Amber at Unlikely Mama nominated me for my very first blogging award here.

Following on from Amber’s post there are a few things I need to do to share the love:
1. thank the person who nominated me for this award
2. copy the award &; place it on my blog
3. link to the person who nominated me for this award
4. share 7 interesting things about myself
5. nominate 7 other beautiful bloggers
All About Amber

Amber is a great friend of mine, who I met on twitter. I vaguely remember suggesting that a second pregnancy …

Well, a lazy afternoon for me anyway. This little energizer bunny was busy, industrious and non-stop all day. If I had her energy I’d make an awesome mother to someone.

We are on a strict budget at the moment. Really strict. We want to be debt free (other than our mortgage) by July or August. Money annoys me. Or the lack of money annoys me. After we got married we had close to $40,000 in debt between personal loans and credit cards. Nightmare. So to be in a position to have paid that off completely within 4 short years is a real achievement. I love that now whenever I buy something and they ask savings or credit, I always say …

Giving her grandad a few pointers on surfing.
I’m told he’s working on making her a Riley-sized surfboard for when she’s old enough to learn.
He loved watching how fearless she was in the water, even though the waves would occasionally go over her head.
And even more the tight cuddle he received as he carried her back down the beach.
His grandaughter. The only person on God’s green earth that would get him to a beach without a surfboard under his arm.

Personality. It’s a strange beast. Every day, a little bit more of Riley’s personality emerges. But it can be hard to tell what is actual personality and what is her being a toddler. It is hard to tell what she was born with and what she has learnt.
She’s extremely gregarious. But not around toddlers. Only around adults. Either way, gregarious is not something she learnt from me, or from Mr Goog. Now her reserve, quiet and tendency to play alone around other toddlers, that’s something that looks familiar. And then, …

This is why I have a camera. Because if I take a photo of it, there’s evidence that it actually happened.

I am extremely soft-hearted when it comes to Riley. I don’t think twice about her sharing our bed when she wants to, lying down with her if she needs company to go to sleep, reading her a story when I’m trying to get work done or cuddling her through a tantrum. It’s not always convenient, somtimes it’s even boring (I challenge you to sit in a dark room for over an hour and not get at least a little bored) and it can be tiring. But I wouldn’t have it …

You can never have too many jewels

Duck is tasty. Or so Mr Goog tells me. I wouldn’t know, I’m a vegetarian, and always have been.

Riley’s not a vegetarian, and she was never going to be. I’m a happy vegetarian (I don’t know any better). But I’m not vegetarian for moral reasons. If I was, I’d be a major league hypocrite, because I love my shoes and handbags and they’re all leather. I’m proud of the environmentally sustainable aspect.  But I hate going to restaurants and desperately searching for the vegetarian items on the menu. And I …

She’s starting missing him during the day. She points to the door and says “Josh!” over and over, makes me take her outside to look for him and then cries when she can’t see the car. Of course, when he gets home she often ignores him. But not always.