Baby SSG is due in just under 4 weeks, it’s the first of December and even the CBD has busted out the flamingo ornaments and deck chairs.

But perhaps the main reason it’s chill out time is that I’m all shopped out.  Four words I bet you’d never thought you’d see me write.  But it’s true.  Shopping can be such a chore when you have to do it and when you’re shopping for boring yet essential things like bottles and the zillion attachments they seem to require.  Then there’s baby baths, nail scissors and thermometers.  Make that three kinds of thermometers.  One for baby (ear and axilla), one for the bedroom and one for the bath.  I got to the point where I was beyond researching brands and popped whichever brand had the most official endorsement and parents’ choice awards on the box into my trolley…  I’m saving the special challenges of working out how to use all this stuff for next week or perhaps the week after that.

Not that some fun shopping hasn’t also gone down as well.  The monkey-fication of SSG Manor is now also complete with this trio of cuddly primates that arrived from Pottery Barn Kids.  I’m telling you, Pottery Barn is evil.  Especially at this time of the year.  The website is so alluringly festive and when you’ve got easy listening Christmas covers playing on the radio as well… it’s all click and buy, I’m afraid.

However, buying monkeys of different sizes has proved to be a wise move as they each have a clear role around SSG Manor.  The smallest (from Skip, Hop) is a clip on pram toy.  The Pottery Barn brothers will be decorating the nursery area.  In an inspired moment of resourcefulness, the baby blue monkey found himself a second job as Baby SSG’s body double.

Here he is, still in one piece, after I took half an hour trying to work out how the car seat worked.

And again, this time testing out the newborn insert for that tricky Stokke high chair.  Working out the high chair was way less complicated than the car seat.  Which is about the only straightforward thing in the world of Stokke.  Not only is there a Stokke surcharge should you decide to outsource your furniture assembly but there’s also a whole identification process should you need a spare part.  I’ve just submitted photos identifying the bar code on the base of the high chair in addition to my receipt and personal details – just for one screw.

Now that I think of it, do you reckon that a sack of potatoes or oranges may be a more realistic stunt double?  I might go back and redo my trial runs with that sack of potatoes before I get started on the chicken curry.

Dress – Isabella Oliver Maternity, bangles – House of Harlow 1960, bump – 36w.

This is how the bump and I look this week, in orange.

www.elleuk.com

And this is what we’re reading, in orange as well.

If you’re a fashion fanatic regardless of how you feel about The September Issue, Grace is a must read.  Grace manages to be both self depreciating and wryly observant of the changing world around her in this collection of observations that spans from her childhood to her amazing life in the world of fashion that took her to Paris, London and New York as it evolved from the ’50s until now.  Grace isn’t one to just name drop.  The designers, models, celebrities and photographers she identifies by name were all friends and colleagues of hers.  And you can’t go wrong just looking at her whimsical illustrations and photographs from different periods of her career.

We’re in the midst of a heat wave here in Sydney and it sounds like most of the country is in the same boat.  So stay cool and hydrated, wherever you may be in this wide brown land of ours.