it's all about peanut

Simple pleasures

2009-11-10T21:11:00.002+11:00

Yes, this again is a post about how things have changed since we were kids - and things that we enjoyed that Peanut will either never enjoy or would not see why we enjoyed it.

At 2 years and 9 months Peanut already knows how to use a computer, how to move the mouse and click to get files open, he knows what an Xbox (PS2, Xbox360) controller is for, he knows how to open my laptop and how to get the screen to wake up... but this is not about the things that Peanut can do, i believe i have already gone through a few of the wonders of technology that peanut seems to have so easily picked up on.

There are things that we used to do, things that we used to enjoy that Peanut never will. And the thing that I remember enjoying, that Peanut will never know the pleasure of is playing under the hose - running under the sprinkler - putting on bathers to wash the car and not getting much water on the car...

In this day and age i find it hard to comprehend that we used to so wasteful with water! I can never imagine putting Peanut in the backyard under the sprinkler! And we seemed have already impressed the water conservation onto our son.

I should also give the piece of information that Peanut is not at all keen on the process of being washed. If i try to give him a shower he screams in terror (yes, there is true fear there where having a shower is concerned). His main form of ablutions is in the "toddler tub", a plastic tub that we have sitting in the bath tub and we use a shower hose that is attached to the tap to wash him. He is not keen on the shower hose, but we find it quick and easy to use and he puts up with it (and hopefully if he learns to cope with the shower hose we can finally get him in to the shower...). And the good thing about the toddler tub is that the water we use can be easily taken outside and put on some of the plants - the few plants that we do water that is.

So tonight when it was time for Peanuts to have a bath, he told that he didn't want to have a bath and that it was a "waste of water". He said "maybe bath tomorrow, not tonight, bath is wasting water". I should say that despite the protest he had a bath anyway - and had fun playing with his bath toys.

I am amazed that the concept of having to save water has hit home with him though, even if he is using it to try and get out of staying clean. So maybe Peanut will not miss the childhood pleasure of running under the sprinkler. I mean he will not be able to experience to it, but our way of thinking has done such a shift that he would not even think of it as option of entertainment. And in this day and age - that can only be a good thing.

(: Reggie

Not like I remember when I was young

2009-09-24T16:56:00.000+10:00

Peanut loves watching TV (well, don't we all) and on the week days that i do not go work - and he does not go to daycare - we watch ABC Kids together. We eat toast, drink tea / milk and watch some of Peanut's favourite shows. There many shows on that i remember watching throughout my childhood - but they are not the same as they were then. And i blame technology for this, the ease in which a show can be computer animated has done away with a lot of the charm kids TV used to have for me. One show i particularly remember enjoying was "The Magic Roundabout". It featured a variety of creatures and was filmed in stop animation. The show is still on TV, and the basic characters are the same, but it is now a 3D computer animated show. All the characters move freely and their faces are very expressive - Unlike the jerky movements and faces frozen with a single expression that i was used to from my childhood.

But when i think what is out there for kids these days, i can't help but do the head shake and say things "It's not like it used to be... I did not have all the toys they have these days! All i had to play with was a brick with a piece of string tied around it!!!"

Ok, maybe not that far, but when i think about children's toys now - the idea of toy made out of wood is almost a novelty now! and when a range of wooden toys can be found they tend to have a rather exclusive price tag attached... I remember having quite a few wooden toys when i was little. One of my favourites was a toy that i lovingly called "tink-a-tonk", it was a wooden pull-along toy that had hammers that would strike one of three wooden bars as it dragged along. I wish i still had it, so that Peanut and Bean could see it and get as much fun out of it as i did... But if tink-a-tonk was still around, i don't Peanut and Bean would find it as entertaining as i did.

I was fascinated by this toy that would play a very basic, a very simple piece of music - if you can call three notes being played over and over again music - but I'm sure that the fascination would be felt by today's youth.

Peanut has toys that do almost everything! At a press of a button they sing songs, light up and some will almost dance a little gig - so why would he enjoy a simple tink-a-tonk?

The same goes for the TV shows that are on for kids. They are so full of bright colours, catchie songs and special effects that the shows i enjoyed when i was little must seem quite dull in comparison. For example Thomas the Tank engine now has a face the moves when he is talking and the fat controller is no longer a motionless doll. Peanut's favourite show Lazytown (i have seen every episode at least ten times each) maybe a live action show but a large amount of it shot in green screen.

Now thinking about it, with all the focus on products and shows for children, will it help teach Peanut's generation things that we did not have access to from a very early age? is there a chance that the adults of tomorrow could be far superior in intelligence because of the greater amount of exposure to technology and "educational" shows and product that are now available?

Albert Einstein did not have the Tellie Tubbies when he was baby, and he seemed to have turned out not too bad!!!

You know, i don't know if this was the point i was trying to make when i started this post... But TV has killed so many of my brain cells that i don't think i was really ever going along with a single train of thought! One thing i do know is - I like cake.

(: Reggie

Where has the baby gone?

2009-07-31T14:22:00.003+10:00

Every day I am amazed with how much our little Peanut has grown, how big he is getting and how able he has become!

The toilet training is coming along nicely, if that is a word can be used to describe the process of trying to encourage a child to use the bathroom, and that is thanks to the daycare centre. Each morning now rather than changing his night nappy for a clean dry nappy, he will pull on a pair of undies (and yes, he puts them on himself) and then it is off to the daycare centre - or on non-daycare days he will plonk himself in the kitchen to wait for some brekkie.

Most days when I pick him up from the centre he will not be in the same clothes that I dropped him off in and there will be a bag of clothes for me to wash BUT it is obvious that there must be more successful trips to the toilet than non AND the days that there is no bag of washing for me are picking up.

It seems to be a bit of process but the girls at the daycare centre are positive about his progress, and I have noticed improvement myself when we are at home. I have heard stories from other mums about how their kids are toilet trained in a week or two, but my response to that is that i have a life and I can not spend two weeks doing nothing other than watching my child's every slightest move and rushing to the toilet every 15 minutes while never leaving the house!!!

But this was not actually going to be a post about Peanut's bodily functions, just more of a general post about how much he is growing - blink and you would miss it!

He defiantly knows what he likes and does not like, and he seems more than willing to tell us. If his cup of milk is not fridge cold he will hand it straight back and tell me that it is "yucky and older".

Last night was his Nana's birthday and we bought a simple butter cake to share as a little bit of a celebration. The cake had glaze cherries mixed through it and on top - I knew that M34tb4LL and Peanut are rather partial to glaze cherries and was pretty sure that Nana likes them as well. The cake went down with everyone (I had a piece without the cherries, not being much of a fan) and Peanut loved the cherries. In fact he got so into the cherries that he picked them out of his piece of cake and handed the dissected cake to M34tb4LL saying he wanted more! M34tb4LL went to the kitchen, got a packet of just cherries and put some on Peanut's plate. Peanut then pushed each of the cherries into his piece of cake only to pick them out again so he could eat them.

When we were finished M34tb4LL took the cake into the kitchen. A few minutes later Peanut wondered off and came back into the room carrying the cake! He handed the plate to M34tb4LL and told him that he wanted more cake - little greedy guts! We of course then had to stop laughing long enough to tell him that we felt that he had enough cake - which was not easy to do!!!

Bedtime is another thing that Peanut is getting very good at telling us whether he is ready for or not, and even if he is willing to get into bed himself - he still tries to stretch things out by wanting us to read him stories, sing songs with him or rub his back as he calls it "circles". However there have only been a few times that we have given up and bundled him into the car to "drive" him to sleep, last night we were close i must admit but we did not have to go there.

So i think we can pretty much say that little self-dressing, self-opinionated, self-aware person is growing up so fast! He really is no longer our baby - time to have another one then...

(: Reggie

"I'm a big brother"

2009-06-29T21:55:00.002+10:00

And that is close as we have managed to get Peanut to tell people that he is "going to be a big brother". Which he is, not that he understands what that means really, but he is going to have to figure it out or he is going to get one all mighty shock!

I bought a couple of book to read to him about little boys becoming brothers. He has taken quite a shine to the book called "There's a House Inside My Mummy". It may be rather strange way of looking at things - from a grownup perspective - but we tend to have at least a small grasp on the idea of where babies come from. For a two year old i could imagine that it would be a very confusing idea to get ones little head around.

The book is very good at putting the concept of pregnancy into the giant metaphor of house inside Mummy and it does it all in a nice little rhyming way - too cute! Problem is that Peanut now thinks there is house in his tummy and in Daddy's, and today he lifting my top trying to see the house...

Well, like i said, there is time for him to work it out and if he doesn't get it by the time the baby comes he will defiantly have to work it out then!

(: Reggie

Kids say the darndest things!!!

2009-05-10T07:46:00.002+10:00

Peanut is very good with the talking now, he is putting full sentences together and answers question (most of time like he has understood) that you ask. But he is still quite big with parroting what he has just head or if you ask a question with two options, giving back the option that was the second to be asked.

For example, if I ask him if his much beloved Lambie is a boy or a girl - he says "Lambie is a girl". But if I ask him if Lambie is a girl or a boy - he says that Lambie is a boy.

There are some things that we will repeat things over and over again so the they get in Peanut's head and he will say them on queue, like to wish someone a happy birthday. He has gotten extremely good at saying happy birthday to people - but to the point that he says it nearly every one whether it their birthday or not. He will even sing the happy birthday song and pretend to blow out a candles, again whether it is their birthday or not.

And of course there are sometimes when what we have told him or what he has heard will get an odd reaction. Back in January one of the carers at Peanut's day care centre pulled me aside, concerned that there was a bit of family situation going on that Peanut seemed to have picked up on. He had told this carer that "Nana's a bitch" - or at least that is what she thought he was saying.

I explained that my mother-in-law was spending her summer holiday at Rosebud and that Peanut was just telling her that Nana was at the beach. We then quickly changed what were saying to Peanut about his Nana's whereabouts to either: Nana is at Rosebud or Nana is down the beach.

And of course there are sometimes that things are said in front of Peanut that he just picks up on instantly. Like the time that he was in the car with his Granny and Grandpop. I was at work so I am only telling the story as it was told to me. Peanut's Grandpop was driving the car and took a wrong turn, he let out his frustration at this mistake but saying "BUGGER". Peanut's two grandparents them heard from the back seat, clear as a bell, Peanut saying "BUGGER". Grandpop tried to tell Peanut that he had actually said "bother" not "bugger" but Peanut was sure of what he had heard and corrected him "No Grandpop, not bother, bugger".

M34tb4LL will sometimes give Peanut a shoulder ride and if he puts him on one shoulder he will say he is a pirate and that Peanut is his parrot. Peanut loved this, he will prouding sit on M34tb4LL's shoulder and say "Daddy's a pirate!". Well yesterday we were at a shopping centre and when Peanut had had enough of being in his pram, M34tb4LL lifted him onto this shoulder. I noticed that Peanut had a smudge of chocolate on his face - from the babychino he had just devoured - and I tried to clean it off his face. Peanut quickly smacked my hand away and said "No Mummy, no touching the pirate!" However once he was in his car seat and buckled in I was free to clean the chocolate off his face, he was no longer a pirate you see.

But there are somethings that no matter how much we encourage Peanut to say something - he won't... it is a bit strange. But it is not going to stop us from working on him, like today. I need to get him to say "Happy Mother's Day", not "Happy Mother's Birthday" like he is currently...

(: Reggie

Helper monkey in training

2009-04-10T13:23:00.007+10:00

Now those of you who know me, know that I am not much of a domestic goddess. In fact it has been said that my only domestic quality is the fact that I live in a house! Cleaning is not one of my strong points, but thankfully those who know and love me seem to be able to overlook this.

Peanut is becoming more and more helpful around the house. I'm sure that by now you have all seen the YouTube video of him helping me empty the dishwasher. And if you haven't seen it go look at it! it is adorable!!! Here is a link to the video -

Every home should have one of these

I must admit though, every time he helps me, I do hold my breath till we have finished.

So anyway, at Peanut's 2 year check-up the MCHN (maternal & child health nurse) I was told that a child should have his own chores to do around the house. Picking up toys, putting his used clothes in the laundry basket - whatever. And the amount of the chores the child should have should be the same number as his age. So, seeing as Peanut has turned two, he should have two chores - tasks that are his to complete.

The first chore that has been assigned him was the one that you have all witnessed. And if you do not know what I am talking about - SERIOUSLY, GO AND WATCH THE VIDEO AND THEN COME BACK AND FINISH READING!!! Go on, the story here can wait a few minutes.

As for the second chore, this is where am stuck!!! I can't really get him to put his used clothes in the basket, seeing as he does not get himself undressed (well, not most of the time) and the basket is next to the change table. Unless I throw the clothes on the floor next to the basket and get him to pick them up, but what kind of an example am I setting for him. Throwing things on the floor then telling him to pick them up. That is just inviting a monkey see monkey do scenario.

But the idea did get me thinking. Though we might not have given him two chores yet, does not mean we can not start training him! For Christmas we gave him a mini Dyson vacuum cleaner that looks pretty much like the Dyson we have. So the other day when I vacuumed the floor (and this is a pretty rare event, but ...) I gave him his Dyson vacuum and encouraged him to follow me around the house so we were vacuuming together, he thought it was terrific fun. He is a bit too little at the moment to use the real thing - but soon...

Next I am thinking of sending him out in to the yard with his push-along toy (not sure what it is called really) and get him to follow me around while I mow the lawn. Then I could get one of those play kitchen / food sets and get him to practise making dinner!!!

The potential here is endless! If he thinks a chore is playing - then I'll let him play away!!! Of course there is still the problem that at two he currently only has one chore - not two.

(: Reggie

The transformation is nearly complete

2009-03-07T10:01:00.002+11:00

Peanut celebrated his second birthday nearly a month ago and he seems to be changing from baby to little right before our eyes.

He is getting very good at telling us what he wants, he is not be talking in full sentences - well he is only two - but he is pretty well trying to. He is walking and running around everywhere is getting less willing to sit in the pram while we are at the shops. And with his latest haircut he looks every bit the part of the little boy.

Last weekend M34tb4LL took the bars off one side of Peanuts cot and attached the stability rail that it came it. The cot we bought for Peanut can be converted into a toddler bed. The first night that Peanut slept in his 'bed' it took him a while to settle down. Each time we tried to put into his bed he got upset because he couldn't pull the side up. I suppose it would seem every strange to someone who has spent two years sleeping in an enclosed, cage like bed to suddenly being put into a bed that has no sides and is wide open.

But the funny thing it was the first night that Peanut seemed to be nervous about his new sleeping arrangements. The next morning when his Nana (my mother-in-law) came over so we could go to the farmers market together, Peanut was very keen to show her his new bed and how he could get in and out of it all my himself.

The next night he was happy enough to go to bed and the night after that he did not want to be carried to and placed in, he wanted to walk to his room himself and get into the bed on his own. And i must say that know there is no bar to try to get over - it is much easier for M34tb4LL and me to give Peanut a goodnight kiss and cuddle.

So what is next in the baby-to-boy transformation? Toilet training... It has started, sort of. Peanut has a training seat and can climb the steps and sit on the seat, but personally - I'm not really sure how to get him make the connection as to what to do when he is there! And having a house that is fully carpeted, including one of the bathrooms - I hope the learning is not going to get TOO messy!

(: Reggie

Inflation Woos

2009-02-03T01:15:00.000+11:00

No, this is not a post about the "suffering economy". This is the Peanut blog and all the random ramblings that go here are all about our boy - or boy related dealings.

Today (or at least the day that i started typing this post) was a hot day, a very hot day, very very very very hot day! And seeing as our air-con had already been running for nearly two days straight i thought it was time to switch it off and seek cooler quarters.

So i bundles Peanut into the car and drove the local shopping centre, hoping to get some relief from the heat. When we got there however we found that the air-conditioning had broken down in 2/3 of the building, but there was plenty of shops to browse around that did still have a temperature that was remarkably better than it was outside.

At our local shopping centre, and I'm sure at others, there seems to be a growing trend for business to try and give a certain item to any small child who wanders (or is pushed - in a pram or stroller i mean) by. And it was this trend that i said "NO, no thank you" to seven times on this particular day.

The items that are being handed out care freely are balloons...

Now comes the question, why would i not want my child to be handed a balloon? Kids love balloons! Kids find holding a balloon fun! But, call me strange (most people do) i don't like balloons. They have a tendency to pop and when they pop - not only do they make a loud noise and scare the bejeebers out one - but they have the potential to take some one's eye out! Ans statistically 56% (Please note that this statistic has been completely made up) of all eye injuries in this country are caused by flying balloon debris.

And is not just my personal dislike for balloons that makes me not want to except them when they are offered, it is also the way that Peanut treats them. As soon as he receives a balloon will try and hit thing (and people) with it, he constantly drops it and wants it picked up, runs his fingers over it to make a squeaky noise and (the worst one) he tries to bite it - which if he is successful will result in a loud pop and an injured eye.

But back to the practise of how balloons are being distributed in shopping centre. I must admit that i do find it a bit rude that the people who are handing out the balloon just ask a child that happens to be walking (or being pushed) by directly if they want a balloon, they do not ask the parent (of care giver) if it is alright to offer the child a balloon - they just give it.

Do we not live in an age where we are supposed to teaching our children about "stranger danger"? Now i have my own opinion on "stranger danger", and the bollocks that it is, but that is not for this post. And what if the parent does not want the child to have a balloon, for any reason, not just the strange near-phobic reasons that i have.

So why don't these balloon handing people just ask a parent - "would your child like a balloon?" and leave it to the parent to confer with the child, and the answer will no doubt be yes, but the child still thinks they have a choice.

(: Reggie

p.s. - I don't like balloons

Pram Rage

2009-01-26T09:20:00.004+11:00

Having a child definitely adds another chapter to ones life. The house takes on a whole appearance, and the practice of 'popping out to the shops' becames a highly coordinated event. And it is on this that i would like to reflect today.

I have quite a passion for shopping – I love it. If shopping was a full time job i would do overtime every week AND still pop out to the shops on my day off.

At my local shopping centre there used to be a woman who was there every day that was known as the pram natzi. I know she was there everyday because of my own observations and that of and other mum who go to the centre. And i say used to be, because she has not been seen for sometime now...

From my own experiences (and the stories i have heard from other mums) TPN (the pram natzi) always seemed to appear from nowhere and always manages to nearly run into any pram she sees and she will abuse the hell out of the pram driver!!!

But another perk of being a pram driver is the parking at my local shopping centre. A few places within the car park there a designated parking spots for “parents with prams”. Half the time these spots are already taken because it is not like they are a secret, but they are very handy when you can get one of them.

The last time i managed to get one of the parks it was a wet, rainy day. Now on wet days, if you can just jump out of your car and run into the shops – it is a hassle, but it is not that hard. But when you have a child it is impossible to jump out of the car and run. With a child (toddler in my case), i have to get out of the car, go round to the boot and get the pram out, go back to the passenger side of the car and get any bags that i may have brought with me - which on a good day will consist of my handbag, a nappy bag, a bag with food and drink options for Peanut and some empty bags to put any shopping into – then i have to get Peanut out of the car and into the pram and then and only then can i think about heading into the shops.

Now this is a bit for of process at the best of times, but when it is raining it becomes quite a rushed event, and having the option of using a “parent with pram” parking spot (which tend to be very close to the door of the shopping centre, making the dash ends up being the easiest part of it.

So on the day in question, the wet and raining day, once Peanut and i had finished our shopping we headed back to the car. Of course as soon as i pulled the pram up along side the car there was a car waiting to take the spot and i noticed the there was only one person in the car – the driver, no child, no baby, and definitely no pram! So i took my time getting my shopping into the car (it had stopped raining), took my time putting Peanut into his car seat, took my time folding up the pram and putting it into the boot. The car that was waiting sat there through all this.

I did consider doing an “oops, i forgot something” motion and getting Peanut back out of the car and going back into the shops, but Peanut was tired and i did want to get him home.

So i pulled the car out of the parking spot and watched as the other driver pulled his car in. I sat there and watched him as he sat in his car for a few moments and then when he got out of the car i wound my window to alert him to the error he had made with choosing that particular parking spot.

“Excuse me, did you realise that you have parked in a “parents with prams” parking space?” - “Lose some weight Fatty” was the mans response. Well i knew that i was dealing with someone of incredible intellect and i pointed out to him the people who live in glass houses should not throw stones. He asked me what i meant by that and i reminded him that he also carried a little bit of extra weight.

His next insult to me was as well thought out and articulate as the first - “Why don't you get a job!”, to which i corrected him that i do currently have gainful employment - “As what? a hooker?” - “No, a receptionist” - “your a cocky bitch, you just need a good f*@#” - “Thanks for the advise, I'll let my husband know your opinion and see if he can remedy that fact”.

It was at that point that he just gave me a bit of a snarl and walked into the shopping centre.

But of course having a pram is not all conflict, you should how much shopping i can fit into that thing! I'm thinking that even when Peanut does not need it anymore i will still take it to the shops just for the bag space.

:) Reggie

He's going to be how old?

2009-01-14T16:16:00.003+11:00

TWO!!!

In less than a month our little Peanut is going to be two years old!!!

My how the time has flown.

But then has it?

Time is a very strange thing when it is put into context with a child. It seems like no time at all since Peanut was a tiny little baby who would curl up into a ball on my chest and go to sleep. But that was nearly two years ago, and in that time we have done a lot of patient waiting.

How many sleepless nights did we have where we thought he would never mater the art of sleeping through the night. I can assure you that the time did not fly by then. As any parent (or person who have lived in a house with a baby) would know, midnight to five AM seems to go forever when you are pacing up and down a dimly lit hall way trying to settle an upset infant.

The first few meals that Peanut ate seemed to go on forever - and such a small amount of food was eaten. I have watched the video of Peanuts first meal and it only goes for a few minutes but my memory of it was it took nearly an hour! Putting the spoon to his lips, watching him as he tries to figure out what on earth he is supposed to do with this new object that has been shoved in front of his face, taking the food off the spoon and then letting it dribble out because he doesn't realise he had to swallow it!

And i can remember watching Peanut for what felt like hours as he tried to figure out how to take those first few steps. Again it felt like hours that we watch him pull him self up, wobble around a bit and then fall back down to the ground.

So it is weird to think that time has gone so quickly when i think of individual events that seem to have passed by so slowly.

(: Reggie

Peanut Pronounciation

2008-11-28T22:17:00.005+11:00

I have always been amazed by mums who can listen to (what sound like to me) the incoherent babbling of their child and seem to know exactly what the youngster is saying.

Now I think I might be turning into one of those people! I say "think" and "might" because there are many time that Peanut will say something to me and wait for a reply and I have no idea what to say back - other "I have no idea of what you are talking about, so here is a picture of a rabbit with a pancake on it's head".

But there are a few words, in fact an ever growing list of words that Peanut says that i do understand. And I must admit the feeling of self satisfaction I get when Peanut rambles something and someone next to me will cock there head to the side and say "what did he say?", and I can answer, is pretty darn good. It is one of those good, glowing, see-I-know-my-child feelings.

So here is the list (or part of the list) of what I like to call 'Logan Language' -

hulloo - hello (well, i like to start with the easy ones)
luv dew - love you
lala - water (now we are getting to only a parent would understand territory)
lalala - waterfall
eatlicks - wheatbix
borbee - strawberry
beepop - grandpop
danny - granny
gape - grape
ock - socks
aa-la-aarm - other arm (when getting dressed, there is one arm then other arm)
ill - Will (Peanut's cousin)
eeaawa - Xavier (Peanut's friend)
eeum - Liam (another of Peanut's friends)
toked namwich - toasted sandwich
pissmiss - Christmas

Hummmm, these are all I can think of for know. But next Peanut and I have a conversation I will take note of the words he is saying (and how he is saying them) and update this post.

(: Reggie

Child's Play

2008-11-22T18:56:00.002+11:00

So my main question is – are kids these days born more technology savvy or is technology becoming child's play.

M34tb4LL bought himself a new toy for his birthday – a brand spanking new ipod touch, and a couple of nights ago he was showing Peanut photos on it. M34tb4LL was scrolling through the photos (for those of you not familiar with the ipod touch, one finger is used to scroll – or swipe across the screen to go to the next photo) and Peanut was telling us who was in each photo.

Well the next thing we know, Peanut had take the ipod out of M34tb4LL's hand and was scrolling through the photos all by himself! and of course he was still identifying people he knew in the photos as he went.

But then he did something that even M34tb4LL didn't know could be done. Peanut did a double tap on the screen and zoomed in on the photo. He then zoomed out again and scrolled to the next photo.

And is not just the ipod touch that Peanut has sussed out, He knows that a remote control should be pointed at the entertainment unit to make thing work, and he knows difference between a real remote and a toy one. He knows that to work a computer you use a mouse, and if he is sitting my knee while i am at the computer and he doesn't like what i am doing he will grab my hand and guide it to the mouse to give me the hint. He knows what a mobile phone is for and when he gets a hold of my mobile he talks into it, he even tries to press the buttons to get it to work. And he will hand the mobile back to me say “cheese” in the hope that i will take his photo.

I would say he is too smart for his own good where it comes to technology, but the truth is more like that he is too smart for my own good! At the speed that he is picking things up he will be able to beat me and M34tb4LL on every game we own by the time he is three!!!

(: Reggie

Seeing things through his eyes

2008-09-25T22:27:00.003+10:00

I have brown eyes, I was born with them in fact. M34tb4LL has blue eyes, also his natural colour.

When I was pregnant with Peanut I found a website that you put in the eye colour of each parent and of each parents parent and it will give you the percentage change for different eye colour for your child.

Going by this website Peanut had a 50% chance of having brown eyes, 37.5% chance or having blue eyes and 12.5% of green. The website also predicted that our first child would have blue eyes, the next two would have brown, then there would be another two blue eyed children and a finally one more brown. Not sure where they think they are going with assuming that we are going to have 6 children though...

But what I got from that website was that Peanut had a 50% chance of not having brown eyes.

That last comment might sound a bit harsh, but what are you going to do?

I have brown eyes, I have often been known to refer to my eyes as, rather than just brown, as "sometime they are nearly hazel" or "closer to amber really" or even "they change all the time, if you look close you can see green flecks around the pupil". And all of these descriptions are to avoiding saying "I have brown eyes".

So back to when I was pregnant with Peanut, this website said that we had a 50% chance of having a non-browned baby. And I kind of liked those odds. I really like the thought of being able to say "he has eyes like his father".

When Peanut was born he had blue eyes, as I have often been told is the case with all newborn babies. They were a very dark, almost steely blue colour. The first time we went to see our MCHN (Maternal & Child Health Nurse) she commented on the colour of Peanut eyes and how they will be changing to brown very soon. She then clarified this comment with her observation that babies born with light blue eyes take a while for the colour to change (or not if they are to remain blue) where as babies born with dark blue eyes tend to change quite fast.

Now please don't get wrong at this point, I am in way saying that I think Peanut's eye colour is not to my liking! Quite the opposite!!!

I know need to fast forward a bit, well actually fast forward to tonight.

Peanut has a new game he likes to play. He will lie on the couch in the family room and call out "night night" - grinning all the while. We then cover him over with a blanket (face included) and do through the whole "where's Peanut?" routine. He then throws the blanket back and laughs while we pretend to get a fright. I'm not saying it is the most exciting game in the world but to a 20 month old (or close enough to) it is most enjoyable.

Tonight while we were playing it, when Peanut was covered up with the blanket, he was peeking out from under the blanket and his brown eyes were staring right into mine.

It made me kind of catch my breath a little bit, these gorgeous brown eyes staring at me with such innocence yet intensity. Looking into his eyes all I could think was how beautiful they are. I them caught myself thinking "but they are a darker brown than mine", but are they really? I'm not sure. All it would take is for me to look in the mirror, but I do that I do not really study my own features. Not like the way I study Peanut's features, and admire the colour of his eyes.

Since the day Peanut was born I can not tell you how many times people have commented on "how much he looks like his father!" and my response is usually along the lines of "He looks just like his daddy, but he has my eyes."

(: Reggie

The sound of silence

2008-08-25T15:39:00.003+10:00

Peanut is now over 18 months old - my sweet lord how the time has flown by - and up until a week ago he was still having a night time feed (he was down to just that one feed a day). Going for 18 months? thank you, i am quite proud of that! But yes, the night feed has been stopped.

We tried to stop giving a night feed about a month ago but after the fourth night of him going to bed and screaming for the best part of an hour we gave up.

When we had Peanut's 18 month check-up with the maternal & child health nurse i asked her advice on how to go about getting him to give up his night feed. She said that rather than supplementing the night feed with formula to change that part of his night time routine.

So instead of sitting in the same chair that we always did and giving him formula in a sippy cup we gave him normal cows milk in a sippy cup and sat on the couch and read a book and sang songs while he drank. This kind of worked, he would go to bed and settle relatively quickly, but was still grizzling a little bit.

Then last Thursday night i was not home to put him to bed. M34tb4LL made a bit more of change to night time routine that went down quite well. M34tb4LL and Peanut sat in front of the computer and while Peanut drank his milk M34tb4LL played him youtube videos of Simon and Garfunkel songs - "Bridge Over Troubled Waters", "The Boxer" and "The Sound of Silence". He then put Peanut to bed and he went to sleep with little trouble!

So for the past few nights we have been sitting Peanut in front of good ole youtube and playing those videos for him and I think it is fairly safe to say that that he is now weened.

There is one slight change to the routine that still needs to made however - when i go to put Peanut in his cot he does not want to give back the sippy cup (whether he has drank all the milk or not). So i have to sneak into his room and take it off him once he is asleep. But in the grand scheme of things i don't see this as being a major thing. He will give that up in time.

I just ask myself the question "how many adults do i know that go to bed holding onto a sippy cup?". None, so i figure he will give that up in his own time.

(: Reggie

No More Babycinos

2008-08-02T00:25:00.010+10:00

It is with much sadness that we have to report the closing of our local Starbucks (along with 60 other stores). The coffee house and more importantly its staff has become a huge part of our lives over the last few years.

It was always the ideal spot to meet up with someone, catch up with friends, or just sit and people-watch ("Ooh, she doesn't look happy/what's that guy doing to the fruit in the fruit shop/look it's the matching track-suited blue-tooth headset couple").

It was also always great to catch up with our friends behind the counter. They were the first people we told that we got married. It was my first stop after leaving the hospital on the day Peanut was born (armed with two blurry pictures on my mobile phone) and when Reggie and Peanut came home, the first thing we did was pack up the pram and walk over to Starbucks for a coffee.

Initially reluctant to comment, Peanut finally released this statement.

BWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH

Thanks for the babycino's Bec, Jess, Nat, Ruth (Barry), Toni, Louise, Damien, James, Sarah, Kat, Casey, Sheshi, Joel and Amy.

M34tb4LL

I'm SPARTICUS! (part 2)

2008-07-09T22:38:00.003+10:00

So if you had read my last post (and if you have not, read it first then come here) you will know about my recent renaming and the strangeness of becoming one in a crowd. Well now i am going to get to the one to one.

Peanut has no problems letting people in the room when he want me. If he wants my attention he will say in a very clear voice mummy mummy mummy mummy mummy until I respond to him. And sometimes, even when i am giving him my total time he will still sing the mummy chorus.

Of course there is the times when he calls for me because he is not happy and thinks that i can make all things better. Well of course i can make all better, for i am mummy! Anyway... There are many things that a cuddle from mummy can not fix. And the fact that Peanut can not actually explain what is upsetting him, a mummy cuddle is all i need to offer.

A couple of nights ago Peanut woke up after only a couple of hours sleep. Normally if he wakes up (which is actually not that often these days) M34tb4LL and i will leave him in cot for a little bit to see if he will settle himself back to sleep. Sometimes he will wake up and let out a few crys because in his sleep he has lost 'Lannie' (Lambie). And once he finds Lambie (looks under the covers) he will go back to sleep. But the other night he woke up and was not able to settle himself. He was standing up in his cot, hanging his hands over the rail and calling out "mummy mummy mummy".

Though there is so much joy in hearing ones child saying mummy, there is also some times you wish that he had never learned to say it. A child crying is distressing enough, but when they add the mummy bomb it can cause an emotion explosion.

(: Reggie

I'm SPARTICUS!

2008-07-05T22:03:00.002+10:00

Before Peanut was born I never looked twice when I was out in public and I heard a young voice call out "Mummy!", but now things have changed.

Now the word mummy seems to take up about 60% of my conversations with Peanut. I don't mean that i say mummy 6 out of every 10 words say, I just mean that over half my conversation (no matter how one sided it is) will be in context to myself.

Can mummy have a cuddle?
Give that to mummy!
Do you want to play outside with mummy?
Would you like mummy to help you there?
Mummy would prefer that you didn't eat the random stuff you find on the floor!!!

Peanut has been saying mummy for a while and I remember the joy I felt the first time he said it and held his hands out to me, asking me to pick him up. It is one of those take-your-breath-way moments, you know?

And the bizarre thing is that now when some says my name it takes me a few moments to register that they are talking to me. It is like "who? oh, right that is me! Yep, I'm here".

But now when I am out and about, and I hear a small voice calling out "MUMMY", I think for a moment - "hey that's me, but the child's voice I heard is not my child's voice, and who is that woman who is calling herself mummy, I'm mummy!". Then of course I realise that there are many people out there who respond to the name mummy.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that I am having an identity crisis. But it was a very strange feeling when a realised that the special name our little peanut has for me is a very common name.

(: Reggie

Night moves

2008-06-13T22:22:00.003+10:00

Peanuts night time routine, as i believe i have gone over before, is fairly simple and non-time consuming for us - nappy change, PJs on, five minutes more of play, final milk drink, Daddy will give him Lambie to cuddle and i put him into his cot. Easy! Well i think it is easy. It works for us.

However once Peanut is in his cot there a period of anything a couple of minutes up to half an hour where he is still awake, and if we walk past the door too slowly or he can see one of us there is chance that he will start to crack it and may even need to be taken out of bed and "re-settled".

And it is during this 'not yet asleep' time that i most want to know what he does! Let's take tonight as an example. We put him to bed and he was chattering to himself (ducca ducca ducca ducca ducca ducca) then there was quiet for a few minutes, then we heard a strange thudding noise, there was almost a rhythm to it!

Now i very much wanted to see what Peanut was doing, but did not want to go to the door to look in case it ended with him stopping what he was doing and having him think that i was coming to get him out of bed. It almost sounded like he was trying to work out how to get out of the cot and i half expected him to come walking out of his bedroom door with his arms in the air in victory.

The cot that Peanut sleeps in has solid wooden ends on it. When we started looking for a cot, that was one thing that i knew i wanted the cot to have. Not sure why i wanted at the time, but know i find it great as we can put toys at the end of the cot and he can't see them.

Anyway, back to my point here - i would love to know what Peanut does after we put him to bed and before we hear the first snore coming from his room. Tonight, while listening to the thudding, i mentioned to M34tb4LL that we need to put a webcam in Peanuts room so we can sit and watch what he is doing. I then corrected myself that we would need a night-vision webcam. I tend told myself that that is a silly thought, it would not be possible to get a night-vision webcam

WRONG AGAIN...

...you can get them, and i have found a website where, if we were to get one, it would not cost a fortune. I say if, i have not bought one, of course i also have a another word - yet. I have not bought one YET.

(: Reggie

Army of darkness

2008-04-14T21:57:00.003+10:00

Easter last year Peanut's Auntie Lulu (who is also my sister of course) gave Peanut a little soft toy lamb that M34tb4LL and I have aptly named "Lambie".

After a while the lamb became Peanut's one of favourite toys, not to play with during the day, but to cuddle at night.

The little soft toy has become a vital part of Peanut's night night routine and when he wakes up in the morning he is always holding the lamb in his hand as he reaches out for over the side rail of his cot.

A couple of months ago Peanut had a rather nasty bout of gastro and unfortunately poor Lambie got in the way of one of Peanut projectile emissions, and of course had to be removed so it could be washed. It was fortunate that for his first birthday (that had taken place not long before this illness) Auntie Lulu had given him a cute little teddy bear - similar in size and colour to Lambie - and it was a welcome substitute while Lambie had a wash.

Of course after a couple of days, after Lambie was cleaned up and dried out he was gratefully received and poor Berlin (the name given to the little teddy - that's another story) went back to a day time friend to play with rather than night time cuddling buddy.

There has been a couple of times since then that Lambie has needed a wash and Berlin has had to fill the void, but each time we have had to give Lambie a wash Peanut has been less and less willing to do the soft toy swap. In fact the last time that tried to give him Berlin instead of Lambie, Peanut smacked it from M34tb4LL's hand and he took twice as long to settle down to sleep!!!

So a plan was hatched, to get a few more lambs so we could have one in the wash, one on stand by and Peanut could have one with him. I asked Auntie Lulu when she got the lamb from, and if she could look to see if she can get another one or two (or three or four) for Peanut. She went looking in every store she could to for another one of those lambs but with no luck.

I then emailed the Australian distributors of the company to see if they knew where i might be able to find some more, they were of no help. So I broadened my search to the whole world, thanks to a little local store I know called the Internet. And it took quite some searching, but I found a couple of sites that had the lamb for sale. However all the sites that had the toy listed were in America.

Now I'm not a stranger to getting the odd trinket from overseas, and with the exchange rate the way it is at the moment, getting the toy from overseas was a more than reasonable option.

I tried to place an order from the site that had the lamb at the best price, but i got an email from them saying that they didn't have any of the soft toys and that they are a discontinued item and will not be getting any stock in the future. So i started emailed a few of the sites that listed the lamb for sale, asking if they actually had any lambs in stock.

After about two weeks of random searching and emailing i got an email from one store based in Texas saying that they had the lambs in stock and they could post to Australia if i emailed my address. So i placed an order, sent an email agreeing to pay extra for postage to Australia and confirming my postage address.

And low and behold, in just over a week, a package arrived containing four identical little lambs. Let the lamb swapping commence!

So do you get the title? Army of darkness? The lambs are for Peanut to cuddle in his sleep - he sleeps in the dark - we now have a small army of lambs... Sorry!

(: Reggie

Do babies dream of miniture sheep?

2008-04-06T23:34:00.002+10:00

Peanut has his 'night night' routine, and i must admit i have played with it a little to see what would happen. The current routine is -

change into pyjamas
have a milk feed
say goodnight to Daddy (and if we have visitors - them as well)
cuddles into Lambie (his favourite soft toy lamb)
then we put him on his back in his cot
pull up the covers
say night night sleep tight
leave the room

He will then kick off the covers, turn around and flip over - mind you he does not let go of Lambie!!!

M34tb4LL asked me the other day if i have tried to put Peanut in cot more in the position that he seems to be more comfortable sleeping in, saving him the trouble of doing the whole turning around and over and stuff. I have, but it just seemed to make him upset and it took him longer to settle down so he could go to sleep!

If there is one thing I have figured out about our Peanut, he likes his bed time routine as it is - and he likes to get himself comfortable by himself!!!

Before we go to bed we always look in at Peanut for a few seconds and for those of you that keep tabs on Peanuts youtube account will know he is a bit of noisy sleeper. Plus he is a real wriggler - he moves around a lot while he is asleep. So do people (Peanut is people) move around in their sleep because they are not 100% comfortable? Or because of the dreams they are having!!!

And that makes me wonder, what do babies dream about? Dreams tend to draw references from all elements of the whole world around us and a baby's experience of the world is limited.

Mind you, it does amaze me how much Peanut seems to take in, and how fast he is learning about the world around him. So does he dream about things that they may have seen but is yet to understand? Or are his dream completely random and abstract? These are questions that we will probably never be able to answer!

Now, who of you thought that by the title of the this post I was going to make all sorts of 'Blade Runner' references?

(: Reggie

Step by step ooh baby!

2008-03-21T08:43:00.002+11:00

Don't worry folks, I'm not having a bad 80's flash back, actually now i am -

"Step by step
Ooh baby
Youre always on my mind
Step by step
Ooh girl
I really think its just a matter of time"

Sorry for that moment of insanity, what this blog was originally going to be about was this -

PEANUT IS STARTING TO TAKE STEPS!!!

It really amazes me how much Peanut has changed over the past 13 or so months. He has gone from this tiny little baby that does very little other sleep, eat and cry to this little boy who plays, crawls and chatters (and he still sleeps, eats and crys!)

So back to the steps thing. It was a good couple of weeks ago now that he stood for the first time, come to think of it, it was the Monday after his birthday. And he only stood unassisted for a max of ten seconds before he went crashing down onto his butt, but it was a stand.

I am constantly amazed how quickly Peanut manages to master something, like once he figured out how to stand and within days he was able to stand and kind of dance (well, shake his hands and bop his head) when he heard music. And now he is working on walking. It was not long ago that he took his first step on the front lawn - looked at M34tb4LL and me with a "What the hell did I just do???" look on his face and crash down on the ground.

Now he will stand up and we can see the concentration on his face as he takes tentative little steps. He has not managed to take more half a dozen steps before gravity gets the better of him, but it's a start, and he will only get better from here. Who knows, by the end of this weekend he may be running!

Looking at Peanut's face we are seeing less and less of a baby and more and more of little boy. Where has our little baby gone?

(: Reggie

M34tb4LL's First Post

2008-02-09T23:14:00.000+11:00

Ok, I started this post about 6 months ago. It originally began "I've been a dad for just over 6 months now. Here are a few of the things I've learnt so far . . . " and approximately once a month, I'd open up the document, aptly named "doc", stare at it for a few minutes, change the number of months, stare at it some more and then close it again. Well, I've had enough. So here it is, with the opening sentence changed just one more time, ready for your enjoyment.

I've been a dad for just over a year now. Here are a few of the things I've learnt so far . . .

One of the lesser known truths about babies is that somewhere deep within them is a small rift in the space-time continuum. They seem to suck time. Hours can be lost just watching a baby sleep or playing with them. I was lucky enough to be able to take a month off work after Peanut was born. No sooner had he let out his first cry, I blinked and suddenly he was four weeks old and I had to go back to work.

Conversely, I was overwhelmed by just how long everyday tasks now took. Not just the new baby stuff but things that we did before. You really need to add 40 minutes to everything. A quick trip to the shops that used to take 5, now needs a bag with nappies, face wipes, hand wipes, bottom wipes, something to remove pumpkin stains, a change of clothes (possibly for you as well), a bottle, a toy and some form of transport for the baby.

Babies also seem to take up a disproportionate amount of space for their size. Get used to stepping over things - toys, play-mats, strollers, other babies, grandparents, etc. And for some reason, everything they own is huge in comparison to them - oversized toy phones, pianos and teddy bears, all nearly as big as he is. If all our own stuff was this big, we'd need a much bigger house. In fact, even with just the stuff he has, we need a much bigger house.

It amazes me just how much learning Peanut has managed to cram into his first year. We've see him sleeping, pooping, playing on the floor (not necessarily in that order). What he's really been doing is learning how to eat (twice), express to us that he wants to eat, smile, laugh, sit up, crawl, climb up on things, express to us that he wants to be lifted up on things, clap hands, cuddle, blow kisses, point to things, say "uh-oh" when he drops things and generally figure out how to look really cute and manipulate those around him.

So with things whizzing by so fast we tend to take a lot of photos - I mean a LOT of photos. Thank goodness we live in a digital age. There would be very few people in the world who could afford to have negatives developed and prints made of the number of photos we've taken and even fewer would have the shoe boxes to store them in. The downside is that I'm now obsessed with making sure we don't lose anything, not just for us but for Peanut and Peanut's children. Regular backups - multiple backups - offsite backups. I have hard drives and DVD's scattered halfway across the state "Just in case".

So here we are, already one year into the journey. It's been a hoot so far. I wonder what I'll learn this year.

M34tb4LL

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

2008-02-09T11:48:00.000+11:00

It was Peanut's first birthday yesterday - yes it has been a year already!!! And today is his birthday party, nothing major, but family and few close friends. but...

(: Reggie

Post Christmas Post

2007-12-28T23:36:00.000+11:00

Peanut has survived his first Christmas day - and what a Christmas he had!!!

It was amazing to watch how his reaction to receiving a wrapped present evolved.

His pre-Christmas reaction to the presents that were wrapped under the tree (the tree that was placed well out of his reach on top of the entertainment unit) was a curious fascination. He would point and make a kind of grunting noise till we picked him up and he could look at them. He did not try to grab the presents, he seemed to happy enough just looking at them

The first time he had a present put in front of him and he was encouraged to try and unwrap it, he just sat there with somewhat of a look of confusion on his face.

Mind you by the time we got to Christmas day, after a couple of Christmas gift giving session sitting, he did seem to get he hang of ripping wrapping paper off his presents, he was even keen to M34tb4LL and me wrap our presents. He learned very quickly that inside each colourfully wrapped gift was a new toy with the potential of making some kind of sound / music / bang / noise.

And then we get to the food! The spread on Christmas day was both traditional and plentiful.For lunch Peanut sampled some of the vegies and roast meat for his lunch and for his dinner - well he started with munching his through a rather large and juicy strawberry, followed by a taste of an asparagus roll (not a fan), then TWO bowls of cooked apple and he sucked up quite a few sticks of carrot. After feeding him this i went to get myself something to eat.

Well, this was when Peanut turned on the charm - to anyone that walked past him bearing a plate of food. And it seemed to work very well for him, he was given a few spoons full of strawberry mousse, some chocolate mousse, as well as some jelly and of course he was handed more strawberries. All he needs to flutter those beautiful baby lashes to passers by and they are putty in his tiny hands!

So the Christmas season is drawing to a close, we are know thinking of what to do for new years - i don't think Peanut will stay up for it this year, and then it will be time to start thinking about his first birthday.

Blimey - in one month, one week and a couple of days Peanut will be turning one!!!

(: Reggie

Its begining to look a lot like...

2007-12-17T22:32:00.000+11:00

The house is looking a little bit different at the moment, and Peanut has noticed.

He has noticed the pile of presents on top of the entertainment unit. He has noticed the collection of cards next ot them. He has also noticed the tiny off cuts of wrapping paper that have been left on the floor (unintentionally of course) and taste so good.

But the festive season addition that he seems the most excited about is the Christmas tree. We bought a brand new Christmas tree this year, a 90cm fibre optic tree. It has been decorated with little purple bobbles and candy canes and a plastic Hello Kitty for the top.

Peanut is fascinated with the tree, he loves watching the lights as it flickers through its multicoloured lighting display. It was a smart idea to get a tree that easily sits on top of the entertainment unit rather than on the floor. The tree at the baby play centre has been placed in a play pen - to keep little hands off it. And if we had have bought a tree that sat on the floor I am sure that we would be spending ever minute of the day at the moment fishing bobbles out of Peanuts mouth.

And with this twinkling addition to the normal decor of our lounge room has come a new "trick" from Peanut. He seems to have learnt how to point. He will be looking stright at the three and he let out a grunt of excitement and point at it.

I know what you are thinking, is the fact the he now points at things worth blogging about? Well, yes, kind of...

Well at least this is a pre-Christmas post, and we are very quickly getting to Peanut's first Christmas, and he is noticing that something a bit different is going on (and with all the glittering lights, he is loving it!)

(: Reggie

Baby to Little Boy

2007-12-06T12:36:00.000+11:00

The past 10 months have gone sooooo fast! It is mind boggling to think that in just a couple of days Peanut will be 10 months old!!!

I am looking at photos of him here, one was taken 21st March (when he was 1 1/2 months old), one taken 10th May (when he was 3 months old) and another taken 31st October (at nearly 9 months old) and it is amazing how much he has grown up already.

I remember when the first photo was taken, he was so small - I could cup his whole in head my my hand. At that time he would smile at M34tb4LL and myself, turn his head when we spoke to him, he loved sitting in his bouncy chair and staring at the toys that hang from the bar attached to it. He would even fall asleep in the bouncy chair sometimes! But that was pretty much all he was able to do!

By the time he was three months old, he was happily sitting up on my knee, would smile and laugh, he played with his toys, his hand and his feet.

By 9 months he was crawling, every object he could get his hands onto was an object of interest, he was saying simple sounds like mama dada baba, was able to hold his bottle himself and had gotten eating his mushy food down pat.

Now, at nearly ten months he can (or at least try) feed himself toast, sandwiches, cubes of fruit and vegies and chunks of cheese - it's messy, but it works. He is crawling very well now, if I turn my back for just a minute I have to go on a hunt to find him. Fortunately for me this is quite easy because he finds it such a fun game he will be laughing constantly!

And as for his eating - he now wants to feed himself! This is a little tricky for him seeing as he has NO coordination. But to encourage him with the whole self feeding thing, last night i gave him some chopped up peach. HE LOVED IT! He was grabbing little squares of peach and shoving them into his mouth, and he was doing a strange trembling laugh while eating. He was so excited with the process of feeding himself

I am finding it hard to believe that in two months he will be a year old! Soon he will be walking - making him a toddler! He is not a baby much longer!!! it makes me want to shed a little tear.

(: Reggie

Time to compare again

2007-11-01T09:47:00.000+11:00

On the 26th of April 2007 I put in a post called "Take a moment to compare", with a photo of Peanut with his teddy at 8 days old and 8 weeks old. Well on the 8th of October he turned 8 months old and of course another photo was taken of him with his teddy.

This photo was not as easy to take as the first photo. Ever since Peanut figured out how to roll himself over easily he had been flipping onto his tummy when he sleeps. And if I tried to turn him over to take the photo he would wake up and the opportunity to get the desired shot was gone. Luckily on the day this picture was taken, he was soooo tired when I put him in his cot that he went straight to sleep before he had the chance to flip over!

So for the full comparison, here is a photo of how he prefers to sleep now - he flips over, shuffles out from under his blanket, tucks his legs up under himself, and falls asleep on top of the covers.

We are lucky that Peanut is a bit of a snorer, with the way he now buries his face we can still easily tell that he is breathing!!!

(: Reggie

Upgrade complete!

2007-10-19T09:12:00.000+10:00

As readers of my blog will know, i have been considering whether to upgrade my flickr account so i can store an unlimited amount of photos.

Well after thinking / blogging / talking to myself i decided that it was a good idea. Not only would i be able to share unlimited photos of our little peanut but the photos would be available in their full resolution format.

Now imagine my surprise when for my birthday (about two weeks ago) i received some money from my mother-in-law with the direct instruction that it was to be used to subscribe to flickr!!!

Peanut is not eight months old (well eight months, one week and four days) and i have noticed that we are not taking photos of him in the same way we were. We used to take a couple of photos of him every day, and all he would be doing in lying somewhere smiling at us. Now we seem to only take photos of him a couple times a week, or every few days at the most - but we are taking more photos in a single sitting.

The photos we are taking now seem to be trying to capture a baby milestone or something that he has only just gotten the hang of doing.

So if you find that the photos have dropped off, it may not be because there have been less taken, but more that there have been more taken that are all the same.

(: Reggie

Separation anxiety

2007-10-04T23:50:00.000+10:00

Since Peanut was born, nearly eight months ago now, i have been at home with him every day - i have not returned to work. Actually when i say i have been at home with him i don't mean that we have been in the house all day every day. As you will all know from previous 'baby daze' post, we rarely spend all day at home doing nothing.

But this can not go on forever, i do need to get back into the work place sooner or later and to this we need to find alternate care for Peanut.

There was the option of leaving him at a lost and found counter and picking him up a the end of the day, but then i thought that might work for the first couple days and then i would have to find another option.

So the other option, which has now become the first option is to put Peanut into day care.

Before i had him i visited about half a dozen child care centres in the area and i chose one that is not too far from where we live. The way i made my chose was pretty much based on the 'vibe' i got from the places, how friendly the workers there are, how happy the children looked, the amount of cool toys the centre had...

Once i had made my choice i filled in an enrollment form and payed a deposit and played the waiting game. This was about 6 weeks before Peanut was born! I wanted to be prepared (:

I had been planning to go back to work about six months after leaving, but then there was that whole being made redundant thingy so i have been able to take my time getting used to the idea of Peanut going into day care.

And this has been a good thing, because just the thought of being away from him has been more traumatic than i imagined. Up until just a couple of weeks ago the longest that both myself and M34tb4LL had been away from him was for just under an hour when we went out for lunch and M34tb4LL's mother came to our house to watch the boy.

The day care centre has an introduction process available for all new comers, and i think it is just as much for the parents as the children - in fact come to think about it, it is probably more so for the parents.

They call it day care introduction and they invite a or both parents to come to the centre and stay in the room with their child for an hour or so, let the child play with the other children and the carers, give the parents a chance to chat to (grill) the carers, and basically see how the day to day routine works. And this is free of charge to the parents and can be done as often as is needed

I did this for a couple of weeks, just once a week, we sat in the room together, he played with other children and stole their toys and made sure that i was not too far away at any given time.

The third week it was suggested that i leave Peanut in the room and go to the staff room for a coffee. So after a short goodbye, about 15 minutes, i went to the staff room and made myself a cup of tea. About 5 minutes after i got to the staff room the owner of the centre arrived and we got talking. It ended up that i was in the staff room for about 1 1/2 hours, the owner was very good at keeping my mind off what Peanut was up to (she had done this before). I went back to the baby room, picked up the boy and went home.

The next week M34tb4LL took the morning off work and we dropped Peanut off at the centre together. We then LEFT the centre and went to the local Starbucks for a nice relaxing cup of coffee. After a rather distracted cuppa we went home and kept ourselves busy doing a bit of house work. After about 3 hours we went back to the centre to collect Peanut. He seemed to have had a good time. They told us that he had eaten all his breakfast, taken a nap, but refused to drink his bottle. Two out of three not bad.

So as the weeks go on, we will be leaving our boy for more time, till he is spending a whole day there. And i am not feeling as anxious about that thought as i had been. He seems to be liking it, and i am feeling better about the idea of going back to work and leaving him in the care of others. Now all i need to do is find a job!

(: Reggie

Complete sense of self

2007-09-01T19:31:00.000+10:00

I have read so many times (and been told) that babies have 'no sense of self', that they do not realise that they are individual entities. That when they look in a mirror they do not realise that they are seeing their own reflection and they think they are looking at another baby.

I (of course) have my own theory on this - they have complete sense of self.

Babies figure out from a very early age that when they cry they get attention, when they are hungry they get fed and when they are not happy the people around them go to great lengths to make them smile.

So if they have no sense of self, how do they figure out that they can get satisfaction by calling out to those around them?

M34tb4LL showed me an article the other day about how babies lie. It basically confirmed what I (and I am sure millions of other mother in the world) had been suspecting, that a baby will cry (with or without tears) to get attention. Even if there is nothing wrong, what baby wants - baby gets!

So back to the mirror theory, that when a baby looks into the mirror he thinks he is looking at another baby -

From the first time I held Peanut in front of the mirror, he would look at my reflection and give me a smile of acknowledgment. He would then turn around and look directly at me, showing the same amount of acknowledgment. So that got me thinking. Does he think that he has two mummies, one holding him and one holding another baby? Or is he fully aware that the other baby IS him and is just fascinated with his own reflection.

And while I am rambling on about a baby's sense or no sense of self - I get into the whole thing of 'they must have the concept that it ALL about them, that every thing that happens is for them'. In other word, a rather selfish attitude. But then I think that 'a selfish attitude is an adult concept, and it's not like a baby knows any better than to demand the attention he does'. So he would not have any sense of self if he were not aware that everything that happens is not about him.

So do babies have sense of self or not? Well with this brief insight into the mind of G (or the loops that I tend to go in), I have come to the conclusion that they do!!!

(: Reggie

* Warning * Cull Imminent

2007-08-12T19:49:00.000+10:00

I give this warning to the people who have been enjoying the photos on 'Flickr'.

Unfortunately, at any given time, only a maximum 200 photos will be displayed on an individuals flickr page - unless of course one wants to ungrade for a annual fee to their "pro package", which i don't want to do if i can help it.

Seeing as i there are currently 199 photos on the page this cap is near reaching.

In one week from today i will be randomly culling some of the older photos to make room for newer one. So if there are any phots that you have a particular fondness to on the first few of pages i would suggest you either grab yourself a copy or take one last look.

(: Reggie

A Solid Start

2007-08-10T23:10:00.000+10:00

Wednesday was Peanut's 1/2 birthday (he was six months old) and this means that it was time for us to introduce him to solid foods.

The first meal we had to give him is some good old farex, rice cereal. Mixed with some expressed milk to consistency of - and this is the midwife at the health centres words - wallpaper paste.

So last night we gave Peanut his taste of something other breast milk, but something that is very bland and tends to taste mostly of what it has been mixed with, and it had had been mixed with breast milk. I measured out 1 teaspoon of farex and 1 1/2 teaspoons of milk (i know that does not sound like much, but it was hard work just getting that much!).

While i was getting the food ready, M34tb4LL got ready to 'capture the moment'. He set up the video camera on a tripod, he switched the small digital camera to video mode, and got the other digital camera at the ready.

We then strapped Peanut in his swing-a-ma-jig, switched on all the AV and were ready to go.

The first couple of spoon went in to mouth with him hardly even noticing. He did try to grab the spoon off me, and ended up with the rice cereal over himself and me but that was not too bad.

What i would say was bad part was seconds after he finished the last mouth full of food - he chucked - projectile - the whole feed PLUS the milk feed he had had about an hour before - it was the most substantial chuck we had seen in months!!! And might i point out the amount of food he was eating here - 1 TEASPOON, not table spoon, of farex with 1 1/2 of milk.

And yes, the whole thing was captured on two video camera and on the still camera. Some of the photos will be making their was on to flickr and an edited video will be put on YouTube, but we think it will be better to leave the way the feed ended to the imagination.

That is until his 21st birthday when the whole thing will be shown of course.

So tonight we put Peanut in his bumbo (an easily cleaned, plastic chair), on his plastic play mat and gave him a second feed of the farex. He was fine with the first couple of spoons and as soon as he started to pull a face we stopped, about two spoons before the end of the quantity i had prepared. No chucking, no drama, not even a dribble of food on his bib!

So tomorrow night he will get the farex again, and then it is on to vegies - then fruit - then meat - and before we know it he will be munching through the sample box (2 dozen) from Krispy Kremes.

(: Reggie

Baby Milestones

2007-07-30T22:43:00.000+10:00

I find it hard to believe that only six months ago we were watching my swollen belly, shouting "get out" to it, and itching to meet our little man. Well in just over a week Peanut will be six months old and is far from the helpless little baby that brought home with us.

It seems like the months have flown by and that Peanut has learnt to sooo much in such short space of time, but it also feels like it has taken him soooo long to figure out how to the simplest of things. I think it a bit of both.

The first time he grasped something in his hand, i remember it very clearly. He was sitting on his bouncy chair. The chair has a toy bar that clips on to it and when we first started to use it, Peanut would stare at the toys, once in a while make a swot at the toys. I remember watching him staring intently at the plastic rings hanging from the bar, then he reached his hand out and grabbed onto them. As he held them in his hand he looked up at me with a "How the hell did i do that?" look on his face. I called M34tb4LL at work to tell him, then took about 2796 photos.

Well that is just one of the many milestones that Peanut has reached, like his first smile, first laugh, playing with his feet, sucked his thumb - then sucked his big toe, turning his head when he hears a voice he recognises, rolled over - and rolled back, reaches out for a favourite toy, cuts a first tooth, and many many more baby steps.

Well on Tuesday he reached another milestone (:

He said 'ma ma'. Now i am not fooling myself that he actually knows what he is saying, i know that he is just experimenting with the new sounds he has found - but it still made my heart melt.

On Thursday he said 'da da', on Friday he said 'na na' and Sunday 'ba ba'. Of course there was plenty of raspberrying and bubble blowing in between. Now today we got what i can only think is kissing practice, lots of lip smacking and tongue clicking. And the funny thing is the talking seems to have taken a bit of a back seat to this new found skill.

So who knows what tomorrow might hold, crawling, walking, running, jumping, shouting "i hate you mum!!!" and storming off to his room (getting a bit ahead of myself there maybe?)

(: Reggie

Recommended Age (?????)

2007-07-25T18:18:00.001+10:00

Baby toys is a quite the - well for want of a better thing to say - industry!!!

There are a number of brands that have many ranges of toys for all ages of babies, infants and children and keeping track is a bit of a task. Plus if one was to follow the age recommendations to the tee then i feel twice as many toys would be purchased than necessary, but i think that might be what they want!

Peanut had many toys in the age range 'birth' or '0+' bought for him when he was born, meaning that were considered safe for a newborn baby to play with. But when babies are newborn, they don't tend to play! they don't tend to much more than eat and sleep!!!

There are a few brands of toys that have different sets of toys for different 'stages'. 0 - 3 months, 3 - 6 months and so on. The funny thing is, is that by the time Peanut was starting to show real interest in the 0 - 3 month toys, he was nearly 3 months and theoretically should have been moving on the next 'stage' by then.

He is nearly 6 months and is still enjoying playing with the same toys the 0 - 3. Does this mean he is behind? Is playing with for want of something else play with?Or do the toy companies put out these many toys of many stages to make us buy more of them! One of the silliest things about the 0 - 3 toys is they have specially designed textures and made of specific materials to help with teething, when most babies get to at least 6 month if not older before they get teeth. Now for those of you who don't know, Peanut has actually gotten his first teeth already - but then he is quite advanced.

Wait a minute i have just contradicted myself there *shrug*

These days any toys with eyes, plastic ones, are considered not safe for children under the age of 3 years. Mostly because the eyes can be removed and swallowed by the child, so all soft toys for children under the age of 3 tend to have eyes that are embroidered onto the face.

Today while in a popular toy shop i saw a very cute blue teddy bear (there was also a pink one for girls) with "Happy 1st Birthday" printed on it.

Please excuse the quality of these photos, they were taken on my mobile phone. Plus i had Peanut in the BTD and he was trying to grab the bear off me. The first photo is not bad, but the second here is quite the bit blurry (:

So anyway the bear is being sold as a bear for a 1st birthday, but on the tag attached to it, it say it is not suitable for children under the age of 3!!!!! With bold print saying WARNING - CAUTION

So if toy manufacturing company can't decide their target age range, what hope do the rest of us have!

(: Reggie

Four month jab

2007-06-07T22:24:00.000+10:00

So as mentioned in the previous post (see "baby daze") our little Peanut has had to have his second lot of immunizations. Is it second? Or is it third? Meh.

He got jabbed when he was born, again at two months and now that he is four months has had to have another confrontation with the dreaded needle, so third. In fact he had to have three needles this time.

Public immunisations happen at the council building ever month. They start at 6.00pm and go till everyone that needs to be injected is done. I have been told that if you get there before 6.00pm you don't have to wait too long.

We got there at 6.10pm and were given our number as we walked in the door - 41. We then took a seat and hear number 11 being called. So we had a bit of a wait. Actually the wait was not that bad, they have the whole "how to get people in, stuck with a needle and out again" pretty well down pat.

I sat in front of a woman from my mother's group and her little bundle and we chatted for a while, she had number 24, and when her number was called to go and get her baby's shots done my number was called to go to the back of the room and get the baby health record book stamped. We then took our seats again to wait to be called to the front.

When our number was called for a second time I went to the front and sat between two nurses with Peanut on my lap. The nurses then gave him the two injections, one in each leg from each of the nurses. The look on Peanuts face was like "what the hell was that for!!!" then one of the nurses gave him a third injection and he screamed, very very loudly.

How do you explain to baby why he is being stabbed in the legs for his own good, all he knows is that there are two people causing him pain and his mother is sitting there, holding him and letting it all happen.

At least when he is older he won't remember things like this. I will remember it, but he won't. And it much better that he gets immunised against these illnesses than has to suffer through them later on.

(: Reggie

Baby Daze

2007-06-05T11:27:00.001+10:00

Before Peanut was born i thought that being home with him would be, well, being at home. In the house, not much to do, and the only place to go would be the local shopping centre to wonder around and not spend money that i don't have.

How wrong was I!!!

His (and by default my) days seem to fill up rather fast. I have to have my calendar up to date for fear of double booking him (and me).

There is the whole 'pop over to see a friend who also has an underling for catch-up', that activity i kind of expected. But there are many more activities that i had never thought of and had never been exposed to pre-parenthood. Mind you if i had of been hanging out at these activities i would probably had the cops called on me.

To give you an example of what our week this week looks like, here is what is in the calendar -

Monday: Meet with other mums and bubs from our mothers group at the baby health centre to discuss setting up a baby play group (and of course catch-up in general)

Tuesday: Go to M34b4LL's work so the "groaning uteruses" can coo over Peanut and wish they could have another baby

Go to Eastland shopping centre to say hi to person who normally works at Local Starbucks but is doing a shift there, and buy some of the cute bonds socks that look like sneakers that they did not have at the local shopping centre

Be at the council building by 6.00pm to get the four month immunisation done (the closer to 6.00pm we get there the less time we have to wait in the queue)

Wednesday: Drive to Collingwood to have lunch with Auntie Lulu and her friend and her friend's bub.

Thursday: Four month check-up at the baby health centre

Attend the "story time for tiny tots" session at the local library (Peanut loves this, we sing songs and get to try and eat the books)

Friday: Nursery swimming class, for ages three to twelve months.

Friend coming over with for lunch to chat about people we know and reassure me that i am not being a total spazz of a mother

So that is the week this week - calendar full. And next week? Still a couple of days free, but that will change soon enough i think.

(: Reggie

Pimp My Pram

2007-05-31T23:37:00.001+10:00

Before our little one was born we went looking for the best pram for him. We read through Choice magazines tips and tests, we went to baby stuff shops and asked for expert advise, we even sat at the local Starbucks and counted the makes and models of prams that went by to see which was the favourite.

We ended buying the one that Choice gave equal first to based on their trials (the other that came first, points wise, was twice the price and has been discontinued), was the one that the baby stuff shop recommended hands down over any others and the one that we saw the most on our coffee sipping people watching. Reading this paragraph back to myself it sounds like we bought three prams!!! No just the one - that happened to come first in all three categories.

So we have the pram that is to be had! and i even went out and bought the matching seat cover that comes with three pram toys that hang from the grip tabs built into the pram canopy.

At the first mothers group meeting, half of the mothers there had the same pram that we did. Walking around the local shops i see mothers pushing the same pram that we am pushing. And the in laws that are weeks off having an offspring of their own have bought the same pram that we bought! It is a popular pram!!!

There is a range of toys that i have kind of fallen in love with and i tell my self that it is Peanuts favourite toy line but that might be because it is the toy that i shove in his face more than other toys *** shrug ***

The toy range has four characters: a frog, a duck, a caterpillar, and a turtle - and the turtle is sooooooooo cute.

So Peanut started this toy range off with a frog that is holding a plastic bar between its hands that has three plastic shapes threaded on it, kind of like a chewing thingy. The frog was given to him by friends of ours when they first met the boy. I have since bought him the turtle toy the same as the frog, a slightly larger turtle with plastic chew bits instead of flippers and a rattle in the tummy, a smaller version of the turtle that is wrapped around a clear plastic tube with little balls in it, a larger cuddly turtle soft toy version, and he even has sheets that are printed with the heads of the four character and polar fleece blanket with the turtle appliqued on it.

Now back to the topic of the pram -

Peanuts pram does not look like completely like all the other prams around, mainly because of the toys of entertainment that adorn it. I have taken the dangles that came with the seat cover and replaced them with a duck, a caterpillar and a turtle dingle dangle from the afore mentioned range. He also has three of the character tied to the front bumper (that is what the bar that babys can hang onto while in the pram is called) and the duck quacks when squeezed!

So his pram does not completely look like the other prams that get wheeled around our local, and with a set of 'spinner rims' and some 'cold cathodes' it will look really rad!

(: Reggie

** edit **

There is a seller on ebay who has a great range of t-shirts for babies and toddlers

http://stores.ebay.com.au/Bondi-Top-Sellers

Including this one -

On the day you were born

2007-05-19T15:45:00.000+10:00

I have found a website that you can look up the horoscope of days since past, funky huh?

And here is the horoscope for Peanut on the day he was born (Aquarius, born 8th Feb 2007) -

"A fairly relaxed and balanced day for you is likely to end a thoughtful note today! Thanks to a couple of dynamic aspects you are going to be both bubbly and fun to be around! In terms of work or school it's looking ultimately positive, although the position of Jupiter suggests you need to listen!"

Well I suppose that everyone did want to be around him on the day he was born, and he did have to start leaning about the outside world...

Yer, whatever!!!

(: Reggie

Bugger, missed it!

2007-05-09T23:35:00.000+10:00

Happy 3 months birthday to you (for yesterday)
Happy 3 months birthday to you (for yesterday)
Happy 3 months birthday dear Peanut (for yesterday)
Happy 3 months birthday to you (for yesterday)

I did remember it yesterday, but just forgot to post. And here is a picture of the boy at three months of age -

He is doing latest trick - rolling onto his side and back again while lifting up his top, having a flash. He is also doing really well at grabbing things (and getting what ever he can to his mouth, the boy is orally fixated) and he has started to notice that he has feet!

The photo was taken at our mothers and bubs group yesterday (and the blanket was hand knitted for him by his own mother) which is umm.... interesting? i guess you could say? The group has been running for four weeks, but i missed the second week because we got a better offer for entertainment for that day.

It's funny though, the first day all these strangers turned up to this mothers group organised by the council, no-one knew anyone. Then by the third week (remembering that Peanut and I missed the second one) there was a "cool table" established, a group within the group that seemed to know each other really well and have been hanging out and buying gifts for each other.

And as of yesterday, week four, i still don't even know the names of most of the people there, let along have made any friends and been hanging out with them!!! Left to make friends with the chess club nerds again (:

Mind you, i do have feel a bit of a superiority over the "cool table" when i referred to one of the babies, who has the same name as Peanut, as his nemesis and she asked me what a nemesis is. And her baby is no where as cute as Peanut either, must try and get a photo of them together.

But back to the topic - the 3 month mile stone has been met!!! YAAAA, and we have had four sleep through the nights so far (not consecutive, but still...)

(: Reggie

PS - congrats Pauly on the arrival of Lily Isabel, now update your fucking blog!!!

Take a moment to compare

2007-04-26T19:07:00.000+10:00

He may still sleeps in the same position that he did as a new born baby, but my has he grown!!! He is 11 weeks old today - another three weeks on from the second pic being taken. I have put a reminder in my calenday to take a photo of him with teddy when is 8 months old.

(: Reggie

Days, weeks, months...

2007-04-16T12:09:00.000+10:00

Everyday while i get asked how old Peanut is. I get stopped by strangers while i am at the shops, asked by friends who need a refresher, M34tb4LL gets asked by colleagues at his work who have nothing else to say to each other. And everyday his age is different.

For me (my age) the answer is easy, i just quote to the year that i have turned - no halfs or nearlyies, just the year. But for one so young, a couple of days does make all the difference. It is the difference between him being able to focus his eyes a certain distance and him being able to open and close his hand to grab at something, him knowing the voices of those around him and sleeping for more than two hour without needing a feed.

For the first few weeks after he was born, his age was quoted in days - 2day, 6 days, 10 days. Then when he got to two weeks it was weeks that his age was quoted in, up until the 8 week mark. Then he turned two months.

I'm not saying that he growing up too fast or anything like that, i'm really loving watching him get older, watching him loosing that tiny baby look and getting a glimpse of what he will look like as a toddler. And as each (now) month goes by, i am looking forward to watching him learn to roll over, crawl and walk.

Tomorrow is our first mothers group with other new mums in the area, and there is going to be another baby Logan in the group!!! I am keen to find out where the inspiration for calling her son Logan comes from.

(: Reggie

All clear - YAY

2007-04-06T11:06:00.000+10:00

Having developed the dreaded GD I had to have a follow up test to make sure that the hormones the caused it have , ummm, gone and that it has not lead to type 2 diabetes.

Well as you can see by the title of this post I am fine, but that does not mean you are not going to get the whole story anyway - it is my way!!!

I had to do the same two hour test as before with blood tests at the start, middle and finish. I took M34tb4LL's car to the hospital because the pram does not fit into my car, and I did not fancy the thought of holding the little man on lap for two hours.

I spent the two hours sitting in a little corridor with a mixture of pregnoids and their partners trying to read a copy of a trash mag that I bought from the hospital gift shop. Of course each time Peanut started to do his 'nana I would pick him up and we would walk up and down the corridor, but being such a small corridor I would only be able to take about five steps before turning around and coming back.

At one point on this little walkie walkie trip a bored looking male companion picked up my trash mag and started reading it. Once Peanut was settled and back in the pram I went to take the mag off him and he pulled it back saying "I'm reading this!!!". My response was to snatch it off him and say "I PAID for this!!!". The pregnoid that was with him gave me a thin smile and tugged on her companions arm in disgust.

After the two hours we went back to M34tb4LL's work to do a car swap (he had taken mine to work that morning) and we went home. I think the next time I fed Peanut I must have given him a sugar rush because he was hyper bunny for the rest of the day.

The week after the blood test we had to go back to the hospital to get the results. I did not take the pram this time, just the baby torture device.

- Moment to clarify -

Baby torture device (or BTD) is a baby carrier thingy that one straps on their front and the baby is snug and safe in this. The reason it is called a torture device is that the bubs is strapped in and can not escape and most of the time has not choice but to fall asleep, whether he wants to or not. It is the whole close contact, heartbeat, security thing.

- Back to it -

So after sitting around for an hour waiting for our turn we went into a consulting room to get the test results. The dietitian woman first looked at the original reads and told me with the levels that I had given they would expect me to have ended up with type 2 straight away. She then looked at my file and seemed surprised that i did not end up being given insulin shots, which is what someone with my level might have expected. She was also more surprised that Peanut was born two weeks late and did not end up being the size of a mallee bull. I asked her if stress played a part in the original test and she said it sure did, well the circumstances that had preceded that test - had left me a little stressed!!!

So the good news is the level after the first hour was about 1.5 lower than the preferred read and after the second hour I was 2 lower than what they would like to see. So I have not only been given the all clear at this stage, I am also giving levels that they can not call close to borderline.

Oh, forgot to mention, the sickly sweet drink was green this time. Tasted the same - but bright green - a little disturbing really.

(: Reggie

We got smiles!

2007-03-24T09:42:00.000+11:00

In fact we have been getting smiles for a while, but for the last week or so the smiles seem to be connected to attention we give to little Peanut and he is even giving out a little laugh once and a while.

We have been trying to get a photo of a smile for ages now, but they have been kind of fleeting - till now. So here is a picture!!!

(: Reggie

And the prize goes to... LOGAN!!!

2007-03-19T09:09:00.000+11:00

Now don't freak by the title of this post, i did not enter him into some sort of cutesy baby beauty pageant, but if i did he would win of course.

Yesterday we went to our family reunion, held at Narracan Falls in Gippsland, nearly two hour drive from home.

As soon as we got there Peanut was the star! People who i did not know, but apparently i am related to in one way or another, kept coming up to me and telling how gorgeous Logan is - well derrrrr, i could have told them that!!! Some people an opinion on how he was dressed for the day;

"he should have a hat on"
"he does not need socks on with the weather today"
"clothes for babies these day look too grown up"
"that top does not match the pants he is wearing" but then he did chuck on the matching top ealier in the day

and my favourite comment, not clothes related;

"are you sure he is a boy? He looks too pretty to be a boy" WTF??? crazy relos!!!

So anyway, not long after we arrived the parental, the sister of g, 2 aunts and 2 uncles and a grandparental arrived and set up a picnic table. We had a scrummo lunch and as we finished eating were asked to gather round for announcements and awards. There was one award that we were there for in particular, the youngest!

The grandparental missed out on being the oldest by only a couple of months, but Logan was the youngest by far! And we were given a little trophy to commemorate this.

There are two sides of the family, the swamps and the hills, or as they are also referred to the John and Emma side (the swamps) and the Tom and Annie side (the hills). We are from the hills and though Logan is not he youngest on the hills side - he was the youngest there and that is all that matters. The winner of youngest on the swamps side was a little girl called Matilda who was born in December, so that means that Logan was actually the youngest there from both sides.

We were also awarded with the most generations there, seeing as we had my grandfather, parents, me and son - four generations present.

Previously my little group of the family have missed out on these awards - i missed getting youngest, a few years ago now, only by a couple of weeks - and now because of Logan, we walked away with two awards.

Logan - an award winning baby - an over achiever at five and a half weeks - and cute as a button to boot.

(: Reggie

How fast they grow!

2007-03-07T19:54:00.000+11:00

It is hard to think that as of tomorrow Peanut, I mean Logan is a month old already! And he has grown sooo much!

We visited the baby health centre today to have his four week check up and he is putting weight well, his head has gotten bigger (literally) and he is longer (taller) as well. He also looks different from the little baby that we brought home a month ago. He is still the same baby, he does not look THAT different, but he does not have the same "new born" face the he had - does that make sense?

So what has the last month been like? Fantastic!!!

Have we been able to get enough sleep? Not at all!!!

Do we know what Logan wants by the tone of his cries? Would not have a clue!!!

It seems that every time someone says "you both seem to be coping well with being first time parents" we will have the afternoon / evening from hell, like he hears us being told what a good job we are doing and thinks to himself - can't let them get a big head.

But we are not doing to bad. He has been gaining growing nicely between every baby health visit and is having more awake time and increasing in alertness. His reflects are as they should be and he is learning how to 'self settle' (going to sleep on his own in his cot).

It is funny when people ask about the birth and whether i would do it again, the answer to that is - yes. The brain has sufficiently blocked out enough of the trauma of child birth that i would consider going through it again. But is the brain going to block out the trauma of a new born enough for us to want to do again? Only time will tell.

(: Reggie

Well, he's here!!!

2007-02-18T19:33:00.000+11:00

And he is pink and plump and perfect!!!

WELCOME TO THE WORLD OF TOMORROW PEANUT!!!!

But of course he did not make his grand entrance without a story behind it – so here is the story:

Following the instructions of the obs that made the appointment for him to be induced, we made our way to the hospital Wednesday evening, in fact we were early for our appointment time (have to be a good role model for the boy once in while).

We went to the admissions window and told them why we were there and they looked at us like we had asked them to fly us to the moon. They called the delivery suite people and then told us to go upstairs and let them sort us out.

We went to the appropriate level and were told by the nurse at the desk that they were expecting us at 8 AM, not 8 PM!!!!

But i even rang the delivery suite a couple of days ago and they seemed to have the same impression of our expected arrival time as we did. But, it seems that if things were to happen, we would be the people it would happen to!

After about an hour and a half of waiting around and being told that we may just have to go home and come back the next morning, we were told that they would take us and “see what they can do”, nice.

We were then shown to one of the delivery rooms – one were the bed did not work so they would not be using it to do an actual delivery in anyway. By this time it was about 10.00 before they gave me the pre-induction preparation. I then had to stay flat in the bed – not allowed to move for an hour. I started getting bad cramps in the lower abdominal area and of course already having cramps in my hips due the whole being pregnant thing, all i wanted to do was jump off the bed, or at least sit up, but this was a big no no if i wanted the prep thingy stuff to work.

After an hour i was allowed to move, thanks the gods, but the mid-wife kept feeling my tummy telling me that i was still getting mild contraction and could i feel them? Ummm no.

After an another hour the midwife left me to get some sleep and M34tb4LL went home. We did of course make sure that the hospital had his mobile number just in case things started happening during the night. I then went back to the bed to try and get some sleep. It was really weird sleeping in a bed in the middle of a hospital room, and no TV to go to sleep – a bad habit i know, but what are you going to do.

I woke up at six the next morning, the time they told me they were going to be staring the next step and when M34tb4LL was due to return. I only had to wait a few minutes as people started to come into the room, including M34tb4LL of course. It seemed what they had done had had the desired effect and they could go to the next step.

They moved me to another room – one where the bed was working – and continued with the induction procedure (i will not get graphic), which included putting a drip in back of my hand and strapping on a monitor to keep track on the baby and another monitor to keep track of the contractions that the stuff in the drip was supposed to start.

I started to get mild contractions and they showed me how to use the gas, so i knew how to use it when i really needed it. They also kept increasing the drip so that the contractions would get stronger.

Once again, the pain in my hips got the better of me and each time i tried to move to make the pain a little better the monitor they had strapped to me kept loosing the baby's heart beat. Luckily there was a easy solution to this problem, they could attach a monitor to the baby's head with a little clip and i would not have to worry about keeping the other monitor in place (again, not going to get into graphics of how this was done). They attached the clip and went to plug it into the monitor, but the monitor that they had in the room was not compatible. They went and got another monitor machine, hooked me up, and there was the the little ones again.

At about 10.00am they realised with the confusion the night before i had not actually been admitted to the hospital and they sent M34tb4LL back to admissions so i could be checked in. Not longer after he left the room the contraction that i had been getting stopped. The midwife continued to up the dosage on the drip and within an hour the contraction came again – AND HOW!!!

The gas certainly came in handy at this point, as did the shot of pethidine they gave me about an hour and quarter later.

It was close to the hour and a half mark that the old blood pressure started to rear its ugly head – or at least it started to go up a bit, then a bit more, then more again...

I can't quite remember what initiated the conversation of an epidural, but they asked me if i knew what one was and did i know what was involved. I explained the whole thing to them in great detail and one of them went to get a doctor. When the doctor arrived he told us it was for the best that they give me an epidural, not just for pain relief but because of the whole climbing blood pressure thing. I agreed with him – at that point i would have really agreed to anything – and he went to get an anesthesiologist.

Knowing that i would soon be bed ridden with a paralyzing chemical being pumped into my spine, i took the opportunity to go to the bathroom. While in there i got another contraction and apparently the sound i made was a little different than with previous contractions. One of the midwifes looked a the other and in a slightly panicked tone said “not again!”. This is because that at this particular hospital that we were at there was a baby born in the toilet not to long ago!

They opened the door on me and asked why i was making that particular sound, i said because it was sound i felt like it making. After a quick check of my progress they discovered that i was actually ready to have the baby.

The anesthesiologist came into the room to give me the epidural and they told him to not bother, it was too late for that.

So after about another 15 minutes Peanut was happily laying on chest, blinking at the light and sucking his fingers. Two hours from start to finish, blinding fast (not unhappy about that) and not the 12 + hours they were telling us to expect.

And now some stats for you -

Date: 8th Feb 2007
Time: 1:03pm
Weight: 3.71 kg (8 lb 3 oz)
Length: 52 cm

Name: Logan Jay

(: Reggie

Time is nearly up Peanut!

2007-02-07T10:01:00.000+11:00

So at thirteen days overdue it seems there is no other option than medical intervention!

In less than 10 hours from now i will be in the hospital preparing for Peanut to be induced. To day is going to be really really long day!!!

Plus the look on M34tb4LL's face as he was going to work today - i have never seen him soooo not want to go! He put in a holiday leave for a month from the time Peanut was due to be born, but he told his boss that if the baby came early then he will be going sooner and if he came late he will be going later. We both thought that he would have been leave for a couple of weeks by now.

I still find it, umm i suppose i can say amusing, that i was told by the second obstetrician that the baby WOULD be born premature, even up to 10 weeks prem and that our hospital of choice could not take us for that reason. I soooo want to go to his office, shove my big belly in his face and scream "two weeks over". I doubt he would even remember me though - but i will not forget him... (G gives obs an evil glare)

But on the upside i have a friend who has just had a baby at the afore mentioned (but not named) hospital and she chose to cut her stay short because she did not like it there. Not that a stay in a hospital is supposed to be like a resort holiday, you know what i mean.

I wonder if the hospital will let me have my laptop so i can write an update? Doubt it. Ya'll have to wait till i get home in a couple of days time!!!

(: Reggie

10 days over, and counting

2007-02-04T14:31:00.000+11:00

We are getting close to the end, if not by natural means we at least have a date that medical intervention will be employed!!!

Today we had our last (i hope) hospital visit as an outpatient, the next time we walk through those door we will not be walking out till we have our little Peanut safely in our arms. That is kind of KEWL thought.

I rang the delivery suite on Friday because i was freaking out slightly that i had not listened properly to the obs at our last visit and i had no idea of what was going to happen when. I spoke to really nice midwife who basically assured me that what i had remembered from the obs visit was correct but that i just had some of my terminology wrong.

If i do not go into labour naturally myself the baby will be induced on Thursday, BUT, we will actually come to the hospital Wednesday night where they do a pre-inducing procedure (not going to give you a visual) and then i will stay in over night and hopefully by Thursday they can start the inducing process. She said that half the time the pre procedure actually brings on labour anyway so it is all good.

The midwife then went on to give me few tips of what i can do to try and bring labour naturally myself, eating pineapple and/or a hot curry, going for walks, having a relaxing hot bath, and a few other things - most of these things i have tried anyway.

She also said that she could tell by the sound of my voice that i was stressed, well derrrrr, and that that might actually be setting me back a bit!!! Do you know what it does to a stressed person if you tell them they are stressed and not to stress??? They get MORE stressed!!!

Buy anyway - the hospital visit today:

We arrived at the hospital for our 9.00am appointment (on a Sunday!?!?!?) and i was strapped to a monitoring machine. Because of the position the baby was in i had to hold the sensor thingy in place and because of the whole fluid in my hands at the moment i promptly developed pins and needles and could not hold it. M34tb4LL held the sensor for me, and perched next to me on tiny plastic chair - while i sat back in comfy easy chair! He is such a sweetheart (: The monitoring lady kept telling him if he wanted to stay she could use his help with some of the other women there!

Each time i felt the baby move i had to press a button and it would put a mark on the graph that the machine was printing. This would show what the babies heart beat is while resting and while moving. Basically each time, i felt him move, the heart beat went up! As it should be!!!

Only problem was, with the size of the sensor thing (not very big), each time he moved M34tb4LL had to move the sensor around because he would lose the heart beat and would have to find it again.

After about half an hour of monitoring the graph showed a happy baby with a healthy heart beat and good movements.

We then had an ultrasound to make sure there was still enough fluid around the baby to see us through the next could of days. There was 10.6cm, apparently this is good. The scanning lady said if there was 4cm or less then we would not wait till Wednesday and they would get me back in tomorrow, but 10cm compared to 4cm seems like a good difference.

So now if Peanut does not make the move first we will be going back to the hospital in about 74.5 hours to get him started, not that i'm counting the hours now!!!

(: Reggie

Post hospital update

2007-01-30T21:45:00.000+11:00

Went to hospital this morning and they have given us a 'plan' going forward (all of this of course is based on nothing happening in the mean time) -

First thing Sunday morning we have to go in for "fetal monitoring", this means they will listen to the heart beat for an hour or something to make sure that it still steady and good or something, and somehow will able to tell the amount of fluid around the baby as well, to make sure that he does not dry out?

Then on Wednesday night (next week, not tomorrow) we go to the hospital to get thing started!!! They are going to do "stage one" of induction amd hopefully within six hours things will start happening. If after six hours nothing has happened they re-do "stage one" and wait a bit longer. They did not tell us what any of the further stages are and what they have to do if stage one does not do anything.

I just hope Peanut figures it out before we get to this point, two weeks late is too long to wait!!!

(: Reggie

Nothing yet...

2007-01-30T09:33:00.000+11:00

Well we are now five days over due, and the waiting game is getting old!

We have a hospital appointment this morning and we were hoping that we were not going to make the appointment, that we would be in the hospital by now on our own. This hospital appointment is still just a check up, they are not going to be intervening at this point, but hopefully we will start to but a plan place for intervention if things are not "moving".

We had an appointment a couple of weeks ago when they told us that as long as blood pressure and blood sugar levels stay good they will let us go up to two weeks over!!!

Well levels are well under control and i am half tempted to eat Maccas for every meal, not do any for of exercise and hold my breath while they take my blood pressure so my read go up.

They don't call me Evil-G for nothing (who they?)

(: Reggie

D Day (the D stands for due)

2007-01-25T15:56:00.000+11:00

Well, i have reached the due date!!!

Or at least as of the last scan we have reached the due couple of days. The first ultrasound gave us a due date of 25th Jan 2007 (today) and the last ultrasound gave us a due date of 25th to 27th Jan. I do find it funny that the closer you get the more vague the dates gets!

I have spent most of this week stocking the freezer with meals that M34tb4LL and i can simply defrost, heat and eat. We have two meals worth of pasta bake, four of curry mince, three of chili con carne, two of beef stroganoff and i am in the middle of cooking up a lentil curry that will be at least four meals worth. I also have three meals worth of lasagna thanks to friend, Droidy. After Droidy made the lasagna for us, M34tb4LL asked if i can hurry up and have the baby so we can eat it!!!

The nursery is all done, the car seat has been fitted into the car, the hospital stay and the labour bag have been packed, the freezer is stocked, the email auto-forward has been set-up (so M34tb4LL can SMS his email address and an email will be sent to all family and friends), I have not yet said "I've had enough of being pregnant", but i am saying that i am ready for this pregnancy to end...

Just need our little peanut now.

"Anytime your ready son!"

(: Reggie

What's wrong with black?

2007-01-14T20:52:00.000+11:00

I have finally bought the last few things on the list for the hospital bag, which is all backed and ready to go when Peanut is. Which according to M34tb4LL's Peanut countdown widget is in 9 days : 15 hours : 22 minutes : 19 seconds, but to the rest of us sometime around the 25th of this month.

I have bought a pair of track pants so i have something comfy to wear at the hospital, washed my jeans to wear home and packed them both in the bag. I also went on the hunt for feeding bras, because i did not have have any yet.

WELL!!!

I thought it would be best to go a bra shop and get one of the girlies there to help me - they sell bras every day and should know what size and stuff i need. I my wear bras, but i don't know anything about them!

So i went to large bra shop at the local shopping centre and told them of my needs. They asked me about the size that i am current;y wearing and then told me the size i would need in a feeding bra (not the same apparently!!!). They gave me a beige bra in the size they recommended and told me to put it on and wait for them to come in and check it for me.

I put it on and waited, waited, waited, waited - i thought if i have wait much longer i will go into labour! I put my clothes back on and went out to see if they had any 'nicer' looking bras, and in colours that would go with my wardrobe.

As i left the change room a girlie came up to me and asked if i had been fitted. I told her i had tried bra on, but she wanted to know had someone been in to check it - eerrrr, no! So she told me to go back and she will send someone straight away.

So i started the process again, but the bra on and waited. Then i stuck my head out of the curtain and started tyring to get attention, this only took a couple of yells.

A girlie came in the changing room with me, pulled on the straps a bit, asked a couple of questions, said me the fit was fine and told me to get changed again and she will 'put the bra through' for me - i think that means she was telling me i was allowed to buy it. Yaaaa, it might have been the right fit, but it was pretty darn ugly - and pricey!!! it cost as much as 6 of my normal bras!!!

I went out and put the bra back on the racks and starting searching for something nicer (and cheaper), and preferably in black - black goes with everything. In the size i need, no black, in fact in the size i need, there was only the one naff beige one! So i left the store with only the bra on my back.

I then searched every store i could think in the centre that sells bras, no black in any of them! I bought a pink one and a white one, but black is my preferred colour!

A couple of days later i got M34tb4LL to drive me to another centre, a little further away, still no luck - white, pink and beige only. We went to a few centres in the area and all of them came up with the same results. For the size i need - no black!!!! I even got one of the girlies in a bra shop to call her suppliers to see if they could get one, nope.

So i bought a second pink and a second white bra, have shoved them in the hospital bag and am now ready to go - black bra or not.

Three weeks to go...

2007-01-05T12:08:00.000+11:00

So peanut is due in three weeks, from yesterday. Peanut is due in two weeks and 6 days.

Yup, three weeks.

That is 21 days (well seeing as it was three weeks yesterday it is actually 20 days)

I can still remember when my counter thingy was saying 200 days!!! but now it is saying 20 days?

and tomorrow it will day 19 days! and about a week and half we will be down to single digits!!!

Three weeks

I hate hot weather - my feet keep swelling up so much that i can not wear any of my shoes! Yesterday we went to visit M34tb4LL's mother at her annual holiday spot at the beach and by the time we got there i had to borrow her thongs because there was no way my shoes were going to go on my pudgy feet. It is literally the first time M34tb4LL has seem me wear a pair of thongs - EVER. I think today i will have to go to the shops and invest in pair of thongs of my very own.

Did i mention that there are only three weeks to go????

(: Reggie

My bag is packed...

2006-12-26T22:30:00.000+11:00

...And I'm ready to go

Well, nearly packed. Just need some singlets for bubs, day clothes for me and a "labour bag" for stuff while in labour (derrr).

I went shopping a couple of weeks ago in a mad "i have to buy the things on the list from the hospital that i don't have yet!!!" panic shop. It was a rather successful shop - forgot a few things, but all in all good.

I bought four flannel baby wraps, three cotton baby wraps, three cotton bunny rugs and a polar fleece baby blanket. What is the difference between a baby wrap, bunny rug and a baby blanket? *** shrug ***, the label on the packet?

I bought four hats, which i have been told by one person is a complete waste of time, but have told by another are the best things you can have, two pairs of mittens (to stop little finger from scratching) three pairs of booties, for little footsies, three onesies that came with a matching bib, two nighties for me and two pairs of slinky satin PJ's - and all that for $130!!! Does this girl know how to shop!!!

And i would like to add for the person the bought peanut some V V funky singlets for Christmas that i am not packing them, they are waiting till we get home and be shown off on hot Summer days when all peanut will feel like wearing is a nappy and a singlet - an uber kewl, bight coloured, chesty bonds singlet!

So peanut is due one month from yesterday! home straight! I have had people ask if i am over the whole being pregnant thing and i would have to say - naaaaah, its alright. I love the kicking i am getting and still find the whole being able to see him stretching from the outside fascinating and freaky at the same time.

But i suppose give me more hot days like we had last week and i will not be so optimistic!

(: Reggie

PS - the whole having GDM thing? no problem!!! i even got through the whole silly season eating cheese cake and chocolate mousse and not one high read - piece of cake! mmmm some cake would be nice right now........

And the test results were there all the time!

2006-11-26T08:53:00.000+11:00

And they were not good!!!

We had our routine obs appointment at the hospital on Friday and the obs looks at her computer screen and says "oh, you had an elevated read to the GDM test and have not sat the GTT yet?"

My first reaction was to stand up scream "WHAT THE FUCK!!! I DID NOT GET THE PHONE CALL I WAS TOLD I WOULD, AND I DID WHAT I THOUGHT WOULD BE 'THE RIGHT THING' AND CALLED TO CHECK WAS TOLD THAT IF I HAD NOT HEARD ANYTHING BY THIS STAGE THEN THE RESULTS WERE FINE", then bust into tear and storm out knocking anyone or anything down that happened to get in my way - I'm pregnant and hormonal, what do you expect!

But i didn't do that.

Instead i breathed deeply, looked at M34tb4LL (who had a slight look of fear in his eyes) and told her that we had not received a call to tell us the results were elevated and i had even called and was told that i need not worry.

The obs was lovely about the situation, very apologetic and assured us she had never heard of anyone else to not have been notified of results before. My thought at that one was - well if it is going to happen to anyone, it is going happen to us **shrug**

She then said that i would need to sit the retest ASAP as i was supposed to do the re-sit the best part of a month ago and wanted to know what my work schedule was like for the coming week. Mmmmm let me see, busy, busy and busy. Can not really take a morning off till Friday.

She switched to plan B and called a sister hospital that has a pathology clinic open on Saturdays to see if i could get a spot there - all booked out ): She then tried the private clinic at this hospital and they said they could see me this Saturday - so like the next day - at 8.30am, w00t.

She then did all the normal checks, including the dreaded blood pressure. She said she would not be surprised in the slightest if it was high - but it wasn't, perfectly normal!!! All that deep breathing, trying to keep myself calm must of helped!

So, nothing to eat after midnight, no bottle of cordial beside the bed to sip on during the night and no breakfast. Got up early - nooooooooooo chance of raising M34tb4LL as i know he was still up when i made one of my many trips to the bathroom at 4.00am, and drove to the hospital. Funny how empty a hospital car park is at 8.15am on a Saturday!

Found private pathology - no thanks to the absent receptionist, just past the cafe with all its breakfasty smells!!! How cruel!

Had first blood test, ouch. Drank super sweet slightly fizzy stuff and waited.... An hour later, another blood test and another wait.... An hour later another blood test (same place as first one because by this time i had run our of arms) and was told i could go home.

So the waiting game starts again, but this time i am not going to take the word of some pathology receptionist that they will call me if there is problem, and i am not going wait till the next routine visit to get he results - as by this time i will 34 weeks and this test, if it shows i have GD, is supposed to have an action plan in place by 26 - 28 weeks.

On the up side though, three blood tests in two hours in two arms - and NO bruising at all!!!

(: Reggie

** Update ** test results are in, and lets just say i can no longer have a large glass of cordial beside the bed to drink through out the night and i have to do blood tests throughout the day.

No test results, yet...

2006-11-06T22:50:00.000+11:00

And i think this is a good sign?

When i had my GDM test i was told that anyone has a 70% chance of being told that the first test shows at least a border line chance of gestational diabetes and that a re-sit is necessary. After consuming 'the drink' and while waiting the hour till the blood test , we saw an obs and he was very surprised that i was doing the first test first (Think how confused that made us feel).

The chance of developing GD increases when you add a few variables - like age, weight, family history of either GD or type 2 and ethnic background. I have a few of these in my court and because of these the obs thought that i should have been doing the re-sit test first as this is a longer, more involved test and can give the all clear to about 90% of the 70% of people who have to do the second test.

Why not just do the second test first? good question!!!

But anyway, i was told by the pathology vampire that i would get a call in week with the results. Have not heard anything, and the test was over a week ago now. I called the pathology peoples at the hospital and they said that they usually only call if there is a problem and if i have not heard anything then i can assume the results were fine.

So the fact that i have not heard anything i am thinking that i might have fallen into the 30%? w00t! However still sporting a bruise from the blood test - 10 days later!!!

(: Reggie

GDM test, what does the 'M' stand for?

2006-10-30T23:14:00.000+11:00

To tell you the truth, i don't know!

But anyway, had GDM test on Friday or by another name gestational diabetes test.

I had been warned that it is not a pleasant test by a friend who has had to do the test three times already and is looking forward to doing it for a forth time in a couple of weeks, so i made arrangements with boss lady to have the day off work. And with the hours i have had to be doing lately it was not a hard sell might i add!

So we turned up at the hospital for our 9.45am appointment and checked our selves in. The reception lady told us to go to the pathology window (just opposite) and get 'the drink' so we could start the test. We had to take a number and then wait till it was called (half an hour later - seriously!) and the pathology lady asked for our paperwork for the test.

Our what?

Had to back to receptionist lady and ask her what paperwork we are supposed to have and she told us to go, i don't know, the second level reception window (opposite and just down a bit) to get paperwork.

Lady there knew what i was asking about! YAAAAA, but had to wait for a doctor to pass by to sign the form. Pretty easy done seeing as we are in a hospital.

Back to pathology window and rather than take a number i just waved the paper at pathology lady, tee hee. She was getting one of 'the drinks' ready for another pregnoid and when she saw me, got a second one ready - no wait, nice.

So 'the drink' was not what i was expecting or had been told to expect. I had been told about having to consume a litre of super sweet, super thick liquid that would make me feel like upping before i could half of it down -

but instead

I was given a 300ml bottle, chilled, with a straw. I was told that i need to down the drink within five minutes and then sit quietly for an hour, no walking around.

'The drink' was thickish in texture but it was carbonated so the bubbles counteracted the heavy and it had a slight lemon flavour which did help to counteract the super sweetness of it.

It was amusing that after a few sips i had a moment of panic - "this drink is very sweet, hope there are no artifical sweetners in it!" now 'the drink' is designed to test how well my body is braking down sugar, why would they put an artifical sweetner in a drink to test how well the boby brakes down sugar?

Anyway, downed 'the drink' in about a minute, 10 minutes after that i could feel peanut going crazy - sugar freak out!!!

We were then called by an obs, and he said that chances are i will have to come back to another GDM test as the results of this one will probably come back high (apparently 70% of prenoids have to do a resit), got to hear the heart beat again, i love that sound, and was told that things are looking fine.

Back in the waiting area and after another 15 minutes got called to have a blood test, it had been an hour since downing 'the drink'. So vampire lady started to take blood, left arm because the veins are easier to find. I think she may do ti too many times a day, the needle hurt and she has left a mother of a bruise! When ever i have had to have a blood test at the doctor he never leaves a mark, i never bruise from him.

And then we got to go! w00t! so we drove to M34tb4LL's work where they were cooking up a BBQ storm, i had a sausage in bread - got the sickly sweet taste out of my mouth finally, and i stole M34tb4LL's car and drove home.

And this is the part that i am super glad i took the whole day off work. Felt a little sick to the stomach, but could cope with that, but felt mega way tired and could not cope with that!!!

Got home by 1.30pm and crashed, out like a light! wake at 5.00pm, just enough time to drive back to pick up M34tb4LL. And Saturday? felt like shit again! not one of my better days!!!

So the test itself, having to consume 'the drink', not so bad! its the aftermath that is the killer!!! And there is 70% chance that i will have to do a resit.

"the first test shows you may a problem processing the mega amount of sugar we gave you, to make sure - here have a shit-load more sugar"

(: Reggie

In case i forgot he was there

2006-10-09T19:56:00.000+10:00

Date: Friday 6th October
Time: 10.10 am
Event: Felt peanut move!!!

I was at work, sitting in the "Bluegum" meeting room with my manager talking about team building workshops that are going to be rolled out to the company that i work for and all of a sudden i had this feeling of little bubbles popping inside me.

I'm not sure what the expression on my face was, but manger stopped mid sentence and asked if i was alright! When i told her that i think i just felt the baby moving, she laughed at me, and our meeting continued.

When i got out of the meeting i emailed M34tb4LL to tell him. About 20 minutes after sending him the email, i got the feeling again - so i called M34tb4LL!!!

I wanted to tell him to blow off work and i would do the same and to come home at once, but i didn't. Actually come to think of it, i did tell him that, but we didn't play hooky.

I kept getting the feeling every half and hour to an hour for the rest of the day, and have been feeling it every day since!

Spoke to little mummy tonight and she told me that now i am feeling peanut move i will have to lay off the spicy food. Why? Because that will make him kick even more!

Bring me your hottest vindaloo!!!

(: Reggie

Half my clothes do not fit anymore!

2006-10-05T21:18:00.000+10:00

I say half because i have had a habit of wearing clothes that are half falling off, and now they either fit (and closely) or they no longer go on at all.

So we have now had two appointments at the new hospital, and both have felt far more encouraging than the old hospital. The first time we went, just over three weeks ago now, we saw a mid-wife before we saw an obstetrician.

The midwife was nice, friendly, chatty - to both of us, not just to me. Then when we saw the obs, we were feeling relaxed. He also chatted to of us - nay, he chatted WITH both of us. He was asking M34tb4LL what he did for a living, then asked for clarification when M34tb4LL gave his normal two word answer. It was a nice change to have someone seem to take an interest in both of us and not just tell us - nay, tell me, the things that are wrong with me.

The best part of this was visit was when he found that wonderful little heartbeat, I love that sound. He found the heartbeat and looked over at M34tb4LL to make sure that he was involved. I started to laugh (and cry a little bit) and he lost it. But the fantastic part was that he found it again, and rather than just finding it and saying "there it is and it sounds fine", he let us just listen to it for some time. It really is my favorite sound.

The second appointment was also a very positive experience - to the point that I had the lowest blood pressure that has ever been taken by a medical professional that I have seen for the first time (I hope that makes sense). The only lower reads I have had taken is with my trusted GP, and the reads I have taken myself.

I should add that the second appointment was positive - by the time we got there! There was a little bit of a wait (2 hours) to see the obs, due to our file being put into the wrong queue. But when we got to see the obs, she gave a note to give to reception that would get us into a clinic day that was not as busy as the one were currently on. Cheat their own system!

Other than that, 24 weeks today, been told I am glowing, and the name game continues.

(: Reggie

Half way mark!

2006-09-09T08:37:00.000+10:00

As of today i am 20 weeks and 2 days. That means there are 138 days to go. And as we all know babies have a habit come right on time so...

Anyway, a week ago today we went to our friendly radiology place to have our next scan. The scan i was told by the NEW hospital should happen between 19 and 20 weeks, which it did.

So last Saturday after waking early and pacing up the down the house for what felt like hours we got in the car to drive to scanning place. We had plenty of time to get there and knew that we would have to wait over our booking time anyway - but we were exciting about seeing peanut again, and also were dying to know whether peanut was a she or a he.

Slight brake in the story to tell the amusing tale of when M34tb4LL's mother was at our house one day, and in her panic of not wanting to label the baby "she", "he" or "it", she called it "shit". Her own grandchild!!!

My parents have been calling it "Corbin-Storm" since we first told them, and that is why we have having been calling it "peanut"

Right, back to the day of the scan.

So we are driving there, grinning like idiots, and we would have only been a few blocks from our destination when i realised that we had not brought any media with us to record the event! When i verbalized my realisation, M34tb4LL's foot hit the brake pedal a little, but them he remembered that we were driving on a main road and he continued at a normal speed.

We did a quick time calculation and we possible could have made it home to pick things up and then come back, but it would have been tight. Or we could continue about a block past the destination and go to the supermarket that was there and buy media.

The second is what we did. We drove into the carpark of the supermarket and i said if he wanted to slow does to a walking pace i would jump out and run inside, the chance of getting a park easily on a Saturday morning would be slim.

How wrong was i! Right outside the front door - a parking spot!

We ran in and frantically searched the aisles for their media, found it and grabbed a spindle of 25 CDR, 25 DVD-R and a blank video. Ran back to the car and made it back to the scanning place with about 1 1/2 minutes to spare.

Or course we had to wait a good ten minutes till it was our turn but...

So i guess you don't really care about all our media needs whooos and are just reading this to see if i am going to actually tell you if it is a bay or a girl? I love stalling.

The question is, do you go out and buy our little peanut pink or blue?

The real question is do you buy dark purple (for a boy) of light purple (for a girl)

The results of the scan were - the baby is healthy, good regular heart beat, long straight arms and legs, no sign of genetic or chromosomal defects

and

it is a boy.

They gave us an 80% chance of a boy (so still may be a small chance of having a girl as things are still developing) but it is boy.

Trouble is, we had the girls name agreed upon, do not have a boys name picked out.

Suggestions are welcome

(: Reggie and son

Does anybody want us?

2006-08-22T08:26:00.000+10:00

Ok, here is the bottom line - I am pregnant and the way these things work, I am going to be having a baby. I am, in fact, going to be giving birth to a baby. I have heard, seen, not want to really think about it right now that child birth can be a tad painful and tricking and having assistance from someone who has assisted others in the past is a good thing to have.

Well, after the last obstetrician appointment (see previous post) i went back to my doctor and got a referral to a new obs.

He was nice, polite, made us feel comfortable, explained things fully, including why he did not think that we should be coming back to him!!!

Since my last little obs encounter i have had BORDERLINE high blood pressure, and despite what some people say, stress does play a part in that. And this new obs took great lengths to explain this condition that he seemed to believe i was at great risk of developing and because of this i would be turned away from the hospital we are booked into and be sent elsewhere. So it was in my best interest to go to this other hospital now and save having to be transferred there at the last minute.

When we got home we looked up the condition he was talking about and i have a chance of about 3 - 5% of developing it, which incidentals is the same chance anyone has!

I think he was just fobbing us off because the boys-club that is going on at the first hospital we got into all stick together and if i say i don't want one of their obs, the rest band together and won't take me!

So i called the hospital that he told me to and they pretty much laughed in my face and said that the obs can't just tell me to call them. They will only take me if i am referred by an obs with the results of many tests that prove i am in a high of developing the condition.

So back to my GP i go.

He sent an URGENT fax to the second hospital, explaining my situation and low and behold, the next day they call - need a few more details and they can arrange an appointment for us.

Not sure if the appointment is to do tests to consider me as a patient, or the appointment is to just start seeing me. I will find out today when i call them back!

And on a different note altogether - Peanut now has a Thinkgeek and an Amazon wishlist! See the links and happy shopping!!!

Second obstetrician appointment...

2006-08-12T07:17:00.000+10:00

Had the second appointment with the obstetrician the other day, and it was also the last one with that particular one!

The first appointment i had i found him cold, rough and arrogant. He was no the kind of person that i could ask any questions of - and as a first time pregnoid (that's a word i made up by the way, it means a pregnant paranoid person) i have many, many, stupid questions!

M34tb4LL was not fond of him either, and i think he felt a bit uncomfortable with the way the obs examined me. I know i sure felt uncomfortable

The second appointment we had, saw the midwife first. She was nice, i felt a bit more comfortable and even asked a couple of my stupid questions full well knowing that by the time i got to the obs i would not want to ask them.

Then we went back to the waiting room till the man himself was ready to see us. He walked passed the door of the waiting room and without braking stride called my name. He did not even look up to see if i had heard him - or even to see if i even there, he just said my name and went straight into his office.

ARROGANT

We followed after him and sat down at the desk. He had my ultrasound tests infront of him and he told up that it was all good, very low risk of downs and we were spot on for the expected due date. He then got me to hop up on the bed so he could see if we get to hear peanut's heartbeat. He picked my stomach with the doppler for a few seconds and said he could not find anything but that does not mean anything because, and i am quoting word for word, no paraphrasing here -

"You are fat"

INSULTING

Now i am a rather voluptuous woman, that is true, but sugar coat the lemon sir!!! He went on to say he was not saying that insult me (TOO LATE) but that it was true.

SECOND PUNCH LANDED RIGHT ON TOP OF THE FIRST

Apparently women that carry a bit of extra it can be harder to find bubs's heartbeat. Also at the this stage bubs is still quite low in the pelvis bone and that does shield it from the doppler a bit, and there is no need of concern. That would have been a nicer way to say it. But he didn't. We left his office, went and paid the bill and walked outside - and here come the water works! I am pregnant, hormonal, emotional - be nice to me!!!

I made an appointment with my long time trusted GP for the next day. I also rang the hospital we are booked into and got a list of all the obs they use. When i got to my GP i recounted my story from start to finish, first and second appointment. He listened to it all through moments of head shaking, gasping, and looks of shock and told me to get anyone else that i wanted, he would give me a referral to who ever i wanted.

I did a little research, well, asked around and got stories from people who had been to the same hospital. Then called the obs that seemed to get the best reviews and talked myself into him taking me. I then called my EX obs and told them that i will be canceling all further appointment and i needed to collect all my test results.

Funny, there was no questioning why. The lady taking my call spoke to me like this was an every day occurrence for her.

(: Reggie

And here's a picture!

2006-07-22T12:44:00.000+10:00

Had the first ultrasound done (doing happy dance) and got to see out little peanut! Though not really peanut sized anymore, more the size of a a a well the length of a mars bar but not as rectangular.

We went in there and of course i am expecting it to be the same as it is on TV - there is a few tentative seconds well the scanning person is trying to find the position of the baby, and the parents are holding hands and biting their lips (their own, not each others) watching a screen waiting for the first glimpse of their bundle of joy. But no, the scanning person put the scanning thing on my tum and their on the screen was a picture of my uterus with an odd shape in it. As she moved the scanning thing around the odd shape rotated on the screen and there was a clear image of a baby!

First misconception busted!

Also when ever you see an ultrasound being done the mother to be is lying comfortably watching the screen as the scanning thing is being gently glided over the stomach. Wrong again, the scanning thing was being pressed quite hard into me and was being pushed around to get the best angles of junior.

Second misconception busted!

Don't get me wrong though, I'm not saying the experience was anything less than amazing and i am sooooo looking forward to the next scan - due in about 6 or 7 weeks. Going to get 3D imaging done for that one!

It is amazing what they can do these days, those clever medical type dudes. The next thing they have to figure out is how to make child birth painless!

The art of telling...

2006-07-08T11:25:00.000+10:00

As i said in the previous post, if a couple say "we have news" you tend to be able to get a fair idea of what the next thing they are going to say is.

Well M34tb4LL and i descided that we were not going to 'just tell people' about our little peanut. However after making that descision, how do you tell people?

The outlaws (M34tb4LL's parents) were the first to hear the news. We were at their house and his mother was showing him stuff on her digital camera and i was sitting their itching for him to say something to them. When his mum had finished with the camera she started to put back into her handbag and M34tb4LL asked her if he could look at the camera for a moment, he turned it on, held it up and said "by the way, we're pregnant" **click**

Capture the moment - nice.

The way we told the parentals (my parents) - we went there for dinner and the father of G was offering us a glass of champagne. I said in the most off handed kind of way "no thanks, it wouldn't be good for the baby"

Much jumping up and down and hugging then happened.

Decay, Droidy & Lumpy - at their house, outside having a smoke (i wasn't) i was tring to get M34tb4LL to tell them and he was saying that it was my turn, there was a bit of "you do it", "no you", "you", "Its your turn", then i said "fine, give me a cigarette then" and he said "NO", "why not?", "becasue your pregnant!". Decays first response "really?"

M34tb4LL's brother and sister in-law was done by asking the brother to open a web browser and type in the following - http://www.users.on.net/~smpap

Go on, try it!

Tallulah Belle was fun to tell (and kind of evil). M34tb4LL had a couple of pairs of ear plug handy, we invited her over and at the same time put the plugs in, then we sat on the couch and just grinned at her and let her figure it out.

Thank deity for the ear plugs, the screaming was increadible

The way we told Suzie was M34tb4LL printed on a sheet of A4 paper "Georgi's pregnant" (that's me by the way), then folded the paper into a heart shape and gave it to her. She unfolded it and her forst response was "I have to sit down".

Paulie was easy to tell, being a fellow blogspot user i just told him the url for this site and let him read it for himself.

Most people know now and very few people got us introducing the topic as "So, we have news..."

Mission accomplished.

(: Reggie_L

The big news!!!

2006-06-04T22:12:00.000+10:00

So when ever a couple say "we have news" you know the next thing they are going to say can only be one of three things -

They are engaged
They are getting a pet cat
Or they are going to have a baby

Well, i'm not sure about the cat thing, but the other two are where the mind goes to (:

So my partner of 15 years and i have news! We are going to be parents!!! And those of you who know us, scary thought huh?

So we found out about a week and a half ago, i bought a magazine on a Wednesday night (as you do) and one of the stories on the front cover was "are women leaving it too late to start a family", you know the whole age debate thingy? I then thought to myself, hey wasn't that womenly thing that is supposed to happen every month supposed to have happed by now? (first scene of 'Carrie' Moss) So on my way home from see 'The Da Vinci Code' i stopped at the chemist and picked up a home pee test kit.

The movie was very good, i recommend it, but seeing as i have not read the book i can not make the comparison that seems to have lead many others to say it is not as good as they were expecting.

But i digress, woke up Thursday morning and captured some of my morning water release in a small plastic cup, then threaded a thin piece of plastic backed fabric like thing into a foam ring anf floated it in the pee. Then sat and watched the clock for the recommended 5 - 10 minutes.

After about 4 of those minutes i looked at the stick and indeed there were two little pink lines! one being the control the other being the POSITIVE line, all be it very very pale.

**grin**

Then i got ready for work, and tried to wake M34tb4LL (this being the other person responsible for my "condition"), can never tell if he is fully awake or not - he has a habit of opening his eyes and talking to you when he is still asleep. I did not tell him before i left the house as i wanted to get confirmation from my doctor seeing as the test i had done was so pale.

Got to work and rang the Doc, only appointment available was 1.30pm, no sooner, no later. The morning felt like it would not end, went forever! Told my boss that i had a doc appointment and might be coming back afterwards (if i was wrong i would come back to work, otherwise - had to tell the boy!)

When i got to the doc did another test and he looks at it and says, yup you are indeed pregnant. I looked at the test that he was holding and swear the positive line was not there, but he was sure he saw it. Sat talking to him for five minutes or so and as we chatted the line did become more noticable. Worked out that i was fives weeks to the day. Which for those of you who have no idea (like me a couple of weeks ago) that means that conception happened three weeks ago, but is considered five weeks at that point. Confused yet?

Drove straight to M34tb4LL's place of employment and walked in the front door. Told the first person who looked up at me that i was there to see to M34tb4LL and they buzzed him and told him i was there. They then had to confirm that i was not on the phone, but standing in the ooffice. He came out and i suggested that we go to lunch together. He wanted to show me around his work space first - his work have just relocated - for pity sake, lets get somewhere where i can tell the good news!

Got into my car and before i turned the key i blerted out "WE ARE HAVING A BABY!!!"

He looked at me, was very quiet, then said "OHHHH, KEWL" and that was pretty much he could say for the next couple of minutes!

It is now about a week and a half since, i'll continue with the story in a bit - and as it progresses. But for now, send our little peanut your good thoughts.

(: Reggie_L