17 Jul 2013

League

The Juffin and I don't really go in for sport watching.  I love watching Rugby Union with my family but with Juffin it's a little boring as he's not very interested and I'm pretty sure he doesn't have much idea of what's going on.  Neither do I for that matter, but I'm a New Zealander so I have to like Rugby. It's in my DNA.

Anyway, as we don't really do the whole State of Origin thing, but we live in our town where people think you're absolutely bonkers if you don't do the whole State of Origin Rugby League thing, then I thought I would dress the Mushroom appropriately for today's big game.



Go Queensland or if you're really hardcore "QUEENSLANDER!"

Oh dear.

15 Jul 2013

Death by Cupcake

I've gone a little crazy in the cupcake making department.  I've never been much of a baker but I came across this website whilst googling recipes for a girlfriend's baby shower.  I made the pumpkin ones with cream cheese frosting and nearly died.  They were amazing.  However my baking skills were a little rusty!

Pumpkin with Cream
Cheese Frosting
I then tackled the chocolate with peanut butter frosting and the mocha.  Juffin was so impressed with my new found obsession that he bought me a recipe book of 500 cupcakes for Mother's Day on the proviso that I wasn't to make the same cupcake twice.  You think I can't do it Juffin?!  Challenge accepted!

I went out and bought myself a piping kit, did some you tubing on how to frost, and viola!  I've made over 200 cupcakes in the last 3 months. Here's some of the highlights!
Mint Choc Chip with
Mint Buttercream 

Dark Chocolate with Peanut
Butter Frosting
White Chocolate with
Raspberry Frosting 
Chocolate with Chocolate
Buttercream

Rosewater with Pistachio
Cream Cheese Frosting
My skills aren't that great, equipment not much better! (I still use a hand held beater) The piping is a bit dodge, and sometimes I over beat and they come out a little dry, but damn, I am loving baking me some cupcakes!

It's no wonder my arse won't bloody shrink!

14 Jul 2013

Myth Busters - Part 2

Further to my post the other day there are more things that kept running through my head and I was like 'Moron!  Why didn't you include that in your post?!'

Myth:  When your baby starts eating food, he will sleep better.
Fact:  When your baby starts eating food you will have heaps of mess to clean up and there will be food stuck in unimaginable places.  They probably won't sleep better.  Not to mention the extra washing.  Which was already at a ridiculous level.

Myth:  When your baby starts crawling/being more active, they will sleep better.
Fact:  Your baby will just start stuffing around in the cot, roll around like mad and hit his head and cry.  Or he will stand up and won't be able to get down and cry.  Or he will be flailing around like a mad thing and get his arm/leg stuck and cry.  He will not sleep better.

Myth:  Breastfeeding becomes easier over time.
Fact:  Your baby will find new and interesting ways to torture your nipples by biting, scratching, pulling and generally acting like a homicidal maniac whilst at the breast.

Myth:  Once you get into a routine, everything will fall into place.
Fact: I'm yet to see the fruit from this little gem.

Myth:  If breastfeeding your period won't return for ages.
Fact:  I'm not going to go into gory details but if ages is 2 months, then that happened.

Myth:  What worked for your baby will inherently work for all babies.
Fact:  Obviously this is bullshit.  Your baby is an individual, just like you.

Myth:  You can never take too many photos.
Fact:  You can.  I have over 2500 photos from the last 9 months.  Two and half THOUSAND.

I have 2499 others just like this!
I think I'm done with the whole mythbusters thing now... NEXT!

13 Jul 2013

Breadcrumbs

I started back at work 2 weeks ago.  Hence my prolonged blogging absence.  I apologise!  This working Mummy business takes a bit of organising!

I'm only working part time, 4 hours per day, so it's really over in a flash.  I feel like I get there and then I have to pack up and go home.  Which is fantastic!  I'm not there long enough to get bored or get annoyed with people, I just get in, do my work, have a chat with adult person's then I leave and pick up my very cuddly son.... who is also coping very well indeed.

Which brings me to this...  Is it bad that I didn't cry?  Not when I dropped him off the first time at the MIL's house, not when I dropped him off to family daycare for the first time?  Not even after the first two weeks when it finally sank in that I was back at work?  Does that make me a bad mother?  I felt really anxious that first week and he was really sooky but seems to have bounced back now and hardly seems to notice when I leave him!  I think I feel bad about not feeling worse, does that make sense?

Unfortunately not returning to work wasn't an option for us.  I would have loved to have stayed home with Mushroom forever and play games, sing songs, and make a mess of the house together but the cold hard facts are, we're still renting, Juffin doesn't make a lot of money, we still have car loans to pay off, and the cost of living is ridiculous.  Our last electricity bill was $700!  Since having the Mushroom we have definitely cut back on frivolous spending, but you just can't run a household on the amount of money we had leftover after taking care of all the big stuff.  And believe me, we tried!  We were down to breadcrumbs.

After successfully gaining a part-time position with my awesome employer, there really was no way I could put it off any longer.  So here I am, gainfully employed and being a Mummy. Instead of dwelling on my guilt I'm proud that I'm helping my family by putting food on the table and being able to buy medicine if my son is sick.  And that helps.  Because what the hell else are you going to do?

Kisses after work :-)