little chairs for little people

Just wanted to share this great find. I can't remember how I came across this site originally now, but I'm glad I did, as these chairs are so cute!  Lelbys make contemporary style bean chairs and throw rugs for children. They are designed by Lesley Gordon who was having a lot of trouble finding a chair for her then one year old that fit in with the colour tones of her living area. I think a lot of mums have had this dilemma! So Lesley came up with her own chair and thus Lelbys was born!

There are a few ranges of the Lelbys chairs, but my favourite is the Damask Blue chair in the picture above. Lelbys chairs even come in a faux fur which might be like getting a great big cuddle from a teddy bear!

You can buy these chairs directly from the Lelbys website or the Australian online store The Little Haven. Go and have a look!

sumptuous

I've always loved music - I love playing it, I love singing along with it, and I love listening to it. There is something therapeutic in it for me, and I can just be swept away in the beauty of it, and be taken somewhere else for just a little while.

That's why I am so very excited today. I just got myself tickets to see this lovely lady perform live at the Sydney Opera House with the Chamber Orchestra at Sumptuous. I can't think of anything more truly divine.

I've been waiting to see Katie Noonan for some time, but each time she was playing in Sydney it was never appropriate or I had something else on. This time, nothing is in my way, and I'm so excited that this will be with the orchestra as well. Last year I saw Tim Freedman play with an orchestra at the State Theatre and that too was just amazing. I'm expecting Katie Noonan to be the same, probably better again.

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happy birthday to me

So, I'm another year older. 

It was my birthday on Sunday, and I had the best day. More than I could have asked for. A whole day with my family around me, enjoying a homemade meal for lunch, and blowing out candles with my children. 

I'm such a blessed lady.

what does a baby smell like?

Before I had children, I always used to think that all babies smelled like Johnson & Johnson's baby products. It's such a familiar, nice, cute smell. Well, I think so anyway. Then I had my own children, and my favourite baby wipes turned out to be the J&J ones too, especially the fragranced ones that had that familiar smell. Thankfully, my babies bottoms agreed with the fragrance as well, and we've always been able to use them.

I've been a very lucky lady, and recently was sent a very generous Johnson & Johnson hamper by Kidspot Baby Club, to try out a whole range of lovely baby products. This included some baby wipes which I was very pleased about, but also some creams and bathing products. I've been using it all over the last few weeks, and have to say I'm a bit of a fan of the Naturals range. It smells wonderful (yes, I'm a bit partial to things that smell good!) and is really creamy and delicious on my little people's skin. My two have had their fair share of eczema and dry skin, particularly now it's winter, and the creams have proven perfect for restoring moisture back. There is even one with SPF15+ which is brilliant during the day while moisturising at the same time!

Thanks Kidspot Baby Club for the opportunity to use all these great products.

This blog post was sponsored by Kidspot's Baby Club. It's a lovely space for mums and mums-to-be to get together, chat, share, relate and even win some goodies. The best thing is that you can visit at any time of day or night, and if you haven't had time to shower or do your hair, no one will notice (and there's a pretty good chance no one else has either). Pop over now and register. Connect with other mums today.

hello, remember me?

Well look who's back!

Yes, moi. I've missed being here and reading all my fave blogs. I've had a bit of a crazy few weeks, with the latest drama being I've been to emergency a few times with gallbladder attacks. It seems I need to get the wretched thing out now, so am off to a surgeon next week to organise that.

Anyway, I'm ok at the moment. But it's time to get back to bloggy land. I really need to catch up on some reading, plus I've got some thoughts I'd love to get down in the next few days. 

See you again soon.

Image: irenesuchocki

you're just like ice cream

Do you know what time of the day is my favourite time? Bed time. 

And not because of the obvious reason that it means the children of the house will sleep (though that's a bonus!). 

More specifically I love Josh's bedtime. Usually it means Zoe is already down for the night in her room, and then I scoot off to Josh's room, read him a bedtime story, then we turn the light off and snuggle under the covers and have a gorgeous little chat together about what we did that day. These moments are so beautiful and precious. Josh often comes up with wonderful insights regarding our day and every night - without fail- the chatting is peppered with lots of the following quote: 'I love you so much mummy'. Often accompanied with lots of cuddles. 

I remember the first time I heard those words from Josh, I just wanted to cry, my heart burst a thousand times over.

And tonight, he did something so adorable, I wanted to eat him up right then.

He gave me a kiss and said 'you're just like ice-cream'. At first, I wasn't quite sure what he was getting at. But then he leaned over me and proceeded to give me a succession of the most delicate little kisses on my cheek, including sound effects, and I realised he was telling me how sweet I was.

My heart burst a thousand times all over again.......

What does your little one say or do that makes your heart burst?

This blog post was sponsored by Kidspot's Baby Club. It's a lovely space for mums and mums-to-be to get together, chat, share, relate and even win some goodies. The best thing is that you can visit at any time of day or night, and if you haven't had time to shower or do your hair, no one will notice (and there's a pretty good chance no one else has either). Pop over now and register. Connect with other mums today.

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a diet to end all diets

I'm a chronic dieter. Always have been. Keeping myself at a healthy weight will always be a battle. I've done Jenny Craig, Weight Watchers, Lite N Easy....you name it, I've more than likely tried it. They have all worked at some point, but I usually find myself back in the old place of being overweight. This time, I'm at an all time high and I'm desperate to regain my health and my vitality.

I've learnt a thing or two in my dieting travels. I've learnt that just about every diet will help you lose weight if you stick to the eating plan. But what they don't often deal with so well is the mental side of things. This is where the real battle lies for me. I can follow any diet but I will never learn to equip myself to deal with the daily temptations and excuses in my mind to not exercise, to eat another serving, to finish that chocolate block off so it won't be in the house anymore. My mind is my worst enemy. I knew that if I was to diet again, I would have to really want it in my mind, and it would need to be something that meant teaching me about lifelong changes to my eating and physical activity.

I sat and watched the latest The Biggest Loser series and would often find myself sitting on the lounge watching it while eating a bowl of ice-cream, or a serve of MacDonalds because I was too lazy to cook anything. I'd look at myself and not believe what I was seeing. Disgusting. The sort of person I would criticise.

Not long after The Biggest Loser finished I was playing around on Twitter and discovered Michelle Bridges on there. I started following her and before long I started coming across some of her tweets: 'Your excuses are your roadblocks. You know that, don't you?', 'Yeah, it's winter, yeah it's cold. NO you don't need a frickin pie or chips to 'warm u up'! Get a grip! You are the one steering this ship!', 'No, you don't need a family block of chocolate to watch the movie tonight!!get a grip! A freddo frog is totally fine! You'll thank me tom'. Oh my goodness, was she in my head? That's what it certainly felt like. I found it very confronting and felt very driven from that point that I really needed to do something about my diet and my health, and that I really did need to stop with all the excuses to not get on with it.

Through Michelle's tweets, I learnt about her 12-week Body Transformation program. Another diet program, but much more than that - inspiration and encouragement from Michelle as well as a nutrition and training plan. From watching TBL, I really began to appreciate how much more the trainers are than that. They are counsellors as well, and I certainly needed someone to help me with my inner demons on this weightloss journey and this was the perfect way to access the wisdom and inspiration from someone who I already knew had an amazing impact on people. I wanted Michelle to be MY personal trainer too.

Over a month ago, I joined up to the program. I've started training and following the nutrition plan. I'm even thinking about going in the City 2 Surf with my sister-in-law. And I've lost nearly 4kgs. I already feel so good and have loads more energy back, and better yet, I know I'm treating my body well. This weightloss journey for me is mainly about making myself into the healthiest person I can be for my husband and children. I want to be around for them, in the best way possible, for as long as possible. I've been cooking meals with the freshest of ingredients, I've been getting up early to exercise before the day begins.....and I feel alive. On Saturday morning, I ran around our front yard playing chasings with Josh, and I felt so good.

I can honestly say that this has been the best decision I have made in a long time. It truly is a transformation that is taking place. A change in my diet, a change in my physical activity and a change in my mind. Michelle's guidance is keeping me on track and I'm learning to put out the temptation 'fires' quickly (and there are LOTS of them!) and stay focused on my goal.

I'll see you at the end of my race, 15kgs lighter.


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