Feeding, Mothers' Day, Nana's Birthday, craft and more...

These past few weeks have been jam packed and very busy but also a lot of fun. Eliza is growing well. She still seems to be feeding well and is sleeping pretty well too. She has started to feed every 2 hours in the afternoons which is pretty tiring for me, but she then will sleep for a decent chunk in the night which is nice. Daniel has been developing a lot. His speech has continued to increase - repeating a lot of what we say, and his personality is just shining. I really do love watching him grow. I can't wait for Eliza to be more interactive with us too. So here is a glimpse of what has been going on for us.

I just love having Thursday night dinners at Mum and Dad's place. It is nice to not have to worry about a meal each week (thanks Mum for being willing to cook for all of us) but it is also lovely to hang out with my family. I really love watching Daniel and Oscar interact and play together. They just come up with the funniest things. Daniel absolutely looks up to Oscar and will often copy things he does. It is very sweet. I also love how my family will 'fight' over having cuddles with Eliza. It is pretty special to be loved that much. I think it is pretty crazy that my sister and I are both mums now. I still get shocked at times when I think about it. Surely we're too young!

The girls

Mums and bubs

 Daniel has continued to be great with feeding times. He is happy to sit and read next to me (sometimes he wants to sit on my lap too which is a bit tricky but we work it out), 

Sitting on my lap while I feed Eliza.

drive his cars on my legs, ride his bike around the place, play with some of his toys. A couple of weeks ago he did the sweetest thing. He picked up Christopher (my cabbage patch doll, his baby), lifted up his shirt and tried to breastfeed him. When I asked him if he was giving Christopher milk he said yes and told me 'this side'. After stopping and pulling down his shirt, he then lifted it up again and said 'more'. It was very adorable! And such a valuable thing to learn and understand.

Daniel feeding Christopher

Both of us feeding our babies

Precious times

Daniel just loves giving Eliza hugs. After a feed he will get her mat and put it on the ground, he will ask for her to go on it, he will ask to give 'La ug' (Eliza hugs). It is very precious to see and really does melt my heart.

 After his naps too he has been very cuddly. I am enjoying this snugly boy.

To prepare Daniel for going into his big boy bed we have been trying to have him sleep under a sheet. When he goes into his bed he won't be in sleeping bags anymore as it isn't very safe so I'm trying to have him adjust to needing to stay under sheets to stay warm. He's pretty good at staying under is for nap times, but night times he crawls out of it. We will keep working on it.

Still under the sheet after his nap - winner!

Malcolm and Julie came back from their Europe holiday (still very jealous and the Facebook photos didn't help as it looked like an amazing time) and stayed with us for a couple of nights. It was lovely for Eliza and Daniel to be able to hang out with them for a bit more and we are looking forward to heading to Hervey Bay in a couple of weeks. It was also great to have an extra few sets of hands to help out with the kids and lovely to get some fun presents.

I had my first Mothers' Day with 2 kiddies. James said that I could sleep in while he got up and looked after Daniel. Unfortunately Eliza missed that memo and woke up just before 7 so I was up before the boys, but that was ok. After giving Eliza a feed Daniel and James came and gave me some lovely presents and a sweet card where Daniel had drawn a love heart for me.

 Daniel then 'helped' me open the presents. The first one was a lovely surprise of Daryn Cresswell's book. I do enjoy reading books about sporting stars, particularly the Sydney Swans and their players. I find that they are easy reads and interesting to get an insight into the club and teams. It has been a couple of weeks and I am enjoying reading it when I get the chance. Good pick Daniel and Eliza! 

My 2nd present was a Willow Tree figurine which I had seen in the shops before Eliza was born and thought looked very sweet and suitable for this stage in my life. It is very precious having 2 kiddies.

Me with my kiddies (Daniel's cheese face)

James was on band at night and was playing bass. He set it up and went to run through some of the songs. Daniel saw the 'tar' and ran off to get his own 'tar' and started to play it with James. It was very cute to see!

We then headed to Auntie Sue's place for Mothers' Day lunch and also birthday lunch for Mum. Eliza was good and slept for the whole time which meant that I could sit and eat and enjoy lunch (although I'm sure people would have loved to have had cuddles with her). Mum was given her presents and Daniel was very interested in her tulips from Auntie Sue and Grandma.

After lunch we had a tasty cake baked by Jens. Oscar helped carry it out and then the boys helped blow out the candles.

 We also managed to get a photo of Nana and her grandboys.

Daniel hasn't tried cake since his first birthday. Back then he didn't enjoy it at all - the flavour or texture. This time around he was more than happy to eat it, no questions asked.

We will need to see how he responds to his 2nd birthday cake.
When we got back home it was nap time for Daniel and feed time for Eliza. James headed to band and I got to hang out with the kiddies - happy Mothers' Day. It was pretty nice being with them though.

A week later Daniel started to play with his crayons, standing them up on the table. He then sang his version of 'Happy Birthday' and blew out the candles. He also would shout 'Horray' at times. Very cute.

Eliza has started to decide that I am not to have afternoon naps. Most afternoons she is feeding every 2 hours so by the time I put Daniel down to sleep I have around 30mins before she starts to cry. While this is a bit annoying as I'd like to have a nap, I am still resting in front of the tv or reading a book. This also means that Eliza and I get to have some girls only time which is nice for her. She is starting to be quite expressive with her face which is pretty awesome to watch.

She is also starting to chat a little bit making 'ohh' sounds.

As I mentioned before, Daniel is loving giving Eliza hugs and kisses.

Today, he was just so sweet - it melted my heart. After playing with Eliza on the ground with Daniel I got up to make his lunch and said to him 'Remember to be gentle with Eliza and watch where she is'. As I went into the kitchen I was keeping an eye on them. Daniel sat down next to Eliza, lent over and gave her a kiss on the lips. He then patted her and then stood up and went to play with something else. I really do love how much he loves Eliza. I hope he continues that as they grow up. 

After Daniel being so good with having the bottle, we wanted to try the bottle with Eliza. We waited until she was over 7 weeks old so that breastfeeding was well established. When James was working from home I fed Eliza but she seemed that she wanted more. I had expressed the night before so asked James to give her the bottle (there was 60mL in it). She did very well with drinking it. It took a little bit of convincing but she did drink the 60mL and then she had a pretty solid sleep after. I think her tummy was very happy. Winner! We will have to try it again a few more times, and also try giving her the bottle for the whole feed. I was glad though that she was happy to breastfeed at her next feed.

I think that James enjoyed giving her the bottle again too. :-)

Eliza has started to play with her mobile a little bit. It's only occasional, but she's slowly getting there.

Mum's birthday was kind enough to fall on a Thursday, which meant that we were all around at their place for a family dinner. Being her birthday, instead of needing to cook we got take away which meant that she was able to hang out with the grandkids. A pretty special time.

Daniel just loves wearing hats. Often when we're inside he will see a hat and ask to have it on. Eliza was given a gorgeous hat as a present and Daniel saw it so chose to put it on. He's so funny!

At the park today I was feeding Eliza so had taken the hat off so Daniel decided to swap hats. As you can see it's quite a feminine hat so was quite funny to watch him running around with it on. I do think it looks better on Eliza :-) It's great too because it is a wide brimmed hat which is great.

Hanging out on the grass with Eliza while Daniel runs around

Daniel and Eliza were given a hand-me-down cooking and cutlery set. For him to enjoy playing with it I decided to make an oven for him using one of our Aussie-Farmers boxes. I thought it would be good for Daniel to join in with helping so had him colour in the different dials and the hot plates. He is such a lefty!

I was pretty impressed with the finished product and Daniel has enjoyed using it. Winner!

I am looking forward to doing more craft with Daniel and hope that he enjoys being creative.

Sickness fun

This past week has been a bit of a tricky one with sickness and not much rest.

Last Monday Daniel started to come down with a cold - it came about very suddenly. It didn't really slow him down - he still had a lot of energy, but was fortunately sleeping longer during nap times (around 2.5hrs and I was still needing to wake him up). On Friday I noticed that he had a bit of gunk in his eye, but it came out with a few tears so I thought nothing more of it. By lunchtime it had increased slightly and James and I decided that we'd take him to the doctor on Saturday (that way I didn't have to take Eliza and Daniel during nap times) but over lunch it doubled the amount so I called up and booked an appointment at 2:15 with the new doctor - Dr Ting. It was just at nap time for all 3 of us, not so great. 

I got Eliza up and we headed to the doctors. She was content to sit in the capsule and Daniel was content to sit next to me and read books for around 10mins. Eliza then decided that she needed a feed. This was fine, however, Daniel had started to become overly hyper because of tiredness. He was running from one side of the room to the other. He kept going to the toys (which I didn't want him to play with as conjunctivitis can spread pretty quickly) but I needed to pick my battles and so let him play with them so I could feed her. We eventually got in to see the Dr and she was lovely. Very friendly and very patient with Daniel. She confirmed that he had conjunctivitis and gave me a script for eye drops. We then headed to the chemist to pick them up. I really don't understand how you have to wait when there's noone else there, but still. He was good with sitting on my lap and Eliza had fallen asleep with the car trip there. When we were paying for the eye drops, I asked Daniel to just stand beside me. He did for a couple of seconds then started to go for a lap around the shop - not so cool. I then chased after him (a great game in his mind). I feel sorry for parents whose kids do this all the time. It would be really hard. He is normally so good in those sorts of situations, however, his tiredness made it more difficult. He wasn't so happy to be in my arms while trying to pay for it but he settled. We then came home and he went straight down. 

What made Friday even more difficult was that I felt the start of a cold coming on myself. It was challenging to be so patient with him, calm in my responses and understanding. I did my best. Eliza also decided to feed every 2 hours which made it even more exhausting as I'd just stop and then I'd have to get up to her. It was a very draining day. 

Daniel did well with getting his eye drops in. He didn't fuss too much which is good. His cold is almost over but I'm happy to get out a bit more now after keeping him home so his cold and conjunctivitis didn't spread. Fortunately Eliza hasn't seemed to catch the cold, even with having kisses galore from Daniel, so I hope she continues to stay healthy. I'm mostly better but have a bit of a headache and tiredness. I am trying to rest as much as I can, but am also wanting to do things around the house and get out for walks while the weather is nice. 

Hopefully winter won't bring much sickness for our little family. Will wait and see.

Smiles

I have been keen to get the first smiles from Eliza after James got the first smiles from Daniel. For the past few weeks she has been looking close to smiling but it hasn't been the real deal. She would partly rise her cheeks but that was pretty much all. I have been trying to chat with her after feeds and engage, showing her big smiles. When on the floor she only seems to have eyes for Daniel so I was sure he would get the first smiles. 

On Sunday 4th May when Daniel was down for a nap and James was at band, I fed Eliza and then was chatting with her. She then started to give me a couple of gorgeous smiles. I just loved them. Her whole face lit up.

She is just gorgeous! Since then she hasn't done heaps of smiles but I look forward to a lot more smiles to come in the future.

Appointments plus

This week Eliza was 6 weeks old and as a result that's the week for lots of appointments. I have been very grateful for Mum and Dad who have been able to look after Daniel during some of these appointments so that I didn't need to worry about him.

Monday saw her meet Paul, our GP and get her injections. She is doing very well with her measurements. She weighed 4.305kg clothed which is great - 60th percentile. Her length is 55.5cm (so she has grown 5.5cm since birth) which is also 60th percentile. Her head circumference is 38.5cm which is the 75th percentile (that's because of all her brains) so Paul was very happy with her progress which is great. I got my flu shot so hopefully that will help me stay pretty healthy this winter. Then Eliza got her injections. She enjoyed the oral one but didn't really like the needles in the legs. Poor thing. She did a big cry, like Daniel did, forgetting to breathe and then had a short cry after. But after a cuddle and being put back into her capsule she fell asleep. What a good patient! I think my needle hurt more afterwards than hers. We then went to school for lunch as it was a staff day. She got to meet a few of the staff members which was nice and I enjoyed catching up with people.

Tuesday saw us go to Dr Booker for our last appointment. He was happy with my progress. My stitches are healing well which is good. There wasn't too much else to chat about at it. He asked if there were any questions and I just had one - Do you get a definite feeling of 'this is my last kid' or is it just a decision you make? Dr Booker's response was basically what I thought - some people are like 'nope, that's it' while others make the decision based upon finance/housing/life situations. It is really an individuals choice. 
James and I have always said that we'd be happy with 2 kids - it's all we have really wanted. Our house is good for 2 kids (we have the study which is another bedroom but we don't have any storage places in our house so that room is a good storage room/study/music room. We both are from 2 kid families and liked growing up as that. I found Eliza's pregnancy pretty hard on my body for 2nd time round, not so keen to go through that again. Not really keen to go through labour again either. We have never really thought about having more kids. Knowing that Eliza is our 2nd kid, I'm sad that I won't be having another baby again (atleast at this stage). I'm sad to say bye to Dr Booker and Rhonda because they both have played such a big part in my life for the past 30 months, journeying with me through Daniel and Eliza's pregnancy. Would I like to have a 3rd kid... maybe. I don't know. It is still early days I know. On the good days I think 'yeah I could do this again and have 3 kids' but on the bad days I think 'ok, that makes up my mind - 2 kids it is'. So I don't really know at the moment. James and I aren't going to rush into anything, let's just say that. We love our 2 kids and we are happy with the 4 of us... at the moment. We'll see what the future holds. For the time being I'm trying to make the most of having a baby again and making sure I enjoy it. This week I've started having cuddles for her to go to sleep in my arms (only occasionally but for the first little while I was making sure she went to sleep in her bed each time). This week I've been making an effort to rest next to her on the floor and engage with her. I've been looking at her during feeding times (when I'm not entertaining Daniel). Because it is a big thing to have a baby again and I do need to make the most of it. Anyway, that's where I'm at with thoughts and everything.

Wednesday was an appointment at the Early Childhood Centre. The last time I went there with Daniel I had a horrible experience and walked out feeling like the worst mum. Fortunately this time I had a lovely nurse. She was very genuine and encouraging. Her only concern is that Eliza is feeding 5-6 times a day. She would prefer 6-8 times a day. But seeing her weight I think that concern went out the window which is good. Otherwise she was pretty happy. 

Yesterday was our day off from appointments so we had a lovely morning with Anne, Lachie and Emily. I do love how Daniel enjoys playing and going for walks with them. And I really enjoy chatting with Anne - we are quite similar in a lot of ways. She is also good at reminding me to make the most of these days of having Eliza as a bub and also to laugh in those situations where you feel like laughing or crying. 

Today is an appointment with the Paediatrician which I'm sure will go well. Kinda feel silly going as everything has been checked by Dr Humphrey and the ECC nurse, but it's recommended so I will do as they recommend - being a good girl :-) I'm looking forward to less apointments and letting Eliza just sleep, rather than waking her to go out so often.


At the moment I am feeling well. I am enjoying having Daniel and Eliza and know that I am very blessed with them both. I am very grateful for how awesome Daniel is with Eliza and also at times when I need to look after Eliza and can't focus on him. I love that he enjoys reading during feeding times (although I would love him to choose different books, not the same ones again and again and again). I am sad that Eliza is probably my last bub but I am embracing these times and loving Daniel's stage of life and his interactions. I am finding the broken nights sleep hard - very difficult to get up and out of bed at night time and even more in the morning, but I do it. I am also finding that I have that jet-lag feeling most days, but that's just from lack of sleep. On the good days I feel very good and confident. On the bad days I do struggle but James has been a wonderful support and a great voice of reason and confidence that has helped me through. He really is such a great partner in this and I am so grateful for him and his patience with me! So yeah, that's where I'm at at the moment.

Catch up - 6 weeks old

I have fallen behind on blog posting. I have had times where I wanted to write but I have just run out of time or am too tired come night times. So this post is going to be one which has a lot of photos with some comments. They say 'a picture says a thousand words' so this post will say that.

These past 3 weeks with James back at work have had good times and hard times. My first challenge was to get Daniel and Eliza up, fed and ready for his swimming lesson by 8:30am. I was very proud of myself to manage that, as well as a load of washing too.

Eliza 'watching' Daniel's swimming lesson

I am very grateful to Mum and Dad who are happy to do the swimming lessons as I can't go in the water at the moment, and Eliza is often feeding during the lesson too. James and I considered stopping the lessons until he is 2 and a bit years old, but he really loves the lessons and his teacher, Robina, says that he is really good and advanced at it. It is also lovely having the lesson to himself and I love how Robina teaches him. She works so well with him and where he is at, not following a set script. Next week Daniel will have the lesson just with Robina as Mum and Dad are away. Hopefully he will be fine at it. I think he will. He is very comfortable in the water.

The rest of that day I managed to do 2 loads of washing, wash the dishes, clean up around the house, have Eliza and Daniel fed throughout the day, and all 3 of us had a nap in the afternoon. I found that to be a mummy win day. I was very grateful for all those people who prayed for me. Those prayers were definitely answered. My confidence was up in being able to do this with James at work. 

Daniel enjoys being around Eliza when she is awake. When she's in the bouncer, he will often 'help' her bounce. He has started to share toys with her when she's there too.

Showing Eliza the car toy

All 3 of us have enjoyed having cuddles with Eliza. I am now just starting to remember that having cuddles is important for her, as well as us. Now that I'm feeling a bit more confident in what I'm doing and in knowing her, I'm feeling a bit more relaxed about holding her when she is close to sleeping (rather than putting her down and just patting - which I still do but not every time). Also, if she is our last baby (which is most likely the case) then I need to enjoy holding her and enjoy having a baby while it lasts. They are very special moments.

My baby girl and I

Daniel loves her

Daddy kisses

 It is still pretty crazy that I have 2 kiddies. They are both very beautiful kiddies though.

Eliza is getting better with play time. She enjoys being under the mobile and can fling her arms around, occasionally touching the different parts of it. Daniel likes her being under it - when I put her on the ground he will pull the mobile over.

Daniel is enjoying cars, trucks, trains, buses. Any form of transport really. This week he was pretending to be a truck when he was outside with Mum. He was walking forward, then stopping, and backing up while going 'beep, beep, beep' like a truck reversing. Pretty cute and funny to watch. He also enjoys pretending the drive, using anything from bowls to lids. In the car he was steering the car with his lid wheel.

He has also enjoyed helping Nana and Poppy in the garden on Tuesdays. He loves running around and helping dig or pull up weeds. He is definitely an outside boy.

I do love how much the Howie's love our kids. It's not a surprise as they are family. I do love how much Oscar cares for Eliza. I think he's going to be protective of her as she grows up, as will Daniel be.

Saying hi to Eliza after having lunch

Oscar insisted on holding Eliza, even though she was quite upset because of being overtired. He wasn't fazed. Instead he gave her kisses and cuddles and talked gently to her - You're ok Eliza. So beautiful!

Daniel wanted to join in on the cuddles.

She settled a bit when Auntie Jenny gave her a cuddle

Auntie Jenny - Babysitter pro.

Bath times are a daddy job, like they were (and mostly still are) with Daniel. It is a special time for James and he really does love it. Eliza is hit and miss with enjoyed her baths. It is tricky with timing too at the moment as she doesn't really have a set time for a bath. But she is getting better at enjoying them.

A blue tongue lizard seems to have decided in the past 2 weeks to make our garden its home. It is about 20cm in length and just loves hanging out in our courtyard. Daniel has been very interested in it too. Surprisingly Chilli has stayed away from it. 

'Li, Li'

For Good Friday I decided to dress Eliza up. Jens gave her a cute little dress that I think she will grow out of all too quickly. Morning church made a great excuse to dress her up. She looked pretty cute in it.

Daniel is loving hanging out with 'Ji-ji' and 'Okar' at different times. I think that Oscar is the highlight of his week. So much excitement when we see him.

Chasing Auntie Jenny on the bikes at Nana and Poppy's place

Playing with Oscar at Pie In The Sky

I have enjoyed hanging out with Eliza at times during her play time. She hasn't started really making sounds but she is very cute and I'm trying to make a time each day to just focus on her, without having my attention split between Daniel and her.

Since in hospital Eliza has done tummy time, partly because of having a sore tummy when in hospital but also because they say that they can do it. As a result she doesn't mind being on her tummy which is good. She is getting good neck strength too which is impressive.

Daniel has started to try jumping. It's pretty cute to watch. James and I have a giggle each time he 'jumps'.

Eliza and I hung outside while Daniel played in the sandpit and then helped James re-do the fly screens. Eliza's hat is a bit too big at the moment but she will quickly grow into it I'm sure.

Hanging with my girl

'Helping' Daddy change the fly screens

Daniel is loving giving Eliza cuddles and it's really sweet to watch. We are learning to do it on his terms, not force it. He will ask to hug her at times too which is sweet.

Daniel has also started sharing toys with Eliza. He doesn't fully understand that she can't play with him, but it is sweet to see him giving her different toys and driving cars on her. He is doing very well with being gentle.

Have a ball Eliza

Daniel is doing very well at making me laugh lots. He just seems to know when I need to giggle. While eating lunch and having pear, he decided that this was how he would eat it.

Pear smiles

Cuddles, cuddles and more cuddles. I am enjoying having cuddles with my big boy, as well as my baby girl. It is getting tricky to have a photo with Daniel though as he wants to take the photos instead of be in them.

La, La

Tummy time and floor play time is a special time with Daniel and Eliza. When I get a mat out for her, he then pulls one out for him. When I sit and pat Eliza's tummy or back, Daniel signals for him to have his tummy or back rubbed or patted.

On Saturday we had an adventure with Jens, Oscar and Sam. We decided to go to Watson's Bay for fish and chips and to go on a Ferry. It was a lovely day and lots of fun. Eliza was great - happily fed and slept. Daniel was great too - happy in the pram and loved walking around.

Everyone ready for the ferry ride

Sam, you're looking the wrong way!

Fish and chips fun

The rest of the clan

Eliza having Auntie Jenny time

My beautiful boys

Chasings

Climbing trees

The roots make great hiding places

The Gap

Checking out the view

Oscar helping guide Daniel

Daniel has started throwing tennis balls. He is pretty good with his direction. Can't wait for him to be a bit older and have a longer attention with his throwing and catching.

Daniel is enjoying playing with cars - driving them on my legs while I'm feeding, driving them on chairs, driving them on Eliza. He is doing pretty well with being gentle and he is avoiding her head - mostly.

Here are some more photos of my gorgeous girl. After this post, I hope that be able to keep more up to date. We'll see how I go though.

Hi Mummy

Me with my kiddies

First smile? Don't think so but I am working on trying to get it

Sleepy cuddles

Daniel wanted cuddles before his swimming lesson

And kisses

Daniel's photo of Eliza