kateyboo.com

Okay.. it has been WAAAYYY too long between posts! Suffice to say that sometimes life just gets in the way of everything else

Anyway… glad to report that Kateyboo's first birthday party went swimmingly well (does anyone still use the word "swimmingly"?!). I can't believe it took so long to plan, but I finally settled on a theme and went from there. That made life so much easier – so for those thinking of organising your first birthday party (so for birthday party 'virgins'!) find a theme and go from there.

I ended up picking a general color theme, rather than a more specific theme (like ladybirds, or owls etc) as it was an easier concept for me to run with. I settled on a pink and red themed party and once I had decided that, it was easy to come up with decorations and the like.

I did end up making the pomanders as I loved the look of them and they turned out beautifully. A big hit with the moms. We had a plain white cupboard in the entry way which I strung red and pink felt birds (alternating colors) and the most of the food was pink in color (marshmallows, musk sticks etc). The birthday cake was a white rabbit and it was made by my very talented husband – it was his first baking experience so I was very proud!

The biggest hit with the kids was little bubble bottles that I had decorated with alternating pink and red flowers tied around the mouths. The weather in the afternoon was divine so all the kiddies were outside blowing bubbles and running around

I kept the favor bags fairly simple – they were little cloth bags I sewed and handstitched pink felt birds on the front. They were tied together with pink grosgrain ribbon.

When I get my act together I may post some pictures of the party.

How was your experiences organising your first birthday party?

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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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