I'm terribly slack but

The lovely Kelly over at Reclaiming me has recently reached her 100th post and so to celebrate is doing a giveaway. This is a complete and shameless plug to say go check her out! Kelly is one very talented crafty lady. Makes me wish I had a sewing machine lol and maybe some motivation. but since I don't right now I shall continue browsing the lovely works of others :)

Birthday season is upon us!

All our antenatal babies are turning Two! The first birthday was at the start of April and there are 10 in the group, all scattered through until about the middle of June. We've gotten smart and instead of buying everyone a small, cheap present we are all pitching in and buying a quality gift from the group. We are lucky enough to have the brains behind chocolate+chilli as a member of the group so have easy access to some absolutely gorgeous gift ideas (we've agreed mums can choose/suggest what the kids need/want). I totally confess to have fallen in love with several items including the toddler bags and the "me + you = happy" tee :D

Ok so that wasn't meant to be a total plug lol but thats the way it turned out. Don't worry I have a deliberate and shameless plug coming up in the next post!

Back to birthdays, my wonderful mother in law (MIL) has offered to cook me/us dinner for my birthday (May 5th). I asked her if she'd mind looking after the boys so hubby and I can have a night out so she's going to have Morgan the whole night and Jack for a few hours (I won't inflict Jack upon her overnight he wakes at least twice still between 12-6am! and I know she doesn't cope too well with disturbed nights) and has offered to shout us to the movies as a present :D How lovely is that - I get a date! A night out!

Morgan turns Two on May 10th. I'm already planning how to get my cake on and have learned a lot from last year, ie bake the cake a week before hand and freeze it if you need to - DON'T try to ice a sponge cake with butter icing it flakes and crumbles right through the icing lol. In saying that, heres a couple of pics from last year and overall I don't think I did to badly (improvisations included)

Side view (in the pantry lol)

Front view (in the pantry lol)

Thats me in the black dress. In the grey is Aunty Haley.

This year I'm going to attempt an Ark (as in Noahs Ark). My mum has the fisher price little peoples toy and Morgan just loves it, the first thing he grabs when we go visit so I thought I'd give it my best shot. I'm going to use the basic boat pattern from the womens weekly cake book and the animals will be toys lol. *fingers crossed* I promise photos!! You can see how well I do (or not lol).

Sleep Deprivation

I'm sure my boys have worked out its a form of torture. I've been doing pretty much nothing for the last couple of days as they have been conspiring and preventing me from sleeping. It doesn't help of course that I tend not to go to bed until after 10pm. Tonight however I am going to bed straight after House at 9.30. For now I will comfort myself with pictures of my sleeping angels (yes Morgan is in a tent, was the only way he'd go to sleep last week).

Kindy

Morgan is coming up Two in a couple of weeks and its occurred to me I need to start thinking about enrolling him in Kindegarten. This is a new and scary experience I have absolutely NO idea where or how to start!

I mean I know theres the obvious making a list of what is local and available to me but what after that? Do I do just call them up? Might have to get in touch with a friend who knows these things so at least I know where to start. *sigh* I'll keep you updated.

Just because I can

My two beautiful little boys. Morgan is showing Jack the toy typewriter at Grandma's on Easter Sunday. Its so lovely to see and Morgan just adores his little brother. I'm enjoying it while it lasts...

Procrastination

Time to tackle a serious topic now. It can become a crippling state of mind if you allow it. Yes I'm talking about the art of procrastination. I should know, I was voted Most Procrastinating Female of my year in 7th form.

So what is procrastination? The online Cambridge Dictionary defines it as "to keep delaying something that must be done, often because it is unpleasant or boring". I've done it for years. I hated homework and didn't see the point, I wouldn't do my assignments simply because they didn't interest me. I'd rather curl up with a fat juicy book, so much more interesting and hey, by the time I was 8 I had the vocabulary and comprehension of a 16 year old according to those wee tests they do in school.

So what do I procrastinate about these days?

• Housework! I hate it. Stupid thing is I love being in a tidy (and clean) house. Having a cleaner helps funnily enough, I have to tidy up before she gets here. My mother has drilled in to me that cleaners clean and do not tidy and it works :D

• Going to the dentist (I'm not going to tell you when I last went, you'll think I'm feral

• And something else that I'm not going to confess to because I know its serious and that it needs to be done now. I'm in the process of doing it though - rest assured its not just hanging there

I'm not sure what else there is off the top of my head. My memory is playing up on me (I blame it on baby/nappy brain) but I'm sure theres plenty of other things, it just so happens those are the two major ones.

I find though that you feel so much better when you aren't trying to avoid doing something. Procrastination is a kind of coping method but not a very good one. Its actually quite stressful and has been known to make me sick in the past as I was sooo worried/scared about doing something. Funny thing is as soon as I've done whatever it is I'm trying not to do I feel a shitload better. The weight of the shoulders can be quite a relief.

The key is to tackle the big issues and get them out the way - the ones that really need to be done. For example I got my learners license when I was 18, did nothing about it kept putting it off. Then I fell pregnant and it was rather important to learn to drive and at least get my restricted - I got it a month before Morgan was born lol. I went for my full about halfway through my pregnancy with Jack - having kids forced me to actually get my driver license lol - but I did it.

The perfect friday night

is curling up on the couch with a cup of earl grey tea, some chocolate and a chick flick. I'm over going out, getting slaughtered and hitting the clubs, not to mention with two under two I just don't have that kind of energy these days :D

I hate it when my night is ruined by some young punks walking through our area, ripping it up and hurling abuse at the Mr with the intent to bait him and beat him up :( (he's the kind of guy most people take one look at and leave alone on account of how tall he is)

Shout out to the New Zealand Police. They always come when theres shit stirrers wrecking havoc and in general I feel a hell of a lot better knowing they are out there. To the men and women in our police force, thank you.

Latch hooking

As a little girl I was taught how to sew, knit, cross stitch and latch hook. I can also remove stains from clothes, put up a wall and fix a toilet lol so I wasn't raised a total princess. I also helped renovate my mums kitchen and bathroom and since I married a (lovable) geek, guess who puts together any 'assembly required' furniture etc.

So latch hooking. The easiest way I could think to describe it was to take photos, made a time consuming project even more time consuming lol. I have only finished one mat and that was the one mum had me work on as a child. I finally finished it whilst pregnant with Morgan. I'll put a pic up later cos I don't have any of it and its packed away right now.

This is the box of the one I'm doing at the moment. I started it while pregnant with Morgan and still have much to do. Its my mums but she has much less spare time than I do so I offered to do it for her.

This is the canvas. It has a rough guide printed on it but I tend to use the pattern as they never quite seem to match up :/ Yes its taken me two and a half years to do this much. It is more of a winter project haha and not one for while the kids are awake.

Put the hook through the canvas with the latch in the down position

Thread a piece of wool underneath and place it in a crossed position inside the latch hook

Pull the hook through

Pull the knot tight and lay it flat. Repeat until rug is finished, or until your back is killing you and you can't sit comfortably anymore lol. And that my friends is latch hooking. I'm not sure that its terribly common but like most craft you get an immense sense of satisfaction when you can see the finished product.

Going nowhere

my thoughts that is. I've had some great post ideas that I've thought of, however I was in bed trying to sleep and I'll be damned if I'm climbing out of my nice snuggly warm bed.

Speaking of beds, Morgan is in his big boy bed and Jack is now in the cot. I took the cot down for about a month after getting Morgan into the bed so he didn't feel shoved out to make room for his brother. Of course now that the cot is back up (in our room) he tries to climb into it every now and again. We have to remind him that he is a big boy now and has a big boy bed.

I took him out shopping to choose some sheets. He chose two sets, the set that you can see in the photo are the cotton sheets. My boy has good taste! The Pooh blanket on the top is one I bought for him while pregnant. We had no idea if he was a boy or a girl, so figured we couldn't go wrong with blue Winnie the Pooh. He has two Patrick dogs on the bed head, a Chocolate Mickey who cuddles his seahorse (lights up and plays music) and his special favourite Mickey cuddle buddy that goes everywhere with him. Yes its a single mattress on a queen sized base. Its easier for him to climb in and out of the bed on his own. Also provides a soft landing space if he rolls out of bed (which he has yet to do). The teddy on the shelves next to the bed was specially made for him while I was pregnant. One of mums workmates sisters used to make them professionally and though she had retired when F said something to her she made him. He's absolutely gorgeous and a true bear collectors item. My boy is so spoilt!

My baby Jack fast asleep in his cot. I know feet are supposed to be at the bottom but he keeps on wriggling up so I just go with it. I know there shouldn't be toys up the top either, I should probably move them to by his feet. He has Tigger -who lights up and plays music, the green bear is Sam -he got from mum's work Christmas party, Paddington came back from Englad with a friend and My first Mickey came from Disneyland especially with Jack in mind from his aunty Haley. Ra Tiger by his hand is courtesy of the lovely Mrs McZany who gave him when she left to move to Melbourne. The blanket he's holding onto was especially chrocheted (I can't spell it lol) when I was pregnant with Morgan. Beautiful baby blanket, one of those keepsakes you hold on to long after your babies have grown. The cot is actually the one my mum bought second hand and stripped and painted when she was pregnant with me. Funny isn't it how these things last and can be passed down to the next generations.

I love it when my boys are sleeping. They are always foremost in my thoughts though. Time I pulled out my old hobby - Latch hook rugs!!