I think I’ve discovered yet another new-found passion - flea market shopping! All thanks to my friend Jamie who introduced me to the wonderful world of flea markets.
On Sunday morning we headed out bright and early to the flea market at Kardinya and were amazed at the scale of the market. We saw all kinds of sellers who set out their bits and wares on makeshift tables, mats, and backs of trucks and station wagons.
As I’ve received a couple of expressions of interest in my custom-made toy cube. I’ve thought of more variations and improvements to make and I decided to outline some options for customising the cube for other people.
Basically you can choose six squares which will be sewn together into a cube and choose other accessories to add on according to your preference. The dimensions of the cube are approximately 10x10x10cm.
Here are the available options for the cube
I wanted to do some sewing today. I received another order, this time for just a nursing cover. But just as I has the scissors ready to snip through the fabric, I remembered that I hadn’t pre-washed the fabrics yet. So I had to park it aside and turn to the computer instead.
Decided to snap some photos of the fabric finds I made during my latest expedition to Spotlight.
The expectant mum who ordered the nursing cover wanted something with a classic pattern in neutral-autumny colours like browns, orange, creams, reds. This is what I selected
For those people pining for more news and pictures of Nathan, here’s the headlines for the latest newsflash from the nursery…
“TEETHING!!! THE DRAMA BEGINS…”
I had been wondering when the whole teething adventure would begin. Nathan had been becoming increasing drooly over the past few weeks and his fingers have become a big favourite on his menu…
Still have not managed to find a slot to do a more cerita panjang kinda post. Anyway I think posts with lotsa pictures, especially ones with my chubby bubby are always a winner.
Here’s another something I made for Nathan which was inspired by a Lamaze Clutch Cube I saw a photo of friend’s baby playing with. It’s a mummy-made-patchy-vintagy cube!
Sorry for the near-week-long pause in my blogging-roll. I really was on a roll, and even now there’s so many things on my mind to share but I have nothing better than the classic “not enough time” line… with office work getting busier, Nathan’s teething sagas (another tale, another time) and myriads of various things to do.
Anyway for today’s post, we’ll be revisiting the breast pumping topic.
I’ve got something brewing in my mind to blog about, but haven’t had a chance to sit down to pull my thoughts together. So in the meantime, here is a filler post of more scrappy sewing I’ve been up to…
Nathan is 20 weeks and one day old today - almost 5 months old!
I haven’t posted an update in a while, but a lot has been happening.
For one, he’s grown bigger. We haven’t weighed him just yet, but some of his clothes are definitely getting to be a tight fit already.
His big sparkling eyes, chubby rosy cheeks and easy-going demeanour are a great delight to everyone who see him. In church it now takes me double the usual time to walk across a room because we need to stop every few moments for the benefit of his admirers ^_^
Some new developments on his part include:
1. Laughing when tickled - he lets out the most delightful chuckly gurgle, which makes great fun for playing games like ‘round and round the garden’ and ‘this little piggy’… he also giggles at all sorts of random stuff, like yesterday, he somehow found it super funny getting his face wiped with a warm wash cloth during bath time
2. Playing with his hands - yes, it’s now very evident that he knows where his hands are and can amuse himself with twiddling his fingers, mouthing them and sucking them contentedly
3. Grabbing toys - he’s now shown definitely interest in his toys - no more random swatting, he makes a decided grab at them now; one of his favourite toys is the little taggie I made him… but he pretty much likes playing with any toy he sees in front of him
4. Turning over - he’s already fairly adept at the turning over from his tummy to his back. Just today he managed to turn from his back to his tummy all by himself for the first time, completely unassisted.
His daytime routines are going pretty well. Wake times are getting longer, so I try to mix things up a lot more with the activities I do during those times… usually he can spend some time playing happily by himself in his play pen or tummy time mat, besides that he just accompanies me around in his rocker watching me do various things - hanging up laundry, cooking, eating, washing dishes, sewing…
He can stay up for at least 1.5 hours and sometimes close to 2 hours before he starts showing signs of restlessness. After a nappy change and brief cuddle, he usually goes down for his nap smoothly and will sleep for 1-2 hours.
After some experience with navigating the well regarded babywise system, I’m no longer fussed that he doesn’t always have nicely timed 2.5 hour long naps (that’s what the book says!). However not having a fixed length naptime definitely has its inconvenient moments, especially with working from home. I recently sprained my toe when rushing to pick him up in the midst of a client call - big ouchie!
Our main present challenge is the bedtime routine. After his bath, change into pyjamas and feed, he sometimes takes a long time to settle down and will want to keep nursing some more. On a good night, after one feed he will settle in after a few whimpers… but on most nights, he will fuss and want to nurse 1 or 2 more times before finally settling in.
But once he’s down, he sleeps through pretty well. He will wake up at least once either at around 10.00pm for a feed, or he’ll sleep through till about 5.00am. I reasoned that technically he can sleep 9-10 hours, but somehow it isn’t fixed whether he’ll sleep straight through the first half of the night or the second half after a late night feed.
I used to try to dreamfeed him at a fixed time around 10pm or 11pm, but I found it didn’t make a difference with helping him sleep through the second half of the night consistently. So now I just go with the flow, and if he does wake up at 5am, I only give him half the usual amount and put him back to sleep.
Despite all that, he’s still very much a lovely baby - easygoing, full of smiles and such a joy to have… yes, even in the midst of a sprained toe, bedtime cluster feedings and 5am wake-up calls.
For my latest project, this mum asked if I had any selection of colours and patterns to choose from. I didn’t really have a huge collection to show her, but I pointed her to some links of some photos of fabrics I had snapped. She immediately picked out this one…
…which I thought unusual for her style and remarked so to her. She replied saying that she actually preferred black and white colours for herself, but as it’s for her son, she thought she should get something more colourful and brighter.
I thought over what she said about her preference for more neutral colours. So I suggested that instead of making the lining the bright blue colour in the picture, I would select a more neutral colour so she could swap between the two sides - the neutral side for herself, or the bright polka dots if she felt like showing off her baby a bit more ^_^
This was the combo I selected - an off-white khaki type material which I thought set off the bright polka dots very nicely…
This is the result… bright and cheery combo!
Nursing cover…
And bib… (I made it in the same pattern as the previous set as I noticed that this mum had clicked the ‘like’ button on the other bib on Facebook)
Customary model pic…
Altogether now…
And ready to go!
I’m two days late with this post. I had started this post in my mind on the eve of Mothers’ Day, then tried to sit down in front of the computer on Sunday afternoon to piece it together… but things being as they are, you mums out there will have to settle for a belated Mothers’ Day post… *sheepish grin*
On Sunday our church had its customary celebrations with the kids’ presentation, presents and prayers for all the mums. When our pastor called for all the mothers in the house to stand, I gingerly stood up. It was the first time I did so and it felt rather awkward. I was so new and just barely into this whole thing… dare I really join the ranks of all these other women standing up around me?
Each woman who stood up received a rose and a little gift - the ladybug actually unfolds into an envirobag to use for shopping in place of plastic bags. Very cute and handy!
I also received a few greetings and messages from friends and loved ones wishing me happy mother’s day… most of them tacked on with a remark on how special it was being my first Mothers’ Day. It was my friend Irene who reminded me that I was actually already a mother to a child I could not keep.
The bitterness of that experience has since faded in the rosy glow of my new-motherhood, but the memory remains. As I reflect back on that journey, I decided to direct my Mothers’ Day post this year especially to the mothers with empty arms. Not only those mothers who have lost, but more so to those who are unable to hold theirs in their own arms just yet. Theirs is a pain which is elusive and seemingly intangible.
When I was pregnant with Nathan, I often whispered to him how much he was loved and longed for, even before he was conceived. When he was only an ‘intangible’ idea in my mind, he was in a sense already ‘real’ in my heart. That is why I think there is a place, even if it’s a small corner, on Mothers’ Day for the ones with empty arms. They are already loving their child in heart even if they can’t do so with their hands and arms just yet.
This video is a little long (about 4 minutes plus) but I think it helps to take a page out of their book and just for a moment feel a little bit of what they might be going through.
Hope that wasn’t too depressing. I shall end on a more uplifting note by directing your thoughts now to this song, the lyrics of which I find very inspiring…
So whether you’re a young mother bleary eyed from being woken up in the middle of the night by your child’s cry
Or a parent whose sanity is hanging by a thread having to deal with a stubborn kid
Or you're a woman who just had to undergo the anguishing two-week wait only to be disappointed again
Or if you’re finally at that stage in life where you truly truly realise how precious every moment with your parents/children/grandchildren is
Or if you’re just a regular person trying to ‘wing’ it through life and feeling a little lost every now and then
Remember…
Our lives are made
In these small hours
These little wonders
These twists and turns of fate
Time falls away
But these small hours still remain
If you’re a prosy person and all that just whizzed past your head, here is a black and white explanation from the song writer, Rob Thomas, about what he intended to say in those lyrics…
“It's about how people tend to get caught up in the moment and tend to get caught up in something that's bringing them down, preventing the recognition of life-defining moments. The song is about making the most of those defining moments; Life is about having those moments to look back on” (quote taken from here)
After finishing the main items in the denim and blue leafy print set, I made a couple of cute little things from the bits and pieces left…
Just a little something extra to add a nice cute touch to the set…
Packaged up and ready to go!
(Stuffed owl and elephant patterns adapted from here and here)
After that sneak preview, it’s time for a little product testing!
Also finished nursing cover…
And shirt-bib with necktie appliqué
Using my model to accentuate bib’s cuteness…
As you can see, having a good looking model is highly important.
Something in the works in the sewing department for my friend, Stephanie who is in the hospital undergoing labour at the moment. It’s still the early stage so she still got time to message me on Facebook.
Posting this picture to help ease the process in anticipation of the arrival of her precious bundle of joy.
More updates on this soon…
So with all the sewing frenzy happening, I think you guys need a break from all that. So let’s talk about something else…
One of the number one questions I have been getting is “are you back at work yet?”. People seem to be innately curious about whether I’ve gone down the full time SAHM (stay-at-home-mum) route or the working career mum.
When we talked about plans after the baby arrived, we anticipated a lot of challenges - mainly because we are living overseas away from immediate family, which means we can’t go down a common arrangement in Malaysia/Singapore to enlist the help of doting grandparents to look after baby while we were at work.
Nevertheless, both hubs and I ideally wanted to avoid sending Nathan to childcare too early, leaving those precious ‘first time’ moments to be witnessed by strangers.
Thankfully my company has allowed me to return to work on a part-time/work-from-home basis. So I’m able to clock in most of my work hours at home and pop into the office for a few hours once a week for team meetings and discussions. So I suppose I am now a WAHM!
So weeks before commencing the new routine of juggling work and baby, I started building up my supply of expressed milk. We struggled at first with getting Nathan to accept the bottle but after much persistence, bottle-feeding is now a breeze.
So once a week on my go-into-office-day, the routine will go…
7.00am - Wake up, nurse Nathan
7.15am - I get ready for work, while hubs handles the remaining routine of changing his diaper, play-pen time, tummy-time etc.
7.45am - Have a quick breakfast
8.00am - Check that I have everything I need: laptop, work bag, wallet…
…and also breast pump, pump accessories, milk storage bottle, cooler bag, ice pack (haha… I can I see your eyes widening)
8.15am - Load Nathan into car seat, then hubby and son send me to train station
8.45am - Arrive at office
9.00am - 12.00pm - Work: check emails, do paperwork, attend team meetings etc.
12.00pm - Go to empty meeting room to express milk
12:15pm - Say goodbye to colleagues and head off to catch train home
1.00pm - Arrive home, say hello to Nathan and tell him how much I miss him, then nurse him
That’s my side of the story. After I leave, supposedly hubs puts Nathan down for his nap, then feed him at his next wake time and put him down again for his next nap, and then I arrive home in time for his next feed. Now that is supposedly what happens. What ACTUALLY happens is a different story for another time.
Most times, things go relatively smoothly. However yesterday I was caught unaware during the pumping session at the office when for some strange reason my milk just refused to flow out. My breasts were painfully engorged and I knew I would not be able to make it home comfortably at all in that state.
So I had to, get this, milk myself with my own hands! I had read about this technique somewhere but never done it before. Some people say that using your hands is more effective than a pump for expressing milk. I actually found it rather true… the only thing is that my hands got tired and needed a break after every few squeezes. But I think if my hands had more stamina, I would have certainly got on a lot faster.
So lesson for all breastfeeding mothers out there… learn how to hand-express your milk! You’ll never know what unexpected situations you might encounter where you will find it handy.
And for the non-parents out there, if this post has just been a leetle too much information, thank you for taking the time to scroll down this far. You shall have your reward!
Here is an obligatory picture of Nathan to make up all that! ^_^
With another couple of sewing requests/expressions of interest, I’ve had the chance to indulge in more fabric eye candy!
After a bit of fun and indulgence it was time to move on to more serious matters. A friend over in Queensland wanted a set like this one too. It was a bit trickier to pin down the style and theme she desired. Finally after some probing, we uncovered other words like “blue”, “dark tones”, “conservative” and “doesn't dirty easily”.
So after some contemplation, I finally selected a combo of a dark blue drill/denim type texture fabric and a cotton print in a pretty blue pattern. With this combo, she can have the choice to either wear the sling with the denim texture facing out if she wants to go “conservative”, or she can also opt for the cotton print side if she’s feeling a bit more “adventurous”!
With all this sewing, part of me was itching to sew another sling for myself. But I think I might end up in the danger zone of accumulating unnecessary clutter (I already have four baby slings/carriers lying around the house). For now I think I’m better off getting the satisfaction of making them for other people and seeing them being worn.
In the meantime, I decided to ‘scratch’ the itch by trying out a new style of wearing baby - the side sitting position, which is ideal now that his neck and head balance have developed a lot more.
OK, it’s getting super late now. I’m off to bed. Hopefully baby sleeps longer through the night this time. Here’s hoping!
So with all the sewing I’ve been doing, I’m left with lots of sraps and bits of fabric lying around. They can’t be used to make anything substantial, but they're good for playing around with some scrappy sewing.
A current past time I’m enjoying at present is hand sewing. I find it quite a relaxing activity to do while hanging out with hubby in front of the TV in the evenings after we (finally) get Nathan down for the night.
I’ve been following this pattern to make this cute little birdie…
It’s now being put to good use as a pincushion.
I thought it so cute I decided to make another. This time using the scraps from the black and white pouch fabric - looks like a little magpie doesn’t it?
It goes very well with the pouch sling I made for my friend. I’m sure she will give it a good home - whether in the sewing box or in the toy chest or just sitting around somewhere looking pretty.
Another scrappy item I made was this little peg holder. Our old plasticky peg holder has long since dried up and cracked from exposure in the sun. So hopefully this fabric-based one will stand the test of time and sun better.
And I've just started yet another bird. At this rate, soon I'll have a whole flock of them!
