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.