Jikana Damaru

At my house...

We had so much fun opening a parcel that arrived in the post from my sister who is travelling through Europe. She knows how much we love all things nautical...the above pictures are of a little paper sailing boat that you put together yourself. It is from Croatia where she sailed the coast for one week. You can check out her stunning pictures here.

I am also having fun creating little play spaces within our home for all the new toys and lovely gifts that our little one received for his 2nd birthday. One of my favorite past times is pottering about the house and rearranging toys, bedrooms, cupboards and display shelves...although much to my husbands dismay he can NEVER find anything!
Pop on over to Buttons by Lou Lou and join in the fun.

@ my house

on the weekend

it was time to put together the new 'big girl bed'

& dolly had to test it out just to make sure

it was put together perfectly!

join in here

The sun shines on The Badoo

The Badoo was a cranky baby. Really, really grumpy. She didn't smile until she was about ten weeks old and even then it was fleeting. Was it wind? No, no a genuine smile... but that was last week and we haven't seen another.

I mentioned this distinct lack of mirth to our Paediatrican, Dr Lilystone. Yes, he of the 'She's French' line from the breastfeeding post last week. This time he said to me, "Has she smiled at all?"

"Yes," I answered. "But not much."

"Hmmm... well, if she's come through with a genuine smile or two we can only conclude that it's not developmental."

"Okay," said I, primed for some scary medical explanation. "Then what could it be?"

"She's grumpy," he concluded. "Just plain old grumpy."

Yikes.

And she remained grumpy for about a year.

These days, people comment on how sunny she is. The Badoo, sunny. Who'd have thought?

They say she is smiley, happy, bright and full of beans. They say she's like a little ray of sunshine. The world smiles on that one, they say.

The Badoo. Really, who'd have thought?

If you're struggling with a cranky pants baby, know this: The sun comes out eventually and when it does it shines and shines and shines.

PS - if you find a moment, visit my witty, talented sister at Life In A Pink Fibro and if you like her blog as much as I do, vote for her in the kidspot 50 Top Bloggers awards by clicking on the button in her sidebar...

Acorn & Will

As you may know, I went to the Vintage at Goodwood festival last friday, where I fell in love with the super cute brand, Acorn and Will.

Born out of Daniella's passion for all things vintage, she has created a range of goodies that are both lovely to look at and practical to use. I love the way she breathes new life into her vintage fabrics by making them into the prettiest of rings, brooches, mirrors and cushions. She also has an excellent eye and sources the most beautiful vintage homeware, including glasses, china and kitchen jugs.

I couldn't resist buying something, and went for one of her pretty lilac bird brooches, although now I'm really regretting not buying those pretty mint bowls as well!

Have a sweet day!

A beautiful day to remember...

The sun was shining and the sky was blue...the smell of pop corn, sweet icing and fragrant Jasmine filled the air...cuddles with the birthday boy and that cheeky look as he devoured smarties for the first time. Playing with my nephews and feeling happy that they could share this special day and time spent with my new little niece who I know will bring such sweetness to our family. Such precious moments...

Giggles and laughter from the adults and kids as we played games, discovered new toys, raced around after balloons and bubbles and caught up with family...we sat in the sun, enjoyed the food and most of all had fun with the kids (big and small)! I have to say the games really bring out the big kid in all of us...

One very tired little birthday boy...finding a soft place to rest x

♥ Jotting it all down

I need to leave the sadness that has settled over me since writing the post last night (please read if you have a couple of minutes, it would mean a lot to me). A complete change of feeling is needed to get me back on track. I hope that's not disrespectful.

After the fun of sharing Word Verification moments last week, I noticed a pattern in the (witty, engaging, lovely, thank you) comments I received.

So many of us notice things, don't write them down and then quickly they are forgotten.

I'm a jotter. You will have noticed this from my Friday posts. I love to write down everything. Everything I learn, everything I think is funny, everything that's actually funny, everything that's odd. Everything.

It's a habit I picked up working in Advertising. When I was a little Junior Burger, I worked for one of Sydney's most creative agencies. I learned a thing or two from those Big Macs, believe me, and not just about dancing in the white stuff (it was the nineties, after all). The best thing I learned was 'jot it down'. All the Creatives do it. They carry wanky little Moleskins around and write down everything that takes their fancy.

I do the same. Only I carry a wanky little whatever-was-free-on-the-cover-of-InsideOut-magazine. It's amazing what a fun and interesting 'journal' results from all this jotting. In amongst the doodles and Shopping and To Do Lists is a record of the unique, the weird, the odd and the marvellous. I've been doing it so long that these days, I sort of feel naked without a pen.

Do you do it too? What sorts of things do you jot down?

This post is part of ♥ Much Love ♥ Monday

[Image via weheartit]

Fern's Revamped Ikea Drawers

Remember this post when I bought a chest of Ikea drawers for Fern's 'big girl' room? Well, over the weekend I attached the sweet pink glass handles I ordered from Etsy in place of the existing black ones and transformed them from drab to... well, I think fab?

Here's the before:

And the after:

I have ditched the old change table from Fern's room and am temporarily using the top of the new drawers to hold the changing pad which seems to be working out fine... except that Fern thinks its funny to grab and pull down all the hats from the string above whenever I change her nappy. grrrr. I am storing the nappies and creams in the top drawer. Of course, I can't wait to get rid of the changing pad entirely so I can style her drawers; I have so many ideas for her 'big girl' room and its all hinging on her moving into a proper bed and being toilet trained! So, should only be another 400 years then?!

This whole toilet training thing is a topic for a whole other post... but I must admit its got me intimidated. I havn't even begun to go there yet; I've decided I'll wait til Summer and start the fun then; she'll turn two in January so it seems good timing. Though ironically, as I type this post, my daughter has just climbed out of bed, opened her bedroom door and crept out to the edge of the living room, knowing she should be in bed asleep. Pointing at her bottom, she just announced "mummy, poo, a poo!" And sure enough. So, maybe we're more ready than what I think. hmmmm.

Apart from that, I'm heading country for a few days to stay with my inlaws while hubby is away in NZ... I've talked incessantly about how much better at sewing my MIL is than myself, so I'm sure I'll have a few crafty goodies to share with you whence I return!

Enjoy your Monday xo