Flashback Friday - My Stylish Mum

Ok i haven't officially joined up with Flickr yet but i just dug out this old pic and felt the need to share it.

Isn't it fun to see evidence of how groovy your folks once were? That's my mama in the green up the back and I'd say my Dad would have been taking the photo. They are celebrating the almost completion of their house and i love how even though there's no furniture or flooring or paint on the walls they have still managed to cook up a storm and crack open the vino. That's probably thanks to the five Russians amongst them. I'm happy to say that mum and dad still have close relationships with all of the friends in this photo.

More Beginnings

Well that was an unintentional break! Things got a little hectic 'round here with my birthday and the girl's second birthday and so many cakes to be made and birthday picnics to be had and...babies to be born...and pregnancies to discover!!!

Being there for the birth of my close friend's bub was such a moving experience. It took days to come down from but there was also a bit of worry in the air as new bub wasn't breathing properly. What began as a powerful, peaceful, primal experience quickly turned to action stations and mild shock as the baby was whisked away moments after birth to get her lungs working. She actually ended up in intensive care for a couple of days, but to cut a long story short, little baby is fully recovered and has gone home to begin her babymoon.

The birth experience itself was quite epic as the labour started and stopped for a couple of days. My friend was an absolute champion though and she breathed her way through the whole process.



There is a Work in Progress that involves a reincarnation of the singlet idea, so I'll post photos when they're done. I write that simply to force myself to get on with it.

I have also been avoiding my computer as looking at the monitor for more than a couple of minutes exacerbates this MORNING SICKNESS (!!) that attacks me in the evenings. I found out I'm pregnant on my birthday Sunday week ago and since then I've busted out in all sorts of oh- so- enjoyable pregnancy side effects. Although tonight, the hurl factor has subsided enough for me to quickly scribble an update but already i can feel my mind bending to those mush-inducing hormones and i fear not much sense will flow from these fingertips.

Ok. I think i've reached my screen limit. Better reach for the Rennies and ginger tea before it's too late....

Desicions, decisions

fairy watching tv

The time has come to apply for kinders for my wee chicken and I'm agonizing over it. I can't believe that she's about to turn just two and we already have to think about these things for the year after next.

Big D and i walked around to one the other day and were able to cross it off the list because of the asbestos warning sign near the front door!! That leaves me with three others to list in order of preference. One is a short walk and right next to a choice strip of cafes. Another is a slightly longer walk over a major road and has a great reputation. The other is somewhere around here but not walking distance.

I know choosing a kinder is not about proximity to caffeine. It's about educational standards and facilities and such things. I have some strong memories of my kinder, and i also met one of my closest friends there so that's why i don't take the decision lightly. My little girl might make some connections and have experiences that will impact on her life.

Ok now i think i'm getting dramatic. I think i'm just gonna go with the close-to-coffee option. Plus, they have a really cute vegie garden.

Double lot of birthdays on the weekend so cupcakes and festivities to prepare. There's a chance however that I'll miss the party if I'm called in to help with that little bub that's on it's way. I think it may be waiting so it can share a birthday with me or my little one. I've already pretty much relinquished my birthday because the little girl's is one day later. What's one more to share with?

Alright, off to bed now. I've been looking at this screen so long my eyeballs are getting itchy.

xx

Project Abandoned

ninja

Not many words are coming to me tonight but i thought I'd share my failed project with you. It took me a while to realize that felt is probably not the best fabric to use as an appliqué on teeny tiny baby singlets.



hippo

Lucky i hadn't yet sewed the little fellas on.



hippo on singlet

Back to the drawing board.

7 Things and Other Stuff

Oh what an inspired title!

If you stumbled across my last post i hope i didn't put you off with the sad content. What i wanted to convey was to do with the cycles of life and how humbling it is to be intimately involved in them.

As Leah has unofficially tagged me with the 7 Honest Things Meme, i'm gonna give it a whirl.

1. I was vegetarian for 20 years. It all started when i was 10 years old and went on an excursion with my German class to a German Butcher. (???) They took us on a tour through the back of the place where all the meat was hanging and then afterwards everyone got to choose a nice slice of meat to sample. Ew! A penny dropped about the source of my food and that was it. Hardcore veggo from then on. Things have recently eased up but i will elaborate another time.

2. I'm not planning to tell anyone apart from Big D (yep that's my man, that's what i'm calling him now) about this blog. I think my voice would change if i know that people i know already are checking in. Not trying to be secretive, i just think it's better that way.

3. I am so inspired by the beautiful blogs i've been reading. I do gravitate towards the craft blogs and design or decoration blogs but i'm also discovering these new worlds involving like-minded mums writing about their experiences and forming supportive networks for each other, and people who are writing about my other interests like organic/nutritious food and gardening and yoga. It is particularly the writers who are candid about their lives that really get me drawn in. What wonderful, inspiring people there are out there.

4. I've got a thing going for the ukelele. How daggy is that? I've bought one, under false pretenses that it's for my daughter, but being only 2 she's not really that interested in taking it seriously yet. I however am working my way through the book that came with my little green uke. I would learn the guitar but i heard the ukelele's easier. Lazy? Me?

5. I still don't know what i want to be when i grow up. So i'm 33 and have been a naturopath for 10 years and a yoga instructor for 7, but for some reason it doesn't feel wholly satisfying, or like there should be more or maybe i just made the wrong choices. I imagine alternative careers like architecture or becoming a pro-photographer or environmental engineer. Commitment issues perhaps? Or the lack of maturity to say 'this is my life and i'm living it now'? The thing is, i really like my life and especially the people in it - i s'pose the grass is always greener....

6. I have a tendency to procrastinate. Have since school days. I found it easy to start assignments but so so hard to finish them off and hand them in. I suspect it might even be a form of disguised perfectionism or fear of failure, masked by utter laziness.

7. It's taken me days to write this bloody thing.


Ready to post a letter to Nana and Pa.

On another note, i had such a good Sunday.

A sleep in followed by brunch with a friend and my girl at one of my favourite walking distance cafe's. I went to a nutritional medicine seminar for the afternoon for a bit of brain stimulation and professional development, and for dinner we took our girl to dinner at the restaurant where Big D and i had our first date. Sweet, simple, domestic bliss!

Endings and Beginnings

I think this Spring is going to end up being one of the most poignant for me ever. A few weeks ago i had the honor of being included in the last few weeks of my little friends life. He almost made it to his eighth birthday but died of cancer a few weeks short. He didn't really know he was dying, as his parents didn't want to frighten him, but he knew he was very sick and it was my special job to give him lots of back and tummy rubs to help ease the discomfort.

During those last weeks, while feeling so rotten, he managed to pack a few special activities in. One wish was to announce a song by his dad's band on his favourite radio station Triple R in Melbourne. Another was to host a premiere screening of an unreleased movie for all his classmates. The Make A Wish Foundation so generously made it happen.

After he was gone 450 people+ turned up to the funeral to say goodbye and many stood up to share some memories or a funny little story. Even the school janitor had a story to tell (apparently my cheeky friend kept the janitor quite busy) regarding an impromptu lesson on the creation and mixing of paint pigment during one of their chats. My little friend had returned a few days later proclaiming "i know what the pig meant!" There were many of these stories told by ex-teachers, school friends and parents. What a character and what an impact he made on so many people in such a short time!

I've been thinking this week how as the grief is starting to subside for me as i turn my attention back to life, it must just be just as fresh and raw for his mum and dad. I'm so sad they won't get to know him as a teenager or a grown man, or ever be grandparents, and for all the other implications of losing your only child. I would so love to post a photo of him, when he looked healthier and happy and beautiful, but i don't feel i can without running it by his folks first. We'll always miss you little darling.

The other part of this story regards the beginning of life. One of my closest friends is due to have her first baby very soon and she's asked me to be at the birth! What makes it even more special is that she was at the birth of my daughter almost 2 years ago. And she took this picture.



This was taken at the business end of the experience and was the tamest photo i had. But look at the expression on my mister's face! He looks terrified! Hee hee. We both survived....So i hope i can be as useful to my dear friend in her birthing experience as she was for me, reminding me to 'breathe my baby down'. And that i did.

A Blog is Born!

Ok. Here i am. Hello. I've been deliberating and procrastinating about starting my own blog for months now; inspired by the writing and photos of others and feeling a bit cheeky about enjoying other people's blog without contributing anything myself. My apprehension was mainly because i couldn't quite decide on a topic or theme to stick to. I love craft blogs but i'm not a particularly prolific crafter, i love yoga but i couldn't be bothered writing about it all the time, i love being a parent but i'd rather read about it than write about it and i enjoy writing occasionally but not usually for the consumption of others (i am perhaps scarred by the comments of my year 10 teacher who said my writing was "obscure"...i had thought i was being poetic! ).

However, with a little encouragement from the lovely Leah of Hyena in Petticoats, here i go! I realised that what i really enjoy about other blogs is the day to day stuff that is shared and occasional bursts of inspiration from a beautiful photo or story or humour. I can have a humble little blog (and i've got nothing to sell) and create a collection of snippets of things that i love or am inspired by.

Anyway, the photo below is of the thing that i love the most in the world;


And here is another beautiful thing;




but i only had a hand in creating one of them.

Jasmine