spring

The mulberry tree in our front garden is fruiting and the birds and I are racing to get the ripe fruit first. If you've never tasted mulberries, they have a subtle sweet flavour that makes me think of greenness and  growing. The taste is evocative for me; my great-aunt and -uncle had a mulberry tree in their huge (in my memory, at least) back yard. I have a clear memory of standing in the bathroom in front of the mirror, crushing mulberries in my mouth so that the juice ran down my chin, so I could see what I'd look like as a vampire. Clearly Peanut would be a very messy vampire.

happier

It's amazing how quickly you move on and forget what things were like before. Reading my last post brought back the despair and worry and made me realise how much happier we are. When I posted a link to my blog on Facebook, a friend suggested that Peanut might have silent reflux. When we read the symptoms, they really stood out as some of his weird behaviour: the fact that he never really threw up, his little cough, the way his breathing sometimes sounded rattley, and most of all the way he cried and arched away when I tried to nurse him. After being told it was "just colic" and perfectly normal by several health professionals, we presented the doctor with our suspicions and got a prescription. About a week later, we had a much happier baby. He started rapidly putting on weight (he had slowed down because of his dislike of nursing) and his poop stopped being green (from his nursing behaviour - he was only getting the foremilk and not enough of the hind milk). Best of all, we stopped having the days where he would just scream inconsolably for hours.

Having a baby, and in particular being the primary carer, is incredibly hard. I love Peanut so, so much and I can't imagine life without him, but I know that as time passes I'll remember this period fondly and forget the terrible stuff. Being alone in the house with a baby who can't stop screaming or let you know what's wrong is a dark experience.

But he's four and a half months old and he smiles at me when he wakes up and sees my face and he rolls over and looks confused about how it happened and he reaches out to touch the things that interest him and it's all so mundane and it's the most amazing and exciting thing.

peanut

 

This tiny peanut was born on the 13th of February (his due date!) weighing 4.1 kg and measuring 53 cm. I will tell a bit of the birth story soon. The important part is that he is inexpressibly beautiful and I love him more than I can say. Sometimes I look at him and I feel like my heart is physically swelling in my chest.

the thing that's making me happy today

...is how much this baby bear on Cute Overload looks like Maurice Sendak's Little Bear.

guess what?

 

 Givenchy, 1963. Image via Defunct Fashion.

It's been more tracksuit pants than Givenchy gowns, but I'm having a baby!

op-shopping

Today I took the day off, and went op-shopping. It was wonderful.

 

Two classics.

 

I have a huge collection of Little Golden books, but there's always room for more.

This amazing, hand-crocheted owl tea cosy was at a tiny little church op-shop I'd never seen before and happened on by accident. It's kind of jammed on because my teapot has a weird spout, but you get an idea of the awesomeness.

I bought its sister too. Is this an owl? It doesn't have the feather 'ears', or a beak...

Vintage Tupperware is a current obsesssion. It's hard to find these lovely decorated ones!

 

The avocado green containers are my favourites (along with the bright orange ones).

And I couldn't resist this teeny tiny glass unicorn. I'm only human.

happy easter

 

 All photos by Sky Croeser

Every two weeks a group of my friends gets together for Crafternoon. Recently several of us were complaining on missing out on fun ethnic traditions because of our boring backgrounds so this weekend Sky, who is of Greek heritage, hosted Greek Easternoon.

 We made tsourekia together and dyed and polished eggs. Making bread as a group felt like a ritual.

It must seem strange for people from the Northern Hemisphere to see traditional holidays taking place at the opposite end of the seasons. All the traditional symbolism of Easter is about its traditional roots as a spring festival: eggs, rabbits, birth and rebirth, fecundity and fertility.

But summer is so brutal in Perth that this time of year, when the weather starts to cool, feels like a rebirth to me. After being battered by the heat for so long, I feel revitalised by the cooler weather. I want to bake and potter around and nest again. Plants and lawns are recovering from the blistering sun and starting to grow again. We're all coming back to life.

on fear

Last night I had my first swimming lesson since I was a child. I was a timid kid and I absolutely hated swimming lessons. My sense of survival stopped me from putting my head under water. Why the fuck would I do that?! There's no air down there!

It took a long time for the smell of chlorine to inspire in me anything but dread. But my dad taught me how to tread water and float, and I learned how to doggy-paddle, and now I snorkel at the beach. But I still can't swim properly, with my face in the water, moving faster than six feet a minute.

inspiration: alain gree

I just discovered the amazing French illustrator Alain Grée via the delightful Draw, Pilgrim! Vintage children's illustration (1950s-70s) is my favourite art form and a huge source of inspiration for me.

 Image from glenmullaly @ Flickr

Grée was born in Paris in 1936 and is still alive and working today! He has published over 300 books, mostly in the 60s and 70s.

Image from Linzie Hunter @ Flickr

Grée's work combines a naivety of shape with a bold colour palette that makes me feel so happy.

Image from samsmyth @ Flickr

There's a 50-year anniversary book (with stickers!) but I've only been able to find it on Amazon France. I may have to make an order!

Image by Jane Foster

Who are your favourite illustrators? I have so many, I might have to make this a series!

little things

Powwow by Gene Davis, 1969

I am less than a month away from turning Very Old, and one of the few advantages to advanced age is knowing all the secrets of life. So I'm about to drop some piping-hot wisdom on you suckers:

The secret of being happy is to recognise your happiness. 

Being generally happy in your life is not about the moments of joy or ecstasy or excitement, it's about recognising that quiet satisfaction, fulfillment and peace are the elements of day-to-day happiness.

I've been thinking about this lately, and realising that my moments of happiness are mostly supremely dorky. But without them, my life would be a grey canvas with occasional riotous splodges of colour; with them, it's a textured map of different shades. Day to day life isn't about birthdays and holidays and making out, it's about getting on the bus and having coffee and making spreadsheets. So the secret to a happy life is to recognise the things in your daily routine that bring you tiny joy.

Like I said, my list is pretty dorky:

• Putting a new desktop picture on my computer
• Hearing the French girl at the coffee cart call me 'honey' in her adorable accent
• When my public transport card gets low and then automatically updates up to $50 (no idea why this makes me feel so satisfied)
• Arranging my bottles of nail polish before choosing a colour
• A freshly cleaned-out handbag free of receipts and lolly wrappers
• Turning over the calendar to a new month and seeing a new Matthew Scott illustration
• Cleaning up my work desk so that all the papers are in piles, notebooks stacked and pens in penholders
• Seeing a new window display at the bookshop on my walk from the bus stop 
• Getting home and putting on my comfy pants to signal that I am chillaxing now
• Getting home and putting on my pyjamas because I am chillaxing too hard even for comfy pants, I am chillaxing SO FUCKING HARD RIGHT NOW
• Making a list

What are the stupid things that make you happy?