KissKus

Easter

We've had a very nice Ester Sunday so far. We started with a lovely Easter breakfast this morning, after which we prepared our Easter egg hunt. Apparently this a serious bussiness in our household... Michel and the children were all excited!
Now look what they did to me...

They told me I was the Easter bunny's assistent and I had to wear the biggest teeth. That added to the fact that I already was the fattest assistent the Easter bunny ever had... just charming!
Anyway, all eggs were hidden and more importantly found again.

We then went out for some ice-cream through the snow (we're having the coldest Easter in 40 years).
And since we returned I made Michel vacuum the whole house, because I've been having on and off pains in my tummy and I don't want to give birth in a dirty house! (btw the pains are gone now, but I'm still glad that the house is clean... thank you dear ;))

Yesterday I managed to make this lamp shade for the nursery. I think it turned out really well. I used textile glue to put it all together and that worked great; I'm very pleased.

And look, I used my matryoshka trim as well!
Tomorrow, I'll hopefully get some sewing done.

Happy Easter, everyone!!

Room's ready

Let me share some photos of the finished nursery on this cold and wet day... it's the first day of spring and it's snowing!! Thankfully I took some photos earlier in the week.

First of all the cot, which is completely sewn up by my Mum as she did with the other two children. Each time it turned out very differently and I think it's looking fantastic again. By the way, this is the cot that my sisters and I used to sleep in as well.

The colours we used for the room are green, blue and white, which gives the room a nice calm feeling to it. The colours are in fact a little less harsh than in this photo. Isn't that onesie adorable... I bought it months ago, now it will finally be used soon!

This blankie was finished last weekend by my Mum. It covers a not so pretty, but very comfortable chair that will undoubtedly be used for many breastfeeding sessions.

Funnily enough, for this baby we bought our first proper changingtable. For the other two we simply used a chest of drawers. However, since it's Ikea it can easily be changed into a normal cupboard when the baby has outgrown it. What I really like about it is the fact that you're able to face the baby without having to twist your neck into an awkward position.

So far there's not a lot of evidence visible of my original idea to have a nursery in Matryoshka-style, but in the meantime this cute little matryoshka is keeping the honour up. It was a lovely present from Heleen... thanks again, Heleen!

If there's any theme at all then I suppose it's trees, because of the curtains and this lamp:

So everything's ready for baby's arrival... now when will it happen? Perhaps it'll be a little Easter baby, alhough my feeling says that nothing will happen before Wednesday. 
We'll just be patient and wait and enjoy the long quiet weekend that lies before us. I hope you'll all have a wonderful Easter (with better weather than here)!

Good things

Another weekend came and went, which means that lots and lots of decorating has been done. Just ONE more week before my self-imposed deadline and then the house will have to be finished!! Will we make it in time?! Stay tuned ;)

Anyway, this has made me so happy. We finally started painting the nursery and I think the colours turned out wonderful! My Mum turned up with the curtains yesterday and they look great too (tick of the list). She's now frantically sewing away at the cot, which will be finished on Sunday... go Mum, go!

We also managed to buy a new secondhand but perfect Maxi Cosi, which is a great relief to me, because I was freaking out that we wouldn't be able to transport the baby if I needed to go to hospital (another tick of the list).

We're also truly enjoying our new dining table and chairs. The table is so big and light... we love it!

And, it's perfect for folding the washing! Especially baby clothes... look at me go (washing baby clothes... another tick of the list)!

So, I'm 36 weeks and I think I'm finally starting to unwind. I've been feeling very stressed lately, because we were still so unprepared. However, I'm at last starting to see light at the end of the tunnel. I can now start to look around and enjoy all the progress we made instead of only focusing on all the jobs that still need doing. A very nice change!

Physically, I'm feeling pretty well too and I'm actually feeling less pain than a couple of weeks ago. Getting out of bed is a challenge though, but once I get going things are alright. I'm actually really surprised that this pregnancy I'm in better shape than with Simon, even though I'm much heavier. I have no complaints!

The baby isn't moving around so much any more (since there's no more room), but when he does the kicks are very powerful. It sometimes makes me jump up from my chair. This baby also has the hiccups a lot! Five times a day is normal! I'm really looking forward to meeting this new little person that's been keeping us all busy for 8 months now... just a few more weeks!

Step it up a little

If anyone might think that my lack of posting is a sign that I'm taking it easy and am slowly getting ready for the birth, then no... on the contrary. I can honestly say that I think that I've never worked harder and never had less sleep than in these past couple of weeks.
We are working SO hard on the house, but still unfortunately all the progress I can show you is things like this:

This will very soon be our bedroom, but it doesn't exactly look like a heavenly place to spend the night yet, does it?! Still, I do hope that anyone who's ever been to our house will already see a big change. So much has been achieved, but still so much needs to be done. I'm exhausted even thinking of writing up a to-do list.

Michel spends nearly all his evenings at the DIY-store and our weekends are dedicated to work on the house alone. Needless to say that our social life is non-existent at the moment.

I still have to work for another two weeks and quite honestly I'm soooo fed up with it. The work is hard, standing on my legs for hours on end and doing all the things that pregnant women aren't supposed to do, like bending and lifting. On Wednesday after a long day at work, I had to pick up the house while Michel was at the DIY, get the children to bed etc. and when he finally came home we still did some painting until way past midnight... is it alright to say that I feel a little sorry for myself sometimes?! I am 7 months pregnant!

Except for all the painting and stuff there is also still a lot of sorting to be done, which is mainly my task. Thankfully, I'm in a rather serious "throw it all out" kind of mood, but it is difficult nonetheless! All the things that we've been hoarding for so long and now we have to get rid of it all. Today I found Amber's first shoes... sniff, sigh.

Well, ok, that was enough of my self-pitying. I know that kind of attitude isn't going to make things better, so I'll give myself another kick and get going. Tomorrow my Mum and I have planned another fabric trip to Amsterdam, so hopefully I'll be able to tick that off my non-existent to-do list!

I hope the baby is relaxing for two in there!

Gezellig!

It is often said that there is no real translation for the Dutch word gezellig.
Gezellig means homy, comfy, cosy, intimate.
It may refer to activities, situations or people.

It means lighting the candles at night

It means playing with your best friend

It means peeling the Brussels sprouts together

It means decorating the Christmas tree

It means feeling lots of tiny toes and fingers wriggling around, but no photo can be taken of that!

Things have been very gezellig around here lately!

Today's score

Large bags of clothes for charity: 3
Cardboard boxes filled with paper for recycling: 2
Boxes of stuff for the thrift store: 1
Organised bookcases: 3
Photos of all of this: 0

For the rest: clean windows downstairs, a tidy living room, all children's clothes sorted/thrown out, great progress in the attic and craftroom.

And still we've got a long way to go before our house will truly be neat and organised. But it will happen, definitely!

Tomorrow: big 20 week ultrasound!

Tired in a good way

I'm knackered, but happy about today.

My parents came this morning and we all (including the children) made a good start at clearing the attic.
So far we collected three bags of rubbish, three bags of fabric and clothes for charity and two large boxes of paper and cardbox. I also put together a bag of still-good-but-now-far-too-small clothes, which my parents took home for my sister to look through.
We've achieved a lot in little time, but there's still a very long way to go. I'm feeling very optimistic about it though!

After lunch we all went to Ikea and managed to find the right fabric for Simon's curtains. Mum has taken the fabric home and will be making the curtains... kiss to Mum!
In the foreseeable future I also want new curtains for Amber, for the living room and of course for the baby. However, we're taking things step by step... that's my new motto :)

We then attended a party for Amber and Simon's niece Sarah who turned two years old on Thursday. Her present from us was a picture book, but last year I made her a pillow, of which I'm posting photos again today.

Tomorrow I'm sending off my wholesale order (too late & still not finished right now). For now I'm just going to relax (and take it ea-ea-easy)!

Lose the ballast

I've just deleted a whole bunch of feeds from my Bloglines (not yours of course!).
I'm down to 127 feeds now. It feels great... I feel lighter!

Everyday I looked at that ever growing amount of unread posts and it started to give me a real headache. I simply can't keep up, but that irritating voice at the back of my head tells me I have to. I've now decided that I must make things easier for myself.

These coming months will be all about clearing. I'm going to have to say goodbye to a whole lot of my beloved junk. I'm such a hoarder! And so is Michel!! Our house is crammed with stuff. And even though we are attached to everything we've ever collected, we're becoming increasingly aware of the fact that it's making us feel very un-free and suffocated.

Thankfully, the baby is forcing us into action, because we need to make space for him/her. The baby will move into Simon's room, Simon into ours, and Michel and I are moving one floor up. Clearly the attic needs to be junk-free, so that Michel will be able to build a wardrobe and that he will be able to lay laminate there.

My Mum has offered to help me and instead of pretending that I can do it all myself, I've accepted her offer. She coming round this Sunday to make a start and to map out all the things that need to be done. We still have 4,5 months! I'm itching to get started!