Ship ahoy!

So it's that time again - we're off on our travels this week.  And as usual I've had the best of intentions to pack in loads of time and to give the house a thorough spring clean, but a combination of a very demanding and energetic toddler and the wonderful exhaustion of pregnancy have left me feeling spectacularly unable to follow through.  So now it's become a question of getting the bare minimum done...

There's a growing pile of things on the spare bed for packing - factor 50 suncream, summer clothes (not like we need them at the moment!), and my attempts at light weight toys for the little man.  It'll be the first time I've flown with him on my own, and he's not good at the best of times at being confined, so it could be interesting!

We fly out to Venice, have a night in a hotel on the Grand Canal (it looks beautiful - I just hope the little man lets me enjoy it!) and then join the ship the following day.  Hubby is coming to collect us from the hotel, and so we get to have our reunion in private which is lovely - and if his reaction to seeing Daddy on the computer is anything to go by, it should be quite wonderful!  I'm just so looking forward to being able to share parenthood again, even if it is just for a couple of hours a day around his very demanding job.  And to share the pregnancy - especially that wonderful time when I start tto feel the baby kick.  It will just be so nice to be a family again!!!

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The Quiet Book journey begins!

Have I mentioned that I am addicted to Pinterest?  For any of you who don't know, Pinterest is a wonderful website which allows you to create internet pinboards, and to share links to anything that interests you.  I have boards for crochet, crafts, sewing and recipes among other things.  And I have discovered so many new and wonderful ideas through this amazing site.

This is where I discovered Quiet Books.  Here in the UK they are pretty much unknown, but I adored the idea of making a material book for my little one, and making pages to interest, stimulate and educate him.  So I've been planning to make a quiet book for a while, but I finally decided to start the book when we set a date for baby J and I to go out and join his Daddy's ship - it's amazing how much motivation you can get from the thought of having to entertain a very lively 18 month old for a few hours on a plane on your own!!!

I've completed my first page - and I am so ridiculously proud of it!  The Very Hungry Caterpillar is one of Baby J's favourite books, so I decided to design a couple of pages on the theme.

This is made completely from felt, and I've had to hand sew it all as I've been without access to my sewing machine (cutting a long story short I had a bit of an accident and am now on crutches and having to stay with my parents until I'm mobile again and can look after my little guy on my own).  The front and back of the caterpillar are sewn on, but the central sections are on velcro so they can be taken on and off as many times as he fancies! 

The pictures of the next pages are unfortunately not ideal - for some reason they uploaded upside down and I don't have a clue how to sort it out!  But hopefully you'll get the idea...? 

This is the cocoon, and it's very basic - just a zip down the middle, so you can unzip it and 'find' the butterfly inside.  I haven't done yet but I think I may have to attach the butterfly to the inside of the cocoon by ribbon - I keep remembering how easily little hands lose things!!!

I am really enjoying making the quiet book - I've got a few more pages underway and I'll blog about these once they're done.  Then the idea is that I'll attach pages together, then break out the crop-o-dile so I can use eyelets to attach the pages together, maybe by ribbon, so it can be added to as time goes on.

So there we are.  We go out to the ship in 4 weeks time, and we'll stay on board for about 6 weeks.  So I'm frantically sewing and trying to find as many games and activites that are small and portable and will amuse a lively 18 month old (as he will be by then!).  So any ideas or pointers gratefully received!!!  And in the meantime, I'd better get back to my sewing.....

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