Little Dumplings

Yesterdays post got me thinking.......

It got me thinking about my Green Grass- metaphorically speaking. 

As you know I am the mother of 5 young boys.  Alot of the time it's a pretty full on gig.  But on the whole I am very very happy with my job. Corny as it sounds- I am doing exactly what I envisaged myself doing right about now.  I studied Fine art and early childhood teaching but really what I wanted was just to be at home with my own kids doing finger painting!

 And although my only critics are my 5 boys who perhaps aren't the best judges (unconditional love and all that) I would like to think that I do alright at fulfilling my job description. 

My life is essentially being the old fashioned stay at home mama.  My three big'uns go off to school everyday and I am home with the two yung'uns.

I feel lucky to be able to be around while I watch them go through all their milestones.  I totally get that this gig is not for all mama's but for me - it works.  

There are plenty of times I feel overwhelmed by my job.  The days when the kids are still not dressed and ready for school when they need to be and I turn into that awful alter ego- "shouting mama"- who I swore I would never be but just couldn't seem to shake come the arrival of child number 2!  (on this note- a very good friend of mine (also mum of 5) said to me when I felt like a failure at becoming a shouting mama of 2 : "Yep welcome to the world of being a mother of more than one child, get used to it and get over feeling guilty about it!" - BEST ADVICE EVER!!!)

In December last year our precious littlest Dumpling had a fit that he did not wake from.  We were rushed to the Royal Children's and he was sedated heavily and we spent the next week in intensive care not knowing whether he would wake up.  It was easily the most horrific time in my life.  I don't find it easy to think about- still.  I have tears as I write this.  I'm not sure that I will ever really recover in some ways.

Our family spent Xmas day in hospital- not really what you dream of as a "perfect family Xmas day". 

Our baby eventually recovered and to anyone who saw him today you would have no clue.  There are no lasting effects. Thankfully.

No words can explain the feeling I felt when I held my baby in my arms when he finally woke up. 

What did happen in this time though was nothing less than extra-ordinary.  My best friend in Melbourne was waiting at our door so that Hubby G could follow me to hospital straight away. She spent the next 3 days doing the day shift.  Another beautiful friend came in the late afternoon so my other friend could go home to her 3 children. We weren't allowed to stay overnight so we came home and had no sleep at home instead. 

Then one of my dearest friends in Sydney left her family of four boys with her mum so she could come and have mine!  Work out how genuinely amazing that swap is- "yeah no worries I'll leave my entire family in Sydney so I can fly down and have yours in a crisis!" (Medal is in the post!) . And then my sister spent the ENTIRE Xmas day driving over from Adelaide with her family to rescue mine.  I wasn't the only one who didn't have a great Xmas.  And the beautiful nurses in Intensive care who are just the mostest amazingest people you will ever meet. Big love to you guys! 

These people will never really understand just how much their love helped us through this time.  It's what friends do- but it's sooooooo much more than that in reality and words will never be able to make this clear.

Looking back at this- as I do pretty often- I am sooooo blessed with such special people in my life who do such amazing things for me.  I really am very lucky.

I'm thinking about this because I have become ever so aware since this episode that things in your life can change so dramatically out of the blue and that we forget to stop sometimes and be thankful for what good things we have in amongst the daily crapola.

It was a horrible time make no mistake but on reflection there were amazing things that took place too.  It really forced Hubby G and I to think very very hard about the things in our life that matter.  It's a one word answer folks-PEOPLE!

We cancelled our to-do list on the house and tried ever so hard to just savour every moment of being home with all of our family.  Everything except our family seemed trivial.  We really wondered if we could ever go back to feeling normal ever again.  Time has passed and on the whole life has returned to normal.  I  hid in my cave for about 2 months but I am peeping out ever so slowly!

On our return from hospital our kids asked for a re-run of Xmas on New Years day- the term "NEW-MAS" (combining New Years Day and Xmas)  was coined and it may well become a new family tradition. 

So thinking about my Green Grass today I am thankful that I have all my little Dumplings around me,  especially my littlest who I am ever so thankful for..........

SO on today's menu is of course.....DUMPLINGS which all my real life dumplings LOVE.  (click here for a link on how to make them).

And I will be listening to :