Getting Crafty...

Such a drizzly old day in Melbs - perfect for sewing...so I got out the old needle and thread and made a few things for babe...

Little felt bird on a jumpsuit...

Had an idea to make a baby rattle in the shape of a tree and the following is what came to be! It's probably a bit too large and will be maybe just a touch smaller than bubs... but he/she will grow soon enough! Have an idea to improve the proto-type and may be off to the local fabric shop tomorrow to get a few supplies... Even though it's a mutant size tree - looks cool...

Cherry Tree Rattle

My Little Super Man!

Counting down...

Ok, so we are counting down weeks now with only 4 to go. Belly is very round and baby still jiggling... frequently - It's the sideway stretches that stop me in my tracks...geez. The body is certainly feeling older this time around... feeling like a grandma bear when I rise from the bed in the morning (which takes a few good minutes of delicate manoeuvring to ensure the least amount of groaning and pangs) have to say though that I've sought help from an Osteo and that has been great - apparently this alignment will help with a better (shorter?) birth... worth a go I say! For a few months now I have been sporting some rather sexy cankles! Oh my lord... I still look down (usually in the afternoon) and am taken aback at the enormity of my ankles, feet and toes - they don't look like mine! I was chatting with a friend the other day and explaining this recent cankle phenomena and likened my toes to little chipolata's, he suggested that perhaps they were a little more like chipola"toes" - ha (good one Col!). Anyway basically I'm feeling very pregnant... My fairly regular Braxton Hicks contractions (which have been happening since 16 weeks) are happening daily and I have a theory that perhaps each one of these takes one off in labour? I know I'm dreaming but it's working for me!

We had some gorgeous belly pics taken with Marley by the amazing Jayne (Bright Eyes Photograpy) so I'll post some up when I get them. Really glad I did that this time around.

I haven't posted since our holiday in Adelaide (slack I know). We had a great time and of course didn't get to catch up with everyone, but Marley got to hang out with some buddies and cousins and it was a lovely little holiday.

Marley's first football match and we can count on the lovely Gaynor to corrupt my son and have him barracking for the Crowes! There were even Crowes members who were offering Marley snake lollies each time Crowes got a goal - Oh man... poor saints - they were robbed of our support!

Mars & Maddie hanging out...

Monkey's on a swing...

Hugs for his little buddy Lindon...

Stories with Aunty Kaz and the adorable Miss Bonnie...

While visiting Karen in Adelaide Marley got acquainted with the families new pets - some guinea pigs. I don't think I can recall Marley sitting still for so long - he held these little creatures with awe - marvelling at their twitchy noses and fluffy fur. I began to think it might be a cool thing to get him a guinea pig when baby comes so he has his own little creature to nurture... so I kept entertaining the thought until our return home - by which stage Mike was in South America on his work trip. During our first phonecall with Dad I told Mike about the guinea pig experience and how it might be cool to get one for Marley, he replied "I just ate one of those!" You What??? Yes apparently guinea pigs are the thing to eat in South America. Good lord - My son is besotted by them and my husband is eating them. Needless to say I've abandoned the idea for now - too traumatic especially when you are pregnant - along with the visions of Mike sneaking into the backyard to cook up our fury pet. May re-visit the idea somewhere down the track.

It was a long 5 weeks without Mike but his time in Ecuador and Chile were fantastic - he came back with some great footage and amazing photos of these gorgeous people. We are so damn privileged in this part of the world and we have so much. As life rolls on and the experiences come and go (challenging, scary, exciting, neutral or otherwise) my gratitude grows for all that I am blessed with and the very simplest things... A sunny day and sharing a cuppa with someone I love has to top my satisfaction list!

"Buddhism for Mothers" continues to be such a great read and full of what I seem to need - wisdom, laughter and simplicity. I recently read the appendix about mothering a newborn which filled me with memories, some sweet and some sad - and I'm about to do it all over again! The author regards mothering as spiritual practice...

"On one level, this questions seems absurd. Nothing could be further from the regimented march of a formal retreat that the disheveled dance of motherhood. The books on my bedside table used to be about pursuing awakening in the Himalayas. Now they're about preventing awakening in the middle of the night. There's a diaper change table where my alter used to be; my zafus and zabutons have been requisitioned to cushion Skye's play area... I'm on the phone with Skye on my hip, ordering baby proof plates for the electrical outlets as I eat cold veggie potstickers with my fingers straight from the cardboard box and rub fresh spit-up into the floor with one socked foot. It's hard to find the moment even to tell myself that this is a spiritual path - I'm too busy looking for Skye's other mitten...

Could there be any better way to get my nose rubbed in the truth of impermanence than to love a child in a jagged, careless world?..."

So, the next chapter of the Amos family is imminent and accompanying the waiting are feelings of jubilence, a little fear, nervousness and excitement. Life is good and my wish for you is that yours is too. Take care friends and I'll post again soon.

Love & Magic

Beans xxx

Just a quick post of my most recent paintings that I have completed. It's been a while since I had the old brushes out so it was nice to get creative with paint again!

We had some family time over the weekend, squeezing in some time together before Mike heads os and decided to check out Healesville Sanctuary. Had a lovely time and caught the bird demonstration which was great...

Hi there peeps... Yes we are still alive and all is well within the Amos tribe. It's been an eventful few months and my ever expanding belly is looking very pregnant now with one mighty wriggler in there. We had the 20 week scans done a few weeks ago and here are some pics...

The whole 3D thing is a bit freaky... we weren't expecting to see babe in 3D but I guess it is quite amazing... Babe is healthy and is about 15 weeks away from coming into our world...

This pic is from some weeks ago so the bump is much bigger now!

So life has been busy with usual life stuff... Mike recently began a new job with World Vision and his work is taking him to South America in September for three weeks (lucky thang!) mind you it will be tough going and he'll see some amazing things. Our little man will miss his dad but we have a trip to Adelaide coming up while Mike is away and by the time we get back I'll be in my last trimester and it will be preparing for baby time.

Happy to report that my design and project management job has successfully finished and the end result looks fantastic... It's inspired me to do some similar work and start the early steps of creating a small business...to be resumed once baby is here and happy - well into the new year. In between designing kitchens, organising toy library open days, life stuff and birthday parties I still managed to rev up the sewing machine and create some softies for Marley and my niece who recently turned one. Marley was most helpful... hmmm (scattering pins over the loungeroom floor - of which there were daily findings in the weeks to come!) and one rainy day in June we managed to make these little creatures - a robot bear for Mars and Mum and babe for Charlie...

And as for our little man well he recently had a birthday and turned 3! Happy Birthday Barley Sugar... Celebrations were low key with a small party at home and some gatherings at playgroup and creche. Marley was most excited about proceedings and a few days prior he had a lovely chat with the man at the fruit shop and invited him along to his party... Mars was a little baffled as to why the man wasn't able to come but came to accept that he would probably be working that day! Marley has grown up so quickly and his most recent fascination (despite his mum's dislike of superheroes and all the merch associated with it!) is Buzz... Yes Marley think he is Buzz and likes to save people and protect us from monsters!

Here he is... dressed as buzz thanks to Dad's creativity, the use of stickers and two ice cream buckets out of the recycle bin! He thought he was so ace and flew around the house... to infinity and beyond!!! And even though I'm not a huge fan of commercial characters I think Buzz is pretty cool and then when he measured his love for us by describing it as "loving you to the moon and buzz and back!" well that just made it adorable and melted me! The make shift costume has since been replaced with a ridgey didge Buzz outfit from his Aunty and he thinks he's Ace!!!

The party was fun and complete with the shark cake that Marley requested...

complete with tic tac teeth - Mars was chuffed that he got to eat its fin and several of its teeth. So another year has rolled by and my baby is now 3 and not a baby at all. We have so much more to look forward to in the coming months and life is really great. I'm still loving being back in Melbourne and being close to family and friends is something I'm grateful for every day... we do miss our Adelaide friends and family though but are very much looking forward to our trip back to our second home for hugs, catch ups and coffees.

More creations to come pre baby as there are some commissions that have come my way so stay tuned and I'll post some pics when they are done.

Big Warm Hugs to all

Beans xxx

hellooooooooo out there....

I know it's been a ridiculously long time since my last post! So I could potentially rabbit on for hours here, however I'll refrain and keep it brief - ish. Part of the reason I haven't blogged has been because I've been feeling ill - all for good reason though... I'm going to be a mumma again! Yes, Mr Marley Moo will assume the role of big brother in November this year around the 21st and he is quite chuffed about that. We've been reading "There's a house inside my mummy" to Marley (he loves this book) and in the book they speak of the tummy telephone which he speaks in regularly to the baby - this morning he spoke to baby and asked for it to come to the park with him... cutie. Anyway the times I have felt relatively normal I've filled with the day to day necessities which has left little "functional" time for much else...anyway I'm back online now and hopeful that having reached the twelve week mark that this nausea will subside any day now. Any day now.................

I had my twelve week scan yesterday and I was happy to discover one squirmy babe (the fact that I had popped out so quickly and was the size at twelve weeks that I was with Marley at 5 months did instill some nervousness that there may be two in there!) Any way one it is with ten little fingers and ten little toes - great. I've posted some pics from the scan. Seeing the little babe (which we have affectionately named flipper due to its dolphin like dance) suspended all the grief of morning sickness and tiredness - so special to see our little bundle on that screen. I am so ready for trimester two and the "glow" - ready for the "glow" - I'm done with "bedraggled!".

On the creative front there hasn't been a huge amount going on although I have secured a design job for friends of my sister in law to design and project manage their kitchen and bathroom renovations - so far so good. Really happy with the plans and all my trades have been turning up and making it a breeze so far - reckon the renovation angels are weaving some magic for me... thank you winged ones keep it flowing. It's been great to be running this project and getting some squillers in... As a mum we always are busy enough however it does feel good to earn doing other grown up things.

Marley is doing great - we are going through the whole enrollment process for kinda next year - good lord they sprout up quickly. Next year there'll be another little soul in our lives and I'll be busy with kinder drop offs... it all seems so surreal and yet before I know it I'll be ushering in my little barley sugar to his first day of school. I'm being more mindful of the present and doing my best to enjoy each moment. I picked up buddhism for mothers again yesterday and it's been timely to begin reading this again. Such a great read and beautiful gentle reminder about our lives as a parent and how being present to what is occurring is so much more joyful than pining for our past or planning our next block of "me" time.

Well that's me for now, promise the next post will appear before 3 months time!

Ciao

Beans xxx

On the weekend we awoke to a slippery friend jumping around our kitchen... a frog! Marley nearly jumped out of his skin, "wow, a frog Mum!" After a short stint in the bug catcher Mr Hippity Hop was released into the garden and I knew this was a good omen. To confirm my suspicions I did some quick research on the meaning of frog and found the following:

Animal symbolism of the frog speaks of:

• Luck
• Purity
• Rebirth
• Renewal
• Fertility
• Healing
• Metamorphosis
• Transitions
• Dreaming
• Opportunity
• Intermediary

All sounds beautiful to me!

As for recent creative activity, I whipped out the old singer and made an art smock for a friends birthday. I bought the fabric from my local fabric shop (very cute) and mum had a pattern lying around...voila! I actually managed to make something from a pattern although I must confess that I didn't follow it exactly - words tend to get in the way of my creative process, just show me pictures and I'll work it out. I have no idea how people follow knitting patterns. One look at those knitting books full of numbers and letters and my head wigs out! Anyway - somehow it all came together...

Well Easter is just around the corner and I'm sure there'll be some Easter creations to share... so until then have a lovely Easter. I love Easter, such a special time especially the Easter moon - always amazing.

disclaimer: If the above is incoherent and a bit.... umm bitsy it's thanks to the constant (reliable) interruptions created by Marley Barley Sugar (aka: mbs). Whilst getting this post up we've done brekky, had marbles hurled at me, bid farewell to dad, which incidentally is like an entire ritual that involves standing outside and waving until the bongo van disappears from sight and now I'm being tapped with a book...a lovely subtle message to stop doing this computer stuff and read me a story! So I'm off to read "I'm Just a Crab" x ciao