Squealing Makes My Head Hurt

Olliesaur has learnt how to squeal. It is awful! He has started to do it if he is not getting my attention, if I tell him no-no or if he gets frustrated that he can not get a toy out of his box. Today while Daddysaur and I were grocery shopping, Olliesaur went so over the top I was nearly in tears. I'm stumped as to why he got so frustrated, we had literally been in the store for 5 minutes!

I don't know what I should do with this behaviour. Generally he is so amazingly behaved that I can't understand how I got soooooo lucky. I have a book on my shelf called Toddler Taming by Christopher Green. I think now is the time to start reading it!

Surely it is far too early for the terrible twos? Please tell me the squealing is totally normal and will stop eventually!

The Moment Your Life Changes Forever...

We found out we were pregnant on 6th October 2008. I first took a test at 7am… only to be disappointed at not seeing a line. It was one of those very cheap, “pee in a cup and then dip” type tests. I was about to throw it in the bin only to catch the slightest glimpse of very faint pink, so faint I had to squint to see it… confused as to whether this was something to be excited about, I rushed to show Daddysaur to see what he thought but he was none the wiser. Feeling in a tizzy about things I went to my drawer and took out a digital test I had been saving. The word pregnant flashed up after about 2 minutes of sitting with my fingers crossed tighter than ever. No more confusion over very faint, hardly there pink lines… there it was in plain daylight… no mistaking the one word “Pregnant”.

Me pregnancy went very smoothly apart from a couple of very small bleeds. I didn't even have any sickness!

I went to hospital midday on the 5th June 2008 (after having a disturbed night and a trip to the Maternity Hospital).

First of all I was examined and immediately marked on the chart as being in labour and at 2cm dilated. I had a lovely midwife come in, check all my stats, inform me of my choices of pain relief and she then told me that she was ready to break my waters. WHAT A WEIRD FEELING! It felt like I had wet myself.

I went for as long as I could without pain relief. My contractions were very bad and every 2 minutes. I was moved to one of the delivery rooms and a student midwife introduced herself. She was lovely and made me feel so relaxed. I requested an epidural.

Once the epidural started to take effect I felt fantastic. It was so weird having the strong pressure of the contractions but not the pain I had been feeling the night before and all morning.

At 8.00pm I was ready to push and things all happened very quickly. Before I knew it there were 5 people around the bed and I can't remember why. There was the student midwife, a couple of normal midwives, Daddysaur and a student Dr. (who I might add was a bit strange. He was there a while earlier and for a training Dr. he was very easily embarrassed. He blushed every time I was being examined!).

Pushing was hell! I won’t lie. I was so scared. More than I have ever been in my life, but time passed so fast. The main midwife was yelling at me like she was the commentator at a horse race… “aaaand we see the head, we see the head, just one more push and we will have a baby… come on come on one more push”. Bizarre. I went into shock during the pushing because I really believed at one point I couldn’t do it and I hyperventilated. I don’t remember much more after that. The Dr. was then called for and before I knew it the end was off the bed and I was in the stirrup things instead. The baby’s heartbeat was dropping rather fast and they were worried about him so the Dr. told me she would have to use suction on him. The suction didn’t work so she had to use forceps and also episiotomy. I got very dizzy at this point and with one great big pull from the Dr and a lot of blood, there was my baby on my tummy.

Olliesaur was born at 8.49pm weighing 8lbs 1oz after 10 hours of established labour.

Olliesaur and I spent the first night apart. I can’t remember why but I think I must have looked distressed and exhausted. It really made me miss him and I think this probably helped with us bonding given that labour was a bit traumatic… I missed him and had to pull out my camera to see photos I had taken a while earlier. He was brought back in his little crib at about 5am. I felt so much love the minute I saw him and the love has only increased each day.

Olliesaur is now a 16 month old, walking, talking, SHOUTING, cuddling darling boy who makes me laugh all the time. It is truly amazing how fast the time goes!!

I'm about to do it all again. I am currently 6 weeks and 4 days pregnant. We always said we would like a 2 year age gap between our children so you can't get more precise than being due a baby 5 days after your first born's 2nd birthday!

I am looking forward to sharing everything with you about my stay-at-home, work-at-home (I do blog design, invites and announcements) life with my energetic toddler and the growing baby in my tum.

Downhill.... And uphill.....

So, you'd think I would have learned by now. Parenthood is like life in general. You might have some downhills - but you ALWAYS go back up.

Whilst the last few weeks haven't been easy, and sometimes I've felt like a madwoman, there have been some little highlights which I thought I'd share (and seeing I was such a party-pooper in the last blog). This is my top 10 things which have made me smile:

1. Tinysaur has now learnt to wave goodbye. She usually waves and says "TATA" as she's crawling out to the kitchen.

2. Tinysaur crawled into our bedroom the other day while I was in the loungeroom. When I went in to round her up, she had closed the door and was lying against the door so I couldn't open it. By the time I got in - my thong was in her mouth. Ugh. She really does have bad taste!!!

3. Tinysaur's cousin came and visited today - he is 3 years old. They had tons of fun rolling around on the floor together (he realises she can't walk and goes down to her level to play). Then they cuddled for ages. She absolutely LOVES the little guy.

4. Daddysaur and I have sorted out our differences. I realise that no relationship is perfect, and I know ours is far from it - but it's nice to sit down and really sort things out. Now we both know where we stand. It's nice, and I'm happy.

5. Tinysaur went to see her 12 year old Uncle perform in his school concert. The whole time throughout the concert whenever she saw him, she yelled and screamed out and waved at him. She was SOOO excited to see him!

6. Tinysaur has just learnt how to make her Mummy's heart melt even more - she gives kisses now. Proper, sloppy, kisses. I love them.

7. As well as the kisses, she has also learnt to blow raspberries on your neck when she's snuggling up! Cheeky little girl!

8. Daddysaur and his friend washed up and cooked dinner for me the other night! It was the FIRST time I have ever seen him volunteer to cook AND washup! I was in bed by 7pm... And it was a GOOD sleep that night!

9. My family. My family always makes me smile. And I'd do ANYTHING in the world for them.

and the last one:

10. Today in the shopping centre, I was carrying Tinysaur (although I might need to call her Hipposaur soon -she's packed on the weight!!!) on my hip, and carrying the groceries in my other hand. At the checkout, we stood in line behind a gentleman who some people might have avoided. When he turned around to look at us, Tinysaur reached out her arms for him to hold her and babbled "Daddaddaddad" and laughed away merrily. It made him laugh, and it made me laugh too. It was a lovely moment.

I've learnt my lesson. Sometimes things don't come easily, and we have to keep trying and trying. But in the end, I should just focus on the good things. Because there are way more good things than there are bad.