Where's my long haired boy gone???

So after much heel dragging we had decided to get Monty's hair cut. I was reluctant as I had become stupidly sentimental over his locks, the blonde, the curls.....weeeeep!
BUT we were also getting fed up of second glances from ignorant peons, and constantly having to say 'HE' to strangers as if it was the most ridiculous thing to imagine that Mo was a boy, who happened to have long hair.Also practicality wise, it was getting so knotty, and getting caught in his nose snot. Gross.


So here is his new barnet.



Cute stuff eh, and still longish and lovely.
What do you think eh? looking good Mo!

Paul Weller and a Marilyn Monroe wig!

Thanking you very much MUMMYTIPS for tagging me, and obviously Rosie Scribble for coming up with the meme in the first place. Tis a clever one and I likey!

The rules are..

1. Name a song that makes you happy - a song you would listen to if you needed a sudden injection of happiness;

2. Post an image that makes you smile. It can be anything - a silly photo, an image taken from the internet, It just has to make you smile. Like this. *Smiles at computor monitor, I know you can't see me but you have a visual image I bet?



Usually I ummm and ahhh over memes but as soon as I got this I knew exactly which song and image I was going to use.

So without further ado, here they are!



This is Monty in my Marilyn Monroe wig. I don't really need to add anything because it is obvious why this makes me smile, hell, LAUGH every time I look at it!

And then obviously being the Paul Weller nut that I am, this song always makes me feel on top of the world. Strange really as I was one year old when it was released! Of all the Paul Weller gigs I've been to, it is THE song that gets the crowd going every time. Which is so odd as most Jam fans hated The Style Council? I guess it's the string section, get's everyones hearts pumping?
Couldn't actually upload the vid but please click the link.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7m94ip38UKs


So, in the manner of meme,
I tag

new mummy tips
and
cafe bebe


Your it...GO!!!

Frock Me!!!

The lovely CLAIRE LANCASTER tagged me in this clever meme, the task is to get my wedding frock out!

I can't believe it's over four years since we got married, and SO much has happened since, Mr has become a Policeman, we have bought a flat, sold it, bought the victorian house of my dreams (well my dreams for now anyways!!) done it up (all bar the kitchen and bathroom) and not to forget Monty and our soon to be newest addition - Pickle!

Claire commented in her post as to whether she should sell her dress, I have had the same dilemma. On the one hand there is nearly £1000 worth of dress there. We could really use that money.

On the other, surely if I wanted to sell it I would have by now. Something is stopping me?

I am about to have a daughter, who is to say she won't have it customised and wear it, it'll be almost vintage by the time she may get married?

It doesn't take up that much space in my loft and it is beautifully packed in tissue paper to stop discolouration, in a flowery box with a big bow on it, to protect it , and errrr to look pretty?

And... it's MY dress?

What do you think? What have you done with yours?

And in the manner of meme,

I tag........


Tara at Sticky Fingers

and

Laura at Are we nearly there yet Mummy?

And if you are reading this and want to be tagged, the consider it done, just gimme a linky in your post?

Enjoy ladies!

Bloggers for Haiti

As I watch the drama and devastation unfold on my TV screen I feel pretty helpless. I look at my child and I feel an all encompassing sense of the enormity of the situation in Haiti, some of these people have lost their kids, some of those kids have lost their Parents. I cannot imagine the magnitude of it. I look at Mo and cannot begin to imagine my life without him, or his life without me.

There is a buzz at the moment amongst parenting bloggers, started by ENGLISH MUM, who contacted her fellow bloggers and urged them all to do something.And do something they have. I was inspired by Tara at STICKY FINGERS who wrote a beautiful post where her son, aged seven was giving his pocket money, money that he had been saving for three weeks.


We'd like to be raise enough money to send many of these boxes to Haiti.
And so we are supporting the work of Shelterbox.org
and encouraging as many of your readers, commenters, friends and family to donate through a Justgiving page.



Each Shelterbox costs nearly £500 and contains urgent supplies for disaster relief, including:

•A 10-man tent designed to withstand extreme weather conditions
•A stove for heat
•Cooking and dining equipment
•The containers themselves can be used as a waterproof cot for a small baby
•Thermal blankets for warmth
•And a children's pack, including drawing books, crayons and pens.
One of these packs could save a family. Read about them at Shelterbox.org
Every single pound counts, so please please don't feel you can't make a difference, because if we all join together we can.
If you've stumbled on this post do something: even if it's to spread the word.

At the time of writing this we have raised over £1600, enough for atleast 3 boxes!




If you want to join in, donate and create a post on your blog and encourage your fellow bloggers to do the same. Make sure you include a link to the
Bloggers for Haiti Justgiving page.


Please bring this post to as many peoples attention as you possibly can, spread the word, donate, 50p or £50, it doesn't matter. Retweet this on twitter, post it as a link on your facebook page, anything to raise awareness and help get those boxes to the destination where they are so desperately needed.

10 best things in life (that also happen to cost zilch)

I was tagged over by the brilliant blog that is MELLOW MUMMY to think about ten of my most favourite things in life that are free.


1.
Walking, I walked loads when I was pregnant with Monty, and this pregnancy has scuppered those repeated plans as have had a terrible back and am now suffering with the widening of my pelvis, so walking hurts. I miss it. I have a Labrador that needs exercise, and a family that loves fresh air. I live by the sea, and the South Downs and so hope as soon as Pickle is born, things settle down, James completes his Sergeants exam and I finish my college course (phew! I know tall order) then we will get back to our long family walks in time to enjoy the spring weather.

2.
Smiling. In the words of Buddy in the film Elf ''I love smiling, it's my favourite.''
I love that feeling of passing on a smile, whether it's an old lady at the post office or another Mum with a buggy at the park. Try it, if someone smiles at you, smile back, and make damned sure you then smile at someone else, kind of like a smile chain letter? Nice! This world can be a miserable place, lets try to cheer it up a little eh?

3.
The seasons. My bedroom is south facing so the light is always really good, and we overlook a junction of another road, so our tree lined street meets another. It's lovely to look out the window at different times of year and see the changing weather, the blossoms on the trees in the sping, that bright glaring sun in the summer, the reddening leaves int he autumn and then of course the bare branches and even snow covered branches recently in the winter. Lovely.

4.
Baby farts! Ever since Monty was born his bodily pumps and now his full blown bum guffs crack me up! Fact!

which leads me onto

5.
Laughter, no one makes me laugh more than James and Monty. I love that satisfying belly laugh, or something that makes you laugh until you cry, tears rolling down your face.

6.
My Nan and Grandad, or BobBobs and DeeDee and Monty calls them. They are beautiful people with wonderful kind hearts. I adore them. And loving your family costs nothing!

7.
Watching my boy grow, he changes before my eyes and I daily take a moment to stop and stare as he says things, does things that are new and exciting.

8.
Day dreams and memory lane, James and I love to remember our last eight years together, it's gone so fast and our lives have changed so much. And we also love to day dream about our future, who knows what it will hold!

9.
Rainy afternoons stuck inside, I know mad aren't I? I used to hate these exact afternoons but as Monty gets older, he's more 'company' like a little buddy, and I love to snuggle up on the sofa and watch The Jungle Book (again) Or paint, or play with play dough or read or...you get the idea!


10. My family, my gang, my tribe, the three soon to become four of us. Technically not free....but the love is so I think this one still counts?


So have a go, ( sorry if you've already been tagged

SOPH4SOPH
THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE UGLY
LIFE WITH A LITTLE DUDE
CLAIRE LANCASTER
AND KELLYS HIDING PLACE

MY #Themeword

My twitter buddy, my twend, one of my tweople, oh sod it, SOMEONE I CHAT TO ON TWITTER, the lovely Claire of Dandelion Lounge blog has tagged me in a meme, in which the task is instead of coming up with new years resolutions, you choose a #themeword. You must choose this word to make a change in how you live your life.

Yeah.

Not easy eh?

So I thought..........

And I did more thinking...............

Hmmmmm. The only big thing I want to change about this year, and stop it from being like last year is basically family.

This year has been a tough one for me family wise, a lot of emotions have been felt. Nothing regarding James or Monty, those two are my rock. Or rather, my rocks.

I'm not going to go into details, as I do not have the words and I'm tired of the thoughts.

But basically this year my family, my unit goes from three (I'm not including the dog- sorry Lenny) and becomes four. We instantly become a tribe. And this makes me feel very emotional. Monty will have a sister, a sibling. Hopefully a playmate, a buddy, someone he'll want to protect. James and I are both only children and I'm ecstatic we are bringing someone else into Mo's life.

So I'm going to enjoy it. So very much.

By the time Pickle arrives, I'll have finished my college course. Finally, as I have been killing myself to get it done in twelve instead of eighteen months so that it's not hanging around while I'm welcoming my newborn litle girl in to the world.

A few weeks before my due date James is sitting his Sergeants exam. This means once these two big hurdles have been jumped we can go back to having 'proper' quality family time, instead of sharing childcare so that each of us gets study time crammed in when he has his days off.

Can't wait. I've missed it.

So my #themeword is family, and I will cherish and protect that little unit like my life depends on it. I'll hold them close and hold them dear because no matter what, they are everything there is, and without everything what is there?

Nothing?

Big knickers!

Today I have one mission.

Buy bigger pants. Not pretty ones, not sexy. Just bloody comfy ones.

It goes against every grain of me but I do not flippin care. My arse will thank me for it and as I become less concerned with making people happy this year I may as well please my tush.

Monday I came home from Ikea, a joyful but exhausting day had been had. It had been somewhat harrowing in that we went to the Southampton one instead of Croydon. I have been loyal to Croydon for ten years. I am not good with change. It is, the same, but different you know? I still spent the obligatory £200 without meaning to. (On shelves, so now we'll be eating beans but be organised. oh yes.) And I still ate meatballs, chips , gravy and lingonberry sauce. You have to at Ikea. It's law I think? But the cafe was different. The carpark was odd. Not the same.

So anyway back to kecks. I came home and the first thing I said to James on getting through the door with Mo was

''I'll talk to you in a minute, I've just got to take my knickers off.''

He nodded. He was not excited in any way ( Why would he be? who would get excited about a hippo in my clothing?) He just nodded.

The reason for the knicker removal is that my butt seems to have got bigger. I do not know why? I'm sure it's nothing to do with hibernating most of December, or stuffing my face with mince pies over Christmas. Because surely at Christmas the calories do not count?

My butt did not change with Monty's pregnancy. So something is quite clearly amiss. I may write a letter to the council to complain? It's obviously their fault as the did not grit the roads? Perhaps that's the reason? Or snow, does snow make you fat?

So anyway, Christmas is over and I am still fat. And need bigger undies.

And today we will mostly be off to M&S. Fact.

For awesome recipes that are easy to make with your kids, aswell as nutritious and DELICIOUS, then look no further than mydaddycooks.com for inspiration. The site shows video blogs of Nick and his 2 year old son Archie cooking great recipes together. It also includes detailed recipes so you know exactly what you need and what to do! Simples?!

As the last two days have been so cold and snowy Monty and I have been having a cook fest, making the banana bread, the savoury pancakes and the yummy carrot and butternut squash soup.
The recipes are really easy to follow and even better use food staples that most Parents of toddlers would have in the cupboard/fridge.

Monty really enjoys helping in the kitchen as I've blogged about before in
THIS POST. And it really is so good for little dudes and little lady dudes to help to put food together as it covers so many vital areas of their developmental learning journey. For example just understanding about combining ingredients is early science. Measuring ingredients is early maths. Understanding where the food comes from is gaining knowledge of the world around us....you get the idea.

So check out the site and get cooking with the tinies, it's so satisfying when they have helped to cook it and then when the completed article is in front of them on a plate they say '' My loves this, this my favourite!!'' as Monty did!

Don't eat yellow snow........

I am absolutely loving this weather! Granted it's cold, and an 'inconvenience' especially if you have to get to and from work/commute etc. But I don't mwahahaha! So me and the boy Mo have been filling our (welly) boots and making the most! Ha!




One member of our family in particular has been romancing the snow! Lenny our lab loves nothing more than running around like a loon catching strangers snow balls mid flight(the snow kind not the boy part kind,) bouncing on their snowmen, having optional snow deafness and generally not doing as he's told. Oh and creating yellow patterns up innocent looking snow persons midriffs- usually when they have been carefully crafted (probably by kids) outside someones house. I'm glad I'm not there when they come outside to find that our unruly mutt has pissed up their (snow) parade! Sorry!

However I think the winner of the best snow picture meme award ( If their was one!) has to go to this gleeful image Of Monty and his gorgeous Daddy James!




My two best boys looking very very happy! Lush!

So get out there if you can and enjoy it, it won't last forever and things are depressing enough, make the most of the country's white outfit? Oh and don't get in a fight over a pint of milk. x

A glint in my eye

Laura over at one of my fave blogs has tagged me in a meme to produce for you a blog post sharing with all of you my favourite photo. So first of thank you Laura, because I love to be tagged, but oh my what a task? How to choose?

Initially I began pouring over pictures of Monty, of course, my boy my world and all that. But it was so hard, all my faves capture a moment in time that has passed, he has changed so much since them and ....no...none were quite right.

I honestly spent hours mentally ticking over my bestest pics, then left it for a day and then it came to me!

Most of you who follow me on twitter will recognise the picture so it's not a new image, but none of you will know the story behind the pic. I often look at it as my profile pic or avatar or whatever you want to call it and wonder why I haven't changed it. It is after all 3 years old almost exactly ( it was taken on New Years Eve 2006 going into 2007.) I do not look like that person anymore, I am older, wiser? (Doubtful!) I am the same, but different.

I like this image because a few days before this picture I had had all my very long hair cut into the bob that I still have now, a new me, a fresh start, a clean slate! Who knows what possessed me (hormones definitely?!)

I love it because that evening was spent with my closest buddies and I still have warm memories of that evening.

I like it because I remember a conversation I had in the ladies bogs that evening with my girls Natasha and Grace. It included comments on boobs and dates and 'no I'm not' and 'maybe you are?' and 'I can't be ' and ' I hope I'm not because I'm drunk???'

It makes me smile because I'm a bit flushed, and James is obviously drunk, well it is New Years!

But the REAL reason I love this pic is that unbeknown to me, or even my Husband James is that at the time of the click of the camera I was a tiny little weeny teeny bit PREGNANT! With my little Mo!In this picture he is but a glint in my eye.

It came as a surprise to us both I can tell you and I still vividly remember after doing the test on about the 3rd of Jan 2007 (which was supposed to be negative and was only done to put my mind at ease) I rang James at work and could hear all the business of a bustling police office in the background. I told him and although he just kept repeating the line 'Oh my god' over and over I could tell he was smiling, as I'm sure he could tell I was.

At that point our lives changed forever.

It's been a whirlwind, a roller coaster. But bloody hell. It's been, well, I don't have the word but as I write this my heart is pounding and I have the most inane happy grin on my chubby pregnant (again!) face. So that is how it has been and that is why I love this photo.


So now to pass the meme tag on, I choose Natasha, Kelly, Karin, Emma, Leslieanne

Sorry if you've already been tagged girls, but if not, hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

My top five moments of 2009

So,
being new to this blogging business malarky it was super duper nice to receive a tag from a fellow (and respected) blogger who has helped me from the start with my own blog and has become my real life (yes as in we have seen each others actual faces!)buddy.

The rules are to thank the person who tagged you, (TA MUCHO KELLY!xxx) list your top 5 highlights from 2009 and then tag 5 more bloggers to do the same.

So here goes.....


1. In January 2009, Monty started walking properly. It was a long time coming as he had reached the grand old age of 16months! I had started to wonder if he was ever going to move away from the furniture, well he did and he never looked back. Now his motto is ' why walk when you can run?!!!'

2.March 2009 - the gorgeous husband took me to London, to celebrate our February birthdays. We stayed at the Hilton in Canary Wharf, ate out a lot, took trips up and down the Thames on a boat, went to a music exhibition at The O2 arena where my yummy man played guitar with KT Tunstall (OK it was a simulation) and we entered the dance box to do the 60's dance 'the block' and then also jumped around like loons to madness for the 'ska style' dance, OK another simulation for us to view back on video but we laughed much and had a lotta fun! The HIGHLIGHT though, we seeing Paul Weller at the O2. Immense. I have no more words. Other than I freaking adore P.W! (And my Mr!)

3. In July 2009 we found out we were expecting Pickle. (Insert warm rosy glow and goofy grin.)

4. In September 2009 Monty started Nursery School having just turned 2. It was the first time he had been in any form of childcare and I was so proud of him in his little uniform, carrying his monster lunch box, all growed up and going to 'big boy school!'

5.December 2009- I call this potty training month, I researched, I prepared, I knew he was ready, the day of beginning came...... a whole load of poo and pee in the wrong places occurred. 2 weeks later it finally clicked and my boy is brillo pads! He has the occasional accident but lets not forget he's not even 2 and a half yet. He tells us when he needs the potty, we never have to nag him to try to go and now he has started to ask to go on the bog boy toilet. Proud Mummy? I RECKON SO!!!


So there we have it! 5 highlights.

So what are yours ?
Natasha Bailie,

Cafe Bebe,

Laura

Mummytips

And Amy

Sorry if you've already been tagged but I look forward to reading your highlights. I'm off to think about New Years Resolutions. Pfft. Not sure I can be arsed?