Living my dream

Sunday musings

Well here we are, another day down and thankfully the weekend is nearly over. That means we can stop worrying about having this baby while the midwife is away and get on with it! LOL. As my dare for this weeks No 8 Wired dare LO says.....bring it on! Now guys, you've gotta check out the dare this week. Its a fun one and more importantly, there is a PRIZE for the winner! Its a cool scrapping prize which will help keep you inspired for a while and very kindly donated by BLUE BAZAAR.

Anyway, here's my LO this week. The journalling is the major component for this LO. Quite a bit more than I'd normally do, but I'm so thrilled with it.

Yesterday I spent the day with friends scrapping. These ladies are incredible. I've only known them for about a year, maybe longer and mostly online, but when I do catch up with them I come away with a sore tummy from all the laughing. Its soooooo much fun. And this time I actually got some scrapping done too.

A few of them read my blog so I hope I don't embarress them or myself by being soppy, but I just wanted to touch on how scrapping has added to my life. I've met so many people through it and really value these new friendships. Really. We are all different, but have the same common purpose and its just a real treasure.

Ok, so here is the LO I mostly completed while I was out there (yep Lucy, I finished it this afternoon!). Its using a heap of the gorgeous SR range (can anyone tell I've recently fallen in love with another manufacturer?! LOL).

The photo was taken at scrapcamp in May and the photo has been shared before. But here it is in a LO. I had a heap of fun putting it all together, adding stitching, flowers, rubons, all those good things! Rach and Donna and I went as PJ clad, preggie, pink ladies. Can you tell who has the REAL preggie tum?! LOL! I think Rach and Donnas were a bit mishapen. LOL! Fiona and her sister also shared our room and it was great to meet them! We had a great time.

Ok, off now. Time for some baking with the kids. Open home is over for this week, so time to get it all messy again! LOL.

Have a good one.

Still here

Well, I've got heaps to say and yet can remember nothing. I think I just wanted to log on and say yep, still here and in one piece.

Been scrapping more, but you'll just have to go to No 8 Wired to check out my latest - there is a cool new dare there and I can't wait to see your take on it (I'll put mine up soon). I've been using heaps of Scenic Route papers and their 'stuff' lately and loving them and you'll see more on this LO. The funny thing is that its really hard to find. I've got 4 LSS's near me and not one of them stocked it and 1 hadn't even heard of it! Now whats the story with that?! So I put in an order with Kiwiscraps who have lots of it! YUMMO and they had it to me the next day. How cool is that?!

I also got my box from Tarisota this week which was scrummy too. Gotta love that package!

Yesterday while the kids were at daycare I spent the morning going through the baby names book. Yep, we are having trouble with names. I mean its hard not knowing whether its gonna be a boy or a girl, but not THAT hard, surely? I mean you only have one of two options right? Boy or Girl? And still haven't got any closer. I need some help. So if you've got any cool ideas.....send em my way. Only problem is that we've both got fairly large families and are the last to have kids so 'can't' use many of the cool names we love. Oh well, just goes to show our families have great taste. LOL!

Well I don't really have any more news. Don't forget if you haven't made your guess on my baby sweep check it out on the post below.

Trina's baby sweepstake

Ok, time is drawing near and its time to have a wee guess at whats going on.

So the deal is this.....put your guess down for what you think we're having and when:
Date, time, weight, boy/girl.

Even we don't know whether its a boy/girl so its gonna be interesting to see what you come up with!

Some info for you....my family traditionally go over - my sister up to 3 weeks. Even with our twins we were considered 'over' by 4 days (we went to 37.5 weeks - quite unusual). Due date is 1st August. Both twins were 'decent' sizes (6lbs 12oz and 6lbs 11oz). We had a 17 hour induced labour then an 'emergency c-sec'. This time round I'm really keen to go natural and not be induced or have another c-sec. But we'll have to see what bubs wants.

Bubs is engaged, but still hanging in there. The midwife said she 'didn't expect it this week', but I'm hoping thats cause she's off to Ch/Ch for the weekend and I'd really like her to be here for it. I'm also off to a crop/catch up with friends on Sat! So unless they wanna deliver it (which could make for some great LO's) I'm keen for it to happen after this weekend. LOL.

And yep, there will be a rak for the closest guess. So lets have em.

Oh, and as for yesterday's photo shoot. Boy was I in for a rude awakening. The kids froze on me and refused point blank to go in the class shot, then had to be coxed and cajoled to get standard prints. ARGH! I mean really! We've done this at home! How hard can it be?! LOL! Poor wee tykes. Perhaps their Mum stressing about getting there on time didn't help the situation.

Oh, and heres another LO I did yesterday. It came together really easily and I really enjoyed playing with all the different aspects to it. Really loved using some 6x4 photos for a change. Funny story about that word 'stories'. I had actually spelt it the same as my sisters surname! Duh and sent it off to a friend who kindly advised me there was 'possibly' a spelling mistake! Whewee. Thankfully she did. I kept looking at it wondering what was wrong but just couldn't work it out. LOL. Needless to say I had it changed in half an hour (those letters are actually red Scenic Route stickers which I painted white, then inked and doodled on).

Yahoo

Well I had my first ever real contraction without help last night. My body is starting to work and do the right stuff. Yahoo!!!! Ok, ok, so it only lasted about 5 seconds and on a pain scale of 1-10 was about a 1 but its a start. I actually ended up having 3 in total. About 1.5 hours apart. And of course Andy was worried all night long. Poor guy! I did tell him these things take time and it could still be weeks before anything happened. But it was just so nice that SOMETHING happened.

I also managed to finish another LO. We took a few photos in the weekend. And I really loved this one. Only problem was that Matt was stuck in the background and all you could see was his blue shirt poking through the gap, so I tried to delete him out of it and it didn't work so well....still learning! LOL. So I decided to really change things up a bit. And here is the result. I actually really like it, but its quite different from anything I've done before. Let me know what you think.

No 8 Wired - Kiwi dares - everyone is coming up with wonderful creations again. So far I've seen three and they are stunning. You girls are awesome! Anyone else out there? You have until tomorrow to get your dare finished and linked. Can't wait to see them!

This morning the kids and I are getting positive/negative photos done at their daycare. There will be one big group shot of the whole school then we get 10 mins each. Doesn't seem like long, but for my kids who know all about cameras, it'll probably be over in 2 seconds flat. LOL. Hopefully they'll turn out ok.

Outta here. Have a great day.

38 weeks and 4 days

Ok, so you know you're big when you start getting asked by strangers if you're having twins, then when you say no, they laugh and say wow, you're HUGE. LOL.

I got told I was 'big' about 4 times this weekend and all by people I don't know. I also got stared at like some kinda freak everywhere I went.

Here's a pic taken by my lil sis pretty much fully side on. What do you think?! LOL. Hmmmm, maybe those people were right! hehehe.

I'm not really enjoying photos of me right now. So many chins. Ugh. But its me now so its just the way things are. Sigh.

I SHOULD be tired

but I'm not. I've been working hard at our house getting it ready for the open home this weekend and advertising to commence today. I have done HEAPS!!! Today alone I organised cleaners, both normal and windows (inside and out), got our painter to redo some painting, cleaned all the little marks off ALL the walls in the house including the garage and laundry shute and some ceilings, cleaned and vacumed the garage, swept both decks, cleaned the office (again!), did a heap of washing, and cleaned up my scrap space TOTALLY. I think that was all? Hmmmm, anyone mention nesting? The funny thing is that I feel like I've got more energy than I have in the last 3 months all in one day! Now tell me what thats all about. Also for some reason my back is not killing me tonight like it has EVERY other day/night for the last 2 months. Hmmmm.

And keep your fingers crossed for us over the next couple of days. Exciting happenings on this front.

Other stuff, go check out this weeks dare on No 8 Wired - NZ dares blog. It sure was fun doing this one. Especially the part where I had to go buy my topic to take photos! Go check it out you'll know what I mean!

Looking forward to a good weekend. My wonderful sister Vonny and her family are taking our kids for Sat night and most of Sunday so Andy and I can have some time out to ourselves before bubs arrives. Man how cool is that?! Can't wait.

Am getting my hair cut in the morning, kids go in the afternoon. Decadence! Do you think hubby would object if I scrapped all the rest of the day?! LOL. Slap your hand Trina!!!!!! I wouldn't REALLY!

And like others am sitting here on tender hooks to see how the gorgeous E is doing and when her wee bundle of joy will arrive. Go check out her blog for a sweep on date/time/weight etc. Hmmmm, might have to get one going here. Watch this space.

Oh, and hey, here is a pic of the final thing we did with the kids tonight. We've (well Andy) finally finished painting and decorating the babies new set of draws. Here's Matt with them.

Have a good one....

Something new

Here's another LO which I did yesterday.

I stayed up late last night trying to get the journalling to fit around the circle, then putting it all together. But the funny part was when I was trying to get close to the table to work, my tummy kept getting in the way. LOL! What a joke. So I tried standing up, but my back is too sore to do that so I'm giggling away to myself trying to somehow sit/stand/whatever to finish the LO and I finally got it done. Yes!

Actually I really enjoyed working on this one. I just love the SR papers they are so easy to use and the colours/words were perfect for what I was trying to convey here (note I tried to scan this about 3 times in different angles etc to get the whole LO on and it just didn't like me. Suffice to say the border goes the whole way around the page!)

Anyway, just love this cheesy photo of my gorgeous daughter. Check it out.

Got it

A while back we gave Matt and Sarah some new trikes. They love them and ride them frequently. However, Matt has been a bit slow on how to make the pedals work (he pushes both at once) so he's had to push along the ground...... until this weekend. Yes, he finally 'got it' and there was a tiny bit of forward movement before he got frustrated. Then yesterday there was more going forwards, with lots of going backwards. Its so cool and I'm such a proud Mum. You see its been a big thing for him as Sarah 'got it' straight away and he's had to follow slowly along behind her. Now he'll be able to keep up. Yes.

Off to see the midwife soon. Always love these appointments. Find out whats going on, where we're at etc. Less than 2 weeks til 'due date' so getting excited and nervous and all those good things.

And really really excited by all the gorgeous creations that are coming in for No 8 Wired - kiwi dares. You girls are amazing. Not only cause you're getting LO's done so quickly, but that they are all so creative and wonderful.

Gotta dash. Take care.

Quality time with bubs.

Sarah and I spent a bit of quality time today with baby. She lifted up my shirt and poked and prodded bubs until she was quite satisfied that everything was ok. Then she got her dog to as well. It was so cute. She kept talking about it with me and telling me alsorts of things. Like how there were train tracks up my tummy (you know that funny brown line you get when your preggie?! LOL). It was really special. I kept wishing someone was here to grab the camera and take photos.

I've also had a great email day. I showed someone whose work I really admire a LO of mine and she loved it. Now I know it shouldn't matter who does or doesn't like our work, but it really meant something today. Thanks, if you're reading this you know who you are!

And big news. Our neighbours FINALLY finished their house rennovations Friday. I mean it was only meant to be finished well before Easter, but hey! I'm not going there! So we got the real estate agent over and its going back on the market. We start the advertising campaign Fri and have fingers, toes and everything else crossed it sells quickly and easily.

I've already had a few "Are you nuts?" comments but we have our reasons:

1. Our house is a GREAT winter house so its the perfect time to sell.

2. If we wait til bubs comes, who knows when that will be and it'll just keep getting put off.

3. If we wait til spring like everyone else then there will be a glut on the market instead of the lack as there is now, so we have a better chance now.

4. I'm a nutter who just has to do everything the hard way! LOL.

So as you can imagine things have been a little hectic. We spent alot of yesterday outside tidying up. Whew. Done. Then I spent a bit of time cleaning up all my scrapbook supplies off the dining room table. LOL! It had to be done! Sigh. So the plan now is to get what I need out, do a LO and put it away. Hmmmmm. Then this morning I cleaned up the office, organised carpets to be cleaned and window guys to come in. And I know I should be doing this, but I'm 38 weeks pregnant! LOL! I'm not THAT crazy. I also posted off parcels that needed posting, stitched back the hem on a curtain and brought the kids some pressies for when I'm in hospital. All very organised! LOL. Now I just have to get through the other 4999 things in the next week.

So heres a pic of our house. If you know of anyone that wants to live in a beautiful 4 bed house in Takapuna, just get them to contact me. LOL!

Can't sleep so whadda ya do?

Yep scrap! LOL. I was up at 5.30am this morning. I figure its cause I actually got to bed early. Still it gave me an hour or so of scrapping and I came up with this one:

Its really simple, and easy, but I actually quite like it. It tells the story I wanted it to.

Then, here is one I did yesterday. This photo is really old and from an African trip I went on. It was one of those photos you snap and then get back and go wow. Its been sitting in my pile of photos to scrap for a while, but I had no idea. Then I got an order with some gorgeous Scenic Route paper and whala. Here it is:

Gotta say wow to the response about No 8 Wired. Very cool and neat to hear others as excited about it as we are. Can't wait to see your creations!!!!

Yep you guessed it, its Saturday

Can't believe I'm up this early. We had a work do for Andy last night and went to a place called 'spookers'. Man oh man. I'd never heard of the place, but its quite something. Its out at the old Kingseat hospital (should've popped in to see Nic, Lianne, Ruth or Lucy its that close to Puke). They basically do scare nights. The whole place is done up in ghost/halloween/horror type decorations and you can arrange to have dinner there too. Then you go through the 'house' and get totally scared to bits. I was questioned numerous times was I SURE I wanted to do this? Did I really want to have the baby out here? And for someone who HATES being scared and refuses to watch thrillers/horror movies being 8.5 months pregnant probably wasn't the best idea, but hey. It was worth it. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't do it again! LOL, but it was worth one look. And yep, I'm still here in one piece.

Oh, right you weren't here about that were you? Here is where you wanna go to check out what we've been talking about. Its fun and exciting... I dare you to take part.

So emotional

Wow, I was just told about this clip which was up on Tara Whitneys blog. You must check it out (ironman), but be prepared with tissues. I BAWLED.

I don't know if its cause I've done ironman before so can't even begin to imagine what this man went through to do this for someone else? Or what? But wow is all I can say.

Whoever you are, you are a hero.

Stay tuned for exciting news

Something exciting is happening this Saturday morning. Check back here then to see what it is. Ok I know a bit mean, but its gonna be fun, so come back Sat and see.

My 3 pics

Wow, I must be lucky as I have a heap of photos from when I was a baby, child and older. Its now (when I'm a scrapper) that I don't have many. Ironic huh?! LOL.

The first one is when I was 'about' 6 months. Apparently I wasn't very good at waking up, but would end in a gorgeous smile when I saw Mum/Dad. So Mum took a series of about 3-4 photos. This is the end one.

The second photo is taken from one of my high school photos (1987). I would have been about 17? Jeepers. I so used to hide behind my hair! LOL. And its a shocker. Once the kids are awake I'll get another one to scan and put in.

The last one was taken on a recent trip to Motat. Not the best, but you've seen more recent ones in other posts.

So here they are.

Saturday

What a day. I was shattered last night. Even went to bed around 9pm which for me is a miracle. LOL. But go the All Blacks. Their defense last night was incredible. Yay!

The 'Birthing with Confidence" was great. But it did make me realise I'm not over the twins birth and my miscarriage. Man I came out of it realising I have a lot of fears about whats going to happen and more importantly that I don't want the same experience. The good news is, now I realise this, I can really make a difference. And just cause I've had a c-sec before does NOT mean I'll have another one. So I'm changing the way I think. Yeah!

Also extremely peeved at our power company who decided to do 'routine maintenance' without telling us. Trying to get some photos printed for a special project and suddenly no power. Apparently its been in the pipeline for ages. So why don't they warn you about these things? Nevermind. Just had to get my grumble in. LOL.

Kids have been especially cute lately. They are really growing up. I know I say this alot, but they are! I've been going back over my photos lately. Yep, the really old ones and remembering how little they were and what they couldn't do and now they can and its amazing how much they learn in such a short time. I'm also seeing their personalities develop more, or should I say I just didn't see it before. There are some classic photos of Sarah which are exactly like me and so her personality before, but she just couldn't verbalise it when she was so little. Amazing.

Ok, here are two from their second Xmas (the first one they were only a month old - does that count?!)

For example, Matt and Sarah have ALOT of books. They both love to read. And I sort of knew they knew all the words, but it hit home yesterday when two things happened.

1) Listening to them on the monitor when they worke up, Toast (our cat) went into their room and Matt promptly starts reciting "Pussy cat, pussy cat where have you been?". SO soooo cute.

2) My Mum looked after them while we went out and as we were getting their lunch ready she read them a story. Or should I say they read it to her. They knew ALL the words. It was amazing. We just stood there watching with open mouths as every time Mum stopped, they would fill in the gaps. And Mum I'm sure was only expecting one word answers and would get whole sentences or the rest of the page.

Cor, can you tell I'm a proud mum?

Hope you've all been voting for E's photos/LO (see last post). The winnings are pretty darn cool. Would be neat if she got them!

Last, Michelle TW set a challenge to put up some photos of you as a child, teenager and now. I don't think I've got any handy of me as a teen, but am gonna dig them out and put them up when I get a chance.

Have a great Sunday. We're off to buy baby a special toy as the one I had put into its cot was absconded by M&S and world war three nearly broke out when I tried to get it back. Normally I wouldn't 'let them get away with that', but it gave me a good excuse to buy something new, so I wasn't too fazed. LOL. Have a good one.