Birthdays – The Milk Memoirs

On your third birthday Parker-Grace

Posted on November 22, 2016 by mommabeartrax

In case you’re confused…no, it’s not the 30th October..it’s just me doing a bit of ground hog day and playing blog catch-up over here. So bear with me, as we hyperspace back to my littlest Parker’s birthday, and I actually get to share my thoughts and mom feels with you…as well as my message to my girl marking this very special occassion…

Every year, when the girls’ birthdays come around, I find myself stuck in their baby folders…Mike always warns me – as he knows I get mesmerised by it and then completely lost in it and the whole world goes to pot- I never listen to him. But he’s always right, I just keep going through them – plastered to that screen. Only blinking to due to flooded eyes, or stupid ear-to-ear grins. What can I say? I can’t help myself. Photos are my jam.

From the photos we eventually, especially in Parker’s case, we all gather round to watch her birth video. It always captures the kiddies’ attention, so much so that they have it on repeat. And no matter how many times I watch that video, with both girls nestled on my lap, I still spill tears of joy… *Now, before you go ahead and think I’m a sentimental bloggy asshole who writes as if everything is perfect and just so dreamy-weemy, let it be known this daydreamy-like state also always abruptly slides into Morgy ugly crying because she doesn’t have a birth video of her own. Then we, as usual, end up frantically having to dig out those 3 or 4 quick birth snaps we do have of her on the day. We, of course, pile on the love and koosh, and are for a few moments emotionally drained by the sudden, although reliably annual Morgan-Lee birth-vid-mini-breakdown.*

But birth video hissy fits aside, and point being, Continue reading →

“All Gold” Birthday

Posted on July 6, 2016 by mommabeartrax

I reached the “All gold” age, and in just doing a quick barometer check…yup, Im still on the same vibe as last year, and the year before…and pretty much as always I suppose. Life is good at any age.
For those of you have been sheltered from the mental itch-inducing TV ad from back in the day,(although, it could still be running for all I know- I haven’t watched TV in years) the all gold reference comes from the All Gold tomato sauce ad. A proper earworm that jingle, it was. In other words, I’m 36sssss. ( you’ve got to whistle it)

There have been plenty of rough times during my 36th year of life..many of which had me Continue reading →

Love Day Berry Pie

Posted on February 26, 2016 by mommabeartrax

Its still the month of love, and what better way to bring it to a close than with some comforting pastry treats, like this little love pie with it’s warm and welcoming crust, that oozes sweet & tangy berry sauce.

It’s the perfect way to end off a Valentine’s day lunch, and an even sweeter way to celebrate a woman we all love. A honeypot of a woman who has all our hearts indeed: My sweet mother-in-law.

It’s her birthday Continue reading →

A whirlwind roundup of October 2015

Posted on November 9, 2015 by mommabeartrax

Warning: Heavy Photo post! 🙂
What a month October was! Wowzers…I wanna say, hell yeah, bring on xmas now, but I feel I may very well still need some time to recover from it…Also our coming November schedule is already jam-packed for us, so it’d be pointless to try and even fool myself into thinking that I can slowly cruise into Xmas season untarnished…But before I get ahead of myself, I really enjoyed our October, so lets do a round up shall we?

I’ve got to be honest, as I Continue reading →

My darling, Parker-Grace, on your 2nd birthday…

Posted on November 3, 2015 by mommabeartrax

Smile: Pax at almost 5 months old

So thanks to my back in almost full spasm(its been a few hectic weeks for me), resulting in my legs being unable to move, and other such lovely gifts bestowed upon me by Murphy and his boring law, this here post never did go out on last Friday as planned. And what a special post it was to be! You see, my little-lest beast had just turned two!!!

Oh my darling Parker, my beautiful, strong, wild and loving Parker-Grace. Today you Continue reading →

Parker-Grace’s Birds and Owls 1st Birthday Celebration & free DIY Birdhouse template!

Posted on September 28, 2015 by mommabeartrax

Warning: Super heavy photo post today! 🙂

Holy moses, guys! Parker’s almost two years old! I can’t believe it! Like seriously, wasn’t it just the other day she was born!? Never mind the fact that the manic newborn days are still so vivid in my mind, I still very clearly remember how she felt in my belly!

Everything’s still so fresh in my mind, and yet here we are, on the cusp of celebrating her second year in this world. Two years of her surviving us. (Thanks for choosing us, kid!)And amazingly, two years of our nerves surviving Parker-Grace’s fearless and stunt-dog nature. Which really is the oddest thing, because if you Continue reading →

Aging with grace, appreciation and anticipation

Posted on September 25, 2015 by mommabeartrax

I certainly hope Im not boring you with all the birthday vibes up in this here blog, but that’s where my brain is at right now. Especially considering that we are still toying with the idea of whether or not to have a party for Parker-Grace’s second birthday next month – so you should very likely expect more party posts soon.

As I’ve explained before (see here), we tend to only throw kiddy parties every second year, with the non-party year just being a family affair – although with the size of my family, like Mike always jokes, it still ends up being a party.  All these celebrations that I never regret. In fact, only cherish. I also recently shared with you how, I, as a mature grown-up, celebrated her mid-thirties-it was fun, silly, ridiculous and perfect.(see here) But there was also a time when I was Continue reading →

Ideas for your next Frozen Party that are SNOW cool!

Posted on July 20, 2015 by mommabeartrax

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If you’ve ever read some of my kiddy party planning or activity posts, like here and here, you’d have picked up that Im a real sucker for it. Sure each time, after aching backs, numb fingers and sleepless nights, I say, never again will I make things myself…”Next time, I’ll just hire someone to do this, and I’ll just rock up on the day to enjoy”…but then I don’t. ‘Cause, I have a stupid soft spot for arts and crafts (refer to previous “sucker” statement of earlier), and well, lets be honest, the wallet and I don’t always see eye to eye on what the party budget should be.

So with all of this in mind, its always so cool to me when I go to another kid’s party and find that the mom is just as big a sucker as me! This past Saturday, I went to just such a party. It was chock-a-block with all Continue reading →

Morgan-Lee’s Dora the Explorer Birthday Party Ideas & Free Templates

Posted on May 14, 2015 by mommabeartrax

[UPDATE:All links to all templates and tutorials now up!]
Side note: This post is pretty delayed, as explained here in this post. But its a post Ive been wanting to share for so long, hopefully inspire anyone who’s looking for party ideas.And now with my girl’s birthday looming, I thought the timing is pretty fitting

So Im pretty much a sucker for party planning, particularly a kiddies party. Because kids know how to have fun! Always so open to the new experience – no matter how slow or shy they are to open up at first. The more colourful, sillier, active and inclusive it is for them, the better…So I know I can put in the effort, and be assured that it will be enjoyed.

Even more so for the birthday person in question, when I know it’s a theme they’re totally into right at the time. Like when my eldest daughter turned three in 2014, and was nuts about Dora the Explorer. Like really, Continue reading →

Parker-Grace’s Birth Story: A VIDEO chronicle of a peaceful Hypnobirth

Posted on May 6, 2015 by mommabeartrax

I’ve shared Morgan-Lee’s birth story with you(If you’ve missed it, start here.). It may be a bit long and verbose, but (hopefully) still beautiful. Admittedly, I don’t I think I actually did enough justice to its beauty. But I suppose, as with most birth stories, that may be something that a mother may never get right in the written word, and it will, instead, forever only live on, very clearly, in my head.

Parker-Grace’s birth story, however, I’ve decided that instead of letting you read it…I’ll show it to you! You know what they say about pictures and a thousand words, right? So perhaps I’ll let you do the maths on words for a video!!! It is a Continue reading →