The Belleh

Ever since being pregnant with Jada I have always wanted to do this... So as we find ourselves flirting with week 39 I thought I'd better make it happen this time because this will most likely be my last chance!

My sister agreed to do the deed for me - it's not quite as polished as I had hoped but I still love it. (Transferring the design proved to be very tricky) Thankfully the baby had a nice deep sleep while it was being applied :)

IT'S A....

BOY!!!!!!!!

My first words to Monte were "Hello baby, you look familiar"

Hard to believe that was only last year...and here we are again! Madness! But thoroughly exciting. I love not knowing the gender. The anticipation is so unbearable but so satisfying. In a culture where everything is so immediately satiated and information is instantly accessible with the internet, it's thrilling to NOT know something! It's like being a kid on Christmas Eve again. SO unbearable. I can't wait to meet the life inside!! :)

Summing it up

Today was a really nice day. But for no particular reason. These were the parts that made up the sum:

* sunshine (instant mood lifter!)

* wind and sun-dried laundry (inlcuding our bed sheets and fresh, white newborn clothes *cluck cluck* )

* homeschool sports day (historically the worst day on my schooling calendar, definitely waay more fun when you're the mum! haha)

* bought some henna to do this (hopefully on Sunday)

* saw friends (briefly)

* got a cheque in the mail for $110 for some art I've had in downtown gallery for awhile (I'll be using it to buy maternity bras! oh joy...)

* kids in bed by 6pm (well, one is still up, but he's way to cute to be annoyed at!)

* chocolate on ice

* good movie to watch - The Diving Bell and The Butterfly (French with subtitles so will have to concentrate)

yep, a good day :)

Festive Flags vs Birth Prep

At 38 weeks pregnant and a previous birth history of: no.1 being dead-on due date, no.2 being 5 days early and no.3 being 2 weeks late I really have no idea what to expect with this wee bundle. I've just heard that an acquaintance has had her baby 10 days early. If that were to happen to me, that means we'd have a baby before the week is out!!!!!! *deep breath*
At least I'd have some super-swoon worthy festive flags already flying gaiely at my front door even if I don't have the birth pool...or maternity pads...or newborn nappies...or breast pads... or.....

Home Sweet Home

I just spent the weekend at my mum's while JR was down in Hastings. It's always a treat as I don't have to do meals for 3 full days (whoop!) and I usually get to do crafty stuff guilt-free (whoop x2!)

Day 1 Mum pulls out this little goldmine:

It's an entire drawer FULL of gorgeous wooden Janet and John images and words. Giddy!!! We had feverish fun stamping them onto fabric with fabric ink. My mum has borrowed them from a local school (with a tragically low decile) who, we can only hope, doesn't send them to the rubbish dump when they realise that the rest of the world now uses tacky "Excellent!"/"You're a star!"/ "Great Effort!" and smiley face stamps now. There were a bunch of double-ups so was begging my mum to ask the principal if we could pleasepleaseplease at least buy those ones off them. Will see...

Day 2: I finally got to play with the Masking Fluid.

And it was exactly as much fun as I had hoped!

Do I count as an "artist" now???

I'm in print my peeps!!
whoop-whoop.
My art entry gained 2nd placing and gets a feature in the Franklin Edition Post. (Ok, so there's probably about 10 people in total who have it delivered but everyone starts somewhere right?!)
See my fame and glory here on page 17!!!!

I feel like singing Miley Cyrus right now~
....aint about how fast i get there, aint about what's waiting on the other siii-i-ii-ide, it's the climb....


PS there is an explanation for the title, "Can you tell?" , but that's a whole nother story!! hehe

Portrait Drawing Lesson

For homeschool group today we had the privilege of being taught by a Real Live Artist how to draw portraits. Ty was very excited about it but unfortunately as soon as the tutor began asking the kids to "divide your page in half, and from half, divide it into three...etc" he was completely out of his 3 year old depth! It was really aimed at 8 yr olds + at least and I wondered if Jada was coping ok a few times but she hung in there and learnt heaps. Here is her result.

Take a bow My Darling, you did great! xx

Memorial Journal

So I decided to go ahead and make a cover for a visual diary for the family up the road who tragically lost their 21 month old (same age as Monte.. :( ) last week.

It's my hope that it gets filled with lots of lovely memories, milestones and photos of their sweet daughter and sister.

I rearranged the gorgeous free patterns from Cinderberry for the design

Sneaky "summer" holiday

We've just spent the last 2 weeks on holiday at Waihi Beach and Whangamata Beach. 2 weeks I really didn't think I had the time to take off (with only 4 weeks left of this pregnancy, I am obsessed with my To Do List!) but I absolutely loved it and needed it.

Jada asked me this afternoon if we were going away on holiday again. I told her no, to which she replied "Yes! No more holidays. I like my home". It is good to be home again. I'm looking forward to nesting a bit and preparing to welcome our sweet Number Four in a few weeks.