Sunday, 27 June 2010

Such a little trooper

You know, one of the good things about having a baby who isn't so keen on sleep, is that she can stay up happily for hours!

This morning she woke at 5.30 (arrghh, too early little lady!) played in the lounge with mummy and daddy for a good few hours (Mike and I took shifts) then went to church at 10.30 not getting home to nap until 12.30. That's 7 hours awake.

Now, you'd expect that she'd be a mess by the end of that, and yup she was definitely tired (evidenced by the fact that she lay still as I changed her nappy before her nap!). But she didn't throw a wobbly at church, no crying in the car or even really excessive clingyness.

She's just a little trooper.

Saturday, 26 June 2010

My three roses - part 1 of Adele's birth story

I've started writing Adele's birth story. I need to do it as part of my La Leche League leadership application. It's something I've been meaning to do for the past year but have been putting it off cause it's going to be hard. I've promised myself I'll finish it by her birthday - 9 days to go! I'm not sure I'll share all of it with you but here is the beginning...

My three roses

Sitting on my porch are three roses. They are my babies. Adele has the smallest rose which was planted just a few months ago. Her whenua (placenta) is buried beneath the apricot-coloured blooms. I hope that this will be a special plant for her in the future.

The white rose belongs to Taran, my special baby who grew inside me for only 13 weeks. We hadn’t planned to get pregnant but we were over the moon at the idea of starting a family. Those first 12 weeks were so hard, my morning sickness was unbearable. But then the sickness eventually faded and the excitement of seeing our baby at a scan took over. But Taran’s heart had stopped beating. The screen showed a perfectly formed little body, but no heartbeat.  The devastation of losing our first baby was overwhelming. I despaired and wished I could join that precious life in heaven. But time heals. Taran’s remains are buried beneath the white rose.

And the pink rose is Jay. Poor wee Jay who didn’t have a chance at all. Jay was a blighted ovum. The shock of Taran’s loss was not present  with Jay. From the very beginning I knew that we would not meet this baby. I never felt pregnant, there was no morning sickness and the pregnancy tests weren’t promising. But I certainly did grieve. I grieved for the loss of that life, and especially the loss of my innocence and the feeling that my body had let me down.

When I got pregnant for the third time, I felt much more confident that this time, things would work out. The morning sickness was even worse than the first time. Not just nausea but also daily vomiting. The awfulness of those first three months is still so clear in my mind. I was so ill I quit my job and Mike and I moved to Hamilton.

Wednesday, 23 June 2010

Cousins are the best-est ever!

Adele's cousins came over the other day. She ADORES them. 

They all sat up at her little table and ate cheese on toast. She looked so proud of herself up there with her big cuzzies. And then she started shaking her sippy cup up and down so water spilt out the top - that got lots of laughs so she kept going!


We're so going to miss these guys when they head to Thailand later this year!

And here they are a few weeks ago. Can you see how chuffed Adele is?


Monday, 21 June 2010

Trading my drivers licence for a carrot

Most hilarious dream last night.

Mike and I had to go get our drivers licences renewed. We went up to the counter and handed over our photo ID cards. The police officer took our expired cards, cut them in half with a pair of scissors then reached under the counter to produce our new drivers licences.

He pulled out two carrots. Peeled carrots no less.

Apparently, NZ law requires that drivers have a police issued carrot on them at all times.

I woke up from the dream this morning and recounted it to Mike. I was giggling maniacally with tears streaming down my cheeks. Adele was giggling too but it was one of those "I'm laughing cause you're laughing but I don't know why we're laughing" kind of laughs. And Mike, well he was groaning and wishing he could sleep in longer (he got up to watch the soccer - Go the All Whites!).

I can just imagine being pulled over for a breathalyser test and being asked to show my drivers licence and pulling a carrot out of the glove box. LOL.

(Photo credit: nickwheeleroz)

Friday, 18 June 2010

Feeling a bit guilty

Thank you so much for all your lovely comments on my previous post. I'm glad that y'all love reading about my lil gal as much as I love blogging about her.

But I do need to explain that the person who said I needed to have a bit more to my life than just being a mum was actually my dear hub Mike. And his comment was really in the context of a deep and meaningful about such things. So he wasn't being mean to me, although the comment did make me a bit grumpy. Hence Tuesday's post.

So sorry for miss-representing you hub. (BTW he wasn't bothered at all.) And thanks so much for all your encouragement bloggy friends!

Tuesday, 15 June 2010

It's been a while

It's been quite some time since I blogged. One of the main reasons is that I've been busy and tired. Adele has dropped down to one sleep a day and that has thrown my day (and mind) all out of whack. I still haven't adjusted to the fact that we need to get out and do things in the morning rather than the middle of the day. In addition to that I have less time to myself cause she is awake more during the day. On the plus side it is heaps easier to get her to sleep for that nap (cause she's usually exhausted by 11.30am) and she's also going to bed at night earlier and easier too. Woop woop!

The other reason I haven't been blogging is that I've been getting criticised for mostly blogging about Adele. Well, people, you see - if I don't blog about her then I have nothing to say! (As the last month clearly demonstrates.)  I also had it suggested to me that I needed to have something else in my life besides being a mum. But honestly, I just find this job all consuming. 

It's not just that my poor brain has no room for anything else, it's that I love this job. It's the best one out there. At the moment I just want to put all my energy into being the best mummy I can be.

Having said that, I'm actually meeting with my La Leche League leaders tomorrow to talk about me becoming one too :) There is a 'training' process to do so that will keep me well occupied I am sure. Very excited about this.

But, yes, I have taken on board the feedback that perhaps I could broaden my conversation beyond bragging about how cute my girl is or complaining that I had to resettle her 6 times last night.

In the meantime I'm gonna love being obsessed with my job!