Day 139

14th June 2022

Birthday Girl

At 4am in the morning 9 years ago, we left for the hospital.

I was having contractions, and they were becoming spicy!

When we arrived my midwife said,

“If you want a waterbirth you better run the bath, you’re 7cm dilated!”

I lay in the warm water, under candlelight, moving in & out of contractions in dead silence to Erik Satie’s Gymnopedie No.1. (Lincy was born to the same piece of music).

Watch Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMnxjdGTK4w

After 1 short hour, baby Mila Josephine Butcher was born, underwater at 5.06am, weighing 8 pounds even & measuring 53cm long.

Her waters didn’t break which is really rare, so they tell me.

This little girl burst into our lives and hearts.

Today, she turned nine!

She was SO excited to be nine.

“I’m a tween!” She declared with pride.

After a scavenger hunt around the house for her presents, we had pancakes (of course), only today we added sprinkles. 😂

Here she is playing on her gymnastics beam. We need to find a permanent home for it, but for now, it’s in the garden.

At 7am I had cakes in the oven.

We were headed to the park with our Tuesday crew.

The sun was out. The wind had buggered off, and it was perfect!

Gotta love the kick back on the flying fox! 😎

When we got home Linc had his computer time & Mila received a b’day delivery!!

It was a netball hoop!!

Dad was stoked to have one last job to do when he got home from work. 😏

I wasn’t planning on making them do any ‘learning’ today because it was Mila’s birthday, but before we knew it, we were in the middle of biology with a nest making session.

We found a nest outside and wondered how birds make such a solid structure without opposable thumbs.

We watched a YouTube video on how nests are made and discovered bird nests are actually made from two nests.

The first is a robust structure and the inner nest is made of other birds feathers, and soft materials.

We tried to make our own nest, to see how we measured up.

It was really hard!

Mila’s was way better than mine.

When we finished, we put them in the tree and plan to watch them in the coming weeks to see if anyone moves in. 🤞

This was the nest we found when cutting back the passionfruit vine in search of a good netball hoop spot.

Looking for rainbows in the hose spray.

After this, we hit the shops to spend birthday money sent from Nana & Grandad in London & a gift voucher from our friends Roman & Jentzen.

Exciting!!

“What do you think you will buy Mila?” I asked.

“A blobby, some kicks, a boost juice & some sushi.” She replied immediately, needing no time to think.

“Do you really want to spend your birthday money on food?” I asked.

“Mum, I’m a little girl who just turned 9 and these are the things I want to buy.” She protested.

How could I argue with that?! 😂

We didn’t find blobby.

Instead, she bought a Squishmallow whom she called Silvia, a mini gum ball machine (with gum) and a new pair of rainbow boots.

Rainbow boots – a 9-year-old’s dream come true! (And yep, she’s still wearing that new top on the daily).
She had to wear them right out of the store and was so happy, she agreed to go to the gaming store so Lincoln could drool over all the new games.

At bedtime we had floods of tears when we couldn’t find Skye the Squishmallow.

Mila remembered leaving her at the park. 😭😭😭

She has made me promise to return tomorrow in search of Skye.

Fingers crossed!

Missing – Skye 😢

The Challenge: Home school for 1 year while not losing sanity or love for children and/or husband.
Contenders: Mila 8yrs, Lincoln 10 yrs, Me (Mum), Liam (Dad), Pepe (dog)
Home School Days: 200

This blog was inspired by the film Julie & Julia, starring Meryl Streep & Amy Adams.

Julie decides she will take her love of cooking to the next level by cooking every recipe in Julia Childs French cookbook, in one year! 500 & something fancy, technical recipes!! While working full time!

Julie writes a daily blog about her time in the kitchen for herself & other amateur cooks who may, or may not be, reading along. You gotta watch it (http://thehomeschoolyear.com/about/).  Or read it here. (http://thehomeschoolyear.com/book)

I loved that she wrote every day. I loved hearing about her small everyday frustrations, with the recipes & with life. It really inspired me to throw myself into something.

The timing was perfect as we have just decided to homeschool our children as a lifestyle choice and I thought…Cool! A daily blog will be perfect!

There must be other families out there wondering if there’s another way to live? Another way to do ‘family life’?

If you’re here, then hello & welcome aboard! Please feel free to sit back & watch it all unfold. Put the kettle on & check in with us each night to see what went down and how we all got over the line. I’m sure we’ll find our rhythm, right?

Are you a homeschool family? If you’re watching the wheels fall off this thing, I’m open to your emails or comments any time. I would love them! I am very friendly, & I could use the help.

Ok, come hell or high water….I’m in. A daily blog, for 12 months. I’ll be right, here.

Kindly, Lisa x

Can we be friends?!

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