Term 1 Preschool Done

Daniel has completed his 1st Term of preschool and he has absolutely loved it! He doesn't understand why he has 2 weeks of holidays now, bless him. He has start to make some friendships which is lovely. One of the girls, Matilda, goes to church and he gets so excited seeing her on Sundays too. His joy of preschool is so obvious. On Tuesday they had an end of term picnic lunch which the families were invited to. Eliza and I went and joined Daniel. It was so lovely to watch Daniel in the classroom - doing some activities, singing some songs, etc. He was so attentive to his teacher, Alison and so engaged. I just loved it. We then headed outside and had lunch together then Daniel and Eliza had a quick play before heading home for her nap. I asked Daniel if he wanted to come home with us or if he wanted to stay until the normal finishing time. He told me in a very matter fact way 'I will stay until the normal time'. Bless him. 

Mum was great and came around to be here while Eliza had her nap. When I went to pick up Daniel, he was the only one in the classroom. I felt pretty bad that he stayed but he was so keen to. His teachers were fine with it too and said they needed to stay until 4 anyway so it was fine. He was happily dancing to a song he requested called the Wombat Wobble. I had never heard this song before but he was so cute dancing to it. When we came home I looked up the song and played it and he enjoyed dancing to it. Enjoy :-)

 

Beanie Progress

So I am now 34 weeks pregnant. This is pretty crazy! I still find that it feels quite surreal. I find I'm busy with the kids so forget that I have a large belly at the moment. But yeah, in around 6 weeks we will be meeting our little Beanie, finding out if it is a girl or a boy, starting the feeding journey again, the sleepless nights journey again, the joy of holding and getting to know a new little person.

33 weeks pregnant

Today this realisation is bitter-sweet. While we are excited to meet our little one, my cousin today found out that he and his wife who were 11 weeks pregnant with twins had lost both of the them. It is heart breaking to hear this news, it is heart breaking to be journeying with them while we have a healthy bubba growing inside me. It is heart breaking that a very similar situation happened with them when Daniel was 3 months old and their gorgeous baby, Lucy, was born and then passed away less than an hour later. I don't understand why some people can fall pregnant easily and some can't. I don't understand why some people experience miscarriage and others don't. I don't understand why 2 people who make amazing parents and earnestly want another baby are being put through such a tough and painful time. I don't get it! I don't know what to say to them. I guess nothing I say will help the situation. I just don't understand it. I'm left speechless and in tears when I think about it. I know that God is in control. I know that He can see the bigger picture. I know that he is loving them and caring for them during this difficult time. I know that God is going to grow them through this situation, as they did after Lucy. But I also know that the pain is going to be so hard for them, that they are going to be hurting a lot in a way that I can't understand.

As I said, it is bitter-sweet. Here is an update on how Beanie is going.

I had an appointment with my obstetrician this week and all is looking pretty good. Beanie is still growing well, measuring well. It has a strong heartbeat which is good to hear. The only problem at the moment is that Beanie is breached but Dr Booker thinks that it will turn on its own. If it hasn't turned by 37 weeks (my next appointment) then he might need to give it a push to turn it but he doesn't think it will come to that. I have had a few headaches and a migraine over the last few weeks so I was curious how my blood pressure would be but fortunately it was fine. Just the stresses of life I guess. I have booked a massage for Tuesday next week while the kids are at Mum and Dad's place so that will hopefully help settle everything. 

Beanie is quite a mover. I don't think Eliza or Daniel moved quite as much but maybe they did and I just don't remember. Part of me thinks that 1. I'm moving more with both kids so when I stop Beanie just wants to make its presence known. 2. My muscles have been stretched so much that there is nothing there anymore so any movements can be automatically felt. Anyway, here are a couple of videos of Beanie moving around. Sorry for the one with no shirt. It was just cool to be able to see the movements clearly.

 

Wiggles

I love how much the kids love music. Last week at church, Daniel knew the songs that were sung before he went out to JKs. It was so special holding him in my arms and hearing him sing 'How Great Is Our God'. I love that this is a part of their lives and I hope that they come to know that these words are truth.

But by far, both Daniel and Eliza's favourite music to listen to is the Wiggles. It is requested pretty much every day and I am a push over so tend to let them listen to it each day. Rock'n'Roll Preschool is a favourite, as is the Hot Potato/Best of and they are enjoying listening to the new 'Wiggle Town'. I will be happy if this love of the Wiggles moves on. At least the kids do enjoy listening to different music too.

Anyway, I thought this was pretty cute watching Eliza and Daniel sing 'Rock'n'Roll Preschool'. Enjoy.

Eliza loves her cars

James enjoys watching the cars and this love has spread to our kids. Daniel will sometimes ask to watch the cars after his nap time. Eliza is eager to sit with James to watch them when it is on. Last weekend the V8s were on. When they finished Eliza was a little bit upset. She wanted to watch the cars. James found a different channel that had some car racing on it which made her happy. We then (being the loving parents we are) had a bit of fun with her love of watching cars.

When this was happening, it reminded me of the Australia's Funniest Home Video of the little girl who loves Jimmy Barnes songs and not Twinkle Twinkle. You can watch it here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMsCFW5VDmU 

Riding time

For Christmas the Howies gave Daniel a bike. I was wanting to get him a big boy bike with training wheels as he has ridden ones at some friends' places and enjoyed it. He loves riding his tricycle so this would naturally be the next progression. Also, Eliza is keen to start riding a bike too so we wanted her to be able to ride the tricycle so we needed to move Daniel on. 

At the Gower/Kidd Christmas he was very excited to get his present!

 After presents finished we headed down to the frontyard for him to have a go. The poor thing was very hesitant because it wasn't flat like the other times he has ridden and so didn't really want to ride. I found this annoying because he could easily do it if he believed in himself. He did start to get there slowly.

On Christmas day we had the Howies around for lunch and Oscar brought his bike and scooters. The kids had a fun time riding around the street together and Oscar was so beautiful encouraging Daniel on his bike because he was still so hesitant.

On Thursday mornings, Eliza has been going to swimming lessons. Rather than having Daniel with us because I still needed to go in the water Dad has been fantastic in taking Daniel for a bike ride home from the pool. With the bigger bike the ride would be a bit too tricky with the hills so instead Dad has been taking him for a ride up to the park. This has helped Daniel grow in confidence which is wonderful! I am really grateful for Dad doing this (and Mum in the last few weeks too). Daniel also looks forward to it. Here is Daniel riding with Dad.

He has also grown in confidence to ride around our pavers on his own.

One Thursday night we decided to have dinner at the park instead of at Mum and Dad's place so the kids could have a play and a ride. It was great seeing Oscar become much more confident on his bike and Daniel was doing pretty well on his own one too (with coach Poppy helping him). Eliza had fun being pushed around by different people on her bike as well.

A couple of weeks ago Daniel had a fall off his bike which seemed to have shaken him. When we tried to take him and Eliza for a walk on the weekend he was refusing to get on his bike, refusing to try riding on his own, refusing to give it a go. This was really frustrating because I know he can do it, I believe he could ride really well, he just needs to! It took us 1hr and 20mins to just ride to the park and back. Probably 40mins of that was just going down our street. On the way home he started to feel a bit better. We were chatting about different things which I think distracted him and helped him ride on his own. On Thursday Nana and Poppy took Eliza and Daniel for a ride and they said he did pretty well which was great to hear. 

On Friday Daniel asked if he could ride on the road. I was surprised by this but decided to give it a go. He asked if he could ride his tricycle but I said no, he needed to ride his big bike for at least 1 lap first. Pushing Eliza and helping Daniel can be tricky but he was a lot more confident and wanted to ride without help. I sure was surprised! We rode around the loop and as we came back to our house I asked him if he wanted to keep going to see the house that was being built. He said yes and we continued to ride to the house. Again, I was surprised! After sitting and watching the builders making cement for a few minutes we headed back to our house and I was so very proud of his riding!

Of course, when we made it back to the house Daniel was straight back onto his tricycle and much more confident when riding but I was still very proud of his riding!

 

Big Girl Bed!

With turning 2, James and I decided that it would be a good time for Eliza to move into her big girl bed. Also, with her being sickly we thought she might transition easily because she'd be so tired she would just fall asleep in her bed. So on the Sunday for naptime we put Eliza in her big girl bed and she was so good! She didn't even move after putting her into her bed. Clever girl!

Bedtime was the same. She didn't move after being put in her bed and she stayed in her room asleep until after 7am! What a champ.

Asleep in her bed

 On Monday Eliza was feeling a bit better and it showed at naptime. She was happy to get into bed, loves using her step to climb up and get under the covers but when I went in to wake her up and get Daniel this is how I found her.

 So she didn't stay up in her bed. She did make me laugh.



At bedtime she did make progress by falling asleep on the bed, but still not on the pillow. She was fine though when I moved her under the sheets and fell straight back to sleep.

 The next night we made even more progress with Eliza falling asleep on the pillow. Still not under the covers but still. It is baby steps.

However, the next naptime was a classic. I could hear her moving around in her room for quite a long time. When I went in to wake her up this is how I found her...

My sweet little girl decided to change her drawers by pulling out all the clothes and then fell asleep on them. Too cute! Fortunately she hasn't really done this to the same extent, however, she does still pull out some clothes at times or her books.

We did finally have a win with her falling asleep under the covers... however... after I took this photo she did wake up and need a cuddle and then fell back to sleep on the bed again. You can't win them all. Ha.

She is doing really well with her big girl bed though. She is still excited by it, she is happy to climb down and have a play and then climb back onto the bed to sleep. The only challenge is that she does like to climb out of bed to turn on the room light each time she is going to sleep. 

The other funny part of this is that when Eliza wakes up (even if it's 1am) she will climb out of bed, bring her step into our room and climb up onto the bed for a cuddle. Very cute, gives James and I the giggles but also a bit annoying when we are asleep. On the whole though she is doing pretty well with using her GroClock and staying in her room until the sun comes up. When she does wake early, she is happy to have a cuddle, be taken back into her room and then having the door closed so she will play or read books in there. James and I are much more relaxed and find the funny side to her actions than we were with Daniel which is nice to experience. After all I have said that Eliza would be in the cot until she's 18... I guess I was wrong with that. 

Proud of our little girl!


 

Eliza's 2nd Birthday

So Eliza is now 2! Where has that time gone? It doesn't feel that long ago that I was holding her for the first time in hospital and now my little girl is 2! The poor little one though had been sick with a cold for 3 days prior to her birthday and on Saturday it was basically at its worst. She woke up and just wanted to have cuddles. She was very out of sorts. Not what you want for your birthday and not what you want for your party. The poor little one. But she did power on.

After some cuddles we convinced Eliza to get going by having a special 'happy birthday babychino' made by Daddy and shared with Daniel.

Cheers, it's your birthday

After breakfast we dressed Eliza in a pretty party dress and then did present time. It was fun to see Eliza getting into opening the presents this time, of course with Daniel's help. It was so lovely to see Eliza excited to get her own Jemima doll (she loves Playschool!), tickets to Playschool and a Jemima DVD. Winner for presents!

Present time

Daniel helping

Looking at her playschool tickets voucher (concert is in September)

So happy even though she is sick

Jemima!

Showing off her doll

I love this gorgeous girl so much. She makes me laugh, she drives me crazy. She is so cheeky, has a very strong personality, is determined but also so caring. She is just a delight to have in our lives!

We then headed to Ruddock Park for Eliza's party. It was just a small morning tea at the park with family but it was a lovely time. There was of course a lot of food (although this time we seemed to have just the right amount with dip, veges, crackers, cheese, banana muffins, apricot balls and cake!)

Eliza's cake was chosen by Daniel as she wasn't interested in looking at the cake book (she doesn't know what she's missing out on!). Daniel decided that Eliza should have the 'Little MIss Muffet' cake, but called it the Spider Cake. I thought about it and James and I decided that it would be suitable because Eliza calls spiders and spider webs 'Spiderman'. I have no idea where it came from but it is so very cute! My goal was for her to look at the cake and say 'spiderman'. That would mean that I achieved it.

Winner! It she thought it was 'Spiderman'. Eliza was very excited to have a cake and enjoyed looking at it.

But most of the day was spent like this...

cuggles with Mummy. Her cold just reached its limit and she was just not herself. Even eating wasn't up there. She had maybe half a banana muffin and party of her cake but that was all - very unlike my girl. 

We then sang 'happy birthday' and had the cake. The wind kindly stopped for the candles to be lit which was great. Fortunately with her cold, having the little cake as the stool worked perfectly for her to blow out the candle and not make other people sickly. Daniel took the honors to blow out the candles on the proper cake.

Hip hip, hooray!

Trying to blow out her candle

Eager to taste it

Big breath

Blowing

Blown out! Yay.

Daniel's turn

Hooray!

Eliza was keen to have her cake, but didn't have much of an appetite so only had a little amount of it.

The cake was a nice, simple one and was very tasty to eat.

Eliza then opened her presents. She is one very loved and spoilt little girl. Her favourite presents were some swimming goggles and a travel magnadoodle.

She had to put on her goggles.

Oscar's gorgeous card for Eliza

 Eliza had a short cuddle with Uncle Howie and then decided to head over to the swings with Auntie Jenny. The swing is what brought out my little girl's smiles and giggles. So precious.

Daniel also had a go at swinging and today was the first time that I saw him starting to work out how to swing on his own - pulling and swinging his legs. I was pretty proud of him.

 

Eliza is so lucky to have such wonderful family around her (as are we). I'm glad that both my family and some of James' family could come to celebrate our little girl.

And then it was back to cuddles with Mummy.

After the party Eliza fell asleep on the way home, yep, in the 2 minute drive back home. I put her into her cot and she transferred fine which was good. After about an hour she woke up though very upset. I went in and had a cuddle with her but she was so out of sorts, she didn't know what she wanted. She flopped down on the ground and fell asleep again on the floor. Poor poppet.

After a short nap she woke up but still lay on the ground for another 30mins.

 After more cuddles Eliza was ok with FaceTiming Nana J and Boompa but Daniel was a lot more chatty with them. After that chat finished James went into our bedroom and started to FaceTime Eliza and Daniel. This brought out some more giggles from our little girl.

 She did so very well on her birthday for being sickly. We love her so much and can't wait to see what is in store for her as a 2 year old and beyond.