Donating blood with my daughter

It's been a LONG time since I donated blood. At least 4 years and more (due to trying to conceive). I used to donate with my cousin and we raced to see who would finish first.

Even before my daughter turned 16, she had asked if she could donate blood. In Western Australia, you need to be 16 before you can donate, and you need parental consent. As her 16th birthday approached, Ashlea raised the topic again, and I was more than happy to make the appointment and sign the parental consent.

We rocked up to our closest blood donor centre and filled out the forms. Because it had been over a year since I donated, I had to fill in all the forms like a brand new donor. Heart problems? Epilepsy? Male intercourse? Used needles? Had a piercing? Tattoo? Acupuncture?

And then there were the travel questions. Have you travelled outside Australia in the last 3 years ....? What country ...? When did you come back ...?  OMG. I was unprepared for this one!

I started the process before Ashlea had finished her interview. The room was almost full, and I was anticipating bikkies and chocolate after!

It only seemed like a moment before my bag of blood was full - and then the nurses joked about whether Ash would beat me in terms of time - which she did easily!

Ashlea (above left) 10 years ago

Ashlea today

She is such a conscientious person, and I am so proud that she wanted to donate. After we finished, she told me that it was one of the things on her bucket list which she could tick off! Bravo!!! Super-proud.

Jimmy - 9 month update

The things we wish for. When Jimmy was a newborn, I wished for him to be able to hold his head up, to be able to sit up, to be more mobile.

Well, Jimmy is all of the above, and lo .... he needs lots of ENTERTAINING. His ehh ehh ehhs haven't diminished, he is even more clingy, and doesn't play by himself for very long. We have carried him quite a bit, so maybe that's why he doesn't like to be left alone. And he still doesn't like tummy time, but he's so getting it ... LEARN TO CRAWL! And I'm sure, soon, I will say - STAY PUT!

From a sitting position, he puts his hands down in front of him, turns his bottom sideways, bends a knee and ... voila .... in the last few weeks, he is commando-crawling!

Just before turning 8 months, his 2 bottom teeth started to sprout. 4 weeks on, 1 big front tooth pokes out, and what timing - he has been having lots of diarrhea the last couple of weeks. It's funny how people have been asking "Is he teething?" ever since he's been drooling, which has been the last few months.

But it's only been waiting for the last big front tooth to erupt, that he seems to have teething "symptoms" - loose bowels and more dribbling than usual. So again, waking up once or twice a night continues. In fact, it was pretty bad when he had diarrhea, combined with a cold, so much so that we started feeding him to settle him. And we had a bad night when he was the most unsettled he's been and cried almost the whole night.

We've had some good nights though. If sleeping through the night is defined as 5 hours uninterrupted, then yes, he's slept through the night. And getting up only once or twice is definitely good in our books!

Now down to 2 naps a day, he was settling quite well but lately has been crying and whinging. A decent sleep of 1.5 hours is usually the go, and by late evening 7pm he is ready to be settled to bed.

 Still putting everything and anything into his mouth

Some simple but entertaining toys - mixing bowl, empty formula tin, plastic rice spoon, wooden spoon

The fast and furious - see me wave my arms so fast ... hee hee!!!

Black swans

As the warm days slowly draw to a close, we're still enjoying warm evenings by the river. Although there is a large-ish bridge with lots of traffic close by, it's fairly peaceful.

There are lots of things for Jimmy to look at - kayaks paddling up and down, people out and about walking their dogs, bicycles, birds, ducks and black swans. The black swans are especially nosy, they come right up to the mat and check out any food we might have.

Jimmy drops a tidbit and it's a race to see who grabs it first ....

Even a green slipper looks kinda tasty!