Hair did...

So here comes a quick post-salon shot...not the best but you get the general gist. I love it!! Micheal at fabrik is the king of awesome. It is shorter than I had expected but it had to be done to get rid of all the..ahem...crispy bits. This chop is the first step on a dreamhair journey for me, so now I am prepped and ready to grow enough of a mane to rock a topknot like this:

<insert daydream-like sigh here>

For now I am LOVING this fringe. A fringe style I have had before and will keep 'cos I'm not sure about a straight fringe with my mooney moon face!

........ta-da!

home sweet home...

We are lucky enough to rent a (pretty darn nice) house from my mother, which means that painting, hanging, changing and generally wreaking creative havoc is allowed. Well, maybe not havoc but...we'll see!
I thought I'd do a series of photos of our little whare and the changes we make. Preferably before and after photos, but some deeds have been done pre-blogging without photo evidence.

This is J and I's bedroom. All we have done in here so far is put up curtains and done the display above the bed.  We are huuuuuuuge smooshy nerds and like to read aloud to each other in bed so I decided to frame some illustrations from a selection of favourite books. And yes, I realise most if not all of the ones so far are kids' books!

Clockwise from the top we have Alice in Wonderland (because I love it), The BFG (1st book we read aloud), WTWTA, A map of Middle Earth (J's all time favourite...plus we listen to the BBC radio version at least once a year, and once a pregnancy!) and Watership Down (we read this while I was pregnant with Elanor and struggled to finish it through tears at the end). 

A simple way to personalize the otherwise beige boudoir.

Most if not all of the house is currently painted beige...but we'll soon change that!

happy things...

Some things that are making me happy today:

1. Pillowcases I found at the op shop...I'm thinking summer dress for Elanor. Yuss!

2. Awesome new slippers - the old stinkers are in bin city. Kmart, $8.

3. Popcorn. 2 cups = 2 points. Boom!

4. Crazy children. Heart.

I have decided to make more of a concerted effort to focus on the positives in every day... turns out, there are so many more when you stop and take a minute to appreciate them...

ch-ch-ch-ch-changes

So I was feeling a bit meh... you know, not particularly good but not quite bad enough to curl up all fetus-like under a hot shower with a family size bag of m'n'ms (I've never done this by the way...honestly).

I am in desperate need of a hurr-cut, but decided in the meantime to dye it. Sort of reddy-brown. I like it.

 

here is the hair. the baby is pretty much a permanent fixture.

Maybe next week I will get it cut. I kind of went through this after I had Elanor...I get this huuuge urge to change the old do. Here is the result last time:

 

And then it went to this:

 Can you tell I have a slight thing for ginger/red hair? Gosh it's so awesome..I don't know why people hate on it!

Anyways, I guess what I am getting at is that I feel the need to change my hair after having a baby - like having a baby isn't a big enough change!! I'm sure I'm not the only one who desperatley needs a ch-ch-ch-change...

Watch this space for post-Maggie hair.

how mothers' day looked to me...

galdioli and cards

gift I made for my Mama's new house

most delicious deliciousness EVER - choc brownie cheesecake rasperry cream!

snack time

photo courtesy of Elanor

Happy Mamas!

Today is Mothers' day... for all that means! Every day is Mothers' day, surely?

I am lucky enough (and no, I'm not bragging, just stating a fact!) to have a husband who makes me feel appreciated as a Mama almost every day, even if my littles don't! Especially when my littles don't.
Last week Elanor and I had an episode which in short was screaming for 45 mins in the pram while I was trying to get some exercise (!!) then taking off her belt and falling out the front of the pram and grazing up her nose and lips...then of course back into the pram for another half hour screaming while we walked back. She never usually does this, ever, which made it all the more frustrating and try as I might to stay calm it's safe to say that by the time we got back I was crying too. And to top it off Maggie woke up about 5 mins from home and joined in. Ah, bliss! No but seriously...at that point when I got home with two crying children (one bleeding), crying myself and so frustrated that I could hardly talk to Elanor, J took over.  He comforted Elanor while I fed Maggie then came and hugged me and reassured me that I was doing a good job...this was a bad moment, but I was doing a good job.

Sometimes I don't think people realize that Mamas need and want (?) to be told they are doing a good job by the people they love (yes, this is even true for 2nd, 3rd, 4th babies...).  I feel like this affirmation and reassurance is invaluable. So today is a good day for some good ol' fashioned forced reinforcement. And to all the beautiful mothers I know - you are amazing.  You are doing a great job and don't you forget it.  Yes there are hard days, bad days, disasterous days even but please never forget that you are doing a great job in growing awesome, thoughtful, enquiring and loving little souls to help nourish this (messed up) society.  There! Good job Mamas...you know who you are!

And to my own Mama... I am so grateful of your continued support and your commitment to my and my "new" family's happiness.  You are a strong, beautiful woman (inside and out) and a wonderful role model for our girls. Soppy - love you Mum!!

while you were sleeping...

I made you a dress! Not as creepy as you first thought.

Yesterday morning my (awesome) Dad looked after Elanor for an hour or so. He lives in a little house out the back of our place and Elanor looooooooves hanging out with him. Anyway, I digress... Pop looked after Elanor and Maggie cried! There's me thinking, perhaps selfishly "great, I'm not going to get anything done"! But 5 mins later she was asleep (yay!) and I had a go at a little peasant dress from this pattern - also thanks to Rhiannon for the Pinspiration!!

Time was precious, as it always is with a toddler and a newborn, but more so when you are as special a sewer as I am.  I used some leftovers from another project as I had little faith in myself and didn't want to waste anything too nice. Here's how it turned out...

the dress...

the dress and the model

haaard work... [ps. check the squidge arms. yum]

I think next time (yes, there will be a next time!) I will make it a tad longer as Maggie, like her sister, is a baby long-legs.  I'd love to say that she gets those luscious long legs from me..alas...I am a dwarf...

greetings...

So, I am new at this whole blogging malarkey but I'm going to give it a go.  I'm not entirely sure that I'm committed to it but...we'll see.