Can we do it.....Yep we can!

I'm Besotted

2012-09-04T22:13:00.003+10:00

To be accurate, 'we're besotted', that's Mr Mel & I, with our daughter, I don't want to turn into a gushing mother who is extremely blinkered by their child, but gee whiz she is a sweetie!

Last Saturday, 1st Sept, was Mr Mel's birthday (happy birthday hubby!) and it was 4 months since our little bubba entered the world.

Time certainly does fly! The first month or so was hard, dealing with an unexpected c-section, a bub with silent reflux, and no family living near us. Luckily my Mum was able to fly up from Victoria for a week and give me a break, as I was nearing kookoo area! I can so understand why sleep deprivation was used as a torture technique in the wars!!!

But even though that time was hard, for the past 2 months or so, every day has been amazing, our little girl has been sleeping through, from around 7.30pm till 4.30/5am most nights, and every single time I turn on my bedside light when she's waking, she greets me with the most glorious smile I've ever seen, it honestly makes my heart swell and tears come to my eyes. I'm so loving the simple things of being a mum, they more than make up for the hard stuff!

The grin that greets me every morning :)

Enought of my gushing, but yes I'm besotted with her, and I thought I'd do a quick post before I hit the sack, as I've been a bit slack in posting, and couldn't resist a bit of a gush :)

Till next time,

My Ombre Attempt

2012-08-10T16:26:00.000+10:00

Reading Chantelle's Fat Mum Slim blog just now, she has posted about her attempt at ombre craft, a 'genre' of craft/art/etc that is going like hot cakes on Pinterest (I'm a Pinterest addict, it's sad!)

Chantelle's post reminded me that I hadn't put my ombre attempt on my blog, I had added it to my Pinterest page, but not here, so here goes!

On the left is my inspiration (from http://www.norskeinteriorblogger.blogspot.com/), on the right is my attempt, for our daughter's nursery.

I decided to start this project 5 days before our daughter was born, which turned out to be the day before they admitted me into hospital, which we weren't expecting, luckily Mr Mel was able to finish the painting for me :)

Green is my favourite colour, and luckily the room was already green so we didn't need to repaint, I thought the greens I went with worked well with the wall colour.

The dresser was originally raw pine, so we painted it with a primer, then the front/back/sides/skirt in an antique white, then the drawers in the different greens, then replaced the pine knobs with crystal ones. I love it and I hope bubs will too one day!

We have enought left over paint to do the pine toy box we bought also, the pine slats on that are vertical, so we're going to paint each slat a different green going around the sides, with the skirt and border around the lid in the antique white.

Thanks Chantelle for reminding me about my attempt!

One day when I get game I'd love to dye my hair ombre colours, but blonde would look a bit odd, so maybe when I get really game and try a brunette moment!

Till next time,

Birth Plan - Smirth Plan!

2012-08-06T23:12:00.001+10:00

Oops, I know I said in my last post - Belated Birth Announcement - that I'd be back over the weekend to elaborate, but you know how it is, life happens, and with a 13 week old in the mix now, the computer is getting very minimal usage!

So where do I start?

After reading numerous 'birth' books and getting myself mentally ready for 'everything' (yeah right!), and attending birthing/baby classes, Mr Mel and I sat down and drew up a birth plan in early April, as we were due on 28 April.

The midwife at our class encouraged us to keep all options on the table, even if you have a birth plan, so yes I had all options in the back of my mind, but was really really really keen to go with our plan.

And let's just say our birth wasn't quite exactly to plan!

My birth plan was deliver naturally, no pain relief, quiet, dark room with music, and just Mr Mel and the midwife (unless other medical assistance required).

Well things kind of went awry!

In the last 2 weeks of the pregnancy I developed excess fluid so they said the wouldn't let me go much past due date.

On due date Saturday 28 April I went to the Hospital for them to kick off the induction, they were to insert a tape called Cervidil that helps the dilation kick off, then I was to go home, go back Sunday for a check, and if all going to plan go home then back on Monday for them to get the induction fully going.

On the Saturday the admin person at the delivery suite said 'so we're admitting you now', I said 'no just the 2pm appointment then I'm going home, back tomorrow', she gave me a funny look and said she'd be back, the OB came and said because of the fluid they were inserting the cervidil but I'd be admitted as they were worried if my waters broke at home (hour away) that the cord could come out before bub due to the excess fluid!

Luckily we had bags packed (due to earlier scare when bub was in transverse), so I was taken to the maternity ward after they did the cervidil.

On Sunday arvo they checked and weren't happy with the Cervidil so put in a balloon that's meant to take the dilation further.

On Monday morning 5am they checked and I was 4cm dilated, so they broke my waters and put me on a Sintocin drip to help contractions, horrible thing that turned out to be!

They checked throughout the day and still 4cm, so they put the Sintocin up to the max, but at 7pm that night I was still 4cm, I was exhausted, contracting every 15 mins since 5am, so they said they'd take the drip out, and start again the next day.

So Tuesday morning 5am they hooked up the Sintocin again, still only 4cm, by 11am the pain was horrid, so I tried the gas and quickly vomited! Then I started labouring in my back, so I tried water injections into the sachrial area, oh my god, so painful, like fire being shot into your back, but it gave relief of the back labour for a few hours.

At 2pm still 4cm, and they said if not further along by 5pm then c-section.

At 5pm I was finally 10cm, so started pushing, after 4 hours bub turned posterior and the OB said bub won't be able to be delivered naturally without an epidural, the pain in my back was ridiculous, can't describe how much it hurt!

So I had the epidural at 9pm, and after half hour they realised that it hadn't worked, the needle had turned upwards pointing to my head, they said it was too dangerous to try it again, and bub was getting into a worse position so only option was c-section.

So at 1030pm Tuesday they wheeled into surgery and Jessica was born at 1048pm, she was perfect, 3.42kg, 54cm.

We stayed in hospital till the following Monday, which looking back was a godsend. I was exhausted, both mentally & physically, and I think I was in a bit of shock with the whole situation, having gone in expecting a 'normal' birth I ended up with a myriad of very invasive procedures.

Yes having our baby in our arms wiped it all from my mind at the time, but I can tell you even now, nearly 14 weeks later, I still get teary when thinking about the birth, it was traumatic, and I think it had a huge contribution to me getting a bit of the 'baby blues' in the first few weeks at home.

We don't have any family close by, all my family & family are in Victoria, and all of Mr Mel's are in Sydney, so it was just the 2 of us, with no real idea what we were doing, and without anyone to help us shine light on the 'situation'.

Mr Mel was an angel, he was so caring, loving and supportive, I could see him worrying about me, especially at 2am when I would be crying while feeding our daughter.

At the time I didn't think I would be able to do it, she had silent reflux (we found out at 6 weeks) and would only sleep if we held her upright. So for weeks on end I would sit in the corner of our lounge with bub asleep on my chest, a blanket wrapped around us, watching rubbish TV, as I was paranoid of falling asleep and hurting her.

Adding to that the noises she made, NO ONE told us that babies are so bloody noisy! Where did the term 'sleeping like a baby' come from? If it was true the people they're describing would sound like snuffling piglets while sleeping!

I will be forever thankful to the lovely midwife who visited us when bub was 2 weeks old (after a blubbering call from me to the local health clinic asking for advice on bub not sleeping!).

She reassured us that the noises were normal, that bub wasn't suffocating or choking, and that we were doing a good job.

Hearing those few sentences turned us around, gave us confidence in what we were trying to do.

I'll admit there were several times (mainly between 1-4am) where I didn't know if I was cutout to be a Mum, where I thought 'what the hell have we done', but I can honestly say that we have been truly blessed to have our daughter arrive into our lives, to look at her in her bassinette each morning when she wakes and have her beam a magic smile at me is just priceless.

We have been lucky really, she started sleeping 8-9 hours overnight at around 10 weeks, and for the past week she has extended her daytime catnaps to an hour here and there, which gives me a chance to get some stuff done.

She's laying in her bassinette beside me now as I type (11pm!), sleeping like a baby, and now that I know her squeals/grunts/snuffles are normal, I delight in every sound.

So that's the story of the birth of our darling daughter!

Happy Bubba :)

Till next time,

PS - The ladies in the Delivery & Maternity Wards were absolutely fantastic, there was a Lactation Nurse available who was great, and one of the midwives was definitely an angel in disguise. She showed me how to change a nappy (laugh away!), grabbed my boob to show me how to get bub to latch on, showed me how to express milk to help my milk come in (after a night where bub fed every 1/2 hour for almost 12 hours!).

A Belated Bub Announcement!

2012-07-20T09:25:00.000+10:00

Um to say it's belated is a bit of an understatement!

Our precious daugher Jessica, was born on 1st May.

I promise to be back in the next couple of days to give a more in-depth post, but for now, a couple of pics of our lovely girl (can you tell I'm besotted?)

At 1 day old

At 5 days - with a touch of jaundice

At 7 weeks - one cheeky little bubba!

I'll be back over the weekend to update!

Till next time,

Good on ya Bubs

2012-04-11T19:10:00.000+10:00

Apologies for the late update, back on 22 March I posted about wanting/needing our bub to spin - Spin Baby Spin - very happy to report that Bubs complied with our demands!

I woke up Tuesday night (3rd April) after midnight thinking I was having BH contractions, sharp painful tightening across the tummy on and off for about an hour, didn't really think much of it.

Went to the OB the following day (4th April) thinking bub was back in transverse (was in transverse for 2 weeks previous, then had moved to breech at ultrasound by Friday 30th March, then I thought moved back to transverse), ready for an ECV and possible C-section, spent the morning packing bags for me, DH & bubs and cleaning the house (crazy I know!).

Got to OB and she asked if much movements, I told her about the BH, she had a feel of my tummy, then got the ultrasound machine and a minute later says well it wasn't BH it was bub flipping, it's head is here (really low/bikini line/pelvis)!! I couldn't believe it, kept saying are you sure, are you sure, she showed me the screen and there was the bubs scone in full view!

So I asked well whats this lump here I've been massaging I thought it was its head, she put the scanner there and said thats the bottom. Yay, DH & I laughed and smiled and nearly cried. It was such a massive relief!

The OB said that bubs head was quite firmly in the pelvis, not 'floating around', and she was confident it probably wouldn't flip out, but I'm to go back for a weekly scan just to make sure.

So we're 37w4d now and bub is still in the correct position (had another ultrasound this afternoon), yay bubs, you rock!!!!

Thankfully, bubs is now in this position, yay!

And yay to Karen of Simple Savings website who recommended I visit the SpinningBabies.com website and try their exercises, can't say 100% it did the job, but it wouldn't have hurt! :)

Till next time,

New Obsession - Sarah Richardson

2012-03-30T12:47:00.000+11:00

I, like alot of people probably, daydream about either building a home from scratch or buying an old house and doing a full on renovation.

Currently Mr Mel & I live in a gorgeous 100+ year old Federation house, at the time we bought neither of us were really ready to take on a reno, Mr Mel had just quit his job in Sydney and was starting his own business, from home, I was working 60+ a week, plus we were heading down to Sydney just about every weekend.

So finding our lovely home, fully renovated, with only a few tweaks required, was perfect for us.

HOWEVER, I still have my daydreams, well more than daydreams, I know we'll either build or renovate one day.

And until that day looms, my new obsession is

Sarah Richardson has a couple of shows on Foxtel's LifeStyle HOME - Sarah's House is the one I love, I've only seen half of the series where she has purchased a stock standard developer/builders house off the plan, and is upgrading, designing, decorating, as the house is built.

Of course the budget is way out of anything we could ever do, but the ideas and inspiration are endless.

Not the series I'm watching but typical of Sarah's style - love it!

LOVE this ensuite, the antique mirrors on the doors of the vanity are gorgeous!

In other news, we're heading off for an ultrasound now, to see if bubs has turned out of transverse, I'm not hopeful as I can still feel a head under my ribs, but we shall see!

Till next time,

Spin baby spin!

2012-03-22T11:16:00.000+11:00

At our last ultrasound 3 weeks ago bubs was sitting in breech, our OB told us not to worry that bubs will probably spin of its own accord into the normal head down, 'vertex' position. That they don't start to worry until around 37 weeks when bub should be in the right position.

Bubs was in Breech

We had an OB appointment yesterday, we're now 34w 5d, and bubs has decided to turn from breech to transverse.

Bubs has his/her head under the right side of my ribs, his/her feet under the left side of my ribs, and his/her spine curving down into my pelvis area.

Bubs is now in transverse

The OB did an ultrasound to confirm, and there he/she was happy as Larry, heart beating away, kicking at the ultrasound wand, but not where we wanted to see him/her.

So the OB has said I'm to go back and see her on 4th April, if bubs still hasn't turned they'll do what's called an ECV (external cephalic version) where they manipulate the baby from outside, 'through' my tummy, to move it into a head down position.

ECV to move bubs into Vertex position

The OB warned us that the success rate is about 50%, and that some bubs can flip back up out of the head down position even if successfully moved.

She also warned that if during the ECV they think bubs is having any issues, ie heart rate dropping, or placenta issues, any ruptures etc, that bubs will be born by cesarean.

A Cesarean birth hasn't been on my radar, so to hear that got my heart racing.

I always thought/wanted I'd have a natural and hopefully drug free birth, and all of my reading & research over the past 8 months has been preparing myself for that type of birth.

Mr Mel & I have always said we'd aim for natural/drug free, but that our Number 1 aim was a safe, healthy baby & mum, so we thought we had all options on the table.

It seems now that the big 'C' has been bought up by the OB, that Mr Mel & I may not have been as open as we thought, as I now can't get it out of my head!

Of course being the researcher I am, I spent most of last night reading up on transverse positions, ECV & Cesareans, have to say I'm desperately hoping bubs will flip over and play ball.

Friends have mentioned a website - Spinning Babies, which I'm going to look into, and a member of the website Simple Savings that I'm a member of, mentioned seeing a chiropractor to try the 'Webster Technique' which I'm also going to look into.

I'm hoping bubs will spin by April 4, as I would really really really prefer not to have a Cesarean.

The aim - Vertex position!

If any readers have had success with a bub moving from Tranverse to Vertex after 35 weeks, please let me know, would love a positive story!! :)

Till next time,

From Bunting to Bubba Bits

2012-03-18T14:07:00.000+11:00

For our surprise wedding in July last year, I made around 100 metres of bunting to decorate the hall where we had our reception.

After many weeks of ironing & cutting & sewing after work most nights, and during most weekends, I was ultra happy with the end result.

Part of the 100m+ of bunting, on the day of our wedding

I'd always had in the back of mind that I would like to one day use the bunting for something in our house, maybe a baby's room, down the track.

Well seeings as we were lucky enough to fall pregnant on our honeymoon, that 'down the track' time is upon us, our baby is due in just under 6 weeks, and the bunting is being transformed.

The first version is the 'baby bunting' on the wall above the bookcase.

Some of the bunting converted to a baby banner, the green ones are calico which I hand dyed

The second is the 'bunting nappy holder', I think it's just gorgeous!

Bunting Nappy Holder - gorgeous!

Lovely from all sides

Till next time,

34 weeks down - gotta get sorted!

2012-03-16T11:42:00.000+11:00

Can't believe on Saturday we'll be 34 weeks pregnant, holy moly that's come up quick!

Our Nursery is just about sorted, we found a rug in Newcastle that should do the trick, and was marked down to $159 from $389, score!!

I'll add a photo over the weekend, once I've got things tidied up!

Seeings as bubs could arrive at any moment, and 'best case' is only around 6 weeks away, Mr Mel & I have set this weekend as our 'get sorted' weekend.

On the to-do list:

wash all nappies (modern cloth nappies/MCN's) - for the 2nd & 3rd time, they all recommend up to 5-6 washes before use, to help with absorption
wash all baby clothes
wash all nursery linen
dust & vac everywhere in the nursery, including the flipping ceiling fan I keep forgetting!
put all the 'baby stuff' in the nursery!
finish off some art for the nursery
Organise hospital bag for me, Mr Mel & bub
Organise Ipod for 'delivery music', sounds so pleasant :)
Buy a nappy bag - sick of looking at them, just need to bite the bullet!
Make the hospital gown for delivery, hopefully not too difficult!
Install capsule into the Ford
finish off the bloody tax for our business - sheesh I hate it!

Till next time,

This is me - International Women's Day

2012-03-08T09:43:00.001+11:00

Seeings as it is International Women’s Day I thought I'd do a brief 'this is me' snippet.

So, this is me, today 8 March 2012, tomorrow is likely to be a different me, but this is me now in this moment:

I'm 37 but regularly act like I'm 17, maturity can be a fleeting thing for me!
I'm 32w5d pregnant - all my friends say the loved their pregnancy, glowed etc, I'm not loving it, actually apart from feeling junior's movements I'm not even liking it
I'm still getting a handle on my fears around the birth - movies, tv shows, friends horror stories have ruined what should be a beautiful and natural occasion
I've had terrible nightmares about things going wrong with our pregnancy, but am too scared to put them into words and tell anyone
I don't swear in front of people, but let rip in the car on my own, a secret between me & junior now!
I don't eat as healthily as I should, but I'm getting there
Once bub is born I won't to really give me all into getting into shape, I'm 38 this year, time is ticking, I need to feel hot, well at least luke-warm, sick of covering everything up!
I hate doing the dishes, luckily Mr Mel is a sweetheart and covers me there
I'm desperately counting down the days till I start maternity leave - 12 days incl today
I have a name picked out for a charity I want to start, one day, I've stopped telling friends/family about it, they think I'm crackers
I have our future farm planned out in our head, and can't wait till we can do it
I have occasional, well let's say 'midweek' blindness to housework, weekends are attack time, but I'm easily distracted and often don't get round to it, I'm hoping once I'm off work I'll be more motivated!
I often wonder how I go so lucky - 5 years ago I was single, not sure what to do with my life, not enjoying my work, and not travelling so well financially - now I'm married to an angel, about to have our first baby, financially stable, and loving life - how the hell did fortune smile on me? And why?
I count out letters in sentences to see if they end in a 5/10/15 etc, and will add/remove letters to try and make them fit, ie don't becomes do not, do not becomes don't
I count the numbers in dates to see if they add up to a 7, my fave number, ie our wedding date was 23/07/2011, so 2+3=5+7=12+2+1+1=16, then 6+1 = 7 - tada
I think the last 2 might be admitting a tad too much!

It’s International Women’s Day - celebrate being you, a wonderful woman :)

Till next time,

23 March - that's it - woohoo!

2012-03-01T15:51:00.000+11:00

I told my boss today that 23 March is the day I'll be heading off on maternity leave - woohoo!

So relieved, they had thought I would work to a week before due (due end of April), and that was never on my radar, not sure where they got that thinking from!

Really looking forward to getting our house, and my body (!!) ready for the big event, life has been so hectic, still working 9-10 hours a day, 5 days a week, plus some work on weekends, so it will be great to be able to just concentrate on us, Mr Mel, Me & Bubs for a little while.

Hopefully bubs doesn't decide to come early!

Till next time,

PS - At this stage I'm going to take leave till bub is born, then be on the 18 weeks of Paid Parental Leave and will re-evaluate what we want to do come August!

Hello my pretty!

2012-02-27T11:12:00.000+11:00

About a month ago, on a drive home from a Saturday morning shopping trip to Rutherford, I noticed a new 'opening soon' store in Neath (a tiny 'town' on the road from Maitland to Cessnock).

The name rang bells for me 'Vintage In The Valley', I LOVELOVELOVE vintage, when we were house hunting 3 years ago, Mr Mel was convinced he wanted a new build, and somehow we ended up with a Federation beauty built in 1908 (very happy Mel) :).

I've always loved vintage, when I moved out of home all I wanted was some of my Nan's overrun of pots & pans, instead of the brand new set of shiny pots my family bought me.

Don't get me wrong, I was very grateful for the generosity, but the 1 saucepan I took with me from Nan, her 'gravy pot', was and is, some 20 years later, my pride & joy. It's dented and old looking, but I use it almost daily for cooking.

When I wanted some canisters for the pantry, I went to the Salvo's and found some anodised gems, my Mum & Aunt were horrified that I liked 'all that old stuff'. And every time I moved (which was fairly often, 18 moves in first 16 years out of home!), they'd ask me I had got rid of 'all that old rubbish'. To which I would always reply, I don't own any rubbish thank you :)

So anyway, back to the point of my post!

On Friday, driving home from our 31 week ultrasound (all good, yay), I noticed that the 'coming soon' sign had changed to 'now open'.

Mr Mel didn't really understand my excited squeal, but agreed to come for a look on the weekend.

So on Sunday morning as soon as Mr Mel had finished his work, I excitedly said 'C'mon let's go hunting', he rolled his eyes and headed to the car.

On the way he said 'you know these places are never cheap', to which I replied 'oh bah humbug, let's just see what they've got, you never know, we're not in Sydney'.

We walked in and sitting on a table near the entrance was this beauty.

For me it was love at first sight, I have had it in my mind since we bought our home in mid 2009 that I would love to have a pendant light hanging over the dining table, to help separate it from the open living/dining area.

Mr Mel's reaction to my delight and sqeal of 'look look', was 'I don't see it'. I must have looked at him like he was speaking martian, as he laughed and said it again 'I don't see it'.

I replied 'how can you not see it, it's gorgeous, it's perfect for over the dining table, gimme your mobile'.

I took the photo, thinking that I'd have a think about it, and imagine it over the dining table, work on Mr Mel for the next week, then go back and get it.

On the way out I realised I didn't know the price, I asked the lady as I couldn't see a tag. She found the tag and said 'Oh it's $35', I had to bite my tongue, $35, holy moley.

Mr Mel & I went for a quick bite for lunch, down the road a bit, and I said '$35 is a steal, even if we get it home and hate it I think I could get $50+ for it on Ebay (my recent Ebay exploits!).

That seemed to tip Mr Mel to my way of thinking, we drove back to Vintage In The Valley, and I picked up the piece of gorgeousness, handing over $35.

Next weekend I'm going to head to a local renovation store and see what sort of roses they have to use on the ceiling (we have fancy ceilings and cornices), and change the white cord to something more suitable, plus get a lightbulb for it.

I'm not sure what she's made of yet, it's very light weight, shall do some investigating, it has a pattern of the inside of pearl shell, but not sure, yet!

The next dilemma is how/where we hang it, directly over the dining table is a steel beam covered in plaster board (from a renovation to extend the living area, before we bought). But I'll let Mr Mel worry about that, I'm happy to look at my precious green lovely anywhere she sits.

I shall post more pics once she finds her new home :)

Till next time,

Our 2011 edition - foal

2012-02-22T10:56:00.000+11:00

I just realised that during my slack hiatus aka all day "morning sickness" of 5 months I hadn't posted anything about our 2011 edition foal!

Well we were blessed on 18 September to have our mare deliver another magnificent colt.

Our lovely 2011 colt

Unfortunately the mare had a bit of a torrid time, she retained some of the placenta, and got an infection in her uterus, we ended up having to send her to the Vet Clinic, after a week of the vet treating her at the farm, she wasn't improving quickly enough.

It was touch and go for both mum & colt, with them both having very high temperatures and infections, but after another week of (expensive!) treatment, they were both fine.

Our 2011 colt at about 3 weeks old, with milk splatter on his face!

The colt also had a few issues with his legs, with Thoroughbreds, especially if you want to sell them as a weanling (9 months) or yearling (12-18 months), having straight legs is the goal. Buyers are looking to buy a horse with as few conformation issues as possible, and having wonky legs will cut the price you achieve dramatically.

A friendly fella

Mum & Bub, healthy and happy to be home from the vets!

We had the farrier do some corrective work on his hooves, and we're continuously monitoring his progress, and thankfully with the colt now being 5 months old his legs are just about spot on!

We weaned him off his mum in early Feb, and he's currently enjoying life as a kid with a gang of 7 other weanlings, bucking their newly aquired brands off morning & night, tearing around the paddock, playing chasey and pretend fighting for dominance and just fun!

Not a great photo - from my phone - this is at about 4 months of age

At this stage we'll be selling this bloke at the June Weanling Sales in Sydney, where we sold his brother last year, and his sister the year before.

2010 edition

2009 edition

I'll hopefully get some good photos of him soon, before I go on maternity leave!

Till next time,

Nursery on the way!

2012-02-17T11:29:00.000+11:00

We're getting there with converting our 3rd bedroom/study/storeroom into a nursery for our bub due in April (we're at 30 weeks now!).

Luckily the room was already green, so no painting required, yay!

We've been very fortunate to have picked up alot of baby stuff free or cheap.

We found the Boori Cot & change table on Ebay, $200 for the two of them
Great 3 wheeler pram from Sister-in-Law
Bassinette from Sister-in-Law
Nursing rocking/sliding chair & footstool for $80 from a garage sale
The wall unit we bought new from Ikea for $385
Baskets in the unit cheap from $2 shops, and garage sales
The small canvas art and the mobile were a $20 find in a garage sale
The bunting (edited to take out surname :) ) was converted from the bunting I made for our wedding
Capsule for the car from Sister-in-Law
Bagloads (I'm talking big rubbish bin bags) of clothes from Sister-in-Law
Fisher Price bouncer from Ebay for 1/3rd of RRP

We just need to find a nice rug for the floor and we'll be just about set!

Apart from the usual supply of creams/powders etc, which we're hoping to find organic versions of.

We bought a Safe N Sound Maxi Rider Booster Seat on sale at Bubs.com.au

Thanks to everyone for your lovely comments & emails about our news, we're very excited :)

Till next time,

Ummmm I'm back!

2012-02-09T14:16:00.001+11:00

Ah yes well, to say it's been a while would be a tad of an understatement!

My last blogpost was back on August 30, when I was under the weather. Where do I start from there?

How's about some news? Something along the lines of WE'RE PREGNANT!!!!

Yes, my under the weatherness from August was also morning sickness, altho I wasn't 100% sure at the time!

We returned from our Honeymoon on August 9, and on August 26 at 2am we got 2 lines on our home pregnancy test!

I had been feeling sick for a few days, and had an odd full/heavy feeling in my tummy, I thought oh wow what if. So went and bought some preg tests, the first 3 came back negative, but I was sure something was up, so I kept buying & taking them! Then at 2am on Aug 26, I got up to go to the loo, and thought bugger it I'll test again, and up came the 2 lines, I ran in and woke up hubby waving the stick in his sleepy eyes.


Test 1 - on day 35 of my cycle


Test 2 & 3 - on day 36 of my cycle

Test 4 - day 37 of my cycle

Our GP confirmed our home test by blood test on August 31!

From August until 2 days before Christmas I had dreadful 24x7 nausea and vomiting, I was vomiting up to 20-25 times a day, and about 5 times overnight, I just about nightly awoke with vomit on it's way and had to run to the toilet! Life wasn't much fun for those 5 months!

At Christmas we drove 15 hours each way to my hometown to have Xmas with my family (we told my family via Skype on Fathers Day, saying that hubby would have a very different Fathers Day in 2012, they got the hint!

Since Christmas I haven't had much nausea and only a few vomits, more related to heat/tired than morning sickness, I think.

We're now at 29 weeks, and have met with the great midwives at John Hunter Hospital in Newcastle, and have been to our first 2 ante-natal classes. I'm reading everything I can on natural childbirth, to try and overcome my birth fears, I want/hope/would like to go as natural as I can, but we shall see.

Everyone has been calling us old fashioned, with us conceiving a honeymoon baby, but we feel so lucky and blessed to have 'fallen' so quickly, old fashioned or not we'll take it :)

So in answer to one of my initial 'Can We Do It Questions'

Ah YEP WE SURE CAN!

Till next time, I promise it won't take so long!

Apologies for no show

2011-08-30T10:12:00.000+10:00

Apologies for the lack of content! Have been sick with a cold/flu, haven't been able to shake it for the best part of a month now, 2 days off work in the last week is most unlike me, but I think I've just about broken in now and on the mend.

(pic source)

Will have a bit to catch up on and looking forward to checking through all the blogs I follow and those who follow/comment here!

Till next time,

The burn - hurts so good!

2011-08-26T13:15:00.004+10:00

Since returning from our honeymoon 2 weeks ago I have been trying to fight off a cold/flu/whatever. Well this week it's just about won the battle, I've felt uber-ordinary, and even had a day off work!!

Nights have been a battle to breath, and a very attractive look for my lovely new hubby, with me 'sleeping' with a tissue wedged up ease nostril to stop the constant running, whilst coughing my lungs out and sneezing. I did offer to sleep in the other bedroom, but lovely hubby won't allow it (yay he's soooo sweet)!

I grew up on Vicks, we had it rubbed on our chests as kids, my grand-mother used to put some in a bowl of boiled water, and lower our heads down over the bowl with a tea towel over us, to help clear up a cold.

So when the constant sniffles/blocked nose/head, coughing etc persisted, I went to the Vicks, only to realise our jar, which I've probably had for the best part of 10 years, was about empty!

So I headed to the stupormarket and bought a new jar and an inhaler.

This is the burn bit.

I consistently stick the inhaler too far up my nose, and sniff it way too hard, thinking it's not working, only to have the hairs in my nose just about singed off, and my eyes watering from the 'vicks burn'. I know that if I stop doing it, it won't hurt, but for some bizarre reason, I continue to do it, and continue to burn the bejesus out of my snozz. In my cold ridden brain I justify the pain, by enjoying the maybe 20 seconds of clear nosedness (new word?) that follows my monster inhales!

Hopefully this cold will be gone soon, and I can stop the singeing burn that is oh so good, for a few seconds anyway!

Till next time,

PS - Married life is the best!

Back to work - not so yay!

2011-08-18T10:35:00.000+10:00

Well today makes it a week since 1st day back at work, following our wedding and honeymoon, and man oh man it's been a hard slog!

Our honeymoon was so amazing, it was a massive jolt back to reality when I had to man the 7pm - 2am foalwatch shift on Saturday night, I had a flashback when I was handmilking the mare (foal wouldn't suck from both teets, so I had to milk one of her teets every 20 mins!), that 7 days ago we had been having dinner on our island paradise, throwing leftovers to the hundreds of fish swimming under the deck of the restaurant, while sipping Mojito's!

I'm sure it's just the usual post holiday blues, but gees louise, they are as blue as blue can get!

Erakor Island, Vanuatu - aka Paradise!! Our villa was at the top right corner

Till next time,

Howdy everyone!

2011-08-10T10:09:00.002+10:00

Just a quick update to let everyone know we're still in the land of the living! We just returned from an amazing honeymoon in Vanuatu, will be back to 'normal blogging' soon! Bare with me :)

Our Wedding Day

2011-07-26T10:07:00.001+10:00

Hi Everyone!

Our wedding day was amazing, went off better than expected. A very special day, if the rest of our married life goes 1/10th as well as yesterday did, I will be one happy girl :)

We went back to the hall at 9am Sunday to clean up, 'unsetup' everything, and make bacon and egg rolls for everyone. It was a lovely morning with our family, everyone was abuzz with happy talk about the day/night before.

My husband (that sounds weird!) spent most of Sunday in bed trying to sleep off a shocking hangover before we met with the last of our family Sunday night for dinner before they fly back to Vic yesterday!

Thank you everyone for all of your support, advice, good vibes & wishes, I have felt the love through the screen :)

I will post a 'proper' entry with photos soon, we were blessed with a lovely day after a week of pouring rain, we had some rain while getting photos done, but when the sun broke thru again the light was amazing, according to the photographer! Hope to have some photos before we head to Vanuatu on Thursday, if not we'll definitely have them when we return in 2 weeks, and I will post them here.

PS - the bunting looked amazing!!!!!!! :) :)

Wish us luck, our big day today!

2011-07-23T06:36:00.000+10:00

:)

wedding day today, shall update after!

My Lotto Splurges

2011-07-18T15:15:00.000+10:00

Ok so it should probably be titled 'My Dream Lotto Splurges' maybe?

I have been lusting over this house for about 6 months, it first came on the market, about 4 months ago, and every time they had an open house organised we were away, then when the auction was scheduled we were away, I was not a happy camper.

The property got passed in (yay in my dreamland!), and now it's back on the market with a price tag of $1.29 Million!

Now if we win Lotto this Saturday, which seeings as it's our wedding day, it only seems fair that we will, doesn't it? If we win, we could buy it and move in when we get back from our honeymoon in Vanuatu, perfect timing, surely 3 weeks settlement would be long enough?

I don't usually go for modern, we bought a 100 year old Federation home, but for this I will make an exception! And the 10 acres is just perfect, we could always buy more acreage down the road with the rest of our Lotto winnings should we need it!

I'm a strong believer in the Dream Big theory :)

Till next time,

The age old money dilemma!

2011-07-15T10:39:00.002+10:00

On my mind today is money, why oh why does it cause so many issues!

Mr Mel and I are financially comfortable, we have worked very hard to get to where we are at. We're not flying but we do own about 60% of our home, have stable jobs, and have some money invested. We are able to go out for dinner, and can splurge on holidays now and then, although I'm not sure if you could call my first proper holiday in 11 years (our soon to be honeymoon!) a splurge!

However we are still sensible with our spending, and we do everything we can to ensure we're not paying more than we need to when we do have splurges. My friends roll their eyes (in jest) when I bore them with details of a bargain I have found, or a savings we have made. They are now asking me to help them with their mortgages, insurance, shopping etc, which I love to do.

We hope to have kids soon, and the finances will definitely tighten up, but we are making sure we are building a buffer so to speak, so that when we are blessed with a bubba, we will be financially in a good place to handle the probably time with me not working, added expenses etc.

I have just had a conversation with a colleague who at around 50-55 years old has hardly a cent to her name, she has debt to her eyeballs and yet even being in such a hole, doesn't seem to want to make an effort to fix it.

She is happy to have a pity party of the world isn't fair, how hard done by she is, yet she also spends money on horses that she can't afford, doing up the garden in her rental, etc, while ignoring the mounting debts, and letters from debt agencys that are arriving weekly.

After yet another whinging session from her, she has just finished telling me "Mel you're lucky you have a husband and a home you own, you don't know how hard it is".

My reply, while half biting my tongue, was "Hang on, you don't know my story, you don't know what effort I have put in to get where I am. I have worked bloody hard to get 'lucky'."

Yet she still seems to think that anyone who is not 'struggling' has been lucky. What is with that?

I have had similar conversations with friends and family, and other colleagues. If you're struggling financially you need to look at why and find out how to fix it!

If you can't afford your mortgage repayments - it's not because the world is against you, in the cases I'm thinking of, it's because you have chosen to buy a house in an area you can't afford, and you didn't budget for interest rate rises, that's not really anyones fault but your own!

Of course there are situations where people lose jobs, get sick, etc, but in most of the cases I personally know it's not for those reasons, it's through being stupid with money!

If your grocery bill is sky high every week, it's probably because you're shopping in one of the 2 stupormarkets, buying brand food, and not willing to put in the effort to shop around, and/or make more things from scratch. Do you really need to buy baby food in a jar or bag? Go grab a bag of apples, stew them down and freeze it, it's not rocket science! Don't stop at the bakery, go home and make something if you need to, or heaven forbid, go without!

If you don't know where you spend your money, then do a bloody budget! Being an ostrich with your head in the sand is rarely the best way to attack things, keep note for a month or even a week, of everything you spend, then work out where you can cut back. Do you need that coffee at Maccas at the weekly girls get together? You can still go to Maccas and chat with the girls, but have a water, or take your own coffee, or suggest meeting at a park instead.

I love Albert Einstein's definition of insanity - "Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results"

Ok off my soapbox (for now!), blame my colleague for my rampage!

Till next time,

Thanks to Rhonda from the Down To Earth blog for her 'Friday On My Mind' idea, it's a gem, I've clicked through comments on numerous blogs on Rhonda's list, and on my own, and found some great blogs which I'm now following, and looking forward to discovering many more!

Toastabags - success

2011-07-12T13:33:00.001+10:00

I must admit when I saw the 'Toastabags' at Aldi recently I was a tad sceptical, however my longing for a toasted sanga for lunch at work, and lack of a sandwich maker in the kitchen at work convinced me to give them a try.

The claim is that you can make a toasted sandwich in a normal toaster, something we personally have needed for a while, since Mr Mel's 'melted cheese all over and in toaster' fiasco.

So I headed home from Aldi with 2 x 2 pack, one pack for home, one pack for my work.

Today was trial day, Mr Mel had made me a lovely poached chicken, avocado & cheese sandwich, on pumpkin seed bread, delicious fresh, but the best when toasted.

I had visions of the pocket melting all through the toaster, luckily as per the photos below, the toaster is ancient and mucky, so if it died it was no big loss! I have been asking for close to 4 years for a new toaster, and have a note stuck in the kitchen - "clean up after yourself, the kitchen fairy has quit!" but to no avail!

Let the test begin:

Empty pocket ready for the test run

Poached chicken, avocado & cheese on pumpkin seed sanga

Uhoh - not gonna fit

Some sacrifice was needed

As snug as a sanga in a pocket!

Ready for deployment into depths of manky work toaster

A tight fit, poking & prodding to load was required - I thought it was for sure not coming out ever!

toast it my ~~pretty~~ manky beast toast it

Some manhandling required to 'pop' it up - but looks promising

Victory!

More toasted on one side than the other

But that's more due to the dodgy toaster I think!

Extremely happy to report that the Toastabags were a success, first try I'd give it a 8/10, perhaps if I'd used smaller bread it would be a 10/10, but an 8 is excellent, especially for an Aldi product. And the price of $2.95 for a 2 pack is outstanding, considering the pockets are reusable!

Woohoo. Toasted sangas will now feature heavily in my work lunches, and will be a saving grace during the foaling season when checking mares from midnight till 7am!!!

Till next time,

Sheep Shakers - Friday On My Mind - 16

2011-07-08T13:04:00.002+10:00

Today my boss and his family got back from a 10 day trip to New Zealand, and these 2 little sheep salt & pepper shakers are my present for keeping the place afloat while they were away.

Terrible quality photo (dodgy phone), in real life they are beyond super cute, the salt and pepper holes are their nostrils, and they fit so snuggly in my palm, they're just gorgeous! Oh I just realised, the one with the white around his neck should probably be the salt sheep, the darker one the pepper sheep, so cute!

So on my mind are 2 little sheep shakers from the land of the sheep shaggers