mother daughter style: fabrik

Style is something I've been thinking about a lot these days. Every day I open my closet and I'm faced with that age-old dilemma: closet full of clothes, nothing to wear. Before having a baby, I spent my days wearing workout wear (to teach yoga), and dresses (to hang out). I didn't give much thought to breastfeeding friendly clothing when I was pregnant, so it came as a bit of a shock when I discovered that I couldn't wear about 80% of my wardrobe after giving birth. I couldn't feed in any of my dresses, so I started wearing nursing tanks and skirts. My other standby was a nursing tank under a t-shirt, worn with baggy shorts. I remember when my mom visited us right after Clementine's birth, and then again in March, she made fun of me for how often I wore the same few things. 

After the first year, when Clementine stopped breastfeeding around the clock, more of my clothing became wearable again, but not as much as I had anticipated. The thing is, all of those pretty dresses? They're mostly too dressy for my everyday activities, which include grocery shopping, toddler wrangling and sitting in the park. And while I didn't mind sacrificing comfort for style before having a baby, now I cannot bear to wear anything tight, clingy or remotely uncomfortable. 

Inspired by some wonderful minimalist style blogs (I love this one, this one and this one), I'm thinking of trying out a capsule wardrobe. It's basically what I do already; I'm just not that organised about it. Now that I'm motivated though, it's a whole different story. I'm planning, writing lists, thinking about exactly the kinds of clothes that I like to wear. 

Fabrik recently sent me two pieces from their summer collection: the Shell T-shirt in black & white stripe and the bamboo column skirt. Both pass my personal comfort and versatility tests and will definitely be in my summer capsule. I've worn the skirt with the t-shirt tucked in, or knotted above the waist (as above), and even as a strapless dress with a cream lace top layered over it. And the t-shirt is just a really nice, comfy, practical top to have in my closet. Fabrik also kindly sent Clementine a couple of outfits, both of which are ridiculously cute. In the first two photos she's wearing the garden dress with the kitty shorts. In the other shots she's wearing the angel dress with bloomers similar to these. There's just something about a baby in bloomers! 

this post is not sponsored but the items we're wearing were gifted

home for the holidays

Two weeks ago, we left the sweltering Sydney summer for the icy cold winter that is Vancouver in December. I'm sure it'll come as no surprise if I tell you that the longhaul flight here with a toddler was rough, as was the ensuing jetlag. But now that we're more settled, we are just so happy to be here. We're soaking up all of the goodness that this city has to offer at this time of year. My husband keeps exclaiming, "I feel like I'm in a Christmas movie!" and I couldn't agree more. The 3rd night we were here, we ducked out for a quick drink at a local restaurant. There was a roaring fire, a Christmas tree in the corner, hockey playing on TV and a menu of festive cocktails (hello eggnog and rum!). You could not wipe the grin off my face.

Since then we've taken Clementine on the Christmas train at Stanley Park, gone to the Vinyl Cafe Christmas concert, and spent a few days at a ski resort. The best kind of winter fun.

Of course, the main reason we're here is to spend time with family and friends and that has been wonderful. Last time we were in Vancouver, Clementine was a newborn and it was difficult to do anything. We had this huge list of things we wanted to do here, and managed almost none of them. This trip has been completely different. We've been able to see family and friends, do festive/wintery things AND get to lots of yoga classes. It's been awesome.

p.s. home for the summer

my clover earflap hat

I did it! A couple of weeks ago, on Instagram, I mentioned that I was attempting my most ambitious knitting project to date: the Clover Earflap Hat by Dover and Madden.

I was feeling confident after the sweater project and I figured why not? Sure I couldn't understand the pattern at all, I didn't have any of the tools or wool I needed and I had never even seen a knitting chart before… But I figured if I went slowly, one row at a time, and had my mother in law for troubleshooting, I could do it.

Pretty quickly I needed help (casting on stitches mid-row) but after that I was able to figure it out on my own. That's not to say that it was easy… After following the chart for just 3 rows, I realised that I had made a big mistake and had to unravel right back to the rows of garter stitching. The chart was confusing me, so I ended up writing out each row in a way that made sense to me (e.g. slip 1, P1 [YO, K4, SK2P, K4, YO, P1] x10).

I then noted all the repeats, which slowed me down, but kept me on track. That, combined with online knitting videos, got me through and I bound off and stitched the hat closed on Monday night, while watching the last episode of Death Comes to Pemberley.

I was absolutely thrilled and couldn't wait to put it on Clementine. Of course, the second I did (literally the second, I hadn't even tied the straps) she shouted "NO, NO, NO, NO!" and ripped it off. So yeah, she doesn't love it but I'm hoping that when we're in Canada she'll be so cold that she'll have no choice but to leave it on.

A few details: the pattern was wonderfully written and very easy to follow. I was very grateful for the step-by-step photos that accompany the instructions, and don't think I would have been able to follow a lace pattern if it hadn't been so well explained. I used Debbie Bliss baby cashmerino in the colour 340203. I made the 12-24 month size, which is a bit big but not so big that she can't wear it now.

p.s. you can find me on ravelry here

my in three's baby cardigan

This little sweater has been a long time coming. A look at my email records tells me that I bought the pattern in July, and ordered the yarn a few weeks later. But the story starts even before then, because I had been saving knitting patterns and longing to make something more complicated than a scarf for many years. I was so intimidated though, by the patterns themselves with all of their k's and p's (and don't even get me started on knitting charts…) and by the beautiful things I saw other people create.

I'm not sure what changed, but this year I decided to just go for it. When I first had a good look at this pattern, and then saw my friend's toddler wearing the cardigan, I was hopelessly discouraged. And then I gave myself a pep talk that went something like this: For crying out loud Gaby, just do it. One. Row. At. A. Time.

So I started, and I repeated my mantra, 'one row at a time,' to myself many, many times. My mother in law helped me out with one little bit (the sleeves, I think) but mostly, I was able to follow the pattern without too much trouble. The funniest thing is that after holding on to the pattern and the yarn for over 3 months, from start to finish it only took me 10 days to knit this up and put it on my girl. I was so proud, and a bit surprised too, when it was done and it really was a cardigan. With buttons and sleeves and everything.

As happy as I am with the end product, I have to say that I absolutely loved knitting it too. I found so much comfort in picking up my needles each day, and paired with an episode of Downton Abbey, it was the perfect way to spend an hour.

A few details: the pattern is in three's: a baby cardigan. I used Bendigo's Luxury 10-ply yarn in the colour blue denim. I made the 18 month size, which is a bit big on Clementine so I'm planning to cast on soon for one size down. This knitting this, it really is addictive...

p.s. I'm on ravelry, and you can find me here.

when your toddler takes a 4 hour nap

Every day, around 11am, Clementine goes down for her one nap of the day. She falls asleep quickly and easily (thankfully), but as to how long she'll sleep for… Well, that one's a mystery. Without rhyme or reason, she will sleep anywhere from 45 minutes to 3 hours. Until yesterday, that is, when she broke all nap records and snoozed for four. Hours. Straight. It was crazy! I debated waking her up, but thought better of it,  deciding that she obviously needed the sleep. She still went to bed at the same time as usual later that night, and didn't wake until the morning so I know that I made the right decision (not always the case).

So what is a mom to do when her toddler naps for 4 hours? There was some laundry and tidying, but that didn't last for long. The couch was calling and so I curled up with some knitting, my current book, a stack of Taproot magazines and quite a few cups of tea. I also managed to whip up a pair of pyjama pants for my girl, once I determined that my sewing machine wasn't loud enough to wake her up. I used this tutorial, and they were super fast and easy to whip up. They ended up on the small size, but luckily I have lots of that flannel left over so I'm going to try again.

In other news, there was a crazy storm in Sydney last night and when we woke up this morning, we found that our roof had leaked. Our new couch is drenched (in parts), as is a big patch of our carpet. So once again, our living room is in disarray. But we had to laugh because as annoyed and frustrated as we were, once the couch was without its cushions and things were hung up to dry all throughout the apartment, Clementine was in heaven. She's treating the couches like her own personal trampoline park, and having a ball. Leave it to a toddler to always, always, find the fun in any given situation.

pretty as a picture dress

I have been wanting to make this dress for Clementine forever. Probably since the very first time I saw it in the book Handmade Beginnings, which was, in fact, before I even had a baby to sew for. But I knew that if I ever had a girl, she'd be in this dress sooner or later.

So I had the fabric (the exact fabric that's used for this dress in the book), I had the pattern, I had the baby girl but I didn't have the gumption to give it a shot. Enter my mother in law. Over three afternoons, she showed me everything from how to painstakingly transfer the right sized pattern onto paper to how to use a padded ham to press every seam perfectly. She even did some of the trickier bits herself to make sure the end result was flawless.

And it really is. When we finished it yesterday we both kept looking at it and sighing. It's just so beautiful. The buttery voile, the colours and prints, and the little one who really isn't into modelling these days.

p.s. on a completely unrelated note, the husband and I are off to see Alt-J tonight and I'm so excited it feels like Christmas!

a crappy week

I didn't intend to be absent from here for so long, but the truth is that last week was crap and I didn't feel like blogging. Parenting can be so humbling. You think you have it all together, and then you have a week from hell and you're left scratching your head. Last week, for reasons we couldn't figure out, it seriously seemed as though Clementine was possessed. She screamed for days on end, and was only happy ('happy' being a relative term) if I was holding her. The one upside was that I got lots of cuddles, which is unusual for my normally very independent toddler. But it was utterly exhausting, physically and emotionally. I spent all week wondering, "what am I doing wrong?"

On Sunday morning Clementine woke up, and just like that, all was well again. She went back to being her normal happy self. Later that day I noticed that one of her molars had popped through (her first), so I'm blaming week-of-hell on that. I have to admit that this scares me, because if that's what we have to go through with each molar…

This week has been much better already. I'm busy chasing Clementine and trying to keep up with my photography work. This weekend I got to shoot two newborns, one of whom was only a few hours old. Such a privilege.

On the home front, we're in the middle of a big furniture swap and re-arrange and it's all a bit chaotic. You can hardly move in our living room for all of the couches and chairs, most of which to be re-homed asap. One of our bookshelves fell apart (thank you Ikea), which means there are now books scattered all over the floor. I refuse to buy furniture from Ikea, so I'm hoping to find a new to us bookshelf on freecycle, or perhaps the side of the road... I hate when our home is this messy and disorganised, but I know that when it's all done, our place will look better than ever before. I can't wait.

away: to the central coast

Last week we spent a few days up the coast, just for fun. Theresa had generously told us that we were welcome to stay at their place while they're off globe trotting, and I had been dying to take her up on the offer. Their home is so nice, and it honestly felt like arriving at a hotel. Not to mention the fact that Mason's room is set up identically to Clementine's (with the same crib, same bumpers, same books and even the same artwork hanging), so she felt right at home! For the first night, my friend and her toddler joined us and then we had a day on our own.

The weather was terrible the first day and we didn't do much, but on day 2 we visited Jodi and Poet, then headed to Avoca to check out Like Minds. It came highly recommended and it didn't disappoint. They were even nice about our two crazy toddlers running around! If you go, please have a chai and a brownie for me. 

Before heading back home, we took a quick pitstop at Bohemian Traders HQ so I could pick up a top I haven't taken off since… We then headed to East Gosford where we stopped at the divine Piccolo Pear, grabbed coffee at Oomph and then walked over to a lovely playground. After a short walk we found ourselves at the Gosford Art Gallery, where the Japanese Gardens kept Clementine entertained for ages.

I'm already planning our next trip up. There are quite a few more places I want to visit, and if my husband comes next time, I might actually be able to sit and have lunch in peace! If you're planning a visit, this post from Jodi is great.

the cost of children

We have this neighbour who adores Clementine. Whenever he sees her, he grabs her, plays peekaboo, throws her up in the air, cuddles her and she just loves it. Yesterday he saw us coming in and came over to help. While he was goofing around with the little one, his friend said to him, "You know you can have one of these, right?" To which our neighbour replied, "Nah, I want a big house and a nice car before we have a baby."

If I had a penny for every time I heard something similar! One of my husband's friends said that he wouldn't have a baby until he had x amount of money in the bank, and it was a large sum. So many people seem to let money hold them back from starting a family, and I can't understand it. It's not as if the baby is going to bust out of your womb demanding to see your latest bank statement or requesting an SUV to be chauffeured around in.

Now, I'm not completely naive. I live in one of the world's most unaffordable cities; I know that money is important, I just don't think it's the most important. When my parents had me, they didn't have much. We lived in Cartagena where they worked as English teachers and tour guides. They certainly didn't let money, or lack thereof, stop them from having a baby and they didn't let having a baby stop them from living an adventurous life. Similarly, my husband and I happily had a baby while living in a funky little apartment, knowing that we still wanted to travel, and not being sure where we would end up living.

I've noticed that here in Sydney in particular, people are obsessed with home ownership and private school. It's something my husband and I have talked about at length, but I still don't get. Where I grew up in Vancouver, everyone went to public school, even the rich kids. If we waited until the day we could buy a house in Sydney and afford to pay private school tuition for two kids, we would miss our chance to have children. No exaggeration.

When you start talking about the cost of raising children, all sorts of figures get thrown around. Again, we're not immune to this and the fact that we're a bi-cultural family puts a big strain on us. We know that two children will most likely be our maximum as we need to be able to travel back and forth between Canada and Australia. But, I think that having a baby doesn't need to be the huge financial drain that everyone says it is. Most of the big tickets items we needed for Clementine (e.g. bassinet, stroller, crib, playpen, carseat, swing etc) we bought used, borrowed from friends or received as gifts. I even wrote a post about it here. Cloth diapering has saved us a lot of money, as has breastfeeding.

Apart from travel, our lifestyle costs us less now that we have a baby. I hardly ever buy clothes anymore, and we rarely go out. We use our car far less than we used to because my husband cycles to work and I find life easier when I stay in our neighbourhood. We gratefully accept hand-me-downs and our social life revolves around visits to the park or the beach. I'm glad we had our daughter when we did, fancy house or not.

anatomy of a rainy day

1) Endless cups of tea.   2) A basket full of toys.   4) Homemade chocolate cake. Just 'cause.   5) A stack of books.   6) Not pictured - the many, many episodes of Peppa Pig that Clementine watched.

Our winter has been a mild one. We've had hardly any rain, so most days we just rug up and go outside to play. Yesterday was the first day it was raining so hard that I wondered how I would survive the day inside with my rambunctious toddler. Between endless cups of tea and the baking of a chocolate cake (just because I felt like it), we played with new to us toys and read a pile of books. Thank goodness for our local library; we were at the doors when they opened and came home with a pram full of goodies. Of course, toys and books will only entertain so long, so it was a relief when the sun came out in the afternoon.

Today was much the same but we headed further afield to check out an indoor trampoline park. It wore Clementine out (success!) and was surprisingly fun for my husband and I. It brought me back to my gymnast days, and I flipped and flopped with glee. After an hour we were feeling so cheerful and energised, amazing what some bouncing can do for your mood!

If there are any North American/European moms reading, can you please tell me how you survive the winter months with a toddler???

simple

These days I'm craving and relishing simplicity. It might have something to do with the lingering cold I've had for the last 2 weeks, or it may be because my energy has been low, but whatever the reasons, I'm rolling with it. I've been meaning to give my blog a makeover for 6 months now, but I'm a procrastinator so I've only just gotten to it. I loved the pink, but it's nice to have a clean, fresh, simple look. I hope you like it too.

Over the last 5 weeks I've been doing this course through The Red Tent. It's been eye opening and full of practical advice. I've learned a lot! It's really changed my approach to feeding Clementine. I used to think that if I wanted her to be a good eater, I had to expose her to every food under the sun in her first years of life. She's never been a great eater and I've been stressing over it since she was 1 month old (seriously). I've been learning, however, that from a Chinese Medicine perspective, children need simple, warm food. I've been changing Clementine's diet to include less dairy and fruit, and more easy to digest, nourishing foods like chicken congee, home-made bone broths, steamed vegetables and oatmeal. She's been responding so well! My husband (ever skeptical of "alternative" methods like Chinese Medicine) was just saying that he can't believe how well Clementine has been eating lately. He's a total convert now. Mealtimes have become so much more simple and she's eating so much more. I can't tell you how happy that makes me.

I hope you're all having a wonderful, relaxing weekend!

setting an example

I think every parent gets to that stage where they realise that their child is mimicking everything they do. This has been on my mind for a while now, because I know that in some ways, I'm not setting a very good example for my little one. Ever since she started on solids I've been quite strict with what I feed her. I don't let her have any sugar at all, and certainly no junk food. Most of her food is made from scratch, and it's also mostly organic. I definitely won't be the mum not letting her kid have cake at a birthday party, but I feel strongly that at this age, she does not need to have cakes/cookies/brownies etc.

But, I am a sugar fiend. I've always had a sweet tooth, and since having Clementine, it's gotten out of control. As a new mum, most of my social life has revolved around cafe dates with friends over coffee and cake. Nowadays we mostly hang out at the park, but we still very often stop for a takeaway coffee and treat. Clementine now wants to try a bite of everything I eat, so I'm discovering that I can't eat my usual treats when she's around. I know that if I want to foster healthy eating habits in her, I have to change my own habits. I definitely have more to say on this, but I'll leave it for another post. For now I'm trying to embrace one of my favourite sayings: everything in moderation, including moderation.

On a lighter note, I'm also trying so hard not to swear but it is tough! So far Clementine only has a few words, but I worry that if we keep up the way we are her first word will be a 4 letter one. Both my husband and I are pretty bad. Just today he was working on something that was frustrating him, and he was muttering and swearing under his breath. "Bloody f&*% s#$t c@#p son of a…" and on it went. He caught me glaring at him and toned it down to, "bloody bastard, mumble, grumble…" Because that's not swearing apparently. It's safe to say that we have some work to do in this department. Please tell me we're not the only ones...

these winter days

photos by Gui Jorge

These winter days have been so nice. The weather has been absolutely perfect; bright blue skies beckon us outside and we're usually at our local park by 9am. We have been spending so much time outside, mostly because Clementine is at an age where she has energy to burn. If we stay home for too long she very quickly destroys the place and undoes any of my efforts at housekeeping.

Speaking of, the husband and I dropped off another carload of things at the op shop last weekend and it's amazing what a difference it makes. I love the resulting feeling of space, and the fact that it takes half as long to clean up. For the first time ever, we actually have empty drawers. Incredible! Also incredible? Our heater. This is the first Sydney home I've lived in that isn't an absolute freezer come winter. For our apartment's many faults, it is quite toasty and for that I am grateful (especially because that heater becomes an air conditioner in the warmer months).

I have to say, it's totally shallow but I've been quite enjoying dressing Clementine in winter clothes. There is nothing cuter than a toddler all rugged up in bonnets and scarves. Seriously. She's such a lucky girl too, because her grandmother has been spoiling her with handmade accessories that are to die for. It'll be interesting to see how we handle the challenge of dressing for actually cold weather, when we're in Canada later this year. It will be Clementine's first experience of true winter, and my first cold winter in 5 years. I think one of these might be in order.

This week we're seeing friends, working on a very cute sewing project and planning another newborn shoot. When my husband and Clementine get home from the grocery store, we'll settle in for the night. Chicken congee for her, and miso-curry pumpkin (from this favourite cookbook) for us for dinner. Later tonight I'll have a bath (my muscles are achy from chasing a toddler all day) and then we'll watch Masterchef and eat ice cream. Have a good night everyone!

one year on, part two

As promised, here is part two from our family photo shoot with Gui Jorge. Clementine and I changed into more casual outfits halfway through the shoot (because I'm indecisive), right around the time she was going crazy trying to jump head first into the water. A lot of wrangling was involved, but Gui and Michaela made it work and the resulting action shots are some of my favourites.

This weekend, I'm planning to print and frame a few of these to add to our collection. I confess that I'm a bit worried that our place is beginning to look like a shrine to Clementine. There are so many photos of her hanging on the walls, resting on the bookshelves and decorating the bedrooms. How do you guys deal with family photos? Do you practice restraint when it comes to decorating with family photos, or do you go wild?

one year on, by gui jorge

I'm so happy with these photos, and so happy with our life right now. It's not perfect (whose is?) but it's lovely nevertheless. And having these beautiful images to document it all, well that's just the cherry on top.

I wanted to do this shoot to celebrate Clementine's first year, and as always, Gui and Michaela have blown me away with their talent. They were there 2 weeks before Clementine was born, and 2 months after. They got some sneaky shots of Clementine when she was a cheeky 8 month old and a couple of months later as a part of my sling diaries. I know that not everyone is lucky enough to have photographer friends, and I honestly feel so grateful for all these memories captured. Gui and Michaela are just so damn good at what they do, and such a pleasure to hang out with.

As an aside, I realise that these don't really look like family photos; they look like Gaby and Clementine photos. That's because I don't share pictures of my husband online (he's a private kind of guy) but there are some very sweet captures of the three of us that will soon be framed and hung on our walls. There were so many images I wanted to include here, so later this week I'll be posting part 2.

p.p.s. You can see all the photos Gui has taken of our family by clicking here.