Lightening Online

I sometimes joke about the children of blogging mother’s needing some kind of support group to recover from the trauma of growing up in a “public” domain.

But in all seriousness, I’m kind of worried about those in the Big Brother House who have children.

Like Terence. What is the go there? How would you like to be one of his teenage son’s watching dad bare all (for those not in Australia - he has been shown on TV showering naked), make suggestive moves on a pole AND run around with his bathers (? I think that’s what they were supposed to be) shoved so far up his crack that they really didn’t cover ANYTHING.

Or Rhianna. Perhaps her child (I think it’s a daughter but I’m not sure now) is too young to watch Big Brother. Let’s hope so. With the whole world watching her on screen romance unfold (including night-time shots where she sleeps next to the bloke in question).

It was bad enough for me as a preacher’s kid, dealing with stories being told from the pulpit (which my parents eventually figured out was a BAD idea).

But national television???

I don’t want to trivialise child abuse in any way but I can’t help but feel like this kind of public behaviour could indeed be construed as abusive in a way. Or at the very least give a very poor example of acceptable behaviour!!!

What do you think? Am I being too harsh? Am I over thinking this? Would you, as a parent, subject yourself to national scrutiny by going on a show like Big Brother? And if you did, is there a line here where this becomes no longer “innocent fun” but rather “inappropriate parenting behaviour”?

As always, I had a lovely Mother’s Day yesterday. The day started with a hot cup of tea in bed (Farmboy must have read my blog about HATING breakfast in bed) and my children coming in carrying pillowcases.

It was such a crack up. You see, we have this tradition in our home called “mum’s crazy wrapping” where I wrap at least 1 birthday present (usually the biggest one) in either a pillowcase, tablecloth or doona cover (if it’s REALLY big like Singstar Princesses dolls house was). I wanted to cut back on our paper wastage but was concerned that it would detract from the fun and mystery of presents. Then one day it occured to me that the whole “paper wrapping” was a tradition and perhaps we could change that tradition without having less fun.

So it was really special to have them all bring me a present in their pillow-case. It made me realise that we’ve succeeded in starting our own fun tradition that is kind to the environment. And honestly, sticking your hand inside a pillowcase to subtract a present is actually MORE fun that unwrapping paper!!!!

The rest of the day flew by. We went to church. Bought take away lunch on the way home. Then I slept in the afternoon, exhausted by the busy weekend we’d had up until then. Woke up just in time for a delicious tea of bbq’s steak and vegetables cooked by Farmboy.

I wanted to share with you some of the lovely things I was given yesterday. We are blessed with some wonderfully creative teachers in our children’s school and preschool.

This was the card and chocolates Trailer Boy brought home from Kindy (Preschool). What was amazing is that the chocolates made it all the way home without being eaten. The first thing he told me when I picked him up from the bus was that he had chocolates for me to share with him! Apparently I was a LOT luckier than some other mother’s - whose chocolates were missing by the time the card got to them.

This is the card Singstar Princess made me at school. Isn’t it beautiful?

And they made this at school as well. It’s a fridge magnet.

And this beautiful colouring as well!!!

Leighton’s class have been doing some work on Recycling. They even visited a Recycling Centre while they were away on camp. So it was quite fitting that they recycled some paper to make a homemade paper card (I remember making paper when I was in Grade 5 too!!!). But what is even more special about this card is that it has a seed impregnated into the paper. So when I’m finished with the card, I bury it in the garden and it grows!!!! How neat is that???

I have a paper making kit I bought on our honeymoon. I must get it out and make some paper with the kids. Maybe we could make some Christmas gifts with seeds like this one.

While on camp they also went to an Aboriginal Art Centre and he made me this. Have I mentioned how FANTASTIC his teacher is this year??? We feel very blessed that he has her.

Farmboy did a bit of last minute shopping during the week. So each child had something in their pillowcase other than what they’d made at school/kindy. He wasn’t taking any chances on a repeat of the Valentine’s Day “where’s the caramel ones” fiasco. Can you believe that I haven’t cracked this OPEN yet??? How restrained is that????

A packet of my favourite biscuits which Farmboy has assured me he will cook for me (and he will - he’s always been kind handy with a packet mix - although his “cook from scratch” skills have developed quite nicely since my breakdown too!!!).

There are always tears when Subway doesn’t have white choc chip and macadamia nut biscuits left. (Okay, maybe not tears but I do feel sad ). I LOVE white choc chip and macadamia cookies!!!!

I actually don’t mind practical gifts but Farmboy was really quite clever with this one. These are a couple of knives to go in our NEW CARAVAN (when it arrives). I LOVE Wiltshire knives and these will be so practical for our trip away. And also keep fingers safe as they’ll need to be kept in the same drawer as our other utensils.

So I had a lovely day and felt very blessed and loved!!!! I hope all the Mother’s out there also had a wonderful day.

When you’re pregnant with your first child, the most difficult thing you think you have coming in your future is giving birth. At least that’s what I thought. As things turned out, the birth was the EASY bit.

In case you’re feeling a tad jealous about the fact that my labor was so short. Let me fill you in a bit on what happened after Leighton arrived in the world. I spent less than an hour in the delivery room before he was born but around 3 hours after. It took over an hour for the placenta to deliver and then quite some time for them to stitch me up (even though I only needed 6 stitches). Then when I went back to my room for a shower, I fainted in the shower. Thankfully my DH was there to catch me as there wasn’t a nurse in sight.

Leighton was extremely sleepy for several days after he was born and was very difficult to feed. He had jaundice as well. I cried non-stop for most of the time I was in hospital. I couldn’t sleep. The midwife was a total bully. At times they wouldn’t even allow my DH to come and visit me. I would be crying in my room because he hadn’t come back and he would be waiting in the waiting room because the midwife would tell him I was sleeping (even though I wasn’t).

Let’s just say it wasn’t the easiest beginning to motherhood that one could have. What made it even harder was that the midwife on duty most of the time I was in hospital treated me like an incompetent idiot and really knocked my confidence.

I was sure if we could just go home I would get some sleep (in my own bed with DH by my side) and Leighton would settle down and stop screaming his head off all day.

I. WAS. RIGHT.

But sadly I didn’t have the confidence to push my own opinion and so I stayed in hospital several days longer than I wanted to. My DH and I even cornered the doctor on his way out of the hospital one day to ask if there was a medical reason I needed to be in hospital. He couldn’t see any reason why but being a young and inexperienced doctor, he wasn’t prepared to make waves.

The minute we walked into the back door of our home, Leighton settled down. No longer a screaming wreck, he became a happy and contented baby.

Unfortunately we had another little drama a few days later when I got very sick from retained placenta. I really thought I was going to die I felt that bad. Thankfully the breastfeeding stimulated my body to pass the rest of the tissue but I guess with such a slow start, it didn’t pass it before infection set in.

This was followed by another bout of screaming from Leighton as he reacted badly to the antibiotics I was put on to clear up the infection.

It all sounds like a terrible start doesn’t it? But I was so in LOVE with my baby and in LOVE with being a mother that for the most part, it wasn’t too bad.

One particular incident that occured a few days after I got home from the hospital stands out in my mind as a pivotal moment in my life as a mother.

My own mum was staying with me for my first week home from hospital. In those days Farmboy was working ridiculous hours for his dad and there was very little flexibility in the expectations put upon him.

Leighton was sleeping in his pram in the dining room that joined onto our lounge. All of a sudden the most awful feeling came over me and for some reason I happened to say outloud “oh, I feel so awful all of a sudden”.

My mum went straight to the pram to find Leighton silently choking on some mucus.

I learnt a very valuable lesson that day. To listen to what my instincts were saying. I’m not saying I’m a perfect mother. That I don’t make mistakes. But learning to “listen to my heart” has been the most valuable lesson that I’ve learnt in my decade as a mother.