Christmas 2016

Shortly before Dexter finished school for the Christmas break, we got to go and watch our little star sing in the nativity.

He got to see Santa TWICE!!

Then finally Christmas eve came. Dexter put on his Christmas jammies, we read his Christmas story, left out snacks for Santa & Rudolph and then it was bedtime.

We imagined how hectic Christmas morning might be this year with two children in the mix. Both of them opening presents at once. But Rayna had a super lie in so Dexter got to open all his presents in peace.

  

When she finally stirred, he helped her open her presents too and they played together.

We all got dressed up smartly to go enjoy a yummy Christmas dinner.

 Dexter seemed to win every cracker he pulled....

And he loved his pudding!!

Photo Shoot

 

 

I am 4!!!

Dexter has been spinning the line "I'm nearly 4" for the last few months - well here it is kiddo, you are finally 4!!

How did we create someone so smart, handsome and kind??

How did we get so lucky that our son is polite, well mannered and considerate??

And how the hell did four years go by, just like that??

Despite the finer details of his birth story being so hazy due to a combination of pethidine & exhaustion, the one thing I still recall clearly is when he was finally delivered. The moment he was passed to me. The first words that left my mouth. The first time I laid eyes on him. I remember it vividly.

Fast forward four years and he is still the most amazing little guy I could ever have asked for. Only now, he is full of cheeky character & sarcastic wit as well. He is bright & intelligent. Caring & loving. A freaking awesome big brother to Rayna. And so damn grown up!!!!

So it was an early start in our household today. A certain someone was too keen to get up and see what presents he had got for his birthday. Luckily, he managed to get all the way through them all before Rayna woke up & came down trying to take over :D

Today was a school day too. And although having to leave all his brand spanking new toys behind, Dexter was actually quite happy to get there. He loves school anyway, but when it's your special day the birthday fairy pays you a visit. He got a cake to share with his school friends, a present and everyone sang happy birthday..... he'd seen the other boys and girls have their birthdays celebrated at school so he was excited to get his turn too.

After school, the four of us went to the bowling alley for a totally amicable game ten-pin (none of us are sore winners or losers! honest) and a quick ride in the arcades.

Then afterwards, we went for tea at Dexter's favourite eating place.... Ox & Bone (he loves the onion rings. oh and the music too).

By the time we got home, it was already bedtime..... but there is always time to blow out your candles and eat some birthday cake..... and stay up late to play with your presents some more ;)

An hour later than usual, I tucked my big grown up boy into bed & kissed him good night. I know he always tell us he is not a baby anymore, but he will always and forever be our baby xxx

Writing his name...

Dexter is getting better & better every day with his mark-making. He can draw people and animals with a reasonable amount of detail. He can write quite a few numbers with little or no help. But today, he wrote his name and he did a bloody good job of it too....

I showed him on a separate piece of paper what he needed to do and talked him through what lines he needed to make, but this was all his own handywork!!

Well done babes xx

Pre-school

Dexter had been attending the pre-school attached to the primary school we hope he will go to since April this year. We figured it would be good for him to make friends with children he will potentially be spending his school days with.

The pre-school is separate from the main school and has a very relaxed approach, with the kids just operating on a free movement basis. He went four afternoons a week - just a few hours each day to reduce the boredom of being stuck at home with his mum & baby sister....

But the school year after their 3rd birthday, the children graduate to the school nursery. This is attached to the main school. They have a much more structured routine to prepare them for reception. He will be going for longer days. And they get to wear a UNIFORM....

He looked so grown up when I got him ready this morning. And he was so keen to get back after such a long break over the summer. Almost every day he has asked me "Is it a school day today?" He's really missed it. He was so ready for it.

Shane asked if I'd shed any tears waving him off this morning.... but the truth is that it was more of a happy time than an emotional one (I did all my crying the first day I left him at Waters Edge). If he'd been nervous or scared then maybe I would have felt different....

....but while all the other children were taking their parents in with them to help them find their peg and hang their coats, Dexter had already given me my kiss & cuddle and had gone marching in all by himself like the confident and independent young man he is! I could not have been prouder.

3½ Years!

We didn't really have a Terrible Twos phase to speak of. Nothing that really stood out. So maybe skipping that part has made the next stage 10 times worse. The dreaded..... THREENAGER!!!

Dexter is a confident, free thinker. And now he is using that against us. His new favourite word is no! His new second home is out in the naughty corner. We've used it more in the past few months than we did in the years prior. He loves pushing the boundaries with us. But the reality is, that is the only way for him to know where the boundaries are. It's all part of one big-ass learning curve.

And whilst he is getting really good at testing our patience, he is also blossoming in lots of other really positive respects....

So, a few months ago our beautiful daughter Rayna came into our lives and Dexter was left adjusting to life with a new sister. No longer was he an only child. The baby. Now he had to grow up, learn how to share, be more patient, wait his turn. And over the last three months he has demonstrated all of the above, ten-fold! He is an awesome big brother. So caring, considerate and loving.

It's hard not to feel like sometimes he is getting brushed off or pushed to the back of the queue when it comes to getting my attention. But he gets it. He totally gets it! He doesn't make us feel bad about it or punish us for it. And he has never shown a shred of jealousy or resentment towards her. We couldn't be happier with how their bond is developing right before our very eyes.

And in-keeping with his new role as the grown up big bro, Dexter's has undergone a lot of growing up these past few months.

Dexter's room had a makeover last month. Our (not so) little giant (at 3ft 3in tall) was outgrowing his toddler bed and babyish theme in his room so it was time to upgrade to a full size single bed and a more appropriate décor...

Having a bigger bed means we get to snuggle in together at bedtime now for stories. It's my new favourite part of the day when we get to cuddle up with a couple of books and share huge hugs & kisses before sleepy time. (He's always telling me that I have to stay there and sleep with him for the night haha)

After Easter, Dexter left his old nursery at Waters Edge and moved to the nursery that is part of the primary school we hope he will be attending next year. It is more conveniently located to utilise the free hours he is entitled to and being able to go four afternoons a week means he isn't stuck at home with mama and bebe all the time. And let me tell you, he LOVES it! He settled in right from the word go, made new friends on the first day and looks forward to going every day.

Dexter is learning so much every day. He amazes us with how much he understands. He is doing so well at developing his speech. When kids say something incorrectly, if it's cute it can be easy to ignore, but we have always made a point of trying to encourage Dexter to pronounce things correctly and recently he has really been trying hard to apply this in every day conversations.

He asks a lot of questions.....

Mostly 'Why?'.....

All. The. Time.

It drives us crazy sometimes, especially when it's an infinite line of questioning. Even when things that don't have an answer to the question Why?. When things just are because they are!! But again, this is all part of his learning curve of life.

And I can't quite pinpoint when it happened, but at some point Dexter decided that it was time to phase out the mummy/daddy and start dropping in a few mum and dad's. Shane is ok with this (although he said Rayna has to call him daddy until the day he dies haha). I, on the other hand am not ready for this and keep telling him he's not allowed to call me mum, it's mummy. Most of the time he'll still call me mummy now :) haha

So yeah, our handsome devil is a little older, wiser and more responsible. He is (for the most part) such a polite, well-mannered and charming individual and we couldn't be prouder of the young man we are raising. Hopefully it means we are doing something right ;)

Becoming a big brother!

This past week, being a big brother has become reality for Dexter. We have discussed his baby sister with him loads over the past few months, but how much he understood was always a little unclear. He never questioned the fact that a baby was growing in my tummy. That she would take a long time to arrive (6 months of knowing is like a lifetime at that age). That actually at the end of it, there would be a real life little human being that would be coming home to live with us!

He was fast asleep in bed when I went into hospital to give birth. Shane was home when he woke up the next morning to give him the good news and show him a picture of her. He told Dexter that Rayna was his new baby sister and she would be coming home soon to meet him. But he had a long wait at his Nan's until we were discharged from the hospital.

Dexter has always spoke fondly of his baby sister whilst I was pregnant. He would often tell me of all the lovely things he would do as her big brother. That he would feed her, look after her, share his toys with her. But I absolutely expected a certain element of sulking when we actually introduced them....

...I was so wrong! He was so interested in her. We'd bought him a goodie-bag full of Spiderman shiz as a present from her to cushion this huge change to his current life. He loved it. He gave her a little kiss on the forehead and thanked her. My heart melted.

As the days went on, Dexter would prove to be an even better big brother than we could ever have hoped. He started to become more comfortable around her and more used to her being here. He'd constantly hold her hand or kiss her. He attentively goes over to the bouncer if she makes a noise to check she is ok or recover her blanket if it has been kicked off onto the floor.

As Rayna then started to open her eyes more and more, he was very keen on making sure that his face was one of the first she would get to know. He loves to get close to her and she seems to be mesmorised in return. A face to go with the voice she already knows so well <3 The other night we were getting Rayna ready for bed and she spent the longest amount of time to-date with her eyes open just gazing at Dexter. He held her hand and talked to her. She was so calm as we changed her for bed.

Rayna has been in the world and part of his life for a whole week now and so far the novelty has not yet worn thin. Quite the opposite, in fact. He wants to help out and be involved as much as possible.

But let me tell you, adjusting to life with two children is hard. It's taking more of an emotional toll than a physical one to be honest. Maybe other mums feel the same, maybe it's just me, I don't know but it's hard not to feel like a bad mum to your older child when you bring a new addition into the mix. Dexter has been the centre of our world for over 3 years and all of a sudden he has to share his position with someone else. He has had undivided attention from both his parents for all that time and now there is a needy new baby around that dominates that attention, taking it away from him :(

He helps out with his big brother duties but then seems that he doesn't reap some reward in return. Arranging activities to keep him busy is difficult to fit in at the moment. And spending time getting involved with said activities alongside him, even more so. My abdominal muscles separated during pregnancy so for the time being I've not been able to pick him up and cuddle him the way I did before. My stitches have made moving or sitting in certain positions virtually impossible so I have not been able to sit cuddling on his beanbag for bedtime stories. Argh! I know it's only been a week but it so hard not to feel mega guilt!!!! 

But he's been an absolute star about it all. The guilt is all my own making. He hasn't once made me feel like I'm a bad mum. I think the fact that he continues to be so happy, lively and so freaking awesome about everything is what makes me feel worse :/

But as I'm slowly starting to feel a little more human again, tonight I put my first-born baby to bed myself for the first time in over a week. He picked out two stories, climbed into bed and I sat down beside him for a cuddle. I stretched out the stories as long as I could. We talked about the pictures and laughed about this and that. When we had finished and it was time for kisses and cuddles I laid my head next to his on the pillow for a few minutes just soaking it all up. It was amazing to have a moment together, just me and him like old times.

He's done so well at being accepting of the fact that moving forward he's got to share us, so now it's more important than ever for me to show him that this doesn't mean that he get's anything less xx