Merry Christmas!

“And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” Luke 2:12

We hope that this message finds you relaxed after celebrating Christmas with family and friends.

We have enjoyed a great 2012 as we watched Eva transform into a pre-schooler and Hugo begin to walk and grow into his cheeky personality.

Eva has loved her time at kinder this year, becoming a prolific painter and enjoying lots of play time.  She did 6 months of gymnastics, which she enjoyed, especially jumping into the foam pit. Eva is looking forward to 4-year-old kinder and looking forward to seeing her friends more often.

Hugo has had a lovely time this year, one full of so much change as he grew into a toddler.  He is generally calm by nature, although can be very cheeky. Hugo has greatly enjoyed his weekly swimming lessons and has become so confident in the water.

We enjoyed a lovely three-week break in Adelaide, Barossa Valley, McLaren Vale, Coonawarra and the Great Ocean Road in September. The children had a fantastic time getting to know new friends. They particularly enjoyed three days on a farm stay meeting chickens, talking to the cockatoo, watching sheep being drenched and most of all a ride on the quad bike! We of course enjoyed a few wineries along the way.

May you rejoice in the celebration of the birth of Christ and embrace all that 2013 has in store for you.

Celebrating Something Special

I am blessed to have had the opportunity for a beautiful breastfeeding relationship with both Eva and Hugo.  

Breastfeeding is so important to me for many reasons.  I am a very determined milk maker… I couldn’t carry them to term, I couldn’t birth them right, I couldn’t even be the first to hold and touch them, but I could do something no one else could. I make breastmilk just for them. 

It has been such a wonderful way of bonding with my children and giving them some amazing food that’s free and very portable.

Hugo is feeding about four times a day and more if he’s grumpy and needs some slowing down and cuddle time.  Being a toddler he’s a bit of a distracted feeder now and gone are the days of me catching up on reading.   Instead he and I had quiet time together, usually with a small toy in his hands.  That keeps them busy enough to avoid tugging on my hair which isn’t fun!

This week I joined in some fun with our local Australian Breastfeeding Association group.  We handed out celebratory cupcakes at our local hospital.  The ABA group is a place that I find a lot of support from like-minded people.

I hope that this year’s World Breastfeeding Week raises some awareness and offer support to those who want to feed their babies this way.  I can only pray that Hugo continues to share this special time with me for a while yet.

Hugo’s New Trick

We have a toddler.  Hugo has been enjoying showing us his new talent  over the past few days.  Gradually over the past week he has gained confidence and every day has taken a few extra steps and let go of his secure object more often.

Today, with an audience at Birthday Lunch at his Gran and Pop’s house, he really enjoyed perfecting his skill.  Hugo went from walking 6 steps between two people to walking just by himself between anything without anyone watching!  He is loving practicing and has improved so much just this afternoon.  Already Hugo can turn around, change direction and balance for a few seconds.  He also loves carrying something, maybe it helps with his counter balancing.

What a special treat to see our little boy growing up so quickly and enjoying his new talent.

Hugo’s New Toddling

 

In Awe of Her

Sometimes I look at her and am in awe of what she has achieved.  Sometimes I don’t give her the respect that she deserves for that either.

She will always be different and unique due to the journey that she has travelled in her short life. Nature or Nurture: did her personality shape her journey or did her journey shape her personality?  We will never know.

She reached 10x her birth weight before her second birthday. That’s a lot of energy spent on growing. She worked hard for every gram.

She will always be a 25 weeker, one that has successfully survived and thrived. For that we are truly thankful and give glory to God for her.

Today, while baking together, I was cutting just 50g off a 500g block of butter.  Suddenly I was caught by surprise by the fact that at birth she was just a little heavier than 1.5 blocks of this butter.

Yesterday she drew our family complete with arms and legs for the first time.  In the days of labour while I waited to give birth I prepared myself for saying goodbye to my child.  I didn’t let myself imagine that she would be a 3.5 year old.  It was too painful.  Yet here she is living life to the full.

I am so thankful for her and need to remind myself how blessed we are daily.  Today she isn’t well with a mysterious fever, the theme of winter for us.  I have relished the extra snuggles with my little girl who is enjoying her pyjama day.

 

A Lovely Time Together

As a surprise for my birthday Andrew took a few days of annual leave to spend together as a family enjoying life.  It was so exciting to ditch my plans for the day and have a spontaneous family outing.

I didn’t prepare meals or do dishes for days which, as any mother knows, is a big blessing and relief.

We went for a bike ride to a playground on my new (to me) bike.  Andrew and Eva made a delicious carrot cake where they had lots of fun in the process. Eva is really into every part of the cooking right now even the carrot grating!  They had fun in their matching aprons.  

 

We went out to lunch at a delicious cafe at CERES with a huge play space for Eva to explore while we sat outside very rugged up in the cold wind but there was lovely sunshine.

We explored some new places to shop for bulk food and although this doesn’t sounds fun it was very inspiring to make plans for skipping supermarkets in the near future.  These shopping investigations are much easier with one adult per child!

Eva and Andrew also made me a  lovely card which was a beautiful blessing.  They raided my card making supplies and Eva chose all the components for the card and made it with the help of Daddy. She then drew a picture of me on the inside (she has just started drawing people).

On my birthday I went to MOPS and was sung to as I forgot that the friendly hospitality mum has a birthday list. Here I was thinking that it would go under the radar!  In the afternoon I was treated at High Tea at The Windsor with my cousin Emma which was just divine and so filling.

It continued the next day with a delicious birthdays dinner celebrating both Andrew and I at a Japanese restaurant with a grill in the middle of the table to cook our food on.  Fun but a little warm.  Andrew then took me to a past favourite hang out which was lovely.

Andrew’s five days off found us all rejuvenated and rested even though and especially because we didn’t travel anywhere, we just enjoyed life together.  There were lots of moments of joy found in just doing the ordinary things.  With more time just to sit and enjoy play at home and at playgrounds.  Lots of opportunity to use the fireplace in the lounge room and enjoy the warmth.  Eva and Hugo certainly enjoyed five Daddy Days in a row.

The Show

This evening Hugo and I were treated to a performance by the very talented Eva.

Eva asked us to come and see her show in her bedroom.  We were also joined by a crowd of enthusiastic soft toys just waiting to have a purpose to their day and thrilled to have such comfy seats on the pillow.

The show started with a harmonica solo

 

It quickly moved onto balancing on one leg, practicing the tree pose

Jumping up in the air

There was a repeat harmonica solo

And it finished with some hopping practice

It was a fun interlude between dinner and a bath.  There have been lots of shows lately and it is gorgeous to watch.  A special treat at kinder (pre-school) today was that the teacher had set up a stage with dress ups so I imagine that it was popular today.

There has been lots of jumping lately which make a special noise on the wooden floor boards.  Maybe Eva needs some dancing or gymnastics next term?

It’s Been Too Long

I really like writing here.  Most days I compose most of a blog post in my head while driving, doing dishes etc. but I never seem to get here to write.  I must try to work harder at it as it’s very therapeutic for me to get all my thoughts onto the screen and thus out of my head!  Then I get over whelmed because I feel that I can’t write something currently important to me because I am behind on other updates.

It’s been a more than busy few weeks with illness running through the house, challenging appointments and a few night-time outings which are tricky for me to keep up with these days.

However today at church we watched this video and it had a great impact on Andrew and I so I wanted to share it here.

The Miniature Earth Project

Click here to watch it if it doesn’t work.

We were also challenged to keep a $20 note in our purse/wallet this month in a different section to the money that we are to spend. We are to keep it there for a month and think about how we could use it best.  It should be given away to make a positive difference to someone else, not used for ourselves. Darren has set his readers a challenge to do it for a week here. Can we do it?  What will we do with our $20?  I’ll let you know.

A Heavy Heart

Today I have heard of two families whose stories have left me with a heavy heart.  Both have suffered awful tragedies and we are praying for them.

Today a friend called me and told me of the recent death of her friend. This mother went to hospital to have a scheduled caesarean at 38 weeks gestation.  Her twin boys arrived all happy and healthy.  Just 12 hours after their arrival she suffered a bleed on her brain from a previously undiagnosed aneurysm. A day later she died.

This mother has left behind her brand new twin sons, a 23 month old and a 6-year-old.  Her husband has to grieve for his life partner, support his grieving children and enter newborn chaos alone.  I can’t imagine what it will be like but I’m sure that those children will all be held tightly and told how much their mummy loves them.

Please pray for this family as they face a challenging time.  They are blessed to be living in a supportive community where everybody is pitching in to help but some things just can’t be solved with a meal on the doorstep.

Also I am sad for a NZ family who lost their 2-year-old triplets in a fire in Doha, Qatar.  Their only children, gone so quickly.  This blog post has a video with the Haka being performed at the memorial service.  It brought me to tears. Many other families have been touched by the fire including a Spanish family where 3 out of their 4 children died.

Please keep these families in your prayers and thoughts tonight and they face the start of a try different life than they had planned just a few days ago.

Hugo’s Twelve Month Review

It has taken me a while to get this written but here it is.  I kept thinking of updates to share so it has turned into a long post.

Hugo zoomed past his corrected first birthday and so did we.  I guess I knew from the start of the pregnancy that I would never make it to May realistically so I never expected to have a May baby.  His due date was May 6th which I spent at Church and High Tea and Hugo spent time having lots of fun with Eva and Daddy.

Last year on his due date he had a pediatrician review and weighed 3.38kg (up from 2.355kg at birth) and he lay still for photos.

This year he was reviewed by the Maternal and Child Health nurse and does not sit still for photos!

His stats currently are:

Weight: 8.560kg (up just 740g in 4 months) at least my babies’ get lots of wear out of each size of clothing!

Length: 72.5cm (up 5cm in 4 months)

If it is plotted on the charts in the blue baby book he is between the 3rd and 10th centile.  He comes slightly higher on the WHO breastfeeding baby chart and the important thing is that both his weight and height are in proportion to each other.  I kind of forget how small he is until I read a friend’s 4 month baby stats update and the baby weighed 7.5kg.  He’s a good size for me to carry around and for that I am thankful.  Hugo is still in size 0 clothes and, like his sister, I find it hard to find trousers that stay on his waist.

Remarkably he is only 855g bigger than Eva was at her corrected 1st birthday but they are the same length.

Of course developmentally he is doing exactly what he should be which is the most important news of the review!

Hugo loves to push anything that moves but shows no interest in free standing or letting go. I am happy with this pace of progression.  In just that last week he has become really confident with Eva’s mouse which goes very fast in all directions.  He has quickly mastered turning it and controlling it.  He must have good stomach muscles!

Climbing is certainly a lot of fun for Hugo with the coffee table and children’s table fun places to be found inside and the cubby house stairs a major attraction outside. He climbs with such ease and confidence now.  Just this past weekend we have seen him automatically turn around to go backwards “safe-safe” down any step.  We are relieved and proud that he has been listening to us and remembered.

Opening the cupboards and removing the contents with gusto is a favourite activity which is a pity as mama is tired of tripping over things and replacing them to their homes.  Andrew has put cupboard locks on where they are needed but I really don’t think that I want one on the pantry, we’ll see how long I last!

Hugo loves his baths more than ever and is so robust in the bath now just happy to splash with Eva and have lots of fun.   He goes under water and resurfaces with no drama.

Finally after his birthday Hugo has learnt to sleep through the night.  It did take some strength and coercion from mama to convince both of us that he didn’t need feeding overnight really and that sleep was a much better option.  After a couple of sad nights Hugo is now consistently sleeping through the night without needing resettling from us.  How magical is sleep and how much more refreshed we all feel.  Morning sleeps seem to be disappearing with just one long sleep in the middle of the day.

Hugo’s food ideas are trending towards the picky toddler stage with any food that is undesired being immediately dropped off the side of the high chair without a second glance.  Potatoes are a firm favourite, other vegetables are hit and miss and meat is not that popular any more.  He loves to feed himself both finger food and with a spoon but will let us feed him with a spoon too which is handy.

We are still enjoying a lovely breastfeeding relationship with an average of 4 feeds a day.  We both really enjoy the time to slow down and spend time together.

We have been practicing Elimination Communication with Hugo since he came home from hospital.  It is very much a part time basis mostly with just pottytunities after eating and before and after sleeps.  We have great success with 90% dry nappies after day sleeps.  He is of course becoming less interested in sitting still long enough so this is becoming less successful but we will still persist.

So Hugo has been busy and we are delighted with his progress at 12 months corrected.  We keep thinking that he must be going to walk soon but he’s taking his time (mama’s happy).

Mother’s Day Reflections

I rather like the idea of Mother’s Day.  The spoiling, the taking over of mummy’s jobs, the breakfast in bed and the homemade craft.  It’s rather nice to have a day where my job is acknowledged.  It’s nice to have a day to reflect on the wonderful job that our mother’s did!

I don’t like the extreme commercialisation of the day because I really don’t need to be told that I need a fluffy dressing gown or chocolates.  But I do like enjoying taking a day to thank Mothers.

To those whose mothers aren’t with you I’m thinking of you. And those who are struggling to be mamas. And to those who don’t have a good relationship with your mother I’m thinking of you too.

I had delicious heart shaped pancakes and wonderful coffee for breakfast.

Eva and Hugo presented me with a hand and foot print craft that Daddy had lovingly created with them when I was out last weekend.  Aren’t they clever?

We had lunch out and Andrew took care of dinner and I didn’t touch any dishes ALL day which is just heaven to me.  I shared a little of my journey in faith specifically related to Eva’s birth at our church in the morning.  The sermon was about following Jesus, especially in times of suffering.  I was honoured to be interviewed by Rod and pleased to share our story.  Eva was in the service with us (normally she is in Sunday School in a separate room) and a little confused as to why photos of her where on the big screen.  I always find this sharing part of the healing process.  And as always it’s great to remind ourselves about how blessed we are by the grace that God showed through Eva’s journey.

I have to admit though that the most enjoyable part of the day was sitting by the fire with a glass of wine while the children were sleeping!  Is that bad?  I was happy in the knowledge that I felt very loved and appreciated while simultaneously the children were peaceful and angelic, a win all round I feel.

Last Wednesday Eva’s pre-school invited us for a Mother’s Day morning tea. The class sung 5 very cute songs and then we shared cake and water outside.  We were presented with a  framed picture and a keyring with a photo and thumbprint.  It was delightful.

Gifts made by Eva at Pre-School

Thank you to Andrew for dealing with all the messy faces, nappy changes, cooking duties and dishes!  And a special thank you to him for being such a vital part of my mothering journey.

The best photo to choose from – cheeky 3-year-old!