food...

Somehow today I rather fortuitously found my way to the nonchalantmom blog and came across her piece about children's food intolerances. When my daughter was born she was intolerant to every major food group. Intolerant versus allergic, for us, means that our daughter would pass out for the day, have a (ridiculousy) trotty botty every 15 mins, have giant blisters on her bottom, be sick, be in pain, be bloated.. the list goes on. We were unable to get anyone to help us for nearly a year. By this time she was unconscious (although not anaphylactic), had refused milk and food for nearly a week, she lost a huge amount of weight and we were seriously worried. We couldn't get help because I was 'an older mum' so my judgement was questioned. God knows why. We were then ripped off by a private doctor who charged lots and made her worse.

So in our stressed-out and sleep-deprived state, we opted for the expensive decision that I wouldn't return to work but instead would watch, listen, read and learn as much as I could about my daughter and her rather peculiar and complicated digestive system! So another year or so followed of her and I at home, cooking, being ill, testing, watching, comforting...
Now she's nearly three and is through most of it. So these photos of her having chocolate ice cream this summer, warm my heart enormously. I now chat with a few people who have simimlar experiences, which is fantastic. It can be very isolating as you are just not having the same time as other new mums and in my experience, I was told not to trust my isntincts. In fact, my instincts were incredible and now I can tell by looking at her face that there might be stormclouds a-brewing... In our house, it seems quite unanimous that I'm pretty much always right... well, when I say unanimous... I definitely agree with me..

Thanks to nonchalontmom

papier mache magazine

My little sausage girl and I have survived swine flu. It wasn't fun, but it's done and dusted..
In the meantime, she's been bringing many of her imaginary brother's and sisters for breakfast - I can't tell if it's just a way to get more food. (I'm already being outwitted by a two and a half year old!)She's keen on flying to the moon but sometimes goes too fast and bumps her head on it..
sometimes she hides behind rainbows and jumps from cloud to cloud...
sometimes her babies only have one leg, and sometimes the big bad wolf wakes her up in the morning and makes her a bit scared. But that will pass because we live in a house of bricks and he can't blow it down.
I love the new issue of papier mache magazine, the images (as shown throughout this post and of course in the magazine) are delicious and original. And look at that brooch in the top image - I can't work out where it's from, but it's adorable.

loo roll love

urban craft kindly left me a link to this paper sculpture by Anastassia Elias aka Chadou Yama (see above).

Of course I love it. Thanks urban craft for leaving a comment and for introducing me to this.

loo roll love & matsutake

in our house, we're rather partial to a bit of loo roll art..

actually, I just can't stop hoarding them, so we have something of a 'loo roll middle' mountain to work our way through..
I just stumbled upon the fab matsutake blog (see images below), which I found via bloesem kids

anyone who makes things with loo rolls is going to be popular in our house

I hope there are others out there

wee-wee girl

this week she's mainly been running to the front door to lock it and keep the tigers out... apparently there are lots of them outside and they might scare her

she dislocated her elbow last wednesday. Ouch. Then by sunday morning we were in hospital again, this time for an inhalor.. The way we get her to take it is this; when the birds sing their lovely songs, they leave beautiful words in the sky - that's what goes into the inhalor... and rainbows and clouds.. it's still a bit hit and miss so sleep is scarce and she's less boingy than normal.

yesterday morning she got up and named herself 'wee-wee girl'.. of all the super-powers to choose!

leaves and handles

Today my sweet little (two and a half yr old) girl told me that her hair was made of grapes and her knees were made of yoghurt.

Recently she's taken to eating the sky, which she tells me tastes of dreams sometimes.. computers other times.

She pulled my head to her face, sniffed my hair and told me it smells of leaves and handles.

snitch-snotch website

These are the first quilts to be shot for snitch-snotch. It was great fun and the models didn't give us any back-chat whatsoever..
There are so many more quilts to come and I already have private commissions underway. Currently the new design samples are being tested by my chief (2 yr old) quality controller.

My little sausolito has done some champion bouncy boing-ing on them and so far.. so good!

I hope other people like them as much as she does, although I suspect she's a bit biased. Please feel free to take a peek at the website and tell me what you think so far. Thanks

cocon

cocon is

a place I like to visit often.

for me, cocon is balance

although it is about simplicity, it is still warm. nothing is stark, merely simple and loved

it is easy comfort
and family warmth

cocon flickr

cocon blog

cocon etsy
it also has that brilliant translation thing so you can read it in english or french!

spent like this
it was an idyllic weekend
the icing on the cake was this..
centipedes are a very big thrill when you're 2

le vestiaire de jeanne

le vestiaire de jeanne
makes me want

to dance

and skip

through paris
with my daughter
singing this
le vestiaire de jeanne

...

shadows

and tiny prisms scattered throughout
our home

hijack

When I mentioned I share my camera with a 2 yr old, I meant it literally.
These are photos she took just after she deftly snuck the camera into her bedroom. In the photo above you can see that she was also cuddling one of her favourite toys as she snapped away. She was probably teaching him how to do it!
I'm quietly happy for her to do this, I adore seeing things from her perspective and the happy accidents that occur, blurry or focussed, who cares! This was done on a day that she was really happy with her new shoes, but I can't tell if she planned to snap them or not!
I love the little bit of framed composition in the background of this one below - intentional or erm, not...

light

The sun's come to visit and I can't get enough of it.
Craving it, guzzling it down the lens.I'm smiling stupidly at little nooks and crannies, camera in hand to catch a flit of light. My very slow, bad camera that I share with my 2 yr old.. it's been to hell and back (the camera, that is).
So I know the photos are going to be of poor technical quality, but I don't care, I love every shot of light I capture on it. These little chinks of light that float in are always an unexpected treat. Fleeting, too. Here for just a minute stubbornly refusing an encore the next day when you try to revisit the moment.
Does a little glint of light somewhere make your heart flutter a bit?
It does mine. Always.

begun

So here I am in blogland.. wondering where it will take me.

Life is full of change and this is a place I want to celebrate those changes.

Every day I make and play with my daughter. So here I want to keep it all to look back, to savour, to share and virtually meet with other people who must do just the same thing. I make, she makes, you make, we make..