Are you born organised or a SHE?

Last night I was reading Cathy's blog and she had a before and after shot of her clean office. She reminded me of a post I thought about doing.

I am a SHE. A SHE is a sidetrack household executive. If I set about any task, I always get sidetracked.Lots of things sidetrack me from finishing a job (unless I set myself a deadline).

I have been wanting (just a little bit) to get my sewing desk cleaned up. It have been putting off doing sewing until it is clean. Each day, Brigette folds our washing and brings it into our room. She usually puts it on our bed or on my sewing table. If it gets put on our bed, Steve or I move it to the sewing table when it is bed time (and I think, I will put it away tomorrow). Tomorrow never comes in this house though.

This is what my sewing area looks like at the moment:

I need to get it cleaned up so that I can do some sewing. I will post an after photo once it is done. Now that everyone knows, I will be more motivated and try and get it done sooner. If you don't see an after shot on here in the next couple of days, start harassing me. That should get me moving too.

Wordless Wednesday: Bath time

Home school timetable.

As mentioned in my previous post, I have made a couple of changes to our timetable this term.

I decided that our day would be easier and probably run more smoothly if we sent Christopher to morning kindy.

I could only get the morning session on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday. Children are entitled to 4 kindy sessions a week so we have booked him in for a full day on Thursday. Christopher is getting some extra support work and an extra kindy session as his speech is delayed so he will also go to kindy of Friday mornings.

I have built our timetable around the kindy sessions.

Our morning program on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday is:

Prayer.
Spelling.
Reading.
Maths.
Literacy.

Recess. Pick up Christopher.

reading
times tables
catechism lessons.

Lunch

After lunch we do two different subjects each day

Monday is Science and History.
Tuesday is Geography and Cooking.
Thursday is Typing and Sewing
Friday is Art and technology.

Wednesday timetable is:

Mass.
sport.

recess

reading.
times tables.
catechism lessons.

Lunch.

After lunch, I have nothing planned so that we have a time to do things that we need to do for any subject that is behind. If we are not behind in anything (very unlikely with a baby in the house) the children will be able to choose an activity to do.

Back to the grind.

Today school starts for second term. I am looking forward to this term. We have a lot of changes in place which I think will make the day a bit smoother.

Hope all the other Australian's have a great term.

Therese

An afternoon with a friend.

Today, Brigette, Amelia Joseph and I went to Jamestown to visit Tracy.

We had a heap of clothes given to us for Joseph and a lot for a little girl so I offered all the girl ones to Tracy for Heather.

We had a lovely afternoon. The only down side to the trip was Amelia was car sick on the way. We went through some pretty windy hills and it proved to be all too much for her. We came home a different route and it was much better. Even though it was further in distance, we did it in shorter time because I didn't have to slow down for the curves in the hills.

Tracy gave us lunch and I got a couple of Kwik sew pattern books from her. I was cheeky enough to ask if she had the Sewing for baby book because I cannot find my copy of it. She couldn't find her copy but I did get the Sewing for Toddlers. I think I will have to buy the sewing for baby on Ebay. There are a couple of copies of it there.

Big Families.

Lisa from Are we there yet has the best post I have ever read about large families.

You can find it here.

Three cheers for Lisa. Everything she writes is just true.

I need some new recipes.

I am feeling like we eat the same meals over and over. I need a bit of a change so thought I would ask you all for your favourite main meal recipes.

I need ideas for casseroles that freeze well and snacks as well.

So if you have any recipes that you love to cook and eat let me know in the comment box.

Why is it?

Whenever I finally get to the computer, Joseph needs his mummy?

It seems like 90% of the time I am sitting here, I am also breastfeeding him.

Just as well he is so cute.

Wordless Wednesday.

Date night.

Tonight Steve and I went out for tea. There is a new Indian Restaurant in town and I wanted to see what it was like.

Steve had Beef Madras and I got a prawn curry. We also shared some garlic and cheese naan and some papadums.The food was delicious and prices were very reasonable. I think we will be back at this restaurant again.

Thumb or dummy?

Joseph loves sucking his thumb. He only sucks it occasionally but would suck it all the time if he could work out how to get it in his mouth without all his other fingers. This photo is one of the few times he has got it in his mouth without all the other fingers. Every time he has got it in his mouth, he has sucked it and gone to sleep.

All our other children have had dummies. They all loved them and I haven't really had any trouble getting them to give them up. I have tried to encourage Joseph to take a dummy but he really doesn't like it much. He certainly prefers his thumb. I am thinking that I should just resign myself to the fact that he is going to be better off sucking his thumb to sleep. I worry though that he may suck it until he is much older. I cannot take his thumb away from him like I can a dummy but I also won't have to search the house for his thumb when it is time for bed.

What are your thoughts on dummy vs. thumb?

Joseph: One day old

Here is Joseph the day after he was born.

This and that

We have had a busy week for the first week of the holidays. On Tuesday morning early, we left for Adelaide. We took two cars down because Steve was going to spend a couple of days doing genealogy research for his family and I wanted a car to go and visit people.

While we were in Adelaide, the children and I caught up with our old Parish Priest from Millicent. Fr. John is now in Salisbury and since we were in the area on Tuesday morning, I called in for a visit. It was a short visit and we thought we may be able to catch up later in the week but unfortunately it didn't happen.

We also managed to catch up with Brigette's Godmother, my mother and Steve's parents. My girlfriend Di put us up again. I am so grateful to them putting us up every time we go to Adelaide. Never have they said no when we are coming. The children all love staying with them too.

On Thursday we meet my mother in law and went shopping. I got some winter fabric to make winter jumpers and some sleeping bags for Joseph.

My mother in law then took Tom, Amelia and Christopher back to her house and Madeline and Brigette went shopping with Nicole. Joseph and I went to meet Steve for Afternoon tea at Government house. We were invited to attend CanDo4Kids day as we have been supporting them with donations for a while now. The Governor, Rear Admiral Kevin Scarce, welcomed us with this speech.

Here are a couple of photos taken in the garden.


We returned home yesterday morning. Joseph really doesn't like having long periods in the car and we had to make a couple of stops on the way home to feed him and get him out of his car seat.

Yesterday, we also had an 18th birthday party to attend at Bill and Linda's. Jessica turns 18 today so we got in the car for another trip in the late afternoon.

I meet Tracy for the first time at this party. It was great meet someone who's blog I have been reading for a while. We even took a photo of our meeting.

It is great to be back.

I have read a lot from my google reader this morning. It is great to catch up with everyone again.

Besides Joseph's baptism, and Amelia's first reconciliation, a lot of other things have happened in our lives. I will try and recap as much as I can remember for you all now.

Madeline turned 15 on the 29th of March. She wanted to go to Hungry Jacks for tea so I had a night off cooking and we all enjoyed some junk food.

On the 31st of March, it was 9 years since Tom was diagnosed with diabetes. I try to be as positive as I can about it and give thanks for the insulin we have and that we can keep such a close eye on his blood sugar level with the glucometer. Each year around the time of Tom's diagnosis, we give a donation to the Faustman lab.

Joseph turned 8 weeks on Easter Sunday. He has settled into our family very nicely. The other children all love him a lot.He does tend to become unsettled in the late afternoon with reflux but is usually very settled and happy in the mornings. In the afternoon when he becomes unsettled we generally put him in his sling and he stays much happier.

I did spend much less time on the internet during lent but I also spent a lot more time watching TV. Steve and I are both enjoying watching the Biggest Looser each night and NCIS has become my favourite programe on TV. I am really looking forward to season two of Master Chef which will start when The Biggest Looser finishes. Don't worry though, I will still make time to read other blogs and update this one.

Daniel has settled into life away from home. We see him just about every weekend. I was a bit sad to see him go but glad he has such a good job and is so close to home.

The next two weeks everyone is on holidays and I am looking forward to sleeping in and taking it easy. I want to get planning for home school done too. This past term went really smoothly because I planned just about every subject for the whole term.

Family Photos.

The whole family.

The girls (with Joseph).

The boys.

Amelia's First Reconciliation

Tonight we had Amelia's first reconciliation. She and 12 other children from our local Catholic school had this sacrament for the first time.

Here are some photos.

At home in her new dress.


at the church with her sorry prayer.


Processing in with the other children.


First Reconciliation.

Lighting a candle after.

All the children lined up after with their certificates and teachers.

Photos from Josephs Baptism

Photos of Joseph

one week old.

Three days old

Three days old.

Just a quick post today. Joseph is a wonderful baby. He sleeps really well and feeds a lot through the day. I am a bit sore from breast feeding but it is improving.

Hope everyone's lent is going well.

The start of lent.

Tomorrow lent starts and I am going off the internet for lent and will be turning off comments.

I will be writing posts on Sunday and putting up photos of Joseph and the rest of the family.

On the 28th of February Joseph will be baptized so I will post lots of photos that night.

----------------------------

Daniel started his new job yesterday. On Sunday Steve and I went down to Whyalla with him and Joseph. We were really surprised at the size of the room at the university accommodation. This photo here of Daniel and I was taken in his room.



Here is a photo of Daniel and Joseph that we took on the day too.

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Christopher turns 5 tomorrow. We had our birthday party for him tonight. We bought pizza from Eagle Boys for tea and later we will have a birthday cake and tiramisu for dessert. I will upload photos on Sunday of him blowing candles out on his cake.

I hope everyone has a fruitful lent.

Joseph's birth story.

Today Joseph is a week old and I thought it was about time to share his birth story.

All day Saturday, I was contracting. They were mild contractions but regular so I started thinking this is the start and that something would happen Saturday night or Sunday morning.

I took it pretty easy most of the day and we went to Saturday night mass just in case we couldn't make it Sunday.

Saturday night, I found it hard to get into a real deep sleep and still had contractions for most of the night. Just after 6.30 I woke up and had a stronger contraction and felt something a bit different. I thought what was that and got up out of bed. My waters then broke. I told Steve to get up and that we would need to go to the hospital.

We got to the hospital and they monitored me for a while. I was still contracting but the contractions were not strong still but I thought with broken waters it wouldn't be long and I would start getting them.

Lunch time came and went. Still the contractions were mild. I was thinking, what the heck is going on since usually once my waters are broken labour gets going. Steve went home for a while to see what the children were up too and came back at 2.00.

We spent most of the day just waiting around for labour to start. Just after 3.30 my ob decided it was time to start some syntocin and see if that would get labour going. We then headed from the ward over to labour ward. The ob examines me and tells me that my waters in front are still intacked. I thought she meant that they hadn't broken but what had happened was they had broken behind Joseph. That was why I wasn't going into labour. The ob broke the waters in front and they started the syntocin drip slowly.

By 6pm I was in labour. The contractions were stronger than they had been most of the day but still manageable. I didn't feel as if I needed any pain relief yet.

At 7.30 the midwife examined me and I was at 9cm. Pain was pretty strong now but it was too late for any pain relief except the gas so that was what I had. I thought that because I was about 9cm that the labour would be over pretty soon anyway.

At this point, contractions dropped back a bit so the syntocin had to be increased. I don't really remember when but soon after this, they discovered that my cervix was caught on Joseph's head and that was why I wasn't moving from 9cm.

After a couple of hours at 9cm, I decided it was time to try and get into a new position. I moved around onto my knees and then soon after this got a strong urge to push. I started pushing and pretty quickly Joseph was born. I wished I had changed positions earlier.

He was born at 9.35 pm. His weight was 3620 (8 pound exactly) and his length was 50 cm (19 inches).

All our other children have had pretty small head circumferences (between 28 and 32 cm). Joseph's was 35. When the midwife said, 35cm I was pretty glad I had been on my knees and had the gravity helping me deliver.

From my competition, both Jean and Kym guessed the right date for Joseph's birth. 4 people were pretty close to the weight too guessing 3685 (8 lb 2 oz). Therese, Kym, Yofed and Mary.

Congratulations especially to Kym for guessing the right date and being so close for weight.

Just a quick hi and

Thank you to all the people that have sent us messages and good wishes on the birth of Joseph.

It has been a long week but I am now starting to feel almost back to normal again. I have to keep reminding myself that I am 5 years older than I was when I delivered Christopher and recovery is going to take longer because of this.

Hopefully this weekend I will get back to reading blogs and leaving comments. I had over 600 new items in my reader yesterday and over 100 today so I had to mark all as read.

The messages that have been left have given me a huge boost. I am so thankful for all of you and the joy you share with us on Joseph's birth. I have some photos on my camera that haven't been uploaded yet. Once they are uploaded I will put them all up.

Minutes Old

Going to the hospital.

My waters have broken this morning. I am about to head up to the hospital and see what is going on. Brigette will update as soon as baby is born.

Quick 7!!!!!!!!!

--1--

1200 posts.

I now have 1200 posts on my blog.

--2--

On my mind.

You all have one guess as to what is on my mind these days. I am finding it a bit frustrating not knowing when baby will come. I just keep on saying this too shall pass. I won't be pregnant forever.

--3--

The Death of a Pope.

Today I got this book. It will be good reading while I am in hospital after the birth of our baby.

--4--

OAMC.

Usually this weekend would be a big cookup. I am going to cook some meals but not do the whole month. I don't want to have the pressure to get everything done and go into labour.

--5--

Sewing.

I have cut out a skirt and top for myself and have 5 aio nappies just about finished. I also am about half way through the second baby sling. Hopefully these will keep me occupied until I go into labour.

--6--

Summer.

We have had a week of really nice weather. The temps have been in the high 20's, low 30's. This week though it will be heating up. Today is going to 33 (91)
so a little bit warm but since we have low humidity it is pretty easy to cope with.

--7--

New Pusher.



We decided to buy a second hand pusher since this is number 8. The above pusher was advertised at Coles last weekend. I read the advert on Saturday and went and looked on Sunday. We won't need the toddler seat but it came with it so I have asked Steve to take the seat off. Christopher is way too big for it and I really don't want to be pushing him around again. He is a good walker now.

Jen from Conversion Diary hosts Quick 7 each week. Drop over to read other people's quick 7.

Baby sling.

Christopher with sling

Tom with the sling

Amelia with the sling

Sam with the sling. (being Mr. cool).

I got some new rings for our baby sling today so finished of the green check sling today. I still haven't done the muslin one. If baby doesn't come, I will sew it over the weekend.

Due Date today.

I think the best thing for me is to keep busy.

Here are my plans for today.

Morning homeschool:

Prayer.
Reading.
Times Tables.
Faith And Life.
Recess.
Sewing.

hang washing.

Prepare Christopher for Kindy.

Take Christopher to kindy.

Lunch.

Afternoon homeschool:
Spelling.
Maths.
Literacy.
Science.

Prepare tea.

Get Christopher from Kindy.

Prepare for tomorrows lessons.

Coffee with Steve.

Sewing.

Tea.

Family prayer.

internet.

Guess what we had for tea?

Scalini's Eggplant Parmigania.

I saw my obstetrician today. Baby is still only 2/5th engaged. I think it will be a while before I go into labour. I am keeping busy though. Hopefully over the weekend I will have our little boy in my arms.

Only three days till baby due.

Here I am with just three days to go.

Yesterday, Brigette made me some labour cookies.


I can really taste the ginger. Brigette said that she used the extra hot cayenne pepper but I can't really taste that like I can the ginger. Since eating them, I have had contractions but nothing that is strong enough to call labour just yet.

Last week I got a package in the mail from Tracy. Lots of really nice home sewn clothes for our boy.



Thanks so much Tracy. I cannot wait to put some of these things on our boy. I am sure he will look gorgeous in them.