Happy Birthday Nath!

Nathan turned 10 today !!! Happy Birthday mate!

This is how he celebrated...

Ive made it a bit of a tradition at our house, that when its your birthday, you get to choose a special birthday breakfast, and birthday dinner. Nathan wanted to have pancakes. I found a recipe the other day for a baked strawberry pancake and was keen to try it out - this was the perfect opportunity! Dont worry, he didnt eat all of it by himself...this fed the boys and I!It was mega YUMMO!!!!! especially since we decided to go all out and serve it with ice cream, more fresh strawberries and dusted it with icing sugar - well it is only your 10th birthday once in your life ;)

(Im very keen to try a blueberry version now!)

Jode and the kids dropped by in the afternoon, with a cake in hand...birthday cake #1


Nathans birthday tea - he choose hotdogs..so the boys enjoyed gourmet hotdogs with cheese and bacon and tomato sauce, followed by birthday cake #2
By the magic of cyberspace we now fast forward two days to his party. Oh my goodness, 10 year old boys are noisy LOL They had a great party, they had a scavenger hunt (which was apparently a very cool thing)they played the game where you have to see how many smarties you can move from one plate to another by sucking them on the end of a straw - very funny!Made human pyramids - also very funny had afternoon tea of mini hotdogs, fruit skewers and lamington fingers (Nathans choices!) Had many rounds of a game called hyperdash, and then of course finished off the afternoon with birthday cake #3, a homemade ice cream cake. and one of his mates staying for a sleep over.


oops, how could I forget, his present. When Caleb turned 10 we splurged and got him a really good quality bike, so this was what Nathan wanted as well. he didnt want a BMX like Caleb though, he wanted a mountain bike....
We dont usually spend quite this much on presents, so he got the same deal as Caleb, all the 'family' gave him money and he had to pay part of the cost himself. Perhaps we are stingie parents, but we hope it will give them a little more appreciation of such big purchases, and of the value of money!
I do like to make sure I have a little something for each of the kids to give as well, so Caleb gave him a DS game, Isaac gave him a magazine, and Jacinta gave hime an invisible ink puzzle book. He got also got some cool presents from his friends - a tiger print blanket, a tiny remote control mini, wooden brain teaser puzzle set, a pokemon game guide, finger skateboards and shorts and top (yep my kids are some of the rare breed that actually love getting clothes as gifts!) - as you can see one very lucky 10 year old!!!!

Calendar girl

Over the weekend I recieved an email from Michelle at the Australian Nappy Network with the very exciting news that one of my photos had been selected to appear in the 2009 ANN calender. My little bubba is going to be a calender girl LOL. This is the the shot that was choosen - I wonder which month she will be on!!!!Those that pop by here regularly (and yes Jacintas 7 month letter is still in production LOL) know that Ive chosen to use Modern Cloth Nappies on Jacinta, and Im excited about being able to share my love of them with other interested people. If you want to find out more about MCN keep an eye out in your area during Reusable Nappy week...there may well be something happening near you! (ANN have details of planned events Australia wide) The ANN are a "a non profit organisation promoting the health, environmental and financial advantages of reusable nappies" so if you or anyone else are interested in finding out more, pop by their web site!

I will leave you with a few more shots of my little girl with her gorgeous cloth bottom!!!!

1 week old in an itti bitti boo...

6 weeks old in an itti bitti D'lish...

3 1/2 months in a minky Patooties...


and finally 6 1/2 months old in a Cherubs Kiss Honeyboy...

7 months

To my sweet little princess,Wow darling you are already past the half way mark of your first year of life. You are really at such a delighful age. Your face lights up when any of us walk into the room, you are beginning to take part in little games with us. Your sweet little sounds have now become loud noises..really loud noises! I think you are trying to make yourself heard above the day to day sounds of a houseful of boys. You are still sleeping in your cradle, and still wake at least once (usually twice during the night for a feed. You have perfected settling yourself to sleep though. I put you into bed with a kiss as soon as you start showing signs of being tired. You lay there and drift off to sleep all by yourself. You never seem to sleep that well away from home - you love to be in your own bed!

The spring sunshine has finally arrived. Its wonderful to be able to get outside in the garden, visit a park, or take a walk and lap up the gorgeous warmth. You love being outside. Laying on a rug, walking in the pram or the sling, swingng on the swing, jumping in your Jolly Jumper or sitting watching the world from your playseat.You love to watch what Isaac is doing and strain your neck every which way to get a good view as he plays around you. Now that you have the strenght to hold yourself up, we have put the swing up for you. You get so excited as we walk towards it. You dont like the gentle rythmical swaying in the breeze movements. You love to swing high. You giggle and your little face lights up in anticipation as I pull the swing up towards me....and then the contagious sound of your laughter fills the air as I let you go. The other day when we visited the park we popped you in the swing there. The look on your face was priceless. Sheer exhilaration as the swing swung back and forth. You still love jumping around in the jolly jumper too - I think you are going to be a bit of a thrill seeker baby girl!

I suppose one of the biggest achievements during this month would be that I started you on some solids. For 6 1/2 months you were exclusively breastfed. Your first food was natural yoghurt - you were a little unsure of it, but it hasnt taken you long to get the hang of it.Over the past two weeks, you have tried yoghurt and purees of sweet potatoe, banana, carrot, apples, and apricots. All of which you seem to have enjoyed. You are just having solids in the morning, but we are about to move to two meals a day, and also introduce some multigrain baby cereal, ricotta cheese, pureed beans, pumpkin, potatoe, mango and some rusks for you to chew on through out the day.

We had your 6 month health check, and all is well. At 6 1/2 months you weighed 6.820kg and were 63cm long. You are only in the 25 percentile for your weight and the 10th for your height. Even though you were the heaviest at birth, the boys were well and truley bigger than you by this age.

One advantage of you being so little is that you are getting lots of wear out of your clothes. Youa re still in mostly size 00. One of my favourite little tops that you wear always reminds me of that song...I wish I was a punk rocker with flowers in my hair. the other day I couldnt resisit getting out in the garden and getting this photo... You have heaps of cute clothes in this size, and hear is what you wore for six days (oops, it was going to be a whole week) during this month.I remember the day we came home from hospital with you. I walked out to the car and strapped you into your car seat. You looked SO tiny in there. You are still facing rearwards in your seat, but you fit in there nice and comfortably now. You are no longer in cloth nappies at night. I didnt like the bulk, and prefer the AIO, which are not really designed for night time use. We use a disposable over night - one a day, I can live with that! I still love seeing that cute little toosh in those cute little nappies. I know Id decided on just sticking with my favourite few brands, but how could I resist this gorgeous nappy?You are able to sit for a while now, although you need a bit of propping up with some pillows most of the time. You look so plesaed with yourself sitting amoungst your toys Reaching out to grab what ever takes your fancy. I call you humpty dumpty - because just like Humpty, its inevitable that eventually you will come tumbling down!Your eyes as definaltely going to stay blue. I love how every now and then, I manage to get a photo of you with the light reflecting in just the right way to accentuate the gorgeous colour of your eyes. Isaac just adores "my baby sister". He loves to cuddle you, and make you laugh. He loves when you reach out to touch him as he plays next to you. he loves choosing which colour nappy you will wear, getting you a toy or popping your dummy back in. It is so cute the way he comes and tells me he thinks you need a feed if you start to get a bit whingy. I often find him with his teddy - top pulled up giving him a feed, or laying him down oa blanket, or cradling him in his arms - "just like Jazzy" he tells me. "She my baby sister, I love her, my sister"Hopefully by next months letter, we will finally have some news of your first tooth cutting, or of you rolling around all over the floor, or maybe even of you sleeping the whole night with out waking every four hours or so for a feed. But for now we will just hold you close and cherish everything about you my little princess. All my love Mummy xxxxx

two and three quarters

Dear Isaac, Its only three months until you turn three my little man.
Two is such a full on age.
Struggling for your independence, yet often unable to master the skills to achieve it.
Struggling to deal with your emotions and learning (by trial and error!) appropriate ways to deal with your feelings.
Struggling to find your special little niche in the family and beyond.
The tatrums and toy throwing, stamping feet and screaming, the tears and the laughter, the little games that have to be played just right, the routines that must be followed to the letter. Learning new skills every day. Chatting away to me as we go about our daily 'jobs'. Wrapping your arms around me and planting a big kiss on my lips and telling you that you love me "SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO MUCH". Ahhh as difficult as this age can be, there are definately so many moments to treasure.

I love how the little things make you so happy.
This morning there was a frost.
You stood in the nice warm lounge looking longingly outside.
"I go out dere mummy" your face beamed with pleasure when I said yes! We got you dressed, rolled up the bottom of your pants and off you went. You obviously had some concept of how cold it would be, as you asked for a beanie. Bare feet and a beanie. You didnt know how cold the frosty grass would feel on your toes, or the way it would crunch under your feet as you ran around. You ran out side for a bit, and then came back to warm yout feet by the fire. You did it again and again. Eventually you can running upto me and said "I cry Mummy, I got too cold feet"

Next time you see frosty grass you will know.

You will remember today.

You recently discovered if you drag your little wooden chair over to the sink you can reach the water tap. You were so pleased with yourself. Im glad its the middle of winter and the tank is overflowing.

You spend half the day up there getting drinks now. You fill your cup to the brim, take a few sips and then tip the rest in the sink. We will have to work on that a bit before sunner arrives and water is scarce!

You love to help. "can I help?" It doesnt matter what Daddy, the boys or I are doing you want to help. You love to do things yourself just like everyone else.

You have yet to learn that somethings just are not easy for a two year old to help with. When the answer is "sorry no you cant help with this mate", the resulting heartbroken tears are full on. You want to help cook and clean, and mow the lawns, and help in the shed. You want to help the boys with their homework, and will often pick up a book during the day and tell me you are going to do your homework. You came up to me the other day and asked me to sign your diary! You crack me up sometimes sweetie!

You dont miss anything that is going on around here. Some of your little behaviours and language are not at all appropriate for a two year old - having two older brothers does have a few draw backs!

You love to play with your Bob toys, have tea parties, watch playschool and your DVDs, dance and sing, play thomas and other trains, cars and motorbikes, look at the Thomas games on the laptop.
You also like to pretend. "Mummy guess what I is". Usually its a cat for some reason, but sometimes its a frog or a tiger or you start wriggling around on the floor being a snake.

You love reading stories. Yesterday as I sat down to check my emails, you sat on the floor next to me with a book. You opened the cover. "Once apon a time...you began, and chatted away to yourself as you 'read' yourself a story.

You have started sighing lately. If I ask you to do something, or scold you for doing something you shouldnt, of even just ask you a question, You sigh. Not just a cute little sigh. A shoulder raising whole body, loud, exagerated and obvious sigh.

Some of your favourite sayings......
"I funny"
"dats what I talking about"
"great job"
"can I help"
"I SO hungry"
"I SO tired"
"dats right Mummy"
"you play [with] me"
"what you doing?"
"have a good day"
"please have a drink" (or apple, carrot, bicky etc)
"no caweb, you not do dat"

"Naysy [Nathan] you play me?"

"Daddy's home from work"

Mummy has started to only let you have your Dummy when its sleep time. Its been a very full on and challenging time as you try to develop new strategies for coping with lifes daily hurdles with out your trusty dummy to rely on!

We have also started getting a little more serious about toilet training you. You are in jocks most days now, and are doing really well. We have the occasional acccident, but thats to be expected! You like to wear jocks because "I getting bigger".

You still run to the front door every week when you hear the rubbish truck. You love to go out and watch as the rubbish bins get tipped into the back. Often the driver will wave to you, and you wave excitedly back.

Three is just around the corner my little mate, and Im sure it will bring its share of challenges as well as lots of wonderful times together. I cant wait!

I love you....SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much xxxx

Six months

My sweet little cinta bug,

Every minute of everyday I feel blessed that we have such a sweet little girl as part of our lives. I remember back to the day of our 20 week ultrasound, and the lady telling us she was pretty certain that we were having a girl. It was confirmed by the senior radiographer, and by Dr Klomp, yet I still wasnt 100% convinced. I suppose I had become used to the fact that I had three beautiful boys. That was how I saw myself. A mother of boys. A little girl would be such a wonderful addition to our family though. It wasnt until after your arrival that it really sunk in. No they hadnt misread the ultrasound, I really did have a little girl. I could look forward to that special bond that only a mother and daughter can share.

Everytime I look into your beautiful blue eyes, they still amaze me. I had always imagined that the little baby I carried inside was going to have big brown eyes, just like Nathan. Yours were a bluey grey at birth, but as the days and months have gone by, they are definately developing into a stunning shade of blue. You look a lot like Nathan did as a baby, but often I see glimpses of Caleb or Isaac in the expressions on your face. People often comment that you look a lot like your brothers.
I just love that in the past six months you have managed to acumulate so many cute little nicnames. Everyone seems to have their own pet name for you. Mummy has lots, baby girl, little girl, cinta bug, and Jazz are a few of my favorites. Daddy calls you his little sweetness & Jazz bum, and your brothers mostly use cinta or just Jacinta.
You are still being exclusively breastfed. The time is nearing that we will have to start on solids, but your definately a boobie girl. Somtimes you feed really quickly, but sometimes I think its more comfort sucking as you snuggle up to me for ages, drifting in and out of a light sleep as you feed. I dont mind. Im enjoying the time to stop everything and sit and feed you. You really havnt taken to the bottle at all. Ive tried different bottles and teats, but you have refused them all. I did manage to get you to take a little expressed milk from a sipper cup, but you still weren't keen.

Ever since you were born you have loved to be patted off to sleep in my arms. Now that you have reached six months I know I should be helping you to learn to self settle, but it is so nice having you drift off to sleep snuggled against me. I love our little routine just as much as you, and I know I will miss these precious moments once you learn to put yourself to sleep. So just for now I will ignore what I should be doing and just enjoy it while it lasts.

Your other great comfort is your dummy. You still will only accept the cherry shaped latex teats, but Ive become used to them now. Its funny how you always manage to spin them around in your mouth and suck them sideways though!

You discovered your thumb a few months back and when you woke in the night would just pop it in your mouth and drift straight back to sleep. I dont know if its becoming more reliant on the dummy that has done it, but now if you wake in the night you want to be fed. You dont suck your thumb anymore, and you scream if I try to pop your dummy back in and sneak away. So for the last month we have been back into the routine of a 3am ish feed. Most of the time I really dont mind. It did take a bit to get back into the swing of it though after having a couple of months of you sleeping right through. Ive tried a top up feed before bed, waking you for a dreamfeed at about 11pm, and trying to resettle you back to sleep. Nothing so far has worked. Its far easier to give you a quick feed snuggled up on the lounge. Both of us get back to sleep much quicker that way.You are still sleeping in your cradle. It wont be much longer though, you reach out and grab the bars, and it makes a funny little noise when you wriggle around in the night. Until you start rolling around you seem quite comfortable in there. I think Im starting to cling to all those things that make you a tiny baby. your growing up so fast now, and knowing that you are definately our last addition to the family is making me want to hang on just that little bit tighter!

We are right into the swing of cloth nappying now. It just seems so normal. I dont think twice about walking out the door with you in cloth. It seems strange that when we started out I was almost scared to take you out of the house in cloth nappies. I would change you into a disposable before we left! We have a lovely little collection of nappies that really suit you, and even Daddy has changed a couple. We ahve reverted to a disposable over night. Im not sure why, but it just seemed easier than fitteds and covers, and I was having trouble fitting your PJs over the bulk of a night nappy. I should just pop you in one of your ittis for night, you are not a huge wetter, so Im sure it would cope! The boys have commented on how good it is that we can reuse nappies rather than just use disposables. I love that they are growing up with an awareness of the environment, and that there are other options to throw away products in our very disposable society. Your nappies look so bright and colourful packed into the basket on your bedroom as well.

You have only put on a little bit of weight again in the last month. You weigh 6.67kg now. Despite the fact that you look quite chubby, your weight gain over the last three months has been very slow. We have your 6mnth health check soon, so I will be able check your length as well, and see if that has been increasing at a similar rate. I often joke that you could have survived on those generous thighs you were born with for months...looks like thats what you've been doing.You have been wearing an amber bracelet for a while now. I got it from the states, and it is supposed to help with the discomforts of teething. It seems to have stopped a lot of the dribbling you were starting to do, but since none of your teeth have made an appearence yet, Im not sure of its effectiveness. You also have a cherry red one with a matching necklace...so bring on those teeth so we can test them out.

Its funny how disproportionate the amount of pink that has appeared in our house is. Pink toys, pink blankets, and LOTS of pink clothes! All from a Mummy who was never really a pink person. How times change! You look so cute in your little denim dress and tights...by no means practical, but very cute! And it is one of the few things you have that isnt pink. Yes Mummy is having a lovely time dressing you sweetie! Most of your clothes are hand me downs or brought second hand. I cant see the point in buying new when I can get such good quality second hand stuff. Just like when I was dressing Isaac, I still have a massive Pumpkin patch addiction...I figure if Im going to buy new (after all I have to spend the vouchers I got when you were born) I will get bargains when PP have their clearance sales.

You have really been practicing your fine motor skills lately. You love the tags on your toys and blankets, so I made you a snuggly little taggy blanket. You love poking, pulling and chewing at all the brightly coloured tags.

You are not sitting unsupported yet, you usually just topple straight over. I managed to prop you up in the rocking chair to take some six month photos of you, you had bare feet and were mesmerised by your toes. I just love this photo of you, gazing lovingly at your adorable little feet.

You are bringing so much joy to all of our lives my sweet baby girl.

We all love you so much xxxx

Once apon a time....

...I used to be a scrapbooker :)

Well I still am, but other priorities have been filling my life lately. Even though I havnt actually been scrapping, Ive still been recording everything through my photos....AND...

...my scrapping mojo is coming back - yippee...BUT...

Im just so limited on time to scrap at the moment. I started a LO Saturday afternoon - I was going to keep it simple - Ali Edwards style......I spent more time on it today, and decided that I just have trouble with simple....especially quick and simple.

I really feel like I want to get the memories associated with all these photos recorded, so I will have to comprimise. Im having another play with digi scrapping.

I did my first LO for my totally digital album today. It was super quick, and I managed to keep it simple. (Its easy when you only have a limited selection of digi stuff LOL)

I decided to create an album for Jacinta titled 'the little things'.

Here is the first LO.

Its basic, and thats how I want it- the photo and my journalling (just prettied up a little though LOL) I plan to get it printed and into a real life touchable album too. Not sure if I will print them out as standard photos, or do one of those photobooks.