A baby girls room.

I love that  Mollie's room is finally coming together.
Up until recently it has been choc-a-block full of piles of clothing to sort, baby gear to return and random bric-a-brac. I've been working my way through the things, a box here and a box there. I'd love to say it's all gone to new homes, but I've actually just got it down enough to fit the rest in the cupboard! Whoops!

Mols has been sleeping in her cot in the evenings lately, too. Amazing! She is slowly (verrrry slowly) beginning to despise her bed less and less, occasionally even agreeing to lie down without a boo in her mouth! This might not seem like a biggy, but to someone who usually has to bend over the cot like a gymnast and slip the boob out of her mouth when she is asleep enough not to notice? HUGE step!

I haven't changed too much about the room since Otto was in it. We kept the jungle curtains and cot bumper, and continued with the 'bright pops of colour' theme. Just a few wee girly touches are starting to creep in - the dresses on the closet door, a doll amongst the teddies, a little purple mirror, and so on. I have no doubt the girliness will just increase from now on though, I'm not fooling anyone. Haha. I do hope to avoid being overrun by glitter though.. remind me of that in a year or two!

My absolute favourite parts of the room are the yo-yo quilt I spend a (very) long year making around the time Otto arrived, the amazing stuffed elephant I found at the op shop last year, my Cloud of Birds softie (the guy in the top set of pictures, with the rabbit ears and embroidered body), the vintage Fisher Price record player we bought when I was pregnant with Aesop, and the piles of bedding. There's something about blankets and quilts all piled up.
There's something about babies' rooms in general, actually. How on earth am I going to cope with getting rid of this stuff when my babies are all grown? Yikes, it doesn't bear thinking about!

(I took these photos to practise using the manual function on my camera - the lighting is terrible in Mollie's little room, so it was a good challenge. Still a bit of practicing to do though!)

Collections/amassings.

Amy and I were texting about collections a wee while ago, and I said I wasn't sure I really collected anything. Both she and Abraham disagreed. So I picked up my camera and walked around the house looking for collections, and realised, as I looked, that I 'collect' a lot of things. Some of them are more deliberate collections than others, but there are lots of lovely little groupings.

Deer - I've added three more since this photo, so perhaps this is becoming quite an 'actual' collection rather than just a smattering of figures I happen to have found one day at the op shop.

Children's artwork- This one is perhaps inevitable when you have kiddos, but is still one of my favourites. I love watching the progression and improvement in motor skills and seeing the different perceptions.
(Yes, the lady is saying 'I wish I was as pretty as Mum'. Precious, no?)

Robots - These are actually Abraham's collection. He usually receives one on each birthday/Christmas.  He also collects records ( about 2000 of them...) but the lighting in our hallway is so miserable I couldn't photo graph the record shelves.

Religious/catholic iconry - This one surprises a lot of people. I'm not a religious person at all (still waiting for for something to ring true) but I'm intensely drawn to this sort of thing. I also have some bigger statues in the kitchen, and lots of paintings but those are all packed up in the shed as this house has no wall space for them.

Tea cups - For someone who doesn't like hot drinks, I have a rather silly amount of tea cups. This is just a few of them! Lots of these belonged to my Nana, some came from a cafe I worked at (we served tea in them and when handles would break I was allowed to take them home and glue them..) and others have been gifted or thrifted. There's just something so lovely and ladylike about them!

Tins - This collection is quite a bit smaller than some - consisting of just these and two more. It's another one that has happened over time, rather than purposely. The baking powder and Milo tins were found in Abraham's Mum's shed, the Maltexo tin on the end was sold to me filled with buttons, and the two in the middle were bought at the one and only auction I've ever attended. It was the only lot I could afford!

So there you have it, a few of the collections around the house (I did find more.. fabric, buttons, bright knitting needles, crown lynn dinner plates, wool blankets.. the list goes on..)
Funny what you don't realise you've collected, huh?

Pretty things - Part 1.

 Last week Abraham had a few days off, so we took Aesop out of school (naughty, I know..) and headed to visit my Mother-in-law for a day.
Kaye is living in a house that has been in the family for a long, long time. It belongs to an elderly family member who has recently gone into a home. I think I've mentioned in on my blog before, the place is magical. It is like a museum, with very little touched (or thrown away) since the 50's and 60's.
I asked, and was kindly allowed, to photograph some of the things in the house this visit. I wanted to document it all before any major changes happen!
There are a million photos, but I thought I'd share a few. I'll do it in two or three parts over the next few days, just to keep things interesting. I hope you guys enjoy them as much as I do!

(A rainbow of petticoats, to change the look of the sheer-fabric 50's dresses. Oh my, style was so good back then.)

 (I took a photo of myself in each of the mirrors in the house - I felt like it made the photos more personal, or something.)

(I love that the walls in the hallway are painted lime green - so unexpected!)

 (Yes, a whole room just for pot plants. Apparently there used to be more plants and things, and it would attract lots of little skinks (lizards). Imagine exploring this room as a child!)

 I can't wait to show you more, and also the huge garden that Kaye, and her Partner Chris, have put in. It's got me al inspired to change a few things around here. Hopefully it will inspire you too!