a few of your latest questions answered

Oops I’ve been a little tardy getting back to people and answering their questions! I’m so sorry. 

You talk a lot about the babies but I’d love to know about Finn

oh dear little Finn. He is such a chatterbox and fun machine. Now of course you can see that he looks like his daddy. We call him little Justin. He’s very cheeky, if you try to tell him off he starts smiling and then you can’t stay cranky for too long because he’s laughing by that stage. He has a lot of energy (like most boys) and I’m not really used to it. Thankfully he wants to do ‘tae congo’ this year so I’m hoping he can put some energy into that without hurting his sisters in the process. 

He is also very bright and has a photographic memory. He will visit somewhere and tell you all about it, who took him there last, every movie he’s ever seen and who took him and who was in it and what he ate. You can’t keep anything from him. Now I realise that made him sound a bit like ‘rain man’ but I promise he’s just a clever and cute little guy. Oh and he shares a room with his best friend Tillie. Well that’s his best friend at home, his other best friend who he loves is Louis. Those two are inseparable and they might as well go to preschool alone because no one else matters if Louis is in the room.

 Where did you get your dining table from?

I always get this question every now and then and must put it in my Q&A. The dining table is from Alfresco Emporium in Collaroy and is part of the Boston collection. It was a bit of an extravagence but was the only table retro daddy liked so we went with it. I’ve teamed it with Ikea chairs and the beauty of having a piece like that table means I can get fancier chairs later one when the little ones are bigger.

this was a good one, how do you fit in exercise?

over the years I’ve tried so many things. When I was working and at uni too I went to the gym or ran. I’ve had personal trainers in the past when I was serious about working out (and was working full time). When keira was born I tried the gym with creche but hated it and she once was screaming her lungs out and that was the last time we went back. I tried bikram yoga – oh boy that stinky carpet was enough to send me out of the room. Imagine sweat in carpet in a high heat. Ewwww. It works, you feel amazing afterwards but it wasn’t for me. I love yoga but bikram while breastfeeding a baby and in summer was too much for me. I did group training with other mums and this was great but again I was breastfeeding and eating like a horse so the scales didn’t show much improvement.

When the twins were born I didn’t do any exercise. I had no time and was running around 24/7 after them and doing things. I lost all the weight I couldn’t shift after keira and recommend the ‘newborn twin’ diet to anyone. After elodie was born the weight wasn’t shifting as fast so I joined the nearest gym. It was great and the creche fees were a killer but they were well looked after and I was happy. I discovered zumba, lost all my weight and started to tone up after 4 babies. Just as I was getting into circuit classes and working harder with sprints and pushing myself, I fell pregnant with emerson

These days I have an elliptical trainer and treadmill in my spare room. If retro daddy is home in time I get on it around 8ish in the evening but generally if babies are sleeping  I get on it for 1/2 hour in the morning early. At the moment they are under dust covers  while the painters are here but having the equipment in the room next to the loungeroom is a winner! And when all else fails I walk up to the local shops with the pram and my runners on and walk fast!

how do you introduce a new baby into the house to older siblings?

I’ve decided after 5 babies that no amount of preparation and talking will help a toddler or preschooler get ready for the shock of a new baby. It’s just in their personality and nature how they will accept the change. Now Keira didn’t want a bar of the twins and ignored them for a good few weeks. She’d come into the hospital room and ignore them, we brought them home and she ignored them. After a couple of weeks she warmed to them. I can’t blame her – two babies! I’m pretty sure she thought one was reasonable.

Everyone accepted elodie without a problem and keira loved to help out with getting mummy nappies or wipes. And then emerson arrived and who loved the new baby more than anyone else has loved a new brother or sister? Elodie. That’s right. The youngest of the 4 big brothers and sisters just adored emerson and made a big fuss of him from the moment she met him.

Elodie is such an empathetic little person and if he is crying, she is right over at his side making little noises and trying to pat him. She was the only one in the hospital who just oohhed and ahhed over him. And Elodie was too young to know why I was growing to the size of a house and yet she loved him and made the biggest fuss over him.

Of course you can talk about the new baby and what might change and show them how tiny the baby clothes and nappies will be. And just make it fun, they are getting a new person to play with!!!!

Got a question? Just ask……