Who doesn't love the Australian Women's weekly birthday cakes cookbook?

I swear this book has bought more joy into people's lives than many other 'joy-promising books' out on the market.  And even though it has moved with the times a little bit - there are still so many of the old favourites in the new editions.  I remember when I was a kid, it would be months before our birthday that we'd start flicking through it trying to decide which cake we'd ask for that year.. And to Mum's credit - she never said 'No way - too hard' to any of them? I don't know that I'll be that obliging when my child/ren start putting their orders in :) But seeing as Lola is still only 2, this year I got to choose for her as she is not quite at the stage of picking something out of many options (even chooosing between a red dress and a yellow dress - she wants both)..

So I chose the Bunny Rabbit cake for her this year, and here's a shot of the bunny, in all her glory

(actually, this was taken 'after' Lola blew out her candles, and she appears to have blown off part of the bunny's paw as well - oops)..

And of course, I had to include a pic of the birthday girl enjoying it at her party (Here Lola is saying 'I want the nose Daddy!!'

I also plan on writing in my book which child had what cake for what year (eg. Julie - 2nd Birthday). That's what Mum did in her book, and it's fun flicking back through it and remembering each party.

Happy Birthday number 2 to you Miss Lola!

Our little girl turned 2 yesterday. And Simon and  I also celebrated our first 2 years as parents. There has been way more laughter than tears and definitely more health than sickness. For that we are very grateful. Lola is showing us more and more of her personality as every day passes, and she has so much spirit and humour that we just love.  And in less than 10 weeks, we're sure she'll take on her new role as a big sister with as much enthusiasm as she seems to tackle everything.

Happy Birthday gorgeous girl.

Chronicle of Birthday day activities:
Top left: Afternoon swim with Daddy at the Council pool
Top right: Birthday cupcakes
Bottom right: Free face painting in New Farm park
Bottom left: Her favourite meal for lunch - Sushi!!

Drooly babies

So, while I don't currently have a drooly baby to take care of at the moment - this tutorial by Lu Bird Baby really caught my eye.  Maybe it's because I have a good friend who I know loves her Ergo baby carrier - and maybe too because I think I want to trade up my Baby Bjorn for an Ergo when our little boy arrives in 10 weeks time..

But I decided to make a set of these 'drool catchers' for a couple of my Ergo-loving-baby-carrying-friends..

Here's one set ready to be gifted:

And here's the other set already in action:

Welcome baby Lucy...

A very special friend of mine has just had her second daughter, and I felt the occassion had to be celebrated with a quilt.. She and I recently made our first quilts together, and I knew she'd appreciate the work that went into it.  But the time between finding out she was having a girl - and our first visit - was only 2 days, so I knew I needed a quilt that was fairly quick to whip up.  I did some googling, and in the end I went with the ticker tape quilt from crazymomsquilts blog.

I have to say, I was a bit disappointed with the end result. Whether it's just my inexperience as a sewer - combined with my inability to forsee the end result of a quilt before I start it - but I had no idea that the end result of the quilt would be so messy!  I should have realised the edges of each piece would fray - and obviously that was the 'look', but I didn't see that from the original pics of the quilt? I washed it before I gave it to her and de-frayed it as much as I could, but I'd say it will continue to fray for a while.

So after umm'ing and ahhh'ing about whether to give it to baby Lucy, I decided in the end I would. And the new mama loved it - which made it all worthwhile.