what was i thinking?

Yes, my printer is still broken. Yes, digitalmax has a 15cent print deal on until Sunday. Yes, I plan to scrapbook all weekend. Yes, I am slightly compulsive.

But was this really necessary?

I started pulling photos out from every nook and crany. All at once. Old ones. New ones. Whatever. And as I went, I'd think of other pages I wanted to do and other photos I wanted to use. So I'd pull more out. It was photographic chaos. But somehow after lots of scanning and scouring through digital pics and hair pulling, each and every precious photograph found its way home.

Oh, and yes, my pre-digital photos really are this disorganized. It's on the agenda this year, just as it was last year and I'm pretty sure the year before that.

23 weeks

Alright, now I am actually able to SEE the movements. This is just way too cool!

22 weeks

At 20 weeks the flutters turned into definable movements that finally can be felt from the outside. What an incredible feeling! This baby is really an active one and I love to just lie in bed and zone in on the kicks. Like Maria said, once the kicking starts, you never feel alone.

I really love being pregnant. The 8 or so weeks of nausea are such a distant memory, as are the worries from weeks 9 to 16. For now I'm just soaking it all in.

I wish I could bottle my energy level right now, as I am certain to need it later!

In the last couple of days, I have seriously popped! I'm still wearing normal clothes (thankfully because...less maternity clothing = more baby clothing, in my book at least :) but they are getting tighter.

So me and the little one at 22 weeks...

See, I wasn't kidding!

On the menu tonight...homemade pizza, complete with homemade crust, along with the movie, Thank you for Smoking. So what am I still doing sitting here?

18 weeks

On Christmas Eve, Jeremy took a few belly shots that I've been meaning to post. I was 18 weeks along and had a little bit of a pooch and was feeling lots of flutters that continually made me ask, "wait, was that the baby?"...

(Once I get my act together in the scanning department, I will scan a few pics from my ultrasound that week and add them here.)

upcoming classes...

While on the subject of scrapbooking, I may as well give my upcoming classes a bit of a plug...

On Tuesday, 13 February, I'll finally be running the Quick & Classy Wedding class that I had to cancel last November. This time the themes are cake & family...

And on Tuesday, 27 February, I'll be teaching On the Road with Greener Pastures. These layouts hopefully will provide you with a solution for some of your vacation/road trip snaps from the recent holidays...

For more class details, photo size requirements, and booking info, go to KiwiScraps February classes.

In March, I'll be hosting a very green 8-hour crop on St. Patty's Day as well as commencing a 4-part photo-editing and digital scrapbooking series (which finishes in April). Again details can be found at KiwiScraps March classes. I'll post more info here as the time gets closer.

That'll pretty much be me until after the little one comes. Scary!

so i haven't forgotten...

how to scrapbook afterall. Before today I hadn't made a page in months and this afternoon I created two. Yes, that's right, TWO. And each took under an hour. It felt so good.

Reasons for my hiatus...

1. I blame a lot on first trimester tiredness and nausea. (You get away with a lot using that excuse!)
2. My office was too chaotic to even think of spending time in there to just relax and create.
3. I have had major technology issues the last few months. I am used to printing out pics on demand as I go in whatever size I want, but at the moment my once beloved printer insists on printing pink lines through pretty much everything. Not a good look.
4. The longer I didn't scrapbook, the bigger my mental block grew. I felt like I lost it, like I was seriously out of scrapbooking shape and trying to get back into shape seemed far too daunting.
5. By far the biggest reason was everything that was going on with Eddye. Partaking in a hobby seemed indulgent and scrapbooking seemed meaningless. It was just the absolute last thing I wanted to do.

So I wasn't sure I wanted to continue scrapbooking.

Reasons I didn't throw in the towel...

1. I spent an evening looking through my old pages and I realized I'd be very sad not to have them. They are prized possessions.
2. Our baby would surely be resentful once s/he was old enough to realize I had made about 6 billion layouts of the dogs and only one featuring him/her. And that was created at 7 weeks in utero! I really don't want to start out on the wrong foot.
3. I've never had a hobby that I have kept this long and I would be really disappointed in myself if I gave it up. Not to mention the whole work side of things!
4. I sorted through my supplies and cleaned my office, leaving behind a much more peaceful place in which to work.
5. I remembered how I could get lost in it and how much joy that would bring me.
6. I remembered the satisfaction I would get from looking at a new completed layout.
7. I realized I was watching too much TV.
8. I missed challenging myself to get in front of a class and trying to inspire them.
9. I would definitely miss hoarding supplies, so I bought a few new things to spruce up the stash! Couldn't hurt, right?

And here's how I spent this afternoon (in between cleaning, laundry, and taking down the Christmas decorations, finally!)...

Seeing as how I have been wearing these now worn out yellow Crocs everyday for about 16 months, I thought they deserved a page. Luckily these are all old photos, so I didn't have to deal with any pink lines!

what a greeting

This is what we came home to after a spontaneous night laughing and feasting on fish 'n chips on the beach with Ollie and fam...

This was no partial rainbow, mind you...

And after sporting hats and gloves over new year's, a glimpse at a much-needed night of summertime fun...

sunshine & responsibility

First of all, it is actually hot today. It's sunny & hot. Even when the sun goes behind a cloud, it's still hot. I'm sweating, actually sweating. If you had just experienced 6 months of windy, rainy, winter weather, you would savor the sweat too. Trust me.

I love this photo of the dogs. They are enjoying some of their favorite things:

each other

comfort

sleep

warmth

&

sunshine

Some of you may remember my story about Kai crossing the motorway and nearly getting hit.

Tragically someone I know lost her Beagle, Shiloh, on Monday at about the same spot. Same story, except at the point when we were incredibly lucky, he was sadly hit by an SUV that never slowed down. He died in her arms. Again it was a split second thing. She is even a dog trainer, and Shiloh was a very well-mannered dog. In fact, he competed in obedience and agility.

So a harsh reminder that even the most well-trained dogs can be unpredictable. Caring for our four-legged friends is such a big resposibility. Keeping them safe, happy, and fit is not always an easy task.

It makes me wonder why there are so many Woof Woof Ruffs (seriously, that's what the Wellington City Council calls dog exercise areas) right by the road and why I can't think of a single fenced in dog area in the whole city. So frustrating.