Family Halloween Costume Ideas

I love Halloween, mainly because it means dressing up. I love a good dress up, when I was in grade 10 at school we had a fancy dress formal and I went dressed as 'The Ocean,'  what was I thinking! I painted my whole body blue with white swirls, including the boob tube I was wearing, I sprayed my hair blue and stuck shells in it. I made a skirt out of some old material and stuck sand and shells to it,  I found out the hard way that with all that glue the skirt didn't actually bend so I had to stand up the whole time.

Unfortunately we actually rarely dress up anymore, and Australia isn't big on Halloween like the USA. Now that we have a little guy to dress up I started thinking about fun family Halloween costumes, and did a little digging around for some ideas.

 

Where the Wild Things Are, how awesome is this? I love it, I bet this little boy just had the best time.

Yes, I believe in the 80's a mobile phone was about the size of a baby! So funny!

A Family Smore

Pac Man, look at those cute little ghosts

This one made me laugh. Don't know that many babies who would enjoy being stuffed in a pot.

We could dress Angus up as Fluffy and Ez as Harry Potter.

Who ya gonna call?? Ghost Busters! How cute is the little Slimer

I like to wear Stretchy Pants!! Nacho Libre, this isn't really a family costume, but it brings a big smile to my face, so i just had to include it. 

All of these pics are from Pinterest. If you click on the photo caption it will take you to the original link.

I would love to hear any other ideas you have for Family Halloween costumes!! What you have done, or what are you planning on doing this Halloween

365 Days of Creating

I came across this blog the other day, and I wanted to share, because it really inspired me. Lucky Jackson is creating a new work of art everyday for a year. Wow.. what commitment and hard work. I have no idea how you would find the time, or the inspiration. But, it is so fun. Her embroidery pieces are really great, I especially like the Bombshell week range, where she has stitched such bombshells like Joan and Betty from Mad Men!
What a fantastic idea. I also love the vintage style material. Very beautiful.
If you want to check out more of her work go to

www.365luckydays.blogspot.com

Gussy Sews Inspiration Workshop Week 20

This week I decided to link up with the Gussy Sews Inspiration Workshop for the first time. I think that it is pretty great to be able to link in with other bloggers in a type of online community!
This week the inspiration is the colour RED...

I took some pictures this week of my little man. I can't believe he is already two months old.
How awesome are little Red Vans crib shoes. Seriously cute, now Ezra can dress just like his Daddy! Jeans and Vans.

 I love little Red Shoes, and these authentic Tartan booties all the way from Scotland are so gorgeous. Even if he doesn't look anything like me, at least he can represent my Scottish heritage!

A little paint goes a long way: Baby Cot/Crib

So we did a bit of an Ikea Hack on the $99 cot from Ikea and painted it tea house grey

After researching and searching for the perfect cot/crib for our nursery for  Ezra, I was quite discouraged. The really stylish ones were so expensive. I could have bought one, but I just couldn't bring myself to spend that much. I have found that baby stuff is like wedding stuff, for some reason just because it is for a baby, companies feel like they can charge an exorbitant price. The mid range cots just didn't really fit the vision of what I had for the nursery, the style was very different for what I was going for and they weren't what I wanted.  I couldn't find anything  I really liked that fit into the price range I wanted. I kept getting so discouraged because I found these great cots in the USA for such good prices, then I look them up here and they are twice the price. SO I had to get a little more CREATIVE. Now I have a finished project and a cot that only cost $99, I am really, really happy.

We bought the raw pine finish IKEA cot that cost $99. I then primed it, and painted it one of my favourite colours that was left over from when we painted our back room, Dulux's Tea House Gray. Ignore the rug in the after picture, I still need to move that out of the nursery and get one that is suitable for a little boy.

 

Now just to get the rest of the nursery out of my head and in to real life. 

A Spot of Shopping

I finally have ordered myself some new clothes from Karmaloop.com .. I am not back to my pre-prego weight yet, but I need some clothes.. I can't remember the last time I bought non maternity clothes. It feels so nice to know you have some new fresh things on their way!

Here are a couple of the things I ordered!
Yay for new clothes... i am anxiously awaiting their arrival...

Cloth Nappies: The Verdict thus far

Some of you may be wondering what the verdict is from my previous post Cloth Nappies: Good Idea or Crazy Mum when I was still pregnant about my desire to use cloth nappies/diapers instead of disposables. I thought I would do a follow up post about my progress thus far.

When Ezra was first born, we used disposables from the get go, they made sense in the hospital because you couldn't wash them, plus newborn poop is really crazy. When we got home, we kept using them, I think I was a bit tentative to start with the cloth nappies because of this mindset that disposables are just easier. One day I decided to give the cloth a shot, it took a little bit to figure out all the snaps and gadgets and then we had a leak, the next one was leaking too. So after a few pee leeks, which are not fun for us or Ezra, I went back to disposables, for convenience. You know what, they started leaking too, maybe we just have ourselves a heavy wetter. The bin was piling up, and our green wheely bin was pretty much just full of nappies. So after a few more days, I decided to really figure out these cloth nappies.

My initial problem was that I wasn't putting them on tight enough, I guess I was scared I was squishing him to tightly, but I wasn't by any means, there were gapes in the legs where the pee was escaping from. Once I got them tight enough and secured properly they have been AWESOME! I really don't find it that hard to wash them, and our bin is empty!! They are also this lovely fluffy soft minky material in all sorts of awesome colours that just look so darn cute. I calculated that in the first month, using disposables we had already spent $99 on nappies (a 108 pack costing $33). I know they use less as they get older, but it is estimated the average baby would go through $3000 worth of disposables in their life. Although the cloth nappies I bought were on the more expensive side, they are no where near $3000.

So the verdict is, Cloth All the Way.. so far they have been awesome and I feel a whole lot better about chucking a load of nappies in the wash, then a bin full of disposables.

The brand I use is Itti Bitti and the type is the Tutto's, which can be adjusted to fit a newborn to toddler, which is great value for money!! This is the order I did this week! Such awesome colours.

Pee-Pee Teepee

I was browsing an online store yesterday, and came across an ingenious idea. Pee-Pee Teepees!! For anyone who has had a baby boy you will know exactly why these could come in handy! A guard for the dreaded pee fountain that flies here there and everything seemingly deliberately when the nappy comes off, or just before the new one in fastened securely. It is like the fresh air and freedom makes them suddenly want to pee all over you, the wall, themselves and of course their clothes. It is like playing Russian Roulette every time you change a nappy, you never know when your gonna get done!

These picture are from the Nursing Angel website. They retail for a pack of 5 for $14.95
but I could just make them for myself. I think it is a pretty funny gift though! Something to keep in mind!

Sleepy Wrap

Finally I have two free hands to do what I want!! This morning in the mail came my Sleepy Wrap. Recommended to me by a dear friend and Mother of two beautiful girls!! About half an hour ago I tried it on, slipped Ezra in it. Made some lunch, did some vacuuming and now have a sleeping baby attached to me and two free hands. Amazing, plus my back isn't sore at all, too easy!! I feel like I can actually accomplish things at home now, because Ezra is so content just chilling out in this wrap! Bonus is I get to keep him nice and close to me too! I haven't blogged for a while because I have kinda been stuck one armed in one position or walking back and forth in the hallway! So hopefully now I will be back in the swing of things.

The Sleepy Wrap was
on sale too, at nursingangel.com.au
I chose grey but there are a bunch of colours to choose from.



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Red Dog!

A couple of years ago when Joel was working in his job where he had to travel all over Australia, all the time, he came across a pretty neat book recommended to him by the lady who ran a small second hand book store, it is the true story of a dog that had adventures all around the North West of Australia. It's called "Red Dog" written by Louis de Bernieres. When Louis was visiting Australia he heard the stories of Red Dog, a Red Kelpie and went on to write the book, you may know him from his other titles like Captain Corelli's Mandolin. I had heard Joel talk about the book, and he even showed me the pictures of the Red Dog Statue he took when he was in Dampier, WA, but for some reason I didn't read the book at the time, even though it had been sitting on our bookshelf for the last few years.

It wasn't until this week, when popular culture and the release of the movie premier of Red Dog came out that I was actually motivated to read the book, what is wrong with me, it is such a short little book too. This is all in the lead up to simply say, you should read this book, and of course when you have done that, watch the movie. It is such a great story about a wandering dog who really is loved by the whole community. A friend who is a self-confessed non dog liker, watched the movie and even she liked it, so you don't have to be a dog lover to love this story!
I finished reading it as I lay in bed before trying to get to sleep, but once I put the book down, I cried for about 20 minutes, it might just be the hormones, but it is a really special book. Even better it is about my home state. I am yet to see the movie, but I have heard great reviews, I just am not very comfortable sitting in movie theater seating right now!