BABIES AND PREGNANCY TESTING

Dear Readers
We were blessed to be present when our doe gave birth to the little kid that we named Robyn - shown above in 2006. Just in case you are wondering - she didn't stay that pink colour! How amazing to be part of the miracle of birth.

And now - our family is very pleased to announce that the Lord has blessed us with another baby!

New Baby has been, for nearly 4 months, dwelling in the secret place - Mummy is feeling very sick but excited. Going on past history then I may be well again in about 2 - 4 weeks. Until then the older boys are honing their cooking skills! I often have to sit outside as the tea cooks and the family eats, but I feel a lot more positive than I have done in previous pregnancies where the sickness really got me down a lot.

I am taking two supplements which I believe are helping me - Blackmore's Morning Sickness tablets which have 250mg of B6 and ginger. I'm having these three times a day. Twice a day isn't enough! Also Usana Essentials - Multi Vitamin and Mega Antioxidant. When I ran out of these I was definitely sicker - so I guess they work!

I just wanted to share an opinion (I have an opinion? Oh yes!) about pregnancy testing. Speaking to older Mums they will often say "Well, they didn't have all that when I had my children".

Indeed.

Reading through the latest pregnancy handout I came across information about blood tests that can tell you if your baby has a problem - but it can't tell if there is a definite problem.

Or the results can tell you if your baby DOES NOT have a problem, but it can't tell if it definitely DOES NOT have a problem.

So really, why have the test at all?

A different, and in my opinion, more acceptable test is the urine test which shows if sugar and protein are present. These are the sort of things we can take action on if a problem is spotted.

But I have read so many testamonials from ladies who were advised there either "could be" or "definitely was" a "problem" with their baby - and they were advised to "terminate" (i.e., kill) their baby. They chose not to. Subsequently they went on to have wonderful healthy babies.

We had scans with our first two children, then decided against it for the third. However, at one stage it was thought we were having twins so we went in for a scan. I was uncomfortable about it, and if I NEEDED to have one again I would ask that it be over and done with in the shortest time possible. No need for measuring thigh bones and skull etc unless ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY.

So for the last two babies we had no scans.

Same with this baby - no scan planned.

We often joke about "The Babies" as Mummy's tum has grown very quickly - more to do with bad stomach muscles though probably!

Twins would be absolutely wonderful - but a home birth would be out in that case which would be sad.

Nevermind - we rest in God's plan and leave it totally in His hands.

Amen :o)

Blessings
The Mummalady

We love Dogs!

The first dog I loved was a foxy cross named Judy. We got her when we first moved from England to New Zealand. Dad had told us we would have a dog and I was so excited. However, for some reason I was frightened of her and wouldn't put my legs down at the table at tea time in case she bit me! She was extremely frightened of us - at 9 months old we weren't sure what sort of life she'd been through, but she became the love of my life. I didn't think another dog could ever be so wonderful, and I overlooked all her many faults.

Next up was my own dog - my baby. I was 19 years old and ready to be a Mummy. She was a tiny little 6 week old Australian Silky Terrier. I now realise that 6 weeks is two weeks too early to leave a litter, but I didn't know that then, so I didn't question the breeder.

She was a darling and a poppet, and I spoiled her awfully so she had problems!

I loved Silkies so much that when our 2nd boy was 4 years old we got a second Silky. She was extremely dominant, and developed a grass allergy which became a huge problem when we moved out into the country. 2.5 acres of grass didn't suit her at all. She would be fine until we cut the grass, or some specific type of grass started to grow then her tummy would become inflamed it was time for another trip to the vet.

During this time our old Silky hurt her back, not for the first time, and we made the decision to put her down. She is buried here on our property.

My 2nd son had been praying for a dog of his own and everything worked for good and along came a darling darling little short-legged Jack Russell Terrier that the boys named Judi, in honour of my first dog - spelling changed to prevent confusion. :o)




Well, we ended up having to make a decision on what to do with our Silky because of her grass allergy and also the two dogs had started fighting which was putting us all on edge. So the Silky went to a new home.

We were a one-dog family for a couple of years there - we had enough to be going on with learning about cows, goats, chickens, sheep, the problems with building bad fences ...

But about a year ago I started to research dogs again. What sort would we get IF we got another dog? I thought that it could be my daughter's dog so that she could do the cleaning up and feeding etc, and have something to Mother and love. With that in mind I narrowed down my choices of breeds.

Then one day I was browsing through the puppies on Trademe - only the ones available in our area as we told ourselves we wouldn't buy a puppy who needed airfreighting (after a bad experience with our second Silky). And there right in front of me was Bobby.

He was ten weeks old, and his price had been reduced because his breeders needed to sell his sister and him before they got any older.

I had never considered a Pomeranian, but I heard that spitz dogs were good for a family. Actually the person who told me that said "Perhaps not the Pomeranian as they are very small" at the time she was eyeing my little boys who were charging around the room.

I rang the number and tentatively asked the breeder whereabouts they were - when he told me I just about jumped for joy. They were 15 minutes away from us!

When we went to visit Bobby, to see if he would be suitable, the breeder came rushing outside to tie up his big dog. He was carrying a tiny little orange ball of fluff. He pushed it in the car window onto my lap.
"Hold this," he said "I'll just tie the big dog up."
The children all craned their necks over my seat and we stared at this tiny little quiet bundle with the beautiful eyes.

Our decision was made.

And we have no regrets.

Who would have known that this little puppy could bring so much joy! He's a perfect little poppet.




Blessings
The Mummalady

WOW

Because we don't have a TV, we don't see advertisements.

We don't think we miss much. In fact we save ourselves from a lot by not having our minds filled with someone else's lies about what we need to own/buy/give to someone to make them love us ...

But today we watched



We do not feel the need to replace our Toyota with a Honda, but after seeing the advert everyone said "WOW"

Blessings
The Mummalady

DELIGHT DIRECTED LEARNING

Something our daughter and I delight in is making cards. We get all our beautiful bits and pieces, punches, ribbons, paper and card together and look at what we have, and then decide how to use it.

The best bit is sending our cards off to people to say thank you, or thinking of you, or with a piece of scripture or a poem in it.




But sitting makings cards is not a favourite pass-time of our 14 year old son. He delights in posing their Action Men and making photo stories. He is honing many skills during these sessions.





And our last photo for this post is something else that the big boys delight in - Lego. For over 12 years now our floors have been littered with bits of Lego - painful to step on, difficult to keep contained but incredibly beneficial to their fingers, their minds and their playtime. And as the boys get older, and have access to digital cameras and editing equipment on the computer they delight in producing some great stop-motion animation.

The little guys have been watching the big ones play with Lego since they were born, so it's easy for them to come up with some great ideas.


I first learned about Delight Directed Learning about 10 years ago. It works.

Check out some of the links.

So I just wanted to share something that's good :o)

Blessings
The Mummalady

SPEAKING OF CHILDREN'S BIRTHDAYS AGAIN

Here's a picture of the yummy morning tea Miss 7 had. Pineapple, cheese, oranges, organic dried apricots (we like the healthy brown ones, not the ones soaked in sulphur dioxide so they retain their bright orange colour!) and for a HUGE treat - MARSHMALLOWS!

I thought I was finished with the topic of birthdays for a while, but while reading through some old emails I came across an article by Teri Maxwell.

We have been enjoying the teachings from Steve and Teri Maxwell for quite a few years now, so I thought I would put a link in here to the specific article Teri wrote about birthdays.

If you want to check more of what they have to say visit titus2.com.

I hope you enjoy it - or are challenged by it!

Blessings
The Mummalady

ENJOYING LIFE

Mr Charles Spurgeon said:

"It is not how much we have, but how much we enjoy, that makes happiness."


One of the most glorious things to enjoy is God's creation. We took the picture above when we did a bush walk through a National Park.

Even though the walk was hard in places, and a bit of a struggle with two little ones in mountain buggies, and it was A LOT further than we thought it was going to be - we have made a rich memory for the children of a day we really enjoyed.

Why did we enjoy it? It wasn't too hot, it didn't rain, there weren't too many people - all these things added to the enjoyment. But the best part was that we were together soaking up all the wonders of Creation.

There were the little waterfalls, streams and rocks, the stunning views that hit us as we rounded corners, the intoxicating blue of the sky, the deep rich greens in the bush all around us. And then a picnic on the beach and a paddle in the sea. (Paddle traditionally means ankles and up to knees in contact with water. Nevermind - Mummy did indeed have a change of clothes for small children who hadn't got the hang on keeping at least the top-half of their clothing dry.)

Even when we discovered that someone had inadvertently put the bananas in the BOTTOM of the backpack and they resembled baby food, it didn't spoil our enjoyment.

And when we returned home, weary and happy, our quickly assembled tea of cold chicken and potato salad on the table in front of us, we prayed and gave thanks to the Lord for everything He has given us to enjoy.

And we do.

Blessings
The Mummalady

ART!

I had a beautiful piece of fabric that I bought ages ago - intending to make cushion covers.

Today I finally got it out and spread it on the table to cut it.

But OH! It looked beautiful on the table - I decided not to wreck it by cutting it up!

I hemmed the edges and VIOLA! A STUNNING one-of-a-kind tablecloth to brighten our kitchen.

But looking at the table I knew there was something missing.

I asked my oldest son "Can you find something orange to put in the middle of the table for a centrepiece please?"

And this is what he came up with.

There is a bowl of lemons and oranges (that was my suggestion) hidden under the mountain of Smelly Bellys. You can see a tiny bit of lemon in the bowl on the left.

This child, as you can see, has an eye for the colourful - and a heart for the totally ridiculous.

Blessing from
The Mummalady

GIRLS' MORNING OUT

My little girl turned 7 during the week, and on on Saturday, Daddy stayed home with the boys and the girls took off in Daddy's little work car for some serious shopping!

She had some money from both sets of grandparents. A lot of thought went into what she might buy - discussing and making lists. So on Saturday when we actually got to the shops the joy of purchasing things was wonderful!

We make a point of never going shopping for "leisure" or "entertainment", so to have some birthday money to spend is a very special thing.

We bought morning tea - a sausage roll for Mummy and a chocolate croissant for Miss 7. This was a huge treat. :o)

Near the end of the expedition Miss 7 found some things to buy to bring home as presents for some of her brothers - the Smelly Belly being the major find of the morning - $2 in the Salvation Army shop. Our two oldest boys are Smelly Belly collectors. They actually already have this Giant Smelly Belly - Lolli Pop - but it's always fun to add more to the collection (apparently) and they have plans for making more movies with Smelly Belly as actors (gripping! What they lack in expressions they make up for in personality).

We also had a girls' library visit (one of the boys commented on the fact that he could tell that it was a girls' trip - quite a few of the books were about cardmaking and scrapbooking ...).

So we spent some money, had some treats and got some library books - but the main thing was that we spent time together. Just Mummy and her darling little girl. I often look at her and will myself to remember every little detail about her while she is still young. I know that I'll blink and suddenly she'll be 17.

But I'll still be her Mum even when she's grown up. And I cherish every moment and deeply thank the Lord for each of His precious children that He has chosen for me. For me to teach, care for, guide and love.

Amen
The Mummalady

HOLIDAYS EVERY DAY

We were out shopping today, the sun was shining, a cool breeze blew off the snowy mountains, the carpark was only half-full and people wandered in the relaxed way that I have come to appreciate so much in the small town we live near. It's like being on holiday every day. :o)

There are quite a few alternative folks living around here, it's good for the atmosphere - no big city rush, no stress, no "me first" attitudes - well, very few anyway.

And if we don't mind a few sandflies we head over the hill for the beach where the children can shout, run and dig and get "sand in the eyes and the ears and the nose, And sand in the hair, and sand-between-the-toes". For weeks afterwards we are reminded of our beach visit as we find sand in carseats, socks left rolled up in the bottom of the laundry hamper and the pocket of trousers that have been through the wash twice. But what harm is a little sand?

We are very blessed that the Lord has placed us here. If He calls us somewhere else, I pray that we will respond like Abraham did - willingly, in faith.

But in the meantime we just soak it all in, enjoy it to the fullest, and serve Him where He has planted us.

Blessings
The Mummalady.

LOW-KEY BIRTHDAYS

We've noticed a "thing" happening in the world nowadays.

Children's birthdays are getting ... well ... extravagant.

When our littlest guy turned one we joked about what sort of party we would have for him. A bouncy castle, mini-jeeps, little quad-bikes, a clown, pony rides, a marquee and catering for 50.

Instead we sang "Happy Birthday" to him, gave him his teddy (which he has named Bare Bear) and had a biscuit after tea to celebrate.

When the next little guy up just turned 4 not so long ago he got a Lego set, a resin rabbit for his garden, a tiny little torch and a wonderful morning tea! It was just the family as usual, and the wonderful treats you see on the photo above.

Miss almost 7 has her birthday this week. We have a few treats tucked away and something nice planned for lunch. Tea will be something she has chosen and the day will be special for her.

I was talking to someone a while back who reminded me about children's parties when we were little (he was as ancient as me) in the 1970's. When mothers cooked the food like lamingtons, cherios (not cereal like in America - here in NZ they are little red sausages served with tomato sauce), ginger snaps with whipped cream in them, individual jellies, hundreds-and-thousands open sandwiches, tiny little savouries and of course a cake.

The games were pass the parcel, hunt the thimble, pin the tail on the donkey ...

For the majority now it seems those days are gone. Parents have better ideas - they hire the entire gymnasium for an hour, and then take everyone to a restaurant afterwards or take 15 of their children's best friends for a horse trek or hire a bouncy castle and a juggler to put on a show or they get a "Party Organiser" to do the whole thing! And the parties get bigger and better (and subsequently more expensive) each year. What a stress!!

Birthdays ARE specials days. A time to celebrate the life of the child - to thank the Lord for sending that specific child into that exact place in our family. But the hype and glamour is misplaced.

I would like to encourage parents to really go back to basics with birthdays for young children. When they are older they might specifically ask for something special, but having been brought up on a diet of simplicity and the quiet life I believe the requests won't be too extravagant (or expensive!).

JUST ONE SOCK

Unfortunately we see a lot of these at our place. Just one sock.

We have a whole box of "one sock" singletons, waiting for their partner to turn up.

I love this picture though - son number 2 took it when he was sitting in the car. It's a silly thing to take a photo of, but how cool. :o)

He's got an eye for a good photograph.

Blessings
The Mummalady

THE VALUE OF MESSY PLAY

Generally - when you are four years old all the best things to do are messy.

Our first born DID NOT enjoy getting mucky. Once I enthusiastically suggested papier mache. He positively recoiled as I explained the wonderful process.

He joined in with the ripping of the paper, carefully wiping his hands down his trousers when he noticed the printing ink had slightly smudged his hands.

He stood back and watched as I made up the flour and water paste, interested in the science of the matter, but horrified that he might have to touch it.

I happily slapped layers of gloopy newspaper onto a balloon while he had a "well, I'm glad you're enjoying yourself" look on his face.

During this time his little brother woke up and I knew we'd better move the process outside.

Wise mummy. Suddenly we resembled the old song "When Father Painted the Parlour" - paste and paper everywhere. Not much on the balloon though.

Little brother needed a hose off afterwards - but he was used to that and joyfully turned that into part of the game.

Mucky Boy's famous line when he was little came about when he was walking right along the side of a deep muddy drop down to the water. His Nana said "Come away from the edge - you'll fall in and get all wet". His chirpy reply: "But that doesn't mind!"

These two boys are now 16 and 14. Not much has changed.

Mr 16 invents and constructs and uses his mind in wonderful ways. Very rarely will he get muddy - usually only as a result of rushing into a deep mud puddle to rescue one of his little brothers.

Mr 14 happily zooms along on his bicycle, oblivious to the buckets of mud spraying up the back of his jersey. He's the guy to call on when the goats escape as he fearlessly throws himself on them to catch them. And if he misses - ah well, it's only mud. That doesn't mind.

So after a few lovely rainy days and lots of mud and wet sawdust on the gardens which Miss almost 7, Mr 4 and Mr almost 2 love to run through and throw themselves in, an afternoon spent with Play Doh is an easy option for "messy play".

I can't even begin to comprehend the benefits of children being able to squish and mould and imagine and make things. Ideas spinning around their heads, trying something out, squashing it all up again to try another idea. The joy and innocence children have in just PLAYING! They don't sit for 10 minutes looking at the dough, telling themselves that it's no use even starting because it will never come out the way they imagine. What freedom!

But it's funny how when we came to put the Play Doh away there wasn't quite as much. And what was that blue lump the puppy was chewing?