got my waddle on...


I've been trying unsuccessfully to visit your blog, friends. Having lots of early nights and finding that juggling a laptop is not as comfy as lying on the lounge doing nothing.

I'm 38 weeks today. Belly is heavy, the reflux burns and as for "pregnancy" rhinitis, well, I think I got that one just to be a sympathetic spouse. Dan has had it for years (just not the same kind wink). Of course, these less pleasant pregnancy symptoms are so worth it. For all the challenges that come with raising a child (and we're still in the early years), I know how lucky we are to be parents and to get to experience those hard-to-beat moments of joy. It happened again on Sunday when Dan was reading The Whispering Rabbit to Lily. At one point, the rabbit has to think of the littlest noise he can possibly make such as, "a bug breathing... a fly sneezing...grass rustling.." So Daddy asked Lily to think of the littlest noise she she could make. Her first response was to repeat the noises mentioned in the book. "OK, what else?" Pause. Then she came up with an original idea and her face lit up, "A teddy growing."

Still carrying that one in my heart today.

Took this photo a  few months ago at (Sydney's) Auburn Botanic Gardens. We go there regularly. It's a  bit out of the way but so worth a visit, especially if you have a young family.

Wordless Wednesday: "Keep your eyes on your (small) fries!

Fern's 'face art'.
Can you believe I was only sitting about a metre away (behind a wall) while this occurred?
Why is there never backup to assist when this happens?! 

Morning Smiles & Coo's


This is what makes the long nights worth waking up in the morning. At four and a half weeks she is starting to give momma big smiles :)
Gah, I love that face!


*please disregard my baby talk voice ;)

wordless wednesday : make a wish

please add your wordless blog post below. link back to here. & enjoy your wednesday



Pretty wooden birds

Pretty wooden birds
Over the past couple of weeks I have been working on some hand made Christmas decorations to fit in with my Winter Wonderland colour palette and theme. First up is the pretty wooden bird I will decorate my home with at Christmas.

When I spied the wooden birds in Panduro Hobby I knew I had to buy a couple. At the time I had know idea how I would decorate them but knew I wanted them to be part of my Christmas decor. After much deliberation I decided to decorate them with a pretty floral pattern and a sprinkling of glitter. Now I just have to decide where they will sit at Christmas!?!

Christmas decoration : Pretty Wooden Bird< Tools and Materials

Pretty wooden bird, How-to step by step
Glittered floral print Christmas bird - instructions 1-4
Start by carefully painting the sides of the wooden bird in pink paint using a small paint brush and leave to dry. Then, carefully paint the entire branch section of the wooden bird in peacock colour, turn upside down and leave paint to dry. To get a perfect fit on the printed card, place the dry wooden bird on the underside of the printed card and carefully trace around the edge of the bird with a sharp pencil, flip bird over and place next to previously drawn bird shape to avoid wastage and trace around the other side of the bird.


Glittered floral print Christmas bird - instructions 5-8
With a sharp pair of scissors, carefully cut out the bird shapes from the card and place to one side. Brush PVA glue onto front of the bird and firmly press the corresponding card shape onto glued front then leave to dry. Once dry, repeat with the shape for the back of the bird. With your bird in an upright position, coat the front and back in PVA glue to give it a protective coating and leave to dry.


Glittered floral print Christmas bird - instructions 9-12
Brush PVA glue onto teal-painted branch and immediately sprinkle with teal glitter before the glue starts to dry. Tap bird lightly to remove excess glitter and rest bird on its head to dry. Once dry, brush PVA glue onto pink-painted sides of bird and immediately sprinkle with pink glitter, tap lightly to remove excess glitter and leave to dry.

Tip
I hold my bird over a clean small plastic pot when sprinkling with glitter to catch any excess glitter so it can be reused

Have a sweet day!

The friends you never have time to see


As we go about this life we collect some marvellous people along the way, don't we? I know scores of people who I like so very, very much and yet... I can never seem to find the time to see them.

I want to see them.

I always love their company and they are friends that I can just relax around and be my silly self. Many are people that I have shared some important moments in my life with - school, university, first job. But it's gotten to the point where the only time I see some of these dear friends is when I invite them over to a mass party at my place and spend approximately 5 minutes talking to them. It breaks my heart. I bask in their light a little and wonder why I don't see them more regularly.

But I never do.

Instead we spend a goodly amount of time arranging catch-ups that never see the dark of night (or light of day, for that matter). Promises to catch up, broken arrangements to catch up, no actual catching up. It's been years for some people, decades for others... Dear god, is this how I'm going to spend the rest of my life?

What do you do with old friends that you still love dearly?
What on earth do you do?

[Image found here]

Christmas Styling Event

The countdown has begun for Christmas in our house.  Props have started to appear for various activities and the planning has begun.

Penny from Working Mums Masterclass has also started her planning and has put together a great line up of presenters to do a Christmas Styling and Organisation Workshop.

I will be presenting on the day, along with Jacki from Blissfully Sweet Cakes, Jane from Show.Pony and Valerie from Inner B.

The topics of the day include Christmas dessert table styling, food ideas and styling for Christmas lunch, table design for your Christmas celebration and getting yourself organised for Christmas. You will be set for the silly season!

If you are in Sydney we would love to see you on Saturday 19th November
You can find out more information about booking, times and location on Penny's website here 
Book in early to avoid disappointment.

Image: Sweet Style


Leanne