Let's turn this brown thumb green...

Avocado sputnik!

I am not a gardener by any means. I've tried, I've failed and quite frankly how I have managed to keep two children relatively healthy and well is beyond me. I can barely even keep a blog going, as you have seen!
However, since my recent avocado pit success (well, it's started to sprout anyway) I've quite fancied growing some more things, hopefully to keep Harper amused at the very least... It hasn't kept her amused so it backfired, but the thought was there.

Tomato plant with real life
actual tomatoes!

So to the garden centre we went and purchased some tomato plant seeds and strawberry plant seeds and they have GROWN! Actual plants that have grown on my windowsill in the kitchen, the tomato plant is even growing some tomatoes at this point, and I am way more excited than anyone else in this house let me tell you!
We also have some garlic planted at the moment and it's starting to grow leaves, and I may or may not have totally cheated and bought a basil plant all ready to go. Harper thought it was awesome that I cooked dinner with it last night though so I'm glad we didn't wait for that one - Harper isn't the only one here with a short attention span  *ahem* I am super happy with the progress, and I'm hoping that there will be strawberries and tomatoes to eat from the plants really soon - maybe then everyone else will show an interest!

Pharmacy adventures!

Today we went on a pharmacy adventure, by that, of course, I mean a safari adventure. Harper insists that I am wrong however, and honestly who am I to correct her? What was originally meant to be a day out  to see the giraffes, rhinos, gorillas and tigers turned into something much more... Prehistoric though. A new interest has been born - DINOSAURS.
At Port Lympne Zoo, you arrive and you go through the entrace, through the gift shop (that of course you also exit through), and go to basecamp, where you are picked up by a safari truck and driven through various zones to see lots and lots of animals - we saw giraffes, rhino, a cheetah, zebras, and lots of deer-type animals (the engine was so loud I couldn't hear what the man was saying, so I missed their names) running around quite happily, Harper was absolutely enthralled, squealing with excitement as the giraffes passed by, and spotting animals in the distance - she was one of the first to point out the ostrich and his chicks, and she felt very clever to know what an ostrich was. When you get off the truck, you have quite a walk ahead of you, but you come out, walk up a little to where the toilets are, and opposite is the dinosaur forest, which basically goes around in a loop and you learn about loads of different dinosaurs. There are some hiding in the bushes and you have to have a good look for them. As we walked around (in the rain) Harper was super excited about spotting them all, and reading (being read to, anyway) about them, learning their names, what their names meant and where they lived on the planet, and when ("not now Mummy? There aren't any dinosaurs around now?" was quite a concern apparently - she didn't want to get eaten by a T-Rex). We had a totally wonderful time, but a word of warning - if you baby wear, you might be best sticking with a carrier, we had to drop the buggy off, and while there are umbrella buggies that you can pick up for free after the safari experience, with little-little ones it would definitely be easier to just take the carrier too. We had a great day, and while of course it wasn't a particularly 10-month-old kind of day out, it was right up Harper's street, and Sylvie definitely didn't mind that Harper insisted she also get a stuffed dinosaur, to be "fair." All in all, it was a great day out, and Harper is now interested in something that doesn't have wheels, which can only be a bonus!

"Keep your face always towards the sunshine and the shadows will fall behind you."

I've had a rough few weeks, possibly even just had a rough month, hence the lack of posts. I've struggled with my anxiety and depression, I've been tearful and I've found it incredibly hard to find the joy, even in things that normally leave me elated.
I'm generally quite transparent with my mental health but it just took a bit of a knock lately and I've felt somewhat... reclusive. I haven't wanted to be transparent, I wanted to close myself off and stay away from the world, I just wanted to be with my girls, I didn't want to be a burden to anyone else because I felt like I was burden enough to them. I've struggled to find things to write about, or frankly, absolutely have not had the will to write about anything. The limited time that I've had to feel good I've spent with my girls, just trying to enjoy them as they grow in front of my eyes. I haven't really documented much in the form of pictures which is something I really enjoy and feel strongly about - I will have so much to look back on when they're older, I will have so many stories to tell them about the adventures we went on and things and I can't help but feel that these little dark periods where I struggle is setting that back in a big way.
But then the sun came out, and almost instantly, like a little plant I perked up. I started to feel a bit more positive, I started to think about things to do, where we can go, things we can do OUTSIDE. I started to look forward to things again - this time last week I wasn't excited about even my birthday, and birthdays are a big deal in our family! Now, I can't wait, we have a day in the park planned and I'm going shopping with my mum.
So in the past few days we've gone out and about, cost ourselves a fortune in petrol, but have two tired and contented kids and a very tired, but much more whole set of parents, and a mama who is a lot lot less tense. It's amazing what the weather can do!
My beautiful girls have been to the forest for a dog walk with their Nanny, to the pub for a play in the sunshine (and mummy may have had a cheeky little cider...), to the splash park with their Grandad, and played in the garden in the water-filled tuff tray, much to Sylvie's delight! It's been so lovely and so freeing to enjoy things properly again, and it's really lifted my spirits.

Adventures with Frogspawn

Source: samarawheeldonphotography.com.au/

One of Harper's teachers from pre-school posted this on their Facebook page after a little boy took some frogspawn in to show everyone - and that was it, a spark ignited in the Harper's brain and we absolutely HAD TO go and find some frogspawn and watch it grow. Great. I really need smelly pond-water in my house, of course.
But I obliged and off we went to where this little boy found the frogspawn, we were warned 'you will NEED wellies!' Did I listen? No. I did not listen, we went straight after preschool in her lovely shiny school shoes. I regretted it immediately and now I have a pair of school shoes to run under a tap. Part of the fun though...I think?
Unfortunately, despite the perfect muddy shallow water conditions, no  frogspawn was to be found, so with a disappointed Harper we left to go home, have dinner and have a bath. But the call of the frog's life-cycle was too strong and she relentlessly asked when we might go somewhere else to find some. So, the next day, we set off for a park a little further away, certain that there would be some there... Despite knowing that the pond smells particularly awful. Lucky me, we found some, in that bog of eternal stench, we found 'SO MUCH!!' frogspawn and dutifully I collected some up for her to look at properly. For those who don't remember doing this in their childhood (I remember doing it once and I loved it) frogspawn is revolting, and sticky?? But Harper was happy so carefully-carefully I carried it on my lap in the car on the way home. Not carefully enough, I got smelly pond water on my trousers because we have pot-holes that could engulf our little car in our roads but STILL, Harper was happy. She kept a diligent watch over them for a while and then went off to play with her cars and seemingly forgot about them for the rest of the day, and so did I. That was until bedtime, when we heard a screech of excitement 'THE DOTS ARE BLOBS MUMMY!' wondering what on earth she was talking about I followed the excited squeals to find her peering into the spawn-container to see that what were once dots in the middle of the masses of jelly-eggs were indeed now blobs.

Imagine the squeal that we got the day after when one or two of them were in the process of hatching! They were on their little way, wiggling out of their eggs and sticking to the outside of them instead.
As sceptical as I was about them, and their smelly pond-water, I have to say with each change it gets a little more exciting and I remember how much I loved seeing the tadpoles change when I was a kid. Seeing her get so excited every time she looks into the container (as they seem to be developing very very quickly, which is holding Harper's attention brilliantly!) is great fun, she's learning about how eggs work and how tadpoles change and grow and it's fun to watch. I'm looking forward to seeing how quickly we'll need to return our little froglets to their pond!