so bored!!!! maternity leave hobbies to pass the time

[maratobe]

Fantastic ideas girls!!
I have 3 shifts of work left before maternity leave (once a week) and because I'm being induced in 5 weeks I'm gonna be very bored lol
I need to finish the nursery... Put all her clothes away and get things in the right place, I'm thinking about taking back up knitting! I really wanna aim to start going to the local pool alot more... Also I wanted to do thank you cards from our baby shower!
Ooh now I have loads of ideas hehe

 

[Tizy]

Ok so since being forced to take early maternity leave (long story) I have vowed not to get bored, this is what I've done so far....I need some new ideas too:

• Ordered all the things I need from ebay/amazon to make home made xmas cards, gonna wait a few more weeks to make them
• Made home made mincemeat with cranberries, sultanas and almonds, plus amaretto, brandy and port in it - should be delish for the mincepies at xmas
• Soaked cherries in brandy for my xmas choccies
• Sold some of my pre-preg clothes on ebay
• Joined a baby and bump group, I go every thursday morning, its nice to meet the other bumps and mums, plus loads of gorgeous babies there
• Been baking treats for my OH and daughter when they get home from school/work
• Made damson jam
• Made damson gin
• Washed all the baby clothes
• Written a birth plan

So I've not got a lot left to do, but I'm sure I'll think of a few more things for the next few weeks, still got my Xmas cards to make and i'm hunting for a venue for a baby naming ceremony in February.

Hope that helps Xxx

 

[JohnsPrincess]

Ok so since being forced to take early maternity leave (long story) I have vowed not to get bored, this is what I've done so far....I need some new ideas too:

• Ordered all the things I need from ebay/amazon to make home made xmas cards, gonna wait a few more weeks to make them
• Made home made mincemeat with cranberries, sultanas and almonds, plus amaretto, brandy and port in it - should be delish for the mincepies at xmas
• Soaked cherries in brandy for my xmas choccies
• Sold some of my pre-preg clothes on ebay
• Joined a baby and bump group, I go every thursday morning, its nice to meet the other bumps and mums, plus loads of gorgeous babies there
• Been baking treats for my OH and daughter when they get home from school/work
• Made damson jam
• Made damson gin
• Washed all the baby clothes
• Written a birth plan

So I've not got a lot left to do, but I'm sure I'll think of a few more things for the next few weeks, still got my Xmas cards to make and i'm hunting for a venue for a baby naming ceremony in February.

Hope that helps Xxx

How many Christmas cards do you need to make? You *might* want to start making some now. My ultimate goal is to make about 10 a month every year so they're done by Christmas which never happens. Instead, I have to make a TON all at once and get annoyed, LOL.

 

[immie]

Even though i'm way off maternity leave i've thought about it and what i'm going to do is look up some really good yummy recipes online or buy a cooking book or something and have a go at cooking completely new and interesting meals. Not sure why but i find cooking theraputic. Also baking cakes or whatever is easy going and passes the time. I know that would be a crappy suggestion to a lot of people but i'm gonna try it lol xxx

 

[highhopes19]

ooooooo i wanna make christmas cards and christmasy things!!!!!!!!

where can i buy the bits from that dont cost that much??

xxxx

 

[JosieM]

Make nappy cakes and sell on eBay, bake, tidy out cupboards, tidy out wardrobes and sell stuff on eBay, fill your freezer with dinners for when LO arrives (you will be so glad you did this), pamper yourself - get hair/nails done with eBay proceeds, see if your local Surestart offers free relaxation classes for mums to be - ours does, and the best one - sleep and lots of it!!

 

[Shortcake01]

Just bumping this thread up as currently making a list of stuff I need to do and stuff I want to try! xxx

 

[JackiePed]

Fun thread! I'm not on "maternity leave" per se, but this is my very first out of 3 pregnancies that I get to be a SAHM...so I'm trying to really treasure it and not feel like I've wasted it away... I just never know when I won't be so blessed and may need to go back to work.

I will say it helps having two other kids. There's lots for me to do with them. Yesterday we traced leaf patterns on paper towels, and colored/painted them with watercolors so the light would shine through...then we cut them and put them all over the windows!
I would have been VERY bored if I had gone on early maternity leave with my first. I think I went off at 36 weeks, but Christmas break was right around the corner, so I think I busied myself with Christmas stuff, then I ended up having LO at 37.5 weeks, so I didn't have much time to be bored!

Non-other-kids-related stuff I've been doing:

Perfecting home-made bread. WOW. I finally made a ROCKIN loaf of whole wheat bread the other day that I and my entire family can't get enough of!! It's my dad's recipe, and it's fabulous! Now I swear I'll be making a loaf a day, and getting bigger by the moment!

LOTS of organizing projects around the house. Closets, cupboards, clothes, purging clutter, preparing a meal-planning binder, kids rooms, etc...

I purchased fabric to make a quilt... not the fancy quilt that needs an actual quilting machine for stitching, but one that I can just cut the squares, sew them together, and do the tie-pieces randomly throughout the quilt to keep the layers together. I'm a VERY beginner-sewer, so I figured I wouldn't take on something TOO crazy! Can you borrow a sewing machine, and look at walmart/fabric stores for clearance fabric? The best part about a quilt is that it doesn't have to match! (If money isn't an issue, however, matching the colors is FUN! I am LOVING the colors and patterns I chose for this quilt!!)

Started on Christmas prep... I don't want to deal with it in December.

Sold stuff on Craigslist

Bought stuff on Craigslist -- lol...

WAY too much time on BnB ...

Getting exercise...even walking is great if you can. If you can't, can you get some light weights so that you can at least be maintaining your muscle tone even if you can't manage cardio right now? You'll be glad.

Any furniture in your house that could use some re-doing? Sanding, painting, etc...?

Hmmmm.... I'm sure there's more....
Guilty pleasures: BnB... WoW (World of Warcraft... I know...so cheesy)...novels...watching old episodes of The Office and Scrubs on Netflix or online... LOVE those shows!!

 

[clownfish]

Hey Highhopes..

I think the letters from hobbycraft are.about 50p each...

I've done it before... Bought some cheap wadding and a selection of cheap fabrics and tge staple gunned it all together..

Itching to do it again but have to be careful cos no one other than hubby knows his name and we don't want to let the cat out of the bag!

 

[Tampa]

I've been getting into crafty stuff with my sewing machine. Got some oilcloth off amazon and made a changing mat, covered a toy chest, going to make a kind of changing bag (done a pirate themed patchwork for one side), knitted half a fluffy bear type all-in-one, done 3 huge canvases in a pirate theme with collage too. Been busy!

Also joined a yoga class, trying to catch up with friends, and doing loads of laundry for the baby.

And spending way too much time on babyandbump!

 

[Tampa]

I've been getting into crafty stuff with my sewing machine. Got some oilcloth off amazon and made a changing mat, covered a toy chest, going to make a kind of changing bag (done a pirate themed patchwork for one side), knitted half a fluffy bear type all-in-one, done 3 huge canvases in a pirate theme with collage too. Been busy!

Also joined a yoga class, trying to catch up with friends, and doing loads of laundry for the baby.

And spending way too much time on babyandbump!

 

[Dalila]

I've been doing passing the time with this baby bump forum, cleaning the house, cooking, playing with the dog, getting mad at the cat, washing/detailing car nothing exciting but it's time consuming so time passes faster until OH comes home. every now and then i do something crafty for the nursery

 

[steph.]

I've taken up cross stitching! I made a little placard for the nursery door with a picture and her name on it and it turned out really well. I bought a kit so it comes with instructions and everything so you cant go wrong. Anyway since that turned out so well, I've decided to cross-stitch more pictures for inside the room. This website has some really nice ones and they ship all over...
https://www.artsanddesigns.com/cgi-bin/makeGallery.pl?category=kit&searchphrase=Nursery&st=all

I picked 3 from the tatty teddy selection to do