April-May Photos

When we got to about 15 May & I still hadn't put up the April photos, I decided on a joint post. So here's two months worth. Boy, littlies change a lot in 2 months!

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Audiobooks

I've just finished listening to Ken Sande's 'Resolving Everyday Conflict'. We're doing his peacemaking course in Bible Study at the moment, so when the book came up as Christian Audio's free book of the month, I jumped back on the audiobook bandwagon.

I've been listening during rest time kitchen jobs, and evening kitchen jobs on nights that Dave's not home. The 3.5 hours went quite quickly - makes me realise how much of my life I spend washing up!

Next up, J.I. Packer's 'Knowing God', which I downloaded free from the same sits many months (years?) ago, and has been near the top of my 'to read' list even longer. Dave's got a trip coming up soon - I wonder if I'll be through it by the time he gets home?

Am I enough?

Sometimes I wish I was a less thoughtful parent. Every day I see so many things that I could be doing differently. Doing better.

But praise God that Me + Him = Enough (HT Jean)

Parenting is hard

There seem to be a lot of people telling me that this stage of parenting is hard. And yes, I am finding it to be so. But do I really look that wrung out?

On the other hand, what's wrong with letting the struggles show?

Walking with the Wise

I love Christian kids music.

I love that it teaches kids about Jesus and how to respond to Him. 

And I also love listening to it for myself. There's a simplicity, a directness, in kids music that doesn't seem to work in music aimed at adults. 

At the moment, we're enjoying to Sovereign Grace Kids' Walking with the Wise in the car. SP's current favourite is Nuggets of Gold, because it talks about digging. 

I think I could write a blog post on pretty much every song on the CD, but the one that's most stuck in my head at the moment is All Ears. Here's the chorus: 

I wanna be all ears when Mom* is speaking
All ears when Dad is teaching
There’s a lot I don’t know
And they’ve been around a whole lot of years
And have covered some ground
Their words will make me wise, so I’m all ears

I'm thankful for the wisdom that I was taught/am still being taught by my parents, but I've also been reflecting on all the other people in my life who show me wisdom every day. I know there's times I don't want to listen, but songs like this encourage me to soak it up that little bit more. 

* Yes, it's American. I try to drop the accent when I sing it around the house...

Love

I just peeked in on F in her cot. 

She's awake, totally quiet, running her fingers ever-so-gently over her teddy bear's face. Then, a soft little smile.  

I'll leave her a few minutes more. 

Growing Up Before Our Eyes

We seem to be in one of those 'blink and you've missed it' sort of phases. The kids are just changing so fast.

SP is:

• choosing to have the door open in rest time and actually staying in his room
• making 'Mite sandwiches (almost) independently
• finally showing more interest in drawing and painting
• pegging washing on his own line
• and doing a great job of toilet training.

F is:

• settling herself for naps, and sleeping longer
• feeding faster, and starting solids
• chatting and interacting more
• staying awake through a shorter evening feed instead of 'feed-feed-feed-feed-feed-totally asleep' - this is a big one that makes me wonder where my baby has gone
• and (for now at least) sleeping through the night :)

Foam Pump

My mother-in-law has one of these. 

Next Robins Kitchen sale, I'm there. 

Chance Meeting

F had a paediatrician appointment today. All clear again. Praise God. 

We popped in to see my old work colleagues while we were there. We shared the lift with a food trolley, and I was fondly remembering hospital lunches (no complaints about the food from me!) when I realised it was being escorted by MY food services lady. She brought me 3 meals and 2 snacks, 5 days a week, for the 3 weeks I was in the antenatal unit. We hadn't exactly exchanged life stories in that time, but she knew enough to be very relieved at F's good health and cheeky smile. 

It was lovely to see her. 

A Poem

As an only child, I was quite unsure about how the whole two child dynamic would work. And there's much more to figure out, I'm sure. But I came across this today (in the comments of this post), and it's exactly how I feel watching SP & F love each other. 

LOVING TWO

I walk along holding your 2-year-old hand, basking in the glow of our magical relationship.
Suddenly I feel a kick from within, as if to remind me that our time alone is limited.
And I wonder, how could I love another child as I love you?

Then she is born, and I watch you.
I watch as the pain you feel at having to share me as you have never shared me before.

I hear you telling me in your own way, “Please love only me” and I hear myself telling you in mine “I can’t”.
Knowing in fact that I never can again.
You cry, I cry with you.
I almost see our baby as an intruder on the precious relationship we once shared.
A relationship we can never have again.

But then, barely noticing, I find myself attached to that new being, and feeling almost guilty.
I’m afraid to let you see me enjoying her — as though I am betraying you.
But then I notice your resentment change, first to curiosity, then to protectiveness, finally to genuine affection.

More days pass, and we are settling into a new routine.
The memory of days with just the two of us is fading fast.
But something is replacing those wonderful times we shared, just us two.
There are new times — only now we are three.
I watch the love between you grow, the way you look at each other, touch each other.

I watch how she adores you, as I have for so long.
I see how excited you are by each of her new accomplishments.
I begin to realize that I haven’t taken something from you, I’ve given something to you.
I notice that I am no longer afraid to share my love openly with both of you.
I find that my love for each of you is as different as you are, but equally strong.
And my question is finally answered to my amazement.
Yes, I can love another child as much as I love you, only differently.

And although I realize that you may have to share my time, I know you’ll never share my love.
There’s enough of that for both of you — you each have your own supply.

I love you both and I thank you both for blessing my life.

—Author Unknown

Lasting examples

The other night we'd finished dinner and were in the middle of the daily "toy hunting" ritual prior to bathtime.  I come back into the lounge room and SP is sitting there on the couch with a ring of cushions around him, though also with a noticeable gap.


I asked if I could sit down and he pointed at the spot beside him in the cushion ring.  Without any prompting he then looks me square in the face and says very matter-of-factly "now it's time to talk.  What was your high low and interesting today daddy?"


He's seen Petrina and me doing high/low/interesting over dinner countless times, but never seemed to be all that keen on it - partly I guess because the "low" would mean remembering something that didn't make him happy.  But it turns out that he was taking it all in, and he's getting the idea that talking about things is important.  And that's encouraging when I think about all the other lessons we'd like him to take in right now.

Encouraging article

http://www.desiringgod.org/blog/posts/how-eternity-shapes-our-mundane

The bit about putting more faith in the nap than in the never-changing gospel? I am so guilty of that today. But God uses even my few minutes of procrastinatory computer time to encourage me.  

A trip to the slow lane

After church on Friday, we headed off to spend a night with Dave's grandfather, about 4 hours away. It was great to see him, and for him to meet F. The way they took to each other was just amazing; it was beautiful to watch. A great-grandchild must be a very special thing to experience.

As maths would tell you, Grandad is getting on a bit. He's 92. He still lives at home, cooks for himself, feeds his birds. But he moves very slowly. Despite my occasional antsy feelings while we were there, it's been good for me to slow down for a while. To see his example of a life lived quietly and patiently to the glory of God.

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I love hand-me-downs

I just broke out the space bag of size 3s that we were given a couple of years ago, when size 3 seemed so far away. Between that and a bag given to us by another friend a couple of weeks ago, it looks like SP's winter wardrobe is totally taken care of. I know Dave will love the flight jacket, and my mum will love the Ireland shirt. 

And it's almost time to dig into the 2 big bags of 00 for F... little ones grow so fast!

We are so blessed by our wonderful and generous family and friends. 

Anybody want to receive the size 2 winter stuff for their boy this year?

March in pictures

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I've already taken a few cute ones for next month's post, so stay tuned...

More on encouragement

We've all been getting some encouragement recently.  On Saturday, as well as having the most social engagements I've had in a single day since, well, ever, I had two very encouraging encounters.


The first was a "Blokes Brekkie" at church.  Everything you'd expect: lots of protein, fresh coffee, good times.  It wasn't a big deal, I think it was only announced 4 or 5 days ahead, but we still had over a dozen men of various ages there.  And the encouragement?  Andrew reminded us that one of the disciplines of a godly man is to maintain friendships with other men, that it's something worth working at.  There's talk of more of these brekkies in the future.  We had a crash course in making real coffee this time, and afterwards were kicking around ideas for other "show and tells" - like getting one of the guys to give an intro on graphic design.  I think it'll be a while before I'm asked to talk on Maxwell's equations...


The second was spending a couple of hours at a coffee shop down the road catching up with a good friend of mine.  Although we live in different cities now and we've both got young families, it was a perfect example of that sort of relationship where even if you haven't seen each other for 12 months, you can sit down and pick up where you left off like it was only yesterday.  Great stuff.

Encouraged

I was reading James 5 this morning, and was struck by verses 13-15. 

As I was reading, I realised that I'd been feeling like I let F down by my inability to spend hours in prayer for her when she was so sick. I did a lot of little 'God, help us!' prayers, but anything deeper than that just seemed to be beyond me. 

But so many others prayed for her, and for all of us. And it still blows me away that God chose to heal her physically. 

So thank you all for praying in faith. 

Yes, I am a hypocrite

I'm always in favour of being real with each other at church, not pretending we're perfect, etc, etc, etc. 

But when I'm having a hard morning at church, I go and hide in the toilet and cry instead of telling any of my friends that I'm struggling. 

Life just feels really hard at the moment. We're busy. We're all tired. SP had to be carried screaming out of church 3 (or was it 4?) times this morning. I'm jealous any time anybody talks about doing anything discretionary (You've been reading a book? Not fair!) which is totally ridiculous, because I've been sitting on the internet for at least half an hour. I feel like I'm working at capacity but there's so much every day that goes undone. 

Sigh. It's just a season. It's just a season. It's just a season. It's just a season. 

By the way, things are looking a bit brighter now. I've had a sleep, Dave & SP are happily playing lego, and F has been asleep for 3 hours. Evidently she realised she had some catching up to do. 

Lovely moment in a long day

F was cranky in her bouncer. SP went and found Bedtime Bear in her room, tucked it in next to her, then sat down and sang her a song.

Peek-a-boo

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I just love this girl.

Bible Teaching Weekend

Lots of good things. We thought about how to share Jesus better with the people that walk through the church doors (thanks Tony!) Indian food. Chatting with friends.

And I spent the first session just watching SP & his church buddies play while I fed F. Fifteen or so kids, ranging from 1 to 12 years, hanging out together, enjoying each other's company. Our kids don't have cousins yet, but I'm so thankful that they have opportunities to love and be loved by the big kids at church. 

Too Old for Children's Ministry - What then?

I've been thinking about this for a while. We have three year 7s in our church, 2 boys & a girl, and I don't want to lose them like we've lost about 10 years worth of teens. But it's hard to know what to do when there's so few of them and all the adults in the church seem to be full to the brim with other ministries. 

Meredith's got some very helpful thoughts on it. Particularly the stuff about forming real relationships between the adults and kids. Sounds simple, but requires time and effort and getting outside the comfort zone of fellow-mummy-chat at morning tea time. 

Singing on the Swing

"He's a Mighty God and He's Mighty Strong"

February in Pictures

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SP reads to F

The Very Hungry Caterpillar, by Eric Carle.

Sorry about the low audio levels. I didn't want to get too close and be noticed.

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2 months old

F was 2 months old last week, and becoming less a newborn and more a baby every day. It's probably about time we told you a little bit about her. 

Her eyes are getting much better, and she often focuses on us clearly now. Her ideal focal length seems to be a bit longer than expected, but that's probably not a big deal.

F has given 2 big grins that we know of, one aimed at her bright pink mozzie net and the other at soon-to-be-Uncle Chris. She often appears to be just on the edge of a smile, so we pray that they'll come more frequently soon. 

She's just discovering her calm & social side: happy to sit and chat to people, happy to sit in her bouncer and watch the world go by. But if we're all at the table, the bouncer on the floor is not acceptable - she wants to be up with the action!

She loves bath time, both by herself and with SP. She had a couple of baths in the proper baby bath when she was very little but mostly goes in the little clam shell in the bottom of the shower that SP uses. She's usually awake for his bath time, so typically she'll get some time by herself first, SP will join her for a couple of minutes, then she'll come out so he can splash. It's working quite nicely for us. 

She loves SP, and he loves her. I love the inbuilt entertainment ;)

Sleep and settling is getting pretty good, which makes us all happy. She often needs 1-2 little visits to help settle before falling asleep by herself in the day, but is getting better all the time. And she only wakes for one feed most nights, around 1:45. My nightly West Wing viewing has slowed considerably since the early days. But I'm still getting plenty in the evenings - last night she was feeding from 5:45-7:30... whew! But I'm happy with that if it means nice long night sleeps. 

Now that we're starting to get more sleep and she's starting to get less cranky, we're enjoying having F around. And we look forward to finding out more and more about this precious little person we're blessed to have in our lives. 

A big photo post is coming soon. 

Island of calm

Steady rain outside. 

SP chatting peacefully to himself in rest time. 

F sleeping peacefully in the pram (after refusing my efforts to get her to sleep in her cot, but let's not think about that right now)

A few yucky tasks crossed off my to do list. 

A few short hours before the weekend. 

Family news

Soon we'll have a new brother-in-law and uncle.

Hooray!

A great Bible Study

F slept the whole way through - great for my concentration levels. 

SP and his friends played beautifully for the vast majority of the time, including 3 of them doing a very cute 'Hokey Pokey'. Although that proved to be just as distracting as troublesome behaviour can be :)

We studied John 4 together, and I felt like I actually gained some understanding. My take-home points: 

- The Samaritan woman was so so excited about finding Jesus as the source of life that she couldn't wait to tell her whole village. Am I that excited to share Jesus with people I know?

- if Jesus is the one and only source of life, then it's so important for me to drink deeply. I'm praying that this will lead me to be less cursory in my relationship with Jesus, particularly in prayer.

At the beginning of the term, we all shared some over-arching prayer points/goals, and when we did an update today, I can see God working in every one of us. So encouraging. 

Gender differences

SP has a drawer full of t-shirts and pants, all worn pretty much interchangably. 

F has outfits. 

The Australian Voices - Tra$h Ma$h

Many of the guys I've played soccer with over the years are of the uber-talented type: good at sport, good at arts, good academically.  One of them in particular is involved with a choral group called The Australian Voices, and he sent me a link to the video of their latest work.


It's a choral arrangement of about 30 pop songs in one big mash-up.  I only recognised one song (an 80s throwback included near the end for giggles) but it's still very good choral work and pretty funny too.

Have a look at it here: http://www.theaustralianvoices.com/trash-mash

Ultrasound Normal

This is not only good news for F's eyes but also for her development in general. We now know that all the craziness in her body in utero didn't cause any visible brain damage. Pretty amazing really.

Eye Update

We went to the paediatrician this morning. It turned out to be uneventful. 

He's not too worried about F's eyes at this point. He usually gives babies until 9 weeks after their due date (ie end of Feb) to get their eyes coordinated and start smiling before he does anything. 

He did note that F's divergent squint is quite uncommon though, so given her history, we'll get a head ultrasound on Monday. We've also made an opthalmologist appointment for a couple of months time if needed. 

We also asked about the possibility of propranolol treatment for the strawberry birthmark on her forehead. He doesn't think it's big enough to warrant it at this stage, but we can revisit this in the future. 

Keep praying for focus and smiling. And patience. And sleep - it's been a long and tiring week.

Eye troubles

We're a bit concerned about F's eyes at the moment. One eye seems to look outwards, so she doesn't appear to be focusing on things.  

She can definitely see, she's been tracking objects for weeks, but being able to focus is important. Her eye contact is fleeting at best and she's not smiling yet. 

We've got a paediatrician appointment on Friday. Pray for wisdom for him, peace in God's plan for us, and that I wouldn't do too much googling in the meantime. It tends to make me nervous...

Eat Your Crusts

I've had enough of piles of crusts not being eaten. On hungry days, SP will eat the middle bread bit out of three sandwiches, which, when cut into little triangles, leaves us with 32 little crust bits! On more than one occasion, those little bits have formed the bulk of my lunch. Not what I call appetising, but I can't bear to throw them all out. 

A couple of weeks ago we started telling SP that when he's 2 1/2 he can eat all his crusts. Note the use of 'can' rather than 'has to.' I'm a big believer in the power of semantics. 

Yesterday he was very happy to have reached the milestone and ate his crusts quite eagerly. To head off any trouble, I gave him his triangles one at a time, but he ate each one completely before asking for the next. 

Today he ate the middle bit then gave me his coy look and said, 'I'm not 2 1/2 yet...' I told him that he was and he ate the crusts quite happily. After a few triangles he was starting to get sick of them and wanted the next triangle before he'd finished it all, but only needed a gentle reminder and didn't get crabby about it.

We'll see how things go from here. I suspect we may have a showdown or two, but we're off to a good start at least. I'll keep giving him one triangle at a time until he's well and truly into the crust-eating habit. 

Is it too much to hope that F will see his example and eat all her crusts from the start?

*Not an original idea. A friend of mine mentioned that her friend's daughter's kindy doesn't give the next sandwich until the first has been totally eaten, and they produce a class of crust eaters. 

Weighing In

At 6 weeks of age, F has now passed her brother's birth weight. 

It feels like a milestone. 

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Back to it

After our eventful Christmas season and January-of-adjustment, life is getting back into normal term time routines.

Church4Kids started last Sunday, with a brilliant group of leaders who can handle it very nicely without any help from me. SP had a period of sadness apparently, but showed no signs when I returned. He wasn't too keen to tell me about Shadrach, Meshech and Abednego being in the fire though, so I wonder if he found the story upsetting. He seems a bit sensitive about traumatic storylines these days. Seven lessons on John start this week. 

Bible study was back on this morning. Also John. I love the concept of having the adults and kids studying the same thing. And I'm really glad that we set some expectations for the year (arriving on time, preparing beforehand) and shared some bigger picture prayer points for the term. 

Playgroup starts on Thursday. Our wonderful leader has moved to another church, to be replaced by a team of people sharing the responsibilities. It will be quite different, but just as good I'm sure. 

We're aiming to take SP swimming most Saturdays at the moment - he's quite fearful of the water, but getting better with exposure. It's been very wet the last couple of weekends though, so we haven't gone. Maybe this week.

And in the midst of it all, little F continues to eat, sleep and grow as she should. She's not such an easy baby as SP was, but a delight nonetheless.

Life is full and God is good. We are so blessed to have our a lovely little family to enjoy.

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What We're Reading: Beatrix Potter

SP is enjoying the various wonderful works of Beatrix Potter at the moment. 

As I read to him, I often wonder how much he's really understanding. There's lots of unfamiliar vocabulary, and the plot lines must be quite obscure for a modern city kid. 

Generally, I don't explain these things until he asks; he'll figure out in his own time that the elegantly dressed gentleman is actually plotting the murder of his gullible guest Jemima Puddleduck. 

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In the bath yesterday, SP moved from one side to the other and commented that he was "pushing his body out into open water."

I racked my brain for a moment, trying to work out where on earth he'd picked up this particular phrase, then asked "Who went out into open water?"

"Mr Jeremy Fisher."

Of course. 

Perhaps he's taking in more than I thought. 

A "Boring Heart"

F had her cardiology follow up appointment today, and was pronounced totally healthy and "boring". If there's ever a good time to be boring, this would be it. 

In slightly more detail, today's ECG and ECHO were both normal. With those results, plus no evidence of SVT since 34 weeks gestation, there's no need for ongoing follow up with the cardiologists. 

We'll still be doing fairly regular stethoscope checks until she's about 6 months old, and keeping an eye out for SVT in the future. Apparently, if she goes into SVT, we'll notice. Interestingly, the next danger period after infancy is puberty. 

The cardiologist mentioned that the real danger with SVT in children occurs when it's not picked up early enough. The child seems generally unwell but if there's no known history of heart issues the arrhythmia goes undetected long enough to damage the heart structure. With F, I suspect her heart rate will be among the first things we'll check any time she's not herself, so we'll be in a good position to deal with it. 

We also took the opportunity to drop in at the ultrasound department and the antenatal ward, to show the staff the fruit of their labours (ie a healthy baby). It was lovely to go back, and our wonderful staff specialist sonographer was particularly pleased to see the amazing outcome in person. I vividly remember that horrible first appointment when gave us the bad news, and I suspect he does too. Once again, we marvel at the grace of God. 

Growing growing growing

F is 10% heavier today than she was a week ago. 3.03kg to 3.33kg. 

Good thing we don't keep growing at that rate!

Link: Drowning Doesn't Look Like Drowning

This article is going around Facebook. I could give you a taster so you can decide whether it's worth reading or not, but I just want you to read it. 

Drowning Doesn't Look Like Drowning

What We're Reading: The Emily Stories

SP received all four books in Stephanie Carmichael's 'The Emily Stories' for Christmas. Published by Matthias Media, they're lovely picture books about the kids in an ordinary family, with an added (but not out-of-place) 'God' element. 

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SP's favourite is 'Over the Fence'. It's the story of Luke, who likes kicking his ball around the yard, and hopes that the new boy moving in next door likes kicking a ball too. Luke and his dad have a lovely conversation about how God knows all about the new boy, even though Luke doesn't know him yet. You can actually read the whole thing here.

SP is really thinking about this concept. When he wonders who is using the whipper-snipper he can hear, he comments that 'God knows who's doing it'. And this afternoon, when I said I didn't know where his little wheelbarrow was, it was 'God knows where it is.' 

All four books are highly recommended additions to your little kids' library. And I might get some copies for church4kids too. I hope there are more titles coming in the series. 

Adventures in Baby Wearing

I've written before about my tendency towards ideas, project and other hair-brained schemes.

One of the things I really wanted do more of with this baby was baby-wearing. With SP, I had a commercial sling and a baby-bjorn style front carrier, and used them a few times but never felt like they suited my everyday needs. Mostly because I never seemed to have them with me when I wanted them. 

This time around, I'm doing it the traditional way. No fancy slings or carriers, just one long (4.5m) piece of fabric that I can hopefully pop in the nappy bag and have with me where ever it's needed. And use around home too. 

In the last week or so I've tried a couple of different ways of tying the wrap, and on Wednesday I think I hit my jackpot: The Front Cross Carry. It was very easy to tie, even the first time around, comfortable for me, and F seemed pretty comfy too, if going straight to sleep is any indication of comfort. 

Best of all, I can tie it on first, as you would with a modern sling or carrier, then pop her in and out as needed. This seems unusual for more traditional wrapping - most carries I've seen require juggling the baby while you wrap the fabric around yourself, which is a bit scary for this beginner. 

The long-term usefulness remains to be seen, but I'm very chuffed to be so easily hands-free. For once, my scheme has been followed all the way through to a useful conclusion :)

Take a look at Little F in her comfy shopping spot.

Is that Beethoven on the bass?

Thanks to the vast classical repetoire of my extended family, I was able to confirm the classical piece I referred to in the previous post: it's Beethoven's moonlight sonata.  On the bass.  Using techniques more often associated with Van Halen than with classical composers.  Very cool.


Here it is on Youtube if you're interested.  Moonlight Sonata starts around the 2:00 minute mark.

A little scare

I'm holding a peaceful, sleeping baby in one arm as I type this, and after a little scare last night it's just a bit more precious than it was 24 hours ago.


After the evening feed, Petrina checked F's heart rate, and thought it was fast. I had a listen and agreed.  So the girls went off to the emergency ward while I stayed home to look after SP.  Thankfully, the ECG showed that yes, it was a bit faster than it had been, but not particularly fast for a baby of this age, and it had the all-important p-waves, meaning that it was sinus, not SVT, which was our big worry.  Another ECG later on confirmed those results, and an echo this morning confirmed that contractility (heart function) is all as it should be.  F has to wear an ECG recording halter until tomorrow morning, just in case there are some very rare irregularities that need to be picked up.


By 8:30 this morning they were ready to come home, and could have come then except that we had the newborn hearing screening test scheduled for today anyway, so Petrina and F waited to do that.  SP was in rest time when they got home, but when he heard F crying before a feed, he called out in delight "mummy and F... are home, hooray! hooray!"  Petrina is feeling pretty exhausted; the A&E treatment was superb, but after it was clear that (a) things were ok and (b) they'd be staying overnight, it was 3:30 am before the paperwork was ready for them to go up to the ward.


It's slighlty ironic that earlier in the evening, Petrina and I had been musing on how we're still both processing the depths and heights that we've been through in the last two months, and still a bit in shock that it's all turned out so well so far.  Even with this little scare, God's care and provision is unmistakable.  I don't know how long it will take us to get used to the new normal, but I'm thankful that we're in the Everlasting Arms all the way.


In a side note of levity, SP was very excited to watch a bass solo (from a Joe Satriani concert DVD) with me this morning, and is now trying to say the names of all the band members :)  Hey, how else do you teach a 2yo that it's possible to play classical melodies on the bass guitar?

Sibling Love

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