I get a lot, A LOT, of emails asking me to mention this or that on my blog. If I said yes to everything I’d have no more space on my blog for my stuff but I had to say yes to this mention especially since I get to share a bit of knitting love with you. So I’ve got a quick little giveaway today for first in best dressed thanks to the Guardian Angel knitting program which is now in it’s 14th year. It’s all about donating knitted and crocheted items to needy children in Australia and since the program started there have been over 2 million recipients. That is one impressive statistic.

Guardian Pharmacy are working with Variety and ask for knitted and crocheted clothing and blankets for children. These are then distributed to children and babies in shelters, children in need and also aboriginal communities. All you need to do is make a little something and take it to your nearest Guardian Pharmacy before the 31st August. I’m using this ball of wool and needles to make the little aviatrix hat to donate. Hats are so easy to make and baby and kids hats don’t use much wool or take up much time. Perfect for this busy mummy of a newborn.

And the first 9 people (who live in Australia) to leave a comment will win a little knitting pack of needles, a ball of wool and knitting booklet so that you can make a little something for the program this year. 

Towards the end of my pregnancy with my fourth daughter, I dreamed of what it would be like to have four girls. I dreamed of ladybirds, and butterflies, handing down a magnificent wardrobe to a lucky little girl, and of course, I dreamed of lashings of pink. But the thing that made me smile the most, was the vision of four little bathered bottoms running down the beach near our home.

 

 

But as she grew inside my body for 9 months, my little girl carried a secret. A secret she managed to hide from two experienced ultrasound technicians, at 12 weeks, and 18 weeks, who told me that I was having a perfectly healthy little girl. And healthy she was, except for her secret, that if I was to be honest, gave her a chance in this world that I can’t be sure she would have had, if she hadn’t been so good at keeping it.

When she was placed on my chest, at nearly 42 weeks, and a robust 9 pound 11, there was much joy in the room. But it didn’t come from her mother. I knew there was something different about her as soon as I saw her. While the cord was cut, and the midwife and my husband chatted amiably, I frowned at my girl. I think the recognition, the fact that her features were strangely familiar, was there straight away, but to prepare me, my mind shifted it to the back for a few minutes, for half an hour, for definitely less than an hour…and then I saw. I really saw.

 

 

I wrapped the blanket a little tighter around her, patted her and told her she would be ok, and quietly announced to the room that she had Down syndrome. At that moment, I always say, I drew a line right down the centre of my life. There would always be Before Georgia, and After Georgia. At that moment our lives, and the lives of our other 3 little girls was changed forever.

As I walked, haunted, through the corridors of the hospital over the next couple of days, my dreams were forgotten. As I dealt with the revelation that she had cataract blindness, and would need an operation at five weeks old to hopefully save her sight. As she was admitted to the special care nursery, and had blood taken for genetic testing that I knew would change nothing. As I sat there and resented the hell out of other mums, who wandered the corridors joyously with their newborns, four little girls in polkadot bathers was the furthest thing from my mind.

 

 

People often ask me when my turning point came. I think it was on day 3, when my husband came in and asked me if I had managed any sleep. I said I had, and I had had a strange dream. A dream where I was standing in front of a door, and a midwife told me there were heaps of babies behind the door, and I could go in and take any baby I wanted, and leave mine behind in there. He asked me what I did. And I said I near knocked the woman over, in a bid to get in there and get MY baby. And just like that I knew. That it couldn’t be changed, and I wouldn’t want it to – not if it meant having any other baby than the little girl I had. There was nothing for it, but to get on with it, and have a happy life.

 

 

Four and a bit years down the track, I can honestly say that she has enriched our lives in ways we never thought possible, and given us so much joy. She has taught us to be patient, to be brave, to feel joy in the tiniest of milestones, to see life in a completely different way. And to be forever grateful for her secret keeping abilities!

Overcoming grief is a work in progress. It would be dishonest to say I never feel it. Sometimes it creeps up at the strangest of times, and knocks me over, and I just have to wait until it passes. But it is the kind of grief you can live with…just the smallest part of your life, that is mostly about celebrating a beautiful child that is healthy and strong, and incredibly loved.

I worry about my other little girls sometimes. Like it or not, their lives did change on that March day in 2008. The day they came into the hospital, and visited a much anticipated newborn sister, and found her to be a perfectly fine little baby, and thought that everything was as it should be. They adore her unconditionally, and when they ask questions, we answer them honestly, and they shrug, and run away, satisfied. They often refer to taking Georgia to live with them when they move out of home, and always looking after her, and I look at them with a mixture of love, and pride, and a little bit of sorrow. The fact is the responsibility for looking after a sister that will always need some care should not fall to them. But she has given them other gifts that they may not have had. Turned them into little girls that stick up for the underdog, that never tease or belittle, little girls that will grow into strong women with character traits that I would have tried to teach them, but I could never have taught them as well as one little girl with fair hair, and almond shaped eyes.

 

 

Georgia is not quite walking yet, and at 4 years and 4 months, that is unusual, even for a child with Down syndrome. I haven’t yet seen four little girls with pigtails, and polkadot bathers running down the beach together, but I know it will happen one day, and when it does, it will be worth waiting for.

My husband and I always thought we would have at least four kids. We said we would see how we felt after each child and make sure we were all doing okay. From the moment our fourth child was born, I knew that our family still had room for one more.

• I make monthly menu plans, which all of the kids contribute to. I have even created a menu planning app which makes this task so much easier!

• The kids have schedules available to reference, so they can get themselves ready for school.

• The kids have jobs in the morning and evening that they need to do. I am very big on kids doing age appropriate work around the house.

• My husband and I very much work as a team, making sure we support each so we both have time to follow our own interests and stay fit.

Hi there! I’m Bianca from Bianca Jae Makes Stuff but mostly I’m biancajwood on twitter. Corrie and I have been friends a few years now, both online and real life, meeting a few years ago at sew it together melbourne. Corrie is also known in my house at the fabric dealer. I do love fabric!

I’m a mum of 4, wife to one and for the last 8 1/2 months we’ve been fighting cancer.

My oldest, Maybelle 11, was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia or ALL the end of October last year. 2 months after we moved from Darwin to Victoria. Its a blood cancer and her prognoses is very good. 2 1/2 years of treatment, the first chunk, intense and scary, but last week we started the less intense, return to a new normal treatment, called maintenance.

It has been….hard, really hard. Organising treatment, childcare, school, meals, hospital stays, family time. I actually don’t let myself think. I just to. If I allow myself to stop and think…I’d loose it. Cancer? In my baby? I still cant believe it. It’s really not fair. And seeing her go thought treatment is….unbearable. Her hair as fallen out twice. We have sick bags in every room, bag and car. Ulcers in places they have no business being. All sorts of side effects but we’re lucky really, chemo is working. The moment people start talking to me about how toxic and nasty chemo is I shut off. Chemo is magic. In our house chemo day is killing cancer day. And the Royal Children’s Hospital is where they make magic happen.

So far Maybelle has endured 15 lumpur punctures, 2 bone marrow aspiration, 1 port insertion, 16 general anaesthetics, 78 days in hospital, 27 blood product transfusion, over 100 needle procedures including the insertion of external lines or bungs in the hand, blood test and giving meeds, has had 8 different chemo’s in 5 different ways. It’s hard to believe that after all that and more she is still smiling. But she is. Maybelle is stronger than I ever thought possible. She hardly complains, sure she hates being poked and pricked, but she sucks it up and gets on with it. The universe doesn’t give you what you can not handle. Clearly, she’s a tough cookie 😉

Want to help Maybelle and kids like her? You can and it wont cost you a thing, give blood. Please, if you can. And if you can’t, support someone that can. Mind their kids while they donate. Or make them a meal. As amazing as chemo is, without blood and platelets Maybelle would not survive treatment. It really is the gift of life.

Thanks so much for letting me share a bit of our journey and congratulations to Corrie and family xox

Hello everyone, my name is Jennie & my blog is Posie Patchwork. I’m thrilled to be visiting retro mummy today, we met through our blogs a few years ago, with a love for craft & large families. Then we realised we had even more in common, our fathers were in the Navy together, so we actually met as little girls in the officer’s mess in the 1980’s!! My story . . . I married my teen love from University (I did pharmacology & psychology at Sydney Uni.) My husband is a handsome soldier in the Army . . . 18 years later . . . we’ve criss crossed Australia 6 times, he’s been to 5 wars & we have 4 children, now aged 8 to 13 (year 3 to year 8).

When I had twins in 2001, it was my ticket to become a full time mum & discover my talent for design could become an income. After 12 successful years of sewing, i’m closing down my business to focus on the children as their sports & social lives take over, not to mention high school homework. I grew up in Sydney (St Ives) & we’ve finally decided to settle in Canberra, with plans to buy a farm & build a homestead, so our children can have the healthiest life possible, with more homegrown produce & animals. Plus they can practise their athletics & horse riding at home. Right now, in Army housing suburbia, we have a thriving herb garden & take time to make our own pasts & homemade meals from scratch. We also have chickens, ducks & a German Shepherd. Most importantly, we have my husband recently home from Afghanistan, safe & sound.

Best “we are awesome parents” moment was taking the children to Disneyland – we saved for years & it was absolutely fantastic!! My parenting ethos is to make my children feel loved, wanted, accepted, included & a very welcome part of our lives. My husband has been living on his own in Brisbane for almost 3 years (with the Army), so if you want any positive tips on coping as a solo mother, I’m your gal!!

I absolutely love being a housewife, Ibelieve it’s a privilege & I’m very proud of my growing family. I find my children interesting & challenging, they are so much fun to hang out with & they enjoy so many of my interests, even my son does embroidery (only because I don’t let him play with electronic gadgets.) I’m now in my 4th year of having all 4 children in school 6-7 hours a day, I am NEVER bored & take time to relax – reading magazines, yoga, drinking tea – it makes the 9 month chunks of our lives with my husband away in war zones, bearable. All of my children speak Japanese so they talk about me behind my back. That is another thing about large families, we most often have large cars with 3 rows of seats, someone is always plotting mischief behind you.

 

Love Posie

I’d like to introduce you to our latest addition…………………………….

Emerson Charles, born at 12.49 this afternoon weighing in at a delicate 8 pounds 11 ounces (3.96kgs), 54cm long and with a lovely 37cm head.  I’m still flat on my back and keep falling asleep but tomorrow I”ll be up and at em and taking lots of photos to share with you. Until then here is one retro daddy took earlier.