Everything a first-time mum-to-be needs to know….

There’s a reason we don’t often do Pregnancy & Baby Expos with our maternity collection by sorella organics. They are quite simply too overwhelming, too busy, too noisy, and (in my opinion) consist of just an unbearable amount of information for any one person to take in.

With so many brands, in one HUGE venue, it must be so hard to make choices and decisions of what’s best for mum and her family? In fact, I wonder if some mums come out MORE confused than she was when she went in?!!

There’s only one Pregnancy Event we are currently a part of, and the reason is simple – it’s a small, beautiful, stress-free event – full of great information and advice so first-time mums don’t have to spend their entire pregnancy sifting through an overload of information and decisions – or fight for a carpark at an Expo.

They can instead spend their time enjoying their pregnancy and focus on more important things – like preparing for baby’s safe arrival.

So, we are thrilled to announce sorella organics will be attending the The Baby Workshop, hosted by The Baby Consultant again this year.

The first of its kind, the exclusive workshop brings together first time mums to mingle, enjoy afternoon tea, & see everything they need for their new baby lifestyle.

My life mission: To rid the world of man’s ugly, pilly, baggy track pants and thigh-high polyester shorts

It’s fathers day in little over 8 days in Australia. Time to celebrate the men in our life.

And if your dad is anything like mine (sensitive, grumpy, a little needy, a lot argumentative, and always right…. But also generous, kind-hearted, supportive, totally lovable, and worth enduring the annoying first listed traits) – then might I suggest you avoid risking the ordinary this fathers day?

The ordinary being, an ordinary blah blah father’s day gift.

My dad always says he doesn’t want anything. But I’ve never seen him turn down a box of Darrell Lea Chocolates come the big day (He has to rely getting those from one of my sisters’ these days though as there are questions whether they ethically source their cacao…. Poor dad).

So this year (like the last) I’ll be sporting Dad out in some sorella men’s pieces.

Yes he already has a draw-full, but he has secretly told my mum that they are the comfiest dacks going ’round. And he’s been around a while my dad – so he’d know.

And that’s why I think you should get a pair for your dad too. Or maybe for hubby from the kids!

A happy Dad is… well… a happy dad. And let’s be honest, we really do need to rid the population of ugly, pilly, baggy track pants and shorts.

 Owens Short – $44. Available in Evening Sky (shown), Vintage Black, and Feather Grey

If you can’t cope with my unhelpful-help, perhaps buy a headscarf?

You’ve read them too right? Those blog posts/articles/rants that do the rounds from someone on their high horse with their List of Things You Should Not Say To Them When They are in X Situation?

I hate those lists. 

• 25 things not to say to a woman who is struggling to fall pregnant
• 174 things not to say to a woman over 30 going through a break up
• 4062798 things not to say to someone with depression

I really really hate those lists.

If we all get around stifled with fear for saying the wrong thing, that means nothing will be said at all. And if nothing is said it all, surely we’d end up wondering why the bloody-hell no one cares?

I get it. Sometimes when you are in the shit, you just want your friend to get down in the hole with you, sit down, shut the f*** up, and give you a hug {+ maybe a little “Everything will be ok” or “I’m here if you need me” on the side too}.

Hello: Honey You Baked!

We are trhilled to have Mel from Honey You Baked! guest blog for the sorella-hood today! {side note: isn’t that THE cutest blog name going around?}

Honey, You Baked! ~ are Danni & Mel, two Friends and Mamas who used to work together in Sydney and now blog together – states apart. Two Mamas, Makin’ & Bakin’ in Sydney & Tassie.

Mel lives in Hobart on a hectare of rural land where she is raising two kids and a husband (Miss E, Master O and A1). She is a Social Media Whiz, has a great love of Tasmanian Cheese & Wine and does everything at the last minute (I think Mel might be my soul-sister, she sounds an awful lot like me – minus the social media whiz thing)

Danni lives on Sydney’s beautiful Northern Beaches with her lot (Miss N, Miss Z and Himself). She’s obsessively organised, Loves Cake and Shoes and spends way too much time talking to herself. (Hmm. Ok yep, Danni sounds like my kind of gal too. Especially the cake bit).

Today Mel has shared something I think you’ll love trying out on the weekend with the kidlets (or if you’re like me, some borrowed kidlets). 

Kids Wash Away Play ~ Chalk Paint

My kids love ‘painting’ on our outdoor pavers with water, but after seeing a gazillion Pinterest posts on liquid sidewalk chalk, I decided to up the ante.

I only had natural food colouring, or my Wilton pastes, which I was concerned would stain the pavers (and the kids) in their intensity. So I used the natural food colouring to colour my ‘paint’ and we gave it a go.

The kids had a grand time painting away in the winter sunshine, but although the colours looked great in the tray, they all looked much the same once dry. For a more intense colour, it may be worth giving it a try with regular food colouring which should give a stronger colour result once painted on – obviously all surfaces react differently. The kids didn’t mind, it was all about the creating for them, and I was happy to have them occupied outside.

The best thing about this activity is that the mess just washes away with the next rainy day (or a hose!)

You’ll Need
1 cup of corn flour
1 cup of water
Natural food colouring
Paint pots/painters palette or a muffin tray
Paint brushes

The How To
• In a bowl, mix together the corn flour and water until thoroughly combined.
• Pour equal amounts into your containers and then add a few drops of food colouring to each pot to make your desired colours. Mix well.
• Paint, enjoy and wash away when finished!

 

Whichever colouring you choose, I suggest doing a test patch somewhere first, let it dry and make sure that it washes easily away. After 4 days of being left on the pavers with no rain, ours washed away with the next downpour.

Enjoy! Mel x

Thanks so much Mel! I’m looking forward to trying this out with my nieces and nephew.

Head over to Mel & Danni’s gorgeous blog www.honeyyoubaked.com where they have lots of yummy recipes, kids play ideas, free printables and home organisation tips to make your life just a little bit easier. And they are also on Facebook & Instagram too!

Do let us know if you try out this activity with your little (&/or big) ones!

x anna

 

3 things no.4! || nina, sisters & puppies

Time for another edition of 3 things! (I can just FEEL your utter excitement. Yes. Read on my friend).

3 things I learnt/realised/randomly thought about this week || no.4

 #1 That Offspring is over. For good. (Apparently)

Nina makes me feel “normal”. If this is the end, who is going to make me feel normal now?

Are you sad too? Group hug?

image credit: Network Ten Australia/ Southern Star Entertainment

  #2 I found the best birthday card

The Mary Poppins Drawer of Possibility (+ a little giveaway)

Does this look familiar?…

{note the naughty puppy photo-bombing on the bottom right, joyfully attacking my plant}

Yes. It’s that one drawer in your house that is the family’s dumping ground. Need a hair elastic? A Panadol? An allen key to put together your new Ikea furniture? This is where you’ll find one.

I like to call it: The Mary Poppins Drawer of Fun.

I think I am a reasonably organised person, but for some reason The Mary Poppins Drawer of Fun is completely UNorganised – mostly with take away menus that have been tried (or the intention to try). And as we have moved house 3 times in the last 4 years, we have quite the impressive collection of Melbourne’s finest (and not so fine) take-away menus.

The case of the mysteriously appearing Nappies

Regulars to the sorella-hood will know that I recently moved house (- and survived, although this mid-move pic may lead you to believe otherwise):

I find that hiding in a packing box for a while every now and then can help reduce anxiety

Moving house provides the opportunity for discovery:

• That earring you lost 2 years ago
• The spare car key (you blamed your husband for losing) in the pocket of the shorts you wore all summer
• The receipts you desperately needed for last years tax return

And then there are the discoveries of other things. Things that you had no idea were residing in your house in the first place.

Here’s an example:

• Three quarters of a pack of boys nappies

There’s nothing extraordinary about these nappies. They are just your regular run of the mill disposable nappies.

The extraordinary part is that I don’t know where they have come from.

I don’t have children of my own, and I don’t recall buying them in some sort of comatose supermarket shop at midnight. So I’m dumbfounded. I just don’t know how they got into my house, or with whom.

3 things no.3! || nanas, love & mandarins

Time for another edition of everyone’s favourite game – 3 things!

3 things I learnt/realised/randomly thought about this week || no.3

#1 Nana’s can be cruel

You know it’s time to book an emergency hair appointment when your 90 something glasses-wearing-nana says:

“Oh look at those roots Anna. Are you growing your hair out to go back to your natural colour?”

Touché Nana. Touché.

This is my Nana. See? I told you she wore glasses.

#2 That I quite possibly have had too many failed relationships

‘Nuff said really. Or if you now find yourself more intrigued read this for a laugh: The Tragically Failed Relationships Mix Tape.

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#3 Mandarins are a sometimes food

It’s mandarin season in Australia. I would like to warn everyone though that a mandarin is no substitute for chocolate during a craving. No matter what anyone tells you. (Stupid Nutritionists).

In fact, I think they should actually be eaten like this.

Friends for life (and in ma belly) … (Green & Blacks Organic & Fair trade Chocolate)

How about you? What things have you learnt/realised/randomly thought about this week?

x anna 

sorella sale time!

If you are a sorella-devotee you will note we don’t have sales very often.

But it’s the ‘end of financial year’ here in Australia, and with that it means: tax time.

And with tax time comes stocktake. And with stocktake comes sitting on the floor for countless hours, days even, counting lots and lots of PJs.

You will probably know from my whingeing that I moved house this past week. I survived by the way – but it’s not yet the end. There’s a mountain of boxes still around me and I have been forced to create a very strategic ‘valley’ throughout the house to enable me to get to the most important places one needs – the fridge and the bed. I have even bribed the delivery guy of our new couch with beer to PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE take some empty boxes in his van.

So with this added household chaos – I just couldn’t cope with the thought of our annual event of counting womens, mens, and maternity sleepwear!

What a snooze-fest!

So I came up with the ingenious plan to have a sale. The more we sell the less we have to count. I’m sure our accountant will see some sort of positives in this approach to my business, no?

Anyway. Get amongst it. Because apart from doing yourself a favour by sleeping in some organic cotton, you are doing me a favour by not losing days of my precious life counting.

Shop here: www.sorellaandme.com.au – We have up to 50% off selected styles from every collection – menswear, womens and maternity wear. So whether you are pregnant, a fella needing to ditch your baggy pilly tracksuit pants you’ve had since 2005, or you need a gift for a friend – there is something for everyone.

My sincere thanks! anna x

The thing we all have to do in life now and then (that makes me want to hide in a cardboard box with a bottle of wine, rock back and forth and pretend it isn’t happening)

So I’m facing something this fortnight that is in my top 5 of life’s most painful must-dos.  Others seem to manage it quite well. Some even live to tell the tale while facing it in a foreign country while 9 months pregnant and a toddler in tow.

But no, not me.

I’m a weakling. This thing takes so much thought, effort, and quite often – pain.

It can rattle me to my core of vulnerability. I lie awake at night with questions:

“How am I going to make this work? How the bloody hell am I going to get though this?”

In the past when a friend informs me that they are facing this life change, I cringe. My stomach drops.

I want to back away slowly, while offering the usual pitiful condolences that are called for in times like these – pitiful because really, there is nothing to say to help ease the pain:

“What a terrible thing to have to face when life was rolling on so well, and you were so comfy. Good luck my dear friend. See you on the other side”…

I sometimes take around a ready-made meal or two. God knows they’ll be needing it.

I sometimes also offer a spare pair of hands. But only if they are a really really close friend.

If they aren’t – they will not see me. They will not hear from me. I will wait a good few weeks just to make sure they are through the thick of it and ready to get back into life.

And I wouldn’t expect any of my friends to stick around either. No friend should have to help carry this burden.

Or my fridge.

Wish me luck my dear sorellas.

It’s moving house day.

I find that hiding in a packing box for a while now and then can help reduce anxiety.

What are your tips for surviving moving house?

~ anna

P.S Renting’s a bitch.