Craft 1

You know how it usually goes, you buy a cook book and you try a recipe
or two just to see the cookbook sit on your bookshelf to be used no
more. In fact I once heard that only 10% of most best sellers are ever
read! that is to say only 10% of the way through the book people give
up and put the book away on the book self. I am going to try to use
this blog as a form of "guilt" to make this not the case with the
latest craft book I bought for my son and daughter. The book was "out
side of the budget" for a given period so my wife agreed to the
purchase as long as I use it and blog my craft work so as to make sure
I use the book. So here it goes.

The book in question is "best ever book of paper fun & amazing origami" and "how to draw and paint tractors, trucks and trains". I must say that these are not the "best ever" books but enough to act as a catalyst to spend some time with my son and daughter doing crafts. That mentioned, for this series ofblog posts I presume that the craft will be predominantly with my son who is almost 3, as 10 month old Matilda has so far only contributed by eating coloured paper and sleeping. Even my son will only enjoy some of the finishingtouches as many of the projects are a bit beyond him at the moment. That said, he loves watching a picture come to life, and calls for another even before the first is finished.

My wife had
some cane hoops and as we were on holiday by the beech and fishing, I
decided that the first project will be a fish mobile. The kinder
squares we used were probably a bit small and the paper was not as
thick and textured as the pictures in the book but with 7 fish it is
finished. The origami pattern for the fish came from the amazing
origami book. I used plain thread for hanging the fish and this was a
mistake as it is very fiddly to work with and gets tangled too easily.
Next time I will definitely use fishing line which is more translucent
and stiffer so lesslikely to tangle.



So the first craft project is done, the deal with Sarah
is to write up 50 projects before I can consider the book purchase
"fully consumed" so to speak. At $30 for the 2 books that will then
work out at 60 cents a project so that seems OK to me.

Just one more wash..........

I set a curse on the family this morning, promising the last clothes wash for the remaining two and a half days of our holidays. 1 toddler in undies, 2 dogs with an appetitie, a baby and a husband that can get carried away and forget himself, I should have known better. Felix our newly potty trained 2 plus year old forgot while immersed in the wonders of a Lakes Entrance Model railway. It took my husband, also immersed in the railway, over ten minutes to realise that Felix seemed to be standing in the one spot, in front of the same tunnel, with his legs slightly crossed. Not that standing in one spot and gaping for hours is out of the ordinary in the case of model railways, my husband assures me, appart from the occasional wave of the arm to reset the motion sensor that sets the trains off for another journey, the reality was an accident in his pants.

Michael, the husband, cleaned him up before delivering him to me for an odd bit of op-shopping. The only technicality he failed on was leaving the bag with the mess with the two dogs in the car. Upon returning to the car, realising his mistake, and Matilda, the youger one delivering the final blow, in the form of a motion that required a full head to toe change, well let us just say I had to change her to stop him from losing it. The op-shop down the road provided some much needed pants. The car seats came off and it was off home to run the washing machine twice, woolen car seat cover and pooey clothes, the toddlers undies were so badly savaged by the teeth of a pointer (dog) that I could hardly make out the face of Bart the laborer or what ever his name is.

Some beech play in wet sand and a storm approaching made for another wash. Then at 6:30, I thought it may be some of the sticky toffee pudding I had just dropped but on closer inspection, ther was more of it on the inside of her op-shop woolen overalls and there was no way I was going to lay my dessert spoon near this one. Another wool wash, worked out that we could wash the other car seat cover.

Well my husband swore we would never be the parents delving into toilet antics of our kids and making public exhibition of thier scribble art, but he had more to do with this story than you can imagine. As for the pictures, he seems to be cheating a little by doing most of them for the kids and only then letting then scribble over the top. Again most of these are train pictures so more of that motionless gaping, Felix loves it but what will Matilda thinks when she is at that age? The joy and art of parenthood and travel!

Lake Tyres Day 2

Sarah found burning a pile of timber extremely therapeutic- why does the destruction of something ease the mind.

Matilda squealed with delight as she practices standing and would happily tumble down.

Felix helped to bake Thomas cup cakes, and added a special picture to his beloved scrapbook.

Michael fished with Felix on the beach while making trains from the sands of the 90 Mile Beach.

Zucchini and Gus hooned around the bloke filling their nose with the smells of Lake Tyres.

Felix Breastfeeding Story

Breastfeeding Log of Felix Christopher

In the beginning………….

My EDD had come and gone and I was 12 days over due, very uncomfortable and very ready to give birth. Saturday morning 4am(7/8/04) I went to the toilet and went back to bed and had a contraction. In the nights preceding this one I had had a few contraction each night around the same time. Usually after around 3 they would stop. But today was finally the day. After around 5 contractions I woke up Michael to tell him! I couldn't sleep I was so excited and relieved. I had been booked in to be induced for the coming Tues morning! At 5:30am I rang my mum to let her know that things would be happening today and that we would call when it nearly time to go to hospital.

After a little breakfast at 7am Michael started to recorded when the contractions were happening- they were 5 minutes apart but no too strong. I wanted to get some fresh air so we walked the two dogs (Asparagus & Zucchini) to the park and arrived home a few hours later. I found the contraction would stop me walking for a few moments- but I felt great otherwise. I rang the Birthing Centre to let them know that I was in the early part of labour and that we would ring later in the day.

The day seemed to drag on and we played cards, ate and read with contractions every 5 minutes! At around 4 pm- 12 hours after the first contraction my mum rang and during the conversation I have a particularly bad contraction. Having her voice at the end of the line made me a little emotional and I started to cry- so she decided to come over (she was around 1 hour away). When mum arrived - 1 hour later- I was pacing around the house during contractions and did not ANYONE near me. During the breaks I was happily chatting and trying the eat. Michael decided to go for a walk and get the dogs tired as we where in for a big night.

At 5:30pm I got into the bath and for the next hour was having contractions every 5minutes and trying to sleep in between. When Michael returned from his walk we rang the birth centre. They want to speak to me but I was suddenly having contraction back to back. One would stop I would breath in and the next one was starting again. I think Michael was getting a little nervous and decided that we should get to the hospital. The next 1/2 hour was such a blur- you would think that being 12 days over I would be packed but No- last minute items were thrown into our bag- "where is the birth plan Sarah?" "I don't Carrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrre!" I had several contractions on the freeway and felt as if I was on a roller coaster.

When we pulled up in front of the hospital approx 9pm- I got really worried about what other people would think of me! Lets just say I had no contractions from the car to the birthing centre- my body just stopped. The minute I was in my room BINGO we started again! I just could get comfortable. I just wanted to get back into a bath.A bath was ran for me and Michael and I hopped it- Oh what relief! Michael held my head above the water for the next 3 hours. I would fall totally asleep between contraction and had dreams! At around 11:30pm I had some really really painful contractions so Michael suggested that gas might help me. It did. It was not that the pain was not there but that I didn't mind the pain.

I started to push- no-one said to and I had not control. The midwife did an internal and tried to tell me not to push! She said to puff instead as I was not fully dilated. COME ON. I tried for 1 contractions but there was not way I could control my body it just wanted to push. 1/2 hour later the midwife says "Sarah you are going to have you baby in the next 10 minutes" I couldn't believe it.

So I pushed! Michael held me up in the bath and Mum held the Dolphin torch for the midwife so she could see under the water. 10 minutes later Felix was born in the bath. He was put on my stomach and I just kept saying "Hello" "Your Perfect!".

(Felix was born at 12:57am 08/08/2004 and weighted 4.66kg (10pound 4 1/2 oz))

In the bath Felix nuzzled at my breast but did not appear to wan to feed straight away. ½ hour after birth has first feed little awkward as I was a little sore and found sitting a little uncomfortable, but with support from Michael and the Midwife he latched well and feed for around 1 hour on both sides (1/2 hour on each side)

Felix and went to sleep. I woke up the next morning a little anxious that he had not woken up for a feed- I was really worried that I needed to establish my milk supply. We woke him up around midday 12 hours after birth for another feed he latched again well and feed from both breasts. I learnt to hand express and would cover my nipples with colostrum after each feed. I would strip my top half as I found the easiest way to see what I was doing.

When Felix was 18hour old he wanted to feed every 15 minutes this continued for 12 long hours but as quickly as it started we settled down again feeding was a little more spaced out again. My change in milk seemed to happen at around day 4 or 5 and my boobs doubled in size.

I would demand feed all the time if he cried I feed him- it seemed like the only way to stop him crying- it worked it was easy and the crying stopped immediately.

Early Hours of Breastfeeding
Sleeping

We have co-slept from birth. It has meant that feeding is done on demand over night and both parents get heaps of sleep. We were a little worried about rolling onto Felix in the beginning however you don’t quite sleep as deeply and we have never had a rolling issue. From around 6 months of age we place a cot next to the bead to make a little more room so we can all stretch out. The only time we have ‘lost’ sleep has been when he is sick and unable to feed due to a blocked nose- I wish they could be taught to blow their noses as easily as learning to suck!

When people ask does he sleep through I don’t really answer the question. My husband on the other hand will say- “Do you?” as he goes on to say don’t you wake up for a drink or to go to the toilet in the middle of the night why wouldn’t a baby want to do the same?

Felix Sleeping February 2005

Introducing other foods

Food. Wow what an issue. With a European mother-in-law wanting start solids from the day we came home from hospital it was some what daunting to start solids when Felix was 6 months old. From the way people talk I expected him to want to eat from the moment I would let him but that was not the case. We started at 6months but it was really more like experimenting until he was almost 9 months old. He would taste food and spit it out, swallow it or play with it.

At 9 ½ months solid food only make up 20-30% of he daily/nightly intake. I find though that he will eat more solids when I am not around but will prefer breastmilk if available.

Felix eating banana April 2005

Why I love being a Mummy

Because when you become a mummy it is in your bones- you can’t describe it fully! I read somewhere that all the love songs ever written are not about the love between a man and a woman they are really about the love between a mother and child.

Feeding and work

I started back 2 days a week to finish my Masters of Science when Felix was 4 months old. For the first few months my mum helped out looking after Felix at home. I would express breastmilk or pop home ever few hours to feed him. It was very tiring and hard for all involved. I would express in either the parenting room in the union building or in an office in the chemistry centre. I initially used a hand pump but then moved onto a hired mechanical pump. The mechanical pump speed up the process however I didn’t really enjoy the process and got very little milk out, as my letdowns were very short and I missed Felix.

When Felix was 5 months old he started at Crèche on campus- this made breastfeed much easier. Every 2-3 hour I would pop over to feed him or put him to sleep. We have both really settled into our work arrangements now. I have started to study full-time and still pop over up to 3 times at day to feed and see Felix.

Felix has also accompanied me on several field trips. Over several days we travel to pick up water samples in Victoria’s High country. I was during one of these trips I discovered that I could feed him while sitting in the back seat while driving. I was not driving the car of course but we both still our seat belts!

Field Trip Feb 2004

Sport and Extra Curricular

I was a member of the Australian Canoe Polo Team when I feel pregnant and was back into a boat 6 weeks after he was born. I also play competitive netball and was selected to be in the Australian Team for canoe polo in January 05. I have never found Felix to be fussy when I feed him after exercise so I assume he is not fazed by any lactic acid in the breastmilk or my body doesn’t change the milk radically. However I have to really careful as my supply does drop and I need to have extra fluids and feed more often when at competitions.

Feeding and illness

At two days of age Felix got sick in hospital and need a course of antibiotics. When the antibiotics was injected into his little it was very painful. I would feed him when they did it- it felt like my only way to help him- I felt so powerless but at least I could have him really close to me.

We have had our bouts of colds and coughs. When Felix has been really blocked up (ie nose) breastfeeding has been challenging. Suck Suck Breath! But on the upside… in April 2005 Felix go Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease and would not east anything but good old breastmilk as his throat was really sore.

Felix 4 days old with “robot arm” an IV for antibiotics

I hear to many people say, “I wish I could have breastfeed for longer but……………”. I want to help change the mind-set and make breastfeeding the norm! Ok so I want to change the world- but I think you need to aim high!

My baby

Typical day with a Piano

So we finally got a piano. I was very sceptical at first, the expense, the size and the fact that no one in the household knows how to use it. My only leap of faith for the present was that I learn how to type, I learned to control all of the fingers of my right and left hand, If I did that, learning to play the piano is just the next logical step in the same direction.

There is the bigger fact that we used educational funds for our children to purchase the piano. The piano is really for them. I look forward to singing their nursery rhymes along with the piano. Then their first lessons. Then hopefully a great skill, personal development and great enjoyment.

So now that we have a piano, how is life different. Actually I think life is different because Sarah has a job. On Thursday's and Friday's the kids are dropped off in creche and Sarah works at the water studies lab. Work is pretty drab, doing experiments and analysis for outside customers but it suits perfectly. It is easy for her to disconnect from the job, she is just down the road so she can go out and feed Matilda, and there are some procedure optimisations in the lab that Sarah already has her eye on.

So the job started a couple of weeks ago and at a similar time so did Sarah's regular washing of dishes after dinner. I usually do not even notice as she collects dishes, washes and rinses, wipes down bench tops, everything is ready for the next day. I swear I have been promoting this kind of order for years and finally I have it, wonderful.

The rest of the day fits around this as only it can. Wednesday night dishes, lights out everyone is in bed. Thursday morning is bike ride for me so alarm at 5:00 am and I am out by 5:30 am. Sarah has the radio come on at 5:45 and by quarter past six the kids are up. Half past Sarah has an alarm to make sure she is up.

I presume that Matilda at this time is like a dream, all smiles, crawling around and happy. Felix no doubt sneaks in a 5 minute whinge about "nana" which he gets but at designated times. Sarah loves feeding Felix from the breast but she can only do so much if he asks non stop, and in such a whinge.

The rest I presume also runs like clock work, creche bags are ready, kids get dressed, breaky and they are at uni by half past seven. Wow this is the Sarah that I used to know. I always knew she needs some time guidance and work is best. She also seems to have found some guidance in being more open in her sexuality.

The day is full of frantic calls from me to see what she is up to unfortunately
they are all futile as her phone has discharged. I get a reminder call at five that it is time to go. I get home at six and see that they are all there, a little bit tired from their days. By now it is usually couch time with a book and imagination is low. I do not even get a chance to get changed and it is time
to put dinner on the table. I feed Matilda and on the side eat a whole half
cantaloupe. Again I over ate for lunch so I am trying to under compensate.

I look at the piano, it says play me now. I can not wait to put my fingers on the keys. Strike down hard and here the sound, then try to play as quietly as I can. "Michael you clean up and I will bath with the kids" OK, I do not mind washing dishes. So I clear the table, try and wipe the food of the table cover
from the last week, give the kids chairs a once over and get started on sweeping the floor. I have not even started with the washing and Sarah is already saying that she is planning on finishing up in the bath. I hurry, it is crucial I do not get distracted. If the kids get out I may need to stop and help Sarah, that could mean not finishing the dishes and getting told off by Sarah tomorrow. It may make her late for work.

I firmly say "No". I keep washing trying to make sure I finish. Some harder oven trays and the electric grill which the dogs have already licked clean. I am done. Sarah and the kids are also out but some how I was not required at the other end of the house. Now for the piano.

I go and play a little. Soon there is Felix looking for someone to play with and Sarah trying to read a book in bed where Tilda is happily crawling around on the bed no where near ready for sleep. I decide that this is ridiculous and invite everyone into the living room. I get back to the piano and everyone else seems satisfied for a while. Felix wants to join me. No he wants to have exclusive access to the piano, typical Felix. I get a dining table chair but he is not impressed. Sarah joins us an tries to teach him chop sticks.

I tell her that in only 3 sessions I am already playing things with both hands. Sarah agrees and tries out some pieces. I encourage her to start at the start of the book. No I tell her. I think this is so easy if you just follow the steps. I start to wonder how far I could have got if I started this as a kid. If only I had the foresight of following steps when I was a kid. Anyway, this allows me to feel like a kid right here right now. I hope I have other child like dreams saved up for future decades.

Sarah gets through a few exercises and invites me to play some more. No she will recite a book about a cat, cousin of hairy McLairy I think. Tilda cannot take it anymore, she is tired, screams, I pick her up, put her in an ergo carrier, start pacing around the dark rooms of the house. I feel sorry for Sarah, she wants to read the story to do the best for the kids, but Tilda's tiredness breaks the family bond, I am distracted.

I am back on the piano. Tilda on my back. Soon Sarah and Felix go to bed, I run through all my pieces again. Good timing. Sarah is in bed before nine again. I thought she should do some programming, I am planning for her to learn Ruby, MySQL and Rails to build a web app to serve as a contacts database for the toy library. It is good she is in bed, tomorrow will work out for her. She runs in the morning, I get the kids ready. Hopefully I will wake first and get some time in on the piano. I have also a bike race to get ready for, clothes, food, not forgetting my helmet.

I like typing on my laptop, now with a new battery. I have it on my lap simply to highlight I have no cords attached, it is battery powered again. The previous
battery had died down to only thirty seconds of charge. The laptop is old but still serves the purpose as a type writer. Type writer, I have one of those, I just need a ribbon, I like typing on it. Ahh but most of all I want to play the piano.

good night.

bla-lu-lu-lu another word

Well this is another word, and an old one. Actually it is a word I taught Felix and probably one of the first non standard words he learned. We were both nude after a bath. I started running around the house making a blu-lu-lu sound with my toung flicking in and out of my mouth. Felix copied. Next day when he saw me naked for bath, he made that same noise. For a few months following he made the same noise and also ran around the house nude after a wash. Matilda was still in utero at that stage.

Well It's monday morning and we have had an eventfull weekend. Felix must have mentioned the blu-lu-lu word for me to have written about it above even though it is not part of his normal vocabulary. We went down to Geelong on Sunday for Sarah to train for the upcomming Mars Ballarat to Barwon Heads challenge. She got into the lake but could not find the channel to lead her to Barwon Heads. She decided that it is time to give up, and give up the whole Mars thing, at least for another year.

I was with the kids in Barwon Heads. We went down to the river to fish. There were plenty of people with lines out but only a couple of gents that seemed to be catching some near size limit whiting. On my surf rod, with felix always wanting to wind it in or through some white bait into the water we had no luck. Well we were lucky to find some bark for Matlida to crawl around on and she did not even get hooked by any hooks that may have been accidently dropped. Felix did some tree climbing and then, as I was about to think about preparing lunch I got the call from Sarah to say that she needs to be picked up.

A drive across the river showed me the surf beach, low tide and a lot of nice sand where I should have been running the dogs. Dogs were at home on this trip. Felix and Matilda both went to sleep. We picked up Sarah from the lake and drove to the Rawdanowicz house. Felix looked out the window and said "big house". I prompted him by saying that Kamil lived here. He followed this with a soft "and Klara too".

This morning Sarah was putting Matlida to sleep for her post morning nap. She seems to have them a couple of hours after waking up. She is a dream to wake up, smiles almost instantly and is happy just to crawl around the bed. The first attempt failed as Matilda crawled happliy out of the bedroom to meet me in the kitchen. For the second attempt I was almost out of the house for work so Felix would need a distraction in "Bob Budowniczy".

We made all the arrangements which included his doll "lala" some nuts, although we stopped on seperate bowls for lala and Felix, they can share.

You me say

Felix is learning language. Mostly English but some Polish words as well. I speak to him in Polish and he understands but usually he picks up the English words first. That is not to say that he picks them up perfectly.

His first sounds I claim to be "gaw" at the 4-5 month mark. His most unforgetable word was "ludulu" and he would "lodl" along for whole sentences. This soon died down as a conversation but became his word for drink/water "ludlu" said in such a fast fashion that both Sarah and my self could not replicate it well. We knew what it meant so we gave him water.

After Ludlu, his next most notable word mix up was "e-ha-ha" said in a cow boy manner to mean exactly that, a horse. I believe this started around Christmas 2005 when we went to Buchan on a day trip from Lake Tyres, sitting in a picnic area, Jane his grandma pointed to some horses in the paddock and "e-ha-ha" was born. Although this is still used in the playfull context, a horse is now a horse and has been for a few months.

In the last few days he has finally got the difference between "you" and "me" sorted out. It was "you want thomas" for I want to play with Thomas the tank engine for months now. In desperate times he would use "you me, you me" can't go too bed hedging your bet both ways.

Tonight he is still saying "ephelant" for elephant and he still uses the outward hand on the mouth as a form of kid sign language.

His most anoying phrase would have to be "look at me mummy" for when he wants to talk to Sarah. I think he picked this up from Sarah when she would say "Felix, look at me when you are talking, please use your words".

I strongly believe in allowing kids to have their little made up words but not confusing them by using them yourself. I have enjoyed each of his mix ups and sure enough, soon enuogh he has grown out of each one of them. I have just had to use plain old english and try and remember that I have had my go as a kid. There are obviously exceptions. I still have made up words: "hunka" for chasing Felix around the house pretending to eat him, "nappa" as a way of saying nappy and ending up also having to chase him, "pukka" as a way of naming the dogs, it just seems to rhyme, "pukka chhina" for zucchini.

Then there is his latest made up word, comming from chocloate easter eggs, a mix from the English "chocolate" and Polish "czekolada" being "checolati" sounding like "gelati" so irresistable for me not to join him in saying it.

As for Matilda, well at 7 months it is hard to call anything talking but she is definitely going to be as talkative as Felix if not more. She is a girl after all and if she is anything like her mother ... Well we have played around with the hand over the mouth, ala indian call, made up talking which she has taken to as much as Felix at a similar age. I belive she has gone one further, grabbing hand in hand and hitting her mouth rhythmicaly at the same time as saying an "ahhhhh" getting the same effect of seperate words sounds that tie into a sentence of sorts "ahh ahhh ahhh"

We have also found that Matlida seems very much more controlled in all her actions, wether moving, crawling, rolling or making sounds. Felix had seemed to have a few more accidents as he would over balance, shout and never really mastered rolling over. Well Matilda seems to be saying a few similar sounds on que, "tata" for dad and "poo" when she has a poo in her nappy. Both are faint but both distinct. Sarah is working hard on a Mama but the smiles she gives her father are all "tata" at the moment.