take me out to the ball game...

well, not really - even tho we have been to one of those 'ball games', we're off to an Aussie Rules game of footy tonight.  The boys have been doing auskick, and tonight they will be playing in the half time games at Etihad Stadium. We're going to the footy with some of our good and wonderful friends. All our boys are playing tonight. Cam will be playing in the center or the ground and Nath and the other boys in the smaller games around the edges. I just hope my long camera lens is good enough to get in there and get some decent photos of the boys. 

Run Mark Run

On Sunday Mark will be doing the Run Melbourne with our friend Mark, to raise money for Transplant Australia.  If you would like to sponsor either of the Marks, please click on the pictures below to be taken to their sponsor pages.

Mark Inglis

Mark Leach

Due Date

Last November I discovered I was pregnant and tomorrow would have been my "due date". (You can read about what happened here). Wow, I can't believe that had things been different, I could already be holding, or about to hold, a little bundle of joy! Joy... the middle name we chose if the baby was a girl.

I can't say that 'so much has happened' over the past nine months. It's just been life as normal.

After losing the baby, we were told that if we did want to get pregnant again, we should wait 3 to 6 months before trying. I'm glad we had this time to decide whether we would 'try' to get pregnant. At the end of last year and the first month or two of this year, we pretty much had decided to have another baby.

As time went on, there began to be more days when we' d think 'I don't know', then gradually more days that we felt 'no'- well I'm speaking for myself here. Mark would happily have had more children, but said that ultimately the decision is mine since I'm the one who has to go through the pregnancy and delivery etc - mind you, Mark has always been a wonderful supporter and is always there for me and certainly isn't saying that I'd be on my own. He is realistic and knows that at the end of the day, I have to be able to cope with a new baby.

Such a hard decision to make - it was a no brainer when we wanted the boys - of course we were going to have children. Of course we were going to have more than one. Of course we were going to have number three - oh hang on - life threw us a curve ball just before we were going to start 'trying for number three' and I began to have anxiety attacks. We put off having number three while we sorted out my mental health issues...  which ended up taking several years and by then the question hovering over number three was 'How would I cope?' Since I couldn't honestly answer that question, we decided that since we had two beautiful children, why make things harder for ourselves and them and the rest of our family by having another baby if I can't cope. It was the unknown answer that decided for us.

And that was that. It probably took me about two years to come to terms with the fact that we were not going to have anymore children. It was something I grieved over. We consoled ourselves with the fact that we'd meet our third child (which would have really been our first) in heaven (I had a miscarriage almost three years before having Cameron).

So now? We decided once again, that we will leave our family the way it is with the two beautiful boys we do have. There are other factors now at play too, I work, do I want to give that up? Can we afford to give up my wage? Do we want to give up my wage? How will the large age gap work? I'm getting closer to 40, how would I cope if we did have a baby with Down Syndrome? (we wouldn't be 'getting rid' of any baby we conceived). Do we really want to have broken sleep when we've been past that stage for several years?

It was a difficult decision, but I'm glad we had several months to make it. Over time we went from more days saying 'yes', to more days saying 'I don't know', to more days saying 'I don't think so', to more days saying 'no'. There still are times when I think 'It'd be nice' but those times don't last too long.

Having said all that, I still wish that things had been different and that this baby had been growing in my womb. I still grieve for this baby (and the one before Cam - who would now be 13! Oh my gosh!) and I look forward to meeting this baby one day in heaven. I have two earthly babies and two heavenly ones.

Now we enjoy our friends' little baby, Eden - who is now no longer a baby, but is almost two years old. I call her my 'pretend daughter' and her parents call us 'her other parents'. She has helped fill a space in my heart that has always longed for a little girl, but we get the best of both worlds, we can usually hand her back when she has a dirty nappy! hahaha

Eden has always been a special baby to me. I don't know why - I've never got clucky over my friends babies, and when Eden was born and a little baby, I didn't really know her mum Renee all that well. But there has been 'something there' with Eden and I - some sort of bond.

April 2010

April 2010

July 2010

January 2011

May 2011

Over the past nine months Renee and I have developed a wonderful friendship, she was there for me in ways that no-one else was when we went through what we did, and I'm so grateful for her friendship and love. Over the past few months, we've discovered that we have so much in common - and that our husbands do too. Our children all love playing together, our boys dote over Eden as she does them. I've never had a friend whom I have felt so comfortable with. Renee truly is the sister I never had. God has blessed me wonderfully. Thank you Renee for sharing Eden with me and for being my 'sister friend'.

May in a nutshell...

I can't believe it's been over a month since I've posted. 

School holidays have been and gone.

Making marshmellows

Mark, Cam and I were diagnosed with whooping cough! We've all been immunized which makes it strange that we did get it. Mark was the only one whose blood test result indicated that he had it, but since Cam and I had the same symptoms as Mark, our Doctor said that it's very likely that we've all got it. Often whooping cough blood tests do come back negative. There seems to be a lot that they don't know about whooping cough, and unfortunately you don't know you have it when you are contagious. It usually begins like a cold, runny nose and sore throat and it's not till you've been coughing for a couple of weeks that you go to the doctor and are tested, which is too late b/c you've already spread it around without realizing it.

Mark and Cam went on school camp. They went to the Swan Hill Pioneer Settlement and traveled by train to get there. It was Cameron's first school camp and he had a great time.

I've enjoyed having a few scrap days with Renee where we've scrapped the day away at our computers, exchanging ideas, techniques and inspiring each other.

One of my scrap layouts was 'layout of the week' at Shabby Princess!

Nathan finally began his violin lessons. His teacher is lovely and we're very excited for Nathan.

We celebrated Mother's day with Mark's family by going out for dinner on the Saturday night, and then lunch with my family.  My boys gave me a Pandora bracelet.

We've enjoyed spending time with friends and have had many laughs and lots of fun!

Mark and I have been watching sermons preached by Carter Conlon from Times Square Church New York and have found these really inspiring and challenging.

Our school had a very successful Open Day - and we hope and pray that the families who visited will send their children to our school - not just so we can increase our numbers, but so that more families can be blessed by the way that their children will grow spiritually at our school.

Here are the layouts I've created this month.

Forever Friends!

Something that warms a parents heart is knowing that their children have good and wonderful friends who value and love them for who they are.

Last weekend down at Rye, the 'L' family joined us for one night. When I got up the following morning, little Eden came running up to me and wanted a cuddle! Awwwww!

As we were leaving later that day, this is what I saw written on the blackboard... "Cam's my best friend from Josh"  (BTW - I'm pretty impressed that he has used an apostrophe and it's in the correct spot!!!  He must go to a good school - LOL!)

On Friday Steph was "Spotted" (Student of the Week) and in their family (and ours too) if you get "Spotted" you get to choose what your family are going to have for tea (usually that night). She didn't care where her family went for tea, only that the "Inglis" family had to come with them!  Awwwww!

Today Josh drew this picture of him and Cam. "Best Friends Forever!" Oooooooow!

And this next note really made my heart flutter!  Aimee gave it to Steph to pass on to Nathan this morning in church.  They might only be 7 and 5, but boy, do Renee and I hope that they DO match up one day! LOL! - no pressure from their parents of course!

Well, we ARE allowed to dream and pray ;-)

Busy Times Ahead

We're heading into the silly season! I already cannot believe how fast this year has gone! Next week I'll start report writing for school - something I dread less and less each year - which is good and shows me that I'm growing as a teacher (and person!).  I've got back my sewing mojo and have been busy sewing little dresses for little girls. You can see them at my etsy store here. I am really enjoying making them and thinking of ways to make each one unique. I'm also considering making some headbands and clips to go with the dresses too.

My little friend in her Pinny with her Ruby-Rose doll!

Red Pinny

Ruffle Dress

On Monday we went to the Children's Park in Woodend for a picnic with friends. The kids all had a great time! And the mum's enjoyed a chat in the sunshine and fresh air.

Nath on the flying fox

  

Cam on the flying fox

Josh and Cam on the climbing net frame thingie

The boys!

The girls

The kids

My boys

The crazies!

The Adventures of Renee and Sandra

Let me start by saying that our husbands will never, ever let us take off to the countryside for a drive on our own again!

You can read Renee's account of the day here.

Wednesday began with a trip to the city to get Nathan's nobraces plates.

Nath having 'before' photos taken of his mouth.
These photos were taken two weeks earlier when
they took a mould of his mouth to make the plates.
He doesn't wear his school uniform during the holidays!

Renee called in at 2:30 and we were off to Bendigo to pick up their puppy! (After spending the weekend at Rye with us and our little dog Charlotte, they were ready to get themselves a Cav.)

So we drove up to a little town near Bendigo where we were going to meet the Breeder. We waited and waited, the kids played on some old ploughs while constantly asking us "When is the breeder coming?" "When do we see the puppy?". By 4:30 we knew that she wasn't coming. Renee rang her husband Mark who called the Breeder and was told that they were on their way to Melbourne, even though we'd called the Breeder when we arrived at the designated meeting spot in Marong. That phone call was responded to with an "Oh, ok" and then they hung up. There had been a lady in the car park at the arranged meeting place. She had a dog crate in her car. She drove off quickly after we had got out of our cars (two cars, we can't all fit in one car). We wondered if that had been her, it just all seemed a bit strange.

So we decided to go into Bendigo, give the kids an early dinner (5pm) at Maccas and decide what we'd do next. Renee's husband Mark had been on the phone to another breeder (St Luke) and told them of our troubles and they said "Oh, there's a terrible breeder in Bendigo, she's been breeding for about 30 seconds and her dogs are rubbish." It was the one and the same breeder we were trying to meet. Anyway St Luke's had a puppy for us.They were about an hour and a half away from Bendigo so we decided to drive there to get a puppy.  Renee said that I didn't have to come, but I knew that if it was me, I'd rather have someone with me especially as it was getting late.

We drove through some beautiful country side, if it wasn't getting late, we both would have stopped many times to take photos of the canola and wheat fields, hay stacks and old farm houses.  We were met at the Logan pub (which looked like a tiny old house) by the breeder's husband who drove us several kms along a dirt road to their home.

Waiting at the Logan Pub

When we got to the breeder's home, we were greeted with the barks from about a dozen Cavs and a beautiful little pudding of a Blenheim Cav that was to be called Toby. Cherie the breeder was very nice and was very happy that the pup was going to a home with children. Toby seemed to love all the attention. Steph even threw her arms around the breeder and hugged her and thanked her for letting them have her puppy! Awwwwwwww! Wish I'd got a photo!

Meeting Toby

He IS in there somewhere!

Kids in the cage, dog out!

Nath and Toby

Some of the other dogs

Toby's mum and the breeder

Eden and Toby

Kangaroo damage to car.
VERY lucky it wasn't worse!!!

After an hour we left the breeder with Toby and headed to Kangaroo Flat (near Bendigo) to meet our 'Marks'.  My Mark had decided that he'd pick Renee's Mark up after work and they'd drive up to Bendigo to meet us.  We were half way to Bendigo when Renee hit a roo. Renee was following me, so I was amazed that it had come in between our cars. I didn't see Renee flashing her lights at me to get me to stop, so it was a few minutes till I realized that she was far behind me. I pulled over and she pulled over too. I couldn't believe that she'd hit a roo! The car seemed to be still drive-able and thankfully no one was hurt (although we don't know about the roo!). We cautiously headed to Kangaroo Flat (LOL - how appropriate!) where we met our hubbys at Maccas (again) and had a coffee, the kids had a play, and the Marks got to meet Toby.

Renee and Toby!

It was well after 9pm that we left Kangaroo Flat in convoy with the roo damaged car between Mark and I. We made it home after 11pm.

What a day!