Crochet Mojo

You know me.. I love making stuff. Just like Mayana. I like to sew, paint, scrapbook… I’ll have a go at pretty much anything. At the moment though, my craft of choice is crochet.

I’ve been at it for a few years now. My Nana attempted to teach me when I was about 12, but gave up on me because I hold the crochet hook “wrong” and she couldn’t get her head around it. (She did, however teach me many other skills, like how to use a sewing machine.. so I’ll forgive her). Funnily enough it was my husband who taught me the basics. He has made exactly one crocheted thing.. in fact, he’s still making it – an ongoing granny square blanket that he picks up and adds a few rounds to most winters. Anyway, he taught me the basic stitches, and once I had the hang of those I went back to my Nana for some clarification on more complicated stuff. I also used to watch a few YouTube video tutorials when I got really stuck. The internet is a very hand place.

Suffice it to say, I now consider myself a fairly seasoned crocheter (is that a word?), and I love finding new patterns and challenging myself. I especially love making stuff for my kids. Of course, for the last few years I have only had a girl, and as such have mainly made girl stuff, and I’m enjoying stretching my creativity to make some more manly bits and pieces.

Recently I’ve been making hats.. mostly for Reuben, and one for Mayana because she was getting jealous! I’m also working on a blanket for Reuben. The thing with blankets though is they get very monotonous, so it’s good to be able to break it up with smaller projects.

Here is some of what I’ve been up to lately…

That last pattern is my new favourite. It’s sooo effective and I just love it. The pattern can be found here, or let me know if you’d be interested in me making one! I’m seriously thinking about getting things kicked off again with selling my handmade goodies.

I’ve also got my eye on these patterns for inspiration…. (all from Etsy – click pics for links)

I’ve also got a small collection of crochet books that belonged to my great grandmother, and I’m planning on trying my hand at some finer doily work too.

Aaaah the scope is endless!!! The only problem is trying to decide what to do next!

{Point + Shoot} Long Weekend Love

I love long weekends, and having my husband home on Friday after a Thursday where Reuben had decided that sleep was for the weak, but hadn’t passed the memo to his poor tired little body which so desperately needed it, was a very awesome thing indeed.

Our long weekend was full of leisurely mornings, catching up with friends, washing and yard-work. We had hoped to take Mayana to the Show (which was the reason for our long weekend), but it rained the first day, which made it too muddy to want to take a pram the second day, so instead we enjoyed a lunch out at our favourite cafe. Church on Sunday, with a fellowship lunch afterwards, then home for more family time (and more washing and yard-work). Lovely weekend! Now for some photos!

Out at our friend’s house. Can’t take these two anywhere!

Home Ice-Cream!

Morning snuggles with Big Sister Maysi

I hope you had a great weekend too! You should tell us all about it, then join in with Point + Shoot with the lovely Lou!

Week 5

Because that’s how old he is today!

We’ve had a rough day today.. I think he slept for a total of 2 hours, and that’s if we’re lucky. Here’s praying for a much better night!

Looking at these gorgeous photos though makes up for it. He’s such a cutie.

I love seeing that smile. Hopefully tomorrow I’ll see a bit more of it!

Ps… I took a trip down memory lane tonight and visited my old blog I kept of Mayana’s first year. Holy moly do those two kids look alike!!! These are the posts of when Mayana was Reuben’s age. Uncanny.

{Point + Shoot} A Crazy Weekend

This weekend we had a baby shower to go to. In Brisbane. Which is about 4.5 hours from where we live. Quite ambitious for a little family with a four week old baby, no?

We stopped for a sleepover at my parent’s (about half way) on Friday night, then hit the road again in the morning. The baby shower was for our very good friend Katherine, who is expecting her and Daniel’s first baby in about four weeks. We are very excited, and it was well worth the big weekend!

I got creative with wrapping my baby shower present.. and used a blanket! No one knows whether the baby is a boy or a girl (Mayana has put in her bet for a girl), so I used blue and pink ribbon.

Daniel & Katherine are Mayana’s Godparents, and she loves seeing them. We had a lovely afternoon and evening with them, and ate delicious Indian food.

Katherine’s 36 week bump is looking gorgeous! Next time we are all together we will have three children between us!

On Sunday morning we headed to church with my family, three of whom were on the worship team. My little bro Jordan did a fabulous job at leading, Alexie debuted with her ukulele (which we all chipped in for as her birthday gift), and Papa was on bass. It was a great service.

After church we had a lunch date with friends in beautiful Kenilworth, and my husband treated me to this delicious pumpkin cheesecake. I’m officially on the hunt for a recipe, because it was a.maz.ing. Seriously.

And then it was home again! We are laying low today, recovering from our big weekend. And looking forward to a quiet one next week!

I’m playing along with the lovely Lou for Point + Shoot… you should too!!

Reuben // One Month

My Darling Boy…

I can hardly believe that it’s been one month since that crazy day that was supposed to be my second-last day of work, and ended up being the day that I met you instead.

… Can hardly believe it because it has gone so incredibly fast, but also because i can hardly remember what my life was like without you in it. What a strange phenomenon.

one day old // one month old

You are such a good little baby. I think you must have your Papa’s phlegmatic temperament, you just cruise along with whatever’s happening. You love to explore your world with those beautiful big blue eyes, and you surprise everyone with how strong you are, lifting up your head to have an even bigger stickybeak!

When the midwives tell me to make sure that I place your head facing alternativing sides each time I place you down to nap, I laugh, because every time I pick you up from a nap your head is facing the opposite direction to where I put it anyway! You’re very clever.

I’m really enjoying getting to know you, and learning what you do an don’t like. For instance; you don’t like having your nappy changed. As soon as you are exposed, you start to scream and keep on going until everything is safely put away. This has turned out to be a good thing in a way, because we have learned to be very fast at getting your new nappy on, which gives us a much smaller chance of being… showered… by you. It still happens on occasion though.

You don’t like the hiccups, which is unfortunate because you get them whenever you need to burp, which is every time you feed of course. You do have very big hiccups through (just like your Mama), and I’m not at all surprised that they make you uncomfortable. Another thing you also do every time you feed is vomit. A lot. Sometimes I wonder how it is possible that you have any milk still left inside you!

Apparently, that is not a problem though, because you, young man, are growing like a weed. In addition to the 390g that you regained to get back up to your birth-weight, you have gained a seriously impressive 1.13kg in the last month. When I got you weighed on your 1 monthiversary, you had gained a whopping 440g in one week!! It appears that Mama has full cream milk!!

You do like your milk, and you are a fantastic little feeder.  You also love your big sister, and your Papa. Your Papa is blessed to have been bestowed most of the smiles you have given so far in your little life, and Mayana has had quite a few too. She loves to help look after you, and you are very patient with her when sometimes I know she is being a little overbearing.

Another of your favourite things is bath-time. You don’t mind if it is in the bath or the shower, you just like to be in the water… and you definitely don’t like it when you have to get out!

Your sleeping is going pretty well. You’re a fairly routine baby, and generally like to feed every 3-4 hours, with a nap and a bit of playtime between each feed. At night, you have almost always woken up twice to feed. In the last week or so, you have started to stretch things out a little bit longer. You usually are in bed by 8pm, and wake for your first feed around 2am, which is a nice long stretch, and much appreciated – thank you! You settle well after your feed, and usually sleep again until somewhere between 5 and 6am. Of course, you do have a rough night every now and then, but we’ll forgive you that.

We have discovered and resigned ourselves to the fact that you like to sleep on your tummy. I resisted for a long while, but when it means the difference between a screaming unhappy baby and sleeping settled one… well there’s not really much choice! I have even tried flipping you over to your back once you are asleep, but you cannot be tricked. I don’t blame you buddy, Mama and Papa both like to sleep on their tummies too.

In the last few days you have started to interact with us and things a lot more. You love to look into our eyes, and if we’re lucky we’ll even get a smile! You have discovered the toys on your bouncer, and love to hit them. I even saw you smiling at your giraffe when you managed to get it swinging the other day.

You’re awake more through the days now, although you still have some nice long naps. We have no real routine through the day yet, we just follow your lead and feed you when you’re hungry, and put you to sleep when you start to show your tired signs. So far it seems to be working for us pretty well. You mostly have been having your day sleeps out in the lounge room in the pod, but lately I have been starting to put you in your bassinette in Mama and Papa’s room for at least one of them so that Mayana and I can have some noisy playtime together.

You still sleep in our room at night, but I am looking forward to when you can move across the hallway and in with your sister. I’m just waiting for your night time routine to become a little more settled. You are such a noisy sleeper that you keep Papa and I awake a lot with your grunting and groaning. So often we think you are awake and flick the dim lamp on to check on you and no, you’re sound asleep. Luckily Mayana is a much heavier sleeper than Papa or I, and I don’t think you’ll keep her awake.

I love you little Reuben, and I love having you in our family. I can’t wait to see what this next month brings!

Love Mama

Four weeks of Reuben

Mr Reuben is 4 weeks old today! And in two days time he’ll have been with us for one month!

It’s one of those strange things… how this little person has been our life for such a short time, and yet I can barely remember life without him. It’s like he’s always been a part of us.

I plan to write something special for him on his one month anniversary, but in the meantime I thought you might enjoy this: Four week’s worth of photos of the most gorgeous little boy in the world…

WEEK ONE

WEEK TWO

WEEK THREE

WEEK FOUR

{So not a} domestic goddess

So this stay at home mum thing is great. I love it. But it does increase my housewifely expectations. Mainly the expectations I put on myself, but still!

Between breastfeeding, playing with Mayana, changing nappies, washing (the neverending chore with ‘happy chucker’ baby, and a three year old who is having a slight toilet-training regression – apparently normal when a new baby joins the family… she’s nearly over it THANK THE LORD!) I’m feeling pretty proud of myself for managing to mostly keep on top of the housework as well.

While I was in hospital, my mum (who is like, the most amazing housekeeper ever, who has super house-cleaning powers that I can only aspire to) did her magic on my house. Seriously, she made it look amazing. And it is my goal to keep it looking that way. It’s actually easier to keep a house tidy and shining when it has been made perfect. Partly because you just don’t let it get to a point where it’s all too much, and partly because when it looks so pretty you just want to keep it that way.

So I make lists, and take great pleasure in crossing things off it. I have learned that vacuuming the floors is the quickest way to make the house look pretty darn good. For some reason when the floors are freshly vacuumed things just look great. Also, baby wipes make for fantastic dust cloths. That bit of dampness picks up all of the dust, and they’re strong and don’t break apart. I’m a real fan. Anything that makes the chores quicker and easier is good for me. Those shower/bathroom wipes are also fabulous inventions.

I’ve been winging this stay at home mum thing for three weeks now, and I’m proud to say that the house is still in pretty top shape. The washing pile gets a bit deeper than I would like some days, but sometimes Mama naps are important. You can’t say that being a stay at home mum is boring… that’s for sure!!

1950s housewife I am not… but I do so like living in a pretty house!

Make it Yourself {Ribbon Board}

I saw something like this at the markets the other day, and instead of paying the $20+ they were asking for it, I decided to have a go at making my own. I’m so glad I did, because it was super incredibly easy, and cost me next to nothing.

All you need is:

* A Canvas (mine is 30cm x 30cm, and cost me $3.99 at a discount store)
* A piece of cute cotton-print fabric to fit over the canvas (I used some I already I had)
* Thumbtacks ($2.20 for a box of 200 from a Newsagency, I used about 20 of them)
* Some ribbon and ric-rac (I used some I already had)
* Some hooks (I used these ones from Ikea, which I already had. These hooks have plain hooks, as well as hooks with clips attached- they are meant to be for hanging shower curtains)

Cut the fabric to the right size, so that there is enough to wrap around the edges of the fabric and pin to the back. I cut it with pinking shears, to keep it neat and stop it from fraying, without needing to do any sewing or overlocking. Then you simply pin it onto the canvas.

The frame of the one I had bought was reasonably soft wood, and quite easy to push the thumbtacks into. I pulled the fabric nice and taut as I pinned each side, so that there were no creases and the fabric was tight across the surface of the canvas.

I made sure the corners were all tucked in and folded neatly.

Next, I picked a variety of ribbons and lace and ric-rac from my collection, and arranged it in a way that I thought looked good. I ran two lengths of fabric vertically down the board, but you could do more if you wanted. Again, I cut these long enough to wrap around to the back of the canvas, and pinned them in place with thumbtacks.

I plaited together three colours of ric-rac, and pinned them horizontally along the top of the canvas, to hang the clip-hooks from.

I used the thumbtacks to secure five of the normal hooks along the bottom of the canvas.

And that was it! All that was left to do was to clip Mayana’s hair clips and bows to the lengths of ribbon, attach special hair-ties and headbands to the clip-hooks, and hang her hair-ties on the bottom hooks. I attached it to the wall Command Brand Picture Hanging Strips (which are completely fabulous for renters, I’m totally in love with them at the moment!)

Mayana loves it, and for once all of her ‘hair-candy’ is in the same spot, and easy to find. And – bonus – it also looks *really* cute hanging on her bedroom wall.

So have a go! This would have to be one of these easiest projects around.. no sewing.. not even any glue! I reckon these would make great presents for little girls, and all for about $5.00!