Baby Kayla

Well, after a couple of days of being very patient (not really) I finally got to see Ben and Michelle and baby Kayla. Michelle looked surprisingly well for having a caesar and being a little tired... so great to see her back to mostly normal :)

Ben is just the most doting Dad... apparently the midwife said he was the most excited Dad she thinks she's ever seen.... just like Ben... he just loves his wife, family so much!

And baby Kayla! What a little cutie... but oh my, its so hard to get a good pic of a newborn isn't it!! Task and a half.. they always pull silly faces etc!

Anyway, here's a few shots:

Kayla, and with her dad

And with me and Greg

I'm definitely 'celebrating life' today!

I've just found out this morning that my best friend Michelle has had her baby! She had a baby GIRL last night @ 7pm by emergency c-section (my poor Chelle). She was 8lb14oz, and they have called her KAYLA FELICITY which means 'pure happiness'.. what a beautiful name, what a beautiful thing birth is!

So a BIG congrats to Ben and Michelle and welcome baby Kayla!

I can't wait to see them/her, but will have to wait until tomorrow night or Saturday morning as they have a LOT of family around that get first dibs... and Chelle will be more sore and weak from the caesar than normal...

Praise God for His wonderful miracles!!

I will have some photos soon, I can't wait to see her :)

Sons of Korah...

How awesome it is to listen to music and hear the words of my God at the same time!

I'm listening to Sons of Korah this morning. They write music to the Psalms.

What a great band and a great worship to my King!!

Have a great day all xxx

5 things I'm thankful for today:
1. Being in the presence of my God and His incredible might, power and love!
2. Sunday - my fave day of the week :)
3. A great time with friends last night, chatting deep into the night...
4. Family time today
5. That God is watching over every step I take...

Psalm 121
I lift up my eyes to the hills -
where does my help come from?
My help comes from the Lord,
the Maker of heaven and earth.

He will not let your foot slip -
he who watches over you will not slumber;
indeed, he who watches over Israel
will neither slumber or sleep.

The Lord watches over you -
the Lord is your shade at your right hand;
the sun will not harm you by day,
nor the moon by night.

The Lord will watch over your life;
the Lord will watch over your coming and going
both now and forever more.

Praise God - how awesome is that!!!!

Ooh Squeeeaaalll......

That was a squeal of excitement in case you didn't realise...

In less than 2 hours (hopefully!) I will be in a small dark room with a strange instrument on my tummy....

Yep, we're off for our ultrasound and TO SEE MY BABY!!

I can't wait...

I had a dream last night that we saw a little willy.... lol... I hope we don't coz we want to be surprised... mind you, I'd be really excited if it was accidentally really obvious that there WASN'T a willy....

Watch this space...

* Edited to add... all went well! Baby is healthy and growing and was very active!! Its funny when you are trying to but also really trying not to see the sex as everything you see you think - ooh is that a little willy? hehe.. and I was listening out in case she said he or she too... hehe, but she said she didn't even see... baby is beautiful! And even a few days bigger than what we should be... so we are about 20 weeks... which hopefully means this one will come 'early' too - as they'll leave the due date the same...
I'm going to try to play with some of the photos tonight, see if I can come up with anything I like! And while the memories are really fresh :)

Re-assessing...

I've been receiving Ali Edwards' weekly newsletter, AEzine. And each week she really inspires me to look a bit deeper into my life and into my scrapbooking. This week's challenge is to create a personal creative 'manifesto' or mission statement really. By asking ourselves a few questions we should be able to see what our scrapbooking really is, why we do it etc. However, what my manifesto is and what I really want it to be are two separate things. I still struggle to create things that are 'me'. I don't even know what me or my style is. And I don't really think I like whatever it is anyways. My scrapping really is so empty. If I look through my albums (of which there really aren't many pages anyway) everything is so higglety-pigglety and it really doesn't really tell many stories. And that's NOT what I want my scrapping to be. I seem to be scrapping just for the sake of it lately, and I want to do it with more purpose.

So that's what I'm going to do. No more only-photo layouts with a nice smile or what-have-you - unless its really called for it. I want to get meaty and deep and record those MEMORIES that go with the pictures.

Erica Glover has ALWAYS inspired me with her journalling. Her layouts REALLY tell the stories - she's going to have so many wonderful things to look back on and not just pictures, but she'll be able to relive the memories too. And that's what I want.

So from now on, I'm planning my layouts ahead of time. Too many times I print pics I *think* I might want to scrap, not really thinking about colours or sizes I might want them when it comes to the actual scrapping part. And due to this, many of these pics don't end up being scrapped coz I just can't get inspired when I get em out. So I'm going to plan my sketches, photo sizes, and even colours ahead of time so I'm not just 'throwing' things together like I seem to do these days.

I want to be creative again.

I want to tell stories.

I want to capture the memories.

That's what scrapbooking is all about essentially isn't it??

A stinky surprise and sick of photocopying

Just some random bits and pieces from this week.

STILL hanging out for my girlfriend Michelle to give birth.. I'm not very patient. I'm just dying to see what she has and what they call it :) She is now 5 days overdue... when are you coming to meet us baby??? I'm waiting anxiously by the mobile for a text...

Had a not-so-wonderful surprise when I woke this morning... Eli had taken off his pooey nappy in bed... I'm sure you can guess what that meant. Yep, poo everywhere. He was rather excited and proud of himself I think... little terror... his poor teddy bear Blue didn't even escape so he went in the wash with the sheets, and is now just hanging around on the clothesline! And no, I didn't take any pics. there wasnt really as much poo smeared everywhere as you may think, it wasn't really photo worthy... but maybe I'll just take a piccie of Blue hanging on the line and can tell the story from that :) Good idea Nat!!

Spent a couple of hours at the church yesterday and a bit more at home, organising all the programs, rosters, resources for Hillz Kidz for this term - our kids ministry Friday afternoon program.... I'm sick of photocopying, sorting through papers and highlighting!

Having my ultrasound on Thursday. Really looking forward to seeing my baby :) But hopefully not 'too' much of him/her... we aren't going to find out the sex... we really enjoyed having the surprise with Elijah, even if sometimes I was a little impatient...

Finally have felt baby move this week! I was starting to get a bit worried, but a friend told me many women feel the baby later and later with each birth - something to do with a not so sensitive uterus - plus probably the extra 'padding' I have too! I'm sure he/she has a little wiggle most nights when I go to bed, but it was only because I was reading for 1/2 hour or so that I felt it I think :)

That's all for now, I think...

5 things I'm grateful for today:

1. Sunny weather for drying washing
2. The beautiful miracle of life, growing inside me :)
3. Being a christian - couldn't imagine my life without God now, such quality!
4. Time for a sleep/rest - like now
5. That I've done all the organising for Hillz Kidz - yay!!

I was tagged.... by someone!!

I'm sure someone tagged me with this one, can't for the life of me work out who, but anyways.... something to do huh...

A - Available/Single? sorry boys, I'm happily married. lol
B- Best Friend? I have a few - probably Lusi, Sal and Michelle (oh and course my hubby, he'd be number one, but you need your girls too)
C- Cake or Pie? CHEESE cake
D - Drink Of Choice? coffee, banana milkshake or smoothie
E - Essential Item You Use Everyday? a shower!
F - Favorite Color? pink and green
G - Gummy Bears Or Worms? worms, love the sour ones!
I - Indulgence? Greg getting up to the kids? Nah, never happens...
J - January Or February? not really sure, don't prefer either really
K - Kids & Their Names? Jaidyn and Elijah and 'peanut' or 'jellybean' (manufacturing!)
L - Life Is Incomplete Without? My relationship with God; family and friends
M - Marriage date? 14th August 2004
N - Number Of Siblings? 2 younger sisters
O - Oranges Or Apples? apples
P - Phobias/Fears? Spiders
Q - Favorite Quote: scripture - I can do all things who Christ who strengthens me - Phil 4:13
R - Real Hair Color? medium-dark brown - as it is now, haven't dyed it in a while
S - Season? definitely NOT summer - all the others are good
T - Tag 3 or 4 people? anyone who hasn't done it and can be bothered to :)
U - Unknown Fact About Me? I had a mild type of epilepsy as a child (don't remember a lot of my childhood either)
V - Vegetable you don’t like? brussell sprouts
W - Worst Habit? Laziness and procrastination
X - X-rays You’ve Had? just ultrasounds for pregnancies :)
Y - Your Favourite Food? chocolate, tacos, beef casserole, roasts!
Z - Zodiac Sign? Taurus but I don't beleive in that ho-hum

Found this...

In the KMart catalogue... looks like it would be a nice addition to my scrap space - in REAL need of some way to organise my stash, this looks perfect! I'm looking at the big one I think, or even the 3-drawer! The drawers would be 12x12 wouldn't they?? Not a bad price really either, is it??

Might go for a lookie at Kmart today and put it on layby :)