Baby #4 - 12 weeks

I got to see our ONE little baby this morning (I've been SO terrified I might be having twins because two friends are pregnant with twins, and we keep seeing twins everywhere! haha)

I've been waiting anxiously to see the OB to see what they say, what they're "plan" is for this pregnancy, and I feel much better now.

The doctor basically said, in hindsight (since Thea was overdue in the end), even though my cervix shortens early, it's NOT incompetent, it is strong, it holds babies in there until term.

SO with that in mind, she is still going to monitor it and make sure nothing ELSE happens, but she advised, if everything even happens as last time, to actually NOT let them admit me to hospital.  She said she feels there's just no need.  I'll know if something ELSE (contractions, etc) change and can get myself looked at then, but otherwise she even said that she doesn't necessarily advice full bedrest.

No long walks, no heavy lifting/moving furniture, by all means get all the help I can/want around the house, but otherwise don't put myself in bed by myself all day long.  She doesn't think that really has any affect on it other than making me lonely! haha.

So I feel good.  She gave me just a little scan today to make sure there was a real baby in there, see it moving around, say hello, and then I'm booked in for a scan of my cervix for 2 weeks time to start monitoring it.

Trip 2, Day 1

Well 24 hours down, 8 sleeps to go.

Today was alright. I don't really like going out on Saturdays as everything's so busy, so we just hung around the house, went to the park, etc.

Big win of the day? Bathing the kids! Which I never managed to do the last time Conor was gone (I had VERY good intentions of doing it the last night, but Elle was too sick and it was already a gong show - Elle ended up having one at 7am before we left to pick up Conor since she threw up phlegm in her hair)

Only a small glitch when I took Thea out first and let her run around naked while I got Elle out.  I heard her giggling hysterically at the end of the hall stomping her feet....in a big puddle of pee!

Kids are in bed and hopefully out for the night!!

Day 3&4.

Well day 3 was pretty darn good.  Until bedtime.  Elle had a nap and so did I and sooo needed it. Dinner was a flop but we headed to the park afterwards and then the kids wanted to have their snack picnic style in the backyard.

Put the kids to bed late as Elle and I napped til nearly 4 - well by 930 she still wasn't asleep and was crying cuz she couldn't fall asleep and had boogies in her nose and I was exhausted, so I dragged her into bed with me.  She was restless all night, kicking me and sniffling in my ear!  Finn and Thea woke up just before 6:30 so he went and gave her books in her crib and read in the spare bed in her room while I rested a bit longer with Elle, she managed to sleep til nearly 7 which is a record for her!

Today though I was exhausted.  Had people over in the morning which was a great distraction!! The kids had a blast, but I just wanted to crash after naptime, so we cleaned up the house and went to McDonald's for dinner! Haha.  Just what the doctor ordered, and the kids went to bed relatively well.

I'm off to bed now - then one more day and night to survive until Conor's back for a couple nights!

Day 2

Not as lovely as day 1 unfortunately. It was hot, and I get grumpy when I'm hit, and the kids were all up shortly after 6, and Elle didn't nap (and called every 5-10 while she was having "quiet time") and then well, after dinner was no good, lots of crying from all kids...

But something positive...ummmmm, I cleaned the bathroom! Haha.  And we went to the library, so that was nice.

Now to fold laundry and have a shower and then sleep!!

**This little girl LOVES pears. She had already had more than half a pear and this is what I got when I offered her apples after she kept begging for more food.  This happened EVERY DAY!**

5 nights.

Conor's just boarded his flight to New Zealand for 5 nights.  He has a bit of a whirlwind 5 days of talks there for a couple of different groups, and will hopefully catch up with some of his cousins on Sunday.

I'm not looking forward to these 5 days, especially as I really lack ANY energy due to the pregnancy these days - but I thought I might blog once a day while he's gone, something positive that has happened in the day, even if it was just getting out of my PJs!

His flight was too early for him to be able to take the bus and skybus, and he's too cheap to pay for a taxi haha, so the kids and I got up bright and early to bring him to the airport.

It's 9:20am now and they are just watching a bit of a show before we go out for the morning, I decided to make our lunch and eat while we're out so I can just put them to bed when we get home.

So my positive for the day... It's not even 9:30 and I've got the breakfast AND lunch dishes done!  Almost all of us are dressed (just gotta get Thea dressed) - I have a meal plan for dinner tonight (spaghetti from the freezer), so even though I'm exhausted, I think today will go smoothly since everythings already laid out for the day!

Wish us luck!

Big News!!

BIG SISTER!!

We're very excited to announce we are expecting baby #4 around our 9th anniversary - June 10th!!

The kids are VERY excited!  I had some fabric felts left over from something and found 3 white t-shirts, so I let Finn and Elle decorate theirs, and I decorated Thea's (to say "BIG SISTER") to be our little announcement.

Please keep us in your prayers, I'm 9 weeks now and feeling pretty good.  I haven't seen the OB yet but I'm expecting we'll deal with bedrest again this time around - but I have plans to get a nanny BEFORE the real issues begin so that we can hopefully avoid me being hospitalized at all like I was last time!

Calling it quits?

I dunno, I don't think I'll completely call it quits, but I've had NO desire to write on here lately, nor have I been upset about having no desire to write... so I'll leave it up.

Maybe one day I'll have motiviation and desire to write up something, and if not, this will always be here for me to look back on with very fond memories!

DIY Babywearing Bag Tutorial

*I'm a bit of a wordy gal, scroll down a bit to just get right into the tutorial!

Babywearing isn't only about the carrier you wear your baby in - there are many accessories out there from suck pads (did you know babies like to suck on the straps of the carrier they are worn in?  suck pads are removable and washable to keep the carrier clean), to babywearing jackets (I don't know if you've ever worn a baby on your back, but you can't really put a regular jacket over top of the big lump on your back!), to babywearing bags (bags with long wide straps that you can wear across your body WHILE wearing a baby).

I don't use carriers with straps, so no suck pads needed for me.  I avoid the elements (cold and/or wet weather) most of the time, so nope, don't need a babywearing jacket at the moment.  BUT I've always been intrigued by babywearing bags.  Now that Elle is in Catechesis of the Good Shepherd with Finn I have 1.5 hours on Tuesdays where I can be out and about without the stroller (where the diaper bag normally resides) while wearing Thea.  Last week we went into the city.  I emptied my diaper bag of all but the necessities (a small coin purse with my ID, a couple diapers, and wipes).  That took care of the weight issue (diaper bags are HEAVY when you have all the other stuff in there), and my strap is long enough that I could wear Thea and still wear my bag across my body, but it's a much bigger bag than I needed, and the strap isn't very comfortable pressed up against Thea or I.  So I started looking into buy/making a babywearing bag.

I didn't want to spend $50+ on some of the GORGEOUS bags out there made with woven wrap material, but I wanted the same concept, and I had some fabric left over from my DIY Ikea Wrap (which I have yet to blog about).

So I asked around in a couple of groups and a friend directed me to a facebook group called "Woven DIY" where the lovely Tara had a tutorial for pretty much the exact babywearing bag I was looking for.  Long wide wrap strap, not too big, cute pattern (the little pleats in the front look great and are functional for keeping stuff from falling out of the bag without having to have a zipper or clasp or anything), and super easy for a beginner sewer.

With Tara's permission I've written out the tutorial because I really wanted to share this cute and super easy babywearing bag with all my friends!  Definitely check out the facebook group and if you have any questions I've found Tara to be prompt and extremely helpful!

Okay, let's get on with it!

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All of this is from Tara's tutorial in the facebook group with (mostly) my own pictures, unless I've specified that I did something different :)

What you need:

• 2 panels - 30 cm x 30 cm each
• one strap - 2.6m x .15m
• pocket - 17 cm x 15 cm
• sewing machine
• thread
• scissors/rotary cutter
• needles
• 1 small set of rings (I was impatient to start and just used cheap craft store rings, but actual slingrings would work better and you can get them in lots of colors.  If you're in New Zealand Woven carries them as well as other things you may need for DIY babywearing!)

Now, I'm terrible with visualizing the project even with a photo tutorial, so I'll tell you right now what *I* couldn't see before it was done.  The panels attach to the straps in a way so that the strap is also the sides and base of the bag.  Also the bag is unlined so I worried that it would all be fraying inside, but you will actually be doing a rolled hem on the inside, no fraying!  (I've posted a picture of the inside so you can see what I mean)

All the fabric you need

Cut a small taper at one end of the strap

Cut your 30cm x 30cm panels.

As you can see in the other picture, fold your panels in half and cut a small curve into the bottom corner.

Sew a double hem along the top of the panels - about 7mm wide, and line up the edge with the machine foot, with the needle set to about 4 so it nicely catches the edge.

One of my favorite things about Tara's babywearing bag is that she puts in some pleats and box stitches them in place. That way you don't need any zipper or closure to keep things from falling out of the bag. The pleats are about 2cm wide each.

Double hem the top and bottom of your pocket. Pin the pocket 35cm down from the straight edge of the shoulder strap, making it a bit slack at the top.

Sew in place. Trim the pocket so the hem matches that of the shoulder strap.

Pin the first side of the panels 28 cm down the shoulder strap.

This is the next part that was really difficult for me to visualize before hand.  You're going to start on the top of one panel as it's pinned, but then at the bottom just continue, rounding the bottom corner of the panel with the strap, then the base of the panel with the strap, around the other bottom corner, and then up to the other side of that first panel.  Then do the same with the other panel.

With the shoulder straps on the top, sew the panels onto the shoulder strap with a 2cm hem. Secure the top of the panel really well, sewing back and forwards several times. Ease around the corners carefully.

A finished corner. Sew both panels from the same end to ensure that they start and finish at the same place.
*These are Tara's pictures from her photo tutorial - The fabric shows the corners a bit better than mine, plus she does a much better job on the corners than me!!

Hem the end of the shoulder strap that will take the rings. Trim about 1cm over a 3cm length at the end.

Roll a double hem on the strap, just down from the hem.

Start sewing at the end of the taper.

Sew down to about 5cm from where the panel joins the shoulder strap. Do this on both sides of the shoulder strap.

Thread the rings onto the shoulder strap and pin down so the hem of the shoulder strap is about 3 cm down from the panel.

And now, the last part that was hard for me to see. As I said above, this is where you will be doing a rolled hem on the inside to stop the fraying.  Basically you are going from one side of the straps on the ring end, double rolling through the inside of one side of the bag, then continuing on hemming the strap, going around the corners and then double rolling through the rest of the bag and coming back to the rings on the other side - a circle... or maybe a rectangle?! hah

Stitch the end of the shoulder strap into the hem.

Rolled edge over the panel fabric. Pull on both sides of the fabric to keep them sitting flat.
I really should have touched up my nails before taking these pictures ;)

Sew over the panel hem.

Where you have the pocket hems, you are fine to trim down the shoulder strap hem a bit to make this easier to sew.

When you get to the end of the panels you just keep on sewing a basic rolled hem. Set the stitch width to 4 so it catches the edge nicely when the fabric is lined up against the foot.

Tara's photos again

1.How to do the ends tidily.

2.On the end with the obtuse angle just roll the adjacent side up.

3.Stitch into the corners and then turn around and stitch out of them again so you don't have to do a new seam.

4.Sew along the new edge.

5.For the acute corner cut off a small triangle.

6.Roll the corner over twice.

7.That's twice in this photo.

8.Roll the new edge over twice.

9.Sew into the corner.

Finished obtuse end (left) and acute end (right)

Sew the shoulder strap down in line with the panel.

Tara puts a pleat into the shoulder strap where it goes through the rings and sews tightly up against the rings using a zipper foot. This ensures that the rings stay tightly together and the fabric doesn't slip through them.
I was a bit lazy and just sewed it mainly gathered with a regular foot (as I don't have a zipper foot) so as close as I could with what I had.

This is the inside of the bag.  I didn't do the greatest job ever, you can see a couple fraying spots, but you get the idea.

Finished bag!

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Don't forget to check out the "Woven DIY" group on facebook and if you're in New Zealand, get your rings from Woven!

So far so good

Well this whole business of moving Thea into her own room has gone better than I expected! (Fingers crossed it stays this way!)

On Friday after dinner we moved the crib and at bedtime Thea and I went in there and I fed her on the double bed and as I was feeding her a current little storm got much worse! Lightening, thunder, and LOUD pelting hail just as I was laying her in the crib.  I closed the door as I left and she LOST it.  She was not happy.  I went in a few times to settle her, rub her back again, and leave only to have her screaming out again.

Thankfully the hail and thunder let up, so I made one last attempt to settle her and as I rubbed her back she started laughing at me and cuddled herself into her pillow and blankie - I knew I could leave her then for sure!

That day we had been out all morning so skipped her morning nap (and morning breastfeed) - well that skipped feed caught up with me in the night.  I woke needing to feed her, checked the clock and it was 3:45! That is the longest sleep stretch she has had in a very long time!  I snuck into her room and fed her, put her back to bed and she slept until nearly 7am!!

Then last night she went down without any fuss at all.  I heard Conor get up at one point because Elle was calling, checked the clock and it was 6am - Thea had slept through the night for the first time EVER in her 15 month little life! Both big kids were up and came for some cuddles in our bed and I could hear Thea but she was happy so she stayed in her crib until 6:45 when I went and fed her and got her up.

I'm amazed, and really wish I would have done this sooner!  I don't expect every night to go this well, but I'm so thankful for the last couple of nights.

Conor had to go do a work thing at 11 this morning so we went to 9am mass so no morning nap for Thea - it's probably time for her to drop it anyways but when she was waking at 5:30 she needed it.  She did pretty well but was getting fussy before lunch so I popped her on my back so I could get it made :)

Last weekend - Coastal Walk

Last weekend we went on an impromptu little adventure down to the beach for a "coastal walk".

We don't do big day trips with the kids or vacations or anything.  It just always seems like more work than it's worth.

The closest beach to us is St Kilda, which is just over 30 minutes away.  We continued to drive south from there to get this walk.

The kids are whiny and annoying in the car at the best of times.  Anything over 20 minutes does my head in!  At about that time, no matter where we're going, Finn starts asking why everything takes so long to drive to.

We got there and it was a bit chilly but Finn was adamant he take his shoes and socks off.  And then he proceeded to put his feet in the water.  I wasn't expecting that, good on him! Until it was time to hit the trail and we had to get all the sand off his feet and get his shoes and socks back on!

Then it started raining, and he said he just wanted to go home.  Elle was enjoying herself.  They had fun collecting some shells (Elle's idea of collecting is actually just throwing them back into the ocean!)

We stopped at a playground so Thea could get moving a bit, and to hide under cover from the rain.  Then went to a little cafe and had our lunch. And eventually headed back to the car.

It took us longer to drive there than the time spent there. Elle threw a MASSIVE fit on the beach because she didn't want to go home (she never wants to go home, especially is we're somewhere she's having fun).  Finn kept complaining of sand in his shoes.  There was a lot of screaming and crying and whining about how long the car ride was on the way home.

But I'm so glad we went.  

I loved seeing Finn in the sand (wish he would have enjoyed the beach the two years we were in Italy!) and walking right into the water, and finding cool seashells (which he's kept in a bowl and looks at daily since).  Elle thoroughly enjoyed herself - only being upset when we had to leave.  Thea thought the water and waves were hilarious.

Gonna have to do this stuff more often!

The time has come

This weekend we'll be moving Elle's crib into the "spare room" - and Thea will start sleeping in her room at night.

She has never slept through the night, and that hadn't bothered me one bit, until  a couple of months ago.

Previously she would wake once or twice to feed and go back to sleep until 6:30ish, which SEEMS early, but Finn and Elle are normally awake around then anyways so it wasn't the end of the world. 

But NOW - oh boy! I don't know if it's teething (these molars have been pretty rough for her), a phase, or something else, but I can not handle these nights anymore.

She's now waking at least 2, but more often 3, times a night and only settling after feeding.  And on top of that, she wakes up around 5:30 for the day! I can usually lay her down a couple times and keep her in her crib until 6, but even the last couple mornings that wasn't working and she'd be in our bed at 10 to 6.

This is NOT cool.  I don't think she'd fall asleep in our bed, and even if she would I'm not entirely sure I'd want to start that this late in the game anyways.

I'm just exhausted - and I now only get naps on weekends thanks to the 3 year old who MAYBE naps twice a week. Conor is so amazing though - once the big kids are awake he takes Thea out and let's me sleep until nearly 7:30 most mornings.  But I just can't handle the disrupted night.  I'd rather zero or one waking and a 6:30 start, I could handle that!

So she's packing her bags and moving to the spare room. This could just make me even more exhausted having to get up and go to another room for her - but I'm hoping with this bit of separation she will start sleeping better.

At least one of these wake ups is due to her hearing us come into the room and lay down in our very squeaky bed, so maybe even just ONE wake up will be taken care of!

We'll keep her crib in our room so she can nap in there and Finn can have his quiet time in the spare room.  Cross your fingers for us this weekend! Haha

The little stinker herself at the play place today.  She LOVED this and just kept going back and forth, back and forth over these things!

Elle's 3rd Birthday(s)

My Beautiful Silly 3 year old girl.

I've never been inclined to do BIG birthdays for the kids.  I prefer just family - but as we're half way around the world from our extended family, I do feel I want to give my kids something a bit more special on their birthdays.

Getting little goody bags together.

Birthday girl having lunch

Cupcakes and candles

About a week before Elle's birthday Conor asked her what kind of cake she wanted for her birthday and if she was excited about her birthday and she said "and my friends are going to come over, and we play, and we open presents, and we eat cake.."  So I REALLY felt like I had to do something (although I told her that mommy and daddy and Finn will give her presents but her friends will just come over to play... but they brought presents anyways so that made it extra special for her).  Conor didn't want to have anything to do with it, haha, so I decided to just have a playdate birthday during the week, and then a family one on her real birthday which was a Sunday.

Thea LOVED the fun glasses in the goody bags

Finn did too :)

Elle got a couple horsies from one family - the novelty has worn off  a bit now, but for about 3 days those horsies went EVERYWHERE with her

The more kids I have, and the more kids my friends have, the more I get overwhelmed by huge group activities.  And I don't necessarily think the kids notice or even benefit from having 20 friends over compared to 6 friends - quality over quantity, and all that.  So I decided to just invite 2 families over, which is difficult but went with a "homeschool/church school" playgroup as the two families we invited are homeschooling families AND the kids go to Catechesis of the Good Shepherd together.

She let me braid her hair!!!
I decided to braid mine too so we could be twinsies

Being silly with my girl

It turned out to be a nice day.  The kids all played really well together, and even got out to jump in the trampoline.  I bought hot dogs so they wouldn't have to rush out and we could have an easy lunch.

Present time - these are all a bit blurry - she's too fast!

Opening presents - a Dr Suess book

Instruments from Mommy and Daddy

Practising the xylophone

Unfortunately that morning we noticed Elle had a very small runny nose.. and by her real birthday the girls and I were all pretty sick with the cold (and it lasted the WHOLE week, of which Conor was on "holiday" - for the first time since I was on bed rest!!)  It was a bit of a bummer, but the weather wasn't the great anyways so we wouldn't have gotten out to do anything special as it was.  Elle enjoyed her "ice cream cake" (home made ice cream brownie bars), and we got her some instruments so the kids all had fun making "music" (I use that term VERY loosely! haha)

Got a couple books from Grandma and Grandpa
I love that they get books for the kids that Conor remembers from his childhood!

Our tradition of taking pics with the kids holding a car with their age :)

I can't believe she's three - it comes with his pros and cons of course.  Her tantrums can be EPIC, but she can also be so darn sweet!  Now that she's 3 she can go to Catechesis of the Good Shepherd with Finn and she's really enjoying it! (and Thea and I are enjoying having that 1.5 hours to ourselves!)

Impossible to get them all looking and have their numbers showing - but we tried! haha

She's a spit-fire for sure - but can't imagine what the house would be like without her (except the word quiet comes to mind).