Check These Out...

I just had to come in and show off the STUNNING Xmas gifts that my EB Scrappy Secret Santa made for me. They took my breath away when i saw them all. I am just so overwhelmed by the effort that was put into them and am so grateful that i am a part of such a warm and loving group of girls. Thank you from the bottom of my heart Secret Santa. You have made me extremely happy.

The cutest Christmas Countdown tree.


These are my FAVES!!!! Gorgeous wooden Christmas blocks.


An aweome Christams mini album. I can't wait to fill this with photos.


And some pages from the album.

I won...

I won the Best Baby LO in the Scrappy Awards on Saturday night. YAY!! I was very proud of that LO so it has made me very happy indeed. I had an absolute blast and am just blown away by the talent that we have in our little group. Thanks girls. :)

Now Tracey asked me for some pics of the girls so here are a few to show. I have been a bit slack with the pics lately sorry.


Miranda & Claudia-3 months old. Completely different looking IMO.


Claudia & Miranda in my failed attempt at a Xmas photo shoot. LOL. They still look pretty cute though.


Coban & Miranda. Coban was mostly unimpressed with having to sit still for photos but when i let him play with a nutcracker, he was happy for a minute or so lol. Miranda was more than happy to have her photo taken.

I have almost all my Xmas shopping done now.I need to get myself down to DFO to get a few more. We have 2 teenage boys to buy for in one of the family's Kris Kringles so i thought i'd get a t-shirt or shorts or something like that. I don't think you can go too far wrong with that. I also need to get Daniel some more shorts as he keeps outgrowing his lol. Much to his dismay.

I am hoping to get rid of a bit more of this twin baby belly so that i can get some new clothes too. I am fitting into my old clothes now but i do have a bit of a muffin top lol. Sorry for TMI there. I will most definitely not be showing off my midriff while we are away camping this year lol. So i really need to get myself some new singlets and shorts etc.

Daniel & I have decided to start doing Pilates together. I have a DVD here that i have only used once but Daniel wants to start getting fit again and thought this would be something he can do easily enough. So we decided to both get up once the girls had been fed at 5am. And we were going to start thins morning.... But the girls decided that they would sleep a lot later so we missed out. I had to wake them up as my poor (.)(.)'s were so full and felt like they were going to explode PMSL.

I will pop back in here soon and update with some more photos as I am having a few issues with PS at the moment.

Tonight's the night!!

I am so looking forward to the EB Scrappy Awards tonight. DH has gone 4wd'ing and may not be home until tomorrow so i have to make sure all the kids are in bed asleep by 8pm. And i still need to get all dolled up. LOL. For those of you that don't have a clue what i'm talking about, it is an awards ceremony that was started by one of the scrapping girls on EB. There is a whole bunch of catergories and we had to upload LO's into the different catergories and then vote for our faves in each one. Then the top 6 nominees were put through to the next round. Tonight is the big night where we find out the winners!! We will be getting together in a chat room for the ceremony and i am just so darn excited about it lol.

Can you tell i don't get out much? PMSL. I even have a big 275g block of Cadbury Milk Chocolate all ready to go. :D

I have finished some Xmas pressies and have finally finished the kids' Advent Tree Calender. I won't show the pressies because the recipients might see them lol.
But here's the tree:


And this is a wall hanging thing that i made for myself:


I really need a coffee so i'll finish this post off with my latest LO. It is a SL of a LO in last month's FK mag. It's funny how i was never into pastel colours but i seem to be scrapping with pastel pinks and blues a lot lately lol.

Photo by Clair Bremner. Credits for the LO can be found HERE.

Oh so hot!!

Today and yesterday have been really quite hot here in Melbourne. Lucky we have an air conditioner but it's in the lounge room so the kids' rooms stay a bit warm. The cool change is coming through at the moment though so hopefully we will all get a good sleep tonight.

The girls have struggled a bit with with their day sleeps lately and this weather certainly hasn't helped. But the good news is that they are both pretty much sleeping through each night. Last night they slept for 9 hours straight which was lovely. I will try that again tonight and see how they go. I gave them a last feed at 9pm and they didn't wake until 5am. Sounds like a pretty good time clock if you ask me.

I have also managed to get my scrapping mojo back. I have done 4 LO's in the past week and a bit. I know it doesn't sound like much but i am pretty happy with it! Each one of those LO's was for the EB Scrappy Awards which is just a bit of fun. It has been great for me as it has given me reason to scrap. And i was able to use photos from our photo shoot with Clair.







Credits here.


Credits here.


Credits here.


Credits here.

Miranda & Claudia are now both about 4.5kg. They are double their birth weights which is very exciting. They will be 14 weeks old on Thursday. It honestly feels like last week that they were in the SCN. Where on earth has that time gone??

I am a little bit stressed about Xmas this year. I am normally super organised and have everyone's presents bought and wrapped by now but with everything that has happened this year, it just hasn't happened. I have the kids' presents on layby and they are almost paid off so that's the main thing. I am working on a couple of OTP things but i think this year i will go with some bought gifts. And unfortunately i don't think we will be spending much on each one either.

I haven't mentioned on here about Daniel's newest toy. He bought himself a brand spankin' new winch for his 4wd. It does look pretty cool but $1200 worth??? I guess if it pulls him out of sticky situations then it's worth it lol. I will do a LO of it soon just to keep him happy lol.

I have a baby that just doesn't want to sleep so i better finish this post.

Photos to show

Very boring day here today. I have done next to nothing and Coban has watched too much tv lol. No idea why as it's a gorgeous day outside but i just had no energy to do anything. So i decided to blog while i'm sitting at the computer.

On Tuesday Daniel had the day off work due to the Melbourne Cup. It was a beautiful day so i convinced him to take us over to the park so i could take some photos. We got there too late though and it was a bit sunny to get decent pics. I ended up with a few that looked ok so with a bit of tweaking, i was happy. It is such a pretty park and has so many great spots for photos. I will definitely go back for more.

Here are a couple of pics of the park:





Miranda.


Claudia


Coban playing on the playground. I used my zoom lens for this one.




And these ones were taken at our house.


This is SOOC and i love it.


Proud Daddy giving his girls a kiss. (Claudia)


(Miranda)


OK, off to bathe and feed!! :)

No title!

I can't believe it has been almost 2 months since i last blogged. That is terrible. Sorry to anyone that actually reads this lol.

I have been so busy in the last 2 months that i can hardly think straight. Which is pretty bad considering i have 3 kids that depend on me lol. I am feeling much more human though. Miranda & Claudia are sleeping pretty well over night, waking once between 2am-3am and the day sleeps are mostly good. I have had a number of shocking days though which have left me in tears but i think that's mostly from exhaustion. I am not getting naps during the day, even though my MCHN keeps telling me that i need to. It's a little difficult when Coban decides he doesn't want to sleep.

I have mastered the twin feeding which has been an absolute life saver. I think if i had to feed them seperatley, I would go insane. It just takes so much longer. At least i am no longer having to express and give the girl's top ups. For the first couple of weeks at home, it felt like i spent all day expressing, breastfeeding and topping them up afterwards. Thank goodness that's finished with.

I don't think i have mentioned on my blog yet but the beautiful EB Scrapping girls all put in to get us a voucher for a photo shoot with the talented Clair Bremner. They also gave us some clothes for the girls (Pumpkin Patch no less. My fave!!!) and some goodies for Coban. He thought he was the luckiest boy on the planet the day he received his goodies. Anyway, Clair came over a couple of weeks ago and we had our session with her. Considering the girls weren't cooperating and sleeping soundly, we got some wonderful shots. I'm not too concerned about not having the sleeping shots as it captures who they are perfectly. Miranda always so awake and alert & Claudia fast asleep!! I know which one takes after their father lol.

The kids and i went to our first ever ABA meeting on Wednesday. It was so great to get out of the house and have something to look forward to each week. The girls in my local group are so lovely and i feel like i fit in. I never felt that way with my Mother's Group from when Coban was a baby. I am also going to join a Multiple Births group too. I just need to get my butt into gear and call them lol.


I got an email from a friend today with some very exciting news but it is all hush hush so i will just say CONGRATULATIONS CHOOK!!!!! I am really proud of you and am so glad to have you as a friend. You know who you are lol.

I haven't been able to get too much scrapping done lately due mainly to my stupid PC!! I really need to get more RAM and get myself a MAC laptop. That would make me VERY happy! I could scrap wherever and whenever i like. :)

I'd better leave it there as i have run out of ME time lol.

Home Sweet Home!

Yesterday we brought our girls home from hospital. It was such an exciting day and i was also a little nervous. I think we did pretty well for our first day at home together though. The girls settled into their new home perfectly. We managed a very successful breastfeed once we got home and from there, they have been feeding every 4 hours. I am following a feeding plan set out for me by a lactation consultant which seems to be working quite well so far. I am still struggling a bit with the whole twin feeding thing but i guess it's just a matter of time before they are both big and strong enough to not need so much help.

Here are some pics of our drive home:

Miranda.


Claudia.


Proudest Big Brother.


Coban holding hands with his sisters.


And here is a pic of the girls' first sleep in their cot at home.

I'm sure that there is plenty more that i should write but i can't think of anything else right now lol. Oh, apart from Happy Father's Day to all the Dad's out there!! Especially to my Dad & Paulie. And a big Happy Father's Day to Daniel from Coban, Miranda & Claudia. xxx

Speedy Entrance to The World.

I am now the very emotional & proud mother to 3 beautiful children.

Miranda Celise & Claudia Kaitlin were born Thursday 16th August @ 3.07am and 3.26am. And weighed 2.1kg & 2.3kg respectively.

As far as labours go, I think i had a fairly easy one. (Although I wouldn't have said that at the time lol.) My waters started to leak at 11pm Wednesday night and we arrived at the hospital sometime after 11.30pm. I got myself all settled into the birthing room and not too long after i started to get the first contractions. After timing a few, it seemed they were 5 minutes apart and weren't too strong so we didn't think anything of them.

We were waiting on the Dr and the anaesthetist to come in to put in the epidural but it seemed our little darlings were in too much of a hurry and didn't want to wait. The anaesthetist was explaining everything to me while i was in the middle of a full blown contraction and after she stopped rambling, I told her that i needed to push. She then told me that i couldn't push LOL. Has this woman ever had a baby???? Anyway, the midwives listened to me and decided that it was too late and that these babies were coming now whether they liked it or not.

Most of everything is a bit of a blur to me but i remember them checking to see how far i had dilated and it was only 3cm. In half an hour, it had dilated to 10cm!!

After Miranda was born, and the shock that the first born was in fact a girl, I realised that I had to do that all over again!! Claudia was still breech at this point so the Dr did an ECV and turned her around. This was reasonably unpleasant but nothing in comparison to the rest of the birth lol. Claudia was born not long afterwards and was just as perfect as her big sister. We were a bit shocked at finding out that we had in fact given birth to 2 girls instead of one boy and one girl but that very quickly disappeared as we held our beautiful girls.

Daniel & I hadn't decided on names but it wasn't long before we decided upon Miranda & Claudia. Both of these names had been my favourites so i was pretty happy with the choices lol. Celise was a name i made up in memory of my Grandpa, Cecil who passed away when i was younger. And Kaitlin is Daniel's favourite name.

Coban seems quite besotted by the girls but he hasn't really spent too much time with them yet. He has had a cuddle with both of them and will always give them kisses when he does see them.

They are both still in the SCN which is very tiring for me. I have been going in from about 11am to 3.30pm the past couple of days and by the time i pick Coban up and get home, I am knackered. But the girls are doing really well. They are both very healthy and content but we just need to get them both breastfeeding properly before we can get their gavage tubes out and coming home with us. I really hope it's not long to wait as i am getting a bit emotional about it all. I am starting to feel as if i'm not bonding with them properly or that it won't be the same once we get them home. I know that these thoughts are unfounded but i can't stop my emotions running away from me lol. I'm sure those of you that have been through it, know what i mean.

Miranda is breastfeeding pretty well but Claudia is a very sleepy baby and doesn't suck very well yet. She has been on the breast so i know that she can do it but she is obviously full as they have both been having formula feeds when there has been no EBM. But my supply is fabulous at the moment so there should be no need for any more formula feeds. Today we should be starting a new feeding plan so that will be interesting. They will be going from 3 hourly feeds to 4 hourly feeds so hopefully that will make a difference.

Thanks for reading all that lol. It was probably all over the place as i have so much going through my head right now.

Here are some pics for you all.




Do you think we could any more proud??


Miranda (left) & Claudia (right) the day before they had to have the gavage tubes put in for feeding.


Coban having a cuddle with Miranda.


And now sharing a kiss.


Our happy family.


Miranda & Claudia with their gavage tubes in. 19-08-07

A quick LO to show

I finished this LO last night so thought i'd better upload it now otherwise i'll forget about it lol. I am pretty happy with the way it turned out. Almost the way i saw it in my mind lol.



I used the gorgeous 'Boyfriend' kit by Holly McCaig.

And to everyone that keeps ringing and asking if i'm in labour yet..... STOP IT!!!!
Everyone will find out as soon as anything happens so please stop bothering me lol.
If you want to be useful, please send labour vibes my way. That's all i need right now. Thanks.

TOOT for Clair!!

I just read on Clair's blog that she has been asked to sell her digi designs at the Aussie site Designs In Digital. I am so ecstatic for you Clair. And i am just so happy that i will have the opportunity to buy the kits and try to scrap 'Clair' style. OK maybe that's pushing it, but i'll give it a go lol. Her first mini kit 'Lila' is available HERE.

That's all i wanted to say lol.

36 weeks-The countdown is on.

I am so proud of myself lol. We have made it to 36 weeks and both babies seem very healthy and happy. I would be happier if i could hold them now but i guess every day in there is a bonus. :)

We had a scan this morning and both babies are growing really well. Everything seems in great working order which is just too exciting. Hopefully that means not much time in the SCN and breastfeeding will be easy (as easy as can be with twins lol). Twin 1 was estimated at about 2.5kg (5lb 7oz) and Twin 2 was estimated at about 2.8kg (6lb 6oz). I am so surprised as Coban was only 6lb 7oz and he was born full term.

Here are a couple of photos of my HUGE belly. Please excuse the stretchmarks but i couldn't imagine not having them with the way my poor tummy has stretched lol.


This is my latest LO. It is not my usual style but i am happy with the way it turned out. Especially considering it was nothing like what i had imagined.
Credits can be found HERE.

Almost there!

35 weeks and 4 days today!! Not long to go now. It feels as though we are watching paint dry though lol. D & I are still trying to decide on names which is really frustrating me. I have the names that i LOVE but I am still working on D. I hope he comes to realise that he really does love the names too lol.

I have only managed a few LO's recently due to my Photoshop issues. But it's better than none i suppose.

I love this LO. I used the gorgeous Shabby Princess kit 'French Countryside' for this one.


I used Faer Oak's Brandishly Bold kit for this LO.
Credits can be found HERE.


I used Anita Stergiou's Happy Halloween kit plus her Sketch Plate #17 for this one.
Credits can be found HERE.


And for this LO, I used Amy C's Beautiful Belly kit. This kit is so adorable for pregnancy photos. It steps away from those horrible pastel pinks and blues that can be found EVERYWHERE.
Credits can be found HERE.


I started making a couple of mint tin mini albums for the twins but after i made all the tags for one album in PS, it crashed and i lost the lot! Grrr... So i am working up to starting them again. I figured it would give me something constructive to do in between learning to tandem feed, changing nappies, trying to sleep, seeing my little man & my husband and of course, staring in amazement at 2 perfect little babies. PMSL, makes it sound like i'm not going to have any time to myself lol.

D thinks i will be in labour on Monday 13th so i guess we'll see. I was thinking either Monday or Tuesday would be the day. I will be 36 weeks on Tuesday so that wouldn't be too bad. I do have an ultrasound booked in the morning so maybe it will all happen at once. I am a bit scared now of delivering twin 1 naturally and then having to have a c/s for twin 2. I really want to have a natural birth for both so i am keeping my fingers crossed.

Coban has been pretty good lately. Not too many tantrums lol. I do look at him some days and wonder how i became so lucky. He really is a loving, clever, fun little man and i adore spending time with him. I just hope i am as lucky with these 2 lol.

I got a new mobile last week so i can now take good quality pics while i'm in hospital. I will have my point and shoot as well but this way i can send pics when i send the announcements. I am getting really excited!!!! Can you tell?

Better go and try to get some scrapping done. I am having the laziest of days today and it's great.

New hair do!

I went and got myself a haircut today. It has taken me so long to do it but finally i made the change!! It is not exactly what i had in mind but it's close enough. At least now I have no dry, split ends.

As requested, here is the before and after shots. Don't laugh...I am not wearing any makeup and look a bit shabby. lol

BEFORE:


AFTER:


And i also made this card for DH's friends 30th tomorrow. Pretty simple but he's a simple kind of guy. Not sure whether he would even appreciate it but it beats spending $6 on a crappy store bought card. I just can't do that!


We are off to Rushworth tomorrow for the above mentioned 30th. Hopefully these babies keep put and I don't have to rush back home lol. Man it is going to be bloody freezing too. I better borrow some of DH's clothes i think. Especially a jacket as mine doesn't quite do up anymore lol.

Better go and get ready.

32 weeks!! Yippee.

I am so excited to have reached the 32 week mark. Especially as i haven't had any complications or dramas so far (touch wood!) Now I just need to get another 2 weeks further along and I will stress less. At Box Hill Hospital, they don't have the facilities to look after babies born earlier than 34 weeks and i really couldn't handle being away from them for so long. So hang in there you two!!!!

Here is a belly shot taken on Saturday before we went to a wedding. I was 31.4wks.



We are all settled into our new house now. It is so wonderful. I LOVE it here!! It really feels like a family home and i love waking up to beautiful views and birds singing lol. Not something you ever get when you live on a highway PMSL.

I received my Tupperware on the weekend and I am so in love. I have set up some of my pantry and am now just hanging out ch nicer now. Plus I got a set of microwave/freezer safe containers of all sizes so i can get some meals prepared and frozen for when i get home from hospital and can't be bothered cooking.

Today Coban & I went to Eastland and got some stuff for my hospital bag. I got 2 maternity bras from Myer for a steal. I got an Elle McPherson one for $20 (RRP $54.95) and a Berlie one for $15. I already have an Elle McPherson one from last pregnancy and i LOVE it so i'm glad i was able to get a new one. I also got a travel size set of Clinique's 3 Step skin care to take to hospital and finally found myself a top to wear in hospital. It buttons down a fair way so i can breastfeed easily. And i will probably just wear my PJ pants or tracky pants as well. I think because i will be in for longer this time, I'd like to be in comfy clothes rather than PJ's and a dressing gown all the time. Yeah so, my hospital bag is ready to go. I just have to remember to grab my camera & dressing gown before we leave.

We have been so lucky with this pregnancy so far. Not just because of having no complications and everything running smoothly, but also because we have been given SO much stuff by friends and family. We have a HUGE amount of clothes now from size 0000 to size 1. I don't really have any ooooo clothes but if we need them, i'm sure we'll get them.
We are going to pick up 2 cots sometime soon. I can't wait! We were given these cots plus 2 highchairs, a bouncer, a jolly jumper, 5 huge bag of clothes, blankets and a Twins book all from one lady off EB. And all for free. I just couldn't believe my luck. We have also received cot sheets, blankets and toys from some family members so we are just feeling so grateful atm. Just have to buy new car seats and a pram.

There has to be more to talk about but i just can't concentrate at the moment. So i'll finish up here. Hopefully i won't take so long to post again.

CT Call for Faer Oak

I have been offline due to moving house so i haven't blogged for ages. I will, i promise!!
But before i post about my life, i just thought i'd stop in and let you know that Faer Oak is looking for some guest CT members for July. I am a part of her original CT and absolutely adore her designs. Plus she is a gorgeous and very generous person. So if you're looking for a fun CT, check out Faer's blog for details.

Hubba Hubba.

Who's your 80's Hunk?? Click HERE to find out.
I just LURVE John Stamos and have ever since i watched him on Full House when i was little.

Your 80s Hunk Is

John Stamos

Who's Your 80s Hunk?

We are slowly getting this house packed up. I keep running out of boxes though which is really annoying when all i want to do is pack everything away. But we did do a couple of trips over the weekend and unpacked some stuff so we could re-use those boxes. Only 4 days to go till we can move in!!! Yippee! I got my interent organised but will be without it for about a week after we move in so that will suck. At least i can concentrate on unpacking i suppose.

I have just realised that i could have these twins any day now. I am not expecting to go TOO early but i guess i have to be prepared for anything. I have to pay and pick up the cots and car seats yet so hopefully i can get those in the next few weeks. I have an appt at the hospital on Wednesday too so i will be able to find out the results from my GD test and also find out which way they are both lying. It is so hard to tell by myself as they move around so much and i feel movements all over my belly lol.

I have also decided to have my very first Tupperware Party on the 30th June. I am really looking forward to it as my pantry could really do with some organisation. Especially now that we will be in a new place.

Oh and the most exciting part of the year is fast approaching! The good old toy sales start in a few weeks and i am so excited about it lol. I just love toy shopping and this year it will be fun as i can get stuff for the babies (not that they need much) and stuff for Coban. Plus it is almost tax time!! I am hoping for a decent return for DH. Fingers crossed. We plan on being debt free by the end of the year and hopefully we will be able to save enough to buy a place of our own in maybe 2 years.

Here's a LO i did the other day. Photoshop issues has seen me unable to scrap for over 2 weeks so it was great to get this one done.


My feet are so cold atm so i will end it here and go and put on my ugg boots.

I just saw this on Jo's blog so i thought i'd give it a go. I must say i am surprised at the results LOL. I was sure it wouldn't be good.

You Are a Prophet Soul

You are a gentle soul, with good intentions toward everyone. Selfless and kind, you have great faith in people. Sometimes this faith can lead to disappoinment in the long run. No matter what, you deal with everything in a calm and balanced way. You are a good interpreter, very sensitive, intuitive, caring, and gentle. Concerned about the world, you are good at predicting people's feelings. A seeker of wisdom, you are a life long learner looking for purpose and meaning. You are a great thinker and communicator, but not necessarily a doer. Souls you are most compatible with: Bright Star Soul and Dreaming Soul

What Kind of Soul Are You?

OMG. I've been tagged.

Well i have been tagged for the first time ever!!! LOL
Thanks Dannii. Sorry it took me so long to do.


1. Four of my favorite jobs:
Well I haven't had all that many jobs to choose from but these 4 were probably my faves.
1) Pharmacy Assistant/Cosmetic Consultant. I worked for Clinique & Lancome while i was at the pharmacy and enjoyed them both.
2) I worked at a newsagency when i first left school. It was ok but money wasn't. LOL
3) I worked at BBQ's Galore. That was quite a good job but i didn't enjoy working weekends.
4) And lastly, I was a Stock Controller for an outdoor furniture company. I loved it!!! I worked with such great people who i really miss.

2. Four of my favorite local places

1. Westerfold's Park
2. Officeworks LOL
3. My Mum's house.
4. Dairy Bell YUMMY!!

3. Four of my favorite foods
1. Chocolate
2. Pizza desserts
3. Lasagne
4. Roast Lamb

4. Four of my favorite international places
Well i have never been overseas so this is my wish list LOL.

1. Venice
2. Switzerland
3. Disneyland, Anaheim USA
4. Amsterdam

5. Four name's of people I am tagging

Amy C, zebette, Anita, Faer