Little ones..

My friend Ani took some gorgeous photos of Henry, Sophie and me a few weeks ago. They turned out beautifully don't you think?

If you are looking for an amazing photographer in Perth you can find Ani's website here.

x

A friend in need..

The most surprising thing about bed rest has been the people that have supported me.
So many friends say they can not believe that I am spending 6 months in bed and how amazing I am. (I don't think I am amazing.. I think anyone who has given birth to a dead baby would also do anything they can in order to prevent it from happening again without a second thought).

But I am not really the amazing one.. it's the team of people around me who have to do everything who are the amazing ones. Tom, of course has the biggest load on his shoulders.. not only has he got to do all the housework, washing, cooking, look after Sophie, get her ready and make her lunch for school every day but also make sure that I have every meal I need during the day without getting out of bed and trying to work a full time job. I am not exaggerating when I say that I have not seen him sit down in months!

Of course Tom and I knew what we were getting ourselves into and were prepared for a tough few months. But what has been surprising is the friends who have been helping me out.. Remember that I only moved to Perth last year so any friends I have here have known me for less than a year, yet they are willing to drive an hour with 3 kids in the car in order to bring me lunch, a home cooked meal so Tom does not have to cook that night and keep me company for a few hours.

The other funny thing is that some of the people (both friends and family) that I thought I would be relying on the most have not even been to visit and other people who I never thought would help (not because they did not offer but because they have young kids and work themselves) are coming over every week with a home cooked meal, magazines and yummy treats for the pregnant lady in bed!

I have been blown away by the kindness and support from those that I expected it from the least.
One of my old neighbours who I had not spoken to in 3 years send me a gift subscription to McSweeney's because she remembered that when I lived next door I used to love borrowing them off her bookshelf! The mothers at Sophie's school offered to do a roster of home cooked meals and even offered to film the mother's day afternoon tea this week so that I didn't feel left out!

I feel very lucky to have so many people thinking about me and wishing me well, not to forget all the lovely emails I get from strangers who are just letting me know that they have me in their thoughts..
So a big thank you to everyone Xx

*Photo of me and Sophie a few weeks after she was born

Little Rose..

A few weeks ago my dear friend Bron (who I met at mothers group in Bondi when our preschoolers were just a few weeks old) had a beautiful little girl called Rose.

Bron and I would catch up all the time when I lived in Sydney and Sophie and her little boy were the best of friends. It was very hard for Sophie (and me) to move so far away from them.

So.. please head over to 'Baby Space' and congratulate Bron on her gorgeous little arrival.. (We wish we could come and visit!)

/Photo via Baby Space/

C'est Moi

My lovely friend Annelie took some photos of me for my new website (It's coming one day.. I promise!)
If you live in Perth and need a good photographer, I can highly recommend Annelie.
You can find her website here.

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.

100% home-made christmas

(Image via Geoparent)

I can't believe how unorganised I am this christmas.. I have not put the tree up, decorated the house or sent out any christmas cards and I have not bought a single christmas present! Usually, I would be freaking out.. (I have 6 brothers and sisters and Tom has 5 sisters so there is usually a very long shopping list*)..

But I am not feeling any pressure at all because Tom and I have decided to do a 100% home-made christmas.. we are not going to buy a single present this year.**


(Image via Eat. Drink. Chic.)

We are going to make bottles of home-made jam, home-made museli, home-made cordial and home-made cookies to send out to all our family and close friends. If we can get it all done in time, I think it will be excellent.. and something that we can continue to do every year.

I am hoping to make some pretty labels and package them all beautifully. I know that I would love to recieve a yummy home-made item and I hope that all our family and friends will too. So, I guess I should get started..


(Image my first jam making attempt)

*No, neither of our families are catholic.. My parents each had 3 kids when they met so I have 6 older half brothers and sisters and Tom's parents separated after he was born and his dad went on to have 3 girls with his new wife and his mum went on to have 2 girls with her new husband, so he has 5 younger half sisters.. follow?

**Except for Sophie, who really wants a bike with training wheels!

Peachy keen

(Tom just walked past me and asked if I was "blogging again tonight?" Well, yes I am.)

Have you got the latest issue of Frankie?



If not, then you should go and buy it right now, because my super clever friend Bron has a story published in it! Bron interviewed Somaly Mam, who was sold to a brothel in Cambodia as a young girl but was lucky enough to escape.

There is also the usual selection of cool people and crafty folk.

Maximilian

If I had a dollar for every time Sophie said "Mummy, Max is my best friend" I would be a very rich girl (Ya ha deedle deedle, bubba bubba deedle deedle dum).



So it was about time that I made something for little Max (aka the resident Baby Space toddler) and had my first adventure in making boys clothes..



I made him these super easy little shorts, and a matching linen toy bag.



Sophie and I are on our way to see Max now, hopefully he likes them (Although, I suspect that running off to the giant slippery dip with Sophie will be far more interesting!)

P.s Sorry, I have had fiddler on the roof in my head all week.. Help!

Another day. Another playground.

We seem to spend a large percentage of our weekend in the park at the moment. Or rather, in as many different parks as we can fit into two days.





On Saturday, We met some friends at the park (who are moving to London in a few weeks and I am going to miss them terribly). Tom made banana bread and tea, and I packed it in our new picnic basket that I found in the op shop last week for $6!



We spent the whole of Sunday in the garden, planting all the early spring veggies. We put beetroot, tomatoes and broad beans in our new wine barrel..



Until next weekend.. its back to reality..

My happy space

When Tom and I moved from our little apartment near the beach to a house in the suburbs, I knew there was one thing I would miss the most.. my favourite cafe.



I started going there when I was at uni. I would sit there for hours to study drinking copious amounts of coffee.



When I was pregnant with Sophie I spent days there reading and drinking chai tea, Stopping to chat to all the mums who came in about the highs and lows of motherhood.



When Sophie was born it was my little retreat when it all got to much.. When the house was a mess and I hadn't washed my hair for days, I would walk down to the street, park myself on the cosy teal couch and let Sophie entertain herself with the toy box..



Now, its no longer a short walk away but a long drive across the city..
But, you know what? I thinks it's worth the drive!

Mathilda's Market and Mad Men

Yawn. Why does doing so little make you so tired?



The weather has been beautiful in Sydney the past few days. It has been cold but really sunny and if you sit in the sun long enough you can almost convince yourself that spring is here.

On Saturday we had some friends over for 'Saturday roast'. Tom woke up early and slow cooked the lamb for 4 hours, then we all had a lovely lazy lunch in the garden.

On Sunday we headed over to 'Mathilda's Market' in Riverview. I met my lovely friend Bron (from Baby Space) there and we wondered around the markets while Tom looked after the little ones (Thanks Tom x).





The markets were excellent.. full of beautiful hand made things for kids. I loved so many of the stalls, like this one and this one and this one. It was very hard not to spend my monthly budget in one go.



We put a very tired little girl to bed that night and snuggled up on the couch to watch Mad Men. We had been waiting for series 3 to come out for a while and I am not going to tell you how many episodes we watched in one go.. let's just say that Tom and I are a little tired today..

GUEST POST: Baby Space pudding..

Hi Grow. Cook. Sew. readers! Thanks for having me over from Baby Space. I got so excited about a pudding I made that I asked the lovely Katie if I could hijack her blog with a guest post.

This past weekend we were lucky enough to make a getaway to the Blue Mountains, to our cousin's house complete with a wonderful old kitchen with rows of blue and white Cornishware and gleaming pots and pans hanging from the ceiling and an old Aga cooker. Bliss.


I'm not much of a cook but this is the kind of space you want to hang out in all day long – the Baby Space toddler amused himself pretending to be a scarecrow with the washing-up gloves and the grownups got busy preparing yummy snacks on the scrubbed wooden counters.

Jamie Oliver's Bun and Butter Pudding according to Baby Space

1) Preheat oven to 170 degrees Celsius /325 degrees Fahrenheit

2) Cut one vanilla pod in half and scrape out beans
3) Chop a handful of dried apricots
4) Cut six fruit buns in half
5) In a large bowl whisk 4 free range organic eggs with 170 gms of caster sugar until pale and set aside
6) Bring 600ml low semi-skimmed (low fat) milk and 600ml double cream to just below the boil on the stove, stirring constantly
7) Pour egg and sugar mixture into the milk and cream mixture and whisk together
8) Scrape in the vanilla beans and pod and whisk
9) Take saucepan off the heat and remove pod shell
10) Place fruit buns into custard mixture to soak then place in an ovenproof dish
11) Sprinkle with chopped apricots, the zest of 1 orange and 3 tablespoons of Bundaberg Rum (supposed to be Cognac but we just used what we had handy)
12) Pour the rest of the custard over the buns and let sit for 15 minutes
13) Place dish in a roasting tin filled halfway with hot water then bake for about 45 minutes
14) Serve alone or with a scoop of vanilla ice cream

The verdict: I can honestly say that it was delicious - rich mouthfuls of spongey fruity custard goodness. My friend's highlight was the caramelised apricot bits on top, my fave was the creamy bread part on the bottom. The Baby Space man felt that the chopped apricots and alcohol could be omitted. And I only noticed later that we forgot to add butter. Oops. But I think it's flavourful enough without.

We ate this pudding as a late night snack while sitting around the fire playing The Settlers of Catan. I think this would also be a great recipe for leftover hot cross buns at Easter.


Enjoy! (Bron from Baby Space)

Baby Space

My very good friend Bron has a fabulous website that I have to share with you.. It has become a bit of a ritual for me to sit down with my morning cup of tea and check out her latest post (right after I check the weather and decide if it's a gardening and bike riding sort of day or a sewing and cooking sort of day)!

Baby Space showcases beautiful baby and kids rooms. I must have similar taste to Bron because I always adore every single thing on the website!







And before you ask how I get time to sit down with a cup of tea every morning and browse my favourite blogs ill tell you.. Its called play school!