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? 

Sneak Peak Summer 2012

Something a little different today and more in line with my passion......


I thought I'd share some of the Summer 2012 kids range coming out with a sneak peak of some of the stock I'm getting into my new shop. I also thought it's time to reveal the new name!


Deciding on a business name is really, really, REALLY hard! There were loads of options to choose from but you want to sound original, have the right "feel" to the name because it can dictate your logo, image and ultimately type of customer that walks through your door. 


After a lot of debating, back and forth with friends and family I finally chose this name:

And this is my new logo. You like?

I've signed quite a few labels already and will be looking at more at the upcoming Kids In Style Expo in Melbourne. So here's a sneak peak at some of the designs coming out for your kids this summer. 

Some very cool sunglasses by Babiators

Gorgeous singlets and matching headbands by Fawn & Milk

Summer Mary-Jane's by WALNUT Melbourne

How adorable is this jumpsuit in dusty pink by Baobab? 

Boys aren't forgotten in these stylish organic cotton unisex harem pants and pine needle print tee by Baobab

Fun and practical for play. Chemical free with 100% organic cotton. Emily definitely needs one of these navy play-suits by Baobab.

I've got your cool dude covered with Freshbaked. Sizes 3 to 14. 

This dress is perfect for year 6 school dances or parties. It comes in sizes 3 to 14 and it's by Freshbaked. 

New to the kids market is Milk & Sugar. Pretty prints and available in sizes 0000 to 0. I'm in love with this new label!

Totally on trend, the boys range of Milk & Sugar is very special. 

Another new comer. The Letter M specialises in sizes 8 to 14 and it's so refreshing to find a Tweenie label that's both young, on trend and still age appropriate. 

Natural hues are definitely in this summer for Tween's. How greet would your 12 year old look in this number by The Letter M at her school formal or Christmas Party? 

So that's my preview of Summer 2012. I think this season is going to be huge and I can't wait to hear what you think of it. 

Back to Work

Back at work today and I've been flat out busy. It pissed down rain all day and i really thought there would be no one about and it would be an easy day. Instead I had customer after customer and a million emails and admin jobs to catch up on.

Not that I'm complaining. Being busy is good. The day flew by and before you knew it I'd picked up Emily, served take-away chicken for dinner, bathed her and put her to bed.

I've been playing with logo's for the new shop all night and my eye's are beginning to get sore. Do I do a colored logo or a black and white logo? Do I put a picture on the side or faded behind the name? So many options and I'm terrible at making up my mind on these things.

I'm so excited about the Melbourne Kids In Style Expo coming up on 3rd August. I've booked Mum and I into the Art Series hotel - The Cullen. Mum was an art student and teacher back in the day and it's right up her alley. She'll love all the art deco furniture and original works on the walls.

Tomorrow I've got a little more stock ordering and re-organising to do, and endless amount of paperwork and hopefully get this artwork sorted. It's going to be a really busy 6 weeks ahead so this chest infection better hurry up and get better!



The Big Chop!

When things aren't going right in your life what else can you do but chop your hair off?

Yesterday morning I woke up and decided I needed a change. I'd been thinking about it for a while but it took a major event to spring me into action.

I've had long straight hair for as long as I can remember. It has been every color but always long and straight. Yesterday morning I decided it was the day to get the big chop. Yes I was going short!

I've been trying to find something for a before photo but it's been difficult since I've hardly worn my hair out in 3 years. My hairdresser Jill said to me before I went on holidays that if I wear my hair up more than 3 times a week I need to chop it off.

This is my before picture taken in Cairns a few years ago because that was the last time I had it down.....Sad because it was still the same color and cut until last night.

We looked though lots of hair magazines and discussed lots of options. I was dead set not having a bloody fringe so Jill convinced me that I should have something that swept to the side that was "sort of a fringe, a bit like it but different".

She began chopping away, then got frustrated, told me to close my eyes and go to my happy place. She grabbed all my hair into a ponytail and did one big chop. And then it was short......

I was sure this was a small terrier dog that had snuck into the salon but apparently that's my hair!



20cm of length gone in one chop! It was freeing. I already felt lighter, like I'd lifted a weight.

So for the final result......

Sort of fringe my arse!

I wish I'd done it years ago. I wish I'd had the guts to change and do things for me, not what I thought someone else would want.

Onward and upwards I say!

In other news the Baobab and Levi stock came in yesterday and I love it! Great quality and it's going fast. This weekend I have the Little Me Market where I'm taking a heap of kids clothing from the shop and also some handmade children's clothes and accessories. Fingers crossed the sun is out and people are in the mood to shop!

Emily's Obsession

My daughter Emily is currently obsessed with my parents, her Mama and GD (Dad wasn't quite ready to be called Grandad when my sister had his first grandchild).

 She wakes up in the morning and asks for them, she goes to bed at night begging for them and every time we go out in the car she wants me to go to their place. When we do visit it's a struggle to get her back into the car to go home. We usually have to trick her by having my Dad put her in the car with my Mum sits next to her pretending to come with us. Then she jumps out and says goodbye and Emily cries for the next five minutes in the car on the way home.

I'm praying this is a stage she'll go through and get over quickly. It's not like Mum and Dad purposely make her love them so much, she just does. And I'm glad she adores them and enjoys them because I a lot of kids don't get to enjoy their grandparents they way mine does.

Today was my day off and a day I always try to do something special with Emily. She's my one and only so I want to make the most of it. I declared it a sewing free day even though I got the most gorgeous Amy Butler fabric in the mail today......

So we went to our local cafe this morning for a coffee and an Anzac Biscuit and just spent time together reading Thomas The Tank Engine book and chatting about nothing (she doesn't really say anything but gibberish anyway and I just nod and ask questions).

We spent some time at the shop and ordered some Skeanie and Uh-Oh! Sleepwear shoes and PJ's for our trip next week.

On the way home I thought we'd swing by my parents business Albury Dream Cottages and say hello as they were just finishing up and there is play equipment out back that Emily loves.

I really should have thought about it before we went. It was 11am and she was already getting tired. She hadn't had lunch and I hadn't bought any with us because it was a spur of the moment decision.

Well she happily played for half an hour on the swings with Mama and chatted to GD telling him big stories. Then she began banging the back door of the house, refused to put her shoes on, started throwing things and I knew she had gotten past it. Getting her into the car was a nightmare and once she was in and we were driving home she sucked hard on the dummy and hugged her pink hippo. We pulled up in the driveway and she wanted to stay in the car as she was obviously comfortable and very tired. She refused lunch, she drank a bottle and fell asleep on her bean bag in front of the TV.

I felt bad, I should have taken her home an hour earlier and given her a proper lunch. When she woke two hours later she was hot and sweaty and crying. She asked for Mama and GD. *sigh*

None of this is a big deal, none of this is anything special or out of the ordinary. I know all parents go through stages with their kids. It does make me feel better writing it down and sharing.

What's your childs obsession? 

Crime and Punishment

Normally I'm usually pretty confident about my parenting skills. I know I'm a loving caring mother who'll do anything to ensure my child gets the best start in life, grows up resilient enough to handle life's pressures and hopefully doesn't repeat the bad habits I have. Sometimes teaching the hard lessons is a really touch thing.

I always said I'd never smack my child. There must be other ways to teach a toddler not to do something. But earlier this year, after telling her several times to stop opening and closing the sliding door (if she closes it on her little fingers I'm sure they'll break) I ended up giving her a smack. It wasn't that hard, definitely more of a fright than actually hurting her. She cried, and I cried. It was the most awful thing.

Another mother said to me later that week when in guilt I told her of the incident that good punishments are the hardest ones to give. Or something like that.....

I don't smack very often, but occasionally when Emily is really testing me out and she's in danger of doing great harm to herself, I will resort to a smack on the bottom.

One cheeky monkey who is obsessed with opening and closing doors!

I've tried other ways, counting to three, sitting and having a stern talk, distracting her with something else. Honestly none of them are effective. She's only 20 months and she thinks counting to three is a game, won't sit for a stern talk and has a damn good memory as the distraction thing rarely works.

Today was a long day of sewing in preparation for next weeks market. Unfortunately whilst Emily is awake I can never get that much sewing done. I was almost finished a dress when she woke from her nap, so after getting her up, changing, feeding and playing with her for an hour and finally distracting her with ABC2 I thought I'd just finish the last bit of hemming and that would mean more time to sew another piece tonight.

No sooner had I begun than she wandered into my craft room and started playing with the dials on the machine (whilst I was sewing!) and then almost put her little finger under the moving needle. At least three to four times I sternly told her no. Each time she moved away, then slyly came back for more. In the end she was laughing at me. That was it! I gave her a little smack on the backside, told her "NO!" and moved her away from the machine. She looked at me with her big brown eyes, mouth quivered and then she lost it.

I felt terrible. I didn't pick her up, I didn't cuddle her, I barely looked in her direction....for about 30 seconds. Not even a minute after the punishment she came up to me, tear streaked cheeks and looking very sad. "sowwy Mummy" she whispered. I gave her a cuddle, told her I loved her and didn't want her to get hurt and she couldn't play with Mummy's machine.

Not long after she found a book and sat on the floor and flicked the pages telling me the story in her gibberish. The dress got finished and we spent the afternoon in the garden planting leeks and silverbeet and chasing the white moths that seem to have found a home amongst the tomatoes.

She wasn't damaged, she was OK. She was happy and she left the craft room alone for the rest of the afternoon. I still feel terrible that I had to punish her. Strangly I don't fee that bad about the actual smack, but i feel bad that she cried and was upset. I wish I could just let her do whatever she wants but that would be irresponsible. Why does being a mother have to be so God damn hard sometimes?!

How do you feel about smacking?

My Very First Product Review!

OK I'm going to attempt my very first product review. I'm not being sponsored for this (but really would welcome sponsors and freebies!!) so one things for sure.....you know I'm going to be honest.

Last night was pretty cold and I thought what a perfect opportunity to try out the new Uh-oh! Sleepwear Buggy Bags. These are a lot like the traditional sleeping bag or Gro Bag but with a difference.

Firstly they have arms meaning the TOG rating just increased from 2.5 to 3.0. For those who don't know what a TOG rating is, it's the Thermal Insulance (or equivalent to how many blankets or doona's you have on) rating given to sleeping bags. So according to the TOG Rating, in a 16-20'C room Emily would only need a singlet, nappy and the 3.0 TOG Buggy Bag on to keep warm.

The second difference is that the Buggy Bag has legs. It's like a padded romper that has a two way zip (handy for nappy changes) and the feet have non-slip rubber spots so your toddler can walk safely on tiles or floor boards.

The verdict is.......We Love It!

Emily slept all the way through. She woke at 6:30am this morning needing a nappy change which was easily done without having to remove the whole bag. She then played happily in the cot for half an hour while I had a shower because she could stand up and wasn't constricted like a sleeping bag.

When I got her up I thought about changing her straight away but decided she could lie on her beanbag in front of the TV while I made breakfast. The previous couple of mornings she's needed a blanket to keep warm at that time of the morning but with the Buggy Bag it was like she already had one on.

So I've ordered another one for her in pink floral and would definitely recommend them to any Mum who wants a good nights sleep and has a baby or toddler who's able to stand or walk.

The Best Day Ever!!

Today was the best day ever! I mean it, it was awesome.

On Monday I put a Facebook post up saying there would be a big announcement on Thursday. On Tuesday I posted a reminder and on Wednesday I said I had not one but three big announcements to make.

Today was the Albury Gold Cup and a gazetted public holiday from midday which meant no childcare and therefor no shop open after midday. At first i thought it was a disaster. I need the income desperately at the moment and half day closing meant I would struggle to meet my sales target.

So these were my announcements that I made on Thursday:

Announcement 1: It's almost been a year since I bought the shop and to celebrate my 1 year anniversary we are doing a bit of a make-over in the shop. Over the coming weeks you'll see a new color scheme, play area, shop fittings (I've started this already) and a new logo. A huge thanks to Kath from Doodlebugs who has been madly designing the new bear and logo. I can't wait to show you all!

Announcement 2: With the success of new labels Gaia Organic Cotton, Eternal Creation, Mizzle, Walnut and Skeanie added to Bearly Worn over the last year I've decided to expand the range for summer 2012! I'm very pleased to announce I have just signed orders for Koko & Co., Milky and Freshbaked. There will be more to come so keep your eye on Facebook as I'll list them her as they're confirmed.

Final announcement for today! To celebrate Albury Gold Cup I am having a one day only SALE! Come in between 10am and 12pm tomorrow and get 10% discount on all new winter stock from Gaia Organic Cotton, Mizzle, Skeanie, Uh-Oh! sleepwear and... Walnut Melbourne. This is for TOMORROW ONLY with no exceptions, rain checks and not in conjunction with any other offer. So come in and save some $$$ on your kids winter wardrobes! See you tomorrow :-)

 

Well turns out a lot of people read my post about the sale and at 9:30am there were people lined up at the door. In two hours I did a weeks trade and I couldn't be more chuffed! Honestly i wasn't expecting this at all and today I finally feel like I made the right decision buying the shop. It's been a really hard slog this last 12 months and days like this give me hope that it's all worth it.

 

Anyway, not to worry. I hope tomorrow is just as good and that the trend continues. Next on my list of many things to do is the new radio campaign. Anyone good with writing jingles?

One Day at a Time

It was an absolutely huge market day and I wish I had of grabbed some photo's, but honestly it was just too busy!

It started at 5:30am with a toddler who decided it was time to get up and sang "mummy mummy mummy" for about 1/2 an hour before I finally dragged my tired ass out of bed.

After that it was go, go, go setting up my market stall and opening the shop for the annual Traders Market Day in Albury. Because we're a twin city with Albury on the NSW side and Wodonga on the VIC side, half the population got the day off with VIC Labour Day and they all came over for a family fun day at QEII Square.

All I can say is it was hugely busy, although I would have liked to be busier. I did better than this time last year but not as good as two years ago. Considering I now have new kid's clothing and shoes in the shop whereas last year there was only recycled kids clothing, I expected a much bigger days trade. But I guess with all the flooding and economy worries, a lot of people weren't spending.

Hubby picked up Emily who hardly slept today and was really grumpy so I decided we needed fish and chips for dinner as I just couldn't deal with sore feet, a grumpy toddler, a frustrated hubby and cooking tonight. But now I feel sooooo guilty that I ate all those chips. It's always when your busy and tired that you give in and go for the easy take away option. To make matters worse I'm sitting here watching The Biggest Looser and all the ads in between are weight loss program ads like Lite 'n' Easy and Weight Watchers!

Tomorrow morning I have to meet with the creative team from Aus Stereo to create my new radio ad. I've been trying to think of something creative and punchy that really gets the message about the shop across to my customers. I'm changing everything about the shop except the name and I'm trying hard to pick up those customers that never came in before because they only bought new and up-market brands. It's really hard changing the reputation of an existing business. When your a new business you have no reputation and so people naturally come in to see the new kid on the block. But when your an existing business and you already have a particular reputation, it is that much harder to convince people to come in and see what's new.

I think this week is going to be a "one day at a time" week. I literally have something major on every day and no time for rest. Here's hoping next week is a little less stressful!

The reason for everything I do......

TFIF!

What a massive day......or not really.

It started with a semi successful drop off of Emily to her new day care center. All was going well until I put her bag in her pigeon hole and she realised Mummy was leaving. There were tears and the poor childcare lady could barely pry her arms from around my neck. I sat in the car, told myself to get it together and took off for work. I hate leaving her like that.

Coffee in hand I was determined to get a heap of pricing done today and was also hoping my three boxes of winter Eternal Creation clothing would finally turn up. After the morning rush of sales (yay! I love meeting my target by 11am) I received a much awaited package from one of my organic clothing suppliers. I won't name and shame......you can figure it out by yourself. Anyway, a couple of weeks ago I had to return some stock from this supplier due to imperfections and marks. There were about a dozen pieces and one in particular looked like it had been dragged across the factory floor before being packaged and sent to me. So when I received my replacements I expected to find perfect pieces all ready to hang.

To say I was disappointed would be an understatement. I think they just re-packed the pieces I returned and sent them back to me! A pair of pink footed tights for a newborn had dirty marks on one of the feet and all the cream tops had small red marks. Two of the items were listed as no longer available but there was no credit on the invoice. I was slightly fuming.

OK, stay calm I thought. I filled out new return forms and repacked the stock to return for the second time. Then I called my agent to tell her that for a second time I'm returning faulty or marked stock. When she called me back she was apologising profusely and also wanted to let me know the Production Manager wanted to call me personally to apologise. Quite frankly, having come from a manufacturing and logistics background I understand that the owners and reps are not responsible for this kind of thing and as much as they try, it's the guys on the ground who make it happen. Unfortunately the guys on the ground are in China and their Quality Control sucked. I also wrote a long winded email (well they did ask for my complaint in writing) expressing my "disappointment" at the lack of attention to detail and difference in quality from last year.

The fact is this brand is extremely good and apart from one line everything else is perfect and my sales reflect how good they are. So I'm not going to hold it against them, but I'm allowed to be pissed off that I wasted an entire morning and half the afternoon sorting it out and I only got one tub of stock priced for the shelf tomorrow.

Hubby was home sick today and apparently too sick to pick up Emily from childcare so at 5pm I rushed out the door, stopped by the butchers on the way to the car park, picked up some stir fry and raced to pick her up before they closed at 5:30pm.

By the time I got home I had a splitting headache and no motivation to cook a rousing stir fry and rice. It's Friday night for FFS! Pizza! So I called the new pizza delivery up the road while hubby lay moaning on the couch and Emily tugged and cried at my legs for a bottle of milk that we're desperately trying to wean her off. I swear you'd think she was coming of heroin the way she carries on.

The pizza was disgusting and hubby complained the whole time about it and how sick he felt. Emily finally went off to bed crying herself to sleep because she wanted a bottle and we're trying hard to stick to our decision to get her off them.

Then I sat down, opened my laptop, checked my Facebook and what do I see? Mrs Woog shared a picture of me in my short condom dress. You can see it here https://www.facebook.com/woogsworld. Thanks Mrs Woog, as one of my blogging hero's you made my day!

This is my little munchkin all ready for day care today. I think she thinks she's driving the Mazda.....

Who's your Blogging hero?

All My Friends are Having Baby's.....Wah!

All my friends are having baby's..........Wah!

Miss E is 20 months tomorrow. She's been sleeping well for the last week (that means 7ish pm to 5is am) and that means I'm forgetting the hard bits of the first year and remembering how gorgeous Miss E was and how precious she was when she was just born.

It's not helping me that I own a baby and kids clothing boutique. Every day I see newborns and baby's, pregnant women and gushing first time grandmothers telling me their daughter has just fallen pregnant and they just want to have a look. It doesn't help that every day I unpack, price and display beautiful, gorgeous, exquisite baby clothing and accessories that I wish I had someone to put them in. It seriously doesn't help that my Hubby is dead against having another baby.

For as long as I can remember I wanted kids. I always thought I'd be a young Mum with three kids by the time I was thirty. I didn't get married till I was 27 and by the time I was 30 we'd already done two years of IVF and I'd suffered a miscarriage on the one time we'd managed to get pregnant. By the age of 32 my ex-husband and I had spent over $20,000 on IVF, survived two miscarriages and then he ran off with another woman. Miscarriage, grief and money problems do terrible things to a man and although I'm not excusing what he did, I no longer hold bad feelings for him.

I met my now husband a year after I separated from my ex. He was here on holidays from Ireland and the attraction was instant for both of us (although he'll say he just liked my car). He had come out of a relationship 5 years earlier and he had two kids back in Ireland that he hardly saw (fathers don't have the same rights there as they do here). It was complicated and difficult but we were so in love. He was done having kids and I thought I wasn't capable of going full term so in a way I thought a man with existing children could somehow fill a void.

We married 6 months after we met. Admittedly he never asked me to marry him, we both wouldn't have gotten married at all if we didn't have to. It was the only way to stay together and I guess that was the most important thing, we wanted to be together.

Three months after we got married I fell pregnant. It wasn't exactly planned, we just didn't take any precautions and left it up to the Gods. I remember seeing those two pink lines on the stick and I began shaking thinking this can't be true. I remember telling hubby when he got home from work and seeing both fear and excitement on his face.

I understand his fear. He has two beautiful children that he's been forced to let go of on the opposite side of the world and the fear of having another child and the relationship failing was almost too much to bare.

The pregnancy was awful to say the least. Within weeks of finding out I was pregnant the morning noon and night sickness began. I remember getting up at 3am for a boak and in the first trimester I lost 7kg.

At 32 weeks and 3 days after my baby shower I went into pre-term labour. It was one of the most scariest nights of my life. I was lucky enough to not have dilated at all and that basically kept baby in place. Lots of drugs and relaxation meant the labour stopped but I was kept in hospital until I reached 36 weeks. My blood pressure was dangerously low and i have a heart condition so I was constantly monitored. I had to beg the doctor at 34 weeks just to be allowed to have a walk around the hall of the maternity ward.

At 36 weeks I was finally allowed out of hospital and we had to move house (yes you read that right). It's a long story but basically our landlords decided to move back into their house right when we were due to have our baby. Anyway 3 days after we moved I went into labour. Off to the hospital we went on June 29th and I thought for sure this was it.

30 hours of labour later and I was only half a centimetre dilated. The fetal heart rate was dropping and she'd done her meconium and was in distress. The decision was made to do and emergency C-Section.

15 Minutes later and I was on the operating table. They pulled her out of me and there was no crying, no noise and everyone all of a sudden got very busy. I was told i had a girl. They rushed her to a table nearby and I remember seeing a blur of doctors and nurses around her. I told Hubby to stay with her no matter what, don't worry about me, just don't leave her alone. He watched on as they tried to breath life into this limp blue baby.

It seemed like and eternity waiting for something. I didn't even realise I was hemorrhaging and they were trying to fix me at the same time. Finally I heard a whimper, not a good cry but she was alive and breathing. They brought her to me for a few seconds to see, she looked like she was sleeping. But she was alive and we did it. We got through the pregnancy and the birth.

I went to recovery after they put me back together, but then I was sick, kept fainting and bleeding and so it was about five hours before they took me to Newborn Care and I finally got to meet my Emily.

Looking back it was one of the hardest things I've ever had to face. There are tears in my eyes and a lump in my throat as I type this because one, I know I'll never have to go through it again, and two, because I know I never could.

Six years ago I prayed. I said "if your there God, please just one, give me just one baby and I'll never ask for another". I don't know if "God" is real but I do know that I am blessed to have my one and only little girl.

Planes, Trains and Kids In Style

Friday morning I flew to Sydney for the Kids In Style expo. If you've never heard of it, imagine all the new and existing fashion labels, accessories, toys and loads more for kids under one roof. Retailers and industry folk go to look at what's coming up, find new and interesting products for their shops, pick up samples and order for next season.

So I thought I'd share a few pics of the trade fair so you can get an insiders view to the industry:

The entrance to Kids In Style

Skeanie and Uh-Oh! in the left corner had some amazing new styles

The board with the list of exhibitors.....totally mind boggling!

How cute are these dinasour badges for boys!

Colored jeans have made a come-back and these are sized 00. So cute!

I saw so many great products and kids clothing ranges and met some wonderful and talented designers. I've spent the last 24 hours going through the massive bag of price lists, catalogues and samples I bought home and I have to admit this has got to be the most fun part of my job. The hard part will be not buying everything and making sure what I do get fills a gap and compliments the rest of the shop.

I spent quite a lot of time talking to Natasha who owns Skeanie and Uh-Oh! It seems we have quite a bit in common having both previously worked in recruitment and both moving from Sydney to the country. We also both decided to start our own businesses once we had our first child and Natasha has done a brilliant job with hers. She's definitely someone I admire.

Anyway, best get Miss E's bag ready for her first day at the new daycare centre tomorrow. It's looking to be a huge day of pricing, hanging and new window display at the shop as well as trying to ensure Miss E transitions well to the new center. But this is the life of a Mum running her own business........

How Was Your Day Dear?

I'm single parenting at the moment as hubby is on "a business" trip. This business trip happens to be in Coffs Harbour in a 5 star luxury resort and his room, with it's king size bed and spa, overlooks the ocean. He tells me tonight that he spent a hard morning brainstorming in an IT workshop, then spent the afternoon in the pool and got sunburnt.

I on the other hand was woken at 6am by our screaming toddler, who by the way didn't go to bed until 10pm last night! My morning shower was taken whilst Miss E had her face pressed up against it crying "Daddy" and staring at me like I could magically produce him. After getting us both dressed and breakfast, cleaning the house, doing the dishes and putting on a load of washing I had to answer a phone call from hubby just as I was about to race out the door. Apparently it's not nice to just hang up on someone who tells you they just woke up (it was 8:30am) and what a glorious sleep he had. Really? Do I GAF???

Dropping Miss E off at daycare I politely ask if they can please make sure she wakes up at 1:30pm as she hasn't been going to sleep at night and I want to tire her out so she'll go straight to bed tonight. This is followed by a lecture from the childcare worker advising me I enable her too much by giving her too many cuddles and I should just let her cry it out. She tells me they have no trouble getting her to sleep during the day. Well that's just great!

I get to work and my back room looks like a nuclear stock explosion. There is literally no room to move and so after spending the first hour rearranging I finally am able to make my way to the kitchen where I find a mouse has accidentally got caught in the trap my Dad set behind the fridge 6 months ago. I feel sorry for him. I also feel disgusted and dry retch as I pick up the trap and throw the entire thing in the bin. I'll just buy a new one, it's too much to ask me to get the thing out of there!

I go to put pictures of my new Gaia Organic Cotton Winter 2012 collection on my website and realise that my computer just wiped the shop copy of the stock images. Aaaarrrggghhh!!! Another job I'm going to have to do at home on the trusty Toshiba.

Gaia Organic Cotton Winter 2012 Preview

 After this discovery I decided to have a go at doing a new window for the shop. Originally I wanted to do a Red and White theme for Valentines Day, but my new Eternal Creation range hasn't arrived yet and so I'm having to make do with Pink and Blue. I think it still turned out pretty good.

 Anyway, picked up Miss E from childcare and found they had let her sleep for over two hours today so she was not tired at all. She also had a big scratch on her face which they couldn't tell me how it happened. This is not the first time I've had these kind of issues, however luckily we are on the waiting list for our preferred childcare centre in central Albury and hopefully soon we'll have a great place where I don't have to worry.

Tonight it took until 9pm to get Miss E off to sleep. We raced around the back yard when we got home, made dinner, had a bath, watered the garden, read books and played until she was exhausted at 7pm. Then as soon as she lied down and I turned out the light the crying game started. I ignored, painted some new shop fittings, did another load of washing, took out the garbage, checked Facebook, until I heard the whiny cry change to a distressing scream so I raced back in to find her soaked in sweat and she had vomited all down the front of her PJ's.

I cleaned her up, gave her some warm milk, cuddles and kissed her and told her it would be OK, put her back in bed and held her hand until she finally drifted off to sleep.

Then hubby called........

Seriously I couldn't give a toss how wonderful your damn resort is and how you plan to take me there one day!

Apparently it's rude to hang up on someone when there telling you how wonderful their life is when your day has been so shitty.....

How was your day?

Buggered

Tonight I would love to write and interesting, uplifting and inspiring post but honestly....I'm buggered!

5 nights of  Miss E not sleeping, me getting up driving around at 3am to get here settled only to have her wake as I pull up in the driveway, then having to get up and run my business and be happy to see customers. It's all I can do to stop the tears rolling down my face right now.

I'm fortunate to have someone fantastic working for me. She's turned into a friend as well as an employee and without her this week I'd be lost (thank you JT). She's taken care of all the incoming stock, phone orders and even took some awesome photo's of shop.

These are Bungy Buddie by Squiggle Pop

We took Miss E to the ENT this morning and we were told that all was OK, she just has an ear infection that's taking a little longer than normal to clear up and she was prescribed ear drops (which hubby forgot to get on his way home grrrr!) which will, according to the doctor, be like a nuclear bomb on the infection and make it all better.

For now I am off to bed and going to get as much rest as possible before the next wave of crying and wrestling over getting painkillers into Miss E starts. I keep reminding myself.......tomorrow is a new day.