iSonto #48: cubby progress, bye to Gramps, and spider families

This week we are thankful for the progress Dave made on the cubby, and the little people darting through it.

We had some last happy days with Dave's Dad before he left for Queensland. Here he is with his namesake baby William.

We heard a good sermon this morning on the necessity of us all receiving wisdom and instruction and discipline.

Elnathan was full of enthusiasm for "the spider family" under the house. He and Mercy often visited their "house" for parties.

Mercy was was calling herself "Missing Crown Affair" this week, after reading the book with me a few times.

Bill was starting to teethe and cry more. He also now crawls, sits up, and rolls, learning these skills quickly in the last couple of weeks. Here he is with "Fred". Gran Gran gave Fred to the children during her visit, which we all enjoyed.

From garden to tummies . . .

Lettuce and spinach for Gramps' last dinner with us.

 A book we enjoyed together "Snugglepot and Cuddlepie" by May Gibbs.

One memory verse was "May my prayers be set before you like incense" from the Songs for Saplings ABC.

Encouragement, ideas and inspiration came from "When I Don't Desire God by John Piper.

One funny moment was Elnathan informing us very seriously that if we had three children we would have to move house, because otherwise the beds would not fit, we would have to put one in the living room, and climb over it to get to the bathroom.

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Reflections on our days with one child

 Last year a friend asked me this question:  "I was wondering if
you had your time over what you would have enjoyed more or done
differently when you only had one child." Here is my answer.

In the short space of time in which I had only one child, I am glad that I  . . .

* Always aimed to "redeem the time", knowing that future days could be much busier. I did this even before the second pregnancy when Elnathan was nine months old, but especially afterwards!

* Mainly devoted nap times to things like education research and completing craft projects, or to necessary rest and cleaning. God is kind to many of us as mothers in gradually removing that time for personal pursuits. It seems like a luxury now that I used to set aside half an hour a day, at a set time during a nap, to email/blogging/ necessary Internet activities like paying bills. However, at the time that was actually a way of "redeeming the time" through limiting Internet use to that time. It seems like even more of a luxury that I used to have an uninterrupted hour or so to work on quilts. However, now when I look around the house I am extremely grateful to have these projects completed and adorning the home. It really lifts the spirits to see their colourful beauty. Our goal must be to love God and love others with whatever time and resources we have available, and I did that to the best of my ability at that time.

* Established a flexible routine for Nate that was invaluable when Mercy came, including room time, nap, and DVD time.

* Always allowed him lots of freedom outdoors to touch the dirt or inspect garden veggies after they were picked, or roam the house.

My regrets from this one child stage include . . .

* Comparing myself with other mothers and getting upset because they could do more physically, or do things faster, or feeling guilty because I had more time free for non-essentials. As you know, chronic pain limits how much I can lift my child, clean the house, and much more! So comparisons were foolish. I am still trying to gain the skill of learning from others, and their example, without comparing myself to them. I think it is important not to compare ourselves to other mothers, but to rather seek to use our situation to the glory of God. Sometimes Mums say "you only have time for that because you have x number of children, or your children are x age". The truth is that our circumstances are all so different that it is hard to compare! It is not wise to try (see  2 Corinthians 10:12). A Mum with only one difficult baby may have less available time than a Mum of three peaceful children in a good routine. Our job is to encourage each other in whatever circumstances we find ourselves. We are to embrace our own circumstances and really apply ourselves to making the best of them. I often fall short of this goal, and have to repent, but I do believe that it is important to try not to compare ourselves to others. It would be better to point other Mums to God's word or simply to encourage whatever good they are doing.

* Spending very little time playing with my tiny boy. I read to him a lot but rarely just stopped to interact with him in his simple play.

* Saying "no" to Elnathan many times a day, and encouraging very little. Much of my attention toward him was negative. Thankfully I began to recognise this error around 20 months, and change, but some damage was done.

* I observed/heard about a parenting philosophy in which you left things out (like bins) to train the child not to touch them. Now I wish that I'd just put them away and minimised temptations for him. At one point we were trying to teach him not to pull any books off the shelf, but we were much better off once we gave him his own shelf. He was so happy with that, and left our books alone! "Do unto others" comes to mind. How would I want to be treated if I was a toddling baby just discovering the world? Training in obedience is vital, but we don't need to do that with unnecessary temptations. More recently I listened to Doug Wilson talks (http://www.canonwired.com/sermons/sermon-loving-little-ones-i-luke-171-2/) on loving little ones. He encourages parents to have as few rules as possible, but to enforce them rigorously. Our home should be a garden - think of the Garden of Eden, there was only one thing they were not to take!

* It would have been good to spend more time writing out a vision or philosophy for homemaking and parenting, while I had the time. This may have held me steadier during difficult periods. Now I want to do it but time is scarcer!

* Not establishing regular times for Dave and I to have "dates" at home or elsewhere in which we focused deliberately on building our marriage and listening to one another. We got by well with one child. Later with the second child we discovered after breaches occurred that we needed focused time. Establishing this pattern earlier may have averted pain later.

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Elnathan is Four!

Our firstborn turned four in May. You can tell we are busy because I am only posting about the event in July! Elnathan Michael Drew at four is . . .

• Full of stories about cars and his "imagination house" and "imagination children". 
• Drawing cars and houses at every opportunity
• Loving his "preschool stories" from Sonlight
• Eager to try out crafts and puzzles
• Becoming helpful in the kitchen!
• Able to pray with us each day, and great at singing his Songs for Saplings ABC Bible verses
• Showing Mercy all kinds of pretend play options which she quickly adopts
• Bursting with health and energy
• A great sleeper who often stays in bed until 7 or 8am
• Much better in church
• Making impressive block constructions
• Learning to serve and to love inviting people home
• Warming our hearts with statements like "You look lovely today" and "I love the quilt you made".
• An adoring older brother who loves to give Bill things "Look Mum, he is happy I gave him a book", grins from ear to ear in response to Bill's smile, and dances in circles for him. Here is a picture of "our baby" who smiles like this in response to almost any attention! All we have to do is talk to him and this is what greets us.

The last two and a half years since Mercy was born have been incredibly busy, and the learning curve has been steep. The past year was particularly challenging. Yet there is an abundance of joy. I exchange computer time for snuggles on the couch, my craft projects for eager tiny hands learning to coordinate paper and scissors, and a quiet house for cries of "Mummy". As we try to tell Elnathan often, you are a gift from God and He is good! 

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iSonto #34

This week we are thankful for the imaginative tiny boy who turned our couch in to a sports car and asked us to come for a drive.

The children have a father who builds them duplo creations.

We have finally painted the children's bedroom yellow, which makes it much brighter as it gets no sun and was blue before. They are sleeping together now for the first time. We praise God that this has gone well, although the extra effort has tired their already exhausted parents further!

The children found a puddle of water and were thrilled to stomp in it for 20 minutes or more! It is easy to be thankful for those childhood delights

Elnathan was absorbed in making tracks in his playdough.

Natey's memory verse was Proverbs 16:24 Pleasant words are like honeycomb, Sweetness to the soul and strength to the bones.

Mercy was the proud owner of two new teeth, but is still teething every day.

She shows great interest in playdough, and loved the stars I made for her. She says "dar" for star.

From garden to tummies . . .

We have been enjoying potatoes. This vegetable is a source of vitamin C, folate, and even protein (see Western Potatoes).

A book we enjoyed together was "Give me a home among the gum trees", which we read several times each day!

Encouragement, ideas and inspiration came from a weekly intentional living plan, and Sally Clarkson's "The Mission of Motherhood".

One funny moment was Mercy's delight in taking a hat on and off and putting it on and off my head. It is delightful how little it can take to make her laugh from deep inside!

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Celebrating two years with family and friends

On Saturday morning we had a little party for Natey with family and friends. I made him an aeroplane cake. Last year I used our own lemons to make his first birthday cake. I decided to continue with using something from the garden for the cake. This time we had carrots so I used those to try the carrot cake in Margaret Fulton's Encyclopedia of Food and Cookery. It turned out really well and it all got eaten! Here is the recipe:

3 cups flour
2 cups caster sugar (I used ordinary white sugar and reduced it to 1 1/2 cups)
1 1/2 tsp bicarb soda
1 cup undrained canned crushed pineapple (I used unsweetened)
2 cups grated carrot
4 eggs
1 1/2 cups salad oil ( I used sunflower oil)
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup chopped nuts (since this was for little people, I substituted chopped sultanas)

Sift flour, suar, salt and bicarb together in a large mixing bowl. Add pineapple, carrot, eggs, oil and vanilla and beat until combined. Stir in chopped nuts or sultanas. Spoon into greased tins. The recipe recommends 20cm ring tins, but I used a loaf tin and a casserole dish to make the appropriate shapes. Bake in a preheated moderate oven (180 C or 350 F) for 1 hour or until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean.

I made the cake earlier in the week and got it out the night before to ice, so that made it easier to shape as it was still partially frozen. The icing is cream cheese with vanilla essence and sugar (approximately 2Tbs sugar and 2 tsp vanilla to each 125g of softened cream cheese). We made the mistake of decorating with M & Ms the night before and the colouring all ran, so I had to do a big patch up job in the morning.

We are grateful for each person who came to celebrate with us. Here are some more things we are grateful for from Elnathan's second year of life . . .

* First prayers and songs (Happy birthday, Jesus love me, twinkle twinkle, Celebrate Jesus)
* Nate's ever expanding vocuabulary and surprising conversational abilities. He already talks in sentences and is starting to communicate his own ideas.
* Love of people and exitement when we have visitors or go out together
* Elnathan has become "company" for me during the day!
* We can point him to Jesus when he struggles to obey.
* Having a toddler has helped us enjoy Mercy's babyhood to the full.
* He has been so well, learnt to walk and climb easily, and has nearly all his teeth now.
* Positive spirit toward Mercy Joy.
* Helpfulness in picking up toys.

It is encouraging to reflect on all the blessings. I aim to praise Elnathan more than I correct him, and find that this helps me as well. It lifts my sprit as I also remind myself of all the progress and the good things that God is building into the little life in our care. Natey truly is a gift, as his name declares, and each day at nap time I say a prayer thanking God for this gift and blessing.

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Elnathan's Birthday Morning

We had a stack of pancakes for breakfast with two candles on top.

We had a very sweet little sister on her garden quilt.

We had a pleased little boy saying "zoom zoom" with his new duplo airplane.

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Brother and sister

Elnathan has been showing more interest in his sister lately. He talks to her and shows affection several times a day, whereas before he only paid attention to her occasionally.

His affection can be very enthusiastic or misplaced, such as when he tried to put one of his cars in Mercy's mouth!

Still, it is sweet to see them noticing one another more and we hope they will become good friends and playmates.

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Our new gardener

We like to start them young here at the Drew Patch!

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Elnathan can roll!

We have been anticipating this event for months now. When I first walked out and realised that Elnathan had rolled from his back to his front I was very excited! Since then he has not stopped. It is his new strategy for avoiding sleep. We put him down and he rolls right over onto his tummy and starts to move around in his cot.

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Look closely!

If you look carefully, you can see Elnathan's first two teeth!

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Our moving baby

Elnathan has learnt to swivel himself when he is on his tummy. In this picture he  was originally facing the little block train carriage. He turned himself right around and started grabbing Christmas presents!

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Sunday at the Drews

Sunday at the Drew Patch has been happy and relaxing for the most part!

Elnathan had a ride on his Daddy's shoulders. 

Dave enjoyed one of his favourite activities, which is to water and observe the garden.

 

On the 20th of last month, the corn was tiny in comparison to what it is now . . .

After observing the growth in the corn, Elnathan turned his mind and hands to other matters . . . 

He has become quite the mango fan, and can suck a lot of fruit through his mesh feeder.

He can also hold his own cup! All these things seem remarkable to his parents as it seems like only a short while ago that he couldn't even hold his head steady!

This must be one of the happiest seasons of our lives, as we enjoy the smiles of our little person.

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An outdoorsy kinda guy

Elnathan loves to be outside. When he is grumpy indoors, his mood is often transformed when he is placed on a blanket on the grass. He is much happier having tummy time or lying on his back outdoors than he is indoors, and is not as insistent upon being sat up to look at everything! He is quite happy to try to grab at some grass and stuff it in his mouth. We think a few seeds may have been ingested in the process, but that is OK.

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Watering with Daddy

I've finally cleared my iPhoto sufficiently to be able to use it at a reasonable pace! To celebrate, I am posting these cute pics of Elnathan and Dave watering the garden.

We are loving our garden right now. We have planted beans, corn, zucchini, tomatoes, and lots more! These pictures were taken last month and it is amazing to see how much things have grown even since that time. On warm days, the little plants seem to grow before our eyes!

 

 

Dave looks forward to getting home from work to greet his wife, greet his baby, and thirdly head straight out to the garden!

Elnathan also seems to enjoy the outdoors. In the last couple of days I've placed him in his rocker in the shade of the cabbages, and he sits there contentedly while I work. Pulling off bits of cabbage leaf and trying to eat them is a favourite occupation!

When it comes to photo storage, do any of you know of a good program that can be downloaded for free? If so, I'd love to hear your recommendations. My iPhoto is quite limited, and I'd love a program that stores many photos and allows you to edit them (for example, removing red eye).

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Elnathan's new seat

Elnathan is six months old next week. He now enjoys trying to sit up to play, but doesn't have the balance to sit alone yet. Today I went to mother's group and saw this handy solution - the washing basket seat! Supervision is required, as unbalanced little ones can end up slumped against the sides. Some padding would also help, perhaps a blanket or quilt to soften the sides of the basket. My friend at mother's group had placed a doona over the basket for padding.

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Natey! Look at the animals!

We were blessed to spend a week at Kruger National Park while in South Africa.



These photos were taken at Letaba camp during our drive out of Kruger Park. The park is large and it takes hours just to drive out of it from Olifants camp where we stayed.


"Mum, is that a bushbuck?"

Elnathan was a good traveller during our game drives, but seemed just as interested in his hands as in the animals! We would be like "look Natey, a water buck!" and he would coo and put his hand in front of his face. Of course, he'd only just discovered his hands existed so it is understandable that he didn't realise they were of less interest than elephants.

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An advertisement for midwifery

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Our bonny boy

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Our family

Kara Dekker took this photo for us when she and John visited a couple of weeks ago. We were privileged to have them visit us during their honeymoon in Tasmania!

In this photo Elnathan is six weeks old. At his six week check he was on the 90th percentile for weight gain, which was exciting!

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Becoming Mummy

Before Elnathan was born, I thought of myself as a Mum to an unborn child. Sure, we had not met our child yet but I was still his or her Mum. 

So it was a surprise when I did not feel like a Mum after he was born - the whole thing seemed unreal. It took me a couple of weeks to begin to feel like Mummy.

While we may be blessed with many  more children in future, it will be Elnathan who turned us into parents! If any additional children come along, we will already be "Mummy" and "Daddy". 

As I joked in the couple of days after his birth, he is "Experimental Version 1"! He has parents who forget to check his nappy when he won't stop crying, and generally feel quite unsure of themselves!

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