Our baby is on the move.....................

Lulu managed to get herself to the entertainment unit and grab a DVD. Our daughter wanted her to be mobile before she started child care - but wow, I don't think she really understands what that means at home. As I've said I have twins - the other twin had an hilarious moment...she loved house plants and when she was crawling she was constantly told not to touch them, one day at my parents' place she crawled across the lounge room saying, "don't touch the screez [trees]" then grabbed a couple of leaves off an umbrella plant.

Splish splash

On Saturday we had the priviledge of going to our jamdaughter [I'll use my nick name for her as it's easier - Lulu]'s second swimming lesson. That baby knows what to do and our daughter says though she was more serious during the first lesson she instinctively knew to kick her legs the moment she got into the water. I feel this must be instinctive but the other 3 babies needed to have their legs guided. I think they were a couple of months older so perhaps it's an instinct they've lost due to age. I really want her to continue to love water like the majority of our family. Unfortunately both my mother and mother-in-law are fearful of water. Fortunately my dad isn't [and his dad taught him to swim by taking him out to an island in the middle of a river and leaving him there...the old sink or swim method]. For us subsequent generations it's great he's so resilient or we'd all freak out!

So tomorrow night we've got Lulu to ourselves for a couple of hours. Let's hope she can get over Jamma being a player or the source of food and it's ok to sleep in her presence. Which is what I fooled myself into thinking the last couple of sitting stints. Truely I think she's getting to the stage of seperation anxiety which saddens me as she heads into child care but as I've said she is incredibly social so I'm sure she cope!

Hmmmm! I thought sleepless nights ended with young babies - gosh I'm a fool!

I've been up for several hours. For most of you it's the middle of the day - it's 2.21 am here in Australia. I've been just thinking about my parents, kids and my special jamchild. My dad has been through a health crisis...about a week in the hospital, my mum has coped exceptionally well considering her own issues. As I alluded to earlier we've had a terrible gastro bug so I've cloistered myself away [it could be a selfish act but I'd feel bad if I thought
I'd shared this aweful bug!]. My husband has been a hero. He's tried to look after us all, as well as keeping up with his own job. I have great kids [27, 27,nearly 25 and nearly 20 - hardly kids I suppose], they are very responsible and very supportive of the greater family. I'm sitting in my office looking at new born baby photos of my special girl. I have to think about why as a new parent I couldn't take the time to enjoy my kids as much as I would have liked [even though at the time I put in extra effort to play with them and my mum thought I was overindulgant!]. I suppose grandparenthood is meant to make up for parenthood and I need to make the most of this time!

We've got a mermaid!

This week my jamdaughter had a couple of new experiences.

Firstly she went to her first swimming lesson and loved it. I new she would as she loves her baths. As my dad says she bathes like a duck - everyone needs goggles! Even though she is only 5 months old it is important that she is 'water proofed' as her other grandparents live close to a river and my daughter and son-in-law love to spend time at the beach. We all know how quickly toddlers move when determined! I wanted to do this with my babies but having twins first meant that we had to wait until they could go to group swimming lessons.

My daughter is heading back to work part time soon so our baby had a trial run at child care. For a monkey who doesn't want her Jamma to settle her to sleep, she settled and slept at child care [not bad seeing it was unfamiliar to her]. Being an egocentric optimist I'll claim she loves me too much to sleep in my presence! My daughter stayed with her at child care - I just hope she'll settle for the workers when they have to do it. This baby is very sociable so I think she'll find child care stimulating and not overwhelming.

I had thought I could look after our baby but with embarking on a new business I can't guarantee specific days which is what they'll need.

I haven't lost my identity

Today I had a call from a former work mate. Several of my colleagues would like to catch up with me so we are going out for dinner. Out of the 10 or so colleagues, only 2 have grand children...I'm wondering if we come from a different mindset.

Being a grandparent has changed my priorities!

I didn't have the urgent feeling that I had to have grandchildren. When my kids were ready I was thrilled. I would never have pressured them like some people do. I've always said that Christmas and Easter celebrations [the commercial ones that is] are all about children so I'm looking forward to when our baby understands these holidays. There's nothing like the excitement of a child on Christmas morning - I just wish I could be there to see it but perhaps that's a tad intrusive. I really have to be conscious not to smother my daughter and son-in-law. As my darling son said to them during the pregnancy, I could be their best friend if they want a baby sitter but worst enemy if they want privacy! To be honest I think he was only half joking. My daughter is really good at judging when visiting is convenient and strong enough to say no if it doesn't suit. I wish I had been - would have made life easier when I had 2 year old twins and a new baby.

I have worked as a teacher and in the disability field for years. I found this extremely fulfilling and enjoyable. However since I became a jamma I have decided to change directions and give myself more freedom as well as become my own boss. It's scarey but exciting to change my focus. And the focus? Well it's baby related.

Let's stop guilting parents!

I suppose in my mind one of the areas that mum's are subject to guilt is breast feeding. In my case when I was pregnant with my twins my mother-in-law tried to pressure me to bottle feed - because my husband could give them bottles...great but he worked long hours and that meant that I would have more work whilst he was at work! So I breast fed very successfully for 4 babies. Yes I had it easy, my hospital room was known as the dairy as I supplied 2 hospital milk banks for 5 weeks. I have known lots of mums who struggle through it because they know it is the best thing for their babies. My sister-in-law struggled through a blood disorder and several bouts of mastitis, my daughter struggled with hormone level issues also which meant her supply was down. Most sadly was a friend who had twins and lost one [her son] to cot death. Understandably she was devastated and had difficulty coping. The local breast feeding association's advice was to focus on the surviving twin and make sure she didn't lose her breast milk! I am pro breast feeding but essentially I am pro positive parenting and if breast feeding detracts from that who am I to judge?