The End of all Regularity!

Aaaahh I forgot my post again this morning!  That's been happening a lot lately!  And a lot of stuff is happening for all of us right now, and so after my "Abby, your post isn't up again!" conversation with Mum this morning, we've decided to ditch our regular posting days until further notice!  We may still come on and post, but we don't want to commit to anything and not follow through!

Thank you to all the lovely people who come on and check up on us each day, and for the lovely comments :) We have enjoyed 'meeting' some lovely people here in Blogland, and will keep checking your blogs even if you don't hear from us every day or even every week! :)  We would like to keep posting but have to prioritise 'life' right now.  Perhaps in the future we'll return to regularity! - who knows?  But for now, signing out!

xox

The Blue Screen of Death!!! - And Sartorial Kiddie Quotes :)

Have you ever heard of the Blue Screen of Death?  It's a computer thing, and it basically means the end of all computer life as you know it..  not good!

Abby has just encountered this tragedy, and while mourning her computer and all the good times they shared, she has been literally unable to post today.  She is hoping to be back on line tomorrow and will post then if possible.

In the meantime, she dictated these few snippets of quotes from the two little girls for me to share with you all. Maggie (age 3) and Ana (age 2) are both very fashion conscious - today's theme :)  

Abby came out of the bathroom this morning with wet hair and began to brush it through.  Maggie was of course already dressed up to the nines.
Maggie:  "Oh dear, Mummy!  Don't come too close, you might get my shoes wet!"  (Her little high heels.)

Maggie hit Ana and Ana was crying.  Abby told Maggie that she needed to apologize.
Maggie: "Ana, I am sorry for hitting you and messing up your dress!"

The girls were playing and Ana was rolling on the ground, then Maggie stood up.
Maggie:  "Quick, Ana!  You better get up - you're crinkling your beautiful skirt!"

(This is re-occurring:)
Maggie: "Mummy, Jesus died, and everybody was so sad!!!"
Mummy:  "And then what happened?"
Maggie:  "Then he was resurrected, and he got new clothes!!"

Every time the family leave the house Maggie rushes to the new full-length mirror, which is near the front door.
Maggie:  "Mummy, I'm just checking myself out...  (gasp) .. and I look Fantastic!!!"  :)

Abby was wearing new earrings and helping Maggie with something.
Maggie:  "Mummy, I love your new earrings!  You look so cute in them!"  :)
Soon after, Abby went outside to where Ana was playing.
Ana:  "Mummy, I love your new earrings!  You so cute!"

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.

DeJavu...

Okay, first, a post from my personal blog from November 6, 2012 (with large sections deleted - it turns out I was really wallowing... :)):

Ever Seen a Pregnant Woman on Crutches??

WARNING:  Long sob story, with some excess of wallowing... :)

So yesterday, I walked (obviously excessively powerfully) by my couch, and stubbed my toe.  I collapsed on the couch in pain, and after it really sunk in (the full strength of pain was a tiny bit delayed), I realised it was really bad - like, worse than any other stubbed toe pain I'd had.  I looked at my little toe, and was nearly sick - it was sticking out at a disgusting angle, away from my foot!  Ew!!! 

Fortunately I had my phone in my hand, so I called James (in hysterics, a little bit) and I do not remember the exact wording, but the fact that he was in the driveway and bounding up the stairs maybe 30 seconds later... might give some indication that I was fairly urgent (and possibly a little demanding) about it.  As I was hanging up from James, Mum was calling (she's got that intuition thing down).  I blubbered that I'd broken or dislocated my toe, and she offered to come over to look after the girls.  I hysterically yelled "Can you be here in 2 MINUTES?!" and she calmly said "No, but I'll be there in 15" (which is about how long it takes to get here).  She also mentioned that if it were dislocated, James could probably just 'pop it back in', to which I may have screamed something about real doctors and painkillers, and "NO!!!". 
.......

When we got to the hospital, he parked where you're not supposed to (not afraid to defy parking rules in light of a wife's sore toe - my hero ;)) and carried me into emergency.  I was painfully embarrassed  but I wasn't having a great deal of success with my attempted at hopping again :p  When we finally got in for the x-ray (they covered baby boy in my belly with 2 of the iron aprons and assured me it was 100% safe before asking if I was sure I wanted to proceed since I was pregnant lol) and then into the plaster room (after a wait long enough to allow me to imagine the awful pain of re-setting my almost certainly dislocated toe many times over and enough to make me shake all over), the doctor said "You've actually broken your toe".  Oh.  Did that mean they didn't need to re-set it??  Of course they did - it had snapped right through at a funny angle and was sticking out - they needed to put it back in place to heal properly  :(  After warning me that they would hurt a LOT, she then gave me 2 giant, painful, horrible awful needles, right into the bone, on either side of my little pinky toe.  The doctor was right.  It hurt, a LOT.  I cried out and sobbed into James!  I was so embarrassed, but I couldn't help it!  And James even seemed to think it was justified, because they were huge, and the doctor seemed to think they were going to half kill me with the pain, and can I use the 'pregnant' thing??  Anyway, thank goodness she'd let me bring him in! :)  And then the anaesthetic (okay, there was a GREAT reason to put me through those needles, shudder) set in, and she fiddled with putting my toe back into place while I was mercifully without feeling in my foot.  Hooray for anaesthetic!!! :)  I was soooo grateful not to feel it, I can't even tell you!  It was like when I got the epidural when I was in labour with Maggie, and suddenly the world was a happy place again :)

So they strapped said snapped little toe next to it's closest relative, and gave me a lovely set of crutches, to use for the next 6 weeks (that's right - until I'm 35 weeks pregnant! - 1 week before Christmas!), or until the pain goes away and I can walk again. 

.......

Oh for the sake of one little toe!!! 

{Okay, I just Googled images to find a picture of a broken toe to better illustrate this story for you, but am disgusted by the images that came up, and I think this will suffice..}

I was in a lot of pain, for a long time, and despite everyone assuming so, having given birth twice and anticipating it once more didn't help my toe feel any better in comparison! - Turns out I don't like the pain of childbirth or the pains of broken bones :)

Anyway, yesterday I was walking past the (killer) couch in my living room, when I stubbed that same poor toe.  I hopped around holding it and collapsed on the couch, only to realise after a moment that the pain was not going away - it was worsening.  And it felt strangely familiar....NOOOOO!!!!  I broke it again!!!  Is there anyone else out that who's uncoordinated enough to have achieved this TWICE?!!!  

I'm really asking you that:  Is there??!!!  Twice?!?!!

After a few minutes of trying to swallow the pain I timidly looked down at said toe, and thankfully confirmed to myself that it wasn't as bad as last time - no funny angles!!  So I didn't go to the doctor, I just hurried James home (thank goodness it happened at the exact moment he was finishing coaching for the afternoon!) and strapped it up, and have been hobbling around in pain since...  Today the bruising and swelling have come up, and I can't move it, and did I mention the pain??...

...And I just can't believe I did it, again!!!

So from the very bottom of my heart, here's a piece of advice for you all to keep you out of this sort of trouble.  From the very first words spoken by dear James when he hurried home from school yesterday afternoon:

 "Sweetie, I think you need to take a wider berth when walking around the couches"

Thank you, dear.

An Angel to Watch Over Me...

With Mothers' Day coming up this weekend, the words of my favourite 'Mother' song come to mind...

Love you Mum!!! :) xox


An Angel to Watch Over Me
By Sally DeFord

She watched by my cradle
through long, sleepless nights
She taught me to pray as she knelt by my side
She guarded my childhood,
and all through the years
She echoed my laughter, she counted my tears
In the arms of my mother, I came to believe
That God sent an angel to watch over me

She taught me the meaning of courage and faith
She taught me to live with the Lord as my strength
She taught me to follow the pathway he marked
She guided my steps when the journey grew dark
And I know there were dangers that I could not see
But God sent an angel to watch over me

She taught me to serve with a spirit that sings
She taught me to seek after heavenly things
And because of her love and her kindness and care
Because of the place that I hold in her prayers
And because of her goodness, I still believe
That God sent an angel to watch over me

Any Musicians Out There??

When I was writing a post last Friday, I was reminded of this - one of the funniest things my little viola playing self has ever seen.  It really, really struck a chord (bahaha... or 8.. ;)) with me, and I love it (even though yes Mum, he's not being particularly polite.. he does sound a little bitter... poor cellist!).  If you don't play a stringed instrument you might not find it as funny, but... it really, really is :)

Technically this song was written for 3 violins and a cello - no viola part, but violas usually pick up the 3rd violin part.  I have been in groups where there was no cello, and I ended up having to play those 8 notes 54 times, so I'm feeling his pain! - But I have to say it's one of my all time favourites too - it's just beautiful.

Music fans of any genre, on behalf of the classical world, you're welcome for all of your favourite songs, and sorry for his little bit of rudeness at the end!  But this deserves its own post:

'Behind the Scenes...'

I'm a very happy stay at home looking after my babies Mum, but while I was at uni and until I had my little cherubs, I worked in a kebab shop, as a waitress at a restaurant, as a musician for weddings, as a typist for hearing impaired people at a university, as a tutor, as a receptionist, and then as a teacher.

I kind of loved working in all of these jobs.  I really enjoyed working in random industries, seeing how things work behind the scenes!

The kebab shop was my first real part-time job.  I loved the Turkish family who owned the business, and the stories of them coming to Australia and started out selling a food nobody had ever heard of way back then.  I loved learning about their food, and even some of the language!  They made their own tzatziki (yoghurt/garlic) and hummus and tahini sauces in the back of the shop, as well as a bunch of the 'front window' food.  I loved learning how to make all the food, and call me crazy but I loved serving all the customers!  The ordering of stock, managing the hours for the staff, advertising, I found it all interesting to learn about and see happen.  I loved being behind the scenes!

Then was the waitressing job.  Behing behind the scenes in the kitchens, welcoming and serving patrons, learning how the cheese toast came and was cooked (haha - okay, know where I was working yet? :)), staff discounts, storage, refills - loved it all.  Loved working with difficult restaurant-goers to fix anything they're upset about and seeing them leave happy. I loved see the 'other side!'

Musician for weddings was fun, because you're working with people on the happiest day of their lives!  And may I just say that in my experience, 99% of people want to hear Pachabel's 'Canon in D' as they're coming down the aisle.  And you're working with the venue people and the sound people and the celebrants to make sure everything goes smoothly.  So much fun!

Typing was interesting - learning about the support systems available at universities, learning to communicate better with people who have hearing impairments, working with lecturers, that whole academic environment but as 'staff' while I was there as a student.  Interesting and such a fun job!  I also completed the lectures for 2 x human services degrees, 1 x business degree and 1 x nursing degree in addition to my teaching degree.  Impressed??? lol :)  I just wish I could have taken the exams - after typing every word I'm pretty sure I would've passed!

Tutor wasn't that enlightening in terms of learning 'behind the scenes' stuff - it's pretty much what you'd imagine it to be like, and I loved pretty much every second of it!

Receptionist, I loved.  See that quote I put up there? I think I was one of the rare girls who actually really wanted this job lol.  I thought it would be fun to dress up everyday in cute outfits and a hot little pair of heels and go into the city for work.  It was so much fun too - the receptionist sees everything that goes on, and deals with everyone in the business.  The business I was in was media, and I loved dealing with advertising executives who thought they were the most important people on the planet, actors coming in for auditions, kind of famous people coming in for shoots, as well as the friendly camera crews and all the people inbetween.  Fly on the wall extraordinaire - you'd be amazed at what people talk about in the reception area - I guess they all thought I was either mute, or ridiculously unimportant ;)  My boss was a perfectionist, which intimidated some people but if you've met Mum you know I grew up with one, so I was able to keep up with everything.  And I gotta say, the dressing up for work part never got old - loved it :)  I should say at this point that it was only a couple of days a week while I was at uni.  Full time airhead might have gotten boring - but as a break from study it was awesome! :)

And then there's teacher, and I've already written about things on the 'other side' of school - assignments, marking, all much bigger and harder on the other side than I ever could have known!!!

And now I guess I'm on the inside of the 'mum' business.  Where you find out that small children don't just walk out of their bedrooms every morning fully dressed with their hair nearly done, get themselves breakfast and take themselves off to school! - what an eye opener!! ;)

But this job is definitely the most fun of ALL - and I can dress up whenever I want!  :)

:)

Lest We Forget...

I'm sorry I'm so late to post! - like, late by a whole day!!  Had a wonderful ANZAC Day today, going to a local dawn service (Okay, an 8am dawn service!) and breakfast BBQ at the park, and then spending some time together with our little family - James off work and all (yay!!)

On Monday night we had Family Night as usual, and for the lesson, we talked about the ANZACs.  I LOVED teaching our girls about our country, and about those who have sacrificed so much for us to live in peace in our communities today.

I was excited to take them to a service now that they're old enough to comprehend at least the reverence and respect of the occassion.  I loved teaching them to say 'lest we forget' at the end of the poem.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old;
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

Lest we forget.

"Look for the Helpers"

I loved this quote I saw on Facebook the other day:

I've always been horrified by things I see on the news, and am one of those people who ends up being afraid of everything!

I hear the stories about the people who help, not just in big tragedies but in ones that only affect a small group of people - spreading the word, raising money, rushing into help, diving into fires, lifting cars, to help people they don't know from a bar of soap - and I've never thought to take the comfort I should be in that!  There are so many helpers!  I think that pretty much everyone I know would rush in and help!  How wonderful is that!!  I think I need to try and focus more on that.  People are wonderful.  Thinking this reminds me of a quote from Gordon B. Hinckley (Ensign):

"I see so many good people everywhere - and there's so much of good in them.  And the world is good.  Wonderful things are happening in this world.  This is the greatest age in the history of the earth. ... 

We have every reason to be optimistic in this world.  Tragedy is around, yes.  Problems everywhere, yes. ... You can't, you don't, build out of pessimism or cynicism.  You look with optimism, work with faith, and things happen ."

So that's what I'm trying to focus on - the 'good people everywhere'.

Brisbane flood volunteers, Feb 2011

Firefighters, September 11 2001

Boston Marathon Bombings, 2013

If my baby wasn't sick and crying I'm sure I could find hundreds more examples!! But I need to go :)

"Look for the helpers"!

Who Knew??

You're in grade 9, and your English teacher has given you a ridiculously difficult assignment to complete.  You have to read and analyse particular features of a book, that barely makes any sense to you.

Your Mum makes you tidy and wipe over the bathroom every single morning before school, and on Saturdays you have to give it a good scrub before you're allowed to go out and have any fun at all!

It's a public holiday - woohoo no school!!!

.......

Who knew, that every thing you think or feel as a child is BIGGER on the other end of things??

Who knew, that your English teacher dreads assignment time EVEN MORE than students, because they have to have written a task, ensured that they've managed to teach all of their students enough to complete it successfully, try and get 60 14-year-olds to read a whole book, then they have to urge and assist students - who seem to think they have better things to do - to complete the task (and beg for drafts that they're going to have to spend their whole weekend marking). Then, they have to mark the 60 or so of them, checking with other teachers and heads of department to make sure grades are in line, and then often deal with those one or two parents who always think their student should receive a higher mark than they deserve, regardless of whether they read the book or not.

Who knew, that it would take Mum a 10th of the time she spends trying to encourage you to do the 20 second 'job' she's given you to complete weekdays, and the 20 minute job she's asked you to complete on Saturdays, but she's desperately trying to teach you the values of contributing to a family and hard work.  

And who knew, that no matter how excited you are as a student to receive a 'day off', it's about 1000 times more exciting for a teacher.

       

  She's thinking '3 more hours, and Monday's a public holiday! - 3 more hours..

It's been so funny over the last few years, first being a teacher, then a parent, and now being a parent married to a teacher, how much harder and more exciting things are on the other end!!

When I was teaching, it felt like making my year 6 class write their essays was like pulling teeth!  It turns out, teachers do NOT enjoy giving ridiculously difficult assignments and laughing behind your back about your struggle to complete it.  If half a class fails, the teacher looks really much worse than the failing students do, and every high or low mark is super, super analysed and has to be justified in the tiniest detail to ensure that students, other teachers and parents agree with it. Criteria sheets are binding documents, and you'd better have yours spot on!!  Not only is it more stressful, it's crazy time consuming!!!  Assignment time for teachers = worse.  And don't even get me started on writing report cards!!!!

When the girls finish playing with dress ups or any other toy, they need to pack it up before meals, or any other toy is played with.  Maggie's just gotten old enough to 'not want to' pack up every now and then, and as I look at the 3 pieces of clothing she's crying about picking up and putting in the basket next to her I just can't imagine how it seems like such a big, difficult task.  Then I remember my massive, intrusive job of tidying the bathroom before school each morning, and I feel sorry for my Mum, who always 'made us' do our 'jobs'.  It's also like pulling teeth.  But worse, because it's constant!! And mine are still young, and think helping is usually the funnest thing out!!!  Eek!!

James has now been teaching for 1 term.  And it's holidays.  And before holidays it was assessment time and reports. And I gotta say, I can't imagine that James' students are more relieved than me that assessment is over and holidays are ON!!! And I hear from Mum and other Mums out there, how exciting holidays are for parents of school-aged children, because you're not tied into the daily 'school run', and (this one wasn't my Mum) - you can stay in your pyjamas ALL DAY!!! :)

All these things make me smile - I wonder what else I'm going to find 'harder on the other end' as I keep going through life? It certainly keeps me on my toes through this crazy journey!!! :)

I Will Help You!!!

The girls play a very noble game that they invented themselves, and it makes me laugh.

One of them will go and get themselves 'stuck'.  This can involve climbing onto a table, under a bed, under the covers, or anywhere really!  One day recently (when I had camera in hand), it was standing behind the coffee table.

Ana stood behind the coffee table, and called out, "Hep, 'Aggie!!  Hep!!!" (Yup that's how she says 'Maggie' - she has a thing with leaving off the first sound in words :) - it's adorable now, and we're assuming she'll starting using them as she gets older...)

Hearing the cry, Maggie gets all excited, calls out "I will help you!!!" and runs over.  On this particular day they were concurrently playing dress ups, so she was running in heels (that's my girl lol), and had to stop to carefully place her handbag down, but they did look fabulous, so I'm sure they'd say it was worth the trouble ;)

(sorry - I had the camera on some funny setting and the pictures are really terrible!)

Maggie took her sister by the hand, and led her out from behind the coffee table, 'saving' her!  They take this game very seriously, as you can tell by Maggie's very serious and worried expression (drama, drama! :))

 Ana is led out of danger (in one of the blurriest photos ever snapped) and they both breathe a sigh of relief.

But the next thing you know, Maggie's gone and gotten herself stuck in the same spot! ...

... And it's Ana's eager little cry of "I hep you!" you can hear as she runs back over to save her sister :)

There follows the "Ana you saved me!" exclamations and grateful hugs.

The thrills of being rescued and of playing 'the rescuing hero' keep them going all day in different places!

So if you're ever in distress, call us - I don't know any other knights in shining armour who'll come running in such style! ;)

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 :)

Lately I've Been Wondering.......

Lol.  So, so tired! :)

I just started walking again last week (as in for exercise...), and started working out properly this week.  Last night I was sobbing and wobbling through my training while James barked things like "Come on you're not even trying!" and "Breathe!!!", to which I wanted to yell "I AM TRYING!", and "I AM BREATHING!!!!!" but lacked the energy...sigh...lol.

It's hard to focus this time though, (this is the second time I've asked my PE expert husband to help me lose baby weight), because James has developed - obviously through coaching and training people way too much lately - a crazy 'coach' persona, and it makes me want to giggle SO BAD!! He's like some crazy sergeant off a bad army barracks comedy movie, and it sets me off every time he tells me what to do.  

Maybe because he's so authoritarian about it and I'm like "James I'm your wife, not some random army cadet you have to bark orders at!" but it was really disrupting my workout, because when you're a body of jelly instead of muscles, and you're desperately trying with all of your might to perform some grossly out-of-your-ability-level-right-now squat or lunge or lift with weights, and somebody makes you giggle, you almost collapse, and nearly die by hitting yourself over the head with your own weights.  

And I was tired and James did not think it was funny, so I was a jelly laughing crying determined little mess.  I'm sure I'd laugh about it now if my stomach wouldn't explode with the pain!  I'm meant to be out the door with the girls to the park in 10 minutes, but oh my it's so hard to move, and my fingers are some of the only muscles in my body which can comfortably move right now lol.  

Okay, okay - I'll go!  I'd better start losing weight and growing muscles soon, and get FIT - which is the whole point, isn't it? So I can have some ENERGY to make this lovely family some dinner every single night, and fit into some clothes that don't have belly bands in them! :)  Ah, good times!!  Getting up now, eeeeek!! :) xox

PS:  It's really, really hard, but LOVING having 3 babies!!! :)

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.... :)

What I Didn't Know About Moving House

I've never moved house before at a time when I carried any sort of responsibility.

..until now.

Last time I moved, I was moving into our new place when James and I got married, so I chucked my clothes and books in a few boxes and my wonderful family moved the things into our unit while we were on our honeymoon.  The time before that, I was 5.  Almost 2 weeks ago now, we moved house.  You'll be shocked to hear that we're not unpacked yet.  Actually, if you've done this before and/or are any more savvy than me, scratch that!  I think I approached this a bit naively.  I mean, I'd heard it was stressful, but I thought I was done with that part of it when we settled on a new place and had paid the first 2 weeks of rent in advance.  I had no idea!

So here's some info for anyone out there who's thinking of moving house any time in the future, who's as clueless about this as I am (if there are any of you in existence..!).

1. Everything costs more than you think it will.

   
   

   
   
   
   
   
   

   And things you think are free, are not.  Like the awesome mail redirection service Australia Post offers.  SUCH a good idea (and one I HIGHLY recommend - way less stressful than trying to remember every person/company who will send you anything via post in the next 6 months and letting them know you've moved!!  This way you can let them know as they write to you and you remember you need to tell them!), but it's $45 for 6 months of redirection, not $0.  And moving 5 minutes down the road, it turns out we're on a whole new phone grid or something, so Optus needed to change our number, and conveniently charge us a $55 number changing fee.  And we're on a different type of internet on this side of the highway, so there was another $20 fee for that :P  Just little things adding, adding, adding up!!!  And to hire the truck, it was double what I thought it would be.  AND they needed a $500 bond, which they took out of our account for 5 days.  The didn't mention it when we booked, so it was a bit of a bank transfer scramble at the truck place - eek :S  But save as much as you think you'll need, and then maybe triple it. It's really expensive!  Even if you 'do it all yourself'.

   
   
   
2. Packing.  It's not as much fun as I thought it would be.  It's not even fun, at all.  In fact, I'd say it's UN-fun.  And stressful.  And you run out of time, and don't get to thoroughly sort through everything and organise it perfectly the way you think you will (I was actually looking forward to packing - ha!).  Unless you're way more prepared than me and do it more in advance.  Which is possible.  But it's really stressful - how do I pack that without breaking it?  Will those fit in that box?  Will I need that in the next week?  Etc.

   
   
   
   
   
   
   
3. Unpacking IS fun!!  At least, unpacking your kitchen is.  Once you're down to 'study' and 'random' boxes it gets a little less fun.  But unpacking my new kitchen has to be a highlight!! It was awesome, and I continue to get kicks out of it everytime I walk in there :)  Now I just need to figure out how to turn the oven and stovetop on...

   
   
   
   
   
   
   
4. The week after you move - the week you think you'll spend unpacking, cleaning and settling into your new home, you won't be.  You'll be stressed to the max (this was the worst part of all for me!) trying to get the old house in order in time to hand it over - perfectly cleaned, any repairs done, etc. - you'll need to get it back in perfect order, and even if you're not a crazy person and you're generally clean, there is a lot to clean and maintain in a whole house!!!  Even if it's a small 3 bedroom unit... :)  Seriously, allow lots of time for cleaning.  Like, all your time.  I was blessed with my fabulous friend Stace and my Mum and Sister and James helping me out a lot.  Did I mention there's a lot to do??  I could have saved myself all this cleaning for about $800 apparently, but did I mention how expensive moving is to begin with?!!  Making sure the old place is perfect will probably also cost some unexpected cash!
   
   
   
   
5. Never move with a newborn.  Ever.  Even if your awesome and very capable ex-removalist husband  assures you that you won't have to lift a finger.  Don't do it.  Don't do it 9 months pregnant either.  Just don't move with a newborn.  Stay in your old house and just shuffle over so there's room for the new boy.  Move later.

   
   

   

   Look how miserable this girl is!!  And she's not even newborn!
   
   

   
   
6. When you call the electricity company the day before you move to switch over your power, they might laugh at you.  The phone/internet companies tend to do the same.  I'd call a week in advance.  That way you might not be living in darkness for 48 hours after you move in.  After having just been out of power for 3 days from floods/storms.  You'll be much happier if you can turn on a light.  Electricity is exciting!  So call early!! :)
   
   
   
7. Not everything is going to work/fit in rooms, in the same way that it did in your old house.  Common sense?  Well, you'd think so :p lol
   
   
   
8. Despite what these people would have you believe, this is probably not how you'll look on moving day... :)

Anyway, I'm off to try and unpack some more... :p

Good luck!! :)