Our family of 4

WOW time is flying past and its hard to believe that there is a week left of November, then there's only 1 month left for 2011! Its been a busy month so far and we still have another busy weekend coming up :)

LUCAS

Well where do we start with Lucas...he is 21 months - going on 21 years! He thinks he can do everything by himself, and yet still has times that he is still a "baby", like having snuggly cuddles after he wakes up from his afternoon sleep :) His vocabulary is incredible and the other week he came out with a 5 word sentence!! He was on the change mat and dropped his dinky car. He then said to me "Where's the car gone mummy?"...I was amazed :)

He is still obsessed with the normal boy toys of cars, Thomas the tank engine and other trains, as well as buses. He loves driving in the car and looking for buses...and he has very good eyesight!

We've had a little issue of him waking up at 530 every morning...much too early for me! We would alternate between giving him a drink, a cup of milk, some toys, some books and leaving him. However, leaving him would result in screaming, which would often wake up Tahnee. Then the other night we thought that maybe he is waking up because of the light. So once again we've put a dark coloured blanket over the window...and this morning he slept til 730 :) Fingers crossed the blanket does the trick!

His latest anecdotes involves him and a dummy...we were out visiting this morning when Lucas wanted his dummy. He knows its only for bedtime (but I take it along just in case). He spotted it in the nappy bag and checked to see if I was looking. Then the cheeky monkey closed his eyes, grabbed his dummy and popped it in his mouth!! lol...very egotistical thinking (which is normal) that if he cant see mum then she cant see him!! All I could do was laugh at him :)

Sittig on Tahnee - note her smiling

TAHNEE

Princess Tahnee is now officially 3 months old. She has been home for 8 weeks and has settled in very well. She is usually happy and gives lots of smiles. She has even begun giggling which is just too cute :) She has been going 8-9 hours between feeds as of 8 weeks old and can go up to 12 hours some nights (which is uncomfortable for me, but great nevertheless).

Last week she and Lucas both caught a cold, and for Tahnee this meant yucky snot noses, lots of sleeping and having to work harder to breath. Then on Friday she projectile vomited 3 entire feeds up!! (She is the princess of projectiles). She repeated this on Saturday morning (while in Bunbury). We were quite worried and weren't entirely sure what to do...especially being a weekend. However, we tried feeding her 1 side, giving her a break of about an hour, and feeding the other side. And that seemed to do the trick. We had no more vomits after that, aside from "normal" baby spit ups.

I went to have her weighed today, thinking that she wouldn't have gained much after her vomiting episodes over the weekend...however, I was pleasantly surprised that she gained 400g in 3 weeks :) She is still much smaller than Lucas, which is something I'm trying to get used to! She still fits 0000 clothing...I tried her in 000 shorts this morning, and they literally fell off...so I think I need to go shopping for smaller sized shorts (most of my 0000 stuff is winter/spring) and since we are going camping after Christmas, she will need more clothes.

(at 3 months, Lucas was 2kg heavier and in 000 sized clothing)

CHRIS & TAMALA

As for us two, we are both being kept on our toes by our two littles :) Its much busier at home with 2 kids, especially after work with dinner, showers and bedtimes.

I am struggling to think of stuff to say about us...our life revolves mainly around the kids :) I'm sure you aren't interested in reading about us crashing on the cough most evenings, or going to be early, or our work routines, or our housework and other chores :) That's all pretty mundane stuff!

We are enjoying the busy, silly season that is the lead up til Christmas/New Year. We have something on every weekend until Christmas and have quite a few birthdays in Jan/Feb next year that will give us plans for many weekends in those months.

We are planning to go our for breakfast this coming weekend, a late celebration for our wedding anniversary. That actual date we had a yummy roast dinner at home and Chris bought some lovely flowers (I love fresh flowers). We are also hoping to go out to the movies next week, just need to organise a babysitter and work out screening times and feeds! We have been dating for 6 years and married for 3 years. I think we both agree that this past year was the hardest, having to deal with Tahnee's diagnosis and the uncertainty attached to it. However, we are thankful and praise God that we pulled together and are stronger in our marriage.

Taken by C

Taken by T

Taken by T

Taken by T

I think that is all the latest on our family of 4. Till the next blog post... :)

Bunbury - Sierra's Birthday

On the weekend just gone we headed down to Bunbury to celebrate Sierra's 2nd birthday. Its hard to imagine that in a few short months our little monkey will be 2 too! (Yep, for those that aren't aware, my 2 SIL's and myself all had babies within 5 months of each other).

We drove down very early on Saturday morning and had a good run. Lucas was mostly good and kept telling Chris to lower his (passenger) chair so that he could "rub back".  Lucky me got to drive all the way down :) I love the drive, its a nice road and the double lane is fantastic!

Our present - a boogie board and book

Sierra and Ashton (2 months apart in age)

After the party us, the older Vdl's and the Janssen's went home via Harvey. We had decided to stop there at the cheese and ice cream factory. We enjoyed a nice 3/4 of an hour browsing and having something to eat and drink.

Lucas licking sorbet

Maddie

Ashton

Lucas

Then just as we were packing up to head home we saw our BIL head out to the car with a worried look. He had just realised that he had locked the keys in the car!! So for the next hour the men tried to unlock the car. Finally, with the help of some wire and little bit of luck they managed to flick the drivers' side lock and we were back on our way again. Thankfully it was a pleasant 25 degs (ish) and not any warmer, as the sun reflecting off the car park was very warm! Many of us came home with sunburns from either the party or Harvey.

And this was Lucas (below) after we got home...he didn't want to sleep, so he sat in bed with his cup of milk, surrounded by his teddies, reading them a story :)

It was one of many very busy weekend that we have in the lead up to Christmas...but we had a lovely time in Bunbury, seeing family and catching up with friends :)

Market Flyer

Below is the flyer for the Market where we are having a stall to raise money for CDH Australia. Feel free to print and tell your friends about it :)

The Free Reformed Church of Southern River is also having an evening of Christmas Carols on the same date. See the flyer below for more details :)

CDH Fundraiser - Sneak Peek of Quilt

Hi everyone. My mum is working hard to finish off the quilt for the FF&C market stall on the 10th of December. The fabric has all been cut, pieced together into their blocks and now the blocks have been arranged and sewn together. The latest update she has shown us has the border on too. Next step will be the second border, then the third one that finishes it all off. Almost done :)

But we thought we would give you a sneak peek. The full impact of the quilt can only be seen in person though, so come on down to the markets if you can :)

Please help CDH Australia

We are hoping to raise money and donate it to CDH Australia. We have chosen to do this by being at stall holder at the FRCSR Fine Food & Craft Market to be held at the Free Reformed Church of Southern River on Saturday the 10th of December.

At our stall the main feature is a hand-made quilt that was kindly donated by my mum (Margaret Cooper). We will sell this quilt via a SILENT AUCTION. Bidders can come visit the stall and place a bid on the  bidding sheet. There will be a reserve price listed and bidders will be able to see the current highest bid. We would LOVE to be able to present a large cheque to CDH Australia :)

The finished product looks nothing like this picture :)

We will also be selling CDH Australia items, with prices set by this charity. These items will include teddy bears, stubby holders, coffee cups, pens and wristbands.

Our stall will also feature a gingerbread house for sale as well as a few other hand made items. Finally, we will have a donation box, with all monies donated going directly to CDH Australia.

The Fine Food & Craft Market will have many stalls, selling lots of different things from cards, cakes, coffees and drinks, donuts and much more. We will place the official flyer up on our blog once it has been printed. In the meantime, visit them on face book :)

Team Lili

As you may remember, we were at PMH with another couple whose baby girl, Lili, was diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis (CF). This family arrived the day after we did and we were all discharged on the same day. Since then, Lili was re-admitted and underwent another surgery. She is now home and enjoying settling in with her parents.

Friends f Lili and her beautiful mum, Danielle, are participating in the Great Strides Walkathon for Cystic Fibrosis on Sunday 20th November. They are doing this to raise money and have a webpage where you can donate.

If you wish to support a worthy cause, this is definitely a great one. The webpage is: http://greatstrides2011.gofundraise.com.au/page/KrystenFerguson

Look out for another post coming soon with details on how you can support CDH Australia, on behalf of Tahnee.

p.s. a little trivia - CDH (Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia) is as common as CF (Cystic Fibrosis) and occurs 1 in every 2500 births (an average of approximately 12 a year in Perth, according to these figures).

More Zoo Photos

Perth Zoo

Saturday the 5th November 2011 was Lucas's first trip to the Perth Zoo. It was an outing arranged by our ward activators as an end of year event. Unfortunately most of the members couldn't make it. However, those that did go had a great day :) And we are also in the same ward as Chris's parents and his sister, husband and their family.

The long range forecast at the beginning of the week indicated that there could be a few showers on the day. But we were fortunate enough to have cloudy skies, lowish temperatures (23 degrees) and almost no rain, until after lunch.

We began the day with a stop to feed Tahnee. It worked out well for time, as it meant she was due for her next feed at lunchtime. We then made our way through the African Savannah and got to see Lions, Rhinos, Giraffes, Meercats and more.

After the Savannah we went through the Nocturnal House, followed by the Primates section. At the Orangutans enclosure we got to see a mummy and a 2 year old baby. Unusually they were playing on the ground so we had a great view :)

Next we went up to see the Otters, Sun Bears, Elephants and Tigers. Lucas was absolutely fascinated with the Sun Bears. They were his favourite animals :)

Last stop before lunch was a walk through the Australian animals section. Many of the animals we didn't spot, but there were 2 kangaroos who were sitting on the path. They were very friendly and even let us walk up to them, sit down and touch them. Again Lucas was fascinated and loved being up close with them.

Lunch was a barbecue with everyone on the grass area. Yummy sausages, onions and buns! Couldn't ask for a better lunch :)

Our last few stop for the day was to walk through the Reptile enclosure. We got caught in a rain storm and had to take cover before we got there. Thankfully it stopped raining while we walked to the car and got the kids in their car seats. Within a hundred metres of the car park we heard a "thump". I turned around to see that Lucas had dropped his drink bottle and had fallen asleep, with dummy half hanging out and everything :)

It was a great day with family and friends. Lucas was mainly good and loved running around after his cousins. Tahnee was perfect and either slept or was feeding. All in all a nice day out, after which we are all very tired and will probably head to bed early :)

P.S. Chris took many of the photos uploaded.

Surgical Follow Up

Today Tahnee had another appointment at PMH. This time she was in to see the surgeon who did both surgeries. Chris came along again, and we drove up in separate cars. Once again I had to wait for over 10 minutes for a car park and was actually just parking when Chris drove in...and once again he waited all of 1 min before getting one!!!

Since we were early, we headed up to the NICU to see our favourite nurses. We were lucky enough to have all 3 of our favourites working :) This meant we could then get photos with them all too...something that I think I've mentioned before, that we neglected to do while Tahnee was an in-patient.

L-R: Chris, Frances, Nicole, Bec, Tamala

After visiting with the girls, we headed back down stairs to wait for the surgeon. We were called fairly quickly and shown into a curtained cubicle. We then waited for over half an hour, as the surgeon was speaking with another patient. During this time, Tahnee was laying on the bed and decided to go for a little cat nap.

When the surgeon came in, she was very happy with Tahnee and her progress. She said the scar was healing well and not to worry about the kidney being displaced (we still need to go for the second ultrasound on this). She said the muscles would strengthen over time and it would be fine. She is also happy with Tahnee's weight gain. However, we were sent up to X-ray, but at the moment I cant remember the reason why, probably just to double check everything. And our next appointment with the surgeon is next month - she kindly arranged for one to be made on the same day we see the developmental follow up team :)

The scar (the photo won't change to landscape - sorry!)

Lastly, I attempted to take some "staged" photos of Tahnee and Lucas the other day. Only Tahnee cooperated, and only for a short amount of time. This photo is one of a few that turned out nice :) (The embroidered "T" is on her bath towel and was made by my mum).

♥ Loving Home ♥

Last Sunday Tahnee had been home for 4 weeks and 6 days - the same length of time that she spent in hospital.

Today she is 10 weeks old. For me, there is great significance in the double digit number 10...I always feel like I have hit a major milestone when I have less than 10 weeks to go in a pregnancy. It means I am down to single digit week countdowns. By the same token, I have the same significance when my baby turns 10 weeks old...they are no longer in the single digit week count up. With the pregnancies there is happiness as it means bubs is closer to making their entrance into the world; but with baby age there is sadness - my baby is growing up and soon I'll be stating their age in months and years, not weeks!!

The past 10 weeks have flown by...and we can now say that Tahnee has been home for longer than she has been in hospital. She is a relatively content baby, who is happy to sleep, loves her pram and car seat and is starting to give the cutest smiles and tell the cutest stories.

Big brother Lucas reading a story

Full of smiles

Lucas telling Tahnee to say "Hi Opa"