Introducing Our Little Baby Girl ... Miss A

Apologies for my absence on the blog these last few months this has been the longest break I've had in the 7 years I've been blogging!

I have a pretty good excuse .... Mr P and I welcomed our little baby girl Amelia (who will be known as Miss A on the blog) into the world on 16 May 2017 at 1.21pm she weighed 3.040kg and was 48cm long.

I had plenty of time before Miss A was born to nest at home, re-arrange all the cupboards and do a big spring clean, get the nursery ready, and was on Dr's orders to rest and take care of my health. By the end I was a bit over being pregnant and some of the health issues that came with it and was ready for our little Miss A to arrive and that she did a bit earlier than expected, when I was 38 weeks pregnant, the day after my Birthday so we'll now be sharing a Birthday weekend!

The birth was nothing like I thought it would be and was the opposite of my birth plan although I'll spare you all the details other than to say I went into labor at home and thankfully Mr P made it home from work and got me to the hospital because 40 minutes later Miss A was born. 

I'm so very thankful Miss A is a healthy baby and while I had some health issues during the pregnancy and after the birth I'm happy to say I'm feeling back to my normal self now, well besides the sleep deprivation that is!

  

 

  

These last few months have been a blur of sleepless nights and newborn cuddles and getting to know our Miss A and working out this whole parenthood gig.

I still can't believe that I'm a Mum .... but the endless loads of baby clothes I am washing, the nappies I have changed and the constant feeding certainly proves that I am! Speaking of clothes my Mum unpacked an old trunk full of baby clothes that were mine when I was a baby, a lot was handmade and knitted or crochet by my Nanna (Miss A's great-grandmother) and it's so special to dress Miss A in my old baby clothes (like the yellow and blue cardis, white bonnet, booties and shoes above) I just need to dress her in a mix of vintage and modern clothes so she doesn't look too old fashioned!

I'm on maternity leave for a year and after 20 years of working I'm really enjoying being at home. Mr P had a few weeks off work in the beginning and is a very hands on Dad and was the one who had to show me how to change a nappy!

I'm lucky to have support from friends and family who drop in when I need a hand and give Miss A some cuddles so I can have a shower or get dinner ready - my slow cooker has been a lifesaver I can make dinner while Miss A naps (babies sleep A LOT!) and dinner cooks during the day and keeps warm until Mr P gets home from work and we can eat together.

Our rescue dog Lexi has been really good with Miss A and taking on the protective big sister role well. I just know these two are going to grow up being the best of friends!

  

We are loving spending time at home as a little family and while the days blend into weeks and months already I am enjoying this slower pace to life right now.

While I'm in this newborn bubble I won't be blogging as regularly as I was before but you can keep in touch with Jarrah Jungle daily on my social media pages - Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

Welcome to the blog Miss A!

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Nursery Tour: Pretty In Pink + Glimmers Of Gold

Our little jelly bean is due this month and I've finally finished furnishing and decorating the nursery for her so I thought I'd take you on a nursery tour.

This use to be my craft/study room before we turned it into the baby's nursery and the design plan was to work with what we had and stick to a budget which I'm happy to say we've done. You really don't need to spend a lot of money when decorating, I shopped around home a lot using decor and furniture I already had, we purchased furniture secondhand, plus inexpensive stores like Kmart and Target are great for affordable decor and everything baby!

I've added links to similar products throughout this blog post to Temple and Webster Australia's largest online furniture and homewares retailer as they have a great selection of baby and kids products and furniture. I have my eye on a toy box and of course every little girl needs a doll house or a teepee ... there's so many adorable things to pick from!

I wanted to keep the design neutral and calming making it a perfect place for baby to sleep so nothing too bright or out there. The colour palette started as white, grey and black and evolved with added pops of pink and gold to make it feminine and pretty.

We bought and hung new blockout blinds over the silver blinds as it's such a bright and sunny room and we need to make it dark for daytime naps!

Some of the furniture we already had (the bookcase, wardrobe and side table), plus the rug and light fitting black chandelier we kept as it suited the colour theme. 

We purchased some furniture items secondhand from Gumtree like the Ikea wing chair - I did lots of research on a perfect nursing chair and Ikea's wing chair was a winner and it's really comfortable. Although I still need to find a foot stool to go with it.

The bookcase had to stay in this room and still holds all my books but I've kept the top two shelves for the baby's books and decor.

I shopped from home and used my own decor items for the  bookcase - anything white ceramic or animal seemed to fit well as nursery decor. I bought a salt lamp to use as a night light as it gives out a nice soft glow and also has lots of other healing and purifying qualities.

If you're looking for some adorable kids bookcases check out Temple and Webster they have a great range to pick from here.

The Ikea Hemnes drawers were also a bargain secondhand find on Gumtree as they are actually brand new and were still in the original packaging. I decided the drawers will double as a change table with a change mat on top and all the change supplies in the top drawers and then clothes in the drawers underneath. 

I just love how much storage this piece of furniture provides and for a small room it's great having furniture that is multi-purpose. I'm also using the top as a dressing table with jars for headbands, dummies and vintage jewellery boxes.

  

Baby's clothes are so itty bitty tiny so a few sets of the Ikea drawer dividers are perfect for keeping all the clothes neat and tidy. But let's just see how long they stay this way for!

I also typed up some labels for each divider so you can see at a glance the size and what the item is.

Over in the wardrobe there's heaps of storage space as well for all the hanging items like dresses, jackets and sleeping bags. 

I made little size dividers from some butterfly blackboard pegs I had in my craft supplies and tied them to string which hangs down to separate the clothes.

I was lucky enough to get a big bag full of matching baby hangers in different sizes for free from Pumpkin Patch as they were closing down.

I've used a hanging wardrobe organiser that I already had for storing all the baby's linen, blankets and swaddles. 

The vintage bassinet was lent to me by a friend and our little one will sleep in this in the bedroom with Mr P and I until we decide to move her into her nursery and into her cot. 

The purple netting was from when I was a baby and covered my own bassinet. I just love that it's been kept all this time and can be passed down through the generations. My Mum has also unpacked all my old knitted and crochet baby clothes which are just beautiful I can't wait to dress my little girl in the same clothes that I wore over 30 years ago! 

The cot is another special item as it's been passed down in Mr P's family. It's the only timber item in the room so we were going to paint it white but like the contrast the timber wood adds so we've kept it as it is.

Above the cot hangs a bird cage I've filled with paper flowers and bird decor and on the wall are some bird mirror wall decals. Both of these were already there from my craft room/study design and I think fit in nicely with the nursery so have kept them there.

The art in the room I'm sure I'll change around over time but for now I have - 

"The First Kiss" angel print is a special one I brought back from Rome on my first overseas holiday 20 years ago. The gorgeous girl with goose art was a baby shower gift from beautiful friends. An Ikea butterfly wall art I've added some flower vines too. Lastly I DIYed the wooden art from a print I found on Pinterest, printed out and framed.

I really love how the nursery has turned out, the room has such a nice feel to it and hopefully I've got everything ready for when our little bundle arrives this month.


What do you think of our little baby girl's nursery? 

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My 'It's A Girl' Baby Shower!

Today I want to share with you my Baby Shower which was thrown a few weeks ago to celebrate my baby bump and to get ready to welcome Mr P and I's new addition as we're just weeks away from starting our own little family.

I wore a flower crown because when else will I have an excuse to wear one! It was made by a talented local The Flower Crown Cartel and it made me feel every bit the glowing Mum-To-Be. When I eventually (and reluctantly!) took the flower crown off I dried the flowers out and it's become a pretty dried flower crown which I've hung in the baby's nursery (more to come on the nursery tour soon!).

The Baby Shower was a combined effort by my two beautiful bridesmaids who impressed everyone with their Hen Party planning for my Wedding that when they offered to throw me a Baby Shower I was very grateful and happy to accept!

My two friends did the invitations, decorations, games and were the hostess with the hostess on the day which meant I could relax and socialise with all the guests which really made the whole day so much more enjoyable for me.

We had the Baby Shower at my house out on the newly built deck and the girls decorated it beautifully with a pink, black and white theme with bunting, balloons and paper pompoms it looked so pretty.

I made a dozen or so flower arrangements with a few bunches of pink and white flowers from my favourite florists on Beaufort Street in Mount Lawley. I recycled the jars from my engagement party and replaced the ribbons with pink, black and white ribbons to match the theme.

I placed the flowers on the tables out on the deck and by the front door and they looked so pretty.

My lovely Mum made all the food for afternoon tea - little finger sandwiches, quiches, fritata, sausage rolls and for the dessert table this was a combined effort I made cupcakes, my Mum made slice and my Auntie made a cake and biscuits.

I gave my camera to a friend to take photos on the day so I didn't need to worry about it and she did a great job at capturing all the happy snaps (including the odd selfie per below!).

Friends and family traveled near and far to make my Baby Shower and I especially love that my 90 year old Nanna (and cruise ship companion!) rang the morning of the party saying she just didn't want to miss it and organised for a 4 hour round trip from the Country to come to the party and I'm so glad she did.

I was showered with gifts from friends and family and feeling ever so grateful for all the thoughtfulness and love our little one will have when she enters this world.

I have hosted two Baby Showers for friends and family and it really is a special occasion to celebrate.

Did you have a Baby Shower?

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How I'm Being An Organised Mum-To-Be

When I found out I was going to be a Mum and after the initial excitement and warm and fuzzy feelings I became a bit overwhelmed with all the medical appointments, what I need for the nursery and baby, what to pack for the hospital etc. There were so many things running through my head of what I needed to do and being that I like to be organised I started to make lists for everything and anything and these lists wouldn't fit in my Happy Planner in an easy way.

So I soon realised what I really needed was a pregnancy journal so I could keep everything Mum and baby related in one place.  

I looked everywhere for a pregnancy journal from bookshops to online and there just wasn't much available.

So when I found Baby Notes at kikki.K I just had to have it - it cost $34.95 and if you sign up to be a member you'll get a $10 discount voucher to use which makes it a pretty good buy.

Essentially Baby Notes is an organiser with sections to write down to do lists, appointments, baby names, gifts and check lists for the nursery, hospital, etc. There's also a blank calendar which I use a lot to write down how I'm feeling, milestones, important dates to remember, etc.

After the pregnancy section there's a baby section so you can record the baby's appointments, what foods they like and sleep patterns which I think will be really useful. I really like that I can keep using the same journal without the need to purchase another one and start again.

I've been using my Happy Planner stickers and washi tape to decorate the journal and stick in photos of the ultrasounds and special moments as well to make it more memorable and a keepsake.

I also bought some extra baby stickers from Blitsy as they are always having a sale it's hard to resist and I found some great pregnancy stickers on Etsy.

As a first time Mum-to-be it really has made my life a lot easier to have all this information in one place and the organiser is nice and small so easy take with me to appointments.

If you know a friend who is expecting this is such a great gift although you would want to give it to them early so they can make the most of it from the start of the pregnancy!

This post is in no way endorsed by kikki.K I just really love this journal and wanted to share it with you!

Did you keep a diary of your pregnancy or as new Mum-to-be?

If you join Blitsy an online craft discount store and make a first time purchase it would be awesome if you use my referral code HERE when you sign up - you will get great discounts and I get a $10 reward to spend on my creative obsession so I can share more product posts like this one with you guys! Thank you!!

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