April 2012

Contrasting to March, April was a bit busy for us.  So I am breaking it down into sections for you...because there are a lot of pictures!

This is a basic run down of April;

Preggie shots.  I had some professional pictures taken of my preggy belly, and to look good for the pics, I treated myself to a spray tan.  Hence, I am looking damn hot in the following 3 snaps!!

 

36 weeks 2 days

38 weeks and 6 days (last preggie pic - little did we know) 

We had to purchase a new pram for the new baby.  Not because there was anything wrong with the one we had, it was just that between Tom and Biddy and Biddy and Bella, there is almost exactly 2.5yrs.  So when each new baby arrived, the older child was adept enough at walking around for a bit.  At a pinch, we could put the bub into a Baby Bjorn type carrier and the toddler into the pram when things got hairy, but this was not going to work this time.  Because the age difference between Bella and the new baby is less that 2yrs.  And Bella is still some time off from being able to walk around shopping centres/parks/outings etc by herself for very long. Plus, the pram is an excellent - and legal - form of child restraint!  So we needed a double pram, but the only one that I really liked and was going to suit us was a font and back one with the older child in the front.  I decided to finally put the pram together on the Monday night....just as well, because I went into labour the next night!

a baby card that I made for a friend....I actually gave it to her when we were both in hospital!

 Poor Biddy is quite sensitive to insect bites and the night before this picture, she was bitten on the eyelid by a mozzie.  Meds at home did nothing, so a trip to A&E for some heavy duty stuff was required.  It still took 3 days to go down.

 

St Mary's School sports 2012.  Tom is in blue team and this year, the school held the sports on the oval directly across the road from mum's place (which was so considerate as I could nick back there for a sit/cuppa/lunch etc!).  These are some pics of the day.

Tom came first in his 100m.  This is the second year in a row.  Well done.

With cousin Jarrod (grade prep).  Both won their 100m race.

March 2012

Not a great deal happened in March.  The kittens that we acquired for Christmas are still copping a beating loving from all the kids.  Isn't it amazing how the kittens are theirs to play with, until it is time to feed them or clean up after them, and then they are daddy's!! Ha.

I left the vegie patch gate open and the bull calves decided to visit

Buddies

Last year, Mark and I bought tickets for Biddy and Tom to see "How to Train Your Dragon" the Arena Spectacular.  We found out about it when we took Tom to see the Walking with Dinosaur Arena Spectacular.  It is the same company putting on the show.  We bought tickets when they were first released in August 2011 for March 2012.  Because it was a Friday night showing, we took Tom out of school early and raced down to Melbourne, keeping it all hush hush from the kids, although we did relent and tell them before we got there.  Big problem.  After travelling for 2.5hrs, parking, wasting 1hr because we were early, finding a taxi, getting stuck in Melbourne traffic, we arrive with 5 minutes to spare only to be confronted with the fact that the show had been CANCELLED!!!! OMG.  All we could do was turn around and head home.  With two very upset children.  And try and rebook.  Not easy when the organisers were not putting on an extra show.

After staying up into the wee hours trying to secure decent seats at a decent price, I was successful, but it meant that Mark couldn't come with us because it was a day session during the week.  I took the kids down to Melb on the train from Geelong (another saga in itself) and they had a great time.

The excitement of the day, plus the very early morning start was a bit too much for Biddy, who fell asleep on the floor of the train on the way home.

The mothers group that I joined when Tom was just 2 weeks old still gets together on a regular basis, except these days, it is less about the kids and more about some time out for us hassled mums!  We generally meet for dinner once a month, but a few times a year, we get together with kids and spouses and have a day somewhere.  This time, we went to the miniature railway in Cobden for a BBQ lunch.  It was a great day, despite the plethora of flies (man, I thought they were bad at our place).

from left: Mark, Bella, Noah Brien, Biddy, Harry Brien & Tom

February 2012

Back into the swing of regular life.  Tom back at school and starting in grade 1.  Biddy starts at 4yo kindergarten and Bella starts 1/2 day a week at occasional care.  This now gives me 4 hours on a Friday to myself.  Kidless.  Bliss.  But let's face it, I use this time to do all the little jobs that have piled up throughout the week that you don't want to do with small kids in tow, such as the banking, post office, shopping, in person bill paying, etc.  The 4 hours FLIES.  And then it is followed by about 2 hours of going backwards and forwards in picking kids up again.  Thank god Tom is on the bus.  That is one time saving.

A Yellow Day.  With Nanny.

Ready to face the world without mummy...*sob*

the water play was an immediate hit.

Add caption

Tom managed to loose tooth #3.....right before school photos!  Happened last year too.

Mark took delivery of our brand new Claas tractor!  The one that this replaced arrived at the dealership the day that tom was born.  Mark would let them deliver it to the farm until we returned from Melbourne with the baby!  So it was coming up 7 yo and had done a LOT of work.  If it stays true to form, Tom will be 14yo when we get another replacement!!

How happy does he look?

Some preggy pics

For those of you wondering.....no, this pregnancy was not planned.  but it wasn't completely avoided for either.  We just figured that if it happened, it happened.  And for those that are counting, this is pregnancy #11.  Like the other kids, this pregnancy has been closely monitored and I have had to take various hormone supplements to ensure the viability.  It sounds a drag, but you do what you have to do.

Because of my age, I had to go for an amniocentesis.  I did the same with Bella too.  I hate them, not because of the actual test, but the whole waiting game afterwards.  But everything is fine in that regard.  And NO, we do not know the sex.  It is amazing how many times we are asked this.  I guess a lot of people find out these days and that is their choice, but it is not mine.  So much of my pregnancies is planned, monitored, watched, tested, probed, poked etc...it is nice to have at least one surprise in it all.

This pregnancy has been completely different to any of the others.  I have been much more active and in fact, have not really shown that much.  I payed racquetball right up to 19 weeks (even playing int he grand final....which we won!) and no-one knew I was expecting.  I did loose 11kg just before getting pregnant, so that may have something to do with it all.

20 weeks & 2 days

25 weeks

27 weeks and 5 days

32 weeks

34 weeks and 5 days

I recently had some professional maternity pics taken by Wal Slow form South Western Studios.  I have only seen the proofs so far, but they are GORGEOUS.  Jan (Wal's wife) and I discussed what type of pictures I was after prior to the session and now my choices are just so damn difficult!!!  As per every pregnancy, we choose one to be enlarged to go on our bedroom wall.  Mark reckons that this is definitely the last kid we are having because we are running out of wall space!  Ha ha.  In the meantime, more preggy snapshots are coming!

January 2012 - part 2

The beach escape!  Trying to tear Mark away for the farm in January is a lot like trying to exptract all his teeth with no anaesthetic.  It just ain't gunna happen.  But we did come to a compromise and we were very lucky on the booking side of things.

As a general rule, trying to book anywhere along the GOR in summer holidays is a nightmare and is something that needs to happen 6 months in advance.  We decided to try our luck at Apollo Bay, because this is technically sort of within Mark's CFA area and close enough to home to fly back if needed for CFA duties (oh, don't make the mistake in thinking he would fly back for FARM stuff!!! ha ha ha....he is 100%, totally wrapped in CFA stuff at this time of year).  But would we get in anywhere?

As luck had it, we were able to secure 4 nights (usual is 7 - 10) because of a cross over in bookings.  It also suited well for me because I had a class that I had just booked and needed to be back in Colac for on the weekend.  So it all worked out.  The kids got their beach holiday - although it wasn't all THAT warm in the water - and we got a mini break away.  Especially not knowing if we could get away in 1st term school holidays due to the baby.

Biddy in her brand spanking new wetsuit.....all of a size 3!  And her new boogy board.  The gear encouraged her to hit the waves.

Riding the waves

The obligatory sand burial.  This time....Biddy.

Bella and I.  Looking a touch cold.

On one of the days, we took the kids to the Lighthouse.  Despite living so close, neither Mark nor I had ever been there.  And the surprise was...locals get in for FREE!  Yay.  So that saved us about $30+.

Mark is not fond of heights.....he walked up poked his head out the door and walked straight down!

Biddy, on the other hand, is the complete opposite and I had to stop her climbing on the rails for a better look! 

A bonus of the stay was a night-time carnival on the foreshore.  We took the kids down on the last night.  There was enough for the bigger kids to do, but not a lot for littlies like Bella.

Biddy nearly drove us nuts wanting to have a go on the reverse bungy.  She loved it

Tom also wanted a go, but he is as scred of heights as is his old man....check out the face.  He was happy to come down after 5 minutes.

On the dodgems