This weekend has been sooooooo boring. I have not left the house since Friday and I'm getting serious cabin fever!

The roofer finally came and started our roof restoration early on Saturday morning, so all day we had to listen to his really loud gurney for blasting all the old paint off the roof tiles. I couldn't go anywhere because DH was working in the garden all day and taking stuff to the dump. He did that again all day today as well. I really love our house but the yard is sooooo much work. Everyone says "Oh, but all backyards are hard work". Well, they haven't seen ours. We were discussing today the possibility of having a yard dude come here on a regular basis so that DH can actually do things with his family instead of working his butt off in the yard every weekend. We are not the kind of people to pay others to do stuff we are capable of doing ourselves, but we are seriously considering it when I start working again. Which, if you're wondering, will be next year, but only one day a week.

The bad part about DH doing yard work all weekend is that I get stuck with the kids. I don't mean that to sound nasty, but after trying to keep them entertained all week, it's nice to have some time to do my own stuff on the weekend. Today I managed to do quite a bit of sewing. I took advantage of both children napping at the same time, and brought them both into the games room with me where they were happy to play with Lego and make a big mess.

Elizabeth got a cool cushion and some lovely board books for her birthday, and I've made a little reading corner next to the couch with her books stored in an old margarine container from my kitchenhand days. I decided to make a fabric basket for the books to go in, big enough to fit the margarine container in it for strength so it can be used to carry heavier items.





In true Noelle fashion, it was done very quickly and very dodgily. It has polyester batting to give it its shape, and some coordinating fabrics that I bought from Ikea ages ago but never used.
I think I might make another one to store our 'dunny can magazines' in.



Jimmy soon discovered another use for it- a basinette for Elizabeth's doll, Li'l Betty, whom he seems to have claimed as his own. He has never played with a doll before so I was very surprised that he knew what to do. He lifted up his shirt to give her a feed and made slurping noises, then burped her, tucked her into her bed, said "It's wake up time!" and then, "She's learning to walk now!". It was so cute.




I also started on, and almost finished, a nappy for Elizabeth. I took a photo of her stash the other day and was thinking that we have more than enough, then I realised I have enough nappy making fabrics to create a whole new stash. So I am going to try to make one or two per fortnight and sell on some of the ones she already has.

A friend have me some truly stunning minky- this grape colour (it looks burgundy in the pics) and a blue/green one. They are unbelievably soft and lush. I decided to try an applique on this one. It's pretty dodgy but not too bad. I'm slowly getting better at my satin stitch.





I'm trying the front snap version of the Darling Diapers pattern this time. I do love my side snappers but DH and MIL much prefer front fasteners, not 'backwards nappies'. Haha.
It will be an All-in-two, my nappy of choice.

Creations

Well, so far this year I've ALMOST stuck to my resolution of finishing one project a week. Almost.


First up was this special outfit for Elizabeth's birthday. I had bought a huge amount of fabric from someone on a forum, inluding two deliciously cute and girly cupcake prints. I decided on a romper because dresses are too awkward for crawling babies. I decided to use a crisp apple green instead of the typical pink.

I used two different vintage patterns, both by McCalls. The hat is a one-size-fits-all, so it's a wee bit on the big side, but still fine. Instead of lining it with plain, boring fabric, I used a cute print and added buttonholes next to the chin straps to make it fully reversible. I absolutely love it and I think the shape of the brim is so cute.

The romper I made perhaps one size too big, but the Scottish in me always wants things to fit for longer, so I made it in medium instead of small. I modified it by doing away with the leg elastic in a casing, opting instead for a rolled hem with thin elastic sewn a presser foot's width away from the edge to give the ruffled look that I think is just adorable. I added some pink ric rac and a purchased cupcake transfer (both Ebay buys).

Next up was something girly for Trudie's baby girl, who arrived earthside today (yay!!!).
I decided on a tiny weeny little pinafore to fit this winter. I made my pattern using a pinny of Elizabeth's and it turned out great. The corduroy fabric was from the same lot as the cupcake fabric. I used a nice dark, stiff denim for the 'good' side and experimented with my machine's blanket stitch around the applique.



I also decided to make a cute romper. I chose this sweet blue floral quilter's cotton because I think Trudie will like it. I made the small size, which will hopefully fit for a while. I put 3 different snap settings on the straps to make it last longer.


I put them in a box with some lovely hand knitted goodies- a dress that another dear friend made for Elizabeth which is unfortunately far too small; a pair of pants and matching beanie knit by my MIL as well as some booties; a totally adorable apricot cardi and bonnet set which was too big for Elizabeth last winter and too small now; and a few pairs of socks.



A couple of fitted nappies I made for an online swap. It's lucky I'm not a fan of fitteds, otherwise they'd never have made it to their new owner- they are just divine!
I cut the outers in 2 halves so that the pattern would be the right way up whether viewed from the back or the front.

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