trouble with videos

sorry, it seems Facebook have changed some settings or something....i'm trying to fix it!!

My cups!!!

I must seem crazy I know but they finally arrived!! I HATE the sippy cup Jake has had, it has the most disgusting valve inside that is impossible to clean, and everywhere I look cups always have the same ones!! When the kids were little they had Playtex cups which back then I bought from the Chemist. They had the BEST valves, just clear latex that you could CLEAN. I did some googling and searching in shops and I couldn't find them anywhere except New Jersey. So I paid the money and got them sent over and they finally arrived! I'm so pleased I can feel good about giving him a fresh CLEAN drink. Now I've posted this I'm sure someone will tell me I can buy them here....LOL.

Maz-a-licious fluff

I've had these on layby for a couple of weeks, Jake needed too go up a size in covers and I knew Maz was having a stocking so I held out for it ;) So glad I did cos I splashed out and got this Cow set. the Motorbike minkee cover was a custom spot, Ben chose what to have. Oh and a photo of the cheeky boy in his gear doing his new favourite 'trick' that Mummy hates!!

Big boy in a big bed

For various reasons Ben and Chloe were also in a big bed by the time they were 12 months old. Nanny White bought them each their first bedding for their 1st birthdays so following suit Jake got some too. Nanny bought most stuff but Anna and Jarrah bought the gorgeous doona cover :) he looks so tiny I know but he loves it :) He loves he can just wander down the hall when he wakes up and he sleeps better even...I think he likes not being caged in, lol.

My beautiful boy

How the veggie patch grows

Not so well, lol. Well it is....just having a problem with something eating our broccoli, cauli and cabbage....GRRRRR!!

Visit from Nanny Mac

A couple of weeks ago we had the chance to catch up with Hubby's Nan, so the kids Great-Grandmother. She had never met any of them so it was nice to get the opportunity :) Hubby and I haven't seen her in almost 6 years, I was pregnant with Ben when we last saw her.

Not a great pic, but it's one all the same :)

Our baby turns 1 :(

On 18th March......our baby turned 1. Such a bittersweet day....excited he is one of course but so sad the baby of the family is on his way to many more birthdays. He had a great day on his birthday, when he got up in the morning he cried all the way down the hallway...until he spied his pressies sitting in the middle of the lounge floor and then he mysteriously stopped, lol. We got him a "victa" garden pack, including a lawn mower, wheelbarrow, outdoor tools, watering can etcc. Suits him well as he loves to be outdoors :) On the weekend we had his little family party, not many people, just the usual family. It's so hard to beleive it was 12 months ago.

Before I post some photos and video I thought I'd post Jake's birth story as I wrote it in a forum when he was 8 days old :)

Jake was due on the 16th March and as my other two children had both arrived on their EDD's I was expecting him to as well. The 16th came........and went. I felt nothing, occasional BH, occasional plevic pain but nothing regular and nothing that felt it was doing any good! On the 17th (as I was in a right mood, lol) my sister and Mum decided to come for a visit and take me out for lunch, nothing fancy just a salad roll sitting next to the river. So we did that, had a nice chat, had a drink and then they dropped me home. As I had the house to myself for a while I realised I hadn't felt Jake (Bubbles as he was then known!) move that day at all, not even when I'd indulged in a cold fizzy drink for lunch. I laid on the couch and did some poking and prodding but still nothing. DH and the kids arrived home with a bottle of Coke in tow, I tried that but still nothing. It made me nervous!! So feeling a little silly but still scared I called the Birth Centre. The lovely midwife suggested I come in and get monitored, just in case, and at the very least to make me feel better. So DH and I made the drive in, got checked and all was well, Jake was just lazy. Phew! At that point the MW offered to do a stretch and sweep if I wanted, no guaratees of course but she said it may help. We decided to give it a go. As she was doing it she told me I was 2-3cm dialated and that if need be later on it would be possible to break my waters, which came as a relief to know something had been happening and at the very least I would just end up having my waters broken and not a full-on induction of little Bubbles decided to hang in there. So S &S done we headed home. When we were home I went to the loo and found a bloody show, no surprises though after the S & S so I didn't get excited as I still wasn't having any real pains. Went to bed and didn't sleep a wink as I was waiting for any sign of labour. Finally dropped off about 2am, woke at 3am with my first contraction. Next one was 5 mins away. After only 4 of them I told DH we needed to head to the hospital as after my last labour progressed quickly from 5mins to 2mins I didn't want to get caught out. So we headed off about 4am, and at the time the contractions were only period pain type. I felt a little silly heading off so soon but by the time we were halfway there the contractions intensified and I knew we were right to have left so soon! Got to the hospital, were lucky enough to get the lovely Birth Centre Birth Suite. We went in, I walked around for a bit, ran a bath and hopped in there for a little while but soon hopped out when contractions were down to 2-3mins and I felt a little pressure as well. I hopped on the bed and the contractions became a little irregular, sometimes 2-3mins, sometimes 5mins, sometimes huge ones, sometimes little ones. What made it really weird was I always knew one was coming because I would start to shake before one started, then once it was over I would stop until the next one began. My waters still hadn't broken either. It was then (about 6am) my MW told DH he should go move the car to the carpark and not to dally!! I hated having him gone and I got really worried at one point when she said to me "I hope he makes it back!". I got all hopeful too at this point that Bubbles would arrive really quickly. Time went on and I kept labouring, it felt like forever! I had no urge to push and it was worrying me. So I asked her to check what was going on. She checked and told me I had a little of the cervix still there, like a little lip. She could push it back but it needed to recede itself. This worried me as my first DS's birth I had the same thing and he ended up being a ventouse delivery because of it. Luckily after a couple more contractions it receded and I felt the urge to push. At about this point my waters decided to break and came out with this massive pop and went flying out onto the bed. Very bizarre as I'd never had my waters break before! After quite a few pushes (he was not as easy as my DD!!) I finally felt his head coming down and then heard the news that his hair could be seen. A couple more pushes and he was crowning. The MW wanted me to touch his head but I couldn't move, I tense up heaps during labour! I just wanted him out! A couple of little pushes and his head popped out, I felt him turning and then his shoulders slid out! Bubbles had arrived!! So, Jacob Daniel was born at 7:50am 18th March 2008. His weight was 6lb11oz (3075g), length 49cm and HC 35cm. He was welcomed into the world, placed on my tummy skin to skin and attatched to the breast for a suck. After a while when his cord had stopped pulsating it was clamped and DH cut the cord. Our final addition to the family was here and we are complete! All in all it was a 5 hour labour (well 4hrs 50mins!) but in all honesty this one felt like forever! We had no pain relief, no tears, nothing.

Happy Birthday my Baby! xxx

A new addition!!

On February 22nd (just hours before he would share a birthday with Aunty Noni and Chloe) little L made his way into the world, much to the delight of Uncle Stephen and Aunty Ange. He kept Mummy and Daddy waiting an extra week, and after an entrance that was a little stressful to all little L arrived!! YAY!!! After a few hiccups Mum and Bub were released from hospital and are doing well :) On the weekend we were all lucky enough to meet the new addition to the family and he is just beautiful!! So soft and squishy and newborn.........awwwwwww!!! Chloe was just smitten, she was so pleased she got to do up a snap on his suit ;) Jake wasn't too sure what to think of him, although he did take a liking to little L's rocker, lol. No pics though sorry people :)

So congratulations Stephen and Ange, little L is just wonderful!!

xxx

Chloe's Birthday

February 23rd saw our Princess turn 4. OMG.....4!!! She also wanted her birthday at the 'beach house' so we headed down for the weekend for her party there. All she wanted for her birthday was a vacuum cleaner....I know....go figure!! Anna and Jarrah bought her one and she loves it! Although Jake loves it more...... lol.

A successful treasure hunt in her pretty party Princess dress.

Another lovely cake made by Nanny, although Aunty Hay decorated this one ;)

Chloe on her actual birthday. We decided to do cupcakes :)

A close up of my very first piping job, not bad I don't think!!

Veggie Patch

While he was on holidays hubby finally took my hint and dug me out a veggie patch :) The kids love helping outside and getting their hands dirty. Jake also enjoys a ride in the wheelbarrow, lol. My little farmer even continued digging up the garden when Dad was at work ;)

Stay at Cremorne

As I mentioned before, we stayed at the shack for about a week. Would have loved it to be longer but anyway :) So here are a few quick pics of the beach which we are so lucky to have right at our front door ;) The first two were taken at the lagoon, and the last ones at the beach. It's gorgeous and we are SO lucky. In the very last pic you can see hubby and Chloe heading up to the stairs leading to our place.

Ben's Birthday

On the 2nd January my biggest baby turned 5!!! eeeeek! His request was to have it at the 'beach house' so we did. From Mum and Dad he got a rather large Bumblebee Transformer, an Animatronic one. Very cool but nearly too cool to play with at the moment in case it gets broken! He had a cake on his actual birthday, and then a proper special birthday cake made by Nanny for his party with family :)

Slack again!! Back to the town of Lower Crackpot

My baby will be 1 next week :( So I thought i'd better post all the stuff I'd been meaning to, and Ben and Chloe's birthdays before Jake's rolls around too. So here are the remaining photos from our visit to Tasmazia, and this the the town of Lower Crackpot ;)