And yet another month has gone by without a post! Sorry to anyone interested in my world! Above is a photo of Mia helping her Daddy get some squid ready for tea, it was delicious too by the way! Mia still loves helping in the kitchen, my next LO that I have planned is about her in the kitchen! I'm back into scrapping but more about that later!

Sweet sisters, love this pic!!

On Thursday 27th of Aug I held a Heartkids Cuppa for a Cause morning tea at my house. Thank goodness Mum and Dad were here and for my fab friends Tatum and Danni for all of their help, it was so appreciated and we raised about $580 on the day and then with Lucy's generous donation and a donation from my cousin in Adelaide we ended up with just under $700. I was so pleased... I made a poster of Lexi's journey in life, with photos and a brief description of each pic. I had it laminated so will keep it always! I also had photos of Lexi and her heartkid boyfriend George in frames on the table for people to see! I met a few new faces, and really hope that everyone liked thier coffee, cakes, and other yummo delicacies! I felt emotional all morning, not sure why, I just was!! I wrote a piece for one of the local papers, although they edited it to shreds, I am still grateful they put it in for me... I am the Heartkids S.A. contact for here, so wanted to raise awareness, if God Forbid anyone find themselves in our situation they hopefully may remember me and I can be of some support to them, as Kate was to me... Without her to vent to I really don't know how I would have gotten through. I would have but she was a HUGE crutch for me... Love you always Kate, always a special person to me!

Tatum (L), Justine and I!

Tired Mumma and Bubba after it was over!

It was also Mia's 5ht birthday on the 28th of August, my photos are a bit muddled up here, but here is Lexi and her Daddy having a little relax time in the afternoon of Mia's party which was on the 29th!

Silly Mumma posing on Mia's birthday, trying to encourage her to pose for my Dad in her beautiful new dress that a friend of our family made especially for her, but she wouldn't come to the party on that one, although don't mind this pic of me!! LOL!!

Mia and her Birthday present stash, she was totally spoilt! By the time there are presents from Granparents, Aunties and Uncles, and Great Aunties and friends of the family aswell! And yet, tdoay she is still bored. I can't wait for school to start, she won't be bored once she starts school, or maybe she will!

Mia in the beautiful dress custom made for her by a friend of the family! This was the best of the photos, she was NOT keen for photos, and was being silly for her Poppy for some reason!

Mia had a party with 4 other little girlies, but I won't put any of thier photos up, don't think I should really! But they had a ball, here is Mia at the food table. The girls were very excited about the party food and basically sat down straight away for a big feast!!
And they put it away too!! LOL!!!!!

My Dad, (Poppy) took this photo of Mia and I've put it up as I just love it!!

And finally, I have been getting back into scrapping again, which I'm happy about. I had no motivation at all, but am feeling really inspired after doing Tatum's Workshop last Saturday, I had never done a class/workshop before, and for me, I have a lot to learn about new things, and ways to use things so it was a real treat! This is a LO I finished last night, and I really don't mind it!

A few weeks ago on a Friday night I went to Tatum's for a little scrap session, it has been a long time since we had gotten together to scrap, and I started this one. Mainly I talked and drank wine, but it was great to watch Tatum in action, loved it! And the conversation too!! I think I finished this one about 2 weeks after I started!!

This was the 2nd LO in the workshop, it was great to try different things, like doodling which I NEVER have done and to see how you put things altogether!
I love the finished result!

And because I am a bit back to front with things the 'you are our little star' was the first LO we started, and I love how it turned out too! Again, it made me think about where things can go and to maybe step outside my little square of how I scrap!

And then, this one I did the other night. I used the 3D Kindyglitz that we got in out kits at Tatum's and the line around the cloud was not meant to be smudged AT ALL, but me being me, it was impossible to not smudge it, so once I had, I went smudging all around the clouds! FUN!

Well, I hope this hasn't been too long winded for you if you happen to visit!!! Now that I'm all inspired about scrapping again and feel like hitting the dining table every night with my scrap stash, there might be more to see!!!
xxxx

!

So I've been AWOL from my blog for a while, I've still been checking out cyber land but haven't been joining in... I want to get back into CCG and the challenges on Embellished! I need a weekly diary to keep up with whats happening and when it's happening... The weeks just are flying by for me! I have scrapped a pitiful amount of LO's this year (12, I just counted) and I can't believe it! I have the will but most nights by the time I get the kids settled I just want to go to bed. I'm not much of a night owl so that doesn't help either! Anyway, I've scrapped three lately, the above one is of my little nephew Ethan, he is 13 days younger than Lexi and just such a little cutie!

This LO called Such Sweet Sisters is a scraplift of Celeste Vermeend's LO, Mama's Little Model which was in SC Vol11 No6, page78. I just loved her LO and I wanted to have a range of photos from a little photo session I had with the girls last week. I had a brainwave last week that I would just start scraplifting LO's that I like, but have since realised that while I might look to other people's work for inspiration, I don't think it's the way I want to go. I am a simple scrapper and I just have to accept that. I have no aspirations to be published, not at all interested in that, but I DO want to have great albums for my girls. I think too much about it all, just have to sit and scrap at night and get into it! I do like the way this one turned out though...

This LO was a quick one I did last night, I had printed out this big photo and wanted something to convey how I feel about these two. I am always striving as a Mum and just want to be the best for them that I can be. I'm not perfect and know I'm never going to be... but I love these two little cherubs so much!!

And now for some random photos of our lives! Above is Lexi and her boyfriend George, LOL!! He was born on the same day as Lexi and had the same heart conditions as her which is pretty rare, so we've been told. They had thier operations a day apart and went through recovery together in Melbourne and shared a room back in Adelaide, where we all really got quite close. They family live in W.A. but his Aunty lives here in the same town as us so we got to see them a few weeks back. It's so special to have this family in our lives, we share a bond now that can't be explained. I just love his Mum, we keep in contact every few weeks, and can relate to each other on so many levels... We couldn't wait to get them together for a photo shoot! We took some of them together on thier discharge day and boy, they have changed alot since then. George is my special little boy!!! And always will be. Maybe our next trip away we will have to go to W.A. to see them!!

Mia last Sunday at the playground near our house. (which means it has taken me a week to get back to finish this post) Her hair is a tangled mess, it took me sooooo long to comb out after she had her shower... A few tears from her having it all combed out. I was a slacko on the weekend and hardly combed it besides the fact she needs a trim pretty badly.

Miss Lexi Loo last Sunday aswell, she is plumping right up now since starting on solids, which she loves... she loves Mummas home made vegies and concoctions out of the Annabel Karmel books that I have inherited/bought. I love the feeling of feeding her what I've made, and knowing what I have put in there. She rarely turns food down, eating 3 meals a day plus a yoghurt if she is seeming to want more. Mia is my problem child, she won't eat a proper breakfast, doesn't help that she won't drink milk, I have taken to telling her that our bodies are like cars, we have to feed our bodies with the right fuel to help us grow well. And that if she wants to be healthy she needs to put healthy food in to make her body work well. Anyway..... she is growing but I can tell sometimes by the way she behaves that she needs some vitals in her....

THe girlies and I last Sunday too, not loving the angle of my nose, but it was the best of a bad bunch! I made it B&W to hopefully make me look abit better!! LOL!!

Did you ever have paper dolls as a child, the next door neighbours little girl had some so that was all Mia could talk about! $4.95 for a little book at the newsagent with two dolls and a heap of clothes. It kept her amused for days, I think she got her moneys worth!

These biscuits we made out of the old Green and Gold cookbook, I have my Mum's that her precious Aunty gave to her in 1962. We used the Egg Biscuit recipe, and they were yum! We decorated with egg white icing so it would set hard, Mia still loves her cooking with her Mumma, this week we made sausage rolls, they were yummo and she gets to help me which she loves. And she actually eats them. I put heaps of veg in as it makes me think that she is getting some kind of nutrients!

Lexi in a cute little hat that my sweet Aunty made for her. I just love it!!! She has also crochered a flower that matches. My cousin had a little girl 6 weeks before us, and I saw her in a ultra cute hat in some photos and loved it so Aunty made us one! Special!


Well, I am about to lie down on my couch and have a veg and read some old issues of Creating Keepsakes. Brenton is off to a bucks show tonight so am cooking myself a BIG FAT chicken stirfry, going to watch THE BEST on the cooking channel and then scrap once my little chickens are in snoozy land! Lexi slept from 8 last night until 6.30 this morning, I didn't know myself this morning, not woken in the night! Hope it's a sign of things to come, but I seriously doubt it!

Thanks for visiting if you do!!

Well, we have been in Darwin, the girls and I. Brenton went to Cairns at the same time for a Wedding which I knew would be a raucous reunion for him and all of his mates. So off we went to Darwin, 3 months since we booked the tickets and I can't believe it has come and gone. My friend who lives there is like a sister to me so we went and stayed with her and her family. It was a lovely break from my reality. We went out to the markets, (Parap, Palmerston and Mindil Beach) and didn't really do much else. We did go to another friend from schools' place at Humpty Doo, which was fabulous. We had a BBQ and Mia went swimming in thier pool and it was just lovely to catch up with the people who I am close with and have been close with when I was younger!
While we were there, Territory Day was celebrated, which means FIREWORKS!! I was abit excited, I love them and was hoping to get some good photos. Lexi wasn't too fussed by them but Mia was so she stayed inside with the tele on VERY LOUD! We had the fireworks in the above photo x 2 plus also about half again! It was great fun! Fireworks were going off all over the place. We just let them off in the street where my friend lives, it is a pity that some people don't do the right thing... it's the same with so many things, people will always be divided over these things.

I was determined to get a photo of Mia on Mindil Beach with the sunset, it was packed out and the kids were almost over being there... But I took a fair few which I really like! And we left before the sun went down, would have like a few photos of the sun half down, but I had Lexi strapped to me, and we were warm and Mia was tired! But I am glad that we got these sunset photos as the sun sets over land in these parts...

here are my entries for a CJ journal I'm involved in, this one is about your pregnancy and birth experiences. I just have't been around much to scrap and I am behind with this one, but have really enjoyed the process so far. I have my journalling to do on the births of the girls.. but that won't take me long to do.


Brenton (DH) is in hospital for the second night now, he came home from work in pain Friday lunchtime and could hardly walk. At first the Dr thought he had gout and gave him some tablets to take on Friday, but by Sat lunch time it was a lot worse, I sort of knew that he would be admitted to hospital, as his ankle had blown right up and was sooo red. I was looking for a red line up his leg but thankfully it was just in the one place. So now he is on IV fluids and two lots of IV anti-biotics every few hours. I hope he has improved tommorow, I really want him home. It was a novelty last night, but now just want him better and home. Let's see what tommorow brings.

I discovered a little tooth popping through in Lexi's bottom gum this morning, I knew that they were on thier way as her gum definition had changed and she has been a bit unsettled. Not crying or anything, but not sleeping much during the day in the last few days, and also waking up for a comfort drink a half hour after she had gome down for the night and also up twice last night for drinks... Anyway, she is coping very well with it and if that is all that she has to put up with, well I'm happy. My little bubba is growing up and it makes me sad. I don't want her to NOT grow up, but it happens so quickly. She is also being offered 3 solid meals a day, she doesn't always want them, she seems to prefer really pureed baby food, nothing with any texture at all... but the good thing is that I weighed her at the hospital while I was there with Brenton and she has put on over 300g in 2 weeks.. Which she hasn't done for a long time. So that is a good thing for her.

Mia is a button pusher at the moment, she is testing me. I am not patient enough with her and I know it. I have been reading some books so that I can learn how to handle myself better with her but sometimes I also think her ears are painted on. I sometimes wonder who is worse though, her or me!! I'm a parenting work in progress... ever evolving.
But Mia is a beautiful little girl, she loves me to lay down with her at night before she goes to sleep and have talks. And they are really special, and I find out all sorts of things that go on in her head that I wouldn't find out in the conversations of everyday. And it is a special time for us. I am making more of an effort to do this with her more often, days fly past but I think if we have a special connecting time it will be good for us. Mia must love me as she told me tonight that I was her favourite, I said that I know she loves us both the same...
She loves to draw, scrapbook, colour in, play with her barbies (and the barbies have some serious conversations let me tell you) paint, ride her bike around the backyard, watch movies, listen to music and play her DS. She is bored easily and sometimes gets in a mood where she wants me to produce 'something new to play with' magically... I love her to death...

We ordered some furtniture from IKEA during the week, and I can't wait to get it.. Bit excited about that one, been in the pipeline for so long, am so pleased that we are finally getting our tele cabinet thingy and the expedit to store scrapbooking stash in... Yippee... Although if you have any tips on sorting and storing your stash, please share.



Well, that's enough rambling I think, don't you!
xxx

My little Lexi Lou...
We had a cardiology checkup for Lexi on the 12th of June, unbelievable but it had been 3 months since her last visit.
It was an uneventful visit, she is on the small side, but we know that.
She has been going so well.
And she still will, but after her echo, we were told that she has a narrowing in her artery, and that more surgery may be on the cards in a year or two. I felt my heart drop.
Had our baby not been through enough?
So, an appointment in October will tell us if it has gotten any worse. I am worried of course. I just CAN NOT think about the prospect of more surgery for her so for now I'm not going to even think about it. So, we will keep an eye on her for fatigue which is out of character and enjoy our little girl. I need to do some more research into it all, and contact Terry (cardiologist) for info in layman's terms....

No scrapping, have so much going on at the moment, I want to but just can't get to it.
I have CJ's to do so that will be all I'll be doing or think I can manage ATM.

Thanks for visiting....
x

My girlies and I the Friday before last, I got Brenton to take this photo just before he went out to his friends house. I love getting in my PJ's early sometimes. Mia had been snotty and coughing for a few days and Lexi had just started with her cold, I had a shocking night with her this night. The poor little thing just could not settle, she was struggling that's for sure. On the Saturday I went right out and bought her a little heater for her room and a vaporiser. I didn't think that it could possibly make much difference but the steam in the air really does work when they are snuffly. I asked Brenton to zoom in on us, but he struggles sometimes with the camera and instructions!! lol!

Little Lou Lou asleep in here rocker in her room, she looked so cute I had to take a photo or five of her and of course woke her up! It was worth it!

Mia having a random play in her room. She makes such a mess in there, you would swear there were 5 kids in there with her! At least she is getting better at cleaning up, as long as she has help mind you! Lucy, the sore on her head is from Kindy, she stood up under a tree and scratched her forehead which in itself wasn't so bad, but then she has picked it quite a few times and made a big mess of it. She did the same thing last year. It drives me crazy, but she says she can't stop it and she likes it!!!!! Far Out!! Anyway, it has just about gone again now, so I'm hoping she doesn't make it shocking again!

Mia and I have been talking about making a fairy garden for ages now, so finally we did it during the week. We hunted and gathered things around the place, Christmas Decoration for the circle, a fairy bubble bath top, old starfish big and small, some sequins and some old flower scrapbooking embellishments. Mia keeps saying the fairies haven't visited but I tell her we would never know if they have... I tell her they might come and dance around and leave again!

Lucy sent us some beautiful little gifts this week, here is Lexi in her bib, I LOVE IT!! Not long after this Lexi had pureed vegies all over it and her!! She is starting solids, it's not my favourite thing to do. I can't wait until she gets the hang of it! She seems to think her food is good for blowing bubbles with, so it gets sprayed everywhere!! So there ends up dots of food from her toes up to her arms!!

I scrapped yesterday afternoon/last night, which was good. The above LO is a pic from a previous post, it is nothing like I thought it would look like and I made a big mistake that I needed to cover up, hence the big sticker in the top right corner, but you get that! Mia loved it so that's good enough for me!

This LO is for CCG #124, I have been abit slack with the scrapping. Sick kids, sick me, and now I am going away on Thursday for 8 days then home for 8 days then to Darwin with my girls for 7 nights. So, I won't have alot of time for scrapping by the time I pack and unpack and then pack again.... My enthusiasm waxes and wanes for scrapping. I am feeling enthused at the moment, the new Embellished site is going and it's fab, great challenges, great chickies over there. I just wish my mojo was present at all times. The one of Lexi just isn't fabulous, but again, I'm sure she will love it when she gets old enough to read!!! I need a pen that writes on photos.....

Hope all is well out there!!!
xx

Little Miss Lexi with her cute little outfit on! She looks like some kind of pink giraffe with it on. I took Lexi to Mia's kindy drop off with it on and we got a fair few comments on how cute she is, which is nice, you like people to think your baby is cute!! LOL!!

The week before last we had our VERY ugly tiles ripped up and replaced with floating floors. It was a pricey experience BUT with Lexi going to be crawling in a few months, I didn't want her to be picking up bits of grout that were cracking up and also tiny bits of tiles too. They were very hard to keep clean as they just didn't look clean even when you had just mopped them. I was moaning about them no end, as my friends can tell you.

The hallway after having the tiles 'cracked' off the floor. I was very excited by this sight!

And after, before we had our furniture back in. I still can't believe that we have this floor now! It's funny though, that people can't wait to tell you bad things about them, that they are hard to keep clean etc,etc... but the truth is, the quote to replace the floors with tiles again was $4000 more... And really I am very happy with the look of the floors...

I was reading the latest CK and they had a pretty comprehensive article about Mums, and a few different LO's so I got inspired to take some photos of myself and the girlies.... I will have to try again as Mia wasn't very co-operative, but we got a couple that I liked. I am thinking though that I need a trip to Channel 7's TEN YEARS YOUNGER IN TEN DAYS!! I have the worst frown lines in between my eyes, maybe as I frown too much... A little botox there would sort things out, and one of those eyelifts would be good too...but I've always had saggy eyelids... I'd never actually do it though, but it's funny to think about! I really like that show, it's amazing what they do to the couples.. I am really happy with the overall package of me, a little motivation wouldn't go astray, but I am a bit lazy, lol!!

Of course a photo can't capture it, but Lexi was doing that sucking thing that babies do in thier sleep in this photo, I love it!! Her hair is as wild as ever, and only getting longer... But no haircut for her, not yet anyway!

We have a vegie patch going at the moment, I am really enjoying watching the seedling pop up out of dirt, and then transplanting them to the patch! This is a tiny baby zucchini growing, we have quite a few, and I love zucchini. I'm looking forward to stuffed zucchini flowers... I have a couple of friends lined up to try them too. It's something I've always wanted to make!

This a broad bean plant seen through the top of the plastic 2ltr drink bottles I have over them to protect them until they get a bit bigger. It worked really well, we just cut the bottoms off and they serve as a mini glasshouse for the baby plants. We are currently growing cucumbers, zucchinis, peas, broadbeans, carrots, corn, beetroot, a giant pumpkin (will keep you posted on that one, the pumpkins should be massive) and we also have a few herbs, parsley, basil, coriander and dill. Oh and a few sunflowers too... Keeps me occupied and it's a fun thing to do. It's lovely to be able to say to Mia, 'come and have a look at how much this has grown' or 'have a look at this zucchini flower!'

Only one LO to show, haven't scrapped much at all in the last 2 weeks, which gets to me, but having the floors done, we decided to move my scrap area, as it was right by the flont door and quite a messy entrance to our house. I just need to get re-organised with all of my stash and it looks like I'll be back scrapping at the kitchen table which I don't love but oh well. I have a few CJ's here to do and I really enjoy doing the CCG challenges too, so had better sort out that stash soon! Our spare room is a very scary mess at the moment, I have all kinds of things in there that need to be sorted out. I'll get there.

Mia has woken up with a shocking cough and a horrible nose, and I'm going to keep her home from Kindy today, which she won't like, but I don't really want her to breathe on other kids, and she needs to rest. I knew that she would get sick though, as she spent alot of time on Saturday with one of her friends who had been ill and had a nose only a mother should wipe!! But you can't protect them from colds so you just let it run it's course!!

Lexi has been sleeping a little better, except of course for last night, she was awake again for quite a while at about 2 am til about 4am... It's allright though, she is just a baby and it won't last forever... (I HOPE)

Hope to be back early next week with some scrapping to show!!
xx

My entry in Renae's CJ, for the Life Experiences swap on the forum. I think all of my entries are more than likely going to be about Lexi's journey, it has come back and hit me with some force this past few weeks. I think that I haven't really de-briefed to anyone. I talk about it of course, but really really had a good let out, no, I haven't. And coupled with Lexi being so so unsettled, it made it all seem so much more full-on I guess. I am fine, it just all seemed to be getting on top of me for a bit there, but am happy to say I am feeling alot better now... more about that later in the post...

My LO for CCG #121, I missed last weeks challenge which I was shirty about but it just did not happen... I am really enjoying the colours, it is a fun thing to do... and I have gotten some really nice feedback which has lifted me quite abit too.. Go and see for yourself if you haven't already!

Little Lou Lou on the weekend, she looks quite chubby here. We went to Pt Augusta for one night and shopped (yippee) and spent some time with my in-laws who met us there, as it's about half way for both of us! I find it hilarious that Woolies excites me as much as it does. They have so much more variety than ours, alot more choice all around and to be honest, I'm jealous!! Anyway, I got yummy flavours of my favourite yoghurt and a dip that I just wanted to get! I'll sit down and eat the lot this week!!

The playground near where we stayed, Mia loved it, and it was a really good one too. We saw some people from Lincoln there that we recognised, which was nice, I like to see familiar faces even if I have no hope of remembering thier names... Oops! I am very bad with names and birthdays....

Lexi all rugged up in Pt Augusta... She just looks so cute!!


Those of you who read my blog would know that I have been having problems settling Lexi. I was really at my wits end with it all. I felt like I had no idea what she wanted and it was becoming a hit and miss affair. Sometimes she would fall asleep at the boob, sometimes not, sometimes she would fall asleep while being rocked, sometimes not... all the while she was VERY upset. I felt like I just did not know what was happening with her.... and that I did not know her at all! Also she was waking for up to 2 and a half hours in the middle of the night. I am taking my girls for a holiday to Darwin in 7 weeks and was wondering how the hell I would cope with her, and how our friends would cope with this baby who screamed until she finally gave in!
On Friday I went to Big W in Pt Augusta and bought Tizzie Hall's book, Save Our Sleep, and thoroughly read it last night after she finally gave in and went to sleep. Well today, things were put into practice and I feel like we are finally on the right track. AMAZING! The first sleep it didn't really work, but I went back over a few things in the book and the next sleep, I put her to bed, wrapped up and lay a wrap next to her face so she could feel it and rub her face against it if she liked... And it turns out she likes it, not a peep out of her at her 1 o'clock sleep and again tonight when I popped her into bed at 7pm!

7PM!!!!

She has NEVER gone to bed at that hour, and quietly, settling herself off to sleep! I am one happy Mumma right now, I feel as though we all might be a bit happier, not least of all Lexi who must have been sick of it all too!! I had the most wonderful chat with one of my old friends in Pt Lincoln who I let it all out to and she suggested it, and I'm so glad she did.... Look out, I might be back on the scrapping bandwagon in full force if I once again have my evenings to myself!!!

Long rant, but it's as much for me to look back on too!!

Hope you had a Happy Mothers Day! Brenton was home and I'm always happier when he's around and we had a great day just hanging out as a family! I love it when we are all together.. Especially since he has just finished a stint of working 13 days straight, mostly 13 hour days by the time he got back home again. So, a day like this is treasured!!

xxx