Update on Baby Boy ~ 32 weeks

Can you believe I still have 8 weeks to go?

I had another appointment with my Obstetrician yesterday and was keen to ask why I have been feeling so uncomfortable... sick even... lately. I mean, look at the size of my tummy!

The doctor started by measuring my tummy... 35cm! I am currently 32 weeks + 2 days pregnant, so my tummy should be about 32cm. Then he measured the baby's head...and that is measuring 35 weeks too! Furthermore, baby has turned and is head-down and 'engaged' 3/5ths! 

The doctor measured the head another 3 times (I was nearly crying, thinking there was something wrong with the size of the baby's head), however the doctor assured me he is fine, no fluid on brain and took ALL his measurements and concluded he is just a big baby, growing very rapidly! 

He measured baby's tummy (35 weeks), the femur bones in his legs (35 weeks) and various other measurements, all indicating 35 weeks pregnant. Even the amniotic fluid is measuring at the higher end too... 

The doctor said if he was seeing me for the first time ever yesterday and didn't know my history, he would say I am 35 weeks pregnant. 

He won't adjust my due date for now, although he did say I will probably go into labour pre-term. If it happens before 36 weeks (ie. the next 3.5 weeks) he will give me steroids to stop labour... If it happens at or over 36 weeks, he will deliver. Of course, I still could be 8 weeks away from delivery... no one knows. He wonders if I will set a record at the hospital if I go full term... He estimates baby currently weighs 2.5 kgs and his best guess is he will be about 4.5kg at birth (Livvie was 4.2kg, Elly was 4.1kg). 

Yikes! 

However, the good news is that Baby Boy is growing well and I honestly think this has been the fastest pregnancy ever! I think we had better buy a mattress for his cot - pronto!

Book Parade

Image from here

This week, we celebrated Book Week. This meant lots of exciting events at school for Livvie; a Book Fair, Book Sale and most anticipated of all... the Book Parade!

Livvie has known for weeks which book character she wanted to dress up as for the parade. The only problem for me was how to make a costume from a book that is yet to be published!

A few weeks ago, the author Aaron Blabey (2012 National Literacy Ambassador) visited her school and read from his latest book, to be published in October; The Dreadful Fluff. And since then, it has become Livvie's favourite book. From what she told me, it's about a little girl who finds a ball of fluff and it grows and grows, swallowing up her whole family!

I only had two pictures to go by, the front cover (see above) and this charming image;

Image from here

Livvie wanted to be a completely white Dreadful Fluff, however I convinced her to let me paint some blue onto the fluff...

The outer layer was thick quilt batting (nice and fluffy!) and I lined the inside with soft white felt and sandwiched a piece of firm interfacing between the two layers;

I was a bit worried she wouldn't want to wear it (too big? too itchy? too fluffy?). No! She couldn't have been more excited and didn't take it off all day. 

I must admit, it was very exciting to see all the school kids in their costumes during the parade yesterday afternoon; it was a huge production (almost like a rock concert!) ~ every child got to go on stage and show off their costume. Teachers dressed up too and there was a real festival atmosphere.

However, when the Librarian made a speech after all the classes had shown off their costumes, she said;

 'It's so fantastic to see so many great costumes. I've even seen a costume from a book that's not even published yet! It gets printed next month - The Dreadful Fluff! But I'm just not sure the child has told her mother where The Dreadful Fluff originates from...'  

I could have died! Livvie  told me it was a bit of fluff out of the washing machine. Now I am worried about where the fluff originates from... a belly button? or somewhere more sinister?!?!

I think I will definitely have to buy the book, to find out!  

Sew Together - My Best Friend

 Today I have a guest post at Sew Together, one of my very favourite blogs. Maryanne and Caroline are sisters, who sew some amazing things for their children and they have been asking others what their 'Best Friend' is, in the sewing world....

Can you guess mine?

Elly's Kitchen

Today Elly wanted to make a Menu for her Kitchen (We have to play 'Cafe's' almost every single day). She found some Palm Cards and then came her requests,

 'Mum! How do you spell Carrots?' 

'How do you spell Eggplant?' 

'How do you spell Hot Dogs?'

'How do you spell Zucchini?'

And the last one... 'Mum! How do you spell..... Everlasting Gobstoppers?'

Fathers Day Cards

Fathers Day {in Australia} is only a few weeks away.  I like these free printables from Tiny Me, that can be personalised with your child's name. I made some for my girls to give Nick (in their favourite colours!);

We go together like... Coffee and Donuts (Nick's favourite treat)

 We go together like... Milk and Cookies.

Aren't they cute! More designs here.

Studies in Nature

The other day we went outside to find a bird in the process of attacking a tiny mouse. Apart from the shock of seeing a mouse in our yard (yikes!), the girls were horrified to see what the bird was doing to the mouse... 

'THAT BIRD IS NOT CARING FOR NATURE!!!!' yelled Elly.

We calmed her down and Nick explained that, 'Birds eat mice, just like we eat....'

'Chicken!' exclaimed Elly.

'Mmmm-Mmmmm', said Livvie dreamily, 'I just looove crispy chicken!'

Of course, the girls are now quite interested in the food chain and who eats what! (Or should I say who eats who?)

Cheeky Monkeys

We were cooped up inside for most of yesterday, due to the gale force winds in Sydney. There were sticks and branches falling from the trees and our laundry door flew off it's hinges and the glass at the top of the door smashed, as it came crashing to the ground. Luckily we were all inside, because that is right in the path of where the girls ride their bikes!

Late in the afternoon, the girls were playing in the living room while I cooked dinner.... I could hear some jumping and then two big bumps as they landed on the floor. So I peeked in and reminded them; 

'No jumping on the furniture!'.

There was silence for a few minutes. Then another loud bump.

Elly said, 'I don't think you should be doing that'

To which Livvie replied, 'Mum said 'No jumping on the furniture, she didn't say anything about jumping OFF the furniture!'

Anyway, I think we are all looking forward to summer;

{when the girls can be cheeky monkey monkeys outside}

Baby Burp Cloths

While I had some time yesterday, I also made some Baby Burp Cloths. I had seen this style over at MADE, where Dana has an easy tutorial for a Baby Burp Cloth Gift Set.

I had some Chenille left over from softies I made years ago, so I used that for the backing;

It's so soft! And I used up the last of my boy-ish scraps for the top fabric;

I hope I get the chance to make some more to use at home, but if I don't, these will go in the baby bag to take on outings...

Hooded Beach Towel for Baby

It was the Bank Holiday today so Nick had the day off work. He decided to take Elly to the beach and with Livvie at school, that gave me the whole day to myself (Thank you, Nick!). He even did the school drop-off and pick-up for me (and when he got home at 3.30pm, he said those words all us Mum's want to hear every now and then; 'I don't know how you do it!!!!').  He was exhausted! 

That's when I said, 'It's not over yet.... it's time to make afternoon tea, supervise homework, start dinner and give the girls a bath'.  Those are the things that happen before he gets home of an evening, but I did give him a reprieve from all of that today (I'm sure he will get plenty of practice in those things when Baby comes along!).

Anyway, today I enjoyed sewing a few things for Baby. First up was a Beach Towel. I know it is still winter but I am very keen for the weather to warm up some more! I bought this blue chevron print at the Craft Depot many moons ago and I had no idea what I would make with it, until I saw the great tutorial for the Hamptons Hooded Beach Towel on Prudent Baby. 

It's a tricky thing to photograph, but very easy to make;

I used one of our softest white towels for the lining (yes, I cut up a towel... to make another towel! I am sure this is one of those things I will look back on post-pregnancy and shake my head in disbelief!) 

As for the print.... I had only bought 1 metre, so I didn't have the luxury of fussy-cutting the hood so the stripes matched up perfectly, but it is close enough and at this point in time, close enough is good enough!

 Luckily, we got a new {very high} perimeter fence around our house last week, so the neighbours can't see the crazy pregnant lady next door, dangling a hooded towel over the pool, to get a photo for her blog!)

When Elly got home, she was quick to wrap up Dolly in the new towel...

It was quite a hit during the girls play-time this afternoon. 

However, true to life....I later found the towel crumpled in a pile on her bedroom floor! 

Impromptu Pampering

Poor Nick - he can't even sit down to read (a baby magazine, no less!) without being pounced on by his personal hair and make-up team....

But I think he secretly likes all the female attention he gets in this house. I didn't hear any complaining...

Fresh Lemonade

Little Livvie woke up with a fever this morning. She missed Ballet and we had to cancel an afternoon play-date with a friend, but not the little activity I had planned for them. I thought that making some fresh lemonade would be fun and give her a good boost of vitamin C!

As you can see from the picture above, our lemon tree is bursting with lemons right now. And they are huge! I think we can thank Nick's over-zealous pruning last year.  In the last few weeks, I've made lemon slice, lemon cupcakes, lemon muffins and today it was time for some lemonade!

Livvie squeezed the juice out of four lemons;

Poor thing, she looks so pale, but was in good spirits as usual....

Even when she is sick, she is still the same, smiling, sweet little girl.

And we added this to a 'simple syrup' (1 cup sugar dissolved in 1 cup of water, over heat for a few minutes);

Then we added another 3 cups of cold water and popped it in the fridge for 30 minutes.
Before we knew it, it was time for afternoon tea!

I transferred the lemonade into a lidded jug, so we wouldn't have any accidents carrying it outside and we had a little picnic on our front steps, in the sun!

Mmmm-Mmmmm! 

Delicious!