Exhaustion - Thy Name is International Travel...With Kids!

Well, we have arrived in Canada! And boy, what a journey! I was travelling with my mum as Chris is away for work and joining us later. She was a godsend as she looked after Jeffrey and I looked after Matthew.

(Jeffrey ready to leave in the morning)

Since we live in Perth it is quite a long way to get to Toronto in Canada. First, we flew to Sydney (3.5 hour flight), then we had a quick change over onto a flight to Los Angeles, USA (12.5 hour flight). Once we were in LA, we stayed overnight to help us all get some rest, then on the next day to Toronto (4.5 hour flight). To say the least, the trip was interesting. Our flight out of Perth was leaving at 0555, which meant we had to be at the airport at no later that 0500, which meant we had to leave home by 0430 – which meant we had to get poor Jeffrey out of bed at 0420. He was pretty good about it though.

(Jeffrey watching some tv)

Overall, the kids were very well behaved whilst we were in transit – Matthew being very easy, and Jeffrey not too bad, just overtired. The hardest thing was getting Jeffrey to sleep on the long haul flight from Sydney. We had the seats behind the bulkhead of the plane so that we had use of the sky-cot for Matthew. The airline had blocked out the middle seat between my mum and myself so that we had an extra seat for Jeffrey. This was all very well and good, except on these seats the armrests are fixed, so Jeffrey had to sleep on top of my mum and he had difficulty going to sleep as it wasn’t the most comfortable of positions. It was great to have a tablet with us that we had loaded some of Jeffrey's favourite videos onto - it was the only way we could get him to go to sleep.

 (Matthew having play time in the sky-cot)

 (Jeffrey sleeping on Grandma)

(Matthew sleeping in the sky-cot)

We have now been here at my Grandparents for a couple of days and are slowly turning our clocks around. Mum and I are taking longer to adjust than the kids as we are the ones having to get up and assist them during the night. Which is why this picture was taken of me unawares!

(Me, crashed out accidentally whilst gazing at Matthew!)

Creativity at Last!

Well, at long last I have exercised my creative streak. I have finally gotten around to making (make that painting) a door sign for the boys bedroom. This is actually a project that I have been meaning to do since Jeffrey was born, but I kept forgetting or getting side-tracked by other things. I got the itch to make one for Jeffrey after painting a door sign for my friend’s little boy when he was born as a gift. 

(Sign for Noah)

However, after Jeffrey was born I was too busy looking after a newborn to make his. By the time I thought about doing it again, I was pregnant with Matthew and decided to wait as the kids were going to share a room and we didn’t know Matthew’s gender.

( The Boys Door Sign)

I decided to go with bold colours for the sign, however in hindsight I think I prefer lighter colour for background as it makes the text and pictures ‘pop’ more. I went with a puppy and paw prints for the images on the sign since Jeffrey loves dogs so much, and I have a feeling Matthew will end up the same way. He wont have much a choice growing up with our dogs!

(Close ups!)

Overall I’m pretty happy with how it turned out, though it became clear to me that I need a finer paint brush for the fine lines that I use on these signs, and that I may need to relegate my old paints to being paints for the kids to use and purchase some new paints for myself. This is it has been so long since I have used my paints that they aren’t so great anymore!

Mothers Day

Well, mothers day has now come and gone and it was a wonderful day for me. We went to the zoo as a family and were joined by my in-laws and Oma-in-law. Jeffrey had a great time seeing all the animals and even went for a ride on the carousel which he thoroughly enjoyed.

 (Chris and Jeffrey on the way to the African exhibit)

 (Jeffrey needs mummy to hurry up!)

(Looking at the Meerkats) 

On the Saturday prior to mothers day I got it into my head that it would be a great idea for Jeffrey to decorate some boxes for the mothers day gifts I got for my mum and my mother-in-law. Well what was a good idea in theory was quite different when put into practice. My husband had gone out to the shops and so with Matthew asleep I thought it was a good time to get started. Of course the minute that I have the paint out and Jeffrey painting – Matthew wakes up and wont go back to sleep unless I cuddle him! As you can see in the photo, I tried to get a little creative to get Matthew back to sleep…

 (Busy little boy)

(Attempting to manage two children!)

It didn’t work of course and then I was left with a paint covered toddler and a baby who wont sleep! Cue me throwing Jeffrey into the bath fully clothed to wash up and prevent him getting paint all over my house. Oh well, in the end the boxes were decorated and Jeffrey had fun, even if his mummy didn’t!

Matthew has been keeping me busy with his feeding issues, so I haven’t been able to have any time to undertake any crafty projects. However, in this last week I was able to do some cooking, which is definitely progress. I discovered that I was able to make mini-quiches myself which were very tasty, which is great as I’ll be able to freeze them for an instant lunch. They were easy to make, if a little fiddly/time consuming. Jeffrey loved them too.

 (raw ingredients)

 (waiting to go in the oven)

(just out of the oven)

I’m looking forward to our upcoming trip to Canada. We leave on June 6, which is just over three weeks away. I can’t wait to see all of our family again, though I’m not looking forward to the long plane trip with a baby and a toddler!

New Arrival

Well, after being away for a couple of weeks I have finally made the time to sit down at the computer to tell you about our new arrival. Matthew Edward John Madeley was born at 11:23am on the 02/04/2013 weighing 3.59kg and 52cm long.

 Matthew has had a bit of a rocky start to life, but is slowly getting back on track now. He had temperature and low blood sugar issues. Now they have resolved and we are just having to work on his lack of energy when feeding. Unfortunately the feeding issues we are having mean that I spend all my time either feeding Matthew or pumping milk so I have milk for him. Thank God for family though! I am blessed to have family nearby who are extremely supportive and helpful. My mum and my mother-in-law have been coming over to help with my older boy Jeffrey. My little brother even came and helped out for a whole day too. I don’t see how I’d be managing without them.

Jeffrey is a doting big brother and I’ve been amazed at how fantastic he is with Matthew. It is very cute to watch them together. Jeffrey comes up and gives Matthew kisses, brings him toys and has even helped with a bath.

When things settle down a little more I hope to get back to my sewing projects.

Wise Monkeys - Finished Product

Well, I have now finished the three wise monkeys project that I started prior to the long weekend. The final monkey I finished this morning when I woke up at 3am and couldn’t get back to sleep – stupid body!

The hands of the monkeys are sewn in place. I contemplated using velcro to fix the hands to the eyes, ears and mouth. However, this would lead to the problem of there still being velcro on the eyes, ears and mouth once the hands were removed which would be unsightly. This means that these monkeys are more for display purposes as opposed to play purposes.

 This is the last project that I’m going to get finished before the new baby arrives, so you wont hear from me again until the new bundle arrives and I make a post to let you all know how we’re doing.

Here's hoping that everyone had a great Easter long weekend!