Andrew and Tabitha's Baby Guestimator

Hey Everyone!
Sorry to anyone who gets this twice, on fb, email, twitter or as a fwd - its just because we don't want you to miss out on the fun!! Its an easy online form you can fill out to guess a few things about our baby before it is born. You don't even need to sign up for anything. Answers are private and confidential!!


Take me to the Survey!!

Feel free to pass the link on to anyone who knows us.
And don't forget the carrot here... 3 separate prizes up for grabs.

Important note about Flannel

Flannel or Flannelette [depending on which part of the earth you live in] is a wonderful warm, soft fabric. I'm using it to make nappies [diapers] for my baby and have 2 different sources. The first is old worn sheets. Being worn, it is not as thick as the new stuff, but does the trick even if you have to add another layer.

The 2nd source, is of course new flannel. A word to the wise, it shrinks A LOT!!! Always wash it before you use it, and if in doubt, wash again. Also, buy more than you think you will need to finish your project. Like I said, it shrinks a LOT, so the 2.5 metres you think you need may become 2.30 metres and completely wreck your plans.

Happy sewing.

"Things could always be worse."

I wish this were my story!!

This is written by Wilsonian at Biscotti Brain.

So I'm talking to the latest call center employee when I notice one of my cats tear across the kitchen. She then tears across in the other direction. And this is repeated several more times. It actually takes a minute to register what's going on. She finally hides under the dining room table, in the center of all the chair legs. She is clearly freaked out.

Head on over to her blog for the full story. It's worth it!!!

Nappy accessories - Liners.

Esther, so far successful mother of four said nice things about my nappy on facebook. She also left some good advice,

My only advice would be... use a disposable nappy liner as well. Nothing worse than having to scrape bits off your good nappies... very, VERY icky!

Good advice Esther! My current plan is using old cotton sheeting which can be; a) washed if not too bad, b) chucked out if really feral, but they will break down quite easily not killing the earth!

Cotton sheets cost between $2 and $4 depending on size, at the local op-shops. I've just cut up a single bed sheet giving me a large pile, which, I'm sure will only last me a day [or 10] to begin with. I'll try to get to a few more sheets before baby comes to save me having to worry about it in the first few weeks.

Like my ball of string? I tore the sheet into strips, which of course have fray-bits. I pulled the edge strings off [and made a pretty ball] so that they won't fray as much later. No point in nicely edging them, as they'll all end up compost. I can't see these lasting me years on end.

The question is, will these work? We'll see!

RRP by Tab

Yesterday I had a little rave about a pattern I'd found for making nappies. I'd like to say at this point that it is most definitely a nappy and not a diaper. Americans may call them diapers, but Australians say nappy. But I digress.

Today I put my cloth to the test. This flannelette is left over from some pjs I made years back. Its almost all gone now, and the pjs are well and truly ready to retire.

Here is the inside of the nappy. Its difficult to see here, but I've added a strip of towelling sewn between the flannelette. It is attached via zigzag stitch to the inner layer.

I love love LOVE the stripes!!! This is the nappy at full size. Its supposed to be able to fit a toddler - and looking @ my friend's 2 year old, I'm pretty sure it'll fit. I felt a bit weird about asking if I could try it on him though.

In this one, the top is folded back, making it small enough to fit a newborn - given of course that the newborn is full term and not freakishly small.

I did stuff my nappy very full, with both of these at once. The one on the left is a sewn liner that I bought with some other nappies. The right one is a piece of towel folded in thirds. Even just the towelling in the nappy will give it 4 layers of towel, plus 2 layers of flannelette. Thats got to soak up a bit of pee right?

I expect that I'll have to experiment a bit with how much towelling I'll need, which will probably also depend on the age of the baby, and time of day. All the forums, blogs and websites say that cloth nappies need to be covered by a pilcher/plastics/fluffies. I've also read that cloth nappies need to be changed before they soak through to avoid nappy rash, so I'm not too sure how that will work. It will be a shame to cover such awesome colours with an icky cover!

Tomorrow I'll venture to Lifeline where Jewels tells me there are some flannelette sheets. I will be very happy if thats the case, as my nappies will be using materials that might otherwise be wasted.

Sewing for baby.

8 weeks to go!

I spent today sewing a piece of newborn clothing, but if I said anything else about it, it would give too much away for now. Suffice to say, it can take as long to make an itty-bitty-teeny-weeny garment, as it can to make the adult version!

Later this evening, I was looking for a pattern for pilchers/bloomers/nappy covers, when I stumbled across a find, which has to be priceless! Rita's Rump Covers are a DIY nappy pattern that look to me better than anything that I've seen before. Its probably just that they suit my way of thinking better than any I've seen before. I've printed out the pattern to give it a go tomorrow. I'm sure that I'll make some adjustments as I go, and end up with my own species of RRC, and much of that will depend on the baby.

Much excited that this pattern uses fabrics that I already have, or can get from the opshop [in the form of pyjamas and towels mostly]. Bring it on!!

The antidote to the Social Networking Virus.

By the way, lots of people, especially the young, seem to spend loads of time socially networking in cyberspace and less and less time in flesh and blood human company.

Local churches, I suggest, should accept this challenge to be an antidote to a possible virus more deadly than any ‘flu, because it can cripple the soul/self.

I’m not saying that’s a suasive reason for people to return to church services. We connected christians should, however, reflect that “fellowship” was one of the most powerful “selling points” in the first 400 years of christian church development.

- Father Bob Maguire

Thanks for the reminder Father Bob.

"Drink deep or taste not." Those who sip will kill us all!

"A little learning is a dangerous thing; drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring: there shallow draughts intoxicate the brain, and drinking largely sobers us again."

Alexander Pope (1688 - 1744) in An Essay on Criticism, 1709:

Apparently parents who think themselves to be more intelligent than the average person, have been discussing arrangements for "swine-flu parties".  The idea behind this comes from how immunisation often works. An attenuated [ie weakened] dose of of a virus can help the body form antibodies which then protect it from further attacks. This is learned in year 10 Biology. 

It bothers me greatly - as a woman who is about to become the caretaker of an infant - that parents of children will play this kind of Russian Roulette, with not only their kid's lives, but potentially endanger the life of MY CHILD.  

A recent article in the Sydney Morning Herald states that Whooping cough - a deadly disease that should be eradicated by now - has surged from roughly 600 cases in a year to over 5000. Evidently, parents are refusing to vaccinate their children, which is contributing to the cases of this killer. The problem is that children are not normally scheduled to be vaccinated for whooping cough until 4-6 months of age, so before this time can catch it and die. Due to the rise in cases, the child health nurse at our local centre last night told the baby-class I was in that we can now have our babies vaccinated at 6 weeks, and that the parents can get a free booster shot also.

I do blame the "dummy mummies" [as labelled by a February SMH article] for the increase in preventable diseases. NSW's lowest immunisation rates do not come from the poor and uneducated areas, but rather the richest. If you don't believe me, read it for yourself. There is certainly no stupider person, than the one who armed with a tiny bit of knowledge [and the internet] thinks they know better than anyone else.

Bye bye Algie

Today has been sad for me. My cat, Algernon was apparently hit by a car some time yesterday, and didn't come home last night. Andrew found him under a building next door, with a badly smashed face. He took him to the RSPCA where they euthanised Algie. Its not a very good chance that he would have been able to survive if we'd tried to save him anyway. His injuries were very bad. 

Algie has been a good friend to me since I got him as a little kitten in Nov 07. He may have been the world's most stupid cat, but he was good company, and frequently did the craziest things to make us laugh. Seeing as he's now the 3rd cat that I've lost in 2 years, and with a baby on the way, it'll probably be a while before we get a new kitten.