Aussie Beach Bum Bears

I was busy Christmas shopping for the many babies in our lives (friends and family - not ours! We're quite content with our Byron and Chelsea!!! lol), when I came upon these super cute mini clothes meant for teddies. The idea is that you can buy your child's teddy the same outfit as your child. They're made by kids designer clothing company 'Pumpkin Patch' - and are usually too expensive for me to even think about looking at.... but these mini clothes were too awesome to pass by.

So, an idea was sparked.... and these bears were the end result! Meet Bohdi and Belle - our Aussie Beach Bum Bears! 

Bohdi wears an incredibly detailed and well made UV resistant rashie swim shirt (yes, the tag actually had the UV information on it... Mark and I had a little giggle at that!), and a pair of trendy board shorts. Belle wears a modest two-piece swim suit complete with super cute tiny swim undies (with little bows).

Both bears are completely made from mohair, so can be undressed if their new owners prefer. But I have designed them to be dressed (matching the mohair colour/eye colour to the outfits), so I personally think they look best like this. The perfect homage to the start of the Australian Summer in a few days!

We decided that the bears needed to be photographed in the appropriate setting, so we took Byron (who was home from Kindy) down to the waterfront near our house to do the photo shoot. He spent the whole time babbling about the 'WAL- LL - LER' (Byron for 'water' - try saying it while twisting your tongue at the same time and you'll kind of get how he says it!). It was cute for the first 10mins or so, but after half an hour of the same enthusiastic cries about the water, and the non stop pointing, and the trying to climb over the sides of the walk way and into the water... we decided to go home again! 

(and were reminded why we don't venture down to the waterfront that often with a 22month old!)

The lighting from the mid-morning sun has given a really interesting feel to the images. Something a little different to the usual ones taken in our suburban backyard I think. I love the one above of Belle's face... with the sun shining over her shoulder and the sparkle of her hand-painted green eyes and sweet earrings... 

Both Belle and Bohdi are currently available for adoption. We don't have this pattern available for general purchase, but you can purchase the mohair these bears are made from. Belle is made from 'Dried Apricot' matted mohair, and Bohdi from 'Harvest' matted mohair. 

Our friday the 13th adventure

It's Friday here today. Friday the 13th. As I am sure it is for many people right now, or at least it will be shortly depending on your time-zone.

Anyways - Chelsea decided that she wanted to be extra painful this morning. I was trying to do the washing up, put loads of washing on the line, and pack some more boxes for moving, yet no matter what I distracted her with - it just wasn't cutting it!

So after sacrificing a perfectly good box of tissues for 3mins of washing-up time (she likes to pull each tissue out one by one and scatter them around the house), I decided we both needed to get out of the house.

So we drove the 5mins down to the local waterfront, got some fish and chips, and sat by the playground to eat. Chelsea made some friends with the 'bigger girls' (maybe 2-3years old) and happily followed them around. And a little 2 year old boy called Jacob took a liking to her too and tried to make her play with him - she wasn't really interested though. After half a dozen attempts at escaping from the playground in the direction of the road, Chels got bundled back into her pram and we walked down to the water.

It looked so beautiful.


I let Chels out, and took off her pants (thinking that i didn't want them sandy), and let her toddle through the sand. Stupidly I didn't foresee the fact that she'd be drawn to the waters edge - not just walk on the sand near it. This was ok - until she sat herself down in the FREEZING cold water!

After a particularly enthusiastic lunge, she was completely soaked. She didn't like this. Neither did I! I had only bought my handbag with one spare nappy - no extra clothes. And she was clinging to me like an icy, drowned koala bear!

With a bit of quick thinking, I stripped off the soaked clothing and nappy. Dried her off with my skirt. Put the clean nappy on. Took off my long sleve shirt (i had a singlet shirt on under it - so no nudity from me!) and wrapped that around her. Put her pants back on, stripped the lambskin I had lining the pram out, wrapped it around her torso, and strapped her back into the pram. She looked a little odd, but it seemed to do the trick.

Then we had to make the rather embarrassing walk back to the car! Both terribly inappropriately dressed for the middle of winter! :P

At least the car was nice and warm!

My little poser

I just had to make a quick post with this photo! I snapped it while we were down at the beach yesterday afternoon with my mum and my youngest two siblings (that's her uncle Harrison she's leaning on, her aunty Lilly's leg and her pram bunny in the background!). Too cute! Looks like she's deep in reflection about something doesn't it.

Easter Jumping

We had a lovely picnic at the beach today with my family. The weather was amazing! I let the waves splash over Chelsea's feet and she loved it. And there was lots of jumping... as you'll see in the photos!

Saturday morning at the playground

We decided to make the most of the amazing weather this morning and took Chelsea down to the Wynnum waterfront. She had a go on a 'big girl' swing for the first time too!