Spring Cleaning Rewards

Aloha Sprinklerinos, 

This is a paid for advertorial. 

It's been a while since I posted my videos on here but now that I'm dipping my toe back into blogging I thought it might be fun to share a few, I hope you agree!

Luxuriating in a squeaky clean bath is heavenly!

With the sun shining a bit more and the sound of birds tweeting, we can all be thrilled that it's Spring and time for floaty skirts and denim jackets- hurrah!! One thing I try to do at this time of year is give my house a bit of a spruce up, organise my mess treasured possessions and spring clean. When the people behind the #DanceAsYouClean Campaign contacted me and asked if I'd like to let you all know about their competition, I thought it would be so fun! You can check out the website to see how you can win music themed prizes to help you dance as you clean! 

Click HERE to watch the video!

I'm not naturally tidy but on a cleaning day I love to blast out my music, pump up the volume and dance my way through the dirt grease and grime. I find having great products helps too and in this video I featured and loved Fairy, Febreze, Flash and Viakal. With a bit of music and products that work beautifully, you'll be luxuriating in your gorgeous sparkly house in no time!! 

A little close up of the goodies that made my house so sparkly!

My absolute favourite thing to do is quieten everything, turn my phone on silent, step into my shiny clean bathroom and have a well deserved soak in the bath. There is something very satisfying about rewarding your spring cleaning efforts with a bit of pampering! I recently had my bathroom renovated so I love taking care of it and enjoying feeling like I have a mini spare next to my bedroom. 

Will you be Spring cleaning this year? What do you do to make it more fun? 

Toodlepip!

xx

This is a paid for advertorial. 

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