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!