My Confident Little Fairy

About a year ago, if I tried to drop Emily at childcare she would cling onto me so tightly and the childcare worker would have to pry her little arms from around my neck and I would leave in tears because my little girl could be heard screaming from the car park.

A change of childcare centres and a year later and I have one confident little girl. This morning for the first time EVER she walked confidently into her room....by herself.....without being carried!

It might have been the fairy costume she had on, it could have been the party music bellowing from her room, it could have been that she also had a full nights sleep the night before. Either way I was absolutely chuffed that she did it all by herself.

and yes she did have a top on..... but isn't just the budding little artist too! 

Metroman

I've been a little quiet of late and whilst I could bore you with all the details of how crazy and ridiculously busy my life has been lately, I'll instead just tell you that:

1. My husband is back home with Emily and I finally!
2. The shop has opened and so far so good with the need to already re-order stock as it's been so busy
3. My website for the shop is almost done
4. We've realised life is way too busy and we now have a gardener/handyman who can pick up the slack and do all the jobs we never have time to do (this is huge for us since we're scrooges when it comes to stuff like this).

So that stuff out of the way I can resume blogging as normal right? Well I thought I might cover off one other area. I have consistently referred to my husband as 'hubby' but it's never sat well with me. It's my choice to blog about my life but he deserves some privacy so whilst I need to call him something, I don't want to use his name.

Our friends have often referred to him affectionately as Metroman. This is because he takes pride in his appearance, often goes to spa's for waxing and treatments, uses a face moisturiser and dresses like one of those models in a Country Road catalogue. He loves his labels and probably stresses more about what he's going to wear than I do. It's not uncommon for me to hear him say "I've got no clothes", something you'd expect from me, not him.

But he's also incredibly manly, fixing our daughters broken bike on the weekend, installing shelves in my shop, changing the flat tyre on my car etc.

So Metroman is a fitting name to refer to my husband. I'm so lucky that we got a second chance and in talking to him about my blog and how it helped me through all those nights where I thought I'd go insane with loneliness and despair, he said he wants support me in all area's of my life, including the shop and the blog.

I'm working on a post about his illness and how everything turned around. I think it's important to tell the story as I fund it so hard not knowing anyone going through our situation and people should know there can be a happy ending.

We're still working on ours and it's still one day at a time but every moment that passes and every day we get through gives us hope for a bright and happy future together.

Petit Amoir - My New Adventure!

I thought I better do a bit of a post about what I've been working on for the last 6 months. Finally on 8th September Petit Armoir was born! She has been a labor of love and I'm more than pleased with the result. 

Whilst there's still a long way to go in both renovations, website development and stock, she's looking so good and it's been flat out since opening. 

Here's what she looks like....

Street view

Front window

Signage (which I love!)

Inside

Front counter which is yet to have the logo added. Note awesome chandelier!

Kids play area complete with perspex barrier in front of TV so no breakages!

Linen from BABU & 'and the little dog laughed'

Babies

Boys & Girls sizes 2-14yrs

There's still lots to do like wallpaper the back wall, more stock to buy, advertising to organize etc. But so far so good. I'm so proud of what I've put together and I've had lots of great feedback. It makes all the long nights after working all day in the old shop worthwhile!

What do you think? 

Back to life

Life finally feels like it's getting back to normal around here. We're back to work, back to 6am starts with a toddler, back to the housework and back to paying bills. The mundane life I adored has returned.

Somehow it's a better kind of normal. There's more sharing of the load, there's more caring and there's more loving. I keep waiting for it to end but so far so good.

I feel like I can set some new goals now. The new shop is built and next on the list is the website. Do I dare start planning for our dream house? A family holiday? Another baby? Right now I think I'll start with planning the rest of the month. If we can make it through that in one peice I'll plan until Christmas and then reassess.

It's easy to get carried away in this blissful bubble. It's not totally perfect but it feels pretty damn close. And like I said, part of me is waiting for it all to end, the other part is lapping it up and enjoying all that I've missed out on in the last couple of years.

 

One day at a time......one day at a time.......

Finally! Answers!

I haven't been able to blog for the last week and a bit. It's been both due to time and just because I haven't been able to put the last week or two's events into words until now. 

Oh where to start.....

Petit Armoir is finally up and running. Not everything got done on time such as the website, wallpapering the back wall, some stock hasn't arrived yet and not everything was put into the computer by opening. But I still managed to pull off a huge grand opening and even though I was meant to close at 2pm, people were still trying to get in at 2:30pm and I didn't get out the door till well after 3pm. 

All of this was achieved despite massive personal challenges over the last 2 weeks. For anyone who's ever been married to or lived with someone suffering from anxiety and/or depression, you know what a roller coaster it can be. Every day you wonder what mood the person you love will be in. Will he be happy? Will he be sad? Will he be angry? It's been the most difficult two years of my life and over the last week it all came to a head. 

I won't go into too much detail but finally there is a sense of relief. Rock bottom was finally hit and although it's not how both he and I would like the diagnosis and realization that there was something wrong to have happened, we're both glad it did. I nearly lost him, but with some help from a wonderful medical team and friends and family, we now have a diagnosis, a treatment and a plan. There's more hope than there has ever been. 

It's no surprise that this week I feel completely flat. I've been running on pure adrenalin for so long now that it seems even though all the drama has stopped, my brain can't quite slow down. I'm craving silence. Even the tapping of the keyboard drives me crazy. It will pass. It's the waiting I hate. Time heals and all that. 

Emily is of course over the moon. She's settling more easily and happier to go to childcare knowing she has both Mummy and Daddy home. 

So a new beginning and a bright future is in store. I'm determined to quieten my mind this week and stay focused on what's important. My family. 

Emily's First Photo Shoot - and she's 2 years old!

Emily was up at 5am this morning and bounced into my room telling me to "get up!" and declared she was ready for shopping. I'd promised her last night we were going shopping today and she went straight off to sleep so the morning would come quicker. 

I thought I was brilliant of course. I'd solved the 'how to get Emily to stop wandering out of the bedroom and go the f*ck to sleep!" problem. In doing that I created the "how to get Emily to sleep past 6am" problem. I've made promises at bed time previously and although she's slept soundly all the way through, she's always up early the next morning and remembers exactly what I promised the night before. 

So up at 5am and by 7:30am this was my sookie little girl......

Of course I was in full housework mode by this time. Dishes were being done, washing was on, I was considering vacuuming the floor..... My little miss just wanted to go back to bed! 

Problem was we had a haircut booked for 9am and photo's booked for 10:30am. How the hell was I going to get her dressed and out the door by 8:30am? I know, I'll let her choose her own dress for the photo shoot! I held up a pink dress and a cream dress positive she'd choose the pink one as it's her favorite color at the moment. 

Of course she chose the cream dress.....the one that would show her spencer underneath and every bit of food and drink she consumed on the way. 

All ready to go complete with annoying bloody baby in pram and handbag over shoulder!

First up at the hairdressers and she would not let go of me. I had plans to cut her hair into a bob just above her shoulders. She refuses to let me do her hair most mornings and I'm sick of the battles so I was determined to chop it off and that way all I had to do was chase her around the house with a hair brush and not worry about tying it up. She wouldn't have a bar of it. She squirmed and cried and clung onto me like the lovely hairdresser was going to chop her head off. We couldn't even get the cape on her! I gave up and decided we would go to the cafe next door instead because mummy really needed a caffeine fix!

By this time it was 10am and she was already telling me she wanted her dummy and hippo, a clear sign she was tired. We raced to the shopping center for our free Pixie Photo's portrait sitting. 

Now I have never been a fan of Pixie Photo's I "won" this free portrait (along with a hundred other mums I suspect) and the woman on the phone convinced me to take advantage of the free offer and there was no obligation to buy. I've always thought of Pixie Photo's as the type with fairy dresses and babies sitting in terracotta pots holding sunflowers etc. Definitely not my style! I'm a plain jane, prefer the classic, hate cheesy kinda gal. 

You can still get the flower pot shots and props are still offered, however we went for the plain backgrounds and let Emily be the star. I was very impressed with the way the photographer and assistant managed to get Emily to dance and jump and lie down and look into a mirror. Now if only I could make her do things for me on command! 

A bit grainy but it is a photo of a photo. 

So while I was impressed with the photo's I wasn't surprised with the prices of their packages. Starting at $300 for 5 images, you need some serious dough for these guys! They were shooting through a family an hour so that's 8 potential photo packages a day! Even if everyone bought the base package, it's still $14,000 a week. I should have been a bloody photographer.......

Anyway, I chose my portrait (the picture above), said it was Emily's nap time and I would consider the packages and come back with my Mum next week (who'll totally buy half the images). I'm considering this gorgeous one for my bookshelf. 

Kinda glad we didn't cut the hair off now

What's a reasonable price to pay for a photo pack of your little angel/s? 

Are these pictures boring and should I get some outside pictures done when the summer comes? Should I chop her hair off or leave it alone? 

Help! 

Reason, Season or Lifetime

I saw this today and it just seemed to make sense:

Reason, Season, or Lifetime

People come into your life for a reason, a season or a lifetime.
When you figure out which one it is,
you will know what to do for each person.
When someone is in your life for a REASON,
it is usually to meet a need you have expressed.
They have come to assist you through a difficulty;
to provide you with guidance and support;
to aid you physically, emotionally or spiritually.
They may seem like a godsend, and they are.
They are there for the reason you need them to be.

Then, without any wrongdoing on your part or at an inconvenient time,
this person will say or do something to bring the relationship to an end.
Sometimes they die. Sometimes they walk away.
Sometimes they act up and force you to take a stand.
What we must realize is that our need has been met, our desire fulfilled; their work is done.
The prayer you sent up has been answered and now it is time to move on.

Some people come into your life for a SEASON,
because your turn has come to share, grow or learn.
They bring you an experience of peace or make you laugh.
They may teach you something you have never done.
They usually give you an unbelievable amount of joy.
Believe it. It is real. But only for a season.

LIFETIME relationships teach you lifetime lessons;
things you must build upon in order to have a solid emotional foundation.
Your job is to accept the lesson, love the person,
and put what you have learned to use in all other relationships and areas of your life.
It is said that love is blind but friendship is clairvoyant.
— Unknown