Indie

I've started lots of posts this week about Indie. I've edited, deleted, been unable to finish, walked away when I couldn't find the words.

I've mused on broken hearts, and puppy love, and guilt, and joy and awesome memories.
I've thought about an addiction to tennis balls, slobbery heads out car windows, a dog who couldn't sit still in the back of a ute.
I've remembered a friend who would follow you around the yard and drop at the right opportunity for a scratch on the belly. A crazy dog who rocked backwards and forwards under trees, and no vet could ever figure out why.
I've laughed at the memory of the first time she barked and scared herself. Of the fish carcass she once brought back to camp that stank the whole place out. Of the way she used to run into the surf after a tennis ball, only to start backing up as soon as her feet didn't touch the bottom.

I've shared the story of the first day I met her. The one puppy sitting in the window of a pet store, not moving, not crying, just staring at all the people rushing past. Until her and I made eye contact, and our lives together were sealed.

I've cried thinking about the way I found her on Sunday night. Lying on her side on the lawn, almost paralysed with a tiny, destructive tick sticking out of her ear. I've felt guilt and also relief at the decision we made early Monday morning. And I know she is at peace.

Indie was the kind of dog who won over cat people. She lived with lots of other dogs and was never the leader of the pack. She never hurt a fly. She sat content at your feet for hours. She wagged her tail almost constantly.

She was very loved, and will be very, very missed.

Awesome stuff I've bought on Etsy. Part II

Handmade forms a big part of my life.
Not just from Etsy, but from Local Markets, family and friends, plus things we make for ourselves.

Of course, Etsy continually comes up with the goods when it comes to hunting for gorgeous things.
Here are a few more purchases I have made that have enriched my life.

I own a lot of earrings. I would say "too many" if I even believed in such a thing!
There is a dazzling array of talented Jewellery artists on Etsy. I found elsiee through a trade and ended up with these amazing earrings. They are definately one of my favourite pairs, I wear them at least once a week.

Honestly, if you have never used handmade soap, I want you to go out and get some at the first opportunity! It is so much better than store-bought soap. It has a richness and texture that is just beautiful.
We have a dish of Handmade soap in the bathroom. I've bought soap from a few different Etsian Sellers. My favourites are without a doubt fellow Aussie Sellers, Inner Earth Soaps and Patti Flynn. Both have a constantly changing array of soaps.
The plate, by the way, is also handmade. Picked up at the Coober Pedy Underground Pottery on my travels around Australia in 2005. These two gorgeous prints adorn the wall of the Munchkin's room. We bought a bunch of fantastic bright frames from Ikea and are filling them with art that she can appreciate now for the colours, but also grow into as she gets older.
These prints are both by talented Aussie artists (see a theme here?). The one in the left is from Serpent Mandalas and the gorgeous Bee is from Sweet Witchetty.

Keep buying Handmade!

If I go missing for a while.

It's because I am here:

Yep. That's my favourite room in the house. Every time I go in there to clean it up I see something - a scarf I am knitting, a pile of fabric that looks fantastic together - a scrap book page I am working on ... and that's it, I'm gone for hours. The wookie comes looking for me, often accompanied by a hungry baby.
Right now, in addition to the pile of mending and projects I want to complete - my Tax papers are hidden in there somewhere. And I want my money! So, I guess, today, if I go missing for a while, that's where I'll be. Not patchworking or pasting or sewing buttons onto anything. But actually tidying up, actually cleaning the space that has been in a state of "creative chaos" since we moved in here 5 months ago.

I will post pics when it is clean again.
*If, it gets clean again.

Awesome stuff I've bought on Etsy. Part I

Since I discovered Etsy I have been far more focused on buying beautiful things than selling them! Handmade goods have a warmth and joy that you don't find when buying stuff at Kmart.

If you've never washed with handmade soap, wrapped your baby in a handmade quilt, worn beautiful handmade jewellery, stuffed your belongings in a handmade bag, you truly are missing out.

My house is now full of gorgeous things.
For example:
Are these not the cutest overalls you ever saw? I couldn't resist the butt shot so you can see the gorgeous print. These were made by Little Squidgen, and I can't wait until her store is fully stocked again so I can get more. This painting - "Dot Goddess" sits above my sewing table in my craft room. I got it from Ranzangel who is a lovely Etsian! She makes all kinds of fun goodies including little clay critters. Check her shop out!I have all kinds of baby wraps and slings, but this one from Raspberry Baby was so great when Millie was a couple of weeks old. She would snuggle right into me in this beautifully comfy wrap! It's a lovely store and full of great baby gifts too.



Oh there are so many more, but I think I will pace myself!
I'd love to hear about your favourite Etsy purchases too

Yep. More pictures of a cute baby with food on her face.

I was first introduced to the idea of "Baby Led Solids" when I was a heavily pregnant. A foodie friend in the UK knew it was the kind of thing to interest me, and sent me a link to this article.

I was intrigued by the idea, and it also seemed to make a lot of sense. Already in my pregnancy I was starting to see that some modern ideas of baby rearing just didn't click with me.
I was determined to breastfeed and to have the baby in our room until she was at least 6 months old. Cots and Bottles and disposable nappies all seemed a bit modern and a bit far away from hundreds of thousands of years of evolution.

When Millie arrived she certainly did turn us on our head, and the journey we took from bassinet to co-sleeping, the struggle involved for her to be fully breastfed, the realisation that she didn't have to sleep on her own in her own room to be the perfect baby(or even what people call a "good" baby) - all those things shaped us as people and as parents, and I'm sure I will post about them in the future!

At around 5 months we started her on solids. The World Health Organisation recommendation is currently that babies are exclusively breastfed until 6 months old, then solids are introduced. As a baby I started eating Rice Cereal at 4 months, as I'm sure most people my age did. To me the balance was somewhere in the middle. She seemed ready, she could sit up comfortably in a high chair, was reaching for our plates and constantly watched us when we were eating.


We started by giving her a few rusks. Both to develop the hand-mouth co-ordination and also because she was teething at the time. She loved them - to eat, to rub in her hair, to poke at toys with. It was food, and it was fun.
We moved on to vegies that I had cooked at home - and I panicked. I blended them to a puree, convinced it was the only way she would eat them. For about a month, she ate pureed vegies, mashed fruit, the occasional jar of pureed baby food, yoghurt and mashed banana, mashed avocado. And solids were a success, every new flavour and texture was greeted with joy and very cute little "mmmmmm...... mmmmmm" sounds as she ate. She loved food, loved mealtime and would get grumpy if I was running late with her lunch.


A couple of weeks ago we were on holidays and stuck on a long car trip. In slight desperation I handed Millie a slice of bread. She had previously eaten some of my toast crusts in the morning, so I knew it would be ok.
She LOVED it.
She ate the whole thing.
She wanted more.

The next couple of days were a lot of fun as we gave her anything she had previously eaten mashed - but this time, in baby "nibble sticks". She ate steamed carrot, steamed zuchinni, broccoli, sweet potato, avocado sticks, banana sticks. One night she sat on a towel on the floor with a pile of spaghetti, nibbling and sucking and chasing it around the floor.

And now I can't rave enough about it! Yes, it's much messier. Yes, meal time takes a lot longer as she concentrates on picking up slippery bits of banana, or figures out how to suck on slices of pear to get the juice out. But what a joy to watch. How awesome to see her discovering the delights of food, to control how much and what she eats. She adores broccoli, and vegemite toast, and roast pumpkin, and I can only hope she continues to have a healthy and loving attitude to food.

Besides, who could resist that face?

Baby's First Icecream

Well, baby's first attempt at eating Mama's Icecream.

She spotted it, and she wanted it. So we gave her a tiny spoonful.
Which of course led to this:


Oh yeah lady, we can have Icecream for lunch anytime.

Well here we go I guess.
So many people I know have Blogs these days, even my own Wookie occasionally rants and rambles online. I admit to being a Blog whore and reading lots of Mama blogs and Craft Blogs and Blogs that bitch about Etsy.
So what kind will this be?
Perhaps a little of all of those. Perhaps I won't ever talk about any of those things. Who knows?

I would expect lots of ramblings about Breastfeeding and Travel and Craft and Customer Service and Food and anything else that grabs my attention.
Do I think you will care what I have to say? Perhaps. If you are as much of a stickybeak as me, you won't be able to get enough of other people's lives and the pure voyuerism that the internet affords.