My colourful family

So I was sitting here pondering about my family and how diverse we are and thought I'd share it with you, my blogging community.

Even before I married an Indonesian (which may I add was my life long dream) my family already was very multicultural.

See, my sister's boyfriend is Indian. My cousin's husband is from Chile.

Now here's where it get's confusing.

My husband is from Indonesia but is Chinese.

Many people can't get their head around this. Let me explain.

It's like how I am Australian but not Indigenous. My husband is a 2nd generation Chinese in Indonesia. Many people ask "which one is Chinese, Hendrik's mum or dad?" .... "neither" *confused looks*.

Hendrik does not speak Chinese. Not mandarin. Not cantonese. Indonesian. Sundanese. English.

My sister in law is here at the moment. Her husband is from Chile. But is Australian.

Me? I was born here. So were my parents. And my grand parents. And my great grandparents. And probably my great, great grandparents too. I am English, Welsh, Scottish and German to be technical.

I think I've done well for a typical white-Australian-cultureless-outback background!

Let your smile be a blessing.

Dear Luke,

This morning we went to the coffee shop. You know the one. We always go there. We were waiting for Kuku.

Poor thing, you hadn't slept since 6am. You were crying in your pram. I kept trying to push it back and forth to settle you but you kept crying. So I took you out and you sat on my lap.

You like coffee. You wanted to grab the cup. I think you first became addicted to it when I was pregnant with you. Oh Luke, I was very sick while you were in my tummy. I had a coffee before work every morning in an attempt to feel better. It would do nothing, but I would feel you moving around in my belly. You love coffee.  I believe you still love coffee through my breast milk. If I don't have coffee you get cranky! Lucky I only have one a day. Max.

You like standing up on my lap, working out your leg muscles. I thought I would try and play with you but you were so tired you began to cry. I tried to comfort you and then you screamed. I stood up and walked around with you. You like that. You like being up high on a shoulder. Works every time. 

I sat back down and with you in one arm tried to finish my coffee so we could go home and you could have a long awaited nap. An old lady walked past and said that you were such a beautiful baby.

"He's even beautiful when he screams!" I joked.

Another lady walked in. She was an old lady. Short. Alone. She ordered a large latte to take away. She seemed almost stressed out.

She waited for her coffee and it was made in an instant. She turned around to walk out and she looked at you, Luke. She smiled and you smiled back. She almost had tears in her eyes as she interacted with you.

She looked at you, and said, "Oh, my day can start now, because I have seen your smile."

And then you laughed.

You laughed that fantastic hysterical laugh. You could see your lack of teeth.

"Oh! I get a laugh too!" She said.

See, some people are lonely. There are so many hurting people in the world. While we often concern ourselves with the big picture - going overseas to feed the hungry (which is of course equally as important!) - sometimes our mission is just here.

Your smile is a blessing Luke. You are a blessing to everybody. 

Tak perlulah keliling dunia

Don't need to travel the world

Keep smiling, baby. I hope when you are older you can read this and know how something so simple can be a big blessing to somebody. My prayer for you my darling is that you will be a blessing to everybody, not because you travel far and wide, not because you are rich, but just with the beautiful personality that I can already see at 5 months of age.

I love you always,

Your Mama

x o x o x o

Bloody muslin squares...

Having a baby shower and then actually having a baby I found that for some reason the gift of choice were these muslin square things.

I get it. You use them to wrap your baby in.

But they are so tiny, Luke had grown out of them in about, two weeks.

So I have never really gotten the point in it.

In our house we really believe in not cluttering the house and if something is useless we are ruthless and get rid of it one way or another.

Anyway, the wrap we usually use is getting small as Luke is obviously getting bigger. Shopping for a new suitable piece of material seemed challenging, until I realised I had an abundance of useless small wraps.

I started hand stitching them together but that proved to be a long process. Initially it was going to be a cover for my pram so that the sun doesn't get in my poor darling's eyes. But then I realised that my once useless nursing apron is perfect for that purpose.

So now that I have my sewing machine I made this my second project:

Now instead of having four useless pieces of muslin I have one very big wrap! And right now, Luke is soundly sleeping wrapped up triangularly in it.

embrace the change.

All the books that you get on parenting are pretty much all focussed on how you can go about a 'normal' life like before the baby was born. It tries to make your life convenient. Well guess what. Life just isn't 'convenient' any more. Suck it up. Try to spend time with your baby rather than just chucking them aside in a cot to scream for hours just because some book tells you to - because you can't let a baby 'take over' your life. Can you!??

But it's interesting also to note how a baby changes the people around you too. Some want to become closer to you - babies have that affect. They are adorable and cute and fun. The funny thing about Indonesian culture is that when a baby cries, there's no feeling of instant anxiety. Often Indonesians will laugh when a baby cries. "oh so lucu" they say (which means funny).

I have been reading a fantastic book and it is really liberating. It talks about rejoicing in these young years of your babies life, rather than trying to look for answers and stressing about what the experts say.

But back to your baby changing your relationship with people. Suddenly you go into a new life stage. Whether you like it or not. For crying out loud I bought a sewing machine and I am finding joy in cooking. I get excited by pyrex and tupperware.

My friends are jet-setting across the world and use the words "oh we're so different now". I feel left out because I can't just go out like I used to to a movie or club (but let's face it, I was in bed at 10pm on a Saturday night anyway before I had a baby).

I live a fair way away from a lot of friends. I have some FANTASTIC friends, may I add, who travel miles to see me. I am so grateful for these friends. But then there's others who tell me my house in the suburbs is too far away from their apartment for me to visit. Yet they seem to 'tag' themselves on facebook in every restraunt, every everywhere right across the city. They are driving past to a weekend away and the freeway literally is right next to my house. I guess I shouldn't put energy into such friendships who see me as not worth it. But I'm a real person. I am hurt. I see their face on Facebook at this and that event and I just want to unfriend them every. bloody. time. because I feel so hurt by them. Yes, I'm in a different life stage. I still value friendship. I still treat people nicely. I still always seem to put the needs of others first. Am I not worth the bloody effort? Was our friendship that bloody shallow that a baby changed it? Ramble.

But back to the rejoicing. Life has changed and I have no say in it. I'm not going to fight it. I'm going to embrace it.

And for the best part of it, I have made so many new friends that I wouldn't have made without having my beautiful baby. They're even Indonesian!

And the even better part - I have Luke. And I have a husband who treasures an early night in as much as I do. Priceless.

Insy Winsy for Daddy

Luke really likes the song Insy Winsy Spider. I sing it to him all the time. My husband on the other hand, never learnt the song Insy Winsy Spider. He grew up in Indonesia (he does know twinkle twinkle little star though!)

It was my husbands birthday last week, and I thought it would be special if Luke and I made him something. In our family, the most treasured gifts are those which are handmade. 

So to endeavour to teach my husband Insy Winsy spider, Luke and I made a book for him to read with Luke.

Stormy clouds

Got to love how it curls over! Grrr...

I'll be geting this out of his nails for days!

I always saw these cute things that people make on Pinterest with baby hand prints - but how!? Luke clenches his fist every time I put paint on it! (unless I put him in the carrier and make him sleep)

Luke 'wrote' this with his finger. He also did the title 'Insy Winsy Spider' but I ended up doing half of that!

It wasn't just Luke who got messy!

Luke looking very professional for the cover of his first book.

Luke's footprint made Insy Winsy.

All finished - we were proud! It was more exhausting than we thought!

We went to office works and they bound it up - and managed to loose one of poor Insy's eyes.

Happy Birthday Daddy - now we can sing the song together!

Big boy food!

That's right - my baby boy started solids today.

I had been suspicious that it was time to start solids as he has been incredibly unsettled lately, and would want me to feed him nearly every 2 hours.

As I am breastfeeding exclusively I thought I would start solids when he was 6 months. So, let's just say I am a month early as he will be 5 months this week.

As our Maternal Child Health Nurse suggested, we started on rice cereal. They suggest to start them on the blandest foods first and not fruits so that they don't get a fussy sweet tooth. 

I have heard so many stories from other mothers that their babies don't take the rice cereal, and I know why - as soon as I opened the package and had a sniff - it smelt like fish food.

I mixed it together with some breast milk I have stored away in the freezer 'for a rainy day'. We sat him in the corner of the couch and put a bib on him. Hendrik heaped it into a spoon and offered to Luke...

... Gulp! 

He took a big spoonful... and another... and another... and another...

He ate most of what we had. I couldn't help but feel proud, but a sense of fear as my baby grows up.

What a fun new adventure this will be!

My first sewing project: Kite mobile

I got a sewing machine - hooray!!!

This was my first creation:

3m Ribbon = $6
Cotton = $1
Embroidery hoop = $2.50
Paint chips from Bunnings = free

TOTAL COST = $9.50

Luke's view

Luke is fascinated by it!

I can't wait until I do sewing lessons. I am seriously excited! I have already started pinning exciting projects.