Thanks everyone for the lovely comments , we certainly are proud as punch of our new wee girl.  We had a great day today, Grace slept so well last night and boy did we need some sleep. Today the sun came out and we ventured out and took Grace to meet her Great Nana. Love this picture I got of Grace, Craig and his Nana.

The rest are a few pictures of the past few days. Grace’s Nana and Granddad can’t be with us at present so hopefully these photos will keep them both up to date. Grace can’t wait till she can have cuddles with you both!

It sounds like tomorrow might be a nice sunny day so we hope to get out for a nice walk in the sun. We will no doubt be taking more pictures! Lucky I’m a scrapbooker! hehe

Grace really enjoyed her bath last night, then a massage. I’m sure that’s what made for such a good nights sleep. We will certainly be repeating it tonight.

All dressed up and ready to go out, thanks for all the lovely hand knits Nana Lyn. The bunny booties are the best!

We would like to welcome to the world our beautiful baby DAUGHTER!!

Introducing

Grace Peony

Born 5.08pm

Tuesday 15th July 2008

Weighing 8lbs 13oz 

A very peaceful baby Grace

Craig and I feel so blessed to have our wee baby daughter in our arms at last.

It all started happening on Saturday after we had a dinner out together, I started to feel strong niggles and they continued on for the next few days. It  was totally exhausting as I couldn’t get any rest. I called Mum early Tuesday morning as I was felling awful and overwhelmed. She kindly came over at 2am to be here for me and to give Craig a break. Craig and I are so grateful that we had her support throughout the labour, she was fantastic. We ended up in hospital at 11am,  and things progressed well. I had no pain relief, which I must say I am so proud of. I was lucky that I had a fairly smooth time of it. As the labour was good it was a bit of a shock when my placenta wouldn’t birth so I ended up having it manually removed in surgery, I have never been in hospital before so all the medical procedures were a bit overwhelming. The staff and my midwife were however fantastic so that made it easier.

We are now home with Grace after a few days in hospital and things are going well. She is a really relaxed baby and has been sleeping lots, mainly during the day though at this point. Nights are a challenge but Craig and I are muddling through and it is worth it. Breastfeeding has become another challenge, but I am determined to get it sorted as I really like the bonding of it.

Craig has been totally fantastic! I couldn’t do this without him. He has been doing most of the nappy changes and supporting me whenever he can’t help. We are completely enjoying being parents, it was the right time for this miracle to come into our lives.

A couple of cousins just hanging out!

Fatherhood is a very tiring business! hehe

I will keep updating with new pictures as I get time so check back

Firstly many thanks for all of the kind birthday wishes. I truly felt spoiled!

I’ve been taking it easy over the past week, just hanging out with my sister and baby Madeline. Here’s a few pictures taken over the past few weeks.

Things with the pregnancy are going well, just waiting out the time till our bubs comes into the world. 13 days to go till due date as of today. I haven’t reached that “I just want baby out” stage yet, and my gut feeling is it will be at least another week yet.

Here’s a picture of me and my belly on the 13th June, a wee while ago but my most recent picture. I hope to get some more taken over the weekend.

Just a few other pictures of some things for the nursery. Craig’s mum knitted this awesome scarecrow doll!  I whipped up these very simple canvas’s to brighten things up. I just wanted to add even more colour to the room! hehe I will be glad when I know what colour to choose in things, I have so much lemon and cream at present.

My sister couldn’t resist today and bought bubs a wee lemon and pink jumpsuit with a cupcake on it! how cool is that. Also in other cupcake news my friends gave me a cupcake stand that holds 23 little cakes… I think I’m getting a name as being a cupcake nut. The lemon meringue cupcakes wee fantastic but got eaten to soon to photograph, I’ll try harder with the next batch

Well I shouldn’t avoid it any longer, my scrap space needs a good sort out and I am hoping to make up some page kits to complete so better hop to it! Catch you all soon.

Rochelle

This morning at 2.25am my sister gave birth to a beautiful healthy baby girl!! She weighed 7.2lbs and they have named her Madeline. I just can’t wait till this afternoon when I get to go and visit her. Everything went smoothly but my sister did say when she phoned at 3am this morning that she can’t recommend labour :p hehe it’s a bit late for me to change my mind however! :)  I’m still totally excited about our birth and 7 weeks seems far to long to have to wait but as everyone assures me, it will be here in no time. In the mean time I will just have to be a totally smitten auntie! hehe

Here is the first picture of my new niece, isn’t she so cute!

A HUGE congratulations to Vanessa and Tc on your beautiful new baby daughter!

Well I thought it was time to update this again. I’ve got a nice hot cuppa tea, my slippers are on and the place is quiet. Even dinner is sorted, I got super keen yesterday and made two huge fish pies, two apple and apricot crumbles, batch of scones, huge pot of pumpkin soup and a Mexican tortilla meal for tonight.

I wanted to do something to help Mum out, she has been having a hard time of it lately, (my Nana is in hospital having an assessment for Dementia) so I gave her one of the fish pies and apple crumbles. I find it hard to support Mum with the health side of it, I don’t like all the details about disorders etc. My Mum and Sister share a compassion to sick people that I don’t seem to have, I will help anyone out but don’t cope well with the hands on stuff, I always feel out of my element (I’m sure I’ll get better at it when bubs arrives) but at the moment I’m much happier to support with food and a listening ear.

In other news, bubs and I are doing well. I’ve been feeling a bit down over the past few days but I think it has more to do with the grey dreary weather than anything else. It was however a lovely sunny day today, I was at work for most of it but it made for a sunnier disposition Also I have been having Braxton hicks for the past few weeks, they are the strangest feeling. I would happily lose them, but my midwife assures me they are a good thing hehe

I checked out the calendar this morning and was shocked to notice my sister’s due date is next Wednesday!!! Bloody heck where did the time go… I now have to urge to get all my stuff sorted as my time is creeping closer and closer!

I am still really excited about the birth, not sure if this will change as I get closer but at the moment I enjoying learning all the bits and bobs at the anti-natal class.

Onto the creative side of things, here are some cards I made for the monthly card swap. The theme was baby so I used a cuttlebug baby themed embossing folder that I got recently. I also picked up two stamps on special, one says “It’s a girl” and the other “It’s a boy”. Quick and easy cards!

Also a 30th birthday card I whipped up for my brother in law.

Last Sunday we had our baby shower, it was great fun! I decided to host it myself as I love doing parties, all the details are fun to sort out. Crazy I know but it’s my thing I had decided that I really wanted to go all out with an afternoon tea, so had a proper tea party. I borrowed old fashioned tea cups from my Nana and Mother in law. We had cake stands and pretty plates with the yummy offerings on them.  I do now understand why those pretty tea cups don’t come out very often, they are tiny,fragile and have to be hand washed!! hehe It all set the tone though so was worth the work, and besides they are so pretty ! As we don’t know the sex of bubs, I made the invites purple and green with butterflies and tried to carry that theme through to butterfly cookie favours. I struggled to find decorations that weren’t themed for boys or girls though. Definitely a niche market there

We played the usual games, pin the baby on the belly, guess the jellybeans in the babies bottle, celebrity parents and their babies and guessing my belly size with toilet paper. They were all a bit of fun, and got everyone laughing.

I used the wee mini album as a guest book and had all the guests guess the weight, date of delivery, the sex and any words of wisdom. It will be a great memento of the shower after I add some pictures from the day to it.

We certainly have some VERY generous friends and family! Craig and I were blown away by the generosity of everyone. We were spoiled and now have many lovely things to use when bubs is born. Amongst the gifts we got many handmade gifts, we got the cutest hand knitted booties, a sleep suit that was handmade, a beautiful cot quilt and also a handmade nappy bag. It’s one lucky little baby to have such loving people around. Thanks to everyone who has spoiled us, we truly appreciate it!

One last picture, here are the cute booties that Craig’s Mum knitted us and the wee set with tassels were very kindly sent to me by Mrs Frizz. It was such a lovely surprise to receive them, thank you so very much Michelle. I will treasure them!

In sad news, this morning we attended a funeral of a very dear family friend. He wasn’t related but might as well have been as him and his wife were like second grandparents to my sister and I. It was a very sad but moving funeral, such a fitting tribute to a wonderful man! When they carried the coffin out to a lone bagpiper there wasn’t a dry eye around.

I have been blessed so far to have only lost a few people close to my heart, going to such an event really makes you think how precious life can be.

To our dear “Uncle” Donald may you rest peacefully.

xoxoxox

That’s a record at the moment for me! I really want to get back into blogging regularly and instead of waiting for something interesting to happen I have decided to just write about everyday stuff. I enjoy reading other peoples blog about their everyday lives and events so I thought I would share too.

We have had such grotty weather over the weekend and the past few days, I have managed to get all up to date with cleaning and washing etc. I was feeling pretty bored with staying indoors and had no inspiration to create so cleaning it was. Yesterday I even made a huge pot of roasted red pepper and tomato soup. That proves how wintry I was feeling! hehe Today however the sun came out so I’m feeling much brighter! I headed out for a coffee with Mum and had a catch up which was nice. She is under such pressure looking after my Nana who has some sort of dementia. I think it’s good that she gets a bit of a break every now and again.

I did get this layout done over the weekend, I love the bright colours of it and the fact I managed to use loads of pictures.  Also over the weekend after the curtains were hung, I got inspired to get some more things for the nursery. We purchased a nice white drawer set and I altered these MDF letters.

I also saw this card idea on a website and thought it looked cool. It opens thru the middle rather than the traditional way, so here is my take on it. It’s good to have at least one Mother’s Day card done, as I’m sure it will be here in the blink of an eye!

   I know I have been the slackest blogger over the past few months, but there is a good reason which I will get too.

First a  wee catch up, I hope everyone had a happy and safe Christmas and that your New year is starting off with a bang! Our Christmas was spread over a few days, firstly a family lunch with Craig’s family on the Saturday which was great. Then a big Christmas BBQ with our family and friends, a combined effort between my sister and I. Was a fun evening and was great to catch up with everyone before they all headed off on there own holidays etc. Lastly we had our Christmas day with my family, it was a beautiful day and we shared a BBQ lunch and much laughter. I had to share these pictures of my Mum’s decorations, I love the Santa feet coming out of the chimney! We did decorate our tree etc. but I completely forgot to take a picture.Oops!

After Christmas we headed away to Kaiteriteri for a several night, Craig grew up camping there as a child and we had stayed on his parents campsite a few times but this year was our first time with our own tent and site etc. I must say I surprised myself at how much I enjoyed it (except of course the putting up and taking down of the camping gear!), I am sure it will be a continued tradition.

Now that you have been updated on our Christmas and holiday news, we have very exciting news!! See the next post for details!

So our big news is that last year (actually the day before our wedding anniversary) we found out that we’re going to be blessed with a baby!!

As you can imagine we are very excited about the journey we are on. So far it has been pretty good, except for some nausea and major tiredness. We have just made 13 weeks and things seem to be getting better,I’m feeling much more like my old self. With the tiredness and the busyness of Christmas I haven’t been into blogging or creating at all. Last week however we went for our first scan and it was AMAZING! This made it more real for both of us and I have now started scrapping a few pages for our babies first album I’m gradually getting back into the mood to create so stay posted.

The other news that is big in our family (that we found out shortly after we found out about our pregnancy) is that my sister is pregnant too and it turns out she is only 6 weeks further on than me!! It will be great for our kids to have cousins to grow up with. Also Craig’s brother and his fiance are only 6 weeks away from their due date. It is certainly all babies in our families!

Here is one of the pictures from our first scan.