RIP My Grandad, My Hero, My Bigodes

It's almost been 3 months since my hero passed away, it took a lot of courage, crying, composure, shouting to come to 'terms' that he is gone.... and a lot of time off to deal with all that.

No one tells you how you are supposed to grieve, and now I know why...

Everyone has their own way of dealing with it and mine was having the time to think about him, get most of my crying out and nice long walks by the beach. It was setting up a facebook group so we could all honour him and share good memories between friends & family.

As you see I have been quiet since the end of June and now you know why.

My grandad never made it to my birthday, but he made it to see my son get to 6 and my daughter get to 3... and that makes me very happy.

I believe he is watching out for us and watching us from above... laughing at our silliness and smiling each time my kids do or learn something new. I think he is proud of me now that I am carrying on with my life and not sad any more.

I miss him terribly, and I always will, there is so much I would like to tell him and ask him but I am not sure I believe in mediums and the kind. Do you believe in that sort of stuff?

I think that even if there is such a thing it is very difficult to separate real from fake. I would love to have someone convince me that they are for real though, so I could speak to my grandad once again.

I love my granddad and I always will, he will always be my hero!

It always brings tears to my eyes when I think of him, but I know he is no longer suffering... the cancer was destroying him from the inside out. He was so peaceful when he was gone, I thought I would never do the sort but I told the kids he was having a long sleep and going to heaven and my kids gave him a kiss on the cheek and went back downstairs.

He looked so beautiful and peaceful, I sat on the bed next to him until they took him and that was the last time I ever saw him and I ever stroked his face.

Every day I go to our boutique it reminds me of him, I opened it on his birthday & I do it all for him.

I remember him crying when everything went through for me to get the boutique, he was so pleased and he really wanted everything to go well for us.

So here's a big cheers to my granddad! Our hero...

As I am writing this my 3 year old came over and saw the picture of her and him (the one on top) and said "Look mummy, it's me and Bizivo (great granddad in Portuguese), he's my best friend!", it makes me so happy that she understands that he is gone but always with us in our hearts.

My granddad always played with the kids and they both loved them dearly.

I love you granddad, always and forever, my Bigodes, my hero....

He still got to see my tattoo for him x

Monica xxx

Cybermummy 2011 Meet and Greet

Its Cybermummy time tomorrow and I'm really excited but really scared at the same time... is that even really possible?! 

I am a Cybermummy virgin, so have no idea what to expect and really scared I wont recognize everyone without their avatars and what not, I am really terrible with names AND I am a bunny avatar on twitter and most places so I think people won't recognize me!

I will probably be the girl (saying woman just sounds so grown up ;) ) sitting in the corner all by herself trying to look pretty and inconspicuous but secretly wants to meet EVERYONE!

So here if you see me do come and say hello and be the braver of us, I am only shy to start with once you get me going I'm actually quite outgoing! (Yes I'm weird like that)

Name: Monica ( I am also known by Mummy to 2 lovely little beauties)

Blog: You are on it! www.myfunnybunnyblog.com

Twitter ID: @myfunnybunny

Height: Approx 5ft 5 and I don't wear heels (I can't) so I will probably be the shortest in the room!

Hair: Auburn and short

Eyes: Dark brown

Likes: People, My Family, Summer, Olives, Chourico, Potatoes, colour White and bright colours, South Africa, Portugal... I like lots of things!!

Dislikes:  Trashy or Rude people, cold weather (Yes I know, I do live in England no need to point that out... cold is most of the weather) apart from that I'm not too fussy.

This is what I look like when I look all pretty, lets face it, I probably wont look like this tomorrow but pretty close anyway... you'll recognize me!

Looking forward to seeing you tomorrow!

I have to also thank my sponsors Create for allowing me to be there.

Monica xx

My First "Real" Mothers Day Card

Today is Mothers Day, mothers everywhere are getting treated to a sleep in, a day off the house chores and work, etc.

I am a mother of two and today I am not getting a day off, its work for me, looking after the kids too as normal and if I am lucky I will get to see my mum later on.

But today is still an amazing day for me because I received my first ever 'real' Mothers Day card from my oldest son which turns 5 this month.

Sure I have gotten cards all the previous years but they were bought in a shop by my husband who wrote some nice stuff in it and got the kids to scribble on it, still nice but this one is super special.

My son actually made this one, he painted a butterfly with his fingers, glued it on a card and wrote "To Mum, Love S... xxx", it took a lot of effort and its beautiful.

I'm going to keep it forever and it's made my day and my heart warm.

Can't wait to get my first 'real' Mothers Day card from my BooBoo, but seeing as she is only going to turn two in a couple of months, I have quite a wait, you know learning to write and all!

Have you gotten your first 'real' Mother's Day card yet?

Monica xx

Three by Nine Meme - Monica

We’ve been tagged by the lovely Joanne Dewberry on this meme, thank you, I do love memes, specially like these that are easy to do and it lets you know a little bit more about me!

I did cheat on some of the answers by giving more than 3 answers but hey, what's the worst that could happen right?!

Three names I go by: Monica, Mon (Not particularly fond of it but all my friends call me this so what can I do?! ;) ) and Mama/ Mummy/ Angel (1st one is what BooBoo calls me, 2nd is what My Funny Bunny calls me as he's older and 3rd is what my husband has always called me, although I am for from an angel! ;) )  There are more names I go by but they are very embarrassing!!

Three places I’ve lived: Portugal, West London and now Essex

Three places I’ve worked: Planet Organic, Joslin Rowe and My Funny Bunny of course!

Three things I love to watch: Cougar Town, Raising Hope, True Blood (and I'm a sucker for Disney movies!!)

Three places I’ve been and love: Spain, Portugal and South Africa…. I'm a sun addict!

Three people that email me regularly: My mum, PRs and SPAM!

Three things I love to eat: Stuffed Squid my mums style, Torta de Cenoura da Avo Nene and Cozido a Portuguesa! Here I am really showing my Portugueseness! Lol

Three people I think will respond: Emily, Gadget Dad and FunnyBanana (Authors on this Blog!)

Three things I’m looking forward to: Our next family trip to South Africa and to Portugal, seeing my business grow and my kids thrive and grow! And my mum and dad's wedding!! (finally!!!!)

Monica xx

A Special Peppa Pig World Preview

Back in November we told you that Peppa Pig World was coming to the UK and opening on the 9th of April and now we have come to tell you that we have been to the preview of it on Saturday!!!

It's only because we are A list don't you know? ;) Ahem, *flicks hair* really, we were invited along with celebrities and the like so we could tell you all about it!

We are in Essex so it took about 3 hours to get there and pee pee breaks because of the kids. I got up at 5:30am to start making our lunch and get things ready, I was really excited as we haven't gone on a proper outing for a while, last time we went somewhere was Legoland before BooBoo was born.

When we eventually got everything ready including leaving food and water for our beasts of the canine kind, I finally managed to get out the door.
ROAD TRIP Woo hooo!!! Before you think it,yes, I did act like a mother the kids would be ashamed of  by putting my hand in "rock" sign and shouting that. If only they were older to actually complain how I was making a fool out of myself, really, even my husband looked at me funny and laughed! A girl's gotta have fun you know?!

Eventually we got there after a very long journey. When walked through a section in Paultons Park we saw some beautiful flamingos, pelicans and my favourite, a family of albino wallabies! Then just by the entrance to Peppa Pig World (part of Paultons Park) there is a wonderful painted wall which the kids loved and it got them even more excited!!

We went through a tent which was there specially for the preview day where we got our VIP passes with our names on which the kids were particularly proud of and we are going to keep them as keepsakes after all this was the preview of Peppa Pig World, the first in the world and this one is exclusive to Paultons Park in the UK!

This place really was heaven, I mean everything everywhere was Peppa Pig, I squealed with excitement and I am a grown woman never mind the kids! As we walked around the 'grass' and the dolls would speak to you, we heard Peppa laugh various times while walking around which was really fun, it added to the whole atmosphere. It wasn't just a park with a few rides... it was a real experience.

We went into Peppa Pig's House where we saw a life sized Peppa Pig and her family talking about pancakes. If you are a Peppa Pig fan you would have seen the episode where Daddy Pig flips the pancakes and they get stuck to the ceiling? That was it except you can see it in real life size, mega cool, the kids adored it!

We also went on George's Dinosaur Adventure, Daddy Pigs Car Ride, Grandpa Pig's Boat Ride and Peppa's Big Balloon Ride, the kids had tons of fun and we were super pleased because there was plenty of rides and stuff for BooBoo our 22 month old to do, so we were all winners!

We also had pictures taken at George's Dinosaur Adventure ride which we got one to keep from Pedro Pony's Ride Photos!

The kids loved George's Spaceship Play Zone but we all absolutely had a blast over at Mr Potato's Playground!! This was absolutely stunning, colourful and different things for all ages, we actually spent a lot of our time here and we had our lunch here too, there are picnic tables so you can have a chat and eat while the kids are playing around. The only down side to this I found was that there wasn't a gate on the actual playground... we were always with an eye on the kids but my little one wandered off to the exit of the playground a few times (we always got her just before she managed to leave though ;) ). Being a big fan of colours (as you can tell by My Funny Bunny!) I really loved the rainbow walkway, I would really love to have something like that done in my garden one day!

 Muddy Puddles is also in Mr Potato's Playground and it's a fab place where the kids can go with their swim suits and splash around! But fear not because if you forget the kids swimwear at home you can always buy some in Peppa's Toy Shop!

Peppa's Toy Shop is a mine field beware your pockets!! Not only will the kids go crazy but you will too... pitty I didn't have that much to spend this time because I would have bought half of the shop, I specially loved their limited edition prints of Peppa and her family, but seriously if you think it, they had it Peppa Pig!!

We had tea and cake at Daddy Pig's Big Tummy Cafe with the lovely Joanne, Sam and their families. It was a lovely sunny day so we really enjoyed sitting at the tables outside just next to the Peppa's Duck Pond which ironically has a sign saying 'Don't feed the ducks' but the ducks are plastic!! We found that hilarious and I am sure it's meant to be.  There are also tables inside where you can watch the kids play in George's Spaceship Play Zone while you have a rest and a chat over some yummy food.

After all that we went out of the Peppa Pig World area into Paultons Park, the day was almost over... but before we left we had to have a go in Wave Runner, which was a massive thrill!!! We had loads of fun and my normally scaredy cat son went on this an amazing 4 times! We couldn't believe it. I mean look at our faces! Definitely one for the thrill seekers.

At the Wave Runner while in the queue we spoke to a visitor and she said that their was plenty of rides for little ones so as we left the park (with a big car journey ahead of us), we saw at the entrance a big list of rides that BooBoo could actually go on at Paultons Park so now we are really excited about going to there again to explore the rest of the park!!

We had a fabulous and much needed family day out and it's all thanks to Paultons Park/ Peppa Pig World, it was worth the long car journeys, there and back!

Although I am not sure if they do birthday parties... I am looking forward to finding out as this is definitely a great venue to do it in!

Monica x

PS.To see more photo's of Peppa Pig World have a look here on the Peppa Pig World News.

The Gallery: Gifts

My chosen word is Gift for this weeks The Gallery challenge.

Yesterday I was looking for a category image for our new skincare range on our website, I looked everywhere but I couldn't find anything that suited, I'm very picky so I spent ages looking for that perfect image only to think at the end... Hold on! I have beautiful kids, a wicked photographer husband and the cream right here!!

I asked my husband to get snapping and tried to convince my almost 5 year old to let me put a dollop of cream on his face for the photos by putting cream on my own face and doing silly faces.
Well that didn't work!! But the promise of a little chocolate did the trick! Can you see the smile on his face? Its the though of chocolate!

Yes I know, BAD MUMMY *slaps own hand* using bribes to get what I want!

But now I look at this photo and many other that we took on this mini session (including the one here) and I think what a gift my son is, what a gift being beautiful is and what a gift my family is to me.

I have a tear in my eye as I am writing this, but I am blessed is so many ways as most of us are. The problem is we often concentrate on the negative things in our lives, the things that are in our face, problems we encounter, things that annoy us... when we should be focused on the positive in our lives.

So this picture highlights one of the gifts in my life and I wanted to share it with you. I am so proud of my family and the joy they bring to my life and heart.

Monica x

A Business Mums Journal - Press Releases

Today I had a conversation with my husband where we decided that if we could find some PR services that we could afford, we should take them up. I don't have much time to do much of it and to be sincere I am rubbish at finding newsworthy angles and not much of a writer either to be able to write a story in a way that would make journalists interested.

In my mind I need a pr person that has been a journalist or a journalist that knows what they are doing but here is the catch.... they have to be great at what they do but I can't afford much.

Impossible right!!!

No I can't afford to spend hundreds and I certainly don't want to pay for something that I don't think is spantabulous (spectacular and fabulous), so kind of hard really. As a small business I have very little budget to work with and it's tough to place the small budget you do have in the hands of someone not knowing what you are going to get in return.

Everyone seems to charge not less than about £50 but its hard to say to someone... OK go ahead and then you end up with something that you don't think is spantabulous, so if you don't think it is, how is anyone else going to think it's great? Then what do you tell that writer? "sorry that sucks"?

You can't just turn around and say "That's no good so I am not going pay you for it, because I'm not going to use it!", that person is going to think you're a nutter as they have spent time writing for you and they are going to thing you are going to thief their writing!!!

Arrrgh!!!

I can't just find a writer, I need to find someone that can help brainstorm ideas of newsworthy angles or stories. Oh and did I mention at a mouse budget?!

Impossible!!!!

Any journalists out there that care to help me find newsworthy angles for no particular reason?! Maybe just a general love for bunnies??

No? Right off to my desperation corner again.

This dilemma coupled with the fact that my son is off school with an ear infection (started just before he had to go back to school!) so he's in a very annoying kind of mood and a toddler that wont leave me alone.... I am having an awesome day!!! (did you notice the sarcastic tone at all?)

If you do know anyone that could help me, please do let me know.

Until next time.

Monica x

Vla - a Dutch Recipe

When I was little my mum lived in Holland for a few years, so I went to stay with her on school holidays as I was living in Portugal with my grandma.

My fondest memories of Holland are a round bread that I used to get from the shop underneath my mums flat, playing with a girl outside my mums flat (she spoke no portuguese and I spoke no dutch but we were best friends), my mum making my hair curly, dressing me in a pretty dress and going taking me on a walk which we went past a river and Vla....

Vla, in chocolate, strawberry or vanilla.... seriously I could probably drown in the stuff I liked it so much! Its not custard by any means but its similar, only 100 times better...

A couple of days ago I popped over to Tales from Windmill Fields blog and saw the nice cartons of Vla as her Dutch thing of the week, I think it should be the Dutch thing of forever really, never mind the week but it did make me crave Vla. I went to search for Vla to see if there was anywhere I could buy it in the UK but had not much luck apart from coming across a recipe that looks simple enough to make here on Thomers' website, now I hope he doesn't mind but I had to share it with you and pop it on here for my future reference as I don't want to ever loose sight of it.

I'll certainly have to try and make it and tell you all how it worked out, if you make it before me, let me know how it went. Apparently in America they call this cornstarch pudding, not sure if theirs is the same but hey we won't know until an American tells us so!

Chocolate vla topped with whipped cream

VLA RECIPE:


Ingredients:

• 1 litre of whole milk
• 1/4 litre (1 cup) of heavy cream (or less, down to 50ml or 1/4 cup)
• 70 grams (1/3 cup) of sugar
• 2 additional tablespoons of sugar
• 2 eggs
• 40 grams (slightly less than 1/3 cup) of cornstarch
• a half or whole vanilla bean (or plain old vanilla flavoring)
• optional: yellow food coloring

Add a few tablespoons of milk to the cornstarch and stir until the cornstarch dissolves and the liquid is uniform. Heat up the remaining milk in a large pan with a cut open vanilla bean in it. 

In the meantime, use a (hand)mixer to beat the 70g of sugar with the eggs until foamy—this takes a few minutes. Keep an eye on the milk. When the milk starts to boil, lower the heat and dump in the cornstarch fluid and stir until somewhat gelatinous—this should take a minute or two, but don't worry if it doesn't get gelatinous. Keep it on a very, very gentle boil.

Slowly pour in the foamy egg/sugar mix into the gently boiling milk; keep it like that while gently stirring and beating the mix until the vla is uniform and somewhat gelatinous.

To cool it, pour the vla into a bowl and lower the bowl into a larger bowl filled with cold water. Stir the vla every few minutes and replace the lukewarm water with cold water. Store in fridge.
Before serving, beat the desired amount of heavy cream with 2 tablespoons of sugar until stiff and stir into the vla—use less cream to keep the vla lighter. If you want to make it look more like the real thing, add 10-15 drops of yellow food coloring and stir.

Optionally sprinkle some hagelslag (chocolate sprinkles) on it for the full effect.
Enjoy the taste of Holland.

Monica xx

Special Boy Boosters

A few minutes ago I was in the kitchen cleaning up and as it is half term the kids are full of energy and driving me absolutely bonkers!

So as great as I am at multi tasking I am busy arbitrating my daughter and sons racing... one is almost 20 months and the other is almost 5 years old.

Here I am saying "Ready, Steady, GO!"  a thousand times while my kids basically run up and down the sitting room and kitchen racing.

On the last race of the evening my son reaches the winning post first and rips out a massive bum burp... yep a fart!! I looked at him in amazement and with a smile on my face and said "What was that?!?" to which my son replied " That was my booster! A special fart booster for racing!"

I wish everyone had an imagination and sense of humour like him!

Boys... typical!

Monica x

Stylish Blogger Award - 7 things you didn't know about me...

My new friend Carolin of Mummy Alarm and my long time friend Gauri of Blessing Tree have tagged me in the Stylish Blogger Award which is great but it means I have to tell you 7 things you didn't know about me...

I really had to think about this and it was actually quite hard. So here goes my attempt!

1. When I was three years old I was having fun on a cotton reel display watching all the reels fall down when I took one from the bottom, problem was I couldn't put them back in through the top as I didn't reach. Resulting in me putting them in my jacket pockets (unfortunately I had rather big pockets), when I got home, my nan found them in my pockets and made me go back and apologize to the shop owner.
I didn't know I was stealing until my nan explained when we got home... apologizing to the store owner was probably my most embarrassing moment ever.

2. I secretly dream about owning a country house with a pretty country cream kitchen, where I wear a pretty apron I made myself and I bake cakes all the time... those of you who know me will think this is totally unlike me!

3. I wanted to home school my kids but unfortunately have no time and thought they will miss out on socializing and other things school can offer, but I certainly would like to nurture and teach them all I can all the time.

4.  I was a really good singer when I was younger, now I am out of practice I believe I sound like a howling dog in pain.

5. Marmite = Hate it, Vegemite = Never tried it

6. I absolutely love potatoes and this, I could probably live on those things!!!

7. I am very very impatient, it's annoying...specially to me!

Now I have to nominate 15 blogs.... that is a lot! Then they have to do the same as above and nominate other peeps too!

1. New but cool blog by @ChicUniqueUK Http://insideemmasattic.blogspot.com/

2. Rosa Pomar at http://aervilhacorderosa.com/ , this is a very cool blog with all kinds of cool crafty stuff and translated the title means "The Pink Pea" how can you not love that?! Click on the english tab at the top to read in english :)

3. The really cool family blog over at http://christopherandtia.blogspot.com/ , the baby blogs, the mummy blogs and the kids blog... loads of pictures = super cool blog!

4. Kathryn is great writer and a great lady, lovely blog... http://crystaljigsaw.blogspot.com/

5. A blog of a successful small business that started at home... very cool stuff! http://dotsandspotsdesign.blogspot.com/

6. A felt artist blog... simply love her birdies... http://feltmeupdesigns.blogspot.com/

7. A blog with some cool posts and wicked give aways http://giventodistractingothers.blogspot.com/

8. Insomniac mummy - interesting stuff... but you really have to stop over for her "Hot or Not?" posts... *drools* http://www.insomniacmummy.com/

9. Musings of a mummy... an interesting blog... and she has a baby on the way! Awwww! http://isthereaplanb.blogspot.com/

10. Fun foodie blog of a mummy http://blog.maisoncupcake.com/

11. Miss Lizzie B is a funny gal, trust me I've met her! http://missielizzie-meandmyshadow.blogspot.com/

12. Fellow mummy blogger and Quinny Caster Emma over at http://www.methemanandthebaby.com/

13. Great blog http://www.mellowmummy.co.uk/ a first time mummy

14. A mummy trying to juggle her many "hats" http://www.muddlingalongmummy.com/

15. An american mum in Glasgow http://transatlanticblonde.blogspot.com/

Phew! Thats it... many more people I would like to tag but I think this list is long enough! Now all you bloggers have to do the same! ;)

Monica x

Attempting to plan ahead...

Yes, anyone that knows me knows that I am not too much into planning ahead... planning ahead to me involves writing something on my calendar and leaving it at that.

Not because I can't do it, it's more to do with "I never know what will happen tomorrow" syndrome... so I only plan ahead in detail when I absolutely have to.

Eating on a budget and with not much time to cook, lately we have been falling into the evil ready meals route far too many times than I have liked and this has resulted in particularly me and Booboo not having as many healthy stomach "turns" as is appropriate.
After having 2 kids that is not great for me as my digestive system is sluggish so I put on unhealthy weight and have trouble going to the loo, and then comes the "I am too tired to do anything" attitude too!!! So I need to get back in control and do the right thing.

Another thing is we have been eating far too much meat and not enough vegetables, we all know about animal cruelty and how cows massively contribute to global warming, but realistically I know that we can't be vegetarian, so I just want to cut down on our meat intake and really increase our vegetables, pulses, and other good stuff.

In my attempt to "fix" all of the above and I came up with a "Menu" for the week ahead, a menu that I hope we will achieve eating healthily on a budget.

For lunch we will eat left overs from dinner, I will make more to accommodate as I don't have the time to be cooking lunch and dinner.

Dinner Menu for a Week

Wednesday (today): Chilli con Carne with carrots & Rice
Thursday: Meat Free Sausages with caramelised onions & Fine Green Beans
Friday: Portuguese Pea Dish with Chorizo and Egg ( Ervilhas com Ovos Escalfados ) 
Saturday: Garlicky Potato, Carrot & Ham Bake
Sunday: Tomato & Red Lentil Soup with bread on the side
Monday: Salmon & Onion Fishcakes with Tomato Salad
Tuesday: Portuguese Dish - Gay Chicken (Frango a Paneleiro)
Wednesday: Tuna Nicoise Salad

So I will try to stick to the plan and tell you what happened next week!!
Hopefully a fresh pre planned menu will also restore my enthusiasm for cooking because I have been so bored and fed up with cooking!

What do you do to keep your "menu" fresh & on budget?

Monica xx

A "shared" wedding...

In April it's my 10th anniversary, me and my husband got married 10 years ago here in England and only his parents and sister got to attend.

His family is scattered all over the world now but mainly in South Africa which is where he is from, he was very sad that the rest of his family didn't get to be at the wedding and we always wanted to renew our vows over in SA so his family could be present when we renew our promise to be each other's forever.

Yes it's corny but its true, after 10 years I still shriek of happiness when I think that my husband is gonna be off work and with us at home on his days off, I sometimes even shriek with excitement when he calls me from work saying he is coming home, I still get all lovey dovey when he shaves just for me and not because he is going to work and we still call each other more than once a day when he is at work or we are apart for some other reason.

I truly believe that we are still in love even after 10 years, I don't mean we just love each other, I mean we are still madly in love with each other... I will proudly declare on my renewal of vows my love for him.

So, enough of the lovey dovey stuff....

Last year when we were on holiday over in SA, my sister in law got engaged, after that, she and my mother in law suggested why don't we set a date for us to go over again and do our renewal of vows too?!?

We discussed it and thought it was a great idea, the family would get invited to one event, at one location but with my sister in laws wedding on one day and our renewal of vows on the next day :)

Great so it was decided, now all I have to do is organise all our bits.... with 4 months to go and us totally skint!!!


We have the venue... http://www.assegaaibosch.co.za absolutely stunning nature reserve, but I need a dress for me, a dress for my dolly BooBoo, something for my hubby and something for my FunnyBunny. Invitations for the family and whatever else....

Monica xxx

Back to preschool

Going to prechool on a winter day

Last week my son was supposed to go back to school, he goes to Preschool three 5 hour days a week.

I phoned up the school to check if they were open and Mrs B told me that there had been a leak and there was water coming from the ceiling through the light fittings, obviously they had to close the preschool and she told me if all goes well they should be open this week.

I love my son dearly but I treasure the time he is at preschool to spend with my baby girl, do chores and get some work done in peace while knowing that my son is having fun and learning.

Today I phoned in the morning and they told me that they are open, I took my little boy in and he was very excited and went in straight away telling one of the girls what he had done over the holidays.

As is was walking home I felt so excited that I had some time for myself with baby girl and to get some stuff done :D

I also remembered the time before my son was 4 years old, I would see other mums excited about their kids going back to school and think "OMG! Why are they so eager to see the back of their kids???!!! I will never be like that!" but now I get it. 

It's not any less love we have for our kids, it's the fact that we spend all of our time with them, entertaining, teaching, loving and taking care of them and guess what? ... They still get bored, and when they do... they get mischievous!! 

Let's face it, you need some time to unwind too (even if it is working and not actually relaxing!) and they need some time to themselves too. It's a fact. When my son comes from school he is excited to tell me about his day at school and he eats better too (he is a very fussy eater).

So yes, I love my son to death but I am glad he goes to preschool. 

I'm sorry for "judging" other mummies out there before I had actually gone through it.

Monica xxx

My Baby Girl is 1

My memories about my Booboo's birth are good, unlike my son's birth, her birth was free from stress and very tranquil, painful none the less!

I had given birth once before and wasn't scared or nervous about it, I gave birth naturally, just as I did my son, but this time I had the birth at Basildon hospital in the midwife led birth unit in a nice spacious room with a massive window overlooking a park in a birthing pool.

It was the best birth experience I could have ever wished for, my memories are tranquil ones of soothing music with birds chirping, the feel of the warm water on my skin and a beautiful baby girl in my arms. Yes I did have a complication, she did her first poop inside me (yew!) which meant that if I didn't push her out quick enough I would have to have an emergency caesarian, which I definitely didn't want!!! So as soon as the midwife told me my baby was in danger I turned on my Superwoman mode and I pushed her out fast!

It was still amazing though, I did it all by myself :), the midwife did not touch me or the baby for anything except to see how dilated I was. My amazing husband was there holding my hand, my mother in law was there but as quiet as a mouse bless her, specially considering she is a midwife too (my mum had been to my DS' birth, so my MIL came all the way from South Africa for her turn).

Unlike my little boy where I had difficulty breastfeeding for the two months or so (having flat nipples didn't help!), my Boo Boo was on the breast within 15-20 mins of being born and breast fed like a pro, as if she had been doing it for years... maybe its a girl thing! ;)

Now my baby is a toddler and a mischievous one at that, 14 months now and starting to run... I see great things in her future, very smart for her age and most of all a determined little girl.

I love you my Boo Boo and I promise to do all I can to raise you right and give you as many opportunities as I can, just the same goes for your brother.

Love you always Boo Boo

Mummy xxx

My baby boy is 4

It seems that only yesterday I was in pain in Chelsea and Westminster Hospital in London, waiting on a wheelchair for the hospital staff to clean a birthing room... yes, I was in a queue!
I did think that my little boy was gonna be born on a wheelchair in the hospital corridor with his daddy absent... but that is a story for another day... yes, amazingly I haven't told it yet, mostly for the fact that its gonna be a mega post and I am rubbish at writing unlike some other fabulous mummy bloggers I know!!

Anyway, my little Stefan was 4 on the 29th of April 2010 (yes I know I'm late... like everything else in my life! ;D).

His first two birthdays were BBQ's with family & friends and his 3rd birthday was a children's party with some games, but nothing extra special.

Now his 4th birthday I really wanted to be special, something that he would remember, as he is now in the age of getting excited about his birthday party. We have been a bit skint with my hubby looking for a new job and all so we didn't have much money to play around with, but I really wanted to make it special for him.

I went around and around in circles in my head and thought dressing up was a good idea as he was really into Toy Story and it sounded fun, he was ecstatic about the idea too! So we went out and bought him a Woody outfit and he was so excited!!

But then I thought... what the heck am I gonna do with a bunch of dressed up kids looking at me??!! Ahhhhh, didn't sound like much fun to me at all!!!

I spoke to my hubby and we agreed on a jumpy castle to keep the rugrats busy... and that was that!

Amazingly when it came to the actual birthday party the kids REALLY enjoyed the jumpy castle, I mean really... they were on it for 4-5 hours, only stoping to eat or drink!!! I sincerely though the novelty with wear off after 2 hours... but even the adults wanted a go on it... the party only stopped because it started raining!

To this day Stefan still talks about his party and that was my goal, to make my funny bunny happy and etch his 4th birthday into his memory. I think I achieved that!!

I love you my boy and you always be my baby.

Lots of love,
Monica x

There is a Plan B

Tonight, by chance I stumbled across Plan B's Blog, the 1st post I read brought tears to my eyes...
People sometimes don't agree with mummies staying at home, some think we are lazy, some think we are crazy.

I think its a personal decision, some mummies prefer to have a bit more independence & money, some have no choice at all, I personally choose to dedicate myself to my kids, be hands on, yes I do miss the "mates" at the office, the laughs we had and having my "own money" but I have so much more... I have laughs with my kids, I teach them everything they know, I help them become who they are gonna be and I have never missed a single moment of anything... their first smile, laugh, crawl, step and so much more!

Both my kids have been with me 24/7 since they were born, until recently that my boy started pre-school (starting school this year...oh the pain!!!!), sometimes my mum nags me because of the way I am so attached to my kids but the truth is... I don't want to miss anything!

Anyway, Plan B put it just the way I would have put it if I could actually write properly!
The reason why some of us decide to stay at home to look after our babies (as they will forever be to us!), what we think & some of the issues we have come across...

Beautifully written for her children: A letter of resignation

It was a pleasure reading it

Monica x

Crazy people at the airport in Portugal!

As probably many of you already know, I am Portuguese, I was born and brought up there until I was 10 years old at which time my mum decided to wizz me up and bring me to England to be with her (I was brought up with my nan).

I have now been here many more years than I was there and am as "English" as my next door neighbour.

A lot of you have probably been to France, Spain or Portugal on holidays and though you want to stay there forever! I am exactly like that except I was born in Portugal, speak the language and have many fond childhood memories.

I miss the weather (don't we all! lol) and the warmness of the people.

Sometimes I think I would love to go and live there, "immigrate", but then we would have to start all over again & life is very hard over there, specially considering I have 2 small children.

My mum is the total anti-Portugal, she loves her country and her people but says it's only great for holidays not for living.

Sometimes I wonder if I would be happier with a simpler life in the sun?

The video below just shows you a bit of the creativity & friendliness they have over there. You'll have fun watching it but you can tell they had a blast doing it!

PS. TAP= Tap Air Portugal, ANA= same as BAA in England

Teething at 6 months old

Baby Girl has really been moaning about her teeth for a while now, the usual drooling, biting when breastfeeding & "eating her own hands" has been there for a while now but so far we had seen no teeth!

About a week ago a sharp little bugger actually popped out to say hello to my.... boobs! Arghhhh the pain! Little Missy always decides (at some point) while nursing that she should bite down on my breast, pull her head back as far as she can so my breast springs out of her mouth!

This happens so fast & its soooo painful that I have no time to do anything about it... and guess what?!? She smiles at me straight after!!! Cheeky hey?

Well, I must say I am quite glad she just gets moany and a bit cheeky cause with Mr Serious it was a completely different story! He used to get all messed up during the night not wanting to sleep as normal, he would get temperature and not want to feed, that then contributed to crying etc.

I wish I could take a picture of her little tooth but its impossible cause you barely get a glimpse of it unless she is crying, and then I'm too busy attending to Little Missy's requests to take pictures! Lol

She doesn't like to use teethers so she results to eating her own hand or her pink taggie blanket (you can get one here).

This first "sprouting" tooth is on her right hand side on the bottom, the one next to it is "knocking" too because you can see the white underneath the gums! Oh Joy... another one to give me pain!

Monica x

PS. Don't forget to check out this month's give away here! Good luck

Christmas 2009 a time of happiness & sadness

Christmas 2009 was very mixed up for us here at My Funny Bunny Towers, we had a christening, a passing and Christmas celebrations.

First was my baby girl's christening or blessing as we call it in our church.

It was a time of much excitement and planning, we made it so close to Christmas as my grandparents were due to be here on holiday then, it was important for them to be present at this event, specially because they were not able to be there when my first was blessed.

We planned everything and it went lovely, from Mylie's dress down to the cupcakes, everything went right and everything was beautiful. I was worried everything was gonna be terrible as we were terribly low on cash but luckily my husband got an unexpected tip at work so we just made it!

First the dress that I bought for little Mylie arrived but it was damaged so it had to go back, luckily so resourceful that I am I had bought 2 dresses and the "back up" dress was lovely & it turned out to be even lovelier than it showed on the internet! It is a silk Monsoon cream dress that had some pink & cream flowers "embroidered" with ribbon on the chest and bottom of the skirt. It was beautiful and my little girl looked stunning!

I also wanted to have cupcakes instead of a cake to celebrate, again I felt so devastated cause before that tip my husband got at work I couldn't even buy a cake that day let alone cupcakes! I had money coming into my bank account the day after the christening, what good was that?!

But as God works in mysterious way I was able to get something for my little girl! I looked around for cupcakes but they were either not what I wanted, expensive, too far to collect or couldn't be made in time! So I though to myself "Why the heck am I being so lazy?! If others can do it, so can I!!!" I then went in search for all the bits I needed, bought them and though "I have only one shot, the Christening is tomorrow... God help me!"

So I made the chocolate cupcakes, using my moist chocolate cake recipe and they came out great! After that was what I thought to be the hard part... the buttercream icing and making my icing butterflies with glitter... as it turns out I have quite a flair for cupcake decorating!

The end product was what you see on the picture above, I made 25 muffin sized cupcakes, I did go to bed at 4am so obviously the cupcakes looked better than I did the next morning! Lol

We had a great time that day with our family and friends, we had lunch at a great Chinese buffet restaurant in front of Stratford Picture House in London. At the end of the meal I gave everyone a cupcake to enjoy and everyone loved them!!!

I was over the moon at how the day ended and everyone had a great time.

Unfortunately a week later my hubby's grandma passed away, she was a very kind & gentle person which we love dearly, she lives on in our hearts forever.

A week after that was Christmas, which was specially hard on my husband, after what had just happened we were still grieving.

He was very home sick wanting to be with his family, unfortunately we couldn't go visit them as we didn't have the funds for us to go to South Africa.

We are still very sad that our dear Ouma Bokkie has passed away, we are dealing with it, but she was very frail and I believe that now she is at rest and she is looking after us and our little ones from above.

Rest in Peace Susanna Strydom "Ouma Bokkie" 31 Dec 1929 - 16 Dec 09

An angel on earth, now an angel in heaven.

We love you forever, and forever you are in our hearts.

Monica xx

Swine Flu

We all know about the swine flu and specially us with little ones indoors are mortified by it!

My 3 year old son has been sick since about Thursday with fever, he's been getting better with Nurofen for kids but eventually the fever creeps back...he then started getting some phlem, a cough and a sore throat.

I have given him Nurofen, Calpol, some sweeties and syrup for his throat.
This morning he was burning up with fever again so I though I better call NHS Direct Helpline to get some advice.

So indeed I did and explained everything, they asked me some questions and then advised me to call the Pandemic Helpline. When I did they also asked me some questions and at the end they gave me a reference number to go and get the Tamiflu capsules for my son from the local swine flu clinic.

I went running like mad to get the capsules leaving my son and my 7 wk old baby girl with my grandparents (left on tip toes so my son wouldn't notice I left otherwise there would be crying galore!).

To my luck when I get there (out of breath and looking like I'm homeless lol) they tell me that I need the ID of both me and my son, which I didn't have!
So here I go again, running like mad to get home and pick up our ID's and back again... All this stressing about my son and my daughter because if she woke up she would need breast feeding and she was already asleep for 4 hours so she could wake up any min!
When I got there luckily there was no one in front so I got served straight away and ran back home again like a mad woman!
Luckily my little one was still asleep and I managed to give my son the medication mixed with a spoonful of yoghurt.

As you imagine I am absolutely terrified, not only for my son but for my 7 wk old girl too. On top of that my family has all been in contact with my son while sick and my untie is currently in labour!

I pray that everything and everyone will be fine and thank all my Twitter followers for all their support so far.

I will let you know what happens.

Monica xxx