Time-hop... ummm... Wednesday: January 2013

I really need to rename this weekly post as clearly I'm not meeting the Tuesday deadline! Today we jump back to earlier the first month of this year and just a couple of cute outfits to share, as follows:-

- Polo shirt by Zara Kids, shorts by Kmart, shoes by Ralph Lauren

- Checked shirt & shorts by Mothercare, hat by Dozer

Really hoping the little man will be better by the weekend so we can share his smart new haircut and his cheeky smile! TTFN

Peter Rabbit's out... Aeroplanes, Bees, Boats, Helicopters & Whales are in!!!

Despite being dead-set on doing a 'Peter Rabbit' themed nursery as per my earlier post, I have done an about-turn and gone in a totally different direction!

The reason being that Peter Rabbit is not all that common out here so it was proving difficult to find anything to build my theme with - i.e. cot bedding, wall decalls, mobiles etc - without having to ship them from overseas and/or them costing MEGA bucks. For example... the Peter Rabbit cot mobile I had once coveted was on sale in Myer for $89.95 which I just can't justify - how ridiculous?!

Our furniture choice also played a major part in us changing direction. We're trying to kit out the nursery within a reasonable budget - seems crazy to spend almost the same amount on a cot etc as we did on our own bedroom furniture - especially given the short time it will be used for and so we had been looking in IKEA at their baby range for some time as it is pretty reasonably priced. The wooden range I previously posted is being discontinued and when we went in to look at what they did have left it was pretty flimsy and didn't look as though it would last very long.

Before we knew we were having a boy I had fallen in love with this PINK cot - would look fab in a little girl's room - although being slightly crazy and not your conventional type of nursery furniture!



I wasn't completely sold on the boy's version in blue to begin with but Adam seemed to really like it and it's such good quality - really sturdy - so in the end we bought the cot, chest of drawers, wardrobe & bookshelf in this bright blue and hoped and prayed that it wouldn't look too comical in our very plain & boring beige & brown nursery....! Here are the pieces we've bought:-

Yes - they're bright - yes - they're a bit mad - but I've grown to love them and I think you will too once you see how fab they actually look in 'real life'! They don't really lend themselves to a Peter Rabbit theme - they're too cartoon-y - so instead I started scouring the internet once more for a theme that we would all love and would match these vibrant colours. At first I thought about an ocean-theme now we're back on the Northern Beaches and found a fab range called 'Bubbles' which featured a whale and an octopus, a crab and a lobster, but unfortunately it is another line that has been discontinued so my search started again.

In the end I landed on a range called 'Casey's ABC' by a company called Living Textiles. I wasn't completely sure at first - the combination of a whale & an aeroplane seemed a bit odd - and I also worried that there might just be TOO much blue going on with our IKEA furniture but it does have touches of green, brown, beige & red to balance it out a bit.

We happened to go into a shop called Babyography at Warringah Mall the weekend we bought the furniture and they very conveniently had the whole range in stock so we bit the bullet & bought the five-piece cot set which includes a flat sheet, fitted sheet, quilt, pillow & wall decals, as follows:-

We also got some of the matching accessories - the nappy stacker, the mobile, the cot blanket & the pram blanket & some lovely wooden wall hangings of the whale & aeroplane:-

The other bits we've bought to finish the whole thing off are a comfy feeding chair & footstool - which I am already enjoying sitting in - and a change table - both from IKEA - bargain!!!

Now I know these last two items don't strictly match but I challenge you to find a change table and chair in shocking blue! I think they break the room up quite nicely actually and the blinds/carpet are very neutral shades of beige and brown so not tooooo much of a clash!

Final bits... light fittings - and how cute is this lampshade & bedside lamp - matches the clouds on the bedding & wall decals...

This may all look like a bit of a crazy mish-mash of colours, textures & styles but trust me - it works - and I CAN'T WAIT to show you pics of the finished room within the next week or so - just waiting for my lovely hubby to build the wardrobe & put up the light fitting then we're good to start snapping some pics to share with you.

I can't wait for Master Read to be at home in his fab nursery (although I will add that we plan to have him in our room in a bassinette for a few months) - only 43 days to go!!!



What a busy August we had!

August has to have been the busiest, most stressful month of our year so far & Master Read had lots of medical appointments to attend too! As it seems such a long time ago now, I thought I'd mix the format of this post up a bit & do it in 'diary' form:

Tuesday 2nd August 2011 - the dreaded return to work - I wasn't looking forward to this after having had 3 lovely weeks off but it wasn't too bad in the end - especially as I had been checking & keeping on top of e-mails whilst I was away

Friday 5th August 2011 - our 7th appointment with Dr Boyce and the 27th week of pregnancy. He gave me a referral for my 3rd Trimester Ultrasound - to check growth etc - and also another for a 'Glucose Challenge Test' to check for Gestational Diabetes. I was a bit worried about the latter as I have had such a craving for sweet stuff throughout this pregnancy - despite the old wive's tale that sweet cravings indicate you're having a girl - and I was devastated at the thought of having to cut down on my sugar intake!!!

Friday 12th August 2011 - the Glucose Challenge Test. This involved going to the Pathology clinic at North Shore Private and drinking - as quickly as possible - a small bottle of what seemed like pure glucose... tasted like sickly sweet lemonade. The bottle I got was clear not orange but a similar size to the pic below. Thankfully it was ice-cold otherwise I think it would have been really horrible! Once down the hatch a stop-watch was started and I was sent to the waiting room to sit it out for an hour... not fun... made Master Read go a bit hyperactive & me feel a bit peculiar - try sitting still for an hour when you're on a sugar high!!! After the hour was up I had to go and have a full set of bloods collected. About 5 vials if I remember right. The purpose of this test is to check for Gestational Diabetes which can be harmful in pregnancy - not to the mum but to the baby as it can make them grow really big and their little lungs & heart won't be able to cope with their size. If Gestational Diabetes is diagnosed it can be controlled with diet in most cases but Insulin is required with some. The results for this test would be available at my next OB appt - unless an unusual range was detected...

Saturday 13th August 2011 - the big move!!! The time had come to say good-bye to the beautiful house we built at Elmstree Road & move back to the Northern Beaches - a much easier commute for Adam to Darlinghurst & a much nicer place for me to be on maternity leave - near friends, near the beach - lovely! As you can imagine I wasn't able to do much to help with the big move - just packing really & driving car loads (pre-loaded  by the gang) to & from the new place. It was a long day & we were so grateful for the help of Rob, Heather & Garry. We were exhausted by the time the last run for the day was over & sank into the haphazardly-arranged sofas for pizzas & beers (for them not me!)

Here's a pic of the new place from the outside... having been here for nearly a month now I can tell you that I LOVE it here - it's a very different - much smaller  house than before but just big enough & the outside space is amazing for Rocky. He doesn't seem to have suffered too much from not having his daily visit from the pet nanny anymore... only a few more weeks til he's got me full-time anyway!!!

Thursday 18th August 2011 - 3rd Trimester Scan (growth scan). This was a much shorter affair than usual - prob took 25 mins tops - and we had an older, more-experienced sonographer who flew through the measurements in a very efficient, no messing around kind of way. We were also in a different room this time and I was absolutely over the moon when she changed the software on the ultrasound machine to the 3D/4D technology. Master Read was very obliging & apart from putting his hand near his face a few times was sooo super cute - opening & closing his little rosebud mouth (blowing kisses I like to think) & we got a couple of amazing photos of his face. It's scary to know so soon what the little man is going to look like - scary but exciting too. Here he is - the little chubba - I don't know where he got that pout from cos neither Adam or I have particularly full lips!!!

Thursday 25th August 2011  - settlement!!! It had been a stressful couple of weeks moving out of Elmstree Road & into Larmer Place & getting Elmstree Road empty, clean and ready for the new owners. The whole house was scrubbed clean from top to bottom by myself, Adam & even the cleaners who did the bathrooms & the oven... I actually think it was cleaner when we moved out than when we moved in after it was first built. We had to get rid of a lot of furniture for our down-sizing - one bedroom suite & all the study furniture went on eBay - and the rest was put out the front of the house for council collection. Funnily enough, however, the locals picked it all up (bar an old Christmas tree & some pallets) before the council could even get there. Thursday dawned - the day of settlement - & the conveyancer advised that it was all due to go through at 2pm and to be ready for her call. 2:45pm arrived & I was feeling distinctly panic-stricken when the phone rang & it was done! We were no longer house owners - sounds odd to be pleased about that but it's the right thing to do for us right now & a bloody good time to sell as the market is getting tougher & tougher out here. We'll think about buying again in a couple of years when we know where we want to be... who knows - could be Sydney, could be Adelaide...!



Friday 26th August 2011 - 8th appt with Dr B. I passed my Glucose Test - wooo hoooo! That's all I can actually remember from that appt - oh & that the results from my growth scan the week or so earlier showed that all was well & that baby was bigger than average for 29 weeks - no kidding!! Dr B also did his own little scan as usual & I was pleased to be advised that Master Read has moved so his head is down towards my cervix... getting ready for his great entrance into this world - I CAN'T WAIT!!!

Next post... the nursery & starting to purchase properly now there's not so much time left to go.

Hope you enjoyed this summary of our hectic August!!!

Master Read's first trip to the UK!

Despite a long & boring & fidgety plane journey we had a lovely time in the UK & Master Read was spoilt rotten despite the fact he was still a bun in the oven!

On the Thursday after we arrived I enjoyed a shopping trip to Solihull with Maggie Moon where we couldn't resist the sale in M&S and so Master Read's UK wardrobe began! He was also treated to his first little teddy bear from John Lewis & a brilliant Teddy Bear Factory 'Patch' the puppy dressed in surfer dude gear & put together with love by Lydia & Freya.

On Friday I discovered the joys of New Look's maternity range & picked up a very nice blue & white top & some white 3/4 length jeans for when Spring/Summer arrives. In the evening we headed over to see Mark, Lisa & Dani who had put on an amazing mini Baby Shower with a feast fit for a king including these cake pops & beautifully-decorated cupcakes:-

On Saturday we headed to Wales where I was very excited to meet my Cousin Jane's baby Erin for the first time - it was also her 2nd Birthday so time to party! We had a lovely time, lots of cake & countless renditions of 'Happy Birthday to You'. After the festivities were over Master Read had a 'blow' around Porthcawl which was very windy indeed but coupled with beautiful blue skies & even a spot of sunshine I do believe!

On Tuesday it was time to meet up with Adam who had been away on Pat's stag weekend in Valencia and spend some time with the Read family. Again - another baby to meet - little Zac - Kelly & Lee's 3rd boy who is a little ray of sunshine. Speaking of which we managed to sit out in Kelly's garden for a bit in the afternoon & soaked up a few rays with a Cornetto - yum! The boys - Finn, Jake & Zac - are absolutely gorgeous & it was so nice to spend some quality family time with them although they all ended up with chickenpox or 'chicken spots' by the end of the week bless them.

The rest of the week saw lots of lovely meals out - posh brekkie at the East Sussex National golf course, pizza & pasta at Prezzo in Hayward's Heath with the whole family & a brilliant all-you-can-eat Chinese meal for just the adults one evening. We also managed to fit in a trip to the movies to see the last of the Harry Potter series & a BBQ at Kelly & Lee's before we headed up to London for the main event - Pat & Anna's wedding.

We arrived in London on the Friday afternoon and unbeknown to me until Dad told me a week or so later, stayed at the same hotel that my grandparents honeymooned at many many moons ago - The Strand Palace Hotel. After unpacking we met up with Mike & ducked off to Smollensky's across the road for some happy hour cocktails - I had a 'No Gin Sling'! Then we had a nice dinner with the bridal party before the boys headed out for more drinks & goodness knows what?! I headed up to bed with a hot chocolate - bliss!

The morning of the wedding was quite hectic - collecting the cake, setting up the table, putting together the wedding cupcake arrangement & we found ourselves getting ready in a bit of a rush... I think Adam was still in the shower at 1:45pm when, as one of the Best Men, had to be at the Royal Society of Arts by 2pm - d'oh!

Here's a pic of the three of us - Adam looking very suave in his wedding get-up & me sporting a nice navy blue lace dress from ASOS' maternity range!

The ceremony was lovely - very emotional - and the drinks afterwards were held in the Vaults in the basement which were very cool. By this time, however, my new wedges were KILLING me & so I was very relieved when Adam had to run back to the hotel to pick up something he had forgotten for the speech & brought me back some flats!! New shoes = worn for approximately 2 hours!!

The meal was lovely - especially the cupcakes with fresh strawberries & cream for dessert - & Adam's best man speech went down well although some of it was a bit rude - ha ha! In the evening there were many costume changes for the boys - one minute Arab sheikhs, the next morph suits - but a good night was had by all & I even managed a boogie with my bump in tow!

On Sunday we headed up to North London to stay at a hotel near Adam's UK office & had a fabulous roast dinner in a local pub - roast beef & Yorskhire puddings - nom nom nom!!!

Monday morning dawned bright & sunny & I made my way to Waterloo with my overnight bag ready to spend a day & a half with my wonderful bestie Rachie A. First stop coffee & almond croissants then a wander round the shops where I was thrilled to pick up a jumper from Baby Gap that I've been coveting for Master Read for ages (for his trip to Canada next Feb) & a cute t-shirt from H&M which is a surprise for his Daddy - pics to follow - & a maternity blouse for me. We also stopped off at Rachie's fave store Anthropologie which is a true treasure trove of beautiful, chic fashion & homewares. Here is the aforementioned jumper - isn't it cute?!

In the afternoon we went for a lovely high tea at Number Sixteen in South Kensington and whiled away many hours chatting over tea, sandwiches, scones & cake - yum! It was a beautiful day & we had so much to catch up on... can't believe it's been over 2 years since we saw each other. Here's a pic of Rachie - a bit obscured by our tea tray!

 After tea we headed back to Epsom where Rachie lives with her fab fiance John in a gorgeous house - I got the guided tour & it was so good to finally see where her famous 'A Chi Chi Affair' blog is written from! To check out Rachie's blog please click on her name earlier in this post.

I don't know how we managed it after all the cakes in the afternoon but we went out for a lovely pub meal with John in the evening - I had traditional fish & chips - why not - it was my last night in the UK after all!

On the Tuesday - our last day - we went first-glance wedding dress shopping and oh my goodness it was so much fun... I won't give too much away but needless to say Rachie looked stunning in everything she tried & I hope our trip will give her some inspiration for her big day which is next July & I will be back in the UK for - I have the honour of being a bridesmaid!!! Last stop Pizza Express - somewhere Rachie & I used to frequent a lot back in our London days - and then a sad good-bye as I headed back to North London to meet up with Adam & make our way to Heathrow for the flight home.

It was such a lovely trip, jam-packed full of wonderful times with our family & friends & we were so spoilt - we even had to borrow extra hand-luggage from Kelly & Lee to cart all of Master Read's new wardrobe home with us... I will finish up with a pic of some of the beautiful clothes he has been given & the cutest little shoes ever from Mark, Lisa & Dani - he is going to be the coolest baby in Oz!

Hope you've enjoyed Master Read's UK diary... can't say much has happened in Oz since then but I'm sure I'll think of something for another post soon...

p.s. sorry the pics are the wrong way round - I can't fix them for some reason & it's SO irritating!!!

Absence makes the heart grow fonder!

What's happening with Baby Read I hear you cry! Where's the latest post?! Well readers I apologise for the radio silence over the past month & a half but we have been very busy indeed!!

Shortly after my last post at the end of June we had our 6th appointment with Dr B. I can't remember much about it so it can't have been that exciting... in fact, all I can remember is that he was over an hour late & I didn't end up getting to work until nearly lunchtime that day - oops! I did share my symptoms at the time with him though - bad lower back pain when sitting in the same position for too long (which worried me as we had a flight to the UK looming shortly after the appointment) and some terrible heartburn which had made me sick in the middle of the night a week earlier. Well, for the back he recommended I try & get hold of some weird girdle thing from the physio department a couple of floors up - slight problem - I needed to make an appointment to be fitted and just didn't have time before our flight the following Tuesday - and then a prescription drug called Pariet along with some bog-standard Gaviscon for the heartburn.

His advice for the flight:-
- Wear pressure stockings
- Keep my fluids up
- Move around the plane as often as possible
- Do the seated exercises as recommended on the in-flight entertainment

After my slightly late-running morning I finally got to work - my last afternoon in the office before our trip home - and we had an end-of-financial-year staff forum at the local Acer Arena which involved a lot of disco dancing! I took it reasonably easily and actually quite enjoyed it although a cool bottle of water was appreciated towards the end!!

My next dilemma was clothes... my maternity wardrobe is limited to say the least and what with it being Summer in the UK where we were headed the following Tuesday I couldn't really work out what to pack! In the end I took my trusty Jeanswest maternity jeans in 2 colours, a couple of skirts & dresses, some more casual lounge-type trousers for chilling out and a variety of size 12 tops in all kinds of different colours and styles to layer over the bump!

Shortly before the trip I also managed to find just the shoes I'd been looking for to match my 'Kate Middleton-esque' dress for Pat & Anna's wedding which was wonderful although more on the actual wearing of the shoes later....!

Well rather than make this post into one, long (well, mammoth) ramble about what Baby Read has been up to over the past month or so I will sign this one off for now & start a new one about our UK trip.

Ta ta for now!

Nursery news!

Wow it seems like a long time since I wrote a post but life in the Read family has been busy with a new job for Adam & end of financial year at work for me not to mention our weekly 'open house' in the hope to find a buyer..

This leads me nicely on to my next topic of choice - nurseries! By the time Master Read is born we will hopefully have moved back to the Northern Beaches - albeit in a rental property for a couple of years - so any plans I make with regards to nursery decor need to be non-permanent - i.e. no painting, no wall-papering. I think he will probably sleep in our room in a bassinette whilst he's still tiny but I'm still excited to prepare a beautiful nursery for him anyway.

Now... if we were having a girl I'd have no problem with inspiration for nursery decor - pale pinks, greens, lemon, polka dots, shabby chic, fairies... easy... but for a boy it's a little more difficult. There's cars, animals, surf theme, transport theme - aeroplanes & boats, safari, jungle, nautical, space, the list is endless... but I want to do something a bit different - well, for out here in Australia, anyway - and I'd also like Master Read to have some kind of link back to the UK so after much Googling I think I've pretty much decided on my theme...

(I say 'I' because Adam has kindly given me artistic license on this little project!!)

Peter Rabbit!

 

 

There are some great pictures on the net of Peter Rabbit-inspired nurseries - here's just a small sample for your viewing pleasure:-

I love the soft greens and browns and baby blues and Peter Rabbit himself is just adorable don't you think?! I also think that it's not too boyish of a theme so if we're lucky enough to have another Baby Read down the line and we're still in the same place it can be passed down.

Of course, the basis for any nursery is not just the theme but the furniture too... I like this range from IKEA (bargain or what)... the antique-looking beech would go nicely with the greens & browns...

Next... for the walls. Obviously I won't be able to paint or stick anything permanent up so I really like the idea of removable wall decals. I've been hunting high & low to find a tree of some description that could go in the corner of the room with the branches spreading out across the walls but they all seem a bit modern... here's a couple I do like though:-

 I also really like the thought of having some 'words' above the cot and this sticker particularly caught my eye:-

 How cute is this?!

After furniture & walls it's all down to the little details and I've put together a bit of a montage of 'stuff' I like. The 'Portraits of Peter' in the top left-hand corner are prints which I would frame in the same wood as the nursery furniture, the mobile for the cot is just lovely and plays Mozart's 'Lullaby' - calming or what?! - the bedding is neutral greens & browns to tie in nicely with the wood of the cot and the green of the wall decal and I would have a book-shelf with the Beatrix Potter library and book-ends on it and perhaps the blue words spelling 'Baby' on the window-sill.

The other little touches such as the door hanger, clock and wooden wall decoration where Peter is munching on some carrots would finish the room off nicely.

I think I'm all Peter-Rabbited out for now but would love to hear your feedback on my ideas...

In other news I'm pleased to say I'm feeling well apart from a little backache now & then but I've invested in a pregnancy support pillow which seems to help. Only problem is there's not much room for Adam in the bed now!!!

A quick excited post!

We bought Master Read's first mode of transport today!

I know we're not even half-way there yet but we had a $620 Babies Galore voucher that was just about to expire & we couldn't let it go to waste!!

Off we drove to Wentworthville, which is not nicest of areas, to our nearest Babies Galore store (which looked very run down) but lo & behold they had the stroller we've been looking for - Adam clocked it as soon as we walked in.

One slight problem though - it was not in the sale & was $699 for the basic model without matching bassinet. Bummer - I knew this was more than we can really stretch to. Feeling a bit disheartened we turned around & were about to leave the store when the saleswoman came over to see if she could help.

I queried the price - yep, $699 - and then explained that I had seen the same model online for $515 so we might as well just go home & order it. But then - much to my shock & Adam's amusement (he's way better at haggling than me) she agreed to match that price. Wow - that's a pretty hefty discount!!

I then asked about the matching bassinet - $189 - and ummm-ed and ahhh-ed for a bit about whether we really need it but apparently when babies are little it's better for them to lie flat on their backs rather than with their legs slightly bent - as they would be in the stroller seat - something to do with circulation - so I was sold - only the best for Master Read! The bassinet can also double-up as a travel cot when visiting friends - you can even get a stand for it!!

Then the lady gave us a quick demo of how to use it all but I have to say it all looked a bit technical to me so I hope Adam was paying attention. The only bit I remember is that it has a nice big shopping basket, a cool thing that you can put drinks & bits & bobs in & the straps & lining are really funky!!!

We excitedly told her we'd take it & the matching bassinet & off she went to the store room. With our voucher we only had $84 left to pay - bargain!

At the till she rang up our sale & asked us for $650 - I couldn't believe it - one of the boxes had been slightly opened (but the product still fine) so she had knocked some money off. Only $30 left to pay - yes!!!

A very successful shopping trip & here's a pic of our purchases in the hallway - I'm not allowed to take them out of their boxes til we move! We chose the 'toffee' colour in the end - it's lovely!