It's been too long

I never know how to begin, after a long break from blogging... especially when there's so much to say and catch up on!

So I'm going to start by sharing something that happened tonight which made my heart melt... or sing... I'm not sure which. I just tucked Annie into bed, and whispered a goodnight prayer with her (about the day we'd had, the friends we'd seen, and asking God for a peaceful sleep). And then when I'd finished, she tightly screwed up her eyes and whispered "Papa, Sasha, Bubba, fishies, puppies... Eli... Meaghy... Amem" and then opened her eyes and smiled at me. She just prayed her first prayer! It was beautiful.

Our new baby boy, James Peter, arrived on Friday 21st June, (birth story to come at a later date... if I ever get to it). We love him to bits - Anthea loves him maybe a little too much! :) He'll be seven weeks old on Friday... the time goes very quickly these days. I'm loving being a mum of two, but still struggling to find time to accomplish anything more than basic necessities. More on that later too maybe.

For now though, I'll leave you with a few photos.

 

An Update

I hardly know where to start, or how to fill you in on the last couple of months. My world is all a bit jumbled at the moment, so I'll just type and see what happens.

Firstly, the pregnancy seems to be progressing well. I am well over 28 weeks and still feeling well most of the time. I'm so over the heartburn though. We have told Anthea that there's a baby in my tummy, and she regularly knocks on my tummy and "talks" to the baby in the same way she's seen Daddy do it. :)

On the topic of Annie, she's now 19.5 months old, and has just turned into such a little girl recently. She walks around everywhere, and loves to help - whether it's transferring pegs from the peg-bag to the swing, playing with some plastic cups in the sink pretending that she's doing dishes, or "helping" me clean the shower (and accidentally moving from cleaning the walls with the scrubber, to cleaning my back, as I'm doing the other wall). She pushes her step-stool around the place to help her access the benches, or get up onto the couch, and she loves to sing and dance. Especially if an upbeat song starts, then she really gets her groove on. :) She's just started to say a few words, and knows lots of animal noises. (The elephant one sounds like its an elephant on helium though). We've managed to get the one-nap-a-day drama sorted, and are in a good routine with that. My plan for next week is to start toilet-training with her... she already sits on the potty a few times a day, and mostly saves her poos for the potty which is cool. I've been reading "On Becoming Potty Wise" and we're going to give their method a go. The thought of having two babies in cloth nappies is good incentive... even if it is a bit early and it doesn't work, what's the harm in trying? :) More teeth have been giving her difficulties, in one week she cut a tooth and three molars! And the last few days she's been all snuffly and coldy, poor poppet.

My beautiful, generous sister took me to Melbourne for a sisters' weekend last weekend! We had a huge amount of fun traipsing around shopping, catching trams, shopping, eating amazing macarons, shopping... you get the picture. :) I bought a really nice pair of leather winter boots which were $159, then reduced to $99, then 40% off, so I got them for $59! And we found a very yummy schnitzel place called "Schnitz", where we got an [awesome] veal schnitzel, [amazing] chips, and a [fairly average] salad for $12.50! We were so tired by the end of the weekend though, and pretty annoyed when QANTAS delayed our Sunday night flight by 3 hours! Alastair had fun flying solo with Anthea too, though on the phone one time he said "oh, she's just knocked over the clothes horse.... Annie!!!... oh great, and now she's getting the books back out that I packed up not even half an hour ago!"... I felt like saying to him "welcome to my life!" :)

Last Sunday, (while Meaghan and I were away), Mum had to take Dad to hospital, as he was suffering from chest pain and breathlessness. The whole story is too long for here, so I'll just say: my Dad has had open-heart surgery this week!!! It's so surreal. Annie and I spent the day at the hospital on Wednesday with Mum and Meaghan while we waited for the surgery to be over. He had to have a valve replaced and a by-pass done. I had to leave before we were allowed to see him though, which was probably a good thing. He's come through it okay, and the nurses think he's looking good, but today was the first day that I'd seen him since Monday (before the op), and he looked really bad to me. He's still in ICU - will be for another 24-48 hours. He couldn't talk properly... he's lost weight and is a funny colour... he hadn't had a very good night last night, so he was slumped in the chair they wanted him to sit in for a few hours... he had tubes and cords and monitors and machines hooked up to him... a giant hose coming out the side of his neck... and a big pad on his chest covering the dressing. When I felt tears welling up I managed to hold them back twice, but the third time I had to leave the room. It really knocked me for six... this big strong man I've looked up to all my life, the Dad of whom I have two, maybe three memories of him being sick... suddenly helpless in a chair, looking like a lonely old man in a hospital gown. It was distressing, to say the least. Luckily Alastair had come with me, I don't think I'd have been able to drive home if I'd gone by myself.

Tonight I baked a cake... it's Alastair's birthday tomorrow. He loves the Women's Weekly birthday cake books and has cakes picked for his birthdays for the next five or so years. This year's cake is to be a stegosaurus. Wish me luck tomorrow as I cut the shape, ice, and decorate it. :P

There's heaps of other stuff that's been going on that I could write about, but now it's time for bed. It's been a rough week and emotions are running high.

January 2013 In Hindsight

2013 does not seem to have got off to a brilliant start for me, as I've already had two trips to Casualty; thankfully for the second one I did not have to arrive by ambulance.

So this second trip was last Wednesday night. Wed arvo at 4.30pm I was putting Annie in the car when she suddenly saw a bird and flipped her arm around to point at it, but she stuck her finger in my eye. It hurt possibly more than anything I've ever felt; after I'd managed to get myself together I had to get up to the house and try to bathe my eye... but after 15 mins of that, it wasn't feeling any better, and I could hear Annie in the car crying. Thankfully Jim, (the guy whose granny flat we live in) was home, and I asked him to go and get Annie out of the car for me, and we somehow made it through until Alastair got home from work. But by 10pm I was writhing on the floor in agony and Alastair insisted (for the third time!) that we go up to casualty. A friend came and sat here in case Annie woke, and waited for Meaghan to arrive, who already knew about the injury and had offered to come down and stay over. After an agonising four-hour wait, I was finally seen by a Dr, who I'm pretty sure had very little idea what he was doing (and it REALLY HURT as he tried to grab my eyelashes with his rubber-gloved hand to flip my eye-lid over a cotton bud in order to see underneath it) and sent me home with antibiotic drops. That was at 3am.

Next morning it was still excruciatingly agonising pain, so I got Meaghan to take me up to a lovely optometrist I've been to before about something in my eye, and he saw me in between patients, gave me anaesthetic drops and two prescription drops and told me it should be a lot better in 24 hours. And he didn't charge me anything. He asked me if I needed a medical certificate for work, and I said I didn't think my 17-month-old daughter - who was the culprit - would accept it. :P The anaesthetic drops only numb the eye for about 20 mins at a time, and I was told to use them sparingly, but still, 20 mins of less pain was absolute heaven. However at 5am Friday morning I woke up feeling like someone was shredding my eye with a shard of glass. Mum came down to help with Annie while Alastair was at work, and mid-morning we went back to the optometrist, who said it was looking better than yesterday, but still looking horrendous, so he put a band-aid contact lens (!) on, which he said would slow down the healing a bit, but at least would get me out of probably 70% of the pain. He didn't charge me anything on Friday either, he's the loveliest man. I told him I loved him and I think that made his day. So tomorrow I have to go back to him and he'll take the lens off, and see how things are going. I can open my eye now, but the vision in that eye is still blurred, and it feels gritty. And it's still painful, but nothing like it was. I have honestly never felt anything like it - I managed childbirth with no pain relief and no tears, yet this was even worse. I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy!

February has arrived though, and I'm hoping this month is going to be a little less traumatic than last.  :)

Anthea has finally started to walk so January wasn't a complete write-off. It's amazing how quickly they go from their first tottering steps to practically full-blown running. She's a lot happier now, and seems to enjoy her new-found freedom very much. I think a little too much at times.

The other cool thing that happened in January, which I nearly forgot to mention, was that in the last little while I've begun to feel our new baby's first movements! They're still in that "oooh, I think I just felt something" stage, not the grand internal-organ-shifting movements they turn into eventually. :)

We've had some lovely cool weather over the last few days - very welcome relief after the extremely hot weather last week and the week before. Problem was though, Annie had grown out of all the clothes she wore last winter without me realising. I guess that happens, I just hadn't thought we'd be needing size 2 wondersuits in February! I loooove babies in wondersuits though, they're just so cute and cuddly! And since she's been walking for such a short time, she doesn't remember wearing socks or anything slippery on her feet, so it's been fun to watch her puzzling over that, and she gets a very cute look of concentration on her face. She doesn't say much (only 'Mama', 'Dada' and 'woof') but I'm certain she understands everything. Am even toying with the idea of starting some basic toilet training with her in the next few weeks to see how we go, as most times I put her on the potty she does something... and I've been reading a few different peoples' ideas on toilet training.... still need to do a bit more thinking though.

That's all for now I think. I have my 19 week scan tomorrow, and I'm looking forward to that so I should head for bed in order to get enough sleep so that I can hold my 500ml of water without going crazy. :)

Photos, as promised.

I have some lovely friends who are just brilliant photographers... I know mine aren't much chop, but at least they give you an idea of what's been happening and how Annie's growing. :)

Anthea LOVES water, anytime, anywhere.

Cute frilly swimmers that friends passed on.

The fruits of our labour - annual Gingerbread Day at Donna's.

Admiring the Christmas tree - from the other side of the playpen.

Aunty Meaghan has more energy than Mummy at the moment!

Cute baby doll from Aunty Meaghan for Christmas - she puts it on her shoulder and pats her back!

Hmm.... eating pringles at Grandpa's house, what a treat.

Cuddle for Daddy.

Quiet inside activity for a hot day.

Another inside activity on a hot day - as I said, she loves water.

"But I WANT to eat the crayons!"

Testing out the car-seats at the shop.

First time of piggy-tails - oh I almost died from the cuteness!

And this is my favourite photo ever - taken (and instagram-edited) by Aunty Meaghan - it just makes me smile so big cos she just looks so darn cute and grown up!

2013, A New Year

2013 started with a bang for us, with the annual Glen Family get together on New Years Day. I love my extended family, they're such a great bunch of cool people! And it's so exciting to see all the little ones in the next generation toddling around together! Anthea got to have her first swim in a big pool (that's not a plastic clam shell on the lawn) and just loved it - then had the biggest afternoon sleep ever!

The night of the 2nd though, I had nearly 12 hours of vomiting and diarrhea before Alastair decided that enough was enough and called an ambulance. I was quite dehydrated, but after several hours in emergency, with several litres of IV fluids, I was beginning to feel better. Very thankful it happened while Alastair was still on holidays, though it meant that he didn't get much of a holiday! Meaghan came down to take Annie back to their house for Thursday and Thursday night (our first night away from her - I don't know if she even noticed!) to give me a chance to rest up a bit. Alastair hasn't been sick, but Annie had it Friday/Sat, though not too severely. Boy, you know you're alive when you're bathing a vomiting baby, changing sheets and cleaning carpet before you're better from your own dose of the bug. I'm feeling much better now, but it's taking a while to regain my energy.

While being seen to in hospital I kept asking if they could check that the baby was okay, but at the end when I didn't even realise that they were taking the canula out to send me home, they finally said they were too busy and I could talk to the Dr about it at my appointment on 9th (tomorrow). So I'm hoping everything is fine... it's a horrible waiting game though. Probably everything is fine, but it's just the not knowing. I have heard of women carrying a dead baby for several weeks before their body gets things sorted and starts the miscarriage process. We've been praying hard.

Alastair went back to work yesterday, so I had to buck up and do stuff. :) Meaghan came down and helped me to get the house cleaned up and back to normal after our rough week, and she helped me with a bit of shopping too... and she cooked our dinner and made a fruit salad before she left. What would I do without her? What would Annie do without her, more to the point - Aunty Meaghan is clearly her favourite, and she cries whenever she walks out of the room. :P

We've enjoyed spending time (when not sick!) with Lachlan who is back for two short weeks. He loves Anthea and it's been nice to see them getting along so well - she's taken to him, so he finds that pleasing. :) He is a very noisy person though. Goodness me he's noisy.

I can't think of anything else interesting, so I'll close here, and try to post some pictures tonight or tomorrow.

Recently

To be honest, not a great deal has been going on... at least, that sticks out in my memory. We've had the odd trip to Sydney, and visits to friends, but other than that we've just been following our fairly normal routine... doing the shopping... going to mother's group... that sort of thing. So here are a few photos since it's been a while since I've posted.

Enjoying Uncle Jim's playing

 Clowning around with Aunty Meaghan, and helping Grandpa to bring the washing in.

Baby Tania's first Sunday at church - she was born at 29 weeks!

 Fun in the pool - just loves the water!

Asleep on the potty!

So soon?

Have decided to do a little catch-up post. It doesn't feel like long since I last was here, but it's actually been 10 days since the photo post, and 14 since I did that newsy one.

There's not been that much going on really, we've just been "doing life"... getting through teething and colds and all that kind of thing. Speaking of colds... and poor little runny crusty noses... :(

I mentioned the group project baby quilt I was co-ordinating at church, and how it was getting all big and complicated - well the top is finally all stitched up and finished, and one of the ladies is doing the quilting now. Am so pleased to have that over with! It didn't turn out too badly, though I liked it better before the outside border went on.

Alastair is well, and busy at work... then he comes home and does whatever needs to be done around here without complaining, so I am very blessed. He went up to the Collingwood game (which the Swans lost, so he wasn't a very happy boy when he got home), but now we're on top of the ladder, so he's happy again. :)

On Friday last, I left Annie for the longest time since the day she was born when they whisked me away to theatre. It was stocktake day at the pharmacy I used to work at, and they offered me a few hours of work. Mum came and looked after Anthea for me from 9am-1.30pm, and by all accounts they had a lovely time together and my daughter behaved herself beautifully. :)

We stayed with mum and dad on Saturday night for the first time in ages. It was nice, and would have been even nicer if Annie had made an effort to sleep for more than 1-1.5 hours at a time during the whole time. But she's teething, and we had colds, so what can you expect really I suppose. Friends were having their 10 week old gorgeous Isabel baptised the next day, so it was a good excuse to go back to my old church and catch up with people. In the afternoon, I got to have a little sleep (!) and Mum took Anthea for a walk in the pram she bought when I was born... it's doing well for nearly 30 years old, don't you think? :)

 

We are going out to Gilgandra again this weekend with Alastair's dad and his brother Ashley, to help Joel (another of Alastair's brothers) and his wife Katherine get their house ready to put on the market - kind of a little family working bee... should be fun. I'm planning to take a big chocolate cake... :)

Sometimes, towards the end of the day, when the bubba is getting tired and cross and everything is getting too much just before Daddy gets home from work, we take a little trip up to Jim's end of the house and chat to him for a while. It's so lovely having this grandfather-figure just at the end of the hall, who is never too busy to stop what he's doing to talk to us, or to bounce Annie on his knee, or to let her have a "play" on his piano...

Only other thing to add, is that Aunty Meaghan took a very cute photo of Annie on the weekend, where she looks like she's breakdancing - I hope she posts it so you can see. :)

Photos!

 It was the end of June last time I posted photos, so I think it's high time for the next installment!

 

Left: Aunty Meaghan is going to kill me for posting this photo, but I think early morning snuggles are so cute!

Right: "Look Mummy, I ripped up the Kmart catalogue... that's what you said to do, isn't it?"

Our beautiful girl - June 2012

 Annie has taken off - she's walking all around the furniture and walls, so up went the safety gates we found on eBay!

Cuddles with our dear friend Mrs. Woollard

 Left: Bathtime is Annie's favourite time of the day... and since this photo she's been learning to stay sitting down whilst in the bath. :) We just put the baby bath in the bottom of the shower recess - she loves it!

Right: Daddy and his baby watching TV. :)

 Cute ladybird dress from Nanna Glen!

 

Left: Asleep in the pram during one of our walks at the beach

Right: "Hey Mum, look at this cool new walking frame I found!"

 

Getting dry with Daddy after a bath

 

Discovering the board books 

 

New drink bottle with a straw from Eli's mummy, Jade.

Hmm... how does 

it work? 

 

Left: If I cross my eyes and concentrate really reeeeeally hard... 

Right: Yay! It worked!

 

The rag doll I've just finished for Anthea's 1st birthday - generally pleased with how it turned out. (She does have a nose - it's just a little stitch, which didn't come out in the photo!)

I think the way the hair is done is my favourite part of this pattern!

And with that, you're basically up to date! Hope you enjoyed these pics. xo