Playing catch up and sharing bits and pieces of things I'd meant to blog but slackarsed on.

New favorite feeding-sleeping baby photo.... she is such a sweetie, when I rolled back over she wrapped her arms around me, snuggled against my shoulder, gave me a perfect little kiss and said "wuf 'oo". Ladies and gentlemen, this is what refills the well of mummy's tollerance of the times they're crazy little ratbags... sometimes, every once in awhile, they make you melt into puddles of warm-n-fuzzy goo.

These are three shots from Verity and Cami's Rainbow Bridge Garden. Slowly coming together.


And last but not least, after not having touched oils or acrylics since I was probably about 14 I decided to get a little set have have a dabble in it. I sketched this little fellow the other night and got to rough him in over about 15 mins of breakfast. Hopefully over the coming week or so I can find a bit of spare kids-free time to work on him! Not sure if I will keep the background one as artificial halo and take it all over or as grass and fill in the 'sky' after.

"THREE! TWO! ONE! LAUNCH!!!"

I'm playing catch-up with my pictures... Verity's birthday just passed and I've got to get her shots up - as well as a bunch of La and a bunch of other stuff. I've been very slack when it comes to jotting down the important stuff I want to have a record of - like for example, La's finally weaning from his beloved bibi a few months back. Remarkably easy really... not at all like I thought it would be and he's never looked back from it. Something to be said for the child-led/waiting for indications of them being ready theory of things. Two years and seven months was a nice little milestone for us.

All the funny little day-to-day stuff with the dogs and La, I keep meaning to sit and write but it seems we're just too busy living to really sit and compose my thoughts properly most days. Which is good because it means things are getting done but a bit sad because it's getting lost in the tumble of hours, days and weeks until many precious moments just melt into the general fabric of life.

Another "little" thing I should have mentioned ages ago - my visa finally (FINALLY!!!) came through. I am officially now a permanent resident and wow does that feel good to not have that shadow of worry (however unlikely it was) hanging over us!!!!

The one month anniversary of Cade's passing has already been and gone, simply doesn't seem possible really. I was set to write a long, rather rambly, emotional post of all the emotions on the anniversary and when I sat to type, it just flew from my fingers how to put thoughts into words that'd make sense.

On a happier note, the other minor, little, teensy, weensy detail I might have neglected to mention... a second rather long awaited little bubba should be arriving sometime in late March or early April. Very, very, very, very over the moon with this! ^_^

Pics snapped while waiting for the car mechanic to finish servicing the car - joys of living in a teeny-tiny town, you can walk the 2k from the mechanics house to the town to putter around for a few hours and instead spend the majority of the time just chatting to people on the way! LOL

He *needs* a sibling... a human one!

A selection of stories from the past week or so.

1.) The sound of La playing in the hall has gone suspiciously quiet. Quiet is NEVER ever a good thing. I walk past my dining room and notice on my dining room table is perched my toddler, in the middle, with the dogs treat jar. Below him, politely sitting are three furry bums, neatly parked. Laurent's hand dips in the jar. One for you. Dips in the jar. One for me.
"LA! Yuck, what are you DOING?!?"
He looks at me, clearly not seeing the problem... sheesh mum, haven't you ever see a kid eat before?

2.) Laurent toddles up to me holding and shaking an unopened pack of dog-treats.
"Mum?"
"Yes La?"
"Sisi 's goo gurl?"
"Yes Sisi is a good girl."
"Mum?"
"Yes La?"
"Yum yum?", shaking the bag for emphasis.
"Yes La, Sierra does think those are very yummy. Do you want to give her one?" (Heh. At this point I'm entirely wary of his motives. He does like to give them treats but he also likes to EAT them himself.)
He nods. "Sisi, goo gurl!"
So I open the bag and hand him one. "La, this is for Sisi you understand?"
I catch a glint in his eye. "Sierra's yum yum, not La's."
He stares at me, eyeballs the treat, eyeballs me, grins and.... *chomp* (SIGH.)

3.) Hope has a little quirk, in that when she gets a ball or stuffed toy she likes to show it off and goes, "Awwooo woo woo!" howling muffledly with the toy in her mouth while parading around. It's cute and we all laugh when she does. Laurent eyeballed her, picked up one of his plastic ball pit balls, stuck it firmly in his mouth, tossed his head back and went "Awwoooo woo wooooo!"

4.) I'm brushing the dogs and have my combs and slicker brush laid out on the floor, dogs sprawled across my lap in various states of limp bliss, getting rolled (yes, rolled... I just kind of grab a leg and flip) at intervals when I finish brushing one section. La is watching the process intently and picks up a slicker brush. He starts brushing Sierra.
"Sisi goo gurl." he praises her.
"Yes Sisi is a good girl. Are you brushing her nicely La? See how she likes it when you brush her? Make sure you use the brush very soft okay?"
Intent upon his mission, he merely continues. At length, he deems his job finished and starts brushing Hope.
"Very nice, Hope likes being brushed to hmm?"
After a period of brushing her in random patterns, he deems her done. He turns to me, brush in hand.
"Mum?" he asks, holding the brush up.
"Yes La? What do you want?"
"He stands up, puts his left hand on me, standing on my legs and reaches up to brush my hair.
"Goo gurl." (SIGH. It seems I also need to explain to him daddy and I are not dogs either.)

5.) We're playing with the tennis ball inside, gently throwing it in the back room. *chuck* it goes to Hope, *chuck* it goes toward Sierra who chases it but lets Hope actually fetch it, *chuck* it goes to Hope again. *chuck* it goes... into the hall, past my craft room. La toddles after it and I hear his feet pitter-pattering back down the hall toward us, then pause. I peek my head around and he's gone into my craft room. He's standing at the edge of my desk, holding the tennis ball in throwing position.
"Mum?" he asks, eyeballing the aquarium on my desk where my Siamese Fighting Fish is front and center in his tank hoping for food, "FISH?"
"No dear. The fish can't play fetch."

6.) PS After 18 months (!) of breastfeeding, the girls have an official cute pet name! They are "bibi". We'd figured we might get "didi" since that seems popular but nope, we gotta be a little bit unique!

Last but not least, a non-La story, in which I amuse myself (but only myself) at Freestyle class. In my current class we have another red merle Aussie (Jaffa) and Jaffa's mum is talking about competing in teams (ie. instead of just tripping over myself and my dog, I trip over another handler and their dog too... for even more Australia's Funniest Home video material) and jokes how she'd been thinking the two gorgeous red merle Aussies should do a team! Now Jaffa has a gorgeous heel... backwards, forwards, speed changes, sideways, these nifty little back-turns... gosh it's nice! Sierra's heeling by comparison is muck. She forges forward, to the side, angles her bum at a curve and crabs. So I said, "Are you kidding? Have you SEEN Sierra!?" She says, "Well, there's always hope!" And I said, "Yeah but she's a black tri!" Unfortunately it was across the room and she didn't hear me. Figures. One time I say something kinda clever (vs thinking of it 10 minutes after the person walks away) and no one hears it! :-p

Happy World Breast-feeding Week!!!

Happy World Breast-feeding Week everyone!

Breast-feeding is so important, for both bubs and mums! There are so many reasons to breast-feed and avoid using artificial substitutes unless there is no other choice and yet not enough people follow the World Health Organization's recommendation that babies should be fed breast-milk exclusively until 6 months of age and after that should continue to receive breast-milk until 2 years of age minimum.

Most of us have heard the phrase that "breast-milk is best milk" but do you know why? Did you know for example that it reduces the mothers chance of breast cancer by up to half, ovarian cancer by one-third and endometrial cancer based on the length of time the mother nurses? Did you know when compared to babies fed artificial infant milk formulas babies, breast-fed babies have a reduced chance of leukemia by 21% and breast cancer in girls by 25%? How about that it also helps prevent post-partum hemorrhage in mums? Did you know for babies when compared to artificial infant milk formulas it also results in a higher IQ by an average of 10 points, lowers the chances of catching common childhood illnesses and lowers the chance of such diseases as juvenile diabetes, asthma, allergies, ear infections, SIDS, bacterial meningitis, multiple sclerosis, urinary tract infections, respiratory infections, vision defects, obesity in later life and even needing corrective orthodontia in later life? And that's just for starters!

In a study on Breast-feeding and the risk of post neo-natal death in the United States (Pediatrics, 113: 435-439, 2004) it was found that babies who were never breast-fed had a 21% greater risk of dying in the post-neonatal period than those who were breast-fed and the longer the child was breast-fed the lower the risk.

Breast-feeding really is one of the most important you can do for your baby, no formula comes even remotely close to mimicking the benefits of breast-milk. With very few medical exceptions, given proper support and help, any mum can breast-feed and overcome breast-feeding challenges.

Three cheers for breast-feeding mums and special cheers to all the mums who have had to overcome challenges and perservered to give their babies and themselves the benefits of breast-milk!