Almost summer?

Today was such a wonderful mid winter day that almost felt like spring.  Which made me long for summer.

Now I want THIS top in EVERY single colour! The cobalt and nude are making their way to me now.. Ooops.

The Premises - Kensington

I don't venture very far from my favourite weekend cafe in Balaclava. I've tried over the years but have been disappointed far too many times. Paying $11 for two small poached eggs on one tiny piece of toast. 

The beauty of maternity leave and a very chilled out baby who currently tolerates sitting around in cafes means that every day is a good cafe today.

Today we visited Ari's godmother who lives in Kensington and had a late lunch. Decent coffee and a meal that I didn't hate. I loved it in fact. 

Scrambled egg special 

The perfect pulled pork

Cupcake. With glitter.

In other news, I got a Dyson. After years of battling a horrible cheapy that seemed to move dust from the floor to the furniture to the blinds, it was time. The house already smells and feels cleaner and dust free. Love love. 

Brrrr

Despite the bitter cold and icy winds I couldn't stay in the house any longer, venturing for a stroll and lunch at St Kilda this Saturday afternoon. 

Wish vest, Zara scarf, Chanel glasses 

Unusually pink Ari. Next knit. Seed blanket. 

Dot and white

On the rare occasion that I wear actual clothes these days I live in these Country Road jeans. I'm disappointed in how much they stretch but beggers can't be choosers.

CR Moto jeans, CR polka dot knit, Zara blouse underneath to layer, Witchery flats 

The Prince of Cambridge

Whether or not you care for the royals, the birth of a child is magical for any family. The parents and grandparents and even the great grandparents.

The past 24 hours has bought back so many memories for me of the past 4 months. The bubble of love the new parents feel. The tears my parents cried when our little angel was born. The joy my grandmothers felt and expressed.

Seeing footage of Princess Diana with the young boys has made me instantly cry.  The bond between a mother and child only grows as they get older.

I feel these emotions whenever I learn that someone I know has had a baby. I wish every set of parents the same love and joy and am eternally grated that I got to experience it myself. Every new life is a miracle.

The boring routine mother

If I admit it, I was a clueless and naive mother to be.  I suppose we all are the first time around no matter the amount of reading and learning we do.  For me, the "baby fits into my routine" theory did not work.  I didn't even get the chance to try to make it work or to even try it, because without some sort of routine and predictable days Ariana would be a nightmare.  Not enough sleep when required would result in an unhappy baby and an unhappy mother.  Nobody can tolerate hours of screaming.  It just wasn't fair on her and I would in turn feel guilty for stuffing her around.  I find that just two days out of the ordinary messed things up a lot and required days on end to repair it.

The first two months were a rollercoaster of nappies, feeds and naps.  No routine.  Once she realised that being out in the big bad world wasn't THAT bad, things started to fall into place.  My default we have fallen into the "Save Our Sleep" routine.  Feed at 7, 11, 3 and 7 and once or twice overnight.  Go down for a nap at 9 and 1 and a cat nap around 4pm.  And always, always, always bed time for the night at 7pm.

I contemplated a beautiful nursery, but then decided that I would rather do a beautiful toddler/big girl room down the track that she could contribute to and appreciate.  I really, really wanted all the amazing Stokke furniture, but simply couldn't justify it.  I thought the money would be better spent on music and swimming classes as she gets older.  She will get more out of that than a fancy pants change table, I hope?

The Magic of Books Print, Seed pom pom necklace, Ikea frame

Handmade by a dear friend of mine. Hi M!

Woolbabe Duvet sleeping bag, 

Cheap and small version of the amazing felt ball rug.  Keeps MY feet warm.

Cat Bird Baby Pikkolo carrier. Beautiful. Simple to use and Ari loves it. Even sleeps in it for hours snuggled up to me.

One of my favourite things - the Nature Baby lambskin booties to keep little feet toasty warm.

The many faces of my beautiful, chubby babe!

Maxi dreams

Is there a style or an item of clothing you've always wanted to wear but could never pull of? Or could never actually find in a store or on a website?

For me, it's the maxi dress.

I've always envisaged it flowing and being easy to throw on, yet everything I came across was too short, too clingy and unflattering. Or I looked like a beast in it. Maybe I need to be tiny and petit like Nicole Ritchie? Pangs of envy at those who can pull it off.

Having long given up on the idea of ever finding anything that would suit me, I came across this Something About Eve dress. On the sale rack for $10. It's long and it looks kind of ok. We maybe in the midst of winter right now, but that just gives me more time to figure it out...

Ariana's Baptism - Part II - The details

I found these personalised stickers on Etsy some time ago and I knew I wanted to use them.  I considered chocolates, cookies etc etc - something edible, not a junky knick knack.  I decided to go the fun route and use multicoloured jelly beans. 

By the time I found the jars on eBay and received them I realised they were too small!!! There was no time to start again so I had to improvise and cut the stickers to size and squeeze 9 jelly beans into the jars - one of each colour.

I also decided to get the beautiful Martha Stewart card box.  Terribly marked up in Australia but so beautiful.

The place cards were simple and ivory with pearls - which had to be individually stuck to the cards (at about 1am the night before they were due at the venue.  Best work is done under pressure.

As I had previously written, I decided to take on the task of making the cake myself.  As we had a beautiful dessert for one of the courses, the cake was always just going to be a token cut up on platters with coffee.  My decorating skills are non existent, so I opted to decorate with fresh flowers and give the icing a rough finish.  Fortunately one of my girlfriends was on annual leave to popped over for a few hours to look after the baby.  I had planned to bake the sponges the night before and ice the cake the following day, however one of the sponges fell apart as I was removing it from the tin at about 11pm and I called it quits.  I managed the calm down the following morning and rescue the mission.

 

The cake certainly wasn't perfect.  I would have benefited from a little bit more icing.  The rough look wasn't rough enough, but I loved the idea of having made it myself and having that memory.