trolley dolly

First time in a trolley! Weeeee she looked so grown up and charmed the pants off everyone in the supermarket! Man, I love her!

P.S oh yeah she wouldn't sit in the red baby seat thingo...go figure!

Hello, Road

Where have we been? We've been down south hoorah! Last weekend we flipped Tallulah's car seat and decided to go down to Peppermint Grove Beach to visit my Dad who lives down there! I was curious to see if Tallulah would fuss in the car for the whole 3 hour drive but flipping the seat was the best thing we've done...! She slept till Bunbury then we had some lunch and stretched our legs then for the rest of the drive she fell back to sleep! Yeeeeha- high5!

We only stayed 1 night but it was fun to hang out, drink wine and eat home-cooked food! Tallulah had fun exploring a new house and we took her down to the beach but it was freezing and really windy! It was delightful and the little lady slept the WHOLE way back to Perth! So this little test-drive was super successful. Bring on summer roadtrips!

squirrelling

You would have to be living under a rock to not know about all the crazy toy sales that are going on at the moment. Insane! Ross & I are not the biggest fan of all those plastic-y, gaudy coloured, light-flashing toys but you know what? kids love them. I still would prefer to buy Tallulah quality wooden toys or buy handmade but I also think its nice to have a variety of toys so she can enjoy them all!

Some of the ladies in my mother's group were pretty much frothing at the mouth and bought trolley-fulls of toys- but I didn't really fall in love with much...but I decided to buy a few things for Christmas/Birthdays!

So I bought a Fisher-Price telephone for $9 as I'm pretty sure I had one when I was little. I like the vintage looking face and she enjoys playing with the dial. I bought a Fisher-Price singing teapot set for $19 (half price!) which is actually adorable and Tallulah's face was all types of excitement when I showed it to her in the shop. So I think I will give this to her for her Birthday. I bought this blow up pool with 50 coloured balls for $12 which I think is pretty fun and will great for summer so this is a Christmas present. Thats it! I think I did alright!

My Mum bought Tallulah the trike above for her first birthday- she is one lucky lady! This trike is going to be SO much fun for us too- lots of walks around Hyde Park! I like that it converts to being a independent trike later when she is older enough! I think the rest of my present-buying will be done at my favourite gift stores (thats you Store, Ware, Pigeonhole & Zero to Ten) and online at Etsy! I have spied this doll by Goodbye Blue Monday which I'm pretty sure I am going to get Lula for her birthday...its simply perfect! Weeeeee I get excited just thinking about birthdays/parties/Christmas!

Gapfiller

So I have been loving Channel 10's Offspring I was bit sad when the season finished up this week. I've been a fan from the beginning and distinctly remember making my Mum and Ross endure episodes last year when we moved in with Mum just before we left for overseas. They both hate it and think Nina is annoying I beg to differ.

I enjoy her neurotic behaviour, her voice in her head and her crazy family. I am pretty sure every lady has a bit of Nina in her. I know I do. It also makes me want to move to Melbourne immediately. I've enjoyed all the characters and tear-jerking story lines this season and can't wait for the next but in the mean time I will fill my Offspring gap with more of The Block...not sure why but I am also loving all these renovation shows...nesting much? haha

P.S I am totes Team Patrick!

2 turntables and a microphone

A bazillion years ago when I was young, footloose and fancy free I remember a friend of ours told us that he had a theory that once you had kids the music you were listening to at this point of time will be the music you will listen to for the rest of your life. He asked me what music do you parents listen to? And sure enough my Mum still turns up the radio when she hears Duran Duran's Hungry like the Wolf which was a hit in the year I was born....and the more I think about it her favourite music is all from the 80's so think Elton John, Paul Simon and Phil Collins. Okay, she does enjoy Michael Buble but who's mum doesn't?!

This was uncanny but kind of freaked me out a little. Music is a massive part of Ross' and my life. I can't imagine our always growing itunes library to suddenly stop and become stagnant. We are always searching for new albums and love discovering new music and introducing each other to it. When Tallulah was born I remember Ross and I were going through an obsession with The National. I'm pretty sure this was the first album Tallulah experienced with her mini ears! This album will probably be a favourite for the rest of our lives but hopefully we'll keep listening to new music and our style is ever-growing!

Well I'm pretty sure we are safe because we purchased a bunch of new music this weekend! These are a few albums which I am loving at the moment and are on high rotation; Elbow- Build a Rocket, Boys!, Seeker Lover Keeper- Self Titled, Fleet Foxes- Helplessness Blues & Belles will Ring- Crystal Theatre. I am also listening to The Grates new single Turn me On and San Cisco's single Golden Revolver and patently waiting for their albums to be released!

So, what do you think? Do you think you'll still be listening to the music you are listening to now forever?

8bit hero

Tallulah is officially 8 months. W-O-W! I am enjoying this age. She is fun, super active, babbles all day long and cracks some super gummy smiles. It melts my heart. Since moving her into her own room she is sleeping a whole lot better; think only waking 2am and 6am which could count as our start of our day but we snuggle in our bed till 8am! She is still hitting her milestones like its going out of fashion! She currently does the following cute tricks;

-crawls REALLY fast
-pulls herself up onto everything
-she can climb stairs/boxes/toys
-stopped just falling over and can lower herself onto her bum (yay! less bruises!)
-walks along things; couch, tv cabinet
-sometimes tests out whether she can stand by herself without holding onto to anything
-has 2 teeth
-loves drinking water from her sippy cup but don't put breast milk or formula in there because she's onto you!
-babbles all day long and says 'dada' 'mumma' but not in relation to either Ross or I
-likes to open and closes things like doors
-obsessed with playing in the bathroom if she happens to make it past the babygate
-loves powercords/switches
-has major separation anxiety-like.can.not.leave.room.without.tears.

The one thing that did worry/concern/stress me out but I was assured everything was okay is that Tallulah is on the small side. Obviously I know she is a wee one but when the chart in the purple book tells me this it kind of concerned me. Everything else is all dandy but she needs to pile on some kilos- stat! She is weighing in at just under 6.5kg so we are now feeding her solids/finger foods at every possible opportunity and then offering milk. The nurse told me that since Tallulah has really only accepting food recently and she was a itty-bitty baby and she is super active these were the reasons for her light-as-a-feather weight. She also assured me that I really shouldn't give it a second thought as she is happy, developing and had a small birth weight! But, you know the whole mama thing you can't help worrying a little....So now we are eating 5 times a day! Hurrah!

Its such a pleasure to be this little girls mama! She is definitely the apple of my eye (oh and her dad!)

slither

We live in an old 1930's apartment which means beautiful polished floorboards, high ceiling but also winter draughts! We noticed on one blustery evening a strong chilly breeze floating through our french doors which open up into the balcony. So I decided to make this little lady today! I have named her Delilah  the door snake! I sewed a long sausage shape out of some old curtains then filled her with rice and gave her a felt tongue and some sexy bobble eyes! She keeps our room nice and warm! Welcome Delilah...!

p-town

Our weekend was pretty darn great! It was one of those weekends which makes me love this city I live in! Saturday morning we got up late cooked up some chicken and avocado croissants and then decided it would be nice to walk into the city and check out the Pigeonhole sale!

We wandered in and bumped into an old friend which is always nice. We got to Pigeonhole (the one in Bon Marche arcade) and ordered some coffees from Cabin Fever and perused through the racks. I found an AH-mazing knitted sculptural scarf for a ridiculous cheap price and Ross picked out some super cute retro shorts which he didn't try on and ended up being too small (boys! haha) I also purchased some SUPER cute things for Tallulah; 4 DUNS dresses for summer (I am super obsessed with this label and have perhaps purchased some more online thanks to Desert Darling's recommendation of the online store Love it Love it Love it) some cute little girl clips for Christmas (hopefully she will have some hair?) and some for our little nieces and this cute owl pin which I'll probably also put in Tallulahs Christmas stocking! I'm pretty excited for Christmas but lets not go there haha! We also bumped into 2 of our other friends- I love it when this happens!

Then we went to 140william to have lunch at Iku Sushi. I had read about their cheeseburger sushi and was perhaps a little intrigued. This place is super cute and reminds me a little of Japan, slightly kitsch with kawaii touches like napkins which have ties printed on them! Tallulah enjoyed some rice and we gave our burger sushi the thumbs up!

Then we strolled back home via Bivouac Canteen which I have been dying to go to since it opened a couple of weeks ago and got a coffee and spied on the food and made a mental note that we must return immediately and dine on their delicious food. The rest of Saturday we lazed around, teethed, ate Thai and watched Harry Potter.

Sunday was also topnotch in the weather department so we decided to bike ride to Maylands and grab some coffee and breakfast. It was DEE-lightful! We couldn't get into our favourite cafe for breakfast so we wandered down 8th Ave and found another cafe to dine at. Then of course we bumped into one of our best friends and had an impromptu cake date at Mrs S. Seriously this is one thing I LOVE about Perth is that you are bound to bump into someone you know! Aw warm fuzzies!

chomp chomp

We've have been asked since Tallulah was about 3 months "Oh is she teething?" I think this was because she has always liked to gnaw on her fingers and put everything in her mouth. We haven't had one tooth which secretly pleased me as I am terrified of her biting my boob! But then on Monday she decided to chew my finger and I felt something sharp- Tallulah officially has a tooth! So cute! I think that is what had been obviously troubling her the last couple of weeks. She has been grumbly and restless even to the point of having to leave brunch earlier as she was being really whingy! But this week I have my little happy camper back! Teething sucks!

faire une affaire (french for BARGAIN!)

Um, so the weather is ah-mazing at the moment think 21, sunny and simply divine! Its seriously the best weather- chilly enough for tights but sunny enough for sunglasses. We've been hitting the pavement and soaking in some winter rays oh and doing some shopping. A pass-time I enjoy quite a lot! Whilst shopping for some things for Tallulahs rooms I may have found these AWESOME shoes! Seriously do they not look like these french shoe Bensimons? Well, they are the poor mans cousin and they cost me a whopping $4.85! They have been on my feet ever since and they are oh-so comfy. Tallulah has also been sporting some shoes and it seems her collection is growing. Baby shoes are completely impractical but really darn cute.

Note; I just read that Bensimon are releasing a kids collection. I die.

all full up

What a difference a week makes!  Far from my grumblings of being cooped up in the house we have been spreading the Renee and Tallulah love around. We caught up with two of my oldest and dearest girlfriends for morning tea last Friday. We've been friends since we were 6! Isn't that crazy! One of the ladies was due to have her baby during the next week so it was the last time we'd see her before she became a mama. Tallulah also taught herself to climb stairs whilst we were gossiping...though she is not so good on climbing down haha.

Then it was off to afternoon tea with one of my bestest friends who was in town from Melbourne for work and we managed to get in a sneaky cake date at Sherbet. If you live in Perth and love cake go here. Just do it!

Saturday night Tallulah was babysat by my Mum so Ross and I could celebrate one of my girlfriends wedding, which actually took place in New York (she was proposed to then they got married the next day, oh-so romantic!) They threw a party in the CBD for all their friends and family! Tallulah knew something was up and took ages to get to sleep but finally she went down around 8:30pm so we didn't miss out on that many cocktails!

On Sunday we went for brunch with my babygroup at Jodie & Steve's house. It was ace! I hadn't seen the ladies (and man!) for 2 weeks as people had been away and the weather was grim. It was so nice to catch up with them aswell as their husbands/partners! We ate delicious brekky tarts with my homemade relish, banana bread and fruit. It was also pretty cool to see that two of Tallulah's little baby friends were also crawling! Hurrah some buddies to explore with. They had a ball.

Ross had the Monday off and the weather was wet and super chilly so we decided to warm up with a breakfast date at Cantina then in the afternoon we did a little shopping and stopped by Five Bar and had a sneaky hot chocolate with a dash of spiced rum! Meanwhile Tallulah was none the wiser and slept in her pram. We capped the night off with homemade rhubarb and apple crumble.

Tuesday, Tallulah and I met the ladies with babies at a local Yum Cha restaurant and dined on many a dumpling then a couple of us wander onto The Cultural Centre for a coffee at Polly and to sit in the sunshine and chat! Nice day. Then I strolled back home and caught the train to Fremantle to have dinner with Ross' family. Tallulah fell asleep in her baby carrier on the train, too cute!

On Wednesday I had organised to meet up with Ross' mum, his sister and her two kiddos and my mum for lunch at Stickybeaks in Kings Park. It was kids paradise. Chloe our 3-year old niece was in heaven! It was a great day of playing with the kiddos and hanging with the family. Later that afternoon I found out my girlfriend had a little girl named Indiana Faye...so excited for Tallulah to get to know her! Indi is so beautiful and I'm pretty sure our girls will be best friends for ever haha!

Yesterday I had Tallulah's 8-month check up in the morning (I'll do a post on that another day!) then I met my new friend Dee and her little boy Milo at Lincoln's for a coffee then we took a stroll around Hyde Park to soak up some more rays and gossip!

Phew! What a week! Such a great week filled with friends and fun times! I hope you have had a great week and have a super weekend!

a change of scenery

looking pretty pleased with her new room!

super cute decal (though a bitch to put up!)

she is the cutest!

chnage table has a new home!

crazy rug is fun and warm!

thanks for the rocker mum!

There has been a rather big change in our household and its pretty neat! I have a confession; Tallulah was still sleeping in our room at age 71/2 months. Well, that was until 2 weeks ago when I had a mini meltdown about how my life was total consumed by this little human even my bedroom had been taken over and it used to be my sanctuary; where I would read, chat to Ross about everything and nothing and just chill. However for the last 6 months we've had Tallulah sleeping in our room which was intense. It meant we had to be super quiet and it wasn't working. Every movement was starting to make her stir and I must say I was getting little to no sleep! Sooooooo.....we turned our sewing/wardrobe/storage room into Tallulahs new room! HURRAH!

It is super. Not only was it really fun to decorate it, Tallulah, Ross and I are all loving it. She is not waking up as much and she loves exploring and playing on the colourful rug. I was a little paranoid the first couple of nights that I wouldn't hear her but you can definitely hear her squawk but for peace of mind I went out and bought a Tomy baby monitor which is ace. It even plays lullabies and is a night light.

So, the fun part was decorating her room. I know most mums probably get to do this when they are pregnant but for obvious reasons I missed out! Decorating is actually one of my favourite things. I didn't go too mad but when on a little excursion to Ikea and bought some cute things. I purchased this colourful rug, this comfy pillow and these cute storage containers for my change table. I found this adorable dog laundry basket from Kmart and purchased the forrest critters decal from ebay for $6 and Mum gave me this old Ikea rocker she wasn't using and hey presto for about $120 in total we got ourselves a super fun, colourful room! OMG this change has been for the best!

P.S I have been a little behind with my blogging....so many things to share so keep posted!

good face

my daily beauty fix; batiste dry shampoo, mineral foundation,clinique moisteriser, rimmel concealer, lancome lipstick, mac mascara, nars lip gloss, nars blush

things that make me still feel like Renee; vintage scarves, 2x large rings which I feel naked without, Daisy by Marc Jacobs, bee necklace, vintage earrings

hello, sally hansen nail strips- best invention ever!

We all know that having a tiny human in the house means less sleep, less 'me' time and generally less time for doing things of any sorts. Before Tallulah I would spend about 30-45 minutes getting ready in the mornings (which I still think is pretty good for a girly-girl!) I would carefully plan outfits, do my make-up and hair. Now I am lucky to get 10 minutes to myself to do all of this. I think my style hasn't changed all that much however comfort, easy access and quick results are what I'm now after.

I have found I don't really plan my outfits all that much it usually depends on what is clean however you'll never see this mama in a tracksuit! I used to own a vintage shop which means my wardrobe is stocked with pretty vintage dresses which I like to couple with tights/leggings and cardigans! However as many of these frocks are high necked a lot of them have been pushed to the back of the cupboard as I'm still breastfeeding and need easy access (though a few are still in high rotation!). Breastfeeding has changed what I wear in a major way. This winter I do confess I have embraced jeans and have found a bunch of super cute tops from Asos (how good is Asos!?) which now make up my daily uniform. I have always loved accessories and now love them a little more because seriously a scarf, a great ring and a cute necklace can make a simple outfit a little more special and deviate the eye from that dried up babyfood/drool!

My beauty routine has probably changed the most. I used to carefully do my make-up each morning and do the whole she-bang; eye liner, lipstick, eyeshadow, full foundation etc (note; I always tried to do that whole 'I'm wearing makeup but you can't tell' natural look which is always hard to achieve, right?!) but now I my routine is pretty simple. Mineral powder foundation (if anyone can recommend me a good brand please do I have tried a several and still searching for the perfect one!), mascara, blush (this makes me feel instantly better!), concealer (to hide those dark circles) and lip gloss! If I am going somewhere nice I might wear some lipstick which instantly makes me feel fancy! As for my hair? I blow-dry my sweep fringe and then let it dry naturally. Easy-peasy! Oh, and dry shampoo is my best friend. If you haven't got any, get some. NOW!

One thing I have embraced is doing my own nails. I'm kind of addicted to doing my own manicure every Sunday night when Tallulah goes to sleep. Its nice when I'm really tired and feel a little blah to look at my hands and see pretty nails haha whats with that?! I gave up wearing perfume when Tallulah was born which was big for me as I'm kind of obsessed but recently I have started wearing it again and my love affair continues. I'm more drawn to the subtle scents now though!

One of things I promised to myself when I found out I was a mama was that I would limit my pyjama days to a minimum. I'm proud to say I haven't had one yet! I do admit there has been a few days where I didn't get Tallulah and myself sorted until maybe 2pm! But for me there is something satisfying about getting ready for the day. It makes me feel good on the inside to look somewhat put together on the outside. Do you feel this way?

cabin fever

lotsa tea drinking! (my fave soursop!)

always entertains me

this mama has been napping when T is napping! unheard of!

lots of looking out the window at the rain and playing with toys!

We've been all cooped up in our little house all week...wah wah! The weather has been dreary and wet which means lots of inside activities which can get a little tiresome when you live in a teeny apartment! Whenever the sun popped out to say hello I would strap Tallulah into her pram and head the park which is nextdoor!

Tallulah loves her pram and loves going out, we like to go out and about everyday but big grey angry rain clouds has meant our little outings have been either cancelled or rather short. We are getting a little stir crazy! We missed out on mums and bubs group as there were thunderstorms and we also postponed two breakfast playdates...which means this mama can't wait for the weekend and to spend some time with friends and especially Ross! 

So this is what we've been doing...reading Frankie, drinking tea, snoozing and playing with toys, oh and watching a little Yo Gabba Gabba!

Hows your week been?