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Win a $1000 Westfield Styling Session

February 18, 2011 By corrie Leave a Comment

OK ladies, close your eyes for me. Think of your perfect day now that you are a busy mummy/wife/grandma/student/lady. Does it involve shopping. Without your children. Getting advice from a leading stylist. Hair and makeup. $1000 to spend on a new look. Ok, well that is my perfect day and guess what? I had it! A couple of weeks ago, I left home bright and early leaving retro daddy to do the school run and look after everyone for the day. I met the very knowlegable (and charming) Donny Galella at Westfield Eastgardens and my perfect day began. Donny is the resident stylist at Westfield Eastgardens and Parramatta who offers personalised style sessions, group workshops and shopping tours . He has styled celebrities such as Carson Kressley as well as lots of regular people like you and me. In other words, real bodies. That’s his job.

just a regular day at Westfield Eastgardens

Donny had already selected some items for me based on a phone conversation we had before we met. He told me I sound like a petite pear and ladies, you know that I’m not talking about fruit………..big on the hips and bottom and smaller up top. That’s me. And I think it’s a pretty common bodyshape for us aussie ladies. What I loved was that Donny knew his way around Westfield as if it was his home. And let me tell you, I’d be pretty happy to spend my days in a Westfield. He knew what was in the stores, what was in season (apparently this is now called on-trend, who knew), what was going to work for my body shape, the best shoes to wear to make me look tall (oh yes please) and how to accessorise an outfit.

the before me enjoying some shopping

Now I should let you know that I’m a shopper from way back and before children I’d spend every saturday or sunday out at the shops, finding new clothes, makeup, jewellery or something for the house. But since having children I’m time poor. A trip to the shops now means milk and bread or popping into medicare. I ight pick up a new t-shirt or something basic that I don’t need to try on. If there is a special occassion coming up I might get an hour to myself but that’s it. There is definitely no time to trawl the shops and find a new outfit and even if I did there is no way I would know how to accessorise it properly or turn it into a total look. I also seem to have lost a bit of my identity and sense of body shape. Three pregnancies, four babies and the associated weight gain and weight loss in between has left me unsure of what fits and what I should be wearing. I know I’m not alone.

It’s the shoes, clutch, jewellery, jacket and belt which turn it into an outfit!

This is why a stylist is so perfect, he did the hard work for me. I always thought stylists were for celebrities or people with too much money or that they would select outfits that were too expensive for me. But the greatest surprise was seeing Donny go into less expensive stores throughout the morning to complete an outfit. And another eye opener of the day, stop getting stuck in my ‘safe looks’. And by having a whole outfit picked out from head to toe it gave me the confidence to do it myself. The stylist will tell you how to dress up or down your outfit, what to wear to suit your lifestyle (aka chasing little people around), styles to flatter your body shape, what colours will suit you and even how to wear them. Notice the trench coat is open – a technique called splicing which makes your body appear longer and leaner.

And so did I enjoy my day? Did I ever! And don’t ask me how I kept this a secret. The very next morning we had a kindergarten morning tea at a nice cafe and I would normally put on some safe black pants (slightly too big) and a tee or tunic top on to cover up but instead I put on a pretty wrap dress and black ballet flats and felt so pretty. At the risk of sounding overdramatic it really has changed my life as a mummy and given me the confidence again to walk into all different types of stores, focus on what looks good on me, shop wherever I want and best of all……………every month from now on I’m leaving the kids with retro daddy and having a shopping day out at Westfield and not limiting myself to certain brands but going with it. I forgot how much fun it is to dress up and I definitely feel like a different person.

OK so enough about me and my makeover. Westfield are kindly giving one of my readers…………………wait for it……………..a day out with me! Yes, just what you’ve always wanted…. to spend the day with me. Just kidding. K-I-D-D-I-N-G. But seriously, you can win a styling session with Donny and yours truly and to get you started with your new look a $1000 Westfield voucher! Yes, I will accompany you on a special styling session with Donny at Westfields Eastgardens and then we get to go shopping together. We’ll shop, laugh, cry, have fun together and share your new look with my blog readers too.

This would have to by my best giveaway to date. And all you need to do is tell me why you think you need to be styled by a Westfield stylist. You need to live in Sydney or be willing to get yourself to Sydney to spend the day at Westfield with Donny and myself and don’t forget to leave your email address in your comment so we can email the winner! Entries close March 2011.

Filed Under: giveaway, westfield

time for a new dr

February 18, 2011 By corrie Leave a Comment

So you’ve probably figured it out by now but I’m a good girl. Do the right thing, go to church, live a good life, raise a good family, be honest and pay my bills on time. So imagine my absolute shock when a letter came from a debt collection agency. I almost had a heart attack and my heart was beating so fast. What???????????? I started to panic. It told me that my GP had not been paid by medicare for one of my visits last year

they have a hopeless system where you pay $30, medicare pay the balance and send you the chq and you take it in the surgery. A hopeless, timewasting and pain in the butt system. When a cheque didn’t arrived once the nice people at medicare told me not to worry, the system was terrible and if the dr isn’t paid within 90 days then they receive a payment directly. She told me not to worry about the cheques. And she was right the Dr was always paid

So after cooling down from the letter I go to the dr’s to talk nicely and explain that I was told my medicare they would be paid, oh that lady with the bad bleached blonde hair didn’t want to listen to me. Told me to ring the agency and deal with them. But it says I should come in to the surgery, nope can’t help you. I said I don’t want to talk to a debt collection agency, they scare me. She throws her hands up in the air, rolls her eyes at me and leaves me in the queue. So embarrassed and mortified.

So with everyone in tow I walk over to medicare (an expedition in itself) and they confirm the dr was paid by an electronic transfer last year, they ring the surgery to explain but they were just as rude to medicare as they were to me and told them they didn’t believe it and didn’t have a record. So they demanded I deliver in person a letter from medicare and a trace of the payment to confirm it had been made. Because a print out of the payment wasn’t enough, they need a trace on it! So I’m still the criminal in all of this and don’t have a clear name until all the paperwork from Medicare comes through.

So I’ve explained it to the debt collection agency and the surgery but the amount is still oustanding and who knows what other lovely letters are going to start arriving in the mail all because the medical centre have made an error. Nice one. And that is why I took Elodie to our local surgery and will have to find a new doctor.

Filed Under: medicare, primary health care

big love.big fan.

February 17, 2011 By corrie 27 Comments

OK, so my facebook buddies are finding out that I’m a bit of a closest TV addict. A bit……..is an understatement. When you are married to mr workaholic you have a lot of late nights on your own. And one of my all time favourite shows is definitely Big Love. It always makes me laugh or gives me a bit of a fright.

Growing up I wasn’t even allowed to say crap in the house and with 4 little people around me 24/7 I just can’t swear even if I wanted to so this clip makes me laugh. We’re only just getting season 4 here but man I love this show and am itching to get my hands on season 5. Other top shows right now are desperate housewives, modern family, millionaire matchmaker, the good wife and the real housewives on Arena. That’s all………..love to know your fave shows too.

Filed Under: I love tv

where have my nights gone?

February 17, 2011 By corrie 26 Comments

My nights used to be the perfect time for my craft and a great way to pass time until retro daddy got home. But now that school has started I think I’ve said goodbye to it for a while. We get in the door from school at 3.30, have some playtime, do laundry, cook dinner, clean up after dinner, baths, brush teeth, put Elodie to bed (thankfully she’s out like a light after 5 minutes), read books and hopefully have everyone asleep before 8.30. I say hopefully because there are always some bedtime shenanigans going on but we’ve come a long way from last year when we had no set bedtime.

Then when all I want to do is collapse on the couch with some craft it’s actually time for me to catch up on laundry, tidy up after the day, lay out everyone’s clothes for the next day, make up orders, pack keira’s bag and write my to do list for the next day all while sneaking in a bit of tv for myself. And that is why it’s taken me 2 weeks to get one hexagon flower done…………..but it’s better than nothing! And hopefully as the year rolls on I’ll become speedy gonzalez with my night time routine so that I can sit down, relax and get some crafting done.

Filed Under: craft, parenting, school

full body shot

February 15, 2011 By corrie 18 Comments

Yesterday, I was asked to send in a full body shot of myself for an exciting project (ohhhh let the suspense build because I’m not telling you why) and quickly managed to get this shot this morning before I duck off to do the school run. I love to just pop on a dress in the morning as they are a no brainer and this is a cute one.

This is a little chambray dress from ollie&max (because I know you’ll ask), you can accessorise these little babies and dress them up or down but I keep it pretty simple (as you can obviously see) and just throw on my silver birkenstocks, a pair of earrings and head out the door – probably with wet hair this morning! I also have the black one which gets a good workout.

Filed Under: dress, ollie and max, photos, retro mummy, school

Things I haven’t told you lately – part 2

February 15, 2011 By corrie 46 Comments

Well it’s time again! Time for a catch up as there are always lots of things happening that never make it on my blog……………….

– I need to wake up at 6.30am on school days just to get everyone out the door by 8.30

– I’ve never been busier since keira started school
– I’ve been called selfish and inflexible over the past few weeks by a close family member
– didn’t you know that stay at home mums just stay at home 24/7
– I’ve ignored it and moved on because I know the truth and when she has 4 children she’ll get it
– the best thing I heard this week was that you will see the face of God in places you least expect – try it, it’s true
– keira had her first school mass and was the cutest little kindergartener I’ve ever seen
– a school mum googled smart casual cocktail party and came up with my blog post and it helped her wardrobe choice- how funny is that!
– I haven’t told school mums about my blog as they might find out too much information about me
– the scales tell me I’ve lost 7kgs since christmas….there are 3kgs to go
– good underwear is essential to the post baby bump/muffin top/roll of fat
– meal replacement bars and a few gym classes a week are the secret to my success
– my skin has not caught up with my fast weight loss
– I did my first step class in 6 years and was red faced for the next hour
– elodie is definitely my easiest baby and is asleep from 7pm almost every night.
– eldodie, you make me want to have more babies
– I don’t think I can do the whole weight loss thing again though
– why do some people have 10kgs to lose after having a baby?
– oh no wait, I know that answer – hot chips, chocolate and overindulging
– retro daddy thought when I said I’m not doing anything for valentines day that it meant don’t buy me flowers
– of course that meant surprise me. He had to go out and come home with flowers at 7pm
– you would think after almost 10 years with me that of course you shouldn’t come home empty handed
– I made keira love heart ham sandwiches for lunch on valentines day and she loved them
– keira tells me she is ‘brain shy’ when it comes to meeting new kindergarteners
– keira got star of the week award at school for safe and gentle hands – 2 days later she pushed her brother over in front of lots of people in the playground and made him cry
– quilts for queensland is well underway and I have to show you how many beautiful things keep arriving
– I love having short hair just as much as I did when I first got it cut
– elodie and her daddy have matching hairstyles
– some mornings when doing keira’s hair for school I think I need to go to hair school

and that is a snapshot of what’s been going on around here lately………….

Filed Under: catholic, parenting, quilting, school

quilted

February 12, 2011 By corrie 34 Comments

Well last night was lots of fun, I lost my voice from all of the talking I was doing (nothing new in that) and I am definitely ‘that lady with all the kids’ but that’s ok. I can live with that. I had one champagne and lots of sparkling water while retro daddy got to enjoy some beers and I suspect mass will be a little quieter this morning as 6pm mass is much more acceptable than 9am after a late night out. Oh and my wardrobe choice was spot on….very happy but I knew I couldn’t go wrong with that little dress.

And on friday I managed to quilt this little quilt. It’s made from a hunky dory honey bun and another fabric from the range. It’s very pretty and floral…just how I like it. The quilting didn’t take me too long and now it’s just waiting to be neatened up and the binding can go on. And I’d kind of like to try this method with rounded corners which I think looks really cute……….

I just love the back which made use of the leftover blocks. Hunky Dory is one of my favourite fabric ranges and I actually have 8 or 9 honey buns ready to go into the store as well as a range of clearance hunky dory fabrics. I just need to find an hour or so to get stuck in. Finding just an hour is hard to do.

Filed Under: free motion quilting, hunky dory

smart casual

February 12, 2011 By corrie 33 Comments

Tonight is the school cocktail party which welcomes new families to the school. We don’t get out much and I’ve met some really lovely ladies at the school so I’m sure it will be a nice night. But I did have a moment of doubt with the dress code……. a sign I don’t get out much. Smart Casual.

You see casual was throwing me there. I was thinking cocktail party and smart casual don’t really go together. Normally I get dressed up to go out for dinner, to weddings or family events but Smart Casual threw me for a bit. This would be a great excuse for a new dress but clothes shopping is still a tad depressing for me and best avoided till I’ve lost all my baby weight. So I had already planned to wear this little country road dress which I can just squeeze into but then I was thinking is that too fancy, will heels make it not smart casual.

the last time I wore my dress – almost 2 years ago!

And I was tossing up wearing a silver sandal so I put it out on facebook and a very nice reader said smart casual needs a heel. And that is why I need……….. 1. get out more and 2. have dress codes explained to me. And now retro daddy needs to sort out his wardrobe as I told him jeans were not on. Apparently they need to be crisp, show no wear and you need a sports coat with it (thank you wikipedia). I have a few outfits in mind for him and have ‘advised’ him that he better not leave it till 7pm to think about what he’s going to wear!

So tell me………….are you in the know with dress codes?

Filed Under: I need to get out more

almost 4 months

February 10, 2011 By corrie 29 Comments

On Sunday, my 4th baby will be 4 months old. I can’t quite believe it. To be honest, I still can’t believe I have 4 children and to think littlest miss is now 4 months old. Wow, it feels like she’s always been in the family and 4 months has gone so quickly. But could she get any cuter? Um no, I don’t think so. But I am biased. And although there is a little tear in the photo this little miss is not one to cry. She would have to be my easiest baby. She wakes up happy and smiling, falls asleep anywhere and especially under her rainforest sounds mobile in less than 5 minutes.

She weighs in at a healthy 7.2 kgs and her thighs are too cute for words. But sometimes I do feel sorry for her, in and out of the car all day now that keira is at school but I make sure she gets lots of cuddles and kisses when we’re not rushing around. And there is plenty of attention from the other mums at school. I’ve never been busier and I’m starting to get that feeling that I’m done and to ~~spoil~~ enjoy her as my last baby………………………..but then I look at photos like these and think oh if I could have just one more! But my problem is one won’t be enough…….

Filed Under: baby, pregnancy

Quilting group

February 9, 2011 By corrie 19 Comments

Just after the twins were born I found a quilting group just around the corner from me. It’s run by a lovely lady called Wendy, you just bring along your own work, sit down and quilt. They are a lovely bunch of ladies and I’m not sure what we talk about for 2 hours but there is always a lot of talking and lots of friendly discussions to join in on.

So after a 2 year absence I rejoined the group on monday night, I was a bit late as I had to get littlest miss asleep before I was ‘allowed’ to leave home. But it was great to just forget about everything going on right now and do some hexagons. I’m going to try to make it a regular babysitting time with retro daddy and maybe, just maybe, I will get my grandmothers flower garden quilt finished. Some people do yoga or meditation…………I craft!

I’ve been using charm square packs for my hexagons and so far have used Hunky Dory, Verna, Bliss and Oliver & S! I still have about 15 hexagon flowers to go but I’m making progress…………..slowly but surely.

oh and you’ll also find me today over at seven cherubs………..I just love large family blogs like Naomi’s because I think 4 is tough so I don’t know how you do 7!

Filed Under: grandmothers flower garden, hexagons, quilting

Quilts for Queensland

February 6, 2011 By corrie 21 Comments

Keira starting school, Elodie in hospital, orders coming in, a house to run, my mum having some really bad days and not getting to see her………..it’s been a crazy week around here and one that I’d like to say goodbye to tonight. Actually, can we just start 2011 all over again. And while we’re at it can I just have a whinge about my children’s behaviour at church today – oh my goodness! I’m going to blame it on the heat as it was just crazy and retro daddy spent most of it in the heat at the playground with the twins and I practically gave myself RSI fanning Elodie with the newsletter to keep her cool.

Morning tea afterwards was fraught with more crying over cordial that had to be in the right cup and removing the licorice icing on the cake and then deciding they didn’t want cake. Oh my, we dragged them away and went to the shops for some sushi and groceries only to hear that the power was off in our suburb. So we took our time and enjoyed the air-conditioning and ‘bought’ ourselves some better behaviour for a while.

relax! these are the opened parcels which are safely stored in plastic in a box for safe keeping!

And despite the crazy week I have had the parcels kept piling up on my doorstep. Now where were we with Quilts for Queensland………I am loving everything that has been sent in and yes I have a few more parcels to open. Thank you beautiful people who have been sending these in, they are just gorgeous.

one of the gorgeous quilt tops sent in by ballarat patchwork

A lovely reader asked am I still doing the project? Absolutely! Nothing like a good distraction and now with the damage from Cycle Yasi we might have to send a few up further north too. I do have a lot of blocks coming in and quilt tops and I’ll be taking a few of you up on the offer of quilting them for me!

Just lovely! Who wouldn’t feel special receiving this quilt by the lovely helen

I’m going to keep showing you more beautiful quilts, tops and blocks this week. If you still haven’t heard from me then give me a couple of days to catch up on my emails before dropping me an email and be sure to put Quilts for Queensland in the subject so I can read and search for it easily. I still owe a few of you emails and my inbox went from full to crazy overflowing when I lost 3 days of my week with littlest princess in hospital but I will get there…..

Filed Under: quilt for queensland, quilting

Sewing 101

February 4, 2011 By corrie 21 Comments

A week or so ago, Farmers Wifey asked where should she start if she’s getting back into sewing! Here are a few things I think might help the beginner sewer……….it wasn’t too long ago that I was pregnant with keira and asked my dad to pull my old bernette out from the garage! It hadn’t been touched in a good 7 years or so and for a couple of sewing sessions I was totally clueless and getting my bobbin thread everywhere and caught up in the bobbin case….it was a mess! I hope this helps you…………….

Just getting started on your machine can be daunting for the beginner or returning sewer. I like how this girl covers the essentials all in less than 10 minutes. Sometimes this is all you need to get cracking and on the right track.

when it comes to first projects you really can’t go past a simple tote, a lunchbag, pillowcase, pincushion, cushion cover, apron, simple elasticised skirt, shirred dress, a bunting and how about this list of 45 bag tutorials! There are so many free resources on the net it’s a great place to start. When you’re a bit more confident don’t forget you can find my little girls dress pattern here – once you’ve mastered a few things you’ll love making it and the trickiest part is just adding the binding and sewing it on.

Unfortunately my easy shorts pattern for Notebook wasn’t copied to the net properly and now that the magazine is closed I am unable to have it changed! And you know what I did don’t you……yep, I never got the original back so I’ll add it to my to never ending to do list to draft again and share on my blog as it’s a great little pattern. Sadly, the actual measurements on the template are not correct and they will turn out teeny tiny!

Got a question about beginner sewing just ask?

Filed Under: beginner sewing, notebook magazine, sewing

Win a copy of Fat Quarterly!

February 3, 2011 By corrie 142 Comments

So one of my big goals for this year is to get more time for my quilting. I’ve done 2 little quilts so far and have one all sandwiched and ready to go. So I’m not doing too bad…considering everything going on right now. I do need some inspiration though. Have you heard about Fat Quarterly? I’ve been seeing the button on a few blogs around the place but hadn’t bought myself an issue……..but I’ve got to say what have I been missing out on! If you love to quilt, sew, lovely fabric and read blogs then this has your name all over it. I settled down on the couch at 3.16pm with a can of diet coke, kids happily playing, elodie fast asleep and enjoyed reading the mag on my laptop (yep, you download it!)

There are so many patterns, tutorials and special offers from sponsors (my favourite places to buy fabric when I’m not buying from my own store). And you know you often buy a quilting magazine from the shop but you think, mmmmmm I just don’t love everything in here, some of it is a bit old fashioned……..nuh – uh, not with this. I just love and want to make everything, EVERYTHING. I am definitely going back to buy some back issues.

And if you’d like a free copy of issue 4 just leave a comment and I’ll pick 3 winners next Friday! Everyone can enter. Too easy! And just click on the picture below for a little sneak peek…..fancy!

Can’t wait and want to subscribe….there is also a special promotion running at the moment where you can get a free pattern from Chasing Cottons, you can find more information here .CONGRATULATIONS TO MUMMA MOMENTS, JANTINE AND MARGIE C FOR WINNING!!!!!!!

Filed Under: blogs, quilting

we are home

February 2, 2011 By corrie 51 Comments

Well, if you were on facebook Tuesday night you would know I was having EWS – you know, Elodie Withdrawal Symptoms. I was missing her so much. Oh my goodness me I’ve never been separated from one of my little bubbas when they’re tiny and it was breaking my heart – 2am and I was wide awake missing her. But I had decided it was better if I was home that night to get keira ready for school. I don’t know how mummies of little ones who are in and out of hospital do it. I’m exhausted!

I got keira off to school, the twins had major meltdowns when they realised I wasn’t letting them on the play equipment and that keira was NOT coming home with us. Tillie decided to have one of her monumental screaming outbursts all the way back to the car…what a lovely first impression I was making! But I kept holding her hand and walked her back to the car with a smile on my face…you’ll get much more understanding if you do that rather than react and freak out.

I raced back to the hospital and smothered Elodie in cuddles and kisses. I had joked that I might do a chariots of fire run through the corridors but the twins were just as excited to see their daddy so we took it at a brisk pace and I was back with my little baby. It was a long day and I kept falling asleep in the big red chair until finally we were released at dinner time to go home.

Little elodie is on antibiotics until she is 6 months old to ensure this doesn’t happen again and she is still a bit cranky and tired. And I don’t know how she manages it but she always has a smile for everyone. She always had to get the dr or nurse’s attention so that she could smile at them. I’m glad she can keep smiling. It has been a very exhausting past few days and I’ve had to get updates on my mum through text messages. I hope to get over and see her tomorrow. Thank you for your lovely words of encouragement, I’m ready for life to slow down just a little for us now………….

Filed Under: hospital

So much to tell you – Part 2

February 1, 2011 By corrie 63 Comments

So one of the biggest events in a ~~mummy’s~~ parent’s life is when one of their children starts school for the first time. And nothing could be more special than when the first one heads off to school. I have been waiting for this day to come for so long. I had it all planned out, the nanny was coming at 8 to mind the twins, retro daddy had the day off work, there was morning tea afterwards and I had a pick of 2 nice dresses to wear. But all of those plans went out the window with Elodie in the hospital. Retro Daddy came to swap with me in the morning but he was running late. It meant my worst nightmare – not having lots of time to get ready in the morning. I raced home in peak hour traffic to get keira ready for school and worked hard not rushing her so that she wouldn’t feel pressured.

she knows it all!

I had 45 minutes to get breakfast done, lunch made, keira dressed, hair done, photos taken and take her to school. That gave me a total of 2 minutes to get ready but I was starting from the back of the pack since I’d been in the hospital since 12.30 the previous day. So I had time for fresh underwear, deodorant, blush, change of earrings and a new top. No nice dress. I didn’t even have time to try anything on. Now anyone who knows me knows that I like to look nice when I leave the house for things like this. I like wearing a nice dress. Getting to school and seeing most of the other mummies looking nice in their dresses and skirts just about broke my heart. I was still wearing jeans from the day before. Thankfully a few mums were casual too, I could just about go up and kiss them as it made me feel better (I’m wearing a nice dress each day for the rest of the week btw)

one tired mummy on 2 hours sleep and a 2 minute freshen up

I was getting choked up before we’d even left home. I was telling keira how proud I was of her, that she was going to learn how to read and write and that mummy and daddy had been waiting for this day for so long. My heart was breaking that her daddy couldn’t be walking in with her, but I was so grateful he sacrificed it to let me go. I love that husband of mine, honest. We had a bit of time for photographs and her big ballet friends in year 6 came up and made a big fuss over my little keira. They looked after her at morning tea too. So sweet but now she wants her ears pierced, a pink watch and a bracelet!!

they did a short assembly outside, said the hail mary where keira did the cutest sign of the cross (so proud of her) and then they called up each new kindy child and family and introduced us to the rest of the school (great, wish I was wearing something nicer and had retro daddy with me). Then it was time to go into her classroom. Hold it together Corrie, I kept telling myself. She got the teacher we wanted and her place was right up the front next to some really cute little boys. Does she talk to boys, apparently not. Then we were told it was time to say our goodbyes and go to morning tea. With a heart full of pride and joy and absolute amazement that my little 4 1/2 year old was taking all of this in her stride, I covered her in kisses and walked out. Trying very hard not to cry.

I grabbed a few essentials and headed back to the hospital to swap with retro daddy. He collected keira and was so excited too. Thankfully he is already such a school dad that he popped into the front office to say hi (I know, what a great dad!) and they reminded him that keira’s maths assessment was at 1.30pm! Thank goodness as I had totally forgotten. So Keira and her daddy enjoyed a sushi lunch for 2 and went back to school for her assessment and apparently more chit chat with her older buddies.

And that was the first day of school. Did it go to plan. No way. Was it special. Absolutely. People cared more about Elodie than what I was wearing, the nanny arrived at 8am and saved my bacon by making keira’s lunch, dressing everyone, entertaining them and taking photos before we left and one of us stayed by our precious Elodie the whole time. Phew, now to do it all over again tomorrow. And I don’t know why I was so worried about ‘school mums’, everyone was lovely and friendly and one mum even called our house last night to check that everything was fine with Elodie. Lovely. And I have a great new diet secret…..lock yourself up in a hospital room and worry about your baby for 36 hours and the first day of school and you’ll drop almost a kilo! It’s been a huge reality check that my number one job is to focus on my little ones and everything else will require more time or more help from others or just more understanding from others.

Filed Under: catholic, retro daddy, school