Motherhood 2.4 years on!!!

Marley’s just shown such a funny side to his personality this past month.  He’s taken a liking to placing buckets on his head.  He has even managed to get a few buckets stuck awkwardly on his little head causing waves of panicky screams and so I went out and bought him a bucket specifically for his head.  Today he found and tried out the rice cooker and yes, another good fit!  He’s actually taken to hats, buckets, beads, sunglasses, watches, bags, bangles, face masks, a tiara, anything that involves adorning himself, and unfortunately that still includes my make-up which I regularly find him dipping into. 

His speech has come along in leaps and bounds, asking me just the other day “Mumma, are you okay?”  You could have knocked me over with a feather.  He’s a little more willing to repeat words I initiate but still not all that giving.  I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s all in there and he’ll start talking when he’s well and truly ready.  He’s recently asked ‘Where’s Bai?’, said “Look at Bailey”, and his favourite is to knock at the door and ask “Who’s there?”

Another new quirk is to eat with his eyes closed.  This kind of play has been extended into chasing Bailey with his eyes closed which is a bit of a worry, especially considering the state of our house as we pack to move.  Marley’s been so patient as his usual play dates have been sacrificed in order for me to get on with the job of packing and he’s been watching dvd’s and video’s to allow me to get on with things; but this has it’s price.  He had a day of protest piddles one day and insists on getting out of bed at least a couple of times each night before finally settling down.  He has learnt that he is King of agility in our household; now that his high chair is packed away and he’s expected to stay put on his seat at the the table, he has learnt that we simply can’t catch him as he dodges past our reach from underneath the dining table.  He giggles and Tim and I stifle our laughs and try to sound very serious while he makes a complete mockery of us.  It’s hilarious but can also be very annoying!

Marley seems to understand that something big is going on.  I’ve been playing him a dvd of the house we’re moving to in an effort to help him feel familiar with it.  He pointed to a picture of our old house and said ‘go’ the other day.  Marley and Bailey are going to miss each other terribly and so this move will be bitter sweet.  I’ll miss them all too. 

Motherhood 2.3 years on!!!

I have one of those ‘naughty’ kids.  The kind of child that people probably raise their eyebrows at, the kind of child that the nurse in the Dr’s office has had to ask me to keep away from the water cooler.  He’s always been a model child, he’s been the one who’ll sit at the table at cafes and who can be easily entertained but all of that seems to have changed in just one afternoon.  Perhaps he’s a little like his dad and tends to get ‘moody’ if he misses out on his sleep and maybe today’s not the best day for me to write an update on my ‘angel’ especially considering he only managed a 15 minute afternoon sleep and my views and his behaviour MAY have been coloured by his being over tired.  Marley’s going to grow up with a real affinity for apes considering how often I call him a monkey these days.  He’s very into squealing at the moment.  When he first started I was quite pleased and a little disappointed.  I was pleased because as a singer I liked to see him experimenting with his vocals and disappointed because I felt he was being reserved and I felt he had more to give (Tim disagreed with me on this).  Today however he found his inner squeal, a boundless squeal that only need be heard once but he felt like giving and so gave it over and over, I found myself apologising to those around us.  I felt like saying, ‘he’s a really good boy, he’s not a spoilt brat, he’s not a menace to society, he’s only just found his squeal and he’s experimenting….don’t you remember what it was like to really let go and make some noise??? this is a wonderful thing’ isn’t it??? Well first and second time I thought it was but sitting in the doctor’s surgery this afternoon as the last patients for the day, his squeal had me reeling and I’m sure the poor nurses were delighted to hear it at the end of a long week, not once but twice.  Yes, he’s found his voice. 

Marley’s growth this past month has been huge. His feet are massive, he’s tall and people are constantly commenting on his height.  He has a head of curls that are getting long enough for us to consider his first haircut.  He sleeps happily all night in his bed but enjoys snuggling up to me in the mornings as he has done for months.  He’s started to show interest in mega blocks and understands a lot more than he used to.  He asks for Bay in a questioning tone each day and points to the door way from where Bailey seems to magically appear most afternoons after school.  I say ‘No, Bailey’s at school, he’ll come and play later’ and Marley puts his hands over his face and drops his head.  He ADORES Bailey.  We’ll be moving back to Melbourne in a little more than a month and I feel so sad that they’ll be parted… I have to tell myself to focus on the bigger picture. Marley’s begun to cry at playgrounds when other children leave.  This lead me to take steps to put him into a day or 2 of child care but on the day I took Mar to have a play he ended up being bitten to the point of bleeding by another child and so that plan has been put on hold until we move. 

Marley’s started to say ‘Oh Goh’ which sounds very close to ‘Oh God’, ‘Go away’ and ‘Cool’ to name a few new phrases.  His favourite word is Ee-ole (icypole) usually associated with rapid pointing to the freezer or often he makes things so much clearer by helping himself to the freezer and bringing me an icypole to unwrap for him.  Little monkey!  I think the biggest change in him has been his attitude.  He really is fast and funny, he dances at everything and goes from unbelievably serious to kooky.  That’s a great word to describe Marley, KOOKY.  That’s what my sister calls him, a Kooky kid and it’s true.  The other day along with a gazillion other parents I watched my child from the perimeter of of the shopping centre kids play area.  I watched him as he interacted with children bigger and smaller than he is, I watched his approach, how fairly he played and how confident he appeared.  I felt so proud but then he just made me laugh so much.  He took it upon himself to individually engage the nearby adults waiting patiently for their children as they play.  He went up to a lady or a man and quietly but confidently began his monologue.  This involved a series of arm and head motions.  He threw in the odd shoulder shrug and some very strong arm swings.  He spoke softly and had these poor parents unsure if they might offend him by their lack of understanding or if they should just play along.  He was insistent and very funny, god I laughed.  I swear he’s picked these exaggerated gestures up from “Fifi forget me not and the flowertots”.  He’s so funny!

Motherhood 2.2 years on!!!

Marley’s facial expressions have become far more exaggerated, especially his sad face!  It’s like he’s learned to stretch his mouth into an uncomfortably downward position with the sole purpose of imploring sympathy.  It’s such a pathetic little face he puts on when he’s upset, it’s actually laughable.  It’s like a clown-sad face with every muscle in his little face working terribly hard to drag that mouth into an upside down U.  He exaggerates happy too…and that just makes us melt.  His eyes squint with laughter and smiles and he makes everyone around him smile   He’s well aware that everyone watches everything he does now.  He is the warm giver of cuddles and kisses but as quickly as he allows such intimacy he will simply refuse it until he is well and truly begged….this cold hearted power is usually reserved for his Dadda and his aunty Cathie who always impress him with the amount of begging they’re prepared to do before he throws them a crum of a cuddle with a light hearted tap tap tap on their back as he does so.  Little monkey!  He’s very much into group hugs now too.  He loves to hook his little arms around both Tim and my necks and snuggle in for a group hug which of course is a beautiful thing. 

Marley is driving me to despair with his fascination with our poor little dog Sandy.  I’ve had to take a very firm stance and not let Marley into Sandy’s basket at all because he simply harasses her. He pushes her along sideways with little steps…pushing her with his legs as he walks forward, all the while he’s looking at me for my response.  Sandy doesn’t like it, she doesn’t like it when he pushes down on her back or when she’s lying down and he pushes on her stomach or continually picks up her feet while she’s standing, she doesn’t like it and it infuriates me.  SO, Sandy’s basket has to be her one sanctuary, but NO, Marley climbs into it at every opportunity.  My response to that is to immediately put Sandy outside which is probably unfair on poor Sandy but Marley has to learn to leave her alone.  She’s such a good dog but even she has started to growl a couple of times.  I find that very frightening, but then again, she seems to go up to Marley as much as he goes to her.  She follows him around and at night she sneaks into his bedroom and sleeps beside his bed.  It’s a funny relationship.

Speaking of Marley’s bedroom, he’s now officially in a big boy bed.  I felt a little sad packing away his cot but he’s so ready for a big bed.  Mostly he’s been very happy in his bed but has made a few middle of the night treks to our bed, one of those resulting in hitting his head against the door jam in the dark…you’d think that would be the perfect natural consequence for getting out of bed and walking in the dark but no, it has continued on and off. 

This child is unstoppable.  There is nothing he can’t do….except pedal his trike properly.  Nothing is out of bounds are far as he’s concerned and he’ll quickly fix anything that is by moving chairs and stools around until he can see and reach whatever he wants.  He even managed to undo the chain lock on our door the other day.  He’s curious and likes to be involved in stuff.  This is a good thing really and I encourage him by getting him to stand on a chair beside the bench as I cook.  He also has a thing for ‘tea’ right now.  I’ve started giving him a little jug to pour his own ‘tea’ which he really enjoys and which almost always must be celebrated with a ‘cheers’. 

He’s chatting more to other children, he can’t resist pointing at pictures on t-shirts that impress him, he has regular phone conversations with his little friends and his language is developing slowly but surely.  In the past few days he’s said ‘where’s the car?’, ‘dadda car’, ‘whats that?’, ‘Bailey bike’ and quite a few new things that I can’t quite remember.  He points out and says colors red and blue and points to green, yellow and purple.  He’s slow to speak really but his speech seems to be kicking in now.  He does a lot of exclaiming ‘OH NO!!!!!!’ which is usually accompanied by his little hand covering his face in a show of disappointment…normally associated with the word NO from an adult.  He’s very much into “Bum” (Brum) at the moment and I just love to hear him giggling away as he watches it.  I never encouraged him to be car crazy, in fact I’d have to say that I tried to discourage it, I’ve always provided a variety of toys and experiences and tried to avoid gender specific toys but he really does LOVE cars.  He loves his little tikes coupe and well, pretty much anything with wheels. 

The chase is always on in our house, the second his dadda walks through the door both at lunch time and after work Marley runs off giggling.  He’s such a happy little man and he loves Tim to bits.  He’s tiresome too though.  With all of the running, wiggling, squiggling and dodging that goes on in the most simple of situations…it’s exhausting.  “Marley, sit up at the table” brings about a run around the house.  He has me almost to the point of tears in Allen’s if I should ever be silly enough to let go of his hand.  I depend on the sound of his feet against the wooden floor as he runs to be able to find him.  He’s quick and agile, both of which I most surly am not. 

I’ve been having blood tests with Marley sitting on my lap watching blood being drawn.  He frowns and says ‘Oh No’ but is calmed when I say I’m ok…he respond ‘OK?’  This is his favorite thing to say right now.  He falls down deliberately, says “down” and then stands and says “Ok?”, an adaptation to that scenario is that he firmly pushes Bailey over (who at age 9 falls rather easily and dramatically) and looks him in the face asking “Ok?” as in ‘are you ok?’. 

He’s tall and thin at the moment.  A little too thin for my liking but he’s eating well and he’s healthy.  His hair is a mess of curls now, his eyes are big and blue and his lips are full and red.  He’s a gorgeous little man and gives delicious cuddles and kisses.  He also likes to play with my hair.  Enjoys airplane rides with my feet on his tummy as I lay on my back.  He is ridiculously tickleish and enjoys being massaged by a little wooden body massage thing I have.  He’s good fun and wears me thin at the same time.  He also eats all of his crusts before he considers eating the body of his sandwich…such a funny child.

Motherhood 2.1 years on!!!

Marley has done so much travel in the past month, he’s become accustomed to airports, suitcases and motels.  Captain Featherswords ‘magic buttons’ have captured his imagination and has become one of his favourite games.  He pushes eagerly at his own and in fact anyone’s chest in the hope that they’ll break into an operatic episode of rhyme and song.  He makes a funny nasally spitty kind of sound each time he presses a ‘button’ and waits with anticipation to see what magical feat might occur.  Of course most people don’t quite ‘get it’ and most children think he’s being a little pushy, but he knows what he means and that’s all that matters.  Throughout this month he has become toilet trained, even going without a nappy on the airplane.  He’s quite proud of this achievement and has managed to do it mostly without actually verbalising his need to go to the toilet, but rather, holding on for an opportunity.  I had been giving him star stickers on a chart and that combined with his love of Captain Feathersword’s magic buttons has meant that after each and every wee he pushes his chest and says ‘sta sta sta…........... STAHHHHHHHAR’  in the same sing song tone every time.  This has been a handy adaptation that’s allowed me to give him imaginary star stickers as a toileting reward.  Another toilet habit is for him when he has nothing to deliver is to say ‘NO? .....OKAY’ as though anticipating my very own words.  His use of imaginary play has really kicked in too.  He loves to have ‘tea’ and enjoys imaginary sips from tiny cups.  One of the gifts he received for his 2nd birthday was a small Wiggles car with each of the Wiggles figurines.  He has carried around those little men and that car everywhere and has them involved in all sorts of activities.  Another big achievement is Marley’s ability to stand on one leg and shake his hands.  He can’t seem to walk in a straight line without stopping momentarily to balance on one leg while the other sticks out to the side.

Mostly Marley’s a very healthy little boy but lately he’s been sicker than ever.  Add a horrible case of conjunctivitis to a very bad cold.  Coughing and blocked up, his sleep has been far from routine.  A bout of antibiotics seems to have helped.  Despite being as sick as he’s been he’s remained a pretty easy going little man.  He has travelled between Melbourne, Canberra and home mostly without complaint.  He barely eats but seems to have grown 2cm in the past month!  In between trips away Marley enjoyed a belated 2nd birthday party here at home with his friends.  It was a Wiggly party.  Before the day of that party he really showed little to no interest in his Captain Feathersword hat and sword but once he’d seen his friends use it he truly BECAME Captain Feathersword!  The other new addition to our family is his little drumset.  He LOVES it, he uses it earnestly playing along to the Wiggles. 

Most months I see massive changes in him, but this month with the illnesses and the distraction of travel and buying a home in Melbourne I’ve found it hard to think of any obvious change in him.  I will say though that even though he’s a very adaptable little boy and is so easy to travel with, we’re pleased to know we’ll finally be settling down into our own home for the first time since we left Australia in 2002 and we won’t be travelling so much.  Incidentally, the day after we hit a Kangaroo in our car, our Jack Russell found a snake in the back yard (red-belly black) and was bitten by it twice, but only after pulling it from it’s hiding place 10ft from our back door and causing it to head in Marley’s direction before wrenching it into the air.  All the while with my screaming in sheer terror.  Just a couple of signs that it’s time for us to go home to a nice concrete city.

Motherhood 2 years on!!!

Our baby boy is 2!

He’s a gentle and mischievous boy, he’s quiet and cheeky, active and adventurous.  He gallops, rolls, jumps, forward rolls, climbs and falls to the ground in dramatic crash re-enactments or pin drops backward onto our cushiony bed.  Our bed is one of his favourite places,  I often find him snuggled up on/in it during the day.  He loves to tumble and scramble away from us as we go to cuddle him on the bed.  He climbs from his cot to greet us in our bed each morning.  He rests snuggled in my arms quietly until he’s ready to take on the world.  He leaves his mum and dad in a partial slumber and goes to the lounge where he first turns on my computer and then the television. 

He loves books, The Wiggles, Teletubbies and Thomas the tank Engine.  He’s fascinated by heavy machinery, cars and motorbikes and nothing calms him as well as a pen and paper.  I would describe him as extremely musical.  I say this because he a responds so well to music. He dances and manages to anticipate and enact motions and movements of the Wiggles in the same way that Tim’s mum described Tim as a child anticipating the priest, raising the holy Eucharist in Church with his arms stretched to the heavens each Sunday and blessing the congregation with the power anointed by Christ himself.  His guitar is still a favourite but his preference at this moment is to gallop.  It’s a new trick and he’s good at it.  Marley is very affectionate and lately insists that his blown kisses are caught as he fires them at us like a machine gun.  He gives the most precious cuddles and yummy kisses.  When he’s tired at night it’s not uncommon to find he has put himself to bed, fully clothed and under his doona.  He’s a funny lad.

Physically he’s a tallish boy (186cms) and has a lovely covering making him look very healthy (13.5kgs).  He eats very well and sleeps very well.  He’s ready for a big boy bed and is ready to say start toilet training in earnest.  I’ve been letting him sit on the potty and he usually responds with a wee, the odd pooh and a dryer nappy for longer periods, so I’ll start him in knickers with the warmer weather.

Marley has given us a few scares with his adventurous and curious nature.  Today I had put him down for his day sleep and went about my duties.  After 45mins I stepped out the front door to find Marley who had gone to bed in only a nappy and t-shirt, stomping in the muddy puddles.  He’d gone out of his bedroom, into ours and out of our bedroom doorway to outside and had walked around the house.  This is the 2nd time I’ve discovered him playing in the mud but the first time it has happened when I was so sure I knew he was in bed asleep! Cheeky monkey.  Tomorrow is officially Marley’s 2nd birthday and we will take an aeroplane ride to Melbourne which I know he’ll love.  He has tickets to see the Wiggles courtesy of aunty Cathie in December and a Wiggles wheely travel bag full of toys and tricycle from his mum and dad. What a lucky boy. 

We love you our darling Marley Moo.  Each and every day your Dadda and I swell with pride as we watch you grow to be such a wonderful little man.  We’re so lucky to have you gorgeous boy.

Motherhood 23 months on….

So much is changing.  Marley’s comprehension is amazing.  While he’s still not speaking the ‘Queen’s English’, he certainly has a good understanding of it.  The other week I was astonished when I’d asked him ‘Where’s the Mmmmm for Marley?’ referring to his little lap top and he immediately pushed M.  He did the same for J, R, S, A, G and L.  He’s clever!  I was blown away that he was able to identify those letters with little to no coaching from me.  He plays with his lap top in the car and it’s obviously very educational!  Gosh.  Marley’s taken to jumping on our bed as though it’s a trampoline.  A big jump up in the air and legs are thrown forward so that he lands on his bum.  He tried that once on the carpet but didn’t take to it which is a good thing.  The other thing he does is stands up on the bed and does a backwards pin drop type fall landing flat on his back on the lovely soft and bouncy bed…at this stage I’m hoping he doesn’t give that one a try on the carpet. 

It must be almost a month ago that Marley pulled a steaming hot cup of tea onto himself.  It was awful but thankfully he’s healing so well.  While the burns were large blisters of skin immediately, in the end they were superficial burns and are healing quickly. 

Some of the changes…
A couple of times during sleep time he’s started giggling for seemingly no reason, he must’ve been thinking of something funny. 
He gives extremely cheeky looks during dinner, like he’s trying to make us laugh.
He actually took a toy from another child on Tuesday, that’s the first time I’ve ever seen him do that.
He’s a lot more interested in other children than he used to be.
He loves painting, drawing and pasting. 
He’s very very easy to manage and will always settle with a pen and paper.
He knows every scene of his Wiggles dvd’s and has favorite scenes and songs and dvd’s.
He feeds himself totally, he’s done that for a long time but has tended to get lazy at some stage in the meal, now he’s eating whole meals with no encouragement from me.
He LOVES his mum and his dad, loves morning cuddle time and the last couch cuddles before bed.
Has had some successful practice runs on the potty.
He loves to roll everywhere, that’s when he’s not jumping.
He’s constantly hiding and running away from us around the house which always ends in lots of laughter all around.
He loves Sandy our Jack Russell and lets her in and out of the house and tries to ride her like a horse when he thinks no one’s looking.
He can open the car door from the inside of the car.
Loves driving on my lap along the drive way up to aunty Cathie’s bipping the horn all of the way.
Loves it when I play my guitar.
Enjoys dancing SO MUCH!
Positions Tim and my faces so that we’re looking at what he wants us to look at.
Stages us to clap our hands in symphony and resets our hands when we’ve lost interest.

He’s a beautiful beautiful gentle boy with a very cheeky and mischievous streak.  He’s almost 2!!

Motherhood 22 months on….

My baby, my little baby boy is growing tall and lean.  His pot belly is becoming flat and his hands and fingers long.  He jumps and jumps up and down all day long.  He’s so proud of getting both feet off the ground at the same time that he just has to keep jumping over and over again.  He is easily amused by burping sounds thanks to the McD’s baby shrek doll and is repeating some single words and using words whenever and where ever he likes which is fairly rare.  It may be that I just don’t understand him.  He puts his head to the side, follows my face and eyes with his own as if he’s being ultra sincere and just tells me so much stuff that I don’t understand. It’s very funny.  He’s very funny. 

This past month Marley managed to scare the hell out of us on a couple of occasions.  One was when he and I were having a lovely playful morning and he ran after me into the bedroom and tripped and fell face first onto the corner edge of our bed.  This resulted in a 2 hr drive to Canberra and some plastic surgery performed on the space between his nose and his top lip.  It’s healing very very well considering how awful it was and hopefully he won’t scar much at all.  That was one of the most horrible days of my life.  A week or 2 later his left leg just kept giving way on him and he couldn’t walk without falling and was unable to pull himself up to a standing position or to walk up or down steps.  Again, quite frightening especially considering he hadn’t injured his leg at all.  The Dr took it seriously and sent us home with forms for a brain scan should his leg not improve.  Thankfully his leg did improve and he was back to normal the following day. The Dr thought it might have been a virus. 

During this month Marley has developed an aversion to doctors, hospitals, blood tests and even cried when I had one done the other day.  He had nightmares for a couple of weeks after the injury to his face and has become very stand-offish when being examined by the doctor.  All of this but he still managed to dance to the wiggles in his cot at the hospital.  Funny boy.  I sing him a special I love you song before bed now and he really loves it.  We did some artwork with his hand prints and made a mobile of heaps of his hand prints cut out and each time we pass it he has to give it a high five.  He has gone off his food recently, just doesn’t have much of an appetite and is only sleeping for an hour in the afternoons. 

I’ve found that until recently he’s refused to use words that anyone else instigates…eg if you were to say ‘Marley can you say Cathie???’ he’d ignore you.  If you said ‘Marley, can you say pig?’ he snorts like a pig.  The only word Marley will say when you ask him to is CAR.  Car car car car car!!!  I decided this might be a clever way to encourage him to say new words.  I started ‘Marley, can you say Car?’  and he says loudly and proudly ‘CAR’, and so I say ‘can you say TA’ and he says ‘TA’.  .....Marley can you say foot? and he says “SHOE”.  This is very typical of Marley’s use of language.  There is no doubt that he gets his message across though, nomatter what he’s trying to say. Today for example he got sick of trying to tell us something and so he walked to the table and grabbed his cup and then to the kitchen and reached up and grabbed the milk off the bench and poured himself a drink of milk!!!!!!! Tim and I nearly fell over. 

The picture above illustrates what I found him doing in the bathroom the other day when I was hastily packing our bags for a weekend away.  Turn your back, you take a risk is my new motto.

Motherhood 21 months on….

Marley has mastered the English language and as far as he’s concerned we’ve ALL got it wrong.  He is softly spoken and when he’s in the mood he has a lot to say, most of which goes straight over my head.  He understands so much that I find myself constantly shaking my head.  He’s clever but in a quiet achiever kind of way.  The other day he was saying ‘NO’ and shaking his head and I responded “YES” and nodded as I said it.  This went on for a little while before he decided he had the power to change my answer and he took my face in his hands and moved my head side to side and said ‘NO’.  It was so funny, and it wasn’t as though we were actually even debating something, it was just a little disagreement over Yes and No.
He runs so fast now.  Really proper running.  He still practices jumping up and down and manages to lift both of his feet off the ground from time to time.  He steps up steps one foot per step and is very proud of this achievement and he likes to walk up our bodies if we’re silly enough to hold his hands in a front on situation…he’s like a little mountain goat…up he’ll go without hesitation.

His attachment to Tim has really developed a lot recently.  He really does love his Dadda so much (and visa versa).  Nightly Tim and I will discuss how lucky we are to have our little man and how deeply in love we are with him.  Marley actually responds quite emotionally, giving me big juicy kisses and cuddles when I get his attention and do the signs as I say “Mumma LLLLLLOOOOOOVVVVVVESSS Marley”...it makes him melt and his response makes me melt.  He’s just such a beautiful little boy.  He’s gentle, subtle, funny, cheeky, clever, expressive, fast and has a great love for music.  His attention span is tremendous really.  I actually have to switch the tv off if I want him to take any notice of what I say.

A couple of his special gifts are his self assuredness, his ability to run fast and dodge his mum and dad like a speeding bullet, his very cool dancing and his ability to light up a room with very little effort on his part.  I wouldn’t say he’s stand offish but you have to work hard to win him over that’s for sure.  I just think he’s so funny and I’m loving being his mumma and feel so incredibly blessed.

He loves to draw…on pretty much anything….especially his shoes if I’m not looking.  He loves to play with my perfume that’s neatly stacked up on the window ledge in the bathroom.  He is still a big wiggles fan.  The other day I bought him a new wiggles dvd after he’d been such a good boy on our long trip to Victoria and the look on his face, the pleasure on receiving it was amazing!  It was as though I was passing over a the new version of Tomb Raider to a teenager.

Marley came to the gym with me today while I undertook a group training session. He sat in his pusher with a smirk on his face as he watched us all running, boxing, grunting and straining as we pushed ourselves into physical perfection.  He’s such a patient little man and is generally just so easy.  He just makes me laugh more than I can say and I love my boy to bits.

Motherhood 20 months on….

Gosh, I can’t believe Marley’s 20 mths, I suppose that makes him nearly 2!  His development has been put on fast forward this past month and he astounds me every single day with his new found knowledge and his funny quirks.  He is passionate about cars right now.  His first word when he wakes up is “car”.  His language is slowly developing with new words cropping up daily but the biggest area of growth is in his comprehension and communication.  He loves the Wiggles and The Fimbles and while he watches the dvd’s motionless and completely absorbed, he dances along to the Wiggles sound track showing off the new moves he’s learnt from the dvd.  He has picked up heaps from the Wiggles dvd’s and keeps surprising me with his new tricks. 
He’s taken to opening the kitchen cupboards where he can regardless of how often I ask him not to.  It’s like he’s just realised that my words are only words and I’ll love him even if I do get cross and thinks it’s worth the risk, so gets into my cupboards at every opportunity.  It’s obviously not a big problem or I’d have locks on all of the cupboards but it is funny to watch him take the screw driver to the hinges on the Fisher Price playhouse. 
He’s started throwing in some “um’s” into his vocabularly which I have to say sounds really funny.  “Um…..... sheiovek nesh feallw car bus, Um…..CAR!”  He’s also started with a surprised sounding intake of air every time the phone rings, I get a text message or he see’s anything exciting at all.  He snores each night when we put him down to bed, a nice loud fake “I’m going to sleep” snore which never fails to make us laugh.  He blows us a kiss from his bed and then snores or rather snorts loudlyl
He’s big enough now to stand on the chair in the kitchen and watch as I cook, he loves that and I do too.  He eats pretty much everything I give him including mild curries and pickled onions and olives. 
Today he was determined to add some new work to his latest piece of art that I’ve put on the wall.  He kept climbing up on my desk and grabbing for the pens and I kept taking him down.  Eventually he got a hold of what he was after while I was distracted and he headed straight to his drawing on the wall and started adding dots.  After each dot he would make a little pleased “hmm” sound, like he was a professional artist who was having great satisfaction in the finer details of his work.  He spent a long time working on his drawing and was so careful.  He’s a true Virgo and careful to put the lids back on each of the textas he uses. 
His favorite books now are the Wiggles books and the word books which he usually brings to me and says “CAR” as he points to the picture of the car.  He points out so many things now when I ask him ‘where’s the couch?’, ‘Where’s the duck?’ , ‘Where’s the pencil?’.  He’s gone from seemingly not really knowing for sure to confidently and actively pointing these things out.  He still refuses to say “Ta” but I’m not too worried about that.  Actually he refuses to say lots of words I know that he can say…all at his own pace.
The other night Tim went to put him to bed and I gave him a cuddle and whispered to him “I love you baby” and he whispered back to me “shba shaaaooobbaoo shubba shoo” God we laughed!  When we watch tv and anyone whispers now he starts to whisper too. 
Oh and his latest trick is to stick his finger up my nostril.  He thinks it’s hilarious and he pulls that trick out when you least expect it, and actually, I always laugh, its funny!
He’s also taken to pulling me by the hand to ‘put me’ where he wants me to be which is usually down on the ground so that he can climb all over me.  This usually happens if I’m not paying him enough attention and it’s such a lovely way of saying ‘hey mum, remember me?’, especially considering he could easily go and do something negative to get my attention.  I generally let him lead me where ever he wants me to go and it becomes a lovely little game between us.  I’ve also been running away from him at times which puts him in fits of laughter.
I’m taking great pleasure in learning who this little man is.  Watching him observe and reproduce actions, sounds and behaviours is very funny and heart warming.  He is my baby boy and I just love him SO much.

Motherhood 19 months on….

With fast deep breaths he manages to keep his own conversation going and not allow a word in edgewise….all the time spittle running over his expressive lips and down his chin.  His arms gesticulate madly, pointing, pushing the air sometimes with one hand, often with both as he engages you with his eyes, hands and words.  His own language entirely.  He travels from one activity to another, depositing items of play in the kitchen, under the table, anywhere really.  He tries and tries over and over to lift his feet off the ground in a true jump.  He wears hats only to tip his head upside down in an effort to get them off without using his hands.  He helps himself to the fridge, opens the sliding and front doors of the house, opens the car door, takes his shoes off and drops to the ground when I insist he should hold my hand on an outing.  He slinks away quietly to his bedroom and takes every book off the shelf as he finds the book he wants…he then sits and reads quietly.

He loves his guitar which he plays every day, he also sings along and dances as he plays. 
Marley LOVES the Wiggles, New MacDonalds Farm, Sesame Street and Playschool.  Marley HATES being asked to say TA.  Ask him to say Ta (which he can do) and you’ll see the most hilarious series of physical movements amounting to an attempted tantrum that has me hiding my laughter.  Ask him what a duck says and he’ll snort like a pig, ask him what dog says and he’ll snort like a pig, ask him what a pig says and he’ll snort like a pig.  He absolutely refuses to verbalise any other animal sounds but I’m sure he knows more than he lets on.
He’s cheeky with his mum and dad.  Offers kisses to mum (or dad) and refuses to kiss dad (or mum).  He thinks it’s a wonderful thing to jump on my back at any given opportunity and he clearly understands so much more than before.  He’s able to communicate most of his needs to me through a series of pointing and grunting with a little moan twist.  He actually laughs when I tell him I don’t know what he’s saying, I say “what does ooooooohhhhaaahhhh mean????” and he gets the giggles.  Working with him on packing away, saying Ta and holding my hand when walking in public.

ME, I’m ready to go back to work.  Ideally I’d like 2 days a week and I think Marley would benefit from a child care setting.  I ADORE my baby boy! He’s growing way too fast and I’m longing to hold a new baby to my breast again.  It’s hard to put into words the satisfaction, love, pride, adoration I feel in relation to Marley.  I constantly long to hold and kiss him, to cuddle and tickle him.

hCG levels and pregnancy tests

hCG production starts just a few days after conception, before implantation in the uterus and enters the mother’s circulation almost immediately after implantation of the embyo (blastocyst) which typically occurs 7-10 days after ovulation.  The tiny amount of hCG that enters the mother’s circulation at implantation (

<5mlU/ml in blood) is too small to be detected by pregnancy tests but is sufficient to stimulate the corpus luteum of the ovary to produce progesterone.

The concentration of hCG in the circulation rises exponentially, doubling every 2-3 days. By the first day of a missed period the average hCG level is about 100mlU/ml but there is a big variation in hCG levels at this time with normal levels ranging from 5-450mlU/ml in blood samples. hCG can also be produced by early pregnancy loss or pregnancies that fail to implant properly. It is suggested to wait 3 days after missing a period when results will be clearer.

hCG reaches it's peak in about the 10th week of pregnancy at which time the extremes of normal levels are approximately 5000 to 150,000 mlU/ml. In the next 10 weeks hCG levels decline with a wide variation in concentrations ranging from 2,000 to 50,000 mlU/ml and remain at this concentration until term. hCG levels are 30-50% higher in twin and multiple gestations.

These are the facts, but the emotions associated with trying to conceive, pregnancy and testing are a completely different thing. 
It is advisable to wait until AF is due or overdue to test but it’s near impossible to wait when you know that the outcome makes the world of difference to you.  People test early for different reasons.  To confirm what they believe to be true or hope to be true or like me, to be let down gently and to get my head around the inevitability of a negative result or the arrival of my period.  I don’t think there’s any right or easy way to approach the issue of testing but it’s important to keep the facts in mind. 

If your hCG levels are too low tests will not pick up on your pregnancy.  False negative’s are very common and can cause a great deal of disappointment.  Tests should be read within the given time frame and not after.  Line’s that appear after the testing time frame (evaporation lines) are not considered positive despite sometimes looking undeniably positive.  This can be very frustrating and terribly disappointing.  Always follow the manufacturers directions and because hCG levels are highest in first morning urine, you’re best to test then, especially if testing early. 

Although most tests claim to be 99%  accurate, comparisons between tests and their sensitivity levels as opposed to their claimed sensitivity level differ and should be taken into consideration. 
Discuss this along with your experiences in the forums.

Motherhood 18 months on….

I can’t quite believe Marley’s a year and a half old!
He’s changing and growing so quickly.  I find myself scrambling to record new developments on a daily basis. 

You know that tingly feeling in your hands when you walk bare foot on a tin roof from quite a high peak? I have memories of hot corrugated iron that’s kind of dusty and my bare feet sliding…. WELL, back to the point, that’s what happens to my hands when I pick Marley up these days and I’m not joking.  He wriggles so much and slides out of my arms so easily that my hands tingle.  He straightens out his body, arms up in the air and wriggles to the point where he literally slides through my arms! He does this whenever I pick him up to do some task, like bath, eat, sleep.  He actually thinks it’s all part of a game and is just the icing on the cake after the big chase around the table, through the chair legs and behind the couch.  He is the most difficult child to pick up these days.  I’ve got to the point where it’s easier for me to hang him by his feet for our short walks to change his nappy. 

This past week Marley has blown me away on a couple of occasions.  Firstly he’s started saying “Go car” and I suspect he’s trying to say I love you but it sounds more like “e- o -ooh”  and is generally said while he cuddles me and pats my back and usually after I’ve just said ‘I love you’.  Also, the other day as Tim and I stood by Marley who was lying on the change table, I told Tim that that day we’d seen another baby of the same age as Marley who responded with great big waves and blew smoochy kisses to us when his mum told him to.  I was laughing with Tim about how Marley just stood there looking at this child with a blank expression.  Just as I said that Marley’s not blowing kisses yet Marley smooched his hand rather loudly and blew us a kiss!  Tim thought I was setting him up and that Marley had been blowing kisses before this time but honestly he hadn’t and he’d decided to surprise us both, and just to be sure we knew he was well and truly capable, he blew us another kiss.  Tim and I laughed so much!

Another change is that if Marley’s teddy ‘Minty’ is not in his cot when he goes to bed Marley usually cries while I go to retrieve him.  NOW, if Minty’s not there, I say “Minty…where are you?  where’s Minty?” and I continue this kind of banter until I deliver him to Marley who is laughing his head off by this point.  It’s like he understands now that the wait is ok and he trusts that I’m going to get Minty for him and he actually takes pleasure in the process of search and rescue that he gets to hear taking place from his bedroom.

As a mum I suppose I’m just filled to the brim with pride as our little boy’s personality unfolds.  Each and every month I think that this is the best time and all I can say is that if it continues like this I’ll never want him to leave home. 

Preparing for pregnancy

I would say that deciding to have a baby is one of the most monumental decisions a couple can make.  One of the first things I did when we decided to start trying for our baby was went searching for information about this whole new world we were about to embark on.  It’s amazing how little we know about our fertility until we come to face it.  I’ve compiled a ‘to do’ list covering some of the issues relating to pregnancy and conception for those of you who are interested.

PHYSICALLY
Ideally couples should allow 3 months to prepare their bodies for conception.  Both men and women’s health will affect the chances of conception which can take up to 12 months for a healthy fertile couple. 

WOMEN’S HEALTH
Blood tests for Rubella immunity and a check up with your doctor is highly recommended in preparation for pregnancy.  Discuss with your doctor any medications you are on to determine their safety in pregnancy. 

MEN’S HEALTH
Sperm take 3 months in the making and so what men do now will effect the quality of their sperm in 3 months time.  Sperm can be effected by overheating, bike riding, hot baths, marijuana, cigarettes and stress to name a few.  Zinc is recommended for men who are trying to conceive.  Once again a healthy diet can help to improve sperm quality. 

NUTRITION
Women should be taking at least 500 microgram of folic acid daily, preferably 3 months prior to conception or as soon as she is aware she’s pregnant.  Folic acid helps to prevent neural tube defects, such as spina bifida, in your baby. Some women, for example, those with a family history of neural tube defects my need a higher dose (usually 5 milligram daily) and should consult their doctor.

Along with following a healthy diet including proteins, fruits and vegetables, women should take pre-pregnancy multivitamins.  Its important to take multivitamins specifically relating to pregnancy to avoid high doses of Vitamin A which is not recommended in pregnancy. Pregnancy formulas will usually also contain the required dose of folic acid, so taking a separate folic acid supplement may not be required. Also, some herbal ingredients found in many general women’s vitamin supplements may not be suitable to use during pregnancy.

In pregnancy women should avoid foods which may carry a bacteria known as Lysteria which can be dangerous to your unborn child.  These foods include…
Shellfish
Uncooked eggs
Uncooked meats
Soft cheeses

Also not recommended in pregnancy
Smoking
Alcohol
and Caffeine.

WEIGHT
Being over or under weight can have ill effects of your ability to conceive.  In both cases a woman’s ability to ovulate may be affected.  Doctors recommend that both men and women are within their healthy weight range.  A healthy weight gain in pregnancy (usually up to around 13kgs) is also recommended.

FINANCIALLY
Having a baby is opening a whole new world of expenses, not just hospital expenses, but on going maintenance and educational costs.  Whether considering your first or last child, your new addition will subtract from your bank balance. 

Issues to consider include-

Space- Is your house big enough for a/another child? While they are babies you can get away with having them in your bedroom but do you have a financial plan to incorporate their growth?

Nursery Equipment.
Childcare, working mums, going onto a sole income.
Health insurance/Medical.
What financial support will your receive from the government?

EMOTIONAL WELLBEING
Lifestyle- having a baby will dramatically effect your lifestyle.  Consider if you are ready to give up your freedom to come and go on a whim.  Having a baby won’t just affect your social freedom but also your financial freedom. 

RELATIONSHIP
Is your relationship stable enough to weather the sleepless nights and possible jealousy issues of having a baby?  While having a baby with your life partner can be one of life’s most fulfilling experiences, it can also add stress to your relationship.  Consider if you’re having a baby to share your love or to secure your relationship.  Have you and your partner had enough time to grow together. 

These little people we’re bringing into the world pack a powerful punch and setting yourself up to cater for them and all that they bring would never be enough to prepare a new parent for the change to come but is a very good thing to do. 

GOOD LUCK!!!

Discuss this in our forums

Full cream and Fertile

I’m medicating myself in order to boost my oestrogen levels.  OK well medicating is probably a loose term to use but according to a study conducted by Dr. Jorge Chavarro, M.D., Sc.D. and his colleagues of the Harvard School of Public Health this delicious bowl of ice-cream might just be the key to my fertility issues. 

They say that ‘Women who eat ice cream and drink whole-fat rich milk have a better chance of becoming pregnant’.  Actually I’m waiting for someone to say that this is a joke and found myself wondering if it was the 1st of April but no, it’s a serious , very reliable and well founded study involving 14,000 women. 

They suggest that women who are looking to avoid pregnancy should eat low-fat ice cream and drink skim milk, the opposite diet of women who want to become pregnant.
Researchers found that women who ate two or more portions of low-fat dairy foods a day increased their risk of ovulation-related infertility by 85%, compared with women who ate less than one portion a week.  Dr. Chavarro explained that if women ate at least one portion of high-fat dairy food a day, their risk of anovulatory infertility was 27% lower compared with women who had one high-fat dairy serving a week, or even less.

Obviously it doesn’t mean that we should all go and abandon our sensibilities, your calorie intake shouldn’t be greater than your normal healthy intake but this study certainly has my interest.  When you consider how little we understand about our hormones and the intricacies of the reproductive process, it’s easy for me to imagine how something as simple as oestrogen in foods or lack there of could effect the complicated hormonal synchronicity that occurs throughout the cycle.  Read the study.

Motherhood 17 months on.

This post is overdue because we’ve been away and Marley’s developed so much recently that I needed to give this post quite a bit of time…to gather my thoughts.
I’m having more fun with Marley than ever before but having more trouble as well.  He commonly hits his head as he throws himself backward in tantrums over the smallest of things.  Actually, I don’t think they’re tantrums at all, I think that he’s just trying out how it feels to ‘chuck one’ and is most impressed that his body has the ability to run riot at these times.  I think he’s in awe of his flinging arms and legs and his wonderfully hard head that kind of hurts him when he hits it, hurts but is more surprising than painful, plus it has the added bonus of bringing eye contact from mum and dad.  He’s becoming quite good at the tantrums but is having to work out spacial issues…you see, he doesn’t actually WANT to hurt himself, especially if he doesn’t get any attention for it in the end but he does want the drama.  Yesterday he was sitting on his baby couch with it’s back against the brick wall and I went to pick him up and he didn’t feel like it and so he through his head back and CRACK! Ooh, that was a surprise.  I think as he perfects the technique he’ll learn to be more careful about where he throws his head back or kicks his legs.

Marley has started patting my back when giving me cuddles, the other day I gave him his teddy and he cuddled and patted teddy’s back.  He’s identifying nose, ears, chin, mouth, head, hair, toes and tummy now.  I’ve suspected he’s known this stuff for a little while but he’s not been prepared to disclose what he does and doesn’t know, it’s like he’s just been keeping stuff up his baby sleeve to surprise me with later on.  He calls the cockatoo with some great “aahhhh ahhhhh ahhhhhhhhh’‘s that he MAY have witnessed his mother perform from time to time.  Has started saying single words like ‘car’, ‘go’ and today he repeated me when I said “you’re SO SILLY”.  He said “so silly” 4 times in a row and has since completely denied ever doing so.  He snorts whenever he see’s a pig and sniffs when he hears the word or sees a flower.  He drinks out of a cup without a lid now and is down to just one big milk a day.  He brings me books to read and toys he needs help with.  He has also started pulling me by the hand to get things and has helped himself to zooper doopers in the freezer on more than one occassion!  He gives me wonderful kisses, cuddles and Eskimo kisses that nearly break my boney old nose.  He’s also showing signs of having memories of situations, like for example, today he stood at the window calling the Cockatoos when I haven’t done that for at least a couple of weeks.  He anticipates song actions and is very responsive to music.  He loves television and enjoys the joke we play on him when we put our faces in his way so that he has to acknowledge us.  This makes him laugh as he strains to see the teev.  He looks at me when ever his favorite add comes on telly, like as if to say, HEY, here’s that really cool add again.  He claps his hands when we watch Dr Phil and the audience applauds.  Oh also he ‘brooms’ as he plays with cars and he now brings his sore bumps to be kissed better.  So cute!

Physically he’s running, reaching, climbing, walks sideways, backwards, on tiptoes, rides a push along motorbike, can’t quite go forward in his little tikes coupe yet, and is trying to jump.  He kicks and throws balls and has become very active.  He’s able to feed himself now and uses the pincer grasp when drawing.  His shape has changed from chubby baby to a thinner more lengthy toddler.  He pulls the most hilarious faces and spends a lot of time in whinge mode but is more practising the whinge than actually whinging.  He makes me a laugh SO much!  As a mum I’m loving this time when he gives me little bites of new aspects of his personality and his sense of humour.  He’s absolutely gorgeous and very very cuddly.  I can’t wait to have another little baby, a sibling for Marley and another little soul to get to know.