Nips and picnics

Yesterday I cried before breakfast.
Today I made it until noon.

I had a lovely morning with my crazy little pal. I was meant to be drinking coffee, but ended up colouring and then assisting Captain in a completely bonkers jumping dance, complete with a very dramatic swoon all the way to the floor after each set of bounces. I found this hilarious, and she knew it.

We also did the most un-subtle NIP to date. She started off laying on my lap, but slowly squirmed her way down to the floor. In the end she was doing a little jig, while still latched on. If this wasn't enough, the server came over to ask if a juice box belonged to us. "No thanks, it's not mine", said I, politely. "It's mine!", said the Captain loudly, while still miraculously boobing away. This send me into a fit of giggles. The people who say mamas should cover up while nursing obviously haven't encountered The Captain... Dancing, chatting and devising a juice-box scam while having milk, that's my girl!

Then my friend came in. Another one joined in after a while. We chatted. Unsurprisingly, friend 1 had more to say about my parenting. At this point Captain was running around, making a game of going out of the children's area. I kept getting up and getting her. We were fine. Then came the "Oooooh, she's being naughty today!" To which I replied; "No, she's full of beans, running off steam before naptime and doing no harm!"

This little cloud of negativity upset me just enough for me to open up to the friend who came in later, after F1 left. I told her about how stressed out I've been and how lost I feel with the house business hanging over me constantly. I had a little cry, right there in public. Then I picked myself up again, Captain gave me sleepy wrap snuggle therapy and we had a picnic in the park when she woke up.

Another good day, I learned a lot.

1) A "dance-dance" makes everything better.
2) Talk more to the people who want to organise play dates with you even after you cry at them.
3) Have a picnic whenever you think of it, because two minutes later there could be hailstones.

Fabulous Friday

An Irish woman, an English woman and a Finnish woman walk into a café...

Sorry, I've got no jokes. That was the highlight of my day today.
I met two of my favourite mamas in the world and got to chat about cloth nappies, boobs, osteopaths, wraps and plot a breastfeeding families' picnic. Books were mentioned too, but only briefly.

The kids played together and everyone was happy.

Then myself and the kids went to an indoor play area and had lots of fun. By the time we were leaving, poor little Captain was saying "Wheee, mama, whee!", while barely able to keep her eyes open. Mr. Buttons was sweating and drinking buckets of water. The smaller of the two was asleep within minutes of leaving the place, the bigger spent most of the walk home chatting to his newly found imaginary friends.

I've never seen the two of them happier to get back home. We got straight into our jammies, the kids had dinner and then we just chilled out with books for Captain and some telly time for big bro.

It appears my plan has worked. Both big and little are asleep, while I have managed to stay awake.
Now, to last until take away and some programs without talking animals or fast snails... (Graham Norton, don't let me down!)

Enjoy the start of your weekend!

Happy St. Patricks Day!

Dressing up, with attitude

She saw me wearing the hat and wanted it

I got this on my wedding day and wore it to the afters,

now I have my very own little Irish person to wear it.

How the time flies!

She kept it on for ages, to my surprise

Play dough shapes need lunch too

Climbing before the parade

Skateboard to follow soon...

We had fun, enjoyed the parade and met up with some friends.

When it all got a bit too tiring (read; when the Minion characters went away) the wrap and milkies were there to save the day.

I have learned that parades are better with a small friend and lack of hail.

Hope you had a great St. Patrick's Day!

Girls just wanna have fun (and perhaps some cake)

We were in no hurry to get dressed this morning, so we did some chalk art after breakfast.

I am still finding blue and pink dust everywhere. I did clean up after this, but it didn't help. Turns out chalk dust is like blocks, creeping under things to hide and plot revenge. Tomorrow more will join its' force and I won't sleep easy for the next few weeks...

After a walk into town she was ready for ups and some take away milk.

We had a dinner guest for our girls' dinner in today.

We made an epic spaghetti bolognaise (with a sponge for dessert for the big people)

The we ate, chatted and had a lovely afternoon, which stretched until the evening.

Then Captain said "Peitto!" and went to get our snuggle blanket from behind the sofa.

She likes her little routine, no matter how good the company.

Now I'll go and try to eat some more and enjoy the peace until Captain puts me to sleep again.

Good night!

Mothers' Day

All the goodies

I finally made it to the conference!

I was trying to compose my thoughts earlier in a mind map, but it was hopeless. I'm still floating around after our lovely time inside the bubble.

It was everything I hoped for and so much more.

The love, slings, kids, the bigger kids running around in their jammies, the stalls, the beautiful families; THE ATMOSPHERE!

My big spend

I got myself some presents from the book stall.

Myself and Captain have already read the gorgeous Milky Moments twice. The first read especially was read with a strangely thick, cracking voice. I blame the cold, of course...

I love that we now have a book that suits our way of life to snuggle up to.

The Captain loves looking for the Teddy.

It truly has something for everyone.

After bedtime I started The Politics of Breastfeeding, and will be taking up blood pressure medication tomorrow.

The Breastfeeding answer book was the most practical purchase, but will have a pride of place in my book case nonetheless.

For months beforehand, I was extremely excited about going to listen to Dr. Nils Bergman's talks. I managed to stay through 'A Neurobehavioural Approach to Breastfeeding Including Premature Infants', The Captain had enough after a few minutes of '...Skin to Skin', so we went to the playroom and had fun and chats instead. (And saw the most fabulous dad rocking a pink crown gifted by his child. He was still wearing it hours later and was definitely one of my favourite people spotting targets.)

After coffee break I found someone I know and was told the next talk was about working and breastfeeding. I thought the information would be useful, so I went in. Turns out I went into the wrong room and there was another talk on at the same time. This one was about the LLL philosophy and was titled 'Everything old is new again'. I stayed and listened, laughed and cried, played a hugging game with the Captain and felt happy, strong and empowered. Listening to the amazing, wise Mary Bird was one of the biggest highlights of my first conference experience.

The gala dinner was lovely, like sitting around with a big, funny family.
Seeing all the babies and toddler in slings, on laps, highchairs, sleeping on chairs pulled together.
Captain boobed and slept through it, waking up to applause at the end and getting upset.
I missed Marian Tompson's address, but I can't say I'm too upset. I was snuggling my little lady in a beautiful lobby, multitasking to the max. I also got to see a mama tandem wrap a toddler and a baby for the first time in real life, so how could I have regrets?

The journey home was too tough on my little pal, who isn't a fan of the car, so I decided not to go back for Sunday's sessions. Funnily enough, one of the things that interested me the most about today would have been the Breastfeeding while pregnant workshop, but on Saturday I got the chance to talk to a mama who had fed her toddler through pregnancy and was currently tandem nursing, so that covered that nicely. And Captain could teach BLW workshops, so missing that didn't upset me either.

I came home to cards, chocolate, two men who had missed me and a Hubby who had had time to think. I now have a partner who wants to understand the importance of nursing a toddler. I have gotten the only Mother's day gift I ever wanted!

Thank you for the fabulous weekend, I'll be back next year with the whole family!
Happy Mothering!

Two special days at the end of the week...

It has been the ultimate lazy Sunday. Mr. Buttons had a friend visiting since yesterday morning and the two of them stayed in their jammies all day. Captain needed extra snuggles due to teething, so I put her on my back to get some cooking done. A friend of mine came over for a bit of lunch and numerous cups of tea and made the day even nicer by giving me an excuse to bake something chocolatey...

Teething toddler -tamed by Pomegranate

Quiche for dinner

                                                   And peanut butter brownies for dessert

It was nice to have a day at home just chilling, to balance out our big forest adventure yesterday. We went for a big walk and a picnic, and left phones and cameras home. You can just take my word for it; it was fabulous. I feel ready for the week ahead after such a refreshing weekend!

Rain, rain, go or stay...

Today we had some rainy day fun and called around to a friend's house for a play date.

This was our first time visiting her house, and it was interesting to see how differently the girls behaved in a new situation. We usually meet up in a café and the little ladies have more space to roam around in a neutral venue. This time the issue of sharing came up.

I'm a believer in not forcing sharing. When they're too small to understand the concept and don't particularly care about how the other child feels about not having a turn, no amount of talking is going to make a difference. So every time Captain picked up a toy, her friend would growl and snatch it off her hands. Surprisingly, Captain would just give it to her and go find something else. (At home, with her brother, she usually stands her ground) The same thing happened again and again, and she started getting upset, so I picked her up. We played a few clapping games and Captain had some milk, eventually falling asleep. Her friend went for a nap too, so us mamas got to have a chat. It was lovely and relaxing, and I feel I got to know my friend better too.

After that it has been a nice day full of rainy day things. Stew, fire, coloring, playing pretend and after-bedtime chilling out. Scout night is my television night, so I've been enjoying cooking programs and endless cups of de-caff coffee.