Well all those sleepless nights and cluster feeds are actually amounting to something.
Today we had baby boy’s 2 week check-up with the maternal child health nurse. They really keep a close eye in the early days and like to make sure that babies are taking in breastmilk/formula and putting on weight.
He has grown a few centimetres.
In only 5 days, baby boy has put on 220 grams!
And if we look at his lowest birth weight since being born (which naturally happens days after birth) he has put on 410 grams since.
Wow! I had noticed his face was looking a bit fuller, but I certainly didn’t expect that.
The nurse was happy. We were happy! Baby boy MUST be happy too (with all those feeds).
As for me getting up at night? It’s a bit easier now knowing that it’s helping him.
We might just leave it at that. It is a gratitude blog after all…
Baby girl was so excited for the start back at school today. I usually get her up for school, but this time she found me upstairs, brushing my teeth, happily telling me she would not go back to bed – she was just too excited!
It warmed my heart. My girl needs focus, something to do, to look towards. That is just her character. She’s in grade 4 and she loves learning, coming home and telling us things (but it has to be on her terms, if we ask too much she closes up) and randomly telling us tidbits of things she’s seen and heard, whether it’s been from school or somewhere else.
I can see her growing, learning, maturing, before my very eyes. I catch these moments and try to hold onto them, bottle them for future use so that I can call back upon them when I need. 🙏
Something else growing? My belly. For some comic relief, here was the state of my bladder and pelvis today…
Yep. Under pressure! Today must have been one of those growth spurts for baby, because I was in Struggle Street big time. Struggling to move, walk, do much of anything really.
Or if it wasn’t a growth spurt, maybe it’s baby getting ready and rehearsing for their main appearance, the big reveal… 🥰🤰
Life is going to change very quickly for us all soon, and it occurred to me that it was imperative to capture a very important stage of life, about a very important person.
Baby girl. 🥰💞
My sunshine, my light, my angel. The one who without I wouldn’t have made it as well through so, so many days. I am convinced that God gave her to us, knowing the hardships that would lie ahead, knowing that she would be my guiding light in those very tough times. 🙏
She has grown physically and emotionally over the past couple of months. She is tall. Everyone asks how tall her Dad is if they don’t know him, and I tell them that I too was tall at her age… the tallest in my class! She is tall and thin and does gymnastics, and her hand stands and cartwheels are actually very good. I never was good at any of that, so I marvel at her physicality. 🥰
She has my facial features, my height from that age, but she has Hubbie’s physique. She is strong, she is cheeky, and she is STUBBORN. But then again, so are Hubbie and I, so we have a good few battles around the house, let me tell you.
She knows EVERYTHING. 🤦♀️ She knows stuff that I’ve known for decades, and yet she has learnt in the last day or two about it and knows more… she was trying to teach me about tennis, until I had to point out she was wrong, and then she went “oh.” 🤦♀️
She is a fighter. I hope she fights for what is right, and fights for her opinion, as much as she fights me on issues she doesn’t know much about. 😂
She has the kindest heart. She will do things for you, help you, run to your aid. She has been amazing during my pregnancy. She helps me with grocery shopping and picks out the cucumbers, sweet potatoes, broccoli, even pushed the trolley.
When I’m upset, her mothering, already big-sister nurturing kicks in. She tells me it will be ok, in a soothing, calm voice. Whether I’m upset at the trivial, losing for the 5th time straight in Nintendo Mario Kart, or upset about something more serious in life, she is there to hug me, tell me “there there” and say it will be alright. 💞
She uses “mate” a lot lately, “mate, you gotta see how…” and “bruh.” I used to tease her, but now I just let it go. I find it cute, a part of her personality she is testing out, seeing how it feels.
She loves school. But she loves sleep. Let’s see how Monday goes. 😂 But I honestly do think she needs to be busy, do things, and have a purpose, so in school she thrives.
She has a reading program. Several times a day she will go in her room, close the door, and read a book out loud to her toys. After asking me for a new chapter book, I managed to fish out of an old box my Sweet Valley Twins books. She’s started reading one, and likes it! WOW. From one generation to the next.
She has the best laugh. When she cracks up, I can’t help but join in.
She is a thinker. She questions everything.
She has inherited our quality of being hard on ourselves, which I hate. I try to be easy, tell her it’s ok to make mistakes… I want to try to stop that self-bashing that we do so often, so unnecessarily.
She is the most loving big sister already. So gentle, so soft. She comes up to me and pats my belly, says “hi baby,” and looks up at me adoringly. OH MY GOD. 😍
She is 9, going on 19. Our current discussions are usually about:
“What are we doing today?”
“I want a Ford Ranger when I’m older so I can put my dogs in the back and take them with me everywhere.” (Awwww! 🥰)
“I want a YouTube account by 10, an iPhone by 12, and a TikTok account by 12.”
“Nature is my passion.”
She is the sweetest, funniest, most entertaining girl, and I hope she keeps nurturing her passions and herself, growing into the amazing young woman I know she will become. 🙏💞🥰😍
Firstly, baby girl’s swim lessons. She’s decided, with our approval, to stop swimming. She’s been doing lessons for 4 and a half years. She probably lost about a year due to two years of covid and lockdowns, but so did everyone else.
She knows how to swim. Stay afloat. Protect herself. All the water safety. At this stage, she’s not planning on becoming a professional, or joining the Olympic team.
She’s done enough.
She wants a break, and I totally agree. Today was her last lesson of the year, maybe forever, and all I could think of was that small kinder girl who first started all those years ago, a bit tentative, unsure, only wanting girl teachers not boys, who swam up the shallowest end of the pool.
Now she swims up the deep end.
So, I had some feels. I’m pregnant, so they hit me often. 🥰
I also had my family’s saint day, Sveti Nikola which they/we celebrate. I’ve spoken about this saint day before, a tradition that has been passed down from my grandad – my Mum’s dad – and probably many generations before that.
It was short and sweet, being a weeknight. But the sentiment was there, and I didn’t realise it until I was speaking it out loud, saying it’s nice to see each other, get together, even if for a bit. Yes, people are still working, still going to school (one more day for baby girl!) and it’s a busy time of year.
But to stop, get together, catch up, spend some time having one-on-ones with family, it was precious. Showing baby girl what family is, tradition is… it was priceless.
And then, just now. WordPress does this thing lately where it gives you a prompt to write a post. I do daily gratitude, so I don’t need a prompt… 🤣 BUT, today’s one got me, and I wrote a little bit and took a pic before deleting and writing all of this instead.
The prompt is the first line. My reply follows:
And so, I am just happy, for so many reasons. Growing up, family, looking forward to amazing things. I am claiming this as my time. I have done my due. I’ve gone through shit. I know with life being what it is, I will go through it again.
But I will claim this now, because I deserve it. 🙏💖
Today was a big day, more so for baby girl. She had a friends birthday, and then we all went to a wedding in the afternoon.
The day was beautiful in every way. But there was a particular moment in the night that had me grinning like a Cheshire cat.
Towards the end of the night the band left their musical posts to have a break, and some people, being a little loose and happy and brave, ventured up to the mics to talk, sing and entertain the crowd.
Baby girl got excited, and joined in.
At first I was like ‘stop,’ because she was kinda yelling at the beginning. Like, if you’re gonna talk in a mic, don’t yell, it’s loud as it is… but as she watched the other people comment in the mic and sing along to the backing songs, she started to do the same.
I let it go. I watched her “ooh, ooh” along, make comments, get embarrassed every time in between, BUT… come back for more.
I was fascinated. I was fascinated because she has expressed an interest in singing and dancing for a little bit now, but I think the thought of performing also makes her very nervous.
And here she was, in front of a room full of people, singing along to Paul Simon’s “Call me Al.” 🤦♀️🤣
It was beautiful to watch. I think she thought I was going to tell her to stop again, but instead I took out my camera and took as many snaps as I could.
It might just be a kid thing, wanting to hear her voice amplified, sure… but you know, with a lot of these things, you just never know.
I will always be there, encouraging and cheerleading for her, just in case.
And her dancing, my God I was impressed. The times she was on the dancefloor tonight was the biggest joy to watch. Even though my extra weight was bearing down on my heels, so many times I got up just so I could dance with her.
My girl. My singing girl. My dancing girl. My growing up girl who I love watching every, single, time, and every, single, day.
One of the nicest things you get to experience as a Mum, is when you are still privy to your child’s conversations.
Let me explain.
I picked up baby girl along with her friend from school today… definitely a well overdue raincheck for all the times her Mum helped me when my car was broken down weeks ago.
And I loved it.
I could hear their lingo. Hear them talking about friends, stuff they do, what they like… catchphrases, like ‘Ya,’ (but a dragged out “yaaaa”) and the infamous one most parents would know by now, ‘Bruh.’
🤦♀️🤣
Then after a bit of a play at home, I took them back to school to engage in this Kaboom Sports activity thing for the whole school, where kids ran around, and parents sat on picnic blankets and comfy fold-up chairs and had a chinwag amongst each other.
The girls had gotten changed at home. Put on pretty skirts, tops both tucked in, and then pulled out, just that little bit.
I think they wanted the engagement, to be amongst friends, rather than wanting to play in any sports… but they did both.
It was nice getting a window into their world today, as they talked, joked, and mucked about.
I finished work, made a cuppa and joined baby girl on the couch.
She’d been home from school, unwell for the day, and I used the opportunity to just chill with her.
I needed it too.
I program surfed through Netflix. We stopped on the 90s movie Casper, and I convinced her she’d like it, that Casper’s a friendly ghost, and that the movie is more funny than scary.
She agreed. This was a big deal, because baby girl is scared of anything remotely scary on screen, and it doesn’t even have to be scary.
She freaked out when Robin Williams was practicing with different masks in Mrs Doubtfire.
She ran out of the room when Leo had a coughing fit in Catch Me If You Can.
When Marty McFly is on the hoverboard at the end of Back to the Future II, and trying to steal the Sports Almanac off Biff’s car, she got scared because Biff spotted him hovering and started slamming his car into the sides of the tunnel he was driving through.
She can’t watch Frozen 2 again because Ana gets chased by monster thingies in the end. 🤦♀️
I think you get my drift.
So it was a major improvement for her that we watched a good third of the movie this afternoon, with Casper’s annoying, sometimes scary and definitely ghost uncles popping up everywhere.
And I enjoyed doing nothing too 😊
Now? Her courage has grown, and she’s watching Ghostbusters… the 2016 version.
I usually keep the radio on as I work, just some nice background vibes going on…
But this afternoon I turned it off, when baby girl put something else on.
Mary Poppins. ☂️
She’s watched it before, but I was still curious to see how much of it she would watch today. It’s nice having something familiar in the background, you don’t need to be watching it avidly to follow, but hearing bits here and there you know what’s happening, and then of course, my foot started tapping. 😆
It’s one of those really beautiful childhood memories I have, and it’s even more special to enjoy it not only in my adulthood, but to be watching baby girl enjoy it and watch it all on her own, so many years later.
She didn’t do it in one sitting… I stopped work, then she had swimming, then there was a shower… but she actually watched, the whole thing. No fast forwards. No leaving the room to come back to a different part of the movie 8 scenes later.
Nope, I saw, and she watched it all, so patiently. It occurred to me that she is more grown up, also that she probably remembers parts and wants to get to them! But she watched, relaxed, happy, relishing her school holiday time, as I prepared dinner at the end of the evening and peeked over to the other room where the Poppins lady herself was talking to her parrot umbrella and setting herself up to float away into another adventure, through the sky.
Just having these comforting familiar things in the home, to see, to listen to, gives me happiness, and I hope as the years go by, baby girl will understand the true message of the film, and that it’s not just jumping into pictures and floating on the ceiling.
With that now done, baby girl IS going to spend the next few days going –
“Just a spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down.”
She is getting so grown up, while still maintaining that beautiful, childhood naivety.
Baby girl poses with hand on hip when she puts on a skirt and cute top, like she did today… and then she will go and make a fort. 😆
I helped her today. I was working from home, and she was also home because it was an extra day off school being parent-interview day. So once again, she had to keep herself busy while I worked.
But I got up to help her find a long blanket. We needed something that would fit over the coffee table. I eventually found the right size, and she watched TV from under the fort, peeking out from an open flap in the blanket. 🥰
She sat patiently next to me as I did the zoom report with her teacher. Last year there was some contention over getting her to sit next to me, being lockdown season then. Also she was younger. A year on, and today she was so mature, listening to the feedback, responding to the teacher, not running off and getting all embarrassed as she has in earlier years.
She has her own showers that last half an hour. 🤦♀️We have to beg her to take a shower, but then we can’t get her out. We hear her singing the latest song she is obsessed with, and today it’s Pink’s So What?
The day before it was Ed Sheeran’s Shiver. A few days ago it was Livin’ on a Prayer. Last week she was singing Talking Heads Psycho Killer.
Like her parents, she has diverse music taste. 😉
She says things like “you have got to be kidding me.” She will argue with you and win the debate. She knows everything, and if you tell her she is wrong, she will tell you no, you are wrong, Google is wrong, the world is wrong, and every educator is also wrong too, before going on and clarifying that everyone thinks in their own way. 🤦♀️😆
She drives us up the wall, but she entertains us constantly, and makes us happy, ALWAYS. She is my buddy who sits next to me in the car, lately more often than not. She asks about her past, our past, how we met, and so on, and she eagerly takes in this information.
She loves her friends, she loves her teacher, and she has the best, can-do attitude.
Some time ago we removed the car seat from my car. She is getting older, and besides that, she’s a very tall girl, so it was becoming redundant anyway. From what I’ve read, the ‘loose’ law is that children must be 145cm before they can travel without a child seat in a car. I say loose, because I believe in Victoria anyway, it’s not enforceable, it’s just recommended.
She is 140cm.
She is sooo close. Still we don’t mind, and we know plenty other kids (one of her friends is over a head shorter than her!) who are already travelling without a child seat. 😏
She is so excited to be out of it, but more often than not she wants to sit up the front, next to me. Now, I tell her firmly, until she is 145cm, or until her next birthday, she has to sit in the back because it’s safer for her full stop… that is my rule.
And yet she still somehow gets her way.
She’s suggested that on Fridays she can travel up the front with me, and I’ve agreed. And then there are days like today after school, where she asked if she can jump next to me on the way home from school…
And how could I say no?
So here is my secret… that I can never tell her…
I actually really love having her up there next to me. 💖😁
It’s so much fun, me and my buddy, my mini me, sitting side by side. She changes all of the stations, because she can, and always needs to put the window down too, in cold weather and all.
I can’t tell her though, or else she will never sit in the back seat again!
Today she turned it to my ipod, and we were just cruising there along the Esplanade on the way home, and some perfect pumping tunes came on so we turned it up.
Me, my princess, the water, the sun and the music. It was bliss. 🙏💞
carcrashgratitude 