B2 turns 2! (plus some clo)
Technically it's the day after B2's birthday now, it being 12:21am, but hey, in my book it's still spiritually yesterday until daylight. He's a charmer, my little B2, and I mean that genuinely, not sarcastically. Such a cheery, feisty little chap. For the first few weeks after he was born I thought dominant genes had reasserted themselves and landed me a dark-haired child this time, but over the next few months his locks faded from dark to red to a sort of gingery blond, which until a few months ago was so fluffy and buoyant it stuck up in the air like a dandelion wheel. Is madness. Of the four grandparents, one is Chinese (black hair genes all the way), two have (or had) loose dark curls, and one, just one, is (or was) platinum blonde. How both my sons managed to dodge around all that darkness to come out blond is beyond me. At least B2's eyes are the same colour as mine (hazel): B1's look set to stay green.
B1 alternates between territorial/bullying and doting with his little brother. After snubbing me altogether in the hospital for producing a rival, he came rushing up the morning after I brought B2 home crying "Hold 'im! Hold 'im! Hold baby brother!" which was an endearing surprise. I got B1 to sit in the middle of the bed and laid B2's head in his lap, and there were coos of "Awwww. Baby brother!" These days, B2 is rapidly catching up to him in size (he's chunkier in build and considerably taller and more talkative than B1 was at two). There are scary moments when B1 decides to Assert His Elder Brotherly Authority and does things like yell at him or pull him off/away from things (all the scarier because as well as the potential for injury, he's presumably imitating his parents' disciplinary tactics!), but on the whole the little lads get on well.
Here, have a photo of B2 on his birthday
B2 in my mother's lap, being fed cake (one of his first and most enthusiastic words, "cake". As is "meat". He's a lusty one that likes his vittals, this one). Adorable, no? In the way of women when motherhood goo strikes, I call him my little pumpkin. Which, given his hair colour and barrelly build, suits him rather well.
Clo aren't a universal taste either, but seeing I've been taking a few pictures of my outfits, I'll slip you some of those as well.
I took on a Viva Italia/Christmas colour theme for today's clo. Yeah, commend me for my courage again, for I donned a white dress, even though I knew I was first going to work, then attending a two-year-old's birthday party. The dress has even survived the day relatively unscathed, though if I look closely I can see evidence of kiwifruit consumption thereon. The drapy green jacket is the same as the drapy orange jacket featured in Clovember: I bought two of the three available colours and was sorely tempted to buy the third (a rather lovely mid-blue) but refrained on the grounds that two identical drapy arty jackets were enough for any sane woman. Lovely jackets, though they are rayon and apt to wrinkle within seconds of sitting down. I didn't end up wearing the high-heeled red Mary Janes - I swapped them for lower-heeled red sandals - but for shoes this high, the ones pictured are surprisingly comfortable. I do like grippy rubber soles, and these have them with actual heels.
A couple of days ago was Boywatch Casual, and I celebrated the finding of the Lost Teal Tunic by teaming it with my pretty jewel-coloured scarf (prettier than it looks in this pic), as I've long planned to do. Not sure what's going on with my slack-jawed expression in this shot, but I was pleased with the overall ensemble. For the anti-Leggings As Pants League, note the wearing of jeans therewith. I'm also tempted to try this with white jeans, though I wonder if the scarf is too wintry to go with something so manifestly summery.
Alas that you can't see my necklace properly in this Workwear shot, because compliments inevitably ensue when I wear it. Let me boast about it in what I've identified as a particularly Chinese way of gloating about Nabbing A Bargain. The necklace appears to be strung with a mix of wooden beads, silver beads and a chic mix of green and turquoise pebbles, but is in fact ALL PLASTIC and cost me $12 at Rockmans. Yay for Nabbing A Bargain! The spearmint crossover top is a favourite of mine that sustained damage from being yanked aside to breastfeed B2, alas. It now has a distressing tendency to gape and sag, not a lot, but just enough to reveal unsightly glimpses of bra all day at work. As I'm not ready to turf it, I may unleash it upon my Vietnamese tailor to winch up at the shoulders. Or start wearing more attractive bras, perhaps.
I didn't actually wear this dress, I just strayed upon it while going through my wardrobe and decided it needed committing to film (or memory card, as the case now is). Very early Mad Men. I wore this to B2's first birthday, come to think of it. Cheap though it was (see above re. Chinese Gloating), it looks quite dressy. It's also quite tight, and as my dramatic actions this year have resulted in me creeping away from the drastic thinness I developed in my Years of Horror, I urgently need to find some events to wear it to while it still fits.
The last outfit for today is one of those Faux Eurochic type numbers that should probably be worn with a beret. A red one, even. This cropped black ponte blazer is so very useful that I'm cursing ASOS quality, because it's starting to pill after only three or four wears. Pah. Maybe I can resurrect it when it gets too bad with one of those fabric sandpaper things whose name I forget.
B1 alternates between territorial/bullying and doting with his little brother. After snubbing me altogether in the hospital for producing a rival, he came rushing up the morning after I brought B2 home crying "Hold 'im! Hold 'im! Hold baby brother!" which was an endearing surprise. I got B1 to sit in the middle of the bed and laid B2's head in his lap, and there were coos of "Awwww. Baby brother!" These days, B2 is rapidly catching up to him in size (he's chunkier in build and considerably taller and more talkative than B1 was at two). There are scary moments when B1 decides to Assert His Elder Brotherly Authority and does things like yell at him or pull him off/away from things (all the scarier because as well as the potential for injury, he's presumably imitating his parents' disciplinary tactics!), but on the whole the little lads get on well.
Here, have a photo of B2 on his birthday
B2 in my mother's lap, being fed cake (one of his first and most enthusiastic words, "cake". As is "meat". He's a lusty one that likes his vittals, this one). Adorable, no? In the way of women when motherhood goo strikes, I call him my little pumpkin. Which, given his hair colour and barrelly build, suits him rather well.
Clo aren't a universal taste either, but seeing I've been taking a few pictures of my outfits, I'll slip you some of those as well.
I took on a Viva Italia/Christmas colour theme for today's clo. Yeah, commend me for my courage again, for I donned a white dress, even though I knew I was first going to work, then attending a two-year-old's birthday party. The dress has even survived the day relatively unscathed, though if I look closely I can see evidence of kiwifruit consumption thereon. The drapy green jacket is the same as the drapy orange jacket featured in Clovember: I bought two of the three available colours and was sorely tempted to buy the third (a rather lovely mid-blue) but refrained on the grounds that two identical drapy arty jackets were enough for any sane woman. Lovely jackets, though they are rayon and apt to wrinkle within seconds of sitting down. I didn't end up wearing the high-heeled red Mary Janes - I swapped them for lower-heeled red sandals - but for shoes this high, the ones pictured are surprisingly comfortable. I do like grippy rubber soles, and these have them with actual heels.
A couple of days ago was Boywatch Casual, and I celebrated the finding of the Lost Teal Tunic by teaming it with my pretty jewel-coloured scarf (prettier than it looks in this pic), as I've long planned to do. Not sure what's going on with my slack-jawed expression in this shot, but I was pleased with the overall ensemble. For the anti-Leggings As Pants League, note the wearing of jeans therewith. I'm also tempted to try this with white jeans, though I wonder if the scarf is too wintry to go with something so manifestly summery.
Alas that you can't see my necklace properly in this Workwear shot, because compliments inevitably ensue when I wear it. Let me boast about it in what I've identified as a particularly Chinese way of gloating about Nabbing A Bargain. The necklace appears to be strung with a mix of wooden beads, silver beads and a chic mix of green and turquoise pebbles, but is in fact ALL PLASTIC and cost me $12 at Rockmans. Yay for Nabbing A Bargain! The spearmint crossover top is a favourite of mine that sustained damage from being yanked aside to breastfeed B2, alas. It now has a distressing tendency to gape and sag, not a lot, but just enough to reveal unsightly glimpses of bra all day at work. As I'm not ready to turf it, I may unleash it upon my Vietnamese tailor to winch up at the shoulders. Or start wearing more attractive bras, perhaps.
I didn't actually wear this dress, I just strayed upon it while going through my wardrobe and decided it needed committing to film (or memory card, as the case now is). Very early Mad Men. I wore this to B2's first birthday, come to think of it. Cheap though it was (see above re. Chinese Gloating), it looks quite dressy. It's also quite tight, and as my dramatic actions this year have resulted in me creeping away from the drastic thinness I developed in my Years of Horror, I urgently need to find some events to wear it to while it still fits.
The last outfit for today is one of those Faux Eurochic type numbers that should probably be worn with a beret. A red one, even. This cropped black ponte blazer is so very useful that I'm cursing ASOS quality, because it's starting to pill after only three or four wears. Pah. Maybe I can resurrect it when it gets too bad with one of those fabric sandpaper things whose name I forget.
