KissKus

32=3+2=5

Today's my birthday.
My first birthday as a mother of three.

Except for the usual birthday ingredients like cake and presents, this time there were other highlights as well.
I took a shower with Linus this morning, which was really special and we went on our very first walk. It was lovely weather and it was wonderful to be outside.

Apart from a serious lack of sleep things are going very well around here. Linus is such a sweet, easy baby. He is so soft and pink and cute and cuddly... I'm happy just to hold and watch him all day.
Amber and Simon have adjusted very well to the changes too. Simon had a little trouble initially, but he's back to his old self now. It's no small thing to become an older brother overnight!

Look at my two boys taking a nap together... aren't they adorable?!

Ok, just one more photo of Linus then!

I'm amazed at the way he looks around when he's awake. His eyes are so curious and wise... it really seems as if he's absorbing everything. As I said I could look at him all day!

Well, I think it's almost boobtime again and then hopefully some sleep!

Still going strong

38 weeks and still pregnant, thankfully.

The belly is too big to be covered now as you can see.

I'm sorry I haven't been blogging lately. Enough reasons for that: we've been working like mad trying to get the house finished AND we've all been sick AND I dropped Michel's laptop from the table!

I hope to be posting some more this week; I have lots to show and tell.
The house is more or less finished (I'm coming to terms with the fact that it will never be completely done), the nursery is ready. Now I would LOVE to be able to relax and catch up on some sleep, hopefully that will still happen. I did read two books these last days... that hasn't happened in a loooong time.
Come on, relaxation, overwhelm me!

Upside down

*Edit* Hurray! The scan showed that baby's head was beautifully positioned down! We'll never know whether he/she decided to take a tumble last night or was falsely accused, but I'm very relieved! No more obstacles between me and my homebirth :)

Also, I wanted to add that the mirror pictured underneath has been cleaned since the photo was taken!!

Today at our check-up the obstetrician noticed that baby has most probably turned upside down, which means that its head is now placed under my ribs (which explains that crushing feeling there) and its feet are way down south. NOT GOOD, BABY! Please, take a dive and go back to the way you've been for all those months!!

Tomorrow morning I'm going in for a scan to make sure of its position and if it's confirmed then I suppose we'll start making plans on how we'll be able to turn this baby around. That process will probably involve a lot of pushing and shoving... yay!

I do actually believe that the baby has turned. My whole belly feels and looks different. It's definitely larger on top and it feels as if there's a melon stuck underneath my ribs. Bending has really become a challenge now! I'm not too stressed yet though. The obstetrician said there is still enough time (I'm 34 weeks) and room for the baby to move again, so for now I'm just going to assume that that will happen.

Other babynews.... we think we've finally found a boy's name that we like! Or that we like just a little bit more than the other names that we like, you know?! Deciding on a girl's name was easy, but for a boy we both find it much harder. I think we'll now have to repeat this name to ourselves a couple of times a day so that that it'll become familiar to us.
Phew... until yesterday we had no nursery, no cot, no pram, no birth announcement and no name yet. Now that we can cross out that last item, all we need is for the baby to take a tumble and we're back on track!

Multi-tasking... all day, every day!

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!

29 weeks

Perhaps there was a little confusion in my last post... I still have 2,5 months of pregnancy to go instead of 2, but I would just REALLY like the house to be finished in my 37th week! A good goal, don't you think?!

So today 29 weeks.
I had to go into hospital for another scan this afternoon. There was a small chance that there was something wrong with the baby's kidneys. In the last scan they measured a little too big, which could be problematic.
Today, however, the kidneys were the perfect size (4mm!) for 29 weeks, so no worries anymore... from now on we are just going to assume that the baby is in perfect health. Hurray!

I still feel ok. Things are getting a little heavier, I'm definitely slower and I walk like a duck. I do feel pain and sometimes I'm uncomfortable, but on the whole I'm really happy with the way I feel right now. At least I expected it worse than that it is, so that's a bonus.

I have another month to go at work and I fully intend to work until my pregnancy leave starts. Of course, it's getting more difficult there as well, I do have to stand on my feet all day long and there isn't much opportunity to take a break. But my colleagues are very sweet and they help me as much as possible.

Not much has been happening on the baby crafting front yet, although the ideas are starting to come. Luckily my Mum is helping me out with all the sewing that still needs to be done. On Saturday we'll go to Amsterdam to (hopefully) buy fabric for the cot (I want turquoise gingham), so then we can get started on that.

Thank you everyone for your matryoshka tips! It's so fun discovering new things and links... so if you come across something, please let me know! For now I ordered very sweet Japanese matryoshka fabric and tape... I can't wait for it to arrive!

Well, before I go and have a cup of tea, here's the belly-shot taken by Amber!

Matroyshka/babushka help

A while back I decided on a theme for baby's room: the main colour will be turquoise and I want to add matroyshka/babushka elements.

From Tiel.

So far I collected some illustrations that I want to frame and I'm building up a small stash of turquoise fabrics for the quilt and other decorations.
What I would really like, however, is to buy some matroyshka-fabric as well (I already have the Heather Ross print, but that's the wrong colour unfortunately) and I'm hoping that you guys can help me out a little.

Do you know of any links to the fabric I'm looking for? As I said the main colour of the quilt will be turquoise, but any kind of blue, or red, will do. Do you know any good (bonafide) and preferably affordable online fabric stores? I only ever once twice bought from Reprodepot, which I was very happy about.

I hope you've got some helpful tips for me!

By the way, while surfing the net I came across this fabulous site. I'm now trying to determine which set(s) I'm going to buy.

Ack, have a look at this blog... such lovely things on there!

And this fabric is just the best!

Does anyone know where it comes from?

Reflections

On this last day of the year I like to take a look back.
2007 has been a wonderful, beautiful and happy year and I feel so blessed to be able to say that.

The pregnancy, the new car, Michel's new job, all the things the children achieved, time spent with loved ones that live abroad. There were times that we seemed to be living from one highlight to another.

I'm most grateful for the small things, for moments that are considered to be "normal", but really are more special than anything else. Time spent as a family, seeing the children grow and develop. We're all healthy and we love each other... I'm so aware that that is what truly matters in my life.

I can hardly imagine that the next year will be as wonderful as the last, but I do hope so. We have something magical to look forward to: I can't wait to meet the littlest one of our family.

New year's resolutions... I do have a few. In the next three months I want to prepare the house for the new arrival. This means cleaning, sorting, throwing out, painting, sewing and also buying some new furniture. For the rest I resolve to take better care of myself, which means eating healthier and sleeping more.
As for my crafting I would like to make more clothes for the children and I want to continue selling my things. For the rest I just want to go on as I did this year.

I hope that you will all be able to spend New Year's Eve in good company tonight. And I'm wishing you a very happy, healthy and creative 2008!
I see you all on the other side!

Shine a light

Today has been dark and dreary.
I'm tired and edgy.

Painting made by my neighbour

I had plans to get the house organised and somehow it's gotten even messier.
Simon  made pen drawings on the wall and floor (fortunately under my desk).
One of those days...

Nonetheless, there were some (high)lights as well.
At least I got lots of things done: three loads of washing, the shopping, a couple of things sewn, a shop update... and it's not even 16.30 yet!

And NaBloPoMo is done! That last post is definitely not going to get me down... I made it! Hurray for me!

22 weeks

I'm starting to lose sight of my feet... I hope they behave themselves down there!

All is well with the pregnancy.
I trust the baby is still growing well and feeling content. According to the sources it's about 30 cms and it weighs about 500 grams.
Physically everything is in place now and it's looking the way a newborn baby looks.
It just needs to get bigger and fatter... like me!

My body is holding up rather well, although I've been experiencing quite a bit of pain in my lower back. Michel keeps telling me to go see a physiotherapist now before the complaints get any worse. I think I will, but I want to discuss it with my obstetrician first and I won't be seeing her until next week.

There's not much happening on the organising/redecorating front right now with all the festivities going on and having our Australian guests over here. I think it won't be until January before we can pick up where we've left behind, but it will definitely be full speed ahead then!

Day 23