Press Here

As I've mentioned before, I have a large collection of childen's books which is very precious to me. I suppose my primary teacher mum influenced me in this respect, and now working in gallery eduaction with early childhood audiences I am continually exposed to many beautiful and unusual books.

Press Here is my latest favourite and my first choice for a child's birthday present. If you haven't seen it yet, I promise you it's a pretty magical number and worth seeking out...wonderfully interactive and a very clever and subtle way to learn about colour.

(last two images appear further along in the book)

26 weeks

It's a funny thing to notice your belly button hole disappear. I'm on my way to getting a little outtie now. I love that look on a pregnant belly.

This weekend we're off to a Calmbirth course in Bowral, which we're really looking forward to. The course has been highly recommended by my yoga teacher, the midwifes at our birthing centre and many others (including blogging mamas like Anna at Rummey Bears). I haven't picked up a birthing book for a while so it will be good to get back into that headspace. K was reading birthing stories to me from the wonderful Ina May book most nights, although we finished the book a few weeks back and haven't really spoken about the birth much since, so I'm glad that we have the opportunity to think about this together again. I can't think of anyone else I'd rather have by my side through this experience.

Ps. I'm loving that the flower man at our market finally has poppies. Bendy stems and creased petals makes this lady very happy.

Nursery details

Think I'm developing quite an obsession with sweet wraps, bunny rugs and soft blankets. Oh well, surely you can never have too many?

Some lovely friends have been helping me put together a to-buy list. I felt a little overwhelmed by all the 'essential' items listed in baby books but they swiftly crossed a few things off the list. Now it's looking a little less frightening. We've been so lucky to borrow or inherit a lot of the bigger items though, so really we've done very well so far.

A few handy things I was told about:

...forehead scanner thermometer (and room temperature gauge in one)

...lasinoh lanolin

...hire a capsule for the first 6 months through Kidsafe (these versions have the option of lifting out a carry basket - no need to wake the little one)

...melobaby travel change mat (I love that it has a soft fleecy lining not a plastic sticky mat)

Any other hot tips (or even sweet things to splurge on) are welcome...

25 weeks

It's been a busy week and it feels like the weekly bump anniversary has crept up on me. I'm a little sad that time seems to be racing by. Of course I am excited and eager to meet the little one but I am also aware that this is such a precious, special time and want to make the most of it.

K & I are hoping to head down the coast for a weekend soon for some nice slow and simple times. Until then we've been doing our best to escape the business of the week and have cracked out a jigsaw puzzle I bought at a garage sale and started chipping away after dinner some nights. I've also been practising knit and purl stitches and hope to get my technique down pat so I can justify buying some lovely yarn like this. Yep, it's crazy times here in the Village.

The bump appears to change shape and grow daily now. K has decided he's going to talk to the little one in Portuguese as he/she grows up, and it's so beautiful when he sings Brazilian lullabies into my belly. He doesn't do it often as he gets a little bashful about it, but it just melts my heart.

24 weeks

Well hello little bump. Have you decided it's time to get a move on? It certainly feels that way.

After another hectic week and an eventful weekend I'm welcoming the wintry weather so I can cosy up in the evenings and do some solid relaxing. Last Wednesday I had a theatre date with a friend (on a 'school night'!) which was a lot of fun but left me feeling a little exhausted. After a day at work it's really hard to find the energy to do much else in the evenings other than run a bath and crawl onto the sofa with a mug of soup - although it did feet great to get a little dressed up and go out for dinner in town.

I'm excited to join a knitting club with some lovely ladies from work. Our first 'meeting' is this Saturday and one of the knitters is going to lend me a book about knitting projects for children. The last time I clicked needles was probably in Grade 5 so I hope they'll be patient with me. Now there's a lovely project for these wintry evenings.

Memorykeeping

My memory is notoriously bad, so I'm pretty pleased that I've been keeping track of my pregnancy through this blog. It's been a great way to document changes and reflect on various aspects of this remarkable/crazy/beautiful process of growing a baby.

As lovely as it is to be able to scroll through photos and text, I have to admit I'm a 'flick through the pages of real albums' kinda gal. I'm hoping to print most of the photos and rewrite some of the posts from this blog and include them in a baby book for the little one.

My parents kept a baby book for me - a simple, foolscap lined scrapbook, covered in sweet baby gift wrap with the hospital portrait placed proudly on the front. When I was young, I spent many hours pouring over these pages which were filled with photos, nicknames, my drawings and baby cards. I loved the thought that my parents found all these keepsakes and memories so important and worth treasuring.

I already have a baby book ready for the little one but fancy the idea of also keeping this book from Kikki K for a day-to-day record of the first year. Have you kept baby books/memory boxes for your little one? Or seen any other lovely ways of recording these special times?

Ps. You would have thought that I could have been a little kinder to my poor exhausted parents on Christmas Eve...

23 weeks

According to the books our little one now recognises warmth, light and sound and senses pain (aw, poor darling).

Last weekend we went to the movies to see Water for Elephants (I hadn't been since Babies). At one point during the film there was a lot of loud noise and the little one started flinging around like crazy. It was hilarious at first, but after a while it was pretty unsettling and I thought I might have to walk out of the cinema for a break!

This fancy frock came to me courtesy of a lovely friend who gave me a bag of clothes that she wore during her pregnancy. I thought the dress looked too good to pass on and started to protest, but she thrust it back into my hands. Trust me, she said, I never want to see it again.

Thank you for the comments on 22 weeks - I loved hearing your stories.

Freckles

Last weekend I popped in to one of my favourite shops and left with something a bit fun for the little one's room. I've been eyeing off the freckle rugs for a while, but not willing to part with $300 for something which doesn't fall into the 'essential' category, I'm content to leave it on my wish list for now. Couldn't resist the freckle garland though, and it's joined the stash of cute things that I'm storing in the (recently assembled) cot. We're waiting until we have a few more pieces of furniture before we decorate the room, so I'm not too sure yet where the garland will live.

A good friend at work sent me a link to the beautifully curated Sunday Collector blog on Friday and I noticed that she has just posted a piece about garlands - and featured the freckle garland. I'm sure you've all discovered this blog long ago but it's worth a visit if you haven't. I'm not too sure that I subscribe to her rule of 'one garland in the home at a time'. I think it's quite acceptable to allow one garland per level...so am lucky that I live in a 3 storey home + loft.

Other cheeky purchases for the little one in the last few weeks:

...Serena & Lily Aden + Anais swaddle blankets

...Littlephant children's poster

...Swedish 'Kurbib'

22 weeks

We haven't found out whether we're having a boy or a girl. There aren't many true surprises in life anymore, are there? I don't really have a strong feelings either way. A new mum I met at a 1st birthday party on the weekend told me that she didn't have any idea until the last few weeks when she just knew she was having a girl (it was indeed a girl).

A psychic I saw in New Orleans last year told me that I'd have two boys, so for a while I felt like her prediction clouded my intuition and during the first trimester I pictured having a boy. Since our last scan though I've had dreams about having a girl and without thinking refer to the kicks by saying, oh she's kicking like crazy at the moment...but who knows?

As long as the little one is healthy and born happy.