got sidetracked there….

516 We went to Carols by Candlelight last Friday at the War Memorial. It was so nice to sit under the stars on a blanket all wrapped up in our winter Woolies because it was freezing cold – about 8 degrees. Why is this happening in the middle of Summer??? Anyway, this is Lisa and Meg singing it up.
519AMy and I having a snuggle at the Carols.

522This is me. Notice any grey hairs from the trouble my children are causing me??

525Amy and I in front of our Christmas tree. Last Christmas, as I was putting up the tree at the old house, it never would have crossed my mind that this year we’d have another baby, a new house, 3 more cousins, 2 new employees and a partridge in a pear tree (I was going to say a new puppy, but thankfully we got out of accepting Rusty into the fold!).

That’s it for now. Can’t wait for Christmas Day and the 23 people here for lunch. I’ve made Baileys Irish Creme (but at the rate Jus and I are going through it I’ll have to make some more) and can’t wait to have Kate and Rohan sleeping over for a few nights. Yippeee – it is nearly here.

Mery Christmas everyone :0)

Time for an update of some photos of what we have been up to n the last few weeks.

501Amy having a bit of a giggle. She is going along so well despite the bulky and horrible harness. When she smiles it just makes my heart melt and I can’t help but laugh with her. She is the light of my life at the moment!
504The four of them – Hard to get a good photo with everyone smiling at the same time, but this is not too bad! They are good girls and most of the time are great buddies. If only Jessica would be less of a bully…… 🙂
507I love this photo. Amy was so sound asleep and Jus just couldn’t move an inch. Isn’t my hubby gorgeous!!
510This is Amy all bright and sitting up so well….untill she flops over. She is about 11 weeks here.
513Holly was an angel in the Kinder Nativity Play. She rehearsed her lines for 2 weeks, writing them down over and over on pieces of paper. She finishes school today and I can’t really believe that a year ago she could hardly write, couldn’t read at all and now she can read beautifully, write neatly and write everything, and do sums etc. I’m so proud of her.

Gotta take her to school now, but I’ve got a few more photos to put up later.

Yep, that is what the Specialist said about Amy’s hip harness. No million dollars for him!

So now we are looking at early February – not happy Jan.

The weekend was chaotic – a first birthday party, guys from the office here for a work BBQ, a Christening, Meg to a friends house and and Engagement Party. Oh – and a few hours at the mall getting the kids Christmas gifts sorted out. Is it any wonder I am so exhausted? Had Meg at the eye Specialist yesterday and she got a stable result, so at least no new glasses prescription this time. Got Amy at the hip Specialist this afternoon and even though he is not going to say “Let’s take this harness off her”, I would give hime a million dollars if he did! Tomorrow Meg has her 4 yr old immunization, to make her ready for preschool, and I have primed her up to expect the needle and bribed her with something special afterwards!

I saw a news piece on the weekend about a woman who was jogging with her 5 month old baby in the pram. She got a phone call on her mobile and turned away from the pram to talk and jot a number down on her leg. When she turned back the pram was gone, and she was frantic that someone had taken the pram and kidnapped the child. She was hysterical with worry. 20 minutes later, they checked the nearby river and the pram had rolled down the embankment, into the water. The baby was there, still strapped in, but not alive. The mother was so distraught. It was so terrible to see it all played out and I felt for that woman with every motherly cell in my body. She’ll never get over that. Her Christmas’s will never be the same, she’ll never be the same. I ran upstairs and kissed Amy on the head, and gave each of my girls an extra big kiss and hug. I want to tell that woman how sorry I am for what happened to her. I hope she is going to be OK.

2 more days of school and I can’t wait for the pace to drop.

Better go do some folding – the washing baskets are overflowing and no-one has any undies!

No, not a way to make a living, but the time that Amy slept the other night. Fed at 8.15pm, in bed and asleep by 9, then woke at 5.40am. WHat a star. Having said that, the performance has not been repeated since! She is going to bed earlier now, and that makes the first wake up earlier, so hopefully in the next week or so we can work on early bed and late wake up!

I’m so jealous today because Rach is in Brisbane seeing Robbie Williams in concert and Penny is in Melbourne seeing Kylie Minogue in concert. The only concerts I am going to are Holly’s end of year play on Friday afternoon and then Christmas Carols on Friday night at the War Memorial. Both should be fun though.

Amy had her harness adjusted again yesterday. She is growing so much it is hard to believe. She is 12 weeks old this weekend – were did the time go? Things are really settling down well. Today we did a marathon shopping trip to the mall, but we had Katie Nanna in tow to push the pram and hold the bags! She really had her work cut out for her this week with all that is going on so she totally deserved her wages. I think she was quite exhausted by the end of today.

Our Christmas tree is up and loaded with presents already. I put one under there for me today. The card says “To Fran, you have been a legend this year, love Fran” and I must agree with myself!!! My brother James used to put presents to himself under the tree with beaming accolades about how fantastic he was, so it has become a funny tradition kind of thing. A huge box from WA arrived yesterday much to Meg and Jess’s delight. Thanks to the Woly’s – we can’t wait to see what they are. Did you get our parcel?

Oops, time for the Bold and the Beautiful – Bridget is about to tell her mother about her one night stand with her step-father Nic, who used to be her husband until their baby died and she let him go to his ture love, her mother. Confused? yep, me too!!

Ciao for now 🙂

I’m going to the mall this morning, with the kids, wiith a thousand giggling last-minute-formal-stuff-gathering-girls, with another thousand frantic mums just like me, to try finding some presents for the final people on my list. Then I’m done and it is just the Christmas lunch things that I have to get organised. Easy!!

I’m pretty much fed up with Amy and the harness. I look at it and just wish this were all over. I actually took it off her legs yesterday, gave them a massage (they look all mangled with the indents of the straps pushing into her skin) and then picked her up to give her a cuddle. She felt so slight in my arms without the contraption and I wistfully thought that this is what it must be like for other mums to hold their 11 week old tight against them. Then I cursed under my breath as I put it back on her (don’t tell the physio I was fiddling with it!). I am thinking that it will be on for another month at least, and she’s had it on nearly a month already. Grin and bear it girl.

Ok off to the mall – where is my armour……………..

I love saying “The children are with the Nanny” cause I can pretend for a moment or two that I am filthy rich and living in a scene of the Bold and the Beautiful. But truthfully, she is delightful and working out so well. She asks for jobs to do! So today I got her sweeping and doing dishes and odd jobs, as well as looking after the 3 girls while I had a meeting with the accountant. She is so capable and trustworthy – it is all falling into place nicely 🙂

Speaking of the accountant I am getting a refund, yay, and the business made a profit that we are able to reap and put on the home loan. Phew – no more baked beans for dinner this week!

Jessica is totally in the midst of the terrible 2’s. She is actually making life quite difficult when she says “no” as her first reaction to whatever you put to her, and then crosses her arms in defiance and says “I don’t care”. My diversionay tactics and patience are wearing thin and she even had Rach on her toes yesterday when she minded them while I had a massage. Rach ended up putting her to bed, and after a few hours sleep she was partly human again. Grrr – Just don’t know what to do with her sometimes.

So the massage was great. Thanks Adas and Lin. It was blissful and i think I may have just been about to fall asleep when she whispered in my ear “Just get up in your own time and come out” —-noooooo, over too soon! I’ve still got some credit on the voucher so I’m heading there again in the next few weeks.

Managed to get a bit of Christmas shopping done on the weekend, but still have a few little things to get. Time is ticking away and the calendar is filling up so fast with the kids activities and parties and appointments.

Meggie wants a swim, so off to check how warm the pool is.

Ciao for now.