as I say holy crap it's hot today. It must be so hard for kids when it's hot. They are a bundle of energy and still want to run around and carry on and play and be kids but when they do what they usually do instead of just getting that happy healthy childlike playing glow they get absolutely drenched in sweat, absolutely buggered, and very very cranky. And most of the time they won't understand what's going on. It's pretty brutal.
I had a whole lot of stuff typed and just deleted it. Because it was ramble. Things I have probably said before. But still, ramble. I'm beside myself. Cyclone Yasi is bearing down on Queensland and there is nothing anyone can do. I just got a text message telling me to evacuate, even though I'm already in Victoria, because my last address was in Mackay, which is at severe risk of storm surge. And it will happen.
And there are people I love and care about there. And it is ripping me apart. Because there is nothing I can do. Being there wouldn't help. Being here doesn't help. I can only watch and wait and see what happens.
Worry is a wasted emotion, because it achieves nothing. However it is such a part of most of our lives. We worry about whether we will lose weight. We worry about whether we will achieve what we set out to do. We worry about whether the washing will dry in time. Ridiculous things. Why do we worry? It changes nothing except for our feelings. Nothing. It literally achieves absolutely nothing. And yet I am sitting here not sleeping because I am worried about what the cyclone will do. Will it change anything? Absolutely not. Does it make me feel better? Absolutely not. So why do it? Because we are human. We worry. I try not to worry about the small things. If the washing isn't done it isn't the end of the world. But things that affect lives, I do worry. A lot. And I feel a bit guilty that I am here and they are there. And then I wonder if deep down in my semipsychic subconscious I knew something was going to happen and wanted to protect the kids. Who knows. Not I.
So for now I am not myself. I am someone who is waiting to see what mother nature will dish up and hope to god that it is not too serious. And I am thinking of each and every person that is in the path of Yasi, and every one of their relatives, and I just hope that everything works out okay, for everyone.
Stay safe xxxxx
Monday, January 31, 2011
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Bit of a pat on the back
to me. I got my 5000 word essay submitted AND I had a whole three minutes to spare. That's impressive even if I do say so myself. And what's more I was very happy with it, which is always a bonus. That subject was Law and the Internet and it truly is fascinating. Every single day since I commenced the assignment the content changed and morphed along with the happenings of the day, as is the nature of the internet - every day something changes, something is added, and a new avenue opens up.
It's very hot today. Thank you captain obvious. But seriously, I moved from the tropics down to Victoria in order to get away from the heat, and today I think was 39 degrees. But at least there wasn't the oppressive humidity with it. I think we moved at just the right time too as David and Goliath hurricanes (Anthony and Yasi) are doing their best to set far north Queensland in their sites and batter the living crap out of it.
I've been through one cyclone. Ului. And I have never experienced anything like it. Windows didn't smash and roofs didn't fly off, at least not where I was, but the noise was astounding. It was something like standing underneath the engine of a 747 as it powers up for take off. For 13 hours. Lexi screamed pretty well the whole night and Tabitha, being quite the opposite of how she is now, slept through the whole thing. Actually come to think of it that was one of the few nights in her life when she actually slept through. Interesting. Maybe she needs a mega white noise thing happening to soothe her off to the land of zeds. Who knows. Mine is not to understand why. I must say though I am concerned with these cyclones up north. I worry for the safety of those who will be hit by it, and I just know there is some poor woman or women who is due to go into labour any day absolutely petrified of what might happen in the next few days. I was 7 months pregnant when we had the mega flood in Mackay many years ago and I was terrified then!
We had some visitors today and the kids got to play with some of their cousins. That was another strong contributing factor in us remaining in Victoria rather than moving back to Queensland. Since the kids were born they have lived far away from family, and with over 20 first cousins and a truckload of aunts and uncles I think they have just missed out on a bit. It is lovely to know that now we can all be involved in the family events and the kids can grow up knowing their cousins, not seeing them every once in a blue moon and wondering where they fit in in the grand scheme of things.
It's very hot today. Thank you captain obvious. But seriously, I moved from the tropics down to Victoria in order to get away from the heat, and today I think was 39 degrees. But at least there wasn't the oppressive humidity with it. I think we moved at just the right time too as David and Goliath hurricanes (Anthony and Yasi) are doing their best to set far north Queensland in their sites and batter the living crap out of it.
I've been through one cyclone. Ului. And I have never experienced anything like it. Windows didn't smash and roofs didn't fly off, at least not where I was, but the noise was astounding. It was something like standing underneath the engine of a 747 as it powers up for take off. For 13 hours. Lexi screamed pretty well the whole night and Tabitha, being quite the opposite of how she is now, slept through the whole thing. Actually come to think of it that was one of the few nights in her life when she actually slept through. Interesting. Maybe she needs a mega white noise thing happening to soothe her off to the land of zeds. Who knows. Mine is not to understand why. I must say though I am concerned with these cyclones up north. I worry for the safety of those who will be hit by it, and I just know there is some poor woman or women who is due to go into labour any day absolutely petrified of what might happen in the next few days. I was 7 months pregnant when we had the mega flood in Mackay many years ago and I was terrified then!
We had some visitors today and the kids got to play with some of their cousins. That was another strong contributing factor in us remaining in Victoria rather than moving back to Queensland. Since the kids were born they have lived far away from family, and with over 20 first cousins and a truckload of aunts and uncles I think they have just missed out on a bit. It is lovely to know that now we can all be involved in the family events and the kids can grow up knowing their cousins, not seeing them every once in a blue moon and wondering where they fit in in the grand scheme of things.
Tabitha fell off her seat a lot today. I'm not quite sure why today more than usual. I think she is getting a little more adventurous and confident, yet still not too footsure. Usually she's a bit of a goat, can stay upright and negotiate her way through everything. Lexi is the opposite. Clumsiest child on the planet.
I had another little milestone pass this morning. I hopped on the scales. Before I fell pregnant with Lexi I was very happy with my size and weight and although I wouldn't change having had the kids for the world, I do miss the body I once had. But today I finally cracked 70kg. That's huge considering I have been stuck above it since about week 8 of the pregnancy with Angus. I still have quite a way to go, but I am getting there. So of course I celebrated this fact by getting KFC and a bottle of champers. As you do.
I'm sitting here typing this and I think I forgot to wash the kids faces when they had their bath. Interesting. Random things pop into your mind. Actually I'm almost sure I didn't wash their faces. But I think I may have done it after they had dinner. Oh I really don't know, I'm sure it won't be terribly detrimental to their development if one night their faces aren't washed. Although with the amount of splashing that went on in the bath I'm tipping a fair amount of water ended up on both faces. Add to this the tears from Tabitha as she was removed from said bath. She loves the bath. Hates getting out of the bath. She throws a tantrum, which is incredibly interesting to handle when she is in the bath with her sister and the legs start flying, and bear in mind the sheer slippery factor of a bath and the edge of the bath covered in water, combined with the toys in small child's hands, the protruding tap, and I tell you it's like formulating a complex attack strategy. I know it's a phase but my word it's annoying. And you second guess yourself too...is this the right way to handle a tantrum? Would it be more effective if I did something differently? Has she seen me get upset and I have somehow contributed to what she does in these little tantrums?
It's funny, Lexi is a prime example of how I can tell what I should and shouldn't do. She is a little parrot, and she has a memory not unlike her soft toy Emmy. The elephant. In the bath yesterday I said to her "remind me we have to put bubble bath on the shopping list". "Okay mummy" came the response, with a big smile. Today I'm doing up the online shopping list and Lexi pipes up "bubble bath mummy". Freakish, truly freakish. She also remembered paper towels and apple juice, but then again she says apple juice every shopping list time because it is her favourite thing in the entire world. She did a wee on the toilet the other day and I asked her what she would like as a little 'reward' for being such a good big girl. The answer? "Apple juice". Yep. She does rock.
I'm not studying tonight. At all. I'm actually sitting here in the heat, typing up this bloggy thing with a glass (actually it's not a glass, it's a plastic but if you won't tell I won't) of champers celebrating the completion of the 5000 word essay today as well as the 2500 word one the other day. I still have two more to complete this trimester (we have three trimesters a year now instead of two semesters....basically just another way of saying two semesters and summer school....). Once those two are done then wow, amazing, I only have five more subjects left! Each with at least two or three assignments. Glutton for punishment. Incredibly.
I vacuumed yesterday with both girls standing watching me. Tabitha usually freaks with electrical things. I couldn't make a cake which required creaming the butter and sugar for ages because Tabitha would scream blue murder. Yesterday was different though. They laughed at me. Why did they laugh at me? I'll tell you why. I couldn't find the extension part of the handle so I had to kneel while vacuuming, so I knelt my way around the house pushing the little teensy tiny vacuum handle sucking up all the rubbish and dead spiders and flies (there are a lot of spiders and flies here and I go through far too much fly spray because I hate having bugs in the house so they end up dying all over the place). I guess it must have looked funny to them, but I tell you it was such a workout. I'm going to keep the shorty pole on from now on, I was absolutely sweating by the end of it. Not quite the same as when I took the bins out, but a little more than when I brought the bins back in.
Squeaks in the background I must away for now. Toodle pip.
It's funny, Lexi is a prime example of how I can tell what I should and shouldn't do. She is a little parrot, and she has a memory not unlike her soft toy Emmy. The elephant. In the bath yesterday I said to her "remind me we have to put bubble bath on the shopping list". "Okay mummy" came the response, with a big smile. Today I'm doing up the online shopping list and Lexi pipes up "bubble bath mummy". Freakish, truly freakish. She also remembered paper towels and apple juice, but then again she says apple juice every shopping list time because it is her favourite thing in the entire world. She did a wee on the toilet the other day and I asked her what she would like as a little 'reward' for being such a good big girl. The answer? "Apple juice". Yep. She does rock.
I'm not studying tonight. At all. I'm actually sitting here in the heat, typing up this bloggy thing with a glass (actually it's not a glass, it's a plastic but if you won't tell I won't) of champers celebrating the completion of the 5000 word essay today as well as the 2500 word one the other day. I still have two more to complete this trimester (we have three trimesters a year now instead of two semesters....basically just another way of saying two semesters and summer school....). Once those two are done then wow, amazing, I only have five more subjects left! Each with at least two or three assignments. Glutton for punishment. Incredibly.
I vacuumed yesterday with both girls standing watching me. Tabitha usually freaks with electrical things. I couldn't make a cake which required creaming the butter and sugar for ages because Tabitha would scream blue murder. Yesterday was different though. They laughed at me. Why did they laugh at me? I'll tell you why. I couldn't find the extension part of the handle so I had to kneel while vacuuming, so I knelt my way around the house pushing the little teensy tiny vacuum handle sucking up all the rubbish and dead spiders and flies (there are a lot of spiders and flies here and I go through far too much fly spray because I hate having bugs in the house so they end up dying all over the place). I guess it must have looked funny to them, but I tell you it was such a workout. I'm going to keep the shorty pole on from now on, I was absolutely sweating by the end of it. Not quite the same as when I took the bins out, but a little more than when I brought the bins back in.
Squeaks in the background I must away for now. Toodle pip.
Saturday, January 29, 2011
When you're young
you stay out all night partying and drinking and having a great old time, then the next day you sleep till noon and get up and say "I can't believe how tired I am". And then you become a mother and you don't go out all night partying and drinking and having a great old time and you get up at sparrow's fart to clean up vomit and poo and wee and you say "I can't believe how tired I am", particularly when your kids have decided that sleep is for the weak and they are strong so there you go.
I'm pretty shattered physically. Tabitha and Angus are both very rosy cheeked. Very. Tabitha has yet to get 8 teeth and has been teething for what seems like a veritable eternity. Angus, well, he has yet to get his first one, but there is a very suspicious looking bump in his top gum that can't be comfortable. Lexi rocks sleep wise. Seriously. She only really wakes up when she falls out of bed or has a nightmare, which is usually three or four times a week. The falling out of bed thing though, that is most nights at the moment. We don't have a guard on the bed here so she is prone to just tumble to the floor. Sounds brutal. Isn't. She is on a mattress on the floor and there are pillows beside it, so she falls on them, but it still semi freaks her out, and I don't blame her really. It'll be much better when we are in a place of our own and have proper beds and whatnot set up for the kids.
To be honest with you I think Tabitha is ready for a big bed. Lexi didn't go into one till she was 2.5. That was predominantly because she is such a restless sleeper. Hugely. However when she finally did go into the big bed she was gold. An absolute dream. And I know Tabitha will not be like that, because Tabitha is not a dream. She is in fact the devil in disguise at this moment in time, so putting her in a big bed now would be something like placing my tongue in a birdcage and telling the bird not to bite it. Unlikely.
I have finished most of my essay. Just one paragraph on jurisdiction and the bibliography and I'm done. It's a good feeling. Much as I can bitch and moan about study I do actually enjoy it. I enjoy the researching, I enjoy finding out the facts, and most of all I enjoy finding ways to prove I'm right. Hehe. Stupid hey? But I guess that's what it's all about in law. You work out the position you believe in and then you find every possible precedent you can to back up what you think. I like that. I like it a lot. Particularly when I find what I want. And for the most part I have.
I'm really enjoying living out in the country again. Mostly. The girls love running around and playing. Angus, well, I don't think he really gives a rat's to be honest. So yes, overall I do like it. At night though it becomes a little different. Not scary, I wouldn't say that. Just isolated. The kids are all in bed and it's just me. And nature. And of course my essays and all that obviously. But it's very confronting. I'm thinking perhaps being closer to town might not be such a bad thing just at this very moment in time. So I'm looking at places in the next few days and we should be right then. Don't get me wrong, love being here, just think that perhaps short term rather than long term is better.
I'm going to go to bed. I made noodles for the girls for dinner tonight cos they love noodles. But they didn't like these noodles. Must have been the different sauce. Silly me for thinking I could try something different. I guess I can't really complain after the enormous success of last night's dinner. Take each day as it comes.
Much as today was hard because it marks day three of practically no sleep, it was quite moving when early this afternoon the girls were both sitting at the table when Lexi piped up with "I love you". Then Tabitha said "I love youuuuuuuu" and Lexi said it again, then Tabitha, back and forth for a good five minutes. Then Lexi leaned over and hugged me and made the "mmmmm" sound as she did. And that reminds you what it's all about.
I'm pretty shattered physically. Tabitha and Angus are both very rosy cheeked. Very. Tabitha has yet to get 8 teeth and has been teething for what seems like a veritable eternity. Angus, well, he has yet to get his first one, but there is a very suspicious looking bump in his top gum that can't be comfortable. Lexi rocks sleep wise. Seriously. She only really wakes up when she falls out of bed or has a nightmare, which is usually three or four times a week. The falling out of bed thing though, that is most nights at the moment. We don't have a guard on the bed here so she is prone to just tumble to the floor. Sounds brutal. Isn't. She is on a mattress on the floor and there are pillows beside it, so she falls on them, but it still semi freaks her out, and I don't blame her really. It'll be much better when we are in a place of our own and have proper beds and whatnot set up for the kids.
To be honest with you I think Tabitha is ready for a big bed. Lexi didn't go into one till she was 2.5. That was predominantly because she is such a restless sleeper. Hugely. However when she finally did go into the big bed she was gold. An absolute dream. And I know Tabitha will not be like that, because Tabitha is not a dream. She is in fact the devil in disguise at this moment in time, so putting her in a big bed now would be something like placing my tongue in a birdcage and telling the bird not to bite it. Unlikely.
I have finished most of my essay. Just one paragraph on jurisdiction and the bibliography and I'm done. It's a good feeling. Much as I can bitch and moan about study I do actually enjoy it. I enjoy the researching, I enjoy finding out the facts, and most of all I enjoy finding ways to prove I'm right. Hehe. Stupid hey? But I guess that's what it's all about in law. You work out the position you believe in and then you find every possible precedent you can to back up what you think. I like that. I like it a lot. Particularly when I find what I want. And for the most part I have.
I'm really enjoying living out in the country again. Mostly. The girls love running around and playing. Angus, well, I don't think he really gives a rat's to be honest. So yes, overall I do like it. At night though it becomes a little different. Not scary, I wouldn't say that. Just isolated. The kids are all in bed and it's just me. And nature. And of course my essays and all that obviously. But it's very confronting. I'm thinking perhaps being closer to town might not be such a bad thing just at this very moment in time. So I'm looking at places in the next few days and we should be right then. Don't get me wrong, love being here, just think that perhaps short term rather than long term is better.
I'm going to go to bed. I made noodles for the girls for dinner tonight cos they love noodles. But they didn't like these noodles. Must have been the different sauce. Silly me for thinking I could try something different. I guess I can't really complain after the enormous success of last night's dinner. Take each day as it comes.
Much as today was hard because it marks day three of practically no sleep, it was quite moving when early this afternoon the girls were both sitting at the table when Lexi piped up with "I love you". Then Tabitha said "I love youuuuuuuu" and Lexi said it again, then Tabitha, back and forth for a good five minutes. Then Lexi leaned over and hugged me and made the "mmmmm" sound as she did. And that reminds you what it's all about.
Friday, January 28, 2011
What I am supposed to be doing
is the remainder of my essay. You see I finished the essay from hell and submitted it today. It was on maritime shipping law. Who the hell in their right mind chooses to do a subject where one of the topics involves maritime shipping law? Me apparently. Ugh. Idiotic. Still, I got it done and now it's done so there.
This next one is a major one. Worth 50% of the mark. I have done 4276 words of 5000. I still have to do the bibliography and get the footnotes sorted, and it is due the day after tomorrow. But tonight I have a brutally harsh case of the cbf's and also my throat and chest is still really sore so I felt the need to self medicate with a glass (read mug) of red wine. As you do. It's starting to feel better already. Although my views on the essay are changing somewhat. Ah well, you get that.
After turbo crappola night last night I had no idea what today would be like. It wasn't actually too bad. Because it was such a lovely day I thought yep we're all heading outside. So the washing was done and ready for hanging so I thought out we'll all go. Oh my word I tell you I never realised just how long such a simple task took! Both the girls needed to get into shorts and tshirt because they were in track pants because inside is cooler than outside. Then they needed shoes. Then they needed sunscreen. Then they needed hats. And then the pram was in the boot of the car and I was putting Angus there so that had to come out. So after all that we were on our way down the steps, mini chick holding my hand (which is uber cute because up until now she has point blank refused) and into the garden we went for a frolick. I do love to frolick. Puff the magic dragon. He was a frolicker. But I do digress. So I hung the washing out and pushed Lexi on the swing and ooh'd and aaah'd as she yelled with glee "I found a rock!" and "I found a rock again!!" and "I found TWO rocks!!" and "aaaah a flower". Angus was fairly nonplussed by the whole deal. Just kicked back. In all honesty I think he is actually too big for the pram. It's ridiculous, he is 4 months old and just under 70cm. Insanity. I have no idea how I make these monster children. Not monster at birth, but by god they grow quickly.
Anyway, what was I saying? Oh yes, the outsideness. They loved it. They always do. And they ran and carried on and got a fairly liberal dose of Vitamin D so I'm hoping they sleep. If they do, then we are going to repeat the same procedure every day until they leave home. Simple.
I did have something else to say but the lack of sleep I am suffering from has sucked it from my brain. Can't have been terrifically important, and if it was, well, it'll come back to me, surely, odds are it will.
I had better go and attempt to complete this other essay. I'm actually contemplating taking next semester off. It may or may not be a brilliant or idiotic idea. I haven't decided yet. I'm already enrolled but can easily unenrol. I'm just thinking maybe some time for me might not be such a bad idea. But then again I bore very very easily and I'm just as likely to get one week out of study and say okay then so what the hell am I going to do to keep my brain occupied now? And then I'll get addicted to Sudoku and have to visit the newsagent regularly to get puzzle books and will have to keep pens in every room for when I feel the need. So maybe I'll just stay enrolled. Yep, I think that's safer for all concerned.
This next one is a major one. Worth 50% of the mark. I have done 4276 words of 5000. I still have to do the bibliography and get the footnotes sorted, and it is due the day after tomorrow. But tonight I have a brutally harsh case of the cbf's and also my throat and chest is still really sore so I felt the need to self medicate with a glass (read mug) of red wine. As you do. It's starting to feel better already. Although my views on the essay are changing somewhat. Ah well, you get that.
After turbo crappola night last night I had no idea what today would be like. It wasn't actually too bad. Because it was such a lovely day I thought yep we're all heading outside. So the washing was done and ready for hanging so I thought out we'll all go. Oh my word I tell you I never realised just how long such a simple task took! Both the girls needed to get into shorts and tshirt because they were in track pants because inside is cooler than outside. Then they needed shoes. Then they needed sunscreen. Then they needed hats. And then the pram was in the boot of the car and I was putting Angus there so that had to come out. So after all that we were on our way down the steps, mini chick holding my hand (which is uber cute because up until now she has point blank refused) and into the garden we went for a frolick. I do love to frolick. Puff the magic dragon. He was a frolicker. But I do digress. So I hung the washing out and pushed Lexi on the swing and ooh'd and aaah'd as she yelled with glee "I found a rock!" and "I found a rock again!!" and "I found TWO rocks!!" and "aaaah a flower". Angus was fairly nonplussed by the whole deal. Just kicked back. In all honesty I think he is actually too big for the pram. It's ridiculous, he is 4 months old and just under 70cm. Insanity. I have no idea how I make these monster children. Not monster at birth, but by god they grow quickly.
Anyway, what was I saying? Oh yes, the outsideness. They loved it. They always do. And they ran and carried on and got a fairly liberal dose of Vitamin D so I'm hoping they sleep. If they do, then we are going to repeat the same procedure every day until they leave home. Simple.
I did have something else to say but the lack of sleep I am suffering from has sucked it from my brain. Can't have been terrifically important, and if it was, well, it'll come back to me, surely, odds are it will.
I had better go and attempt to complete this other essay. I'm actually contemplating taking next semester off. It may or may not be a brilliant or idiotic idea. I haven't decided yet. I'm already enrolled but can easily unenrol. I'm just thinking maybe some time for me might not be such a bad idea. But then again I bore very very easily and I'm just as likely to get one week out of study and say okay then so what the hell am I going to do to keep my brain occupied now? And then I'll get addicted to Sudoku and have to visit the newsagent regularly to get puzzle books and will have to keep pens in every room for when I feel the need. So maybe I'll just stay enrolled. Yep, I think that's safer for all concerned.
Three quick lessons
1. Never leave an open can of soft drink on a bench in a house where there are ants.
2. Always look before you take a sip from an open can of soft drink that has been sitting on a bench.
3. Coke, when spat from a can after ingesting ants, goes a very very long way.
That is all.
2. Always look before you take a sip from an open can of soft drink that has been sitting on a bench.
3. Coke, when spat from a can after ingesting ants, goes a very very long way.
That is all.
I am finding it difficult
to find the words to describe just how crap last night was. Absolutely shatteringly crap. Tabitha was up in total around 9 times, and Angus around about the same. Lexi once (oh thankfully I have ONE good sleeper). Why were they up so much?? I'm tipping it's teeth (for both of them) and also a growth spurt for Angus (in that he was feeding every 2 hours) and also the fact that Tabitha has unfortunately caught the bastard of a cold that has been sitting in my chest for the last 6 days.
And then this morning we encountered what can only be described as a magnificent display of projectile vomiting from master Angus.
And so the day begins.
Oh, now I need feedback here. If you note my blogspot address is not the same as my blog. Why? I have absolutely no idea. I didn't know what I was doing when I created it. Literally.
Now, I can change it, but just wondering if I should. What do you think? Would it be "easier" if the blogspot address was the same as the name of the blog? My gut feeling says yes, but I am in a haze of sleep deprivation so my decisions are not always the best. Although I feel my decision to have red bull and crackling for breakfast was a good one.
So what do you think??
And then this morning we encountered what can only be described as a magnificent display of projectile vomiting from master Angus.
And so the day begins.
Oh, now I need feedback here. If you note my blogspot address is not the same as my blog. Why? I have absolutely no idea. I didn't know what I was doing when I created it. Literally.
Now, I can change it, but just wondering if I should. What do you think? Would it be "easier" if the blogspot address was the same as the name of the blog? My gut feeling says yes, but I am in a haze of sleep deprivation so my decisions are not always the best. Although I feel my decision to have red bull and crackling for breakfast was a good one.
So what do you think??
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Roast pork
truly has to be one of the best foods in the world. Actually to be perfectly honest with you I could take or leave the meat, but the crackling. Oh my god the crackling. I have a confession to make. In times past, many years ago, I decided that crackling was what I wanted so crackling was what I would get. And so I bought the pig skin. A roll of it. It looked not unlike very fat (and fatty) wallpaper. And it was rolled up the same.
So I got home with my pig skin, and I unfurled it and looked at it and thought wow that is one big ass piece of crackling to be. So I set to working my crackling magic on it, scoring it in different directions, different depths, and then gently massaging the oil through it before coating it liberally with salt, giving it another turbo massage and then another whack of salt just for good measure.
And into the oven it went. And was I like a kid watching paint dry. No, that's not right. Kid waiting for christmas. But it went as quickly as watching paint dry. You know what I mean.
Anyway, eventually my beautiful wonderful joyful piece of mega crackling was ready. And with mouth salivating, I broke it up into hundreds (yes it was large) of pieces, and I began eating. Unfortunately I continued eating. And no, there was none left.
Just a word for the wise. If you eat a wallpaper sized roll of crackling in one hit you will become uncomfortable, and you will then need to drink hot water in order to melt and break down the huge amount of congealed fat in your rapidly spasming gut.
But it was worth it.
Back to the subject at hand, I made roast pork tonight. It rocked. BEST crackling EVER. Without a doubt. To top it all off it was Aldi pork. Yes, I went to Aldi, and I did a full shop. Mum looked after the kids so I was unfettered in my attempts to get some serious bargain shopping done. Don't get me wrong, it isn't the be all and end all. There are things you can't get. However there are many things that we usually DO get in a weekly shop and they are truckloads cheaper, and when you have three kids in nappies, when you see nappies that are GOOD at a hugely lower price I tell you, you celebrate. Happy dancing down the aisle, bumping into the poor oldies who are there bright and early cos it's pension day and that's apparently what they do.
I am living in the country at the moment. It is wonderful. So quiet. So much space. Cold at night, but we're getting used to that. Today was an interesting experience. I had to take the bins out. Oh that sounds so simple doesn't it? It is less simple when the driveway is not even crushed rock but big mega chunks of rock, and it is several hundred metres long, and is a hill. Compound that by the fact that garbage collection is every two weeks, not every week, and there were both normal rubbish and recyling bins to take out.
I had a plan. I was going bit by bit. So I started out taking the normal bin 30 metres. Holy crap did that bin weigh a tonne. I felt the burn straight away. Then I went back and got the recycle bin, and wheeled it 60 metres, so 30 metres past the heavy smelly nappy bin from hell. And then I went back and got the heavy smelly nappy bin from hell and wheeled it 60 metres. And you get the drift. By the end of the garbage bin taking out exercise I was absolutely sweating and puffing like a marathon runner who has miscalculated just how much water they need to function before they start burning fat, and I have much fat to burn, so it was not a pretty sight.
Well, I figure at this rate at least I might have lost a little weight today.
The kids seem not to want to go to sleep tonight. Actually that's a lie. They went to sleep fine. They just don't want to stay that way. So what is meant to be me finishing off my essays is in fact me alternating between Tabitha's room and Angus's room, and chucking my head round the corner of Lexi's room just for good measure. And now I'm here blogging away, as you do when you know you should be asleep but also know that at least one of your children is going to wake up any second.
And as if on cue, there we are. Coming Angus.......
So I got home with my pig skin, and I unfurled it and looked at it and thought wow that is one big ass piece of crackling to be. So I set to working my crackling magic on it, scoring it in different directions, different depths, and then gently massaging the oil through it before coating it liberally with salt, giving it another turbo massage and then another whack of salt just for good measure.
And into the oven it went. And was I like a kid watching paint dry. No, that's not right. Kid waiting for christmas. But it went as quickly as watching paint dry. You know what I mean.
Anyway, eventually my beautiful wonderful joyful piece of mega crackling was ready. And with mouth salivating, I broke it up into hundreds (yes it was large) of pieces, and I began eating. Unfortunately I continued eating. And no, there was none left.
Just a word for the wise. If you eat a wallpaper sized roll of crackling in one hit you will become uncomfortable, and you will then need to drink hot water in order to melt and break down the huge amount of congealed fat in your rapidly spasming gut.
But it was worth it.
Back to the subject at hand, I made roast pork tonight. It rocked. BEST crackling EVER. Without a doubt. To top it all off it was Aldi pork. Yes, I went to Aldi, and I did a full shop. Mum looked after the kids so I was unfettered in my attempts to get some serious bargain shopping done. Don't get me wrong, it isn't the be all and end all. There are things you can't get. However there are many things that we usually DO get in a weekly shop and they are truckloads cheaper, and when you have three kids in nappies, when you see nappies that are GOOD at a hugely lower price I tell you, you celebrate. Happy dancing down the aisle, bumping into the poor oldies who are there bright and early cos it's pension day and that's apparently what they do.
I am living in the country at the moment. It is wonderful. So quiet. So much space. Cold at night, but we're getting used to that. Today was an interesting experience. I had to take the bins out. Oh that sounds so simple doesn't it? It is less simple when the driveway is not even crushed rock but big mega chunks of rock, and it is several hundred metres long, and is a hill. Compound that by the fact that garbage collection is every two weeks, not every week, and there were both normal rubbish and recyling bins to take out.
I had a plan. I was going bit by bit. So I started out taking the normal bin 30 metres. Holy crap did that bin weigh a tonne. I felt the burn straight away. Then I went back and got the recycle bin, and wheeled it 60 metres, so 30 metres past the heavy smelly nappy bin from hell. And then I went back and got the heavy smelly nappy bin from hell and wheeled it 60 metres. And you get the drift. By the end of the garbage bin taking out exercise I was absolutely sweating and puffing like a marathon runner who has miscalculated just how much water they need to function before they start burning fat, and I have much fat to burn, so it was not a pretty sight.
Well, I figure at this rate at least I might have lost a little weight today.
The kids seem not to want to go to sleep tonight. Actually that's a lie. They went to sleep fine. They just don't want to stay that way. So what is meant to be me finishing off my essays is in fact me alternating between Tabitha's room and Angus's room, and chucking my head round the corner of Lexi's room just for good measure. And now I'm here blogging away, as you do when you know you should be asleep but also know that at least one of your children is going to wake up any second.
And as if on cue, there we are. Coming Angus.......
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Angus has two
birthmarks. One is on top of his head and the other is on the crease between his foot and his leg (the area that I scrubbed so much when he was little because I thought it was stubborn dirt.....I'd never had a kid with a birthmark before....). I am starting to think that Tabitha also has a birthmark, so I'm going to make a conscious effort to look for it tomorrow. It shouldn't be too difficult to find because I know what it will look like. It'll be 666. Today she was the devil child. Oh my lordy wordy yes this child can throw a tantie.
I knew things were going in a bad direction when she took a step and inadvertently stepped in between the runner cords of the vertical blinds. And you know when you see some things happen they almost go in slow motion? That didn't happen. The opposite happened. It was like watching an animal caught in a fence. The more they fight, the more tangled they get, and within what seemed like nanoseconds what had begun as a step into a cord became Tabitha completely wrapped in the cord, with four of the vertical blinds also wrapped around her, a beetroot coloured tear stained face with a mouth the size of her entire head literally screaming as loudly as she could.
It didn't really get much better from there.
I could tell you about every tantrum that was thrown however you probably don't want to hear that I tried to take a spoon from her after she had finished her dinner. Tantrum. I asked her if she wanted a bottle. Tantrum. I told her it was nearly time for bed. Tantrum. I asked for a cuddle. Tantrum. I'm pretty sure you get the gist.
There is hope in there somewhere that it may be one or more of the 8 remaining teeth that are yet to pop their nasty little heads up from beneath the gums. If in doubt I do usually blame teeth, however this child was seriously possessed today and surely teeth can't do that to a child. Can they?
I have made the executive decision to have a night off study tonight and sit and watch some Ricky Gervais standup with a dodgy bottle of red. Although as I have been told there is no such thing as a dodgy bottle of red. The politically correct term is "quality challenged". So I shall sit watching Ricky Gervais with some cashews and a glass of quality challenged wine, and try, yet again, to have an early night and hope that tonight is not a repeat of last night, and that in the morning when Tabitha wakes the demon will have departed. I bought a lotto ticket. I think it's only fair that either the first scenario occurs or I win lotto. Somehow I think I actually have more chance of the latter happening......
I knew things were going in a bad direction when she took a step and inadvertently stepped in between the runner cords of the vertical blinds. And you know when you see some things happen they almost go in slow motion? That didn't happen. The opposite happened. It was like watching an animal caught in a fence. The more they fight, the more tangled they get, and within what seemed like nanoseconds what had begun as a step into a cord became Tabitha completely wrapped in the cord, with four of the vertical blinds also wrapped around her, a beetroot coloured tear stained face with a mouth the size of her entire head literally screaming as loudly as she could.
It didn't really get much better from there.
I could tell you about every tantrum that was thrown however you probably don't want to hear that I tried to take a spoon from her after she had finished her dinner. Tantrum. I asked her if she wanted a bottle. Tantrum. I told her it was nearly time for bed. Tantrum. I asked for a cuddle. Tantrum. I'm pretty sure you get the gist.
There is hope in there somewhere that it may be one or more of the 8 remaining teeth that are yet to pop their nasty little heads up from beneath the gums. If in doubt I do usually blame teeth, however this child was seriously possessed today and surely teeth can't do that to a child. Can they?
I have made the executive decision to have a night off study tonight and sit and watch some Ricky Gervais standup with a dodgy bottle of red. Although as I have been told there is no such thing as a dodgy bottle of red. The politically correct term is "quality challenged". So I shall sit watching Ricky Gervais with some cashews and a glass of quality challenged wine, and try, yet again, to have an early night and hope that tonight is not a repeat of last night, and that in the morning when Tabitha wakes the demon will have departed. I bought a lotto ticket. I think it's only fair that either the first scenario occurs or I win lotto. Somehow I think I actually have more chance of the latter happening......
I still can't quite understand
the fascination children have with the toilet. I usually have the toilet door closed, predominantly to avoid the fascination factor creeping in, however when Tabitha goes down for a nap I leave it open so as not to create extra banging noise possibilities that may cause her to wake up before it is time, because when that happens it is most certainly not pretty. Tabitha wakes up very well in the mornings as a general rule. She wakes up much less well overnight or if awoken suddenly from her nap. The veritable bear with a sore head visual.
Anyway, back to the toilet. I forgot to shut the door again when I got her up from her nap today, and as I was making lunch several minutes later I remembered. And so I ran, because Tabitha was nowhere in sight. I managed to to turn the corner just in time to see her remove her beloved sleeping doll companion Julia from what must have been a very refreshing dip for her. And because she is a soft toy, and highly absorbent, upon her removal from the toilet she managed to cover Tabitha, and the floor, in toilet water also.
So Julia is now having a spin in the washing machine. I didn't want Tabitha to get too upset by this (being that it is a front loader so she would literally be able to see Julia whizzing around covered in suds) so I suggested to Lexi that her favourite toy Emmy might like to also go for a swim. She thought it was a sensational idea and it was all I could do to stop her leaping through the washing machine herself as she thrust Emmy in for the joyride. Ah well, they probably needed a wash anyway.
I just don't know why it is that I remember such things mere seconds after the inevitable has occurred. Maybe it's one of those Murphy's Law things....the odds of bread falling butter side down vary inversely to the cost of the carpet and all that stuff. What can go wrong will go wrong. Or maybe it's actually in the fine print of the motherhood job description. I think I'll go with that one.
Anyway, back to the toilet. I forgot to shut the door again when I got her up from her nap today, and as I was making lunch several minutes later I remembered. And so I ran, because Tabitha was nowhere in sight. I managed to to turn the corner just in time to see her remove her beloved sleeping doll companion Julia from what must have been a very refreshing dip for her. And because she is a soft toy, and highly absorbent, upon her removal from the toilet she managed to cover Tabitha, and the floor, in toilet water also.
So Julia is now having a spin in the washing machine. I didn't want Tabitha to get too upset by this (being that it is a front loader so she would literally be able to see Julia whizzing around covered in suds) so I suggested to Lexi that her favourite toy Emmy might like to also go for a swim. She thought it was a sensational idea and it was all I could do to stop her leaping through the washing machine herself as she thrust Emmy in for the joyride. Ah well, they probably needed a wash anyway.
I just don't know why it is that I remember such things mere seconds after the inevitable has occurred. Maybe it's one of those Murphy's Law things....the odds of bread falling butter side down vary inversely to the cost of the carpet and all that stuff. What can go wrong will go wrong. Or maybe it's actually in the fine print of the motherhood job description. I think I'll go with that one.
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
I got my groceries
although I fear by getting my groceries I did in fact cause massive premature aging of one 'new Australian' in the process.
He arrived at 2.35pm. He had until 3pm in the window that I had selected, and he had already reneged on the deal once before, last week. So there was no going back. I knew when I received a call from Sydney earlier today saying "he says there's a tree down" that it was the same bloke. And it was. I kindly mentioned to Sydney office that I had explained to Mr non-English speaking delivery man that he needed to come a different way. You see the road here has one entrance and one exit. It does not go end to end and meet up with roads at both sides. End one is a road. End two is a forest. And after the forest there is a road. But you cannot get from said road to this road through the forest. For it is a forest. If it was not a forest it would be called a road. Confusing, yes, I know. But not really.
Anyway, he got here. Through broken English I surmised, after he pointed to his shoe and several other strange things, that he had been stuck in the forest for over an hour. I did feel slightly sorry for him, but only slightly, because I had told him last week of TWO other ways to go! And did he take my advice? NO! The silly bugger took the SAME route he took last week that made him unable to get through. Um, hello????? Seriously. The definition of lunacy is making the same mistake twice and expecting different results. Nope. No Einstein there. I apologise, that was harsh. But bloody true. Seriously. I told him TWO other ways he could have got here and what the hell did he do....he took the way that got him cast last time!!
Well, groceries are here. As he was leaving I said to him "so do you know how to get here for next time?". He ran away. Maybe I'm a little too threatening. I wasn't nasty to him, I really wasn't. But I did point out everything I have just pointed out to you, minus the emphasis as the kids were there and I didn't want to set a bad example. Although for the rest of the day that little statement kind of doesn't fit, cos the kids were terrors, and I really think I could have handled it better.
I think it is a combination of several things. It is being in different surrounds, particularly different weather. Messes you up every time. It is being without things that are familiar to you, including people. And that is incredibly difficult. It is staying up far too late studying because you have essays that are past due because of things that have happened in the past few weeks that have disenabled you from completing them on time so you had to get extensions and even though you have extensions on these assignments, there are assignments following them that need doing so as soon as you finish these ones you have to start the next one. Or something like that.
It's realising that things are different. And the kids are growing, far too fast for your liking. Tabitha's phrase of the day was "I love yoooouuuuuuuuu". And a tantrum to follow. Angus simply must have teeth coming through because he looks as though he has run a mile with the redness of his cheeks, and he is arcing like nobody's business. And Lexi, well, Lexi is Lexi. She is truly an adorable child, but fiercely independent, and wants to help as much as possible, and sometimes just helps that bit too much. I love all my kids, I do. More than anything. But today was a hard day. And I think it's just that bit harder when you have nobody to bounce it off at the end of the day.
Tabitha just woke up. I wonder why it is that at 18 months of age she finds it impossible to sleep through, yet Angus at 4 months old sleeps til 5. Hmmm.
I'm pretty knackered today. It was a huge day. What did I do? Well, that I couldn't tell you. I seriously couldn't. All I can say is that now, at nearly midnight, I'm absolutely stuffed. And I was actually pretty well stuffed at 7.15pm when the kids went to bed. So what did I do all day? I looked after a 4 month old who is having some sort of issues that I believe are related to teething. I looked after an 18 month old who is so advanced she is going through the terrible 2s 6 months early. I conversed at length with a little girl who in three short months time will be three years old, who refuses to let me help her, or do anything for her, except when she gets really really stuck, but won't stop cuddling me and leaning on me with sounds of aaaah and ooooh mummy.
I am really the luckiest mum alive I believe. Lexi is adorable. She is incredibly smart, helps as much as she can, and is so very affectionate and amiable that there is nobody that couldn't like her. Tabitha is an enigma. She is clingy with me, but watching her relate to other people is quite amazing. She is far beyond her years in smarts, I'm sure she's been here before, her vocabulary astounds me (for an 18 month old it is truly insane, she strings together full sentences, in context), and she has attitude. Angus, well, Angus. He isn't so happy the last few days. It's teeth. I'm sure it is. If in doubt, blame teeth. But he rocks. He is just adorable. He is my calm. He is a very calming child. Frustrating when he wakes at 5am and just wants to talk and gooo and gaaa. But calming overall. And adorable. His smile will break hearts, no doubt.
It's raining here. And I'm tired. And I'm hoping miss Tabitha has decided she's tired too and gone to sleep. I've weakened in the last week, she has a bottle at night again. But to be honest, it is because I don't have the energy to get up and down and up and down to her to settle her, because of study, because of having the three muppets to look after through the day, and because of looking after those same muppets at night. Motherhood is the most wonderful job anyone could ever do, and I recommend it to anyone. But it is no walk in the park. It's hard. It's very very hard. Rewarding, but hard.
And I love it. But crikey I'm bloody tired. Wonder when I'll sleep through next......
He arrived at 2.35pm. He had until 3pm in the window that I had selected, and he had already reneged on the deal once before, last week. So there was no going back. I knew when I received a call from Sydney earlier today saying "he says there's a tree down" that it was the same bloke. And it was. I kindly mentioned to Sydney office that I had explained to Mr non-English speaking delivery man that he needed to come a different way. You see the road here has one entrance and one exit. It does not go end to end and meet up with roads at both sides. End one is a road. End two is a forest. And after the forest there is a road. But you cannot get from said road to this road through the forest. For it is a forest. If it was not a forest it would be called a road. Confusing, yes, I know. But not really.
Anyway, he got here. Through broken English I surmised, after he pointed to his shoe and several other strange things, that he had been stuck in the forest for over an hour. I did feel slightly sorry for him, but only slightly, because I had told him last week of TWO other ways to go! And did he take my advice? NO! The silly bugger took the SAME route he took last week that made him unable to get through. Um, hello????? Seriously. The definition of lunacy is making the same mistake twice and expecting different results. Nope. No Einstein there. I apologise, that was harsh. But bloody true. Seriously. I told him TWO other ways he could have got here and what the hell did he do....he took the way that got him cast last time!!
Well, groceries are here. As he was leaving I said to him "so do you know how to get here for next time?". He ran away. Maybe I'm a little too threatening. I wasn't nasty to him, I really wasn't. But I did point out everything I have just pointed out to you, minus the emphasis as the kids were there and I didn't want to set a bad example. Although for the rest of the day that little statement kind of doesn't fit, cos the kids were terrors, and I really think I could have handled it better.
I think it is a combination of several things. It is being in different surrounds, particularly different weather. Messes you up every time. It is being without things that are familiar to you, including people. And that is incredibly difficult. It is staying up far too late studying because you have essays that are past due because of things that have happened in the past few weeks that have disenabled you from completing them on time so you had to get extensions and even though you have extensions on these assignments, there are assignments following them that need doing so as soon as you finish these ones you have to start the next one. Or something like that.
It's realising that things are different. And the kids are growing, far too fast for your liking. Tabitha's phrase of the day was "I love yoooouuuuuuuuu". And a tantrum to follow. Angus simply must have teeth coming through because he looks as though he has run a mile with the redness of his cheeks, and he is arcing like nobody's business. And Lexi, well, Lexi is Lexi. She is truly an adorable child, but fiercely independent, and wants to help as much as possible, and sometimes just helps that bit too much. I love all my kids, I do. More than anything. But today was a hard day. And I think it's just that bit harder when you have nobody to bounce it off at the end of the day.
Tabitha just woke up. I wonder why it is that at 18 months of age she finds it impossible to sleep through, yet Angus at 4 months old sleeps til 5. Hmmm.
I'm pretty knackered today. It was a huge day. What did I do? Well, that I couldn't tell you. I seriously couldn't. All I can say is that now, at nearly midnight, I'm absolutely stuffed. And I was actually pretty well stuffed at 7.15pm when the kids went to bed. So what did I do all day? I looked after a 4 month old who is having some sort of issues that I believe are related to teething. I looked after an 18 month old who is so advanced she is going through the terrible 2s 6 months early. I conversed at length with a little girl who in three short months time will be three years old, who refuses to let me help her, or do anything for her, except when she gets really really stuck, but won't stop cuddling me and leaning on me with sounds of aaaah and ooooh mummy.
I am really the luckiest mum alive I believe. Lexi is adorable. She is incredibly smart, helps as much as she can, and is so very affectionate and amiable that there is nobody that couldn't like her. Tabitha is an enigma. She is clingy with me, but watching her relate to other people is quite amazing. She is far beyond her years in smarts, I'm sure she's been here before, her vocabulary astounds me (for an 18 month old it is truly insane, she strings together full sentences, in context), and she has attitude. Angus, well, Angus. He isn't so happy the last few days. It's teeth. I'm sure it is. If in doubt, blame teeth. But he rocks. He is just adorable. He is my calm. He is a very calming child. Frustrating when he wakes at 5am and just wants to talk and gooo and gaaa. But calming overall. And adorable. His smile will break hearts, no doubt.
It's raining here. And I'm tired. And I'm hoping miss Tabitha has decided she's tired too and gone to sleep. I've weakened in the last week, she has a bottle at night again. But to be honest, it is because I don't have the energy to get up and down and up and down to her to settle her, because of study, because of having the three muppets to look after through the day, and because of looking after those same muppets at night. Motherhood is the most wonderful job anyone could ever do, and I recommend it to anyone. But it is no walk in the park. It's hard. It's very very hard. Rewarding, but hard.
And I love it. But crikey I'm bloody tired. Wonder when I'll sleep through next......
I realised why
Mr Non-English speaking delivery man was unable to access the road last Friday. The "tree down" was in fact him trying to get through the road via a forest. And he has done the same thing today. And so I am counting down....presently he has 52 minutes remaining to deliver my groceries within the window specified, and if they don't arrive I am going to let fly, in a big way.
Thing is, they have made it here before, on at least one, and possibly two occasions (I should remember but I don't, but I know they have been here at least once), so it is definitely possible to get here. And I Know the road isn't blocked off because I Have been out via the road, and people have been in via the road, and there is most certainly no tree down. It is so massively frustrating, particularly since I know tomorrow is a public holiday so if they mess up today there will be no try again delivery tomorrow, and yet again I will have no groceries.
I smell like Vicks. I love the smell of Vicks. It is so comforting. I caught a chill a few days ago and feel like I've been belted in the chest with a sledgehammer, and I'm sneezing, so I have a cold, although I don't actually feel cold, just sore in the chest with a horrid cough. It's more than likely a chest infection but it'll clear up by itself, eventually. The only time it didn't I got pneumonia, and that sorta sucked just a little. It hurts. You wouldn't think it but it does. Really painful stuff. But yes, I do believe I Have a chest infection so if it still feels this bad in a week I'll go to the doctor. Hahah. Yep. I'll give it a week. Ooooh damn forgot to order tomato soup in my grocery order. Meh, no biggie, he probably won't even make it here anyway.
It's cooking show marathon today. Angus and Tabitha are both asleep and Lexi is sprawled out on her little sofa with a pillow watching cooking shows while I play around on the computer. She adores the cooking shows, just loves them.
I should probably study but I figure I'll do some more tonight. Today, well, I'm actually feeling a little sorry for myself because I feel yuck, so just taking it easy. Plus yesterday was such a massive brain drain day that I think I needed a little break from it all.
Okay I'd better flee, Lexi has decided she wants to lean. Love that she is affectionate but it is damn near impossible to do anything at all when Lexi is in lean mode.....
I shall very likely return later this evening after an hour or two of internet law has sent me madder than I already am, so I shall talk to you all then. If there is an all. May be there is noone out in cyber bloggy land. It's quite odd to just 'talk' to nobody and nothing and wonder. You should try it sometime. It's not a cathartic experience (I actually just wanted to use that word) but it is something that makes you think......
Might have a coffee. If Mr Non-English speaking delivery man ever arrives I'll have a red bull too.......
Thing is, they have made it here before, on at least one, and possibly two occasions (I should remember but I don't, but I know they have been here at least once), so it is definitely possible to get here. And I Know the road isn't blocked off because I Have been out via the road, and people have been in via the road, and there is most certainly no tree down. It is so massively frustrating, particularly since I know tomorrow is a public holiday so if they mess up today there will be no try again delivery tomorrow, and yet again I will have no groceries.
I smell like Vicks. I love the smell of Vicks. It is so comforting. I caught a chill a few days ago and feel like I've been belted in the chest with a sledgehammer, and I'm sneezing, so I have a cold, although I don't actually feel cold, just sore in the chest with a horrid cough. It's more than likely a chest infection but it'll clear up by itself, eventually. The only time it didn't I got pneumonia, and that sorta sucked just a little. It hurts. You wouldn't think it but it does. Really painful stuff. But yes, I do believe I Have a chest infection so if it still feels this bad in a week I'll go to the doctor. Hahah. Yep. I'll give it a week. Ooooh damn forgot to order tomato soup in my grocery order. Meh, no biggie, he probably won't even make it here anyway.
It's cooking show marathon today. Angus and Tabitha are both asleep and Lexi is sprawled out on her little sofa with a pillow watching cooking shows while I play around on the computer. She adores the cooking shows, just loves them.
I should probably study but I figure I'll do some more tonight. Today, well, I'm actually feeling a little sorry for myself because I feel yuck, so just taking it easy. Plus yesterday was such a massive brain drain day that I think I needed a little break from it all.
Okay I'd better flee, Lexi has decided she wants to lean. Love that she is affectionate but it is damn near impossible to do anything at all when Lexi is in lean mode.....
I shall very likely return later this evening after an hour or two of internet law has sent me madder than I already am, so I shall talk to you all then. If there is an all. May be there is noone out in cyber bloggy land. It's quite odd to just 'talk' to nobody and nothing and wonder. You should try it sometime. It's not a cathartic experience (I actually just wanted to use that word) but it is something that makes you think......
Might have a coffee. If Mr Non-English speaking delivery man ever arrives I'll have a red bull too.......
Monday, January 24, 2011
I know I should be in bed
but instead I'm sitting up playing on my new notebook computer :) My dad surprised me with it the other day and I am absolutely ecstatic! I have never had one before and feel super dooper spesh!
So instead of catching up on zeds, which are desperately needed, I have just downloaded some bits and bobs and thought they would be finished a while ago which they weren't so I'm still up and yawning but should really hit the hay soon.
Today mum came over and looked after the kids so I could study and I actually managed to get one of the two essays finished, and it was the dodgy one too. The one that scared me just by looking at the topic. International commercial law, maritime law, treaties, comparisons between uniform legislations. Riveting stuff. So it's done. Thankfully. All that remains is the 5000 word jobbie on internet law and we're done for a few weeks. Well, actually not when you think about it, cos the next ones are actually due in a few weeks. Oh well. The things we do hey. At least this computer will make it easier heheh.
Tabitha is a strange little girl. She has a tantrum, then she laughs, then she tantrums, then she laughs. Today she threw a few, then came running in, stood with her back to the wall, looked at me in the eye and said "I love you". I just about melted. Then she ran off and threw a block at Lexi. As you do.
Only a short one today because I have had a massive day of brain activity and it would seem that my brain is somewhat out of sorts in relation to that because I'm fried.
But now I can blog from anywhere. How cool is that.....I am so 20th century. Actually no, hang on, we're in the 21st century now aren't we? Oh well, something. Buck Rogers in the 21st century holy moly that just popped into my head. Wonder if anyone else is old enough to remember that....
Online groceries arrive tomorrow. Let's see if they send old mate that had the tree incident (yeah right) last week or someone else. If it's old mate I bet he breaks my eggs on purpose. Well, they'll get a phone call, I'll give you the drum.
Okay I'm really going now. Really.
So instead of catching up on zeds, which are desperately needed, I have just downloaded some bits and bobs and thought they would be finished a while ago which they weren't so I'm still up and yawning but should really hit the hay soon.
Today mum came over and looked after the kids so I could study and I actually managed to get one of the two essays finished, and it was the dodgy one too. The one that scared me just by looking at the topic. International commercial law, maritime law, treaties, comparisons between uniform legislations. Riveting stuff. So it's done. Thankfully. All that remains is the 5000 word jobbie on internet law and we're done for a few weeks. Well, actually not when you think about it, cos the next ones are actually due in a few weeks. Oh well. The things we do hey. At least this computer will make it easier heheh.
Tabitha is a strange little girl. She has a tantrum, then she laughs, then she tantrums, then she laughs. Today she threw a few, then came running in, stood with her back to the wall, looked at me in the eye and said "I love you". I just about melted. Then she ran off and threw a block at Lexi. As you do.
Only a short one today because I have had a massive day of brain activity and it would seem that my brain is somewhat out of sorts in relation to that because I'm fried.
But now I can blog from anywhere. How cool is that.....I am so 20th century. Actually no, hang on, we're in the 21st century now aren't we? Oh well, something. Buck Rogers in the 21st century holy moly that just popped into my head. Wonder if anyone else is old enough to remember that....
Online groceries arrive tomorrow. Let's see if they send old mate that had the tree incident (yeah right) last week or someone else. If it's old mate I bet he breaks my eggs on purpose. Well, they'll get a phone call, I'll give you the drum.
Okay I'm really going now. Really.
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Do you ever
hear a song on the radio at some point and that song sticks in your mind for the rest of the day? I'm not talking about when a song is the last song on the radio before you turn the car off, or the last song that is used as the backing music for an advertisement before you turn the tv off. I'm talking about a song that you heard at some nondescript point during the day that has plagued you literally non-stop for the remainder of the day?
Today for me that song is Big Yellow Taxi. The remake. I heard it while driving to Geelong to visit family, we had an absolutely wonderful day, the girls got to play with their nana and pop and I got to go out for lunch with my dad, kidlet free (though I must admit I checked my phone for the time every 5 minutes, literally, as I basically never leave my kids, ever, with anyone, so it's kinda difficult for me to be away from them without worrying), but it was lovely.
So why Big Yellow Taxi? I think because the remake made me think of the remake's video, which kind of missed the point really. The song is not about a Big Yellow Taxi. But they focused on it. Even though that is what it is called, listen to the lyrics.
Late last night
I heard my screen door slam
And a big yellow taxi
took away my old man
Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you've got
Till it's gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot
It's not about the taxi. It's about not realising what you have until it's gone.
Subconscious is a pretty smart thing. Sometimes I think we don't listen to it often enough.
Today for me that song is Big Yellow Taxi. The remake. I heard it while driving to Geelong to visit family, we had an absolutely wonderful day, the girls got to play with their nana and pop and I got to go out for lunch with my dad, kidlet free (though I must admit I checked my phone for the time every 5 minutes, literally, as I basically never leave my kids, ever, with anyone, so it's kinda difficult for me to be away from them without worrying), but it was lovely.
So why Big Yellow Taxi? I think because the remake made me think of the remake's video, which kind of missed the point really. The song is not about a Big Yellow Taxi. But they focused on it. Even though that is what it is called, listen to the lyrics.
Late last night
I heard my screen door slam
And a big yellow taxi
took away my old man
Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you've got
Till it's gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot
It's not about the taxi. It's about not realising what you have until it's gone.
Subconscious is a pretty smart thing. Sometimes I think we don't listen to it often enough.
Saturday, January 22, 2011
I always thought
that those with 3 under 3 had their difficulties in negotiating the day and daytime naps, feeds, tantrums, nappies and all the other motherly duties that come with having one child, just in triplicate, with a little bit more flexibility and organisation. Yes, all these things need to be done, however it is not the days that pose the problem. Well, not usually anyway. It's the nights.
Take for example last night. Both the girls went to bed at around 6.45pm. Lexi decided she wanted to be difficult and carry on for a bit, which for her is unusual, but in the grand scheme of juggling things is not all that surprising, because usually when you think one thing is going to go one way because it "usually" does, that's when it changes and it doesn't go that way, rather it goes the opposite. So Lexi is usually the "easy" one to get to go to bed. Change the nappy, get the soft toys, tuck in, discuss what we're going to do the next day, kiss and mmmmm (this has grown from me kissing her good night and leaning down to cuddle her with an mmmm sound, so that now when she says goodnight to people she blows them a kiss and says mmm, it's very cute). Anyway, so that's the usual process. Last night was unusual. We did this, but as soon as I left the room it was "mummy mummy mummy". I just figured one of the Emmy's (her lovely elephant soft toys) was missing. Nope. That wasn't it. She just wanted me in the room. For no apparent reason. So when I left again it began again. "Mummy mummy mummy". So I explained to her that she needed to sleep and build up her energy so we could play and do things today, but she wasn't having a bar of it. Not by any stretch of the imagination. She was just unhappy to be in bed. Very strange.
And Tabitha, well, she is usually the one who causes all matter of get out when it comes to bedtimes. There are tears and tantrums and carry on, which ease into high pitched la la la sounds as she talks to Julia (her doll) or Miffy (her other rabbit doll thing), and then ooze back into the tears and carry on. It's wonderful, really. But she must have sensed that Lexi was doing her job for her because she went down without a hassle. Fabulous I thought. Stupid me. Never count your chickens.
So they were both asleep by 7.30pm. Angus decided he didn't want to be asleep, so remained up until about 8.15pm. That's cool, he's pretty chillaxed most of the time. And again, there's that assumption thing popping up. I wasn't quite prepared for the fact that nearly half a dozen tearful awakenings before a ripper burp let forth and lo and behold it's 9.30pm. Now in between this time I am buzzing back and forth to the computer, as I have two essays due at the end of the week and have done a relatively small portion of each.
I think it was around 9.32pm when Tabitha woke up for the first time. And then every half hour onwards until around midnight. Perhaps even a little later. By this stage I was so muddled between burps and crying and discomfort and international commercial law and shipping regulations and the problems Julian Assange is facing and the temperature of the bedrooms and whether the bottles were washed that I had no idea whether I was Arthur or Martha. As it turns out I was neither, I appeared to be David Copperfield, materialising in one part of the house, then miraculously being in another only seconds later.
So I crawled into bed around half 12 or thereabouts, and then Angus awoke at around 1.30am for a feed. That's okay, he's a baby, that's what they do. It still didn't stop me being slightly angry at him for not being one of those "I sleep through" babies. Tabitha was an horrendous sleeper. She didn't sleep through until 5 days before Angus was born, then did for a few months, and about a month and half ago she decided that wasn't her cup of tea, she'd much rather be up in the middle of the night so I'm blessed with that lovely joy.
What was I saying? Oh yeah, Angus got up, had a feed, and I crawled back into bed. 4am was when Tabitha woke up again. Unhappy. Nappy change, stroke the forehead, eyes close, breathing slows, I leave the room and hell breaks loose. It's like she can sense it. And Angus woke up at 4.15am for a feed. So try explaining to an 18 month old that she needs to calm down and be quiet because mummy needs to feed her brother. Yep. Try nailing jelly to a wall, you'll have more success. So Angus went back down around 4.30am, and Tabitha continued to perform the role of psychological angle grinder until around 5am. And again I crawl back into bed, and at 6.15am Angus awakens. Oh god no. Please no. Shhhhh. Please go back to sleep. Seriously can't you understand mummy is tired? No, you can't. Crap. So I put him beside me in the bed, which is something I haven't done for such a long time. And he went to sleep. SCORE! So I mini kipped beside him until he woke up around 7, then Tabitha got up (surprise surprise), I got them sorted and heard the little peeps of "mummy mummy mummy" from the end room and so the day begins again.
Wonder what tonight will be like? I daren't say it can't be worse because as I have previously mentioned, assumptions don't tend to work so well around here......
Take for example last night. Both the girls went to bed at around 6.45pm. Lexi decided she wanted to be difficult and carry on for a bit, which for her is unusual, but in the grand scheme of juggling things is not all that surprising, because usually when you think one thing is going to go one way because it "usually" does, that's when it changes and it doesn't go that way, rather it goes the opposite. So Lexi is usually the "easy" one to get to go to bed. Change the nappy, get the soft toys, tuck in, discuss what we're going to do the next day, kiss and mmmmm (this has grown from me kissing her good night and leaning down to cuddle her with an mmmm sound, so that now when she says goodnight to people she blows them a kiss and says mmm, it's very cute). Anyway, so that's the usual process. Last night was unusual. We did this, but as soon as I left the room it was "mummy mummy mummy". I just figured one of the Emmy's (her lovely elephant soft toys) was missing. Nope. That wasn't it. She just wanted me in the room. For no apparent reason. So when I left again it began again. "Mummy mummy mummy". So I explained to her that she needed to sleep and build up her energy so we could play and do things today, but she wasn't having a bar of it. Not by any stretch of the imagination. She was just unhappy to be in bed. Very strange.
And Tabitha, well, she is usually the one who causes all matter of get out when it comes to bedtimes. There are tears and tantrums and carry on, which ease into high pitched la la la sounds as she talks to Julia (her doll) or Miffy (her other rabbit doll thing), and then ooze back into the tears and carry on. It's wonderful, really. But she must have sensed that Lexi was doing her job for her because she went down without a hassle. Fabulous I thought. Stupid me. Never count your chickens.
So they were both asleep by 7.30pm. Angus decided he didn't want to be asleep, so remained up until about 8.15pm. That's cool, he's pretty chillaxed most of the time. And again, there's that assumption thing popping up. I wasn't quite prepared for the fact that nearly half a dozen tearful awakenings before a ripper burp let forth and lo and behold it's 9.30pm. Now in between this time I am buzzing back and forth to the computer, as I have two essays due at the end of the week and have done a relatively small portion of each.
I think it was around 9.32pm when Tabitha woke up for the first time. And then every half hour onwards until around midnight. Perhaps even a little later. By this stage I was so muddled between burps and crying and discomfort and international commercial law and shipping regulations and the problems Julian Assange is facing and the temperature of the bedrooms and whether the bottles were washed that I had no idea whether I was Arthur or Martha. As it turns out I was neither, I appeared to be David Copperfield, materialising in one part of the house, then miraculously being in another only seconds later.
So I crawled into bed around half 12 or thereabouts, and then Angus awoke at around 1.30am for a feed. That's okay, he's a baby, that's what they do. It still didn't stop me being slightly angry at him for not being one of those "I sleep through" babies. Tabitha was an horrendous sleeper. She didn't sleep through until 5 days before Angus was born, then did for a few months, and about a month and half ago she decided that wasn't her cup of tea, she'd much rather be up in the middle of the night so I'm blessed with that lovely joy.
What was I saying? Oh yeah, Angus got up, had a feed, and I crawled back into bed. 4am was when Tabitha woke up again. Unhappy. Nappy change, stroke the forehead, eyes close, breathing slows, I leave the room and hell breaks loose. It's like she can sense it. And Angus woke up at 4.15am for a feed. So try explaining to an 18 month old that she needs to calm down and be quiet because mummy needs to feed her brother. Yep. Try nailing jelly to a wall, you'll have more success. So Angus went back down around 4.30am, and Tabitha continued to perform the role of psychological angle grinder until around 5am. And again I crawl back into bed, and at 6.15am Angus awakens. Oh god no. Please no. Shhhhh. Please go back to sleep. Seriously can't you understand mummy is tired? No, you can't. Crap. So I put him beside me in the bed, which is something I haven't done for such a long time. And he went to sleep. SCORE! So I mini kipped beside him until he woke up around 7, then Tabitha got up (surprise surprise), I got them sorted and heard the little peeps of "mummy mummy mummy" from the end room and so the day begins again.
Wonder what tonight will be like? I daren't say it can't be worse because as I have previously mentioned, assumptions don't tend to work so well around here......
Friday, January 21, 2011
So here's the thing.
I don't think I am unreasonable. I am not a racist, I take people for who they are, I don't care if they are Chinese, Indian, Australian, English, French, Armenian, anything. BUT if you apply for a job as a delivery driver and ring me to ask directions I expect that you speak English. That is most definitely not too much to ask.
So I had an online grocery delivery scheduled today. Mr non-English speaking delivery man phones because as far as I can understand there is a tree down on the road he is trying to take. I can not understand him and assume that perhaps it is a bad connection from my mobile phone, so I return his call from a landline. Nope. That wasn't it. He simply couldn't speak English. So I phone head office, and I'm on hold forever before my mobile phone rings and it's a Sydney number, so I hang up the landline, answer the mobile, and find it is in fact head office for the grocery mob. They have the driver on the other line. I ask the Sydney bloke to ask Mr non-English speaking delivery man what road he is on. We conclude he is on a road that does not in fact exist. So in addition to failing to learn English as a language, he has obviously failed to learn the alphabet because he is unable to spell out from a road sign. Frustration building.
So Sydney man tries to get further information from Mr non-English speaking delivery man and comes up with zilch so says to me that he will attempt to get the delivery done after he has completed his other deliveries, or they will reissue. Okay that's fine, no problem. Delivery window is 11am to 5pm. At 6pm when still no groceries I was becoming concerned. I eventually phoned at 7.30pm. Lo and behold Sydney have no idea where Mr non-English speaking delivery man is. He has not reported in whether or not he has made the delivery, nor has he advised whether or not he intends to. So they have to get on to the transport manager. They do this and eventually come back to me that Mr non-English speaking delivery man has decided that he will not make the delivery and returned the stock to the store. Problem? Yes. He neglected to tell anyone this. So Sydney assumed the delivery had been made, while Mr non-English speaking delivery man didn't really give a toss as to what happened.
Now I have three children under three. Two of those children drink milk, and one drinks formula. I had 6 litres of milk due to arrive today. There is approximately 500ml of milk currently in my fridge. I am one very unhappy camper. I have however been assured that Mr non-English speaking delivery man will be receiving a very severe reprimand on Monday. Well in my opinion he got off lightly. What if I had formula on that list and I was relying upon it to get me through tonight? What if I had absolutely no food in the house and was relying on the delivery to feed the kids? And as they don't deliver on the weekends the soonest possible replacement delivery is Monday at 7am. Um, yes, very helpful. Not.
I'll be honest, I just about burst into tears when they said Monday was the earliest they could get back here, so I cracked it and told them to cancel the order and I would see what I could do to get people to help me on the weekend to try and get whatever I could. I repeatedly reminded them that milk in a house of three toddlers is an absolute necessity. I realise it wasn't the operator's fault, however I did want them to realise it wasn't just an order of potato chips and salsa we were talking about here (although I may just add salsa to the next order now I think about it). So very very annoying.
I still love online grocery shopping. But its glowing sheen is a little tarnished right at this moment in time.
I had other things I was going to rabble on about but to be honest they have all flown from my mind thanks to Mr non-English speaking delivery man. So thank you Mr non-English speaking delivery man for messing me up twice. Grrrrrr.
Not happy.
So I had an online grocery delivery scheduled today. Mr non-English speaking delivery man phones because as far as I can understand there is a tree down on the road he is trying to take. I can not understand him and assume that perhaps it is a bad connection from my mobile phone, so I return his call from a landline. Nope. That wasn't it. He simply couldn't speak English. So I phone head office, and I'm on hold forever before my mobile phone rings and it's a Sydney number, so I hang up the landline, answer the mobile, and find it is in fact head office for the grocery mob. They have the driver on the other line. I ask the Sydney bloke to ask Mr non-English speaking delivery man what road he is on. We conclude he is on a road that does not in fact exist. So in addition to failing to learn English as a language, he has obviously failed to learn the alphabet because he is unable to spell out from a road sign. Frustration building.
So Sydney man tries to get further information from Mr non-English speaking delivery man and comes up with zilch so says to me that he will attempt to get the delivery done after he has completed his other deliveries, or they will reissue. Okay that's fine, no problem. Delivery window is 11am to 5pm. At 6pm when still no groceries I was becoming concerned. I eventually phoned at 7.30pm. Lo and behold Sydney have no idea where Mr non-English speaking delivery man is. He has not reported in whether or not he has made the delivery, nor has he advised whether or not he intends to. So they have to get on to the transport manager. They do this and eventually come back to me that Mr non-English speaking delivery man has decided that he will not make the delivery and returned the stock to the store. Problem? Yes. He neglected to tell anyone this. So Sydney assumed the delivery had been made, while Mr non-English speaking delivery man didn't really give a toss as to what happened.
Now I have three children under three. Two of those children drink milk, and one drinks formula. I had 6 litres of milk due to arrive today. There is approximately 500ml of milk currently in my fridge. I am one very unhappy camper. I have however been assured that Mr non-English speaking delivery man will be receiving a very severe reprimand on Monday. Well in my opinion he got off lightly. What if I had formula on that list and I was relying upon it to get me through tonight? What if I had absolutely no food in the house and was relying on the delivery to feed the kids? And as they don't deliver on the weekends the soonest possible replacement delivery is Monday at 7am. Um, yes, very helpful. Not.
I'll be honest, I just about burst into tears when they said Monday was the earliest they could get back here, so I cracked it and told them to cancel the order and I would see what I could do to get people to help me on the weekend to try and get whatever I could. I repeatedly reminded them that milk in a house of three toddlers is an absolute necessity. I realise it wasn't the operator's fault, however I did want them to realise it wasn't just an order of potato chips and salsa we were talking about here (although I may just add salsa to the next order now I think about it). So very very annoying.
I still love online grocery shopping. But its glowing sheen is a little tarnished right at this moment in time.
I had other things I was going to rabble on about but to be honest they have all flown from my mind thanks to Mr non-English speaking delivery man. So thank you Mr non-English speaking delivery man for messing me up twice. Grrrrrr.
Not happy.
My head hurts
for more reasons than one. The main reason can without a doubt be attributed to the children. And no, it's not what you think, it isn't the fact that they are carrying on that is giving me a sore head, rather the fact that when I was putting things away in the fridge yesterday both the girls snuck up on me, scared the living crap out of me and I jumped up, with my head still in the fridge. My head now sports a rather large, and I'm tipping discoloured, lump.
The second reason is international commercial law based. You see I have an assignment that is due in 7 days. In reality it was actually due 7 days ago, however due to events beyond my control I needed to apply for an extension, which I did, and was granted, and thus I now have 7 days to complete it. What I didn't realise was the topic matter is something far beyond that which I am able to currently comprehend, and as such I feel like every document I read gives me one more tiny little stroke such that by the end of this assignment I may well have little to no use of my body and/or mind.
The third reason is the distinct sleep issues that have arisen of late. Not my own, no, that would be too easy. The children, of course. Although I must say I only got up twice last night. However that is twice per child. So 6 times in total. I'm a bit knackered today.
I just screamed "what are you doing Lexi" because I heard some rather interesting sounds emanating from the kitchen, only to see Lexi jump up from behind me and say "nooooo I'm using the bookcase". Hmmm. Mother of the year right there. Tabitha did come running in though, and was holding a toy car and a toy bus, so there's your noise.
I cut Lexi's fringe this morning. It was getting to the point where it must have been impairing her sight quite markedly, little dangly hairs in front of the eyes like little net curtains. So I cut it. Not very well actually. I'm not sure why but it went kind of wobbly. So we're sitting eating breakfast and I said to Lexi "I'm sorry I didn't cut your hair very well Lexi". And what does she say? "No mummy, you cut my hair VERY well". Hehe. Gotta love a show of support and loyalty. That said she hasn't actually seen it so once she does she may well change her tune.
Tabitha is looking rather rosy cheeked today. If those eye teeth don't come down soon I may be forced into taking action. What that action is I have no idea but I'm just about sick of the teething fiasco that we are enduring with absolutely nothing to show for it. And I have to go through it all again with Angus.... Must be hard for the kids though, the pain, the confusion as to what is going on. So when I am getting frustrated with my lack of sleep and the kids being grizzly I just remind myself that it's no bed of roses for them either.
I had best away. The silence is deafening and that is never a good sign.
The second reason is international commercial law based. You see I have an assignment that is due in 7 days. In reality it was actually due 7 days ago, however due to events beyond my control I needed to apply for an extension, which I did, and was granted, and thus I now have 7 days to complete it. What I didn't realise was the topic matter is something far beyond that which I am able to currently comprehend, and as such I feel like every document I read gives me one more tiny little stroke such that by the end of this assignment I may well have little to no use of my body and/or mind.
The third reason is the distinct sleep issues that have arisen of late. Not my own, no, that would be too easy. The children, of course. Although I must say I only got up twice last night. However that is twice per child. So 6 times in total. I'm a bit knackered today.
I just screamed "what are you doing Lexi" because I heard some rather interesting sounds emanating from the kitchen, only to see Lexi jump up from behind me and say "nooooo I'm using the bookcase". Hmmm. Mother of the year right there. Tabitha did come running in though, and was holding a toy car and a toy bus, so there's your noise.
I cut Lexi's fringe this morning. It was getting to the point where it must have been impairing her sight quite markedly, little dangly hairs in front of the eyes like little net curtains. So I cut it. Not very well actually. I'm not sure why but it went kind of wobbly. So we're sitting eating breakfast and I said to Lexi "I'm sorry I didn't cut your hair very well Lexi". And what does she say? "No mummy, you cut my hair VERY well". Hehe. Gotta love a show of support and loyalty. That said she hasn't actually seen it so once she does she may well change her tune.
Tabitha is looking rather rosy cheeked today. If those eye teeth don't come down soon I may be forced into taking action. What that action is I have no idea but I'm just about sick of the teething fiasco that we are enduring with absolutely nothing to show for it. And I have to go through it all again with Angus.... Must be hard for the kids though, the pain, the confusion as to what is going on. So when I am getting frustrated with my lack of sleep and the kids being grizzly I just remind myself that it's no bed of roses for them either.
I had best away. The silence is deafening and that is never a good sign.
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
I'm constantly amazed
by my kids. I know every parent probably says the same thing but that's probably because they see things very similar to those things I see on a daily basis. Children are little sponges. They absorb absolutely everything, and their powers of learning are astronomical.
I think my kids are clever. Really what parent doesn't? Lexi, she is an arty little chickadee. She loves to draw and would sit there all day if you let her. She's a lefty, and has been basically since she mastered the art of holding things. She knows all her colours, and many songs, and dances although her dancing looks more like a seizure because she really isn't terribly coordinated. She would fall over a chair in the middle of a football field. Actually, there need not be a chair for her to fall over. I'm not sure if she just forgets she has to lift her feet, or if her mind wanders, but she is down for the count on such a regular basis it is astounding. "Are you okay Lexi?" "no no no no no". That's not to say she isn't okay, more that she is frustrated she has fallen, yet again. She'll be sitting at the table or playing with something and I'll be having a random conversation, for example "oh my hands feel sticky I should really wash them" and she'll run off, grab a facewasher and come back and give it to me and say "here you go mum". Such a cool little chick.
Tabitha is a funny thing. Dancing, well, she nails it. Not complex moves or anything, but always in time, and she does the hokey pokey like no child you have ever seen. And loves the "oooooooooh" at the start of the chorus. We had our first expedition in the car just the three kids and myself today and she spent a good 40 minutes doing the hokey pokey while the other two slept. She also has an amazing vocabulary, constructs sentences, and knows the context of so many words too. She can count to ten, sing the ABC song (missing a few key letters though) and repeats nearly everything we say. Makes you realise that you must be careful with language around children.....
Angus is my little angel. Truly. The happiest child you could ever meet. When he is crying there is a reason. Always. He is not a whingy baby. And odds are it is a little burp that has just got stuck in his belly and once that's up he's good as gold again. Such a joy.
Being in Victoria is a huge change from far north Queensland. Instead of waking up lathered in sweat at 5.30am we wake up cool, actually cold most mornings, but quite a bit later. But the nights are not so settled. Tabitha is not used to a doona you see. She is still in a cot at 18 months (Lexi only went into a bed at 2.5 because she was such a restless sleeper), and Tabitha is much the same. But she doesn't like the doona. The last two nights however she seems to have given in just a little. In return for that she has decided she would like a bottle in the middle of the night. Hmmm. Interesting tradeoff there. Last night I fed Angus at 2am and he only had half his bottle. Tabitha woke up literally as Angus was being laid back down in his cot. There was still half a bottle he hadn't drunk. Well, waste not want not. And it did the job. Sensational.
One thing about Victoria that I hadn't quite prepared myself for was the fact that KFC do not have hot n spicy year round. I think I may have already mentioned this however as you will be aware KFC is quite a huge part of my life so I believe that it warrants more than one mention. Anyway, at least the original recipe is nice. Might get going on the wicked wings though. Similar. Not quite the same. But they'll do. With ranch dressing of course. Praise. The only ranch dressing. I sound like an ad.
Angus will be 4 months old tomorrow. I can not quite believe it. I had a lot of trouble during his pregnancy. I started getting contractions at 26 weeks and at 27 weeks started going into labour so was hospitalised and given steroids and drugs to stop the labour. The contractions didn't stop and plagued me such that I had labours stopped at 31 weeks and 32 weeks. He then turned transverse (sideways basically) and for 10 days I had relief - no contractions. It was brilliant. However it brought up the complication that if he didn't turn then I would have to have a c-section. Not ideal when you have a 14 month old and a 2 and a bit year old. Anyway, he turned of his own accord, and so the contractions returned (oh joy), but he managed to hold out til 39 weeks when labour started again. When I got to the hospital my blood pressure was 140/105 at first taking and 155/115 at second taking five minutes later so it was decided they needed to get him out asap so epiduraled me up and popped the old injection of syntocin in. After much toing and froing and the epidural not working etc etc, 7.5 hours later out he popped, 8lb 6, 54cm long with a massive 36.5cm head. My little man! And he held his head up to look at me as soon as they put him on my chest. And I instantly knew that all the pain I had endured over the past 13 weeks was worth it.
People say you forget the pain of labour once you have your baby in your arms. Um, that would be a no. You don't forget it. You do however realise it is worth it.
Now, what was I talking about? Hmm. No idea.
I have two essays due next week. And zero motivation. It happens. I worked out last night that I got up three times to Lexi (who for some very strange reason had a horrid night, as she usually sleeps through without a peep), twice to Tabitha, and twice to Angus. That's seven times. That's a lot of times. When you think about it. Hopefully they'll all settle soon. Fingers crossed hey.
Tomorrow I think we might do some drawings. I think that's a definite. And maybe a bounce on the trampoline, although I must advise you that bouncing on a trampoline after having had three children in fairly quick succession is by no means the same as bouncing on a trampoline before having had children. I shall leave the rest up to your imaginations because I'm most certainly not going to go into detail!
I suppose I should contemplate either study or sleep, however after last night's effort I do believe the latter option will be victorious in this little battle.
I shall also endeavour to post more regularly as I have done in the past, but please bear with me. I, and the three children, are getting used to a new routine so sometimes things just don't go as planned.
And as they say in France, a la prochaine.
I think my kids are clever. Really what parent doesn't? Lexi, she is an arty little chickadee. She loves to draw and would sit there all day if you let her. She's a lefty, and has been basically since she mastered the art of holding things. She knows all her colours, and many songs, and dances although her dancing looks more like a seizure because she really isn't terribly coordinated. She would fall over a chair in the middle of a football field. Actually, there need not be a chair for her to fall over. I'm not sure if she just forgets she has to lift her feet, or if her mind wanders, but she is down for the count on such a regular basis it is astounding. "Are you okay Lexi?" "no no no no no". That's not to say she isn't okay, more that she is frustrated she has fallen, yet again. She'll be sitting at the table or playing with something and I'll be having a random conversation, for example "oh my hands feel sticky I should really wash them" and she'll run off, grab a facewasher and come back and give it to me and say "here you go mum". Such a cool little chick.
Tabitha is a funny thing. Dancing, well, she nails it. Not complex moves or anything, but always in time, and she does the hokey pokey like no child you have ever seen. And loves the "oooooooooh" at the start of the chorus. We had our first expedition in the car just the three kids and myself today and she spent a good 40 minutes doing the hokey pokey while the other two slept. She also has an amazing vocabulary, constructs sentences, and knows the context of so many words too. She can count to ten, sing the ABC song (missing a few key letters though) and repeats nearly everything we say. Makes you realise that you must be careful with language around children.....
Angus is my little angel. Truly. The happiest child you could ever meet. When he is crying there is a reason. Always. He is not a whingy baby. And odds are it is a little burp that has just got stuck in his belly and once that's up he's good as gold again. Such a joy.
Being in Victoria is a huge change from far north Queensland. Instead of waking up lathered in sweat at 5.30am we wake up cool, actually cold most mornings, but quite a bit later. But the nights are not so settled. Tabitha is not used to a doona you see. She is still in a cot at 18 months (Lexi only went into a bed at 2.5 because she was such a restless sleeper), and Tabitha is much the same. But she doesn't like the doona. The last two nights however she seems to have given in just a little. In return for that she has decided she would like a bottle in the middle of the night. Hmmm. Interesting tradeoff there. Last night I fed Angus at 2am and he only had half his bottle. Tabitha woke up literally as Angus was being laid back down in his cot. There was still half a bottle he hadn't drunk. Well, waste not want not. And it did the job. Sensational.
One thing about Victoria that I hadn't quite prepared myself for was the fact that KFC do not have hot n spicy year round. I think I may have already mentioned this however as you will be aware KFC is quite a huge part of my life so I believe that it warrants more than one mention. Anyway, at least the original recipe is nice. Might get going on the wicked wings though. Similar. Not quite the same. But they'll do. With ranch dressing of course. Praise. The only ranch dressing. I sound like an ad.
Angus will be 4 months old tomorrow. I can not quite believe it. I had a lot of trouble during his pregnancy. I started getting contractions at 26 weeks and at 27 weeks started going into labour so was hospitalised and given steroids and drugs to stop the labour. The contractions didn't stop and plagued me such that I had labours stopped at 31 weeks and 32 weeks. He then turned transverse (sideways basically) and for 10 days I had relief - no contractions. It was brilliant. However it brought up the complication that if he didn't turn then I would have to have a c-section. Not ideal when you have a 14 month old and a 2 and a bit year old. Anyway, he turned of his own accord, and so the contractions returned (oh joy), but he managed to hold out til 39 weeks when labour started again. When I got to the hospital my blood pressure was 140/105 at first taking and 155/115 at second taking five minutes later so it was decided they needed to get him out asap so epiduraled me up and popped the old injection of syntocin in. After much toing and froing and the epidural not working etc etc, 7.5 hours later out he popped, 8lb 6, 54cm long with a massive 36.5cm head. My little man! And he held his head up to look at me as soon as they put him on my chest. And I instantly knew that all the pain I had endured over the past 13 weeks was worth it.
People say you forget the pain of labour once you have your baby in your arms. Um, that would be a no. You don't forget it. You do however realise it is worth it.
Now, what was I talking about? Hmm. No idea.
I have two essays due next week. And zero motivation. It happens. I worked out last night that I got up three times to Lexi (who for some very strange reason had a horrid night, as she usually sleeps through without a peep), twice to Tabitha, and twice to Angus. That's seven times. That's a lot of times. When you think about it. Hopefully they'll all settle soon. Fingers crossed hey.
Tomorrow I think we might do some drawings. I think that's a definite. And maybe a bounce on the trampoline, although I must advise you that bouncing on a trampoline after having had three children in fairly quick succession is by no means the same as bouncing on a trampoline before having had children. I shall leave the rest up to your imaginations because I'm most certainly not going to go into detail!
I suppose I should contemplate either study or sleep, however after last night's effort I do believe the latter option will be victorious in this little battle.
I shall also endeavour to post more regularly as I have done in the past, but please bear with me. I, and the three children, are getting used to a new routine so sometimes things just don't go as planned.
And as they say in France, a la prochaine.
Saturday, January 15, 2011
Well I'm back
and in Victoria, where the weather has been unexpected to say the least.
It has been devastating to see the footage of the floods up north, and to see them slowly work their way down the eastern side of Australia. I just can't even begin to imagine what some of those people are going through. I have been in several natural disasters. A major flood. I was in Mackay three years ago when we had some 630mm of rain in 10 hours, and the entire city flooded. I also felt a fair brunt of Cyclone Ului. However I have never seen or experienced anything the magnitude of that which has occurred in Toowoomba, Brisbane and other towns and cities. Devastating doesn't even begin to describe it. And much as I am glad that I am not located in those cities, as most people who aren't would be, my heart bleeds for those who are. To see everything you own washed away is crushing. To see loved ones washed away defies all definition. How do you recover from something like that? The range of emotions experienced by those who were a part of this monumentally historic natural disaster is staggering. I have no words.
Victoria has experienced some flooding also, as have other states. And this on the driest inhabited continent on earth. And what makes it even more difficult to comprehend is the fact that in many areas residents were still on water restrictions, and if those restrictions had not been in place the reservoirs would not have been as full and the flooding may not have been as severe. But that is all speculation. Should have would have could have. And nothing anyone says now will change what has occurred. But the spirit Australians have shown in coming to the aid of their fellow Aussie has, once again, warmed my heart, as it did after other natural disasters, and those that were caused at the hands of idiots with matches. You can quell the spirit but it will never die. It will experience pain but it will rise like a phoenix from the ashes, or the equivalent in terms of water, and we will all go on. As life does. The scars will remain but we keep on going because that's just what we do.
The last 10 days have had much happen in my life and that of my children, but those memories will remain to be told another day. Today, as over the last week or thereabouts, thoughts remain steadfastly with those affected by the floods, whether directly or indirectly. And my thoughts are with them all.
It has been devastating to see the footage of the floods up north, and to see them slowly work their way down the eastern side of Australia. I just can't even begin to imagine what some of those people are going through. I have been in several natural disasters. A major flood. I was in Mackay three years ago when we had some 630mm of rain in 10 hours, and the entire city flooded. I also felt a fair brunt of Cyclone Ului. However I have never seen or experienced anything the magnitude of that which has occurred in Toowoomba, Brisbane and other towns and cities. Devastating doesn't even begin to describe it. And much as I am glad that I am not located in those cities, as most people who aren't would be, my heart bleeds for those who are. To see everything you own washed away is crushing. To see loved ones washed away defies all definition. How do you recover from something like that? The range of emotions experienced by those who were a part of this monumentally historic natural disaster is staggering. I have no words.
Victoria has experienced some flooding also, as have other states. And this on the driest inhabited continent on earth. And what makes it even more difficult to comprehend is the fact that in many areas residents were still on water restrictions, and if those restrictions had not been in place the reservoirs would not have been as full and the flooding may not have been as severe. But that is all speculation. Should have would have could have. And nothing anyone says now will change what has occurred. But the spirit Australians have shown in coming to the aid of their fellow Aussie has, once again, warmed my heart, as it did after other natural disasters, and those that were caused at the hands of idiots with matches. You can quell the spirit but it will never die. It will experience pain but it will rise like a phoenix from the ashes, or the equivalent in terms of water, and we will all go on. As life does. The scars will remain but we keep on going because that's just what we do.
The last 10 days have had much happen in my life and that of my children, but those memories will remain to be told another day. Today, as over the last week or thereabouts, thoughts remain steadfastly with those affected by the floods, whether directly or indirectly. And my thoughts are with them all.
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
And away we go
to Victoria. We're all flying down for Mick's sister's wedding on Friday. It will be wonderful to see everyone again, but there is always the hesitation of a) how the kid's will go on the plane and b) how the time change and place change will affect them. So I am crossing everything that things go okay.
Angus slept through last night. Till 6 this morning. I was rapt. He grumbled and groaned around 3am but resettled. Sadly Tabitha also grumbled and groaned and more aptly actually cried from then and didn't settle so in my fatigued state I gave in and gave her a bottle at 4. Meh, there are worse things I could do.
I do wonder if the kids are all going to sleep through on the one night. It has happened once before. Only once. It was pretty cool to be honest.
I currently feel as though I have been the food source for 1000 mosquitoes. I am covered in bites. I was watching a tv show yesterday, actually I think it was the news, and they were talking about mosquitoes that they have bred that contain a certain bacterium that will stop the spread of Dengue fever. So many thousand of these little Dengue fighters are being released into the "wild" with the hope that they mate with the disease spreaders and their little mosquito babies will be born with the bacterium. Interesting stuff. And then I saw that several scientists are heading to Antarctica to study climate change in regards to how long and in what way the ice reforms off Antarctica after an incident such as that which has occurred with an iceberg smashing the coastline (or something, I wasn't really paying attention). These scientists are massively excited. Very very excited. And I thought isn't it interesting how different people are excited by different things. Me, well, anything my kids do gives me a thrill and KFC always floats my boat. But some people enjoy studying geometry. Some enjoy studying geology. Some enjoy rowing. Some don't. It's just funny, the different minds of people lead to different pleasures.
The same goes with food. I absolutely hate fruit. Why? It isn't the taste. It's the texture. Apricots - furry little buggers. Peaches - much the same. Apples - feels like you're taking a bite of that oasis stuff they arrange flowers in. Bananas - mucus. Pears - much like apples with a hint of uber squishy chucked in there. Now I don't mind most of these fruits in muffin form, so it isn't the flavour. It's the texture. I also don't like gritty things - cous cous, polenta, all that. I do however like rice. Not gritty you see.
Today is the last time I will write for some time....well, I don't actually know how long it will be, but I feel it is safest to say it will be a few weeks. For I'm off away from the mugginess of Queensland back down to Victoria, where extremes of weather replace the humidity and heat of Queensland. So we'll see how that goes shall we.
And think of me this evening with the three little munhckins on the plane and just hope they travel well. Thanks for that. Much appreciated.
Angus slept through last night. Till 6 this morning. I was rapt. He grumbled and groaned around 3am but resettled. Sadly Tabitha also grumbled and groaned and more aptly actually cried from then and didn't settle so in my fatigued state I gave in and gave her a bottle at 4. Meh, there are worse things I could do.
I do wonder if the kids are all going to sleep through on the one night. It has happened once before. Only once. It was pretty cool to be honest.
I currently feel as though I have been the food source for 1000 mosquitoes. I am covered in bites. I was watching a tv show yesterday, actually I think it was the news, and they were talking about mosquitoes that they have bred that contain a certain bacterium that will stop the spread of Dengue fever. So many thousand of these little Dengue fighters are being released into the "wild" with the hope that they mate with the disease spreaders and their little mosquito babies will be born with the bacterium. Interesting stuff. And then I saw that several scientists are heading to Antarctica to study climate change in regards to how long and in what way the ice reforms off Antarctica after an incident such as that which has occurred with an iceberg smashing the coastline (or something, I wasn't really paying attention). These scientists are massively excited. Very very excited. And I thought isn't it interesting how different people are excited by different things. Me, well, anything my kids do gives me a thrill and KFC always floats my boat. But some people enjoy studying geometry. Some enjoy studying geology. Some enjoy rowing. Some don't. It's just funny, the different minds of people lead to different pleasures.
The same goes with food. I absolutely hate fruit. Why? It isn't the taste. It's the texture. Apricots - furry little buggers. Peaches - much the same. Apples - feels like you're taking a bite of that oasis stuff they arrange flowers in. Bananas - mucus. Pears - much like apples with a hint of uber squishy chucked in there. Now I don't mind most of these fruits in muffin form, so it isn't the flavour. It's the texture. I also don't like gritty things - cous cous, polenta, all that. I do however like rice. Not gritty you see.
Today is the last time I will write for some time....well, I don't actually know how long it will be, but I feel it is safest to say it will be a few weeks. For I'm off away from the mugginess of Queensland back down to Victoria, where extremes of weather replace the humidity and heat of Queensland. So we'll see how that goes shall we.
And think of me this evening with the three little munhckins on the plane and just hope they travel well. Thanks for that. Much appreciated.
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
There are many things
in life that we take for granted, without realising we actually take them for granted. Yesterday there was a fire at the substation in Mackay, and as such power was lost to all but a handful of suburbs. We were without power for over three hours in the morning until it was restored, and many other households in the afternoon had power on a rotating basis - one hour on one hour off. What you don't realise is just how many little things throughout the day use power. You take it for granted. Up here it is probably a little more obvious some of the things you need the power for - as the temperature rises you become increasingly aware of the lack of fans and air conditioning. However it's little things. Heating up the kids food or bottles in the microwave. Cooking some lunch. Keeping things in the freezer and fridge from spoiling. TV. Washing machine. Computer. Boiling the kettle for that all important first coffee of the day....which by the way I didn't get til around midday.
That said I would rather be without power than water. We have lost water on several occasions and it is terrible. Aside from the obvious things like no showers and no washing, it's the one percenters. I wash my hands after changing nappies. I have three children in nappies. Thus, I wash my hands a lot throughout the course of the day. All these children are very very messy little creatures. Thus, I wash my hands even more times throughout the day. And I drink a lot of water, as do the girls. There's no rushing to the tap for a quick drink. It's whatever is in the water jug in the fridge and that's that.
In the perfect world though I would lose neither power nor water. But then again if we're talking perfect world stuff too I'd have my beautiful house on a country property with an enormous kitchen and 900mm oven, huge vegie patch out the back, tonnes of space for the kids to run around, animals, a grand piano inside overlooking nature so I can play to the sunset.
Ah yes. And no, I didn't win the $31 million. But I can dream can't I.....
That said I would rather be without power than water. We have lost water on several occasions and it is terrible. Aside from the obvious things like no showers and no washing, it's the one percenters. I wash my hands after changing nappies. I have three children in nappies. Thus, I wash my hands a lot throughout the course of the day. All these children are very very messy little creatures. Thus, I wash my hands even more times throughout the day. And I drink a lot of water, as do the girls. There's no rushing to the tap for a quick drink. It's whatever is in the water jug in the fridge and that's that.
In the perfect world though I would lose neither power nor water. But then again if we're talking perfect world stuff too I'd have my beautiful house on a country property with an enormous kitchen and 900mm oven, huge vegie patch out the back, tonnes of space for the kids to run around, animals, a grand piano inside overlooking nature so I can play to the sunset.
Ah yes. And no, I didn't win the $31 million. But I can dream can't I.....
Monday, January 3, 2011
It is quite annoying
when you get a song stuck in your head. Singing along to nothing while doing the dishes or driving. It needn't be a song you like, it could be a nursery rhyme, a theme song to a tv series, anything at all, stuck, not moving, repeating, incessantly.
What is worse than getting a song stuck in your head is when you don't know what song it is that is gently rammed into your grey matter. No words, no idea, just a melody. And that melody is random such that even singing it to someone would bring you no closer to finding out the true identity of said melody.
So I sit here, underneath the air conditioner, thinking about moving but not really being able to be bothered because we had no power for three hours this morning and I'm still physiologically recovering from that, with a tune coursing through my head over and over, tormenting me, teasing me, yet remaining anonymous.
And what's the bet I'll wake up at 4 tomorrow morning, sit bolt upright in bed and say "AH HA!". Or not. I would really like to know what this tune is though.
Angus is trying to roll. From his back to his stomach. I don't know why he's so hell bent on doing so considering he isn't the happiest chappy on his belly. He is getting much better and whereas initially 1 or 2 minutes was enough to do his little head in, now he can manage up to 15 minutes without spitting the dummy. Not literally. He doesn't have a dummy. None of my kids have actually. They work for some people, that's fine, I just wasn't really keen on the idea. Just another thing you have to wean them off down the track, another thing to get lost, another thing for them to freak out if they lose.
Lexi started off having one soft toy in her cot. Emmy the Elephant. Emmy was then joined by Emmy Mark II courtesy of a wonderful friend who tracked down the elusive soft toy. It was intended that Emmy Mark II would replace Emmy I because of the funkdom of the original having been chewed and sucked on and slept with constantly (even though constant washing took place it just wasn't enough to keep Emmy clean looking). After Emmy I and II came Eddy. The Baby Bjorn. See I'm so original with names for soft toys that we have a hippo called hippo, a rabbit called rabbit and a frog called frog. So you see I thought to myself these little baby bjorn dolls need names. And it just so happened I had finally watched that Twilight movie, so the boy and girl twin baby bjorns were duly named Edward and Bella, however I didn't want it to be obvious that I have no imagination in toy naming, so Edward was shortened to Eddy. After that came Violet. Violet is another elephant. She is Violet in colour. As I said, I am incredibly original in naming soft toys.
Now, I had a point. If only I could remember what it was. I'm sure I will. It'll come to me at 4.01 tomorrow morning after the name of this damn song pops into my head.....
What is worse than getting a song stuck in your head is when you don't know what song it is that is gently rammed into your grey matter. No words, no idea, just a melody. And that melody is random such that even singing it to someone would bring you no closer to finding out the true identity of said melody.
So I sit here, underneath the air conditioner, thinking about moving but not really being able to be bothered because we had no power for three hours this morning and I'm still physiologically recovering from that, with a tune coursing through my head over and over, tormenting me, teasing me, yet remaining anonymous.
And what's the bet I'll wake up at 4 tomorrow morning, sit bolt upright in bed and say "AH HA!". Or not. I would really like to know what this tune is though.
Angus is trying to roll. From his back to his stomach. I don't know why he's so hell bent on doing so considering he isn't the happiest chappy on his belly. He is getting much better and whereas initially 1 or 2 minutes was enough to do his little head in, now he can manage up to 15 minutes without spitting the dummy. Not literally. He doesn't have a dummy. None of my kids have actually. They work for some people, that's fine, I just wasn't really keen on the idea. Just another thing you have to wean them off down the track, another thing to get lost, another thing for them to freak out if they lose.
Lexi started off having one soft toy in her cot. Emmy the Elephant. Emmy was then joined by Emmy Mark II courtesy of a wonderful friend who tracked down the elusive soft toy. It was intended that Emmy Mark II would replace Emmy I because of the funkdom of the original having been chewed and sucked on and slept with constantly (even though constant washing took place it just wasn't enough to keep Emmy clean looking). After Emmy I and II came Eddy. The Baby Bjorn. See I'm so original with names for soft toys that we have a hippo called hippo, a rabbit called rabbit and a frog called frog. So you see I thought to myself these little baby bjorn dolls need names. And it just so happened I had finally watched that Twilight movie, so the boy and girl twin baby bjorns were duly named Edward and Bella, however I didn't want it to be obvious that I have no imagination in toy naming, so Edward was shortened to Eddy. After that came Violet. Violet is another elephant. She is Violet in colour. As I said, I am incredibly original in naming soft toys.
Now, I had a point. If only I could remember what it was. I'm sure I will. It'll come to me at 4.01 tomorrow morning after the name of this damn song pops into my head.....
Sunday, January 2, 2011
Every decision
I make is made with the best interests of my kids first and foremost. How it affects me, well, that is secondary.
My kids are my world, and they will always come first. Always.
And sometimes decisions are hard. Incredibly hard. But the pros and cons list in your heart tells you what you need to do and, well, there is nothing more you can do. You do what is best for your children. For that is the hardest part of motherhood. Doing things that it nearly kills you to do because you know, in the end, it is best for the children.
They are, without any question of a doubt, my world. And I will do everything in my power to make sure they have what they need, and what is best for them. Even if it means I suffer. Because I am a mother, and my heart is my own only after it has been once, twice, three times, someone else's. My heart belongs to my children. My life is my children. My entire world is my children.
And any mother will agree.
My kids are my world, and they will always come first. Always.
And sometimes decisions are hard. Incredibly hard. But the pros and cons list in your heart tells you what you need to do and, well, there is nothing more you can do. You do what is best for your children. For that is the hardest part of motherhood. Doing things that it nearly kills you to do because you know, in the end, it is best for the children.
They are, without any question of a doubt, my world. And I will do everything in my power to make sure they have what they need, and what is best for them. Even if it means I suffer. Because I am a mother, and my heart is my own only after it has been once, twice, three times, someone else's. My heart belongs to my children. My life is my children. My entire world is my children.
And any mother will agree.
Well the sleep year
has not started so well. All the kids have been antsy the last two nights, and mummy is struggling to keep the eyes open. I actually said to Lexi this morning, after she was speaking to me saying something which sounded like "oh my notebook" when there is no possible way that is what it could be, that "I need to finish my coffee or I'm going to die". Interesting. I'm sure it's not true, and I'm not entirely sure she would actually even understand the statement, but apparently my subconscious felt that it needed to be said because when one is as fatigued as I the only way words come out of your mouth is subconsciously. There is definitely no effort involved.
I had a strange dream last night. I had left a bag up on a bench and when I went to get it it was overrun with little spiders. Well, not little, they were a decent size as far as spiders go. I'm not scared of spiders at all (moths and butterflies though, don't get me started). And in my dream I picked up the bag and shook these little spiders off and they fell to the ground and it seemed shook themselves off and headed back for the bag. So I started to wonder what was so attractive about the bag, and did it smell like spider joy, so in my dream I smelled the bag (I'm not sure what I hoped to achieve by doing this, but I did it anyway). I discovered nothing. Surprising.
So I decided I should put the bag down on a different bench, which I did, and could see the little army of spiders returning to the scene of the crime, or more accurately the bag, but they had altered their course to its new location. What they failed to see with their little spider eyes was that right beside the new bag location they were so keen to reach was an enormous can of fly spray. I laughed out loud in my dream and said "unlucky". And that was it.
There's a little insight into the workings of my mind for you. Have a good day :)
I had a strange dream last night. I had left a bag up on a bench and when I went to get it it was overrun with little spiders. Well, not little, they were a decent size as far as spiders go. I'm not scared of spiders at all (moths and butterflies though, don't get me started). And in my dream I picked up the bag and shook these little spiders off and they fell to the ground and it seemed shook themselves off and headed back for the bag. So I started to wonder what was so attractive about the bag, and did it smell like spider joy, so in my dream I smelled the bag (I'm not sure what I hoped to achieve by doing this, but I did it anyway). I discovered nothing. Surprising.
So I decided I should put the bag down on a different bench, which I did, and could see the little army of spiders returning to the scene of the crime, or more accurately the bag, but they had altered their course to its new location. What they failed to see with their little spider eyes was that right beside the new bag location they were so keen to reach was an enormous can of fly spray. I laughed out loud in my dream and said "unlucky". And that was it.
There's a little insight into the workings of my mind for you. Have a good day :)
Saturday, January 1, 2011
2010 is over
and the last thing I ate was KFC. I'm pretty happy about that.
Do I have a new year's resolution? Well, no, as I have previously mentioned I don't believe January 1st should get all the resolutions so I drew my resolution day randomly and it's in December.
It's interesting how the years change the way you spend time. New Years Eve, for instance, used to be a time of gallivanting around, partying, drinking, carrying on, sometimes working, sometimes sleeping (after a nearly 30 hour flight arriving in Amsterdam on NYE at around noon and deciding to have a mini kip and not waking til 2am, so completely missing it) things do change. Last night was a good example of this.
Poor little Lexi had one of her many falls however this fall culminated in her standing up with a decidedly limp arm and a very upset persona. Lexi falls often. She is the clumsiest child on the face of the planet. If there was a chair in the middle of a football field she would trip over it. Or if there was no chair, she would still trip over. And so I went through the motions of when she has fallen, but this time was different. She didn't stop crying. She didn't move her arm. And so that's when worry set in. We iced, we rested, we sat on the sofa and tried to do random things to get her to move her hand. Wiggle fingers. Crying. Not a good sign. Twinkle twinkle. Crying. Not a good sign. So of course here's me thinking she's broken it, and Mick takes her down the hospital, where he is confronted by a New Year's Eve kind of crowd, drunken idiots getting into mischief and mayhem before the sun has even put herself to bed. So they promptly turn around and return home.
So we wait and see. Lexi goes to bed. Tabitha is already in bed. Lexi falls asleep. Tabitha is up. Tabitha goes back to sleep. Lexi wakes up screaming. Lexi goes back to bed. Lexi wakes up screaming. So we went through this for some time. During the course of this time I gave her Panadol and subsequently Nurofen to hopefully dull some of the pain for her. At just before midnight she finally settled for the night. Tabitha however had woken at 11.30pm and was in no mood for hijinks, remaining awake, and rather upset till around 1.30am. Mini dude thought he'd best get in on the action also, waking for a feed at 3.30am and subsequently at 5.45am.
And so whilst I had the best intentions of not having a Red Bull for breakfast, I have indeed had a Red Bull, and a coffee, and have just boiled the kettle to make another. And I dare say there will be more.
And the day in Mackay is finally sunny. One wonders how hot it will get. My thoughts go to those people who are flooded though. It's hardly a happy new year for them. But it does make you realise that in such a short space of time basically everything as you know it can be gone. One moment it was a puddle, the next moment it was too late. And what do you take with you? What can you take with you? Close to nothing. Yourself. Your family. So much is gone, submerged in a modern day Atlantis.
What will 2011 throw at us? And we will be ready to catch it? Only time will tell.
Do I have a new year's resolution? Well, no, as I have previously mentioned I don't believe January 1st should get all the resolutions so I drew my resolution day randomly and it's in December.
It's interesting how the years change the way you spend time. New Years Eve, for instance, used to be a time of gallivanting around, partying, drinking, carrying on, sometimes working, sometimes sleeping (after a nearly 30 hour flight arriving in Amsterdam on NYE at around noon and deciding to have a mini kip and not waking til 2am, so completely missing it) things do change. Last night was a good example of this.
Poor little Lexi had one of her many falls however this fall culminated in her standing up with a decidedly limp arm and a very upset persona. Lexi falls often. She is the clumsiest child on the face of the planet. If there was a chair in the middle of a football field she would trip over it. Or if there was no chair, she would still trip over. And so I went through the motions of when she has fallen, but this time was different. She didn't stop crying. She didn't move her arm. And so that's when worry set in. We iced, we rested, we sat on the sofa and tried to do random things to get her to move her hand. Wiggle fingers. Crying. Not a good sign. Twinkle twinkle. Crying. Not a good sign. So of course here's me thinking she's broken it, and Mick takes her down the hospital, where he is confronted by a New Year's Eve kind of crowd, drunken idiots getting into mischief and mayhem before the sun has even put herself to bed. So they promptly turn around and return home.
So we wait and see. Lexi goes to bed. Tabitha is already in bed. Lexi falls asleep. Tabitha is up. Tabitha goes back to sleep. Lexi wakes up screaming. Lexi goes back to bed. Lexi wakes up screaming. So we went through this for some time. During the course of this time I gave her Panadol and subsequently Nurofen to hopefully dull some of the pain for her. At just before midnight she finally settled for the night. Tabitha however had woken at 11.30pm and was in no mood for hijinks, remaining awake, and rather upset till around 1.30am. Mini dude thought he'd best get in on the action also, waking for a feed at 3.30am and subsequently at 5.45am.
And so whilst I had the best intentions of not having a Red Bull for breakfast, I have indeed had a Red Bull, and a coffee, and have just boiled the kettle to make another. And I dare say there will be more.
And the day in Mackay is finally sunny. One wonders how hot it will get. My thoughts go to those people who are flooded though. It's hardly a happy new year for them. But it does make you realise that in such a short space of time basically everything as you know it can be gone. One moment it was a puddle, the next moment it was too late. And what do you take with you? What can you take with you? Close to nothing. Yourself. Your family. So much is gone, submerged in a modern day Atlantis.
What will 2011 throw at us? And we will be ready to catch it? Only time will tell.
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