Thursday, October 28, 2010

Top Breast Feeding Comebacks

The other day, while Jaz was at 'kindy', Kayde and I decided to go wedding dress shopping. I had previously been into a bridal shop where there had been many dresses that had caught my eye and the shop assistant had been particularly nice (when I had told her I needed to lose weight before trying anything on she had insisted I try some on to get a feel for colour and style and to just enjoy part of the experience, insisting she would have a number of beautiful dresses in my size). I had made a note to return when I had a chance.

Upon my return there was a different assistant working who, well, didn't seem overly impressed that I had interrupted her day by entering the boutique. I was busy trying to break through her icy exterior (I just see this as a challenge and break them down with niceness and chit chat) when Kayde began crying. He was wanting a feed, I was feeling a bit sweaty and gross after walking to the shop in the midday sun and thought that to sit and feed Kayde would settle him down and give me a chance to regain some composure so that I could feel comfortable trying on some dresses.

Out of courtesy I asked the shop assistant if she would mind if I fed my baby so that I could try some dresses on in peace. To my surprise, she really hesitated. She rolled her eyes at me and said 'well, I suppose, but only as long as no other customers come in, it's not that I really mind (I could tell she did though) but I wouldn't want to upset any other customers (never mind upsetting the one that was here!!!).' At this point I was a little taken aback but not overly offended, I said quite simply that I hadn't really come across anyone who seemed overly concerned and that most of the people who seemed uncomfortable were quite young. To this she replied 'well not many people really breast feed anymore you know?' accompanied with a look that screamed distaste. Was she serious??? It's not like I was asking HER to feed my baby!!! I just wished I could remember a decent come back but right at that moment but they eluded me.

Mind you I am quite proud of what I did anyway but I'll save that for later. For now, I will offer up what I wish I had right on the tip of my tongue at the time - the top 5 comebacks I have found, heard or made up, in response to negativity about breastfeeding, in no particular order:

1.  (to the disapproving onlooker) 'Oh, I'm sorry, how rude of me, would you like some?' - said while offering your spare...
2. When asked why an older breastfed bub doesn't just have cows milk - 'My baby prefers my milk to calf milk'
3. General - 'Oh, don't worry, it's just until I learn to cook'
4. in response to being asked how long you plan on 'feeding' for? 'Oh, just the next 10 minutes or so'
5. My personal favourite doesn't need words, just a quick well aimed squirt!!!!

Now, I would like to say one more thing, I am not a 'Boob Nazi'. Mothers all around the world do their best for their baby depending on their own circumstances, not everyone can breastfeed and as much as I love it and value the time spent feeding my babies, I do not think any less of Mums who do not breastfeed, so long as they leave me to do what I do. I do despise people making things difficulty for a breastfeeding Mum, as a matter of fact I despise people making life difficult for Mums in general. As I have said before, breast feed, bottle feed, feed your baby from a coconut cracked open by a monkey - it doesn't matter, as long as the baby is loved and well looked after. I don't actually know any babies fed from coconuts cracked open by monkeys but if you do, please let me know, I'd love to meet them and do a blog about their interesting parenting techniques.

So... what was my comeback for the not so nice Bridal Assistant?

I took the assistants reluctant 'well I suppose so' as my cue to get my boobs out. I settled in to their lovely comfy couch in their fancy bridal boutique, fed Kayde, far more openly (exposed) than required, popped him back in his stroller and promptly walked out without another word. No trying on dresses and certainly no spending any money, yes, maybe I should have had a little walk while burping him with his head tilted toward some of the more expensive frocks, in the hope of a little regurgitation, but clearly I was feeling 'nice' that day.

What's your favourite 'feeding' comeback?

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

I'm a total Wally - Wednesday

Yeah, like a real Wally.... Even as I am typing this I really can't believe the day I had today, or rather the morning I had. The rest of the day went rather swimmingly compared to our first activity of the day...

This morning Jaz had her weekly swimming lesson, so as usual we were running around like mad people in an effort to get there on time a 9am start - why don't I get ready the night before I hear you ask, well because if I was that organised and sensible I'd have nothing to blog about would I?

Anywho - so there we were, running as late as we normally do and yet still managing to look like we might just make it on time, even after stopping for fuel and waiting for what seemed an eternity at one of the many many many bloody annoying roadworks around here at the moment (anyone else hearing my pain on this one? Does anyone think anything is even being achieved?).

We arrived at the swim centre, made a run for the child care room to drop Kayde off for his one hour of care while Jaz and I have our one on one time. Kayde dropped off, Jaz and I make a mad dash for the pool, we strip off, practically at a run through the change rooms and off to do the lesson.

The lesson went reasonably well although, kids being kids, Jaz decided that she was adverse to using any flotation devices this week and basically refused to participate in any of the games, grrrr.

After the lesson we headed to the play pool for a bit of a splash with our new friends from swimming, this has become a regular occurrence and I quite enjoy my time with our new friends.

At around 10 it was time to go and pick up our little man so we headed to the change rooms and low and behold, I had a nappy bag, not the swim bag - no problem I hear you say, the swim bag was probably with Kayde in the care centre - alas, no! So... Jaz and I had a hand towel and a burp cloth with which to dry ourselves, a nappy bag in which to place our wet bathers and we had to throw on the trackies we had worn over our bathers (of course I hadn't even worn a trackie top, just a light t-shirt), leaving us effectively 'freeballing'. All good and well for a three year old girl but not so great for a Breast Feeding Mummy!!! And we were not headed straight home!!!! What was I going to do?

I threw the hand towel and burp cloth over my shoulders in a half arsed attempt at hiding my lack of bra and we went and collected Kayde, we made our way to the car where I decided to go directly to K-Mart and purchase some underwear, rather than drive all the way home and miss our next activity for the day.

I grabbed the Baby Bjorn and put Kayde in, not for convenience but it was all I could think of to hide my 'in your face' unrestrained boobs. We headed for the underwear section where they of course failed to stock my size in Maternity bras so I was forced to buy a 'normal' bra which will now offer no further use for at least another 10 months or so, I also purchased a pair of knickers which as we speak I am wondering how I have kept from removing by now as they are so incredibly un-comfy!

We headed to the change rooms and I proceeded to put these on (of course I hadn't really thought through the whole wearing Kayde in his carrier and changing clothes but we managed, and getting naked in the car to put underwear on didn't really appeal to me either so the fitting rooms had to do) I removed the tags and proceeded to the counter with them.

The cashier gave me a most unsavoury look. I just looked her in the eye, and told her it was an underwear emergency, that I had been wearing none and now I was and I thought it preferable to pay for them than to shoplift. A smile that was more smirk and a card swipe later we were on our way to the early learning open day. Wearing underwear!!!

Believe it or not, this was not the end of the chaos for the day, just the part that would be most amusing for other people. There was also the time at the open day where I was yelling across a huge space at Jaz to get her to follow my instruction only to watch her run in the complete opposite direction, forcing me to chase her and pick her up kicking and yelling at me that I did not need to pick her up, she wanted to run!!!

Then there was the emergency toilet stop for Jaz at Craigs work which culminated in, ahhh, ummm, lets just say some loud and interesting vocal sounds to accompany what was going on, all at the bemusement of those within earshot.

And then there was the part of the day where we were grocery shopping and to stop Kayde crying (after feeding him 3 baby cruskits) Jaz was blowing raspberries on his fingers making him crack up. Gorgeous you think? Yep, well it was... until it got the better of her and she bit his finger!!! No I am not kidding, she sunk her teeth into his tiny pudgy finger and he HOWLED!!!! Jaz has never been a biter and I have no idea what possessed her at that moment to indulge what was obviously a curiosity to see what would happen but I did not appreciate it and neither did Kayde who thankfully still has his finger!

When I rolled in the door just shy of 4pm I felt completely and utterly physically and mentally exhausted but I was already able to laugh at the swimming debacle, I hope you can too.

Monday, October 25, 2010

Blog Envy

That's right, you see it here first. I am blogging again - already.
You see I am having some serious blog envy. I recently joined Aussie Mummy Bloggers and am astounded at the brilliance of so many of you bloggers out there, so much so that in addition to my usual hum drum blog of never ending gorgeous things my babies do, I have a little word doc on my desktop where I have been jotting down (ok, typing, but I still can't come to terms with being completely IT savvy) ideas for blogs. The problem is, I started this blog mostly as a kind of record of my children growing up, something I can refer back to like a journal and a baby book all rolled into one. But I am finding more and more other bits and pieces I want to write about that are not necessarily related to my kidlets, most of them are still to do with being a Mum (after all, write what you know and all that, right?).
I don't yet know whether to open up my Motherism blog to other ideas and musings as well as regular Mummy updates or to run two blogs, one for my hum drum stuff that no one other than I am really all that interested in and one for the other bits and pieces I have floating around in this over analysing, never resting mind of mine.
What do you think?
And while I am at it, I am determined to make my Blogs more interesting, some of the blogs out there are like entering a whole nother world!!! They are amazing!

Brightening my days

Well, this past weekend I experienced the teeniest tiniest bit of single parenthood. Now I am certainly not trying to say it was as challenging as actually BEING a single parent but it gave me a little taste and one thing is for certain... I am really glad I am not doing this alone, not only because I love my fiance but because it is bloody hard work.
I have friends who are single parents and they rarely complain, I also have friends whose partners work offshore, interstate and shift work and none of them really complain either but boy it really is hard work, have I said that already?
Craig was away for four days this week and four the last being home only 3 days in between.
While he was away it was just me and my beautiful babies, they were well behaved and are generally great kids, I did not have the financial stresses many single parents have, I did not have to go to work and have no-one else there to pick up the slack, I was still a SAHM and we pretty much did what we normally do. The big difference was the lack of a break, and I am not even talking about a break from the kids, I actually mean that I hadn't realised how much Craig's schedule of leaving for work and coming home and being there of an evening 'broke' our day up for us.
When the alarm goes off in the Morning, Jaz comes in for a morning snuggle, Craig gets up and it is time to start the day, breakfasts, brushing teeth, you know, the usual. When it gets to mid afternoon I start getting the kids calmed down, dinner on and give the house yet another tidy up in preparation for his return home (OK, that makes me sound like I am back in the 1950's, but seriously, he works all day, everyday to make sure we are well looked after, the least I can do is keep the house welcoming for him - not that things always work out that way, there are many occasions where he comes home to dishes on the sink, toys all over the house and an overly emotional and exhausted Mum and two grumpy, exuberant babes).
These last two weeks, without Craig's routine to keep us sane, without his return home from work to look forward to each day the days just seemed to roll into the nights and the nights into the days and so on.
There was a serious lack of adult stimulation in the evenings, even if it is just me listening to a run down of his day or watching Jaz jump all over her Dad and be played with and have stories read while I serve up dinner. When I finally did get both kids down for bed I sat up, watched a bit of telly and headed to bed only to wake a few hours later to feed Kayde, a few hours after that to settle Jaz after a nightmare and a few after that to tend to Kayde's early morning feed (mostly a cuddle, I don't think he even feeds properly at that time truth be told), then up to start the day when Jaz wants breakfast, after that the rest of the day just seemed to drag until the next day. We still had fun and played games and did housework and even visited some family and friends but it just wasn't the same.
As I said at the beginning, this is nothing compared to actually being a single parent but being given even just that little taste of it has left me more thankful than usual that I share my life and my children with a very significant 'other'. And it is not about not being able to handle the kids or the house or any of that, it is about watching them interact with their Dad, having someone there to acknowledge how darned cute they are being, being able to look at each other and laugh when one of them does something unexpected just to have that little bit of acknowledgement of a job well done and having that to look forward to each day makes my days brighter than they otherwise would be.

Thursday, October 21, 2010

While you were sleeping

While both my babies slept today I did nothing.

Well that's not exactly true... I did nothing I should have done, nothing productive.
I boiled the kettle, made a cuppa, cut a piece of weight watchers cake (which I may or may not have added some butter to) and hit the IQ button on the remote. A huge selection of unwatched, recorded TV favourites from the last few weeks stared back at me.
Last nights episode of Neighbours won out. I sat in the recliner and flicked out the footrest, I snuggled in, wrapped my hands around my coffee mug and let the tears roll as I watched (it was a sad episode).
After Neighbours I took a look at the time and realised I could make this a real trash fest. And so I did. I tuned in to a very guilty pleasure I have had since in University (where a group of friends would take turns watching on our study days and catch each other up). I spent a whole hour watching Days of Our Lives!!!
I know I know, I could have cleaned, I could have cooked, I could have tidied, I could have been writing something prolific but I chose to spend my time in completely unadulterated, slothful, trashy, bliss instead.

Two babies sleeping in my house is rare for a start, and I mustn't let Jaz know I have referred to her as my baby, but she is, but this amount of sleep is completely unheard of. Last night we went to visit some wonderful friends to celebrate a birthday. They have three children, one of whom is close in age to Jaz. The girls played until very late, jumping on the trampoline, sorry, 'tramampoleeeen' (in the dark) and playing Dora and building Lego, the girls adore each other and play so well together that I always feel bad telling them it's time to go their separate ways, but last night, both girls were beside themselves needing sleep so were easy to peel apart.

On the opposite end of the spectrum last night was Kayde, who cried and fussed a majority of the evening, despite a plethora of snugly affection and attention going his way, a combination of being snuffly, teething and being overtired. By the time we were ready to head home - our latest evening for some time, still before midnight but not by much - I was pretty worn down and emotional myself.

Jaz and Kayde, as expected, fell asleep in the car on the way home, were carried in asleep and placed in their respective beds. Craig and I headed almost immediately to bed and I completely expected Kayde to wake within the hour for his next feed. He had already slept through one on the way home and he always has one at about 2am.

I was woken at 4.45am!!!! To many this may seem early but to me.... Amazing!!! This was the longest Kayde has gone without a feed and definitely the longest sleep he has had in his five plus months with us.

And now today, for the last two hours, my beautiful babies have slept soundly, Jaz on the couch with a pillow and blankie and Kayde in his cot, tummy full of milk because he didn't want his 'food' today. Considering Jaz gave up her day naps back in April, and I find if she sleeps during the day I am in for a very late night, this is so rare that I just couldn't help but take advantage.

Now, bearing in mind that I have watched two of my favourite shows and that I also listed the things I 'could've' done instead, I would like you to note that though it is not prolific, it is not even well written, I HAVE done some writing. My blog has been written and many more subjects, mostly revolving around how much I love my children, family and life, are racing through my mind. ready and waiting to be typed (I really wanted to say penned but that would be a lie) the next time sleep this extraordinary visits my house.

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Just an Ordinary Night

Yesterday I spent almost the entire day de-cluttering, culling, cleaning, sorting and tidying Jaz's bedroom (how does a three year old have so much STUFF?).
By the time I had done this I finally got her into bed at about 8.30. Quite late for little Miss but I had started and was desperate to finish before I retired for the night rather than wake up to it again in the morning. And at 8.30 I would still have an hour or so of me time - Craig was already fast asleep on the couch, snoring.
So that done, of course Jaz had no intentions of going to sleep, her toys all looked so much more enticing now that they were all set up, areas designated for different types of play and things located that had been AWOL for many many weeks!!! I actually got a big hug and an 'I love you Mum, thank you',  After a lot of convincing that it would all be there for her in the morning.
9pm. Jaz finally drifts off. Ahhhh Time to relax and watch a little telly before bed...
9.45 Kayde decides he needs a top up before retiring for the night, oh well, at least I was still up (I had just been contemplating going to bed but it could wait a half hour) So he had a lovely snugly feed and I watched last nights episode of Neighbours that I had IQ'd (Ringo died, it was quite emotional).
10.30 Kids in bed, I head towards my own bed, climb in and - scratch scratch scratch - the dogs want a loo break, grrr why can't they just sleep outside, noooo they have to sleep in the laundry because my dog, as cute as she is, is afraid of the rain and has total freak outs. So I let them out, reluctantly, let them back in, even more reluctantly, lock up the laundry, recheck the kids and head for bed again.
11.45 Jaz has a nightmare and wakes up quite hysterical, so I climb out of bed and go and calm her down, after giving her her 'magic blankie' she is back to sleep. I can hear coughing coming from Kaydes room, he has been snuffly all day and is now starting to cough, but he's asleep so hopefully it will pass.
12.30 Cough cry cough cry cough cry cough cry cry cry cry cry so I am up again to Kayde, a bit of percussion on his back to loosen anything in his chest, a little drink (may as well top him up) and lots of cuddles later and just under an hour later I am climbing back into bed
1.30 As I climb into bed 'Not winning huh?' I think all Craig got in response to that was 'Grrrrrrr'
1.45 The dogs are scratching again but I refuse to get up and let them out. I am angry that they have woken me up. I know it's mean but seriously, no way!!!!
2.30 Kayde awake again, I go in to find him out of his covers, on his tummy at the top of the cot with his legs poking out and his head mushed into the bars *sigh*. As I pick him up I realise he is drenched, wet from head to toe... Not only do I need to get him stripped off but I now need to locate some fresh jarmies and as I spent the entire day in Jaz's bedroom I hadn't put away any washing, cue deep sigh of resignation. So as I strip him off Kayde absolutely loses it, he is wet and uncomfortable, he has a cough and a cold and Mummy is being mean and making him all cold and nude!
2.35 Kaydes crying wakes Jaz and the dogs
2.45 Jaz has resettled, the dogs have once again been ignored and Kayde is tucked up in bed with me.
6am Jaz is up, ready to face the day, lets go...

Coffee anyone???

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Nap Time

Well the last few days have passed in a blur. Craig has been away and although we have missed him terribly, the kids and I have had a rather nice weekend of firsts.
On Saturday I took Jaz to the Toys R Us Princess party, although at the time she looked a bit uncomfortable being surrounded by so many little girls (everyone we see regularly has boys), she assures me she had a lovely time. I did learn one thing, that Jaz does not have any idea who any of the Disney Princesses are!!! What a terrible mother I must be, Cinderella? no, Sleeping Beauty? No, Snow White? No, and don't even get me started on some of the newer ones - uh oh. Time to invest in some traditional fairy tales... for my little princess.
Jaz dressed up as a princess and off we went. There was colouring and story time and then a dance off. Prizes, certificates and lollies were handed out. All with a group of little girls all dressed up as princesses. Then it was time to head home.
Once we were home it was Kayde's turn to share the spotlight. He had learned a new talent, raspberry blowing, and it was now that he decided to do it again and again and again. I knew what was coming, it was nearly dinner time.... Yep, we all got covered in deliciously gross baby food. It is his new thing and as much as I am not a fan of getting covered in food, it is still nice to watch how happy he is to know that he has mastered a new skill (though I am not sure what use the skill has other than to cover everything and everyone in slobber and food).
This weekend was full of learning for my little ones, Jaz learned to sing Baa Baa Black Sheep (although she does sing, 'one for the pasta and one for the game', no matter how many times we sing it with her) and a few weeks ago Kayde started pulling his little knees up ready to take off, well tonight he has worked out how to move himself forward by pulling his knees up and pushing off over and over again. So a weekend of learning was had, what had I learnt? I learnt how much easier it is to nap when Craig is home beacause when he did arrive after being away for 3 and a half days he took Jaz for a drive and encouraged me to have a lie down while Kayde had a kip... Ahhhhh the serenity...

Friday, October 15, 2010

Just a little bit backwards

Today I had a lovely day with 'my girls'. A group of amazing women, one I have known since three year old kinder, one I have developed an amazing kinship with over the last 12 or so years and another who I am fortunate enough to have as a member of my family, she has been for a number of years now.

We all had the 'big kids' at creche or daycare or school and only had the babies in tow. We had lunch and coffee and for afternoon tea some brownie slice, we chatted, we laughed, we shared ideas and we discussed how breastfeeding makes your boobs sag, that babies poo a lot and kids are challenging- all in all it was a fabulous afternoon and i could do it a thousand times over.

After all my afternoon fun it was time to pick Jaz up from her day at 'kindy'. Things are a little disrupted at our house due to the commencement of the SuperX season, taking Craig away from home for a few days at a time over the next couple of months. Jaz is OK with it all but still a bit disrupted, so to take her mind off her Dad not being here I decided to shake things up a bit.

So tonight we had a 'backwards night'. We had stories at play-time, ate desert before dinner (and just for the interest of do gooders who think this was a silly idea - she still ate her dinner so ner ner ner ner ner), we sat and had a laughing competition when we should have been having 'quiet time', we had milk with dinner and water before bed and as we had read stories and cuddled at play time we sang songs to get ready for sleep. If you ask Jaz I think she will tell you we had a pretty fun evening. Dinner was eaten, stories were read, cuddles were had and she is tucked happily into bed sleeping soundly so all in all our backwards night turned out great.

After all of todays fun and games it is high time I turn in for (fingers crossed) a good nights sleep, so to all you people in blogger land, shake things up, go a little topsy turvy and have a fabulous weekend.

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Lesson Learnt

Sometimes we are good parents and sometimes we leave a bit to be desired. I don't think it is just me who occasionally thinks - 'geez, I was way off on that one'. Or, 'I really should stop doing whatever menial task I am doing and play a game with the kids' or 'Oh, crap, timeout was over AGES ago... better go and tell them it's over'. But it is a rare time in our house to find both parents guilty of being in the wrong at exactly the same time over discipline, we are generally supportive of each other but quick to point out if the other is overreacting.
It was an ordinary evening this week when Jaz was pottering in the kitchen and Craig and I had both asked her to come and get ready for bed, she kept telling us to hang on because she was busy, she would then huff a big exhale (she gets that one from me) and would continue pottering. This went on for some time as both parents voices became more and more agitated to the point where I yelled from the other end of the house telling Jaz to do as her Dad was telling her. It was then that I heard a very remorseful Craig apologise to Jaz, I heard him say he hadn't realised what it was she was doing and she could finish if she liked and then get ready for bed. Hmmm I thought to myself, wonder what that's about?
Craig came down to the bedroom looking like only a smitten Daddy can and told me what he had found Jaz in the kitchen doing...
During the day I had done the grocery shopping and in my haste to do whatever I had felt the need to do I had left two bags of pantry bound goods in their plastic bags on the floor. Jaz had found them and was one by one removing them from the shopping bag, looking them over, exclaiming 'ooohhh you look yummy, I think you can go there' as she placed the item as high up as she could reach into the pantry. The adorable little poppet had picked up where I had slacked off and both parents were telling her off, true she should have followed our instructions but we weren't listening to her either.
It just goes to show that as parents we know we are fallible but sometimes we just don't realise what we miss when we make assumptions about our children's behaviour. We had both assumed Jaz was just being belligerent but in fact she was trying to do something helpful. It is these moments of misunderstanding thrust upon us as children that happen to stick in our minds as grown ups. The times when we felt misunderstood and a bit hard done by.
I have been making an effort from that day to understand Jazs motives before letting things get the better of me and raising my voice or issuing a timeout and already there have been so many times I have learnt a piece of information that changed the course of the day and my attitude. Something simple like allowing Jaz to explain that the reason she hadn't done something we asked her to do was because she didn't know how to do it or finding that she had in fact done something naughty on purpose to get my attention! (She still hasn't learnt to lie - bless). Taking the time to listen really does pay off.

Just like Clifford

Today I was a proud Mummy. Not that I am not always a proud Mummy but today I noticed a real strength in Jaz that I am sure has always been there but that I had maybe taken for granted.

Many moons ago, when Jaz was a tiny six month old we started her in swimming lessons. these were more water awareness and familiarisation classes - not the type you see pictures of with tiny babies being thrust under water and seeming to swim.

As you by now know, whenever Jaz becomes unwell it goes to her chest so as a baby she had several bouts of bronchiolitis and as a result of this, coupled with many ear infections (so common in that age group), we only managed to attend a handful of classes over the period of about 12 months. So all in all, we decided to give the lessons a little break and start again when we felt her immune system could cope better and we weren't paying hundreds of dollars to attend only a handful of classes.

This year Jaz turned three and has been the healthiest she has ever been. We decided it was time to give the swimming lessons another go, only this time it was a little more logistically difficult. how was I going to participate in Jaz's swimming lesson and look after Kayde? So I started looking for a swim centre that also had child care. I landed back in my old stomping ground in Hastings at Pelican Park and booked Jaz in for term four swimming lessons in the 'Seahorse' class, then I booked Kayde in for one hour of child care a week at 'little pelicans' child care. So I could now drop Kayde off at the end of the corridor, go through the change rooms and into the pool for our lesson, returning via the change rooms after the swimming lesson to collect Kayde. Logistical problem solved.

So last week we re-started Jaz's swimming lessons. At first as we discussed what was going to happen she was so excited, telling me with a huge smile how she was going to learn how to swim like a fish, something we heard over and over in the days leading up to the lesson. When it came to the big day we started on the back foot, running incredibly close to the clock. We went to drop Kayde off at care, only to discover that he had, ummmm, 'filled his pants' and leaked right through. Whoops, sorry ladies, I'm running late for a swimming lesson, here you go - small person, leaking, thrust at child care staff (something I never thought I would do). There was only one problem, it was not me who was hesitant about the childcare and Kayde really wasn't fussed either (he'd had boobs and relieved himself so I was not needed for a few hours anyway) but Jaz, that was another story entirely and she was most unimpressed at the thought of leaving her 'baby brudda'. Once I convinced her we would definitely come back and get him immediately after her lesson she agreed to leave him and go swimming.

As we stepped towards the pool and Jaz turned around and made towards the chairs 'I just sit and watch I think'. Uh oh... Well I'm not exactly sure what made her apprehensive, leaving her 'baby brudda', being rushed all the way there (I'm not used to a 9am start anymore), meeting new kids, the incredibly bright and enthusiastic instructor or the pool itself but Jaz was NOT going in the pool.

After practically dragging her (coaxing and bribing hadn't worked) into the pool we began the lesson and Jaz clung to me like a kitten trying to avoid a bath, her hands gripped my skin and her arms stayed wrapped tightly around my neck. I began to think that this whole swimming lesson, one on one time, was going to be more stressful than it was going to be fun. There were only three students, all girls around the same age and ability, though no one bar me could know what Jaz's ability was, it was amazing she managed to get wet with the effort she was making to avoid the water. She did eventually relax a little and enjoy a game or two but seemed so very daunted by the whole experience.After the lesson we chatted about what she had learned and how lovely all the people we met were and that's where I thought it had ended for the time being.

A few days ago Jaz started talking about how she had gone to the pool 'the other day' and was learning to swim like a fish, how she had to learn puppy paddle which meant kick kick kicking and dig dig digging 'just like Clifford' (the Big Red Dog). Hmmm I thought, interesting. I heard her singing a tune to herself and asked her to sing it to me. It went to the tune of 'twinkle twinkle' but started 'twinkle twinkle little toes'. At first I couldn't think where I had heard it sung, it soon dawned on me...

This morning we went back to the pool. We were running reasonably well to schedule and Kayde did not fill his nappy just as we pulled up (he waited till we were safely in the pool, well trained baby that one). We dropped Kayde off, went through the change rooms, shed our trackies and headed to the pool. Jaz seemed really excited. As we entered the pool there was no hesitation whatsoever! In she went, just ahead of me, and straight into whatever the instructor requested. Just as she laid her head on my shoulder and pointed her toes to the roof (the activity that freaked her out the most last week) she started singing... 'Twinkle twinkle little toes, this is how my backfloat goes' - That's where I had heard the song, somewhere, sung in the background as I wrestled to untangle her arms from around my neck and get Jaz to trust that I wouldn't let her go, the song was being sung by Jess the swimming instructor. Jaz had been singing it the last few days while she was telling me all about our trip to the pool and how she was going to swim like a fish.

I was so very proud, I understood what my beautiful daughter had been doing over the last week. She had been working over the lesson in her mind and preparing herself for her next one. Telling me how she was going to do it all and even singing the songs that went with it. As I held her tummy up and she did her 'puppy paddle' she was saying 'I dig dig dig like Clifford' and she kicked her feet too!!!! I felt such a surge of pride. She had not only overcome her fear but totally conquered it! After the lesson we had some play time with one of the other girls in the class and returned to pick up Kayde. Jaz has spent the entire day telling anyone who would listen all about her swimming lessons that are 'so fun'.

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Life in print

Last night while I should have been blogging I was looking through the plethora of photos that have been taken in the last three years (minus several hundred that were lost when our last computer died and we could only recover a portion of them) deciding which photos to go and get printed.
I really love my camera, a beautiful digital SLR Craig bought me for my birthday this year and I love digital photography in general, you can snap away, taking literally hundreds of pics, in an endeavour to capture a moment in time, perfectly, without wasting film or having to pay a small fortune to have a film developed, only to discover there are only one or two shots worth keeping.
And my camera is never far from me as I am addicted to capturing my favourite subjects (no prizes for guessing who) although this does mean that I am rarely in any of our photos because I am always the photographer and although this can be good when it comes to not admitting to how much weight I have gained, I would like to have some pics of me and my most precious people for the future.
But how many photos do we print off these days? When the mobile phones come out, the nifty cameras we tuck in our handbags and our SLR's in all their whizz bang glory and we snap away, in an effort to preserve a memory we want to keep fresh, how many of us actually go and have these printed? Archaic??? Is that the view? Well what happens when technology overcomes our current methods of photo storage and we can no longer access our pics? Like trying to watch a Beta video on a Blue Ray player I imagine.
Call me old fashioned but I love flicking through actual photo's, especially with others who were there or maybe didn't even know you then... It feeds ones soul to remember so crisply, reminded in vivid, un-embelished, albeit two dimensional truth. And most recently I have taken great joy in looking at childhood photos of me and my siblings, admiring the family resemblance in our own children. How unfortunate if our own children are not able to enjoy such a simple pleasure.
So last night I started on a mission to create a folder of photos I want to print off, some to frame, some to scrapbook and some just to flick through every now and then because I would be devastated to lose them because of a technological meltdown.
What I discovered while looking through the pics is how insanely quickly Jaz has grown up in the last 18 months. I often say she is growing up way too fast but to see the transformation in vivid colour, on the screen in front of me it bought tears to my eyes. I stared in wonderment as I looked at baby photos of Jaz and noticed just how similar her and Kayde are, and I amazed myself by remembering exactly how I felt at certain times just by a quick glance at a photo.
I may have many of my photos backed up, published on facebook and displayed in a digital frame but I am really looking forward to holding the prints in my hot little hand, the hard part has been narrowing the list down from the many thousands of shots I have taken over the past three years. One thing is for sure, I have enough of Jaz sleeping in odd and uncomfortable looking positions to make a killer wall display at her 21st!!!

Thursday, October 7, 2010

A Real Mum

There are few things in life that can make a parent feel as completely helpless as having a sick child.
It doesn't even have to be a serious illness that brings out your fragility, a simple temperature can bring out the overprotective hypochondriac in all of us.
Well, in the past week both of my littlies have been unwell, nothing serious but enough to cause me concern. As many will know, whenever Jaz becomes unwell it goes to her chest, she has had her fair share of bronchiolitis, chest infections, coughs and even pneumonia but most recently has been diagnosed with asthma, it is well under control but still makes me uneasy whenever I hear her start coughing, so no wonder when she got a horrible persistent cough accompanied by a temp I was instantly on edge.
With Jaz I am now an expert at how to improve her breathing and offer her what she needs such as her puffer as well as a nice warm honey water (literally honey dissolved in boiling water and cooled...nice and soothing for a sore throat). So within a day or so everything had settled down and when I asked if she needed anything for her cough the answer was 'It's OK Mum, I just got a cough'.
And then I heard a raspy little cough coming from the nursery... Ohhh nooo
I am not one of these mothers that runs to the doctors at the first sign of a sniffle, Mum has instilled that one into me, along with viruses will sort themselves out and there's not much a doctor can do about them, cold air does not cause colds - viruses cause colds and my favourite - a cold is NOT the same as a flu (but that's a serious gripe I wont get into right now).
Anyway, after a couple of days of monitoring I noticed what I knew to be laboured breathing (having been told a few times of the signs to watch out for in Jaz) so it was off to the docs. We all bundled in the car and headed off .
On the way a conversation was had that went as follows:

Jaz - why we going to see Doctor Bron?
Me - Kayde's not feeling well so we just need to take him to see Doctor Bron
Jaz - I know what will feel him better! Just give him a superman lolly mum (Jaz has chewable multivitamins in the shape of a little muscly Michelin man that she calls superman lollies)
Me - Kayde's a bit too little to have superman lollies but that's a really nice thought Jaz
Jaz - Oh. Well I know what will feel him better Mum
Me - What's that?
Jaz - Mummy cuddles will feel him better! Mummy cuddles feel me better when I am sick!

All together now, Awwwwwww. If I wasn't a real certified Mum before, I sure am now! My cuddles can fix things... if that's not a sign of a real Mummy then I just don't know what is.

And just for the record, Kayde is on the mend although still very chesty, he was in respiratory distress when we got to the docs and was given some redipred to help him breath easier (redipred is a staple in our house unfortunately but I for one am glad it exists). Just goes to show, mums know their kids, even the new ones that we are still getting familiar with.

Stay well and give lots of cuddles freely, I know I will.

Friday, October 1, 2010

The list of lists

Everyone has their own ways of doing things. This is evident in all areas of life, school life, work life and parenthood to name but a few.
My way of doing things often involves lists, to the point where there are times when I even have a list of what lists I need to make and a book in which to write my lists. Sound crazy? Yes? well, I guess it is a bit but hey, isn't everyone? just a little?
My lists have changed somewhat over the years, from assignemnts I have due to paperwork I needed to follow up, clients I needed to place into work and now activities for the kids, housework, chores and bills that need to be paid.
Late last night between feeding Kayde, letting the dogs out (just after I had gotten back into bed of course), re-settling Jaz and then the obligatory loo visit I realised that I had not been keeping my lists up to date over the last few days and from then on I just couldn't get my mind to stop. I instantly felt disorganised, like I was going to forget something imperative and the internal monologue of lists began...
Ok, what needs to be done in the morning?
Get Jaz up, dressed, fed and ready
get Kayde ready
Jaz to creche
Kayde to nurse to get immunised
don't forget the blue book
there's an hour to kill - take money for coffee
Starting swimming lessons next week, must get paperwork for that done and submit
need new bathers
check bank account see how much I can spend
what's the date??? Rent is due
Ahhh so's electricity (must jot those down first thing or could end up homeless and without power, that makes no sense, I don't need the power on if I have no home - better pay those bills)
The housework needs doing, what time will I be back from nurses?
Then what time do I need to leave again to go pick up Jaz?
So how much time will I have to clean once I have fed and settled Kayde and maybe had a bite of lunch?
Hair appointment as soon as Craig gets home, so that means I have to do it all this arvo
What housework is the priority?
Must IQ Neighbours coz I'll be at the hairdressers (Don't laugh)
I'm going to forget something... I should have done my lists
Yaaawnnnn
Wasn't there something I was going to look up on the net?
Meh, I can't remember, can't think, need to sleep
Zzzzzzzzzzz