Long Weekend – good.

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Yep it was good. Always good to have Justin home to help and keep me company. We went to Commonwealth Park on Australia Day Night for a picnic. The girls enjoyed chasing each other around while draped in the Aussie Flag, and Meg used it like a Supergirl cape making it billow out behind her as she ran.

We’ve been changing the bedrooms around again, this time we have Holly on her own in her original room, Amy next to her in the cot and Meg and Jessie upstairs in the big room. So, much of the weekend was spent with clothes moving to different wardrobes, beds being shifted and personal nic-nacs being arranged on new shelves. This forced me to go through the clothes and get rid of a lot of stuff. Sadly though it was mostly baby things, size 000 that will no longer fit Amy when she comes of out the brace. She didn’t even wear a lot of them becasue they wouldn’t fit over the straps and I just love those little bonds baby suits that make them look like teletubbies. Well it all has to go – look out Penny it will be coming your way! I have got another 6 boxes of baby clothes to give to the Salvos and one box of cherished items that I have to keep for my grandchildren. I’m not usually very sentimental like that, but these things are just too precious.

On Sunday Rach and I escaped to have a childfree browse around the Bus-Depot Markets and then onto a blissful 2 1/2 hour lunch in Manuka. It was so much fun, to be able to sit and laugh and watch the passers by and have an uninterupted fabulous conversation. Rach and I have known each other now for 20 years, and it is second nature to finish a sentence, know what she is going to say before she says it, and answer a question that wasn’t even asked verbally, but hinted at by a slightly raised eyebrow. We giggled a lot, about so many things, and had a delicious lunch with pudding, wine and a hunky waiter!

So now it is Monday of the last week of the school holidays. Meg starts preschool and I had this funny conversation with her.

Me: Meggie I’ll miss you when you go to preschool. You are such good company for me here at home

Meg: You’ll have Jessie and Amy to play with.

Me: I know, but I’ll miss you anyway.

Meg: (placing her hands on my knees and looking me in the eye) Mum, I have to go.

Oh well, a girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do!

Amy has a week to go in the braces. The final countdown. Let the week begin!


success

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The bottle finally got drunk – we’ll it was only 50ml, but hey it is a start and I am thrilled that she got the knack of it (it only took about 5 attempts, and I was getting worried that she would never get the idea and need breatfeeding till she was 7).

Now we just have to get this sleeping sorted out. I remember when all the other girls went through this phase of having 45 minute sleeps and then being wide awake but needing to go back to sleep within an hour. It is so frustrating and I am feeling quite frazzled at the moment. Poor Justin and the girls are seeing narky and grumpy mum all too often.

Got physio this afternoon for Amy. Hopefully the last one as in 10 days (yep, count em, 10) the brace will be coming off. ah no she is awake again – that sleep was only 30 minutes. Bugger.


4 months today

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Hard to believe, but Amy is indeed 4 months old today. She really is the most brilliant child on the planet, so advanced and yada yada yada – seriously, she is pretty cute but I would be deluding myself and everyone else if I said she were the best! At the moment she is at the stage of reaching out deliberately to touch my face, or grab a dangling toy. And she delivers the most delightful smiles. Her sleeping patterns over the last week have left a lot to be desired, and so today I bought some formula to give her in a bottle, as I think that maybe she just wasn’t getting enough from me. It has been so hot of late and I dread a lot of feeds because of the pool of sweat I end in. We’ll see how the bottle goes tonight and if is is successful Ill be heading out on the weekend with Rach with no strings attached. Bring it on!

Today the kids and I met Mum and Lisa at the mall and we got school shoes and school bag for Holly and some super comfy sandals for Meg to wear to pre-school. Haircuts are next week. Holly is having her hearing tested tomorrow because I swear that sometimes she doesn’t hear a word I say. She can even be sitting right in front of me and have no idea what I said. Fancy the mother being an Audiologist and none of the kids ever having their ears checked – ooops!

We’ve just had a huge swim with Rach and the kids and Lisa and Hamish. It is so refreshing on such a yukky hot day. On Saturday night there was a fire up behind our house on the mountain and the smoke was so horrible. We had to close all the windows and be hot rather than choke from the smoke. The fire was put out promptly but could have been a lot worse.

Had Jessie’s hips tested for dysplasia last week. She had an x-ray which showed that all was OK. They didn’t suggested testing her via ultrasound when she was born because she passed the dislocation test, but it was only when checked at 6 weeks that Amy’s was picked up and she passed that test too. So after a nervous wait, I was thrilled to hear that Jess was all right.

I have to dash to get the dinner on – we are all starving.

Cheers


Perfectly Prune-ish

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So much time in the pool has left us with wrinkly fingers and toes, but it is soooo nice to laze about in there and not get sunburnt (it has a Vergola roof over the top).

So the past week has been so busy I haven’t had a minute to scratch myself. So hang on——OK I just scratched my leg, now onto tyring to get a few minutes to note down what we have been up to. Amy is asleep, girls with MIL for the day and Pink on the CD. All is good.

Friday so the arrival of Tania and Brian from Perth. In spite of them being delayed 4 hours, they were in fine form and it was just great to have them here. The girls got re-aquainted with Bronte (7 yrs) and that took all of 5 mintues and they were off. I hardly saw them the whole weekend. They swam, played, dressed up, danced, had fights, made up, sang etc etc. All the things that little girls do so well.

Saturday night we went out to the club and had a great dinner with 25 in total, plus kids. Lots of rellies over for the big Christening on Sunday. I love big gatherings like that. So many people to talk to and not having to worry about the kids, I don’t even know if they ate. All I saw was then mucking around on the dancefloor even though there was no music! They had a blast. Mum was looking a bit worse for wear after her Cosmetic surgury on Thursday. She had the bags under her eyes removed and now she looks like she was in a fight with Mike Tyson. It gets less brusied every day and soo she’ll be looking back to her usual self, but 30 yrs younger – people might think we are sisters!

Sunday Amy, Sam and Jacob all got Baptised. It was a lovely ceremony and so much more special because my sister and brother, and their babies could share it with us. Zoe came up too and got a specail blessing – I was quite emotional because it is not everyyear that a family can welcome 4 new children and have them Christened at the same time and all be talking to each other and loving each others company. Tania and Brian were excellent as God Parents and I am expecting great things from them as Amy’s spiritual and emotional teachers!!!

Tania and I managed to get rid of Hubbys and kids for a shopping trip on Monday morning and it was blissful wandering through the boutiques and Ooooing and ahhhing over the gorgeous trinkets and homewares. It was sad to see them go on Monday night. I wish they lived closer, but hey they are determined to move to Tassie so at least that is on the same side of Australia as us!

I’m acheiving my goal of losing 3 kilos by the time Amy gets the brace off in 3 weeks. I lost 1.2kgs this week, lisa lost a massive 2.5kgs, so I have more motivation to keep going this week. I am feeling much better in myself.

This is pretty fast run down because I have so much washing to do and cleaning up to start. It is another hot day today, so if you need my I’ll be in the pool this arvo!!



Loose Tooth

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Holly ran to me late night announcing something was wrong with her tooth – it was wobbley!

This is the first one to get loose and I have to admit that I got all goose bumpy and tears welled in my eyes. I just am in awe that this little girl, now 6, used to be my baby who had no teeth, then when the first one peeped through (the same one that is loose now) we called everyone in excitement. And now they are beggining to fall out – it took so long to get them and we had many sleepness nights and sore gums and tubes of bonjella while the others cut that it hardly seems fair that they now have to be replaced!

On a related note, Jacob got his first tooth last week – well done my gorgeous nephew 🙂 and he is crawling!!


Homemade Bailey’s

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I’ve had a few requests so I thought I’d pop it up here so you can all have a go at it. So easy and so Yummy.

1 Cup Whisky
300ml cream
1 can Evapourated milk
2 tablespoons chocolate topping
1/4 tsp coconut essence
3 eggs
1/2 can condensed milk

Put it all in together into a blender, and whizz up on a high speed for one minute. Pour it into bottles. Makes about a litre. It says to let it stand for a week before consuming but I dare you to let it go that long!

Enjoy. MMMmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm


Day 7 of the New Year

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One week down and it has been a blur of activity. I just waved off James and Ro who stayed here last night with gorgeous baby Oscar and now I’m preparing for the next lot of visitors on Friday. Tania, Brian and Bronte arrive from Perth for Amy’s Christening on Sunday and I can’t wait to see them.

Over the past few days we’ve been trying to get out and about as a family before Justin goes back to work tomorrow. We’ve been to the Zoo (I used those passes Lin and Adas, but it was touch and go as the girl asked me for ID and I had to pretend I left my purse in the car and had nothing proving I was the name on the card!! She gave in reluctantly 🙂 ); we’ve been to Yass for a day trip; the Cotter; Tidbinbilla Deep Space Tracking Centre; had a picnic by the lake for dinner one night; had morning tea by the other lake while the kids rode their bikes along the path; Screen Sound Australia; visits to Nanna & Pa and a few paydates for Holly. Rach and Moi and their families came for dinner on Friday night and it was so much fun. the kids had a swim, we had a delicious dinner and then they watched movies while we drank some great wine, had lots of laughs and polished off the rest of the homemade Baileys.

Phew – I’m really tired and it’s no wonder. Justin just asked what we were going to do today and I begged for a day at home to recouperate.

It is Holly’s 6th birthday tomorrow. She is getting so tall and so pretty, and with each passing day her hair gets curlier. She is wise and then I see glimses of a shy little girl still. She can draw like a 13 yr old and read and write like a 7yr old and I am so proud of her. I still remember the day she was born and she will always be so precious to me.

In other news – I’m starting on a regime of better eating and exercising after putting on weight after Amy was born and after Christmas. I want to lose at least 5 kilos and I’m challenging myself to have 3 of those gone by the time Amy gets her brace off in a month. I walked this morning and am determined to watch how much I eat (that is my main problem – we eat good food but I just eat too much of it).

Amy is going along well. She is 3 and a half months now and is sleeping like a dream during the day and night. While Justin has been home we have weaned her off the dummy and that has proved to be the best thing ever. Most of her constant waking was because of the dummy falling out. So now when she lies down her little thumb assumes the position of sticking up and in it goes – suck suck suck. Ahh Bless – so instead of dummy issues we’ll have orthodontic bills! She goes to sleep between 7 and 8pm, then wakes around 1am. She still needs 2 feeds in the night, but that is done within 10 minutes and then she is back to sleep again until 4 hours later. I’m hoping that another feed will be dropped soon to give me an even longer stretch of sleep.

I’m wondering why it is so quiet here – the girls must be up to mischief. Holly has 3 friends coming over tomorrow for the birthday so I’d better get cleaned up and a bit organised. Swimming lessons also start tomorrow and go all week. Looks like another busy week for us.

Happy New Year 🙂