Two girls and a baby

Big Boy Spencer!

2010-09-24T19:55:00.008+10:00

So I've been trying to think of the best way to update you on what's been happening given that I've missed NINE WHOLE MONTHS of blogging!!

Luckily for me, Ky, my partner has been blogging - well actually, she's been blipping - the whole time so I have a good record of what we've been doing all year! Blip is a photo blogging website where she posts a photo each day and writes about stuff, it's really great and Ky's pictures are awesome! So I'll give you a little bit of an update on things, but if you have a few hours to spare and want to see all the pics and read all of the details of our lives you can check out her blip at www.blipfoto.com/cracker.

Hmm...so rather than a chronological update, I'm going for the category based update!

Work Stuff
This has been an interesting and stressful area of life this year! Early on in the year I read a book about online entrepreneurs and this has been the start of a massive learning adventure this year. I've been learning about how to start an online business and about internet marketing. I now have about 14 half baked websites floating about and have been working my butt off learning and trying to get them up and ranking in the search engines. I've learnt so much and feel like I'm just on the edge of starting to make some money if I would just FOCUS on one of the sites rather than spreading myself thinly across all of the sites!

The reason I've been pushing it so much to try to start my own successful online business is that I want to have a business that makes money in a way that leverages my time rather than trading dollars for hours are you do when you work for an employer. I'm still working with my employer whom I've been with for over 5 years now, this is three days per week and I work on my own online business and do some consulting 1 day per week plus countless hours in the evenings as well!

Sailing
The last time I wrote in this blog was way back in January when I was off to the Geelong week regatta! I had such a great time in Geelong, the weather was awesome and I had a great time sailing and eating and drinking with my friends! I've been doing a little sailing here and there over the winter - but to be truthful, winter sailing just isn't as much fun! Hopefully the warm weather is on the way again as sailing is just so much more fun when it's hot!

Spencer
Well little Spencer has grown up to 'big boy Spencer' - he's two and a half now and is going great! His language is awesome for a two and a half year old and he comes out with the funniest things sometimes, it's really cute! About two months ago we moved from the cot to the 'big boy bed' and that went really well....for about 3 weeks.....since then we've had to deal with a few hiccups:

a) Getting up really REALLY early - like about 4am - and coming into our room! We started to train him to look at the digital clock when he came into our room and read the first number. If the first number wasn't a seven then he had to go back to bed (we had to take him back, where he would cry his head off!). After a while we put the digital clock in his room - the idea being that he could look at the clock and if it wasn't 7 then he wouldn't get up. All good in theory, but in practice he still just gets up and comes in....oh well...we'll keep trying!

b) He doesn't stay in bed when you put him in there at night and he just keeps getting up and coming into the hallway. He knows that he's not allowed to so now he just lays down in his own doorway with his head poking out so he can see and hear us in the loungeroom! We put him pack - about 10 times a night - but he just ends up back in the doorway and we find him asleep on the floor in the doorway! Strange little thing - we're hoping it's a phase....

Hmmm...I spend most of my day with a look like that on my face whilst working at my computer - amazing how he has this look down pat already!! This is his little laptop - it was actually a really tiny laptop we bought but never used, so now it's his first computer!

He's such a cute little dude!

At a visit to the Firestation!

Singing happy birthday to mummy kaz!

Holidays
Back in April, we managed to have quite an adventure when Ky and I went to Thailand for 10 days - without Spence!! We had been waiting for the IVF laws to change in January so that Ky could have IVF for us to have another baby, so we decided before we had another baby we would have a nice holiday! After all, it's easy enough to get one child looked after but no one would want to look after two of them so we wanted to take our opportunity whilst we could!
Ky's sister and my mother looked after Spencer at our house, so he was still in his own environment and we took a laptop with us and talked to him over Skype using video so he could see us! We had a great time and Spence was just fine with Aunty Nik and Nana Choop!!
We ended up making a book of some of our photos from Thailand - you can view it here at:

THAILAND by KY & KAZ | Make Your Own Book

We're just about to head to Queensland for a couple of weeks, which I'm really excited about. It's been a cold winter up here in the country and we're in desperate need of thawing out in the sun! We head to the Sunshine Coast usually once or twice a year and each time we go it's more fun because Spence is that little bit older and we can do more fun stuff!

Life in the Country
We love it here in the country! We have awesome neighbours and have made some friends nearby with young kids as well as some with older kids who Spence adores! It is such a beautiful place and when the sun shines up here there is no better place on Earth to be!
I'm planning on getting the vegie patch going again this summer - it's grown over in the winter so it'll be time very soon for me to get out and dig up the ground in readiness for this year's crop!

I've been running quite a bit too, I was in training for a half marathon but realized about half way through my training plan that all of the sessions were just getting too long for me to fit them in , so I've cut back and am now just training for a 10km run instead.

Family
We are trying for another baby at the moment, doing the whole IVF thing again. It's funny because that's how this whole blog started in the first place. I had a really rough time with IVF and pregnancy and I wrote about it on here as a way to get through it all - as well as record interesting shots of my massive pregnant stomache!!
Of course, Ky lives a charmed life, so she had no side effects of the IVF whatsoever! In saying that though, we haven't had success with it yet. The first embryo didn't work out and we've just had the second one in two weeks ago. Ky had her pregnancy test today and it showed really low levels of the HCG which is inconclusive, so she has another test on Monday. We have fingers crossed but not getting our hopes up too much.

Phew...well there's the round up! I will try to get back here and post at least now and again but if you want to know all the details everyday - I can recommend you head over to read Ky's blog - she writes and posts a photo everyday - www.blipfoto.com/cracker.

I hope everyone out there is well and happy and life is going good!

Kaz

Back by popular demand!

2010-09-15T15:47:00.002+10:00

Ok - since thousands of adoring fans have been contacting me and wondering where I am (thanks Michaela!) - I'm making an appearance to update you!

I can't believe it's been 9 months or so since I wrote - I think I'll need a good hour at least to give the low down on the last 9 months - but it won't be today! Just preparing to go to New Zealand on Monday for a business presentation, but stay tuned, I'll give a big update in a few days.

Geelong Week

2010-01-05T21:26:00.004+11:00

Ooh, I'm a bit excited. I am going away all by myself for a sailing regatta for four whole days!! The regatta is the biggest in Australia and is a great place to be over Australia Day weekend. I haven't been since before Spencer days - so long ago now!!
Ky and Spencer aren't coming at all - so this will be the longest i've been away from Spence and one of the longest away from Ky.

Here's a picture of the boat I used to sail on - just to inspire you! This picture was taken at the start of the Melbourne to Hobart Race in 2005 - I'm the one in the....ahh, doesn't matter!

Now it really is the night before Christmas!!

2009-12-24T09:20:00.011+11:00

Gosh, I can't believe it's Christmas tomorrow! Time has really flown by! I have been flat chat working, we've been away to Queensland for two weeks then down to Waratah Bay for a week, life has been hectic and great!

Spence is going great guns! His speech gets better every day, he has new words and strings together sentences, it's amazing to watch! I don't think we'd be able to count his vocabulary even if we tried now, he has just picked up so much over the last two months. And he says and does such funny little things, it's quite amusing.

We are having a big Christmas at our house tomorrow with family. We're so excited, our xmas tree is nearly covered up by the presents stacked around it!!

Merry Christmas to everyone!

Here's a few pics of pits and pieces:

Little vegie gardens when I first planted them

And what they look like now!! Plus the big vegie garden I'm making:

This is the toybox that I made for Spence:

Ky and Spence - we went for a picnic to Tarago Reservoir the other week:

Here's our stacked up Christmas tree!

Macadamia nut parfait at The Big Pineapple in Nambour!

Spence loved swimming everyday up in Caloundra

Port Welshpool

We're here!

2009-10-18T21:25:00.002+11:00

Yes, we're here! In the country!! We're loving it!

It's so great to have so much space around us, space for Spencer to run around and play outside. We even have room to kick the footy in the backyard, how cool is that?
We've met a few of the neighbours and they've all been really nice. I've been out walking a few times, discovering places to go with Spence in the pram. - we even pass cows, horses and sheep along the path! Speaking of animals, Spencer has just suddenly learnt a heap of animal names and noises! Just one day all of a sudden - we suspect they might have worked on animal names and noises at daycare or something because although we've been saying them alot, he just got it one day out of the blue! It's really cute, you say 'What does the cow say?' and he gives a funny little shy look and says 'Moo moo'. His 'oink oink' is really cute! I'll have to try to get some on video - but he goes shy when the camera goes on!

Someone told us that a child of 2 should have a vocabulary of about 50 words, so even though Spence is only 19 months, Ky and I wrote down all the words we think he knows (without prompting or just copying) to see how close he would be to 50, so here's our list in no particular order(I'm sure we've missed a few):

Hot
Gate
Chook
Up
Crash
Bird
Ball
Spoon
Bibby (Bib)
Heart
Flower
Daisy
Pakka (Makka Pakka - children's show character)
Ta
Uh-oh
Ugg boot
Sock
Shoe
Eye
Nose
Nana
Mummy
No
Book
Bikkie (as in biscuit)
Apple
Bee
Car
Bike
Door
Drink
See ya
Bye
Hi
More
Baa
Moo
Neigh
Woof
Oink
Sheep
Fish
Kitty
Puppy
Horse
Cow
Pig
Broken
Pea
Pee Pee

And wouldn't you know it - 50 words! He's a genius!

Twas the night before christmas.....

2009-09-29T21:24:00.002+10:00

That's what it feels like! We are moving house tomorrow and it feels like the night before christmas, you know when you have a million things to do and you know that the next day is going to be long and exhausting and hard work, but you're really excited??! That's where we are at right now!

Spencer is at his nana's house for tonight and tomorrow night so we can do lots of work. We have picked up the keys to the house, taken two car loads up, met the neighbours - all this whilst I've had two teleconferences, written a meeting agenda for work, reviewed software issues, written meeting minutes up, organised the boat crew for tomorrow night's training (will talk about that one in a minute!), eaten lots of junk food and finished packing at our current house as well!!

So the boat thing - well, very excited to be making my big sailing 'come back' - doing the women's series racing over the next six months on a lovely big boat. I am the 'crew manager' which turns out to be quite a job! I'll post some pictures of the boat when i get some.

Just an update on Spencer's modelling career - he was due to be on the front cover of a government organisation's annual report - well, he was bumped!! And you know why?? Get this - he was 'not ethnic enough'!!!??? There's a bit of reverse racism for you! So poor old Spence, looks like he'll just have to get an education and a real job like the rest of us!

Anyway, busy busy, better get back to packing now!

10 days to go!

2009-09-20T19:49:00.003+10:00

Yep, just 10 days until the big move (and only 8 until settlement!).
We've done quite a bit of packing now and just waiting for the big day! Very exciting stuff!

On the home front, Spencer is doing great...as you can see from his funny picture! I've just had a birthday, so we had 'birthday weekend' (I like to devote a full weekend to birthdays, a day just isn't enough). Had a great weekend, we went and kicked the footy, threw the softball, went to a friend's place for dinner, went to Gold Class movies (gotta love Gold Class!). Spencer stayed at Nana's house for the weekend. It was great! So now I'm another year older! Life is good!

Gosh, it's been ages!

2009-08-26T19:57:00.006+10:00

Yes, sorry for that interlude in transmission.....just so much happening...where to start:
1. We're moving to the country - yes, we've bought a new house in 'the country', a little town with a population of only 500 in Gippsland, Victoria. It's pretty close to a much bigger town and only an hour and a half from Melbourne, so it's not too drastic. We're really excited, we have half an acre with a nice house on it. It backs onto someone elses farm so we get to see the cows and stuff and feel like we live on a farm, without having to do all the hard work associated!

2. We've started a business - just a little one and we're just going slowly doing all the setup required. It's a website development business.

3. Spencer is lovely! He's almost 18 months old and saying some words, like Mummy, More, Up, Pakka (Makka Pakka - a character from a children's show), Car-Car, Bikky, Nanna, Fish (he says Shish), Duck, Turtle (he says Ter-Ter), Crocodile (he says Croca), Drink (he says dink), cheese...and some more that i can't think of right now! He also babbles alot and has quite detailed conversations that we can't really understand!

4. Spencer is going to be on the front page of a magazine...well, ok, it's not really a magazine as such, but the annual report of a government department! A friend works at the Office of the Child Safety Commissioner in the Victorian Government and she saw a pic of Spence and asked if they could use it on their front cover, so of course we said yes!

5. We are going to be on television! After me giving a very successful presentation at a Property investment seminar recently we have received alot of positive feedback and somehow this went back to a property investment celebrity who hosts a show on foxtel. She is going to interview us for the show next week!

Gosh, well that's lots of news for now!

Winter colds

2009-07-03T13:59:00.003+10:00

I think he's got another one...damn. Woke up coughing and sneezing and with lots of snot today. I was kinda hoping three in a row would do, but nope...another one.
Other than that, he's going great. Running around, playing with stuff, saying words, reading lots of books. Books would definitely be his favorite thing to play with.
He's such a lovely little thing!

I do wish, however, that he'd just sort the sleeping at night thing out a bit better. He seems to be crying often these days at night. He'll wake up about 10 or 11 pm and often cry for ages, we go into his room and pat him a bit every ten minutes or so for an hour and a half and often that doesn't work and we give in a give him a bottle - the only thing that seems to get him back to sleep. It's a tiring business and I'd kinda hoped he would have it sorted by this age, but it appears to be usual after speaking to others in my mothers group. So, spending a lot of nights frustrated and tired.

Kylie gave him a haircut the other night. His beautiful long girly locks are gone! He did look a little like Mr Spock at first, but we're getting used to it now!

Count your blessings

2009-06-16T21:38:00.002+10:00

A work colleague of mine lost his little boy on the weekend. He stopped breathing and although he was resuscitated, he had been down too long and his 'life support' was stopped.

His son was just a few months older than Spencer and although he had been sick over the past few months and undergone a major operation, he had returned home and was on the mend. Then...bam...he's gone.

I don't know how anyone can manage to cope, to go on with life after losing a child. I am just so so sad to think of my poor friend and his wife and it brings tears to my eyes to just think about it. I cannot imagine the pain they must be feeling and I just hope that they can manage to keep going.

Count your blessings, because you just never know.....

Jack of all trades..master of none...well, one.....

2009-06-10T19:00:00.003+10:00

Today was the exam for my final subject of my masters. Hoorah!!!
Such a good feeling to have no study to worry about...ever....well, until I decide to study something else! Apparently now, I am a Master of IT!! Ha!
I am looking forward to doing whatever I feel like on my days off now.

On the little boy front, he's sick again. Bloody day care. It seems he just alternates every two weeks between being well and being sick. He's got a really nasty cough and hasn't been sleeping well with it, so we're all feeling it in some way. He's still trying to be his lovely little self even through the sickness, he's been dancing away to the iggle piggle song and loving it! He's just so cute!

Moving to the country....gonna eat a lot of peaches.....

2009-06-03T20:26:00.002+10:00

Yes, a great lyric from the Presidents of the United States of America...whatever happened to them.....

Somewhat relevant to us at the moment as we are contemplating a move to the country. We are looking for somewhere that is close enough so that Ky can commute to work in Metropolitan Melbourne, but far enough that it can be called 'the country'!

We would like Spence to grow up in the country, especially with the increase in violence and crime that seems to be occurring all around the country in our major cities. The number of stabbings and bashings we hear about on the news now is frightening and the amount of ridiculous alcohol fuelled violence that goes on at night is terrible. I don't know what has happened to our society but it seems that people just lack basic respect for each other. And unless you can afford to buy a home in a more affluent, less 'rough' suburb, then you're stuck in the burbs with the riff raff! Like us!!

So...we are contemplating a move and just waiting till my uni finishes next week to do some real research and visit a few propective places...

On the Spence front...he's going great, walking around, babbling to himself, saying his few recognizable words, being generally very cute! He's almost 15 months now, wow!

Look at him go!!

2009-05-09T07:14:00.005+10:00

I can't believe that in three days he's got it. From a couple of little baby steps to walking right across the room!!

Baby steps!

2009-05-07T22:33:00.003+10:00

The little boy has started to take some little steps all by himself!!
We are so excited! A few days ago he took one step by himself and then yesterday he took a few more and today he has been taking little steps all over the place!! At one point he even took about 6 in a row!!!
It's so exciting!! I managed to get a little bit on video and if I ever get some spare time I will get it into a format that I can post here - perhaps on the weekend.
Here's a recent pic of the lovely boy.

Still here....

2009-05-03T22:11:00.002+10:00

Yep, still here....just unbelievably busy, work is still crazy and my uni stuff is taking every other bit of time I have left. It's just six weeks or so to go now and I will be finished my Masters....thank goodness....really just want to take it easy and enjoy life for a little bit after my exam. I feel that everything is just so rushed at the moment.
Spence is going great, still cruising along furniture but not quite walking by himself. He's just starting to learn to 'dance' which is cute. I think that we have decided that it's time to get his first haircut. As much as I want to let it grow as it is, it's in his eyes all the time, so has to go. I will be sure to get the before and after shots up here!

Happy 3 Years to us!

2009-04-25T21:17:00.002+10:00

It's our three year anniversary today and as I look back I think what amazing things we've done in such a short time.

I am so very lucky to have such amazing things and amazing people in my life. I love our life together and I love our family.

Mummy!

2009-04-23T20:33:00.002+10:00

Little Spence seems to have grown so much in the last couple of weeks. His talking is really sounding like real talking, he's even saying a few words, like puppy, baby and mummy! Though he does says them to a range of people and objects....oh well, gotta start somewhere!
He's also working out how to use stuff, he's playing with buttons and gauges and toys with much more proficiency than before. It's so cool to seeing him learning all these new things. He's still not walking by himself yet, but he's pushing his little car along by himself and stands up without holding on much more frequently.
We still haven't had his hair cut yet, I think it looks cute as it is but Kylie has mentioned getting it cut a few times now....not sure why I don't want to get it cut, maybe worried he won't look so cute anymore or he'll look so much older!

The Big C

2009-04-21T21:22:00.003+10:00

My dad has cancer. What a horrible sentence to type. The mass in his bladder is being removed tomorrow. He's had a scan on the rest of his body but not sure of the result of that yet. Not sure whether further treatment is required beyond the bladder resection. I'm trying not to worry too much but it's hard not to.

Regarding my other little sickies - Ky and Spence - well they're both good, apart from snotty grotty noses, which we've all had, they are good.

We had a lovely weekend last weekend. I planned a special treat where we dropped Spence off at mum's house and we went into the city and went shopping then checked into our nice hotel apartment, went to the gym and for a swim, went out for a lovely dinner and then went to see Billy Elliot the musical. We then went to the Home Improvements Show on Sunday morning before going back to get Spence from mums. We had an awesome time.

Sickness, day procedure and biopsies.

2009-04-09T21:33:00.004+10:00

Little Spence was unwell again last week. Poor little had a snuffly nose and had trouble sleeping because he was all clogged up, so we had about four sleepless nights. He's pretty much better now. He's getting more and more confident standing up without holding onto things and he's even started to walk around pushing his little car all by himself!
Ky had a little operation today but all is good, just a little look around and seems everything is good.
My dad on the other hand has been having some issues and it seems that he has a 'mass' that is being investigated. That's a little scary. It'll be a few weeks though before we find out what the go is.
I've been a stress head for the past 3-4 weeks now. Work is just far too busy and it seems to be all that i am doing day and night. We're off for a few days again tomorrow to the country, but of course i have to work 3 out of the four days we're away, so not much of a holiday for me.....would really like to change something about what I am doing workwise, it's just not worth all the stress....

Spencer's Birthday Party

2009-03-22T09:43:00.003+11:00

Well our little boy has turned one! Hard to believe, it's all gone so fast, yet on the other hand, it's difficult to remember what life was like without a little Spence around.
Our little gathering turned out to be quite massive with about 60 people here. It was a stressful run up to the event with a couple of late nights cooking and decorating cupcakes and buying food to feed an army, but we got there. We had a really good time and so did Spence! He was so cute on the day and was really good, not grumpy at all (although, he's not often grumpy anyway). He was passed from person to person and had a great time.
So what's next on the horizon for Spencer...well we're off to Hobart to visit Grandpa Stu and Grandma Sue in a couple of weeks time, they haven't seem him since he was 6 months old. I imagine walking isn't too far off for the little boy either, he stands up alot and sometimes without holding on and he purposefully comes over and grabs our fingers so that we will 'walk' him around. He is copying us when we say words, he can sort of say 'duck' and 'fish' and 'kiss'. Not too sure he knows what they are though. But his first official word is....wait for it.....'atchoo' (as in a sneeze)! Ky and I discussed it and we think that this is his first real word. He even does the head actions!

Earthquake!!

2009-03-06T21:43:00.003+11:00

We had an earthquake tonight!!! Well, an 'earth tremor' anyway. I have never felt an earthquake before, it was very strange. We were just sitting here playing a game, Ky and her sister and I and then suddenly there was a big noise and the house started shaking. The whole floor shook and the outside blinds and the pizza tray in the dishrack. It was really weird and we were all just looking at each other trying to work out what was happening. Then Ky says 'It's an earthquake' - which was bizarre because they're not words we say or hear very often here in Melbourne. Must be so scary to live in a place that has real earthquakes because I must say it was even a little scary to experience our little tremor. Just to think the whole ground and house can move like that and you have no control over it....

Big boy goes to daycare!

2009-03-04T20:11:00.002+11:00

It was little Spencer's first day at daycare today. I had to go into the office for work so Ky took him in. Probably a good thing because I would have had trouble leaving him! Ky said he just trotted off (crawling) and found a teddy to play with and that was it! When she went to pick him up the daycare staff said that he was lovely and placid and they wished there were more like him (Or perhaps they say that to all the mums??)!
They gave us a little book that tells us what he had eaten, when he slept and what sort of a day he'd had. It said 'Spencer has had a wonderful day!'. Even if they do say so themselves!!
So our big boy now goes to daycare!

On the mend and other stuff

2009-02-28T19:33:00.002+11:00

Spence is certainly on the mend now. He's almost back to his usual lovely little self, although it was slow going and he did throw up on and off for several days. He's back to crawling around and standing up next to the furniture.

Ky and I are busily trying to edit 12 months worth of footage of the little munchkin so that we can make a video of his first year. We're planning to make a longer version for us and 5 min version that we can show other people and perhaps out on youtube so we can show family interstate.

We went to see Slumdog Millionnaire today. It really was a good film and I can certainly see how it won all of those awards. I would rate it as one of the best movies I have seen, engaging, tragic, uplifting with amazing colour, music and story. Film making certainly is an art.

Hospital

2009-02-22T20:46:00.003+11:00

We took little Spence to the hospital yesterday. He had thrown up Thursday night several times and also Friday morning. He didn't manage to eat or drink anything much on Friday and woke up a couple of times overnight dry reaching - the poor little thing had nothing in him to throw up! Saturday morning he was just so lethargic, just laying there looking at us. No smiles, no laughing. He couldn't even summon the energy to crawl anywhere or do anything. It just breaks your heart to see him like that.
Ky and I decided first thing to take him to the doctor but on the way decided to go the emergency department instead, figuring at least they would be able to give him fluids if needed. Thankfully at 8.30am on a Saturday morning there was only one other person in the waiting room when we got there. We saw a nice young doctor who examined Spence and decided that it was most likely an upper respiratory tract infection and this had caused the vomiting as well. He was dehydrated (Spence, not the doctor!) and we needed to get some fluids into him. Luckily he would eat the Hydralite icy poles that the hospital had and so Spence ate 6 of them over the next six hours - therefore avoiding having to have a nasogastric put in - which i was really thankful for. He was just so tired and lethargic though, just sleeping in our arms in between icy poles - so unlike him.
We left the hospital mid afternoon with instructions just to keep going with getting fluids into him, so Ky went and bought some icy poles and jelly and we kept trying. He managed to keep a little bit of formula down later that day and so I think he started to turn the corner.
Today he's been much better, he's managed to keep down his bottles and even a little food. We even got some smiles and little laugh! It's just so good to see him getting back to being himself. He's still much more subdued and tired but he's definitely on the mend.
Unfortunately I did manage to get some of this virus and spent alot of last night throwing up or trying to.....gosh, if this is the effect of just 1.5 hours at daycare last Wednesday then I'm not really looking forward to the next few months as he brings home all sorts of bugs.

First birthday parties

2009-02-20T21:16:00.003+11:00

All of the babies in our mother's group are turning one so we have about 10 1st birthday parties coming up.
We have decided just to do a low key family and close friends BBQ type thing for Spencer - especially seeing that he had no idea what a birthday party is! You hear about people going overboard for their 1 year old's birthday with jumping castles and clowns and things. One of the girls from mother's group told Kylie the other day that she has about 80 people coming and has hired circus dogs!!! Wow! Maybe we aren't putting enough effort in here?
So anyway, Kylie wrote out her list of people and I added my list and before you know it we have 67 adults and 18 children invited!! Holy cow! And here i was hanging it on those people who have a massive party for their 1 year old.....perhaps we should book that jumping castle now then??!

Little Sickie

2009-02-20T09:46:00.002+11:00

Poor little Spence has been sick overnight. I know they say that when your kids go to daycare they get sick alot at first, but surely the 1.5 hours we spent there on Wednesday could not have already caused him to get sick??
He has had a snuffly nose Wednesday and yesterday (Thursday) and had been crying at night on Wednesday night, but last night the poor little thing woke up crying at 9.30pm and cried his little head off till he vomitted at about 10.30pm. He hadn't really drank his last two bottles so must've been feeling a bit off, but he had eaten dinner, so who knows.....

Having a sick baby on your hands when your partner is at work overnight is difficult. The poor little thing threw up and cried and wanted to be held and i'm there getting thrown up on, trying to catch the vomit. We went through three changes of cot sheets, three changes of clothes, two baths, two changes of my clothes, a few towels - until he fell asleep exhausted about two hours later.
He seems alright this morning but has thrown up his morning bottle....he's still drinking water and he ate some toast this morning (which has stayed down)......

We've been so lucky really, he's never been sick before and he's nearly one! It breaks your heart to see him throwing up and getting such a shock that he cries...poor little Spence.

Day Care Orientation

2009-02-18T14:14:00.003+11:00

I took Spence to the day care centre today for his 'orientation'. It was just an hour and a half, with the idea being that we see how he goes amongst the other kids and start off for real next week.
I think Spence was and will be just fine - but perhaps it wasn't so great for me! It just hits you how many kids there are - some of which spent the entire time crying their heads off - and how little attention he is likely to be paid. It's likely that he'll get sick, fall over, not sleep, not eat etc because no one is paying special attention to him and no one cares for him like we do. But perhaps that is the point. We don't especially need child care right now, but the idea is to get him used to being with other kids and perhaps get him used to not having so much attention - like he does at home. I'm glad it's just one day per week at the moment or else i may not cope!

Smokey Haze and other stuff!

2009-02-15T18:55:00.003+11:00

Melbourne sits under a browny-grey smokey haze today and has done for a few days now. Fires continue across the state, but in a 'manageable' fashion and no more property or lives have been lost in the last couple of days (to my knowledge!).
The sun has been a hazy orange globe in the sky during the day and the moon, a hazy orange ball in the sky at night.

Spence is his lovely self, crawling like a little champion, eating lots more new finger foods this week and sleeping better again since returning from holidays. He is going through a 'spitting' phase at the moment when he eats, which is really, really annoying....he decides half way through a meal that he wants to spit everything at you and continues to do so with every mouthful until we crack it and give up! Hence - the new finger foods this week!

We visited a day care centre nearby last week and have enrolled Spence for one day per week starting from next week! We don't especially need to send him to daycare as our working situation balances out ok for looking after Spence, but we thought it would be good for socialization. We liked the place and the people so we are going for orientation this Thursday.

I am doing the Weightwatchers thing again this week after falling off the wagon a couple of months ago! I had lost about 11 kg since starting WW, then lapsed somewhere in November I think and over the Christmas and holiday break I have piled about 5 kg back on!! Anyway, have been pigging out this week trying to fit every possible sort of junk in before i get back on the fitness train tomorrow!

Camping

2009-02-12T09:18:00.006+11:00

I thought it might be nice to post some more lighthearted stuff today.

We have been down in Waratah Bay and Toora for the last two weeks and so here are a couple of pics and videos of our trip.

How funny is Spence's laugh?

Still Going

2009-02-11T08:56:00.002+11:00

Thankfully there haven't been any more people dying. The death toll continues to rise though as more bodies are found. There are currently 181 people confirmed dead with something like another 80 people still missing.
There are still a few large uncontrolled fires going at the moment.

We are still in Toora. I've attached a pic that we have taken of Wilson's Prom, which is also on fire. Tidal River was evacuated the other day so this fire is just going along uncontrolled and inaccessible in remote bush locations.

The other pic is by Stephen Henderson, a CFA volunteer at the Taggerty fire.

Still another day of sad news

2009-02-10T07:09:00.003+11:00

Every morning we get up and hear how the death toll has risen dramatically. This morning the news says 173 people dead. Whole towns are wiped out. It is just awful. The TV station (we can only get one at the moment as we think the TV towers nearby must have been wiped out) shows dramatic pictures, tells stories of horror and death and luck and survival. There are still fires burning. Yesterday Wilson's Prom camp site at Tidal River was evacuated and we could see the smoke from the fire down there and also from the Churchill fires still burning out of control nearby. We went up the hill at the back of Kylie's parent's place at dusk last night and watched the orange glow of the flames from Wilson's Prom.
The photos we are seeing - like those I am posting - I am finding are just amazing, you can't even imagine standing there and seeing this looking at you.....

Photos: Cara Frankish -Healsville, Andrew Bukolt - Drouin West, Rhys Smith - Churchill, Nick Hill - Labertouche Rd

Devastating fires

2009-02-09T07:19:00.005+11:00

Photos - Simon Bourke, Fiona Hamilton, Mark Smith, Andrew Brownbill (x2)

It is just so devastating. 108 people confirmed dead. Men, women and children. Many trying to flee their homes at the last minute and finding themselves stuck in paddocks, in cars, in houses. The worst fires this state has ever seen, if not this country.

They have been sending MFB crews out to help in some areas. I am so glad that Kylie hasn't been called back to go to the fires and that we are all safe. I feel so sad for all those families that have been affected.

A world on fire.....

2009-02-08T16:38:00.004+11:00

Victoria is burning. Yesterday was the hottest day on record in Melbourne with 47 degrees and hot strong winds fanning the state. Walking outside was like walking into a hair dryer. It was predicted to be a day of extreme fire danger and this prediction proved to be true with fires across the entire state that are well up there with the Ash Wednesday fires of 1983.
Entire towns have been destroyed in massive fires all around the state. So far news reports have confirmed 36 people dead across the state and many many more houses and property burnt to the ground. It is scary to see the images of the fires on TV and on the net.

We have been down in Waratah Bay camping for the last ten days and yesterday went to Kylie's sister's wedding. What a hot day for it! We could start to smell the smoke during the wedding ceremony and then could see the smoke from fires nearby in the hills. The fire caused evacuation of nearby Yarram and lots of people at the wedding were concerned about their own properties and the houses and lives of friends and family.

It seems every year some ridiculous people see fit to light the state on fire on days like this one - I just don't understand how some peoples heads work and why you could want to cause this sort of loss and devastation to people.

The day we left Melbourne to drive down here our own suburb had fires in the Paddocks behind our house. We had packed up the car to go camping and as Ky, Spence and I drove off I looked behind us and could see the flames from the fires just a kilometre or two from our house. But you know, I thought to myself, everything that I care most about in this world is here with me. I don't care about the house and our possessions as long as Ky and Spence are with me, it's all ok.

But we were lucky. In comparison to the fires of yesterday and those that continue to burn today, ours were nothing. I feel for all those people who have been involved in the fires and really think the CFA volunteers are amazing.

I've attached some pics - these are from the herald sun website and were taken by Chris Sheffield and Jake Valance.

Beetroot

2009-01-26T16:44:00.003+11:00

We went surfing today, it was awesome. We were so excited to get a morning by ourselves (Kylie's cousin was looking after Spence) that we forgot to take sunscreen....bad mistake for two redheads with white freckly skin......
We now have heads like little beetroots....I give it a day before my whole face peels off.
As well as our beetroot heads here is a pic of Spence and Ky in the pool a couple of days ago.

Firsts

2009-01-25T09:04:00.004+11:00

It's been a week of firsts for the little man. When we got to Caloundra, Kylie's cousin picked us up and the baby car seat was forward facing. First time he's been in a forward facing car seat. His first little teeth are poking through. He has had his first Weetbix and his first cow's milk. He played for the first time close up with some cute puppies and LOVED them!! All good.

He's taken to waking up at 5am and not going back to sleep at all, so that's one not so good thing. Means our days start really early!

I've been running in the mornings - bloody sweaty business in this heat and humidity. Sweat is kind of a foreign concept to me as I don't really sweat much at all usually - even if I've been to the gym or something.

Teeth!

2009-01-24T08:09:00.005+11:00

We're up in Caloundra on holiday at the moment. It's hot and muggy. The little boy has been pretty good, though had a very grizzly day Jan 21st. It appears that some little teeth have poked their little heads up through his gum - explaining his grizzliness. We're still waiting for them to come right up but you can definately see and feel the little white bits. About time!
Spence has been loving swimming everyday. We've been to the beach and swimming in the pool here.

The Pute has packed it in....

2009-01-15T15:31:00.002+11:00

My desktop computer has called it a day and I've had it carted off to hospital today. The silly thing has been dodgy since the day we got it, but it's one of those intermittent issues that goes away then comes back and build up till it stops working. I've had the warranty fix it guys out here three times now, this time, it's gone to hospital. Hopefully they can fix it all up and send it back better than ever!

Thankfully I just copied some work files I was working on to a USB just before it died! I can't access all the rest of my work stuff which is a bummer, but thankfully am about to go away for a couple of weeks anyway.
Also means i can't make the cool vid i wanted to to show you the little Spence who is crawling around like a champion! I didn't realise that they get such red, bruised looking knees....poor thing!

Crawling!

2009-01-10T18:29:00.003+11:00

Gosh i wish i was a better blogger! I wish i had more time to blog about all the awesome things that are going on in the development of our little Spencer!
Yesterday he started crawling! Really crawling! He's been getting onto all fours for the last few weeks, managing to push himself in circles and backwards for the last week but yesterday he really crawled, like many 'steps' in a row and today he's off and about like a flash! Heaven help us all!
Ky and I spent alot of today rearranging our house to make it safer....we'll see about that!
He's just alot of fun right now....although his sleeping is still a bit funny, but I guess well just have to live with that.
I managed to capture him crawling on my mobile phone video and sent it to Ky at work yesterday - she said it brought tears to her eyes....ahhhhhhhhh.
Anyway, gotta go, he's demolishing the venetian blinds right now!

Merry Christmas Elf Video

2008-12-22T17:41:00.002+11:00

Finally.....!

2008-12-04T22:18:00.002+11:00

It passed. The ART Bill 2008 passed the third reading tonight, with amendments, 20-18. Frightfully close, but a win nonetheless.
I went into parliament house to watch it with a committed bunch of women and their families - probably 35-40 of us in total. The gallery was packed and there was an almighty cheer and clapping when the result was read out. It really was a great thing to see and brought tears to my eyes. Thank goodness, politics is exhausting...

No teeth

2008-12-03T08:20:00.003+11:00

Not a tooth in sight! All that palava and nothing! Spence is pretty much back to normal, which is great. He's sleeping till about 5 - 6am which we can handle and he's back to his happy and smiley self.

We've just bought a house! That's some pretty exciting news. It's a 3 bedroom house in a dodgier part of Melbourne that we'd like to live - but that's ok, because it's an investment property! Just hoping the finance comes through - and in the current financial climate you just don't know...fingers crossed!

The ART Bill is up for debate again this week - hopefully we will have an end to the long running saga....I am glad it will finally be over this week, I just hope that the outcome is favourable. What a ridiculous situation we'd be left in now if these laws don't pass, given the passing of federal laws recognizing our family, given that in 4 other states/territories our families are recognized and given that in most other state law we are recognized.....but it seems politics and law don't have to be logical.....fingers crossed on this one too.

Poor little Spence....

2008-11-22T19:11:00.002+11:00

He's just not himself at the moment. Last night we had a pretty rough night. He woke up every hour and a half from when we put him to put and his little face was red hot. We took his temperature at about 10pm and it was 39 degrees! The poor little thing was just beside himself, he was munching on his hands and had so much dribble happening and was just so tired but not sleeping. We gave him some paracetamol which helped the temp but he still didn't sleep much. THe best we got was a three hour stretch between 2.30am and 5.30am.
He's been really grizzly today as well. It's awful to see him like this, so unhappy we can barely get a smile from him and he's usually such a happy little thing...
He's not really drinking much and hasn't eaten alot either today which worries me. We've just got him off to bed but have decided when he wakes tonight we'll feed him given that he hasn't drank anything pretty much all day. I do hope he gets better soon.
I tell you what though - if i don't see some teeth soon (given that everyone says this is teething) - then I am gonna....i'm gonna.....yeah, i don't know what!! I'm just gonna!!

Night 4....and maybe teeth....??

2008-11-21T14:22:00.004+11:00

Little Spence was a bit unsettled last night, even before we'd gone to bed he'd woken up once and had a bit of a cry. We could hear him making little noises here and there in the evening and he just seemed to not be able to go into a deep sleep.
He woke up a couple of times overnight, but only just required a bried little pat and back off to sleep. No massive crying or feeding required!

This morning he is dribbling his head off, grizzling most of the day and has a snuffly, snotty nose....dare i say it.....teething????
So far, every time he has dribbled, grizzled, had red cheeks, etc...poeple have given their expert judgement that he is teething...this has been since he was about 3 months old....needless to say it's a bit of a joke around here that every little thing that happens or he does is put down to 'teething'....maybe this time is the real thing though???

Night 3

2008-11-20T07:40:00.002+11:00

THe little boy is doing so well! Last night, after being so tired that he wouldn't drink his bottle going to bed, I thought we could be in for a bit of waking up when he realised he was hungry later. He went to bed at 7pm and then didn't wake up at all until about 4am. It took only two times of going in to shh and pat him - a total of about 10min before he went back to sleep until 7.15am!! What a star! I'm so pleased that this hasn't turned out to be too traumatic for him. He woke up happy as ever this morning - and so did we! I know it's only night 3 but it sure looks like he's got the hang of getting himself back to sleep easily when he wakes. I'm really pleased we made the decision to do this.

Sleep.....zzzzzZZZZZZZZZ

2008-11-19T07:03:00.002+11:00

We've taken drastic action! Spence has been waking up earlier and earlier these days. He used to sleep until anywhere from 5.30am to 7am when we'd feed him and put him back to bed for a couple more hours. The last five weeks or so he's been waking earlier, more like 3.30am, so we'd been feeding him and putting him back to bed. Then he started to wake at 12.30am and 4am or so. We just did what we'd always done and fed him both times. Little alarm bells in my head were saying 'we're developing a bad habit here'. He doesn't need to food overnight, in fact, he often wouldn't even finish the bottles, plus he already has three meals a day as well as 4 bottles. I think we were just reinforcing for him that when he woke up, we give him a cuddle and a feed and he goes back to sleep, meaning we had no other real way of getting him back to sleep than feeding. Not to mention how tired it was making us which is hard as we're both working 4 days a week.

Anyway, we decided that we might have to address this. We talked to our MCHN and decided that we would try the 'controlled comforting' approach from now on when he wakes at night. So we started two nights ago, our progress so far goes like this:

NIGHT 1: We were all geared up full of motivation ready to start our new regime. We decided that we had to commit to at least a week of the controlled comforting approach to see if it made a difference. Kylie had just finished her work for the week and has 4 days off, so we figured now was the time! Little Spence went off to bed as usual at about 7pm and we went to bed early in anticipation of the long night ahead! Spence woke up at 12.30am as he had been the last few nights and so we waited until he was crying rather than just grizzling. Then Ky went in and just gave him a little talking to and a pat and some soothing words.
He wasn't impressed. He wanted a bottle, he wanted to be picked up....She stayed in there for a few minutes then came out. He cried. We waited for 2 mintues then went back in, soothing words, patting, shhh-ing and then left again. He cried. We waited 4 minutes, back in then out, 6 minutes, back in then out, 8 minutes, back in then out, 10 minutes, back in then out, 12 minutes, back in then out. All the while he cried his poor little head off. We hated it but just tried to remain strong and remember that in the long run it would be better. Finally after an hour he went back to sleep.
He woke up again at 4 and we went through the same ordeal. It was really hard and tiring for everyone. He really ramped his crying up and when he fell asleep after an hour and a half it was only for 10 minutes or so. We finally got him up and gave him a bottle at 5.30am. He then went back to sleep for a few hours after that, whilst i headed to work with a headache, feeling very tired and traumatized from the ordeal. Spence was fine though!

NIGHT 2: Had to psyche ourselves up to do it all again night 2, reinforcing our committment to a week before we pulled the pin on it if we couldn't handle it or saw no change. Went to bed early again and geared up for the long night.
Spence woke up at 1am. We waited till he was crying not just grizzling before i went in. I talked quietly to him, pulled the blankets up and gave him a pat and some shhh-ing. Then when he was quiet i said goodnight and left the room. He immediately started to cry and I went back to our room to wait out the few minutes before i'd go in again. But low and behold - he quietened down and went back to sleep!! I'd only been in there once!! He slept till 5.15am and then started to make some little noises and the odd cry, but kept going back to sleep! We ended up feeding him at 6am - he wasn't full on crying just half-crying but thought it was a reasonable time so we fed him. Success on night 2!! I feel fantastic after having so much sleep!!
We're well aware it's just night 2 so this may not be the new pattern yet, but at least we had some immediate success to keep us motivated! Will keep you posted on the next few nights progress.

ART Bill 2008 Update

2008-11-14T14:02:00.003+11:00

The Assisted Reproductive Technology Bill was debated in the Upper House this week.

After debate over the last three days a vote on the second reading was held and passed - 20 for to 18 against - it doesn't get much closer than that! The bill has now been referred to the Legislative Committee (3 ALP, 2 Libs, 1 Nat and 1 Green) for discussion, consideration of amendments etc. They will report back to the Parliament on 2 December, after which the Bill will go to a third reading and final vote (some time during that week, the final sitting of Parliament for the year). I think that it is a positive sign that it went to Committee as it may not have been supported in it's current form in a final vote and there have been a number of credible amendments raised.

There was a great speech by a Liberal Party member, Mr Bruce Atkinson, last night (yes, Liberal Party!!) supporting our families - which is great to see. I wrote a letter to Mr Atkinson thanking him and saying that the Liberal Party could do with more good people like himself! There was terrible speech by Inga Peulich (Liberal) pretty much saying how our families were inferior and children needed to be protected from circumstances such as our - am astounded at how simple some people's little minds are....

With the vote so close, the Christian right will no doubt be stepping up it's campaign to stop this legislation so we will also be continuing to lobby for support over the next few weeks. I am hopeful that the right outcome will prevail here but you just never know.

Listening to parliament has been quite educational, both in terms of politics and political process but also, sadly, in terms of the level of prejudice that still exists in our society, some of the Liberal and National Party member speeches have just been appalling. It's funny because i don't often come face to face with people who think like this, but it seems there are quite a lot of them - just under half of the upper house anyway!

November and politics

2008-11-07T10:39:00.005+11:00

Just another quick one - busy working today!
Little Spence is going great, he's talking (well you konw - making sounds) - ironically, his first decipherable sound seems to be 'dadadada'- this must just be the easiest sound for him because, as you can imagine, we didn't teach him that one!!! I keep saying to him 'mum mum mum', 'bub bub bub', 'nan nan nan' - and he just laughs and says 'da da da'!! It's hilarious.

On the political front, the ART Bill resumes debate next week. We are really concerned that it's not going to get passed, it is looking so tight. It will be just so disappointing as it could then be years before Spencer gets the same rights as other kids. It is just so unfair and makes me really angry when i think about it. The Victorian Law Reform Commissions report recommends the law needs to change, all research indicates that children of same sex families do just as well as other children - there is no reason for this bill being turned down other than plain old ignorance and prejudice.

Here is the world currently so proud of itself with electing Barrack Obama to the whitehouse, everyone talking about how far we've come in terms of equality. Pah! It seems gay is the new black - and let me assure you, we're still at the back of the bus.

Been a while!

2008-10-06T13:00:00.004+11:00

Gosh, life is busy!
After our QLD holiday we were home for just a week where i madly finished off an assignment for school then we went to Hobart for a week. Quite a contrasting holiday to our QLD one!
We've been home for a bit but I am madly doing my last assignment so promise to write after that! Just a few more weeks.
Lots going on, our little man is eating lots of food, he's sitting up and he's rolling over from front to back!! Excitement all round!!
Can't wait to finish school so i can relax a bit more, but right now, gotta get back to it. He's a recent pic - he's just sooo cute.
I think we need a new video soon - i'll work on getting one up next post!

Family Holiday

2008-09-10T16:28:00.002+10:00

We've just come home from our first family holiday. We spent 11 days in Caloundra and Brisbane and had a great time! It's quite a different holiday with a baby in tow, but i've come to terms with the much more sedate style of holiday and accepted that i won't be diving and trekking and kayaking etc etc on holidays anytime soon!

We did get to go surfing once though, which was great!! Staying with family and friends was good as we got a few opportunities to venture out and about for a few hours here and there without the little one. He really coped just fine with being somewhere different and we tried to stick with our little routines and make sure he had lots of sleeps as he normally would. Overall, a resounding success!

We even found a $75 surfboard at Trash and Treasure market and we bought it - for Spence of course!! His first surfboard. He's a pic of him on it!!!

Home Alone

2008-08-22T18:18:00.003+10:00

Ky and Spence have gone away for the weekend and I am here all alone!

It's quite weird. It's the first time i've been away from Spencer since he was born, so that's a little hard - I doing ok at the moment - though they did only go about 5 hours ago! Ky wanted to go to the country to see her parents given that we are going away and then she'll be working weekends for a while so won't be able to get down there. I have lots of work to do on the Masters before we go away as i have an assignment due mid Sept and another mid Oct. So anyway, Ky suggested that she and Spence go away by themselves. At first I was horrified, but then Ky pointed out all of the positive benefits....a good nights sleep, a sleep in, being able to make loud noises, getting lots of work done...did i mention sleeping in???

So, I'm really looking forward to having a big sleep in, going to the gym and spending as long as i want to and then getting stuck into more school work tomorrow. Of course, if i get it done early enough I could always drive down to see them.....?!

Home Renovations and Expansions

2008-08-14T09:52:00.005+10:00

So many things going on here.....!

On the weight loss front, despite a small plateau at the moment, i've lost 6.5kg since starting the WW thing, i'm still 9kg off my pre-baby weight of 65kg, so sticking at it.

I'm working working working - still mostly from home, thank goodness. Study has started back about a month ago, i've got just two subjects to go till i finish my Masters, so working hard at that right now. In a mad rush to finish the third assignment before we go on holiday.

Something exciting - we're getting one half of our massive garage converted to a home office and storage room. That's a bit exciting as it will free up our other bedroom (which is currently an office/study) for the next child!! Isn't it funny how as soon as you have a baby, everyone is already asking you when you'll have the next one! It has made us think about it much more than we would have. I'm still just wanting to get used to the first one - and get my body back to normal - before i start on the second!

Our holiday to the Sunshine Coast and Brisbane is coming up in just two weeks, goodness, that is soon - i'd better get back to my assignment instead of blogging away!!

Baby Rice and Peer Group Pressure

2008-08-11T09:27:00.005+10:00

I wonder if babies actually like baby rice? For the last five days we've tried to give Spencer baby rice - he's just 5 months old and although the WHO recommend not starting solids until 6 months, we were feeling the pressure. All except two babies at mother's group have already started with solids. So we caved and went to the shop and got some baby rice for 4 months +. The big moment came and we got our little concoction of rice and formula and the special little pink rubbery spoon that i accidently stole from Big W (that's another story!) and we gave it a shot. He loved it!! Nahh, just kidding - he hated it! See for yourself in the vid below!!

We've persevered though, much to his horror, so now he is actually trying to 'eat'. I was wondering how long I have to keep giving him this horrible stuff before we can give him something nicer. Books and websites say stick with the rice for a few weeks - but i'm not so sure, we may just pull out the big guns - sweet potato and banana (not together though!) - they seem to be popular with the mums.

Spencer's Letter

2008-08-06T08:57:00.002+10:00

Spencer is now a political activist! Here's a copy of the letter he sent to all of the state MPs:

Hello!

My name is Spencer and I am five months old. My mummies are helping me to write this letter because there is some legislation that you have to vote on soon that impacts our family greatly. It is legislation to do with same sex parented families, access to assisted reproductive technology, adoption and surrogacy. This legislation will decide whether my family should be called a family and whether both of my mummies should be recognized by the law as my parents.

I don't really know what legislation is and I don't know much about the law - (hey, I'm only five months old) - but I do know about my family.

I have two mummies who love me alot and look after me. One of my mummies is a Firefighter - I want to be just like her when I grow up. My other mummy works on the computer part time from home so she can look after me. We live in a nice house where I have my own bedroom, a nice backyard and lots of toys. My favourite toy is called Ziggy, he's blue and orange and he squeaks and makes me smile and laugh!

Both my mums have been there for me since I was just a little dot on the ultrasound screen. Everyone at the doctor's clinic knew I had two mums. When I was born the doctor took me from my mummy's tummy and both my mummies were there and everyone in the hospital knew I had two mums. Now that I'm here in the world both my mums change my nappies and give me a bottle and pick me up for a hug when I cry. We go to mother's group every Tuesday and basketball on a Wednesday morning and everyone there knows I have two mums. We even go to Rainbow Playgroup every month where all the kids have two mums - and some have two dads!!

I don't really know why the law doesn't understand that I have two mums - everyone else does and they don't seem to mind!

As well as my two mums, in my family I have four aunties and four uncles and eight cousins and three grandmas and two grandpas!! Boy, that's a lot of people that love me!! It's a bit long-winded for me to explain who's who and how everyone is related - but that's families for you isn't it? - they come in all shapes and sizes!

Anyway, I hope that you can think about us when you have your vote on the legislation and vote in favour of it. My mummies are very concerned that they don't both have a recognized legal relationship with me and I reckon that I deserve to have my two parents recognized as my parents, this makes me feel safe and secure. It would mean alot to all of us that the legal position of our family reflects reality.

I've attached a picture of us for you so you can see what we look like. We are just a family, like any other! If you want to ask us any questions about our family, we'd be happy to talk to you, just so you can understand how important it is to us all that we have the same rights as everyone else. My mummy Karen's mobile number is XXXX XXX XXX.

I better go now, mum says I need to go and have a nap.

Thank you for reading about my family!

From Spencer

P.S. I've attached a picture of me and Ziggy too!

Stuff

2008-07-10T15:38:00.002+10:00

Well Spencer is almost back to eating properly and sleeping properly, thank goodness!! That night time waking thing is hard work! We went to the MCHN yesterday and he's 6.3kg now, the big boofer!! He's doing great and has started to giggle this week. The last few days he has been doing these funny high pitched squeals and we just worked out last night that they are the start of a giggle! How cute, give it a couple of weeks and i reckon he'll be really giggling - can't wait to get it on video!!

On the weight watchers front, it's been slow going, but i am losing weight. Have lost total of 2.7kg now. I've been pretty strict about it (apart from a gigantic popcorn at the movies!) and i have been cooking up some nice stuff - getting quite into it. I managed to wear a pair of pants the other day from my 'normal' wardrobe - rather than the maternity wear or tracksuit pants! I am determined to get to my 10% goal by my birthday in September. That's still another 5kg away.

Anyway, back to work for me! Will leave you with a pic of the little boofer!! He's getting so big!

The Weigh In

2008-06-26T20:28:00.002+10:00

Last week i took drastic action. I joined Weight Watchers! I figured that it had been three months since Spencer was born and i immediately lost 6 kg at that point. And that was it. Three months later here i am still 15kg overweight!
It's hard to eat well around Kylie though, who just eats whatever she wants and doens't get fat. Don't you hate that.
So anyhow, i tried to stop eating junk and eat less. I started exercising. But with no results happening, i decided it was time to put some effort in. Not sure if you've ever been to weight watchers - i have - i think it's a great idea, because it's not pre-prepared meals it's about learning how to eat better in the real world. It's also motivating. A bit kitsch, sure, but motivating nevertheless. And it's really cool to see the same people each week and see them losing weight and feeling good about themselves, i'm all for it.
Tomorrow is my first weigh in. I've been really good all week and have been cooking up a storm of low fat, healthy, yummy meals all week long. So fingers crossed for tomorrow!

What's happening here??

2008-06-25T20:19:00.002+10:00

It seems that we've already becomed accustomed to almost full nights sleep and a baby that just goes to bed and doesn't compain. This week, Spencer has thrown a bit of a spanner in the works. He's decided to stop feeding properly and he now fusses and complains once you've burped him, so that he doens't take the bottle again once you've stopped. This has resulted in him not getting the same amounts of food that he was getting. He's now started waking overnight much earlier and has become harder to settle both during the day and at night.
It's taken me back to the early weeks when everything was much more difficult - feeding, sleeping, settling.
I really hope that it's just some sort of phase.....

New Developments

2008-06-25T20:14:00.002+10:00

Little Spence did something new today. He has been moving his arms around for a while, but today, he was moving with alot more purpose, reaching toward things. I had this little bear thing and he was holding it (once i'd kind of propped it in the right spot!). It's really cool to see him do new things. Already throughout the day i've seen more and more instances of him reaching at things. It's like they learn a new skill all of a sudden and then they're off and running with it!

Relaxing baby massage

2008-06-09T17:51:00.005+10:00

Today was our fourth mother's group session. I think it's a nice concept having a new mother's group. You do get to see lots of other really cute babies, which is great. Of course, because Spencer has two mums, we both went to them - which was probably a novel concept for some of the mothers there.
We did baby massage today. The babies hated it - and within about 5 minutes we had a chorus of 11 screaming babies - with Spencer leading the way. It was hilarious!!

Ten things i love about Spence

2008-06-05T15:49:00.013+10:00

1. The little face he pulls when he's talking.

2. The big stretch.

3. The star fish pose when he's sleeping.

4. His smile.

5. His smell - a mixture of baby, bath lotion and amilyn washing liquid on his clothes.

6. His soft fluffy hair.

7. His little grunting face when he's doing a poo.

8. His little turtle head.

9. His grumpy face.

10. When you've just fed him and he gets 'heavy head'.

Getting up to date

2008-06-02T17:11:00.004+10:00

Seeing that i haven't really been posting frequently and am only just getting this blog up to date, here's a few of our favourite pics showing little Spence 'growing up' over the last 12 weeks:

And here is one that i made:

Talking and Smiling

2008-06-02T17:09:00.001+10:00

The little boy is smiling and talking heaps now. It's sooo cute!

Twelve weeks old - things we've learnt

2008-05-22T15:33:00.007+10:00

Spence will be 12 weeks old this week - and to celebrate this event he's decided to learn to sleep through the night! That's right! The last two nights Spence has gone to bed about 7.45pm and not woken up until 5.30am!!! It's fantastic! Hoping this is his new routine. It's amazing how much more human you feel with a good amount of sleep.
Anyway, decided that i will share some of the things that we have learnt in our first 12 weeks of being parents:

1. Learn to put the baby down to sleep - as in put the baby down in the cot and help him learn to sleep there, rather than in your arms or in a bouncer etc.

2. Don't go into their room too early if crying - give them a chance to get themselves back to sleep as they will do it sometimes and you'll end up with a few more hours that you thought! Note - this one can backfire during daytime sleeps where if left too long, he will work himself up so much that he can't be settled again and he is crying so much he looks like his head will explode.

3. They don't have to be asleep to leave them in the cot - feeding to sleep in the early days was ok, but they need to learn to go to sleep by themselves, put them down, say good night and leave the room. They can get themselves off to sleep - well, sometimes!

4. Their own room - if you are at all a stress head like me, have them in their own room, they can be such noisy little creatures and you worry with every little sound. You do need to switch off sometimes and just sleep.

5. Dummies are not a bad thing - we use a dummy during the day, not for getting him to sleep but usually to settle him when he gets himself really worked up - and it works! I'm glad we don't use it for sleeping in a cot as i've heard lots of stories of kids who wake up constantly because they've lost their dummy.

6. Only buy the bare necesseties before the baby comes - people give you heaps of stuff. We got so many clothes, we really didn't need to buy much - also, it's good to see what it is you actually need rather than taking guesses. Think about the seasons also, we were given lots of 000 summer stuff, but by the time he got into 000 (just now) it was winter and i think he'll have grown out of them by the time it's warm enough to wear them.

7. Use a washing detergent for sensitive skin - we pre-washed all of his clothes before we went to hospital but just in ordinary detergent, then little spence developed a newborn rash and we were told we needed to wash everything in special detergent, so we were in hospital with a bunch of new clothes for him, none of which he could wear!

8. It does get easier - i really thought in those first few weeks 'how on earth can you look after a baby and ever have any sort of life again' - but it does get easier with each week. The baby learns to sleep and to just be in the world and you learn to do things as well.

9. Make contact with all those friends you lost contact with when they had kids - they know stuff and can offer really good support.

10. Get out for a walk - it's healthy for you, can help you get back into shape and it's really good for when the baby is cranky and won't sleep or even stop crying! It was my 4pm life saver for a while!

11. Set little goals for each day and be happy to achieve them - don't aim too high, one or two little goals each day is more than enough to handle. I don't mean goals with the baby, i mean household chores or other things you want to achieve. In the early days, just getting to the shop and back is a day long palava!

12. Take heaps of photos and video if you can - they change so quickly and it's awesome to be able to look back at everything. They are also just soooo cute!

Our brush with breastfeeding!

2008-05-22T14:03:00.003+10:00

I call it our brush with breastfeeding, but we did last four weeks. Given that it was four weeks of traumatized nipples that were too sore to even touch the tshirt i was wearing, rashes, mastitis, sleep deprivation, no weight gain for the baby, unsuccessful expressing, bottle top ups, nipple shields, sore and lumpy breasts - i think that we gave it a shot. Even the lactation consultant we were seeing was surprised we went for as long as we did. I can't say it was enjoyable, though i did feel sad to stop. Sad i guess that the one special thing that only i could do for the baby was ending, that the closeness of it was ending. I also felt relief - relief at the thought of being able to let my poor breasts heal, at the thought of having no pain anywhere in my body - for the first time in 10 months. I think for me, my painful experience of breastfeeding probably only detracted from this beautiful early time with our baby, prohibited the enjoyment i could have felt. Don't get me wrong - it was still an enjoyable time - but i think would have been more so if we didn't have such a nasty time of breastfeeding.

It's all history now though. We weaned at four weeks to bottles and Spence then thrived, finally getting the nutrition he needed he has now caught up to his expected weight and has really filled out. And me...the wean ended up being alot faster than we thought as Spence stopped taking the breast when we got down to 2 bottles and 4 breastfeeds per day - he no longer would take the breast and so our slow wean became an immediate wean. This was a painful week for me, but after the soreness went away, i felt a million bucks!

The First Week

2008-05-22T13:50:00.004+10:00

Here we are - ten weeks old today! Feels like he's been around forever, but then again just seems like yesterday!

He was such a little, little thing when he was born - 3352gms (7lb 6 oz in the old school measurements). We stayed at Frances Perry for the first three nights, then went off to the Sofitel for the next two.

All in all, the hospital stay was ok, nurses seemed to be missing in action though. The sofitel was better -but when i think back to that first week, all i can remember now is feeling fantastic at having a beautiful little baby, feeling sleep deprived as we couldn't seem to get him to sleep much overnight and feeling like my nipples were on fire.

This was our little munchkin at less than an hour old!

Welcome to the world Spencer Thomas Lush Young!

2008-05-02T09:03:00.003+10:00

Gosh, it's been 7 weeks and 2 days since my last post. So much has happened in that time.

Firstly, here is a pict of our new little man being brought into the world, Spencer Thomas Lush Young, born 4.02pm on March 13th, 2008:

What an amazing day that was! When i look at the pictures i can feel the amazing feelings that i had and wish i could have the day over and over again.

Given that it's been 7 weeks since then, i'll skim over the main bits of what's been going on just to get us back up to date. Life has just been so busy getting through this early time of parenthood that i didn't manage to blog my way through it - who would think such a little thing that supposedly just eats and sleeps can take up so much time, but i don't think i even turned the computer on for about three weeks after he was born!

1 day left!!

2008-03-12T13:13:00.003+11:00

Yes, that's right, it's just one day to go now! So here's a couple of parting shots of the big fat tummy at 39 weeks and 1 day. It's just like a big ball attached to the front of me.

39 weeks - 2 days to go

2008-03-11T11:26:00.002+11:00

The countdown on the whiteboard says 2 days.

Thank goodness! I am not able to do much except sit at the computer, sit on the couch or lay in bed. Everything hurts and i get tired if i do anything for more than 5 minutes.

I am so excited about Thursday. We are so prepared and it's the last day of work for both Kylie and me today, it's just all so exciting!!!!

Single figures!

2008-03-04T10:16:00.002+11:00

9 days to go!!! Yay!!!

We went to the obs last week and the little Walex has done a backflip and is now bum down, head up! And to think he'd been head down and ready for action for so many weeks!! Not sure what his thinking is around this, but alas, his head is up under my ribs and he's ready to show the world his best side first!

I am so, so ready...i keep telling him to just come out, we're ready for him. So far he's chosen to ignore me - perhaps that's just practice for his entire childhood and adolescence!

We're off to see the obs again tomorrow. It's 38 weeks today - here's a pic of the tummy at 38 weeks - it's like a basketball!

Countdown

2008-02-25T17:31:00.002+11:00

Still here...counting it down......17 days to go......

Went to obs last week, thankfully he gave me some Zantac for the heartburn that had been getting me down for a week or so. It has worked wonders and I feel alot better. I am still fat and uncomfortable, really struggling to walk around now, hard to sleep....but other than that.....!!
We have to see the obs weekly now, so off to see him again in two days. We are 37 weeks tomorrow. Thank goodness! Will take a 37 week pic and put it up....be warned, stretch mark city!

Alexander

2008-02-16T10:16:00.001+11:00

My friend Jo went in for her Caesarian on Valentine's day. She had a little boy that they named Alexander. Yay Jo!

Flat

2008-02-16T10:07:00.002+11:00

The belly button is a strange thing during pregnancy. First it started to slowly push out, just little bits of it, when i was laughing or something, so i was a partial outtie. Slowly it became a full outtie and now, it seems my stomach caught up with it and it is so stretched that it is now 'a flat'. It's just a dot sometimes! I looked in the mirror the other day and saw this little pink dot thing on my stomach and thought 'what's that' - and it was my belly button, just a little flat dot!
It goes between a flat and an outtie now depending on what the baby is doing and what i am doing. It also has like a crater or a moat around it! Kind of like a little depression that encircles it and then the flat/outtie. Very interesting! It's also very very soft skin. Talk about naval gazing! I don't suppose i'll get to see it like this again (unless i have another bub) so i should take a photo of it!

Ready

2008-02-16T10:02:00.003+11:00

I've had a pretty uncomfortable week. Having lots of heartburn now and just feeling pretty heavy, sore and crappy most of the time. Doesn't seem to matter if i eat or not, still have heartburn. Feel crap laying down and feel crap sitting up. Haven't slept well for a while.
Finished up work yesterday - well, working in the office, anyway. Gonna work from home for a couple of weeks now. I am so relieved as it was really becoming quite a struggle to go in, so at least now i can work at home and just have a lay down when i need to.
Walex is still moving like crazy, sometimes it makes me feel sick or kinda like i have palpitations.
I can't wait for the next three and a half weeks to pass, i am so over feeling crappy that i am really excited and looking forward to having my stomach cut open!! How sick is that!!

35 weeks

2008-02-13T17:54:00.002+11:00

Well, it was inevitable, i guess.....stretchmarks....... :(

For some reason I thought that given i had got so far without them, I would manage to get away with none. Alas, they have arrived and are getting bigger and multiplying drastically with every cm that Walex grows - and he's growing lots!

Oh well, guess that's just part of the fun.

On the positive side, I've worked through my name dilemma. I spoke to a friend of mine, who is a long time sailor, to see what he thought of 'Jonah'. He said not to worry about it and that he'd hardly ever heard it referred to as a bad luck term. So now I'm happy again and i still think it's top of the list at the moment.

Little Walex is still really active, given that he's supposed to out of room to move in there! His actions are quite forceful and sometime can hurt a bit and there are times where i'm sure he's just gonna jump on out any minute now! But he can't - because as a colleague of mine reminded me the other day - i don't actually have health cover for maternity related care until Feb 19th!! So if i go before then, it's off to the public hospital for me! So need to keep him in there for another week at least!

34 weeks

2008-02-08T15:32:00.000+11:00

Had another appointment yesterday with the obs. Once again all is going to plan, heart rate good, big fat tummy size good, baby generally good.
I am not feeling fantastic and am pretty sore and still struggling - but that's not new...
We have a confirmed date now - March 13th. Have to be at hospital at 1200 for the Caesarian at 1415hrs. I think that's a good time, can get up really early have some breakfast, then back to bed for a bit. Kylie will be working the night shift so will come home and then we can leave about 1100 for the hospital.

Got a little name dilemma....we had a short list for ages, then just recently came across another name - Jonah - that we both like and i think that was gonna be the one. The problem i have is that, being a sailor, Jonah carries some negotive connotations in sailing circles based on the biblical story of Jonah. So i really like it and i don't care about silly connotations, but all my friends are sailors and i can imagine what we'll hear from them. Also, what if he grows up to be a sailor like me - then not a good name to have.....bummer......anyways, will have to talk about it with Ky again.

Nearly 34 weeks

2008-02-01T21:24:00.000+11:00

Pic from 32 weeks:

Yep, 33 and a half weeks now. Sometimes i think this stomach cannot possibly get any bigger....but it does! I am pretty fat, uncomfortable and sore most of the time now. Struggling to get around and to do anything that involves activity for too long without needing a rest.
Had a little hiccup a couple of weeks ago when i fainted - luckily was sitting down at the time! It was a bit worrying but Walex has still been moving around and all seems good. I would have called the obs, but he's away on holidays. Was gonna got to GP just to make sure everything ok, but in the end, haven't done anything. Now i have worried myself into a bit of a state thinking what if something is wrong and it's my fault because i haven't gone to dr? The obs is back this week and i have appointment on Tuesday, so hopefully he will check everything out and put my mind at ease.

Have been really sore low down in my stomach, kind of like muscular sore, sometimes so much that i stuggle to walk. In bed at night i can't lay on my back, get really sore hips on my sides and it hurts and takes quite some effort to turn over. For the most part I think i am coping ok, but it sometimes gets me down. I have felt crap everyday of the entire pregnancy and can't remember what it felt like anymore to feel good. Just hanging in there now, counting down the days.

Speaking of counting down, just 8 more working days for me in the office, then 8 more from home. I can't wait. I can feel the stress leaving me and the things that would normally be stressing me out at work aren't stressing me anymore as i know i won't be there much longer! It's a really nice feeling actually to go to work and not be so stressed and angry all the time. Poor Kim, my replacement, though! He's copping it all now!

31 weeks

2008-01-16T20:32:00.000+11:00

He's been an active little thing over the past couple of weeks - it's kind of like he's moving and pushing and trying to make some more room as he gets bigger and his cosy home gets more cramped. I am feeling really heavy and my tummy gets so sore, especially toward the end of the day. I can't wait to finish working!
Had another obs appointment yesterday, all is good, average size for 31 weeks, heart rate 141bpm (normal).

29 Weeks

2008-01-01T18:57:00.000+11:00

Wow, what a busy time it's been!

We've moved into our new house with all the fun and games associated with moving. It's really great to be in our own place. We've got a list of things that we need to fix, buy, build etc...and we'll just tackle them as we can. I am getting fat and uncomfortable - what do i mean getting....i seem to have always felt fat and uncomfortable! It's stopping me from doing lots of things that i want to do in the house, which can be frustrating, but i am getting better and don't try anything that it just too hard! That leaves poor Kylie to do nearly everything!

We had our three prenatal classes this month just gone. There was one about Breastfeeding, one about Early postnatal and parenting and one on Caesarian section. They were all pretty good, nothing really earth shattering, but i'm glad we went and it prompted me to think about a few things and learn about some community resources.

We had some difficult times just before Christmas as dad's wife Sue's mother died and on the day of her funeral, my nana died. We had the funeral for Nana on Christmas Eve, which was her 97th birthday! It was sad, but i was ok for the most part. Mostly wanting my mum to be ok.
We had a little hiccup on the baby front, with my initial Glucose Challenge Test being deemed as abnormal (found out it was actually 8.0, when it was meant to be <7.9).>35 (we had about 40 today too!!) - the weather has shown that our house is a hothouse and so we bought an air conditioner yesterday that Kylie's dad is going to put in. It's a lot of money, but it did worry me about not being able to cool the house when we have a little baby in it. Am going to look at ceiling fans for the two front bedrooms.

We had another obs appointment yesterday and once again, all is well. Apparently we can expect a big growth spurt from now till about 35 weeks. I just can't imagine where it is going to go and how fat and uncomfortable i am going to feel, given how i feel now!! In the next 5 weeks or so little Walex will about double his weight from just over a kilo to 2 kilos - i can't believe it!!

26 weeks

2007-12-10T19:45:00.000+11:00

Here is the big fat tummy at 26 weeks!!! It is massive!!!

I am becoming a partial outie!!!!

All is progressing well on the baby front. I am feeling better than earlier days now but still mostly having a big sore stomach all the time. Little Walex has been very active over the last four weeks or so, which is really cool and you can even see my stomach move when he does a big kick! Kylie can feel him too which is really exciting.

We move into our new house this week and then we can set up the baby's room! It's just so exciting!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We are going to see a lawyer on Wednesday to see where we stand legally in terms of a parenting order so Kylie is recognised as the other parent and a will so that Kylie and Walex are looked after in case of......well let's not think of that.

Next obst. appointment is New Year's Eve!!

21 Weeks

2007-11-05T17:23:00.000+11:00

These pics are from the 19 week scan. One is normal ultrasound, other is 3D alien looking ultrasound!

Here's the tummy at 21 weeks:

Had dr appointment today. All is going well. He's active and has a good strong heart beat (the baby - not the doctor - well the doctor may as well, but i wouldn't really know - oh..you know!) and things are progressing as expected.
We had the chat about the birth and it is confirmed that i will have a caesarian at 39 weeks. Tthe dr was understanding of my concerns given my neuro condition and said that in the circumstances it was perfectly reasonable and he would make the arrangements. I really did feel a tremendous sense of relief not to have to worry about that aspect of things anymore and not to have to convince or argue in anyway. I had done a lot of reading and feel that my decision is an informed decision.
Strangely, following the appointment (just this morning) I have been feeling tremendously fat and think that Walex is growing at epic proportions and if he goes on at this rate i may just explode!

20 weeks

2007-11-03T15:15:00.001+11:00

Had our 19 week scan last week and all was well. Definately a boy - we saw the crucial boy bits! He was about 15 cm or so from head to bum. All major organs appeared ok.

We've been playing about picking out names and have a big list of them on the whiteboard now, most have been contemplated, discussed and crossed off, until now we are left with four - Will, Patrick, Harrison and Daniel. Still plenty of time and i think we'll probably just leave it at a short list till we see him! Not too late to add other options though!

I'm still fat and sore. Amazing just how much weight i have stacked on in the last few weeks. My tummy is really a pregnant looking stomach now!! I sometimes catch a glimpse in the mirror and and think 'holy crap, look at that!'. I am not feeling as sick as much, which is wonderful, but still sore and just not feeling great alot of the time.

We bought a house, which is really, really exciting! A real family home! Can't wait to move, although feel a little bad as poor Kylie will have to do most of the work as i can't lift anything! We've been packing things up even though we've still got about 6 week so before we move, but at least it won't be a mad rush at the end! Just got to con some friends/family into helping out on the day now! I've attached a pic of the new house.

Got another appointment this week coming with Obstetrician. Gonna have to talk about the whole caesarian vs. vaginal birth thing again. I've been doing some research, but honestly, the more i read about the perineal consequences of normal birth, the more i want to go for a caesarian. Looking at the research and the stats, i'm surprised anyone wants to have a normal vaginal birth!! I swear, if men had to push babies out of their penises and were then told that their penisese were likely to not function properly for months, years or possibly ever again, all babies would be born by caesarian! What a lot of crap women have been brainwashed to believe, being told that having to bear the consequences of vaginal birth are just a part of life!

17 weeks

2007-10-09T07:43:00.002+10:00

We're 17 weeks now and it's hard to believe those scans i put up last were only at 13 weeks! The baby is about 13 cm long now. We had an appointment yesterday with the Dr who had a little look on ultrasound, it was awesome. And.....he thinks.....it's a boy! But he wouldn't put his house on it (I asked him!!). So that's very exciting. The baby was moving around heaps and the Dr commented that he was an active little thing and growing well. So all is good.

I'm still feeling sick quite a lot and uncomfortable/sore, but the Dr seems to think my ovaries are getting smaller, so that's good. I do feel sick still but i think perhaps it's getting better....then again....i'm not sure, perhaps i'm just trying to think positive!

I'm a bit stressed out about the birth thing at the moment. Went to see the neurologist to discuss my neuropathy concerns and get her recommendation for caesarian vs vaginal delivery. We talked about it for quite some time and given the lack of research available, she pretty much said she doesn't know what could happen, but he are some possibilities....and told me about possible neuropathies that could result. Mostly, the concern for me is a pudendal nerve neuropathy, which could cause problems with urinary incontinence (or more seriously faecal incontinence...hmmm...that's not good). Also loss of sensation in the perineum affects sexual function too (hmmm...that's not good either!). Anyway, by the end of that visit i was definately leaning toward caesarian and pretty much thought she was too. When i went back to the obstetrician, however, it seems her letter to him sat on the fence, so he wants to do a normal vaginal delivery. I am confused now. I think the only way for me to feel good about it is to do some research into Vaginal delivery vs Caesarian, in terms of general pros and cons and also in terms of what sort of neuropathies can result from each option. I want to make an informed decision and am generally the sort of person who is not just happy to 'do what the dr recommends' unless i am convinced that it is the right course. After all, i'm the one wearing the consequences.

So I am now trying not to stress and instead will throw myself into some research in order to make my decision.

We have our 19 week scan in two weeks, can't wait! We get another DVD and pics and get to look at the baby moving around and all it's bits and pieces. They will probably be able to confirm whether it is in fact a boy as the Dr thinks, as it'll be a bit bigger, they'll have more time to look and probably better ultrasound gear. So that's all very exciting. Looks like we'll be able to start buying cool little blue clothes and throw out all the pink we've been given from hand me downs!!! Ah, the stereotypes!

Firefighter Lush

2007-09-11T19:40:00.001+10:00

Just in case you were wondering how Kylie's recruit course was going - she's finished! We had her graduation a couple of weeks ago, which was really great. Here's a bit of a pic of my girl the Firefighter!

13 weeks

2007-09-11T19:18:00.001+10:00

Gosh, how time flies when you're feeling nauseous!

It's 13 weeks today. The nausea continues and i still have a sore stomach, but when you see pictures like those we saw today at our scan....well....surely it's worth it....!

We went and had our 13 week scan which was mainly for Nuchal Translucency (looking for signs of down syndrome) as well as generally looking for all the important bits - you know, a heart, some eyes, ears, arms, legs, kidneys, stomach...all those essential items you hope the baby has! Walex is 6.8cm long and we heard his (?) little heart beat. It was quite amazing to see little it leaping about and using my uterus as a trampoline! We still don't know if Walex is a boy or girl, but it sure was awesome just to see it and know that it's alive and moving and growing and everything is looking good. We got to keep some pics as well as a DVD of it all! My ovaries are still massive and full of follicles, a result of the IVF treatment exacerbated by the pregnancy - that explains my stomach tenderness, hopefully this will go down over the next couple of months...

It was really great that Kylie could come to this one, it's so much more wonderful to share something like this. How lucky i am. Still feel sick, but happy and sick!

When i got home Kylie had been to her brother's house and brought back a pram, a baby carrier, some bottle bags, a cot and mattress. We added this to the pram we had already bought (an ebay disaster - but that's another story!), the portacot and baby monitors we'd already bought! Gosh, it sure is become a reality now!

9 weeks

2007-08-19T20:31:00.002+10:00

Ok, so i didn't get around to posting my questions after all, so sue me!

My appointment with Dr Pregs went well. I like him, he was nice and friendly and easy going and make you feel comfortable easily. He seems approachable and open to questions, so it's all good.

I got to have another scan, so i've got another little pic, which is ace. Little Walex looking like a bigger smudge than before.

I asked him some stuff about the birth, which was on my mind, stuff about pain relief and when he would be seeing me at the birth - you know, just to catch it as it came out, or before. He made me feel pretty good about the birth and pain relief thing. Just'go with the flow' is his feeling, see how you're coping and ask for something if you're not. I'm so all for analgesia, unlike lots of mothers-to-be it seems who are keen on 'no intervention, drug free labour'....yeah, bugger that!

I raised the question of my bizarro hereditary neuropathy with pressure palsies and whether the baby pushing it's head on my vagina for hours would result in a neuropathy....that one threw him! Seems that lots of women get neuropathies from child birth anyway, let alone freaks like me with a chromosomal deficiency leaving me way prone to it already.......i think i can see a Caesarian coming on......

I'm going to see my neurologist to ask her opinion and try to get some sort of recommendation as Dr Pregs certainly admitted, it's the first time he's had this one! I got the feeling he was already leaning toward the c-section. And hey, i'm not arguing, a numb perineum for a year or so afterward is not what i'm after either!!

Hospital Shopping

2007-08-13T11:10:00.000+10:00

We looked at two hospitals on the weekend. I have managed to get myself an appointment with two different obstetricians, one delivers at Frances Perry House and the other at Jessie MacPherson. These are my hospital preferences as they both are associated and co-located within major public hospitals with intensive care units, both Neonatal and Adult. I can't help but think like that, seeing that i used to be an ICU nurse - always hope for the best but prepare for the worst!

Anyways, so we visited both FPH and JM on the weekend. We looked at the patient rooms at JM - but not the delivery suite and we looked at the delivery suite at FPH but not the patient rooms! Not quite sure how we are supposed to compare now! I'm not sure what i was expecting really, but i wasn't overly impressed by anything....for some reason i was expecting plush and hotel like surroundings, when what we saw, in both instances were just hospital rooms - of which i've seen many before. These rooms were just like that really.....hospital rooms......!

I have my first obstetrician appointment tomorrow morning with Dr Pregs (I know, funny!) - he is the guy who works at FPH - which i think is my preference at this point. So unless we clash terribly and i think he's a twat, i'll ring after the appointment and cancel the other obstetrician.

Looking forward to the appointment tomorrow and have written up a big list of questions, which i'll post later today. We also get to have another scan tomorrow - that's exciting too! 9 week scan.

I hate ginger

2007-08-13T11:04:00.000+10:00

I hate the smell of ginger and I hate the taste of ginger. I find it somewhat ironic that the the smell and taste of ginger make me want to be sick and yet ginger seems to be standard natural remedy to nausea and vomitting.
I have been taking ginger and vitB6 tablets every morning in the hope that they will make my nausea go away. They haven't yet.... I have to try my best to swallow them down before i cop a whiff or a taste of it in my mouth and it makes me want to puke!
This nausea thing is unpleasant. I am so looking to forward to the wonderful 12 week mark when it's supposed to go away...well, that's the hope anyway, all the books say it should be going away by then. I'm 9 weeks tomorrow. Trying to stay positive...i read this morning (on the wonderfully informative internet of course) that having nausea means that you actually have a decreased risk of miscarriage.....well, that's good then..... :)

Public knowledge

2007-08-06T07:42:00.000+10:00

We made an announcement on Saturday to the boat crew. Didn't really plan to announce it to everyone, just wanted to let Noel and Nev know as i wouldn't be sailing anymore. Noel decided we should tell the whole crew, so before we knew it we were making an announcement to th whole crew. It was kind of nice to tell everyone and they were all happy for us. On the other hand, it's still so early and i'm still scared something may go wrong.

I'm still feeling sick alot, but it's manageable and i'm able to stilll function ok. Though speaking of function....my bowel function has become somewhat bizarre and not pleasant! It seems to be living a life of its own and producing things that don't really resemble anything like what it used to!! I have other body changes too, weird little things on my breasts, little lumps and stuff. This pregnancy thing does such weird things to your body. It takes over completey and is now running the show!

Nausea....blah....

2007-08-03T07:36:00.000+10:00

This nausea thing has been getting worse. I feel sick now pretty much all day, every day. Am struggling for things to eat because the thought of eating makes me feel sick, even though actually eating seems to be ok and sometimes even makes me feel better!
Since Kylie went away i've been living on toast and vegemite, two minute noodles and steamed vegies. Thank goodness she's back tonight because we've run out of fresh bread, noodles and vegies!!

Happy Snap!

2007-07-31T19:31:00.000+10:00

I have a happy snap of Walex!

Walex is about 9.5mm long and has a little heart beating at about 129pbm - which is all great news.

Was so relieved to see the little heart beating on the screen!

My doctor (Dr ManOfFewWords) congratulated me and seemed really happy. Funny, he was the most talkative i think he's ever been - perhaps it's because it's the last time i'll see him now!

Kylie had to go away this morning for four whole days! She called me at about 5pm (about half an hour after my appointment) and i told her the good news. She was really happy and excited too! I called mum as well, who was happy.

I am really happy. I still feel sick though!

Today's the day

2007-07-31T07:23:00.000+10:00

The scan got postponed last week. I was driving to work on the Thursday morning and it was funny because i was literally just thinking, minutes before, 'thank goodness it's Friday tomorrow' because it meant that we would finally know whether we had a little beating heart in there...or not...and then the phone rang. It was the IVF clinic saying that there had been a mistake and that the doctor didn't do pregnancy scans on Friday mornings, we would have to postpone it until Tuesday!!
So, it's Tuesday today and i've managed to get myself through until today and at 4.15pm i will front up for my scan and get to see what's going on inside me.
Kylie had to leave this morning for a four day camp in the bush somewhere to put out fires (part of her MFB training), so it's just me on my own (again!).
Gosh i hope it's all ok.

6 weeks tomorrow

2007-07-25T15:25:00.001+10:00

So tomorrow is the 6 week mark. Kind of a milestone. The 6 week scan is booked for the following morning at 8.15am.

I am nervously excited...or something like that.

I hope it's all going ok.

I've been feeling really good. Almost back to normal size (well, perhaps slightly larger than i remember) but certainly feeling pretty good.

I just wish this Friday would come.

Not sure how i will react if the news is bad, that is, no heartbeat seen. Kylie won't be there as she has to go to school and can't take the time off. Well, perhaps it's better, i can just deal with it by myself for a while before i have face anyone.

Of course, i am quietly hopeful that things will be good and that we'll see a healthy little Walex with a heartbeat.

I saw my friend Jo the other day. She's now 9.5 weeks along, which is a relief for her as she miscarried at 6 weeks last pregnancy. I was saying to her how it is hard and you just worry about getting to 6 weeks, then worry about getting to 8 weeks and then 12 weeks.......she agreed. She's already had one child. It was funny because she said even at 12 weeks, you then worry about getting to the next stage and the next stage, and then when the baby is born...well there's a whole other world of new worries that start!

Gosh. This whole experience has been and will continue to be a real lesson to a stress head like me on trying not to stress all the time and just going with it!

Damned if you do and damned if you don't

2007-07-20T07:56:00.001+10:00

After over a week of feeling like crap all the time and having the most massive stomach on the Earth, i am finally coming good. After getting up to 76kg at the height of my discomfort i am now back to 74.6kg, i don't feel nauseous really and my stomach discomfort has subsided substantially and my breasts aren't as sore.

Now, i know all of that sounds good. But now i'm worried that because what if all these symptoms subsiding are because the baby has stopped developing? At least with all these symptoms in full flight you really know something is happening inside. Now, i don't know whether to be happy or just plain scared....

This waiting game is agonizing, much worse than the waiting for the pregnancy test bit that everyone says is hard.

I got a pamphlet in the mail yesterday from the IVF clinic, it was call 'A Positive Pregnancy Test. What now.' It tells you all of the things that could be found at the 6 week scan - only one of the options was a 'viable clinical pregnancy' and the rest were things that pretty much equated to no more baby. According to the statistics on the IVF clinic website if we can get to the six week scan and see a foetal heart rate then we have a 91.6% chance of going on to have a live birth. These odds are much better that what we currently are looking at.

Just to summarise the stats on their site:
- 47% of patients will have a positive pregnancy test (check)
- 26.7% of these patients will have a miscarriage
- once a foetal heart rate is seen at the 6 week scan, only 8.4% of these patients will go on to miscarry.

Though, the way i see it, everyone's chances are not necessarily equal as the patient population they are dealing with often have fertility problems, so i should have a pretty good chance, as besides some mild endometriosis, i am pretty much healthy (fertility wise!) as far as we know.

And of course, the little embryo we implanted was apparently a 'cracker' as i've said!

It's still a week until the scan......

Hello Walex!!

2007-07-14T15:12:00.002+10:00

I am sick, i am nauseous, i am fat, i am uncomfortable, i am in pain

and

i am pregnant!!!

Hoorah!

Went and had the blood test on Thursday morning and they rang me at 11.34am! That was pretty quick. She said 'Congratulations, you are pregnant.'

'Holy cow.' i said.

HCG level was 348, which she seemed please with. I booked in a '6 week' scan for 27/7 and that was that. No more drugs to take or injections or vaginal gels! Thank goodness.

I was not well on Thursday and so poor Kylie's birthday night was a bit of a fizzer! I could only manage to lay on the couch and so she went to get take out noodles and, well, that was kind of it!

Friday the nausea kicked in good and proper and so as well as being fat and in pain i felt like i was going to chuck....all bloody day.....

I hate nausea. I hate it worse than pain i think. I had discovered though that despite feeling like you want to spew, the best thing seems to be to keep eating, all day long, which is hard with an already MASSIVE stomach!

Today has been somewhat better. I actually slept most of the night and although teetering on the verge of nausea-ville i have managed to constantly shovel food into myself and keep the hard core nausea at bay!! I also bought some dry biscuit type things to knaw on, some of those sea-sickness / morning sickness acupressure bands that you wear on your wrists, along with some natural morning sickness remedy (vit b6 and ginger) - i'm trying to cover all bases!

I told my boss yesterday.....i know it's frightfully early and i would have preferred not to have to tell him for sometime yet - but, i knew i just couldn't go to Sydney on Monday and i have been sick all week and with the prospect of sickness continuing and us having a meeting next Tuesday to talk about company strategy and my role going forward and with the fact that i already look like a whale, i figured that - hell, why not just come out and say it. He was really good actually and is keen for me to be able to continue on, both before and after the baby comes (!!) in whatever capacity and time committment we can organize. That is good. He was even talking about doing, say, two days per week in the office and one at home or something. We are going to look at replacing me with another PM (fantastic) and i can do Analysis and Design type work - which is what i would prefer anyway!

Kylie and I also told my mum. That was really cool and she was so happy.

So here i am, with a baby growing inside!!! It is freaky. I am nervous and just hope it keeps on growing and everything is ok. I can't wait to get to the 10 week mark or something. Somewhere safe. I guess it's never safe, but at least safer than here, the 4 week mark....i am worried that every little twinge in my stomach (and there are lots of them with this fat, bloated stomach with pains and cramps and stuff) there may be something wrong. Just gotta wait it out.

The Amazing Expanding Woman

2007-07-11T09:07:00.001+10:00

Yup, getting bigger.....things have been pretty uncomfortable now since about Saturday. It's getting to the point where i have to say something to some people to explain why i am walking like a hunchback, why i suddenly look like such a porker, why i need to go home from work early each day as i can no longer be upright, why i can't sail on the weekend....

I've been trying to come up with some good explanations...but i think i'm just going to go with something along the lines of.....'been having some medical treatment, which is having some side effects...having some abdominal pain and now having trouble getting around'

i hope that will suffice

i am supposed to go to Sydney on Monday for work but if i am still like this, i don't think i can do it. by about 2pm i'm not doing so well these days.

it's Kylie's 30th birthday tomorrow. had some stuff planned but also don't like my chances of doing that either...that's a shame. least her present is organized, so don't have to worry about that one!

tomorrow is also the big PT day (pregnancy test), that'll tell us if this fat bloated stomach is actually occuring for a good reason!

Beach Ball

2007-07-08T18:20:00.001+10:00

I am a beach ball.

I have been a beach ball all weekend and i have been feeling decidedly ordinary. My stomach hurts, I've been feeling a bit sick on and off and having lots of stomach cramps. I think it is the Crinone cream. I read the packet for the potential side effects and it sounds as though i am text book. Then again, it could be Ovarian Hyperstimulation Syndrome or Pregnancy or a nice combination of all three.

Not having that much fun i must admit.

I am hanging out for Thursday, although not that Thursday will see an end to me feeling crap, but at least it will be another step along the way to....well...somewhere!

The Waiting Game

2007-07-04T17:34:00.002+10:00

The potential little Walex is one week and one day old today. If the potential little Walex is in fact a potential little Walex at all.

Lots of people try to tell you this is the most agonizing time of the whole process, waiting to see if it worked or whether you have to go back to the drawing board.

I haven't found it too bad. The waiting bit that is.

The first few days post the Embryo Transfer though my stomach was like a beach ball, really bloated and sore and i was pretty uncomfortable. It has been going down though over the past three days or so, which is great and my poor little (??little) stomach doesn't hurt as much anymore.

I have been thinking alot about the baby and wondering if it is growing in there or not. You can't help but think about it because it starts to impact on decisions that you are making. For example, you have to watch what you eat and can't eat certain foods because of the threat of Listeria infection. The daily Glucosamine tablet i was taking, i've just found out - by looking it up on the internet that it isn't recommended during pregnancy. Obviously alcohol is out. My boss is trying to put together business organisational strategies at present and is talking to me about my role in the next year and moving forward when in my mind, i'm hoping i will only be a part time consultant to them. The boat is making plans for the big races coming up, such as the Melbourne Hobart in December when i'm hoping to be pregnant.

So try as you might, not to think about or put too much weight into it, it can't help but pervade your everyday thinking and decision making.

I am excited and really hoping it's a go-er! After all, the embryo was a little cracker! Go Walex Go!

Somewhere inside though, i know it may not work as well and know that i may need to deal with that disappointment. But so be it. For now though, i'm a bit excited and looking forward to the pregnancy test day.

Potential Walex

2007-06-28T16:44:00.001+10:00

I had the embryo transfer!

It was all very quick and easy. I went into the little room and put on the gown and sat on the chair with my legs spread (as usual for this type of appointment!!). There was a screen that was mounted on the roof and the Dr said "In a moment you will see your name on the screen and then an embryo". Sure enough, the screen came on and the camera honed in on a patient label with my name on it. I had to confirm that it was me and then the camera showed me the embryo. It was quite cool, little dividing cells in a circular casing.

So then you could see the little potential walex being sucked up into a tube and a lab type person came into the room and handed a syringe with a very long straw tube type thingy on the end to the Dr. He then squirted it in and voila! Finished. He said it was a 'cracker' of an embryo, as good as they get! Which means apparently I have about a 30% chance of becoming pregnant with this one. This is the same as normal fertility in my age group.

The Dr believed that my bloating and uncomfortable feeling was pretty normal as a result of having 23 follicles and so wasn't concerned at all about doing the transfer. I have actually felt alot better today. I have been placed on an OHSS observation regime, just in case.

It was funny after the transfer, i kind of felt that i should stay laying down or something. I didn't want to move too much in case it...i don't know...fell out or something!! I didn't even want to pee - yes, i know it doesn't come from the same place, but still! I held on as long as i could, but my full bladder pressing on my sore stomach got the better of me an hour or so later!

So that's it! Now, i am potentially pregnant!!! Holy crap! No going back now!

The next steps are to squirt some Progesterone gel into my vagina every night for fourteen days and then front up for a pregnancy test on July 12th - Kylie's 30th birthday!! We will find out the same day whether it is positive or not. So for now it's a waiting game.....

Embryo Transfer Day

2007-06-28T07:13:00.000+10:00

It's now the morning of my embryo transfer. I am feeling a lot better this morning - but then again I was feeling ok yesterday morning too...so not sure what all that means. Yesterday and last night were very uncomfortable, i weighed myself last night and was 75.6 kg!!! This was nearly 4kg heavier than the same time last week. But this morning, i was 73.1kg. Where does the weight go??!!
The way i am feeling right now, i will be happy if we go ahead with the transfer this morning. The way i felt last night though, i didn't want to go ahead if it meant feeling so bloated and sore in the stomach.....
I guess all i can do is discuss it with the Dr and take his recommendation, after all, he's done all this before once or twice!

OHSS

2007-06-27T15:38:00.001+10:00

I've been searching around on the net to read up on OHSS. Gosh, there are some real horror stories out there of women who have had to have 3 litres of fluid drained from their abdomen each week for up to 19 weeks!! Surely, that's a rarity.

It seems that it's good to drink lots, take some basic oral analgesics and eat lots of protein. No real cure for it, it is self limiting, usually going away when you get your period, or if you are pregnant, hangs around for anywhere up to about 12 weeks or so....bummer. Not really wanting to feel like this for very long....

My embryo transfer is scheduled for 10am tomorrow morning, so i gather we are going ahead, unless of course the Dr changes his mind when we speak tomorrow. I am in two minds about it. I want to move forward, but if i have to feel lousy for 3 months, well, not so sure.....

Guess i'll see what he says tomorrow.

OPU

2007-06-27T10:48:00.001+10:00

Had the OPU (Ovum Pickup) yesterday, which went ok. I drove myself there and Tappster came to pick me up.

I wasn't really nervous or anything, which is good, because it was all ok and not traumatic at all.

They give you a good deal of sedation so that you are asleep during the procedure, so i just woke up in recovery about 30min later. Felt a bit uncomfortable following and have been feeling uncomfortable today too. I am not sure if this is due to the procedure or due to the OHSS, which they said may get worse following the OPU. I am hoping that it is just normal as i really want to proceed with the embryo transfer tomorrow. On the other hand, if i was to get pregnant with the OHSS going on that is supposedly not a good thing. At the moment i am feeling really bloated. I have put on 2 kilo in the last week and feeling really fat and uncomfortable. I hope it gets better as i certainly don't want to feel like this (or worse) for a long time.

Work is shitting me and the stupid landlord keeps wanting to come around whilst i am off work sick to do stuff to the house and it is all getting to me. I just want to throw my job in right now as i can't be bothered dealing with stuff that is just so unimportant in the overall scheme of things....stupid people hounding me for quotations and project plans and writing me emails that are nasty because we don't deliver. I know we don't deliver and it shits me too.

Feeling pretty crap at the moment.