Annabelle's 1st Birthday - Pink Packed Lunchbox

Well, hello!  I apologise for the prolonged absence, but life has certainly been a juggle for me of late.... More of that to come in future posts.  For now, I wanted to post about the lunchboxes that I did for Annabelle's party, as I know lots of you have been waiting for the details!  So here we go....

Organising Baby Cards

Last year we received a lot of cards to congratulate us on the arrival of our precious baby girl - lots at the baby shower, and then lots more once Annabelle had arrived. If you know me, you would know love cards! I love making them, I love writing them and I love giving them, and of course I love receiving them.

I think it is important to hang onto cards for special occasions as they are a wonderful keepsake of the event. My mum glued all of our baby cards and birthday cards into giant scrapbooks, which we have looked back on many times over the years. I decided that I wanted to do something similar for Annabelle so when we were given this gorgeous baby album as a gift, I knew it would be perfect for this job!

Organising Tips for a Sick Baby

Now I am by no means an expert at this, but here are some of the things that I do to organise our lives when Annabelle is sick. This is entirely related to medication, bedding and the baby. I have zero advice about keeping on top of the rest of the house, as somehow everything falls to pieces when my baby is sick and that's ok with me ;)

Firstly, I keep a tracking page in my planner for medication. I have trialled a few different templates that I have previously downloaded for free online, but I found the easiest thing was to rule up a table on one of my blank planner pages and record it there. I record Date, Time, Medication, Dose and Notes. This was so helpful when we went to the emergency department on the weekend, as I was able to pull out my planner, turn to the M index divider, and there was my Medication Tracker with all of the information that my sleep-deprived brain needed to be reminded of. It is also so useful when determining when I can administer a top up dose (eg 6-8 hours later), as the days and hours really are a blur when the baby is unwell.

A Busy Week of Ups and Downs

Last week was a pretty hectic one around here. We had a beautiful mini holiday with my family, which we do annually. We hire a house with 4 bedrooms and each little family bunks in together for the long weekend. It's always so fun, and we feel so lucky to still have family holidays, even though we all have families of our own.

January 2014 - Four Things I Love Right Now

Well, hello strangers!  I am so glad to be back!  Other than a few requested recipes and organising projects here and there, I have taken a rather long blogging break, while I settled into my new life as a mummy.  I can't thank you enough for all of your support during this time, and in the meantime, I have loved the interactions I have been able to have with many of you over on my Facebook page.

I must admit I was a bit sad to see the end of 2013.  It was honestly one of the best years of my life.  But, here we are in 2014, so if it is even half as great as last year was, it is going to be just wonderful!

Let's kick off the new year with four things about me right now... (I know its February - this post has been a long time coming!)

I just love being a mummy
I guess its no surprise to anyone, but I fell in love with being a mummy from the moment my darling daughter was born.  I just love everything about it.  Yes, we have had our ups and our downs, but not one day has passed that I haven't thanked the universe for giving me the gift of motherhood.  It was something that I had dreamed about for many years, and I often wondered if it would be all that I had hoped for.  Now I can safely say that it exceeded all expectations that I ever had!  I have been so fortunate to have been given the most wonderful little 'textbook' baby.  She is just a delight and we often look at each other and wonder how we managed to get such a happy, content little girl in our lives.  We are so, so lucky!    

And yes, I am a lot better at putting on cloth nappies now that I have had a bit of practice!

Fridge Organisation - Labels & Vegetable Prep

I posted way back about how I slice and dice our food after doing the groceries, so that we have everything at our fingertips when we need it during the week.  This has always been a system that works well for us, and I was quite happy with how my fridge was organised.  Towards the end of last year, the lovely Bianca, from A Little Delightful, made over her fridge, which inspired me to look at ours and try to make it more efficient.  My new-look fridge is below!  I love it!

Mango & Avocado Salad with Citrus Dressing

This is one of my favourite summer salads.  It is so fresh and fun!  I know there are no quantities listed, as it is really one of those recipes where I just use what I have and gauge how colourful the salad is looking as to how much of each ingredient I add :)

I hope you enjoy it!

How To Do Your Own Shellac Nails - Getting Started

After I posted a picture on my Facebook page of my lovely long nails last week, I have had heaps of requests for information about how I do my own Shellac... So here it is :)

(Did you know it is really hard to photograph your own nails?!)

Boosting Breast Milk Supply - Lactation Smoothie

Firstly, I just wanted to say thanks for your patience with the blog being so quiet!!  You are all so understanding, knowing that I am investing my time and energy into being a mummy for my baby girl - who is now 20 weeks old!!  I am often on Facebook, and we have great chats over there about lots of different things, so make sure that you pop over and say hi, if you have been waiting for me to start blogging again!  I will be back regularly - I promise :)

Pesto Pasta Salad Recipe

Last week I posted a picture of this delectable pesto pasta salad on my Facebook page and there were lots of you who wanted me to share the recipe.  So here it is...

Kit Kat and M&M Cake

If you are on my Facebook page you would have recently seen a photo of this yummy cake I made for my mums 60th birthday. It was so easy and looked so effective, I though I would share a few tips with you that helped me to get it done.

Our Beautiful Baby - Annabelle

It is a pink one!!  I would like to introduce our beautiful daughter, Annabelle Julie, to the world!!  She is a perfect little miracle, who has just filled our hearts with love and our lives with joy.

Bringing our beautiful baby home

My Weekly 'To Do' Folder

This week, I have been sharing with you how I organise my Command Central Station in my home.  This area is just vital to us staying organised with paperwork, plus it provides some much needed solutions to the clutter that would otherwise accumulate on the kitchen bench!

My Weekly 'To Do' Folder is another part of this station that I couldn't live without, so today I will unpack how I have set it up, and how it helps me to stay on track with my weekly jobs.

File Folders in my Command Central Station

Yesterday, I posted about my Command Central Station here.

Today, I want to elaborate on how I organise the file folders that hold the incoming paperwork that flows into our house!  I do admit that this is a long post, but I wanted to put all of this information in one location for you :)

My Command Central Station

Today I thought I would share how I organise our incoming/outgoing paperwork and general 'bits and pieces' in our living area.  This system has changed over the years, and since I have not been working and spending less and less time in the study for anything other than 'creative' work, having this all in the living area just makes sense for us.

Finishing Off Friday - 19th April 2013

To all of our new friends here on the blog, welcome to Finishing Off Friday!  This year is my 'Year of Finishing Off', and each Friday I post about the jobs that I have managed to accomplish in the week just passed.  I feel I have achieved so much this year already by having this focus, and I have been determined not to start any new projects until all of my old/unfinished projects are crossed off my list!  So, here we go....

Today is my due date!  If this is being published, it means that the baby has still decided to stay snug as a bug in my tummy!!  Which drives me crazy some days, and other days it doesn't bother me.  Like everyone, I have good days and bad days, and this past couple of weeks have been laced with a few not so 'good' days... only due to my own impatience!  This is a picture of me taken yesterday afternoon, at our favourite little get-away place, just 15 minutes from home:

Baby Milestone Photo Cards

Today I wanted to share this awesome gift that we were given for our baby shower.  It is so unique and just perfect for the photo-lover in me...

My Study - The Whole Story

I have put together this page so that you can see our Study Make-Over from start to finish.  The photos are all linked to the corresponding blog posts, so just click on the picture to see that part of the story :)

My Study - The Big Reveal

After an epic twelve month journey of pulling apart my old study and then designing and putting together my new study, I am pleased to announce that we are ready for lift-off!

If you have been following along with my Finishing Off Friday posts, you will have seen the recent progress that we made on the room, in order to get it completed.  If not, I have plenty of pictures to share with you today!

My Study - The Workbench

As you know, making over my study has been on my project list for some time now.  One of the features that I wanted in my study was a big workbench for the centre of the room.  I decided that I didn't need a desk in here, and that I would get much more use out of a bench-height table, so I invested a lot of time into researching the best design I could find.