addiction number 1

Hello...my name is Nathalia, and I am addicted to...fabrics

oliver+s kimono pajamas

I bought an oliver+s pattern and I'm in love with everything oliver+s ever since. Next time I make the pajamas, I will need to resize the waist for Emma, since it is now too small for her. It's quite an easy pattern, though took me awhile to finish. I'm very happy with how it turned out

vbac

I was scheduled for a c-section on 28th October 2008, therefore I didn't prepare my "delivery bag". However, my little miss Belle decided she needed to be out on the 25th, while her obgyn is away on a conference while her daddy went away to the airport to pick up her grandparents and nanny! So little miss belle and mommy were rushed to the hospital as soon as daddy arrived from the airport and she was born approximately 45 minutes later at 11:21 pm, weighing 3.55 kg and 52 cm.

hello

So yes...I've been aways for quite some time...and while I was away in Brisbane last year, I took a sewing lesson with Deb :). This dress was the result of my taking some sewing lessons with her! I like Deb, she was a nice teacher and I got to do the projects I wanted to do!

only in 3rd world countries :D

As we were driving to the factory (Cibitung area), we saw a very interesting view of 2 over loaded trucks! They're hilarious!  We wouldn't dare go near it as it was leaning very much to the left (as if it was READY to fall over - and we wouldn't be surprised if they did!) whenever the truck hit all those deep asphalt dents and whenever the road turned :s...they were finally stopped by a road patrol hahahahahaha.

super delicious soy bean snack

I LOVEEEEEEEE this snack!  My aunt from Singapore always buy them everytime she comes to Jakarta...it's SUPER delicious :) and "healthy" too ;) hahahahhaa

loving this smock dress shop

Last week, at Ursulin Bazaar, I stumbled upon a wonderful little stall which sold beautiful smocking dresses.  I've been looking for good quality smocked dresses with nice cotton materials.  The dresses remind me of my dresses when I was a kid.  My mom loves smocked dresses, I guess that's where I got my obsession from.  This place has it all :) It's called pretty stitches.  I bought 2 dresses for Emma at the bazaar, but turned out they're too big (they're for 3 years old ;p).  So, today I've finally visited their store in Prapanca (I've passed by this place many times before and been wanting to stop by before, but to no avail).  Their shop is small but lovely and they're currently expanding the shop to accommodate more spaces.

They also sell these pretty cross stitched gifts and of course pretty dresses.  I ended up buying another dress for Emma and ordered 2 more dresses for Emma and a baptist dress for Em's soon-to-be little sister.  One of the custom order dress for Emma is similar to the front display, only in white and another one with sheer-like material.  Can't wait to see them :D.   They're also accepting smocking craft order, such as little pouches with smocking craft...very cute :)

Pretty Stitches

Jl. Prapanca Raya No. 35

Phone: 7247362

I believe they're open Monday-Saturday

Closes at 5pm on M-Th and 3pm on Sat (call to check)

our new addiction

Last week we went to Bandung and my mom took us to this noodle place in front of the Rainbow Outlet at Jl. Sukajadi No. 168-170. The noodle wasn't the best but their strawberry juice was sooooo yummy! So, mom's cousin who lives in Bandung told us that the recipe is very simple, strawberries, condensed milk and water. I've tried that recipe and tastes delicious...Em loves it :) so does Francis...here's what I use:

8-10 frozen strawberries (keep those fresh berries in freezer)

3-5 tbsp condensed milk (according to taste)

1 glass of cold water

blend everything together and it should make 2 glasses + 1 small glass for Emma :)

From there, we then go to Rumah Mode at Jl. Setiabudi No. 41F and I found some great maternity clothings and they have my size too! (I could not fit into Indonesian maternity clothing...even when I'm not pregnant! so go figure! hehehe)...tried finding some oilily brand, but I guess I wasn't as lucky as babyape :) Francis found some great A&F, Burberry and CK polo shirts and he kept asking me if the price is correctly labeled hahahaha. Found some skirts for Emma too :) so, overall very happy.

From there, I took home some Mie Rica (simply LOVE this noodle!!! they'll give you the oil and raw noodle so it will stay fresh), it's at:

Jl. Kejaksaan no. 7, they also have an outlet at:

Komp. Taman Kopo Indah III ruko F2 as well as another outlet at: Hyper Square Pasir Kaliki B-70

After that...we had dinner at Dunia Baru at Jl. Gardujati No. 39 and we ate this crab-like soup with noodle on the inside...simply beautiful :) but you have to eat it there, else it won't taste so good :)

After all that...am quite hungry now...

bags

Nowadays, since I have so much materials I purchased from my father's friend (he owns a fabric factory), instead of using wrapping paper, I just sew these little bags (like what I did to Em's goodie bag).

goodie bags

The goodie bags were nightmares.  I asked for a specific design of Barney on it, but the store decided they knew better and added theseextra wordings! thus making the whole mug looked too crowded! so annoying! I didn't even ask them to do anything to the mug! I was too lazy to argue, though, so I just let it be.  And currently I am into making those little lunch box bags...they're so fun to make...I must say though, I did horribly at my sewing and I know people will notice...the heck...it was my first time and I managed to make these little bags...26 of them! then I put a thick yellow drawstring to finish them off...somehow I didn't take picture of the finished product...

a party for our little princess

I must say...I'm not a big fan of organizing any sorts of parties, though I like hosting small parties with close friends, I hate planning and organizing.  Nevertheless, I thought Emma should at least have a first birthday party.  I must say, though....parties nowadays are SO EXPENSIVE!!!  The clown...the game...the cake...the balloons!!I've kept everything to a minimum and hosted the party at the function hall of our apartment, not bad, actually.  Since the apartment has this new trampoline installment, I only added the fishing game for the little kids to enjoy.  In the end, thanks to my parents, aunties, and relatives, the party turned out ok :) though I must say I'm quite disappointed with the ugly barney clown and the scarry "godzilla" like mini barney cupcakes, in the end I just see past that and the kids were having so much fun and most importantly, Em was having thetime of her life...she was SO EXCITED and only get exhausted after it all ended and fell asleep when taken upstairs.  Thanks to our friends who came and celebrated it with us :)

ooo baby

I was just starting to eat those delicious super fresh oysters, raw fish and all things raw!!! then I found out we're going to have a second one :).  Yes, we were planning on having a mousey but we wanted a late mousey (i.e. born some time in Jan/Feb of next year) but we thought we ought to start early this time, because Emma didn't happen in one go :p.  So, after I was done expressing my breast milk for Emma for six months, I stopped giving her my milk so I could be fertile again...and here I am on my fifth month....I guess this one happened in one go...I haven't even had my period yet...and this girl number 2 will make us a family of four on 28th of October 2008 (c-section date with Dr. Cook in Brisbane).

Now you know the "real" reason why I've been lazy....lately :)

my my...lazy me :)

Didn't realize how time flies when you're busy :)...I haven't been writing for more than 4 months now...mostly because I'm too lazy...lazy to write, lazy to crochet and lazy to get online once home.

Emma's picture was finally published by Ayahbunda magazine, she appeared on both the magazine and book edition. 

Emma is almost 1 year old :) she was only a tiny baby 1 year ago... and she's an active drooling baby who crawls everywhere she likes...oh and she loves her pink duck bike, donated by her cousin, Claire hihihihi :)

Yes...she's grown some hair, though not long and still spikey like his dad's :) and yes...people still mistook her for a boy...though she's obviously wearing pink (other times I put her on neutral colours, so I can't blame them).  

We left her for 2 horrible weeks to visit Patrice in the US for her graduation.  It was the longest 2 weeks in my life.  Never thought I'd cry on the plane thinking of Emma nor did I expect not enjoying the US.  Francis and I both feel that our lives now revolve around our little angel :).  This time, when we went to Woodburry Outlet, I bought nothing for myself (well, mostly because I'm pregnant and could not fit into anything nice) and bought a luggage full of clothing for Emma hahahahaha they're so cheap and extremely cute.

a splash of fame

Yesterday, baby Chris had a photo shoot at our apartment for Ayahbunda magazine and Emma was lucky enough to be asked to model as well (hopefully they'll really use her-fingers cross) :).  And yes...they're not using me as the model mom hahahahahhaa...instead....they asked my sister, Jessica to model as the mom :| hahahahahaha

never ending crochet

O how I can't wait to finish my crocheting project....am making a dress for Emma...but it's taking SOOOOO LONG to finish...I still have SOOOOOOO MANY more rows to go :( hix....