I must get me one of these - infact I think I might get one for each side of the bed!!

very cool idea - piano stairs

What a cool idea!

this WILL make you SMILE

dummy's, teeth and crawling!

Two weeks ago SP and I decided we were going to get rid of 'A's dummy. He only had it for his 2 or 3 day sleeps but he was also only sleeping for 45 mins at each sleep. I thought getting rid of the dummy might mean he slept for longer chunks.. We decided to go 'cold turkey' and it was quite painful for the first week but slowly but surely it took less and less time for him to get to sleep by himself. He has also managed to have several longer sleeps some days BUT some days he also only sleeps for 30 mins which is less than when he had the dummy - GRRRRRR! I have no real issue with using a dummy but I think if it ends up being more of a hindrance than a help then it is time to say adios. We got rid of it at night after England for that very reason, getting rid of it at night was much less painful than in the day... Now I would love to get more consistent sleeps out of my little one and try to resettle him after the 30-45 min naps...

I think one of the reasons why 'A' has been a little bit out of sorts this last week and maybe sleeping less in the day is because of his teeth. At the ripe old age of 9 months he finally got his first tooth, (note: I was 13 months when I got my first tooth, I was practically bold and toothless, and the small amount of hair I did have was this ORANGE, how very sad) it was quite a non-event really other than 'A' drooling like a dog over a juicy bone, BUT then tooth numero 2 has started appear beneath the gum and it seems to be causing our little man some grief - and us for that matter!!!! Mum if you look really really really closely you might be able to see a tooth, it ain't easy trying to take a picture of it!!!

Anyway other than that little (or should I say) big 'A' is doing well. Still nowhere near crawling, he prefers toys and people to come to him, so very lazy.... Maybe one day, hopefully before school he will decide that getting around on your hands and knees or even your feet for that matter has it's perks. getting into cupboards, following Mummy and Daddy wherever they go, eating DVDs - the list is endless really. Gee I hope he doesn't read my blog to get all sorts of naughty ideas!!!!!

a very exciting day

Wonderful friends of ours are having their baby today. They have waited 3-4 years for this little bundle of joy and today is the day.

I am VERY excited and can't wait to meet this little person!

Please pray all goes well with delivery!

Not long now and we will! Praise God!

our not so little boy....

.....is growing up so fast!

dinosaur in the dust!

Forget 'Gorilla's in the Mist' - here is 'Dinosaur in the Dust'. Due to the heavy dust storm on Wednesday you have missed this little fella who popped to Sydney to say hello!

pics of the dust storm

what if Starbucks marketed like a church - a parable!

our little family

rules of the inn

When we were in England we went to a pub and this was on the wall in the pub - made us laugh!

i am taking 'A' rollerblading tomorrow!

what a difference a week makes!

So there I was worrying about 'A' not eating solids and after all your lovely comments about not worrying below I was starting to chilax about it all and realise it was more about me wanting him to start solids than being worried about him wasting away!
Anyhoo - I persevered with trying little tastes of food and then all of a sudden one day last week he starts eating me out of house and home! Well not quite but nearly ;)

Here is the photographic evidence!

wish i would have thought of this!

love it! This made me smile!

struggles and joys

There have been some wonderful joys with our little munchkin over the last few months which bring smiles to our faces and love to our hearts but there have also been a few struggles which have left me wondering what the heck to do!!! Maybe I can call on my beautiful friends for wisdom??

Firstly the joys:

1. Being a big boy 'A' took a little longer than average to do the whole rolling thing! He can still only roll from front to back and he really doesn't care to do it very often! He still can't reach his feet to grab them to roll from back to front! He did his first roll with Nanny in England (Nanny was very very chuffed (pleased) - Mummy was in bed!) but just for Mummy he did another one when she woke up!

2. 'A' has just started to clap his hands and even more recently wave! Such cuteness and of course very advanced!

3. When Daddy gets home from work 'A' gets super excited and smiles and kicks his legs and flaps his arms - I hope he doesn't take off doing that! It is so cute to see him respond to his Daddy like this and his Daddy is pretty chuffed too.

Struggles:

1. Apparently solid food just isn't for 'A'. I tried him with some rice cereal when I was in England when he was about to turn 6 months - the first day he was a bit interested but thereafter he has not really given much time or thought to eating solids.. I have tried him with apple, pear, butternut pumpkin and banana but the kid is JUST NOT INTERESTED! It is starting to become a real area of frustration for me and I am not sure what to do. He is still at the top of the scale for weight, weighing in at just over (9kgs) 20lbs - so he isn't going to waste away any time soon. I know you shouldn't compare and it's dangerous business, but all my friends kids who are the same age as 'A' have taken to solid food and are going great guns. I have always had such a lot of milk - from day one (even the nurses mentioned how much I had!), 'A' has always had very big weight gains and I still seem to have so much milk - still leaking and still needing to wear those annoying nursing pads (hope that's not TMI but just wanting to fill you in on where I am up to)!!!!!! I have had a few successful mornings of shoveling some pear or rice cereal in - but he still hasn't been all that into it and I just don't think he is ready - he isn't opening his mouth like a little birdie greatly anticipating each mouthful. You hear all different advice, people saying if he doesn't start now he will miss the boat, but then other friends saying how many adults do you know who still only eat breast-milk - he will figure it out (so so true my friend!) So I don' know whether to keep on keeping on and trying him each morning or to wait a while until he shows more interest? Please let me know if you have any similar stories or any top tips! I was really looking forward to this time of steaming up veggies, trying different foods, nursing a little less, having someone else feed him for a change but it isn't all going as expected. I thought 'A' would totally love food as he is such a chunky monkey but I guess he is lovin his Mamma's milk too much!
I am going to try and drop the 3am feed I am still doing to see if that makes the munchkin hungrier for food!

2. Also at 'A's 6 month check (I took him today so I was a bit late as he is almost 7 months) they noticed that his fontanelle is pretty much closed - this is quite early (normal is 9 months to 2 years) so they want to check it again in a month. I stupidly looked up what this can mean on google and it's not very good - but as long as his head circumference continues to grow normally and he reaches his developmental milestones it will hopefully not be anything to worry about. It can mean surgery to allow the brain to grow but this is worse case scenario! Please pray it would all be fine!

Anyhoo - that's all for now folks. I am sure I have more joys and struggles to add but I will maybe blog again about them laters..

some pics of england 09

please pray

I have totally been meaning to write for so long but I have been a busy lil Mamma! And now I am almost off to England!! The good news is we managed to get upgraded to Business class for our Sydney to Dubai flight (16 hours!!!!), so that should make it more comfortable with 'A'. SP also got upgraded for the same flight when he comes in 2 and a bit weeks!! All thanks to Mum and Jules' air miles!!

I leave in just over 4 hours and I am feeling a little nervous so thought I would ask you to pray specifically about these few things:

* That 'A's ears would be ok on take off and landing!!!

* That he would be settled on the plane.

* That we would arrive safely.

* That I would be relaxed and not anxious!

* I am starting to get emotional about having to leave SP - please pray that the time might go quickly and we might not to be too sad!

* That 'A' would stay healthy (no swine flu please!), that he might get some good sleeps and that it might be a smooth ride. Turbulence means you have to get the babies out of the bassinet ;(

* Pray for SP also, as he will miss us and we will miss him for just over 2 weeks until he flies out to meet us. Pray also for a safe flight for him.

* Please please please also pray for the adjustment for when we get the other end with 'A', his sleep and the time difference.

I will be in touch hopefully once I get to England!!! Which will be Tuesday night Aussie time and lunchtime UK time!

Adios - hopefully I will write more soon!

happy mothers day to all you mum's...

...from a new Mum on Mother's day ;)

the ergo baby carrier

I ordered and received my new baby carrier this week. It's a 'Ergo Baby Carrier' - I wish I had known about these before I brought the Baby Bjorn. Anyway I didn't so suck it up Nixter!

As 'A' is such a big boy - like over 8kgs already at just 4 and a half months old - he is getting far to heavy to carry in the BB, even SP finds him heavy after he has carried him for a while.

So I did a bit of research and found out about the "Ergo Carrier' - you can carry your baby on your front, back and side and they can be in it until they are 3-4 years (up to 25kg) - not that you want to be carrying a 3 year old in it all the time but you can! You have to buy a baby insert if you want to carry a newborn in it.

Well I watched the 'instructional DVD' which came with - yes people you have to watch a DVD to figure out how to use this thing. I also made SP watch it with me again - he loved it but when I asked him if he wanted to watch it again he declined!

So far so good, it isn't as bulky as I thought it would be and while at first being a little worried that 'A' was almost doing the splits in it with his legs wrapped around me - I love it and I think he does too! Apparently it is much better for their posture as they are not hanging from their crotch (did I just say that?) like they do in the BB. And it is much better for me as all the weight is carried on the hips, so my back and shoulders don't hurt anywhere near as much.

'A' seems to love it and the few times I have had him in it he has gone to sleep within about 5-10 mins. I can't wait til he is a little bigger and I can wear him on my back! It also has a little hood to project from wind, sun and rain - no more carrying extra wraps around to cover him up!

I also think it is going to be really great for when I am traveling on the plane and around London when I am home. All in all I am happy with our new purchase I think I shall sell the BB and then when we have another little one buy a pouch or insert for the Ergo!

I highly recommend it - if you have or having a baby of course ;)

private blog

I am thinking of making my blog private!

Not totally decided yet but if you want to keep reading leave me a comment and I will send a link for you (somehow)!

romans 6 anyone?

Several years ago when I was in Colorado, my friend and I decided that it would be a great idea to memorise Romans 6: 1-14:

¹What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? ²By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? ³Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? ⁴We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.

⁵If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. ⁶For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— ⁷because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.

⁸Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. ⁹For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. ¹⁰The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.

¹¹In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. ¹²Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. ¹³Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness. ¹⁴For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.

I had most of it down back then and when I was skimming though Romans the other day it jumped out at me again, I could only remember a few verses but I thought what a great passage, and as I am doing this whole memorise scripture thing I thought it might be cool to go back and memorise it again.

Anyone want to do it with me?

visiting friends today

After a busy day cleaning and doing house chores yesterday (plus I did manage to squeeze in a nice walk at the beach and a smoothie/early lunch with a girl from mothers group!) I am off to visit a friend today who had a baby 3 weeks ago, I am going along with the lovely Liz M - should be fun!

Looking forward to meeting this little man and hanging out with friends from my old church!

memorising scripture

SP has a new guy working with him on the project he is working on, and this guy is a Christian - hooray! He actually used to go to and do lay ministry at the church which our new minister came from and so knows him pretty well. Anyhoo, he has started to mentor SP which has been awesome, an older Christian man training and growing SP!
One of the things he has SP doing is memorising scripture. I think SP has about 20 or more down so far which is awesome. I too have decided to jump on the 'memorising scripture' bandwagon as I believe it is a good bandwagon to jump on. So far I have 3 down - I am going to try and write them out here to see how I go:

'had a blank for a minute'!

"And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life" 1 John 5:11-12 (Assurance of Salvation)

"Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete" John 16:24 (Assurance of Answered Prayer)

"No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, He will also provide a way out so you can stand up under it" 1 Corinthians 10:13 (Assurance of Victory)

I just checked them and I almost got them right, I just added one word to each of them - DOH! Guess I better keep practicing. I just corrected them so if you want to memorise them you don't start memorising my incorrect attempts!

I believe Aimee and Alison are also at it - You Go Girls!

our little man laughing at a zipper!!!!

i have managed to get my little man a job......

......in security!

the two men in my life!

I love these two men! My big man and my little man and I love these pics of them together! And they are both wearing my favourite colour!

my first online shopping experience

It was Saturday morning and I was anticipating my Coles groceries to be delivered to my front door - woot!

I couldn't wait!- I had booked a delivery to arrive between 1.30pm and 4.30pm and at 12pm I was called to see if I was home and would except an early delivery - oh yeah I will!!!!

So the nice man delivered my groceries and I was very happy until Scott said - are you sure this is everything?!?!?!!?!

No milk, no bread, none of my weekly essentials - GREAT I thought and then I saw two packets of rice that I never ordered.

I was starting to think that my first online shopping experience had been a total disaster and that they had given me part of some other persons shopping - then it suddenly occurred to me:

"No milk, no bread - DOH". I know what happened - I created a 'Weekly List' with Coles, which is a list of items I get every week (milk, bread etc), BUT I had totally forgotten to add this 'Weekly List' to my 'trolley' - DOH!

And what about the rice and lotion??? On the bag they came in I saw a sticker 'Free Samples' - Yay for free stuff!

So even though it meant we had to go to the shops ANYWAY due to my boo boo which kind of defeats the point of online shopping, I was glad it wasn't because Coles Online are rubbish - it's because I am rubbish and am an amateur at this.

It was still fun to have the man delivery my groceries to my door - no lifting and no carrying heavy items up our stairs.

I have learnt much from my first shopping experience - sometimes those mistakes that you make mean you probably won't make them again

I have just placed my 2nd online order which is being delivered today, so I will let you know if this one is slightly more successful.

I fully recommend shopping online - I won't do it forever but it works for us right now!

my new hair do!

I finally plucked up the courage to have it all cut off! It's been a long time since I have had my hair this short!

nixter gets so much satisfaction when....

....she gets the big boogers out of her sons nose and he can breath more easily!! Bring on the Boogers!

shopping online baby!!!

I am going to attempt the shopping online this week. This saves me having to try and lug a 7kg baby around the shopping centre in the Baby Bjorn - when you are on your own it's a bit hard to push a pram and a trolley at the same time*. I have done the shopping once on my own and it was ok but I like to do a weekly shop as I don't want to go back and forth to the shops during the week, and by the time you get there, do the shopping with baby attached, get the shopping home, get baby upstairs into the unit, followed by 8 bags of shopping, then try putting the shopping away while 'A' is almost due for a feed = too hard at the moment! It's ok when SP comes with me but doing it online means we can enjoy the weekends together without having to do chores like shopping! Here are what I think are going to be some of the potential pros and cons of online shopping:

pros of online shopping

• You get it delivered! Beauty!
• You can browse online and find the best deals.
• You aren't as tempted to pick up additional things that you don't really need.
  
• You get a running total of your bill - which is good for budgeting.
• I think they keep your previous shopping list which helps with the regular items that you purchase each week - makes life easier (at least I think this is what happens?!?!)
  

cons of online shopping

• If you forget something you have to make an additional trip to the shops (unless you can do without it for another week).
• You pay approx $9 for delivery. (that's not too bad really)
  
• It means I am going to have to do the fruit and veg shopping separately (Coles and Woolies fruit and veg are expensive and not as good as you get from the fruit and veg shops). I am hoping to find an online fruit and veg home delivery website - if you know any good ones let me know!
• Sometimes if you forget to write something on your list (if you use lists) when you are actually at the supermarket certain aisles can prompt you to remember that you needed something!
  

I have had some good reports that online shopping is a great way to shop and you can also save some money.

When 'A' is a little bigger it will be easier to take him, especially when he can sit in the seats but for now, especially with the the rain at the moment and winter coming up - I think shopping from the warmth of my computer at home will be awesome!

I will let you know if it's as good as I think it is going to be!

* No people I have not tried this!!!!!!!

Our little man telling a story!

i photo-boothed my son!

and just to prove he is really a cute little boy - here is a normal one of him with his Mamma!

bullets

• been busy
• more blood tests
• tests have varied considerably over the last 2 weeks
• going to endocrinologist tomorrow for more news
• looks like it's Hashimoto's disease (NOT a Japanese restaurant apparently )
• doc not even sure if I will need meds but will find out tomorrow
• feeling ok about it as I know it can be managed
• miss my family
• wish I had them around to help, to visit or to just talk too
• feel like we are doing it alone
• being a mamma is wonderful but it can be lonely
• managed to do the house work by myself last week
• managed to do the weekly food shop yesterday
• had 'A' in the baby bjorn
• shopping not as easy as it used to be
• might get SP to keep helping me until 'A' can sit in the trolley seat
• have a new respect for women with more than one child
• 'A' is 12 weeks this Thurs
• he has slept 11 hours the last two nights
• up until then he had been sleeping 9-10 hours
• feel like a very lucky mamma
• day sleeping not going so well unless I am rocking or walking
• although he is asleep now
• trying to keep him up a bit longer between feeds to see if that works
  
• I guess you can't have it all!
• he is now 6.5kgs (14lb 3oz)
• he looks more like a 6 month old
• went to visit SP's family in Canberra
• we have a new nephew called Jamal David
• he is cute
• my little man slept all 3 1/2 hours on the drive down there
• but didn't sleep all the way back
• got a bit grumpy about an hour out of Sydney but we made it home in one piece
• I was a bit sad cause I knew he was hungry but there was nowhere to stop
• but I don't think he was going to waste away
• he is now down to 5 feeds a day - yippee
• reading 'Changing Your World One Diaper (nappy ) at a Time!
• L.O.V.I.N.G it
• so relevant
• better reading it the second time after actually having a baby
• I think I might be quoted in it - unless that was some other chick who lives in Australia and has family in England?
• I love that I know so many of the girls who are in the book.
  
• that Marla chick sure knows what she is talking about
• blogging still sporadic and still haven't been able to catch up on all your blogs
• maybe if 'A' sleeps better in the day I will have time until then I will be thinking of you all
• hope you all have a great day

rspca volunteer of the year

more pics

Here are a few new pics of my little man - he is growing soooooooo much and sooo fast. He has slowed down a bit which is good, otherwise he would be bigger than me in a few months.

The pic of Oliver with the little girl (Amelia with her dolly 'Lucy') is too funny - I guess he just isn't into girls at the moment (I guess that by the punch to the face). Amelia is so little and dainty at 6 months next to my big man who is just 10 weeks. He is actually bigger than she is - but she is a little 6 month-er!