Half way there....

This past weekend the family and I headed off to the lovely town of Mansfield for the ABA training weekend. For those who don't know, I am training to become an Australian Breastfeeding Association Counsellor. I was stagnating on the course, being self paced makes it really really easy for me to slack off and get lots started and little finished... but the training weekend was GREAT. I completed 3 units (there are 14 all up to complete the certificate) so now have 7 completed all up. That means 4 more single units to go before I can begin the combined 3 counselling units. Hooray!

However, as Stella is still a booby baby, the whole family came along for the weekend. Stella happily goes all day without boobies, if they aren't there, so while I was busy studying, Adam went exploring the area with the kidlets. They had a great time and my kids look oh so amazingly cute all rugged up against the cold.

Xavier exploring

Stels looking super cute in a mumma made beanie

even bunny went for an explore


Adam assures he there was no serious off roading... hmmmm

I have a new love...

...and here it is...

My Little Squirt!

For those of you who don't know I use Baby BeeHinds Modern Cloth Nappies, mainly because I also sell them, and because they are the best.

I have been a cloth convert for a while now. Started using a different brand when Xave was about 6 months old and slowly over time built my stash. Once Stels came along, both kids were in cloth full time.

Like most people, I was concerned with the poo factor using MCN's but was assured that with either flushable liners or a little squirt it wasn't that bad. So I bought some liners and the squirt (not long after I started using cloth) with grand plans.

The liners got used and I harassed Adam until he connected up the squirt. He tried, bless him, but alas, one of the hoses was too short. Little Squirt caters for this and allows you to send it back and they will change length free of charge. So off I sent it for a longer hose. It arrived back and again Adam attempted to fit it (after a few weeks of nagging) to find that the thread on our toilet was worn and the squirt just wouldn't attach without leaking. GRRRRR!!!!!

Months passed and liners became my best friend. Xave had hideous and numerous poos daily, and being heavily pregnant with Stella, dealing with poo was not great. We returned on and off to disposables but the cloth was always there in some form.

I began to accept that perhaps my squirt was never going to be working, to the point that when I started selling BBH I would tell customers that while I had heard the squirt was good, I had lived for almost 2 years without it.

I randomly mentioned to a friends husband who is a plumber that the thread on my loo was gone and was it fixable, he said it was and offered to come and fix it for me soon. He called a few days later to say he was close and if I was home he would drop in. He not only fixed my loo but connected up the little squirt for me. Hooray! Finally it was working. I waited for madame (Xave was day toilet trained by this point, yep that's how long it had been) to do one of her grossest poos. And you will never guess, the girl who poos at every single nappy change, went 2 only wet nappies before poo arrived the next day...

I was so excited that I was going to get to use my new toy... and you know what... ITS FREAKING AWESOME!!!! I love it, I love the plumber who finally got it working for me. I don't know how I did 2 years of cloth without it...

Now when I'm working I tell people that while they don't need a little squirt, if they can stretch the budget to get one they will never regret it....

Perfume..

Let's just get this clear from the outset. I'm not a girly girl. I don't even own makeup, let alone wear it. For me, making an effort with my appearance means trying to ensure there is no food from the kids on my top or pants and perhaps if I'm feeling really organised I will slap on some lip gloss. If I'm going all out, I will try and visit the hairdresser and have her wash and blow wave my hair and if its something really really special I go running to my baby sister, who is a makeup artist, and get her to do something with me.

The funny part is that whenever I do go to the full hog effort of baby sis making me up, Adam always just looks at me like he has no clue who this woman is. Poor boy is so used to plain old me that made up me just freaks him out a little.

But I digress... this post is about the one slightly girly thing I do. I wear perfume every single day.

This has not always been the case mind you. Its a fairly recent event. I would wear perfume for special occasions, but that was all. Then I had babies and well, something felt wrong about wearing perfume when a little person was all nuzzled in. I'm not exactly sure when it began, but I know there was a day when I realised I had all these lovely perfumes just sitting around not being used. I was saving them for a 'special occasion'. With 2 kids, this occasion was not going to come before the perfume started smelling funky... so I made a decision, bugger it, I was going to enjoy my perfume and wear it each and every day. So I do!

Its the one thing I do just for me. It makes me feel nice to smell nice, and there is nothing like someone else noticing just how good you smell.

Therefore I felt it was appropriate to dedicate a post to my favourite perfumes...

Lovely by Sarah Jessica Parker is one of my regular 'day' perfumes. I originally bought it after smelling it on my mum. I love how perfume smells different on different people once it mixes with their natural body oils. On my mum, lovely smells like new babies. Like talc powder, and soft downy heads and that deliciousness that is just new baby smell. unfortunately, it doesn't smell quite the same on me. But it smells good enough and I do love it.

This is Intimately Beckham. No I am no a Beckham fan, I received this as a gift, and at first I was a bit, urgh, Beckham. But its a lovely light fragrance, perfect for 'days' and I do alternate it with lovely for my day use. I probably wouldn't have bought it for myself, not because of the smell, but rather because of the name of it. But regardless, I'm glad I received it as a gift as it has grown on me and I rather like it.

This is the Bvlgeri Omnia I received for my birthday. Its very very different to what I would normally wear. My first instinct was to turn my nose up at it, but after the Beckham experience I'm willing to give it a go. Just because its different, doesn't mean that its necessarily bad. I cant see me wearing it as a 'day' fragrance, it feels too heavy, but I will start wearing it soon and see if it grows on me. Stay tuned for an update.

This Dior Hypnotic Poison is my ABSOLUTE favourite. I love most of the poison range, but find the original poison just too heavy for me. But the hypnotic smells amazing, both off and on me. Hooray! Its my 'special going out' perfume. I feel its a bit much for every day with the kids, but for going out I cant help myself. It makes me feel grown up and a little bit sexy. (my day perfumes make me feel pretty) Never have I worn it out and not had a compliment on it. Its that good. Plus Jenni told me when she sniffed me that I had the best smelling boobs she had ever sniffed and that is saying something...lol

And this, this is what I want next. So pay attention any husbands of mine looking for gift ideas. I had a sniff recently when we were pricing my new bottle of hypnotic poison, and this is just lovely. It would make a delicious day perfume to add to my range.

I have come to realise over the years I am rather smell sensitive. Smells are what bring back memories for me and evoke emotions. For example, I cannot stand the smell of Joop on men. My ex wore it and every time I smell it, I have an overwhelming urge to slap the person wearing it. Cool Water reminds me of teenage boys, because that's what all the cool boys wore when I was a teenager. And embarrassingly so, nothing gets me going quite like the smell of dirty car oil/grease hands and brutt33. There is just something so masculine about a man all greasy and brutty.

Adam isn't really that into aftershave, so he doesn't have a smell as such and I haven't invested enough time sniffing around for something for him to wear that really floats my boat. Guess he just has natural man stink that does it for me.

Las Vegas Party...

I'm a bit late in posting this, but well, better late than never, right?

Late April we were invited to my cousin and his girlfriends 40th birthday party. It has a Vegas theme and we were asked to come in costume. My family were going to be at the party, and Adam's parents were overseas, so our babysitters were either OS or going to the party themselves. Because of this, and his dislike of most social settings, Adam stayed at home with the kids and I went alone.

My own personal criteria for my costume was that I wanted something comfortable and something that would cover as much of me as possible. I certainly had no intentions of frightening others with exposing my body to anyone. So this is what I came up with...

For those who cant tell, I am black jack.

The cards are made from foam so that they would bend if I needed to move arms or sit down, then covered with some white fabric I got from the bargain bin at Spotlight. I then used some super cool iron on transfer stuff to put on the letters and clubs. The rainbow material on the back is just hot glue gunned down with a sequin edge, just to tidy things up a bit. It really is amazing what you can do with some fabric, scissors and a hot glue gun. No Sewing at all.

The birthday boy (my cousin, Shane) was dressed as Elvis and the birthday girl (Jo) was a knocked up bride... fitting seeing as she is due to give birth to their first baby in less than a month. We, well, I was so certain they were planning a surprise wedding, and after talking to others at the party, I wasn't the only one. But we were wrong. Regardless it was a great night.

My cousin Shane and my brother Aden

Jo, the birthday girl... can barely see that bump behind the flowers.

Aden & Emma (also with bump)

Bliss @ Endota..

On Saturday I cashed in a gift voucher I received for my 30th birthday last year from Laura and Emma, for Endota day spa in Mornington. I used it for a head and toe treatment. I'm not a huge fan of the typical back massage, probably because I am always so stressed and tense that I don't find it relaxing, it just hurts, and I figure if I'm going to be all sore after a massage, I may as well get my hot physio to do it. But I love nothing more that a good foot rub and seeing as Adam hates feet and will never ever touch my feet, even if I beg, I'm happy to pay for someone else to touch them. Also having my hair washed is my favourite part of the hairdresser experience so I figured a full scalp treatment would be good too. Let me say, good is an understatement. It was pure BLISS!!!!

Firstly I was instructed to strip off to my knickers and lay on the table and cover myself. She did say that if I didn't feel comfortable I could leave my bra on but she would be working around my shoulders and my bra could get in the way. I stifled a little giggle at the thought of me, a very public breast feeder being shy about not wearing and bra. I was more uncomfortable at the thought of laying on the table in the paper g-string she gave me to pop on....

Well paper g on and laying on the table with nothing but a towel for coverage, I was a little concerned that I didn't really feel very covered at all and not sure I was going to be able to relax while feeling so exposed. It was lovely to lay down onto a warm wheat bag under my shoulders but it wasn't enough to make me feel at ease.

The therapist came back in, after knocking gently of course, and put another wheat bag over my belly button and suddenly pulled up a divine thick brown blanket that had been under me the whole time and wrapped me up in a cocoon of my very own. Naturally all I could think of was the very hungry caterpillar, wondering if I looked anything like a big caterpillar cocoon. She also put a smaller eye wheat bag over my eyes to help me switch off and relax.

She started on my feet, soaking them first, them washing and exfoliating them. Then she covered them in a mud mask and wrapped them in plastic bags then some warm fluffy socks. She left them this way while she did a full facial, with a mud mask left on while she did the scalp massage. It was so relaxing, but despite this it still took me ages to get my brain to slow down and stop thinking about the kids. After she had finished with my top end, she went back to my feet, washed the mud off and gave each foot and calf a lovely massage.

The hour and a half went way too fast, but it was so lovely to just stop for a moment and breathe. I fear I may have even dozed off during the foot massage, I did hear a small snort come out of me, so guessing I was pretty close.

Definitely something I could do again and would recommend to others too.

A little less woe is me..

Well the rest of my birthday was lovely. Adam managed to get some lovely cards and even snuck in a CD from the kids, which we have been enjoying bopping around to in the kitchen. Both the kids absolutely love music and dancing and its looking like they have inherited my sense of rhythm and not their fathers *phew* and my perfume that I picked is as lovely as I remember it...

After a quick dash for Adam to get showered and dressed after work the kids put on some going out clothes (lord knows why) and we headed out to The Spice Club (Indian) for a buffet dinner. See why I questioned my thinking putting the kids in nice clothes.... Stella, Baby led solids and butter chicken.. need I say more?

The lovely Jenni was already there waiting, me thinks she was rather excited about leaving her 4 lovely children at home for the night and was eager to get out of the house thus precisely on time. After she sniffed my new perfume, she declared that I have the loveliest smelling boobies she has ever sniffed... woo woo!!! That was the exact response I was looking for..hehe...

The beautiful Laura arrived bearing gifts, YAH! From her I got some lovely perfume, so I'm gonna be smelling good for quite some time. Wonder if the thinking behind that was that I generally stink? Hope not.

Then the ever amazing Jen and Jack arrived with the most amazing gift. A personalised bag with me boobing a little baldish ladybug baby....

You can read all about Jen's crafting of this amazing bag here. I absolutely love my bag, she is almost too beautiful to use. But I know that Jen would be upset if she didn't get used so I will run the risk that she will get a bit dirty and love worn and use her as my very special ABA training bag.

So far there hasn't been a whole night sleep OR a sleep in, but we are getting close, Friday night Stels slept from 10pm-6:30am but Xave woke at 3am wet...grrrr then Saturday night Xave slept through but woke at 7am wet grrr grrrr but Missy was very very unsettled and ended up sleeping in our bed the whole night. So technically she slept through from 10pm-7am but she is a terrible bed hog and woke me a few times overnight.