the best books: sewing for kids

I have a bit of an obsession with books. The way that some women collect bags or shoes, I collect books! I can easily hang out all day in the local bookstore and I constantly have a new book (or ten) at the top of my want list.

I have so many books about craft, sewing, interiors, gardening, eco-living, etc. that I thought I should start sharing some of my collection with you. First up.. the best books about sewing for baby and child!

1. Oliver + S 'Little things to sew' by Liesl Gibson.
This book is full of awesome things to sew for kids.. not so much clothing but more accessories like hats, bags, art smocks, scarves and the most adorable tutu you have ever seen. The book is perfect for someone who has quite good sewing skills and most importantly.. it's just a damn good looking book!

2. 'Making children's clothes' by Emma Hardy.
This book has 25 sewing patterns for ages 0-5. It contains lots of very wearable items that are easy to make (dresses, tops, pants, hats, etc.) so it's perfect for someone who is learning to sew. I used it a lot when Sophie was young but I always left all the bells and whistles off the patterns (I'm not a fan of too much poof, if that makes sense? I like to keep things simple) but a great book all the same.

3. 'Simple sewing for baby' by Lotta Jansdotter.
This book is awesome, as is everything Lotta Jansdotter does. I've taken to stalking her on Instragram.. she probably thinks I am crazy (and I probably am.. I do have every single book she has ever written!)
This book is filled with very cool, very easy to make projects that are perfect for little bubbas. So many of the patterns would make excellent gifts and the baby yoga pants are awesome. Ten out of ten!

4. 'Girls style book' by Yoshiko Tsukiori.
Anyone who has come across these Japanese sewing books and fallen in love with them will be over the moon, as I am, that they have finally started to print them in english! The girls style book is just adorable. Even if you never make a thing in it, it is worth having just to look at the stunning photography and styling that these beautiful Japanese sewing books have become famous for.
This book contains patterns for girls aged 2-10 and is best for a fairly advanced sewer.

5. 'Happy Homemade Vol. 2' by Ruriko Yamanda.
I bought this book in Japanese years before they released the english version and I was probably seen jumping for joy when I saw they had released the english version, although strangely the instructions are still a little difficult to understand. This book contains patterns for boys and girls aged 2-8 and they are probably the nicest patterns I have ever seen (think simple, elegant designs).

6. 'Carefree clothes for girls' by Junko Okawa.
Okay, I have to admit that I have never actually made anything from this book yet but it looks awfully nice on the bookshelf. If Little House on the Prairie released a sewing book this is what is would look like! Lots of linen and unbleached cotton in rustic, down to earth patterns. I get the feeling you should disconnect your electricity and spend your morning milking a cow before you attempt to sew anything from this book!

So that's my pick of sewing for kids books. Stay tuned next week for the best general sewing books (there are a lot of them!) and in the next few days I will be giving away one of the books above! Yay!

(P.s Sophie took the top photo above.. just in case you were wondering).

What's your favourite book about sewing for kids?

the pigeon pair

I've been thinking lately about having another baby. Well, not so much about having another baby, but if we will have another baby.. or not.

I always thought we would have another baby one day. Even though after Henry was born I said "I am never doing that again!" I quickly changed my mind once the memory of the birth faded away. But in the last few weeks, I have found myself for the first time, wondering if maybe two is enough for us.

It's funny because during the last year Henry has been a terrible sleeper.. I have barely managed to make it though each day, yet throughout all that time I was still sure that we would do it all again one day.
It was about a month ago that Henry finally started sleeping a bit better and around the same time I wondered, for the first time, if we could actually do it all again. The idea of having another baby became a "maybe" not a "definitely" when people asked. It's almost like things finally started to get a bit easier.. I could see the light at the end of the sleep-deprivation tunnel and I thought.. "I'm not sure if I could do that again".

Some people (like my mum) are shocked that we would even consider having another child. You see.. it's not quite as simple for us as it is for other people (I would need another cervical suture and would possibly be on bed-rest again) not to mention the trouble we have had even falling pregnant.
The other consideration is that I'm just not sure if I could do it all again.. Physically or mentally!
Having babies (the pregnancy, birth, sleepless nights and breastfeeding) seem to leave me feeling like a shell of my former self.. I'm becoming more bedraggled by the day I think!

There is also the environmental point of view that the world is becoming overpopulated and we all need to have less kids not more. My mum is a big believer of this view (even though she popped out half a football team herself! But I guess things were different back then).
I always thought that it was better to have three kids who were brought up to be environmentally conscious than one kids brought up as a thoughtless consumer with no consideration for the environment but I don't know.. maybe my mum is right? (They usually are aren't they?!)

But of course, the amount of joy that babies bring is incomparable and kids really do fill the house with joy (most of the time). Luckily, Tom is happy either way.. he would be happy if we stopped at two and equally happy to have another.. so the ball is really in my court.
I guess that I'm lucky I have time on my side and I don't have to make the decision right this moment.. I can wait and see how I feel in a year or so.

So tell me.. How many kids do you have? How did you know when your family was complete? I'd love to know!

One!

Henry turned one on Sunday. ONE! I think I can say without a doubt that was the fastest year of my life. I feel like it was just born yesterday and here we are celebrating 365 days of Henry being here in the world!

Although the year has flown, it feels like a lifetime ago that I was lying in bed praying (as much as an atheist can pray) that this little boy would be born safely. Most people can't believe that I spent most of the pregnancy lying flat on my back in bed but I think we would do it again in a heartbeat..
It was a small sacrifice to get a beautiful, healthy baby boy in the end and I try to remind myself every day how lucky we are to have him here.

Happy birthday cheeky monkey. You are one awesome little man and we love you so!

Little ones..

My friend Ani took some gorgeous photos of Henry, Sophie and me a few weeks ago. They turned out beautifully don't you think?

If you are looking for an amazing photographer in Perth you can find Ani's website here.

x

8 Weeks

I can't believe that little Henry is 8 weeks old already! He is such a wonderful little baby.. so happy and sleeping so well at night. He is sleeping about 8 hours straight most nights, which is almost unbelievable to me as Sophie was still waking up two or three times a night when she was 9 months old!

Sophie is starting to settle down a bit. She is still a bit of a terror at the moment but with Henry sleeping so well I feel that I am able to cope with her behaviour a bit more (everything is so much harder when you are sleep deprived!)

We are still spending most of our days at home and trying not to venture out too far. Walking Sophie to school or visiting a friend who lives nearby is as far as I go most days. I wish that I could say that I have been busy making delicious things in the kitchen and pottering around in the garden, but the reality is that trying to have a shower, organise something for dinner and keep the house from looking like a complete mess takes up majority of my day.

(Does anyone else feel like they spend their entire life cleaning up? Sometimes I only just finish the dishes from lunch and it's time to start making dinner! Someone told me the other day that cleaning a house with kids is like trying to brush your teeth with a mouth full of Oreos! Haha.. it's so true!)

I have a new found respect for my friends that have two or more kids -it is hard, but at the same time I would not change it for the world!

6 weeks

Henry is 6 weeks old.
It feels like he has been here forever. My days of bedrest feel like a lifetime ago but at the same time the last 6 weeks have flown by.

I am not going to lie, the last months has been a little difficult at times. Not because I am finding it hard having a newborn and dealing with sleepless nights (Henry is an absolute sweetheart!), but because Sophie has turned into an absolute rat-bag!

She has become the most difficult and disobedient little thing I have ever seen! I completely understand that it is a normal reaction to having a new sibling and that it must be extra hard for a little girl who has had her parents all to herself for almost 5 years (not to mention the fact that we moved house and changed her school just 2 weeks before Henry was born so there has been alot of big changes for the poor girl).

I am embarrassed to admit that instead of being patient and understanding towards her, I have turned into one of those mums that just bark orders at their kid and I have never yelled at her so much in my whole life! I have lost my cool more times than I would like to admit. I know that what she needs is more time alone with me and a little bit of understanding, but I have found it hard to remember that when she is throwing books at my head while I am trying to feed Henry. (Not joking).

All I can say is thank god the school holidays are over!

Of course it's not all 'nightmare-child' and 'cranky-pants mum' around here.. There are plenty of lovely moments and Sophie is getting better and better everyday (adjusting to life with a little brother I guess)..
She does adore Henry and often almost suffocates him with cuddles!

Here is a photo to prove it..

08/09

These photos were taken just moments after Henry was born.
(Look at that gorgeous slimy, wrinkled little baby!)
I love the look on my face in the second photo.. the absolute joy and relief that after everything we have been through, he is finally here... our little boy!
I love him so much.

Sophie and Henry!

Henry is 18 days old now.
I still can't actually believe that he is finally here!

We are doing well.. just trying to take it as easy as possible and spending our days at home pottering around. I'm quite sleep deprived and surviving on copious cups of tea during the day, but that's to be expected with a 2 week old!
Sophie has started her new school which is just down the street from our new house and I'm still mastering the art of getting out the door with two little ones. She has been 45 minutes late for school every day this week, but practice makes perfect I guess!

We still have no internet at the new house which is why I have not been posting as often as usual (well, that and the fact that I am too busy staring at Henry instead of the computer screen!) but hopefully I'll be able to post 1000 pictures of him shortly..

A baby boy!!!

He is finally here!
Little 'Henry Porter' was born on Saturday 8th September.
He is absoloutly adorable and we are all completely in love.

x

What a week..

Whoa.. It has been a very busy week!
We officially became proud first home owners on Monday. We picked up the keys an hour after settlement and went and had a picnic on the floor of our new (and empty) home. My gosh, I can not wait till we move in!
On Wednesday we moved all our furniture (that had been sitting in storage for the last 18 months) into the house and the plan is to spend this weekend unpacking and setting up the house so that we can move straight in as soon as baby arrives.

And as if that wasn't enough excitement for one week.. this morning I went and had my cervical stitch removed. I can't tell you how relieved I am to have made it to this point and how exciting it is to be so close to meeting this little man. (I will be 37 weeks on Saturday).
I went from 0 to 3cm dilated within 10 seconds of the stitch being removed. Apparently about 90% of women go into labour within 24 hours.. I have had contractions on and off all day and my doctor thinks I will be back at the hospital pretty soon.
I was so excited last night (and a little nervous) that I could hardly sleep.
The hospital bag is packed, the grandparents are on call..

And now.. we just wait! Eek!

(This photo was taken at 33 weeks.. I can't believe my belly is even bigger now. and my face is even rounder!)

Approaching life..

I am really looking forward to having a blog that is actually full of delicious homemade food, pictures of all the delicious veggies we grow in the garden and post after post of all the pretty things I make on my sewing machine.

I am not sure if it because I am feeling so incredibly lucky at the moment or if it was the 5 months of full bed rest that did it, but for some reason I am feeling so motivated to approach life with absolute energy and passion at the moment.

I keep imagining life in our new house, with our new gorgeous baby and me.. unlike I have ever been before.. A new version of 'me' that is organised and motivated and has a new passion for life and motherhood and creating a wonderful loving home. Someone who shops at the local farmers markets and cooks delicious homemade meals from scratch, spends her time gardening and sewing and being absorbed in every moment with her kids. Someone who has the laundry sorted and the house clean and has time to bake muffins before playgroup in the morning. I imagine dancing around the house at 5pm with my kids laughing and happy and having fun because I will have prepared dinner at 10am instead of thinking about what to make at 6.45pm. I will be a better mother, a better wife and a better friend.

But then reality sets in..

I will be tired. Really tired. I will have a newborn. I will have a 4 year old who has to deal with moving house, changing schools and getting a new sibling all in the same month. I will have a husband that now takes an hour to get home from work instead of 10 minutes. I will be really out of shape after spending majority of the last 9 months in bed and I will probably spend most of the day in my pyjamas..

But you know what? I am okay with that. I'm more than okay with that..

I am going to spend every second just savouring that newborn goodness while eating take away in a house that resembles a junk yard. I am going to sit there with a smile on my face and hope that the motivation to make my life look like a pinterest board is still there in 6 months time!

Yeah!

These are some of my favourite photos from Instagram.. You can follow me on Instagram if you like (@grow_cook_sew) as I may be a bit sporadic in posting over the next few weeks (You know.. moving house and having a baby and all!)

A baby sprinkle..

I had a little party on the weekend to celebrate the fact that I had made it to 34 weeks and that I survived months of bed rest. I also just wanted an excuse to catch up with all my girlfriends, many whom I had not seen since I fell pregnant.

Tom spent the entire morning cleaning the house and baking. He made his signature flour-less chocolate cake, my favourite mandarin, lime and yoghurt cake and a few other yummy treats.
Tom's mum made an orange and almond cake (she makes one for us almost every time we head up to the farm.. she picks the oranges off the tree in the morning and boils them for hours before using them to make the cake.. It is so good, I'll make sure I grab the recipe off her next time I see her).

We spent the afternoon chatting, drinking tea and eating cake. It was so lovely and of course, I got absolutely spoilt with gorgeous baby gifts. I didn't have a baby shower with Sophie (I always felt it was a bit self-indulgent) but this time around I felt that I had so much to celebrate that an afternoon of eating cake was necessary!

Unfortunately though, I didn't manage to take any photos which is such a shame because Tom had been to the flower markets in the morning and the whole place (including the table setting) looked so lovely. I did however, take this photo the next day when we were still eating cake (well actually, Tom is sugar free at the moment, so I took it upon myself to finish the entire cake on my own! Oops!)

On the home stretch now..

I had an appointment with my obstetrician yesterday and it looks like this little baby might be arriving sooner rather than later, of course its impossible to predict these things but judging by the ultrasound I had and the contractions I have been having, it looks like things are getting ready to happen.

I will be 32 weeks tomorrow which is over the really risky stage but could still mean up to two months in neonatal care if this little man does decide to come now, so we are really hoping that he stays put for another month at least.

I have to go into hospital tomorrow to have steroid injections to help speed up his lung development. I'm a little nervous as I don't particularly like the thought of giving steroids to an unborn baby, and am a little worried about the (unknown) long term effects of un-naturally speeding up development. But like many other decisions I have made in this pregnancy, I have learnt to accept that science and medicine sometimes do have a (very valuable) place in pregnancy and childbirth. I also trust my obstetrician that this is going to give our baby the best possible chance if he does decide to come early.

In other news, Sophie has been on school holidays for the last two weeks (which may explain why this baby might come early.. it's impossible to lie in bed 24 hours a day with a 4 year old running around!)
I have had such a lovely time with her, she is really starting to turn into a proper little person. Watching her learn to read and write is so exciting and I can see her growing up more and more each day.
She is so excited about having a little brother and I know she is going to be such a great big sister.
Very exciting times ahead..

Life is happening

I have struggled to find the time or energy to write a post lately. My life is completely preoccupied with the imminent arrival of our little boy and moving into our new home which are due to happen within a week of each other! I have been so busy trying to get organised but still trying to rest as much as possible.

I also feel like I have nothing to write at the moment because all I can tell you is how happy I am, and I fear I might start to get awfully boring if I keep going on and on about how things are finally falling into place for us (but seriously.. being weeks away from holding the baby that we have been longing for for years and buying our first home just seems unbelievable to me! I can't believe that the things we have spent soo long working towards are almost here.. it's so incredibly exciting).

On that note, I'll leave you with a picture of the cutest little French baby shoes..

x

27 weeks

Despite my serious face in this photo, I am feeling pretty good at the moment!
Tomorrow I will be 28 weeks which is a huge milestone for us as the whole way through this pregnancy my obstetrician has said "you just need to get to 28 weeks" and here we are! We made it!

Of course, we are aiming for a healthy full term little boy but if I did go into labour early we have a good chance of everything turning out okay now that we have got to this point.

I was also told that from this point onwards I am allowed to start getting out of bed a bit.. but when I saw my obstetrician last week he told me I should wait till 32 weeks before I start getting out of bed.. The sneaky man, I'm sure he does that on purpose! (You know.. tells patients that they can get up from 28 weeks and then when they get there he says "Oh actually I meant 32 weeks". I wonder if I will get to 32 weeks and he will say 36 weeks?!)

Anyways.. we are on the home stretch now! Feeling very excited and a little more relaxed.

Expectations -the age gap

I can remember when I fell pregnant with Grace in 2010 (and had already had two miscarriages and taken longer to fall pregnant than expected) I would complain to friends about how the age gap between Sophie and baby number 2 would be so big (it would have been three and a half years if Grace had survived).
It seems ridiculous to me now that I used to complain about the age gap back then -as the age gap between our kids will now be almost 5 years.

It's taken me a long time to come to terms with what the age gap will be between our kids, and it's not because I believe there is a 'right' age gap at all, I can see the benefits of having kids close together and far apart. The thing that has bothered me so much is that I had expected to have kids close together and the hard thing has been learning to adjust to the way that life turned out rather than how I expected it to be.

We started trying for another baby when Sophie was a 1 year old and sometimes I can't believe that here we are, all these years later still waiting for another (living) baby to arrive. It was so hard for me to watch everyone else go on to have baby number two and even baby number three while I was still desperately trying to fall pregnant or stay pregnant. I felt sorry for Sophie because she wanted a little brother or sister so badly and although I knew I was lucky to have her, I really felt like I was being left behind. Especially after I fell pregnant so easily with Sophie, it was such a shock when it became so, so difficult the second time around.

I know that there will be so many benefits to having such a big gap between kids.. Sophie will be able to help with so many things and because she will be at school full time next year I will have so much one-on-one time with the little man.  I know that it will be great and I am not worried about the age gap anymore, but before I fell pregnant it was crazy how it use to eat me up inside. I sometimes laugh when people tell me how many kids they are going to have or what age-gap they plan on having because I have learnt that sometimes we just have no control over these things at all.

I guess at the end of the day you love the kids you end up with so much that you can't imagine life any other way.



*Photo of Sophie - who has had enough of photos!

Technology is amazing..

Last week at the ultrasound we got this amazing picture of the little man inside my belly.
It always blows me away what technology can do these days.

I remember we got the same '3D' ultrasound when I was pregnant with Sophie (back then you had to go to a special '3D ultrasound' place) and they could not get a proper picture because she was upside-down and facing backwards..
We ended up with a pretty scary looking picture of a baby with a very squashed face and I was quite sad afterwards because I was worried that we were going to have a very funny lookin' baby. (How silly is that!)

Of course, she came out as the sweetest and most perfect little thing, so I know now not to pay too much attention to how these ultrasounds can sometimes look a little scary.. it's still so exciting to get a glimpse of life in-utero!

Play time

I forgot all about this stage.. it was not so fun at the time (who has time to give their kid three baths a day?) but it is fun to look at photos years later..

The benefits of bed rest..

This morning I woke up at 5am.
Luckily, Tom was already awake too and it was cold so we snuggled up under the doona and waited for the sun to slowly make its way into the room.
I must have drifted off to sleep again because the next thing I remember is Sophie jumping into bed with me, and Tom (who was already showered and ready for work) walking in with tea and eggs on toast for his "two little girls in bed". (Sophie has started to eat every meal with me in bed.. it's going to be such an effort to get her to learn to sit at the table again at the end of this, let alone get our sheets clean!)

The next hour was a rush of activity to get Sophie dressed and off to school. It usually consists of Tom rushing around making lunches and packing Sophie's school bag while saying "Thats great.. now go get mum to brush your hair" and Sophie staying as far away from my bed (and her hairbrush) as she can.

After everyone had made it off to school/ work and the house was quiet again I turned on the computer and checked my email, read some blogs and read the news.. and then I lay down and snuggled under the doona, closed my eyes, made a noise like you do when you get into bed at the end of a really long day and went back to sleep..

It was 11am.


*Photo of Sophie and me in bed a few weeks after she was born (January 2008)

James and the giant peach

Tom and I are having such a hard time thinking of boys names. There are about 20 girls names that we both love but we are having a really hard time making a short list of boys names. We both really like quite normal, everyday names.. nothing too trendy or out of the ordinary. In fact, we seem to like the same names as everyone else because the names that we like are always in the top 20 most popular names (e.g Sophie, Grace).

I thought that maybe we could name our kids after characters in Roald Dahl books.. We already have 'Sophie' from the BFG (which was Tom's favourite book when he was little) and so we could have a 'James' from James and the giant peach (which was my favourite book when I was little)..

Then all we will need is a tortoise called Alfie!

N.B Tom didn't find my suggestion very amusing.. back to the drawing board (or baby name books) I go!
Did anyone else have a hard time choosing baby names?

*Book cover via here