Sarah Turns Three

Sarah trying to work out how many fingers to hold up :)

Another milestone was reached this week with Sarah turning 3. It's hard to believe she has only been 2 all this time! I think the change that happens between two and three years old is a big one - from a baby to a child, and I have certainly enjoyed watching Sarah become a little girl. This little girl is different to her older sister - where Abigail loves pretty dresses and shoes, Sarah is my leggings and gumboots girl. My bugs and worms and geckos girl. My cheeky moody girl.

As for our birthday 'traditions', the day started with her opening presents. We then had playgroup, and as it was the last for the year it was a party (great timing!). A free Subway was enjoyed for lunch (members get a free meal on their birthday; it's free to sign up); both girls love Subway. After all the morning's party food they didn't eat much though! After a short afternoon rest we went to the park and then to the shops for ice creams. A swim in the pool with her new floatie backpack was next before doing the birthday cake and having our special dinner (I usually cook something European for special occasions as that's not our usual fare, so we had roast beef, roast sweet potato and zucchini, steamed parsnip and broccoli, and coleslaw), followed of course by eating of the cake. It was a lovely day and it all went well. Very thankful that Sarah is part of our family.

A quick pictorial update

Sheehy gathering to see the Myers!

The mothers :)

Myer's children and Sheehy children. My they have grown!

Decoration for Day 1 of the Truth in the Tinsel 

Abigail had a go with the camera...

And so did Sarah :)

Our advent wreath - each night we light another candle to mark down the days to Christmas

Playdough hedgehog

At the park

Giggly gerties :)

My little girl whose confidence is growing in leaps and bounds to try new things

xx

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

I am big on Christmas traditions - it is a wonderful time to tell and tell and tell about God's love for us and His gift of Jesus. So much symbolism in Christmas (yes, even in Christmas trees and candy canes).

Our tree is now up and we are ready to start our Jesse Tree advent on Sunday using Ann Voskamp's The Greatest Gift (I'm kind of a big fan of Ann's writings; highly recommend her book One Thousand Gifts [I've just reread it recently], and her blog). 

I loved this webcast on having a sane and sacred Christmas (watch it in the evening instead of tv one night?). There is a great explanation of what a Jesse Tree is at 36:24 if you don't have time to watch the whole webcast.

And I am looking forward to doing our Christmas shopping for Jesus with the kids using Gospel for Asia's and Christian Blind Mission's Christmas gift catalogues. (We don't buy these on our loved one's behalf instead of gifts - we buy them as gifts purely for Jesus, to celebrate His 'birthday'; the accompanying gift cards are opened and read on Christmas Day as our gifts to Him).

The 6th of December is Saint Nicholas Day. Voice of the Martyrs has a great book about who he is.

This is such a wonderful time of the year to really teach our children about God's love, and His gift of Jesus - and all that that means for us. Let us be intentional about celebrating with our children and teaching them what it is all about. The Christmas Story is romantic, and it is part of a bigger love story that started at the beginning of time.

* Christmas star topper and nativity set from Oxfam (highly recommend the Nativity Set - only $34.95, fair trade / ethically made, non-toxic and sustainable wood source)
* Koorong stocks both of Ann's books. Duck out and get The Greatest Gift to follow this Christmas? Jesse tree ornaments can be downloaded from her website, or you can make your own.

Caleb's Birthday

This week started with Caleb turning one year old! So incredible to think that a year has passed since he was born. Wonderful, wonderful times. I love my fast growing little boy.

Happy Birthday little man.

Celebrating My Marriage

Establishing family traditions is something I'm keen on (particularly when it comes to Christian celebrations), and an idea I came across a few months ago and have since been doing is celebrating our anniversary date each month. The 13th of each month is now the day Jonathan and I celebrate being married. I made some heart bunting that the girls help me hang up over a picture of Jon and me. I cook a special meal AND dessert. And once the children are in bed, I read to Jonathan the last 30 days worth of entries in my Husband Gratitude Journal (I highly recommend keeping one of these - I have found it very easy to overlook my hubby's good qualities and the things he does for me at times; keeping a list has opened my eyes to notice things about him I hadn't before, and that it turn has grown my love and respect for him). It has become a day I really look forward to, and as our children grow, I hope they will glean much from it too (studies show that the best thing parents can do for their kids is to love their spouse). Oh, and clean sheets on the bed is also very nice (especially when they don't get changed as regularly as they did before child 3 arrived....) ;)

Breakfast on the Beach

After our marathon bushwalking adventure in the Bunya Mountains last year, we have come to the awareness that the kids will enjoy beach holidays over bush ones for now :) Our recent camping at Maroochydore didn't contain any beach visits (everyone has been asking if we stayed at Cotton Tree Park - no we didn't, but we plan to in the future!) as the park we were at had plenty of things to keep  us entertained (and the hassle of getting everyone ready for and getting to the beach was enough to keep us put). Remembering how much the girls enjoyed the beach when we stayed in Caloundra during winter, we decided to have a dedicated trip to the beach this weekend! And as we're not fans of the heat and glare, we left home early and had breakfast on the edge of the sand under the trees on Golden Beach. Grandma Randall joined us.

After a breakfast of sausages and bread, the kids all played in a little grove of trees that had the perfect little 'cubby hole' for them to climb in while we packed the food away. Then into togs and to the water we went! Caleb was delightful - in he went and constantly fell over as the sand shifted beneath his feet. As he lost his balance he'd walk fast to keep upright and would be out in the deep! Abigail and Sarah preferred to stay in the shallows. It was lovely.

After a good long swim, Caleb went to sleep while the girls played in the sand (with empty honey buckets and disposable spoons!). Watching them was a joy - collecting water from the sea and bringing it up the beach to make birthday cakes etc. Eventually though we had to put an end to their play so they wouldn't get sunburnt (must get long sleeve rash tops for them).

Jon took Grandma back home and then we did a stint of second hand shopping before getting Grandma again for a McDonalds lunch. (On a side note: my flimsy low ironing board broke this week. Jon wanted to get me a tall solid one. We found a suitable one for $5 at the second hand shop. Score! Thank you to God for His perfect provision at a very blessed price.)

It was a great day and we hope to have many more like it in the summers ahead. The beach isn't so bad, after all! :)

Camping in Maroochydore

It feels like we've had lots of holidays the past couple of months, what with my mum visiting from NZ, Abigail's birthday, and then my friend Kim visiting from the UK on her way to NZ. But we've been eager to go camping again so we went camping for four nights up at Maroochydore over the weekend.

As usual, we planned to avoid the holidays, so being only a couple of weeks into the school term there weren't many others pitching tents around us. Wide open space was ours to enjoy. Caleb's running around was quickly put to an end when we discovered there were prickles. I hadn't brought shoes along as whenever I had tried them on him he would YELL and fuss until they were removed. However, we ended up going out and buying him a very lightweight thin pair which he happily accepted wearing. Shoes on one's feet are better than prickles in one's feet, after all. Caleb, for those who missed it, started walking about 9 1/2 months (!); he is now almost 11 months old.

We visited Underwater World one of the days after procuring adult tickets with our FlyBuys points. The seal show was definitely a highlight, and the escape stories of the otters were also very entertaining! Caleb was fascinated by all he saw; watching his face was a pleasure. The girls still remember visiting the Sydney aquarium and enjoyed spotting various sea creatures they remembered (the sharks and sting rays hold a particular 'scary' fascination). Abigail impressed us with her classification knowledge when she pointed out a lionfish!

For the most part, our time was spent on the Maroochy Palms campsite - there was a pool, jumping pillow and playground, and quite simply, lots of open space around us. Jon and I miss being able to walk at an adult pace now that Abigail and Sarah are out of the pram (and Sarah can walk painfully slow when she chooses, which is often!), so I especially enjoyed being able to get in some 'adult walking' again - even if it was only to the kitchen and toilet blocks! I read the third book in Janette Oke's Acts of Faith Series (I am a fan of Janette Oke's writing, and this series is particularly good - it fleshes out the book of Acts and has given me much food for thought); Jon got in some golf practice, and we both enjoyed chucking a few frisbees around together. Being out on a dark campsite also makes the stars more accessible for viewing so we used Jon's monocular to look at the moon and Venus; a telescope is on our 'to buy one day' list.

On our way home we stopped in Caloundra to see Grandma Randall. And we did something new - we all went to McDonalds for lunch! (We have recently 'discovered' Hungry Jacks and have been going every week or two with the kids to get ice creams and for them to play on the playground there - a treat everyone looks forward to; the girls call themselves hungry little jacks when they know we're going there; and they have dubbed McDonalds as Old McDonalds farm). Grandma seemed to quite enjoy the change in scenery and the kids enjoyed having a romp before being bundled into the car for the 'long' drive home. And home we are all again, sun kissed and ready to meet the demands of home again.

Our Caloundra Holiday

I am finally getting some pics of our holiday in Caloundra up! We recently had one week staying in an apartment on Golden Beach. It was a nice opportunity to explore the region a bit. We went to the Eumundi Markets and got our caricatures drawn; we went to the Ginger Factory and did the train ride and took a class on bees and honey (Abigail particularly enjoyed seeing the bees; the honey {or rather, the bee spit and nectar} tasting was of course a highlight); we visited the Big Pineapple to see and feed the farm animals; we picked strawberries, visited playgrounds and beaches, caught up with Bruce and Karen, and shared meals and games of Rummikub with Grandma Randall. Jon and I were even able to play tennis together one afternoon (finally! - we've wanted to do this for a LONG time; we passed a court for hire at a golf course while picnicking at Buderim Botanic Gardens one day and decided to give it a go) while the girls and Caleb happily fetched balls for us (only two children were actually hit by the balls - and only once each :) ).

I thoroughly enjoyed our apartment having a dishwasher and a bathtub. The kids had a play in the bath each day and I got a couple of relaxing soaks in. The girls had a swim at the beach, Jon found a geo-cache, and I went to a quilt show. We have a list of things we want to go back and do that we weren't able to that week, so our future trips up the Coast will be well utilised.

Quick Update On Our Kids

Our happy chappy

I'm going to start with Sarah as she always seems to be the over looked one (dominated by her loud bossy sister). Sarah has 'suddenly' grown up so much. Her vocabulary, the 'maturity'/intelligence/understanding in her eyes and face as she converses and talks to me. I love this girl. She's our moody one, but she's learning to be self-controlled. We're slowly working on allaying her fear of hair washing at present - one of us has to hold her hands (at her insistence - for comfort), while the other washes with her 'special' new No Tears shampoo. Saturday night is hair wash night for the girls.

Our cookie monster

Abigail continues to be our loud crazy one (such a contrast to how she was as a baby!). She is looking forward to growing up and having a wedding - wearing a white dress and a veil. Last night Great Grandmas Randall and Sheehy came for dinner and Abigail discovered their stockinged feet - wearing such stockings is also now on her list of things for when she's a woman. And she is very keen to wear any of my jewellery whenever I let her (something I've only recently started wearing). My little girl is looking forward to becoming a big girl! Both girls are getting very helpful with doing jobs around the home; it is such a help! Now I'm greatly looking forward to when they can wash dishes!

Our spunky monkey

Caleb (almost 8 months old now) continues to charge through his mobility milestones. He can now climb and is practicing standing alone. He has started babbling lately which is very cute. And loud. We went to an afternoon service at Great Grandma Randall's church a couple of weeks ago and I had to stand outside with him as he kept up a steady loud sermon of his own. He likes to eat dirt and tissues. Well, any small bits of rubbish that fit in his mouth! He's finally learning the meaning of 'no' and what the 'don't touch' areas/objects are which is helping! Hopefully that means cords and plugs will soon be safe from his attention.....

May 2013 - Family Update

I had a really great May. I've really been enjoying my kids and life's happenings in general. Much to be thankful for.

This month Caleb started standing and walking with support (5 1/2 months). And a few days past the 6 month mark he started crawling and is now very proficient at it. He is also able to pull himself up and cruise around lower pieces of furniture (he has discovered that the girls' hair is useful for pulling himself up to stand which neither of them appreciate). He is a very happy little explorer and I love watching him as he discovers his world. Much delight in this little boy! He is now eating solids thrice daily (but is still feeding at least 3 times a night). This week he cut his first tooth (lower gum) and has been quite unsettled through the nights. Last night we finally pulled out the Bonjela and voila! he slept soundly for a few hours. He's doing really well with the toilet training - he often grizzles at us until we take him to the loo! Simply hold him over the toilet bowl and he pees and poops away! (We tried sitting him on the potty but he crawls straight off it and then plays with it instead....) I love not having poopy nappies to scrub each day! 

Sarah continues to love on Caleb with pats and snuggles. Abigail prefers more raucous interaction - Caleb laughs at the silly antics she performs for him and that tickles her fancy. Abigail really enjoyed a couple of Dr. Seuss books from the library this month - even being able to recite passages! Jon and I enjoy the word play in them too. Both girls have also been enjoying some Winnie-the-Pooh stories. I'm looking forward to reading through many more classics with them as they grow older. Both girls like to peel onion and garlic for me, put away the dishes, and make toast. They're getting pretty good and buttering their own too.

I had a friend and two of her littlies over one morning earlier in the month - the rest of that week the girls insisted they be called Bekky and Jessica. We visited Grandma Randall Mother's Day weekend. I visited another friend the next week - the girls have since pretended that they are Hannah and Aurora. They've also been various aunties and uncles (this morning they were fighting over who got to be Uncle Andrew). Sarah often gets landed with the male name or the part of prince :) We missed a couple of weeks of playgroup, MOPS, church, library story time - ie. any social outings - due to a cold bug working its way through the family. It has mostly left us now and so we made it out to a birthday party on the weekend and back to playgroup this week. I wasn't able to do the Climb for Cancer in the middle of the month as Caleb and I came down sick that weekend.

This month we finally bought our digital piano. Jon did LOTS and LOTS of research into digital pianos over the past few months, with many trips to music stores to try various ones out, and we finally picked the one we wanted. It is now assembled and set up in our lounge (we've moved the computer upstairs) and we are enjoying playing music again. I am keen to learn new pieces of music and have starting learning the music to the song 'Blessings' by Laura Story. Jon's looking forward to doing some recording with it soon.

We had a big clean up around home with our area's kerbside collection being on. It is nice to be rid of the large junk items that were piling up for this occasion. Jon's cleared out the cupboard under the stairs and made it into a little cubby for the girls to play in, which they enjoy. We also upgraded our trampoline as the mat on our one was worn through and we were having trouble sourcing a replacement the same size. Last weekend we made a trip to Surfers Paradise to pick up a piece of furniture and turned the morning into an outing for the kids - stopped at a nearby playground and then took them out for lunch and ice cream. They like getting ice creams.

April 2013

No longer content to lie in the bouncinette - he strains forward
until he manages to get in a sitting position.

Enjoying the swing

Caleb started sitting unsupported and eating solids at the beginning of this month, and now as the month closes he has started to get up on his hands and knees and rocks back and forth. Sometime in the month he worked out how to roll from his tummy to his back (by sticking his bottom up in the air), and so now has enough arsenal of movement to get around the floor a bit. He was very keen to start eating (though only 4 1/2 months! Must be a boy thing?), sitting at the table screaming at us while we ate until we gave him food, so is now having solids at dinner time with us. He gets very messy. The floor gets very messy. And the table/highchair gets very messy. But he is very fun to watch eating - he gets quite frenzied about getting the spoon/food in his mouth!

Still keep pillows around him for the eventual tipping over

The girls busy colouring

Sarah has had a sudden jump in independence in the last couple of weeks. She can now dress herself (even if some things go on backwards). She's stopped wetting her knickers all the time, and can change them herself when needed. And she can put her straps on in her car seat. At the beginning of the month these were all "I can't!"s whenever we prompted her to try, and at some point she decided to try and succeeded! It makes life that little bit easier for me. Sarah has been inseparable from a novelty toothbrush Little Grandma (my mum) sent over - it goes everywhere with her. Until it was lost at playgroup this week. After one day without it we went and found a replacement at the shops (thankfully we found one exactly the same!)

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The girls now share a 'booster seat' at meal times. They'll often put their arms around each
other for a hug - it's very cute :)

Abigail has started drawing pictures. She used to just colour and scribble or try drawing letters, but now I find pictures she's drawn. I love finding them and then getting her to tell me about them.

And she has started using more colours than just brown (which was her favourite colour for a while - everything was coloured brown!). Abigail is now at the stage where she will listen to longer stories, and so Jonathan has been reading her a shortened version of Heidi - a chapter each day when he gets home from work - which she has seemed to really enjoy.

Abigail's first drawing (I thought Jon must have done it!) - on the far left is Cinderella
and the smaller people are children Cinderellas

Jon and I have started learning some card games this month. So far we have learnt to play Gin Rummy, Cribbage and Canasta. Gin Rummy is probably the most played so far. Canasta would be better with 3 or 4 players. A lot of our evenings have been spent playing cards together. Now we just have to build up our board game stash, and we'll have plenty of game options for when family and friends come over. We have found playing games with people is a good way to get conversations happening and relationships growing, and I am looking forward to having games nights with the kids as they grow older (I tried Snakes and Ladders with the girls this week but they're not grasping the concept yet).

Playing cards like mummy and daddy

Jonathan has been quite busy at work this month; his plate is kept full. And he has a couple of big gigs over the next two weekends, so a busy time for him at the moment. 

I had a growing need to clean my blinds this month. It's been one of those jobs that I haven't done because venetian blinds are such a pain to clean. And then I found out that you can detach them from the window, take them outside on the trampoline and scrub and hose them down. Once I had the blinds clean, the windows and frames had to be done too. My windows and blinds are now so clean looking it gives me much joy :) I also finally got out to Wynumm last Saturday for a second-hand shopping spree (Caleb accompanied me). 

God has been teaching me a lot this month. Big lessons. I've learnt that I am not the only mother who struggles. And that experiencing the doldrums isn't the same as depression. And that this time of Jon and my life is intense - we have 3 young children close together. These realisations seem simple and fairly obvious but they have been hugely freeing for me. It has been incredible - this month has been full of conversations with family and friends, links shared on Facebook, and articles in my blog feed about these things.

For the days when the doldrums strike (my older sister, Johanna, helped me see the difference between discouragement and depression - that terminology clarification was immensely helpful), I knew I had to have a plan for getting out of them and printed myself out a plan of action for such times. Then a week later, my friend Ruth posted a link to this article, which summed up what I had learnt in a very helpful way. 

For the days that felt pointless and lacking in purpose, I knew I needed to look at the bigger picture of raising my children and to not get stuck in the day to day stuff - I am raising children, not just keeping house. There is always character to work on, skills to teach, education to impart, and relationships to build. I felt the need to plot out some of these bigger goals - and then the next MOPS session happened to be on planning the 'destination' for our families and setting long-term family goals.

For the days that are trying with their constant barrage of needs, noise, messes and demands (......children), I  need to relax and enjoy (and forget my to-do list). This is a season that will be over before I know it, and I don't want to miss the joys and opportunities that it holds. I want to enjoy my children now. I have suddenly come across so many articles about doing just that and how to do it better. 

I started the month asking God why He kept sending me hard days (all the while knowing that He'd keep sending them until I learnt to deal with them in a godly way). I come to the end of the month feeling very enriched and better armed. That's not to say I'm not going to fail at times, but I do hope that in the days ahead I will go from 'strength to strength', and when that Day comes He will say to me, "Well done, good and faithful servant".