One month old

With one month...

... Victoria is an escape artist – in less than 30 seconds she can unwrap herself from the tightest swaddle.

... she loves the sound and the warm air of the hairdryer.

... she can perfectly imitate the squeaking sound of a rusty hinge, a contorted door and a tight window.

... she had already two manicures because she was already born with really long and sharp fingernails.

.. . she loves to take a shower with your daddy.

... she can burp like a truck driver.

... she has been out and about a lot – in sun and rain: at a museum, restaurants, library, shopping, post office, pharmacies, doctors, town hall, beach and the park.

... she loves everything black-and-white: pictures, mobiles and chair covers.

... she can make more complicated gestures than a Thai temple dancer.

... she has already grown out of some of her clothes in size OOOO (size 50).

I am so proud of you, little Vicky! And I love you more than I can say.

I ♥ ponytails

Picture found here

Baby Soccer – Ball Tutorial

Every Monday I will post something related to babies: inspiration, craft projects, baby news, and discoveries I have made in this new and exciting world for me. I hope you come along on that rollercoaster ride with me.

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I cannot believe it. We made it. We are in the quarter final of the World Cup. The game was a thriller. Well worth getting up in the middle of the night.

So now there is no excuse to postpone the baby soccer ball tutorial any further. If our boys can beat England 4:1, I can manage to finally post this tutorial.

This project is a great way to make use of scrap fabrics. And it is really easy, believe me.

The first step is the hardest – make a 13cm regular pentagon template. That means the distance between each side and its opposite corner is 13cm.

Use the template to cut out 12 pentagons. I used scrap fabric in different shades of turquoise. Arrange them so that different fabrics are next to each other.

With right sides facing pin and then sew two shapes together.

Sew five shapes together so that they build a row shown below.

Add the sixth shape on top so that a half ball is formed.

Then repeat these steps for the second half of the ball, sew both halves together leaving a gap open. Fill with toy stuffing (and some little bells if you want) and the handstich the gap together.

Voila, your baby is ready for his or her first training session ;-)

Your personal Panini Bildchen

When I looked for a nice picture to put on Vicky’s personal World Cup shirt, I stumbled across this fabulous Swiss website. There you can create your very own Panini picture. How cool is that?

I love it! Especially since I wasn’t able to collect my beloved Panini pictures this world cup. Because for whatever reason they don’t have Panini here in Australia. I know soccer isn’t the most popular sport here, but I am sure it would be a great success here as well. Maybe I should become the exclusive representative of Panini Australia. Wouldn’t that look cool on a business card ;-) Oh well maybe next time. Or 2022 when Australia hopefully host the world cup.

Have fun and please send me a link to your post or Panini picture. I would love to create a blogger team Panini page ;-)

Script & fabric

Look what an amazing fabric I found while doing some virtual window-shopping!

Picture found here

IKEA always manages to come up with pretty amazing designs for very little money. For $ 3.99/ meter you just need to sew new curtains, cushion covers, quilts, ...

What a day!

Some days just pass by. Others just seemed to be packed with news, excitement and adventure. Today was one of the latter ones for us.

At 6.30am this morning Australia has won its game against Serbia 2:1.

At 8.30am Germany has won against Ghana 1:0 (sensational goal, Özil!).

This means that Germany is in the next round (lucky bastards ;-)) and Australia is out of the world cup due to a very unlucky goal difference (poor buggers ;-().

At 9am news spread that Australia has a new prime minister. For reasons that are not entirely clear to me, the previous Prime Minister Kevin Rudd was challenged by his deputy Julia Gillard and lost. So at 12.30pm she becomes the first female prime minister of Australia.

At 1pm my lovely husband, Vicky and I set off for the big city. First we have a look at Ned Kelly’s famous armour at the State Library of Victoria.

It is one of my favourite museums in Melbourne. They always have amazing free temporary exhibitions (‘til you drop’ is on a the moment – an homage to shopping, a Melbourne history) plus they have wonderful pieces on permanent display and the building with its huge dome, antique books and classic reading room is just breathtaking.

After all that culture, we stop at our favourite Malaysian restaurant for a huge bowl of Laksa ...

... then a bit of shopping – mostly exciting things like breast pads ;-) but anyway...

... then a quick feed in the car park before heading back home.

What an adventure with a 3 week old baby, but honestly it is much less stressful than anticipated and once you have done it, you feel so much more self-confident. So, it is definitely worth the effort. I am glad that I have followed the Come-Out-Wherever-You-Are advice by my lovely former colleague K. to get out of the house as soon as possible.

Now it’s 5pm and to be honest, I am quite exhausted. Happy but tired. So I hope the day will finish quietly with a bowl of homemade soup, watching Masterchef on TV and then going to bed early. That is my plan anyway, but you know that Vicky is now the ones who make the planes ;-)

Have a great Thursday everyone!

Splurge vs. save

On Wednesdays I share everything wedding with you: tips, projects, organisation, photos, faux-pas, fun things and golden rules I ‘learned’ from my own wedding. I feel I need to give something back to the fabulous blog community who helped me stay sane and enjoy every second of my ‘big day’.

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Money and weddings – I know this is not an easy topic. Yes, of course you want your dream wedding. Yes, of course everything shall be perfect. Yes, of course it is a once-in-a-lifetime event.

BUT

I wasn’t prepared to take up a loan to pay for our wedding. And I didn’t wanted my or Andi’s parents to chip in a lot of money. So, like everyone else we had a wedding budget.

What worked really well for us was, not only setting a budget (and sticking with it ;-)) but also to decide on items on which we wanted to spurge (because they were so important to us) and items on which we could save (because we had to and because we didn’t mind too much). This conversation between my husband and I was such a great way to understand what is important for the other one (because wedding dreams are so individual) and to be on the same page (because then you don’t argue about certain decisions later on).

Our highly individual splurge-and-save-list looked like this:

Splurge:

• on the invitations & decorations: beautiful materials (silver envelopes, silver dots, ...) and personalised stamps
• on the bride: wedding dress for church (once in a lifetime) and bridal make up (to give me the extra boost of confidence)
• on the groom: suit (ready-made but perfectly fitted by a tailor) and shoes (beautiful soft leather)
• on the party: DJ and great food & drinks (good food + good wine = happy guests = great party)
• on the memories: professional photographer (for visual memories we will treasure forever)
• on the honeymoon: secluded island resort  

Save:

• on the invitations & decorations: email save-the-dates, self-made invitations, programs, table decorations and place cards, flowers and menus provided by venue
• on the bride: wedding dress for registry (self-designed), shoes (hidden under the dress anyway), headpieces (self-made and etsy) and jewellery (all out of my treasury box)
• on the groom: shirt (just a white shirt ;-)) and tie (Italian silk but without a fancy designer tag)
• on the party: no fancy location, no red carpet, no limousine, no dancing lessons
• on the memories: no favours for our guests, no expensive wedding gifts for each other, no professional videographer
• on the honeymoon: destination on the way from Germany to Australia (no extra flights needed)

Despite all the save items I had my dream wedding – actually it was better than everything I had imagined. And you know why? It didn’t have much to do with money. It was the best day because we had all our loved ones with us on this special occasion. Everybody had a good time and they came up with incredible ideas to make our special day even more special and unforgettable.

So, lovely brides-to-be: make your own splurge-and-save-list with you loved one. Set a budget. Stick with it. And focus on the wonderful things you can splurge on. And don’t think about the things you cannot afford. Look on the bright side – you are marrying that very special person in your life. And that is all that matters in the end.

Sorry...

... I know I promised you a tutorial last week. And now there is none. I hope you are not too disappointed, but I just haven’t managed to get it done. Little Victoria had some belly ache and therefore needed me 24/7 – all my attention and lots of rocking and belly-rubbing and cycling and cuddling.

The only thing I can do right now is to reveal that the trigger was for a baby soccer ball. And I’ll do my best to finish the tutorial for next Monday.

Why did no one tell me...

... that I would feel like this?

Austin Powers’ fembots’ picture found here

Busty, robotic, a bit on the edge, ... well, maybe not quite as sexy ;-)

Germany vs. Serbia

Soccer was on again. Germany vs. Serbia. So the whole family met in front of the TV.

But, oh dear, even the cutest soccer fan couldn’t save the German team from this defeat.

My creative space...

Another fun blog initiative. Every Thursday bloggers from Australia and all over the world show you their creative space and what they are currently working on. Join the fun at Kootoyoo. So inspiring to start a new project or finish the UFO (UnFinished Project) that has been lying about forever!

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This is my creative space today.

First hints: TODAY

Yes – I needed to reactivate my geometry knowledge

No – this project has nothing to do with star constellations.

Full project and tutorial: MONDAY

I cannot wait to see what you are all up to. Happy creativity!

Bridal Flower Power

On Wednesdays I share everything wedding with you: tips, projects, organisation, photos, faux-pas, fun things and golden rules I ‘learned’ from my own wedding. I feel I need to give something back to the fabulous blog community who helped me stay sane and enjoy every second of my ‘big day’.

* * *

Flowers – a big part of most weddings. I like flowers and I think that they add a lot of charm and glamour to any celebration. Especially to a wedding.
BUT
I also think that it is a shame that they fade so quickly. Especially if they are used as decoration without a proper vase or held in shaky hands.

Bridal Bouquets
My grandmother loves flowers. She has a beautiful garden full of them. She always has an amazing bouquet in her living room. She has the biggest collection of vases I have ever seen – for bouquets of all shapes, sizes and colours. And she was into ikebana – the Japanese art of flower arrangement – when no one knew how to pronounce it in Munich. Therefore she was very happy, when I asked her to choose the flowers for my two bridal bouquets together.

My bridal bouquet at the registry was a symphony in hot pink. My dress and coat were classic black and white so I thought I needed a bit of fun and zing by adding pink shoes, a pink baguette bag and this pink bunch of flowers.

For the big day at church, we chose a more classic yet fresh combination of a variety of white flowers, lots of green leaves and a few fake pearls. As you can see I love small, round bouquets, because they are easy to carry, don’t distract too much from the dress and the smile of the bride and they are easy to throw as well. Congratulations again, lovely A., I cannot wait for your big day ;-)

Great job, grandma. I still love them!!!


Flowers as church decoration
As our church was really big and also a bit run-down (so Berlin ;-)), I knew that we needed lots of flowers to glam it up a bit. I was a bit concerned about the budget though, because towards the end of the German autumn flowers are not only expensive, but they also would surely die after a couple of hours in a freezing cold church. As so often, the problem was resolved without any effort. Some months prior to the wedding I got an email from a couple which got married just before our ceremony and we decided to share the set-up and costs of the flowers. They would put the flowers up and we would take them down. We also quickly agreed on gladioli in white and red for the aisle, because they were still in season and added lots of colour per stem. Didn’t it turn out beautifully?

Flowers as table decoration
At the restaurant, in which we celebrated after church, we decided against a very traditional and sophisticated look with flower centrepieces. We opted for a very casual atmosphere, because we wanted the celebration to turn into a party quickly, in which all guests – family and friends – would feel at ease straight away. So our briefing for the flower decorations was simply: a variety of white flowers in single glass vases. It looked like a flower field in spring.

Flower girl

I absolutely adore flower girls. When the daughter of my friend U. agreed to be my flower girl, I was over the moon. I still remember how proud I was and how special I felt when my sister and I were my cousin’s flower girls more than 25 years ago. And it was the same with little M. on my wedding day. She took her ‘duties’ so seriously, she was so proud to pose with the bride for photos and she was as excited about being a flower girl as I have been all those years ago:

Queens Birthday

photo from here

Happy birthday, Lizzie!

You know, your subjects down under were always a bit less formal and respectful. Nevertheless they love you dearly and will surely toast your health a million times today.

God save the queen!

Australia – Germany

Wow! Difficult!

What do you do if you live in Australia? But are German?

Cheer for your current home country? Or for the country of your birth?

Difficult decision and I am glad that I am not the only one struggling to make it. Andrea is also still indecisive, but she made a very good point: it will be a win-win for all German Australia and all Australian Germany fans tonight.

I think I need to cheer for Germany. It is just too much of a tradition in my family. I still remember vividly how much I enjoyed watching the World Cup with my dad. It must have been 1982, because my sister and I were allowed to watch all German games on TV (and they made it to the final!). And my sister was still too small to correctly pronounce the name of our hero at the time: Karl-Heinz Rummenigge – she always referred to him as Rummeniggl ;-)

So, go Germany, go!

12 on the 12th

My favourite blog initiative ever. On the 12th of each month, bloggers around the globe take 12 photos of their daily life and post them. Not only great for getting to know other bloggers but also as a personal visual diary. So please join the fun with Caro here:

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Got up at 5am with the little one. So I was able to watch the last 30 minutes of the game France vs. Uruguay. Pretty average – many fouls but no goals. Not my type of game.

A friend drops to cuddle our little one. And she bring cupcakes from my favourite shop “Little Cupcakes”. Heaven!

She also brings this little fellow along. At the moment Mr.Bunny is as big as little Victoria or even bigger, but I am sure this is going to change soon ;-)

While Vicky sleeps for an incredible 3.5 hours in a row, I work on her birth announcements. After much research I decided to craft them. I just love to make something special for a special occasion like that.

While waiting for Vicky’s arrival I made the cards from white cardboard and red-and-white-heart-tape – so now they are ready to be written. The envelopes are addressed. Photos are developed and just need to be stuck onto the cards.

And aren’t these the cutest stamps ever for a birth announcement. Mama Roo and Baby Joey ;-)

Looking at my baby, my heart just skips a beat every time I see her tiny, tiny hands. Delicate ears. Soft baby hair.

Our washing machine is doing extra shifts at the moment. And as you can see there are not many pieces of my lovely husband or me. All sweet baby pink.

Beautiful flowers! I wish I could make them last longer – they add such a wonderful sense of spring to these dark winter days.

Unfortunately my black thumb works on potted as well as cut flowers ;-( So I am afraid they will die pretty soon.

My husband is the best chef ever. And he always makes sure that his girls have a lot of nice food. Tonight we have a beautiful, juicy casserole with veggies and meat.

A little bit of soccer on TV before going to bed. At 10pm my eyes just become too droopy. Maybe I’ll be back at 4.30am for the game England vs. USA ;-)

World Cup Kick Off

It is time again...

... to heat up the sausages...

... to prepare a real German potato salad...

... to cool the beer (or some lemonade for the breast-feeding mum)...

and then it is kick-off for the 2010 World Cup.

The time difference between South Africa is 6 hours. Which means that the live coverage of most games will be in the middle of the Australian night. Which suits me just fine with the little one waking me up every 2-3 hours anyway. So I reckon I will be able to see more games than I did during the 2006 World Cup in Germany. Hurray!

Original and Cheeky Copy

When looking for inspiration for decorating the nursery, I came across this poster a lot:

found here

While I think there is much truth in this statement, I got a bit bored by it after seeing it in so many blogs and magazines. Maybe I was just looking at too many similar sources of inspiration, but these posters seemed to be in EVERY nursery.

I also don’t like that this statement was first developed as propaganda in World War II. You see my questioning and researching of literally everything sometimes really limits my design decisions ;-)

Anyway, I stumbled across a great variety of ‘cheeky copies’ of this much used original... and I love all of them!

found here

Very important for me, since I tend to throw sewing projects, which don’t work out the first time, into a corner and never correct or finish them!

found here

There is nothing more calming than a beautiful cup of tea – especially if my friend C. from London makes it for me.

found here

Well, except cupcakes, maybe. The moist cake, the sugary frosting, the colourful sprinkles. Yes, cupcakes have often saved my life or at least my good mood.

found here

Yumm, bacon. I think bacon is the reason why I couldn’t become a vegetarian. I just cannot resist its smell, its crispyness, its saltiness. Let bacon save us all ;-)

found here 

Well to be honest that is probably closest to my reality. Sometimes there is nothing more liberating and calming than being angry for a bit. Just close the bathroom door and yell. Or throw cushions. And then you are ready for whatever comes your way next.

Still alive and back soon

Don’t worry! I am still alive! I am still awake! I am still the happiest mum of little Victoria.

She is an angel. She sleeps a lot during the day. And very little between 2 and 5am (a night owl like her daddy). She hates nappy changes and loves to stare at everything that is close enough. She feeds well. She deals well with all that gas in her little tummy. She is just perfect and we enjoy every minute with her.

I’ll be back soon, I just need to reply to all the wonderful emails and texts that I got in the last week from family and friends. But then – tomorrow probably I’ll be back and post again more regularly.

See you then and have a wonderful Tuesday!

Victoria

Victoria was born on Monday 31st May 2010.

She is a happy, healthy little girl and her papa and I cannot get enough of her. We look at her in amazement for 24 hours a day, we admire her little feet, we kiss her cubby hands, we try to understand her different types of crying, we feed her, we change her nappies, we cuddle her, we sleep with her and wake even before she does, we constantly check whether she is still breathing, whether she is too cold or too hot, whether she is hungry or bored or tired... We get to know her.

I will try my best to keep on writing this blog, but I might just be too busy loving her to pieces.

I have prepared, however, a few posts in the last stages of my pregnancy for you. At the time when all I could do was wait for her arrival. That way I hope I can keep this little blog of mine interesting and inspiring for you, although all I can think about is HER at the moment.