a crying kid out of the shops because I wouldn't buy him a lollipop. She shook her head at me and told me off, because kids always have a bad day now and then it's not a reflection on you.
I paid for our groceries and we were out of there, once I stopped feeling so silly about it I felt so much better about sending the kids to school with maccas in their bellies and tuck shop for lunch.

It was so nice of her to stop and talk to me, it made me all warm inside and it took her just a minute.
As mothers we can be so critical of each other, especially across generations, it's so easy to see another parenting style and shoot them down straight away. I'm putting this in my memory bank for when I'm old and I stop young mums in the shopping center instead of telling her she's doing it the wrong way or to cherish these moments before there gone I'll compliment her. After all, were all trying the best we can to make small people grow to be amazing big people and sometimes when you think your not being the best you can be as a mother all you need is a kind word from a stranger to cheer you up.

What's the last compliment you were given?

Detox

If you know Michael or I you know were bad at saying no to each other. This is cute and funny when your talking about what movie to watch or what to have for lunch but when it's about important stuff it becomes a big problem.
Now Michael's got a proper permanent job we need to stop spending like it's all going to finish and get in a proper saving habit. We had a great plan of not spending any money, only spending money on  the essentials but there was always something, birthdays, mothers day. There's always something. So instead were giving ourselves pocket money for all those little things (Thankfully Dani is out of town for a month so no lunch dates for a while)
For a whole month starting Wednesday we are on a Spending detox. We have a target on how much we want to save (enough to buy Michael's 'new' car). If we can do that I'm going to put us on a slightly more flexible budget and we will save a house deposit.
Over the next month I'll be doing some posts on how to do things on the cheap and how to still have fun without spending so much and how were going.

So who wants to join in? Does a spending detox sound awful but necessary for you? 
Do you have any tips on how the hell I'm going to do this?!

Outfit Help

Its no secret I've been a bit of shopping maniac lately. Maniac is probably putting it lightly.
I've bought a few shirts that are breast feeding friendly but I'm just not one hundred percent sure I love how they look. Since I've had all my hair chopped off I feel the need to dress a little more funky and a little more girly. I never knew how much I would miss my girly hair even when it was just a mop on top of my head.
Anyway now I have this shirt and I don't know. Belt or no belt? And is it too short to wear with leggins?
Tell me what you think.

Option one: No belt. 

Option Two: Belted.

Now I guess the real question is, does it really matter what I'm wearing apart from this baby? I don't think anyone is paying any attention to what I'm wearing underneath. If you saw this lady walking would you see the baby or would you be thinking 'geez she should really wear a belt with that shirt' No? I didn't think so either. 

Rocking the baby Bjorn 

Rocking the Baba sling. 

Sad faced bubba Will was not impressed I was putting him down and putting him in both carriers but we weren't going anywhere. One day in the near future he'll be too big and heavy for me to carry him and he'll be happy to hang out in the pram with his big brother and I'll be able to wear necklaces again and wear my clothes properly but I guess until then I'll be wearing him instead of my favourite belt. 

Spoilt

Last week Michael and I had this conversation:

Then yesterday I rolled out this beauty:

I don't often ask to spend money, I usually just spend, when I do ask, he doesn't often say no.
I really am a spoilt housewife. Thanks babe.

If you'd like to buy a fun interactive rug like I did go here. As for asking your hubby first well I'll leave that up to you to decide.

Shop til I drop

Letter love from Typo.

I've discovered something about myself.
When I'm stressed, over tired, or feeling out of control, I shop.
As a teenager I shopped a lot, but when I became a wife and mother I didn't really have the funds to do it and I stopped, after a few years of marriage and lets face it, after Michael worked his butt off to get his almost perfect job which pays him enough to cover the boring things in life, it has left us with money to shop. In our relationship I have always been the frugal one who paid the bills and Michael was the one who couldn't hold on to money if he tried. But lately it's been me, and to be honest I'm loving it. It's the one thing in life I can control. My baby doesn't sleep, my house is a constant battle that I lose more days than I win, but shopping? Shopping I can control. With William in the carrier walking around the shops he sleeps, Charlie loves to go in the elevator and always brings home a new car or book so he's happy to shop with me. So as superficial and mindless it seems it makes me happy. Now I just need to get my life back under control before I run out of things to buy. Who am I kidding, before I run out of money!

Williams new digs in our room. Complete with music, night light, vibrate and toys. Did we need to buy the most expensive one? No probaby not, but look its so pretty!

Charlie's new PJs. One of the many things that came home with us from Cotton On Kids.

New shoes? Don't mind if I do! Stripes? I love stripes!

Oh and pink in my size? I better take them as well!

Ohh dresses on sale at crossroads? I'll take three thanks!

Yes I realise I need to stop. Jacks birthday is in two weeks, the day before Easter and I'm trying to stop myself from going over the edge. 

I wonder how much stuff the Easter bunny can bring?

Fashion Fun

I've started playing around with my wardrobe and adding a few more things to it and just having fun with it, this is my outfit from Friday, apart from the shoes I've had the rest for a while. Nothing extreme for school drop off, shopping and a doctors visit but it was easy to feed in, easy to shop in and I felt super cute with those pink shoes on. 

I might have to do this more often!

How to save ten dollars on Pavlova.

Go shopping when your in a bad mood.

Today wasn't a good day in our house, William didn't really want to sleep last night or today for that matter, it's been a yucky raining humid week and to top it off when I picked up the boys from school James teacher wanted to talk to me. 

I was crabby when we ducked into Woolies on the way home to get a few things and thought maybe a cake or something for afternoon tea would put us all in a better mood. I grabbed a pavlova. 

$4.98 not bad for afternoon tea. When we got to the checkout the pavlova scanned at $15.98. Now usually I am extra nice to people in customer service after doing my time in customer service but today I'd just had enough. I may or may not have had a few choice words to say and when the bakery man returned with the correct price I wasn't so nice to him either. Well because someone had put the pavlovas in the wrong place I walked out with a pavlova and I only paid $4.98, and you know what I felt better. 

Baby Daze

Week 35

Yeah baby week 35. I love that it's only 5 weeks to go!
My sister requested a non bathroom shot of the bump, so instead here is a headless shot thanks my lovely James, photographer in the making. 

I had a midwife appointment yesterday and in the last month I have put on a grand total of 10 grams. How awesome is that? I put it down to Monday getting the gastro bug that everyone in town seems to have gotten, in 24hrs I more than likely lost all the weight I put on in the last month. 

Baby is still posterior, his back is on my back he should have his back on my belly, which is worrying me a little, but I'll keep doing the exercises to get him to turn around even though they completely contradict what the recommendations are for pelvic instability. I know its getting close to the end when my body just starts falling apart. 

I went a little nuts on eBay this week, I was planning to get a cover for our 3rd hand bouncer but when I was looking for one I found replacement covers, even better. Our bouncer turned into a outside play toy and after a few weeks in the hot sun I wasn't real sure if it would hold my chubba bubba so now I have a brand new mint green cover. Love that!

I still bought a cover its padded and so soft, I almost bought a plain coloured one until I remembered how much mess a small person can make, and opted instead for this cute one covered in combi vans. 

Apart from that I've just been feeling huge and making a lot of old man noises when I try to move around. Oh and did I mention we decided on a name? I can't believe it took us so long and was such a hard decision. I knew when we found it we'd just agree and that would be it.

My Husband has left me...

....for his new love. A shiny metal motorised new love. 

When we first started talking about Michael taking this job one of the first things he wanted to do was get another boat, we've been here for just over two months and here she is, he doesn't muck around this man. 

I joked with him about him getting the boat as long as I could go away for the weekend. (I'm fairly sure he would have got it even if hadn't gone anywhere)

So today he is getting his boat license so he can actually drive it all by himself, I promised him I'd go on it. At least once, and it appears tomorrow is the day. He has a picnic all organised and a plan of where were going. I'm just hoping not to vomit. I don't do so well on things that move. In fact I still get car sick if I have to read the GPS or talk to Charlie in the back for too long. I'm not holding out much hope, but I'm putting on my good wife hat and sucking it up just for one day. For this I expect him to name the boat after me. 'Kates misery' or something like that.

One of the good things about him getting a new toy is now every time I want something he tells me to go for it, after all he got a boat I can buy some new things now and then, we'll be paying it off for five years. That means for five years I have an excuse to buy pretty much anything I want. In the next five years I'll turn thirty and I've requested to have a little 'panel work' done, boobs and tummy tuck here I come! 

My Place and Yours

Every Monday I'll post a new theme for you to rack your brain with, take some photos then blog about it, when your done come back and add your link down the bottom so we can all have a sticky beak. Sounds good right?

What do you eat off? Do you live in miss-matched heaven like us or do you have a whole setting?

Dani and I were talking about this on Saturday, she is buying all new matching stuff, and I am quite envious. It may be time for me to do the same thing, it would be nice to have a full matching set. The white one we have we bought when we were getting married, it's getting a bit old and battered now, so get snapping and show me yours!

Bathroom Love

The beautiful Beth from Baby Mac posted about her new bin last week, its a nice bin and I'm glad she shared it with us along with her beautiful shiny floors and stunning taste in lamps. It got me thinking and I thought where better to share all the fun things I buy than right here on my blog. So in honour of Beth I'm showing you my newest purchase. 

I know your interested. 

 Now that we have an en suite, the small people have their own bathroom. So instead of all our grown up stuff I have started buying them some fun kids stuff.

First on my list was a bath toy organiser. I found this funky orange one from Bambini Pronto and I may have bought a few other things as well. Seriously dangerous website for gorgeous stuff.

We went a little over board with the bubbles. James was trying to show me the huge pile of bubbles on his head. 

Froggie our dirty clothes eater. The boys take great delight in 'feeding' the frog before bath time. Hopefully the novelty doesn't wear off. 

I have my eye on some cute wall stickers for the big window behind the bath. Next on my list boys bedrooms! 

Shopping with Children

Shopping with small children is sometimes unavoidable. It can be stressful and annoying and make you want to spend longer in the liquor department than you probably should. 

Now my boys are big, Jack can read and James can read his own name when we go to the supermarket I give them a list and if they get everything from their list and help me with everything else, they get to pick something fun. A lollipop, a book, a new car, avocado. You get the picture. 

Excuse my dodgy pictures, I have been meaning to write this post for ages but I always forget when I write my lists, so these are from the car before we got out. 

It helps to write your list the way you go around the supermarket, and find one thing from every aisle. Or if your child is a bit older two things. Makes for a quicker shopping trip! Obviously my list isn't very well planned out but we've done it a few times and we've got this down pat. 

I give Jack more vague lists and let him pick certain things, like cereal. This week he picked sustain, but that because he's a 65yr old trapped in a 6yr old. James would have picked coco popps or fruit loops, not so much choice on his list.

James can read his names, and the letters of the alphabet but he's no where near putting letters together into words so for him he gets pictures.
This week he got Cat-food. Oranges. Bananas. Popcorn. Don't tell me it's not obvious. 

Once I've written their lists I add it to my list so we don't come home without stuff and I can give them a little nudge in the right direction if necessary. 

Do you have any tips to shopping with children I need to know about? 

Books Books and more books!

My boys were very spoilt for Christmas from everyone, my  favorite gifts are always books, they last longer than any truck or noisy toy they get and when they are old like there mumma (26 eep!) hopefully they will still have them to look back on and remember with fondness getting me to read them to death like I did with my mum and anyone else who would put up with me!

My awesome Uncle Dave and Aunty Christine who live in Hobart most of the year except for 6 weeks or so when they take up residence in their favorite European city, Paris (I know I was definatly born to the wrong Owen brother ; ) gave us a gift voucher for Angus & Robertson. So last week when Jack and I went shopping for school stuff we nipped in and managed to get a book for everyone in the whole family!

I got a cook book I have been stealing recipes from for years, and it has been a great way to re-think cooking for my carnivors I call children! Loads of pureed veg in other things, like mac and cheese with sweet potato and cauliflower, I recommend it to any mumma who is having a hard time with dinner and small children!

Michael, who has become nuts about gardening since he stopped drinking, asked me to call him while I was in the book shop so I would definatly get him this book!

We have a trailer load of cow poop in our backyard and it stinks to high heaven, but he keeps telling me that the veggies will taste better and my sunflowers are loving it, I shouldn't complain!

Jack picked a Thomas book which I was very suprised about, I tried to steer him towards something else but he told me he loves Thomas, so thats fine with me!
He helped me pick a Charlie and Lola book for James(who has read it a million times so far) and a touchy feely learning book for Charlie. Perfect picks, I might get him to help me with christmas presents next year!
Thanks very much Dave and Chris!

New or Second hand?

 Things I like buying new.

                                                          The boys in their car seats

Charlie in his playcentre bouncer.

Things I like buying second hand

James Everlast sneakers brand new from Lifeline in Emerald. $4, love it.

Charlie's cot $20 from The Salvation Army in Blackwater, Love it! I think I spent more money buying the paint to repaint it!

My question is what do you like to buy new and what are you happy to have second hand??