Chloe walks! with a little help

Yes, this afternoon Chloe was cruising along the edge of the couch when she reached out and grabbed hold of her little walker ( a type of push toy, a bit like a little wagon she can push except it has an activity board attached) She walked a few steps pushing it along before she lost her balance. It was very exciting to watch. Now she can't get enough of it. She is trying really hard to figure it out. She knows that if she leans back too far she will fall and she is learning to move her feet as quickly as she pushes the walker. I also caught her trying out her new trick on the pram in the hall way. I can't believe how quickly she is growing up!
P.S Her tummy has settled down now, thank goodness!

The Not So Nice Side of Being a Parent

It all started sometime early this morning between 12.00 and 4.00, Chloe who had been having a lovelly sleep woke up screaming. Ben raced into her room to find that she had thrown up last nights dinner all over her cot. Fish in white sauce. Lovely. I was lying in our bedroom and I knew something unusual was happening when the light went on and I heard Ben mutter 'oh no'. He brought in a very smiley and smelly baby who obviously thought this was all great fun. Ben handed her to me and told me what he had discovered. After cleaning her up I decided the cot could wait until the morning. I grabbed Chloes spare snuggly (a little blanket with a rabbit head sewn onto it) and put her in the middle of us in our bed. What a stupid idea this turned out to be when half an hour later she was sick again. Ben exclaimed "how could there have been anything left in her!" Believe me, there was a lot left in her! I pulled back the doona and said "ok, we are all getting up!" Ben put Chloe into her second change of clothing for the night, she was still smiling as if it was Christmas. Ben played with her in the family room while I changed the bed sheets and the cot sheets. By 4.30 I had a full load of washing on including both her snugglys! Then we had to debate who would stay home with Chloe as we couldn't take her to day care. In the end Ben convinced me that it was best that he stay home. He sat up with Chloe until day break while I went back to bed. By the time I got up at 7.30 Chloe was in her third change of clothing as she had been sick again. At this point I knew that I had the best deal out of the two of us. Work looked pretty good compared to staying home with the spewy but happy child. Also, one of the great parts about work is that it is full of experienced mothers who have done it all before, including Helen who used to be a mother craft nurse. Thanks guys!

I have to say this was the most revolting part of parenting I have experienced so far. Luckily Chloe is still happy though which makes it alot less worrying. When I rang day care to say she wouldn't be coming in the lady said not to worry, by next year she will be a little trooper with a fantastic immune system! I hope so!

Picnic at Port Arlington

Ben, Chloe and I had a lovely picnic lunch down at Port Arlington Yesterday. Its a really nice drive to get there and the perfect distance for Chloe to have a good sleep. I also enjoyed packing my new tupperware picnic set that I bought at my party. We also brought along our nifty little gas cooker and fry pan so that we could make hamburgers. Chloe also enjoyed a little hamburger patty which was really cute. She spent about half an hour trying to eat it. The rest of her time was spent crawling after a magpie that I think may have been teasing her. He would hop forward a bit then wait for her to nearly catch up. When Chloe was ready for a nap we put her in the car and began the drive back. We stopped at St. Leonards to give her a bottle in a car park by the water. Ben fell asleep while we were waiting for her to finish it. When she had finished it I left Ben in the car and helped Chloe chase seagulls. They are much quicker than magpies! She then had a play on the swing before Ben came to find us. It had been a really nice afternoon with the sun out but then it began to rain so we decided to go home. Also Geelong was playing St Kilda and I wanted to watch them win (sorry mum!) We had a lovely little afternoon out and about. I do have some photos which I will put on shortly. I have temporarily misplaced the cord that connects my phone with the pictures on it to the computer. Luckily dad spotted it on the bench in The Basin and mum is sending it back to me. Thanks guys!

Chloe's Busy Friday

Chloe is feeling alot better this weekend which can be seen in the increase in her activity levels. She is full on! She goes at a hundred miles an hour with no care for her own safety. Or the fact that I might want to sit down for a minute. As soon as I sit down with a cup of tea she is off in a different direction. We have to be really careful about keeping the house child proof. She keeps crawling up the corridoor at record pace. I couldn't find her the other day. When I did find her she was in her room playing with her toys. Very cute. She also likes to take toys off other babies and pull their hair. This is quite embarressing. I think she just wants to know what hair is!

Chloe also said her first word. She said 'Dad'. We have been trying to get her to say this for two weeks. Every other time we would go 'dad, dad, dad' and she would look at you and blow a raspberry. Then she would laugh. Then just out of the blue she went 'da'. Then she kept saying it because we would get so excited and eventually she said 'dadda' and 'dad'. We also think she can say 'hello'. I thought it was just us that thought that but a couple of people have also heard her say it. I think 'dad' is her first official word though. She can also wave, something she likes to do all day at anything she wants a reaction from. She waves at the cats everytime she sees them through the window. She also does a high five.

On Friday she started to move from one peice of furniture to another. She was so proud of herself. However this has led to her beginning to fall everywhere again. She had a big fall today and has an egg on her head with a straight line in the middle from the imprint of the skirting board. She is also kneeling without hanging onto things. This is very cute to watch. She bounces up and down to help keep her balance.

Tomorrow if the weather is nice we are going to have a picnic lunch at the park. Chloe can burn off some energy motoring around on the grass.

An Eventful Weekend!

Well, what a weekend we have had! Filled with highs and lows. Having a child is certainly an adventure. I don't think Chloes Nanna and Poppa knew what they were in for when the Muttons came to visit for the weekend. It started well enough. Lindy and Jezz have just moved out of mum and dads house into their own place in Healsville (very nice house by the way, if you look out the windows you can sometimes see kangaroos and deer! Yes, deer, I thought they were pulling my leg!) So mum had done a fantastic job setting up the upstairs part of the house for us. No more sleeping in the lounge room for us. If mum and dad aren't careful they will have us visiting every weekend for some nice home cooking! Chloe even had her own room with a cot and change table. Ben and I were sleeping in my old bedroom next door.

We had decided to visit mum and dad for a belated mothers day celebration. It was also the first time we had taken Chloe out to dinner with the McCarthy clan. In fact it was the first time I had fed Chloe in a high chair at a restaurant. We went to Zigames in Boronia at the very family friendly time of five thirty. At least, that was the plan, unfortunately poppa lost his wallet (essential as he was paying for dinner!) so we didn't arrive at the restaurant until ten to six. Lindy and Jezz were there minding the table for us. Entre arrived and Chloe was having a fantastic time. I saw the health nurse the other day and she suggested giving Chloe lots of finger food so after Nannas special mixed vegetables that I had taken with us I gave her a crust of bread from the middle of the table which she thoroughly enjoyed. Once she had finished with it she played throw the toy off the table which kept us busy until the main meals arrived. Lindy kindly donated another piece of crust from her plate for Chloe to chew on however, Chloe threw this aside once she sampled a hot chip from poppas plate. You can't blame her, how good are hot chips! So good apparently that she repeatedly tried to take them directly from poppas plate once his back was turned. I thought she was actually eating them until I discovered the secret stash of chips she was keeping on the ground below her high chair! A good meal was had by all and we all decided that taking Chloe out had been a success. We all retired back to Nanna and Poppas for a coffee and cake at the very respectful time of seven o'clock. Poppa even found his wallet, Chloe had been hiding it on the back seat of the car!

Now for the lows. When we used to visit Nanna and Poppa when I was pregnant we once joked about needing to know the way to Fern tree Gully hospital. The last time I was there was when I was born! Late into the night Chloe came down with Croup for the second time in her short life. It is a very scary viral chest infection, a bit like asthma but with a cough that sounds like a dog barking. The last time she had this in Geelong Ben and I had panicked and raced to the doctor in the middle of the night only to be told it was nothing to worry about, it sounds worse than it is. So this time it was midnight when Chloe woke up crying and coughing. Knowing what it was this time I decided not to panic. We went down stairs and sat in the bathroom with the shower running which seemed to work. We then went and watched big brother up late for a little while until Chloe started to go to sleep. I decided to give her a bottle and put her back to bed since the worst seemed to be over. Once she was asleep with the vaporizer going I went back to bed in the next room. We woke up around three thinking Chloe was playing in her cot as we could here her making little noises. She does this sometimes. After about ten minutes Ben went in to resettle her and found her struggling to breathe. She had tears running down her face and the little sounds we had heard was her trying to cry out for help. It was very heartbreaking to see as we don't know how long she had been like this. So I raced down stairs, woke up mum(Nanna) and asked for directions to the hospital. When we arrived we were surprised to see nobody waiting in a very big and flash hospital waiting room other than a drunk man on a stretcher who was passed out (it makes you realise how much more funding Geelong hospital needs given the size of the Geelong community. Your lucky to get a seat in their waiting room and you always have a huge wait)

They admitted us straight away and we were told we were one of ten cases of croup that had come in that night due to the cold air. Once we were there chloe improved which you could tell by the volume of her crying. When we arrived she was unable to cry at all. By the time she recovered she was screaming her lungs out! The baby in the room next door was the same age and also had croup. He did the same thing, started quietly and got alot louder! We were all comparing notes. Anyway, Chloe is doing well now, she still has a horrible cough and a drippy nose and is very sleepy as are her parents! When she is awake though she is quite active. She has discovered the cats and enjoys chasing them along the window. They are outside. Today she pulled herself up to standing using only the wall and also managed to cruise along the couch to come and see me.

I think the worst part of the whole ordeal is one, I think this might continue to happen throughout winter when ever she is getting a cold (hopefully not!) and two, it really shakes your confidence as parents. I have always assumed that if Chloe needed us in the night she would cry out but now we know this isn't always possible when they are really sick. So this has led to us now jumping up at night to the slightest sound. Also, it is hard to know when to take action. When we took her to the doctor straight away the first time we were left feeling like we had over reacted where as this time we probably could have acted sooner. oh well, I am sure there will be many more experiences like this now that we are parents. I can remember a couple from my child hood.....

We did have a very nice weekend catching up with the family although on the way to The Basin we had discused how we were looking forward to a relaxing weekend as extra pairs of hands are always welcome when looking after Chloe, even just having others to play with her for a while gives us a mini break. Rather than relaxed we ended up coming back sleep deprived and nervous wrecks but very well fed thanks to Nannas cooking!

Thanks again for the weekend, Dad and Mum, and your house is lovely Lindy and Jezz, we can't wait to come visit when its all finished. Be careful climbing the ladder after a couple of happy hour drinks! And if Jezz ever needs a chippy to help him Chloe is always available. She could hold the extention cord and shake it. She is also good with plastic hammers! Chris and Aff, you were missed at dinner, we look forward to seeing you again in the not to distant future.

Just a funny story

Ok, Im enjoying this blogging thing so I thought I would tell a funny story. A couple of weeks ago Bec and I decided to go to an Australian breatfeeding association mothers day celebration thing in Melbourne at the Docklands with our two bubs. Chloe- 7 months and Lincholn- 3 months. We decided to add to the adventure by catching the train from Marshall station, which is walking distance from my place. So we set off for the day thinking this could be interesting- Chloe in particular is known for the suprises she can pull when out in public. So the first challenge we had was actually fitting on the train. The old style Vline trains are not designed for mothers with prams. So with everyone all squished in, giving us VERY dirty looks, the train began its journey to Melbourne. I got lucky, Chloe slept in the pram most of the way, the pram was sitting in the middle of the isle and everyone had to squish past it. But she slept. Bec and I ended up sitting miles away from each other, I had another mother with a 6 month old baby on her lap next to me so we had alot to talk about. Bec, however, ended up sitting next to a man that refused to acknowledge that she was even there. She ended up squished on half a seat against the window with the old guy sleeping next to her snoring. Luckily Linc slept the entire way. So far so good.

Next we walked to the docklands and spent the day checking out the exhibition. Again, all good. Chloe slept when tired and was happy enough when awake. Linc still slept. We then decided to stop for a donut on the way back to the station. We were ready to leave but were an hour ahead of schedule. I checked the timetable and noticed there was an earlier train leaving within 15 minutes. Bec tested out her jogger pram as we raced for the station. As we squished back onto the train I realised that we weren't as organised for an earlier train as we could have been. Babies needed nappy changes and feeds. However, it was only an hour to Geelong, what on earth could go wrong?

This time we abandoned our prams at the front of the carriage and found seats further down, luckily next to each other. Chloe was having a great old time smiling at passengers and causing a bit of mischief. Linc slept for another 15 minutes and then he woke up. Bec was so happy to see her little fella awake. She turned him around on her lap so they were face to face. And this is when it all went wrong.

Linc gave Bec one gorgeous smile and then did a huge fart. Oh no said Bec and sure enough the unthinkable happened. Lincs poop travelled out the back of his nappy and onto the train seat and floor. It was everywhere! Nearby passengers tried to muffle their laughter and avert there eyes as Bec and I scrambled to clean everything up. Chloe was trying desperately to grab everything as we pulled out babywipes, nappies and a change of clothing. Once we had everything under control and Linc was wearing his second outfit of the day, Bec and I let out a sigh of relief and had a bit of a chuckle. What else could possibly go wrong?

Then Linc started to grizzle. Oh no said Bec. He is hungry. We looked at each other and laughed. Oh well! I said, better feed him then! So she did! The poor older fellow opposite Bec didn't know where to look. He suddenly became very fascinated with a spot on the roof. Bec and I were trying so hard not to laugh. Once Linc was fed, we once again sighed with relief. Until Linc started to grizzle again. Well, said Bec, he is still hungry, better feed him the other side! Once again the older fellow looked very uncomfortable and began studying another mark on the roof.

Although an eventful trip, Bec and I had a wonderful time. Where are we going to go next Bec? If you are still speaking to me after sharing this fantastic story! I'm just glad that for once it wasn't my baby! Not like that lunch date we had a few months ago at a certain Italian restaurant......That is a story for another time though!

Welcome to the Mutton and Lamb news!

Hi everyone, I attend a teaching PD yesterday about blogging and thought I would give it a go. It is a great way to share news, thoughts about the worlds and reflections. I plan to try and update it once a week so make sure you keep checking back. Our little family has had a pretty uneventful week. For the first time in a few weeks Chloe isn't sick although she does have her second tooth coming through. She is also a bit of a disaster at the moment. She has decided to give standing a bit of a go but she hasn't quite figured out how to keep her balance yet. She pulls herself up so that she is standing against anything. It doesn't matter if it is a stable object or not. Last night she had a really big fall. We heard a loud bang that only a skull on something hard can make. Cried enough to make as come running so she seemed quite hurt but we can not find a bruise on her anywhere. Us muttons have tough heads! She seems quite happy today so I don't think there was any long lasting damage. I thought we were going to be taking off to the doctors again. I didn't sleep all night though, I kept running in to check on her. In the end I put her in our bed but that didn't really help. Waking up with a baby hitting you in the face for fun every hour is not ideal either! At least we are guaranteed a good night sleep tonight. She has to konk out sooner or later!

I had a great tupperware party on the weekend. I invited about twenty people who initially all said they were coming. One by one everyone pulled out. I ended up with three people, Brenda, Nell and Agnieska. It was actually fun. we sat in a circle on the floor and played with the consultants tupperware. The highlight being when I attempted to cut off my finger with the fantastic new vegie slicer. I have been to two parties with this consultant and someone has been cut both times! Tupperware aint what it used to be! It bites back now! So us tupperware lovers spent up big and made a million jokes about the lack of guests. We still managed to eat all of the party food though. Good job girls! (Ben helped to. He wanted to go and play golf but I wouldn't let him. I said it looked like I had more guests if he stayed. He was repaid nicely with chocolate biscuits!)

Well there you have it, the first addition of the mutton and lamb news! Feel free to comment