Xav is 21 months

~~After his 2nd ever haircut - a little prison like?~~

Holy Crapola, my sweet little baby boy is 21 months and you know what that means? We don't have much longer talking in "months", soon he will be 2 and then it's all about the years. I am finding it really hard to believe that I have a 3 y/o and a nearly 2 y/o - No babies in the house is just strange! Well until cluckiness overcomes me and I MUST.HAVE.ONE. Hopefully that's not for a few years though, I'm really enjoying having 2 older kids.

Anyway, Back to Xav.

He's such a cheeky little ratbag, who makes me laugh all day long. I am so in love with this little boy and all his mischievous ways, he is just trouble wrapped up in a cute little package.

He loves his food, driving us all batty with his constant requests for more. If he wants some thing to eat now he comes and drags me by the hand to the pantry or fridge asking "Mum, more" He is such a great eater and eagerly gobbles up most things that we give him. He has inherited his big sisters connoisseur tastes and enjoys olives straight from the jar, feta, seaweed sheets and frozen peas and corn (straight from the freezer!) The kids still think that sushi is a treat and they both love getting their special avocado sushi whenever we go shopping.

Xav is going great guns at feeding himself and is a master at the spoon and fork. He's just starting using his knife but still finding it a bit hard to cut things himself. He insists on trying though and WILL NOT let us cut any of his food up for him until he has given it a good shot, then defeated, asks us to cut it up. He has a few funny quirks in regards to food which sometimes makes life interesting. He insists on peeling his own bananas, which is fine EXCEPT he will then not eat it if it is broken. DO you know how hard it is for a 1 y/o to peel a banana and for it not to snap? Consequently I am handed lots of broken bananas to eat!

Toilet training is still going great. Xav always tells us if he needs to poo, but not always remembering when he needs to wee. He generally has a wee accident every second day, usually when I have forgotten to take him or if he is engrossed in playing. I'm not fussed about that though, he'll eventually not have any. He sometime wakes of a night and asks to go to the toilet, which is amazing. The next morning he'll wake with a dry nappy, but I find it a little crazy to think that he wants to night train so I'll keep the nappies on! We did have our first wee accident out last week. Poor little Xav was excitedly looking at the matchbox cars in Coles, picking out one for his Daddy to buy. Must have been a bit much for him though, cause then he looked down and a puddle started forming at his feet. I was in the aisle over getting my magazine fix when Duane yelled out for me to come over. Duane was horrified and as he was too embarrassed to tell the staff he sent me to go organise a mop and bucket. I just laughed, I'm sure they get it all the time.

Xav loves pretend play. He's constantly emptying out boxes or dragging out my washing baskets and pretending that they are cars. I'll often hear him chatting away to himself and then realise that he has made a pretend pool and is "splashing" in the water. He is always making food and drinks for me in the kitchen, rushing over with cups of tea or plates of toast or cake.

He loves jumping and often sets up the lounge room into a big jumping arena! Climbing up on the top of the couch and launching himself into a pile of cushions is one of his favourite pass times. He has recently discovered the joy of match box cars, something that his Daddy is very excited and proud of. Duane LOVED his cars as a child and has kept a few of his favorites to pass on to his son. Xav has a small suitcase of cars already and loves zooming them around everywhere. He pushes them around the floor, over the couch, up the windows and over the top of my computer moniter. His favourite though is to drive his cars up our legs and through our hair or over my back.

Xav is starting to put lots of words together, there is still a little pause between them, but I'm sure he's not too far away from bigger sentences. He is very interested in letters and constantly points out the letter A and B when he sees them. He can repeat back most of the alphabet, and can spell BABY, DADDY and CAR with a little help. He loves reading books and if given the chance will sit on the toilet for ages flicking through one. I often find him sitting near the book shelf deeply engrossed in a favourite book. He can point out everything in the picture books, except of course if Trudy is around. For some strange reason when she is around he plays dumb and will not say anything apart from "DA". Funny little boy her is!

Xav has been relatively easy as a toddler but I think that's soon to end. I forgot about the problems that occur on the way to turning 2, but he has given me a few reminders. I forgot about the tantrums, the frustration and the 2 y/o ego.

A 2y/o doesn't scare me though - I've got a 3 y/o!

Little boys are just delicious!

Why, oh why didn't somebody tell me this ages ago? Could have saved a lot of drama in the car on the way home from my 20 week scan when I was pregnant with Xav.

I'd just found out that my baby was a boy, but I was so upset as I desperately wanted another little girl. I wanted Grace to have the sister that I never had - instead of being surrounded by "stinky" boys I wanted my own little clan of sweet girls. In my selfishness it was all about the gorgeous girl clothes that would remain at the bottom of Grace's wardrobe - boys clothes were so b.o.r.i.n.g!

It took me a few weeks to embrace the idea of having a little boy, I mean the deed was done there was no other option. Still I grieved the idea of my baby girl but slowly started to get nervous and excited about my baby boy.

Now, I couldn't think of anything better. Little boys are just so scrumptious, especially my little munchkin.

He is a perfect mix of softness and exuberance. I love nothing more than listening to his adoring voice as he calls out to me, "Mum-ma, Mum-ma", he yells as he scans the room looking for me. My heart fills when he runs up asking for a "cuggle" (he's latest adorable work for cuddle!!) and then wraps his soft, warm arms around me lovingly. He rests his head on my shoulder, tapping my back tenderly as we embrace.

His beautiful dark eyelashes that fall and flutter on to the most delicate, pale white skin. His perfect little cherry red lips as they kiss me lightly on the cheek or pucker up to give his beloved big sister a big slobbery wet one.

Ever since he weaned he has spent every night in his bed, but I crave the warm overnight cuddles with my youngest baby. He's been in a toddler bed for the last week and he's settled into it nicely, but the first few nights he woke up, which was perfect for me as he got to spend the rest of the night snuggled up to his Mummy. It was only a temporary arrangement though as he got comfortable sleeping in the big bed and hasn't woke since. It was a lovely reminder of his baby days though, where he spent most of the night curled under my arm.

I love, love, love this age though. Xav is so much fun and such a joy to be around. I treasure the rare moments that we get alone, it's not often enough. He loves being nestled on my knee and reading his favourite books or having chats whilst lazing around on our bed. He has a brilliant imagination and loves pretending to do so many things. He loves turning boxes into cars, playing shops with his big sister and cranking up the stereo and crazy dancing.

He is such a precious easy going little soul - something that I could never have imagined back in his first year. He wasn't the easiest baby but has grown into such a delightful toddler.

Will he ever understand how captivated I am with him? Will I ever be able to explain the love I have for him?

Xav, your my sweet little baby boy and I adore you.

2009 Beach Holiday

Well we are all home safe (just!) from our week long sojourn to the beautiful Brunswick Heads. We hired a large beach house with a quiet surf beach to the front, river out the back and little kids swimming bay a short stroll away. It was a perfect location, with plenty to occupy everyone.
The house was large enough to fit everyone in comfortably, a huge deck for the kids to run amok on and all the modern day mod-cons so we weren't "roughing" it. Perfect.

Out of the 7 days we had only nice beach weather for 4 of them. The other 3 were very dreary and rain filled. There was constant news updates about possible flash flooding and heavy rain fall, meaning lots of calls from the mil to see if we needed "rescuing" or not (she's a little over dramatic!) Those days SUCKED though, being stuck in a house with limited resources to amuse the kids.

The first few days were spent at the beach having an awesome time. There was lots of paddling in the clear shallow water and plenty of extravegant sand castle building. I'm sure that some of them would have passed strict council approval - they were THAT awesome. The kids wore them self out, allowing everyone to head back to the house for lunch and afternoon sleeps. The afternoons were once again spent at the beach, with sweet little kids running around naked or in their undies. We figured that since it was after 4pm and all swimming gear was still wet and sandy from the morning session, we'd let the kidlets gets their daily dose of Vitamin D. So cute to watch the kids frolick about al nudie rudie! Plenty of bare bottoms to get my daily smack quota!

On the first day of rain the women made an executive decision to leave the men in charge of the offspring whilst we headed in for a lesuirly day at Byron Bay. Sounds nice hey? Well Byron isn't all that pretty on a grey, dull pissing down with rain day. There is no where to go except dodging in and out of very cool shops or sitting around sipping organic skinny chai lattes. Well after getting absolutely saturated with option 1, we decided to join the high flying cafe society and do a bit of cafe hopping.

A beautiful waft of Indian Curry was in the air, but as much as we tried to hunt down where it was coming from, it couldn't be found. We settled on an old favourite where we knew we wouldn't be disappointed. We chatted whilst stuffing our faces on over-sized vegie quiches, gigantic BLT's and huge servings of toasted turkish bread. It was all so yummy and had us groaning from being so full. After that we headed for a stroll around, but soon enough the pregnancy moaning started. "My feet hurt"......"The baaaabbbbyyyy wants desert" "Blah, blah blah" I'm kidding and anyway, I barely needed any convincing that dessert was a good and viable option!

We found a beautiful little cafe, with a very arrogant French waiter, right on the main beach at Byron. Pity the weather was so bad that we couldn't even enjoy the view, let alone see the water through all the rainfall. So again we sat and chatted, this time over chai Latte's, sticky date pudding and the most boring muffin in the history of muffins.

So by now we were completely soaked, but not uncomfortable enough to actually want to return to the husbands and kids. Hell no, there were better things to do. So we headed to the movies - sandy mexican rug and all. We watched Slumdog millionaire, which was a little depressing at times but overall a good watch. Could have done without the frequent wafts of the smelly chemist shoes though. Trudy was on to it and offered some spray deodorant, which after pissing ourself laughing for ages, we got to enjoy the chemical & synthetic aroma. (Ok, we didn't just tell some random that she smelt, it was a "had to be there joke!")

It seems that the boys coped quite well being cooped up in the house with the kids. Apparently the adults had fun playing indoor cricket whilst the kids watched. Kids amusing kids.

The next day was just a little overcast, not enough to keep us from the beach. The kids all had a blast paddling in the shallow water and taking turns on being dragged through the white wash on the body board. I decided to revisit my youth and have a try again at surfing. Last time I tried I took out my front tooth on a dirty great big malibu board, I was hoping this time would be less dramatic. Loic pushed me on to a few waves, I never got to stand but it was still a blast. Came out of it teeth intact, so that's a bonus.

Chelse came down for the day with her kidlets,and also Amanda, Emily and Julie. We had a big lunch of calamari and hand-cut chips. It would have to be the best fish and chips that I have ever had, hence the reason we had it about 5 times on the whole trip. Cholesteral or kidney problems anyone?? Sorry kids for the lack of nutrition, but we NEEDED it. Next week it will be back to healthy food options.

Wednesday was also a fine day, so the Dad's got some more bonding time with the kids whilst Nicole and I headed off to her Ob appt. By the afternoon the weather warnings were starting to come and you could feel it in the air that things were about to change. After the kids were in bed, the adults retreated to the deck for a few drinkies and some adult conversation. About this time my bottom right molars started aching. It got progressively worse, so I took some panadol washed down with some of Loic's special cocktail mix. The pain was numbed a little, and a mixture of the panadol, alcohol and tiredness allowed me to fall asleep.

The next day I was till in so much pain, so my lovely husband pulled a few strings and got me into a Dentist golfer friend that he has in Byron Bay. A quick look at it, then a few x-rays and we had a diagnosis. Seems that I have a large cyst under the molars, which potentially has been there since I had all the trouble with my wisdom tooth. Apparently the cyst would have been growing under my wisdom tooth (hence all the pain at the time) and should have been removed at the same time. Instead it has stayed there, flared up a few times and then made it's painful appearance again this week. This all explains the long lasting of the pain even after the wisdom tooth was removed, the sensitivity in my jaw for ages and most likely why the anaesthetic didn't take the first time. The Dentist also thinks that the cyst has caused some nerve damage and I am most likely looking at 2 root canals if I want to avoid further pain and keep the 2 molars. Other option is to have 1 ripped out then see how it goes and maybe have the other one out too. I'm most likely going to go with option b, root canals are expensive (around $7000 for the 2 and we have no private insurance) and also I've had a root canal before and they are not the most enjoyable way to spend your day. I have a referral for a jaw person on the coast, but I can't get anything done until the antibiotics are finished and the infection has cleared up. Hopefully I can get 1 of the teeth pulled next week.

Oh, and after visiting the dentist on the Thursday the pain was becoming unbearable. I tolerated it all day, alternating between ipuprofen and panadol. Come night time though I was ready to wack myself over the head with a bat of nails. I dosed myself up on prodeine (panadol and a small amount of codeine) and tried to sleep. Little bit hard though with a jaw that feels like its being slowly split open with a blunt knife. The pain was going with my heartbeat, and none of the drugs were even taking the edge off. I tried everything. I just needed to sleep, hoping that if I got into a deep enough sleep I would be fine. I tried to mentally switch off the pain, then I tried visualising the tooth being extracted and all the infection being sucked out. Nothing worked and the pain seems to be getting worse, radiating up my jaw and into my ears. In desperation I took another lot of pain killers and waited for half hour, but still there was no relief. I was in tears by this stage and didn't think that there was anyway I would make it through the night. I called 13Health and after explaining everything to the nurse she suggested that I went to emergency to get something stronger, so at 11.30pm Duane & I headed off to Mullumbimby Hospital to GET.THE.DRUGS.

It's a small hospital, not much happening - so I was lucky to not have to wait and got straight in. The first nurse that saw me was an absolute cow, telling me that there is nothing that can be done and shoved us into a room with barely a grunt. By this stage the effects of the painkillers were starting to kick in, not helping my tooth at all but making me very tired and my whole body feel cotton-woolly and hazy. I filled out the forms, then the Dr came to check me out. My jaw had started to swell and all my gums were red and inflamed. He acknowledged that it would have been very painful and that hopefully the a/b's would kick in soon. He gave me some topical anaesthetic (which was BRILLIANT!), some stronger anti-inflammatory and some panadeine Forte. Now I don't normally handle codeine very well, but be damned if that was going to stop me downing these one. I was desperate for the pain to dull.

So after strict instruction not to take any of the panadeine for 4 hours, we were sent on out merry way. One of the nurses walked us to the door, then turned to me and said, "We have a great birthing suite here, you know" It was a strange thing to say considering she knew from going through all the questions with me that I wasn't pregnant and that I had 2 young children. I said to her that I had both my children at the Gold Coast Hospital, 1 at the Birth Centre. She then said, "But here you could have a waterbirth" I told her that I actually did have one for my son, then asked her if she was a midwife. She said she was, then I said that I was hopefully starting school next year to become one. She smiled then said, "Good, we need more midwives". It was just a funny moment, and so random that she even mentioned the birthing suite. It's certainly somewhere that I could imagine myself living, so maybe in the big scheme of things she was there to plant the seed for me? Maybe later on in life I will be working at the Mullumbimby Hospital?

So the rest of the trip was me drugged up to the eyeballs. The weather remained being crappy, which meant that we had to amuse the kids inside. We ended up packing up and heading home 1 night earlier than we planned.

It was a great holiday though. Nice to get away with some great friends and enjoy our families together. The kids all had a ball playing together and the parents all had a relaxing break.

I have heaps of pic's of the trip, but realised that most of the ones I took the kiddies are nudie. I'll try to find some modest ones:

~~I don't want my photo taken AGAIN!!!~~

Playground antics

It was Mothers group day today. We all decided that the local shopping centre would be a great spot to meet up. It's got a great playground for the kids to run amok on and a food court close by for those that need a coffee hit. I tried to fit in a bit of shopping before we met up but the 2 ratbags preferred me to chase them around instead!

Everything was going great. The kids were all playing nicely together, whilst the Mum's sat close by chatting.

Of Course that didn't last for very long......

An almighty scream came from underneath the slide. Nicole instantly recognised it as being Logan's bellow, so she jumped up quickly to see what was wrong. We had just been chatting about Logan's latest tantruming episodes, so the screaming was written of as dramatic toddler behaviour. A few moments later Xav emerged from under the slide, also screaming his head off. Grace was holding gently onto to his hand, leading him over to me. I knew instantly that he was hurt, but being the clumsy bum that he is I thought that he had tripped over or something. I picked him up and between his sobs he pointed to his arm. That's when I saw a bright red bite mark. I quickly told Nicole to check Logan and sure enough he was also sporting a lovely teeth outline on his hand.

Right. We were on a mission to find the offender.

With a child on each hip we headed over to the play area to see what we could find. We scanned the area, and just then we both saw at exactly the same time a boy about 2 lean over a toddler girl and just about to sink the teeth in. Nicole acted quickly and grabbed the little boy off the little girl. She held him by the arm and marched him over to the closest group of parents.

And this is the bit that has been cracking up every time I think of it.

She yelled out in a loud and authoritative voice, "WHO DOES THIS BELONG TOO?", whilst clutching little vampire boy. Oh, very Un PC, but her little boy had just experienced his first bite, and she was angry! It was also her first venture into the world of biting toddlers and being a bit frazzled she wasn't thinking about the right thing to say. We joked later that at least she didn't yell out, "We have a biter, Who owns the biter!"

A group of women were gathered to our right, who I was sure the little boy belonged too. 1 women looked at us nervously and then breathed a sigh of relief as she realised that it wasn't her child. This time.

After a few more moments a Mum came over from far, far away over in the corner of the play area. She was obviously embarrassed and no doubt nervous as she tentatively approached us to claim her child. Poor women was bombarded by Nicole and I as we tried to explain to her what had happened and shoving the bite marks in her face to see. She apologised and said she didn't really understand as he had never done it before. I do find that a little hard to believe though. Surely a child doesn't just start biting and then go on a 3 person rampage all in the space of 10 minutes? Maybe?

We then headed back to the table to console our baby boys. Lots of soothing cuddles, a dab of antiseptic wash and they were back to being fine. They were very deep bites though, so no doubt tomorrow the boys will be sporting matching bruises.

Biting is a tough one to deal with. I'm not really sure on the etiquette or the right way to deal with someones elses child who is doing it. I understand that it's common and just part of development, it's just hard not to react when it's your child on the end on a chomping jaw.

Choice

Where a family chooses to birth their baby should be their choice, but it's all become very political. Having an Independant Midwife and a planned homebirth is a safe choice for many healthy pregnant women. Soon though, this choice may be made illegal.

At the moment you can pay for your own homebirth, but come July 2010 there is a good chance that having a homebirth with a qualified midwife will be illegal. A review into maternity services has been conducted and included in the recommendations are that all maternity practitioners will need insurance to be able to register. Fine, that makes sense. EXCEPT there is NO insurance product available for Private Midwives. So if an Independant Midwife can not get insurance she can not practice and if she does practice it will mean jail time. This doesn't just rule out midwives at homebirth, it also rules out Independant midwives helping Mum's in the antenatal period and also postnatal. At the moment Independatn Midwives are registered but are not required to have insurance. They have a contractual agreement with their clients stating that they do not have indemnity insurance.

Homebirths will still be available in some states that offer funded midwifery programs, but whilst these programs are a great step in the right direction, the selection criteria is very strict and not enough spots to fill the demand.

Such a life changing and important event such as child birth has been medicalised to the point that the thought of performing the most natural human function at home is going to be illegal. You can choose a fully elective C/s, but you WILL NOT be able to choose to have one-on-one midwifery care at home.

I understand that homebirth is not for everyone, just the same that an Elective C/s is not for everyone, but at least those that choose to have a c/s can have one. It will not be an option after July 2010, unless the recommendations aren't followed through. Homebirth is not for everyone but it should still be a valid choice that is supported and respected, heck it should even be funded. Maternity takes up one of the largest proportion of beds at hospitals, surely if homebirth was available and funded these beds could be freed up for truely sick people. Homebirth is still such a minority, but maybe with more positive births talked about and the fear of birth worked through, it may become an option for more people. Too often women are labeled "patients" when for the majority, they are not sick, just pregnant.

Trust of birth is lost in the need to induce, intervene and perform surgery. So many women are falling victim to the cascade of interventions, and made to make uninformed decisions based sometimes on manipulation and fear. It starts with all talk of being overdue. Normal gestation is 38-42 weeks, only 3 % of babies are actually born on their magic due date. It's an average. So many women are offered inductions just after passing the 40 week mark, because they are so overdue. I wonder if many women are told about the higher risk of other intervention that goes along with being induced? How often are they told about the importance of keeping waters intact until they break by themselves? Your waters are there to cushion the baby, allowing them to move into the best position for birth. If they are artificially broken, the baby is dropped into the pelvis suddenly and sometimes not in the optimum position, making for a harder second stage. Of course this still happens if waters break naturally, but why break the waters unnecessarily just to speed things up?

Homebirth is not all about long-haired hippy women birthing their babies with whale music and incense burning in the background. Those that choose to homebirth do so because they have faith in the process and understand that birth is a physiological process. They want what is best for their baby and that is to be in a safe, protected environment, surrounded by positive people who are all emotionally involved in the intimate act of their birth. The midwife is there for the one women, not rushing ragged between a few rooms, trying to give optimal care and support to many. The midwife and the family have built up a relationship throughout the pregnancy, which gives them a better chance of picking up problems should they occur. Most homebirthers are well researched and informed with their decisions, they understand that birth is safe most of the time, and are willing to take full responsibility for their choices. If during the pregnancy or labour a medical problem presents, then of course you go to the hospital and seek medical advice.

Once again, I understand that homebirth is not a choice that a lot of people want for them self. However, if we start taking choice away from women in regards to birth, what else can be taken? Do we really want to go back to the days of being dropped of at the front door of the hospital by our husbands, shunted up to the "delivery" ward, strapped to a bed until the Dr comes into to declare it's time to push?

Birth should be an empowering time of our life, whichever way the baby comes out. If you want your experience to be with an elective C/s, and you have been given all the information in order to make an informed decision, that's fantastic. It's your choice, and It's great that you have the option. Then why does the family that choose homebirth not afford the same choice? They should also be able to assess their situation and make an informed decision as to where to birth their baby. Isn't it shocking that one could be made illegal! Wrong for so many reasons.

I am writing to my local MP about this, it's something that I feel strongly about. My dream is to one day become a midwife and after getting experience I want to become an Independant Midwife. This dream could very well be shattered. I also will be homebirthing my next baby, and I wasn't planning on getting in before the July 2010 deadline, so I hope that this whole issue can be resolved.

I know that homebirth will never stop happening, but if it is made illegal it will happen without proper care. Those that do not want to birth under strict guidlines of hospitals, will only have a choice to freebirth and they will. I'm not sure how I personally feel about an intentional freebirth, I like the attention and care of a qualified midwife.

Anyway, enough ranting and time for action:

Here's a petition to sign:
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/australianhomebirth/

And of course a Facebook group to join:
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#/group.php?gid=55667514020

Birthday weekend

Well we have just finished a fantastic weekend.

Saturday morning I was woken with big wet kisses from both my beautiful husband and my gorgeous little girl, along with a slightly off key rendition of "Happy Birthday". Sleepy head Xav doesn't "do" early mornings, preferring to laze around in bed until about 8am, so I didn't get kisses from him until later.

After everyone was up the kids gave me my present and then Grace eagerly starting unwrapping it for me. I was spoilt rotten with a 50mm 1.8 lens, which is exactly what I wanted (seems the constant mentioning of it worked well!). There was also a Photoshop magazine, which is not what I wanted so Duane was shipped back to the news agency to exchange it. he was under strict instructions to swap it for a Digital SLR one, but still managed to come home with another editing book - Finally got it right the 3rd time.

We were supposed to be going out for a nice lunch at the Golf Club, but a couple of corroded spark plugs nipped that in the bud. A bit of pleading and a guilt trip and our new mechanic went to work for the day to fix it all up for us. So Duane spent most of my day hanging out in the mechanics waiting room whilst I cleaned up at home in readiness for the afternoon tea that Duane had organised. I'm sure it was a scam for him to get out of cleaning.

Anyway, he made it home by 1.30pm, just in time for everyone to start arriving at 2pm. I really couldn't be bothered doing anything for my birthday, so it was nice to have a little surprise and also to have Duane organise everything (well except the cleaning!). He had organised a huge seafood platter, date scones and my absolute favourite cheesecake - Apple Crumble from the Cheesecake shop. So naughty, but oh so Yummy!

I was absolutely spoilt with presents. I now have a gorgeous tan handbag, Pandora "sister" charm, Luis Vuitton silver coin purse, set of lip glosses, some body shop hand creams, Coles/Myer vouchers, new handmade earrings, photo frame and a Michelle's Patisserie mini Chocolate mud cake which I need to get some vanilla ice cream so I can devour it.

It was such a lovely relaxing day. The kids all played happily together whilst the parents got to sit around chatting and eating. Perfect.

Sunday morning was a bright and early start as we were heading down to Brunswick Heads for the day with the Truets. We left here around 8am, just enough time for sleepy head Xav to wake, get dressed and shovel down his weetbix. The rest of us had been up since 6.30am packing eskies and getting everything ready.

The car was fine for the first few minutes, until we hit a hill. Then it starting splattering, missing and loosing grunt. I text my younger petrol head brother and he suspected it was the leads. I wasn't too worried, cause I had already dealt with split leads a few years ago and just got some young guy at Repco to change them over for me. I figured if on the way down to Brunswick it was still playing up we would just buy the leads and then my non-mechanically minded husband cold pop the boot thingy, fiddle with all the leads to work out which ones are the right ones, step back and ponder, fiddle a bit more, poke and prod then declare he has no idea. Then we'd just have to find someone to change them.

We drove a little further, wiling to the car not to conk out as it spluttered up the hills. I then remembered back to a little trick I was told to do if your leads are starting to split, tape them up with electrical tape! So we pulled into Pottsville, bought our tape and went Magyver Style on the leads. It worked and we had a smooth ride for the rest of the trip.

We spent the morning in beautiful Brunswick Heads. The dads took the kids to the beach whilst Nicole and I went looking for holiday houses to rent. We found a perfect street, close to the surf beach and the calm kid beach, also a nice easy walk to all the shops. We've booked a week stay for the end of March and I can't wait.

Nicole and I then headed to the beach and spent an hour or so floating around in the beautiful water. The kids dug in the sand and flittered around the waters edge, under the watchful eyes of their Daddies. Afterwards we headed up to the playground with some yummy fish n chips and enjoyed a picnic lunch. The kids were exhausted by this stage, so we loaded up the car and headed home.

It was a beautiful weekend. Can't wait for the end of the month to go back down there.

Tag debut

Yipeee......I've got my very first tag!

Thanks to Ave for tagging me - hopefully this will break me out of my blogging funk at the moment.

The rules:

1. Go to the section of your computer where you store all of your photos.

2. Select the 6th folder.

3. Select the 6th photo from that folder.

4. Post and explain about that picture.

5. Tag 6 other people.

My photo:

I am just thankful that it was the 6th photo I needed to put up, otherwise it would have been a very unflattering and graphic picture of me bringing my little boy into the world!

Anyway about this pic. It was taken on 3.59am on the 17th/07/2007, easily one of the best days in my life. Xav was actually born 8 minutes later at 4.07am.

I had been in the bath for about 10 minutes, after going into transition in the shower. I had planned all along on having a water birth, so as soon as it was full I was in. Oh, to be weightless and surrounded by warm, comforting water - Perfect.

Not long after getting in the water a familiar grunt escaped from my mouth. I knew exactly what that was, but didn't possible think that it was that time yet. Moments later it happened again and there was now no denying it - I was pushing. The anicipation was mounting, it would be soon that we would meet our brand new baby. My waters had just broken in the water, I was slightly disapointed as I was hoping for him to be born in the caul.

Duane was in the water with me, splashing my exposed skin with the soothing warm water. Mum was there rubbing my back and offering sips of water in between contractions. Tracey, my gorgeous midwife, was just watching, completely hands of and just encouraging me to do what ever I wanted to. Trude was being my official papparazzi, capturing everything whilst also offering motivation from the sidelines.. I was surrounded by people that I completely trusted. My mind and body was at it's most vulnerable, yet I was comfortable and calm.

It looks really bright in the pic but the lights were off and the only lights on were coming from the spa and the flash from the camera. Everyone was calm and relaxed as we waited for the pushing contractions to intensify, and for his little head to be visible. It wasn't much longer, another 8 minutes and he was completely out. Just magic.

This photo takes me straight back there. I was strong, powerful and fully in control of birthing my boy. I was superwoman for the day!

Now, I don't have 6 people to tag so I'll have to make do with 3.

Konnie

Charli

Beck