Dear world,
It's only 1pm, but today has been an amazing day.
It would have been amazing automatically: it is mine and Jonathan's 4th anniversary and we are spending 2 nights away while our mum's take care of our little princesses. I'm so blessed to have had four wonderful years with Jonathan. It is also the celebration of the start of our family - our two little girls definitely feature in my joy too.
To add to the excitement, we got to have an ultrasound today. I am 20 weeks pregnant and it was a pretty detailed scan. Since we've got home I've been looking at the ultrasound pictures, adoring that sweet little face. That sweet little man! That's right - we're having a boy :D We would have been in love either way, but that news did add seem to stretch our smiles even that little bit further. We have a healthy little bubba on the way. I'm relieved that I wasn't being too hasty to pass on the clothes that our youngest has been outgrowing and we had no room to store - her brother won't need them!
As it does often, it strikes me how richly blessed I am. It's a feeling that has little to do with material goods and everything to do with love.
Always grateful,
Tracey
Showing posts with label Update. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Update. Show all posts
Thursday, 16 May 2013
Monday, 1 April 2013
Some long-weekend creativity!
At the tail end of the weekend, I want to wish you a happy easter! I hope you've all had a great weekend. Myself, it has been a fantastic weekend spending lots of time with my fantastic family and, naturally, being grateful and celebrating the reason we have this holiday. <3
On Saturday afternoon, my husband cheerfully insisted that I get myself out of the house, leave the kids with him and go do whatever I felt like... I wound up at Spotlight GX and with Christmas money still in my pocket bought myself a few little things. One of those things was a fabulous fabric which with the sale going came to $3/metre! Bargain. I also bought some hobby fill and knowing that I had everything else I needed at home, set out to make some cushions.
The first one I made was for Natalie and she was excited to know that I was making it for her. She watched me start it, but I finished it off after she was in bed and the next morning... and then she got to see the rest of the process when I made the second one, and even helped me stuff it.
They're quite comfy little cushions and I have to say I'm excited to have had time and creative energy to make them. My only regret is that I didn't take photos of the whole process of making them. Because the fabric was a little sheer I actually have it layered with some calico I had at home, which worked well because of the tones of the patterned fabric.
I have visions in my head of a time in the future when I'll be able to make things like this and then sell them perhaps... I just need a little more practice on the hand stitching (the hole that I left open to stuff the cushion and then hand sewed definitely looks better on the second one I made than on the first).
For now, I am quite set on finishing a patchwork quilt (within the next 2 weeks) I began making for Natalie toward the end of last winter... by the time I got part way through it the weather started warming up and I lost my motivation to do it, but now that winter is on it's way back I'm determined that she'll be able to use it for the whole winter! It won't actually take that long, I just have to set the time aside to do it.
Sunday, 9 December 2012
Tiny Treasure turns 1
This time one year ago (as I begin writing) Jonathan and I were oohing and aahing over our tiny new baby - Hayley!
I thought this might be a good time to share what happened on that day. If you get squeemish around birth stories, feel free to skip the italics. (Mine is fairly standard)
The Birth Story
I woke up about 5:30am (give or take) to the first contractions, which were 5 to 10 minutes apart. I knew that they could be Braxton Hicks but as they continued to come regularly over the course of the morning, I guessed that it would be the day. In fact, after a few hours I would think to myself between each contraction, "come on, don't stop now - I don't want that all to have been for nothing"... and then when another contraction started I'd be like, "oh no, oh no, oh no" haha!
By 8am my husband had called his mum to say that it looked like this was the day, and could she keep herself free to come and watch Natalie once we headed to the hospital.
My Visiting Teachers at the time (one of whom is a midwife!) had arranged to see me that morning, and they came anyway as well as picking up a few things to get Natalie through the weekend as grocery shopping didn't seem likely over the next few days. (I love those women <3)
Around 11 mum got to our house and we were at the hospital by about 12.
All morning I was thinking to myself that I was handling contractions much better than I had with Natalie's birth and supposed it was because, having done it once, I had a better idea of what to expect. That was true on the whole, but I have to say that right towards the end of my labour that changed for a while - it was like I remembered exactly what I was going to have to experience to have this baby, and I just broke down and was sure I couldn't do it. But after a little panic attack and having a good cry on my superman's shoulder, I came round :P (Not much I could do about it at that point anyway, right! hehe)
I had a water birth with Hayley, and scooping her out of the water and holding her for the first time was a truly incredible experience that more than made up for how awful I'd been feeling in the hour prior to that moment. It was definitely much more positive for me than my birth experience with Natalie, which as far as childbirth goes still wasn't all that bad.
She was born about 2:30pm weighing 2.94kg (6 pounds, 5 ounces) - smaller than her sister at birth.
We had forgotten our camera and Jonathan had called mum earlier to see if she could drop it off for us... and since the labour was much quicker than we anticipated Hayley had arrived by the time she got there! This was really a good thing in the sense that Natalie got to meet her sister so soon after she was born. She was so excited and has been quite attached ever since.
One Year On
Hayley, although very small, brings a LOT of joy in to our house. Especially over the past week or two, she seems so happy most of the time.
She is a very determined little soul. When she first started crawling a few weeks ago, you could tell it was really difficult for her, but that just made me all the more proud of her.
She is so cute, it is disarming! I love it when we're in the car and we might be at traffic lights or have just arrived at our destination and I look back to see her watching me... and when she realises I'm looking at her now, a huge smile pops up on her little face. Lately she has also taken to putting her hand over her mouth and smiling or giggling when she's really happy <3
Natalie and Hayley share a room now, and in the past week we have heard them chattering to each other and playing a bit before they go to sleep. Earlier Jonathan was out and I was playing with both of them and it was so cute to see how they started to interact more with each other and I could just step back a bit and watch. Hayley is really becoming a more social little girl and she especially loves her sister.
She also loves her daddy very much and has started to be more aware of his coming home - she gets so excited when she sees him! He is one of very few exceptions to the usual, "no one must hold me but mummy' rule.
I love it so much when we're out and about and so many people will stop and smile, and often comment on how gorgeous she is.
Love <3
Thanking you
Over the past year (and before that) we have had the support of family and so any wonderful friends who have adored and spoiled our daughters as well as helped us in many instances. I was thinking today that I haven't taken as much time as I wish I had to thank many of these people... a situation which must be rectified.
BUT, relevant to this blog right now - thank you so much for being there for us as well as showering our little girl with love over the past year. We're all so blessed!
I thought this might be a good time to share what happened on that day. If you get squeemish around birth stories, feel free to skip the italics. (Mine is fairly standard)
The Birth Story
I woke up about 5:30am (give or take) to the first contractions, which were 5 to 10 minutes apart. I knew that they could be Braxton Hicks but as they continued to come regularly over the course of the morning, I guessed that it would be the day. In fact, after a few hours I would think to myself between each contraction, "come on, don't stop now - I don't want that all to have been for nothing"... and then when another contraction started I'd be like, "oh no, oh no, oh no" haha!
By 8am my husband had called his mum to say that it looked like this was the day, and could she keep herself free to come and watch Natalie once we headed to the hospital.
My Visiting Teachers at the time (one of whom is a midwife!) had arranged to see me that morning, and they came anyway as well as picking up a few things to get Natalie through the weekend as grocery shopping didn't seem likely over the next few days. (I love those women <3)
Around 11 mum got to our house and we were at the hospital by about 12.
 |
| Contraction! |
All morning I was thinking to myself that I was handling contractions much better than I had with Natalie's birth and supposed it was because, having done it once, I had a better idea of what to expect. That was true on the whole, but I have to say that right towards the end of my labour that changed for a while - it was like I remembered exactly what I was going to have to experience to have this baby, and I just broke down and was sure I couldn't do it. But after a little panic attack and having a good cry on my superman's shoulder, I came round :P (Not much I could do about it at that point anyway, right! hehe)
I had a water birth with Hayley, and scooping her out of the water and holding her for the first time was a truly incredible experience that more than made up for how awful I'd been feeling in the hour prior to that moment. It was definitely much more positive for me than my birth experience with Natalie, which as far as childbirth goes still wasn't all that bad.
 |
| Wasted, but SO on top of the world! |
 |
| Sweetly sleeping |
She was born about 2:30pm weighing 2.94kg (6 pounds, 5 ounces) - smaller than her sister at birth.
We had forgotten our camera and Jonathan had called mum earlier to see if she could drop it off for us... and since the labour was much quicker than we anticipated Hayley had arrived by the time she got there! This was really a good thing in the sense that Natalie got to meet her sister so soon after she was born. She was so excited and has been quite attached ever since.
 |
| Natalie and Hayley - love at first sight! |
 |
| Hayley is a lot more excited about sisterly affection now than she was in this photo! |
One Year On
Hayley, although very small, brings a LOT of joy in to our house. Especially over the past week or two, she seems so happy most of the time.
She is a very determined little soul. When she first started crawling a few weeks ago, you could tell it was really difficult for her, but that just made me all the more proud of her.
She is so cute, it is disarming! I love it when we're in the car and we might be at traffic lights or have just arrived at our destination and I look back to see her watching me... and when she realises I'm looking at her now, a huge smile pops up on her little face. Lately she has also taken to putting her hand over her mouth and smiling or giggling when she's really happy <3
Natalie and Hayley share a room now, and in the past week we have heard them chattering to each other and playing a bit before they go to sleep. Earlier Jonathan was out and I was playing with both of them and it was so cute to see how they started to interact more with each other and I could just step back a bit and watch. Hayley is really becoming a more social little girl and she especially loves her sister.
She also loves her daddy very much and has started to be more aware of his coming home - she gets so excited when she sees him! He is one of very few exceptions to the usual, "no one must hold me but mummy' rule.
I love it so much when we're out and about and so many people will stop and smile, and often comment on how gorgeous she is.
Love <3
Thanking you
Over the past year (and before that) we have had the support of family and so any wonderful friends who have adored and spoiled our daughters as well as helped us in many instances. I was thinking today that I haven't taken as much time as I wish I had to thank many of these people... a situation which must be rectified.
BUT, relevant to this blog right now - thank you so much for being there for us as well as showering our little girl with love over the past year. We're all so blessed!
Friday, 7 December 2012
Photo update!
Natalie loves painting. She has a tendency to use just one colour on each painting. Often she'll only have a small amount of paint on the page and she wants a new piece of paper. I guess she likes that white space daddy is always talking about as a designer. :-) She's totally gorgeous and I love that she loves creating.
My little artist.
Beautiful little lady.
Natalie's gallery.
Natalie loves taking pictures with the camera.
Self portraiture is a must :)
Monday, 12 November 2012
A good weekend
We had a busy, but wonderful weekend this weekend.
It was Jonathan's birthday on Saturday and when we had talked about what he wanted to do for his birthday, he said he wanted to have an adventure... so at the last minute I asked him if he could leave work early on Friday, I picked him up at 4pm and we spent Friday night in Avoca Dell Caravan Park in Murray Bridge - right on the murray river!
We would have liked to spend a bit of time sitting by the murray before we put the girls to bed, but they were both pretty tired (didn't sleep in the car as I had hoped) so we put them to bed and watched a movie before going to sleep ourselves.
In the morning we gave Jonathan his presents - Natalie enjoyed wrapping and hiding daddy's presents with me earlier in the week and was excited to tell him 'happy birthday person daddy." (She always adds 'person' when she is saying happy birthday to anyone. I don't know why but it's cute.)
After we had packed up the car, we did a little walk down by the Murray and after a detour in to town to load up with food for the roadtrip we drove to Milang for a picnic lunch and to see Lake Alexandria. It was really windy there as you might expect, but we quite enjoyed it ... with the possible exception of Hayley who didn't seem to be too thrilled by all that wind. Natalie was quite fascinated with the water (as she was by the Murray River) and we had to keep pulling her back from the edge.
After that we went to Strathalbyn and spent some time wandering through a park Jonathan had discovered there once when he was carpet cleaning. There was a river there too (more dragging our daughter away from the water's edge). Natalie loved to see and talk about the ducks and seagulls. We even saw a little family of ducks - the babies are so cute!
The kids both slept pretty much the whole ride from Strathalbyn to home, which was pretty well needed! Jonathan spent some time playing with the Hayley while Natalie helped me ice daddy's birthday cake and make homemade pizza for dinner.
Jonathan seemed to enjoy his day, so I label the day a success!
It was pretty cute on Sunday night - evidently Natalie was reliving the weekend and said something like, "we pick daddy up work, happy birthday daddy person, daddy birthday present, daddy birthday cake, chocolate cake". I love how Natalie is learning so much! It's really sweet. It puts all the more difficult aspects of having a toddler in the house in perspective for me. She really is a beautiful loving girl. When we got home from church I jumped out of the car to open the garage door and Jonathan tells me Natalie said, "my love my mummy. Mummy beaut-oo" ooooooo heart melt!
I love my little family <3
It was Jonathan's birthday on Saturday and when we had talked about what he wanted to do for his birthday, he said he wanted to have an adventure... so at the last minute I asked him if he could leave work early on Friday, I picked him up at 4pm and we spent Friday night in Avoca Dell Caravan Park in Murray Bridge - right on the murray river!
We would have liked to spend a bit of time sitting by the murray before we put the girls to bed, but they were both pretty tired (didn't sleep in the car as I had hoped) so we put them to bed and watched a movie before going to sleep ourselves.
In the morning we gave Jonathan his presents - Natalie enjoyed wrapping and hiding daddy's presents with me earlier in the week and was excited to tell him 'happy birthday person daddy." (She always adds 'person' when she is saying happy birthday to anyone. I don't know why but it's cute.)
After we had packed up the car, we did a little walk down by the Murray and after a detour in to town to load up with food for the roadtrip we drove to Milang for a picnic lunch and to see Lake Alexandria. It was really windy there as you might expect, but we quite enjoyed it ... with the possible exception of Hayley who didn't seem to be too thrilled by all that wind. Natalie was quite fascinated with the water (as she was by the Murray River) and we had to keep pulling her back from the edge.
After that we went to Strathalbyn and spent some time wandering through a park Jonathan had discovered there once when he was carpet cleaning. There was a river there too (more dragging our daughter away from the water's edge). Natalie loved to see and talk about the ducks and seagulls. We even saw a little family of ducks - the babies are so cute!
The kids both slept pretty much the whole ride from Strathalbyn to home, which was pretty well needed! Jonathan spent some time playing with the Hayley while Natalie helped me ice daddy's birthday cake and make homemade pizza for dinner.
Jonathan seemed to enjoy his day, so I label the day a success!
It was pretty cute on Sunday night - evidently Natalie was reliving the weekend and said something like, "we pick daddy up work, happy birthday daddy person, daddy birthday present, daddy birthday cake, chocolate cake". I love how Natalie is learning so much! It's really sweet. It puts all the more difficult aspects of having a toddler in the house in perspective for me. She really is a beautiful loving girl. When we got home from church I jumped out of the car to open the garage door and Jonathan tells me Natalie said, "my love my mummy. Mummy beaut-oo" ooooooo heart melt!
I love my little family <3
Wednesday, 26 September 2012
Update, update, update!
The past month or so has been an interesting one with plenty going on around here...
Natalie had her eyes tested at the WCH last week and now has glasses. Having the glasses for a while may correct the issue, but there is also the possibility that she will need them for the rest of her life. Her having glasses isn't a big deal (at least to me) but it has beenfun stressful getting her to keep them on, as she has to wear them whenever she is awake.
Hayley had a health review today, and they are concerned about her gross motor skills - she scored quite low on the scale, especially considering she scored well in all other areas and has been referred to see a physio. I don't know why, but I hadn't really worried about it until it came up a month ago - possibly because she is so tiny and doesn't look like she should be standing or crawling, etc. just yet. Buuuuuuut, we'll see what happens between now and when we see the physiotherapist in a month.
Other things that have been happening this month... HOORAY mummy's back! My mum moved back to Adelaide this month, as did my grandparents and it has been good to see them all and it will be nice to see them more once they have settled in.
I have also come to see how blessed I am with wonderful friends... some who I've known for ages, and some who I have met quite recently. That is a blog post for another time perhaps <3
Natalie had her eyes tested at the WCH last week and now has glasses. Having the glasses for a while may correct the issue, but there is also the possibility that she will need them for the rest of her life. Her having glasses isn't a big deal (at least to me) but it has been
Hayley had a health review today, and they are concerned about her gross motor skills - she scored quite low on the scale, especially considering she scored well in all other areas and has been referred to see a physio. I don't know why, but I hadn't really worried about it until it came up a month ago - possibly because she is so tiny and doesn't look like she should be standing or crawling, etc. just yet. Buuuuuuut, we'll see what happens between now and when we see the physiotherapist in a month.
Other things that have been happening this month... HOORAY mummy's back! My mum moved back to Adelaide this month, as did my grandparents and it has been good to see them all and it will be nice to see them more once they have settled in.
I have also come to see how blessed I am with wonderful friends... some who I've known for ages, and some who I have met quite recently. That is a blog post for another time perhaps <3
Sunday, 2 September 2012
Our Father's Day
Today is Father's day, and it has been the most exciting one in our little family since having children. Natalie is at an age where she is more able to participate and we can do fun family activities together.
Here is the man of the day in our house.
Seriously can't tell you enough how much this man means to me!
Natalie loves him too...
I'm grateful that Jonathan is an active participant in the lives of our daughters. It is gorgeous to see how much they love him. Thanks for being an amazing husband and father!
To all fathers and father-figures out there - Happy Father's Day!
Special love to my daddy, Grandpa, Uncle and most especially to the father of my children - you're irreplaceable! xoxo
Here is the man of the day in our house.
Seriously can't tell you enough how much this man means to me!
Natalie loves him too...
I'm grateful that Jonathan is an active participant in the lives of our daughters. It is gorgeous to see how much they love him. Thanks for being an amazing husband and father!
To all fathers and father-figures out there - Happy Father's Day!
Special love to my daddy, Grandpa, Uncle and most especially to the father of my children - you're irreplaceable! xoxo
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)