Motherhood!

Well, reality has hit and our household is buzzing. This little man has made his presence known and we are all trying to keep life normal and simple as possible. My daughter has mastitis and with feeling overwhelm with motherhood has not made the process easy. I drove home the other day after speaking to her on the phone, telling me she was really cold and feeling unwell, I knew I would not be able to get her into a doctors appointment so I took her to the hospital and she was seen straight away. With living 54kms from town I knew if we didn't see to her swollen and painful breast straight away things could get difficult. After a few days on antibiotics she has improved and feeling much better.

It has been nearly 21years since I have had a new born at home and I had almost forgot about the overwhelming sensation of being responsible for such a tiny little thing and how life will never be the same. My daughter who was very hormonal during her pregnancy is now having those same feelings and sometimes has moments of tears, I am thankful that I am there to hug and support her the best I can as her mother.

Now when I look at new mums I wonder if they are coping and if they have the support of their mum, I know husbands and partner do support them but it is a little bit different when you can turn to your mum for that special advise and support. Are you a new mum? Do you have the support of your mum? Have you had mastitis? I would love to hear your point a view.

A new Pantry!

I've just had a nice couple of days with my girls, my eldest had another appointment with her obstetrician so I got to see her and baby again. She is now23 weeks and is truly showing a belly. We went to a spotlight store and bought some fabric to make baby wraps and cot sheets, it was a lovely time spent together. I can't believe how fast time has flown but I suppose when there is so much going on around you time does fly.

The first slab for the church has been poured and the next slab will be Friday and the last next Wednesday. We are pleased how things are going, apart from the tragic news we had from the supplier of the shed we will be getting, his two brothers were killed in a helicopter accident last week. They rang to tell us the sheds want be ready until January 2010, we truly understand
their situation and are willing to wait until they were ready.

This below is Tony, he is our friend who is staying with us until we can catch up with our orders. Do you think he likes our animal and visa -versa. For a person who hasn't really had any animals in his life he is totally wrapped in these characters. That is scooby sitting on his lap, he was the kitten that wandered lost into my shop and who was nearly put down. The little one on the right is his favourite, Jatzie, she doesn't usually like males, and goes absolutely crazy with barking and snapping when one arrives (very unsocial) but with Tony she loves him, weird.

This is my now tidied pantry, it took me about 4 hours to get in their and tidy it up, throw out of date stuff, put my containers in order and just a general rearrange and clean up.

I have had a lot of problem with ants lately, but I think it is the weather because everyone I ask are having the same problem. So every thing went into containers and jars. I wrote out a list of stuff I am low in and that needs to be stocked up in. I usually like to have a well supplied pantry because we are so far from town and I do a lot of cooking from scratch, I like it to have as much as possible. When we moved here we found the neighbours were always lending to each other something they had run out of, its great.

My preserving stock is running low and I don't think my veggie patch is going to be as good as last years. The heat and dryness is taking its toll on our land and the farmers. I have noticed many farmers are getting rid a lot of their stock. We are just not getting any rain, the dams are drying up and there is no feed in the paddocks.

I store a lot of my bowl, jugs, Tupperware and stuff in my pantry because it is fairly large.

Dave made the shelves adjustable so I can make the shelve spaces any sized to fit what ever I want to put on them.

I tried to cull some of my cook books but found it a bit hard, above my books is my yogurt maker, which i love.

This shelf has my oils, sauces and vinegars and the shelves below has my condiments, spices & herbs and all my cake making stuff and the top shelf has my preserving lids, seal, rings etc.

The little cupboard my son made years ago, I keep my potatoes, onions etc in. Then the microwave sits on top then a bread box on top of that. Well thats it the pantry is done!

Baby Bump and other things!

Baby is coming along nicely and all is well! This was a photo I took of my daughter last month on my phone when I stayed with her for a few days. I couldn't find my battery charger to charge my batteries for my camera so I haven't had any photos lately and I have just downloaded my photos from my phone. Check out that little bump isn't it gorgeous :)

We finally got the go ahead to start construction of our new church. Clair, the lady in the photo is one of the founding members of our Church, next year will be the 60Th year Anniversary of the Baptist witness in our area. Here one of the Deacons is handing to her the shovel that will be used to turn the first sod for our new Church.

This is the front of the 10 acre block purchased a few years ago to build the new church on and Clair is standing at the entrance with balloons and streamers and a sign inviting people to come and witness the turning of the first sod (I put up those balloons and streamers and let me tell you it was such an effort because we had gale force winds that day)

This is the start of the new drive way which will go down behind the buildings for a car park, on the right is the boundary fence and where we will put in gardens

The machines were quick to get on there and start excavations of our new church, we had sprinklers around to try and keep down the dust.

It wasn't long and the water tanker was there to water down the site. It won't take long and the excavators will be finished and the concretors will be in. I'm hoping to take enough photos to document this for the church members to keep them up to date and also for future generations.
After months of planning and discussions it is great to see the start of our church, we are now looking to the future and for what God has install for us as a Church and a community.

Baby News!

Baby On The Way! and We are just full of Smiles!

My eldest daughter is having her first baby and it is due on the 11th April and we are all very excited. My daughter had a time not long ago where she had a couple of fits and they thought she had epilepsy, but things have settled down and she has been to the doctors for regular check ups so all is well.

On the other baby front my son and daughter-n-law could be having their second child sooner than thought, Megan had a bit of spotting so she had a few days in hospital to make sure everything was ok and when they measured the baby they told her by their measurements she could be two weeks further than thought, every mothers dream:).

I think I will have to kick this granny into top gear and get my fingers clicking if I want my knitting projects finished before they start arriving.

Oh Baby!

We had great news last night that our son and daughter-in-law will be having another baby and we couldn't be more delighted. The expected due date will be around the 2nd of November and their number one daughter who is four is so excited. Our daughter-in-law has four other siblings and two of her brothers and their partners are expecting as well which will make an exciting year of babies.