six months old

smalls is six months old

She's sitting up and trying like caraaazy to crawl. She'll lean, pop her hands down, rise up on all fours and then...face plant. I'm not sure how long it will take her but she's keen to be moving round with her big sister.

She continues to be a happy little fella but much more in a routine than Lucy ever has been. When it's sleep time she really has to sleep and won't be strung on by social interaction. We may have ourselves an introvert.

She adores her big sister and Lucy really loves trying to pick Norah up from aforementioned face plants. She's not quite strong enough yet. Lucy's been teaching Norah to talk,

"Ask nicely baby."

"You have to talk baby."

"Say hello Lucy."

"Say thank you."

Norah's been chugging away at solids. She's still struggling with the whole tongue thrust concept but we endure. I'm taking it as less of a nutrition thing an more of a learning how to eat thing. There's time.

She's loving milk at the moment. It's so strange for her but I'm glad. She was doing some almost whole day stretches refusing to feed and that was less than ideal.

I look at this kid and I just see Myl all the time. The smaller, cuter, girlier version but Myl just the same. 

My precious little blue eyed babe.

The capsule

I'm not sure if I'm alone here but since baby number two my body is different.

Things just ain't fitting the way they used to. I didn't notice it as much after having Lu but now I can spend some very angry time in front of my wardrobe.

A few weeks ago I did a huge vinnies cull but now I think I need to do more. In fact in thinking of getting rid of the lot (or most of it) and starting fresh.

I really like the idea of the capsule wardrobe. 

Own 10-15 items that all work together and just wear them. Forget the impossible to breastfeed in dresses, forget the tops that look weird. Forget the clothes that make me look like a teenager. ( cos I was when I got them. )

I put together one for spring and have been pretty good at keeping it but there are these clothes in my wardrobe I keep wanting to give another chance to. Each time I try, I regret it.

Let's just keep it simple.

I pretty much don't want to / can't spend more than about five minutes getting dressed in the morning if I want to avoid baby meltdown / toddler meltdown / no breakfast / running completely late / all of the above.

I like to feel comfortable but not look like I spend all day wiping bums and playing with duplo. ( even if I do )

How do you decide what to wear each day. Do you have oodles of clothes or just a capsule? Send me to your pin boards!

Tirimisu cake 2.0

For Myls birthday a few years ago I made him a tirimisu cake. You might have seen it, I posted a picture. It tasted delicious but was a little...unstable. Let's just say CREAM AVALANCHE. 

So when the college decided to have a cake making competition I decided to give it another go. I thought for weeks about cake structural integrity and here's what I  came up with. I didn't win any prizes but the cake all got eaten. That's a win in my book.

I started by baking two cakes. I used the fool proof women's weekly quick mix chocolate cake.

I baked a double batch in two tins. Then left them to cool.

I cut each cake in half except my top halves were more like domes. Not exactly what I had in mind but not a disaster.

I doused the cakes in about half a cup of coffee. I think it needed more. I would have used a bit of booze too if it had been for a different crowd.

Then it was time to prop it all up. I used tirimisu biscuits for structural integrity and cream for the glue. It worked well to keep the domey bits of cake up.

I layered up the four cakes with chocolate sauce in between the cake and the cream.

When I got to the top I put another layer of cream and grated chocolate...because obviously.

little peter rabbit

we found some leaves that had walked their way into the house the other day.

They were just the right size for little rabbit ears.

Lu and I played around with them for a while an then decided to make our very own Peter rabbit collage.

Lu is becoming a gluing and cutting pro.

That being said, she's pretty flighty when it comes to craft. We might get a good half hour in but I think I could keep crafting all day.

I'm sure she'll get there.

really just like him

My heart is heavy.

In the last little while some dear friends have shared sad stories with me. It's really got me thinking about this world we live in.

Sufjan Stevens has a song called John Wayne Gacy Jr. You may be familiar with the song or the man it is written about. On the outside he seemed like an ordinary man but underneath he was a murderer. He killed many young men and hid their bodies in his house. He was caught and brought to justice.

But what gets me is the last refrain of the song.

In my best behaviour

I am really just like him.

Look beneath the floorboards

for the secrets I have hid.

It gets me every time.

There are things we have done and things that have been done to us that we hide away. We hide them because they are not nice and they shouldn't see the light of day and yet they still remain hidden beneath our floorboards.

I'm not suggesting we bear our hearts on our sleeves all the time in fact I'm not suggesting anything. I'm just realising that my heart is always breaking for this world and longing for a different one.

I think about the times that I hold myself up against others and find myself wanting. The thing is that I see myself. I see the creaks and cracks that lie underneath the floorboards.

What I don't see is the things they have suffered. I don't see their pain, guilt, suffering, longing. We are all in the same boat. We have all been broken.

As a Christian I know there is hope. I know there is repair but for now, for this moment I just want to sit in that thought. I want to remember how bad it got before it got better.

I want to weep for my friends who suffered something no person should ever have to. I want to stand in unity with them and say I see you.

I want to long for a day when things might be put right. When in stead of being just like a gruesome murderer hiding my secrets away I can be the way I was created to be.

Just like Him.

38/52

 

little one - always moving. riding her bike in a dress. I'm wondering when she'll get the hang of coasting. She seems to have inherited my gross motor skills. Giving it a red hot go.

smalls - I could just eat those sweet chubby legs.

Our day in pictures

7:00 I woke up to a drizzly grey day. Myl and I have been trying to get up early together to read the bible, pray and have breakfast. Myl looks after Norah while Lucy snoozes on upstairs. She had a long day.

I'm reading through Ecclesiastes trying to figure out the meaning of life. Chapter one down. I think it's going to be a long process.

9:00 Myl heads to work, Lucy wakes up and it's time for Norah to go back to sleep. Because its raining I can't possibly do any laundry. How sad.

Lucy and I snuggle in her bed to read books and watch the rain. I must have had a big day the day before because I just can't keep my eyes open. I fall asleep. Lucy does too.

12:00 I wake up to the sounds of a little baby chattering away to herself. da da da ba da. I lie down next to her and take video of her chittering. We smile at each other for a while.

1:00 Lucy wakes up and we all get dressed for the day. This includes gumboots for puddle jumping. It's time to go do the groceries and Lucy wants to bring ALL the things. She brings her basket of plastic food, a box of chocolates and two plastic coat hangers. We manage to leave all but the plastic fruit in the car.

2:00 Norah makes her debut in the trolley. She gets the hang of it really quickly. Lucy sits in the big part. The bad parent part. She doesn't mind, nor do I. We manage to put a few things in the trolley around the children, the bags and the plastic fruit.

Lucy helps me choose nice looking mandarins and mushrooms and a nice big broccoli. Then she snacks on a box of cherry tomatoes.

3:00 we go put undies on our heads to win free juice. Yep this happens. Lucy tells me she doesn't need to put undies on her heads. Norah just smiles.

We go get a few things at Coles but the trip is cut short by a crying baby and an emergency run to the toilet. We never get to do the last few aisles and often end up without dish washing detergent or toilet paper.

After a quick pit stop we go back upstairs for our weekly finger bun. Mama gets the first bite, Lucy gets the bun and Norah gets the paper bag. Everyone is happy.

4:00 we get home just as Myl does. He brings in the shopping and we play a while. I practice my new cajon along with some music and Myl reads books to the girls.

6:00 dinner time. Norah has to go to bed. She's had a long day. We eat ramen. I've been craving Asian food lately. Lucy monsters it. It's then time for bath and bed for Lu. She's had a long morning nap so she's not keen. Myl plays good cop while I get a start on an article I'm writing for our college women's mag.

I have a piece of birthday cake as I go.

8:00 Or maybe 9:00 Lucy is finally asleep and I'm done working for the night. Myl and I end up on the couch chatting about next year. Then cause we want to get up early the next morning we head to bed.

36/52

at granny and waa waas

little one - would you like some help? No, I can do it myself.

smalls - hardly sitting still. playing with all the things.

a helping hand

I've got a favour to ask of you all.

As part of research into women’s news media websites my friend Kate is conducting an online survey for readers of the website Daily Life. Kate is a really talented writer. She has used her gifts far and wide. She's also a really lovely gal.

If you’ve ever accessed that site (even just once), she’d very, very much appreciate it if you could fill it out. The survey takes five minutes and can be found here:https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/dailylifereadersurvey

I'm off to fill it out right now...

35/52

little one - throwing a ball round with dada. she calls it piggy in the middle.

smalls - everything goes straight to the mouth. when all else fails, fingers will do.

five months old

smalls is five months old.

We should rename her smiles as this is what she likes to do. As it is she has been given the name Baby Norah so heaven knows what we'll do when she is no longer a baby. We also call her (we being me mostly) Baby Enny, B.N, bubsa doo and just plain Baby.

She has followed in her sisters footsteps and is sitting up. Could this mean walking at ten months too?

We've started her on solid food as she was going nuts trying to eat our food and she seems to be enjoying it. Banana, rice cereal and pumpkin have all been winners. Most importantly I'm taking it much more easily, not getting freaked out if she doesn't eat much and being fairly consistent. I think I worried about it all too much with Lucy. 

She's beginning to play. Play with toys (straight to the mouth), play with mama and dada, (peekaboo), and even play with Lu. We've taught Lucy that when Norah begins to make cry noises you need to STOP what you are doing. Lucy stops...sometimes. Even though she can be a bit overly affectionate, Norah seems to adore her big sister and her face lights up when she sees her. Lucy likes her little baby too and gets particularly excited when she has no clothes on. "Nekked a bebe!"

I feel like such a better mama this time. I feel I can interpret Norah's needs way better than I could with Lucy. Though she doesn't have as much one on one time and always has to compete with a noisier big sister, I think Smalls is getting a higher standard of parenting. Ha ha!

She is our little joy baby. My happy little thing who naps by herself! She's just slotted into our little family so very well and baby Nor-ah we adore y-ah.

Good days and...

In our family we have some really good good days.

Like Saturdays, I think we do Saturday well. It's myl's only day off and so we try to free it up for some good old family time.

We hit the markets down the road. Sip coffee and juice and eat fresh cherry tomatoes and blinis.

We might go for a picnic or get froyo.

We go exploring in the city or at the zoo. We ride busses trains and ferries.

Saturday is usually a good day.

But some days are not so good.

Today was a bit like that. 

Myl comes home to littlebitflustered wife. 

We've had a few too many tears, a few to many no's. Too much laundry and not enough fresh air.

We went for a walk to redeem the day but endured a little too much grizzle and had to end it early. Quick silent dinner. Bath. Bed.

On not so good days it's easy to look at my little family and think about taking it back to the family shop.

But then I remember those good days. Or the moment on the notso day when a little voice piped up between sobs and whines to tell me she could hear froggies "ribbit ribbit."

The kiddos are clean, in fresh pyjamas and fast asleep. I'll go downstairs, sit next to my husband and look at cute photos and videos of our little babes.

We'll try to reclaim this notsogood day and fill it's end with joy.

What do you do to redeem your day?