more updating

A whole month *blushes* Don't know where my posting mojo has gone...I keep thinking 'oh I should blog this' and then forget about it.

Well the news...yes Nina you guessed correctly. Mark has a new job :D He starts on January 5, it's in the city so will save about 45 minutes each way in travelling time. Pretty good pay rise and something he's interested in, so very exciting :)

My big boy is very excited about school next year. Next week is the last of the term so last kinder and playgroup for him. I'm a bit sad about that but he seems ok although I don't think he really gets it.

The princess is also excited about school and very cranky that being only 3 means she doesn't get to go with her big brother!

Little one...not so little anymore! Running and climbing everywhere. And talking! he has a lot of words for 13 months. Mama, Daddy, Scaaaar (for his sister) Aba (his brother), Caaa (cat), bye, Ta, ama (booby). *touch wood* seems to have gotten rid of his dummy which is mightily early for my kids given the princess still has hers.

umm...what else...Christmas tree is up and bare as the kids keep taking everything off it.

I am finished study for the year and I think a disticntion or high distiction average, so happy with that!

We have FIL visiting at the moment. He leaves on Saturday and then we have MIL arriving for Christmas. Not long after that SIL and her family arrive with our kids only cousins. Should be a wonderful Christmas :) 

Still slack!

Well I have been busy!

So tired...had a huge day where we had a garage sale this morning (most of it went to the dump shp/ dump). We sold our TV!! And our portable DVD player!! Officially a TV free family. Poor Mark..he was quite traumatised, poor chap! Then sent Mark off with the two big monsters and a friend and his son to pick up our new cubby! It's awesome, kids are going to have an absolute ball :) 

Other exciting news... I submitted my last assignment for the year. Just a practical type thing end of this month which I am quietly pretty nervous about!

My tiny baby can now climb on to the dining table, nervous time for us all. Doesn't sleep much at the moment either sadly.

Have some very interesting developments I am not at liberty to share yet ;) Hoping end of next week we can. And *NO* I am not pregnant :P

Umm...about all I think? 

Kim's version of events..

My lovely friend and one of my little guy's godparents tried to post this as a comment but it's too big so here it is :)...Thanks for sharing it Kim!

Sam was overdue and having regular contractions in the morning, and I got the SMS to tell me that it looked like today was the day. So I got organised to go only to get another SMS to let me know things had slowed down. So I meandered around a bit and then decided to go and pick up takeaway for lunch. Well it was lucky I wasn't in a rush because the car wouldn't start! The kids were playing in the car the other day while I was cleaning it out, and they'd left a light on which had flattened the battery! Luckily it wasn't that difficult to push it out of the driveway and jumpstart. After lunch, I headed over to Sam's house to see how I could help.

When I got there, the birth pool was being filled up. Sam was apologising that things had slowed down (which I wasn't worried about a bit!), so I just took the Jasper & Scarlett to get them out of Sam & Mark's hair. Thankfully the house is lovely and big, so we were able to head down to the playroom where we could be out of the way (and mostly out of earshot!) We had a good play with the castle, knights & horses set that was a gift for the children from the new baby.

About half an hour later, Michelle came and we tried hard to keep the kids busy! We went on a nature walk, picked flowers, made daisy chains, held a pretend dinner party and basically played the afternoon away.

Meanwhile, Sam's midwife Wendy arrived at 4.45 and had encouraged her to get into the pool to see if that would get things moving. Sam was fairly frustrated that it had seemed that things were going to start but there was no action. While Sam was in the pool, we baked a birthday cake to celebrate the impending arrival (lots of beater licking and stirring!), and then the children had a bath and got into PJ's to be ready for the night.

Being in the pool seemed to do the trick for Sam, and at about 6.30 her contractions seemed strong, as we could hear her earthly moans. We knew this baby was coming!

We were in the kitchen eating tea (we cooked a feast of fish fingers & chips for the kids!) and the children could hear Sam's contractions. They were initially a little worried, but we made a few trips into the lounge room to see Mum & Dad from the side of the pool and this reassured them.

By about 8 o'clock Sam's waters had broken (earlier but I can't remember when!) and it was clear this baby was close. I guessed it was close when she starting complaining verbally and wanted the music off that she was going through transition. I instinctively knew that this wasn't time to be fumbling for the off switch and pulled the stereo from the plug! We weren't far away from meeting this baby.

Sam was following her own instincts through the labour, and I loved the fact that her midwife wasn't "telling" her what to do, rather she was encouraging her and supporting her. The sounds of labour were so different to they way they are perceived on television, and as I think back to my own labour, I can't actually remember exactly what sounds I was making (though I do remember that my language was maybe a bit more colourful than Sam's!), but to hear the low moans from Sam as she experienced painful contractions it was so natural and beautiful.

I saw baby crown through the water, and Sam did an amazing job as he was moving around through the last few moments as his head was emerging. His shoulders followed, and then he was out up to his waist, from there Sam turned from being forward facing (with her head and shoulders on the pool edge and legs behind her) to squatting and grabbed him herself out of the water into her arms. The whole movement was totally breathtaking, as she held her baby in her arms looking down with a look of triumph and love!

The children were amazing, and not scared at all throughout the labour. Only once did they worry when they looked out towards the pool and Sam wasn't there (she was in the toilet). Once Atticus was in Sam's arms, Mark came into the pool to get to know his new son. Jasper was particularly interested in the cord and wanted to see where it was attached, he was also fascinated by the placenta (which was birthed soon after getting out of the pool). Scarlett was excited and did a little dance to celebrate the baby on a chair overlooking the lounge room. The children were in awe, and so was I! It was an amazing experience, and one that I will never forget! I'm now sold on homebirthing too, it was so natural and relaxed, with no stress about what was going to happen next, dim lighting, candles, music, it was beautiful - as though we were suspended outside of reality in a different world.

Welcome earth side Atticus Jude! A glorious 4.7kg and 55.5cm long, born after a 2 hours 25 minutes at just past 42 weeks.


Congratulations Samantha, Mark, Jasper & Scarlett on the birth of Atticus - thank you for letting me share in such a special day, I'll never forget it!

Happy birthday Atticus Jude....

Atticus’s birth story

On the 27^th of January 2007 I woke to my alarm at 5am for work. As I got up I blacked out for a few seconds and was very dizzy. I knew right then that I was pregnant again and was quite surprised despite my period being a week overdue. I knew from the beginning that this time I wanted to birth my baby at home if possible. I had birthed my first in a private hospital in what looking back I realise was not a great experience and my second in a birth centre which while it was much better than my first still was missing something. I was very determined that wherever I was going to give birth I wanted continuity of care with a midwife which was what made all the difference between my first two experiences.

On the recommendation of a few friends I met with Wendy and instantly felt a bond with her, I knew that she was the carer I wanted to share my pregnancy and birth with. My pregnancy continued without problem although for the first time I experienced nausea in pregnancy and was tired beyond belief in the first trimester. At my 20 week scan we decided to discover the sex of the baby and to my complete surprise it was another boy! We were unsure of names, only agreeing to a name in the last trimester.

At 38 weeks pregnant my friends gave me a beautiful blessing way in the room my baby was going to be born. It gave me an amazing belief in myself and left the room with a wonderful energy. We set up the birth pool in a corner in our lounge room and I prepared a birthing space.

As expected, I went past my due date of the 30^th of September. My other pregnancies had gone well beyond my due date and I knew this would be no different. Despite being prepared for it, I was still frustrated and anxious although much less so than the last times. For the first time I had pre-labour which came on each night and confused me. I managed through this by telling myself that this was preparing my body well and would make my labour shorter. With each of the regular visits with Wendy I’d be convinced that the next time we would meet I would be in labour and then mildly disappointed when our next appointment came around and I was no closer. I was surprised to go past 12 days which was when Scarlett had arrived and so was the most pregnant I had ever been. I made some feeble attempts to go to hospital for monitoring but was not at all worried when it didn’t happen (hospital was too busy and suggested I could come back in 8 weeks!).

16 days over my due date I work up with pre-labour and knew it was going to be the day. The contractions were just different although it was difficult to describe how. I told Mark and sent an SMS to Wendy to let her know. We decided to take the kids to McDonalds for breakfast since it would be the last time we’d be going out for a few days. Things continued without really progressing but by the time we got home everything had pretty much stopped. There were lots of tears, I was feeling extremely frustrated. My two wonderful friends arrived to help with the birth and Mark was filling the pool as Wendy had suggested and I felt like a total fraud! Wendy suggested some herbs might help and so I started taking black cohosh every 30 minutes along with some industrial strength raspberry leaf tincture. In between that we were trying nipple stimulation and I was walking up and down our cliff like driveway, waving to the kids who were off playing with my friends in the beautiful spring afternoon. Still nothing was really happening so a plan was made for Wendy to come at 4pm. I had decided that I was going to beg her to rupture my membranes...

She arrived and I was so relieved there were a few tears, I instantly knew all would be ok. After a very quick feel of baby and listen of the heartrate Wendy suggested I get into the now full and warm birthpool. I have to admit I thought she was insane! You weren’t supposed to get into the pool until labour was well established, right? I already felt a bit silly, everyone was here, the place was all set and the only thing missing was the woman in labour. Figured I might as well keep up with the farce and get into the pool...The water was divine. Warm and taking the weight off my poor sore hips. I was very happy to sit in there chatting to Mark and Wendy with the kids popping by occasionally. I was mildly embarrassed about nuding up in front of my friends but very quickly realised this was not the place for modesty! Mild prelabour stuff continued and did get a bit bitier but I didn’t really pay them much attention. Wendy read the paper as we chatted not paying my labour or lack thereof any attention either. I suddenly had a really full on contraction...and in the middle of it I thought I needed to poo. The contraction lasted the whole of getting out of the pool and walking up the hallway and was quite a shock. Wendy was worried it might be a baby but I knew it wasn’t. Nothing happened anyway so back to the pool as student midwife Jess arrived. Back to more of the same although I was really beginning to believe I might actually have this baby today! I sent sms’s to friends to light their candles in the hope their wishes would really help me through this.

 At one stage during this I was alone and Scarlett came up to steal one of my lollies and somehow ended up choking on a snake! I had to get up, lean over the edge of the pool and pull the whole snake out of her throat, lol!

Around 6.30pm things changed. I had to really stop and breathe through contractions and it was suddenly familiar to my last labours. Things came very quickly and I was feeling suddenly overwhelmed. Between contractions I decided I didn’t want to be scared and feel like I was hiding from them...I wanted to meet them with positivity and acceptance. So I tried to let it happen. For the first time I understood what it meant to ‘go within’. I found with the contractions I couldn’t think of ANYTHING, if my mind wandered at all it was intolerable. I had to just push my head against the wall of the pool, hold Mark’s hands and think..... nothing....easier said than done! I was still aware that things were going on around me...I think my Mum arrived..at 7.30pm Mark remembered that Australian Idol was starting and I would be upset to miss it. We didn’t have a TV in the room so he put the radio on and I listened to it more as background noise. I was aware of candles being lit in the window. Our loungeroom window had an amazing view of Cleland National park and I had imagined myself looking out on that as I laboured with canles in the window sill. Instead I set myself up with my bottom to the window, lol! And spend most of my time with my face in the wall of the birth pool. Things progressed...baby kept moving throughout to let me know he was ok, Wendy listened to baby occasionally. Once she asked to listen (yes she always asked permission!! :-P) and it was too full on at that point so I said no....unthinkable from my previous labours that I had any say in what was happening. I very specifically remember that..I was surprised I had the confidence to say no to a health professional! She, of course, had no problem with that and just waited for a better time.

I have no idea of time really from then on (actually didn’t really before that..only know because of Australian idol, lol!). I did start to get that overwhelmed feeling again..things were getting on top of me and I moaned in between contractions..’am I at least halfway?’ Wendy reassured me that she suspected I was at least halfway.. She seemed to sense when things were getting to me and was in my ear whispering things I needed to hear...although I don’t remember what they were. She seemed to know when I needed it to be just Mark and I (most of the time) and when I needed a woman to tell me everything was ok. Not long after everyone was distracted talking although I only heard noise...I looked down at the water and felt very alone. I had this thought that no one was paying me any attention and that if I put me face under the water this would all end now and no one would even notice. Looking back I suspect that was transition, lol! A contraction starting broke that thought and it was all forgotten. Everything began to annoy me..whiny Marsha on the radio (the plug was very quickly pulled from the wall) and I suddenly announced to everyone ‘this is FUCKED’. I felt very agitated and had totally had enough..Throughout the labour I had been trying to imagine what my cervix and baby were doing..I decided to see if my cervix was as open as I imagined and pushed a little at the end of a contraction. Perhaps my body told me to do that? Who knows but it felt good! It became uncontrollable at the end of each contraction, like a grunt. I felt my baby move, not down but move. There was lots of activity near my bottom, Wendy and Jess were there with a torch. They didn’t say anything or tell me what to do. My membranes ruptured around this time and were pronounced clear. Mark was told to get his togs on if he planned to get into the birth pool and ran off in between a contraction being told I’d kill him if he wasn’t back before the next. He was but I was too hot and too ‘in the zone’ to risk moving. Cold washers were placed on my back and with the hot water felt great! Pushing really started how long I don’t know, it’s all very fuzzy. I felt him move down but then move back up after the contraction. I was quite shocked and confused...the other two hadn’t done this! Third one was supposed to be easier! After maybe 2 contractions like this, thoughts of protecting my poor previously third degree torn perineum went out the window and I PUSHED and he stuck! With great relief I pushed again and felt him ‘clunk’ against my pelvis, move a little bit (probably turning) and continue to move down. I think Wendy helped me with breathing as his head was born, couldn’t be sure...but as with the other two, crowning and birthing his head wasn’t as bad as I expected. I didn’t feel the tear at that time like I had with Scarlett. As the other two did, he decided to move his head about which really hurt! There was a slight break in contractions, then I pushed with the next one and sat back to lift him up as Wendy said ‘don’t sit up, it’s still in!’ (Apparently he was still in my vagina to his hips, how odd you can have something like that inside you and not even notice!) and then the rest of him was born and I lifted him up into my arms.

 Surprisingly he was pink from the start and alert, looking up at me. 8.30pm, just two hours after labour had started. Mark climbed into the pool with me while the kids watched with one friend watching and the other taking the most amazing photos which I totally treasure. I don’t remember much after that..lots of afterpains...a breastfeed...Wendy gave me something homeopathic to help the placenta out...we all got out of the pool and Wendy helped me lay on the couch with my boy and the placenta came quickly into a colander. I thought he was tiiiny, Wendy had told me he was about the same as the other 2 when palping when I was pregnant...and here was this tiny baby... Well he was placed in her weighing bag and didn’t fit! To our great surprise my tiny baby was 4.7kgs or 10lbs6oz! More breastfeeding, an amazing cake my friend’s had baked with my kids while I laboured and champagne.

Everyone sang happy birthday to my beautiful boy ATTICUS JUDE, was totally blissful! Everyone slowly left and I showered in my own shower while Mark held Atticus skin to skin. Eventually it was just Wendy and Jess and the big kids were asleep. After a quick check pronouncing a very small tear/graze that didn’t need anything it was just Mark, Atticus and I. The house was silent, just so peaceful. With just us we decided to cut Atticus’s cord, totally intimate!

 

Looking back at this, one year tomorrow later...I am amazed at what I did. Unlike the other two I totally feel like it was my achievement. I might sound silly if you haven’t been there but everything that happened was my doing...I chose everyone in our house that night. If anyone needed anything they asked us (well Mark :P) Mark was totally amazing too...he was totally THERE. He was of course there for Jasper and Scarlett’s birth but I really felt like he was in the moment with me. He held my hands for pretty much all of it. It was the first time he didn’t run down to the ‘business end’ to see the actual birth, said all the right things...it wouldn’t have been the same without him.

My friend’s too...were everything I needed of them. I have the most beautiful photos of my birth. I didn’t worry about the kids at all with them and my Mum. My Mum I’m sure found it hard but I had talked to her earlier about what I needed from her and she was great. Homebirth truly is wonderful. I’ve tried it all and without very good medical reason I can’t imagine ever going to hospital to birth another baby. Jasper and Scarlett’s births were just another day for the care providers I chose/ was allocated to, they wouldn’t have remembered who I was a week later. Unlike Wendy who still gives me a kiss and hug when she sees us almost a year later. Atticus’s birth was so normal...yet so totally magical....I don’t have the words to describe the differences between his birth and my first two.

Happy first birthday to my beautiful, smiley, brilliant, inspiring, busy little guy, I am soooo in love with you, as much as I was that moment I pulled you from the water to meet you for the first time!

New little princess

Welcome to the world miss Bianca! Less than 24 hours old.... Bless!

Oh boy have I been slack!

Can't believe I've left it this long! Will try to summerise the big points :P

• We got a kitten! Miss Olivia is a lovely tabby cat of whom I have no photo, lol! She has slotted right in and likes to sleep in the little two kids. They are not so sure on co sleeping with her but luckily she's decided Nana is ok lately. Oh and she's decided she prefers to poo in the neighbours cat litter, pmsl!! Poor guy, his cat never uses it, it's there for emergencies but she likes their place and hangs about inside all the time..and poos there! Works for us :P
• Mark had almost 3 months working from home. It was awesome and the most likely reason I have been slack with posting...oh the sleep ins! He went back about a week ago..it was sad but we knew it had to end.
• Me: well I turned 30 *gasp* was feeling depressed about it but am ok with it now. Well what can you do hey?! Working lots, studying lots..had gastro AGAIN! Had an awesome dying day with good friends yesterday, dyed all sorts of cool stuff.
• Biggest boy..same same. I do think *touches wood* that his behaviour has improved lately...I can almost reason with him. He's still a bossy britches and we did have a bad day today but I am really enjoying him at the moment. He is all sweet and cuddly, so nice!
• Poor middle child. Gee she's tempestuous! A girl who knows what she wants and demands it! Will serve her well later. She too is a cuddly thing. So into girly stuff...pretty dresses, dollies. She has started kinder and is loving it! I wasn't sure how she'd cope but she asks everyday...is today tuesday? 
• Little man...is one in a week *sob* Running around, claps his hands on demand..points at everything. Plays the 'ta' game..ta for you, ta for me..can go on for ages, lol! Is trying to cut down to one sleep a day..not well..second sleep at 4.30pm tonight and so was up for ages.
• we are lucky enough to have MIL done for a visit. Kids are happy to have her here. My princess thinks she should live here!
• Think that's about it...will try not to leave it so long, thanks for nagging Tammy! :P

Not having a good run..

Ok so first I had that damn cold/ flu thing that just hung around and around...
Then Friday I was trimming all the fat off our roast lamb and skinned a deep flap off my right index finger. Probably should have gotten a stitch, it bled all night and I went through a tonne of bandaides. Eventually it was stemmed with steristrips which is likely what they would have done in hospy anyway.

Saturday morning I woke at 4am with a rumbly tummy....GASTRO!! Can you believe it?? None of the kids have it, not even Miss vomit-a-lotta or Mark who usually catches it if someone in the suburb has it. I *never* get it, usually am nursing everyone else through it and have only had it one other time since the kids were born. Just goes to show the good hygiene of a mother :P Got it from a very sweet innocent looking 4 month old. My own fault really, his family has all recovered recently from it and stupid me popped his dummy in not thinking to wash my hands after. Rule number one of nursing!

So enough bad health luck for one poor woman?? Ah no...would you believe it I have developed mastitis??!! First time ever on my 10 month old third child. I have been feeding for almost 5 years straight, never had anything like this. Came on like a steam train this afternoon after I spent the day ignoring a sore left boob (put it down to a feeding machine who hasn't let me have a decent nights sleep in a few weeks) and when Mark got home I felt like vomiting it was that painful. I finally smothered it in arnica, took some panadol, gritted my teeth and just fed him and funnily enough it is a little better. Still oh so sore and I feel like I have a achy flu but hoping we can manage it at home with feeding, poultices and probiotics. Oh and sleep, every search I've done says take your baby to bed for the day. Yeah right, this boy likes to feed whilst standing up so he can dance at the same time. And just discovered tonight while I was nearly passing out with the pain that it makes a really funny sound if he hits his forehead with mine in just the right spot. I'm just grateful he unlatched before attempting this feat, not sure my poor nipple would have survived being dragged to my forehead.

Anyway, my finger seems to be healing alright, got my wound expert friend to look at it today and she thinks more of the flap will take. The gastro was gone by Sunday although I was still feeling seedy and have missed out on about $600 as I haven't been permanent long enough for sick leave. And this mastitis...well GO AWAY!!!!
Please let this be the last thing!

updating a bit

Been a while since I've done a family type post...
We are just getting totally over that cold finally, I have had it since the princess's birthday. She is still coughing up a lung every night. Little one still has a green nose. But despite all that,I'm declaring the cold over! The best thing is I can finally taste and smell again!! I didn't think it'd bother me that much but I was in tears the other night wanting to smell my baby :( I really missed that snuggly baby smell most of all :(

We got some wonderful news the other day, Mark's sister and family have sold their house and ore off on their trip around Australia for a few years. The best part of that is that they will be here for a while over Christmas :) We're all very excited, especially the kids!

In other awesome news...I found rainbow tights!!!! Seriously!! I squealed out loud in Kmart today, I'm sure the woman pushing her trolley next to me nearly had a heart attack :P I bought.....umm.......7 pairs lol! Not alllll for us and a couple are for friends little ones. Sadly they were all baby sized bar a pair for the princess but still :)

Sad news we got today..Mark's Nana passed away this morning. She was in her 90's and had been unwell for a long time. Still sad and it means a trip to Brisbane for Mark next week...

Ok too tired to type anymore!

Leave it alone!!

I have always been very vocally anti circumcision. You could say it's a soapbox issue of mine (one of many!). Anyway this came up in a thread. Funny, and a good way to bring up the issue I guess.
It's a regular shitfight thread on essential baby, which I mostly stay clear of since it's always the same people fighting about the same thing.. It's one issue I really don't get tbh. I mean I don't understand the choice to artificially feed a baby or to have a baby extracted by elective cesaerian but I do understand the social pressures and lack of support that lead to that decision.
But this? Now why on earth would a person choose to remove a functioning part of their sons' genetalia?? Why on earth does our society give them that choice? IT'S NOT THEIR PENIS!!! That is the answer to any stupid arguments anyone comes up with...
'But I want him to look like Daddy'. Seriously WFT??? That is kind of sick! He might have blonde hair and Daddy had black hair, shall we dye it? Will he be lining his penis up next to Daddy's at Christmas dinners when he's 35? I don't think so! Plus it's not your penis!!
'they might have to get it removed later when it gets infected and it'll hurt more then'. Now there are a few things wrong with that. Well he might need his tonsils out later. In fact how about on the way out we remove his tonsils, adenoids, wisdom teeth, appendix...oh how about nails, hang nails are really annoying and can get infected! What about potential skin cancer? Shall we remove all his skin? I could go on.... I love the good old newborns don't feel pain argument. Sorry but if you think that for a second you are a moron. As for remembering it, well my 4 year old remembers his vacuum extraction so there blows that theory. Plus it's not you penis!! (are you seeing a theme?)
'it'll prevent HIV' A new argument that doesn't make a whole lot of sense. Actually it won't prevent HIV although it will decrease the chance of getting it. Doesn't decrease the chance of getting the chick pregnant. And nothing prevents HIV like a condom! I'll spend my efforts on teaching safe sex rather that hacking off a body part thanks! It also is thought to decrease penile cancer which is pretty bloody rare anyway. But yet again, not mine, not my decision to make!
Now this is my favourite stupid reason to mutilate your sons...'he'll play with himself less' ROFLMAO!!! I nearly wet my pants when I read that argument on a forum. Firstly, is it your role to stop your son masturbating? Secondly even if it is, why are you losing sleep over it?? why would you even care. Not like my uncircumcised boys walk about with their hands down their pants or anything. Actually I'd really like to see a controlled randomised trial on this topic. Let me predict 100% of both groups will be at themselves :P It's what boys do! Actually my girl is pretty good at it as well, shall I look into having her clitoris removed? Ah don't think so, NOT MINE!!
Then of course there is the religious reasons. I used to sympathise with them..well they have no choice right? Ah wrong! Of course they do. It's still a crap reason, for some fictitious 'god'? WTF does their son's foreskin have to do with their religious beliefs? (can you tell I'm in a atheist phase? Blame Mark, he's always trying to convince me :P). If your son wants to remove his foreskin to appease some fairy tale character well he is well within his rights, because it's HIS PENIS!

You know in the future I really believe they will talk of this mutilation as the abuse we thrust upon our sons. Holding my baby I can truly not understand how someone can see a sweet defenceless boy and think his body is anything less than absolutely perfect.
So anyhow if you are thinking about doing this to your boy just don't!!! It's not your to do anything with, leave it alone!!

we have a toddler!! and other important announcements...

Sadly it's true. My littlest one, my baby, is walking. Still tentative but determined. Actually started a week or so ago, but he's trying all the time now. So not ready, suddenly feeling all clucky for new babies which is soooo not going to happen for a long time yet!
Still on Atti news, he's teething resulting in lots of wakeful nights. Top tooth is soooo close to breaking through but has been for at least a week now. Just break through damn it!!! :P

We got another 3 chickens the other day thanks to the Hows. Battery hens, so was hoping that they would show my lazy girls how to 'back one out' as Mark so eloquently puts it. We thought they'd take the 3 weeks everyone tells you it take to settle them in, but we had an egg the next morning...and three since then!! Yay!! The downside is it turns our our old hens are a pack of bitches and they mercilessly bully the new ones. To the point were a new chook is now blind in one eye! Hoping to calms down soon, half expect to one find half a carcass down there one morning...

Today was the kinder info session for our local waldorf school. It's very exciting, our big boy is starting next year and it the whole reason we moved to the hills. So good to have one thing sorted, the more we hear and learn of this type of education the more sure we are of how well it will suit our family :) Next week is our family interview to see if we suit the school, that should be fine I think...and then a final interview going through our big boy's early childhood. Not so looking forward to that and going through his traumatic birth which he distinctly remembers :( Oh well surely they wouldn't exclude us for making crap birthing choices before he was even born?!

blessed be

Reasons I am grateful:
-I managed to avoid the dreaded manflu for most of the time my family was terribly afflicted, and having now contracted it I seem to have a much lighter case than them (funny about that!) really do miss my sense of smell and taste though...
-I have the most amazing friends. I realised it yesterday when most of our friends hiked around an hours drive to our house my my princess's birthday party. Then I was a terrible hostess, we ran out of sausages and had no tissues. I was pretty rude to most I suspect, feeling like crap and all. Yet they all took it, and claimed to have had a good time! Thanks to you all :)
-We ran out of toilet paper after everyone left!
-My Mum has been wonderful lately. Has been known for not being overly reliable in her day but has been really making life easier over the last few months and has just totally rearranged her working life so that I could...
-RING AND CANCEL DAYCARE!!! It was such a weight off my shoulders. I felt sick leaving my big boy crying, but worst of all, 9 month old babies just don't belong in daycare :( It broke my heart to leave him there, he would have no idea where I had gone and when I'd come back. No one there he even knew :( But hopefully never again, god love Mum!
-speaking of mother's can't go without praising my MIL who has been here for about a month. In that time I seriously haven't washed a DISH! She is awesome, I am very lucky!
-I am really enjoying the NICU course! I knew I would, but so glad it's working out ok :)
I think that's all, but pretty impressed with my list given I can barely breathe, can't smell, taste or hear very well atm.

ohh funny story I have to add..
We had chicken curry Friday night, you know the Thai green ones in the jar. Anyway...I made it up, couldn't smell it at all so just guessed everything. Serve it up and start feeding the little guy. He screws up his face so I blow on it, too hot obviously. I'm wolfing into mine as I feed him, everyone else arriving at the table at the time. MIL has a few mouthfuls and says 'um..this is a bit too hot!' She couldn't even eat it!! My poor baby!! The kids start crying needing water for their burning 'wips'. Poor things, so snadwiches all round except for me and Mark who ate the lot without tasting a single thing, lol! Atti did eat a fair bit, he likes Chilli. But apparently more than his poor belly could handle, his nappy couldn't hold the result the next morning. Thanksfully while I was in the shower. Oh should add that to my grateful list :P

Oh edited to add another to my list:
-Mark put on a homebrew ginger beer for me, will be all go in a few weeks, yay!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BEAUTIFUL GIRL!!

*sob* why do I always cry on my kids birthdays?? It's a good cry though...


After feeling like it may never happen and booking in for a medical induction on the Monday, I woke up on Saturday the 23rd of July 2005 12 days overdue with strong Braxton hicks and tummy cramps at 2.30am. After a big clearout (nice!) the Braxton hicks continues although not consistently. I couldn’t sleep so got up and did lots of walking around the house folding washing etc. The clearout continued so I got a bit excited thinking maybe this is it! After posting here and in my due in July group I decided to ‘do a Kate’ and try to feel my cervix. The baby’s head was right down which she hadn’t been a few ours earlier, and just touching my cervix set off massive contractions. I woke Mark to put on the TENS machine, he didn’t quite know what was going on and wanted to know if we’d make it to Jasper’s swimming that morning, lol!
He went back to bed and I was happy to keep walking and squatting during contractions happily alone. I spoke to my baby a bit telling her how excited I was that we would get to meet her soon and how glad I was that she had chosen today to be her birthday. By 5.30am the contractions were consistently about 7 minutes apart and I was still happy in between but I felt a distinct shift in them, they became serious. I think this really was when my labour actually started. I kneeled over the gym ball during contractions and watched good morning America in between. At 6am I was getting pretty bored so woke Mark. I actually got pretty cranky because he took a while to work out what was happening, lol! I got him to ring my friend who would look after Jasper at 6.30am and my midwife Dale at about 7am. Contractions were really strong and about 3 minutes apart by this stage; I wasn’t feeling I could cope at all. Susan came to pick up Jasper (my beautiful boy slept through the night for the first time in ages) and I was really emotional seeing him leave. Dale arrived at the same time and did an internal. I was devastated to be only 3 cms dilated. She said that it was great and it wouldn’t be long but I was convinced I had hours to go. She went home to have breakfast and told me to ring when I wanted to go into the birth centre. I decided pretty soon after that I needed to go, my house was really cold and I wanted to get in the bath. The drive to the hospital was AWFUL, I never want to have to get into a car in labour again! The lovely Dale had the bath ready for me when I arrived and I got straight in. I have no idea how long I spent there, it was probably an hour or 2 but it was wonderful between contractions. I had all these things to tell myself during contractions but it was a real fight in my head with the huge part of me screaming ‘noooo’. I chanted in my head ‘800,000 woman are doing this at this exact moment too and I’m fine’. Mark was great, seems to know that I need him to sit there and not say anything! All I wanted was a hand to squeeze and him to tell me I was fine when I told him I couldn’t do it anymore. Dale eventually suggested I get out, as the dr wanted a CTG because I was post dates. I was happy for a change but regretted it the second I got out. Barring something seriously wrong I will NEVER have a CTG again in labour. I absolutely hate anything on my stomach during contractions it tripled the intensity of contractions and after a few minutes I ripped it off. Dale tried (not very hard, lol) to convince me to have it a bit longer. I had a bit of gas at this stage too, which does nothing for me.
I decided at this point that enough was enough and I needed an epidural. Dale said it was probably too late but I was sure I would only be 5cms. One horrendous internal later I was 8cms. I still told her I needed one and she went along with it, getting me up to delivery suite. I was leaning over the hospital bed end face first in a pillow when the anaesthetist came in and started explaining the risks etc. I very calmly told her to shut up and put it in! She was preparing all the things (while I secretly pushed, lol!) and must have happened to look at my rear end and said ‘ah no epidural for you, membranes are bulging’. I had a bit of a panic feeling I couldn’t do it without one but Dale was wonderful, saying that yes it will hurt but it will be all over soon. She got warm compresses and held them to my perineum to help stop tearing while I pushed. After a few pushes my membranes ruptured and it felt amazing. Mark had a look and said ‘she’s got lots of hair’ which totally amazed me, I remember thinking what the f*%$ is he thinking, who gives a damn about hair, I’m pushing a BABY out, lol!
I felt her crowning, which I really love too, I find it much less painful that 1st stage labour. I felt a tear and new it was big despite really easing her head out. On my perineum she wiggled her head around which REALLY hurt. One more push and she was between my knees. She screamed almost straight away, I rolled over trying not to pull the cord on my tear (ouch) and held her. She was really mushed and cranky, yelling more than crying. She took a while to stop enough to breastfeed, but then fed beautifully for 30 minutes or so.
I had a 3rd degree tear which I’m sure was unavoidable after my previous episiotomy. I had planned to have a natural third stage but Scarlett’s cord had stopped pulsating and I was having really uncomfortable cramps. There seems no reason to not have the injection and the placenta came out minutes after.
And there you have it, my beautiful, precious baby girl was here.

Will add birthday photos later!

Sick yet again

We have pretty much had sickness in the house since our housewarming party. The little one has been snotty and coughing since then anyway. Mark has been sick with manflu for at least 2 weeks and showing no sign of improvement. I have been coughing for a week or so although thankfully that's been all for me. And today my poor princess on the eve of her birthday is snotty and miserable :( I convinced everyone (except MIL :P) today to take a shot of breastmilk up the nose, lol! Not sure if it's helped but everyone has lined up one by one to lie on my lap for some pre expressed milk in a syringe to be squirted up there noses. Will repeat tonight and hope for improvement, I want everyone better tomorrow for big three year old celebrations!
So please send some bugs be gone vibes to our snotty house!

The art of procrastination...

I am the world champion that is for sure! Have committed myself to too much as usual and will probably do a crap job of all of it. Really should be doing the respiratory modules for the course ready for the study day Thursday. Really should be researching the co sleeping talk I am giving at the ABA branch conference with the lovely Michelle. Not to mention the breastfeeding counselling Really should be making pants for the princess for her birthday. Really should be making lunch for our friends who are coming over tomorrow.
See there is the issue really...where to start??

6 Glorious years :)

This time 6 years ago....well I was probably half tanked (rofl!) but it was also about halfway through our wedding reception...Hard to believe it's been that long but it does also seem like a lifetime ago. So much has happened in that time, most importantly three gorgeous amazing little humans were created..
As usual, we never do much to mark the day although sadly this is the first year we have decided not to exchange cards for environmental reasons. And romantically, I spent most of the day at work while Mark spent it with his mum and the kids.
But still, I am using today to remind myself how incredibly lucky I am to have such a wonderful, supportive, awesome etc husband *gush* :P
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TO US :)

Little one photos

My teeny baby was having a ball yesterday playing outside. The weather was horrid, it was bloooooooody cold but he just loves it! He was rugged up and even had the usual man tights on (best idea ever!) but of course got soaking wet with hands of ice anyway. It all ended with a big warm bath and booby of course.




For those who know us well...yes that is the pot of placenta he is playing in rofl! Should be well decomposed by now :P

The biggest bed in the wooooorld!!

Well it'd be up there :P
We have new sleeping arrangements in our household. After a few very cold night where Mark was bed hopping with the big monsters and I was warm but no less sleep deprived with the little one we decided to look outside the square and try something different. I felt that my sleepless nights mightn't be so bad if I got to at least spend it in the same bed as my husband. And Mark was just sick of having to move from bed to bed. So the biggest bed in the world was born! The kids room now is totally bare with the exception of a toddler bed, a king sized mattress and 2 single beds side by side wall to wall. And our room has all the tall boys/ storage etc. It's working surprisingly well tbh. I can put clothes away while kids are asleep with the light on. In fact I have a room I can just dump the clothes in so they aren't on my couch!


Photos are crappy, I had the wrong lens on the camera and couldn't be bothered changing it to a smaller one!

Now I know you are all wondering...Mark and I get by just fine :P

I drove a truck!!

Seriously! We bought load of timber decking through friends at a hugely discounted rate and they hired a truck to get it to their place. Mark drove it up to our house to get our share out and then it had to be returned at 2pm today to the hire place. Mark went to work today...so I had to drive the bloody thing down the freeway to the other side of the city!! The kids thought it was most cool, Mummy driving off in a bloody huge truck. Now it wasn't one of those little moving vans or anything, it was huuuuge, no idea why they let someone with a drivers license drive it. Surely someone should have some training before driving a few tonne through a city?? Anyway, a few hairy moments, including a wrong turn off South road and a detour through the suburbs and accidently putting it in reverse rather than 1st gear at the lights (imagine how the guy behind me must have been shitting himself when he saw my reverse lights on, rofl!) but I did it! Even better, I did it all frocked up for Mark's midyear work lunch. Imagine the faces of the truckies on the freeway when this chick drives past in a truck putting on lipstick hahaha! It was quite amusing, I got a few chuckling smiles :P Pretty happy to never do it again tbth!

Lunch was nice, thanks to jacobs australia. Have to say the Norwood hotel service sucked and the food was very average despite the inflated prices, lucky I wasn't paying! I could have done a better job myself!! But was nice to go out with the three monsters safely at home with Grandma. Really must do it again sometime, our 6th Wedding anniversary is in 2 short weeks. Thanks Mum!

not so perfect...

Warning Maureen, there may be swear words :P


Funny story...well to start with. Mark was talking breastfeeding with a couple of guys from work today. One guy was saying how one of his daughters or daughter in laws was still feeding her 4 year old and the other daughter or IL never fed any of her kids. The other guy pipes up with how selfish the second one is and how good it is to BF. I was pretty impressed with the story, given both men were in their 50's. And that Mark's contribution to the story was that the WHO recommends 2 years etc. I ask him smugly if he bragged about my efforts with the older kids, thinking I already know the answer and he says 'but you only fed J for 18 months!'. (My highlight not his)
Oh my fucking god!!!.... He still has no idea why I was in tears. Fuck me if I can get it right. I got so much crap for feeding my older boy with the mainstream circles I hung with at the time. While I am proud of my breastfeeding efforts I have always felt like a crap mother to my biggest one. My 'experiment'. I really was pretty crap at this job when he was little, but I can truly say I did the best I knew at the time. I still struggle with him bigtime and this was on top of a day I'm not particularly proud of. By the way TWO AND A HALF YEARS was how long he was breastfed!!! NOT 18 months. Another thing I am majorly pissed about. My husband didn't even know how long I fed our child for!!! Anyway despite I suspect him not really knowing why, he has apologised. It's all got me thinking because it's hit a sore point for some reason. I think I need to spend some time with my big boy, I really miss him and I'm sick of being angry with him and just yelling all the time. Maybe kinder and daycare are too much for him? I think I forget all the time that even though he is my oldest he is still only 4 years old. So all in all maybe a good thing, a wake up call..... Still pissed off that he doesn't know how long I fed him for. In fact he missed a WHOLE damn year of booby goodness that he thinks I deprived him of!
So I'd like to know...do your husbands/ partners know how long your kids were breastfed for?

well educated

My princess is currently expressing some milk for her dolly cause she's going to work 'this afternoon'. Sadly she's already fed her baby from a bottle although she did assure me that it was expressed breast milk and not artificial milk haha! Before this my big boy was expressing too but stopped as soon as he noticed me watching...well I guess he needed privacy to get the milk flowing :P His expressing was 'cause the baby is going to childcare today'
So cute!

Aww!

Jasper 'is my leg made of chicken?'

updating...

Well has been a long week. I had planned to put up heaps of photos but..well I am slack and have to resize them.
So... the news in short....

Very sadly we decided the week before last to re-home our lovely (although simple :P) Dalmatian, George. It was a very hard decision although something we have been considering for several years. We just don't have the time to give him and being a large friendly dog he needed lots of playing and exercise. We actually paid about $400 a few years back to get the bark busters guy out and it did help his behaviour but he was still bored. And with his huge interest in destroying the chicken coop he was spending 23 hours a day locked in a carport. So after lots of tears we decided to find him another home. The family that have taken him plan to take him camping and have him sleep on their bed so I know he will be much happier. Although apparently he dug up all their pot plants so he hasn't changed! We miss him but I am totally sure we made the right decision.

This was the photo I took to send to the family that took him. It all happened very quickly and he was gone when I got back from work that night :(

Next night Saturday was our housewarming get together :) We had a lovely time and our house was thoroughly warmed! Big thankyou to all my friends for making the trek up to freezing Mount Barker and not all leaving after my lovely daughter started vomiting, lol! It was also Michelle's 30th the day before so we all had yummy cake :)




We got up the next morning to find that one of our chooks had died :( No idea what happened, a guess is that she choked to death on the out of date cashews we gave them the night before, lol! A friend joked that had we known the night before we had a dead chook stuffed with cashews we could have chucked her on the fire :P After much debate Mark finally sought the advice of our friend Peter and the chook made her way onto the compost. Turned out great timing George had moved on, could have been quite messy!
Here are the sad leftover chooks (frankly they didn't seem to give a shit, hahaha!) and the dead chooks final resting place...



Same day, Mark showing the safest way to prune the apple tree... The big monster watched on with great interest..just waiting for him to try!


Backdating a bit to Saturday night and the princess's 'bomit' as she'd say... Didn't think she was that well when she had a day sleep late in the afternoon and was then mega clingy despite having friend's there. The little guy also slept for 3 hours!! in a row!! which was unprecedented! Anyway, next morning they both had high fevers so I called in sick and spend the day boobing. The little guy's fever was over 40 degrees for 2 days and as bit worrying. Pretty sure they both just had a virus, the princess was better Monday although lethargic and the little one's fever finally broke Tuesday morning with no other symptoms. Had to go to the GP for certificates for both of us for work resulting in no answers but of course a dig about their unvaccinated status. All fine now but was awful to see them unwell..




Rest of the week quite uneventful thankfully!
We spend today marking the winter solstice and planted some seeds and planted out our potted chilli to 'welcome back the sun'. Our big monster wanted to yell out 'come back sun!!' although suggested he didn't need to yell, it might just be what confirms to the neighbours we are in fact all nuts :P We had a yummy roast lamb from one of Dad's flock that we put on too late so the kids missed it and ate cheese sandwiches. They did get to eat some cake they helped bake with ice cream.
That is about it!! Good thinks coming, MIL arrives in a couple of weeks for a months visit for the princess's 3rd birthday. And Mark is going to work from home for a few weeks from July 1 so big savings on petrol and sleep ins for me, woohoo!! Mum is probably hanging out for both so she gets break from baby sitting duty :P

Happy winter solstice to all :)

what a hero!

Well at the risk of being labelled a suck up I am yet again praising my awesome husband! Starting my new job yesterday meant that he had all three kids both Saturday AND Sunday evenings from 12ish until around 10pm. Saturday included getting all three kids and himself out of the pool at swimming lessons and everyone dressed. Apparently the princess did the nudey run out of the change rooms prompting Mark to have to do the nudey run to collect her haha! Then the challenging time of dinner preparation, dinner bath and bed all alone. Sounds easy enough for those who put their kids in their rooms and close the doors but all three of ours require parenting to sleep and the littlest guy is most often breast fed to sleep. But he was up to the task. When I got home Saturday evening he was still slinging the little one but the other two were asleep in their own beds. Saturday night I got home to ALL children in bed!!
And to totally glorify him..... I have slept until at least 9am for the last 3 days!!! Rest assured the kids have been up, usually before 6am but I haven't heard them! I did reward him with a sleep today for a few hours :)
He still doesn't read my blog so don't worry his head won't get too big :P

Chooks!

Argh, blogger is not liking me this morning!! I just lost another post....

Anyway, we have chooks! Mark finished the chook pen on Sunday so we drove to birdwood to visit the bird lady. We got 4 ummm brown chickens? (sorry Peter that's as descriptive as I get :P ) for $15 each. They are between 6-6.5 months old and apparently just coming on to laying although she warned us they might take a few weeks to restart after the trauma of becoming part of our family, lol! So far nothing but they are scratching up a storm which is what we bought them for really. The kids love them after some hairy moment coming home. Jasper was a liiiittle freaked out by the scratching in the boot (they were in a box, not freeranging in the boot or anything :P). The stupid dalmatian has barely made it out of the carport, as soon as he comes out he rounds around the pen barking madly and pulling at the wire. He actually broke through the wire yesterday so not sure what we are going to do with him!


Yesterday was an awful day, still thick fog at midday still. After spending the day inside I threw the kids out at about 2pm, they were going insane! Finally took some photos...



Yes in the last one you can see my little guy is standing without holding on, has his balance quite sorted now. Cruising the furniture and walking from chair to table...won't be long and he'll be taking his first steps! Yes he is 7 months old, insane!
In fact as I type he is trying to open the shower door where the big monsters are showering and getting mightily cranky that they won't let him in (fully clothed, I'm quite happy with their refusal!

My poor bruised little guy

And a mountain of washing. He is forever falling and cracking that head. If actually woke with that scratch.... No idea where it came from!

teeth and other stuff

The little guy finally has some :D Two bottom teeth finally broke the gum Saturday morning after weeks of threatening. Nothing to really see yet, I can feel them on my nipple though when the little toad bites! Will take photos when they actually show though. Little teeth are so cute but I'll miss my gummy boy too.

We got a call from the local waldorf school asking if we still want Jasper's place! It was a missed call on Mark's mobile so I'll have to talk to them but so exciting that it's coming up soon. My big monster had a great day at 4 year old kinder today, he goes to a waldorf one in a house, perfect for his sometimes anxious personality (wonder where he got that from???!!! and I don't mean me :P). Apparently he got talked into playing Mummies and Daddies with a little girl there, lol! It was ok he said since the Daddy just goes to work anyway. Hmm.... his future partner won't thank us for that assumption! The theme continued after we got home this afternoon. He was very worried about Buzz lightening (yes a great waldorf toy grr.. ) after he fell from the pram and recognised that he would need booby to fix him up, hence he got thrown over to the princess. Very cute :) She refused, patted him on the head and said 'you are ok Buzz!' hahaha!

The princess and I had a great day too, we walked to the shop so I had some exercise to tell calorie king about which was good. She threw a few wobblies for juice which meant a few rushed trips to the toilet and one squat at a tree. She is such a lady :P

Welcome little one!

Lovely Tammy birthed a beautiful baby girl yesterday morning in a blow up pool in her bedroom. Marley Juno made a speedy entry before the midwife arrived :)
Massive congratulations to Tammy, Matt, Conor, Ashton and Maximus :D

I am going to meet Marley with lemon meringue pie for her Mama and will have to take lots of photos!
Well done Tammy, you are a true birthing goddess!

Grandma

I went to see my Grandma yesterday, I don't get down to see her much so try to pop in when I'm down that way. I took her out to get some milk before I went out for lunch and couldn't get a park so convinced her to come out to lunch with my friends. She was pretty reluctant but I'm persuasive :P
Anyway, as usual at our lunches/ get togethers it turned political and birthing also as usual the main topic. Grandma was just sitting listening as she does and I brought up that she had an awful experience with my Dad's birth and she agreed saying she had been alone, disrespected and couldn't walk afterwards with the stitches although didn't elaborate saying 'oh well it was all ok a couple of weeks later'. Rose pointed out that she still remembered it though and she teared up saying she doesn't remember much any more and has always had an awful memory (which is *very* true!) but she still remembers that vividly :( How awful that 50 years later she remembers the birth of her first child sadly??? (I could under stand if it was the child himself that depressed her :P ).
It reminded me of a birth course I did where the lecturer was saying that women with dementia in nursing homes can't remember the names of their children but they remember their births. How powerful is that?? And our society glosses over it all. 'oh well you have a healthy baby' I may well scream if I hear that again (and I personally have had no reason to hear that). Is that all we want out of a life changing experience? A healthy outcome? Of course that is the number one priority of it but surely we can ask for more than that. Like after the little guys birth, I was totally empowered, my body birthed him entirely. No one touched me, invaded my space. Everyone was there only to support *me*. No one was in a hurry to get somewhere else or there with their own agendas; no policies, decisions were made by what was happening at the time with my body and baby and even then *I* made them! To get that I had to birth in my own home (which was fine with me!) and it cost me $2000 (and medicare nothing!). Surely every woman is entitled to have that wherever they want to birth their babies? How tragic is it that generations of women are remembering their births with sadness??
Anyway, driving home with Grandma I asked her if she enjoyed lunch. She said she had and also enjoyed the great company and conversation. I said 'hope it wasn't too full on with too much profanity' she just laughed and said 'well they are passionate' hahaha!!!

The reason for our lunch was the due date of my friend Tammy. Her little one was due yesterday but is taking her sweet time. Who'd have thought number 4 would be the longest pregnancy??? Most unfair. Sending love and strength and loads of empathy your way Tammy :)

Childcare Rant 2

Ok so just found out that on our higher than average income the government will pay 60 odd percent off the chilcare costs per child. Woohoo. NOW that isn't all.... every quarter they are going to give me back another 50% of what I actually pay. So overall it's going to cost me $10 a day to put my kids in long daycare each child with the rest subsidised by the taxpayer. Am I the only person to see the insanity of this??? This second 50% payment isn't means tested either!!! (I am not 100% sure of that but from what I gather). By leaving my baby in daycare, not only is the government paying for a lot of the care but they will then be more likely to pay for hospitalising him with various ilnesses. Now he is lucky in that I can provide breastmilk for him thus decreasing his chances of illness significantly but how many other mothers can when they have to leave their babies at young ages to work?? I know of one mother who has managed this and we all think she is a supermother, extraordinary, etc. So obviously, sadly it isn't the norm.
How can it not make more sense to pay mothers their full income to stay at home with their babies for 12 months??? They do 18 months in Sweden, it's doable. I'd go so far as to say it's a right for our babies to have a parent at home (preferably the one with the breasts) with them for at least 12 months. I saw Steve Biddulph talk at hot milk last year. He is a wonderful speaker if you ever get the change to so him DO! Anyway, he was talking about the dangers of childcare for under 3's especially boys and it just makes so much sense.
Thank goodness they are looking into this now. I seriously had no idea how much taxpayer money is being wasted to keep mothers and babies apart :(

names

Working in paedatrics and NICU, I have seen a huge variety of different names people give their children. Countless called Emily and Joshua, lots of lovely names and quite a few odd ones. I am hardly one to criticise names, my children all have different names that you won't find in the top 100 lists but there are a few that are just cruel. There are so many beautiful names out there, loads I wouldn't call my children but that's good too, I wanted my kids to be different :) I got to thinking about this on the weekend after work and there being a couple of children there with what I think are just cruel names.
Whyyyyy do people make up names to give their children?? There are thousands upon thousands to choose from so why on earth would you call your little girl Blaze?? It's a descriptive word, a particularly big fire. Not the name of a tiny baby. Gawd surely even Emily is better than that?! (no offence to any Emily's out there, you've got to admit it's an awfully common name). It gets worse. I even prefer blaze over this doozy.... Equine. Seriously. WTF??? Like the parents who see a word written down and using their own pronunciation think it sounds like a great name and go with it. Did they not ask the advice of anyone else. Were people just dishonest and said 'oh um.. yeah that's lovely I guess..' Surely not. Poor baby!
THINK people!

To my friends of which many have just have new babies and are probably thinking I am the most judgemental bitch and wondering what I think of their choices... I love them all, not that you were really worried about what I thought :P


Childcare update: Seems like all will be ok as predicted. The centre seems nice, we can afford it and the kids seemed to like it. A couple of practices over the next few weeks and we start for real next month.

childcare

hmmmm.....
So I finally rang our local community child care centre here. Feeling pretty confident so far after getting good vibes off the woman on the phone. Apparently they will rock my baby to sleep and he'll have the same carer everytime and it's not an issue to be giving him expressed breastmilk. And the big monsters will be in the same room which would suit my shy big boy. Still, it's $50 a day per kid. So for one day a week I'll be paying $300 a fortnight. I know I can get some back from the ccb but hmmm...... Well at least I didn't cry on the phone to the woman, there were a few hairy moments asking if they will rock my boy to sleep but I got through it with dry eyes so a good start. Off to actually look at it tomorrow.
Was discussing it with Mark before, this centre is open from 6am until 6pm and takes babies from 8 weeks. So conceivably a 2 month old baby could be without it's mother 12 hours a day 5 days a week :( What on earth is wrong with this country that that can be allowed to happen?????? Will be watching the investigation into paid maternity leave with earnest, really hoping the world is a different place by the time my daughter is having babies and that she won't have to leave her 7 month oldwith strangers to go to work :( Thank goodness it'll only be one day a week I guess.

EUROVISION!!!!

oooh forgot about this..
We love Eurovision here. This year has been slightly disappointing in that the stupid $200 TV tuner for the laptop is only picking up 7 and 9 digital and the rest analogue. SHIT reception. Still...having lots of fun :) Waiting for votes to be counted now, first year in ages I don't already know the winner. Mark does which is a shame so he's off being a nerd reading sci fi crap. Nevermind...loved the pirates and have Kalomira's song stuck in my head..'secret combination da da da da da' pmsl! Shame the Irish puppet didn't make it :(
One year I'll manage to enthuse some others and host a Eurovision party. We need a public holiday for the next day!
ohhh voting counting starting.....

another war wound

The littlest man gets quite bruised for a 7 month old. I noticed today he has a graze on his toe, probably to do with crawling about on the concrete after taking his socks off. He has bruises on his legs (lots of falling on stuff the likely culprit) and then just before bed I noticed he has burn blisters on his fingers!! Oh my, if anyone saw him I'm sure we'd be reported. No idea how he burned his fingers, he does like the heater but we're pretty careful with it. He did grab the oven door a week ago ( left him in the other room to check if a cake was cooked, he flew back in and tried to stand at the oven door under my feet before I'd even noticed his return!!). The bad side of early movers I guess. Does your 7 month old have rocks in his poo and dirt under his nails?? Must look like the worst mother ever!
So he's an early mover but slow on other things. Still no teeth. Those bottom 2 were on the verge of cutting with this nasty croup he had but with him being better today the teeth have disappeared for another day *sigh* a week of teething sleepless nights for nothing!!
Oh well he does have the cheekiest grin and is the snuggliest bubba ever! Oh and he now knows his name :D

poor sick bubba :(

My poor little one has his first virus. I guess 7 months is pretty good given he has older buggy siblings but still not nice. Seems a little better today so hopefully it's getting towards the end. No fever which is odd for my kids, they seem to always get high fevers and burn off all their viruses.
Has gotten me re thinking about vaccinations. So far we have delayed Atti's with a plan to give them later. Seeing as his immune system is being challenged maybe it's ready for vax's? Another thing that has really gotten me rethinking is we were around a tiiiny bubba on Thursday night...I would hate to think Atti might pass on a potentially vaxable disease to baby too little to have been vaxed himself...So anyway, found a GP who didn't call the police when I told her Atti wasn't vaxed and think we *might* think about it....The most confusing thing ever! Or maybe homeopathics, lol! Really no decision made at all..

Studying again

Found out yesterday I have a new job :) All very exciting, still at the same hospital but permanently in the NICU and I've been accepted to study the NICU course. Great in that I will be on the roster so no more worrying about not getting shifts in the casual pool when quiet and getting shoved in oncology or surgical or other scary places. Bad in that I have to work 2 days a week as well as an extra Thursday frequently to do study days (paid for though I think). So there lays the big downer, I need daycare :( I My Mum is going to help out but god love her she is not all that reliable and lives an hour away. And she works a LOT. Family day care is near on impossible with 3 monsters to accomodate. And will a childcare centre rock my baby to sleep??? And can I afford a child care centre??? Another option is a nanny but that is NOT cheap. Ah what to do?? The universe will provide I'm sure..... Will investigate all options and it'll come to us I guess.

As I type I hear squeals from outside. Thank goodness it's Friday. Apparently helping Daddy build the chook pen is a bit tough when you are this tired, poor loves. Oh well..hopefully the weekend will lead to a chook pen with three chooks in it come Monday. Have a nice weekend all!!!

bargain day!

I love bargains :)
Especially accidental ones! I had planned on taking the kids to head, heart and hands to get some wool felt to make little gnomes but it was closed and I saw the opshop was open. I found a few things and since I only had $10 on me decided to get $20 out at the servo. So I grabbed stuff as I looked, not really adding up and as I got to the counter had a mini panic that I'd spent more than I had. Need not have worried, $13.60 total!!
And for that measly sum I got:
about 5 skivvies for the kids
2 cord overalls for the little guy
a pair of slippers for the bigger ones including real sheepskin ugg boots for my big monster!
a hank of white wool yarn
a cord jacket for me
a pair of jeans for me
a big heavy cotton jumper for me!

Very impressed with my haul, will take photos once they are dry!!

the value of a good husband!

Mark can be awesome sometimes (and this isn't a suck up, he doesn't read this :P ). Weekdays he gets up at 5am and is out the door at 5.50am. Overnight he regularly bedswaps with the kids and totally deals with the two big monsters every night. Granted I do feed the little guy *all night* too, not undervaluing myself or anything, lol! But not only this, he lets me sleep in every Saturday morning without fail. Like really sleep in. I got out of bed at 10.30am yesterday!! Had been feeding the little one for a few hours of that, but a) I was still in bed and b) He's pretty good but he isn't lactating :P
Our children don't sleep in either. The biggest boy was up at 5am yesterday and the littlest joined him about 5.30. Thankfully one of my children got my non-morning person genes and my princess stayed in bed with me for a few more hours.
So refreshing to have that one day sleep in, usually up at 5.30 myself on the Sunday for work and I have to get up with the kids weekdays when Mark leaves for work.
I do feel for him. I have volunteered to let him have a sleep in one Saturday but, god love him, he refuses.

If only we could get the kids to sleep past 6am!!!

Anyhow, just a brag post really :P

cute things

While my children screech at each other in the background (my assistance has only made things worse so I'm butting out!) I am reminding myself how lovely they really are!

-My big boy told me yesterday 'I love you huuuuuuge much mummy' awwww!


-My princess is losing her dimpled fingers. We were snuggling to sleep last night she threw her chubby hands around my neck and I noticed her dimples on the back of her hands are slimming away...She is almost three!!!!

-My little guy is always a delight :) Lately when breastfeeding he has started grabbing handfuls of breast and squeezing like a cat does in your lap before they go to sleep. Not so cute before I trimmed his nails but now as his sleepy eyes stare at mine.....*melts*
That same little one is singing a sleepy song as he drifts on in the sling right now :D

SO I'll keep them for now, hahaha!

more changes...

We have been making a load of changes lately that have coincided with moving and I thought it would be good to list them so we can remember later how we used to live, pmsl!
-I have stopped drinking coke. I always hated coke but it was the only thing that helped my headaches while I was pregnant with all three and I have just continued to drink it since the little one was born. And I can't stop. Well that's a tad melodramatic, I can stop, just I tend to drink it until the bottle is finished and it makes me feel like shit. Now we have our wonderful puratap water I really have no excuse. I thought it was jut coke but discovered the other night at a friends house that it's anything sweet. So I need to just stop buying it (which I have) and drink something else, preferably water while I'm out. Not to say, unlike chocolate, that I'll never drink it again, but I think I'll drink something other than coke. Let's be honest, it's pretty gross when you think about it.

-We no longer have a TV!!! Sounds like the most dramatic of our changes but to be honest it really has been no big deal. The kids have barely noticed but I have noticed such a difference in the way they play. They are making up scenarios, Scarlett has become obsessed with her babies. Jasper keeps turning the house into a firetruck..all very cute :) We are able to watch TV on the laptop but we rarely do, only watching 2 shows. So glad we did it, painless really :)

-We spent this evening severely culling the kids toys to a minimum. No more puzzles etc. I think we kind of forgot the point of the toys we wanted for them and just bought stuff because it was wooden, lol! I really don't think they'll even notice. Meant we had more room to get their other toys in our tiiny playroom so we should be better equipped to handle the rain that's coming over the next few days without too much boredom.

More to come..we are getting there :)

Changes....

Oh how infuriating!! I just wrote a massive post and lost the lot. No idea how!
Anyhow...it's about chocolate. More specifically chocolate that has been produced with slave labour. I first found out about this issue a few years ago with posts in a forum I go to with posts from a friend I had in Canberra Whilst concerned about it at the time, I made lots of poor excuses to myself as to why I couldn't do anything about it and continued to eat a tonne of baaad chocolate. Have been thinking about it a lot more lately, not sure why, maybe because we are making a few more changes.... And when eating some organic chocolate with a friend last week realised it'd been well over a week since I'd eaten non fair trade. If I could go that long on a bad coping week, surely I could in fact survive without it??
Now I am under no illusion that my little protest is going to make cadbury's quiver in their boots. In fact I am well aware that it'll make not one iota of difference really. There are other reasons for this decision, firstly what am I teaching my children? That it's ok to consume something purely for pleasure for which others (some likely to be as young as them!) are suffering for. In fact, some are DYING for! Seems a tad selfish don't you think?
SO...I will no longer eat chocolate that has been produced with slave labour. I don't think everyone I know should join me (although you are welcome to :P ) but hope that my friends and family support me by not purchasing any for our family.
Links for those interested...
http://www.worldvision.com.au/wvconnect/content.asp?topicID=97
http://www.fta.org.au/
There are many more gory sites but I am not great with stuff like that and those sites are enough for me.
More on it later...need to cook dinner and still cranky about the massive post I lost!

displaying the perfect latch

Open wide and ready to attach to Cosmos's nose. Nose pointing to the roof of his mouth.


Good grasp of cosmos's upper lip. Well attached baby :P

birth stories

I was lucky enough to attend birth stories night through the homebirth network last night. It was lovely, lots of people sitting in a big circle on cushions telling their stories by candlelight. So nice to see so many people! There were a few couples there expecting their first babies and it was heart warming to know that the stories they were hearing of birth were positive and beautiful rather than the negativity they would be getting in mainstream circles. I was more than a little jealous that they were going to have beautiful births with their first babies, unlike me (a beautiful birth after one ok and one decidedly average!). Sad that so many women only look further into birthing after bad experiences... I love birth stories, telling mine and listening to others.
Anyway. I told my story of Atticus's birth and I really want to write it down. I started a few months ago but only got to where I went into labour, lol! Must really get to that.... The little monster used that time to crawl around the circle as if to show himself off as the product of the story :P Then boobed to sleep and spent the rest of the night asleep on the beanbag.
Was great to catch up with my midwife, the amazing Wendy :) And see my lovely friend Tammy who is uber close to bringing her baby girl earthside. Can't wait to meet her, although I'm sure the three big brothers are even more impatient!

Right... on to that birth story. Might put the other 2 on here too..

Oh my birth photos are available on request to those who would like to see them, I'm proud and all but just not ready to share them with any lurking strangers :P

Hard day...

In the car on the way home from kinder