Gracie-isms!

~Grace Lily 2year 2months~

My little princess is a very quirky little character.

I just wanted to note down a few of her funny little things.

Headstands - Grace has been doing these for ages. It's like she does it when she doesn't know what else to do. She does it as a tantrum, when she's bored, when she gets excited, for attention or just whenever!

She has progressed to doing it with no hands now, and then flipping herself over. It's a little scary to watch, but she hasn't hurt herself yet so I just let her go!

Breastfeeding - My little girl has been breastfeeding for the last 7 months! Quite the achievment hey! She is all for demand feeding, that is making the dolly's feed when Gracie demands it. She sets them all up on the pillow, takes her top down and pops them on. She'll sit there for ages with her little dolly firmly planted on her chest. Sometimes she has this look on her face, kinda like she doesn't want to be breast feeding, but it's the right thing to do! So cute.

I actually love seeing her doing it though. We talk about when she was feeding and how she used to have Mummy's milk. We were lucky enough to feed up until she self weaned at 16 months and me being 30 weeks preggars with Xavier.

I wonder if she remembers? She still loves to cuddle up to me in the feeding position and "pretend" she is feeding.

I want her to grow up realising that breastfeeding is truely beautiful and normal. It is one of the things that I have cherished with both of my children, I love feeding them.

~Breastfeeding dolly~

Stealing the dog food - Yes my child eats dog food. I guess it is good quality vet stuff, but still it can't be that tasty. Every night Daddy and Grace go out the back to feed the dogs. Grace sets up the dog bowls on the ground, then pours a cup in each bowl. She then crouches down to Lily as if she just talking to her, she slips her hand in the bowl grabs a handful then runs to the clothesline. EVERYTIME!!! She turns around to look at Daddy then slips the yummy beef flavoured treats in her mouth. I guess its become a little bit of a game now, but she is so quick and looks so cheeky as she munches away. The dogs don't seem to mind sharing though, I guess they know that she'll always slip them something later!!

Food - Well apart from the dog food Grace is a real foodie! She loves such a variety of food and is always willing to give new things a try. She doesn't have much junk food and fills up on lots of healthy stuff. She loves snacking on a plate of olives or just eating an avocado like an apple. She adores salmon and tuna and would eat it every night! Rice cakes with cream cheese are a favorite as is any other type of cracker. She's not too keen on lettuce or carrot, but she loves most other vegies so missing out on those 2 wont hurt her!

Living the high life - It seems my little girl already likes living it up! Every Sunday morning Daddy and Grace head up to the Golf club for a "baby cino" and to have a few putts. Daddy is a greenkeeper there and is also lucky enough to have a membership to the exclusive course. Grace loves driving the golf cart around looking at the "roos" and "duckies". Then they go to the practice green and practice their putting. Grace has her own special little bronze putter and Daddy says that she is improving. To top the morning off they go into the clubhouse for a coffee and pancakes. Grace gets a special little baby cino, and she thinks that she is so grown up drinking it! She has met lots of well known people up there, but she just takes it all in her stride.

Daycare woes

Wel it's tuesday! This is my day to get things done that I can't do with a toddler.

I've done some cleaning, groceries and washing. Now it's the countdown waiting until I can go pick Grace up.

This is Grace's 4th day at daycare, the first few were fine but now she is getting really upset. It started today when we drove into the carpark. All the way in the car we were talking about "school" and all of the fun things that she will get to do. She seemed ok, and just kept saying, "Mummy take Grace school, Mummy bye" and also "No Xavier, my school"

So I thought that today would be a good day, even though she didn't go last week because she was sick.

We walked down the hall and she just clung to my leg, sobbing and saying "Mummy home, Mummy home"

It was heart wrenching, how could I leave my little girl so distressed?

I had a chat to Norma and she suggested that she comes another day as to her every Tuesday is just like starting a new day every week. I'm not really comfortable with that, I only need 1 day to do what I want & to spend time with Xavier. She then said maybe take her out and try again in 6 months.

I decided that I'll see how she goes today and maybe next week then reassess it from there. I have in the back of my mind that if it doesn't work it doesn't matter! I don't need her to go, it's just nice to have the break.

I stayed with her until she calmed down then left. She stayed fairly calm and Norma let her look out the front and wave goodbye, she seemed to be ok.

Norma called about an hour later and said that she seemed to be coping well and she would call if she started crying or getting upset. I waited and waited but no call, so I called about 12.15! She was all tucked up in bed having a snooze. She has been fine.

I guess we will see how she goes when she wakes up, thats the test! It's now 1.15pm and I haven't had a call, so hopefully all is fine.

I really wish that I had a someone that could have her 1 day a week. I would much prefer her with someone close to our family, but its not to be! My good friend Tim has had her a few times and she has a ball with him! Maybe I can con him into having her every fortnight!!

Ohhhh just got the call. She had a sleep for an hour and woke up fine. All the other kids are asleep and she is just doing some quiet activities.

I am so relieved that she was fine today.......looks like I might get Tuesday's to spend with my little boy after all!!

7 Months old

Ok who stole the last 7 months???

My littliest bubba is 7 months old today. I honestly can not comprehend how the time could go so quickly.

He is such a beautiful little boy and we are all so in love with him.

I thought I would just give a little bit of an update on what his up to at the moment.



Xavier is crawling everywhere and pulling himself up. He has a mad addiction to cords, remotes and the TV. He seems to go super fast if he sees any of these, and tries so hard to get there before Mummy. He still has trouble getting back down once he has pulled himself up. At the moment he is going for the "just let go and see what happens" approach. Sometimes it works and he just falls on to his hands but more often than not it ends in tears. He is often tumbling from the Tv cabinet or Grace's little table. He can also get himself from crawling to sitting, so clever!

He loves tags, labels, catalogues and handbags. Well the handbags he mainly sucks on the straps, but oh so cute when my little boy is playing with a bright pink handbag with "princess" printed on it! He also loves playing matchbox cars with Grace. He's a real boy and loves taking one in each hand and smashing them together, so no way will he be borrowing the family car!

Grace is also one of Xavier favourite toys! She always manages to get him either belly laughing.....or crying. See my little boy is a bit of an "easy target" or as his Dad would say "big girls blouse" He frightens so easily. He gets so engrossed in things and if he is startled the bottom lip drops and it's all tears. Grace does a crocodile thing with her hands and snaps at him with her hands, sometimes he loves it and sometimes it all too scary for my little man.

He is still enjoying his boobie about 4-5 times per day. Only quick feeds but we both enjoy the quiet time together. Xavier has also taken to soilds just as keenly as his big sister. He went straight to finger foods and lumps, none of this baby mush for him! His menu at the moment consists of peaches, bananas, nectarines, potato, sweet potato, pumpkin,brocoll, rice, rolled oats, cruskits, wholemeal bread, carrots, natural yoghurt and zucchini. It all sounds a little bland but he loves it! He's a funny little eater though. After he has a spoonfull he pops either his thumb or toes into his mouth..makes for alot of mess!

Xavier is a great little sleeper. We just pop him into bed, on his tummy with his dummy and he goes off to sleep. Sometimes he has a little sing and I have to give him a pat, but 80% of the time he goes straight to sleep. He is a good sleeper overnight, well not really at the moment because of his cold. The kids have a bath at 5pm, Xavier has boobie at 5.30pm and then plays until 6pm and then into bed. He sometimes stirs overnight, but goes back to sleep by himself. We have a little rule, if he wakes after 4am he gets to come into bed with Mummy for milk and a sleep in our bed. It works well and I love the cuddles. He sleeps until about 5.30am then has his first sleep at about 7.30am, usually for about 1 hour. His next sleep is when Grace goes to bed, so about 11am. This one is Mummy's favourite, both kids sleep for about 1hour 2omins. They both wake at exactly the same time from this sleep. It's not like they wake each other up, cause When Grace wakes she just comes out to me and doesn't make a noise. And when Xavier wakes he usually just sings to himself.

Xavier has said Mum a few times, nothing else that we can make out though! He mainly just blows rasperries and chats in his own little language.

He has two cute little teeth down the bottom and the point of a top one. Lets hope the top ones hurry up, I think they are a bit painful for him at the moment!

Well thats a snapshot into the life of my little son.

Xavier, we all love you so much. You have bought so much into our little family and we have all just fallen head over heals for you.

Sick of being sick!

We are all a bunch of sickies at the moment!

We all have head colds & the kids have a few extra's thrown in for good measure.

Grace has another urinary tract infection. It the 3rd one that she has had. With the UTI she also gets a horrible green snotty nose. Apparantly its that infection coming out another way! She also has a constant barking cough.

I fell bad that I didn't pick up on the UTI earlier. She was sick last week, but all the symptoms were pointing towards a cold. I just put it down to another dose of the daycare disease, but then on the weekend she started screaming when she was going to the toilet. I had a look at her vagina was bright red and slightly blistered. Poor little thing must have been in so much pain weeing.

I had a urine sample jar at home so I caught the next wee and made an appointment at the Dr. I couldn't get into our lovely lady Dr, but got into another one but not until 4.30pm. Duane was working (well playing golf!!) so I would have to deal with 2 kids in a busy waiting room.

It started off ok, Grace was sitting on the chair playing nicely and Xavier was just hanging out in his pram. Well then they started to get restless. 4.30pm is a ratty time anyway, let alone trying to keep them amused in a Dr's surgery.

I gave Xavier some cruskits, which kept him quiet and contained. Grace was a little harder. She just wanted to run around & talk to everyone. She made friends with a couple of the people waiting, chatting to them about her brother and anything else that she could think off.

Then she must have got sick of waiting & me telling her that we would be seeing the Dr soon. She started yelling out "Doctor, Doctor Lady" very, very loudly. At this stage Xavier had finished all his cruskits and was wanting a feed. There was no way he was getting it though, imagine me running around after Grace trying to feed Xavier at the same time!! So I just kept plugging the dummy in!

Grace must know have been getting very impatient, she started knocking at going into the Dr's rooms. I dragged her back and tried to get her to sit still, but she wanted to run, run, run! Once she even made it as far as the automatic double doors which lead straight onto the road!!!

So after about 1 HOUR...we finally get in to the Dr.

First off he said that it probably wasn't a UTI, but maybe thrush. So he sent the sample into the nurse to run through the tester thingy!

Bingo....UTI!

So back into the Dr's to get some A/b's. Then struggle into the chemist to get the script filled.

Well Xavier wasn't sick at that stage but that night it came on fast. He woke at about 10pm moaning and seemed to be in pain. He sounded all snuffly, so I bought him into our bed. All night he grizzled and coughed....my poor little baby.

Duane & I had a horrible nights sleep. So it was lovely to wake up in the morning and Duane had called in sick to work! Yay, he was going to look after us!

We had a lazy day just watching Dvd's and hanging around at home. Xavier was getting croakier and his cough seemed to move to his chest, so back off to the Dr's.

He seems to just have a lower respitary viral infection, which he just needs to ride out with panadol & lots of booby!

My lovely Dr (Dr Drew) also wants me to get another sample from Grace to double check that she does have a UTI. Bugger, it was so hard to get the first one, and now she is scared to wee and doesn't seem to know that she is doing it. If it is one, she'll be sent of for an ultrasound and the 'dye through the veins' test. Its to check for kidney reflux.

Xavier had another shocker last night. He spent most of the night in with me again. I hope that he doesn't get too comfy with us though, as much as I love snuggling up to him he is a shocker to sleep with. I pity his poor wife!! For a little baby he somehow manages to take up the majority of our king bed! I'm sure that once he feels better he'll be fine back in his bed, but when my kids are sick I like to have them close.

Anyway today was another trip to the Dr. Well not our Dr but the Pead at the Hospital. It was a follow up appointment for Xavier and his pee-pee.

Xavier was born with a retracted penis that was also partially circumsised. The Dr's were very interested in it when he was born, it's like a natural circumsision. There is no way I would have had it done, but if thats how its grown, so be it!

Anyway they wanted me to have it checked when he was 6 months just to double check that it was straight and that he was peeing ok (that the hole was in the right place!)

So anyway today it was back to the hospital for the check & everything is perfect! I thought that there was a little more extra skin now, but the surgeon said that it all looks good and works well so they would suggest to just leave it. I was very happy with this decision, I didn't want anyone taking a pair of scissors to my precious little bubba.

My kids just like having something a bit different! Grace has the funny ear thing. One of her ears is missing part of her lobe. They think that she may have had her hand on her ear when they were forming and just grew around it! Not sure if this is right or not, but it's kinda cool. She also has a dodgy rib. 2 of her ribs are fused together and there is a big gap beween some of the ribs. She had to have x-rays every 3 months when she was little, just to check that no organs or anything were adhering to the ribs. Now she just has to have one every year...which reminds me she is due now.

I also got to catch up with lovely midwife Tracey today. I love being around her, she is such a lovely person. Seeing her also brings back all the wonderful memories from Xaviers birth. Although she played such a big part in my pregnancy, when it came to my labour she let us do it all ourself. She has also inspired me to apply for Bach of Midwifery in 2010. I'll write all about that another time though.

On the Move!

My little boy has started crawling forward!

He has been rocking on his hands and knees for ages but so far has only managed to go in circles or go backwards. Well today he has started to slowly creep forward.

Things are not safe now. It's not just my things that I have to keep out of his way, but also all Grace's stuff. Geez this is going to be hard!

Well this morning Grace woke up a little bit upset. She has a horrible cough and a runny nose. No doubt its another case of the dreaded "daycare disease"

She felt so rotten today that she fell asleep in the lounge at about 8am. When she woke I made her breakfast, just the usual. 2 vita-brits with fruit and milk. She had a little then left on her little pull out couch. She wanted to go to the toilet so I moved Xavier to a safe place in the lounge, then took her.

Well he went very quiet, which is unusual for my little squeely boy. So we went back in and this is what we found:

~Enjoying his first taste of Vita-britz, fruit & milk~

Makeover

Well this morning I was awoken by Mr X wanting a boobie call. It was 4.30am so I just bought him into my our bed, snuggled down and gave him a feed.

I had just drifted off to sleep when I heard Grace start calling out, "Daddy, Daddy" I waited and she came into my room, but without her night nappy on! So I took her off to the toilet and then we all went back to my bed for a snuggle. I was tired and desperately wanted to have a little sleep in.

With all the rain that we had yesterday Duane thought that the bridge to work would be underwater and he would get the day off! I was clinging to this, so I sent Grace out to get my phone for me. I wanted to know if Duane was coming home and I could go back to bed!

Grace was a while and I started to get a little suspicious. She finally came back up to the bedroom. Looking like this:

~Grace after her "makeover"~

I am actually quite impressed that she got the lipstick even in the vicinity of her lips! I never wear makeup, so I have no idea how she knew where to put it! She had found one of my only lipsticks in an old handbag!

Doesn't she look gorgeous though......pity it was 5am in the morning and I had to get out of bed to clean her up because she had it all over her hands too!

Duane never did get to finish work early, so it was an early start for us!

My first time.....

Well I have taken the plunge and started a BLOG!

Not really sure why, just felt the urge to I guess! I write a diary now, but I thought that it might be nice to have something to share with friends and family. Also I am always nervous that something will happen to my diary and I would hate to lose it all (I type it in a word document.)

I hope to write about all the special moments with my little cherubs, and of course all the not so nice moments! I might even get motivated and drag over some of my special diary entries!

Ok...so this was just a quick one, mainly so my page didn't look so blank!