Without needing to raise my voice

Cooper the little jet-setter

2009-03-31T23:21:00.002+11:00

Right at the start of the month, Cooper took his first overseas trip. Nanny came with us so that I could compete with my pipe band in the New Zealand Pipe Band Competition. Cooper was going okay until he projectile vomited on the plane all over me.

The smell was so bad that the air hostess came asking if she could spray some air freshener! Needless to say, I was glad to get to the hotel to shower and change. He did the same thing another two times that we were there, and I realised that it was a reaction to the baby food I’d been feeding him, as he is used to home cooked food. The organic baby food seemed to be better, and I bought some bananas at the supermarket that went down extremely well.

Cooper was an angel for the trip, and when he was dressed in his pipe band t-shirt and cap was truly a little mascot for the band. Everyone loved coming up and talking to him, and judging from his reaction, he enjoyed it just as much. Despite spending so much time in his pram, he did really well. On the flight home he screamed a lot because of the early morning (we had to be up at 1.45am our time), but luckily not many other people heard because of their ear phones.

2009 NZ Pipe Band Championships

The grade 4 band that I play in came 2nd in the championship and 4th out of 23 bands overall, and the grade 3 band came 2nd overall, winning in the drum corps.

Coming back from NZ, Cooper’s appetite picked up a lot. He had been fussing more and more at meal time before we left, but when we got back he seemed to appreciate my cooking even more. He had toast for the first time, and at first didn’t know how to hold it. He has got the hang of it now, and makes a really big mess of things. It’s funny to see him hold his food in his fist. He’ll eat from one end of his fist, then the other end, open his fist a few times to see the food, close his fist and try to eat it again, even though there is no food protruding from his fist. Then he’ll open and close his fist again…… It’s only when he drops the food that he can pick it up and keep eating.

By the end of the month we had discovered that Cooper will blurt during meal time if he has had enough or is bored with what he is eating. To stop the blurting we either have to stop feeding him, or offer him dessert, which is normally fruit or yoghurt. He doesn’t have dessert with every meal, so we won’t let the blurting become a habit just so he gets his own way.

A tooth surprised us on the 16th. We were blessed with a good start to teething, as Cooper still slept through the night, and only had a bit of a cough and was more sleepy. I know that the worst could still be to come, but we’ll deal with that when we get there.

Cooper has started to scream to get our attention. I first noticed it when I was watching a bit of TV and not paying attention to him crawling around the floor, when suddenly he started doing short screams until I looked at him. He also screams at strangers when they have not smiled at him.

Cooper’s crawling is getting quicker, and he will crawl all over the house, especially when he sees the cat (he gives little squeals of delight whenever he sees her, so we know where he is). I have still not moved the vase or the wine rack, but we have discovered the need to shut the study door, otherwise we will find Cooper in there turning the computer on and off or ripping wires out of the USB port in the front. He started to crawl over top of some of his toys and onto his foam couch, and at the end of the month surprised us by pulling himself up on a stool to stand beside it.

Cooper - March 2009

He still has a fascination for wheels, and will even grab his toy bulldozer and move it along the floor as if he is driving it, although I’m sure he doesn’t know what he is doing.

Sleep is still good, and sometimes Cooper will sleep on and off until 8am when I wake him. On those few days I have tried to cut out his morning nap, but he normally falls into a deep sleep at around 11am, so I still need to keep up with a short morning nap.
Sometimes he won't have an afternoon nap, but that's hit and miss at the moment.

Nanny came with us for the eight-month health assessment and we found out that Cooper is 72cm in length and 9.03kg.

Breaking news: Cooper stays in bed for 12 hours!

2009-02-28T22:39:00.000+11:00

After eating solids for a couple of weeks, Adam and I decided to see if Cooper would sleep through from 7pm to 7am. I had been cutting back on his 10.30pm milk over a few nights, and we were delighted when Cooper slept through on the first night without that feed, on 1 February. He woke at around 6am for a 5 second cry, and then went back to sleep.

I can’t tell you how nice it is to have the option to go to bed early every night! Occasionally Cooper will wake up and talk or cry for a few seconds closer to wake-up time, but he goes back to sleep again until I wake him for his bottle.

At his six-month health check-up, Cooper weighed 8.4kg and was 70cm in length. When we saw cousin Alison at the start of the month, we were surprised to find out the she weighs a little more than him (8.7kg), but then again he is crawling and using so much more energy. I love watching the two of them together.

Adam and I took Cooper to the pools for the first time on the 9th. It was a cool day, and the water didn’t seem that warm, but Cooper seemed to enjoy his time in the baby pool with me while Adam took photos. It was so cute to see him on his belly on a floating noodle kicking his legs behind him as he does when he crawls. We can’t wait to take him again.

On Friday 13th I returned to work, as the Financial Controller of Enterprise Architects (Vic) Pty Ltd, located at the Rialto in Melbourne. I will be there for 3 days a week in the beginning, and then it should drop to 2 days a week. Cooper stays at home with Nanny for two days, and Adam is home with him for his rostered day off (RDO) on Tuesday’s, which is great. I miss Cooper so much when I work, and can't wait to get home to see him just before he goes to bed.

Cooper has finally mastered the Jolly Jumper, and it provides us with a few minutes relief at times when we want him to stay in one place. He has also discovered wheels, and will spend ages spinning the wheels on the pram when it is folded up. It’s so cute to see him spin the wheel, start to crawl away to something else, and then remembers that the wheel is there and returns to spin it some more. The toy xylophone is something that Cooper is particularly attracted to, but then again, anything that he can bang grabs his attention. I’m not sure if this is just a boy thing or not.

Cooper - February 2009

Cooper is still as smiley as ever, and will smile at most people until they smile back. There are some people that he takes exception to, and I haven’t worked out what it is about them that makes him cry. Our financial planner came and just wanted to make Cooper smile, but Cooper cried the entire time he was here. So strange!

He is starting to get more vocal too, and his favourite sound at the moment (aside from blurting), is something like "Owfff", which he does a lot of.

Towards the end of the month, Cooper started to crawl outside of the lounge room. Up until then he was content just crawling around the lounge, and we’re happy that we have doors on the lounge to keep him in when we want. I’m determined not to properly ‘child-proof’ the house, and am hoping that if we say ‘no’ enough and move Cooper away, that he’ll eventually learn to keep away from the wine rack and a vase that is sitting on a shelf near the kitchen. I’ll let you know how it goes.

On the move...

2009-01-31T16:42:00.000+11:00

Cooper is officially on the move. He started by rocking on his belly and rolling to get where he wanted to, and after only a few days, he discovered that commando crawling doesn’t only work in the bath!

It didn’t take long for Cooper to get the hang of crawling, even if he did drag his feet behind him, only using his arms to move himself. It happened at around the time that we stopped using the walker, as Cooper was getting into everything and we decided to wait until he can sit up before we use it more. He crawls around the floor and sucks on anything that he can get near his mouth. He particularly loves my fake Crocs as he sticks his fingers in the holes, and if he sees spots of sun peeking through the curtain onto the floor he'll crawl over and spend ages trying to grab them with his whole hand.

There are a few photos that I’ve included that show some of Cooper’s sad faces. He grunts quite loudly for up to ten minutes when he fills his nappies, and I discovered one day that if I copy him (albeit while smiling), he doesn’t like it and he cries. I only did it a few times, but one time I took some photos so that I can show him when he is big (good for his 21st perhaps!). If he is frightened by something he will always give a frown before he starts to cry, including some people who try to make his smile.

A couple of weeks into the month, Cooper weaned himself from the breast. He had been on formula feeds for two feeds each day since he was 10 weeks old, and had started to fuss more during his 2.30pm feed. One night he simply refused the breast and screamed until I had a bottle ready for him. I was sad, but luckily Cooper helped with the transition by taking a few small feeds over the next week so that I wasn’t in much pain with it.

Half way through the month we started Cooper on rice cereal, and introduced a few vegies and fruit before the end of the month, such as apple, pear, potato and sweet potato. He seemed to know exactly what to do when I put the spoon near his mouth, and he hungrily devours everything we give him. It only took a week for him to start ‘blurting’ while he was eating, and we’d end up with food all over us. A few firm words and tears ensued over a couple of days and the blurting all but stopped!

Cooper - January 2009

Adam was most upset when we decided to turn the car seats around so that they face forward. I’d be driving along and hearing Cooper’s constant little grunts as he tried to sit up, so we decided to make the change. Adam is a little sad to see Cooper’s progress with things because it is a reminder that his little boy is growing up, but he just loves to see Cooper in the rear vision mirror of the car, as do I.

Towards the end of the month Cooper discovered his feet, and would spend ages rolling around on the floor holding them and taking off his socks. He also started to move around his cot at night, and it took me a while to work out how he did it, as his sheet would still be tucked in. He lays on his back and pushes with his feet until he gets out, and then usually plays with his special musical seahorse at the end of the cot. I only discovered this when I had him on his back on the floor getting ready for a bath, and he suddenly went scooting around the room on his back to get away from me. So cute!!

'Tis the season to be jolly

2008-12-31T16:31:00.003+11:00

We decided against having a photo taken with Santa this year, and visited our local Sunday School to borrow a nativity costume. I think that Cooper made an adorable angel, and we received so many happy responses to those who received a copy of the photo with their Christmas card.

At the start of the month Cooper developed a bad cough, and we put the baby monitor in his room for a couple of nights so we could check his breathing. We didn’t get much sleep because of the coughing, and the doctor thought that it might be a type of asthma. It wasn’t fun trying to get the Ventolin into him though.

We snuck into Daddy’s good black Holden SS when he was at work one day, to take some photos. They didn’t really turn out too good because Cooper was tired, and I had to hold him up with one hand to take a photo with the other hand. When I ‘fessed up to Adam, he didn’t tell me off like I had expected, but offered to help take some better photos after he has given it a good clean.

Cooper’s salivary glands have developed more, and it isn’t unusual for me to get a wet shoulder when I hold him, because he loves sucking on my shirt. In the baby harness he sucks the bit of material closest to his mouth, and it is always drenched. Spit is a big problem for Adam, but the health nurse reassured us that it might only last until Cooper’s swallowing action has developed more (well, until he starts teething anyway). Cooper’s hair has also started to grow to cover the bits of his head that grew and left what looked like bald patches. It looks like a really blonde colour, and it will be interesting to see what colour hair he ends up with.

Just before Christmas Cooper learned to roll from his back to his front, but only seemed to do it when I wasn’t in the room. I’d come back in to find him on his tummy. Although he didn’t move around much aside from a little commando crawling in the bath, when we put him in the walker he gets into everything. He loves it so much, especially when he learned to steer and could get to the Christmas tree ! Drawers are also within his reach, and he stands near the kitchen drawers banging them until we stop and move him. I guess that’s one of the perils of a hard floor without carpet – there is no stopping him!

Cooper - December 2008

Christmas day was a big day, and Cooper loved to suck on the wrapping paper, he helped to unwrap some of the presents. He was a little overwhelmed when we went to Grandma and Grandpa’s house to open more presents with my family, and the noise made him cry.

Cooper loved seeing his cousin Alison again when she visited from the Hunter Valley, and all he wanted to do was to touch her and would have sucked on her arm if we hadn’t intervened. We had Alison in the bouncer here when Cooper was in the walker, and he spent ages just sitting beside her and stetching out to touch her hair.

Touching faces is a new thing that Cooper likes to do, as well as laughing when I yell ‘Boo’ to him, and he looks at me with anticipation when I sing and play ‘Round and round the garden, like a teddy-bear’ on his hand.

I so happy that Cooper smiles heaps, and also smiles with his eyes. He goes to bed smiling, and wakes up smiling, which well and truly melts our hearts!

He laughed, which made me laugh, which made him laugh.....

2008-11-30T22:04:00.004+11:00

November was a good month for watching Cooper doing new things, nearly all at the same time.

At the start of the month, Cooper started to laugh properly. The first time he did it I cracked up, and he laughed at my laugh, and I laughed, and he laughed again, and we kept going for a couple of minutes. It was so cute, and we could’ve gone on like that for ages!

Not long after that Cooper started to roll from his tummy to his back. I realized that I hadn’t been putting him on his tummy much for fear of him losing his feed, and when I put him on his tummy I was surprised at how strong he was. We usually put him on his tummy before his bath so that when he has no-nappy time he will pee onto the towel and not all over the room (we're lucky that he can't roll from his back to his tummy yet), and if he is impatient for his bath he can even crawl about 50 cm until he gets off the blanket, when he screams!

Cooper - November 2008

Cooper met his great-Poppy from Beerwah in Queensland, and no sooner had Poppy walked in the door than Cooper and his cousin Alison were put in his lap for much-awaited cuddles. He also experienced his first traditional Melbourne Cup day with our family, where we all go to the local park for chicken and champagne breakfast, and basically eat and drink the day away. This year we were able to celebrate with great-Poppy and Uncle Bardie.

Towards the end of the month Cooper’s legs got even stronger, and all he wants to do is stand up on your lap. I put him in the walker for a few minutes a couple of days ago and he loved it, but he hasn’t got the hang of bouncing and jumping, so when I put him in the Jolly Jumper he just stood there with stiff legs and a funny look on his face.

Just before Cooper turned four months of age I noticed that he was kicking so much in the baby bath that he was making a huge mess, so we moved onto the big bath, which he loves. The only trouble I have now in the bath is trying to stop him from turning his head to drink the bathwater.

Cooper had his second lot of needles, the four month ones, and by the time the doctor lifted the edge of his pants on the second leg, he knew what was coming and started crying even before the needle was anywhere near him. Smart kid!

At his four-month check up with the maternal child health nurse, Cooper weighed 6.66 kg and was 64 cm long.

Three nights to remember.....

2008-11-15T16:48:00.004+11:00

I got to meet Andre Rieu, and play in his concert. Not that I was part of his talented orchestra, but I got to stand on stage with them all and play the side drum with approximately 100 other pipers and drummers in the finale on the 13, 14 & 15 November 2008.

The Australian Federal Police pipe band was the only band touring Australia with Andre, but the University of Ballarat Pipe Band was picked along with the Victoria Police Pipe Band, Hawthorn City Pipe band and Rats of Tobruk Pipe band to perform in the Melbourne concerts held at the Telstra Dome. We marched in playing Scotland the Brave, starting in two groups on the stadium ground, marched to the front of the stage, climbed up the steps to the stage (trying to avoid tripping on balloons and flower planter boxes and face-planting right at Andre’s feet), and I walked along the left side of the stage and up the steps to the ‘ballroom’ floor, standing on the balcony in the front row. For those of you watching the replay on DVD, I was directly behind the bass drummer with the leopard skin on the left.

Once on the stage we joined Andre and his orchestra playing Amazing Grace, which nearly had me in tears, then the rest of the cast came on stage and sung a song in a different language, we sang Waltzing Matilda, danced a funky dance with maracas, and then played Road to Gundagai as everyone else left the set. It was an awesome experience to be standing on stage looking out at 40,000 people in the audience, and one that I’ll remember for a long time.

With our ‘Guest Artist’ passes we were able to access most of the stadium and watch most of the performance, and were able to go to the after-party each night, the one that die-hard fans paid $1,200 each to attend. A few of us from our band spent a bit of time talking to Andre’s son Pierre, who is the Production Manager and designed the whole set, and we managed to get autographs and photos with some of the big stars, including Andre himself.

Meeing Andre Rieu and his crew

Fingers crossed that we’ll be able to perform in Andre’s concerts when he returns next year!!

Trying not to cry because he's gone, but to smile because he lived...

2008-11-05T11:19:00.002+11:00

Sadly, Adam's father Peter died on 29 October, close to midnight.

Not long after returning from the Hunter Valley, Peter had a fall and was rushed to hospital. He seemed to come good after that, but was still kept in hospital. He was transferred to a palliative care suite at Bacchus Marsh on Tuesday 21 October, and Cooper and I spent that Friday afternoon with him. Peter held Cooper on his knees and had a good conversation with him "(ooo) and then.. (coo) .. really. .. (goo ga)... then what happened?...". That was the last time that Cooper was held and cuddled by Peter.

Over the next few days Peter's health declined, and Sarah and Alison arrived for a pre-arranged visit, and Peter's children Melissa and Scott and Melissa's two-and-a-half year old son Brandon came from Perth. The family had time to spend with Peter alone, even though Peter was sleeping most of the time, and on the Monday night when Adam thanked him for everything and told him he was proud of him, Peter said "What are you talking about? I'm proud of you". When Adam told him that he just wanted him to know, Peter said, "Don't be silly, I'll see you tomorrow". The next day, Peter woke when we arrived and said hello, waving his hands and fingers at us. For the rest of the day, he barely woke, and on Wednesday, he didn't wake at all.

Sadly, on Wednesday night, Peter passed away. The funeral was held at the Police Academy Chapel in Glen Waverly, which seats about 700 people. Being such a prominant person in the Ambulance service, the chapel was nearly full.

Farewell Peter 2008

I spoke on behalf of the family and was glad that I hadn't looked to see how many people were there until I got to the podium. I shared some favourite memories of Sarah and Adam, such as when Sarah was little and went to a pony club, the kids there were encouraged to decorate their ponies to celebrate the pony’s birthday. Sarah was sad that she didn’t have a pony there to decorate, so Peter let Sarah put a saddle and bridle on him and dress him up as her birthday pony, letting her ride on his back.

When Adam was growing up, he tried to run away a couple of times on his bike. One time Peter walked the streets of Melton looking for Adam, and when he found him, just picked up his bike and started walking home. Another time, Adam rode his bike a bit further away, and Peter drove around in the ambulance looking for him. When he found Adam talking to a bus driver he just picked up the bike, and put it in the back of the ambulance before taking Adam home. Not too many words passed between them about it, but it was by his actions, that Peter showed Adam how important he was to him.

The service ended with friend and colleague Don Ormiston playing Amazing Grace on the bagpipes, and a guard of honour led by the Ambulance Service that Adam proudly stood at the head of in his ambulance dress uniform. As the hearse passed through the guard, the Ambulance helicopter did a fly-over.

Peter was someone we will never forget. He meant so many things to so many people, and it was his love of life, and eagerness to live it to its fullest, that inspired and encouraged us to be best that we can be.

Rest in Peace Peter.
10/09/1953 - 29/10/2008

Give the boy a hand!

2008-10-31T11:06:00.001+11:00

Cooper has found his hands – but not to look at. The first time we put a rattle in his hand and he held onto it, he held it for about ten minutes, and was so excited with the noise he was making.

Cooper has never had his dummy in bed at home, and during the month discovered the taste of his fingers. Whenever he is tired his fingers go in his mouth, with a loud sucking sound – pretty impressive during the quiet times at church! When we put him into bed or if he wakes up early, you can hear his loud sucking noises. His favourite fingers are his middle and ring finger of his right hand, but he’ll suck on any finger that is close, and often has red marks on his fingers from sucking so hard. My mum keeps trying to take his fingers out of his mouth saying "You can throw a dummy out, but not fingers", but we'll figure out how to stop him when he's a bit older - not just now. Not long after his fingers, he found that if things were close enough to his mouth, he could lick them, including toys, clothes, and his favourite – bibs.

Sometime during the month Cooper stopped crying as much on the change table, partly due to a Noah’s Ark mobile that we borrowed from Aunty Beccy. Bath time is also more pleasant, where Cooper very rarely cries, and he only cries afterwards because he is hungry. He also stopped ‘bobbing for a nipple’, something that he used to do on the shoulder of an unsuspecting person who happened to be holding him when he was hungry.

Cooper - October 2008

We have started to babysit our niece Liana every so often, and I occasionally have to rescue Cooper from his loving one-year-old cousin. One time Liana crawled over to the A-frame play gym that Cooper was lying under, stood up and straddled Cooper holding onto the frame, and I could see what was going to happen and was able to drag Cooper out from Liana as she promptly sat down where his chest had been. When I took the photo of the two of them that you can see in the album, all Liana wanted to do was push Cooper of the couch!

Cooper talks, screeches and coos a lot more, especially when he first wakes up. Sometimes when I put him to bed after his 10.30pm feed he is smiling and talking so much that I worry that he’ll start crying when I turn the light off, but so far, so good. He still hasn’t woken between 11pm and 7am since he was 7 weeks old, and is having three breast feeds and two formula/breastmilk feeds a day.

Cooper started to giggle about halfway through the month, and made everyone smile who heard it in real life or on the camera. It is so funny to hear.

Cooper and I spent more time visiting Poppy in hospital, and Cooper was a real gem. He made so many people there smile, which is what he is best at. One week at church one of our favourite grandmas sat behind us and giggled loudly through most of the service because Cooper was smiling at her – it was so heartwarming to hear!

A great highlight of the month was meeting Aunty Sarah, Uncle Bardie and baby cousin Alison, although it wasn’t under the best circumstances. Cooper loved talking to them and smiling at them, and looks monstrous next to Alison. When we took photos of the two of them, Cooper was so patient while Alison squirmed quite a bit, but it was great to see them together at last.

Little princess

2008-10-02T13:09:00.002+10:00

Cooper has a new cousin that we are yet to meet.

Alison Lilly Badenhorst was born on 2 October 2008 at around 1.30pm, weighing 7 pound 8 ounces, and 50cm long, to Adam's sister Sarah and her husband Durr. What was extra special is that Nanny and Poppy were with them in the Hunter Valley in New South Wales to celebrate the birth with them.

Welcome to the family little Ali, and we look forward to meeting you (and seeing all your lovely curly hair) very soon.

The journey begins

2008-09-30T13:06:00.001+10:00

On 14 September Cooper was baptised at St Marks Lutheran Church in Melton, where I was one of the first people baptised. Cooper was also the first second-generation child to be baptised into our congregation, and was also the third person baptised in my family for 2008.

My brother Jamie and his wife Rebecca (Beccy) agreed to be Cooper’s godparents, and Cooper was a little angel during the service. I just hope that my brother and sister didn’t annoy the congregation too much with the actions that they were doing to the songs (so, how does the action to the torrent of water go again?!)

It was a very special day for our families, and we were blessed with some extra special guests in the form of Cooper’s great-grandparents Ma Bet and Pa Bob, and Aunty Ale (late Uncle Jeff’s wife), who we hadn’t seen in nearly a year. Grandpa also made a special FaithChest for Cooper to store some of the mementos from his faith journey.

Cooper's Baptism Sept 2008

There were at least 15 people who had said they would come that didn’t actually make it due to illness and other reasons, so we had heaps of food. So much so that my sister-in-law and mum were encouraging everyone to take a plate of left-overs with them, which they successfully did. It was so nice to have a relatively clear fridge after lunch rather than having to eat left-overs for the next week.

May God bless you now and always as you start your journey of faith little man. As I say to you when I give you a kiss and cross your forehead every night before you go to sleep - Cooper, God loves you, and I love you. Amen

Running on air

2008-09-30T12:49:00.000+10:00

Not long after my last entry, Cooper seemed to discover his feet. Whenever I laid him down he started to kick non-stop, almost as if he was marching on the spot, or peddling a bicycle.

During September Nanny babysat Cooper for the first time while Adam and I went to the annual Scotia Ball for the pipe band that I play in. Apparently Cooper was pretty boring for Nanny and slept for most of the time, but he did leave his wet (pee) mark on their carpet, as he has done with everyone else’s floors when we have changed him there!

We had our six-week check-up with the doctor and everything is on track. I also took Cooper back for his first needles a couple of weeks later, and I didn’t like having to hold him down while the doctor stuck the needle in, because it felt like he kept there for such a long time (about 5 seconds). Poor Cooper was asleep when the doctor came in with the serum, then he screamed after the needles (I don’t think I’ve seen him go so red before), but then was asleep again within a minute. Nice!

Towards the end of the month Cooper started to sleep consistently from his last night-time feed at 10.30pm until 7am when we start the day. Most times he’d cry at around 5.30am when he heard Adam get up, but he’d go back to sleep again.

Cooper - September 2008

Cooper is a very smiley and happy baby. He coos and makes noises at us a lot, and sticks his tongue out is response to people talking to him. He doesn’t cry very much and I am getting better at working by the different types of cry what the problem is. The first time I blew a ‘raspberry’ on his belly he cried, and the next time he peed on me (I was just about to give him a bath). Whenever we do something different it is awesome just watching his reaction, as he frowns in concentration, and doesn’t seem to know if he should laugh or cry until I smile at him first, after which he gives a huge grin.

I could easily spend all day just holding Cooper and talking to him, but then I'd get nothing done. I am loving watching the changes that we see in him daily and am making the most of it, because he's gonna be big before I know it.

One month of motherhood

2008-08-31T19:00:00.008+10:00

I’m not entirely sure what I expected motherhood to be like, but I don’t think I imagined it to be like this. So much washing (how can one baby dirty so many clothes?) and so much time spent feeding (which is the thing I find most restrictive, as I am used to being able to multi-task more than I can now). There are also so many precious times, such as holding your little baby as he snuggles sleepily into you or searches for a non-existent nipple on your shoulder, or having a nap with him. Sometimes I feel that I don’t ever want to put him down.

Cooper and I have spent a lot of time at home during his first month, but we’ve also been out and about doing our shopping, visiting friends and family, going for walks, and going on trips to Melbourne and Ballarat (each one nearly an hour away from us, one east and one west). We’re using the routines in the Contented Little Baby book, and apart from one night when he had a snuffly nose, Cooper has only woken once a night since coming home from the hospital, and has even slept right through from 11.15pm to 7am a couple of times. Despite that, I still feel pretty tired most of the time since Adam needs to be in bed by 9.30 each night before he works, which means that I get about 6 hours sleep most nights. Napping when Cooper naps has helped, but I am constantly tempted to do chores around the house when he’s asleep, which eats into my nap time.

As with most babies, Cooper sometimes ends up in a number of different outfits in any one day. For the most part, he does not like getting changed, and constantly rewards me by peeing on the outfit I have just changed him into. He also rewarded Adam the other night with number ones AND twos whilst he was being changed. I was worried that Adam was going to scare Cooper with the loud outbursts that I could hear coming from the bedroom

August 2008

I love watching the joy on Adam’s face as he holds his little boy and talks to him. At Cooper’s 2-week health check-up we received a bookmark about communicating with babies, and it mentioned that you should use different tones of voice. It makes me laugh whenever I overhear Adam repeating Cooper’s name, first in a deep, gruff voice, then in a high pitched voice, trying to get Cooper’s attention. It doesn’t matter how many times I explain to Adam that he should talk normally to Cooper, he still keeps doing it.

Over the last week Cooper has started to hit the mobile toys under the play gym. He doesn’t look at them, but knows that if he lifts his hands they will hit something that makes a noise. He likes to lay with his head predominantly facing the right, and we are working on getting him to lay the other way, to reduce the flat spot on his head from laying the one way.

Cooper is such a good baby, and when he was having an unsettled night the other night and wouldn’t sleep properly from 7pm – 10.30pm, my Mum commented that he is turning into a ‘real’ baby. The people at church adore him. When he is not asleep there he is very content and everyone comes up to say hello to him after the service. He’ll be baptized into the congregation there on 14 September.

Hope you enjoy the photos for this month. Cooper is changing so fast!

Aren’t first babies meant to be late?

2008-08-06T15:57:00.006+10:00

From what I have observed, first babies often arrive after their due date. Not so with our little man. After spending two-and-a-half weeks at home in preparation for the birth, I decided to weed part of the garden on Tuesday 22 July, with the intention of finishing it when the weather was forecast to be clear again, on Thursday or Friday. I think it was the weeding that helped Cooper make his early entrance into the world.

Adam and I had been planning to see The Dark Knight on Adam’s day off on Thursday, and spent Wednesday night watching Batman Begins. When I went to the loo before bed, I felt an extra gush of fluid, and realized that my water had broken. A trip to the hospital confirmed this, but because I was only having Braxton Hicks contractions we were sent home again.

During the night I started to feel a bit of discomfort with the contractions, and consequently didn’t get much sleep. By mid-morning, the contractions started to get painful, so we say that labour really started at around 11am. By mid-afternoon the contractions were starting to get more regular, and I had trouble talking to my friend on the phone during contractions whilst trying not to let on what was happening, because Adam and I had decided not to tell anyone until we were on our way to the hospital.

By 4pm I needed pain relief and Adam took me on the 45 minute trip to the hospital whilst I counted the length and time between contractions. They were 4 minutes apart lasting for 50-70 seconds. After being assessed in the emergency department for an hour, they found that I was 6cm dilated, and finally took me to a birthing suite where I could get some pain relief.

I felt that the gas didn’t help much, but after a little more than an hour in the birthing suite, I felt the need to push, and was horrified when they told me that I couldn’t use the gas any more when I was pushing. After 45 minutes, baby Cooper was placed on my belly, and my first thought was how warm he was, and then, whether it was a boy or girl. When I lifted the cover and saw his ‘bits’ I happily told everyone that it was a boy. He was born at 8.15pm on 24 July.

So, all in all it was a 9 hour labour, and we stayed in hospital for two days. On our way home we took Cooper to meet his Poppy at the nearby Epworth hospital, where he had been after having neurosurgery the prior week. We found out that Poppy Peter’s dad’s mother’s (Cooper's great-grandmother's) maiden name was Cooper, which we hadn’t known about. Pretty amazing.

Baby Cooper

Little Cooper Peter Watson has brought us so much happiness in the short time since we first saw him, and we love him to bits. Stay tuned for more updates on our gorgeous little boy.

To be or not to be a boy or a girl, that is the question.........

2008-07-14T20:27:00.002+10:00

I am amazed that nearly every person I have spoken to about being pregnant has asked me whether Adam and I know what we are having. We know that we are having a baby, but we do not know whether it is a boy or girl.

We made the decision fairly early not to find out, although I gave Adam the option so that he could take more time to get used to it, but he said that if he found out that I would be able to tell what it is just by his reaction. Adam is hoping for a girl, so that when it gets old enough to go to public toilets and give the birds and bees talk, that I will have to do it! He seems to think that it is a boy though, seeing that most people in our direct families seem have a boy first.

A lot of people have opinions on what we are having, from doing tricks with wedding rings, to whether I am carrying in front or to to back or side, to whether my skin is oily or dry or whether I have gotten more hairy since falling pregnant. Some people are a bit frustrated that we haven't found out, or they think that we know and just don't want to tell them. They want to buy a gift for the baby before it is born, but don't know what colour to buy. I laugh when I see how frustrated they get, because we want it to be a surprise for everyone.

I've known people that have found out what they are having a long time before the baby is born, and give the baby a name and almost a 'personality' long before the baby makes its debut. I don't want to celebrate this child's life prematurely, and have made the decision not to have a baby shower so that that everyone can celebrate with us even more when we meet the baby for the first time. For now I am just enjoying being pregnant and feeling this life growing within me.

For those of you who are a little impatient, you don't have to wait long now. The baby is due to make its grand entrance in less than three weeks now.

Six weeks and counting...

2008-06-22T17:17:00.009+10:00

Wow, time sure goes quickly. I can hardly believe that there are only around six weeks to go until Adam and I become proud parents, and that so much time has passed since I last updated my blog!

I’ve been in my contract job for five months already, and am in the process of passing on all of my tasks to others in the team. I’ve been offered a role there when I am ready to return to work yet, but I’m not sure what I’ll be doing yet. The plan is for me to take off three or four months after the baby is born, but we still need to work out if I will go back part-time or full-time and all of the other finer details.

For those who I don’t get to see all the time, you are probably wondering how the pregnancy has been going. Well, I can honestly say that I have been blessed with a good pregnancy experience. I am really glad about, because if I'd had a really bad time of it I know there would be absolutely no chance at all of convincing that sweet husband of mine to go back for a second time (Hi Adam!) as it is Adam doesn’t like the idea of having more than one child.

What has made the pregnancy so good? Well, I have not had any weird or wonderful food cravings, and there is not really any food that makes me ill. I enjoy all the food that I have been eating and make sure I get a real variety. Basically, if it has been a while since I have had something I might say to Adam “I really feel like…..”, but given that I don’t repeatedly ask for the same food, I wouldn’t call that a craving. I’ve been eating a lot more, but mostly healthy snacks like fruit, nuts and cheese sticks. Aside from sore hips which has diminished since the doctor gave me tips on how best to position myself at night, I’ve been as active as ever, but I try not to run for the train now (Tracey – it’s not running that you see me do – it’s just walking fast!). I sleep well at night and have managed to avoid heartburn and reflux that hits some people. That’s not to say that I might not have some of that to deal with in the coming weeks.

Growing bubby

The last time I went for a baby check-up the doctor didn’t know what to say to me. “You’re so healthy. Not that I want to wish you otherwise, but there’s not much more that I can tell you”. That was nice. Since then I have come down with a cold, which I’ve been fighting for more than a week. I admit that it’s been a real challenge not being able to relieve any of the symptoms with nasal decongestants or things to stop me coughing, but I am slowly getting better day-by-day.

I feel that Adam and I have gotten a lot closer during the past six months in particular, mainly due to the fact that we talk a lot more. We might see how parents are relating to their kids and then later on talk about what approach we felt did or didn’t work. Basically, we are learning heaps about each other’s values. The baby seems to hiccup a lot, and I’m sure Adam is getting annoyed with the number of times I grab his hand and whack it on my belly telling him that he has just “got to feel this…”. I think even he is surprised at how violently the baby moves at times.

My favourite time of day is at night when I have just hopped into bed and have rubbed moisturizer into my belly. The baby usually starts to kick a little more and I love poking it and prodding it and making it react to my touch. By the time I turn onto my side to sleep it seems to stretch out and kick me for a few more minutes before settling down again, but it doesn’t keep me awake. I think that I wake it when I turn over, but it usually goes back to sleep pretty quickly.

I only have eight work days left, and I am looking forward to having a break where I don’t have work constantly in the back of my mind, as I have done every other time that I’ve taken annual leave. By then, I’ll have only about four weeks to go, and will hopefully have more time to keep you updated on our progress.

Until next time.

A new start

2008-02-17T22:02:00.003+11:00

As mentioned in my last entry, I have a new job. I am now working as a Senior Corporate Accountant with the Over Fifty Group, located just one block from where I worked at Treasury Group (TRG).

I made the decision to leave TRG in October last year. I had been hesitant to leave whilst trying to fall pregnant, because I thought that it would not make a very good impression on a new employer if I was to start a new job then have to ask for maternity leave if I fell pregnant straight away. I made the decision after a friend of a friend pointed out that even if I was to start a new job and fall pregnant straight away, that the new company would be so happy to have me working for them that they would definitely grant me maternity leave, because good accountants are pretty hard to come by at the moment.

I didn’t resign from work straight away because I was waiting to find out the outcome of some things that had been going on there, and I didn’t realize how stressed out I had been until after I got back to work after our holiday in late November. It was within two weeks of that initial decision that I actually fell pregnant, but I didn’t find that out until mid-December.

After Christmas I was feeling stressed again as soon as I returned to work. Now that I knew I was pregnant, and that stress wouldn’t be good for the baby, I finally started my search for a job, rather than just talking about it as I had done for so long. I decided not to tell my boss or other senior colleagues that I am pregnant, as I didn’t want to be stereotyped like “oh, so THAT’s the real reason you are leaving”. And it’s true, it wasn’t just that fact.

If everything goes well, I am planning to return to work when the baby is around three or four month’s old. My ideal job will be a full time role as a combined Financial Controller and Company Secretary, and over the past two years I have not done a lot of accounting work. As a stepping stone to that ideal job, I have decided to work in a full time accounting role, a contract role that we take me up until the end of June, so that I will be better placed for my idea role after having the baby. As a result, I told my boss and other colleagues that I was leaving for career reasons, but I also know that deep down my boss knew that I was also leaving because I simply could not work with one particular colleague any longer, an issue that I had raised with him a number of times over the past two years. I will call my old boss in a month or so to let him know my news, but he is still upset about the fact that I did what my contract said and only gave two weeks notice, when they wanted me stay longer after handing in my resignation.

One of my close colleagues has moved to Sydney with her husband and is still working with TRG. Initially, the boss gave the Financial Controller in Melbourne permission to hire two new accountants, but after the other two colleagues also resigned within a week of my resignation, the Melbourne office will now be closed, and the accounting function moved permanently to Sydney.

I will miss working with Su-Ann, Susan and Sherly, as we had a lot of good times working together at TRG and they have become close friends of mine. I just wish that I could’ve done more to help them out with some of the issues that they were facing there. We’ve all learnt a lot from our time at TRG, and I’m hoping that maybe one day we’ll have the opportunity to work together again.

Big news on my 30th

2008-02-17T21:54:00.004+11:00

I turned 30 in late January, and celebrated with my family and friends on the night of Saturday 26 January, which was Australia Day. For those of you who were too far away to celebrate with us, here is part of the little speech that I made after cutting the cake:

Leah: “I’ve always said that 2008 is going to be a big year. In the first part of the year we have my birthday, our friend Amanda will be having a baby, our niece Liana will be baptized, and Adam’s sister Sarah will be getting married. There’s not a lot happening in the second half of the year, but my sister-in-law Beccy will also be celebrating her 30th. As for Adam and I….”
Family & friends: (squeals of anticipated excitement)
Leah: “……. well, we've both just gotten new jobs”
Family & friends: (sighs of disappointment that the news they are after did not come)
Leah: “….. and in the second half of the year, God has decided that we are going to be parents!”
Family & friends: (screams, applaud and lots of tears).

So there you have it. I am now sixteen weeks pregnant with our first child, and have started to develop a nice ‘pot belly’, or ‘bubble belly’ as someone called it today. I have been fortunate not to have experienced severe morning sickness, and have only had a mild afternoon queasiness which is beginning to subside.

We got to hear the heartbeat for the first time on Thursday, and because Adam and I agreed not to spend money on Valentine’s Day cards or gifts (I don’t like the commercialism of the day), he bought be a small flower arrangement in a heart-shaped box and wished me a ‘Happy Heartbeat Day’. So sweet!

It took nearly eighteen months and countless prayers to begin the start of our dream, and I am glad to say that we didn’t have to take the advice of one dear friend that we should be trying to fall pregnant whilst I was standing on my head (just like in that movie), although I was tempted to try almost anything at one point!

2007 in review

2007-12-24T18:55:00.000+11:00

Well, another year of challenges, sadness and joy has nearly gone, and I’d like to share some of the highlights with you.

I was fortunate enough to volunteer at the FINA World Swimming Championships in Melbourne in March and saw a number of famous swimmers as they prepared for their races. There is such a fun atmosphere amongst the volunteers at events like that, and if there is another big event like that in Victoria in the future, I will most likely volunteer for it!

We have celebrated two engagements this year, that of Adam’s sister Sarah, and my ‘cousin’ Amanda (we grew up across the road from Amanda’s family and they are practically our family now).

My family is well, and we celebrated the birth of another niece – my brother Jamie’s wife Beccy gave birth to Liana Caitlyn on 4 October, a little sister for Lachie, who is now four years old and will be starting school in 2008. My other nephew and niece, Jordon and Kiera (eleven and eight years old respectively) are growing up very fast, and I can hardly believe that Jordon starts secondary school in the New Year.

We celebrated the life of Adam’s dear Uncle Jeff, who sadly passed away in October. Adam’s father is having ongoing treatment for his cancer, and we continue to pray for his health.

Not having any formal study to keep me busy this year, my passion for pipe band drumming resurfaced after a two year break, and I joined the drum corps of the University of Ballarat Highland Pipe Band. One of the highlights was playing in the street march at the Daylesford Highland Gathering earlier this month, where our band won the event in our grade, and I got to march in my first ever massed band, an event where nearly all the bands march and play together. I have watched many a massed band since I was little, but to be part of the band was such an awesome experience.

Work continues to be challenging, and I have made the decision to look for a different job in 2008. I thoroughly enjoy the work that I do, but there are some things that I have tried unsuccessfully to change, and rather than continue to let it get me down I have made the decision to move on. Part of the reason is that my boss works in Sydney and I only get to see him face-to-face about once a month, which isn’t enough. I want to learn as much as I can, but am finding that hard without a mentor around to observe.

All-in-all there have been a number of things to celebrate in 2007, including significant birthdays and reunions, and I know that 2008 will also bring its fair share of joys and challenges.

I’d like to wish all of my friends and family a very special time as we celebrate the birth of our Saviour, and I wish you all the best for a safe and happy New Year.

Farewell to a gentle man

2007-10-31T18:47:00.000+11:00

Sadly, Adam’s dear Uncle Jeff lost his battle with cancer on the 19th October. I went with Adam and his family to see him a week before he passed, and I am glad that we were able to spend that time with him.

The funeral service was very special, and from the time that Uncle Jeff’s friend Thrace got out his guitar to sing one of their favourite songs – “Always look on the bright side of life” – to his dear wife Ale having the courage to speak about her loving husband, I don’t think there was one person there with a dry eye. It was a full house, with standing room only, and as Ale said, Jeff would have been stoked to see so many people there!

Jeff Booth 1959 - 2007

You mean I have to march?

2007-09-02T13:53:00.000+10:00

I used to play the side drum in the Clans of the West Pipe Band, but put it aside when I started studying again. After my course ended, I was asked to join the band again, but decided against it because there wasn’t always someone there to teach me, and I find it hard having to learn stuff like that by myself.

In the middle of the year, I joined the drum corps of the University of Ballarat Pipe Band, which has a reputation of having one of the best drum corps around. I’ve been practicing a lot, and can finally say that I have passed the Year 6 girl, and am striving to be as good as the Year 8 guy and the other Leah who has been playing for 7+ years, but I think we’re still a fair way off the senior players.

My first ‘play-out’ with the band was at their Scotia ball last night. The drum corps did a special drum salute that included back-sticking (hitting the drum with the back of the stick), and then we played whilst the rest of the band marched in. All was going well until I noticed that most of the band was marching on the spot. It was then that I realised that I was going to have to march out of the ball room with the band.

Now, I know that it sounds crazy, but for some reason I wasn’t expecting it. In all the weeks of practice that I did with the band, we never once practiced marching, and I had not even given it a thought. However, there is not one pipe band around that doesn’t march, so that fact that I hadn’t even considered it was pretty stupid. Anyway, after the first initial panic-ky thoughts I started marching along, and marched right out of that place with the rest of the band, just like I had been expecting it all along. The band was none the wiser.

BTW, I had a fantastic night at the ball, which included a tonne of country dancing where they teach you all the steps as you go. I also know why I never did my deb – I can’t dance for peanuts!

The ever-dreaded C-word

2007-07-11T15:39:00.000+10:00

When I was little, I knew that cancer was bad. A family friend had a boy that died from cancer when I was four, but other than my great-aunty dying from it when I was nine, it didn’t really touch me – I felt quite removed from its reaches.

Now that I am a bit older, it seems that cancer seems to be looming around every corner. Mum’s cousin Lynne is fighting breast cancer, Mum has found out that she has the BRCA2 gene which means she is more prone to ovarian and breast cancer, and Dad recently had a spot of skin cancer removed from his back. Adam’s family has been touched even closer to home.

Just before Christmas, Adam’s beloved uncle (who happened to be our best man at our wedding) was diagnosed with a tumour on his kidney. It cannot be removed, and the chemo doesn’t seem to be helping. Soon after, at the start of March, Adam’s father Peter told us that he has cancer. With treatment he could still have a life expectancy of 10-15 years, but the cancer will never go away.

It was heartbreaking to see my in-laws and husband crying in our kitchen after they told us the news. When they left, Adam was a wreck. I knew that there wasn’t anything that I could do or say to make it better or easier for him. The cancer will not be overcome.

The only words that came to me were, “The lesson is not over”. Confused, Adam asked, “What do you mean?” “We still have so much to learn from Peter.”

I believe that everything happens for a reason. We may not be able to control what does happen, but I am positive that there is a lesson to be learned in every situation. I also know that we are only temporary visitors in this world, that we have something greater to strive for.

No amount of tears, sadness or despair will physically stop the cancer, and we must continue to give thanks for every day that we are blessed with, cherish each moment, and keep looking towards the future. I give thanks for the lessons and the joy that we have been brought by Uncle Jeff and Peter, and pray that all those touched by their cancer may find the courage, strength and hope to help them face each challenge head-on as it comes their way.

Not a wally

2007-05-21T16:01:00.000+10:00

If you've read the posts from my old blog (see below), you'd probably think that I'm a bit of a wally with water...... with the sprinkler system and saturating mice....... but I'm not.

I just wanted to clear that up. I am well aware that these are trying (and drying) times. Water is such a precious commodity, and I am one of the many who prays for rain. Adam and I are very water-wise, and try to save water wherever possible. We have a couple of green patches on our front lawn and out the back, but not through wasting water.

We have:

Buckets in the shower that we empty into a basin that has a hose to the front lawn
A timer in the shower, and a water-saving shower head
A hose from the washing machine to the back lawn, which we use to fill buckets to water the plants out the front
A bucket in the kitchen sink for clean-ish (not black-water) to water the plants or rinse dishes
Obeyed the water restrictions, and haven't even watered the garden with the hose for months (and no, its not just that I keep sleeping in....)
Plans for getting a water tank to save the water off the roof.

Hasn't the rain this past week been glorious?

The pied piper

2007-05-16T10:04:00.000+10:00

Entry from old blog 7 April 2006

I'm not a huge fan of mice. How could anyone love the mess they leave as they reek havoc throughout your kitchen or the **sarcastic tone** joy of catching the little blighters?

When we moved we brought with us the small aviary that I had bought my hubby for his birthday, which is a smallish 1.5m x 3m job. A couple of months after the move I was talking to the birds when a small movement at the edge of the wire caught my attention. As I stood and watched, a mouse ran from under the planter box next to the cage to get seed that had fallen on the ground. As soon as I moved it ran away.

Not long after, I was wetting the compost bin contents when all of a sudden I saw a mouse running on top of the pile trying to escape the water. My first reaction was to chase it around the inside of the bin with the hose until it was really wet, after which I picked it up by its tail and threw it over the back fence. Hoping that it would hit the ground and run away or get caught by the neighbours cat I was horrified when I heard a small thump. Looking over the fence I could see that the mouse had landed on top of the neighbours rain-water tank, and it was running along the top looking for a way down. It must have been scared witless because it did not take the leap of faith of 2+ metres, but stayed on the top of the tank.

Being such a warm day, I kept watering my vegies, sneaking a peak at the water tank over the fence to see if the mouse had magically disappeared. No such luck. Every time I looked I could see it drenched and shaking sitting in the same spot. Pity struck me, and I knew that if I didn't do something the poor thing would die of heat stroke, so I grabbed one of my tomato support poles and balanced over the fence trying to knock it off the top (all the while hoping that the neighbours wouldn't see me through their kitchen window). I eventually knocked the mouse off, and it ran away as I had originally hoped.

I saw a mouse (it could have been the same one) a few more times in the compost bin, and one time after drenching it I picked it up by the tail and started to look closer at it. It was then that it decided to go for my fingers, so I flicked the mouse away from me. Wrong direction though - this time it went running towards the house, with me bolting behind it trying to divert it away. Successfully too, I might add, as it eventually ran back for the safety of the planter.

A few other things have happened since then, such as baby mice being born, and me witnessing a mouse climbing up the inside wire of the aviary about half a metre off the ground. One mouse got caught in the wire and died, and I was glad that I wasn't the one who had to clean it up (it's not my aviary after all!!) It was after that that we, or should I say, I, decided to get a mouse trap. We caught the first mouse in less than two hours, and overnight caught two mice in the one trap. The next day we caught one with no bait, and another one that night. All up we caught six mice, plus the one that got caught and died, so that's seven less mice to play with our birds.

I haven't set the trap again, and I am kinda worried that the mice will just keep on coming...... (I wouldn't mind so much if I wasn't the one who had to empty the trap!).

Sun + water = fun!!

2007-05-16T09:49:00.000+10:00

Entry from old blog 17 October 2005

When I was a lot younger, my brother, sister and I looked forward to the hot summer days when mum would let us drag out the hose and sprinkler and play under it on the lawn. We'd run through the water for hours, screaming due to its coldness and in delight, and mum would let us do this until the ground got muddy underneath our feet......

We've not long moved into our house, and the previous owner told us that there was sprinkler system in the backyard. It hadn't been used for a few years due to water restrcitions, so he wasn't able to demonstrate it due to the grass that had overgrown the jets. The best he could do was tell us where he thought the jets were.

Being such a warm and sunny Sunday afternoon yesterday, and having been concerned about the lack of green in our grass, I set out on a mission to discover our sprinkler system.

There were four levers for the system, so the first thing I did was turn them all on. Of course, if you turn on all four at once, the water pressure is so low that nothing happens. So I tried just the first one, and was rewarded with some growing puddles in various sections of the lawn. Having found the area where a sprinkler head was, I searched the area until I found the overgrown jet, and then cleared the grass around it and twisted until the water flowed the way it was meant to.

It took me over half an hour to find all of the jets (about 20 in all), after which I was absolutely saturated from the waist down - its a bit hard to avoid the 360 degree coverage each jet. It was a lot of fun though, and the grass didn't even get muddy under my feet!

Mission possible

2007-05-16T09:47:00.000+10:00

One of the books that I read over summer was Stephen R. Covey's The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. After reading that book I decided to work on the first draft of my personal mission statement. I found it to be a really good way to discover who I really am and what is important to me. One of the goals that I have is To be heard without needing to raise my voice, hence the name of this blog.

Welcome to my new blog. The next few posts that you see above are actually posts that I had on another blog site, but never actually gave the address to people to look at. Hopefully this time I'll be brave enough to share my thoughts with others. As my mission statement says, I will try to be brave enough to make decisions, and to give anything (within reason) a go.......