Congratulations!

A big congrats to Nat, Gary and Sophie on the arrival of baby Ruby, can't wait to meet her today!

Mothers day...

I love mothers day, it is the one day of the year we can sit back and really appreciate what we have done for our babies and its only dedicated to mums!

This year we spent the weekend at Tweed Heads and I can tell you it was one weekend away that we really needed. The last few weeks have been really tough for us and it was nice to finally relax!
We didn't just go for mothers day but was combined with my upcoming birthday.

We spent Friday at Currimbin Wildlife Sanctuary, Bailey loved it! Such a great way to spend a beautiful sunny day. We arrived just before lunch time and spent the afternoon wondering around watching presentations and talks, saw the biggest croc I have ever seen and feeding the kangaroos (Bailey's favorite).

After a fun filled afternoon at the sanctuary we had a short drive to our hotel 'Twin towns outrigger resort', while it was nice it was not overly child friendly. It did have indoor and outdoor heated pools so we were able to go swimming, the beach was a little too cool. It was very convenient to Coolangatta and surrounding shops, parks, restaurants and beaches. We didn't need to take the car out (which I love).

Bailey seemed to attract a lot of attention with his ear to ear smile from the older women, he loved it! Especially at twin towns where we went for dinner on Friday night...

Saturday was spent with a lazy breakfast followed by a swim, a snooze and a huge walk around Coolangatta, spending hours at the parks. Some great 'jungle gyms' finished off with dinner at a little Thai restaurant.

Then Sunday..... mothers day, I woke to a beautifully wrapped present from my boys, a gorgeous 'mum and me' photo frame and a voucher for 80mins worth of anything I like from a massage parlor...Heaven!! I can't wait to use it! We walked to the beach side markets before leaving our hotel and heading out for a mothers day lunch with both our mums.

Again, it was a nice relaxing day, in fact weekend which never seems long enough.....til we had to go grocery shopping on the way home : ( 

How do you like to spend your mothers day, and birthdays...is there any tradition you stick to?

Sleep

I am finding Bailey can be so hard to deal with regard to his sleep... Especially after night duty when I have not slept and I am home alone with him. He can be so defiant, for example someone came to the door just as he fell to sleep, this woke him, then it was a screaming match to try and get him down again, as he is doing now. See the thing, if he doesn't have some sort of sleep in the afternoon he is captain cranky pants and completely unbearable come 6pm. Catch 22 really. I suppose since I have had such little sleep then I get a little more frustrated.

It took Justin and I a lot to change our bad habits and those we got Bailey into. To change these we were admitted to "the Ellen Baron Centre" (AKA - sleep school). It was here that we were taught how to undo all of the bad habits we had so easily go ourselves into, thus making life so much harder than it needed to be in the early months of Bailey's life. Our biggest mistake was that we would let Bailey fall asleep in our arms then whilst asleep place him into his cot, every so gently so as not to wake him. It was always a big accomplishment if we could keep him to sleep.... we probably only had a 50% success rate!We spent countless hours trying to put him and to keep him asleep. This was so exhausting, but still it was easier for us to do this than listen to him scream!

I am sure as much as the staff at the centre wanted to ignore the fact that we were actually practicing controlled crying with him, in my eyes it was. We said good night and he was put into his cot - left to attempt to self settle, when he started screaming then we would go in and settle him, not removing him from his cot. Once the screaming and crying had stopped we would leave again. This process was repeated until he was finally asleep, sometimes taking up to 1.5hours.... Sound like controlled crying?

We were also taught that babies need structure and should not be demand fed but fed in routine.... this completely contradicting what any midwife or child health nurse would tell you.... Babies in fact need routine! From the time of waking they must be put down again only 1.5 hours later, in this time we would feed and play (bath if needed).

After doing these (what seem like simple) things for a whole week we were mentally and physically drained and were well and truly ready to leave the place! Did it teach us anything? Hmmmm maybe, maybe not, we still cannot put our fingers on it. Can Bailey self settle? Hmmmm on occasion and only when he wants to. Is our bad habits and possible laziness what got us into this never ending sleep issue problems now? Hmmmmm Most certainly!Mental note...is there is every to be a baby Fox no. 2 - we will not make the same sleeping mistakes again!

Holidays!

Isn't this time of the year great? So many holidays giving us the most wonderful long weekends....What more could we ask for, time with family and friends, and the weather has just been amazing!
I would love to know where families go with young children, family friendly hot spots. It can be so expensive to go on holidays, sometimes I guess it would be so hard to entertain the children. I am sure we will get to that as Bailey grows. I would like to find a place that is somewhat close but somewhere we could go to every year just as a mini get away. Suggestions very welcome!
We are off to the Gold Coast in a couple of weeks just for a two night stay. It may be a little chilly for the beach but we thought (providing the weather is nice) a trip to Currumbin might be a nice idea, I am sure Bailey will love the animals and all of the birds at feeding time!

Happy Easter!

Well I have had the most rough couple of weeks of my life. Today I have tried so very hard not to think about it...I will explain later!

Its Easter, and happy Easter to everyone, I hope unlike me not too many people had to work. I don't mind going to work cause when I get home I am greeted with the biggest smiles and cuddles from everyone in the house. Every time I see my boy he melts my heart!

Justin took Bailey to his uncles house for a BBQ breakfast, there he met Dakota and Riley, Steve's niece and nephew on his wife's side of the family. He had a great day getting to know them. Nice to hear, so far he has a nice little stash of chocolate and more to come, we decided we would have our Easter tomorrow... eggs and may be a trip to the beach!

Isn't it funny, the older we get we still enjoy Easter eggs just the same?? Big kids at heart or just can't give it up, and it's the only time of the year that its acceptable to eat chocolate for breakfast   : )  I am a sucker for an elegant rabbit...oh but it must be red tulip. They are the best!

We have a well stocked fridge which I am sure will take us a while to get through....

What eggs did you get and what are your favorite?

Quick and easy quiche...

I find sometimes life is just so hectic (especially with little ones at your feet)  that I thought I would share some quick and simple recipes with you. Life shouldn't be spent in the kitchen. Tasty and healthy food (that I guarantee the family will love) does not have to take hours...

This is such a simple quiche that can be served as a meal (lunch or dinner) with a side salad and some crusty bread....or a nice change from a sandwich in the lunch box.... a great summer dish using fresh ingredients!

I have kind of made this recipe up using bits and pieces of others I have come across in the past, so, I never really know quantities.... my measurements are usually a bit of this and a handful of that, so here goes!

4 Sheets filo pastry
6 eggs, beaten
100-150g fetta cheese, crumbled
250g spinach
150g ham, shaved
5 asparagus spears, blanched and finally chopped
5 shallots, chopped
cherry tomatoes, halved

Grease pie dish with canola spray and line with sheets of filo pastry, spraying with oil between each layer.
Wilt spinach in boiling water for 30 seconds, remove from water and set aside on paper towel to drain, squeezing out excess water then roughly chopping.
Blanch asparagus, chop finely, chop shallots and halve cherry tomatoes.
Roughly chop shaved ham.
Layer ingredients in pie dish, I like to layer first with ham, asparagus, shallots (reserving some for the top) then the spinach.
Crumble the fetta over the other ingredients and decorate with cherry tomatoes, pour over beaten eggs, sprinkle with remaining shallots. Season with salt and pepper.
Cook for 180degree oven for 35-40 minutes or until egg is set.
Serve warm or cold.

Enjoy : )

* If you would like to swap the ham for bacon I would recommend sauteing and cooling it before adding to pie dish. I also find this helps if using onion, capsicum or any other vegetable to start the cooking process. You could also replace the fetta cheese for regular tasty cheese!

NIght Terrors

Last week we had Bailey at the hospital as he had an episode which really scared Justin and I. He displayed very odd behaviour not long after we put him down for the night. After review at the hospital the Doctor told us it was possibly a night terror.... OK I’ve heard of these but never really looked into them, who they effect and why. I never in my wildest dreams even thought about it when Bailey was having this episode nor did I ever think my child would have them, therefore there was never anything for me to worry about.

Wanting to find out more about night terrors I went to trusty old google and I found some quite disturbing information and scary re-enactments on utube!

Night terrors can be very serious in nature and parents are advised to understand the importance of safety when a child is having one.  There have been a few theories which have been thought to have an impact on night terrors, some of them diet, it was thought to have been believed that if a child was having night terrors they may be lactose intolerant, or there was a closely related link between the two.  Sleeping patterns were thought to be the cause at one stage, it was believed those children who had irregular sleeping patterns were at higher risk of having terrors, this, was found to be false.

It is now believed that night terrors are related to traumatic childhood memories, so traumatic that the only relief of night terrors is psychosocial therapy. A bit extreme?? I guess it would just depend on the traumatic event I guess...

I find this theory a little odd as Bailey is just over 13 months; I can be assured that he has had no traumatic event in his short life. There seems to be no definition of a traumatic event documented (which I can find) so....asking myself would a traumatic delivery or a night of controlled crying be classed as a traumatic event and if so would this even be remembered by a 13month old child? I found night terrors tend to occur in younger children (4-6yrs) and are usually outgrown by the end of primary school age. 5-15% of children have these. 

The only treatment for night terrors seems to be prevention.... I read that if they are happening frequently and at the same time every night then it is worth waking the child 15minutes prior to the usual time of the event and then put them back to sleep.  Also a trip to the GP is encouraged to rule out anything more sinister. It is stated that terrors occur in non-REM sleep so by waking them prior to an event you are starting the sleeping cycle over again, in hope that the child will avoid the terror. A consistent night time (prior to bed) routine should be encouraged. Quiet story time is a good idea and avoiding T.V and too much excitement is a must. There are usually no long-term psychological effects.

Safety is a great concern and parents are urged to lock all doors (as the child may run around in the event) sleeping on the ground floor is also recommended. Parents are encouraged to divert the child from harm’s way; it is advised that parents let their child ‘snap’ out of the terror on their own accord as the more they are disturbed the longer the terror could go for. Generally terrors should only last for a few minutes and following that the child should drift off to sleep with little or no recollection the next day.

I was told (at this time unable to find written info) that night terrors are genetic and can be indicators that the child may sleep walk etc in later life. I found this point funny as both Justin and I do some strange stuff in our sleep..... He likes to drive his truck, yep, he would sit up, steer like he had a wheel in his hands and use the foot peddles, and at times it would appear as though he is abusing the person in the car next to him, which is really me. By the time it gets to that I have woken, laying there looking at him, giggling, he snaps out of it. He says that he knows he does it but cannot stop himself from doing it (he would kill me if he know I posted this about him hehehe). I on the other hand have been known to sleepwalk, I have in the past locked myself out of the house all hours of the night and knocked on the door to get back in, apparently I have made coffee or sat in the lounge and read a magazine, I have absolutely no recollection of ever doing these things.... 

It is strange the way our minds work. I guess there is no hope for Bailey if both of his parents have sleeping issues? 

There is soooo much info out there on night terrors I could go on forever but I put it out there -Please post your thoughts and ideas, I would love to hear what others think or know about night terrors.... 

http://www.chw.edu.au/parents/factsheets/nightmares_and_night_terrors.htm

http://www.nightterrors.org/

http://www.kidspot.com.au/familyhealth/Development-Toddler-Night-terrors+2537+213+article.htm