The Monday Snapshot...

Since I don't really get out much during the week with both kids, I've been looking for fun activities at home to keep James amused. Hopefully in the next couple of weeks I'll find a mothers group that we can join and I'll start to get a bit more confident with both kids by myself, so we can go to the park and our favourite indoor play place.

Until then fun activities for an eighteen month old can be hard to come across. James will colour and draw for a short time but also likes to eat the crayons or coloured pencils, so you have to keep a close eye on him. We are looking at getting a sandbox and cubby house for outside. But until then I came across the idea of a sensory box as outlined on the Play at home Mom blog http://www.playathomemomllc.com/2013/04/50-sensory-bin-ideas.html?m=1

I found a spare plastic box we weren't using and cleaned it out. To start we used just a bit of clean water. James loves water play at daycare and playing with containers and bottles in the bath, plus you can easily get water where soil or sand I'll have to search for. I added a couple of different sized plastic containers, one with a handle, and let James go! It did get a bit messy and when it starts to get cooler here we'll probably have to switch to sand or dirt but he loved it as you can see from the photos!

This is part if PAILs Monday Snapshot. If you want to check out the featured blogger for this week or other things happening at PAIL, follow this link http://pailbloggers.com/category/monday-snapshot/ or click on the PAIL button on my side bar.

Two months...

Patrick you sure have grown in the past month! You are feeding well and are already bigger than your brother at the same age!

We've worked hard on getting some smiles this past month but you don't give them away easily. You are a serious little guy. I can't wait to see what your personality will be like once you get a bit older.

You get tired quickly and don't get much play time in before you get sleepy and cranky. I really have to watch for your tired signs because once you are tired it can take a little longer for you to get to sleep.

James has started to get a bit jealous of you the past few weeks mostly when you and I are having cuddles, but you still get plenty of kisses from him as well! He does try to share his toys with you and I've even caught him trying to share his morning or afternoon tea with you. I'll have to keep an eye on this type of sharing as you are not ready for whole fruit or the odd biscuit yet!

Can't wait to see what next month brings sweet boy. Love always Mumma.

The Monday Snapshot...

I don't get out much. With two little boys it seems too daunting at the moment to get out of the house with both of them. So my outings are restricted to the weekends when BJ is not working. The times I've gone out by myself are mostly to get groceries (not my idea of a fun trip out of the house).

So when an old friend asked if I wanted to go to a food and wine festival, I jumped at the chance to get out among adults doing something I enjoy - eating and drinking! We had a great time sampling food we had never eaten before (duck) and also food we looooove (double choc brownies). We also gave our opinion on some of the wine and cider they had available.

It was a lovely sunny warm day here, for Autumn, so a hat was a must. Here is my fedora and tasting glass as well as a photo of my two little guys! Hope you all had a great weekend!

The Monday Snapshot...

Over the weekend we headed to the local aquarium again. It's pretty much free range for kids to run around and check out the different fish and exhibits there. James loves it so much we decided to get an annual membership, so now we can go for a year without having to pay again!

Here are two of my favourite things to check out when we go. I love the seahorses and a Ne.mo tank you can climb into!

This is a part of PAIL's Monday Snapsot. To check other Snapshots head to http://pailbloggers.com/category/monday-snapshot/ or click on the PAIL button on my sidebar. Hope you all had a great weekend!

Thirty day of Fabulous challenge...

Chon over at Life Begins has taken up the challenge of spending the next Thirty Days being Fabulous! I've been so inspired by Chon's efforts that I've decided to take up the challenge too and see how many fabulous items I can tick off in the next month. I am in need of a few days being fabulous and really need to start putting my health first, if only for thirty minutes a day or every second day.

So to start off I've performed a little pedicure on myself. It's so nice to just cut, buff and put a little polish on my toe nails. It's like a little pick me up!

Tomorrow I'm going to go for a walk by myself, the first in nearly six months! How terrible that I have let fitness go for so long.

To check out Chon's challenge, head over to her blog http://lifeafterinfertility.wordpress.com/author/chon1203/

And here are my toes after my pedicure and the Thirty days of Fabulous challenge items! Have a good weekend!

Family photos...

After James was born I had a newborn photography session done and loved the photos. It's such a fleeting time when they are so small and curly!

So of course before Patrick was even born I had our session booked in. And the great thing was, we would get some great newborn photos of Patrick and some family photos with both kids!

Here are a couple of photos from the session!

The Monday Snapshot...

This weeks snapshot is a belated one from Easter. We had a nice Easter this year just our little family and the in-laws visiting for the weekend. For the week leading up to Easter I was inspired by some baking bloggers to do a little baking and creating. Here are the fruits of my labours. Hot cross buns (a circle version since my square tin wasn't deep enough) and cheesecake filled Easter eggs. Both turned out better than expected and I was delighted with the results! Mmmmmmm. Hope you all had a terrific Easter!

To check out more Monday Snapshots click on the PAIL button on my sidebar!