lucky

photos by our friend, Gui Jorge

Last week I was sitting at a cafe sipping my chai while Clementine chewed on dried apple in her pram. An older man came up to us, and started to play peek-a-boo with Clementine. She was laughing and kicking her legs, delighted by the attention. The man started to tell me that he has grandchildren, whom he adores, but that he missed out on this with his own children. He explained that he had to work 6 days a week and would leave when his kids were asleep and come home when they were tucked into bed again. He told me that I was lucky to be spending this time with her.

I do feel lucky, I really do. I feel lucky that my husband has a great job that he enjoys that enables me to stay home and take care of our baby. I love that I'm the first and last person she sees each day. I love watching her look of pride and astonishment as she learns something new, like pulling herself up to stand or starting to crawl. I love that I get to spend all day, every day, with this funny little person.

this & that

I've been very much enjoying writing these kinds of posts lately; it's nice just to write what's on my mind without worrying about finding the perfect sentence or the best photo. Here's what I'm thinking about today:

• My husband's grandfather died unexpectedly on the weekend. We are all very sad but I'm grateful that there was time for us to say a proper goodbye. He was a wonderful man.
• In happier news, my mom booked a flight to come and visit us in March. I am so excited!
• This week I'm reading Frugavore, but I have to admit that I'm finding myself a bit discouraged as most of her ideas involve having a backyard and eating meat. Not to be a downer though, it is a great book.
• Since growing our own food will not be happening in our inner city flat, I'm considering joining the local community garden.
• I love that Clementine has been shot by some of my favourite photographers, including him and him in the last week. Can't wait to share!
• And speaking of photos, I just ordered a few more photo books from Artifact Uprising. I'm excited to see our Colombia pictures printed.
• While my husband was away last week I watched Blue Jasmine (brilliant and utterly depressing) and About Time (disappointing).
• I'm feeling a bit nostalgic as I go through Clementine's newborn clothes choosing pieces to lend to a friend who will soon be having a baby girl.
• Spending time with Kellie and her gorgeous bump yesterday also brought back some memories! 
• Last night I made this dahl and it was delicious.
• I'm missing my bicycle.
• I'm thinking of doing a no-buy month (nothing but the essentials). I'm trying to get my friend on board because I think I can do it if someone's holding me to it…

What's up with you lately?

my day on a plate

I've always been a bit nosy, and I just love getting peeks inside peoples' fridges or glimpses of their meals. So today, for my fellow nosy friends, I bring you my day on a plate. These meals and snacks are from a midweek day last week. I ate breakfast and lunch on my own and ate dinner with my husband.

A couple of other notes: When I see these photos I realise that I probably could have eaten more veggies that day, but oh well. I'm also showing you a day where I kept my sweet tooth in check, but I have to admit that it's a constant battle. And finally, I just thought I'd mention that while I'm normally a vegetarian, I have been eating fish since becoming a breastfeeding mum. So technically, I'm a pescatarian right now. My husband is an omnivore but most of the meals we eat at home are vegetarian. Really, this is a whole other post in and of itself but if you're interested to know more, I highly recommend the book Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer.

Breakfast: Steel cut oats (soaked overnight) mixed with milk, some maple syrup and banana. Oatmeal is said to be good for breastfeeding mums so I eat a lot of the stuff!

Lunch: Quesadilla, black beans and avocado (also supposed to be good for milk supply). Hands down my favourite lunch, ever.

Dinner: Curried quinoa cakes with cilantro red pepper sauce (from the e-course Whole Food Kitchen) and salad. 

Morning snack: Natural yoghurt (I buy the Jalna biodynamic organic whole milk yoghurt) with pepitas and blueberries. 

Afternoon snack: Big green smoothie (spinach, orange, banana, blueberries, flaxseed oil, bee pollen, and chia seeds) in my favourite glass. 

What have you been eating lately?

on our own (for the week)

My husband's been out of town this week for work so it's been just Clementine and I. To be honest, I was slightly terrified at the thought but it's all worked out perfectly. We've had one of those lovely weeks with long naps, library sing-a-longs and lots of play time with friends. I'm just realising lately how much happier Clementine is when other kids are around. She just adores babies, and kids too. Whenever she sees another baby, she crawls over quick as she can, starts giggling and then goes in for a pash. She's the cutest.

I'm also a bit proud, because in the absence of my husband I managed to be fairly productive and even ate well! I tend to eat a lot of toast when left to my own devices but lately I've been better at shopping, meal planning and cooking. Green leafy vegetables and lots of pulses have been making their way into the kitchen and I feel great as a result. Of course, there have been some sweets too. I made these almond & chocolate pots de creme, and they were delicious. So nice with a cup of tea (and the air conditioning on). I'm thinking of posting 'our day on a plate' next week, so stay tuned for that.

Lastly, see those little passport photos up there? Well they're for the little one's Canadian citizenship application. It was practically impossible to get a photo of her not smiling so this was the best we got. And after stalling for months, I sent off the paperwork and now I'm getting excited. Soon our daughter will have two citizenships, and then all that's left to do is for me to get my Australian citizenship and for the husband to become a Canadian citizen. So much bureaucracy!

newborn photography: Phoenix

Last week, I had the pleasure of photographing 3 day old Phoenix. The baby who used to live in this belly and who belongs to one of my dearest friends. He's their 3rd son, and he slept peacefully while family life carried on around him. Those sleepy newborn days are so precious and I'm glad I could be there to capture it.

8 month Clementine

Clementine wears this dress c/o Joules

Our little chica is 8 months old, and while this update is a bit late, I figure better late than never, right? So, today I bring you an exhaustive list of 8 month old Clementine's likes and dislikes…

Clementine likes:

• dawn
• standing on everything and everyone
• strangers
• getting chased around the apartment by her dad
• waving
• drinking water out of glasses (but not sippy cups!)
• crawling quickly
• cheese
• "helping" me hold things
• pulling things off shelves
• keys!
• dancing to music
• watching videos of herself
• giggling
• other babies and kids (who she tries to pash)
• feeding herself
• toothbrushes
• hitting her dad until he wakes up
• being naked
• yelling
• looking at someone, then cocking her head to the side and looking again (and again)
• breastfeeding
• standing in the bath (at least her ankles are getting really, really clean)

Clementine dislikes:

• going to sleep
• having her nappy changed
• getting dressed or undressed 
• long car rides
• when her horrid parents take things out of her mouth (like paper, or leaves)
• eating
• swimming in the ocean
• hot weather

sakura bloom sling diaries: dreams

When I was a toddler, I told my mom that I wanted to have 100 babies when I grew up. Later, as a grown up, I would daydream about what it would be like to be pregnant, to give birth, to care for a baby. The reality is better (and harder too) than the daydream.

When she snuggles into me to nurse, or when she reaches her arms out for me to hold her, or when we play and she explodes into a full body giggle, I feel like the luckiest girl in the world. Being Clementine's mum is my favourite thing.

I'm thrilled to be included in a group of 17 other mums and dads, documenting the art of babywearing for the Sakura Bloom Sling Diaries, vol iv. 

I wear Clementine in the pure sling in twilight (not in stock but this one is similar).

Lovely Pia came for a walk with us, and snapped these photos (editing by me). Her daughter, Laly, and Clementine have such a sweet relationship. Laly calls her Baby Tine and they like to hug and give each other kisses.

my cloth diapering tips and tricks

I'll be the first to admit that I used to think cloth diapering was too much work. Now, I'm a total convert and what's worse… I'm a proselytiser as well. Cloth diapering is just not. That. Hard. It quickly becomes part of your everyday rhythm and it makes an enormous difference to your child's environmental footprint (it takes approximately 500 years for one disposable diaper to biodegrade in a landfill). I really believe that even using cloth diapers part time, as we do, is better than nothing.

We've been cloth diapering on and off since Clementine was a few weeks old. We started with a nappy service, then went travelling and used only disposables. When we came back, we borrowed a stack of different brands to try, and now, finally, I'm happy to say we have a system.

After trying the 3 different styles that Bumgenius makes, I decided that my favourite was their one size pocket diaper, the 4.0. I bought 15 of them - half with snaps, half with velcro. I do wish we had a few more, and I'll probably buy another 3 or 4 sometime soon. They're so simple to use, the colours are great and there really is nothing cuter than a cloth diapered bum.

Here are a few tips and tricks I've learned so far. This is by no means an exhaustive how-to post; if that's what you're after I would recommend this one, this one and this video.

• Liners are your best friend. If you have a baby who poos as often as ours does, these will make your life so much easier. They catch the mess, and you simply pick it up and flush it down the toilet. 
• Snaps vs velcro. You'll hear a lot about snaps versus velcro, and because they each have their advantages, I bought half and half. I have to say though, that for now, I prefer the velcro. Clementine is tough to change because she hates holding still, so I just find it easier and faster with velcro. I also find the velcro makes for a more secure fit with Clementine's skinny legs.
• Wash every other day. This will keep the smell at bay, and ensure you don't run out of diapers!
• Separate the dirty insert from the diaper before placing in your bucket. This means that when you're doing laundry you won't have to go through the dirty diapers one by one taking the inserts out (if you're using a pocket diaper, that is). After they've been stewing for a day or two, you do not want to do this. Trust me. 
• Line dry. We live in an apartment without a balcony, but I always line dry our diapers. I hang them on a drying rack in our living room, and they dry in 5 or 6 hours.
• Size properly. The reason I wanted to give up on cloth diapers initially, was that every time I used a cloth diaper on Clementine, it would leak and I'd have to change her whole outfit. I know now that this was because I wasn't fitting them to her properly. 
• Go up a size in clothing. Cloth diapers are much bulkier than disposables, and you'll probably find that you need to go up a size to accommodate them.
• Don't be afraid to leave the house. So many mums I know won't leave the house with their baby in cloth, and while I don't either if I know I'll be gone for more than 8 hours or overnight, I find it pretty simple for any kind of regular outing. I have an awesome wet bag that Kate gave me, and if I need to change Clementine I put the dirty diaper in the wet bag and that's that. 

If you have any other questions feel free to ask in the comments and I'll do my best to answer you...

this week

This week, I am…

• lying down whenever I get the chance; chasing after the world's most active 8 month old is full on
• thinking that homemade iced tea really is one of the nicest things to drink on a hot day
• watching The Newsroom, season 1, with my husband
• reading French books to Clementine and pondering whether to teach her Spanish or French and how to go about either?
• cooking a lot, and I'm so glad
• enjoying this talented lady's 52 project
• deciding whether or not to continue posting my own 52 project here, and leaning towards not
• re-reading some L.M. Montgomery (I love her)
• continuing to hope that my dad finds Scout, doing everything I can to help his search but also coming to terms with the fact that it's not looking good
• seeking inspiration for a newborn shoot I will be doing soon, thank you pinterest
• longing for these shoes but knowing that I really don't need more sandals!
• growing out my short-lived bangs and wishing my hair didn't end up in a messy bun. every. single. day.
• wanting to make this toque for Clementine
• dreaming of visiting Copenhagen and Stockholm, it can't be that hard to travel with a toddler, can it? (ha)

appliqué initial singlets: a tutorial

My crafting time is pretty limited these days (mostly because I can't be bothered to clean up the inevitable mess) so it sure is nice when I can find little pockets of time to sew. Today, while my husband took Clementine out for a walk, I quickly gathered up some supplies and made these two initial appliqué singlets for a soon to be born baby boy. They were so quick and easy to make that I thought I'd share a tutorial; this would be a perfect last minute baby gift. If you keep a few plain singlets on hand, you can whip these up faster than a trip to the shops. Promise.

You will need:

- a plain singlet, I used organic Pure Baby singlets but Bonds does nice ones as well
- a small scrap of fabric for the appliqué
- a small piece of fusible interfacing
- an iron
- scissors
- a sewing machine, but you could easily make this by hand with just a needle and thread

Instructions:

1. Take your piece of interfacing and draw your letter on the papery side (the other side is the glue). You will have to draw your letter backwards.

2. Iron this piece of interfacing onto the back of your scrap of fabric.

3. Cut out your letter (the interfacing will remain attached).

4. Carefully peel the interfacing away from the fabric, leaving the glue attached. Now iron this letter onto the front of the singlet. Either with your machine (I would recommend a zig zag stitch so the edges don't fray) or by hand, sew around the outline of the letter.

Wrap in paper, tie with a string, and deliver to a new mum!

celebrating

This year, I had the most wonderful BirthdayChristmas. As always, I missed my family, but knowing that would be the case, my husband really tried to make it special. I don't normally do anything to celebrate my birthday, but my good friend (who also organised my blessingway) insisted that I do something. And so, a last minute email was sent inviting people to a vegetarian picnic in the park, and what do you know? People came. There were old friends, new friends, babies, babies in bellies, a puppy and a gaggle of kids. It was chaos, of the best kind.

A couple of days later, on my actual birthday, I slept in and was treated to pancakes and tea in bed. It's always been a tradition in my family for the birthday person to open their gifts in bed, and that's just what I did. I was spoiled with everything I asked for and more. My husband somehow tracked down The Horse watch I asked for (it was the only one in Sydney!), and a pair of sunglasses while my mom sent me clothes from my favourite Vancouver shops. My husband and I also received an iPad as a Christmas gift from his mum and step-dad, and boy oh boy, we are loving it!

In the afternoon we had Christmas lunch at my in laws' home. This year, for the first time, there were two babies there: Clementine and her second cousin. It really is true that children make Christmas magical, even when the children in question have no idea what's going on. Clementine was just happy that there were piles and piles of wrapping paper to play with. The first Christmas... what a milestone!

farewell 2013

It was a big year for us. A year full of baby growing, birthing, parenting, hosting, travelling, adapting, meeting new friends and spending time with old friends. This year I'm looking forward to more travel, more family time, more sleep (please!) and hopefully, hopefully, a reunion with my Scout.

This seems like a good time to thank each and every one of you who visits this space. Your comments encourage me and your blogs inspire me. And I continue to be amazed at all of the friends I have met through the world of blogging. Happy new year to you all!