I am...

[Aliantha]

We're more or less godless here...and apparently a bunch of barrel makers.

[ZenGum]

Well with barrel-making an honoured craft, the mini cooper being the sports model, and Coopers beer being the nectar of the gods, I guess it makes ... no sense at all, really.

[Aliantha]

Here are some pics of the baby's room. There's a rug to go on the floor yet and a footstool, but it's more or less ready to go now.



This is one of the cot, change table, small dresser and chair.



This one gives you a bit more of a look at the bits and pieces we've decorated the room with, including the ceiling which we covered in celophane and then dilly netting.



This is a close up of the dragonflies on the wall and the little fishies and birds that're suspended from the ceiling.


Obviously we've gone for a 'by the seaside' theme in keeping with just about everything else in our lives.

[classicman]

Looks very nice - At first I thought those were butterflies and I was like WTF? butterflies in a boys room? Looks really nice.

[Aliantha]

lol...yeah, Aden and Mav wanted to know I was putting up butterflies too, but then I showed them more closely.

Anyway, it's mainly the bright colours I was going for. Getting him to focus etc...all the pop psych crap they go on with...plus, I never had the opportunity to decorate a room for the other two when they were babies, so it was nice to let my imagination go on this one for a while.

[classicman]

You should do something with the fan blades - put the dragonflies on there - that way the baby can see them while in his crib - just a thought.

[Aliantha]

I've got mobiles and stuff to put up on his cot, and I'm going to paint his name on the wall once we decide what it's going to be.

More colour to come!

[classicman]

Oh c'mon - paint the damn blades on his fan! Just alternate red and blue or something - It'll be cool to watch him go cross-eyed watching it.

[Aliantha]

lol...sadist!

[classicman]

Well that or he'll learn red and blue make purple when the fan spins really really fast.

[Sundae]

It all looks gorgeous!
Lucky, lucky boy.

Serious question - do you think it will be a positive thing that your three boys will have a different colour skin (to eachother) or do you anticipate problems in the future? Sorry, that was the blunt version, I suppose I should say that can you perceive differences for those of your sons that have an alternate heritage.

Inter-racial adoption is a big issue in the UK at the moment, with a large number of children who need to be adopted being from mixed race backgrounds, and the vast majority of couples wanting to adopt being white middle class. And the official thinking seems to weigh very heavily on the non-Causcasian side of the heritage - mixed race and black/ asian etc parents being the preferred parents. As the biological mother you don't have to jump through these hoops, but you & Daryl would certainly not top the list if your two older boys were not your own.

Personally I think children can't thrive in care - there are official statistics to back this up - so send them to where the love is. Any experience they have of an inter-racial family can only benefit them.

I appreciate this is an incredibly personal question - feel free not to answer.

[wolf]

I love the dragonflies!!

(I don't know how they're regarded down under, but here they are seen as messengers of creation, and also work to dispel illusion. Very sweet!)

I can pretty much guarantee that the little one will end up pretty much indifferent to the mobile, but fascinated by the ceiling fan.

At least that's what happens to the babies that get brought into my office. Despite all grown-ups attempts to engage them, they just love to watch those blades going round and round and round.

[classicman]

See - I was right - wolf eht htiw og

[Aliantha]

lol...ok, I might do something with the fan blades then! Satisfied???

Wolf, there's no particular significance attached to dragonflies here that I know of, but I just had this idea of putting a flock(?)/swarm(?) of them on the wall. It's amazing when you see a dozen or so of them going about their business in real life, so I was just trying to capture that organized dissaray with the wall.

Thanks for your comments.

[Aliantha]

Originally Posted by Sundae Girl

It all looks gorgeous!
Lucky, lucky boy.

Serious question - do you think it will be a positive thing that your three boys will have a different colour skin (to eachother) or do you anticipate problems in the future? Sorry, that was the blunt version, I suppose I should say that can you perceive differences for those of your sons that have an alternate heritage.

Inter-racial adoption is a big issue in the UK at the moment, with a large number of children who need to be adopted being from mixed race backgrounds, and the vast majority of couples wanting to adopt being white middle class. And the official thinking seems to weigh very heavily on the non-Causcasian side of the heritage - mixed race and black/ asian etc parents being the preferred parents. As the biological mother you don't have to jump through these hoops, but you & Daryl would certainly not top the list if your two older boys were not your own.

Personally I think children can't thrive in care - there are official statistics to back this up - so send them to where the love is. Any experience they have of an inter-racial family can only benefit them.

I appreciate this is an incredibly personal question - feel free not to answer.

Actually, the main thing I've been worried about is remembering to put sunscreen on him all the time. It's not something I've had to worry about too much with Aden and Mav. lol They still wear it to begin with, but they just go browner and browner rather than burning. In fact, the only time they've really been sunburned is one time when Dazza took them fishing on a really hot day and they stood around in the sun all day long without shirts on (not Dazza, he's lilly white).

Within our family I don't expect there'll be any problems with different skin colours, and as the boys are with me most of the time and I'm clearly white when they're not, we're used to the looks we sometimes get although not as much as you might expect. I know people wonder when they see Dazza and me and the boys together, but I've never bothered to say anything. This new baby will be lucky to come into a family that's got a little bit of it's own diversity, and I'm pretty sure that if any of the other kids give him any grief over the difference in skin colour, they might have to consider dealing with his big brothers. Particularly Aden who can get pretty feisty if someone's giving Mav a hard time. I can only imagine it'll be the same for the new little bloke.

I know it's not PC to say so, but Aden and Mav are pretty good looking kids, so I think this has saved them from a lot of teasing and racial comments they might otherwise have had to suffer. It hasn't completely insulated them from it, but I think it's definitely helped. They're also leaders among their peers, so it's usually coming from one of the kids at the bottom of the pecking order so it makes it easier for them to cope with and they've done very well for themselves imo.

When it all comes down to it, we're all colourblind in our household and we've never had a situation where it's been said or even implied that something has happened because of someone's colour. As parents, we've always spent time talking about the reasons why some people make nasty comments about numerous things with the hope that our boys will always know that it's not them with the problem, but rather the person doing the saying. I expect we'll follow the same path with the new one and any possible future progeny.