chaos dreams

Which is kind of like “Four Seasons in One Day” but not set to music! (although if you’re anything like me, you’ve now got that song stuck in your head, so it might as well be set to music!) (and it’s Crowded House, for those who are racking their brains trying to remember!)

Ok, so we left off midway through May, just after the Gossamer Dreams stocking.
You may remember it was rather wet at that point in time!

The week after that I was a bridesmaid at my sister’s wedding which was awesome, although a little (ok a lot) wet and muddy.  Despite the floods, everyone got there safely and home again and it made for some seriously cool wedding photos!

Oh, and the family tradition was kept intact, I was sewing Rhiannon’s dress (with the help of a family friend) until the early hours of the morning the night before, and it got finished off on the day! Looked great though! (and who gave my daughter permission to look sooo grown up!!?)

Skip forward to June, we had Mikey’s birthday (wow 10!), followed by school holidays, and the HAIRCUT!

Since then everything seems to have been on fast forward.  Gossamer Dreams stockings have been a little crazy - good, but crazy.

As of July, I’m officially an auntie (bout time, lol!) and my niece is absolutely beautiful! (of course!)

September saw the bi-annual nappy hunt start again with the Cloth Nappy Shop as an extreme site.  For those who are musically challenged, apparantly things will never be the same again! or so I’ve been told by at least one hunter!

September was also time for another birthday, with Lukas turning 7. He had a fantastic party, with cupcakes decorated by the party guests! I’m not sure that a corn chip would be my first choice of cupcake decoration, but then again, I did discover back on New Year’s Eve that sausages with icing are surprisingly yummy, so maybe I shouldn’t knock the corn chip cupcake until I try it!

We then headed north to Hervey Bay for my husband’s highschool reunion, and stayed with family up there for a week, much to the joy of the kids who had a great time! 9 kids in one house is pretty full-on though, I think all the adults were ready for another holiday by the end of the week!

Sadly when we came home, there was still another week of school holidays left to survive…  Ok, so I’m exaggerating slightly, the kids were pretty good on the whole! But with one thing and another, it’s really brought home how hard it can be juggling 4 kids and the shop during the holidays, so there will be some changes happening before the Christmas holidays - stay tuned for more about that later.

So that pretty much takes us up to yesterday, when the kids went back to school (yay!) and supposedly life goes back to ‘normal’! Normal in this instance involves catching up on everything that hasn’t gotten done in the last month or so! Apologies to people who are waiting patiently for nappies - I have my To Do list all typed up officially, and am crossing things off as quickly as I can.

This has ended up much longer than I intended, so I’m going to call it quits for now, and will post again later to tell you all about the exciting new stuff that’s going to be happening!

We’ve been talking for a while about holding regular ANN get-togethers here in Brisbane, and this week will be the first ‘official’ gathering on the Southside. Fondly dubbed “Nappies Anonymous” by addicts already in (unofficial) attendance, lol, it’s an opportunity for clothies new and old to come along and talk about nappies with other addicts enthusiasts!
The ANN display kit will also be available to look at - it contains a variety of different nappy styles and brands for you to get an idea of what things look like.

We will also be trying to have a topic for discussion at each get-together. This month we’ll be looking at how to find the right size nappy to suit your baby’s size and shape, and tips for how to adjust the nappy to suit your child. Feel free to bring along any nappies from your own stash that may be causing you headaches at the moment!!

So, the when and where details…

We’re hoping to meet up on the first Thursday each month, so this coming Thursday May 7th 2009.
The venue is the Cloth Nappy Shop,
6/76-82 Queens Rd, Kingston Q4114.
From 10am onwards, the ‘official’ meetup will probably finish up around 12pm, but you’re welcome to hang out afterwards until the shop closes at 2pm. If you can bring along a plate of food to share, that would be great. Tea, coffee and water provided.

I think that’s all the crucial details, PLMK if I’ve forgotten something important!

You’re welcome to come along and see what it’s like for your first visit or two, but subscription/membership of the Australian Nappy Network will be preferred after that initial period. Subscription/membership forms are of course available at the meet-up, or you can sign up online.

This has been one heck of a week, lol, with the shop opening on Tuesday, and then the Great Down Under Nappy Hunt starting on Wednesday. But I’ve finally had a chance to sit down this morning, and download the photos from my camera, so here it is!

Firstly, the view from the front of the shop - thanks to everyone who sent me photos of their gorgeous babies to put in my front window!

This is the current fabric stash - there’s more to come soon, including bamboo!!
(model doesn’t come included with fabric purchases, lol, sorry!)

And of course, everyone’s favourite part of the shop - the nappies!!

the cupcakes photo is especially for Carmen!

Now I have lots of people I want to thank, so please bear with me!!

Firstly my darling long suffering husband Mark, who has put many hours of painting etc into the setup of the shop! (and has also put up with the deteriorating state of our house while I’ve been focused on other things, lol!) And my children Rhiannon, Michael, Lukas and Ben, who probably still think mum is insane and never talks about anything except the shop and nappies! My parents - Dad who built all my shelves and cutting table, and Mum who looked after the kids many times so that Mark and I could work without distractions, and who also came round to the shop on Monday night and helped get everything out onto the shelves! (it was a *very* late night!)

Donna, Lesley and Shane (plus family) who have helped the whole way along with ideas and practical help (especially Shane who rescued me from the flat-pack furniture nightmare, lol!) I’ve got photos from one of the working bees to upload when I get a chance!

My friend Margaret, who listens to me whinge via IM late at night, and even *likes* putting together the dreaded flat-pack furniture

All the other WAHMs both irl and online who have listened to me talk and let me bounce ideas off them over the last few months - thankyou - you know who you are! And those who have supported me by sending me stock to sell!

I’ll be updating the shop pages soon, with more details of what’s in stock, and what’s still to come.

Hope to meet many more of you in the coming weeks!