We have seen the new Orthopedic Specialist today and he has said that Amy doesn’t need the braces on any more. He is of the school of thought that braces and harnesses are not advantageous to the overall improvement of the condition, and since it is not bad enough for surgery, he is happy to monitor her. Huge relief about the braces, but I still have a niggle given that she isn’t in the normal range yet, and what if there was something we could do before it become 3 more years down the track and she needs surgery then? On the bright side, I did see a big improvement in her X-ray from the last time, so his wait and see policy might be just the ticket. Let’s hope so!

We had snow here yesterday. It was bitterly cold and we had to get the girls from a party in Murrumbateman and the snow was billowing all around the car as we drove along. It was quite magical. Meg licked the car, gross, to taste the snow.

My new job is official and I am waiting on the paperwork to sign and then I start first week of September. I have a feeling it is going to be the start of bigger and better things and certainly get my confidence back up. I am a little nervous about remembering how to do all the testing, but I’m sure it will come flooding back.

I will certainly post when my ABC TV debut is going to be on. They aren’t interviewing me or anything, just reading out my question, so it is not actually that glorious, but just a little bit exciting.

I’m organising a Mini Olympics at playgroup tomorrow, and the craft will be to make an Olympic torch and then we’ll have torch races and obstacle courses. I even have ribbons for places getters and participants that are left over from the schools sports carnival last week. Speaking of which, it was great and Holly got a 1st and a 2nd and Meggie got two third places. Both were quite thrilled! Justin did a sterling job with running the shotput.

Enjoy this week!

Not a lot to report but the kids have said some funny things.

Jess was so happy the other day she told me she was walking on Sunshine. She is really into thinking things through and I am surprised by how much she actually knows. She can count to 30 by herself, and she can recognise all the numbers up to 11. She is not much good at writing but she knows a lot of stuff!

Amy is into Hi-5. I told her she could watch it on TV, but I was a little early and so popped on the end of Playschool. She was rather cross about this saying “Mummy, no Playschool – Hi-5!” Clear as a bell! We have to see the orthopedic specialist on Monday, as she is refusing to wear the braces and actually takes them off herself. Think good thoughts for a good outcome with this!

I had a call from the ABC TV show “Can We Help?”. I submitted a question and they are using it on the show. Taping is happening now, but it won’t be on the TV for awhile. It is very exiting and the girls think I am a bit of celebrity (and so do I!).

Sports Carnival tomorrow and Justin and I are helping out. Hope it gets above 5 degrees or it might be a cold event!

Cheerio!

Last week when we went to the snow there wasn’t any, so we tried again on Saturday. It had been much colder and raining too, so we thought our chances were good. AND THEY WERE. Snow everywhere!
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Meg had the most fun, and Jess whinged much of the time (yeah to my prediction there!). Jess didn’t like being so wet and cold, she just wanted to go back to the car and change pants and socks. Holly and Meg really enjoyed making snowballs and throwing them at Justin and I, as well as slip sliding through the ice. I think Meg would have stayed all day if we had let her. Just near the carpark the road was very icy and it was quite nerve racking feeling the car slide, even though we were going about 5kms an hour!

Last week I had to get Amy’s hips x-rayed for her appointment with the Orthopedic specialist. She has not been a good girl! When I put the braces on her at night, she screams bloody murder and then I go in later to check on her and she has taken them off. Smart cookie! So I rang the doctors office to have advice and they made an earlier appointment to check what the status of the hips are. I am hopeful that all is OK – I’m just putting that out there, because the more positive my thoughts are the more likely they might be true! So that appointment is next Monday. Anyhoo, I was waiting for the films and a friend of mine works upstairs so I popped up to say hi and see her new office. She was my boss when I was at the Hearing Centre all those lifetimes ago. She was showing me the new advanced hearing aids and equipment and it was startling how far technology is coming along – eg hearing aids that are tiny and can link up to bluetooth. Incredible! So we were chatting and she offered me a job. And I said yes. It involves hearing tests for the ENT specialists (pre and post surgery tests) GP referrals and some children. I am super excited. It is a regular gig, one day a week, so the babysitters are lined up and ready to go. Maybe this will be the start of me getting back into the field. I can still do some of my baby testing if they need me to fill in. All is good.

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These are some pics from a walk around the mountain yesterday morning. Amy has grown so much lately that she doesn’t fit so well in the back pack anymore. She doesn’t like to walk for too long, but she was happy to run after me.

Have a great week.

Things are great when the kids are back at school – everyone is busy, but purposeful and the house is much quieter!

We’ve spent the past few days trying to eliminate the nits that infiltrated our peaceful home! Our special friend from over the road constantly has them and it is small wonder that we’ve not had them here before now. So we discovered them in Holly’s hair on Wednesday night, treated her and she was ok. But the funny thing is that as soon as you think about nits in the house, you get really itchy! I was paranoid, and Justin is hopeless at identifying anything abnormal like this, so I doused for louse anyway. Silly me did it in the morning and had to go to school mass and concert with oily slicked back hair. I looked like Jaime Lee Curtis in “True Lies” when she tipped the vase of water on her head before going to dance for Arnie. I was super self conscious, but my friend assured me I looked like I had fancy product in my hair and was going for an ultra cool look! The house is now nit free, but I have a massive amount of washing to contend with that I am not looking forward too.

I managed to tie up all the loose ends with the end of financial year paperwork and it is now ready to go off to the accountants. Sigh of relief all around!

The girls glasses are ready to be picked up. Holly has hard a hard week at school without them, but because she is fairly mild it was not detrimental. If that were me at primary school with no glasses, I wouldn’t have been able to see anything. But, even though I had them at a young age, I don’t remember ever losing a pair or having them broken, and I certainly didn’t have a spare.

Justin wants to take the girls to the snow on the weekend. There is a park just out of town that has snow and isn’t too far away or too busy with fancy skiers, so we’ll go there, have a play and come home. We have no proper snow gear, so it will be short and sweet. I wonder who’ll be first to crack it when they discover that snow is cold and wet. I’m betting on Jess!

I’ve booked a couple of flights in the last few days. Holly and I are going to Melbourne for 4 days to stay with Kate. Some Mother/Daughter special time. And Justin and I are going to Brisbane in October for Emily’s wedding. In September Jess and I are going to see Dora the Explorer stage show as our special treat together. Meg came to Sydney with me in the holidays, so that was her thing. It really is expensive having so many children!

Have a great weekend.

Good thing that the holidays are over. It was fun, but I am totally exhausted and very much over bring the 24/7 adjudicator of big fights, little fights and everything in between as well as the babysitter for various children in the neighbourhood. I’ve now put J and A to bed and am enjoying the first bit of peace and quiet in 2 weeks.

So what did we do in the holidays?

Sleepovers, friends over, visits to friends houses, Kung Fu Panda, baking, trip to Sydney, birthday parties, Kate over for a stay, my birthday and Mamma Mia. There’s lots more, but those are the standout things!

My 36th birthday was good fun. Went to the Pancake Parlor for breakfast (17 of us) which was lovely! Get it….the Pancake Parlor…Lovely!! Anyhoo… and then that night Justin graciously took me to see Mamma Mia which I loved. I cried so hard I was heavy sobbing in the part where the daughter is in the mirror and the mother (Meryl Streep) is singing about how she was once little and grew up so fast and is now grown up and embarking on her life. Cry Cry Cry. I just kept thinking about my girls and how this I what I think all the time. They do grow up so fast. I should cherish every moment and yet they drive me so crazy that I get lost in that. At the moment I have aching in my chest from how furious I was this morning. I have just bought new makeup, blush and powder and it was all missing or broken this morning when I went into MY bathroom. My mobile phone is lost because Amy takes it out of my bag and walks around with it. Holly has lost her glasses and Meg’s are broken, hanging on by a thread, but she couldn’t find them this morning either. We had to buy them new glasses on the weekend, this will be Meg’s 4th pair in 6 months.

I’m not freaking out that I am 36 or anything like that. I am embracing my mid 30’s and am proud that at this point I have 4 children, a beautiful husband, no grey hairs, one stretch mark and a fabulous bunch of family and friends.
I do however, feel that I am on the precipice of something new but I don’t know what it is. Amy is out of her baby stage and is a toddler, so maybe I am just feeling that. Things should be easier now that she is getting bigger. I bought a book called “A New Earth” which Oprah raves about, and says that if you are ready for an awakening in your spirit, this book is your guide. I need something baby – cause I’m in a rut with the now. Lisa and Kate bought be a subscription to Oprahs Magazine which I am thrilled about. Can’t wait to get my first copy.

I just took a deep breath and it felt like the first one I’ve taken all day. I am way to pent up! Time to sit and unwind. I’m crocheting some baby blankets for all the babies that are being born in the next few months, so I’ll get stuck into that for a while.

Have a good week and pay no mind to my whinge!!

30th June now gone and so have a few of the headaches that go along with finalising the End Of Financial Year stuff for our business. Now we just have to get the stuff to the accountant and pray for no big boo-boos!

We have had a busy few weeks here. Jessie’s 4th Birthday came with much fanfare and excitement as she was desperate for rollerskates. Got her those and also a trampoline (that one was for everyone under the guise of Jess’s birthday!). They have loved it and because it is inside (in the playroom taking up a corner) it is used all the time. Amy only likes to go on if there is someone with her, and then she just runs around the mats protecting the springs and bounces off the netting that keeps them all safe inside. Great concept these news tramps – not like in my day when we fell off and over about 100 times onto the grass!

So my little jess is now 4. She is a gem. She is so much more physical than the other 2 were at this age. She doesn’t like to sit and draw, but would rather be following her sisters around or running and playing, or her other fav past-time watching TV! She is so friendly and inclusive and just loves being around other kids. Having said that she is also a big home-body and would rather be here than anywhere else. She has a way with words that just makes you want to laugh or to give her a huge cuddle. She is such a joy and with those big brown eyes she is adorable too!

Holly was “Student of the week” for her class last week, which made her very proud. She is in her final week as SRC Rep as someone else gets the chance to do that job next semester. Even though she lost the badge in Week 2, she has still done her job well!

Amy has a rotten cold at the moment. She is not sleeping well so that means we are not sleeping well either! Thankfully no big plans for this week, and today we are staying in and not going outside at all. We had popcorn for morning tea and chicken drumsticks for lunch. Nice warm food for a cold windy day. Amy is trying so hard to talk. She prattles on and sometimes I can work it out. It is funny when she says the same jumble over and over. She obviously knows what she is saying. She can say all our names and lots of others and all the parts of her face and body. She loves reading books and has a few favourites. She can even count to 3! Jess’s skills are coming along as well. She can write ‘Jess’, spell Jessica, recognise numbers and some letters and play on the computer. She likes colouring in games on the computer and matching games. She has a good memory as well!

Meg’s reading is coming along and she can recognise lots of words, but spelling is by sound! So she has the phonetics but not the right spelling. Holly is still like that with lots of words that she is working out. They both got good reports for Semester 1 and are happy at school so that is all I can ask!

Lisa roped me into a Self Defence Class which we started on Monday night. Hopefully I’ll never need to use it, but if the skills are there I might be more confident to fight back! I’ll practice on the kids!!

I just got some cheap flights to Melbourne so Holly and I are going to go for a weekend visit in August. Holly is feeling a bit left out as I tend to spend the least time with her because she is the most capable. The others need me so much more. I’m really conscious of trying to do things with her and we are reading the ‘Folk in the Faraway Tree’ every night as some time for us only. There is so much emphasis on this “Tweenager” phase, and Holly is a good girl so I want to keep it that way. I can see things going astray if I don’t pull her in and get her doing stuff with me that makes her feel positive about our relationship. I’m stressing out about this already – how will I be when they are all teenagers!

Ok, enough for now – might go see if I can convince Jess and Amy that watching Oprah is a good idea. They hate it! Might put them to bed and watch it in peace 🙂

It is raining and it is cold, so today we are inside and not leaving the jurisdiction of the ducted heating!

Had a chance to download some photos from the previous month or so, and now is a good time to get them on here. In no particular order….
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This is Holly with a Bronze statue that Justin’s Mum has been making this term in a Uni Sculpture course. It is Holly with a ballerina dress on, sitting on a big ball. Quite amazing really, it is very intricate and detailed and both Holly and Maureen are VERY proud of it.

A few zoo piccys now. We went with Tania and Bronte last Friday and we had a really lovely day. Canberra Zoo is certainly no Taronga or Werribee, but it has some interesting features and it is not very busy in term time. Meg loved this Big Cat lounging right near the glass.
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The kids have had great enjoyment with the rollerskates we gave them for Christmas and now dress up like Jane Torvill to create the mood. This is Bronte demonstrating a classic move!
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And Meg this morning showing me how fast she can go (on the carpet!). This has chopped her head off but if you click on the pic it will enlarge.
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Amy is just growing up before our eyes. She is talking a lot and understands everything. She has favourite books that she will hans to you and then climb up onto your lap for commencement of reading. If I try to change to a new book, she gets mad! This is her with her “photo” smile. Isn’t she cute. Just love her to bits.
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And her she is doing her “homeboy” look. She claps her hands and then points and with this hat that she adores it looked so hilarious.
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We had Andrew for a sleepover a few weeks ago now and Justin was beside himself to have another boy in the house. Andrew is the most delightful little guy with a permanent smile on his face and unwaivering devotion to Jess. This is them with a surprise block of choc that Justin bought home.
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At school the girls had a Pajama Day which went down a real treat. This is them ready for school on that day!
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And Jess here is the classiest chick at possums. She loves to look good!
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How is this for lazy…I was to do a run on Monday but I slept in! We went over the road for dinner and fireworksSunday Night, had too many wines and didn’t get up the next day for the race. Bad Fran!! But now I am back on the straight and narrow and ran in the rain today to prove my commitment. Mad Fran!!

So that is about it. The weeks seem to be getting busier and I have been doing quite a bit of work at the hospital. The extra pay is great given that it takes about $90 to fill my car with petrol these days – ouch.

Well done if you have made it to the end here. Have a lovely day. 🙂

Been awhile!

Not much out of the ordinary happening here only that we have Tania (SIL) and Bronte (Niece) here for the week and that is keeping us busy and the girls entertained. We just met Brian at his new office, Parliament House, and had a behind the scenes tour – places where the general public can’t go! Saw some famous faces in the House of Reps and sat two tables away from Barnaby Joyce at Lunchtime. I tell you, we were hobnobbing it up!!

Amy is talking away all the time now. Most of it gobbledygook, but if you ask her to say something, she gives it a good go. If she is being annoyed by the girls she says “Ay Ay” as in Hey Hey get away from me. She loves Jess, whom she is home with most of the time, but can now say Holly and Meg. I gave her a vitamin this morning and said “give this to Holly”. I thought she would just ignore me and put it in her mouth, but she diligently took it up the stairs (doesn’t need to hold onto the wall either, just walks up!) and into Holly, then came back for the next one. This time Jess. Again she went up the stairs and gave it to Jess. Back down again and up another 2 times for Bronte and Meg. She was puffed out by the end!

The other day in the car, we were driving along and Jess tell me “I love the beat of your music Mum”. We weren’t even listening to music at the time and I took it to mean “I love the way you live your life” – kind of philosophical but that is the kind of girl Jessie is. Or maybe she just likes the music we usually have in the car!

Got another race on Monday. This time a 2-mile run (that converts to 3.2km) so should be nice and cruisy. It has been rainy all week, and I expect it will continue so it might be a wet race.

Holly lost her other front tooth. She is totally gappy. She came running out one night last week saying it was sore, so I grabbed a tissue and pulled it out. I was sick af all the bobbling about this tooth was doing. She couldn’t quite believe I’d done it. Then we got the giggles and she couldn’t couldn’t talk at all.

Holly and Meg have both been asked to try out for teams in the dance class. Teams is quite a big deal and not eveyone is asked (I only just found this out!). Holly is quite keen but Meg wasn’t interested at all. I told the teacher and her face dropped. She was devastated that Meggie wouldn’t do it. She urged me to get Meg to reconsider, but she won’t unless Addie does it too. Oh – the trials of youth. The teacher tell me that Holly is a natural and will go far, but I am yet to see any practice or evidence of her brilliance, so we’ll just see what happens.

That is about all I have time for. Kids arriving home from school, other kids waking up and needing food (that is Jess of course).

Have a wonderful weekend.

Mothers Day Classic Run results are in.

Time: 29.34min
Overall Place: 230th out of 547 runners
Gender Position: 139th out of 404 women runners
Category Position: 31st out of 129 in the 30-39yr age group.

I am thrilled to bits. My aim to go under 30minutes was acheived so what more can I ask!

Hip Hip Hooray 🙂

It has been such a lovely week with beautiful Autumn weather. My favourite time of year, besides loving the raking up of leaves, it is not too hot to run, or be outside. Perfect. Took some photos of the girls while I was trying to rake up the backyard this morning.
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This week Holly lost her front tooth. It was the less wobbly of the 2 front teeth, but after she whacked herself in the mouth with a microphone while they were having a disco in the playroom, it fell out first. She scored $2 from The Tooth Fairy and was quite delighted. 1015

On Thursday I helped out at the Mothers Day Stall where I wrapped presents for the kids. They could choose from a whole array of gifts which they all did very speedily. Holly and Meg have hidden their presents in their room, and Jess, who made things at possums, is dying to have me open them.

Mothers Day Classic 5km Fun Run is tomorrow monring. My aim is under 30mins, and hopefully under 28 if I push it. I’m keen as!

Happy Mothers Day 🙂