Phew, it feels forever since I last entered a challenge. Of course I had more pressing priorities, but it is good to find a few minutes to do something unabashedly fun. And the 4×4 Friday theme—florals—could not have been better for me. I love using flower images in collages, and they make the perfect backdrop to show off a rosy-cheeked Caterina.

Five-day-old Caterina

The poor thing doesn’t look too great in this picture, but I love that she is smiling, so I used it anyway. No doubt she will never forgive me when she grows up!

Phew. It wasn’t a walk in the park but not too bad either. Caterina was born yesterday at 7.10pm. She is fine and rather big (7lbs 13oz, or 3.5 kilos). 

Like many newborn babies, she bears a close resemblance to a hairy monkey, but I have hopes that—like Pu-erh tea, claret and her brother before her—she will improve with time. Pictures to follow soon. 

Whey-hey! The articles I had to do by Thursday (or before the baby’s birth, whichever comes first) are ready. OK, I still have to tweak a couple of things on one of them but that shouldn’t take too long, so I am a free woman.

I know this sounds rather ridiculous, but I did sleep very little in the last few nights because I was terrified I wouldn’t make it on time. Instead, thanks in good part to Manfredi, who took care of Niccolo for the whole weekend, and to my good writer friend Leslie, who made sure I wasn’t writing utter balderdash, I made it! Now I can stop worrying and resume crafting.

Talking of which, the only thing I produced in the last few days was a little cone inspired by a much more sophisticated one I saw on Linda Albrecht’s blog (via Artsymama).

Yum, yum, a spring cone full of sweets

It was a fun project because it was quick and simple enough to make together with Niccolo. He loved it—especially stuffing the cone with sweets and chocolate eggs, which he then proceeded to eat at record speed.

But now that the pieces are done I can look forward to starting on some other idea, and perhaps take up a challenge or two. And of course the baby has my permission to be born any time she likes.

Easter came and went and I am still pregnant. My doc seemed convinced that I’d go into labour well before we started munching on chocolate eggs—she even told me not to do any heavy physical work around the house to avoid an early delivery—but, unless something happens over the next couple of days, it looks like Caterina will be an April baby.

Well, the closer she is born to the due date, the better, even though these last few weeks of being constantly tired, huge and winded are nigh-on unbearable. But at the end of it there will be a new baby, pink and round and smiling. I was reminded of it—of the chubbiness, the joy, the wonder—as I put together a little 4×4 for the Theme Thursday challenge.

The prompt is pink and brown, which happens to be one of my favourite colour combinations and the one I chose for most of the baby’s clothes. So it was sort of obvious that I’d go for a little girl’s theme. But it wasn’t until I stumbled upon an old picture of one of my father’s cousins from the late 1930s—she just looked so soft, cute, happy—that both the piece and my excitement at Caterina’s impending arrival clicked into place.

Whey-hey, new baby coming soon!

The rest came off easily—a rosy digital collage as background paper, two stamped images, including a reminder that “all tomorrows are in the seeds of today,” and even the prospect of carrying around my enormous body for three more weeks seemed a little less daunting. The thing is I am having a baby girl soon, and that’s just great.