Whirlwind weeks.

Sometimes I feel like I'm running to catch up with my life. The weeks seem to vanish before my eyes. We have achieved a lot in the last month, but it has gone very quickly.
The impending birth of our daughter seems to be hurtling towards us. I'm looking forward to it, but I feel like we still have so much to do. We have been a lot more relaxed about things this time around, maybe a little too relaxed. I suppose we have the important things under control – some clothes for the baby, a car seat and a cradle. What more could we need?
Our days have been filled with renovating, fallen trees, the occasional exciting delivery and general chaos. I'm sure things will get even more hectic before they settle down.

The Classics for youngsters.

Call me crazy, but I've started my Christmas shopping. Yes you read right, I've started my Christmas shopping. I'm telling myself it's because I want to be organised, but I think it's really because I love the process so much. Why wait?
I started at the bookshop where I fell in love with BabyLit books. The classics for toddlers. Genius! I bought 'Pride and Prejudice' and 'Romeo and Juliet', but I'm going back for more. I have my sights set on 'Sense and Sensibility' and 'Jane Eyre'.
If you have little ones and love the classics, or just like a good counting book with pretty pictures – these are for you.

Mess and decisions.

We have been slowly renovating our house since we bought it two and a half years ago. Our biggest project to date has been the complete overhaul of the main bathroom. Other than that we have painted and landscaped.
We have just started the biggest part of the renovations: adding french doors to our living area, turning our awful second toilet into a new laundry/bathroom, converting the existing laundry into a study and sanding and finishing the floorboards throughout the house. What better time to embark on such an adventure, than when a new baby is soon to arrive?
I suppose I have it in my head that in order to have a new baby, we need to have the house mostly finished. I think I may be crazy. The other crazy part is that we are doing most of the work ourselves. When I have my doubts about our deadline, my Husband reminds me that he needs people with a 'can do attitude' around him. So I am now 'Mrs can do'.
The ugly, dirty, demolition photos above are our house. The lovely, stylish and finished photos are inspiration I have found on Pinterest. I'm hoping the end result will look as good. Fingers crossed.
I find choosing fixtures and fittings and making decisions about how things should look the hardest. I spend hours trawling the net for inspiration and making lists of products and prices. We have a tight budget, so being clever with our money is very important.
For now my biggest decision is tiles or pressed metal. Oh the choices. Oh the decisions.

Blessings.

Mostly I'm upbeat and pretty happy with my life, but occasionally I have a day where fear, doubt and self pity creep in. I start to worry about the future, about the arrival of a second child. About money and schooling and my parenting skills. About my four year old's diet and the health of my unborn baby. Then things really spiral out of control and I feel myself having a completely irrational internal tantrum about the fact that I won't be buying a new Bugaboo Bee for my new baby, and that like most people I will be using the perfectly good pram I used for my first child. At this point I say to myself 'really?' and try to pull myself out of the funk.
I saw this image on Pinterest and it reminded me of what I have and it made me glad. Glad for all that I have been blessed with. The important things. From now on I will try to worry less and be thankful more.

Cravings.

I have never had a sweet tooth. I like dark chocolate and raw cacoa, I don't go much on ice cream or lollies and would prefer to drink water than juice. But, since being pregnant all that has changed. Early on in my pregnancy all I wanted was lollies and juice. I became fiercely protective of my Milk Bottle supply and even wanted ice cream sundaes. My sister speculated that my sudden sweet tooth was because I was having a girl. I dismissed this straight away. I was sure I was having another boy.
I had my boys names picked, a cupboard full of boys clothes and a house full of boyish toys. Two boys. I had it all planned. A life of soccer, trucks, dragons and duelling in the backyard. I even started referring to 'the boys', meaning my four year old, Hamish, and the new baby. It was going to be easy.
I was wrong. My sister was right. I'm having a girl. At first I was thrilled. I just wasn't expecting it. Then I was scared by the unknown. What about all my boys clothes and toys? What about my favourite boys names? What about Hamish and his want for a brother? Could a brother and sister be as close as two brothers?
Now I'm back to being thrilled. Hamish has embraced the news. He says we can get girly 'weapons' for duelling (I'm not so sure), and that a room decorated with bats and butterflies would be great (again, not so sure). He has even mentioned changing his name to Charlie so we can call the baby Lola.
I have bought a couple of pink items, and I'm looking forward to having 'a pigeon pair'. I'm still not sure about names, but have put a list on the fridge and have started yelling random girls names out to see how they sound. My Husband and I figure this is the best way of choosing a name – we are constantly yelling 'HAMISH', so if we yell names and still like them, it must be love.
My top five boys names: Edward (Ned, on playful days), George, Hugh, Stirling and Atticus.

The photo is from my 12 week scan.

New.

Last week my nephew was born. The day had come for his arrival and we waited anxiously for news. We waited and waited. As we waited it brought back memories of the birth of my own son, making me wish I could birth my nephew for my sister. That way I could be in control and not feel so stressed and I could save my love from the ordeal of birth. But, as I was going over this in my head, I realised that giving birth is a life changing experience I wouldn't want my sister to miss out on. It is rewarding and amazing and overwhelming (and painful). It pushes you to your limits and when it's all over you are in awe of what your body can do and feel an amazing sense of achievement.
Birth is a miracle, and it was highlighted to me again last week. My nephew had a dramatic start to life, but everyday he has astounded me with his resilience. Babies truly are amazing.

The week that was.

We have had a big week. It started with my sister's baby shower, then a trip to Bendigo and has ended with gardening and cooking at home.
We love Bendigo. The highlights of this visit were shopping at Bendigo Wholefoods, trips to Castlemaine and Maldon, seeing Nana and Pa and meeting up with one of my dearest friends in the little town of St Arnoud (an adventure for all).
We left Bendigo Wholefoods with everything from loaf tins, to quinoa flour, black rice and dried paw paw. I was in love and wanted to move to Bendigo just so I could shop there all the time. We got a wonderful old Mason jar from Castlemaine and delicious lollies from the Maldon Lolly Shop. The trip was over too quickly, but we are already planning another visit next year.
Images: One of Maldon's beautiful buildings. Flowers left over from the baby shower. Snippets of Bendigo, Nana's garden and St Arnoud. Nana's poppies – Nana's mother ordered this for her from the Women's Weekly and she has had it hanging in her bedroom since she was nine! A lovely old building in Castlemaine.

The best ever Chickpea Biscuits.

When I was first offered one of these Chickpea Biscuits by a fellow pre-school mum, I thought 'oh great, I bet they taste like they've been poured through an old boot', but to my surprise they were delicious and I got the recipe then and there! They are one of the best gluten free biscuits I've ever had, and even my fussy four year old is hooked.
I'm thinking I might even get a little creative with the recipe and turn them into jam drops, or add some caraway seeds to the tops. Yum. The possibilities are endless.
Even if you're not gluten free they're worth a try.

Ingredients:
2/3 cup besan flour (chickpea flour)
125g Nuttelex lite or butter
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/3 cup rice flour
1/3 cup potato starch or arrowroot (I use arrowroot)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp xanthan gum

Method:
Pre-heat oven to 180 ˚c. Add all ingredients to a mixer and beat until creamy in texture. Add extra rice flour if needed. Dollop teaspoonfuls onto a baking tray lined with baking paper. Ensure there is enough space for the dollops to spread. Bake until golden around the edges, 10-15 mins. Cool on rack.