Thea's first tummy bug

Friday night at around 11pm I woke up and heard Conor muttering to me "what is she doing in there?" about Thea in her crib.  I could hear her kind of moving around and I could tell she didn't have her binky in her mouth, I hadn't heard her cry or anything so I didn't know what Conor was talking about, but I decided to get up and try to give her the binky... as I was trying to find it in the dark, I instead put my hand in a pile of vomit, yuck!

We got Thea up and changed the sheets and her clothes, etc, and then I fed her and put her back to bed.  Then she threw up again, ugh.  She seemed fine though.  Everytime we would be changing her she would just look at us and smile, she never cried once.  Got everything changed again, put her to bed without feeding her anymore, took her a bit but she fell back asleep.  Then a couple hours later I woke up to her moving around again and then heard her throw up again... so up we got again, change bedding, change clothes, etc.

I knew she was probably a bit hungry but it's pretty hard to only feed her a little bit when breastfeeding so I thought I would just try putting her back to bed again, she protested a little bit but then fell back asleep again and slept until 7:30am!  (that's an hour longer sleep than normal!)

She was happy and seemed fine so I fed her and crossed my fingers that she would keep it down.  After I fed her we were walking down the hall and she burped twice, the second one brought up all the milk.  I don't think it was really a vomit though as much as a big spit up.

Anyways, she didn't throw up again all day, her diapers started to get a bit runny but otherwise she has been herself all day.  Ate her normal lunch and a lot of dinner, and had the rest of her breastfeeds all day, and then went to bed well last night.

Just in case the other kids were a day behind we made sure to have towels, clean sheets, and bowls outside their rooms incase they got sick.  The slept until 5:30am, had a quick feed and then went back to sleep until almost 7.  And the other two didn't get sick and didn't wake up until 7 as well - it was a great night!

We went to mass early in case Thea is still contagious, we didn't want to spread it to the other kids and now we're home and the kids are on the "jumpoline".  :)

Cars & Trampolines

This is an exciting month - we got some extra money in this month so we are able to pay off our car 2 months earlier than I thought (and actually over 3 years faster than the contract so there's a payout fee, but still costing us less and this way it's out of the way). We've been very blessed in our marriage to not have gotten into any debt before moving here, now the big debt, the car, is out of the way, and we just have a bit of a loan to pay off to cover our other moving expenses and furnishing our house and then we'll be completely debt free again!

Soooo, I had been thinking we should get the kids a trampoline someday, and thought that we could use part of what would have been one of our car payments for next month for one.  I found one I liked and so it would just be a waiting game for it to go on sale.  Well wouldn't you know, we got a Toys R Us flyer the next day and the trampoline I had been eyeing was on sale!

Unfortunately at the moment, kids are having a knack for ruining good things!  On Thursday we told them to eat dinner quickly and then we were going to get a big surprise.  Elle decided in her head that it was a "treat" so was greatly disappointed when it wasn't something to eat.  We found the one we wanted and I showed it to Finn, who had been asking for the one millionth time what the surprise was.  And he was pretty excited!  We got to the checkout and paid and then had to wait 5 minutes to go collect it from the collection dock.  Well Finn just kept asking OVER AND OVER again where the trampoline was and what the guy looked like who was getting it for us.  Finally we get it into the car get home and even though we told them over and over again that Daddy was going to set it up on Friday night or Saturday they were still pretty grumpy that they weren't going to get to jump on it right that second.  Tip of the day: Don't tell them ANYTHING until it is completely assembled in the backyard!  Although Finn did enjoy helping us set up the pieces the next night.

Happy Times!

Conor came home a bit early from work on Friday and we got right to it.  Finn is quite the builder, so he took one look at the instructions and went right to work! But after about 20 minutes they started getting bored and restless.  Thea was helping herself to all the tomatoes (and dirt) in the garden.  When we had about 10 springs to go (the hardest ones of course) Elle started to lose her mind because she just wanted to get on and jump.

Daddy hard at work!

Well it was finally all done and Conor put the two kids on.  Finn right away was having a blast, but Elle would go postal if anyone so much as MOVED while she was trying to jump.  Too much excitement.  We didn't get the net up because it was time for dinner, but we went and ate and then distracted Elle with a bath (and Thea) so that Finn could go have a jump.

Happy Boy!
(don't worry, the net will go up soon)

Then this morning it had been raining so they couldn't go out and were pretty grumpy about that.  At the moment I almost regret this purchase for the headaches it has caused - but I know in the long run the kids will get into a groove... while Elle is still little we'll make Finn get off so she can have turns with a timer or something, and it will be great as they get bigger.

Flying solo

At some point on Thursday Conor was asked to fly to Brisbane Saturday morning for one night to speak at a conference.  Maybe it's because it was last minute, or because I've done it before, but I wasn't as stressed about it this time which is nice.

Of course just as he was leaving this morning the house the kids were in full on crazy maniac mode so I was pretty grumpy saying goodbye - but now they are having their naps so I'm putting the morning behind me.

He was going with a co-worker, so he caught a ride to the airport with him.  And actually we're friends with the whole family, so as soon as I found out they were going I texted the wife to see if her and the kids (5 and 4 years old) wanted to come over for dinner and we could order pizza or something.  They are good kids and all of them get along pretty well, which means they basically just run off and play and us moms can kind of relax!  I'm looking forward to it!

Also, I rented "catching fire" to watch after the kids go to bed - so that's something else to look forward to, as Conor's not interested in seeing it!

I'm not looking forward to going to mass by myself tomorrow with the kids (30 minute weekday masses alone are a lot different than 1 hr Sunday masses!) - but I'm going to nap right now and just not think about tomorrow!

*Finn and Elle wanted to have a tea party so I set them up in the spare room so I could close the door and take Thea out - but I wanted to get one picture of them all before I left. This was the best picture! Haha.  Finn half way to a smile, Thea swiping Elle's toast, and Elle looking very worried about it!

Some pictures from the park

The other day we were going a bit stir crazy.  I wanted to get out of the house and do something, but not just go to the playground up the road.  Finn had a bit of a snuffy nose (which thankfully seems to have disappeared as quickly as it came on) so I took them to a playground we hadn't been to in awhile.

Actually, there are SO MANY playgrounds around Melbourne... and I think I want to try to take the kids to the coolest ones!  Maybe I'll do a blogpost series about them!

Anyways, we've actually been to this one a few times with the kids, but the last time was when my mom was here!  I went and parked my pregnant butt on a bench while the kids played and mom followed Elle around.  I just sat there and didn't move at all like a good bedrest patient.  Then it was time to go, I stood up, took about 5 steps and then I could NOT.WALK.ANOTHER.STEP.  I was in PAIN!

I had a bit of sciatica with Thea, but that was by far the worst time of it.... sitting on hard surfaces for any length of time was pretty much not possible.  Anyways, it took about 10 minutes of slowly, painfully, stretching the sciatica out before we could finally leave.  It was just ridiculous.  And then of course I had to drive the car and then be able to walk from the car to the house after sitting for that length of time. haha

Anyways, the kids all had a blast and it was perfect weather.  Not too hot, not too bright.

At first Finn was enjoying playing with this merry go 'round until another kid started spinning it too... but a lot faster than Finn was.  Eventually he warmed up to it and was playing with another kid spinning it around.

There's a bit sandpit there.  I had brought our buckets along (I think there are some that just stay there, but I wasn't sure.. and either way I didn't want the kids fighting with other kids over them).

There was a little girl playing with Elle (she promptly told me she was 4, and when she saw Elle bend over she was astonished to see that Elle was wearing a nappy during the day! haha), anyways the girl was doing "sand angels" so Elle started copying her.

Thea stayed in the stroller for quite a while just watching the kids.  And Finn and Elle were in different parts of the playground so I would just walk back and forth (it's all enclosed and it's not VERY big, but there's a couple spots that I couldn't see from standing in one spot so I sometimes I had to go keep and eye on them).

Anyways, eventually Finn was on the nearby slides for quite awhile and Elle was in the sandpit, so I took Thea out of the stroller and she went straight for  the sand and had a blast.  She didn't even try to eat any! (the binky in her mouth probably helped)

She WAS having fun, until she saw me crouch down and then she wanted uppy!

I'm glad we got out of the house but still did something a bit exciting and different than the normal playplace at the mall or grocery shopping!

The other night we were lazy and bought one of those cooked roast chickens from the grocery store, and Conor had made a lemon meringue pie.  After we ate dinner it was only just 6pm and it was nice out so we all went up to the park and had a bit of a play before dessert.

Selfie with Finnian

Selfie with Thea

I could seriously eat this girl up!

Homeschooling

One of the things I love about homeschooling is the flexibility to do whatever you want with your kids to help them learn.  We aren't tied down by anything.  We don't have to do math at 10 o'clock and science at 11 o'clock and  history at 11:30.

We don't have to stop an activity because of a bell ringing (obviously if we need to get out of the house to be somewhere or if it's bedtime or something the activity DOES need to end, but you know what I mean!)...if that bell were a fire alarm, that might be a different story ;)

Anyways, I should really organize my thoughts on homeschooling one day and write a blog post series on our approach, but at the moment we're doing a "better late than early" approach, which is what Conor's family did.  We're letting them learn at their own pace, when they're ready.  We're not pushing anything on them right now.  BUT I like to strike when the moment is hot.  Taking reading for example.  There are TONS of resources for teaching reading to your children... and I would love to have a calm child that just sat down and did lessons with me... but Finn's not that child! (and I'm not complaining... he is who he is and I love seeing how HE learns things).

I had bought a book, something about "learning how to read in 100 easy lessons".  No pressure, but I thought I might as well have a few resources on hand in case one of the kids like it... Finn sat down nicely for about 30 seconds of the first lesson.  So onto the shelf it went - haha.

I really think Finn is going to learn how to read from a desire to write.  We read to the kids a lot, but when I try to point out words and sounds in the books he couldn't care less (actually he may very well be absorbing everything I'm pointing out and I just don't know it yet).  I do it anyways though... and when we're out shopping or driving I ask him to find certain letters, and we go over some of the sounds.  I might as well just keep doing it, he might pick it up.

But right now he loves making cards, and drawing pictures, and well, anything crafty.  And every so often he wants to make a sign or write someone's name.  So that's when I take the opportunity to really go through sounds with him, and he loves to write out the alphabet.

Well I bought a laminator awhile ago and haven't really used it, but thought I would make up my own sort of worksheets for him.  He likes being part of the process.  So we got on the computer and I typed up sheets with a few key letters/sounds with lines beside them and I told him we could play a game where he copies the letters and says the sounds as he does it.

I printed one sheet out per letter (with lines to practice the upper case and the lower case), and then we laminated them, and then I got out the dry erase pens that I had bought at ikea for just this task.  My intention was then that anytime he wanted to, he could sit down and practice these letters and sounds and we could eventually build on it with more sounds.  He was so excited!  He got right into it doing the letter "A" and making the "ah" sound as he went.

Finn working hard on the letter A... Elle just scribbling everywhere :)

Finn did the "activity" as I had intended it to be for that one letter.  Then he wanted to write out the whole alphabet... then he started drawing people and house.

Elle might be the polar opposite, but Finn really marches to the beat of his own drum. Pretty much NOTHING is used as it's intended to be used.  His mind is almost always thinking outside of the box.

I am NOT like that, so it frustrates me sometimes and if I try to make him do things my way we almost always both end up pretty grumpy.  This is exactly why I love homeschooling - because he can do things in a way that works for him... I just need to remind myself of this sometimes.  And honestly, he's so creative and WAY smarter than me when it comes to creating things... like the lego word spelling his name in yesterdays post.

Changing things up

I'm not 100% happy with how the blog looks, but I don't have 3 hours to sit and try out things and tweak them until I'm happy... so every few days you might see it changed up a bit.  I didn't like all the designs anymore on the last one and decided I wanted something cleaner and simpler... but it's a little TOO simple.  I still want my sidebar with quick access to my facebook albums that I link to, and my youtube channel, and the archives... it's still there if you just go to those little tabs on the right.

Sorry!

Children's Hospital

So last week was a bit interesting.  On Monday, Elle was a bit stuffed up, ANOTHER cold (seriously, it's only JUST fall and this was her second cold) so we stayed in. She was pretty grumpy when she woke up from her nap, I thought maybe she had a sore throat or something, but either way she was just a bit off all evening.

In the morning she was breathing pretty fast so we gave her 6 puffs of Ventolin and Conor headed off to work.  Finn was supposed to go to "church school" and the girls and I were going to go out for coffee with two other moms, but I didn't want Elle getting anyone else sick, so I decided we would just all stay home.  Around 9:30 Elle was breathing fast again, it had been 3 hours since the last puffs so I gave her another 6 puffs of ventolin, but by 11 she was struggling again.  I gave her 6 more puffs and decided if it didn't help her right away we would take her in to emergency, otherwise I would see how she was after nap time.  But 20 minutes later I didn't really see a huge improvement.

Normally we just take her into emergency at the hospital near our place, but when Thea had been sick I had taken her to Childrens Hospital just outside the city and was really impressed with how fast they got seen initially and how they have GPs there as well - so if they deem that your case isn't urgent (that you don't need treatment) then they put you in line for the GP instead of emergency (that's what happened with Thea, she didn't actually need any meds or anything, so we saw the GPs).

So I called Conor and told him I would be picking him up from work and then we would continue on to the hospital - since I'm breastfeeding Thea I can't very well stay with Elle, so that's not Conors job.

We got there and got assessed right away and then no wait at all, they brought us right into a room and started Elle on the blast treatment or burst treatment or whatever they call it.  We're used to that: basically they give her a dose of oral steroids and then every 20 minutes for an hour they give her 6 puffs of ventolin and then see how she goes.

They didn't want her eating until after that and it was lunch time, so Finn Thea and I went to McDonalds and had lunch and then went to play in a playground outside.  After the hour the doctors said she responded really well and that she could have some lunch, but that she had to stay until they could stretch out the doses of the puffer.  If she didn't need anymore before 3pm then we could go, otherwise they would be admitting her.  So we grabbed some McDonalds for Conor and Elle and went to see them.

Elle just INHALED her food!

She was such a good girl for the doctors.  She had been fighting me like crazy when I tried to give her the puffer at home, but there was no struggle at all for the doctors.  I left with Finn and Thea so we could have naps/rest and then if they DID get admitted I could pack up some clothes and such and bring it to them afterwards.

Well I got up after naptime and Conor said they had to give her the puffer again before 3 so they were admitting her.  I packed up some overnight stuff for them, had an earlyish dinner with Finn and Thea, and then we made our way back to the hospital.

By the time we got there she had gone a 3 hours stretch from the last puffer and they said that if she could go another 3 hours before the next one then we could actually go home for the night, but we wouldn't know until 8:15.  That's a bit of a nuisance as Thea goes to bed at 7 and the other two at 7:30, but if we could avoid them staying over night (and then having to drive all the way back in the morning to get them) we were happy.

Conor took Finn and Thea outside to the playground again, and they said I could take Elle upstairs (they have this big fishtank there, so we went to check out the fish) as long as she didn't run around.

A bit blurry - but this big cylinder fish tank goes through two floors, with stairs going around it.
The kids LOVED it and would get so excited when one of the two sharks would swim past them!

Finally we went back down and they checked her and she was breathing well, so they gave her one last puffer and discharged her.

We got the kids to bed after 9pm, I had a quick snack and then went to bed myself!

I got in to see our GP the next day and got permission to start her back on the preventative inhaler at the lowest dose until I can get in to see Elle pediatricians (which could take awhile) so hopefully we won't have any more hospital stays - and I'm working on trying to figure something out to try to stop all these colds she (we) keep getting but who knows - haha.

Just a random picture - he is so clever, he did this all by himself!
It was up on the table and he said "look at this" but there was stuff behind so I couldn't tell that it was letters, I thought it was a rocket or something but he got angry at me when I said "nice rocket" so I got up and looked closer.
Love him so much!

Sewing: mini-mei tai

I decided to make a dolly Mei Tai (baby carrier) for Elle and Finn before making my own.  I thought it would be good to get a bit more practice, and there were a few spots in the tutorial where I just could NOT visualize in my head how it was going to work out.... I needed to be able to do it to actually see it, and I didn't want mine to be the guinea pig!

In most ways I did it exactly like this tutorial... except I didn't really measure it, so it's not to scale, the straps are actually too short to tie it the way you would for an adult Mei Tai.  Also I just made thin straps - the tutorial has wide straps that can cup the wearers shoulder for added comfort, but not needed for the weight of a dolly.

I was just using scraps from the table cloth I bought to make my Mei Tai.  I cut out all my pieces and then just randomly cut some other pieces for the dolly one, without measuring.

In the end, the waist straps are each about 12 inches from the body panel (just about 3 inches inside the body panel), the shoulder straps are are about 26-28 (good measuring, right! haha) from the body (again there's another 3 inside the body panel), and the body panel is a rectangle of 11 inches wide and 12.5 inches tall.  I cut the top corners where the shoulder straps come out for atheistic purposes.

This is all the pieces (the "body" is three identical pieces).
When I do my real one the inner layer will be "duck cloth" to anchor my straps to.

When I do mine I will do it like in the tutorial, with tabs at the strap openings, and a bit of contoured sides and a head rest.

I had cut it all the other night when Conor was going to take the kids to the park and I was going to get sewing then, but they didn't go to the park, so no sewing was had that night.  So last night (as usual I wrote this a couple weeks ago and never made the finishing touches and pressed "publish"... so I most definitely did NOT do this last night!) after the kids were in bed, I got sewing!  Now, I'm learning that I am NOT a perfectionist when it comes to sewing.  I really just blew through this project, with lots of little mistakes and hardly a straight line to be seen! haha.  But a couple of the little mistakes I made (all just cosmetic mistakes, nothing that would make it unsafe to carry a baby in it) I have learned from and hopefully they don't happen with the real deal!

This is the inner layer with the straps attatched... a good practice for my "x-boxes"

So first you attach the straps to the inner layer.  This is basically the most important part, the straps have to be secure in order to safely wear a baby in the carrier - x-boxes are the securing factor.

Then you put the outside and inside layer on and sew, but you don't sew over the strap openings, because you have to then turn it inside out, so that the x-boxes are hidden inside.  THIS is where I couldn't figure out how it would actually work, how you could turn it inside out and get the straps out ... anyways, it works!

Lastly you top stitch all around, tucking in the openings from the straps

The finished product!

This is where my cosmetic mistake comes into play, mainly just on this one strap opening.  Because I didn't have them all cut to the same size, and I had my x-boxes too close to the edge, I couldn't tuck under the opening to sew it pretty.  I'll do better with the real deal.

Not "sew" pretty... but the kids don't notice!

Ta-da

The next morning the kids were so excited to try it on!

Elle with her big teddy because I couldn't find her dolly

Finn wanted to go next!  On the babywearing groups I'm on the ladies are either asking for advice on how to get their husbands to babywear, or else they're showing off their babywearing husbands with pictures.
So the caption "real men wear their babies!" was just a bit of a cute joke :)

So there's my first dolly mei tai.  Other than cutting this all out, I did all of the sewing on the same night... about 1.5 hours.  Not bad!  Like I said I'm not much of a perfectionist and just blew through this, but it's cute - would love to make these (a bit better!) for gifts!

Hopefully in the next week I'll finish mine!

Oh, and I'm not way more excited about this than the kids.  Finn hasn't worn it again, and Elle's only worn it once since that day.

Thea - 10 Months Old

She's almost ONE!  I can't believe it... TOO FAST.  She's now able to wear clothes that Elle was still wearing when we moved here... and you know what?  Some of it seems like it's on the verge of being too small!  I don't think of her as being bigger than Elle was, but I guess we'll see!

I love seeing these girls play together!

Not a whole lot has changed this month.  I think as far as her moving about and stuff, she's just mastering her current skills.  She's crawling faster, cruising along furniture faster. She can stand up unassisted for longer... and sometimes she will squat right down (without her bum touching the ground) and then get up to standing again all on her own.  No steps yet, she's not interested in taking steps holding your hand or the walking todays... this is FINE BY ME!

Hands on the hips! hehe
She had a cold - along with Elle and I

Loving joining big brother and sister

Sleep - gah sleep!  She's had more bad things than good I think.  She definitely didn't sleep through any nights, and I think she MAY have had one night where she only woke once.  Otherwise every night was 2+ times, a couple nights of almost every 2 hours - and waking at 6:30 almost every morning.  I think/hope it's teething and that things will cool down once they (2, 4, 6 teeth? who knows!) pop through - she still just has the bottom 2.

So smiley

Asparagus - not as good as Grandpas :)

  Eating - still going strong with breastfeeding.  This just makes me so so happy. At this point Elle had quit and I wasn't ready for it.  Thea doesn't show any signs of stopping, and I plan to extended breastfeed with her, so we're well on the road with that.  Solid food - she loves her food.  I buy baby food sometimes for the odd meals that just won't work for her, but I've only given her baby food maybe 2 or 3 times this morning, there's always a few things she will eat from our meals.

Again, sisters playing together

After naptime, if Thea is awake, Elle always wants her to join her in her crib for a bit

Clapping

I love seeing her get right in there with the big kids. Not walking doesn't stop her from making her way ALL over the yard... I put her in the far corner so that no matter what, it's a while before she'll make it to the tomatoes by the carport, or the garden on the other side of the yard.... once she makes up her mind to go that way though she's QUICK!

Love her - that's all I can say... I just want to eat up her big cheeks :)

Toes, chairs... the usual

Normally on Tuesdays we drop Finn off at "church school" and the girls and I go shopping - well I needed to get stuff on Monday so the girls and I went for a Starbucks date in the city.

This girl - she is seriously so cheeky and mischievous and weird and beautiful!

This girl didn't get any starbucks but she was pretty excited about the grapes I brought - and she's mastered the art of clapping.  For diaper changes if I haven't got a toy for her I have to quickly get her clapping or else she's twisting and turning 

When we were waiting for the tram to head back to Finn I put the brakes on, leaned against the rail and went to cross my ankle and I kicked the tire with my middle toe.  I did NOT do it very hard but boy did it hurt.  Then we had to walk from the tram stop to Finn which was a 10 minute walk and I was limping and in pain!... I totally broke it - it;s still bruised and sore today and my whole leg is sore from limping and walking funny.

I decided I needed some different color on my toes to distract me from the painful broken one!

The night I was so excited to get out for a girls night!  It was one of the ladies at churches birthday so a good opportunity for some of us to get together and celebrate - it was a nice break.

I had thawed a bottle of breastmilk for Thea in case Conor needed to feed her - I wasn't planning on getting home too late, but just in case.  Well he didn't need it, so the next morning I decided I didn't want it to go to waste so I tried feeding Thea.  She liked it but didn't really understand and only took a few sips and then would start giggling.  Anyways, I finally gave up and put it on the table and walked away and turned around later to see this...

Elle was very excited to get to feed Thea.  Finn was being a kitty in the background.  Once Thea got tired of that game Elle decided to try some of the milk "oh yuck!" haha

Tomorrow after church there's a picnic.  The kids and I went to buy a little cooler so the food keeps cool during mass, and then I decided we needed some picnic chairs - the kids were SOO excited.  They both bring their chairs to their rooms and nap and bed time.  Elle pretty much all day long goes in and out of the house bringing her chair in and out with her.

I sat down to feed Thea, so then the kids set up their chairs, got their dollies and decided to feed their babies too!

Just a random one from today at Costco - the kids always get a frozen yogurt afterwards, and Thea had conked right out