Mummy Sandwich

Last weekend was so busy. We had parties on Fri and Sat night and then a wedding on Sunday night followed by my part time nannying job on Monday from 7am. By Tuesday I was exhausted and in need of a weekend to recover from my weekend.

One thing made our eventful weekend all worthwhile.... On Sunday morning Hubby, Izzy and I woke early and walked to a local cafe for a post hangover fry up and coffee. With our bellies full we stumbled home and in to bed for a 'family nap' that turned in to a 2 hour snooze! It was gorgeous. So cold outside yet so toasty under our doona with hubby on my left and Izzy on my right and everyone spooning. We called it a Mum Sandwich and its all I want for Mothers Day - A full day Mum Sandwich!

A pinny for your thoughts...

Today marked the beginning of my journey towards un-leashing my creativity!

Izzy's first Pinny has officially been born... well nearly... it is still in a few pieces but I now have a general idea of what I am doing and how to sew. Thank gawd for my friend Nes, who arrived at midday with machine, bits and bobs, champers (most importantly) and the brains to actually work out how to read the pattern. I am no good at working these things out myself.. no patience.. so thank you, Nes!

I cannot recall the amount of times we said "How hard can it be?" but lets just say there were a few minor hiccups... and not just the champagne type!

Izzy the ballerina

This tutu was a gift from my mum for Izzy's first chrissie... I put it on her on the weekend and well, went a bit nuts with the camera and took about 1000 pics! These two are amongst my faves....

The lovers, the dreamers and me

For the ones who look to the sky and imagine the possibilities. To the one’s who look at a pile of discarded garbage on the side of the road, and see art. To the one’s who often feel overwhelmed by the beauty of other people. To the one’s who write, and paint, and think. To the one’s who hate humanity, yet love it to death. To the one’s who feel too strongly and love too deeply. To the one’s who stay up late with heads filled and minds yearning. To the one’s who drink life in and spit it out. To the one’s who see the opportunity to create something new, where others see just another blank canvas. To the one’s who cry and laugh and scream and rejoice.

To the ones who hope and the ones who hold on.

Never stop dreaming. Never stop hoping and wishing. Never stop creating and never stop loving. Never stop screaming. Never stop feeling. Never stop searching. Never stop looking at the sky and marveling at beauty. Never stop holding on.

For when we do, the world will surely collapse.

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Baby Kisses..

Image of Isobel: Sara Ireland - Photographer




Isobel has started to play up at sleep time again.. she kicks her little legs in her sleeping bag, crys an angry cry, stands up... trys to escape and makes this very tragic, sooky sound that goes something like... aaaabooboobooboooooooooooooooo.

What makes it all half bearable is that when I go in after her first little bout of crying, I have taken to giving her little baby kisses all over her face (yep, I know this breaks all the rules and sends completely the wrong message ie. rewards her tanty!) ... I cant help it because she smiles and gives me little giggles and turns her cheek to catch my kisses...ironically, this gives me the little surge of energy I need to get on with my 'teach Izzy to sleep' routine! If only she knew...

This is another of Boho Photography's prints.. also available on Etsy. I want this one too... So dreamy!

Love love love....

Autumn!

I found this gorgeous print on Etsy.. I think I am going to have the real thing. It takes me back to being a little girl, jumping in puddles and collecting coloured autumn leaves to paste on to paper.

Hmmmm - I love love love Autumn

You can see this here on Etsy (Boho Photogrpahy)

Chubby lil legs!

I am a little obsessed with leggings & tights for Isobel at the moment - so couldnt go past these spunky little leg warmers.. Izzys chubbalubba thighs look so cute!

32 by 32....

My inspiration to do 32 by 32 is owed to Telle of the blog fat. mum. slim - I noticed a post from Jan that Telle put together... a list of 29 (in her case) things that she wants/ed to do by the time she turned 29.

This is great for me because at the moment I have a head full of plans and not much direction.. there is so much I want to do.. so here goes. Here are 32 things I want to achieve by my 32nd birthday which is the 29th of August... (Geez, how am I going to fit 32 goals in to 4 months, as ever so supportive hubby pointed out - thats one every 4 days)

1. Weight loss. 1o kg's to be exact
2. Get my license (yes, by the tender age of 32!!!)
3. Start mapping my business idea (top secret at this point!)
4. Do my 4 years worth of tax returns and say "Thanks Ruddy"
5. Stimulate the ecomony with my little bonus
6. Stop biting nails and see what happens in 4 months. Start now!
7. Try one new low carb, low fat recipe a week
8. Clean out spare room
9. Turn the bungalow in to my inspiring art/craft room :o)
10. Learn to jog
11. Attend one PT sesh a week
12. Try out local yoga class
13. Visit the Chinese Medical Practigtioner that my sister raves about
14. Get at least one remedial massage
15. Read the book 'thirty and over it'
16. Start learning to sew
17. Consolidate super
18. Go to our holiday house in Venus Bay one weekend per month!
19. Buy my first ever hot one piece pair of bathers
20. Learn basics of Photoshop
21. Update blog at least 3 times per week
22. Exercise for one hour 3 times per week
23. Take barley, vitamins and spiralina every day for 4 months and see results!
24. Cut wheat from diet entirely
25. Make Pinny for Isobels first birthday
26. Visit local markets on weekend - sprout, coco and CERES
27. Learn how to make the perfect chocolate cake (and kids cake!)
28. Finish the present I started for my friends bday 6 mths ago
29. Get my childhood toybox re -made for Isobel
30. Frame photos for wall in living area - wedding, honeymoon and Isobel
31. Make a !st year album of Isobels life!
32. Learn to meditate and make time to relax alone and clear thoughts....

Now, that can't be too hard to achieve, can it?

Getting Crafty

I have been feeling this urge to get crafty lately.. I am not sure where it will lead but I'm going to start by buying a sewing machine and learning to sew.



I found this pattern for a cute pinny on www.duckcloth.com.au - it arrived in the mail today and I am hoping to make Isobel a dress to wear at her first birthday.

Next step is to order some Babushka material for the top panel (yes, I am crazy about them at the moment) and some lovely colourful material for the other sections...

This is the babushka material for my first project:


Images: Flickr

Domestic Bliss...

Today marks the beginning of my new life. I am now officially a SAHM (if you dont count the nannying I am doing 2 days a week with Isobel in tow).


I resigned from my position at Salmat - where I have spent the last 8 years or so of my working life..

It was a wonderful 8 yrs. I met hubby there, many of our closest friends were found there, It is a truly exceptional company to work for and hey, we even concieved Isobel whilst I was on a work trip in Kuala Lumpur.... its the end of an era.

How do I feel? Excited by the possibilties, happy to be an official full time mumma and a bit like downing a bottle of french champagne with some mates... alas, as I am still sick this will need to be postponed...

Murphys Law

The last few days have been tough.. Isobel has been sick with a nasty cough.. her little body has been hot with fever...

I woke up this morning and cried. Cried because I hate seeing my baby so ill. Cried because I am so pre-menstral that I feel like a bloated water buffalo. Cried because my throat feels like someone has taken a layer of skin off it and lastly, I cried because I wanted more than anything to just take a 'sickie' and sleep for 12 hours...like the old days. Just sleep all day.

Hubby to the rescue: he sensed I was on the verge of meltdown (could have been the sight of me curled up in a ball sobbing like a 2 year old!) and worked from home today- I slept in until 11am and then after much deliberation decided to keep my hair appointment at new salon (desperately needed)....Not sure about the outcome but thats another story.

What I cant quite grasp is that a miracle occured today.. Isobel decided that since her Dad was home from work, she would choose today to sleep for SIX hours.. YES, six hours. Go figure!! All week I have been struggling to settle her, trying desperately to get rest and to get her to rest.. with no luck. I decide to use one of very few sickies available to me and she sleeps literally ALL day..... and we wonder why Dads just dont get what us Mamma's go through!!

Everywhere a hip hop....

Isobels first Easter started with a little suprise visit to Nan and Pa.. delivering eggs... then hip hop over to Yiayia's to deliver more eggs. The Easter Bunny sure was cute this year!

Baby grows... Belly shrinks..

Is that whats meant to happen?? So its 9 months later and I am still officially on the chubbier side of life. I'm rather over it. Its hardly worth complaining about though as it is clearly due to the fact that I feasted non stop on pastries, pasta, pies, pavlova... yep all the bad stuff (all the P's) for nine months non stop. So, it takes 9 months to put it on and well, 9 maybe 19 months to lose it. Thank god for PROTEIN powder that magic P that will save me. Protein shake for brekky with cup of berries, cup of water and 3 spoons of Protein powder. Keep the carb cravings at bay for the day.
The trick is to be motivated enouogh to lose the weight but grounded enough not to let the 'balance' tip and to become a self obsessed who thinks and talks non stop about the pounds of blubba that they need to lose (and didnt have before... like anyone cares what u looked like before its for that reason that i will make a pact, dear blog, with you right now that I will not post any posts that include whinging about the 'weigh' (excuse the pun) it used to be. I will focus more on the here and now and any warm fuzzy feelings that I have about myself in relation to my weight... denial? Perhaps but the negative stuff, whether its in my brain or in my blog, has no purpose other than to demotivate (My fabulous PT, Mishfit reminds me of that!)

Isobel

20th July 2oo8 - We welcomed our little (although now rather large) bundle of love.. Isobel.
Well, that was nearly 9 months ago now and it feels like it has just flown by. I have been playing: this time last year all week.. (thanks to Fat mum slims blog!!)

now we have a 9.8 kilo mini person - who has teeth, crawls, is learning to stand, and whos new favourite pass time is exploring every cupboard, cranny and corner of our house. Isobel does this with great determination.. it is almost like she has been waiting for this time to arrive for months and now that she can get about on her own, there is no holding her back.. and why would one want to? She is discovering her universe - and it is beautiful to watch.