Taking Stock : May

(Photos from my Instagram account. You can find me at @christinalowrydesigns. Come and say hello!)

Making : A striped knitted baby blanket for a friend
Baking : Banana bread - then thinking I should have made a double batch
Drinking : Loose leaf tea
Reading: 'Love and Summer' William Trevor
Wanting: A garden full of flowers
Looking: At the rainbow lorrikets that come to eat our neighbours flowers
Playing: Lego with the little ones
Deciding: To attend a whole sale or Bridal Fair next year
Wishing: My sister wasn't so far away
Enjoying: Library trips with the little ones
Waiting: For my 'Real Australians Say Welcome' poste
Liking: The #mystillsundaycompetition hashtag pretties
Loving: That my big boy is devouring chapter books.
Pondering: My little boys first birthday.
Considering: What to buy the third child, when they need nothing? 

Thinking: I would like to have his portrait sketched or painted.

Buying: Delightful, pastel, porcelain bird whistles at a market.
Watching: 'Jane Austin and her many lovers' on iview.
Marvelling: A how quickly bubba's first year has flown by.
Missing: The view of the sea and the river we had last week in Yamba.
Needing: More holidays!
Waiting: For more episodes of 'Vikings'
Wearing: A second hand swing coat I brought while we were away.: 
Noticing: How many Myna birds there are now
Getting: New postcards with images from the photo shoot. Can't wait!
Pinning: Linen kitties that make big and little girls swoon. 
Coveting: A group of creative business owners to discuss my business ideas with.
Feeling: Excited about doing the Red Hill Fair on 25th July
Hearing: Three year old Emerson 'reading' to Oscar

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Joining in with Pip.

The best laid plans...

I woke up yesterday morning miserable with a cold. And with that my Mother's Day lunch and dinner plans were put aside and a prescription of rest, reading and knitting taken up instead. My dear Cohen has been suffering from the same cold, as were half his classmates when we Mama's visited the classroom Friday afternoon for our Mother's Day afternoon tea. But while it may not slow down a five year old too much, it certainly has quite the effect on a heavily pregnant Mama.

Still, there was the rare opportunity to read in bed all day, in an empty house. And rarer still, I started and finished a book in a single day. The wonderful Girl With A Pearl Earring by Tracey Chevalier. It was the kind of book I didn't want to put down. Fortuitous indeed.

Regardless of the broken plans, my little people showered me in love and kisses, helped their Dada cook for me, and presented me with gifts. 

What more could a mother ask for?

I hope your Mother's Day was wonderful.

10 lovely things

1. New bangles
2. The first of the Black Russian and Roma tomatoes
3. One of the last baskets full of cherry tomatoes from the garden
4. A home for my seeds (On sale for $10 at Spotlight)
5. 'Afternoon tea' beads wrapped in vintage sewing patterns and off to their new homes
6. Another amazing sunset
7. The first rose from my garden
8. Parsley flowering
9. Ready for the oven
10. My little love

Fonder

Tomorrow Dave comes home after a week away for work. I think the anticipation of him leaving was actually the worst part. My urge to cook (or wash the clothes and dishes) seemed to leave with him. There may have been sausages and pasta more than once for dinner this week. We found our rhythm though, us three.

Today I restocked the pantry, brought supplies for the garden and got the washing up to date. I have been Spring cleaning, de-cluttering and rearranging our little special items and decorations. I brought a special bunch of roses too. Tomorrow we'll welcome him home with a clean house, a newly rolling baby and a wife with a re-discovered appreciation of her husband.