Easter goodbye

Don't mind me I have plenty of random posts to catch up on. When we moved we didn't have the internet on for nearly 2 months and from then I still haven't caught up. My goal is to do a catch-up post every week and post it retrospectively.

So Easter 2013 here we are. Friday March 29th - Monday April 1st.

Easter is always a lovely time of the year, full of chocolates and holidays and relaxing with family. As per tradition, Easter Bunny didn't forget us again this year. We were a bit worried because it was our first Easter in the new house and we weren't sure if Easter Bunny had been informed of our change of address.

We need not have worried - he left plenty of eggs.

It was fun trying to find hidden eggs amongst the not quite finished deck. We have learned some great balancing skills. And now the deck is finished, it's just not quite as fun. :)

  

We got together on Easter Sunday night with Mum and the Wheelers for some more serious chocolate eating. Obviously a snotty nose doesn't get in the way of a sugar fix.

Glad someone wiped his nose.

A serious comparing eggs chat going on here between Jayme and Georgia. ;)

But Easter isn't all about chocolate. It is more importantly, about remembering and honouring Jesus Christ and how he loves each one of us, enough to give up his life for us. It is something we can remember everyday and let it influence the way we treat ourselves and each other but Easter represents the Saviour's actual sacrifice and I love having a specific time of the year to really ponder its significance.

And what better way to celebrate what Easter is really about, than with a get together at Punchbowl on Good Friday to farewell our nephew Jakob off on his mission to Kobe, Japan. Jakob will spend two years as a missionary for our church, living among the Japanese people and having the time of his life. It didn't seem that long ago that our other nephew Josh was heading off to New Zealand and now he only has 11 months left.

Yep, I think that's an ipad in Jason's apron pocket. 

 Now that Jakob has gone, Nathan is fast taking over as the new favourite. Jonty calls him, "Nathan with the circle hair".

 

The Rowlings and our lot. They love their cousins.

Rowlings mob

Tammy and Jason with the kids. 

It was a beautiful Autumn day and it was actually quite hot, perfect weather for a run around in the park after lunch.

 

 Flynn will be nearly 4 when Jakob returns.

 

So then on Easter Monday, we headed out to the airport to say goodbye to Jakob.

Some of us were still in our pjs. 

We all had a laugh at Nathan with his Samboy chips at 5.30am. 

Saying goodbye to Mum.  

And Dad.

 I was crying and feeling very proud of Jakob and it was hard to see him say goodbye to the family, just like it was when Josh left and I joked that if I'm this bad with my nephews, I don't want to imagine what I'm going to be like when my own sons go.

Waving goodbye to the plane as it took off into the pre dawn sky, full of anticipation for the two year journey ahead.

 Since Jakob and Josh have left, each week we receive a forwarded email from their parents from each of the boys, talking about the week they have had and their amazing experiences in another country. I love reading them and I love that my own boys have such fine examples and I love hearing them earnestly pray at night for Jakob and Josh out on their missions. I hope that one day, my boys may grow up to be just as amazing as their big cousins.

Read here for some recent missionary news from Jakob.

Hello Japan - a pic from Jakob.

Next week we farewell Josh's brother, Allister off to Brazil. I can't wait to hear all about Brazil and the people there.

My newest nephew

(photo from Collette's blog)

Just before the holidays commenced, my new nephew, Toby Robert Bell was born on Tuesday the 2nd of July. I was SO excited for my sister. This is their first baby and I was very excited for them starting this new chapter in their lives and see them experience the joy of their very own baby.

On Thursday morning just two days later, I drove down to Hobart on my own. I was so excited to get a whole 2 hours and 20 minutes in the car by myself with no distractions in the back seat. I even left the radio off for awhile just to enjoy the quiet headspace. But that didn't last that long as I realised that I actually like a bit of noise or maybe I'm just not used to so much quiet.

The timing was perfect as when I got to the hospital, the Bells were just being released. I knew they were coming home that day and I was excited to hang out with them on their first night home.

When we got back to Collette and Hayden's, Toby went down for a sleep in his cot and other than waking once and Hayden settling him back down, he slept for a good couple of hours. I knew right then that he was going to be a good sleeper. He already seemed happy to self settle without too much coaxing and he just seemed really content already. And already I was thinking Flynn could have learned a few lessons from Toby, when he was a little bubba.

Toward the end of the day, Collette started getting really bad stomach cramps and chills, but after a rest and a hot water bottle, it seemed to subside a little and we didn't think anymore of it. I made us all a nice tea of lasagne and salad, after Hayden went out and got some supplies and Toby kept sleeping. I told Collette and Hayden that to be able to sit down on your first night home and eat a hot dinner at the table without any interruptions is really amazing and it just reinforced my thought that Toby was going to be a great little sleeper.

After tea I got a few cuddles before Toby went to bed. Through the night I could hear Toby waking up and other than feed time, Hayden was really good at settling Toby back down for a sleep. I can't remember how many times he woke up but I didn't expect any different for first night home from hospital.

The next morning Collette seemed to still be in a lot of pain and I was thinking that it wasn't normal. Even though I only had my own experiences to go off, I knew that the pain was alot worse than it should have been. The midwife was coming to check on Toby that morning so Collette said she would get her to check her tummy.

When the midwife came, she weighed Toby and said he had lost 13% of his birth weight which was a little more than they would like and discussed a top up plan for Toby until the milk was completely in.

She then checked Collette's tummy and she was in so much pain she could hardly lay down for the midwife. The midwife rang the hospital who wanted Collette to come into the pregnancy assessment clinic to be checked out. I was really relieved because I knew from personal experience that things can get worse quite quickly after our body has given birth and it can be a little scary, if its not gotten on top of.

So we grabbed a few things and put it in Toby's bag and I got to change him and dress him in whatever I wanted. That was the fun part.

After that I didn't really get to take any more photos as it was all go once we got to the hospital. Collette was in too much pain to walk to the hospital (they live about 500 m from it) so Hayden dropped off Collette and then dropped the car back home and walked up while I just walked up with Toby. It was so so bitter cold and I wrapped him really tight in all his blankets and his hat and held him really close to me.

It was amazing, the protective bond I felt over him was the same as with my own kids and even though that didn't surprise me, I was amazed at how fiercely protective I felt over my little nephew that I had only known for about 24 hours.

I got to feed Toby some formula while they made Collette comfortable and started organising taking bloods and putting a canula in which I knew Collette would be dreading as her veins have a habit of collapsing. Hayden was great looking after Collette and talking to the doctor and he even got to do her bloods, or more importantly Collette let him do her bloods. :)

I actually had a lovely time sitting there feeding Toby and burping him and rocking him to sleep. It was just hard that it was at the expense of seeing Collette in pain. At about 4pm I had to head back home as we were having people for tea and as much as I really wanted to stay, I knew that I had to get back to my own kids and things that I had to take them to over the weekend.

It was hard to leave, especially as I felt like I had just got there and then had to come home again but I knew that once the hospital worked out what to do that Collette would feel a whole lot better and not be in so much pain. (Collette ending up having to spend two days in hospital with  endemetritis inflammation of the uterine lining - ouch!)

As I was driving home I could only think about already what great parents Hayden and Collette were and how even though this return to the hospital was hard and unexpected, that Toby was very much blessed to have such loving and beautiful parents, who will love him to the moon and back.

(photo care of Collette's blog)