Simple Pleasures

Aloha Sprinklerinos, 

This weekend we celebrated Darcy's birthday (the actual day is tomorrow) with a magical Princess Party for her and all her friends. Zoe and I took a billion photos but it's going to take me a while to edit all through them so give me a little bit of time please, this Mama is going to be busy!

A few days before the party, I did something pretty out of character and I thought it might be fun to talk about it. I joined a Health Club! Say whhhhaaaaaa?? 

I think it's fairly obvious that I'm not in the best physical shape and don't lead the healthiest lifestyle. I've been wanting to put a bit more effort into my health for a while and when I found out that some of my YummyMummy friends were members of a really nice Health Club in my town, I figured it wouldn't hurt to go and check it out. 

I was quite nervous so asked one of my sister's to come with me for a looksie but I was happy with everything, joined and we've been 3 times so far! I signed up both me and Darcy so that we have somewhere fun to go, rain or shine and because we know a few friends (and their Daughter's) who are members so we should have lots of people to play with. In my membership I have access to everything (gym, spa, pool, classes, restaurant etc) and in Darcy's, since she's probably not desperate to go and press some hard weights haha, she has access to the pool with me and can go in the children's club whenever I book her in. She also really likes the sweet potato fries and soft play area in the restaurant!

The pool is lovely with sections for children filled with floatie toys, rubber duckies, watering cans etc, spa facilities and Darcy's favourite - hairdryers in the beautifully swish changing rooms. Yep, this kid was MOST excited by the prospect of blow drying her own hair. The entire time we were in the pool today she asked about it. Her specific requests were to have a shower with her goggles on, dry her own hair (the dryers and flat irons are GHD's by the way, yessss) and take a single cotton pad and ear bud from the complimentary beauty bar thingy. I obliged on all of her requests and she was thrilled. Literally more happy with that than all the playing we did in the pool (I pushed her 20 lengths on a floatie noodle. I want to work that number up in time). 

Naturally it's a bit tricky to take pictures in a pool- I feel weird taking a camera where so many people are half naked and there are lots of children in not much attire, so I took these snaps of Darcy loving life with the hair dryer instead, just on my phone. 

I love that Darcy and I have this new place to add to our list of fun things to do and look forward to increasing my fitness levels a smidge whilst spending time with this funny little thing I made! Right now our lives are about enriching them with the best possible experiences and spending as much time together as possible. We love being our team!

Do you take you littles to the gym or health club? What do they like to do there? 

Toodlepip!

xx

This Child Of Mine

Aloha Sprinklerinos, 

Thank you so much for all the love on my last post. It's nice to know that even though I left you for a while, you are still here. You're a good lot. 

This week I have been thinking a lot about Darcy. I think about her a lot every week but this week, the week before her 5th Birthday, I have been thinking about the bond we share and about what it means to be her Mother. 

I feel very grateful to have been given this sweet child. Any Mother is obviously biased towards her own but honestly, we suit each other. We get on. If I had to trial out being a Mother to a few different kidlings, I'd pick her, haha. 

I love a lot of things about my Darcy. I love the sound of her voice when she says, 'for real' with the most earnest eyes as she tries to impress upon me the validity of whatever she's saying, I love the silky feel of the palms of her hands when she strokes my arms as a comforter whilst she watches her programmes, I love the way she shuffles into her little seat at dinner time and I love the way she called me her 'princess queen' when I tuck her into bed at night. 

I love the way we live. We feel like a team. It's my mission as a Mummy to try and fill her days with as many golden childhood memories as possible. These early years are so precious and so fleeting that if I can find a way to inject magic into a day, I'll do it. 

We have friends over (I have a lot of Mum friends with young children now so we're never short of a playmate), we go to adventure playgrounds and ice cream parlours and tiny cafes that my Mum used to take me to. We sing in the car, we make things at home, we have a LOT of parties (our favourite is a fish finger party like THIS one) and we celebrate anything we can think of (Easter, Valentines, Spring, the weekend)!! I can sense a great love of life in her. She is a forward marcher and wants to enjoy these experiences with me. We are both positive thinkers, we both love home comforts (this kiddo would opt for a luxury hotel above camping any day- just like her Mama!), we both love to snuggle with blankets and we both love to dress up. A lot of people tell me she is a mini me and I tell you, that makes me smile so much. 

As for me as a Mother of a 4 year old, I'd say I'm fairly relaxed. I'm pretty strict on manners and bedtimes and trying hard at school work but I'm pretty lax on things like the time (picture above) she found her face paints and gave herself a 'makeover'. I want her to be free. I want her to experience childhood with the wind in her hair and glitter in her imaginations and to all the time feel safe, knowing that her Mummy is watching over and loving her. 

This little girl, this thing that messes up my house and tires me out and demands so much, makes my life so full. She allows me to love her unconditionally and feel her love back. It's blissful. 

I've had her now almost half a decade- how time flies. I hope each day goes slowly and each memory is cherished and each giggle and cuddle and sweet look is remembered because being this baby's Mama is my most favourite thing. 

Toodlepip!

xx

Hello, We are Happy.

Aloha Sprinklerinos,

It's been a while huh? How have you been? I've missed you. 

I wish I had a big long reason for not blogging much lately but I don't. Last year was hard (THIS video explains why), I ran away to Seattle to escape (THIS and THIS video document that adventure) and then I decided to take a few things off my plate. The blog was one of them and I have to say, it's been good for me. 

For the first time, in a long time, I can truly say, I am happy. <-- I love that I just typed that. It gives me the warm fuzzies. 

With so many things on my shoulders last year, I couldn't cope. This year I have allowed myself to only deal with the things I need. 

I have invested so much more energy into my surrounding community, made Mummy friends (an amazing network for me and Darcy to enjoy the company of, turn to in times of need and explore new child-friendly places with), I am much happier with the videos I'm putting up on my main channel (I still want to pour more into my second channel!), my second clothing line was successfully released, I'm thinking about a couple of new book ideas (it's very early days, still just sparkly seeds in my head) and I make so much more space in my life for non-screen time. I socialise regularly, I say yes to more local activities and I feel like my life has been enriched. 

Now, of course, things aren't perfect but I feel hopeful that the future is looking bright for us. I no longer feel like a feeble broken family that is shakily taking steps forward but a strong, competent, confident family of two that is ready to stride ahead and enjoy everything life has to offer. We have friends to play with, petrol in the car to go anywhere and thanks to this weekend, we now have matching yellow raincoats to wear on our adventures!! I'll have to get some snaps of these!! We have a lorra lorra love in our home. 

Recently I have added another person into my life, a man type, but more on him another time perhaps! He's nice too but it's early days and baby steps. I'll keep you in the loop though!

I wish I had more to tell you but then I'm glad I don't! At the start of 2016 I hoped that this year would be kind to me and so far, it has been. It's been gentle and warm and secure and stable and that's what we needed. Thank you 2016. 

I don't know where I stand with blogging, but with a bit of luck, it'll creep back onto my plate. Spring is such a wonderful season and I would like to dust off my camera so let's see. For now, I just wanted to check in and say, 'Hi, I'm so happy, I love you a lot, are we still friends?'. 

Let me know how your year has treated you so far and what, if anything, you'd be interested to read on this little slice of the net. 

Toodlepip!

xx