Bah Moo
Good evening y’all. Today was a day to celebrate motherhood, so of course it was a lovely day being celebrated and celebrating mothers. I was woken by Genevieve poking at my eyes, soon followed by Jacinta showering me with cards. I didn’t get much sleep, so I imagine I wasn’t very exciting to awake, groggy, eyes half-open, trying my best to genuinely show my gratitude. After I woke and gave the girls some “molasses milk,” Matt whisked them away for a stroll into town. I was left to wake up slowly, with no one to feed. In my unusual morning freedom, I could think of nothing else but calling my mom. Her voice sounded so close, what a way to start the day.
I then made myself a cup of tea and strolled around the garden. I marvelled at everything for a while, then threw some seeds in the ground. Just as I was finishing up, I heard the girls chirping upon return. Matt made pancakes for all of us, Mother’s Day breakfast. Pancakes with honey, berries and cream poured on top are so nice. Cream is something Aussies use more than Americans. I keep it in the fridge for soups and porridge. Our friend Craig uses loads of fresh cream in his coffee. I guess if you’re worried about fat, it might not be such a good habit to adopt. For now, we’re not worried. Genevieve and Jacinta love cream, always hoping for a sneaky spoonful.
On the food front, it seems that my diminishing attention on food preparation is helping Jacinta. She doesn’t seem to get hungry at every down moment in the day.
I try not to think about meals until they are about to happen. The only downside is the need to thaw certain ingredients. For snacks we grab a piece of fruit, rather than making a batch of cookies. Jacinta misses the baked goods though. When I ask her what she wants to do in the day, she often suggests baking something. We did make some muffins last week, but I resisted the urge to make granola and we had rice porridge each morning. With cinnamon, crushed nuts, cream and some stewed pears, brown rice seems like dessert. I suppose it is. Starting the day with dessert isn’t so bad.
We’re getting used to Matt leaving in the morning. Genevieve has taken to saying “Bye bye” to Matt as soon as he puts a nice shirt on in the morning. He enjoys his work. The girls stay up later at night to catch up on lost daddy time. Jacinta then sleeps in so late she almost misses Matt. One morning we decided to wake her so she could say goodbye but it backfired. He was gone so quickly that she cried, sobbing, “Daddy…. I just have to tell you one more thing!” We ran up to the car but in her tears, she forgot what she wanted to say. Genevieve inevitably wakes relatively early. Although one morning Matt left us all sleeping so the girls were extremely happy to see him when he came home that night.
Genevieve is finding a rhythm, lo and behold after 14 months. I am no longer giving her milk in the daytime so she is eating better. She is down to one nap a day, around noon or 1pm. She goes to sleep in her crib while I sit close by as she whimpers herself to sleep. If I hold her she pushes away or tries to get milk. It’s sad to hear her cry but she is so tired and I have tried everything. This is working!!! She is sleeping between forty minutes and two hours. This is very nice for Jacinta and I. My big girl needs some time without her sweet, curious, destructive one year old sister around. Today Jacinta and I went outside to build a lean-to shelter and climb a tree, things we can only do if she naps. Genevieve sleeps so long now that I actually have a chance to rejuvenate and am excited to pull her out of her crib when she wakes up. Today she woke up smiling and even lay back relaxing in her crib, laughing at Jacinta and I.
Jacinta was not a climbing baby. She is cautious, unless surrounded by bean bags and pillows. She holds my hand when balancing on curbs or when she is going to jump more than a foot below her. A while back, I spotted a good climbing tree close to the house. It had huge thorns on the thin branches, but the limbs were safe. So I knocked off all of the thorny branches and cleared the base of the tree. Jacinta’s sister and her best friend Lilly are climbers. Naturally, she thinks she should be also. At first she was quite happy for me to plop her in the tree and sit there. But today, she climbed up and down that tree until she could do it confidently all by herself. At first she wanted me next to her, coaching her on what to do with her body next. By the end she was climbing with her “fishing pole” in hand so she could “fish for sharks” while sitting in the tree. I tried not to show too much excitement for her accomplishment, for it was hers. Her pride and smile were enough. She often seeks approval for every hop, skip and jump she does. This was clearly something she knew was good enough to just enjoy it on her own.
This is something we are trying to help her learn amidst her incessant competition with Lilly. You are wonderful, it doesn’t matter who’s better, bigger, older, faster. It feels strange talking about these issues already. I suppose it’s something they can learn on their own, but I just can’t stand conflict. Jacinta plays with her older friend Josephine and there is no disagreement ever. Jacinta and Lilly are like siblings: at each other constantly. The battle of wills is fierce, both very strong minded, stubborn and leaders. Their new friend Adelle balances them out, somewhat. Sometimes she just sits and stares in bewilderment while they fight and desperately seek to impress each other. The other day Jacinta fell off her swing set doing a dangerous trick, almost landing on her neck. Keith asked her why she did the trick and without a thought, she replied, “Lilly does it!” It has begun, the process of reteaching our little girl to love herself, to find that toddler confidence in herself.
It is amazing to see the awesome baby confidence in Genevieve and see the circle go round to Jacinta. So far we have seen how they evolve from these helpless little creatures, to proud tiny people, to insecure little people who want so desperately to be loved by everyone. Genevieve is learning words so she can get what she wants. “Din” means I want a drink! “Cha” means jump. “Stah” are the beautiful little lights she sees in the sky. “Mooh” is both the moon and every animal. We thought it was cow, but she calls horses, sheep and cows “mooh.” Matt heard her say, “Bah Mooh” tonight as she waved to a cow, saying goodbye. Dogs are “wah wah.” Jacinta’s drink bottle is Evie’s favourite cup, but any bottle is “bahl.” “Joo” is juice and any time she sees you drinking juice, she relentlessly calls out “joo, joo, joo” until you kindly give her a sip. “Chee” cheese is one of her favourite things to eat, that and “gay,” grapes and “nanas.” “Nuh” nuts and “Toh” (pop’s toast) are also things she likes. Now that she is having less breast milk she is eating lots of food. Nevertheless, she still enjoys chewing on “sooh” shoes. She seems happier, as am I. Weaning seems to work well if both mom and baby are ready, and I believe we are!
Matt got off the bus and picked both girls up from choir on Thursday night, leaving me on my own to sing. He put them both to bed. This is normal for Jacinta, but a first for Genevieve. She slept until 5:30 that night, what a treat. I never appreciated solitude like I do now. Both Matt and I stay up unreasonably late to clock in our alone time and prepare us for the next day. Wednesday my friend Trish came to help me make curtains. We assumed one of us would play with the girls while the other worked, but Keith took them to the park! What a lucky few hours those were, daytime with a friend, no children, a sunny day and a fun job to do. The girls came back long before we finished, luckily, we were accomplishing far too much. Trish brought Jacinta a huge box of stamps to play with, great entertainment for both girls. Genevieve inevitably got into the ink. Nothing is sacred with a climbing baby, Evie’m mouth, hands and hair were black. The girls then played in the bath until they got too cold. The curtain job has dragged on since those first few hours. Last night I was up until 1am. This weekend Matt installed the curtain rods and we have a few curtains up.
We have had a really nice weekend. I suppose having Matt home is a novelty now, so we enjoy our time together more. Yesterday I took the girls to dance, leaving Matt to work on his book and do a few jobs around the house. He built a box to store the wood and support the fireplace, not without Genevieve’s help. He said there were twelve screws and half way though each screw Genevieve grabbed the screwdriver and ran away. Then she had to try getting in the box as each side was attached. Jacinta helped Matt do a few little building jobs too. I suppose building with her daddy has become a novelty, as has cooking with me. Mary comes home on the weekends. The girls love having the freedom to go between all four of us adults and travel in and out of doors and run from one end of the house to the other, when possible. During the week I try to have a little more rhythm to our days, but the weekends must be different. Mary and I take turns cooking, well actually, I cook once for everyone and Mary does the rest. She cooks more meat, so Matt ups his meat intake on the weekends, preparing him for another week of Shana meals. Keith, Matt and Jacinta’s favourite is sausages and chips and Mary likes to make them happy. This also frees me up to make some really green and fishy meal that only I would eat, and well, Genevieve too, until she has the option.
With the luxury of Mary cooking dinner last night, Matt and I took the girls on an evening stroll out on the road. The last few minutes of daylight are always precious, the way the disappearing light looks on the hills, trees, cows, and horses. Genevieve pointed out a flock of ducks overhead. Both girls go into a sing-songy meditative mode while being pushed in the pram. Genevieve sways and smiles while Jacinta sings melodic unrecognizable syllables. On our way home from our friends’ house tonight we saw three kangaroos on the road. Genevieve had never seen a kangaroo before, but sensed our excitement and knew how special it was.
Soon my sister and her family will be here, in about 5 weeks. I hope we can find her a kangaroo too. My little niece Paige will be baptized in a few hours in Milwaukee. After getting through George’s first surgery on his arteries, my mom and George have finally made it out there to meet their new grand daughter. Mother’s Day weekend and a baptism all at once. It is a special time, a time I’d normally be terribly homesick. But they will soon be here, finally bridging the gaping hole in not having any of my family really know where I live and spend my days. A good friend here in Australia gave birth on Tuesday, one month after my sister. Now I have a little baby to remind me of what Paige might be doing. A good friend back in Michigan had a baby too. I am starting to plan my next visit to the US, so I feel closer. Matt is at peace, he is much more relaxed than he has been in the past year or two. Keith and George need some extra healthy energy sent their way. Burma needs more help than I can contemplate. No doubt, life’s pretty lucky for us right now.
Here’s hoping that some of the luck we have oozes out onto those who really need some.
Peace,
Shana
I then made myself a cup of tea and strolled around the garden. I marvelled at everything for a while, then threw some seeds in the ground. Just as I was finishing up, I heard the girls chirping upon return. Matt made pancakes for all of us, Mother’s Day breakfast. Pancakes with honey, berries and cream poured on top are so nice. Cream is something Aussies use more than Americans. I keep it in the fridge for soups and porridge. Our friend Craig uses loads of fresh cream in his coffee. I guess if you’re worried about fat, it might not be such a good habit to adopt. For now, we’re not worried. Genevieve and Jacinta love cream, always hoping for a sneaky spoonful.
On the food front, it seems that my diminishing attention on food preparation is helping Jacinta. She doesn’t seem to get hungry at every down moment in the day.
I try not to think about meals until they are about to happen. The only downside is the need to thaw certain ingredients. For snacks we grab a piece of fruit, rather than making a batch of cookies. Jacinta misses the baked goods though. When I ask her what she wants to do in the day, she often suggests baking something. We did make some muffins last week, but I resisted the urge to make granola and we had rice porridge each morning. With cinnamon, crushed nuts, cream and some stewed pears, brown rice seems like dessert. I suppose it is. Starting the day with dessert isn’t so bad.
We’re getting used to Matt leaving in the morning. Genevieve has taken to saying “Bye bye” to Matt as soon as he puts a nice shirt on in the morning. He enjoys his work. The girls stay up later at night to catch up on lost daddy time. Jacinta then sleeps in so late she almost misses Matt. One morning we decided to wake her so she could say goodbye but it backfired. He was gone so quickly that she cried, sobbing, “Daddy…. I just have to tell you one more thing!” We ran up to the car but in her tears, she forgot what she wanted to say. Genevieve inevitably wakes relatively early. Although one morning Matt left us all sleeping so the girls were extremely happy to see him when he came home that night.
Genevieve is finding a rhythm, lo and behold after 14 months. I am no longer giving her milk in the daytime so she is eating better. She is down to one nap a day, around noon or 1pm. She goes to sleep in her crib while I sit close by as she whimpers herself to sleep. If I hold her she pushes away or tries to get milk. It’s sad to hear her cry but she is so tired and I have tried everything. This is working!!! She is sleeping between forty minutes and two hours. This is very nice for Jacinta and I. My big girl needs some time without her sweet, curious, destructive one year old sister around. Today Jacinta and I went outside to build a lean-to shelter and climb a tree, things we can only do if she naps. Genevieve sleeps so long now that I actually have a chance to rejuvenate and am excited to pull her out of her crib when she wakes up. Today she woke up smiling and even lay back relaxing in her crib, laughing at Jacinta and I.
Jacinta was not a climbing baby. She is cautious, unless surrounded by bean bags and pillows. She holds my hand when balancing on curbs or when she is going to jump more than a foot below her. A while back, I spotted a good climbing tree close to the house. It had huge thorns on the thin branches, but the limbs were safe. So I knocked off all of the thorny branches and cleared the base of the tree. Jacinta’s sister and her best friend Lilly are climbers. Naturally, she thinks she should be also. At first she was quite happy for me to plop her in the tree and sit there. But today, she climbed up and down that tree until she could do it confidently all by herself. At first she wanted me next to her, coaching her on what to do with her body next. By the end she was climbing with her “fishing pole” in hand so she could “fish for sharks” while sitting in the tree. I tried not to show too much excitement for her accomplishment, for it was hers. Her pride and smile were enough. She often seeks approval for every hop, skip and jump she does. This was clearly something she knew was good enough to just enjoy it on her own.
This is something we are trying to help her learn amidst her incessant competition with Lilly. You are wonderful, it doesn’t matter who’s better, bigger, older, faster. It feels strange talking about these issues already. I suppose it’s something they can learn on their own, but I just can’t stand conflict. Jacinta plays with her older friend Josephine and there is no disagreement ever. Jacinta and Lilly are like siblings: at each other constantly. The battle of wills is fierce, both very strong minded, stubborn and leaders. Their new friend Adelle balances them out, somewhat. Sometimes she just sits and stares in bewilderment while they fight and desperately seek to impress each other. The other day Jacinta fell off her swing set doing a dangerous trick, almost landing on her neck. Keith asked her why she did the trick and without a thought, she replied, “Lilly does it!” It has begun, the process of reteaching our little girl to love herself, to find that toddler confidence in herself.
It is amazing to see the awesome baby confidence in Genevieve and see the circle go round to Jacinta. So far we have seen how they evolve from these helpless little creatures, to proud tiny people, to insecure little people who want so desperately to be loved by everyone. Genevieve is learning words so she can get what she wants. “Din” means I want a drink! “Cha” means jump. “Stah” are the beautiful little lights she sees in the sky. “Mooh” is both the moon and every animal. We thought it was cow, but she calls horses, sheep and cows “mooh.” Matt heard her say, “Bah Mooh” tonight as she waved to a cow, saying goodbye. Dogs are “wah wah.” Jacinta’s drink bottle is Evie’s favourite cup, but any bottle is “bahl.” “Joo” is juice and any time she sees you drinking juice, she relentlessly calls out “joo, joo, joo” until you kindly give her a sip. “Chee” cheese is one of her favourite things to eat, that and “gay,” grapes and “nanas.” “Nuh” nuts and “Toh” (pop’s toast) are also things she likes. Now that she is having less breast milk she is eating lots of food. Nevertheless, she still enjoys chewing on “sooh” shoes. She seems happier, as am I. Weaning seems to work well if both mom and baby are ready, and I believe we are!
Matt got off the bus and picked both girls up from choir on Thursday night, leaving me on my own to sing. He put them both to bed. This is normal for Jacinta, but a first for Genevieve. She slept until 5:30 that night, what a treat. I never appreciated solitude like I do now. Both Matt and I stay up unreasonably late to clock in our alone time and prepare us for the next day. Wednesday my friend Trish came to help me make curtains. We assumed one of us would play with the girls while the other worked, but Keith took them to the park! What a lucky few hours those were, daytime with a friend, no children, a sunny day and a fun job to do. The girls came back long before we finished, luckily, we were accomplishing far too much. Trish brought Jacinta a huge box of stamps to play with, great entertainment for both girls. Genevieve inevitably got into the ink. Nothing is sacred with a climbing baby, Evie’m mouth, hands and hair were black. The girls then played in the bath until they got too cold. The curtain job has dragged on since those first few hours. Last night I was up until 1am. This weekend Matt installed the curtain rods and we have a few curtains up.
We have had a really nice weekend. I suppose having Matt home is a novelty now, so we enjoy our time together more. Yesterday I took the girls to dance, leaving Matt to work on his book and do a few jobs around the house. He built a box to store the wood and support the fireplace, not without Genevieve’s help. He said there were twelve screws and half way though each screw Genevieve grabbed the screwdriver and ran away. Then she had to try getting in the box as each side was attached. Jacinta helped Matt do a few little building jobs too. I suppose building with her daddy has become a novelty, as has cooking with me. Mary comes home on the weekends. The girls love having the freedom to go between all four of us adults and travel in and out of doors and run from one end of the house to the other, when possible. During the week I try to have a little more rhythm to our days, but the weekends must be different. Mary and I take turns cooking, well actually, I cook once for everyone and Mary does the rest. She cooks more meat, so Matt ups his meat intake on the weekends, preparing him for another week of Shana meals. Keith, Matt and Jacinta’s favourite is sausages and chips and Mary likes to make them happy. This also frees me up to make some really green and fishy meal that only I would eat, and well, Genevieve too, until she has the option.
With the luxury of Mary cooking dinner last night, Matt and I took the girls on an evening stroll out on the road. The last few minutes of daylight are always precious, the way the disappearing light looks on the hills, trees, cows, and horses. Genevieve pointed out a flock of ducks overhead. Both girls go into a sing-songy meditative mode while being pushed in the pram. Genevieve sways and smiles while Jacinta sings melodic unrecognizable syllables. On our way home from our friends’ house tonight we saw three kangaroos on the road. Genevieve had never seen a kangaroo before, but sensed our excitement and knew how special it was.
Soon my sister and her family will be here, in about 5 weeks. I hope we can find her a kangaroo too. My little niece Paige will be baptized in a few hours in Milwaukee. After getting through George’s first surgery on his arteries, my mom and George have finally made it out there to meet their new grand daughter. Mother’s Day weekend and a baptism all at once. It is a special time, a time I’d normally be terribly homesick. But they will soon be here, finally bridging the gaping hole in not having any of my family really know where I live and spend my days. A good friend here in Australia gave birth on Tuesday, one month after my sister. Now I have a little baby to remind me of what Paige might be doing. A good friend back in Michigan had a baby too. I am starting to plan my next visit to the US, so I feel closer. Matt is at peace, he is much more relaxed than he has been in the past year or two. Keith and George need some extra healthy energy sent their way. Burma needs more help than I can contemplate. No doubt, life’s pretty lucky for us right now.
Here’s hoping that some of the luck we have oozes out onto those who really need some.
Peace,
Shana
posted by Matt & Shana & Jacinta & Genevieve Henry at
12:15 AM
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