A new skill

Our 15 month old daughter has recently taught herself a new life skill......feeding herself.  Which is hugely admirable because it means that if the worst ever was to happen and I ended up face down in the shower for any reason, I can assume that the kid won't starve in the time that it takes someone to come and rescue me...or her.  At the end of the day, it is every man for himself around here and the older kids wouldn't think to assist the baby to get some food, so it is great that she knows how to do it for herself.  However, I have to preface this by telling you that she feeds herself from the scraps out of the bin.

Occasionally, I will be engrossed in something (usually the computer) and I will get a waft of a food source that I remember from the previous night....or even the night before that.  On inspection, it will be Bella sitting near me with a 3 day old chop bone in her mouth, or yesterday's sandwiches that were retired from the older kid's lunchboxes.

Maybe it isn't so much of a survival skill in nutrition as it is a recyclable ethos.  Maybe?.....probably not.  I'm guessing that I'm just not feeding her when she wants it.

I'd best go and see what else she has pulled out of the bin, because she just waddled in here and passed me the strawberry tops that I cut off for Biddy's lunch.  No doubt, the she's found the KFC that I threw out this morning.

Time just gets away

Cripes.  It seems that I have badly neglected this blog.  I'm sure that I could come up with plenty of excuses, but really...at the end of the day, I have had a million things going on and something just has to give sometimes.

Things have been going along steadily here.  I can't believe that we are closing in on the remaining weeks of term 3 already.  Pretty soon, Tom will no longer be a little prepie, but will be a big grade 1 kid.  Sheesh. Next Thursday night we have the whole school performance and I understand that it is to centre around recycling.  The preps are chooks......it will be interesting to see what is in stall for us!

Health-wise, we have suffered a little around here.  Mark torn some ligaments in his shoulder and cracked a bone playing baseball.  Biddy has had some lingering virus which has seen her have to have 2 blood tests to try and work out what is wrong (still waiting on results), and Tom has battled an ear infection and bronchitis.  Bella has been snotty and I wouldn't be surprised if she also had a touch of bronchitis as she sounded exactly like Tom.  I have been fine until 2 days ago when I came down with a migraine.  Needless to say, we are hanging out for the hot weather to make its appearance and hopefully burn some of these germs off.

Mark's baseball team is in the grand final on the weekend.  Both the B and the B reserve Braves teams made it through which is a great effort.  The problem though, is that the B grade boys meet with Corio who absolutely THUMPED them 2 weeks ago.  Did I say thumped?  I should have said DECIMATED them.  It was a very poor result on the part of the Colac Braves with the mercy rule being invoked in the 7th innings because of the score.  21:1.  A shocker.  So from today, I am making it my mission to remind this score to Mark at every chance I get.  A sort of intimate heckling as you will.  Because if he can't take it from me in the privacy of our own home and convince ME that they are going to win, how the hell is he going to rally the fellas to face up to their biggest opponents?

The shame of it is, I have a class on Saturday, so I can't be there in person to provide some down to earth heckling if needed from the stands.  Pity.  Of course, they shouldn't need it and hopefully my one on one tirade will do its job over the next couple of days.

BRING IT ON!!!

A tragic event

A friend of mine lost her husband in a vehicle accident yesterday.  They live in FNQ and he works even further up.  Details are sketchy, but it seems it was a collision between a truck and a car.  As you can imagine, she is devastated.  So my message today is.....hold your loved ones close, tell them you love them and spend some time EACH DAY just being with them.  Because we never know when we will depart this earth and every day may be our last.

My heartfelt condolences to Helen and the boys.

Wanna see Mark's new girlfriend with her top off?

This is what has been getting Mark's juices flowing the past few weeks.  A Ford Cobra Mustang.

A more dignified shot with her top back on!  Note the REAL car in the background...go you good thing, Prado!!!

Mark has wanted a car like this ever since we drove one over in America back in 2004 when we went to World Dairy Expo.  I have to admit to pretty much forgetting about the experience once we got back to everyday life, but clearly, Mark had not.  Life just about stopped for him once he saw this advertised and in a matter of days, it went from being a picture on a piece of paper, to an actual hunk of metal that has now displaced Alan's ute in the garage!

The kids are forbidden to look at it, much less touch it, and even though MY name is on the purchase agreement, MY name is on the insurance and MY name is on the bank loan that is paying it off, I too am viewed as an intruder into this relationship!

However, as our accountant wisely said, it could have been a mistress, and at the end of the day, a car is cheaper.  I'm not sure for who though.........

All I can say is, my time will come and when it does, there will be NO arguments! So there.

Another birthday!

The birthdays seem to be coming thick and fast around here.  This time, it is for Tom.  Yesterday, he celebrated his 6th birthday by having a party at the bowling alley and pizza place with a few of his little school friends.  I felt really bad about having to make him cull his birthday list, but there was just no way that we could have the entire prep class.  We enlisted the help of his teacher to identify the kids that he played with the most and we went from there.

All the kids had a great time and there was not one kid that played up, was naughty, didn't do what they were told.  They were all so very good, it was honestly a pleasure to have them for a few hours.  Some of the kids were drop offs and pick ups and others had their mums stay for the while time.  It was the easiest birthday party I have ever hosted!  [note to self....hold all birthday parties out of the house!!]

Tom's birthday is not until Wednesday, so I will hold off on all the mushy stuff until then (!), but here are some pics of the party that you might like to have a look at.

 This was the FIRST year that Tom did not want a dinosaur cake.  OMG!!  I had no idea what else.  Fortunately he wanted a dragon birthday, so that is not so far removed from dinosaurs!!!  I created a "How to Train Your Dragon" cake which proved very popular with the kids!

 Here are the kids at the bowling alley.  Our good friends Mooka and Alfie have a son the same age as Tom, so they came along to the whole show.  We roped them in to help us at the bowling.  So we had Mark, Mooka, Alfie and myself each on a lane and each of us had 4 kids (well...I had 3!).  This worked really well and we were able to keep the turns moving.  We were finished bowling (10 frames each) with 15 kids in the hour!  Not bad.

The pizza place was popular as it has a indoor playground.  Judging by the way the kids ran screaming into the place, I guess that most had been there before!

Tom and Kyle (Mooka & Alfie's son).  Look at how old Tom looks!  Oh, and that's me in the red jacket behind the boys stuffing my face!!

Blowing out the candles

The birthday boxes we gave out, courtesy of my Stampin' Up! business!!!!  I will load the invite up in the next day or so - I gave them out before I took a photo and the one I kept for us is in pieces on my desk.

Blessed Be...

A few weeks back, a scrapping friend of mine posted a video of the time surrounding the birth of their 5th baby and 1st son.  It was beautiful and made me think that I would like to make one too.  When Tom was born, he was a c-section baby and at the time, you weren't allowed to bring recording devices into surgery (although photos were fine and we got some rippers).  For Biddy's birth, we just didn't think about videoing much of the labour even though we did take the camera in with us.  I think I might have been gripping Mark's hand just a little too tight for him to get away.

But this time round with Bella, I told Mark that I wanted some video footage of the labour AND the birth.  Whilst the birth part is only for us, there was heaps to cobble together with various photos to make a special video that we are willing to share.

So here it is.  I hope you enjoy it.  For the first few times I reviewed it, I cried...but that might just be me!


(if you click on the icon to the left of the word vimeo, it will make the video full screen)

Untitled from Sam Simpson on Vimeo.

Happy 1st birthday baby girl

Oh my God.....how can a year just slip by so quickly?  Today has been one of great joy and a bit of saddness because today at 1.15pm, Bella turned 1yo.  No longer a helpless baby, but a little person forging her way in this world.  Bella seems to be more developed than either of the other two kids and we put it down to the fact that she simply wants to keep up with them (or escape them as it may be!).

at birth.. 7th June 2010

at 1yo...7th June 2011

As I was lying in the hospital this time last year, I told Mark that I wanted him to video the actual birth.  I had to make this clear hours before the actual event, because I knew that when the time came, I would be in no position to be asking anything of anyone!  This video is not for general viewing, but it is one of the most important documentations I possess of all of the 3 kids arrivals. It is for me to look at - albeit rarely - and remember the miracle that occurred on June 7th 2010.  It is made even more special by the fact that, in all likelihood, Bella will be our last baby.  It is so easy to forget the little details and I am glad that we were able to record it.

Bella has not had an easy time of her first 12 months.  In fact, it all started well before she even arrived.  Not being able to get pregnant, Mark and I returned to IVF much to my reluctance.  We had already been down this (expensive and emotional) road a number of times in the past and I wasn't keen to do so again.  However, with my chances of conceiving being quite low, it was our only course of action,  I wasn't prepared for the fact that it would all fail again.  With our prognosis looking grim, we decided to try again.  In the meantime, we just had to wait for my body to get back to a rhythm and while doing this, I fell pregnant naturally.  Of course I did!

Week 13 saw an emergency visit to the dr and the hospital with suspected ruptured membranes.  A flying visit to Geelong showed that everything was ok and no indication of loosing the baby was obvious.  Week 16 (ish) saw me in Melbourne facing an amniocentesis mainly due to my age (39).  This was a true test for me and I have to say that I failed.  I couldn't go through with it.  In my heart of hearts, I knew that there was nothing wrong with the baby and that I was potentially risking a miscarriage to be told this.  I was sent home a blubbering mess and spent the next week second guessing my decision.  I did go through with it and had THE BEST sonographer/doctor performing the procedure.  Everything was fine - no miscarriage and no genetic issues - and the rest of the pregnancy went on normally.

Bella's arrival was joyous, not just for Mark and myself, but also for the other kids.  Tom was now of an age that he understood about babies, and Biddy was a doting 'mum-in-training'.  They have taken to her like bodyguards and even today, can't leave her alone.  She is spoilt by them!

About 3 months of age, I noticed that despite her birth weight being the same as Biddy's, she was falling behind in the growth charts.  At one point she was almost 1kg below Biddy at the same age and my kids are not big kids.  Alarm bells started to ring and this started a chain of events that subjected Bella to blood tests, urine tests, a barium meal, ultrasounds and being placed under a paediatrician.  She was a spewy kid and whilst it was not projectile, it did empty her stomach.  She was slipping in growth, development and potentially health.  A combination of treatments including measured feeds, early solids and different lying/sitting positions helped and once she got up on her knees and started moving, everything fell into place.  She is now firmly in the 25% percentile and is about the same weight as Biddy at the same age.

For the past few months, she has just gone off like a rocket.  She has now cut 4 teeth (the last one just on Sunday) and is on the edge of standing by herself (she is up for seconds at a time now).  It will not be long before I turn around and she is walking and talking.  And then she won't be a baby anymore.  I don't want to keep her the same forever, but I do wish that time would just slow down a bit.  All my babies are growing way too fast for my liking and I feel like in our busy world, that sometimes I miss things.

But today, we celebrate Isabella Mary Simpson Billing's 1st birthday.  We give thanks to Dr Nick Lolatgis who was there to assist the pregnancy to keep going, the midwives Dot, Laura and Pauline who bought her into this world, to Dr Peter Nice who looked after me and has looked after Bella during her first year (and beyond!), to Dr Chris Cooper who got her over the rough patch of weight issues, to Rosemary and Helene the maternal child nurses that have provided encouragement and advice and finally, to our parents who have been there to pick up the pieces and fill the gaps when the wheels fall off everything!

It has been a wonderful year watching you grow darling girl.  From a helpless little bundle to a beautiful baby and now a darling (almost) toddler.  We wish you all the very best for today, tomorrow and the rest of your life.  Always know that you are very much loved and that you will always have family to surround you.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BELLA

xxxx

Listening to "happy birthday"

First try of cake

Obviously....a success!

this was the cake we had for her party on Sunday

The birthday party

We held Bella's 1st birthday party yesterday.  The theme was ladybirds and the marquee was decked out with all things red and black.  A big THANKYOU to family members Bret and Emma who did all the decorating.  We had other family members pitch in to help with food and what not.  The weather wasn't great (well, what do you expect in winter?!) but it held until the last stages when most people had gone home before it bucketed down.  But the marquee provided us with heaps of shelter.

Bella was a delightful baby for the whole day.  I guess it is because there is heaps to see and new people to meet.  She has been our only child that has not cried when having 'Happy Birthday' sung - in fact, she loved it, kicking her legs and laughing.

She got some beautiful gift and again, we thank everyone for these.  A few were ladybird themed and a number of ladybird cards were attached too!

Here are some pics of the day.  We are having just a grandparents dinner tomorrow night to celebrate her actual birthday (sigh...when she really will be one!) which will be a very bittersweet day for me indeed.

The birthday cake (made by me!)

Bret and Emma decorating the marquee.  Tom and Biddy painted the letters of Bella's name red the day before and stuck black spots to them.

No way was she going to leave that party hat on.  She is not a hat person.

Mummy and the birthday girl

Opening her presents

These were the lolly bags I made up.  I used all SU! products - if you  want to make some yourself get the stuff off me!  The bags are mini lunch sacks about 15cm high.  Too cute!

12 months gone in the blink of an eye

We are now preparing for Bella's first birthday party on the weekend.  FIRST BIRTHDAY!!!  OMG.  The year has just flown.  She doesn't actually turn one until Wednesday week, but still.  In the past couple of months, she has just blew us all away with her developments.  Today she cut her third tooth (one of the front top ones).  Funnily enough, yesterday Tom lost his second tooth.  I told him that for every one that Bella gets, he will loose one.  I hope I'm not right!

I should also count today as the day that Bella stood on her own.  It was only for a few seconds, but it was definitely a solo stand.  On the change table.  Hanging onto nothing.  ON THE CHANGE TABLE for Christ's sake!!  We also spied her climbing up one of the kitchen chairs to reach something on Biddy's bumper seat.  This child will be the climber of the family, although it must be said that Biddy is also partial to daring manoeuvres.  Must be a girl thing.  Both Mark and Tom are scared silly by heights.

Bella's party invites

A girl after her mum's heart!

2nd one gone!

Mutual respect.  Bella normally keeps her distance.

Attacking dad.  Their favourite nighttime game!

A bit of a catch up

Ugh...since we have been home it seems like everything is in fast forward mode.  Tom went back to school, Biddy to kinder, Bella has continued to get crawling perfected and Mark is into the thick of it with calving.  And I am just playing catch up all the time.  The caravan is STILL in the carport waiting to be completely unpacked.  I don't think there is much sense putting it away just yet, because in 3 weeks time (or so) we have Bella's first birthday party (gulp....yes, she is nearly 1) and the Butler's will be using it to sleep in.

So what's been going on?

Calving is on the go right now and we have about 40 - 50 calves in the shed already.  I haven't had to do any rearing this year as mark has taken it on himself.  I dearly love doing it, but with the 3 kids and my stamping business and trying to keep on top of the farm book work, and running around after all and sundry, it makes sense for Mark to do it again this year.  I know that there are other women who are just as busy as me and they rear the calves on top of everything else, but when I don't HAVE to do it, then there is not much sense in running myself ragged.

As mentioned, I also have my stamping business and this is going from strength to strength.  The financial year for Stampin' Up! goes from April 1 through to March 31 so we have just finished one year.  I am proud and pleased to say that I exceeded my own financial goals for that 12 months and sold over $20,000 worth of product.  For this, I received a pin, a free stamp set and a walk across the presentation stage at the convention which was held last weekend.  I know this doesn't sound like much to some of you, but for me, this is my release.  It is what keeps me sane!

I have spent the past 18 months getting myself in order with this business, and now I am ready to recruit other demonstrators.  I am in a position creatively and business-wise that I feel I can adequately support new demonstrators.  So if you would like to talk about joining the SU! family, earning some handy money and having the FUN of your life, then give me a call.  No pressure.  Even if you just want to suss it out for the future.  Check out my web site (www.gracefulimpressions.blogspot.com)

The kids are growing up just far too quickly.  As I said, Bella Boo is coming up 12 months in early June and it tears at my heartstrings to see her growing so quickly.  You just want them to stay babies!!  I have settled on a theme for her party: ladybirds.  Get ready to check out the invites and paraphernalia in the coming days!!

Tom will be turning 6yo in early July and Mark and I have already given him his present.  We bought him (and us) tickets to see Walking with Dinosaurs in Melbourne.  Mark and I have already seen this show when it kicked off its worldwide tour back in 2007 (I think) and it hasn't changed at all, but remains a great show.  Tom had no idea where we were taking him and he wasn't game to even dare think that it would be to this show even when he saw the advertising at Hi-Sense Arena.  He had a ball and I've attached the official photo of us with baby T-Rex.

Biddy's hair is finally starting to take on a girly shape after THE hair incident of 2010.  For months, every time we go down the street, some comments on her being a 'little fella".  I guess it doesn't help that she wears Tom's hand-me-downs.   She may look like a tomboy, but she has the temper and attitude of a 14yo girl.  OMG, we are going to be in for it with that one.

Tom is loving school and is doing so well.  He has bought home the odd laminated award and a bunch of "Well Done" and "Outstanding" stickers.  Last Friday, the preps hosted the prayer gathering at St Mary's and I couldn't go.  It was made worse by the fact that Tom was doing a reading too!  Mum got it on Mark's iPhone for me though.  Bought a tear to me eye.

Mark is the coach this year for the Colac Braves.  Once someone gives me some pictures and information, I will be maintaining their blogsite, so stay tuned for that one.  I believe that the B grade are undefeated so far this year which is fantastic.  We have had some bad news in the club this year with one of the newer players - but brother to an established player - recently suffering a stroke (his second one).  I'm unaware of the prognosis and we all pray and hope that he will make a decent recovery.  It is made worse by the fact he is only just 18yo.  Breaks your heart.

Well, I think I am caught up on some stuff.  I have fallen WAY behind on my 365-12 blog, but rest assured I have been taking photos, I just haven't been loading them on!  I'll get onto that when I find an extra hour or two in the day!  In the meantime, I'd best go and hunt the two older kids into bed.

Holiday wrap up

We left Melbourne on Monday 25th (ANZAC Day) so that Tom would have at least 2 nights in his own bed prior to starting back at school.  On the Tuesday, he told us that his tooth was wobbly (bottom front), but as it had been wobbly before that then stopped, I didn't pay much attention.  Until he appeared in the office doorway MISSING A TOOTH!  At first he said it came out int he apple he was eating, but later he admitted to wobbling it so much it fell out.  It wasn't even that wobbly!

So the tooth fairy came that night and replaced the tooth with $1 (price for teeth has obviously gone up....but it WAS a first baby tooth, so something special!) and a card which said "Official Visit from the Tooth Fairy".

So our 2011 holiday is now over.  We won't get another extended break like that until this time next year.  We came home ready for calving, school, swimming lessons and the general hullabaloo of life.

Days 14 & 15

With sadness we left Broulee on Saturday morning....it is such a great spot and the kids have had a great time.  Tom has really taken to the beach and asks all the time whether he can go down with his boogie board.  Biddy was happy to scoot around the park and play with other kids.  But it was time to go.

Back in Victoria

As I mentioned in the last post, we headed out not knowing where we were going to stay as finding accommodation for just one night - Easter Saturday - was proving very tricky.  We backtracked along the Princes Hwy and eventually found a caravan park at Cann River which was basic and allowed open fires.  It wasn't freezing but considering the weather we have recently had, it was on the cool side.  So the open fire was very welcome.

I found this function on my camera that allowed me to photograph people AND the fire and these were the results!  Biddy looks like a devil girl. 

Easter Sunday and the Easter Bunny found us.  Mark and I had a chuckle at the complete reversal of conditions we find ourselves in this year compared to the same time last Easter.  On Easter Sunday last year, we were sweltering in Katherine, NT and took the kids for a cruise down the Nitmaluk Gorge.  We had to rush the chockies back in the fridge for fear of them melting everywhere even in the a/c comfort of the caravan!  No such issue this time round though!

Bella's first Easter

We headed for the Butler's place today (family in Beaconsfield) with the promise of a roast dinner (yum!).  Bernie, Emma and Monica arranged for an Easter egg hunt for the kids which they enjoyed.  I enjoyed the roast pork belly for dinner!

Home tomorrow........ :(

Days 12 & 13

We have spent every afternoon at the beach, but I have been reluctant to take my camera down there again as getting sand in the lens is a bit of a risk.  We really should have bought one of the other cameras we have with us for just such a purpose, however, we have made do with snapping the odd pic on one of our phone cameras.

Biddy with 2 of the snakes we bought the kids from Mogo Zoo

Tom has taken to the beach like a duck to water (no pun intended) and is proving himself to be the right little boogie boarder.  We have even had a few comments from other beachgoers and surfers that we might have a young surfer on our hands.  I brushed those comments off until today when he wanted to STAND on his boogie board because he had been watching the surfers doing it!  Their comments may just pan out!

After being dumped by a couple of waves on the first day, Biddy has taken until today (our last beach day) to warm up to getting in the water.  She cried when we told the kids to say goodbye to the beach!  So typical.  Yesterday, Bella had a decent nap at the beach in the tent we bought which was great after the horrid day on Wednesday (after not having a nap).  It was not the case today though.....but she was quite happy to play in the shallows with Mark for a while.  The water really is quite cold for her and it isn't long before she is shivering.

Enjoying the waves...from the safety of daddy's arms!

Today being Good Friday, there is not a lot open so we just bummed around the park all morning, doing our last loads of washing and the kids hooned around on their scooters.  There have been quite a few people check into the park both last night and this morning due to Easter and the fact that Canberra school holidays are still on next week.  This seems to be a favourite place for Canberrians (Canberrites?) given that it is only a couple of hours away.  Probably a bit like Lorne for Melbournians.  So our quaint little retreat has become a hive of activity.  There are also groups of families that are holidaying together and have booked sites that all join onto one another.  There are some amazing setups here, let me tell you.  One lot came in last night and this morning I got a look at what they have and there is a full size fridge, an electric wok, a microwave, a rice cooker, an electric grill, about 3 trestle tables all under 2 marquees.  Their vans and tents surround this setup.  They could be setup for a couple of months, but I guess it is only for the Easter break!

Lunchtime

Playing Angry Birds on the iPhone (Tom is addicted!)

Biddy on Tom's scooter  Note the helmet and bare feet!  Sigh....

The second tooth that Bella cut while away - it is well and truly up now!

As for us, we are headed out tomorrow.  We are still toying with where to stay tomorrow night as we haven't secured any accommodation at all!  This is because Easter has fallen at the end of the school holidays and no caravan parks have any vacancies for just one night from Good Friday through to Easter Monday.  but we want to be home by Easter Monday and in Beaconsfield on Sunday.  All we need is one night's stay for tomorrow night (Saturday).  Argghhhh.  I completely understand the booking policy, but surely the van parks would know by now whether they had a site free for tomorrow night.  I know of 2 that do have vacancies, but are not taking one night bookings.  Grrrrrr.  I guess if we have to, we'll just stop at an overnight rest stop.  We've got a generator, so we can manage ok.