Damn :(

I'd being doing so well making sure I had a new blog post up each day (trying the whole do it for 21days and it will become a habit) but failed yesterday. I had an idea about a post, but was waiting for my camera to charge, then it hit mayhem time (getting ready for work, making dinner, getting to work time) and once I manage to get home it was so late there was no way I was staying up.
Im guessing I should start my 21days again-today being day1.

My girl Lara

Lara is growing up so much I can't believe it. She has become this hugely independent little lady. In just over a month she will be three-I am yet to work out where the past three years have gone! I remember bringing home my little girl and that only feels like yesterday! 

Two days old

About to go home-three days old.

Boy oh boy has she grown!

Taken Sunday-age 2years 10mths.

Bump pics :)

Taken this morning. Me and bubba number two-22weeks 5days. 

Second one was taken with the help of Lara-great to see what she can see. 

To add to the dream room...

I wish I was as talented as Renee! I would love to make two of these Hair Accessories Organisers. Renee has done such a great job!

Im not to sure what the size of it is, but it could look cool if there was a few small/medium sized ones hanging on the wall. They would look really great if they were all in co-ordinated frames. My mind is humming with ways I can really make these look awesome. (Renee's one looks super awesome anyway)

I can't help....

 but dream of how I would love to do Lara's room. With a sister on the way I want her room to be her sanctuary, a place were she can play with her special toys and at a later stage it will be a room she shares.
This is something I want to work on over the next few months.

So far the room will centre around the bedspread I have for the beds. The thing is I don't want to have anymore pink in the room. I feel the duvet is enough pink.

I would love for the girls furniture to be all white. Beds (possibly bunks) drawers, bookcases, toy box. 

Bunks like these would look great (and could be two single beds as well)

Some white dressers (that need to be big enough to hold all the girls clothes) and bookcases for book and toys. Maybe some coloured baskets for toys. (I'm thinking blue-like the inside of the butterflies on the duvet)

On the walls I might stick with photos-in nice blue frames, then for something fun-Tissue paper pompoms hanging from the roof. These I could alternate in size and colour (Ok maybe some in pink, but mostly blue and purple) I could even make a whole lot of little ones and hang them from the circle inside a mosquito net.

Now to find some money-then I will be set. 

Kitty Cats

So I blogged a few days ago about the cats following us down the road-turns out they are now taking it further and try to jump into the car every chance they can. As soon as I open the car door there is a cat squeezing through the gap. Lara thinks its the funniest thing ever-me, not so much. The cat fur all over the house is one thing, its another to have to deal with it all through the car!

Botanical Gardens

Lara and I headed to the Botanical Gardens yesterday to enjoy the sun. Was a beautiful day and I'm so glad we got out.
We hit the Gardens and started out looking at the Tulips. I love tulips!

Lara went and sat among the tulips so I could take some photos. (Pity I couldn't get her to smile!)

After posing in the tulips we went to feed the ducks. Lara loved feeding the ducks, even after one cheeky duck stole an entire piece of bread from her hands. She thought it was so funny, and the duck tried to get as close to her as possible. Lara was sad when the bread ran out, but looks forward to another trip to feed the ducks.

Headed up to the park where we played for almost a hour. There was hardly anyone there and we almost had the park to ourselves! After we played on everything we could we thought we'd head to the Rose Garden. Sadly the roses had all been trimmed recently-so they were nothing but stalks. But we stilled checked out inside the area. Lara took some photos of the plants she liked, but most had a finger through the middle of them-need to work on the camera hold. 

All in all we had a super awesome day together!

Baby names-suggested by Lara.

This morning Lara and I lay in bed and talked about her baby sister. I asked for some name suggestions and this is what I got:

• Duck
• Dinosaur
• Chicken
• Brother
• Crocodile
• Nana
• Aunty Emmy

Hmm I think I will leave naming little sister up to Mummy and Daddy. 

Oh no...

I think Lara must be coming down with some thing. She had a nap today, then crash really early on the couch with out eating any dinner. She didn't even want chocolate milk. Temp seems to be up a little. Hopefully she hasn't caught anything nasty. We've had more than enough sickness in our house.
On another note-Wellington put on another spectacular day weather wise.  Had a great trip to the zoo with Claire, Rebecca, Jaki and Brigitte (and the kids) Afterwards while Lara slept in the buggy I got to enjoy the sun while resting on a bench on Oriental Parade.

Nesting List!

I can't help but think I should be writing a list of all the cleaning jobs I need to get done around the house. Then when I hit my nesting phase I won't miss important chores.
But where should I keep the list? I would hate for Silas to find it and add crappy jobs he doesn't want to do to it.

Sunshine beautiful sunshine!

While news websites report on snow in other areas of New Zealand Lara, Silas and I are sitting outside in the sun. There is a huge storm heading past New Zealand causing mayhem everywhere-except Wellington. Auckland has had heavy rain, strong winds, then random sun. Southland has snow-snow so bad that roofs are collasping. Approx 3500 homes have no power. But for some reason the worst Wellington has had is rain, thunder and lightening, wind (but it is wellington!) and two days of gorgeous sun.
Yesterday we had all the windows and doors open, while Lara played outside all day. Today we have had lots of sun, but its starting to cloud over now as I type this. Its so nice being outside. Ok maybe the clouds are disappearing.
Bring on summer, long days filled with warm weather, sunshine, beach time, water play and all the other joys.

Whoops!!!

Crap I managed to delete all the comments that had been posted! Sorry!

Awh :)

Kelly has kindly awarded me (and the other Cheeky Monkey Blogger Mums)

Make sure you pop over to Kellys blog, where she writes about her life as a mum to her super cute, intelligent boy Elijah. She is brilliant sewer, who loves to trawl op shops for those great vintage finds. 

Now here are the rules:

1. Accept the award. (Post it on your blog along with the name and link of the person who has awarded it to you.)

2. Pay it forward to 15 other bloggers whom you've recently discovered.

3. Contact the bloggers and let them know that they have been chosen.

Here's my list

Nay's Place (Renee)

Time Flies (Sharleen)

Life is a Highway (Leesh)

Back to Basics (Selena)

Mel-o-dramatic (Mel)

Imagination Overload (Fay)

Bron's Boys (Bronwyn)

My World; A to Z (Claire)

Through My Eyes (Wendy)

Here's to you, Mrs Robinson (Liz)

Organised Chaos (Sharyn)

Marcus Swan: 1/10/08 Oliver Swan 20/08/10 (Nicola)

Modern Housewife - Juggling kids, home & sanity (Tracy)

The Middle of Everywhere (Jaki)

Baking Makes Things Better (Courtney and Melissa)

Puddles!

Just some pics of Lara in June this year. (Seems like ages ago now.) There had been some intense rain the day before and while it was windy the sun was out. In the park there was one huge puddle that Lara could not resit.

Yum!!

I have coffee group tomorrow morning and I am so tempted to try and make these cupcakes that Courtney posted on her blog. They look so good! I know I won't be able to ice them they way she has-I don't have a piping bag or the energy to try.

Sugar Rush
Makes 10 – 12 cupcakes
1 cup ‘V’ energy drink
¾ cup caster sugar
⅓ cup canola oil
½ teaspoon vanilla essence
1 ½ cup plain flour
¾ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon baking powder
Pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 180˚C. Place cupcake papers in muffin tray.
Combine sugar and oil by mixing together.
Add the ‘V’, vanilla essence, baking soda, baking powder and salt, mix quickly.
Sift the flour into the mixture in three additions, being careful not to over mix each time.
Fill each cupcake casing ¾ full.  Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until they turn a light golden brown and the tops spring back when touched.
Cool on a wire rack.

She iced hers with a basic butter cream icing, (125g butter and 1 ½ cups icing sugar) and added the remaining ‘V’ instead of a tablespoon of milk.  You can colour the icing any colour of your choice but she used a pink and orange swirl to complement the colour of the ‘Nerds’ she then sprinkled on top.

I hope mine turn out as good as hers!

Sunshine!

Today I managed to finally get out and see Sara. I haven't seen her since she was preg with Tane and Tane is now four months old. Whoops!
We left our place, all packed up expecting rain and wind. But when we got to Sara's the weather was so nice. Got to have cuddles with smiley man Tane, while Lara and Jayden watched TV. So off to the park we went, almost felt like summer it was so warm!
Its amazing how good sunny weather can make you feel.

Pussy cat, Pussy cat where are you???

In June we added two kittens to our family. We had got them from the SPCA and they were 4months old. Lara spotted them and fall in love straight away! Once home they settled in well and after a week we had settled on names.

Simba

Nala

Lately our two little monkeys have been following us when we go for walk. They often follow Lara and I as we walk up to the school, and will wait on the path for us to come back. This back fired abit on sunday. Lara and I decided to walk into town, walked down our street followed by Nala and Simba. They wouldn't go any further than the end of the road (which I am grateful for) As they usually wait for us to come home before coming back. There in lies the problem-we didn't walk back that way. Silas drove us home. 

Stupidly I thought the cats would come back, but as it got dark I started to worry. Filled up their cat dish and left some windows open before heading to bed.

Normally in the mornings once Lara is up they come bounding into our room. Nala likes to try and get under the blankets and Simba likes to head butt Silas. So we knew straight away they hadn't come back over night. The untouched cat meat confirmed they hadn't ducked in and out. 

Once the rain stopped Lara and I headed out down the road hoping to find our cats. And there they were, waiting at the end of the road where we'd last seen them! The silly (but oh so cute) cats had been waiting for us to come back. They were so happy to see us, and we were so happy to see them! From now on I think I will have to make sure they are in the house when we go out for a walk. 

Silly Monkeys!

Recipe-Fruity Yoghurt Pops

Lara loves these and I love that they are so healthy.

First you need to work out how much liquid your iceblock molds hold-my one holds 2cups of liquid and makes 8 iceblocks.

You will need:
1 cup Yogurt (plain or fruit flavoured)
1 cup pureed fruit (I use canned peaches, but drain first)
(optional -add a few teaspoons of lemonade, or fruit juice-I use a little of the juice from the can of peaches) 
Mix and pour in to your ice block molds. Freeze then enjoy!

Cheekymonkey Mummies Night

Last night I had awesome night out with my mummy friends. We generally meet with the kids in tow so last night was all about us.
Along with the usual coffee group crew (Jax, Claire, Sharyn, Kerry and Brigitte) we had some members from out online forum Cheeky Monkey travel to join us! Mel from Auckland and Jaz from Hamilton had come to party with us.
The night was themed-we had to dress up in something starting with "C" and I went as Cheryl from Outrageous Fortune. I didn't quite manage to pull it off, I really needed leopard spotted singlet.)
Was a great night, singstar cranking, chocolate fountain fail, crackers and chips galore. I stumbled home sometime round 12.30am after a fun filled night.

A bit about me :)

Well I'm guessing my first post should be about me and my life.


Me.
My name is Melissa and I live in Wellington. Originally from Taranaki I grew up in Oakura/Okato.
Met Silas when he was on his uni holidays and later moved to Wellington.


My life.
My life is centred around Lara. She was born on the 4th November 2007 weighing in at 7lb 5oz.
Lara is going to be a big sister next Jan and its something the entire family is looking forward to. The last half of this pregnancy is going to fly by with big events to take my mind off the impending little girl.