Jikana Damaru: 03/22/12

An update

Hello everyone

Well things have been busy - so busy that my poor blog is feeling very neglected and I am feeling sad that it has had to take such a back seat as this is where it all began for me. Is there anybody out there that still remembers this blog when it was about me building my house - things certainly have changed haven't they?

On the positive side though Sweet Style is incredibly busy and I am so proud that what started as a hobby has turned into a business which is growing rapidly. I have now found a wonderful lady by the name of Rebecca who comes in a number of times a week to help me pack orders for the store - she has been a godsend. Mr A has a new positions and he now in charge of accounts and the girls continue to be in charge of modelling and taste testing after ample photos have been taken of the wonderful delights that arrive regularly to the house.

I have had some wonderful opportunities over the past few months to collaborate on some great parties and photo shoots all of which are due for release soon in various magazines both online and in hard copy. I can't wait to show everything off soon.

Today I am heading off to put together a candy table for a wedding at the gorgeous venue Gunners Barracks in Sydney. Tomorrow I am creating a sweet ladybird themed dessert table for a lucky 2 year old named Izzy and it also happens to be my Sofia's 6th Birthday. This year we are heading to the local play centre with her school friends to celebrate but I have promised her her own dessert table in a few weeks with the family when I can catch my breath.

I am also putting plans in motion for the future of the blog with the assistance of some guest contributors who will have loads of great projects to show off alongside following in the life of Sweet Style both professionally and at home.

So for the next few weeks bear with me - I will be popping in with updates and hopefully by April I will be back more regularly.

I leave you today with some photos of some very pretty roses that I am using on my table on the weekend - fellow school mum and another Rebecca in my life who owns Petal and Pod floral studio selected them for me - they will be perfect surrounded by ladybirds.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone.

naps+nighttime=tired mommy

Lately.
I'm worn out.

As much as my heart aches for the amount of love I have for my little girl, she can really drain every ounce of my being. From her photos you would probably think she's the happiest baby. I don't want to spill her beans- but she is quite the 'needy' baby. By this I mean she constantly constantly needs SOMETHING or she's whining. I'm not talking about a normal baby needing to eat, sleep, or diaper change. She's rarely content for more than 10 minutes at a time- all day long. Some days are better than others. The problem may lie in the fact that she takes horrible naps. 30 minutes are the norm and that's only 2 maaybbbe 3 times a day. So my little 6 month old averages 1 1/2-2 hours of sleep during a 12 hour period. It's not enough. But I've tried everything. Swing, crib, vibrating chair, play-yard, using sound machines, putting her in a dark area. Nothing will keep her asleep for long.

Then there's the nighttime. Lately it has been so.bad. I get up 4-5 times a night to tend to her, usually feeding her 3 times. It's absurd. After her six month check up when the Doctor told me she doesn't need to eat during the night it's just a habit I tried sleep training. The first night I gave her 1 ounce and tried to put her back to bed. 40 minutes later she finally fell asleep--- for 5 minutes---then woke back up saying 'na na na', which means she's hungry. How the heck do I refuse my baby food when she's clearly hungry enough to keep waking up. The next few nights I tried 2 ounces when she first woke up which was fine, except it only made her wake up sooner again. I finally gave up and started feeding her a full bottle so I'd at least get 2-3 hours of consecutive sleep at a time. She wakes up for everything though- a full diaper or needing a burp makes her wake up. Therefore I'm in and out of bed all night long. It's exhausting.

I'm not writing this post to complain- although it feels good to get it out. I would love to her any inputs or similar situations you may have/had. Maybe your advice will work for us, maybe I just need to suck it up. This mommy needs some sleep!

She's lucky she's so darn cute! ;)

Easter mini bottle labels

At Christmas I made mini labels for my bottles and filled them with flavoured milk. I don't know who liked them best, the kids or the grownups! So to keep my Easter Egg hunters' thirst quenched, I have made some pretty lace bunny and polka dot labels for my mini bottles that I will fill with milk or fresh peach lemonade! Please feel free to enjoy the labels for yourselves.

Easter mini bottle labels
Tools and Materials

Easter mini bottle labels, How-to step by step

Start by printing off the Easter lace bunny bottle labels onto a label sheet. Carefully cover the printed labels in sticky back plastic and carefully cut out. Stick cut out Easter lace bunny bottle label around bottle.

Have a sweet day!

Through the Instagram: little peek at February

I'm determined to do one of these Instagram wrap-up thingies each month. I am falling behind and it's only February (actually it's March, see!!).

Random Badoo fest. Don't you just love the stripey socks? I have more photos of The Badoo than the rest of the family combined.

Self-portrait with grumpy face. But I'm all dressed up for a night out with ma man and I thought I painted on nice eyes that night. Sadly, I cannot say the same thing for the old couch on our verandah. Would it have a bath already? Geez.

Speaking of grumpy face...

And speaking (quite a while ago now) of stripey... Cappers does a striped sock so well.

This movie totes freaked me out. I can't even talk about it. Needless to say, don't miss it.

Late afternoon BBQ at Tina's place. That's my niece up top and my nephews in Security and green stripey (and MultipleMum's hand applying sunscreen)... Maxi is without a t-shirt and came home with 32 grass ticks, all snacking merrily. Horrors!*