Sunday, February 28, 2010

I thought of you today....

Memories....they're amazing aren't they, and what conjours those memories, objects and things that suddenly have new meaning to them.
I got to thinking about this because yesterday I had several delightful moments where simple little things reminded me of some special people in my life.
The first was in the morning, as I was christerning my slow cooker. I searched in the back of the pantry to see what herbs we had on hand and hidden away was a packet of orange jelly crystals. Lol. If only I knew they were there, I thought, last week when my good friend Ebby was going nuts for preggy craving orange jelly! She only lives up the road, so I could have taken the pack over(I actually did pop in yesterday to drop off something so I put the jelly in the bag as a little suprise).
The second was when Jack and I were doing some grocery shopping. I had a ticklish feeling on my neck and when I put my hand up I found a little ladybug! I offered the ladybug to Jack and he let her scurry all over his hands as we went around the shop, I told him that perhaps his little friend Stella(who has just had a ladybug themed birthday party) was thinking of him and so this little beetle appeared ;) (Oh and note to Kint-this ladybug was not red, but orange!).
Memories can attach themselves to anything.
There's a certain hand liquid soap, and when ever I smell it, it takes me back to memories of my first dental surgery. It must have been the soap we used there.
Songs are often common memory evokers. When ever I hear Green Day- Time of Your Life, I think of our year 12 Muck-Up Day, because one of our talented muso students took over the PA system and belted out some tunes ;)  When I hear Alanis Morrissette, she takes me back to The Great Ocean Road road trips Dad took us on, she spent a whole summer on loop through my ear phones.
Some nursery rhymes we sing with Jack are bitter sweet, they remind me of my very early years when Nanny and Grandma would sing them to us, and others they had made up, so they bring some wonderful memories, but it's always tinged with sadness to know Nanny is gone and Grandma just isn't herself anymore(dimensia).
A certain perfume, I have no clue which it is, reminds me of my Aunt. This Aunt I havent seen much of over the years, after she moved interstate, but when ever a lady passes with the scent trail of this perfume she pops into my head! I don't actually like the smell, but I totally love that for that moment it makes me devote some thoughts to an Aunt that I would rarely otherwise think about ;)
Smells are very powerful memory keepers.
The smell of eucalyptus after it's rained reminds me of early morning trips to the shower block from the caravan we stayed at in Aireys Inlet, as a family when we were young.
The smell of lavender baby powder & a certain hand cream reminds me of my dear Nanny, who passed away in 1980. I remember how devastated I was when I realised that her possesions that I had, no longer smelt like her :(
Many people now days don't seem to fancy the mens cologne Brut33, but my golly I love it!  Beautiful memories of my Dad when we were little kids, and burrying my nose in his armchair to engolf myself in his sent while he was at work.
The place where we said our vowels and became husband and wife, was also the place we got engaged, then said goodbye to our babies, then had Jack's naming ceremony. This place is jam packed with memories, and it's our default go-to place for a nice calming day ;)

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Every little thing is important...

Sitting in a health care providers waiting room flicking through the crappy selections of mags, I came across a beautiful poem that touched me so dearly that I madly typed it into my mobile phone as I sat there waiting for my name to be called.
It is as follows.....
BRIGHTEN UP THE CORNER
Brighten up the corner where you are!
We cannot all be famous or listed in 'Who's Who'
But every person great or small has important work to do.
For seldom do we realise the importance of small deeds
Or to what degree of greatness, unnoticed kindness, kindness leads.
For it's not the big celebrity in a world of fame and praise
But it's doing unpretentiously in undistinguished ways
The work that God assigned to us unimportant as it seems
That makes our task outstanding and brings reality to dreams.
So do not sit by and idly wish for a wider new dimension
Where you can put in practice your many 'good intentions'
But at the spot God placed you, begin at once to do
Little things to brighten up the lives surrounding you.
For if everybody brightened up the spot on which they're standing
By being more considerate and a little less demanding
This dark old world would soon eclipse the 'evening star'
If everybody brightened up the 'corner where you are'!
Marian Humphrey, Korumburra,
printed in the Victorian Country Woman magazine, April 2008. Vol 54, No 3.
I love this, it sums up how I feel about people who put themselves and/or their job down. Every single job, every single action, it all contributes to 'making the world go around'.
You may not be in a job that you think makes a difference to any other peoples lives, but you absolutely are! The person who drives the garbage truck around the streets to collect our household waste is a VIP. Could you imagine life without them? What would we do with all that rubbish? Would we have to cart it down to the rubbish tip ourselves? Would it sit in the backyard rotting and smelling? It's thanks to that garbage collector that we don't need to think about where the rubbish goes, we just put the full bin out on the street at night and bring it in empty the next day. That makes a big difference, doesn't it?!!
So why should these type of workers not get to feel the fulfillment of their job that those who fight fires or operate on hearts do?
We don't all have glamorous jobs. Mine before Mumahood was as a Dental Assistant, and those that don't have the passion needed to enjoy the work have often described it as 'sucking spit all day'! That really annoys me!! I always looked at my job as helping the dentist prep their materials, making the patient feel at ease during procedure, keeping a clean (and where possible sterile) work area, just to name part of the day. And even when it comes to the 'sucking spit', that's an important part of the patients visit...without evacuating the saliva, the dentist couldn't efficiently do the procedure and the patient would feel as if they were choking or drowning. Without the assistant, the dentist couldn't do as good a job, therefore the assistant is needed.
Enough rambling about my own job, my point here is that your job, the job you don't feel so great about, the work you feel doesn't make a difference, does!!
The factory workers who are on assembly lines making parts, they sure do make a big difference. That difference is the chance of something working or not, because of that part they made!
Don't belittle your worth, don't let others belittle it.
Shine brightly, stand tall, know you are important!

Sunday, February 21, 2010

The Boys Are Back In Town!!!!

You bloody ripper, it's footy season, and if you listern to my good mate Sarz....maybe you should avoid me from friday to monday, coz I go a bit hardcore!! My team, as is my mums team and now (until he can say otherwise!) Jack's team, is the St Kilda Football Club. The Mighty Saints! Every game day since birth, Jack has been dressed up in team colours, Nanny refers to him as the Saints goodluck charm, coz we've done pretty bloody good over the last season!
My goal this year is to take Jack to his first game ;)
The trick is though that Daddy isn't an AFL man(Melbourne Storm fan), and Nanny doesn't think she could last a game in the uncomfy seats. But I'm determined to make it happen! Last game I went to was the retirement game of Nathan Burke. He grew up in the next street to us, and substitute taught me in grade 4, so we had a soft spot for him. I was at work when I heard on the radio that the coming weekend would be his final game, so after work I went to the box office and got tickets for Mum and Dad and Tyler and I to go. It was awesome!! It was also the birth of my footy potty mouth ;) I was sitting there in the loud atmosphere, thinking I'd be safe amongst the noise, I let the swearing rip, getting passionate and LOUD!! And yep, Mum and Dad heard it ALL!!! Lol. Every televised game, Nanny, bub and I watch it on telly....
with some meat pies to eat, footy food!
Nanny is concerned with buba picking up Muma's potty mouth, which is foul at the best of times, but during the game reaches a whole new level of filth!! Catch phrases such as "Fuck yeah!" during a goal riddle our whole viewing.....lmao!

This weekend just gone marked the Saints 2010 debut, against Collingwood for the NAB Cup, and we won by 1 point. Woot, great start to the season!!!

Go Sainters, fuck yeah!!!!!!!!

Thursday, February 18, 2010

The Princess Syndrome...

What, may I ask, is with little girls these days being so commonly labelled "Princess"?
Ugh, it erks me!
Particularly those that carry it so far that when asking after my son they refer to him as my "Prince".
Prince? There ain't no Prince here!
No little fellow that is expected nothing more of then to sit there and look pretty.
No young boy who's too scared to get dirty that he'll miss out on the joys of
mud pies and rain dances.
No mini man that will look down his nose at those around him.
We're raising a boy, who will one day be a man, with the nobleness of a gentlemen the heart of a lion, the protectiveness of a warrior.
But he'll be no prince.
When thinking of a prince and princess, my mind has images of pretty prim and prissy with not much going on up stairs.
Is that the adult you want from your child?
Let your child be a kid, play dirty, eat messily, sing loudly!
My son already has an unbelievable thirst for knowledge, and the most inspiring sense of adventure. He's showing his own interest in taking the life path not labelled prince.
Don't get me wrong, I'm very much a girly girl, I just know I'm going to be one of "those mum's" who puts her little girl 99% of the time in skirts and dresses(if we are so blessed to have a daughter one day). Though these outfits will not restrict her, she will never be made to feel she should keep herself clean and tidy....that's what stain removers for!
She will not be raised to be some "damsel in distress", waiting for her "Prince Charming" to rescue her, she shell have the confidence and self assurance to go out into the world and claim what she wants on her own terms, reach her goals and beyond.
He will not be made to feel he is not worth anything more then a "handbag" to a woman, he will be taught to respect with love, and in turn command the respect he deserves in return. Neither sex singularly deserves to be put up on a pedestal, but respect of each other puts us all up there on our own pedestal, with the mindset that we know we'll be ok if we fall ;)

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Valentines Date With TWO Spunks!!

A Date with TWO fellas?
Yep! Coz that's just how us hippy freaks role, right?!! ;-P lol
Ever since becoming parents, we haven't wound down terribly our social night life. Partly because we rarely had one, lol, but also because where we go our lil fella goes too!
Luckily for Muma, Valentines Day fell on sunday this year, Daddy's usual home day. This meant we had the whole day together on the years official love fest day ;)
The usual Sunday Sluggin' started out our day, which is really kinda nice when you know you are gonna get outta your jarmies and leave the house in the evening.
Come dinner time, we took off down the coast to the lovely sea side town of Dromana.
We made it most of the way there without a fuss from the back seat, but understandably as it was passed usual dinner time, by the time we were on the outskirts of town buba was frantic for a feed! So as Daddy took care of ordering dinner, yum yum fish and chips, buba came into the front seat and had some booby with Muma.
Once Daddy got back in the car to wait for the food, bub decided it was time to take us for a drive!

Once the food was collected, we went to join the line at Dromana Drive-In. Bub came back into the front seat for the wait til the gates opened, loving hanging out the window looking at all the "caaAAARRRRRs!" that arrived behind us.

Once we got inside the park and stopped the car, Muma made a mad dash for the food, by now it was after 8.30pm and buba and I were starving!!

When ever we go out for fish and chips, Daddy has always come well prepared with tomato and tar tare sauce, so thoughtful and sweet, yum yum!

Muma is a big fan of tomato sauce on EVERYTHING ;p
As all the cars came in to park in front of the big screen, it was very hard to keep our car loving tot focused on eating dinner! He enjoyed hanging out the window admiring them all.We also came well prepared for buba to be entertained inside the car, with a lunchbox full of his matchbox cars to zoom over Muma and Daddy's tummies. Occasions like Valentines Day are great for Muma when we go to the movies, one of the rare events Daddy caves in and will see a "chick flick"! So fittingly for the occasion, we were seeing the movie "Valentines Day" for the first screening, and Daddy picked the second movie "Law Abiding Citizen". I had asked for "It's Complicated", but it seems I couldn't get away with too much chicky stuff.

The first movie was great, a romantic comedy, perfect for a day of love.

Jack was so great, as it got dark he settled down and boobed for most of the night.During half time, between films, I passed a sleeping buba over to Daddy so I could go find the toilet block. Upon checking myself out in the mirror as I washed my hands after(as we all do! lol), I discovered the press stud buttons on my top were all done up miss-matched!!

Well, lmao, all I could think after being in a que full of other full bladdered female patrons....all these chicks prob think I've been in a car MAKING babies!!!! But, I've been boobing one ;)

The second movie started with images that I thought were sure to give me nightmares, I was beginning to think it best I spend the movie gazing at my dream feeding buba rather then the horror of the screen. But it did get better, I myself didn't even realise til I found myself laughing in parts. Why? Well, perhaps you need to see the movie yourself to appreciate what I mean, but I was eerily freaked out about how much I could picture loving the sort of revenge story that played out in the movie. The things done, were honestly pretty sick, but the movie was one of those that gets you thinking, and as you do, you totally get why these events take place, and personally I empathised with the person.

Driving home buba woke up, but as he's in the middle of the back seat, as soon as he caught sight of some tail gate lights he was mesmerised and amused for the ride home.

Was a lovely date xxxx

Here are pics of our last drive-in date.....our wedding anniversary in march of last year. Both buba and my 1st drive-in experience ;) Buba with his Butterscotch Bear, 9mths old Us on our 3rd Wedding Anniversary xxx

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Monday, February 15, 2010

Straight Rainbow Love

I love rainbows!
I love the brightness, the uplifting of your mood as you look at them, the cheerfulness of the mix of colours.
But I don't get the panic surrounding the love!
Do you know, dear readers, how many people have questioned my sexuality(ugh dur, I'm married!...to a MAN!!) or discreetly pointed out that rainbows are the symbol of the gay?!! LMAO whys it suddenly seem weird to like colour?
Ugh, so many people dress and decorate dully these days, it's depressing.
To me, that's depressing.
I couldn't imagine being happy in my world if I surrounded myself in black, grey, brown, beige, etc. Eeeewww! What a mood killer.
Dressing in colours is an instant mood lifter, and the more the merrier ;)
Decorating my house in colour is cheerful, keeps the happiness about the place.
It seems absurd to me that liking colour has meant a sudden worry on some peoples behalves that I have changed my path in life, that my once straight direction, is no longer... People who get around in dark colours aren't all goths, are they? They may look bloody boring, and I'm sure those shades surrounding them doesn't do much for the spirit, but their beliefs aren't questioned, are they?! Last year we had one of Jack's library buddies over for a play and it was the families first time at our home. The child's mother exclaimed, as she looked around our lounge room with a shocked look, "Boy, Jack sure has a colourful life!" But the way she said it, was like it was a bad thing. Like the lounge room looked like someone did a Technicolour vomit!!
Oh my golly, heaven forbid there's no black in sight!
I really detest black, or the greys, browns and beige's.
All the picture frames on our walls have been painted by me, all those terribly boring frames have been given a lick of colour. Light teal for all our sons pictures, musky pink for our couple pics, yellow will be for our next bub. The beige curtains of our rental have been stashed away in the cupboard and in their place are shimmery purple. We have my Grandma's shabby chic style lounge sweet, that was rather beigey in her house, but with the curtains and the purple and green rugs on the floor, the floral pattern on it is now the main focus and it looks like it has a new life. The TV cabinet has a rainbow cloth draped over it to keep bub from getting to the DVDs, and the little book shelf is painted with the teal, musk and yellow colours.
Yep, a rather colourful lounge room!
I no longer wear black pants. Only ever did so for work uniform and now am glad to be rid of it, blah. I just love colour!! But am I gay? Lol, only in the happy way ;)

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Tanya...

Tanya, by now you've been informed that I have cancelled the hearing in court. I know now that you read my blog, so I am going to share this with you......
The day you started questioning mine and my friends cross nursing community, you started a snowball that quickly took off out of control.
You publicly humiliated me.
You orchestrated a bias discussion that could only ever lead to destruction of my character.
In starting this, it lead to others displaying my photo's, again with all intention of bringing me down.
You told my mother she should be ashamed to call me her daughter. And in doing so, lead at least two other people to directly tell my mother she should be ashamed as well. I firmly believe, despite my saying in a prior blog post my brother was a catalyst, that you and these other people are responsible in my loosing my mum and my son loosing his nanny out of our lives for a month. She really was taken back with all the attack she personally received, and I'm sure she took a step into the shadows to cocoon herself away from this hate campaign.
It really did turn into that, a hate campaign.
You did not just leave it as difference of opinion.
You became obsessed.
You became a stalker.
You sent me text messages filled with aggression, sometimes several times a day.
You dampened my spirit during my first holiday away with my son, as you were texting me at least once a day while we were away.
You took it upon yourself to stalk the cyber trail of our community.
Finding my friends blog, you made numerous attempts of leaving attacking comments on any blog post containing activities you labelled "nutty hippy freak" stuff.
Due to you and your other co-haters, my friends blog has also been bombed with many a comment, full of hatred, from people reluctant to hear the facts.
We took the high road, we laid out the facts.
In response all we were getting was hatred and mocking.
You also cost me some friendships, several of which were merely "hangers on" types to see what "the goss" was in my life, so for that I thank you. But then there's others, and especially those that weren't met through you, that really hurt to loose. The ones that didn't say a word, just deleted me off their facebook accounts and have not spoken to me since, one in particular that has known me longer then she's known you, yet I lost her friendship.
You, or one of few that I can think of, gave my phone number to a third party.
This woman rang and abused me.
She claimed to have seen the photo's of me breastfeeding a 5yo(untrue, those girls are both under 2.5yrs old, but for the record, so what if it were a 5yo? You can't force a latch)
She labelled me a pedophile.
She said I should have my own child taken off me.
She said I should be sterilised.
She said I should be thrown in jail.
The one thing she did not do, is call with her number showing, or say who she was.
The one silly thing she did do, was leave it again as a message on voicemail.
But I know, that it's because of you, that this phone call happened.
You started this.
This hate campaign is yours.
The victim is me.
My friends also became victim, thanks to your obsession.
I received this phone call while in a baby change room at the local shops.
Lucky for me that my friends were right there with me.
Had I had this call on my own, it would have churned me up beyond comprehension.
As it was, it cut me to the core.
But with my friends strongly by my side, we decided it was time for action.
You were no longer going to get to us, we were taking our lives back.
As our children played, right there in the shopping centre, I began making phone calls.
The first was to my mobile carrier.
Thanks to you, I've had to change my phone number.
This cost me money, a fee they were willing to wave if I had already been to the police, but I just wanted these calls and text messages to stop immediately, so I had to wear the cost.
That phone number was special to me.
It was obtained in the days that you could pick your own number, it had my birthday in it.
Now I have a generic number.
Every phone call I make I have to write this number down to tell the receiver, because I don't know my own number. It's annoying.
I have had to make a lot of phone calls, informing a lot of people and organisations of this number change.
Even now, I am finding I have missed things, such as appointments, because I didn't give my number out to everyone I should have yet.
That day in the shopping centre playground, we also debated whether to take legal action.
One of our friends works in the area of law, and he advised I go to court to apply for an intervention order against you.
Upon calling the courts, I was told to come for an appointment the following week.
When this day came, as we entered the court house, I was over come with flash backs to my childhood. Of the time my family spent in this very court house, taking legal action against a relative who had molested myself and other members of the family.
These memories were so vivid, I saw his face amongst the crowd, I felt like running.
I wanted to leave that court house before I had even spoken to anyone, because those memories made me sick, but what was happening now was making me sick.
I was the victim of a hate campaign, and it had to stop.
Filling out the form for the intervention order, it seemed we had a great case against you.
Almost every box on the list could be ticked.
This was a form for a stalker, and you had performed almost every act on that list.
Once I completed these forms, I knew in my mind that I was doing the right thing, that form told me the seriousness of the situation.
By being able to tick almost every box, it told me you had gone too far.
Way too far.
I waited for backlash after that day.
We were all sure we would hear something from "the haters".
My friends blog was still getting anonymous comments, we were now pretty sure which ones came from you, partly because of the grammar, but also because my friend is far more computer savvy then I and she can trace the ISP address.
We still have one mutual friend.
But, to her credit, she has not asked me anything about this.
Nor have I asked her about you, as I figure that would leave me open to her telling you anything you wanted to know about me.
So I have no idea your reaction to being served those papers.
All I hope for though, is that they gave you a serious wake-up call.
What you personally did, and what you instigated, was very serious.
It caused much upset, in mine and my friends lives.
All I wanted was for it to stop, but also for you all to realise that what you were doing to us was wrong.
Our cross nursing is not wrong, it is practiced the world over, it is far more common then you know.
But what you did to us, what you allowed other people to do to us, was so very very wrong.
I have now cancelled the hearing for the intervention order.
You got lucky.
It is not anything you did or did not do that got me to this decision.
It was purely the fear of the court and the memories that place evokes, that brought me to this decision.
You will be reading this post, so will several others of "the haters", and I'm baffled as to why.
You all rejoiced when I deleted you all off my facebook, saying you won't have to read my "crap" anymore.
Yet, in that very same space that that was said, one of you suggested you can keep informed by reading my blog, and obviously that of my friends.
We all know our blogs are open for the world to read, but it just truly baffles me as to why people who make such comments would try and keep up with the cyber trail of our lives, when you were sick of seeing it.
You took a big chance in commenting on my blog, especially after being served with papers for an intention of an intervention order.
Which brings up another point, it's thanks to you and this hate campaign that I missed the first few weeks of my new niece and nephew's lives.
I'm really unsure as to motivations, but every time something has happened that is controversial that involves me on facebook, my sister gets a wave of my supposed friends adding her. Why? Thinking we were getting along and trying to get goss off her page? Or knowing we were not getting along and trying to pull my own sister into this disgusting campaign?
What ever it was, it worked.
And thanks to that, you robbed me of time with my new family members.
Thankfully, I have done a lot of soul searching, and it's thanks to me, and only me, that we now have a sisterly relationship.
Thanks to my sister too, for agreeing to wipe our slates clean.
That blog comment in itself made me question whether you took it seriously, whether you understood what it meant.
You were not supposed to go anywhere near me or interact with me, yet there you are reading my blog.
Funnily enough, I'd be none the wiser had you not commented, so you really struck it lucky that I didn't react.
It is not at all because your comment was seemingly nice that I have dropped this, I was very sceptical of whether it really was nice or had an ulterior motive.
Either way, we will not face each other in court.
Oh, just a footnote for certain others of the hate campaign who may be reading this......
Ummm duh, of course I can shower without my husband home, but as another pointed out, it would then involve him playing in or near the bathroom with toys, therefore taking away the one time of the day that is my own to have on my own(yes, even us attachment parenting folk do need a little "me" time!).
You will see, your child is not as mobile yet, and as has happened with every other situation that you have acted the expert on, your child will come to this stage.
And for the venom that's come off your tongue.....I hope he's the biggest brat out!!!

Sunday, February 7, 2010

New Template for my blog

Oh how I wish I was computer savvy! It's taken far too long today just to find a template and change it.
I'm still not 100% happy though, I wanted an actual rainbow, but a lot of the templates out there have a lot of black in them, and many will know my passionate dislike of anything black!!
I found a cool tie-dye rainbow effect, but it made the actual block the writing is on black, blarh!
If anyone comes across a nice template that is rainbowy, with NO BLACK.....please link me ;-D
And to my blogger peeps......blog would ya!! It's been a slow week in blogsville ;-P

Friday, February 5, 2010

Humble Pie and Breast Milk

So, I've been following the tid bits of info on the grape vine and facebook about how my sister and her new baby twins are going. For my blog stalkers who are unfamiliar, we have a love/hate relationship. As kids we struggled to get along, or rather, she loved me more then I was comfortable with! As adults, we really have had some beautiful sisterly moments, but for two very different personalities, our stubbornness and grudge holding are identical, which is our downfall.
Anyway, these twins are my sister's 3rd and 4th children, but with her 1st and 2nd she didn't have much luck with breastfeeding.....which is where the "healing" of our petty crap comes in.
It is really unfortunate, as an extended breastfeeder who is openly passionate about breastfeeding, that you can't say a single thing without someone having the attitude that you need to pull your head in. This happens to me, even within my own family! My SiL was offering my Mum a bottle steriliser to pass onto my sister prior to the babies birth. I asked what I thought was a simple question, "Isn't she planning to breastfeed?"(not thinking at the time of ebm in a bottle), and my brother snapped at me "Breastfeeding isn't the be all and end all, we're not all freaky breastfeeders". Hmmff. That was a kick in the guts!! This was on new years day, and totally ruined the day for me, and as it turns out, was the catalyst for my Mum "giving me space" and disappearing out of my life up until a few days ago.
Meanwhile, over on facebook, I had seen that my sister WAS keen to try giving these babies the breastfeeding relationship, just like she had longed for with her other children, just like I had suspected, before my brother shot me down. My Mum had asked for advice on how to get better help while my sister was in hospital with the babies, the lactation consultants in there were not overly helpful it seemed. When I realised that I hadn't been asked to help her, it made me think of how simpler it would be for my sister, had she felt she could ask ME, someone she knows, someone who's clocked up a lot of breastfeeding, with hiccups along the journey that were able to be overcome. It ate at me for a bit, pig headedness came into it, didn't want to lay down my guns, sure she wouldn't lay down hers. But then I thought of the bubs, the help there Muma needed was help for THEM. AND I missed my niece and nephew beyond belief, so to do this meant I could see them too ;)
After talking it over with Mum, she took me and Jack with her yesterday for a visit......and it went incredibly well!!!!!!
In preparation to meet the twins, I made them a little softie taggy toy each. "K" for Kaiden Noah, "H" for Hollie Ava. Thanks to my generous friend Sarah Mc for letting me use her materials and make these at her house ;)
The babies are so tiny, so scrawny, and they have that gorgeous little lamby cry that you don't even realise how much you miss 'til you hear it again! (Yep, cluck cluck cluck here!!!)
Kaiden looks a lot like his brother Joshie with some faces he pulls, Hollie looks like her sister Millie with some faces she pulls, but interestingly, they both look rather alike in this head shot I took.... That's Kaiden on the left, and Hollie on the right. Hollie was wrapped, but Kaiden was just in a short body suit, Cindy says he gets hot, so already you see differences in the two bubs ;) Kaiden on the left, Hollie on the right, in their porta cot.....how tiny are they!!

Muma and Jack meeting Hollie and Kaiden.

Jack is no longer the "baby" of the family, and these teeny tiny twins sure make him look huge!!!

Jack was rather taken with the bubs, giving them strokes with his hands and little kisses and head to head hugs, which burst my heart with pride!! He sure will be a brilliant big brother when our time comes ;-D

I felt awful that amongst all this, the joy of these twins, my heart ached for our lost twins and my mind was racing with "what could have been". I was looking down at them, trying my darnest not to weep, I hate that these thoughts took over again. I don't want these twins, these two complete different beings, to be any symbol for me of a "could have". But unfortunately as well, their birthday falls just two days short of the anniversary of our babies being taken from me, one day before we found out they had passed away. I'm hoping in time, this will act more of a healer then a heart breaker, because these babies have nothing to do with ours, and it's not their burden to carry. And just to be clear, I don't resent my sister for having twins!

Anyway, getting back to the joy of it!!!

The twins are actually doing a lot better at feeding. While I was there, they both fed several times, and Kaiden actually guzzles his ebm from the bottle far better then our Jack ever did, so my sisters breastfeeding journey is starting to look successful! I didn't do any correction of attachment or anything, Muma and bubs looked pretty happy, though I did try to explain baby led attachment.

Don't you just adore seeing a newborn and their Muma locking eyes?! The whole world melts away in those moments, so sweet ;) This is Hollie with her Muma, fresh from a successful breastfeed.

Hello Hollie! Hollie woke up for a little look around as Nanny nursed her.

Jack sharing afternoon tea with his older cousin Joshie, who was stoked that Jack was now big enough to chase around the house and play cars with!

This is Millie, loving holding her sister Hollie, she's such a little muma. When Mil came home from school, she was shocked at how big her baby cousin Jack had gotten! It's been a good 6mths since they saw each other. Likewise, I couldn't believe how much my little Mil Mil had grown, such a little lady now!!

And of course, me being the breastfeeding freak that I am, couldn't resist a photo op of us two sisters, both with child to boob........

19 month old Jack and 17 day old Hollie, enjoying their Muma's milk :)

Little Muma Millie watches on as her Aunty and Mummy breastfeed their babes.

I really hope, that armed with all the info I've passed on and the help she can receive through the services I've told her about, that my sister gets the breastfeeding experience she longed for with these babies.

Peace, Love and Breast milk to you, my sister xxxx

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

What? Pardon? Agghhh, I CAN'T hear you 8(

Today I had my follow up appointment to get my hearing aid checked out for how it's going. I'm real sad to say, he's taken it back 8( My cute little pink hearing aide is mine no more.
When I told the audiologist the problems I ended up having with it, he suggested I try another model. With the one I had, the tube that enters my ear canal is to wide. He says I have a narrow ear canal, so the tube was a tight fit. It actually became uncomfortable for me, and as I talk, chewed, swallowed, it felt like my ear canal was trying to squeeze the tube back out. It's surprising how much your ear actually moves as you do these activities, it actually kinda opens and shuts. I was having to regularly take the aide out and scratch or rub in my ear, which actually irritated it further.
As well as the size, the audibility was not really set for aiding me in hearing people talk. I'm guessing if I wasn't having the tube size problem, he would have just adjusted the hearing and I'd try again(the aide gets hooked up to his computer and he tweaks the levels of hearing that way). So, hopefully once I have a more comfortable aide, the levels will be adjusted better.
I could definitely hear better, it was truly amazing! But, the "background noises" (eg-foot steps, crumbling paper, cutlery clanking) were taking over any other noise. Even though a persons voice was louder then without the aide, the background noises were louder still.....so virtually put me back to square one :( Plus the whooshing noise I could hear from the aide is hopefully gonna be less noticeable with a smaller tube in my ear, as the audiologist suggested that it was caused by the feedback within the canal.
Anyway, next appointment is the 23rd Feb, where I will get fitted with a different aide. It DOESN'T come in pink :`( This one only came in beige, brown, red or blue. I've gone blue. And you know the funny thing? When I first picked the pink aide, the audiologist was a bit taken back with it, even checked with my husband that I'm being serious, yet today as he sent me on my way, he said they've had those colours for ages and no one gets them and he's glad to see someone ordering them! lol
Anyway......SPEAK UP, I'm deaf!!!!

Monday, February 1, 2010

Pay It Forward...

I found this "pay it forward" at Apwool's "A Day in the Life" blog. My reasons for joining in are I love handmade gifts, I love parcels in the post, and I want more excuses to get crafty myself ;) Basically: ■I will make a handmade gift for the first 3 people who comment on this post. ■I have 365 days in which to do it ■What it will be and when it will arrive is a total surprise! The catch is that you must participate as well ~ you must also pay it forward. Write up a little pay it forward post on your blog to keep the fun going. At this point it's difficult to say what you will receive, but love and care will go into the making ;) I hope you will want to join in the fun! Gooo!!!! I'm doubling my list to 6 people....coz I got lucky and got my name into Apwool AND Yan's list!! ;)