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.

Thought it was about time for an update.

Had Amy’s 2 month immunization yesterday. It was a bit awkward getting the needle in because of the harness and the nurse made a bit of a mess with it leaving Amy screaming. Ouch – she is still a little unseltted today, but at least sleeping OK.

We’ve had a bit of an issue this week with the kids lying. I’m not really sure how to approach it and I don’t know if it really worth hugely reprimanding them. I’m sure that they are not telling the truth for fear of getting into trouble, so is that punishment enough or should I follow through with stronger punishment? It is totally frustrating me, because I want a straight answer from them about what happened but it is deny, deny, deny. Hmm, Ill have to think about a better strategy.

Jess is still having issues with toilet training. She just doesn’t get it. She always takes off her nappy, but won’t go on the toilet, and then she leaves the nappy off. If I was more diligent and on the ball I’d insist that she put it back on, but I’m slack and tired and thus paying the price then she wees on the floor, or even worse poos on the carpet like yesterday. It wasn’t a great day for me!

Can’t wait for Christmas to come. Haven’t done any shopping, but maybe I’ll do some on the weekend. Thinking of what to get is the hardest part I reckon. I’m having a massage on Tuesday – using the voucher that Adas and Lin gave me. Rach will be minding Amy so I’m hoping she’ll be a good girl for an hour of so (and I hope Amy will be too!!!! LOL).

Lisa is doing well with little Sam. He is so tiny. Gosh Amy must have really grown in her 2 months because she looks enormous next to him, but is really still so little herself. She is such a good baby – I am really enjoying having her around! When I smell her I just fall in love with her again. She is perfect.

More birthday parties this weekend, this time for Meg’s friend, and I am getting my haircut. Can’t wait – the last cut was weeks before Amy was born.

Enjoy the weekend.

My new nephew has entered the world. Welcome Samuel Joshua Knight. He was born at 8.20am today which is 2 months, one day and 6 minutes after Amy! Amy and Sam are destined to be lifetime buddies!
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Well done Lisa, I’m so proud of you.
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Today is Amy’s 2 month birthday. We went along to take Holly to school and then to Mass and then to the grand opening of the School’s new shaded play area and seating. It was great to get out for a little while and Amy fell asleep and everyone was gooing and gaaing over how cute she was. She is getting so chubby with rolls poking out over her harness and a roll in her upper arm. How you can have a roll in your upper arm is beyond me, but there it is!

Been swimming lots in the pool and the girls are getting braver at getting in past their knees. Yesterday Jess was on the 2nd step up to her belly and looking like she was going to jump in further. “Don’t Jess. Don’t Jess, Don’t jess – oh shit” In I go, fully clothed to fish her out. Sheesh!

The house is quiet, Amy is asleep (hopefully for longer than 30 minutes) so might grab some lunch and put my feet up before the housework beckons.

…..Katie Nanny is here, and all is going well. She has the girls spellbound with her games and her songs and her great drawings. Can i keep her forever? Is it legal to adopt a 19 year old? I bet Madonna could!! Holly didn’t want to go to school because she would miss out on time with her. Ahh bless!

Amy and I have head colds at the moment. Sneezing and endless tissues. Unfortunately for Amy, she can’t use a tissue, so she wakes up constantly with a dripping nose, or like last night with a blocked nose. The blocked nose is the worst because she then can’t suck her dummy without asphyxiating. And no dummy means no sleep. You may be able to see the dark circles under my eyes from where you are! Another reason why it is bliss to have Katie here.

It was so hot yesterday that we went for a swim. The pool was a cool 22 degrees, but it is heating up nicely and it was awesome to dive and and get all refreshed. I can see it happening everyday and in good time too because these baby bulges have to start coming off. Don’t think I’ll be fitting into that skimpy Christmas frock this year!

Lisa is looking like she’ll pop a baby any day. I cringe when I see her in pain, because she is my little sister and I don’t want her to go through labour because it hurts. I hope it is a quick one for her.

Best be off. Ciao for now.

That’s right – I got myself a Nanny. Well she is technically not a nanny but a ‘Mother’s Helper’ and she is coming 2 mornings a week for 8 hours total, and will play with the kids and do light housework. She is just lovely – 19yrs old, from the country and studying at Uni to be a teacher. The kids took to her right away and Meg even gave her cuddles when she left today. She came over to meet us, check out the house and the kids and let me go over her resume and the details of the job. I think it is going to work out well – hey as long as I am less stressed then everything will work out well.

Amy is going great. She had 8 hours in a row last night – I couldn’t believe my luck. Then when she woke at 3.30am, she fed and went straight back to sleep till 8.30am. It is taking less to settle her and I think she is adapting to the harness now.

I feel like so much is going well right now. Quite a nice change from the start of the week when it was all doom and gloom. I even went to work yesterday, did and hour of so there and then we (Amy and I) went to the mall and had a nice shop around. I was able to buy some new clothes and have a browse to get ideas for Christmas prensents.

Can’t wait for the weekend. For once we have no birthday parties, so Justin and I are going out to see the new shops in Civic, particularly the new ‘Borders’ book shop and The Craft Store (who are clients of ours and coincidently who Rach works for!).

Have a great weekend everyone. 🙂

After a few bad days and nights we are getting Amy back into routine after being fitted with the harness. It is obvious that she is frustrated and a tad uncomfortable, but hopefully she’s on the way to accepting it.

Yesterday we saw a Paediatrician about the hernia’s, her small fontonelle, birthmark and hips. I was most worried about the fontonelle closing as I had a friend a few years ago whose little boy this happened to and he ended up having to have his skull opened by surgury and enlarged to give his brain room to grow. It was totally freaking me out and this added with the hips and hernia’s put me almost beside myself with worry. The Paed gave her a good going over and declared everything to be OK. I’m sure my shoulders dropped about 10cm with the relief. So now it is just the hips that we have to contend with and suddenly that doesn’t seem so bad in terms of what could have been. She slept a lot better last night but probably out of sheer exhaustion from screaming most of the day.

While in the waiting room at the Doctors a little girl came in with her mum, draped in a blanket that looked surprisingly familiar. It was one that I had made for Project Linus (A group that makes blankets for the sick children in hospital). I asked her where she had got it (thinking that maybe someone else had done a similiar design to mine) and she said that it was given to her daughter when she was very ill in hospital and that a lady had made it. I asked her if she knew who and all she knew is that she lived in Fraser. “That’s me” I yelped. “I made that blanket”. The mum said that it was her childs favourite blankie and she never went anywhere without it and it had gotton her though some awful times in hospital. She said she had often thought about the person who had made it and whether she should send her a card to say thanks. I was so thrilled that one of my blankets had made a little sick child feel so safe and secure, just the way that my kids love their blankets. A very worthwhile cause!

Okedokey that is it for now. Have a great weekend.

483The Harness was fitted this morning after the Orthopaedic Specialist confirmed that she had Dysplasia of the right hip. It is only mild, so hopefully the 6 weeks in the harness will do the job. She is quite comfortable, surprisingly, and has had a good sleep this afternoon and is now asleep again right next to me here. Hopefully she won’t feel too frustrated at not being able to straighten out her legs. We aren’t allowed to take the harness off at all, so it is sponge bathing and awkward cuddles for the next couple of months. I’m trying to find some clothes that fit over the leg bits, because it is freezing here at the moment. When Holly was in the harness is was hot summer so little suits was all she wore. Oh well, we’ll work it out by muddling along.

Took this photo last week and just had to put it up here cause it is so cute. Love the smile. She is doing it more and more and it just makes my insides light up – gorgeous girl.
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489 And in this one she looks like a little imp. She’d just ben for a walk with Justin and the hat was irresitable!

We had a huge weekend with birthday parties, friends visiting and dinner out on Saturday, and then a family BBQ on Sunday which was supposed to be at Weston Park but becasue of the rain we ended up at Mum and Dad’s. Great day though and we all had a lovely catch up. I love family gatherings like that.

Penny, Jacob, Lisa, Hamish and Andrew came over this morning to mind the kids while Mum and I took Amy to the Specialist. Thanks to you all for helping me out – what would I do without you all? Lisa is looking like she needs to have a baby any day, and she has 2 weeks to go. Come on Baby — come out and meet us all.

Meg decided she needed a haircut yesterday. I walked in on her with big scissors in her hands and clumps of hair on the floor. I could have cried at the beautiful hair all over the floor. Fortunately it looks like it is layered now, rathr than just a really bad hack job. She knows never to do that again!

Well that is about it for this update. Jess is running around without a nanppy and that is always very dangereous. Have a great day!

Just thought I’d upload some of my recent efforts.

SISTERS
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GIRLZ
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AMY AND ADAS
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This one is a shameless rip off off Rach’s magazine cover, but I just loved the concept so much that I had to try it out. It isn’t cover-worthy like hers, but it was fun to do!