hi everyone
i cant believe we are nearly in the middle of july...its CRAZY how quickly time has flown...archie is almost 11 weeks old and we have had heaps of things going on since we last wrote...
the house is still coming along...the tiling has been done, the clickclack on the floor has been put in, and the balcony is about 2/3rds finished...we have started painting, with the cupboards now finished (apart from the doors), the toilet and bathroom almost done. We are just waiting on the plasterer to finish off a couple of things in the kitchen and the laundry, and the plumber to come to finish the rest off, like taps, and final fit out...
once all that is done, we are going to spraypaint the under coat and get really cracking on the painting to finish off...we still dont have an 'end date' in our minds, just when can get the time, we will get down there and do what we can...nothing like doing things in halves is there, pete with his new job, a new baby and a new house! Talk about timing...lol
i have been feeling like melon has been around us a fair bit over the past couple of weeks...we always say goodnight to him when archie goes to sleep, and we wonder how busy life would have been with both boys in it...alot more busier than at the moment i would imagine! We can see melon in archie, especially some of his 'looks'...and there is no disputing they are brothers.
Archie has been tripping around with us over the past month...we spent a night in traralgon, which was so-so (probably the cookies i ate!)...and we went to melbs for a couple of days last weekend and he was really good...slept really well at night, and thankfully was fairly cruisy through the day. We stayed at some apartments in Mont Albert - Archie ended up in the main bedroom in his portacot and pete and i ended up in the sofa bed! ahhhh...the things you do to keep the peace lol...
Archie met heaps of people for the first time and caught up with his nan from bacchus marsh. He also met Mary Canary (our neighbours from when we lived in Altona North)...mary already has him married to her yet to be born grandaughter (good luck kath)...we also caught up with our great mates the Corries, Lindorff's and Somers on Sunday morning, and then our most favourite nurse, Rae and her fiancee Shane...it was fantastic to see them both and Archie will always know how special rae is to our family...
we caught up with a few old work colleagues from box hill on monday, and we met up with our awesome mate Gaynor and her two boys Jack and Lachlan...i was able to hit the shops for some stuff - especially bonds...it was awesome! Thanks to Wayne and Kate for hosting us on monday night while we bathed and fed archie...then it was on the road and we were home by 11pm. We were a bit nervous to see if he would settle, but after a feed, he was fine and we were all able to get heaps of sleep...thank goodness for boobs! It gives us heaps of confidence for next time we travel...and thank goodness he is fairly flexible (and we had the baby bjorn!)...
Archie also had his needles. Its funny, after witnessing so many awful things being done to melon, i still couldnt hold archie for them. Lucky dad came and i offered boobs after it was all finished. I was exactly the same with eli's needles, but when it came to other stuff, i could do it no probs, just not the needles...so i have booked pete for archie's second lot of needles at 4 months which will no doubt come around really quickly...
At Archie's 2 month check up...he weighed a very healthy 6.280kg, was 60.5cm in length and his head reached 40cm (no surprise there!)...at 8 weeks, he was basically the size of a 3 month old! i expect him to start slowing down with the tucker soonish, but you never know...he is definitely in a great paddock!
It really is such a bittersweet feeling of knowing we should have 2 boys running around...well, i guess we do, we just cant see one...i wonder how they would have got along and when they got older, how they would have looked after each other...i wonder if they would have shared their toys, and how many times we would have sent them to their 'corners' to stop them bickering...
its hard not to think about the what if's...i guess its just a normal part of grieving. Its just being brave enough to share these thoughts so publicly. People who have not lost a child will find some of these thoughts confronting and probably hard to understand and perhaps think that its time we just 'got over it' now we have archie...you can never get over such a massive loss, and nor do we want to. People ask how archie is going...like any mum and dad, you have your days where its bloody tough...those days that i say its tough is not a complaint...and being reminded that we went through much worse with eli does not help. Its all relative and we are living our lives day to day, like any mum and dad would with a new born baby. The best thing about eli is that he has taught us to be much more patient parents. Patience really is a virtue and one of the best assets we have learned.
anyways...i will try and get some more pics up soon...there are some rippers amongst them...i just havent had the time today, but will try through the week when we will try and teach archie that his bed through the day really is a nice place to hang out and sleep! LOL...
lots of hugs and sunshine
the simpsons
xoxoxox
