Happy New Year!!

Well wow, hasn't the time flown!

It has been a few months( 6 actually) since I last blogged which I know is waaaay too long but there have been big changes in our household that have made it really difficult to get anything other than the essentials done. No, no, no, not that, we haven't had a baby!
I've gone from a full time work at home mum to a full time working at a 9-5 job mum.
Whilst I absolutely loved the flexibility of being a WAHM and the opportunities it offered, I was starting to feel like I had lost a bit of me and with little monster starting year 1 in September I felt it was a now or never decision.
I had originally applied for a job in a school not too far from home but after being offered it the reality of not being able to take time off to see the kids performances or taking days here and there not to mention the 8am start(childcare would have been a nightmare) I had to turn the job down....but literally a week later the same school called me and offered me a job in the on-site children's centre - Perfect!
The job is extremely flexible, a 20 minute bus ride from home and what's more the small team of people that I work with are absolutely amazing.
I won't lie, there have been bumps along the way and the biggest heartache was putting little monster into breakfast and after school club, meaning I can't drop him off and pick him up from school everyday but generally this job has brought tons of positives into the household.
We find ourselves appreciating each other more and wanting to spend more quality time with each other, our scheduling has got rather good and I've found that little bit of me again!

I've been here since the end of August now and am loving every minute of it. Finally we have established a routine that works for us and family life is settling back down...for now.

M xx

The Labour of Love Continues

Following on from a previous post And so the Labour of Love Begins here is the update and finale of the project that my daughter and I took on.

After having a few heated discussions about the best way to sew the bag together and what colour thread would work best (amongst other discussions!) we finally got around to cutting the fabric out and pinning it together.

As this would be Mikhayla's first attempt at using a sewing machine I was a little(well a lot actually) apprehensive as to how this would pan out so I dug out the user manual and before I would even let her plug it in she was made to read the entire manual.  What I wasn't prepared for were the questions that my daughter would ask after reading some of the guide, particularly as I am yet to read the manual myself...ooops! 

I have to admit that we did have a giggle at some of the terminology and examples shown in the book as neither of us had a clue as to what was going on! We quickly decided that we would work everything out ourselves and got on with the practical side of it all.

What really surprised me throughout the entire process was unexpected bond that we shared. We realise that although we clash at times, we are in fact a lot more alike than we'd both like to admit. She's confided in me her fears and ambitions, what makes her happy and how she is really feeling about starting secondary school in September.
Although we do talk quite openly, it was nice to be able to spend time alone together doing something that we both enjoyed and creating something usable at the end which will hopefully provide us both with long lasting memories.

So here it is, our bag of love and memories

Mikhayla really surprised me with just how well she knew her way around the sewing machine, so off she went with some scraps and thread one afternoon and lo and behold here are her very own creations, made 100% by herself.

She really doesn't realise just how proud she makes me on a daily basis.

M xx