12 Days of Christmas

Here are my completed layouts for Janine's 12 Days of Christmas challenge!

Thanks so much Janine for setting these! I've now got a lovely little Christmas album to share with my boys as they get older. I used an old baby's board book for my mini album. I just tore off the shiny paper and then covered with patterned paper.

Here are the pics:

Day 1: On the first day of Christmas/My true love gave to me/A pukeko in a ponga tree
The first challenge is around the Christmas tree ... Do you have a real tree or a fake tree? Do you have a theme for your ornaments or tree? What day does the Christmas tree go up? When do you take the tree down? Do you have a family tradition to celebrate the tree being decorated? Do you decorate the tree yourself or do your children help?

Day 2: On the second day of Christmas/My true love gave to me two kumara/And a pukeko in a ponga tree
This challenge is around food ... Do you leave any special foods out for Santa?

Day 3: On the third day of Christmas/My true love gave to me/Three flax kits/Two kumara/And a pukeko in a ponga tree!
Day Three of the challenge is around gifts ... What do your children want for Christmas this year; include your children’s wish list, or maybe their letter to Santa.

Day 4: On the fourth day of Christmas/My true love gave to me/Four huhu grubs/Three flax kits/Two kumara/And a pukeko in a ponga tree!
Many of us have extremely hectic schedules around this time of year. So it seems right that today’s challenge is around making a calendar page showing all of the holiday events and activities your family is involved in during the month of December.

Day 5: On the fifth day of Christmas/My true love gave to me/Five- big-fat –pigs/Four huhu grubs/Three flax kits/Two kumara/And a pukeko in a ponga tree
Today’s challenge is what Christmas means to you? Tell me what Christmas means to you and or your family.

Day 6: On the sixth day of Christmas/My true love gave to me/Six pois a twirling/Five- big-fat –pigs/Four huhu grubs/Three flax kits/Two kumara/And a pukeko in a ponga tree
Today’s challenge is about music…What are your favourite Christmas songs/carols?

Day 7: On the seventh day of Christmas/My true love gave to me/Seven eels a swimming/Six pois a twirling /Five- big-fat –pigs/Four huhu grubs/Three flax kits/Two kumara/And a pukeko in a ponga tree
Today’s challenge is about summer ... Whilst we celebrate Christmas in summer weather other countries celebrate Christmas in winter. What do you prefer a hot or wintry Christmas?

Day 8: On the eighth day of Christmas/My true love gave to me/Eight plants of puha/Seven eels a swimming/Six pois a twirling /Five- big-fat –pigs/Four huhu grubs/Three flax kits/Two kumara/And a pukeko in a ponga tree
Today’s challenge is about Family ... Is there a roster of whose place Christmas is held at or where lunch is and dinner is? Do you all pitch in food wise or is it a potluck Christmas dinner? Do you have or have you had an orphans Christmas where you invite other friends to join you?

Day 9: On the ninth day of Christmas/My true love gave to me/Nine sacks of pipis/Eight plants of puha/Seven eels a swimming/Six pois a twirling /Five- big-fat –pigs/Four huhu grubs/Three flax kits/Two kumara/And a pukeko in a ponga tree
Todays challenge is aorund keeping in touch ... Christmas cards.

Day 10: On the tenth day of Christmas/My true love gave to me/Ten juicy fish heads/Nine sacks of pipis/Eight plants of puha/Seven eels a swimming/Six pois a twirling /Five- big-fat –pigs/Four huhu grubs/Three flax kits/Two kumara/And a pukeko in a ponga tree
Entertainment is the theme for today. So the Christmas meal has been eaten and the dishes done, your relaxing and the kids just want to have fun. What happens on Christmas day for entertainment?

Day 11: On the eleventh day of Christmas/My true love gave to me/Eleven haka lessons/Ten juicy fish heads/Nine sacks of pipis/Eight plants of puha/Seven eels a swimming/Six pois a twirling /Five- big-fat –pigs/Four huhu grubs/Three flax kits/Two kumara/And a pukeko in a ponga tree
Today’s challenge is about Christmas Eve ... Do you do anything as a family on Christmas Eve? Any family traditions you do on Christmas Eve?

Day 12: On the twelfth day of Christmas/My true love gave to me/Twelve puipuis swinging/Eleven haka lessons/Ten juicy fish heads/Nine sacks of pipis/Eight plants of puha/Seven eels a swimming/Six pois a twirling /Five- big-fat –pigs/Four huhu grubs/Three flax kits/Two kumara/And a pukeko in a ponga tree
Todays challenge is going to be a little bit different. You have two topics you can choose from. The second choice is yours, you decide that your page can be about. However there is a catch, there has to be twelve items in your page. Mine has 12 embellishments.

Finally, the cover of my album.

Glimpses of our Christmas ...

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas ....

... oh, I just love that song!! Always reminds me of the movie Home Alone, which is my favourite Christmas movie ever! My sister and I try to watch it every year on Christmas Eve.

7 sleeps to go ...
A few days ago, Ethan asked me: "how many days until Christmas?" … and I answered "11". Yesterday, he proudly announced to us at the breakfast table that there were only 8 days until Christmas! When he said it, Rob looked at me, thinking I must have already told him. But I hadn't. He had obviously worked it out by himself - I had said 11 days, then he figured out it was 10 the next day, then 9, and then 8! We were SO impressed!

The boys are enjoying opening their advent calendar each day. I got one of those felt ones with the pockets and I filled them with my own things. Some days they get little Santa chocolates, other days they get Christmas stickers, balloons or a little ornament to hang on the tree. Usually we have the generic chocolate advent calendars with Nemo or Bob the Builder on them. When the shops started stocking those calendars in late October, Ethan asked me to buy one. How do you explain to a 4-year-old that if he got a calendar now, he would have to wait almost 6 weeks before he could start opening it?! So I duly waited until the end of November, and when I tried to buy one, they were all sold out. Except for the Barbie ones, but I would NOT have been popular if I had come home with one of those! As I left the store, I noticed the felt ones. I decided it would be more fun (not to mention healthier) if I could fill the pockets myself, making sure that not every pocket contained a teeth-rotting substance. I thought the boys might be unhappy with the non-edible offerings, but they've been great. Having said that, they do like the "chocolate days" best ;-)

I have been working steadily on Janine's 12 Days of Christmas challenge.
I've completed all of them except for #9. I haven't done that one because I foolishly forgot to take photos of the Christmas cards I made and the family newsletter that I wrote before I posted them all out on Thursday! So I need to go round to Mum's and take a photo of her one.
For the challenge, I made a small 7x5 album from an old board book that belonged to the kids. I just ripped off all the shiny paper and covered the pages with Basic Grey papers (Blitzen, Dasher and Fruitcake). I decided to wait until my entire album was done before taking photos and putting them on my blog. So hopefully by the end of this week I will have them all up here for you to see.
Thanks Janine, for such a great challenge! I'm really glad that we now have this little album as a family Christmas heirloom.

Endometriosis

I've written about my health issues previously, but I never went into detail. That's about to change.
Don't worry, there won't be too much detail … but I want to explain because I need the prayers and support of my friends and family right now.

This morning I went to see Cindy Farquhar, one of the country's top gynaecologists. She suspects that I have endometriosis. I'm sure most of you know what that is, but for those who don't, here is a bit of information on it:

Endometriosis is a condition where tissue similar to the lining of the uterus (the endometrial stroma and glands, which should only be located inside the uterus) is found elsewhere in the body. Endometriosis lesions can be found anywhere in the pelvic cavity. The most common symptom of endometriosis is pelvic pain. The pain often correlates to the menstrual cycle, but a woman with endometriosis may also experience pain that doesn’t correlate to her cycle. For many women, the pain of endometriosis is so severe and debilitating that it impacts their lives in significant ways. It is estimated that 30-40% of women with endometriosis are infertile.

I haven't had any issues with infertility (and I'm SO thankful for that) but I have been experiencing severe pelvic pain for the past 6 months. I previously suffered from dysmenorrhoea when I was a teenager, but after I had kids the problem seemed to just disappear (very common, apparently). Then all of a sudden, the pain was back, and worse than ever. So over the past few months I have had exams, blood tests and a pelvic ultrasound to try and find out why. None of these showed anything, so my GP referred me to Dr Farquhar. After doing yet another exam and taking my history, she started talking about endometriosis. She told me that my main option is to have laparoscopic surgery. The main reason is to diagnose endometriosis (in fact it is the only way to properly diagnose it) and, if any is found, it can be cut out or burned off.

She has left it for me to decide whether to go ahead with the surgery or not. There is a chance that they will not find any endometriosis, and then I would have paid $6,500 and undergone general anaesthesia (for the first time in my life!) for nothing. There is a contraceptive device that may help, but that is also expensive and seems a little ridiculous since Rob has just had a vasectomy!! I'm taking very good anti-inflammatory drugs at the moment, which do help, but I would prefer to find a more permanent solution to the problem.

So I've got a lot to think about and I need your prayers and support. I need to make the right decision, and at the moment I have no idea what to do. Hopefully I will choose correctly and whatever that choice may be, I hope it will lead to a better quality of life for me.

Fast tracking my weight loss plan ...

I posted some time ago about my newfound enthusiasm for losing these final 10 kilos.
I've been doing okay. The weight loss has been very gradual. I doubt many people would have even noticed it. I'm doing well with my diet but the exercise just hasn't really been happening. I just never had the time, never had the energy, and never knew what exercise to do that would really burn the fat.

SO .... I joined the gym!! I never, EVER thought I would do such a thing! I used to go to fitness classes and aqua aerobics classes at the Leisure Centre (which I loved!), but going to the GYM was always a bit too scary. Anyway, Christi suggested that we join the local Curves gym together. We joined up last week and I've been 3 more times since then.

I just LOVE it!! The workout is 30 min, and you get a full body workout. They recommend going 3 times a week. I felt SO good after each session last week, and I'm really looking forward to my next one this afternoon ... especially because Christi will be coming with me! The only problem for me is their opening hours. They close at 7pm weeknights and they are only open from 8am-11am on Saturdays. Closed on Sundays. Since I work four 9h days/week and spend the other weekday at home with the boys, I just don't have much time to squeeze it into my day. But I've managed so far, and Rob is really supportive so I'm sure it will be fine. I've got a plan: I intend to go on Mondays after work, Wednesdays before work and Fridays after Rob gets home. Plus Saturday mornings when possible.

I'm actually pretty excited about my future now. In the past I have had great success with Weight Watchers and controlling my diet, but the exercise part has never really been a big enough focus for me. I guess because I am extremely time-poor. But Curves is great because it is so quick and you feel like you are really working out all parts of your body. Simply going for a walk doesn't make me feel that way because it is all cardio and I just don't know where to start with the weight training at home. Doing my Pilates DVD made me feel good, but I knew I wasn't getting the full workout I needed. Going to Curves is perfect because everything there is customised for women, and the machines are all designed to target each muscle area. Then you do your cardio bursts in between (and I'll try and go walking on the days I don't get to the gym).

So even though I probably won't be in That Dress on Christmas Day like I hoped, I know I will definitely be wearing it on my birthday in March! YAY!

My sweet 4-year-old

I just put Ethan to bed and this is the conversation we had. It just about made me cry!

Me: Goodnight, Ethan. I love you!
Ethan: I love you too. But my heart is starting to feel really funny.
Me: What do you mean?
Ethan: My heart feels all funny because you are leaving [clutching his chest]
Me: You feel sad because I'm leaving?
Ethan: Yes, I think my heart will break when you are not with me.

I couldn't believe he was saying those things. I didn't know he had those sort of strong emotions, he usually doesn't express them like that anyway. It was so sweet, but also a bit sad! I felt bad leaving him but I just gave him another cuddle. Then we had this conversation:

Me: Off to sleep now, okay?
Ethan: But I can't sleep, I don't know why.
Me: Think about your Kindy Christmas party tomorrow, that might help.
Ethan: I don't think I will be able to dream about that, because I always dream about you.
Me: Really?
Ethan: I hope I can dream about you tonight as well.

Talk about heart wrenching!! What a sweet little guy he is (most of the time). I just love him to bits!!

Photos

On Saturday afternoon, the amazingly talented and wonderful Christi came over and spent some time taking family photos. She has already showcased some of them on her new photo blog but these are my favourites and I wanted to share them!

You might be wondering about the one with Ethan showing the plaster on his knee. Like why did I choose it as one of my favourites? For some reason, I really love it!! It is just so "boyish" and typical of him. The plaster is tattered, he has bruises on his legs and he's not smiling. It makes me think "tough guy" and "boys will be boys". I'm going to be scrapping that one, for sure!! And probably in 8x10 or something ;-)

I am soooo happy with how they turned out!! Originally I just asked Christi's advice about taking some Christmas photos of the boys with their santa hats on. This turned into her offering to take the photos, and then us getting all dressed up and made up for some decent family photos!

I have to say that Christi is pretty talented when it comes to this sort of thing. I mean my boys know her pretty well so they weren't really shy or anything, but she still had a really great way of getting them to smile, look at the camera and generally co-operate. They had such fun! She was quick, too! It was all over in about 15-20 min which was great, because kids don't last much longer than that, lol ;-)

I'm going to get some of these enlarged & framed for Christmas presents, and some more for myself because I just love them!! Of course I'll be scrapping a ton of them, and my sister suggested using the family ones for Christmas cards ... so if I find time I will do that!

Thanks Christi, you're the best!!