Mom on a Budget

Good morning, So like half the population does every year, I joined gym this January, not necessarily for weight loss but for tone, health and general well being. You see, I’ve noticed a trend with every single friend I have chatted to, with or without kids, we’re all struggling with December burnout. So a few of my close friends and I created an”accountability” WhatsApp group to support and motivate each other out of the burnout zone and push us to get our minds, bodies and goals set and right for 2022. Each day we send each other our goals for the day and they’re not necessarily “hardcore” goals. We’ve made January a preparation and self love month.  As an example my goals yesterday were to, *actually GO to gym *Dye my hair * Get washing up to date *Paint toenails *Scrub my sons carpet *Change my daughters linen I only achieved 3 of those goals, so the remaining 3 will be moved to today. No pressure, lots of self acceptance and love.  If you’d like to go on this journey with...

It’s day 18 of what can only be described as a hostage situation…. Also known as “school holidays”. Day 1: This is wonderful! Almost a whole month with my two kids under 3. Day 2: Ok so the house has been destroyed by mini versions of myself but it’s ok, I’ll do a clean up twice a day. Day 3: TV time rules are now out the window. Day 4: Give out a few Christmas gifts early in exchange for 5 minutes of silence. Day 5: What the hell is that smell? Oh wait, that’s me…. Day 6: What day is it? Can I have a nap please. Day 7: Check in with fellow moms, I am not alone, everyone’s over the holidays now…. Day 8: I now understand why my mom used to send me to my aunts for school holidays. Day 9:  Christmas Eve, try to go for a last minute shop before Christmas Day…. Buy each kiddo another toy to avoid shop meltdown. Day 10:  Christmas Day, granny exhausted kids, Granny for the win! Day 11: Toys EVERYWHERE Day 12: Cake for breakfast? Day 13: I’ve forgotten what it’s like to go to the toi...

Toddlers, toddlers, toddlers…. You can ‘prepare’ as much as you want for the inevitable craziness raising these tiny humans will entail and you may think you’re prepared, you’re not….. Like everyone else with kids I’ve watched literally every single episode of Super Nanny there is. So when my almost 3 year old son started refusing to get out of his PJs into “normal” clothes for preschool, I channeled my inner super nanny. I was like “ok then you’re going in your PJs”. Did this work? No, not one bit, every morning the same thing would happen and off he went to school in his PJs. So I chat to all my mom friends about this and everyone’s going maybe he has sensory issues, etc so I’m googling that and trying to figure out what that is and what I should do. Then I mention it to my one friend (who isn’t a mom…. Yet) and she said to me “Laura his PJs sound so cool! Glow in the dark Jurassic Park PJs, Spider man PJs, if I was him I also wouldn’t want to get into “normal” clothes to go to presc...

Moms, let’s talk about baker baker. I don’t know about your schools but where my kiddos go, things have become competitive. In fact I’d equate it to the likes of The Hunger Games level of competitiveness. Without all the murder and stuff of course…. So we get the Friday before Halloween as our kids baker baker day. The only thing I could do, to make my kids cupcakes a halloween theme would be to actually bake them cupcakes myself, in which case, the entire school would end up with food poisoning or rock hard cupcakes to throw at each other…. So actually it would have been a real horror show. I needed to enlist some professional help and luckily I knew just who to call…. Zoë Fountain owner of Zoco Creations. If you haven’t heard of Zoë yet you’re in for a treat (see what I did there) she’s a mom of 2, an artist and thee best baker in Ballito! I honestly don’t know who was more excited between us to get these cupcakes made. Zoë made these amazing cupcakes for me (which I will of course b...

 Hi Everyone! If you're stuck on what to do with your  kiddos this weekend. Or tired of going to the same places every weekend. I have a treat for you! Have you heard of the Ballito Ski Park? If you haven't been there you're really missing out. And for the out of towners, this is a must add, to your to-do list when you next visit Durban! Ballito Ski Park has a variety of fun activities for the whole family, a fabulous restaurant and is budget friendly! Some of the activities include: A viking slide! Tube rides Archery  Paint ball Fishing (catch and release) Water skiing What a wonderful way to spend time with your family!  

One of my top tips for first time moms is to start your baby on vegetables before fruit when starting solids. I did this so well in fact, that my son still loves his vegetables, especially broccoli and peas. However the issue I had later on though was, he hated fruit! After consulting with my go-to mommy expert, I did the following things that did work. 1) Make fruit ice-lollies! They think its a treat and not "yucky fruit". Worked like a charm. 2) Fruit snacks! Checkers has the most amazing range that was actually designed by Gordon Ramsay and his daughter. They're healthy snacks but look like sweets and my son loves them, they're his during the week "treat". Genius! 3) This actually happened by accident, I can't eat breakfast, so instead, I have a morning smoothy every day, guess what, your kids want whatever you have. So now my son has some of my morning smoothy  (1 banana, 1 green Apple, 1 red Apple, a quarter cup of frozen blueberries and full fat d...