Yep, I can’t believe it but my little man is 1! A whole year has passed and boy what a year it has been. I don’t think I’ve ever felt so tired in my life as I have over this past year. It’s certainly had it’s ups and downs and more than it’s fair share of challenges, but of course I wouldn’t change it for the world. Our cheeky little monkey is my world, he keeps me very busy but I wouldn’t have it any other way.

So we had a lovely party with family on Saturday and hubby and I spent Friday evening baking a cake for it. I always remember my mum making us the most amazing birthday cakes, huge forts and princesses wearing skirts. Now as we know, I am no great baker, but I am determined to try my hardest so that monkey has the same type of memories. I had in ym head that I wanted to make a cake in the shape of a 1. Hubby loves to do these things too so we did it together. After deciding which baking tin to use we made a template to cut the cake up into the shape of a 1 when cooked. This took a few goes but was well worth it. We used a really simple sponge recipe and our favourite buttercream icing recipes so it was really just the shape that was unusual for us.

Having said that though icing the cake provided a few challenges as at first  couldn’t find the right sized nozzle I wanted and so it went a bit flat. But, well it all turned out pretty well in the end thankfully 🙂

The family party was very lovely and monkey coped really well. Although it was only family, with both of our families combined that works out to be quite a lot of people all of a sudden! After a few mins where he was clearly wondering what was going on he soon warmed up to everyone, enjoyed opening his presents and loving all of the attention he was getting! Even playing cheeky games with his great grandpa who he is normally a bit shy of. He was going to give great grandpa a toy, then pulling it back and giggling, I think it made great grandpa’s day!

His favourite thing at the moment is clapping and he was clapping all the time at the party and loving the responses he was getting from everyone. Of course he loved all of his new toys too. His very clever granny (my lovely mother in law) made him an amazing cuddly monkey – a monkey for a monkey, and he loves him!

So a lovely party and lovely weekend all in all! Then on Monday was my birthday treat! My mum, for my birthday, arranged a spa day at a local spa so that we could have a relaxed day. Probably the most time off that I’ve had in the last year since Monkey was born and it was really blissful, I really enjoyed the peace and quiet. And the swimming, sauna, steam room, Jacuzzi, and the most amazing hot stone massage to soothe my aching muscles! 🙂

Speaking of aching muscles, much as life with Monkey is very fun at the moment it is basically exhausting too! Hubby and I have had lots of chats lately and we have talked about me having a bit more me time, a) so daddy and Leo can have some more time together and b) so I can feel a bit more like myself, rather than just feeling like a mummy 24/7. I know lots of my mummy friends are in the same boat as me as we all put our children first all of the time, which is of course how it should be, but after a while you have to try and look after yourself too.

Hubby and I have also been looking at ways of sharing out the chores more, even though I am at home all of the time I am hardly ever sitting down as there’s always so much needs doing. Being a stay at home mum doesn’t mean you have all the time in the world for housework! But I am at home all the time it does feel like it should be part of my ‘job’ at home. Hubby works really hard but thankfully is happy to help out as much as he can and doesn’t see it as just my job to keep the house clean.

So we’ve come up with the idea of a whiteboard listing the jobs. We thought about allocating jobs but I don’t think anyone wants to be responsible for cleaning the bathrooms every time! But the idea is that with a list of jobs there we can easily see what was done when, and thereby what needs doing, and choose/prioritise jobs when we have time. That way rather than him asking me what needs doing and or what I want him to do, the responsibility for every job is more evenly spread and I don’t feel like it is all down to me.

So we’ll see how it goes and whether it works or we need to rethink our methods. Will keep you posted!