Jikana Damaru

The real birth day

My first born, Maxi-Taxi, was fittingly born the day before mother's day 2004. That first mother's day, clutching my bottle of J-Lo-Glow perfume (LOML comment: I am not responsible for the lad's taste in toiletries), relaxing (Panadeine Forte) with my sleepy (Jaundice) newborn beside me I remember thinking "this is the most content and relaxed I have ever been".

Cue Maxi-Taxi's birthday today.

3.30am
"Muuuuuummmm I've wet the bed again"... "Mum! I've. wet. the. bed. again"... "MUM, ARE YOU EVEN LISTENING TO ME I'M ALL WET".

3.32am
"I love sleeping in with daddy and you, mumma."

3.42am
"It's my birthday when we wake up."

3.44am

"Did you remember that it's my birthday when we wake up?"

3.45am

"Where is daddy going, mumma?"

3.46am

"If I count the sheep, I'll just be bored."

3.48am

"I tell you, sheep are sooooo boooorrring..."

4.46am

"I did some sleeping. Is it morning yet?"

5.31am

"I heard a cockatoo! It's morning! I'm six! DAAAAAD, I'm six now. It's morning, mum, it's my birthday! Mum! MUM! MUUUUUM!!!!!"

Happy birthdays always, little man.

I shouldn't admit this out loud but...

... I went out this afternoon - just for an hour or so - and Granddad was left in charge of Fern, who was sleeping. When I got home, they were sitting in front of the telly and the moment Fern saw me, she burst into tears! Then, she leapt up and into my arms where she (shock! horror!) voluntarily gave me a kiss! And it MADE ME FEEL GREAT.

My daughter rarely displays public sentimentality toward me; indeed there have been times she has blatantly rejected me for her dad/ nan/ cousins etc. I --- sniff --- understand it... I mean, I have only spent 24 hours/ 7 days a week with her for 16 months, shoving my nipple toward her mouth on demand for the first 12 and really, I don't expect anything in return.

Except, say, A BIT OF PREFERENCE OVER ANYONE ELSE IN THE WORLD?!?

So anyway, the fact that my daughter had apparently gotten out of bed and scurried through the house in tears, calling out my name for 20 minutes before she despondently gave up and waited for me made me feel good.

Because my daughter has the ability to make my day, just by that one kiss. Am I shallow much?

Cookies for Mum

It is Mothers Day on Sunday and how perfect would this be - coffee (or tea) and cookies all in one hand. I just spotted these fabulous cookie cutters on a fabulous UK website Cox and Co. There is not a single thing on the website I don't love but these cookie cutters are particularly cute!

lOVE it

I was lucky enough to win a piece of this black oil cloth & I have an idea up my sleeve on how to use it, so stay tuned!

You can also buy this fun cloth here

as Susie also suggests it could be used for a table cloth at kids parties, travelling chalk board for long trips in the car, & it is easy to clean up & re-use.

Brick tiles

Kingswood House

Fulham House

Living Etc

Elle Decor

Kitchen at 1st Option

Hawkes House

Alabaster House

My bathroom

I love the look of brick tiles. When we put a new bathroom in our house we tiled the walls with beveled edge white brick tiles. So, when it comes to choosing tiles for our new kitchen, I am pretty sure I will go for the same white brick tiles as our bathroom. I think it will look nice against wooden worktops and white doors and drawers.

Have a sweet day!

wordless Wednesday

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Committing to the P&C

I'm off to the school's P&C meeting tonight. I'm always amazed at how few parents actually attend these informative and entertaining events. Nothing to do with the content, process or agenda of the meeting, of course. Rather, they're fabulously fun due to the little band of stalwarts who've been attending them since their first born lit up the school back in 1997. I swear some of these parents continued to have children just so their term on the 82 different P&C committees they run didn't have to come to an end...

About committees...

I love those stalwarts, I really do. They're the core group of parents (usually less than 10 individuals) who run the canteen committee, the welcoming committee, the disco committee, the fundraising committee, the grounds committee, the uniform committee... the school, basically. Without them, our children would be attending school in a shed. (Thanks NSW Government!)

But what kind of person joins a million P&C committees in the first place?

I've been to the P&C. I've seen how fast those stalwarts put up their hands to join yet another committee. You've gotta be really, really quick on the up to beat them to the post. They want it. Oh, they'll saaaay they had to volunteer because no-one else put their hand up. But they want it.

I can only conclude (judging purely by the look of them and what they say in the meetings, mind) that they feel loved, needed and dare I say it, powerful. They are doing something that matters, for the children, for the community, for the world.

I love the P&C. It's a very entertaining place.