Jar of YumBums...told you the packaging was cute!

I also used some on my own Eczema after having over-indulged in chocolate over the Easter period and breaking out all over face, eek!

The balm is organic and formulated by a practicing naturopath, Gali Lenko, based in Melbourne. Looking at the ingredients list, it contains some awesome organic ingredients that are indeed very healing and soothing for troublesome skin – calendula, olive oil, licorice root, beeswax, chamomile and goldenseal. These ingredients have anti-inflammatory and anti-bacterial properties. It’s totally free of anything artificial, no synthetics whatsoever. Cute packaging, too.

How it looks immediately after application

How it looks inside the jar

This really is very effective and I’d recommend it to anyone wanting a natural solution to problematic irritated skin. If you’re interested, it can be purchased online at YumBums.com.au.

[I received this product for review as part of Nuffnang Product Talk]

My husband and I, who both worked as disability support workers for a number of years, had a discussion about this at length recently. I decided to share my thoughts here, because, while it might seem out of place on a girly/mummy blog, if I have useful or helpful information to share then it seems right to share it, and the disability industry is one that will always be a part of my life and close to my heart.

Working in the industry has given me a wealth of experiences that have changed my outlook on society. In my first year I had the opportunity to play the role of a “client”, a person with a disability, a non-verbal person who uses a wheelchair. This experience was profoundly eye-opening. It was then that I understood (as much as a person can, when they can hop up and start talking again once the roleplay is finished) how it feels when people behave with insensitivity and inconsideration.

Here are some things you can do to be more respectful towards people with disabilities, particularly people who use wheelchairs.

I'd like to believe that most of you guys already know this one.

Don’t talk across people’s bodies. When you’re in a wheelchair and others are standing, you’re naturally “shorter” than most people. When I was roleplaying a person in a wheelchair, I was pushed into an elevator by my two “staff” who then proceeded to stand either side of me and have a conversation over the top of me. This felt awful! It made me feel invisible. This was a huge timely eye-opener for me, because up until then I had sometimes engaged in idle chit-chat with co-workers across the change table (and the client’s body!) whilst providing personal care for clients. This is SO rude. Engage the person, even if they are nonverbal, talk to them. They’re NOT invisible.

And when you do talk to them, don’t stand over them and look down on them. It makes people feel small and can be intimidating and belittling. Kneel or sit down so that you can talk face to face!

Don’t move people around in their wheelchairs without telling them what you’re doing. I see people doing this all the time in public. Usually it’s people pushing their relatives or friends, but it still looks inconsiderate. How would you like it if you were sitting or walking somewhere and someone suddenly came up behind you and started shoving you someplace else? You’d ask them what the hell they were doing, surely.

Calling someone a “wheelchair person” or a “Down Syndrome kid” is not okay either. Don’t define a person by their disability or medical condition, they are a person first and foremost. I cringe when I hear people call my husband “an Epileptic”, for example.

Baby voices are unnecessary. People with profound and visible physical disabilities don’t always have any cognitive impairment, so you don’t need to talk to them like they are 2. And even when people are intellectually affected by their condition, never underestimate their life experience. Don’t speak to someone like a 5 year old if they have 44 years of life experience, you owe them that respect. Sure, it’s a great idea to adapt your language and use appropriate concepts for their level of understanding, but never talk down at someone.

Wow, I’m on a roll now, huh?

I have also had the opportunity to experience how it feels to be assisted at mealtimes – yup, spoon-fed. If you ever have to do this for someone, for the love of God, let them enjoy their meal. Give them time, or wait for an indication that they’d like more. When you eat, do you just shovel spoonful after spoonful into your mouth repetitively? No. You give yourself time to enjoy and taste each mouthful. I actually have tears in my eyes writing this, because I have seen non-verbal clients for whom mealtimes are a mechanical and robotic event, just another mere chore on the to-do list of their carers. Enjoying food is a privilege that everyone should have, not just able bodied people.

Lastly, don’t deskill people. If there’s someone in your life with a disability, encourage them to maintain and develop their independence. Be empathetic and understanding, but don’t allow them to lose valuable skills by doing everything for them out of the kindness of your heart. For example, if someone uses a wheelchair, don’t push them absolutely everywhere if they’re capable of doing it for themselves. Allow them to develop and maintain muscular strength in order to be mobile as independently as possible.

Like I said, I didn’t really plan to write this post and it’s a bit random, but I hope maybe someone will take something from it and it will benefit someone in their lives, even if it’s just someone they meet in the street one day.

I’m so excited for Easter this year! Blake is 2 and a half now (33 months, if you want to get specific) and it’ll be his first Easter where he can fully appreciate the fun of hunting for eggs, doing cute art projects and generally eating like a pig for a few days. He understood the concept of the egg hunt last year, but he needed a bit of guidance. This time it’s going to be a lot more fun and he’ll be far more into it.

Here’s some of the things we do during Easter…
(Sorry about the awful photo quality in this post; I took these photos while the kids were in bed so it’s dark and I used my iPhone!)

One of the plastic break-apart eggs, so handy!

Eggs for breakfast! This year I picked up some egg cups for the boys to use on Easter Sunday morning so they can have an Easter-themed brekkie. We definitely have eggs coming out of our ears at the moment; we’re getting 5 a day from our 5 chickens, so we’ll be doing the morning egg collection and having eggs for breakfast. Not that that’s unusual around here.

Little egg cups

We also paint eggs on Good Friday and stick them onto cardboard wreaths to hang over the rest of the holiday. We use a skewer to put holes in both ends of an egg and blow the whites and yolk out, so we’re left with an empty egg to paint. Paint them white first, so that the colours stand out more. If you don’t want to use up good eggs (do it when you’re going to bake a quiche!) then you could alternatively use the plastic eggs I mentioned earlier.

Crushed up egg shells dipped in food colouring to brighten them up can be stuck on paper with glue to make an interesting textured picture, too.

Now that Blake’s older I also want to get him involved in a baking project to take with us on Good Friday. I read a recipe that involves making cupcakes, topping them with a few small chocolate eggs and using a strip of licorice to make a handle for the “basket”. I’ll let you know how that goes with a little toddler in charge.

Bunny ears!

On Easter the boys will get a small toy each too, so I intend to arrange the Easter egg hunt in such a way that their gift will be found at the end of the trail.

I can’t wait! I’m actually surprised that I’m so excited for Easter this year, usually it’s just another holiday to me. Kids really do make everything so much more exciting. What are your Easter traditions? Kids or not!

Pretty birthday flowers!

It was my day of being born last week! I turned 24 and had the best birthday I’ve had for a while – maybe because for my 21st and 23rd birthdays I was 5-6 months pregnant. I got extremely spoiled; Daniel bought me flowers, an awesome-o Lush haul (that I made a vlog about, as seen below), a Nintendo 3DS and a few games, as well as some Everloc organization products for the bathroom that I have been coveting.

Yup, I'm an organization addict. A shower caddy for a birthday gift! Stay tuned for more blog posts on home organization, by the way.

We spent most of the day together as a family though and we went to the Annual Colonial Fair at Richmond. I’ll admit, that wasn’t exactly what I had in mind when I was planning my birthday events, but it was so fun! Blake absolutely loved it and had his first pony ride there – I was so proud of him! He adores animals and he looked like a real little farm dude all propped up on the “horsey”. He loved it! Here, have a video.

Little Byron, a big 10 months old now!

I organized our kitchen cupboards a couple of days ago and took some photos to share with you guys. We have a very narrow kitchen with very little storage space, so I thought I’d share some tips that I used to keep it organized.

See? Such an awkward kitchen.

Another view

We have barely any storage at all in this house. Our under-the-sink cupboard is basically the only space we have, aside from 4 drawers and our pantry.

This is what was left after we'd given lots of things away!

We don’t have a dishwasher so avoiding lots of dirty dishes is really important for us, so to avoid people just going to the cupboard and taking out more and more dishes while the sink piles up, I removed all but 4 of everything. I figured that’s about all we really need, and I packed up some others into a storage crate incase we have any dinner guests one day. But for now, they don’t need to be kept with our everyday dishes. Now the only things in our cupboard are things that we actually need and use.

Cupboard after tidying, kids cups inside containers to group together, and only 4 of each "like" item

With all the duplicates removed, our drawers are much tidier and I’ve used small baskets to group items together inside.

A drawer insert for the cutlery helps keep everything in order

We have very limited bench space and cupboards, so I put our buffet next to the kitchen bench to provide a bit more space. I now have space to keep my favourite recipe books and a bottle feeding station which helps me keep cans of formula and bottles off the kitchen bench.

Yay, recycling!

Speaking of cans of formula, I recycled one to use as a utensil holder.

Normally this has the potential to be strewn all over the kitchen table...

Temporary utensil hooks (we're renting!) and Daniel's medication basket

I’m going to ask our landlord for permission to put up some floating shelves on the wall as there’s a lot of wasted, empty space there. I’ll keep you posted!

And this would be how I manage to get things done around the house...!

Psst, I also wrote a post on organizing the kitchen pantry!

This is a post sponsored by Nuffnang, however I chose to accept the opportunity to blog about this campaign as it is something that I personally found eye-opening and a good reminder even for myself.

It’s been well over three years since I had my last routine pap smear. I didn’t even accept one at my post-partum check-ups, saying that I’d have it done later (I was still bleeding). Every time I go to the doctor’s clinic and a smear is offered, I find myself declining. Not because I fear the procedure – it’s just a mild discomfort – but because I don’t feel that my most intimate area is…well, presentable on that particular day. Maybe I didn’t have time to shower, maybe my legs look hairy enough to rival my husband’s, maybe my lady-scaped lady garden is a little unmaintained. We all know that doctors see it all and don’t particularly care, but I fret all the same.

“I’ve had so many patients who have postponed having a Pap test, usually out of
embarrassment, only to return an abnormal result when they eventually get around to it. Then of
course they kick themselves because the earlier you detect an abnormality, the better the
outlook,” – Dr Ginni Mansberg, 7 Network’s resident doctor

I’m not alone! A survey conducted by Newspoll this year found that 97% of women who do have pap smears undertake some kind of personal grooming before going to have a pap smear. 28% of Aussie women who have pap tests “tidy up” or wax/shave their bikini line. 37% choose special underwear! Unfortunately, I’m also one of the whopping 40% of Australian women who don’t have regular pap smears every two years. The results of this survey have been a stark wake-up call for me, as 700 women are diagnosed with cervical cancer each year and 4 women lose their lives to the disease every week in Australia. 80% of those women didn’t have regular pap smears. 80% of those women didn’t have regular pap smears.

Another occasion for which women typically primp and groom themselves is fast approaching – Valentines Day. The Australian Cervical Cancer Foundation is promoting a smart idea this month – book a pap test some time around V-Day (excuse the pun!). Many women will be wearing those “special” knickers and getting their legs waxed (37% of Aussie chicks will wax/shave their legs for Valentines Day and 21% will groom their bikini line) so what better time to spare a thought for your most intimate, feminine parts and make a date with your doctor?

“By setting a Pap test date around Valentine‟s Day, it‟s is an easy reminder and a great
personal commitment to yourself. Personal grooming is a special priority for many women on
both occasions, so it means they‟ll already be feeling and looking great, and the experience will
be done and dusted for another two years!” – Dr Mansberg

This is a timely reminder for me and I’m sure it is for many other women who may have been putting off the test too – there sure are a lot of you according to this campaign. Go book yourself one now, ladies!

“Admittedly not as pleasant as a pedicure, a facial, or a body wrap, but a Pap test is as much
about looking after yourself as a visit to your beauty therapist or local spa! But most importantly,
Pap tests can be life-saving. They are the best way to find the early stages of cervical disease
which could one day turn into cancer if left undetected or untreated,” – Dr Mansberg

Whew, it’s hot this evening! I checked my thermometer outside earlier in the afternoon and it said it was 35 degrees celsius in our backyard. This post is actually supposed to be a somewhat belated introduction to our newest additions – the chickens. One of them is so hot at the moment she’s wandering around with her beak wide open and her wings raised, so we just went out and watered them (read: hosed them down).

Anyway, meet Daisy and Lola!

Daisy foreground, Lola background

We found Daisy, who is clearly a hen being raised for her meat because she’s frankly quite the lard arse, wandering along a busy street with cars tooting at her every five seconds. We spent a while chasing her and finally caught her and asked around to see if anyone had lost a hen from their flock, which no one had. So we decided to keep her.

Which brings us to Lola, who was “adopted” from a local egg farm. She’s a fantastic layer; you can tell this by the fact that she looks…like crap, basically. Apparently good egg layers look a tad mangey because they spend all of their energy poppin’ out the eggs and they don’t groom themselves. So yes, Lola will lay twice or thrice a day. Nothing like going out to collect a fresh egg in the morning for breakfast, Blake loves it.

Blake proudly showing off one of his eggs...

Daisy, on the other hand, lays an egg every second day and a small one at that. I get the impression that she’s an older hen and she was clearly being fattened up. She’s in perfect condition and spends a lot of time preening and grooming herself. Both hens are quite tame and entertaining to watch. Blake loves them, he loves hand feeding them and finds it particularly hilarious when they mistake his chubby little toes for grubs and peck at them.

Feeding the chickies

We built them a coop. It’s a work in progress, it doesn’t have a functional door yet which is why there’s scraps of board up against it and the blanket is to provide a bit of shade, because today the sun was streaming in there. There’s a wire roof, too. We have a massive backyard though and really the coop is only just for overnight use and until they get used to it here.

Nearly completed chicken coop, just needs a door!

In other news, Byron now has three teeth (bottom right and both incisors) which make him look like an adorable little vampire baby, but Twilight has ruined the idea of that for me. He’s crawling; the same bizarre version of “The Worm” that Blake was once known for. Lots of things are changing this year, it’s actually amazing how as soon as 2012 hit, things started happening for us. Big changes are ahead, mostly concerning finances and occupation…I’m nervous, excited, relieved, but mostly massively excited.

Total bliss, can we just ban Autumn from ever coming?

This Summer has been a blast and I intend on making the most of the remainder of it, I just hope the warm weather holds out. There’s absolutely nothing like swimming in the sea – me and Blake love it, whilst Daniel and Byron sit on shark-watch on the shore, the delicate little petals. Byron screams the second his toes touch the sea. So does Daniel, to be honest.

Anyway, I hope you guys are all enjoying your Summer too! And all you folks in the other hemisphere, this is what you’ve got to look forward to, right!?

All you need is love...

My first son walked at 10 months old.

He met all milestones early.

Neither of my sons have experienced any serious illnesses.

They have great immune systems.

My second son is in the 95th percentile for weight and the 60th for height.

He’s been sleeping an undisturbed 10 hours straight and has been doing so for months.

I held both of my sons close and looked deep into their eyes while feeding.

I like to wear scarves for Byron to fiddle with during feeds.

He falls asleep in my arms as he feeds and we cuddle for a long time.

Feeding time has always been a deeply intimate bonding experience for us.

***

Do I sound like a breastfeeding mother?

I’m not. I formula-fed both of my sons; my second son was fed primarily from a bottle right from birth.

I am tired of the shame. I felt so
much guilt and shame for not being able to breastfeed my children. The way the lactation consultant patronized me when I couldn’t do it, the way she said “Well there’s obviously something wrong with you” when my blistering and blackened nipples failed to produce more than a mere drop of milk despite the constant expressing…it filled me with a sense of failure. And what for? My babies, as noted above, have achieved everything that breastfeeding mums give themselves credit for because they were lucky enough to breastfeed. But when my babies achieve it, I can’t congratulate myself. For me, it’s just the luck of the draw that my kids thrived so well despite the lack of the boob.

Is it jealousy, the reason why I feel a pang of annoyance and even offense when I read tweets like “My baby does [insert awesome thing here], it’s the breast milk!”? I think to myself…well, no, my baby does that too. I see people retweeting anti-Formula tweets about a baby’s death due to bacteria found in the formula; “This is why I don’t formula feed” they say, but no one ever points out that children have died after breastfeeding too, for example when the mother has taken narcotics. Freak accidents. Both incidents.

And if it is jealousy driving my feelings when I read such things, why am I jealous? My babies are content and thriving, we enjoy
each other’s skin-to-skin and eye-contact every time we feed, I have nothing to envy. Nothing but the admiration and approval of our very pro-breastfeeding society. I envy that.

I’m an awesome mum. My kids are awesome kids who achieve milestones and thrive. I always give them the best I’ve got to give and sometimes, breast is not best. I tried. My first son lost significant amounts of weight and wailed with hunger whilst I sat around crying and overcome with failure and depression, forcing him onto dry and infected nipples. I refused to put myself or my next son through that again the second time around and simply gave him my colostrum along with formula from Day 1. Both children thrived on formula. Why do I feel so ashamed and guilty?

I think society could use some more support and understanding for those mothers who cannot breastfeed, or those who chose not to. There’s nothing more hurtful to a mother than it being implied that she is not doing the best for her children. All these “breast is best” campaigns, they make us breastfeeding “failures” feel like second-rate mothers.

Think about it like this. To me it’s just as hurtful as if someone put “Vaginal is best!” posters all over a delivery suite. Yes, we all know vaginal births are the least risky and most ideal way to give birth. But some women can’t do it and some women exercise their right to just plain choose not to do it and have a c-section instead. But the consequences of their choice or inability isn’t constantly rubbed in their face in the media simply for the sake of making the mothers that COULD do it feel great about it…and the mothers that couldn’t feel shamed and hurt.

Sometimes it’s not a choice.

And so what if sometimes it is? Do women not have the right to make choices related to their own bodies without being guilted or shamed?

I don’t have time for a big recap of 2011 at the moment and will probably get around to doing one eventually, but for now (before it gets too late already!) here is a survey that I completed on the year gone by.

1. What did you do in 2011 that you’d never done before?
Got married, gave birth in a public hospital, drove alone with Daniel at the wheel (he got his license after being seizure-free for some time!), participated in a Pride march, went to lots of new places in Northern Tasmania, went to drag queen shows, went clubbing regularly, personal stuff related to the bedroom…winky winky! And some other personal things that needn’t be online.

2. Did you keep your New Years’ resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
My New Years’ resolution was to avoid drama, end toxic friendships and behave more maturely, not be influenced by others into lowering myself to their “level”. I kept that resolution and continue to stick by it. My New Years’ resolution this year is to manage my finances better and to behave more responsibly, sucking up the concept that as an adult I must often do things I don’t want to do.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Myself and my cousin’s wife

4. Did anyone close to you die?
No

5. What countries did you visit?
None, unfortunately!

6. What would you like to have in 2012 that you lacked in 2011?
More of a sense of direction and money-management

7. What date from 2011 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
1 Jan 2011, my wedding date. 25 May 2011, the date my second son was born.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Getting married to a man who is everything I could have ever hoped for, someone who meshes with me and just plain makes life better.

9. What was your biggest failure?
Living “in the moment” far too much. Making rushed decisions and focussing more on the pleasure of instant gratification rather than considering any future consequences.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Not that I can remember. I did have low blood pressure throughout my pregnancy that resulted in a lot of fainting spells, sometimes in public and one resulted in an ambulance trip into hospital.

11. What was the best thing you bought?
My iPhone 4 and a new laptop.

12. Where did most of your money go?
Rent, baby gear, and stupidly…a lot of roadtrips around the state, petrol, drinking.

13. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Getting married, having another baby boy, the Summer

14. What song will always remind you of 2011?
Million Dollar Bill by Whitney Houston, the Freemasons remix…because I really love dancing to it when we’re out at the club, I literally run onto that dancefloor when I hear it!

15. Compared to this time last year, are you: Happier or sadder? Older or wiser? Thinner or fatter?
Happier (I’m married, have two exciting little boys, live in a comfortable and stable home, and I cut the dead-wood out of my life near the beginning of the year). I’m wiser (I learned a LOT from my mistakes this year), thinner (I lost around 20kg! Yay!)

16. What do you wish you’d done more of?
Saving money, working

17. What do you wish you’d done less of?
Not trying hard enough to be at work, often if we had conflicting schedules and no one was available to watch the kids, I’d take that as an easy excuse to not go to work. I could have tried harder to make more of an effort. This year, I’m going to take on every single shift. Money is the priority for 2012.

18. How did you spend Christmas?
With family at my mum and dad’s house.

19. What was your favorite TV program?
I didn’t really have one, but I watched Home & Away regularly

22. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?
Nope!

23. What was the best book you read?
Speedcleaning by Shannon Lush…changed the way I look after my house!

24. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Modestep!

25. What did you want and get?
An iPhone, a laptop, a new stereo, Pokemon White, a husband and a baby, lots of stuff, really!

26. What did you want and not get?
I’m desperate to get Skyrim

27. What was your favorite film of this year?
Melancholia and HP7P2

28. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I was 23 and I can’t really remember what we did! I know we had a really nice dinner with family and I got an awesome massage.

29. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
More travel, but we did do a LOT of that this year anyway. We just need our finances to be a little more stable before we can do any more extensive travelling. I would have loved to have seen my sister more throughout the year (I only saw her at my wedding all year). More money would have changed things immensely for the better!

30. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2011?
Definitely a lot more revealing and bordering on a wee bit trashy when I go out, as I lost a lot of weight. Lots of fishnets and lace and tight dresses. For casual clothes, I wore a LOT of black. Contradicting what I said in that first sentence, I’m a little more conservative (in a casual setting) than I was in 2010 – I dye my hair more natural colours now and removed all of my facial piercings.

31. What kept you sane?
Going clubbing and having date nights alone with Daniel. It makes me retain my identity amongst the demands of motherhood and it’s fantastic for our relationship. Having fun together is so important for us.

32. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Dita Von Teese

33. What issue stirred you the most?
Marriage equality, animal welfare issues

34. Who did you miss?
No one, really. Like I said, I would have loved to have seen more of my sister but she has lived interstate my whole life anyhow.

35. Who was the best new person you met?
Oh, tough question! I have met some incredible new people since we started going out to the same club regularly. I’m very happy to say that this year I’ve made more friends than I have in any other year; it’s been a very social year for me.

36. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2011:
Don’t be tempted by instant gratification and getting pleasure in the here-and-now, think hard about your future and where your decisions will lead you later down the track. Suck up unpleasant obligations for the sake of the greater good.

A belated Christmas post! Christmas 2011 was Byron’s first Christmas, at 7 months old. It was Blake’s third Christmas, him being 29 months old (wow!)

Blake was so excited in the lead-up to Christmas. It was all about the “crissmix twees” this year, he loved them and pointed them out wherever we went. We even had a bit of a scare when he nearly did a mad dash across a road to see a real one up close in someone’s lawn, which wasn’t even a Christmas tree, just a random undecorated pine. We had to pull him back by his shirt!

We went Christmas lighting this year which was a bit of a failure as it doesn’t get dark until 9pm here during Summer and both children were so tired (Byron slept through it entirely). Blake was half-asleep and let out a half-hearted “Wow, crissmix lights, niiiice”…I think he thought he was dreaming.

We spent Christmas morning at home just with Blake’s grandparents and had our now traditional Christmas breakfast of French toast and eggs after unwrapping some gifts. Also now traditional is the wearing of Christmas pajamas to bed on Christmas Eve and throughout the morning! It’s adorable. Next year I want to get some adult ones! Blake opened lots of Little People toys from Santa this year and spent the morning playing with his Wheelies ramps. He is also very keen on puzzles with an amazing memory, so he played with his new ones and I quickly learned the ones I had bought were far too simple.

We spent some time alone at home after breakfast before going to a traditional Christmas lunch with the family. Blake and Byron opened lots of gifts from aunts, uncles and great grandparents! Byron, who now eats four solid meals a day, had ham and potato and roast vegetables pureed for his lunch and he loved it so much that he grabbed for the spoon and whined between each mouthful, because he wasn’t being fed fast enough! Blake also loved his lunch and clearly felt very grown up eating at the table with the adults.

It was magical this year, watching Blake rip into his gifts and thank people for them, so excited. He would often reach for a gift and we’d say “No Blake, that’s Byron’s” and he would say “Oh! Dere Bubble!” and toss it towards Byron. Then, upon seeing Byron couldn’t open it, he’d open it in front of Byron and say “Wow Bubble look!”…I’m serious, this stuff is seriously heart-warming for a parent. Blake and Byron were absolutely mesmerized by the decorations and lights, too. I’m so excited for next year because I’m positive Blake will know and remember what exactly “Christmas” is and will probably even understand the concept of Santa.

This year we asked him if Santa (who he recognizes and associates with Christmas) was going to drop off gifts for him, at our house. He looked horrified and said “No mummy! No Santa. No Santa thank you please mummy.”

We also asked him if he wanted to leave some biscuits and milk out for Santa and the reindeer and I swear he nearly laughed at the idea of leaving good food outdoors. “Noooo” he said. “Noooo” in his deep little “Don’t be so silly” voice.

Playing with new toys at Nanna's house

Daniel and I both had a magical day at Christmas this year. Children bring all the magic and joy back into the holiday season for an adult, it’s truly a thrill! I can’t wait until 2012′s Christmas and dread tomorrow when I will have to take down the decorations and the tree, much to Blake’s dismay – and Byron’s, as he will no longer be able to tear the baubles off for teething relief.

So, merry Christmas and a happy new year to all! How were your holidays!? I will upload some more photos from Christmas to my Flickr album soon. For now, I’m off to celebrate my first wedding anniversary!