Twenty Twelve and the universe...

The year of the dragon... it's going to be a great year, it's taken off with a raring, positive, exciting start! I have just settled Master 5 1/2 back into school, a new classroom and a few new friends to boot and Master 4 is venturing into a new journey in the land of Kindergarten. 

I am still on Uni holidays and i have loved nothing more than to spend the past 6 weeks soaking up the love, laughter and happiness that is my children and adoring partner (when he's been home from working away). I am so lucky to still have another 4 weeks up my sleeve to get back into routine, get organised for Uni, clock up some much needed hours with special friends and spend some time in the gym continuing to work at the ongoing transformation of my fitness, health and positively glowing outlook on life.

I'm going to take a step back for a few moment and reflect on the mere passing thoughts in my fast flowing mind that was this blog. I embarked on this blogging journey to find a more positive, insightful and peaceful side of myself and to be honest, it is going to be a long lasting, continuous road but, right now at the beginning of what i feel is going to be a prosperous year (in more ways than one), i am feeling i am a true representation of what this blog is aiming to achieve AND it feels amazing!!

Until next time....

Done and dusted for yet another year...

Christmas, New Year, the silly season i mean.... so much build up and then bam it's gone again. Ours was awesome though, seeing the boys faces light up and all that - makes me feel gooey inside. Best part of our silly season was the week we spend at the river after Christmas. We couldn't have asked for better weather, better behaved children or better company... it was bliss. The boys swam, ate, played, relaxed, slept and everything in between, they were just perfect. It made our holiday every bit more relaxing to know they were happy and content. 

New Years Eve was spent on the lawn by the river with friends and family, nibbles, a few quiet drinks and music. I couldn't have asked for a better way to bring in the new year.

Now we are home and falling back into what is every day life, except we are all still on holidays, Mr 5 on school holidays, Mr 4 (YES, he's 4 now, just yesterday actually - i can't believe it!!!) eagerly anticipating Kindy once the holidays are over and me on Uni holidays, able to lap up every little bit of my mini dudes and enjoy them before the craziness all begins again.

So, for now, i am going to enjoy all the free time and read some books i've borrowed from the library, cuddle my boys, snuggle up and watch movies with the, enjoy the sunshine and love life!

Love life, love the people in your life. Live how you want never give up on your dreams they are all you got. Garett Nickleson.

Christmas Tree's and cooking...

So as promised, here is a photo of our 'alternative' Christmas Tree :) i love it, it's minimalist and looks exactly the way i imagined. I'll have to take a photo with the lights on and post that at some stage too.

The sticks or twigs are made from dried Chinese Willow trees, i brought them already painted cream, from a giftwares shop and then sprayed them with a little gold pain to add some sparkle. I also brought some gold twig lights to finish it off. The metal bucket comes from a hardware store,  and is filled with sand and then proceeded to push the sticks into the sand. The decorations are ones i've had for a few years, we had so many more leftover this year but that's ok.

Now, onto the cooking i mentioned in the title. I had a bit of time before i needed to start dinner so i thought i'd make some little cakes or muffins for the boys lunch boxes. It's so hard trying to think of different things to add! These are delicious, i had to sample a couple with a cup of tea, quality assurance and all.... I modified this recipe a little, i'll write it out as is and add my modifications/additions in brackets.

Vanilla & Raspberry Cakes
Makes 36

1 1/2 cups S/R flour (i used 1C wholemeal S/R, 1/2 cup white S/R), sifted
1/3 cup caster sugar
1 cup reduced fat vanilla yoghurt (i used 1C low fat organic plain yoghurt & added a teaspoon of vanilla bean paste)
80g light margarine, melted and cooled (i just used butter, it's all i had)
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/2 cup frozen raspberries, lightly crushed
I also added - 1/3 cup pineapple pieces & 1/4 cup desicated coconut. 

Preheat oven to 190/170 fan forced. Grease 36 holes of three 12 hole, 1 1/2 tablespoon-capacity mini muffin pans (i used cupcake papers instead and it made 13).
Combine flour & sugar together in a bowl. Add yoghurt, margarine & egg to flour and mix until just combined. Fold through raspberries, pineapple & coconut. Spoon mixture into prepared pan holes.
Bake for 16-18mins or until golden and cakes spring back when lightly touched. (I cooked mine for about 20-25mins in the end as they were bigger but just keep an eye on them). Transfer to a wire rack to cool... if you can wait that long!

YUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUMMMMMMMMM!

I've started my placement at the hospital too, 3 weeks, full time, early shifts and late shifts - oh it's going to shatter me! Till' next time...

"Reflect upon your present blessings, of which every man has many, not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some."
Charles Dickens

Green Tea & Salt and Vinegar Chips...

Interesting and fitting title i thought. These two items are comforting me tonight, and the oddness of them suits how im feeling pretty perfectly. It's not that im feeling odd, well actually, i am a little but im more so lonely, and tired and well, i don't know just odd.

My mum has had Master 3 1/2 the past 3 nights (at her request) so Master 5 and i could spend some one on one time together seeing as it's rare occurrence with him being at school now. It's been lovely, and peaceful and special. We went out for milkshakes and pizza the first night, window shopped the second afternoon, and went to a birthday party at an aquatics centre and  stayed up until 9:30 last night, shopped at the famers market this morning and we have loved every minute of it. We also missed the little man immensely! Who, we saw briefly yesterday morning to pick him up for his first pre-entry kindy session. He's growing up too, i can't believe it. Next year i will have one in school and one at full time kindy and i will be studying my ass off doing the last year of my Nursing degree (YIPEEEEEE).

This afternoon we put up our Christmas Tree, or i should say 'made' our Christmas Tree (side note: i can't believe we're coming up to our second Christmas in our little house). We've gone for something a little alternative this year, i'll have to dig the camera out and post some photo's on my next post. We love it!

Im off to much on some more chips and sip my green tea. Until next time...

It's been while... again!

Did anyone see the tumbleweeds flying through here?! A dear friend has just started a blog which so kindly reminded me that i had deserted my own... oops! But, here i am 6 months on from my last post, still alive, still studying and surprisingly feeling pretty darn good considering it's the end of semester! I have one exam in a week, Pathophysiology and Pharmacology (woopeeeee... no seriously, *rolls eyes*) which i've been kind of studying for (it's on the to do list tomorrow and Wednesday while Master 5 is at school and Master 3in child care) and then 3 weeks of clinical placement at a local hospital and the it's HOLIDAY TIME!!!

On that note, did you read the second to last sentence?! Yes, the  biggest (not so) little man is at school *tear*. Into his second term now and while it all got off to a rocky start, he's the model student now like i knew he always would be, im a proud mumma, he's coming in leaps and bounds. Master 3 is well, just that, 3. Need i say more? He's full of energy, defiant, get's easily frustrated and often goes off like rocket... i think i'll leave it there.

Time is lapsing so quickly, hence the reason i didn't even realise it had been six months since i'd been here... this year is disappearing before my eyes and 2012 is going to be upon us before we know it. I'm now making a promise i hope i will be able to keep, and that is to blog A LOT more regularly... and i know i've said it before and clearly not stood by my word but fingers crossed this time will be different.

With Christmas approaching at lightening speed (again), i've been slowly getting a few bits and pieces organised and plan to do some homemade gifts again which i will blog about as i do them. Some crafty, some cooking, im looking forward to it and just hoping i have enough time!

Until next time...

The best thing about the future is that is comes one day at a time.

Abraham Lincoln.

Pregnancy, Labour, Birth & Beyond Part 2

As promised here i am... Izaak was breastfed until around 10mths from around 9mths old he started weaning himself so feeds were slowly cut out until he had his last one at around 10mths. I never got my period back after having him and once the weaning process had started, i was sitting watching a movie one night when i started getting these immensely sharp pains on the left side of my lower abdomen. I'd never experienced ovulation pain before and sent a text to a friend to confirm that's what they were. This was the end of March, we were going to start TTC in August.

Two weeks and two positive pregnancy tests ( just to make sure, i wasn't convinced) later i was UTD with Kyan! An 18mth age gap (almost to the day) - WOW, we were crazy!

Once again, i was blessed with a smooth and pretty uneventful pregnancy (until the end when i made a few silly decisions that i would definitely change if i had my time over but never mind) with little morning sickness again and not a lot of tiredness.

I didn't get the birth i wanted this time around but alas sometimes you can not have it all, here is Kyan's birth story:

Kyan was due on 30th Dec but I knew he wouldn’t arrive early or on time. Izaak was a week overdue so I wasn’t expecting anything less from baby no.2. My midwife who looked after me throughout my entire pregnancy was leaving to go on holidays on the 3rd of Jan so I really wanted the baby to arrive by then so that she could deliver and she was keen for me to have him before then too.

So... two days before my due date she did a stretch and sweep to get things moving along a bit and I was already about 2cm dilated. That was unsuccessful so she did another on my due date when she discovered I was 4cm dilated and then another, the day after that. None of them really did anything except give me strong non-painful Braxton hicks which I’d been having for a couple of weeks anyway.

I woke up on Thursday the 3rd of January still having the strong Braxton hicks. I went about my morning as usual and realized they were coming about every 7mins. I didn’t want them to stop so i started pacing up and down my lounge room; my DP thought I was crazy. I did this for an hour or so and they still hadn’t changed, coming every 7mins or so but not painful. I decided to ring my midwife and let her know what was going on and ask what I should do. I spoke to my back-up midwife and she suggested i take some panadol and lie down incase to conserve my energy incase it was the real deal.

I went to lay down for awhile when the phone rang at midday and it was my midwife ringing to see how I was feeling. Contractions had stopped while I was resting and my midwife said that she would talk to the midwife in charge of the birth centre and see if she thought breaking my waters was a good idea because I had been 4cm dilated for days.

She rang me back about half an hour later and said all systems were go for that afternoon if i wanted them to break my waters but she did stress it was my choice and I didn’t have to and we could just see what happened. I decided that i was ready to meet my baby so my midwife said just get things organized and head to the hospital when we were ready.

We had some lunch and organized the rest of my bag and Izaak's things and dropped him at my nans. We arrived at the Birth Centre at about 3pm and my midwife said 'lets get things rolling' so i had my waters broken at 3:15pm. My contractions started about 10mins later and were full on straight away (which is exactly how my labour with Izaak started when my waters broke at home) lasting 1min or more and coming every 2mins or so.

Unfortunately my waters had mecconium in them so I was unable to stay in the Birth Centre and have my much wanted 2nd water birth. I was devastated but so caught up in the contractions that I didn’t have much time to be disappointed and upset. We started walking down to Labour and Delivery and got there and settled in the room at about 3:45pm. I started using the gas straight away as the contractions were coming thick and fast and I wasn’t coping. I hopped on the bed and leant over the back which was super comfortable (I used the same position leaning over the edge of the bath during Izaak's labour).

I started getting the urge to push at about 4:15pm and my midwife said i had to hold off from pushing until the pediatrician arrived! Let me tell you this was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do, it was impossible to stop my body from pushing as it was doing all the work itself with no help from me!! I started pushing properly at 4:20pm and my little (or not so little) man arrived at 4:30pm. He needed help breathing initially and was very mucousy.

They put a nappy on him and wiped him over briefly and then we got to have some skin to skin cuddles to try and initiate the first breastfeed. He was so mucousy he wasn’t interested in feeding at all. I delivered the placenta without the syntocin about 20mins later and was checked for tears and grazes. I was so sore initially that I was sure I’d done some damage but there was nothing!! I was shocked especially considering his weight!

I got up and had a shower at about 5:30pm and then got to dress my little man and swaddle him before leaving Labour and Delivery and walking up to the post-natal ward. We got up there and settled in at about 6:45pm and he had his first breastfeed at 7pm. That first night he was still extremely mucousy which caused him to be very unsettled but I managed and we left hospital the next afternoon.

As i said in my last blog, the 2 births couldn't have been more different. Izaak's was calm, quiet and peaceful... Kyan's was manic, super fast and im sure you would have heard me screaming from Adelaide! Unfortunately, i think that screaming rubbed off on my little man as that's all he did for the first year (? my mind is a bit sketchy) of his life. 

Ky entered the world screaming (trying to scream, he was REALLY mucousy and had to have some oxygen in the first few minutes) and in a hurry and then came the colic... he was really unsettled and often didn't sleep a lot. I was a zombie and had an 18mth old 'baby' to care for too. It was hard, really hard. I don't remember a lot of Kyan's first year, it's a haze and it's sad. 

The boy's personalities are VERY different and this is what i was referring to in relation to their births... Izaak is the calmer, more reasoning of the two. Kyan is louder, more boisterous and is a little comedian in his own right - he cracks us up. 

Until next time...

Childhood is the most beautiful of all life's seasons - Unknown.

Pregnancy, Labour, Birth & Beyond

Ever since i can remember i've had this (odd) fascination with the above... and now after having my own children i love everything about it. For as long as i can remember i've wanted to become a Midwife (which i am slowly working on) and that feeling has only intensified since having my boys also.

My pregnancy with Izaak was amazing, it was a 'breeze' so to speak. I was one of the lucky ones that i only had little morning (afternoon, evening, ALL bloody day) sickness which i experienced in the form of constant nausea for 14 weeks and also extreme tiredness especially in the afternoons. When you think about it, it can't be easy to grow a baby so no wonder i was so figgin' tired even after sleeping for 12hrs of a night and needing a 2hr nap in the arvo!

I was even luckier to have the labour and birth experience i so desired and an uncomplicated one at that! Here is the 'birth story' i typed up a few days after he arrived:

I was due on Sunday the 18^th of June and every little bit of me was determined not to go overdue so in the week leading up to this date I started rubbing clary sage oil into my belly and bathing with it, acupressure and brisk walking. To no avail Sunday came and went with no action but a moderately soft and shortening cervix discovered through an internal exam 2 days before my due date.

The Wednesday evening following my due date I started having mild contractions that were about 10 minutes apart but not becoming any stronger or closer together. I thought it was early labour so alerted the Birth Centre and went to bed to get some rest. I slept through the night and woke in the morning to find the contractions had stopped. This happened again on Thursday evening and once again they had stopped when I woke up Friday morning. I had an appointment with my midwife that afternoon at which she did another internal and a stretch and sweep. I was booked in to have my waters broken the following Monday if I hadn’t gone into labour over the weekend. I had some more mild contractions that night but had convinced myself that the baby was never coming out and ignored them and they had once again vanished when I woke up on Saturday morning. (I look back on these now and realize they were just Braxton hicks).

I went to bed at about 10:30pm on Saturday night feeling extremely restless. I dozed on and off until about 1:00am Sunday morning when I started having mild contractions again. I went back to sleep only to be woken at 3:30am with a very strong contraction. I got out of bed and went to the toilet and felt my hind waters break as I sat down. I started timing the contractions which were coming every 2-4minutes and lasting anywhere between 20 seconds and a minute long. They were intensifying quite quickly so I soon realized it wasn’t another false alarm and in fact labour. I rang the Birth Centre and as I was coping ok with the contractions and being my first baby the midwife suggested I stay at home as long as I could (which I wanted to do anyway). By 4:20am the contractions were coming every 2minutes and had intensified so much that I couldn’t time them any more. I got into the shower at 4:30am and stayed there until 5:00am when I got out and got dressed and rang the midwife again. She asked if I wanted to come in and I wasn’t sure so she said stay home a little longer but call back the minute you’re not coping and then come in. By 6:00am I was ready to go to the hospital.

The car ride to the hospital was difficult as I was feeling nauseated but the contractions slowed down a bit so I got some rest in between. We arrived at the hospital at 6:45am and went straight into one of the Birth Centre rooms. I dealt with the contractions by walking around a bit and also by leaning over the sink (cause’ I was still feeling really sick).

 My mum arrived not long after we did so she could see the birth of her first grandchild. At about 7:15am my midwife Jo (who I had become familiar with after having my four previous appointments with) did an internal and found that I was 3-4cm dilated. She then asked if I wanted them to run the bath and I told them I definitely did as the contractions were coming thick and fast and I was having trouble breathing through and coping with them. It took about 15 minutes for the bath to fill and once my body hit the warm water I completely relaxed (about 7:30am).It was at this stage that my student midwife Lindsay arrived. Although the contractions were still coming as intense and fast as before the water really helped to take the edge off them. I was in the water for about ½ an hour (about 8:00am) when I was no longer coping with the contractions as well as I was when I first entered the bath. It was at this stage I asked for some pain relief and started using the gas. This worked fantastically for me and soon I was no longer feeling the intensity of the contractions, which was great as I relaxed even more. At about 9:30am as each contraction came I felt the urge to push and my body also started involuntarily pushing for me. For me the pushing stage was not painful at all and I actually enjoyed it very much. I didn’t get the stinging sensation that had been described to me, as I was pushing the head out, only the feeling of euphoria as I knew that each push was bringing me closer to the moment I would meet my baby.

Izaak Ashley entered the world at 9:47am, peacefully into the water. He was then placed on my chest for our first cuddle. He weighed 8lb 11oz and was 51.5cm long… I got away with just two small grazes.

Contrasting the two birth experiences i had with the boys often has me pondering about their personalities and the sleep behaviours... Izaak entered the world calmly and into a serene environment, he barely cried and was an amazing feeder and sleeper from the word go. Kyan on the other hand, well that's a story for another time and i will save that for Pregnancy, Labour, Birth & Beyond part 2...