Life without...

Been two weeks since last post. I know there is no excuse good enough for you guys overseas who are eager to hear the latest about what's going on Down Under. But I DO have a good excuse! I have been introduced to how life's like without breastmilk...
To make a long story short; my stitches from the labour got infected and 10 days ago I had to go to the ER to get it checked out. (Not my favourite experience with Noah- sitting on hard plastic chairs for 5 hours with him in the triage which also doesn't allow children! Wait a minute, isn't it a women's hosptial?! )
Got prescribed two types of antibiotics which turned my and Noah's tummy upside down. The poor little one, who just got his colick under control, cried for hours. I therefore decided to put him on formula for the time being, until I finished the antibiotics. To ensure a continuing milk supply I had to pump it out several times per day. So to sum up the last two weeks I have pretty much cleaned bottles, sterilised bottles, mixed formula, fed Noah, pumped milk, cleaned bottles, sterilised bottles, mixed formula....yeah you get the point!
Yep, I have experienced the life 'without' breastmilk which ain't easy! Can't imagine to not have any milk and be forced to put bub on the bottle- it creates sooo much extra work! I'm amazed that the body can create this special blend of entree, main and dessert. Moreso, it's sterile, never runs out, available 24/7 and perfectly heated. What a great chef the body is hey??

Well, enough about breastmilk (what a terrible boring subject for all those who aren't parents- guess it puts you off, sorry guys!). By the way, feeling much better now and finished the medicine today, hooray!

This week Shawn was playing in Bunbury (2, 5 hours drive south of Perth) so I decided to come along for a few days. Noah and I stayed with Emma & Steve who just moved down south in December- was lovely to catch up. Emma, Noah and I went on excursion in to 'town' for lunch, walked along the beach and great BBQing with the boys at night. Of course, we also popped around the ground to watch some cricket ;-).

Today we had the day off together. Sunday arvo with the family, how wonderful! We spent the morning doing housework and later in the afternoon we headed down to Kings Park to relax with friends. Ended up visiting Chinatown for supper, yummy.

Below: Photos of Noah & Shawn, Moa, Dave & Ava, Shabhaz & Aaron.

Finally

We don't want to count our chickens too early, but after 7 visits at the chiropractor's clinic Noah's colic appears to have improved. On Saturday he was eating and sleeping through out the whole day without any crying. Yesterday he did cry and stayed awake for a few hours but it wasn't at all what we have experinced the previous weeks where he has been upset for up to 7-8 hours. I pray for that this is the 'breakthrough' that chiropractor was talking about, and that from here on it will only get better.

Today is a big day for Shawn- he has enrolled in "Beginners Swedish 101" and his first class is tonight! It runs for 10 weeks and wraps up when we are going on holiday to Sweden in April.

Quality time

Getting our heads straight

Yesterday Noah turned 4 weeks old. We can't believe that he is already a month old and that he has grown so much during these weeks. It's hard to understand that he will never be one or two weeks old again- still trying to grasp that we are actually parents. In my head it's sounding something similar to this "Ok, I get it, we are actually going to be parents. Bring the baby on then! Ehhh, what did you say, is he already here...and what, is he a month old?!?"
We visited our friend Nasim at the hosptial this week as she gave birth to her son Alex on Tuesday. Looking at Alex in the cot and how tiny he was, I realised that Noah is a 'big boy' already- he would probably not fit in the cot that the hospital supplies in the room hahaha!!

Another weird thing is to see your baby grow and know that he grows only because he drinks breastmilk. Something from the body that is so nutrious that it can make a human grow and multiply its cells sooo quickly- isn't that totally amazing how the Nature works? My hat goes off to Mother Earth!

Noah, 4 weeks old

If you're out of sweets...

...you can always munch on these...

Party time!

Our friend Jo-Ann celebrated her 30'th birthday at a beautiful spot along the river yesterday, and we had the pleasure to join the festivities. Noah behaved very well all evening and charmed the elderly crowd ;-). Below are some photos from last night.

Love

Our dear friend David recently wrote on his blog about his first year as a father: "You now understand your friends with children in a way only parents can understand".

Before Noah arrived I always found it interesting when parents show photos of their children- picture after picture, all almost identical to my eye but the parents seem to spot the diffrence in each photo. Here is the funny thing; I have noticed that we take lots and lots of pictures of Noah and we enjoy EVERY single one as he may do a different gesture or smile than to the other photos! Now I get it, to the parents each photo is very special!

Also, I have found myself staring at Noah when he is asleep, especially when he snuggles with Shawn. When I see them cuddling together my heart just swells over with love.