8/52

What? Mamma left the door open? Quick!

Ché and Fidel: 8/52

xx

7/52

Hello first tooth! (it only took 30 photos to get a glimpse)

See others over at Ché and Fidel: 7/52.

x

6/52

Dad is home, bubble toes & red wool.

I have been crocheting again, and it feels wonderful! I have missed making things with a little metal hook. Tiny hats and scarf sets are being made for the handmade dolls I sew and sell on Facebook (Peas & Beans handmade dolls if you are a curious soul). Eve chases balls of wool about the floor, trying to slither towards them with the most divine messy coordination.

Bit late this week - see more over at Ché and Fidel: 6/52.

xx

5/52

Blowing raspberries while eating a slice of pear =a juicy mess.

Such faces melt me heart daily and make us giggle. Participating in Jodie's Project 5/52 at Che&Fidel.

xxT

4/52

In search of a dropped block at breakfast time.

The week of pushing ones tiny self along the floor backwards, saying 'Mamamama', 'Dadadada', 'Babababa' and 'Yeeeh!', finally eating her toes, laughing randomly at blank walls and eating an entire nectarine.

More 4th week photos at Ché and Fidel.

3/52

Chubby hand dimples.

This week a facial portrait wouldn't cut it. This week these beautiful little hands were so busy feeling every possible texture in reach, transferring toys from one hand to another and banging two blocks together repeatedly to make noise. I love how surprised yet pleased with herself she looks at each loud sound she makes. Everything is so new. So much to learn!

2/52

Nom Nom Nom.

I couldn't stop at one this week, I suspected this would happen. My goal was to capture Eve's milestones, thus I couldn't exclude the b&w photos - she is now sitting unassisted (with the odd fall) and exploring blocks with surprising intensity. I love watching her tiny fingers figure out how to flick toys towards her, pincer grasp them up and shove them into her mouth!

See more weekly portraits at Che&Fidel.

x Tracey

1/52

Eve and her post rusk aftermath in dappled sunlight (6 months).

With just 15 minutes to go before my personally set deadline, I am joining in with lots of other snap happy parents over at che&fidel. Gah I love me a good bloggy meme - it has been quite sometime.

x Tracey

52 a portait a week

I'm back!
I am committing to this project.
Every week in 2013 I will take silly amounts of photos of my sweet daughter Eve and select one which shows her current personality the best. I don't doubt that there may be two photos some weeks ;)
I will practice my DSLR skills.
I will learn about the light in my home.
I will practice shooting in Manual mode and not just in my beloved go-to Av mode.
I will try my best to capture natural moments.
I will aim to capture the small things which are so big to kids.

I'll be posting the first of my portraits on Sunday January the 8th  eeeeeeeeeek! I'd better get snappin'

Introducing...

A few things I have learnt over the past 4 weeks:

• Going a week beyond due date was not comfortable and I do not wish it upon anybody!
• Giving birth naturally is something I almost have no words for. I feel such an overwhelming  sense of achievement whenever I think about those 7 and a 1/2 hours.
• I feel very lucky that labour passed quickly and without any complications or drugs - we did not plan this and still cannot believe I did it on my own.
• Being a teacher to up to 18 primary school aged ESL students did NOT nearly prepare me for life with a newborn. Yes she is totally amazing, perfect and I am utterly smitten ...but boy it is hard work.
• My confidence as a first time mummy is growing daily, and I couldn't be happier to put the emotional whirlwind that was the first fortnight behind me. 
• Eve is one lucky little lady to have such a confident and fun daddy, and I am so grateful for his ability and willingness to parent our daughter as an 'equal' alongside me ♥♥
• Watching Eve's content milk-drunk face and listening to her gurgling coos makes for the BEST kind of entertainment. Thank goodness we have a Magic TV box and we record all our fav shows, as we find ourself realising entire fave tv episodes have finished without us really having any idea what happened.
• The love I have for our Evie Bear is undeniably the best type in the world!

She's stirring after her morning sleep, better go get her bottle ready.

♥♥♥

afternoon rain

DIY boppy pillow

It was mighty hard to restrain myself from going out and buying a Boppy pillow but... I am glad I did as this project has kept me busy during week 39 of pregnancy. It's been an absolute shite week to put it mildly. Mostly I'm just not sleeping properly, fun hormones raging, crazy heartburn and reflux lingers without breaks and not knowing when she could make her arrival (will it be today? tomorrow? in 14 days?) ready for our little peanut to arrive. Following such moments of complete ICK! I'm trying to stay positive and be crafty.

I have sewn an internal pillow and two covers using this cover pattern from A Load of Craft. It's a fairly straight forward pattern. I made sure the internal pillow itself had no zip and sewed the edge using a 1" seam allowance, instead of the 1/4" suggested, making it slightly smaller than the covers. 

This patchwork cover is my favourite I think. Fabric charm pack 'Oh Deer!' by Moda and the backing is a snuggly minky in cream from Spotlight.

Very impressed by Spotlight's fabric range these days. The woodland print is a thick cotton drill with brown minky backing.

Your pillow is ready, so come on baby!!! 

Pre-baby maternity leave pics

Testing out the Blogger app.

indoor bulb update

It's gone to plan! My indoor hyacinths have started blooming... all a week before our little girl's due date. Now it's just a waiting game... and quite an uncomfortable one at that.

♥♥♥

baby shower

Two very lovely friends organised my Baby Shower 10 weeks ago. I have lots of photos but I'm aware that not everyone enjoys having their photo plastered all over the internet so I'll share food and shower gifts instead. It was a fab afternoon!

DIY baby capsule liner

So, we hired a rather unsightly Safe N Sound Safety Car Capsule last week. Apparently it is Australia's safest capsule so we went with it. I didn't realise how uncomfortable the existing velour liner was, nor how ugly it was until I took it home. After an intensive search session for online patterns all I could find were some eBay covers asking $50+ aaaand funnily enough multiple baby forums where lots of mums complained of the sheer ick-factor of the capsule :S

So I got to work, and took pics along the way (iPhone quality, sorry) to remind me of the making process (I have a few requests already from friends!) and for any crafty mammas out there wanting to have a try at making their own. I'm not putting up pattern pieces to enlarge or anything, you just trace around the 3 parts and make sure you add an extra 1/2 inch around all sides for the seam allowance.

1 The not so pretty beginning. 2 Material from stash. 

3 Trace three pattern pieces. 4 Cut quilt wadding for all three pieces. 

5 Cut backing and top fabric using pattern pieces. 6 Cut straight lines using a rotary cutter.

7 Assemble in order a) wadding b) top fabric c) backing fabric and pin. 8 Sew around edges.

9 Snip all rounded corner edges. 10 Turn all three pieces in right way and pin.

11 & 12 Pin some more then sew 1/4 inches in to create a neat edge.

13 Match up original liner, trace all seatbelt gaps and sew around all. 

14 Line up the three pieces over original liner and pin where the two seams need to be sewn. 

15 Sew up the two seams at the back. 16 Use a zigzag stitch along those nasty fraying edges.

17 & 18 Make a sweet corduroy bow or two like this.

Done! I think it's pretty cute and so much more snuggly. 

Despite a few unsightly seams I couldn't be happier!

♥♥♥♥♥

36 weeks pregnant

Mark was a complete trooper and took some great maternity shots last weekend. I took a few happy hours editing them in Phososcape, and now more than ever can hardly wait for the arrival of our baby to obsess over taking a billion photos of her ever 2 minutes.

hats for baby

Cold days & nights + maternity leave + crazy strong nesting urges = out came the (dusty!) knitting needles & crochet hooks.

It has been a very long time since any motivation to craft up a storm has hit me. It is great having it back! It's funny how knit and crochet stitch lingo comes back after all this time away. Ravelry has been keeping me busy - SO many free cute baby patterns to peruse and choose from. 

Currently my favourite yarn is without a doubt Moda Vera Beetle. It is super soft and extraordinarily easy to knit with.

♥♥♥

our little girl's nursery

Hello.

I've been neglecting this little blog of late. I am not feeling much motivation to take many photos (I'm saving my camera battery for more special occasions you could say!), find myself using up any extra energy to work in the garden, clean spaces I've never known needed cleaning and attend all those hospital appointments.... all in preparation for our little bean's arrival sometime in the next 5 weeks (YIKES!!!).

We have been slowly plodding away on the nursery. Just waiting on the two big essential items - the cot and change table, then it's completo.

We have gone for neutrals, primary brights with a vintage and wooden toy appearing here and there. 

Now that I am on maternity leave I find myself wasting time admiring the sweet things I have collected or been given over the years with the hope that they would one day appear in our baby's room.

These four little friends are eagerly waiting our baby's arrival on her mantle piece.  A few years ago I made them during my softie sewing and crochetting days, however they were eventually moved into a cupboard in the spare room. To think that they will soon have a small owner with little hands to drag them around the house makes me all kinds of happy ♥

The ever helpful Lucy, overseeing the hanging of onesies, jumpsuits and seriously small outfits.

The mobile is up. After debating the colour scheme we went with primary colours. We are both happy with how it turned out.

 ♥♥♥♥♥

chillies, bulbs and bottles...

Mark's herb bed is full of the brightest (and HOTTEST!) orange chillies we have ever laid our eyes on. He has high hopes of salting some and making chilli oil out of the rest. The veggie garden seriously need some work one of these days. Soon. There's just not enough time on weekends, and not enough energy in my baby-growing body.

The dining table is yet again (see last years here and here) laden with pots of forced hyacinth bulbs, although not quite as many as the previous 2 years. I'm sticking to purely growing hyacinths indoors as I have had the most success with them in the past, plus they are just so pretty and bright. Looking forward to watching them grow as Adelaide's cold days wear on.

My new bulb garden is coming along nicely (photos to come soon). All 400 or so bulbs (I know - a little nuts right?!) have been planted. The muscaris and last years daffodil sprouts have already emerged!

Autumn is such a nice season!

 ♥♥♥♥♥