Poor Jessie

So Jessie had a little accident and managed to tear the outside of her entire claw off exposing the quick below with all the nerve endings in it.

We took her to the vet as she would not even walk on that foot so we knew it was not good.  It turns out that it was better that she tore the whole thing off as if only part had been torn off they would have had to put her under anesthetic to remove the rest of it.

It is all bandaged up and will stay that way for a few days and she also had to take pain killers and antibiotics.  The vet did send us home with a cone for here to wear to stop her trying to chew the bandage off but we took it off as she was not worried about the bandage at all.

It will take up to 2 months for the claw to grow back and for this week at least we need to keep her calm and quite with restricted movement (haha the vet must be joking right, she is a kelpie) but so far so good.

We will take the bandage off in a few days and hopefully not get nipped in the process.  Only then will we know if she if comfortable enough to go walking, there might just be lots of swimming in the meantime.

Eight Weeks Into My Motherhood Journey

It has now been just over 8 weeks since Kingsley arrived in our lives and while the last 6 weeks of my pregnancy dragged these past weeks have flown by.  There has been a lot going on though not just with adapting to motherhood and parenting but as we are living out of  suitcases with family we are adjusting to that new dynamic and there is a lot going on in relation to our move to New Zealand including trying to see everyone before we move.

Mum, Hubby, Kingsley and I (Jessie in the background)

Hubby's parents, his brother, my sister in law and their son and Hubby and I

Midway through packing by the movers

Here are a few of the things I have ticked off the list in the last few weeks.

Had my mum here from New Zealand for the first week after Kingsley was born
Supervised the international movers packing all of our belongings
Cleaned and moved out of our rental
Relocated to live with family out of suitcases
I had to get Kingsley a passport, do you know how hard it is to get a passport style photo of a 3 week old baby (looking straight at the camera, head straight, awake not crying or frowning) it took 12 shots before we got one that was usable.
Hubby and I both had to renew our passports
Kingsley had to be added to our flight
Travel insurance purchased (couldn't do it till he was born)
Advertised my car for sale
Ordered new bank and credit cards to extend their expiry dates (it costs a bit to have them sent overseas)
Kingsley's 6 week vaccinations and my check up
Accommodation booked for my brothers wedding in February
Organising Jessie's vet checks before she moves with us
Planning for Christmas
Sending Christmas cards
Trying to see everyone before we leave
Meeting with a couple of ladies from work who also have babies in an impromptu mothers group. Because we are leaving I have not joined one of my own (I need every minute with existing friends)
Getting Kingsley's hearing check done (all good)
Working on our new house build

I also took the little guy on his first road trip from Brisbane up to Tin Can Bay ( 2.5 hrs north) and then to Maaroom (a further 45 mins north of Tin Can Bay),  We had 4 nights away and thankfully I was staying with good friends so I was not under too much self imposed pressure to keep him quiet and not disturb the rest of the house.

Kingsley with good friends of ours who we used to live near when we had our farm 

This is Kingsley's surrogate Nanna (my best friend who passed away's Mum)

Love this photo

With Kingsleys surrogate Nanna  and Grandad (my best friend who passed away's Mum and Dad and Max the dog)

Kingsley and his cousin in matching outfits (not arranged)

Kingsley and Grandma (Hubby's mum)

Kingsley's cousin reading him a story

It has been a busy few weeks during which time we have relocated all our remaining belongings 3 times (from our rental to Hubbys parents then to Hubby's brothers house, then back to his parents. Next move will be to New Zealand on Jan 12, the count down is on.

The Baby Post

A big thank you for all the lovely comments on my last post I have not had time to reply as we are mid packing and moving out of the old house and life is just a little busy.  But I thought I would share these with you.
We were very lucky to have the lovely Kathy from Our Simple and Meaningful Life come to the hospital the day after Kingsley arrived and take some photos for us of those first precious moments of our new little family.

These are just a few of the amazing shots she took.

Peanut Has Arrived

Our little boy has entered this world and we are adjusting to the roles of new parents.

Let me introduce Kingsley

Just born with Daddy

6 Hours after delivery

In the end it all happened naturally.  I was booked in to be induced on Sunday morning but on Saturday morning I woke up at 5 am already in labour.  Of course it was the day Hubby had gone to work at 4am to do a special extra shift that he only has to do every 3 months.  So I sent him a message to let him know things were happening and to get ready to come home since he was an hour away. Thankfully he was nearly finished doing the big important jobs and was home by 7am and after a quick shower we went straight to the hospital.
By the time we arrived at the hospital things were well and truely moving along.  I was able to have the natural birth that I wanted without intervention or drugs other than the gas which is exactly what I had planned and at 1.27pm Kingsley arrived into this world.
We were both well enough to be discharged by 2pm the next day which was wonderful as my Mum was arriving from New Zealand later that afternoon so we have been well supported in our recovery at home for the last few days.
So far feeding is going well and sleep well it is what it is for all new parents and with mum and Hubby's support I am getting enough.

Next Sunday we move out of our house and on Mon - Wed the movers will be here packing up all of our things to send to New Zealand.
So with all that we have going on I will be a bit absent from this space for a little bit but once we are settled in a few weeks I will be back and there might even be some more photos in the mean time.

Using Up Food Before We Move

With our impending move to live with family we are doing our best to use up as much food from our pantry, fridge and freezer as we can.  This is very difficult for people who are used to having a large stockpile of food and we are eating things more often than we normally would (polenta a few times a week)
We will be able to take food with us to keep using over the next 3 months but here are some of the things we have used up and how we used them.

Pastry and feta used up in Spinach and Feta Triangles.

Coconut used in Louise Cake a classic New Zealand sweet slice and on breakfast cereal in the mornings.

I used up the last of my pepitas, sunflower seeds, linseed's and most of my bread flour by making a few loaves of Busy Peoples Bread.  I also included poppy seeds, sesame seeds and chia seeds but I still have some of these left and will keep adding these to breakfast cereals and mixed in yogurt till they are gone.
I also made bread crackers from part loaves of bread that I had in the freezer.  All I do is cut it thinly brush with olive oil and when just out of the oven a given them a sprinkle of salt.

I used up the last of the dates in a couple of date loaves and I used up all my sushi wrappers and sushi rice making sushi for our baby shower.

Hubby has taken the last of my Homemade Baked Beans to work for lunch, all the chickpeas have been turned in to hummus, the last of the yellow spit peas are now dahl and portioned out in the freezer, and we have been using up frozen meals that I have in the freezer. There are still plenty in there for after peanut arrives but now that he is overdue I have been less inclined to cook and they have come in very handy.

I still have a bit of Quince Paste (about 2 cups) left and am looking for a way to use it up so if you have any ideas let me know.

From The Web This Week

Taxing plastic bags in the UK reduced the amount used drmatically do you think we should do it here?
What else should we tax?

Making your own Garlic Powder if you had a bumper crop

Have you ever tried Salted Herbs?  I love this idea for using up herbs that you may have purchased and don't want to waste any left overs.

I quite like this idea for an above ground root cellar or mushroom growing chamber

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is bigger than believed, devastating

Still Waiting For Peanut

So I am now 7 days overdue and Peanut is quite happy in his little water world.  I am doing ok not too uncomfortable other than getting up 5 times a night to go to the bathroom and having a very tight stomach.  I think this is due to my weight gain being so low (about 4 kg).  This has allowed me to remain active right up to now and most days I am still taking Jessie for a 3 km walk, but I do this first thing as it is too hot later and by 1 pm my energy levels are starting to fade.

I am booked in to be induced on Sunday if he does not arrive before then so the end is in sight and we will finally get to meet the little guy.
My Mum arrives from New Zealand on Sunday afternoon so she may or may not be here for the big event.

So sometime next week you can expect some baby photos.

See you all on the other side.

Vehicle Maintenece And Prep For New Zealand

We are taking our ute to NZ so in preparation Hubby did some basic cosmetic maintenance/repair work.  The ute has a steel tray that is powder coated for rust proofing however over the time we have had it the powder coating has come off in places through wear and tear leading to patches of surface rust.
If we were staying here in Australia we would probably not have worried too much as we would have likely changed the vehicle before it became a problem.  But with taking the vehicle to New Zealand which is a much wetter climate the rust would increase more rapidly and  we will not do such high kilometers so we will therefore keep the car longer.

It was only surface rust and there were no holes or anything like that so it was just a matter of Hubby grinding back the rust, applying rust converter and repainting.

This is after the rust has been ground off and scrubbed back and rust converter has been applied and left to dry.

Hubby then repainted the entire tray with undercoat/primer.

Then finally the entire tray was repainted.

The rest of the vehicle had no issues so we just need to worry about cleaning it before we move so this investment of our  Hubby's time and effort is worth it . Because the ute will be packed inside the same shipping container as all of our other belongings it only works out at about $3000 dollars to ship it which is much less than it's value.

From The Web This Week

Just a few things I saw this week that I enjoyed.

Some great tips here about making sure your seeds are really dry

Check out this short documentary "The Future Of Food Production"

Raising Chickens For Dummies is an article that raises some good points for first time chicken owners.

As a kiwi I grew up with this appearing at birthday parties and in bakeries.  It is very very sweet and very very bad for you.  But as a once a year treat once slice shared with Hubby no worries.

Herbs to treat inflamation

As a soon to be mum I was sent this article about visiting a newborn and I think some of these things people would not think of.

Have You Heard Of Prebiotics?

You might know about Pro-Biotics but have you heard of Pre-Biotics?

For a while now I have been reading up on Pre-biotics and how there are some African cultures that have very low incidence of disease that scientists are now attributing to the volume of fiber in their diets and how this fiber feeds their gut bacteria.

If you did not see this documentary "The Diet Myth" last night it is really worth watching.  

Here are some other links about Pre-biotics

Monash University website about Pre-Biotics

ABC's Catalyst Show - "Gut Reaction"

Websites highlighting foods that are good for your gut microbes

Authority Nutrition
One Green Planet

Here are some scientifically published papers on the subject:

Fiber and Prebiotics: Mechanisms and Health Benefits

Dietary modulation of the human colonic microbiota: Introducing the concept of prebiotics

An Overview of Probiotics, Prebiotics and Synbiotics in the Functional Food Concept: Perspectives and Future Strategies

From The Web This Week

Found a few interesting things on the web this week.

Switchel looks like it might be an alternative to Kombucha if you use vinegar that still contains the mother.

I enjoyed this post from Becoming Minimalist

Here is a tool for successional planting

I often feel we are starting our farm late but I liked this article and I think it never really is too late to do anything you want.

A good introduction to Permaculture

School Desk Revamp

This year Hubby spent the first 6 months off work following surgery and towards the end of his recovery he was getting very bored and I was running out of jobs for him to do.  If we had been in our own home this would not have been an issue but in a rental there is not much you can do.
So he decided to tackle a job we had been talking about for years, revamping an old silky oak school desk that we have owned for over 7 years.
Some of the desk was coated with shellack, some with polyurethane and some had no finish left on it at all.  There was a round water stain on the lid of one side, someones initials written in liquid paper near one of the pen grove and a sticker on the inside of one half.  Thankfully there were no carvings.
It took days to strip off all the layers and get back to the timber beneath.

You can see the round water stain in the below photo.

Then it was the start of the sanding process which was a very messy process.

Jessie the number 1 helper was on hand to over see everything.

Hubby can be quite particular and he spent weeks on the process.  After it was sanded it was oiled and buffed then oiled again.  The old timber (about 70 years we think) soaked up a lot of oil but is now looking fantastic with the water stain gone and the wood grain on show in all it's glory.

This is the finished product.

Now we just need to track down some ceramic ink wells to fit and it will be complete.