2012 Wrap Up

2012 was an amazing year with the arrival of Luke. This little guy is so awesome and has made our family complete.

Less than 24 hours old and surrounded by love

3 weeks old, still a scrawny little chicken

2 months of baby goodness

brothers for life

New milestones, just as exciting 3rd time round

First trip as a family of 5

Always full of smiles

Growing up way too fast

We can’t wait to see what 2013 will bring. Happy New Year!

Full of Shit, literally

For the past few months we have been dealing with Luke’s chronic constipation. As a baby on a milk only diet, he was fine. Then he started semi solid foods and his pipes became clogged. We tried everything, I stopped giving him Apples, Bananas and Carrots, foods known to cause constipation. I did tummy massages, bicycle legs, the warm bath, nothing worked. Finally we put him on medication after he went for a whole two weeks without pooping.

Anyone who has ever been constipated would know the discomfort. Each time he tried to go, he would cry out in pain. It came to the point where he started to hold back whenever he felt the urge to poo. On the advice of his doctor we started to put him on the toilet hoping gravity would help him. This was finally the solution to our problem. The first few times were hard, he cried as usual but didn’t hold back. Once he realised that he could poop easily, it became much better. I kept him on his medication and at the same time added flax seed oil to his meals. He has a jar of prunes everyday and we also increased his water intake. I’m glad to say that things seem to be getting better and I’m sure Luke is happy his pipes are now cleared.

 

Tough Stuff

Ally had her first gymnastics competition today. She has been looking forward to it for months and has spent countless hours practicing, both in the gym and at home.

We reached the gym bright and early to give her time to settle in. She joined her friends for the warm up and was starting to enjoy herself. Her first apparatus was the beam and she did a fantastic job remembering her routine and executing it.

Then came the bars, Ally’s favourite. She saluted the judge, got ready to jump and catch the bars when it happened. She caught hold of the bars but her hand slipped and she fell, hard, onto the mat. She fell on her elbow and immediately started to cry. Her coach ran over to check if she was alright, we iced her elbow and tried to calm her down. At first Matt and I stood back to let her coach see to her, we both knew Ally can be very dramatic over the slightest thing and we didn’t want to make the situation worse. But I soon realise that she could actually be hurt. She could move her arm but didn’t have much strength in her fingers. We knew nothing was broken and so we spoke to her and she agreed to continue with the rest of her competition.

 

I had tears in my eyes watching her compete. It was obvious that she was in discomfort but she held it together enough to finish her routines. Sure she cried every now and then but when it came for her to perform, she did. The rest of the parents applauded her efforts as well and I’m grateful for their support.

Doing her floor routine

This was an unfortunate accident that could have happened to anyone, anywhere. More importantly, Ally showed us that she had the determination and courage to carry on despite it all. We are so proud of her, my girl is made of tough stuff.

Always a champ in my eyes