I can’t stop staring at her. Smelling her sweet baby scent. Stroking her feather-soft hair. Snuggling with her. It’s all I want to do. I know all too well how fleeting this stage is and I am so not ready for it to pass me by. Pity the housework won’t take care of itself. Can’t complain though really, we’ve been blessed with several meals from friends and also through our fantastic Church. Having one less thing to worry about at the end of the day is quite amazing.

We also settled on a middle name for Piper yesterday. Evangeline. I love her name and think it’s just perfectly “her”.

This week has been pretty hectic. Piper turned a week old on monday (seriously, on one hand it feels like she’s already been here “forever”, and on the other… didn’t I JUST give birth?!), Jakob started high school, Lilly started kindergarten, and of course Maddy and Isaiah both went up a grade. I cannot believe this year I have a kid in high school, a kid in kindy, and a newborn. So far Lilly has taken well to school, and has come home happy each day. Jakob is still in the excited stage because he changes classes and has a timetable and whatnot. I wonder how long the excitement will last? We are lucky in that our school goes from Prep all the way to High school, so the kids are all still on the same campus and basically not too much changes from one section to the next.

It is strange only having the two at home. Piper hangs out in the sling almost all day long, but Zoe is becoming a little whirlwind of trouble! She is hilarious and cheeky and so much fun, but ohhh she makes us work too! She has already tried to carry Piper out of my bedroom, drawn on Piper’s face with black pen (lucky we busted her a few seconds after she started, and it wiped right off) and she is constantly climbing allover me to peer into the sling and lean in to give “Pipi” a kiss.

The studio still isn’t quite done, but obviously it is useable. The floors are in, and the electricity is more or less wired up (however I still can’t use it, so we’re running leads from the house down to the studio). The walls are in and so are the skirting boards and the windows have been boxed in (or whatever you call it). The walls and skirting boards need to be sanded and then painted, and then I think it’s done. I’m not having Matt start on those until I feel like Piper is “over” having me take newborn photographs. The last thing I want is dust and paint everywhere while I’m trying to shoot

Little Piper looks like such a chubbalub in this shot! She’s actually really tiny, but I think this “pose” brings out all of her rolls and puffs her cheeks, making her look a lot chunkier than she actually is.

xox Amanda

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Tags: 1 week, newborn, piper

I’ve been trying to think of a way to start this blog post, but can’t think of anything cool. Sooo.. Piper is here. How’s that?

Fair warning, below follows the “birth story” so if that’s a bit TMI for you, feel free to scroll down to get to the photo instead.

Early Sunday evening I was feeling a bit “off” and crampy, but nothing major. My parents had just arrived from Sydney to stay for the week, and I casually mentioned to Matt and my Mum that “something” might happen but that I was pretty sure it wouldn’t. By later that night I wasn’t feeling anything anymore, and so went to bed as usual. I think I fell asleep pretty quickly too! Around 3am I woke up feeling a bit of pain in my back (all of my babies have been posterior) but again I was pretty sure it was nothing. Regardless I couldn’t sleep (seriously, I was hoping it was something, but at the same time, telling myself it wasn’t so I didn’t get my own hopes up?! weird much…haha) so I woke Matt up to tell him that I was going out to make some tea and whatever. Honestly, these pains were there, kind of crampy “grabby” in my back and lower stomach but not actually really painful, but I figured it couldn’t hurt to time them (had a free app on my phone for just such an occasion!) because of past experience. I started timing them while I made myself some tea (really strong infusion of red raspberry leaf), chucked on a load of laundry, did the dishes, think I might have checked email!! and then sat down to watch tv since I was too hyped up to sleep. The contraction timer was telling me they were coming about 4 mins apart and for about 40 seconds long but I didn’t really “feel” like they were strong enough. Either way, I was going to stay at home for longer but I suddenly felt a gush – I was sure my water had broken, but nope, bright red blood. Now this freaked me out! In any of my labors, I have never ever experienced bright red blood before. I woke Matt up by turning the lights all on, yelling at him while shaking him (I maybe could have been more gentle with the wake up, but I was panicking) and after a quick call to the hospital, and a quick knock on the door to wake my Mum up to come upstairs to listen for Zoe (oh, the others were all having a sleep over at my sister in laws), off we raced.
The whole way there (10 min trip) I was praying my heart out that nothing was wrong with the baby. I realised I hadn’t actually felt her move since I’d gone to bed at around 11.30 and now all this bright red blood was scaring me half to death. The contractions were still consistent (and about 3 – 4 mins apart but getting gradually stronger and “longer” in duration) but still very manageable. That short trip felt like the longest trip of my life. When we got there, the phone to be let into the labor ward wasn’t working!! and we couldn’t get the attention of anyone inside. Eventually someone picked up the phone (via our mobile, thank goodness for technology) and let us in. I got checked into the room at top speed, hooked up to a monitor and bub’s heartbeat was beautiful and strong. At this point I posted a couple of shots to instagram I was already 5cm dilated but the pain was still pretty light. After maybe 10 mins I guess, they started getting worse but I handled things with controlled breathing for awhile longer. Eventually I turned to my favourite, gas+air. Apparently I am HILARIOUS on gas. But then again, that might just be that I THINK I’m hilarious… either way is good by me. At one point I was in the middle of a contraction but laughing sooo hard at the same time that the monitor couldn’t track baby’s heartbeat. To speed things along, I’ll jump to when I suddenly couldn’t handle it anymore, and asked why they couldn’t just give me a caesarian now please? I am pretty sure I made a really compelling argument (something like I didn’t want to remember pushing, so they might as well???) and although I knew I didn’t actually want one, what I DID want was for someone to tell me how reasonable a suggestion that was! LOL. Pretty sure that was the transition phase Pushing… ohhh the part I hate the most. Wouldn’t give up my gas, no no no. I didn’t have to push for too long, I remember the midwife telling me “there’s her head!” and I was SURE that meant she’d crowned and was “right there” if you know what I mean. And then a few moments later she said “She’s crowning, stop stop stop” and I thought WHAT! you told me that had already happened! I was so cranky about that (in my head) but when she’d said it, it did give me that extra “drive” and focus to keep on with the pushing. Those midwives really know what they’re doing. She was still in the bag of waters! I remember vaguely being aware of the midwives discussing whether they’d noticed my waters breaking or not, and I *think* I may have grunted that they didn’t. Anyway, sooo after I think another couple of pushes out she popped (not literally, I wish) and up her squirmy little body came. All I could do was stare at her and say “hi hi hi” about a million times and stroke her beautiful (but goop covered) hair. She went to the breast immediately, before Matt had even cut the cord, and there she stayed for probably an hour. And that’s about it. All in all, I was in labor from the first little barely-there contraction, to when she was born at 7.43am, for around 4 hours. Not my shortest (Lilly was born in under an hour) but certainly not the longest (I was in labor with Jakob for about 2 days…yikes).
After a shower (for me) we were transferred up to the ward, where I rested with Piper while waiting to be allowed to go home. After a baby check for Piper and the midwives checking me over (again) we got the OK and left the hospital at around 2pm. Would have been earlier but I had to wait for Matt to get back with the baby seat in the car! I was only 37 weeks (although again, past experience meant I knew she could come at any time) so he hadn’t installed it yet and had to go home to do it!
Although I remember saying right after she was born, and I could hear the woman in the room next to me making all kinds of noises (I think this was the only birth that when I was pushing I was very quiet) that I was glad I NEVER had to do that again! I feel kind of sad that Piper may well be our “last”. Birth is exhausting and messy and painful (and messy!) but after a couple of days, I can look back on the experience again with a certain fondness. Of course, that might just be that I’m still on a high and also looking at Piper’s beautiful face and smelling her sweet newborn smell could be addling my brain. I guess we’ll never know

The details:
Piper (no middle name yet) born Jan 23, 2012 @ 7.43am.
Weight: 3.030 kilos (or 6.7lbs) and 47cm long.

xox Amanda

19 Comments | Permalink

Tags: baby, birth, newborn, newborn baby, newborn photographer, piper

We have settled on a name for Mr Fluffy (the english angora bunny I posted in the previous… er… post). Some of the names in the short-list included Hagrid, Hoggle and Fizzgig. In the end, Wicket won out (doesn’t he look just like a little Ewok?). Here are some of the photos I’ve taken in the 3 days he’s been here.

I think he looks like a grumpy old man in this one, haha.

He really does have eyes though!

Poor Lilly was SO so sick today, but she just had to have a snuggle! She told me he made her feel better. Poor Lil has had a fever all day

I plan on spinning his fur into yarn as he grows I’ve never done it before, haha, but I am going to learn! I remember saying that about knitting a few years ago…(and now look at me)

xox Amanda

3 Comments | Permalink

Tags: adorable pets, bunnies, cute, cute bunny, EA bunnies, english angora rabbit

Just a sneak peek because the kids are still awake, we have my brother here visiting, and I am so tired I could fall asleep while I type. Hopefully I’ll be back with more later tonight. Or tomorrow. Or whenever

(my new baby english angora rabbit, and my 35 week tummy obscuring the view of my very swollen feet).

xox Amanda

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Tags: 35 weeks, bunnies, english angora

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas! We certainly did. It was hectic and crazy-busy in the morning, and all of the previous night’s careful wrapping was gone in 60 seconds. Well, truthfully not quite, but it sure felt like that! This year I decided not to even bother with my “big” camera, I shot with my iphone so I could just enjoy the morning with the kids.

The first image in the “set” below is our tree with our lovely presents wrapped in newspaper. We taped several sheets together for the larger gifts, added tags and called it good. When the kids just rip it off without a care about the outside anyway, this works well for us! I actually kind of liked the way it ended up looking.

By far the biggest Christmas gift “hit” was the slip n’ slide Lilly received from Nanna. We took it out the next day and the kids had a blast! Actually even Matt and I got in on the action Can you imagine a 33+ weeks pregnant woman sliding down wet plastic into a pool of sudsy water?! Yeah… I was as graceful as a swan… hahaha. Not photos of that, I can assure you! We ended up adding-on to the slip n’ slide with some black plastic Matt had laying around to make it super long and even more fun.

And here’s a couple of photos I took of the little girls on Christmas Eve. These were in my (still!!! unfinished) studio. I can’t wait until it is done…

And finally, another iphone shot of me, 34 weeks + 1 day pregnant Yes, I am counting down the days now haha. Both because I’m getting ready to be “done” with being pregnant, and also because I’m freaking out that it’s going too fast and my studio won’t be finished before she is born…. !

xox Amanda

6 Comments | Permalink

Tags: christmas2011 christmas kids

Wow. Over a month since I picked up my camera (well, for anything other than shooting photos of hats for etsy). I feel like I’ve done “okay” this pregnancy with being photo-motivated and all, I haven’t suffered too badly from lack of inspiration, although I have suffered a major lack of energy and most days, that camera just looks too heavy to bother picking up! I’ve taken more photos with my iphone for instagram than I have with my “real” camera in the last several months. My studio is about halfway done, and I’ve posted some iphone shots of that on facebook, but I couldn’t wait any longer to give it a little test. The light will be sooo much better once I have the floor and inside walls done (it’s just bare metal at the moment, and reflecting funky colour casts). The walls will be painted white. I’ve picked out the floor, but ummm can’t remember exactly what it looks like. But like I said, I couldn’t wait any longer to give it a test run. I set up my cute little backdrop and baseboard set from BadSass Backdrops, and tried to coax Zoe into playing along for a few minutes.

I’m 32 weeks today, and really starting to feel the drag not only physically, but mentally (and sometimes, yeah, emotionally) too. The good news is that baby is growing well, size is fine, etc etc. I have an ultrasound next week to check things out a bit more (praying that the placenta has moved up into acceptable range, ohhh please please please) and then it’s just a matter of trying to make it through the fog of exhaustion until my due date. I have really low blood pressure again so am feeling pretty dizzy and spacey a lot of the time which contributes to the overall tired feeling. I am craving ice again like usual! At 28 weeks I started taking RRL tablets (also as usual) and this week I started drinking it in brewed tea form in addition too.

xox Amanda

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Sooo today I went to the pet shop to pick up some things and while browsing around, came across the Fudge “Pet Head” section. I used to colour my hair with Fudge back in highschool (bright blue, anyone??) and when I saw this little tube of hot pink doggy hair colour… it was seriously calling my name. It’s not actually hair dye, or even a rinse, but rather a thick (really thick) coloured gel that you just spike into your dogs hair. Anyway, obviously I couldn’t not leave without buying it, so I came home and promptly coloured some of Koda’s fur with it. I’d probably prefer a proper dye/rinse kind of thing, since the gel is REALLY thick and goopy and hard to work in. It’s also not real neat. But it does look fun! And the tube promises it washes out without staining. I didn’t bother to try it in Wookiee’s fur, he’s so dark I don’t think it would show up at all.

Maddy’s bunny, Princess. Looks like she’s playing peek-a-boo, right? She was washing her face.

My studio is also underway! We had a guy come out and level out the ground over the weekend, and tomorrow we have the builders coming to lay down a concrete slab (that the studio will go on to). I’d take photos, but it’s disgustingly hot (and it’s still only spring…sigh) and besides there isn’t much to “see” just yet apart from a big cleared section of brown dirt.

Baby is kicking like crazy. Her favourite time to kick up a storm is right when I want to go to sleep. She seems to favour kicking me right in the bladder too, which as any pregnant mama knows is soooo not comfortable! In fact, it’s pretty darn painful. I have been saying that it feels like the time is passing soooo quickly, but today, being hot and huge already, I feel like it’s creeping by so slow! I’ll be 28 weeks on wednesday, and I’ve already got people asking when I’m due, and when I tell them not until Feb 8, their eyes practically bug out of their head and I can just see them looking me up and down. Yes. I’m huge. Thanks for noticing. Haha. But really, not haha at all.

xox Amanda

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We got a new rescue puppy today! He is a chihuahua cross… well, something and we’ve called him Wookie. The first thing I did when I got him home was give him a thorough bath, because after being in the pound and then the rescue shelter, he stunk! Now he smells delicious (thank you thank you Nootie shampoo!) and is super soft. He’s slightly too big for my lap (mainly because the baby takes up so much room already) but he’s been trying to snuggle his way in anyway. Right now he’s asleep under my desk, half curled up on my feet. Aww.

He’s wearing Koda’s little Boba Fett bandana. Koda wore it a few times rolled up heaps (so Boba’s head was “cut off”) but he’s still soooo small (at a year old, he weighs less than 2lbs) that it’s never going to fit him properly. So, it’s been passed on to Wookie. No, I’m not a big Star Wars geek (really), but Matt is and so I guess after this many years of being together it’s rubbed off on me a little. I’m also not an obsessive-crazy person about my dogs either, but getting a new dog is always exciting, right?

We did actually adopt another dog several weeks back. She was a big Kelpie-cross and was so sweet, but after a couple of weeks she started biting the little girls (not so much the big kids, and never Matt or I). It only got worse, to the stage where she was starting to bite onto Zoe’s clothes and try to drag her around. We had to take her back to the shelter, for the safety of the little ones. Matt was really upset about it (me not so much, I was relieved not to have to stress all the time about the little kids being outside unsupervised for half a second!). Anyhow, that was about a week ago, and this morning we were able to go back out to the shelter and adopt little Wookie instead.

Koda still looking ridiculous in his summer haircut. Yes, I still regret it. No, I won’t be having it done to him ever, ever, ever again. It’s starting to slowly grow back out, but not fast enough for my liking!

In studio news, we have council approval YAY!!! and the building is going to start in I think just a little over a week! If I can motivate myself enough, I’ll post photos as it’s going up and the progress of it all. I forgot to say, it will be a natural light studio. I was VERY very picky in the window and doors I chose, I wanted to max the amount of natural light I could use (while still keeping in our budget… sheesh windows are expensive!). I’m hopeful it will all be finished in time for our little sweetie to have her first photographs taken inside. I have started gathering a few things to fit it out. I purchased a backdrop set from Bad Sass and then managed to WIN (woohoo!) a voucher from them in the Prop Insanity giveaway, which meant I could order another one… so of course I had to splurge and get some baseboard stuff as well. I feel kind of like a little kid in a candy store – I don’t know where to start! There’s too much good stuff I want! Speaking of which, if you sell blanket backdrops (for things like beanbag poses) get in touch, I’d love to trade my hats with you

Oh, and speaking of hats, I need just a couple of testers for the chunky cable edge pixie bonnet (won’t be the pattern name, but best way to describe it!). My tester pulled out so I’ll need you to be able to knit it up within 1 week (it takes me a night to make one). You’ll need to use malabrigo and know how to do short-rows.

xox Amanda

5 Comments | Permalink

Tags: cute puppies, pomeranian puppy, rescue dogs, spring2011

Wow we have had a busy few weeks here! School has gone back, and with it comes schedules and homework and Matt being at work (which is a good thing, although my tired pregnant body sometimes would protest). I’ve been working on a few patterns that have been sitting in my “to do” pile, one of which I’ve released after shooting the adorable cover shots. The next one (the chunky cabled edge pixie hat) is still in the final stages of testing and I hope to have that one released in the next couple of weeks too, all things going to plan.

My lastest pattern, the Elf Knots hat. It’s for babies from newborn through to toddler+. Check out more details (and photos!) here. Of course if you don’t knit, I also have ready-to-ship elf knot hats in my store.

Ok… so she wasn’t too impressed with my skills or something

The girls modelled for me for a new shoot for Sweet Bitty Bows. I love little hairclips and bands that I can just easily put into the girls hair to dress them up a bit, especially Lilly since her hair is so wild even on the best of days! You can see more of those photos over here.

And perhaps the most exciting news of all, my home studio is finally on the way! Well… if you count still waiting for council approval to begin the building process as underway (and I do *grin*). I’m so excited! I seriously never ever thought the day would come. Naturally I’ve spent many nights (far too many, to be perfectly honest) scouring etsy and pinterest and other sites for inspiration. There is no way I can have it looking cute and fabulous straight away but I can dream and dream I am! At least there will be no shortage of fabulous knitted hats for props hehe.

I’m also now 25 weeks pregnant! In some ways it feels like it is creeping by slowly, in others it is going by soooo quick! I don’t have time to really “concentrate” on being pregnant, if that makes sense, so it makes it seem like things are moving along really quickly. The second trimester is generally my best, although now I’m starting to feel the aches and pains and I’m getting tired faster. I’ve also put on heaps of weight! ugh. I remember before I got pregnant with Jakob, I always thought when you were pregnant, the only thing that changed was that you got a cute little belly. And if you were unlucky, you got a few stretchmarks on your cute little belly. BOY was I wrong!

xox Amanda

4 Comments | Permalink

Tags: 25 weeks, baby hat pattern, hair bows, Knitting, spring2011

So blessed to have her. So incredibly, amazingly blessed. Sometimes I pause to wonder how I could have ever made a child like this? (like any of them?) How is she mine? The answer is so simple: She was created, every tiny invisible little part of her, by an amazing God. And that takes my breath away.

You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. Psalm 139:13.

Using the wreathe I posted instructions for yesterday.

xox Amanda

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