The Hospital Bag

I packed the labour bag, and I've just finished packing my hospital bag. I'm planning to take advantage of the break I'll get while I'm in hospital and hoping to stay as long as possible! I'm a weirdo, as much as I wanted to get home with the last two, I actually enjoyed the peace and quiet in hospital, and not having to worry about anything except myself and the baby. And pretty much, it's just an extended version of my labour bag...


For Me:
3 changes of comfortable clothes
Sleep pants and loose, comfy tops, socks and extra underwear. I may need more changes of clothes but since we don't live far from the hospital if I need more I'll just ask Brook to bring some - I'm certain he'll be there at LEAST once a day!
Slippers and/or jandals (flip-flops, thongs, whatever they're called in your area)
Toiletries
Body wash and washer, shampoo and conditioner, facewash, toner and moisturizer.
Comb, hair spray, spare hair ties and bobby pins.
2 packs of maternity sanitary pads (I actually find that all-night pads with wings and extra length work better, since I'm sitting in bed most of the day), a few breast pads, just in case (although I probably won't need them at this early stage), paw paw ointment (toothbrush and toothpaste are in the labour bag).
Food 
Crackers, Kraft cheese packs, dried fruit and nuts, muesli bars, chocolate and juice.
Because I found I was often hungry in between snack/meal times, or I just didn't like the dinner or lunch that was on offer that day, or just because. Sometimes just knowing you have chocolate on hand is a comforting thought!
Cash for the tv.
A couple of favourite books (I am a voracious reader), 
A notebook and pen (or journal)
A sudoku puzzle book.
Comfortable going home outfit
I've got maternity jeans because I'm guaranteed to fit them and a loose blouse


For baby:
Extra nappies and wipes (the hospital only provides 18 nappies)
Baby lotion, cotton wool balls, cotton buds and baby wash
3 onesies, 2 pairs of socks, a hat and a couple of wraps (although the hospital does provide singlets and wraps)
A going home outfit
A dummy (because all my babies wanted dummies, so just in case).


Now, to keep cleaning and wait for the baby to arrive... and wait... and wait.. and wait...

The Labour Bag...

It's getting closer to Christmas, which means it's getting closer to my due date, so I started packing my bags. This time, I've decided to pack 2 bags to take to hospital with me. One is a small bag with things I might need during or immediately after the birth. The other is a larger one for my stay in hospital. My labours are very quick, so we don't really have that much time to get organized once I realize I'm in labour (Kembry was only 40 minutes!). The labour one stays next to the front door (I would leave it in the car, but the food would spoil in our hot West Aussie weather) so we can grab it on the run. The other one Brook can always come and back and get later if happen to forget it in our rush.


So, I've got a bag...


And inside it...

Snacks and juice.
I didn't have snacks and juice with me the last 2 times, and both times I'd missed the hopsital breakfast and was ravenously hungry. When I had Cory, mum and dad got to the hospital pretty quickly after he was born and arrived with a bag full of food (including the all important staple - for me anyway - chocolate). This way I won't have to wait for food to be brought to me.

I've got chocolate (of course - although I've already had to replace this twice), a pack of muesli bars, some dried apricots and almonds, crackers and plain biscuits. Enough for both hubby and I. Because if there isn't enough for both of us, I'll get snappy at him for eating my food hahaha.

Basic toiletries.
Body wash and washer, toothbrush and toothpaste (all those one-use samples I've collected will come in handy!), spare hair tie, 2 maternity pads (in case I'm in the birth suite for a little while afterward), a couple of breast pads. A comb and a spare hair tie. 

A change of clothes for after the birth .
Comfy black sleep pants and a loose t-shirt, socks and extra underwear.


And that's it. I don't use massage oils or anything like that, I find that because my labours are so quick and intense that my whole entire focus is just on my body, and I don't use anything else during labour. So all the stuff in the bag is really for immediately after the birth, while I'm in the birth suite waiting to be transferred to my room in the maternity ward.

Journal Entry: Busy Busy Busy...

I just realized it's been 3 weeks since I last wrote on my blog. I thought it had been about 3 days! That should tell you the state of my brain in this last month!

I finally stopped working, YAY! I finished 2 weeks ago, and it's amazing how much better I feel in both mind and body now that I'm not worrying about work. Having said that, the extra 30 hours a week I've supposedly gained are flying by... 


It's wedding season, so Hubby is incredibly busy at the moment, made slightly (only slightly) worse by the fact that I'm no longer able to be his assistant on the job. He's been up to his neck in weddings, phone calls, emails, client meetings, album design, print orders and invoices. I'm not the best administrative assistant either. 


While he has been doing that, I've been taking advantage of the 2 completely child-free days we have during the week (with Cory at school full time and Kem in day care 2 days a week) to spring clean and organize the house. I started with the laundry and the cleaning cupboard, then moved on to the kitchen and organized the pantry and the kitchen cupboards, then the kids bedroom and our bedroom. 


Now that everything is clean and tidy, I'm just trying to work out where to put the PILE of stuff that doesn't have anywhere to go. Our house is very small, and has almost NO storage at all. So finding convenient places to store things is a bit difficult... All the usual spaces like the space on top of the pantry and under the beds are already taken. I have several large bags full of fabric, scraps, patterns, notions and unfinished projects that need housing somewhere... preferably not the shed. Then there's 2 corners in our bedroom which are crowded with things... I'm sure they could go in the shed but hubby is not convinced.

There's still a lot to do, all the toys in the kids room need sorting out and there's a few bags to drop off at goodwill, their clothes all need sorting because I know they've grown out of half of what's in their drawers, and I don't know how on earth I'm going to get hubby to cull his wardrobe yet again (I shop a hundred times more than my husband, yet he still has ten times the amount of clothes and shoes that I do...). Our bedroom needs rearranging to make some room for the bassinet, the queen size bed and single bed in the kids room will have to go and be replaced with bunk beds... We're hunting around for "our" perfect pram (which is very different to "my" perfect pram), and a cot for later on after the baby has outgrown the bassinet.

And somewhere in there my cousin and my two sister-in-laws all had their babies. So I was busy making baby booties and burp cloths. Right now I'm also working on a pile of projects... they are all unfinished and they're all for Christmas so unfortunately, I can't post any of them until the New Year.

And of course, only 5 more weeks until our new baby arrives, and I just can't wait to see the joy on my husband's face when he holds his brand new baby for the first time!

Things To Make and Eat

I love food. LOVE LOVE LOVE! I am not a diet girl, nor am I a low-fat girl. And I was never a weight-watching girl until after I had kids, when suddenly, my body needed help from me to stay in shape. And then I started exercising rather than give up my favourite foods! I'm not much of a cook though, so this is incredibly ambitious for my culinary skills!


So here's some of the yummiest things I want to try...


Healthy Fruit Roll Ups
Carrot Bread
Easy Brownies (I've made these and they're a favourite. They're so simple, and the best thing is they use cocoa instead of chocolate... which saves me all the trouble of trying not to eat the chocolate before it goes into a recipe!)
Pie In A Jar

Chocolate Mint Brownies
Treacle Tart
5 Minute Chocolate Mug Cake

 The Holy Cow! Cake
Pizzookies

 Gingerbread Men (would you believe I have NEVER made gingerbread men? EVER?)
Cherry Ripe Mud Cake

White Chocolate Cheesecake (my cousin actually made us one of these with her Thermomix - it had an Oreo base and was sooo yummy with her home-made (Thermomix-made) raspberry sauce! Since I probably won't be able to convince my hubby to buy me a Thermomix in this lifetime, I found a simple recipe to try instead. And yes, I will be replacing the plain crust with an oreo one!

Peanut Butter Cups
Baklava - one of my favourite treats! 

Strawberry Shortcake

Chocolate Mousse Cake (I haven't posted a link to this, because I want to try my Aunty Gail's recipe. It was a must at Christmas, birthdays or any family gathering we could use as an excuse to eat it!) If she lets me :) I will post it here on my blog... when I get around to making it!

Hmmm.... and almost everything I've posted is some kind of dessert....

Things To Make and Do List

As I have mentioned before, I am such a blog stalker. I just can't get over the fun, inspired projects and ideas other people come up with and then generously share with the rest of the internet world! Especially since I'm not very original AT ALL. I'm excellent at copying things and adapting other people's ideas, but I've kinda given up on being original, because everything I've thought up on my own, I've then seen later on, on someone else's blog. 

But here, is a BIG fat list of all the projects that I intend to try... sooner or later! Actually, it's not that big. This isn't all of it! And, because I'm such a blog addict, I'll constantly be adding things to my to-do-list!

Make a Nativity

Toy Car Caddy

Car Play Mat

90 Minute Kids Shirt

Superhero Capes

Adorable Little Girls' Purse

Upcycled Scarf

Cute Handbag

Monster Art Totes

Capelet

Eyeball T-Shirts
Adaptable Nappy Bag

Interchangeable Jandals (Flip Flops)

Pinwheel Skirt

Sweater Boots

Make My Own Bras

I Spy Book

I want to use some of the ideas here at New Dress A Day to make myself some summer dresses! Fun!
Gathered Flower Handbag
These awesome Winter Beanies for the kids
How cool is this playroom! My kids don't have a playroom, but I think it would be cool to put some interactive things on their walls instead of just plain paint and pictures.

A "Miss" version of Felt Mr Potato Head 
Felt Flash Cards 
Table Tent 
Gorgeous Baby Blankets 
Mail Sorter to adapt a little to use as a paperwork organizer in Brook's office 
Mermaid Costume 
Fairy Play Set  
Hemp Vases 
Most of the Wearable Tutorials over at Schwin&Schwin 


And this list of ideas that has been on my to-do list forever, but isn't necessarily online - or the vision in my head isn't anyway, so I may post some tutorials for some of these when I eventually get round to making them!

Hanging Nativity Frame

Advent Calendar

Christmas Stockings

Re-cover the couches

Table Runner for the piano

Bedspread for our bed

More cushions

A bassinet set

Cushion Cover and Library Bag for Kembry

Stacking shelves for the pantry

Hat Organizer

Hanging Door Organizer

Boxers for the kids

A Mermaid Costume for Kembry

Aprons for kids and I

Basketball clothes for Cumoram

Scrap T-Shirt

A Gumnut Wreath
Dollhouse Restoration x2
Bookshelf re-do
Re-paint the kids drawers
Finish (or re-fashion) the hundred-and-one UFP's (Unfinished projects) I have stashed away... or at least slowly work my through them... and try not to add anything else to the list!
Plant a vege garden and build raised garden beds
Make a head board for our bed
One year, I am going to do a Halloween Party. Halloween isn't a big deal here in Aus (compared to the US - although the shops pretend it is), but it looks like so much fun!
A portable, cardboard dollshouse (a la Better Homes and Gardens)

Baby Bath Mitt Tutorial

You will need

• The pattern (click on the picture below and then print it - I hope it works! - or just draw your own by tracing around an oven mitt)
• Terry toweling. I used a hand towel I got from Kmart for $1, and got two bath mitts out of it (but if I cut each piece separately instead of two at a time, I could get 3). Recycle a towel you have at home or pick up a fun coloured towel from the op shop or a discount store like Red Dot.
• 7 x 20cm rectangle of ribbing (you can use elastic and make a casing instead if you prefer).

 1. Cut out your pattern pieces.

2. Lay your pattern pieces one on top of the other, matching up all the edges. Starting at the bottom (wrist end) on the thumb-less side, sew about two-thirds of the way up (the stopping point is marked on the pattern with an arrow, and in the picture below with a pin). Don't go all the way around, make sure you stop before you get the the curve.

3. Open out your bath mitt and lay it flat, right side up.

4. Fold your ribbing in half length-ways, and line up the raw edge with the wrist edge of the bath mitt (if you're using elastic and casing, you'd do this with your casing material - fold it in half, wrong sides together and line up the edges like you would with the ribbing).

5. Sew along the raw edge, stretching the ribbing as you go by pulling it towards you as much as you can while sewing it. This will gather in the wrist a little bit and make a snug, comfy wrist band (if you're using the casing/elastic, just sew it normally, then attach your elastic to one end. Thread it through, pull it out as much as needed to gather it in, then sew the other end into place). Overlock this edge.

6. Place the mitt right sides together again, and starting from where you left off, finish sewing all the way around the edge of the mitt. Overlock the entire edge. Its easier to overlock if you change the settings so it doesn't cut off the excess material as it overlocks, this way you'll be able to get around the difficult curves without accidentally cutting into something.

7. Turn your bath mitt right side out, and put your baby in the bath so you can use your new bath mitt!

Kids Say The Darndest Things...

I love the funny little things my kids say and do. So here's a few of the things that have made me laugh recently...

I was making the kids ham and cheese toasties the other night, and Cumoram was helping me by buttering the bread. Then, he started licking all the butter off the knife! I told him off and said, "Don't do that! That will make you fat and sick!"

"But mum," he said, "You got that by having a baby."

Brook had taken the kids to his basketball game one night to give me a bit of a break. While he was playing the game, Kembry wandered over to the canteen and said to the lady behind the counter, "Hello. Can I please have some chippies, and lollies, a power drink, and a chocolate."

The lady said to her, "I'm sorry sweet heart, you'll have to go back to mummy and daddy and get some money first."

So Kembry ran all the way back to where Brook had stashed his gear, rummaged around til she found his wallet, went back to the lady and presented Brook's credit card, hoping to complete her purchase!

 When my tummy started to get big, we sat the kids down to talk about the baby coming and we explained to them that my tummy was getting big because the baby was growing in there.
Cumoram said, "Oh! And Aunty Candice is having a baby too, and so is Aunty Paige!" (Yes, they really are having babies.)
Then Kembry pipes up, "So when is Uncle Paul having his bubba then?"

When Brook came to pick me up from work the other night, he had his 2 year old niece and Kembry in the car. As soon as she saw me, his niece yelled at the top of her lungs, "Hahaha! Look at Aunty Mesha, got big big fat tummy!"

Kembry turned around and said indignantly, "No, my mummy has a baby in her tummy!"

Kembry spread a blanket on the lounge room floor, arranged her play food on it then asked all her friends (every teddy and doll in the house) if they would like to come to her picnic. She came out with an armful of toys and announced that some of them had said no, so they were staying in the room. Then she put each toy on the blanket, handed each one a plate and a fork (colour coordinated), and gave each toy some play food to eat, then stood up and said, "Hello friends! Welcome to my picnic!" 
I heard her say, "No, you can't have any cake because you haven't eaten your salad!"

Cumoram: "Why do only mummies have babies and not daddies?"

I was reading The Eleventh Hour by Graeme Base to Kembry one night and asked her if she could count from one to eleven.


"Yes I can," She said. "One... to eleven."

I walked into the lounge room one night after checking my emails and facebook, to find that Cumoram had fallen asleep on the couch and Kembry had drawn all over his face in green felt-tipped pen. She looked up at me and said, "Paper now, please." As if she'd just used his face for a practice run! (Picture to come)

Brook and I woke up to this one Saturday morning. The kids had woken up early, decided they wanted breakfast and helped themselves to a whole jar of nutella!

"My Shoes Keep Falling Off!"

Kembry loved these little sandals that I bought for her in Bali during our last trip. But that trip was in the middle of our Aussie winter (still hot and sticky in Bali though), so only now is Kembry able to start wearing them. So the other day she put them on to take Cumoram to school and as we're walking through the school grounds she says, "I can't mummy. They hurt coz they won't stay on." It was a very disappointed little girl who had to take off her shoes and walk barefoot, and put on a different pair when we got home.

So, I took her to our local Spotlight and bought her about one and a half metres of matching ribbon. 
I poked a hole on each side of the strap using a seam ripper, then used the snips to widen it a little bit...

  
I used tweezers to push the ribbon through the hole...

Pulled the ribbon through and tied a knot in it. I used Fray-Stop on the ends to stop them from fraying and to sort of help glue the knot in place so it wouldn't slip.

I did the same thing to the other side and then the other shoe, and in 5 minutes, here's a pair of cute little beaded sandals, that are now even cuter and more comfy with satin ribbon ties to tie around her little ankles and keep them from slipping off. The beading on the shoes was enough to hide the knots in the ribbon. I love when adorable little things become even more adorable, and now they're just a little bit more practical :) And yes, as soon as I can actually get her in the shoes AND pose for a photo I will post one !

How To Fix A Tear

One of the most useful things I learned how to do was to fix a tear. My hubby and kids are really hard on their clothes, which is annoying, but hubby also has "favourites" that if I didn't know how to repair them, he'd just keep wearing them as they are.  Hubby has just informed me that they are not favourites, they're just convenient to wear all the time!



So, using these well-loved convenient shorts of hubby's that I have (again) been asked to repair, I'll show you how to fix it (well, the way I do it anyway).

1. Find a piece of scrap fabric you can make a patch out of, and cut a patch a little bit bigger than the tear. Ideally, you want the patch fabric to be a similar colour and weight to the item of clothing you're fixing, but it doesn't really matter too much, I just used whatever happened to be lying around, which in this case was grey denim.


2. Cut a piece of Vliesofix (paper-backed fusible webbing) the same size as the patch. 

  3. Iron the Vliesofix to the patch to fuse it (remember to make sure it's glue-side down! Talking from experience...) and then peel away the backing paper.

4. Turn the item of clothing inside out and iron the patch over the tear.
Instead of using the Vliesofix, you can use an iron-on patch, cut it to size and iron it on. Or, use plain fusible webbing. Cut it to size, put it over the tear, put the patch on top and iron into place. 

5. When I was originally shown how to do this, they showed me how to use a straight stitch, going backwards and forwards, gradually working my way across the tear or hole. I've since switched to using a wide-ish zig zag stitch with a narrow stitch length, because I find it easier and quicker.


So, turn the item right side out again and position the needle at the top left of the tear (I find it easier to start there and work my way across and down). 

6. Using the zig zag stitch, stitch all the way down to the bottom of the tear. When you get to the bottom, leave your needle down in the fabric, lift the presser foot and turn the fabric (it will pivot around the needle so you don't have to reposition the needle) so that you can sew back in the opposite direction.

 7. Then stitch all the way down again. Keep this line of stitching as close as possible to the line you just did (I like to overlap them a bit). Keep doing this until the tear is covered and secure.


I did it on a piece of denim with white thread to help you see better...


Leave the needle down in the fabric, lift the presser foot and pivot the fabric around so you can sew back up the tear again...

Sew back down the tear...

Overlap the line of stitches a little bit, then keep going til the tear is covered and secure.

This is what it looks like on the inside... 

And there you are, no more hole! Though I guarantee you this won't be the last time I'll be repairing these shorts!

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Burp Cloth Tutorial

I love these. I wish I'd had them for my first two babies. I just used folded-over flannelette nappies with them and they just didn't cut it with my spewy babies! I'm in the process of making a pile for our new bubba.

The main idea came from my husband's cousin's wife (got all that?), one of several wonderfully crafty girls in his family, who posted some pictures of some she'd made on facebook. She used two hand towels sewn together with a section of pretty fabric at the top. I wanted something less bulky but still absorbent so I adapted them a little.

You will need (for a set of 2):

* 2 hand towels. I picked mine up from Kmart for $1 each. You can also use terry towelling or chenille cut to size, but I like the range of colours hand towels come in and I'm up for anything that makes life easier - no measuring and cutting to size!  

*Fabric. I bought 60cm of 112cm wide fabric, which was exactly enough for 2 burp cloths and the decorative strips. 


1. Lay your hand towels side by side on the fabric, put a few pins in them to hold them in place then cut around them.

2. Cut the strip of leftover fabric into four equal strips lengthways.


3. Take one strip, turn the long edges under about 1/4 inch and press. Do the same with the other three strips.

4. Take a hand towel and position two of the strips where you want them. Pin into place, and then do the same with the other hand towel.

5. Top stitch down each side of each strip, and do the same to the other towel.

6. Now lay your hand towel back on your fabric, right sides together and pin around the edges 

7. Stitch all the way around the edge, leaving an opening at one end so you can turn your burp cloth right side out later. In the picture above, I've marked where my opening is going to be with pins (at the bottom end) so I wouldn't forget to leave it open!


The seams will lay flatter and be easier to top stitch later if you stitch alongside the binding, like this...

Instead of ON the binding like this...

7. Trim away the excess fabric and clip the corners (want to know what clipping corners means and why to do it? See Make it and Love It and click here)

,8. Turn your burp cloth right side out and top stitch all the way around the edges.

 

And voila, a very handy set of burp cloths that can be used as change mats, to put under baby on the floor or whatever else you need them for.

 You can also use a waterproof material like PUL, polyurethane or even a recycled shower curtain instead of the fabric, or sandwich it between the fabric and the towel. Just cut the waterproof fabric to size, then at Step 6 lay it down first, then lay the fabric and towel with their right sides together on top and continue. You could also try appliqueing cute shapes or letters to the towel instead of the plain strips.