Menu Plan Monday

Monday & Tuesday - Fajitas
Wednesday & Thursday - Mexican Chicken Tortilla Soup (by popular demand from Gareth, even though it's a Winter recipe, and it's far too hot to be eating spicy soup at this time of year)
Friday - BBQ steak, sausages, onions, mushrooms and potato salad.
Saturday - BBQ fish, prawns, and green salad.
Sunday - hopefully either Gareth's or my parents (who are both staying with us this weekend) will be able to babysit Jambin so that Gareth and I can go out to dinner to celebrate our 6th wedding anniversary.

I'm trying to use up some ingredients in my cupboard, and I'm still feeling that first trimester tiredness, so I'm doubling up on meals to cut down on night-time cooking. I gave my fridge a really good clean-out this afternoon. It was starting to look a little bit scary (and furry!!). I'm grocery shopping this afternoon, so it will be nice to arrive home and be able to put the cold things in the fridge without playing Food Tetris to fit everything in, and trying to avoid aforementioned furry things.

There's only one!

Only one baby in there, looking very healthy and heart beating strongly. My estimated due date is 6th May 2009. I'm relieved it's not twins. Our car isn't big enough for 3 carseats, our house isn't big enough for 3 small children, and I'm pretty sure I don't have the calm and ever-patient temperament to be a mum of twins. There was always a chance when we had 2 embryos transferred with the IVF cycle, but it's worked out for the best. We still have 7 embryos frozen, which we will use when we're ready to start thinking about #3.

So one it is. 17mm long. Measuring 8weeks 2 days, which is 2-3 days ahead. I'm not sure how accurate the dating is at this age, but I'm hoping I'm not going to have another monster baby like Jambin was - 4860g, or 10lbs 11 and a half oz. I'm trying for a VBAC (vaginal birth after caesarean), and I would prefer not to be squeezing out an 11-pounder.

Announcing ....

Two new additions to our family.

1. Our Deck.
Only partially finished in the picture below, but currently is fully surrounded by handrails that will prevent small children dropping off the precipice. It still needs a roof, which should be going on sometime over the next few weeks.

2. I'm 8 weeks pregnant with baby #2!!
Looks like our IVF cycle this time around worked. I got the positive blood test around 4 weeks ago, and my beta HCG was 271, which my fertility specialist's office described as "strongly positive". It was definitely much higher than my blood test with Jambin, at around the same timeframe. I have my first obstetrician appointment tomorrow - hopefully he'll do a scan so that we can confirm there's only one baby growing in there.

UFO Update #4 / Flower Garden Knee Quilt

It's finished! And I'm so, so happy with it. The pattern was from a Patchwork & Quilting magazine from about 4 years ago. The quilt I started at Christmas-time nearly 3 years ago. The patchwork squares are machine-pieced; the flowers squares are hand-appliqued; the actual quilting is done by hand also.

When I started it, I thought it was a bed-sized quilt and didn't realise it was going to be so small. But it's perfect. Just perfect.

UFO List:
1. Cloth bum wipes
2. Cloth nappies - Cuddlebuns
3. Cloth mama pads
4. Flower garden knee quilt
5. English patchwork knee quilt
6. Japanese fabric quilt
7. Wheat harvesting cross-stitch
8. Watering can of flowers cross-stitch
9. Knitted longies - green
10. Knitted longies - red
11. Boxer shorts for Gareth
12. Ankle length pink skirt
13. Curtains for Jambin's playroom
14. Curtains for my outdoor office
15. Bibs

Vocabulary of a 16-month old

In order of frequency, from most uttered to least:

Dog

Hot

Cold

Poo

More

Gone

He also started to shake his head 'no' a week ago, and today nodded 'yes' for the first time.

So far, neither Gareth nor I have won the "is he going to say Mama or Dada first?" race!

Menu Plan Monday

Monday - Chilli con Carne

Tuesday - Sweet and sour chicken stir-fry with snow peas and pineapple

Wednesday - Chicken with green peppercorns

Thursday - Leftovers from Tuesday and Wednesday nights

Friday - Beef and mushroom ragout (slow cooker) with cauliflower bake

Saturday - Chicken curry (slow cooker) with rice and pappadums

Sunday - Toasted sandwiches

Homemaking Is An Art

After my last post, a little bit of inspiration that I found on someone else's blog:

"Homemaking is an art, and you have the privilege of expressing and developing all your talents there in a little place called home. You get to build...beautify... organize...create...fuss...express yourself. You get to read and study and grow and master nutrition, finances, horticulture, design, wardrobe, etc. And you also get to shape your children, to give their precious lives a bent toward God. To nurture their souls with the good things of God. To pass on the truth about Jesus to one more generation. And to do so means you've got to be dedicated, organized, and a woman of purpose. And you've got to have the spunk and energy to follow through on all the dedication, organization, and purpose that answering God's high calling to homemaking requires."

--Elizabeth George, A Woman's High Calling