im awful at coming up with titles...

While i could write non-stop bout things happening in australia today.. i thought.. maybe.. perhaps.. then i thought maybe i should write about what i've been up too... so i'll give it a shot ;)

Weve all had at least 2 rounds of the cold virus...

Hubby has been loosing weight, cutting back too much smaller portioned meals. I never knew a mans belt (as they gain weight) could hold such a time-line "i was here when we moved to melbourne, here when Alyssa was born" etc. Im happy for him, makes cuddling easier when its just 1 big belly in the way!

Tia has lost 1 front tooth and now the 2nd front middle tooth is loose.. so in 3-4 days she will be lookin' a bit weird with no front top middle teeth! She bought home a bean plant from school, its now in the garden! Wonder what kind of bean plant it is exactly...

Alyssa is up and walking (or "toddling" as we call it) She figured out how to open cupboard doors today! (argh!) She loves cups and tries to drink from them (doesn't matter if they are empty) She chases the cats (at baby speed) and squeals! (meanwhile the cats look scared) She finds them when the curl up in the sun on the floor and mwhahhaha goes in for the attack! She has waved once and is learning & saying "ta" (baby for "please can i have it?" and "thank you!")

My pregnancy is going well. The baby is still pretty active. almost 8 weeks to go. Have my 1st hospital/midwife appointment this month. LOL! Yes i finally rang them up.. TMI- i have 'roids from hell (should be a title of a horror movie!!)
My feet get fat and puffy quickly. My right foot I've hurt, so when i step a certain way or something i get instant pain and then hobble for a hour or two... but usually its fine. My feet will love the relief when this bub gets out! I seem to wake in the middle of the night, needing liquid to drink & needing to pee.

Ive been having alot of Branxton Hicks. I find it hard to believe that some study could come out and say that Sex does not trigger labor... As i get fake labor pains (branxton Hicks) after being intimate... not to mention it triggered off the other 2 births! (i have a laugh when i remember scenes from movies where they with the BH/fake labour pains. think its the real thing, pack up and go to the hospital to end up coming home!) I like how the baby is where it is, i dont need extra effort to feed it, no dirty nappies and it doesnt cry.. it just disturbs my sleep! :) But i am looking forward 2 getting my body and bladder back to myself, the 'roids to go, my feet to not get so puffy, fit into normal clothes, not waddle and loose the reflux & heartburn bleh!! :)

so thats bout it from me... i havent done anything interesting! Not even reading (listening to the kids read their books) at tia's class, as Alyssa has the cold.. and a 11month old can't cover her mouth when she coughs. (not to mention alot of the girls can't keep their hands off her, not kiss her cheeks etc..)

Alyssa will be 1 soon!!! (still blue eyes!)and um we still plan on having Tia's birthday party... even tho that was back in may??!! :)

Stay Swine flu safe ;)

oh and thank you 2 maria for the award!! I w

observations...& a catch up

Been pretty busy! so here's a quick run down of things!

* I had the parent teacher & child interview this tuesday @ 4.25pm. A bit annoying.. seeing as it meant waiting around for 55mins! (by the time we walked home we'd have to walk back and end up being 5mins late for the interview. We could have walked 15mins to hubbys work and sat there for 30mins.. but too tired. Also staying at school meant Tia was entertained with the play equipment, sand pit and various classmates coming and going. She also had all her fruit for the day which she hadn't eaten. So it all worked out to wait around!)

* Tia has started home readers. Interesting considering she has some difficulty saying her alphabet and recognizing letters.. yet surprisingly she knows what some of the words are already! She also wrote "dad" the other day without any help. Weirdly tho she wrote both D's before adding the A in the middle. LOL! Ive noticed that with some words even doing her name sometimes she will write it out of order (like she did with "dad") Im helping out in her class on a monday afternoon while they do hopping, jumping, balancing, stilt walking etc time and tuesday morning i help out in the class, listening to each kid read their home readers, let them pick a new book and mark it off on the list. I might help out on a friday morning as there doesnt seem to be a helper written down on that day... altho that would conflict with a morning friday parents meeting but they were trying to figure a new time seeing as the board member of the spot i declined can't make it that time! lol!

* Alyssa has 2 new teeth. A total of 4 teeth which are all cut thru (2 bottom around 3months. 2 top at 7months) and i can feel and see 1 more bottom one starting to poke thru. She has a very toothy cheeky grin now!!!

* Alyssa got her 6month needles today. A rotavirus imm (rotatek) by mouth (which is meant to be sweet but she hates it) and a needle in each leg of just about everything! They do it now both shoots at the same time, hence why its a nurse and dr doing the injections these days! (you'd hate it, if u hated needles... they um, count it down.. so yeah.) Again tho Alyssa cried right after but after a few seconds was her happy self again! (not like the baby we heard while we waited! GOSH did she scream!!)

* I think it was the bush fire warning sms day.. i predicted no such heat wave. Walked out to collect Tia and swore that we were having a dust storm. made me wish i had a pair of sunnies!!!

* I took a break from video games to go on hubbys pc. Which is moved from office/guest room into the lounge room.. and was a bit freaked to feel the chair and table shake..(i believe i told the boys that the table was shaking... so it was interesting to tell them that it was a earth quake, that they did not notice! LOL!) there was no noise.. the next day i read online that there was a earth quake in melb that measured 4.6 on the scale! That makes 5 or 6 earthquakes ive experienced in my lifetime all in australia!!! (only one in victoria)

*went to a parents etc group meeting at the school... it was there AGM which they changed the constitution. interestingly that some take it all veeeerrrryy seriously while others are relaxed, wanting to make it easier etc... you can imagine which side i'd rather be on! ;) Luckily its not like that normally, im told! I was offered a spot on the board but declined after i thought "can i do it?" and no i can't... I'll have my hands full come august with the new baby and a 13month old... it would take me awhile to adjust to the new bub, feeding, sleeping and collecting tia schedule!

*Im now 18weeks preggy! whoot!!!! Have my first drs appt tomorrow! If started to feel it kick, usually when im trying to go off to bed! Time is flying! Now that morning sickness is over, i dont really feel pregnant, to me i dont really look pregnant (altho i do, as hubby keeps going on bout the mummy tummy) i guess it comes down to me remembering the last few weeks of enormous mummy tummy and yet its not like that yet! I just look fatter! LOL!

* Congrats to Maria & Paul! :) God bless your family and all the best!!!

Observations today!

* spotted a pair of undies on the footpath on the way to the drs.. suppose someone is missing their spare pair? lol

* 2 Ladies (in separate places) with awful dress sense.. imagine blue pattern pants mixed with a old looking bright floral pattern t-shirt!

* a sign read "hot chips" "charcoal souvlaki" yumm burnt souvlaki anyone?

* another sign said "no alcohol zone. Max fine $2000" now thats a expensive drink!

* the new dr on days of our lives (given that Australia is waaaay behind thanks to cricket, tennis and golf) looks like Ben cousins!

* bought hubby a new razor today. interestingly it has a personal trimmer at the bottom powered by 1 AAA battery. Is shower OK.... Im not keen on the facial hair thing he has going on and he is pretty aware of it. If its there i prefer it short.. im just not into feeling facial hair when i kiss him... bleh!!!!!!!!!!!

Tia's first day of school! :)

On Monday 2nd of feb we had a interview/assessment time with Tia's teacher. We had to bring all the books and things we bought via the book list thru officemax or something like that. I was unsure whether the books had to be covered... in my school years it wasn't until high school or year 6 when they HAD to be covered. (i think because young kids go thru the books so quickly perhaps? but then our books were free and supplied by the government/school)
Anyways we did a crazy dash and had these covered just in time to leave! 8 books and 8.8m of contact later.. lol Tia wanted lil bratz covering. But i thought it would be to distracting.. i could envision her in class just looking at the bratz pictures and tuning out everything else! So I found a optical illusion pink and red metallic contact instead and cute lil bratz name stickers.

Its a good 30min walk to her school. Its lovely when the weather is nice.... but in the heat there isn't much shade on the way :( She has a school hat, supplied by the school that stays at school. So i bring along a hat from home so she has some sun protection on the way home.When tia gets to school she puts her bag in a line and goes off to play in the sand pit or equipment in the fenced off prep area. When the bell goes she has to get in the line, take out her classroom water and a piece of fruit & put her bag on. Once the teacher says they may go in she walks in to the bag room and puts her bag in her cubby hole.Then she is meant to put her class water bottle & fruit on her name on a special desk and sit down on the floor. The past 2 days (friday and monday) ive noticed she skips putting her bag away (as she has her hands full already with the water and fruit) and puts her water and fruit away and then the teacher or aid will notice she is in the classroom (about to be fully dsitracted by kids, toys etc) with her bag on her back! LOL!

Adventures of Lil Alyssa

Hello! My name is Alyssa ;) This is my adventure.... (pic below is me in my new playpen.. read on ;) )

Im a bit young to put 2 and 2 together.. or even know about numbers... but i kinda figure that this new "playpen" bought from a toyshop! who knew my fav shop (other than a milk bar) sold such a contraption! (note to: Tommy from rugrats mine has no door.. screwdriver hidden in nappy is useless what do you suggest?) At least this keeps my toys within a 1m radius... which i suppose is a plus.. anyways im a bit young to know how to keep on track.. but i noticed ive rambled and to finish my point i guess this is why i got a "playpen"....


My big sister was given hot cross buns for breakfast... i found them really nice!! I think plate sizes should come in baby sizes (as in floor sized!)

Next on my big sisters my menu was strawberries! You thought strawberries would be too hard? think again! I have the bite of a shark (whatever they are.. some sort of furry cat thing?) my mum says that alot when i catch her unawares *sneaky grin* Im on the "baby led solids" diet so i'm really into feeding myself, trying new things (i hate eating purree stuff now too.. like how uncool is untextured drippy stuff in a jar! Am i spoilt or what!! *angel smile*)

Here is proof that i did take a break from the crawling/rocking pose & comando crawling (using my toes, legs straight) duties... i can stay still for awhile.. Anyways i really had a thing for wanting to chew electrical cords (like the furry cats).. and there is alot of them where my mum & dad like to be.. not to mention i liked to play with the volume control of the surround sound especially early in the morning.. i also managed a trek into the kitchen all by myself where i discovered a powerpoint.. (but my mum was watching me) and i also managed to get around the side of the couch, my head or bottom stuck under the couch (thanks mum & dad again)

Also its a shot of my new 24/7 milk source... its like mum in a way... only it doesn't scream when i bite it *which i think is funny* I can't pinch it like mum.. but i can hold it the way i want to without being wrestled by my mum which is a plus! I know i need to roll onto my back before i can have it. i know that if i loose my bottle, i can roll over grab it, roll back and stick it in my mouth! You can imagine how long that took to ace! (actually not very long..)

Thanks for reading! :) If you like my story be sure to give me credit and milk.. lots of milk hehehehehehheheehehehehehehehhehehehehehehhehehehehe!!!!! j/k

Hope & Joy a historic day

Well you'd have to be away on a no contact retreat or a underground bunker to NOT hear bout what happened today..

Obama has coated our tv hours much like the solid chocolate (milk, dark or white) on a magnum ice cream.. no doubt we started to suffer after the 6th hour of obama-news... (morning show, 4.30ppm news, 5pm? news, 6pm news, 6.30pm Current affairs, 7pm news.. every news update inbetween... the replays of the walk down penslyvania ave to car, the Beyonce .."Aaaattt lahssssssssssstt..... my love" obama's waltzing, the lemongrass yellow to the ball gown all beautiful... gah x.x

much like that magnum... the chocolate is irrestible, amazing.... and towards the end youre feeling a little bloated and not so keen anymore. (no offence)

I do have (magnum craving aside) a big expectation now.. There is Hope again! (not that ive had hope b4 or anything. Im just older now.. my priorites are higher than the price of a icy fruit cup from the school canteen lol)

Obama has the task of cleaning the chopping board of bush's mistakes (iraq, terror suspects & their rights, economy, regulation of banks n lenders, education, health care).. there will be that stain left ingrained in the chopping board.. but with some good coarse salt im sure Obama will get it clean! ;) Well we are all hoping anyways.. Seems his first act already done (and we all thought he was busy waltzing and groovin with beyonce eh?!) A halt to the military trials of those terror suspects for 120 days.. hmmm interesting. But he sees more than just fixing Bush's errors and ways.. i thought he hinted at starving countries, dictators (mugabe yeah?) Well with a clean chopping board why not put it to use and create some masterpiece eh?

Off the boob..

Just thought you might be interested in a update..

Im happy and sad... Its just like last time too (with Tia now 5yrs old)!

Ive breastfed Alyssa for 6months and 2 days. What was different this time around is Im Pregnant and my nipples r sooo sensitive.. also Alyssa has had a 4-5pm bottle every day since she was 5months? Tia however went from all breast milk to all bottle. I stopped with Tia as i was Over the leaking thru the night, leaking thru the day, leaking during feeding.. messy side of breastfeeding...
This time my supply seemed to even out or even drop some days i suspect due to falling pregnant. So i had a earlier relief of that wet feeling!

On saturday morning I got the WORST bite from her i screamed! It was sore all day (preggy sensitivity not helping) I put off feeding her breastmilk till the afternoon.. i felt her go for a bite and took her off.. I put it off again till the 5.30am sunday feed and felt her go for a bite and took her off & put her to bed. (she did feed one side and apparently that was enough for a hour) Each time the fear would build up more and more.. ive gotten thru fear of baby on my nipples alot with Alyssa a few times now.. but enough was enough. (Alyssa hates the nipple shields now lol)

So im happy that i no longer have to hide away in a parents room to feed her.. happy that she could even go to occasional care.. you know just that relief knowing if im not around (like out shopping) she can be fed by anyone (minus tia)

Its also pretty cool as Alyssa is awesome at holding her bottle. Her hands would pinch, scratch and be sooo busy when i breastfed her.. for a long time i would have to wrestle her little hand/arm as she liked to push my boob like she was holding a bottle.. not nice!

She is on some pretty expensive :/ formula at the moment..its nice this time around that she isnt on the cheapest formula like tia was (from memory it was a nestle tin)
Alyssa is on "s26 gold alpha pro. 0-6months" How on earth do they come up with a name that?! Whats so Gold about it? (besides the amount of $gold u spend on it!)
Anyways the biggest downside is we all HATE the smell of it! IT SMELLS LIKE VOMIT!!!

Alyssa may have vomited maybe 5 times when she was on breastmilk. she was awesome (unlike her sis who didnt have reflux but just the normal lil spew with burp) However now on formula she does puke after a feed.. probably due to the fact that once she has finished her bottle she is up on her tummy (and sometimes hands and knees) getting around on the floor. :) So that probably is the cause of it..

That's right, Alyssa will be crawling in a few days. At the moment she is awesome at "comando crawling" (on tummy using toes to go forward) shes had turning around while on tummy down pat for awhile now too... lately its been alot of up on hands and knees rocking while sometimes a hand might move or the knees might move just a little bit..so shes taken a few one-off crawl steps.

More of Christmas 08

chair decoration
Christmas dinner meat on the table
hubby with his big helicopter.. flown it once and shredded a butterfly :/
Asha not sure on the new "carpet"
Alyssa chewing on a little box.. girls with santa hats on.. Tia got one with "bah-hum bug!" written on it.. not knowing how 2 read or what it meant she didnt care..

Christmas 08 phots just a tad late..

Happy bubby in her new dress! With Granma Rose
Tia in her new dress with a bubble blower from Grandma Kay
Alyssa eating christmas wrapping.. (i knew i 4got 2 serve something at christmas dinner lol!)
Uncle Mat & Grandad Leo with their helicopters
Alyssa approving of a picture? lol..

random pics

All the bubs taking a nap on the office floor today. Alyssa just woke up!



My cheap shoes that broke :) Yes happy, have new shoes!!

The naughty kittens caught in the pram.. NOT HAPPY SAM! (sam.. pram.. get it.. ugh..)
If its not the pram its the cot?! If its not those 2 places its the rocker?!

The christmas list

Tia has gone into bratz. We have avoided the barbie/bratz thing for awhile now and now she is old enough that she is influenced heavily by her friends, tv advertising and what she sees in the toy section whether its k-mart or the tiny toy section at safeway/woolworths. Our next door neighbour has bratz everything... and to Tia she is a bratz and every other girl is a bratz and sometimes even her mum is a bratz.. lol! I did want to get her a 6-7 pack of disney princesses (made by mattel?) this year they even had a mulan doll? i missed out last year as target sold out.. and ive probably missed out this year too.. considering b4 they went on special there was just 3 left! They were $45 on special and $59 not on special. I know that she is getting a Yasmin doll today, but considering how every bratz comes in glamour, skii, etc themes... ah well i'll find out soon enough which yasmin it is..

James is buying himself a bigger remote controlled helicopter. he has checked them out and says they wont fly around in circles like his mini ones!

Alyssa gets??? well lol, she has been spoilt plently already... but ive bought her a dress for christmas day, and goodness knows maybe she will get the matching mummy dummy set to her current "daddys little girl", "i love my daddy" dummies... however much it makes me wince that the 2 cost $13-$15! (for dummies???!!! that get lost all the time.. lol well not that these ones have!)

I will get??? ummm.... perhaps some new jeans and another pair of shoes??

Oddities, Solids, Poo & biting..

I realized something odd, peculiar today... on the usual walk to pick tia up from kinder, something i do 2 days a week.. and i never thought about this before until today. Its no biggie.. no "scoop".. (so if i talk it down will it then be more interesting?) err.. anyways..
Ive said before that the suburb in which i live has a macdonalds on a main road (just like back in newcastle it too had a jenny craig office next to it for a bit, until they pulled out. Right next to maccas, across the road from korean food, henny penny, subway, dominos and the cheesecake shop! LOL! ) anyways this maccas in my current 'burb, opposite it is ww office and on its other opposite is jenny craig. ww has the better spot as its neighbour is subway and more in the hub (some of us are just to lazy to cross one more set of traffic lights away from the hub?)

and as i was walking.. (no biggie.. like dont be disapointed..) i thought it was odd that right next to a "all you can eat" resturant was a gym! I immediately thought, you know had any of the health junkies thought or dreamed on binge eating and then going back to a spin class? lol.. had anyone looked at their reflection in the tinted windows of the resturant and then hurried over for a gym membership. I also thought, well they have cardio tv... do you feel odd walking or running on the treadmil while watching a hungry jacks commercial? or feel the need for drive thru kfc or red rooster to feed the family?

I hate walking past the gym when theres a spin cycle class on... you can see right in on the 2nd floor.. all these people sweating away and I just swear that their sweaty faces and tired legs just get a sudden burst of energy as they watch all that wobbles on this body of mine as i walk into their view! lol.

When walking past a gym i always try to see if anyone rode a bike... i dont know if that screams louder gym monkey or health freak.. or whether it makes those who drive to and from the gym lazy? Very judgemental i know... something i will have to break. Inconsiderate too, i mean what if their shedules dont allow even watching the news? or what if they live 3 suburbs away.. or what if they spend all their disposable income on gym they can't afford a bike, or what if they have some medical condition? or what if they dont want to risk their lives riding on the same road with bad drivers? There are no airbags on bikes.. no 'safety cage'...

Yes i am on a roll with ranting tonight!!!!!! and i thought i was tired? or maybe im overtired and cranky! lol!

to the subject of poo...
(nah this isn't going as down hill as you think....)
Alyssa occasionally has a bottle, altho its once a day.. if that! If i need to be leaving the house in 5mins and she is screaming.. a bottle! If i will be out during her next feed and have no option for privacy then i will take a bottle (not yet, but i think for tia's kinder concert last day party where i will be staying, i guess...) and if ive had enough of biting, tender and fearful that im going to be nibbled on again.. BOTTLE! Ive long had the "if you bite YOU WILL BE WEANED!" thing going on.. Tia bit me a few times around 7 months and that was it! But this time around i wanted to get past the biting, had i known Alyssa would be teething at 3months old!!!!??!!! I might have changed my mind bout that!!!..

Alyssa has also started solids (2 weeks now? off/on 1/2 a little jar at 6pm after a feed. She has moved that screaming down the house time from 8pm to 6pm! Feeding at 10-12, 2-3, 5-6 and cranky wanting out of bed & cuddles by 6.40-7am right when we are trying to get the last minutes of sleep!

Alyssa dislikes rice cereal.. and so the odd thing is she is completely on bought pureed carrot baby food(i dont have a blender). She loves it! Not into apple (like Tia) but carrots and it must have been on special as i have a ton of carrot baby food in the pantry! I think i'll start to add a bit of carrot to rice cereal (is meant to be more digestible) and freeze the rest of the jar in ice cube trays (as it says keep for 48hrs)

Her poo went from a odd smelling baby breast bub yellow poo (which i really like AS its a newborn, young baby thing i suppose.. it only lasts awhile & then its brown and being used as a art tool or in a nappy left on the floor by a bare bum toilet training toddler) to a brown, with occasional runny patches of watery carrot (gee i hope no 1 is eating this.. i mean lol. i hope no 1 is eating while reading this.. lol..) and the last 2 days she has had little hard stools.. so i think she is constipated! x.x Surely she can't have poo with any sort of form/hardness yet?!

247 photos downloading....

This week i remembered to buy AA batteries... after much deliberation at woolworths, trying to remember the adds did the duracel bunny over take the everready battery guy or vice versa?? lol.. and then comparing the huge packs of 16/20something batteries to the price of the woolworths select? brand of batteries (which work out to be $1 each in a 4 pack) and decided on a pack of 16 duracell batteries for $16 or $17 which is almost the same (on special this week)

I am just now downloading the movies and pictures off the camera that were on it before the batteries died (all other batteries in the house for remotes etc did not have enough juice left to power it) The pictures go back to around august 10th-ish when Tia did not have a fringe (self inflicted) and now its almost time for a fringe hair cut for her.. soon she will have a straight fringe (kinda hard not to notice it being right in the middle of her forehead!)

Hopefully will get some photos out to family & close friends and post some here too. I need to get a photo of Alyssa smiling since she has been doing that for awhile now.. and i need to get a picture of our neighbours flowering plum tree/cherry blossom tree as it looks totally funky like the branches are pink sausages.. lol.. just masses of flowers!

We survived the gale force winds alright... had to move Tia's cubby house back on the deck a few times as the wind was strong enough to push it! Unfortunately the roof on the deck suffered some damage am yet to get the info over to agents.. my bad.. so busy, forgetfull and all..

Nori has gone missing, she did her usual rush out of the house at a time of oppurtunity (door opened or left opened) on saturday/sunday and hasnt been seen since. Hopefully she will turn up again soon, everyone keeps saying that cats do often go away for a week and come back again.. so hopefully she will!

Hubby decided to re-format our pc and has yet to put it back to how it was, with my login etc.. all our photos are on his portable HDD that he takes everywhere he goes.. otherwise id have a flyer out already with Nori's pciture on it.. *sigh* i miss my bookmarks i had on that pc also... u know how it is with computers.. u have everything set up just fine and then its gone... i dont have the time to put it back to how it was/how i like it

Ive been kiinda avoiding the laptop & pc as it seems the instant i go to post or comment Alyssa wakes up from her sleep!

Tia has had a cold and has a bad red mark under her nose from using toilet paper?!! to wipe her nose (and i gave her a box of tissues and the next morning they are all used and all over the floor in her bedroom... not happy!!!)

have to leave this here... as Alyssa is awake and wanting cuddles/milk/nappy/burping one or a few of the above..

what a day...

Oh boy!!
or rather..
Oh Girl!!

Today it rained.. of course it did.. weve had nothing but rainy days for 2 or 3 weeks straight!! The grass path next door (short cut to shops) is a sloppy, slippery mud path now... its almost like walking on ice, but its mud?!

All week ive been at home, finish the 11am-midday feed and then off to the shops, as a pram ride will normally put alyssa straight to sleep. But today i had no urge to go out! I thought id see how we all would cope being stuck inside with the rain. (seeing as Tia has been told to clean her room all week, yet being out so often for so long, means its still in a bombshell state..)

This is how my day went;
Feed alyssa 6.45am, burp, she fell asleep in our bed, get out of bed without waking alyssa. Have quick shower, get bra off clothes line, get dressed fully, make coffee, drink coffee, alyssa wakes up, finish feeding alyssa, burp, she falls asleep, put her down on couch, find all the bowls have not been washed by the dishwashing faeries change brekkie plans, alyssa wakes up and cries, make brekkie, scoff it down while settling alyssa with a dummy. place alyssa in the pram, quickly pick up mess off the floor thats been there all week, move boxes, put a quick load of washing on, vac the floor, settle alyssa, change nappy, play with alyssa and tia. think about lunch, feed alyssa watching dr phil, alyssa falls asleep in cot, phone rings 3 times and stops & washing machine beeps alyssa wakes up (of course while im on the toilet, when else do home phones ring?! lol) settle alyssa, eat icecream.. change nappy, feed alyssa, successfully get off couch and walk to bedroom without waking alyssa, put alyssa down in cot, alyssa wakes up instantly, settle alyssa, alyssa sleeps 10mins, alyssa wakes up.. and now its 5.30pm! ARGH!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hubby comes home.. alyssa falls asleep

Nori update **** she is in heat AGAIN!**** FULLY INSANELY IN HEAT!
Tom cat has pee-d out the front & is stinking out my house (having serious thoughts bout getting one of those automatic every 15mins room spray things) and i thought male mice STANK! (like 10 male mice.. but no this tom cat STINKS!) The tom calling doesnt bother me, when im asleep i have the ability to sleep thru james alarm going off (at the moment anyways).. just cant sleep thru alyssa starting to wake or alyssa crying (which james can sleep thru) Previously didnt know there was any other cats on our street.. so no idea what this tom looks like.. The tom has found Nori as she has been outside a fair bit.. and today i did not want to deal with all 3 girls wanting my attention, all 3 making noise.. 2 is enough!! Id just like Nori to fall preggy have her kittens and get her desexed!! which is what ive wanted from the start (the desexing bit.)

Alyssa Grace easy arrival birth story 14/07/08

Thank You Maria for the cute bunny hat & slippers!

Alyssa grace easy arrival 14/07/08
(or at least i think it was, lol)

Hubby and I had spent the weekend yet again trying to bring the labour on... only to get tons of pre-labor pains that would last all day.. just being a pain! In the end it left me tired and cranky! Monday arrived and i asked hubby to chuck a sickie, i wanted him to stay home with me. (so he did, just so happened he wasnt feeling great and had a headache that wouldnt leave even with pain killers) I decided that i would avoid anything that would bring on those pains, so sex, curries, walking were off the list! I had a huge urge to clean the windows and frames in our bedroom behind our blinds that i had noticed bots of mould starting to grow and used alot of undiluted tea tree oil. I started getting pains, i was somewhat excited and somewhat skeptical. I hadnt done anything on purpose, maybe it was going to be this time? I kept cleaning those windows! (theres alot of them in our room)
The pains were starting to last longer and get more painful!
I kept going to the toilet, keen on seeing a show! But with no luck!
I finished on the windows and started to play a bit of uno on the xbox360 to take my mind of it, like i did the other times...until it got really painful!! I finally had a show and was thrilled!!! woohoo!!!!! i then puked (how lovely) and hubby said he would clean it up.. (well i wasnt going to!)

The bub was on its way.. when a contraction hit, i closed my eyes, leant over the baby change table in our room or on the walls if i was in the hallway, swinging my hips around helped deal with the pain. I tried remembering that the pain was ok, not to panic and that it would soon be all over and finally we would know the sex of the baby and be in awe of that precious little bundle we had been waiting to meet! I also kept thinking to myself "darn whoever, whatever said, that you will know youre in full blown labour when your asking yourself why am i doing this again?" (this is bub & pregnancy number 2) I was certainly doing that, why did i choose to get pregnant again?! Why did i choose to re-live this pain?

I asked hubby to time the contractions and not to tell me what they were. When i asked 20-30mins later he said they were coming every 3-5mins and lasting 2minutes! ouch! He rang the labour-phone for the hospital... to which the midwife asked to speak with me, she started asking me for my info and another contraction hit and i passed the phone back to hubby without saying anything really but "oh God!" i felt pretty pissed off that for some reason my hubby wasnt good enough for them to get stupid stuff like my birth date and all that.. why they were asking again, i have no idea.. i was in the computer, been to my appts.. I didnt want to talk to them thats for sure, not when there was someone not in pain who could give them the info they were asking.

Hubby called up his bosses wife to please come get our girl (5yo) to look after (awesome people) she turned up half hour later with her grandkids in tow, much to the pleasure of our daughter! not only was her baby sis/bro on the way but now she would get to play with some kids while she waited!

Hubby then called up a taxi and it arrived pretty quick. I did alright on the 10min trip to the hospital, the bumps sucked (if only hospitals had a entrance to the hospital purely for women in labour that didnt have speed humps/bumps!!!!!) I didnt puke or have my waters break, so that was a relief!!! ROFL!

Arrived at the midwife desk at the ward and was directed into a small consult room. Where they wanted to ask more questions! Excuse me id like to fracking give birth and im still getting questioned?! argh!!!!!! I then found the results of my strep b test was negative (phew! Yay me!) I was then told again about not to be stupid, if i was bleeding bad they would give me the synto injection that i didnt want in my birth preferences. I did bring along my prenatal sheet and my birth preferences but for some reason hubby never handed them over.. My Bp was checked & was fine. The baby heartbeat was fine. It dragged out pretty long due to the contractions.. i was feeling them in my back mostly now and it really was painful. The midwife kept asking me if i wanted saline injections in my back to help get thru the pain, something about feeling like 4 mozzie bites.. i then was given a VE to which she replied i was already 8cms! (and that the saline injections she had offered to me was out of the question) i was given a white sheet to tie around my waist and i waddled down the hallway to the labour room with midwife & hubby in tow.
I kept getting asked if i felt any pressure... i think i did.. i worried that maybe i was pushing to early and part of me worried that i might be missing the cues to push and the bub would go into distress.. somehow i did get back into the zone, relaxed on the floor over the birthing bean bag on the floor and just pushed... it was then that i felt the baby move further down.. it was weird. With each little push i could feel the end getting closer! I was really so very happy. The midwife told my hubby to push a button behind him when she said so (that was just behind him & me) I pushed with each contraction, i dont remember what the pain was like at that time.. I gave 3 almighty pushes, the button was pressed, 2 other midwives (1 in training) came into the room.. someone said 'everything is bulging!' (odd how u remember the weird things) Then my waters broke.

The crowing this time didnt have that burning ring of fire of my first. No i think it happened a bit quicker? There was a ton of pain and i felt pain like a snip! I panicked and thought "oh crap they gave me a epistomy!(sp?)" I was breathing really fast, i heard the midwife say breathe slow and hubby repeated it and thats when it sank in and i calmed down. One last push and it felt like the body of the baby was being pulled out of me.. odd that it felt like that. i actually said "stop pulling the baby" lol.. (it wasnt being pulled out) 2nd stage lasted 8mins! (it felt much longer than that)
I moved from hugging the bean bag to sitting on my knees and picked up our little girl. She was gorgeous, all covered in vernix and screaming. lol. She did a bit of a poo before i picked her up and then 5mins later when i was holding her she peed on me!

I was then told by the midwife that i had a hour to deliver the placenta and bubs to have delayed cord clamping and if the placenta wasnt delivered in that hour id have to have the injection. I was shaking and getting cold, which i knew was a bad sign. However i delivered the placenta naturally. The placenta was complete but the membrane wasnt complete, i think tho it came out in the shower afterwards (sorry TMI) 3rd stage lasted 15mins!

I was asked if they could use my placenta in one of the classes. Which i agreed too, i was amused that my placenta was going to gross alot of mum n dads to be out! ROFL!
I was then told i had a graze and it didnt require stitches, thats the snip pain i felt!!!
I completely forgot about the advice id heard to kiss or laugh during labour to help with the pain. I got thru it pretty alright anyways without any meds..
The midwives were all so happy afterwards. Im really relieved that i only had 1 midwife thru the whole thing. (only later when i did the forms did i see that the midwife made a mistake on the medicare form saying she was born in august! whoops!)

we were left alone for quite some time, hubby had some skin to skin time with her... I noticed that our little girl was tongue tied (like her dad was)

and thats about it!
My dinner/lunch was plain cheese sandwich (already eaten), some sort of tomato soup, orange jelly and tea :( (i didnt have the soup)