Queenslander!

Geekling is a proud Queenslander, particularly around this time of year in the middle of State of Origin football season.  For those not familiar with the game, Queensland players wear maroon and for every year Geekling has been alive and several before it, Queensland have dominated their New South Wales opponents who wear light blue.  

Geekling knows his maroon football jersey is a Queensland jersey.  But he also seems to think that the colour maroon is called "Queensland"!

These are last year's photos.  I must get a photo of Geekling in his jersey next Wednesday for the final and tie-breaking match of this year.

Its a BOY!

7 weeks ago we were told during a routine 20 week scan that our Newbie is a girl.  The sonographer was certain.  But just last week I had to have a further scan as I had been experiencing some pains, and our little she is actually a he!  We're having another little BOY! There was no doubt about it, the new sonographer showing me some very explicit images during the scan!

Luckily, we hadn't gotten rid of Geeklings old clothes and hadn't spent much on girls clothes and decorations.  I've packed away the girls items and am unpacking Geekling's old things.

Telling Geekling he was getting a little brother rather than a sister wasn't too bad.  At first he thought we meant he was getting one of each, but he now understands he's getting a little brother - a boy just like him.  He is no more or less excited than he was to be having a sister, I think he's just thrilled to have a baby.

Learning about... Germany!

Geekling got given a felt world map for Christmas the year before last.  I had also collected a number of cultural exchange packages from penpals around the world and put them aside until he was of an age that he was interested.

I remembered them a couple of weeks ago while Geekling was home sick and I was racking my brain for things to do.  I hung his map on the blank wall by his bed and we opened our first exchange package - it was from Germany!

Waiting patiently to open it!

Look at what I got!

What a pack it was!  It included a lovely letter from a family in Germany, a map showing where Germany was in Europe which helped Geekling to find it on his map, postcards, a flag to colour in, some tourism fliers, a puzzle, stickers, Euro coins, a miniature flag, foam soccer ball shapes and soccer ball balloons, german flag bandaid and some chocolates.

Geekling was super excited about the chocolates.  He was also fascinated by the coins and really enjoyed colouring the flag by reference to the miniature flag.  He also loved the balloons.

As luck would have it, days later we met a young German lady on the train!  Geekling proudly told her he had learned about Germany, knew their flag colours and liked German chocolate.

Home made change mat cover

The baby-sewing has begun!

I'm not into pastels, or pink.  I couldn't find a nice, bright change mat cover in a colour I liked, so I decided to sew my own.  I had planned to use minky, but it was $23 a meter! This gorgeous purple crushed velvet was only $4 a meter, though it was very slippery and difficult to sew with.

I used 1 meter of material and 1 meter of elastic ($1/m) per mat.  So they cost $5 each!  I made two as I know they'll need to be washed pretty often, so a spare will be handy.

I followed this tutorial, but rather than folding the material and cutting one corner out, I lay my material flat on the loungeroom floor, traced my change mat, then cut away the corners.  From there it went pretty well as per the tutorial.

Here's the finished product - I love the colour, the lustre and its sooooo soft that I wish I had something like this under my bare bum regularly!

I might make more in future as baby shower gifts, but will definitely use a different fabric that is easier to work with!

Cutting my boys' hair

I had decided that I'd learn to cut hubby and Geekling's hair as part of my '30 before 30' list.  I figured this would save us a little bit of money, and I remember my mum cutting our hair as a kid.

A $20 pair of hairdressing scissors and some common sense is all it took to cut hubby's hair.

Geekling had been getting his hair shaved to a #3 with clippers at the last couple of hairdresser visits, so I figured I'd do the same.  I thought we had clippers.  But we didn't.  So I used hubby's beard trimmer...

It took far too long and he got quite upset.  Nothing a cuddle and a lollipop couldn't fix, but we didn't try clippers again.  Next time I cut his hair just as I would hubby's and he was fine.

A much better result and a much happier boy.

So by now I've given hubby 3 or 4 haircuts now and Geekling 2 or 3, plus the disastrous first try in which I shaved him.  I don't think we'll be headed back to the hairdresser any time soon.

30 Pins before I turn 30

I've compiled a Pinterest board of things to make, try, buy or do before I turn 30.   There are over 30 pins, but I might cull some or just might aim for 30.

Some are free, or dead easy.  Some involve making, spending etc.  Most are pretty frugal.  A good mix of recipes, kids stuff, home organisation and gardening.

Making way for baby

I have posted on another of my blogs about a year ago about the state of our study/craft room/junk room.  I'm sad to say it only got worse while we renovated our bathroom.  Here's some more "before" pics:

Yep, pretty out of control.

With the news that Geekling is going to be a big brother, we have had to clear it out to become the baby's room.  We've given away some of the furniture, donated a lot of useful items to the Salvation Army, thrown out a lot of junk and finally the only things that are left in the room are those things that will be staying there for the baby:

When we get new drawers for Geekling, we'll move the old white drawers and wardrobe into bub's room and can start packing away the clothes that fill the two pink nappy boxes and the large cardboard box that is between the change table and the basinette.

I plan to make a cover for the glider as the fake leather has flaked terribly.  We also need to put up a curtain rail and curtains.  The cot will go where that box is, with the box providing some storage for unseasonable or larger clothes.

Will tidy the bookshelf when I work out where exactly it will go in the room.

There is still some ways to go and lots of little craft projects I've got planned.  Here's my Pinterest Nursery Board, if you're interested to see some of my planned prjects and inspirations