On November 30th, we decided to hold Eliza's dedication. It was a lovely time with family and friends coming together to stand with us and support James and I as we raise Eliza (and Daniel). We held a little afternoon tea followed by the dedication at church. It was great to have Malcolm and Julie fly down from Hervey Bay to join us. Daniel and Eliza had a great time with Nana J and Boompa over the weekend.
Chatting with Grannie, Aunty Shirley and Great-Boompa
Daniel and Oscar had a great time playing together
4 generations of Noble
After the afternoon tea we headed to church so Eliza's dedication. After a few songs and announcements we were invited up onto stage by Andrew. It was lovely to have him dedicate her. Eliza did so well. She had been awake since 3 (normally she wakes up at 4/4:30) so I was very surprised that she hadn't cracked it.
Jenny came up to pray for Eliza. Just like Daniel did, Eliza was very interested in the microphone. She tried to eat it while Jens prayed for her, and managed to pull off the cover.
Daniel found this hilarious! "La is being cheeky" he repeatedly said, whilst laughing a lot. This also had people in the congregation look up and see her and also joined in with laughing. As Jenny prayed for her, we do thank God for her cheekiness. She then went for the microphone again as Andrew prayed for her and blessed her.
A future worship leader in the making maybe? I do hope and pray that Eliza will grow up to know how much God loves her. I pray that she will feel his love and care through James and I as we raise her. I pray that as she grows up, that she will come to the stage where she will choose to love God with all her heart, soul, mind and strength. To know that Jesus loves her so much that He died on the cross to save her from her sins and that he rose again from the dead 3 days later. I pray that she will choose to have a relationship with Him and that she will grow to love and serve God each and every day. Please God, help James and I as we raise Eliza and Daniel.
Yet again it has been a while between blogging. I have been busy most nights with doing the quiet book so haven't really sat down to do the blog. Anyway, here is another catch up of what has been going on.
Daniel has been growing in confidence when doing actions while we sing different songs at the library and at home. He enjoys clapping, singing and dancing. Here he is doing actions to one of the Playschool songs.
Wahroonga Park is a place that we have enjoyed going to for many years. Recently they updated the playground and the new equipment is great. Daniel just loves the swings. He was started to learn how to swing himself. He doesn't do it all the time and he mostly needs a push but I'm very proud of him for giving it a go.
Eliza hasn't been on a swing before so we thought it would be good to have a go as the swings are made for babies. Daniel first wanted to give Eliza a hug on the swing.
Then we decided she could try sitting on his lap for a bit of a swing.
Then we decided to give her a go on her own. She absolutely loved it!
Daniel then decided that he wanted to have a go at pushing Eliza. He was pushing it a lot stronger than we were doing but she still really enjoyed it.
Daniel and Eliza both love going for walks and I have loved being able to go for a walk and a chat with my friend Anne each week. Unfortunately she heads back to work in the new year, but I am hoping to still go for walks with the kids (come on motivation!). I am very fortunate that Daniel and Eliza both love being in the pram. Daniel enjoys looking up to Eliza or playing with her feet. Here he is doing 'This Little Piggy' to her while she is sitting in the pram. Normally when she isn't in the pram there are lots of giggles and smiles.
Whilst eating dinner Eliza has started to do the cutest little head tilt. She can sometimes do it on cue, but she also just enjoys doing it while eating. I just love it!
I just love watching Daniel and Eliza play together. Sometimes Daniel's quite possessive and tells Eliza "No, Eliza. Don't touch that". Or "Eliza, that's mine" but then other moments, he is great at sharing with her. In this picture Daniel just got one of the books and sat down next to her and started to 'read' to her. So sweet!
The love of playing the keyboard is continuing with Eliza :-)
We headed back to Wahroonga Park with the Howies, Kate and Sam. It was a lovely lunch time. Jenny decided that it was time for Eliza to have a turn on a large swing with Daniel and Oscar. She did hold on for dear life but seemed to love it.
Eliza just loves getting hugs from Daniel. She also loves it when Daniel puts his head on her lap. She always grabs a handful of his hair and pulls. Fortunately Daniel doesn't seem to mind at the moment. Her grip already is pretty strong. Hopefully it doesn't get too much stronger.
Eliza has started to be a tummy sleeper. After months of not rolling over, she started to learn the skill in her cot. I don't know if it's easier because it's on a mattress or what, but she rolls over each time we put her down, the same as Daniel used to do.
Eliza is growing up too quickly! We finally got around to going to shop for a new car seat for Daniel. This way Eliza can move out of the capsule, into Daniel's seat - rearward facing. It's pretty crazy how quickly she is growing up, but it's good. She is happy in her new carseat and so is Daniel. She is also happy in the pram seat.
The new pram look
Happy in their new carseats
Eliza has increased her babbling. Her main word (or sound) to say is "Dadda". I have at times said "Dadda's at work". Now Daniel responds to Eliza saying "Dadda's at work, Eliza". Pretty cute.
We had moved Daniel from brushing his teeth in his bedroom to the bathroom. He is so excited to stand up on his stool (which he sets up on his own) and brush. The most exciting part though is to spit into the basin. I was nervous that the spitting would move to food or drinking, but fortunately he just associates it with brushing teeth.
I was playing with Eliza by throwing a ball/block to her. I was quite impressed by her reflexes to catch. Clever girl.
Daniel has started to play his keyboard while singing different songs. I just love watching his development and growth. As you can see at the end of this video, he's pretty happy with himself.
After Daniel and Eliza's nap (around 4:30) we hopped into the car to head around to the Howies' house. Around halfway there Daniel called out 'It's burning'. He says things like 'it's hot' when he talks about the sun shining on him while he's in the car so I just said 'Yes, the sun is hot'. But then he was vomiting everywhere and crying. I immediately pulled over and got out of the car as he was sick again. I called James to let him know and got the wipes out of the bag to try and clean him up. He was very upset (as you'd expect) and there was stuff everywhere so I decided to head home and give him a bath and then clean him up at home. Windows down, Daniel had calmed down a little bit, and we headed home. I called Jens on the way to let her know that we wouldn't be going as Daniel had just been sick which she was appreciative of.
When we got home I brought Eliza inside (fortunately she was pretty happy hanging out in the capsule), started to run the bath and then got Daniel out of his seat. He had settled down but was still upset at having sick all on him. I stripped him down outside and then he walked inside to the bath. After a rinse he then got out and had a cuddle. I dried him off and got him dressed, hoping it was just a one off. He was chatting like his normal self and moving around the place until he was in the kitchen and told me 'It's burning Mummy' and then he was sick again. Poor little guy. I was holding him until he settled down, gave him some water to rinse out his mouth and cleaned him up. James arrived home and started to clean out the car (I tried but just couldn't cope with the smell). Talking with him I heard Daniel start to cry again in the back room, yep he'd just been sick again. I ran to hold him and he just clung to me, crying. We cleaned up the mess (James was so amazing with rushing back in each time he heard Daniel be sick to help clean up) and just sat with Daniel cuddling me. We then gave him a bit of water to help him feel better.
As he settled down I told him to let me know if his tummy started to burn again, just so we could be ready. Pretty soon after he started to get upset and was then sick again. I gave him another bath as he got a fair bit on himself and he was pretty content just laying in the water. We left him in there while he was happy. After his bath I again dried him and within a few minutes the poor guy was sick again. I tried to have him be sick in the toilet but he got quite distressed at that telling me 'No Mummy. When I'm older' (we've been talking about toilet training and saying when he's a big boy he will use the toilet) so I just kept going back to the kitchen as I knew the floor was easy to clean there. The poor guy was not keeping any water down and he had vomited up basically everything he'd eaten that day (gross I know). James and I were getting pretty worried about him being dehydrated as he'd been at the park in the morning for 3hours, the weather had been very hot and now he wasn't keeping any water down. When he'd been sick for the 8th time James and I decided that we'd take him to the hospital just to be on the safe side. I was so worried about putting him to bed as I didn't want him to be sick there. All Daniel wanted to do was head to bed (something he never volunteers to do! Mr Procrastination) so it was very out of the ordinary for him. We called up Dad, who was more than happy to come around and sit here incase Eliza woke up, and took a bottle out of the freezer. We then called up the Heath Direct number (such a wonderful source) to see what their advice was. Daniel was just next to me, lying on my lap, moving around. Part way through the call he was sick again so I had to put the phone down and just hold him. James took over the phone call and kept chatting with the nurse. They said that it could be treated at home but definitely if he deteriorated, had dry nappies, or continued to be sick then he'd need to see a doctor. They told us to just give him small sips of water (which Daniel was wanting a lot more) and hopefully that would stay down. The lady was very helpful but after the phone call he was sick again and it was quite mucussy. We decided to take him to emergency as we didn't want him getting dehydrated and he was also being very lethargic just before being sick - eyes rolling around, floppy on my lap, etc. It was also 7pm and he normally is in bed at 6:30 so he was very tired! We felt we were probably being melodramatic, but we felt it was best to be safe as this was new territory.
We headed to the hospital and Daniel was sick again in the car. James parked in the drop off bay and we went into triage. The nurse asked us different questions and was shocked that he'd been sick 10 times since 4:30, saying 'wow, so a decent amount'. There was roughly a 2 hour wait to see a doctor but they were organising a bed for him. While in the waiting room, Daniel was sick again. He was so tired but wouldn't go to sleep. He just wanted to be on me, in my arms. James parked the car and came back and we waited. A nurse took us through to a room and gave us half an anti-nausea tablet that would dissolve in his mouth. This tablet is one that is normally used after chemo treatment for patients (so a strong drug) but they had found that giving it to children who were vomiting excessively helped avoid the majority of patients being put onto a drip. When we put it in (with a lot of difficulty) he was then sick again so that didn't work. She decided to try the other half in a bit of water and gave it to him using a syringe. He was happy to have that (fortunately he loves having panadol that way). She told us to wait 15mins and then give him a syringe of water every 15mins after that and see how it goes. We had to note down when he had water and if he was sick. That medication was AMAZING! He was not sick again (until much later). Daniel didn't want to lie on the bed. He didn't want to go to James, he just wanted to be with me sitting up in my arms. Kinda nice to be needed that way, but also really hard as I don't like him being sick, I don't like sick being on me, I don't like being around sick. Each time we told Daniel to just close his eyes and have a rest he'd say no, even when he was exhausted. He wanted to drink more water but we couldn't let him. The poor guy didn't understand. We read a couple of books, looked at the pictures on the wall, talked about the mobiles hanging up, sang a lot of nursery rhymes and songs, chatted about lots of things. Daniel did so well. Another nurse came and asked us to get a urine sample so we sat there with his nappy open holding the little cup. The poor guy was so dehydrated, that never happened. They wanted it to check for an infection. Eventually a doctor came to visit and was glad that Daniel hadn't been sick again since having the tablet at 8. He checked Daniel's ears and they were fine. He checked Daniel's temp and that was fine. He checked Daniel's pulse and that was fine. He listened to his chest and that was fine. Daniel wouldn't let him check his throat, but the doctor was ok with that. They put some 'special stickers' on Daniel's hands just incase they needed to put in a drip (but Daniel didn't know that was the reason so was happy to have the stickers). Around 10:30 Daniel had some diarrhea (which unfortunately the nappy didn't catch - lucky Mummy) so they were pretty sure that it was a bad case of gastro. Worst case it can hang around for 2 weeks (no thank you!). He said we had 2 options - 1. We could take him home (he hadn't been sick for the few hours since the tablet) and he can sleep in his bed. Take the tablets and give him 1/2 a tablet 3 times a day as that seemed to work. 2. We stay at the hospital and hook him up to a drip to get the fluids back into him.
Just as the doctor was saying this, Daniel was sick again :( We asked him what he suggested and he said he would take Daniel home, give him another tablet and hopefully he would sleep it off. Give him little sips of water and in the morning just give him some dry foods - weetbix, crackers, etc. Daniel clung to me on the way home and fell asleep in the car seat straight away. He was so tired, the poor little guy. When we got home, Daniel was still so tired. We woke him long enough to give him 1/2 a tablet and change his nappy. Then we tried to have him go to bed. The poor little guy just lay on the ground, put his head on his hands and wouldn't move. I ended up picking him up, putting him into bed (with towels on it just incase) and he rolled over and went to sleep. It was now midnight. I climbed into bed and then Eliza woke up. I fed her and Daniel woke up a couple of times during that. James went into him and just settled him. After I fed Eliza he again woke up unsettled. I went into him, gave him a hug and then he rolled over and went to sleep. He then slept until 6am where we woke up, called out for me and then fell back to sleep. At 7:10 he got up and came into our room to say hi.
Today, Daniel has been a lot better. He's been able to keep water down, he's had 1/4 piece of toast and a few crackers so his appetite hasn't been there but he's been able to keep it down. He's been a bit clingy but also shown normal Daniel responses. Thank goodness he's a lot better.
I now totally understand how they say when you need to cope with vomit, you tend to be able to when it's your kids. I don't normally cope when someone's sick. I can't stomach it. Yesterday I had Daniel be sick on me, had him go to the toilet on me and I survived. It was hard. It was scary. It was full on, but I needed to be strong for Daniel and I did it. James said he was proud of me for coping. But definitely don't want to have it happen again some time soon!
Now just hoping that we will be able to avoid it too. So far so good!
So sorry that I'm (again!!) falling behind on blogging. Time just doesn't seem to be on my side. James went away for 2 weeks (with 1 week home inbetween) and while the kids were pretty great, I was exhausted come the end of it. Each week it took me until Wednesday to feel energised again. It really made me appreciate having a husband who helps out with the kids at night times (I know that I'm very blessed with that!).
I've also started a project of making a quiet book for the kids which is also taking up time (I will do a different post of that as it progresses). I'm quite excited about this project and can't wait to see the end product, but again I would love to have more time to be able to sit and do it as I just want to see the end product. So yeah, sorry for falling behind on blogging again. Hopefully I will be able to get on top of it all.
As a result, this post will be a lot of photos and videos (which I think tell more than my words do a lot of the time) with a little bit of writing. Also, apologies if any videos double up. I don't really know how to keep track of what videos I have written about and which ones I haven't yet so yeah, I might double up. Lucky my kids are cute! ;-) I just love having sleepy cuddles with Eliza. I know that I have mentioned it before but they are just so precious. I love that she feels comfortable enough to fall asleep in my arms. I love that she feels secure enough to stay asleep in my arms. I love the warm fuzzies that it gives me to have that precious time.
It amazes me how Daniel learns and picks up different skills. He is definitely a visual learner but can also follow instructions pretty well. After going to the Swans and watching some AFL on tv, Daniel started to spin the ball in his hands, just like some of the players do before they take a kick. He isn't confident yet to do a drop kick though. He always has to place it on the ground first.
Daniel's sporting skills are going pretty well. He is often very accurate with his direction in throwing, kicking and hitting. I do hope that he enjoys playing sport as he grows up.
I am loving seeing Eliza's personality come out more and more each day. She is such a cutie. Here we are playing 'peek-a-boo'. I think she enjoyed playing it.
Eliza has been doing well with drinking ebm from a bottle. It took a while but I'm so glad that we persisted. While I love breastfeeding, it is nice to have the option of a bit of freedom and to have times without the kids. Daniel decided to help James feed Eliza the bottle one night at Nana and Poppy's place.
Eliza is doing well with her eating. She happily opens her mouth to get the food. She hasn't really shown a dislike towards any food at the moment which is good. She is also pretty clear when she has had enough as she won't open her mouth for more food.
I'm good at eating, what's it to you?
James has introduced me to 'Pandora Radio' on the iPhone. I am loving listening to the music and choosing different stations to listen to based upon the artists that I enjoy. One that I've really enjoyed (as daggy as it is) is Beach Boys. I feel like I'm in an 80s diner listening to it, it's great! One of the songs that came up is 'Let's Twist Again'. I taught Daniel how to do the twist, it's pretty cute! I love his different dance moves.
James has had a couple of weeks away with work. One week was Fiji, another was up north to Armidale area. I love that technology has come so far that Daniel and Eliza are able to chat with James over FaceTime. It makes it so much easier for Daniel to chat and for Eliza to respond in some way.
Hi Daddy!
One of Daniel's favourite FaceTime games is 'Where's Daddy?'. James covers the camera for a few seconds, then takes his finger away and says 'boo!'. It always makes Daniel burst out in laughter. Eliza doesn't seem so sure about it though.
Daniel just loves reading. When we put him to bed, he gets up and lies in bed reading until he goes to sleep, most nights. After he wakes in the morning or after nap time he gets some books, climbs back into bed and reads. Often in the mornings if we walk in, this is how we find him.
Reading time
It is pretty sweet that 7 months since giving birth to Eliza, Daniel still pretends to breastfeed Christopher.
Time is busy but it is always nice to fit in a time of hanging out with Auntie Jenny and Oscar. We had a lovely time at the park, playing, rumbling, running around.
Daniel's eating is still going well. I don't think there's a food that he's said no to regularly (he does have some nights where he decides he doesn't like some things, even though he had it the night before fine). He does however, make a lovely mess when he eats, often on his face. After eating spaghetti bollegnaise one night, I told him that he looked like he had a beard like Daddy.
Bedtimes is still one of my favourite times of the day. While it takes a very long time some nights and Daniel is very good at procrastination, I do love reading stories with him, reading the Bible and saying prayers. It is a special time.
James has always loved to scare Daniel. Ever since he was little he has enjoyed sneaking up on him, saying boo, tickling him out of the blue, etc. Here is a video of one of the times scaring Daniel and as you can see, he loves it!
Eliza is starting to find her voice. She is making lots of sequels and sounds. I can't wait for her to start to say words and hear her speaking voice.
Daniel has found a love of puzzles, which I am very happy about as I love doing puzzles too. He has enjoyed playing with the puzzles that Nan gave him for his birthday and also enjoys the puzzles that Nana found and gave to us. I can't wait for him to get older and to be able to sit down and do a puzzle together. He is so proud of himself when he fits a piece in by himself.
Daniel was pretty excited to wear his thongs for the first time. Yay for Summer coming. It makes going to swimming a lot easier too as he can walk in and out on his own instead of carrying him.
Eliza might not roll over very much (really, at all) and she can't crawl yet, but she is good at wriggling down her mat. Cheeky girl.
As I mentioned before, Daniel loves to read. When he wakes up in the morning, if we're still in bed he will run back to his room, get his stool and some books and climb into bed with us to read...
Or read in the back room...
Or read to Eliza...
Or just reading to himself...
Here is a video of Daniel reading his Play School book with James while we were away at the Blue Mountains. He is so proud when he reads 'on his own'.
Eliza is growing up all too quickly. I can't believe it. I am loving her wearing cute little dresses though and it will continue as she grows up. :-)
Eliza is pretty cheeky. She is learning about table manners
but then smiles and gets away with it.
Bathurst weekend has been and gone. Daniel missed the opportunity to wear the v8 suit that we have, however, Eliza just fit into it on the most important weekend for car racers. Daddy was pretty impressed.
She then joined the boys in watching the car race. Daniel decided to go get his couch so he could sit on it and watch.
Daniel has learnt to bounce and catch a ball and he's pretty happy about it too.
I just love Eliza's giggles and laughs. Often they come up when she is sitting in her highchair. It is pretty contageous.
She is often laughing at Daniel for different reasons and he loves her laughing at him. It is such a special bond that these 2 have.
Eliza is now having big baths. Again, she is growing up too quickly. She is fortunately enjoying having baths.
Daniel is doing pretty well with sharing his toys with Eliza and playing with her. He doesn't take her toys as much as he used to and often he will sit and play with her. It's pretty sweet to watch them interact together.
I enjoy going for a morning walk each Tuesday with Anne her daughter Emily. It is a very special friendship for me. I love that our kids are similar ages and also enjoy playing together. It's very sweet.
The girls holding hands. So sweet!
These 2 have a great time together
Sure, you can fit 2 people on it. Cheeky boys
I was chatting with some mums at Mothers' Group about how we prepared ourselves for the older sibling to be jealous and angry at the new baby when they came along, however, we never prepared ourselves for the older sibling to be angry at mum. I found this with Daniel, not too badly but he definitely wanted Daddy any time there was an option between the 2 of us. At nights when he'd wake, if I went into him he would continue to cry and ask for Daddy to come and for Mummy to go out. When he was upset, he wanted Daddy to give him a hug, not Mummy. It made me sad that I couldn't help fix the problem, that he didn't want me. Fortunately over the last couple of months this has started to change again. One morning while having breakfast, my darling boy asked to hold my hand while he ate his banana. Why not?
He also loves holding Eliza's hand when she's in the high chair.
Eliza has started to find more of her voice, at times making different sounds. Here she started to say 'Dadada'. She is similar to Daniel where she won't perform for the camera, but I got a little bit of her chatter.
Daniel has started to play a form of hockey, again being imaginative. He uses our toy flowers as the stick and the little bowling ball and runs around hitting it. He enjoys asking me to play with him and its a lot of fun.
As Daniel grows he is able to reach the pedals on his bike and is now starting to learn how to push the pedals to ride on his own. He is pretty pleased with himself here.
I had forgotten how flexible babies are and how strong they are as well. I love watching Eliza bend over to get toys, yet keeps her balance.
Daniel just loves playing in the bouncer. He found that he can actually move around the place while in it. Pretty cute to see.
We had the joy of Grayma visiting. While Daniel and I were playing outside in the garden, we decided to pick some flowers to give to her when she came.
After James came back from a week away we decided to go for a family trip to the Reptile Park. Daniel had fun sitting on the crocodiles again...
But then the poor little guy slipped when he was getting off and hit his head on the gutter. He got a good bump/graze on his head and nose and also had his nose bleed. Fortunately a hug and some ice made him feel better and enjoy the rest of the day.
He got to touch a snake with Daddy.
And he and Eliza were eaten by Elvis the crocodile!
Not a bad feed
Again, Eliza's chatting has increased. She is at times saying baa baa baa. I can't wait for more words to develop.
Daniel just loves to help out around the place. Just today he was enjoying weeding with me, pushing the lawnmower (when off) with Daddy, hanging out the clothes, etc. I do enjoy him helping me, it is very sweet. I will enjoy it while it lasts. I do have a chuckle when he helps hang out the clothes as he just loves his pegs! So many pegs to hang up 1 top.
He also loves running into Eliza when she wakes up as I say to him 'I'm just going to go and get Eliza up'. He loves running in saying 'Hi Liza'.
Last week I was singing 'If you're happy and you know it' to Eliza and with some actions she had her very sweet giggle come out. I thought it was pretty cute. Enjoy he response to me singing.
Last weekend James organised for us to have a family weekend away at the Blue Mountains. He booked a gorgeous cottage for us to stay at which had a balcony the overlooked Leura. It was so lovely.
Daniel was lucky enough to have a double bed all to himself. He looked so little sleeping in it!
On Saturday we headed to Blackheath for the Rhododendron Festival. We wandered around the markets looking at different things and then headed over to the town center. The street was closed for the parade that was going to happen later in the day (it would have been lovely to stay for it, however, it was too close to nap times). We saw a couple of people dressed as flowers and a bee riding on bikes which kept Daniel amused. We then headed over to Govetts Leap for a short bushwalk.
Daniel enjoyed leading the way, however, we felt it was too many stairs for him to walk back up and the ground was getting muddy, we called it quits and headed back to our place. We had some lunch and then it was nap time for all 4 of us.
I just love Eliza's tired eye rubs!
The next day we packed up our things and headed to Leura for a morning of going with the flow. We went to Leura Cascades for another bushwalk with the kids. Eliza was bundled into the ergo to have a nap on the walk and Daniel enjoyed walking - holding our hands, holding the rail, walking on his own. It was lovely listening to his running commentary or what he could see and hear. The main focus were spiderwebs but he was also learning about how God created all the we could see which lead to him telling us 'God created that leaf, God created that leaf, and that one, and that one.' It was a much slower walk than what we normally do, however, it was nice to go at Daniel's pace.
I can do it on my own
Daniel, smile at Mummy
Daddy wanted to move faster and the end. A fun way to do it
This past week Eliza has started to drink water from a water bottle. She is doing pretty well drinking from it and really enjoys using it.
Daniel's GroClock has the sun do a wink as it changes to sleep time. Daniel has now learnt how to wink. He's pretty cute about it!
Lastly here are Daniel and Eliza with their bibs from Uncle Howie. They do love their Daddy, even if he is a Noob :-)
