Sunday

When I heard I was pregnant with our fourth baby, I cried. I didn't know how I would cope with four children, one who was nine, and then three little ones under three. I didn't know that I could be stronger than I realised, that I had more than enough love to go around, that somehow is would all be ok. I didn't know then that a beautiful

angel was coming into our lives.

Sunday was born at a time when our family was under a lot of stress. Mark's mum and dad had both died of cancer, quite suddenly and both far away from us. Mark was studying and we had a busy time looking after Bill who was still a baby, Lucy & Charlotte.

It's Sunday's 10th birthday today and I have been remembering the time when I was pregnant with her. How after the initial shock of finding myself having another baby so soon after the last one I quickly began to look forward to her arrival, and adding to our growing family.

And in the end she came in a rush! I remember seeing the midwife on Sunday's due date and she predicted that the baby would be born that night as I was already three centimetres dilated. Sunday had other ideas. During the week that followed I mowed the lawn, looked after the kids, did the school run, and all the things that mums do. Finally a week later, after only an hour of labour, our little one was born. And she was so lovely, I couldn't stop looking at her little rose bud lips, her fancy hair style, her bright little eyes.

And any tears I had became tears of joy as I realised how lucky we were to have another beautiful baby to love and to share our lives with.

                           And like all our kids she has given us so much happiness and love.
                                          And of course some mad and crazy moments!

I love the way birthday's help us to reflect on the people we love, to think more deeply about who they are, what makes them special and what they give to us. It's always a significant moment for me when my children turn ten, it seems such a solid number, it marks a turning point in their life. They are really growing up, and changing from a little child and moving into the next part of their lives.

Now suddenly Sunday is ten, and she is such a funny and loveable girl. She loves to dance, play netball, to play, to write, to draw. She loves her friends, she loves her family. She is a kind person,
and thoughtful. 

And we love her. 

Happy 10th Birthday Sunday, don't grow up too quickly xoxoxox

five!

Having five kids is a blessing. It means life is busy all the time but

it's a good kind of busy. Sometimes it's hard, sometimes it's exhausting.

But that's parenting in general isn't it?

There were times when four of our children were aged five and under, where I felt I wasn't coping. Theres been times throughout my time as a mum where I questioned whether I was up for the challenge of having a big family. But I've never regretted it, I wouldn't have it any other way.

One of the biggest challenges is making sure everyone gets what they need. With five different personalities and ages ranging from seven to twenty it's sometimes hard to get the balance right. But I do try to make sure everyone gets a go, and that everyone is heard. Our youngest one doesn't have any trouble being heard, thats for sure! I've got a theory about youngest kids, they are loud! I guess they have to be :)

One thing that works for us is breaking up the family gang and doing things separately sometimes. I"m all for us being together most of the time, but time out does wonders too. Mark has been taking Bill & Lucy to the footy, yay! We get some quieter girl time at home.  Soon I will take Lucy and her friends to Melbourne for an overnight trip for her birthday, such a treat for her to have some space with her friends. Rosie and I have special story time every night, Sunday & I like riding our bikes down to Hepburn. Sometimes Bill, Sunday & I go for a bush walk. Mark takes Rosie & Sunday to the playground. Lucy visits Charlotte for sister time. One of my favourite things to do is to visit Charlotte myself in Melbourne. We go out to dinner, mooch around in Readings, eat cake at Brunetti's and go home and chat. Bliss! I guess all these things are easier to do now the kids are a bit older. I'm looking forward to lots more time together as they grow up.

                                          Sometimes I can't believe I have four daughters!

                                      And they are all so different, and so special to me.

Yes they do drive me mad sometimes, but I'm so lucky to have them, and they are so lucky to have each other. I always wished I had a sister.

And what a bonus to have a son too. I love my Bill, he's one great kid.

He makes me laugh, he is kind, crazy and clever. We have a lot of fun together.

I've been reading a few posts about parenting lately. Seven Cherubs has a busy life with her gang and has many interesting thoughts on life in a big family. I don't always agree with her but that's ok, she has a big heart and is a great mum.  I really enjoyed reading her post about the reactions people have when they hear she has seven kids. Another space I've been enjoying is Reservoir Dad, he has four kids and is a SAHP (stay at home parent). It's refreshing to read a dad's perspective, I like his writing style & also I like reading the comments left by others. Having said that I'm still always amazed how judgmental people can be online. And how rude. (This seems to happen more on Facebook than on blogs but it's still not nice.) Sharing and listening to other peoples parenting experiences helps us to reflect on our own and we can learn so much from each other.

Anyway, whether you have five kids, one or maybe eight, parenting is a HUGE job. That's why Mark & I try to make time for each other too, which isn't always easy. We're hoping to sneak away for a night soon, boy do we need it :)

Do you struggle with your gang? Do you find it hard to get the balance right?

Hope you are finding some space for you too,

see you soon lovelies xo

Duck tales...

You may remember when our family went on a holiday to America earlier this year, our entire duck family were killed by foxes. Our beautiful drake, Freddie, tried to protect his girls and managed to survive for a few days, before dying of an infected wound..and a broken heart.

It was an awful day when we heard the news. Even though I knew that this is the cycle of life, it still hurt and we all cried to think of our ducks being scared and dying in this way.

Several months later we offered to take a friends' trio of ducks, the offspring of our original duck family, Freddie Jnr and his two girls. Just as the quince tree was blossoming the sister ducks began to lay and eventually were sitting on about twenty eggs between them.

It's always such a joyous site to see the first little duckie appear!

And they kept on appearing! In the end there were 19 ducklings..with one little one born sickly, which brought the number to 18.

Five little browny ducklings and fifteen yellow. Is there anything cuter than a duckling? So adorable.

And hungry! Boy do they eat A LOT! 

And they grow so quickly. Almost before our eyes.
After the first week I noticed one little one was dragging it's leg behind it. It struggled hard to keep up with the others, looked in pain, and was obviously not in good shape. At first I thought she would probably just quietly pass away as she grew weaker and weaker. I thought about euthanising her, it's always hard to know what to do in this type of situation.

Anyway, in the end I took her to our lovely vet who was SO kind and showed me that the duckling had broken her little leg. Together we put a mini splint on and taped it up. For the next two weeks she lived in an old guinea pig cage where she was clean and dry. No traipsing around our big back yard meant her leg would have a better chance to heal. And it did!

After week one I put two of her siblings in with her to keep her company and at the end of week two she had her splint taken off. I did a little duck physio to help her leg to bend properly again and very quickly she began to walk/run like the others! What an exciting moment.

Today was just the best. Here she is, standing in the front/middle, after being re united with her family.

Her mum's were thrilled to see her and she has joined the others as if she had never been away. I am so happy I took her to the vet that day, and that the care she received means she is likely to now have a good, happy and active life. I think we might have to keep this special girl. She has been so strong and brave.  And what a beautiful & caring vet we have, she treated Little Ducky free of charge and with such respect and love. Tomorrow I'm going to drop off some flowers and a photo of her little patient.

You can learn so much from others can't you? Bravery, perseverance, kindness and compassion. And even though the cycle of life continues on, with it's sadnesses, and challenges, it's good to look for things that inspire, like courageous little ducks and big hearted people x

And the winner is..!

Our school fete! Don't you just love a fete? I do. We've just had ours and it was fantastic!

It's such a fun community event and we were so lucky to have such a sunshiny day too. I had fun with Tracey at the second hand clothes stall. It's a good feeling to be recycling lovely clothes and other bits while also raising money for our little school.

The other stalls were fantastic, I loved the plants and books, the fairy floss and of course the cake stall. Yum! It's such a busy time of year isn't' it? Fetes, festivals, concerts..wow. What are you busy with lately?

Talking of winners, thanks so much to everyone who entered my Instacanvas giveaway..I'm thrilled to announce that Carol of Perennial is the winner! If you are an Instagrammer you should pop by and say hi,  I know you'll love getting a glimpse into Carol's world. Congratulations Carol! Send me your email and I'll give you the details on how to receive  your very own Instagram photo, beautifully printed and framed by Instacanvas.

I'm off now to water in my new little seedlings..it's been a huge day in the garden. Are you planting too? Have fun lovelies, see you soon xo

Little House

When we first saw our house in Daylesford, almost nine years ago, we loved it for it's charm and sense of history. It's beautiful garden was also hugely appealing and of course we loved the town. We still love all those things and I guess as the years have gone by we have become a part of it all too. Our own family history is now woven into this beautiful place that we live in. Our own kids will have memories of the little town where they grew up and the yellow house where we live. I hope they remember the sunny afternoons in our garden, running under the hose and having dinner under the apple trees.

Talking of little houses..this little timber building was originally an outhouse of sorts, sometimes an extra bedroom, a bungalow and maybe even a laundry. It would have been built around the same time as the main house, about the turn of the century or a little later.

As we are starting some renovations soon we had to decide what to do with Little House as it was in the wrong spot and stopping us from opening up the back of the house. It would have been simple and easy to demolish it but that wasn't high on my list of options. I really love it and wanted to keep it if possible. So we talked to Col who said he could move it with his crane, woo hoo!

You can see above where it stood and the new stumps/supports that it would be moved on to.

This is Col :)

This is Col's crane! Oh how I wish I had been at home the day it was moved..but I had to go to work which I wasn't at all happy about. Luckily Tom took some ace shots of the house being craned into position.

And getting kind of stuck on the top of the garage....

My neighbour, Alison, came home and walked out her back door to see the little house flying through the sky.

Twisting, turning..spinning!

And as she pointed out later, all the while a jar of paint brushes stood happily in the little window sill!            You can just see it if you look hard.

Careful!

Col and the guys did a great job. Wow. I can't believe it really happened. Little House is now happily sitting in it's new spot in the garden, nestled up against the garage.  Today Tom took the front off it to fix some of the bits that were broken in the move, and to make a new, longer window. Then we will be able to see through it from our new kitchen, and out the other window into the garden. The kids are keen to make it a club house but we'll see. I'm just happy that it's still part of the picture, and that it will continue to be treasured and loved.

I wonder what the Steinhauser's would think about what we have done? They were the family who built our main house and it's little sister house. They owned a cordial factory around the corner from where we live. The very first week we moved here a group of  Stteinhauser descendants came by for a visit. One of them told me that he used to sleep in Little House, in a double bed. It took up most of the room so he would have had to practically jump through the door and onto it!
Funny. I wish I could remember all the amazing stories they told us, there were so many and it was a long time ago now.

Do you know the history of your house? I am so fascinated with the stories of our town, and this area. There are endless interesting tales to be told and so many interesting people.  As I always say, everyone has a story.

Which reminds me, in a  roundabout way, this weekend is a special one. The Daylesford/Hepburn region are celebrating our Swiss Italian culture and heritage with the wonderful Swiss Italia Festa! There are lots of great things on to see and do, you should check out their site here. Also our own school fete is happening on Sunday 4th November, and it's going to be so fantastic!! If you have kids and you live locally you really should come along, there will be lots of kid friendly activities, yummy cakes, the spinning wheel and heaps more. Books, clothes, craft, food..fun! It's on at St Michaels School, Smith St, Daylesford from 9 - 3. I'll be helping to run the second hand clothes stall, come and say hi :)

It's such a busy time of year isn't it? Have you got lots of things on too? 

Hope you are getting some sunshine wherever you are,

see you soon lovelies xo

ps: if you haven't entered my giveaway it's not too late! Click here for details xo