Mint Jelly

Christmas is coming and in an attempt to make it a little more special and hopefully a little less spendy, I am trying to plan ahead with some hand made gifts. I am feeling terribly organised to already have even thought of Christmas presents because I am usually a very last minute girl and this usually means expensive!

Anyway…being so proud of myself is one thing…saving money and having fun and giving a personal gift is another so check this out!

I made Mint Jelly! All by my own self. Sorry to anyone who ends up receiving one of these gifts because it will now not be a surprise.

It was so easy and affordable considering I have mint overtaking our front flower bed thingy. And fun too. We’ll have to taste test one jar to make sure it’s edible and all, but looks great to me! (Just hope it sets)

Butterflies and Babies

Spring is in the air today and it’s just the weather to get into the garden. We are going to start a butterfly garden because E6 is wanting to learn all about butterflies this term. A friend gave me some Milkweed seeds (which the caterpillars eat) and some wildflowers (which produce nectar for the butterflies) so today we did some planting. No photos yet because I’m too lazy to upload them…

Oh my gosh I an loving the sun today! So glad winter is coming to an end. I really do love warm sunny days and a blue sky always puts me in a good mood.

Baby in utero is doing fine… growing nicely and kicking around from time to time. I am 17 weeks or so along. What’s that…23 weeks to go! Seems like forever and how much can a body morph in 23 weeks? A heck of a lot actually! I’m so glad the morning sickness phase is over. Right now is a lovley pregnant time for me. I’m neither sick nor the size of a house, so the discomforts are kept to a minimum at the moment. Just little annoyances like my being unable to button my jeans so they are always falling down, but not quite ready for the maternity pants. ehehe

The children are still fascinated by the whole pregnant thing and we’ve had interesting discussions about all sorts of things like where my food goes…”Does it go straight into the baby’s tummy mum?’ It was quite cool being able to explain to the all about the placenta and the umbilical cord and the amazingness of foetal circulation! Love it! Fourth time around and I still find the whole thing fascinating!

Thoughts on having our fourth baby

In no particular order:

• Four children really does seem a lot more than three.
• I am enjoying that E6 and B4 are old enough to understand and get excited this time. E6 talks to me about the pregnancy every single day and is so excited.
• Morning sickness sucks.
• So does a ferocious appetite and that I am gaining weight so early and so fast.
• I’m only 13 weeks but it’s starting to become quite obvious that I am either pregnant or getting really really fat. I fear the tummy is a sign of both simultaneously.
• How are we all going to fit in this house?
• Boy? Girl? Boy? Girl? Find out at the scan or have another surprise?
• Girls names. Boys names. Thinking, thinking. E6 has a really long list already. (Includes her favourite book characters like Mr and Mrs Large – Bwahahahahahahahahhhah)
• Doh. I gave away our baby blankets last year.
• Planning another home birth. Hoping it will be a tad easier than R2’s birth which was safely at home but really really hard.I posted the story here.
• Just so you know, I am around 13 weeks and due in mid January 2010.
• Having had three pregnancies (not counting two early miscarriages) before, I kinda know a bit of what to expect. I don’t find pregnancy particularly pleasant but considering there is a good chance this will be my last pregnancy I am trying to enjoy it. In saying that though, I am so impatient to get the unpleasantness over with and very keen to get to the end and hold my baby in my arms. I don’t even mind labour particularly.
• Can’t wait to feel those little kicks. (not so keen on the powerful jolts in the cervix that take my breath away or the relentless digs in the ribs, but nevertheless, gotta love life bursting inside of you!)
• Didn’t have the nuchal translucency scan but did have an early scan because of some doubt about dates. Saw a wee little heart beat around 6 weeks. Very keen to hear baby’s heartbeat for the first time at my next appointment in a few weeks. I find it so reasuring that all is well. Even though I am past the high risk for miscarriage dates, I still worry about worst case scenarios from time to time. Silly me. Worrying is pointless.
• And just for fun I’ve added a poll to the side bar. What do you think? Should we find out baby’s gender? We have had a surprise for the other three which I really enjoyed. It always makes me laugh to hear everyone’s opinion about whether it’s a boy or a girl based on the size or shape of my stomach. Hahaha. What are you reasons for finding out the gender? Or keeping it a surprise? Comments please

Loved

My man loves me,

my kiddies love me,

and that is enough for today.

D woke me this morning with toast and coffee.  He does this from time to time so while I appreciated it, I didn’t think much of it. Only later when he said “Happy Mother’s Day” did I realise he was making an extra effort. Never mind that he was a day early! Hee hee! Loved.

Right not he’s taken the kids out because they want to buy me presents. I’m not really fussed if they do or don’t buy me presents, as long as if they do it comes from their heart and not a pressured obligation to do so. Just as they left B4 comes flying out of the car and shouts “I STILL WANT TO COME WITH YOU DAD, BUT I JUST WANT TO GIVE MUM A KISS!!!” He came and gave me a big hug and a kiss and says “I love you so much Mum”. Loved.

This morning E6 woke up not feeling well and came into bed with me while I had my coffee. We chatted and cuddled together and I so enjoyed my time with her. She’s such a treasure and I’m so lucky that she wants to be with me. Loved.

R2 is just 2, so his love is of a different kind. Before they left he gave me a long hug and sat on my lap. Then a high-five! and out the door. Loved.

Thanks God.

Around the World

Carien at She Laughs At the Days tagged me for this around the world meme. I’m supposed to post  5 favourite things about being a mum. Just a few things that have come to mind….there are a thousand wonderful things about being a parent though…

1) Getting to revisit childhood. Love playing with playdough, swinging at the park and reading great picture books.

2) Having a reasonably good excuse for my house never being completely tidy.

3) Something to laugh about every single day. Kids really do love to laugh!

4) Spontaneous expressions of love from my children touch my heart in a way nothing else can.

5) Seeing my kids learn.

Now to tag some people. 4maze in New Zealand because I’ve never tagged her for anything, Monica of Transplanting Me in Thailand, Katie at The Journey in Uganda, because even if she doesn’t participate you should go and check out her blog anyway…she’s amother on a completely different scale!

I can’t go to bed early

I just can’t do it. hehehe Even though I’m just seriously wasting time doing pointless things (like finding my house and my previous house and mum and dad’s house, and my inlaws house and anyone else I happen to think of’s house on Google earth) I just can’t get it together to get to bed early.

And you know what’s kinda funny. Yesterday someone found my blog by typing

Can sleep depravity cause sweaty palms?

into a search engine. Goodness knows why it sent them here. I’m sure the word they were looking for is deprivation… But maybe I’ve got sleep depravity because I would really love to get up earlier in the morning and be well ahead of the kids, but I also want to stay up late and enjoy the peace and quiet! I have a week until we’re starting school for the year and earlier mornings would really help me get stay on top of the day. Any ideas. (Yes, I know….just get your butt into bed. Set your alarm and get up early! I know, I know…just looking for an option that happens by magic and requires no self discipline. Anything? Eh?)

Anyway… What’s going on for me? Well my husband has changed jobs and is around home much more and is so relaxed! Yay! I’m so happeeeee! He’s been working too hard for too long and I”m so glad he’s getting his life back.

As for me I’m enjoying working and I’m feeling terribly excited about the future! Nothing to tell at this stage, but I’m entertaining some dreams in my head that I thought were out of the question, but maybe they aren’t and maybe more within reach that I thought! It’s a continuance of last year’s great Coming Alive!  I wonder what will be the ‘thing’ for this year.

Long time gone

Been taking a bit of a blog break the last little while. The 4th day of Christmas and all the rest of them came and went and not a blog post in sight. We had a great Christmas though.

So begins 2009 and so far it’s been a good one. D has changed jobs and is now working 25 hours a week shift work. I’m also working  again and Love it! So nice to be nursing again. It’s a skill I don’t want to lose and if I left it much longer I’d have to study again, which isn’t likely to happen.

One other thing to happen while I was away from blog land was that R22 months nearly lost the end of his finger. There was blood (eeek I could see bone) and screaming and 111 calls and morphine and ED waits and surgery and bandages and pamol and antibiotics and no baths for days and now it’s all well that ends well. Poor little fella. He was so brave. Not an experience I ever want to revisit.   (I’d rather voluntarily place my finger in the door and have someone slam it than see that again on my little child)

Anyway, with the lack of blog writing and blog reading that has been going on, I have enjoyed quite a bit of reading…I’m adding a Library Thing widget with books from 2008, and my list for 2009. If you want to read my reviews they’ll all be over there unless there’s something particularly good I read that I want to share with you here.

So…maybe I’m back. Maybe not.  I’ll believe it if I see it!

Christmas 2008 – Day 3

Decorate the Christmas Tree!!!!!!!!!!

How exciting! We should really have done this on the first, but we wanted Daddy to join in! Golly I had fun. The Christmas music was playing and everyone was happy! Each of us found something useful to do.

I put the tree up while E6 carefully placed the ornaments on. We had such fun finding our favourites from last year.

B4 helped Dad untangle the lights and get them started.

And R1 threw the ornaments out the window and went to collect them to do it all over again. He had such fun doing this heehhee.

Christmas 2008 – Day 2

Today we went to the library and borrowed Christmas books! We have fiction and short stories and non-fiction and carols. Yay! Slack me hasn’t taken any photos. So this is a photo-less post.

The kids also made little angels from polystyrene cups and balls, with attached paper wings. So cute and now we have FOUR angels for our tree. Who ever said there was supposed to be one up there?

Christmas 2008 – Day 1

Last year I decided that it was time to find our family way and celebrate Christmas with our own family traditions. I picked up this fabric panel cheap and sewed little pockets to make an advent calendar. Each pocket has a little treat for the kiddies, and an idea for the day as we head towards Christmas.

December 1st  – Bring out the Christmas Music!

Our house is now filled with all the tunes….we have quite a collection from Bing Crosby and Ella Fitzgerald to Band Aid and Queen, all the favourites.