Looming Mania

So I've discovered looming... it's like knitting, but easier and faster... which is great, because I'm terrible at knitting (I can never get the tension right)... It's rapidly becoming a bit of an addiction! In 3 days, I've made 6 beanies... the above photo are 4 of the newborn - 6 month sized beanies I've made... (I've been trying to figure out the best size and wool to use, so this is all experimental)... It's about now that Im starting to wish I'd found out the gender of this baby so I can make gender specific coloured beanies... but no biggie... For now, I'm sticking with neutral colours and if it's a girl I plan on sewing on some pretty wool flower to make them more girly.... and I might just have to make a couple of blue and pink ones and give away the ones I don't need to other people... a newborn beanie only takes me about 1 - 1 1/2 hours to make whilst I'm watching TV.... I have plans on making a baby cocoon (which is basically like a really long beanie) for the baby to keep him/her snug since this baby will be a winter baby...

And I also made these 2 beanies for my girl...

The pink one (she insisted I take the photo with her drinking the boost juice... which when you think about it is rather oxymoronic... icy cold drink whilst wearing beanie)





And a blue fuzzy flat top beanie... Beth's not fond of this one at all... I had to really convince her to wear it... I think she'd like it more if it was a girly colour!

The Awesome Green Glasses

These awesome glasses were a creation courtesy of playgroup today... she adores them to and keeps asking to wear them...

Sorry I've been a bit quiet on the blog front... I'm battling a cold at the moment which I'm hoping to shake by the time we head home to Adelaide next week... pregnancy + cold is not a lot of fun... not only that, but it is insanely hot and himd here too, which is just making the whole thing a bit less tolerable! The humidity was like 93% here this afternoon... CRAZY!

And just one other photo I wanted to share... this afternoon Beth discovered the joys of the game "Plock" (a facebook game) and has said the following to me -
(1) "This is a fun game, Mum!"
(2) "I'm really good at this game!"
(3) "Look, I got a caterpillar!" (you get different animal/people picture rating depending on how high your score is... her highest score so far is 25000, which scored her a pteradactyl, which she called a "parrot")
(4) "Mum, can you take a photo of me? Take a photo of me playing Plock!"

So how could I refuse that request... She's come a far way from the toddler that hated having her photo taken... so I snapped this photo of her playing her new favourite game -

More Than Halfway

I decided to have some creative time this afternoon while Beth was at kindy and take another belly shot... I've ummed and ahhed about posting this and have just decided to take the plunge... I love this photo, but you know, I'm not in the habit posting bare belly photos of myself... And whilst I think I don't have any huge hangups about my figure (other than my huge butt.. :p)... it still takes some courage to post this photo...

And just a bit of background on how I took this photo... It's taken on timer and taken in our rather small bathroom because the lighting is just gorgeous in the afternoon... but due to the way the bathroom is setup, I'm actually standing in the bath with the window backlighting me... it worked out well, but it took a fair bit of fiddling to set this up.

She Loves Kindy Preschool!

Today when I came to pick up Beth from kindy preschool, she was playing outside in the sandpit... When she saw me I got a big smile and bright happy "Hello!"... and then she kept on playing in the sand with one of her friends!!! No hug or kiss for me!!! She was content to stay out there in the sandpit while I went inside and collected her bits and pieces and then when I came out and asked her if it was okay to go home she said "Ok... and we come back again tomorrow!"... LOL... yes... she loves it that much! She also had a little wee accident today... I'm guessing she was enjoying herself so much, she forgot to go to the toilet! I'm starting to feel a little obsolete here... but at the same time I am so glad that she enjoys her time away from me at kindy preschool... :)

And here's what she made today at kindy preschool... a Valentine's Day card...

Enjoying my day off...

This morning I dropped Beth off at kindy preschool again for the 2nd time ever... and just like last Friday... she was happy to go, and fine to be left there by herself... I also fared much better and was no where near as mopey as I was last week and have enjoyed having some "me time" today... :)

I filled out some boring FTB forms out this morning, and then I went and got a haircut ... then came home had some lunch and have pottered around and done some things and enjoyed a little nap too... :)

I'm looking forward to picking Beth up in an hour and hearing about how her day was...

And I just thought I'd share a couple macro outtakes from January too...

My Facebook Has Been Hacked

Just letting those of my blog readers who are also my Facebook friends, that my Facebook account was hacked this morning and someone was impersonating me and trying to get people to send money to them. The scam is known as the 419 London scam and has been around since 2008... Check out this link if you want to know more -
http://www.businessinsider.com/2009/1/nigerian-scammers-still-roosting-on-facebook

Basically, the beginning of the chat transcript in that link is the exact conversation that 2 of my friends experienced with "me" this morning! Now might be a timely moment to remind everyone to change their passwords and make it something strong (make it at least 8 characters, make it contain at least one caps letter and one number)... had a strong password on mine and I still got hacked... so this is going to be a lesson for me to change my password frequently!

So my FB account has been suspended and I'm awaiting the Facebook team to reinstate the account for me.

Even Crocodiles Need Sunscreen

Elizabeth is going through a funny role playing/imaginative games phase at the moment... she often pretends to be different animals (in this photo, taken on Saturday, that's her being a crocodile... and yes, that's sunscreen you see smeared all over her face... she applied that herself... good job huh?)... but the last couple of days she keeps saying "Mum, I'm a mermaid..." followed by "Hi Mum" and then if I reply with "Hi Elizabeth", she keeps on repeating "Mum, I'm a mermaid... Hi Mum!"... until I say "Hi Ariel" (from The Little Mermaid)... Then she's started designating roles for me to play... the most popular thing she likes me to be is a turtle... "Mum... you're a turtle... Hi Turtle!"... LMAO... It got a little ridiculous tonight when she said to me "Turtle, I want to get out of the bath."... "Turtle, I need to go to the toilet"... What the? I like being "Mum", not "Turtle"!

Another funny thing she said to me .... I was heating her dinner up the other night she goes to me "Mum... What's up?"... like it was normal conversation... (I had no idea what to say to her when she said that!)... She's said heaps of other hilarious things lately, but I can't remember them... I'll have to start jotting them down, because some of them have me in hysterics!

The Lion Sleeps Tonight

Elizabeth is currently *obsessed* with this video clip of a hippo and dog singing/dancing to "The Lion Sleeps Tonight"... I found it on youtube and she would listen to it all day if I would let her! She's watched it and listened to it so many times she's memorised the actions and moves of the dog and the hippo ... and now she makes Phan and I role play along with her and she says "Daddy, you dance like a dog and I sing like a hippo" or "Mummy, you sing like a hippo and I dance like a dog"... LOL.... The other night Phan managed to captured it on video... The awesome video editing with the video insert of the hippo in the top right hand corner was done by Phan with his highly advanced video-editing skills... :) Notice her facial expressions while she sings.... she frowns just like the hippo does when it sings and then changes her expression to match the hippo!

My heart is walking around outside my body...

There is a quote that I read a while ago that goes -

"Making the decision to have a child is momentous.
It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body."
Elizabeth Stone


Never a truer quote could have reflected the way I felt this morning... We had a slightly out of routine morning in that we had to drop of Phan at work as he was car-less (his car is in for some minor repairs)... So we had to wake poor Beth up at 7:20am (she could slept longer... she had such a big day at kindy yesterday and went to bed early (for her!) at 8:30pm...)... but she happily ate her breakfast in the car... and then we got home and she got to watch one episode of Playschool before we got dressed and ready for kindy...

I'd been told to "go away Mummy" twice this morning... once when I woke her up to leave (she was tired and wanted to keep sleeping) and then I got told to "go away Mummy... I brush my teeth by myself"... Gee, she was little miss independent this morning!

So we got to the childcare centre and as usual she insisted on wearing her Little Miss Sunshine bag (she has wanted to do this every day we've gone to kindy) and then she traipsed up the steps all by herself, for the first time not wanting to hold my hand and walking excitedly ahead of me... I was so proud to see her becoming more independent, but so nostalgic at the same time... my little girl is growing up...

We got there, put her back in her locker, then she said to me "Can I go and play?" and I said, "Yes, you can... off you go!" and then I put her lunch and afternoon tea in the fridge had a quick chat to Shona her teacher... Elizabeth had already gotten comfy on some cushions on the floor with one of her new friends Kayla and they were reading books together and chatting... so I went up to her, asked her if she was okay to stay at kindy by herself (to which she replied "uh huh"), said to her I'd be back to pick her up after afternoon tea, told her I loved her and gave her a kiss on the cheek... She watched me leave through the sliding door and waved goodbye and that was it... no tears... no separation anxiety... I was shocked and amazed... To think, a year ago I couldn't leave her line of sight without her freaking out ... even 6 months ago, I couldn't leave her at playgroup with one of the other mum's watching her to get something from my car, she had to come with me.... My goodness, how far she's come... she's so brave... I had some tears in my eyes as I left, but I was so relieved that she didn't cry ...

I rang the centre to check Elizabeth had settled in okay at 11am and Shona told me she was fine... she'd done some painting and was at that moment singing Happy Birthday with a pretend cake with Kayla...

So I picked up Elizabeth at 3pm (I had planned on 2:30pm, but I got held up with an insurance claim phone call - I had a prang last weekend in a car park when I was reversing out of a carpark spot and about to move forward when a huge ute backed into the passenger door on the right side and left a huge dent in the door and rendered it unable to be opened. Even though the other guy admitted fault, the insurance company on seeing the damage and a diagram of the incident has said that each party is responsible for their damange... so I had to put an insurance claim in... bugger... annoying, but it was a minor accident and at least Elizabeth and I weren't injured)... She looked like she had had fun at kindy (wasn't upset or anything) and when she saw me she said "Mummy came back!" and excited came over and gave me the biggest hug! The afternoon teacher Andrea (who is also the director of the centre) said Elizabeth had been fine and just lovely... so that was a relief. She also wanted me to carry her back to the car, so I picked her up and carried her for a little bit, but then got her to walk, 'cos she's getting heavy!

She told me about her day... and from what I've deciphered from her bits and pieces she did some drawing... and painted a caterpillar (with "a long body, legs and 2 antennae"... ) and listened to a story about a boy and a dragon... She also did show-and-tell and brought her rainbow book along to show everybody (the one with the ribbons in it that Auntie Bec got her for her 1st bday) Also during nap time, I think they listened to a Disney CD because she keeps singing the opening song from the Lion King... LOL...

She's now having some chillout downtime and some more afternoon tea in front of Playschool (no nap again for her... but I'm not surprised)

So here we are... I've left my baby in the big world by herself for the first time... the start of a new chapter... And I know now a bit how my mum must have felt on my first day of school... apparently, I was itching to go to school and was pushing mum out the door and telling her to go home ... LOL... my poor mum! So, Elizabeth must have inherited a little bit of my personality... :)

I'll have to be more productive on her kindy days in the future and stop moping around the house... I think I'll book myself in for a haircut next week.

And I can't post without a photo... so another outtake from last month of my big, grown-up girl twirling and spinning...

Outtake 3 - In the Company Friends

A couple of snaps from our visit to Veronica's house earlier in January... these two are very funny together.

I'm exhausted today from being at kindy with Beth all day ... 9:30am-4pm... the days keep getting longer and longer every time we go... she just has so much fun there and takes a bit of convincing to go home! She has really started getting along and playing really well with a couple of little girls ... One little girl and Beth made up a song about not being scared and they sang it together a gazillion times and laughed everytime ... then they managed to rope 2 little boys into singing with them... so there was little chorus of 4 voices singing this really strange madeup song... very cute and hilarious, the teachers even thought it was funny.... The same little girl even said to me this morning... "I think you have a baby in your tummy..." which was just so sweet and made me laugh... glad she didn't think I was just fat!!! Beth also got a chance to play outside for the very first time since we started (last week, we missed the outdoor time on the Thursday and it rained on the Friday)... Beth loooved playing there on the slide and in the sandpit and climbing wooden ladders and pushing wheelbarrows around... Tomorrow I'll be leaving here there by herself for the first time, so we'll see how that goes... *fingers crossed*...

Hot Potato

So Beth was helping me wash potatoes for dinner the other day and she decides to break out into song...

Outtake 2 - A Bear Hug From Claire

This photo taken following the baptism of Claire's sister Amy... these two little clowns were playing together, hugging and being very funny and very silly...

Outtake 1 - A Little Touch Of Cwazy...

As promised... one of the many outtakes from January... I love her funny expression in this photo! This is an outtake from the photo taken on Day 11...