Four Months...

Dear Paddy

I know I'm a little late in posting about your fourth month but I have a very good reason, the flu. Not me, just everyone around me! The worst thing about having one sick kid, is two sick kids! But not at the same time, as James was recovering, you started to get sick. Whew it has been a rough couple of weeks. 

This month has been more than sickness, you have really started to grow from an infant into a baby. You slept through the night for the first time a couple of weeks ago, just before getting sick! You had been gradually waking from twice a night to once and then one night you didn't wake until 7am! You have managed to do this a couple of times now, so hopefully when you finally get better we'll be getting a few more full night sleeps!

You enjoy being either on your back or tummy but don't like your swing anymore, which is a bit of a pain since I put you there at dinner time. When you are on your back you are always kicking and waving your arms, trying to grab or bat things around you. A couple of times you've accidentally hit your brother, when he's got too close, and I've had to explain to James that you didn't mean it. 

You are still breastfeeding like a champ, I've been so lucky to have two children to take to the boob as well as you and your brother. I haven't had to use any of the frozen breastmilk I stored while I was pumping in hospital, though we did we lose some in the "freezer misshap of 2013"! I have to remember to make sure the freezer door is closed properly. 

This month was your first visit to Nanna and Poppy's beach house. And you were the perfect guest. We have an annual trip down there every Easter (as well as a few times a year) and I can't wait until next year when you are running around with your brother and cousins!

Maybe it's because you're my last baby but I am truly trying to enjoy every minute with you, as a baby. Being able to kiss your little chubby legs and cheeks as well as carry you on my chest. Being able to hold you as long as I want because you can't run away, is such a privilege and one that will be gone before I know it. I wish you could stay small forever but also look forward to see you growing every month into a little boy. 

Love always

Mumma

The Monday Snapshot...

I am a Baby Bjo.rn tragic. I use my baby carrier at least once a day, usually when I'm starting dinner and it's "feral o'clock". Paddy loves being in it and it is awesome when trying to get groceries or dropping James off at daycare, when you need both hands. 

So when I had to get some bread and veggies for dinner this afternoon, I quietly panicked when I realised I left my BB in BJ's work car. I had to brave the shops with both boys, by myself and without my BB. Should be interesting!

Thankfully there was one baby/toddler trolley left and both boys were on their best behaviour. Here they are looking bored about the prospect of grocery shopping with their mother! 

This is part of PAILs Monday Snapshot. If you would like to learn more about PAIL or this weeks featured blogger, click on the PAIL button on my sidebar. 

Looking back...

When you get bogged down in the day to day trials and awesome moments of raising two boys under two, it's hard to believe that this is the life we were dreaming about four and a half years ago. When we finally decided to start TTC in October 2008, we never thought it would take so long, be so expensive or would push our relationship as much as it did. Just to get pregnant!

For PAILs one year anniversary, we are looking back at the past Junes and where we were on own journey. 

June 2007 - After getting married in May 2007, June 2007 was spent waiting to embark on our skiing honeymoon in New Zealand!

June 2008 - A year later we were enjoying married life and had just booked a cruise for the October 2008. After this cruise we decided to TTC. 

June 2009 - After TTC for eight months, we had already had two friends announce their pregnancies. It was this June, we decided to start getting things checked out. First with all the man stuff and then later in the year further tests through a Fertility Specialist for me. My laparoscopic surgery was just before Christmas this year. And I was given the all clear. 

June 2009 - After my laparoscopic surgery in December 2008, we TTC on our own again for six months and June 2009 was when we returned to our FS to find out what was next. IVF was the next step for us and we could have jumped on our FS's next available IVF cycle in July 2009, but we weren't financially, physically or emotionally ready for this step yet, so we held off until the October 2009 cycle. This cycle resulted in a BFN but we were lucky enough to freeze two embryos. After our BFN we took a much needed break and went on a driving holiday to an awesome friends wedding. On this holiday we were driving right past Ayers Rock, so we just had to visit. 

June 2010 - I spent June 2010 pregnant after our successful FET in February 2010! I was twenty weeks during the June and was feeling James' first kicks and punches. We had just brought our baby furniture and I was getting used to moving from infertile to expecting. Later that year this little man entered our world and started our family. 

June 2011 - After finally realising our dream of becoming parents, shit got real. This parenting gig is tough and we learnt a lot if things the hard way. During May/June 2011 we started sleep training. Something I never spoke about on my blog. I researched a lot of different methods and ended up doing a mixture of methods that we were comfortable doing with James. Thankfully he only took a couple of nights and was sleeping through the night. I also started a day routine with his sleeps and meals and realised I should have done this from the beginning. He really thrives under a routine and it made my anxiety a lot less. 

During this time (once James started sleeping through the night) I unexpectedly fell pregnant. After missing a period in July 2011, I did a HPT and we found out number two was on their way! James was only eight months old when we found out about the pregnancy and I'll admit after the initial "how did this happen" and "aren't we clever to get pregnant on our own", I freaked out about taking care of two kids under eighteen months of age. We had just got James into a routine that worked for both of us and sleeping through the night, and now I had to turn around and do it all again. As the pregnancy went along I started to realise how much I wanted a second baby and how lucky we were not to have to go through fertility treatments to complete our family.

June 2013 - One year on and another little boy completes our family. Patrick was born in February 2013 and this month he is four months old. James is twenty months old. Patrick is just beginning to roll over and sleep through the night. I've found motherhood different the second time around. Maybe I'm more confident in my abilities or maybe I've just learnt that no phase is forever and children grow so fast. 

Can't wait to see what the the next twelve months will bring!

The Monday Snapshot...

On Saturday we paid the local Toy Library a visit! I had been looking for a toy library since James was a baby and would you believe there is one right around the corner from us! 

I was originally looking for a water table for James since the one I made doesn't have any legs. They had a huge range of toys for big and little kids. Even things like Bum.bos and play gyms for babies. You pay a yearly membership and then a rental fee for each toy you hire for a month. 

When we walked into the yard, they had a few of the bigger toys outside and James walked right up to a car, sat in it and wouldn't get out. Looks like we were hiring the car! Then I found a water table that looked good, so we got that as well. Both for ten dollars (excluding the membership fee of twenty-five dollars), what a bargain!!!

And a bonus photo of Paddy in his bum.bo hanging out, watching his big brother driving around. 

This is a part of PAILs Monday Snapshot. To check out other things happening at PAIL or this weeks featured blogger, click on the PAIL button on my sidebar!

Family Update...

Since Paddy was born, the only updates I've managed is participating in PAILs Monday Snapshots and Paddy's monthly updates. So here is a run down on how the rest of the family is doing. 

- James has been doing a lot better with his big boy bed. It seemed after he turned eighteen months, things just clicked for him and he understood the whole bed concept. At first we were using a gate to create a barrier in his room, once he went into his room for a sleep he didn't come out until said sleep was over. But we took down the gate a couple of weeks ago (it's weird but I've found the fact he could get out of the room at night something hard to get used to) and since we've had a couple of night visits (one night we even found him roaming the kitchen, looking for us we suspect) which is to be expected but otherwise it is going well. 

James is otherwise doing well in his role as big brother. We are currently trying to teach him not to throw toys at Paddy! His speech is improving and most of the time I can understand what he is trying to communicate. He knows around ten body parts and loves to show everyone his belly button! We have started potty training (slowly for now) and he did his first wee in the potty tonight before his bath. 

Loving his whipper snipper!

Hanging out in Poppy's tractor. 

- I've found after having baby #2 my body has bounced back pretty well. I'm a lot softer around the middle but my weight is pretty much what it was before falling pregnant with Paddy. One thing I do need to do is excerise more. My fitness is terrible and I would still like to lose a couple more kilos. I'm still BF so dieting is out for now, so excerising three times a week is my goal for now. It's just finding the time that I've had a problem with. I've put aside Sunday afternoons to walk with an old friend, it's great to catch up with her without kids plus getting a bit of excerise in the process. Now it's just setting aside two other times of the week to get in at least thirty minutes. That said, with a toddler to run around after I'm getting plenty of excerise just keeping up with James! 

- BJ has started needing to travel away for work again. Since changing career paths a few years ago, travelling away has always been part of his job. Usually spending a week away every month. Since the beginning of the year, with Paddy's birth, he was able to take a bit of time off from travelling but now he's had to start back up. The toughest time without him is the nighttime routine with the boys. He has been taking care of James while I focus on Paddy (especially since he is still nursing for up to forty minutes!) and then we are able to have both boys in bed by seven. Without him I have to juggle both kids and it can be pretty stressful.

- Last year I announced my sister was pregnant after trying for nearly two years (she already has a six year old girl) and in December she had another little girl. We found out over the weekend that she is expecting again! She always wanted three kids and I'm so excited for her!

Baby cousins

So that should bring you up to date with most of what's been going on around here. To sign off here are a couple more photos of my boys. 

The Monday Snapshot...

This weekend we went to our local wildlife park to check out the local wildlife. They have koalas, kangaroos, wombats (my favourite), snakes as well as crocodiles and a heap of other animals. There are native ducks and kangaroos roaming all over the place, that you can feed. We tried to get James to hold some food out for the kangaroos to eat but he liked to throw the food at them instead. Here he is with some ducks that we've just fed. And with a kangaroo and her Joey. 

This is part of PAILs Monday Snapshot. If you're interested in learning more about PAIL or this weeks featured blogger, click on the PAIL button on my sidebar.