(Day 233)

Please note: due to extensive time commitments with four children (including the lovely layla) this blog entry will be updated properly by the author asap (in between nappy changes, runs on the beach, swimming, playing and nap times). Thank you for your readership and your patience!

(Day 232) Home made pasta!

(Dy 231) Homeschooling with baby

Dearest Layla

You are almost 8 months old and our family can barely even remember 'life without Layla'

Sam says 'I don't even remember what we did before we had Layla - I think that we must have had a boring life'

I remind him that we used to do lots of fun things together; camping, going to music festivals, holidays to the beach, trips to the park, kayaking, barbecues with friends... and he says "oh", as if all of that was a distant dream

... like it doesn't really matter now - because Layla wasn't there!

You are very certainly the centre of our family universe. As your brother and sisters go about their daily homeschool work in the mornings, there is always one person bouncing you in your jumping toy, or crawling around on the floor with you, feeding you mashed banana or jumping up and down trying to get you to laugh, while the other two quietly attempt to get their book work done!

Your brother and sisters have discovered that you love 'Barney' on Youtube, and lullabies on the ipad, so Sammy can often be found cradling you while playing Barney songs and singing softly in your ear " I love you, you love me, we're a happy family...' when he is meant to be sitting down completing his math book

or your big sister can be found changing your nappy and carefully choosing a perfect outfit for your day, with her reading book sitting neglected on the couch

...and in those moments it is easy to forget the times throughout these long, looong early homeschooling days when there seems so very much for Mummy to do, and not enough time to do it in

for there is plenty of time

and you are all getting the very rare opportunity to spend these long months together as a family, learning about each other and sharing moments that would otherwise be spent away from each other, doing other things, and never the wiser that this is what would have been missed ;-) 

some random Layla facts: this week you are full steam ahead with your belly-scoot crawling - tearing books out of the book case and throwing toys across the room! You hand things back and forth (namely the dummy) and pass your dummy out of your mouth (with half an eyebrow raised, as if you don't know if that is a good move) and quickly snatch it back once someone says 'ta'. You are not in your own bed at the moment and when you wake up in the morning, you sit straight up and start grabbing at Mum's mouth, or slapping Daddy on the head to wake us up!

(Day 230 -2) Homeschool #101

Being so very new to home schooling, we still haven't perfected the art of keeping the kids from falling asleep whilst getting through the structured, 'academic' part of our day (at the moment there is still very much an academic part of our day, however I am definitely intrigued by the concept of natural learning - however terrifying that may be!).

So the last few days have been about finding extra-curricular activities that are both fun and challenging (something that I hope will be easier as we go along!). 

Yesterday we devised a challenge, originating from the famous $25 challenge, but stretched it to $100. The challenge was to create an itinerary of everything in our cupboard/ fridge/ freezer, think up creative meals around them, research relatively inexpensive ingredients and devise a shopping list for $100 worth of food to last our household a week! As there is quite a few of us, this was just a little bit of fun, and I thought that it might help the girls develop their budgeting skills and get in a little bit of mathematics, however our girls took to the challenge with gusto, and took it to a whole other level!

Fast forward two hours and both girls had a full week of menu plans (which were researched using a variety of international recipe books from the library, along with websites for simple food recipes!)

- the menu included gluten-free options and specific items to make baby food!

- they had created a real-life online shopping account on a food chain website 

- completed two separate delivery orders for a week's worth of food shopping

- most of the shopping was fruit, vegetables and grains (!!!)

and if that was not impressive enough, they were both a good $30 short of their target total for the week

(yes...really)

So I did what any good Mumma would do - processed the delivery order and let the girls go wild with organising the family's food for the next two weeks!

These are pics of my brood organising their orders into food categories, bagging ingredients according to  recipes and days of the week, and creating a menu schedule to post on the fridge

...and Sam swimming in food

 It is amazing what kids can do when you give them a little time, freedom and imagination

(Day 230) Trouble!

There is one challenge with trying to photograph a 7.5 month old baby 

... you keep trying to eat the camera!

It is incredible seeing just how much you are growing up before our eyes

(Day 229) The faces she pulls!

Please note: due to extensive time commitments with homeschooling four children (including the lovely layla) this blog entry will be updated properly by the author asap (in between nappy changes, runs on the beach, swimming, playing and nap times). Thank you for your readership and your patience!

(Day 227) Breastfeeding at 7 months

There is always some contention about publishing intimate photographs on the internet - especially those that may include breasts! however breast feeding is so much a part of our life at the moment (and the life of Layla) that I don't think we could do an authentic 365 day project without at least a few, as this is how Layla spends many, many hours of her week

Snuggled close to her Mummy, playing with my face as she drinks, or running her fingers lightly over her own eye lashes

In all of my motherhood I have never had the privilege of being able to breast feed any of my babies up until 7.5 months old

So I have never known the incredible feeling of having a baby who is old enough to understand that you are both a source of love, comfort and nourishment, crawl up to me, reach her hands out for me to pick her up, and then nuzzle in for a feed and a nap

I have never known a baby old enough to smile, or pull away and giggle (or sometimes play and giggle between suckling) while feeding at the breast - then drift off into a blissful sleep while clinging to my shirt and not wanting to be put down

It has its akward moments; like when Layla is particularly energetic, and hungry at the same time - somehow thinking it is possible to watch her big brother/ crane her neck to look at something else of interest, and feed at the same time!

 or when she wants to dance and kick her legs while feeding, and is not in the slightest bit interested in letting go!

But when I look at these amazing brown eyes, morning, noon and night (sometimes multiple times in the night) - this is what inspires me to keep going with our breast feeding journey at this time

PLEASE NOTE: this post is a little reminder for myself of the wonderful moments that I might have otherwise missed if I hadn't been so closely documenting her first year. However wonderful and rewarding breast feeding has been for Layla and I, this was not always the case with all of my children, and I am not an anti-bottle advocate in any way. As a mum of 4, I know that every mother and every baby is different, and I am an advocate for whatever keeps Mummy and baby happy, and your family content (and sane!) - if this is not breast feeding for you, I know that I found many ways to experience closeness and joy whilst lovingly bottle feeding in the past x

(Day 225) A VERY Bad Mummy Day

Something that I did not expect as a parent is that some days you wake up and just Don't. Want . To. Be. 'Mummy'

I can hear that silent gasp

"What?!... isn't parenting just the most wonderful, awesome, amazing, ridiculously fulfilling, incredible thing that you have ever done in your entire life?!"

YES! 

But some days I want to just wake up and just look after ME

A day when I can wake up and not be feeding four people, thinking for four people, not make sure that everybody is washed, fed, has clean living areas, has had enough exercise, eaten enough vegetables, and read something worth reading (especially since our home schooling began!). A day where I am not the person saying "please watch your tone when you talk to your sister", or "no, you can't wear that to the shopping centre!", "please pick up that toy so that Layla doesn't choke on it", "stop yelling please - use your inside voice!" 

I know that my fellow Mummy's have those days too, as I have the good fortune to be blessed with incredible friends who confess to me that they do go a whole weekend without (wait for it)... cleaning at all! or have an 'eating out of the cupboard day' where their children are allowed to eat anything that they like. I am a bit behind in the conscious Bad Mummy department as I am still (mostly) under the illusion that I am... (y'know) keeping. it . together

But today I had not just a Bad Mummy Day. I had a very Bad Mummy Day

 I told my children that today I was not Mummy. They could be the adults and make the decisions. Decide how they would talk to each other (or if they would wring each other's necks), what to eat,  and if they would clean the house. I had heard from somewhere that this tactic prompts a sense of responsibility in children, teaching them consequences, and mature decision-making

Whoever said that, lied!

What ensued (and the photographic evidence, which has since mysteriously disappeared) is not fit for public consumption

but included a lot of hysterical, excited screaming

 a little bit of jumping on couches

some running around sans-pants (in underwear, superman style - coz apparently that's what adults do)

an ugly episode that involved three children sculling three litres of coke for breakfast (which we will never speak of again)

an unsupervised half-hour walk to McDonald's where our teenage daughter's debit card was maxed-out

the adoption of a teenage boy who appeared at our house for several hours, and spent more time playing video games with his girlfriend's little brother, than with our daughter 

a surprisingly clean house (all of that forbidden caffeine must have given them the energy to clean!)

the discovery that wearing super short, super tight clothing in public is not as liberating as one had been led to believe

and the realisation that I would never be doing that again

On the positive side, I learnt that come a zombie apocalypse, I am pretty sure that my children could survive without me. Even if they were to do it with underpants on the outside and a belly full of caffeine!

(Day 212) In captivity

Four weeks in to our homeschooling adventure, and the playpen has become the necessary evil!

Now that you are too old to be carried around 24/7 in the mei tai, and are busying your days with pulling books out of bookshelves, attempting to chew on electrical cords (noooo!!!) and licking shoe soles (not as bad as electrical cords, but still not a good option!), there are tiny moments in the day between being 

a) loved and adored by Mummy

b) dancing/ playing/ singing/ reading with your brother and sisters

c) loved and adored by Dada 

or 

d) being lavished with attention by any of the above

that you actually need to be given a chance to run around alone - without falling down the stairs!

Nevertheless, it is quite evident that even in captivity, you are never quite alone...