Anticipation

Still here.

39 weeks with 5 more sleeps to go until I'm officially due. If my past history is anything to go by, the baby will make it's appearance fashionably late by about 10 days or so past the due date. 

However, the Whippet is telling me differently. He is on high alert and will just not leave my side. He's making me anxious. Or maybe it's the other way around. He follows me everywhere and has even started running down the long windy driveway behind the car in a final attempt to not be left behind. He's been with us through every pregnancy so we have seen this behaviour before. I just wish he could talk and tell me what time-frame he was operating on. Are we hours, days, still a week or 2 away? The anticipation of a baby is very humbling indeed.

The Kids have been learning the art of patience and anticipation from the Welcome Swallows that have been nesting appropriately above the front door. A few weeks ago the tiny eggs were found in the nest and have been checked daily to see whether they had hatched. The other day, the four babies had hatched and I can't help feeling there is some symbolism going on. Each baby chick symbolising each of the kids but only 4 because a 5th chick would be 'counting chicks before they had hatched' which is something I don't like to do. One by one they open their hungry little yellow mouths. The 4th one opened its mouth this morning and I cried - such is the fragile state of mind I'm in at the moment. 

The feminist in me doesn't really like the term "Confinement" as used to describe the post-natal rest period however after an exhausting week of 'nesting' activities last week I am very much looking forward to my little "Holiday" in hospital. Instead of experiencing the calm before the storm I'm hoping last week was the storm before the calm. 

It started with the freak Tornado that swept through the Valley. The windy weather that came afterwards ripped one of our doors off its hinges. Luckily this could be fixed ourselves. There were final visits to the Obstetrician, Orthodontist, Vet and Hairdressers. We started weaning the lambs and harvesting produce from the veggie patch (finally!) - all creating a lot of work. I had two spinning sessions at The Spinners Guild, with marginal success but I'm confident I'll be able to practise at home now I have the basics. The Whippet has been bathed and all farm pets have been wormed, as have the children. The water tank has been emptied, cleaned and re-filled. The dishwasher, iron and vacuum cleaner had an Appliance AGM and decided to all break down in the one week necessitating urgent and costly replacements. The lounge room got its final coat of paint. I set up the nursery and washed some baby clothes. Everyone has been treated to brand new white sheets on their beds and I have scrubbed behind the fridge and washing machine. I'd be feeling a bit more virtuous if all of these items were not so long overdue. Sadly, they are entirely related to my crazy 'nesting' compulsions.

Needless to say, I am doing nothing but nice and relaxing things for myself for the remaining days. The Pianoman and I enjoyed a final night out last Saturday night. We walked around the harbour, had a lovely Indian meal and took a bunch of silly gratuitous 'selfies' to mark the end of being parents of 4. I've cancelled out of a lot of social things but our friend was performing in the Bawdy Pantomine "Crapunzel" and seeing him dressed up as the evil stepmother, playing guitar and dancing Gangnam style simply could not be missed. It was naughty and hilarious and although I didn't laugh myself into Labour, we had such a fun night and what little stomach muscles I have left were truly sore by the morning.

I also finished making my ornaments for the Handmade Ornament Swap and have them all packaged and ready to send off to my secret swap partners. I've never done anything like this before and gifting something I have made to someone other than my children was a bit intimidating really, especially because these two ladies are very very crafty themselves. However, it was so much fun, and it really got me in the spirit of Christmas as well as providing a much needed creative distraction during these final days. The best thing about it though has been the lovely new bloggers I've managed to find who are involved in the swap.

There has also been some lovely mail coming my way in the form of this absolutely gorgeous little vintage suitcase which I won in Roberta's giveaway. Roberta is the talented lady behind Rowantree Design - vintage inspired handmade clothing for babies and children. So if you are in the market for something special pop over and look at her gorgeous range of clothing. She has been spending lots of time with her business in New York and picked up this little case on one of her recent trips there. I will use it every single day. It is the perfect nappy bag for me because I don't do nappy bags and this is clearly no ordinary nappy bag. It's teeny tiny but big enough to hold my little Macbook Air, normal daily paraphernalia and a small nappy wallet in the future. Thank you so much Roberta!

I was looking for a nice book to accompany me on my hospital 'holiday' and after reading not one but two recommendations for The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey, I just had to pick up a copy which happened to be the very last copy in the whole of Hobart - testament to its popularity maybe? It's set in Alaska, a place which holds a special place in my heart as it is where I spent one of the best 6 weeks of my life trekking around as a 20 year old and I can't wait to be transported back to this gorgeous part of the world.

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So, another text-heavy Post however I can 100% guarantee the next couple of Posts will be very very short.

Finally, thank you to everyone for their lovely comments on my last Post and 'hello' to any new readers that have joined the ride recently. Look forward to visiting you all and hopefully sharing some news soon.

Hope you all enjoy the rest of the week!

Cradle Love

With less than 14 days to go, I finally got around to organising a little nursery nook wall space for the baby in our bedroom.

I have never had a cradle in the house before. I'm far too practical to go to the hassle and expense of a cradle as well as a cot when just a cot will do the trick from the start. But if you can ward off the image of Rebecca De Mornay in the creepy thriller "The Hand That Rocks The Cradle" then there is something very nostalgic and whimsical about a cradle don't you think? It was also during our visit to Sovereign Hill while on our big caravan adventure that I fell in love with the gorgeousness of the cradle that inhabited the bedrooms of the 1800's homes that I decided I would take the photos above and seek a similar cradle out in the event we would have another baby.

No such luck finding one that complied with the current safety standards but on one of my recent trips to the Tip whilst looking for some recycled pallets for the veggie patch compost heap, I stumbled on the cradle below. I asked the lady how much it was and she said it was illegal to sell it to me as a cradle. I quickly rephrased my question and asked how much she wanted for the pile of wood that was in the shape of a cradle. She looked at my expanding belly and smiled and said I could have it for $15, since it was absolutely going in the fire and all. Bargain!

It was super sturdy and in excellent condition. I checked the Australian Safety Standards when I got home and it complied with all of the items. In case you're wondering, the main concern is the width of the rails for cots and cradles, which need to be greater than 5cm apart but no greater than 9.5cm apart. Small gaps are a hazard for little arms and legs and big gaps are a hazard for heads. It's common sense really and if you've got a beautiful heirloom piece from great grandpa, there is probably a good chance it complies anyway. I'm actually not a big stickler for these things but I'd hate to advocate unsafe cots/sleeping practices on my blog. My babies actually slept in the pram bassinet right next to my bed for the first little bit and the twins actually slept together in the pram bassinet for the first month before I moved them into separate cots, apparently not recommended. 

I don't go much on cream paint and Teddy Bear stickers so I just sanded it and painted it Grey.  I love grey but there are actually more than 50 shades of grey so I left it all in the hands of the 70 year old man at the local hardware store to choose for me. I just wanted Grey but he explained that if you don't want it to look purple you have to choose a grey with a green base as opposed to a blue base and so he picked Dulux "Timeless Grey" for me. This is great advice and obviously wasn't given to my poor friend whose entire house exterior is purple because of the grey paint they had chosen.

Here is the finished space. 

We literally didn't have a single baby item in the house having sold everything when we left Sydney to fund our caravan trip around Australia. So everything is second-hand from thrift stores or made by me.  Babies really don't need much and I just wanted to make it a bit fun but keep it fairly simple, and uncluttered as this is our bedroom. "Cheap and Cheerful" as my mother-in-law would say :-) I purposely left the space above the cot clear but it looks a bit bare. The kids are collecting feathers to make a mobile. Do you think that would do the trick? Any other suggestions? 

The one exception to the second-hand theme is this most gorgeous bib below that I received from Annie in Wales from one of her giveaways. It was the first baby item to enter the house a little while ago and it is so new and shiny I just want to put a halo around it and frame it on the wall. It features the most gorgeous Liberty of London woodland print in all my favourite nature colours. It's very 'me' and provided the colour inspiration for the space. The bib is from palebluedoor. I also think it's amazing the way the colours co-ordinate with the colours in the granny square blanket I made. Thank you so much Annie and I'm sorry it took me this long to post about it although I'm sure you're not surprised that I've left doing the nursery to the 11th hour :-).

The chook garland was bought in Vietnam for a couple of dollars.

1. Elephant artwork is from Hugs & Inspiration which I won a couple of years ago with a piece of poetry I wrote.

2. The vintage clown print was $5 from the op shop

3. The boy riding the chook is a Propaganda Poster from the  early 1980's bought in Vietnam entitled "Breeding Chickens". It just appealed to me on so many levels.

4. This oil on canvas landscape painting was picked up at the tip on the weekend for just $10. It is titled "Risdon Quarry" which is a local spot near here and I just love the colours. Harriet Wise, if you are out there, I found the painting you did in 1979 discarded at the Tip but it is now lovingly hanging on our bedroom wall :-)

5. These are my teeny tiny 35 year old first baby shoes :-)

6. Vintage wooden side-table $10 from op shop with Ikea lamp, Teddy made by me and daisies from the garden.

7. Retro saucer chair from op shop $20 that I've had for years with granny blanket made by me.

8. Vintage footstool $10 from op shop. I just picked this up on Sunday and it has a gold embossed vinyl which is really awesome but hard to photograph.

9. Vintage trolley with wooden blocks $5 from Sorell Markets.

Floored

I was going to Post over the weekend but at 9am on Saturday Morning the Pianoman decided he would rip up the carpet in the living room, install the new floor boards himself, and have a beer in hand by 3pm in readiness for the Football Grand Final. I completely admire his drive and optimism but I'm a realist and therefore shelved all other activities I had for the weekend and also packed the laptop away so I could deal with the chaos created by our first foray into DIY renovations.

We essentially live in a 3 bedroom house but the living room is the size of a small football stadium and you can see why I suspected it may take a little longer than 6 hours.

The activity provided much enjoyment for the Kidlets though. 

There was dancing, wrestling, and.....

Indoor Gymnastics.

The Whippet resists change and does not cope with upheaval of any kind, especially the kind that involves losing any of his creature comforts. He followed the sun around the room and lounged on the last remaining edges of the carpet until there was none left.

The Football match came and went and I suggested it might take a bit longer than he thought, to which he responded, "I'm on a bit of a roll now, I'll get it done even if I'm up till midnight!". Well midnight came and went and so did Sunday.

This is how it looked Saturday night. One row completed. By Sunday night a few more rows had been added in between some socialising, ferrying kids around as well as running a press conference.

I really can't wait to show you when it's finished. I think it will be amazing. The carpet has been in this house since it was built 30 years ago. It was really revolting and the pale green colour was just not conducive to life with lots of kids with muddy boots and Whippets with muddy paws and a new baby who would have to navigate it's way through all the filth.

I was tempted to leave the floor bare and have the concrete polished, a look I absolutely love. We have underfloor heating throughout the concrete slab (and I could just the kiss the feet of the previous owner who had the foresight to have that installed when she built the house) so I wasn't worried about the 'coldness' but I just really didn't think it suited the style of the house. I also just about died when I got the quote to have it polished - $7000.00. Thanks but no thanks.

So that was our weekend.

I was then just about to get the laptop out this morning but the Whippet thwarted those plans when he came inside to show me a huge gash in his back. It is the worst injury he has had and necessitated an urgent trip to the Vet to have himself put back together again. Five staples. They are obviously gold-plated because the Bill came in at $250.00 which makes those staples at $50.00 a pop the most expensive staples in the universe. I was floored.

So we wandered around the Harbour for a few hours while we waited for the sedation to wear off (the Whippet that is) and despite some minor hyperventilation on my part at not only worrying about poor Remy but also having to fork out so much for staples, it was a glorious Spring day and I couldn't help but admire how pretty this little city is.

So, I have no functional living room and the saddest Whippet in the world who will need more attention than the 4 kids and the Pianoman put together but I am delighted to let you know the winners of my little giveaway:

Book - Lisa

Wooden Bear - Mumofsix

Wooden Buttons - Annie from Knitsofacto and Brydie from Cityhippyfarmgirl

Yellow Crochet Potholder/Coaster -  Fiona from Arbordale Farm

Christmas Heart Crochet Holder - Grammy Braxton

Ladies, if you could please e-mail me a postal address and I'll have these off to you this week.

Thank you all so much for all of your feedback on my Blog and saying nice things and I just wish I could give something to everyone.

Have a great week!