Hmmm… I wonder if it’s a nice day outside?

It is! I need to go get my hat and boots!

Hello Chickens! Can I come in?

Any eggs today?

There was one day of glorious spring weekend weather when all children were healthy and nit free…. and we made the most of it before the rain returned.
What’s the weather like where you are?

Join in Wordless Wednesday with My Little Drummer Boys!

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Wordless Wednesday – Noey’s Adventure is a post from: picklebums.com

There’s trouble at The Pickle Farm….

Big trouble….

In a little package…

Noey is walking!

I’m playing (Almost) Wordless Wednesday with My Little Drummer Boys!

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Trouble, He’s A’comin! is a post from: picklebums.com

His eyes well up with tears, he screws up his face and he howls.

I have no idea what’s wrong with him, not a clue, but I go to him and he raises his arms to me, wanting to be picked up.

But instead of snuggling into me and the tears slowing, he arches his back and screams louder. I have to work hard not to drop him as he struggles and screams, seemingly desperate to be anywhere but in my arms.

I put him down at my feet.

He howls louder and grabs onto my legs pulling himself to standing and looking up at me as tears stream down his cheeks. I read his body language to mean ‘pick me up, please, pick me up’ so I do, but I am wrong.

As he struggles and cries and squirms I put him down again and sink down to the floor next to him, trying my hardest not to join him in a crumpled, crying, heap.

I don’t know what to do.

I’ve parented three older children. I have a degree in early childhood education,. I have ten years experience working with children and families. I read books and blogs and articles and consciously work to be a better parent. Yet I don’t know what to do.

Somewhere in the back of my frazzled mind I recall something about the HALT method… and I run through the list.

Hungry? I offer food that is promptly thrown on the floor and a drink which is pushed away, all the while the crying and back arching continue.
Angry? I’m pretty sure he’s angry about something, but I have no idea what.
Lonely? If he is lonely it is not for me. He does a perfect reverse C and almost falls from my arms. I put him down. He screams.
That leaves me with Tired…. I am pretty sure he is not tired, but as a last resort, and despite the struggling, I pick him up and try to hold him tight and rock him, but that just makes things worse.

I put him down again.

He lies face down on the floor and screams.

I sit next to him and wish he could tell me what was wrong. Maybe he’s sick? Maybe he’s hurt? Maybe I just suck at this whole parenting gig and it took me four kids to figure that out?

He rolls over, the screaming has reduced to sobbing now. The kind of sobbing, that has his breath coming in shudders and his shoulders heaving. The sort of sobbing that breaks my heart.

I pick him up and this time he doesn’t push me away. He is still crying but he is letting me hold him and so we sit, rocking and sobbing together, hoping like hell this is just a phase and that it will pass quickly.

Crocodiles and grasshoppers I whisper to myself… remember, crocodiles and grasshoppers.

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Up Down Up Down Up is a post from: picklebums.com

He is my last baby, but I need to write that sentence many more times before I will really believe it. I may never believe it…
He is the smallest of four.

He came into our lives quickly, in the early hours of a very cold morning.
He skilfully slotted himself in, between a big brother’s birthday and the big sisters’ ballet concert.
He has been carted around, woken up, put to sleep, thrown in the car, dragged here and been there.

Sometimes I wonder how he has not choked on a lego brick or a polly pocket shoe.
Sometimes I wonder how he hasn’t broken a bone with all the climbing he does.
Sometimes I wonder where his first year went… too many things have happened in the year since he was born.
Sometimes I wonder if he has missed out, or been last on the list one too many times.

But he is too cantankerous, too mischievous, too loud, to giggly, and too cute to be left behind for long.
He has too many people to carry him around, to stand on their heads to make him laugh, to sing to him and to sneak him sweet treats to ever miss out.
His first birthday may have been squeezed in between his big brother’s birthday, roof frames and a dress rehearsal, but I guess that is just how he likes it.

Happy Birthday Noey.

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One Boy is a post from: picklebums.com

I think Noey likes his new hat!

Thanks to Beanie Designs for sending us this gorgeous baby hat, it is so soft and lovely and very cute!

And wow I am really am almost wordless today – so I’m linking up with My Little Drummer Boys’ Aussie Wordless Wednesday!

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Wordless Wednesday – A New Hat for Noey. is a post from: picklebums.com

This is Noah at 11 months old.

This is Morgan at 11 months.

This is Zoe (on top) and Izzy at 11 months old.

So who do you think Noah looks like???

Ok so this isn’t exactly wordless… so shoot me! I know that the lovely Trish from My Little Drummer Boys won’t mind so I’m linking up with her Wordless Wednesday today!

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Wordless Wednesday – Who Does He Look Like? is a post from: picklebums.com

I was reading blogs the other day when I came across the lovely Hello Owl and her ‘Push’ photo challenge.

Now I am not going to win any awards for my photography. I rarely set my lovely DSLR on anything but auto and when I attempt to learn about F-stops and aperture the information just refuses to stay in my brain. Lately I’ve not taken many photos. Sure, I snap a photo here and there to go with my blog posts, but I’m not just taking photos to record life any more, and I am going to be sad about that in years to come.

So I’m jumping in and letting the fabulous Danielle inspire, encourage and PUSH me to just take more damn photos!

This week’s Push theme is ‘love’.

Now I had all these fun idea of photographing my baby boy playing with hearts…. but he wasn’t up for that game and this is about as good as I got on that front.

So I gave up and just enjoyed taking photos of my boy in his gorgeous hand-me-down hat. Because I’m loving that he’s getting to wear this hat now that the weather is colder and I’m loving all the love that has been handed down with it…

Do you need a little ‘push’ to take more photos? Go on, do it, you’ll be glad you did in ten years time when you have lots of photos of the wonderful every day things to look back on.

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Push! is a post from: picklebums.com

I vote for #4, but don’t tell the others…

Playing Wordless Wednesday at My Little Drummer Boys.

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Wordless Wednesday – Who’s the Cutest? is a post from: picklebums.com

‘Never say never’ is usually my motto, so I won’t say never ever but I will say probably. Noey is probably, almost certainly, just about definitely, my last baby.

Once upon a while ago there was a little niggling thought about five, but things have changed. While that niggling thought hasn’t quite gone away (it probably never will), the conversations don’t include jokes about more babies any more. That makes me a little sad and a little relieved.

Relieved that the decision has been made for me. Relieved because four is a good number, our family works with four. But sad. Sad that I won’t ever be pregnant again. Sad that I won’t ever be that special person who brings new life into the world, and sad that I won’t have a tiny baby again.

I look at my baby boy. My Quatro, Number Four, Noey No Nos and I try to remember every inch of how he is. I try to imprint his baby-ness indelibly on my mind so that I can recall it al will when I need it. I try to notice everything, so I don’t forget, because I will forget.

I’ve already forgotten things about how the big kids were when they were babies. And this forgetfulness is made even more apparent as I try to remember Noah.

Was Morgan’s blonde hair curly by this age or was it as wispy and straight as Noah’s?

Did the girls make as many cute noises? Were they saying ‘Mama’ deliberately by this age?

When did the others all get teeth?

Were their heads as soft and warm as Noah’s?

I try so hard not to forget.

I take photos. I video. I write self centred, gushy, only-a-mother-could-love blog posts…. and yet the memories still slip away. I guess that is the way of the world and I’ll just have to live with it. But in the mean time I am drinking in every moment of my baby boy, and every moment of his brothers and sisters. I will kiss them all and stroke their hair and do all the stupidly over sentimental things that I never thought I’d do… for as long as they’ll let me.

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Don’t Forget is a post from: picklebums.com

This post is sponsored by Nuffnang

When the opportunity to do a sponsored post for Meat and Livestock Australia came up I was initially hesitant. I don’t want my blog to become one big advertorial, so I am picky about what campaigns I accept and which I pass on. But recent events have made this opportunity to talk about meat in a young child’s diet a timely one for me…

Last month I wrote a guest post for Childhood101 about starting our youngest child on solids and what works for our family. That post sparked an interesting discussion about fortified rice cereal as a ‘first food’ and the need for iron in a baby’s diet.

Some people are surprised to hear that Noey has not had rice cereal. Our other children had iron fortified rice cereal, but not Noah.

The girls, being prem, had ongoing issues with iron deficiency, they also had chronic reflux and ‘failure to thrive’ so a bland, low allergen first food enriched with iron was common sense for them.

We also started Morgan on it, but soon realised that wasn’t such a good idea for him. His system couldn’t cope with the cereal and he became terribly constipated and unhappy.

This time around I did some reading and decided that fortified rice cereal wasn’t the right thing for Noey.

But what about his need for iron?

We are often advised that at around 6 months of age a baby’s needs for iron and zinc may not be fully met by milk feeding alone, which is why commercial rice cereal is usually fortified with iron (and other vitamins and minerals). However, new research shows that this is not necessarily true for breastfeed babies. Kelly Mom explains the various research well and says – “The original iron stores of a full-term healthy baby, combined with the better-absorbed iron in breastmilk, are usually enough to keep baby’s hemoglobin levels within the normal range well into the second six months.”

The Paediatric News reported in 2009 that rice cereals are bland in flavour, low in protein, high in carbohydrates and the iron in them is poorly absorbed making them not exactly the most nutritious or delicious first food. The new research suggests that there is no reason not to introduce meat as a first food.

This information reinforces my instincts that Noah (who has been exclusively breastfed) does not need added, synthetic, iron supplements in this food. It also fits with our goal for our family to eat ‘real’ food, rather than overly processed items. I want the majority of our food to be made from scratch with ingredients that I recognise, rather than coming from a packet with a label full of numbers. So we skipped the cereal and have been giving Noey small amounts of red meat along with other meat, fruits, vegetables (those high in iron and those that are not!) and grains as part of an interesting, varied, balanced diet.

Noey loves to chew and suck on the bone of a lamb cutlet. We give him strips of steak as finger food or in his ‘chewy bag’. When we have meals with a suitable meat component, such as lamb burgers, or meatloaf he gets some of the cooked minced meat fork mashed into some potato or other vegetable that we are eating.

This pdf brochure from Meat and Livestock Australia has some great recipes and practical ideas on how to adapt family meals for all ages. We tired the burgers the other day and everyone loved them, including Noah. My big kids are eyeing off the Beef and vegie skewers, because if you put food on a stick it immediately tastes better, and I’m sure Noey will be just as keen!

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My Baby Eats Meat. is a post from: picklebums.com