Where once there were two…

Where once there were two hearts beating there is now just one.

Where once we were filled with joy and excitement of adding another set of little twin loves to our family there is sorrow mixed with worry, fears and hope.

Where once I woke with smiles I now wake with tears.

At 16 weeks 2 days we got to see our beautiful, wriggly twin 1. We were filled with joy and excitement. Then the scan moved to twin 2. It was instantly obvious that twin 2 was smaller than twin 1. The femur length was measured, 2 weeks smaller than the other twin, than they should be. And then the brief look for a heartbeat. 30 seconds that stretched into forever.

Our darling twin 2, our little Tillie, stopped growing at 14 weeks. Our hearts are broken.

TwinletsV2 15 weeks update

15 weeks in now, approximately 20 weeks to go if they arrive at a similar gestation to version 1 twinlets…eep!!

Morning sickness still hasn’t appeared (thank goodness!!), exhaustion seems to be settling in for the long haul, as does food aversions. It’s just SO much fun being staaaarving hungry but all available options just seem blah. Red meat is a no go, as is milk and I’m hiding my veggies more than I’ve ever done for the toddlers!

Saladas are popular, icy cold water, jacket potatoes, chicken and anything salty. I could happily kiss the feet of whoever it was that invented Omeprazole for reflux!

The babies are doing well, our nuchal translucency scan came back low risk, they were wiggling up a storm during the scan! Twin 1 was sucking their thumb, 4 pregnancies in the detail visible in ultrasounds still amazes me.

The shock is starting to wear off, much list writing going on, to-do lists, shopping lists, hospital bag lists…so many lists! And did I mention potentially only 20-ish weeks to go? Eep!!

And he’s off

Today I sent my first born off into the world. His first day at school.

I thought I’d cry, thought I’d be sad. But then I spent the last week and a bit dealing with his increasingly feral attitude and the idea of merely slowing the car down before shoving him out the door on his first day appealed greatly.

Instead of shoving him out the car door at low speed we opted for a family walk to school.

Daddy with DSLR in hand ready to catch all the important moments of course.

We got to the school, he lined up with his classmates and waited to be let in. As soon as he was in he found his hook and had his bag and hat hanging up before I was even through the door.

He settled at a table to work on a puzzle and this was his face when we told him we were leaving, he totally cared right?

As we expected he has taken it all in his stride, he had a great day and is keen to go back tomorrow. Lets hope that lasts for the next 12-13 years at least.

1 down, 5 to go….

It is 2013, right??

 

Here we are, in 2013, and the same old debate is continuing. Cover up those breastfeeding boobs! Put them away or get out! Be discreet! Go do it somewhere else! Seriously?

Here’s what it boils down to. It doesn’t matter who says what idiotic comment, or who makes what complaint to management, it is a woman’s LEGAL RIGHT to breastfeed her child wherever she likes and whenever she likes. Asking that woman to move, cover up or whatever else is breaking the law. Simple as that.

And excuse me Mr Koch, just like claiming some of your best friends are gay before making some idiotic homophobic comment doesn’t make it any less homophobic, having 2 breastfeeding daughters doesn’t make YOUR comments any less discriminatory to breastfeeding women.

It’s 2013 people, babies are entitled to be fed when they want and women are entitled to feed them. If that’s something you have a problem with then the problem is yours, not the woman breastfeeding.

 

These two

These two fight.

These two tease each other.

These two drive me slightly barmy on a semi-regular basis.

These two are best friends.

And the big one? He was utterly delighted when his little brother fell asleep on his shoulder. He kissed his head and put an arm around him and simply beamed.

A simple drive trialling out Thommo’s new-to-us car, complete with dickie seats so it will hold 7 and be a good back up for the Tarago. Except now we’re going to be a family of 8 so that was a fail. But that moment, that moment made it all worthwhile.

These two are brothers, best of enemies, best of friends.

“Special” parenting moments

See the monkey? He was a birthday gift that Sebastian absolutely ADORES, he gets carted everywhere. But, well, I never expected to have to say “Get the monkey off your penis”. Parenting is full of special little gems like that.

What have you said that you never thought you’d say?

Slightly terrifying new beginnings

I did have a post pre-written for today, it was a bit funny with a bit of John Farnham “last time” humor through in.

But then this happened and I had the funny knocked out of my sails a smidge:

I’m sure the shock will wear off sometime before they turn 18 right???

So long 2012!

Chasing away the tumbleweeds around here to farewell the year. 2012 was a big year here at Chez Thommo, full of lots of fun.

Jack started kinder and loved it, his teachers were so wonderful and we’re thrilled that they will be Lew’s teachers next year. Lew is quite shy so having teachers and an environment he is familiar with will hopefully help his transition to kinder be a smooth one.

The highlight of the year was definitely our epic road trip to Queensland, we survived it and loved (almost) every minute. We were lucky enough to go on a second holiday in August with dear friends, getting away with the 4 kids can be hard work but it’s so much fun!

Jack turned 5, Lew 4 and Oliver and Sebastian are now 2. This year the twins have learned to walk, then run and climb; Sebastian’s confidence has grown hugely as his vocabulary and both are cheeky as anything. All of them are wonderful friends, plenty of fights but lots of love and playing too. I’m very blessed with 4 very affectionate little fellows who love hugs and kisses.

2012 saw us struggle with choosing a school for Jack next year. We chose one, enrolled him and then changed our minds. He’s all set to head off now and fingers crossed we’ve made the right choice, only 4 weeks until he starts now, eep!

We had plenty of illnesses, with colds and tummy bugs tag teaming us through winter, but if that’s the worst illness we have to deal with then we are blessed. We farewelled Thommo’s beautiful nanna.

2012 was mostly a wonderful year for us and 2013 is shaping up to be a year of new beginnings. I hope the new year brings you and yours health and happiness. Thank you for joining me this year and reading my ramblings, I look forward to sharing all that 2013 brings.

Ollie did it

I ventured into the kitchen this morning to find Ollie making sand castles out of a tub of breadcrumbs I had in the freezer.

Sebastian is quite a chatterbox and immediately chimed in with “Ollie did it!”. Ollie, whose vocabulary isn’t as extensive, parroted “Ollie did it” with the most innocent expression he could muster.

So I guess it’s unanimous, Ollie did it. And Ollie will hopefully learn one day parroting your brother isn’t a wise defense when your name is Ollie.

Now he is 4. Aka how I ruined my kid’s birthday

Ever have one of those ideas that seems really smart at the time only it turns out its reeeeeeally not? I had one of those moments the day before Lewis’s 4th birthday.

We were in the waiting room if the Maternal and Child Health Nurse for Lew’s 4yo check up when I remembered 4yo’s are due for their next round of immunisations. Being the conscientious mother I am (ha), ok so mostly it was remembering that the wait at the local Drs’ is shorter during school holidays and we were already on the same street seeing the nurse, I decided to take him straight there. Mistake #1.

Mistake #2 was telling him where we were going and why when we were still in the car. He was thrilled. Not really.

Mistake #3 was not telling the ever so “helpful” old guy to STFU. He repeatedly told Lewis he was a cry baby. From across the room. Yes, really.

Jabs done all was well, (rude elderly folk were still mouthy) so off we went.

Next day birthday boy happily opened his presents and posed for grinning photos.

We then ran around prepping for his little celebratory BBQ at the park with a few friends. I was busy trying to make a Bumblebee Transformer cake as per the birthday boy’s request and didn’t pay too much attention to him needing assistance to get his tshirt on. Mistake #4 (well, if we include cake mistakes we’re in double figures).

Cake done we trotted off to the park where we didn’t fully notice how off our boy was. He didn’t eat much and conked out far earlier than expected. Mistake #5 and #6, or parenting fail, you choose.

Back at home playing with his new presents (remote control BumbleBee Transformer that also transforms via the remote aka the gift I want to play with most myself) I fail to notice that one tshirt sleeve is looking tighter than the other. Power of observation, I haz it.

Finally while helping him get ready for bed I notice the swollen arm that I now realise he’d been avoiding using most of the day. I’m quick like that. We ended his birthday celebrations with a dash to the doctors, which he was ever so thrilled about given the previous day’s visit. Thank goodness the fire brigade pulled up just as we did, that kept him distracted in the waiting room. Yes, there were 3 fire engines. Yes I think that’s disconcerting too.

With the all clear (after he made the doctor sing happy birthday) it was home and bed for the birthday boy. And tears for this mumma. I totally ruined the kid’s birthday. Might need to have a do-over. Without the presents (Transformers aren’t cheap yo and are a complete pain in the proverbial to transform).

His arm looked mighty impressive the next day. Should’ve painted him green and called him The Hulk, total missed opportunity there.

See that big grin? That’s my Lew, happy and mostly easy going. And a wee bit off in his own world. And a whole lot of gorgeous. Sorry I ruined your birthday matey.