Blogger Secret Santa

I LOVE CHRISTMAS! I love putting up the tree, I love the probably fake happiness, I love the lights, I love the shopping, I love the food, I love the family time, I love the colour scheme, I love the little red santa hats, I love the lists, I love the love and I love the presents.

Last year MommyToes came up with the idea of doing a Blogger Secret Santa, I unfortunately missed it as I had just had Aiden but this year I am in and so looking forward to spoiling someone this year and it's all thanks to Charlotte from The Stiletto Mum for organising it this year.

Here's how it works

Guidelines:

· All names must be entered by 16 November 2012.

· Charlotte will email you your person by 21 November 2012.

· It’s a secret, the person you’re buying for may not be buying for you so be nice or you may get coal.

· Gifts must be under the value of R100 (pre postage) if you want to spend more feel free, but if about the love that goes into the gift rather than the price.

· If you are no longer able to participate let Charlotte know asap.

· Charlotte will list all blogs involved as I receive them – last year we even had 2 non-bloggers.

· Anther cute thing we did last year was a post about the things you like so that your Santa can get an idea of who you are (http://thestilettomum.wordpress.com/2011/11/29/dear-santa/). As soon as you have joined and did the post, email Charlotte the link to set up for you.

Email c.l.coetzee at gmail dot com if you want to join in.

SHARE this everywhere… Twitter hashtag #blogsecretsanta

Aiden is almost ONE

In a little over 2 months my little boy is turning ONE, I can't believe how this year has flown by and it feels like just yesterday that I was still pregnant. I never thought I would say, "You growing up to fast, slow down," but that's how I am feeling.

Normally I have parties planned down to every detail 6 months in advance but this time round, not so much, I had ideas and then the other day I threw them all away and went with a completely different theme. Normally I do things big, but this one will just be our closest family and friends.

So my monster is turning ONE and this is how we going to celebrate.

Love me or Hate me

I'm here, it's open and it's public, not everyone will agree with me and that's okay. I am good at brushing this off and moving on and I am not one who is big on others opinions any ways, however last week I was personally attacked and accused of abusing A and neglecting him because of my Bad Mommy Moments post, it got to me for a whole 24 hours and then I sat back and laughed my ass off because the accusation was and is ridiculous!

I was going to respond and explain myself and then thought screw it, for a crazy moment thought maybe I am too honest here on my little blog and realised what the hell am I going to talk about if not the truth, and then I realised it doesn't matter.

Thank you for all the support and lovely people who sent me words of encouragement and laughter.

The lovely Chantel over at Toppie se Vrou did a post, Dear Beverley.

Oh and the notorious Pickles at A Bullet Laced with Anger wrote this extraordinary piece and sent it to me on the day, From there to hear, my notoriety and more.

A Legend has been Lost

Aunty Heather 

You were the greatest example of living life to the fullest.

You never followed the rules.

You filled the room with your presence.

Your laughter warmed our hearts.

Your stories made us cry with laughter and will always be some of our

fondest memories.

You were a unique soul and one of a kind.

You will be missed every day.

We love you.

New Neighbours, New Friends and Sunshine to bring it all together

This past weekend summer arrived and I couldn't be happier, although not prepared and rushing to stores to buy A some summer gear and not quite ready to brave little summer pieces myself, we started off our summer life at Horwoods Farm, Edenvale for little Alexander's birthday. Tamiya and her family have just moved up the road from us and we so excited to have these special people so close to us, new friends for A, awesome company for me, play dates and tea on invisible couches is what we have planned.

Lost for words

This week has been a rough one, with mean words and attacks from all angles in my life, it's all still to jumbled in my head to write about and I'm still a bit bruised from certain aspects of it. Life changes to quickly, I would love some stability, some redundancy but we don't all get what we wish for. So I am leaving you with some words of others and trying to stay positive.

 

Ella Belle WINNERS!

So happy to announce that the little princess winning a box set of these adorable shoes is

and the prince charming will be

Please email me your address's of where it can be delivered at jmckaydesigns@gmail.com

Ella Belle is the distributor of TRUMPETTE in South Africa, you can find what they offer over at their Facebook page, gorgeous socks, shoes, bags, leggings and accessories.

Momville

The wonderful people over at  Huggies Momville  asked me to do another post for them. It's up and it's honest and all about what I wish people would of told me when I had a bun in the oven. Follow this link to What they don't tell you

Bad Mommy Moments

We all have them or I hope we do, I have them quite often and I sit and think to myself am I really cut out for this. Some days I just can't find the strength to do the most trivial tasks of motherhood and some days it just kicks my ass.

• I don't sterilize Aidens bottles on weekends anymore, at all, and sometimes when there isn't enough boiled water in the kettle for the 225ml I need, I top up with tap water. The shock and horror, I know.
• Some days I realize at 5pm that I haven't changed Aidens nappy since the morning, like 7am, thank God for Pampers Premium Care that's all I can say.
• If I don't feel like sitting for an hour and getting Aiden to eat something healthy for supper I give him Purity Custard, at least he's eating right.
• I sometimes don't bath him for 2 days, because this zaps all my energy!
• I laugh when I tell him no, because how can you be angry at that face for more than a split second.
• Sometimes I send him to school with out changing his nappy from the night before.
• I hide in the bathroom when I tell someone to watch him while I 'pee'
• I have given him Calpol just so he can sleep.
• I visit people purely because I know they will play with Aiden for 2 hours.

And then there is this, I feel awful about it and embarrassed but I just couldn't deal with it. Aiden's bottom teeth are finally coming out, I can feel they have cut the skin and he's teething some kind of horrible. He won't eat and is so miserable I don't even recognise him. The last few nights he's been vomiting all over me and him and the bed. Now Aiden doesn't vomit, so this is a new challenge for me and one I don't handle well, no I didn't leave him to sleep in it, I'm not that bad but I have sent him to school even though he probably isn't well enough to and then this morning,  well you see, our routine is I get A ready for school and my mom and sister drop him off on the way to work. He was playing on the floor, I was trying to fall back to sleep and my sister was doing her hair and we heard it. I thought he just pooped like normal, but when I looked to put him in the car, I realised it was a monster poop that didn't stay in the nappy, I could see it had gone down his legs, all over his socks, up his back, I told my mom, just take him, tell his teacher he did it in the car. Yes, I sent my child to school covered in poo!

Ella Belle Giveaway!

I love being able to give pretty things to you lovely ladies. Last week I did a post on Ella Belle and all their amazing goodies. Now I get to give away not one but two gifts. Yay! I love this product because I can't get Aiden to wear shoes and they off within 5 seconds and he's left in his socks, which are always so ugly no matter where you look, well Ella Belle solves that dilemma with their gorgeous socks for babies and toddlers.

We'll be giving away two box sets, one to a precious boy and one to your little princess, sizes 0-12 months.

It's as easy as 1,2,3 to enter and stand a chance to win.

1. Comment on this blog post or if you struggle to do so, pop me an email at jmckaydesigns@gmail.com and I'll add your entry.
2. Go and like Ella Belle's  Facebook Page
3. If you tweet this win or share it on Facebook you get an extra entry.

Competition ends next week Wednesday, wishing you all luck!

My Little Rockstar

Aiden has always loved it when you sing to him or play music but this one song 'Sail by AWOL Nation' really gets him going.

Dear Aiden

In just 3 months time you will be 1 years old! I still remember going to my first scan at a mere 5 weeks and seeing this little peanut shaped being in my body. I remember crying with Aunty Liz when we heard your heart beat for the first time and I remember the joy I felt when the doctor shared you'll be a boy, I remember the fear and the panic attack when they said, 'you in labour, you'll be having your Ceaserian in 40 minutes', I remember when they lifted you up and I saw you for the first time and the world stopped for those few seconds and it felt like a lifetime.

The last 9 months have flown by and watching you grow and change and form your personality have been a true blessing and I wouldn't change any of it for the world. My love for you is endless and the joy you bring to my life is indescribable. You've really changed the last month or so, you turning into a little boy and I can slowly see you changing from baby to toddler.

You started crawling last week, you've been practising for a while now so to see you finally get it right made me cry. You move everywhere now, you investigate and want everything, especially the things you know you not allowed to have. You have an obsession with granny's coffee table and the the steel sides of my couch. You already think you super man and you bump your head more than I would like but you always bounce back and go for it again.

You inheritated my temper it seems, this is going to drive me insane and we going to bump heads about it in the years to come, but I am glad you got it, means you won't take nonsense from anybody and you'll fight to get what you want.

You have your fathers naughty grin and a sparkle in your eyes when you smile. You are a charmer already but as long as you a prince charming then I'll be happy.

You love to bath and if there are people in the room you like to show off and splash and stand up and cause all kinds of chaos that leaves my heart beating at crazy rates.

Your first teeth are finally coming out, we can feel them already coming through your gums. You not very happy about it, you won't eat much and you are rather miserable and you showed just how miserable last night when I jumped into bed and you did a 1,2,3....vomit, all over you, me and our bed.

You love scrambled eggs and aren't fond of many vegetables, I sneak you Coca Cola when granny isn't watching and you'll munch a whole packet of cheese curls quite easily.

You have the most amazing smile and your laugh is contagious, you ticklish in the same spots as your daddy and you hate people touching your feet just like me. You actually look like your aunty's child more than me or your daddy.

You have so many people who love you and you the light in our lives.

Please stop growing up so quickly, I need more time to enjoy every moment with you.

And he moves

9 Months

Ella Belle - TRUMPETTE

If I had a baby girl I would be broke, the clothes and shoes I would buy would be endless, whenever I go and get things for A I always browse through the girls section (no I DO NOT want another baby). I came across Ella Belle through a friend and fell in love with what they had.

They are the distributors of TRUMPETTE South Africa and they sell beautiful baby and toddler socks, accessories and shoes. They are available for pop up parties, baby showers and private viewings. The socks come 6 in a box, they also have the most adorable shoes, stockings and leggings and even bags for you mom.

You can reach Lori Rod on 082 600 8704 or email her loribrad.rod@gmail.com, go have a look and like their Facebook Page.