ninetwelvetwentyfive

my little girl turned three months old last week. and naturally it made me think about how fast the time has gone. in some ways, it’s hard to remember what life was like before she was here; in others, the time has flown past. every day she changes. i took her down to nelson last week for a couple of days so she could meet her little cousins .. we were only away three days but the rockstar said in that time she had grown taller, her hair darker.

it’s kind of de rigueur to include your birth story on your blog these days, i gather. but i’m not going to. not because i think it’s TMI, but it was a very intense experience and summing it up in words still feels hard. but i will tell you about something that happened on the night of L’s second day on this earth.

by this time, i had spent about five days in hospital and i was dying to get home. it was to be our last night in the post-natal ward but my sweet darling L would not settle. at all. she cried and cried inconsolably. something was badly wrong, i feared.

a fabulous midwife came and spoke to me. she asked me to express some milk while she took L for a little walk — ostensibly to calm her but mostly, i suspect, to give me a break. about ten minutes later the midwife returned with a quiet L. “how did you do that?” i asked, in awe. “oh, i just didn’t pay attention,” she said breezily. “she’s pretty annoyed at me now though”. and true enough, i looked at L and she had fixed the midwife with this killer stare. if it’s possible for a two-day-old baby to give someone the evil eye, L was doing it.

but soon she was crying again. a paediatrician came. baby panadol was given. more midwives came. no-one could find anything wrong. by this time it was about four in the morning and L was still crying. and then the first midwife came back. “you know what,” she said, “i think she just wants her mum.”

so we set up my bed so that L could lie beside me rather than in her crib. she lay in the crook of my arm and gradually quieted. curled up like that, we slept.

when i woke, i looked at my little girl’s sleeping face. indeed, it seems like she just did need her mum. and i vowed then and there that whenever she needed me, no matter where or when or how old, i would be there for her.

happy three months, sweet baby girl. we love you xox

well hello there, gentle readers.  i sorta took a little break there, didn’t i?

the reason is this:

yes, there has been something of a population explosion here at ninetwelvetwentyfive.  in early february i gave birth to a gorgeous baby girl.

what, you mean i didn’t say anything here?

well, there were reasons, i guess.  i wasn’t sure that i wanted to be so public about the details of my pregnancy.   it also wasn’t a particularly stylish time, let’s say.   you northern hemisphere chicas don’t know how good you have it.   here in NZ, maternity clothes are either extremely expensive and corporate looking (and i was not about to drop several hundred bucks on something i’d only wear for a couple of months) or super-cheap, probably sweatshopped and reeking of VOCs.  there’s not a lot in between, at least, not that i could find.  (oh, and proprietors of maternity boutiques should feel free to e-mail me telling me how wrong i am.  i’d love to compile a list of sources for other suddenly-fashion-challenged mamas.)

so style blogging became a little tricky for a while.  at least for me.  others are doing better:  the wondrous miz fashionwestie is looking utterly fabulous as she progresses through The Miracle Of Womanhood.  i bought a couple of pairs of maternity skinny jeans (irony!) and a really cool wrap dress from womama.  apart from that, i lived in tunic dresses, the aforementioned skinnies and high heels.  not quiiiite blogworthy.

but now miss L is here, i am back in my normal clothes and it is coming into winter.   and all my favourite designers are having really, really strong seasons.   ooh yes.  while i was pregnant, i had quite a bit of time to think about a new personal approach to style.   i’ll talk about that a bit more in an upcoming post.

and then there is this whole new life, this whole new person, to write about.  don’t worry, this isn’t going to become a mama-blog.  not that there is anything wrong with mama-blogs.  but i figure if you want to read about nappies, organic amber teething beads and such, there are lots of women out there writing far better about it than i can.

instead, i may well write about what an awesome person my little girl is and how, despite being unable to talk or even hold her head up unaided, she is my best little buddy.   how the rockstar is an amazing daddy and how she gazes at him with her big blue baby eyes.  and how she already has an impressive wardrobe of shoes (people call them “booties” but we know better, hehe) and likes it when her mama wears breton stripes.  it’s the black and white, apparently.  newborns dig monochrome.   very directional.

all this to come.  for now, i am just easing back into this blogging lark.  so, hi there!  thank you for still reading!  why don’t you leave a comment and tell me what you’ve been up to all this while?

xoxo

so, erm, yeah.  about that gap in posting.  here’s what i’ve been up to, in pictures:

(this photo was not taken by me but by my super-talented mum.  i love it, so i have posted it here.)

first two brasília, at the sound shell;  last four padre bernardo, which is where the rockstar’s family have a farm.  and where his party was.  more coming, promise.

some days are so beautiful, all you can do is rent a car and take off to the beach.  yesterday was like that. so that’s what we did.

(sunglasses karen walker, sweatshirt uniqlo, black skirt self-made, tights can’t remember, karen walker runaway girl necklace and charity shop bag covered in studs by your humble reporter.  not shown, wicked-cool russell and bromley brogues ..)

(ah, there they are.  they’re a luscious cherry red.)

the rockstar rockin’ in the free world.  he’d never touched the pacific ocean before.  how adorable is that?  so we went down to the water’s edge, and ..

.. the tide came in, very quickly.

it was a lovely day.  how did you make the most of it?

well yes, as a matter of fact, i am.    minidressthing, karen walker runaway;  tie-dye circle scarf, AA;  grey leggings, uniqlo;  boots, solea.   hair, 100% gen-u-wine bedhead.  yep, i did get a bit of stink-eye for wearing a minidress on my local high street, but .. *shrug*.

good things:

1.  frozen pão de queijo.  this is the brand i get, from my local budgens — heaven in your freezer.

2.  waking the dead .. and the post-mortems with my pal emily at work the next day.

3.  the xx!  amazing dreamy music.

4.  sore tummy muscles from hooping

5.  my new camera, the amazing panasonic lx-3.  man, it is sick, and i am totally in love with it.

oh, and the rockstar.  he is, was and always will be an extremely good thing.  i’m sticking around for a few more days in london to finish a big project but i miss him and those days will drag.  drag.  draaaaaaag.

meu amor.  um mes e vou estar nos seus braços novamente.  não vejo a hora.

(attracting stares in the emirates lounge in dubai.  t-shirt and circle scarf american apparel, uniqlo skinny jeans, karim rashid for melissa shoes which you can’t quite see but are awesome, karen walker necklace, prada glasses)

i might look incredibly boho when i travel .. this is my usual outfit, minus the topshop pleat trench coat thrown over the top .. but i have done so much flying back and forth from NZ this year that i am apparently a “high value” customer for emirates and so i am allowed into their lounge.   the assembled businessmen gape at me, the ladies look at me like i’m a high-class hooker.   for me, it’s just a slightly mellower place to drink coffee and read weblogs while i wait to board ek001.

while this journey has been less hideous than it could have been, it’s still been vile as every single minute spent in the air takes me further and further away from the rockstar diplomat.   i had a dreamlike ten days with him in new zealand.  for a couple that’s spent very little time in each other’s company thus far, we glide alongside each other very smoothly.   there is nothing better than lying in his big comfortable bed (*our* bed, as he always corrects me) watching films, kissing and dozing in each other’s arms.   well, almost nothing ;->

but now i am heading back to london again .. one last long separation before we are together for good.   i can’t wait.

i don’t have very many pretty things to write today .. be kind, i’ve just come off a 14 hour flight.  more, inevitably, when i get home.