Delightful Things In Five Minutes

Over the weekend I was going through some boxes in the garage and found lots of my craft supplies that I constantly buy and never use. I like to set crafting tasks for myself, buy the supplies and put them in my craft box and add the project to my mental to-do list. While I was home bound recovering after Romy's arrival, I thought about all the things I wanted to do. And over the weekend I finally had the motivation to do a couple of them. During my pregnancy I had ideas of little things I wanted to put in Romy's room and a block letter with cute decorative paper was one of them. I have so much pattern paper in my craft box that this was a perfect opportunity to actually use it. The end result was a bit shabby, but I don't think Romy is going to hold it against me! The other little project I crossed off my list was putting to good use a custom spoon present from my cousin for designing her wedding invitations earlier this year. One of my families little things we all like to say is 'so much' to just about everything when we're all together. And my cousin had it engraved on a spoon. At her wedding she had the same spoons with something different engraved on them as gifts for her guests. I had a spare white frame, and some beautiful textured paper my sister gave me that was perfect for this shelf decorator. I wanted to put this on my A-frame bookcase I have in my bedroom to go along side the dipped vessels I recently bought from Freedom. It actually took less than a minute to put together! Both of these little pieces were perfect projects to whip up while Romy was napping, and have motivated me to open my craft box more often.

Start Your Week Off With..

Inside My Seashell by Mermaidens

7x7 Remix by October Rebel

House Tour by Jen Love Kev

Matchmaker, Matchmaker, Make Me A Match by The Daybook

[ Have a great little week ]

An Illustration / Trainee Mama

[ check out Trainee Mama for full design ]

I'm really excited to share my most recent illustration that I've been working on this past week for a new blog, Trainee Mama. Peta, who ordinarily blogs over at The Sea & Me Change, has started a sassy new side blog about her transition into motherhood. If you're a first time mum, or a mum to be, join Peta as she shares her "experiences, triumphs, catastrophe's and life". I've really enjoyed what I've read so far, and as a first time mum myself am looking forward to reading along with her experiences. 

Romy's First Shopping Center Meltdown

[Post shopping center meltdown]

Yesterday we had quite an eventful trip to the shops. After I had a coffee date with one of the Mum's I met at Mothers Group, Luke & I took Romy to the shops quickly so we could pick up some white onesies and groceries. Rather than go in and get exactly what we needed, we made the common shoppers mistake of 'just quickly' looking in shops we didn't need to. And trying on clothes for myself that weren't white onesies for Romy. As we were getting the last of our groceries Romy woke up with a vengeance and was quite vocal in telling me she was hungry. Luke could hear her from the opposite end of the grocery store! When I found where Luke was I told him I was taking Romy to the car. After I left, Luke went to walk down an isle when he overheard a group of older ladies having a discussion about how I was a bad mother because 'when babies cry they generally want something'. Luke politely told the busybodies that sometimes babies do cry, to which they snapped at him that he wasn't invited into their discussion as it was none of his business. He told them it was his business as that was in fact his baby and wife they were talking about, and that they shouldn't be so quick to judge as I was taking the baby out to the car to feed her (not that it was any of their business!). 

While that was happening inside the shopping center, I was taking Romy out to the car. I had my back turned for a second as I was unpacking the pram, and turned back around to put the carrier into the car when I saw that a stranger was trying to pick Romy up out of the pram! I had to try and contain my reaction incase this strange woman's intentions were malicious. I quickly picked Romy up & the woman tried to reassure me that it was okay for them to cry. Even though it was completely inappropriate for this woman to approach my child and try to pick her up in a bid to comfort her, I was very glad that was her intentions as they could have been much worse. This isn't the first negative experience we've had at the shops since we've had Romy. One of our first trips to the shops she cried as we were leaving the shopping center and on our way out we had several people make comments to us that we 'need to take that baby home and feed it'. I am constantly amazed at just how rude some people can be. It is totally unnecessary to go up to a stranger and tell them what they should do, when they are in fact in the process of doing just that very thing! 

At least when Romy is much older we'll be able to laugh about how outrageous shoppers found her as a baby!

Start Your Week Off With..

Getting Personal While Keeping Your Privacy by Julie Ann Art

DIY Souvenir Magnet by Secondhand Sundays

Thoughts For A Monday by His Little Lady

DIY Stripe Doorway With Washi Tape by A Beautiful Mess

>> Have a great week!

Photo An Hour / Thursday, 13th June

[From left to right]

9.30 am Romy's second breakfast for the morning. Rather than get up when Luke did after her first breakfast bottle, Romy & I slept in and started our day much later than usual

10.30 am After her feed, Luke bathed Romy while I had a shower and got ready for the day. I was so impressed with her outfit that I let her help me choose my outfit for the day

11.30 am Our washing has accumulated after a good couple of wet days. I did a spot of washing while Luke picked up some breakfast supplies and coffees

12.30 pm We had a delicious scrambled egg brunch with a side of cream cheese and bagel. Romy decided she wanted brunch too, so we had to take turns eating our meal

1.30 pm After brunch and a quick tidy up, we bundled Romy up and took her out for coffee and blueberry cheesecake at one of our new favourite cafes. It was such a nice afternoon to be out in the sun after a so much rain, unfortunately our back yard was in the process of being dug up for plumbing purposes so we had to go else where for some sun rays

2.30 pm A trip to the health food store to pick up some essential oils to arm us for Romy's 'witching hour'. She has been really unsettled the past couple of nights in the early evening and we've had lots of recommendations for lavender oil to calm her down

3.30 pm We went to my parents house to use my Mum's hair cutting stuff. I think I did a pretty good job of shaving Luke's head. I do realise this requires little skill, but I did manage to cut his head last time

4.30 pm After Luke's hair cut we waited around for my Mum to finish work so she could see Romy. After hugs we made our way to the shops to pick up some dinner ingredients (my phone ran out of battery mid visit so I didn't manage to get a photo of this hour)

5.30 pm We came home, packed away our groceries, and settled with cups of tea and old 90's sitcoms Sabrina, The Teenage Witch & Friends before Luke made dinner

7.30 pm Luke made a quinoa fattoush for dinner, and we were actually able to eat the entire meal together without Romy gate crashing

8.30 pm After dinner hugs and episodes of Modern Family

Recent Purchases / After A Trip To Freedom

Before Romy arrived I had plans to do some nesting in our new home, and wanted to focus on our living room in particular. I had been eyeing off the Stockholm Coffee Table at Freedom for a couple of weeks and really wanted to buy it but wanted Luke to see it in person first. The coffee table we have currently has really sharp corners and aside from them being a future hazard for Romy - Luke & I are always banging our knees and shins on it. Luke isn't the biggest fan of white furniture, so we looked in other furniture stores and op shops for a round wooden coffee table with no luck. Before Luke could go out to Freedom to see the coffee table I wanted, Romy came early and our purchase was put on hold up until this week. Now that I'm feeling a lot better we've been making little trips to the shops to get back on track with our nesting project. Not only did Luke give the thumbs up to the coffee table, but Freedom was having a store wide sale. When I saw that everything I wanted was in store and marked down I was so excited I felt a little light headed! Although the focus was things for the living room, I bought the dipped vessels to put on our bookshelf in our bedroom, and the mademoiselle scatter cushion for Romy's room. I've been assigning myself little day jobs this week as a distraction so I won't go back out to Freedom and buy an unnecessary amount of scatter cushions and shelf fillers!

>>>From my purchases

only the coffee table is available

to buy from the freedom website

Start Your Week Off With..

Party In A Box by Pretty Pointless Things

Metallic Dipped Shoes by The Owl's Den

Barely There Model Waves by Confessions Of A Hairstylist 

That Time My Day Instantly Turned Around by Beauty & The Feast

Enjoy your week!