Spring!

Every year I seem to write about Spring finally arriving. I think it is because it definitely has to be my favourite time of the year. I love the promise of all the wonderful things to come - home grown raspberries, apricots and pears, and this year hopefully some cherries, days at beach, BBQs with family and friends, and the promise of late nights where the light still shines. Plus, this year I won't be heavily pregnant throughout the whole thing so it will be wonderful.

I know some people don't like day-light savings but I am a huge fun. I'm always disappointed when it ends and feel sentimental when we have picked the last pieces of fruit off the trees, as it's a reminder of the cold weather to come. So, for now, I am going to focus on the lovely weather we are getting at the moment.

Nicholas and I spent a day outside recently putting sheep manure and straw under all of the fruit trees. Only a few months and the fruit will be ready to eat :).

Here is Nicholas working hard :).

 

The apricot tree

I need to make sure we cover the cherry tree before the birds get to them like last year.

                         

Upcycling! My first attempt.

As I have been cleaning out my wardrobe and getting rid of clothes I no longer wear for the '2013 things in 2013' de-cluttering challenge, I thought I would take on my own challenge and do some up-cycling for the first time.

Using this easy online tutorial I turned this jumper into a nice warm winter skirt.

                                   

I then turned a top I made for myself a few years ago into a little hoodie for Beth using a wonderful Peek-a-boo pattern.
 

  

Lastly, I resized this jumper for Nicholas. Sadly he was unwilling to get a photo in it for me.

I must admit, cutting into that first jumper was a bit of a nerve-wracking experience. I thought I would definitely stuff it up. Thankfully, that wasn't the case, and I am actually a little bit excited to see what new creations I can make for Nicholas and Beth of my old clothes.

It's cold outside...

I hate to admit it but I am a bit of a home body. I'm not very adventurous, nor am I very brave. When life is going smoothly, I love staying at home. I have a few friends whose houses I feel very much at home in and when there, feel no urgency to return to my own. Daniel is a bit of a home body also, so on weekends if we don't make a concerted effort we could very well end up spending the weekend inside.

Nicholas on the other hand is your typical adventurous toddler and loves to be outside exploring. He would very happily go outside on rainy days and doesn't seem to notice too much if it is freezing cold. He gets upset when we have to leave the park or the beach and I struggle to get him to come inside from the backyard most times. For Nicholas the outside world is full of exciting new things to see and experience. For me, its cold and I have to use energy I don't have walking around and being active (I'm also innately lazy). It's a real challenge for me, but I feel I have been kindly rebuked about my attitude towards being outside after reading this post: Outdoor Play in Australia: Why has it become such a challenge to early childhood educators?

As a kid, growing up in the Western Australia, my sisters and I spent most of  our time outside. We walked or rode our bikes everywhere we could. We spent hours in our backyard and in the bush. We were free. Free to roam around as we pleased. Free to explore without parents watching over our shoulders making sure we are ok.

I hate to put it out there but this century feels different. Everyone is hyper vigilant. There are predators at every corner, and we are expected to be with our children 24/7. You hear of children who are 9, 10 or 11 years old being allowed to walk to school by themselves, or playing at the park by themselves and people are outraged and shocked. I remember this news story from a few years ago about a mum in New York letting her 9-year-old son go on the subway by himself. There was a huge fuss about it. 'How could a parent be so irresponsible?' Are they irresponsible? When I was nine I rode my bike to school and home again without parental supervision on a daily basis. Was my mum being irresponsible or was she just showing her trust in me? 

We worry about the future effects of the Internet and technology on our children, and yet we limit their time and potential freedom spent in the outside world. We expect our children to develop responsibility for themselves, but we don't give them the freedom to do so. For myself, it is just easier to have Nicholas inside where everything is controlled and relatively safe. It is also warmer and flat (our yard has a bit of a slope, and I have to be out there as we don't have a fence yet). 

For Nicholas' sake (and in the future Beth's too) though, for his health and well-being, for his cognitive and creative development I am going to work on spending more time outside. It's really not that cold in winter compared to other parts of the world, so what am I complaining about. I have warm clothes, wet weather gear, gloves, socks and gumboots. I just need to suck it up and deal with it. For Nicholas' sake I am going to work hard at being an outdoors type person. We will go on walks in the bush, we will go park and get our feet wet on freezing cold days. We will stay up late and look at the stars. We will walk up steep mountains and sleep outdoors. 

We will explore the world around us, not just from the window in our lounge room or in front of the TV. And when he's ready, he will go off and explore it for himself. It is only through our experiences with the natural world around us that we can develop a real appreciation for it, and an environmental conscience that makes us want to take care of it for generations to come. 

"I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to from only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I can to die, discover that I had not lived." - Henry David Thoreau. 

“The best remedy for those who are afraid, lonely or unhappy is to go outside, somewhere where they can be quite alone with the heavens, nature and God. Because only then does one feel that all is as it should be and that God wishes to see people happy, amidst the simple beauty of nature. As longs as this exists, and it certainly always will, I know that then there will always be comfort for every sorrow, whatever the circumstances may be. And I firmly believe that nature brings solace in all troubles.” -Anne Frank, The Diary of a Young Girl. 

12 weeks already!

Well, the first 12 weeks are almost over. I can't believe how quickly it has just passed by. I know everyone makes this comment, but it's true. In some ways I can't believe it has only been 12 weeks because it feels as if Beth has always been here with us. I certainly can't imagine a life without her in it now.

People say the first 12 weeks/3 months are the most difficult. It's a time of transition in which you and your baby are getting to know each other, the sleep deprivation is extreme, trying to get into some sort of routine can be difficult, and getting your head around how much life has changed can take a while. This was certainly the case with Nicholas, and it took me a long time to adjust from having no children to having one, but surprisingly going from one child to two has been quite simple. This time round I didn't get to have the same amount of time to adjust. As soon as I got home from the hospital, life just continued on as previously, and Beth just had to fit in. This meant attending all our previous activities, such as Mainly Music, swimming, kindergym etc, but this time with a baby in tow. Thankfully, Beth is such a relaxed child that taking her out doesn't really present itself with any issues. As long as she has milk on hand, she is fine.

The most difficult thing I have found about this whole transition has been Nicholas. He has been super rough with Beth at times. The first eight weeks were the most difficult, with pinching and hitting being his main forms of expressing his anger at Beth being around. I didn't really expect this kind of behaviour. He has always been such a gentle boy, so I was unprepared for it. The most helpful parenting resource I have found throughout this time has been Janet Lansbury's blog Evaluating Child Care, especially this blog post: No Bad Kids: Toddler Discipline Without Shame, and there are many others that have been helpful too. This post in particular has provided me with insight and clarity in dealing with Nicholas' rough behaviour. Most of all, I appreciate how gentle and yet firm one can be while setting boundaries, and all without using spankings, manipulation, punishments and timeouts. This way of disciplining my toddler really resonates with me, as I know I could easily become angry instead. It challenges those first reactions, and requires me to have a calm and respectful attitude. Daniel and I have been consistent in applying these principles and I feel that in these last few weeks Nicholas has really developed an understanding of what we want from him. He is more gentle with Beth, and even interacting with her more (like placing little toys in her lap). I see their relationship developing and it is beautiful. I am very grateful for Janet Lansbury's posts and the way they are helping me become the parent I want to be.

I can't believe that next week I am going to have a two-year-old and a 12-week-old. I never imagined I would be in this position.

It's going to be a warm winter!

This winter will be a cosy winter for both Nicholas and Beth alike, especially when they wear these lovely soft hoodies I made them.

That's two more garments to cross off on my to-do-list :).

• Rain coat
• A hooded jumper for both Nicholas and Beth (have pattern and material)
• A hat for Nicholas (have pattern and material)
• Two long sleeve shirts for me (have pattern and material)
• Two dresses for me (have pattern and material)
• A shirt for me (have pattern and material), and I bought some nursing shirt patterns which I would like to make up (need to buy material)
• A winter skirt for me (have material, need to find a pattern)
• A pillow for Nicholas (have material and pattern)
• Finish the very first quilt I attempted (have the quilt top but need to buy the rest).

And I'm going to add a more things to the list:

• Curtains for the lounge room (I have material for them)
• Finish off the binding on the quilt I made for Daniel and I, and make some matching pillows with the left over material. 

Let it rain!

I finally finished the first of my to-do projects, a rain jacket for Nicholas. I bought the pattern from Peek-a-Boo patterns which I originally found on Etsy. Since then though I have liked them on Facebook and also visited their website. They have heaps of patterns. There are at least 5 or 6 that I really want to buy to make both for Nicholas and Beth. However, before I am able to do this I need to finish all my other projects.

This is the rain jacket pattern I bought. The pattern had a great tutorial that was super easy to follow, with both a written explanation and a picture beside it showing what to do. It was very easy to put together and makes a great finished product.

Rain Jacket

So when the first wet day presented itself we set off outside and to take some photos. I love these photos, the Autumn leaves everywhere are just so pretty, and Nicholas is rather cute too in his little blue rain coat. 

Aww...so happy :).

And here is my list of things to finish (I think it might take me a while):

• Rain coat
• A hooded jumper for both Nicholas and Beth (have pattern and material)
• A hat for Nicholas (have pattern and material)
• Two long sleeve shirts for me (have pattern and material)
• Two dresses for me (have pattern and material)
• A shirt for me (have pattern and material), and I bought some nursing shirt patterns which I would like to make up (need to buy material)
• A winter skirt for me (have material, need to find a pattern)
• A pillow for Nicholas (have material and pattern)
• Finish the very first quilt I attempted (have the quilt top but need to buy the rest). 

Hopefully I will get it all done before the end of the year, because there is a bunch of other stuff I also want to make. 

Baby doll carrier

Although my free time at the moment is a bit limited, I have been trying to keep myself busy during the rare moments of silence. In the past this time would have been filled with study, but having graduated in December this is no longer the case. Instead, for the next few weeks at least, I am going to focus on finishing all the sewing projects I have sitting in my sewing room. I am not going to buy anymore new material, or be tempted to buy more patterns off Etsy. Rather, I am going to go through the material and patterns I have and clear out my 'to do' draws. It used to only be one draw but it recently spread into another. And when I finish all that I can go back to doing some quilting, as I have one that I made ages ago, without a pattern or any idea how to make quilts, that needs finishing.

To start off this project, I made this baby doll carrier on the weekend for a little person's birthday. I bought the pattern back in Feb with the intention of making and finishing it for Nicholas before Beth arrived, but as always, this didn't happen. As you can see from the photos Nicholas just loved carrying around the teddy in the carrier, so hopefully in the next few days I will finish Nicholas' carrier off and a few more I have on the go for other people.

In the next day or so I will take stock of all the projects I have to start/finish and will write a list here. Do you have projects that need doing? Maybe you could join me :).

A new addition :)

Since my mammoth month of posting in December I have been a bit lazy. This laziness arose from hot weather, a long list of things I needed to finish before the baby arrived, and being heavily pregnant. I certainly found those last few months of pregnancy quite difficult. It didn't help that this summer was unusually warm which meant Nicholas and I spent many a day inside, under the air-con, trying to keep cool. Plus, not being able to sleep at night didn't help with my energy levels. It is usually after you have the baby that people offer to help out but it was during that last week of pregnancy when I felt I needed the most help. At the end I was begging Daniel to stay home because I just wasn't coping and I needed help just to make it through the day.

Here is the last pregnancy photo taken of me at 39 weeks.

Despite the sleep deprivation that comes hand-in-hand with having a newborn, I have a lot more energy now that I am not pregnant. I can even last the whole day without having a rest. Although, if I can sneak one in, I'll take it.

Life with two children is busy. There are more nappies to change, more mouths to feed, more washing to do and more cleaning, but I love it because there is also double to joy, double the laughter and double the hugs. Life feels more complete with two, although I don't feel like our family is finished just yet.

Here is our new addition, Elizabeth Anne. Isn't she just lovely! Nicholas thinks very highly of her and can be very gentle and loving, giving her lots of kisses and hugs. Although, I do think the transition from only child has been a bit difficult for him at times (I'll discuss this more later).

Elizabeth only an hour or so old

First family photo

A month old

I will try to post more often from now on, and get back into this blogging thing...again :).

V is for Visitors

This past week has been extremely busy. I usually try to fit in at least one home day, just for some down time, but so far we have not been able to achieve this. Despite life being so busy we had some lovely visitors this week. My sister and her kids came down and Nicholas was rapt. He kept hugging Ryan every opportunity he had and was very sad when he had to say goodbye. It is always too long between visits.

Here are the kids enjoying themselves at the beach.

Q is for Quilt

Q is for Quilt. Just a tiny bit more hand sewing to go and it will be ready for Nicholas to open on Christmas day :). I hope he likes it, it has taken me two years to finish. Hopefully, the next ones won't take as long :).

Here are some photos of its journey into becoming a quilt.

The start!

The end!

N is for Naptime

I love nap time. I love it when Nicholas naps and I get to do my own thing for a little bit or even get to have a nap myself, especially as I become more pregnant.  I think that it is super beneficial to my mental health and Nicholas' if we both get to have time away from each other during the day. This down time is not only for my sanity and well-being but it also gives Nicholas the opportunity to either rest or have some time to process the events of the day so far. He doesn't need, by his side, directing him all the time.

I was so hoping to have a rest myself today after such a busy week but after having a sleep in the car in the car and failing to transfer him, this sadly did not happen. I sometimes feel resentful when Nicholas doesn't go to sleep during the day, or at night for that matter. I try really hard not to be but it is difficult because it often means I then have to go the entire day without any time to myself.

To help me understand better why he might not sleep during the day I often try to put myself in his shoes. Today for instance, the reason for not sleeping was pretty clear. We had a busy morning, left my friends place too late and had a half-hour car trip home. There was no way he was going to be able to stay awake in the car. Usually though transferring him is quite successful, but today once he was awake he just did not want to go back to sleep. I did leave him awake in his cot (he was just talking and saying 'mum mum' and 'dad dad') and lie down for about 20mins which helped, but it still wasn't as restful as it would have been because he was talking the entire time. I should be grateful though for small mercies such as these. I should also try not to complain so much. All I can do is optimistically hope that...tomorrow will be better :).

This is Nicholas napping with tiger. He loves that little furry animal. I am actually thinking of buying another one, just in case we lose this one. What do you think?

J is for Just a bit tired

Nicholas has been sleeping really badly lately, both during the day and in the evening. I honestly thought that by the time he was 19-months-old we would be over all these issues but it seems to be a never ending battle. I am concerned because in about 9 weeks I am going to have two children who don't sleep particularly well, a new born and a 21-month-old. I'm not sure how I am going to cope. All this sleeplessness is making me tired. I need rest but sadly don't get any. I have run out of ideas. I just don't know what else to do with him!

Sorry for my rant. I just don't have anything else to write about.

F is for Finger Painting

I made finger paint for the first time yesterday. I used this original fingerprint recipe, but instead of making it on the stove, I made it in the Thermomix. I was impressed by how smooth it turned out, something I don't think I could have achieved without the Thermomix's help.

Nicholas was a little apprehensive about touching the finger paint. He seems to not like getting his hands dirty. When he does he complains about it and either brings his hands to you to be wiped or wipes them on his clothes (bad habitats start early). So I wasn't surprised when he asked me to wipe it off almost right away. Lucky I had some random paint brushes in the cupboard. He found it much more enjoyable once he had the paint brushes to use instead.

Here are a few photos of Nicholas painting.

And this is his masterpiece. I stuck it on the wall near the front door for all the see :).

D is for Doe doe

My 18 month old is very good at saying words that begin with the letter D.

Here are some of his 'd' words and their meanings.

"daDAH" - his effort at saying "ta-daa!", which he uses to mean "hello", or "look at me!"
"Door" - noun: door, window, drawer, cupboard, lid, aperture, outside. verb: open/shut, go out
"Doe doe" - a machine, vehicle
"Doe doe!" (high pitch) - probably onomatopoeic for 'toot toot' or 'beep beep'
"Dig dig" - big machine, excavator, etc
"Dadda"
"Do' do'" - dog dog
"Duh" - Duck
"Dziz" - the noise a fly or a bee makes

In particular his favourite words at the moment are Doe doe (any type of machine) and Dig dig. Whenever we are out driving or walking around these are the two words I hear the most. Here are two photos of Nicholas. In the first he is contemplating life as a fireman and in the second he is enjoying watching some earthworks at the local shopping centre (dig dig).

 Maybe he will take over his Granpa's business one day and own his own earth-moving company.

First Birthday!

This weekend we celebrated Nicholas' first birthday. Although a month early, because of work and soccer on weekends, it was a wonderful day and the weather was surprisingly perfect. It was warm and sunny and all the more better because all our close friends and family shared the day with us.

All Nicholas' closest little friends came along. So many children in our life now. It is wonderful. Nicholas enjoyed eating cake for the first time and spending time with all his friends.

I decorated the backyard a tiny bit with bunting that I made for a friends wedding and picnic rugs. I even splashed out and made Nicholas his own birthday bunting from coloured paper and twine.

I tried not to overdo it with the food as it was only morning tea, so I just kept it to the essentials. Jelly cups with fruit, my Mum's delicious cream cheese and curry dip, bread and dip, and bright green muffins.

Emily, my wonderful sister, who is so great and talented at decorating cakes, helped me out quite a bit with Nicholas' first birthday cake. We decided to make a bear seeing though we often call Nicholas 'Nicholas bear'. 

I love how the cake turned out. I wouldn't have been so game if it was only me making and decorating the cake. I would have only made a face and I'm pretty sure it would have turned out terribly.

I just can't believe that we have almost had Nicholas is almost a year old. It has just passed by so quickly. I never imagined how much joy one little person could bring to your life.