Christmas

Our morning began at 6:30 with T knocking on our bedroom door. She went in and got Jimmy and they both oohed and ahhed over the presents next to the tree, wrapped in fabric or recycled Xmas wrap and placed on Jimmy's new Lego table that his daddy made for him the other day as a last-minute gift.

Unwrapping followed very soon after. T had to do most (well, all) of her brother's unwrapping since he was more interested in bits of cardboard. T got a handmade hat, 2 sewing patterns, 4 Lego sets (her dad sneakily bought 2 more just before Xmas), a game for her DS, a 'bling' kit for her DS, a top and a pair of denim shorts. Jimmy got a handmade hat and matching shorts, a book (Hello Baby), 2 Duplo sets, a blow-up paddling pool, and the piece de la resistance, the lego table.
I got a fantastic Donna Hay cookbook, a chain with a locket, and a subscription to Ottobre magazine (which I bought myself). DH got a bottle of Eternity and a Star Wars lego set.

DH went into the kitchen and started making funny noises. Upon entering the kitchen, I was greeted by the sight of a very large number of ants crawling all over, in, through, and under the 3 meringues I had spent hours baking the previous day. Arghhhhhh! So instead of finishing off my croquembouche wreath like I'd planned, I had to remake the bloody meringue discs. I was very annoyed because I like cooking on my own equipment, and I knew that the toffee would be bloody hard, especially on my MIL's temperamental cooktop.

Meringues made, we headed off to the IL's. The kids jumped into Granddad's present and we wheeled it to the front door- he loved it!

Opened more presents. Jimmy got a wooden helicopter ('cotter') and a wooden car track with two cute cars. T got a fantastic sewing basket that her Gran lined and filled with all manner of things crafty.
I got a dress and a 3CD compilation of lady jazz singers. DH got Lego Indiana Jones 2 for his Xbox.

After presents, Jimmy went down for a nap and I got my ass into the kitchen. Toffee, take 1: I put in the exact amounts of sugar and water stated on the recipe, and after heating it for 25 minutes (it said 8 mintutes) it still hadn't changed colour or thickened AT ALL. Take 2: DH had a go. His got a little thicker but it wasn't toffee-coloured but clear. Oh well. They still looked pretty good, and the creme pattissiere inside the puffs was to die for. Then I assemble my raspberry dacquoise and it looked super sweet.

My family arrived around midday. More presents. Jimmy got really cute Hawaiian print boardies and a set of mini books from Nan, and a big bag of Mega Bloks from Auntie. T got a dress and jewellery bag from Nan and a Hannah Montana boogie board from Auntie- wasn't she stoked with that!

We had some nibblies and finally sat down to lunch at 2:30. We had duck, ham and turkey, apple & potato bake, and steamed vegies in an Asian dressing. Yummo! My desserts were a hit.

Jimmy entertained everyone by running around like a madman (as he does). We left around 4pm to take T to her mum's house, where she received about 3 times the amount of presents that she had already gotten. A Nintendo DSi (why she needs one when she already has a DS, I don't know), an Ipod Touch, 5 DS games, 5 pairs of shoes, and the list goes on and on. DH, Jimmy and I went home then had a swim. All in all it was a great day.

Some more finished projects

This is my favourite. I just love the fabrics! I did the singlet about a month ago, and my dumb machine doesn't do satin stitch, so I just zigzagged around the edge of the applique.
This one is for Jimmy's baby cousin. The Macs are Scottish so I thought I'd make a wee Scottish outfit. I used MIL's machine for the applique. It was really hard but I think it looks very cool. I'm going to make one for Jimmy's birthday, but I think I'll do a long-sleeved Tshirt and long pants made completely of tartan. Och aye the noo!

Finally, some information!

We had our paediatric appointment at the hospital today.

It started off very well- we only had to wait for 10 mintues, as opposed to the 2 hours we were kept waiting last time. We were seen by one of the paediatricians, who talked to us about various issues such as where and when McBean's surgeries will take place; the different types of doctors we will deal with; feeding issues, and lots more. It was great to finally talk to someone who could give us some information about everything to do with clefts.

He left us after about 40 minutes and then the hospital's speech pathologist came and spoke to us. She discussed potential speech problems, othodontic/dental issues, and feeding. She was really nice, understanding and helpful.

The best part for us was finding out that all Gold Coast cleft patients are sent to either the Mater or the Royal Children's Hospital. We were hoping to go to one of the major hospitals, so that has put our minds at ease.

We are both feeling really positive after today. I am just so very impatient to meet our baby. I can't believe we have over 2 months to go! I wonder if it's a boy or girl??? I'm not-so-secretly hoping for a boy...I really need to stop saying that, because I don't want to be disappointed if it's a girl.

Big boy bed and more sewing

Well, I've been telling DH for a few weeks that I'd like to move Jimmy out of his cot and into a bed so that he is used to it by the time McBean comes. Yesterday was the day that we decided to do it, so DH went and bought a mattress, cleaned the bed frame (which has been stored in various garages since he was still with T's mum) and put it together.

Unfortunately, once it was all put together and we tried to fit the bed rail that my friend loaned us, we discovered it didn't fit the bed due to the wooden frame that runs down the bed. We just decided to put a pillow on the edge of the bed and the cot mattress next to the bed in case of any accidents, and hoped for the best.

I went out to a friend's art show before Jimmy's bedtime and was hoping that everything would go fine. Hmmmmm....I got home at 9pm and DH told me that Jimmy had only just fallen asleep, after almost 2 hours of crying and DH lying down with him.

He woke up at 10:30, 12:30, 2:30 and 4:30. The first two times I had to lie with him for ages until he calmed down and fell asleep. The third time I changed his nappy and turned on his night light, and he fell asleep much quicker. The fourth time I just went, gave him a kiss and cuddle, and he fell asleep again. I think all up I got about 4 hours of sleep so I am verrrrry tired.

DH went to Bummings today and bought a big sheet of craftwood, drilled heaps of ventilation holes in it, and made a bed rail. It looks awesome, and so far, I think it has done the trick. I put Jimmy in bed about 20 minutes ago, read him a book, and said goodnight. He gave one tiny little tired cry that last for less than one second, and I haven't heard a peep from him since. Hopefully we will both have a good sleep tonight.

I finally got to do a bit of sewing yesterday. I finished off a pair of pants to go with the bucket hat I made for DH's cousin's younger son, and whipped up a pair of pyjamas for Jimmy. The pyjama fabric is sooooo cute- it has little dachsunds all over it and was a bargain at only $4/m. I put a dachsund-shaped applique on the singlet.

Some recent sewing creations

I've been doing a fair bit of sewing of late, so I thought I'd post some pics.

Some Christmas presents:

A very kind lady sent me the PDF pattern for this fantastic bucket hat. It's reversible. This one is for T. It has blue denim on the other side.






This one is for David's cousin's 2yo son. It has black denim on the inside and I've nearly finished a matching pair of cargo shorts that are sooooo cool!










Hat and shorts for my wee man. I am so pleased with the result- they look awesome, if I do say so myself!







Some fairly dodgy-looking newborn fitted nappies. First time using my snap press and I had no idea where to put the snaps so kind of just guessed!






Two All-in-ones and a pocket. The pocket is KRAP. The white AIO turned out way better than the other one for some wierd reason.







A side-snapping AIO for Jimmy. This was my first attempt at a side-snapper and I'm really pleased with the result.

I still have to make a bucket hat for another little boy, and an outfit for Jimmy's new baby cousin.

It's gonna be a long, hot summer

Today was soooo incredibly hot. I don't know what the temp was but I'd rate it as 'effing hot'. This summer is going to be very, very uncomfortable for me. I really love living here but I just hate the heat so much. I had to have a nanna nap this afternoon in the airconditioned bedroom because the heat just took it out of me so much.

I'm very excited about not having to go to work tomorrow, nor take T to school. Not that I'll get a sleep in- Jimmy has been waking between 5 and 5:30 every morning! This morning he woke at 5 and talked to himself for ages. I fell back to sleep then woke up at 6 to hear him getting a bit cranky. I hoped that DH would stir so that I could say, "Baaaaaaaaaaby, can I sleep in today?", but he kept sleeping, or did a bloody good job of pretending to. So I got up and we took Jasper for a walk. I can't believe how hot it was so early in the day. I have to admit that I am enjoying getting up so early because I hate wasting the day by sleeping in and it's good to get walking early. Hopefully by the time McBean arrives, Jasper will be at his goal weight of 35 kgs. He was 42 at his last weigh-in, and 47 at the one before that !!!

Here's a pic taken today of my belly- I swear it looks so much bigger when I look at it than in photos!

Musings

My little baby is absolutely kicking the heck out of me! I think I'm about 26 weeks now and I don't remember feeling James move so much until quite a bit later. It's just so magical to feel my little one moving around and I just can't wait to meet him or her.

I went to see my GP on Tuesday and expressed my wish to have all of McBean's cleft appointments and surgeries done through the Royal Children's Hospital. Luckily my doctor totally rocks and has made some calls (he's good mates with the registrar there) so hopefully the ball will start rolling soon.

I want to go there for a few reasons. Firstly, our one and only experience with the paediatricians at the Gold Coast Hospital was disappointing to say the least. I birthed James there and I have no hesitation in having McBean there either, but the paed there left a bad taste in my mouth. I was speaking to the CEO of the orchestra the other night (who happens to be a placcy surgeon) and he said that most of the best facilites and doctors are to be found in captial cities' hospitals. Also, I met an amazing woman yesterday whose beautiful 11-week old daughter has a complete unilateral cleft lip and palate, and she is going through the RCH and told me it's fantastic.

I'm starting to think about what to write in my birth plan. Number one on the list is that I will not lie on my back for an hour whilst a heart monitor is strapped to me. That was seriously the worst part of my entire labour. I just hated the restriction and the 'unnaturalness' of it. I also want to have a natural 3rd stage (ie. deliver the placenta without them sticking a needle in my thigh) and I want a cloth nappy to be the first thing to touch my little McBean's bum! I know that I will have to tell DH that I am absolutely adamant about these things because he'll probably try and say something like "They know best".

Other stuff...

Jimmy is such an absolute joy. Every morning I hear him talking to himself (via the monitor) and when I go through to him he has the most beautiful smiles. There is a St Andrew's Cross spider encamped across his bedroom window and every time I change his nappy he points to it with glee and talks to it. He has about 70-80 words now, his favourites being 'bokent' (broken), 'gone' and 'Tippy' (Tiffany). Today we were picking Tiff up from school and even though her name had been called numerous times, we were still waiting...he was saying "Tippy...gone!" and putting his hands up in a shrug. Soooooo cute!

We were in this cool toy shop today where they have a train set for the kids to play with inside a little 'elf house'. He was peeking in through the window and making eyes at a pretty little girl about his age, then running inside, picking up a train, bringing it out to me with a look of absolute rapture on his face, then running back inside. He was so beautiful that I could have just cried there and then.

I kiss him about five million times a day. I always knew there was something missing from my life and that being a mum would completely and utterly fulfill me. Ahhhhhhh.

The Nappy Spot: 100th Post Giveaway!!

The Nappy Spot: 100th Post Giveaway!!

Head on over to Michelle's blog to go into the draw to win a Sandman night nappy!

I have a blog!

Wow, I've finally joined that exlusive group- 'people who blog'! I don't know whether anyone will read it, or if I'll have anything interesting to say, ever, but I think it will be very therapeutic to put my random thoughts into words and let them float around in cyberspace.

Weeeeee!