Little Rascal has always been delicate when it comes to being told off. You don’t even have to say “no” some days and her lip quivers. Other days she will grin at you when you say no. But when you physically remove her from a situation she isn’t meant to be in, the waterworks really start. I can’t decide whether she is hurt that she has done something she wasn’t supposed to do, hurt that she cannot do the thing she wishes to do or embarrassed that she’s in trouble. Whatever the reason, the age of ONE hasn’t stopped this phenomenon.

Just today, we were at a 1st birthday party. There are many of these to attend at this time of year as all the mums from the mother’s group all have their babies turning one too. She was playing happily with a toy when another mum with a much younger baby, just sitting up, came and put her child right near Rascal. This wasn’t a problem at all and Rascal was excited to have another baby sitting right near her. She started off patting the baby on the head. I said, “That’s right – we are gentle with babies.” She grinned at me in a “I’m such a good girl” way. This continued for a few more seconds. I then noticed that the pats were becoming less pats and more slaps. So I crouched down next to her and repeated my first suggestion of being gentle with babies. She looked at me with innocence again and promptly reached out to gouge the baby’s eye out. 

I reacted with lightning speed and grabbed her arm, just before the gouge made contact, saying “No darling, we don’t do that to others.”  Her reaction to this was emotive. She began to wail – loudly. Of course all the other mums at the birthday party looked over to see what had happened and I reassured them everything was fine. I picked her up when she didn’t immediately get over the situation. She continued to wail. By this stage, the other baby, who’s eye I had valiantly saved from a sure injury, decided that something sad must be happening. She too, then began to wail at a high volume. 

Between the two of them, it was quite a sound. The other mum came and got her baby and I assured her that no injury had occurred, just sympathy or fright, I couldn’t tell which. They continued their duet of tears for about 5 minutes, which, when you are waiting for a child to stop crying, is quite a while! One would back off and then hear the other and the start again and vice versa. They both sounded so sad! When the last tear was shed, both bubs were able to play once again and we all moved on. 

But the fact still remains. Rascal cannot handle being told off! What will she be like in school? If someone tells her to stop talking, will she burst into tears? I must admit, if I think back, I felt like crying when I got in trouble at school, so she probably will too! Oh well, I have a delicate little soul. At least I don’t have a hard, heartless one. I’ll take my delicate soul any day!


Libby :)

I recently had the pleasure of becoming an Aunty for the first time. Obviously I’ve been an Aunty for years to my friend’s children, but this was a real, blood-connection Aunty, the child of my brother. And it has brought about some interesting feelings.

This little baby, who we then didn’t know anything about (boy or girl, etc) was due to be born near my Rascal’s birthday. I nervously paced the day before her birthday, and was relieved that the bub wasn’t born on her birthday, as if the date somehow belonged to me and I was the only one allowed to have a child on that date!  

The days ticked on and the bub was several days overdue when born. I had been excited the whole pregnancy because I was happy Rascal was going to have a cousin. But nothing prepared me for the actual arrival. We didn’t see a picture for a few hours but we knew the baby, a little nephew for me, had been born. I was so excited! Then I saw a picture of the little bundle.

I nearly burst into tears. He was perfect! And he was so tiny and cute! And I had a very similar feeling to when I first laid eyes on Rascal!  Possession! Ownership! He has to be partly mine! I need a percentage of ownership! Obviously his mother would probably have something to say about me marching over there and taking full possession of him but I truly felt that he was part of me and belonged to me! 

I have recovered from my bout of possession and have decided that he does indeed belong to me in a nephew sort of way. He’ll always be my nephew and no one can take that away! I didn’t realise how special it could be when a sibling has a baby but now I know! And I haven’t even met him yet! 

Libby :)

We have just been through a big weekend! We had a little girl turn ONE year old. This was a big thing in our family, as she is the first grandchild on both sides. Both sides of the family were present and had a wonderful time together. My closest friend was able to come last minute with her whole family as well!

Rascal’s birthday was on Thursday last week. So she opened her presents from Mummy and Daddy in the morning, which she loved! I was so happy about that because you never know if something will be a hit or not!  I play the piano and want her to have the opportunity to learn, so I got her a gorgeous toddler piano. She kneels (it’s too scary to stand by yourself) up against it and tinkers away several times a day! Then she started opening presents from Grandma and Grandpa. They gave her a rocking horse, which has become the MOST favourite present. For some reason she wants to be on it ALL the time. As in ALL the time. I’m not talking about once a day. She would literally sit on it for every waking minute. Of course she cannot do that as someone has to hold her on and rock it for her, so she spends many a minute sitting beside the horse patting it and gesturing to be put up on it.  Talk about a HIT! The other Grandma arrived the day after her birthday and bought heaps more presents, which she dutifully opened and played with and also enjoys just as much! 

Amongst all the present opening and visitor arrivals, we made a cake. It was an epic cake and may have been beyond our abilities, but with the help of a friend who is a magician with cakes, we were able to have the fantastic cake we imagined! We also cooked for most of the week to provide for the party lunch. It was a wonderful time of working together for a common goal.

The day before her party, on Saturday, while all the family were there, we also had Rascal dedicated in church. She always behaves quite sensibly and is not a super loud child. As soon as she got up the front of all the people, she started chatting and squealing loudly! She was pulling my hair and dancing. It was quite hilarious! But luckily she didn’t mind being held by the pastor as he said a dedication prayer. She even rested her head on his shoulder! 

Saturday night involved finishing the epic cake. Others helped decorate the hall as we did it. We worked til midnight and had it finished. The decorations were mostly done too and the hall is starting to look awesome!

On Sunday, we arose early and started to make final arrangements. The decorations were mostly done, just a few final purchases and a few more things to stick up. At 12 the guests began to arrive and Rascal welcomed the first few with glee! She then started getting quite over it and looking at newcomers like – why are you here? It was funny as I don’t think she quite understood what they were all doing there! We had lunch, and soon realised that we had made far too much food! But better more than less, that’s for sure! We had the lunch, cake cutting and Happy Birthday singing (where Rascal reached over and touched the flame on the one candle! Luckily she didn’t receive any burns, though Mummy’s heart stopped temporarily!) and present opening. She sat and opened each present until about 4/5 of the way through when she turned around and crawled under the present table for some time out! We were going to have a picture with everyone in their party hats but didn’t get to do it in the end, which was a bit disappointing. But everything else was awesome and I am so glad we decided to do a big party for our little Rascal.

We spent today chilling. I lazily played with Rascal's new toys and read her new books. It was a lovely day to sit around and do not much, which, compared to the last few days, is the complete opposite! I am looking forward to some nice early nights as compared to the 3 or 4 midnight nights last week! It's all worth it, though, and we have come out of it satisfied and fully celebrated!

Libby :)

This week is going to be busy. It is the week of Rascal’s FIRST BIRTHDAY!  There is so much to do! I have shopping to do, food to cook, decorations to make, a cake to decorate perfectly, presents to wrap, people to contact for RSVP’s and the list goes on!

When I first started envisioning “The Party,” I had in mind all the people who had gotten to know Rascal in all the different areas of life there with pink and purple decorations, of course. So I sat down to write the most important people down. When I stopped writing, there were 100 people! I was surprised that there had been that many people involved in Rascal’s life!

I culled a few who weren’t too important and thankfully about 40 couldn’t come because 100 couldn’t fit in the venue I had chosen! So we now have approximately 60 guests, including children (and my husband is sure I am organising a wedding reception, not a first birthday party, but he doesn’t know about these things). Lots of family are coming in and our house will probably resemble a refugee camp at some point during the weekend. There will be people strewn around the floor and in every spare corner.

The cooking will be monstrous. I have to cook for about 12 people for every meal apart from breakfast because they will just have to find their own! Luckily the family members are quite good cooks themselves, so it won’t be just me cooking.

But aside from all the preparations, which I may or may not survive, I am reminded what we are all coming together for. My little Rascal is nearly ONE. This time last year I was awaiting her arrival with anxious and excited anticipation! I was almost pacing in my desire to meet her. And now I know her. And what a privilege it is to know her. She is such a beautiful person inside and out.

When I think about what she was this time last year, just an unborn baby who no one knew, and then think about what she is now – a bustling nearly ONE year old who thinks she knows everything and is increasing in skill and talent on a minutely basis, I am amazed. So much has happened! So many milestones have been reached! She has changed so much and is becoming less and less of a baby, more of a toddler.

So this week will be a mix of emotions: pride for sure – I am so proud of her and all she has achieved to survive a year of life; nostalgia – remembering back to when she was more helpless and tiny; happiness – all the family and friends coming together to celebrate; it will be a lovely time.

And I will survive it somehow!

Libby :)

What are your qualifications? Do you have the prerequisites for the job? As mothers, there are many roles we now fulfill and this will be added to as our children increase in age and number! Let's explore some of the roles that are required for babies, toddlers and young children below: 

Food Fabricator: We are in charge of either producing or creating food. Whether it be making breastmilk, shaking up a bottle of formula, chopping up finger food, blitzing pumpkin into a perfect puree or using all your upper body strength to mash a potato, we are the ones who are responsible for it. And that never ends, no matter how far into their twenties they get (though hopefully they can mash their own food by then!)

Comfort Creator: We are also responsible for making sure our children are positioned in a level of comfort that would rival any royal ruler. They have to be just the right temperature, have the right amount of padding underneath them, have just the right amount of breeze blowing on them, just the right number of stuffed toys within reach. Their tummy has to be at just the right fullness level with their body at ideal hydration. Everything has to be just right and we are supposed to be experts in this area.

Excellent Entertainer: We are required to have a wide repertoire of extremely exciting acts. These acts need to utilise normal, everyday items and be available at the drop of a hat. The repertoire also needs to evolve and change to adjust to the child’s interests, age and boredom level. With this prerequisite, mums are also required to throw any hint of self-respect, dignity (although that’s long since gone) and stage fright out the window. You will be performing in public for the rest of your life, so get over it and embrace it!

Desperate Distracter: We need to have the ability to find a safe, exciting and new distraction that is more interesting than the unsafe, destructive and annoying thing that the child wishes to do. This is one of the most difficult prerequisites because it requires the mum to think on her feet 24/7, full night’s sleep or not! The added difficulty in this prerequisite is that when we have had limited sleep, the child seems to be even more likely to go for the activities that are dangerous or destructive! So these occasions are when we are required to be at our quickest and sharpest. A challenge indeed! 

Waste Wiper: One of the most repetitive prerequisites is the art of removing stinky, smeared poo from the bottoms of our children. This would be fine if all children laid perfectly still as we performed this service, but most toddlers do not appreciate the act of removing waste from their bottoms. Mums need to have advanced agility and dexterity to master this skill whilst also ensuring that the surrounding walls, carpet, tiles, parents and other parts of the child remain (relatively) poo free. 

Continuous Cleaner: Mums are required to provide clean places for children to make dirty again. If crumbs, mashed banana or partially digested bread land on the floor, it is the mother’s job to remove it at the end of the meal, so that during the next meal, there is space for the child to put more rejected food. If the toys are all spread around the playroom, it is the mother’s job to pack them up at the end of the day so that, within 2.4 minutes of the child starting to play the next morning, they can be all back where they started! This concept applies to basically all parts of cleaning. 


Clothing Connoisseur: In the job description of a mother, this one becomes one of the most life-controlling elements. We must be continually focused on each and every member of the family having respectable, appropriate and clean clothing, of the approximate right size, to wear. We must be an expert in the domestic art of placing clothes in the washing machine, carrying the basket to the preferred hanging location, hanging them out, waiting an appropriate time to allow sufficient drying, taking them off the preferred hanging line, carrying them back inside, folding them into piles and putting them away. Some lucky clothes may be ironed, but most can be folded in such a way that this is not required. For some of us, all of this must be done whilst one or more “helpers” are present, ensuring that the task takes up far more of your precious time than it ever should!

There are many more prerequisites that we are required to have when facing up to the job of being mother, but remember that in all these tasks, we are providing an upbringing for our children that will help shape the people they are one day. After all, we chose this for ourselves! Let’s laugh about it and embrace the job with the most prerequisites! 

Libby :)

I believe that God gives every child the mother they need to become the best they can be in the world. No two mums are the same and this is exactly how God intended it because no two children are the same! 

As a mother, I aim to constantly provide for the needs of my little Rascal, both short-term and long-term. This means that Rascal always gets what she needs short-term. She gets what she wants short-term only when it doesn’t affect what she needs long-term. For example, if she wants a drink of my juice, I will not allow her to have any because long-term, that will affect the way her body uses energy and she will crave more and more sugar, not to mention her teeth, etc! But if she wants to play with my scarf or some other safe thing, there is no reason why she cannot do that and it will make her happy, so I will let her.

I also believe that humans need a sense of routine, something familiar. Not rigid in any way, but rather I believe that Rascal needs a flexible routine. That has been my aim from the start. Coming from a Primary Teaching background where every day is outlined in a barely changing timetable, I never questioned whether or not I would have a routine. I just knew I would. And I have had since the very first day home.  I am a routine person, so in the beginning of motherhood, I had to make a conscious effort to not worry if the routine wasn’t followed exactly. I have a friend who once told me to focus on the aim of what you are trying to do; for example – you are trying to feed your baby. She is crying because her teeth are hurting when she sucks. So you express your milk into a bottle and attach a soft teat. Baby eats. Job done. It doesn’t matter that you had to follow different steps that would not be in the ideal routine, it just matters that the baby was fed, which was the original aim. 

Obviously, it would be wonderful if everything could always go to plan, but we mothers know that this doesn’t always happen. For some children it may be a rare occurrence to follow the routine. For others, it may be the norm. I found I just needed to be open to coming up with a new idea when the ideal one didn’t work that day. Fortunately for me, Rascal is usually up with the routine. But if she isn’t, we tweak it until it works. I have come to love the challenge of working out a new routine when the other one isn’t working anymore. I also love then explaining this routine to anyone who will listen, though that doesn’t seem to be too many people!  Our routine has become an ever-evolving work-in-progress that has adjusted to Rascal’s changing needs and maturity. It has worked beautifully for my daughter and I. I look forward to coming up with more routines as she reaches one year old and beyond.

My motherhood creed is, then, to let God show me the kind of mum I need to be for Rascal. I want to provide a stable environment where she is loved and cared for in both the short-term and long-term.  I want to meet the challenges of motherhood with determination and stability, with flexibility and creativity. And I want to have fun and learn lots while doing it!


Libby :)

People often say that life is a bit of ‘give’ and a bit of ‘take.’  I disagree.  I would say that life is all ‘give’ and ‘take.’  I say this because, at the moment, my eleven and a half month old “Rascal” is constantly giving me things and taking them back.  It’s the latest thing...

She hands me a block or any other toy, looks into my eyes and smiles, then quickly takes it back in case I was planning to run away with it.  She sits eating her biscuits and pieces of pear at lunch. I must look hungry or forlorn because she feels the need to give them to me (after she has sucked on them and mooshed them) but is shocked if I eat them, and quickly reaches to snatch them back and into her mouth. She rips my sunglasses off my face and gives them back, only to take them straight away again. She does it with my hair too – though that is harder to give back (even though she tries to reattach it!) The most precious thing she gives is her dummy. She loves her dummy and she generously shares it with me on a regular basis. On the premise, of course, that I give it straight back!

There are some things that I am happy to have taken and given back. Kisses are one of these. She takes my kisses and gets this serious look on her face, like she just knows she’s received something special. In slow motion, she moves her face closer, until it connects with mine. Then she smooshes her whole face on mine and that is her kiss. It is adorable!

It’s funny to see an immature form of sharing emerging from her sponge-like brain. She shares... but to a point. I will share it with you only if I get it straight back.  I am looking forward to following her development to when she will share happily with others, even if they don’t give it back straight away, or ever. 

Children are given to us so that we can teach them to grow into wonderful people. They ‘take’ all they can from us – absorbing it for later. But they don’t only take. More often than not, they teach us to become better than we are. They give back to us tenfold what we have given to them. I’m already seeing that in the short eleven and a half months I have had as a mother. I am seriously looking forward to the years ahead in my parenting journey of give and take.

Libby :)

Life was good.  Ten month old “Rascal” played contentedly in a safe place on the floor, surrounded by her favourite toys. I sat a few metres away folding washing. As the piles of washing grew in perfect towers, always folded in thirds, of course, I smiled with satisfaction. I finished folding the washing and went to put it away. I could hear Rascal singing and talking contentedly. When I came back, she was still sitting there, exactly where I’d left her. I visited the bathroom, as you do, and Rascal sat on the bedroom carpet, amused as I played peek-a-boo from my perch. Later, in the kitchen, she happily sat and played with various kitchen utensils as I moved freely about, chopping veggies, switching on the oven and putting pots of water on to boil. As I watched her, I thought about how great life was. Only one thought interrupted my bliss...

She was ten months old... and not crawling. And, honestly, I was starting to get a bit worried. What was wrong with her? All her friends were long since crawling or at least doing their own hilarious versions of crawling! And yet, all my little angel could do was roll and sit and lean. I had even taken to crawling around myself at times, in the hope of transferring the skill to her somehow. I tried to quell the rising panic. What if she never learned to crawl?!

Sunday dawned crisp and sunny about two weeks later. Mummy and Daddy were in the living area. Ten and a half month old Rascal wanted her water bottle. She crawled over and got it. SHE CRAWLED! Mummy and Daddy saw it! There may have been tears of happiness. We Skyped both sets of grandparents for a demonstration. I texted numerous friends. I was seriously excited! I watched proudly as she became more confident, gaining speed and distance.

Then one day I was in the bathroom, doing something that had always involved only me, when Rascal crawled in, pulled herself up on my bare leg and tried to see what I was doing. I told her “No, Darling. Yucky...” but that only made her more interested. This theme continued throughout the day. I started folding washing. Rascal, who had been playing contentedly at the other end of the room, decided this was more interesting.  I tried to rescue my perfectly folded, in thirds of course, piles of washing but I just wasn’t fast enough. She grabbed a leftover pile in each hand and smashed them with a grin of pure mischief.

Later, I was in the kitchen preparing dinner as I usually did. Rascal crawled into the room and darted across the kitchen, a gleam in her eye. I realised almost too late that she was headed for a pile of swept up debris from the kitchen and dining room. She’d seen one of her biscuits and wanted to eat it. “Noooooooo!” I squealed, causing her to pause mid nibble. I quickly grabbed the dustpan and brush to clean it up. That was only the beginning. I intercepted her reaching into the bin to grab an empty can. I stopped her from jamming her fingers in the bottom drawer. I prevented a near-burning incident with the oven, several times. It just went on and on. Finally it was time for her afternoon nap and I breathed a sigh of relief! 

Now, in my spare time, I think back to the good old days when she sat peacefully in one spot, my washing piles undisturbed, her life not flashing before her eyes every time she enters the kitchen! I wonder, now, why I ever wanted her to so desperately crawl! But one thing for sure, it certainly adds a different focus to life, a kind of mad struggle to be one step ahead!

Libby :)