An Extremely Innovative Idea

Entrepreneurs out there!!!  Please take this idea and make it into a chain of shops so there's bound to be one near me wherever I'm living!!!  I'm sure it will take off, because I'll keep you in business, all my myself if I have to!!  I can't tell you how many times I've wished it existed!! And by all the exclamation marks clocked up in this post already, you can tell I mean what I'm talking about!!!!! ;)

And what is my extremely innovative idea?  It's for times like this:

Image from http://www.fignutmum.com/2012/03/have-you-checked-car-seats-lately.html

Or times for even when they're not asleep, but they're in the back seat nonetheless, and it takes at least 5 minutes to get them all out and all into the car, and you need to pick up some bread and milk.  Or toilet paper.  Or nappies.  Or wipes.  Or something else you can't live without.  

So here's my great idea:

A drive through 'essentials' store.  

Honestly, I'd be there all the time!  I do almost anything to avoid pulling all three of my aged 3 and under children out of the car and in again when I only have to 'run in' for something.  Of course I can't leave them in the car by themselves even for a minute, so I'm forever doing this, and it's lost all of its charm!  And it literally takes me at least 10 times as long to run into the shop as it does when I'm alone in the car, which is almost never!  Just yesterday, I may have gone over and picked up my little (not that little) brother to come for a short drive with me so he could sit in the car with my babies while I ran into the post office quickly (okay, the post office is probably my LEAST favourite place to attend with my babies - everything is so very exciting to touch, and you're trying to figure out the cheapest way to send your package and writing the address on it while desperately trying to stop them from touching things and wishing you had 4 hands.  And my children are actually pretty reasonably behaved!).  A bunch of healthy snacks at this drive-through window would also be appreciated.  I mean I should be packing them myself when we're going out but sometimes you are having 'a bit of a day' and forget, and it would be great to drive through and pick up some cheese and yummy bread rolls instead of having junk or nothing available without leaving your car!  While I'm at it, let's make this place reasonably well priced :)

I'm a bit busy looking after the reason I need this innovative idea, but if there's anyone out there who wants to steal my idea and use it, just me being able to drive through for a bottle of milk after a long day of running around doing errands with my children at the end of their ropes, would be payment enough ;)

PS:  Why does this not already exist?  Surely it would be profitable?!  Surely!!

Mother Heart..

Last week, our daughter Ana turned 2.  

Ana has a doll called ‘Jenny’, who she takes extremely good care of.  Especially since we brought our little baby boy home from the hospital, Ana has demonstrated exemplary care of her little baby.  

She feeds Jenny, puts her down for regular naps, cuddles and kisses her, tickles and giggles with her, chats and coos to her, bounces her in our baby bouncer, styles her hair, plays music for her, and holds toys in front of her face to entertain her.  

If Ana’s outside playing, you can be sure that Jenny’s been made comfortable for her absence – I’ll find her napping in our son’s bassinet, sitting in Ana’s high chair in front of a plate of plastic food, or lying in our baby playmate with the music going.  

Every night when we kneel to say Ana’s prayers with her before bed, she gently helps Jenny kneel down beside her, and folds her arms.  Then she holds Jenny’s folded arms carefully with one hand, folds her other hand, bows her head and is ready for prayer.  

Ana loves Jenny.  She takes so much joy in looking after her and meeting her needs.  

Just as naturally as Anamaria’s learned to eat, walk and run in the last 2 years, she’s become a little mama.

Again and again and again and again!

My world is largely full of adults.  I work with adults, I live with adults, I mostly converse with adults.  And so every now and again, when I spend some time with my (wonderful, fabulous, very 'little people') nieces and nephews, it takes me a bit by surprise just how differently they go through life.

For example last week I was hanging out with Maggie (3 years old) and Ana (almost 2 years old), and we were playing hide and seek.  This is how it goes: Maggie and I would cover Ana with a blanket, on her bed in their room.  Then we would run out into the lounge room, sit on the couch, cover our eyes and count to ten.  Once that ritual was accomplished, we would sprint back into the room, pull the blanket off Ana (the same one we had just put on her), and 'find her'.  Then Maggie would be hidden under the same blanket, and Ana and I would run out into the lounge room, sit on the couch, cover our eyes and count to ten before running back into the the room and finding her.

We would then repeat this about 12 times.

Then the game would get a little exciting, because Maggie would decide to hide Ana under the table instead of under the blanket.  This would be followed by Maggie hiding under the table on the next round, and then we'd repeat that cycle about 12 times.   And then another exciting change would eventually happen, and we'd hide Ana in the clothes cupboard instead of under the table (just to really challenge ourselves), and we'd repeat that 12 (or 1200) times.

I admit to getting a little bored with the game (like, really bored).  I kept trying to introduce new hiding spaces, or a little sense of 'surprise' into the game ('Maggie, why don't you hide somewhere else, by yourself, and Ana and I will try and figure out where you are?!') - but they weren't the slightest bit interested.

It made me laugh, and I've been thinking about it a little since then.  It's definitely a pattern with little people, this 'repetition' thing.  But repetition is a crucial component for getting better at something, right? And it's so exciting to be part of all that learning and growing.  I certainly used repetition when I was learning to play the piano, or memorising for exams, or learning all the things I know how to do for my job at work.  And I'm grateful for all those people who put aside their 'being bored' moments to patiently help me repeat something they already knew how to do, until I finally had it down.

And it was seriously impressive just how clearly and quickly Ana could count to ten (with her little hands pressed over her eyes), before we went to find Maggie.

So though the game itself was just a tad boring, it was fun as always to hang out with these great little girls and their little worlds of practice and learning.

xo Tammy

PS.  Abs, if - when they're teenagers - you ever having trouble finding one of them, just give me a call. Pretty sure I've got all their 'hiding places' covered :)

I Thought I Could, I thought I Would!!!

I feel like I entered motherhood with my eyes wide open.  I knew it was going to be sleepless, and hard, and make me want to cry at times.  But just like labour (which I went into expecting hell, but not realising hell could be quite so bad!), it's a tiny bit more of each of these than I imagined!  Fortunately, I also realised motherhood would be fabulous, exciting and full of love, and it's more in each of these ways than I imagined too! :)  

Today was not like these latter experiences.  This morning when I was on the phone, Maggie and Ana emptied two candle jars full of these -

 - tiny granules, all over our lounge room.  Not just the floor - onto shelves, into books (seriously, they opened books up, poured granules between pages and closed them again! - who does that?!!!), all through the folded laundry, everywhere.  This has happened before to a smaller degree, and they've been talked to and I've vacuumed them up.  But I'm really trying to teach the girls using natural consequences instead of punishments.  So in this case, the natural consequence would be to have to pick them up.  After a good half hour of the girls picking them up and replacing them, one by one (with a few 'I wonder what Mum will do if I tip this partially filled glass jar of granules back onto the floor' moments along the way), and the floor looking pretty much the same, I got down to help them.  An hour later (with lots of 'I should have just vacuumed these up! - This teaching method had better work!!!' moments), we finally finished, phew!  What a waste of time!! - or, fingers crossed, a great learning experience!!

Then I went to change the baby, and the girls went into the kitchen and started turning the oven knobs to 'on' and going into the pantry.  I came out and talked to them about not touching the oven knobs (we have a gas stove so there are 5 different knobs which make gas come out!  This is not the first time we've had this conversation), and asked them not to play in the kitchen.  Then I got a phone call from a friend, who was telling me about something I could look up online, which I did.  After a few minutes I heard the girls back in the kitchen, so I went in there, and found them covered in green food colouring, which they'd removed from the pantry.

 Cranky Mummy (who had been sooo patient during the 'granules over the floor' part of the day) came out, bathed the girls, put them to bed (she was so cranky they went straight to sleep, which they never do for 'patient and kind Mummy' - sigh! - where's the incentive, girls?! lol..) and scrubbed the green food colouring from the floors, walls and cupboards.  I then noticed a funny smell and realised they'd turned the oven on - eek!

I have to confess, I've always imagined I'd be great with children going through the 'terrible 2's' etc.  It's just a phase, you know it's coming, and they're just innocent little children, who don't know any better.  

Except that they DO!!!  Maggie knew that everything she did today (and we all know none of it was Ana's idea - she is the most loyal, obedient little sister I've ever seen!) was wrong!  She did it on purpose!!  Sigh!!

So even though I thought I'd have the 'terrible 2's' thing completely handled without raising a hair, I'm finding lots of hairs raised, and at an alarming rate!!!

I texted James and told him briefly of my woes.  He didn't reply (he didn't even see the text until well after school!).  I felt down and thought, "I just wish he'd come home with flowers and chocolates and told me everything was okay!!", so just in case he couldn't read my mind (and it turns out most people can't, sigh), I texted him to let him know.  I was delighted a while later when he showed up with a beautiful bunch of roses and an assortment of chocolates (including an Easter Bunny, because we all know that chocolate made into the shape of an Easter Bunny is way better than normal chocolate! :)) - it's so great when I just tell James what I'm thinking instead of trying to will him to read my mind!  Works out well for both of us ;)

When the girls got up we had a long talk.  And a much better afternoon.  And James got this in an email and showed it to me to cheer me up.

You may laugh, but the idea's not half bad!!! :)

I thought I could, I thought I would find it easy to be patient through 'terrible' childhood phases, but I have a LONG way to go!! It's so great the way you love your children so much, so that there's enough love for even when they're driving you crazy, don't you think?! :)  

And I'll try not to dwell on the fact that Maggie just poured out a few more granules over the living room floor tonight before bed - I'm sure that hour and a half on her knees taught her something, right?

Deep breaths!!! lol :)

Points for Creativity ;)

Have you noticed lately I seem to be stealing old posts from my personal blog and putting them on this blog??  If you knew how deeply I was buried in the depths of trying to get a grip on our new family life you'd be impressed that I'm posting at all!  Or at least that's what I'd like to think :)

Anyway, well here's another cop out repost:


Was just putting a very reluctant Maggie down to bed.  I asked if she wanted me to sing to her, and she stopped between cries long enough to request "ishashi".  I said I didn't know that song and did she want to sing it, so she did.  It went something like this:

"ishashi ma lieee afaaa
ooohh ffaaaaa lllieee meee
shahaha laaaaaaaaaaaa
ishashi ma lieee afaaa
I need to play some more
Not go to bed.
No more sleeping
Maggie is awake now!
ishashi ma lieee afaaa
ooohh ffaaaaa lllieee meee
shahaha laaaaaaaaaaaa
ishashi ma lieee afaaa"

Points for creativity :)

Before you ask, no - Maggie did not earn a reprieve - you need way more points for that ;) 

From the Mouths of Babes...

Children learning to talk = some pretty funny/random conversations :)  Here are some from Maggie over the past few months.  It's so funny to hear what they've picked up and their (sometimes a little warped) understandings of things!! :)

Maggie:  Daddy I play with the boys!
James:  Oh, are you too fast for the girls?
Maggie:  Mmm...
James:  Were the girls princesses?
Maggie:  No, daddy!  They not princesses! - They wearing jeans!!!

Abby:  Thankyou so much, Maggie!
Maggie: (patting my arm) Great manners, Mummy!!

Ana brought me Maggie's red baseball cap with Elmo on it, and I put it on for her.
Maggie:  Oh, Mummy look!  Ana's a man!  Ana's a man!!

(this next one was during the 'toilet training' phase - hence my urgency with the 'answer me!!' lol)
Maggie (in the back seat of the car): Mummy! my botton!
Abby:  What's wrong with your bottom?
Silence.
Abby:  Maggie?!  Do you need to go to the toilet?!  We can stop at a toilet if you need one??
Silence.
Abby:  Is your bottom sore?!  Maggie, are you okay?  Answer me!  Do we need to stop at a toilet?
Maggie:  It's okay.
Abby:  Are you sure?
Maggie:  Yes.  My botton okay....  My botton is very happy, Mummy! :)

Maggie:  Mummy, look!  My knees!
Abby:  Oh, yes, what about them?
Maggie:  My knees so happy! :) 
Abby:  That's great, Maggie!
Maggie:  Yeah, they mucking around... (walks off)

Maggie: (as James ran into the shops and the girls and I waited in the car):  Daddy!  Don't go!!!  Oh Mummy, I wanted to speak with him!!

Maggie (singing along to 'Dancing in the moonlight'):  Danc-ing in the mirror!!

This morning I had told Maggie to leave a tube of Paw Paw Ointment that was on James' bedside.  I told her she wasn't to touch it.  I thought she and Ana were playing in her room just now, but when I went to check on them, only Ana was there! - I turned around to see where Maggie was, and I found her in our room, covered in a now half-empty tube of Paw Paw Ointment.  Once she was cleaned up, I sat her out in the lounge room and we talked about what she had done.  
Abby:  Maggie, you did the wrong thing by going back in and playing with that ointment.
Maggie: Mummy, you gave me no choice!  (shaking her head) You gave me no choice, Mummy.

Abby:  Guess what, Maggie?!  It's Mummy's birthday tomorow!
Maggie: (waving her hands in front of her) No, no, no, no, no.  No, Mummy - it's Aunty Bethy's birthday tomorow.
Abby: *pause*... um... no.  It's my birthday.
Maggie:  Then it's Hallie's birthday.  It's not your birthday

Mummy:  The baby in my tummy is a boy, like Daddy!

Maggie:  No, Daddy’s not a boy.  He’s a big man king!

James:  Yes, but I started out as a little boy.  And the little brother in Mummy’s tummy is a little tiny boy, but when he grows up like Daddy, he’ll be a big man king too!  And you’re a little girl, -

Maggie: No I’m a big girl.

James:  Well, sort of.  You’re a big girl, and when you grow up, you’ll be a queen just like Mummy!

Maggie: (gasp!) – and I’ll get to wear earrings!!

Maggie:  Mummy I love you SO MUCH!!!
Abby:  Maggie I love YOU so much!! And Ana I love YOU so much!!!
Maggie:  You love Maggie Girl and Ana Banana?
Abby:  Yes, my two beautiful girls :)
Maggie:  Mummy we not beautiful.
Abby:  Of course you are.
Maggie:  But we wearing pyjamas.
Abby:  You're still beautiful.
Maggie:  But they pants, Mummy.
Abby:  You're still beautiful.
Maggie:  MUMMY! We NOT beautiful!  We wearing PANTS!!!!
Abby:  Honey it doesn't matter what you're wearing!
Maggie:  We wearing pants.
(5 minutes later, Maggie still muttering)
Maggie:  We wearing pyjamas... we are not beautiful... they pants!

Me: (serenading to the girls while they were eating their breakfast)
Maggie:  Mummy! Please stop singing - we're trying to eat!

(Maggie pushing buttons on my 'locked' phone)

Abby:  What are you doing there, Maggie?

Maggie:  Just texting.

Abby:  Oh!  Who are you texting??

Maggie:  Aunty Tammy.

Abby:  Oh... how is she?
Maggie:  She's good.

:)

James (pointing to my very 'outie' belly button when Maggie was snuggling my belly/her brother):  Maggie, what's that??
Maggie:  That's Baby Brother's finger!! :)

Maggie and Ana run out of Maggie's room together - Maggie over-acting scared, Ana obviously thrilled and giggly...

Maggie:  Mummy!!! There's a monster in my room!! The monster tried to get Ana and Maggie!!!

Ana:  (giggle)

Abby:  What did you do?!

Maggie:  We ran away!!!  But when Daddy comes home, he will get it, Mummy!  He will save us!!

Ana:  Daddy! :)

Abby:  Yes dear, Daddy always saves us.

Maggie:  'Cause he's the man!!! :)  

Me: sitting at the breakfast table with my head down, exhausted after no sleep (thanks, SJ), enjoying closing my eyes and not being on my feet for a few minutes...
Maggie:  Mummy, what's wrong?!
Me: (startled out of my doze) Oh!  Nothing, honey.  I'm just a bit tired.  Cause the baby needs to wake up at night and eat some food, and I just -
Maggie:  No, Mummy.  I will say "Mummy, what's wrong?!" and you will say "Nothing, Maggie!", okay?
Me:..... um.. okay...
Maggie:  Mummy, what's wrong?!
Me:  Nothing, Maggie!
Maggie:  That's great! :) (smiles sweetly at me, then goes back to eating her breakfast).

Maggie (very seriously, holding my face in her hands):  Mummy, I love your eyebrows.
Me: Oh... thankyou.
Maggie:  They look very cute on you.

:)

 

My Big Sister: The Grand, High Witch!

One of the many childhood stories that have made it into our family memory vault of fame, is the one where my lovely big sister (Tammy) took me into her room and successfully convinced me she was The Grand, High Witch - from Roald Dahl's The Witches.  What can I say?  She was THAT convincing!  And she had that poem ("Down vith children...!"), down, by heart.

I recently walked in on a scene between Maggie and Ana which evoked the memory of that childhood moment.. 

I just started writing it out, and realised I already wrote it on my family blog back when it happened, so here's a copy+paste from that :)

The Tiger is Coming to GET YOU!!!

This made me laugh so much the other day - I walked into the living area after feeding Stanley-James and Ana was holding her doll Jenny, hiding in the corner of the room behind the couch and the floor cushion.

Why was she hiding you ask?

Across the room, Maggie was standing on a chair, and with great authority and enthusiasm she was admonishing Ana and Jenny to stay there at any cost, because 'The tiger is coming to GET YOU!!!!'

Lol!!

Maggie's speech went on for quite some time...

...and Ana obediently sat in the corner, cuddling her doll.

:)

I'm getting a little bit of 'Grand High Witch' de javu, Tammy.... :)

Newborn Perfection.

So the last couple of weeks of my posts I wrote in advance and scheduled.  The current me hasn't posted for a few weeks.  I've been busy with my perfect new little baby boy :)

One of my lovely friends Alana Aston is a fabulous photographer (literally one of the best around, if not the best), and she took some beautiful newborn photos of our baby boy.  We haven't got them all yet, but she put a few sneak peeks on Facebook for us:

Just look at all that perfection!  

Newborns bring the most perfect little spirit of love into your home!  And it just grows the more you get to know them as you care for them and they grow and grow and grow!! 

Perfection :)

And he has 3 mothers - lucky boy ;)

We are loving being a new little family of 5 - it's been a lot of fun :)

Next week I'll be back - in fact, I've had a hilariously disastrous week that I can share with you - after all, if I don't write it down somewhere I'm bound to forget it, and what's the point of going through all that grief if I can't share it?!  ;) 

xo

The Cute Factor

James thinks I 'go easy' on the girls sometimes because I get 'smooed' (James' very own made up describing word for getting all gooey over their cuteness) by them.  

I stodgily protest this assessment, but I have to say, sometimes it's hard to overlook how perfect and gorgeous little children are, even when they're doing something awful or making a huge mess they know better than to make.  Sometimes I walk in and am very ready to bust out my very stern Mum persona, only to have them turn around and flash me the kind of smile that makes me stumble again over the fact that they are mine, and realise once more how incredibly blessed I am to have these two perfect, bright little lights in my life!!  (At this point I still bust out 'stern Mum' - she's just maybe slightly less stern... and quickly melts into 'cuddles Mum').

I believe the cute factor is a worldwide phenomenon, something that gets tots from all backgrounds, out of of trouble and into our arms in record timing.  And I think the more you know a little one, the better you love them, and we all know our children so well, through and through, that we understand each expression and movement and smile, which just makes us melt even more when their smile says, 'I love you!'.

The cuteness factor also makes faults completely invisible to people like Aunts and Grandparents.  For example, my niece Jacey is the walking definition of 'sweet', and I'm pretty sure the cuteness factor doesn't even need to apply to her, because she wouldn't be capable of doing anything mischievousness.   On the flip side, I have a hard time convincing my sisters or Mum that I've had a bad day, EVER, because they don't think my girls are capable of anything of the sort either!

Most of all, I think the cuteness factor has been working overtime on James for the past few years, and as much as he stodgily assures me their sweetness hasn't the slightest effect on him, the more he comes home from shopping trips toting pink ballerina dolls and hair accessories, the less I believe him.

Look at my poor Dad - 7 children and 7 grandchildren later, and we've got him 'wrapped' ;)

I think it makes the world a better place :)

This Time 'Round' (Pregnancy Perks and Pains)

And I do mean 'round' :)

Last time 'round

I am pregnant with baby number 3.  I do not sail gracefully and beautifully and glowingly through my entire pregnancy.  I think I do that for maybe a week somewhere around month 5.  The other 39 weeks are more of a challenge.

Here's how pregnancy #3 has gone for me... 

The first trimester:

• I thought that I would die.  Morning sickness feels like death.  Or at the very least, like you're heading that way!
• How did I do this twice already?
• It must be much worse this time!!! (James assuring me it was exactly the same)
• I can't eat ANYTHING!!! - wait, except an Aussie burger from Hungry Jacks... right now.. I'm not kidding James, right now.  Why am I not eating it right now?  Sob, sick.
• My poor children!  I'm putting on that Hi-5 DVD again!
• Yes, I'm pregnant - but you're not meant to be asking me that yet, I'm only 8 weeks, we're trying to keep it under wraps!  The weight I'm putting on isn't 'baby' yet - I just can't stop eating or I'll be sick! Yes, I know I look 14 weeks.  It's the 14 Aussie Burgers I've eaten in the last 2 weeks, that's all.
• James, don't get uni holiday work! - We'll survive without money!  I just can't get out of bed to look after the girls!  Or get myself food to cover my cravings and make me not be sick for 2 minutes   Skip class while you're at it please!  And skip basketball!  Skip everything - just stay home and help me not die!  You really have to go to that exam today?!  Okay, okay, I understand... Can you drop me at Mum and Dad's on the way??

The second trimester:

• When James asked me what I wanted for dinner, I didn't burst into tears! - I think I'm okay with anything!  I'm healed!!! :)
• Sick again.  Pregnancy feels like death!
• Better again today!  Finally pulling out of it!  :)  
• Wow, the world is a happy place!  A lot has happened while I've been 'under' for the last 4 months!!  I am so, SO excited to be pregnant!  YAY!!! :)  Wow, I put on SO much weight eating 24/7 to help me get through that!  But I'm still a little feeling fragile, and still can't stop eating.  That's okay - it's about survival right now... I wonder what we're having!  Bet it's another girl! :)
• It's a boy!!!  I can't wait to buy something blue!!!  It feels so real!!  I can't believe it!!!
• Come on time, hurry up - I want to meet this little guy!! :)  This trimester is taking a whiiiiile!!!

The third trimester:

• I have 12 weeks to go!!!  I'm not going to fit into any of my maternity clothes if I keep growing at this rate - cut junk food, feel HEAPS better!
• This is so exciting!  Planning, planning - ordering new bassinet, picking up bits of blue here and there :) 
• The girls and I are SUPER excited!  They can't wait to meet 'the baby brother' - we talk about him all the time, they give him lots of hugs.
• Lots of cramping, lots of sciatic nerve pain, lots of random pains, feel faint a lot.  Am assured by the doctors with a smile that this is all completely normal.  Reassured, but still in pain.  Again I say - I must be MUCH worse this pregnancy.  James telling friends I'm doing much BETTER this pregnancy.  Really?  It was this bad the other times?!  
• Am barely getting bigger since cutting junk food - think the baby must be eating the fat I'd already grown.  I feel good about this! :)
• Baby's too small!  Booked in for ultrasounds to plot growth!
• False alarm - baby's a great size.
• But baby's breach!  Unless he turns will have to try painful procedure with 60% chance of success to turn him, or book me in for a caesarean!  
• Prayers.  He turned!  Yay!! :)
• 12 days to go.  Over the moon, SO EXCITED!!!  Getting excited and gooey looking through 'the day Ana was born' photos.  Hospital bags packed.
• Falling asleep halfway through sentences at 6:30pm - barely making it from the dinner table with my eyes open.  Roll my eyes anytime poor James mentions in passing that he's feeling tired or sore from something.
• "Oh, you've dropped!  You'll be having this baby any day now!!!"
  "Wow you're still carrying really high! - Baby must still be a long way away!!"
  Obviously nobody as a clue when he'll really get here :)
• I can't believe we get to meet this boy soon!  Praying that everything will go 'well' with this labour.  Sick of leaning forward, but terror of posterior childbirth (first pregnancy) keeping me at it.  Dreaming of lying on my back within the month!
• Mixture of indescribable excitement and terror waiting for 'something' to happen!  Trying not to be afraid of labour.  It's not working.  
• Made dinner last night.  James surprised and grateful.  He is practically Mum and Dad while I'm pregnant.  I think he may be looking forward to baby's birth as much as I am! :)
• I really, really love my children.  I can't think of anything in the world I'd do this for, aside for another beautiful, perfect little addition to our family.  

After giving birth to Maggie after a 3 day posterior ordeal that was worse than any of the nightmares I had imagined (and childbirth has always been a huge fear - I imagined as bad as I could!), the first thing I remember saying, was "Oh James I would do it all again right now!  I love her SO MUCH!!!".  I was deliriously happy.  There is NOTHING like that feeling in the whole world.  And there is NOBODY like your very own child!!  Someone you can cuddle, and teach, and love and look after!!  And you get to watch them grow, and learn, and 'try you', and no matter how badly they're misbehaving, every day is full of perfect moments :)

So despite the last 9 months, and the very huge ordeal of childbirth, which will spring itself upon me any day in the next 4 weeks, there's nothing in the world that makes me happier than this:  

We're having another baby!!! :)

The Nativity :)

One of all of our favourite parts of Christmas Day this year, was our new tradition, which the grandchildren are finally old enough for - the acting out of the nativity! :)

It's actually a re-vamp of an old family tradition, which you can read about here.  

Jessima had picked up some of the costumes just at Big W, our angel was wearing a  princess dress up, and  one of our shepherds decided to go with a cute red Christmas dress, but as you can see in the post I just linked, sheets and towels over heads can be just as effective!!

The children met together on Christmas Eve, and Tammy helped them practise, which they had a lot of fun doing, if nothing else ;)  On Christmas morning, Tammy helped the children remember their couple of little lines, and remember when to do things like walk to Jerusalem...

...and give your gifts to the baby Jesus :)

It was so much fun, we all loved watching it, the children LOVED doing it, and it brought the real spirit and meaning of Christmas into our home :)

I can't wait for next year!! :)

A Little Drama Queen

This little story is from my personal blog on Christmas Eve - the first day of James' official holidays.

***

James is excited to spend quality time with all of us over the holidays, but he wants especially to spend some special time with Ana, who gets a little shy when she doesn't see enough of someone!!  So this morning she went on an outing to the fruit market and shops with Daddy!! :)  

Here they are all ready to go!! :)  Ana's waving 'goodbye', and James is telling Maggie he's sorry but this time (like, the first time ever for her with James!) she needs to stay home...

They left, and from the little phone conversation we had, it sounds like they're having a lovely time out together! :)

Meanwhile, Maggie has been sitting exactly like this since they left, about an hour ago now.

She won't eat her breakfast, and she is carefully closing her eyes just the right amount and doing little sobs every now and then (with periodic weeping on my shoulder) to express her wallowing state.  Every now and then she chokes out an 'I miss Daddy and Ana so MUCH' between pathetic sobs.  It's very impressive.  She can't touch her food - obviously it's lost all taste.

After I took these pictures - for which she good humouredly faced the camera - she looked at me with a twinkle in her sad little eye and chocked out "Can I see them, Mummy?".  I showed them to her, she grinned for half a second, and exclaimed "Oh Mummy! - She looks so saaad!  That girl is sooooo sad!!!".  I laughed my head off at her delight in her own great dramatic misery, and she allowed herself a cheeky grin or two before getting back into her zone :) 

xo

Bahahaha

2-year-old Maggie's appetite fluctuates, and some mornings she'll eat up to 7 (!!!) Weet-Bix for breakfast, while at other times, 2 is more than enough.  So these days, even if she asks for more, I always start her with 2, and then give her more, 1 at a time as she asks for them.  Still, sometimes she asks for another, and doesn't eat it all, and it's such a waste!!

Lately, she's been eating her 2, then a 3rd, and then asking for a 4th and only eating half of it, so the last couple of days when she's asked for a 4th, I've said 'No'. 

Also, she's been complaining about having milk in her Weet Bix.  When she asks for her 3rd, she says "No milk! No milk!!  Nnooooo!!!!" and gets upset at me putting milk in, though I've tried to tell her it's practically impossible to eat without milk on it.

This morning, she asked for her 3rd, and then her 4th.  When she asked for her 4th I said 'No', but she begged and begged, so I said she could have a 4th, but she HAD to sit up until she ate ALL of it - was that okay? "Yes, I will eat it all up!"  I told her in about 5 different ways that she'd be sitting there till she ate the whole thing, and she agreed, so I gave her the 4th.  When I was about to put the milk in, she started begging to not have any milk in it.  So I said 'Okay, no milk then - but remember you have to eat the whole thing'.  I crunched up the Weet-Bix so she'd be able to get it on her spoon without milk, and handed her the bowl.  She looked at it for aaages, then looked up at me and said "Oh.  no milk."  "That's right!"  I said, "Just like you asked!  Are you sure you don't want any milk??" and she looked at it for ages again, before saying slowly "Nooo... no milk".  She looked devastated, and so obviously really wanted milk, but her 2 year old pride wouldn't budge ... bahahahahaha.

She sat there and painfully downed most of the dry Weet-Bix, while I delightedly cleared up Ana and my breakfast things.  When I was putting the milk back in the fridge Maggie freaked out again and said "No! - Don't put the milk away!!!" and I said "Why?  Would you like some??" but she still wouldn't budge :)

Finally, she said "Finished, Mummy!!" and I asked her if she'd eaten it all, and she slowly said 'Nooo...' and looked sadly down at the remaining dry Weet-Bix (I was impressed at how much she'd gotten through!!).  I asked her again if she'd like some milk to finish it and she said "No".

A few minutes later, she said, "Mummy you can if you want" and I asked "Want to what?" and she said "You can if you want, Mummy" and I said "What can I do?" and she said "You can put the milk in there".  I said "I don't want to, unless you want me to??" - silence. 

Another couple of minutes later I finally heard "Mummy?  Can I please have some milk" :)  Bahahahaha.  So I put some milk in there and she was done in 2 minutes.  I cleaned her up and she asked me for a drink of water, poor girl :)

Hopefully she's had enough of the milk fight.

A while ago Maggie started freaking out every time I cleaned her ears and nose with cotton-tips.  She started throwing a tantrum and saying "No it hurts! No!!!!" every time I cleaned her up after her bath.  One day I got her out of the bath, and we were in such a hurry that I rushed through and didn't cotton tip her ears.  When I said I was done, she froze and exclaimed "No Mummy!  My ears!  Clean my ears!!!!" and she never complained again lol - the things this girl does for kicks! :)

Death: A Toddler's perspective

Teaching children about death is a touchy subject for some people.  I've heard of people who try to keep their children unaware of mortality for many years.  I never thought I'd keep it from our children, but it's not like we'd planned how to approach the subject before Disney intervened sometime during Maggie's second year, with some of her favourite cartoons.

First there was Mufasa in The Lion King...

Then Ray from The Princess Frog...

and Kerchak from Tarzan...

Disney really doesn't hold back!!  Neither do Bible stories.  The short story is, that at the tender age of not quite three, Maggie knows that people - and animals - die.  She knows it's sad, and that everybody misses them.  She hasn't known anyone who has died or anything - just that it's something that happens.  She doesn't really understand the permanency, but she seems to get the 'trying to save people so that they don't die!' thing.  It all seemed pretty straightforward.  

Until tonight.

When we were peacefully eating our dinner and the fly that's been in our house all day driving me insane started buzzing around our dinner table.  Soon James was out of his chair running around with a tea towel, and I was helping him spot it so he could get it.  Finally he got it, and with the now deceased fly in the rubbish bin, I sat with satisfaction down at the table (yes Mum, after putting the tea towel in the washing).  Obviously I wasn't thinking, because when Maggie asked, 'Mummy, where's the fly?', I immediately replied 'In the bin. Daddy finally got it, it's dead'.  Maggies eyes widened with alarm and dismay and she exclaimed 'Mummy, quick!  I need to help him!!  Get him out!  Get him out!!', and started to climb out of her high chair with some haste!

Oh no.

How do you explain that you just killed the tiny little fly she'd been watching with interest throughout the day?  The little fly that flew around the bathroom while she did her business and chatted to it?  How do you explain her father jumping up from the dinner table with a tea towel and running madly after it to inflict death upon it?!

I have never felt more guilty about the death of an insect.  So I looked at James "My goodness, Daddy!  Why did you do that???"

I honestly don't know if I'll be able to take part in a bug killing again :S  At least not for a while.

Guest Spotlight: Amy's Awesome Cowgirl Party!!!

So I'm excited to present my gorgeous friend Amy's Cowgirl Party today!  Her baby girl Milli turned 1 earlier this year, and she put together a party that was SO MUCH FUN for the little ones and really beautifully and creatively done!!

When we arrived, this sign welcomed guests:

Amy's handy husband Morris cut out the wood, and to get the writing on the panels in her chosen font, Amy printed the words, mirror image, onto greaseproof paper.  She dampened the wood, then placed each word face down where she wanted it to go on the panel.  Then she transferred it onto the wood by running over it with a credit card and letting it dry!!  It sounds so do-able and looked awesome!  Morris then just attached them to the stake and into the ground it went!

As we entered the side yard, we came across these:

The sign said to please find each child's and put it on!!  The hats were for all the toddlers, the bandannas were for the bubs who were too small for the hats, and there was also a gorgeous hobby horse for each child!! 

Amy ordered the hats online, sewed the bandannas herself, and made the hobby horses.  She didn't even follow any instructions with the hobby horses - she just saw some and worked out how to do it, and she and her sister spent some time sewing them together!!  Our girls have had their hats and horses for almost 6 months now, and play with them pretty much every day - they're really nice ones, and lots of fun!  If anyone's interested to find out how Amy and her sister made these, maybe I can coax her back to tell us sometime ;)

As you kept walking around to the back, there was a tractor (Amy's Dad's), which was so much fun for the children to have turns 'driving', and for us to get pictures on!! :)  Here's Amy's little man having a ride on it :)

Most of the pictures are Amy's, but a couple are bad quality ones off my phone!... this is one of those, sorry!  But he looks so cute! :)

The backyard was full of play equipment for the children to all play on - and they all made good use of it! :)

In this next pic you can see the patch Amy sewed onto Elijah's now 'cowboy' jeans - the other back pocket was lined with tiny bunting which matched the bunting she sewed for inside - such cute details!! :)

And now to the inside..

Here's a (kind of bad quality phone photo - sorry again!) of the inside room overall - you can see the cute bunting Amy sewed under the window on the left.

Amy had bought some cute little water bottles and replaced their labels with some of her own:

The food tables looked great, and I loved all the theme food :)  

Like everything at this party, the food was in theme, AND really age appropriate for the toddlers there - I know my girls love sinking their teeth into a cob of corn, eating chicken wings with their hands, and they loved all the fruit and mini sandwiches and hot dogs!

The 'Milli's Farm' and 'Milk' boxes, Amy and Morris made, and this time Amy printed out the words and traced, then painted them onto the boxes.  She went op-shopping to pick up the baskets they used around the place, and bought the hay bales from a local sugar cane farm!  

One of my favourite things at the party were the old school milk bottles in the special milk crate:

Amy borrowed her bottles from a friend, but said you can get them on ebay.  She bought the paper straws online, and just before it was time to come inside and eat, she filled the bottles with different flavours of milk. SO perfect for the age group of the party - good for them, and the children loved them :)

Then there was the sweets table: 

A friend of Amy's made the cute little signs and labels you can see around, in the farm theme.  In the end Amy was so busy with the rest of the party prep, she got the cake, cupcakes, cake pops and cute animal biscuits from Cakes, Cups and Pops - a local lady who did a great job - they were all really delicious and SO cute!!

Each of the children had a cupcake, and I laughed so hard at Maggie's awed face when they placed one of the cupcakes with a whole icing animal topping it in front of her! :)

I think the birthday girl enjoyed hers too :)

I'd never tried cake pops before, but these were amazing!!!

Each child received an animal cookie to take home...

Amy made the 2 bright blue cakestands (!!) by getting 2 terracotta pots from Mitre 10, and glueing one on top of the other for the stand, and getting a larger terracotta plate, and glueing it on top!!  Then she spray painted them the bright blue.  They looked amazing!! :) - how creative is that?!

Even the chocolate biscuits were nicely in theme :)

Bless wagon wheels! ;)

I loved the basket of apples by the table too :)

And the party bags - the mini bunting across the bottom of the table is the same bunting Amy sewed onto Elijah's pockets :)  I love the hessian Amy had around the place, adding that country touch!

I haven't even shown you the Birthday Girl properly:

Amy sewed an 'M' onto Milli's plain white onesie, and she was a rocking cowgirl in a pettiskirt, denim jacket and her cute hairband :)

Here's the whole family:

Meanwhile, outside, each guest had their picture taken in a fun blue frame:

The children played 'pin the chick'... (Amy found this at Spotlight)

And then participated in some good, old fashioned horse racing, which - you can tell by their faces - they LOVED :)

Then topped the fun off with a horse piñata :)

Amy had put in a few little toys and sunnies as well as sweets...

And the toddlers were rocking their style :)

This party was so wonderful, because as well as there being so many cute theme touches, everything at the party was perfectly age suitable for Milli and her friends, and Elijah and the other older siblings who were invited along as well.  The food was perfect for them, the games and activities were perfect, and they all had a BALL.  And the girls have been cowgirls around the house ever since! :)

Thankyou so much for sharing, Amy!! :)

You can read more about Amy's little family on her family blog here, and we may have her back soon - Elijah's birthday is fast approaching ;)