Warning... long post... LOTS to catch up on...

It's been a full-on week and a half (2 weeks now?) since I posted. Lots been happening, too busy! But it's nice to have a bit of time to chill again :)

Firstly, my little man turned ONE! Oh, how did that happen!! Mind you, I look at him now, and he certainly looks and acts like a one-year-old. He's very very miscevious indeed! He's developing a very distinct 'character' and now he's walking everywhere! So cute! In the last week, he has just got more and more confidence. He went from walking sometimes when we encouraged him, to walking everywhere now, with only a few little wobbles and falls. I still can't get enough of watching him with his little bowed legs and his arms out to help balance him! So cute...

He had a great time opening presents on his b'day. I wasn't really expecting him to be too interested in it, but he managed to tear and pull the paper off and get the present out - with only a little help at times from Daddy and Jaidyn.

He got a lovely soft piano from Nan (Greg's mum) which you can play and it also plays its own tune... and a couple of fun DVDs too - Hi-5 and some other nursery rhyme ones too... from my grandparents (who gave us money to buy something for him) he got a trike with a trailer... this is heaps of fun!

At first, it took a while to get the hang of moving his feet along with it, but now he understand and Jaidyn enjoys pushing him around the house on it... surely it won't be too long before he's whizzing around on his own on it! And from us he got a cool pop-up tent/cubby house thing - it has two cubby parts and a tunnel joining them up. The tunnel is such fun! I love to watch him going in and out of it!! Glad we got him that!

Greg and I decided to take him out for Maccas for lunch and a play at the park. We should have eaten at McDonalds though, as there were many birds watching us with their beady little eyes and Eli was more interested in watching them and the playground than eating his chicken nuggets! He had a great time on the swing and I took him on the see-saw thing too, and Greg got some photos. None really great though, but anyway. He was in bed early from all the playing!

On Saturday we had a little party for him. Had my family and a few close friends from church come and help celebrate. We set up the tunnel and cubbies in the backyard, a mat with some blocks too, and Greg hooked the baby swing up to the swing set, so the few kids that were there (my two and a friends two - 2.5 and nearly 1) had lots ot occupy them, and lots of photo ops too! Elijah absolutely LOVES the baby swing though, and its a good sturdy one that he doesn't flop around in like the ones at the parks. We have to go outside every afternoon now to have a swing! And I swear he would sit in it for hours too... anyway, back to the party. My BIL was official photographer for the day, and I think he was having his own little party playing with our camera - he filled THE WHOLE memory card - all 270 photos of it! So yes, we got heaps, but you can just imagine the extra time its taken me to go through and edit them! Phew!!
It was a lovely afternoon. We had the party outside in our backyard, borrowed the tables and chairs from church, set up the food table down there. Its really nice outside at this time of year - not hot or anything - just lovely! Eli opened some presents - got a cute crocodile toy that has little blocks he likes to put in, pull out, put in again... and he got some cute clothes too - my fave being one of the striped Bonds hoodies - sooo cute!... and we had the cake, which I was so happy to report turned out so well! I am by no means a cake mum, so I went for the easy option and bought a choc sponge roll and made it into a number 1 and put lots of smarties on top. It looked great if I do say so myself! lol...
Eli was well-and-truly pooped afterwards though! He was in bed early again!! So that was his birthday!

In other exciting news, Greg got the Toys R Us job!! Yes!! I can't begin to explain what a relief this is... and I am looking forward to having my days back to just me and Bubba again! lol... God had certainly been testing and teaching us about patience with this one, because we were waiting like 2 weeks, and in the meantime Greg hadn't applied for any other jobs. I was getting a little nervous that we might have wasted 2 weeks, but Greg was really trusting God for this one, coz its perfect for what we need - and we should hopefully get a discount too - sweet! Yep, God really showed us His faithfulness for trusting him for our provision, and what a great testimony to share with others. So praise our Awesome Father for this!! Anyway, he starts on 12 June. He may ask if he can start earlier though, when he gets their details. But we'll see how we go. Starting on June 12 means we are definitely still free to go to James and Jayde's wedding on the 9th, yay! And, the company has even said it will be ok for Greg to take a week off (unpaid of course) when Bubby comes. We were a little worried about this as its only 2 weeks after he starts, or a bit sooner even! So Praise God for that one too!

Things are starting to get really close to this baby coming now. Was reading Anthea's blog the other day, and she's a week or so behind me, and has her bags packed and everything, and I thought 'Ooh, I better get a move on and get organised!' I've been finding it hard to get in the right 'headspace' to focus on the baby stuff while I'm still working and have other things I have deadlines for too, so I asked my boss if I can finish up work this week instead of next week. She said that will mostly be ok, but one of the other relief staff is not working atm as her husband fell out of a tree and is in bad condition in the hospital (prayers for him and their family!) so she may just *really* need me. I said if she *has* to, roster me on next week. So we shall see how that goes.

A week and a half until our friends James and Jayde get married up at Noosa. I'm really looking forward to this beautiful occasion, but don't have anything to wear yet! (Not to mention not really any money to buy it with). I'm hoping I can maybe get away with just getting a dress/top thing to wear with my black pants or a black skirt. I know not overly dressy, but there's not so much available to a pregnant woman on a tight budget! Hopefully I'll find some time next week to go shopping for something. And Mum will be babysitting the kids for the night, so that's all organised, yes!

Off to a baby shower on Saturday for my friend Hayley, who's a month behind me. I will have to take Eli (maybe Jai too) now though as Greg has to help some friends move house. Hopefully he's not too much of a pain... but I'm sure he will be, coz he is!! lol

Had an awesome, wonderfully long chat with my bestie Lusi the other night. Man, you rock so much girl! Every time I talk to you girl, I long more and more that we lived closer together. I know that ONE DAY SOON God will give us the opportunity to spend a weekend with eachother. Its just so funny how every time we're on the phone we check the flight sites *just in case* there's some super specials and our hubbies will let us!! Heehee..... If I had lots of money, I'd fly you up here right now!!

I'm sure there is other stuff I wanted to say, but this has taken me DAYS to post, so I better just get it out there!

Have a good day all xxx

Lookie Lookie!!

Our little man is walking all over the place now. He's so proud of himself! And so cute!

Greg took this footage on his phone this morning, sorry if the quality isn't so good, but its him walking all the same!



How technical am I!

OK, it was Greg...

And yeah, you can even hear our voices!! Cool.

Feeling blessed :)

I've had the BEST couple of days! Feeling very blessed and very loved. :)

Yesterday for Mothers Day (hope you all had a fantastic day too!) Greg got out of bed straight away, went straight into the kitchen and starting cooking me bacon and eggs!! Big deal? Yes it is! It usually takes me 30-60 minutes to get him out of bed! lol... so I was feeling very special that he would do that no complaining! Then we had a yummy breakfast and I got a couple of gifts from the boys. Jaidyn chose me a dish full of choccies from the Mothers Day stall this year, which was a step up from the plant he bought last year (he learnt that Mum and Dad kill plants, lol) Oh and a lovely card he made at school too. He was very excited to give me them. Love my kids!! Eli just made more work for me with 2 or 3 dirty nappies just in the morning, lol. Greg gave me a lovely card.

We went to my Mum and Dad's for a nice family lunch. And as it was also my birthday today, I got spoilt there too. My sisters bought me a new purse and new mascara, and I got some money to spend from other family members. Mum said I had to wait till today for my present!

So this morning, when Greg got out of bed (I let him sleep till 7.30am ;)) I had to go and hide in my room for a few minutes. When I came out there were these balloons around the table - with my name on them, how cool!
I was like "I have Natalie balloons!" hehe....
and then I had to shut my eyes really tight (with Jaidyn keeping close watch on me to make sure I did) and Greg went and got my present... I then opened my eyes to see a SEWING MACHINE on the table in front of me. Not just any sewing machine either, as I was expecting a fairly cheap one... but a Janome! Good stuff! You see, I'd almost written off getting a sewing machine as Greg doesn't have a job so we thought we'd have to wait till later to get one.... but he'd been concocting with my parents and his parents and they all went in together for one. And the reason for the Janome is they were able to pick up an ex-lesson (so really not used much at all!) machine from the shop, so I got a much more expensive one but for 1/2 price or something.... so I'm really excited about that!! Can FINALLY use machine stitching on my layouts and I hope to also learn how to make some other things like curtains, baby nappies and maybe bags and clothes one day too! So a couple of free lessons at the Janome shop in my near future I think...

Today I've had a lovely lunch out with my hubby (and baby!) and had an unsuccessful look for a new coat too, bummer (my arms are always too long!). I've also had some lovely well wishes, phonecalls and cards from beautiful friends :) Thankyou so much guys, love you all!! Tonight, I may get some scrapping time or I may be on the phone... hehe

Oh, and I just wanted to share these gorgeous pics I took of Eli last weekend while Greg was away camping. Elijah must have been missing his Daddy coz he decided to put on Greg's boxer shorts, lol. So cute huh!!

MY DT comp entry, and SORE FEET

Well, the DT comp winners were announced last night for Oz Sketches - congratulations to Vita and Sheree. So I thought I would share my entries with my blogworld. These are probably my fave layouts lately too, so I was happy with my entry, winner or not, lol!
Here's the one I did on this sketch:



Here's the one I did on this sketch:


And we had to submit one from our own design/sketch, and I did this one:


Really enjoying using sketches now!

In other news, the wonderful TAM (insert link here, lol, I can't remember how to again - you'd think I would one of these days hey) showed me how to digi scrap last night!! Thanks darl!! No, I'm not 'hopping to the other side', but I decided to go digi for Elijah's first birthday invitations, so I still have a lot to play with, but at least I kinda understand how to do it now!! So clueless I am!

And my feet are sooooo sore!! OUCH! These 6 hour shifts at work really kill my poor feet I think, and they ache and ache all afternoon and evening. Oh poor little me, lol...

Well, just realised I have to cut this short, as we have to get Jaidyn and do the groceries this arvo. Have a great week xx

Hello Mojo!

Well, my 'mojo' has seemed to have returned - FINALLY - its only been like 18 months or so since I *really* enjoyed scrapping... so here's a few I've been doing lately. The first one is the first sketch for Oz Sketches which Kim Archer so talentedly (hehe sure thats a word!) provided. It was a challenge for me, as I'm so used to using only like one or two pics, but I printed out heaps in smaller sizes the other day, so I was prepared enough. Now to email this one to Tatum.
This second one is one I was playing with when doing my Oz Sketches DT app. But with just one pic, and not a lot of 'design' I decided to just keep it for me!


And this last one is one I did AAAAGGGEEESSS ago, but I found it in my album while looking for the above one, and realised I hadn't shared it yet... no journalling on this one. I think I *meant* to put some on the black space under the main photo, but never got around to it, so its finished enough for me! Sorry for the dodgy photo tho - its hard to fit a Dbl LO into my viewfinder and make it equal! lol


In other news, Greg has left the house! For the weekend anyway. I'm actually happy about this coz we've been in each other's pockets, each and every day for 9 weeks now (or is it 10!?) so I am going to VALUE this time to myself!! Not to mention a king-sized bed all to myself too... nice!! I think some serious scrapping time is in my future... Jaidyn is heading off today too, with his grandparents to go out to a Horse show at Warwick, and they'll be caravanning there for 2 nights, so its just me and Eli for the next 2 1/2 days, yay!!

Seeing as though most of the men from church are off camping together, all the ladies are having a High Tea this afternoon. We were going to go out to one, but seeing as though we'll all have the kids in tow, we'll settle for someone's house where we can send the kids downstairs with a DVD or out to the trampoline to keep them occupied :) Should be a nice afternoon :) Might have to take the camera too I think...

Well, hope you all have a wonderful long weekend (well if you're in Qld anyway - Labour Day on Monday!)

Nat xx

Baby steps...

MY BABY JUST TOOK 4 STEPS!!

He walked from one side of the kitchen (yes, its rather narrow) to the other!

Oh my, how CUTE!! How exciting!! I will have to keep an eye on him today to watch for some more...

Family shoot attempt #1

Oh my, I have been putting this off for too long now! And I know why! So darn hard to get everyone looking... and here I was thinking it would be Eli not looking at the camera... but he seemed to like the flashy light of the timer going off..... No, it was Jaidyn who "doesn't know how to smile" (his words)... so he's got this wonderful cheesy face thing happening, complete with the two gaps where his teeth fell out!! So... we may try again another day, but for now, this is it... and at least I'll have some to send to the MIL, SIL and to all my family too.

Here's the best of them...






And I wanted some of the boys by themselves too, but Eli was a bit 'over it' by then... and this was all I managed to get!



And while I was at it, thought I better get Greg to take some 'progress' shots of my baby belly. I am now 31 weeks! Gee, it goes by fast... Before I know it, I'll be in labour again, and then will have a newborn again, and back to no sleep! lol




Well, speaking of sleep, think I'll head to bed soon. Well, first I might have a bit of a play around with the new Oz Sketches sketch (thanks to Kim Archer, gorgeous work!) and then get to bed. Gotta work early in the morning!

Makes me smile...

This little boy and this GORGEOUS cheeky smile is one of the things that makes me smile every day of my life! There's not a day that goes by that he doesn't flash me one of these cheeky grins :) And I finally got it on camera! Could just eat him!


The little man seems to FINALLY be better and back to normal, touch wood. He was sick on and off for almost a week, sometimes bringing up his food, sometimes not. And it was mainly his bottle really. The doc said it was probably because his digestive track was working slower and he'd over-fill himself with milk, then blergh... so we cut his bottles down to 1/2 or 3/4. But I think he's all good again. Which is good, coz I was OVER washing sheets and clothes 2-3 times a day!

I've been busy a-scrapping! Yes! You read correctly. And I'm finishing pages (something I find hard!). And I'm loving them too. I got my entry in for the Oz Sketches DT search yesterday (like 7 hours early, lol!). Sorry I can't share them just yet, I really wish I could though! (Oh, actually I do have one I can share, but I forgot to take a pic of it yesterday, so will try to today) I wonder when we'll hear about who got DT. Not that I really think I have a chance - soooo many talented scrappers around and I think quite a few people entered too, but I really enjoyed the process and was really happy with what I scrapped, so that's what matters right! I printed out a whole heap of pics the other day so that's one thing to inspire me, plus I bought a big bag of buttons, so that's inspiring me too - I've wanted some for ages now but only had a couple or not the colours I want, so its fun to use buttons - now just to play with different ways to use them!

I have a weekend mostly to myself coming up - wahoo! Greg is going off with the men from church camping at Double Is Point for Sat and Sun night. Jaidyn is going camping with his grandparents for the same 2 nights - so just me and Eli, nice! Seeing as most of the men from church will be away, us ladies are going to put on a High Tea on Saturday afternoon and play ladies together! Nice! So I can see some serious scrapping time coming up this weekend, yay!

I have a 1st b'day party to start planning! Eek, 3 more weeks and my little man will be be ONE. How did that happen?? Gee... maybe I can just hide and pretend he isn't going to be one and it won't happen...? So.... any cool ideas anyone? I was thinking of a nice afternoon tea on a Saturday or something fairly low-key, with family and friends from church mainly. But any other ideas on top of that - something to make it a bit of fun maybe? Do you think the adults would like to play pass-the-parcel too? heehee... and food ideas? We will be running it on budget, as Greg still doesn't have a job. And then I have to think about birthday presents, eek! I want it all to be super special though for my gorgeous little man!!

Well, that's about all for today. Lots of housework to do, so better jet off.

Oh, just wanted to SHOUT OUT to my beautiful friend Lusi! Haven't done one for a while, so just wanted to say I LOVE YOU girl! You are awesome! I soooo cannot wait to meet you one day - hopefully the Lord gives us that opportunity sometime in the near future!