Hellyer Family: 2nd Birthday

Brianna is now 2 years old, once again we can’t believe how fast time has flown.

Brianna you have bought Mum and Dad so much joy and happiness since you have come into our lives. While we are teaching you things you are also teaching us so much, how to enjoy the smaller things in life, to stop and look at the insects in the garden, to smell the flowers. You are such a wonderful, bubbly happy little girl and we love you soo much.

I know it is probably a cliché but having Brianna in our lives truly does change the way you view the world. I cannot look at an aeroplane in the sky now without smiling and looking for Brianna to point it out for her, even when I am on my own, it still gives me a buzz. Looking at life through the eyes of a child is a wonderful way to view the world.

At the moment her vocabulary is really coming along and I get such joy hearing her speak a new word for the first time. It also makes communicating just that little bit easier, though she is well phrased with the word NO! so it can also make things a little more difficult.

We had an eventful long weekend. It started with the arrival my sister Pj and her boyfriend Justin on Friday afternoon, to stay for a couple of days. Sadly on Friday night it started going down hill with Brianna having a bit of a meltdown and a temperature, so she went to bed with Panadol (which did bring her temperature down) and in only a nappy. The first temperature check of the morning was quite high again, so we gave her more Panadol but this time it didn’t do anything to reduce the temperature and she had developed a small rash on her chest overnight. So we bundled both girls into the car and headed off to the after hours Dr. We didn’t have to wait long thankfully, and Bree was very quickly diagnosed with Tonsillitis. Poor thing, no wonder she had been feeling so miserable.

Why oh why they make some antibiotics taste so horrible is beyond me. We have had to give Brianna Penicillin and Panadol. The Panadol is easy as it really does taste great, but the Antibiotics were a nightmare, despite bribing her with Jellybeans. Eventually Scott cottoned onto her liking smarties and it became much easier after that.

Picked up Mum from the airport on Saturday morning, once we got back from the Dr, Pj and Justin were doing a little bit of shopping in town. With Brianna being sick, we really didn’t get up to much, but it was nice to have my family around. Had planned on going out for a family dinner, to celebrate my upcoming 30th birthday, and for Brianna too, since Justin and Pj were going home before her birthday, but since Bree was sick, decided to pick up Indian and a DVD and stay at home instead. Ordinarily both girls go to bed at 7pm and Bree sleeps through the night, Caitlyn of course still wakes for feeds, but usually I get some time out till at least 9.30pm. Its as if they know, because both of them ended up having a mere of a time on Saturday night, and so the child free relaxed birthday dinner ended up with both girls up and watching the DVD with us, for a time. Ahhh I am a mother now, of two little girls, who was I kidding to think that I could have a night to myself! Hehe I was planning on organising a little get together of some kind to celebrate my milestone, but have decided to postpone it till a time when it will be more relaxing and hence more fun for me! A couple of years perhaps?

Thankfully on Monday (her birthday) Bree was feeling much better. She opened her presents from Mum, Dad and Granny and spent the morning playing with them and then in the afternoon we had a small family afternoon tea.

I made Brianna a butterfly cake and while she didn’t seem to think much of it on the day, she certainly has enjoyed it for morning tea the last few days :-)

While we didn’t have immediate relief for Caitlyn after her procedure last week, over the past few days I am certainly noticing a bit of a change. Firstly she is actually latching on for a whole feed, which is huge progress as she used to come on and off constantly.

She seems to be stretching out her feeds during the day and having bigger sleeps, and finally she is starting to do the same at night. Last night was a great night, I fed her at 10.15pm and then she did a 5 hour stint and then a 4 hour stint so things are definitely looking up.

Probably the biggest change in her over the past week is that she has started chattering. I first noticed it on Friday when PJ & Justin arrived, and since then it has been constant. She has become a regular chatterbox, suggesting that her tongue was proving a problem for speech as well as feeding.

Opening pressies