Hello Theo

Our lovely friends Rachel and Toby have just had their first baby and I'm so proud of them. I'm also little bit tearful - in a good and happy way. I wonder how long it will take for new babies not to remind me of the moment Celeste popped into the world. It seems like yesterday that she was born - but I can't remember life without her.
This picture of her room was taken a little while ago and made me remember all the things we did to prepare for the tiny bundle of life we were expecting. Everything was so carefully washed and ironed, dusted, vacuumed and organised. I even pressed muslins and I normally don't even iron my own clothes. Anyway . . . the first thing we did after she was born was rearrange the room, changing the aesthetically pleasing layout to a practical one. One where I could actually feed, reach my coffee and change the radio station - all from one chair. I couldn't do the feeding and walking thing back then and suffered a few 3am feeds accompanied by god-awful radio that I couldn't turn off.
Today I was struggling to even find a clean muslin - they must all be in that ironing mountain - perhaps I'll scale that next week . . .

On a baby-free note I bought some beautiful buttons in Southwold the other day and stocked up on yummy ribbon at Providence, where I also ordered some new oilcloth for our kitchen table. The whole oilcloth thing has been difficult because it's a large table and so a pricey mistake if it looks vile once I've bought it. I think this one is right - the pattern is very small and hopefully homely and warm without overpowering the room. It's the details that matter don't you think?