welcome to the world.....

Our littlest man arrived on the 14 November. This is little Benjamin Jesse. Well, he wasn't so little really. He was 3.94kg but he is still little to me.

His arrival and our week in hospital went smoothly. Josh and Zoe adore him as does his daddy and I.

Unfortunately within two days of us arriving home, I was struck down with a mild case of pneumonia and have had a rough few weeks recovering from that as well as the csection all while caring for this beautiful little newborn. Fortunately, we have had loads of friends pitching in with meals for us and my mum has tirelessly been helping out each day with laundry, keeping my house tidy and entertaining Josh and Zoe. I'm still not out of the woods yet, but am hoping by Christmas to be back to my jolly self!

Ben has been coping very well amidst the drama around here. This mama just wishes she had more time to sleep! But of course I knew that was coming.

we have a winner

Just popping in to let you know the winner of the lunch hamper giveaway from Vita Wheats and Soup.

Blythe, you are the lucky lady! Please email me with your postal address and I will arrange to have the hamper posted out to you soon. Congratulations!!

And now, I'm afraid I have to crawl back into my work hole and get the last big lot of my work done before I can go on maternity leave. I can't wait......

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what's on your plate?

It's time for lunch again here. Most of the time I have to force myself to stop and eat. This baby is taking up so much space in my belly now that I can hardly fit anything and mostly don't feel like eating. And then of course when I do, I usually get some lovely reflux with it.

Anyway, it's back to my old favourite here at the moment. Vita Wheat crackers with cottage cheese, tomato slices and a little salt. Today I'm trying the Soy & Linseed variety. It's yum!

After lunch, it will be back to the grind with work. I'm madly trying to finish up accounts work and recording procedures for the person that will take over from me. Today I'm a little stressed with it all. I can't wait to finally put up my feet and just have my family to worry about instead of the added stress of work always at the back of my mind.

I have a bit over a week to go. Starting to feel like I'm running out of days to get things done before this little man arrives but I'm sure I will get there!

Don't forget to head over to this post and enter the lunch hamper giveaway! I will be picking the winner tomorrow, so don't miss out on your chance to win.

And if you like a bargain, keep an eye out on the Lovely Little Parties facebook page in the next day or two. I'm cooking up a treat for everybody, so I can run down my stock a little before I close the store for a few weeks while we welcome bub number three! Then I can reopen with some lovely new stock soon!

what's for lunch?

Here's what I've been having for lunch at my house!

I've been testing out the new Vita Wheat Lunch Slices thanks to Soup, and I have to say they are YUM! I always struggle to come up with quick and easy lunch options. I'm usually really hungry by that time, but don't have the energy to put together anything that will take too long to make so these are just perfect. I just pop a few out of the pack, put on my favourite topping (at the moment it's cottage cheese, tomato slices and a bit of salt!) and munch away!

There are a few different varieties of the lunch slices, including lots of grains and seeds, lovely and healthy! Each pack also has two lots of the slices packed and sealed, so once you use one pack (which doesn't take long!) the other stays nice and fresh for the next lunch time.

Soup don't want just me to try the Vita Wheat Lunch Slices. They have put together a lovely hamper for one of my readers to enjoy too. All you have to do is share with me in a comment below what your favourite topping would be on a lunch slice? I'll pick a winner at the end of next week (4 November) and the lovely people at Soup will send out your hamper which includes the Vita Wheat Lunch Slices and a variety of toppings for you to try on them!

Good luck, and get commenting!

the little runaway

So this little cheeky-faced, Lego obssessed and 'mummy's boy' man decided to 'run away' from home this week! He's only 4 and a half!! On Sunday, as we were driving to my mum's house for lunch as we often do, he thought he might like to have a sleep over at his grandmother's house. I told him that it was fine with me but he needed to ask her first. So he did, and it was fine, and so he stayed the night. This was relief to me, as now at 36 weeks, the whole dinner to bedtime chunk of the day not only does my head in but is super exhausting for this mama. Putting only Zoe to bed is far easier.

However, the next day he told my mum that he wanted to stay away for three days. He was very clear about this. My poor mum was fine with this too, so I took it as a chance to get lots more things done around our house that I have been meaning to, especially with a newborn babe due to arrive soon. It's impossible for me to get any major chores done around here at the moment when my two cherubs are around. So I enjoyed the three days where it was just me and my girl, and we got HEAPS done together.

I just found it quite funny that my little 'mummy's boy' was so determined to stay away from home "for 3 days"! He either doesn't want to stay there or only will stay for a night, but this time......I was surprised but enjoyed while I could. It made me miss him a lot, so there were lots of cuddles when he finally did come back home. Sometimes time apart is just the ticket!

three years old

It's hard to believe that this little girl was my little wee baby when I started this blog. She is now three years old and all grown up and off to preschool next year. Feels like only yesterday I was sending Josh off to preschool, but he will be off to primary school next year.

Time has been flying and now there is another wee one soon to arrive. I'm sure I will blink only a few times and I will back here saying how grown up my littlest man is.

Happy third birthday beautiful girl. xx

so here i am....35 weeks

Yes that's my big pregnant belly there. How did I get to 35 weeks so quickly? Here I thought this blog would be a great place to document some of this pregnancy at least, and I've just been so busy that by the time I have 'me' time I'm just too tired or emotionally drained to express anything at all. Trashy tv has been my friend instead.

I think I've definitely reached the very uncomfortable/tired stage. Just walking to the laundry to put a load on and back leaves me breathless and sore. It doesn't matter what time I go to sleep, I'm always interupted by loo stops through the night, so most of the time I'm tired by 9am in the morning already. My children, especially Josh, desperately want me to play games with them, and I just don't have the energy to participate, not to mention the pain I am usually in five minutes in.

Only another 4 weeks at most, and our new little man will be here. And I can start the road to recovery and healing this body of mine. We think we finally have a name for him too, so that's one major thing sorted, though I still have lots I need to get done before he arrives.

This week, I'll try and share with you all about some yummy lunch time snacks we have been enjoying thanks to the team at Soup! There is even a great prize for you all to win in a great giveaway, so stay tuned!