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emerson in tiKKi’s Milo

August 25, 2012 By corrie 14 Comments

If there is one thing I’m missing at the moment it’s my craft. I did a round of knitting last night and then emerson woke up, someone needed something and that was it. All over, red rover. But just a little bit of craft in my day makes me happy so I might take my knitting out with me over the weekend to grab some knitting time in the car.

But I have managed to block emerson’s milo and it’s looking lovely. Blocking is something I never did when I started knitting but it makes a difference and I knew I wanted the cable to look right with this little project. If you’ve never blocked before it’s super easy.

For this little knit I just wet it in the bathroom sink with enough water to make it wet but not too much. Then I lay it out on a towel outside. Because it’s so little and all in one I stretched it out to spread out the cable and made sure the hemline was straight and even.

And I left it to dry. For other knits I use my sewing pins and pin down the knit to the towel to stretch into shape but this one was easy and didn’t need any pins.

I love this pattern so much that I’ve already cast one on for Elodie in a size 2 in pink.

And I’m sure if Emerson could talk he’d tell me how much he loves it – after he told me how much he loved me of course – wouldn’t that be nice if babies could tell us what they wanted!

Filed Under: bendigo woollen mills, knitting, ravelry, tiKKi

$100 on kids clothes at Big W

August 23, 2012 By corrie 191 Comments

Sponsored by Nuffnang

Last Friday after I’d completed part of my shopping for this post I thought to myself……. life is good. I’m out working and eating cinnamon donuts at the mall. Who would have thought I’d be working and shopping at the same time with my babies and getting to do something I love doing. Shopping. Although at the moment can I just admit that getting out of the house is something to celebrate.

Now one of the things I consider before working on a sponsored post is do I use and trust that brand? And with BIG W it’s a Big Yes. I’ve told you before and I’ll say it again, BIG W is my one stop shop and especially when I have a baby. I’ve been there for my maternity tops (BIG W have a great range called Nine to Mine) emerson’s jumpsuits, singlets, formula for his top up feeds, muslin wraps and so on. I don’t just buy things based on price, I expect the quality to be right up there as well. BIG W fits the bill for me plus I like being able to still buy the brands I like such as Bonds

And so if BIG W give me a $100 challenge then I rise to it and especially since I’m planning a little holiday to somewhere warmer in the next school holidays. A little summer romper for Emerson for $4 and a 3 pack of singlets.

little Bonds bamboo shorties for summer too – just $6.87. These are seriously soft and adorable and since I’m obsessed with the colour mustard at the moment I’m loving them. I can just see emerson wearing these with a little t-shirt this summer.

and a cute tee

for Elodie a Bonds top and leggings in a lovely dusky pink – these were reduced to $10 each (still a great buy at their regular price of $13.92). We are huge Bonds fans and especially for babies as the quality is great and they are always coming out with new colours and ranges.

and a cute litte tee to wear to the beach. I love a flutter sleeve on anything – me or the kids. They are just the sweetest sleeve and you can’t go wrong with pink in this house.

and super cute little ruffled shorties and a tee – $6 for this outfit and perfect for our home days, playgroup and trips to the beach. I also love anything ruffled so these will look very cute especially on her oh so chubby legs. I’m already imagining her walking around in this little outfit with some new summer sandals.

Now shopping for girls is easy but boys can be a bit trickier especially as I have a very preppy look for Finn. However, I’m very happy to report that at BIG W I had no problem sticking to my preppy boy look. $10 for this outfit anyone? You can’t go wrong with navy and red. In fact I really try to stick to basic colours with Finn – navy, red, grey khaki, white because then everything goes together in his wardrobe and looks so classic.

And how about a navy shirt and some cargo shorts – $24 for this look which is perfect for church, parties and outings. There were some great button up shirts and it’s great to see some classic options because they make great hand me downs for the next boy. And oh yes I just had a baby boy! which is just great………….a great excuse to buy more for Finn and pass down to Emerson.

and as you know when you go out shopping if you come home with something for some of the little ones and not the others there will be trouble and tears and carry on so I picked up some $4 tees for my girls. Unfortunately they didn’t listen to me when I said keep them in the bag, don’t wear them or pull the tags off so mummy can photograph them first. So they are now in the wash so we can wear them this weekend.

But to wrap up that’s one big pile of clothes for spring/summer for $100. And with 5 little ones to dress it’s great to get so much at a good price. I love that I have so many little ones to shop for but it all adds up at the checkout so I loved how much I came home with. It keeps everyone happy………………including retro daddy the CFO of the family.

So tell me do you love what I bought? Do you love to shop at BIG W too? Tell me what you’d buy for $100 at BIG W and I’ll pick a winner and send a $100 BIG W gift card to you…..you must live in Australia to enter and I’ll pick a winner next Friday 31st August.

Filed Under: big w, giveaway

Win a month’s supply of nappies and a $100 Coles voucher

August 21, 2012 By corrie 83 Comments

Sponsored by Nuffnang

nappies and newborns – they go together like bread and butter, cheese and jatz, salt and pepper and so on. I spend a lot of time changing my little emerson’s nappies and have changed a lot of nappies in my time.I’ve even tried cloth nappies along the way but have always found them a lot of hard work. And so I love writing about products that I use everyday because they are just the easiest posts to write. So when I got the call about this post opportunity I had to say yes because this is the nappy brand I mostly use.

I started using the Coles Comfy Bot nappies when the twins were babies, we’d just moved house, our local supermarket was now Coles and they were the most affordable nappies and we were going through nappies like you wouldn’t believe with twins. But we don’t just buy nappies based on price in this house – if I get leaks or they’re not up to scratch I switch brands. But we were happy with the Comfy Bots so just stuck with them. And it’s been 4 years now with the twins then Elodie and now Emerson.

The sizing is quite generous which I like with my larger than average babies, they are absorbent, no leaks but of course super pooplosions newborns do that get up their back will happen no matter what brand or nappy type you are using!!!! Just ask Emerson. He might look cute as a button but he can leave me some crazy nappies to change.

And to win a month’s supply of Coles Comfy Bots and a $100 Coles voucher for your little one just tell me what you look for in a nappy – price, brand, quality? Too easy…………………….competition closes 31st August 2012 and you must be an Australian resident to enter.

Filed Under: everything else

my best friend’s birthday

August 18, 2012 By corrie 17 Comments

today is my best friend’s birthday. That would be retro daddy, of course! 37 years young and yes his birthday is today and not 4 days later – for some reason even after we were married I kept thinking his birthday was a few days later. I don’t know why. It’s a running joke in the house.

Retro daddy’s birthdays are close to a few here – his 33rd birthday was just 2 weeks after our twins were born – I’m not even sure he got a birthday cake that year? I’m sure we did one but I don’t even remember how we celebrated his birthday and now his 37th birthday is almost 6 weeks after emerson was born. Poor guy. I made him go to the shops to buy dinner and pick a cake out as I was feeding emerson after our busy day out.

But he did good going to a french patisserie for a delicious cake – let me describe it to you – two thin layers of chocolate sponge filled with a layer of rich chocolate ganache then the cake is topped with white chocolate mousse and topped with white chocolate curls. So good. And not as rich and heavy as it sounds. He also picked up an expensive bottle of red wine – I had a quarter of a glass and he fell asleep at 8pm getting elodie to bed. Party animals we are not.

As for presents it’s hard to think of what to buy when I did the iPad last year. Finn suggested another iPad but I think that would be for himself. So I bought the perfect gift for that indecisive person in your life who can’t decide what they want – a DJs voucher so he can buy as many ralph lauren shirts as he wants!

And how does he want to spend his special day – a sleep in, a run and lunch in Manly with us.

We love you retro daddy and appreciate how hard you work for us both at home and in the office. And one day, one day we’ll get that holiday house in the South of France that you’re after xxxxx

Filed Under: retro daddy

today we made a movie

August 18, 2012 By corrie 12 Comments

well that’s what I told the little ones this morning! to get them moving, dressed and ready for the camera men who I knew were coming before 9am. Usually we are in our pj’s till 10ish on a saturday and this little guy is my excuse for wanting to hang out all morning in my pjs! Look at him, 5 1/2 weeks and getting cuter and bigger by the day! He’s so long he’s wearing mostly 00/3-6 month old clothes at the moment!

I’ve been lucky to be driving a new car around town this week and today we had a little video shot of us with the car. I’m nervous to see the video and just praying I don’t have 3 chins and that I hid my post baby belly well enough. Keira was so excited and wanted to stand outside while I was being filmed and I said only if she was quiet – so she coughed, then she pushed and pulled my squeaky laundry trolley and then I sent her inside! Then the cat decided to run out to the car and was shoooed back inside too. You know what they say – working with children and animals!

And so I did some talking about the car, made a few mistakes, got hair in my mouth thanks to the huge winds, then we had to get in and out of the car a few times, drove around some local streets with one guy in our car filming out a window while retro daddy drove, on to our favourite picnic spot for some hot chippies, had a little play while I tried to feed emerson in some gale force winds and then it was time to head home with a cute little camera filming from the windscreen. All up we spent over 4 hours with the camera guys and by the end the kids were well and truly over it …..and making it clear the way kids do best – refusing to co-operate!

so I did what parents do when you need something to be done – bribed them! A trip to the newsagent with daddy to get a kids magazine each in return for the last shot at home and we did it!!!!! Thanks to Adam and Chris for filming us and I can’t wait to share the video with you all soon! It was a fun way to spend our Saturday………

Filed Under: large families

life is getting a teensy bit easier

August 13, 2012 By corrie 12 Comments

Keira went off to school this morning with one of the fanciest – ok it’s the fanciest – hairstyle I can do on her. A little braid going from one side to the other that goes into a big ponytail. This is a big deal because it means I actually had a little time on my side before the school run this morning.

I’m starting to get a bit more on top of things. The floor gets vacced everyday, washing is going out on the line and coming in and it’s just getting a teensy bit easier. It’s still crazy at times – trust me – but I’m starting to feel that I’m going to be on top of this and that we will get back to the kind of routine we had before Emerson came along. That and the chocolate is really working wonders on my moods……

Filed Under: large families, newborn

I am a mum of 5

August 12, 2012 By corrie 38 Comments

and this is what it looks like when we are out and about

We don’t get a lot of attention or anything? Oh no!

Filed Under: everything else

I finished the milo

August 9, 2012 By corrie 15 Comments

Now this needs to be blocked to make the cable all pretty and even but I just finished this last night and had to share. I just finished knitting something with a newborn and 4 bigger kids in my care. I’m so proud of that fact!!!!! Who cares that my house is a disaster zone and I haven’t put away yesterdays clean clothes. I finished a project.

I love this pattern so much and want to make a few more…………and it’s my first cable so I’m no longer afraid of them. Piece of cake! Thank you to tiKKi for sending me the pattern. I promise to block it this weekend and get my little hunk a spunk to model it.

Filed Under: knitting, ravelry, tiKKi

BlogHer13 is in Chicago

August 8, 2012 By corrie 15 Comments

And I’m going! And I will not got pregnant like I did before BlogHer12. I did not see that coming last year. Some of you might remember my excitement buying my ticket for NYC last year – and then I went and got pregnant! And of course a baby is wonderful and the best thing that could have happened but I have to admit that it’s still a little tough reading all about the aussies fabulous time over in NYC for BlogHer12. And so I waited all last weekend to find out where BlogHer would be held next year and it’s Chicago!!!!! And retro daddy says go!

image source

It will require serious co-ordination at this end with nannies and grandma since it’s retro daddy’s busiest time of year and I will be taking emerson on his first overseas holiday with me. But won’t that make for some great blog posts – travelling overseas with your 12 month old, shop till you drop with a 1 year old strapped to your back in the ergo or how about packing light for a week so you can bring home clothes for yourself and 5 children!!

And I love that one of my lovely blog readers Karen who used to visit me at markets now lives over there! Karen – I’m so glad you live there and can’t wait to shop with you – I mean meet you again!

Anyway, come 1 September I will be buying my BlogHer ticket. They are such wonderful organisers that if you need to cancel you just sell your ticket yourself (I sold mine in under 5 minutes on twitter) and they will swap the ticket over. Free. no charge. So easy. And I will keep looking for good airfare deals and start saving the $$$$’s to go there. And I also have to hope that Liss my usual conference buddy isn’t working in Manilla and can come be my roomie.

Filed Under: shopping

emerson’s granny square blanket

August 6, 2012 By corrie 17 Comments

It’s done! just over a month in the making and now on his little bed to keep him warm. Emerson’s granny square blanket.

This is such an easy pattern and totally suitable for the beginner. You’ll find my pattern here and I made it to measure 63cm from one end to the other. I wanted it for the basinnette, car and pram so if you want bigger just keep going and going adding more rounds.

I used Bendigo rustic in 12 ply and luxury in 10 ply and yes, you are right. They are different plys but actually turned out fine and achieved my goal of using something from the stash. I love the grey, just love it.

I used my hamanaka crochet hooks and a size 8 (5mm).

Now I weave in my ends as I crochet so all I have to do is snip the ends when I’m finished.

And that my friends is one very easy baby blanket! Any questions just ask………….you’ll find ravelry details here. And if you know anything about babies then you’ll know that dear little emerson then threw up on his shoulder and sheet and required a full change of clothes and bedding just after these pics were taken. He has the biggest pile of clean laundry every day in this house.

And why yes, he is putting on lots of weight and loves to frown!!!!!

Filed Under: craft, crochet, knitting, newborn, ravelry

a little crafty giveaway

August 4, 2012 By corrie 50 Comments

In October I am super excited to be giving my blog a total overhaul and moving over to wordpress. I’ve paid my deposit, picked my colour scheme and how I want things to look and am very excited about the big change. It will make finding something on my blog much easier. And it also means more cute little sponsor buttons will be able to be featured over on the side of my blog which is the perfect way for small businesses and mummies like you to get the word out about your business or blog.

In the meantime I’m growing my sponsors and have a lovely little giveaway from my newest sponsors, Xo.gigi fabrics and Paula Storm Designs. Up for grabs is a $25 voucher to spend at Xo.gigi fabrics (look at those lovely chevrons above!) AND 4 patterns of your choice from Paula. These are my 2 favourites since we have a new baby in the house!

All you need to do is follow each of these lovely ladies businesses on Facebook here and here and then leave a comment here. Too easy. I’ll pick one winner this Friday and anyone can enter this giveaway just be sure to leave your email address in the comment so I can contact you!

Filed Under: everything else

tell me your story : Carli

August 2, 2012 By corrie 5 Comments

Today I have the gorgeous Carli on my blog! I met Carli at Power of Moms and she is just gorgeous inside and out. And for my crafty ladies, Carli is the sister of Toni of Make it Perfect! You can find Carli’s blog here, Carli’s Clan.

While Corrie is enjoying Emerson’s newness I wanted to share how blogging helps me enjoy and also relive family joys. There was a time when I was a young mum, about 21, and I brought home a little screaming baby, living in inner-city Sydney managing a backpacker’s hostel with my husband. I really felt quite isolated away from my family and very different to my uni friends. I used to go for long, long walks to calm my baby. Although I took a few photos, I have fleeting memories of that first year of motherhood. I wish had recorded how I felt, the funny things that happened, what did I think about on my long walks?

Another few years along and we bought a house in a leafy area and built another in our backyard. Three more children joined our family in succession. We ran a busy and burgeoning flower shop. Somewhere in there I discovered blogging. I’m not exaggerating here, it changed my life! Initially, I really enjoyed having a platform to share entertaining stories from the day with far-flung family. I found real joy in writing and expressing myself through the richness of language, something I hadn’t taken time to do for years. I began to take notice of the ordinary things that made up our days at home with my children and I realised that things would change, these wonderful busy and exhausting years would become a memory to me. What did I want to capture before things changed? In taking time to regularly capture and keep these special moments through words and photos, I felt a great sense of gratitude for my blessings and I’ve thought of answers to problems through reflection. I have spent hours and hours reading my archives just falling in love with my family all over again.

Any time I take to blog I want to be meaningful. I ask myself whether this is something I would like my children to read in the future, will this make them laugh, will it help them or uplift them? Will it help them to learn of Pop’s remarkable war story? Will Maya smile when she reads of the time we bathed naked in a traditional bath house in Japan and how we laughed jumping into the hot water? Sometimes, I write just for me, just because I want to post about something very pretty I know my sister will love. Or about flowers, we love all things floral here. But usually I’m careful to make this a family space everyone can share in one day that will stand the test of time. I share my beliefs openly, I write about my love for my grown up siblings, I picture the beauty of isolated beaches we happen upon on Sunday afternoons, or about children’s books I’m passionate about. It doesn’t have to be professional or perfect in layout, it just has to be a part of our story.

Keeping a blog makes me stop to look and listen, I treasure more, I create more, and through the process I’m becoming more. My life isn’t all roses, there are fights and tantrums and spills and money hassles like in most families. But, the more I focus on the beauty, the more I see it and feel it. Life is a beautiful gift, I believe families are forever, and writing our story is a joy to me.

Filed Under: everything else

choc weetbix slice

August 2, 2012 By corrie Leave a Comment

Don’t worry! I didn’t think I’d be sharing a recipe with you either. And to tell you the truth I just made the icing and our lovely new nanny (who loves to bake!) helped Keira make the base! I’ve never made this before but a very sweet lady from school made us dinner and dropped over a batch. It lasted half a day. I’m eating us out of home while I try to feed this very hungry and big baby of ours. I’m actually a bit embarrassed about how hungry I always am!

Anyway this is very moreish to eat and is one the kids can make so I haven’t written it up for the thermomix. Get your kids to make it instead!!!!

what you’ll need for the base
3 weetbix
1 cup desiccated coconut
150g butter, melted

for the icing
2 cups icing sugar
2 huge Tbsps cocoa
50g butter, melted
2 Tbsps milk

get your little ones to crush up the weetbix finely in a bowl! It’s a fun job and keira just used her fingers. Add in the rest of the dry ingredients and combine well. Pour in the melted butter and stir to combine. Press into a lined square cake tin or lamington tray and bake for 20 minutes in a 180 degrees (I did 375 degrees in my slow pokes oven). Leave to cool in pan. Pull out by the baking paper and ice. To make your icing just sift the icig sugar and cocoa together, add in the butter and add as much milk as you need to get a nice thick spreadable icing. Spread on icing with a knife, sprinkle extra coconut on top, slice and enjoy. This tastes better and is less crumbly the next day but there wasn’t much left the next day!!!!

Filed Under: baking, chocolate, cooking, recipe

from nana with love

August 1, 2012 By corrie 27 Comments

growing up I remember my nana knitting or doing tapestry at night time. I love that she is still knitting because she came over with my aunt debbie and they each came bearing handknitted goodies. First up was this lovely collection of cardigans……

7 in total and 2 little hats. Nana said that might be the last baby knitting she does so I feel very special that we got so many! They are all gorgeous and so perfect for this freezing cold weather we have right now

and there is even a special little one for emerson’s baptism

and if that wasn’t enough my lovely aunty debbie had designed (yes designed) and knitted this stunning blanket for emerson. She made it in Bendigo cotton so it’s super soft and lovely and I can’t begin to imagine how many hours actually went into this.

ravelry details are here and I’ll let you know when the pattern is up

Thank you nana and debbie! We love our goodies so much and I know lots of hours and love went into them!!!!

Filed Under: knitting, newborn, ravelry

monday morning in the office

July 30, 2012 By corrie 25 Comments

last week the child health nurse visited. One of her questions was whether I planned to return to work. That’s a question I haven’t heard since Keira was born. I know it was a routine question on her checklist to ask me and I told her I was lucky enough to make some money on the side through my website but think I’ll be too busy to return to work anytime soon. That’s my short answer……….the long answer is that when I left work in the city to have Keira I knew I didn’t want to go back. Ever. But I certainly never expected to be this busy at home or have a family of 7 or that retro daddy would be working away so often!

But it certainly got me thinking later on how I love life as it is. Sure I’m sleeping on the couch (if you can call it sleep), my eyebrows are so hairy and overgrown, I sometimes forget to put deodorant on in the morning and there are plenty of times when the bigger kids are fighting and hurting my ears.

And I really am happy at home. Yesterday I had keira with me and they were all playing outside while I was looking on, a load of washing was out and another one was in the machine, emerson was finally asleep on me, my new shiny laptop was all set up, hot tea was on one side, blanket to finish on the other. I took the vacuum out to vac up bits of crackers and biscuits from the floor. And the only thing I didn’t take a photo of was the 5 chocolate biscuits I’d eaten after doing the dishes. No one needs to see that.

And that was my monday morning in my office…….much better and more satisfying than banking anyday!

Filed Under: blogging, stay at home mummy