A Day With Eliza

I just love Eliza's personality. She cracks me up so much of the time. Her little comments, her expression, her head tilt, her singing. She is a very strong willed little girl which can be full on sometimes, but other times she is just funny.

Here are some videos from today with her. I do enjoy preschool days where I can focus more on Eliza.

Singing while drawing (inspired by Play School)

I love Eliza's concept of the English language and things we say. When I say 'Good job' she often replies with 'Me no job. Me a girl. Good girl.' Fair enough.

Eliza loved reading 'The Magic Hat' even when she isn't reading it. 

Whenever someone sneezes Eliza calls out 'bless you...'  She will repeat it until you say thank you to her. 

She has also started try eating yoghurt with her hands (not so great) and it goes everywhere when she brushes her hair out of her face. Here you can see how cheeky she is when I ask her what is on her face. 

I love how much Eliza enjoys singing. She does pretty well to remember lyrics. Here she is singing Baa Baa Black Sheep to James when getting ready for bed tonight. Too precious. 

Let Kids Be Kids

Lately I have been trying really hard to let kids be kids. Things like:
-letting them jump in rain puddles, knowing their clothes will get wet but can dry
-letting them play in the sandpit without me watching closely to make sure the sand stays in the sandpit
-letting them eat dinner with their fingers instead of insisting on using a fork/spoon
-being ok with Daniel doing craft activities from his craft box and just letting him go with his ideas

It may not sound like much but to me it is. I like to be in control. I don't like mess. In my classroom with potentially messy tasks I would only have a couple of students at a time complete the task to avoid mess.

This week Daniel asked if he could do some painting and I thought 'why not'. While Alexander napped I made a batch of cornflour paint and left it to cool. After a feed and a play Alexander went back to sleep and I set up painting for Daniel and Eliza. Daniel was given a Playschool book from Aunty Jen and the first activity in it was making box cars. I thought this might be fun to do with the kids.

I placed down the painting mat that we used when painting the house and then brought out the kids' pram and 2 cardboard boxes and just let them paint. Eliza embraced it so much more than Daniel did but both of them had a lot of fun. 

Daniel wanted to paint details on his car. Things like windscreen wipers, headlights, windscreen, doors. He wasn't too keen to paint all the cardboard. He then decided to finish painting and run around, play with his ball, water the garden, etc. 

Eliza was all about the paint. She just loved mixing the colours, painting over and over the same spot, just getting messy. It was gorgeous to watch! 

Alexander woke and had a feed while Daniel and Eliza continued to paint. He then was content to sit on the rug in the bouncer and watch the other 2. 

I really need to embrace painting more and take advantage of the drop sheets so I don't stress about mess.

The next day we then made box cars from the painted boxes. The kids have had a wonderful time racing around the house, standing at the starting line, driving all around. I love it when they enjoy playing with something we make. 

Daniel's car

Eliza's car

'Red light. On your marks...

Get set

GO!

Cot Time

On Friday 9th September after Alexander pushing himself up to the top of the bassinet at the end of each nap time we decided that it was time for him to move into the cot.

He is ready for it but I'm not so much. I know it's good that he's growing and getting bigger. I know that's what is to happen but a part of me is sad that he is growing up. I like having a little baby, I like the small clothes, the bassinet, the capsule. It is a bit sad having my baby grow up. I did have a few tears after moving him.

He took a little bit of time to settle in the cot. He was quiet for a while (I think looking around at the different angle) but then got upset. After a couple of pats, cuddles and a bit more of a feed he fell asleep in his new bed and slept the same amount of time as in the bassinet. After a night feed he settled straight away again and woke in the morning. A successful nights sleep.

He looks so little in the cot. My darling baby boy.

Meeting More Family

This week we sadly said goodbye to James' Grannie. After a long period of dementia the illness overtook her body and she passed away peacefully. On Wednesday we celebrated her life as we said goodbye. There were a lot of tears but also many smiles and laughs. Grannie was a special woman. I loved seeing photos of her with Daniel and Eliza in the PowerPoint and also knowing that she met Alexander, even though she probably didn't remember it. It is a special memory for James and I.

Funerals always bring family together and Grannie's was no different. Malcolm and Julie came down from Hervey Bay and so did Jenny, Maddie and Aly. It was so lovely to see them all but especially to have Aunty Jen, Aly and Maddie meet Alexander. 

Dinner times were filled with laughs, games, chaos, excitement. It was so lovely to watch the kids play together. Maddie has grown up so much and is such a young lady now. Aly is so big now, on the move and her own little person. It's amazing how much they have grown over 7 or so months. We are looking forward to heading up to Hervey Bay in a month to hang out again.

Nana J with Alexander

Daniel and Aly playing together

Giggles

Kisses from Maddie

Cuddles with Boompa

Daniel with Nana J

Eliza and Alexander enjoying cuddles

Aly at the slippery dip

Aly checking on Alexander

The 2 big kids still for a moment

Cuddles with Aly

Alexander with Aunty Jen

Group cuddle

Trying to get all kids looking at the same time. Ha. Not likely.

Fathers' Day

Last Sunday was Fathers' Day. At 7am the kids all headed into the bedroom to jump on James to wake him up and give him presents. Eliza gave James the card that had written on it that his present was a ticket to the V8s and to go with Daniel. Very fun. Daniel then gave James his present from preschool. It was a bbq set and a bookmark with freight trains on it because James sometimes watches freight trains with him (we're not too sure about this but Daniel is certain that they do). Daniel had also been quite creative over the previous week. He had drawn a few pictures of racing tracks, both kids had done a craft for James at the library and Daniel had also enjoyed making 3 different crafts from his box. Lucky daddy.

The rest of the day was church, lunch together and then James was on band so I hung out with the kids. 

I do love watching James with the kids. He just adores them and they equally adore him. Happy First Father's Day with 3 kiddies. 

Feeding

Alexander seems to be doing well with weight and feeding. His feeds are getting quicker (which is good). He is having around 7 feeds each day. He will tend to sleep one cycle with 1 longer sleep in the day and then do a long stretch from around 6/7pm. The tricky part is that he is tending to have 2 feeds in the night. This is exhausting me! He will tend to feed around 1am (but this can he anywhere between 11pm and 3am) and then again around 5am (but can be anywhere between 4-6am). It is just tiring me so much. The last couple of nights I have struggled to stay awake while feeding. I do hope he drops one of the feeds, or even that he pushes the 2nd feed out to 6-7am. Maybe I'll feel a bit more human then. Who knows. So tired!! I miss having a solid nights sleep.

I've found my feet!

When Alexander has been lying on the ground he started by just lying there. Then he found his hands and he enjoys clasping them together and sucking on his fingers. This week he has also started to find his feet, tapping them on the ground while playing. He's a pretty happy little guy.

Giggles

On Thursday (1/9/16) Alexander did his first giggle. He has looked close to laughing a lot lately but hadn't gone past smiling and chatting. Daniel was chatting with Alexander and entertaining him in the bouncer. He started to sing 'clap your feet' and Alexander was smiling at him and then did a little giggle. Daniel was so excited that Alexander laughed. It was very cute to watch.

Today James was playing with Alexander and started to tickle him. Alexander loved it and started to giggle. Too cute! Can't wait to watch him giggle more.

Roll over, roll over

Over the past month Alexander has accidentally rolled from tummy to back. He hasn't been as shocked by the roll like Eliza was, but it clearly wasn't doing it on purpose. Today (3/9/16) I put Alexander down for tummy time but after a short time he pushed himself over to roll. I put him back on his stomach and he rolled again. He then did it 6 more times, clever boy. Here are a few videos of him rolling over. 

The only downside of him being so clever to roll is that he now doesn't do tummy time for