Amanda’s Musings

Win a sling here!

Win the Essential Babywearing Stash from Along for the Ride (one Beco Butterfly, one Hotsling baby pouch, one BabyHawk Mei Tai, one Zolowear Ring Sling, and one Gypsy Mama Wrap)

In the last few days I’ve had three separate orders so I’ve been busy. Its so nice to have a custom order and get back into claying again, even if I’m juggling things between two kids. The exciting thing is that these sales will be enough to train two Malawi pastor’s in AIDS and HIV knowledge.

On top of this, I feel as if I’m back in the saddle as far as creativity with Keziah. She sat at the table for a bit and played with her playdough today while I polyclayed. That was fun!

So, here’s my bit of creativity for this week so far:

I wasn’t the only one being creative in our house today. Michael got very clever with Kezi’s lunch and she quite enjoyed eating it too!

Awwwww, isn’t she cute up there on Daddy’s shoulder! Two weeks old at 9.46am tomorrow morning.

This week I received the prize pack for the MadeIt t-shirt competition. In it were some dainty notepaper, cards and gift tags from Truth be Told, a felt lady badge from Anna Laura and a tiny bottle of rocky road scent from Bottled Up Emotions. Lovely items!

Africa got into our blood after spending just one year there in 2000-2001 so its appropriate that our house reflects this. That year was a turning point for us. We both feel that it was at that point that we found where God wanted us for the long term, working in some capacity with overseas missions, specifically with SIM. Now, close to 10 years since our first association with SIM (April 1999) we are still involved and at an even higher capacity than ever before (Michael is the WA Ministry Director). I think that this is why we still have our African memorabilia out, it was a significant watershed moment for us.

As I’ve slowly been regaining my ability to move freely (don’t worry, I haven’t been lifting anything!) as well as losing my pregnancy brain I have been rearranging things in our new house little by little. We decided to go with an African theme for our lounge space and its coming together slowly, although, due to Ikea being short on the specific furniture items we need to make our space livable, its still in temporary mode! Small parts are complete though like these:

Entry table, complete with a beautiful bunch of flowers sent from our SIM office (I realise that my painting is crooked! There’s a mirror behind the table too that will be on the wall at some point).

The wall hanging that my Mum made for me with the African theme. She designed this herself, amazing isn’t it! (the orange is not as bright as the picture shows!)

Some of my own paintings around the place. (also, not as dark as the photo shows, sometime I’ll take a proper photo of that)

The top of the china cabinet

Oh and baby cards!!

Now we just need to finish off the lounge area after a trip to Ikea sometime this week and things will feel more settled. Its so nice to be able to move around without discomfort!!

I finally changed my picture, well its only been 11 days since Lucinda was born so I suppose thats reasonably quick! I like this casual shot we took today. Here’s a colour version of it:

Yep, she’s full of expression my Kezi!

and a cute pic of Luci for the day…snug as a bug.

Michael took Kezi to her first ever Kindy Dance class on Thursday morning. She seemed to love it and will take a while to get used to working in a group. It was fun to sit and watch them together, especially when the instructor kept on saying ‘Mum’s go over here’ and the like and Michael was the only Dad in the group. He didn’t seem to mind really and enjoyed his time with Kezi. Here’s some shots:

My crazy little girl Kezi takes a cute photo and her little sister is following in her footsteps (I may be a bit biased), well I think so anyway. Until I get a minute to actually do anything creative or have a deep thought you will have put up with lovely pics of my munchkins. : )

I love the way this photo came out. Beautiful!

Finally, here is the post that I’ve been waiting for so long to write!! Last Wednesday I went into Armadale Hospital at 6.30am for my booked C Section. It was a very de ja vu experience for me from the get go. Firstly, they put me in the exact same bed in the preparation area as last time and wheeled me to surgery around the same time in the morning. I was in the same operating room as I was with Keziah and I knew exactly what I was in for.

The main thing that had been on my mind was having the spinal/epidural put in, not because it hurts but because last time I flinched as the anethesist (?sp) was finding the right spot. I got ‘told off’ last time which is understandable but not comforting! I told him about this and he was very good, talking me through each step.

Last time they put the crib thing where they check the newborn in a place at the end of my operating table and I couldn’t see anything when Kezi was born, this time it was to my left and I was able to see right away. This was a different surgeon to last time so he had different methods of delivery. I won’t go into details but he did hold Lucinda up for me to see over the curtain right away which I wasn’t expecting!

When they put her on the crib thing I couldn’t believe how enormous she was!! All I could see was a big fat belly and chubby legs but tiny little feet (Kezi’s feet were huge). Michael got to hold her very soon afterwards while they did what they needed to do to complete the operation.

The de ja vu continued after this as I was wheeled back to my room holding Lucinda next to me in the same way as Kezi. I was then put in room #53, Kez was in room #54. All very strange. Waiting for us at the room was, as before, both sets of grandparents but this time they had Keziah with them (one major difference).

The other de ja vu part is that I came prepared this time with my own baby clothes and Lucinda was dressed in the same clothes that Keziah was as a newborn, right down to the same hat and rug. I caught myself calling her Kezi on more than one occasion!

I recovered well after the operation and had already decided to bottle feed this time after having so much trouble and stress last time. What a difference that made, Luci had guzzled down 20mls of formula before she was 1 hour old!

So, here are the stats:

Lucinda Estelle Ainsley Hunt was born at 9.46am on Wednesday July 16th by C Section at Armadale Hospital.
Weight: 8lb.14oz
Length: 51cm

Name: We loved the name Lucinda and it will (and already does) get shorted to Luci. That’s Luci with an I, makes more sense to me as a shortened version of Lucinda. Estelle is my Mum’s name and I thought they flowed beautifully together. I’m so glad I got a chance to use it. Ainsley is her second middle name (Kezi is Keziah Rose Ainsley Hunt) after Michael’s parents last name (foster parents). We wanted to honour them too.

She looks exactly like Keziah did at that age apart from being a larger baby. When my pc is set-up properly I will be able to show some comparison shots.

I came home from hospital yesterday after four and a half days which was much faster than with Keziah. The Caesarean went well with no complications and I am recovering well so far.

Ok, here’s the pics!! Enjoy.