Dear Baby - 10 Month Update

This week I saw a photo of one of our Plunket baby's Dads. Of course I have never met him so naturally assume this little girl looks like her Mama. Well, they were spitting images of each other (the baby and the Dad that is), I couldn't believe it!

This lead me to wonder who Milla is starting to look like. And would you believe it, during our own respective days Mr Moo and I BOTH thought Mini Moo is looking so much more like ourselves. Heehee. He got home from work and said "I was thinking today about how much she is looking like me these days"... "ME TOO!" I said! Its true. Three times that day I had thought "that totally looked like me then."

Life huh. Crazy.

Little Red Riding Hood

We've been working on our swimming lately (well, we've been 3 times, but its definitely a work out) Milla doesn't hate  it but she's not a water baby yet. Kind of humorous too because I had so desired her to be born in water.

On our last swimming trip it had been snowing recently, but that doesn't deter us hard Cantabrians (it should have, it was freezing). When we got out of the pool and were getting changed her little four teeth were chattering. Actually chattering. It was sad and adorable.

On that same swimming trip I forgot to take a spare nappy to get changed into(!!!). After getting changed I wrapped Millas bottom half up in her towel and we dashed to the supermarket in the car. It was busy. I waited in a checkout aisle for what seemed like forever and ended up opening the bag (of my preferred nappies) then and there and changing her. Ee! Sorry my love. I can't believe I did that. Please forgive me? 

Our little girl is taking after her father and turning into quite the little music buff. She dances (side to side and now up and down) to any music she hears and claps her hands. Its pretty cute when she stands against the stage at church and slaps her palms down.

Baby Milla seems to be quite a shy wee lass. She clams up in front of others and prefers to stare at them rather than smiling at their hilarious attempts to get a reaction. I'm pleased to say that she LOVES her parents though, and really comes out of her shell at home. She laughs and laughs and chases us up and down hallways, roars like a lion (she's so menacing!!), and loves to throw her rubber ball around the house. She is a very happy wee girl. 


Still breastfeeding like a champ, no immediate plans to change that.

Not a hood fan

Dearest Milla,

I mentioned politics in my last letter to you and I want to mention it again. These last few months our government (who I helped get elected) have been making budget decisions and for the first time I am really grasping how they affect not our future but yours. They wanted to increase class sizes and reduce teacher numbers. Internally I freaked out. "What have I done!?" 

I was thinking of you, baby girl. I was thinking of you, 7 years old, amongst a sea of other students with a busy teacher who is trying to get around everyone. I pictured you, 16 years old, with a busy History teacher and you, maybe too shy to ask for some extra help. 

I realised that what your father and I decide today could have an impact on you. Who our government is and what they stand for matters.

(You'll be pleased to know the general outcry from New Zealand citizens put that budget cut to rest. )

We want the best for you and our family and hope we can provide that.

We love you with all our hearts.

xxx

*Milla is wearing her new knitted goods from her Nana. We are often stopped in public places to ask where her knitwear is from. Isn't my Mama talented?!

Solo Mums Birthday Gifts

Sisters, unite!

We are going to be sending birthday gifts to a solo mum of a recently turned one year old.

Its her birthday (very soon!) and she is living in New Zealand (just moved here) without any family near her and her husband has just left her.

I think this story speaks for itself. No further explanations needed here.

Lets show her that she is welcome and loved in our beautiful country!!

We're going to be surprising her with a whole lot of beautifully wrapped birthday gifts!

The Details:
This lady loves to sew and is trying to learn to crochet. She also loves romantic novels and movies and anything girly. Her daughter has just turned one, so perhaps a few gifts for her too?

Along with those gift ideas also consider our usuals: Chocolate, foody treats, coffees, magazines, potions and lotions.

It will be up to you to send anything to me, at your own cost, which I will then wrap and put in our large parcel. As this is anonymous I am not able to give out anyones postage details for you to send anything directly to.

I will need to have received anything by 9th July at the LATEST. (If anything arrives after that I will put it in with our next round of love bombs)

If you want to give but can't make it to the post shop in time you could send a monetry donation through bank transfer. Any monies will go towards a voucher of some sort (depending on the total value) (facial, massage, Westfield mall voucher etc). Once a value has been determined I will be in touch with her nominator to see what she might like for the money we have.

You can email me on sophieslim@moo2.co.nz to find out my postal address and / or bank details.


Much love, hear from you soon.
Sophie xxx


P.s - Does anyone happen to have any courier company contacts? Some sponsorship of postage would be amazing.

Thank You and Whats Next for The Sisterhood

Thank you cards to all who donated something - 26 ladies in total

Sisters, consider this an 'it's over' and a 'I can't thank you enough'

It truly is incredible when a few generous ladies join together and contribute something. Big or small, any contribution was worth it. Our LOVE BOMBs were a complete success.

It was a blessing to us when kiwi mummy blogs heard about us. They advertised us on their homepage and on Facebook. More and more people came to learn what a LOVE BOMB was.

So much so we extended the collection period by another week and have a few last minute parcels arrive on my door step. In the last hours I decided to add a sixth lady to the LOVE BOMB - Looking at the pile of gifts on my table I was sure we had plenty to go around and that afternoon had been emailed about a well deserving lady. "Yes!" I thought. So we extended it. 6 in total.

I gathered the gifts, distributed them out, and turned them into these LOVE BOMBS.*

*Someone asked why the gifts were different sizes and didn't think that was fair. To answer: Most of you sent gifts for particular people because their story struck you in your heart, Also, a few of the ladies had allergies and couldn't have any beauty products or types of food. Also, some ladies liked particular books. I hope you understand that I did the best I could in distributing them.

Alex's LOVE BOMB

Amy's LOVE BOMB

Dawn's LOVE BOMB

Katrina's LOVE BOMB

Libby's LOVE BOMB

Sally's LOVE BOMB

 Then, The Press got hold of us and we were featured in their newspaper and on Stuff. That afternoon we had over 100 people on our Facebook page who were eager to contribute and learn more! 

The next morning I had a phone call from the second most read womens magazine in New Zealand. They wanted to do a piece on us and I asked them to highlight the amazing women who give into this, and also receive something from it. 

The magazine with us in it will be out in the next few weeks and I'll definitely let you know which issue to get your hands on when its printed!

Thank you

Most of all, my heart (and I hope yours too) feels full.

I know that because of us, little ol' us, we were able to send these parcels of love from Northland to Dunedin. I know that tears were shed and thanks were said.

I hope you have celebrated. 

I think the reason this story must be so interesting to the media is because its just us, ordinary us. We can do a lot when we put something together. And what for? What do we get out of it? That's why its so interesting. Thats why people want to be a part of it. Generosity is the new black. 

2 Corinthians 8:3-5  ^"For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability. Entirely on their own,  they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the Lord’s people.  And they exceeded our expectations: They gave themselves first of all to the Lord, and then by the will of God also to us."

You gave as much as you were able, entirely on your own, some of you pleaded to be a part of this privilege of giving. You have exceeded all of my expectations.

The Future

We will be continuing on with The Sisterhood. For now there is a solo Mama of an 11month old who has no family in New Zealand. We're going to send her birthday gifts next and that is happening very soon. (I'm going to give you more details in the next post). 

While that is happening we will be planning another series of LOVE BOMBs. I'm unsure of how many people we could do this time around, 10, 15, 20? Who knows. To start with we'll be taking nominations from our own Sisters. 

If you already know you want to give to this get in touch (sophieslim@moo2.co.nz) (I have already received a few. Thank you!). That way I might have a better understanding of how many resources we have and how far we can spread that around.

If you completed our Sisterhood Survey: THANK YOU. Your answers have been an invaluable help to me. Thank you thank you thank you.

Love always,

Sophie

P.s - Does anyone have any courier company contacts? ;)

Advertise Here!

You may have noticed: I love to work hard on what I do, and the same also rings true when it comes to this space I call Home. 

This blog is a place that I love to be. I have worked so hard on it for the last two years to bring it to the place that it is now. That didn't happen by accident or luck but by a lot of hours spent late into the night writing posts, researching, responding to new readers and engaging with my current ones.

For the last few months I have also been working away at making this a place that can partner with third parties. You, me and them. Together we can do things. Powerful things. I think bloggers in 2012 have a very loud voice and I think the right partnerships can be very successful for all three partys involved. 

You might have already noticed my space on the right side bar with space for advertising, or my new page in my tabs.

As for Sophie Slim; I am still me. I am still sticking to my regular posting schedule, and nothing from my end will change (except maybe a few giveaways every now and again! (I can hear you cheering from here!)). All advertisers, reviews and / or giveaways will be done with you in mind and you can be rest-assured, I am an opinionated lass, what you see is what you get. Trust me. 

If you are a blogger or Felt store that would like to get involved please don't hesitate to contact me, I'm all for the local people! 

If you want to talk to me about anything (advertising, partnerships, concerns, encouragement) please send me an email, sophieslim@moo2.co.nz , as always I love to hear from you xx

I have a media kit with more information (statistics, rates and opportunities) that I am able to send you.

Have you seen my new FaceBook page? Keeping it up to date with the Blog for those who can't use google reader and still want to follow along :)