We had a fun time putting up our Christmas tree last night. We should have waited a bit longer, as Maisie gets excited about CHRISTMAS every time she walks into our room and sees the wrapping paper rolls in the corner of the room, but it seemed like a good idea at the time.
In fact, Maisie had such fun that she cried when we were done because she wanted to do more “decorations”. If anyone needs any help with their tree – just let us know and we will send her over to help!
We had a fun time putting up our Christmas tree last night. We should have waited a bit longer, as Maisie gets excited about CHRISTMAS every time she walks into our room and sees the wrapping paper rolls in the corner of the room, but it seemed like a good idea at the time.
In fact, Maisie had such fun that she cried when we were done because she wanted to do more “decorations”. If anyone needs any help with their tree – just let us know and we will send her over to help!
Since we moved, I have put all of the kids books into a bigger box so that they would all fit instead of being all over the floor. The only problem with this is that a lot of them are now right down the bottom of the box and we have not seen them for the past month or so.
So, this morning we emptied out the box – and it was the most exciting time! Maisie has not moved from beside the box, picking out book after book and reading them to Tali and I. I will have to remember to “empty” the box more often!
that I am 39 weeks today and cannot do some of the things that I would like to be doing like sweeping the floor or cleaning our bathrooms.
So, I have a list written and its now on the fridge and if people feel like helping in any way whilst I lay on the couch, its there full of things that I am not able to do at the moment.
Other than that – I saw the dr today and he said everything is looking good with heartbeats and blood pressure etc etc, so expect a baby sometime in the next 3 weeks!
Last night we had Phils 50th birthday party. The girls came along for the start of the evening and we had to drag Maisie away from the dance floor to get her home to bed! We also updated our Shanahan/Stevens/Whitbourn family photo – the last one we had taken was October 2002!
Maisie, Luke, Fleur, Jacq, Phil, Lisa, Tali, Cade, Nat, Kate, Mum
Maisie, Aunty Nat, Tali, Aunty Kate & Aunty Jacq
Tali & Uncle Lukey
Aunty Nat, Tali, Aunty Kate & Aunty Jacq
Today we had a great day – we went out for a morning tea at Cades “new” office and then picked up Aunty Kate and came home where she got rid of all my grey hairs, painted my toes (cause I cant reach them!) and then Miss Maisies fingernails and then took some happy snaps of both the girls after the woke up from their lunch time naps.
PS. That’s Talia growling in the background.
PS. That’s Talia growling in the background.
I think there should be a National Toddler Day where toddlers can do whatever they want – just for one day, so they can see that really they need boundaries and rules set for them to make their life easier.
I have become very aware of the boundaries and rules that are constantly given to Miss Maisie and she has started to come back with “why not?”. I am not ready for this next stage of parenting yet – I dont have all the answers nor the brain power to source them at this time.
Another thing that I am not ready for is that Tali has to copy everything that Maisie does – everything. Lets just say that meal times at our house are very funny at the moment and its hard to laugh on the inside all the time…
Latest ultrasound picture from 37 weeks.
We had this ultrasound taken yesterday with the great news that there are no signs of any skeletal dysplasia and the bone shape appears normal with the small bones still measuring about 4 weeks behind.
The Doctor that did the scan was awesome – she was able to clearly explain everything and was more than helpful. We think the baby has the same nose as Tali from this picture!
has been the question that I have asked myself on a number of occasions about topics regarding personal issues and things that the kids do or my wonderings about certain things. What will people say or think about what is written is the first thing that comes to my mind – which after 28 years, I really shouldnt worry about. So, this is a part of what has been going on with us over the past few months..
After our 20 week ultrasound that sounded and looked fine, we were told that #3 had “delayed growth of the femur and humerus bones”. I learnt this as I was leaving a clinic appointment by the midwife announcing in front of a full waiting room of people that “there is a problem with the scan”. I, naturally being dramatic, went straight home and “googled” what she had told me. Every single listing came up with reference to Down Syndrome with the short bones being a soft marker. To say I was shocked is an understatement. I sat on the floor and cried for my baby and more selfishly cried for myself.
The hospital said that we needed to see a specialist, which we drove to Canberra for. They confirmed the growth was delayed – it was measuring 4 weeks behind the rest of the measurements of the baby. The professor told us that it could be 1 of 6 different things – some bone problems, it would just resolve itself, down syndrome or it could just be a short baby. They offered for us to have an amnio test done, which would determine if the baby had down syndrome or not – but we declined. There was no other testing that they could do to figure out what the problem might be, so we began a waiting game that has seen some days become a lot longer than other days.
It has taken me almost 20 weeks to try and get my head around what will happen if the baby is born with anything “different” from all the other babies born every day. The pressure that society puts on babies being “healthy & perfect” is unfair and this is really the first time I have ever thought about it. I always just assumed that everything would be fine. The unknown stuff is the hardest stuff to try and get your head around – because we feel that we have the right and the power to be able to “know” everything and try and correct it if it seems like its not “normal”.
I have always found it hard to leave things in Gods perfect hands – but this last 20 weeks has really taught me that there is nothing that I can do and whatever the outcome, it doesnt matter. Everyone is born differently, raised differently, taught differently and loved differently. All that we can do is pray for the strength to be the best parents that we can be and pray for and love all of our children unconditionally.
Our baby will be born in a few weeks time and will be a precious gift from God no matter what.
Its been two weeks today since we moved to Albury and we have a house that only has a few full boxes left! We have had a move around of furniture in the main living/dining area already, but I think that we are finally starting to feel like this is our home now and it doesnt feel so weird.
We have all had a great week:
Enjoying a couple of Pizzas from Sugar Shack – they were awesome and well priced for cheap Tuesday.
Cade has enjoyed riding & running out to his new office and having a dishwasher at home finally!
I have enjoyed being able to start to catch up with family and friends and not do hardly any packing/unpacking (we had to get the hospital bag packed…)
Maisie had a fun trip to the Library to see Grandma Carole at work and get a library card and has had fun times visiting people and exploring all the new parks around town. She also enjoys the fact that she can reach the door handles and light switches here (something she couldnt do in our old house) and it now takes us a little longer in the evenings to get her to stay in her bed!
Talia has stepped up in the walking department and turned into Miss Walkatron – finally decided that walking is better than crawling! She loves just doing laps of the house showing off her new skills to anyone who will watch. She also rocked out at Toddler Time at the Library on Wednesday – she had the most fun out of all the kids that were there and she was the youngest.
And last but not least – #3 is still cooking nicely, we are down to 3 weeks to go but still hoping that it decides to stay warm and cozy inside for a little bit longer than that, we have a scan and a doctors appointment next week to get to.
We have so much to explore as its been a long time since we lived here and so much has changed, so we look forward to doing that over the next few months.
Maisie learnt these 2 games at Sunday School on the weekend (yeah, not much to do with Jesus, I know). As you can see, we are not too strict on the ‘official’ rules.
Duck, Duck, Goose!
What’s the time Mr Wolf?
And here’s something just to embarress Talia when she’s older – believe it or not, this is how she ‘smiles’.
When we were kids, we used to have an ongoing battle at the start of each swimming season to see who would be first in the Grandma and Grandpas pool. Although it was never talked about openly (apart from the back seat of the yellow bus), we were usually upset if one of our cousins beat us in – and we would vow to do better the next year.
The other day the girls and I were visiting the Great Grandparents (Mary & Bert as Maisie calls them…) and it was quite warm so we thought that we would just “put our feet in” in the pool to see how the water was feeling. It ended up with Maisie nude and Tali in her nappy and Grandma having to jump in the water to try and keep them on the steps.
The next time we arrived Maisie greeted them both with “I put my feet in the pool maybe?”, again ending in a full swimming session. So, I can proudly say to my siblings – we were first in the pool this year, but it looks like we wont be able to go back to the “put our feet in” now!