Early this morning our amazing third child made his speedy arrival a week early. Around midnight intense contractions started 10 minutes apart. Being number three I wanted to stay at home as long as possible before heading to the hospital. I spoke with a midwife at 3am who told me if I was managing okay to stay at home until the contractions were 5 minutes apart. I had been walking through each contraction up and down the hallway.

At 5am I mentioned to my husband I should probably call the midwife again as it seemed the intense contractions were around 5 minutes apart. I was told to come into the hopsital, which was only a few minutes drive away. We rang our friends to come and stay with our other two sleeping children. Our friends arrived and after waiting a moment ’til a contraction eased my husband and I headed to the hospital. On our way to the hospital a police vehicle didn’t give way and my husband had to swerve around it. Not the added shock I needed!

In my mind I was thinking it would be quite a few hours before the baby was born. During this pregnancy it had been discovered that the umbilical cord was a 2 cord vessel instead of 3. Extra growth scans were needed and they showed the baby was developing perfectly and at the correct size. Due to the 2 cord vessel the baby needed to be monitored during labour. As soon as I arrived at the hospital around 5.15am I was hooked up to heart rate monitors which instantly increased the intensity of the contracts and pain. Around 6am I mentioned to the midwife it would be nice to know how far along I was – especially if I was for example at the halfway mark. I had been given some gas to start using through the contractions. The midwife turned it up as far as it could go but it wasn’t really having any effect. The midwife was extremely surprised to discover I was almost fully dilated and the baby was ready to come.

After only an hour at the hospital our beautiful little son was born. It all happened much faster than our other two babies that I didn’t have to time process, and the whole thing was honestly a bit of a shock – a good one though. Am glad everything went quickly and smoothly. It was nice to look back and realise I didn’t have any pain medication with this birth and the strength in me that helped bring our baby into this world. I was thanking God during the whole process and not trying to focus on the pain at all but only on getting through each contraction.

Our son was born a week early and the smallest in size and weight compared to his older sister and brother. I had often heard that the more children you have the larger they are. Was nice to have another small baby. He can grow bigger now he’s out.

My husband went home and brought our other two children in to meet their baby brother later in the day. They were besotted and wanted to hold him and give him kisses. Mr Mischief turned 2 only ten days ago and we were wondering how he would go at no longer being the ‘baby’ in the family. He instantly bonded with his brother and kept asking for his turn to hold him. It was like a protective side in him rose up and he wanted to keep him close the whole time. I can see them being best buds as they grow up. It’s nice having the two boys the closest in age.

We all melt over this new addition to our family. He completes us and our heart expands with love the instant he’s placed in our arms. He loves his sleep and is a quiet laid back little man, only really making a fuss when he’s hungry. He was given injections at birth and didn’t cry at all. You woudn’t have thought he’d even had any injections. The little trooper. We are so blessed to have him in our family.

Our sweet, bubbly and full of life, Mr Mischief, is now a big two year old!

He woke at Grandpa and Grandmas after having a sleep over and began his second year running around playing with his sister, doing puzzles and opening presents.

On our way home from visiting the grandparents we had cake and a chino in a cafe. Mr Mischief LOVED his own babychino as well as dipping his chocolate cake in the cream. The waitress’ kept passing our table just so they could watch him. As you can imagine, cake was all over his face and hands – he was having a ball.

My clever and creative husband made Mr Mischief’s cake. He had a lot of fun putting it together with tracks and matchbox cars that Mr Mischief could play with later on as well. Mr Mischief felt like a big boy as his cake arrived in front of him and he attempted to blow out the candles (with a little help from Miss Sunshine).

It’s hard to believe that our little man is now two. He now has more megablocks to build and play with!

Our beautiful first born, Miss Sunshine, turns four today. She informs us she is now a “bigger girl”.

Miss Sunshine was born two days after our first anniversary. As her birthday is on the Australia Day long weekend and our fifth anniversary we decided to make this birthday an extra special one for her. We took all her presents with us on holidays so she could open them on her birthday in the hotel. It’s always a fun moment watching our children as they open their gifts and seeing the joy and surprise on their faces.

We took Miss Sunshine to her first movie at the cinemas. She was very excited to see Tinkerbell, especially as she only knew Tinkerbell from the Peter Pan movie. She loved sitting in the comfy seats eating popcorn. We were very proud of our big girl and glad she enjoyed her special moment.

To add to Miss Sunshine’s fourth birthday we booked her in to have her first haircut. Miss Sunshine’s hair is fine and grows really slowly, just like her Mama. She sat really still as she had her first trim. We were so proud of her.

Happy anniversary to my amazing husband. Five years today and I love him even more than I could have imagined.

We wanted to do something extra special for our fifth anniversary so we booked a special family long weekend away. Miss Sunshine and Mr Mischief were very excited at staying in a hotel.

Our anniversary is on Australia Day. The kids enjoyed waving their flag, walking along the esplande to enjoy the festivities and listen to live bands.

My husband took me out for gourmet pizza on our first date. Tonight we went back to the same restuarant to share a delicious gourmet pizza with our children. It brought back wonderful memories and sharing with our children made the evening very special.

To top the evening off  we had a delicious scoop of swiss ice-cream from Movenpick. Mr Mischief had chocolate icecream melting all over his face, arms and the table. He was in his element.

A full moon lite up the night sky as we strolled back to our hotel after a wonderful anniversary celebration.

Merry Christmas!

Last night we put the kids stockings at the end of their beds for them to be surprised with when they woke first thing this morning. The expressions on their little faces as we all entered the lounge room to see presents around the Christmas tree was priceless.

Miss Sunshine and Mr Mischief loved opening all their presents and throughout the morning we explained about the presents they had given to others as well. A time for giving and sharing. Their big present from us was a new bike. We had them close their eyes as Daddy brought out their bikes. Their little faces lit up with excitement.

It was the perfect day for sharing a Christmas picnic lunch at the beach with my parents. Mr Mischief discovered a large stick that stayed with him the whole time. After a delicious roast chicken and salad lunch followed by trifle and apple cider it was time to explore, run around and play in the sand.

Hope you had a fun filled Christmas too.