Meeting a sibling for the first time…

Lovely friends of mine have just welcomed their second child and their first born has coped really well with meeting her little brother.

This got me thinking about when H met E and the advice we received going into it.  Their first meeting went really well… we couldn’t have hoped for anything better.

He walked in and we had huge cuddles and kisses… it was the first time I had been away from him and I hadn’t seen him for two nights. I had E wrapped on the bed and I was standing waiting for my little man to walk in. We had big cuddles and then I just let him go and explore. He went straight to the phone and then E squeaked… all of a sudden H looked and saw her and exclaimed… look Sis, it’s Sis and he was so interested so we had a look and they got to meet. he was fascinated with her facial features. After a minute he was done and we went on to check out the rest of the room and open some presents.

From then on he was and still is a wonderful brother. He is very patient and on the whole very loving and protective.

Here are my top 5 tips for introducing your older children to their new sibling…

1. Have a present from the baby for the older sibling/s

2. Don’t be holding the baby when your child/children walk into the room. Have your arms free for cuddles and kisses

3. Let them find the baby of their own accord

4. Allow the older child/ren pay as much or as little attention to the baby as they want. Don’t push the issue

5. Lots of cuddles and kisses and make yourself available as much as possible

Any tips to add to it? Would love to hear your meeting story…

Jx

DIY: chic and affordable children’s artwork…

I made these when I was pregnant with E. I looked around on the web and couldn’t find exactly what I wanted (an initial on a canvas) and what I did find wasn’t quite right or not in the right colours. So, I decided to make my own and this is what the finished product looks like…

I bought my supplies at Eckersley’s and Spotlight. I have provided links below for each item you need for the project.

To make these you will need…

• Canvas
• Letter or any other decorative item. More letter’s here
• Paint – minimum of two colours – one for the canvas and one for the initial / decorative item. You could use as many colours as you want if you want a rainbow effect or just something more colourful. The sky is the limit. I used acrylic paint but I think any paint would do. Depending on how many you are doing you won’t need much. Some more options here and here.
• Glue

1. Paint the canvas – I gave it a base white coat (in hind sight I don’t think this is necessary) and then two coats of colour. Allow it to dry in between coats. Most paints come with instructions of time recommended left between coats.
2. Paint the letter – I gave it at least two coats. Just judge for yourself what the coverage is like and stop when you are happy.
3. When everything is dry line the initial up on your canvas where you would like it and very lightly with a pencil mark some small guidelines.
4. Put glue on the back of your letter and place it carefully on the canvas being sure to look for your guidelines. apply some pressure for a little while to make sure the glue bonds.
5. You’re all set to hang or place around your child’s room.

You could also do smaller versions, larger versions, fluro or glitter versions. Really the only limit is your imagination and your decor aesthetic.

I hope you have fun with this…

Have you made your own artwork before? Ever made something similar?

Jx

Easy kids craft – treasure chest…

We made this a few weeks ago and H is still into it. It is a treasure chest. Harry found the shoe box as I was preparing to throw it out and was calling it a treasure chest (they did an under the sea project at kindy earlier this year and as a class made a treasure chest)

I decided to help him decorate it and turn it into his own design treasure chest…

I thought I would blog it in case any other parent out there is looking for a easy and cheap craft project. Especially with the wet weather we’ve had it’s a great project for those days…

What you’ll need….

• A shoe box – preferably one that has the lid attached
• A4 paper
• Scissors
• Sticky tape
• Markers
• Stickers
• Any other decorating items you can think of. For example… ribbon, buttons, paint, felt, glitter, glue

In this instance I just covered every surface I could with plain white paper. Using sticky tape to attach it and cutting it down where needed. 

Once that was done I gave Harry his markers and he went to town colouring and decorating.

Later that day I was at a shop and saw the pirate and toy story stickers… two things he is particularly into at the moment and brought them home. He loved them and with some help took great pleasure in decorating his treasure chest.

As you can see it’s still getting lots of use and he is still very interested in it to store all his ‘treasures’

The next thing we will be doing is a pirate’s spy glass… I just have to finish the paper towel roll!!…

I know it’s very simple and to some of you probably very obvious but it’s a fun, cheap and easy project to do with your little one and something they can make their own.

Ever made a treasure chest?…

I would love to hear about other craft ideas…

Jx

No longer a baby…

Our little girl turned 1 last week. It is a major milestone in any child and any parents life. She is our baby and we don’t think there will be any more so we are moving into a new phase in our life as a family. We no longer have a baby in the house. We have two toddlers…

As a newborn you were really good. You fed and slept well. You loved cuddles as all babies do. You felt like an easier baby than H. For two reasons, I wasn’t a first time Mother and you didn’t suffer from reflux and colic like H did.

H improved at the 10 week mark and if anything you got trickier at that time. You decided you didn’t want to feed as well, and you weren’t sleeping as well as you were snacking instead of taking a full feed. This was a result of me basically drowning you due to a fast let down. You poor little thing… milk would actually come out of your nose when feeding… even when I was feeding lying down to slow it down.

We got there in the end and you actually slept through the night at 5 months… this was earlier than H but you haven’t slept through as consistently as him. H slept through at 6 months and has been brilliant ever since (touch wood)… you are both terrific sleepers. Your teeth give you grief from time to time but you are a happy child most of the despite the pain and discomfort.

Life is amazing with you and your brother. You were sitting at 6 months. You crawled at 8 months and you took your first independent step at 12 months and 2 days exactly…

You are a great eater… you love food as your gorgeous cheeks indicate. You were a very animated baby and are a very animated little girl. We know what you’re thinking as like your Mum… you wear your emotions on your face.

You are extremely determined and already throw a good tantrum. You blossomed at the 10 month mark and there is no stopping you. You adore your big brother. The way you look at him, cuddle him and think he is hilarious makes me melt…

He adores you too. He can be a bit of a rough older brother at times but I have no doubt you will hold your own and then some. You are already not backwards in coming forwards when you aren’t happy with him for taking a toy or other thing away. I try not to intervene too often and let you work it out as much as you can.

When he is unhappy you get sad too and go over to him and cuddle him. You are very caring and loving.

H is very caring and protective of you too. Since day one he has referred to you as Sissy. He introduces you to everyone as Sissy… ‘this is my Sissy’ When I pick him up from a day at kindy the first thing he asks for is you if you’re not with me. He makes a big deal of telling and showing everyone his Mummy and Sissy are there.

He looks out for you and tells me if you have something in your mouth or are doing something he knows you shouldn’t be doing. He is my eyes in the back of my head. He will always be your protector and your loving older Brother.

You have a cheeky side and love to laugh and have fun. You are extremely affectionate which is absolutely heart melting. I got very lucky with two affectionate children and I relish every hug and kiss and cuddle time together.

You are a very wanted, welcome and loved member of the family and we feel so blessed to be your parents.

We love you baby girl… Happy Birthday.

Jx

All images are Copyright of Jessica Flett

Time flying by…

Tiny Toes Copyright Jessica Flett

Sorry I have been so absent in recent times… we have a new addition to the family. I know this is not news to many of you. We had a little girl in June and she is wonderful. It’s hard to believe she is already 6 months old!

I was really sick throughout my pregnancy with her and since her arrival I have been up to my arm pits in all things children… nappies, feeding, sharing my time, setting routines and generally trying to get out of the house.

To be honest I found it a little easier when she was a newborn as far as getting out and about. Now she is on much more of a set rhythm and getting established on solids your windows of time to get out and about a few…especially with a Toddler in tow. It’s takes sooooo much longer with two!! Those of you with more….I salut you!! Like anything that is new I know we will adapt and evolve over time and current frustrations will give way to new frustrations.

I am loving getting to know a new little person and having a little lady. Our little man has welcomed his Sister with open arms and I count my lucky stars. I am not so naive to think it will always be this smooth sailing but I’m just so thrilled we’re off to a promising start. She absolutely adores him and he was the first one to make her giggle which just made me burst into a thousand pieces.

As I hopefully claw back some more time in my day going forward I hope to be able to get on here and post more frequently.

I hope you’re all enjoying the beginning of the festive season and I hope you have wonderful Christmas’s planned. I know I’m looking forward to our first Christmas as a family of four.

Jx

Eyelashes and Sand…

On a cold, wet winters days like today, I like to look back at photos of warmer days to remind me Summer will be back before we know it…


Here are some photos of our little man discovering sand for the first time…was such a gorgeous moment…

All images copyright Jessica Flett

Jx

Gold Week Telethon….PLEASE DONATE

The Gold Week Telethon for the Sydney Children’s Hospital is on Channel 9 today…. RIGHT NOW!!!…

PLEASE TUNE IN AND MAKE A DONATION…

The people at Sydney Children’s Hospital are really fabulous and they do such important, hard work. We know first hand as last November we were in Emergency twice with our little man with a mystery virus. He was only 5 months old. The doctors and staff at the Hospital were amazing. They were terrific with H and so supportive and caring of us. They left no stone unturned in trying to diagnose him. We were lucky we were only there for 2 nights and H recovered quickly. There are many others not as lucky and they rely heavily on the tireless efforts of all the people at the hospital.

Please support the wonderful work all the doctors, nurses and staff do at the Hospital and give generously…Call 

or go online and donate HERE;

That’s not my dinosaur…

Source: Here

Our Son loves the Usborne touchy-feely books. His favourite is ‘That’s not my dinosaur…’ They are terrific tactile books and there are lots of them to choose from. Our little man has several of them and I just love when he gets them out of his toy box, brings them over and holds them up for us to read them to him. He gets so excited and I really love how much he enjoys books. I highly recommend them. I have found they are readily available in book stores and toy stores. If looking to purchase them on line here is one of the places you can find them.


Here is a photo of our little man enjoying one of the books….’That’s not my Teddy..’

Image: Jessica Flett

I hope your little one enjoys the books as much as ours.

Jx