Coming up for breath

Do you hear that?  It would be the sound of me coming up for breath.

There has been a pattern which has been followed in most of my pregnancies:  I discover I'm pregnant at about five weeks; I then feel pretty good, albeit tired for the next couple of weeks; and then around seven or eight weeks the nausea hits and the vomiting begins. When that happens, I tend to go into hibernation for a few months.

This time was a little different. I felt the nausea, but only threw up a handful of times. At around fifteen weeks I found myself in a hospital room and discovered why. Sadly, we are no longer expecting another little bundle of joy to join us in August; the little bundle we had planned for had other ideas.

It's been about three weeks since that hospital stay and we've figured what's a pregnancy - even one that hasn't ended as anticipated - without a move thrown in for good measure.  Since our marriage over seven years ago, we have moved more than ten times - sometimes it has been to another town for new opportunities, sometimes for promotions, sometimes to a bigger home in anticipation of another child, sometimes downsizing to cut costs, once was even into a home of our own. So I've managed to come up for breath just in time to prepare myself for next weeks' move.

On a completely different note, yesterday was Lewis's first birthday. This little man has made it through a whole year with the Donaldson Clan, something to be celebrated... which we did by singing happy birthday to Little Lou Lou each time he woke up and each time he ate. Isobel was very generous in giving him a ball - one that was lying around the house - as a gift. To be honest, with everything going on over the past few weeks, this birthday kind of crept up on me and I wasn't at all prepared. Perhaps that should have me struck down with guilt, but in reality, Lewis  was only aware of whether or not he was getting the attention he sought, and he did pretty well with that yesterday. Perhaps we will celebrate once we have moved and settled into our new place. I can hardly wait to be in a place free of packed boxes. 

Lewis is such a happy little man. He wants to be so involved in everything that his siblings are involved in. Despite his big brother preferring to play "Lewis-free" games, Lewis is always there in his brother's face having a good old giggle at the looks he is receiving.

Lewis has recently moved into remembering exactly what is was that he was playing with - you know, the very thing that he is just not allowed to play with - and voicing his unhappiness with having had it taken from him. He remembers what he is looking for and constantly goes back to get it, even when his mother voices her discontent with the idea!

Apart from an aversion to lying still to have his nappy changed, he is an easy young man to live with and we love having him here. So to you Master Lewis, we say happy first birthday.

Christmas Day in Armidale

Christmas morning and you will note that Santa has been and  enjoyed  his milk and cookies.

Lewis getting into Christmas morning.

Uncle David and Opa enduring the opening of presents.

The car tower was the first present James opened and he was not interested in anything else for the rest of the morning - he did attempt to multi-task for a short time, but gave up and went back to the car tower... thank you Oma and Opa.

Oma dressing up in some of the children's new dress-up accessories.

Isobel introducing us to a new friend.

  

We unleashed this surprise on the children in the afternoon; a box of packing beads.  

James was particularly excited with the idea.

     Christmas at our house was a rather simple, yet enjoyable time.  We were lucky enough to enjoy the company of Uncle David, along with Oma and Opa.  As a last minute decision we decided to enjoy the big meal on Christmas Eve, thankfully so, as that opened Christmas Day up to be a much more relaxed affair.  Food preparation on the Saturday didn't quite go to plan - fire-singed chickens, roast veggies burnt to the bottom of the pan, failed pavlovas - but by the time we got to the table, we had saved enough food that we were still able to feast and even enjoy!

     Christmas morning began with the opening of presents, followed by Eggs Benedict for breakfast.  We headed off to church for a short service and then returned home to enjoy a variety of platters, which kept us going for the day.

      Our children loved the extra company and James in particular literally spent the weekend on top of either his Uncle David or his Opa... whoever he was around at the time.

     For me Christmas brought on the introduction of morning sickness; but I am happy to be dealing with a slightly less severe onslaught than I am accustomed to.  

     Here's hoping you have all had a wonderful time and are easing comfortably into 2012.  

Do you see what I see?  

I actually took in the sight as we were about to leave to collect Sean from work this afternoon.  I looked behind me and saw three car seats, each of them filled with a child, and realised that there is a reason I often take a few moments to psych myself up for any endeavour outside of the home.  And to think that there is another one to be added to the mix in the not too distant future; well, there are many different adjectives that could be used to describe the feelings I have about that.  We're going to have four under five, enough to keep me well and truly busy.  I do happily admit that my children were little angels for this particular car ride; James was asleep by the time we arrived home and we let him go straight to bed for the evening.

It's so nice to see Isobel and James more frequently and spontaneously playing and interacting with one another; lovely enough to melt this mother's heart.  Today has been a day of jumping.  Together, in pairs, individually.  Now, Isobel does plenty of jumping on any given day.  I've come to realise that for a three - almost four - year old, jumping is surely one of the strongest signs of excitement.  But today there was lots of jumping on Daddy's bed.  She had her mother join in, although not on the bed.  Encouraged by his sister's energy and the exciting beat of the music he could hear, James finally got the gist of the whole jumping thing and started to do just that, he jumped. He jumped, and jumped, and jumped again.  We're talking a real jump, with both feet off the ground.  For months he has spent his time on 'quasi jumps' (the type where his whole body goes up, yet he just can't get that one foot to leave the ground completely), and I have seen his frustrations as he was aware that these 'quasi jumps' weren't the real McCoy.  But today he did it, he got both feet off the ground and he loved it.  Yippeeeeeee!!

I'm still feeling a little surprised that we find ourselves only three sleeps out from Christmas.  Oma and Opa arrive tomorrow and Uncle David will be here Christmas Eve.  I get a bit tired of all the toys that our kids have and am always trying to cull their collection and am mindful that Christmas presents only add to the problem.  As a result we opted for re-purposed items for the children this year, thinking that at least when the toy-culling takes place, we're not adding new toys to the cycle, but rather allowing previously used toys to continue on in general rotation. Presents were wrapped and out under the tree about a week and a half into December.  You may note the boxes next to Isobel in the picture to the right; what you don't see in the picture is the half unwrapped present on the top of that pile! Mental note, don't put presents under the Christmas tree until shortly before Christmas, children struggle with the temptation.  Those presents made their way back upstairs and out of sight within a week of their initial trip down.

Anyhow, to all who read this, may your Christmas season be joyous and memorable.  I wish you all much (much love, much laughter, much happiness, much opportunity, much of all that is wonderful and bright). Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from the Donaldson Clan.

Today is Thursday and again, the working week is fast heading to a close. No, I myself do not work - well, not in the standard, paid, nine-to-five kind of job - but Sean does, and I always look forward to the weekend, as weekends are when our family gets to spend time together... and I might sneak in a little nap!!

This picture to the right was taken a few weeks ago in our back yard. The Primary President requested photos of our primary children and that meant 'photo time'. Isobel was a most willing participant; James was a little more challenging as he was focused on getting his darling little hands on the camera.

Isobel and James are both growing and developing at what seem to be extraordinarily accelerated rates - but in reality, they are merely growing and developing as two and three year-old children do.

James is catching onto the idea of talking and now wants to talk and chat about many things; numbers, the alphabet, shapes and colours being his favourites. Guaranteed, if you get his attention and hold a couple of fingers up, you'll have a willing participant in a conversation about counting.

Isobel has plenty to say about absolutely everything. She loves people (although initially cautious) and wants to be involved. Any tradesperson who walks through our doors is a sitting duck.

And then there is Lewis, lovely little Lou Lou - as Isobel loves to call him. She says that that is her 'special name' for him.

He is now nine months old and is really getting into cause and effect. He now realises that if he makes a noise, and then if I make a noise in response his noise, that if he makes that noise again, then perhaps I might just make a noise again too.

Lewis is a happy, easy-going little man who is working hard to deal with the trauma of teething. He has four big lumps pressing down on his gums, but no teeth as yet. The fact that he is sleeping through the night is much appreciated. And by sleeping through the night, I mean that he generally goes to bed before 7.00pm and doesn't tend to wake up before six. The others were much older before they allowed me to sleep through the night. So I'll say it again, the fact that Lewis sleeps through the night is much appreciated.

My little ones are just delightful - although I am prone to forgetting that at times. Keep tuned and I'll keep you up to date with the goings on in the Donaldson home.