a little update!

Hi everyone! It's been awhile hasn't it? I trust all of you are well and happy, and thank you from the bottom of my heart for your kind words, good wishes, and generous support of Becky's guest blogging efforts.

My mother's over to be with Jacob today, so I thought I'd grab the opportunity to quickly write a post! As you might imagine, I'm rather a zombie at present and haven't had many spaces of personal, private me time to speak of. I've injured my thumb and wrist too, and have to keep them immobilised in a splint for now. Please pray for me, not just in terms of healing -- which I'm certainly trusting God for -- but in terms of my attitude -- that I bear up with good cheer and fortitude!

On a brighter note though, I wanted to share with you some awesome happy mail I received! One of the sweetest things about blogging is the unexpected friends you make -- really rare, thoughtful people who go out of their way to make you feel extra special! Well, these gorgeous works of art are by the lovely Stacy, a prolific artist with a penchant for crows! Aren't they beautiful? Stacy sent me this gift of not one, but four, wonderful pieces -- three ACEOs for my kids, and a canvas plus display easel for me!

Rebecca and Ro squealed with delight when they saw their gifts (Jacob couldn't quite appreciate his yet!). Becky brought hers to school to show her friends, so I couldn't include hers in the photo. Thank you soo much Stacy -- you know how I've always loved Baby Crow!

Have a lovely week everyone!

curiouser and curiouser

Hello! It's me, Rebecca, from My Amazing Days! How are you? Mommy says her hands are literally full with Jacob and it's too tiring typing with one finger haha! Luckily, I am here! Today she wanted to share with you this picture she saw posted on Facebook! It shows Franco Banfi, a diver and snake enthusiast from Switzerland, with an enormous anaconda in Brazil. Isn't it awesome??

"Anaconda" is a name that actually refers to a group of snakes, but it is used most commonly to refer to the green anaconda, one of the largest snakes in the world. Green anacondas can grow to more than 29 feet, weigh more than 550 pounds, and measure more than 12 inches in diameter! Also, the females are much larger than the males -- yay!

Anacondas become so big by eating wild pigs, deer, birds, turtles, capybara, caimans, and even jaguars! They are nonvenomous constrictors, which means they coil their muscular bodies around captured prey and squeeze their victim until it asphyxiates. They can swallow their prey whole, no matter what the size, because their jaws are attached by stretchy ligaments. After a big meal, they can go for weeks or months without food. Though they are heavy and awkward on land, they move in a smooth, stealthy way in water. Their eyes and nasal openings are on top of their heads, allowing them to lie in wait for prey while remaining nearly completely submerged -- scary!!

You can see more incredible pictures of this anaconda and Mr Banfi here. But another reason Mommy wanted to share this FB post with you was because she was sooooo tickled by all the comments that people on FB left for it!

For example, Dennis wrote: "I would choose a zoom lens from waaaaay over there".

Amy wrote, "Oh yeah.... let's get real close to it  ...said no one ever".

Michelle wrote, "I would choose a massive zoom lens... from SPACE!" Hahahahaha!!!

What about Ronnie, who wrote, "Diver better be careful -- dat conda didn't get that size smelling the roses!" Or Greg: "THIS is why sawed-off 12 gauge shotguns were invented. And machine guns. And grenades".

Edwin wrote:"Why in all that's insane in this world would anyone get that close to that??" And Sharon: "Pictures of him being squeezed to death coming soon".

From Thais: "Aren't they usually thinner? It must've just ate a family... of bears".

And Alicia, who commented right after: "Looks like he just ate a small tribe.... and 3 crocodiles.. for an appetizer" Hahahahahahaha!!!!!

Mommy was laughing and laughing as I read her this stuff. She says it's hilarious the same way the comments on Is It Normal are. But her absolute FAVOURITE was this one by Gdora. The person didn't write anything, but just posted this picture:

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAA!!! Maybe you could use it to comment when words just aren't enough HAHAHA!!!

Have a super awesome rest of the week everyone!! See you again soon!!

posy pin!

Hi everyone!! It's me, Rebecca, from My Amazing Days! How have you been? As you might guess, we have been pretty busy with Jacob! Mommy was looking after him every day round the clock, plus taking care of Ro and me since school had started, and she got quite tired so that she finally caught Ro's cold. But she says she is very thankful that God watched over her all through her pregnancy, so that she never fell sick the whole time, even when she had to look after me and Ro every time we were sick.

So of course, she hasn't had much time to do any crafting, or anything of her own really. But she did manage to put together this pin whenever she had a free moment. She calls it a "posy pin" (actually, she wanted to call it a "corsage pin", but obviously "posy pin" sounds a lot better)! As you can see, it is like her other collage pins, made with thick board and other recycled elements.

It's made with lots of gorgeous flowers and even has a cat thrown in! It's just like a real corsage, except it won't wilt (and there's a cat)! Mommy hopes to make more of these for the shop when she has more time, which means not any time soon. But this pin might get listed if anyone is interested over the next couple of days -- just email or convo her (now sold; thank you :)!

OK, that's all for now! Mommy says hugs to everyone who wrote her such nice emails and left such kind comments on our last post. We hope you are all doing super!! See you again real soon!!

just a quick one!

Hello everybody! Just a quick little post today! First, a picture I took of Jakey at five days old! Hello little cutie!!! I LOVE him! He is such a good baby :D

Here he is sitting in the Boppy pillow Ro and I used when we were babies! Hello Jakey!! I love you!! Mwah mwah mwah!!!

And second, a little movie I made of my sister and me singing to Mommy in the hospital! (She was eating properly, but we wanted to sing her the song anyway).

Mommy says thank you so much everyone for your kind words and good wishes!! Have a super lovely day!! See you again soon!!

take my advice...

Don't Let the Pigeon Stay Up Late, by Mo Willems

While Mommy was sitting with Jacob, she read an article in a magazine called Junior and asked if I could type parts of it out to share with you! Of course I said OK, because I love typing! (There are some bad swear words, but I know they're bad and not to use them).

The article is a regular feature in the magazine called Ask Katie. The subhead says Everyone has an opinion when it comes to raising children -- just make sure you keep yours to yourself. Mommy says it is funny and well-written -- and she says OF COURSE no one we know is like this!!

"[We] just carry on looking after our children with a variety of techniques ranging from military-style regimes, to barely-coping strategies. It works. Aside from the odd wobble -- when your child comes up with something totally left-field -- we know what we are doing. It's just a pity that other people don't believe us.

"You may get an inkling of what you're in for before your child is even born, as an avalanche of unwanted advice, ideas, opinions and crackpot theories is proffered. And it gets worse after your baby is born. Why won't people just shut up? Having been subjected to interfering family, friends and complete bloody strangers since I started to show a slight bump, I have formulated my own crackpot theory on this.

"Despite what they might say when under the influence of alcohol, most people don't know how to end world poverty or solve the economic crisis. They simply don't have the necessary experience. But hey, everybody has been a child, which they think makes them perfectly qualified to tell you how to bring up yours.

"So, while powerless to do anything about sub-prime mortgages, they will sound off at great length about how you should put your baby to bed, what you should give your child to eat, wear, play with or think, how to impart discipline and why children today are so spoilt and badly behaved.

"Ask yourself this -- how many times have you been told -- unsolicited -- how to bring up your child and what you are doing wrong? And how many times has anybody told you: "My, aren't you doing a good job"? Exactly.

"Of course, not everyone goes on at great length. But wordless condemnation is just as bad. The accumulated sighs, harrumphs, pursed lips and significant looks that a mother is subjected to can be enough to send her completely off her rocker... Mothers themselves are particularly good at doing this, so take a vow right now NEVER to do it yourself when the grandchildren arrive.

"There are times when we could all do with the odd word of kindly encouragement, but I fail to see why people take it on themselves to tell you how to do your job with such wearying regularity, when you haven't asked their opinion.

"When my daughter was a baby, people told me what she should wear (that is, they didn't like my taste in clothes), when I should pick her up (because that's how they treated their own children)... I even had a complete stranger in a lift criticise the shape of my pram (don't know what her bloody excuse was).

"They just never stop. And they never, ever will. So all you can really do is let all the criticism wash over you and do as you damn well please. Just don't start telling other people where you think they're going wrong" (extracted from Junior magazine, issue 162).

Have a super weekend everyone!!!

hello Baby!

Hello everybody!!! How are you? It's me, Rebecca, from My Amazing Days! I'm so excited!! See the picture above? Yes! My baby brother has been born! His name is Jacob and he is sooooooooooooooooooooo cute! This picture shows cards that Ro and I made in the hospital room. The one in front is by me, and the one behind is by Ro!

Mommy let us stay with her while she was in the hospital. Let me share with you some pictures! Here you can see me waiting outside for her while she was in labour. I was really sad that they wouldn't let me go in with her. They said I was too young and would be scared. That was really dumb. Sometimes grown-ups don't get kids at all.

The hospital room wasn't very big, but it was quite nice. We could almost pretend we were on a hotel staycation. Well, almost. Here Ro and I are watching Monster High on Daddy's tablet.

We read and watched a lot of TV because there wasn't much else to do. Mommy's bed was too small to fit Ro and me in beside her, so Ro had to sit facing us.

We did a lot of drawing too. This is from a book Ro made for Mommy and our brother.

I have discovered that hospital food can be quite blah.

But not always. This was my breakfast.

And lunch.

I saw this lying on the table and asked Mommy what it was. She said it was the times of her contractions! She said that after awhile she felt that they were real contractions and not fake ones, so she went to the hospital.

Here is a picture of me! Do you know what I am doing? Yes -- blogging!!

I found this picture of me from four years ago. I am sitting on Mommy's bed in the same hospital. Yes, this was when Ro was born!

And this is me now! 

We are all home now. Here I am with Jake. I love carrying him and feeling his soft skin and hair. I love to just sit with him too! Mommy says I can take more pictures of Jakey when he is less sleepy looking. She says thank you so much for all your kind wishes and emails. She says Jakey arrived exactly on his 40-week due date, sparing her the pain of paying for yet another gynae visit. She says her labour and delivery were smooth and easy, and Baby is perfectly healthy and fine, praise the Lord! She also says she has stitches "down there" and pooping is just not fun at all.

I am quite busy helping Mommy with Jakey so I will probably take awhile to post things. I hope all of you are happy and doing fine! Thank you for visiting! See you again soon!!

A few more pictures here!