Welcome to the World...

A baby being born is a miracle and a cause for celebration. Becoming a parent for the first time is exciting, scary, painful, tiring, joyous, nerve wracking and amazing. The pressure you feel as a parent to be the best parent you can be knowing you are going to make mistakes along the way is immense (well it was and is for me)...

Now... imagine all of this with the eyes of the world on you and the pressure of parenting the future King of Great Britain. My heart goes out to Kate and William, what they and their little Prince will have to endure under the watchful eyes of the world.

I really hope the world's press can be respectful and give them some space so we don't have a repeat of Princess Diana. 

I admire Kate and William's balance of tradition and modern day. They are being respectful of the traditions whilst trying to do things their own way as well. For example I was thrilled to hear William was staying with Kate at the Hospital for their first night as parents. From experience that first night can be nerve wracking so sharing that together is wonderful.

I have no doubt William will fiercely protect his little family and give his son as normal an upbringing as possible.

I send all my warmest congratulations to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and to the Prince of Cambridge. Welcome to the world, you are much beloved.

Jx

Autumn Maternity Style...

I have been struggling with clothing this pregnancy. My jeans are just not doing it for me this time around. I recently purchased this skirt from Gap and am absolutely loving it. I wish I had bought it sooner. It will work when not pregnant as well so that's even better!!

I would love to hear any maternity clothing tips you have...
What were your favourite jeans?
Where did you shop?

Jx

Shoal Bay 2013...

Last month H and I had a week at Shoal Bay in Port Stephens with my parents. We have been going to Shoal Bay annually for nearly 30 years...

It's a great beach for kids as it's a bay so not too deep nor too rough. Nice calm waters...

They call it the blue water paradise and when the weather gods are shining down on you it really is...

This year we had very patchy weather but when we were able to get to the beach we made the most of it...

H was rocking his Bobbi Sunshine Swimwear... he looked terrific (in my very biased opinion!!)

Shoal Bay is only 2.5hrs from Sydney and a great spot for families or couples to Holiday. Port Stephens is a large area and includes areas such as Nelson Bay, Fingal Bay, Corlette, Soldiers Point, Anna Bay, Shoal Bay, Little Beach, Salamander Bay and many others.

It's well worth a visit for a weekend, a week or several...

Jx

Pretty Pink Dahlia...

I've never had Dahlia's in the house before and I'm loving them...

To me... they are a happy flower. Don't you think?...

I hope they put a smile on your face today... Jx

The job of maintaining oneself...

Yesterday I had a haircut for the second time since H was born (he is now 20 months old)... I have very boring, straight, dark brown hair that luckily doesn't need colouring so it is very low maintenance as hair goes...

Having said that I was mortified when I saw the look on my hairdressers face at the condition of my hair... which was nothing short of dismal. It was lank, lifeless, straggly, all one length and constantly tied up. He was polite about it and we had a joke but I was, in no uncertain terms, told my hair was terrible.

4 inches and many layers later I felt... and looked like a new woman! I felt so much lighter walking out of there and feel like I look the best I have in AGES!! (even Hubby agrees) Which is such a lovely feeling and not at all overrated... so good for the soul and self esteem.

I find hair, makeup, waxing and shaving all have a knock on effect. For me, I found the worst my hair got the more I dragged it up and back (so much easier when chasing after a toddler) which then looked awful so you think to yourself... what good will makeup do?... So you don't put any on etc, etc. You can see my pattern. Needless to say I have been getting around looking like something the cat dragged in...

Well... I am here on in endeavouring to invest more time and energy in the job of maintaining myself. I have already booked my next haircut. I'm off to book my eyebrow appointment and will try and put a bit of a face on more than I have been.

So... if you are at all like me, I urge you to spend a little more time on yourself as I promise you'll feel a million dollars afterwards. ... and couldn't we all do with a bit of that!?

Jx

P.S I know this is a relatively trivial issue in light of all the many things we face in our daily lives... but isn't it nice to focus on the fun things sometimes?

The face of determination...

When I have a spare moment (these are very rare) I am trying to play catch up with my photo books... and by catch up I mean the only one I have done is of our Wedding... which was nearly 3 years ago...

I have just started to put together one from H's first year. Wow!!!... what a walk down memory lane. Interesting timing with only 11 weeks before #2 arrives. There are so, so many photos.

I came across this photo and it completely cracked me up. I didn't appreciate it at the time I took it as I was probably trying to achieve something else in the photo. Just have a look at the complete determination on my little man's face. He was really getting into his crawling and the look on his face sums it up completely.

To me... this is the face of determination, perseverance and concentration...

Absolutely priceless... Jx

Magnolia Flower love... with a bit of Hipstamatic...

Our little Magnolia Gem in the backyard was flowering a couple of weeks ago. It was the first time since we planted it last July. I was very excited and couldn't resist taking some photos. I took them with my iPhone and got some regular ones and some others using the app Hipstamatic. My use of Hipstmatic has waned in recent times but due to this post from Carla Coulson my interest was reignited.

I was really happy with the photos and can't decide which is my favourite... the colour or the back and white...

What do you think?...

Here are the regular ones...

Here are the black and white Hipstamatic...

Here are the colour Hipstamatic ones...

Aren't they a romantic flower?...

Jx