A Day in the Life

Wake up happy, squealing while 'talking' to toys. Quickly turn from smiling to grumpy because breakfast has not been served. Eat breakfast and smear porridge all over hair and furniture.

Commence morning checklist:

• Remove all books, newspapers, magazines, phones and remote controls from the coffee table
• Extract all dvds from the TV cabinet and spread over floor
• Commence play with aforementioned items, drooling on disks, tearing up pages of newspapers and magazines and getting face and hands covered in newspaper print
• Explore house for prohibited items...mum's glasses, mum's lightbulb collection, expensive books
• Grunt excessively while filling nappy
• Optional extras: Vomit on the floor and commando crawl across the mess, smearing it into the carpet. Attempt to stand without holding onto anything, then fall, knock head and cry. Possible repetition of previous item.

Nap. Wake happy and 'talk' to toys. Eat toast and smear vegemite over clothing and general vicinity. Commence day's activities.

A good day: Go to the shops (bonus points if this involves sitting in a shopping trolley). Meet up with mum's friends and gawk at people in a cafe for an extended period. Swim lesson, bike ride or lay under a tree on a windy day. Point out "dada" to any person who rides a bike, motorbike or wears a suit. Watch dogs.

A bad day: Watch mum try to clean the house, do gardening or generally catchup on emails or the blog. Listen to mum talk incessantly on the phone. (Ways to thwart aforementioned activities include consistent whingeing, crawling behind mum crying "mama", "mama", "mama" ad nauseam. If that fails, cry loudly and allow snot to escape down face).

Commence evening checklist:

• Latch on to mum's clothing as she attempts to prepare your dinner
• Smear pumpkin, broccoli, pasta or other such dinner delicacy over the vicinity paying particular attention to up nostrils and over hair
• Sit at window awaiting dad's return
• Splash majority of bath water over either parent and on floor
• Crawl all over couch and parents speaking gibberish for up to an hour
• Listen intently to book while attempting to rip pages
• Scream blue murder when either parent attempts to put you to bed. (Continue screaming for up to 40 minutes with additional emphasis obtained by standing up in the cot).
• Sleep through until morning and start again

Kidding around

I never thought I'd complain about not having time to do mundane things like cleaning the house, but this week I've endured a crying, snotty child latched to my foot...leg...hip...I just want to vacuum, is that asking too much? The poor little tacker is teething and as soon as she senses a hint of me moving more than an inch from her, the tears start flooding, along with the snot, down her puffy little face. If I persevere and try to engage in anything as self-indulgent as cooking her dinner, she sniffles and wails after me leaving a snot stream on the floorboards in her wake. The good news is she loves getting out in the car and cycling along in her little bike seat, so the house is a mess, as am I, but at least she's not crying. One such adventure this week was to the Collingwood Children's Farm where Maisie tried to kill the baby goats with her version of gentle patting.

Peggy

I am so over the childcare thing and she hasn't even officially started. Maisie is being the delightful drama queen that we know and love, and floods tears of despair as soon as I leave the nursery. Her carers have suggested I come every day next week to get her used to the place. This absolutely makes sense, but I've already taken her there 6 times and I still haven't left the building!! Ahhh, I think she'll enjoy the place once she gets used to me leaving, but at this rate, they'll need to put me on staff....Her second little peg broke the gum this morning, so I can forgive her for her grumpiness yesterday. Have a good weekend y'all, I'm looking forward to mine..food, drink, friends and nana naps.

Foggy daze

I lost my house keys over the weekend and was trying to retrace my steps from when I last used them on Friday. It was kind of depressing that by Sunday afternoon I had completely forgotten what I did on Friday. Even sadder that the more I tried to recall of the week, the more I drew a blank. I've been taking Maisie to childcare two mornings a week to try and get her used to the place before I am forced to leave her. (Let's just say she likes childcare with me in it..the place loses all appeal once she's flying solo.) Anyway, this orientation regime is pretty mundane, so it's no wonder I had a foggy recollection, but it reminded me to make the most of my days off. We did do a day-trip to Healesville to pick up her new bike seat from the Mud Factory. It's so good to have wheels again! Oh and in the end, I found my house keys...in the dirty washing.

Happy 9-months

Miss Marple is 9-months old today and celebrated with her first tooth finally cutting the surface...its little gummy neighbour is set to follow suit and I don't think it will be long before she has a mouth full of choppers. Here's some pics from our action packed weekend, lazing at the Botanical Gardens, a kids party in the park and some splashing at the pool.

Purging the days away

The pretty little menace caught pulling books off the shelf, then kicking back on the couch.

The weather was gorgeous on the weekend and I wasted most of it wishing the days would end. I woke up at 2am Saturday morning sick..literal Exorcist-style sick, and this horror-show purge continued unabated for the next hideous 12 hours. Thanks to my husband for going above and beyond with cleaning duties and for looking after the rascal so I could recover. Blagh...the idea of food still makes me squirm.

So, I've been meaning to suggest some places if you're in the mood for a day trip. I'd suggest scooting down to Flinders which has some great tucker and treats. Curio and Curio which was recently opened by Nick Young and his partner Clair (who is a stylist for Real Living mag) is a very cute place. Nick's name has come up a bit lately, with features in Home Beautiful, Real Living and the Design Files. I like hearing about people who kickstart a new career despite a lack of experience in their new chosen path. Also in Flinders, you can get the most beautiful coloured German pencils and some lovely clothes at Flinders Shed. The pencils are cheaper than the clothes, so I'll pick some up next time to share with you...I just need to learn how to draw...

New year new beginnings

We've returned from holidays with renewed gusto for a big change this year. It's the year of the house which means finishing some odd jobs around the place before putting it on the market and re-entering the rental world while we hunt for our "dream home" (if there is such a thing in our price range). Let's be honest, it'll be a 'B' or 'C' grade dream, but a new house nonetheless.

Maisie was completely spoilt at Christmas and despite my efforts to buy her nice timber toys, they largely went unnoticed in favour of the plastic fantastic.

Over the break I enjoyed Frankie's mag's latest peek inside people's homes/offices in Spaces and as promised, a pic of Maisie's vintage blocks.

Riding high with dad.

Taking tips from the big kids.