terrible

Source: fromupnorth.com via Tifaine @ on Pinterest

I didn't know whether to post this or not but in the interests of not coming across as the "perfect" parent, here it is...

My baby fell off the change table.

You know that cute leg kick she was doing in the video I posted?
She does that on the change table.

We were about to take a bath, I put her there like I always do
she kicked
I went to turn the bath on
I heard a thud
silence
a scream.

I ran and picked up that little girl lying on her tummy on the floor.
Oh no I felt terrible.
I held her
fed her
cuddled and kissed her.
I was shaking and crying.
She was calming down.

I rang Myl,
my mum.
They calmed me down.
I stopped shaking.
We stopped crying.

We cuddled all day.

Oh yes I remembered the bath... only just.

Incidentally it looked like this.

Not what a bath should look like. Hmm..
Better call the real estate agent.

Little Lu is ok. She was back to smiling and giggling in no time. She has a little red nose and forehead but is all ok.
Thank God I moved her bath seat. It was sitting right where she fell.

I've learnt some valuable parenting lessons. After talking to mum on the phone I realised how common it is for babies to fall off tables, get baths dropped on them (thanks nana), knock heads on heaters etc and still live to fight another day in style.
I also learnt that now I need to watch my little girl at all times.
This kid is mobile.

baby...uhh...???

I'm suffering from a not so rare disorder. It's called baby brain.

In the space of a week I locked the keys in the car twice.

The first time I was fetching Lucy out of her car seat. I put the keys in her car seat so that they wouldn't poke into her. I got her out of her seat then locked and closed the door. (We don't have central locking so you have to manually lock the door.) This was awkward. Myl was at college and not coming home for hours and I had no phone and no keys to get inside. I checked the boot. It was open. Thank the LORD!
So, with baby in arm I reached over the back of our hatchback and grabbed the keys out of her carseat. It was a stretch.

The second time the boot was not open. I was driving and had put the keys back in the ignition while I got the sling and started to put it on. I stood up next to the car to put it on and then once on locked and closed the door. Myl was with me but had left his bag with keys inside the car as well. We were at the shops so Myl went off and got a lovely man from Kmart Tyre and Auto at Broadway to help us out. I told him it was baby brain. He smiled and said he had a two year old and so knew all about that.

My darned baby brain also caused the loss of my mobile phone and brand new mothers day kindle from the top of the car. If only things placed absent-mindedly on the top of cars would be nice and stay where they were left. I found my phone in pieces. The kindle is missing, presumed dead.

Oh babygirl. You are certainly worth the loss of brain cells. I am just constantly distracted, thinking of your cuteness.

Guest Post - Attatchment Parenting

 Heyfolks! My lovely friend Nic has offered to do some guest posts on Attatchment Parenting. Nic has just moved to Adelaide from Sydney with her husband and sweet little boy. They are having another little treasure later in the year.I think Nic is a great mama. She really thinks carefully about how to parent and always has fantastic and considered advice. She has been such a blessing to this rookie mum.

I'm really looking forward to reading these posts and I hope you enjoy them too.

Attachment Parenting. Part One: What is Attachment Parenting?

Attachment parenting (AP) is a parenting philosophy based on the principles of attachment theory.  In AP, parents seek to develop a strong emotional bond with their children during infancy and childhood, in order to foster their child’s development and wellbeing.

Attachment parenting is not a strict set of rules or a one-size-fits-all approach; rather, AP philosophy recognises that each child, parent, and parent-child relationship are unique, and encourages parents to become confident experts in their own child.  Drs William and Martha Sears, leaders in AP theory, write that “above all, attachment parenting means opening your mind and heart to the individual needs of your baby and letting your knowledge of your child be your guide to making on-the-spot-decisions about what works best for the both of you.” (William Sears, M.D. and Martha Sears, R.N.; Attachment Parenting, p2)

In AP philosophy, building a strong emotional connection between parent and child from the early years is key in a family’s approach to sleep, feeding, care, and discipline.  Parents who learn to be sensitive to their child’s individual needs and signals, so the theory goes, are better able to read their child’s signals and meet their specific needs.  Children who feel thus secure in the knowledge that their parent is available and responsive can be more settled and confident as they grow and learn about the world.

While there are few empirical studies on the efficacy of attachment parenting, there is a significant weight of anecdotal evidence from parents and children who have found the AP approach to be both enjoyable and beneficial for their families.  Not least of these are the Sears themselves who, in addition to being pediatrics experts, have raised 8 children of their own (including one with Downs’ Syndrome) according to their philosophies! 

Perhaps one of the greatest benefits of the AP approach is its flexibility and sensitivity, equipping families with the tools and confidence to make appropriate choices for their own children, and enabling them to work out how best to love and care for their children, whatever situation or season of life they are in.   It is true that AP can be very demanding on parents, especially during the first year of infancy.  However, it is also true that it can be a deeply rewarding approach to childrearing.  We have found this to be very much the case in our own experience raising our now 25-month-old son along AP principles!

During the rest of this series, we will look in turn at each of the seven ‘attachment tools’ which form the basis of Dr Sears’ theory of AP in infancy.  These tools, or “Baby B’s”, are: Birth Bonding, Breastfeeding, Babywearing, Bed Sharing, Belief in Baby’s Cries, Balance and Boundaries, and Beware of Baby Trainers.  I’ll also share with you from my personal experiences and do my best to answer any questions which pop up along the way. 

Until next time, enjoy that baby!

Love, Nic

on the ledge...

It's a quick trip from playing "little piggies" with a toddlers toes to packing her up for college.

These were the fist words in a book on parenting I have just started reading. The moment I read them I could feel the tears welling up in my eyes and the longing in my heart.

I am standing on the very thin ledge between pregnancy and motherhood. My sweet baby girl is only days away from coming out.

I can remember when she was just an idea. When we wanted to start trying for a baby I would imagine what it would be like to be pregnant, to be a mama. I remember finding out about her. Of course she wasn't a her at the time. Just a little line on a stick. A tiny little being with all the possibilities in the world. We watched her grow as my belly swelled up. We saw her ultrasounds. I waited longingly for her first movements and cried out with joy when I firs felt her kick. We found out she was a she and watched her wriggle round in her watery home. I have felt her growing. I have watched her turn my belly into a gymnastics apparatus. She has gone from a tiny little fertilised egg to our beautiful baby girl ready to be born.

It has been a long journey but at the same time it has gone so quickly. Over the last eight or so months I have known of her existence I have fallen in love with her so deeply. She has been in my thoughts most of the time. She has been in my dreams and in my imagination.

As I sit on this ledge my imagination stretches out into the future. I am looking forward to playing little piggies with her toes but will I then blink and be packing her up to move away from home. WIll I be standing there watching her walk down the aisle to her husband thinking "Where did my little girl go?"

I'm going to get to know this little girl so well. I'm going to be her mama.

Lately God has been teaching me so much about what it means to be wise. I want so much to be wise in the way that I look after my little girl. I want to say the right things and do the right things and teach her to be wise too. God has also been teaching me about his endless grace. That wisdom comes from Him and He freely gives it to us. What a precious gift!

I want to be a mama filled with grace for my little girl too. I want to show her Gods love.

As I stand on this ledge I pray that I will remember to show her His love. I pray that I will be loving and kind and a good listener but I also pray that in the times that I am not that I will say I'm sorry, I will talk to her, I will show her grace.

My little girl is going to be out before I know it. She will grow up before my eyes and one day I will see her standing beside me as a woman. I want to feel the same way about her then as I do now. Unconditional love and endless opportunities.


It's so hard to believe that this little one will be here so soon. I want her so much. I am so humbled that God gave me to her to be her mama and Myles to be her dada. My heart longs to hold her tight, to kiss her sweet forehead and whisper that I love her.

She will be here soon. She will be small and helpless but she won't stay that way. My daughter will be born. God willing she will grow big and strong. Her heart will be for the Lord and she will be so full of life.

And I will know her so well.

free range or caged?

I was lucky enough to score a leftover ticket to go and see Lenore Skenazy of Free Range Kids yesterday afternoon with a friend.

Lenore let her nine year old son catch the subway home from the handbag department at Bloomingdales in New York after he had begged his parents to let him. She gave him a subway map, a ticket and some extra money. He arrived home safe and sound and happy.

After writing this in her newspaper column Lenore was met with a huge media backlash. She was interviewed by many people who were amazed that she could do such an irresponsible thing and labeled the "worst Mom in America."

Free Range Kids is all about letting your kids be kids and bringing them up to be safe and independent adults.

Today (mostly but not limited to the US) children are worried about and cotton wool balled so much that they do not learn to experience the world around them. Lenore gave a few reasons for this.

Media - We have news on 24/7. There used to be 30 mins of news each day on television. The media needs to fill up the time slot so we hear about every single child kidnapping or choking or accident of any kind. We watch shows like CSI which show us brutality that does not actually happen that much in reality.  These images play on our anxiety and convince us to keep children indoors so that we can watch more television.

Litigation - A popular childrens toy recently almost made a child choke. This toy had been out since 1994 and had no previous problems. Because of this almost choking the makers were so scared of being sued that they discontinued the line.

Experts - Everyone is an expert nowadays and everyone has written a book or brought out some new product to tell you that you are raising your child the WRONG way and that your fetus/infant/child/teenager is going to die or be seriously maimed by your negligence = fear.

There were so many baffling and funny stories that she told that asked the question who is the crazy one; The parent who trusts that the world is not full of murderers and molesters and lets their kid ride their bike to the library or the one who is so paranoid about everyone being a predator that they don't let their child out of their sight for a second?

link

Lenore is not saying that we don't care about safety or just let our kids wander the streets for their whole lives and she certainly is not so naive to think that there are no predators or kidnappers out there but she believes in equipping children with the knowledge and experience so that they can go out into the world and be safe and helping parents to not be reduced to quivering wrecks every time they think of their children doing something all by themselves.

It was a really amazing talk.

She has a book. I don't think you can get it in Australia so easily but it's on Amazon.