Sunday, July 31, 2011

Saturday, July 30, 2011

Grapefruit

Fun stuff that you do after Kindy just to learn about cause and effect.....







Friday, July 29, 2011

Tama, I want to remember

  • Sleeping with only a nappy on down my T-shirt in the hospital on your first 2 nights in the world
  • How exhausting that first week was
  • How we look at you and keep thinking you are a girl or Will or Kieran or Merenia
  • How we worried about how much you slept in those first three weeks
  • How you did 5 things in those early days- eat, sleep, poo, cry, and hiccup- I've never known a baby to hiccup so much
  • How you 'woke up' in your 5th week and became so much more responsive
  • How I realised at 4 weeks and 5 days that you were no longer a newborn and felt so sad and not ready for it
  • How you cried and cried each time we changed your nappy- (we call you Tama the Drama Llama)
  • And the first time you didn't
  • How I said to you at 4wks "Hello Tama. Now you say Hello Mama" And you smiled at me
  • How we worried about your brain and if it was working 'right'
  • How you only slept in your bassinet for 2 nights and then came in with us and life got so much easier
  • The morning you woke up just after Will came in and didn't cry or need a drink so we all just 'hung out'
  • How sweet your sneezes are
  • How you peed on Dad when we did your first photo shoot
  • How much you blissed out in your first shower
  • How much your little big brother adores you
  • How the cat circled the midwife in suspicion when she was doing your checks and your were crying
I want to forget
  • cutting your finger the first time I trimmed your nails
  • when I squeezed your foot in a frustrated sleep deprived but half asleep fog
  • how frustrating you habit of always throwing back your head is
  ♥

Thursday, July 28, 2011

Breakthrough.

Will just did wees in the potty.

To most of the world this means nothing at all but for me, Les and Will it's HUGE, massive, momentous, 2 Marshmallows and a jelly snake occasion.

Thought this moment would never come. Never been so relieved and so pleased about a little wee.

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

I know I've asked before...

but I'm fairly certain they're not in the house.... does anyone have my Outrageous Fortune DVD's Series 3 & 4?

What Will Said 24-7-11

Whispered gently but squeakily:

"Don't worry Tama, don't worry. You're my best brother."
 ♥

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Just now....

Tama gave me his first real smile. We were talking about PIE. I tell you he's just slotted right into our family.

Unphotographed 26.7.11

My left arm is extended and cradles the head of a small boy in the middle of my early morning bed. His right arm is extended and cradles the head of a smaller boy sleeping in the crook of my arm. My right hand holds his left and an even smaller hand is nested in between.
Love. ♥

Monday, July 25, 2011

Tama Update

I have no time for words so pictures will need to suffice....




It appears he spends a lot of time in his car seat... he really doesn't it's just a fluke that at 11:31am for 3 of the last 4 Fridays we have been out and about - or just come back from somewhere. 

Sunday, July 24, 2011

Saturday, July 23, 2011

Home wanted PLEAse!

Ruby is not very happy.

She's trying to deny it and just hide her head in her paws.

 
But she's resigned to the fact that with a coat like this she's going to be no good in the Perth spring or autumn let alone the summer.... and the idea of ticks makes her sick. And then there's the fact that all the rentals we have looked at have said: "NO PETS!"
So even though she's great with kids and babies she can't come to Australia with us and rather urgently needs a new family to love her just as much as we do, any takers?
PLEASE.
  ♥

Thursday, July 21, 2011

So much to say, so much to do, so little time

I have so much I want to write;
  • The lead up to Tama's arrival
  • His Birth
  • The first few weeks of life with 4 living kids
  • The things I will miss
  • The things I am looking forward too/planning
  • The way my dreams are changing
  • The first goodbye
  • How much I am struggling with so many things right now
  • What we are learning through this process
  • What I am angry and upset about
  • What I'm loving
There's so much I need/want to do...
  • Photos to take/sort/scrap
  • 365 LO's
  • Sort Kieran's room
  • Pack down my scrap room
  • Go shopping- I have vouchers to spend
  • Sort some stuff on my computer
  • Throw out a whole bunch of stuff (Whole bunch!!!)
  • Sort parcels to post
  • Christmas ball for Nate (and Tama)
  • Blog x3
  • Talk to Joz
  • Email Sally
  • Find the cat a home
  • Talk to Kierans prospective school.
  • Make Gingerbread houses.
  • Sleep
  • Eat
  • Take my antibiotics- damn you E.coli!
But  I just sit here under a sweet and sometimes sleeping baby and then dash madly around in the spaces between.

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

1850's Parenting Advice

Someone posted this recently on a forum I read. It's from a 1850's book about caring for your household. What I like is that it is still very relevant, sensible advice.


Give a Few Minutes to That Child
Few parents realise how much their children may be taught at home, by devoting a few minutes to their instruction every day. Let the parent make the experiment only during the hours which are not spent in school. Let him make a companion of his child, converse with him, propose questions, answer inquiries, communicate facts, explain difficulties, the meaning of things, and the reason of things, and all in so easy and agreeable manner that it will be no task, but serve to awaken curiosity and interest the mind, and he will be astonished at the progress he will make.

Scolding
I never knew one who was in the habit of scolding able to govern a family. What makes people scold? The want of self-government. How then can they govern others! Those who govern well are generally calm. They are prompt and resolute, but steady and mild.

Gratitude
Be careful to teach your children gratitude. Lead them to acknowledge every favour that they receive; to speak often of their benefactors, and to ask blessings for them. Accustom them to treat with marked attention their instructors and those who have aided them in the attainment of knowledge or piety. Gratitude is one of our first duties to God, and should not be forgotten when due to man.

Parental Commands
If you wish to be obeyed, be careful to make few commands, and see that they are obeyed. Run no hazard in giving orders that may by any possibility be disobeyed. If you make them, let nothing be an excuse for disobedience.

The Influence of the Eldest Child
The eldest child will be a model after which the younger members of the family will be fashioned. The taste, the habits, the character of the one, will very likely be copied by the others. How great the responsibility of the parent in the culture and training then of the eldest child!

Practical Thoughts
Be yourselves what your children should be. Avoid what they should avoid at all times; let your example be a safe and unerring guide. Are their defects in their character? Inquire the cause, whether it may not be owing to some defect or fault in your own character which they have copied.

Beautiful, Yet Fearful Thought
Childhood is like a mirror catching and reflecting images all around it. Remember that an impious, profane, or vulgar thought may operate upon a young heart, like a careless spray of water thrown upon polished steel, staining it with rust that no efforts can efface.

Nursery Maxims
  • Remember that children are men and women in miniature, and though they should be allowed to act as children, still our dealings with them should be manly, and not morose; recollect, also, that every look, word, tone and gesture, nay even your dress makes an impression.
  • Never correct a child on suspicion, or without understanding the whole matter, nor trifle with a child's feelings when under discipline.
  • Be always mild and cheerful in their presence, communicative but never extravagant, trifling or vulgar in language or gesture. Never trifle with a child, nor speak beseechingly, when it is doing wrong. Always follow commands with a close and careful watch, until the thing is done, allowing no evasion, and no modification, unless the child ask for it, and it be expressly granted.
  • Never reprove children severely in company, nor hold them up to ridicule, or make light of their failings.
  • Never speak in an impatient, fretful manner, if you have occasion to find fault.
  • Never say to a child, "I don't believe what you say," nor even express doubts. If you have such feelings, keep them to yourself and wait truth will eventually be made plain.
  • Never disappoint the confidence a child reposes in you, whether it be a thing placed in your care or a promise.
  • Always give prompt attention to a child when he speaks, so as to prevent repeated calls, and that he may learn to give prompt attention when you call him.
  • Improve the first ten years of life as the golden opportunity, which may never return. It is the seed time, and your harvest depends upon the seed then sown.

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Monday, July 18, 2011

Sunday, July 17, 2011

Another Profession?


Along with Arborist and professional house relocator (as in whole houses- not just their contents) I think Will may also be keen to be an astronaut such is the fun he's been having with this Space shuttle book he recently discovered on the shelves.Of course he'll have to work on the next big thing now that the Space shuttle is on it's last ever mission. 
As an aside arriving in Perth will be lots of fun as we are discovering lots of books and such we hadn't got around to reading so unpacking them and discovering them all over again will be like a mini Christmas in September! 

Saturday, July 16, 2011

Falsies

Kieran had an accident when he was about 7 that caused some serious damage to his front teeth- since then they have been sensitive and easy to damage and some more accidents and dumb dental nurse incidents along the way and even small things like a knock with a fork lead to the need recently for a root canal. Which ultimately failed because his tooth was broken too low. So now he has a false tooth- and I can't wait till he pops it out to get gross-out revenge on his Nana Stockley.


Friday, July 15, 2011

Thursday, July 14, 2011

Stripes

On the biscuit and the face. Cute.

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Monday, July 11, 2011

Sunday, July 10, 2011

Butterfly

Incredibly late in the season our last chrysalis hatched and the butterfly emerged in May....