Author: Renae

Living life as a wife, a stay at home mama of 3 kids under 5, a marriage celebrant, a craft and sewing amateur, a cooked breakfast lover, coffee enthusiast, extroverted socialite, and most recently, someone who is trying to keep a tidy house. It's tough I tell you!

Labour intensive

/ Renae / Leave a comment

I’ve never actually gone into what they call spontaneous labour so it’s kind of funny to me that, even after having three kids, I don’t know what going into labour naturally feels like. If this was my first baby I would have thought I was in labour a few times by now, with the crazy aches and pains and other stuff that need not be mentioned on the blog. But as it is, I’m sitting pretty at 39 weeks and the baby isn’t budging. Moving yes. But not in an outward-bound direction.

Which is okay because a) Hubs doesn’t have time off work until towards the end of May; b) I’m still waiting on something for the baby capsule and c) we don’t have a boy’s name agreed on. So yeah, as per usual at 39 weeks pregnant I’m still not prepared.

I used to be organised. Ask anyone. Having kids either makes you more organised or you just lower your standards and do what your need to do to get through the day. I’m living the latter at the moment and we’re doing just fine.

Due one week tomorrow. Assuming I’ll be induced two weeks tomorrow. We shall see!

Another day, another playground

/ Renae / Leave a comment

Oh the joys of the playground visit. I mean don’t you just love it? I always thought that as a parent I would love taking my kids to playgrounds. It’s like free babysitting, right?

Wrong.

It turns out that the humble playground can, as well as bringing out the best in my children, bring out the worst in them. And in me. The constant requests of “can you push me on the swing?” The complaints of sand in eyes. The tantrums and disagreements with other people’s kids. The repeated asking for snacks and water. The judgement from other mums if I check my phone for too long. The panic I feel when I look up to do a head count and can’t find Darby. (In fairness, if the playground isn’t gated I don’t let him out of my sight.)

Also in fairness, this kind of trip to the playground doesn’t happen too often. Mostly my kids have a good time and can amuse themselves for up to two hours. They make friends with other kids there and have a great time.

We discovered a new playground today that had some of my favourite features: It was fully fenced; it was nowhere near a road,  it had a bench seat inside the fence, there were public toilets (though by some miracle we didn’t have to visit them even once!); it was very quiet and had all the favourite pieces of equipment; it was very shady. We were there for nearly two hours and the kids had a blast.

There were a few other kids here at various stages but we had the place to ourselves for the final half hour. Thankfully it was a very successful playground trip. We’ll be coming back to this one for sure!

He was a scooter boy

/ Renae / Leave a comment

Had an awesome-sauce morning of scooting and biking at the local school. Such fun and so much cuteness. Yes that is my (current) youngest at almost two-and-a-half. Definitely not a baby anymore. Just ask him.

Prep time is over

/ Renae / Leave a comment

Good bye Gran. See you in a couple of weeks!

I definitely feel more prepared than a week ago which was exactly the point of having Mum here for the week. That and the kids absolutely adore having their Gran here. Predictably, one of the first things Darby asked when he saw Gran was “where’s Grumpy?” Thankfully they will both be back in a couple of weeks for baby go-time.

There is definitely something conforting about having your mum around, isn’t there? It’s like “it’s okay everybody. There’s a real adult here to do some proper adulting. She knows what she’s doing. We can all relax.”

So it’s back to doing my own washing and folding and parenting now. The break was nice thanks Mum. See you soon xxx

Remember this time, Wifey

/ Renae / Leave a comment

The anticipation. The wait. The unknown. We are only days/weeks away from meeting our baby and there are so many unknowns. Is it a boy or girl? How will the labour go? Will I go into labour on my own? If not, when will I be induced? If it’s a boy, what will we call him???? (Seriously. No idea. Send suggestions immediately.) How will the kids react and adjust?

We have finally had some time and space to do some serious nesting thanks to mum being here and Hubs having days off (but working nights) and it’s great to just get things done.

I’m definitely feeling more prepared now. Just have to make a labour play list ?

Maternity bag: packed

/ Renae / Leave a comment

Mum arrived last night and today was a flurry of activity around here. While she took Quinn & Darby out for the morning I went through all of the kids clothes, past present and future, ranging in sizes from 00000 (I got rid of those – no newborn of mine will ever be a size 00000) to size 8. I sorted and culled and sorted some more. I have 10 or so “neutral” outfits for the baby as well as a few blues and pinks ready to roll out.

I also put away some of the kids clothes that they had outgrown, and added some others that will now fit them. I do this probably twice a year and it’s very satisfying. I will be doing it to my wardrobe at some stage as well but not this week!

I hit the shops this arvo to buy some must-haves for my maternity bag and for the first few days with the baby. I need to remember that, if I need to go shopping again in the next couple of weeks, to go in the morning, because this baby really comes alive in the afternoon and evenings. And I can tell you that walking around Stockland with a 38 week old kicking and head-butting and squirming around, stopping me in my tracks and taking my breath away, was quite the site to see.

It was so great to finally get a few things started AND finished IN THE SAME DAY!

Tomorrow being a public holiday will most likely entail lots of clearing out and tidying up and just generally making the house feel a bit more roomy. It’s amazing how much “space” a tiny little baby can take up!

 

Mum arrives tonight

/ Renae / Leave a comment

I put the call out to Mum last week to see if she could come up for a few days to help with the kids while I prepare for the baby. I have a huge to do list but am finding it impossible to do things like sort through clothes, prepare the bassinet and washing the car seat covers, as Darby likes to “help” me with things.

It will also give Hubs and I a chance to spend a bit of time together before the fog of having a newborn sets in. Oh and sleep. I’d also like to have a bit more sleep which might help me get all my jobs done.

The ensuite is also getting close-ish to being nearly finished with the tiling and hopefully fittings being put in this week.

It’s hard to believe we’ll be meeting our baby in the next few weeks! So much is going to change and it will be interesting to see how the kids react and adjust. So many baby cuddles to be had and lovely memories to be made.

But first my to do list! See you soon Mum! I think I’m the most excited about your visit!