38 weeks and....nesting!

I am not really in the mood for blogging tonight.  In all honesty all I want to do is blob on the couch, eat chocolate, have a massage, drink a choc/flake crushers milkshake from KFC and not have my feet swell so much they itch!  I have never actually had one of those milkshakes from KFC but I am pretty sure I would love it because they look sooooooo good.  I have even tried to talk my husband in to going into town to get one for me. But I can't sell an $8 dollar trip (petrol) for a $2 milkshake!  Darn it!!  And yes I do know that that milkshake is highly unhealthy but hey........my feet itch here!!

Over the past few days "I" have been nesting. I say 'I' like that because in reality I have had the list and my family is nesting for me.  Its called the 'delegation en mass', a bonus of having a large family!  I have the list and they have the muscle power and youthful energy.
(Oh I probably should mention that they were bribed with pizza and the Xbox)

The bathroom and the kitchen were on the days agenda because you know that one simply cannot give birth with an untidy bathroom cupboard, fly poo around the windows or messy plate cupboard!

The steam cleaner comes in super handy in times like these. 

The problem is is that EVERYONE wants to have a go! 

Just in case you were thinking that I didn't pull my weight, I did.  All that day I kept the normal household duties ticking along with things like baking morning tea, washing and folding it etc.

However I did also step up the next day and manage to sort out my entire room of donated goods for 'Loving Arms'. It took me all day and I could barely walk afterwards and my feet were incredibly itchy but I finished and I now have my room back. Oh my husband is extra pleased about that too. We no longer have to share our space with, step around and over baby baths, boxes of nappies, car seats and containers of clothes.  I can now open my side of the wardrobe without having to haul things out of the way.

Check out the progress!!

So here I am after my huge day yesterday you can understand why I am too tired to be doing anything extra. You wouldn't think that I had an hour and half sleep today.

So there you have it, short and sweet tonight.  We have one more week of the school holidays and I am really hoping the weather will improve, I want to get out and do something!!!

  How has the weather been at your house?

Talk soon xxx

Last Night Together

You will have to excuse me if I miss any spacebar mistakes that I may miss when re-reading this blog as my 20mth old has pried off the space bar and hid it. We since have found it but its not working like it should - you now have to make an conscious effort to use strength in your thumb for it to work.  He has been doing things like that lately- scally wag!   Today I found the remote to the DVD machine floating upside down in the bath. Fortunately that still works or it was going to be bye-bye DVD machine because you need the remote to work it.  Yesterday it was another remote that had to rescued from the clutches of Jesse who was heading out to the sandpit.  I wonder what I will find where tomorrow?

So tonight it most likely the last night my wee man Jesse and I will have together.  I am sad, so sad. But also maybe a little teeny weeny tiny bit excited. Maybe about 0.5%.  Tomorrow he will be vacating our bedroom.(insert sad face here) Currently we have a giant bed between the three of us, being Jamie, Me and Jesse, a single bed pushed up against the wall and our queen bed jammed up against that.  I can roll and moved between my bed and Jesse's bed with somewhat ease and makes for midnight "uggles" (Jesse's word for cuddle) and hand-holding especially easy.  I will miss that.

But as much as I will miss it, he needs to move in plenty of time for him to get used to being in the same room with big boys and not right next to me before this next wee bubba comes along. I can't work out how I was going to bed-share with one husband, one toddler and a newborn. So with ten, eleven or twelve weeks to go before that happens now is the time. sigh! OH how I hate this!

30 week pregnant silhouette!

Fortunately I have a super duper husband that is prepared to spend the next week sleeping in a bed next to Jesse's in the room with two of the big boys. He is good like that.  And me I will get to have the entire bed to myself, be able to turn on the light at night, maybe even READ before I go to sleep AND be able to slip out of the side of the bed at night (as most pregnant ladies do multiple times a night) and not have to crawl down to the end of the bed to get out.  Now that I am looking forward to.

I ao enjoy sleeping with my children, especially my babies close to me, literally within arms reach. I enjoy listening to their breathing and their gorgeous sleeping sounds.  I love that when they are wee I don't have to get out of bed and up to feed them, we can just cuddle and fall back to sleep together.  I love that their sweet chubby fingers curl around mine or rest against my cheek and their tiny body molds itself into mine. It is so beautiful, so peaceful.  I will miss him, like I have missed all my others.

I know that this isn't everybody's cup of tea or idea of how babies and children should sleep or be put to bed and that's OK. But this works for us and our family and we will never change it.  You best be praying for me (and for Jesse) that this is a smooth transition.

Sleeping so peacefully! 

Autumn Arty Mess

I figure that if I am bored with schooling the kids then they are probably bored with the schooling schedule too.   I think its entirely unreasonable to expect them to be super excited about learning when I am ho-hum about it. Now don't get me wrong I am NOT bored with schooling the kids at home but more of a need to change things up a little. Well for at least a time anyway.  Here is where 'Radical Unschooling' becomes super appealing to me.  I have a number of philosophies around education and children's learning that I glean bits and pieces that I love from.  Some from the above site, some from the Waldorf Education philosophy, some from the NZ Curriculum, some from my own thinking and reflections. Anyone interested or thinking about Home Schooling (or just wanting to know more about people who embark on this crazy journey with their kids) should read or at least know about John Holt, who was a well known author who left mainstream education where he was a teacher and became a advocate for the home-schooling movement and later the un-schooling movement.  I will openly admit that while I totally agree with it and as much as I would love to, I am not brave enough or trust my kids enough to embrace the entire un-schooling philosophy.  

Anyway this week we had some fun and got a little messier than we normally do. (which is really pretty messy but that's what we do around here)  Google/Facebook/Pinterest has oodles of fantastic ideas for creative play/art/crafty things to do. One of my favorites is Happy Hooligans who feature things that are totally doable and are heaps of fun (be prepared for mess though - which is the whole point, KIDS LOVE MESS!)

So here are our...                                Fabulous Fall Collages

Step One:  Put your boots, jackets and woolly hats on get outside to collect some autumn treasures.

                                           

Step Two.  Put some paper or plastic down to protect your table or floor and squirt some blobs of autumny colours on paper.  Be warned if you children are anything like mine, there maybe some differences of opinion about what colours are autumn ones.  Stay quiet!

 Step Three:  Roll out some Gladwrap (cling film) and tear off a piece just a little larger than the paper and lay over paper.  Then get your kids to moosh all the colours around with their fingers.  You can lift off the gladwrap and re-position for ultimate colour coverage!

Step Four:  Lift off Gladwrap and discard!  Once dry, arrange autumn treasures on paper and glue (or sticky tape extra large bits) to painting.

Step Five: Once satisfied, leave to dry and hang for all to see!!

And since I keep getting asked for an updated pregnancy/baby bump photo I thought I would oblige and post one. Aren't I brave kind!

So here it is!

 20 weeks with #7! 

I have been blessed with this pregnancy as so far I have found it relatively easy.  I have had the normal extended morning (all day/random times) sickness but that is about it.  I haven't suffered from that horrible over-coming tiredness that I usually have had.  Thank goodness for that, I do not have time to be tired!!

I have one of the worlds most loveliest midwives and I just love it when she comes to visit! All the kids are super excited and of course the boys want it to be a boy and the girls want it to be a girl. I on the other hand can honestly say I really don't mind what this wee blessing is - we will be happy with whoever God has blessed us with this time.  I am praying however that this one won't be a whopper like Jesse was and will decide to be born the right way up. (or down depending on how you want to phrase it)

Bring on the next 20 weeks!!

Sunday

Its Sunday.  And you know what I don't really have anything for you today. Nothing. Zilch. Zero. So I am just going to write for a while and see what comes out.

Truth is its been one of those weeks, those weeks when you just go through the motion, just doing what you do to make it through. I hate living like that. It seems so....boring, so unpurposeful (spell check tells me that that it isn't word - oh well, English teachers don't look now).  I hate to feel like I am just ticking time, ticking moments, ticking jobs off.  To me that isn't living, well definitely not living very well.  I know you can't always have "moments", "excitement" "revelations" and that sometimes life just does happen around you.
But  B-O-R-I-N-G!!!

It doesn't help that I am in the throes of morning (all day and night) sickness, have a headache that just won't go away and that I want to scratch out the inside of my mouth of that awful metallic taste you get when you are pregnant.  And oh and the hunger the hunger is the worst!!!  This pregnancy I have been so hungry all of the time.  I can eat a full dinner and I am hungry in like ten minutes, fluffing around the pantry for something else to eat.  Pathetic isn't it!  I am not usually one to complain, but there you have it all my complaints in one go. I'll stop now.

And here is my 13 week pregnant self! 

 Please excuse the 'I-have-just-had-Sunday-afternoon-nap-I-have-a-headache' look that I have going on!

This week has been busy. Meetings, four soccer practices, schooling, kid drop offs at various activities, sleepovers etc. It rained for three days straight in which my washing piled high to the moon and most of my kids decided to changed their duvet (bed) covers one night and threw the previous ones in the wash. We have no dryer, need I say more!  I weaned Jesse (16mths) well he actually weaned himself which in all honesty took me a while to come to terms with. Plus I knew that the rest of my family were coming together in another part of the country far away from here to farewell an Aunty, my Mums sister Nina.  I  also survived my husband been away for five nights which makes me appreciate him even more, be in awe of solo Mums who do this every single day of there lives and to the men and women who spouses are overseas or away for long period of time.  You all ROCK I tell you!!!

I know we can't always have it happy happy joy joy. We can't always be living on the highs of life.  If we did we definitely wouldn't appreciate them and the remarkable moments and opportunities that come across our paths.  But putting things in perspective though I did have some lovely moments of my crazy boring week.

- Steps were made to bring me closer to launching a ministry for new mothers - I am super duper excited about that!
- I spent time an afternoon with a precious friend who got my washing in AND folded it while I napped on the couch. (you can only do that with precious friends)
- I got to lead a wonderful bible study with equally wonderful ladies. Beautiful ladies with huge hearts who inspire me, encourage me and challenge me.  What a privilege!
- My husband bought home enough meat to fill our freezer!  Oh so grateful for that!
- Got to celebrate with an amazing couple (who just happens to be my brother in law and his fiance) their engagement! Great night!
 - Was able to catch up with my bestie, in person!  You can never do enough of that!
- Got to go to church to worship our amazing God and chill and catch up with members of our church family.
- AND finally tonight, my husband is cooking dinner YEAH BABY!!  AND its venison back steaks in red wine and garlic jus (fancy word for sauce - yeah I can be a little bit fancy)

So I managed to pepper out some highs to my week. Things that I can appreciate, cherish and thankful for. Things that force me to look back and think well my week wasn't so bad after all.  Can you do that?

Hey would you look at that, I did manage to have something to say, something for you after all!  It really isn't like me to NOT have anything to say, I had just to dig a little deeper this week.

How has your week been?

Anticipating....

This may well be the last time I sit here as a mother of five.  I am sitting in anticipation, waiting....collecting my thoughts and feelings, in reflection and wonder.  Birth is very much a mental and emotional journey,  maybe even on par with the physical event.  Ones head space is ever so important.   I think I am there....I must be....as I sit and let my fingers write my thoughts...my body is doing wondrous things.

 

A tightening here, an ache there, a twinge here and a movement there!  My thoughts are never far away from this little one and our journey ahead.  I am looking forward to it. Not just for the end of a pregnancy and the discomfort that end-of-pregnancy brings but for the journey itself, for finally seeing face to face this little one that I have been getting to know over the past nine months and seeing the pride and wonder in my husbands face and the joy and excitement in my children's faces. I can't wait!  This journey has not only been mine but our family's also.

 

Photo by Maria Dorssers

 

I am now on the journey towards meeting this little one and it is good.  Birth is something that we women have been doing since time began. We know.   Its all about knowing and trusting.  Knowing who we are, who we have been created to be and trusting in God our creator, for he made us in his image. For me birth is enveloped in sacredness, in love and in tradition.  This is the sixth time I have been down this road yet it is not any less special or precious or exciting.  I have the people in place and the things that will help me along in this journey.  It may read that this is a serious only time but I tell you there has been some hilarious times too.  Laughter is good. Laughter is essential.   

 

Everything is in order now. Although I am sure I could find more things to clean, sort, throw out and fold but all the essential things are done and organised.  I am pretty sure this baby isn't going to care if the pot draw is in disarray or if the hallway needs just one more vacuum!

 

The birthday cake has been made by biggest brother Casey and awaits the start of our journey where it can be taken out of the freezer, defrosted and iced.

The Bubbles (grape juice) are being chilled.

Baby clothes have carefully been chosen, washed, folded and refolded.

 

We are all waiting......

 

I am ever so thankful that I don't have to go anywhere to have this baby, that I can just be here in my home and bask in the present of those who love me.

 

So this is us for now....(well minus 2 years)

 

we will look a bit different next time we visit together!

 

See you soon!!

xxx

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nesting

I am nesting (and I am lucky enough to have my husband helping me)  Phew! At this moment I have this intense need for my bedroom to be a peaceful sanctuary of cleanliness and freshness. I imagine fresh white chiffon curtains billowing and the sweet calming scent of lavendar wafting through out.  I close my eyes and I can almost feel the crisp, line-dried-in-the-sun cotton sheets on the bed. Perhaps something like this...

But alas my bedroom is FAR from this!  In all honestly I could never do white, off white, near white or cream in my bedroom because it wouldn't be that way for very long.  Not when you have five kids that use your bed as a tackling arena, sneak in your bed in the middle of the night and are expecting a newborn who will probably spend most of its time in there.  sigh  Oneday maybe but probably not, then there will be grandkiddies

Two-ish or so weeks, maybe more maybe less to go until we meet this sweet and precious blessing.  We wonder what he or she will look like, how he or she will fit into this precious, crazy, noisy, totally awesome family we have.  Sometimes I can't imagine our family being any better than it already is but I KNOW that this wee bundle can only enhance what we have.  For this I am excited and thankful.  No one can ever tell me that babies/children aren't a gift from our Lord, they are true treasures. It makes me sad that not everyone sees them like that but more of a hinderance, costly (in more ways than one) or even a mistake.  So sad!

I am definately not one to want, expect or try to go into labour early.  God has ordained an appointed time for this blessing to be born, my job is to be prepared.  If I am completely honest with you these last few weeks have been hmmmmmm long, tiring, emotional (I am finding it hard to put my feelings into words)  As I said above my NEED for peace and tranquility has sky-rocketed and as you can imagine that is not entirely easy to get when ones entire family is home all day.  Now don't get me wrong I would not have that any other way and I am ever so thankful that Jamie is home with us.  I laugh as I called this post 'Nesting' when in all actual fact I have a list (you know the one - where all the things on it NEED to be done BEFORE you have a baby because you couldn't possible have a baby until everything on it is complete)  So I was saying, I have the list and Jamie has been ticking jobs off it for me.  So in effect he has been nesting for me. Bless him!!

So I am working on getting in to the right head space for this momentous occasion before us, not entirely sure how one does that BUT I am sure I will get into the zone!!  The kids are VERY excited and we all have taken a guess at when this baby will be born and put it on the calendar.  So far the dates range from the 15th Nov and the 28th Nov. (actual due date is 23rd)  Winner may get a cake of chocolate or the like!

So anyway lets take a look at what we have been up to these past few weeks...

 

Have I introduced you to our second latest member of our family,

'Thor'

I really wanted to call him Carlos but was severely out-voted!

 

My mid-morning treat, a cup of De-Caf Coffee with

a splash of cream!

 

Check out this wee Diva! 

 Yes, she is wearing her swimsuit OVER a long sleeve top!

 

And then there was this face,

the 'you-caught-me-playing-with-make up-face' !

 

Creativeness with food.  Not entirely sure what prompted these creations but

I thought they looked cool and kept them entertained for a long while...

 

Co-parenting at its most basic.

Seems as though this chicken decided to keep this 'mama duck' company and help with the

incubation of a dozen or so eggs.

A week tomorrow we should have some ducklings!

 

 

Operation Baby!

Kaitlyn giving her Dad a hand with one of those tasks on MY list!

 

My boys have been looking for ways and means to make money....

here is one, they had picked the last remaining oranges off the tree and tried juicing them...in the kitchen whizz.  Through much trial and error, twas decided it wasn't going to make the cut!

 

Taste - testers!!

 

A pretty 'new' dress was cause for a spot of tea (or milk in this case)



 

Another one of the boys business ventures...

Painted Rocks!

Good for door stops and looking great in the garden!

...and painted blocks of wood!

I have to admit I was highly embarassed that they were doing this but was quickly told by Jamie that they were fine.   Through out their time of business, a number of people stopped by and I think they made a total of $9 !!

Thank you to all the obiliging people!

 



 

and finally the latest member of our family,

'Stella'

A three week old orphan kitten that was found on the side of the road and brought to us.

Three hourly feeding through an eye dropper plus other motherly duties!

Fortunately we have her sleeping through the night now,  thank goodness for that!

 

Oh....someone needs to hide the face paints!

I thought Kaitlyn did a particularly good job of her tiger face, don't you?

 

Sophie...um yeah well...she said she was a wild dog.

Yeah I can see the resemblance!

 

Enjoy your week!!

And I will keep you updated...promise!

 

Groove-less

Have you ever had one of those days, (weeks, months or years) that you feel like you haven't quite got your groove on.  Yesterday was one of those days (if I am completely honest I have been having a few in the last little while)  You know almost in an instant soon after your feet hit the ground in the morning that  perhaps at some stage during the night, you lost your groove.  I spent the whole day trying to catch up with myself.  Breakfast was chaotic, morning clean up time was chaotic, school was chaotic and bitzy and on and on and on. It effected every part of my day.  You know its really bad when you are wondering around and around the house feeling bored, tired and apathetic!  I was really looking forward to the day being over and crawling into bed and sleeping into the next day with the hope that it will be hundred times better.

I think the kids pick up on me sending out 'groove-less' vibes.  They know - oh how they know!  And boy do they milk it for all its worth.  And all I want to do is scream "Do I look like I am in the mood for this!"  Actually I do think I said that a number of times yesterday and then I went and gave myself time out for it. In other words I went and lay on my bed in self imposed quiet time. I tried to give all 5 kids quiet time but very soon discovered that that was next to impossible - and that it was far easy for me to go to time-out.  Just me, the cat and a book, door closed, ahhhhh semi-peace (I say semi-peace because I could still hear them through the closed door)

Today was a better day.  School was better, I spent time with a friend and I got a lovely surprise box of chocolates and a beauitful card left on my side of the bed from my husband.   Tonight I actually wanted to cook tea and that can only come from having a better day.

Now don't get me wrong, which is always a fear of mine when I come out and say that I had a bad day or that I am struggling, that it will come across like I am complaining and not enjoying life, my children or where God has me at the moment.  I do and I am.  But like everyone else, one cannot have it all together all of the time.  We are allowed to be groove-less at times.  I could put it down to hormones or being 32 weeks pregnant, or any number of things but hey it could be just a groove-less day.  And I give YOU permission to feel groove-less from time to time and not feel bad about it!

Anyway check out some of these photos from over the past week!

Kaitlyn (5) had collected a bunch of feathers off the side of the road after one of our chickens get runover by a car.  She wanted to make an old fashion pen to write with.  As soon as I had made one I said to Jamie, "I just know I am going to have to make four more of these"  and what happened?  I had to make four more of them!  So five broken pens later and feather clipping around the place we had five 'old fashion' pens! 

 

The strawberries are in and looking great!  We have four of these strawberry patches and are looking forward to a good harvest of them!

 

 

 

My cat likes to hide in boxes!

Just about the right size, don't you think?

 

I love what children come up to do and create when you leave them to their own devices.  Too many times I have heard parents (myself including) interrupt  childrens play, creativeness and even them just being with statements, questions or at its worst trying to create teaching moments.  For example  when a child has lined up the chairs and is playing trains/buses and the parent (with all good intentions of course) come in and say "Oh look at you!  What are you playing?  Do you know how many chairs you have lined up?  What if I took two away, how many would you have then?"  You know what I don't think they really care, they were just playing!!

Kaitlyn quite often goes away and creates by herself and I have learnt not to interrupt (just like I don't like to be talked to while I am writing)

This was one of her creations.

 

Sophie (3) just being cute!

 

Thanks to her big brother Casey taking her training wheels off and her other big brother Jayden, Dad and Poppa Peter teaching her.  Kaitlyn can now ride her bike on two wheels!  It was just a day later and she was doing hill starts! Scary for her Mum (It pays not to watch too much)

 

No its not the planet Mars, it is my (then) 31 week pregnant stomach and its only going to get bigger.  As you can see my feet are long gone!  Those chocolates Jamie bought aren't going to help either.  I did have a normal photo taken of my pregnant self but...well...not really super confident about it. 

 

It took me a while but I did it.  I worked out how to upload a video to YouTube and therefore upload on to here.  Aren't I clever!

 

 

So thats about it, a week in pictures. 

 

How is your week going?