Thumb Sucking Girl

This evening while I was trying to get Miss Tiny to sleep she suddenly popped her thumb in her mouth and started sucking. It was so totally cute. I jumped up to grab the camera but it was over by the time I got back, damn!

Here's another cute picture instead ...

I have printed out the photos for the November mini book and I hope to feel motivated to do some work on it in the next few days ... will keep you posted

Afternoon Bliss ...

A warm bath followed by a full body massage ... bliss.........

A blissful afternoon enjoyed by all.

Thanksgiving

Today is Thanksgiving in the States ... I just love the concept of gathering with those that you love to share good food and thankful thoughts. It encourages me to ask myself what I am thankful for:

* Our family has grown to include Tiny

*Ashley is a wonderful partner who loves me so much

* Great family and friends who love and care for me

* The ability to be creative and crafty

* Scrapbook camps and being creative with other people

* Nature and the world around us

* The fun and amusement that Beth the Sheep brings us

* Physical and mental health

Yogi Bear Adventure

Yesterday we went for an adventure to the Yogi Bear Production office to introduce Miss Tiny and thank everyone for the lovely gifts they have given us.

Miss Tiny was a big hit and was on her best behaviour, she was an angel the whole visit. Because they are very busy there with shooting starting on Friday and people everywhere there was no where for us to go for a morning drink so Daddy took us to his IT Department truck. It was quite an adventure!

This is the first time Daddy has had his own IT Department truck, luckily - or we might have been sitting under someone else's truck somewhere!

Miss Tiny didn't seem to mind, milk is milk regardless of where you are drinking it, clean knickers are good too. We got to try out the change mat that came with the nappy bag for the first time.

It works good.

A Good Day

The little Miss graced us with 7 hours sleep last night! It is amazing how good that much sleep can make me feel.

After a drink and a change of knickers she went back to sleep and I became superMUM - 4 loads of washing through the machine and hung out, washed the dishes, washing from the airing rack folded and put away, house tidied and organised, swept the floors, cute choc cookies baked for visit to Yogi Bear tomorrow or Wednesday. It was so good to get something creative done.

Cute little girls!

Bath time with Daddy

This her second bath and our little girl has shown that she loves the water.

And loves hanging out with Daddy! Who did a great job giving his first ever baby bath.

Got Poos

She seems pretty happy about it!

Welcome

We finally got to meet Tiny.

She arrived on Saturday 14 November 2009 at 1.46am in the birthing pool at Botany Maternity Unit, weighing 8lb, 11 oz.

I can't believe how beautiful she is, and that we made her and we get to take her home! I can't believe that after 16 years together Ashley and I have added to our family and now we are 3.

Ashley was amazing throughout the whole labour, he was so supportive and fantastic.

??? long to go

Well, it is Friday again and that means that we are now at 41 weeks of growing. Not sure what Tiny is up to in there but it must be a very cosy and comfy place to hang out! Hopefully things will happen soon as we are very keen to met our little person.

Bubbles and Midnight Youth

Todays mission to keep from going insane waiting for Tiny was going into town to pick up a bubble machine! Not your traditional rock and roll accessory but it could be pretty cool and I have been thinking that Reverence should do it for a while now. Anyway, they finally agreed with me and tomorrow night is their semi-final in the South Auckland heat of this years Battle of the Bands ... come and check out what they do with the bubble machine!


After a nap and a movie we popped up to Sylvia Park and met Midnight Youth at the Vodafone Shop.

They signed my CD for me.

And we scored a Vodafone scarf for our trouble! Woohoo!

By the way - the bass player Matt is seriously hot! SEXY!

Books

In an effort to keep myself from going insane waiting for Tiny to come and meet us I have been doing lots of crafting.

Todays project was to finish off some Miss Wendy books that have been sitting in the market box half completed. These books have been available from Miss Wendy's for a few years now and have been sent all over the world as gifts.

They have black pages inside and are very cute little books. There are

approx 10 of these in Miss Wendy's market box available for purchase (Chrismtas is coming!), they retail for $15.

Fellowship of the Ring

I am still slowly working on my Lord of the Rings scrapbook album. It is amazing how time gives you perspective ... there used to be way too many photos of this event to scrapbook it onto a 2 page layout but a few years later culling them out was easy! I must remember this handy technique and maybe give Renee's Thomas the Tank Engine birthday party another try - it has been suffering from the same problem!

Turning 1

This page took me a little outside my comfort zone - it is very busy. But I am really happy with the way that it turned out. I just love these photos of Emily climbing on her huge present!


And I am pleased that I have scrapbooked the pictures before her next birthday - by a few months even!

Eco Friendly Knitting

Today I have been knitting - I can't share what I have been creating as it is a Christmas present for a devoted reader. But I can share the very cool fibre that I have been knitting with: I found this very cool recycled cotton, it is 75% recycled cotton blended with 25% acrylic and is undyed. The label is also printed on recycled paper. It is a very cool eco friendly product that fits very well with the eco-friendly item that I am creating with it.

New Recipe of the Week

Last week my friend Glenna set herself a challenge of 1 new recipe each week and I decided to join her on it. My recipe for week ending 7 November was Russian Fudge. I love to eat fudge but have never really mastered the cooking of it but then to tell the truth have never really given it much of a go. It turned out OK, tasted fantastic but the texture wasn't quite what I know it can be. Will have to give it another go soon.

This weeks recipe (for week ending 14 November) was savoury pinwheel scones. This was a combination of 2 recipes. The filing was potato, bacon, spring onion, cheese, egg, flour and savoury herb blend. And they tasted great! Ashley thinks that it made way to many dishes though. There is some of the filing mixture left so I will be creative and think of something to do with it for dinner.

Corn Bread

I love corn bread! I make the recipe from the Healtheries Corn Meal box and it is soooo yum. Today I made a double batch and cooked it in mini loaf tins. It is the first time I have cooked it in those tins and it stuck to the edges a bit, i will have to work on that for next time. The corn bread still tastes fantastic though.


I have put some into the freezer for easy yummies after Tiny has come, they are sooo cute and little in the container.

The Terrible Underpants

Today I bought The Terrible Underpants - written and illustrated by Kaz Cooke for our small person bookshelf. Have you ever read this book? It is sooooo funny!!! and has great illustrations too.

All the good underpants are in the wash and Wanda-Linda has to wear the terrible underpants - they have bung elastic, a stain, a hole, baggy bits, and a scratchy thing, then ... everybody sees the terrible underpants ... what will Wanda-Linda do?

Due Date Today

Today is Tiny's due date.

Tomatoes

My cherry tomatoes are growing soooo quickly. I can't believe how big they have gotten already.

They even have flowers already and that is very exciting.

I can't wait to be able to go down the stairs and pick my own fresh tomatoes.

Finally Finished

I can't believe that I finally finished painting and re-assembling this dolls cot for Emily. I bought it a long long long long long time ago from a garage sale and it was ugly!!! I pulled it apart and started sanding it down and re-painting it. I have worked on it on and off for a long time and moved it around with us.



I finally finished it yesterday and Emily will get it for Christmas this year (shhhh, don't tell ... its a surprise). I am really pleased with how cool it looks and that it is finally finished.

Handprint CupCakes

Little boy and girl hands ... which will you choose?

Yum!

A Night Away

Ashley had to go to Taupo for a location recky on Monday. I suggested to him that since I am on maternity leave now that I come along and we go down on Sunday and have a night away. So we had a look and found a bargin on http://www.wotif.com/ and headed away for the night. When we got to Huka Falls Resort we were pleased to discover that it wasn't just a hotel room in a building but instead they had all these cute little chalet's set in a beautiful area.






We had a great night away, just relaxing, with no pressure to do anything. We shared delicious fish and chips with a couple of ducks beside the lake at sunset and then I curled up with my book and Ashley played his guitar ... nice!


In the morning we had the yummiest scrambled eggs in the onsite restaurant and then headed off to check out the locations. The first one was just up the road:

This horse jump at the location was chest high and I sat up there reading my book while Ashley did his work things. Sounds simple right? ... not so much! It was quite a mission to get me up there! It would have been very funny to watch.

Off to the next location which was near the half way shop (a place from Ashley's childhood) and another gorgeous area. Then we settled in for the drive home and made it just in time for band practise - yay!

A great night away.

My New Eco Friendly Lunch Wrappers

I recently found a link to www.4myearth.com from another website. They make these awesome eco friendly, completely reuseable, easily washable lunch wrappers. They keep everything fresh and yummy, ready for eating.

So I thought I would try them out ...

The plain pink one is for me: a little snack packet, it opens like an envelope at the back and is for a snack - fruit, bikkis, crackers etc. I like that it is flat for easy storage and that I can have it easily in my handbag for a quick snack.

The patterned one is for Renee (don't tell her!) for Christmas, she moves up to the Steiner school next year and I think this will make a great eco friendly addition to her lunch box: it is a sandwich wrapper, it closes with a velcro tab but opens out completely flat when you unwrap the sandwich, making a little eating surface. I think it is a great idea for the school lunchbox.

Very cool products!