+ dogs in jackets
+ baby sneezes
+ cross stitch
+ aqua nail polish
+ fresh flannelette sheets
+ chai tea
+ renovating shows
+ mushrooms cooked in dark soy sauce
+ pressing the button on the vacuum that sucks up the cord
+ experimental cooking that turns out well
+ milkmaid plaits
+ wolfberry juice
+ quarter-hourly clock tower bells
+ cleaning as therapy
+ the cats playing in their new cat tunnel
+ black rice*
+ baby wearing
+ spontaneous roadtrips
+ fruit shops with cute tips pinned up around the shop
+ waffles with chocolate sauce and orange marmalade
+ patterned socks
+ cats mewing at each other
+ sewing holly's buttons on a new cardigan
+ the many faces of theodore h. jagoe

what's bringing you joy at the moment?

* no, i didn't burn the rice (this time), it's a different type and delicious and kind of smokey!

...in July (oops, a day late).


We took a trip to the Esk Markets.



We sat down with C's parents and went through some of their old photos. We found several shots of C's dad and his neighbour friend Carolyn as children in humorous scenes (see second photo).



I did a lot of baby wearing. I dyed my hair brown and got an Ergo (have to master the art of eating while wearing it - it's covered in food at the moment, haha).


I admired some beautiful Launceston sunsets.



I tidied up the nursery a bit. It has become a dumping ground for baby related items. It was nice to hang out in there considering that we don't use the room for anything yet as Theo sleeps in our room.


I wore these very cute sweater clips which were a gift from Kate. She sells them in her gorgeous shop too. Hehe, lipstick on my collar.






I took a great deal of photographs of this baby of mine obviously. He is now eight weeks old!

Watching | This month we really got into an English series called Bedlam. C and I like to have at least one 'guilty pleasure' TV show on the go and C found this one for us and told me it was going to be terrible but I actually really enjoyed it and it wasn't cringe-inducing as we had expected. The second season has a whole new cast so I'm not sure if I'll watch it yet. We've also been watching Australia's Next Top Model and Twisted (both which are pretty terrible), Dexter and True Blood. We left Theo with C's parents for a few hours last week while we went to see Anna Karenina at film society and I thought it was a really interesting, beautifully cinematic take on the story. We'd like to leave him with C's parents and go to film society more often (although, of course, throughout the movie I just thought about Theo the whole time and wanted to call C's parents at least every half hour to check on him).

Listening | I bought Big Scary's new album 'Not Art' on vinyl and have been listening to it a lot. I really love all of their stuff and this album is really growing on me.

Consuming | Since giving birth I've somehow become the housewife I never thought I was, cleaning LOTS (and enjoying it?!), making our dinners (I cooked maybe once a month before) and baking something at least every couple of days. My favourite things I've cooked in the last few weeks have been apple and carrot muffins and parmesan quinoa bites.

Making | I guess this is one aspect of my life I haven't really reconciled with since having a baby. I would really love to be making more things and being creative but I just can't seem to make the time for it at the moment (and thus, I don't really feel like I have anything to blog about, unless you'd like to see a hundred photos of my baby). It is difficult I guess, because I feel like creating things is very ingrained in my identity and makes me feel like I've made my day more meaningful, and when I'm not creating things I don't feel like myself. I have a small list of small creative projects I'd really like to do but I suppose things have to align perfectly to make that happen - supplies on hand, a happy baby and the inclination to be creative. Next month I'd like to really work on this. Isis came me over last weekend and we cross-stitched our iPhone cases which was quite fun. I'll have to show you how mine turned out in a future post.

Visiting | We rarely stay at home during the day and we're always walking around town and going to cafes - sometimes we eat out for two meals of the day just because I don't feel like going home yet. Our child health nurse suggested that I go to a mum's group and I finally got around to going to the one she recommended this month, for mothers under 25. I guess it wasn't really for me. I think that I probably need to find a mothers group with people in it that I have something more in common with than just that we have children. I don't mean to sound like a snob but I just didn't fit in. I had gone to this one with high hopes and had been told that the 'theme' for the week was 'art and craft' (yay!) which actually translated to poking pipe cleaners through scraps of paper to make flowers... and I had to laugh when I was quizzed about whether or not I had a partner and felt suddenly very judged for being married! I thought about the women who would have gone to mothers groups in decades past and been judged and gossiped about for being unmarried! I never thought I would get married, let alone, be the only married mother in a mothers group!

Looking forward to | This weekend our friend Mel is coming to stay and meet Theo and later in the month we're travelling to Melbourne and staying with my sister and meeting her baby and I'm quite excited.

In July I'd like to | create.

This month we celebrated our first wedding anniversary - time has sure flown. Our days with Theo are really enjoyable lately - he is dishing out smiles here and there and I noticed he has one dimple when he smiles just like me (even on the same side). He's letting us put him down more often and enjoys sitting and watching us do things. He flaps around a lot and is starting to get some control over his limbs. I bought a second hand Ergo this month and I love carrying him around in it and watching him looking around at things and snoozing. There's something about being in such close proximity to one another, I feel like we have a better day together when I use it - sharing happy hormones or something. Sleeping is working out pretty okay now too - a few nights ago we got SEVEN uninterrupted hours! Last night was back to lots of 4-5 hours between nightly feeds, but I'm fine with that. I also joined a gym! After I gave birth I weighed about 5kg less than I did before I got pregnant (the last month of pregnancy I felt the fittest I've ever been) but nursing makes me feel hungry constantly and I feel like I could have three dinners instead of one and thus I quickly put on at least 10 kilos. I'm not trying to attain any kind of number on the scales or to get thin, but I'd like to fit my clothes and feel more well. I am quite enjoying the gym so far (I've been four times) although I find cardio very boring. I think I'll have to load up my phone with some TV shows or something to keep me entertained.

I hope you had an enjoyable month!

Instead of making endless unachievable to-do lists (that 'measuring my self worth by my productivity' thing I mentioned in my last post), I'd like to just keep some simple goals in mind. What are yours?

This past week: I dyed my hair dark brown (I am so fickle with hair colour, but I love this one), we drove around one of Launceston's huge industrial estates (surprisingly interesting!) and found a tiny paddock right in the middle of it containing three very curious muddy horses, I made apple and carrot muffins, pesto pasta, a cheesy vegetable bake and minestrone (since giving birth I have suddenly had some housewifely urges, after letting C to do all of the cooking and cleaning for 4 and a half years!), I bought a cute new baby carrier (Ergo), I picked C's parents up from the airport and we spent the day at their house drinking tea and going through lots of black and white photos of C's dad as a child and some (hilarious ones) of C growing up in the eighties, we had a delicious late breakfast at Fresh, we drove around Invermay admiring all of the pretty Federation houses, we bought Theo a little rocker which he loves being in (it has monkeys that hang above him and he flaps his arms and legs about frustrated that he can't grab the monkeys - will keep you updated when he finally grabs the monkeys), we got delicious drive through burgers (and a peanut butter milkshake) at Flip and sat by the seaport and devoured them before taking Theo to get his 6-week shots, I had a really good counselling session (one of the ones where you only have positive things to talk about and worry they'll feel like you're wasting their time), Theo got to meet my old work colleague Mary while we had afternoon tea at Nanna's, we watched lots of Le Tour, we went to visit my friend Sara at her new house and Theo gave her lots of smiles, we went to the Harvest Markets and ate delicious Garden of Vegan laksa and rolls, we got stuck in a traffic jam (in Launceston?!), booked flights to visit my lovely sister in Melbourne next month and we looked at new cars to buy. What a week!

Things are good at the moment. In the first few weeks, when I felt so miserable and exhausted and each day was so difficult, people kept telling me that by six weeks in things would feel vastly better and I didn't believe it. But it is true. Admittedly, I'd still sell my soul for some more sleep and this boy of mine is obsessed with being held constantly which makes being alone difficult, but I am beginning to find some time for myself and once or twice a day those big blue eyes look up at me, squint a little and I see a very brief and cute cheesy grin. I'm starting to catch up with friends and go on fun little trips and make plans and go opshopping and I feel so positive about the future. I feel like a totally different person.

It is so good to be able to look at the progress made after the initial challenges of a complicated labour, troubles recovering from surgery, extra time spent in hospital waiting for test results, some unfortunate dealings with midwives, setbacks at home in the first few days and a bad case of the baby blues. C's help and my sister coming for a surprise visit were hugely uplifting, as were the beautiful, kind, real words that people left me in this space, on Instagram, in emails (that I'm still yet to respond to!) and in lovely pieces of mail (people I've never met sent me a tin full of chocolate chip muffins, gorgeous little baby outfits and knitted booties and hats and sweet cards and postcards - thank you!).

Things take me several days to get the time to do (like blogging), but I'm trying to stop measuring my self worth by my productivity (my single worst trait).


(I was much happier to be in the park than my face would have you believe)

For anyone who is suffering from the same kind of early post baby blues that I did (and still am some days) I'd recommend - making plans, setting simple goals (today: shower, make a nice lunch, read a few pages of a book, go for a walk, call a friend, put on a load of washing), getting out of the house and sharing your feelings with people you trust (for me it was my counsellor) and most importantly, napping wherever possible.

Just for good measure, here's one of those smiles I mentioned earlier...



...and a grumpy one just for fun.


(A $2 outfit from the opshop found last week!)