How I Organised Our Wedding Photos

I can't believe Mr P and I are just about to celebrate our 2nd wedding anniversary and can I just say married life is awesome I could not be happier being a wifey!

So today on the blog I thought I'd share what I've done with our wedding photos.

Our wedding photographer was a friend of ours who photographed the wedding as a gift to us which was amazing. He printed out some photos which I've stuck into our wedding album that I had custom made for us and the rest are on a USB stick for me to print out.

I've turned our wedding album into our book of love - Mr P cringes everytime I ask friends and family if they want to look at our book of love .... I think it's funny and I feel like Isla Fisher from Wedding Crashes you know the scene when she pulls out the wedding album when she just starts to date Vince Vaughan and everyone cringes! Yep that's what I do!!

The album holds the engagement photos, engagement invitations and messages in a bottle. Plus from the wedding it has the invitations and stationary, a copy of poems read and our vows, polaroids from the photo booth and printed photos from the wedding.

I just love having this one book with all our memories captured from our engagement and wedding.

As for framing photos this is the only enlarged photo I have printed from the wedding which I have put into a copper frame.

I really must pick out some more favourite photos and frame them!

With the digital photos on the USB I created a wedding album for my parents which I made online with Snapfish which they print and post out. I added mostly photos of our family and us getting ready together the morning of the wedding and special shots which I thought my parents would like.

I have started to do another Snapfish album for Mr P and I with most of the wedding photos but it's just finding the time to play around with the album online.

For gifts for my Matron Of Honor and Bridesmaid I used Snapfish again to print a copy of a photo onto a wooden block and added some text. They come with a little stand holder but they also sit on their own as they're a block shape.

I like this as an alternative to printing a photo and finding a frame for it and they work out pretty reasonably priced at $20 each delivered.

I also did one of these as gifts for my Nanna and Mr P's parents (or should I say my Parents-In-Law!)

I am going to order some more of these photo blocks for Mr P and I and they also make great gifts.

I printed out a special photo onto a canvas and added the 'our wedding day' text.

Snapfish always have deals on their website and I got this canvas for 70% off!

I had some heart shaped ornaments printed on Snapfish as well which I thought would make nice Christmas gifts. The first lot I ordered the text was cut off and so I asked them to reprint them which they did (at no cost) and they came out perfect the next time.

It's taken well over a year but I've finally managed to organise all our wedding photos.

Now be honest .... How long did it take you to print or frame your wedding photos?!

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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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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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Jarrah Jungle Blog - 7 Year Milestone

I hit publish on my first blog post 7 years ago on the 24th of May 2010 

and have written over 1000 blog posts since then !

I know I'm a little early but I wanted to write about my blog's 7 year milestone before our new addition arrives as our little girl is due in May and who knows it could be any day now so I thought I'd better hit publish on this post now before my hands are full as a first time Mum! 

If you're reading this THANK YOU for coming on this blogging journey with me all these years and for sharing in my adventures (and misadventures) of turning Mr P and I's first house into a home we love.

What changes we've seen in our home over the last 7 years - we've completely gutted, renovated and restyled our home inside and out, built a garage extension, added a front courtyard and built a backyard deck and patio. There's not a wall we haven't painted or door we haven't replaced we've transformed every inch of our home with love and care to turn it into our own abode. 

The property goal for us from the beginning was to renovate and retain the front house and to subdivide our block in two and I'm thrilled to say we have finished the last stage of this and are awaiting the subdivision to be signed off as complete which should come through any day now.

We can then put the back block on the market for sale or we will wait for Perth's property market to pick up a bit - it will depend on what advice we get from Real Estate agents once we're read to take this next step.

We'll continue to live in our renovated Jarrah Jungle home on the front block until we feel it's time to move into a bigger family home (which may be sooner than we thought with a baby on the way!). But we really want to enjoy all our blood, sweat and tears and the home we have created for now.

On a personal note you've been there when Mr P and I become fur-parents to our rescue dog Lexi, the excitement of our engagement and then our DIY wedding and now our journey into parenthood as we will soon be welcoming our little baby girl into our home.

I promise I won't bore you with too much Mum life stuff but I will continue to write about how our home and style evolves as we turn our couples retreat into a family friendly home.

Thanks again to you my amazing readers for all your support over the years and coming on this home loving journey with me xxx

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DIY Pregnancy Announcement Gifts

I just couldn't help myself and wanted to do something creative for our pregnancy announcement to my family with Mr P and I's recent news that the Jarrah Jungle household will have a new addition arriving in May.

I wanted to give my family something special to remember the moment as it will be the first Grandchild for my Parents and my one and only big Brother will finally be an Uncle!

So I made these easy pregnancy announcement gifts using some leftover Avery Invitations from my engagement and wedding stationary and some nice bottles of booze that I think will take pride of place on the home bar for many years to come.

I used the plain Avery online template to suit the size of the card I was using and came up with my own designs (after trawling on Pinterest for hours looking for inspiration there are so many great ideas on there!)

I created the design online, saved it to the Avery template, printed them out on my black and white printer, and added some pretty washi tape and stickers for colour.

To attach the card I punched a hole and threaded with some pretty ribbon and tied them to a nice bottle of aged port.

For my Parents and soon to be Grandparents

For my Brother and soon to be Uncle

Of course I made one for Mr P's parents as well and I attached their card to a bottle of champagne which they have promised we will pop together on the arrival of their 14th Grandchild!

These pregnancy announcement gifts were so simple to make and cost next to nothing as I already had the stationary and ribbons etc, it was just the bottles of booze that I spent money on.

My family and Mr P's really loved receiving them and I'm glad they will have this keepsake to remember the moment of us announcing our pregnancy and it'll be nice to have a drink together once the baby arrives!

How did you announce to your parents you were pregnant?

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First Comes Love. Then Comes Marriage. Then Comes .....

I mentioned some exciting news in my 2017 one word blog post but just in case you missed it

First comes love, 

Then comes marriage, 

Then comes a baby in a baby carriage .... 

That's right - Mr P and I are going to be parents with our little one due in May!

As a first time Mum I'm excited, happy, nervous and a little bit shit scared all at once!

Mr P and I have thought long and hard over the years about this next venture in our lives into parenthood and feel the time is right and are really looking forward to what the future brings in starting our own little family.

We have told all our family and friends the news face to face before we shared it with the world and it has been so wonderful seeing the happiness it has brought to everyone - especially my parents as it will be their very first grandchild (just wait until you see my DIY announcement and how we told them the news) !

As you can see our rescue dog Lexi is also beyond thrilled to be promoted to big sister!

I've been a career woman for 20 years working in the city 5 days a week and what a change it's going to be in my new role as a stay at home Mum. I'm taking a whole year off work to go on maternity leave and stay at home and look after my little one. What a great country we live in to be given the option of maternity leave and job security knowing that my job will be held for me to return to.

I am actually quite looking forward to the change and being able to spend more time at home being a domestic goddess. I'm hoping I'll have time to bake treats for Mr P's lunchbox and cook yummy dinners for us, keep on top of the housework and be a real domestic goddess ..... But I know the reality is I'll probably spend most of my day covered in baby vomit, serving up burnt toast for dinner and with all those baby clothes to wash I'll probably never see the bottom of my laundry basket again!

BUT what an adventure this next life chapter will be!

Practically speaking the first thing Mr P and I started to consider is where we will live and raise our little one - we are torn between the big decision of moving to a bigger family home now or staying in our beloved Jarrah Jungle where we have lived for over 7 years and re-organise a few rooms so we can fit in a nursery.

We have been researching suburbs which are good for young families and have been stalking houses for sale online every day and have been to a few home opens on the weekends too. If we don't find our dream home soon then we will stop house hunting and stay put in our Jarrah Jungle home and have a big spring clean out and get it family friendly ready!

We have been powering through an epic to do list to finish the last of our renovating projects to get the house all finished so that we can put the tools down and focus on spending time as a family for a while.

Where ever we end up I'm so excited about designing and decorating the nursery. I've helped a couple of friends set up their nursery and shared ideas on furniture, layout and decor and now I'll be putting those practical and pretty ideas together for an awesome nursery for our own little one.

If you follow me on Pinterest I apologise in advance for the nursery inspiration I have been pinning lately there are so many beautiful nursery designs I'll be sharing my nursery inspiration on the blog soon.

Holy duly I can't believe I'm going to be a mumma! 

First time Mum to be advice is welcome and encouraged!!

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1000th Blog Post Milestone

This marks the 1000th yes that's one thousand blog posts that I have written, edited and published on my beloved Jarrah Jungle blog over the last 6 years.

I've got to say I'm proud of my achievement of being consistent and writing for so long.

I spend a lot of time on my blog keeping it up to date and it's been a big dedication and commitment over the years - even more so now with social media channels attached to my blog it could almost be a full time (unpaid!) job to keep my blog and social media following up to date.

Learning how to build a website and maintain it is also a continuing learning curve and I intend to keep building on and improving the look of my blog this year.

My blog is my creative outlet and place to share stories and write whatever I feel like.

Although it's mostly home related of course as that is why I started to blog in the first place to document our home renovations. I can't believe 6 years on we are still renovating - it has been so long we are starting to renovate the renovations and now we are turning it into a family friendly home there will be many more home loving blog posts to come.

I also love to write about my travel adventures, share my latest book reviews and tasty recipes.

With big changes afoot in my work life as I transition from full time career woman to stay at home Mum I'm hoping that being able to blog during the day instead of late at night after work will be a positive thing.

I really want to focus on the business side of my blog more and see what I can do better and improve on this year. I am planning to upgrade my old ancient laptop to a newer fancier model as well which will help too as this old laptop can't even keep up with my fast typing speed and drives me nuts!

Thanks for reading 999 blog posts and if you've made it all the way down here thanks for reading 1000! I really appreciate your comments, likes, shares and support of my blog all these years so thank you so much!!

Please let me know what you would like to see more of on the blog this year - What blog posts do you like to read? More recipes? More creative projects? Product reviews? Something else!

I'd love to hear from you let me know in a comment below or drop me an email at jarrahjungle@hotmail.com

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