Lucy

I had planned on doing a post all about Charlotte today, but Lucy stole the show, I am afraid!



She got very stuck, as she had her hand on some of the kids toys outside and refused to let them go. I ended up having to rush out the front door and run around the back and drag her through. It was very funny!

Also this one is a classic Lucy face.


She is a cheery little vegemite. She doesn't really cry that much. I mean, she is hurting herself all the time at the moment - banging her head, falling over things, flipping backwards, just your general run-of-the-mill learning to move type incidents, which always bring a wail of shock. She has caught the cat a few times which hasn't ended well, but overall she is just a happy kid. Loves to watch her sisters do their thing.
She has started venturing further away from us now and we really can't rely on her being on the general vicinity of where we left her nowadays. She is still commando crawling, but today she took 3 knee-steps (?) and she spends a huge amount of time on her hands and knees trying to get it all together.

I had a day yesterday with just Lucy from 9 am until 5pm. It was really lovely and hit me how much I like her. I mean, from the second I saw her (even before) I have been head over heels in love with her, which is no great surprise. But I really like her and like being with her, and we have so much fun! She is wild and cheeky and her personality is just shining. Such a fun age.

It's weird. Babies are just such time guzzlers, between breast feeds (6+ a day at this age), solids prep and cleaning up the highchair and floor (3 times a day), settling (patting, rocking, singing) to sleep for two naps a day plus bedtime, 6+ nappy changes each day etc etc, but I like it all. I really like breastfeeding her, I love watching her try new foods (tonight was squash - she loved it!) I love watching her drift off to sleep. I even like nappy changes! Well, with nappies like these or these or even nappy covers like these why wouldn't you?

Things I like about Lucy
She closes her eyes as I come to blow a raspberry on her belly - she knows my hair is going to get in her eyes.

She giggles till she snorts.

She sees my hand coming in for a tickle and she is in hysterics at the anticipation of it all. I don't even have to touch her.

She gives me a quick glance before she offers a smile to anyone new (or even mum and dad) just to check that I approve of this person.

Her whole body pumps with excitement when she sees the cat. The cat flirts with her too, just out of reach.

She has a funny little laugh when she sees us trying to teach her something new - like waving, or clapping or signing 'more'

The goosey look she gets on her face when both Raff and I are standing next to each other in front of her, her eyes flicking from one of us to the other and back again. She knows she is ours.

When she sleeps in our bed, in the morning when she wakes, she goes from a deep sleep to instantly awake and rolls straight over to Raff and starts patting him on the back 'hello'

The extra speed she gets in her legs when she sees that we have accidently left the big girls door opened, closely followed by the mini-tantrum thrown when I can still beat her to the door and shut it - too many little things to choke on in that room!

My most favourite thing this week is the cuddles she gives my mum :)

We take so much for granted

I was all set to do a post each on all of my girls today, but got distracted online (as you do ...) and came across this site. http://www.goods4girls.org/

It is not something that gets talked about, near thought about anywhere often enough. So many women all over the world every month throwing away piles of plasticky non degradable items. Can you imagine the piles and piles of pads etc out there? Gross, huh?

We are so very lucky in so many ways here in Australia, that this or this just don't need to be thought about.

It seems like an odd thing to do in this day and age. Almost archaic, and dare I say it? Gross. But reuseable sanitary items are the way we need to go.
Do you know how to sew? Give it a go

Or wouldn't know a sewing machine if it hit you in the head? Try these

Make some, buy some, send them here and grab a handful for yourself.
You won't go back, I promise.

Ella

As always, it has been too long between posts. At the end of each day it is surprisingly easy to tell myself that I will have more time tomorrow to blog. Funnily enough that extra time is yet to eventuate.

Today marks the first day of week 4 of Term one. The kids have all settled in to their daily routine. Each day has a fairly consistent outline to it, so we all find staying in the groove of it fairly easy. The one bonus that we have this year is that Ella wants to go to school, in fact she finds school 'fantastic'. So our mornings are very smooth running, as we are no longer fighting to get her in her uniform and out the door.

Her new teacher is lovely. Efficient and kind and available and nice. Ella is having a lot of trouble with the pronunciation of her teachers name, which I never would have imagined. Mrs Hudson - not so hard, right? Well, she was Mrs Hunstman for a while, then Mrs Hutson, which is close, but now it is Mrs Huntston. Oh well.

Ella has grown riduculously tall lately, sprouting a good couple of inches in the few months since she turned 5. She is a long lithe thing. She wants to be a singer, or a musician of some sort. Un-biased opinion of course, but she has a beautiful singing voice and can certainly hold a tune. She has signed up for piano lessons through the school this term and we all look forward to that being fun. She also harbours a secret desire to become a vet, but as a child that has never really voluntarily touched an animal of any sort,I think that may just be a pipe dream.

She is clever and reading up a storm now. She wanted me to take her reading a book the other day, so I have 5 minutes of footage that I will attempt to upload shortly.
She is thoughful and resposible and looks out for her sisters. She is really in tune with Lucy and could probably look after her perfectly well in my absence.

It is only in hindsight that I really 'get' how hard the last 7ish months have been for her, with starting school (with a less than nice teacher) on top of having an extra sibling added to the family. Her favourite book of all time is "I wish my mother was an octopus' and she likes to quote it to me often.

She thrives on one one one time, so her and I spent a lovely morning on Saturday with just the two of us. We went to the library and then hung out at a coffee shop, reading books on the couch. It was refreshing for both of us. Sometimes in the day to day of getting stuff cleaned and assorted people fed and clothed and washed, I forget to make time just for her. I mean, we read together, but usually while I am cooking dinner, or breastfeeding Lucy, or we start off alone, but end up with me jumping up to save the baby from choking on another small piece of plasticky something or other, or wiping a bottom, or getting some food for the starving masses or whatever.

Hmm, I just went to add in some recent phtos of her, but there are none of her since the beginning of the year, besides the 'back to school' ones that I already posted.
Must remedy that, hey?

I think she is amazing and it is just mind blowing that she will be six this year!

Here is that youtube of her reading. Like I said, it does go for just over 5 minutes, but I did promise her I would blog it for you all ;)