What to do when contractions aren't strong enough for hospital

 Maybe I should be 9 months pregnant more often. My blogging would be more consistent, that's for sure.

For the past 24 hours, I've been getting strong contractions five minutes apart for an hour or two, then they fade away. Its very annoying (can you tell by my current gripe?) Anyway, I am so bored. Bored enough to find more Ella pics and post them.

Ella is growing in independence every day. For the past couple of weeks, one of her favourite things is to ask for 'chair, chair'. This means that she wants to sit up in a big person's chair. Normally at the computer to look at pictures of herself, or talk to someone online, if possible. Its very cute. A couple of days ago, she began a fascination with reading the paper. Here's some pics of Ella enjoying a leisurely read of the morning paper (after she'd made a cup of espresso with her special coffee set)...

Excuse the blurred ones, and the fact that Ella loves to smile for the camera with her eyes shut... but hopefully you get the idea that she already enjoys reading.

Lets all hope that the next blog has pics of Ella with her little sister!

I'm so sorry...

It has been a very big three months! I worked a bit as a speechie again, which was WONDERFUL. I totally loved my job and was sad to finish. I also continued working on my graduate study, and finally finished my big research paper last week. I've been churning through all of the things on a 'must do' list before baby Shedd arrives, and finally reached the point where everything is done. It means I can do things like blog and upload pictures and videos, which have definitely been neglected due to the extra things I've taken on over the past few months.

Hopefully now that I'm a full-time mum for a while again I can be a little better in that department.

Yesterday, Tyler had a day off work so we went on a family outing to Cleland National Park. Here are a couple of pics. As you can tell, Ella is quite bold at patting the animals. She particularly enjoyed the koala, kangaroo and wombat.

Its actually been a really long time since I've sent through other Ella pics, so here's a couple of others:

And, finally, a picture of the next baby Shedd...

Lets hope that the next (and much more interesting) picture of baby Shedd no 2 is not too far away... :)

Currently Reading Debt-Proof Living: The Complete Guide to Living Financially Free By Mary Hunt see related

Time at the Beach house

On Sunday, we went down to Goolwa for the afternoon and evening. Christy's parents live there sometimes and have a beach house where Shane and Christy spend lots of time. It was Christy (my brother's wife)'s sister's husband's mom's birthday so we dropped by to meet them (they were visiting from Canada) and spend some more time with Shane and Christy. Ella, from the moment we were there, was more focussed on spending time with her little cousin, Esther.

Later in the day, we went to the riverfront and had some playground time.

Esther is confident on the slides, but Ella hadn't ever gone on one by herself. This was Ella's response.

Later, back at the beach house, Ella and Esther enjoyed some wheelbarrow time with their Pa pa.

Esther's hugs of Ella are sometimes a little, um, fierce.

Ella rested with her daddy on the hammock for a while, after such an active day.

Currently Reading The Beautiful Fight: Surrendering to the Transforming Presence of God Every Day of Your Life By Gary Thomas see related

New Year, New Blog entries?!

It has been about six months since I've sat down and blogged, and so much has happened. We've found out we're expecting another baby (due late April/early May), Tyler graduated from Southern (of course getting straight As), Tyler worked full-time at Starbucks, Ella started walking (and talking), we moved out of our little apartment, shipped our belongings, said some sad goodbyes to Tyler's family and Louisville, went to the UK for Amber's wedding (and to see some sights), got stranded in London over Christmas and have finally arrived back in Adelaide. That was just over a week ago. Since then, things have been a bit calmer. Tyler's back at Word. Ella was re-introduced to her cousin Esther (she last saw her when she was 7 weeks old), Ella's been to the beach a few times, and we're loving the heat of an Adelaide summer.

I'm hoping that with the start of a new year, one of my resolutions is to be more regular in blogging and keeping our scattered family and friends updated. Hopefully at least every week or two. If you've missed the past six months and want photos, you can see a lot of those events captured by Donna (Tyler's mom) by going to www.xanga.com/dshedd06. Tyler blogged a couple of times in the UK at www.peacehappy.blogspot.com.

As I write, Ella and Esther are enjoying some outside time with their grandma. Here's some pics of them.

They've enjoyed some times together at the playground.

Here's one of Ella getting used to an Aussie fly - in her eye.

Another one just of Ella being her usual, sweet, self.

They've also had fun at the beach.

I liked this one of Ella - embracing her Aussie heritage...

I'm including a few extra pics from our time in Scotland. I was matron of honor at my friend Amber's wedding. She got married in a castle near St. Andrews, Scotland. It even snowed on the day! We enjoyed the bag-pipes, kilts and Scottish dancing! Ella enjoyed getting to know Russ (honorary bridesmaid, Amber's teddy bear that's travelled everywhere with her).

Mr and Mrs Batista

The Bridal Party

The 4 Shedds (with growing bub in my tummy, if the wedding was a week later, my dress wouldn't have fit!)

That will do for today. Hopefully I've inspired myself to be more faithful with these entries in the months to follow... :)

Stay tuned!

Currently Reading Where Is the Green Sheep? (Horn Book Fanfare List (Awards)) By Mem Fox, Judy Horacek see related

Trying to keep up with Ella...

For the past 6 weeks, Ella has been crawling everywhere!! She has been adorable but very high energy - not leaving time for blog posts. Again, I suggest that people look at Donna's (Tyler's mom) blog. Click here to see more.

In late June, we were in North Carolina for a few days, visiting Tyler's Papa Shedd and his wife, Flo.

It was very special to be able to spend time with them, and have 4 generations of Shedds together.

This photo reminds me that in June we had 4 generations from Tyler's mother's side together too. (While we were visiting Tyler's cousin Robyn at her Lakehouse in Missouri).

Since I've started talking about 4 generations, we also have this photo from December last year when we were still in Australia. My Grandma Jacobs, mum, Ella and me. We were saying goodbye so please excuse the wonderful "we've just been crying" look.

It makes me sad that the couple of years before Ella was born, both of my dad's parents passed away. I wish I had a photo of 4 generations of Rayner's too. I'm thankful that with Ella's name, we always have a special reminder of my Grandmother, who was called Laurel Ella.

Speaking of my dad, for quite a lot of last month, my parents came to Louisville. We had lots of fun and it was very special to spend lots of time with them, and particularly to see Ella interact a lot with her grandparents. She sure misses them now!

For some of the time, we were on the road. We went to Eastern Kentucky, Virginia, Tennessee, North Carolina, Georgia and Alabama.

We spent most of our time in a cabin in the mountains of Northern Georgia. Our cabin was really beautiful, and we had lots of fun.

Ella loved Anna Ruby Falls.

Here's Ella hanging out with Grandma and Pa pa from the deck.

Ella really enjoyed the hot tub. Here she is hanging out, again, with some special people.

Sometimes, through our time, I still even got to hold Ella. They were special moments!

Again, from our cabin deck.

Here's Mum holding Ella out the front of the cabin.

One day we were very ambitious. We spent the day in Atlanta, and mistakenly took Ella's stroller up an unpaved mountain. Dad and Tyler shared the load... one person carried Ella and the other carried the stroller. You can see that Tyler looks a little sweaty up the top of Stone Mountain.

Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures, but we went to the World of Coca Cola, and tasted 70 types of soft drink from around the world. It was a very sweet, sticky experience!

Olympic Park...

Dad's favourite part of the trip - his experience at Rock City, where he tried to see 7 states.

We also spent some time in the Smoky Mountains. Dad enjoyed carrying Ella in her Australian outfit!

I'll have to end this abruptly because Ella is awake and wanting to play. Stay tuned for part 2!