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

Friday Flowers… It’s the weekend!!

Hi… #TGIF…

I’ve had a week of feeling under the weather with an annoying cold… It’s been so annoying. I’ve had a very slow week and just focussed on getting through the day with the kids. There’s no such thing as a sick day with kids.

Anyway, onwards and upwards. We have a quiet weekend ahead with family so am looking forward to that.

Today I did the change over of some flowers in the house and the buds from the little pink roses last week were too pretty to throw away so I snipped them off and collected them in a bowl. I put them down to take some photos and Miss 1 wanted to join in. She had solo much fun tipping them out and putting them back in. When I went through the photos I loved the ones with her little hands in the photos so much I decided to include them.

What’s on in your neck of the woods this weekend?…  Whatever it is I hope you have a good one.

Jx

Pretty Pink… Birthday morning tea…

It’s not every day you turn 1. Because we are still renovating and it was down to the wire if we would be finished we decided to just have morning tea for E’s 1st Birthday. We couldn’t have as big a party as we had for H but we had to acknowledge it in some way so morning tea it was…

I couldn’t resist doing some decorating and putting together some party fare… and of course any chance to take photos…I’m there…

There’s nothing like a bit of pink!!

All the decorations are from the Hot Dollar shop… so many goodies to be had there…

The cupcakes are packet mix… and also pre bought frosting. So simple, easy and time effective. 

Rather than make fairy bread we bought hundreds and thousand biscuits… I knew what wasn’t eaten that day would be eaten later… they were a big hit…

The strawberries were a big hit and also help to balance all the party food…

Aren’t the tulips gorgeous?… so pretty and happy…

Who doesn’t love a party bag?!… even the big kids got one. I just can’t help myself…

I had to share this one… it appears the Grandfathers got the memo… Navy and Tan was the order of the day. Great minds think alike… or is it fools never differ?!… hahaha.

Jx

Birthday Cupcakes…

I am not a natural or confident baker, but I’m trying. Considering it doesn’t come naturally to me and I don’t have a lot of time on my hands I’m always on the look out for easy and quick recipes. 

I’m not adverse to packet mix’s at all (in fact I used packet for family last weekend – it’s fool proof, quick and you know they work) but on E’s actual birthday I wanted to make some cupcakes from scratch for us to celebrate that night as a family. I found this recipe for easy and classic cupcakes on Taste and found it worked well. Naturally I made them pink and decorated with hundreds and thousands…

The recipe is really simple and goes as follows…

Ingredients;

Cupcakes

2 cups self-raising flour (sifted)

3/4 cup of caster sugar

3/4 cup milk

125g butter, melted, cooled

2 eggs (beaten)

1 tsp natural vanilla essence

Icing

1 1/2 cups pure icing sugar

Food colouring of your choice

Water to mix – start with 1 tbsp and add slowly until desired consistency is reached.

What ever your heart desires to decorate your cakes.

Method;

Preheat oven to 200 degrees celsius. 

Grease or line (with cupcake cases) a 12 x muffin pan

Combine flour and caster sugar in a bowl, stir to combine.

Add milk, butter, eggs and vanilla to the flour and sugar mixture and stir with a spoon to combine.

Spoon the mixture into the muffin tin and bake for 10 – 12 minutes (insert a skewer into the centre of a cupcake to check they’re cooked – it will come out clean when they’re cooked) The cupcakes will also bounce back slightly when pressed gently in the centre.

Leave the cupcakes in the tin for 5 minutes to cool then turn out onto a wire rack.

To make the icing, sift the icing sugar into a bowl and slowly add the water. Stiring to combine and continue to add water until the desired consistency is reached. 

Spoon the mixture onto the cupcakes and decorate with your chosen items.

Enjoy them!!

On a side note… look at the gorgeous sweetpeas. They were a gift to E from her Grandparents… her first bouquet of flowers. It was a happy coincidence they matched the cupcake icing perfectly. Better lucky than good some say!

Got a cupcake recipe you can share?…
Are you like me and feel like you’ve made more of an effort because you’ve made them from scratch?…
Are you like me and happy to use packet when time and confidence are an issue?…

Jx

All photos copyright of Jessica Flett

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