My Big Girl

Mayana is just looking so TODDLER at the moment. It kinda pulls at the heartstrings a bit, my baby is not so much a baby anymore!

But at the same time, I love it because she just gets to be cuter and more fun every single day.

This week has been a week of Big Girl Firsts.

For example; on Friday, we turned Mayana’s cot into a Big Girl Bed. Very exciting.

The first morning, we heard her wake up and make the discovery that she can now climb out of bed! She pulled out books, tried on hats, and played with her toys.

Today, she had her very first day sleep in her big girl bed.

 

I was a little worried that we’d have a battle on our hands to get her to stay in bed. Sure enough, a few minutes after leaving her room I heard her pulling books out of her shelf. I went in, and talked to her sternly; “Right! It is sleeping time Mayana Joy, you need to be in bed. It’s not time to play. Get back into your bed now!”. She quickly scrambled up into her bed and promptly burst into tears! She did not think much of getting into trouble from her Mama! I told her she could have one book to have a look at before she went to sleep. Five minutes later we peeked in, and she was fast asleep, clutching tightly to her book. Funny chook.

She also did her first wee-wees on the Big Girl Toilet. Once at daycare, once at home. We were super impressed at home, because she initiated the whole thing by telling us she needed a wee-wee, and actually producing one when we put her on the toilet! I’m so looking forward to having a fully toilet trained girl, and it’s nice to know we’re heading in the right direction.

She’s just so adorable. I love her to bits.

Well I’m Excited!

Overnight, the number of ‘likers’ at my facebook business page has jumped to 102!

This of course means it’s time for Particularly Zoey’s very first giveaway!!!

You need to get yourself over to my facebook page, and leave a comment on the status update which announces this giveaway. On Sunday evening I will randomly draw the winner!

The winner will get to choose ANY one item from any of the albums on my facebook page – just make sure to read the ‘terms and  conditions’ in the first comment on that status update :)

Good luck!!

I designed…

On special request from my cousin Jessica, I’ve come up with another new creation (I know, I’m on fire right?).

This one is a nappy wallet…

When you first have a baby, you have a massive nappy bag full to the brim with so much *stuff* that you almost need a trolley to wheel it around. As time goes on, you come to realise that you don’t need half of what’s in that bag, and eventually your baby becomes a toddler who no longer needs the other half of what’s in the bag.

And carrying around a massive nappy bag with only a couple of nappies and some wipes is kind of annoying.

So the idea of this nappy wallet is that you can pop in two or three nappies, and a box of travel wipes and a disposable change mat, and put the whole handy package inside your handbag. 

How handy is that?

They are made of a sturdy and durable and, most importantly, pretty fabric, and lined with flannelette (mostly because I had a LOT of it laying around spare).

I’m selling these for $10.00 + $2.00 postage. I haven’t listed them at my madeit shop, because I’ve already generated a whole lot of interest on my facebook page, and that’s a cheaper place for me to sell from.

So, pop over to Particularly Zoey @ Facebook, and have a look! Don’t forget to become a ‘liker’.. we’re 13 fans off our very first give-away!!

I designed…

I have a new product at my made-it store, and I must say, I’m quite proud of this one.

It’s all about practicality, and I know other Mamas will like it because of that. I had the idea the other day when we were out and I couldn’t keep my little Mayana quiet. My little chicken loves to draw, and I knew that if only I had some kind of drawing implement with me, she’d be right!

Hence my new design…

It’s a covered notebook with a built-in crayon pouch! It all folds up and attaches with a strip of velcro, and can be kept in your nappy bag or handbag for easy access.

Cute or what!?

I have a couple of these over at my madeit shop in different fabrics. I’m selling them for $15.00 and that’s including an A5 120 page art journal and 6 crayons.

So pop on over and have a look :) Oh and while you’re at it, go and become a fan of my facebook page. When I hit 100 ‘likers’, it’s time for Particularly Zoey’s very first giveaway!!

Stress Head

So today was the first day of my last semester at uni. That’s right folks, in about 14 weeks or so, this phase of my life will be OVER. It’s awesome. And totally and utterly terrifying.  And the fact that our uni lecturer today announced that we must no longer refer to ourselves as pre-service or student teachers, but as beginning teachers just adds a whole other element to the overwhelmedness I’m feeling (see I’m even inventing words here!).

I think along with the rest of my cohort, my head feels about ready to explode about after finding out what the next 14 weeks hold for me.

I have six weeks of uni, on campus, during which time three assignments are due, and I have a buttload of paperwork and application processes to start going through so that I can, you know, get a job next year.

After that I have six weeks of internship (with two weeks school holidays in the middle, how awesome!). After that we have one week at uni, and two assignments due. And then IT’S DONE!!!!

And how about this… two weeks after that happens, our lease expires and we become homeless! What can I say, my life is crazy.

At this point I’m choosing to focus on the first six weeks of this journey, and then go from there. Because if I think about what happens after November 11 (the date we become homeless), I sort of start to hyperventilate a little.

Wish me luck people!!

She’s Still Gorgeous

We’ve had a pretty lazy few days. I’d like to say it’s because we’ve been soaking up our last few days of freedom, but unfortunately it’s because I’ve been sick. I thought I had missed out on the icky sinus infection that my two loves had suffered over the holidays, but alas and alack, it was not to be. Let me tell you; sinus infections are NOT glamorous.

So suffice it to say that our camera has been less than busy this past week.

Lucky for you, even though I was not, Mayana was (and is) still totally gorgeous, and I did manage just a few snaps for you.

We went for a walk on the weekend and discovered that we have no less than four parks within walking distance, much to Miss Moo’s delight!

I think this is my new favourite photo. They’re watching a little video that we took on our holidays of Mayana playing with her ‘Lala’ (my sister Alexie). She LOVES it and is constantly finding the video camera and wanting to watch it. She cracks up laughing every time.

One day soon, I’ll put that video up on you-tube so you too can delight in its cuteness, promise.

Sorry for the minimal amount of photos this week, but hey it’s all about quality, not quantity, right?

Bye-bye baby… hello toddler!

It seems my baby’s baby days are all but gone…

Little Miss Mayana-Berry is celebrating her 1.5 year birthday today, taking that impressive step into toddlerhood.

And surprisingly, I’m not pining away for baby days. Nope, I’m revelling in this toddler stage. In fact, I’m loving it!

Mayana just gets more beautiful and gorgeous and adorable every single day. She is learning so much, and every day is a new discovery for her. She may still be tiny in stature, but her huge personality more than makes up for it. She has a wicked sense of humour, and more love in her than she knows how to contain. I love getting to know her.

I love the way she drops what she’s doing to run over for snuggles and to shower us with kisses. She’s never short on smiles and she loves to sing.

She talks more and more every day. Her newest word is ‘glasses’, and her among her cutest words are, ‘yes please’, ‘thank you’, ‘w-are you’ (where are you), and when she calls me, ‘my-mummy’.

She loves to sing, ‘The Wheels on the Bus’, ‘Galumph Went the Little Green Frog’, ‘Row Row Row Your Boat’ and ‘Twinkle Twinkle Little Star’, and knows all of the actions.

She’s very caring, and if one of her little friends is sad, she’s always got a cuddle to share and a pat on the back.

She loves to play my electric piano and to draw; most of her time at home is spent doing one of these two things.

This week, she is going into a big-girl (toddler) bed. She won’t sleep in sleeping bags anymore, and is starting to actually stay under the blankets. She feeds herself nearly all of the time, and can wipe her own hands and face after she eats. She tells me when she needs her nappy changed, and points to the toilet door exclaiming ‘wee wee!’ when she wants to have a go on the big-girl toilet.

She really is becoming a big girl. A gorgeous, independent, affectionate and wonderful big girl. My big girl.

I love her a little bit more every single day. And I will never stop thanking God for choosing me to be her Mama.

Love you little Mayana-moo. Happy one-and-a-half birthday.

10 Happy Things

1. Mayana gained 0.5kg over the two weeks we were on holiday. She’s now just over 9kg! (According to the Wii Fitboard anyway, which is generally pretty accurate)
2. We had friends over for dinner last night. It was really lovely, and we should do it more often.
3. I’m going on a movie date with my husband tomorrow, to see Shrek Forever After, in 3D.
4. Tomorrow night we’re going to a concert to see one of our favourite bands, Sons of Korah. They sing the Psalms, and their music is amazing.
5. We made an awesome lasagne last night, with fresh home-made pasta. It was delicious.
6. Making pasta with Pete was lots of fun. We love cooking together.
7. Mayana is the cutest kid in the entire world! She’s starting to talk a lot more, and communicate beautifully – it’s so nice to know what it is she actually wants. I’m LOVING this age, so so much.
8. TV on DVD. Seriously, it’s so much better to watch TV shows like Gilmore Girls, McLeod’s Daughters, Big Bang Theory, Full House & Friends sans the ads. And sans the 24hour-week long period you usually have to wait to see the next episode.
9. Big Bang Theory. It was definitely a good choice of birthday present for me to buy my husband. It is SO funny, and clever, and I just love how every episode makes us laugh out loud.
10. I got featured in the weekly madeit.com.au email newsletter last week. It was so thrilling, and I’ve made quite a few sales at my madeit store because of it, which is very exciting. Watch out Spotlight! I have $$ to spend!

Moments in the life of…

…pretty much the most gorgeous nearly-18-month-old in the whole world.  I’m not that biased. Really. Check her out! [ Discussing important matters of lunch…]

[Either Mayana has become a giant, or that cot was never intended for her…]

[I love you… You love me….]

[Graduated from the baby-type swing. And boy does she hold on tight!]

[This play fort was a display at a home and garden show we went to. Mayana went all gung-ho on us and climbed and slippery-dipped very independently for a lot of the afternoon. The people who were looking after the display were blown away, and said that they’d seen 4 year olds too scared to climb up there. My child has no fear.]

[Case in point]

[Baby likes to dance. This is at the fabulous Rock and Roll Cafe. I’m sure I’ve blogged about it before. As soon as we get there, Mayana likes to dance. Apparently the cool babies dance with their backpacks on. Mayana has a thing for her backpack at the moment, even if it is nearly as big as her!]

[Slow dancing with Stella. It was beyond adorable. She’d watched us danced, and grabbed Stella and held her in the appropriate position and boogied away.]

[Lovin’ the Stella. Stella is Mayana’s ‘sleepy toy’ which she has to have to go to sleep. They love each other very much.]

[Toilet training. The journey has begun. Wish us luck!!]

Amateur Photographer

We were driving home from a trip to Montville whilst on holidays, when we heard a clicking noise from the back seat. I turned around to find that Miss Mayana had taken our gorgeous DSLR camera from its bag, placed the strap around her neck, somehow removed the lense cap, and was delightedly snapping away.

Here is a sample of her sweet skills…

 

50 things...

This week is the 50th Blog This challenge. I have been a bit slack lately, and haven't entered one for a while, but I thought on this special occasion, it was time to get back on the wagon.


To mark this special occasion, the challenge was issued to write a list of 50 things... any 50 things. So my chosen topic is this: 

50 Things I Love

1. God
2. My husband
3. My daughter
4. My future children
5. My family - all eleventy-billion of them. 
6. Hot baths...
7. ... with yummy smelling fancy lotions and potions in them
8. Fabulous books.
9. Great haircuts
10. Stationery
11. Getting invited to people's homes for meals
12. Inviting people to my home for meals
13. Talking about Mayana (hey, she's gorgeous alright, I can't help it!!)
14. Crocheting
15. Sewing
16. Creating in general
17. Making music
18. Listening to music
19. Shopping with my BFFs (aka my sisters and my mummy!)
20. Cooking with my husband.
21. When my husband does the washing up
22. Making and wearing awesome jewellery
23. Other people buying and loving the things I've made
24. Blogging
25. Playing with my daughter
26. Watching my daughter discover the world
27. Hanging out watching TV with my hubby.
28. Getting flowers from my hubby (and yes Peter, if you're reading this, this IS a hint!!)
29. God's beautiful creation
30. Living in Australia. I seriously think it's the best country on earth.
31. New Zealand.
32. Reminiscing on beautiful childhood memories and other special moments.
33. Dreaming about the future
34. Teaching and making a difference in kid's lives
35. Getting distinctions and high distinctions at uni
36. Learning about how to be a better teacher
37. My engagement ring
38. Really good anti-pasta platters (like the one we had at the Berry Farm in Margaret River - I practically salivate every time I think about it)
39. Waking up next to my hunky husband every morning.
40. The smell of rain
41. Having big family get-togethers where we all just go crazy and talk over the top of each other and sing silly songs and laugh until our stomachs ache.
42. Easterfest! And all the crazy sleep-deprived fun that goes with it.
43. Weekend get-aways with my husband
44. Going out for breakfast
45. Movies that make me cry
46. When my husband tells me that I'm gorgeous
47. Knowing that God loves me unconditionally
48. Being pregnant. (And no, I'm not pregnant right now, but I will be again one day, and I LOVED it last time).
49. The fact that my daughter is starting to talk. It's unfathomably adorable, and is going to make life so much easier. 
50. Getting comments on my blog!

And there you have it folks.... 50 things that I love! Now get yourself over to Blog This, and check out the awesome plethora of prizes that could be yours if you too enter this week's challenge!


Later Gaze!

Snap Happy | Happy Snaps

 

Going back a week or so… I made pancakes for Pete’s birthday breakfast, and Mayana surprised us both buy eating four-and-a-half of them! We may have found a new favourite food.

She’s really getting into this whole x-box thing.

Apparently dog-food bowls make a great alternative to roller-skates…

The delicious backdrop to the wedding we went to on the weekend. How glorious is that!!

   The gorgeous bride, groom, chief bridesmaid and best man.

Me and my mummy. And my awesome new hairdo.

This week I...

• Found the perfect bridemaid's shoes for my sister's wedding. She was in Dubbo at the time, so we had this frenzied session of mobile phone photos and phone calls before getting the bridal stamp of approval. It was pretty awesome because there were only 1 pair of size 6 left (me) and two pairs of size 7 (the other bridesmaids). AND they were on sale. 
• Perfected a design for crocheted fingerless mittens/wristwarmers. They're pretty darn cute. (Even if I do say so myself).
• Watched a fair bit of TV on DVD. It's the best way to do it. No ads. I have the complete series of both Gilmore Girls and McLeod's Daughters, and I bought my husband the first two seasons of Big Bang Theory for his birthday. It's our favourite comedy, and it's safe to say that Sheldon would just about have to be my favourite TV character at the moment. It makes me laugh out loud. My father nearly dies of an asthma attack every time he watches it. And he doesn't even have asthma so that's saying something!
• Watched the season return of Packed to the Rafters. Which is pretty much the best show ever. I think every family can relate to them in some way. Everyone seems to love it (at least judging by the amount of Rafters-related facebook status updates on Tuesday!). I love that it's a show about family, where the Dad is not a total tool (that is a pet-hate of mine - how all dads are portrayed as idiots in the majority of TV shows), and where the mum and dad still love each other, and kiss and hold hands (and obviously other things too, judging by the recent addition of little Ruby Rafter.... wah wah wah), and the brothers and sisters have arguments and mock each other but love each other to bits and would fight to the death if an outside attacked one of them. Aahh I just LOVE it!
• Visited My Favourite Hairdresser, and got an awesome new haircut and colour. Yes again. It's dark brown, but a warm-beige based brown, so it still had lots of shades of red and other vibrant colours when I'm in the sun. I've not been this dark before and I have to say I'm loving it. I didn't really get a haircut so much as a fringe cut. The rest of my hair stayed the same. I have now have a quite thick blunt straight-cut fringe. I. Love. It. A lot. It's a lot more high-maintenance than I usually go for - I mean I have to actually straighten it to make it fulfil it's potential as an awesome hairdo, but it's so worth it. I look hot (at least according to my husband, mum, sisters and even brother!!!).
• Went to the toy sale at Big W, and bought Mayana her very first babies. Yes there are two, and I'm now apparently a grandmother to a plastic set of twins, affectionately referred to as, "Mah-Buh-beees" (my babies). Mayana is in love, and carries them around patting and singing to them, and checks their 'nappies' and proclaims, "phooooooooo-ey!!!". She also loves to kiss them a lot. 
• Spent a day doing bridesmaid's duties with my sisters, the other bridesmaid and my mum. We visited the reception venue for a meeting, and then went on a hunt for the perfect veil and shoes.  The veil practically found us, but no such luck with the shoes. Apparently we have to wait for the next season for white shoes to come out. Which I think is pretty dumb, because don't brides need white shoes all year 'round? Seriously.
• Went to Starbucks TWICE! This is pretty much a lil taste of heaven for me. I adore Starbucks, and we don't have one in my town, and the Noosa one went ka-put in the great Starbucks-Shutdown (a very sad day in my family). So it was quite a treat. In case you're wondering, I had a Grande Caramel Mocha, and a Grande Caramel Java Chip Frappucino. And I savoured every last drop. Mmmm.
• Went to a lovely wedding of a friend (actually the guy who was the MC at my wedding). It was in Maleny, at the bride's parents GORGEOUS property. It was outside, with a most picturesque gully as the backdrop, topped off by a brilliant blue sky with perfect whispy white clouds. It was freezing. 11 degrees when the wind wasn't blowing -- and that didn't happen too often, believe you me. The bride and bridesmaid (the bridesmaid was actually the maid-of-honour in my wedding) both had strappy-type dresses, and very large goosebumps. They also wore awesome sneaker-type shoes. The bride had custom-made sunflower ones (sunflowers are the favourite flower of both the bride and groom, and were the theme of the wedding), with their names and wedding date on the backs, and the bridesmaid had funky high-tops. It was cool, you couldn't really see them, but when you're getting married in what is essentially a cow-paddock, it's definitely the practical option. And I bet it made for super-cool photos. The wedding was lovely, and the reception was great. The groom's speech was so darn romantic it bought tears to my eyes. I can't imagine how the lovely bride felt, having it written about her!!! I'm so happy for the both of them, and so very jealous of the MONTH LONG EUROPEAN HONEYMOON they left for today.
• Had a fabulous day at church. My family did the music, and can I just say we sound pretty darn good when we all sing together in perfect harmony (even if my dad is a harmony-stealer). My dad also preached, and did it very well. I'm so proud to be in my family! 
• Enjoyed watching Mayana play with her little cousin Hannah. When I say little I mean that she is four months younger than Mayana, but she is actually bigger in size. They were very cute together, and shared many hugs and kisses. I just hope Mayana didn't share her cold (sorry if she did Lisa!!).

So yes, it's been a busy, eventful, fun week, and so awesome to be spending it with my family!! I love being up here, and can't wait to be a full-time coastie again (fingers crossed!! We're praying for jobs around here somewhere when we graduate, and at the very least we'll have 3 months here).

I hope you enjoyed my update, and I'll have to pop back with illustrative photos (especially of my hairdo and the gorgeous wedding) sometime soon!

I hope you've had a lovely week also, I'd love to hear about it!!

Later gaze...