Thirty

Today is my 30th birthday. The big 3.0.
I'm pretty excited about my 30's.. I think its going to be an awesome decade!

Merry Christmas!

Hope you all had a fantastic day x

A baby sprinkle..

I had a little party on the weekend to celebrate the fact that I had made it to 34 weeks and that I survived months of bed rest. I also just wanted an excuse to catch up with all my girlfriends, many whom I had not seen since I fell pregnant.

Tom spent the entire morning cleaning the house and baking. He made his signature flour-less chocolate cake, my favourite mandarin, lime and yoghurt cake and a few other yummy treats.
Tom's mum made an orange and almond cake (she makes one for us almost every time we head up to the farm.. she picks the oranges off the tree in the morning and boils them for hours before using them to make the cake.. It is so good, I'll make sure I grab the recipe off her next time I see her).

We spent the afternoon chatting, drinking tea and eating cake. It was so lovely and of course, I got absolutely spoilt with gorgeous baby gifts. I didn't have a baby shower with Sophie (I always felt it was a bit self-indulgent) but this time around I felt that I had so much to celebrate that an afternoon of eating cake was necessary!

Unfortunately though, I didn't manage to take any photos which is such a shame because Tom had been to the flower markets in the morning and the whole place (including the table setting) looked so lovely. I did however, take this photo the next day when we were still eating cake (well actually, Tom is sugar free at the moment, so I took it upon myself to finish the entire cake on my own! Oops!)

Our new home!

Less than a week after this house turned out to be a dud, another beautiful house popped up just around the corner. We went to inspect it on Monday night with Tom's dad, mum and step-dad. We put an offer in on Tuesday and yesterday found out that the owners had accepted our offer!!

I can't believe it.. This is the first house we have ever bought and the first time we had ever put an offer in. Lots of our friends had warned us that finding the right home takes months or even years of putting in offers and being knocked back.. So we were so incredibly happy (and a little in shock) to find out that our offer had been accepted and the house is (almost) ours!

I've been told that I can't celebrate just yet.. Our offer has been accepted and we have put a deposit down but until the conditions of the offer have been met and settlement occurs I can't technically call it ours, but I think that we can still pop open a little champagne (or orange juice in my case!)

I can't even begin to tell you how much of a dream come true this house is.. I never in my wildest dreams imagined that I would ever live in a house like this, let alone own it! I was lying in bed last night looking through the pictures of our new place (I'll post some more photos soon) and as I was lying there I could feel our little baby boy kicking in my tummy..

For the first time in a very, very long time I finally feel like life is going our way.. things are falling into place and all the stress and heartbreak of the last few years is finally starting to fade.

12 months ago we were living out of a suitcase at Tom's parents place, had just moved to a city where I didn't know a single person, were still in shock over the death of our baby girl, didn't have a cent to our names (in fact, we were in debt) and the only thing that I could think about was why I was not falling pregnant again and how I desperately longed for a little baby..

To be sitting (well, lying) here now, 28 weeks pregnant, which is over the risky stage and so close to having a healthy little baby in my arms and having just had our offer accepted on our dream house is an incredible feeling. I can't even begin to tell you how good it feels.

We may still be living with Tom's parents but it has allowed us to save up for this house and have help around while I have been on bed rest.. and it will all be so worth it.. In just a few months time we will be sitting in our new home with our darling little baby boy safely in my arms and our gorgeous little girl running around in a garden that is bigger than most of the apartments we have ever lived in!!

We are so, so close..

It's a...

Well there is no denying it.. it's definitely a little boy in my tummy!
We are sooo excited!

Kinfolk.

Look at what arrived on my doorstep yesterday.

Have you read Kinfolk? I do believe it has just become my favourite magazine. (Do you call it a magazine? It does not really feel right, it feels like a book that you will keep forever. One that you will put on the bookshelf so you can see it everyday and be careful not to bend the corners when you pick it up to read.. or is that just me?)

Did you know it is also available on iPad? (But it really is much nicer holding it in your hands and turning those smooth matt pages while sipping tea. Earl grey I think.)

So attractive (and so organised).

This is actually what most of the photos of me taken at our wedding look like. I almost decided never to laugh again after I saw the 328th photo of me pulling this face at various times throughout the day and night. (What am I doing? Is that really how I laugh?)

I thought I better tell you a bit more about our wedding, you see, from the pictures here you may be fooled into thinking that the whole thing was quite organised and traditional but it was more like this..

I woke up on the morning of our wedding and went to my usual Saturday morning yoga class. When the class was finished the teacher asked if any one had plans for the beautiful day ahead and I laughed and said "Yes, I'm getting married in a few hours!".

I walked home past the local florist and asked if they could make me a bouquet (yes, a few hours before the wedding.. they loved me I'm sure). I went home and got ready with all Tom's sisters, his mum, step-mum, my mum and my best friend. There were so many people getting ready in our tiny apartment that I only managed to get into the shower about 5 minutes before I was supposed to get married.. seriously!

We got married at Vaucluse House which is a beautiful old heritage building with beautiful gardens in Sydney.. luckily, it was only about 5 minutes drive from where we lived at the time. I got dressed and did my hair and make-up in about 10 minutes and was off.

I sometimes look back and wish that I had been a little more organised, but at the same time I think the fact that it was so relaxed made it all the better.

We didn't have a professional photographer either, all the photos were taken by friends (a few of whom just happen to be fantastic photographers!) which may explain why there are so many photos of me looking like this. Sigh.

A winner.. Me!

Last year I wrote a post about 'Oh Mabel!' A wonderful small Australian business that makes the most adorable organic bed linen I have ever seen.
I had been swooning over the sheet sets for some time and had convinced myself that there could not be a better time for me to indulge in some new sheets, when I WON a set!
I entered a giveaway over at 'Gallop Lifestyle' and won the yellow pinwheel sheet set.
I could not believe my luck!

'Oh Mabel!' bed linen is available online at 'Gallop Lifestyle' - a lovely online homewares store (their online shop stocks some really great products.. make sure you check it out).

Thank you so much to the girls at Gallop Lifestyle and Oh Mabel.

Image via 'Oh Mabel!'

Guess what?

I'M PREGNANT!!

29

Tom made my (beetroot sourdough) toast into a love heart this morning.

I wish I could say that I had big plans for my 29th year, but I actually hope to be lying around in bed for most of the year (quite literally).

I started the day opening presents in bed. Tom bought me a lovely robe (because I plan to spend most of this year in my pyjamas!)
We had some of the family over for breakfast and then had more family over for lunch. We then headed to Matilda Bay in the afternoon and then to a friends house for dinner. It was a very relaxed and very lovely day..

I think 29 is going to be a very good year!

Esperance (Paradise)

When we drove across Australia in March last year we stopped at a little place called Esperance on the south coast of West Australia for a few nights.. and it was there that we found paradise.
If you ever happen to be near Esperance you must visit Cape Le Grand national park. These photos were taken at Hellfire Bay and I have not retouched them in any way.. this is actually what it looked like!
AH-mazing! I still have dreams about this place!

The weekend that was..

Life is so busy at the moment, but in a good way! Can you believe that is it less than a week till Christmas? Crazy!

We had a lovely weekend.. We celebrated Tom's dad's 67th birthday with a big family breakfast and pavlova later that night, We went for a swim at the beach and tried to teach Sophie how to surf, We went up to the farm, We went out to Sushi train (Sophie's favourite), We did some Christmas shopping, We had lovely Christmas pies from this bakery (Tom's little sister flew in from Melbourne and had picked them up on the way to the airport), I spent a few hours curled up with the latest issue of Frankie and a peppermint tea, Tom and I went to the Moonlight Cinema and drank Champagne together under the stars*, We ate more pavlova and then (all of a sudden) it was Sunday night.

*It sounds like it was very romantic, but I should note here that I complained about all the people spraying insect repellent on every inch of their body and how it was toxic and I could not breath and it was stinging my eyes, and could we move somewhere else and Tom told me that I have the ability to find something negative in every single situation. We still cuddled under the blanket though.

Rosie's

A few months ago we spent the day at our friend Rosie's place in the country.
It was the most adorable little cottage I have ever seen..















Can you believe that it is actually one of the oldest buildings in Western Australia? It was built around 1830.
Amazballs.

28

Today I woke up to find the table all set for birthday croissants..



I had a lovely little drawing from Sophie (This is a drawing of me and she tried to write 'happy birthday mummy'.. how cute is that!)



I will spend the next half hour here..



Then I am going to meet a girlfriend for lunch, spend the afternoon at the beach with a good book and then pick up Tom from work and Sophie from pre-school before heading home for birthday cake*.. Perfect!

*According to Sophie I am going to have a rainbow unicorn birthday cake and she will help me blow out my candles and open my presents.. Hmmm...

Happy new year!

I hope you all had a wonderful new years. I am so excited about 2011.. Its going to be filled with BIG adventures.. Driving 4000km across the country, setting up house in a new city and most importantly, having another baby.. I can't wait!



We had a beautiful day today at Balmoral beach. hopefully this amazing weather stays put until Tom goes back to work on Tuesday.

Wishing you all an incredible 2011!

I've got the magic..

Well, I can finally share my big secret with you..



I am 14 weeks pregnant today!! Wooo hooo!!

It has been a crazy few months. I have spent the last 8 weeks in bed with severe fatigue and dreadful morning sickness.. I was exactly the same when I was pregnant with Sophie, but I was lucky enough to take 6 weeks off work and spend the entire time in bed. This time however, I had a little one to look after and I have just had to do the best I can..

Sophie has watched more television in the last 2 months than she has in her whole life and my poor husband lived off take away because the smell of cooking anything other than toast would make me feel sick. (Usually Tom would just take over all the cooking, but it just happened to coincide with him being super busy at work which sucked big time.)

However, the worst thing about the last few months has been the sheer terror that I have been living with. After 2 previous miscarriages, I have spent the last few months literally on the verge of going crazy with fear. I was just soooooo worried that something would happen again and I had no idea how I would cope if it did.

But of course, I really can not complain at all.. I feel like I have been so hard done by in the fertility department but I know that next year I will have a newborn and a 3 year old and no one would ever suspect that I have had any problems at all.. I guess sometimes you just have to take a step back and look at the big picture..

So, feel free to have a large glass of champagne (or two) for me tonight!

Lunch date

After a morning of fabric shopping yesterday, I asked my 2 year old if she would like to go out for lunch, "oh yes" she replied excitedly "I want sushi with pink fish inside". So we drove to Balmain and found a little Japanese restaurant.



We sat down together and ordered our food, she told me exactly what she wanted and as we waited for our food we chatted about the highlights of our morning (She found fairy fabric and I found peach coloured bias binding), we chatted about what we would do after her sleep today (art and craft), what we would do on the weekend (see Justine Clark in concert) and what we needed from the supermarket (milk and apricots according to her).

As I was sitting there, across the table from my little girl I realised something.. It was only a few months ago that I had a loud, wriggling toddler who would not sit still or eat her lunch without it ending up on all over her, and me, and the floor.

But now, here is a little girl sitting in a chair, having a conversation with her mummy and eating her lunch quietly and carefully.. a grown up little girl!

It was not a stress or a production, I was not eating with one hand and holding her plate down with the other, I was not apologizing to the table next to us because they just got rice flicked all over them, I wasn't collecting serviettes ready for the big clean up.. It was just easy and fun.. It was just me and my little friend having lunch.