Monday 5 December 2011

The Last Day

All good thing must come to an end i guess. Admittedly I was looking forward to being in my own bed.

So off we go on our merry way back to home. Wouldn't quite call it merry however....bub screaming, Miss 4 being annoyed at bub touching her all the time, no air con at all and feeling as though it was abotu 50 degrees inside. Winding the windows down made it too loud which meant bub would scream again.

Finally we had a stop and during this stop we changed car seats around so Little man was in the middle now. A few minutes into the trip and silence...they were sleeping. Phew. I was hoping they would stay asleep through the Great Dividing Range but Miss 4 woke up, and the polaramine had worn off too. Within seconds she was upset for feeling like vomitting. I didn't blame her, i felt the same. Facing backwads to calm her did't help either. I wasn't sure the happy meal box would hold both our vomit lol.

we got through without vomitting and stopped as soon as we could to let the kids run around and get fresh air (and top ups of polaramine).
A few hours later we are finally home. Absolutely buggered from sitting all day.

All in all was a fabulous trip. If we could fly there it'd be even better!!

Wednesday 16 November 2011

Gold Coast...the last full day

I absolutely loved today. It was a real beachy holiday kind of day.
Once bub woke from her morning nap we headed off to the water park As we got closer we could see it was packed full of people. Kids in brightly coloured swimmers ran around everywhere. They all looked the same to be honest. We made a split second decision to scrap the water park and head further to the little beach. It was so so lovely there. The kids had fun building sandcastles with daddy.


Lunch time was near so we headed back and found The Rock Pool cafe where we ordered hot chips . We walked a bit further where we saw a nice shady spot near a play area so sat to eat the chips and the kids had a quick play. I could live like that every day. So carefree.
after bub's lunch sleep we headed back to the water park. The kids had a big play here for the whole afternoon. On the way home we spoilt the kids and walked to mcdonald's for them to have dinner. It was bath and bed as soon as we got home however.
Dh and i spoilt ourselves having pizza and pasta for dinner tonight after the kids went to sleep.

More Gold Coast...Sea World

Yep, we had to do the tourist thing. Cost a fortune but it was worth it. After driving as far as we did to the Gold Coast we couldn't not do Sea World.
The kids were so so excited. I was unsure what to expect but decided to let the day flow by itself and to nto stress about money, food etc. The first place we entered was the penguin enclosure....

After this the first show we watched was the seal show. We sat a bit far away so i'm not sure if the kids realy understood what was going on but they laughed when i did lol.  From here we went to watch the Sesame St show at Sesame St beach. Have to admit it was as excting for me as for the kids. I could feel their excitiement and i loved that.
At Sesame St beach there were rides jsut for kids and a water play area. The first ride was an aeroplane which dh went into with the kids. Bub was too little so staye dwith me. the joy on their faces while flying around was priceless. We went on to have some yummy food, which i thought would be largely over priced but to be honest it wasn't.
The best part about this was the cups that we still have today and are used over and over again.
We walked around more and saw more exhibits. EVERYTHING was fascinating for the children. The last place we entered was like a pirate place where there were boats in water and the aim was for people on the boats to get the people outside watching as wet as possible. some people got absolutely drenched.






The kids thought it was hilarious how drenched I got from them and daddy. so much. fun.
To get back to the start of sea world we caught the monorail. such a huge adventure for the kids. Then to actually get out of sea world you had to go through the gift shop. what a way to make you spend money. We got the kids 2 little squirty guns ...a whale and a dolphin which of course they fought over which one to have. ...and to this day have not used lol.
Once back at the unit we had a quick dip in the spa followed by dinner and an early night for the kids.

Saturday 29 October 2011

Gold coast continued....

This morning dh was eager to go shopping. Why....i couldn't tell you. i wasn't keen, I can shop at home, and to be honest I hate shopping with kids when dh and I are together because they muck up more. The expedition turned out to be not to painful which was a relief, however we got lost trying to find our car lol. After wandering around a fair bit we finally figured out where it was.
Today was an extra exciting day for me as an old friend was coming up to visit. Anna and I used to do tafe together in 1997 for 2 yrs, then lost touch until facebook reunited us in 2008. since then we've tried to organise to see each other but it never happened. So today she was making the special hour or so trip to our resort to see each other.
Dh played with the kids in the spa while bub slept and I waited for Anna. Finally with a screech of her car she entered the resort. Uh oh I thought what happened. DH came back up stairs and The kids and i went to greet her. She was stressing as her car was playing up and we were worried she wouldn't make it back in time to pick her daughter up from school. Thankfully it turned out it was jsut the air con. So we took her son and miss 4 and little man to the spa area so we could chat and eat jatz with french onion dip ( a favourite that we used to eat on train trips home from tafe) .
After Anna left we gathered the kids and drove quickly to Surfers Paradise to ride on the Aqua Duck.
We couldn't remember where abouts to board but knew it was somewhere in Surfers. Parked the car and ran for it. Bub was in the Ergo and the other 2 had to run along. Phew , made it jsut in time, and on we went. Miss 4 and Little man were so excited. Poor Bub however was a little unwell with high temps and wasn't very excited. They loved when it went into the water, and especially loved it when they got to have turns at driving the boat. Miss 4 was stated as the best female driver all day.



Friday 21 October 2011

Saturday 15 October 2011

Gold Coast Holiday Part 2

So here we are at our resort. It's like moving into a new house (well not totally) but you walk the place, sus out all the rooms, see what does and doesn't work, and unpack. Being the determined person i am i like to have this all done in one go...so i did. clothes, food, you name it i unpacked it.
We then decided to go for a walk and see what was around us. Right across from our resort (across the water) we could see Sea World. Walk a bit further and there is a kids park, then another one and another one, and wait ...another one. so many. We found a really good one that had trains you pedal around it and a flying fox also. The kids were having an absolute ball. As we walked back we walked past the rock pools. These have only been opened for a year. Little pools of water, some fountains spurting up at separate intervals, waterfalls all very inviting. Miss 4 asked if she could walk in it, seeing as it was so shallow we agreed but weren't really sure if this was allowed as the only other people there were grandparents with a granddaughter. Once Miss 4 was in Little man had to follow. Before long they had stripped down to their undies running around like chooks with their heads chopped off.
All you could really do was laugh. The grandparents looked over at me, i shrugged and said...first day of holidays. After some screaming and protesting we managed to dress the kids into dry clothes and head back to have dinner and resume our normal bed time routine.
They did amazingly well with dinner/bath/bed in the new place especially after day sleeps. Bath wasn't really bath as there was only a shower but still...they did pretty good.

13/9/11

After a not so bad sleep but waaaay too early a morning we decide we'll go to the worlds tallest residential building and to Ripley's believe it or Not. We got there really early so went for a stroll around the shops. The kids were lucky to score new sunnies each, and also new buckets and spades to take to the beach. Arrive to the tall building and purchase our tickets to go up. i felt a bit giddy up there, 77 floors high. The kids loooved it, and pointed out all the dirty swimming pools.

The view from here was amazing. Well worth going up for sure.

From here we went to Ripleys. We couldn't take the pram so luckily I had the ergo baby carrier for bub. She wasn't too impressed with being there as it was so I'm glad i had her close to me to comfort her. The other to enjoyed walking around seeing funny things.
Once we left there we all got an icecream and headed back to our resort to get our swimmers and head to the little beach nearby. i didn't know how bub would go in the water as at Christmas time she was not impressed at all. Lo and behold i put her down and she went straight for the water...and loved it. She wouldn't get out. A few times she fell in but picked herself up again. She also liked to walk, and keep on walking which was so cute. Little man at first preferred to play in the sand. he is definitely one to sus out the situation first then go in. Where as miss 4 went straight in, splashing, laughing, on her belly etc. It was so so nice to see them have so much fun. I sometimes get too caught up in taking photos. but i did enjoy just watching them.







Later in the afternoon after bub had her sleep we walked back to the rock pools...this time we were prepared with swimmers and towels. We took turns with which kids to watch to ensure they were watched 100%. Bub had the most fun watching the water spurt out of animal figures. The other 2 enjoyed running back and forth through the water. Getting them out to go back home wasn't an easy task but somehow we managed it.


Wednesday 21 September 2011

Tuesday 20 September 2011

The Gold Coast holiday. part 1

We have been looking froward to this trip for many weeks. Our biggest stress was which way to travel up there as it's about a 8-9 hour drive....and with 2 out of 3 bad travelling children that feels like 90 hours.The next stress was what car to take. Initially it was always the Trajet but as it has been playing up it was safer to take Dh's Holden rodeo. We decided this a Day before we left so DH had to prepare the ute by putting car seat bolts in and a tarp on the tray to cover our luggage. Despite being a noisy and hot trip it was good in that i could reach the kids to give them food etc.
 So the trip up was to be inland and stop at a motel for the night.....mistake number 1. the trip in itself wasn't bad as we were able to stop at 2 different towns within 1 or so hours of each other and visit friends. So the kids got the chance to go and play, eat, what ever they wanted really. Get to our motel and i straight away thought oh crap why did we do this. It was so small. For the price we paid i expected a bit bigger. don't ask me why. My anxiety crept in when i noticed the door handle was one of those round ones that locks by pushing the button in and to unlock it all you do is turn the handle. Really childproof....not!!DH didn't think it was a drama but i had visions of little man sneaking out and walking onto the highway or something. To make matters worse...both rooms had that door (we had a 2 bedroom room). So I pushed the double bed up against one door and the single bed against the other. DH slept in one room with little man, i slept in the other with miss 4 and bub.
The town itself (Goondiwindi) wasn't too bad. Had a great park for the kids to play in.



I had all intention to give the kids a proper meal that night but we ended up with Red Rooster. Dh went to buy it while i fed bub her rafferty's garden sachet and showered her. Bub went to sleep really well that night, the other 2 took a while which was ok as we allowed them to stay up and play lego etc. I'm not sure if it was the anxiety, stress, or food i ate but i woke up sometime during the night feeling so sick with cramps and ended up vomiting. I freaked out it was a bug but luckily came good after that.
The next morning we put the beds back in their proper place and headed for the Gold Coast. We stopped at a park with this play helicopter. The kids loved it. We had our 2nd lot of fast food already. Back in the car we go, and endured bub screaming most of the way until she finally fell asleep. Before we reached our destination we stopped at Coles to go shopping. I tried to think of a weekly menu at the top of my head and buy things accordingly. Again...i was attempting to feed the kids normal food and not too much take away etc. The kids were beside themself excited. And couldn't wait to get to our place.

Within minutes we rocked up to Harborside Resort. For $80 per night for 2 bedrooms i was quite impressed. The biggest downfall was the noise of other residents and no private balcony.....oh and the door handle. It was exactly the same as at the motel. So every night the big lounge was pushed up against the door to prevent any children escaping.
 
linking for flashback friday with learning to play and playing to learn


Saturday 10 September 2011

five question friday 9/9/11

1. What ringtone do you have on your cell phone?
we call them mobile phones here in Australia hehe. my ring tone is some celtic tune. can't hear it though.



2. What is your favorite memory from this summer?

summer for us was 6 months ago, but my favourite memory was driving to my sister in laws house with my sister. dh took her car and the 3 old kids, her and i took my car with the little kids. we had a ball driving down listening to bon jovi, singing and taking hilarious photo's of ourselves 


3. Paper books or ebooks?

definately paper. if its the newspaper and i only want to see a particular article i don't mind online. but there's something about holding an actual book in your hands and turning the pages.

4. If you could have one home upgrade what would it be and why?
the bathroom. ours is about 50 yrs old, the bath is yellow, the shower is in the bath. the tiles are as old as anything....not to mention ugly. there's nothing modern about it



5. When was your first serious boyfriend/girlfriend?

first actual real serious one where i knew we'd be together forever was my current dh. had relationships before that but i never felt comfortable with them at all. there was something about dh where we just connected.

Play five question Friday with My Little Life

Friday 9 September 2011

Who leaves their phone in their esky outside....overnight !!


My Dh, that's who!!
I was already annoyed about this phone. Now I'm really annoyed.
Here's the story.....

i had a nokia 6200, which wasn't a bad phone but it started playing up so i asked for a new phone. I wanted a smartphone so i could access facebook on it easily etc but didn't want to pay alot as my plan can be renewed in December. I researched for a week as i felt so guilty requesting a new phone, and came across the LG GT540 for $150. I said make it my birthday/mothers day present as they fell on the same day, and just to get a pair of slippers. Why is it when we say this to our dh they take it literally.

So that's all i got. Breakfast was made, yes, but i just didn't feel special at all. In fact i felt very unimportant. To have the 2 days combined one would think the other half would make a double effort. To make me feel even less important i didn't even get a cake. Two weeks after the day dh and chatterbox  (step daughter)decided to make one. I knew it was in the oven, they got it out of the oven and i said we won't be able to eat it til tomorrow as you know i have to go to play in the musical now......3 hours later i arrive home to find it had been iced and more than half had been eaten. Nice. Thanks for waiting.

Anyway....a month later dh decides he wants a smartphone also as he was jealous that chatterbox and i could download music onto ours. He has a phone provided by his work that is just an average phone. So what does he do....goes and buys one just because he felt he could. Was i pissed?? bloody oath. i made mine a present, while he just buys one. Did he ever use it??hardly!! so that was my even bigger gripe. Buy this expensive phone and don't even use it. I'd get confused not knowing which phone to text as he'd tell me to text the new one but then never answered it, so then I'd text the work one...lo and behold he replied. So I'd pull him up on that all the time and he knew i was annoyed ( i also rub the no cake story in alot too).

So come this morning and he brings his esky in that was outside over night, in the pouring rain. What he couldn't figure out was how the rain got in the esky. what i couldn't figure out was why his $100 phone was sitting outside all night. He justifies it by saying it was in the esky. lol. So it swam in about 3 inches of water, we've had it sitting in a bowl of rice all day..but to no avail. I think it's officially fooked!! I told him to not even think about getting another one as he didn't even use that one ...which is obvious as he leaves it outside.
 joining in for Flashback Friday with Learning to Play and Playing to LEarn

Things I know 9/9/11

Play along with Shae@yay for home and add your link about things you know

This week I know

- Dh ruined his new phone

- We go on holidays in 2 more sleeps

- it annoys me that all of summerbay people are in the diner at the same time all the time

- magpies scare the crap out of me, especially when they swoop

- I want to bottle bub because she is at the most adorable age

- I"m really tired and need an early night..but any bet i'll stay reading other peoples things i know lol

My little karate people

My sisters older 2 kids do karate, so she found out about a class for the little kids. Miss 4 was very excited to do karate with her little boy cousin mr b, even though she had no idea what karate was. The fact her favourite cousin and best friend was doing it was enough for her. The class is from 4-430 on Thursdays.
my sister does family day care so the deal is that i take mr b and leave bub with her. One of her bigger kids usually come with me to which is lovely. Little man is at day care himself til 430 so I thought I'd wait til next year for him. He's quite introverted too so i didn't think he'd participate.
Yesterday his day carer had to finish early so she dropped him to me at 3. I tossed up about leaving him with my sister, or taking him to have a trial at karate. He wanted to do karate (or crown as he called it). he was so excited. So off we went, 3 little kids and one big kid to help me. I watched on with anticipation expecting little man to run off and hide, or bow his head with embarrassment as he does when he's nervous. But he was such a little trooper. He did everything, and with all his might too. i was so proud. Miss 4 and mr b helped and guided him.
So now the decision is....do i let him continue as it may help with his "boyness", or wait til next year as i was going to originally? the problem being that with family day care we have to pay for 8 hours regardless of the booked times. I'd have to pick him up at 3 (which means waking bub ) in order to collect miss 4 from preschool on time. Hmmmm decisions!!!

Thursday 8 September 2011

Planning the trip

We are going to the Gold coast on Sunday. Bloody long drive from here. I looked up on travelmate for the best directions. I just put our town and our destination, not state or country. The result was...it would take 56 days and 8 hours. The directions told me to kayak across the pacific ocean and enter japan. I cracked up laughing...where the heck would I get a kayak that would fit all of us in?!! The real answer was 7 hours lol.

So i read up in Planning for Kids  blog who wrote about car travel with kids. I looooved her ideas. I won't do individual backpacks as ours are a bit young and i know they'd just abuse it not use it properly. however i will pack special snacks, i even bought snap lock bags especially for the trip. i went to the library today to find some audio books which hopefully will distract the kids. I've never borrowed one before, and I was in a rush as bub was getting restless in her ERGO , she didn't like me crouching down but i had no choice. So i borrowed 4 audio books. The librarian said bye bye to us as we finished and bub looked and waved and said in an ever so gorgeous voice...bu bye. I looked back at the librarian to see her reaction at my gorgeous baby saying this to her but she'd already walked away. Little did she know how important it was to me as it was bub's first time EVER saying that.

I plan to stop as often as we can and let the kids run around as Planning for Kids suggests. I feel there's nothing worse than driving and sitting then stopping at a fast food place and making your child sit still. So far we've lined up 2 stops at friends houses on the way.

I still have to think of reasonably healthy non chokeable food to pack for the kids....
and i also have to think of the best seating/luggage arrangement for the car....

wordless wednesday 8/9/11

Join int wordless wednesday with My Little Drummer Boy
 
linking with crazy mama for flashback friday

What do I hoard?

Following writing prompt #2....if you were a hoarder, based on your personality, what would you hoard?(better yet as someone who knows you well)...with MAMA KAT"S WRITERS WORKSHOP

So I'm stuck already as I don't hoard, can't stand clutter actually. Even when mum passed away i kept a few little things, because they were hers. One day I asked myself, why on earth do I have this stuff? I don't like it, it's ugly, dust collector, so out they went.
I throw stuff out daily, just because i can't stand it. Hate random items floating around doing nothing. Even kids toys, if it's missing a part, it goes in the bin. If it's a McDonalds toy...bin (when kids can't see of course).

I asked DH and even he was stumped. He said jewellery. I laughed and said what?? you're just saying that to have something to answer me with lol. yes I have jewellery but it's in one place in the house, and i could get rid of most of them as over the years they've gone yuck or the kids have snapped them. But because it's out of the way I'm too lazy to bother.
His next reply was kids clothes. I disagree again..yes i keep the outfits they were brought home in from the hospital, and a couple of favourites, but that's it. I love going through actually and doing a clothes cull. Nothing better than acquiring more cupboard space!!Have to admit....i do looove buying clothes for the kids.

So I ask my sister....her reply was diet books. Years ago I was anorexic so I did collect books on diets, calories etc. Now I have about 3 books on food and behaviours...such as Sue Dengate FAILSAFE diet. I"m fascinated with anything that includes food and behaviour etc.

So I sat here thinking and busting my brain...i collect diary's, photo's, I'm quite anal about ensuring I have double copies of photo discs(and also take them whenever I go on holidays), letters and cards, and most things the kids have done. I feel guilty throwing stuff out. I panic if i can't find a photo disc. I have to sort through the kids art/craft to cull but hate doing it. I loooove memories. I've even started diary's for each child which i write special things in every few nights a week because i never want to forget. I started this blog so I could write things about the kids, or take photos of what they do/make.

So there you have it...I'm a hoarder of memories :)

I would never have figured that out if it weren't for writing on here.

Monday 5 September 2011

Unschool monday 5/9/11, playdough

 link up with owlet for unschool monday

I , like YAY for Home get stuck in the I just want to clean this, or read that, type this sentence etc rather than focus on something fun to do with the kids.

I was keen to join this so I 'm putting some photos on from last month






The playdough was home made and nice and warm (still have it today actually)

Saturday 3 September 2011

things i am grateful for 3/9/11

Link up with maxabella loves in

This week I am grateful for -

* that the 2 children i babysat for the first time ever yesterday were so well behaved and all the kids got on well

* fun times feeding the ducks in the park

* bubs transitioning easily to 1 day sleep

Friday 2 September 2011

things i know 2/9/11

Join in with

This week....
 - i know I'm not cut out to have more than 3 children

- i know I'm addicted to blogging

- i know i love my miss 4 to bits but wish she wouldn't whinge as much as she did

- i know i hold a grudge about mothers day but still got dh many presents from the kids

- i know i have to go through the toy catalogues and do a wish list and hopefully buy list lol

Thursday 1 September 2011

writers workshop

Join in the fun of writing with mama kats losin it
This week the prompt i am using is to write about a childhood memory from the perspective of being a child...

I was only trying to help. She's the new girl in the class and she didn't know where to put her stencils when she was finished. i want to be her friend so I help her.
Miss F is talking, I can hear her. Then I hear.."(insert my name) you are not listening. come to the mat now and listen". "But Miss F, i start to say, i was trying to help.....".and Miss F cuts me off mid sentence. I go red in the face. She is really cranky at me for talking back at her i think.
Not Miss F though, surely no, i love her and only the other day she told me I'm one of her favourite pupils even though she can't have favourites. I want the carpet to swallow me up. I feel so embarrassed. AS a result of my not listening she said I can't go to violin lessons. Now I'm not just embarrassed, I'm angry, angry that she is stopping me do something all because i was trying to help the new girl in year 2. " I hate you" i tell Miss F. Uh oh, I shouldn't have said that, i knew it straight away. She told me she will be talking to my mother. The rest of the day I feel awful. I didn't mean to say I hate you it just came out. I"m normally such a quiet student and I loved Miss F.
Mum is here now to pick me up from school and Miss F has a word to her about me. I'm still angry and embarrassed and try to explain that I didn't really hate her I was mad because I couldn't go to violin lessons. Lucky for me Mum was on my side about the violin lessons as she paid for them so she was annoyed Miss F stopped me. But she wasn't happy that I was rude to Miss F and made me apologise. Miss F gave me a hug and I feel so much better.

Now that was written about 27yrs after the incident so my memory is fuzzy but I do remember I got into trouble for helping, and she stopped me having violin lessons because i back chatted

Sunday 28 August 2011

What book would you take with you


Today at church the minister asked what book would we take with us if stranded on an island...excluding the bible. People named some books which included gardening, cooking, how to make a boat. The minister said you can often tell what people are interested in and what their passion is simply by asking that. I could see that by the answers that were given, then wondered about what i would take. My initial reaction was a jodi piccoult book but then i thought well, once I've read it that's it. a cooking book would Be ok but really, i don't think it has island food recipes. Gardening...i hate gardening. Imagine gardening on an island.
So i really don't know. ideally a scrap book would be great, or even just a photo album to look at photos. i do like personality books like raising your spirited child or Why we act the way we do because i loooove to analyze myself and others. But I'd have to have others on the island with me to analyze lol. So re reading that sentence I'm thinking that my passion is people and personality's lol



So ...what book would you take with you?

Join in with FYBFFYBF




Things I am grateful for 28/8/11

Play along with maxabella loves and let us know what you are grateful for

This week I am grateful for...

* wireless internet...so I can blog in bed

* friends i can visit and stay at their house for the whole day and feel so at home I make my own cups of coffee

* sunny days so Dh, kids and I could have a picnic in the park during dh's lunch break

* new friendships that move along great

Friday 26 August 2011

things i know - washing

I've never worried about washing, just threw it all in. That was until i read domestic guru so this post is things i know about WASHING...

Play Things I know with shae at YAY FOR HOME

* i know i at least separate linen/towels from clothes

* I wash in omo sensitive to prevent skin reactions

* the kids clothes are separated from adult clothes

* I wash every day and find it so so boring

* I should separate my whites and maybe our clothes will look better

* I wash every day and find it so so boring

* DH doesn't think to wash unless i tell him too

* When I'm lazy I put clothes in the dryer

* I'm scared to use napisan with the kids clothes due to miss 4's ECZEMA

* I wash every day and find it so so boring

* If the dirty clothes aren't in the basket they don't get washed..(dh doesn't often get all his clothes washed)



Five question friday 26/8/11

Click  five question friday to play along and linky link up. this is my first week playing

1. Did you make any fun purchases this week?

i bought 2 cakes for my sister to celebrate her 1st anniversary of her h leaving

2. If you could go to any musical concert, what would it be?

deep blue orchestra were playing in town last week, i would have loved to go

3. What is your least fav/ most fav house chore?
least fav...the washing . it's so monotonous and done every day because if i miss a day i've got to do double the next
 
fav...at moment is vacuuming. it jsut makes everything look so clean



4. Would you prefer new appliances or clothes?
 
clothes for sure. who wouldn't want new clothes
 



5. Miracle Whip or Mayo?
 
never had miracle whip so mayo it is, and i actually prefer whole egg mayo :)
 
i look forward to seeing other's answers

morning tea

miss 4, bless her little soul, prepared morning tea for us on the weekend. I was sick with the gastro bug but could not miss out on this


Thursday 25 August 2011

writers workshop-top 10 reasons why I'm glad I'm done with school

For writing prompts click on WRITERS WORKSHOP . I can't figure out how to get the link in my side bar so will add it once i figure out how.
I chose top 10 reasons why I'm done with school

#1 Can do away with the ugly hessian bags our mother used to make us get because they were cheaper. I hated them and felt even more reject by having one. The best bit about it was you could write all over them, other than that...damn ugly. By yr 11 I was able to buy a normal bag but the damage was already done

#2 Not having to worry about answering questions in class and having the whole class look at you as you slowly go redder and redder then wonder why on earth did you even answer that question when you knew that talking out loud in class would embarrass the hell out of you

#3 I don't have to study anything i find useless. Algebra...never used it, Pythagoras theory...never used it, science...it stunk too much in the classroom to even want to concentrate.

#4 I hated catching the bus and thinking everyone was talking about or looking at me. Either paranoid or up myself I guess but i had such low self esteem I honestly thought people were laughing about me whenever i heard anyone laugh.

#5 I don't worry now about whether I fit in or not. It's such a big thing to fit in to the right group, and even then you still have to keep to a standard. I never fitted in anywhere really. I flitted from group to group never feeling totally comfortable in any one group. One group in particular I really didn't fit in too. One girl even said I was different to them because I didn't talk about the same stuff as them, and didn't go to party's etc. I tried hard to be cool like them but knew i wasn't. Unfortunately I have to see them all over again as their kids start school with Miss 4 next year. As for fitting in.....I don't care now, I make friends easily and I feel comfortable with the friends I have.

#6 I was always the shy quiet one who never spoke out of place, never spoke my mind. Therefore kept alot of things to myself, kept myself to myself, and people never then got to know the real me. I wish I was then who I am now as I'm not afraid to speak up.

#7 The anxiety I had (and think I still carry) from turning up to school each day and hoping my friends would be sitting in the same place and that I would be able to find them.  Of course I don't worry about that now but i do have anxiety and control issues today lol

#8 Not having to attend sports carnivals. For a non sporting person they are pretty boring. Why can't schools have music carnivals instead

#9 I hated the in between weather lol, as I worried would I get too hot or cold and didn't know whether to wear summer or winter uniform, jumper or not jumper

#10 Working your butt off to do the HSC and realise you don't even need it all the time. As one teacher said and I'll never forget...the hsc is like a sneeze in nature


So there, that's why I'm glad I'm out of school. I hated school, hated the whole conformity thing etc. If only I knew then what i Know now, that once you leave school it's a whole new world, one where you can be yourself.

Wednesday 24 August 2011

Sunday 21 August 2011

things i am grateful for

 play along, write what you are grateful for then add yours when you click on the picture above

This week I am grateful for...

- chatterbox behaving really well and not feeling stressed abotu being a step mummy

- my sister's kids and how much my kids love their cousins

- friends at church who sat with bub, miss 4 and little man so i could play violin

- lunch in the park on a lovely day with bub and a good friend

Friday 19 August 2011

wordless wednesday- strange barbie dolls

play wordless wednesday with my little drummer boy

miss 4 set her dolls up like this. the last photo however is how i found barbie on the bathroom floor



things i am grateful for



Another group one. This is my practice one as the week has ended and it should be done on saturdays. So I'm going to do the week prior

Things i am grateful for for week 7-13th august:

- My sister who babysat at last minute

- miss 4 loved her come and try days at big school

- miss 4's best friends mother decided to put her daughter into the same school as miss 4

- Saturday night dinner with 6 other girlfriends

- my physio friend who referred me on to my chiro to get my wrist fixed after 1 yr

- that bub is learning new words and the best one is cuddle

- that little man hasn't had as many major tantrums

things i know -or don't know



Click on the picture to play along

So today it's about things you don't know :

How to cook a yummy cheap meal every single night

what to do with the kids on a rainy day

why my family can't hang up towels

why dh  struggles to put dirty clothes in the wash lol

i didn't know there was a seriously queer lady in american who has baby dolls that are life like and she treats them like babies.

what would it be like to not stress about things lol





Thursday 18 August 2011

sometimes things are never what they seem

I'll be honest and admit that sometimes I find it so hard to be a parent. I often dream about my time as being single, living in my little 2 bedroom flat, having so much freedom. I also had the body back then, could wear what ever i wanted and secretly knew I looked pretty good. I spent money on what ever I wanted to, went on holidays if i felt like it. I'm glad I had that time to experience and remember.
Then I fell pregnant. Wasn't exactly planned to say the least but not something I'd ever take back. EVERYTHING changed. I worked as a director in child care at the time and the expectation was so high. So many people said oh you're a natural you'll be fine. You work with kids you'll be a great parent. You have so much experience this will be second nature for you etc etc etc.Well to be honest I was so scared. Baby;s scared the daylights out of me. I never knew what to do with them. Being a parent is NOTHING like being a child care worker. I had such high expectations to live up to.
Even now I feel people expect more of me because of my child care back ground. I even expect more of me. I feel my kids should be better behaved, that i should always think of exciting things to do with them, that i should be able to teach them more how to write their names etc at an early age. But as it is none of that is the case. They are reasonably well behaved, sometimes I do exciting things with them but it's hard with 3 different age groups, and well I've tried getting them to trace their name and the alphabet but they had no interest.
so, fast forward a bit to the point of this blog as I have really rambled on more than what i was going to.....
Sometimes the mundaneness of parenting really sucks. Day in day out, same thing, same challenge, same fights, same washing basket, same saucepan etc. In the last 2 days I've spoke separately to 4 other women who have all felt this way. I didn't bring it up at all with them, they initiated the topic. The one that really got me was today. I rang my friend (N) today to see if she'd like a visitor. The conversation started as me : hi how are you ? N: hmmm just surviving my kids today. Conversation carried on and she said it was fine for me and bub to visit. I got off the phone and at her expense i felt normal. Her honesty was great. I've always felt N to be the mother who had it all in control, who ALWAYS did exciting things with her kids, who took her kids everywhere and never worried about it, and who would never have a bad day with her kids. So to hear this I thought wow, it's amazing how we always perceive things but they are never what they seem. We had a great chat about our feelings as mums and how we love the fact that we are so blessed to be at home with the kids but some days it'd be nice to just have that recognition, that thanks, that reassurance to know you are doing it all right.
Today I read someone else's blog and two things she was really spot on with for how i felt were...

1. Mothering is harder than it looks.
2. As bad as the moments can be with your kids, the worst moments are the ones where you face losing them. No matter how much they do your head in, the thought of a world without them is unbearable.

So maybe i should just lower my expectations of myself and be real about it all because even the people that look like they have it all together all the time don't necessarily.



more first words

as i gave bubs a cuddle a said cuddle, she then copied me by saying dudda

when you say night night she says ma moo

she has very good listening skills as when i say we are going now she grabs my keys and heads for the door.

i just love watching her learn it's so cute

Wednesday 17 August 2011

things i know

play along with shae



This is a new thing I've started so I'll see how I go

I know I have to make rissoles

I know the clothes won't dry until I put the in the clothes dryer but forget each time until the washing machine beeps

I know my son reeeeaaally needs a sleep because he is becoming a handful and doing silly things

I know there are tim tams in the fridge and I could have one if i get off the lounge

I know this is my first time doing things i know so really have no clue what i am doing lol

Tuesday 16 August 2011

come and try days at big school

Day one of come and try day at big school....I drop bub and little man at my sisters house so i can totally focus on miss 4. Miss 4's best friends mum rings to say she is going home to get best friends hat. So i tell her I'll wait. As i drive closer to the school i see lots of mum's and come and try kids with school bags. I feel anxious as all i packed was miss 4's lunch box so make a quick dash for home to get her bag. Best friend waited for us at the front office where we were also greeted by a year 6 student who introduced herself and ask miss 4 what was her name. She took us down to where all the other parents and children were. We went over to the table and got a name tag for miss 4 then waited fir instruction for where to go. luckily miss 4 was in a group with 2 of her preschool friends and a little boy she went to day care with. she was more than happy for me to leave, i did however have a lump in my throat. I was meant to go grocery shopping but a better offer of coffee from a friend i hadn't seen for a while got the better of me. The whole time I'm wondering how is miss 4. We get back to school after coffee and wait for the bell to ring. i was so excited to see miss 4 and hear about her day. she came racing out of her room and grabbed her bag and ran over to me. she dumped her bag and ran off to play!!So i knew she had a positive time. A teacher (who is also the mother of one of miss 4's friends) informed me that miss 4 is very confident and independent. I wasn't sure how to take that as it can be interpreted different ways but I'm thinking it's a good thing.
Day 2....leave earlier than we should "just in case" and thank God we did. Get all kids strapped into the car turn the key....click click click. Crap, flat battery. take a breath and ring DH. i say honey, i need you to come home RIGHT away and start my car please. he says i was actually just on my way there to grab my drill. YAY!! So he gets here, uses the battery pack to start the car and tells me all is good. So i drop little man at day care (yes the one up the road from big school), hop back in the car and click click click. I ring dh back up and tell him i need him again. Lucky for me he was actually driving up that road. He leaves the battery pack with me this time. Meanwhile my sister texts me and says be careful and get car checked before our holiday as she had a dream about a car getting stranded with lots of kids in it. finally we get to school. I park next to miss 4 bestfriends car incase something happens again. We have to go to a different classroom today which is just as exciting. But...on the way i stumble upon the bitches i went to high school with. There were 2 of them, both had sons. I got a major stare down by one of them and all the awful feelings i had from highschool came gushing back. i felt sick. But no, it's time to focus on miss 4. lucky for me the car started fine. For my short time at home a had a friend over and discussed my negative depressing feelings about the bitchy girls. I almost considered changing schools for miss 4 but realised it's not about me, and i could see on her face how happy and confident she was. Stuff the bitches. One of them wears skirts, with socks and shoes that look like school shoes. how ugly!
Get back to school, it's freeeeezing cold as i wait for miss 4. i see some mum's I know so stand and have a chat. also see the bitches again, get the stare again but who cares. Miss 4 comes out happily and we head off to preschool. Her bestfriend was going too so they walked in together. The teacher was doing an explanation to the group for a special fathers day painting. Miss 4 and best friend disrupt the whole group, the teacher is trying to get their attention again. Best friends mum and i have a little giggle about it.
That afternoon as i was on my way out of the driveway my sister rings to ask if my dh is working near her house. but he's not. i ask why and she tells me her car is stuck.... at her son's school....with all the day care kids in it (there was her dream). I remember the battery pack is in my car so tell her she will have to wait until i pick up miss 4 then will go straight to her. all was good.
day 3....last day. Miss 4 wasn't too impressed about it being her last day. Best friend and her take each others hand and walk in. Best friends mum and i had arranged to take the kids to macca's afterwards so the kids were really looking forward to that. Both girls had a ball at school and a ball at macca's. Little man also loved best friend and a week later still talks about her and says she's his best friend. too cute.
All in all miss 4 loved her come and try days and can't wait to go to school.

Big School

Miss 4 is starting school next year. I had my heart set on sending her to a particular school since she was born. This school was on the other side of town, about a 20minute drive. I even enrolled her. Then I heard the school was getting too big so started to think about other options. I had doubts about the school we are actually zoned for so asked ALOT of people about it, and not one person said a bad thing which is good. I was still hesitant though.
Little man goes to day care once a week jut up the road from the zoned school and miss 4 kept saying there's my school, without me even having said anything to her. That was a bit of a fluke i think. I went in anyway to enrol her and she seemed so excited which was great. So then all we had to do was wait for her come and try days, which involved 3 days of 930-12pm , leaving your child at the school and they sit in with the kindergarten classes.
One week before this i found out we as parents don't stay with them. we leave them there, on their own. I nearly died. leave my baby girl at a massive school with no child safety gates!?I prayed I'd instilled enough sense into miss 4 to stay put. I also found out this same day that her best friend from preschool was also going to this school. Her mother decided that week and i was over the moon.
i assessed miss 4's clothes a few days before and thought there is no way she can turn up to school in daggy clothes. The clothes she loves to wear are tracksuit pants with a skirt of them, and a long sleeve shirt with a t shirt over it. I love her character like that but maybe just not for her first few days. So i bought a pair of jeans, a knitted vest, a pink ballerina top and a pretty pair of shoes. However, it dropped by about 8 degrees for her school days so she was unable to wear the shoes, knitted vest and ballerina top.

Tuesday 2 August 2011

the bedroom wall

It's ugly. Picture it......you wake up after a not so great sleep. You have been up to the baby to give her a bottle, she pukes on your pyjama top. So you go back and fumble around in the dark to find another one before you hop back into bed. Nudge hubby a few times with your elbow because he is snoring. Shut your eyes then miss 4 calls out, mum! muuuum! mummy!! muuuummmmyy!! i'm calling you!! come here mummy!! you stumble back out of bed, bare feet on the cold floorboards and make your way to her room. She wants her wheat bag heated up. So you stand infront of the microwave for the 2 minutes it takes to heat the wheat bag. ok done, go back to bed. Kick hubby because he is snoring really loud. Start to drift back to sleep. then little man starts to cry. kick hubby a bit harder to let him know little man is crying and its' his turn to get up for a change. slowly he gets up and gathers himself to get to little man's bedroom, the whole time you're thinking you'd have been there and back by now. He goes finally, quietens little man, goes to the toilet, comes back. You've stayed awake the whole time to make sure all was good. Dh goes back to sleep instantly. You take a while. Morning hits and you wake up to the ugliest wall. poo yellow colour. I said to dh it's no wonder we wake up feeling like shit lol. So many times i've been tempted to paint it but don't know the first thing about painting and i know dh prefers to fix the walls up first before putting a coat of paint on. I think about what can I do to make the bedroom look better. Not alot comes to mind. Find some material and try to make the white roman blinds look better. Nearly fall off the chair hurtingg my wrist and getting a massive bruise on my leg while trying to get the material up. Which in the end looked ugly so i took it back down. Instead I get bub and we head into town to look for anything i could find to put on the ugly wall to make it look better. I'm racing against time now because i want to have it all done before dh gets home but meanwhile i have to pick miss 4 up from preschool. Miraculously i get it done and am secretly pleased with the outcome!!