Zoe is 5 weeks old today...

Today Mum and I decided to take the kids to Fountain Gate after karate... what were we thinking? It always seems like something quite fun before we actually get there and then the whole shopping centre reality sets in. I end up becoming a ball of anxiety and just want to run from the place screaming. We did it though and actually got almost everything we needed on our list which was a bonus.

We have been slowly getting used to our new life with three kids. Zoe is pretty great and we are all in love with her. I just love my time alone with her at night when I can lay there and drink in her beautiful soft baby/milky smell. She is really starting to become more alert and I have to keep reminding myself to enjoy this present moment and not wish her onto her next milestone, this being my last baby I just want to enjoy every moment.

The boys are great, feisty as ever. Liam particularly is really testing us right now. He spent most of the time at the mall today on the floor refusing to budge. It's pretty hard to make him move while carrying a baby as well, so i had to keep thinking of creative ways to get him moving, when he would finally get up he would give me the cheekiest look, reveling in his naughtiness. Anyway I now never look down on harried, screechy Fountain Gate Mums because I officially am one.

a few pics from the last 3 days...

she's here...

After a surprising early water break (38 weeks) Zoe was born on Saturday after a speedy labor (around 1 hour). Eli and I rushed off to the hospital after mum arrived to look after the boys only to be a bit worried as no signs of contractions or labour had started. I was actually starting to panic I had gotten everyone worked up for a false labor. The nurse was deciding whether to send us home when she suggested maybe Eli and I take a little walk to see if anything happened first. Within about 10 minutes I was on the floor crawling up the stairs to get back into the delivery room, with Eli laughing all the way. Marti arrived as the contractions started to get more frequent and stronger and we were well into the swing of it within about another 20 minutes.
OK so if you haven't had a baby yet and think you are going to maybe you might skip this bit : )
I had Zoe pretty much drug free (a little gas which kinda freaked me out) and even though it was pretty quick from go to whoa, I have never experienced so much pain in my life. The boys were both induced under an epidural and this was a complete shock to me. Eli is now telling me at one point i was screaming out "HELP! HELP!, WHAT'S GOING ON?" which everyone found kind of funny as it seemed pretty obvious to everyone there what was happening except me. I think I was fully expecting to have my drug fix and ease my way through the labor and by the time I was in full panic mode and begging for some drugs it was too late. Anyway, in retrospect I am so happy I have experienced a natural childbirth, but I am so glad that will be my last.
We are all settling in pretty well here, I am still pretty amazed I have a little girl, and I am a Mumma of three... who would have thunk it. What a blessed life I have with my little family.

my beautiful family looking so happy at the wedding in june...

Saturday Night with Mart and Spidey...

We have been so lucky to have a steady stream of aunties and Nanas and Grandpas coming to visit so we don't get lonely while Dad is away. Mart came up tonight and the kids love having Spidey here. Spider is actually asleep on Kai's bed right now and it was the easiest Kai has ever gone to sleep... I can really see Kai wanted a dog at some stage in the future.
I made scrambled eggs for dinner which seems to be the one thing that the kids completely finish off with no crumbs left.
I was actually a bit worried because one of our chickens went missing tonight and I was out with the torch looking for her and finally found her on top of the chainlink fence around the side of the house, I think she may have flown up there and gotten stuck, I was really glad to get her back into the pen safe and sound... I love those chickens... and not just for the yummy scrambled eggs : )

friday night at our house...

Celeste and Owen came over last night for pizza. I was feeling pretty tired but was really glad for the company. The boys jumped around for a little while and then spontaneously took off their clothes and crashed out in a heap. I was a bit of a screechy Mum last night and now looking back at these photos see that the boys were just being boys and having a lot of fun... I think I'll try and lighten up a bit next time.

a little while between posts...

Last week Eli and I went out for dinner at this great Indian restaurant we have found and then onto Oscars for a drink. It was a great night, but I had started to really feel something brewing in my chest, a lot of coughing and wheezing. Anyway it was just really cold and I felt it intensely, but then ignored it, as you do. Next day at about 4pm I was hit with a fever and flu like a freight train, it was like a matter of 20 minutes, I was fine and then I was just not. Anyway, upshot is I spent the night at the local Hospital and it was all a bit scary. The nurses kind of rushed me through to a bed in Emergency after ready my vital signs and it was the very first time I have had an oxygen mast, which for me was pretty full-on. I usually wait this sort of thing out, but thought because of the baby I should be checked out and to have the nurses react so swiftly was a little alarming. Anyway, turns out I had a bacterial infection in my chest and "The Flu", whether it was swine flu or not I can't tell, apparently we all have it. But I have been recovering slowly but surely, mainly with the help of hubby and Mumma. Mum actually spent pretty much the whole week helping me out with the kids, she was a God sent and I really don't know what I would have done without her.
The boys are great, they were a bit confused, and even angry when I would hop back into my bed after a small spell of playing "Mum, you're not sick anymore" Kai would say. But I have to say a scare like that has made me realize how much I need to keep well and look after myself more, which when lying in a delirium I swore I would do, but of course I'm almost back to all my old bad habits, no slippers on cold tiles, sheer tops in arctic weather, chocolate breakfasts and bare feet outside in the rain, etc... as you do.