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I just love these pink paper tissue flower pomanders …

They look simple, yet completely gorgeous! Am thinking of making some of these for Kateyboo's birthday to hang over the food in the dining room.  Not only are they cheap to make, but they look easy (fingers crossed!). Plus I can probably make all the flowers I need in 1 night.

Just have to make one first and see whether I can replicate the ones in the photo… and when the party is over, I can hang them in her room!

Love recyclying!

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It's my bub's first birthday in March and unlike most things in life, I have decided to start planning earlY! (well, relatively early for me!).

I've decided to really put in some effort with decorations and I know that she won't remember it, but it's her first birthday, so milestone worth celebrating.

Some friends have been giving me some great ideas as to favours, decorations and the like and I am really surprised at how excited I am in planning the day for her. I'm not a naturally creative or crafty person and usually don't have the patience, but I have spent HOURS on blogs looking at ideas, beautiful pictures and salivating over the gorgeousness of some of the little handmade items.

I've even taken the sewing machine that my mum has been keeping for me (in the hope that I will pick up the sewing bug) so I think I will be taking a crash course on basic sewing skills. Not sure where I will find the time, but I am excited about some of the ideas I have for her.

I would LOVE for people to send me either some pictures, links or ideas of things that they did for their kid's birthdays. I'm going to steer away from the commercial printed birthday props and instead try and make my own. Unfortunately, I think the food will come off second best as I'm really looking forward to spending some time planning this.

I'll post my thoughts in the next couple of days!

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Well, my maternity leave is up as of midnight tonight  and I can't believe how quickly it  has gone by! It has been about 11 months since I went on leave and going back into the corporate world tomorrow seems like the dream has ended and the nightmare is starting ….

It is impossible for me to express how frustrated I am at having to go back and how much I really don't want to step back into the job that I was doing. Don't get me wrong, the people I work with are fantastic and if I could get paid for just chatting to them and not having to do any other work, then it would be perfect!

I saw a couple of the girls from work last night and the politics, drama and client issues that they were telling me about has made me even more reluctant to face the music tomorrow. I am already having nightmares about going back but until I make some decent money online, this is the only option for now. My only saving grace is that I'm in for only 3 days a week (well, hopefully only 3 days – before I went on maternity leave I was meant to be working 4 days a week but ended up working 5 90% of the time!).

I'm extremely envious of my friends that are still on maternity leave or that have decided not to go back. Angry at myself for not being able to make the 11 months of maternity leave work in my favour and frustrated at having made little headway in what I wanted to achieve.

I've just got to refocus, get back to reality and wake up on Monday morning with a positve attitude and a drive to make this online career a success – for the sake of my family and my sanity!

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I saw a 'news' segment on TV tonight about parent's coddling their babies. From baby helmets, to USB keys carrying around information about your child, we seem to be raising a generation of cottonwool children.

Seriously, when is too much too much?

From banning Big Ears from sleeping in Noddy's house, to changing the words of Humpty Dumpty so that children won't develop a complex about the King's men not being able to put Humpty together again, the world as surely gone mad! Political correctness and parents wanting to shelter their kids from the 'big, bad world' – when will it stop??

It is ridiculous to think that if we wrap our kids up in cottonwool, we will protect them from all the dangers of the world. I mean, what happens when they get their first jobs? Their boss isn't going to stop using red pen just because it might have repercussions or affect their self esteem!

All that will happen is that we will raise a generation of spoilt, pansy kids who are going to get the shock of their lives when they start work in the real world. And then whose fault is that? Come on, let's get real and let our kids experience life – otherwise society will be forever paying for our over-protectiveness.

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I love the thought of having a wonderful, festive Christmas, but with a tiny house with almost no room for a Christmas tree and Christmas being in the sweltering heat of summer, it always becomes too much of an effort.

However, with a new bub, when she does get older, I'm sure we will be putting much more effort into Christmas.

So I was thinking of some ideas of what I could do once Katie is old enough to appreciate the beauty of Christmas -without being overly commercial about it:

• Definitely put the Christmas tree up
• Give the grandparents Christmas drawings/paintings handmade by Katie
• Handmake Christmas gifts and treats for close friends (especially little shortbread stars and gingerbread men!)
• Get some Christmas carols on CD so that we have some festive music in the house
• Definitely get out and about to see the Christmas lights, carols in the park and a sitting with Santa
• Buying a present for the wishing tree (which is a present that you buy for a disadvantaged child)

As much as I can, I would like to water down the commerciality of Christmas and make it all about family, helping others and appreciating what we have.

How are you celebrating Christmas with your family and what are your ideas for making Christmas special?

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