Finally.......

After 13 days of life on the 'outside', this gorgeous little burrito of ours has a name.

Lily Azure Aston

It suits don't you think!!

(PS: this doesn't mean I won't still call her Azure sometimes........but shhhh don't tell Chad that's my plan ;) mwahahahaha)

One week old

CRAZY! A week old already. She's going to be walking before I know it :)

And to answer your question. NO. Sadly we still haven't decided on a name. That's right, the option anxiety continues :)

Hopefully it will be resolved soon :) 

And the reason I haven't inundated this space with every moment of our baby's life so far is because my compact flash card died (saddest.thing.ever) so besides the pics we got at the hospital, I haven't taken any photos of our littlest girl since Sunday when I came home. (I know. can you feel my pain :).

As soon as my new card arrives, I am going to be extremely HAPPY!! SNAP HAPPY that is :)

And don't you just love her little (extremely long and skinny) grandpa feet!! They are So cute wrinkly!!

holiday inspiration

Thanks to a little crafting inspiration from this girl loves to talk, the other day we spent a couple of hours whipping up playdoh and making all kinds of little creatures and things......(most of my craft stuff is packed so we improvised with toothpicks and whatever else we could find :)

I think the boys had as much fun taking photos of their creations as they did making them (they took like 50 pictures but i'll just post a few here :)

 
ahhhh don't you love how bright and clean 'fresh' playdoh is......I wonder how long it will take before it all turns brown and the colours are mashed together :)

ps) here's another craft activity I can't wait to do with the kids!!

Running races

I love it when I see the kids do something they don't necessarily 'love' doing. Especially when it 'pushes' them and it's hard.

Rylan's school cross country was kinda like this. At first he said he didn't want to run, then he did, then he didn't again, then he did (ok you get the idea :).....but in the end (with LOTS of encouragement), he decided he would run.

It made me laugh that at the beginning of the race he looked like this.......(he's the one smiling and waving at the camera)

still smiling......

straight after the race still smiling.....

and then he looked like this......and may have said he thought he was going to throw up....

luckily he didn't and it wasn't long before he was back to this again.....(ok the smiles a little forced but he was trying :)

It was so funny watching all the boys sprint past the 'supporter area' where everyone was cheering for them (all trying to impress :) and the second they where over the hill (and thought they were out of site), they would almost all drop their pace back to a 'normal' run and not a sprint! So funny!

I felt like a proud mumma watching him run and loved seeing how hard he pushed himself.  You did a GREAT job bud!!

and let's not forget about his cute little cheer leader......

She faithfully cheered for about the first 30 seconds then occupied the rest of her time rolling around on the seats and playing in the bubbler water.

Before and After

I love it when I finally finish a work in progress....

BEFORE.....

and AFTER.....

9 months in the making and completely beautiful!!

more details and pics tomorrow.  Maybe :)

Almost decided.....

Azure Lily

or

Lily Azure

We are quite divided in this house of ours as to which name we should use. We're pretty sure it's going to be ONE of the names above.

But -I  We really can't decide. I want Azure but my dilemma is that I want to pronounce it like Asia. But as Chad keeps pointing out, Azure doesn't really spell Asia.....and "we can't just change the English language to say whatever we want" (of course we can......can't we???)

The other week when we were visiting our new ward we were talking about the name 'dilemma' with some friends of ours and my friend said they liked Azure (pronounced Asia) for their first daughter but ended up going with a different name. THEN the lady in front of us turned around and said her niece is called Azure and is also pronounced Asia (totally random I KNOW :) - I looked at Chad and said it was a "TOTAL sign" and for the next couple of hours I was completely empowered and the baby was Azure.....but then I started doubting again.....

I guess my question is, If we call her Azure (pronounced like Asia.....see everytime I write the name I feel the need to explain how it is pronounced......hmmmmm) are we just setting her up for a lifetime of name confusion???

What do you think?? REALLY?? I can't decide and we've only got 2 days before "insert name of choice" arrives........

Friendly reminders to self

I thought I should post these friendly little reminders to myself for after the baby is born and I may be a bit sleep deprived and delirious and may forget some of these important little points......

1. Do NOT even THINK about going shopping for new clothes the day you get out of hospital. Wait. At LEAST a few weeks :) you will regret it if you go before this :)

2. The sleep deprivation part is only a phase. It doesn't last long and the baby WILL be in a routine soon. Keep telling yourself this even if you think you are never going to sleep more than 3 hours in a row again :)

3. Feeding isn't always painful (ahhhh wince) this too is only a phase and gets better quickly :)

4. DO NOT try and wear your pre-pregnancy jeans the week after you have the baby. Seriously. You WILL regret it when if they don't go past your knees :) Your trusty black pants will be good to you if you just keep wearing them :)

5. Don't worry about unpacking everything the first day you move in to the new house and ESPECIALLY don't worry about the renovations that may or may not be happening (even if you desperately want them to be happening right now:)

6. Don't stress about the potential mess (whether related to renovating or not)

7. RELAX!! If you need to, take lots of deep breaths (or yawns :) and remember this could be your last baby (such a sad thought) so SOAK in EVERY minute of this newborn bundle and don't worry about the toys and things Jasmin is no doubt spreading around the house wherever she fancies.

and lastly......

Enjoy your beautiful little girl (you already know you will). Like the others she will grow WAY WAY too fast and you will miss her 'tiny-ness' when she's not so tiny!! (and don't forget to take a million pictures in the new lounge room with the best light ever)!!

His names from her.....

He started out as "Dad-Dad".

Then it changed to "Dardy".

Then to "my Daddy" and on occasion "my Chad".

But his latest name (from Jasmin) is "my honey".  I get in serious trouble if I call him honey and sometimes I get in trouble just for trying to talk to him......"he's my honey....no you talk mummy".......

I do try and explain that he's actually 'my honey' and he's her daddy but she doesn't seem to think so ;)

She's also started singing a song to the tune of 'twinkle twinkle little star' with the words.....

"My daddy loves me, My daddy loves me" over and over again (so so cute). Occasionally she'll add other names into the song (me, "rara", "sahny", and Jesus (love it :) but for the most part it's all about her dad!

I LOVE seeing how adored this little girl is. And I LOVE that she knows she is LOVED!!

Baby #4

No I haven't had the baby yet :) For now I am still 'sporting' a giant round body belly.

But I had an appointment yesterday and the doctor said "the baby is engaged, you're already 3cm dilated and we want to induce you"........

"What"??? Induce me. I'm not ready. I haven't even packed my hospital bag. I don't even have nappies or baby wash. We haven't even decided on a name yet AND I have book club and a movie on tonight and I can't miss that :)

So the doctor was kind enough to let me choose a day next week (you know having book club on and all ;) 

Whew! usually by this stage I am SO ready to have the baby.....but this time I feel a little different and I don't mind the idea of the baby staying in a little longer :)

So FRIDAY is the day if I haven't already gone into labor. But I really REALLY don't want to be induced so am hoping that the baby will come naturally before then. I'm thinking Thursday would work well ;) that way the kids and I can squeeze in a few more things we have planned for the holidays (you know really important stuff like seeing toy story 3 and having Zahn's first book club :)

 

I admit I'm a lot little scared about giving birth and for the first time I'm considering having 'drugs' - I like the idea of not feeling any pain???? that sounds good doesn't it?? we'll see. I always said I would have all my babies naturally......but now that I am close, and suddenly remembering the pain.....aaaaahhhhhhhh, I'm kinda thinking about the drug option. Like I said, we'll see ;)

Despite feeling a little nervous, I really can't wait to hold this baby and watch our family smother her with love!!

catwalk training

This is what Jazzy gets up to while I'm busy talking to my sister packing and getting ready for our baby.......

Stylish huh :) I especially love the face and the backwards headband :)

Teeth brushing Wars

So we've been having some teeth brushing issues lately (serious business I know :)

Issues as in, 'your teeth can't really be clean after 5 seconds of brushing, so let me help you do it again". But the boys (particularly Rylan) decided they didn't need or want me micro-managing their teeth brushing habits and it was kind of becoming a bit of a battle to ensure those little pearly whites were in fact pearly, white and clean after brushing :)

Then I came across this quote from this book.......

“When they push, you pull. Move with them. Make it a dance, not a tug-a-war. A dance isn’t about power or control. A dance is about trust, connection, cooperation, flexibility, and fun.

Isn't that statement so true to mothering (and teeth brushing so it seems :)

So instead of the tug-a-war of 'let me help you clean your teeth' we decided to make it a 'dance'......

HALLELUJAH!!!! no more nagging mum about clean teeth!!!

Thank you whoever invented tiny little electronic head toothbrushes with timers that are suitable for brushing kids teeth (and thanks to ebay for selling them for a third of the price :)

It has made our whole bedtime routine SO MUCH more of a dance than a tug-a-war!!