Where have I been? I’ve been partying!

Two of my most favourite (under-6 year old) little people in the whole world have had birthdays recently. Of course I’m speaking about my grandbabies!

Our darling Jack celebrated his very first birthday with lots of friends and family at a picnic in the park, and took his first unsteady steps at walking a couple of days later. So many firsts!

Jack loves books – how could he not love them when both his Mummy and his Daddy work in the book industry? – and he was so excited to open this present from Nana (his great-grandma).

Then our little Princess turned 5 with a birthday lunch and lots of candles to blow out.

Where did our baby girl go? She’s quite the grown-up schoolgirl now

 

Di

What a lucky duck!

Tonight this precious little man is off on a big jet plane, with his Mummy and Daddy, to enjoy a holiday in a country far away.

Though it’s summer there, it can still be a bit chilly. So Nanna (his great-grandma), Sarah (his aunty) and I (his grandma) each decided to make Jack something comforting and warm for the trip.

Nanna made him a beautiful blue woollen jumper. I know he liked it because he immediately reached out his little hand to stroke the soft texture. Ahh, there’s nothing like a hand-knitted jumper from Nanna.

Sarah decided Jack needed a light but snuggly flannelette quilt, to keep him warm.

She simply sandwiched two pieces of flannelette together – one plain red and the other featuring yellow ducklings – and quilted them with straight diagonal lines.

Then she bound it with a blue starry cotton, perfect for a little boy who needs a comforting snuggle as he travels.

I’m so proud at the way she’s mastered the art of the mitred corner …

Finally, I made Jack a pair of crocheted sneaker-style booties so his little toes won’t get cold.

 

Bye bye, Jack – what a lucky duck!

Di

Warm as toast

Jack’s Mummy and Daddy, along with a bunch of good friends, took him on his very first camping trip last weekend. As I’ve told you, winter has certainly arrived with a vengeance, so I made him this woollen beanie and pair of mittens to keep him warm.

 

Teamed up with the red cardigan I knitted him little Jack looks very snug, don’t you think?

And he isn’t even bothered by those cute but silly ears     … yet!

 

Di  

We’re a family of iPad tragics

I just had to share this photo of Jack at 10 weeks old watching his first Apple keynote address with his Daddy, a fan of all things Apple.

I wonder when he’ll get his first app…

His 4 year old cousin loves to play with that naughty Talking Tom, as well as the Disney Princess Dress-up Sticker Book app on my iPad.

But the most surreal iPad experience I’ve had was last Saturday night, around midnight.

I was tucked up in my warm bed with my iPad (nicknamed the DiPad) reading all the latest postings by my blogging friends when a text message came through on my mobile phone from halfway around the world.

It was from Sarah – did I tell you my daughter’s currently at the Kalahari Meerkat Project in South Africa?

She was sitting on a dune in the Kalahari Desert, the only place for miles around where she can get 3G reception, uploading photos to Facebook, when her iPad had shut down.

Looking down at a black screen she was having a quiet panic, Apple stores being in seriously short supply in the Kalahari Desert, and needed some advice. (Ah, you always need your Mum…)

Mum’s Help Desk did a quick Google on the DiPad, as I snuggled down under the covers, and came up with the solution which was swiftly conveyed by return text message to the bereft Sarah.

Hold down the Home button and the Power button simultaneously for 5 seconds.

It worked!!! And she called me a legend!

So now it’s official. I have it in writing, at least in a text message on my phone

Now this legend is off to play Words with Friends on the DiPad. Game, anybody?

Di

Wordless Wednesday

Two and a half weeks old

A regular army of hippopotami…*

Young Jack, it seemed, was far too comfortable to make his entry into the world on his due date, sparing no thought for his poor Goddie who was simply bursting with the anticipation of both meeting this little bub and revealing his quilt – not to mention you, my dear blog reader, patiently waiting ….

So here’s the thing.

My son loved his red, white and blue cotton hippopotamus curtains (designed by Pamela Walker in 1975) as a child, and I only recently discovered he’d kept them all these years. They are about to hang in Jack’s room (as soon as I’ve let the hems down).

When he found a table lamp in the same fabric a few months ago he was very excited, and so was I! It meant those hippos were still out there somewhere, and if I could track them down I’d have the beginnings of a baby quilt.

After some discreet big game hunting googling I tracked the fabric down here at Sprout Design, an Australian textile design collective where it’s now being screen printed on 50% bamboo/50% cotton.

And here’s the result, a complete surprise to the new parents  

(Warning: Crazy-woman-with-camera alert!)

* From Flanders and Swann’s Hippopotamus Song

Mud, mud, glorious mud…

Friday Flaunt

My new grandbaby has arrived – and he’s a BOY!

Jack Elvis Jobbins

4.12 kg (9lb)

Isn’t he beautiful!

My son and gorgeous daughter in law are so excited and I’m one proud Goddie

(Quilt photos to follow)