We are back

So if you follow our blog, you may have noticed that we have been off the radar for a good few weeks. This has been for a number of reasons but mainly due to my depression rearing it’s ugly head.

It’s been a extremely tough few weeks and I lost all interest in everything I use to enjoy including the blog, but I’m happy to say that we are back and ready to bring you weekly news of Moonpie, new book reviews, recipes and mummy stories. We got some new ideas for the blog and some exciting updates to share and we really hope that you will continue to follow our journey.

 

The bidding rant

We have been in emergency accommodation for over a year now and while at the time it was a god send, I’ve just had enough of the constant knock back from bidding for a permanent home.

We leave above a garage in a one bedroom flat, moonpie room is actually the front room too, we are plagued by constant drilling and noise from 8 in the morning to 10 at night some days … on top of that there a car body workshop behind us so we can’t even have the windows open at times because of the paint spraying.

I’m up every Wednesday night, bidding on council houses as soon as the site opens only to end up bottom of the queue by Thursday morning, it’s just pointless and disheartening.

I must sound so selfish because there are many people in a much worse situation but I want a home for my daughter, I want her to finally have some stability in her life, we could be move from this flat at any time if the landlord decides to sell or withdraw the property from emergency accommodation, I don’t want my daughter to keep being moved around from pillar to post for most of her childhood.

I have been on the councils case constantly but they just fob me off with excuses we are meant to be a priority case yet it feels like we have been pushed to the side.

I just hope at some point this year we are offered a permanent home.

Moonpie’s book corner – Little Lost Dragon

So this week for book corner we’ve chosen Little Lost Dragon to review. I bought this book as a gift for Moonpies first birthday, I absolutely love anything to do with dragons or unicorns (hence why luna has a huge collection of plush unicorns and dragons) so I thought it would be one we would both enjoy.

Little Lost Dragon 

The tells the story of a baby dragon and his journey to find his family,  home and who he really is. Throughout his journey he comes across many different creatures and travels through oceans, jungle, swamps and the icy tundras.

The book is beautifully illustrated, however it’s not quite as brightly coloured as some children’s books we’ve come across. It’s a short story but quite wordy at times, moonpie did lose interest half way through  so I think it would be better suited for older children  (3 -7.)

Overall Little Lost Dragon is a lovely story with beautiful artwork and short so perfect for a bedtime story. But it’s definitely a book for older children.

🌛🌛🌛

Three out five moons from us.

Update : Moonpie walks !!!

we are taking part in the little leaps linky which is all about celebrating all things developmental.

So this week we hit a big milestone, moonpie finally took the leap and is walking around!! She’s still quite wobbly but she’s mastering walking across the room and is so proud of herself and loves showing off her new skills to her daddy.

There’s just no stopping her now, she’s a fully fledged little person, I’ve blinked and my baby’s gone, I’m so blessed to be her mummy, yes it’s such hard work but the rewards are just overwhelming.

In typical moonpie style she won’t be satisfied until her new skill is mastered completely,  then it will be on to the next one.

Mama Moonpie’s kitchen – tomato and bell pepper pasta sauce

Another new weekly segment to the blog is Mama Moonpie’s kitchen, simple and quick homemade recipes and meal ideas for the whole family,  all which have been tried, tested and approved by miss moonpie herself.

This weeks recipe is tomato and sweet pepper pasta sauce, really quick and easy to make and great with any pasta dish.

Ingredients
1 tsp olive oil

4 large tomatoes (chopped)

2 sweet peppers (chopped)

1/4 onion (chopped)

Tomato puree 

2 bay leaves  (crushed)

1 garlic clove

Dried mixed herbs

Pepper

Method

In a pan, heat the olive oil over a medium heat.

 Add the chopped onion and sauté until soft. Add the garlic and cook for another minute.

Stir in the tomatoes, tomato puree, sweet peppers, bay leaves and mixed herbs.
 
Bring to a low boil, then reduce heat and simmer for about 10 minutes, until it is thickened up a bit.

Season to taste

For a smoother sauce blitz in a blender until it’s at the desired consistency. 

Moonpie’s book corner – Let’s get ready for bedtime snuggle bunny

So this is a new weekly segment to the blog, Storytime is a favourite in our house we read a book each day and are collecting quite a little library now.

So each week we are going to review one for you.

(Disclaimer : these are not sponsored/ paid posts, the books are our choice as our the opinions in the reviews)

Let’s get ready for bedtime Snuggle Bunny.

This weeks book is a firm favourite in our house, moonpie loves it because of the snuggle bunny puppet and each page is brightly coloured and mummy loves it because it’s short and sweet. 

The book tells us the story of tired Snuggle Bunny and his bedtime routine.

He tidies, washes and brushes his teeth and snuggles into bed without a fuss … how every mum wishes their little one would behave at bedtime.

The illustrations are sweet and colourful and the book is quite short, only a couple of sentences on each page and all rhyming which adds a nice flow to the story itself.

This book is perfect for under 3s bedtime story as the puppet keeps their attention pretty well as do the bright illustrations and it’s short enough for mums who want to do Storytime but our knackered themselves.
5 out of 5 moons from us

🌛🌛🌛🌛🌛

F is for family

Growing up I was part of a large family being one of four siblings and one of 20 something first cousins, there was no shortage of playmates.

The same can’t be said for Moonpie unfortunately, as the years have passed contact with my family has dwindled considerably and after my mum passed it completely stopped save a couple for various reasons, it’s upsetting but that’s how life goes sometimes.

Right now moonpie is too young to understand what family is and that my side aren’t apart of her life but I know one day she might start to ask questions and want to know about them. It’s not all doom and gloom though, the other halves family play a very active roll in her life.

Her grandparents dote on her, she adores her three cousins (she instantly laughs and smiles when she sees any of them) , we have weekly playdates at her aunt kris’ and moonpie and her cousin max are just two cheeky peas in a pod.

She also has a lovely relationship with her little cousin lottie on my side, we call them the twins because the likeness between them is uncanny and they both have big personalities 

Maybe as time goes on more of my family will take on a bigger roll in her life but if not she has people who love her around her, I can’t ask for much more.

No place like home.

It’s strange to think this time last year I was sofa surfing with a two month old , we had been evicted from our home but to be honest even before the eviction went through we had had to crush at friends and families house for a few days at a time due to my rather nasty landlord who had been letting himself into the property and harassing me since I was around 5 months pregnant.

It was a scary time, a single mum with a new born baby, no home and no idea where the council was going to place us, at worst we could be placed in a room in shared accommodation and at best we could be placed in a  flat. But I wouldn’t know where until the day.I was told to turn up at the council on the 19th January  and wait until I was called over and told where we were going. 

The night before I didn’t sleep, and the morning was just awful … we were running late due to moonpie deciding to go through her clothes 10 minutes before we had to get the bus. The front wheel of the pram fell off and I didn’t realise till I stopped to cross the road but I didn’t have time to retrace my steps.

We finally got there and by then I was certain we were going to end up in the worst case scenario, we waited for 10 minutes then we’re called into an interview room.  “I have to say you are very lucky, we’ve found you a one bedroom flat.” And with that I sobbed and even more so when I was walking back and bumped into two lovely people who found my front wheel.

This time last year

So here we are exactly a year later snuggled up in my bed watching tiny pop in our home.

A developing Moonpie

In the last couple of weeks moonpie has has had a massive leap in all areas, she definitely isn’t a baby anymore. ..

Walking

Moonpie is much braver when it comes to standing and taking steps on her own, she’s quite sneaky and normally takes a few steps when she thinks no one is looking. It definitely won’t be much longer until she’s off and walking everywhere. 

Personality

She has developed a sweet but very cheeky personality, Im ether showered with kisses and cuddles or having a dummy put in my mouth If I’m telling her no. She’s extremely strong willed and very stubborn  (she was never going to be a push over with parents like myself anf the other half.)

Interaction 

Moonpie has now learnt how certain toys work and how to properly interact with them. She developed favourites, her activity table, a few vtech teddies and her elephant ball maze.

The way she interacts with people and other children  (especially younger than her) has come on leaps and bounds, she’s becoming quite the social butterfly.

Speech

Her speech is coming along she’s learning what a good few words mean and her vocabulary is slowly growing. She is extremely vocal so I think with in the coming months her speech will really take off.

Overall i’m very proud of how she is coming along.

Mummy’s day off

Yesterday I got that rare experience of a child free day, the other half had the day off and was happy enough to watch moonpie while I went out. As much as I love our trips out together, it was really nice and relaxing to switch out of mummy mode and just be Meg for a few hours.

 To be able to sit in starbucks and actually enjoy my frappuccino and shortbread in peace, have a good wander around the shops and sit down and have a good catch up with a few friends was a lovely change. I even had time to get a bit of pampering done, something that never happens if moonpie is with me as she gets bored quickly.

I was getting updates and pictures from the other half that they were having a great time and she was fine, which made me feel less guilty for going out on my own.

First of many updates photos

When i came home, it was all smiles and back into mummy mode for me with Moonpie’s dinner, pj’s on, nappy  changes, half hour of us all watching the hobbit and then bottle and bed time for our little monster.

We also got the rare treat of just us (me and the other half ) time, he cooked dinner for us, we watched junk tv, chatted and just enjoyed eachothers company for once …. overall a good day for us all.