Chair Love

I recently started following Joel Dewberry's blog (to keep up with when discontinued fabrics are re-released), and he and his lovely wife Laurie recently had attended a quilters market. As part of their stall, they recovered the chair above. I am in love with it!

Hmmm, where can I put said chair?
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Things I love

Or rather this post should be titled "Things in Eliza's room that keep April from going mental at 3am".

Eliza's iPod with Sounds of Silence playing. The track 'White Noise' stops her crying instantly.

(I now have it loaded on my phone and in the car, and often find myself humming the tunes of the classical lullabies)

Also in the above photo is the GroEgg. I quite like the egg, as I can tell if it is too hot or cold in Eliza's room from bed based on if it is blue (cold), yellow (just right), orange (bit toasty) or red (turn off the heater). If we had brought a monitor I probably wouldn't have bothered with it, but I quite like it.

Finally, Nursing textbooks. So terribly handy to raise the height of the cot at one end to help with reflux. And honestly, what else does one do with Mosby's Medical Dictionary?

(Clearly $200 well spent given I am not a nurse. Least it is being used though)

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Loving the Laundry

I am in love with Rachael from A Room For Everyone's laundry (actually her whole house, but mainly her laundry today).

She amazingly took her laundry from this plain boring laundry

and made it into this beauty

Look at those cupboards *swoon* 

It even has a mudroom, oh my beating heart!

That really is the handiest Ikea bench, it is awesome for storing random things!

If you want to see more of Rachael's house, check out her blog - be sure to stalk the photos of her kitchen too! A-MAZ-ING!
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Pimping the Bug

My husband loves to watch shows like "Pimp My Ride" and such. I am not such a fan, but meh, whilst he is watching tv he is leaving me alone, so it is all good. I never really understood why someone would need a popcorn machine and carnival games in the side of their van whilst fixing blown tyres on trucks, but hey, whatever floats your boat.

I finally started to understand it this week when during a 3am feed I was browsing eBay for Bugaboo accessories and came across some lovely covers.

From Babymoomaa

From Peekaboo

Oh so tempting.
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Damn You

Remember how I fell in love with this nursery bedding set, and was bitterly disappointed when  discovered that Joel Dewberry had discontinued the Aviary fabric range, and I had to move on?

Well it seems Joel Dewberry has re-released the Aviary range, calling it Aviary II in slightly different colours. Hmmm, how many bedding sets does one small child need when they don't actually use it as bedding?


PS - Joel looks nothing like I ever imagined him to either, he reminds me a bit of Harry from Sex & the City (its the bald head thing). Pin It

Parenting According to April

Like most first time mums, I was a little naive. Naive about the birth, and very naive about what my child would or wouldn't do. When pregnant I made statements like "my child will never have a dummy", "I will breastfeed and not use formula" and "Routines are best, my child will stick to a routine" and my personal favourite of the day "my child will only be in disposables for the first box of nappies, then it is all cloth".

Now, I don't judge anyone else for their parenting style or decisions, never have and never will, these were statements I was making for my own child and myself, and have broken in the last 7 weeks. "My child, my way"is very much my motto.

The dummy thing lasted until that first night when we got home and she would not stop screaming. I cried giving it to her, and sighed when she spat it out again. Since then she has taken it, but it is only when she is unsettled, especially when in the car. Silent child = safe and stress free driving mumma.

The no formula statement lasted for the first two weeks, then I got gastro and mastitis at the same time and basically banished myself from the small one. I kept on expressing, but as I wasn't well and very dehydrated, my supply dipped a bit and we moved to formula. I cried yet again. Through sheer determination, against advice from my very "breastfeeding is the only option" mum, I continued pumping and got my supply back up and Eliza continued on breastmilk and is still going with it. I know it wouldn't be the end of the world if she was on formula, some mornings at 4am I wish she was, but I really wanted to give breastfeeding a good crack and wasn't quite ready to give up just yet.

Routine in our household? What routine? We don't have one, and I am good with that. Makes for some interesting trips in the car, especially when you are required to breastfeed in a truck stop on the side of the freeway in amongst a bikie gang, but hey, it didn't kill me and it fed my child.

Nappies? Yeah, well at the moment we are avoiding looking at that giant bag of cloth nappies in the corner of Eliza's room. It all seems a little bit too hard right now, and sposies are a lot more convenient. I have tried them in the last week, but they make my baby girl look massive! I am trying to use one nappy a day and slowly build it up, but we will see on that one.

Being a mum is the hardest thing I have ever done, and I have cried many tears in the last 7 weeks. I am still not convinced I am good at it, nor do I know what I am doing, but in the words of one of my best friends today, I "am doing it, and she is happy and healthy, and that is all that matters". Wish that bloody mother guilt would piss off though!!!
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My Blankies

As I have mentioned in the past, I have been making some baby blankets for friends who are having babies.

My original plan was to make a blanket similar to this one that I found on Etsy

however I decided the applique giraffe was out of my skill level, so I went with just a basic design of fabric with minky fabric on the back.

Having never sewn minky I was a bit shocked by how hard it actually was. It is stretchy and moves really easily, and was just a general pain in the toosh. A quick google search revealed that I am not the only one who complained about this, and apparently the trick is to use pins. LOTS OF PINS. Once I got the hang of it, it was rather easy to do.

So I made another one. And another.

(Note I didn't make the bottom two blankets, I brought those on Etsy and used them as a template for size)

I did manage to make a blanket for myself though, in orange dots to match my burp cloths. All in all I am quite happy with how they turned out.
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Diaper Cakes

mmmm, cakes

Sweet Diaper Cakes

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mmmmm Cake

Kklaus

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Land of Nod

Have you ever been to the Land of Nod? Not as in that place where you close your eyes and catch some zzz's, but the store in the US?

If not, you really should, it has some incredibly cute things, and best of all, they ship to Australia. AND get this, it isn't like shopping at GAP thinking it is incredibly cheap, only to find out the shipping is $120 to get 2 jumpers, 3 jumpsuits and a pair of pants to Australia. (I wrote them a very cranky email regarding this, as even over at Gymbo shipping is only $35) Shipping on two quilts, a valance, a change mat and 3 sheets was a very reasonable $20.

Oh, and just incase you are curious, these were in my hypothetical cart

And I wish I put this in, as it is so cute (though is only an extra $5 to buy in Australia, so prob not worth the conversion of my credit card).

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Welcome

After debating birth announcements for a long time, I ended up going for a picture version from Ellieoh Designs. Lisa was lovely and changed the design to suit what we wanted, and I couldn't be happier. I am having them printed onto postcards so that we can write our thank you messages on the back.
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Paper Flowers

Remember when I made the paper bows? Well now I bring you paper flowers, courtesy of the very talented How About Orange. How adorable, must give them a go sometime soon.

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Green Glass Goes

I have never been a fan of the glass around our front door, mainly because 4 panels were green, and one was clear (I presume that it had been replaced). It had a flower pattern in it, which was pretty enough, but a b*tch to clean - especially as the flat side was on the inside rather than the outside, so it stored every little speck of dust that came within a hectare of our house.

This year it was my aim to repaint the door and frame and replace the glass around the door (along with making the front of the house prettier).

Our door went from blue and white to dark grey and white one weekend, and recently I finally got around to getting the glass replaced. It went from this at the start of the year

To this a few days ago.

 (Notice the new weather strip that actually fits the door, they were curtosy of a rodent sighting tantrum).

From the inside it looked like this (notice the green glass at the sides, and clear etched glass in the middle):

 To this:

Oh, and whilst I was sick with a cold a few months back I painted the inside of the door. I was going to do the frame, but then the husband pointed out they would need to remove the timber thingies to replace the glass, so I didn't bother. 

It is a bit hard to tell, but we changed our minds on having clear glass installed, and went with a frosted glass, which is basically the same as what you find in most bathroom windows. There was a whopping $30 difference between the two glasses, and I always planned to get the glass frosted with that film stuff, and it just seemed easier to get it done all in one step.

Now I just need to paint the frame. Any suggestions on colour, the door is Hogs Bristle Full Strength on the door, Hogs Quarter on the inset panels, and the walls are Hogs Half.

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Bathroom Beauty

I love this bathroom, but I can't quite remember whose it is. I know it is from a blog I follow (sorry to mystery bathroom owner, it was in my inspiration file, but I just can't work out where from to credit you).

I love that custom vanity though, oh so much storage! I would love something similar in our new house, but with a laundry hamper cupboard in the middle.
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Nursery Rhymes

Once upon a time I may or may not have said that if I had a little girl I would never go over the top with pink things.

Yet here I am, sitting her looking for pink (and orange) material and looking at linen that just happens to be pink. I am currently loving Jacadi for both their clothes and their decor.

 Oh my, how cute is this little hedgehog? I love it!!!

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