Welcome to the Family

Look at our four new additions! Well, actually there are 5, the little one has a twin.

I can recommend these mannequins as companions: they're cute, they can be boy or girl depending on whether you feel like playing dressups or swordfights, they don't eat or talk and they let you dress them up and pose them however you want!

Needless to say preparations for my first trade show at Life In Style at the end of this month (eek! so much to do!) are well under way.

I was really excited to be featured in the Life In Style mailout to their entire retailer database last week as a new designer to watch! Yay!

It's Raining Again...

Erm well, not much has been happening at Aunty Ollie HQ. Why, you ask?

Well aside from the Tetris game of fitting our life into our house (furniture has arrived, yay!) I have spent the last 7 days trying to get one bl**dy load of washing to dry! Perhaps this will become my life's work? It has rained. And rained. And rained. We love it but busy Mama is over it. When am I supposed to do anything else?! Washing in, washing out, washing in, out, in, out.

We did have a lovely weekend despite the rain. One of the loveliest parts was seeing Miss 6 in her new Coco and Ginger dress (the colour is totally fabulous on her skin!) dancing in the everpresent rain and jumping in a huge pool of water in the park. All the while chanting "summer, summer, summer"! I wish I'd had a camera as the colours were fab but here is the dress, recently purchased from Baby's Got Style.

We also enjoyed some family time. What a treat to have a brother and his wife 20 mins away! We had a family lunch at a local pizzeria yesterday and were entertained by a young opera singer who was part of a birthday celebration. I love living back here. Aside from the washing. Better go and move it outside, here comes the sun!

Blog-Love for the Baby Range

Over at a new find for me, mumsjustlove.com

And at my old fave mumsrock.

Luisa Reviews the Little Lady Wrap Top

It's been a while since our last review, in fact we're about due to get started on our new summer items! Here's what gorgeous Luisa from Dubai has to say about the Little Lady Wrap Top...

"Luisa's style is colourful and easygoing, so we just love Jodie's simple cuts combined with fabulous prints. The Little Lady Wrap Top definitely made a little lady out of my girl, without uncomfortably dressing her up. I love to combine it with jeans.

Luisa, born in September 2007 and a bit on the tall side, is now in size 2- 3, which I think is pretty generous in this style. The sleeves and the waistline ensure she'll be able to wear it for quite a while.

The wrap style is very cleverly finished with two little buttons inside, which securely closes the top with two elastic loops the other side. Outside you have the cute polkadot fabric to close it with a loose knot. Nothing to disturb the active little wrigglers in their daily life.

Easy washing and ironing, fantastic quality - big, big favourite!"

This top also comes in mauve geisha and red and white stripe. It's fab for in between weather...

Shop now...

Camping (Most Definitely Not Glamping!)

Image from here.

We got tired of staying in a nice hotel (I know, I know, poor us!) and have upped sticks and are now camping in our house.

It is quite an adventure but most definitely not the glamping we used to do! We are sharing a couple of mugs, had no fridge or chairs, and last night slept on blow up mattresses that squeaked every time any of us moved. Noone got much sleep last night.

Despite all of this, I am totally in love with my house and feel like I am really, truly in my home, in a way that I never felt in London or Dubai, despite having nice places. It's not a patriotic thing related to country, it's all about the house and the space and the vibe.

For the first time in a long time, I am not champing at the bit to work. I want to paint things and garden and cook and settle my family in. Ahhhh, peace. Aside from squeaking air mattresses...

PS I have lost my camera so forgive the funny picture.

New Babas Are Coming!

One particularly exciting thing about our return to Sydney is the chance to be part of family and friend's excitement as they add to their families. We were not here for lots of our best friends' arrivals and met them fleetingly on short trips home.

As well as loving getting to know these little ones and seeing our friends metamorphose into parents, it really is wonderful to be part of the build up to new babies.

My brother and his gorgeous wife are expecting their first child and we cannot wait! It is the first baby to come on my side of the family, though the fourth grandchild. My kids are so excited to have a new baby cousin. At least they can stop asking me when is my baby coming for a while...

Last weekend Miss 6 and I went along to the baby shower for my sister in law. I just had to show you these little biscuits that she and my brother made. How marriage and babies changes a man into a picture of domestic bliss: cook and decorator and creator! Love it!

And today I've just jumped onto the Baby's Got Style sale to stockpile some great gifts for this baby and a dear friend's imminent arrival. And some other little ones... See guys: you won't just get Aunty Ollie!

Boho, or Hobo? A Less than Stellar Start to the School Year...

Have you seen this family around, just moved to Sydney? No home, no furniture, no car, no phones, no (heaven forbid) Medicare card?

Have you noticed that they wear the same clothes a lot? That the kids don't really have lunch bags? That everything looks, well, a little dishevelled?

Did you notice that the little boy was wearing one thong (flip flop) only to nursery today? (He lost it en route to school in the taxi somehow. It disappeared...)

Did you see them sheltering from the storm yesterday outside the local primary school with about a dozen shopping bags full of uniforms strewn about, and a near tearful Mum on the phone (running out of credit: international mobile...) to stressed Dad to get in a taxi and come to get them? I forgot how bad public transport was in Sydney... All the taxis finish work at 3pm before the new shift starts, quite tricky for 3pm school pick ups! And the bus is impossible with 3 kids and 3 schools...

Today we hired a car and I went ballistic enough to sort out a mobile phone SIM - the internet takes 2 weeks to work at home. But then the furniture is all with customs anyway, stuck, so I'd have to sit on the floor to use it...

I sound like a terribly spoiled expat princess, I know. I am a little frustrated with how long everything takes here! This is my first nanosecond of being annoyed by home. I am already laughing at myself. And at my poor one-shoed boy at nursery this morning.

I can see the looks on peoples faces when I explain the situation. It would be nice to think we're a boho family right now, but reality is, we're more like hobos...