Little Fish Creations

It’s all baby all the time here at the moment.

I feel like I’m slowly emerging from the baby fog. Though I wonder how we will go next week when Chris’ mum leaves… We’re gonna have to cook and do our own washing again Eeeek!

So there’s nothing too thrilling to share except I’m reading Jane Austen’s Persuasion, Jasper is growing and getting chubbier by the day and Chris is flat out at work.

Anyway, gotta go, feeding time…

I’ve started to feel a little bit creative again with ideas for a felting project, some little paintings and some more stitching floating around.

Time and energy are in short supply, but I love to dream up ideas, so I’m pretty happy anyway.

Jasper turned 4 weeks old today! Time is moving swiftly and while I love to watch him develop and grow, I also want to treasure and relish every moment.

I thought I’d quickly pop in here and throw up a picture of some stitching I’ve been doing recently. The cross stitch is something I started this week as I decided I wanted to make a wrist band/cuff to help me remember which breast I need to feed Jasper with at the next feed. (I’ve found an old friendship band which is doing the job in the meantime)

I’d envisaged a narrow band with a simple, but effective repeated motif, but something happened and it turned out sort of random and a little too wide perhaps. I think I need to introduce a different colour in there to liven it up too, so we’ll see how we go.

The other piece was stitched by me a few days leading up to giving birth to Jasper. Today is the first time I’ve looked at it since then.)

I used a few new-to-me techniques: Whipped running stitch stacked next to each other in the radiating triangles and I also stacked chainstitch to create the long brown rectangles and to strengthen up the outer part of the centre circle.

I don’t have a plan for how to use this piece. I’d just done teeny tiny doodle that I liked and then just launched into it while beached on the couch watching daytime TV… Ellen, Dr Phil, The View and Oprah (who seemed to have an unhealthy obsession with amputees the week I watched). Thankfully I don’t feel bored enough to watch these shows regularly… I’m not even sure if we get those channels out here in Jabiru anyway.

Chris goes back to work on Monday 🙁 I’ve loved having him with us and would love it if he was here all the time… but someone’s gotta bring home the bacon. Chris’ mum (Grandma) is coming to stay tommorow (yay!!), it’ll be great to see her and I hope she enjoys spending some yummy grandma time with Little J.

We are happy announce the safe arrival of Jasper David Jennings.  Possibly the most delicious baby ever!

Born via emergency c-section at 6:20am, 9 May at Darwin Private Hospital. The labour was pretty intense but, as everyone says, the memory of the pain does fade quickly.  I’ll put together a seperate post with the gory details later.

He’s a big ‘un at 9pd 6oz, 54cm long.

Yesterday was the due date…. but the only baby I got to hold was this little 2yo crocodile.  His skin was SOOO soft and cool to touch.

I’ve been in Darwin now for 2 weeks.  The first week I didn’t cope too well as Chris was still in Jabiru and I was worried about what would happen if I went into labour while he was there.  Anyway, things are just better when he’s around, so I’ve perked up since he’s been here.

I’ve been reading to fill in the time.  I read High Noon by Nora Roberts, I was expecting something like a bigger, better romance novel, which it was, but it was also quite violent with lots of shooting and death and the sexual assault of the main character… I didn’t expect that at all.

Then I read Marley and Me by John Grogan.  I really liked this book about a guy, his family and his labrador. It made me miss Reuben who is waiting it out at a boarding kennel. 

And last night I finished Barbara Kingsolver’s book The Poisonwood Bible.  Another good choice for me 🙂  I really love another one of her books The Prodigal Summer which I’ve read a few times.  

I was talking about The Poisonwood Bible with Chris the other day and he said, "oh a woman’s book"  Huh?  It’s just a bloody good book and I think it could be enjoyed by both genders!!  Then I asked him if he had EVER read a book by a woman.  He could only think of one, and that was they biography of Deny King "King of the Wilderness".  I don’t think that really counts given that it was written about a man and a pretty tough one at that! 

How annoying!  I’ve hooked up with a sexist reader!  Though I suppose I shoudn’t be suprised since his taste falls squarely into 2 catagories: Science Fiction (but NOT fantasy), and non-fiction…. generally really thick books about world war 2.

So the wait continues.  Today I read that 75% of babies are born after the due date and my obstetrician told me the average baby is born at 40 plus 3 days.  So why don’t they just give us that as our due date then?  Buggered if I know!

Our baby is due in just over 4 weeks, which means I only have 2 more weeks before I leave home to wait for his arrival. Excitement and nervousness is building, but I’ve also been very lazy and haven’t packed a single thing.  I’ve got my fingers crossed that I’m not caught out.

I’m thinking and moving very slowly at this stage.  Probably a combination of hormones, lack of sleep and the physical reality of growing a baby.

So the yellow and white quilt hasn’t progressed much and in reality it may not be completed before I go, it just depends on how I feel in the coming week.  But I have sketched out a few ideas and browsed through my yellow fabrics.  

I had initally dismissed this fabric as ‘too orangey’, But it really is a beautiful colour and I think it’s strong enough to provide a striking combination with the white.  So this is where I’m headed at the moment.

Random is about as much as I can ‘do’ at the moment.

Birds: I haven’t seen a sulphur crested cockatoo since we’ve been in Jabiru, but there are plenty of corellas.  They like to roost together by the hundreds per tree where they make a very eerie moaning noise as a group.  I like cockatoos better, they have way more personality.

Also there are heaps of whistling kites gliding around the place,  I bet they’re hunting lizards… probably with more success than Reuben.

Today: This morning I went to a mothers group at the local caravan park pool, very cool and refreshing with lots of mini savloys, fairy bread and sausage rolls.  Then I came home and watched 12 episodes of Sex and the City.  Probably not the most productive way to spend my afternoon.

Making: My focus is totally shot to hell, and it was never much good in the first place.  I couldn’t even bring myself to do some hand embroidery while wasting time this afternoon.  I’m still mulling over the idea of a yellow and white quilt… I’m thinking raw edge applique and triangles.  Haven’t put pen to paper for sketching yet, and still haven’t purchased a bed for it to go on.

The other room: We have a second living room in this house.  It currently houses Chris’ desk, some cupboards which are covered in junk and a freezer.  It’s dreadful.  I have an idea of a long desk along one wall which Chris and I can share as a home office and a few armchairs to make it relaxy and informal.   But I’m stumped at the first hurdle… the long desk.  I know I could do this stylishly and cheaply if there was an Ikea within 2000km of here. 

Also, I want a new couch.  I know which one I want too… but I’d have to get it shipped here from Sydney or something and that’s just crazy. And there’s a bit of weird co-incicdence with it too, totally weird.

But you know,  we have a whole container load of stuff in storage in Melbourne.  Perhaps it isn’t wise to buy new stuff when we could totally clutter this place up with stuff we already own. (but I hate that couch, and I don’t want that bed and the dining table is enormous)

Maybe I should wait until after I have this baby.  Maybe I’ll be thinking clearer.

Wild Dogs:  There are plenty of wild dogs around here, they are more ‘dog like’ than the packs around Nhulunbuy which have a real a dingo look about them.  We were told that at certain time of day there a heaps at of wild dogs at the tip… but on the day we visited, there was only one.

We had one try and get into our rubbish bin at about 4am last night, but my personal security team … Reuben and Chris… scared it away.

Sleep: Until that moment, I’d been having a pretty good night’s sleep.  A fairly uncommon experience for me at the moment as I just can’t get comfortable.  Also, my hands get swollen and my fingers get pins and needles in the night.  It’s pregnancy induced carpal tunnel syndrome yay!!!.  Suprisingly, the lack of sleep doesn’t really worry me, probably because I’m free to nap during the day 🙂

Preparations: Baby J is due in 6 weeks. Im not doing much to prepare, though we purchased a basinette and a baby sling last weekend. I do have lots of clothes washed and sorted, but the change table and cot are still to be painted (by Chris)… until then, the baby’s room will continue to look like a junk room.

Last night I wondered if I should make a single bed quilt for the (as yet unpurchased) spare bed.  Chris’ mum will be coming to stay for 3 weeks in June and it might be nice for the bed to have a quilt.  I’m thinking yellows and white.  Just thinking mind you…

This Saturday we are going to an all day birth class in Darwin.  We’re going down on Friday so Chris can get new tires for the car and I can see the obstetrician. 

Did you know that I have to go to Darwin to wait out the last two weeks before the baby’s due date?  Somebody suggested to Chris that he try and arrange to work out of the Darwin office during this time.   Now why didn’t we think of that!  It might not work out, but it could be worth a shot, if only so he can avoid a 3hr drive to Darwin (with no phone reception) while I’m in labour.

I think that’s enough random thoughts for today 🙂