Toddlers...........

I thought this so appropriate for our sweet Trahaearn!!

I am a toddler~

If it is on, I must turn it off.  

If it is off, I must turn it on.

If it is folded, I must unfold it.

If it is high, it must be reached.

If it is shelved, it must be unshelved.

If it has leaves, they must be picked.

If it is plugged, it must be unplugged.

If it is closed, it must be opened.

If it does not open, it must be screamed at.

If it is pointed, it must be run with at top speed.

If it has drawers, they must be rifled.

If it is full, it will be more interesting emptied.

If Mommy's hands are full, I must be carried.

If it is paper, it must be torn.

If it has buttons, they must be pressed.

If the volume is low, it must go high.

If it is toilet paper, it must be unrolled.

If it is a drawer, it must be pulled upon.

If it has a faucet, it must be turned on at full force.

If it is a phone, I must talk to it.

If it is a bug, it must be swallowed.

If it is food, it must be dropped on the floor.

If it is not food, it must be tasted.

If it is food, it must not be tasted.

If it's a Mommy, it must be hugged.  

~Author Unknown

From Trahaearn to my Big Brothers ♥

Dear big brothers Kynan and Braedon,
As you are unable to be here on a daily basis I thought you would like to see how grown up I am getting.
I thought you would enjoy seeing how I am learning to crawl now.
I hope you enjoy and I can't wait to see you both again soon.
By the way underneath Autumn's bed there is so much mess, I was quite distressed and just had to blow raspberries at her!

The big girls thought it amusing to get me to crawl by keep on moving the chalk in front of me. I don't know why they do this? I mean surely I am smart enough to crawl by myself!

The other day while Mummy was hanging out washing she put me on the grass beside her and let me go all over. The only problem with being outside is my clothes get really dirty.
Oh yeah, how do the non matching socks grab you.


Well that is all for now
Miss you heaps, as does everyone else
Love Trahaearn  ♥

'Baby Buns'l

 There is something irresistibly sweet about a little waddling baby bottom.  But then there is just something so irresistible about babies - full stop. All that beautiful trusting innocence looking into your eyes as he gives you an adoring smile that begs for a return favour, that is so easily granted.

We are entering a new phase with our little dumpling, who by the way is a VERY big dumpling. He is getting up on one knee and rocking back and forth as he reaches forward to get what he has seen out in front of him.

Trahaearn is a delightful little guy and he seems to be growing so very, very quickly. He spends a fair amount of time reaching from a sitting position and plopping down onto his tummy and then reaching for what he wants.

 See what our little sweety can do! His next stage is to get that little right leg around  so he can start to move forward.

Hmmn, looks like we will be entering the pick up all the little things of the floor again.

BTW does anyway else agree with me about those cute baby buns?

Blessings to you and your homes,
 

First Foods

After the fact that Trahaearn had some cookie tasting on St Nicholas Day I thought it would be time to add some 'real food' into his diet.
I admit that I have benn put off starting our sweet dumpling on solids as we ahve been pressured by Doctors from the time he was three months old to start him on solids, even while the Lactation Nurses advocate at least 6 months old as based on World Health Guidelines.
So taking the plunge I cooked him up some sweet potato and mashed it up with some EBM, which some of the kids found highly disturbing, lol.

So we just had to record this momentous occasion with some very sweet photos of him sampling the food. He really did not seem to like the food to start with but did have  a little taste.
Today when I gave it so him again he did seem to take to it better and finished the little spooonful I had prepared for him.

So enjoy these photos of our sweety trying a new sensation and look to the bottom to see who was very keen to eat his leftovers!!
In fact I had to stop her from trying to multitasking -- feed him herself and eat it while I was trying to spoon food into Trahaearn's mouth.

Blessings to you and your homes,
 

Baby Play Gym

As Trahaearn is growing and becoming more settled he is spending more time playing on the floor by himself. Well for as as long as he can see people nearby.
When our Kynan was a baby my Nana from England sent some money for her first great grandchild. We decided to buy a Sesame Street Play-gym (very old fashioned compared to the new ones).
Frankly it was not much use as a play area as the toys suspended form it were relatively boring and static not to mention basically the same 'platicy' type, but there was very little in the way of natural /wooden toys back then. However over time it eventually broke and we added other things to it.

The whole structure fell apart when Corbyn was a baby. You would think it would last longer than 10 babies now wouldn't you, lol.
For Arwen we re-made the support structure out of wooden broom handles and used the plastic corner pieces form the old plastic one. I would have loved to use a timber corner but couldn't work out one myself (Stephen was still away at the time) and these were perfectly adequate anyway. Not perfection but workable.
The advantage of this is we are easily able to  pull the support structure a part to pack away and the toys are simply tied on with wool or string etc.

WE made some home made toys for Arwen to enjoy and she played with these quite happily for a while as well.
So once again we added a few home made and other toys. The little ones Corbyn  and Arwen especially keep adding ones they think Trahaearn would have. Sometime it is a bit over whelming for him the amount of items to look and try and reach.

Perhaps you can see a felted ball, various wooden beads, a small gnome type doll and a wooden cutout of a rocking horse. Oh of course you could not miss Pooh Bear, now how did he get on there?

So once again I am enjoying the fact that we have managed to make something to our specifications rather than being told what we must like as consumers and therefore be subject to whatever is thrown at us by retailers.

Blessings to you and your homes,
 

A Little Sweetness to Brighten your Day........

And mine of course!!
What more can I say???

Blessings to you and your homes,

Stop That........You'll Spoil the Baby!

Stop That ...You'll spoil the Baby~

Have you ever had anyone say this to you?

I have on numerous occasions and only yesterday, Saturday, when Stephen and I were out shopping with Trahaearn.

Now the interesting thing about this was we had just gone into the local baby shop to have a look at some Baby Wearing apparel. I still am looking for the best option to buy to carry our dumpling around in. I thought rather than continue to look on line I would see what the local shop had and perhaps even get to try them on to assess what I liked. Yes, I am slow. I should have tried this before, but having tried to get things like this locally before I was not anticipating much success in getting what I needed.

However, into the shop we went with Stephen carrying little Trahaearn all snuggled up in his bunny rug. We had carried him for a quite some time (Stephen mostly) and he was asleep and most content. Trahaearn really is much more contented when being held rather than put down to sleep or left alone in his cradle or rocker?

Now we asked if we could see some of the baby carriers they had in stock. As we were just looking and chatting with the sales woman I said  that Trahaearn loved to be held and did not like to be put down but preferred to be carried and I wanted something I could carry him in and still be hands free.

She said that 'oh you have made a mistake and spoiled him'.....blah, blah blah 'that she had 8 years difference between her 2 children and the younger one now 4 was spoiled because they carried her as a baby.'
This being her response when we said we were not using the Snuggli we bought nearly 22 years ago for our son. Obviously she thought that Trahaearn was the only child after Kynan. We were slightly amused at this and then enlightened her to the fact that the baby we were carrying was in fact number 12.

We did try on the baby carriers and I was so glad I did as the one I had been  in favour of buying I found  was really not going to work for us. What it did confirm was that a wrap around carrier is what Trahaearn preferred himself as he stayed asleep and settled when I put him in the wrap. BUT when I put him in the traditional strap-on ones he immediately woke up and protested. I could actually feel his discomfort and pain from being placed into this restrictive space and not snuggled in to the wrap style.

So we will be ordering online as it is cheaper this  way, rahter than from the shop, this Australian wrap- Hug a Bub. Which to my eye looks the same as the Moby Wrap and Sleepy Wrap.

Enough of that now~
What I was distressed by during this conversation at the BABY shop was the fact that a baby should not be held and cuddled because this, wait for it---- spoils the baby.

How can this still be a thought in peoples minds?
A baby IS LOVE and dependence in it's purest form.
A baby gets all it's impressions through the eyes of those who care and tend for him.
A baby is a gift to love and cherish at all times.

When a baby cries he does so for a reason- hunger, needing a nappy change or comfort emotionally. We all need emotional comfort, so why wouldn't a baby?
So why would we not pick up a baby when it cries?

Of course this does not always fit in with my schedule and of course this is worse if you have a high needs baby, which I believe we have had more than our fair share of.
But once again a baby is a blessing ALWAYS and we put the baby first- SACRIFICIAL LOVE. Hence the desire for a baby carrier so I can give the baby the love and attention it needs as I tend to our other children and our home.

I think children are a great reminder of this in their immediate response to the cries of a baby. Each time a baby in our home has made the tiniest little cry the other children in the family want to tend to the baby. Never once has anyone said 'leave the baby, it will be ok'

Children often see what we as adults have forgotten to look for, the needs of those smaller and more helpless than we are. They see what we don't: that a baby who is wholly dependent upon us for all they have should not have to wait for our adult agenda to fit him in.

A baby can not be spoiled by too much love and attention!
Except for our Kynan (whom I cuddled to sleep) I have rocked all our babies to sleep in the rocking chair we bought just before Braedon was born.

Does this take more time? Sure it does! Is it worth it? You bet it is!

But what else should I have been doing if not caring and loving those sweet little blessings. And guess what they actually do grow up. I am not still rocking them to sleep, but the love and bonding that took place way back when they were babies I think was well worth the desire I had to pick them up and love them.

There is so much research I was going to share about the way babies can not be spoilt by carrying, and picking up when cried or cuddled a lot, but I won't. Perhaps at a later date!

What I will share is the loving testimony of a mother of 12 precious children who has had the privilege of caring for each baby by rocking, carrying and loving each special baby.
I can say quite honestly that I believe that not one of these children or young adults has been SPOILT by the lavishing of care and affection on them or of TOO MUCH LOVE!

I do believe that if we follow our 'mother hearts'  in the care of our children that  we will know the right and most caring way to respond to the blessings we have been given!

~ A mothers heart is a touch of God's love ~

Blessings to you and your homes,

Baby Dumpling

I realised I hadn't posted many photos of our precious little 'dumpling' I have put them on Facbook but forgot to put them here too.
So here are a few recent ones of Trahaearn for your pleasure.......cause I love looking at how sweet he is.

Corbyn loves to take care of his 'baby brother'

All wrapped up with Eden

Trahaearn is one of our 'sicky' babies one who is always throwing up, so once again we carry the cloth nappy around to wipe up the spills.

This one was just from taking the photo at the wrong time...poor little guy!

 Big eyes all the time

 Oldest and youngest

 I am so big say's Corbyn....I am ready to catch him in this photo

 Daddy love....

 Even though it is fuzzy this is an after milk look...so contented.

 Asleep in my arms...bliss

 Autumn and baby bunting

 Kynan with his two youngest siblings and they both adore him.

And last of all one of me and my precious blessing

Blessings to you and your homes,

Great Granny's Gift

First off I need to say.......isn't this the sweetest little precious boy??

Can you see that little smile and his little hands clasped together in excitement?

Trahaearn was given this lovely  aqua jacket beanie and booties for his birth present by his great Granny.
We have been blessed to have been given a similar gift for each of our children except  for one or two (I think)

Great Granny is turning 96 next birthday so I think this is a wonderful gift from the heart.

Blessings to you and your homes,