This time last year, I was feeling completely euphoric, having just birthed my tiny baby girl.

It was a short, intense labour, and I was very surprised when I felt the urge to push and her head came out on that first push.

The first few days were a mixture of happiness, sadness and frustration. Happy that I had a baby girl that I would walk through fire to protect; sad that soon she would need to have surgery, and that Jimmy was no longer my only baby; and frustrated to have such early success with breastfeeding only to discover it was far too much hard for my tiny girl.


I spent a lot of time walking around the hospital carrying her in my pouch sling, and nurses, patients and visitors alike marvelled at how tiny she was.

Coming home was strange. Jimmy was very put out that I hadn't left the new arrival at the hospital, but after a couple of days of giving him lots of attention, he decided to forgive me and realised that 'Libadess' was here to stay.

The first few months were incredibly difficult. Looking back, I don't ever want to go through that again. I'm not a strong enough woman to cope with a baby who cries all the time, needs to be bottle fed, and has an older sibling who also needs my time. She didn't smile until she was four months old- I don't blame her, having such a grumpy, stressed mum.

She is still a very needy baby, and has cried more in the last 12 months than her brother has in his entire life. Some days it all gets a bit much, but I'm learning to deal with stress better.

She looks so completely different now compared to when she was born. Her surgeons really did an amazing job. You can't even tell she had a cleft lip.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to get ready for her little party. Will post pics tonight.

I can't believe it's nearly the end of January already! Goodness, it will be Christmas again before we know it.

DH had 4 weeks of holidays starting on Christmas Day. Typically, it rained pretty much every day. He did get to do a fair bit of stuff around the house, but due to the rain the work on our roof and pergolas was further delayed.

Then the floods came :(
It was so devastating to watch. My heart just ached for the poor people in places like Toowoomba, Murphy's Creek and Grantham. The terror of seeing a torrential wave approaching is just unimaginable. Then there were the thousands of misplaced families, families who had to leave their homes to the flood waters. I cannot imagine how I would act in such a situation. I have so many possessions that are precious to me. Would I try to save them, or would I just get my family to an evacuation centre as quickly as possible with no regard for my worldly possessions? I pray that I will never be in that situation. We were so very lucky not to be affected here.

DH had to go back to work on the Friday the week of the flooding. He has a very high stress job at the best of times, and I have so much pride and admiration for the way he handled such a massive undertaking. He was gone by 6am every morning from the Friday until yesterday (9 days) and his phone was ringing before he left and after he got home every single day. He never brought his stress home and jumped right back into his Dad role as soon as he walked through the door.

He turned 40 last Wednesday and it was pretty much a non event. He left for work really early and it was a beautiful day so MIL and I took the kids to the beach. I felt terrible having such a good time on such a big birthday while he was at work. We went out for dinner that night but half an hour before he got home, I realised I'd forgotten to make a cake and it was way too late to buy one. I felt bloody awful.
He wants to have a big party at our place once the work on the house has been completed. It will probably end up being a combined party for himself, Elizabeth and Jimmy.

Elizabeth update

So here's what Elizabeth is up to lately.

She started sitting up unassisted about a week and a half ago. Finally! She's very good at it too, and hasn't had many topples. A few days after being able to stay in a sitting position when placed on the floor, she figured out how to sit from crawling.

She's also standing up on her knees and inspecting everything on the coffee table. A couple of times I've caught her trying to stand on her feet.

She has started blowing raspberries on my arm when I hold her (which is all the time!).

She talks heaps. When she wants to get someone's attention, she makes this loud, short noise that sounds something like "Unh!". When she looks at the fish tank, she says "Sssshhhh". Funnily enough, 'Shhhh' (fish) was Jimmy's first word! She loves sticking her finger in her mouth and going "Wabawabawaba!"

Yesterday, she started clapping. It is the cutest thing! Since yesterday I've been clapping my hands and saying "Clap, clap!" and now when I say 'clap', she claps. It's awesome to see her understand what I'm saying to her.

Here is a video of her clapping. Enjoy!

At Natural Bridge on Sunday.


Playing with Jemima.

Outside with Jimmy.

Being cute.

2011!

Happy new year!

I'm not usually into making resolutions, but here are my goals for this year.

- Spend more time with my kids laughing, playing, and having fun

- Limiting Jimmy's television veiwing time

- Incorporate more music into our day through singing, rhythm games, and listening to all genres of music

- Do more baking, with or without the children's 'help'

- Do more sewing. I would like to complete at least one project a week (doesn't sound like much but I'm very slow), and limit my WIPs to two at a time

- Do regular flute practice. Don't know how or when I'm going to acheive this...maybe on Saturdays before or after my students?

- Organise some gigs for my band and improve my improvisational skills.

- Keep the house tidy and do one big cleaning job per week, eg. clean the fish tank, clean the blinds, vacuum (that is a big job for me).

- Spend less time on the computer

- Try not to be so nasty to my stepdaughter

- Eat more, exercise more, and put on a couple of kilograms

- Walk the dog more than once a week

Christmas!

My day started at the usual time of 5am. Jimmy woke at about 5:30 and so did his big sister. Jimmy and T found their stockings on the tree and got their little gifts out- an Iggle Piggle finger puppet for Jimmy and a bag of marbles for T.

Daddy woke around 6:15 and then it was present time. Jimmy was not in a very good mood. He was very excited about his first present (a big bag of 2nd hand plastic sea creatures) but he was annoyed that we kept trying to make him open more gifts. I think we gave him far too many little presents and it was a bit overwhelming for him. Next time we will give him one or two gifts instead.

We all did very well. T was happy with her presents. She got 2 books, a snowflake charm for her 'Pandora' bracelet, a really cool quilt cover set with Japanese dolls on it, 2 tops, a DIY craft box, a DS game, a Lego truck, a Hallmark Christmas ornament, and a Smiggle pencil case.



Elizabeth got a cute handmade hat, a handmade knitted doll, a mummy made quilt, 2 tops, a dress, 2 nappies (one mummy made), a toy (from big sis) and some books to share with Jimmy.



Jimmy got the sea creatures, a Kidorable frog umbrella, a tiny Duplo set with 4 pieces in it, a Duplo paint with water book, 3 Click Clack wooden vehicles, a small John Deere tractor, a mummy made quilt cover set, and a set of Mr Men books from big sis.



Daddy got a Star Wars Lego encyclopaedia, a Star Wars Lego Brickmaster book, The Pacific DVD box set, and a Star Wars Lego set which he bought for himself.

I got a fantastic slimline hi-fi thingy with a CD player and Ipod dock. I don't have an Ipod but DH does, and the CD player in my stereo isn't working so I really missed having music in the lounge room. I love it!




We headed over to the in-laws' around 10:30. On the way, the creme caramel I'd made the day before lost some of its sauce when we went around a corner. I had soooo much trouble making the damn sauce (it took 5 attempts) so I was almost in tears!



We got spoiled rotten by MIL, FIL and BIL. Jimmy got a scooter with flashing lights on it, finger paint, a smock, and an art pad. I got some sewing stuff, T got 8 charms for her bracelet and some earrings. DH got books and an awesome remote control helicopter. My family turned up just before lunch and gave the kids some nice gifts. I didn't really speak to my mum all day because she was down the other end of the table and I made myself busy so I didn't have to speak to her. I'm surprised Jimmy remembers who she is sometimes.



The food was fantastic and my desserts were a hit. The creme caramel was out of this world, and the fruit tarts were delicious too. It all became a bit much for Jimmy at about 3pm when he fell asleep on his little wicker chair in front of the TV.







T went to her mum's house in the afternoon where she will be staying until the weekend. I'm really enjoying the break from her as she has been very difficult lately. We notice that if she doesn't see her mum for about 3 weeks, her behaviour becomes very erratic. It had been 5 weeks since she'd last seen her mum, so needless to say, things were a bit tense here. I wish her mother would spend more time with her.

DH is on holidays for 4 weeks now. We have recently refinanced our mortgage and have put a bit aside to do some home improvements. Our roof was supposed to have a restoration done a few weeks ago but the weather has been too wet. Hopefully the rain will stop soon because we would like to have all the work done before DH goes back to work. As well as the roof, we are having a repair done to one of the supports for the roof, 4 new ceiling fans installed, and a new back patio built. DH will be tearing down the existing patio and chopping down all the trees in the garden to make room for an extended section of patio roof. If there is enough time and/ or money left, we will have all our gutters replaced because it looks like Niagara Falls outside when it rains.

On a sad note, tomorrow marks 5 years since my dear old dad passed. I miss him still, and dearly wish he could see his grandkids, but the pain isn't as raw as it was 5 years ago. It has become more of a dull ache that I have learned to live with.
So much has changed since then- I have graduated from university, become engaged, married, and given birth to two amazing children. I know he would have adored Jimmy and Elizabeth.

Some recent creations

This is my grand total of FOs for the last two or three months. I very rarely get (or make) the time to sew lately. I plan to change that. I always seem to have 3 or 4 works in progress at a time, and I need to just concentrate on one before I move onto another. First up is Elizabeth's Christmas outfit. I love the dress pattern. It is actually a top- the dress would have come down to Elizabeth's ankles! I prefer dresses that skim over the bum for babies and toddlers, both for ease of crawling and nappy-showoffability!

I actually made another dress from this pattern the week after I finished it, but didn't take photos. I plan to make another one soon, modifying it to be fully reversible, and with snaps at the shoulders instead of a zipper on the back.



A nappy for Kristie's bub. This was my first time doing applique on a nappy. It would have turned out better if I could actually draw a mushroom!



It wasalso my first attempt at a cotton panel, AND adjustable rise! Kristie assures me that the nappy is performing well.



And these are some shorts for Kristie's bub, made using fabric she sent me. It's so cute! I made an adjustable waistband for the first time. I really need to learn to ask for help or research when I attempt new techniques instead of making it up as I go along!



This was my 2nd attempt at an adjustable rise nappy. I just can't seem to get the legs to roll inwards, but I'm very happy with everything else. The fit is awesome, and my booster system is super thirsty. I use a double layer snap in trifold, and a double layer, fleece topped hourglass snapped onto the trifold.



Elizabeth's cot quilt. It was bloody hard work. Yet again, my first real attempt at a quilt, and yet again, I made it up as I went along. It looks very pretty, just don't look at the fine details!



Jimmy's quilt cover and pillow cases. This was really hard too. I'm sure he'll love it.

I wanted to make a quilt cover for T but ran out of time and patience, so I bought her one from Spotlight with cute Japanese dolls on it that I saw her eyeing off.