This week my oldest turned 6. She also had a visit up to the 'big school' to see what year 1 will be like next year. In the last couple months she's been loosing teeth, gone to birthday parties by herself, is allowed (but I never do it) to swim without an adult in the pool and wants to go into class by herself and do her own morning reading. And this week she will start swimming lessons through her school which terrifies me. I have to trust that she won't lose all her clothes, that she will walk responsibly to the pools with her class and that she dries herself off and remembers her goggles for her lessons all by herself.
My big girl is officially growing up. And I want to curl up and cry!
Kaitlyn has always been a very independent little girl, never showed signs of 'needing' her mumma. But never strayed too far away either.
It really hit me on Friday when leaving school in the afternoon, Kaitlyn had received a 'fish certificate' which gets put into a special box in the school office to be drawn out at assembly as a raffle type reward system.
"Mum, I need to take my fish certificate to the office. But can you please wait here for me."
She used to want me to walk up to the office with her, she used to want me to open the door and stand with her while she put the little piece of paper into its box, and she used to ask me to read the box to make sure it was the right one.
But now....she's getting more independant and wants to start doing these things on her own.
We are in this transition phase at the moment. She doesn't want to hang around me as much (not that she ever did too much), she doesn't need me holding her hand all the time.
She's well and truly ready to head on up to the big school next year and be a big year 1!!
It's scary! We've gone from the baby phase, made it through the toddler years, struggled through the pre school years and now we are at the primary school years. Next year it will be dropping her off at the classroom door with a kiss on the cheek and trusting that she can organise her drink bottle and lunch box, change her reading books and getting set up for the day by herself. She will be dismissed from class without needing me standing right there-she will be allowed to walk down to pre primary to collect her brother and meet me there.
My little girl, my first baby. She's the one that shocked me at such an early age, the one that's taught me how to be a mum, being my first baby she's the first one to take me through each new phase, she was my only child for a short while and now she's big sister to her brother and baby sister. She's my best buddy, my stubborn little bugger and the best kid a mummy could ask for.
I'm so blessed to have her teaching me how to be a mumma and most of all she's the one teaching me how to be patient!!!
Sunday, 30 November 2014
Saturday, 22 November 2014
What Does A Stay At Home Mum Do On Her Day Off?
1:30am back hip and neck aching, toss and turn in bed
3:30am give up and Sleep on couch
6:00am 5 yr old tries to vomit
7:15 wake up after "sleep in"
7:20am wake baby and 4 + 5 yr old up. Discover baby has pooped during the night-use 4 wipes and half a bottle of moisturiser to scrape dried up poop off baby's butt
7:30 Feed baby while 4 and 5 yr old colour in and remind me of all the things I've "promised" them we will do on the weekend
8am phone call from mum while 4 and 5 yr old pelt baby with toys
8:25 rescue baby and rugby tackle her into a cute little outfit.
8:30 5yr old in timeout for speaking rude
8:35 phone call from husband while holding loudly grunting/talking baby-no idea what he said.
8:45 remember 5 yr old is in timeout and let her out, put baby to bed
8:50 lock myself in the bathroom for the longest shower, I shave, wash and exfoliate and relax for what is sure to be the best 30mins of my weekend
8:51 hear screaming coming from lounge room-ignore screaming and start washing hair to drown out the sound
8:53 poke head out door, hear 4 and 5 yr old talking and decide no one is dead or seriously injured so continue enjoying myself
9:20 sneak into bedroom to brush my hair and lay on the bed contemplating life for a few quiet moments
9:30 try to go to the toilet in peace, get interrupted 100 times by children walking past pretending they aren't stopping and staring at me
9:35 choose 25 stories for Christmas
9:45 let kids bounce on old mattress before it goes to the tip
9:47 took frustrations out by throwing kids on mattress-they giggled
9:52 brush 5yr olds hair
9:55 fed apparently starved children morning tea-enjoy a glass of milk while children complained about their muffin
10:05 made princess castle with 5yr old, convinced 4yr old that if the dog doesn't want to play with him he doesn't have to!
10:15 play princes and princesses with 5 yr old-convince 5yr old that making random sounds such as doo be, ree sha, blah bloo are not suitable names for her princess.
10:25 wash school uniforms
10:27 instruct 4yr old to sweep up muffin crumbs from lounge room floor-they ate in the kitchen 😁😁
10:30 fight with ice cube trays to get baby purée out. Realise the ice cube trays aren't stupid, freezer is up too high and has made frozen purée resemble hard, set concrete. Peel sponge off of defrosting milk and clean up after dropping the food, knife, sponge, food again and tripping over dog.
10:40 sit down for 5 minutes, ignore sound of rampaging children jumping on mattress
10:42 try and pull wobbly tooth from 5yr olds mouth, unsuccessful again.
10:45 clean up half eaten morning tea plates
10:50 get food ready for baby and wake baby up.
10:52 begin breastfeeding baby.
10:53 stop baby from pulling my nose off
11:20 start spoon feeding baby
11:22 baby starts giving off very foul odour
11:25 Change baby and stop baby choking on her fingers
11:30 realise I'm running out of time and haven't fed the other kids yet.
11:35 make sandwiches and put uniforms into dryer
11:40 pack nappy bag and wrangle kids into shoes, clothes and into the car
11:45 drop baby and 4 and 5 yr old at friends house
11:47 warn 4 and 5 yr old not to beg for food like starved children while at friends house
12pm arrive at chiropractor for my first ever session
12:30 leave chiro smelling like deep heat
12:35 arrive to pick baby 4 and 5 yr old up and find 3 happy well behaved children
12:45 go to shops for newspaper and remember I haven't eaten since 7!!
1pm arrive home with salad wrap and newspaper, put 3 very tired children down for a sleep.
1:05 sit down to eat lunch and watch old episodes of gossip girl
1:30 realise I bought icy poles at the shops and can't find them
1:35 find icy poles in the car-thankfully not yet melted
1:40 taste test an icy pole-to make sure they are good for the kids tonight.
1:50 fold school uniforms
2:15 wrap 25 books for 25 days of Christmas.
3:00 after 2 hours sleep it was time for all 3 children to get up-and let me tell you I enjoyed every single minute of those two hours!!
3:05 feed baby while a sleepy 4yr old lays on the couch and 5yr old puts clean and folded washing away.
3:30 set up painting and nail polish
3:35 paint picture with 4yr old and help paint 5yr olds nails
3:48 have nails painted by 5yr old
3:55 paint picture with 5yr old
4:10 defrost sausages and buns for dinner
4:15 fold yesterday's clean washing and put away
4:25 try to sneak off to the toilet without anyone following. 4yr old walks past "muuuuuum I love you" while watching me try and pull my pants up
4:28 watch 4 and 5 yr old bounce on mattress again
4:35 sickening thud suggests 4 and 5 yr old have collided and screaming begins
4:36 ice packs given to 4 and 5yr old
4:40 ice packs away. Baby goes down for a "power nap" and 4 and 5 yr old get ready for a bath
4:45 bath 4 and 5 yr old
5:00 watch 4yr old sit on plug as water is draining out pretending to "fart"
5:05 read stories wth 5 yr old while 4 yr old runs around like headless chook getting dressed
5:10 5 minute time out to waste on Facebook, 4yr old quietly doing puzzles 5yr old quietly (or not) reading stories
5:15 give in and put cartoons on for 4 and 5 yr old and wake and bath baby
5:30 dry and dress baby
5:35 watch cartoons with 4 and 5 yr old
5:50 feed baby
6:10 start cooking dinner
6:20 husband arrives home and finishes cooking dinner
6:30 dinner and icy poles
6:50 baby goes to bed
7:00 4 and 5 yr old give me a back massage
7:10 husband reads to 4 and 5 year old
7:30 4 and 5 year old go to bed.
Husband and I collapse onto couch and don't move until bed time.
And THAT is what a housewife does on her "day off"
3:30am give up and Sleep on couch
6:00am 5 yr old tries to vomit
7:15 wake up after "sleep in"
7:20am wake baby and 4 + 5 yr old up. Discover baby has pooped during the night-use 4 wipes and half a bottle of moisturiser to scrape dried up poop off baby's butt
7:30 Feed baby while 4 and 5 yr old colour in and remind me of all the things I've "promised" them we will do on the weekend
8am phone call from mum while 4 and 5 yr old pelt baby with toys
8:25 rescue baby and rugby tackle her into a cute little outfit.
8:30 5yr old in timeout for speaking rude
8:35 phone call from husband while holding loudly grunting/talking baby-no idea what he said.
8:45 remember 5 yr old is in timeout and let her out, put baby to bed
8:50 lock myself in the bathroom for the longest shower, I shave, wash and exfoliate and relax for what is sure to be the best 30mins of my weekend
8:51 hear screaming coming from lounge room-ignore screaming and start washing hair to drown out the sound
8:53 poke head out door, hear 4 and 5 yr old talking and decide no one is dead or seriously injured so continue enjoying myself
9:20 sneak into bedroom to brush my hair and lay on the bed contemplating life for a few quiet moments
9:30 try to go to the toilet in peace, get interrupted 100 times by children walking past pretending they aren't stopping and staring at me
9:35 choose 25 stories for Christmas
9:45 let kids bounce on old mattress before it goes to the tip
9:47 took frustrations out by throwing kids on mattress-they giggled
9:52 brush 5yr olds hair
9:55 fed apparently starved children morning tea-enjoy a glass of milk while children complained about their muffin
10:05 made princess castle with 5yr old, convinced 4yr old that if the dog doesn't want to play with him he doesn't have to!
10:15 play princes and princesses with 5 yr old-convince 5yr old that making random sounds such as doo be, ree sha, blah bloo are not suitable names for her princess.
10:25 wash school uniforms
10:27 instruct 4yr old to sweep up muffin crumbs from lounge room floor-they ate in the kitchen 😁😁
10:30 fight with ice cube trays to get baby purée out. Realise the ice cube trays aren't stupid, freezer is up too high and has made frozen purée resemble hard, set concrete. Peel sponge off of defrosting milk and clean up after dropping the food, knife, sponge, food again and tripping over dog.
10:40 sit down for 5 minutes, ignore sound of rampaging children jumping on mattress
10:42 try and pull wobbly tooth from 5yr olds mouth, unsuccessful again.
10:45 clean up half eaten morning tea plates
10:50 get food ready for baby and wake baby up.
10:52 begin breastfeeding baby.
10:53 stop baby from pulling my nose off
11:20 start spoon feeding baby
11:22 baby starts giving off very foul odour
11:25 Change baby and stop baby choking on her fingers
11:30 realise I'm running out of time and haven't fed the other kids yet.
11:35 make sandwiches and put uniforms into dryer
11:40 pack nappy bag and wrangle kids into shoes, clothes and into the car
11:45 drop baby and 4 and 5 yr old at friends house
11:47 warn 4 and 5 yr old not to beg for food like starved children while at friends house
12pm arrive at chiropractor for my first ever session
12:30 leave chiro smelling like deep heat
12:35 arrive to pick baby 4 and 5 yr old up and find 3 happy well behaved children
12:45 go to shops for newspaper and remember I haven't eaten since 7!!
1pm arrive home with salad wrap and newspaper, put 3 very tired children down for a sleep.
1:05 sit down to eat lunch and watch old episodes of gossip girl
1:30 realise I bought icy poles at the shops and can't find them
1:35 find icy poles in the car-thankfully not yet melted
1:40 taste test an icy pole-to make sure they are good for the kids tonight.
1:50 fold school uniforms
2:15 wrap 25 books for 25 days of Christmas.
3:00 after 2 hours sleep it was time for all 3 children to get up-and let me tell you I enjoyed every single minute of those two hours!!
3:05 feed baby while a sleepy 4yr old lays on the couch and 5yr old puts clean and folded washing away.
3:30 set up painting and nail polish
3:35 paint picture with 4yr old and help paint 5yr olds nails
3:48 have nails painted by 5yr old
3:55 paint picture with 5yr old
4:10 defrost sausages and buns for dinner
4:15 fold yesterday's clean washing and put away
4:25 try to sneak off to the toilet without anyone following. 4yr old walks past "muuuuuum I love you" while watching me try and pull my pants up
4:28 watch 4 and 5 yr old bounce on mattress again
4:35 sickening thud suggests 4 and 5 yr old have collided and screaming begins
4:36 ice packs given to 4 and 5yr old
4:40 ice packs away. Baby goes down for a "power nap" and 4 and 5 yr old get ready for a bath
4:45 bath 4 and 5 yr old
5:00 watch 4yr old sit on plug as water is draining out pretending to "fart"
5:05 read stories wth 5 yr old while 4 yr old runs around like headless chook getting dressed
5:10 5 minute time out to waste on Facebook, 4yr old quietly doing puzzles 5yr old quietly (or not) reading stories
5:15 give in and put cartoons on for 4 and 5 yr old and wake and bath baby
5:30 dry and dress baby
5:35 watch cartoons with 4 and 5 yr old
5:50 feed baby
6:10 start cooking dinner
6:20 husband arrives home and finishes cooking dinner
6:30 dinner and icy poles
6:50 baby goes to bed
7:00 4 and 5 yr old give me a back massage
7:10 husband reads to 4 and 5 year old
7:30 4 and 5 year old go to bed.
Husband and I collapse onto couch and don't move until bed time.
And THAT is what a housewife does on her "day off"
Monday, 10 November 2014
Basic Chicken Curry With Rice and Veggies
Today was my first really experimental cooking with my Thermie.
I wanted a chicken curry-but a pretty mild one as the kids haven't had many curry's before.
So I grabbed some chicken breast and got cooking, and this is what I ended up with. It was actually pretty nice. Very mild flavour so it's great for kids that are new to curry's.
INGREDIENTS:
500g diced chicken breast
1 tin diced tomatoes
1.5 teaspoons curry powder
Assorted veggies for your family (I used carrot, asparagus, capsicum)
250g basmati rice
METHOD
1. Add chicken, tomatoes and curry powder to bowl.
2. Cook 100degrees, 20minutes, reverse speed 1
3. When the timer gets down to 15 minutes, chuck your veggies in the varoma, remove MC and place varoma on top to steam veggies.
4. Set chicken aside in thermo server to keep warm
5. Add 1 litre of water to bowl, insert basket and weigh in rice.
6. Cook for 20 mins, varoma, speed 2
7. Serve chicken with the rice and veg on the side
I wanted a chicken curry-but a pretty mild one as the kids haven't had many curry's before.
So I grabbed some chicken breast and got cooking, and this is what I ended up with. It was actually pretty nice. Very mild flavour so it's great for kids that are new to curry's.
INGREDIENTS:
500g diced chicken breast
1 tin diced tomatoes
1.5 teaspoons curry powder
Assorted veggies for your family (I used carrot, asparagus, capsicum)
250g basmati rice
METHOD
1. Add chicken, tomatoes and curry powder to bowl.
2. Cook 100degrees, 20minutes, reverse speed 1
3. When the timer gets down to 15 minutes, chuck your veggies in the varoma, remove MC and place varoma on top to steam veggies.
4. Set chicken aside in thermo server to keep warm
5. Add 1 litre of water to bowl, insert basket and weigh in rice.
6. Cook for 20 mins, varoma, speed 2
7. Serve chicken with the rice and veg on the side
The kids were fairly happy with their chicken curry
Sunday, 9 November 2014
Bed Time Bedlam...
"If you have an itchy foot, are you allowed out?"
"No!"
"If you have a sore finger are you allowed out?"
"NO!!"
"If you have a red spot on your finger are you allowed out of your room?"
"NO!"
"If you THINK you have a sore tummy are you allowed out"
"NO!!"
"If you are bleeding from the eyes are you allowed out of your room?"
"NO!!"
Seems the kids were taking my threats very seriously tonight!
We have been having this issue lately with the kids (mainly Kaitlyn) making up fantastic excuses and coming out of their bedroom at night time. The rule in our house is and always has been that once you are in bed that's IT!! And in the morning you stay in bed until mum or dad comes to get you out-it's been this way since we had Kaitlyn. They are allowed to read a book or sing songs in the morning but they don't wander the house or come and jump into bed with us...unless we go and grab them for morning cuddles. I just think it kinda teaches a bit of respect-mummy and daddy have the right to our own personal space and time together, when they go to bed it's our time to watch our tv shows, have adult conversations and relax.
I'm over their crap though. Bradley will say something to Kaitlyn for example; "look Kaitlyn I have a red dot on my arm" and Kaitlyn will make him come out to show us, Bradley gets in trouble and gets sent back to bed.
This happens multiple times a night. And then the last couple of weeks has been starting anytime from 5am onwards.
And I'm bloody tired of it. We have had a good talking to Kaitlyn about her manipulative, rude behaviour. And we have also had a word with Bradley about being dumb enough to listen to her.
Seems neither of them seem to think I'm serious. In our last house we had these plastic door knob covers (that you're supposed to use to stop kids going IN to a room) we used to stop them coming OUT of their rooms, but here we have door handles not door knobs so we can't do that anymore.
So now we go through this drill at bed time. Not that it seems to have worked very well....
Although until further notice our Friday afternoon milkshakes are also off the cards-they love their Friday afternoon milkshakes, I wonder how many they will miss out on before they stop wandering the house.
"No!"
"If you have a sore finger are you allowed out?"
"NO!!"
"If you have a red spot on your finger are you allowed out of your room?"
"NO!"
"If you THINK you have a sore tummy are you allowed out"
"NO!!"
"If you are bleeding from the eyes are you allowed out of your room?"
"NO!!"
Seems the kids were taking my threats very seriously tonight!
We have been having this issue lately with the kids (mainly Kaitlyn) making up fantastic excuses and coming out of their bedroom at night time. The rule in our house is and always has been that once you are in bed that's IT!! And in the morning you stay in bed until mum or dad comes to get you out-it's been this way since we had Kaitlyn. They are allowed to read a book or sing songs in the morning but they don't wander the house or come and jump into bed with us...unless we go and grab them for morning cuddles. I just think it kinda teaches a bit of respect-mummy and daddy have the right to our own personal space and time together, when they go to bed it's our time to watch our tv shows, have adult conversations and relax.
I'm over their crap though. Bradley will say something to Kaitlyn for example; "look Kaitlyn I have a red dot on my arm" and Kaitlyn will make him come out to show us, Bradley gets in trouble and gets sent back to bed.
This happens multiple times a night. And then the last couple of weeks has been starting anytime from 5am onwards.
And I'm bloody tired of it. We have had a good talking to Kaitlyn about her manipulative, rude behaviour. And we have also had a word with Bradley about being dumb enough to listen to her.
Seems neither of them seem to think I'm serious. In our last house we had these plastic door knob covers (that you're supposed to use to stop kids going IN to a room) we used to stop them coming OUT of their rooms, but here we have door handles not door knobs so we can't do that anymore.
So now we go through this drill at bed time. Not that it seems to have worked very well....
Although until further notice our Friday afternoon milkshakes are also off the cards-they love their Friday afternoon milkshakes, I wonder how many they will miss out on before they stop wandering the house.
Tuesday, 4 November 2014
It's An October Miracle!!
For those wondering about the bedwetting situation in our house, read on.
Last time I think we were up to Bradley making us all sick from his disgusting wetting the bed, laying in it and getting cold business.
On the school holidays my Mum came up to stay, one night we were so busy and so tired that we all forgot to put a pull up on Bradley before bed.
But by some miracle he woke up dry. Yay!!
Since that day he hasn't worn a pull up again!!
For a few weeks I still kept his long sleeve pyjamas on, so he wasn't tempted to play around with his willy and start wetting the bed again.
Last week I forgot to do the washing and he didn't have his long pj's. So I let him wear normal pj's, and again he was dry!!!
Because of all the drama we have had with toilet training and bed wetting I wasn't going to make a big deal about this. I didn't want to draw any attention to the fact he wasn't wearing a pull-up. And my blissfully unaware son had no idea he was dry AND wearing normal pyjamas...
Until this week when he came out of his room and said to me "mum, did you know I'm dry at night time now, and I'm not even wearing those pyjamas"
The look on his face told me he had no idea he had been dry for the last 5 weeks-he just kept floating along in his own little world and he "accidently" became dry.
Me on the other hand, I wasn't blissfully unaware. I was secretly screaming and shouting and celebrating on the inside. Between both Kaitlyn and Bradley I have been toilet training/night time toilet training for 4 CONSECUTIVE YEARS!!! Now I don't know about you but 4 years is a very long time to spend toilet training. There are been few highs and many, many lows over those 4 years.
It has cost us a fortune in pull-ups and washing all those cloth nappies (because my older two both had cloth nappies as babies/toddlers).
There have been tears (mostly mine) tantrums (mostly their's) and plenty of bribing (none of which
worked at all) but I can FINALLY say I have TWO COMPLETELY TOILET TRAINED CHILDREN!!!!
I can also honestly say that if Isla doesn't get this toilet training thing happening in a matter of weeks I will probably sit and scream until it's all over!! Thankfully I get a nice long break now until it's time to toilet train her.
Last time I think we were up to Bradley making us all sick from his disgusting wetting the bed, laying in it and getting cold business.
On the school holidays my Mum came up to stay, one night we were so busy and so tired that we all forgot to put a pull up on Bradley before bed.
But by some miracle he woke up dry. Yay!!
Since that day he hasn't worn a pull up again!!
For a few weeks I still kept his long sleeve pyjamas on, so he wasn't tempted to play around with his willy and start wetting the bed again.
Last week I forgot to do the washing and he didn't have his long pj's. So I let him wear normal pj's, and again he was dry!!!
Because of all the drama we have had with toilet training and bed wetting I wasn't going to make a big deal about this. I didn't want to draw any attention to the fact he wasn't wearing a pull-up. And my blissfully unaware son had no idea he was dry AND wearing normal pyjamas...
Until this week when he came out of his room and said to me "mum, did you know I'm dry at night time now, and I'm not even wearing those pyjamas"
The look on his face told me he had no idea he had been dry for the last 5 weeks-he just kept floating along in his own little world and he "accidently" became dry.
Me on the other hand, I wasn't blissfully unaware. I was secretly screaming and shouting and celebrating on the inside. Between both Kaitlyn and Bradley I have been toilet training/night time toilet training for 4 CONSECUTIVE YEARS!!! Now I don't know about you but 4 years is a very long time to spend toilet training. There are been few highs and many, many lows over those 4 years.
It has cost us a fortune in pull-ups and washing all those cloth nappies (because my older two both had cloth nappies as babies/toddlers).
There have been tears (mostly mine) tantrums (mostly their's) and plenty of bribing (none of which
worked at all) but I can FINALLY say I have TWO COMPLETELY TOILET TRAINED CHILDREN!!!!
I can also honestly say that if Isla doesn't get this toilet training thing happening in a matter of weeks I will probably sit and scream until it's all over!! Thankfully I get a nice long break now until it's time to toilet train her.
Monday, 3 November 2014
4 months...
My little baby bean is 4 months old today. And over the past couple of weeks we have been doing some milestone reaching business.
Rolling has become a great way to get out of tummy time-I knew she would learnt that quickly!
We also started using teething rusks. Not that I think Isla is teething, I just got sick of her attacking my finger. And let me tell you, if she had teeth she would be dangerous! She gums those little rusk sticks to death! It looks like teeth marks are left behind but it's just where she has gummed it to death.
And this past weekend we started solids!! This was an exciting thing for me. Isla is such a hungry bunny. From 3 months of age she has been licking her lips, watching us eat, reaching out to grab food, trying to steal her aunty's steak!! We always knew she was ready and I was excited to see how she would react with finally getting a taste of real food.
Last week I prepared a few different flavoured purées to freeze and use as needed.
Saturday was the day. It was a whole family affair, even the dog was sitting around watching and waiting.
Camera and video camera were at the ready (as with the older kids we wanted to capture the confused look on Isla's face when she had that very first taste)!
I had sweet potato ready and surprisingly Isla went very serious. She frowned a lot, she touched and tasted and licked her lips. She tried to grab the spoon, she put sweet potato in her hair and in her ear. The older kids giggled and Zac patiently waited to do the clean up.
I would call the first attempt at solids a great success. The second and third even more successful. Today was apple and strawberry purée and although she swallowed every mouthful she did a cute
little 'yucky' face and shivered each time :-)
I've been thinking about how much I've been enjoying this whole 'baby thing' so much lately. Don't get me wrong I LOVED it the first and second time around. It was all new and fun and every milestone was amazing. The bond I had with Kaitlyn and Bradley was amazing and I loved every second of it. But this time is a lot more relaxing. I've relaxed into this while motherhood thing and I'm comfortable with the way I raise my kids-even though my choices are different to most these days.
But the thing I've realised that is so different this time is I have a healthy baby!! When I really think about it those first precious months with both Kaitlyn and Bradley were overshadowed by serious health issues.
My beautiful Kaitlyn was only 10 weeks old when she was hospitalised with salmonella. I was a brand new mum still settling into life and then it was all changed overnight. Kaitlyn ended up being sick for 6 months. We spent the better part of her first year in and out of Drs, hospitals and paediatrician appointments trying to find out why she was still sick (at first we didn't know it was still the salmonella) and then trying to get her better. Those 6-8 months are a blur of appointments and worry. She also had a rotavirus in that time frame...due to a weakened immune system (we didn't know at the time) he rotavirus vaccine made her sick.
Then of course with Bradley and his heart condition there was again the constant Drs, hospitals, appointments, worry, medical trip to Melbourne etc etc... Even after he came out of hospital after the original surgery he still had tonnes of follow up appointments and because we lived in the country it meant many, many trips to the city. So that first year passed in a blur of madness too.
This time with Isla, she's made it to 4 months of age with no illness (other than a nasty cold, which thankfully didn't even require a Dr visit). I've had time to just sit back and enjoy watching Isla grow- and that's another thing I've NEVER had a baby grow, they were both born big but then due to illness gaining weight was so hard for them both, I'm finding myself having to keep up with buying clothes to fit Isla. Others say how tiny and petite she is, by to us she's getting chunkier every day and growing so much better than her siblings.
I'm still very busy, with two school aged kids I can't stay locked up in the house adjusting routines etc as I please. I need to fit Isla into our family routine. Sleeps need to be scheduled around school pick ups, horse riding lessons, homework and just general get out of the house and have fun outings. But I'm finding I have more time to sit and stare and enjoy the peace of a new baby.
It's been 4 months since we moved to the Pilbara with our little family and what an amazing 4 months it has been...I can't it to see our family grow (not in the amount of people) over the coming months :-)
Rolling has become a great way to get out of tummy time-I knew she would learnt that quickly!
We also started using teething rusks. Not that I think Isla is teething, I just got sick of her attacking my finger. And let me tell you, if she had teeth she would be dangerous! She gums those little rusk sticks to death! It looks like teeth marks are left behind but it's just where she has gummed it to death.
And this past weekend we started solids!! This was an exciting thing for me. Isla is such a hungry bunny. From 3 months of age she has been licking her lips, watching us eat, reaching out to grab food, trying to steal her aunty's steak!! We always knew she was ready and I was excited to see how she would react with finally getting a taste of real food.
Last week I prepared a few different flavoured purées to freeze and use as needed.
Saturday was the day. It was a whole family affair, even the dog was sitting around watching and waiting.
Camera and video camera were at the ready (as with the older kids we wanted to capture the confused look on Isla's face when she had that very first taste)!
I had sweet potato ready and surprisingly Isla went very serious. She frowned a lot, she touched and tasted and licked her lips. She tried to grab the spoon, she put sweet potato in her hair and in her ear. The older kids giggled and Zac patiently waited to do the clean up.
I would call the first attempt at solids a great success. The second and third even more successful. Today was apple and strawberry purée and although she swallowed every mouthful she did a cute
little 'yucky' face and shivered each time :-)
I've been thinking about how much I've been enjoying this whole 'baby thing' so much lately. Don't get me wrong I LOVED it the first and second time around. It was all new and fun and every milestone was amazing. The bond I had with Kaitlyn and Bradley was amazing and I loved every second of it. But this time is a lot more relaxing. I've relaxed into this while motherhood thing and I'm comfortable with the way I raise my kids-even though my choices are different to most these days.
But the thing I've realised that is so different this time is I have a healthy baby!! When I really think about it those first precious months with both Kaitlyn and Bradley were overshadowed by serious health issues.
My beautiful Kaitlyn was only 10 weeks old when she was hospitalised with salmonella. I was a brand new mum still settling into life and then it was all changed overnight. Kaitlyn ended up being sick for 6 months. We spent the better part of her first year in and out of Drs, hospitals and paediatrician appointments trying to find out why she was still sick (at first we didn't know it was still the salmonella) and then trying to get her better. Those 6-8 months are a blur of appointments and worry. She also had a rotavirus in that time frame...due to a weakened immune system (we didn't know at the time) he rotavirus vaccine made her sick.
Then of course with Bradley and his heart condition there was again the constant Drs, hospitals, appointments, worry, medical trip to Melbourne etc etc... Even after he came out of hospital after the original surgery he still had tonnes of follow up appointments and because we lived in the country it meant many, many trips to the city. So that first year passed in a blur of madness too.
This time with Isla, she's made it to 4 months of age with no illness (other than a nasty cold, which thankfully didn't even require a Dr visit). I've had time to just sit back and enjoy watching Isla grow- and that's another thing I've NEVER had a baby grow, they were both born big but then due to illness gaining weight was so hard for them both, I'm finding myself having to keep up with buying clothes to fit Isla. Others say how tiny and petite she is, by to us she's getting chunkier every day and growing so much better than her siblings.
I'm still very busy, with two school aged kids I can't stay locked up in the house adjusting routines etc as I please. I need to fit Isla into our family routine. Sleeps need to be scheduled around school pick ups, horse riding lessons, homework and just general get out of the house and have fun outings. But I'm finding I have more time to sit and stare and enjoy the peace of a new baby.
It's been 4 months since we moved to the Pilbara with our little family and what an amazing 4 months it has been...I can't it to see our family grow (not in the amount of people) over the coming months :-)
The very first taste of food :-)
Relaxed and ready for an afternoon walk
Selfies!! ;-)
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