Buddy, totally original right? But S loves Will Ferrell and the movie Elf so my suggestion of Twinkle got overridden pretty quickly.

We introduced Buddy last year when E was just 2 and lets just say, it was a good idea to start while he was young and not really all over it because it taught us we'd better lift our game for this year and make sure we're on the ball... panicked Elf placement while the other distracts the children is not going to cut it this year.

With this in mind, I've decided to get prepared, did some research and have come up with a list of placements and gimmicks for our Elf along with a purpose.

We love Christmas, like really really love Christmas - our tree has been up since the 8th of November! But the things we love most are the cheer, the giving and the spirit of the season more so than the presents and its really important to S and I that we teach the boys about this.
We want our boys to have a strong social conscience and be aware that while they are very blessed to be spoilt by those around them and want for nothing, others aren't so lucky and its important for them to do what they can to help others, especially at Christmastime.

We have a wooden Advent calendar of little boxes and a hanging fabric one so my plan this year is have Buddy make a big arrival and with him he'll bring a list of tasks for the boys to complete each day of December.
Once they complete Buddy's task, they can check the stocking and see if he's left a treat - a sticker, matchbox car, chocolate elf etc.


The tasks we have this year are:

1. Choose a Christmas book to give to the Wishing Tree
2. Bake and deliver treats to the local Police Station to thank them for looking after us
3. Leave a thank you card and gift to the garbage man for collecting our rubbish each week and always smiling and waving
4. Choose a gift for a little boy and for a daddy to leave at the Kmart Wishing Tree
5. Christmas cards for kindy friends
6. Bake and deliver treats to the local Ambulance station to thank them for looking after us
7. Choose 5 toys and books to donate to charity 
8. Choose and give gifts and thank you cards to kindy teachers for educating us
9. Visit Santa and have a family photo taken
10. Attend Christmas Carols with family
11. Make a donation of food/blankets & toys to the local RSPCA
12. Make & decorate a gingerbread house
13. Write a letter to Santa
14. Go to the park and pick up any rubbish to help keep our environment clean
15. Light candles and talk about great grandparents
16. Choose and take some non perishable food items to a local Christmas food drive
17. Make a list of 3 kind things to do for others before Christmas Day
18. Say good morning to everyone we see and wish them well
19. Visit local Christmas light displays
20. Leave a candy cane on 5 cars at the shopping centre
21. Give swimming coach a thank you letter and small gift
22. Take a cold drink to someone working in the hot sun
23. Donate some money box money to a charity at the shops
24. Buy a bunch of flowers and give them out to make people smile

And for Buddy's morning arrivals from the North Pole so far we have:

1. Decorate the boys' rooms with tinsel, swinging from the end of one piece in Cs room
2. Riding in Mack Truck with snowman drink cups for the boys (from Kmart - $3 each)
3. Sleepover with the Ninja Turtles in Es socks
4. Swinging from the Christmas decorations
5. Popping out of the Christmas stocking that hangs on Es bedroom door - spoilt first child has 2 stockings
6. In the fridge drinking from the boys' milk
7. Riding a reindeer (decoration) on the shelf
8. In the Christmas lolly jar
9. Being eaten by a toy shark
10. Riding the boys' toy train with the animals
11. Camping out in the mini teepee with the Dino Train crew
12. Taking selfies with the Toy Story camera & Toy Story crew
13. Making a snow angel with 100s & 1000s
14. Reading a book in Cs reading corner
15. Colouring in a colour book with crayons
16. Flying with Toothless the dragon
17. Tea party/picnic with Olaf
18. With a rolled up Christmas scavenger hunt for E

and I have to come up with a few more in the coming days. Any ideas or suggestions?

Little early to be posting about Christmas you say? Not really given it's less than 22 weeks away until Christmas Eve and the toy sales are already well underway if not almost over. If you're a long time reader here, you also know that I'm big on lists and organisations so I like to get a jump on Christmas and add slowly over a few months than suffer the mad last minute scramble.

How far along? 21 weeks already ... More than halfway! 

How far along? 19 weeks already ... It feels like this pregnancy us zipping by so far.


Stretchmarks? None so far.

Symptoms: I picked up a nasty bout of gastro this week that literally zapped every resource from me so the tiredness is tenfold now,

Sleep: solid apart from the peak of my gastro that saw me sleeping on the bathroom floor and sitting in the shower at 2am.

Miss Anything? You guessed it, I'd love a glass of sav blanc or Chandon right now! 'Tis the season to be merry and I'm missing out wahhhhh

Movement: busy wriggling babe whenever we get one of Es full blown tantrums... Hoping it doesn't mean I can expect two against mumma in future.

Age: 18 Months ... and oh my goodness, could being a mumma get to be anymore fun than it is right now! I have loved every second with E but at this age there is such an emphasis on fun and play.

We've been shopping up a storm:

Now that's what I call Disney 4 disc boxset
Target festive mason jar sippy
Target dinosaur shaped sandwich cutter - only $3 and the perfect simple way to make sandwiches lots of fun.
More Christmas decorations - got to love 40% off at Target and Myer.


Making Christmas presents - personalised gifts for the ILs from Snapfish. With a 60% off code last week these were all of $10! The perfect stocking stuffers.


Christmas baking! I had to make something to share for Ethan's daycare Christmas party and conscious of egg allergies/intolerance's, I decided to use a cookie recipe that didn't require egg. With only 4 ingredients, these should have been simple but thanks to the sweltering humidity here and the copious amount of butter included, I had to refrigerate the dough in batches for at least an hour before use and roll out with my trusty Tupperware rolling pin (filled with ice water) between grease proof paper. It was a fiddly nightmare and I still have two batches of dough in the freezer as I simply couldn't face working with more of it at the time. Don't even ask what happened to the green icing that should have been included!





Decorating the office and collecting gifts for our charity present drive. I'm beyond thrilled with the support so far and I love knowing that we are helping those who need it most right now. Without doubt, giving is the best part of Christmas.

Making delicious salads with the perfect summer ingredient - pomegranate! Fresh and yummy, this one is just leaves, fennel, spring onion and mint with pomegranate, haloumi and a squeeze of lemon. Simple and refreshing, this salad is a big hit with everyone we've ever served it up to - including my dad who thinks salad should only contain lettuce, tomato, carrot, cucumber and cheese!




Christmas Carols! I'll say it again - Its the most wonderful time of the year! We headed along to the Mayor's carols with my sister, her family and some friends. We all bought along nibbles and blankets and enjoyed a festive night singing all the favourites. Ethan was in heaven with all the music and was on his best behaviour bopping along to Jingle Bell Rock.




Painting and swimming. We broke out the finger paints for the first time and E was a bit bewildered with it all and not too sure about the messy hands. We followed up with some swimming at granddads which is always a big hit!

How far along? 18 weeks



Stretchmarks? Nope - sticking to the same creams as last time.

Symptoms: Tired, so darn tired this past week but just loving life.

Sleep: tired tired tired and still with those wacky dreams that leave strange bruises on me.

Miss Anything? Fetta cheese on my salads and a glass of Sav Blanc to go with it.

Movement: lots of rolling and movement as soon as I lay down to sleep each night.

How far along? 17 weeks



Stretchmarks? No.

Symptoms: Sick from a cold that just won't go and has left me stuffy, snotty, tired and all around pretty average... but great otherwise.

Sleep: tired tired tired and still with those wacky dreams that leave strange bruises on me.

Miss Anything? Oh how I'd love some cold and flu tablets ... or a glass of wine after the long long days in what I aptly heard described as Toddler Town. Our TT is complete with nap refusal and all out tantys making that wine even more sought after.

Movement: definite movements that even Scott was able to feel. It still blows my mind every time.

I haven't shared a shopping update in a while I realised so here goes, these are some of my latest buys:

Bonds had 40% off their online store so of course I  bought up big with Wondersuits, Wonderbundles (how adorable are these too by the way?), singlets and underwear for me. There is a bit a lot of pink in there I know (I just realised quite how much when I unpacked the order) and no, we haven't found out the sex of B2, I just love the prints and figure if we have another boy then these will be great gifts for future nieces or easily returned for boy suitable prints and given my paranoia of never being able to source favourite items again, I just couldn't not buy.

Christmas decorations... I just can't resist buying decorations but I do have strict guidelines around colour (we only use red, green, gold & silver on the tree). I love the little angels from Target and I'm a big fan of the Myer trim shop where I bought the gold leaves and ??? I'm still searching for the perfect wreath though... years of searching in fact has yielded me with nothing I love.

I love Kmart for cheap and cheerful homewares (not as much as my sister but that's another story) and these glass stacking jars are only $15! Yes, $15! Ideal for the bench top or for entertaining, you can use each piece individually or stacked as part of a lolly/dessert buffet, to hold coffee pods as ours is right now or even in the bathroom to hold toiletries, hair bands etc. I sent S out to search for them initially and he tells me he was stopped several times on the way back to the car to ask where he had bought it from so this of course meant I had to race back to the shop to grab another for fear of them selling out and discontinuing them.


Its the time of 40% off sales clearly and Jeans West jumped on the bandwagon. I heard great things about their range of maternity jeans during my last pregnancy but as I have never liked pants or jeans much I didn't other with any maternity jeans last time and didn't miss them. Fast forward a
nd since having E, I now love pants and jeans with a scary number of pairs accumulated in only 16 months. As B2 is due mid May, I expect a pair of maternity jeans will come in handy now given my newfound love for pants so I bought a pair of the Jeans West jeggings in indigo. I've worn them twice already and while I like the fabric, colour etc, I feel they are just a little too thick and honestly, I HATE the over the belly band ... this may change come Winter though so we shall see. JW have also launched a new Juniors range and there are some gorgeous pieces for boys and girls. I have been looking for some denim shorts for E for ages but hadn't found any that were soft and thin enough for our warmer climate so I was pretty pleased when both pairs on offer met my requirements. I also couldn't resist the gorgeous striped tee. The quality seems good in the boys range and the prices aren't too bad, around $25 for a pair of denim shorts.

I have also gone a bit crazy over Christmas pjs for Ethan and bought a near matching pair for E and my niece Lillee at Target (on sale for $10 a pair and great quality) plus the cute little elf ones from Kmart for only $10 along with a Santa sippy cup for Christmas day. I'm still on the hunt however for the perfect Christmas Day outfit and can't find anything that I love that isn't going to cause E to swelter uncomfortably.

How far along? 16 weeks



Stretchmarks? None.

Symptoms: I've still been a bit nauseous some mornings this week but otherwise feeling great apart from a cold that seems to be coming on complete with sore throat.

Sleep: well but still waking tired after 8 hours. I guess that's the norm when your body is busy creating.

Have you told family and friends: oh yes, we aren't that good as secret keepers!

Miss Anything? Yep, pseudoephedrine or even just good old cold and flu tablets to knock this cold on the head.

Movement: still just those flutters around bedtime but no decent kicks yet.

It's safe to say that as far as E is concerned, poor old Santa is a great big fail this year.

Does anyone else have a heck of a time trying to find the perfect Christmas gift for their parents and inlaws? It's never so much about the money for us (although I always have a budget), it's more about finding the perfect gift that tells them just how much we love and appreciate them both now and always.

I usually keep a running list of  gift ideas for everyone eg. My go to for mum is theatre tickets and Swarovski ornaments but sometimes there is nothing showing and none of the crystal appeals. This year has been one of those years. Scott and I haven't had a single idea for our parents ... Until tonight! It all came to me while watching Scott cook dinner funnily enough.

I heard on the radio today (between wiggles CDs) that Dragon were on tour and scheduled to play the Gold COast in 2014 ... You know, the 1980's band that sung 'Young Years' ... Which is also one of my dad and my all time favourite songs. Dad and I share a big love of music, especially all things 80s and have been to many a concert together including The Eagles and Richard Marx to give you an idea so Dragon tickets are completely perfect.

Consultation with my sister led us to deciding to organise a family sitting over our family holiday with a photographer mum loves for her gift. The photographer did my sister's wedding and niece's first pictures so we know his work well. She's been desperate for an entire family portrait, especially since the babies came along so she will love this. Pity the pictures will be out of date come May when B2 arrives but we can always just repeat next year.

The in-laws were proving impossible this year. Never easy to buy for at the best of times, they don't like clutter, have just returned from an OS holiday and have absolutely everything they need. We were tossing up books, box sets and not much else when my brainwave struck! I was thinking of an experience for them when I put two and two together and came up with a full day wine tour with lunch at our very own local wine country, Mount Tamborine. I did some research and found a great one that does pickup, drop off, 2 course lunch and 4 wineries. I can't believe I've never thought of this before as it's right up the ILs alley given they love wine, food, Mount Tamborine... It's perfect.

We are breathing a big sigh of relief tonight knowing that we really have completed all of our Christmas shopping.

How's your shopping going?

We had a bit of an unenviable early start to our weekend when we were woken before dawn by the sounds of E's very laboured breathing. Concerned as he appeared to be struggling for air, we woke him and were greeted by a very sad baby with a harsh seal like cough that frightened him (and us) each time. Poor babe also had a temp spike of 38.6 (not bad considering how many times we've nursed 39+). Whooping cough was the number 1 illness that popped into my head and given it appeared his breathing was affected, we made the decision to head straight to emergency. Luckily it was a surprisingly quiet night/morning and the triage nurse had one listen to E and admitted us immediately saying that we did the right thing bringing him in as he very much needed to be there.

1. Make nuts and bolts - it's an Aussie thing involving nutri grain cereal and curry powder amongst other things.

Christmas for me is ... the most wonderful time of the year ... and yes, I did sing that line as I typed it.

I love the carols, the food, the shopping, gift-giving, preparation, decorations, the sentiment and most of all, I love to celebrate the true meaning of Christmas.

I have collected many decorations carefully over the years and am still building my collection however my favourite most precious Christmas decoration is my Royal Doulton Nativity scene. I bought it a little before last Christmas at a ridiculous good sale price after lusting over it for years. It gave me enormous joy to set up and look at last year in the lead up to Christmas.

This year the nativity scene will be displayed well out of the way of little fingers but its really important to me to teach E the meaning of Christmas the way I was taught growing up. Imagine my delight when I was scouring the internet for Little People sets and came across a Little People nativity scene! At $49.95, it wasn't cheap but I had a gift voucher to one of the online stockists so I couldn't resist buying it for E.

E loves his little people sets and seems to be at an age where he likes sitting 'playing' with them so I can't wait to pull this out with all of our home decorations and explain the scene to him and set it up like mummy's. I feel its a lovely way to share the Christmas message each year with him as he grows and it really makes him a part of the decorating and decorations with his own special piece to be responsible for.

E started daycare this year and has the most lovely educators. Even through drop-off tears he will still put his arms out for either of them which of course warms my heart.

So with Christmas coming quickly and my love for buying gifts, I have been on the hunt for the perfect gifts to say thank you to E's educators for taking such good care of my boy.

I just can't ever go passed Glasshouse candles and the Christmas scented 3 pack is ideal ... because there are 2 carers and 3 candles, I get a little gift too :)