4th Anniversary

Wedding Day

1st Anniversary

2nd Anniversary

3rd Anniversary

4th Anniversary... things are a little different this year! Thankful that Myles is a part of our family now :)

Happy Anniversary Barney! Love you!

9 Months!

Our baby boy is 9 months old!

He zooms around the house, loves to chase Jessie and gets into everything. He can pull himself up on to furniture. He doesn't babble much as he prefers to shriek but were are working on that!

Yesterday we went to visit the day care where he will be going in January for 3 days a week. He got to meet his care takers and have a play with the other kids. He didn't even notice I was there and was happy to play and explore. It made me feel comfortable knowing that he was so happy being there.

Since I have started a new job, I was a bit nervous to ask my new boss about working day shifts, but she said I could have whatever hours I wanted! Such a blessing. So, come January, I will be working 3 days a week and Saturday nights. I think this will be the perfect amount for us.

On Saturday morning I am off to the city to go Christmas shopping, have a pedicure and lunch. All. By. Myself. I can't wait! I need some time to myself that isn't at work. It should be wonderful.

Pictures

I'm a bit too lazy to be doing much writing, so here are some pictures of our cutie. He likes to do everything with his crocodile in his mouth. He now pulls himself up on the furniture and can walk around the couch too. His crawling is super fast now too. Where did my little baby go!?

Enjoy....

Work

(Random pictures included in this blog!)

In the beginning of October I went back to work part time. It was my desire to work 2 nights and one Saturday shift per week. We didn't necessarily need the second income, but it helps since we are looking at buying a house soon. I was originally supposed to go back to work in January.

(Crazy lightning storm last night!)

I am a person who gets easily bored. I like keep busy and most mornings Myles and I are out visiting friends, at moms group or wander around the shops. I went back to work because I enjoy working and wanted some time to just be me. Not a wife, not a mom, just me.

And it was great! I loved being back and they were glad to have me back. After a couple weeks things began to take a turn in the other direction. Because I had worked there for so long before and most of the staff now are new, people relied on me for a lot. I don't mind having the responsibility but it started to become too much. I felt like everything was put on my shoulders and I began to not like working anymore. We also had a change in management and this was the main reason why I ended up resigning after just 4 weeks of starting back.

(Reminiscing about the newborn days.... Myles 1 day old)

I immediately called my old manager who works elsewhere now asking her if she was hiring or knew anyone who was. She wasn't hiring but she recommended two different restaurants to try and find work. One Friday afternoon I dropped some resumes off and on Sunday I got a call from the manager of one restaurant. She asked me to do a trial shift on Wednesday.

(Myles 4 ish weeks old with Jessie)

So I went in on the Wednesday and jumped right in. I loved it right away. It is a much simpler style of service than what I am used to so it was pretty relaxed. At the end of the night they offered me the job! No interviews or anything which is great because I hate interviews and rather just work and prove myself. The best thing about it is that I don't have any real responsibility. I have been in a supervisor roll for the last few years so it is nice to just walk in, do my work and go home.

Tomorrow is my second shift and I am actually excited to go to work. Hopefully I will really enjoy working there. Myles goes to day care 3 days a week in January so I will be able to work more hours as well.

I am very thankful for this new job and that it all just fell into place.

Veggie Garden

The latest pictures of our garden!

Companion planting.. allowing the beans to grown up the corn instead of up lattice

Macadamia tree fruiting again... we still have a few kilos of nuts to crack from last season!

Myles is crawling everywhere and getting very quick! Take the picture and run

After 40 years of having banana trees on the property, we finally have fruit! They are delicious. Half went to friends and us to eat right away, the other half went in the freezer for baking and smoothies

Red oak leaf lettuce

Cos lettuce otherwise known as romaine

Purple capsicum (peppers). We have never seem them in store so thought we would grow some. Same goes for the beans, they are purple. We just planted about 12 more capsicum plants as they love the spring/summer sun.

We still have heaps of herbs as well which I just give away to friends as we have so much. They are ridiculously expensive in stores here so its nice to share. Some friends have gardens with different crops so we just swap produce. Its great!

8 Months

Wow! What a couple weeks it has been, mostly for Myles and his development.

He started going on all fours and rocking then a few days later he was crawling! After 2 days of crawling he has figured out how to sit back up when crawling for a rest or play. It is amazing to see how quickly they learn.

He is now getting around very quickly and I have had to start baby proofing the house. His favourite thing to do is chase Jessie around. I don't think Jessie is liking it! He makes up for it by dropping his food off his highchair for Jessie to eat up.

He is also babbling heaps and says mama all the time. It is adorable!

We finished our 5 weeks of swimming lessons and Myles did great. We can put him underwater with no problems. Even when he is really tired, he is happy once he gets in the water. We won't continue with lessons until he is a bit older now but will keep going to the pool for him to practice. I don't what him to lose his confidence in the water.

For the last week or so, he has also gone to bed really easy. I give him his bottle, burp him then put him into bed with his cuddly teddy bear and his dummy (soother) and he goes to sleep by himself. After many months of rocking, bum pats and many other techniques, it is such a great feeling knowing he can sleep by himself. There is still the odd time he needs a bit of help, but he is doing great.

While he is going to sleep well, he still likes to party in the middle of the night. We are working on this. Oh! And he is fully weaned now too. I stopped breastfeeding 5 days ago and my milk is starting to dry up. His last breastfeed was bitter sweet. He had a bad fall of the lounge into the coffee table and nothing would soothe him except for a breastfeed. I was planning on stopping the day before, but it was nice to be 'needed' one last time.

Overall, he is a joy. Nearly always happy, eats great and the sleep is becoming easier. I really love this stage of babyhood! Don't get me wrong, we have a lot of crappy moments/days but we have come along way from his newborn screaming days!

I can't wait to see what the next month will bring!

Weaning

In the beginning of September we started to introduce formula to Myles with the anticipation of me going back to work in early October. The first time he took a bottle he chugged it. The second time he wouldn't even open his mouth and this continued for a while.

(Happy stealing pop's chair while he was in the states)

We decided to swap formula brands and Myles now loves his bottles. We began with one bottle a day and now we are at one to two breastfeeds a day, mostly before bed if I am home or in the middle of the night.

I tried to continue to breastfeed but Myles began to wean himself. He now will only breastfeed in his room if its quiet before bed. At first I was frustrated because he just refused but now I have accepted it and enjoy our quiet times at night together.

(Beach selfie from today)

At the end of September I still couldn't go 18ish hours without a feed, but now I can go 24+ hours without a breastfeed so I know my supply is dwindling away.

I never had a goal of how long I wanted to breastfeed but I am glad that I did 6 months exclusively and will probably make it to 8-9 months. We'll see!

Swimming Lessons

Myles had his first swimming lesson on Saturday and it went great! He loves his bath and being in the water so we figured he would enjoy being in the pool too.

They don't learn how to swim really but it is more about water awareness at this age. They are taught to always go to the wall and grab on.

They practice kicking their legs and paddling their arms, with help of course!

By week 3 they will be dunked under water completely but for now we just pour water over their heads. My sister recommended doing this from the newborn days and we have been with Myles so he is pretty used to it. Every bath we pour lots of water over his head/face. I have dunked him once in the bath and he didn't cry so hopefully he will be okay on week 3!

Thankfully the sun was shining and their was no wind. I am not a huge fan of the water so Barney went in with Myles but apparently its my turn next week. We'll see about that!

I know Myles is only little but since we live across the street from the beach, we feel it is so important to start him out young so he will be confident in the water and around the waters edge.

Yesterday was beautiful and the ocean was calm so we headed to the beach for lunch. We didn't stay long as it was naptime but it was nice to go relax as a family. Barney went for a swim with Jessie while Myles and I played at the waters edge.

Overall we had a great weekend. I did work 11 hours on Saturday but it was still lovely :)

Happy Thanksgiving to all my Canadian friends and family!

Busy Busy!

Two weeks ago we went away for the weekend for a friends wedding. It was a 10 hour drive to Tathra, a small coastal town. We left Friday afternoon and drove 5 hours. We stayed overnight in Kiama (pictured below) and drove 5 hours the next morning arriving 2 hours before the wedding began. I had a quick nap, got ready and off we went!

The wedding was a little traditional when it came to the formalities, but non-traditional in the fact that the bride wore a very colourful short dress and they had a willy wonka theme and margaritas on tap. I wasn't complaining about the candy bar! The next morning we drove 10 hours straight home. It was not fun, but Myles did great!

The weekend after that one, we went camping for two nights with 3 other couples and their babies! Well, they camped and we stayed in a cabin. It worked out really well because we used the cabin for cooking/cleaning up. We had a lovely weekend away with friends!

And now an update on Myles. He is 7 months old today! I say this all the time, but time really does fly by!

Myles weighs around 8.3kg. On our weekend away, his two bottom teeth broke through his gums. He really didn't seem to bothered by them although the week before he was waking up a few times at night instead of just once.

He is also sitting up great! He still falls over but is getting much stronger. He can now reach the ground in his walker and likes to scoot himself around the house, usually trying to run over Jessie. Jessie does not appreciate it.

Last night was also my first shift back to work! I resigned a contract at my work and have gone back as a casual supervisor instead of fulltime. I am working one weekday evening for about 5 hours and one Saturday shift which will be 10-12 hours. I'm keeping my Sundays for church and family day. It felt so great to be back at work and be me. Not wife, not mum, just me. The downside is that things at work have changed a lot and I feel the need to pick up the pieces but its hard when only working two days a week. I will try my best!

So it has been a busy few weeks, months even. Oh! Myles is starting swimming lessons on Saturday as well. A lot is going on!

Even though life is busy, we are doing very well. Myles is a good boy and I love our daily adventures to the parks and beaches.

Life is good.