handmade toys

baby activity gym. I saw some wooden play gyms like these that I loved but they were all quite pricey. The solution? Take 1 good friend who teaches woodwork and is willing to spend free class time making up a frame for me. Add a little bit of op-shopping for some wooden toys. Finish off by reusing some wooden beads and the ribbon that baby presents have come wrapped in. And all this equals an excellent and very nice looking baby gym.

Then I just add our lovely big sheepskin that we bought in New Zealand and a few little toys and we have a great baby play area. I might look for a little baby friendly mirror to tie to one of the legs next.

And while I am posting I have to add this for the avid pony collector in the family, Mum. In my new issue of Frankie there is an article with a Finnish artist who customises My Little Ponies into pop culture icons. `
The artists name is Mari Kasurinen and you can see her ponies here.

38 weeks

38 weeks pregnant. Feeling much bigger then 6 weeks ago. I don't think the photo does the size of the bump justice...it feels a lot bigger then it looks in this photo

:: Still feeling that I have had quite an easy pregnancy and thankful for that. 

:: Only had a couple of sleepless nights recently. A combination of a yucky cold and a big belly resulted in these restless nights. 

:: Have had two really good night sleeps since and feel like a new person. 

:: Baby is facing down in the right position and I am having quite a few pre-labour contractions. So far so good. 

::Baby is stilling moving around a lot and jabbing its little foot into my side.

I had a fun time at a little baby party thrown by some good friends on friday night. It was a very eclectic mix of people; from 20 year old girls who baked cupcakes, and sewed sock monkeys, to 60 year old men who brought the home brew (non-alcoholic ginger beer for me!). We got lots of cute outfits given to us which was very sweet. We also got this lovely present on our doorstep today from aunty-to-be Stacey. It is a very cute nappy cake. We feel very lucky to have so many special and thoughtful people thinking of us and the bump. 

Gardening

The sun actually made an appearance around these parts so I made the most of it and took the bump out to do some gardening. We both enjoyed being in the sun. Baby jumped about and I was warm enough to take my jumper off.  
We planted spinach, rocket and pumpkin seedlings. I hope that by the time baby makes and appearance in the outside world the seedlings are also popping there heads out to see the sunshine.

Bobbles

Time to share a new knitting project I completed a little while ago. Recently I learnt to make bobbles for a sock pattern. The Sock was started in April and will probably be finished by 2015! Despite the laborious task, that is The Sock, like doing the bobbles, they are addictive. So using mohair yarn that I found on sale I made a comfy, bobble scarf for these freezing Melbourne days. Nice and simple and, most importantly, quick to finish.

Ah, so satisfying to have a completed project.

A lot has been happening

But I haven't been blogging! I blame the millions of photos I have that make loading any new ones onto my computer a slow and tedious process. However yesterday I spent a few hours cleaning my computer of old files and storing some of the photos on disc and now the computer is running a little better, so no excuses! I need to prepare for the millions of baby photos which I am sure will soon grace the blog!

Things are starting to look ready for a baby around here. We have bought everything we can think of needing for now and have started organising and cleaning in preparation. We are just waiting on the crib we ordered to come in. I definitely have the nesting bug and am forever finding new things to scrub, even the doorknobs haven't escaped my frenzy!

The spare room/ baby room has an amazing bed in it for guests. See the stripy box, it has a bed folded up inside it. What a great invention! So we are ready for all the guests coming from Queensland to meet the new addition.
I have also been doing a lot of sewing, knitting and painting.I can't stop making things for baby, it is so much fun to create and dream of the little person I am making it for. I made this quick little quilt one cold Saturday. It has an op-shopped fleece blanket on the back and was sewn up quickly with minimal measuring. So we will call it a modern baby quilt, not following any strict rules.

While I am mentioning op-shopping I have to show these shoes I got the other day for $1. I think they are the cutest thing in the world! I hope they will be the right size for when baby starts walking.

And lastly, me and the bump at 35 weeks pregnant. Feeling very full of baby. We think he/she will be great on the monkey bars because it feels like it is constantly swinging on my ribs.


Well there you go, a random post, with a lot of rambling! I will have to try and get back in the habit so my posts are more succinct. Hope you enjoyed the hapazard update. Maybe it is just showing how my pregnant brain is operating at the moment!