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27 August 2009

Baby + toy =

a good giggle for mummy....

This is Rowan feeling playful.This is Rowan's favorite rattley thing. My mum bought it in Prague, and it's very rattle, graspy, and chewy. Just what a baby wants in a handy play thing.

Mmm just right for sucking on this... bit... here... Oops, let go just then. How to get a hand back on it without smacking myself in the face? Now where has it gone to?Just flip myself over to see, and ah, these flappy hand things bat it away. Just typical, it rolls. If only I could crawl...

26 August 2009

Home days

Quiet but busy, domestic in a nice way. Still feeling pretty tired and struggling to meet Jenna and Morgan's needs for a life with Rowan's need for minimal stimulation and lots of lying-down-nursing time. Sometimes it's so easy, and yet another time I can be at a total loss how to keep going. The only pattern I'm noticing is that dropping the nap this week out of laziness was a BIG mistake!

Dwelling on the highlights of our day yesterday. Brownie bread (like a cocoa-y brioche, edited to add the link for the original recipe)...I am going to have to play with this recipe, as the bread was not at all sweet so I think my usual trick of halving the sugar was a mistake (I use fructose which is sweeter anyway so usually cut down a lot). Also I think it perhaps needed some soaked raisins or something like that. It was still pretty good with butter though!

Beads...Playdoh in the garden (pink and sparkly, of course). Art time with crayons and paper. Lots and lots of creative role play (the birthday toys are getting a lot of great use; I keep coming in and finding Jenna singing away telling stories)! Here is Morgan being looked after by her "mummy Jyenna"! We are also enjoying reading and reading and reading.

And while I came to post this, I had to start typing as Jenna was talking to Rowan and making a fuss of her, and it was just too funny and sweet to miss.

Jenna: "Rowan, you are the smallest little warrior woman I have ever seen! You are just not ever scared of anything and you are SO STRONG.

You are getting bigger and bigger and your mummy is so pleased with you, you are her sidekick, yes you are, and she's so happy with you. Mummy loves her baby. Yes she does! Yes, Mummy loves her baby! And I do too!

Aren't you cute? You funny little warrior woman, you! You can be whatever you want to be, yes you can. Nothing is ever going to stop you."

25 August 2009

All the small things

Just another short post of appreciation for the small things in my day.

A little corner of my mantlepiece, reminding me of birthdays and celebrations, summer and friendships.New soap! Ah the things that make me happy...A certain small person sitting herself up from a lying down position, with a big grin on her little face! And wearing my favorite hat too, what a funny pixie she is.The inspiration wire in the living room brimming over with art and ideas and love.
Lael's rose in the garden begins to flower again, always late in the season. Our due date was October, and there was still a rose left blooming there last year. I am so grateful for the love and loss and experience and peace that tiny person brought along, even though I wish it hadn't been such a short visit.A big heap of toys on the living room floor, abandoned as they race off with new intent to dig a hole in the garden or make a sand castle or read a story.A sleeping baby caterpillar. How can I not scoop up this delicious little bundle and hug her tight while she naps?And lastly, I found out that my toys (note, MY toys LOL) are on their way from Lorilee at Mamakopp! Still happily directing traffic her way, go on, you know you want some handmade toy art in your house... ;)

Homebody Baby

She's a funny little chicky, this baby. Unlike either of the other two in so many ways (of course) but very perculiar about the level of stimulation she can handle. Jenna didn't like lots of bright lights and electronic noise. Morgan didn't mind where we were and slept through anything in her little wrap cocoon. But Rowan? She prefers to be at home. Out of the sling. On the sofa. Skin to skin.

She won't stay in the sling when she's awake - she gets quite frustrated with that. But even when we're only out in the natural surroundings of a field or by the lake, she gets tired very fast and wants to retreat. You can see desire warring with fear on her face. Tired, overwhelmed, INTERESTED, want to move, need to be still, want to be OUT, can't handle the surroundings. She is only ever really at rest in the living room or the family bed.

It isn't that she is very fractious while we're out. She loves other people and is very sociable at this stage, asks to go to other people to get the view from their arms and cries if I don't pass her over! I'm one of the few people who can see this wanting-to-be-in-hiding-and-out-at-the-same-time conflict.

We all notice later. After Jenna's birthday weekend, visitors on Saturday and then out on Sunday, she was exhausted. In the end I had to swaddle her and sing in her ear in an otherwise silent room before she could feed to sleep. It wouldn't normally occur to me to swaddle her but it was so obviously overstimulation and every time she was nearly calm her little arms would flap and startle her fully awake again!I guess there's always a lot going on in her world even if we're calm and quiet at home though. I love this figuring out of another person, the noticing and adjusting to what they need and who they are in the here and now. Perhaps this is only a need of hers for a season, or perhaps it's a lifelong character trait that we have spotted here. Either way, I love to know that I know her.

Book Sharing not-monday-any-more: Baby Blue Egg

A dinosaur theme again. One of the books that Jenna and Morgan get from the library so often we really ought to invest in a copy...It's a variation on the theme of "Where's My Mummy" - you know the type. Only with some quite fun rhyme and rhythm, and quirky cartoon dinosaurs. Morgan especially goes wild over it!Baby blue egg finds mummy, of course. Unfortunately for the other dinosaurs who were helping it! I like that ending. Somehow more satisfying than most storybook reunions."One Scary Thing was bad enough, and NOW WE'VE GOT TWO!"

24 August 2009

Birthday celebration pictures

Birthday breakfasts are always in the family bed! Chocolate pastries - locally made too.She did love the birthday crown.Lots of beautiful presents. I especially like the mermaid! Each playsilk-wrapped item was passed straight to Morgan "so she won't feel left out" and eventually Jenna asked if Morgan could have a present too. I rooted around in the Christmas box and found a little yellow gnome house for her, which Jenna was so delighted to give to her.Jenna made her very first Fairy House in a little sheltered spot, with clover for plates laden with hawthorn and blackberries. I think the fairies had shared their food before she took this picture lol...The weather at Attenborough was beautiful, and we had a lovely day in the open air (and a great lunch from the cafe) with our little fairy. Who got almost to the very top of her favorite willow tree!All in all it was a perfectly blissful family birthday for my gorgeous five year old!

23 August 2009

Five years!

Oh my sweet precious girl. Jenna, how can the years be going so fast? I often feel, have always felt, so unready to be your mother. I want to make everything perfect for you, change the world for you, know how to guide you and how to love you better... You deserve everything, and I am so blessed to share this life with you.

From such small beginnings...To this!

22 August 2009

Fairy Garden Party

People started arriving at 2pm and a few stayed until late and shared a paper packet of chips with us for supper. Over six hours of party time, eight children under 6 years old, about as many parents, and a totally relaxed day!

The night before I had a bad fall and thought I might have broken my toe, sprained my ankle and was limping for a while, but thankfully it was all OK and the distraction of having guests helped lol. My toe is still a bit blue, serves me right for trying to rush around and do things in a damp garden with non-grippy shoes.

It was so worth it!I was so glad I decided to make these rolls, because the bread I *bought* went off overnight!Maybe more pictures some time soon when I have permission from all the parents. :)