Childcare

Matty plays happily at childcare - showcasing his gorgeous smile

My children go to childcare and sometimes I feel guilty. I do not feel guilty about working; I love my career and would never give it up, but I have made the sacrifice to cut back my working hours so I can be with my children. I feel sorry for the children who are in full-time childcare and I wonder what is the point of having children if you want someone else to look after them every day. I guess there are people who have to work, to pay the bills and all. But many people choose to have their kids in full-time care and I think that is a bit sad :(

So when I feel guilty for putting Georgie and Matty in childcare for one day a week, I am glad it is not all day, every day. Having said that, I put them in care so I can work in the morning and then have the afternoon to myself. I know I should have some rest and some 'me time,' but I miss them so much I find it hard to enjoy myself!

I had to record some things that childcare has recently said about my gorgeous baby boy. These are the same things they have said about Georgia when she was a baby not that long ago. The centre really loves our kids so I am happy that they are there, in good hands. I have heard terrible things about some childcare and family daycare centres!

Things they say about Matty-moo:

• He's the most beautiful baby (I already knew that ;])


• He's such an easy baby


• Everybody loves him


• All the children want to kiss him


• He is so friendly/happy/cuddly


• "Can I keep him"


• "Can you have more babies and bring them all here so we can look after them" (can they pay?)


• Ahhhh
  
• "I just want to kiss him"


• "I want one like him" (so do I. several in fact)


• He's no trouble


• He plays beautifully

Oh, the list goes on. I am so proud. I suppose that is rather obvious; I feel the glow from within whenever I am with him. Ever since he was born I have felt euphoric (and exhausted). I never dreamed that I could have another "angel baby" but here I am with another one. Georgia has been and is so easy; even those pesky three-year-old tantrums have been quite reasonable!

Last night I explained the love for my children like the pictures of the sun that kids draw. You know, the big shiny round yellow sun, surrounded by many many triabgles in red, orange and yellow, radiating light. Sometimes the sun has a smile on its face. That is how I imagine the love for my children. It fills me all up and surrounds me and guides me and is the reason why I breathe.

Just an Update

Matty's first swing!

Matthew has been doing all the normal baby things lately. He now has six teeth (luckily for me he doesn't bite when feeding!). He is also crawling around very quickly; often getting lost, or finding us when he has been left to his own devices in the playroom! As you can see he is rather cute. He smiles all the time! Last night was very unusual because he could not get to sleep and he cried a lot, until 12:30, when he must have exhausted himself. We thought it could have been the humid weather, and the fact that he'd been at childcare all day and had a lot of hugs to catch up on! His latest sounds are "Da" and "Ga" as well as "Mumumum" so I am wondering if he is learning our names...

Georgia and Matthew are best of friends

There is no doubt that Georgia and Matthew are best of friends. When driving in the car they hold hands. Georgia has been known to carry him around the house, bringing him when we need him or taking him away when we need him - whatever she feels like at the time. Matty loves her and laughs with her. Talk about stimulation.

Naigee rolling in the hay in the vege patch

Naigee is one of those cute sorts of cats who likes being around the action, albeit from the sidelines. I just thought this picture was cute.

One of the henny pennys on the loose

I don't think the chooks are that cute but I love them nonetheless. Four of our girls are laying now, and we got a big double-yolked egg today. We get 3-4 eggs a day now. Let us know if you want some! We're making our own mayonnaise and we have great quiche recipes. The eggs are delicious! This pic was taken when we let the chooks out. Except only one was brave enough to 'escape.' She spent the next twenty minutes trying to get back in. The thing I love is the noise they make whenever they see Monte!

Another typical GG and MM moment

Georgia jumping

I took this photo when we went to the local park a few weekends ago. It was really windy so Monte went and bought a kite. Georgia is really growing up, obviously. Her curls come and go and she likes wearing her hair down and in her face; she sweeps it back indignantly. She says lovely things, like, "When we grow wings we can fly up and pat the clouds;" "I love you more than anything in the world;" "You're my angel girl;" "You're my best daddy."

Georgia adores her grandma

Recently Georgia's Grandma, Maxine, celebrated her birthday! Georgia loves parties and she raved about this for a long time - before and after the occasion! You can see that Georgia and her grandma have a lovely bond. Recently GG had a holiday at grandma and poppa's. She went to playgroup and had a marvellous time. They certainly keep her busy and she just loves it.

As for me, I am finding work hard. Not the actual work hard (I love it) but the other bits that work around work. Like the children, the housework and err... me! In the pst 2 months I've had mastitis twice and tonsillitis twice! I know I should be sleeping more, but when the children are in bed I get a chance to have some ME time! A fortnight ago the kids started going to childcare all day rather than just the morning a week, so I have Thursday afternoon to myself now (spent being bored and missing my babies!).

Matty got his first lolly bag at Zoe's green party, and mummy ate the choccies but he got a finger puppet and a toy - how cool is that! Zoe is Brooke's daughter. Brooke and I have been friends for a gazillion years, since 1991! We're both ancient but it's so fantastic that our children are close in age.

It rained today (proper rain) so I sat with the children on the front porch and we watched the rain, smelt the rain and felt the rain. We sang songs and I held them tightly. You never know when an even such as this downpour will occur again. Georgia got wet playing in the rain; the pond filled up and the air smelt fresh!

7 Reasons not to rush your baby into Crawling

1. Crawling babies tend to collect ALL the dirt, pet hair and food crumbs from the floor onto their bellies, so if you have a dirty floor, watch out!
2. Crawling babies disappear without telling you where they are going.
3. Babies who crawl usually are overly curious, opening pantry cupboards and the cupboards under the sink - none of which is safe!
4. Crawling babies get trodden on, and they yell loudly
5. Crawling babies slow down the cooking process, because they have to be constantly moved from the food prep area
6. Crawling babies put even more things into their mouths (god only knows how long that mushroom has been there!)
7. A crawling baby means that the next step is not that far away, which means that they are even closer to asking for pocket money!

Matthew update: This crawling baby has two bottom teeth and some top ones on the way. He says 'dada' as well as a lot of other sounds that I never knew existed. He is eating all sorts of vegetables but is still having 4-5 milk feeds a day, so I am still pretty exhausted (but strangely euphoric).

Things we learned today

Learning is fun

Ballet

Georgia is such a girly-girl. She is learning ballet - from her rather hopeless mum! This weekend she roped her mother into numerous ballet dancing sessions, complete with toe-pointing and tulle. Do I love it? Of course I love it. She has so much fun!

Yogurt

Mix 1/2 cup yogurt and 2 cups milk in milkshake tumbler. Leave in thermos container, covered in boiled water (We have a yogurt maker). Leave for nearly 24 hours. Voila - yogurt!

Pesto

Ok, this is not *real* pesto, but we bought a big bunch of basil at the market and we improvised.
Mix bunch of basil with olive oil, garlic, parmesan, sunflower seeds (didn't have pinenuts), pepper, salt, balsamic vinegar. Make a thickish paste.

and finally...

Glad Matthew's not a whale!

Baby whales drink 500 litres of milk a day.

Eggsellent!

Today, as I was about to prepare dinner, Monte came in excitedly, holding two eggs! He had been to feed the chickens and he found their first two eggs!

YAY!

To celebrate, we ate them. It felt kind of weird! We ate red-lentil burgers.

Here's the recipe:

What you need: 1 cup red lentils (soaked and cooked), garlic, 2-3 eggs, moroccan seasoning, cumin, 1/2 cup wholegrain flour. Mix ingredients. Form into patties. Fry in canola (or other) oil. Makes about 18.

We served ours on sourdough bread, homemade hoummus, mayonnaise, cheese and salad (lettuce, avocado, spring onion and homemade dressing). Yum! It was a very pleasant meal. The children were asleep. We drank some of Monte's homebrew.

It is very empowering making and producing so much of our own food. As we become less and less dependent on other corporations, we feel stronger in our own survival. Not to mention we are feeling so healthy!

The fruits of... a chicken

Puppets

Georgia rapt in her puppet making

I make time to play and create with Georgia by being behind in the housework. Honestly, when I am eighty I would rather remember the times I spent with Georgia making toilet roll and peg puppets than how tidy my house was...

Anyway, looking for a simple kid-friendly way to make puppets, I gathered some fabric scraps, pipecleaners, rubber bands, textas, toilet rolls and wooden pegs. Basically, you can 'dress' the puppets with fabric and rubber bands. Draw faces with textas.

It's so much fun and it's terribly easy. Georgia loves getting out her 'puppet box' to 'make puppets.' We make them, dress them and play with them. It's great fun. It entertains Georgia and makes her happy, which makes me happy, and also makes Matty happy because he can be left alone to learn how to crawl!

Mrs and Mr Molly, our toilet roll puppets
A peg doll puppet
Georgia loves her puppets! They are dolls for her to play with.

Breaking News:

Matthew cut his first tooth on Monday! He is almost crawling. Today he took one 'crawling step.' He can pull himself up and stand with support. He's growing up so fast!

In true Goulding fashion, Matthew LOVES his meal times!

Wedding Anniversary

Oh my gosh! We're married!

On February 6th Monte and I celebrated our Eighth Wedding Anniversary. We were pretty happy! We went out for lunch and then took a stroll along Norwood Parade. I bought some books and some beads, as well as some wire for a crocheted piece of something.

It is wonderful to be married to somebody with whom you can laugh about things. For example, Monte told me in the morning that he loves me more now than when we were married, but some days he doesn't love me much. We laughed, because it is true. Some days we love the people with whom we live, other days we don't. He said I am more beautiful now than the day we were married, which is pretty nice of him, seeing I am noticing little wrinkles around my eyes these days.

I have included some old wedding photos. To remind those who were there, and educate (?) those who weren't.

In love at the church
The toast

The bride
The waltz
The laugh

More about Us

These are my blessings

I am back at work. I don't have as much time for my hobbies, like beading, crochet, knitting and scrapbooking. I am cherishing my time with my children, and each day I make time to sit them on my knee and sing to them and read them stories. Georgia is playing 'mums and dads' with me all the time. I am always big sister. I am always feeling sick and she needs to make me better with her doctor's kit. This is when she changes from 'mum' to 'dr seuss.' She said the most hilarious thing today. We were sticking some wall stickers up in her room - lovely princess ones I bought before I would have thought they were hardly necessary - and she called Sleeping Beauty 'Sleepy Bruce.' I think that will join the list of Georgieisms that have become part of our vocabulary (Witsies, fishied, abcd kids... the list goes on).

I feel so tired! But I feel so alive at the same time. I fit so much into my day. I start with a coffee with Monte (and usually a pair of children jumping around on the bed). Sometimes mg brings me breakfast in bed, because I hate getting out of bed on a sugar low, and when I do I am cranky! So I have my relaxed morning, plus I am working, plus I play with the kids, plus I am breastfeeding, plus I do one creative activity with Georgia each day, plus I make time to do one of my hobbies, plus I 'aim' to keep the house relatively tidy, plus I cook good meals, with the help of Monte, who has taken over the washing duty because he enjoys it (!?). But I do not iron. And I watch too much television and I eat too much chocolate and I don't exercise as such.

Matthew is almost crawling. He'll be 7 months this weekend. He is on hands and knees, rocking to and fro, with a huge smile on his face. He is comando crawling around the floor! Noooo! I do not have a baby-proof kitchen, although mg and I decided that perhaps Georgia could police the law that Matty is not allowed into the kitchen. She'll be good at that.

Post Script

I've been thinking about my last post. I was thinking, 'ok, so what can I do now?' Monte and I have become regulars at our local food co-op. We buy local, organic produce. We get our vegies and our other staples, like flour, eggs and peanut butter :/ from there. This weekend, at the comunity market at the same hall, we signed up at SisLETS - Southern Inner Suburbs Local Exchange Trading System. This is where we can exchange 'units' for products and services, instead of money. We can trade things like computer skills, web pages, heavy lifting (Monte) and ESL and English tutoring and editing (me). I am also going to 'sell' some products, like beading and crochet.

I heard somebody say "rather than try to change, we should just adapt to climate change." I thought that sounded rather absurd! I think that we have no choice - we must adapt to climate change, but we also need to change our lifestyles to prevent more bad things happening to our world.

Scary Stuff

Georgia, cultivator of the earth, loves her gardening.

We're all hearing so much about Global Warming at present. The recent report suggests that by the summer of 2050, the arctic ice will be gone! Just hearing this brought tears to my eyes as I looked at Georgia and thought of her children, missing out on something my generation has been taking for granted.

Temperatures will rise; wildlife will leave its habitat or die. Some countries might like it to be a bit warmer! Sea levels will rise. There will be more storms that our architecture cannot withstand. There will be less water where it's needed, and more flooding where it shouldn't.

So, we're hearing about this a lot at present, which is great. And there is a lot of debate about what governments should do (it's a shame it's all up to them!). But what can we do about it!?

We, as households, need to reduce our impact on the environment. We need to make serious changes. Value changes. Here are some things that we are changing:

• we have switched to 100% greenpower (check that the greenpower supplied by your supplier is actually green-renewable)
• we use cloth nappies and biodegradable disposables. IF SOMETHING CANNOT BE REUSED IT MUST BE RECYCLED!
• I have made the change to reusable feminine hygeine products, such as 'The Keeper' and cloth pads. Before you think "gross" remember that fertility rates and the environment are much worse now than when women used cloth pads. And it's much healthier for women.
• I have a bike to ride to work (but am still too scared to use it!)
• We are growing our own food.
• We are getting a big water tank.
• We water our garden with recycled water from the washing machine, kitchen, shower and bath.
• We are growing a permaculture garden, complete with chickens, banana circles and a pond with swale.
• We don't eat meat. Growing meat is contributing to global warming. There are many ways we can get nutrients without meat, by eating lentils, tofu and lots of other great veges from the garden!
• We recycle ourselves, reusing products where possible. EG, chickens and pets get leftover food, paper is recycled into paper or kitty litter for the rabbit, Benjamin. We keep toilet rolls and scraps of card and other items for craft activities for the kids. Basically, try not to throw anything away! Last week we had just three bags in our weekly rubbish bin!
• Another form of recycling I am trying out this year is clothing. I am learning to make new clothes out of old ones! There are lots of things we can do with our clothes, like rip them up and crochet with them, and cut them up and make pants and dresses out of them, as well as quilts and hats and toys! Exciting!
• We're trying not to buy much stuff, unless it has more than one use. Our contribution to a consumerism contributes to global warming. For me, this is the hardest thing that I have had to change, as I love shopping! I have had to learn new passtimes, such as crochet, beading, knitting, scrapbooking and just playing with my children.

I hope this inspires you in some way to make changes where you can.

Georgia and Matthew, whose experiences on this planet will be so different to mine.

Monte's 30!

Birthday Cake

It's almost hard to believe that Monte is 30. I remember when I met him. He was a cute 16 year old boy! He had a crew cut. We liked the same music. His eyes were (and are) captivating. His smile was (and is) illuminating. Ah! He's still cute, but he's a man now. And he is a great guy. He is very interested in his family; he is passionate about the environment and he loves gardening. In the last 14 years since I met him, he has been my rock and I will cherish him for all of my days and for ever after that.

We had a lovely family dinner to celebrate his birthday. Our families gathered for an Indian feast. I was a bit flustered (what's new) but it was a really lovely night and Monte was stoked. We also had a lovely dinner together to celebrate. It was a magical evening but we got home a bit late, and my parents, who were babysitting, were a bit peeved.

Family Dinner
God Bless you Monte

x

Matthew's First Christmas

Matthew ready for his Christmas Lunch

This year's Christmas was so much fun. We were all so happy!

It all began with the Children's Christmas service at church. Georgia was an angel and Matthew was baby Jesus! After Church we had a lovely meal of Atlantic Salmon. The next morning, after a sleep-in until 9am, we opened presents and enjoyed Georgia discovering what Father Christmas had left her in her stocking. She also liked going through Matty's presents. It was very exciting! We had Christmas lunch at my parents' place before coming home for a rest for a few hours. The day ended with a lovely Christmas tea at Monte's parents' house.

Matthew, Georgia and me, with Matthew's new Christmas Bear from Nanny and Gramps

Such a beautiful boy!

Georgia and Matthew, matching bibs and all, ready for Christmas tea at the Gouldings

Georgia on Boxing day at Harry's naming day

Nearly Christmas

Christmas Letter 2006

Georgia and Matthew at Carols (Dec 3)

It has been a wonderful year for us. We have many blessings, for which we are thankful.

This year we experienced several seconds. Our second child arrived in July and we bought our second home.

We are very happy and comfortable in our new home. Since moving in in February this year, we have made some changes, including painting the walls and polishing the floors. More changes will be made in the near future.

Matthew snuggles up for his first Christmas Carols (cute)

Matthew Montague Gordon arrived after a very quick labour on July 10. Matthew is named after his great grandmother, Audrey Kenny (nee Matthew), his father, Monte and his grandfather, Gordon Goulding. Matthew is a very happy, alert, delightfully easy baby. It was a special day when we celebrated his baptism on October 29th. Family and friends gathered at church early that morning and then joined us for a brunch afterwards.

Georgia was very grown up singing carols by her own candlelight!

Georgia is living up to her name – cultivator of the earth – and is doing a great deal of gardening with Monte in the garden. We celebrated her third birthday on October 20th with a delightful fairy party. She is talking beautifully and is very tall for the average three-year-old. It will be exciting when she starts kindergarten next October.

Rebecca is enjoying her time at home looking after the children, and has been spending some spare time knitting and sewing, as well as meeting with other mothers for playgroup and reading group. Her plan is to return to work part-time, teaching English.

Monte continues to run his business, Sweat Technologies, from home. Monte’s passion at present is gardening. He is growing a productive vegetable garden, as well as growing new plants from seeds and learning about permaculture. Other activities Monte has been taking part in is renovating our home, including building a new kitchen and renovating the existing extension to contain a home office and a home theatre. One of the most enjoyable projects was to create a playroom in the sunroom.

We have had a busy year, and no doubt, the New Year will be similar. We wish you a very happy Christmas and a safe and happy 2007.

Warmest wishes for the festive season,
Monte, Rebecca, Georgia and Matthew Goulding

Georgia, Rebecca, Matthew and Monte...

Merry Christmas from all of us!

Matthew's Baptism

Matthew poses, wearing the beret made by my mum

We had a marvellous day today as we celebrated the baptism of our lovely Matthew Montague Gordon. The church service was lovely. What stands out in my memory was Matty's attentive gaze as the minister (Rod) explained to him the blessing that his baptism brings. Then Matthew smiled at Rod as he prayed that Matthew's ears would hear the Gospel and that his mouth would proclaim God's love. I felt that Matty knew in some way what was happening. He smiled when I made the sign of the cross on his forehead.

Matthew with his Baptism Bear, made by the sewing group at Church Matthew with Rebecca and Monte, and the Baptism Candle Matthew and Georgia

I read a poem that I wrote for Georgia and Matthew. When I wrote the poem I cried, because I just poured my heart out, as best I could with words. It is possible t love your child to bits but still be frustrated when the three-year-old is too excited to sit still to have her hair done!

The Family Photo

I am blessed to have my family. As Georgia often proclaims: "I love my family!" I am blessed to have Monte, who I have known almost half my life. He is a wonderful man. He does so much for the children and me. He is a better person than I am!

Matthew with Grandma and Poppa GouldingMatthew with Nanny and Gramps Turner

We are blessed to have our parents, who offer support and help and lots of love. We thank them for their help for the baptism party, and for being there in our ups and downs, always. They really love our children, and it brings so much joy to us when we see them loving Georgia and Matty, and the children loving them and raving about them. Georgia: "you're wearing nail polish like nanny!" They certainly have an impact!

Matthew with Uncle Russell, cousin Isaac, Auntie Lori and Uncle Chris

Matthew with Auntie Emily and Uncle Arthur

We are blessed to have our brothers and sisters; we are blessed to have so many uncles and aunties for our children.

And I thank my very good friends for being there too! Thank you for coming to see our baby be blessed!

Our prayer is that Matthew will bless other people's lives like he blesses ours. You only have to see his smile as he engages your eyes to know that he will touch many lives for the better.

Birthday Girl

Georgia preparing for her fairy party, waiting for her guests.

We had a lovely time celebrating our daughter's third birthday last weekend. The weather was perfect for a fairy party, and Georgia was so excited. Six of Georgia's friends came to the party. We played fairy dancing, parachute and some other little fun games. Mostly the children wanted to eat, and there were only a few squibbles over the food (twisties, pies and sausage rolls, jelly cups and, of course, fairy bread!). My good friend Kristen brought along her makeup and painted the fairies' faces (except Sankkit, who was painted as a tiger!). I was so exhausted by the end of the day, I slumped into a chair and fed Matthew for a long time; my feet too sore to stand up anymore.

Special special thanks to the people who helped us on the day: Amanda for making beautiful cakes, Kristen for her face painting, Brooke for lending us lots of chairs, and MAXINE AND GORDON for doing ALL the cleaning up at the end, thus saving our sanity and our lives AGAIN. Without these people the day would not have been so great. Thanks from the bottom of our hearts.

Georgia, complete with face painting and a special necklace from Grandma and Poppa.

Georgia with the birthday cake, which was a success. (I tried to hide the broken-off Barbie legs!)

Georgia and Matthew with the cake. She just adores her baby brother. Several comments were made about Matthew enjoying Georgia's 21st more than her 3rd! ;)

VERY proud parents.

And the little fairy was tuckered out, so she slept for most of the following 24 hours, and lived happily every after.

Until next year - or next weekend, when we celebrate Matthew's Baptism (I'm buying the cake!).