2011 so far...

You know what...it feels like The Stamp Family have already crammed 2011 full!  We're only 2 weeks in...this has got to be a good thing!

Bean has started "school"!  It's pre-school, but I'm not going to take away her sense of arriving in Big Girl World now she is going to school like "my fwiends".  It was a mad morning the day she started.  I had hardly slept the night before - worried I'd sleep in past my alarm!  (I remember doing that when I was working early shifts, as a student nurse...worrying, not sleeping in!)  I had chatted to a number of experienced mums...HOW do you get 2 young girls out of the house, into rush hour traffic & to nursery in time for the bell?  Well, more in time for them opening the pre-school door, but you get a sense of the level of my fluster-ings at this new season in Stamp Family life.  Asking around was one of the best things I've done.  Always, always, always ask the more experienced when you have a new challenge to master.  There is nothing new under the sun.  Don't reinvent the wheel, be willing to learn from others experience.  Following this has served me & my family well.

We made it...with 15 minutes to spare!!!  Bean had a whale of a time meeting her teachers & new friends.  We've already managed to line up play dates for the holidays!  She is a real social whirl!  When I dropped her off the first time, I felt like a spare part...which is good.  We are raising our girls to be independent - & feeling like I'm not needed is a sign that we are successful in our mission.  Yesterday I had to persuade Bean to come home at the end of the school day, after being greeted with a disappointed "ohhhhhhhhhhhh, I mean, Mummy...you're here...<pause for thought, small smile> I did miss you!"

Other things that we have fought & conquered (or just suceeded in)...

• Dear Hubby has had proper flu.  Not your wussie, namby-pamby man-flu.  But proper, challenge-all-my-nursing-skills-to-keep-his-body-temperature-from-surface-of-the-sun-realm-&-hydrated-enough flu.  It's was horrible.  He's now 80% better!
• Pea is sleeping through from 7 til 7(ish!).  No more waking her, to give a feed, when we go to bed.  No more staying up until the feed is due.  One night this week, I was even tucked up in bed at 9pm for the first time in months.... I'm well impressed with Pea, seeing as we had got back in the habit of night-feeding when she was in hospital.  It's not taken very long at all for her to get back into sleeping properly at night time!
• Pea is also self-feeding!  She sits in her high-chair - while we are having tea - munching on rice cakes or toast or garlic bread.  All that can be heard from her corner of the table is "mmmmmmmmmm, mmmmmmmmmmm, hmmmmmmmmmm..." as she devours whatever morsel is in her vice like grip.  She'll often pause, regard the snack for a while, then go back to her vigorous & enthusiastic attack!

Thought you might like to see...

Pea Update...

So, Christmas has come & gone.  As has the New Year.  For the first time, in 5 years, the Stamp Family woke in their own beds on Christmas morning.  We have started feeling our way around growing some family traditions...although Christmas did rather sneak up on us & pat us on the bottom!

We were all together and Pea had managed to lose the rather fetching pink hip spica...Praise God! 

So, we were discharged from hospital about 10 days before Christmas with this rather cumbersome cast.  Pea was happy.  We were all tense...the threat of going back into traction should the cast get soiled loomed over us.  Thing was, the cast was waist to toe, with a small hole for hygiene.  I became rather adept at trimming nappies, to fit the hole & catch the mess.  Alas, a dreaded teething nappy won...the Friday night after discharge we headed back into hospital after a major soiling incident.  Traction was mentioned.  Pea kept smiling.  The other 3 Stamp's were tense.  Long story short.  Cast cleaned, sent home late that night still slightly whiffy.  Mum = stressed.  Dear Hubby = supportive.  Bean = surprised to see Pea & I at home the following morning!

I asked for an early review & new cast to be fitted...just because I'm a nurse, I like to think ahead, be prepared, and I need to understand the treatment plan.  We saw a doctor who was not interested in my questions, or helping us understand the plan.  Thankfully, all he was interested in was the fact that Pea's latest x-ray showed she probably didn't need a cast any more.  The Tuesday before Christmas Pea's cast was removed.  The relief was felt throughout our family.  As I tucked Bean into bed that night, she said she was "so pleased that you & Pea are home now...", revealing that until the physical reminder was removed - she didn't quite believe that we were home.

Pea is not supposed to weight bear for another 2 weeks...but it's not stopping her from being on the move.  Trying to crawl.  Getting from A to B, through rolling, dragging or pushing. 

And The Stamp's are back together, getting on with life.  What did we learn... I'll let you in on it later...

We're home!!!

Pea has been discharged!  She is now sporting a rather fetching bright pink hip spica - a plaster cast that extends down both legs & up around the hips.  It's tricky to deal with.  If it get's wet or dirty, we're back up to the hopsital for a refit.  But we're home.  It nearly didn't happen.  She has had 2 previous plaster casts, that kept slipping.  If Pea couldn't cope with the spica being fitted, while awake, it would have been traction over Christmas.  But she coped.  And we're home.  The Stamp's have been reunited.

I will post more about the events, but for now we're going to enjoy being together & working out just how you change a nappy on a hip-spica-wearing-bub in under 10 minutes.  For now...here is a picture of my girls when they met the local football team....

http://bournemouthdailyecho.newsprints.co.uk/view/16704647/11644224_jpg

Well...it's not what we had planned....

At the beginning of last week I invited you to join The Stamp's on our staycation.  So, we have had an eventful time, since my last post.  But we weren't having fun. 

Last week Dear Hubby slipped down the stairs, while carrying Pea.  Thankfully Dear Hubby was not injured.  Poor Pea, however, is currently in hospital on traction.  Our baby has a broken leg.  Hopefully, she should be discharged early next week.  So, I am staying with her.  Dear Hubby & Bean are home alone.

I just want to say a HUGE thank you to our friends & family who have looked after us so well.  Hospital visits, feeding Dear Hubby & Bean, babysits, baby purees, love, support...the list goes on.  The Stamps are grateful for all those around us who care.  Thank you.

A Week Off...

This week Dear Hubby has a week off...so I would like to invite you to share our staycation with us! 

We had a really crazy weekend celebrating Bean's 3rd birthday.  The events included:-

• a Charlie & Lola birthday party on Friday.  We played pin-the-tale-on-Sizzles, pass-the-parcel & many other classic games.  Good fun...
• Toy Story 3, with friends Saturday morning.  OK, so I packed Dear Hubby and friend off to the cinema with the kids, while I had some girly time with my friend! 
• Rugby.  We enjoyed watching the Springboks beat the (fair) English.  So, maybe more for Dear Hubby's benefit than Bean's...but she loved having the house FULL of people!
• Birthday Lunch, with Grandparents, aunties, uncles....let's just say Bean was in her element & got spoilt rotten!

So, Monday morning & all 4 Stamp Family members are getting what they need from the day...  Egg in a Basket breakfast once Dear Hubby had enjoyed a sleep in.  Bean is enjoying CBeebies, while playing with all her new toys.  Pea has had milk, breakfast & a nap.  Me...I'm still not dressed!  Ever since I was a preteen I have enjoyed lolling around in my PJ's....

I can't wait to share our week with you.......

Encourage one another into doing good...

So, I can't quite find the reference for this - but I'm sure it's a biblical principle!  The thing is, not too long ago Dear Hubby & I realised that Bean needed some encouragement.  For too long now all she has heard is...don't do that to Pea!  Shush, Pea's asleep!  Don't do that!  Stop!  No!  Don't!

Bean has a very kind & generous heart.  She's not malicious by nature.  She hasn't been doing anything that is naughty.  She has been a two-year-old, adjusting to life with a little sister.  And all she has heard is NO!  I know I wouldn't respond very well to that.  We want to encourage our children to do good works, to have kind & gentle hearts.  We don't want to exasperate them into rebellion. 

Reality is though...we have a vulnerable little person living with us now.  Bean needs instructing, so that Pea comes to no harm from her big sisters enthusiastic attention.  How to balance these 2 things?

Well, in addition to our other discipline tools, we are now using a reward system!  Hopefully this will inspire Bean to do good... In Bean's bedroom now hangs a reward chart, where she gets stickers for achieving certain goals that Dear Hubby & I agreed on.  When the chart is full...Bean gets a surprise present.  One that is all wrapped & looked after by Pea!

I know that this is not a new idea in raising children.  The revelation, for us though, was to encourage Bean to doing good.  To inspire her to keep self-control & make good choices in her heart.  The tool reminds all of us to look for the good in Bean...and stop focusing on the No's & Don't's.  I needed the reminder as much as anything! 

The results...3 weeks in we're already 2 presents down.  Bean & I are enjoying a more loving relationship.  Bean & Dear Hubby are loving hanging out.  Pea & Bean - they've always been good!