Postpartum weight loss

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That moment when you come home from hospital after giving birth and weigh yourself…eep

Once again I’m trying to lose weight. I don’t know why it’s so important to me. It just is. I feel uncomfortable when I’m overweight, even a little bit overweight. I like to be able to just pull anything I like off the shelf in a certain size and know that it will fit and that I’ll look good. I like being healthy and eating healthy foods appeal to me. But even healthy foods can cause weight gain if I go overboard. I am now 5 and a half months postpartum and I’ve lost 5 or 6 kilos since returning from hospital. I’ve been eating my usual diet of mostly healthy foods, no wheat or dairy (due to food intolerance), lots of vegetables and fruit and low on processed foods and sugar. If I ever want to speed up my weight loss I do Trim Healthy Mama. This program works for me. Every time I follow it strictly, the weight falls off me. But I get lazy with it and that makes my weight loss slower. If I follow the plan 100% though, which is easy because it’s a great plan,  I spring back into shape in no time.

I started Trim Healthy Mama again 2 weeks ago. The first week I lost 1kg and the second week I lost half a kilo. Those results are enough to get me excited and motivated again to lose the last 11kg to get me back to pre-pregnancy weight. Trim Healthy Mama is a great plan – there are even guidelines so you can follow it during pregnancy to stay healthy and not gain excess weight. I tried to do this during my pregnancy with Willow, and I did quite well up until the third trimester when I was SO HUNGRY ALL the time! I ate and ate and ate some more, and began stacking on weight.

Some tips I have for anyone wanting to lose weight is to not go on a diet. Sure you can follow a diet plan to assist in the initial weigh loss but instead of ‘being on a diet’ you should ‘eat healthier’ – for life. This is one of the secrets to maintaining weight loss. If you go back to your old way of eating after you finish your ‘diet’ – you’ll put all the weight back on again and more. Guaranteed.

Don’t start eating healthier tomorrow, or next week, start with your very next meal. Also avoid all or nothing statements like ‘I’m not going to eat chocolate for the rest of the year.’ or ‘Ever again.’ I used to say things like this years ago but I don’t anymore. The best way to make changes to my own diet has been by making intentional gradual changes. For example, about 6 years ago I noticed Luke and I were eating a few blocks of chocolate every weekend together. This wasn’t doing anything good for our health and I was struggling with my weight at the time. I decided that instead of buying a block of chocolate on the weekend I would just buy a chocolate bar instead. I would sit down and really enjoy my chocolate then after it was finished, that was it – no more. Eventually I found that dairy was making me sick so I stopped eating milk chocolate and bought some 85% dark choc. It was bitter at first but I found that I slowly developed a taste for it and now I love it!  After most of my life being addicted to chocolate I was able to make some intentional changes and have great success. I can sit down and eat 2 squares of 85% dark choc and I’m quite content with that.

If you are overwhelmed with where to start when you want to lose weight and be healthier, just begin with breakfast. Scramble some eggs, or make a green smoothie, or have some natural yoghurt and muesli. Once you eat a healthy breakfast everyday for a few weeks and you are getting the hang of it, move onto having a healthy lunch. Make a large salad and toss in some chicken and avocado and feta cheese for protein. Then do the same with tea, and snacks and drinks. Make small positive changes that you can commit to.

I’m getting excited now – this is one of my favourite topics!

I’m off to have a chamomile tea.

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Blessings, Peta

Nursing home performance

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Our family visited a local nursing home today. Luke played guitar and sang hymns and worship songs and a few songs he had written for the residents. I sat with the children while they listened and afterwards we had a lovely time going around and meeting lots of people. Luke knew his way around well – he also works there as a carer.  Baby Willow was quite the popular one, a few ladies wanted to keep her! The boys helped their daddy pack up his sound gear, and took lots of photos.

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dscf3118Blessings, Peta

Why we intentionally decided to have a large family.

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Our 5th baby Willow – I can’t imagine life without her.

Not everyone desires to have a large family. Actually it’s becoming less and less common in this century. And I also realise that some couples desire to have lots of children but, because a whole huge number of reasons, may be unable to.

It’s funny how when you have more than the average number of children (1.2) that people suddenly seem to think that it is their business to ask if the couple uses contraception.

“Haven’t you worked out what causes that yet?” Is one cringe worthy comment I’ve been receiving since I was pregnant with our third child. Most likely because when I was pregnant with our third child I also had a 2-year-old and a 6 month old baby. I try not to let these comments bother me, they are often meant well and often the person saying it just doesn’t really know what to say.

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Our first three babies are now aged 4, 5 and a half and 7.

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Like most couples do, Luke and I talked about how many children we would love to have before we were married. We thought 4, maybe 6. But as the years went on and we dove deep into research about what God’s word says about having children our thoughts and convictions began to change.

Psalm 127 v3-5

Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord,
the fruit of the womb a reward.
Like arrows in the hand of a warrior
are the children of one’s youth.
Blessed is the man
who fills his quiver with them!
He shall not be put to shame
when he speaks with his enemies in the gate.

The Bible is pretty clear that it is important to have children if we can. Children are a blessings and gift and they are our heritage. And the barren womb is something to weep over.

But how can you tell if your quiver is full? This is a pretty huge question.

Is it even Biblical to use contraception? How can we decide who, how many, and when children come into this world? This is why often Christian couples decide to leave their family size and spacing in the hands of our sovereign Lord. And this is what Luke and I decided to do when I was pregnant with our first baby. We soon discovered that I have been blessed with super sonic fertility! *laughs! Even while full-time breastfeeding my little baby boy I was pregnant again 5 months postpartum. Sadly this baby was found on a scan to be a “blighted ovum” and I miscarried at 7 weeks. I was pregnant again within a few months and gave birth to a big beautiful bouncy boy. A baby daughter soon followed 16 months later. I then had 3 children ages almost 3, 16 months and a newborn. We had a busy time caring for these little 3. I’m so thankful that I had a lovely mums group during this time that I went to every Friday morning and these ladies were very encouraging to me and my three little ones.

When my baby girl was around 8 months old I was pregnant again, but yet again had a heart wrenching miscarriage, this time at 12 week along. I had a scan at 8 weeks along and there was a 8 week old baby there on-screen with no heart beat. The doctor offered me another D&C operation to remove the baby but I declined this time and went home and waited an anxiety ridden 4 weeks for the baby to be delivered at home.

Life gets hard and what then? We still trusted God with all our hearts to shape our family the way He sees fit. But we were weary and wearing thin. We prayerfully decided to space our pregnancies with non abortive methods of contraception. I can’t take the pill either as my body has awful side effects from the artificial hormones. I  have never felt right about the pill because some forms are abortive, which I am very against. I am entirely pro-life. We have also decided against doing anything to permanently end our fertility.

We kept having babies, just spaced apart a little. We have been blessed with two more full term healthy pregnancies both girls. We feel so incredibly blessed to have our children. My heart keeps increasing with each new child born into our family.

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Pregnant with baby number #4 in 2014  – Holly.

It’s hard to not let fear control whether we have more children or not. For us, one of the fears we have struggled with is having the finances to care for our brood. But this is where we have exercised our faith in our God the provider.

Not long after our 5th baby Willow was born I began thinking about money and I went down that destructive thought pattern of all the “what ifs” and began having a panic about how we were going to pay for schooling and driving lessons and our daughters weddings! Sometimes swirling thoughts can overwhelm me! But instead of entertaining these thoughts for too long I prayed and gave it all over to God – I put my complete trust in him. That same afternoon He led me to read this scripture during my quiet time;

Psalm 37 v 25 – 26

“I have been young and now am old. And in all my years I have never seen the Lord forsake a man who loves him; nor have I seen the children of the Godly go hungry. Instead, the godly are able to be generous with their gifts and loans to others and their children are a blessing.”

As I look at the beautiful children of the couples of the church we are now attending I imagine what it would be like if they had decided to stop having children after they had their second baby. (One family has 5, another 8, one 10 and one couple has 11 children!) There would be no one in the choir, all their smiling faces, eternal souls, witnesses for Christ, wouldn’t be here.

I met the eldest child of the family with 11 children a few days ago. She is now grown, married and has a baby of her own. I asked her what it was like to be the eldest of eleven. She says it was busy and often noisy, but she wouldn’t change it for anything. She adores all her younger siblings.

It’s easy for us to just follow the crowd and do the norm of society but I encourage you to be prayerful and dive into the scriptures today and read and learn more of the blessings of children.

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Blessings, Peta.

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Francis turns seven!

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Wow our first born son turned seven last week! Francis is growing into one unique boy. He is super smart and his brain is mathematical yet also creative. We are overjoyed that he has began a personal faith in the Lord and has decided to follow Jesus. We gave him his first Bible because his reading is very advanced for his age. He has been reading a chapter every night in bed before lights out.

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He really wanted to climb up the worlds biggest rocking horse for his birthday so we had a picnic there today and he bravely climbed to the top with his daddy.

Francis is a happy boy and is patient with his younger siblings; he reads them books – even helps Arrow with his school work. He loves to lead and be in charge and in control of everything. Everything he builds with LEGO must be symmetrical. His favourite things are playing piano, reading, LEGO, transformers, writing and drawing diagrams of buildings and gardens.

We are loving seeing his unique personality bubble forth! Enjoy this video of him that he asked Luke to make, he loves teaching people how things are made.

Happy Birthday Francis!

A day in the life of us with 5 children ages 6, 5, 4, 2 and 3.5 months.

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I do enjoy reading a good ‘day in the life’ post. So I thought I’d share what we got up to on a typical home school day with our 5 children.

This was a weekday of homeschool and home stuff  a few weeks ago.  (I’m typing this while breast feeding Willow haha!)DSCF2080

5am – Feed Willow in bed and doze

6.20am – Luke leaves for work and a 2 year old girl appears in bed with me followed by a 4 year old. There are three cute little wiggly girls in bed with me!

7am – I roll out of bed and rescue the baby as Holly (the 2 year old)  is banging a book on my head she wants me to read.

7.10am – Gather up the washing from 3 different baskets and set a load going in the machine.

7.15am – Shower for me and getting ready for the day.

7:40am – Give the children breakfast then eat mine. They are having natural greek yoghurt with honey or muesli. I have muesli with coconut yoghurt. Then I take my supplements and hand out the kids ones. I give them cod liver oil and vitamin C everyday.

8am – The children begin their ‘morning routines.’ They have a morning routine written on the fridge which they are required to do everyday. Things that my 5 and 6 year old boys need reminding of like get dressed, put pj’s away etc. I have started them on new chores too this term which they do as part of their morning routines. They also practice their instruments they are learning – Francis piano and Arrow drums.

8.20am – I start the dishes (by hand, we don’t have a dish washer at the moment)

8.30am – Willow wakes up and wants a feed – I stop dishes and sit to feed her while listening to Francis on the piano.

8.55am – Finish feeding Willow and get back to the dishes. I put Willow in the bouncy chair and turn around just in time to see Holly trying to shove a battery in Willow’s mouth! What?! She’s at a challenging age! I tell her off firmly and pull the battery out of her hands which makes her cry. I give her a peeled apple…she’s happy now and toddles off.

9.20am – Two children realise Holly has an apple and want a peeled one too so I peel 2 more apples.

9.35am – Morning tea outside time! We do this everyday, to give us some fresh air- I love being outside and really need this time. Plus I find the children are more settled to do their school work when they have ran around outside for a bit and had a snack. I have a cup of green tea and sit on the swinging chair with Willow. The children have oranges and rice crackers.

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10.10am – Put Willow to bed for  a nap then hang out the washing while the kids are still playing outside.

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10:35am – School work time. Francis (6.5), Arrow (5) and Savannah (4) sit at the table with me. We pray and read out our memory verse;  Psalm 95v1-4. Then the boys do maths and phonics. Savannah does a preschool workbook and draws a picture. Holly is sitting on the floor playing with her money box we made her for school time.

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11:20am – We are finishing up school work session. (I was still waiting for some new curriculum to come in the mail so school was short and sweet that day) The children cut pictures out of magazines and catalogues and glue them in their scrap books. I pack up and work on a meal plan then put a load of towels in the dryer.

11.50am – Francis asks me for a hot chocolate so I make one for everyone. I start browning some mince on the stove for tea but then Willow wakes! I turn it off again and sit to feed Willow.

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12pm – Luke gets home from work, he had a short early shift.

12.35pm – Make lunch for the kids. They have peanut butter  or tuna sandwiches. I make some chick pea flour pancakes for my lunch. A new recipe from my mum I’ve been meaning to try.

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1:15pm – The house is trashed…but I choose to ignore it. It’s quiet time. My favourite time of the day! For quiet time everyone must choose a silent activity and play/read by themselves. No one is allowed to talk to or touch anyone. This saves my sanity. If I can hear the clocks ticking…it’s bliss. I do my devotions and Bible reading during this time. I use this time to pray silently.

Francis is reading a book, Arrow is doing a puzzle on the floor, Savannah is laying down on the couch with a blanket and cushions, Holly is in her cot napping and Willow is on the mat in front of me having tummy time. And Luke is doing the lunch dishes. It’s organised, chaotic, bliss.

1:35pm – I feed Willow again to make her sleepy

2pm – Quiet time is over, I read The Magic School Bus to Savannah, Arrow and Francis because they really want me to.

2:15pm -Get back to cooking that mince and encourage (nag and hoot and holler)  the children to tidy up the lounge, passage way, their rooms…everywhere. They get to watch Netflix once the house is tidy on Wednesday afternoons so they are feeling motivated and are doing an okay job.

2:35 – I leave Luke in charge and head out for a walk. I stop by the opp shop on my way home.

3:35 – Back home and feed Willlow. Luke leaves to go down the street to have his hair cut.

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Yep no make up on…this is real life people!

4:30 – I fold the washing straight off the line and bring it in. I give the kids some dress up things I found at the opp shop. They have a blast trying everything on!

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5:10pm – Prepare tea and we eat tacos.

6:35pm – Luke cleans up from tea while I give one of our sons a head lice treatment. He picked it up from school and it took me a while to get rid of the pesky things! (Our eldest son has been joining us for home school since term 3 week 2.)

We do our evening routine which includes pj’s, brushing teeth etc and Family Worship. We always sing a worship song together every night. Luke usually plays guitar, I do as well sometimes but I’m usually either too pregnant or feeding a baby. We put the children in bed between 7:30 and 8pm.

7:10pm – I feed Willow on and off until 8:45pm when she finally settles to sleep for a while.

Ahh the house is quiet.

 

I feel so blessed to have my precious family. Even though there are hard times, having this many kids really is doable. Even delightful.

Blessings,  Peta

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Happy 2nd Birthday Holly Audrey Joy Goddard!

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Holly turned 2 today. How happy we are to have Holly in our lives! I fell pregnant with Holly after we lost a baby to miscarriage at 12 weeks along. So I guess this makes Holly a ‘rainbow baby.’  Straight after our miscarriage we moved twice within a 3 month period and for the next year experienced the toughest financial time we have ever been through. All this combined with morning sickness of a new pregnancy left me with quite severe antenatal depression throughout my entire pregnancy.

Holly’s birth was very straight forward. The Lord knew exactly what I needed. I birthed Holly without pain (thanks to an epidural) and the following months after she was born God began restoring the joy within my spirit. That’s why her middle name is Joy. She was the most placid sweet little baby. She slept well for the first year of her life and rarely cried. I called her my angel baby. Her toddler antics make us laugh and laugh and she is so crazy and funny, we love her to bits. She loves her little sister Willow SO much and is still learning to be gentle. She was also born on my late grandma, Audrey’s, birthday. So we gave her the middle name Audrey also. Holly is my 4th baby and second born daughter.

Holly’s spent her birthday opening gifts, a little bike, a dolly, a block game and some new clothes and pjs. She went to church and we found out that daddy who was going to work in the afternoon was going to be able to be home with us after all. So Holly had a ride on the back of Savannah’s bike after lunch, then back inside for a big screen movie on our projector and popcorn.  The day finished with birthday cake in her PJs.

We love you miss Holly, Happy Birthday!

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Savannah turns 4!

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Our lovely daughter Savannah turned 4 last Saturday! Savannah is our third child and first born daughter. She is absolutely delightful! She turns heads everywhere when we are out and about and every second person stops to comment on her beautiful head full of strawberry blond ringlets! She has a spring in her step and enters every room singing. Savannah is a delight to have in our home as she has a compassionate heart. She is the one who wants to care for everyone and everything. She loves babies and animals and flowers. She is always on the look out for someone in our home who has a need. Just tonight when I was feeding baby Willow she came into the lounge with huge grin carrying a glass of water for me. She then gave me a hug and kissed my cheek and says “do you know why I kissed you? It’s because I love you.” Awe she just melts my heart.

I always let the birthday person choose what we have for tea on their special day and Savannah’s request was quinoa and brussels sprouts. Last year she said salmon! She is the healthiest eater in the house. What a blessing she is to us. DSCF1504DSCF1912_editedDSCF1913_editedDSCF2009_edited

Happy Birthday Savannah!

The ‘fourth trimester’

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My Ergo Baby carrier often gets me through the evening.

So there are three trimesters in pregnancy. Or is there? I believe there is actually 4!

The first three months after having a baby are a big adjustment for me and my whole family. And a big adjustment for my baby too. They are used to being in their secure womb world and I need to give my precious bundle plenty of grace and affection as they get used to life on the outside. Right now I am 7  weeks postpartum and I’ve been feeling it. I’m definitely in the ‘fourth trimester.’ It’s amazing how quickly I forget what it feels like after I have a baby. Time goes all too quickly and it’s amazing how us mummy’s can forget the details of what it was like for us exactly. My mum says she forgets what the pain of labour feels like too a few years after having a baby. She remembered that is was painful, but the memories of the intensity and what everything felt like exactly  became foggy. Maybe this is God’s way of preparing a mothers heart to receive another baby.

In the first week after giving birth I am on a massive high.

I am in awe of the faithfulness of my creator and the miracle of the life He has so graciously entrusted me with. I feel relieved that I am done with labour and I tuck myself and my babe in bed together and rest and feed and feed and feed. It’s so exciting introducing our new baby to their big brothers and sisters, it really melts my heart!

Though my heart still melts every time I cuddle and smell my sweet baby, the initial excitement wears off a little when I miss hours of sleep and can’t seem to catch it back up.

I often get emotional too in the first few weeks. I find myself crying over strange things like not being able to find an item of clothing I’m looking for. I anxiously watch over my baby making sure they are okay constantly and I also feel a bit strange and worry that something bad is going to happen to one of my children. Sometimes I have frightening or upsetting dreams as I struggle to fall into a deep sleep. The details of my baby’s birth run over and over in my mind. Those crazy postpartum hormones can make me feel a little loopy for a few weeks. I make sure I spend a lot of time laying down and getting as much rest as I can. I drink lots of chamomile tea and nourish my body with lots of warm, hearty meals.

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My precious Willow, not long after delivery.

 I manage my household by asking my dear husband to take a few weeks off of work and he completely takes over the care of our older children and household tasks.

This time he was able to take 3 weeks off from the time I was 40 weeks. I went one week and a day overdue so it was nice having him at home helping me with the household needs when I was overdue as well. He will completely take over the children’s baths and bedtime routine, he cleans and hangs up laundry. What a guy! Luke is my main help – we work together as a team. We eat the stash of meals that I put away before our baby is born. I feel so much better knowing my family and I are eating nourishing home cooked meals while  I’m unable to cook instead of take-away. During the last 3 months of pregnancy I plan double or triple batches of meals that I am planing on cooking that week and freeze the extra food. It was so soothing having Luke heat up and bring me hot chicken soup for my lunches after I came home from hospital. I was so thankful that I had taken the time to make the soup from scratch and get it put away as it was the perfect recovery food to eat after birth. The mothers from our church also brought us meals almost every night for a week and it was such a massive blessing to us. We felt very well looked after and it was beautiful.

Home schooling in the ‘fourth trimester’ is kept to a bare minimum.

This is the first time I’ve been ‘officially’ home schooling after having a baby. Though it’s still not completely ‘official’ because you don’t have to register your child as a home schooler until they are six years old and my son whom I’m home schooling only just turned five in March. But we decided that we would start him this year with some school work at his level. (Our oldest son is attending school this year but we hope to bring him home again in the future).

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Arrow ‘mowing’ after some heavy rainfall.

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Savannah and Willow

After the birth we took ‘school holidays’ for a few weeks and let him have a lot of unstructured play time. Which is what I believe a child his age should be doing mostly anyway. We borrowed heaps of books from the library and he flicks through them quite often. Between 2-6 weeks after our baby’s birth we began home schooling him again though we started slowly. I began by just doing a discipleship lesson with him and the little ones in the late morning while baby was having a sleep. They do a themed colouring in and I read the Bible lesson from the ‘Gospel Light, Big Book Of Bible Stories’. Learning about Jesus I believe is his most important lesson – so it made sense for us to begin here. And in the afternoon  he does a ‘Reading Eggs’ lesson on the computer. Gradually we have added in a few pages from his workbook too. School work takes place in small bursts around the baby’s and toddlers needs. Home schooling is beautiful as our children are learning about real life and are living life and learning as we go about our daily life with them right by our sides.

One of the hardest things to deal with in the first few weeks after my baby is born is my husband going back to work.

I often feel anxious being left alone with the children when Luke does late shifts at work in those early months. I get overwhelmed easily but I’ve done this enough times now to know that it does get better. As the weeks going by I slowly get a bit more sleep and my baby seems happier in the evening. And before I know it my baby is joining us around the meal table!

Something that helped me while home alone with the children was to figure out what was stressing me the most and causing the overwhelmed feelings. When I really thought about it the main thing that stressed me was trying to cook or prepare the evening meal while trying to juggle a house full of littles. The other main stress was trying to bath everyone.

I prayed to God for wisdom in these areas so we could have a calmer evening while daddy was away and the answer was to make the most of the mornings before Luke went to work. I started cooking the evening meal (something simple and healthy) in the morning when Luke was around to hold the baby if needed. And we bath or shower everyone in the morning or after lunch if it is a ‘bath day.’ (Three days a week) So I won’t have to try and get this done on my own in the evening.

Every so often I have ‘one of those days’ where everything seems to be going wrong and it’s just one thing after another. The baby is crying and something is burning, the toddler found a permanent texta, the preschooler is stuck in the toilet and the boys have been playing too rough and someone is hurt and crying. All while I’m attempting to tidy the house for an inspection the next morning.(Why do real estate agents to this to us??)  On those days I cry out to Jesus to get me through – and he gives me comfort and wisdom on how to handle the situation. Sometimes I need to get away for a minute and shut the door of my bedroom and catch my breath. Even cry for a minute. But mostly I find, it’s not always like this and we have a happy evening together. I read them lots of books while breastfeeding my bub on the couch and sometimes I sit outside and rock on the swinging chair while watching my precious children discover things in the backyard and they bring them over to show me.

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Just perfect, my baby girl!

Something I couldn’t end this post without mentioning is…my postpartum body!

Trying to make peace with my body after having a baby has been difficult for me. I always gain around 25kg with each pregnancy and this 5th time around was no exception. Despite my attempts to eat well and not gain too much weight while pregnant this time, no matter how hard I tried, I really stacked on a lot of weight in the third trimester. I go from a size 8-10 to a size 14-16 every pregnancy! I have managed to lose the weight between my pregnancies but it does take time and sometimes it’s way too slow for my liking. Sometimes I even gain a bit of weight while still breastfeeding. I think this is all normal for me. What I try and do to make me feel better about my postpartum body is:

  1. Tell myself constantly that this body just carried a baby for 9 months and it is very normal for it to look this jiggly.
  2. Eat healthy meals as much as I can and focus on nourishing my body and building up my milk supply. Comfort eating because ‘I’m fat anyway’ will most definitely make matters worse.
  3. Go for walks a few times a week; the fresh air and sunshine completely changes my mood
  4. Buy some clothes in my new current size that fit now. Not ‘goal weight’ sized clothing but clothes that fit my postpartum body the way it looks right now to help me feel pretty and comfortable.
  5. Removing clothing from my wardrobe and drawers that don’t fit me and packing them away. Only have clothes in my current size out and available for me to wear.
  6. Shape wear can be your best friend. I’ve bought a pair to make my tummy look a little flatter.
  7. Expect to still look a little pregnant for many months after giving birth. And a word of warning; never ask a woman if she is pregnant again if she has given birth within the past year…this has happened to me. A lady asked me if I was pregnant, 5 months after having my fourth baby because my postpartum belly was sticking out a little (or a lot)! Talk about embarrassing and discouraging! Seriously people, leave the postpartum lady alone.

Babies are very time consuming and I need to give myself grace.

Babies in their gorgeous cuteness take up a lot of time day and night to look after. In the early months I spend hours upon hours each day just sitting in a chair breastfeeding. Not to mention changing, and burping and settling them to sleep. We must remember when we have little babies to give ourselves grace. You may not get much at all done except caring for the immediate needs of your baby and your older children. This is okay and it is normal. The weeds can wait, the floors can wait, the shelves might get dusty and any other project we have in mind may have to be put on hold. But we are nurturing a little person and this is far more important than any of these things. Don’t push yourself during the ‘fourth trimester.’ Don’t set up random expectations on yourself. Just relax, stop and smell that sweet smell of your newborn’s head. There will be time for all that other stuff later.

When Luke got home from work one night I said, “oh I’m so sorry I didn’t do the dishes!” He just told me that he had no expectations of me doing the dishes and I shouldn’t either and that all he really cared about is that I made it through and that me and the children are doing okay. Did I mention that he is a great guy?!

Also; when it comes to resting, my life got so much easier and I became less tired when I learned to breastfeed while laying down! It has been a real lifesaver. Especially in the first 6 weeks.

I have found that I am so much happier and am less likely to feel overwhelmed or depressed if I rest more and enjoy my baby and write things like ‘go for a walk’ on my to do list.

I have worked out that it takes me between 9-12 months before I am fully feeling back to myself and have adjusted to the new ‘normal’ of life with our baby.

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Out for our 9th wedding anniversary date with Willow, 4 weeks old.

Whatever is working for you just go with it. Enjoy that precious baby while you go through the ups and downs of the ‘fourth trimester.’

Blessings,

Peta

 

 

 

 

 

God’s will for our lives…is it something grand and mysterious? Perhaps not…

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Spot the baby! Willow helping me with the laundry

I’m working hard at home and doing the daily daily. I’m cooking, cleaning, disciplining and guiding children & being a Mum 24 hours a day – 7 days a week.

But as a Christian woman and wife am I doing enough for the Lord? I know there are seasons in life where we are able to do different things, but ultimately how do I know if this is God’s will for my life? Some messages I hear out there in the Christian community say, “there is some big grand plan out there… grander than what you should be doing here at home… more flashier, exciting and fulfilling.” Is it okay for me to be working hard here at home, and living a somewhat “ordinary” life? Or do I need to jump into the bandwagon of leaving my family behind to find my dream destiny?

I know just the person to answer this question: My husband Luke, who blogs over at from frightened to father has tackled this question as it’s close to his heart. This is my very first guest post, and I’m excited to share it with you.

Click here for my guest post