I’ve been a-sewing

Pete and I have decided to use cloth nappies on Mayana, but not the old terry-flats, which are absolutely HUGE on our bub, but modern cloth nappies. The idea of these are that they are more along the lines of disposables – so they are fitted to the bub.

There’s a whole world out there that I never knew existed! AIO’s, Pockets, Covers, Prefolds, Fitted Nappies… PUL, minky fleece, bamboo and hemp fleece, so much that I’d never heard of! So after trawling the internet for the last few weeks, to the point that I’ve been dreaming about nappies, we’ve started on the clothes.

A few weeks ago, I made myself some prefolds, which are basically squares of an absorbent material with 2 lines sewn down dividing it into 3 sections, and bought some waterproof covers from e-bay, and that was the start! I then ordered some green kids pocket nappies – which are a similar shape to disposables, two layers with a gap at the top into which you stuff some absorbent material (like my prefolds, or some bamboo inserts). These are really great, but absolutely massive on Mayana and make her look like a real bubble butt! When I saw them in real life, I couldn’t believe how simple the looked to make. So I did some more research, and decided to have a go myself!

Today I made Mayana an AIO (all-in-one) cloth nappy. This has 3 layers of material: an outer (something pretty), and waterproof layer, and an inner. It also has a hidden layer, a rectangle of layered material, which works as a soaker. I chose to use minky fleece (a really soft, thin fleece) as the outer, PVC in the form of a cheap tablecloth (will use PUL, which has similar properties but is more breathable, for my nappies once I’ve gotten the pattern down-pat) as the waterproof and micro-fleece as the inner. Microfleece is great because it draws the moisture away from bottoms into the soaker panel, leaving bubbies butt dry and less prone to nappy rash. I used microfibre as my soaker. I started off with a pattern from the internet, but gave it a complete overhaul as it was way too big for little miss M, so I basically ended up making my own pattern from scratch.

It was much easier than I thought it would be, though it did take a little while. I’m sure it won’t take as long next time though!

My end product looks pretty darn good! It’s a little smaller than I’d like it to be, and putting it on Mayana I can see some areas where I’ll have to make a bit of a change, but overall, I’m impressed with my efforts!

So, some pics!

A little too small!!

The outside…

Done up

Inside!

I reckon it looks pretty good for my first go! Can’t wait to try another… ;)

2 months of mummy-hood

Yesterday, my baby girl was two months old! In some ways, it feels like yesterday that we bought her home, but in a bigger way I can hardly remember what our life was like without her. It’s like she filled a hole we didn’t even know existed. She is such a blessing to us, and brings such joy to our lives. I didn’t know you could love this much! Becoming a mum has given me such a new revelation of how God feels about us. And yet, what I feel for Mayana is a fraction of what God feels for me! It amazes me every day. I love being a mum, I feel like I was born to do this, and there’s nothing that makes me happier than watching Peter with our daughter.

We’ve had a big day today. Mayana had to have her 2 month needles. They give two needles, which immunise against diptheria, tetanus, pertussis, polio, hep b, haemophilius influenzae, whooping cought and pneumococcal, plus an oral vaccine against rotarvirus. Poor little chicken!!! She did very well though. Pete held her for the needles (just worked out that way as he already had her because I’d had to have a blood test), but as soon as the second one was administered I fed her to calm her down, which worked really well by the way! It was a bit heart-wrenching to watch her have them… with the first one, it took her a couple of seconds to register the pain and then her whole body stiffened and she started screaming her lungs out. The nurse was great though, and did the second one as quickly as she could so I could feed her, and once she was feeding she calmed down very quickly. She has made herself hoarse from screaming so much though! She has been very sleepy and snuggly every since, and had a little bit of a temp but nothing that a bit of baby panadol won’t fix. She did so well, and Mama was pretty brave too ;-)

Mayana was also weighed and measured at the doctors. She now is 52cm in length, and weighs 3510g, or 7lbs 12oz! My doctor is so impressed, and said that Mayana is thriving and doing extremely well. I’m so proud of her :-) Hopefully, she will soon fit into some of her 0000 clothes. At the moment she only fits 0000 wondersuits, and the rest is huge on her. It’s a shame because we had so much 0000 summer stuff, and it’s nearly too cool here in Toowoomba for her to use it! Looks like we’ll have to by a stack of 0000 winter stuff. The good news is though, once she reaches 000, we won’t have to buy her a thing until she’s about four I reckon! lol.

Anyway, I must off and rescue my daughter from the bath… she’s been having one with her Papa but from the sounds of it, she’s had enough!

Later!

Wii!

Okay, so I so thought I’d never join the wii bandwagon, but since uncle Kevi is giving us his ruddbucks, and we get 4 lots of it (which is sending us on a Perth holiday for Christmas), Pete and I decided to do it. Pete’s been wanting one for a looong time, but I’ve taken A LOT of convincing.

Anyway, our first lot of ruddbucks were due this week.. they still haven’t turned up (stupid Centrelink, or as I like to call them, CentreSTINK – hadn’t made me eligible for the FTB part B bonus payment because they hadn’t processed my paperwork prior to Feb 3, although I gave it to them on Jan 23, and M was born Jan 18! I rang them today and sorted that out though, and it’s coming through next monday). Pete has been doing stacks of research on the various Wii deals going, and this week Big W had a beauty: The Wii console, with 3 games for only $398. They also had the Wii fit for $118. Combined this is cheaper than you would pay for the same thing but used at say, EB Games –and that would only have 1 game. So we decided to do it!

Toowoomba Big W hadn’t gotten a shipment in at all, and weren’t sure that they were going to. I still don’t understand how they can get away with that when it’s being advertised in the catalogue and on TV. But anyway. They wouldn’t let us put our name down for when one came in, despite the sign on the counter that said, “See staff to secure your wii bundle”. Weirdos! So I rang Big W Noosa, and they had stacks of wii bundles, and 2 wii fits available. I madly rang my sister and transferred money to her account, and she flew over there and got it for us! By the time she got there they only had the one wii fit left, and the girl nearly wouldn’t give it to her, because they said a lady had rung and said she was coming to get it within the hour – but the lady was me! That was really nice of her cos she’d told me on the phone they aren’t allowed to hold catalogue sale items.

So yeah, long story short: Today we are getting a Wii. It is arriving with my mum and brother any minute now.

Pete, Mayana and I get to spend a weekend with Kami and Oom J! We’re so looking forward to them coming and hanging out for the weekend… and playing with our new wii!!! :)

The Verdict - and Mayana rambles

Best night's sleep for a loooooong time.

I didn't have to wake up every half hour to rearrange myself because some part of me was going numb...
My hip didn't click when I got out of bed thismorning..
and it was SO comfortable. Best $999 we've every spent. Oh and that's right, did I mention that we also made a saving of $500!! Because I am a magnet for bargains, and of course walked right into a sale ;-)

It also helped that Mayana had the longest sleep of her entire (albeit short) life so far. She went to sleep at 7.15pm, and didn't wake up until 5.15am!!! It's the first really good night she's had since we moved her bedtime forward from 8pm to 7pm.

She had a weird day yesterday, I think because she missed her morning sleep. I've found that if she has a good morning sleep, she is good all day, but if for some reason it's messed up, we have a very cranky baby, even if she does manage a sleep later in the day.

We've settled into a pretty good routine for the moment. Well, she kind of settled herself into it so I'm going along with it anyway!

She usually wakes up at around 8am, I feed her, change her, we have a chat and a cuddle and I put her back to bed by 9.30am, earlier if she's showing tired signs before then.
She then usually sleeps until midday or sometimes even later. Then we have another feed, get dressed for the day (well usually I am already dressed before then, but she gets dressed) and often go out somewhere. She generally doesn't sleep a whole lot after that, but will maybe have a couple of catnaps, and I demand feed during this time. We bath her between 4.30pm and 5pm, and then have some play time on a blanket on the floor - usually this is "Papa time", while I start dinner.
I start her pre-bed feed sometime around 6ish, and that usually goes for half an hour. Then we go into her room, I read her a book or two and we sing a song (usually Yes Jesus Loves Me ) Then I wrap her up, and call Pete in and we say prayers with her, each have a cuddle and a kiss, and into bed she goes! I pat her for a bit, make sure the dummy is in, and then leave the room. She usually is asleep within 15 minutes, but I sometimes have to go back in to pop the dummy back in and give her another pat. She's doing really well at the self-settling and I'm SO proud! Especially when she then practically sleeps right through!

I can't believe my baby is going to be 8 weeks old this Sunday, and next Wednesday will be 2 months old!!! She's still so tiny, even though she feels so much bigger to us. When we go out, people are always shocked that such a tiny baby is so alert, assuming that she's much newer than she is. I often get disgusted looks from old ladies who must think that I'm a horrible mother to have such a brand-new baby out, lol. But mostly, every person we walk past says, either to us or whoever they're with, "aawwww look at that tiny baby, she's so cute, how tiny is she!!!". That's assuming they figure out she's a she. You have no idea the amount of times I've been asked, "is it a little girl or a little boy,". Well yes, I often dress my little boy in pink dresses with a pink headband and frilly white socks. *slaps forhead*.

Anyway, she's such a good baby, and SO cute. Even when she cries she does these most gorgeous little frowns. I keep trying to take a photo (mean I know) but it's a fleeting expression and hard to capture.

Anyway, I had best be off, I really only came in to talk about the mattress, not to ramble on about my baby! She's worth rambling about though, that's for sure :)

Need to do some housework before she wakes up!

Sleeping well...

Pete and I are very excited tonight, because we have a new mattress!!! We are soooooo looking forward to a night without springs poking into various parts of our bodies.
Since we got married we have had an old hand-me-down mattress which I bought cheap from a friend, but it has definitely had its day. A few years ago, we replaced the ensemble base with a nice wooden bedframe, and yesterday, we invested in a beautiful new mattress.

It is a sleepmaker miracoil mattress, with a pillow top. Soooo nice. The pillow top bit is lovely soft fluffy fabric, and is incredibly comfortable.

So yeah, I'm really, really looking forward to going to bed tonight (don't say dirty it's too easy!).

New Mayana Videos

Tummy Time

Mayana Singing

Ticklish Baby

Enjoy!

Shakespeare!

On Friday night, Peter and I packed up our picnic blanket, rugged up the baby, grabbed some pillows, jumpers and blankets and headed to Queens Park.

Each year, our uni puts on a Shakespeare Festival, and this year they played "The Tempest".

We arrived at the park at 6pm, settled onto our rug - close to the front, bought ourselves some dinner and waited for the show to start. It was fantastic!!! I haven't been to a play since I finished school, and I had almost forgotten how fun live theatre is.

The play was REALLY good. The (3rd year) students did a fabulous job, the costumes were amazing and the set was beautiful.

It was a lovely date night, and Mayana was a perfect angel the whole time. She was so enthralled by the lights and noise, she was watching the stage and following the actors, she was very alert.

Unfortunately we weren't allowed to take photos of it for copyright reasons, but if you go here you can have a look at the official photos. I can't believe we've never gone to this thing before! We'll definitely be back for another go next year...

Waiting for the show to start..

Mayana watching the pretty lights

Uni... I did it!

I had originally planned to do this semester entirely from home. I'm not doing fourth year subjects, just some extra electives - though still education subjects.
So I enrolled for 3 web-based courses to do this semester. When my studydesk came up (the uni intranet site with all your assignments, study schedules etc) and I looked through the work I had to do, I had a "crap! I can't do this!" moment. I couldn't imagine doing these courses from home, with no other classmates to motivate me, no teachers to talk to, and a gorgeous baby to distract me. Admittedly, I'd chosen some pretty full-on courses!

So anyway, I decided to reassess. I looked through all the courses that I could choose to do this semester, and made a big decision to go back to campus for one of my subjects! When I enrolled a few weeks ago, I couldn't even make myself consider this, but now it somehow felt easier. So I'm now enrolled in an early childhood numeracy course (online), which Pete has already done a couple of years ago, a foundation literacy course (online) which looks like something that will really interest me (It's about early reading and language skills etc), and a drama course!! This is the on-campus course, and I'm so excited about it. It's right up my ally, the sort of thing I love doing, and with one of my favourite uni lecturers.

There are only 2 draw-backs:
1) It is at the same time as my playgroup
2) It overlaps one of Pete's classes by an hour.

However, I can live without playgroup for 4 months - and there will be a number of weeks when I can still go because my classmates will be on prac. And, my lovely lecturer is happy for me to bring Mayana to the class for the first hour! Plus, as it turns out, Pete's class looks as though it will be finishing half an hour earlier than scheduled, so we won't have that much of an overlap after all!

So today was my first day back - and Mayana's first day at uni! I wonder how many babies aged 6 weeks and 3 days can say that! I mean, sure, she slept through most of it, but still!!!
She was such a good girl, and made the other poeple in my class very clucky. They're all lined up for cuddles next week.

The class was great... reminded me of highschool drama with Mrs Holtausen :-)
We're going to be doing a performance piece at a school near the end of semester, which should be lots of fun! There are only 8 people in the class, which is fantastic. I'm so excited about it.

I'm really glad that I took a deep breath and made the decision to do this. It was so great to be at uni - to help me remember where I'm headed with my teaching, and also to let me remember that I am more than just Mayana's mummy - even thought that is definitely my number one priority! Plus it gives Pete a couple of special hours of Papa Time each week - I think it's going to be great for all three of us !

So yes. My boast for the day. I did it, I enjoyed it, and I'm going to stick at it! I'm so proud of myself...

Meet my new friend...

My new Overlocker!! (Or overlapper if you're my pop). It's soooo cool. It was a bargain buy from Aldi, and I've already used it to make myself some nappies. I found a pattern for prefolds here, and whipped up 6 in a couple of hours... for about $4! Very happy with myself. Now I'm just waiting for my nappy covers so that I can use them with minimal leakage ;-) I'm looking forward to trying them out!

But I will use this for many other things than nappies. I have some gorgeous material that I have plans for - a pretty dress for my pretty daughter... So between this, and the Husqvarna sewing machine I am babysitting for our good friends Daniel & Katherine while they are living in Scotland, I'm set for as many sewing projects as I can make time for... including finishing off some projects from last year, like my quilt etc. And my awesome new overlocker will make it all *that* much easier...