1st Birthday and 1st Christmas at Home

Thankful.
Eternally Grateful.
Forever in our Hearts and Thoughts and Mind.
Lucky
Magical
Amazing
Life Changing Miracle Workers
Blessed with 3 Gorgeous Children


Just a few statements to describe SCI, Dr Shivani, Margarida, our amazing surrogate mums and our egg donor........not that this can adequately describe our feelings.

Our babies turned 1 year old on 16 December so we had a smallish gathering of family and friends on Sunday 15 December. I wanted all of our kids to have their own cake so I made them an elephant cake each...but by far Jack's chocolate cake (in blue below) was the most popular!

To honour their heritage we had a touch of India as a theme with our girls dressed in beautiful and colourful Indian dresses and I made Jack a waistcoast with elephants.

 Sophie our oldest!

 Our baby boy Jack

Lilly ready to party

It was a wonderfully moving day for Andrew and I and we created a video to honour their creation and their 1st year.

It took us over a week to open up all their birthday presents.....so many generous beautiful gifts.

And then we had their first Christmas at home which was so amazing. On Christmas Eve, I made all of us a special dinner and then we danced with our three in our arms to Christmas Carols, before putting them down regretfully to bed after a nice warm bath.

Here are a few pics of our three .

 Jack the Christmas Elf

 A very cute Santa Lilly

Sophie the Christmas Angel

I love being their Mum and it just keeps getting better and better. 

Wishing everyone a very Happy New Year xxxx

Our worldwide SCI Family

It has been a few months since I last blogged. Not because I am slack just it is a busy world with 3 babies!

In October we had our great friends from Argentina stay with us. We met Gachy and Fernando in New Delhi in November 2012 as they were also awaiting the arrival of their baby Francisco who arrived 6 days before our three. We became good friends with them and since our return home we have been in regular contact with them. Having 4 babies in the house and trying to show our Argentinian family the tourist sites of Victoria was no mean feat but we managed to get away to the Great Ocean Road 12 Apostles etc.....the weather was so so cold and windy.

Here is a pic of all of us at the 12 Apostles.

Whilst our friends were staying with us, we were so happy to hear that our Miami friends Rueben and Ryan had been successful in legally adopting their twins Zara and Aiden. We skyped them to wish them congratulations. Ryan, Gachy and myself hit the Sarojini Nagar  markets together a couple of times in 2012 for baby items as well as spending Christmas Eve and Christmas Day together.

During October we were also so excited to hear of another SCI couple's success with the birth of their baby boy Pono. Congratulations to our Hawaiian friends Robert and Joanne (and their dog Woody).

For me, the unexpected and delightful part of our surrogacy journey has been the wonderful worldwide SCI family that has been created. The strong bonds that have been formed across the globe often bring tears to my eyes. This includes our very own Australian SCI'ers and I treasure the new friendships that have been formed especially the Baker family and their gorgeous boy Kai whom our Lilly girl makes goo goo eyes at!!

I have started planning our bubs 1st Birthday party and I cant believe how quickly this year has flown. Our babies are growing up fast. Lilly is crawling everywhere and trying hard to get to standing position on her own without help. Sophie loves her sleep and pretty much sleeps right through the night for 11 - 12 hours and is always happy to have long naps during the day. Jack has decided he can hold his own bottle and is feeding himself. Lilly also wants to do this now - the independence I am starting to see from all of them is such a delight. They are such gorgeous little people. How did I get so lucky?

Here is a recent picture of our three treasures sitting on their sofas.

Jack on the blue sofa, Sophie in the middle and Lilly at the end.

I am not at all prepared for Christmas mainly because I was busy in India in December 2012 and I missed the Melbourne Boxing Day sales - this is where I do alot of my Christmas shopping for the next year!!!

Must go now. There are many out there in this worldwide SCI family that are trying for a sibling. I wish you all the best and sending babydust your way.xxxxxxx

We live in such a great place.....

I feel so lucky and blessed...not only did my lifelong dream of becoming a mum come true, I live in a wonderful country and with a great local Council that is supportive of our babies. A week ago our babies were officially welcomed to Frankston region by the mayor. Our babies received a lovely certificate and a showbag with books, toothpaste, toothbrushes etc. The ceremony was lovely and they had a beautiful afternoon tea with blue and pink cupcakes. Here is a photo of us and the Mayor with our three bubbas.

I finally got a place for all our three in the same day care centre  once a week and the centre is right across the road from us. They had their first day there today and Mummy cried walking back home. But they enjoyed it very much and they are so exhausted they are now soundly sleeping. I missed them very much but also enjoyed having some time to myself.

They are growing up so fast and their favourite new toy at the moment is the Jolly Jumper.

 Miss Sophie just hanging around in the Jolly Jumper

 Lovely Lilly girl enjoying her thumb

Jack loves the farmyard exesaucer activity centre

On a final note, we are very excited that our Argentinian friends whom we met over in Delhi during baby pickup are planning to come to Australia in October...we cant wait to see them

Half a Year Old

It has been a couple of months since I last blogged but I do try and catch up and read everyone else's blog when I have time.....

I cant believe it but our gorgeous 3 turn 6 months old this Sunday 16 June......they are doing so well growing like weeds and loving their 2 meals of solids a day. We have been using our back living room as a giant playroom for the bubs and still a little work to go to make it crawler proof.......

I love being their Mum and they are such good babies.  They had their first colds all together last month and we survived that.....humidifiers are an absolute must.

Here are some recent pics. Once again how do you ever thank Dr Shivani, our surro mums L and K our donor for such a wonderful gift?

Our 3 love playing together on the 2 activity mats...they are growing so fast we might have to buy another mat so they can still play together!

 It is never easy getting a family shot where all bubs are looking at same time!

 On Rosebud Pier on a sunny Queens Birthday holiday

Sophie and I - this pic looks airbrushed but I swear it is not!

4 months of absolute Joy!!!

Our babies are 4 months old tomorrow and I cant believe how quickly they are growing. I love them so much and everyday is a joy to see what they will do. We are so blessed that we got three gorgeous happy and health babies.

Here are some recent pics as we went swimming again. It was also lovely to catch up with Dr Shivani a week ago when she was in Melbourne for Surrogacy Australia conference.

Hope everyone is well in blogland.

Mel, Andrew, Sophie, Lilly and Jack

 Mummy with Lilly

 Mummy, cousin Alix with Jack, Daddy with Lilly, Auntie Lindee with Sophie

Impromptu family shot

Best decision in my whole life.....

I will never ever be able to sufficiently thank Dr Shivani, SCI Healthcare, our egg donor and our wonderful surrogate mothers for the gift of our three children. Everyday the joy they bring to our lives just brings me to the verge of tears of happiness.

This was the best decision that I have ever made in my entire life.

Thank you xxxxx

Smiles and First Swims....

I am so in love with our children and now that they are 9 weeks old they are smiling all the time which makes my heart melt.....we took them for their first swim yesterday....here are some recent pictures.

 Smiley Miss Sophie

 Lilly girl smiling and blowing raspberries

 Happy smiling boy Jack

 All babies having first swim

 Daddy and Jack

 Lilly and her cousin Alix

Miss Sophie with Honorary Auntie Tracey

Pictures not much blog talk...

Just thought I would post some very recent pictures of our beautiful 3 now a little over 7 weeks old. They had their vaccinations recently and gosh they were in pain a few hours later......it took some hours to comfort them and settle them down. I wish I could have taken the pain away from them...

And to all of those on this journey who have had their blogs visited by trolls.....I am really hoping these ill informed trolls have the bridge they are living under fall on them or otherwise become somehow enlightened to troll elsewhere! It is such a shame our little community has to put up with these opinionated and ill informed individuals.

Take care everyone.

 Our gorgeous three rocking and bouncing but mostly asleep

 Lilly wide awake wearing a Winnie the Pooh (Classic) outfit

 Smiley Sophie girl

 Our bright eyed boy Jack

 Jack fast asleep now

 Lilly asleep

 Sophie with monkey toy - she likes monkeys!

 Sleeping Lilly loves her cow (Avent) soother

Sophie enjoying the rabbit bouncer

More Homecoming pictures....Love Actually

Thanks everyone for your lovely well wishes on our homecoming and also support around the less than welcoming other side of the family. We are very blessed already with the family and friends we do have which includes the wonderful people we were priveleged to meet on this journey.

Have posted some more homecoming pics ...these ones were taken at Melbourne airport by a dear friend who is more like family thanks so much Nigel (Tracey's equally fantastic half) .....it reminds me of that movie "Love Actually" where they have filmed the comings and goings of people at an airport and the emotions this ensues...

Into the arms of loving big sisters!

Baby huddle!

Aunit Nic and Lilly girl 

Auntie Nic with Lilly and Rachel holding Jack - she was amazing  in India

I love this pic our niece Alix (Rachel's sister) meets Lilly for the first time

Auntie Lindee with Jack as her daughter Rachel looks on who cared for Jack on the flight home

Dad with the bags and Sophie who still has her socks on!

Family pics

More family pics

Dad with Sophie girl and bestest friend Tracey

A tired new Mummy after the flight but happy to be home

The obligatory running towards each other me and my niece Alix who was absolutely busting at the seams to meet her new cousins

Tracey cuddling Sophie

More family pics

And more