expectations

Everly's first Christmas. I was filled with excitement when it began to near. But I had no idea it would suddenly bring with it huge expectations on what Christmas should be like now that Everly is here.

I had big plans. Plans to make wrapping paper with Everly using butchers paper and paint, or maybe even wrap all our gifts in kraft brown paper adorned with a red pom pom. Plans to sit down and make my own illustrated christmas cards. I had plans to mix up some homemade playdough using this no-cook recipe to make little gifts for Everly's two besties. I had plans to sew an advent calendar, a family heirloom to be displayed every Christmas, with pockets that can be filled with treats and small toys - or even just cupcake cases with twine handles strung up on the wall. Plans to buy a real tree like this family and garnish it with handmade decorations.

Did I get any of this accomplished?
Nope.
And, I can proudly say, I don't care one bit!

This year has been all about HUGE expectations - namely 1) the birth of Everly and 2) the birth of myself as a Mum. Two amazing life-changing events that went very differently to how I saw them unfold in my mind. And it's taken me six-and-a-half months to figure out (with a whole lot of depressed days, tears, anger, frustration, soul searching and therapy sessions) that it doesn't matter. What matters most is those special moments - labouring at home, in my own space, surrounded by love and excitement... arriving home after those two endless days in hospital, sitting on my own lounge and stroking Everly's hair as she cuddled up to my chest... Mark and I gazing in wonder at the little life we created, just sleeping there so peacefully between us... her first smile... her first laugh. All those things, and so much more. They are what really matters.

So, this year, Christmas is our usual, stumpy, plastic tree, decorated with IKEA balls and tinsel. The gifts are messily wrapped in cheap wrapping paper. On the mantel are two Cadbury advent calendars. But I'm smiling. And I have Everly and Mark and my amazing family and friends. There's always next year for handmade and crafty (and I might even be nice to myself by drastically reducing that crazy Christmas To Do list.)

I did accomplish one thing I had planned - I managed to restrain myself from buying too much for Everly. We tried to focus on only four gifts (as suggested by Simplicity Parenting via Claudia) - something they want (Everly is too young to 'want', so this was the perfect opportunity to buy the rainbow puzzle blocks I love), something they need (a wooden activity walker [thanks Em for the tip-off], plus a small pull-along deer on wooden wheels, for when she starts crawling/walking), something to wear (a cute Bebe romper to wear on Christmas Day) and something to read (okay, so I did buy her five books...) But I'm quite proud to say all of her gifts are practical or sustainable. (Oh, except for the cheap-yet-so-amazing fluro pink pool I just had to throw in the mix - idea totally stolen from Claire!).

Anyway, the main point of this post was to thank you for visiting, for reading, for caring, and for your lovely comments this year. I wish you all a wonderful Christmas filled with love, laughter and happiness!

Here's to 2012 - the year of no expectations! x

emily green

I've been eyeing off Emily Green's work for quite a while now. Every time I see her mentioned in a blog post I revisit her etsy store and I always find myself returning to this necklace - the ella design.

P.S. If you are reading this husband, this would be a lovely present for your wife this Christmas! 

all about heidi

These shoes from All About Heidi (modelled above by the gorgeous little Pippi from The Beetle Shack) are on the top of my Christmas wishlist for Everly. I've decided on the velcro, but I'm struggling to choose a colour - Tan? Or maybe pink? Or mint? They are all beautiful!

Oh, and if you hurry and leave a comment here today, you could also win a pair, thanks to the lovely Emily (who took the photos above).

Update: I just remembered these also come in gold and silver!

heart

Completely stealing this idea for our bedroom. I saw something similar a while back and mentally bookmarked it, but this is even more beautiful.

A heart-full of memories.

Photo from Rohan Anderson's home, via The Design Files

♥ ♥ ♥

I was filing away the photos of Everly at four months and I found these of her totally loving her dolly.

Often the blurry photos are the best ones.

two years

I was hoping to have some lovely photos of Port Willunga from Sunday, but our two year anniversary celebrations didn't go as planned. A 31 degree day made for two flustered people with Scottish heritage (aka the husband and baby), so we decided to stay home inside with the air-con.

But Mark and I did go out on Monday night, the official date of our anniversary, for a total of 1.5 hours - without Everly! Yes, for the first time since she's been born, Mark and I were alone. We had yummy organic burritos, then stopped for coffee, before making it home just in time for Everly's next feed (my Mum was watching her at our place). It was strange at first to be out without her, like we'd forgotten something, and of course we talked about her the entire time, but it was lovely nonetheless!

Happy two years to the most amazing man I know.

Photo by Luke Simon. 
You can see more photos from our wedding day here. 

Vintage finds

Yesterday was a whirlwind day of vintage shopping with my friend Tess and her baby girl Dahlia (well, not so baby anymore, she turns the big '1' next month!).

First stop, Littlest Vintage where I pounced upon a set of six Japanese cups and saucers. (I'm sure those triangles would have this lady a bit excited!)

Next stop, Queen Street in Croydon to Red Door Bakery to refuel. Two pies, three tarts, one sandwich and two lattes between us later (oops!), we checked out Hype & Seek. No spoils for me, but Tess bought a gorgeous vintage suitcase to store Dali's toys.

Final stop, Hawker Street in Bowden to Vintage Carousel where Tess found this lovely plate for me on the shelves. I've been searching for horse figurines for Everly's room, so I think this would look lovely hung on her wall.

Tomorrow, the husband and I are taking Everly for her first trip to Port Willunga, where we were married (almost) two years ago. (We officially celebrate on Monday the 24th.) We plan on feasting on fish and chips in the sun, while Everly feels sand between her toes for the first time.

I hope you all have a lovely weekend! x

♥ ♥ ♥

Monday will be our second wedding anniversary. This is the first song we danced to as husband and wife. It still sends shivers down my spine when it begins - oh that harmonica! I sang this to my pregnant belly many times, and it's the first song to pop into my head when I am cradling Everly to sleep in my arms in our dim lit bedroom, and she's staring into me with those big, round eyes of hers.

Do you know how lovely you are

in the starlight, in the starlight of my heart?

Do you know how lovely you are 

in the moonlight, in the moonlight of my heart?

♥ ♥ ♥

Everly in her new Bumbo, borrowed from a friend. She is currently fascinated by all things fingers and toes. Though it looks like we will be returning it soon enough, as Everly attempted to launch herself out of it within two minutes. Check out that cheeky look on the last photo - oops, busted. Luckily she's too much of a lightweight at the moment to fall out or tip it over, but she still frightened me nonetheless. Our little monkey is on the move!

♥ ♥ ♥

The bargain-hunting week that was:-

1) new shoes (only $18.99. I love Big W!)

2) finds from Vinnies at Port Adelaide (two beautiful crocheted blankets, a Golden Book, a cute toy, plus not pictured some cute leggings, a Bonds top and maracas, all for Everly and only $16)

3) broad beans ($3/kg from the farmers market, to be used in a spring chicken soup, and the leftovers frozen for weeknight impromptu pasta).

Now we are off to my folks for Sunday night dinner so Everly can play with her Oma and Nonno.

I hope you all had a lovely weekend x

♥ ♥ ♥

We co-sleep with Everly, so her bassinet is next to our bed. She wakes at least twice a night to feed, so we also have a chair. She's starting to get a little too big for the bassinet, so we now also have her cot at the foot of the bed, ready for when we make the move. (Although, as you can see, its current purpose is my own personal clothes hanger!)

As she generally goes down for the night a couple of hours before we do, we have found ourselves undressing in the loungeroom and tiptoeing into the bedroom. How ever hard I try, I never seem to find time in the day to put our clothes back, and it's kind of pointless anyway as we just do the same thing all over again that very evening. (If we have visitors, however, I promptly pick it all up and dump it somewhere out of sight.)

Don't get me wrong, I love having Everly in our room! I know she feels safer, and it makes my life a lot easier at the moment as I don't have to leave the room to feed her in the middle of the night.

But I can't help dreaming about what it would be like to get undressed and into my pj's in my own room, and talk to Mark without whispering, and, shock horror!, perhaps even read a book or a magazine in bed with the light on! Not to mention having less clutter in our bedroom, and a tidier loungeroom.

Has anyone else experienced this? Or are we the only crazy oddballs who use their couch as a wardrobe?

♥ ♥ ♥

The Rachel Castle embroidery artwork I surprised Mark with on our first wedding anniversary is still sitting, carefully folded in bubble wrap, in our drawer. We will be celebrating two years later this month. I really must get around to framing it.

P.S. The lovely Emily from The Beetle Shack is having a Castle giveaway (ends this Friday). Go here to enter! Go! Now!

♥ ♥ ♥

P.S. Nobody warned me how difficult it would be to photograph a baby!

(Taken at four months.)

Four months

Four months today!

(Well, technically last Thursday, but as I said here, time has a tendency to disappear since becoming a mummy.)

We can't believe how quickly the last month has flown. Everly is growing so quickly before our eyes, both physically and mentally. Every day she amazes us with something new!

We still cannot tame her hair no matter how hard we try - her lovely red locks stick up in one big curl on the crown of her head. She loves sucking on her hands/fingers/Sophie the giraffe/anything in sight, trying oh so hard to roll from her back onto her tummy, kicking her legs madly about on the change mat, talking/babbling (all. day. long), being held/entertained (all. day. long), gurgling, trying to bum shuffle out of her rocker, splashing with Daddy in the bath, and spontaneously squealing. Oh, and a new thing only yesterday - grunting.

She laughed out loud for the first time last week. Until then she'd been an exuberant silent laugher. But now little bursts of giggles come out! We are mesmerised by them, and of course make silly faces at her all the time now with the hopes of receiving more of that delicious laughter.

She still fusses loudly between boobs, and protests even louder when I have a slow let-down. A true Gemini, she can go from laughing one second to crying the next. She is starting to rock the bassinet with all her moving about at night, so we are thinking about moving her into the cot soon. We are quite desperate to try anything that improves her sleep (and ours!), as she is waking three or four times a night, and takes a while to re-settle after each night feed.

Oh, and did I forget to mention, she currently thinks it's completely OK to start the day at 6am?!

But of course, we still love her!

(Or as we say before bed every night, 'We love you forever and Everly!'. Cheesy, I know.)

I always want to remember this hair,

and those delicious thighs.

♥ ♥ ♥

Well, so much for my goal of blogging once a week! Time has a tendency to disappear since becoming a mummy. The past month was a whirlwind of birthdays, an engagement party, Mark's first Father's Day, a few long lunches with some mummy friends and their babes, plus an eventful drive to Melbourne to visit our new niece Ilsie Scarlet (where our car broke down at 5.30am on the freeway a few kilometres outside of Ballarat - not fun with a 3.5 month old!).

This week I am enjoying -

poppies from the farmers market (where we've decided to now do our weekly shopping, instead of the Adelaide Central Market, as we are penny pinching!),


vegan chocolate cake from this recipe (now that I am avoiding dairy in my diet due to Everly's monster power throws), and

Everly's funny faces - Get this camera outta my face, Mum!

P.S. That may or may not be my fourth piece of cake today.

sunday lunch

A moment in time of Everly and I, captured last Sunday while out for lunch with friends.

just us two

The first six weeks of my breastfeeding experience were, in one word, terrible - poor attachment, cracked and bleeding nipples, nipple shields, low milk supply, and an underweight and very hungry babe, which finally led me to taking domperidone to increase my supply, to which I'm slowly weaning myself from. I'd always planned to breastfeed for at least 12 months, so I'm extremely glad (and unashamedly proud of myself) I didn't give up in those early weeks, even through the tears and middle-of-the-night breakdowns where we were this close to driving to the shop for some formula.

It's moments like this - just us two cuddled up together on the couch, Everly falling asleep at the breast - I will always cherish.

two months

Some photos from the last two months - our little Everly Violet, with her big eyes, auburn/red hair (it's still changing!), and delightfully long fingers. She is now 10 weeks old, knows exactly what she wants (and is quick to tell me if I don't get a move on - 'Boobs please, mama!'), and is 'talking', babbling and gurgling all day long (hmmm, where does she get that from, I wonder?). Blowing saliva bubbles, drooling, and furrowing her brow are her current favourite past-times.

I've been making the most of the gorgeous weather the last week - beautiful clear skies and warm sunshine in the middle of winter! - by meeting up with other mamas for coffee and lunch, and last Friday going for a walk to the beach with Everly snug against my chest in the Hug-a-bub.

The plan is to update this blog weekly. Let the challenge begin!

it's been a while

Oh, where did the last nine months go? All of a sudden I am 38 weeks pregnant and patiently waiting for baby's arrival.

Things have finally started to slow down now... (some of) the house renovations are complete (we have abandoned 90% of them until we've settled in with the little one), the baby clothes and blankets are washed and dried, the spare room is finally empty of junk/boxes and ready for our homebirth, and I am mentally prepared as much as I ever will be about finally meeting this little life we have created.

This poor blog has been quite neglected, and I have also been incredibly lazy at taking photos the last few months, hence the one decent photo of my breakfast taken over a month ago (showing off the Donna Wilson egg cups the husband bought me for my birthday), and two dodgy iPhone pics - my henna belly at 37 weeks, and my beachball bump at 38 weeks.

adelaide on design*sponge

Apologies for my absence of late - working full-time again, coupled with organising baby things, has left me a little uninspired (and, well, exhausted). But I have still been religiously reading what everyone else is getting up to!

Today I thought I'd just pop in quickly to tell you that my hometown of Adelaide is featured as a city guide on Design*Sponge - go take a look! (Of course I couldn't help myself and had to add my own favourites in the comments.)

I hope I'll be back soon, when life isn't so hectic.

confused about cots

I am struggling to find beautiful, but not over-priced, nursery inspiration. The baby industry is much like the wedding industry - it takes a whole lot of extra leg work, research and patience to create a beautiful wedding (nursery) without spending your life savings.

Until yesterday we were buying the Ubabub Nifty Timber cot as we were able to get a 20% discount at a local store, but alas! - we have just been told their manufacturer is backed-up and it won't be available until May (when our little one is due!). So back to the drawing board we go. Prior to deciding on the Ubabub we were going to go with the IKEA Gulliver in white - it is simple and beautiful (and did I mention only $229!)

Seeing it above in this gorgeous nursery is certainly giving me inspiration...

P.S. Does anyone know where I can get my hands on that gorgeous butterfly mobile?

Jo Carmichael's home, via The Design Files