In little Oliver’s room -

I used all of the same canvas buckets and baskets I had in the change table previously. I just added an Ikea shelf above for the wipes, powder and nappies and then and Ikea railing which holds 2 tin buckets. The 2 buckets hold our most used toiletries. This was a simple and easy update to the changing area but it has made it SO much more functional I love it : )

I also find bookcases in the boys rooms a great way to add a LOT of space without taking up a huge amount of space in the room. I filled Oliver’s with his trickets and frames and then lots and lots of books on his level. He goes in there several times a day and pulls them all out “reading” them or requesting to be read to- I love it.

Then there are the reading nooks. A small new obsession of mine of which I have Pinterest to thank. After seeing a TON of inspiration on there which I had “pinned” I now have 2 nooks completed with the playroom still to come and so far I am in LOVE. Both boys absolutely love to read and having books out on display for them encourages this special love.

Oliver especially goes and gets books all day and then hands them to you, sits down and waits for you to start reading- it is priceless. Rotating through the books seems to mean they not only get read more but they notice them more so than in a standard bookcase. They are also very easy to put away.

Nook 1 –

This one is just a low picture shelf in Oliver’s room (Ikea). I made sure I placed it on a non traffic wall to prevent accidents. There is a dresser on one side and a couch on the other and so this nestles nicely in the middle.

Nook 2-
Then we added a repurposed plate rack from Ikea into the living room. I had been looking for a shelf like this for ages and alas everything was covered in kids motifs or brightly coloured letters etc. I wanted something neutral that kept the focus on the books and could be repurposed if ever needed. This plate rack from Ikea fitted the bill perfectly- just the right amount of books to not be overwhelming and they hold in beautifully with the railing. The boys love it !!

So there you have just a few of the ways I am trying to maximise the storage in our sweet new abode : )

In a few short weeks I will be undertaking the largest renovation I have ever done- a kitchen and a few weeks later a laundry. Daunting for me without a doubt- but necessary in this house as storage is sadly lacking. Ikea to the rescue and as measurements are made and quotes given I am getting closer- looking forward to sharing more on that soon.

In the meantime I work on the rooms I can and I am super excited about an entire day next weekend dedicated to hanging stuff on the walls – shelves, hooks, frames etc that all makes it feels more like home : )

Today I want to share with you just a little glimpse at the progress made in one of my favourite rooms – the scrapbooking/craft room. I was beyond blessed to find that this house had the perfect space for this and it almost like the furniture was made to fit here.

Here is a look at progress to date-

Just before the doors went on I took the opportunity to snap a photo I knew would be harder to capture afterwards- the full cupboards and contents.

This is a constantly morphing and changing thing but really just lots of baskets and boxes and magazine files storing all that crafty goodness. I also store all of the boys crafts supplies, paints, playdough, colouring books, textas etc in here.

In my last room I had the cupboards above my desk but in this room that was not possible without support on either side to hold them up. My dad was not comfortable mounting them without the side cupboards and so we made a decision to put them either side of the desk and I am in LOVE. So much extra surface space and room for me to work!!! We still need to create a little plinth underneath to raise these up a little for easier cupboard opening along with re-doing the handles to sit in the middle but for now- it works !!

Be still my couch loving heart I moved the armchair and ottoman in here so I can really relax and soak it all in (it was a tad big for Olivers new room). This is my new favourite place to edit photos and blog at night.

And the beloved Expedit is still here and got a little colour co-ordination too. Excuse the piles on the floor- I am not quite done yet.

And the beloved wall of storage? Well it looks all tidy with the doors on now. I forgot to take a photo of this earlier and so I just snapped one a minute ago.

So that is where I am at for now. Lots more to do and share soon so stay tuned : )

There have been a LOT of Ikea trips of late ; )

And I want to thank every single one of you for your patience, love, support, kind words and understanding during an interesting time in my life. And that will be all I have to say about that : )

Well Christmas pack up was done- as per yesterday’s post and so this shelf got a little update as well. Now it looks a little like this-

I added the candy jars up here for safe keeping (although I am still looking for something to fill them with) and changed over the prints. With the prints I kept the Christmas ones behind the new photos for a super easy switch over when the festive season comes around again.

I simple quick and easy update from Christmas although I was a little sad to pull it all down.

And just to put into perspective this is what the shelf look like in relation to the rest of the wall.

So just a snapshot of what we have been up to over the last few days-

Making egg  toast men. These were a great hit. I just used 2 pieces of  multi grain bread, 2 slices of cheese and some scrambled eggs (with shallots) and some sultanas for eyes : )

Finding the perfect sized little basket to store my camera in out on the bench  ( I know it’s the small things). I have always found that if I have my camera out on the bench I take SO many more photos and capture so many more memories.

Some of the recent ones you will see below I only got because my camera was literally an arms length away, and I am grateful every single day that I got “that” photo: )

The sharing is starting at a young age-

Sorting out my jars and lollies for the Christening dessert table-

Supervising these two boys who have started to play together- so cute

Loving sweet Oliver smiles more and more every single day.

Our weekend was busy. We did a few things around the house and there was LOTS of organising for Oliver’s upcoming Christening, I am having so much fun planning it all- but it is also a lot of work, I will start to share bits and pieces as I put them together !!

We hung a lot of frames as well in anticipation for some new photos that should be arriving this week from Olivers photo shoot by Little Tree Photography back when Oliver was only a few weeks old. Here is just one of the photos walls I am working on- final pictures to come soon.  So grateful to have a handy husband who puts up with all of my weekend projects !

Thank you so much for all of the your suggestions in my previous post with Oliver’s  reflux. We are working through it and doing a variety of things that seem to be helping the poor little guy, these include-

A thickened reflux formula- Oliver only has one bottle of formula a day as a top up to all of the other feeds I do so I am not sure how much this is really helping

Feeding with Oliver sitting upright- a tad awkward but we are getting there

Sitting upright for 30 minutes after a feed

Gripe water and Gaviscon infant in his nightly bottle

Propping up his moses basket to a much more upright position

Much more frequent breastfeeds

The sitting up is helped by the fact that he is old enough to sit in his bumbo chair now. What is a bumbo chair? Well in my opinion the absolute mother of invention with a baby of this age- especially with reflux. Who knew a 3 month old baby could sit up? And Oliver absolutely LOVES this thing. He starts smiling as soon as we put him in it – although it is only good for about 5 minutes at the moment.

And then you get the smiles : )

Luckily he is super cute or all of the screaming would drive me insane. Having a baby who cries- a lot is  really really hard. Flynn never cried and so having a cranky baby is very difficult change, I hate  seeing my baby in pain and an unhappy baby has a way of making you feel like a terrible failure of a mother.

But we will get there. And I just keep having to remind myself that things will get better and also distracting myself with other projects when Oliver does sleep is also  helping- trying to fit lots of scrapbooking in : )

It is no secret that I LOVE to party plan and so when I stumbled across the blog One Charming Party I was SOLD. Love this blog !! It is so sweet and there are SO many great ideas and fabulous party things to try. When I discovered the blog I signed up for the great newsletter and I received my first one this week- it is short and sweet and has lots of great pictures examples which I love- see blow.

So if you love parties have a look at the blog HERE and feel inspired : )

This is the room looking in from the inside door-

And from the outside door looking in-

So there is a little mid week project for you,we did this wall after Flynn went to bed one night and it only took about 45 minutes to put both things up : ) Perfect for our busy family and it has made the Laundry room just a lit bit more inviting.

Oh so much of this is happening right now. I am SO tired and really feeling the last few weeks of pregnancy. I still have a to do list a mile long, not enough time and energy, a toddler testing my patience and a few new stretch marks to consolidate the last few weeks of my pregnancy. I cannot get enough sleep and by Monday afternoon I need another weekend !! At the same time with all that is challenging about the last weeks of any pregnancy I am also trying to enjoy every last little movement, roll, flutter and kick as I know I will miss this feeling all too soon.

Being pregnant is an amazing, humbling and life changing experience and it doesn’t seem to get any less magical the more times you do it (for me anyway). I always attempt to feel grateful and not take advantage of the fact I have this little miracle growing inside me  despite having to gain momentum to get off the couch and not being able to bend down to put on my shoes.

I am LOVING getting out all of our baby bits and pieces for the second time around and along with the cradle in our bedroom the rest of the house is starting to get a little taken over by baby already and I love it. Having all of those little bits out makes it seem so much more real and creates a great opportunity for us to talk to Flynn about his new baby brother and he has already talked me into buying toys which are apparently for baby brother.

I am grateful for wonderful friends who offer to babysit Flynn, organize showers and lend wonderful baby things during this time. The above photo is our living room and where we have placed another cradle to be out with the family and amongst the action and noise of toddler life. My wonderful friend Rosie lent me this AMAZING cradle to me as she loves it herself so much and wants to share it (how sweet is that?). I am so grateful to have people like this in my life : ) The cradle is called a Leander  and you can find them here, they are just stunning. Rosie also has an amazing design blog HERE, check it out she finds some amazing stuff and I love her quirky and unique decorator finds.

We are finishing off Flynn’s new room this weekend, finally !! So you will be sure to be bombarded with photos of his new space and the nursery next week.

I will be drawing the giveaway tomorrow so please leave a comment for your chance to win if you have not done so already !!! I have decided I don’t like giveaways… after reading all of your comments I want to give everyone  a Pouch Miss sigh…alas I only have one so stay tuned as we find out who it is : )

Small storage nook spaces can be great for storing your most used item in the nursery. This little side table next to my arm chair is great,  in the top drawer I have dummies and bibs and in the bottom flannels.  These small pieces of furniture don’t take up a lot of room, are cheap and can store heaps of bits and pieces.

Here are a few more pictures of the nursery.

A nice comfy feeding chair in the nursery is so great especially for all of those late nights up.