It was just an accident
646
649
Jess fell out of the bath on Friday night and hit the floor with a great thud. Immediately this shiner appeared. It has gotten worse over the past few days and this is it this morning….
664
We went along to the ABC’s 75th birthday celebrations in the park yesterday and Jess got lost. She was standing on her own in the midle of this crowd, crying and with a black eye – how bad do I feel!!

Today at Holly’s school it is Harmony Day, which is a special day to celebrate Australia’s multiculural and diverse society. Parents/Carers were asked if they would contribute to a special taste-testing lunch, by making a dish from their country of origin to share.

Hmm….what to do? Mini meat pies, Anzac biscuits, damper, beer shots? No – PAVLOVA (and don’t dare anyone start with me by arguing that Pav’s are from NZ!!). So yesterday I whipped up over 100 mini meringues to take today and top with whipped cream, a blueberry and shaved chocolate. If I were a kid, I’d eat that!

In the spirit of Harmony Day and keeping the Harmony at home, I have to acknowledge my wonderful husband (he gets miffed that I don’t blog about him!!). On the weekend, when I was at the Charny Carnival all day (which BTW was hugely successful) he looked after the 4 girls all on his own, bought them down twice so Amy could have a feed, and then made them dinner while I went out to dinner and Cirque de Solei with Rach and her family. He didn’t complain or demand time of his own the next day in payback. I was so impressed and proud of him, as I am each day but never say. He told me last night that he can remember the first time he fell in love with me – we were in yr 11 English and I did a talk on my contact lenses (do you remember that Rach?). He then said that one day I passed him in the corridor and said “Hi Justin” and he nearly died because I knew his name. I remember that day I said hello – but if someone had have stopped me and said “one day you’ll marry him, have your own business and 4 daughters” I would have laughed them out of town! Who Knew? So thanks Justin for everything you do, and for loving me and the girls so much. We adore you.

Have a great Harmony Day everyone!

i just found a tooth!

There is just no stopping is there?

Tomorrow is the Charny Carnival 2007 and I am running the Cake Stall. So I’ve just made 2 dozen honey joys, 2 dozen shortbread biscuits and a friut loaf. Think I might hang onto the friut loaf to keep Justin happy seeing that I am going to out and about all weekend! I’ll be setting up from 11am, and the thing offically kicks off at 1pm till 7pm. Rach has graciously offered (well said yes to my begging) to help me set up, and then I’m hoping that the thousand cakes that we get will all be sold in 2 hours so that I can go home to get ready for Cirque De Solei. Poor Matt has passed his ticket onto me so that he can see his folks down the coast, but I am overjoyed at being able to go with Rach. Somewhere in amoungst that I have to find time to feed Amy. Maybe Justin will have to bring her to me a few times! Or maybe the bottle will have to suffice!

Another Amy milestone – we had to return the capsule today. Gee they are a happy lot at Kidsafe. I sometimes wonder why so many people go into retail/public jobs if they are totally devoid of manners, happiness and charisma. I digress…capsule returned, car seat in and thank goodness I never need another one of those again. Lat night we went out to the club for dinner and it was fantastic. Not only because I had a delicious hot rocks steak, but also because Amy could sit up in the high chair and play with her toys while I ate. It was sensational and made for such a pleasant evening, than the usual juggling act.

Justin’s Nana turned 82 during the week. What a life this amazing woman has had. I was reading about it today on Justin’s Aunt’s blog. The girls are so lucky to have such an inspirational gene pool!

Oops, better get this stuff out of the oven. Have a great weekend. 🙂

Left Friday and returned Monday. It was lovely to have a rest and spend time with L and G and kids. However, it was not so great to have Amy not sleeping and snotty. It is always harder to put up with crying when other people are around – if at home I’d let her cry for a bit in the night but I was super conscious of waking up everyone else.

The house was great with 5 bedrooms, huge backyard, modern kitchen and beach across the road. The view from the lounge room was speclacular, and we watched the Navy boats come and go all weekend (we were in Jervis Bay!). I went for one run on the beach. I must have gone about 2kms and that is most I have ever run in one go. I am building up my stamina and fitness and getting better every week. And I am actually really loving it.

Some pictures of the weekend
634 Amy on the beach with the slip, slop, slap happening!
643Meg with her saggy baggy swimmers.
637 Amy fell asleep on the beanbag – too comfy to refuse.
640“Give me that biscuit Daddy” Amy is desperate to reach for anything that is in front of her.

Ok, so not many pictures but we were relaxing!! Back to work and school and life today. Feel the blood pressure rising again. Have a great week!

We had the lovely Emily with us over the weekend and of course the girls just adored her, hung off her every word and wanted their hair done in plaits (like I can’t do that!!!).
616

This weekend we are heading off down the coast to Jervis Bay with the Knight’s, and I can’t wait to have a good rest, read some books and drink lots of wine. This will be Amy’s first holiday and I hope she behaves. She is eating well so I had better not forget to pack her food.
619
What else is happening? Jessie is well and truly loving her new found freedom in undies. She goes to the toilet all the time now and only wears a nappy at night. It is wonderful and she is so proud of herself and willing to explore the different toilets around town!

Meggie has taken to preschool like an old hand. She would go everyday if she were able. Her paintings have improved, her social skills are getting better and she loves the singing and activites that they do.

Holly is grasping Yr one with great confidence. She is spelling everynight and has a test each Friday. I make her do extra stuff, gee I’m a mean mum!, but she loves the challenge and loves showing me that she can do it. For example, if she has spelling words, I get her to write sentences with the word in it, or draw pictures of the words, or find words that rhyme. I also make up math sums. She can do it easily and it beats sitting in front of the TV.

Charny Carnival is on again this month, and I am running the cake stall. I am really looking forward to it this time, because I’m not doing as much as last year, and might be able to get around and actually see some of the rest of the Carnival.

I guess that is about it for now. Life is busy and that is good.

7.30pm to 7.30am and not a peep in between!

HOORRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

Finally it happened and Amy has settled down enough to get a good night’s sleep. I am over the moon, cause the last 2 weeks have been utterly unbearable with screaming much of the night and up and down 6, 7, 8 times to resettle. Now I don’t feel so stressed about going to the coast on Friday with Lisa, Graham and the kids and Amy keeping everyone awake all night.

So here is what she is up too. Crawling – everywhere. One minute she is there and the next gone. Here are some pics of her in action.

622
625
628
631
So because she is so clever and sleeping well she is currently off the market, but maybe back up for sale if things go bad!!

On Saturday night Holly’s tooth finally fell out. Unfortunately Justin and I were out at dinner and the MIL babysitter didnt tell me that it had happened “I thought I’d let Holly tell you herself” she said. Yeah Ok good, but that meant that Holly woke up on Sunday morning quite devestated because the Tooth Fairy hadn’t come!

610
So last night she was all ready for the TF to come. She had notes all over her room with arrows pointing to the treasured tooth so the TF would know where it was and where to put the cash. This was the cutest note – It was hanging from the doorhandle to her room…..

Wecelm to my bedroom. Come in to chanj my toofth so come in. I em dlited to have you in. So halo I’l ave 2$s ples. Goodbye naw I will sey you soon biy biy toofth fairy. Biy biy see you soon.

Another note asked for the TF to write her name on a peice of paper. So I wrote “Mary” in my most elabourate handwriting and she raced in to me this morning with the eveidence that the TF is real and of course her $2. God bless her!!

Our dinner on Saturday night was great – we went to Axis Restaurant at the National Museum of Australia. It is run by the Hyatt so it was very lah-dee-dah. It was delicious food and a great view of the beautiful Lake. The last time Justin and I went out for dinner alone was when I was heavily pregnant with Amy and we had a curry to bring on the labour! It didn’t work.

On Sunday morning, Justin’s 35th birthday, I went out to a girlie morning tea with Mum, Lisa and my gorgeous SIL’s Penny and Sascha. Coffee and Cake and lots of laughs. If it weren’t for the bird that pooped on our table, it would have been perfect!! (edited to add – Kate was very much missed) Came home from that, quickly whipped up an Orange Poppyseed cake and had the family over to help sing Happy Birthday.
613

Amy did much better last night. She is getting easier to resettle without a feed, and I’m hoping that tonight will be her best effort yet. Some tough love is happening over here, but she is all the better for it!

Have a good week 🙂

More milestones this week – sitting alone for a minute or so, reaching out for things that are in front and to the side of her, rolling over from tummy to back and drinking some water from a sippy cup. If only she would sleep better! Five months old today and I certainly remember Jess was sleeping through the night by this stage. We are nowhere close with Amy. I’m still up several times a night and it is all wearing a bit thin. Perseverance is my new middle name 🙂

Holly is home sick today with a heavy cold, drippy nose and sore eyes. Glen 20 has become my new best friend. I really don’t want to get it or for the others to get it either. She missed the swimming Carnival today, but got to have a rest and a play with Nanna who minded them all while I went to Preschool to help out. I really enjoyed seeing Meg in her new environment and how she interacted with the other kids. The teacher said she is doing really well and is always happy and sociable.

It’s Justin’s birthday on Sunday and I’m taking him out to dinner on Saturday night. He’s 35! I first met him at school in yr 11 in 1989, but he fancied my friend and we didn’t really meet properly until we spied each other across the room of a seedly nightclub in second year of uni. That was it for me. I knew he was the one and we dated for 5 years before getting married in 1997. It is our 10 yr anniversary in October and I am keen to take a week together in the Barrossa Valley to drink some great wine and see a few new places. Never been to SA before. Any takers for minding the kids for a week??

Have a great weekend.

A train whistle is very loud – as the girls found out yesterday when we took an historic steam train trip from Canberra to Bungendore. It was great fun. The trip took an hour or so, we then wandered around Bungendore looking at shops, having lunch and icecreams, and then got back on the train to go home. Great way to spend a day. The kids loved the train – walking around while it was moving (no seatbelts), going through tunnels and putting hands over their ears when the whistle blew. They were all so good too – I don’t think any of the 8 of them were naughty or misbehaving.

595

598

601

604

607

Other news on the home front, our new front door is finally complete and the new laserlite is going up over the porch as I type this. It is gunna look fantastic.

Amy is trying to sit up from a lying down position. She gets up on all fours and pushes herself up high until her legs are virtually doing the splits and then she topples over backwards. Very weird, but I guess the flexibilty will come in good at the 2020 Olympics.

Jess is going to the toilet all the time now and has dry nappies in the morning. This is such a major breakthrough and Justin is over the moon at the thought of never changing one of her dirty ones again. I can vouch for the grossness of it all!

Meg is just loving preschool and made a new friend last week. She is so tired when she gets home so that must mean she is putting in all her effort while there. I’m so proud of her. I’m doing roster next Friday, so I’ll get to see first hand what is going on and how she is interacting with the other kids.

Holly is just cruising along. She lives in the moment – I never know what is going on at school or wherever she has been. She just is – now. Don’t worry about what happened before! She is learning Indonesion and today leart to say “My name is Holly”. I managed to get that much out of her at least.

Well that is about it for the wrap of ours lives over the past few days. Hope all is good where you are.