Life As We Know It.................

Life as we have know it has changed over the last week, another change in our lives as we have welcomed our little precious dumpling into our family.

I would like to say a very big thank you for the many prayers, thoughts and kind words as well as encouragement as we have welcomed our little Trahaearn to our family.

Once again I am completely convinced of the value of those  precious friendships I have developed over the past couple of years especially as I have been blogging and more involved with those networking groups I love. It has been especially evident in the wonderful emails and comments we have been given.

I am indeed thankful for  each and every one of those precious friendships which I have and am looking forward to having these for a long time to come.

A not so good photo of Mummy and Trahaearn after birth

Trahaearn has been our biggest baby so far at 8lb 2oz.

He was born at 3:03 PM on Monday 23rd May.

 

I have referred to him as our Divine Mercy Baby, as when in labour my thought focus for prayer were the words "Jesus I Trust in You" which are a key feature in this devotion and he was born at just past 3:00pm which is when we pray this devotion each day.

So life at home ( I came home on Thursday lunchtime) has been one of interesting and lovey time with my precious husband and children. Truly, again my life is full and  and I LOVE IT

We are slowly adjusting to new routines  ~ well no routine at the moment - we are attempting to  have a very slow and welcoming time adjusting to the new life we have been entrusted with.

Over the next few days we will have a look at the major things that we want to stay the same and some of the new ways we need to deal with things.

I have been so enjoying watching our children open their hearts and lives to their new brother. Corbyn was so thrilled to be a big brother, not 'just' a  big brother but a big brother to another brother.

Interestingly enough he has been seeking more responsibility and regularly checks on his baby brother to ensure all is OK with him. He also is more interested in being able to do more grown up chores.

Our dear Bernadette come over  to spend the day with the children on Monday and came up to the hospital when the children came to see Trahaearn after we got back to our room.

I know the children enjoyed her company on Monday and it made the day a little less consumed with waiting for news of the birth.

Of course some crafting and DVD watching occurred as well as puzzles and play time, so it made the day more enjoyable for those waiting at home for news of the baby.

Since coming home I still have found that my energy levels have been down, read still tired, and I don't have the strength in my lower back especially to do a whole lot of physical activity.

Of course we had organised to have both our little girls have a joint birthday on Sunday, so of course this meant that I had to go shopping on Friday for presents and food items to ensure they had a special day.

Moran has already really passed her birthday as it was the day before Trahaearn was born and I did not have the energy or the focus to devote to giving her the special time it should be.

Obviously Moran and Trahaearn will have back to back birthday's from now on so I need to be organised for this as well each year.

Myffwyn's birthday isn't really until Wednesday but the girls share so many things together and it was simpler for me not to have to do a double dose of birthdays within the space of two days.

As it was shopping for the birthday just reinforced how not ready I am to return to full days at top speed.

In the hospital system we have here we have the blessing of a midwife who comes by and checks up on both the baby and mummy too.

We had enjoyed this service with Arwen when she was a baby and truly benefited from the home visits of Mandy, in fact we came to know "Milly Molly Mandy" as she was referred to by our children last time, fairly well as Arwen had quite long term feeding issues that Mandy came to help us through, in fact for about 5 months.

Thankfully after Mandy's visit today, and her weighing Trahaearn again (initially on Friday) he has proven to put on a good amount of weight.

What I didn't know when we had left hospital that he had lost more weight than he should have, but the nurse never mentioned it to me, thank goodness or I would have stressed out a fair bit thinking we were going down the same road again.

A very tired daddy

Once again family culture is evident in the things we say. When I told Stephen that over the two weighing in sessions Trahaearn had gained 250grams, he says 'oh yes as much as a block of chocolate'.

Family speech and traditions are such a wonderful shared event.

This was the bouquet of flowers Rogan and the little ones brought to me in hospital along with the picture he drew of them as well.

I just love the home made gifts that they bring to me. A child's love is so transparent and yet so venerable.

Yes that is broccoli Braedon is holding.

This was his gift to me when he came on his own to visit in hospital and this is the story:
I am always asking Braedon when he comes home from work ( he works on an organic vegetable property while studying part time) 'Did you bring me any vegetables'.

So obviously when your mother has had a baby and most people bring flowers, if you are Braedon you bring your mother vegetables.

To do this though he had to come up to my room by passing by the Accident and Emergency department. Obviously there are a lot of people waiting to be seen along the VERY long corridor.
As he walks through this department, which you can see from the start of the doors, everybody is quiet, nobody says a word.

When Braedon gets past all the people and out to the new corridor everyone burst out laughing and he could hear people saying things like ' he's carrying broccoli  ha ha'

Of course I thought this was hilarious too and just the kind of thing I would expect from our Braedon.

Trahearn is all ready to come home on Thursday.

 It is amazing how many times with each of our babies that when I dress them in the old fashioned gowns and knitted layettes, the responses about how lovely it is to see a baby in actual 'baby clothes' instead of more grown up baby clothes and the bond suits that are so popular.

I have had this at the many different hospitals I have been to with our babies and the comments are always the same. I find it interesting as this is just the way we have done it always and I try to keep them in these clothes for  church as long as I can.

At home Trahaearn is wearing the little nighties and longings while wrapped up in a warm bunny rug and a little hat on his head too.

My wonderful husband gave me these beautiful flowers as we came home. When I commented on the extravagance of so many roses he responded with "It isn't everyday you are the mother of 12 children"

Once again the little girls have been more interested in their own baby dolls. Of course they had to get the rocking chairs out and wrap their babies up and sit with me and rock and feed the babies like Mummy

I just adore this photo of Vellvin with Trahaearn. She has been so desperate to  have her sibling arrive, Vellvin was the one who just couldn't wait any longer.

I just love rocking and holding our babies. I could do this for hours, marveling at the gift and beauty of a  new baby.

Look at this precious face........a blessing to be sure.

I know, more pictures of the baby.

Arwen is adjusting to being the big sister too. She really is loving hugging and holding him too.

She comes up to him while I am holding him and says "Trahaearn loves me" with such faith in the truth of the statement.

Big brothers are special

Yes you can walk the baby and text on your I-phone at the same time.......Mum.

I guess the the term multi-tasking has it's own place when you are the oldest brother at home.

As we slowly adjust to our precious little baby and the new routines I hope to be able to spend some of my free time blogging. However, if that is not possible, I pray that you will be still  be here if I am unable to do daily posts for a while as has been my custom in the past.

Once again I enjoy being able to share some of our lives with you and thank you for (or if) your patience in getting to the end of this quite long post on ~ Life as we know it......... well so far!

Blessings to you and your homes,