6am – everybody up!!!
Yes even on holidays, kids wake up early – it doesn’t matter what day it is to them, weekday, weekend, public holiday, winter, summer, any day, everyday wake up same time, even if you are dying with pain they still wake up early – 6am.
6.30 – OMG They are starving – they have to have breakfast NOW or you never hear the end of it and you feel like you are torturing your children.
7am – get out of bed – mayday we are running late for swimming lessons – get Child1 ready, get Child2 ready – this takes longer than you think, have quick shower, get ready yourself and get everyone in the car.
8am – swimming lessons – Child1 in class so you have to get in the pool with Child2 so as to avoid any drownings.
8.30am – run to the car with towels wrapped around us since we hate public toilets and bathrooms due to Mum’s unreasonable and irrational hate for public bathrooms.
9am – hot showers for all – everybody snack time … warm milk and a banana
9.30am – back in the car – we have a playdate!!!
10am – activity started – activity lasts 2 hours – STOP it to Child2 – Good girl Child1, Good work Child2, Child1 stop running around please and focus on your activity.
12pm – time to go grab some lunch
12.15 – arrive at HJs and order lunch while all kids play on the playground … walk through HJS and feel the floor sticky and dirty ew ew ew
1pm – lunch finished – we head back home
1.30pm – HOME – everybody back to showers due to HJs sticky floors.
2pm – everyone on the couch – let’s watch a family movie – Beethoven! Yay! Organic unsalted and butter free popcorn and cup of ribena.
3.30pm – snack time – some fruit of some sort while we do a craft – playdough
4.30pm – mum starts getting dinner ready so kiddies ABC2 while preparation occurs
5.30pm – dinner!!!!! Yay!!!
6pm – Daddy’s home – play with our best friend in the whole world – ignore mother as much as possible
7pm – read book and bedtime for kiddies – dinner for grown ups and an hour later bedtime for mother
GOODNIGHT WORLD

I used to be addicted to coffee – I would have 4-5 cups a day not necessarily to get me through the day. I simply enjoyed the taste! I had easy access to a kitchen and I could have as many as I liked so why not? This all changed when I was planning to get pregnant of course. I stopped about 3 months before falling pregnant and I stayed off caffeine until after I finished breastfeeding our first child. I will never forget going to a coffee shop in Subiaco and ordering a skinny decaf half shot coffee and the Barrista looking at me strangely said,: No really! What’s the point?” At the time I thought she was quite rude but now I think back and laugh at it.
I went back to coffee eventually and at that time I felt I desperately needed the caffeine to get through the days where there had been sleepless nights. Then it was time to plan for our second child so again I came off the caffeine until after I finished breastfeeding said child. I was looking through some of our photos the other day and I still can’t get my head around how I survived those days. One of the photos was me breastfeeding my newborn and Miss3 napping on my lap. If someone were to tell me I did that, I would say: No way! That’s impossible … but there is photographic evidence and I still look at it in complete disbelief. There must be a special thing in your brain that clicks and helps you get through those tough situations.

Anyway back to the coffee – When my little man was about a year old I started drinking coffee again – I love my percolated coffee so that’s all I drank for quite some time and then I discovered a nespresso machine and nespresso pods thanks to Kate, Jo and Teresa on twitter – well let’s just say that my coffee experience was never going to be the same again. I love my nespresso pods and they were the highlight of a recent trip when I walked into the hotel room and noticed that I could have unlimited nespresso pods during my entire stay. HURRAH!

My epiphany:

2013 is going to be an incredibly busy year for me. I just have to tackle each “thing” in my life one day at a time and prioritise. Right now I am on holidays and I am making the most of my break with my family. These times I have with them are precious especially since we hardly see each other once the mayhem begins again so I want to take in every moment without feeling guilty about work or other things that need doing or people who need to be contacted etc … I will get to them as soon as the holidays come to an end.

On the twelfth day/night of Christmas I pondered about my New Year resolutions …

Blogging – to blog more regularly, I have taken up the #52blogs challenge so my blog isn’t neglected for months again.

Reading – to read MOAR! In the past year I have not read as much as I wanted to although I have done a lot more reading online and professional reading … so I am setting myself a reading challenge of 50 books in 2013 thanks @kellymhall for the idea.

Healthy – physically I am happy with where I am at the moment but there’s always room to improve so I am going to exercise more often than I have had the chance to over the last couple of months. I will make time where I can. I am also making all the right appointments with the right health professionals for the “check ups” that need to be done etc. As for my mental health, I am going to focus on doing more of the things that make me happy. For my social health, I am going to surround myself with people who make me a priority in their life and who enjoy spending time with me. For my spiritual journey, I intend to be more involved in my community and find ways to help others without being detrimental to my own health. Give as much time as I am able to give to others and still putting my own needs first.

Have fun – I just want to have fun!!!

Looking back on the last 12 days, I have actually started on all of these goals/resolutions and I am feeling pretty chuffed about that.

#52blogs Week 1: CAKE

So I’ve decided to join a blogging challenge as I would like to keep up with my blogging this year.

I like making cakes. I have always enjoyed baking but especially since I became a mum, I like making cakes and making a big deal of birthdays. My parents have always spoiled me with birthday celebrations and I cannot remember a birthday without cake even throughout my adult life. I guess I am paying it forward to my children now by making cakes for them as it’s my way to let them know how much their birthday means to me.

I am just an amateur cake maker – I am no fancy wedding cake maker or one of those amazing people who make amazing cakes with little detailed sugar characters etc … I just pick a theme that my child likes and I try to create something I think they will go wow at. I don’t care if anybody else doesn’t like it as long as my kids go WOW!

Master3 will be having a birthday soon so I’m busy trying to find either a Fireman Sam or an Octonauts cake that I can make without too much effort. I am very good at piping butter-cream icing but I’m not very confident with fondant. Hubby always has to help with the fondant as he has the patience to knead and roll out.

And so begins my hunt for the perfect birthday cake for Master3!

On the 11th day of Christmas I hosted a mini dinner party/cookware party. I had purchased a Chefs toolbox saute pan which came with a tagine lid and a spatula and a chef’s knife. I bought them at the good food and wine show and it came with a free cookware demo. It took me 7 months to actually book a party but at least I finally managed to host it. The demonstrator made pizza and brownies for us in the saute pan – amazing stuff and yummy too within about 20 mins.

I had invited quite a few friends but this time of year everyone is still playing catch up after Christmas so I had a few last minute cancellations. I feel bad for those who missed out as I was looking forward to sharing some awesome food with them but we’ll definitely get a chance to do that again soon. I made a Santa Claus Punch,a couple of alcoholic slushies, a raspberry and meringue ice cream and an apricot chicken tagine with buttered saffron rice and it ended up being a really nice evening.

I bought myself a few more kitchen gadgets which I cannot wait to receive and in a few weeks I’ll be going to another one of these parties where I’m sure I will get a few more things – I’m even thinking of buying a couple of birthday presents for friends who enjoy cooking whose birthdays are coming up over the next couple of months. Great and easy way to shop!

Tenth day of Christmas…
Still on holidays!!!! Yay!
We went to the beach for a couple of hours in the early morning where we had a nice play and swim even though it was a little choppy and windy.
I got home and within about a half hour I was debilitated with a migraine! Fuckity fuck fuck fuck! It lasted 24 hours and I missed out on seeing a dear old friend who was visiting from the UK and this was our only chance to catch up! What a waste of a day! A day of my life gone forever.

9th day of Christmas…

I have always been more of a coffee person than a tea person but now I find I cannot get through a single day without a nice cup of tea and I used to be happy with your basic black lipton tea. In the past couple of years, I’ve enjoyed some simple herbal teas especially peppermint, jasmine and trying different flavours of tea from T2.

I went to a fancy five star high tea at a friend’s house and was introduced to some lovely chai tea made to perfection. It was hot, sweet and there was an explosion of flavours in my mouth. Since that day, I have been trying different types of chai tea. The same friend also recently gave me a chai tea and Eva’s organic yummy tummy tea from Gewurzshaus. I’m having trouble deciding which one to have before bed every night. Not only do they smell divine but they are also soothing drinks.

8th day…
I was looking through some family photos from the past few years and there are some beautiful memories there. I love photos. I love taking photos. I’ve never done a photography course but I know what I like to see and I think I have good taste. I like to take the time to enjoy moments but I also like to freeze that time in a photo so I can look back on it later. I especially like action shots or shots where people look pensive. Every photo brings a different smile to my face some even sad. I also like seeing photos of myself – some would call this vanity but I don’t care as I like to observe all the changes – sometimes you’ll see the tiniest things like – when did this mole form on my arm? or wow I had really stacked on weight then…. it’s all very fascinating probably because I am a very visual person. One of the things I’ve really enjoyed is Fiona’s Fi 2012 every day photo – I would love to do something like that! It was great to see the changes in her face and hairstyles etc …

Since having access to digital photos, we have taken 99 gigs worth of photos. I was getting worried about losing them all so hubby uploaded them all to crashplan as a back up as I would just be utterly devastated if I lost them all.

One of my resolutions for this year is to create albums for the kids. I do not own any printed photo albums since before the year before my daughter’s birth – I’ve got my work cut out for me!