very special

A very special baby is about to make a very special couple become a very special family.

Last weekend a group gathered to celebrate the imminent arrival of Baby J.

Robert Gordon Lanterns

here

This precious baby boy holds a very special place in the hearts of all who attended the extremely elegant and impossibly delicious "Ladies Afternoon Tea" at our friend Rose's lovely house. 

In truth this was a fabulously decadent baby shower.  But in the world of intercountry adoption one finds it hard to believe that the angel-baby-wonder-child that has been allocated to you will ever really materialise.  There are so many - too many - unknowns, variables and twists of fate that leave us slightly in doubt that our beloved children will ever make it into our arms. 

Although I loathe the comparisons of adoption to pregnancy  I do think that once you have successfully adopted a child most (but never all) of the pain of the journey and the constant fear that it will all go 'wrong' disipates as does the pain of labour (so I'm told) so that from my perspective at least, Baby J is definitely coming home - SOON.  Kim on the other hand is still in the the last agonising and thrilling moments of labour!

Baby J's Mummy and Daddy have endured more than most to become his parents. Changes to the Korean intercountry adoption program, that ultimately led us to Taiwan, meant that Kim & Mick waited a torturously long 4+ years to hear the news they have waited so long for.  As the huge changes were drip-fed to a desperate group of hopeful applicants to the Korean program I knew that for us we would have to dance across the world to find our baby.  I remember though, with crystal clarity, Kim saying, "Not going to Korea for our baby is NOT an option for me".  I have to say that her conviction, determination, strength, grit, patience and optimism is way beyond admirable.  I couldn't have coped, just couldn't.  I'm not sure how she managed but I have a strong sense that Baby J holds the answer.

Just look at the happy smile of this expectant Mummy.  Holding the brilliantly illustrated Charley Harper baby board books.  One of the many lovely presents given to the wee man. 

I had hoped (as had Kim & Mick, I'm sure) that the call would have come this week summonsing them to Korea to hold their baby boy for the first time and forever but alas we they wait on ...

So in the meantime please feast your eyes on the most magnificent food prepared by Kim's friends Rose and Angela.  Angela works in the food and catering industry, and it showed.  The attention to detail was flawless and the taste of it all, oh, how I would love you to have tasted the weeny strawberry and blueberry topped citrus tartlets. 

Aren't these pretty?  And I figured out just how you make them with some careful examination and savouring.  Seems to me that you don't ruin the paper case by cooking in it.  Which is what I did for Woo's birthday!  The caterers trick is to bake a sponge and cookie-cutter it to just the right diameter before dropping it into the case and icing it with scrumptious butter icing.  Clever hey?

Bubbles

Pick-me-up, anyone?  Tiramisu.

Oh these are the tartlets I was talking about.  Tart and sweet in just the right proportions!

And the sweetest baby bootie to take home. 

Off to bed now to dream of those tartlets and a Happy Ever After for Kim, Mick and Sweet Baby J.  But first I have to pack.  We're off for a few days to our dear friends in Mildura.  I may post from there, Robyn's a blogger too so she won't be offended if I hop on the 'puter.

Toodles!

Apologies if there are typos it's late and there is no spellcheck in this updated blogpost thingo.

my boys

Seeing them working together makes me feel content and happy.

I love that Tiggy is so focused on trying to be every bit as quick as his Daddy. Competitive or aspirational? Both I think. Either way it's just him, and I love him and his Daddy to bits.

let's go walking

amble

ramble

jaunt

march

stroll

traipse

saunter

safely back to Tiggy's care!

Anyway you look at it my baby is bipedal!

Is she still a baby? Not really, sniff, she's a toddler now isn't she? Oh, I'm so happy and proud of her but that's it, the baby has left the building

Note: This happened while we were in the bush, 3/10/09 to be exact.

Just slack in reporting it, typical for the second child though, poor love.

caramel baby & child

Tuesday's are often our 'drift-along' or 'pyjama' days. They make Tiggy, Woo and me happy. I cherish them because I know that as of next year these days will become less frequent.

We cook, we clean, we papier-mache, we draw, we craft, we LEGO, we hide-&-seek. We live very much in the moment.

Now with Woo in bed and Tiggy busying himself I found a 'moment' and stumbled upon a shop that made me positively purr.

And this 'smocked frock' is on sale. I really, really love it in the pink, the black dot, the pink, the black dot. I give in. They're both adorable.

my mummy made it

Look what my clever Mummy made for Woo. It's just lovely and the knitting is flawless. I on the other hand, know my limitations and in previous attempts everything has ended up looking like a string bag!



This lovely cardigan has been worn and worn and Woo's only had it for a week or so. The colour is that perfect shade of dusty pink that works well with almost anything. It's in cotton (yes Ma?), the perfect trans-seasonal weight and I have no idea what the pattern is (Ma?). Let's test her tech-saviness and see if she can provide the answers in a message down below!

Thanks Mummy, Woo and I love it.

christmas is coming

Old style & chocolate free. New style dot-to-dot advent calendars.

robin red background and hammer finish (love it) brilliant white top


dark dove textured background and hammer finish brilliant white top
(not black as it appears to come up here, I need help with my camera settings)

I designed these to be enjoyed by little ones doing one dot-to-dot per day culminating on Christmas day at the star - an exercise in restraint and consideration prior to a day of fun and massive over-indulgence. And for biggies to enjoy just as they are. They are the size of large greeting cards, have red & white bakers twine hangers, packaged in glassine packets, ready to go!

You may have to click on the images to enlarge them.

more bows & random thoughts

I've been so pleased with the bows that I made for Woo that I made some more. I found some gorgeous French grosgrain on the weekend and made them up too (no pics yet). One little pair will be winging their way, belatedly to our now 4 year old friend 'Ony Rose.

For some reason, call me odd, I love production line work and although I like the process of designing things, sourcing materials, trialling (and error-ing!!) and creating the things I make, I really enjoy getting a big old pile of things made at once. Zoom-zoom.

Mostly I think it's in my make-up, I love saving time, minimising double-handling - I usually open the mail on the recycling bin to avoid even bringing the unsolicited mail into the house. I'll spare you my showering routine, but let me tell you with our current drought in Victoria I can assure I'm done in the requisite 3 minutes.

Okay I'm really quite odd and you may well be x-ing out of the page about now. But wait. One second. I want to tell you where I learned about my love of production lines and 'time and motion study' and where get my motion saving practices from. Have you heard of my favourite book, "in the whole wide weld" (thanks Tigs), Cheaper by the Dozen?

It is true the story of Frank Bunker Gilbreth and Lillian Gilbreth and life with their 12 children.

Frank and Lillian worked as time and motion experts in the 1920's to reduce the number of motions used to perform a task in order to increase productivity. One of the most well known experiments examined the handmotions of bricklayers and were able to reduce the number from 18 to 5. Cool hey? So the brickies worked more efficiently and were less tired to boot!

Many of their experiments were carried out on their children and are retold hilariously in the book and in the equally funny original movie. Minimising wasted time came in endless forms including having to learn Morse code from signs on the back of the toilet door! They were tested by having meals at which no one was allowed to speak. All conversation was held by Morse code being tapped out on the dining room table! Lessons in how to wash efficiently sounded a little dull and the elder girls were thrilled to be presented with a gramophone, only to be disheartened to find it was to be placed in the bathroom so that cleansing ones body could be combined by learning a foreign language.

Father was a strict disciplinarian and Mother was incredibly strong but gentle with her children. In Father's eyes he had "only 12 children" in Mothers she had "12 only children". I have my Meme's copy. I treasure it, I know she loved the story too.

Anyway, at risk of wasting time, it's why I love production line work and my favorite book synopsis wrapped up in one.

I had NO idea when I started typing where my (evidently weird) brainwaves would take me. Are you still with me? Anyone?

OK goodnight!

back from the bush with sweet lips baby bibs

Vintage fabric

sweet baby floral

This is much much softer in real life ...

as is this. I really like this one.

Some for the boys.

My favourite. I love the mix of linen with prints.

These are super hard wearing and seem to be completely stain proof, including pumpkin. Woo did some testing for me with the sample!

There are four new babies around me and I think they'll look sweet on them.

Right back to the machine. I WILL be organised this Christmas...

It's been lovely to have a break and lovely to get back into the swing of things.