Poor little Vi

Well...we just had a very tiring weekend! Friday night Vi woke up about 11 with a fever & she pretty much screamed all night long, ive never heard such a distressed cry!

Saturday morning (after having had no sleep whatsoever) I took her into the emergency ward. She had calmed down but she still had a fever and she just looked dopey, she wasnt her usual curious, smiley self. The thing that really worried me was that her fontanelle was bulging a bit (you could see it when you looked at her).

They did some tests (blood, some kind of snot test & urine which took me FOREVER to get!) & everything came back ok & they put her on fluids which perked her up & she actually started smiling again which was wonderful. They kept her in over night for observation just to make sure that it wasn't something more sinister than the flu.

I had forgotten what it was like to stay overnight in a hospital, the last time i did was the day Jet was born. We were in a room with 3 other kids, parents & nurses coming in and out. All the kids were hooked up to fluids and a machine that beeped if they moved & kinked their tube....which seemed to happen at least every half hour. The lights were on in the hallway & people had their TV's on which made lots of flashing lights. Prior to having kids im sure i would have slept ok, but now im kind of hormonally geared to wake up to little noises, so i really didnt get much sleep at all! Vi has never slept in a cot before so she wasn't too pleased at the concept and ended up in bed with me (not sure how happy the nurses were about that). I had my laptop with me & spent most of the night watching a show i had on it called "Awake" which i found quite funny when i thought about it at about 1am (which would have been about my 43rd hour with less than an hours sleep).

They wouldn't let us out of their the next day until the doctors came around which wasn't until about 12:30pm, by then i was so completely exhausted that i just broke down in tears & everyone must have thought i was a complete lunatic, especially since Vi was back to her bright bubbly self, with just a bit of a cough & a runny nose, smiling at anyone that came near her, she even gave out a few giggles.

Anyway, we are back home now & Vi still has a snotty nose, a cough & her voice sounds all funny but no fever & she looks like she is on the mend....& ive had a good nights sleep, which makes a world of difference :)

Welcome to the world Violette

I thought i should actually come on here & do another post (finally) & announce to the world (5 months late) that we had another bub - a girl! Violette Belle was born on the 2nd of March 2012 after a beautiful, completely natural, water birth. 

She is just gorgeous & we love her to bits!!! here are some pics: 

& one of me while i was still pregnant...just cause i love the pic:

Birth Story


Well this one is pretty short! i had my first contraction at 2am which woke me up. So i sat in bed watching fringe on dvd for a couple of hours because i couldnt sleep (even though the contractions weren't painful). Then i got up & got Jet's stuff ready for school & when the boys woke up at about 6am mum came up to watch them & we went into the hospital (just to get some peace & quiet really). My "active labour" started at about 8:30 i guess, thats when things started to get a bit intense. We had a doula at our birth - the wonderful Laura, (who was fantastic!) she showed up at about 9 i think. We only just made it into the birthing suite with the bath (there was another woman in it who had already given birth but they had to move her & clean the room & they didnt realise my labour would progress so quickly). I had started feeling like it was almost time to push before we got in there, i got in the bath while the water was still running, but once i was in there my labour slowed a little which was good. i think about 20 minutes later  (@ 10:03am) Violette was born into the water, posterior (like her brother Bae). & we were back home with her snuggled up in her hammock at about 4pm i think :)

It was the most concious that i have been during labour so far, i was really aware of everything that was going on and of my body. We didnt know we were having a girl third time round, i didnt want to find out, but i think at some stage towards the end i just knew, we didnt even check her sex for a few minutes after she came out but part of me just knew she as a girl, which is surprising because i was sure i would end up with 3 boys!

Anyway, now she is 5 months old & is the sweetest little baby. She is so much smaller than the boys...& she sleeps!!!!! which is wonderful! She has her moments but most of the time she is so smiley & giggly & she loves her big brothers (& they love her too!) :)

Gotta love the devo face

"i look pretty mummy"

I've just been sitting on the couch wishing i could take a mental health day and enjoying 10 mins of quiet while jet was playing in his room. Then i hear "i look pretty mummy" and out comes jet covered in texter! Huff!!!

Free Online Training Pants Patterns & Tutorials

Free Patterns:
* Wee Weka Knickers
* Wee Weka Side Snap Training Pants (this is actually for a side snapped nappy but can be modified for training pants) S/M Size - M/L Size
* Ditto Daddy - Trainer Pattern 1
* Ditto Daddy - Trainer Pattern 2
* Easter Bunz Trainer Pattern
* Goodness Gracious Pocket Training Pants (Front Piece / Back Piece)
* There used to be another one HERE but it seems to have gone, still stuck the link in in case it comes back.
* Wool-in-two Training Pants

Tutorials Only:
* Mama or Minx
* Chloe Toes - Pocket style training pants

Paid Patterns:
* Ditto Daddy - lots of different styles to purchase
* Stellar Transitions
* Darling Diapers - Potty Dance Pants
* Fern & Faries T-shirt Trainers Pattern (uses old t-shirts!)
* New Conceptions Training Pants
* Bumbles Training Pants

if you know of any more please let me know & ill add them to the list :)

My first cable project!!!

I just made my first cabled project!!! Its a Nakiska headband. It was great fun!

here's some pics:

I cant wait to try some more challenging cables now, maybe ill brave the owl baby vest pattern next - Ive had my eye on it for a while but wasn't brave enough!

Jets First (full) Day of Preschool

A few weeks ago we decided to start jet in Pre-school one day a week, mainly to increase his social time with other kids. He plays really well by himself or with older children but not so well with kids his age...when i say not so well i mean i spend the ENTIRE time breaking up fights that he started, just usual toddler behaviour: refuses to share anything, hitting, pushing, grabbing etc but very frustrating for me ;)

So anyway, last week was the first time i left him there by himself (the week before we attempted it but we got there & he threw up all over the car park - rocky bought home a spew bug from work!) we had been in to visit a few times together before that. He only lasted till nap time then absolutely cracked it!!! so i had to pick him up early, but this week he did really well. he was a bit upset when i left & when i picked him up but he is in a fantastic mood tonight & is talking about all the things he did there so he must have had a good time, he said he wants to go back too which is good! One of the loverly ladies there made him a poster of his day with pictures of things he did (mainly just to prove to me that he was happy at some stage i think!):

& heres a painting he did me, he did rocky one too:

Ive just spent the whole arvo on line looking for iron-on labels to do all his clothes so we dont loose them all, this is the cheapest place i could find:

& if you google their name with "promotional code" youll find a bunch of places that can give you a code for a discount :) it only ended up costing me about $13 for 60 iron on labels - free postage too!!!

we are also starting to toilet train jet (not good timing doing them both together i know!) so thats fun! He is actually doing really well at it though which is great, he has known what to do on the potty for ages but just wouldnt do it & he just looks way to big to be in nappy's now (plus his poos are sooooo messy to clean up by the time he lets you change his nappy) so i cracked it & told him there were no more nappy's when we were at home during the day. we are still using them at night & when we are out at the moment - not sure what to do about that??? any tips?

THANK YOU!!!

I just wanted to say a long overdue thank you to two loverly ladies.

First off, April - thank you soooooo much for the beautiful star blanket you knitted Bae!!! we LOVE it, its fantastic to use in his hammock over him at night because its round it tucks right into the pillow, the perfect shape, & its nice & warm too! it must have taken you hours & hours & hours to make & we really appreciate all the love & care that went into it!

April made this blanket for Bae when she found out i was pregnant as part of a pay it forward thing, which no one ever responded to on my blog (there are two comments there but they are from people that loved the idea but didn't want to take part) - so if you want to then the post is here, i will warn you though you wont be getting anything as spectacular as the blanket April knitted me, i just don't have the patience for blankets!!!

Secondly i want to thank Hayley. Hayley very kindly gave me a whole stack of newborn cloth nappies which have made our cloth journey soooooo much easier than with jet (we just used terrys for him in the newborn stage). lots of them are her creations & they are just fantastic! he's wearing one in the pic below, if i was smart i would have taken a pic of all of them before he was born (but I'm not!), now most of them are either waiting to be washed, being warn or waiting to be put back together so i didn't have many to take a group pic of (slack arse i know!).

so..... A HUGE THANK YOU TO HAYLEY & APRIL!!!!

sorry its taken me so long!

Bae's Birth Story

Bae Theo Wolters

Birth Details
Born on the 18/5/09 at 11.10am Gosford Hospital.
Weight: 3.6 kilos/8.15 pounds
Length: 51cm
Head Circumference: 35.5cm

Why we chose his name
Bae – a Korean name meaning inspiration (Pronounced like Bay)
Theo – One of Rocky's (many many) uncles, who he stayed with in Holland when he was 19. He means a great deal to Rocky & shares Bae’s birthday so it seemed fitting to use his name as Bae’s middle name.

Birth Story
On Saturday the 16th I had a bit of a show at around 3pm, followed by some light contractions through the night (most of which I slept through). Once I got up in the morning they subsided & I only had a couple of very light contractions throughout the day. That didn’t stop Rocky from cleaning the whole house & running around with a huge smile on his face in anticipation of the big event.

I had another show Sunday afternoon & then more contractions Sunday night. They were a bit stronger, about 1 every hour or so but I still managed to get allot of sleep. I got up at about 6.30am on Monday & had a shower, the contractions quickly started to come quite regularly & grew more intense. I called our wonderful midwife (& family friend) Bernadette at around 7.20am, not really sure if I was in labour since the contractions felt different to the ones I experienced with Jet.

We left for the hospital at about 8.10am, luckily for me my contractions died down in the car, I think I only got 3 in the 30 minute trip! We arrived at the hospital at about 8:40am. I was a bit concerned that I wasn’t in labour because the contractions had subsided in the car (even though they started up again once it got out), but at about 9am Bernadette checked me out & said I was already 7cm dilated.

I spent the next hour or two going in between the shower & the bath, then settled into the bath & moved into the last phase of labour. I think I only had about 10 big contractions & then out he came (over about 15 or 20 mins). His head came out in one contraction & he was posterior so we could see his little face all scrunched up in the water, then he giggled himself around & with daddy’s help managed to wiggle his shoulders out with my next contraction & that was it – he was out! He cried straight away & fed within about 10 mins of the birth. Rocky was very excited that he got to deliver him & cut his umbilical cord.

I settled down onto the bed with our new little son while we decided on a name (after consulting his astrology chart!) & called the grandparents to congratulate them on the arrival of their second grandson! My mum was looking after Jet (who desperately wanted to come with us when we left) & as soon as soon as he heard we were on the phone he started pulling grandma towards the car. Mum bought him all the way to Gosford to come & meet his new little brother, only to have him fall asleep in the car from all the excitement, so she turned around & took him home again.

4 & 1/2 hours after the birth we were discharged & came home to all the grandparents & Jet who proceeded to point out that Bae had two eyes & ears & then settled down to hold him on the couch for the next 20 mins.

The birth was completely natural, no gas or other drugs used. I had no tearing, only a few tiny grazes which haven’t given me any trouble at all. Funnily enough the thing I’ve found most painful after the birth is my sternum, it made a popping or cracking sound at some point in the last stage of labour & now all the muscles in my chest feel very fatigued & sore!

Introducing...

Bae Theo Wolters born 11.10am today. Beautiful natural water birth :)

40 Weeks Today!

I thought today might be the day, i had a show yesterday at about 3pm & had sporadic contractions through the night then when i got up in the morning they stopped! Ive had more of a show today & maybe a few light contractions here & there but nothing solid yet. Maybe bub is just trying to hold out to be a Gemini! If he comes any time after 7.40am on the 21st he will be so only a few days to wait....or maybe he is just indecisive like his mummy & cant decide if he wants to come out or stay in.

Anyway, I'm just resting up & trying to get as much sleep as i can so i have some energy for the birth. I'm actually looking forward to it - i had a great birth with jet (although if you asked me at the time i would have told you it was bloody awful & i never wanted to do it again). With him i was one week overdue, i had a show in the middle of the night then got contractions through the day but i didn't know that was what they were, they were only like light period pain. Then when we were eating dinner they started to get stronger. I think we went into the hospital at about 10 or 11 & he had a water birth at 5:50am. i would say there was only about 3 hours of pain, no tearing, i used a bit of gas but no epidural or anything else (i did crack a tooth on the gas mouth piece though - oops!). So they say you can halve your labour second time round - if that's the case this time should be a breeze!

ill sms a pic of bub & the birth details here once he is born - hopefully not to long away :)

More Longies!

A friend from the ABA (Australian Breastfeeding Association) had her 5th bub at the beginning of april & she is a fellow cloth nappy user so i decided to make her some longies for her bub (these are the little turtle knits picky pants ones.

I made the small & the medium size, theres quite a difference between them! Hopefully the small will fit her now & for another couple of months, the medium might even fit her next year?

Heres some pics:

Ive ordered the Ladybug Loops pattern because im not keen on how chubby the legs are with this one, but i havent got it yet. When i do though im sure there will be even more pics of longies on this site!!!