Pondering the little things

I like to sometimes sit quietly with a cup of coffee and my journal and stop to ponder the wonderful little things that make my life so sweet. These days those times don't seem to happen as often as I would like. Usually my time is spend with my sweet boys, or during nap time eating, showering and doing chores.

Just yesterday I heard some sad news about a family I love. They are going through a difficult crisis right now and my heart breaks for them. At the same time I felt the need to stop and ponder once more on the blessings I have been given. I know it is only by the grace of the Lord that I have the life I have. I have had my own dark times, and probably will again. Even now I have days that are tough, with a toddler and an infant both crying for me at the same time, while I go without sleep, food and even a shower to meet their needs.

Then this morning I watched Aiden as he stopped playing just to give his baby brother a hug. There is so much love shown in that tiny little gesture. It is so beautiful to see the smile spread across both their faces when the first see each other after naps. Aiden is becoming a lot more expressive of his emotions right now. Every day sees new depth come out. He has recently learned how to express excitement. How adorable to watch him raise his shoulders, clench his fists and tense his face when he gets excited. I love to hear him say Amen when we pray together. He even will ask to pray and for his daily bible time.

Seth is also finding his voice. He will squeal with excitement when he sees me. He giggles when his brother plays with him and when we all sing silly songs together. He will also sometime just squeal and yell just to hear his own voice. Listening to my baby boy is truly one of the sweetest sounds on earth.

A little thing that has really been blessing me recently is thanks to my wonderful, thoughtful husband. Rob has been getting up extra early to go to work so that he can get things done before the rest of his team arrives in the morning. With Seth still feeding through the night it has become rare for me to manage to get up with Rob. Yet most mornings when I do get up to start the day I am blessed with hot coffee ready and waiting for me. Rob will pour some of the coffee he has made into a thermos so that I can have my first cup of the day without having to actually brew the coffee. Its a little thing, but it blesses my heart knowing that he has been thinking of me when he is getting up so early to go out to work.

Now that I've squandered some of that precious nap time writing this I need to go and finish some chores and dinner preparation before either of the boys wake back up.

May your days be filled with the abundance of the little blessings too.

Getting Organized

After getting unpacked from our move I have started trying to get more organized. With two under two on different nap schedules I often have days where the boys tag team their naps. This leaves me with very little time when they are not needing my attention to do chores. So I have challenged myself to get smarter about chores. I really want to protect the evening and weekend hours when Rob is home to keep them chore free (or at least to only have minimal chores.)

So far I have made progress in the following areas:

Laundry

Instead of my old routine of laundry once a week I now try to do one load every day, with two loads on the three days a week I do diapers/nappies. It seems easier now to deal with a small amount of laundry as part of the daily routine now that I don't have the luxury of time to devote a whole day to the task.

Cleaning

I've made myself a monthly spreadsheet of every single cleaning task. I print it out once a month and put it on the fridge. When something gets cleaned I tick the box for that day & week. It has made it easier to keep a track of what has been done and what still needs to be done. It also gives me accountability as Rob can see at a glance how much has been done on any given day. I also set the kitchen timer for 10 minutes a couple of times a day when just Aiden is awake. I clean for those 10 minutes then do something with him as a reward for being patient for that time. This is how I get everyday things like emptying the dishwasher and sweeping the kitchen floor done. It also reminds me to give Aiden some undivided attention too.

Meals

We still use our 8 week menu plan. However we have realized that there are occasionally days where dinner isn't going to be ready on time. So now I also have extra sides (like mac'n'cheese) prepared and in the freezer for those "meltdown" days. On those days where getting into the kitchen, or putting the baby down, has been impossible I'll take out a side dish and call Rob to pick up some cooked chicken on his way home from work. That way we still get a healthy meal on time, and we don't spend as much money as we would if we just got regular take out food.

We have also made a commitment to not buy bread products this year. Just before Christmas I invested in the book "Healthy Bread in 5 Minutes a day" and it has spurred me back to making bread. I hope to write a review of this book as soon as time allows, so I won't elaborate here. I'll just say since using this technique I've had no excuse not to have fresh bread whenever we need it.

Another new dimension to our food routines is having "easy to eat right now" food available for during the day. I am trying to keep to a minimum how much time I spend in the kitchen when Rob isn't home. At the same time now that Aiden can tell me when he is hungry he is asking to eat about once an hour (he is a grazer like his Daddy.) When Aiden asks for food he doesn't want to wait 5 or 10 minutes while I make something. So I am trying to keep a good stock of food already prepared ahead of time. These days our fridge is generally full with tubs of such foods. We like things like potato salad, tuna salad, cheese sticks, sliced roast beef (roasted and sliced at home,) boiled eggs, fruit and our one indulgence is animal crackers (which we call cookies here.)

Well that is about all I've got time to share for today, as Aiden is calling for his Mama.

What things have you found that help you stay more organized?

End of the silence

I can hardly believe how long I've been away from blogging. These last several months have been busy.

It took me a good two months to recover physically from birthing Seth. This recovery came just in time for us to move. We had decided earlier in the year that once our lease was up at the apartment we would move closer to where Rob works. The actual move came at the end of October. Rob went from commuting 45 minutes each way to less than 10 minutes. This would free up an extra hour a day for him to spend with the children. I certainly don't recommend trying to pack up a home while still recovering from childbirth, but it did give us time to settle in before my parents arrived for a visit in November.

Less than two weeks after our move we welcomed my parents, over from Scotland to meet their youngest grandchild. It was a delightful time watching my parents enjoy and get to know both of my boys. Aiden had been less than a week old when they last held him in their arms. Aiden has a whole new understanding of who his Gran and Papa are. He has been talking to them by video chat on Skype for over a year, but now he got to see them in the flesh. He is much more responsive to them now during our weekly Skype chat. As always the visit was over too quickly and my parents returned to Scotland on Thanksgiving Day.

All too soon it was on to preparations for Christmas. Rob and I were blessed to have the opportunity to complete our Christmas shopping while my parents were visiting. A couple of times we were able to go out by ourselves after the boys had both gone to bed. It was not only a very rare treat for us as a couple, but it also allowed us to complete gift shopping much more expediently than would otherwise have happened. I usually make a large selection of cookies/biscuits for the festive season. This year the selection was somewhat slimmed down mostly due to trying to juggle the needs of both boys with finding time to get into the kitchen.

Christmas Day was our normal low key celebration. We had a Skype video chat with my family in the morning. We also choose to only unwrap a few gifts in the morning. We didn't want Aiden to get overwhelmed by all the new things, so we staggered them through the day. Rob and I had our annual indulgence of Malawian coffee, and got to enjoy a cup together when we managed to have both boys napping at the same time. Later in the day Papaw & Gigi arrived for a few days. We unwrapped more gifts after nap time then feasted with a four course dinner that included our now traditional roast lamb. Again it was a delight to watch the boys interact with their grandparents.

Now that it is January time is again flying by quicker than I would like. We have finally unpacked, but some of it still needs to be reorganized. Seth is slowly getting himself into a sleep/awake pattern. More predictability will certainly make planning our days easier. Aiden is beginning to show some signs that potty training is drawing closer. Rob has been trying to work less overtime, but so far has been working longer hours rather than shorter. Hopefully February will see our life settle down a little, and my blogging becoming more frequent again.

I hope to share more details of some of our busy months with you in the coming days. Meanwhile here are a few pictures of the boys to enjoy.

Aiden just after we moved in October

Seth, dressed for his baby dedication in November

Aiden sharing a hug and sleepy bear with "Bubba" Seth

Seth's first Christmas

Story time with Daddy

Seth's Birth Story

Warning, this post contains birth details.


Like my late pregnancy with Aiden, this time around I also had the "wonderful" experience of "false" labour from about 37 weeks onwards. At first these bouts of contractions were short lived and several days apart. They were easily recognised as "false" labour. They were not totally false in that they did progress my body in preparing for childbirth. As I neared my estimated due date these bouts of contractions became more frequent, usually happened late at night, and each time the experience got more intense and more like actual labour. My estimated due date went by, and I was now losing several hours of sleep every other night to contractions. I was tired. I was ready to meet our new baby. I felt done being pregnant. The baby however was in no rush to be born.

The day I was exactly 41 weeks we had a scheduled appointment with our midwife in the afternoon. Rob came home from work about 1pm so we would be ready to leave at 2pm for our 3pm appointment. We had lunch together. When Rob asked me how I was feeling that day I suddenly burst into tears. I had been up most of the previous night and was exhausted. We stood in the middle of our living room, Rob holding me in his arms while I cried into his shoulder. I felt foolish. I did not even know why I was crying. In just a few minutes the tears ended and we finished lunch before waking Aiden and leaving for our appointment.

The appointment that afternoon was probably the shortest one we ever had. We were only there about 40 minutes. We talked about having to schedule a biophysical profile if the baby did not arrive by the end of this week, and scheduled another appointment for a few days. Now that I was past 41 weeks I would be on twice weekly midwife appointments. We also talked about things we could do to encourage labour to start naturally. We left encouraged that everything was good with both Mama and baby.

We were not far from our midwife's home, stuck at a traffic light where there had been a car accident, when the first contraction hit. I waited until there had been a few before I said anything to Rob. This was the first time I had contractions in the afternoon, so I knew this was different. By the time we were half way home I knew without a doubt that this was the "real" labour. We decided to stop at WalMart on the way home, as we needed a few groceries, and it would give me an opportunity to walk around before we got back to our apartment. By the time we got home it was nearly 6pm, and I had a definite pattern to my contractions. Rob fed Aiden, gave him a quick bath and put him to bed for the night. It was about an hour earlier than his normal bedtime, but fortunately 15 month old boys are not known for their ability to tell what time it is.

Now that it was just the two of us we were able to focus more on the actual labour. Rob cooked a quick dinner while I worked through contractions on the birth ball. After we ate dinner we called our midwife to let her know labour had started, but that we didn't need her to come to us yet. We then called our friend who had agreed to come over during labour to look after Aiden. Our friend was still at work and we had to leave a voicemail for her. It was an hour later when she called back. She finally arrived about 9:45pm. We prayed together for the labour and birth once she arrived. By 10pm I was definitely in active labour. I had 3 strong contractions right on top of each other. Rob decided it was time to call our midwife back and ask her to come to us. Just a few minutes later I had another 2 contractions on top of each other. There was no longer any doubt that this was the night our baby was going to be born.

At some point soon after calling the midwife we moved from the living room to the bedroom. I kept trying different positions to progress labour, but I kept coming back to sitting on the birth ball. Rob sat behind me to help me keep my back relaxed. I sat on the ball with our bed in front of me so I could lean on it to rest between the contractions. Our friend leaned over the bed and held my hands so I could squeeze on her during the contractions. She also kept me calm by breathing through the contractions with me. By about 11pm I kept asking for a break, a rest. I was so tired and really wanted to have a short nap so I would have the energy to keep going. Rob said later that his thought when he heard me asking for a break was "Oh good we're in transition, its nearly over." Our midwife arrived about 11:20pm, but couldn't get in through the security gate as the dial up from the gate to our phone wasn't working properly. Rob had to leave and drive up to the gate to let her in.

Not long after I felt like I really needed to use the bathroom. I was reassured it was just pressure from the baby. However I knew I also really needed to use the bathroom. So Rob and I moved to the bathroom. Rob was my constant support throughout labour. I leaned on him during the contractions in the bathroom. I had just stood back up when another contraction hit, and I was overwhelmed by the need to push. It caught me by surprise as my body just pushed on its own. That first push burst my amniotic sack. Fortunately some of it went into the toilet, but most of it hit the floor, and Rob's foot. I had two more pushes before the contraction was over. Our midwife wanted to check to make sure I was fully dilated before I pushed again. I still had a small cervical lip, so she wanted me to not push for 15 minutes to give my body time to finish dilating. That 15 minutes was the hardest part of the whole process. She panted with me during the contractions so I could stop myself. It took every ounce of concentration I was capable of to stop my body, and even then the first push of each contraction still got through and I only managed to stop the other two pushes. By now our bathroom was getting crowded with our midwife sitting on the side of the bath, Rob and I standing by the toilet, and the assistant next to us trying to clean up some of the mess on the floor. I knew this was not how I wanted to birth this baby, so I asked to go back to our bed. It took about 4 contractions to actually move from the ensuite to the bed. I really did not like the sensation of pushing while upright. I finally made it onto the bed and tried one contraction on my hands and knees. Again I really didn't like this position, even though I thought I would before that point. This was when I ended up lying down on my side simply from not knowing what else to do. It felt so comfortable to push in that position, so I stayed on my side, lying across the bed. Rob started out at my head, holding the pillows in place while I pushed. After a few minutes he moved to behind me so I could lean my back on him slightly. The slightly tilted angle with back support was the most comfortable position I could find. I held on to the pillows under my head with my lower arm and gripped my upper thigh with the other arm. The midwife's assistant supported my feet.

Each contraction still had 3 definite pushes. I could feel the baby move down inside me during the contractions, then move back up slightly between while I rested. I knew that this happened, but I felt so strange to experience it. The only actual effort I had to make was to concentrate on my breathing to stay as relaxed as possible. I was focusing on the directed breathing I had learned form "The Pink Kit" childbirth preparation material. In doing this I allowed my body to do the pushing by itself. My body knew how to birth this baby. I just had to stay relaxed and let it happen. Once the head got part of the way out I could feel the sting of my skin being stretched to let the baby out. Again I focused on breathing and staying relaxed and letting my body do the work. Unknown to me at the time, the reason I felt the stinging was because the baby had a nucal arm, and the elbow was causing some over stretching that made a small tear, and left a few abrasions (also called skid marks.) With the head partially out the midwife could see the fingers against the baby's cheek, and she had to pull the arm out, out of the way to allow the head and then the shoulders to come out. At this point there was a brief break in the contractions. I decided to try to push the rest of the body out on my own, but nothing happened. I had to wait for the next contraction and the natural pushes to birth the rest of the body. The pause was only a minute at most, but it felt like a long time to have a partially born baby. He was finally completely born at 1:24am, just over 9 hours from when I had those first contractions at that traffic light.

As soon as the baby was born Rob got to be the one to see what gender the baby was. I was thrilled when I heard him announce we had another son. Throughout the pregnancy we both had felt like we were going to get a daughter, but in the moment there was only joy that Aiden would have a brother to grow up with, someone who could be his lifelong best friend. Because I was still lying on my side the baby was laid on the bed next to me. It was such a precious time having those first minutes to be lying next to each other and getting to know each other. I held his tiny little hand and talked with him until the chord stopped pulsing. Then Rob got to cut the chord and hold the baby for a few minutes while I moved to a more comfortable position on my back to deliver the placenta. As soon as I was in position at the top of the bed, in a half recline, I was given the baby back. We nursed for the first time at that point, and he had a very good latch and strong suck. It didn't take long for the placenta to come out once we started nursing. Finally the birth was over. I did however lose a lot of blood, so the midwife asked if she could give me a shot of pitocin to stop the bleeding. I was given just one shot in the leg, and it seemed to do the trick.

Lying side by side just after birth

It was then time for the midwife to check for any damage. This was when she found I had two internal abrasions that would need a stitch each and that the tear would need 3 stitches. I was given a shot to numb the area for stitching, but I could still feel the movement as she stitched me up. Once this was over with Rob got on the bed with us, and we were left alone just the 3 of us to become acquainted with each other. Our friend, who had been around for the entire process, made me a cup of hot tea to drink. Eventually I felt able to get up and use the bathroom. Rob held the baby, while the midwife helped me to the bathroom. Then once I was finished she helped me to clean up and change my clothes before I got back into bed. Once safely back in bed, and the baby back in my arms, it was suggested that I had something to eat. I was given some suggestions and finally settled on some scrambled eggs and toast, which Rob went and made for me. While Rob was gone to the kitchen our friend came and sat with me and the baby. After I had eaten our friend left to go home and get a few hours of sleep before she had to get back up for work again. The midwife and her assistant stayed in the living room to fill out some of their paperwork while Rob and I sat in bed and marveled at this new little boy the Lord had given us.

Getting acquainted in bed together

After completing some other paperwork with us, including the application for the birth certificate, our midwife and her assistant finally got to go home. It was now about 4am. We were now alone, just our little family in our home. Aiden was still sound asleep, and had no idea that when he got up in the morning he was going to meet his new baby brother. We decided to try and get some sleep before Aiden woke up. Rob dosed a little on the bed beside me. I held the baby in my arm, and even though I was exhausted I could not sleep. So I lay there watching our new son as he slept in my arm.

When Rob went later in the morning to get Aiden up, he told him he had a new brother. However when he brought Aiden into our bedroom and sat him on the bed to meet his baby brother Aiden refused to look at him. He looked at Rob, and even at me, but he refused to let his eyes meet with this tiny baby in Mama's arm. It took a few hours before the curiosity hit strongly enough for Aiden to finally want to meet his new baby brother. Once he did accept the presence of the baby he got excited about him. Every day he now asks about the baby when he first wakes up.

Mama's boys

Today Seth is 4 weeks old. In some ways it has been a very quick 4 weeks, in others it seems like we have always been a family of 4. I have found the adjustment to our new family dynamic interesting. Physically it has been a very different recovery from Aiden's birth. Then I had to recover from surgery and once I had the external staples removed at 6 days I no longer felt much pain. I did have to wait to be able to use my stomach muscles, and so mobility was more difficult after Aiden. This time I have had one small abrasion that is taking time to heal, and at 4 weeks postpartum it is still giving me some discomfort. However due to location I have been told it could be 6-8 weeks postpartum before it has healed completely. Despite this discomfort I would gladly repeat this experience. Having a home birth just 15 months after a c-section birth has been an incredible experience. I was able to see the amazing power of my body work to birth this baby. We got to have a peaceful beginning to Seth's life with us. He has never been separated from me, and was not subject to unnecessary testing or injections immediately after birth. As a result he feeds a lot better than Aiden ever did, and is gaining weight well.

Seth at 2 weeks old

At birth (or at least about an hour after) Seth weighed in at 9lb 8oz, 23 inches long and 14 1/4 inches for his head. At 3 days his weight had dropped down to 8lb 14oz. Then at 7 days his weight was back up to 9lb 10oz. He was last weighed again at 21 days and was then up to 10lb 10oz. By now (28days) he should be over 11lb.

I am filled with awe at the amazing design of childbirth. Learning how to work with my body to birth this baby has been a wonderful experience. Being able to birth in the comfort of my own home, surrounded only by those we chose to be there, made Seth's entrance into this world one of peace and tranquility. It has been a joy to make this journey together with Rob. It has bound us closer together as a couple, and strengthened us as a family. I mourn for those women I know who have been robbed of this kind of experience by a doctor who told them it is too dangerous to have a vaginal birth after a c-section. I rejoice that the Lord in His grace has allowed us to have such a wonderful birth.

I pray that our testimony may encourage others to try for a vaginal birth after c-section (VBAC), and maybe even to home birth.

I'm back to blogging.

I had no idea when I last wrote back in May that it would be nearly 5 months before I wrote again.

It was a long and very hot summer to be growing a baby inside while looking after a not quite a toddler. The pregnancy this time was much healthier than my previous one, but running around after Aiden every day and trying to prepare him for becoming a big brother didn't leave me much time for my blog.

Summer has past. Hard to believe it really is October already. We are now a family of four, and adjusting to a whole new dynamic. Seth Andrew was born at home September 7th at 1:24am. I'll share the full details of his wonderful birth story in another post soon.

We feel very blessed as a family. We have two wonderful boys only 15 months and 1 week apart in age. We are so happy our baby turned out to be another son. We just know that growing up together will have them be very close friends. Both boys are wonderful sleepers, and already at less than four weeks Seth has a fairly predictable sleeping pattern, and only wakes once during the night to feed, then again early in the morning at about the same time his daddy is getting up for the day. I've even been able to get both boys to take a nap at the same time most mornings, which gives me a bit a time to get some chores done with two hands. I'm very aware how wonderful this is when there is a newborn in the home.

I will try to keep the blog more up to date, although October does promise to be a very busy month for us as a family. I'll share more about that later in the month.

For now here are a few pictures of my wonderful boys.

May you all have a blessed day

Lyn

Contemplating the season of mothering babies.

Since it has been over a month since I last wrote anything here I feel that I should.

This past month has been a busy time in our household, and I just haven't felt inspired to write much. I've even gotten slack with replying to emails from friends. I think in part I'm just in a very introspective place right now, with my sweet baby boy reaching development milestones, and the new baby making their presence constantly known with visible movement in my belly.

Aiden is doing so well right now. He is a sweet and happy as ever. In this last month he has discovered the fun of standing up. He won't pull himself up to stand, but he loves to wriggle down from our knees to stand up. Rob keeps joking about how much Aiden is his father's son. Its all about putting in the least amount of effort to get the same result. After a couple of weeks of standing he is just this week beginning to graduate to a few side shuffle steps to reach toys that are out of reach. I know he is going to be cruising sometime in the next few weeks. Right now we are still working on balance, and I'm trying to teach him how to sit down from standing, and how to pull himself up. That will certainly make life easier on my back, than the constant leaning over I'm having to do right now. I am keen to have Aiden walking before the new baby gets here at the end of the summer, but I also know this smart little boy is going to develop at his own pace, as it suits him.

The pregnancy continues to go well. This new little one is almost as active as their big brother was at this stage. The biggest difference though is that this little one doesn't seem to be showing a preference for any particular position in the womb. Aiden was head down from as early as we could tell his position. This new baby likes to move around a lot more. They did spend a few weeks lying almost exclusively transverse, which did concern me. The last few weeks though have seen an almost constant change in position, with no particular favourite so far. I try to encourage the baby into a head down position, but there is still plenty of time before I actually need to have any real concern about that. I know some babies won't go head down until labour starts, especially after you've already had previous children.

My mind has very much been filled by motherhood and all that it entails recently. I've been meditating on the changing seasons of life. I've always been a writer. It is a huge part of who I am. I've always had a very strong desire to write, and often dreamed of becoming a published author one day. Just recently I've felt that the door to writing has been drawing closed, for this particular season of my life. For the first time ever the constant desire to express myself in written word just has not been there. There is no motivation, no inspiration, no desire to write. Yet I also feel that this is only for this season in my life. Eventually I'll go back to writing. Eventually I will no longer be the mother of small children. The season of my life will change once more.

Right now instead of writing I am sewing. We splurged on a new sewing machine last November and it is finally being used. It has taken up an almost permanent place at one end of our dinning table. So far most of my sewing has been for the new baby. I've made some tie-on cloth diapers and diaper soaker inserts. Then there are the tiny newborn size kimonos from recycled t-shirts Rob was ready to throw out. I even bought some fabric to make muslin swaddles, perfect for the heat of Florida towards the end of summer. I still have more kimonos cut and ready to sew, and I want to get some fitted diapers in newborn size made too. I have even ventured to make silk diaper liners that we can use for both Aiden and the new baby. The silk feels so much nicer against those delicate parts of their bodies.

Once the sewing projects are completed it will be time for the knitting needles. I have found some very cute patterns free online for some wool diaper covers. I also found some very reasonably priced wool online. Using wool covers will be so much nicer that PUL or plastic. I also have a couple of blankets I want to crochet for the baby. I made two for Aiden, and I'd like this new baby to have their own. Aiden loves his blankets. He loves the texture of the crochet and the feel of the yarn. I don't want him to feel like we are taking those blankets away from him to give to the new baby, so I need to make a few more.

I still have a few months before this new baby arrives, so I'm hopeful that will be plenty of time to get all my projects completed. And if the baby arrives while I'm still working on some, then that will be fine too. We have all the basics we need, and then some, from when Aiden was born. The best thing about babies is they don't care what colour they are wearing. They just want to be loved, fed and comfortable. Loved, fed and comfortable we can do even if another thing never got completed.

So sorry for being such a lazy blogger. I can't promise I'll be writing much more frequently in the next few months. I'll try, but life and babies happen, so I'll just have to try my best.

10 Months Already

Life has been more than a little full around here recently. We had two weeks where the whole family got ill, some kind of "flu like" cold that had us all doing little more than sleeping and occasionally eating. Then just as we were recovering our sweet little boy decided to get some live yogurt in his eye, and ended up with conjunctivitis. (Seriously, he won't eat baby yogurt, but loves natural live yogurt. Daddy was feeding him and Aiden grabbed at his spoon and in the process flicked yogurt across his face, and a little bit got in his eye.) The conjunctivitis resulted in a doctor visit and five days of eye drops to get rid of the infection. It took both of us to get that drop in his eye every morning and evening, and it was still not an easy feat with a wriggly 10 month old.

10 Months Old, April 1st 2011

Despite the illness it has been fun around our home. Aiden has gained more mobility. He still won't crawl in the traditional way. He won't even try to get up on his knees. However he has found that he can get to where he wants to be by wriggling and rolling, and he is getting very efficient at it too. It is amusing to watch him as he sets his sights on something then works his way to get it. He has also increased in confidence and just this past week has ventured off the rug that takes up most of the floor in our sitting area. So far he has ventured far enough to get to the dinning table, and to our bedroom door. He has said "Hello" twice, the first time while on Skype with my mum, then again a few days later when his daddy came home.

We also gave Aiden a hair cut at home. He has quite thick hair at the top of his head. It is also the one area of his head where no hair fell out after he was born. As a result it was getting too long again, and was still brown while the new hair on the rest of his head was blonde. So Rob held him while I attempted to cut. It won't win awards for style, but it is neater and more even now. When we look at pictures of him from his first month, then look at him now, it is hard to believe he is the same little boy. His features have changed so much in these last 10 months.

New Hair Cut

It is amazing to watch all the changes that happen during this very short phase of babyhood. We know this is such a short time in Aiden's life. It won't be long before he is no longer a baby, but instead becomes a toddler. While it seems like all the other mothers around me are busy looking forward to the next developmental stage, I'm in no hurry. I want to relish each and every day that he is at this current point. The days where Aiden is completely dependent upon me for everything are already slipping away. He is developing more and more independence and autonomy. He is beginning to communicate verbally. He can feed himself table food, as long as it is in small pieces (although he will attempt to eat bigger pieces of food if he gets his hands on them.) He can move from one place to another without my help. Just 10 months ago the only thing he could do for himself was sleep, or cry.

Eating Dinner

Then in just a few short months Aiden will also be a big brother. He will be showing the way for a younger sibling. He will be learning how to share, and give, and serve. Life will no longer just be about him. When Aiden shows symptoms of being an only child, and just a little too demanding of constant attention, Rob will be heard to say "help is on the way." Being a big brother will cure Aiden of that only child complex. He will have no choice but to adjust to another baby in our home. It will be good for him.

Until then though I plan to continue relishing every moment of where he is right now. He is such a blessing, and one I enjoy sharing every day with.