KissKus

Hello winter!

After a very mild winter without any snow or ice at all, look at the view that greeted us when we opened the curtains this morning! Even though it was only a thin layer of snow, everything was white!

The children were very excited of course. We put on their clothes and at 7.30 a.m. they were already playing outside. They had a great time until noon when most of the snow had melted.

The rest of the day was very relaxing. I made wentelteefjes and even managed to take a nap. I also made a good start with the travelcot and a matching blankie. Hopefully that project will be finished tomorrow.

The day ended appropriately with a fire in the garden.

Oh, and the obligatory 39 weeks-bellyshot of course :)

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)!

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!

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!

All over the place

The children are staying at the oma's for a couple of days and Michel and I are taking full advance of their absence to get as many jobs done as possible.

I feel all over the place. One moment I feel that we're on the right track, the next I'm panicking because everything is still a mess and nothing is properly arranged. I'm really nervous that this baby will come early... I feel so not ready for it!! It sometimes seems that the more jobs we get done, the more jobs appear. And the unfortunate thing is that of all the things the nursery is the last thing to be finished. I so desperately want to have that room done with, so that I can start decorating and really getting ready for the baby.

But anyway, let's focus on the positive, shall we? Luckily, we are making vast progress in all kinds of directions even if it doesn't seem that way.
Just look what arrived this morning!!

Our brand new dining table along with six chairs!! It's huge and wonderful and actually already put together and oiled. This is in fact the first table we've ever bought. All the others were hand-me-downs. I'll post a better photo some other time. Perhaps when our new sofa has arrived :) Yes, money has been flowing (thanks Mum and Dad!).

This weekend we've also been able to move Simon to his new room. He loves it as it's so much bigger than his old room (which will now become the nursery). He's been playing there non-stop with his cars and blocks.

I have a very long list of things I need/want to sew, but somehow I don't seem to be able to start. Yesterday I decided to take the plunge and started ripping apart the lining of our "second" cot. I even cut into my precious matryoshka fabric... it's a start!

I'm also very relieved that at long last I've started making lists. It made me feel less disorganised immediately and scratching off things is enormously satisfying.

Michel and I enjoyed a night out too yesterday. We went to our favourite Mexican restaurant in Utrecht and had a lovely time. We're off now to shop for food... we're both hungry after our day of hard work.
Tomorrow the children will be back, which I'm really looking forward to!

Ok, one last photo of the babe inside his/her little house. Hopefully happy to stay there for another four weeks!

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!

A magical place?

Well, we're back from Disneyland and let me tell you that the weather was simply magical! So sunny and warm... absolutely wonderful!!

And the rest of Disneyland? Well, I wouldn't exactly call that magical.
It wasn't so much of a disillusion, since I didn't expect much beforehand, but I did find the commercial tackiness a little overwhelming. After entering the park we spent the first 40 minutes or so looking for an attraction... all we could see were shops crammed with ridiculously overpriced souvenirs!

The first attraction we decided to queue for (it was SO busy) was A Small World. It was as if I suddenly stepped into a nightmare: the scary pink and gold sweetness and all those annoying children's voices singing the same song over and over and over again... wow, that was impressive in its own special way!

The hotel we stayed in was fine. It was built as a small town in Western style. The room wasn't big, but comfortable enough and it had a bath, which the children enjoyed very much (I took a bath as well... never did I feel more like a whale). It was lovely to spend a night so close together.

On Sunday morning we got up early. Because we were hotel guests we were allowed to enter the park at 8.00 a.m. (it normally opens at 10.00 a.m.). When we got there around 9 it was already incredibly crowded. Michel went into Space Mountain, which was quite a spectacle according to him. After that we went queue-hopping for a couple of hours.

We took a lunch break and watched the masses stand in line to be photographed with several Disney characters. Now that was entertainment! Thankfully, both Amber and Simon wanted to have nothing to do with these characters with their huge scary plastic heads. Simon started whimpering as soon as any one of them came near us and we had to take a few detours to avoid them when they all came tumbling out of the train after the Parade.

The attraction we all enjoyed most was a lovely old river boat (it was real!)... it was so wonderful and relaxing to stand on deck in the sun.

While Michel and Amber decided to check out the Haunted House, Simon and I sat down on a bench where he happily played with the two sticks we found (he's a collector!). Those were his souvenirs of the weekend and I couldn't have been more proud of him, because he truly didn't desire anything else!

For Amber it was more difficult to resist the temptation of all the kitsch goodies that were shoved into her face every step of the way. I couldn't blame her at all, but we bought nothing.

All in all, we had a great weekend together as a family. It was a very welcome break from all the stress and work at home and we enjoyed every minute of that.  I don't think we'll ever go back to Disneyland again, but I wouldn't have missed it for the world!

Au revoir!

Tomorrow morning (apparently before dawn, if Michel has his way) we'll leave for Paris!!
Yes, that's right... PARIS!!

Well, alright, not quite the capital of France itself, but Disneyland Paris.
Although I'm not a great Disney-fan, I'm looking forward to spending two whole days with my husband and children doing something other than working on the house. Besides, this trip is more or less free, since it came with the car... I'm not complaining!

I'm even looking forward to the 5-hour journey. I've always enjoyed being confined to the car with my loved ones... except when the children are whining, needing pee... etc. ;))

So hopefully we'll be able to relax and enjoy it. If the weather is as nice as it was today then I'm sure we will.

Thankfully I'm feeling a little less stressed out already. Wednesday morning at work I didn't make it past the receptionist's desk. I was so tired and sore that when she asked me how I was feeling, I started crying right there and then. She was so kind to me, she phoned someone and said I wasn't able to work anymore and then she sent me home. After a couple of hours in bed I felt not so disappointed in myself anymore, after all I had just one more week to go, so I nearly made it till the end. I do feel that I really need to get a little more rest now; it's not just wise, but a necessity.

Anyway, have a lovely weekend everyone! I'll be back in a couple of days with a full report of our trip!
Bissoux!!

The photos btw are some of the tissueholders I've been making these past weeks... I've got a little factory going on here :)

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!