A Poem

While surfing the Internet I stumbled across this poem that I will admit brought a tear to my eyes. Its such a beautiful poem, and I hope it touches the hearts of all those who read it.

GOD'S LOAN

(author unknown)

"I'll lend to you for a little time,
A child of mine," He said,
"For you to love the while she lives
And mourn for when she's dead.

"It may be six or seven years
Or twenty-two or three,
But will you till I call her back,
Take care of her for me?

"She'll bring her charms to gladden you
And should her stay be brief,
You'll have these precious memories
As solace for your grief.

"I cannot promise she will stay
Since all from earth return.
But there are lessons taught down there
I want this child to learn.

"I've looked this world over,
In my search for teachers true.
In the crowds that throng life's land,
I have selected you. "Now will you give her all your love
Not think the labor vain,
Nor hate me when I come to call
To take her back again?"

It seems to me I heard them say,
"Dear Lord, thy will be done.
For all the joys a child shall bring,
The risk of grief we'll run.

We'll shelter her with tenderness,
We'll love her while we may,
And for the happiness we've known
Forever grateful stay.

"And should the angels call for him
Much sooner than we've planned,
We'll brave the bitter grief that comes
And try to understand."

 

Lack of Recent Photos

This is the reason I (we) have been lacking in posting (many) photos of the little munchkin lately...its getting difficult to take nice ones, as Lucas thinks its just a new way to play the game pee-a-boo :)

"I can still see you daddy"

Our Weekend

Our weekends have been pretty busy lately, and will only continue to be busy as we have a few road trips planned, plus the soccer season is starting up again next month. Unfortunately, Lucas still isn't acclimatising to these trips, making for an interesting time, trying to pass "stuff" back to him in the car.

Anyway, last weekend we went and visited with Chris's sister, brother-in-law and their 3 kidlets. I did forget to take my camera along, so sorry, no photos of our time.

We headed down on Friday night, after Chris finished work. When we arrived our nephew and nieces were all asleep, so Lucas got to spend some quiet cuddle time with his aunty, before his drink of milk before bedtime. We then sat up and talked, sharing all the news and generally catching up :) Before we knew it, it was almost midnight!!

Saturday we started the day off with a special breakfast (for us anyway) made by our brother-in-law, before heading out to check out our nephew's new school, classroom, desk, hat and everything else he could think to show us :) It seems like he has settled in pretty well and is thoroughly enjoying his new school, teachers and friends.

After the school, we headed into town to walk the main drag and head out for a nice, albeit noisy, coffee :) The weather was beautiful, and the walk around was great too. Then, after a stop at the local lolly shop to get some Canadian type chocolate, we drove back to house, with Lucas falling asleep on the way. Poor thing was so tired and he had missed out on his morning sleep and refuses to sleep in his pram. Oh well...he transferred well from the car to his cot, and slept for a few more hours.

The kidlets ate their lunch on their own and then headed off to bed for sleeps and rest time, while the adults enjoyed a simple, yet very yummy, toasted sandwich...and we even got to try a combination we've never eaten before...and i think we shall be making that ourselves :)

The afternoon was a lazy and relaxing one, spent playing with all the kidlets outside, watching the men play on the playstation Move and packing up to head back home. After a stop for take away dinner before leaving, we heading back up the highway, for a short-ish drive home.

Thanks for a great weekend TKBAS, we thoroughly enjoyed spending time with you all again and seeing your new home...we shall be doing it again when we can :)

and finally, a photo for those who read this blog just to see photos of Lucas - this one was taken last month and he is playing with some of his birthday presents.

And don't worry, i shall endeavour to remember my camera when we go out next time :)

"Caesar"

I wanted to share a funny, yet odd, phase that Lucas is going through in his learning development. Some time ago now, Lucas learnt how to say the word "Caesar" which is the name of my in-laws' dog.Except, in his mind, every dog suddenly became "Caesar". Even though we have our own dog that we got well and truly before Lucas was born. So now all dog's are "Caesar". For example:

* Lucas will often crawl over to the glass sliding door, bang on the window and call for "Caesar". We were also out visiting someone who had a dog, and Lucas did the same thing there :)

* Last Tuesday, i was changing Lucas's nappy and he was occupied reading himself a book, when suddenly he stopped and stared at a particular page. Then loudly announced "Caesar"...i looked at the page and low and behold, he had found a page with a dog picture on it.

* Out for our morning walk we saw a small dog walking with its owner, and once again Lucas was excited to see "Caesar"

* Then this afternoon I was reading him a Spot book. That was a bit of a mistake, as on every page he would "Caesar" and wouldn't listen to the actual story.

So, for the time being, we indulge in his "Caesar" and attempt to correct him by saying "dog"...it makes life pretty interesting :)

Albany Long Weekend

Over the March, Labour Day long weekend, Chris, Lucas and I headed down the highway to spend the weekend in Albany. The weather was predicted to be a number of degrees cooler than Perth, who had just come off an all-time high of some ridiculously high number of consecutive days over 30 degrees!! So the cooler weather was very welcome indeed!!

We travelled down on the Friday night, and arrived quite late at night. We spent the Saturday pottering around, relaxing, and generally not doing much of anything. We did spend a lot of time playing Wii. I paid for this the next day as i must have used muscles that haven't been used much lately :(

We also made our usual pilgrimage to the Dome where we enjoyed lunch with my mum and sister. As per usual, Lucas set about charming anyone who would look his way and we give him attention :)

Sunday we had coffee and cake with my grandparents, who Lucas calls Opa and Oma. He was a little confused because Opa Hart didn't look like the man he usually calls Opa (Opa Vdl) :S

Then on Monday we headed down to the beach, to let Lucas get used to the sand and water. We find it difficult to get to the beaches up here, as most require a longer drive and we are usually pretty busy on the weekends. And in Albany the beaches are only 10mins away and even though Monday was cooler again, we decided to go down for a little while. Lucas doesn't particularly like the beach (he's like his mum), the sand or the water. But Chris managed to get him a bit wet and covered in sand AND to give a smile.

All in all, a nice, relaxing, quiet weekend in Perth. And then, before we knew it, it was back up the highway to the daily life of warmer weather, household chores and work. We are now busy preparing for yet another road trip, this time to see our nephew and two nieces.

The Party

Last week Saturday we celebrated Lucas's first birthday with a party. However, before the day and before it started there was lots to do behind the scenes. During the week Chris got started on the cake. One night be baked the cake - which was dairy and egg FREE, as we already knew Lucas had a milk allergy but were unsure of the egg allergy. As it turns out, he ISN'T allergic to egg, but it was better to be safe than sorry. And, it was remarkably easy to find a dairy and egg free recipe. It actually seems to be fresher for long than "normal" cakes with milk and egg. ... Anyway, the next night Chris spent a long time sculpting the top tier into the shape of a....RUBBER DUCK....which also happens to be Lucas's FAVOURITE toy. Chris also made icing (with margarine and not butter) and started to ice the bottom layer. Later that night we realised that we may not have enough cake to go around, so Chris made another layer. This layer was iced the next night. He also decided to be adventurous and ice the centrepiece of the cake with fondant icing (which is like wedding cake icing). It turned out pretty good we think.

On the morning of the party, Chris and I headed over to his parent's house where the party was being held. They have an awesome, big patio that is prefect for bigger get-togethers. The four of us set about decorating the patio with balloons, streamers and a banner. We also set up a large fan, as the weather forecast was for 34 degrees and it was already quite warm!!

Once the guest of honour (Lucas) arrived, he was allowed to begin opening his presents. He was very overwhelmed with it all and just wanted to get down and play with toys and later with his friends. But besides that, Lucas was very spoilt and received lots of different gifts. The photos below shows him later on in the arvo with most of his presents.

After the blowing out of the candle, we allowed Lucas to sit in a high chair and eat his cake all on his own. Needless to say we have awesome photos of him covered in blue icing!! lol....but he had a ball and looked like he loved every bite of his cake.

It was a busy, yet memorable day, and now its all over :( But Chris and I had a lot of fun preparing for and sharing the day with our families and friends. Now to sit back and relax for a while before we go on a road trip down the highway for a weekend to Albany.

Till next time :)

Reflections

The computer and my memories are distracting me, so i decided to blog about it before going on with the things that need doing :)

Our son will celebrate his first birthday next monday and his first birthday party on the weekend, and i cant believe that its almost here already. I have quite a few things to get ready for the party, including making and icing the cake, finalising his present shopping and putting up decorations.

Flashback to February 2010...Our due date was the day before Chris's birthday - and that came and went. We visited the doctor during the week and confirmed an induction date for the following week. However, our baby had other ideas....


From this....16 weeks pregnant

To this....40 weeks pregnant

On Friday night, around 2am i experience my first contraction. We stopped past the hospital around 4pm on Saturday afternoon to get a gauge on how far we were. Needless to say, we were sent home, told to eat dinner and relax with a glass of wine!! We ended up back in hospital at 10pm that night. My dr came up and checked me over, saying that the baby should be born by breakfast time.

Again, the baby had other ideas. At breakfast, my dr came around and revised his initial estimate, saying it would be born by lunch. About an hour before Lucas was born, the dr came back in and made preparations for the birth. Lucas ended up being vacuum suctioned out and was born on Sunday the 21st of February 2010 at 1125am, weighing 9pd 3oz....almost 34hours after my first contraction!!

After lunch, a shower and feed for Lucas we made our way back to the hospital room and got to know our new "little" baby boy. And now...here we are....almost one year later....Lucas is crawling, talking, standing, furniture walking, sitting, playing with toys, eating normal foods, has teeth and his own personality.

We love our "baby" Lucas and are very thankful that his first year of life was fairly "normal" and healthy. We are also looking forward to the milestones this next year will bring...walking, sentences, more teeth, maybe a big boy bed and many more.

Watch this space for a blog post and photos from Lucas's first birthday party :)