Author: Casey District Multiple Birth Association

Recently we sent out an email about all the exciting events we are hosting in September and October. Please let us know if you didn’t receive this email. We have two information talks scheduled. On the 20th of September we will be hosting an online webinar with Chrissie Davies from Chaos to Calm. She will be discussing her Tantrum Toolbox for children aged 2-12
years old. Then on the 11th of October CDMBA will be hosting a talk with Stacey Deayton about Starting Solids and children’s nutrition. Our CDMBA team has managed to secure a family discount for Funtopia in Cranbourne. We are excited to partner with them to offer our members this great opportunity. Funtopia is a playcentre for children under the age of 5 years. In order to receive the discount entry fee of $10 per family, you have to show proof of CDMBA membership through TidyHQ (the membership portal). We have created an infographic to assist you with how to access this information. Please keep an eye open for the following events, flyers in newsletter and details on CDMBA Facebook private page:
-Father’s day on the 3rd of September
-Bumblebee Market on the 11th of September
-Coffee Catch up on the 30th of September
-Halloween Disco on the 30th of October
Casey and District Multiple Birth Association is a volunteer parent to parent run club and our resources are limited. Thus we are always open to member suggestions of how we can enhance our services or ideas for events or products we can offer members. Please email president@caseydistrict.AMBA.au with your thoughts.

In August and September, Casey and District Multiple Birth Association Inc. will have numerous activities on the club calendar. On the 16th of August there will be a mid-week catch up at a new play centre that I personally am excited to check out. Moreover, in September we will be celebrating dads with a family fun day at on the 3rd of September. On the 11th of September CDMBA will be participating in the Bumblebee Market where we will be selling donated baked goodies and delicious treats. All funds raised on the day will go towards the introduction of a club funded monthly Saturday playgroup. We end September with a coffee catch up on the 30th in Berwick. Please keep an eye open for the flyers in the newsletter and on Facebook for more details about all the exciting events on offer. Lastly the Young Bubs playgroup will be changing from a weekly playgroup to a fortnightly playgroup as of August.

The committee took some time out to get to know each other this month after the AGM in May. We had a lovely meet and greet evening filled with laughter and wine tasting at Unwine in Berwick. The new committee is finding its feet and this was an important step in creating a supportive team.
We had a successful CDMBA planning meeting on the 22nd of June. The planning meeting is where we plan the year’s events and create a budget for each event and get a better understanding of what we can commit to financially. We are open to suggestions so please email me, if you have any ideas for events you would like to see in the future.
The AMBA National Convention will finally be happening after 2 years of cancellations due to Covid-19. Convention this year will be hosted by North West Sydney Multiple Birth Association and will be held in Sydney from 4 to 6 November 2022. Registrations are now open.
The school holidays are here. If you are looking for ideas on what to do don’t forget the Small Ideas membership. We have a link to it in the newsletter and facebook and this specific link connects you to the CDMBA fundraising drive on Small Ideas. For each membership that goes through the link the club gets $10 which we would love to use to cover costs for club events.

Casey and District Multiple Birth Association Inc hosted it’s Annual General Meeting on the 18th of May. I know I have mentioned this often but it is important that all members know and understand we are a 100% volunteer run association and we are reliant on members offering up their time and skills to make our club successful.
We were lucky to maintain a significant amount of 2021 committee members staying in their roles. I love when new members sign up to be part of committee because it means they see the benefits in being part of the governing body that plans and implements supports and services. Many times these new committee members received support from the team which was invaluable to them and they want to give back.

We filled the majority of our roles but we still have a few available if you feel that you would like to be a part of our amazing committee team.

Sincerely,
Candice Janse Van Nieuwenhuizen
CDMBA President

The Casey and District Multiple Birth Association Annual Easter Egg Hunt happened on Good Friday. We had an amazing turn out of families attending, with plenty of activities for everyone to participate in. Congratulations to those who won raffles or giveaways on the day! Thank you to the Easter Subcommittee for all your hard work and for making the day special for all the families. We are so grateful to have such dedicated volunteers to put together events and services for our members.

Our Vision Portraits fundraiser was a huge success with a total of $420 being raised. This will go towards the Mother’s Day movie night on the 6th of May. Please see the flyer in our newsletter for more details and keep an eye on our Facebook page for movie and pre-drinks details.

The Casey and District Multiple Birth Association AGM will be on the 18th of May. Please consider volunteering for the CDMBA committee. There are many benefits to volunteering such as :
– Improved mental health
– Development of skills and experiences
– Centrelink benefits
– Being part of the decision-making committee and sharing
your ideas for a successful club.

Sincerely,
Candice Janse Van Nieuwenhuizen
CDMBA President

The theme for Multiple Birth Awareness Week this year was ‘Educating the Educators’. AMBA offered some very informative webinars to assist with this topic, not only for teachers but parents alike. We were fortunate enough to host a really great picnic at Cardinia Reserve to celebrate with our members. It was an absolutely lovely day filled with plenty of multiples and parents dressed in purple enjoying each other’s company. Thank you to those that joined in.

As we hop into April it is worth pausing to consider the meaning of Easter. It is meant to be the symbol of hope, renewal and new life. Things have been tough lately with all that’s going on in the world so having a little hope and renewal is something to rejoice about.

Here’s what’s cracking this month in the CDMBA events calendar. First up is our Vision Portraits fundraiser on the 10th of April. This is a great opportunity for mothers to get out from behind the camera, get a little dressed up and take some great family pictures (which dad can turn into a really sweet Mother’s Day gift). Details are below and on Facebook. Next is the CDMBA Annual Easter Egg Hunt on Good Friday, 15th of April, at the Old Cheese Factory. This is such a fun day for the children with an Easter egg hunt , hot cross buns and crafts. For the parents there will be a coffee van and raffles to be won filled with vouchers, gifts and chocolates. May is all about the super mums that give up so much and dedicate so much love and time to their families. We would love to celebrate these mums with a night out. We are finalising details so please keep an eye out for details on Facebook.

Lastly, please put the CDMBA Annual General Meeting in your calendar for the 18th of May and join us on the night. We need volunteers to run the club and we 100 % rely on our members to be on the club committee. Please consider joining the committee to share your ideas, improvements or just to give back to the club. We appreciate every hand that goes up to help with events, support or wherever your interests lie. Please don’t be deterred by the unknown of becoming a committee member, ask us any questions you may have.
There are small roles as well as bigger roles and there
are many ways to assist within the club.

Sincerely,
Candice Janse Van Nieuwenhuizen
CDMBA President

Casey and District Multiple Birth Association has a number of enjoyable events scheduled for the next couple of months. In March we kick off with Multiple Birth Awareness Week (MBAW) which runs from 20th-27th of March.
The Australian Multiple Birth Association (MBAW) theme this year is “Educating the Educators” with a theme colour of purple. According to AMBA “The ‘Educating the Educators’ theme offers the opportunity to put the spotlight on the unique needs of multiples and their parents, in the educational context. We want to ensure that both medical and educational professionals have access to high quality information on how best to cater for the specific needs of multiple birth families, across the lifespan.”
There will be a few free webinars offered to the community, including one from CDMBA life member, Monica Rankin. Monica will be presenting a webinar on “Multiples in School. To keep together or to separate?” on the 21st of March at 8PM. We will be advertising this closer to the time. I, for one, am very excited to attend as a mum of multiples that just started kinder. This will be an excellent opportunity to gain knowledge on this topic to empower me when discussing this topic with my children’s educators. Please join CDMBA for our MBAW celebration on the 20th of March (flyer in newsletter). Please wear purple on the day to show unity as a group.
Following on, April will be our Annual Easter Egg Hunt on the 15th of April (flyer in newsletter) and May will be all about mothers.

The first week of March we will be distributing the Australian Baby Card to all members. This program is subscribed to by the AMBA and provided to clubs to distribute to member families. The Australian Baby Card (ABC) is a discount card for parents and parents-to-be. Please keep an eye on your mailbox and let us know if you have not received it by April.
Lastly, I would just like to remind all members that CDMBA is a volunteer run parent-to-parent association. This means we need volunteers in order to run our services, programs and support. Our AGM will be coming up in May so please consider joining the committee. If you have any questions about a position, the committee or how you can help before making a decision please either email or chat at an event.

As the start of the school year draws near my household is filled with all these emotions. My identical girls will be going to 3 year old kinder this year. This is the first time in their young lives they will be away from a parent regularly for more than an hour or two. They have yet to grasp this realisation that mommy won’t be there. Riley and Olivia are filled with excitement and curiosity and they can’t wait for this new adventure to begin. I too am excited but I have so many other emotions swirling around. I am elated for the first time in 3 years to have some mommy only time on a weekly basis. However I also realise this is the start of their school journey which fills me with joy, hesitation, nervousness and the slightest feeling of sadness of letting go and realising my little babies are growing up. I know they are still little and I cherish my time with them but the school days will get longer and my time with them will get shorter. I am a first time mom to our twins like many of our members and this is one of those big milestones for me. For other parents this experience might not be a big deal while for some this could feel very overwhelming. For those parents feeling overwhelmed please rely on your support network.

Good luck to all the children starting school and to those returning to school. If your children have yet to start kinder please join us at our playgroup on Wednesday for the Young Bubs and Fridays for all ages.

There will be a park catch up in February and it will be great to see our members there. Flyer in newsletter.

As we close off this year I am grateful for all that this year has given me and forgetful for what it took away.
We have been blessed with so many wonderful grants this year with the latest allowing us to purchase a Medela Symphony breast pump and pumping kits. CDMBA members can rent the pump directly from the club from 2022.
We have been given the opportunity from Bunnings to host a Sausage sizzle on the 16th of January. We will need volunteers so please stick up your hand to assist even if it’s just for an hour or two. Next we have a token jar at Grill’d in Fountain gate so please encourage friends and family to stop in and put a token in our jar.

The Christmas subcommittee has done a fantastic job to pull together some really great goodies for the family hampers that have gone out. Please let us know if you didn’t receive one. There was a tremendous effort put into the 12 Days of Christmas giveaway. Thank you ladies.

Thank you to the CDMBA committee for all the hard work you put into the committee this year. Lastly thank you to all the members that have stuck with us throughout this year with limited services available.

Happy Holidays

As October reaches the end, I hope those that participated in Mental Health month found the webinars and mental health calendar enlightening. While Melbourne opens up more each week many of us are dealing with these feelings in our own way. Whether you feel excited, nervous or overwhelmed, just know we are all in this together. The next few weeks will take time and patience to figure how we navigate through this. I ask that all CDMBA members please have compassion for all our volunteers at events and playgroups. We need to ensure we follow all government guidelines and our volunteers are trying their best to ensure the safety of all our members.

An email went earlier this month asking all members to please
update their TidyHQ profiles. We are starting to prepare for Christmas and will be using the details in TidyHQ to ensure each child gets a present and each member family gets something special from CDMBA.
If you haven’t yet, please confirm these details and update as needed.
If you are having difficulty, please contact a committee member. As
part of our Christmas extravaganza we will have a 12 Days of Christmas giveaway, see the flyer later in this newsletter for details.
Keep an eye on the Casey and District Multiple Birth Association Facebook page for more information and to get a look at what amazing giveaways have been sourced for our members. If you aren’t a member of our private Facebook page, please send through a request.