A kiss and a smile.

My little girl is getting bigger by the day. Her personality is beginning to show. Each day brings coos and smiles. We have family staying and it has been fun to watch her with her cousins. But some of her biggest smiles go to her brother. Each night when I say good night and get a kiss he always remembers his sister. As he talks to her and kisses her the biggest grin comes across her face. I pray that this grows into a wonderful relationship and the love grows.

It's a good job they are cute.

As I sit nursing my baby girl at 12:30 am I am amazed at what a mother endures. Some do it will a smile and a joy I admire while others like me endure. Now don't get me wrong I adore my baby girl and I know that she will grow up way faster than I want. But right now I long for a fun nights sleep and a true conversation about what she wants. However this won't happen for a while and I will content myself with the fact that through all the screams and sleepless nights I have am adorable baby who is cute. God really knew what he was doing when me made cute babies.

Difference

I know that every baby is different. I am now getting to also see the differences between mine. My little girl needs a lot more comfort. She wants to be held and know what is going on a lot more that my little man ever did. But in return she gives more smiles and gurgles. She is soon to be three months old and she is figuring out that she can make noises. It is fun to watch her as she makes sounds that startle her, moves her arms and catches her toys.

It has also been amazing to watch the interaction between my two children. She looks for her brother when she hears him talk, she tracks him around the room and grins whenever he comes over. He wants to sit next to her to eat his breakfast. He tells her stories and as he runs around the room he always darts back and cries " I got you" Before long I am sure they will be charging around after each other.

If now is anything to go by my little girl has a great big brother to look up to, who wants to make sure she is OK and is involved in whatever is happening.

A family of Four

The lack of posting has been caused by a new addition to the family and the chaos that happens afterwards. My little girl decided that although we had a planned date of July 10th to arrive she was going to choose her own birthday. July 5th was the day that she decided to arrive. As with every other day it started with contractions the difference being they did not go away. I called my doctor who said come into the office and although I wanted for about 30 minutes to see then it took no more than two minutes for them to confirm that yes I was in labour and I needed to get to the hospital. I can now tell you that labour when you have no intention of pushing is horrible.. I may have done 22 hours of unmediated labour with my boy but 6 hours with this little girl was horrible. They tried to delay to make sure that I was far enough away to when I had eaten my breakfast but my body had other ideas. My little girl arrived at 4:02 in the afternoon. She was a small 7lb 11oz and 19 and 1/4 inches long. I was so happy that she was under 8 pounds. 

The last two months have been a whirlwind of no sleep, doctors appointments and family coming to help out. My little girl didn't gain weight well in the beginning and so resulted in appointments for her to have her weight checked a lot. She also had to have formula after every nursing which resulted in one over stuffed, unhappy and generally grumpy baby. I got an infection which meant that I had to see my doctor daily for over a week. The my little girl decided that sleeping more than two hours a night was sill and so spent lots of time waking and shouting about it. I was blessed by the fact that my mum had arrived to take over in everything which meant I could nap and do nothing. Not that after a c-section I was ready to jump around or anything.

As for my little guy well he adores his sister. Brother and sister have spend many an hour talking and staring. Now she smiles back at him and will be entertained for a lot longer by her brother than anyone else. They both seem fascinated by the other and adoration seems to be flowing.

Slowly we are beginning to find a routine and I hope and pray that life beyond my houses four walls will happen soon. Some nights we are getting more sleep.  At 2 months old my daughter has finally become bigger than the size her brother was when he was born. It was very surreal at her 1 month appointment when I realised she was still shorter in length and about a pound less than what her brother was when he was born which mean that she could still fit in me.

So now we are a  family of four. I look forward to having this year with my kids and watching them grow. I do pray for my sleep and a life beyond diapers and washing. Someday I am sure I will be human again.

Into The Unknown

Yesterday I was sitting down talking to my family and discussing that in two weeks I would be the mother of two children if not sooner. It then really hit me a new that this is something new. My son will experience something I never had and that is to have a sibling! I am an only child and my mum is also an only child. On the female side of this part of my family I am breaking out of the mold. As I watched my boy jump around the room and play baby with his teddy bear who needed to take a nap, I was left wondering how do I do this. This is where I pray and say God help me as I travel into the unknown. I know that thousands of people do it having more than one child. On my dad's side he was one of three but still it feels daunting. But the unknown is always an adventure. And so within the next two weeks this adventure will begin and I can't wait to meet this little girl that is already giving me sleepless nights and showing that she is going to be a little spit fire if her activity in the womb is anything to go by.

Clothes

Recently I purchased a washing line. It stands on a tripod outside and I can take it down whenever I am not using it. I wanted to try and reduce the amount of energy we use in the house and also I remembered that I always loved the smell of laundry dried outside. It has a scent that no matter what softener you use. I have found that since drying my washing outside two things have happened. 1) Laundry is no longer as stressful as I once found it and 2) it allows me and my son to spend some time together and he gets to help. The less stressful comes as something as a surprise to me. However since I am now hanging it outside I am doing laundry over a few days rather than one day and as I take the laundry down I fold and sort as I go along which means at the end of the processes all I have to do is put it away. I have washed diapers, new baby clothes, bedding and everything else and the dryer has sat empty for 2 weeks. I know that come the winter I will once again use the dryer when the weather is bad or it is too cold to be hanging stuff out. But for now I will enjoy this small pleasure. I also enjoy getting my son to help out., He helps gets me the pegs and passes them to me or takes them back and it often results in him playing outside for a while afterwards. I hope that I am still able to continue this once my little girl arrives. I want to take the moment to enjoy the little things in life and that includes laundry whenever possible.

A two year review!

For the last two years I have been working mother. I have had to juggle my new career of teaching a long with motherhood. Making decisions between spending time with my son to making sure I have clean washing and food on the table has been hard. I now have the opportunity to stay at home for a year with this little girl and my boy. I am left wondering how this year will go. No longer do I have to worry about lesson planning but now I have to worry about diapers and other such things.

My last two years of teaching has taught me a lot about myself and also kids. The need to be accepted, be challenged and acknowledge for what they have and can achieve.  I have realised that I can try and to be perfect and fall under a heap of horror or I can try my best and pray that it will be ok. I have learned to rely on God and know that whatever happens it is his plan. Just as it was God's plan I went back to work at the time I did and got my teaching certificate, it is also God's plan that I now stay home with my little girl and my son. God's plan beyond that, well only God knows and I am ok with that. For now I want to enjoy the summer , met my little girl and spend some much needed quality time with my kids.