Markets and Toys

Verri Charmed has been a big part of my life lately... I recently started wholesaling to a stockist in W.A. (Yay!) http://www.ecochix.com.au/ and between that and sewing for the markets my evenings are no longer a relaxing time! Most recently I had a stall at the Goodwood Mums and Bubs Market, I spent alot of time thinking about merchanising before hand and got my sister Tatum to help me set up on the day. I was really happy with the result:



It was a great practise for the up and coming lollipop markets and I can't wait to try out some of my christmas merchandising ideas:)

On to the girls....

Recently we decided it was time for the girls to have a toy room to house their ever growing collection of toys that seem to have spread themselves all over our house... even encroaching on the bathroom at times lol! So last weekend we had a big clean out and now have a brand spanking new, fully stocked toy room!



Both the girls love the result (it still needs a coat of paint!!) and it has really helped tidy up the house. I love having a place to throw all the toys at the end of the day and we can just shut the door on the mess if need be. Another bonus is that Delilah is playing with toys she had forgotten about due to the previous chaos!

Time for a Mackenzie update.... She is now ten months, and while entirely capable of navigating the entire house backward on her belly she is not yet crawling. She gets up on her knees and rocks back and forth and she even gets into a spider crawl with only her hands and toes touching the ground, but as Miss D brings her evertyhing she needs she has not yet found a good reason to go anywhere. No teeth yet either... but I think the top and bottom front teeth are only days away!!

MIA

So I haven't been blogging lately. Why? Life has caught up.... as in truthfully I've just been too busy. So what have I been doing?

Well firstly I have been sick for weeks on end, though I am finally feeling alot better I will be heading off for a blood test on Saturday morning to determine what exactly it is that I am lacking that has made my immune system plummet in function. So anything unessential (like blogging and housework!) has fallen by the way side.

I have walked the city to bay (not run it) in an excellent time of 1 hour 38 minutes, which was 435th out of 7100 people, so I was quite proud.... though very hobbled the next day lol! I managed this with my sister Tatum, who spurred me along all the while with me coughing up a lung!

I have turned 29. The last year of my 20's.... bring it on!

I have celebrated 10 years of partnership with luke (5.5 years married!). A wonderful 10 years, and oh how things have changed in that time!

I have been in a sewing frenzy getting ready for a slew of markets and making new products for Verri Charmed.

I have been getting back into the work groove:(

Mostly I have been slowing down the pace with the girls. I decided I had been pushing us to move to fast through the days and decided that if Miss D wants to pick up every rock in the garden before getting in the car, I will let her, because while time is precious, somethings are more important than others.....

Spring and Drawing

It has been a glorious weekend with a hint of spring in the air... and as usual very busy, between work for me, newborn twin cuddles (my friend Lauren just had twin boys!), shopping, dinner with friends and afashion parade, it has, as usual, disappeared! I snapped the photos above late yesterday afternoon, poor Miss D is still sporting daycare war wounds on her face, but I felt that these pics captured a little of the "two-peas-in-a-pod" relationship my girls have developed. I think Miss D is soon to have a little shadow.....

Little Miss M is crawling now.... we sort of. She gets up on all fours and stays there for a minute then scoots herself backwards into a lying position and repeats until she gets struck somewhere. It's gorgeous to watch. She's also just had another first... her first ear infection:( She's on her second lot of antibiotics now as her ear flared up one day after completing the last lot. I fear we are heading down the grommet track again.

And now to Miss D.....

I came home from work yesterday morning and was greeted by Delilah with this drawing "My fammie picture Mummy". The blue one is Delilah complete with the curly hair (I'm loving that she isolated herself and made her different to the rest of us... a unique being) The big brown one is Daddy (note the join between his eyes.... his "gasses Mummy") the one up the top is me, and the tiny one at the bottom is Kenzie. I am used to little Miss D coming up with these drawings now, but I am still amazed at the pace with which she improves, the detail in them is fantastic. I love her artistic talent, this drawing will be going in a frame:)

So now I'm sitting here on a Sunday night, facing down the barrel of another week in which time will move much too fast, measured by the milestones of my little ones... but this week Spring will be sprung and now there is the promise of warmer days and nights ahead in which to continue enjoying life:)

Suprise:)

I got a nice suprise when logging on to Facebook tonight... this was waiting for me! A gorgeous e-flyer the lovely ladies behind the Lollipop markets (http://lollipopmarkets.blogspot.com/ ) cooked up for me. Too exciting:)

Mum

Mackenzie 8 months and Delilah 2 years 4 months

Mackenzie hadn't really been making sounds... she squeals alot(!) but it was only just the other day that I commented to Luke that little M seemed a bit slow in getting out her "mummummum" in fact I wasn't even going to fight over "dadadadad" being first, I was just keen for her to start on some "words"...

Well, yesterday afternoon, just as I was presenting her with lunch, I got the very first "Mmmmuummm"! I did a small happy dance, told her she was the best baby anyone could wish for, tried to get her to do it again (all the usual mum stuff) then resigned myself to the fact my little one had just taken an enormous leap and that I should not expect to hear it again soon (D first said it at 7 months, but I didn't hear it again for about 2 weeks)....

So... this morning as a prize for being the wonderful presenter of breakfast (oh how little M loves food) I was rewarded willl "Mmmmummuummummum.... Daddadad... Bahbub?", it seems she had decided to get all of her expected sounds out at once:) And now typically, despite my wishes to hear that beautiful little voice I am sad that it is all going to fast again... don't start crawling too soon Kenzie lol!

Tutu Cute

I recently started making these hand embelished tutu sets:

Every time I make one I can't help but smile, they are just the kind of thing I would have loved to have owned as a little girl. I was always so very girly, facinated with beautiful things, preoccupied with trying to decorate my bedroom... a lover of all things fantastical. I can see Delilah heading the same way now... already she loves anything "bootiful" and declares herself as such several times a day... sometimes "Mummy is bootiful" or "Kenzie bootiful too" is thrown in for good measure, I guess it's testament to how many times a day I tell her she is beautiful, much like she will tell me a 100 times a day that she loves me for the same reason. One of her latest preoccupations is with hair, she will say "Mummy bootiful long hairs... Lilah bootiful hairs... Kenzie little bit hair... Daddy no hairs"... I swear I don't know where she gets these things from sometimes... but bless her little heart, she does make me laugh:)

The Difference 10 Years Makes

On Monday morning I walked around Foodland with Delilah looking like this:

It made me giggle to watch the range of reactions to this, some laughed, some frowned disapprovingly, but it made me smile and refect on how my life has changed in the 10 years since I worked there as a poor student. 10 years ago I was preoccupied by where I was going to go dancing that night, whether the cute boy noticed me, how hung over I was, the exam I had coming up, what I was going to do for my 19th birthday (incidently that was when Luke and I got together having met for the first time a month previously at a mutual friends birthday) and all the little things that made up my self involved world. I certainly did not imagine that 10 years down the track I would be walking my 2 year old daughter around that same supermarket, with her confidently sporting several stickers on her face pronoucing "I bootiful Mummy!" and knowing that I love her just as she is and everything good, wonderful, amazing and joyous that she represents.

Happy Dancing

Still happy dancing this morning after recieving an email with this last night! This is something that has never happened to me before, I'm usually the better luck next time kind of girl. So, so, so very excited, I just can't wait!

Crossing My Fingers

I have been sewing pretty much every night now since I first started Verri Charmed, and I think I have become a little addicted to creating new unique items. Each time I finish something new it puts a little smile on my face, each time I buy new fabric I do a little happy dance and each time I come up with a new idea I just can't wait to try it out. Who would have thought it would be so much fun?

At the moment I am waiting with baited breath to see If I am a sucessful applicant for the up and coming Lollipop Markets http://lollipopmarkets.blogspot.com/. I wasn't going to apply, because I don't think that I'm good enough, but then I decided that it was worth a shot, so telling myself the outcome didn't matter I put in my application last weekend... now a couple of days later it is evident that I do care about the outcome as I am eagerly hanging on to every Lollipop Facebook status update lol! Oh well if I'm not sucessful I already have my work cut out for me getting ready for October and November Goodwood Mum's and Bubs Markets http://www.mumsandbubsmarket.com.au/.... but still... fingers crossed!

Sleep

We don't get alot of sleep in the Verri household. Since Miss D was six months old she has been what I describe as "the worst sleeper in the world". Some nights we are awake for hours upon hours, some nights just every hour on the hour and then nights like last night we have a good one and we only have to get up to her twice.

We have tried all the tricks to no avail and we have a strict routine because if we deviate even slightly we are up all night and it takes a week to recover. Mostly we just accept this, particularly as she has been plagued with ear infections during this time and also she is so tall (100cm at 2.3 years) that we know all those rapid growth spurts can't be comfortable, however it made me sad when I realised that we miss out on fun with her at times because we are so wound up about the thought of no sleep.

I am the kind of person who would gladly sleep 12 hours straight every night so the lack of sleep has been a huge adjustment. For the most part I just deal with it because the Joy of every other moment totally out weighs no sleep, but sometimes it all comes crashing down, and today is one of those days.

I'm writing this as little Miss D is curled up next to me asleep (!) on the couch. She is so very peaceful at the moment... I wonder what goes on in that little mind to make it all go so very wrong? All I know is I will keep on dealing with it, because she is Delilah and I wouldn't have her any other way.

Little Miss M

Mackenzie is 7 and a half months now and she is doing this:

Sitting up by herself very happily and steadily... infact it's hard to get her to be in any other position. It makes me laugh because she still barely rolls, in fact only when she REALLY wants something.

Mackenzie is changing by the day, she is now 73cm tall and I would estimate about 9kgs. She has a fair heft to her lol! She recently started giving real little cuddles which is just so lovely and allows you to know when you've been missed or needed. She is still giving Luke a hard time on Tuesday nights when I'm at work. She goes off to bed fine and then wakes after about an hour and cries and cries... I've told Luke he might need to start wearing one of my jumpers to settle her as this is a rare occurance when I am home, but happens everytime I'm out.

Mackenzie is a true delight, she laughs at her sister, blows raspberries constantly and sits back and takes in everything around her. Love her to pieces:)

Mr and Mrs Potato Head

About 8 months ago Delilah started to display a facination with Mr Potato Head. Whenever we were at the house of a cronie, who had a mini-cronie with a Mr Potato Head, little Miss D would sit totally absorbed with putting all the body parts in the holes and then matching the correct parts to herself... for example it wasn't unusual to see her sitting with a tiny hat on her head, a plastic tongue poking out of her mouth, a very small pair of glasses perched on her nose, or less correctly, a rigid white arm or leg sticking out of her ear. So the day Luke came home with some hand me down toys from his boss, there was great delight when she discovered the haul included a Mr Potato Head game, which included four bodies and the various accessories for each.

Now we don't bring him out all that often (at the most once a week) but on Monday after she had been playing with the set for a while I was absolutely delighted when she brought this to me at the table:

Accompanied with the declaration of "Mummy and Daddy". Yes Daddy was the boy with the cowboy hat and boots and Mummy was the girl with the eyelashes, ribboned hat and high heels... and yet again (at 2 years and 3 months) I say it's all happening too fast! P.S. Those faces that she has been drawing for months are now a constant feature in all drawing sessions and she has added pupils to the eyes!!!

Just a little added extra, little M will be 7 months on friday... she is now sitting easily on her own. She has this beautiful straight posture about her and it just makes her look sooooooo very cute (and tiny) when she is sitting up, I haven't managed a pic yet, but I will soon.

7 Months Gone

Back to work today and I'm freaking out more than a tad. It's gone way too fast and it's stretching into eternity.....

Where Have the Past Six Months Gone?

In a complete blur that is where! It has come around far too quickly, but I took Mackenzie for her six month vaccinations last Friday.

So where are we at now with Miss M?

• Height: 68.5cm
• Weight: 8.25 Kg

Yes, she's still a chubba bubba and she is still an absolutely delightful baby. She sleeps at least 16 out of 24 hours still, though most of that is over night. She is now very close to sitting by herself for extended periods. She rolls around and blows raspberries. She laughs when her sister cries (it makes it very hard for me to keep a straight face!). She wraps her arms tightly around our necks and squeals and giggles in your ear. She eats three meals a day including meat(!) and still has six or seven feeds from me, her enthusiasm for her food has her Daddy and I absolutely enthralled. She is becoming a little person more and more everyday, which is amazing and fascinating!

I have one week left now of maternity leave which is quite sad for me, and I worry how my little Miss M is going to take her day and a half of daycare, because she is such a Mummy's girl (in typical 6 month old style she cies when I leave the room!). I guess only time will tell, but most likely, just as she does with everythng else she will take it all in her stride.

MIA

I have been MIA. Sewing every night in order to gather enough stock for my first "Verri Charmed" market stall.... it was yesterday. I was so nervous in the lead up. I was worried about what people would think of my products, mostly worried that people would laugh, I guess. But it seems my first stall was a complete success! I made quite a dent in my stock pile of products and have since sold more through Facebook. Taking a deep breath and jumping seems to have paid off so far, strangely enough my anxiety has not been eased at all, especially seeing the calibre of handmade work out there, and the creativeness of some... I just don't feel up to scratch.

However.... for the time being at least I return to having a little more time on my hands because I don't have another market stall until November. This last week has been really very difficult. Both the girls and myself have been sick and I have been worn thin. I only have three weeks of maternity leave left so it's time to take a step back and enjoy every moment for what it is, bcause time is marching on much to fast....

Verri Mackenzie

I have been very busy sewing, getting everything ready for Verri Charmed's debut at the Goodwood Mum's and Bub's market next weekend, but I managed to find the time to make Miss M her own special body suit. What I loved most about Miss M in her cute outfit was this:

The Suit kept her entertained all day! When toting her around to various destinations there was no need to remember toys as she was so facinated by her own clothing, and her determination to eat the gorgeous birdie covered yoyos lasted until her bath in the evening. The best part.... it was a true test of my sewing abilities... the embelishing held up to all the vigorous testing that Miss M had to offer! Love it! Love her:)

These Are a Few of Their Favourite Things...

I managed to snap this pic the other day, it's a perfect record of each of the girls current favourite things...

Delilah will sit for ages at the kitchen table playing with play dough. We have quite a collection of it through gifts and car boot sale purchases (bargain $1 never been used sets!). She loves it... and will spend quite some time making snakes and balls as well as facial appendages ("Eyebrows for you Mummy!") as well as the less encouraged doggy poos. My only problem with the play dough is her addiction to it in an oral sense, after the tenth time of "Stop eating it Delilah!" it usually gets packed away for another day.

Mackenzie however, loves the "Jolly Jumper". She would jump for hours on end if I let her. Delilah never really got the hang of it, it was more of a jolly dangle for her, but Miss M springs from flattened feet into the air as high as she can go over and over again, squealing with delight and really it puts a smile on my face, like nothing else, to see her enjoying it so much:)

What Have We Been Up To?

We took the girls on their first trip to the zoo on Sunday (well Miss D actually went the day before she was born, I was trying to walk her out) and while I'm sure Mackenzie was quite unfussed, Delilah thought it was fantastic.

When she wasn't riding on her Daddy's shoulders, she was running from animal to animal exclaiming over each. She will still quite happily tell you she saw emus and a tiger on the weekend. The funny thing is it was a cold and windy Autumn day and as an adult I know the animals really were not on form (in fact we barely saw a monkey all day and it was hard to tell if the lions and hippos were actually alive), but it reminded me just how easy it is to please a child.

In the afternoon Jess came over and practised her superb hairdressing skills on one very difficult customer.

Jessie will probably be cross with me for this picture lol! I love it though, it shows intense concentration and care for what she is doing.... despite the fact I had been considering taking to Miss D's mullet with a pair of kitchen scissors:) We finished of a lovely day with a big hot bowl of Potato, Leek and bacon soup from Donna Hay Modern Classics 1 and warm banana bread from Marie Claire Kitchen.

I've been feeling a little flat today. We have been really busy lately and I haven't had a moment just to stop and sit really. Right now I have two little ones taking a very rare tandem nap and I am enjoying a few moments of quiet to myself. These moments are few and far between lately... but I probably wouldn't have it any other way:)

Crash

Another little snippet...
I was sitting in bed feeding Miss M this morning at 5.45 when the was the unmistakable sound of Miss D waking up (read: a couple of yells) followed by several loud crashes...Luke and I exchanged a look which clearly said "Oh crap here we go! Wait for the crying!", only to find she appeared at our door moments later carrying the mountain of Ted, her pillow and her blanket. Needless to say I never got back to sleep, even after Mackenzie was safely back asleep in her cot and Delilah was tucked in in between us because I couldn't stop laughing. I think she must take after me......

A Special Drawing

Just a quick one...
I was a little distracted on the computer just before dinner the other night. I was trying to get out some e-mails concerning Verri Charmed sales. Delilah was behind me on the couch scratching my back in a quite pleasant fashion with what I thought was a fork.... nope, it turned out to be a biro, she was actually doing a very detailed drawing... doh!

A Superhero?

We are leading up to toilet training with Delilah at the moment, she has been going to the toilet for sometime in fits and spurts but we haven't been keen to push the subject with so much change going on in the last few months. However, last weekend we took Miss D to pick out some knickers to get her a little more excited about the idea. When we got home MIss D insisted on putting them on.... like this...

Got to love a toddler.... It reminded me of similar photos of my niece Lilli with her "jocks on the outside"!

One more before I go. Delilah has been saying thank you to most things lately, something that has made me very proud because I say it to her but I haven't pushed it because I know it's a difficult concept for a just two year old. Tonight Luke put some parmesean cheese on Delilah's dinner and he was rewarded with "Tank oo Dadda, cheese, your welcome!".

Quoting Jessica Watson

I heard an amazing quote this morning that I wanted to share, it came from Jessica Watson yesterday as she "corrected" the prime minister for calling her a hero:

"...I'm not a hero, I'm just a girl who believed in her dream."

How awesome. I must admit I have rolled my eyes several times when hearing media coverage of Jessica Watson's plight. However, it really hit me this morning just how amazing this girl really is, I can't even fathom the courage she has shown in the pursuit of her dream. As a mother I can only hope that my girls grow up believing in themselves in the same way this girl has done.... though I can probably do with out them circum-navigating the globe in a little sail boat at age 16 because I may have a heart attack!

Buttons

I have a baby shower to go to on Sunday and I wanted to give the mum-to-be a Verri Charmed gift, so this got me thinking about neutral and boy products. I didn't really want to go the applique route because a) so many people are doing this and b) so many people are doing this really well and I am not very good with a sewing machine lol! (though I can hand sew up a storm!). However, I have really been enjoying making fabric covered buttons and I thought I could use some button detailing to come up with something appropriate.

I am so happy with the result! I hope others like them too:)

Aaaarrrgghhh!

With my heart racing I finally created my FB page for Verri Charmed today. I figured it was time to take the plunge.... what's the worst that can happen????

Yes ,I've been sewing up a storm, yoyos galore!!! I'm really enjoying it though, it's very therapeutic and it also proved to be an excellent way to get through watching the first season of Dexter on DVD (awesome show, but seriously creepy, the sewing was my version of watching from behind my hands lol!). Anyway, "head first" is my motto at the moment.... let's see how that works out!

Solids

Tonight Miss M had her first real introduction into solid foods. Luke and I have been talking for a while about when to start solids with Mackenzie as we started quiet early with Delilah, but had not felt Miss M was quite ready yet (though she has have a finger dip of avocado... and another of mashed potato!). Luke had come up with the idea of starting on her 5 month birthday, which will be next Sunday, however as she has been waking up twice a night for food for the last fortnight as has often been crying at the end of her final feed for the evening I decided that tonight was the night to start....

On the menu for this evening we had home cooked pureed pears... oh so tasty lol! The result was this:

Absolutely loved it! she ate at least a tablespoon worth before getting a bit over excited and grabbing my spoon hand and shoving it a bit too far into her mouth... she was a little more subdued after that lol!

It will be interesting to see if it makes any difference to Mackenzie's sleep tonight... but it was the first night for a while that she stopped short of completely draining me of milk and then crying for more! I do love introducing my babies to new food, however it is a little bitter sweet when you are no longer your bubba's sole source of food. Oh well, I guess we've jumped head first onto that food testing rollercoaster for a second time:)

Mothers

The moment a child is born, the mother is also born. She never existed before. The woman existed, but the mother, never. A mother is something absolutely new. ~Rajneesh

Mothers Day

The orgions of Mother's Day began with the baking of cakes to say thank you to a group of mothers, hence I always like to bake a cake for Mothers Day. This year I tried out the caramel layer cake from Donna Hay Modern Classics 2.

Excellent recipe... very excellent cake:)

We shared this cake with my Mum and Luke's mum this morning, relaxing on a beautiful day in our backyard, while Miss M slept and Miss D ran around the yard finding rocks to give as presents:)

This morning began with a rendition of "Happy Birthday To You!" From Delilah. Luke had told her to come and say happy Mother's Day to me, and that was her interpretation I guess! I decided to forgo my Present for my photo shoot the previous week and a delightful 2nd Anniversary/Mother's Day dinner at Windy Point with the "Cronies" last night, so I was suprised to find a small gift waiting for me amongst Miss M's nappies when I went to change her, a Copy of "Flashdance"... yep aparently my girls have already cottoned on to my love of dance movies;)

Next came with the affore mentioned morning tea with the Mums. Then Lilah and Mackenzie had a nap and Luke and I managed a small rest ourselves. When both the girls were up we got out the pram and set off for a walk to Jetty Rd, Brighton, along the Esplanade on a mission for hot chips to take to the park. It was a beautiful walk, the day was just so mild for May and the water was so calm, there were so many families about... even some brave (read: crazy) people were swimming! Delilah and I had a great time running around the park, taking it in turns to catch one another while Luke and Miss M chilled on the grass.

We have just finished of the day with a hot bowl of Tomato and Basil soup, my own soon-not-to-be-so-secret-recipe:

• 2Kg Tomatoes diced
• 2L Vegetable stock
• 4 Red onions diced
• 1 cup Red lentils
• Basil
• 2Tbs Butter
• 2Tsp minced garlic

Melt the butter in a large saucepan. Add onions and garlic, cook till transparent. Add lentils and tomato and cook for a minute. Add stock and basil to taste. Bring to boil and then simmer until the tomato is tender. Blend until smooth. Serve with fresh basil leaves and cream to taste. Makes heaps!

Very tasty if I do say so myself and Delilah LOVED it!

It has been a really nice day, though I can't believe that it is already my third Mother's Day!

The Amazing Danielle Quarmby

This is one of the amazing photos from our session with Danielle Quarmby http://blog.danielleq.com/. Truth be told, I didn't relax very well during the session, I am just so bad at having my photo taken, and while it was fun I was really curious to see how the photos turned out. Well I shouldn't have been suprised really, as I love all the work of Danielle's that I have seen, but the sneak peaks have just blown me away. It is lovely that a moment in time of the special relationship I have with my sisters has been captured... and I just can't wait to see the rest!

Chubba Bubba

I weighed the Divine Miss M yesterday...... 8 Kgs. Got to love a squishy bubba:)

Right Here, Right Now

Right now... Whenever anyone comes over, or we go some where, Delilah introduces us... "Mummy" (points) "Kenzie" (points) "Yiyah" (points) "Dadda work" (shrugs).

Right now... Mackenzie loves "flying". I hold her up above my head and she giggles.

Right now... Delilah is attached to her Ted, pillow, cot blanket and the quilt Tatum made for her 2nd birthday. When she gets up in the morning, at rest time and bedtime she MUST have "po, Ted, banket and big banket".

Right now.... Miss M loves to make eyes at her Daddy. She will stare at Luke until he looks at her and then she will grin and turn her head coyly to the side.

Right now... my girls adore one another, their Daddy and myself.

Right now... is a good place to be:)

One More for Today...

I got a little confused tonight when Miss D was mixing up her dinner in her drinking cup yelling "Hippie!" until Luke explained to her that it was "Yippie! not, Hippie!":) She continued to yell "Hippie!", followed closely by a couple of pop offs for which she declared "Yiyah farts!". Hmmmm.....

Delilahisms for Today

Some times I swear Delilah takes leaps and bounds in one day. Today has been one of those days....

This morning she wanted to play with her puzzles, but I told her she had to pick up her tea set and put it away first, thinking that I would have to do it for her.... but no, as soon as the words left my mouth she was running around collecting up the tea set and putting it away... amazing.

This afternoon we were reading stories... Mackenzie had gotten a bit sick of this so I had put her down on the floor to roll around... she was making quite a bit of noise, so Delilah grabbed her own precious Ted and wedged him in next to Mackenzie saying "Here Kenzie, play with Ted".

While Mackenzie was having a nap earlier Delilah and I spent about 45mins in the backyard. She found a frisby and made me stand back so she could throw it to me ("no Mummy, get back!"), I watched at my allocated distance for about 10mins while she tried to throw it, yelling "Oops!" everytime she threw it and it landed in a less than desired spot (read: everytime she threw it!).

She also spent a little bit of time looking at the books by herself while I was feeding Miss M. She had "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" and was turning the pages saying things like "Friday, five Oranges" and " Monday, apples!" She made me giggle when she turned to the last page and yelled "A Caterpillar!". Lol as anyone who has ever read the book will know that on the last page the caterpillar has turned into a butterfly!

Delilah's language skills increase every day it absolutely amazes me. I can't believe I created these little Beings... and now watching them develope and grow constantly blows my mind.

What have I been up to?

I have been working on a new project over the last few weeks, hair accessories and embelished clothing for kids, and I've been having a lot of fun doing it. So much so, infact that I've booked a table at the Goodwood Mums and Bubs Market for June the 13th under the name Verri Charmed. I'm very excited and have been very busy sewing up a storm.Here are a few items that I've made for the girls along the way:

I am very scared about how this all might be recieved... but if it fails at least I'll have alot of cool presents for people!

Today I had a photo shoot with my sisters with Curiouser - Photography by Danielle Quarmby it was really fun, though I am so self consious in front of the camera and I be very curious to see how the photos turn out. Tatum, Lauren, Jess and I had a great time kicking water at each other, throwing streamers, drinking champagne and blowing bubbles though, and Danielle's work is just soooo delicious I'm sure at least one good photo has to be in there!

Mackenzie 4 Months

Yesterday was four month vaccination day for Miss M, and like the true little trooper she is she took her two shots with minimal fuss. Her current stats are as stands:

• Height 67.5cm
• Weight 7.6kgs
• Head 41cm

Yep she's tall and well feed! It's funny how proud you feel when your baby has excellent weight gains, you know that you are getting at least one thing right! lol!

Mackenzie is a quiet little thing. She sits back and observes everything, and she is still a very sleepy little bubba. We have to get her hearing tested again which I have mixed feelings about. On one hand I'm not worried at all as it is obvious she is not profoundly deaf and therefore any hearing issues would be minor in comparison. On the other hand she is my baby and I don't want her to experience any difficulties in life.

My poor little bubba is sporting a number of scratches at the moment from a attack which involved a little to much love from a boy in my mother's group. Miss M cried for about 10 secs after being clobbered and then got over it... yet we are still hearing about Lilah's "finger ouchie" that resulted from a fall at the same time! I love how different my two girls are and it will be interesting to see how that pans out as they get older!

Moving Mackenzie Out

Last night we moved Mackenzie into the cot, and into the room she will share with Delilah until we are in a position to extend (quite a while). It was long over due as she is way too big for the bassinett, but it was a very sad moment for me. It will probably be the last time that I have a baby sleeping in a bassinett in my room, and I'm not sure I was quite ready for that phase of my life to be over:(

Delilah's 2nd Birthday

OMG I officially have a 2 year old.... and it has all happened so fast! This milestone has of course had me reflecting on how much life has changed in the last two years and how quickly it has all blown by. Particularly this last 12 months has gone by in a blink of an eye. This time last year I was 5 weeks pregnant with Mackenzie... and just about to embark on 7.5 months of vomiting... but I digress.

Miss D's Birthday... awesome:) Delilah is the youngest among the mini-cronies so the recent onslaught of 2nd birthdays had left her in a heightened state of awareness that her birthday was coming "soooon". Hence yesterday she was aware right from waking up that it was her special day and she was going to be queen of the party.

Now you know you are a Mum when you find yourself up at 6am to ice a cake for the 9.30 am breakfast party. For weeks, every time I asked Miss D what shape she wanted her birthday cake she would tell me "Cat! Neeeeiow!", and despite trying to persuade her of a butterfly, she maintained this right up to the day. So needless to say she was delighted to see this yesterday morning:

Me : "Look what I've made for you Baby! What is it?"

Delilah: "A cat! Neeeiow!.... I eat him Mummy!"

Soooo cute.

Next was the unvailing of "The Big Special Present":

She was sooo excited (and so was I, hours of entertainment in our own back yard now!), but we eventually had to coax her back inside to get dressed for her special day in her fancy birthday outfit. A quick photoshoot ensued:

I made her some headbands as part of her birthday present. I will take some photos to upload soon:)

Next it was time for this:

And this:

Followed by a good old rendition of "Happy Birthday to You!":

We finished off the Party with a lazy sit around with the cronies which was the perfect down time for me (I was knackered!), followed by a mammoth afternoon nap from Miss D and an early dinner at Gringos Mexican Restraunt ( a good old favourite).

It was a lovely day and I know Delilah really enjoyed herself, and I am now wondering just what this next year has in store for the Verri family.

I will finish up with this photo of Mackenzie:

And mention that I am embarking on a new scary project, which I will reveal in time:)