Another Day

A busy day with a trip to Fisher's Farm followed by play at a friend's house and then home to wrestle with a very tired baby.

Fisher's farm have an indoor pass deal for January which we are taking advantage of. We spent two hours charging around with lots of friends before there were some tale tell signs that we were running out of energy. On the drive to our friends house both Plum and Pumpkin fell asleep. Both woke up when we got there. Which is fine for Pumpkin but a 10 minute nap is not long enough for a baby girl.

We spent over an hour with the smalls all playing various games mostly independent of each other and Bean demonstrated his anxiety over watching new things on the tele, not helped by his overtired ness and we took the opportuntity to head home where he almost fell asleep in the car. Plum fell asleep again.

However, Pumpkin decided to wake her by hurting her when we arrived home. I'm not sure what he did as I was getting out the car when it happened and he was not willing to give details but I sat with her for an hour with her dozing on and off but not sleeping this was coupled with the boys arguing over various things and charging noisily up and down the stairs. It was a reasonably stressful hour, mostly because it could have been avoided. Plum had a feed and was happier to crawl around. The boys had turned the screen around on the computer too (I have no idea how) and I had a little fiddle with it but decided best to wait till daddy came home or I had some space and time to have a good look at it.

After dinner saw a flurry of activity, again. Showing Bean how to play scrabble and him listing the five words in the world that he knows how to spell (cat, dog, Isaac, anna, ox,) Pumpkin looking at books, reading fairy tales with mummy, playing piano.

Bean was in bed by 8, Pumpkin fel asleep on the sofa watching cars about 9.15 and Plum was in bed by 9. Now for some mummy and daddy time watching a little something from lovefilm streamed mmm delightful.

Moving on up

Totally loving being back in the swing of things #dayone, hoping not to run out of steam too soon and trying to remember to pace myself and the smalls. I was asked today why I refer to them as 'the smalls' collectively. Simply I needed a collective noun specific to the children and I like the quote taken from dr. Seuss "a person's a person no matter how small." It encapsulates the idea that children are people too but at the same time are still children- that doesn't make much sense does it. Hopefully you can see where the 'small' part fits in.

Anyway, on with the day. Returning to Little Verse and gymnastics routine, only just though as Plum woke at a record breaking 9.30am giving us less than one hour to get to our destination including breakfast, changing and organising a picnic, and Bean said this morning that he didn't want to go to his gymnastics class. He obviously later changed his mind, I did not drag him kicking and screaming.

Talking of kicking and screaming we have had two days where I have very successfully managed to hold myself together. There has been some talk in the home ed blogging world as to whether we are not honest enough with our writing and whether we paint too rosy a picture of home ed home life. I hope I manage to give give a realistic portrayal, even though the original idea was to record all the things I don't want to forget, there are some things that I would love to forget but at the same time I think sharing and documenting the journey with others is helpful for me, for them, for you and hopefully when we come across similar situations with siblings as they grow and develop through the same process and phases I can look back on it via the blog and remind myself 'it'll all turn out ok.'

The afternoon largely passed at home with the boys watching iplayer whilst I settled Plum to sleep, who would not let me leave her side so I lay with her for an hour. After this we opened up a donated bag of goodies and the boys and I played with magnetic construction and dominoes before it was time for me to cook dinner. After dinner saw a flurry of activity. Music and singing, car racing and making a guitar from a cardboard box and some rubber bands.

The pictures are one of mummy by Pumpkin and an Olympian diver by Bean.

And that night he had a stomach ache

After three late nights in a row (a record for both boys...except when on camp in the summer) they are both tucked up in bed by 8.15. Pumpkin took a long time to settle and finally fell asleep in my arms in our bed, again unusual these days, he's more likely to go to sleep in his own bed and then wake for a cuddle in the early morning, although he hasn't done this for months either. We were slightly hopeful that Plum would be in bed about the same time too so we could grab an evening together but it was not to be. A busy day ment a late nap and so she is still very happily entertaining herself and playing with some of her presents.

The house has been full of family today and it was lovely. Everyone together just to celebrate Plum being one year old. Daddy took the smalls to church and I stayed behind to do a final vacuum and get the food prepared. Fortunately grandma and pops arrived before everyone else and chipped in to help. It was a very relaxed gathering and really just a good excuse to get together. Lots of food and cups of tea. Children playing in the garden and a lot of smart devices being played on and sharing games and giving instructions to each other. All very cross generational. Also discovered at the end of the day that someone had installed two more apps on my phone. Bean fessed up.

the very hungry caterpillar

One of those days that was filled with things to do in preparation for tomorrow's celebrations. Not much time for doing something specifically for the smalls and momentarily feeling like we we doing them a disfavour but soon realising that this is life and our day was full of its own learning. 

The day began with all three making music together. It's probably the first time I've seen Plum join in (not deliberately of course) but the boys were trying to make a storm type sound and when Plum picked up the maracas Pumpkin said, 'well done, you can be the rain.) it was a strange activity to watch unfold in a completely organic fashion with no input from me other than some encouragement and positive comment. It's an activity that as a reception teacher I have orchestrated many times with varying results but again I am convinced that because it was devised and chosen solely by the participants that the learning in deeper and stronger bound.

The rest of the day really was full of  mummy and daddy doing jobs including cleaning the living room carpet. Bean went food shopping with daddy, not a usual activity as we normal order and have delivery and Pumpkin helped clean the carpet whilst they were out and Plum slept. 

All three enjoy ballooning about whilst the preparations continued (mostly it was getting the house into some resemblance of order, there's nothing like having guests on mass to motivate a quick tidy up.)

Relax

Friday 4th January 2013

Today's adventures included me singing endless nursery rhymes whilst Bean played on his home made drum kit. We had quite an extensive conversation about beat and rhythm and what they were. I played endless rounds of marbles according to Pumpkin's rules whilst simultaneously trying to make sure that Plum didn't eat any of them. And, me and Plum spent a long time crawling around the floor chasing each other. This was all followed by a quick outing to the park around the corner, where Bean decided to scoot instead of ride his bike and there was a lot of negotiation about who would ride in front. It was a very long discussion between Bean and Pumpkin and I was desperate to speed up the proceedings but had to remember that this was amicable and moving in the right direction (I.e. a mutual agreement) so i waited patiently.

Bean has been venturing out of his usual comfort zone and yesterday delved hand first into moon sand. But today... He was playing in the garden and a ball went into the neighbours' so he came in and announced that he was going next door to ask for his ball ...and he did (with Pumpkin in hot pursuit) It was only two weeks ago that he refused to go and post a card through their letter box.

It is probably worth mentioning that Pumpkin has had a fringe trim in the last few weeks and it is so nice to be able to see his eyes again. He had expressed a desire to grow it but it was becoming irritating for him and after we explored several options he choose the snip!

And as I haven't posted for a month, here's a little update on Plum. She now has three teeth and is going through the process of working out what they are for (biting) This has involved a lot of bites to my leg and the joys of bites during breast feeding, she has also taken to chewing my sleeves when going to sleep and my back when in the sling! She also cruises the furniture confidently now and has twice stood up in the middle of the floor and balanced herself for a few seconds. She continues to love music and singing and is starting to recognise familiar people outside the family. She is also able to communicate with us what she wants by pointing and is becomes very upset if she doesn't get it. Mostly we are able to accommodate and she can have the banana or apple or toy but some things are off limits (like the computer mouse when we're watching iplayer!)

Just incases

December Highlights

So, just in case you thought that the lack of posts on the blog meant that December had been a write off or that my general low seasonal dark days mood had resulted in us batting down the hatches and being truly anti-social, here is a round up of some of the highlights from December: 

(although we were quite anti-social and most of our regular haunts are closed for the winter - boo)

There has been:

Christmas gift making

 weighing buttons and comparing the size of buttons that weighed the same amount.

Visiting London with daddy in tow to see the Christmas lights, not quite making Winter Wonderland as it was too noisy for Bean.

Celebrating the newest arrival to that family clan aka cousin C

Finding an Advent calandar built from lego and containing lego Christmas constructions behind every door.

The usual cycle rides (although not in the same quantity or distances as usual)

Celebrating Christmas and indulging the craze of angry birds (they wore the hats all day!)

Loving being with our family

Sleeping long

Enjoying dinner at friends'.

Playing a lot a lot a lot of angry birds.

Building dens in various places all over the house.

Having friends to play

Outdoor ice-skating

Many trips to various play areas in the local area

Having our first Christmas tree since we've been married and enjoying the smell of pine in the house.

Happy Birthday Plum

A birth story

(it seems only fair as I wrote one for Bean)

Women love to tell their birth stories, it must be part of the process I think, or a way of us making sense of it all as much as we can, there really isn't anything else like it on earth and not something that can be wholly explained or described to those who have not had the pleasure (yes, I said pleasure)

Plum was born one year ago today and her arrival was a great relief and joy. She was technically 10 days early, according to the medical profession but arrived just as the good Lord planned on the second of January. I was in a lot of discomfort having suffered with pelvic pain for at least the last three months and was using crutches just to get to the bathroom and generally avoiding moving if I possibly could. Every position hurt, sitting, lying down, standing and especially walking.

Very early the previous morning (about 4.30am) I woke up in the single bed in the spare room in more pain than usual and was secretly hoping that Plum was on her way but it was hard to distinguish at this point as so much hurt in the pelvic area. Bean had woken up early too and came in bed with me for a cuddle and more sleep until morning. By 6.30 I had gone back to sleep truly miserable. I was so uncomfortable for the rest of the day and my mood was generally low. It was a Sunday so we went to church in the morning and I took a nap in the afternoon. By the time I woke up I knew Plum was on her way. No enormous labour pains but definitely frequent niggles that were more than the general discomfort I had. I didn't tell daddy though as I knew he had to take the evening service at church and I'm not one for fast labours so I packed him off with a secret smile that evening as he said, 'don't go into labour whilst I'm gone!'

I put the boys to bed and then got some things ready. There was a lot to get ready in the general sense as all our baby goodies were in the loft still. We had thought of getting them down and washed and in the right places over the Christmas period but I guess the whole idea of nesting had passed us by during the festive season and we hadn't got around to it. We were planning a home birth though so I wanted to make sure I had the room ready and the excercise ball out and I put on the TENS machine.  I, of course, told daddy when he returned. We also rang our friends SGS and SGG to see if the boys good go and sleep at theirs. They came and collected them at 9pm and shortly after we rang the hospital to enquire on the availability of midwives. They consequently sent them out to us, far too early in the proceedings but as it was cold and dark and they had travelled a distance they both choose to stay. We had the pleasure of having Jessie, who had delivered Pumpkin (but that's another story) and Leigh (who was permanently in residence after Bean's birth) so we had the unusual privilege of knowing both midwives.

It was about 10.30pm when they arrived and they did all their protocol examinations and tour of the house and then we settled down with tea and biscuits. A lot of the discussions focussed around possible birthing positions as the pelvic condition was very limiting. Things were very slow and I was having mild to medium contractions on and off for hours with one enormous one which took us all by surprise and put us on a false start for a while. At some point in the middle of the night I was getting tired, mostly from just being awake, and went upstairs for a lie down. One of the midwives followed shortly after to listen to baby's heart and my waters broke...but that was the high drama of the night!

By 4am the midwives were obliged to repeat their examinations and we discovered that I was still 6cm dilated, the same as I had been 6 hours early...very unencouraging. So a plan was devised! it was suggested that I had a sweep, which until that point I had never had before, it was suggested that this might encourage some action. So at just after 4am I had a sweep and at 4.53am we had a baby in the room. My lovely husband was there the whole way through and held on to me tight and supporting my weight as I ended up delivering standing up. 

We are so blessed to have been given Plum into our family and it has been a joy, not only to see her grow, but also to see how her brothers have seamlessly accepted her onto our little family unit. It is also only now that I am truly appreciating my decision to take a photo of her every day for a year. I knew the time would fly by and I didn't want it to go unnoticed.