Happy Halloween!

Winter Wonderland felt ideas

Winter Wonderland felt ideas by Torie Jayne

Continuing my Winter Wonderland Christmas theme, today I am sharing with you the gorgeous Christmas felt ideas I have found that would look great in my Wonderland! I have already downloaded the pattern for the pine cones from Family Circle and have started making some pretty pink and aqua pine cones to decorate with. My snowflake felt place mats have been revamped this year with some pretty embroidery in pink and aqua and I have started making some felt birds for my tree, coming soon.....


Have a sweet day!

Through the Instagram: little peek at October


My love affair with Instagram continues, although I've realised that I am not the sort of person who whips out the camera to record our every moment. Maybe it's practice, but I've found that 'camera' tends to equal 'pose' around here, so it just wrecks the spontaneity in my life. You say, "no, no, just keep doing what you were doing, ignore the camera" and then they awkwardly try to act as natural as possible; all misplaced limbs and rigid faces.

Anyway... here's what October looked like at my place. Happy Halloween to those that celebrate... what exactly? I learned at Life in a Pink Fibro (my sister's blog) that we are on the wrong side of the world for Halloween to have any kind of pagan meaning and I also learned that 'Boo Humbug' is my new fave expression. Boo Humbug! It's an instant classic, Al!


Those Tsunamis of mine started up swimming lessons again. They are finally starting to get the hang of it after four years of lessons... four years! Ah well, at least we get points for persistence. That's got to be worth a few thousand dollars, right?


There was a certain double-birthday, of course, and you might not quite be able to see them, but my orange tree has risen from the dead to produce little tiny oranges ready to grow and the strawberry plant is not dead yet. Green thumb, here I come! Oh, and The Badoo is channelling Princess Leia with her Looney Tunes light saber.


Another me on the train shot - I blame boredom. Random birthday gift for Max's mate Sebastien R* and a Sushi lunchbox recorded-for-all-time for reasons that must once have been important but are no longer remembered due to the passage of time.

LOML and I went on a date night to see the fabulous, must-not-miss show 'Jersey Boys' at the Theatre Royal. I won tickets to the show via Fat Mum Slim - I'm such a lucky duck! We had dinner at Circular Quay and took an unhurried stroll along the Harbour up to the theatre, passing Fat Bloke in Dragon Shirt along the way by the looks of things.

Not-so Interesting Fact: I worked as an usher at Theatre Royal in 1990, two nights a week. I used to finish my job as a junior at an ad agency and hike across the park to my part-time job to try to supplement my meagre salary. The nineties weren't kind to everyone in advertising, believe me.

And just what is The Badoo doing in that photo bottom right? Well, she passed her final hearing test with flying colours this month! She's perfectly fine so her slight hearing impairment diagnosed when she was tiny was just a physical blockage that has cleared as she has grown. We are delighted. We will remember the dedicated team at the Jim Patrick Audiology Centre at the Royal Institute for Deaf and Blind Children each year on The Badoo's behalf. They need all the support they can get.

How was your October?

* Imagine calling your kid Sebastian and then another kid in the class being a Sebastian as well. What are the chances?

Look Who's Walking Now?

So... last week I believe I may have voiced my concern re: boy-o's wanton ambivalence toward the practice of getting about on two, rather than four limbs. And I really was concerned.

Turns out I needn't have been.

Yesterday, my son stood up and took five steps.

No fanfare. No fuss. Like he's been doing it all along. And perhaps -- just like that character Andy in Little Britain - you know, the one meant to be a quadriplegic in a wheelchair, who can leap out and swim the English channel when his carer's back is turned... perhaps my son has been practicing when my back is turned, secretly laughing behind his grubby little hand all the while I carry him about when he should.have.been.walking.

No matter.

Boy-o is officially on the move.

And about time, too!

 xx

Pretty Package

Pretty Package

This week on Flickr Faves Sunday, I bring you some gorgeous pretty packages in sugary colours from some of the most creative people on Flickr. I can't wait to start wrapping my gifts! I just have to buy and make them first!

Some beautiful shots from my Flickr favourites (clockwise from top left):

Have a sweet day!

blog love

two more of my fav online reads.
enjoy xo





The nocturnal child

The only thing guaranteed to send me to sleep is a post about sleep deprivation. So I'm writing one.

Ah, the 'difficult sleeper'. Those kids who, no matter what you do or don't do, they don't sleep like they're 'supposed to'. They are basically nocturnal, although they won't sleep in the daytime either. They rarely sleep through the night, they don't seem to understand that controlled-crying isn't supposed to be totallyoutofcontrol-crying, they don't get that night-time is for sleeping.

+++

I sit by the door with the whoosh of the unset radio whispering into the room. There is silence in the cot. I count to 100 again. Still quiet, but risky. I count to 1000, each number striking at my brain with a pick. All is silent inside the cot. I start to rise, but thoughts of freedom are too loud in my mind and the wailing starts up all over again. Sighing, I ease back down. Whoosh goes the radio. Whooshhhhhh.

+++

Although we've moved on from the torture of chronic sleep deprivation, years have passed since we last had a decent sleep around here. I understand that parenting can be tough and I was warned by everyone including the service station attendant that I could kiss a good night's sleep goodbye when my baby came along... but surely, surely they didn't mean forever?

+++

Many nights I crouched by the cot like a wild, unformed animal. Tears streaming, son screaming, feeling the night flood through me like a dank pond. With every shred of strength I willed that child to sleep, the word like a droning buzz in my mind. Sleep, sleep, sleep. Oh please, just sleep.

+++

My son is what I call a hard-core non-sleeper. For whatever reason, the kid has never liked to go to sleep and certainly has never enjoyed staying asleep. He moved from wide-awake newborn through to night-terror toddler through to separation-anxiety preschooler through to... well, I'm not sure what he is these days now that's he's in school. He's just... awake.
o
+++
o
Pat      pat      pat      pat      pat      pat      pat      pat  o    pat      pat      pat...

+++

After years of trying every technique in the book to improve his rest, there are three fundamental things that I know.

  • You can't make a child sleep if they don't want to.
  • They are not staying awake nightly just to spite you.
  • You need to do whatever you need to do to get a decent night's sleep.
If you co-sleep for years, what does it matter if everyone is getting some rest? Baby won't sleep anywhere but in the car seat? Put them in the car seat. Won't have a day sleep unless you walk them in the pram? Walk them in the pram. Walk them, pat them, sing to them, dummy them down, suck their thumb for them if you have to. I refuse to believe that any of these 'crutches' are more damaging than years of broken, unsettled sleep and years of trying, trying, trying to get them to sleep 'properly' and failing miserably. Ironically Maxi was my only child without a sleep crutch and god knows he bloody well needed one!

+++

Fuckyoulittlebabyandyourhorriblemother. Justmotherfuckingsleep.

+++

When all is said and done, it just is what it is. One day it will be what it was and I look forward to that day immensely. But until such a time, as long as my children are content and happy during the day, I have to assume that they are getting what they need at night. And one day I'll be getting what I need too... one day.

++++

I can't go in, I can't go in. Let's just leave him cry, I can't go in. I can't open my eyes, I can't move my legs, I can't move my brain. I'm just so, so, so, so tired. I can't go in. 

And in I go.

++++

And if you're a soon-to-be mum and you're reading this post and you're absolutely terrified, know this: I love my sleep, I need my sleep and never in my wildest dreams did I think I'd be able to do what I've done since my first baby came along. But night after night after night after night, there I was, there I am; just doing what a mother does. Because somehow, just by being there, we guard them against the night.

So, ah, how's the sleep at your place?
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