Read

Waiting impatiently for those 3 books purchased from the inkspotshop on etsy. Especially Bhowani Junction, which talks about anglo indians.

Climber

Photos from our last holidays back home

Tantrums

Elya just had the worst tantrum today and in the shopping mall. I was sweating, puffing, reddening, trying to keep my calm and trying to hold her still while it seems all the passer bys were staring at us!

How do you deal with tantrums in public places?

At home its 'easy', I will let her cry/shout it out and she will eventually calm down and ask for a hug. She hardly ever had a big tantrum in a public place - whiny sometimes but not like the full blown one she had today.

Looking at it in her perspective, I should have known better! I stretched her day too long.

Anyway my baby is sleeping quietly now, but I know she will wake up in a bad mood. After so much crying that what happens most of the time!

How do other mothers deal with tantrums?

Toddler activities or how to occupy a 20 month old

I've always tried to install a routine for Elya but it is kind of hard. The baby does not nap!! Unless I drive for a few minutes in the car. I try my best to have her settle quietly with me on her bed, with a book - talking softly, stroking her hair, but she she knows the signal that I am going to make her sleep and will do everything in her power of little person she is not to sleep!!

She will jump, talk, sing, show me her dolls!

Here is a view of a typical day with Elya:

5.30 or 6 a.m - wakes up and cries for 'lait, lait' (milk) - I will do it or Stefan will do it and after this she will settle back to sleep.

8 - 8.30 a.m - wakes up for good, I'm already in the kitchen and she will come for cuddles - too cute for words

9 a.m - Breakfast, with or withoust success! depending on hunger

9.15 a.m - Shower (me too)

9.30 a.m - So we usually go out for toddler activities that start at 10, if not we play at home

12.30 p.m - Back from toddler playgroup

1 p.m - If she is not asleep from the car drive, give lunch

1.30 p.m - Change diaper

2 p.m - playtime or read time, painting depends

3 p.m - dvd time, which I try not to but do

4 p.m - outdoors, swim or play

5 p.m - if we swam, will take shower and have a snack - i'll start cooking dinner

6.30 p.m - father comes we all eat together

7.00 p.m - play together - not an ounce of sleepiness

8.00 p.m - pray together and try to get her in a calm mood

9.00 p.m - milk and she sleep or not - if not, we all sit in bed until she falls asleep.

I have been trying to put her earlier but to no avail, any experienced mothers can give me a tip out there??

Love this look
via desretoinspire

Should stay away from internet!

Really is it stress or excitement or both

Two recent web purchase:



This giant vintage Blessing alarm clock from Kaylovesvintage on Etsy

A beautiful scarf in mustard from the scarfshop

I should stop surfing, I mean it!

On how hard it is to keep a blog and a few news

I knew when I started my blog that I wouldn't be very regular, knowing my track record at keeping a personal diary. But it has even been harder with motherhood and my very demanding baby.

I so admire these mummy bloggers on the web, who seem to juggle with cooking fantastic food, decorating their house, crafting and having their own business. How I wish I could be all this but no ... the reality is that for Elya's first year in this world, I have been all attention and care to her.

Crafting has proved to be almost impossible, especially since I was breastfeeding on demand and I had a baby that would only nap, for 20 minutes. Everything that I started had to be stopped. And now with our very mobile little girl, I won't even think of jewellery making - with all the beads rolling around (yes, I am a messy crafter)

Cooking is ok, as I have found a solution - cooking quick easy meals in the mornings while Elya is playing or reading and reserving special meals for the weekend, when hubby is at home.

Decorating has been mainly arranging our furniture in a way that all of us can enjoy being together, my biggest pride being setting up Elya's room in a cosy and bright way, especially since there is no natural light in her room - that's the great minus point in our new house (pretty on the outside but badly designed in the inside)

Ok I'll stop taking excuses for non blogging, because while laziness hah and lack of time and procrastination have kept me away from my blog, I have been busy browsing the many inspiring blogs that are out there - with Elya on my lap, watching Barbapapa, Oui oui in a half opened window!

These blog have inspired me so much that I decided to take an interior designer course online. Now that Elya is more independant and will start nursery school soon, it gives me some time to take on something that I have always wished to do but did not dare beacuse of ... fear? not knowing really what job will await for me in Mauritius? Well not anymore, let's go for it!

So does this mean I will be even less blogging?

How do I get bigger pictures?

New home

Before the big move, I was trying to get a photo of us.
Elya happy in her new environment - we love the beautiful sunlit room

Corners of my home

Elya's wall, full of mummy's drawings.

The latest one, my interpretation of Elya's favourite nursery song Baa baa black sheep

Am back

Our happy little unit was back home for christmas

New Year - new life! Baby in hand and lots of craft projects in my head, am looking forward to this year.

I am in love with my little girl.

One main objective is to get my Etsy account up and running.

See you soon friends

Bird Illustration

I'm feeling very inspired by nature lately, even if it's the desert around me. Counting the days, 4 weeks to go!!

1 hour of fun

One hour of fun with Petit Collage via Martha Stewart Craft

Keeping busy

My favourite brother from Canada (F.Y.I I have only one brother) gave us a box of Hartiatoys Polar Animals . It's meant for kids from 6 to 12, but we can't possibly wait for baby to be 6 to start enjoying it, can we :)! So the dear husband and I started folding, cutting n sticking' last night. We had great fun! It was very relaxing. We gonna put it up in a mobile for our little one. While cutting the animals, I was just thinking Damn! you must be a really skillful 6 years old to be able to do all this cutting and folding but it's a great learning toy!


Another project I did, which am not sure if I will have it framed. This lovely lady offers a free template every Tuesday from her blog Scherenschnitte , which means paper cutting. I did this one because it represented mother and child - and also because it was one of the easiest lol!


On another note, it is now Ramadan in Bahrain. For those of Muslim faith, fasting during the holy month of Ramadan is one of the fifth pilar of Islam. It is my second Ramadan in Bahrain. All restaurants, food outlets are basically closed during the day, life comes back to town after Iftar which starts around 6 p.m and this is when the Muslims break the fast. For my part, I am staying at home the whole day, which is good because I am entering the nesting mode, where all I want to do is clean up before baby comes.

Etsy buy for my baby

A solid maple grasping and teething Hippo from Little Sapling Toys Etsy shop. Made with non toxic wood,I reckon it's better than the plastic ones + there was no shipping fees + I love Hippos xxx

Nice nice...

I heart this haircomb from Etsy seller whichgoose. It can be a nice addition to a simple dress for a wedding or a garden party :)

Projects

under way - widly inspired by Charley Harper's illustration

Botanical paintings to fill up the wallspace

I am feeling very creative these days. Since am not working I have been busy painting, sewing, twisting and turning wire for my jewellery.

Staying at home is such a new thing for me that I need to keep myself busy to prove that I have done something worthwhile...

Two in a day

Wanted to share with you some of the paintings I made for baby's room. There's another one where I will put her name,but we are still unsure so we'll wait the last minute.

No News....Good News

This is my personal interior style from this QUIZ

I apologize for my sporadic posting, blame it on the connection and the oh so many other things to do!

A few updates:

The house sale at my friend's place went great, I think that in the future this is the way to go. A jewellery party, like a tupperware party.

This buddy has been saving my life. I sleep with it everynight and holds it tight, it's so compfy. I recommend it to all pregnant ladies.

I have made a bird mobile for my baby, using this pattern from this site. Ok mine is not as perfect and I didn't have spare cloth, so I used felt - Pictures coming up soon.

New new new

Some new jewellery I've been working on for the house sale on Saturday. I must say I've been very productive and inspired lately.