Resolution...check!!

I dont do New Years' Resolutions. Lots of people don't, coz they know they wont stick to them. My reason is because I dont think we need to wait til New Years' to decide to make changes in our life. Lose weight (classic "I'll start my diet on Monday!"), change careers, save more money...whatever it is, if we really want it, why wait? Do it now!

My "New Year's Resoultion" was made back in March or April. I had recently begun working 4 days a week (a jump from the previous 2 days a week) and was finding it really tough. The house never seemed to be tidy, I was always tired and the kids began a year of being sick.

So I decided that next year I would do my utmost to cut back work to 3 days. I let my principal know as often as I could that I was finding it hard to juggle everything and when it came to the crunch in November, I requested and was granted 3 days of work for 2012. Jump for joy, laugh and cheer!!

3 days of work and then 4 (consecutive, very important!) days off. One day will continue to be the necessary Mother's Group morning (which often spreads to lunch and even afternoon sometimes!) where the kids play with their friends and I sit, chat and laugh with the mums.

Friday will be Megans' 3yr old Kinder day (very excited about this, both her and I). I originally thought, "Great, 1 kid out of the house, I'll use that time to clean." Then I realised that Alex (being child #2) and I have never had regular alone time. So this will become "OUR TIME".

And then the weekend arrives where we can all do family stuff together, or clean or just bum around...whatever.

So I can say that I have already ticked off my major resolution ~ work less! Now about losing weight and saving more money....hmmmmmmm! :)

Birthday, Christmas, Family and Friends...

Phew, what a busy week it has been! A birthday, Christmas Day and lots of catching up with family and friends.

Alex's birthday was great. He loved being the centre of attention, especially during this frantic time when people's minds are usually in three places at once. The beach was fantastic fun, and though not his first visit, it was the first time he really enjoyed his surroundings.

Christmas Day was easy and stress-free. We opened presents (after brekkie would you believe!!), had a lovely lunch with Nana and Grandpa and then a quiet evening playing with new toys.

And then the past few days has been time to catch up with family that we didnt see on Christmas Day (plus a visit to the movies with a friend for me, lovely!!)

Tomorrow is another visit to friends then watching the family NYE fireworks in Geelong with Aunty, Unlce and Cousin.

Then a bit of relaxing time, I hope...

A day in the life of the Birthday Boy

Thought I'd document Alex's second birthday pictorially this year....

Still in PJs...opening his presents...

Talking Iggle Piggle...yey!!

Fun with his new spinning toy...

At the beach with Dad...

Loving the water with Mum...

Having a great time...

back home...sharing an icecream with the dog...

enjoying his favourite dinner~ chicken, silverside and salad...

cake with a singing candle!!!...

...and then getting ready for Santa to arrive...

Hope every birthday is as enjoyable as this one, buddy!!

Clean!!!

They are well loved, but becuase of this Moo and Robbie get filthy. I have written about them in the past and I do so again. My kids are important to me and Moo and Robbie are important to my kids, therefore it is important to let the world know!

So these beloved friends have had a well deserved wash (with the help of the kids) and are haning out to dry.

The kids dont care how manky they normally smell, but I do! So now they are back to smelling fresh!

Simple pleasures...

There's nothing like being up before everyone and enjoying the quiet. It doesn't happen often-usually coz I like to stay in bed as long as possible on the weekends.

But today when Alex got up at his usual time (the crack of dawn!) we went outside for a bit of a play. It's gonna be hot today, I can feel it in the heat of the early morning. Not quite hot yet, but warm with a promise of heat.

So we set up the shell and put water in it so that the sun will warm the water for later this morning. Then Alex hopped in the swing for his favourite outside activity. He could sit in the swing for hours and be happy!

And I'm happy watching him...such simple pleasures!

How far would you go?

I watched a movie today that made me think of things I would never have considered before. If any parent has not watched "My Sister's Keeper" then I recommend you do- and with several boxes of tissues on hand.

The essence of the film was how far do you go to save your child's life. Until this movie I would have answered the generic "step in front of a bus" type response. Having watched the ordeal this family goes thru made me seriously think about how far I'd actually go.

I would like to think I'd match the tenacity and never-give-up attitude of the mother in the movie without question. The gut-wrenching agony of watching my child go through pain and suffering would make me so intent on doing whatever I could to stop it, regardless of consequences.

But with outsiders glasses on, as viewers, we see what this does to the rest of the family. And our basic need to protect our children may be prolonging the pain as well as prolonging the inevitable.

It's a horrible situation to be in with incredibly difficult choices either way. Hopefully this is something I never have to consider, let alone go through.



(footnote- before this movie I knew about cancer, it's treatments and side effects. But now I understand it so much more and have an enormous amount of respect for anyone dealing with it, either themselves or someone they know)

Not long now....

I've been off the grid for a while...work, sickness, exhaustion...many reasons. But the countdown has begun...for many more reasons!!

• Only 7 days of work left until school holidays begin...enough said...I'm buggered!

• It's 11 days until my baby turns 2. He started the terrible two's about 6 months ago, but when he is at his best, he makes my heart sing and the smile can't leave my face :)

• If it's 11 days until Alex's birthday, then it must be 12 days until Christmas Day. The kids are excited about it all this year. They are at the age where the magic is beginning. We have an elf living with us at the moment (thanks Belinda for the idea!!). He flies home to the North Pole each night and tells Santa if the kids have been naughty or nice...a great incentive for them at the moment. Plus it's loads of fun looking for his new hiding place each morning!!

• New Years Eve is in 19 days- nothing special really except I'll get to catch up with a friend I haven't seen in ages, which will be nice!

• My principal meanly reminded us that school starts again in about 8 weeks!! How cruel to do this so close to holidays starting! But I am looking forward to tackling Prep again, with a new group of people to work with.

• 8 weeks and a few days until my little girl starts 3yr old kinder! We went to orientation today and she loved it. A few friends we already knew and so many more ready to make next year. I bought her a new kinder tshirt (which is miles too big for her!!) and can't wait to see her in it. She's growing up so fast and I love seeing her mature, but I also want to hold onto every moment and milestone for as long as possible.

So with all this forward thinking and also reflection on a crazy, busy,  momentous year...it's no wonder I'm exhasuted. I'm looking forward (haha) to being able to just "be"!

Dear 16yr old me...

Dear 16yr old me...

Please watch this clip.... It's really important.

I really wish this was possible. To send a message to yourself in the past with wise advice. But at 16, I'm not really sure if I would have listened, even to myself.

My dad tried so hard to keep me out of the sun, always asking me to cover up or put sunscreen on. I never did. With red hair and blue eyes my chances of getting sunburnt were higher than normal, and me deliberately sun baking did not go down well with Dad!

Now, with kids of my own (both red hair/blue eyes) I am trying as hard as Dad did to keep the covered and protected. The sunsmart message was out there when I was young, as was horrible ads to scare you into slip,slop,slapping. But I ignored them.

I'm hoping that though the 16yr old me cant watch clips like this, maybe my kids will...

A place for everything

My kids are tidy. And I love that about them. It's taken a lot of work for them to be like that, but I'm glad we took the time to teach them.

Of course, they don't want to be tidy, they prefer to have every toy and every book on the floor where they can be stepped on and tripped over. But when asked to pack up, they usually do it, and do it well, without much fuss.

So I found it really funny when I went to vacuum the other day and found the following scene!!

And then funnier when Alex wanted to put his mowers away!!

Gotta love em!!!!

Just Me and my little Fella...

Alex has somehow convinced the doctor that he is sick and so we are home today. This is a first for us. It has never been just Alex and I for the whole day. At least not since he was a tiny baby. And so we are making the most of it. The laptop has stayed closed (until just now!) and the phone has only been used to take delightful photos of our fun so far this morning.

So far we have.....

 

....played with the blocks, although knocking them over was much more fun and you can tell in this photo that's exactly what Alex is about to do!...

 ...did some drawing for Nana, Grandpa and Dad....

 

...played hide and seek...

...went for a walk around the block....

...and crashed on the couch watching Makka Pakka...

Gee it's tiring keeping a little person entertained by yourself...and it's only 11am!!!!!

In time to come...

I started writin this blog as an outlet to share all the awesome things my kids do. A 'brag blog' if you will. I know there are only a couple of people out there in internet-land who read it and that's great. But I think now it's become more like a diary.

I just read back through every blog on here and remembered exactly how I felt at those times and it was lovely. I'm not computer savvy enough to know what'll happen to all of this in 10yrs time, so I might print it all one day, keep it in a book somewhere and get it out when I feel nostalgic for the good old 'toddler' days!

Maybe the kids will be interested in reading it. That would be nice. Finding our what my view of their behaviour and development was. A little bit of personal history recorded for them in time to come...

Bye, bye baby...

IT'S OFFICIAL!!! I no longer have babies. If I don't have a cot then I mustn't have babies anymore either! :(

Alex has been in a bed full time for about 2 months now (see earlier blogs for details on how fabulously that's been going!!!) For a while we kept the cot in his room "just in case", but never with the real intention of using it. We didn't want to go backwards on the forwards move we had made.

So last weekend I bit the bullet and listed the cot and change table on eBay and today they left. Bit sad really ...they've been nice pieces of furniture in our home for almost 4 years. But time moves on, kids grow up. suppose I'd better get used to that!

Hopefully the new little baby-to-be who now owns our old cot will love it as much as we did...and perhaps even knaw on it like Megan did when she was teething...

Stolen kisses

I read a friends' blog the other day and she talked about how cute and clever her little boy was. I laughed because I know exactly where she was coming from (along with thinking "If only she could see MY kids right now!).

I know I have rose coloured glasses on when it comes to my kids. I'm not blinded to the fact that they both have tantrums and fight, but I suppose I prefer to look at them in a positive light.

Megan is three and a half now and is "Miss Independant". She amazes me with the things she can do and the complex thoughts she talks about and conversations we have. Alex is almost two and I gush when he talks about things I can actually understand!

So any opportunity I have to give them a kiss, I take it! At the moment, they dont mind. I get the odd "Muuuuuummmm!!" while squimring away from me, but most of the time I get big sloppy, dribbly (in Alex's case!) kisses right back. I know when they are 12 or 13, it will be SOOOOO uncool to kiss mum, so I am building up the kiss bank now!

Can't believe I just said that!

Geez the things you do for your kids! I didn't realise the indignity of parenthood..though because of the kids...I have an excuse.

Megan is still toilet training...she hasnt quite got the hang of things perfectly yet. And so we discuss things...in detail! We look at things...in detail! EVERYONE in the family gets congratulations and high-fives

People would surely look at me strangely, were it not for a littlie nearby! And even then.....

T.G.I.F.

It's 6:55pm Friday night. My favourite time off the week. Not specifically this time, but Friday afternoon/evening. It's the furthest away from work on Monday morning!!

No work, no meetings, no planning....my home is a work free zone. The weekend means time for my kids, hubby and (sadly) housework. If I'm lucky, maybe a little retail therapy or gardening/home improvement.

Don't really care what I'll be doing, what the weather is like or where I have to go. As long as my family is around, I'll be happy!!

You want what??

I have boring tastes, no doubt about it. I don't have a high fashion wardrobe or hairstyle. And my mum will attest to my fussiness with food as a kid (see earlier blogs for more details on that!!)

Since marrying Michael, I have battled with the flavours of his heritage. Mike's parents come from England and so, despite being born in Australia, Mike has English taste buds. We have HP sauce, Yorkshire puddings and English rissoles. Some of these flavours I have come to like, others DEFINATELY not!!

The flavour combinations are what really throws me and it seems to have been passed down to Megan. One of the first cringe-worthy meals Mike had was cheese and onion on a sandwich. You might think that sounds ok but I don't.

The other day, Megan was about to have a peanut butter sandwich until she saw the cheese in the fridge and decided to add cheese to her lunch. My initial thought was "no way" but I remembered that I'm boring and shouldn't restrict anyone else. Still, we thought she would take one bite and ask for a new sandwich, but no. "Delicious!" she says.

Today she trialled Vegemite and ham. Apparently another success story. Who knows what the request will be tomorrow! But I won't question her. I'll just baulk while I make her combination and hope it will be the next flavour sensation!! She might create the next "salt & vinegar chips"!!!!! (yuk!!!)

Luck????

I don't really consider myself to be lucky. But the stars were definitely aligned when our local council arranged my Mother's Group.

We did the standard 6weeks at the community centre with a maternal health nurse discussing young baby issues. At that time, it was great to talk about the milestones and diffilculties of new mums and bubs, knowing that we weren't the only ones having troubles.

After the initial community centre visits, we decided to keep things going, alternating houses each week. Originally there were about 12 mums/bubs. Some mums have returned to work, others have moved or drifted away. But there are still 7 or so regular groupies, still meeting each week, more than 3 years on!

I'm actually really surprised that such a random selection of women who just happened to have babies around the same time have clicked as friends so well. We come from different backgrounds, different careers, different ages. But I consider these mum's among my best friends.

Despite losing some families, our group has grown and grown. Everyone has had (or is about to have) baby number two, and no doubt number threes will appear soon too!

We still do group birthdays and a Christmas party with presents each year and even the dads are getting to know each other more and more. I even deliberately set my day off from work to be mothers group day, so that my kids didn't miss playing with their friends, and I didn't miss the chats and laughs with my good friends.

For no other reason than peace of mind at such a full on, uncertain time with a newborn baby, I would recommend ALL new mums join a mothers group. Who knows, it might turn into rich friendships like my group has!!

Tick tock body clock

Whoever said 5 o'clock in the morning was morning, needs to be shot!! Well maimed at least. Better yet, let them get up at 5am EVERY morning to a little boy who is WIDE awake. That should teach them that 5am might be AM, but it is defiantly not morning!!

At 5am, it's still dark, cold, and quiet. There are no birds chirping...they're all still asleep. There is no traffic noise, only the sound of clocks ticking and snoring husbands. To me all of those things point towards night time!

7am used to seem early. Now it's the promise land of sleep-ins. Maybe one day Alex's body clock will shift out of nighttime and back into morning like regular people!!

Hopping...?

Learning to talk must be frustrating. If we learn a new language we already have a base language for reference but as a kid there is no reference point. And it's probably even harder when families have their own little dialects.

I know we do. We hop, for example. Not literally of course. God no!! No energy for that!! But we do hop... Hop off the couch, hop up on the chair, hop in and out of the shower. Poor Alex will be confused when he learns what hopping really means!!

Been a while....

Well you might have thought I had disappeared, been eaten by lions or perhaps joined the space program. No such excitement really. I've just been busy.

What a mundane reason! Busy!! But it's the truth. Work and children have taken up my consciousness and energy and I haven't had time for anything else. Well I haven't MADE time for anything else.

That's the reality of it. I could probably make time if I put my mind to it but I guess with lack of energy comes lack of motivation. I've always believed that "inactivity breeds inactivity" so my goal is to change that. I'm hoping that with extended daylight coming into summer will allow me to start to take some time for myself.

Lke I said.... That's the plan!!

What is the truth?

I have often had discussions with kids at school about honesty and being honest (usually when one or more of them are being DIS-honest!) They generally come up with the satisfactory definition of "telling the truth". Thankfully their parents have gone through the process of explaining what the truth is.

But what happens when you have to have that discussion yourself with a 3 year old? Where do you start?
"I didn't do it!"
"But Daddy saw you do it"
"I didn't"
"You aren't telling us the truth"......*blank look from Megan*
"You are lying".....*another blank look*
How do you explain what the truth is? The best we could come up with was "You said no when you should have said yes...that's naughty". Not the best explanation but the only one in kid speak that seemed to register with Megan.

Surely we will be able to explain better when she has a better understnading of things. I think she is pretty cluey and hopefully she will pick up on the fact that we wont tolerate lying. Hmmmm.....and I thought things would be easier once they could walk and talk!!

3 definitions of sick

Doing anything when you are sick is hard. Looking after a family when you are sick is harder. Looking after sick kids when you are sick is the hardest. (Childbirth fits in there somewhere but I'm too sick to care where!)

Alex came into our room the other monring saying "sick, sick" and boy was he right. He'd been sick everywhere! All through his bed, on his pjs, in his hair...everywhere. So while Mike was dealing with his bed and the rest of his room, I stripped the little man off for a pre-6am shower and clean up (only to discover the diorherria that was wating for me to clean up as well!) Once cleaned and felling a bit better in his freshly made bed, Alex went back to his well needed sleep.

And so did I. I slept all morning. Dragged myself out of bed to go to the doctors and get antibiotics, and then back to bed for the rest of the afternoon. Thankfully Mike had taken on "man of the house" role and managed the kids, breakfast, lunch, washing etc, along with a miserable little bloke, all so that I could rest and rest and rest.

We have had one or more of us sick in our house for more the a month now and frankly I'm sick of it! I'm on the mend now, but I dread to think of the state I would be in now if I had had to deal with housey things while feeling like I did. I'm grateful I have Mike to share this kind of stuff with and really feel for those who do it alone.

D.O.R.O.T.H.Y!!

We visited Dorothy the Dinosaur's Travelling Show today. It appears that Megan shows her excitement the same was I did as a kid....talking the whole way in the car! She was so cute, making up her own songs in the back with the same word popping up over and over...Dorothy :)

She danced and boogied and had a great time. Even Alex, sick as he was, clapped along and pointed out things he liked. We even bought Megan a Dorothy toy which she loves and danced the show away with.

From a parent's perspective, however, the show just didn't cut it. Now.. without sounding like an X-Factor or Idol judge, I didn't "feel it". It's not that is wasn't entertaining, because clearly Megan was entertained. It just didn't have the spark or soul that the other Wiggles show we have seen.

The price of Dorothy was considerably cheaper than the Wiggles, which was the reason we chose her over the fellas. But clearly the extra money buys the pazazz and energy at the necessary parental level as well. No point just entertaining the kids when the parents pay the entry fee!

Frequent Flyer kids...

I was chatting with a friend the other day about how kids these days are so privelleged. Mobile phones, Nintendo DS's, Tv's in their bedroom, the works. She brought up that her daughter is not yet 3 and has been overseas twice! My first time overseas (and even on a plane for that matter) was when I was 21!

Growing up for us, big exciting holidays were restricted to Victoria and with a caravan in tow. Queensland was a luxury that we never got to experience. These days, Queensland is common place and even mundane! Gee, times have changed.

Having said all of this, of course, we are heading to Sydney in a few weeks. We wanted a holiday and super-cheap flights became available so we snapped them up while Alex is still young enough for us not to have to pay for a seat. We became one of "those" families...one who flies to their destination, stays in a hotel, etc. Everything I never got to do as a kid

Megan will be either scared or excited by the plane trip and Alex wont quite be 2, and so probably wont remember any of it and will need photos to prove he was there! Possibly a waste of an interstate/aeroplane trip for him!

And who knows...we might revamp Mum and Dad's old caravan and take the kids holidaying...old style!

Freckles!

I used to hate my freckles. I don't remember being teased about them, but I hated them just the same. They had all the cute names possible, like sun kisses, or love spots, but they were just freckles.

Which is why it surprised me a little when I was excited that Megan has a few freckles across her nose!
Just tiny, light brown freckles, but they look so cute! Maybe it's a sign of her getting older, growing up a bit.

I'll have to try hard to get a really good photo of her new freckles, just to document how beautiful she looks with them!

Happy Father's Day

This is Mike's 4th Father's Day, but I think today's was the most fun for me.

Megan and I decided to make pancakes for Mike this morning. Just the quick and easy "shake the bottle" version but the pancake stack looked impressive! Add a dob of butter and a drizzle of golden syrup and it was Masterchef worthy!!

Lunch on Southbank and then a trip to the Aquarium...fun family day all round :)

Toddlers are easier!

I know each phase of a young child's life has it's own challenges and rewards. But my kids are toddlers and beyond now, so shopping is a breeze!

We had to race out to the shops today to grab just something quick and it was so nice to just throw the kids in the car...and nothing else!! We left the nappy bag behind because Alex is pretty regular with that area now and I could be pretty sure we weren't going to have any poo explosions while we were gone. We didn't take a change of clothes because there are toilets at the shopping centre for Megan. We didn't take food or drink bottles, because the kids can survive for 15mins being hungry or thirsty and if they are really desperate, something bought from the shops is good enough.

We did visit the parents room for the toilet stop (which for Megan is fun when we are out...not so much at home!!) and there were several mums with littles, heating food, breast feeding, etc. It was great to race in, visit the loo and be off again with little disturbance to our shopping trip!

An eye on Dad

The past few days I have been sick. Nothing drastic, but enough to make me feel lousy and need to rest. Luckily Mike saw the need to step up and take control...and has proven entirely capable.

He has come home from work the last two nights and cooked dinner. The meal was already decided and all he had to do was cook it, but the point is he did. Without the innate skill of multi-tasking, the cooking process took MUCH longer than normal and many, many more pots and pans were used than usual, but the meal was good, the kids ate most if it (well, at least the same amount as they would for me!), and I didnt have to do it!

When I crawled into bed early, the dishes got done, the house was tidied. This morning, Mike took the kids to creche at the normal time so that I could spend the morning resting properly. He got them dressed and even did Megan's hair. As I watched them leave I was actually impressed with the choice of clothes and the style of Megan's hair-do.

So I started thinking...if anything happended to me, my little family would still get fed and leave the house looking respectable! If left to Mike completely, I think the kids' vegetable intake would diminish drastically, (because he seems to have some deep-rooted aversion to vegies), and it would be interesting to see the choice of new clothes purchased by him, but I'm sure he would look after them.

Rather morbid musings...but nice to know my two littlies (and the big one) are in capable hands :)

Introducing Moo!

In previous posts you will have read about the trouble of having to wash Megan's cuddly comfort toy. As you can see, Moo is a very much loved "friend" of Megan. The world just isn't right without Moo and her thumb going to bed...

Simple pleasures

Alex is almost 20 months old and loves balls. All shapes and sizes, any time of the day. He has just learned how to throw a ball up in the air or in his words "up there". It was so funny to watch him try to throw the ball above his head, without actually letting go!

Tonight our family went out for tea with our extended family and unfortunately in our area, the choice of eateries is restricted to good food OR child friendly. Naturally with our little ones and my brother's slightly older little ones, we chose child friendly. The only problem is that the pub we went to is child friendly to older kids capable of climing onto the McDonald's-style play equipment.

The saving grace was the goody-bag that Mike bought for the kids for two bucks. The yo-yo got chucked out, Megan liked the colouring book and crayons (for about 5 minutes) but the absolute winner was the balloon.

That thin piece of rubber kept Alex going all night. He threw it, chased it, kicked it, hugged it, squeezed it. He entertained us and those around us with his antics. It was the absolute best thing that could have kept him engaged for such a long time.

And so now...stashed in my handbag and the kids' bag is a little balloon...waiting to be blown up and deliver the same excitement as tonight!

The lesser of two evils

Motherhood is constantly full of choice...breast or bottle...cloth or disposable...boarding school or slave traders!!!

The choice at this point in time was...
1. Let the kids play together, unsupervised, and have a little time to myself.
2. Structure their playtime with educational experiences worthy of a teacher.

Duh...easy choice!! However the amount of effort involved somehow manages to even out.

For example...the effort to choose and participate in fabulously educational and family-bonding rich experiences is surprisingly on par with the ENORMOUS clean-up, pack-up, tidy-up effort needed of free time!




...and yes...the design of this blog has changed. That's me, I like change :)

Super-sonic Mum Powers

I'm a superhero! Come on, we all knew it...I'm just putting it out there!!

I have more than one super-hero power, too. Apart from super-human abilities to juggle 3 saucepans of dinner, talk on the phone, remember that bill hasn't been paid yet and settle domestic disputes all at once (pffftttt...so mundane!!), I have SUPER SENSES!!

Yes, I can smell THAT smell eminating from a certain fella's behind from the other end of the house, when no-one else seems to notice...AMAZING!!!

And...my super-sonic hearing is unbelievable. I can be sound asleep and hear the faintest murmer down the baby monitor and I'm wide awake, alert, not going back to sleep even if the little bloke didn't wake up.

Clearly I should have my own comic book hitting bookstores very soon!

...oh wait...hang on....I think I have just listed the pre-requisites for mum-hood...

Proud as Punch

Gotta love it when someone notices something that you try really hard at...

Megan was playing with a ball in the shops today and accidently hit a lady in the leg. Naturally I was ready to pounce in with reminders of manners and so forth, when, before I could say anything, she automatically said. "Woops, I'm sorry". The lady turned around, smiled and said, "That's ok. What lovely manners!"

Ahhhh, such a proud moment...

The waiting game...

The waiting game is usually a huge hassle. Take someone as impatient as me, coupled with 2 young kids and waiting is not something we do well.

We were shopping in Baby Bunting today when that tell-tale smell wafted past. At first I thought, "Oh no, it's Megan and I dont have a change of clothes for her!" Luckily, Alex was the culprit (ha, who'd have thought I'd be happy he had pooed!!). Nappy bag was easily retieved from the car and I happily thought "Thank goodness Baby Bunting knows it's clientelle so well that they have a parents room."

But it was occupied and we had to wait. "Oh God...come on...waiting for someone to finish breast-feeding, we could be here all day with a smelly kid...kids are gonna go crazy waiting..." were the thoughts bumping around my head.

"Yippee...toys...wow, look at this....balls...nice lady talking to me....toys...wow...." were clearly the thoughts going round the kids' heads!! They could not have been more happy to wait while playing with all the great baby/kid related items around them. Mum and Dad weren't dragging them off anywhere so they took full advantage of the opportunity to stay right with all the cool stuff.

All the while, I was champing at the bit to get in, get clean, get going....impatient to the core!!

Of course, once the offending bottom was clean and we had to leave all the cool toys...the fun really began!

Sorry Mum!!!!

Sorry Mum. ....I mean it.....I'm sorry!

I now know how you felt. I now understand your frustration. I have a daughter who, at dinner time, wont eat anything, wont even try anything. And thinking back....that was me!!

I wouldn't eat much as a kid...only what I knew. I would never try anything new. Mum would have to cook seperate parts of diiner just for me, because I was so fussy. Sometimes she would even make a completely seperate meal.

Now, I'm the mum. Now, I'm the one who cooks lovely dinners only to have them ignored, pushed around the plate, left to go cold. Meals, that I know Megan would like...if she tried them. Often something as simple as chicken cut differently or in a different sauce. But it looks different so she wont have a bar of it. I'm not up to the point of cooking sepertate meals for my fussy eater, but if I want her to get the nourishment I need, I just might.

So...heartfult sorries are sent out to my mum. My wonderful mum who put up with years of a fussy child who would not eat the perfectly good food put in front of her (most of which, now I actually love...once I tried it!!)

Gaga-riffic!!

We were driving with the kids in the back seats the other day when "Edge of Glory" came on the radio. I started humming away to myself when Megan piped up with "It's Gaga". Naturally we checked to see if we had heard her correctly (which we had) and then started questioning about how she knew it was "Gaga".

She kept saying it was the "dancing Gaga" and eventually we realised there was an add on TV with Lady Gaga and lots of people dancing to her song. Amazing...she had recognised the music after just a few seconds and remembered "Lady Gaga"'s name.

She certainly didn't get her incredible memory from me!!

Copy Cat

I love watching my kids play. It's one of my favourite "mum" activities. Of course, sometimes the kids fight, but that's to be expected. No, my favourtie thing to watch at the moment is Copy Cat.

Copy Cat is a very simple game. Megan does whatever she likes and Alex copies her...exactly. She might be sitting reading, or running up and down the hallway. And Alex will be right there with her. The part that keeps me enthralled, however, is the way he is so calculated in his copying.

Alex studies Megan, he matches his hands with what hers are doing, his feet are in precisely the same position, head facing the same way. It's hilarious!! I haven't managed to get a video of him doing yet, but it's a personal mission to do so.

Sand

I hate sand. It sticks. It scratches. It itches. It gets everywhere.

We have a sandpit. The kids love it. I hate it. Sand comes inside. Its hides away for days. Sand gets everywhere.

Megan and Alex love the sandpit at creche. I hate it. Sand gets on their clothes. Sand gets IN their clothes. In pockets. In hoods. Down backs. In nappies. EVERYWHERE.

I hate sand!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hysterics and Tantrums!

We attempted grocery shopping after dinner tonight. BIG MISTAKE!! The kids were obviously more tired than we thought, because we had teary, ratty, naughty offspring by the time we left the supermarket.

So when Mike tried to convince the kids that they WANTED a shower before bed, the fun began... Tears and refusals to get undressed from both Megan and Alex. Increase to screaming and refusals to get into the shower from Megan.
"You just need to get your hair washed, then you can get out", I reasoned.
"I dont want my hair washed" screamed Megan...and Alex agreed and refused in his own toddler-y way.
"Too bad, I'm the boss!" was my witty reply.

In the end, the hair got washed, bodies cleaned and shower turned off... (and of course that's when Megan screamed "I dont want to get out of the shower yet!) By this stage, both had upped the anti so much the word HYSTERIA was more than appropriate. Exhausting!

Luckily cuddles and some warm milk makes all right with the world again. But gee...what horrible parents were are...trying to put food on the table and keep little bodies clean!!!!!

Movin' on up!!

We got great news from Megan's day care today. She is "gradutating" from the toddler room to the pre-kinder room. Yipee!! Older children in the room. Good role models for routines and behaviour. Different/higher expectations from staff. All our troubles should be over, right? No more toilet training accidents, no more day sleeps, no more thumb sucking...a happy and healthy little girl all round, right??

NO.....

Wet undies, "I had a big sleep today, Mum!!" and thumb placed firmly in the mouth.... :(

Oh, well... early days yet...I am still hopeful...I think!!

Working mum...

Going back to work after Megan was born was not a tough decision. I was looking forward to the adult company and conversation and a few days a week away from me would not hurt Megan. Taking on a 4 day working week this year with 2 littlies has been a different story. Super organisation needed for both work and home, trying to get the correct work/home balance. Adding to my guilt, are little comments from Megan which, in her eyes, are completely harmless and should not make me cry. They do however....

Example #1- Waking up in the morning, Megan asks with a sigh..."Where am I going today, Mum?"

Example #2- Getting ready in the morning, she says "... but I dont want to go to creche, I just want to have breakfast at HOME!!"

Example #3 (and I think the most telling..)-Searching for the right name for the adult in front of her... "Nana, I mean Grandpa, I mean Mum..."

Yuck!!

I washed Moo and Robbie tonight. Washed is a rather loose description. More like soaked, disinfected...scourged! The water was putrid, absolutely revolting, when I tipped it out. I could not believe that something so innocuous could be in such a state.

I suppose that it is not that surprising. A child’s security blanket or toy is SO important that it goes everywhere, does everything. That is definitely the job description for Moo and Robbie. Megan and Alex love them so dearly that if they were ever lost, our house would crumble around us, or so my kids would think. Mike and I have often discussed whether it is worth having a “back up” set of Moo and Robbie’s, just in case they did disappear one day. We haven’t done so yet, but I am seriously considering the wisdom of our laziness.

 We had to wash Moo and Robbie over night so that the kids would be able to go to sleep with their beloveds and wake up the next morning with them freshly laundered and smelling like roses...or sunshine, according to our washing powder! While balking at the sight of the murky, grey water washing down the sink, and thinking that I would never let my face get close to something that could produce such filth, I thought about why my kids love these toys so much. Security blanket and toys don’t talk, are happy to be dragged, squeezed, cuddled, thrown or laid upon, smell just right and are always there (hopefully!). Kind of like the toddler version of a best friend. They are happy to just hang out and do whatever, always ready for a laugh or chat and comfort you when you are upset or feel crappy.

Come to think of it, if I couldn’t find my best friend, my world would probably fall apart a bit too!