Name writing

Daniel has been at preschool for almost a term, which is crazy! Where has that time gone?? Each morning he needs to sign in his name and the teacher in me freaks out when he does it: 
1. looking around the room at what others are doing, no focus on the paper
and
2. doesn't follow the dots, instead just colours in the letters or scribbles around them.

I know that it is something he has never shown an interest in and that he is still little but I have been nervous that he will never be keen to write his name properly (silly I know). I see other kids writing their names and they follow the dots perfectly and it looks so neat so that also has made me a bit nervous. Even when I try to tell Daniel how to write his name at preschool, he hasn't listened or followed what I say.

This afternoon when we got home from preschool Eliza started to do some drawing in her scrapbook and Daniel wanted to do some too. I got a spare scrapbook for him and asked him if he wanted to write his name on the first page. To my surprise he said yes.

I did a dotted outline of each letter for him to follow and he did really well with tracing it. I helped hold his hand for the first tracing and then he did rainbow writing (something they do in K-1 at my school) and followed the lines pretty well. He was pleased with his efforts and I was so proud and amazed with him!

 He then turned the page and wanted to write it without tracing. He wanted me to do the dots for each letter but then he wrote it on his own. D - a - n - i - e - l. You can see each of the letters. So very impressed with him!

So pleased with his writing! I'm sure that the scribble will continue at preschool but he is showing an interest at home and I will encourage that. He was even so excited that he wanted to write his name again when James got home.

Daniel feeling Beanie

Last Thursday afternoon Daniel and I were reading some books and Beanie started to hiccup. He has tried to feel Beanie kick a few times before but I don't think he has actually known when Beanie moved because he would randomly say 'I felt Beanie' even if I didn't. 

It is such a precious time though having him sit there with his hand on my stomach.

This time was different. I helped him place his hand on the right side of my stomach and he gasped when Beanie did the next hiccup. And he felt a lot of them. He did them comment 'Why does Beanie take so long to finish hiccuping?' He can't wait for Beanie to come out and to be able to cuddle it.
 

Camping

This weekend we had a new experience as a family (and as a married couple) - camping! James used to to camping with Boys Brigade and I did camping with youth group but everything was set up and organised by the youth leaders so this was definitely a new experience for us, and one that I was quite nervous about.

Some young families and young adults from church were having a weekend to hang out and to have it be an affordable time, it was decided that we'd be camping. When James I heard we both immediately said no way, but then after chatting with some others who were going, we convinced ourselves that we would give it a go, if we could borrow a tent that had 3 rooms. One of my mums' group mums goes camping with her family and they had a 3 room tent. I asked her if we would be able to borrow it for the weekend and she was more than happy to lend it. So the Nobles were going camping.

In the lead up to the weekend I was pretty much in denial. I really didn't know what to expect but I was pretty sure that it would be hard, particularly at bedtime. We packed the car on Thursday night and then headed up the coast at around midday. Both kids had a nap in the car which worked well. 

Once we arrived at camp James and a couple of the guys worked to set up the tent while Nomes and I looked after the kids who were so excited to be camping. There was a lot of running in and out of the tents that were already up and into the caravan when Kelly had set it up. It is a lot of effort to set up a tent! 

After it was all set up, we headed over to the pool to have a swim and to cool down. Daniel and Eliza loved playing in the pool! There was a kids paddle pool area that they enjoyed and then a deeper part where they liked swimming around with me. I can't wait for them to be able to swim independently and confidently. But it was a lot of fun playing with them and the other kids.

We then headed back to the site for our dinner - chicken burgers. They were very tasty. Now it was bedtime. We did our normal routine and by 8:30 the kids were in bed. Eliza was quite upset when I put her down so I sat with her and tried to calm her down. She was ok with a cuddle but when I put her down she would start to cry again. After 3 goes she finally seemed to settle. Daniel went down well but then he called out after around 5 mins. After a cuddle, setting up the torch so he could use it without holding it he seemed to settle in bed. I headed back to the rest of the group and within a few minutes I could hear Daniel calling out and crying. I headed over again and this time he needed to go to the toilet. I took him to the toilets and he did a wee. We then headed back to the tent, had him climb into bed and went back to the group. After a short time I could again hear him calling out. He needed to go to the toilet again, but this time Eliza woke up too. I sent Daniel over to James and sat with Eliza to help settle her. She eventually did but by this time I was exhausted and stressed out of my mind. It was now 9:45pm and Daniel was still awake. What was the night going to be like? James came back with Daniel and put him to bed. He lay with him for a while to help settle him and that seemed to work. By 10pm Daniel was asleep and so was Eliza, James was exhausted and I was in tears, exhausted and anxious. We decided to head to bed. The night was not a great one. Eliza woke up at 11:30, 12:30, 2 and 3. Daniel woke up at 3:30 and each time the kids were calling out for Mummy so I got up. At 4am I fell asleep and didn't wake up until 6 when Daniel woke up. So 2 hours sleep. Not the best at all! My brain said 'Let's go home' but being realistic I didn't say anything to James because I know he put so much effort in to putting the tent up. It was not worth going home after one night. 

Saturday was a fun and busy day filled with breakfast, giant pillow running and jumping, park play, swinging, chatting and eating.

Swinging with friends

A tired little girl resting on Daddy

We then headed back to the site to have lunch. Eliza was sitting on my lap having her lunch. She slowed down a lot with her eating and her eyes were struggling to stay open. She then placed her head on me and fell asleep. I loved this time of holding her sleeping as I hadn't done that since she was a baby. I'm not surprised that she was so tired after the number of wake ups last night.

We then headed off in the car for a drive so the kids could nap. Eliza amazingly transferred into the car without waking up. We went for a drive for around an hour. Daniel fell asleep in a few minutes. We loved his sleeping position.

After nap time drives for each of the families we headed to the beach. The water was cool and there was a lot of seaweed so I wasn't keen to go in the water. Eliza was happy playing in the sand up with James. Daniel was having fun running in and out of the water and then asked if we could go for a walk along the beach. It was very nice just walking along the shore with him. On the way back we saw a man fishing and he managed to catch a fish. He saw us watching and showed us the fish he caught. We headed back to the group for a little bit longer and then everyone headed back to the site for showers, dinner and then bed. I was quite nervous about how bed would go tonight but fortunately both kids went straight down and slept through. We had a fun night playing cards and chatting with some of the other people there. James and I also had a good nights sleep which was great.

In the morning we hung out with the kids in the tent - reading books in bed, had breakfast and then started packing up. It takes a long time to pack up a tent too! I have no idea how others do it with kids and just as your family. Once everything was packed up we headed to the Entrance with some of the other families and had a play in the water park. The kids loved it! I wish there was a water park closer to us.

We finished the trip off with fish and chips and then jumped back into the car to head home. The kids slept for the drive home which was good. Camping was fun, the kids enjoyed it and it was worth sticking around for both days. There is a good group of kids who are Daniel and Eliza's friends. There is a good group of parents who support and travel with us. There is a great God who we are all united by. Will we go camping again? Probably. Will it be any time soon? Nope. When the kids are older then we might consider it.
 
 
 

Thoughts

I'm almost 31 weeks pregnant with Beanie and a lot is going on in my mind. 

I have come to the conclusion that we won't be able to paint the front of the house before Beanie comes, like I had hoped and planned. Mostly because we have been busy each weekend since getting back from Hervey Bay in January and also I don't think it is safe for me to be painting on a ladder. With that thought process done, it has made me feel a bit better about what needs to happen before Beanie comes and that it can be done even though I'm really sad that it won't be done. It's on the 'to-do' list for after Beanie is born. 

The other night I also finished Eliza's quietbook which I had hoped to complete before I went into hospital to have Beanie. We will give her the book when she comes in to visit (and have Daniel's one for when he comes to visit too).

 I am pretty happy with how this book looks. A lot of the ideas are my own and have just been adapted from other people's pages.

This book has the Zoo page with finger puppets to play with. It has a construction road with a digger and a tractor. It also has witches hats and barriers. Eliza just loves seeing diggers when we drive past them so I think she will love playing with this page. Eliza adores shopping and using a shopping bag so I made a shopping page. It has some money in the cash register, a scanner, a shopping bag that she can put the different food into. I made some bread, jars and fruit and vegetables and put them into a shelf. I hope she will get into this page. Lastly I made a dress up page with a little boy and girl to dress. There is a cupboard with different clothes in it. The title page has a little Eliza that can be pulled off too and play with. Out of the book I am only a bit bummed about the Eliza on the title page but I'm sure she won't mind or care. Now to wait the 9 weeks until Beanie comes so she can get it.

We have started to get into Beanie's room to organise it which is a very overwhelming process. As it has been our 'junk' and 'storage' room it has a lot in it. We have started to go through the different boxes on the shelves and declutter the space. I'm hoping that in the next few weeks the clutter will be gone and the room will be ready to decorate, fill and be ready for Beanie. When this is done I will feel much more at ease I think.

Today I had another appointment with Dr Booker. All is looking good. Beanie is growing well, its heartbeat is strong a sounding good, it is moving a lot. My glucose test came back all fine and my blood pressure is looking good at the moment too. Rhonda had me meet a training midwife names Amanda who seems lovely. She came in for my appointment and felt Beanie. Rhonda then asked if I'd mind having Amanda journey with me over the last trimester and for the birth. I am more than happy for that to happen, especially after having Tanya for Daniel's birth. The program is amazing, Tanya was a fantastic support to us both and I feel that prac is the best way to learn. So I am happy to have Amanda there - but it has made the whole situation a bit more real. My next appointment is in around 4 weeks which is around the time my blood pressure starts to go up. Hoping it won't this time but we will wait and see.

I have also had an appointment with a foot specialist because I woke up about a month ago with a lump under my foot that was very painful to walk on. This was putting my pelvis out because I wasn't walking properly on it. Paul referred me to a specialist who looked at my foot and thinks it was a cyst but can't be 100% sure. He wants me to get an mri. Today I called up to book this appointment but the mri people aren't keen to do it while I'm pregnant so I will need to wait until after Beanie is born to go and just double check that it isn't anything major.

Daniel also had an appointment this morning with a speech pathologist. Up until Christmas some people found him hard to understand. He was also a big dribbler which isn't normal when 3.5 years old. Since Christmas his speech and clarity seems to have taken off which is great and since starting preschool his dribbling has decreased. We kept the appointment just to be safe. The speech pathologist said that he is at the level expected which is good, just needing to develop the sh sound but that will probably come as he gets closer to 4. He did well during the testing, however, I think he was nervous so he was very fidgety, jumpy and just couldn't sit still. I found this hard to see as he isn't normally this bad and my teacher brain couldn't switch off from thoughts of kids who couldn't sit still in class and what that might mean. But I think it is just him being young and nervous as well as a bit excited. His preschool teachers haven't mentioned that this is a problem and at home he can sit still for periods of time so yeah. I won't worry too much about that. They have just mentioned that it would be good to see an ent to check that all is ok as he does still snore loudly and he sounds a bit nasal. That appointment is booked for early May. Hopefully it will be before Beanie comes (it's booked that way).

I was thinking today about when I was in hospital with Daniel and there was a mum there who had just hard her third bub. Not only did I think 'she's crazy' when I heard that she had 3 kids but I also remember asking her 'does it get easier?' She told me that it did and that you just go with your gut and go with the flow. I have used this with both kids and I hope that I will continue to use it with Beanie - to trust my instinct, to go with the flow and to do the best I can. I also hope that if there is a mum in hospital at the same time as me who is struggling or worried, that I can also give some encouraging words to them like that mum did as I'm not the 'crazy' one.

The other thing that I have been thinking about is with Daniel. Lately he has started to have some pretty massive meltdowns, most of the time when he needs to go to the toilet or has been asked to do something that he doesn't want to do. This has taken me by surprise as Daniel is my gentle, calm boy. When having this meltdowns he will scream, kick and even hit me. He hasn't hit James or Eliza, just me. It has upset me when he does it, especially as I don't know where it has come from and I don't want it to become a habit as he grows up. We have started to put him in thinking time when he does hit as it is wrong. The interesting thing is as soon as he's in thinking time, he calls out that he wants a hug from me - the person he just hit. I still leave him for that time but then after the minute or 2 I go to him, chat with him about why he was upset, that it's ok to be upset but it is never ok to hit and then we think and talk about strategies when he gets upset - deep breaths, counting, etc. It is exhausting to do, and exhausting to experience but I think our persistence is helping as today he had a big meltdown with screaming, but he didn't go to hit me at all. Hopefully it settles. I am glad though that he hasn't done this to other people or in other places, just with me and at home. 

Anyway, new experiences, lots of thoughts, so many appointments, many tears, lots of laughs, changes to come.