Sunday, January 27, 2013

Our week in iPhone snaps!

We don't always carry the big camera and lens around (its just too heavy) but we almost always have our iPhones with us. Sometimes we take more photos with the iPhones than our nice expensive camera! They aren't always the clearest or best quality but it sometimes mean you capture those spur of the moment photos!

So on that note, I have decided to dedicate this post to the most recent week's iPhone snaps!

Ethan and Mummy enjoying a cuddle and an after daycare snack, sitting on the kitchen floor!

Ethan modelling his new elephant t-shirt from Melbourne

Ethan and Monkey enjoying a little bit of Madagascar 3 on the iPad

Ethan's infected ingrown toenail (on antibiotics for this!)

Ethan getting very excited over his big boy bed!

The aftermath of Jason accidentally cutting through a power cord (while plugged in) when slicing his bread. Thank goodness for (1)  compulsory RCDs, (2) Jason wearing rubber jandals, (3) the knife being very sharp and actually having an insulating handle! But most of all, thank goodness for no harm to anyone after this accident!

Ethan and mummy truck racing at 6.30am, in the heat of the day already, before daycare!

Ethan helping Daddy wash the car!

So that was this week in iPhone snaps! I wonder what next week will bring for us!

Thursday, January 24, 2013

A chapter closes...

20 months ago today Ethan came into the world and changed our lives forever (in the best possible way). 

Here we are at the very first breast feed!
Over the next few days Ethan and I tried to get breast feeding established. While we were in the hospital it went ok-ish. There were midwives on call to help out when we needed it and things were ok.

The day we left hospital was a very exciting one for us, and given how things were in hospital, I felt confident and happy with things.

That first night at home was one of the hardest nights of our lives. My milk hadn't quite come in yet and Ethan was very, very hungry! Overnight I tried feeding him for hours and hours and he wouldn't settle or stop crying. After around 4 hours I woke Jason absolutely beside myself! Suddenly something that worked in hospital just stopped working! I kept trying to feed Ethan but he obviously wasn't getting enough (or maybe anything at all).... Luckily there a 4 hour time difference to NZ, so at 3am (ish) Perth time we called Jason's mum for some help/advice. It was great to talk but we didn't resolve any of our issues. 3 more hours and Ethan was still very hungry and I was exhausted, VERY despondent, emotional and just not sure what to do.

As Jason had a VERY distraught wife and inconsolable baby on his hands called the Australian Breastfeeding Association for help. They advised Jason to put Ethan in the pram and take him for a long walk and let me get some sleep. It was very good advice at the time, and it certainly helped. 

Sometime that day we had our home visit with the midwife and the poor lady copped it. I just cried and cried and cried! She gave us an electric pump to try and stimulate the milk supply and Jason and I made the hard decision to give Ethan some formula to tide him over. Giving Ethan some formula was a very good decision, we never regretted it for a second. He was much more settled - which means a happier new Mum, and a happier new Dad!

Over the next few days my milk came in (yay) but Ethan and I still struggled to get feeding established. I felt uncoordinated, out of my depth and unsure how to fix things! For the umpteenth time in a few days Jason took charge. This time he booked us in with a private lactation consultant. It was the best thing we could have ever done! A couple of hours with her and  everything came together! The pain disappeared, the uncoordination disappeared and sudddenly things were working as they should be!

Our breastfeeding journey went very smoothly... until Ethan got teeth! Unfortunately Ethan was a biter... and a bad one at that. There were times that I would be crying constantly, but I wanted to persist with the feeding. I think that the biting lasted around 2 - 3 months in the end!

The next step in our breastfeeding journey aligned with Ethan going into daycare and me going back to work. For the next 5 - 6 months I expressed twice a day at work so Ethan could have breastmilk on his days at daycare. The expressing at work was hard and sometimes time consuming. It was a lot of effort and I was stuck in an old file room (as there was no other options available to me). But I kept at it!

A month or two after Ethan's first birthday we cut the expressing out and Ethan started on cows milk at daycare!

Everytime we thought about weaning Ethan fully, something came up... like a trip to NZ/Queensland, his sleep study, potential surgery and the time never seemed right. Ethan was also showing no signs of wanting to wean either!

As I have been working full-time, running up to 90km a week and breastfeeding sometimes up to 4 times a day, I was just getting more and more rundown. I just didn't have the energy to keep up with all of this and keep functioning! So Jason and I decided that we would wean Ethan cold turkey while I went to Melbourne for three days!

It's now been a week since our last breastfeed... I have been really sad over the last few days, sad that Ethan no longer "needs" me, sad because we will never sit in our chair and enjoy that special breastfeeding bond again, and sad that our little boy is growing up so fast! I have also been really happy over the last week as well, happy that I gave Ethan a great start in life and happy that Ethan is growing up. I am incredibly proud to have lasted 20 months (through lots of issues) and I am incredibly excited about what lies ahead of us as a family!

Check out our big boy!

The most beautiful tree in our yard!

As this is our first summer in our new house we were not sure what our garden would be like through the sweltering hot summer days! So you will understand our surprise when this absolutely amazing tree totally blossomed into a thousand flowers (after a massive heat wave!). It is just stunning!


Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Summer fun!

What's better than playing in water on a hot summers day??
Running up and down the slippy slide with Dad!
Cooling me down from the 40 degree day!
Building beautiful memories from simple everyday things!
Enjoying time spent between father and son! This is summer fun!


Wednesday, January 9, 2013

Its time to say goodbye

Well its time to say goodbye to a close family friend - we had to let Betty go to a better place on the weekend. She just wasn't practical as a second family car for us... no air con, no seat belts in the back seat, no power steering - but a whole lotta class!


Betty - you will be missed!

We have replaced Betty with a slightly newer version of the Holden Commodore. Excuse the photo its an iPhone special with sun/shadow issues.

I can see lots of cool family outings in our new green machine!

Sunday, January 6, 2013

12 Months of Ethan

This is Ethan on the first day (or the closest to the first day) of each month of 2012!


The very (and worst) best of 2012!

So another year has passed and it is time to reflect on 2012. 2012 was all about adjustments and constant changes for us! The biggest experiences we faced were Ethan going to daycare, buying a house and both Jason and I starting new jobs! All high stress events but all very exciting nonetheless! Hands down, the hardest part of 2012 was Ethan's sleep study. We were lucky to see family a number of times last year, but with that came the stress of cross-country and trans-tasman travel! So without further ado here's a quick look the very best (and worst) of 2012!

January

  • Ethan learned to crawl! We quickly learned that our lives would never be the same again!
  • I started my running comeback with 2 trail races!

February

  • Ethan and I travelled over to Queensland to visit my family!

March

  • We celebrated Jason's birthday (with Jason's parents in Perth)
  • Ethan started daycare
  • I went back to work (at a new place of work)
  • Ethan started walking with his walker and could stand unassisted
  • I had my wisdom teeth out
  • Jason played in his team's water polo grand final

April

  • We bought a house!!!
  • Ethan suffered lots of illness - croup, bronchiolitis, ear infections, gastro... you name it - he got it (almost)

May

  • We moved into our new house
  • We celebrated Ethan's first birthday (with Jason's parents and older sister in Perth)
  • Ethan started walking
  • I got to celebrate my very first Mother's Day!
  • Ethan had more ear infections, colds, croup etc!

June

  • June was a very quiet month... no major milestones or activities! Although Ethan was still unwell for a lot of this time!

July

  • I had my first overnight away from Ethan when I attended a work conference over East.
  • I started running again properly (i.e. with a running coach!)
  • Ethan was still unwell... I lost count of how many ear infections he had by now.

August

  • Jason travelled to NZ to help celebrate his Grandad's 90th birthday
  • We travelled over East for a family wedding
  • We all met Ethan's cousin Mack for the first time
  • Ethan had his first haircut

September

  • Jason got to celebrate his second father's day
  • Ethan and Jason got a bike to ride together!

October

  • We saw the surgeon for the first time in the hope that we could get some answers for Ethan's health issues.
  • Jason finished working for Yambay (after 4 years service)

November 

  • Jason started a new job!
  • We had Ethan's sleep study.... not an experience I wish to revisit any time soon!
  • We celebrated my birthday
  • Ethan decided he really did not like Santa... AT ALL!

December

  • We had a weekend away in Dwellingup
  • After 17 odd weeks of training I had to pull out of my goal race due to a knee injury
  • We got to celebrate Christmas with all of Jason's immediate family.

So there you have it... a snapshot of 2012! Now to look forward to 2013!!!

Wednesday, January 2, 2013

Christmas - through the eyes of others

 We were lucky enough to have Jason's family stay with us over the Christmas break (while experiencing an 11 day heat wave - with temperatures ranging from 37.5 to 42 degrees!).

I didn't really get my camera out at all so this photo blog is through the "eyes" of our guests!

In no particular order:
Ethan spending many hours on his Grandad's lap!

A few shots of Ethan over the break. How grown up is he looking now!

Ethan and his Grandad playing in the sandpit.

Some of the local wildlife.

More of the local wildlife (and the first snake that either Jason or I have seen in WA )

Ethan and his Gran "mowing the lawns".

Ethan taking some "time out" with Madagascar 3 on the iPad, eating apple sauce and gingerbread men.

Truck racing with Dad!

Who can spot where Ethan got his hair from!

Just fixing my mower!

Water fun!

Ohhhhhh - love you Aunty Mel.

Time for some body surfing!

Siblings!

Helping Dad and Grandad put the new shade sail up.

Me and my Dad!

Ohhhh my new drink bottle!

Looks like a present bomb hit this lounge!

Hurry up Mum, you are too slow opening these presents.

Xmas morning brunch at the beach.

Family at the beach on Xmas morning.

Matilda Bay!

Last night sunset!