new addition

Well, as I mentioned in my first post, I have chickens and a duck. Make that two ducks now. Yesterday I happened to pick up a beautiful Indian Runner Drake. Jemima loves him. They hit it off straight away. His name is George. Unless someone can come up with something else. I'm still on the fence about George. But I want something that goes with Jemima. He's so cute.

Here he is. He's the one standing up. Isn't he handsome?

They do everything together. We're hoping they have babies.

He's already tried to have his way with her. Lol.

The chickens are a bit put out. Especially poor little Nigella. She was Jemima's mate. They used to go everywhere together. but now there's a man on the scene, poor Nigella has her beak out of joint.

Here they go off into the distance together. Isn't young love sweet?

And the chickens follow.

Here are two of my girls. This is Mabel (at the front) and Mavis.

Mabel is the biggest and thinks she rules the roost. But in fact it's Jemima that's in charge.

This is my Charlie. He's about 10 years old now but he's as agile as ever.

I think having Toad around keeps him going.

He has three legs because when he was a pup he got run over.

Here's Frog. Would have been 11. Unfortunately, we had to get him put to sleep.

He was suffering badly with bone cancer in his fron leg and shoulder and, as we found out later, liver cancer.

Frog and Charlie grew up together. It was devastating when Frog left us.

And Charlie was a bit down for a while too.

Then this guy came along. Meet Toad.

This is him when we first got him.

 He was 10 weeks old here.

Here he is today. 7 Months now.

He's such a sook.

He's a total mummy's boy. I just love that face.

And finally we have Fish.

She's my little girl. We've been through alot together.

She's very special to me.

This was her this morning stalking the chickens and the ducks.

I don't know what she thinks she's going to do with one once she get's it.

They're all bigger that her! Lol

Part 3 - Second time lucky, or so we thought

 Well, after all the drama and tears of my first loss, my Mum suggested I go away with her. She was off the visit the rellies in Western Australia. I wasn't sure. I felt so crap and I didn't want to leave Sel. But I did need to get away just to clear my head and refresh. So off I went. All the shit with my first pregnancy went down in July and we were going away in September. That was a good gap to get my head together before I left anyway. When we got there it rained and it was cold most of the time, but we did get the occasional gorgeous day. We stayed with my Grandma. She lives a street away from the beach and it's just gorgeous there. I even got to see the sunset over the water. Just beautiful. But, the whole time I was away, I was so homesick. I cried more, and I didn't feel that fantastic either. But, things were looking up. Totally unplanned, because I didn't think I was ready just yet, I didn't get my period which was a week late. At that time it was unusual for me because I'm normally as regular as clockwork. Even after the loss I went straight back to a normal, regular cycle. So I started having suspisions. I did feel like crap. So, I avoided what I should have and waited till I got back home to do the test. It was the longest two weeks away ever. When I did get home, I did the test and low and behold, positive. We were excited but wary at the same time. But, this time it was going to be different. This was the one. We were finally going to get our little miracle. All was going well. Again, I had only slight nausea. I did the usual boods and stuff. And made my appointment for my 12 week scan. I was really tired one day, so I had a nap. When I woke, I got up to go to the toilet. Blood! No, not this time. I went straight off to the doctors. And he got me in that day for a scan. I had to sit outside in the waiting room and drink enough water though to fill my bladder. I was terrified. He asked me when I went for a scan, and I told him my 12 week scan was tomorrow. I was actually 12 weeks and three days along now. I went into the room and got up on the table. I was a mess bynow. Yep, more crying. Seems that's all I do these days. And when he put the thingy on my belly he couldn't find a heartbeat. Again. He said, "I'm sorry, bub is only 9 week size and there's no heartbeat". I mean, break it to me gently why don't you? At that stage, my neighbour had come down to be with me. As soon as she walked in the room, I think the only words that came out of my mouth were, " it wasn't supposed to happen again".  I was heartbroken again. Little did we know that we were to go through this two more times. Only the third one was at 5 weeks and the fourth one was at 8 weeks. Contrary to poplualr belief, it does not get any easier. It still kills me everytime it happens. I'm too scared to get pregnant now. All the excitement has been taken out of it for me. It's only full of stress and worry. I'm not even sure anymore if I want to do it. I don't know how I'm going to feel if I fall pregnant again. I think I'm at the stage where I'm just numb when it happens. Even when I do tell people I'm pregnant, the reaction is, "yeah, well, whatever", or "huh. Dannette's pregnant, again. We'll see". No one cares anymore. That's just what it's come down too. And when I see a pregnant woman on the street or someone with a new born I think to myself, " do have any idea how lucky you are?".  My advice to anyone that has been blessed with children or is having a baby, please don't take one moment of it for granted. It's such a privelege to be able to share your love and your life with someone that you created and nurtured.

part 2

I ended up being sent off to the hospital that day. I sat around and cried. I cried and cried so much, I didn't think it was possible to cry that much. But I did. I think I used almost every box of tissues they had. Finally after about half an hour a nurse came in and told us they didn't have a private room available. They wanted to put me in a private room because all the private rooms were three floors up from the maternity ward. Away from all the babies. So we went home. I couldn't stop crying. Everytime I thought I was ok, off I went again. That next week was to be the hardest week of my life. So that night I slept on and off all night. I think the contractions started at about 7 pm. Although, at the time, I didn't know they were contractions. I didn't know what was happening. So I kind of had an hour here and hour there when I actually did get sleep. And my dear husband didn't sleep at all because he was keeping an eye on me the make sure I was ok. All night! So the contractions slowly got more intense and by about 6 am when I had a shower, they were full on. I rang my midwife and told her what was happening. She said to get my butt straight to the hospital. So I woke up hubby, who'd just gone to sleep about two hours ago, and off we went. Off course by this time it was peak hour traffic. Ugh! I was in so much pain by this time. And I think all you gorgeous lucky ladies out there that have been in labour get what I'm saying. We were sitting there, stuck in traffic and low and behold, road works. IN PEAK HOUR!!! I think I scared the hell out of one guy who was in the car next to us. I was grunting and groaning rather loudly. When I think about that now I laugh. Poor guy. Lol. Anyway, we finally made it to the hospital. Hubby dropped me off and just as I got out of the car, major contraction. I sure attracted a crowd I tell you. Luckily, the nurse that I'd seen the previous day just happened to be arriving for work, so she got me into the car and drove me in. I was taken into a labour suite and put into one fo those attractive gowns that tie up at the back  just as hubby came racing in with my bags. Poor, sweet man. I love him so much. Then they were about to stick a drip in my arm, when, the whole thing just fizzled out. No more  contrations, nothing. Hmm, I told them ehat happened. They check out everything. Couldn't find a reason for it. So, there I was to stay for a couple of days till I either started labour again myself or they were to induce me. Two days and several pessaries later, and nothing. Four days end even more pessaries later and still nada. I had so many midwives and nurses hands up there I was starting to feel like a pez dispenser. I'd been woken so many times during the night, I don't know why I even bothered to try and sleep. But, I was never alone. Sel was beside me 24 hours a day and when he couldn't be there, my Mum was with me. I cried so much that week. But the one thing that really stood out in my mind was the fact that when I finally got to go home, it would be with empty arms. That hit me the hardest. So when nothing had happened 5 days after they started sticking me with needles, popping pessaries up there and scanning me. They decided they were going to try something new. It had only been tested a few times. But by this point I was willing to try anything to forgo having a d&c. It was a pessary type thing but made from seaweed or womething. They were $1000 a tablet. And they had to keep them in the freezer. So each time a had one, they had to defrost it first. I ended up having three courses of those. I now have the worlds most exprensive cervix. We still laugh about that one too! I'm always telling hubby , in the middle of baby dancing mind you, to be careful of my expensive cervix. Lol. It's hilarious. So, they never ended up working that well either. They put it down to the fact that the receptors in my uterus and around my cervix had "gone off duty". So it was a d&c for me. The last thin I wanted. And my GP didn't want to go there either, seeing as there was the risk of infertility. I did get to go home that night. Yay! But I had to go back in the next day. I was all gowned up again.uck. And back into bed for me. I waited all bloody day for them to come and get me. Then when they finally did, I was stuck in a room, drugged up to my eyes, which wasn't all bad, listening to some woman behind me talking to a nurse about her ceasar. I thought, great, this is what I need to hear right now. Talking about going back to her room after and having cuddle with baby and bla bla bla. Good, I'm crying again. It seems whenever someone even spoke to me that week I sarted crying. Finally a nurse came out to get me. I just wanted this to be over with now. I was so fed up and tired and just sick of crying. Of course when she came out, I was already crying. More tissues. I woke up later feeling just empty inside. And I don' mean because I just had a d&c I mean in my heart I felt empty and I had this pain in the middle of my chest that felt like something was taken away. Of course. It was. I was the worst week of my life. And one I'll never forget. Ever. That was my first missed miscarriage. Oh and I think I forgot to tell you. When they did the 20 week scan, bub was only  13 week size even thought she was still alive at 16 weeks, she was apparently very sick and hadn't grown. And they couldn't tell me if it was a boy of a girl when they did the d&c because she was too far gone. I still believe in my heart it was a little girl. I've named her Madelaine.
The story of my second loss will be tomorrow. Don't worry, it's no where near as dramatic.

More stuff to read when you're bored:)

Well, i did it!! I finally got around to re-opening my Etsy store. It's only taken me like, 6 months. Lazy much? I really have to get in and make more things too. I'm really wanting to open a stall at the local markets. And next year I'm hoping to participate in the Handmade Expo they have in Ipswich every year. I would have done it this year but it's this weekend so it's a bit late. Although I did recently make a new handbag, if you saw, I posted it yesterday. It's also on Etsy now too. Trying to cover my bases. I'm getting there. There's alot more opportunity these days to do something like that though. With the internet it makes things alot easier to get out there for more people to see. It's fantasic! It's really bringing out the creative in people. Wether it be in the area of computers or even more hands on stuff. It's just the best way to share.
Anyway, just to change to subject a bit. I have decided that if  I'm going to do this blog thing, then, what the hell I might as well tell you what got me started in this whole "getting creative" thing. I did say it was because I got a short hair cut, couldn't find hairclips I liked, bla bla bla. Well, it actually started way before that. In March 2008 I found out I was 5 weeks pregnant. Yay! We had only been trying for 4 or 5 months so we were over the moon. We were so excited. And I actually had it confirmed the day my neice was born so it was a double wammy. All was going well. The day came to have my 13 week scan and being the age I was, I was having a neucal translucency scan. Which, for those of you who don't know, is when they measure folds in babies neck on an ultra sound and check the fluid and stuff all to check for downs syndrome. not exactly sure how they figure it out, but it has something to do with numbers from blood tests you have done a few days before the scan and then the numbers they take from the scan and bla bla. So, I was at low risk. It was great. Bub was measuring perfectly, heart was strong. It was all good. So we went home happy. Three weeks later I went to my check up with a midwife which was all going normally. She checked for heartbeat, and there it was pumping away. Bub was great, still. Yay! Mum was with me for that one so it was exciting  to have her there. Only four more weeks till we could find out if it was pink or blue. We were so excited. We'd already bought things for the nursery. I got a great cot off ebay, a change table, a basinette, and people were already giving me things. I was so happy. My bump was growing all the time. I was starting to look rounder and rounder. I was so proud to show it off. I was even wearing tops that made it really noticable. I loved being pregnant. I didn't even have bad morning sickness. I felt only slightly nauseus but it was easy to deal with. I thought, wow, this is going to be so exciting. So anyway, four weeks went by sooo slowly. But the day came. Sel took that day off because we knew we'd be waiting for some time for our turn to come. So we waited. I was totally going to pee myself if they didn't hurry up. That's the worst part. Finally my turn came. We went in, I got up on the table, she started asking all the usual questions. Ok all's good. She put the scan thingy on my belly and the first thing she said was, "Hmmmm." I said "what's wrong" and she looked at me and just said, "I'm sorry". My heart just beat faster and faster. I knew something was wrong but I didn't know how bad it actually was. She then continued on to say " there's no heartbeat." I just shook my head, "No, that's not right, check again, it was there a few weeks ago. It was fine", she did but nothing. I couldn't say anything. I was just in shock.

I'm going to keep you in suspense. I have to step away and leave this alone for a bit. But I promise I will finish it tomorrow.

A whole new design

Well it took me all day yesterday and most of this morning, but, I finally finished it! A new handbag design. It's nothing spectacular, but it was fiddly. I like it alot. I'm actually thinking I might up scale it and make a nappy bag. Hmmmm. Tell me what you think! It is priced at $40 because of the amount of work involved. So without further delay, here it is............

I put it on the dress makers maniquin so you get some kind of scale. But the actual measurements are, 33 cm long, 24 cm high and 7 1/2 cm wide. It has one pocket inside for phone, keys or whatever.

This is the shabby flower detail I added for interest.

This is the interior and the pocket. The stripes aren't actually this bright it's just the photo that makes it look that way. They are alot more subdued.

New makings for today.

 Here are a few more things I have recently made. All of these are for sale so I will put pricing with them.

Meet Zombie Ted. He tries to be scary, but he's really no good at it. $20

These guys are hairclip hangers. They each come with two hair clips.But you can never have too many as far as I'm concerned. They each have a little ring on the back to hang them up with. $16.50

These are the cutest little girls aprons. There is green with ladybugs all over it. Blue with flowers and polka dot on the reverse and the pink one has Hello Kitty on it with a gorgeous floral reverse. Each on has an elasticised neck and waist band and the waist is velcro'd around.  They'll fit from ages 4 or 5 up. $25 each

This is a wrist pin holder. It has a funky black and white pattern with red stitching. It velcros up on the wrist. $9.50

Some of my makings

This is one I did for my nephew's room. I also did one with my niece's name on it but unfortunately I haven't got a picture of it. I'll work on getting one up for you.

This is one I did recently for my neighbour. She loves roosters. This was my first attempt. She loves it, so I'm assuming it was a success. Unfortunately the photo does it not justice. It's all washed out at the bottom.

This is the type of stuff I normally do. This was an engagement present for friends of mine.

This is one of the first pastel on canvas drawing I did. As you can see from the previous one, I've improved a bit over the years.

Hit the ground running

Hi and wish me luck!!!

Seeing as this is my first ever blog and I don't know what I'm doing and I'm not quite sure how to drive this thing, I thought I'd start off my introducing myself.

My name is Dannette, but my friends call me Nette. I'm 35 (almost 36). I'm very happily married to the most wonderful man, his name is Sel. We have two dogs. Charlie is the 10 year old, three legged blue healer cross. Then there's Toad. He's  a 6 month old, giant bounding doofus Irish wolf hound cross. Then I have one cat call Fish, she's my baby. We also have four chickens, Mabel, Mavis, Nigella and Cecily and one gorgeous Indian runner duck called Jemima. We moved out to Fernvale about 5 or so months ago and it's the best thing we ever did. We just love it here.

In my spare time I like to draw. Mostly pastels on canvas and mostly flowers. I love flowers. But more recently I have branched out to animals. Kind of cartoonish type stuff. I'll post some pictures so you can see what I mean. I also like to sew. A skill I so appreciativaly picked up from my Mother. I make handbags, stuffed toys and other bits and bobs.

It all started with hairclips though. It was about a year ago I got all my hair cut off. The type of style the is great for cute hairclips. But I couldn't find any I liked in the stores. So I thought, Aha! I'll make my own. And it went from there. So here I am today. Doing something I never thought I'd do. But, why not try new things. I mean, what's the worst that can happen?

I do hope this gave to some insight to me. And I hope you visit often because I'll be posting fequently. I'll also be working on some new projects, so come and check them out!!! Most of the stuff will be for sale so when I post pictures I'll have the prices with them.

Till next time

Love and hugs

Nette