Project Life, Weeks 24 & 25

Hi y'all!
Here are some more of my Project Life pages!

Week 24: LHS.
I do love this WRMK page protector, the little square pockets at the top and bottom are perfect for Instagram pics (which I take A LOT of!) plus the middle section is good for those extra pics that can't fit anywhere else.
This week was a regular ol' week for us, just hanging out at Bunnings, and at home, some everyday things around the house like Jaimeson cleaning his teeth, and playing with trains (the usual!) & I went to the Quilt and Craft show with Mum. Plus the middle section was good to fit in 4 pics of Jaimeson's swimming lessons, which I was super happy to get along to watch! I usually work on Wednesday, so Will takes him, but this time I got to go watch, and he's awesome at swimming!

Week 24: RHS
This RHS page protector is also by WRMK and has a long pocket down the side which is perfect for our "Week in review".
We visited Alicia during this week, she looks so little in these pics, compared to now! That's another thing I love about PL, seeing how the children grow up over the course of a year, a lot changes!
Also this week I used a "filler card" about what we're watching on TV at the moment. I know this will be so interesting to look back on over the years when TV shows come and go! It will be the equivalent of "Oh man, I can't believe anyone ever actually liked Beverly Hills 90210, it's so crap!" {giggles}

Week 25: LHS
I was so happy to have done the craft at Playgroup this week cos it was hand printing, and Jaimeson's handprint  made a perfect addition to PL! So cute!! I really need to handprint the boys more often, remind me! {writing notes on back of hand}.
This week we had a lunch date & Op Shopping trip to the city, there are my Vintage scores! They seem to be appearing more often in PL, I must be finding good things! {high five!} And there is also a little story on the right hand long strip of the page protector talking about Jaimeson and his love of the Home Ice Cream Van's tiny chocolate covered hearts.

Week 25: RHS
I had to censor these pics for use on my blog, you can just imagine faces in place of the hearts if you wish {wink}.
Check out Jaimeson in the bottom right pic, he's singing karaoke into a skipping rope handle. LOL! He is just the funniest! He uses lots of things as microphones- the turkey baster, skipping rope, peg toys etc. If it's remotely shaped like a microphone, it gets sung in to. {belly laugh!} Australian Idol get ready!
I used lots of cards from my Studio Calico PL kit this week, which is awesome cos I've got quite a collection of 3x4 cards, but I use mostly 4x6 pockets! It's gonna take me eons to use up all my 3x4 cards!
How is your PL going?
:) C

He's Here!!

Welcome Flinders (Flynn) Lok Ping Lam!!

Our special little guy was born Tuesday 22/10/13 at 8:26pm. He weighed a hefty 4.455kg/ 9lb 13oz {whoa!} & was 52.5cm long.

I ended up having a water birth, which was unexpected! But I was in the bath (an awesome pain reliever for contractions!) and labour advanced a bit quicker than expected, so the midwives decided to leave me there rather than try to move me between contractions. So even though he was quite a massive baby, I managed to push him out with only gas as a pain reliever, and I didn't need any stitches or anything after either. Woo Hoo {high five!} I thank the bath for that!

It was a quick labour too, I was induced with prostin at 2:30pm, my water broke at 6pm & he was born at 8:26pm! Quite quick!

Here is Jaimeson meeting his little brother for the first time!

 

So in love already! Like honestly, Jaimeson gives Flynn about 4000 kisses a day! Flynn is going to have to get used to a bit of rough love!

Daddy is a bit smitten too!

 So we're settling into life as a family of 4, having a few breastfeeding issues with Flynn, but hopefully it's just a phase that we'll be able to work through. It's a bit stressful at the moment though!
But I have to say, I have adjusted to mummyhood a lot easier this time, than with Jaimeson. It took me a whole 9 days before I cried this time, and with Jaimeson I had cried so much before we even left hospital! LOL!
So now I've got heaps of pics to use for Project Life! LOL! How to choose???!!
:) C

Op Shop Adventure to the Campbelltown region.

Hi y'all!
I don't know what you like to do on your day off, but around here, we like to go Treasure Hunting! AKA, OP SHOPPING! It has become more than a small outing to see if we can pick up some new favourite pieces, it has become an OBSESSION! We plan far-away drives to pinpoint a number of shops in a particular area and go get 'em!

A recent trip was to the Campbelltown area, where we hadn't been before, and our list included 9 Op Shops. The Pyrex wasn't as abundant as I had hoped it would be {slight frowny face} but I did still get a few treasures, and BEST OF ALL I FOUND FRIENDSHIP PATTERN IN THE WILD!! {chest bump} Can you believe it? No, me neither! {high five!} We were at Salvos at Narellan, and there were shelves and shelves of homewares and I was scouring them, thinking there HAD to be a piece of Pyrex hidden in there somewhere! But I couldn't find any! On my very last scour of all the shelves, I looked deep amongst a selection of crap and rubbish, and there was the tiny little Friendship Fridgie. Oh. My. Gosh!! I carefully extended my arm into the shelf to pic it out from amongst the junk, all the time thinking it was an apparition, and as soon as my hand got near it I expected it to vanish in a puff of smoke. Well, that didn't happen! I grabbed it, and the grin on my face was endless! Then I thought something else might happen, like I might go in to early labour, which would prevent me from getting to the counter to pay for it. LOL!! {giggles}. It was $3 which was a steal too. Bummer it didn't have the lid, and i did search high and low for it. I need to find the Pyrex Lid Graveyard, I've got quite a few missing their lids!
The next best Op Shop out in that area was Lifeline in Campbelltown, where I got the 2 Yellow Flannel Flower casseroles with lids, which I was able to trade via my FB Pyrex group for a Blue Garland Casserole and a small Friendship Casserole. My 2 current favourite patterns! So happy with that! I also found the white Fire King Fridgie with lid there too, normally I wouldn't buy Fire King, but this shape was uber useful I thought. And it's only the second fridgie I've seen in the wild, so I had to get it!
The pink Melamine dinner set I got at Yagoona Salvos on our way back home, it was $20 all up for all those pieces, which was quite a steal! Jaimeson loves to drink "Cup of tea?" from the pink melamine tea cup! It's so cute!
So that has been a recent Op Shopping Adventure for us! I hope you liked hearing about it!
:) C

Lentil's Impending Arrival

Hi y'all!
I thought (seeing as it's only about 2 weeks away! OMG!) that I would share a little of the Lentil happenings before he/she is born!

This was taken last week at almost week 36, when Lentil provided me with the best shelf for my Town & Country Pyrex bowl, holding a fruit salad! {giggles}. Lentil is sitting much further out the front than Jaimeson did, and quite up high too, so I had lots of people at my niece Venice's Christening on the day before, say to me "Are you SURE you have 4 weeks to go?" "Are you SURE it's not twins?" Can I just tell you people, you might think it's a joke and you're being the funniest person around, but to the person on the receiving end, who has heard the same joke over and over again, from lots of different people on the one day.... IT AIN'T FUNNY! You try carrying around a 15kg lump tied to your front and run after a toddler all day! I'm tired!! My sense of humour is waning! {sigh!}. Anyway, I thought I would take advantage of Lentil's big bump to have a hands-free afternoon tea. LOL! Thanks Lentil!
The following day I had an Ultrasound to check on Lentil's growth because of my Type 1 Diabetes. (Also another reason I am sensitive when told I look massive, cos I spend so much time trying to adjust my insulin to my food intake and increasing hormones during pregnancy, to ensure Lentil doesn't get too big! I don't like being told I am massive, cos that means baby could be massive and I am failing at my job!)
The Sonographer took the measurements 3 times, and it looked as though Lentil was measuring average for 39 weeks instead of 36 weeks, e.g. in the 98th percentile for 36wks. This was despite measuring on the 50th percentile at my last ultrasound 3 weeks before. How could it have grown so much in 3 weeks?! My sugars had been quite stable, it was quite a shock. So when I got home, I had a little cry. What had I done to cause such a hugh increase in size for poor little Lentil, in such a short timeframe? They estimated Lentil to be about 3.4kg already (give or take 500g- which does seem like a lot on such a small weight!) and Jaimeson was born at 3.56kg at 39+2wks!
So I decided it was time I made Lentil's bed, all ready for him/her, just in case at my Antenatal Appt the next day they said it was getting too big and I had to be induced. I had all these wild thoughts about having the baby this week and I wasn't prepared (more tears {sob!}) I made Lentil's bed (a vintage cot, the same style as the one I used to sleep in when I was a baby), with vintage yellow hand-painted rabbit sheets that Mum made for us girls & the gorgeous bright Woodland pram cover/light quilt with cool green chevron backing that Mum made for Lentil. Also in the cot is a Frog rattle that I bought for the next baby when we were in Hawaii last year (who would have thought the "next baby" would be almost here already!), the elephant softie I made for Lentil, and the cool Bon Jovi flat mouse toy Felicity bought for Lentil. So cute!!
The next day was my Antenatal Appt, and when I finally got in to seeing the Doctors, it was my favourite Dr and the head Gyno that I got to see. Oh how happy I was to see Dr Jenkins! When he had a look at the ultrasound result, he was so non-phased & calm & cool about it! He said Lentil was quite tall, cos he/she has a long femur measurement, but normal head circumference but was "a little bit fat". So Lentil is getting a bit too much sugar, but not astronomically or damagingly so. Estimated birth weight is about 4kg, and they still wont look at inducing until at least 38wks. Boy that made me happy to hear! He really put my mind at ease, and I am just trying to rein in my sugar levels even tighter now, so Lentil doesn't continue on this massive growth spurt!
So that's the recent update on Lentil, only about 2 weeks (or less! {gasp!}) to go! Wish me all the best, and send me good birthing vibes!
:) C

Project Life, Weeks 21 & 22

Hi y'all!
I'm back with more Project Life layouts for you! I know I am super behind with posting, considering this week is week 41, and here I am only posting week 21 & 22! You may slap the back of my hand {ouch!}.
Week 21: Left Hand Side.
The extreme close up of Jaimeson at top right is the Selfie he was taking on Will's camerain the pic below that. How cool is that? He LOVES the camera, and has gotten so good at taking selfies, and also pics of everyone else! He'll run up to you and say "CHEEEEEEEEESE"!!! in a loud voice, and then SNAP! You're caught doing whatever you're doing. Like one time he came in to me on the toilet, with the camera. I managed to deflect that one before it became embarrassing! LOL!

WK 21: RHS.

Just some fun times out and about with our family, shopping at Parramatta (and getting a ride on the Thomas train, which he liked until it started moving!), the park and habging out together on the lounge.
I also included a 4x6 card with words that Jaimeson could say at 2 years old. I can't believe how good his vocab is now, considering this is pretty much the complete list of words he knew only 4 months ago. Now he can say 4 word sentances! What a champion!


Week 22: LHS.
This week started with an Op Shop Safari to the Central Coast (which didn't yield very much!) but we did have an awesome lunch at a Fish & Chip shop at Kincumber! Also on this side is Jaimeson's favourite day of the week- Tuesday- which is our Bin Day. We always have to run out the front to see the Bin Man. What simple pleasures!
Granny & Papa visited, it rained so Jaimeson got to splash about in the puddle that collects on our back verandah in his favourite gumboots, and there is my weekly tummy shot. Boy, you should see it now! SO BIG!! {running hands over a tummy that feels fit to explode!}

Week 22: RHS.
Yum Cha with Ye Ye (Will's Dad). We also took the opportunity to ride the Monorail one last time, cos it was shutting at the end of June. Jaimeson loved it, and I always loved the view into the offices as you zoomed past one or two stories up! When we went to Yum Cha in the city this week, the monorail line is all gone! So sad!
This week our local supermarket got those tiny children's trolleys in, and Jaimeson absolutely loved pushing his around and putting our groceries in it! Will has to watch him though, cos he does like to abandon it now & then, when he forgets what he's doing, or gets distracted by the chocolate milk section. LOL!
How is your Project Life going?
:) C

Project Life, Week 20... a very special week!

Hi y'all!

Here is week 20 of my Project Life, and it was Jaimeson's birthday week! The WRMK page protector with the 2 big pockets was a great choice, cos it meant I could do a nice little collage of pics from Jai's Under The Sea Birthday Party! I can't believe my little man is 2!! What a fun party it was too :)

This week was my booking appointment at Auburn Hospital for Lentil! How exciting {smiles}. And also Jaimeson's first attempt at sitting on the potty, and it was productive!! He showed us what he could do that first day, then not again for ages afterwards! LOL! {giggles} It's funny having that all documented in my album. But hey, that's what Project Life is all about!!
This right hand side also has my weekly pregnancy tummy shot, more party pics and Jaimeson opening up his birthday presents (I'm not so concerned about having them all in absolute choronological order across the spread from left to right, as long as the pics from the right week are in the right spread and however they fit best, it's right for me!)

This week also has an insert page (this pocket page protector is by Bazzill) to show lots of pics from our outing to Train Works at Thirlmere to ride a Steam Train for Jaimeson's birthday. He loved it so much! And of course, I wanted to include heaps of pics of the day, so I decided to do a whole insert just for that one day. That's what inserts are for right? Yep! This is the front of the insert....

And this is the back of the insert...... Also, cos I plan on having 2 albums for each year, one Jan-June and one July-Dec, I have plenty of room to include extra pages here and there when need be. What a fun day we had at Thirlmere, and great that I could include so many pics in my PL album, cos I haven't gotten around to doing a full 12x12 of this outing yet (and who knows if I ever will, with Lentil less than 8 weeks away! Whoa! {hand brushing sweat off forehead!})

I hope you're enjoying my PL pages!
:) C

Project Life, Weeks 18 & 19

Hi y'all!
Some more Project Life pages for you!
Week 18

This week started out with a coupon lunch date at Mickey's in Paddington. YUM! We even ordered Jaimeson his own little tiny "slider" beef burger, which was perfectly sized for him! He normally just shares our lunches, but this was so cute & cute to see him eating off his own little plate of food!
In Week 18 we also announced the impending arrival of Lentil, posting this pic on Facebook of all our shoes, with a sweet little chalkboard that says "Coming this October" above the baby shoes.I was inspired by all the baby announcements on Pinterest, and I was so happy with how it turned out! {hearts rising from head}

Right side of Week 18, including a trip to the city to meet up with Genevieve & her BF; boiled eggs on vegemite toast for breakfast with bacon on the side (how can you beat that??!), and dinner with Benny, including this $500 Lobster dish! {hands slapping cheeks in astonishment!} That was a big OOPS, cos he didn't realise it was going to cost that much! OMG!!

Week 19, left side. Look at the spunky little monkey in his cool kid sunglasses! Boy Jaimeson makes me laugh! {giggles} There is my growing baby tummy- I have included a side shot every week now, and boy it's much much bigger than that at the moment!!
A trip to Granny and Papa's for Mum's Craft Sale, which has photos that carry on over to the right side.

Here we are at Mum's sale! I did a little collage in 6x6 of mum's sale, to slip into the big pocket on this WRMK page protector. I always find it a little hard to fill these big 6x6 pockets, and either do a photo collage (like here) or I treat it like a mini scrapbook page. I'm still loving using all the different shaped page protectors, I think it makes it more interesting for me! But you have to be organised and kinda know what shape you're up using to when taking pics for the week! I like to have pics that fill most of the pockets in the right orientation, but that's just me!
The right side also has a collage of Mother's Day and our lunch out to Hooters (not your traditional Mother's Day lunch place, but it was YUM!), and also an every-day pic of Will reading books to Jaimeson. I am trying to include more of those every day events in my album, so I don't forget them!

Are you ready for the weekend? I hope you get lots of time to do some fun stuff! And to enjoy Father's Day too!

:) C

Baby on my mind...

Hi y'all!
Well, today marks the beginning of Week 31 for Lentil (aka Baby Lam 2). How time is really flying! {whoosh, clock hands flying around like mad} Like monumentally flying! Before I know it, we will be a week away from Due Date and I wont have anything organised!! Argh {freak out!} What am I going to do with 2 children??!! I hope I can still steal some time away now and then to do some crafting!
At least having baby on my mind means I like to make Baby Cards too! LOL!
Here are some recent Baby Cards I've made.
I do love Elephants, especially on baby things. So you will notice a little theme here! LOL! Lots of elephants!
This first card is a bit of a neutral baby card, perfect for a baby shower. And a good little chance to use up some of my button stash! I must use buttons more often, I have oodles!

More elephants! This big cutie is by Kaisercraft, and I made him a little Congratulations sign to hold, with the sentiment from Stampin Up. A wee bit of washi on the side of the card is sweet too {smiles}. And I have enough washi to go around the Earth 3 times, so every tiny piece helps to reduce my stash {giggles}.
 
This Whale is from Stampin Up's "Oh Whale" set which I absolutely love! The waves and little star fish are also from the same set, isn't it just so cute! There's that SU sentiment again too. I love the font of that Congratulations, so elegant, yet not too scrolly and formal. Just right!

Another whale card :) This Congratulations sentiment is also from Stampin Up. It's one of my most used stamps! I love the soft blues of these baby boy cards too, so sweet!

And for the little boy who's parents are not into animals, how about a New Arrival card with a plane on it? It's a sweet Kaisercraft plane, and the sentiment is from Kaisercraft too. The stars are Stampin Up. Theres more blue/brown colour combos, I must have had those colour paper scraps on my desk!

And a brighter Baby Boy card here, with robot background paper and the Geometric arrow stamp from Stampin Up's "Oh Hello" set (one of my current faves!) I also stamped the big oval chevron from the Oh Hello set, and punched out the big star with my SU punch. I love how the chevron star looks! It's so pretty! More washi in the background too. Yeah! Use it up!

One last boy card, this one is a bit softer, with shades of blue and yellow (and just a tad bit of light brown!) The boat and bike are from Stampin Up and I was inspired by a card I saw on Pinterest for this one. I put a tiny pearl in the centre of the bike's wheel too, looks sweet! Have I also mentioned I have enough ribbon to wrap our whole house about 10 times? Yeah, I've really gotta use up my ribbon stash too!

And just to show I don't only make boy cards, here's a Baby Girl card! I love using the paper doilies on cards, and here I used a half one, some of my giant stash of ribbons, a few buttons from my massive collection and an elephant! It all came together so sweetly! Love this card.

I hope you've had a chance to be creative this week too!
:) C

A day at the Zoo!

Hi y'all!

On Monday we had such a fun day trip to the Zoo with Papa and Granny (or Bunny, as Jaimeson says Granny! So cute!) I hadn't been to Taronga Zoo for about 12 years, and same for Mum and Dad I think, so it was a fun day out for all of us, not just Jaimeson!
We asked Jaimeson what he was excited to see at the Zoo, and he said Chickens, Cows and Sheep. LOL! I think we could have just gone on a drive in the country! (We bypassed the boring animals like that, and only went for the exotic animals at the zoo! Cos they do have a farmyard section!)

We caught the train into Circular Quay where we met up with Papa and Bunny, had a coffee, then caught the Ferry across the Harbour to Taronga. This is totally HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. It's such a beautiful trip across the harbour, there was a P&O ship in at the Overseas Passenger Terminal, the sun was shining and the view from the ferry is so beautiful. 
Here we are outside the Historic Entrance to "Taronga Zoological Park". Self-taken, of course! Once you get off the ferry there is a bus waiting to take you up to the Zoo's main entrance, or if you have a pre-bought Zoo ticket, you can go straight on the Sky Safari Gondolas up to the top.

So we're inside!! Commence Animal picture bombardment!!

Aligators: can you see 2 of them basking in the sunlight on that sandy patch back there? Jaimeson is pointing out a concrete one at the front of the enclosure!






And a crocodile! Steve Irwin would be proud of Jaimeson & Papa! Check out their Croc-wrangling skills!

 One of my favourites were these Mountain Goats, who have the most spectacular view of the Harbour Bridge as they perch on the side of their rocky mountain! They are so agile and just pop up the top like they're walking on flat ground!

I really loved the Giraffes! You forget just how tall they really are! Imagine being an explorer in Africa, and coming across them for the first time. They are so amazing! They came up quite close, cos it was feeding time, and we got a good look at them!



Bunny and Papa bought Jaimeson a gorgeous soft little Giraffe at the Zoo and he has taken it to bed every night this week & read it stories and watched Nemo with it. I think he likes Giraffes too! (Or Daraffe as he calls them!)

An action shot from walking around the Zoo, and a nice Photobomb by Willy! The sun came out half way around the Zoo and so we stripped down layers cos it was a gorgeous warm day! Perfect for the Zoo!

Next it was on to the Big Cats trail, where it seems the Big Cats are quite lazy! Bunny & Jaimeson are checking out the sleeping Bengal Tigers here.

And here is Will, Jaimeson & Papa admiring the sleeping Lion! LOL! I wanted to see some action! We were quite lucky on our trip around the zoo, to see many of the animals being fed at the exact time we came upon their enclosures. Like the Chimpanzees, the goats, the Giraffes & the Elephants.


Talking about Elephants... here they are!! They are definitely one of my favourite animals at the Zoo! Aren't they just so gorgeous! And there were so many of them! At least 7 Indian Elephants in this enclosure, plus they have the Male elsewhere. Maybe he causes too much shenanigans if left with his herd of women {tongue in cheek!}
Jaimeson loved the elephants too & kept "Brrrrrr-ing!" with his arm up in the air, mimicking the elephants! It was their feeding time too, so was fun to watch them get peanuts out of the big tubes the keepers threw down to them. Some of them banged it on the ground (much to Jaimeson's delight) and some rolled it along to get the peanuts to fall out. Thoroughly entertaining either way!

Further down the big hill we came to the Sea Life exhibits. There were plenty of seals and penguins & we sat down to watch the Seal Show, which I highly recommend! It was awesome! We got there nice & early and got a seat in the second row, with a fantastic view & we only got a little bit splashed during the show! I know Jaimeson loved the seal show too, cos he had a chip in one hand and a muesli bar in the other, and he didn't eat either of them for the whole 20mins of the show, he was mesmerized! How awesome is this jumping seal! What a cool pic too {high five!}

Next we went on to the Penguins, where you can watch them from under the water through a big glass window. On the way out there was this skylight over the walkway, then I saw a penguin flit past, and I realised it was another window on the roof and the penguins swam over the top of us at breakneck speed (man they are quick!) This has to be the best view of penguins EVER! And such a surprise, when I thought it was only a skylight!!

After the Sea Life area we caught the Sky Safari gondolas up to the top of the Zoo, then back down again, to take advantage of the cool view! It's a great way to fly over the exhibits, and also a fantastic view of the city from up there! It's included in the Zoo entry fee, so try it!



And you get a cool view of the Elephants! There's our little gondola's shadow too!

Back on the Ferry to Circular Quay, an Ice Cream then on the train back home again. Look how big Lentil pokes out after a day of walking around the Zoo! That's a big Bump!!


Wow, what a wonderful day it was! Jaimeosn totally crashed out on the Train on the way home, he was spent! But we had a fabulous day, and I really enjoyed Taronga Zoo! It's definitely easy to get around, with great paths and boardwalks & super easy with a stroller/pram. The only thing I recommend doing is taking your own packed lunch. We took sandwiches and I was so happy about that, cos food inside the Zoo is astronomically expensive (even more than Disneyland!!)
We also had a coupon for 25% off from the Entertainment Book, which saved Will & I $11 each on our tickets (Jaimeson was already free).
Thanks for coming with us Papa & Bunny! We had a wonderful day!!
:) C