little by little, week by week

i've been working on a little project for the past forty weeks.
well I guess I've been working on two little projects. one is sleeping blissfully upstairs and the other is here! 

i've always found fascinating the body's ability to drastically change itself in short periods of time. i really wanted to document that change over this pregnancy, so with nick's help we took photos almost every week to watch the changes. unfortunately we couldn't get a week thirty nine photo because baby ella decided to arrive three days early.

it's true, from little things, big things grow...

post script

while i do wear an inordinate amount of stripes

in this case, they're intentional

still no baby up in here

well actually to be more precise, there's still a baby, but it's...

the strange thing about waiting for a baby is that you honestly think it will never come. the rational part of your brain is squashed by the impatient, 'body aching all over' part of your brain that just truly believes every morning you wake up still pregnant, is just further confirmation that this baby, in fact, will never arrive.


now of course, it will arrive (my friend just had one, so it must happen), but do i really believe it? not yet.


funnily enough we talk about this baby arriving a lot, like we are going to pick it up from the airport, like we're just waiting on the phone call as to when to leave. but the baby is already here. she's the closest she will ever be to me, she can hear us talking about her arrival and yet i still feel like she is in some other place and we are just waiting for the knock on the door when someone drops her off to us (wouldn't that be pain free lovely).


it's not that crazy that i would be hoping she would be here by now. i'm just over thirty nine weeks and according to extensive googling, about 45% of babies have arrived by now (that doesn't take into the mother's situation but whatevs). but alas no.


so i shall continue to wait....

post script

i have been working on a very special
project over the past thirty sixish weeks

(with help from my wonderful
photography assistant nicholas)
so i'll post that in just a
couple of days when

it's done.

the baby has been showered

i would not usually be the 'baby shower' type, but i am the decorating type.

so i threw fancy to the wind when it came to baby girl hutchins' baby shower

my friends were so generous and baby girl has been spoilt with beautiful

outfits and things to play with.

here's a couple of photos from the evening...

post script

this card made my night

making (a) room for a bebe

i have always said i would never be one of those mothers who throws an extravagant party 

for my child's first birthday. the child is one, they have no idea what's going on.

i have nothing against mother's who go to town for first birthdays, all power to them, 

but it's just not me.

now you would think that same logic would extend to the decorating of our baby's room. 

she's a newborn, if the theories are true, she can't even see colours yet!

maybe it's instinctual though, the whole nesting thing,  

because i just couldn't help myself

and who knows, one day i may eat my words about extravagant first birthdays too

her baby quilt is twenty three years old, from when her mumma was a baby!

everything else is hand made or second hand, cos we're thrifty like that

how to make a paint chip mobile - diy

paint chip mobiles are all the rage over at pinterest (where all the cool kids hang out) and

 with a bebeh on the way i finally had an excuse to make one and eat breakfast three times

 daily!

so for those playing along at home, this is how it's done.

1. go to your local hardware store and steal pick up some paint chips (i have repeatedly told my husband, it's not stealing if they're free)

2. cut out your circles. the size and amount of circles you cut is totally dependent on you.

 i used a circle punch (about $15 from a craft store), which saved a lot of time, but you can

 always go old school with scissors. 

3. line up your pattern. remember each circle needs two paint chip circles, one for the front and one for the back

4. stick one strip of double sided tape onto one circle of each pair and then run a length of fishing line down the length of each group of circles. then match up your pair of circles so the double sided tape is holding both the fishing line and the pair of circles together (get it?).

remember to leave lots of fishing line at the top to use to hang the mobile

5.  tie each length of circles onto a metal frame/circle (picked mine up for $1.50 from a craft store)

6. holding all your long pieces of fishing line that are coming out of the top of your mobile, straighten up the mobile, so it hangs properly and then tie a knot. then hang it on a hook from ya ceiling and that's it.

ta da, a paint chip mobile!

we're having a.....

girl!

while any baby is a great baby, for us, a girl is just so perfect. for some reason when i picture myself as a mother i am holding a little girl and i can already tell nick is smitten with his daughter

text message: your little girl is
kicking her mumma like crazy

text message: i just can't even wait
one more minute to meet her. by the way,
you have a person inside of you, if i
didn't know any better, i would
think that would be a problem

this baby girl is loved and wanted. from the moment the thought of her was conceived in our minds, she was loved and wanted. a part of me is sad because i know one day i will have to give this girl away, and she will belong to her husband and not to me, in the same way i belong to nick now. the thought of that crushes me, because i never want to lose this precious girl. her father on the other hand has taken a more proactive approach, stating "there will be no dating until she's 35".



i will leave you with some prose written by comedian tina fey that made me laugh and smile, but also resonated with me


a mother's prayer for her child
by tina fey


"first, lord: no tattoos. may neither chinese symbol for truth nor winnie-the-pooh holding the fsu logo stain her tender haunches. may she be beautiful but not damaged, for it’s the damage that draws the creepy soccer coach’s eye, not the beauty. when the crystal meth is offered, may she remember the parents who cut her grapes in half and stick with beer.
...
lead her away from acting but not all the way to finance. something where she can make her own hours but still feel intellectually fulfilled and get outside sometimes and not have to wear high heels. what would that be, lord? architecture? midwifery? golf course design? i’m asking you, because if i knew, i’d be doing it, youdammit. may she play the drums to the fiery rhythm of her own heart with the sinewy strength of her own arms, so she need not lie with drummers.


grant her a rough patch from twelve to seventeen. let her draw horses and be interested in barbies for much too long, for childhood is short – a tiger flower blooming magenta for one day – and adulthood is long and dry-humping in cars will wait.


o lord, break the internet forever, that she may be spared the misspelled invective of her peers and the online marketing campaign for rape hostel v: girls just wanna get stabbed.


and when she one day turns on me and calls me a bitch in front of hollister, give me the strength, lord, to yank her directly into a cab in front of her friends, for i will not have that crap. i will not have it.


and should she choose to be a mother one day, be my eyes, Lord, that i may see her, lying on a blanket on the floor at 4:50 a.m., all-at-once exhausted, bored, and in love with the little creature whose poop is leaking up its back. “my mother did this for me once,” she will realize as she cleans feces off her baby’s neck. “my mother did this for me.” and the delayed gratitude will wash over her as it does each generation and she will make a mental note to call me. and she will forget. but i’ll know, because i peeped it with your God eyes. amen."