I took Felix to have his photo's taken by a girl in town who is just starting out in digital photography of babies and families. She did an amazing job, and for only a small cost we get a disk of the pictures! Felix was an angel, at six days old - slept through almost the entire shoot!!
Anna hasn't finished putting our disk together yet, but here are a couple she gave me before Christmas;

Well, here I am...back online sans one basketball belly and pro one gorgeous, sweet smelling, cuddly little newborn, isn't he just the sweetest?

Felix Elijah joined us earthside on Saturday 11th December, three days after he was 'due' to arrive and after around 8hrs of labour. He weighed in at a healthy 3500g (7lb12oz) and 50cm length.
Felix's birth story is a little eventful, and I shall get to onto writing it asap, but in the meantime, some pics of Felix's first couple of days :)

Freshly baked - still a little purple!

''He's got blonde hair!!''

Meeting his big brothers The next day - meeting Felix with Mummy (I hemorrhaged and was unable to see visitors the first day)  New Big Brother! Tegan and Felix Jackson is in love!!!! I am home with the four kids all on school holidays for the next six weeks, which almost makes me break out in hives thinking about lol! trying to get into Christmas with lots of carols and Christmas cooking with the kids, but will try and get Felix's birth story on here soon!

Back to the short and sweet birth stories of my boys. Today it's Riley, who's birth was a completely different experience to that I had with Jackson.
Riley was due in Feb 2005. It was the longest, hottest most uncomfortable summer of my life!! I didn't gain as much weight while pregnant with Riley, but with the heat of summer, and the fact that we were renting a house with only one (questionable) air-con, I was completely over it by about 37 weeks!
I joked pleaded with my doctor several times in my 39th week to 'get this baby out', and was completely sick of the whole affair and anticipating another overdue bub.

A week before he was due to arrive, I started havingh contractions while at a friend's house. They lasted most of the day, and after dinner we decided to leave Jackson there over night as we were pretty sure 'this was it'. By midnight it had come to a halt, only adding to my frustration!
The following week, on the day of his due date, the 23rd Feb, I woke at 5.30am with an almighty contraction. It was stronger than any I had felt through almost the entire labour with Jackson, and I got a bit of a shock when they contined irregularly in this fashion for most of the day. Again frustrated however, that I would go for several hours with no contractions - then get three or four enormous ones in a row. Called the midwives at the hospital, who said not to worry about coming in until they were five mins or less apart or my waters were broken.

By 5.30pm on the same day, I was cranky, tired from the extreme pain of the (irregular) contractions and called the hospital again to see if I could see my Dr (to beg for him to get this baby out NOW lol)
I arrived there at 6, and surprisingly, by that time had started to get regular strong contractions, and was feeling a little more optimistic about the possibility of meeting my baby in the next 24 hours.
Imagine my surprise when I was announced to be 8cm dilated already, after only half an hour or less of 'regular' contractions! My waters were broken (although when I think on it now I'm not sure why?) and Riley arrived fast and furious with only the gas for pain relief just after 7pm - only an hour since we arrived at the hospital with irregular contractions!!!

Unfortunately, although the birth was very short, I felt shock at him coming so fast, and found it much more difficult to bond with my second son. This, coupled with Gerard and his family visiting and holding Riley at every opportunity, and the extreme after-birth pains and let-down pains I was experiencing for the first time (I had neither with Jackson) it took me a while to get to know him.

I am determined this time to be ready for a quick labour if it happens, and to make sure I get the breastfeeding thing working before I leave the hospital, but am confident after my two very different experiences of birth, I could handle almost anything!!

Considering this week is all about labour and birth for me - being that I'm going to be doing it all again at any moment - I thought I might share some memories from my experiences with my other two baby boys.
Each were very different, and I will be interested to compare the three after our little freckle arrives anytime in the next 10 days!

Tomorrow is my 'due' date. We concieved this baby on the 17th of March this year according to the calculations the www is giving me, based on my regular 26 day menstrual cycle.
I've been here twice before.
It's a nice feeling to get to today and feel you have 'made it', despite that there is such a long way to go.

In October 2002, my Jackson was due on the 9th, and arrived on the 19th. The weather was mild in October, and although I had gained many kilograms during the pregnancy, I was comfortable and not too stressed at all about being 'overdue'. There was no talk yet of being induced. There was very little stress.
Contractions started evenly and lightly at about 10pm on the 17th October while I was staying at my parents house, and I was far too excited to sleep (bad move!) I laboured slowly and steadily all evening and all the next day - finally caving and heading to hospital on Friday 18th at around 6pm. I was given panadiene and told to get some sleep...and after a couple of hours contractions slowed. In the morning things picked up a little, but after a couple of nights without sleep I was exhausted and not coping with the continuous pain and decided to have an epidural. The doctor broke my waters at around 11am, I was given a shot of pethidine (started to have a panic attack) and the epi was put in about midday. Mum was my support during labour, and she was incredible! I found that the epidural wore off (far too) often over the next few hours, but this turned out to bee a positive thing for the next stage of labour, as I was able to push my baby out without help. He arrived slowly and steadily - just like the labour at 8.07pm on Saturday 19th October - 10 days after his EDD and after 38 hours of labour.

I thought he was the most incredible thing I had ever seen - literally thought I was holding an angel in my arms in my drugged, eurphoric haze after giving birth. We snuggled skin to skin for a long period, and he fed straight away in the time after birth. Most visiters began to arrive the following morning, so I had all night to look at my baby and get to know him, and from the moment he arrived he was all mine. We fed easily, and he fed to sleep from birth, making feeding and co-sleeping a breeze. Despite the circumstances surrounding us during the pregnancy, long labour, and my being a single mother - Jackson's birth and newborn-hood were beautiful and calm.

We love a Sunday drive, and one of our favourite places to go as a family on a Sunday is the historic town of Beechworth.

It's perfect because

• all the shops are open, 
• It's only a 45min drive for us, but there is more than enough to do to fill a day - and keep going back!
• it's quaint and suits me and Tegan for browsing through beautiful little boutiques for unusual jewellery, stationary and homeware finds.
• There's the most amazing sweets shop for the children, as well as Beechworth Honey - where they can go on a live bee tour, and a gorgeous toys and collectables shop
• We can munch on Bee-stings at the famous Beechworth Bakery
• and on the way home, we can visit the Milawa Cheese Factory, Brown Brothers Winery and various other wonderful cruisy places to relax/dine/wine taste etc 

Today we strolled through the street, had morning tea at the bakery, visited a strawberry farm, went to see a waterfall in the national park, had lunch at the Milawa Cheese Factory and visited Jenny, Rob and Micheal in Oxley on the way home for an early BBQ dinner and a swim in thier swim spa!

It was glorious, and also the last time we do it with the five of us - next time there will be six!!

Here are the children and I at the falls. Four days off our little freckle being 'due'

I'm jumping on board here with Bubby Makes Three for her 'Show it like it is Challenge' where she invites bloggers to share pics of thier lives and homes as they are - without the 'magazine appeal'. This week she's posted about her Christmas Tree, and invites us to share ours.

I just happened to drag our tree out of the top cupboard in our bedroom this morning (with the help of Gez!) after Tegan remembered at 7am that it was the 1st of December and that we'd told the children last week they had to wait until December to decorate for the season!

I love Christmas - it's always been a happy and joyous time of year for me and our family, and as a child, Christmas was spent with masses of cousins, simple yet thoughtful gifts and sharing wonderful meals together. I love creating a similar atmosphere with my own children - despite that they rather lack in the cousins department!!

Our Christmas Tree holds a mixture of beautiful ornaments I have collected over the past few years, as well as the priceless home-made ones my the children have created. It's not spectacularly beautiful, and it's the same every year with the exception of a couple new ornaments added to the collection, but it is ours, and I love it - crappy tinsel and all!

Here are my babe's decorating the tree for 2010: