Slowing Down

The "boob Gods" decided it was high time that this lass received her very first dose of the dreaded Mastitis! First and last I do hope very much!!

Within a few hours I went from my usual EverReady Bunny self to a vomiting, feverish, all round hideous mess. Thankfully I'm recovering almost as quickly. Hubby has nicknamed Remy "Medicine Man" as with each feed I get a bit better.

Doc tells me I'm doing to much! With my big...utterley beautiful...but big baby boy who is literally sucking the life out of me I need to rest more. 

So curled up on my little man's divine quilted play mat thanks to my gorgeous blogging bestie. (Bren you are an absolute angel!) I have been forcing myself to slow down.

I'm not terribly good at this I must confess (Hubby will indeed concur)  but I guess I need to start listening to my body....and she ain't happy with me at present.

Plugging away at this soothing sky blue knit for my very own blue girl is keeping the tetches at bay...

As is fresh air, grass between my toes, mugs of milky tea, squishing those chubby thighs and watching my poppet joyously bounce the afternoon away on her trampoline.

I'm pottering around my blog too...a change is as good as a holiday n'est pas?

Fruity Pikelets

My little chef and I have been making pikelets quite a bit lately. They are super easy to make, you get instant gratification i.e. you can merrily stuff them in your mouth as they come out of the pan rather than waiting for something to bake away tediously in the oven, and they're a perfect morning tea to gobble on the run.

Although I prefer the laden heavily with jam and cream variety of pikelet, we have been adding little slivers of fruit to zhoosh them up a bit. Yesterday was banana.

We use my Great Nana's recipe and whilst the first side is going all goldeny brown and forming those wee little bubbles we drop the little slices of fruit on top.

Sometimes we use blueberries..sometimes strawberries...or sometimes a mixture of whatever needs using up.

Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezie. And yumbo to boot!

Fruity Pikelets

In a large bowl combine one cup self raising flour, pinch of salt, 1/2 teaspoon of bicarb. soda, 2 tablespoons sugar, 1 egg, 1/2 cup sour milk (milk + 1 teaspoon of vinegar) and 1 desertspoon  of melted butter.

Whisk until a smooth, runny batter (If too thick - add water). Brush pan with extra melted butter and spoon in desired amounts. Drop slices of fruit on the top and flip when the bubbles start to pop.

Eat with gusto!!

His Mobile

My beautiful Monsieur Remoulade is 13 weeks tomorrow and I am totally smitten with my handsome (off the charts for his size!) baby boy.  He is serene, gentle and so very quick to smile. Swoon!

He is patient and sensitive and laps up (endure at times) his big sister's constant showing of affection.

It feels like he has always been with us and he makes our home and hearts full to brimming with love.
Just like his papa bear, he sleeps anywhere. Wide eyed and smiley we swaddle him in his cot and before too long he's off to the land of nod.

I want to wrap the world and all it's beauty up in a package and present it to him as a gift. I want him to see things...to know things...but above all... to feel!

My darling little man...may you aim your dreams at the furthermost star....

May you see the sun set and rise the following morn with the love of your life...your soul buddy...

May you have the strength and courage to weather life's storms...may you always find the silver lining...

May you always know that I love you to the moon and back a bazillion times...

Sleep beautiful babe...and dream!

I made this wee little mobile for Remy out of teensy scraps of vintage fabric cut with pinking shears and then hand stitched together (wrong sides together) using a running stitch and embroidery floss leaving a little gap. (I drew a little picie first and used it as a template...all very lazy bones-ish....hence the wonky star!) I then stuffed them with some wool rovings and stitched them up. Two pieces of wire were wrapped in some old bias binding and slip stitched closed and then tied together in the middle. Embroidery floss attached to each piece was then sewn onto the frame.

Joining in with all these wonderful souls. Come join us.

The Nutcracker

It is with heady anticipation that I await that beautiful December day when I can dress my babes in their finest robes and head into the city to introduce them to the magic that is live ballet. We'll attend a matinee performance of The Nutcracker...we'll buy a program ...

We'll be seated not far from the stage so that all our senses can be drenched in delight. The gossamer tutus of the sugar plum fairies....the orchestra weaving the magic that is Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker suite with bow and reed... 

The gentle scuffing as nimble toes arabesque en pointe...beads of sweat sprinkled across grease painted foreheads....

Sinewy limbs stretching...reaching...gliding with such grace....such strength.  Nothing compares to live ballet and I so dearly hope I can instill a love of it in my poppets.

These handsome old fellows were waiting for me at a garage sale on Saturday and at $8 for the pair....I practically pirouetted out with them. Haven't joined this gorgeous girl for what seems an age! So lovely to be sharing with her again.

The Post Man

When I was a wee kipper our beloved pooch "Patchy" bit the postman! Well postmen really as it happened on a few occasions. She was a wonderful watch dog but run like the wind if you rode a motorbike....bicycle...carried a briefcase or low slung bag...carried a black umbrella...or if you wore bright colours or dark sunglasses. Mr. Postman ticked a good few of those boxes so didn't stand a chance!

She had a good old fashioned "dogs are not humans" hessian sack-ish bed in the garage and would spend a decent proportion of her days in the cool gnawing at her flea allergy. I know..a flea allergy on a dog...so, so cruel!

Miss Patches had access to the fenced back yard through a little door in the garage but never went out the front...that is with the exception of the time she bit the postmen, and that man in the suit with the briefcase who Mum thought must have been some sort of law man and nearly fell over backwards swooping him inside for a liberal dousing of Mercurochrome and a cup of tea and some slice.

It was usually (ok always!) my fault that these sagas unfolded as I in my absentminded "off with the fairies" childhood state of mind would often leave the side gate open. We would hear her claws scramble across the concrete of the garage, fly under the house and around the side with her bark following her (the speed of light being faster than the speed of sound) and knew some woe would be thrust upon us.

Sadly our effervescent and mildly neurotic dog died of a massive heart attack one early evening and Mum and I cried non stop for two weeks. My brother at that wispy moustache and gangly legged age between child and teen was too "cool" to cry yet when we buried her in the backyard he slumped off to the old cubby house way down the backyard and stayed there all afternoon. Dad wrapped her in a beautiful old blanket he won for playing footy as a young fellow and I still can't think about her without getting misty eyed.

 I'm sure the posties would have had a few choice words to share at her wake!

Lately, Poppet has been playing letter games with such zeal that the paper trail could wallpaper the Great Wall of China. And try to explain to a three year old that stamps are not stickers.

So in order to save a few forests we came up with a little post lady game using an old calico bag (that was too perfect to be true), some fabric scraps, felt and velcro.

While Remy had a marathon sleep, Bijou chose all the fabrics for the envelopes, little letters and stamps and we sewed it all together on the sewing machine using a rather wonky zigzag. She was as proud as punch. And I polished my halo for being so patient ....there were quite a lot of deep breaths I must confess.

It was also really nice to finish a project in one sitting. Something that hasn't happened for a very long time!

I'm joining in with these crafty souls and putting my feet up whilst my babes sleep and embarking on a epic crochet adventure that will make climbing Mt. Everest seem like a meander through daisies....weeeeeeee!

Bon Appetit

Lately we've been relishing....

Avocado on sourdough toast with nought but a spritz of lemon juice, sea salt and cracked pepper....

Roasted beetroot salad with the creamiest fetta drizzled in garlic infused olive oil.....

Rainbow fruit salads....

Blackberry Eton mess....oh my!.....

A weekend feast of fresh seafood with old fashioned home made marie rose sauce.... 

 

Watching with delight as poppet cleaned (read: played) with the squid and baby octopus in the sink for positively ages. Smiled equally as she devoured them with gusto after Hubby worked his magic on them with a whisper of flour, salt and pepper and a hot oiled pan.

Pottering about in the kitchen, browsing gorgeous cook books for inspiration, cooking for and nourishing my wee little family.....feeling very Nigella! What have you been whipping up..and then noshing on with many a slurp of pleasure?

Why you should read the instructions!!!

It may seem a little odd that I'm sharing a bathroom nest-i-fy when I'm yet to unveil my gorgeous renovated sal de bain since this post many moons ago.  Well firstly, before any of you think I am living some sort of Laura Ingalls of Little House on the Prairie fame, no I am not bathing in that blue tub any more!

Yes the bathroom is finished...well almost....and looks absolutely "Home Beautiful" quality awesome! My man did a stellar job and I still enjoy showers whilst pondering what used to be there. And yes, the showers are rather frequent thanks to my little Mister Chucky.

So why haven't I shared? Pride...male pride! My hubby has only the ceiling to paint and doesn't want a viewing until he's done..completely done. And since this champion of a man gets up with me each time I feed Remy in the night (my Hubby simply refuses to stay in bed and orders me back under the covers when I'm finished feeding as he cuddles our little Mt Vesuvius keeping him upright for a wee while to help avoid Niagara Falls when he's back in his cot) I simply can not badger him to get it painted.

But onto bigger tales of woe....our new bathmats. Oh yes, they're pretty and practical and made from scrappity scraps of vintage linen and some old towels that had seen better days blah blah blah.

But oh how they nearly sent me over the edge. I used this wonderful book for inspiration and skimmed the instructions...o.k. just looked at the picture really and then jumped in. Four broken needles later and many a whispered swear word (I say whispered because I may have created a potty mouth child who swats furiously as "bloody flies!" as they buzz around her food...oopsie!) And then when I thought the saga was over....these "bl----dy" things created their own sequel. Well pardon me bathmats for not zigzagging  the towel pieces to the fabric so you all frayed the first time you were washed.

No one's fault but my own! And they do look lovely in our sparkly new bathroom. And has the lesson been learned...probably not! But doesn't that make life a whole lot more fun?!

Joining in over here....and having a whale of a time exploring all the loveliness while my two babes sleep...at the same time! Hooray!!!