foody food food.

... Oaty dried apricot biscuits for Leo from Jude Blereau's 'Wholefood for Children'. Note to self... write   

    a whole post about this book shortly.

... Look mum! I can eat my food with just one chopstick!

... I've had my eye on this book for a while, and gave in last week. Loving. It. I have shelves of  

    cookbooks - it's a bit of a weakness - but a lot of them I never open. And then, there's ones like this. 

... One of several things made from it already is nut butter. oh my goodness. 

... Passionfruit came with a free bucket at the market during the week. Well alright then. 

play dough shenanigans

We've hit the age, much to my delight, where we can tackle a few 'projects'.
So this week, I made play dough (how much fun is mixing colours?!!) and we squished and shaped and pressed leaves into it, and tried to eat it and threw it on the floor.
Good times.

Happy weekend everyone. 

p.s. a new post is up at the Creative Women's Circle. 

A bit of a sleep related post...

So, after 15 months of co-sleeping and regular nighttime waking and feeding, the time has come to make some changes. The co-sleeping will continue but I am feeling the need for a full night's sleep - it's been two years (counting pregnancy night wakings!) and I'm a bit over it. Don't get me wrong, I have really enjoyed the way we have night parented (did I just coin a new term?) and I actually feel like I have slept pretty well since he was born, as well as having created a beautiful attachment with our little one. But it's just reached a point where I feel that I'm ready to have a bit more of a normal night's sleep. And perhaps an extra glass of wine in the evenings!

And so, the tumultuousness that is night weaning has begun.

Last night was our first night of The Plan. And I was taken back to the early months of walking up and down our apartment in the middle of the night rocking a baby boy in my arms. A little observation... 15 month toddlers are a LOT heavier than newborns.

Anyway, we survived the night with a few tears (from both of us), a bit of a sore back from above mentioned midnight wanderings and an hour or two less sleep than usual. But hopefully, it's the first step towards a better night's sleep for everyone.

I'm kind of writing this here to keep myself accountable, because it's hard work and in the middle of the night, it's very tempting to go back to the usual way of doing things. But I want to be able to look back in a couple of weeks time and see that the effort put in now has been worth it.

Wish us luck...

so cute. and so cheeky (and with a face recently planted firmly in the dirt). 

Easter weekend

phew, what a weekend.

We're home, rested (sort of) and clean after spending the Easter weekend at my sister's country property with a hundred or so others, listening to some amazing music, eating great food, breathing in the fresh air, getting almost blown away by the great winds of the South, rediscovering my inner dairy farmer, and having a good old fashioned knees up.

 

 

Most of these photos by my lovely hubby.
I may or may not have been a little obsessed with instagram.

Happy Easter...

It's been a been a busy week, with a delightfully eventful weekend, followed by more (paid) work than usual, a snotty nosed toddler who is moving to one sleep a day (God help me) and preparing for the "'palooza" that is coming this weekend.

I am a little bit excited... I do love me a spot of camping, and when you add live music (including ARIA award winning special guests!!), great food, fresh country air and good friends and family, well... like I said, I'm a bit excited.

So happy Easter to you all. Hope you have a wonderful long weekend, eat lots of good chocolate and see you on the flip side...
xx

** photos from our weekend at the CERES harvest festival and then out at a winery with friends. (Leo's papa is a climber/caver/mountaineer/compulsive climber of trees etc and I have a feeling the genes have been passed on).

and so it begins

I'm a little embarrassed to show this, but in the spirit of honesty, I will anyway.

This is how a new quilt starts over here. I have an idea of colours that I want to work with or a little brief and then I rummage through the stash (no pictures of that will EVER be shown, just so you know) and pull out the ones I think might work. And then I just throw them together on the floor, adding new ones, removing others, moving them around, seeing how it looks.

Once I'm happy with it, I start ironing and cutting and putting it all together.
A little disorganised, a little dishevelled, a little fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants. A little like my life generally. But I like to think it all works out in the end.
xx

(see some umbrella prints trimmings in there?!)

sunshine

Normally, hubby gets up with our early riser in the mornings and gives me a bit of extra sleeping time, bless him. But he was away this weekend and so yesterday morning I was up early, after a not great night, and it was dark and cold and a bit rainy and well, rather gloomy.

And then, two things happened to brighten up the day.

This...

And... the very lovely Claire gave me a sunshine award!
I have to answer these questions (I must admit, it feels slightly silly):

Favourite colour?
traditionally a turquoisey blue, but at the moment I have a thing for pinks and mustards.

Favourite animal?
Since having our Leo, I have a bit of a soft spot for lions.

Favourite non-alcoholic drink?
A good latte. My favourite comedian, Daniel Kitson once very amusingly talked about how he used to hate people that ordered lattes and then he started drinking coffee and realised that that's how he liked it. I feel like that too.

Facebook or twitter?
facebook.

Favourite number?
I have a weird thing for the number 3. I have to set my alarm clock to a time that's a multiple of 3. and other superstitious things like that.

Favourite day of the week?
Saturday (morning markets and that feeling of potential)

My passions?
My baby boy, home life, quilts, music, the family, the rights of women and children.

Getting or giving presents?
Who doesn't love getting presents? But I do really love organising a good present giving (planning, making, wrapping, giving, watching the face, getting the kisses etc) when I have the time (ie. not in December and January when there are ten million birthdays).

Favourite pattern?
Currently liking a good herringbone.

Favourite flower?
Australian natives and ranunculus (hubby, you reading this??)

Thanks again Claire, you're really super.

And so the deal is, it must be passed on to five people.
So, some sunshine to:

Liz
Claire
Leslie
Amy
Jaclyn