Dear Monkey

I can’t believe that you start school on Monday, what a great big adventure you have that lies ahead of you. I know it’s ‘only’ play school that you start, but still… it’s massive… new routine, new friends, and let’s face it…. School now becomes a part of your life for many many years ahead. I remember my first day of junior school like it was just a few years ago – being so brave and excited right up until we got to the school and then realized that I did actually need my mommy to come in with me… I can’t believe it’ll be me taking you into your classroom on Monday now, with your cute little owl back pack, a lunch box filled with goodies and my heart filled with excitement, apprehension and dreams for what your future in learning holds.

So here’s the deal, and I know I write this from a very ‘new to school’ perspective.. but my thinking is that if I don’t write it down now, that the potential is there that we all get caught up in the systems, forgetting our ideals we have for you at the beginning of the journey… so…

My dream for you is this….

• That your teachers and school environments always encourage you to be the special little person that you are
• That us as parents and your teachers will continue to seek out your unique magic
• That we remember that maths and science is not the be all and end all of a successful life…
• That you learn and we allow you to be as creative as you want
• To think outside the box
• To know discipline
• To let you learn that there is nothing wrong with colouring in outside the lines, no matter how old you are.
• Try new things, be inquisitive
• I hope we remember that failing is all part of learning and we would rather you try than be too scared not to try.
• I hope that some of your painting lessons lets you enjoy not just painting pretty pictures but perhaps also enjoying getting more paint on you than the picture itself.
• I want you to know that all we ask is that you do your best. I hope we remember this particularly when it’s us wishing that you excel at something rather than yourself.
• I hope you continue to learn to treat everyone with respect, your teachers, your friends, people out there in the world, your friends parents and even those kids at school who bully.
• I hope you never ever ever ever are the bully, and if you ever are I hope that we as your parents have the courage to see what is happening and to make the adjustments in our lives to ensure this stops.
• I hope you don’t feel the need to be one of the cool kids – my wish is that you will be friends with kids across the playground, the quiet ones, the clever ones, the cool ones and the ones that just need someone to be their friend.
• I hope you learn in your own time
• I hope that as you start to learn your ABC’s that your love for reading just grows and grows
• I hope your imagination grows and grows
• I hope you play sport, lots of it, and lots of team games. I never did and I think it’s a great life skill that you learn that becomes a fundamental part of who you are and what you do.
• I hope you learn that coming top of your class isn’t going to guarantee you success in life, and I hope your Dad and I teach you well about balance.

So my little monkey, learn lots, play lots, make heaps of friends and look after those friends. Remember to work hard, but also to play hard throughout your life. We love you and can’t wait for this next big adventure…

Ps – please don’t cry on Monday… Mommy is already getting a little emotional x

So many of you have been so supportive in our journey as parents though, and so I did want to share our latest news with you, and yes, I am so very proud of my family that I’m taking all opportunities to share our special blessings with the world.

So… without further ado… let me introduce to you little Miles John Foulston. Born on the 21st August, by C-Section, in Durban, South Africa. 3.02kg and 48cm of perfectness for us. Watching him sleep right next to me I am amazed daily at what a miracle each and every birth is and just how amazing God is to provide us with our son.

My biggest little monkey is being an amazing big sister so far, with lots of cuddles and helping hands. She’s test driven his bottle and dummy and there have of course been moments when she’s had her wobbles, but over all she’s a great big sister and still the apple of our eye.

Here are a few photos from a photo shoot we did with the amazingly talented Megan Hancock this week.

xxx

We had a party on Saturday to celebrate this big milestone in our lives, and it was just the most special day that I could have asked for. Surrounded by friends, in our home, with the squeals and giggles of little people all around. Ok, and my cake turned out half decent which I admit I was quite relieved about!

I chose a bunny theme, because our little monkey is just bunny mad at the moment and I knew she would love it… she didn’t disappoint…

Here are a few photos from the day, and I’ve also linked to a lot of the templates / recipes etc that I used for the party in case anyone else is thinking of a bunny theme any time soon.

Blowing out her candles (so much fun we had to do it about 4 times!)

Some of the decor and food ideas we had (I tried to stick within a DIY budget as didn’t want to go overboard with spending, so used lots of free templates off the internet and the most expensive prop we had to get was the paper!)

I got some orange card stock and rolled them into cones, punched some holes in the top, threaded some green wool and filled with popcorn… What would a bunny party be without some super sized carrots.

We did of course have real carrots as well. I would have preferred to not have used the carrot balls, but Woolies let me down with only having these in stock… One of the mom’s told her little guy to stop eating so many cause she thought they were those apricot sweets we used to get…remember them?

And suprisingly, the bunny poo was a big hit with both kidlets and big people…

I followed a recipe that I posted in my last post for these jelly squares – seriously, sooo easy and they were perhaps the biggest hit at the party! So much of fun (and you know i can’t resist a bit of fun and colour)

A bunny hopped right up into our house (using these templates from Activity village)

I made these little pom poms (using this tutorial to make pom poms just using your fingers) and tied them to elastic for some bunny tails – they were so cute on the little kidlets, our monkey didn’t take hers off until late in the afternoon.

I got this recipe for a carrot cake off the Your Family website and turned it into cupcakes (only because I wanted to use the cute little bunny ears that I had found!) The recipe was so easy, seriously – I mean that, and was yummalicious.

How much of cuteness is this little marshmallow garden that one of my very talented and creative friend’s made for the party… Too precious huh..

I found these free printables from Mr Printables to make some bunny party packs, and filled them with a few sweets, some stickers and some bunny tails… Nothing fancy, but I’m not a massive believer in excessive party packs!

The bunny tails were similar to these ones from Eighteen 25 - I forgot to take a photo of the ones I did..

And that’s basically a wrap of our Bunny Party…

The fact is that I simply can’t imagine life without you in it every day, and every now and then I catch myself in pure amazement that you are actually ours, and that we are in fact parents and somehow managed to progress from the days of wild parties, sleeping in on weekends, spontanious outings and all these sort of things that we took for granted without sometimes even realizing it.

Sometimes it’s overwhelming my  monkey, sometimes I stress that we’re not doing it right, especially like this morning when I’m not sure who had the bigger tantrum, you or me… But then there are so many times I go in to tuck you up at night (ok, let me rather say try and get a blanket to stay on you for more than 2 minutes) and the tears just well up in my eyes just because you seem so perfect, innocent and beautiful in every cell of your body, inside and out and I wonder how on earth I could get frustrated when things aren’t going to plan! The very fact that I shouldn’t exactly win mother of the day award so often, only to be rewarded with  all you wanting from me is for me to pick you up and hold you, your love is so unconditional and for that I just thank you from the bottom of my heart.

My promise to you is that we will try harder as parents every single day, through the tough times and the good times. Thank you for reminding us every day that a smile can fix so many things, and just for loving your mommy and daddy with all your heart. We will make mistakes my monkey, but just know that we love you with all our hearts, to the moon and back, and more than the number of stars in the sky. You are a blessing in our lives, now and forever xxx Love you, Mommy x

A massive thanks to our friend Megan Hancock for capturing our gorgeous monkey so perfectly.

To be honest, I have actually been wanting to do a post on ‘who this mommy blogger is’. I’ve been thinking lately about how I’ve come to feel like I know so many of the bloggers whose stories I read daily or weekly, I’ve read stories of their husbands relieving their dogs with tears running down my face laughing so much, I’ve been made to think it might be time to start potty training my monkey, I’ve been inspired to start running, and loved hearing how other moms raise their kids creatively amongst so many other beautiful blogs I love.

Every day I’m inspired, supported and in awe of so many of these moms. In fact – in some of my most trying times, it was the mommy bloggers that gave me some of the most encouraging support. I feel I sometimes know so many of these mommy’s inside out, but I also want to more about… more of the nitty gritty… so here I go with some of my nitty gritty. I’d love for readers of Colour Giggles who blog to do the same and let us know more of their nitty gritty…

My name: Jude Foulston – well, it’s Judith on my birth certicate, but only my parents really call me that still.

Where I grew up: Kenton-on-Sea, Eastern Cape, South Africa – one of the pretties places in the world. A tiny seaside village. When I say tiny, I mean there were 57 of us in our primary school. There weren’t enough girls for a hockey team, there were 7 of us in my class, and it was the best childhood ever.

Where I’ve lived: Kenton, Grahamstown, London, Sydney, Johannesburg and now Kloof (Durban), South Africa.

Married: Yes, in June 2009 to the craziest, funniest, loveable man who I met through a blind date, well, kind of through a blind date – we hooked up before the blind date though – longish story.

What scares me: Meeting people, yup, I’m sooo shy when you first meet me; not always being here for my daughter; spiders and snakes; crime.

Greatest moment: Becoming a mom and the day we got married.

What I hate: Fake people, people who don’t say thank you,  people who waste my time, and people who think they are above others.

Pet peeve: People who drive with their kids not buckled up; and of course people who harm kids.. I just don’t understand it.

Things I love: Hearing my monkey laugh with her Dad, African Sunrises, bright colours, road trips, sharing a glass of wine with my girlfriends, anything handmade, my home, birthdays, gerbera’s, surprises, the smell of fresh bread, being a mom.

Studied: Diocesan School for Girls and Rhodes University – both Grahamstown

Craziest things I’ve done: Sky diving, bungy jumping and a weekend in Amsterdam

Musical Instruments: Used to play the Saxophone

Favourite Colour: Yellow

Things I’d still like to do: Go to New York, go snowboarding again, take my kids to Disneyland, be closer to God, have thousands of hits to my blog every day!

Jobs I’ve had: Riding a bicycle ice cream cart around a tea garden near Windsor (UK), Au Pair, Barmaid – all on a gap year in the UK after school. Software developer for JPMorgan, London. Software Tester in Australia. Worked for Starlight Children’s Foundation in Sydney. Marketing Manager for Reach For A Dream and now I’m just the nice person at TomorrowToday.

Fondest memories from growing up: Fishing with my Dad, riding my go-kart and BMX, going barefoot to school, playing lego, watching the A-Team, building forts, spending Saturday afternoons at the Tennis Club, body surfing waves, mudpies.

What I miss most from my pre-mom days: Spontanious drinks after work with my girl friends. In fact, I’d say all things spontanious! Hmmm, and Sunday afternoon naps.

Chocolate or Vanilla – Chocolate, no debate.

Hobbies: Crafting, Reading, crafting

So go on, if you’re reading this then I hereby award you with the ‘Tell me about yourself Award”… can’t wait to hear more about you!

A is for Aeroplanes…. What we have to get on whenver we want to see our extended family

B is for Books… I love that you are mad about books…. Long may that last

C is for Curls… you’ve got so many and they’re C for Cute.

D is for  Ducks… who knew that one bathroom could have SO many ducks in it..

(Ducks from Pinterest)

E is for Everything…. You are my Everything

F is for Five Roses Tea – mommy’s favourite.

G is for Gladys or Gogo, perhaps your 3^rd (often 1st) favourite person in the world and a woman your mommy loves and respects and who couldn’t live without. She teaches you, loves you, looks after you and even cleans mom and dad’s house and does the ironing.. perhaps G should be for GOLD.

H is for Hugs… we love hugs

I is for I love you… so so so much

J is for Joburg, where Daddy and Mommy lived and first fell in love

K is for Kloof where we live, KZN… K is also for Kenton-on-Sea where mommy grew up. K is also for Kasouga where we got married… lots of important places starting with a K!

L is for Love – I love you to the moon and back and back again.

(Image from Scrap Studio)

M is for Monkey, that’s what you are… (we also have lots of these coming through our garden every week and you just love watching them)

(Monkeys from Colourinc)

N is for  naps…. I miss those on a Sunday afternoon!

O is for Opportunity…. I hope your Dad and I can give you as many of these as possible

P is for Peas… you’re absolute favourite food ever.. who would have thought!

(Peas from Edible Crafts)

Q is for Quintessential – Q is a difficult word to come up with and this is the first word that came to mind. FYI – It means typical..

R is for rugby…. I’m glad you’re a girl so that you don’t have to play rugby. Rugby also happens to be your Dad’s favourite thing to watch on the TV (well, not recently with the Rugby World Cup!)

S is for slide…. One of your favourite things to do…

T is for T-Rex…. Some of our friends actually think your dad’s name is Rex.. That’s how good he does the T-Rex J

U is for us… that’s our family, you, me, dad and of course chilli

V is for Very…. That’s how much I love you…. But more like very very very very very very very very very

W is for Wine… your mom likes that…

X is for Generation X…. that’s the generation your mom and dad belong to..

Y is for You…. You are my sunshine, my only sunshine… you make me happy when skies are blue…

Z is for Zippity Doo Da, cause you make our days wonderful

My monkey, you bring smiles and laughter to our lives every day, I don’t know how it’s possible, but every night I put  you to bed I can honestly say I love you more than I did the day before -  I can’t fathom loving you a millimeter more than I do at this very second, but somehow I think my heart must just keep getting bigger and bigger with every hug you give me,  each squeal I hear, tear you shed and smile I see.

We love you monk xxxx