No make up

You know those days when its so freakin' hot and your face is sweating... SWEATING (!!!) at 8:00am and you just can't be F'd putting make up on. Yep, that was yesterday. And the day before that. And today. Uggh. This heatwave in Queensland is killing me.

Little Miss L and I headed off to Rocks Riverside Park in Seventeen Mile Rocks yesterday. I thought it would be absolutely feral and packed with kids, but it actually wasn't too bad.

There is an excellent water park there and we found a nice shady little spot away from the 'big' kids for Little Miss L to splash around in. She loved it. The water. The noise. The sights. And most of all the other kids. She is going to be one little social butterfly.

I have been worried about her starting child care in February... but the more I see her with other kids, the more I realise that she is going to be fine. Just fine. Its me that will need comforting I think. I'm going to miss her when I go back to work, even though it is only for three days a week.

Anyway, back to the original reason for this post, on days when I can actually be F'd to put some make up on, and I'm not doing anything particularly interesting, this is what I like to do:

+ Wash face, moisturise using a moisturiser with SPF (I like Hamilton Everyday Face with SPF 30+)
+ Dab on concealer under eyes, on eyelids, on nose, around nose and on any other noticeable blemishes (absolutely love MAC Select Cover Up)
+ Curl lashes (this is a must for me, even when I wear NO make up at all. I have short stubby eyelahses)
+ Put on one coat of brown mascara (currently using Chanel Inimitable)

+ Dab on a little bit of cream blush (using Maybelline Dream Mousse blush at the moment)
+ Slick on some lipgloss, preferably with SPF in it - The Revlon Super Lustrous Lipglosses are a fave, as is the Lanolips range of glosses

Simple, and it only takes a couple of minutes, but makes me feel a million times more glamorous compared to no make-up'd me!

What do you do for your lazy make up face?

C xo

Holiday Update #3: NYE, Rocky and Poon-town

In our third and final update (I promise!!!) of our Christmas holiday, I bring you Rocky and Poon-town, or otherwise known as Rockhampton and Yeppoon.

On New Years Eve, we set off from Woodgate and headed north up the Bruce Highway to Rockhampton. Mr B did all of the driving - it took us about 4 hours with one stop for Little Miss L to have her lunch.

We arrived at L's place in Rocky and walked to Woolies and Dan Murphy's to get some supplies for the night, and came back to her house for a cool drink and some lunch. We then headed off on the 40 minute drive to Yeppoon.

The last time I went to Yeppoon I was 15 and on our Year 10 end of year trip to Great Keppel Island where all of the girls had a major crush on the boat crew member who had a nickname of 'Cookie' and got around in a tight fitting wetsuit. Ahhh those were the days... I can't remember much of Yeppoon but I do remember it wasn't as big as it is now. It really has grown.

We stopped in at our friends C & D's house. They have a little boy J who is so cute and was very generous in sharing his toys with Little Miss L. She had a whale of a time!

We headed off to D's parents house on the beach - they very kindly did a house swap with C & D so we could benefit from the beach front location, inground swimming pool and large house. We did a BBQ for dinner and had a great time sitting around and chatting with all of our friends for the night. Miss L slept very soundly and it was one of the best sleeps she had on our holiday.

The whole night was very laid back and exactly what we needed. Mr B however crashed and burned around 9:30pm - he was so tired! I woke him up around 11:30pm so he could bring in the new year with all of us, but we were in bed by 12:30am or so. Stuff the New Year. We're parents and we want our sleep!!!

The next few days involved swims in the pool, fun on the beach, sight seeing around Yeppoon and Emu Park, fish and chips in the park, and having some great times with our friends. We are so lucky to have such great friends who are so kind and generous and looked after us and housed us and fed us while we were up there. We only hope that we can return the favour some time soon :)

C xo

Reflections

Its coming up to nearly a year since I had Little Miss L. A whole year. Its gone so fast. Everybody told me it would, but I didn't believe them. Especially in those first few months when sleep was scarce and I'd find myself still in my pyjamas at midday because I was so caught up with feeding, nappy changing, etc...

I remember this time last year how nervous I was... not about actually having a baby, but moreso because the future of my health and my babys health was up in the air. I had cancer in my upper vagina. I had a baby who was going to be born 2 months early. I was so scared for both of us. Had the cancer spread? Will the baby be ok? Will its (we didn't know if Little Miss L was a girl or boy at that stage) lungs be strong enough? Will it have developmental problems? Will I even be able to see it grow up?

I found out about the cancer when I was 10 weeks pregnant. I despised that cancer. It deprived me of having a 'normal' pregnancy. Of enjoying it fully. Of doing birthing classes. Meeting other expectant Mums and Dads. And tours of the hospital. I was so excited to be pregnant and it didn't take us long to fall pregnant either. But the c-word just put a massive dampener on everything. I tried to forget about it, and sometimes I would, but mostly I didn't. I tried to be positive, and mostly I was, but there were some days where I was so so immensely sad. I remember being out at the shops early on in my pregnancy and seeing a beautiful, glowing pregnant lady with a nice big bump. I was jealous of her seemingly 'perfect' pregnancy, and I left the shops, and cried and cried and cried. How unfair. Why did this happen to me?

But then I turned a corner, and I realised how extremely lucky I was to be pregnant at all. To be expecting a baby. To have found the cancer when we did BECAUSE of the baby. And that's how I carried on for the rest of my pregnancy - living each day knowing how lucky I was, and feeling in my heart that everything would be ok. And it was. And it is.

And now Little Miss L is nearly one. And is very healthy and happy. And we are very blessed.

And my cancer is gone, but also along with my reproductive system.

And so Little Miss L will have no siblings. And I am ok with that... Well, I thought I was ok with that. But now a couple of my friends are expecting their second child, and its only hit me that we are not going to have any more children. This is us. Forever. Just us three. Peas in a pod. And one day I will have to explain to Little Miss L why she doesn't have a brother or sister. And I will tell her everything. And I will tell her that she is so special to me and Mr B. She is my little angel. My little savior.

C xo

Holiday update #2: The Beach

The beach deserves its own post. Because its AMAZING!

The beauty of a small beach town is that you can have your own stretch of beach all to yourself... And when I say 'stretch', I mean S-T-R-E-T-C-H. Seriously. The closest person to you can be about 1km away.

And Woodgate beach is the kind of beach that you can swim anywhere. Its nice and protected by two headlands (Burrum Heads and Elliott Heads).

We only went swimming a handful of times, but I tried to go down to the beach everyday, even if just for a walk and some fresh air. I love the beach. It does not love me. Well, the sun exposure doesn't. It wreaks havoc with my pale freckly skin. Mr B and Little Miss L came back with excellent tans, I came back with sunburn and darker freckles.

C xo

Fashion Friday: Clean Up and Unpack Day

Today was a day about the house cleaning up, unpacking and settling back into home life. Little Miss L and I did a *quick* trip (1.5 hours) to Ikea to pick up some plastic tumblers, plates and bowls for her, and some items for her upcoming 1st birthday.

Wearing:
Top: Witchery blue t-shirt
Bottoms: DIY'd denim cut-offs
Shoes: Mollini silver flats

C xo

Holiday Update #1: Christmas

In my first holiday update, I thought I'd chat a bit about Christmas. Our first family Christmas as a trio. Little Miss L's first ever Christmas...

Is it bad to say it wasn't as *big* as I thought it would be??? Yeah, it was a good day, but not as big and special and amazing as everybody said it would be with a baby. Bad Mum alert or what?!! Anyway, moving on...

We spent it at the in-laws place in Woodgate, a tiny little beach town about 40 minutes south of Bundaberg.  Little Miss L slept in until 6:20am. Merry Christmas to me and Mr B! Never mind that she went to bed at 9:30pm the night before as we had been out at dinner celebrating Mr B's 30th birthday. Oh well.

I got her changed into her little Christmas onesie. Oops! It didn't fit. I bought it at the start of December and she had already outgrown it. So, on to the next Christmas themed outfit. We all sat and watched Little Miss L open up her numerous pressies. She was enthralled with the ribbon and was mostly confused with all of the extra attention she was getting.

We ate ham and eggs on toast for brekky and fluffed around the house. Mr B and I retreated to our room to  give each other our presents. I totally scored (thanks Mr B!). Vogue Australia subscription, M Missoni top and David Jones voucher. Love! We made some salads. We waited for Mr B's brother and his wife to arrive from Ipswich. They arrived around lunch time and we quickly opened up our secret santa presents and then dived into lunch. This year we did a bbq - steaks and prawns, with cold chicken and ham, various salads and a potato bake. Yum!

The rest of the day is a bit hazy... not because of alcohol, because of the food. We ate. A lot. It was good.

In the afternoon it rained so we stayed indoors and played boardgames and watched the Kardashians wedding special (well, my sister in law J and I did anyway. We had a hankering for some bad tv).

All in all, a nice day with the in-laws, but I missed my family heaps. My Mum and brother and sister J were in Brisbane and had a little Christmas lunch for three, and my sister H was in Melbourne with her bf.

I think Christmas might be more exciting next year when Little Miss L will be a bit older.

C xo

I'm baaaaaaaaaack

I'm back! How are you? What have you been up to?!! I've got lots to tell you about our little family holiday at the beach over the next week or so. But first, have you noticed anything different about me? Well??? No, I'm not taller... the blog has had a mini makeover. Its 2012. Its a new year. And so I thought, what better time than now for a few little changes for the blog. Mostly aesthetic. Okay, they are ALL aesthetic, but who's to judge?

You may notice a slightly different layout, a pretty pink polka dot background, font changes, a Twitter update, Favourite Posts list and... drum roll please... my face (and Little Miss L's and Mr B's) will now be gracing these pages. I thought, why the hell not?!!! It was getting exhausting taking headless photos, and plus now I have a heap of headless photos in my possession which aren't really useful to anybody. So I think its easier for all of us (mostly me) if the head and face was in the photos. Oooh. Are you ready for the first head shot?

Tah dah! Here we are! All squinty eyed and basking in our beachside location whilst on holidays. Ahhh, it was so relaxing. I can't wait to tell you about it in the days to come.

C xo