Sleep updates (and others)

* photo from last Christmas at the beach house, courtesy of a sneaky hubby. 

A little while ago, I posted about starting a new sleep plan after having had the little fella in our bed and waking up every two or three hours for a feed, since he was born (almost 17 months ago). We were happy to keep him in our bed, but it was time to do some night weening, so that he wasn't waking so regularly for the boob. A friend of mine put me onto this article, and so we bit the bullet and put some changes in place. There were a couple of hard nights initially, as both Leo and I got used to not having the magic potion to get him back to sleep quickly and easily. But, amazingly, he adapted quite quickly and even after a couple of nights, was sleeping for longer periods. And it didn't take long (about 10 nights) for... drum roll please... the little man to be sleeping through the night!!

Woo Hoo!

If you're in this boat, ie. you're doing an attachment parenting kind of thing, but are at the point of going a bit nutty with all the night wake ups, I would recommend having a read through the article and giving it a go. It really wasn't as painful or as protracted as I thought it would be, and although there was a bit of crying and fussing involved, even that wasn't too bad. We just cuddled through it.
Please note... I'm not having a go at those who do the cry it out method. It just wasn't for us.

So the take home message... it IS possible to do attachment parenting AND have a good night's sleep at the same time. Even if it does take 17 months to get here! (though really, we could have done this ages ago).

And in other updates:
Amazing news... You may recall, that I posted here about losing a quilt in the post. Well, over two months later, it has turned up! Yes indeed, it's the prodigal quilt. Bananas.

xx

Music Mondays #1

So. Thought we might shake things up a bit.

Every monday in our house is Lundi Leo, where "Leo" writes an email to his French grandparents and Aunties letting him know what he's been up to during the past week, and sends photos. A nice way to keep them in the loop on his shenanigans and general growing-ness, when they're so far away. It's also a good French exercise for me (you know, for when I check his spelling). 

So while I'm at it, I thought it might be fun to have a regular monday thing here too. 

I think I have mentioned here before that music is a big part of my life. There's usually always something playing in the background (or foreground). Leo and I do lots of dancing, drumming, strumming, singing. I'm hoping he'll take to it too. 

So every monday, I'm going to post a song here. It might be something new to me that I'm currently loving, or an old favourite that still gets high rotation, or a lost classic that I think needs resurrecting. It's also a bit of a motivator to get me posting regularly! 

Kicking us off is a new to me band, Bahamas. I am LOVING this song, Lost in the Light, particularly... the harmonies give me goosebumps. So whack it on, turn it up loud and enjoy! 

(I'd love to hear what you think about it, so comment away!)

Umbrella Prints Trimmings Competition

Holy moly... two quilt posts in a row.

So this is the latest completed quilt, made for a work colleague who's about to bring a new little boy into the world. It is also my entry into this year's Umbrella Prints Trimmings Competition. (One of the judges this year is Joel Henriques who I'm a big fan of and blogged about a while back here, which makes me slightly queasy). Anyway, there were so many amazing entries last year and I'm sure a whole heap more this year, so I'm not expecting anything, but it's fun to join in anyway.

Thanks again to my photography assistant...

Bloggers Quilt Festival

I know I've posted about this quilt here before, so my sincere apologies about this... but I'm going to post about it again. Because I have just found out about the Bloggers' Quilt Festival... thanks Leslie (you think YOU'RE out of the loop!) Anyway, I'm trying to be a little more dedicated to this quilting business, and get myself out there a bit more. SO...
Here's a few more photos of the 'Guess How Much I Love You' baby quilt (and a few outtakes featuring my little helper):

It's quite special to me, this quilt. It was my first commission, and the first time I had made something to someone else's expectations... in this case based upon the colours in the book "Guess how much I love you". A beautiful book, and one which is also a favourite in our house. I also love that the quilt uses quite a few fabrics designed and printed by Melbourne locals. The quilt is machine pieced and quilted, and bound by hand.

It really is a wonderful feeling knowing that something I made with my own hands is now keeping a newborn baby warm and cosy.

Apologies again to regular readers for the repetion, and hello to new readers. Stay tuned for some new quilts, coming soon...
x joanna

blessings

Sometimes life reminds us just how precious and fragile it is, and how quickly it can be taken away or changed dramatically. We had that reminder recently, but luckily, our worst fears weren't realised and so we breathe a huge sigh of relief and are grateful for our blessings. Thank you for your thoughts and comments.

My poor hubby had his 40th birthday in the midst of the hardest of those days and so there was little celebration. But this past weekend we got away with friends and family to a gorgeous old homestead in the Grampians - one of our favourite places - and caught up on the celebrations. Kangaroos, wild deer and birds of all colours and sizes visited us, we feasted and ate our weight in cheese, relished in claw foot baths and bay windows, drank good wine, went for hikes and climbs in the surrounding mountains and were thankful for life and loved ones...

 

Hubby's sister is recovering and all signs point to her being alright with little or no lasting damage. It's of course been a huge relief after a week of not knowing if she would survive, let alone be back to her old self again. Thanks for your thoughts and prayers...
xx

a little pause

I'm not the most prolific of posters at the best of times, but things will be even more quiet around here for a while. I had things to tell you and photos to show, but it all seems suddenly a bit frivolous.

Strangely, just hours after I wrote that last post, my husband's sister was involved in a serious accident in France and now is in an induced coma with a brain injury. We're not sure how bad it is - the next few days will tell as she starts to wake up.
It's likely that we might head over there shortly to be with her and the family.

So keep us in your thoughts, hug your little ones a little tighter, tell those close to you that you love them, and wear a helmet when on your bicycle. See you back here sometime soonish...
xx

*some spring blooms to cheer us up

It's my hubby's 40th birthday next week (eek!) and I'm in the middle of planning lots of celebrations and suprises and so am reflecting a lot on how awesome he is. He has had some significant tragedy in his life, and one of the wonderful things about him is how he now lives so in the moment, and is able to put things in perspective. He has taught me how to work on the things that can be changed and not stress about the things that can't. And so, a lost quilt is a lost quilt and that's it... no point stressing about it. There are bigger things in the world to worry about.

As a little pre-birthday excursion, we're going to the Fred Williams exhibition on sunday. I LOVE his work... so evocative of the Australian landscape. Pretty excited.

Hope you all have a lovely weekend... xx

A Lesson...

A little while ago a friend of mine who lives in East Timor bought one of my quilts for her friend who had recently adopted a baby girl. My friend had adopted two Timorese boys previously and had bought my quilts for them. So I was pleased as punch and sent over my favourite 'girly' quilt.

But... It never arrived. And me being a bit of a novice at this, stupidly hadn't sent it registered mail so I couldn't track it. So that gorgeous quilt is lost in the Australia Post ether.
I did feel quite heartbroken, but now I'm just getting on with it, making another one, and learning my lesson. You can be sure that if you buy a quilt from me now, you will have it sent registered mail!