Archive for June, 2009

Baby bare necessities, baby buys good and bad…

Friday, June 26th, 2009

Milly is now five months old (where did the time go) and I when a charity bag came through the door the other day  I thought I’d take the oportunity to have a little clear out. But as I went through each little new born baby grow and dainty little sock I realised I was’nt ready to give them up yet. They are only things I know, and I really don’t think we will be needing them again (milly is my third) but she has been such a little ray of sunshine  and every piece  has  little memories in them…

I did stilll manage to fill the charity bag…. mostly with my maternity clothes….. I have to say I am not so emotionally attacted to my giant kangeroo pouch jeans and matching parachote tops, I know some girls look stunning when they are pregnant but at just five foot three I felt almost as wide as I was high! constantly wobbling around like a  weeble! (I am showing my age, for those who don’t remember they were little egg shaped people , really popualar in the 80′s. I had the tree house that they lived in too, loved it… but I digress! )

The whole process got me thinking about all the stuff we all buy when having a baby. And how much of it we actually need, so I have put together a little list, firstly of things I could’nt live without and then things I found useless, here goes…

  • Good stuff….
  • Rainforest Jumperooo-  easily the best thing I have ever bought, I got it for Milly about 6 weeks ago and she has been in it every day since, happily bouncing away for hours on end. It still makes me laugh to watch her little legs going, sooo cute!
  • Lights and sounds activity spiral- Milly loves this and it has stoped many a tearful moment in the super market,  she can study it for ages.
  • Fisher Price Miracles and Milestones Cot Mobile- not the most stylish looking thing but Milly loves to watch it.
  • mam soothers-vowed I was’nt gonna use em, but by about day three I bought some, milly only has them when shes tired and the crystal ones are very cute.
  • Boots Microwave steriliser- cheap, easy and mess free.
  • Giant Flower Play Mat- from french company la redoute, looks quite chic and not to out of place in the living room and the dangly cubes and flowers are detactable so you can take them out with you. Also really comfy, always shooing the dog away from it!
  • My little Tees- ok, I know I made them but people are always commenting on them and they do make Milly look super cute ;) also my little clippies, Milly has lots of hair so they are very useful.

 

  • The bad stuff….
  • Timberland baby boots- Soooo cute to look at but milly pulls them off, same with socks, I don’t think I have one actual pair, although I have bought loads. I think they must be under the sofa, in sainsburys, on the moon, who knows!
  • Play Nest- a kind of blow up ring nest thingy- Milly won’t sit in it for more than ten seconds.
  • Hand Breast Pump- oh just so painful and slow, and I felt oddly like a milking cow.
  • Bottle warmer- bulky and slow, just as easy to put the bottle in jug of warm water!
  • mamas and papas baby bouncer- looks pretty but flimsy and uncomfortable. Got given a really old padded one that looks like a baby arm chair, ugly but Milly loves it.

So I hope this is useful, I will add more as I go, I am sure there will be lots of good and bad baby buys to come! If you have any of your own it would be great if you could add em, We could end up with a really helpful list:)  

my little flower fairy

my little flower fairy

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Weekend Pancakes!

Tuesday, June 16th, 2009

I had the most lovely day on Sunday, we had a full house with ellie (13) my eldest, jack (9), Amelia (nearly 5 months) and my step daughter Aime (7 and a half, don’t forget the half !) all at home.

It started off well with me making a giant batch of American pancakes  for everyone, I have’nt made them before and they came out brilliantly … all big and fluffy and delicious ;) I used a wooping six eggs and 8 onces of flour, so we all had about 6 each! Even Aime, who has to be pursuaded to eat most things had 4! And with the lovely Jonathan Ross playing Blonde on the radio and the sun shining it was a good morning…

 

before...

before...

 

After!

After!

In the afternoon we all headed out to the woods, I got a chance to test out my new mai tai easy sling, I was dubious at first as the straps seemed to be huge and go on forever, but once I’d wraped myself  in it (a bit like a mummy, excuse the pun!)  and placed Milly inside we were away!

She loved it and went to sleep almost instantly, so I would recomend it just for that…  but it also feels really comfy and looks pretty good too, so a winner all round really…

We all came home and the kid’s decided to write songs,  Jack wrote a slightly rude song about big bottoms (not mine, he says ;)  and Aime wrote about love and freinds, very typical!  Just before she had to leave, I helped Aime paint her own plate. She wanted to copy the polka dot flower plate I was firing. She made a pretty good job of it I have to say, I will have to watch out for my job in few years time!  She told my she’d like to be a painter who paints by the sea…. how lovely does that sound ; ) I really hope she does it some day, life is to short not to do the things you love….

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Domestic Goddess Kitch Kitchen

Thursday, June 4th, 2009

 Last week was my birthday, and I know I must be getting old because instead of spending my b’day pennies on more clothes like every other year I bought myself these new retro mugs from dotcom.gifts,  the box arrived and I just fell in love with them!,  so much that  i restyled my whole kitchen around them. I managed to find some gorgeous kitchen glass ware from the 50′s at my local charity shop and added in some bits and pieces such as the cream kettle and green storage jars. I’m really pleased with the results and love spending time in there now, strangely i’m less bothered that i don’t have a dishwasher,  or any spare cupboard space or much room to swing a cat!..,  its my little piece of domestic goddess kitch heaven  filled with retro pieces that give me a warm fuzzy feeling of history and home. I love it!

my new mugs

my new mugs

vintage green glass

vintage green glass

vintage bowl

vintage bowl

cutest cup cakes

cutest cup cakes

daily bread

daily bread

orange juice!

orange juice!

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Summer has began…

Tuesday, June 2nd, 2009

I had a really lazy time in the garden this weekend, the kids were all brilliant and did there own thing leaving me with nothing to do but enjoy the sunshine and get on with a bit of outdoor painting!

Eloise is enjoying her first sweet summer as a teenager so I bearly see her at the mo. I’m not too upset about it though  I remember it well,  lazy hot days with my best friends and the sweetest notion of having nothing to do but watch the fluffy clouds flout by all summer long! Bliss…

Milly has nearly gotten over her sniffles so she was quite happy bouncing away on her new toy under the shade of a tree.

Milly in the garden

Milly in the garden

 

And jack was amazing, usually Jack finds it hard to amuse himself,

 Case in point…

 Jack, “mum I’m board…”  Me, “go draw some pictures, thats what I did when I was your age,” …

five minutes later … jack, “where are the pens, where is the paper…”

another five minutes later, Jack, “Muuuum, What shall I draw?…” , you get my point!

But he seems to be growing out of it, he spent the whole weekend with a tiny toffee hammer (the only safe tool i will let him have, poor kid!) hammering away at the old bits of wood that have taken up residence down the side of the shed. He made this really cool sign for his room (just using the hammer mind!) which says “jacks room, keep out!” The artist  in me could’nt resist surgesting he decorate it around the edges with some colourful buttons, but Jack and Jay just looked at me like I was a crazy, apherantly boys don’t do buttons.

He also dug out a broken chunk of a tree that I’ve been mouning at Jay to remove since before Christmas! He spent about an hour striping the bark off it.

Jack, busy, busy...

Jack, busy, busy...

So with Milly happily bouncing, Jack chopping wood and Ellie off chilling with her mates I reveled in my new found freedom, relaxing and soaking up the sun, and painting of coarse! I managed to finish my new canvases and I’m quite pleased with them, they have a really cozy retro feel. I always try and imagine the little boy or girl that will choose them when I’m designing them, I even give them names and personalities! it sounds a little crazy but it helps me decide on the vibe for each piece.

new works...

new works...

The only downside to the whole weekend was knowing the school holidays were nearly over, when all peace and tranqility would be shattered with the sound of Monday morning shouts  “mum, where’s my p.e kit?” and my personal fav, “oh no, I forgot about french homework!”…

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