a month of moments - late (late)

Pregnant again (that is, last year, not again-again!), I wanted to make a place to welcome our newest family member. I knew he was going to be boy number three, but still wanted a space that was not too boyish, that was, well, lovely to be in. So, months of pinning images of other nurseries, lights, crochet works etc all resulted in this:




It's not a classic boy room but I love it for my wee pickle. Love the Helen Dardik print that ties all the colours in the room together and makes it fun. The other two prints we have in the room are also etsy finds, from seven star and nevertheless. Oh! and we also have a typography-style print designed by my very talented designy sis in law, with all of baby pickles' vital statistics.

[Oh, and of course my beautiful Billee the oobee by Leslie Keating - Billee has now been a very special companion for all three of our baby boys].

I was going to post this on the thirteenth for a month of - late, but I am, well, running late. You see, the mobile/lampshade is still incomplete - I still have to rethread the crochet motifs onto that magical invisible quilting thread, and have about another dozen that need threading. Oh, and the mat. Still unfinished - I have the binding half done... nearly there! Whilst searching for the binding I found some pre-cut baby short pieces on my wip pile for little pickle (now two) - if I sew these this week they may just fit baby pickle.

It seems that not only can I not complete my crafty projects on time, I also can't blog about them on time! Anyone else out there guilty of the same crime?

Perhaps an appropriate crime though for a post titled "late"... ;)

Chat soon xo

a month of moments - sweet

Hello again!

Three days in and still posting! How long is it that they say it takes to form a habit? Another day into the month of moments - I am starting to get out and about and read about your moments too - thanks for sharing!

Not sure if I have mentioned it here before, but The Gherkin has anaphylaxis for nuts. It's pretty common now, so I won't go into details about what it is etc (you can get some really good, reliable, Australian information here), but if he comes into physical contact with nuts he gets severe hives, and if he eats nuts his airways would close. Yes, we have an epipen. Thankfully, he has never eaten nuts. Partly due to very good luck, and partly due to overly conservative parenting - we have not only avoided food with nuts, but also those that may contain traces of nuts, and those manufactured in a plant that also processes nuts.

This means that our Gherkin has never eaten chocolate. Or icecream. Nor has Little Pickle. Imagine his/their delight then, when last week I found some completely nut-free chocolate, and took it home as a treat.

Suh-weeet!

Chat soon xx

a month of moments - sleepy

Hi again!

Taking inspiration from the month of moments, here is my post for "sleepy".

This little stitchy thing was one of my very first, and I did it last year when I was spending a ridiculous amount of time commuting to work. Yep! Did this on the train. As my first attempt, I was determined not to buy any new threads, and just use what I had. I remember when one of my friend's husbands asked me why I was stitching a dead rabbit, to which I responded, if the rabbit was dead I would have done this for eyes X X. Now I look back on it, I would probably add eyelashes. Sadly, in a family jam-packed full of boys, there was no use for it after it was finished (too much pink), so it has been relegated to the "one day this might be good to use for something" box.

We have a terrible time with bedtime here. With a two and three quarters year old and four and a half year old sharing a room, nights can either be very lovely, with bedtime stories, lullabies, cuddles, and just so much sweetness, or completely chaotic with tantrums, screaming and, yes, poo jokes. We have a pretty standard routine, which involves my reading the same book last before lights out, and then followed by two songs. Sadly though, this is often not enough. Tonight though, was a Good Night.

Cowboys and cowgirls, sweet dreams in the hay, til you saddle the sun and ride into the day.
Goodnight.

(from Lasso the Moon - our favourite night time golden book - always read last).

Chat soon xx

a month of moments - brand new

Happy New Year! And here's wishing you only the best for 2013 - love, laughter and new adventures.

After way too much quiet, I have decided to try just one more time, to revive this blog. I miss summer pickles, and the crafty goodness and inspiration that I used to enjoy through this blog, and your company.

So, thanks to the gals at justb, I am going to join in on the month of moments. I am hoping it will get me into bloggy habits I can continue for the year. You can find out more about the month of moments here.

Very predictably, the photo above is my post for "brand new".

Chat soon xx



country crafts

Hello!

Our new country home town has more events, festivals, shows than we would ever have thought possible for a town of less than two thousand people. One event recently saw the local crafters - the "needles and natter" group - coming out to present some of their works.

 

Lots of "standard" country wares - face washers with crocheted edging, knitted baby booties, crocheted toys. Also among them was a tablecloth work-in-progress by Diane Workman - a collection of doileys that she is handsewing together to make a tablecloth. I have had things like this pinned for some time, with a plan to eventually doing something similar, but never had I considered handsewing! This is truly a labour of love, and even as a work in progress, on its oversized quilting hoop, looked just gorgeous. Makes my fingers itchy! Must get crafting... xo 

feeding baby pickle* (warning: a long post!)

It's not all shiny happy - sometimes babies are just hard.

 

You see, our Baby Pickle had a rough ol' start. That involved his losing more than twenty percent of his birthweight and giving us all one very big scare.

When he was born, Baby Pickle lost his standard ten percent of his birthweight, as his brothers had before him. (In fact Little Pickle took ten weeks to return to his birthweight). Once home, he kept losing weight. We had weekly, sometimes twice weekly home visits from early childhood nurses and lactation consultants, all very closely "supervised", weighing at each visit - quite intrusive - quite an unexpected thing for a mum of three. Baby Pickle attached at the breast well, fed nicely but then promptly fell asleep, only to cry if we tried to place him in his cot, or take him off the breast at all, really. For someone who seemed to be feeding so well, he was a bit of a mystery.

He kept losing more and more weight (very slowly), until, at three weeks we rushed him to the doctor when we thought things were looking a bit awful, frightening). He had had a sudden weight loss over the weekend, thought later to be due to an extreme cold snap and his not having any available fat stores to rely on.

baby pickle at his lightest

We were admitted to the local hospital.

The hospital staff were unclear what had caused the weight loss - from my expressing efforts it didn't seem to be supply, and his feeding technique looked okay... in the end they agreed that due to his initial weight loss he did not have the resources to complete a feed, so we got stuck in a terrible cycle of terrible feed, terrible sleep, terrible feed...

Their response was to pump the little guy full of formula.

Needless to say, by the end of the five day stay, my milk supply had all but disappeared, Baby Pickle had forgotten how to breastfeed, but he had put on weight for the first time in his life.  We were relieved, but I was distressed. I love breastfeeding my babes. But of course, I also love my babes to grow and develop and be healthy and with us - much more important than a feeding preference.

Even with this knowledge, I felt this loss immensely. I was a mess! I went home and was crying at each and every feed. There is literature describing "chronic grief" experienced by women who want to breastfeed and are unable to.

back at home - getting stronger

 

Long story short. I cried for about a week and a half. Then I found one article on relactation. And another. And another. And so I started a private project, to try to get my milk supply back. I spoke to beautiful naturopaths. And supportive breastfeeding counsellors. A few weeks later, after I had been working hard on my milk supply I spoke to my early childhood nurse. She gave me a referral to a residential mother and baby unit.

I wasn't sure how this would work out. I break textbook parenting rules. I wear my babies as much as I possibly can. I demand feed. I cuddle them to sleep. I have been known to (more often than not in the case of Little Pickle) feed my babes to sleep.

The staff at the mother and baby unit were fantastic. They listened to what I wanted to achieve and they supported it. They gave us a plan and a safety net. By the time we left, we were breastfeeding again, and providing small extra "top ups" of expressed breast milk or formula after each feed. They hoped for us that we might be fully breastfeeding by Christmas.

So, forgive me for not posting much these past twelve weeks. It has been a bumpy ride. Babes can be all consuming.

our beautiful baby pickle

 

My sewing table piles up with fabric, sewing ideas, works in progress. Soon. Soon I will get back in there. Until then, I'll probably just be hanging out on pinterest, watching online episodes of new girl, or reading some of my favourite blogs while I feed / express / settle a beautiful and thriving baby boy. Oh! and continue to play with and relish the other two gorgeous boys, too.

Chat soon xo


* I am going to try not to get all political on this one. Ugh. Who needs to read another blog post on breast is best or power to the formula mummies or anything else along those lines.

since last i dropped by...

 

Boys have had countless cuddles,

 

opshops have been visited, three boys in tow,

 

a babe has slowly adjusted to his home in the outside world,

 

 

spring has sprung,

 

 

cuddles have been shared,

 

sleep has been savoured.

 

it's hard to believe it has been only eleven weeks that we have known our precious baby boy.

 

chat again soon xo