A Golden Day with William

Today I am really really missing my children. :( Saraya and Elijah are in school, and William is at kindy. And unless I pop out for a visit at school tomorrow (which I may well do), I won't see them until Saturday morning. I have a sinus infection too, and feel kind of lousy - and the weather is so bleak that I think it's adding to my blue feelings.

But yesterday - ah, yesterday. Yesterday truly was one of those Golden Days (despite the rain outside). Breakfast seemed leisurely, we had time to chat and read a few stories before taking the older two children to school. William and I met a friend and her son at the park and enjoyed a long walk (once again between showers!) while the two boys chatted to each other in their prams which was very cute.

We came home and had some fruit and set about finding all the little bits and pieces of toys to return to our wonderful Toy Library - then headed off to exchange them for some new ones. This really is one of William's favourite outings!

The next few hours were spent at home again, cleaning and washing (for me) and exploring all the new toys (for Will).

We had a break around noon and made a batch of hommus (great recipe). It turned out well and Willy and I enjoyed a hommus and crackers/carrot sticks/apple slices picnic on the kitchen floor. :)
We ended the day by playing the card game "What's Missing". Will loves games and is quite good at them I've found. The Toy Library stocks lots of these toddler/preschool games, and books too. I borrowed out "More Secrets of Happy Children" by Steve Biddulph for myself to read.

I feel so blessed to get this special time with my littlest boy. Love all my babies so much!

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Thanks to those who have already commented on this post. Please, if you ever drop in and read my blog, if you are a long-term follower or a brand new reader, I want to hear from you! It's a chance for me to discover who is out there, and for you to let me know what you enjoy reading here or have always wanted to know! :)

My Favourite Kind of Tradesman

My favourite kind of tradesman visited me this week.

He doesn't charge a cent.

Fixes things I didn't even know were broken!

And is as cute as a button.

Thank you William David, I think I'll keep you!

New Home Tour - My Boys' Room

My two beautiful, rumbustious, noisy, loving boys share this bedroom. It has an open doorway into Saraya's bedroom which makes night time settling very easy - I can sit on the mat between the two rooms and pray with / sing to all 3 children at once! It also means one CD player (in Saraya's room) for sleepy music plays to all 3 children.

Elijah Samuel's bed

And William David's toddler bed

The rooms are quite small but certainly big enough for them at their ages for the moment.

I really love how the boys room turned out. :) It has the vibe of a little boys room! Lots of cheeky giggles and play times in here. Oh, and sleeping. :)

Hope you're enjoying seeing my new home. I'm looking forward to getting this tour done so I can blog about some other things!

My Baby Turns 3

Last night he was restless, stirring often and mumbling something about birthdays and presents and tractor cakes. It was cute... in a "please go back to sleep, I'm tired" sort of way.

But the sun came up and there were presents, and a tractor cake, and friends and our music group and cupcakes and candles and turning 3. I think he had a great day.

He blew out the candles....

... and now my baby is three!

Happy birthday beautiful William David.

William...

... turns 3 tomorrow!!! :D

That is all.

Photos of the birthday boy to come.

My Baby's First Day of Kindy

He was so brave, so excited with his big beaming smile and big blue eyes.

He insisted on carrying his backpack all by himself.

He took to easel painting like a fish to water...

Precious.

I slipped out, and did my day alone. It was full. Of phone calls and errands and housework and music teaching. I missed my baby. When he gets home soon with his big brother and sister and his Papa, I cannot wait to cuddle and kiss him! I am so looking forward to hearing all about his adventures at kindy.

Praising God for the courage to let go today, to trust, to breathe, and to rest in His love and provision for my son.

A Parcel, Christmas Countdown and an Unwell William

Sorry, this post will be a mish-mash of bits and pieces! It's Christmas Eve and although I wanted to blog today I don't want to spend too long on it. ;)

I entered a giveaway on the beautiful Lovely Little Cottage blog a few weeks back, and won! :D My beautiful parcel from Elizabeth arrived this morning. What wonderful timing, the day before Christmas.

Thank you so much Elizabeth. Everything was so beautifully packaged! And the children thoroughly enjoyed threading their candy canes and decorating their angels. Please thank your children for me too for sending them!

We've had an awesome time counting down for Christmas this year. We've had several means of doing this. Our Jesse Tree.

Our felt advent calendar.

We've also been having treasure hunts most nights for wrapped Christmas stories. The children have taken turns. Over the past months I have purchased some little Christmas stories, as well as borrowing some titles from the library. This has provided the children with plenty of Christmas reading material!!

William has really got to know the Christmas story through all this reading. It's been great. He knows tomorrow is Jesus' birthday, he knows what the star on top of our tree symbolises, etc. And we can pull out all these books again next year!

We also try to break up the presents for the children a little, so they're not bombarded on Christmas Day. I want their focus to be on Jesus' birth, not just presents! So we break up the gifts with prayers for those the gifts are from, some singing, meals, and readings. Our Christmas gifts are usually given over 3 days, to give us time to enjoy and appreciate each one.

Today we also cut Christmas Cake number 2. I took so much of our first cake to gatherings, etc. (and we've clearly eaten too much...) that I decided to bake a second one so we had some for today and tomorrow!

And last but not least, we have a sick little boy this week. :( William started coughing last week, and after days of reading all I could get my hands on, I decided we had to get him looked at. To me all his symptoms were very characteristic of whooping cough, which happens to be going around this year. The doctor who examined him declared it to be viral, though gave us a script for antibiotics "just in case". Well. I know my boy, and I have seen viruses in my kids enough times to know this is different. He has the characteristic "whoop", and is coughing to the point of blue face and vomiting. So I got that script filled pronto, and am also dosing him up on some immune boosting probiotics, and lots of cuddles and lots of prayer.

Today, cuddling on the couch with his new little knitted cowboy and tin drum. And towel handy on his lap just in case....

He is responding well. Most nights he is coping better, though still wants to sleep with me and get lots of cuddles. :) I'm watching the other children closely for symptoms, but my reading suggests older children rarely get it to the point of it being diagnosable, just very mild forms. And adults very rarely contract it at all. Praying we all return to good health soon.

Merry Christmas my dear readers, I may not see you until the new year, so I pray you all have a safe and joyful holiday! xxx

William and Molly

William and Molly are great pals. Molly seems to be the more tolerant of our two kittens, hence her fondness for our burly William. :)

I caught the two of them the other day, curled up quietly, "resting", as Will explained to me, on the play table.

Of course.

William, Today

Our little William is such a delight. I swear, he is 2 going on 20. Everyone who meets him describes him as "a little man" - and that's exactly right! He loves anything blokey. He knows he is a boy. He loves tools, machinery, work sites and buildings and anyone in a trade's uniform. :) He is so so different from his big brother. My stepbrother Luke came to visit yesterday, and he works for a forklift company. His van had pictures of forklifts on the side, and Will was so impressed. He just loved Uncle Luke being here because he talked about tools and such. :) William brings me so much joy and makes us all laugh. He honestly is witty and hilarious, and he knows it! Here are some pictures of William, today.

Playing with his own little tool set (thanks Grandad!)

Watching Playschool with his big brother

The boys and I cuddled and read about a dozen library books this morning while Saraya did her literacy work. Here I am reading "Small Bear Lost" by Martin Waddell - this is Will's most favourite book at the moment and he asks me to read it again and again.. and again and again..

Playing at the pool this afternoon. It was cool and rainy but I'd promised the kids we'd go on Friday afternoon, so I wanted to follow through! They didn't mind the weather, they all had a great time.

Reading in bed with Stuart tonight. Will loves me a lot, but I think he loves his Papa even more. :) He gets SO excited every day when Stu gets home, it's lovely to watch.

We love you William David, thanks for being such a wonderful little boy! I can't wait to see God's plans unfold in your life. I'm so proud to be your Mama. xx