So I had a few hiccups with the Wordpress sites, so that some things weren’t showing up, or showing up correctly, but now I’m pretty sure I’ve got it all fixed. Let me know if you see something odd (AFTER you try reloading the page and/or restarting your browser, in case it’s something on your end).
So anyway. If you haven’t seen the new improved Little Para Pants site, go look.
Because I haven’t been able to post for so long, I’m catching up. So here’s a few more things to tell you all.
Darrin’s gotten the second week in September off work, for a big roadtrip to & from Canberra. We may even hit Melbourne on our way back & do Caleb’s American citizenship stuff if it’ll all work.
Little Para Pants has also been Wordpressed. And it’s got a nice little online shop plugin, so somebody go buy something! Still keeping the Etsy shop open as well, because it’s cheap advertising. I’ve got new nappies on display in both shops, and have more fabric on order, and waiting on a couple nappy samples from someone who sells them & wants me to design a new nappy with features from both of those. So I’ve got plenty to do.
And I don’t think I mentioned that I’m a sponsor of next month’s Great Down Under Nappy Hunt, so now I have.
For those of you who haven’t seen them yet, here are photos of Ian. In the next couple days I’ll try to get new photos of Caleb up there too.
How are we doing…well, that’s the million dollar question, isn’t it? And you’ll get a million different answers, at least from me, depending on when you ask. Overall though, it’s sort of a rollercoaster – sometimes up, sometimes down, and you never know how long the up is going to last before something gets triggered. Physically though, I was feeling as good at two weeks post-Ian as I was at three MONTHS post-Caleb. And it seemed almost wrong in a way, what with everything else spinning out of control.
There are apparently people out there (though I haven’t run into any of them yet) who would say to just get over it & move on, but you know what? You don’t get over something like this. Sure, it heals over time, but just like with a broken leg that heals, a change in the weather or a bump in the wrong way will make it ache again.
The garden. In the last couple weeks I’ve done a lot. I was going to just give up on the stuff I planted before Ian was born, but then I saw new leaves forming, so I thought I’d mulch around them & see how they go. And now I’ve planted potatoes, and strawberry plants, and an apple tree & an almond tree. This morning I started off some seeds in egg cartons again – capsicum, lettuce, and celery. And peas in a planter box. And in a few days (when I find some room in the garden) I’ll put some carrots in too. Or, hmm, I’ve got a big plant pot that would be deep enough for good sized carrots. Might do them in there.
What’s up with Caleb? Full sentences. Empathy. Trains. Thomas. More Thomas. Still more Thomas. Warning: cute kid story ahead!
A couple weeks ago Caleb & I were out shopping. I’d bought some donuts, and gave him one (which he only ate a little of), and I had one, and I dropped the last bit of it on the ground. So I picked it up, put it in a bin nearby, and came back to Caleb in the shopping trolley. And right away he lifts his arms up to hug me, and goes “Aw poor Mum, sorry Mum, Mum ok?”
Every time we go into a shop now, he’s on the lookout for Thomas. When he first got into it, he’d spy something halfway down an aisle and say “Thomaaaaaas!” excitedly. Now, of course, he just remembers where ALL the Thomas things are, ALL over the store, and tells me how to get to them.
Okay, it’s bedtime. Gotta put my iced tea in the fridge before I go off though.
{mosimage}So Darrin’s mostly finished up at SEHS. He’s done two Saturdays there and may do a little more as needed. He’s liking the new job – the only downside is leaving the house at 7:45 every morning and not getting home till just after 6 most nights. But it’s working out well for the most part.
I have a zillion sewing projects I want to get finished before this baby arrives, including some maternity clothes. Really should get those going, shouldn’t I? And my chiropractor has ordered five nappies from me, and she’s due 4 days before me. But two are already finished, so I really only need to do three more. I got some fabric to make Caleb another pair of pajamas, and I’m also doing a set of curtains/drapes for a friend (as soon as I have the measurements).
Caleb…just gets better every day. He just put one of his bears on the potty to do a poo. ;) And he’s very talkative. He’ll try any word except his name. It’s amazing how much he picks up without us even trying (i.e. he’s saying ‘no thanks’ and ‘thank you’ now of his own accord, even though we’ve never prompted him to do so – he’s just picked it up from us saying it to him).
Baby’s still in there. I was getting a little worried at one point that I hadn’t felt any movement for a while, but Lisa came over & checked with her doppler and worked out that baby just decided to hide behind the placenta for a bit. He/she has shifted again in the last week and I’m feeling a lot more kicks, hiccups, etc. again. Oh, and I’m at the point where I wouldn’t mind my very own live-in chiropractor and/or massage therapist. I’ve been visiting the chiro every two weeks, but I’m thinking I might have to increase it to every week soon. Now that my regular one has gone on maternity leave, I’m seeing one of her colleagues – who incidentally sounds like an American. Haven’t yet asked her where she’s from (I’ve only seen her once so far and it didn’t really seem like the right time).
Garden stuff now. I’ve got cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage, lettuce, and celery in the veggie patch. I also had two pea plants, but I didn’t water them when I transplanted them, so they died. This week (assuming my body cooperates, and the nursery gets them in) I’m planning to plant some seed potatoes. And last week, I bought a peach sapling and two small blueberry bushes and planted them. So I’m working on the orchard now as well. I have so many plans (including a chicken shed), but I don’t think most of them are going to happen till a few months after this baby comes. I was really hoping to get a lot of it done before, but it wasn’t to be.
And I actually turned the heater on this morning for the first time this year. It was a whopping 16C (62F) in the lounge when we woke up.
And now…away to the post office! Read the rest of this entry »
Well, that sewing bug I had didn’t last very long. But I guess the two week heat wave had something to do with that. There isn’t really any air conditioning in the room where my sewing machine is, unless I plug in a fan, but even then it’s not enough at 40+ degrees.
However, I did borrow a friend’s overlocker/serger last week, and sewed together all the insides & outsides of the nappies I’ve had stacked up for months. Now all that’s left is the leg elastic, turning them right side out, top stitching, and fasteners. And I’ve already completely finished one, and aside from some trial & error with getting the snaps all in the right places, snaps are a heck of a lot easier and quicker than sewing in velcro everywhere.
So. Now that it’s cooler, I’m hoping to get the bug again and finish off some more projects, especially the ones I can sell. Read the rest of this entry »
{mosimage}It feels good to be able to keep on top of the housework again, AND do some stuff I enjoy doing. Still having the occasional nauseous day, but they’re getting fewer & further between.
I made a purple t-shirt for Caleb out of one of my old shirts. He loves purple, and the holes in the armpits weren’t worth fixing anymore. He loves it.
Thanks to my little garden helper, I now only have one cucumber plant left – the one in the hanging basket. I have five broccoli plants still making broccoli. This morning I ripped out a couple of the ones I’d cut down too far, so they weren’t getting the side shoots they’re supposed to get after the main head is cut off.
We’re getting new tyres put on the back of our car tomorrow. I’m planning to keep the old ones and use them for my zucchini.
One of the dead branches on our apricot tree fell off this afternoon – right onto Caleb’s sandpit. Lucky he wasn’t playing in it at the time.
And…uh…I think that’s everything. Now I need to go have a shower so I don’t have to do it in the morning. Read the rest of this entry »
{mosimage}So in the last week I’ve gotten the sewing bug again, partly because I want to make some maternity clothes, but I have too many other projects half-finished and don’t want to have yet another one sit around for months. So here’s what I’ve done this week:
Still left to do, at least what I can remember:
Projects to start:
So yeah, that’ll keep me busy for a while…. Read the rest of this entry »
{mosimage}And the 42 degree day claimed the lives of 2 pumpkin vines, one zucchini plant, and one cucumber plant. Everything else is looking okay. The cucumber plant in the hanging basket, however, is looking MORE than okay. It’s the only one to have flowers, and it looks like it’s trying to climb up onto the roof. Read the rest of this entry »
{mosimage}So I had the opportunity to use a snap press this weekend, for some nappies that I was making for myself. (I mean for myself to use on my own children – I certainly won’t be wearing them.) And as sore as my arms are today after using it for seventy-two snap pieces, I liked it. It’s much much easier than sewing the velcro on each one. Takes about the same amount of time as sewing on the velcro, but it’s less fiddly. And little kids work out how to undo velcro a lot sooner than they work out snaps. So now of course I want one. So I told Darrin to get me one for Christmas. :) Read the rest of this entry »
{mosimage}It’s been a couple months now since I rearranged the long room into two separate spaces. I promised pictures. Here they are.
{mosimage} Sewing room, complete with Guard Cat.
{mosimage} Toy room. It always looks like that.
{mosimage} Toy room from another angle Read the rest of this entry »
So I’ve been getting sick of having so little space to do stuff, and at the same time, been getting sick of tripping over Caleb’s toys everywhere. I had my sewing machine on a corner table inside an old playpen (because it’s really not helpful to have a toddler playing with the foot pedal while I’m trying to thread a needle), and once Caleb worked out how to get up on the spare bed in that room, I had to block off that end of the room anyway because the ironing board & iron were blocked off by the bed. And I’ve been thinking about it for several days, and trying to work out how to do it, and I finally came up with a plan. Divide the Long Room in half and put my sewing room at the far end, and Caleb’s toys at the other end. So first I had to dismantle the double bed and stand it up against one wall. Then of course the playpen wouldn’t stay where it was, so I had to drag in the shelves that I was going to use for a divider. And then I realised they were too tall for me to climb over. Oops. No problem. That little set of drawers is low enough. So I climbed over that, took down the playpen, moved my sewing table into the corner, and moved the drawers up against the wall. And then I needed to work out what else I could use for a divider to replace the drawers, so that Caleb couldn’t get through but I could. The folded up playpen. Which also allows the cats to get through it and hide if they’re feeling the need for personal space. So then I put all Caleb’s toys in the new Toy Room end of the room, and then he decided to have a nap for the first time in I can’t remember how long. Ahhhh…a break.
So yeah, new sewing room, new toy room, and clean rest of the house. Mostly.
