Crazy Busy Disorganised Chaos.. But making progress :-)

Well life has slowly been returning to a 'new kind of normal' in our household this week. Jobs that were getting done by bedtime (such as making the bed, before you get in it.. or showering for the first time when you would normally be taking your nighttime shower etc..) have been getting done in a more timely fashion (even if mine and hubby's dinner was eaten at 11pm this evening!)  Organised chaos, isn't that what they call it?  Although I would probably still describe our household as disorganised chaos, compared to the 'before' shot.. but hey.. its early days and were still in the trial and error stage when it comes to forming a routine that works around Charlies, 'Non-routine'.  

 At this point in time, Hubby and I taking half the night each - one does the early bottle, one does the late and the bottle/s in between we are both awake for - we find we are both too drowsy to go this bottle alone & whilst one is feeding, the other is ironing the uniforms and preparing the lunches for the next day.  This seems to work well, although the last thing you feel like doing is ironing and preparing lunches at 2am.  Charlie seems to like sleep, but he tends to sleep more on his 'mobile basinettes' (aka - Mummy & Daddy) and his rocker over his basinette.  Im on top of the washing now (2 days ago after a few days rain was another story..) but the ironing pile makes Mt Everest look like a teensy hill - I really must tackle that tomorrow morning (although I think iv said that to myself for a month prior to Charlie's arrival!). 

My other littlies homework is all up to date and we have been enjoying our regular Thursday night shopping trip.. I like to keep things as normal as I can for him, I don't want him to feel like he is missing out now just because there is a baby in the house.  After all, he is my baby too and was used to having me largely to himself for 6 years.. Sometimes I feel insanely guilty when the times he wants to do something is bottle time, but getting him involved with Charlie and seeing their relationship is so heartwarming - he really is a great big brother and should be so proud of himself, as we are. 

Some of the things I am planning on embarking on next are;

* The ironing..

* The garden.. (planting out for Spring)

* Getting back into the swing of baking regularly

(I have 2 tubs of untouched cookie dough that cost a fortune sitting in the fridge..)

* Online shopping for groceries...

* Venturing out a little more..

* Organising a bills and budget folder to maximise my 'home' time.

*  Venturing back to work 1 day per week

So yes, I have a few things in the pipeline that I will chip away at for the next couple of months.. I know its early days yet and our family is still adjusting to adding a new little person to the mix, but we wouldn't have it any other way.. I can't say we are going to go back and have any more..we'll see what the future holds, but for now a grand total of 5 kids between, we couldn't ask for any more (Well maybe just a little more sleep.. hehehe).

The last 3 weeks..

The last 3 weeks in our household have been filled with baby goodness!! Our new addition, Charlie Oliver arrived on the 26th July and ever since our world has been a whirlwind of baby snuggles, bottles, sleepless nights and nappies :-)  But of course, we wouldn't change a thing because he is super adorable and we spend the majority of our days staring at the gorgeous little man... Born at 7lb 13oz, Charlie was  a lot smaller than i'd imagined him to be (after looking like I was carrying 3 babies of that size!) and when he was born, the first thing I exclaimed was 'Isn't he soo tiny!'  and hubby said 'Look at all that hair!' (after being used to bald, blonde babies).

We spent 4 days in the hospital, hubby stayed the first night with me, which was good as I was still attached to a drip from the c-section & it was nice for him to be able to get used to our little guy, we spent the majority of the night in awe of the little fella, amazed at how we made something so perfect. Since coming home, we've had a few sleepless nights (thank goodness for foxtel - we've watched quite a bit of Channel V and a whole heap of baby stories on Discovery Home & Health)  but we tend to take 'shifts' so we at least get a few hours sleep each -  I'v been doing the 'lates' and he the 'early's'. 

All of the other kids have settled in really well with a baby in the house and are all proud big Brothers and Sisters.. although my eldest Stepson has repeatedly forgotten his baby Brother's name, this is nothing unusual for him though.. he didn't remember his teachers name after the first term holidays.. odd!  

Well id best go and catch a few more Zzzz's whilst I can this morning.. Night all. 

My Baby Shower..

With one month to go until my due date, my lovely Mum and Aunty threw me a Baby Shower to celebrate the upcoming arrival of our little man.  My parents live in the country, so we decided on their home for the venue as they have such a pretty outlook and it's just so peaceful, clean and fresh in the mountain air.  The day was gorgeous and sunny and it was so lovely getting together with so many lovely female friends and family for good food and games. I created the games to play on the day and we played the following;

* Celebrity Mums and Bubs

You were allocated the name of a celebrity mum on a card & a separate card with a celebrity child's name on it. You had to wander around, introduce yourself to everyone and find your correct children.  I found this to be a great icebreaker and a good way to start off the games of the day.

* How many Jelly Babies in the Bottle?

I filled an Avent feeding bottle with jelly babies and the guests had to guess how many were in the bottle.

* Mum to Be 20 Q's

20 Questions about myself, my infancy and childhood.. the person with the most correct answers was the winner.

* The Price is Right

I put out 6 baby items and the guests had to guess the cost of each item, closest one to the complete total was the winner..

*Guess the Belly.

Using wool, the guests had to cut the wool to an approximate length that would fit around my pregnant belly.  People can be very unkind hahahaha.. Although 2 people nearly got it spot on in the end!

*A-Z of Baby Names and Baby Things

With 2 minutes on the clock, guests had to write down in alphabetical order - baby names and baby items starting with each letter of the alphabet.. first to finish their list, was the winner..

I also had a couple more games up my sleeve such as 'Guess whats in the nappy bag' and 'Baby food tasting' but I ended up running out of time and lunch looked too appealing, so we stopped playing games to have our delicious lunch, followed by a gorgeous cake that my friend made for me - take a look at the amazing inside!
(photo to come when blogger wishes to cooperate!)

and I opened some delightful gifts..

All in all it was a fantastic day and I had a wonderful time.. Thank you to all of those girls for making me feel very special xo

Good afternoon Blog, long time - No see..

Well, I can't believe its been a month since I last posted on my blog! How time flies, when your having fun (or keeping busy, as in this case!) I am so thankful that it is school holidays and life has slowed down to the crawl that I intend to enjoy for the next 2 weeks..  So what has been happening in our little neck of the woods?  
* I had been busy with work but i'm finished now.. I finished up last Thursday, but prior to this I was trying to do a few days each week of relief work. 
* The days I wasn't doing relief work I was attending events at the kids school, doctors appointments or shopping.. filling most of my days in nicely from morning til school pickup!
* We finished organising the nursery, Hubby did a fantastic job in setting it all up and we decorated it together.. It is just as we'd both hoped and always imagined - very happy with it all.
* My Mum spent a few days in the hospital with a bad back, so I was up visiting her and helping her out in the week after she came home.. thankfully she is on the mend now, which is nice.. awful to see someone you love in so much agony.
*And on the weekend my Mum and Aunty threw me a lovely baby shower! Which was a gorgeous day with lots of gorgeous ladies in my life. I was in charge of creating the games, so that kept me busy for quite some time..

So nothing exciting or glamorous, just the day to day activities that keep us all busy.  So here I am - Kids on holidays, me on maternity leave, 4 weeks to go til the little Mr arrives and planning on enjoying the next few weeks before we're reintroduced to the world of babies.. Hope you have all been keeping well too..

Isn't technology amazing..

Yesterday I went along and had a non-diagnostic 4D scan performed, Initially I had said I wasn't going to, as I wanted to leave something as a 'surprise' but in the end I decided to book in for one as my earlier scans never really gave me much insight into the little life growing inside of me.  I was so glad I did have a 4D scan now, because it was an absolutely awesome experience!  The place where I went was so lovely and professional and the ladies they couldn't have been nicer.  Up to 10 people were allowed to come and view the images, so Hubby, the kids and Mum came along for the experience which was so lovely having them all there and they were so in awe of what they saw on screen also.  The room was set up with recliners for the guests and a super comfy double bed for me to lie on, which tilted so I could see the screen.  The screen was massive and very easy to see the images on.

What we saw was that our baby is definitely a boy !! And he was in there sucking on the cord, hanging onto his feet and then he snuggled up and went to sleep.  At the end of the scan we got a page full of images, a DVD of the session and a cute little keyring. Mum bought a few additional key rings for us all and off we went.. since then, its been odd when the little guy moves, in a way knowing what he looks like.. it feels pretty surreal but its definitely bought a different level to the bond I feel at this point in time I'm anticipating meeting this little person, in person and taking in those chubby cheeks and lips..

I loved sharing this moment with the kids too, like all of the cuddles they give my tummy and how they talk to the little guy through my belly button, its been adorable hearing my Son talking about being an older brother and how he wants to teach his little brother all about the world.  With a little under 2 months to go the little guy has already found a  firm place in our family and the hearts of us all.

Our Weekend..

So it's Sunday night - why do you get here so quickly?? I could easily do with another 1-2 days of weekend before I feel up to facing the week ahead again.

The weekend was good, Saturday was spent with the kids playing at home, washing, grocery shopping and generally pottering about.  The in laws paid a visit, to which I ask.. why is it, kids always go feral when you have company over? All day they played good as gold, but approx 30 seconds before Grandma & Grandad got here, they started to bicker and fight & generally turn into little monsters.. Within 30 seconds of them leaving, calm was once again restored... grrrr... The same behaviour emerges when the phone rings.. Jekyll and Hyde!

Today although we woke up to dreary showers we decided to take a drive to Currumbin Sanctuary on the Gold Coast as they were having May Mates Rates and admission was only $5 per person, with all proceeds going towards their hospital foundation.  The weather had mostly fined up when we got there and we had a great look around at all the animals and attractions.. the kids favourite were definitely the playground, flying fox and digging for fossils and I must admit I was quite impressed by the playground and loved the burrow like tunnels they had set up for the kids to play in..  Unfortunately by about 3pm it started to rain quite heavily and we had to cut our visit short, which was a bit of a bummer as we'd missed the lorikeet feeding and most of the shows. But all in all, it was a great day. 

A Koala doing what we should all be doing on a lazy Sunday..

Enjoying the Playground..

Flying fox fun..

Parties & Baby Shower Inspiration.. Baby Countdown is on..

Well as of yesterday there is officially 10 weeks to go until the little one makes his arrival, which put me in a kind of panic - today there is only 69 days to go!  69 days will go in the blink of an eye I'm sure and at this point in time, I feel so disorganised..

I'm more than 100% certain that by this point last time (my memory may be a little fuzzy it was 7 years ago now) that I was more organised than this, I think I was adding the finishing touches.. not just starting! But oh well, I do still have 69 days to pull this whole thing together & I usually work better under pressure.

Another thing that we decided upon yesterday was my baby shower date, which my Mum and Aunty were so lovely to want to organise for me, I love a party or an excuse to party plan so I'm really looking forward to it on the 26th June (exactly 1 month before the little man's arrival) and having a get together with the lovely ladies I call my friends and family.

An avid reader of some gorgeous blogs, I love how some of these talented ladies are able to pull the most beautiful parties together, so pretty.. Recently Bianca's blog 'A Little Delightful'  featured her daughter's 1st Birthday party, a gorgeous array of pink and white spots! and Jade from 'Super Organiser Mum' is currently in full swing planning her Son's 1st birthday party (Jade does the most delightful parties).

So I started to peek around for ideas for my own baby shower, and at the moment I am umming and ahhing whether to go for a blue/white polka dot theme or a red theme.. The blue and white appeals because I'm having a beautiful baby boy, but I also agree, I'm going to be seeing a lot of blue and white in 10 weeks time, so maybe red - my favourite colour (the colour I love to use in my clothing (although not so much since being pregnant) and the colour I use in the majority of my home decor is a natural choice for my baby shower. 

In any case, I'm sure I will soon make a decision - aren't the following things gorgeous! Lucky they all come in both blue and red, so no matter which colour I decide on, I might have to splurge either which way :)

These gorgeous party supplies and more can be found at;

Sweet Little Birdy

Little Styles

Pink Frosting

Ill post up some more gorgeous ideas later but for now I'm off to my first fortnightly Obstetrician appointment :)