» baby stuff my-speck

Reading… an interpretative adventure. Especially when you’re 2.5 January 9, 2012

Filed under: activities for kids,baby stuff,Communication,development stages,family,Parenting,Raising a Child,speaking — rakster @ 10:43 am

family reading

We read a lot of books. Every morning little Poogie (2.5 years now) typically brings a bunch into the bed with me, we get little Sister Boona (6 months now!) and have a bit of a read. Then there are more during the day, at bedtime etc.

We have a relatively large number of books, and are constant library users, but Poogie still seems to know most of them by heart. Which I think is pretty impressive. It is to me anyway, still breastfeeding with now non-existent short-term memory.

So last week I was reading one of our favourites, Australian Author Pamella Allen‘s “A Lion in the Night“, and we were up to this page:

When I asked,

“And what is the little dog saying?”

And the answer, in a “mum, this is so obvious I can’t believe you’re even asking me” voice: (more…)

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And she has started eating…. We are going baby-lead-feeding.. December 20, 2011

Filed under: baby stuff,cooking,development stages,eating,family,healthcare,Parenting,Raising a Child — rakster @ 1:00 pm
Tags: baby eating, baby food, first food

In other developments around our house, the littlest member of the family has started on her food adventure. I don’t know if I managed to get a photo of her first food (cucumber), but since then we’ve introduced a range of vegetables, a little fruit, and a bit of meat (cooked by her daddy), bread and crackers. Did I mention that you got your first tooth about 2 months ago at 3 months old?? Well, regardless of teeth, you are into food.

I remember when little O first had food like it was yesterday. Avocado. You haven’t tried that yet. Will have to add it in.

Dear Little L:
So far, your favourites have been: steamed / fresh snow peas (preferably from the garden) and turkey. Yes, your Dad cooked a Christmas turkey on the weekend and you are very much into it. We are giving you only whole food: the baby-led feeding approach (read this brochure if you want a quick summary on it). So your sit in your bumbo or on our laps, and get whole bits of veges and other stuff to play with and eat as much as you can of. And since starting, your hand-eye co-ordination has improved out of sight and you have no trouble getting the food from your plate to your mouth. And there is definitely some going down, as is evidenced by the seeds and other bits and pieces I can see in your poo. mmmmm… All good fun. We spoon-fed your brother a bit at the beginning but he really wasn’t into it at all so soon changed to the baby-lead feeding approach. For him it didn’t make much difference – he is just a little skinny thing. You seem a lot more into food so far in general. Thankfully. It is nice to have a little robust baby after the skinny minny your brother turned into at around six months (and still remains).

love mum

So around here mealtimes are a family affair. It’s fun to see:

munching on some cheese: baby-led feeding

a family meal

Love and kisses

mum

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A sisterly break.. December 19, 2011

Filed under: baby stuff,eating,family,Parenting,Raising a Child,swimming,walking — rakster @ 2:29 pm

A week ago, I headed off down the coast with little Luna and my 3 sisters. It was the first time that just the four (i mean five) of us have ever been away together that I can remember. That is, away without assorted partners, other family etc. (Am I right on that sisters???).

We went out for a few drinks and dinner a few months ago when R1 was up from Melbourne, and it was fun. So when she said she was coming up for a few weeks before Christmas, I took the opportunity to organise a getaway. We headed down to Lennox Heads (just south of Byron), a small sleepy little town with a stunning beach and a lake too. We shared a small apartment that looked out directly to the ocean and where we could hear the waves crashing all night. Played a little scrabble, a few cards, drank a lovely bottle of champagne, ate home-cooked food and just talked.

I enjoyed myself. Little Luna loved the attention.

And I got to enjoy a swim in the ocean by myself. For ages. Without the worry of a two-year old on the beach wanting my attention, nor a baby to swap with a husband… Yay.

Love M.

P.S. the best part of the weekend was my sleepy head sister R2 waking up first thing on Saturday morning, and before even asking for coffee (her serious addiction), coming into the room and asking,

“Can we dress her up? What do you have??”….

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Familial likeness…. December 4, 2011

Filed under: baby stuff,development stages,family,imitation,Parenting,Raising a Child — rakster @ 2:48 pm
Tags: familial resemblance, photo

It’s been a crazy busy month, with bouts of a sinus cold coming and (hopefully) going. Hence the lack of writing.

Around here, we’ve been busy GROWING.

Growing things in the garden. But mostly, growing little CHILDREN.

Look at this one!

5 months and growing fast

And I think the familial resemblence (her 5 to my 6 months) is uncanny:

the luna baby now - 5 months

me at six or so months

Do you agree??

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my baby is 4 months old!! Friday napping. And on sleep in general. November 4, 2011

Filed under: baby stuff,development stages,exhaustion,family,healthcare,Parenting,Raising a Child — rakster @ 1:57 pm
Tags: breastfeeding, photo, routines, sleeping, sleeping habits

Little Luna, or Boona or Boo Boo as we affectionately call her, is now four months old.

How time flies.

She is having a nap. So cute.

the sleeping babe: friday nap-time

On my side, I’ve been noticing the effects of a cumulative lack-of-sleep and breastfeeding multiple times in the night for the past four months. Most particularly:

bruises all over my body. I seem to have a lack of spatial awareness and co-ordination. Which means I just run into things all the time. At speed. So I am black and blue. I’m at one large bruise a day at the moment….
inability to control my facial muscles, particularly around my mouth, when talking sometimes. Like, they just go a bit crazy on their own. As if I were going to cry or something, in the middle of a normal conversation. I get odd looks from the people I’m talking to. Weird. I hope this one disappears soon…

But on the positive side, Luna is well over the 100% percentile for weight, which is awesome as O is still off the other end of the scale. So at least I have one fat little dumpling. Yay. And she slept through the night for three nights in a row – from 6:30 pm to 4:30 am this Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, before reverting on Wednesday and last night to a single feed at 2:30 and then another at 6:30 am. WIN! I’m hoping that this is the start of a new period which lasts for at least a few weeks!!

This is my life. Feeding, sleeping, eating, watching, learning and trying to rest in-between.

But the rewards are big. Look at this beautiful girl!!

Luna playing. Our little boomba.

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and she was listening…sleep… September 23, 2011

Filed under: activities for kids,baby stuff,baby's feelings,dancing,development stages,exercise,exhaustion,family,imitation,Parenting,playing,Raising a Child — rakster @ 12:49 pm
Tags: baby, body gumbo, dancing, sleeping, yoga

So, after my last post where I complained about the lack of sleep…

My little darling slept right from 7pm to 3:30am last night. Woo hoo! I got more than 3 hours of sleep in a row!

Win for the weekend.

I however went to bed with another case of mild-mastitis, so not feeling 100%, so the lack of eating regularly made it slightly worse and I felt like total crap this morning . Have since made up for that by shoving poor little L on the boob at every available waking moment. A few panadols later, I’m feeling alright..

this is what I feel like when I wake up. thankfully there is no-one to take photos of me.

….
Spent the morning at O’s daycare, as he was feeling like he needed some more mummy time. I went in and read some books, playing in the garden with the kids, then went to his ‘body gumbo’ (or body bumbo as he says) class. A bit of a mix between dance/movement and yoga. It was fun. I think I enjoyed it more than he did. I can now do my salute to the sun with an animal impression at each different position. WIN! We will now be doing more yoga/play at home. It rocked.

….

now I am enjoying some me-time while little L sleeps and O is at daycare.

the sleeping babe - I got her cot out a week ago so she has her own space in our room.

sleepy-head Luna, 13 weeks old

…

Tonight I am going out with my amazing sisters, all four of us, for a drink. So perfect timing with the whole lots of sleep last night.

have a good weekend everyone!

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Juggling a temper with an ear infection… and cuteness.. September 15, 2011

Filed under: activities for kids,baby stuff,baby's feelings,Communication,cooking,development stages,family,healthcare,Parenting,playing,Raising a Child,speaking — rakster @ 2:12 pm

Day three of an ear-infected, cranky little boy. And a sleeping-a-lot-trying-to-fight-it-off little babe.

Mummy is going a bit stir crazy. She was seen stalking the neighbour’s cat with a squirt gun this afternoon through the back garden… By a workman who she didn’t notice in the other neighbour’s garden. Nice look. He waited until she had been down there for about 5 minutes acting like a dodgy commando-action-hero actor before he made his presence known by raucous laughter. She was a tad embarrased. But granted, she was doing it as the blasted cat was trying to eat her two new chickens. And for some light self-entertainment (she makes her own fun). The workman graciously pointed out where the chickens had gone and where the cat was hiding when his laughter subsided.

As you can see, fours days with two children at home all day, one of whom is on full whine/tantrum/attention-needing at all waking hours, with very little adult human interaction, has left her unable to speak in the first person anymore. She has reverted to full third-person child-speak. God-knows why.

The only saving grace was a few minutes last night when she was preparing dinner. Little O was very excited to be at the big table on his new grown-up big chair and was entertaining his sister with the gift she so carefully chose for him when she was born.

entertaining the little sister

cuteness.

drilling - hard work

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Singing to my baby sister :) – Movie Monday August 8, 2011

Filed under: activities for kids,baby stuff,baby's feelings,Communication,development stages,emotion,family,Parenting,playing,Raising a Child,speaking — rakster @ 4:39 pm
Tags: movie monday, singing, video

Finally managed to get the video camera going in time to capture this attempt to pacify the smaller sister

This almost compensates for the number of times I ‘mistakenly’ attempt to jump on her head each day….