happy anniversary to us

Well, here I am blogging again and what better day to start than on our 5th wedding anniversary.. At least it means I have something to write about!!!

5 years ago today was the day we said "I do", it was a beautiful day!! 5 years on 2 units, 1 house (we don't own all these but have lived in 3 places since marriage!!!), a new church and of course 2 beautiful children later and we feel very blessed indeed!!!

We are off out to dinner tonight at the restaurant that is now open at the venue we got married, babysitters are booked (by my husband I might add!) and it's off for a yummy scrummy dinner to reminisce.

In other news my Mum and Jules arrive on Monday! Yay!

Exciting news

Well, I guess I haven't been as good at blogging as I was hoping to be this year but it is only March so I have some time to make that right and I have a fairly good reason...

We are having another baby!!! Baby number two will be arriving in late September! There will be 21 months between our first baby and second baby.

We are very excited but I think I will enjoy it all a bit more when I stop having morning sickness. I forgot how yucky morning sickness was, I guess that happens so you actually have more kids huh!

So when lil 'O' has been having a sleep so has his Mama which hasn't left a whole lot of time for blogging...

I have been up and down at the idea of having two little ones under two - of course we want this little baby so much so that's not the issue, I think just because I have been feeling so tired and sick it makes me start wondering how I will cope with two. I also have been thinking a lot more about how hard it is to have family so far away, my family in England and then SP's family 4 hours away. I have been a littleysad about this over the last month or so, I see Grandma's walking their grand-kids and really wish that was mine or SP's Mum with 'A'.

But I guess we are not doing it by ourselves we have a great God who gives us all we need to get through, and we also have a wonderful new church family around this time so that will be a great support and already is...

We had our first scan a few weeks ago and there was a strong little heartbeat - one heartbeat!!! We go back next week for our 12 weeks scan where hopefully we will see a little bit more of our new little family member!

Anyway I really wanted to share with you on blogger before I mentioned it on Facebook in a one sentence status update.

Please pray that this yucky morning sickness would leave me soon and that this little one might grow safe and healthy in my tummy!!! I can't believe I am on this pregnancy roller-coaster again but I am thrilled and excited to enjoy the ride - once the morning sickness is over that is!

the three wise (and wet) kangaroos

These big fellows came to pay us a visit on Christmas morning!

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!