Firstly here is Aidan singing this weeks nursery rhyme Row Your Boat – Remember guys, life is button deem!

Row your boat … “life button dream” remix #kidvid #cutekid #aidykins

A video posted by Eleanor Douglas-Meyers (@justellabella) on Sep 6, 2015 at 12:23pm PDT

Today’s choice of nursery rhyme comes from Amelia over at SuddenlyAMom she is not taking part this time around due to not feeling 100s but we still wanted to include her. Talking about health Venean from In the mean time was not up to taking part in this one from the hospital… No commitment that one! she should have grabbed a bed pan some rubber gloves and gone for it (kidding I’m not a monster, hehe)

This is what I came up with because Ruth’s little teapot coasters reminded me that I own NO coasters so here is what I did…

I don’t usually drink juice from stemware but hey it makes a cute pic

First I raided Aidan’s craft box for wood glue and ice-cream sticks

I put down two sticks at opposite ends and started gluing on top



continue until it looks like this

Then add two more sticks above the two original ones

This is what you should be left with TAH DAH!!!!

How cute and great for a beach theme party me thinks

That’s it from me don’t forget to take a look at what the others came up with:

LUCHAE
RUTH

Aidan loves reading! okay he loves me reading to him and then memorising the story and pretending to read it back to me. Since he is only two, things don’t hold his attention for very long (books included) so I often do crafts based on any new books he gets to make it more exciting.

Thanks to Kid’sBookClub he will be getting books every month now so MORE CRAFTING FOR ME!!! I mean for him, I totally do this for him not me 😉 The books come to our door with magazines for me and I can’t tell you how much I love the concept!!! you should totally join

Some books for you and some for me mommy

 Last month we received Cloud Babies and My Favourite Food and I went with a my Favourite Food craft

Favourite food activity

The book is about a duck who goes around asking the other animals on the farm what their favourite food is. He tries their favourites but decides he prefers his… I could not get farm animals (okay I didn’t go look I just used what I had) so I went with an African feel 🙂

First I used foam stickers which I bought from Crazy store and stuck them on to pegs Kind of like I did for this fun family wall activity

I then googled pictures of what the animals eat (yes the animals do not eat steaks but I did not want to traumatize my veggie son with pictures of animals eating animals that look like animals-you get me) I stuck them on a page using Microsoft Paint (my go to) and printed it out on card and covered it all in contact plastic.

Then all you do is give the page and pegs to your kid and have them “feed the animals” by pegging the animals onto their food choices 🙂

Happy feeding

My parents celebrate 30 years of marriage today…
A real achievement in this day and age especially if you factor in how different these two are.I swear it’s like they filled in a dating profile with the words “I would like someone so far from my personality it’s scary”

My mom is cool calm and calculated, every thing is thought through and organised while my dad flies by the seat of his pants, he does everything instant and big while my mom is reserved and calm. She speaks when spoken to or after a glass of wine and he never shuts up 🙂

But they have that “stay up if he works late”, “check on her if she’s home alone” kind of love. It is the kind of love one  could spot from miles away. 

At my dad’s birthday party this weekend my mom said that marriage was not 50/50 if you want something to work you don’t go half way. .. marriage is 100/100 it’s about sacrifice and truly accepting that you are no longer just looking out for yourself… powerful words I’d say.

I’ve learnt a lot about marriage and love from these two even though neither of them had the best role models when it came to relationships growing up (both sets of grandparents were involved in pretty destructive relationships).

I learnt about team work by watching them work together for everything they wanted, I learnt about sacrifice by watching them give up and go without in order to save and I learnt about never being “too big” to say you are sorry.

Living together is one thing loving together is what I witnessed and what I strive for…

Happy anniversary may God grant you many more years together 🙂

Hi my name is Eleanor Douglas-Meyers my second name is Alwene but I don’t often use it because I think it sounds odd… I was not that keen on Eleanor when I was younger either as I thought it made me sound like an elderly librarian.
I like it now though.
This blog is a bit like me, all craft crazy, over sharey (I realise this is not a word) and slightly braggy about my booger and monster crazy two-year-old.
Coincidentally, my doctor says I need to lose as many kgs as he weighs; for my liver and my insulin resistance (and for my pants to fit again) which hopefully won’t be that hard as he is not a good eater at all.
I’ve got a great big bush of curly  hair which I decided to embrace and go heat and mostly chemical free, talk about commitment.
I’ve been married to a X box crazy detective since 2008 and so far so good 😉
Starting today I work full time in three jobs(not counting blogging)… three days a week  during office hours I fo design and layout for newspapers and the rest of the week I run my little handmade kids accessories business called Oh!Boy and create for a gifting business called Gifts&Goodies which I run with a friend. I also recently became certified in online digital marketing, hooray for old dogs and new tricks.
I write this blog because I’m a trained journalist who opted out of a formal writing position but still “wants to be read”.
The reason for this random reintroduction is that I feel like I haven’t been very authentic lately…losing my voice a little, like who is this girl exactly? what is her story?
 So I figured the blog recently got a makeover, my life had a pretty big makeover and I am working on giving my body and mind a makeover so why not do a restart post….
Hi I’m Just Ella Bella do come back for a chat over chai tea and macaroons or better yet some crafts and cocktails. 

I don’t give “parenting advice” , I don’t give advice on anything really. Opinions? Yes, (hehe) advice? No and parenting ESPECIALLY, no.

My son routinely lays down randomly ,often under things, and I suspect people would be reluctant to take advice from the mom trying to coax a toddler from under a display cabinet with a fruit stick and promises of extra teeth brushing time, (he loves it) and rightfully so… We are all just learning as we go along (except certain moms on mommy forums who know everything; their kids came with a manual I’m sure)

This being said, we are currently in hospital,  Aidy was admitted early on Saturday for observation due to chest problems and the fact that he had grown increasingly lethargic (you guys know how he gives me a run for my money so lethargic is certainly not good)

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It the last Mommy Moment Monday with this amazing group of moms, older posts here

This week’s question is

1. What you wish you knew before

Eleanor and Aidan

You know all about me already… 

What you wish you knew before: I think it’s good that I didn’t know too much before I had a kid. I don’t know if I would have signed up if I knew I’d never sleep, there would be toys everywhere and I’d spend most of my time trying to reason with someone a fraction of my age…that does not sound pleasant and I don’t think I would be too keen, but then I would not have had all the perks that goes with being a mom, the love, the joy, the blessings

Cindy and Imogen 

I call her my princess, she calls me Mamma, Mommy, or Mu-um depending on her mood. Imogen is 5-years old and in Grade R. I am a single Mom, trying to climb the corporate ladder while my daughter keeps my feet firmly on the ground –  staying humble and grateful for being a Mom.


What you wish you knew before: Not to follow all the baby books because they contradict each other! Just to go with my gut instinct of what feels right for me and baby in those early stages.

Luchae, Kyle and Karis

Luchae blogs over at myspreadsheetbrain she has two kids with a 12 year age gap so says she feels like she is doing it all from scratch.

What you wish you knew before: After having my little girl 12 years after her big brother, I’ve come to realize that every moment in your kids life is so important and special. Celebrate each strength and encourage them through every weakness. And hey, if you miss a beat, that’s okay! 

Zandile and Qawe

 

Zandile is the mother of a rather precocious  4-year old

What you wish you knew before: I wish I knew that becoming a mom meant getting a mini husband minus the lobola!! Qhawe has become the king of the castle and I his ever present servant. Emphasis on servant!

Yolande and Sam

Sam is an active and very loving little boy born on July 31, 2012 and his mommy is a freelance writer who works from home and who is still trying to figure out how to juggle being a semi-stay-at-home-mom and a working-mom at the same time.  

What you wish you knew before: This answer changes so often, but among the thing I wish I knew is what people meant with toddlers “are busy”. I think the that is the understatement of the century and I think there are much better ways to describe their “busyness” like “I’m-about-to-collapse-from-exhaustion”. I also now (at this age) wish I knew about the constant repetition…I cannot even begin to tell you the number of times I have to repeat phrases like “Take a bite of your food”, “Don’t touch the television”….you get the picture. 

Thanks so much to these amazing moms who all happen to have two things in common, they all have ink running through their veins and little people running through their hearts

Please check back next week for a new group of mommies 🙂