A Creative Life

Full House

All of last week, Lachlan was on school camp in Canberra.  I will admit to being a little concerned with him travelling such a long distance on a bus, but he was so excited.  There was one major advantage to him being on camp.... no fighting in the house.  It was so incredibly quiet all week!  But then Friday came along and it took all of 5 minutes and the fighting errupted!  In an instant I went from being oh so glad he was home to wondering how it was possible for peace and quiet to be shattered in such a short time frame!

Now that the house was full of all its residents, I decided it was time to take a couple more pictures of the kids together!  Unfortunately the youngest member of the household was not overly co-operative.  Actually lets just say that the 3 younger members all had there tantrum moments just to make life more complicated!!  But I at least have a reasonable photo of all of them together now!

 

Now when I see them all grouped together like this I realise I really do have a bit of a tribe happening these days!

Then little miss had to get in on the action all by herself!  Or maybe it is just me that can not resist capturing pictures of her!

 

I just adore this pic of little miss innocent!!

   

So I took a few pics of Miss K, I just couldnt help myself.

   

The little mischief makers!  They pretend they are sweet and innocent but I know better!!  Then it was time for the oldest and the youngest to get photographed together.

   

How little is Ashton!  He is definately getting bigger though.  His little belly is getting quite pudgy now and even his arms and legs are getting a little bit of fat on them!  My cow like capabilities are paying off!!

And then I see him here, perched on Pauls hand, and suddenly he looks so very very tiny!! Or Pauls hand is just very very big! LOL!!  So this  is this weeks update on little mister Ashton who is now 3 weeks old!  My goodness time slips by so very very fast.  Part of me feels so sad that this newborn stage will slip past before I am ready to let it go, but part of me will enjoy getting more sleep at the same time.

On the scrapping front, I have almost done a layout this week!  Well it is designed and sitting on my table, waiting for me to get some time to stick it all down!  I have been printing off so many photos lately, I just wish I had a little more time for myself to be able to scrap them.  I did however scrap this one on my indulgent weekend prior to having Ashton!

 

As can be seen lots and lots of prima flowers on this one!  I think I have flower issues and guess what.... I dont care!! LOL!!  I have even done a double LO for Prima with pics of Ashton and I have used flowers on that as well.  He is a baby and that makes it fine in my opinion! LOL!!  But dont worry, I am not planning on using pink in his ablum!  I cant go quite that far!  Once again, TFL!!

Baptism By Fire!

The past fortnight has been relatively easy due to the wonderful help of Paul while he has been on leave for two weeks, but that is all over today!  Back to work he goes and I get to see just how life is going to treat me with 5 kids!  He only has to work today and tomorrow this week, but then come Sunday he starts a 7 night straight graveyard shift!  Talk about a baptism by fire for me!  He leaves for work around 10pm and doesnt return until around 8am the next day.  Then sleeps until about 5pm.  So I have to do all the night time getting up to the baby, as well as get all 5 kids ready for school, drop them off and then keep the house reasonably quiet while he sleeps!  I am DREADING this shift starting!  The only reason I can manage 5 kids half the time is because of Pauls wonderful support with them, so this will be a very tough week!  I will survive!!  I hope! LOL!!

Well, I didnt get any pictures over the weekend like I was hoping for!  Time just rushes past so quickly sometimes!  But this morning, Ashton was very awake and reasonably happy, so I decided to take a couple of pics of him with Miss K!  I also took a couple with a Christmas hat on them as I have some Christmas themed layouts that I have to do in the next couple of weeks.  So here are some updated pics and little Ashton even has his eyes open for them!!

 

The next two are the same picture but 1 b&w and the other colour.  Which do you like the best?  I thought that the yellowish colour in the pictures may limit the paper choices so edited most of them in both colour and b&w so I can choose which will be easier to scrap.

 

Now for the Christmas themed pictures!

 

 

Look at that adorable little face!  I think he is going to have big blue eyes like Ethan.  Most people think he looks a lot like Ethan as a baby!

 

She is still miss photogenic, but she isnt as co-operative as she used to be!  I had to work hard to get that smile as she was insisting "I dont like it" referring to the hat! 

I can also share a couple of layouts from Color Combos Galore challenges!  The first one was based on a green and yellow combination, which at first I couldnt help thinking of the Australian Cricket team when I saw it!  I had to banish that visual from my mind before attempting to design a layout!!  I have scrapped a few of the pregnancy pictures that Paul took of me.  This one is about the last 4 weeks always seem to take the longest!

 

Then I did a layout that was journalling based.  I just really wanted to capture the story of Kaitlyns obsession with dogs.  At times I feel it is just so important to record the story so I dont forget later on and this is one of those layouts.  The combo was a yellow, blue, red and white one.

 

I have even managed to scrap a couple of layouts this week!  I have to admit to not feeling overly creative at the moment but the deadlines dont go away so I have to work through it! 

Have you ever missed the perfect photo op because you didnt have your camera??  Well, on Saturday it was my nieces birthday party and she had a party at a swimming centre.  Well, Miss K no longer fit her size 1 bathers from last year, so I had to get her a new pair.  I ended up buying  a size 3 thinking I could get a bit longer use out of it.  Well it fit her perfectly, but you couldnt get a cuter photo opportunity with her baby butt cheeks poking out the sides of her swimmers, little dimples and all!!  She had a ball in the water and is a little too fearless for my liking!  I think this little girl needs to learn to swim, pronto, as she is way to confident in water for a little cherub who can not swim!  I am looking forward to getting some pics of her in those adorable bathers though!!  OK enough ranting from me!  TFL!

Time Stealer

Despite spending so many hours of the day awake, I am actually accomplishing very little due to a very resourceful time stealer!!  He is packaged in such an adorable cute bundle, sweet and innocent, but oh so effective!  I think you can easily forget just how many hours of each day are taken up with feeding, burping, nappy changing and settling a newborn!  No sooner have you completed the cycle and it seems to be time to start all over again!  But one look at Miss Kaitlyn and I am abruptly reminded how short this stage is, how quickly they grow and within the blink of an eye that tiny helpless newborn morphs into a bossy little toddler!

Ashton is still very good, he still seems to have one stint each night of 4 hours sleep, so for that I am very greatful.  He is still a little jaundice and I have had him to the drs and today the dr thought he was looking a bit better which is good.  Ashton even managed to pee all over me at his drs appointment!!  I had to walk out of the clinic with the baby capsule carefully concealing the massive wet patch on my pants as it looked like I had peed myself!!  Boys and their fountains are such little treasures!

I have not taken any more "good" pics of Ashton this week but have plans to set up and take some more tomorrow with all the kids.  Lets hope the best laid plans do not go astray!  It has just been so hectic this week with school going back and having to get back into the routine of it all again.  But tomorrow I have plans to get some really lovely shots of them all together.  Fingers crossed my plans come to fruition.

On the scrapping front I can share the news that I have been chosen for the Aussie Scrap Source DT along with the very talented Kathie Link and Louise Nelson who bring so much diversity to the team.  I had 3 LO's up today on their blog!  Part of me thinks I must be slightly insane to take on such a venture at this time of complete bedlam in my life, but I try really hard to manage my time and committments effectively and so far am all up to date!  So here are the 3 LO's I had up on the blog today.

 

We were asked to do 3 layouts about ourselves or products we loved.  This one is just some random and possibly little known facts about me.  Like the fact I was born at home, I arrived so quickly Mum never had the chance to get to hospital.  Another random bit of info is that I was run over when I was 4yo!  Obviously I survived the ordeal!

 

I just love the new Crate Paper line and was thrilled to be able to work with it.  Dont you just love the unusual mix of colours!  I also wanted the layout to be a bit about me as well, so this is about how I always wanted a daughter, but in the end having one made me realise just how much I love having a girl, like a dream fulfilled!

This is my favourite of the 3 LO's and I had to use the beautiful and feminine papers of Websters Pages!  I feel like I have been pregnant so many times it has become quite normal for me to be in this condition!  LOL!! 

Well, my computer time is at an end, there are little rumbles eminating from the time stealer!!  Once again he is staking his claim on my time and the cycle of feeding, burping, changing and settling happens all over again.  These are the simple joys of motherhood!  TFL!!

Besotted!

I know I should be getting used to this whole new baby thing since it is the 5th time, but how on earth can one wee little baby capture your heart in such little time.  The pure innocence, their dependence, the cute little expressions and just their tiny helplessness completely sucks you in!!  Little Ashton has one of those cute little faces so full of expression.  He has the grumpy little old man look down pat!  Just so very cute. 

He has been so very easy (exception being his second night in hospital where he cried out every 15-20 minutes all night leaving Mummy completely sleep deprived and terrified she was going to have a very difficult baby) but since coming home he has been a little angel. He has a feed around 11.30pm and then goes through until 3.30-4.30am before his next feed. Totally do able for me as getting 4 hours of sleep in a row is enough to keep me sane!!

I want to try and capture photos of him growing up, hopefully weekly for the first couple of months because they change so very fast.  These are a few pics from Friday, not quite one week old yet!

 

Look at that very cute little face!! Total angel!

 

Even when sleeping he can manage a frown!!

Look, I even managed to get a little smile!!  Dont worry, I am not deluding myself that he did it in response to me, just his internal wind!!!!

How about this for a facial expression!!!  I have decided that those gorgeous posed photographs are VERY hard to capture!  Sometimes they object to being posed, even when they are supposed to be asleep!!

  

These were my favourites from the quick shoot!  He is a bit jaundice and the midwife is coming back tomorrow to check how he is and if he will need a blood test or not.  So fingers crossed he will be fine, but he looks quite reddish in all these pics as that is a sign of jaundice.  His little hands are almost blue in comparison to how reddish his face is!

Here are a couple of happy snaps of the children with their new brother.  They literally fight over who can hold him.  Miss K is the worst offender as she has taken to throwing the biggest tantrums when I say no, it is one of the other childrens turn to hold Ashton!!  Luckily she has yet to try dragging him around the house like one of her dolls, but I bet she is thinking about it!!

 

Exhibit A ..... Kaitlyn not holding Ashton, but Oh so wanting to.  Please note the photograph does not show the tantrum that followed, but evidence around her eyes in this next picture shows there was great amounts of crying before her position on the chairs changed!!

These were taken on day 2 in the hospital.

 

Here she is saying shhhh bubby, shhhh, just like a little Mummy!!!

 

Now that we are all home, this is what makes her happy!!!  How proud is she to be a big sister!!  I walked out from the kitchen and saw her with Ashton asleep like this on her chest and I had to grab the camera for a photo!  Just adorable.

I have had a couple of layouts that I did a week or so back go up on the Prima blog.  This was my October BAP for Prima.  We were all challenged to use the Tropics line, which is one of my favourites as I love all the bright colours of this line.  What amazed me was how so many of the DT were able to create quited muted layouts using these papers.  Well, I didnt try and mute it down at all, mine is bright all the way!!

 

I just adore creating flower collages from Prima flowers.  I love to mix up the sizes, textures, shapes and colours of the flowers and end up with a fresh and vibrant bouquet!  I also used glimmermist to colour the prima lace that I edged the circle with. 

I also want to take the time to say how much I appreciate all the well wishes that people have left on my blog for Ashtons safe arrival.  It has been so lovely to read the messages of congratulations on my sweet little mans arrival and I thank you all very much for this!

And Baby makes 5!!

Well my little bundle has arrived!!  And I have already taken lots of pictures!  Oh I am sharing just a few for now!

So lets start with the details:

Ashton Peter Koczwara

3100gms or 6lb13oz, 48cm length and 34.5cm head circumference.  He was born at 11.34am this morninging, Sunday 4th October 2009!

Lets say his arrivial was not without an enormous amount of pain and suffering on my behalf as he decided to present posterior!! Grrrrr!!

I went into labour at 5.30am while Paul was still at work!  I was quite calm with my call, telling him to come home and that was around 5.55am.  Paul was home by almost 7am and we literally threw the bags into the car and left the moment he got home (his Mum was looking after the children) By the time we got to the hospital the midwives took one look at me and thought I would be done within the hour.  But they were wrong!!!  That posterior baby boy sent me to hell and back in the pain department.  I was too out of it with pain to bother with counting contractions etc but Paul said they were coming every 3 mins, lasting 2min 30sec each and giving me only 30 seconds of rest in between.  After about an hour and a half of that, my eyes were rolling in my head, I couldnt keep my head straight, could not talk co-herantly or hold eye contact.  I could hear them but I was literally so delirious with pain I was shaking and all of the above.

Somehow I communicated I couldnt keep going like this with a natural birth and an epidural was arranged.  I think Paul was very relieved about this!!  Mind you the epidural took an hour to work completely.  Which is very frustrating, but once it did, bliss!!!  The next 2 hours sailed along easily and Ashton arrived safely at 11.34am, to a happy but very exhausted mummy!

So here is the evidence, including this shot that was taken within moments of him being placed on my chest!  Cheesy little fella he was!!

Stretched out for his measure!!

He looks so much like his other siblings as babies in this picture

 

The details

A few hours later, look like we have a hand chewer!

 

Lachlan with Ashton. Who was so excited he was telling the neighbours next door!

 

Cameron with Ashton. Poor Cameron has a bad cold and we kept sending him to wash his hands the moment he coughed!  He didn't argue!

 

Ethan with Ashton.  Little Ethan was totally besotted with his new baby brother, but he just had one problem, getting past his little sister to get a hold!  She is one bossy piece of work!

A couple of Kaitlyn with Ashton

 

Oh she looks all sweet and innocent in this picture holder her new brother but I am one very worried mother as she takes posessiveness to new heights!  According to miss K, "he's my dolly!!!, Go away!!" Hmm I have visions of her trying to drag poor little Ashton around the house by an arm or leg in the future!  I am going to have to make sure that this little girl is not left alone with her brother in a room!

So this is our new and expanded family of 5 children!  Wish me LUCK!!!