Jikana Damaru

19 Week Bumpdate

How far along: 19 weeks!

Baby: Is the size of a Mango!

Total Weight Gained: Up another pound this week. So 3.5lbs, unofficially. I will know for sure when I go to my doc on Friday.

Sleep: :/ I want so badly to sleep on my back. It's already getting uncomfortable switching sides all night.

Maternity Clothes: I wear maternity pants and capri's on occasion when I'm not wearing stretchy waist stuff or I don't feel like trying to halfway zip the zipper on my regular jeans, but no maternity shirts yet.

Best Moment of the Week: Jimmy finally feeling little one kick!

Food Cravings: Anything cool and fresh...especially water with lots of squeezed lemon, fruits, veges.
Aversions: steak, hotdogs, & shrimp.

Symptoms: heartburn, indigestion, backaches, round ligament pain.

Movement: more constantly now!

Gender: 3 days!!!!

What I miss: nothing right now- besides sleeping on my back

What I'm looking forward to: Thursday!! ...handsome baby boy or beautiful baby girl?

Weekly Wisdom: I have learned to cut up a lemon at the beginning of the week and take a baggy of slices to work to keep in the fridge for my water. I also do Crystal Light packets or MiO liquid. I've never been one for plain water so these help me drink more.

Milestones: Baby can now likely hear my voice and muffled outside noises! His/her brain and sensory development is exploding.

If you haven't already make sure you take a guess at Baby Pug's gender on the top left of my blog! only 3 days left to vote :)

Easter Table

We had a wonderful celebration with Mr A's family on Sunday - what is better than Nonna's home cooked food followed by delicious coffee and desserts.

I put together a simple dessert table and made white tim tam cookie pops and fluffy meringues. Mr A's lovely aunt sent over a huge and delicious tiramisu and my sister-in-law added her chocolate and custard tart - the perfect ending to a wonderful Easter Day.

Individual bags for the kids for easter egg hunting!

A vintage looking table with hyacinth, easter daisies and carnations.

I used little bottles, cake stands and domes on my table and made some simple little place setting tags which I wrapped with ribbon

The table with the addition of the tiramisu and custard tart.

Today we are enjoying an extra long weekend here in Australia - with easter being so late this year Easter Monday coincided with Anzac Day - so instead of enjoying Easter Monday on Monday we have commemorated Anzac Day on Monday and moved Easter Monday to Tuesday - more time for polishing off all those eggs!

Eggs Eggs and more Eggs

A hunting we will go ....

We indulged in numerous easter egg hunts on Sunday - hunting at our friends house and hunting at home with family.

So just how many eggs are too many!

I hope you enjoyed a hunt or two at your place.

yesterday

Thank you cards shop giveaway winner

My contest ended yesterday and I just picked a winner using random.org and I am delighted to announce the winner of the Thank you cards shop is...

Drumroll please? Without further ado, the lucky winner is...

Erin, of sweet blog Lucky by Design about interiors, baking and more, who was loving the Elephant with Balloons thank you cards. Please e-mail me your details.

Congratulations Helen, you will receive $50 of store credit for Thank you cards shop

Thank you to all of you sweets that entered, to my loyal followers and new friends.

Have a sweet day!

Easter Chocolate lollipops

I love chocolate, so when the lovely people at Hotel Chocolat sent me a load of white chocolate drops, I was so excited. I love how easy it is to melt the chocolate drops and the taste, well yummy!

What could I make this time? I started by ordering some bunny and leaf lollipop moulds as I love how sophisticated the bunny moulds look. After making some white chocolate Easter bunny lollipops I had a go at colouring the chocolate using powdered green colouring. I made the chocolate leaf lollipops in green chocolate and thought they looked like lettuce leaves that the bunny could sit amongst. After experimenting with a few glasses, jars, pots etc. I settled on using the shot glasses filled with some edible green grass I picked up on a recent trip to Butlers.

I will be using them tomorrow as table settings for my guests at my Easter Monday tea party. Now I must dash as I have lunch at my folks and a special little lady is playing the Easter Bunny this year! Then later tonight I will be setting up my Easter table and adding the finishing touches to my cupcakes!

Easter Chocolate lollipops
What you will need:
Sitting bunny lollipop moulds
Leaf lollipop moulds
White chocolate drops
Green dusting powder
2mm pink double faced satin ribbon
2mm blue double faced satin ribbon
5mm blue gingham ribbon
5mm pink gingham ribbon
Edible green grass
Six shot glasses

Instructions

Temper (melt) and colour your chocolate, place lollipop sticks in moulds
Squeeze chocolate into moulds
Lightly tap moulds so chocolate lays flat and air bubbles are removed, and leave to set
Turn out chocolate lollipops

Tie gingham ribbon around bases
Make a bow and trim ends
Repeat step 1-4 with white chocolate in Easter bunny lollipop moulds
Tie 2mm ribbon into a bow around neck of bunny

Shred edible grass
Fill shot glass with edible grass
Place leaf lollipops in edible grass
Place Easter bunny lollipop in centre of leaf lollipops

Have a sweet Easter!

Easter Wrapped Up

The happiest of Easters to you, dear friends! Hope you are having a scrumptious long weekend - whatever you are doing this religious holiday and whomever you are doing it with...

I've had a lovely few days packed with family, friends, sunshine and perhaps the odd piece of chocolate here and there ;).

I thought I'd do a little wrap-up of some of what I've been up to, and then I plan on visiting all your blogs to peep in on YOUR Easter adventures!

It started a few days ago when I hosted six kids (and 5 babies!) at my place for an Easter soiree. It being the first year any of us let our kidlets go to town with chocolate, we did go a tad overboard with the ensuing Easter egg hunt. But really, it's a first-time-mum rite of passage to go a little mental at first Easters and Christmases, right?! ahem. Anyway, the kids decorated and glued together little paper baskets to collect their eggs while we lounged luxuriously in the glorious April sunshine drinking coffee and eating cupcakes. Really, could the weather be any more perfect at the mo? It took a few minutes for the kids to catch on, but once they did it was on for young and old and baskets were overflowing with brightly foiled chocolate...

Fern and her cousin Ellen made this string of bunting for the cubby

my Easter cupcakes on a Nigella Lawson platter (the perfect shape for Easter!

Fern decorating her basket

Hunting for eggs...

then eating them...

Someone snapped this pic while I wasn't looking...

On Saturday afternoon, Dan took the kids out in the bushland to forage for 'nest building' materials. He then constructed this little setup outside on the verandah, consisting of a nest each for Elliott and Fern plus a carrot and pot of tea for the Easter Bunny!

Late Saturday night, we snaked a mini-egg trail from Fern's room outside. We did something else also which I will talk about later in the week... I bit some 'bite marks' into the carrot and filled the nests with a handmade bunny and (in Fern's case) a Humpty Dumpty egg. Unfortunately, Elliott and Fern each woke through the night, and I can't tell you how many times I kicked and almost tripped over one of those mini eggs in the darkness...

When the kids awoke at 6 o'clockish, we went outside to see what the 'bunny' had left. (no pics, I had the video camera at this point!) Needless to say, Fern was beside herself with excitement. We let her eat chocolate for breakfast (actually we all did, I didn't actually eat real food til 11am - shocking!):

Fern tucking into her 'Humpy Dumpy' at 6am

Later, I snapped Fern with her little bunny on the cubby stairs - I made her her own 'fluttering butterfly' shirt; I hardly ever get around to making anything for my own kids!

I'm sorry, can't resist sharing this pic!

That's it for now... the kids have gone to bed, Fern has eaten more chocolate in the last 24 hours than she has in her entire life (as have I, come to think of it) and it's been a happy day! Can't wait to read about your adventures, do do share! x