End of an era

Last night was the first time since Beau was born that I put him to bed and didn't breastfeed him. My milk has dried up, and even though I know he would still love the snuggle time, it's time for both of us to move on. I don't feel sad about it - I have been so lucky to be able to breastfeed both my babies so easily and I had a good run of it. 


So this week marks the first time in four and a half years (!!!!) that I have not been trying to conceive, pregnant or breastfeeding! 


Let's party!


Beau is 15 months this week and in a brilliant plot twist has just learnt to crawl properly, about 5 seconds before he starts walking. I think he's given up the bum shuffle because he's just become too big to drag around. I mean, the kid weighs over 12Kg! He took 6 steps in a row today, walking between Tim and I, which we were all super proud of. Lots of claps from everyone. 


He's also been a naughty little monkey recently. He gets so frustrated that he screams and bites whatever's nearby - usually a toy, but occasionally his sister or me. I'm hoping it's just a phase, but I fear that he may be growing into a mini Tim and will end up swearing at the neighbours, trashing his bedroom, calling people "fat" to their faces and smearing poo all over his room like his dad (in his toddler years - don't worry, Tim seems to have grown out of most of those behaviours now although he still hasn't figured out how to put his clothes in their cupboards). I'm hoping that once Beau gets the hang of walking that he cheers up a bit and gets back to being my chilled out little man.

Cheeky Beau

Jasmine has been a bit up and down again lately. I have a feeling it's because she's resisting having a daytime nap recently and is just too tuckered out most days. One day she'll be an angel, the next she'll tell me, "I'm NOT going to go to bed! I'm going to get up and get out of bed and scream and cry!". Or, "I'm NOT going to eat my dinner! I'm going to throw it on the floor!", or "I don't want water! I want milk! I'm going to spill the water all over the floor!". And then she'll plant her feet and scream.

"No! I will NOT smile!"

Honestly! How much can one mum take?! I swear my parents reckon I was an easy child... how did I get two challenging ones?! Between the two of them I've been doing a lot of snort-laughing, and quite a bit of swearing under my breath as well. 


On the upside, they are playing beautifully together when they're both in a good mood, and Jasmine is so incredibly caring with Beau it makes me well up with pride. Lately we've been bringing them into bed with us in the morning and Beau lies on my tummy, resting his head on my chest and just lies quietly and contentedly. In those moments I could just eat him up with a spoon he's so delicious. 


Jasmine is completely smitten with fairies right now. Yesterday she was dancing like a fairy and said "Maggot, maggot! Pairy (fairy) maggot! Pink pairy maggot!" I was a little concerned that we may have an outbreak of a rare breed of pink maggots in the house until she went on to explain that the "maggots" were coming from her "pairy wand". ie. the magic was coming from her fairy wand!


I was folding washing today in a shaft of sunlight and I told her that the little dust particles she could see in the sunlight was leftover fairy dust from when the fairies sprinkle you at nighttime to put you to sleep. She was completely mesmerised and laughed and waved her hands around to make them swirl.


Here are a couple of photos I took of the kids today when they were playing mummies and babies.