You know, I was going to give up scrapbooking all together this year.  I kinda lost the joy.  All I could see was the mess and the STUFF.  But then I got my old albums out and looked through the layouts of my boys.  The little stories of them growing up.  And my heart felt so happy, that I knew I had to keep going, even just a little.

Sometimes, I need an extra push to get my stuff out and just DO it though.  This should help.

Raquel so generously asked me to be on her design team for her new little adventure, and I’m quite looking forward to working with her beautiful kits and hopefully inspiring people to tell their stories with lovely paper and things.

If you like to cut and paste, check out A Piece of Cake Designs on Facebook, on the blog, or on the website.  The March kit goes on sale on Monday the 5th, and I will have some sneaky peeks for you next week.

It has been a fairly epically busy week around here and I haven’t managed to squeeze any creative time in at all.  I would really like to remedy that in the next couple of days, and I think I might attempt some sewing for {gasp} me!

I’ve got some fabric lying around that has been waiting to be made into a skirt or dress or tunic and I’ve got my eyes on these patterns over at Burdastyle:

This tunic looks super comfy, and is possibly best made in jersey (I’m sure I’ve got some tucked away somewhere!)

The Anda has been on my list for ever.  Easy and cute (but mine won’t be so… um… sparkly).  That does make me want knee high stockings though…

I’m not sure I have quite the right fabric in my stash for this skirt, but I’m loving the pleats and the button detail (and it has a pocket!)  And there’s those knee high stockings again.

I am easily distracted so I need to choose something I can finish in a night.  Hopefully I’ll have something to show you by the end of the weekend!

Do you sew?  Do you wish you could?  What would you make yourself if you could?

I had to find some baby pictures of Dubs last week.  They were still on the ‘old’ computer and I hadn’t had to access those files for a long time.  My heart melted as I looked through the baby pictures of my boys.

He doesn’t look as much like the others.  And he still has those huge eyes.  Bless him.

I started taking my darling first-born to swimming lessons when he was six months old.  All the mums in my mums group did.  We sang songs and dipped them under the water, giving them cuddles when they emerged half-drowned and stunned.

We continued going until I was about to burst with number two.  And then, after a couple of months, resumed; Nanna was on baby duty while I was in the pool.

When Diesel was almost four and the teacher refused to progress him into a class where he could swim by himself, I decided I’d had enough of getting in the pool with a defiant toddler and we cancelled the lessons.  I didn’t miss them.  At all.

Two years later, my two big boys are considerably terrified by water.  When we were away over Summer they hated the water, and missed out on a lot of fun because they wouldn’t go any deeper than their ankles.  It was time to go back to swimming lessons.

I booked them in to the same swim school I attended as a kid.  My old swim teacher still runs it.  And it looks exactly the same.  And has the same chloriney smell and hot, humid atmosphere.  I love it.

Dubs was super excited about going.  He’d had a swim at the pool the week before and had loved it eventually, so I had high hopes for lessons.  I walked with him to the ladder, and as I went to help him in, he screamed.  And screamed.  And refused to get in.

So we sat at the side of the pool, watching.  He sat with his goggles on, happy to watch, but flatly refusing to get in.  It took two teachers and a whole lot of sweet talking to trick him into getting in.  Where he sat, silently on the step with his goggles on his head.

We got refunded for that lesson.

This week, I had very low hopes indeed.  I walked with him to the ladder and helped him slowly get in and walk across the pool with his lovely, patient teacher.  Then I watched him play and kick and float, just like the other kids.

Big mummy sigh of relief.

They’ll catch up to their peers in no time.  And I’m actually really glad we’ve waited until this point to get back into the water.  Everyone is a lot happier.  And I don’t have to bare my stretch marks to the world.  Which is awesome.

Are you a conscientious mum who has taken their kids swimming every week since they were born?  Or are you a slack mum like me who decided to risk their kids’ safety for the sake of their own comfort?  No shame in that, I say!