Mums Like Me

The human spirit never ceases to amaze me. When people are pushed to their limits and given even more then they think they can handle they often come out the other side doing something amazing.

Today I read  via KORA Organics Blog by Miranda Kerr a wonderful idea by a beautiful Mum called Erin. Erin is the Mum of 5 boys and 2 of those named Came and Zane are Angels who left this earth too soon but defiantly made a huge impact on their family and friends and now seems on many other people too. Erin wanted to honour her boys and came up with a Gorgeous idea to make and donate Gift Boxes made and dedicated in honour of the angel babies. These gift boxes are donated to other Mums of angels and are filled with many items that Erin felt she needed while she experienced her own loss of Cam and Zane.

Well Done Miranda and the KORA team for supporting these Mums and families during this time.

I am touched by this story not only because I am human but because my daughter Airlie Fae was born at 27weeks gestation.I had every chance of being Erin and as a survivor of neonatal intensive care I am thankful that my Airlie Fae is here with us, but it breaks my heart that many Mummies are missing a little piece of their hearts as their angel babies aren't here with them. I know too many families in this situation and I think all of them would stand and clap for Erin and the fantastic Mum's who are doing this.

Why did I write this post? well because you just never know who is reading your blog. You may have been touched by the loss of a child through neonatal or stillbirth and I just wanted to reach and tell you about this wonderful cause.

REMEMBER

Go ahead and mention my child,

The one that died, you know.

Don't worry about hurting me further.

The depth of my pain doesn't show.

Don't worry about making me cry.

I'm already crying inside.

Help me to heal by releasing

The tears that I try to hide.

I'm hurt when you just keep silent,

pretending she didn't exist.

I'd rather you mention my child,

knowing that she has been missed.

You asked me how am I doing?

I say "pretty good" or "fine"

But healing is something ongoing,

I feel it will take a lifetime.

By Elisabeth DENT

Please visit http://www.mumslikeme.org/ and share the details with your friends.

Airlie Fae Starts School!

Such a busy start to the year and I am a little behind on my posts but I'm slowly catching up.  Did you have a a child start school this year?



Mason, Airlie and Aston on our way to Airlie's first day of Prep. When did my babies grow up?




I just wanted to share with you the pictures from Airlie's 1st day of big school. Here in Melbourne Victoria Australia that is called Prep which is the same as Queensland, in New South Wales it is called Kindergarten.
What is the first year of school called where you are from?




Airlie looking proud on her first day of school.



Airlie Fae and her teacher Miss Kelly

 I can't quite believe that Airlie is at 'Big School'. She looks so tiny in her little uniform but is loving every moment of it. She often picks a flower on the way to school to give to her teacher Miss Kelly and tells me that she loves her. I am so glad that she is enjoy school and is making lots of little friends and a few big friends too.

 Who would ever believe that she was a tiny premmie? Lucky I have the photo's to prove it!

Some work Airlie brought home from school. I was very proud to see and hear that she had written all of this ALL by herself!

Musing from Oone very tired Mumma

How do you get an almost 9month old to sleep longer then 2-3hours????? Recently Aston has been having terrible sleeping patterns and its really starting to get on top of me. Most of the time he is waking every 2-3 hours and I am not sure what to do? I feed him each time so he keeps quite and doesn't wake up my husband or the 2 big kids and I'm not sure if he really wants to be fed or just get a cuddle? Sometimes he really doesn't feed for that long either but I don't want him to wake everyone up.
So what are your tips?  What is your routine like?
I have never been really strict with routine with my kids as I breastfeed and feed them when they are hungry.
Aston is also in our room and I was wondering at what age did you put your kids in their own room?
He sleeps okay during the day, sometimes having 2 sleeps a day one in the morning and the other mid afternoon, both of these can last up to 3 hours if he isn't woken by something.

Have you read any baby sleep books? Did you find the helpful? If so what books?
HELP!

i went looking through my iphone to find a pic of Aston sleeping and this is 1 of very few!

I'm not sure why but he turns his dummy sideways like that in his mouth?

Does your family know your wishes?

TO REGISTER TO BECOME AN ORGAN AND TISSUE DONOR PLEASE click this link and fill out the details YOU WILL SAVE SOMEONES LIFE

This weeks is DonateLife Week and I really want you to please talk to your family about your wishes regarding organ and tissue donation. Why is this important to me?

A little about our story
This is important to me because my Mum had a kidney transplant almost 7 years ago and it changed her life and the ones around her forever.  When I was 11 my Mum became unwell after having her 4th baby and it was found that she had kidney function problems. My youngest brother was born at 34weeks gestation due to this and had to be born in a large Sydney hospital about 8 hours away from our home. Mum became sicker over the years but her kidney function had to meet a certain level before she could go onto the transplant list. Then you just have to wait! As kids after Mum became sick it took over our lives as she couldn't travel alot and we were restricted because of her having to do dialysis, but we just learned to live with it as that's just what you do.
I remember hearing from my Mum (we lived about 6hrs away at that stage) when she got the call about the donor kidney and she was home alone. It was a very emotional day for our whole family and we all travelled to the hospital 8hours away to wait to hear if she would receive the transplant.
That day also happened to be my Dad's birthday too.
The biggest thing I remember about the transplant and the time surrounding us was how much my Dad loved my Mum. You always know your parents love each other but seeing my Dad like that really made me stop and understand with the years they had been together, the 4 children and everything else you go through that she was his best friend in the whole wide world.
After many weeks in hospital and on ground at hospital accommodation my Mum was able to go home. My Mum isn't the only person I know who has had a transplant either so just remember it may well be someone you know one day who needs this help.

I know it can be a hard thing to talk about but it really is important, we don't like to talk about death and I can understand that but what we do when we don't talk about our wishes is leave the decision to someone else! If your family know you want to donate they are more likely to give the OK if the situation arises. Please talk to them today as it is very important.

We don't know the person who gave my Mum her new kidney but thanks to them we will still have my Mum for years to come and I am very grateful for this. Australia currently has a very low donation rate so we need to improve this. Australian's are such generous giving people and I am actually quite surprised that Australia is not higher on the donation list.



Here a few things you can do.

• Talk to your family about organ and tissue donation.
• TO REGISTER TO BECOME AN ORGAN AND TISSUE DONOR PEASE click this link and fill out the details YOU WILL SAVE SOMEONE'S LIFE
• Share my link on your facebook page to raise more awareness. I have a share button you can click on at the top right hand side of my blog
• Blog about DonateLife Week yourself
• 'LIKE' DonateLife Australia Facebook page and share the page with your family and friends
• You can attend some events around Australia by checking out this DonateLife link
• check out http://www.donatelife.gov.au/ to find details you can put on your website, blog, newsletter etc You can also find lots of information and personal stories too.

Just take a moment and think how would you feel if it was your Mother, Father, Husband, Your Child or anyone else you knew that needed the donation of life. Please Talk About It and Please Become A Donor xx

Our Family Valentines Day

As promised here is what we got up to on Valentines Day.
Do you celebrate Valentines Day? If you do Did you have a nice Valentines Day?
We decided to celebrate the date together this year as a family which was fun. I made a special little meal with dessert and after a big day at school and work it was really nice to see what everyone got up to that day. I asked the kids what they received at school... Airlie made us a card and Mason well Mason is like every 10 year old boy and wasn't really into it. His comment was "oh Mum we don't do that at school"
I took a few pictures of our little dinner but then forgot to take pictures of us!? I know I know but I promise to take pictures of us next time LOL

Our main course was  Salmon with baked Potato and Pumpkin (I am trying to give these up but oh its sooo hard!) and of course some lovely steamed veggies too.

For Dessert I made Ice-cream hearts

I made these by using a cookie cutter in the shape of a heart. I placed the ice-cream inside and then added choc chips to the top. They must have been okay because Airlie wanted them again the next night too.

I also ate the Guylian Belgian Chocolates and they were so delicious!

This is what Airlie made us for Valentines Day at school. So cute and she was so proud of making it.
Sorry the photo is on the the side I was having a fight with Blogger this afternoon and as you can see it won.

She also made this when she got home. I printed it out from Beyond The Baby

A Very Special Birthday with Mary Poppins!

'Practically Perfect In Every Way'

When Airlie's 5th Birthday was coming up I searched for something really special to do with her as I think an experience rather then alot of 'stuff'' is much better way to spend the day.  Last year we went to the Arts Centre in Melbourne and seen the production of Angelina Ballerina. The show was fantastic and the tickets cost $35  each so very reasonable, I thought for such a lovely thing to do together.  So with the date getting closer and closer and her birthday being just after Christmas I needed to get organised!

I checked out the tickets on Ticketec to watch Mary Poppins at the Theater with Airlie while it plays here in Melbourne Australia. I quickly had to rethink if it was a really good thing to take Airlie to when I seen the tickets cost $320 for 2 people! I kept it in the back of my mind but we really couldn't afford to pay that much money. I was gutted and had to start searching for something different to do. I still hadn't found anything a few weeks later and something prompted me to check out the ticketc website again. When I did was excited to see that there were special seats available on Airlie's birthday for just $40 each!! I was actually beyond excited to tell you the truth. Airlie and I had watched the movie together and I actually brought it for her for Christmas and she was getting quite good at singing all the songs. My husband and Son said they would stay home with our baby boy as we couldn't get 4 tickets in a row.Not sure if this was a quick way of them getting out of it or not? LOL no I think they really did want Airlie and I to have fantastic seats. I quickly booked the tickets and then had to keep it a surprise for 6weeks! Now that was hard.

There seemed to be a Special for the tickets on Wednesday and Thursday Night 8pm shows that can be booked up to 6weeks in advance and Friday night 8pm shows that could be booked up to 2weeks in advance. It was a total fluke finding these tickets and I think if you check you could still book them now! I think it may have been a mid-season special as they finish in April and when a friend and I checked you couldn't get the tickets then(I'm considering going again by myself with some girls for the $40! I would be crazy not too!!

 

Well the show was just amazing! Airlie and I had so much fun and are totally going to become theater goers! I had to tell her a few times not to sing too loud at the start of the show as I didn't want her to annoy anyone but by about half way through it I thought "heck if they can't enjoy themselves and see she is enjoying herself then too bad!"   It was so lovely to see her singing away and having so much fun on her birthday and I was so glad what ever it was telling me to recheck the ticketec THANKYOU!! 

We sat on the top level of the theater on the right hand side about 5 or 6 seats in so we had awesome seats and seen it all! From the Flying Mary Poppins to the singing on the roof tops, a fantastic show it was!

Airlie purchased a Mary Poppins bag, a program and a Practically Perfect T-Shirt before the show and as we were leaving we also got her the Mary Poppins umbrella. I will have to take pics of these at another time as I already have so many pics to share.

It is not long before this show finishes in Melbourne and heads to Sydney so make sure you get along and see it. Also check out for those mid-season specials. We had awesome seats and were lucky enough to pick them up for $40 EACH!! Due to no photography when the show is playing we unfortunately don't have any of the actual show which is a shame but don't worry the memories will live on for a life time!

What do you do for your child's birthday? Do you have a party? Do you have a special family dinner or some other tradition? Love to hear how you celebrate.

Valentines Day Family Fun

Valentines Day use to be all about a romantic dinner for 2 in a fancy restaurant and gifts because... well just because! Now with 3 kids it is hard to get out of the house, so this year for Valentines Day I have decided that we will celebrate it together as a family.  I mean what better way to celebrate our love then to be surrounded by the very Little things that were created by it!! 

So this year I am planning a special little dinner for the 5 of us at home and I might even break out some candles and chocolates too. I know it might sound a little silly but I thought it would be fun to still celebrate with my husband and introduce the kids to it as well. I will blog after Valentines Day to let you know how it all went.

So I am still planning on what to make but I have chose the most important thing.... the Chocolates!

There are so many types of chocolates to choose from but I have purchased some Guylian Belgian Chocolates Sea Shells @  $3.59 and a box of ' I Love You' box of Guylian Belgian Chocolates @ just $7.99 as I just couldn't choose 1 box.  In the end I chose these chocolates as Guylian supports the Seahorse charity with is an organisation dedicated to preserving seahorses and other marine life world wide. You can visit Protect Seahorse for more details. See we all win! I get yummy chocolates and I do some good for marine life at the same time.

What are you doing for Valentines Day this year? Do you celebrate the day/night with your whole family or just your partner? This will be a first for me including the whole family and hopefully it goes well.

Since the 2 big kids have school on Monday I am planning on putting something special in their lunch box too. Oh and now that my big boy is getting older I wonder if he will receive any Valentines notes or gifts from someone? Oh they are growing up way too fast!

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY XXOO

A little more about the Chocolates!
DISCOVER, TASTE & ENJOY…THE ULTIMATE SENSORY EXPERIENCE FOR VALENTINE’S DAY


GUYLIAN is famous around the globe for its exquisite selection of premium Belgian Chocolate Sea Shells, each filled with a delicious, roasted hazelnut praliné made to the original signature recipe. Guylian’s ‘I love you’ gift box is the perfect gift for your loved one this Valentine’s Day and the heart-shaped chocolates provide a romantic, sensual tasting experience to enjoy together.
A delectable blend of West African cocoa beans and 100% cocoa butter (with no vegetable fats) form the basis of Guylian’s silky smooth chocolate recipe and only the best, hand selected hazelnuts from the Mediterranean are used to create Guylian’s premium, hazelnut praliné filling.
These hazelnuts are gently roasted and caramelised in over-sized copper kettles to deliver Guylian’s unique flavour and a distinctive mixture of Belgian milk, and white and dark chocolate gives Guylian Sea Shells their iconic marbled appearance.
There’s a delicious variety of Guylian products to suit every chocolate-worthy occasion and Guylian’s luxurious range of gift boxes are the perfect gift for any special occasion and of course, the most romantic gifting occasion of the year, Valentine’s Day. Whether it be a little treat for yourself after a busy day at the office, a delightful after dinner chocolate or something delicious to share with friends when entertaining, Guylian products suit every occasion.
Guylian offer the following core products throughout Coles, Woolworths and other selected retailers across Australia.
The ‘I Love You’ 100g gift box is stocked nationally in Woolworths with an RRP of $7.99.

I'm A Little Teapot Tea Party Pt 2

Following on from I'm A Little Teapot Tea Party Pt 1 I am going to share a little more about Airlie Fae's 5th Birthday Party. I really had lots of fun styling this party and I know there are loads of awesome stylists out there who have done a much better job then I have. I'm just proud that I did it! I think it turned out okay.
Not too bad for my 3rd try at styling parties.

Airlie had lots of lovely little friends come and I think they all enjoyed themselves. It was a bit hot but with the fruit, water and juice we gave them kids they kept pretty hydrated. Airlie had a Fairy pinata and we did plan to do lots of old school games including the egg and spoon race etc but it was just too hot. We did have a HUGE Princess bouncing castle by Joey McBoing Boing  and the kids really loved it!

If you live in the Western Suburbs of Melbourne look them up as they are very helpful and well priced! Tell Catalina and Ian I sent you!

Airlie was lucky enough to received lots of presents (read here the most barbies I have EVER seen in my life!) she is very grateful to have received the presents although I wish I had of asked if instead of all the gifts that the guests give Airlie a small donation to give to the Royal North Shore Hospital Neonatal Intensive Care Unit where she was cared for as a tiny premmie baby. Not to worry we will do that at another birthday party.

My husband and I made almost everything for the party and we thought it was funny that the guests ate pretty much everything and left the shop brought items. We would have had plenty of home made delicious goodies but I wanted to make sure so I opted to buying a few as backup.
Check out our cute little creations below including  Mellow Pops, Strawberry Choc cups.

last but not least our teapot cake made by myself and my husband!!

I'm a Little Teapot Tea Party Pt 1

Party Styling By Me (Fiona) for my Gorgeous Girl (Airlie) 'I'm a Little Teapot' Tea Party January 2011

My GORGEOUS girl Airlie Fae recently turned 5 and we celebrated by having a tea party.
It was a big event for us after everything Airlie has been through since her premature birth so we wanted it to be extra special!  I had so much fun styling the party and am starting to get a bit of an obsession for it actually. I love to read the thousands of blogs to be inspired for my own children's birthday parties.
My obsession really started with me styling my baby boy Aston's baby shower but that is a whole other post as I need to get the pics from my friends as I didn't take that many on the day as I was too occupied. Anyway back to the post at hand,  from all reports Airlie was very happy with everything we put together.
I thought I would share a few pictures with you so please leave a comment below and let me know what you think?  I'm also sorry it has taken so long to post about this party! These pictures were taken the start of January, life has just been busy!

A little about the invite - the invite was designed by Sarah at Style Me Gorgeous and I am a HUGE fan of hers. You should go and check out her designs. Just before I purchased Airlie's invites I learnt that Sarah had helped style the baby shower hosted by Oprah in Melbourne during her visit....so how could I not choose her design?

A little about the party - We dressed up a dessert table with lots of yummy food including teapot fairy bread, lots of yummy summer fruit, cakes and we used a gorgeous little tea pot and tea cup set filled with lollies that I purchased from Tara at Sweet Little Birdy.  I covered a table with a white table clothing and decorated the table with a fabric bunting from Airlie's bedroom made by Amy from Giggleberry Creations Designs. I also picked fresh white and pink roses from our garden and purchased a glass vase and tied pink 'Princess' ribbon around it. I also purchased a birdcage and a cute little pink birdy and placed it inside the cage which also sate on the table. We are now using the birdcage and birdy as bedroom decor in Airlie's room and I have been using the vase for flowers around the house too.

I'm still learning how to put together a dessert table but hopefully it looked okay?

I also put together lollies bags for the kids to take home in blue, yellow and of course pink! I printed and pasted Thank You circles onto the bags that were designed by Sarah at Style Me Gorgeous too. I also had party wear designed by Sarah at Style Me Gorgeous that I forgot to use! I wasn't happy with myself but oh well I am sure we can use them for something else.

I am going to have to break this post into 2 pieces as there is just too much to write about and way too many pictures I HAVE to share(cake, party games and more styling). Take a look at Part 2 coming soon!  Here is I'm A Little Teapot Part 2 as promised!!

Big Nursery Give Away

I just wanted to let my friends know in the USA to check out Chic & Cheap Nursery website where Nicole and her team are having a Big Nursery Giveaway Event between the 1st and 13th of Feburary 2011. 
All I can say is you are so lucky to be able to enter this (sorry Aussie friends we can't enter =( due to shipping the items to the other side of the world) There are so many GoRgEoUs items being given away including brands and stores such as Natural Mat, Oilo, Modtots, Stokke, Layla Grace, Carousel Designs, valspar, Little Posh Bebe and more.
Good Luck! Let me know if you win anything.

The Chic and Cheap Nursery website has some amazing ideas and lovely helpful tips on how you can decorate your bub's nursery.