little papercup

Oi, if I was more on top of that illusive notion that is time, I would have told you all about the grand opening of a gorgeous new shop who will be selling my wares.

Little Papercup is a new shop/gallery space, run by the incredible illustrator that is Jo Dyer. I was tickled pink when she invited me to be involved.

Anyhoo, the shop opened just yesterday, and now it's alive and kickin'!!!






If you're in or near Newcastle, stop in for a cuppa one crafternoon!

Shop 18/19 Market Square Terrace Level, Hunter Street Mall, Newcastle, Australia 2300.
Hours: Tues - Fri, 11:00am to 5:00pm. And Sat, 10:00am to 2:00pm.

If you're not near by, you can always be facebook friends anyway :)

through rose coloured glasses

I've returned from our month away, (we've been in Sydney) all keen and eager to get back onboard the home renovation train. We don't really have the skills, time, or money to do anything major at the moment, so I'm directing my ambitions to smaller corners.

Our front door has bad yellow 1970's glass panels in it, but it's otherwise a pretty nice door. So I'm thinking of replacing the 6 yellow glass panels. Mr You was thinking of normal clear frosted glass. I, on the other hand, am thinking colours. Mr You said I'd need to sell the idea to him, so here goes...





















Image sources: Historic House Parts, Wallpaper for Windows, DIY Designs, Mama's Happy, and ezl.com. Thank-you.

pink for girls, and blue, stripes and cars for boys

I love the colour blue, but I'm putting my foot down. Enough already!

Trying to dress a baby boy I've come to learn how uninspired baby clothing can be. I mean practically everything is pale blue (despite all the amazing shades blue has to offer), and for a boy it's a choice of stripes or traffic (cars, trucks, planes, trains...), it's like a smoggy old peak hour out there!

What about red, grey, green, orange, purple, yellow, brown, maroon, aqua? Or even some variations of blue?

So this article on Etsy really caught my attention...

- - - - -

As reported by Jeanne Maglaty for Smithsonian:

In June 1918, an article from the trade publication Earnshaw's Infants' Department advised, "The generally accepted rule is pink for the boys, and blue for the girls. The reason is that pink, being a more decided and stronger color, is more suitable for the boy, while blue, which is more delicate and dainty, is prettier for the girl." Through the following decades, several department stores, including Filene's, Halle's and Marshall Field, recommended that boys be dressed in pink.

Maglaty describes the turning point as the women's liberation movement in the mid-1960s. Young women gravitated toward gender neutral clothing to rebel against the subservient role of women dictated by society. But by the mid-1980s, gendered clothing returned in a big way...
..."All of a sudden it wasn’t just a blue overall; it was a blue overall with a teddy bear holding a football."

- - - - -

Fascinating!

(Remind me to do a show-and-tell of all the teddy bear reassignment surgeries I've done too).

To be honest, the challenge of finding clothes for Millipede that are a little more unique is kind of thrilling me at the moment. So when friends gifted us these I was nearly beside myself!


Alpaca jumper sent from Bolivia from friends currently traveling around the world. Apparently made by a woman who's been doing it for over 20 years.


And these gorgeous pants; "coffee bean" fabric hand printed, and pants designed and handmade by my friend who runs Hyde Clothing.

four months

This month things got easier. Life with Millipede became all sorts of fun.

Now he's entertainable! We've always read books and sung him songs, but now he smiles to let you know he's enjoying it. I took him shopping for a new toy, waving a selection in front of him one by one, and there was a clear winner (a suspicious looking stick-shaped red elephant, we like to call Saveloy), he selected it by himself, with nothing more than a giant smile.



I marvel that life with Millipede has changed; as a newborn his default setting was crying (to be fed, sleep, pain), but suddenly it has shifted so dramatically that his default setting (for want of a better phrase) is smiley. And it's made a huge difference. Now we know he's having fun too!

That's not all that's changed. For some ungodknown reason I've started referring to myself in the third person as "mummy". Why does this happen?!
I sing everything as though I'm in a musical. We have songs for everything; walking around the house, getting dressed, his beautiful face, his nicknames, even pushing poo's through!!!
And when I'm not narrating our day through song, I find myself singing adult songs with the word 'baby' in them.

It's a strange and wonderful life, this life with our boy...

Our boy who receives compliments about his blue eyes, and who's eyelashes are often likened to Mr Snuffleupagus's.



Our boy who talks and talks. Obviously he doesn't understand language yet, thinking when we're speaking to each other it's merely a sequence of random sounds rather than words. And in this understanding he joins in with great gusto. When we return home from a day out he "retells" his day to Mr You with such conviction.

He has started repeating sounds, saying what sounds like "How good", to which we have many replies; very good thanks, super, not so good right now... and I overheard Mr You reply "over the moon" the other day. :)



He drools alot, spends much of his day battling between grabbing at his knees and feet (both new discoveries), or stuffing his whole fists in his mouth. He pokes his tongue out a little when concentrating, and makes a quiet num-num-num noise, like a little engine, when he's feeding.

MAN, we though he was cute before, but now... well quite frankly the cuteness is rediculous!
And of all his expressions, we often wonder if it's bad that the one we find cutest, the one that cracks us up and makes us melt the most is this one:



The one with the big bottom lip, that threatens imminent tears.

But perhaps my favourite thing about this month is that when I pick you up now, you wrap your little arms around me.

three months

[Note: Millipede will be four months tomorrow, I didn't get around to doing a post for three months, but I keep notes as the month goes by in hope. This is what I had for month 3. Must have been feeling reeeeeaaaaally good. You'll see what I mean, if you can see past all the syrupiness that is ;) ].


- I never used to be into babies. Not a baby kind of girl. But now... well now I'm a total convert. I see a baby and I almost want to squeal.

- I was chatting to Millipede, telling him this time last year he wasn't part of us yet, and I actually got a bit teary thinking of life with him not in it.

- When I was pregnant, my biggest wonder was who it was living down there inside me. If I knew it was Millipede I know I would have been so much more excited!

- Where do babies come from? I think, before they are born, they are the light that makes the stars shine. And there they wait, twinkling away until their parents (and conditions) are ready for them. Some stars are much further away, and their journey takes much longer to arrive than others. (This is the type of thought that usually marks the conception of an illustration. But alas, time is no longer all mine to do as I please).

See what I mean?
Baby convert.
I'VE GOT IT BAD!
Terrible even....



[I apologise to everyone reading my blog these days, hoping to see illustrations, or even read something of a different topic. Unfortunately, or perhaps it's to be expected, but right now I am doing nothing I can report about that does not revolve around the baby. I had NO intention of this space becoming a "mummy blog", but I DO want to document all I can for myself and for Millipede. One day I hope to be able to talk about other things again. In the meantime I'm trying not to miss a single second.]

fifteen

Yesterday Mr You and I celebrated fifteen years together.

It was a chilly Winters night, and we reminisced escaping the cold on a tropical North Queensland holiday for our 5th anniversary. Then for our 10th we embraced the cold with a weekend away up the frosty Blue Mountains.

This year we were a little more restrained. We went out for our first dinner since having Millipede, and he was a champ, slept through the entire thing! I don't think he even realised he'd left the house. When we got up to leave at the end of our lovely meal, patrons around us exclaimed "Oh my gosh, there's a baby. I didn't even realise he was there." Heee.

Then to add to our pride, our little Millipede gave us a sleep in! 8 o'clock!!!! 8 o'clock PEOPLE!!!! That's 3 whole hours more than usual. B-lissful.

And of course, back to the man of this moment; Mr You. We love you :)

And my gift to him, to the man who loves wood so much he expressed it at our wedding...

This!

making australia happy

Happy indeed...

A little over an hour ago, whilst I was selecting a shopping trolley and assessing if Millipede had it in him to make it around the supermarket without losing it half way, I was given a bunch of flowers by a complete stranger!

A kind-faced woman approached me, and asked if she could give me the flowers she was holding.
I said yes.
She said, "Good, I would like you to have them."
I asked what the occasion was.

She told me she is doing a ten week course called Making Australia Happy, in which, among many other things, her homework is to give a gift to a complete stranger.

We chatted some more, I smiled and accepted the flowers, she complemented my baby, I gave her a hug.

Millipede smiled and did quiet little shrieks of joy throughout the whole time we shopped. Both of us swimming in the good vibes.

N i c e D a y.