4 weeks to go and the nesting in on!

I know it has been a while, and I feared for a moment there that this blog was becoming like my pregnancy journal. Ignored and laying on the floor in our bedroom. I have considered picking up that journal and at least trying to remember week by week, as opposed to day by day, what my pregnancy has been like. I should do it, I know. This could be pregnancy one and only, and I would like to reflect back on it all one day, and have it for my daughter to read when she becomes interested in knowing. On my to-do list also is to take a few more photos of the belly. I'd like at least a couple that aren't of me either taking a self portrait in the bathroom mirror, or of me just standing predictably to the side showing how much larger it has gotten since last time. I'm thinking something a little more artistic and creative, black and white, silhouette maybe. I'll have to try and convince Jerry to find his artistic side and take some shots before this baby arrives. Not long now!

The Nursery is almost done and since I last posted, I have finished the changing table, closet, mobile, mirror and washed all of the newborn to 3 month clothes, swaddling blankets, bibs and just have the cloth nappies. My order from Bum Genius arrived and the advice is to wash them in hot water, something we have not connected in our laundry room just yet. Must run upstairs and add that to the House of Czub to-do list!

 Oh, and I finished the little gallery wall for her room too. The finishing touch was a box frame of little love hearts. I had picked up a box frame from Salvation Army for $2.99 and was inspired by this post of framed butterflies by Young House Love. I found a cute heart template on Google images, and printed it out on 3 different shades of pink paper I picked up at Michael's for 49c each.

Then after folding all my little hearts in half, so they popped out from the white paper backing and had a little 3D element, I checked I was happy with the layout and started gluing.

Once the craft glue was dry and the hearts not at risk of falling off the paper, I put the frame back together and hung them on the wall. I love how the have that texture and shadowy effect on the paper.

The other frames are also significant pieces I have framed. Top left is wrapping paper my Aunt Deirdre used to wrap a dress for the baby, Top middle is a polar bear drawing by soon-to-be big sister Kirah. Top right, middle and bottom left are cards I have either picked up or received, bottom right is a super cute babushka doll style drawing by also soon-to-be big brother Callum and bottom middle is one of only two decent ultrasound images I have received. It was a toss-up between this side profile shot and the foot print. I'll have to frame and hang the footprint somewhere else because it is too irresistible to have sitting in a drawer somewhere.

Still on the nursery, here is another Salvation Army $3 find that I overhauled. Originally a cane/wicker mirror, it has been primed and repainted Martha Stewart Flamingo Pink. This was an easy project I finished this morning while watching Nate Berkus.

Tag sales are so amazing here, and unlike in Canberra where you pretty much need to find if there is a garage sale in your area by checking the newspaper, here, you can't turn a corner without a tag sale sign. Tempting me, all the time! This past weekend, I picked up a Diaper Genie for all of $2 and even if I only use it for those newborn disposable nappies in the first weeks, no-one could say that it wasn't worth the measly $2. And speaking of only $2, I then picked up these new friends at a North Brookfield tag sale.

This past weekend I also had a second baby shower and was again spoilt with amazing gifts and a food spread to die for. Very generous family and friends gave us the bigger items that my family and friends could not back in Australia. So we are pretty much set now, just waiting on an Amazon order of a Baby Bjorn and wet bags. Here is the super cute and very appropriate cake topper that my cousin Nate made.

So this blog has been all baby, baby, baby! My parents are now in Lyon, France. They are on their way here after spending 4 weeks in France and London, and I can't wait to have them here in our house. I hope they are ready to work!! Ha ha, but I am a little serious. I have plants that HAVE to get in the ground before it gets too cold! Oh, and I have snakes to get rid of too. They completely gross me out and are living way too close to the house for anyone's comfort.

Here are two new house projects I have on the go. A sunburst clock I picked up at a yard sale, of course, for $3 and kitchen cupboards that I would prefer to use as a house for the microwave. Stay tuned for the after shots of these.

We are also going to need to waterproof the basement asap, as we had squelchy carpet after the rain last week. We'd like to make that space way more liveable and really won't be able to do that if water seeps in and ruins everything when we get a heavy rain. So once Jerry gets back from this India, Thailand, China trip he is on, up comes the carpet!

Ooh, Fed Ex just dropped a package on my door mat! Must go to check it out now....bye!

Can one have two nappy bags?

The answer is yes, and the one is me! After procrastination and shopping in Australia, and deliberations over whether to buy a proper nappy bag or just a big normal stylish bag that could double as a nappy bag, I decided to wait for my return to the US. Jerry and I picked up a mustard, turquoise, brownish bag that I liked a lot at a Carter's sale on a visit to the Wrentham Outlets on our way back from my birthday weekend in Rhode Island. But then, on a visit to Northampton and my new fave shop there, Cedar Chest (hi Matt if you're reading this!), I came across another nappy bag that could not be refused, for $10...seriously. So...maybe I just match the nappy bag with the outfit? Mine, or the baby peach's? The $10 absolute bargain is the bag on the right:

Speaking of baby, the Nursery is slowly taking shape, just doing the final coat of paint this weekend. Then I can put the mirror back up, and ask Jerry ever so kindly to move the chest of drawers back to the garage so I can cover the top with foam and fabric, sand the front and sides and repaint. I am still considering covering the bottom two drawers with gift wrap, kind of like decoupaging them I guess but with just one piece of paper. Not sure, not sure. And I have fabric ready to go to make curtains out of. Here is what it looks like as of today. The walls are a Winter Calm Grey. Touch of purple, but we like it:

After selecting a very basic Brother sewing machine on Amazon for Jerry to buy for my birthday, he surprised me with something way better. He'd bought a 10-15 year old Singer from a man whose wife passed away. It is in its own little home/table and came with a lifetime supply of thread, bobbins etc. So soon I will sew my little heart out, well, the Nursery curtains at least, but I am already rechecking all my pins on Pinterest to see what else I can get stuck into soon. I think it will be cushions! Here is my new machine and some of the other gifts from my birthday this year:

Thanks Mariah for the handmade wire elephant for my ele-fant-e collection :)

Jerry worked hard on the downstairs bathroom in preparation for my parent's visit in October. Just need to fix an issue with the toilet, add a new window shade, a shower rod and curtain and perhaps re-lay the vinyl floor tiles, but the shower now works and the walls are a lovely slate grey (can you tell we like grey paint in this house?). Here is a quick shot of Jerry at work. Will post proper photos once it is complete!

Pretty crap photo actually, sorry!!

Finally we can mow our own grass! We have a lot actually, so a ride on mower was pretty essential. It arrived today and made a little tour around its new home. Yay for Callum being big enough to ride it, so now he can mow it!

OH, the only other thing I wanted to share was my completed thank you cards from the Australian baby shower. Pinterest is seriously changing my life, and so I sought its guidance when I decided to make my own cards. I was looking to make my own ink stamp as the ones in the stores are often not my cup of tea, and so I came across a small tutorial on how to make one from a rubber/eraser. So I carved out the image I was after (a bunny of course!), purchased a black ink pad and some scrap-booking paper in various pink shades. After some trial runs, I ended up with some super cute little notecards that I added grass and a "thank you" message to. I was very happy with the final result and seriously pondered the idea of making more and selling them in sets of 8-10. But I ponder a lot...

I'm leaving you this time with a pic of my lovely succulents - love these plants. So easy to grow and so cute. Cute, plants? Bye!

Almost time for the jet plane again...

So yes, my Australian visit is almost over. Four and a half weeks is a decent amount of time to have been here, but the end still does come around very quickly. I have had an, let's say, different than expected time here, but it has been wonderful and has reinforced how amazing my family is and how fabulous my friends are. I've had some pregnancy related medical issues treated here and to be honest, am grateful to have had my Mum and Dad right by me the whole time. How nice is it to have a cup of tea made for you and a blanket draped over you while you rest on the couch? I've managed to get my fix of Thai, Chinese, Turkish, Italian and of course, some fast food staples like Oporto and Kingsley's Chicken and I've shopped the Bonds and Cotton On Kids baby clothes like no tomorrow.

The baby shower was incredible and I have 3 angel friends to thank for it running so smoothly. Mum and I took on the food and drink, but the girls were amazing running the games, the presents, decorating, basically running the show. Of course, they did not forget my fave baby shower game - smell the "poo" (chocolate bars melted in the microwave, then squooshed into nappies/diapers) in the nappy game and figure out the chocolate bar (I had to be reminded of the only very small difference between a Mars bar and a Milky Way!). Here are some pics!

Yay for the baby poo game! We also played a very technical 'guess how big Melinda's belly is using a piece of ribbon', and a 'what is the name of the baby of this animal' game.

This is my oldest friend Chaylee concentrating hard to win the bottle of wine that came with being #1 at this game!

OH, and my garland. How did that turn out you ask. And the cupcakes??? Well, the garland I was happy with and it is packed ready for re-hanging in the nursery. The cupcakes? Well, no, not so happy. But they were cute and very tasty.

Here is a recap of what they shoulda, coulda looked like:

OH well. Here are some quick pics of how the cupcake toppers came to be:

The baby shower was a blast and I was incredibly spoiled with gifts. It was wonderful to receive the Australian made, owned and just Aussie themed items and I have so many clothes that this little girl is going to need multiple outfit changes a day, even if not due to spit-up or poo. Plus, Mum and I have been stocking up and Jerry and I had started a box of baby items long before we decided to try. So all this:

Is now 15kg in this:

The 'not-cat-people' out there may barf at this, but my cats have been super cute and sweet during the visit. They are the new Mouse Hunters though, and have caused my parents grief with the number of tiny little things they have brought into the house to show off. Today's mouse hunting adventure was dramatic. After snapping some shots of the two of them with their prey, the crows came in high numbers to try to get the mouse and take it for themselves. I'm kinda glad the birds won out, even though I am not sure whether the tiny mouse head I found on the grass that is still haunting me, was the leftovers from the cats or the birds....

Tuesday this week I am off to Sydney to have yumbo pie dinner at Baja Cantina with 2 of the angels plus my amazing friend Jess. Wednesday is Mary Poppins - yay!!!

Then, this will be me. Back to West Brookfield, where the husband awaits...

Oh, second winter in a year...and we're only halfway through!

So yes, it has been cold here in Canberra since I arrived. I receive a lot of questions about how much colder might it be here than in Massachusetts, and to be honest, it's not that different. Snow is obviously the aspect we miss out on here, apart from seeing it atop the mountains in the distance as we head down my beloved (yes Jerry) Tuggeranong Parkway. But the snow we can see sends us all a chill in the wind as soon as we step outside the warmth of a house or car, so it can really get through to your bones here. This is what I have woken up to since I have arrived:

Cold....I need to make like our cat Walter and lay in the warm sun, that does shine through, you just have to find the right sun trap to lay around in!

Or, make like Albert...

Since I have been back in Canberra, I have been madly trying to sell the contents of a storage container we have been keeping here. Oh, selling big decent quality pieces of furniture is a pain. I spoke to a second hand dealer misery guts on the phone that didn't give me any encouragement or hope that I would sell off what I need to in order to get rid of this unit. I held a good old garage sale on the weekend, and I swear my stuff is really cool but just doesn't seem to be what people are looking for. Are they looking for junk? Anyway, I sold about $120 worth of goods but still have a lot to deal with. Salvation Army here I come?

Even though I am trying to get rid of household goods, I cannot resist buying baby goods!! I've tamed myself for the moment, until after the baby shower at least. I really want to take a lot of Aussie stuff back, like Bonds for example. They just make the cutest clothing, oh and Cotton On Kids too!! Can't resist the cuteness. Here is some of what I have bought or been given so far:

Mum has wonderfully kept a box of knitted clothes that her grandmother and my Aunt had made for me, back in the day. I am so happy to have these and the idea of bringing my daughter home from the hospital in the same blanket my brother and I used is wonderful.

The little pink booties were purchased from the Hall Markets last weekend and will be super cosy on the baby's feet. They are hand knitted with sheepskin soles and sheep fur lining. Here are some shots from the Hall Markets:

My Dad bought some of these (men's style of course) to keep his tootsies warm!

My fab friend Renata came to visit over the weekend and we talked a lot of baby (I have talked A LOT of baby since being here) shower. Thanks to Pinterest, I have so much more inspiration for everything! Recipes, DIY, decorating, baby stuff, photography, design, quotes, fashion! I completed my first DIY project for the shower yesterday, based on this:

For full info on how to complete this project, please go to Made.

This is how my project came together. I purchased 2 pieces of felt, hot pink and grey, from the Art & Craft store in Civic for $1.75 each and a roll of hot pink ribbon with white polka dots for $2.00 at Top Dollar. Mum had the rest of the supplies I needed - scissors, pins, a ruler, craft glue and a paintbrush and marker. The template for the bunny is online at Made and I just resized it so I could get 6 bunnies out of each piece of felt.

When they were cut, I pinned them onto the ribbon and made sure I was happy with the spacing. I decided to do grey, pink, grey etc and left about 30cms of ribbon at each end for pinning/attaching to the wall. I don't know how I'll do that yet, but either blu-tak or pins will do the trick. I thought too that even if you want to make the garland a permanent feature on the wall, add eyelets to the ribbon and attach to cute little hooks or even a nail in the wall.

Once I was happy with the spacing, I used craft glue to stick each ear to the ribbon. I let it dry for a while as the felt was quite wet from the glue seeping through. I was going to use craft paint for the eyes and nose but all we had in the house was teal, so I tested a black marker on some leftover felt to make sure it didn't bleed too much, and was happy with what I found. Easier than sewing on a face and I hope a better outcome than teal eyes and nose in paint. I'll post a final product pic after the shower!

My other little project is to get ready for the bunny cupcakes I am making for the shower. Based on these below from sweetsugarbelle:

I've glued 30 little tails onto 30 cupcake cases and have to start on the cookie ears tomorrow so the whole package is ready for the weekend. I purchased small cotton balls from Top Dollar and cut them in half to make them a little cuter and to stop the cupcake case from dropping under the weight of a heavy cotton tail!

I'll have to also post the pic for these after the shower!

So now off to bed and to read a little more of the Jools Oliver (wife of Jamie) book my friend Steph has loaned me. It is a really honest account/diary of her first and second pregnancies and I'm learning a lot already. Check out the cover so you can spot it in the book store if you're interested:

Good night!