Lucky

When we had Jarvis (well, even before we had Jarvis), it had never occurred to me that I'd be anything other than a Stay At Home Mum - it honestly never even entered my mind!

I didn't realise at the time that I had a distinct advantage in the 'not being driven mad by groundhog day/extended periods with only a 2 year old to talk to' stakes because of my previous life as a teacher - hanging out with small people is my thing, I love their hilarious conversation (Mummy, Fireman Sam is coming soon to help Rory fix the tractor...), I love the way they just want to help out with everything (which does make everything take a whole lot longer, but makes crappy housework jobs a million times more fun!). 

I love watching imagination develop - seeing a small boy set up an emergency so Fireman Sam can come & rescue him is truly awesome - the detail in his scenarios is fantastic (yes, we have a Fireman Sam theme going on here right now. Firemen are the order of the day)!

Anyway, I guess where this is going is that I'm truly thankful that I get 100% 'job satisfaction' from hanging out with my little guy! I know being a full time SAHM definitely isn't for everyone - if spending all of your waking hours with small children wasn't your initial career choice I imagine it would be a very strange experience indeed. Kind of like if I went to try and be an accountant, or a lawyer, or a police officer, with no training or experience! 

I'm thankful that I've managed to integrate my 'paid' job (ha ha ha...paid...one day...) of teaching music to small (and large) children into my life as a Mummy, and I'm thankful that I have the best teaching assistant in the world. Seeing my little boy pull up a chair and sit next to me during a guitar lesson holding his ukulele, strumming away, is priceless. 

I'm not saying that sometimes I wouldn't give anything for a little break - with no family anywhere nearby, some days can be very long! Many months can pass between haircuts (thank goodness I realised one of the playcentre ladies was a hairdresser in a former life...gotta love someone who'll bring her hairdressing scissors along to playcentre & give your fringe a trim!), and I unashamedly use a ten minute episode of Fireman Sam as a cup of tea break (fortunately that then leads onto half an hour of Jarvis initiated imaginative fireman play!)! 

I'm very, very lucky. I get to experience Jarvis's fabulous adventures alongside him, I get to keep my creativity alive by teaching music, and most 'luckily' of all I honestly love it. 

And I'm looking forward to the adventures that late September will bring - and seeing 'Fireman Jarvis' morph into the spectacular big brother I know he'll be! 

Bring on many more days of playing swingball with ten balloons hanging from the lounge ceiling (yes, that's our lounge right now!), hiding in our secret hut for sushi picnics, bashing nails into bits of firewood for hours, and baking some of the weirdest looking bread anyone has ever seen or consumed. 

Magic :) 

Wardrobe Wednesday!

Woohoo! Wardrobe Wednesday is back! And I have to say it's a pretty good reminder to take a picture of my ever increasing puku each week ;) 

Cardi - ezibuy

Skirt - egg organic

Boots - new trade me purchases! yay!

Flower - felt (hubby bought it, so not sure who made it!)

Tummy - 21 weeks, 6 days :) 

Go and visit Clare at Green Valley  to see who else is playing along!

A visit to the truck yard

The Most Fabulous thing to have within 100 metres of our house. Hours of fun. Tractors, trucks, forklifts, logs, the occasional sheep...Perfection. 

Chopping Wood!

One of this small boy's favourite winter activities is helping his Daddy with the firewood. In fact, as soon as he hears the car pull in after work, he's out at the gate as fast as a rocket, begging to be let loose with his axe. 

And he has pretty good axe skills! Nothing like a pint sized kindling chopper in the family ;) 

Making Bread :)

Delicious!

The Moon...

Jarvis has always had quite a fascination with the moon - ever since he was quite little he's enjoyed watching it. 


These days he runs outside to look for it, and tells us all about what it's doing. A few weeks ago, when the moon was just a thin sliver, he told me Daddy cut it in half with a chainsaw, that's why it was so little.


Last night, when the moon was big and round, he asked Daddy very nicely if he could please go and get the moon for him. He was very, very serious in his request! My lovely husband told him it was a little bit high, how would he reach? Jarvis's first idea was that he could climb up the enormous poplar trees which line the driveway...


But then he came up with a better idea. While Daddy was inside 'looking for his tree climbing gear', Jarvis came speeding in, demanding that we follow him. 


"I found the ladder! It's on the water tank! You can climb the ladder, and get the moon!"


Lovely :)


PS...one of Jarvis's favourite books is 'Papa, please get the moon for me' by Eric Carle. I think it's where he got his fabulous idea from ;) 

Puku...bigger!

In the midst of a slightly shambolic small boy room, here is one Mamma at 20 weeks 2 days :) 


It's all rather exciting - I'm not at that uncomfortable whale-ish stage, I can feel my small friend leaping around like a can can dancer in there, and I feel pretty fabulous! I'm sure I feel more exhausted than last time - but that's most likely a side effect of spending my days having running races with a gorgeously enthusiastic 2 year old ;) 


Speaking of whom, he's requesting peanut butter toast, so best be off! 

Happy Mother's Day!

So hard to believe that this little wee bundle...

is now this gorgeous, hilarious toddler. 

I can't wait to see the ways that my smallest friend (The Bump) will make being a Mummy all the more fabulous.

Happy Mother's Day! 

x

An afternoon in the vineyard!

...and a lizard!

Spicy Soup

My favourite lunch! A wander around the garden, and I have the makings of some pretty fab soup. Hot, sour, sweet, salty awesomeness. 

To make this marvellous creation...

A cup or two of chicken stock (home made is awesome)

A lemon

A few kaffir lime leaves

A few chillies

A stick of lemongrass

Some ginger if you have any on hand (I used it all up yesterday...the soup works beautifully without!)

Heat the stock with a slice of lemon, scrunched up lime leaves, sliced chillies, smashed lemongrass, and squashed ginger. Simmer til it smells fantastical. 

Boil some thin noodles til they're perfect (I love Korean Guk-Su noodles, my favourite!)

Strain the seasonings from the soup, and add fish sauce and lemon juice to taste. A few chopped mint leaves are pretty lovely too. 

Pour the soup over the drained noodles. 

Mmmmmmm.....