Home Is Where The Heart Is

Get with it woman!!

2011-06-25T16:12:00.000+10:00

Yes I'm busy, bloody hell do I know that. My last post I intended to be the beginning of blogging again....ermm......yes....that went well.

In 16 days, give or take, Little Miss will be here. Holy Hell. That excites me and scares me all at once. I am ready, well let me correct that, I have everything ready to go. Just need her. We still can't agree on a name, so that will be decided when we see her, hopefully then it will just come to us.

I am finding in these last weeks I am very anti-social. I don't want to go out. Taking the kids to school is a real chore, and I find myself trying to put my head down to avoid conversations....which are always the same "still on deck?? how long to go? you must be over it?" I just want to live in my little bubble a little longer......

I'm a little worried I'm not going to cope so well with 4....it scares me so much. Not too long ago I was feeling really unbalanced, feeling sure I had some sort of pre-natal depression, it did clear up by itself, but only after an incredibly dificult month or so. I'm worried if I'm not coping so well I'll end up with PND this time around, which isn't to say that PND is wrong....but you know what I mean, of course it's not something I want to deal with by choice. Hopefully Little Miss will arriv and just be perfect and fit into our lives easily. In my world she will feed beautifully, sleep beautifully and never do more than whimper.

16 days to go......

It's been a year!!

2011-03-13T15:47:00.000+11:00

So yes...it's been a year (almost) since I posted on here. Jake is about to turn three!!

Lots has happened, biggest of all is that we have a little Miss due in July :) We are very excited an impressed!!

Life has given me personally so many ups and downs in the last year. I went to work, got my first contract for .4 (two days a week). It was tough, a tough school but I plugged on for two terms, only to be told I wasn't needed for the third. This put a spanner in the works.

Just the day after discovering I was pregnant, my much loved Uncle passed away suddenly, shocking us all. The worst part for me was telling the kids, and having them understand it. He was like a Grandfather to them since we moved back down south, and it's the first person they have really lost. That killed me inside, and their heart wrenching sobs just broke my heart even more than it already was. It's easy for me to go a day or so not thinking about it, but then I catch myself going to say something about him or thinking I need to ask him something, and I realise I can't.

A wonderful inspirational online friend of mine passed away suddenly, in tragic circumstances....this hit home a few realities too. I still miss her, she was fabulously unperfect ;)

I also recently lost another friend, who just chose to count me out without even giving me the chance to tell my side of things. This still bugs me a lot. I am upset to think that someone I would consider a close friend thinks so little of me. I can't and won't say too much, only that I did do her wrong in the first place, I will admit that. She saw me painting her badly, when I really thought I was helping her out and saving her a little. I did come clean about it, but I never got the chance to say so. *sigh* anyway, no point dwelling on the past huh?

Things just trundle along here.....we have bad weekends, and others are great. For now things are going well, little Miss is proving to be a settler in our family, at least so far.

I will update some pictures later on, kids have grown so much of course :) Ben and Chloe are both in full-time school and I enjoy spending special time with Jake. Life is busy, and hard financially, but good.

xxx

Jake turns 2!!!

2010-03-18T22:30:00.001+11:00

Yes it's come and gone. As of 7:50am this morning, my baby was officially TWO!!

It's not MY birthday, it's Judy's!!

2010-03-18T22:16:00.000+11:00

For some unknown reason Jake is certain it's Aunty Judy's birthday and not his. So on the eve of his 2nd birthday, this is what he had to say.

A pearl from my TV viewing last night

2010-03-17T11:20:00.000+11:00

I intermittently watch Brothers and Sisters. I like it but often forget it's on. Last night after ironing I sat to watch the end of it and amongst my tears (yes I'm a TV sook), this pearl of wisdom was heard.

"Sometimes I look at everyone and the things they have accomplished in their lives and I haven't.

And then I look at one of my kids and I know not a single day has been wasted, and what's important are the days still to come." Nora Walker - Brothers and Sisters.

So very true. I often look particularly at Facebook and all the people I grew up with and went to school with and feel a little envious that they are travelling or have built their dream homes or been successful in their careers.But what I'm doing now, where I am now was my dream. And still is my dream. Since I was young all I wanted to be was a Mum, and then a Teacher ;) But a Mum first. And it's my job to make all the days to come count, each one more than the last.

xxx

In the words of Mumma Bear.....

2010-03-17T09:02:00.002+11:00

5 things I am greatful for

1. My gorgeous kids. They are all so clever and smart and wonderful. I am so blessed to be their Mum.

2. My wonderful hubby. We are both imperfect and that's why we are good together :)

3. My awesome family. I am so lucky and I have a wonderful support system in my whole family, and extended family.

4. My awesome friends. IRL or online, there is always someone to listen to me whinge, or brag about the kids, lol.

5. That I AM lucky. Especially after my last post. I have a home, and family and healthy kids. I have stuff. Stuff I probably don't need but still, I have stuff. There is always someone worse off than me :)

xxx

a bad post

2010-03-17T08:49:00.012+11:00

Ok so this has been brewing for a while. I'm not looking for pity or sympathy or anything, I just need to get it OUT.
Things are sucky. Yes down right sucky at the moment.

I am so over it. I'm over worrying, I'm just OVER IT!!!

Financially, we are in the shit.....again. It just never ends. And nothing has particularly happened, it's just a series of weeks and months of never really having the bills and income match up and bingo...we're done for.

At the moment we are spending every last cent every week just keeping afloat....just. We have no outgoing calls, no money to put credit on the mobile and I'm wanting to go pre-paid on the net too but seeing as it's my only communcation tool at the moment I'm reluctant. There are so many things we are paying off it's just not funny. And each week we are breaking ourselves to pay those......and leaving yet more regular bills behind. Not to mention the massive other and extra bills we have like the lawyer and car repairs and regos.

You cannot budget when you are beginning behind.

And my biggest dramas at the moment are no tea-bags and running out of loo paper which the kids seem to
And to add to it, I'm almost out to tea-bags!!! Argh! Imagine that, I don't know how I'm going to survive!! Oh and loo paper, I swear the kids eat it!

Jake turns two tomorrow and while I did get him a few things already.....I couldn't get him the thing I wanted most, and I don't know when I will be able to. That breaks my heart. We haven't spent much on the kids this year for birthdays, $100 tops which I still think is quite reasonable. I know he's only two and I know he'll love the Wiggles stuff I've got him and I know he won't care...but I do.

I still haven't bought or sent my lovely SIL and nephew a pressie from a month ago :(

I've shaved and shaved and shaved the grocery bills till there's hardly anything left, and since it's been going on so long the freezer is empty, except about 20kg of sausages (don't ask!)

Anyway whinge over.

Time for the next post.

Mission Complete! - Take 2

2010-03-15T13:14:00.000+11:00

Ok, looking at that pic was really depressing me. So I tried again. I took this this morning, and I think it's better, I look less boy-ish.

Having problems with this editor.....

2010-03-11T13:57:00.001+11:00

So I'm having trouble moving photos.....no matter :) Here we have.....up the top, Ben's first athletics carnival...if you open the pic you should see him. No ribbons here.....but then again the Preppies were too scared to run fast into the finishing ribbon LOL. Next is the Feral Princess on the trampoline. Gorgeous! Jake and his Itty Bitty nappies I had on layby for 7 months *blush*, modelling the cow print nappy, gorgeous too :)

And then Chloe and Jake nursing our new little addition to the family, little X. How cute is he?? I know he looks like he's screaming but he wasn't, Chloe nursed him for ages and loved every second :)

AFM....I am off to the gym......finally!! Gotta get this gut a-moving....

Mission Complete!

2010-03-11T13:21:00.000+11:00

Yes I hate it. BUT, it is me. And it's precisely why I try to not look into a mirror too often....can you tell??!! LOL. This is typical me. I'm a trakkies or jeans and a t-shirt Mum, my hair is curly and hard to deal with. I have freckles and a scar on my left cheek. I still get spots, and rarely ever wear make-up except mascara....my face tends to eat the makeup. I have crooked front teeth. And it's me :)

So....I need a new profile pic

2010-03-09T18:52:00.000+11:00

For everything. For forums I frequent, for Facebook, and for my blog. Problem is I HATE having my photo taken, and apart from that there is very rarely a photo of me I actually like. I have nothing recent, that is decent (haha I'm a poet and I don't know it :p), so I guess my mission is to try happy snapping. I usually get away with putting up pics of the kids but I think I've gotta stop hiding. So, mission objective: to get a half decent photo of moi....wish me luck.......

Just ramblings....

2010-03-04T22:20:00.000+11:00

So here it is a second post...whoo hoo!!

I'm too lazy right now to upload pics, so just some scratchings from me ;)

I'm loving how organised I am at the moment. Lunches packed the night before, a tidy house when we leave for school drop off, washing ready to hang out when I get home, I LOVE IT!! don't get me wrong, there is still much room for improvement.....like de-cluttering and dusting and scrubbing walls etc but for now I'm feeling good. I've even IRONED every night since Sunday....thats 4 TIMES! :)

Now my challenge is to keep it up, which I''m feeling very worried about. Once Ben gets off to Karate two nights a week next week and I finally drag my sorry butt back to the gym....somethings got to give right? Why aren't there just a couple more hours in the day, for me??

Oh the slackness!!!

2010-03-02T21:20:00.004+11:00

*blush* Forgive me.......I have been terribly slack. I check my blog most days to look for new posts on the blogs I follow, but never make time to post on mine.

SO much has changed! Well it feels like it. I feel like my life is changing. Ben is now a big Prep boy. At school 5 days a week and he loves it. I know I'm going to be a typical bragging Mummy but my gosh he has learnt SO much in the last 3 weeks it's incredible! I have nothing but good things to say about his teacher!! He's now able to have a really good crack at his home readers and is running at about an 80% accuracy rate per page. He's using all his cues to decode the words without being prompted...he's just flying!! It's just amazing for me to see close up...I've done all the theory, I know all the procedures etc but to see it happening within your own little one is just amazing. He makes me so very proud, and the other day at his first ever assembly, Ben and his little girl friend (read not girlfriend, but friend who is a girl ;)) G were awarded the first Principal Awards in the class.....I thought I'd burst with pride!!!

My other life changing moment is that Chloe started Kindergarten this week!!! Off she trotted yesterday morning, in her tiny dress and jacket just as big as her dress and her big bag on her back and said "Bye Mum!!" all too keenly!! :) So Chloe is now a school girl too, on Mondays and Tuesdays. She was VERY tired after though!! Chloe had a late start to the school year, mainly because the school was having a new Kindergarten built. Of course it was finished behind schedule, and Mrs B only just moved into to it last Wednesday! It's a beautiful new room, complete with all the mod cons, they are all very lucky little Kinders! So here she is...how gorgeous does she look?? What a little Princess :)

New blogs

2009-09-09T21:31:00.002+10:00

So I've finally updated my blogs I read list.....it's taken me a while.

I love catching up on blogs, some are entertaining, some are just so interesting, some are so cute and some are educational.

These are two of my newbies that you should check out: Making Cents at Home and Towards Sustainability. For some reason I can't link them but you can find them in my blog list on the side.

We've been getting more fluffy mail,I need to upload pics. I have some coming 2nd hand from the lovely Mel (bargain!!) and some more on layby (2nds....super cheap!! lol) but then that's it. I'm all done....until next time *insert evil laugh* (hubby won't let me :( ).

I was so chuffed to see Chloe and Jake breastfeeding their 'babies' the other day, even though it's been 6 months since I have BF Jake. I was so pleased to see that neither of them had forgotten and it warmed my heart that they now have it as their normal baby experience.

Hubby gets signed off his apprenticeship early in a couple of weeks. It's exciting news, but I'm worried. It means him working as a contractor which = being responsible for business-y stuff like GST and ABN's and tax and superannuation............eeeeeeeeek!!! Although it's so good that the four years of crappy apprenticeship wages are almost at an end!!

What else is news?? Umm.....well I've had some family return home from the mainland which has been really nice. My cousin has come home to test the waters in Tassie on her own and is living with Mum. And Dad and my Step-Mum have returned home from Darwin after almost 5 years. It's been strange to see my cousin as a grown up woman, and she's grown up beautifully. It's nice having Dad and Step-Mum so close, the kids are getting time to warm to them and it's so nice to see.

The GDUNH is on again but I just can't get into it yet.....not saying I won't.....but I just haven't yet. It's no fun when you know you can't buy!! lol

Kids have their first day of FDC tomorrow. They are all going as Ben is on school holidays and seeing as I have to pay for his spot anyway. I'm so very worried about Jake, it's his first day with anyone other than Aunty J or my Mum. Although i'm trying to take comfort in the fact that hopefully with the other kids being with him he'll feel a bit better. Pffft....who am I kidding, I'll bet he has a blast and doesn't even miss me!!

xxx

Our Princess

2009-08-09T22:01:00.000+10:00

As soon as we moved in here Chloe was desperate to have her photo taken in a tree. The kids love that we have trees they can climb here. Not too sure about the cheesy grin but it’s still Our Princess.

Maz-a-licious fluff

2009-08-09T21:51:00.000+10:00

After a frenzied stocking and help from a Super Hyena I managed to walk away with one Licious Lullaby Nite Nappy and one Minkee cover (Thanks Mel J xxx). I thought I’d scored two Night Nappies (which I needed, lol) and two covers but alas…..carts seem to oversell items L But this is what I got. I LOVE the Night Nappy, and the Cover is much prettier in real life than in the photo.

Mei Tai

2009-08-09T21:31:00.000+10:00

I finally bit the bullet and bought a Mei Tai. It was super cheap off ebay brand new and I’m really happy with it. I didn’t think Jake had missed being worn but he sooked at me every time I put him down. Awwwww J

New bath

2009-08-09T21:00:00.000+10:00

Since we have a new house we have a bath!! YAY!! So here are some snaps from the kids enjoying their bath.

Quick catch up

2009-08-09T20:42:00.001+10:00

Ok so now I’ve got that sorted I should give you a run down of what’s been happening!

We moved, we arrived and are all settled J I have to say I am enjoying being closer to shops and other stuff but I do miss the ‘Ville too. Kids seem happy, Ben is really happy at school. Not that he was even unhappy at his old school but he just fits in really well at his new school and has worked his way into a very tight knit group of lovely kids so I’m pleased with that. Of course he’s doing well at school he loves that he gets to do Music, and his Auskick coach up here was just fantastic!! He had his last Auskick Friday night and then a sausage sizzle and medals after.

Kids are back into swimming, Chloe however decided she didn’t want to do dancing again. We’ve been going to Playgroup on Mel’s recommendation and it’s fantastic! So many great activities the kids really enjoy. Then Chloe does Pre-Kinder on a Wednesday which is really great as Mum has time off to watch the boys so for a morning I get to spend some time with Chloe alone.

didn't work at all!

2009-08-09T17:01:00.000+10:00

Ok test 2…..

Another tester....

2009-08-09T16:51:00.000+10:00

Ok I’ve been bad and haven’t blogged in AGES. I’ve just uploaded all our photos and will try uploading one via email now….

sigh

2009-06-09T11:54:00.002+10:00

Well I haven't blogged about much good lately, there hasn't been anything good to blog about.

We are moving this weekend, we have to move closer to hubbys work for reasons most people know about.

I'm so sad to leave this house, I love it. I love living in this area, I have friends and Ben has a lovely school.

On the bright side though we are going to be much closer to everything, closer to my old friends around town and with a lot of help from Rae Ben is going to Lindisfarne Primary, which I'm happy about.

So much happening, whether I plug in or not so I'm just trying to get on with all the practical stuff and not think too much about all the other crap that is happening. Bit like being on auto pilot.

We are very lucky and have a ton of support from family who are making our move possible and I would be lost without. xxx

So things are happening, life is hard but we'll get there :)

xxx

Drowning

2009-05-21T08:00:00.002+10:00

It’s 7:40am and I feel like I’m drowning today already. Kids are fighting over looking at each other and stupid crap like that, Jake is teething….two molars and two front bottom teeth. He’s sending me batty. Oh and Chloe just got hit with a ball in the head….BRB…..

God knows I love them all to bits but some days………some days I really struggle to not scream and yell!! Not that doing that gets me anywhere anyway.

I think I might go shower and take quite a few DEEP breaths.

I was going to add a picture of my beautiful cherubs to remind me why I’m so lucky but that didn’t pan out either. This is what I got.

Heh heh heh! I DO love them <3>:)

xxx

Test

2009-05-15T13:30:00.000+10:00

Just testing the email posting…hoping this will motivate me to post more ;)

Our little helper :)

2009-05-01T06:37:00.002+10:00

I've been slack again. It's been a rough month, finally things are settling down and we have a little more direction again. Moving is the next big thing on our schedule, we have to move out of our house by next February as the owners are coming back to live in their beautiful house. Not too sure at the moment whether we will move closer to town (where hubby is based for work at the moment) or stay here where we are settled and really love living. The biggest con of living here are the moment is the amount it costs hubby to get to jobs on the other side of Hobart and being winter at the moment, the icy roads on the mountains are a worry for hubby on his early starts. We'll see :)

Since we hubby finally got his pay-out from ex-boss, we ordered a load of logs, which in this video you can see in the background pre-stacking ;) I'd just brought some wood in for the fire and my little copycat decided he'd have a go too. He did this three times :) It must look like slave labour, first vacuuming, now wood carting, lol.

Not too much else happening, we have something on every day now, so no more lazy days at home. Between Ben at school, swimming, dancing and Auskick starting tonight we are just busy enough ;) Chloe has her first dancing 'challenge' on the 24th May so we'll have some pics to put up of that. So cute!!

trouble with videos

2009-03-26T21:33:00.002+11:00

sorry, it seems Facebook have changed some settings or something....i'm trying to fix it!!

My cups!!!

2009-03-25T22:31:00.002+11:00

I must seem crazy I know but they finally arrived!! I HATE the sippy cup Jake has had, it has the most disgusting valve inside that is impossible to clean, and everywhere I look cups always have the same ones!! When the kids were little they had Playtex cups which back then I bought from the Chemist. They had the BEST valves, just clear latex that you could CLEAN. I did some googling and searching in shops and I couldn't find them anywhere except New Jersey. So I paid the money and got them sent over and they finally arrived! I'm so pleased I can feel good about giving him a fresh CLEAN drink. Now I've posted this I'm sure someone will tell me I can buy them here....LOL.

Maz-a-licious fluff

2009-03-25T22:25:00.002+11:00

I've had these on layby for a couple of weeks, Jake needed too go up a size in covers and I knew Maz was having a stocking so I held out for it ;) So glad I did cos I splashed out and got this Cow set. the Motorbike minkee cover was a custom spot, Ben chose what to have. Oh and a photo of the cheeky boy in his gear doing his new favourite 'trick' that Mummy hates!!

Big boy in a big bed

2009-03-25T22:21:00.002+11:00

For various reasons Ben and Chloe were also in a big bed by the time they were 12 months old. Nanny White bought them each their first bedding for their 1st birthdays so following suit Jake got some too. Nanny bought most stuff but Anna and Jarrah bought the gorgeous doona cover :) he looks so tiny I know but he loves it :) He loves he can just wander down the hall when he wakes up and he sleeps better even...I think he likes not being caged in, lol.

My beautiful boy

2009-03-25T22:19:00.000+11:00

How the veggie patch grows

2009-03-25T22:14:00.003+11:00

Not so well, lol. Well it is....just having a problem with something eating our broccoli, cauli and cabbage....GRRRRR!!

Visit from Nanny Mac

2009-03-25T22:09:00.003+11:00

A couple of weeks ago we had the chance to catch up with Hubby's Nan, so the kids Great-Grandmother. She had never met any of them so it was nice to get the opportunity :) Hubby and I haven't seen her in almost 6 years, I was pregnant with Ben when we last saw her.

Not a great pic, but it's one all the same :)

Our baby turns 1 :(

2009-03-25T21:44:00.003+11:00

On 18th March......our baby turned 1. Such a bittersweet day....excited he is one of course but so sad the baby of the family is on his way to many more birthdays. He had a great day on his birthday, when he got up in the morning he cried all the way down the hallway...until he spied his pressies sitting in the middle of the lounge floor and then he mysteriously stopped, lol. We got him a "victa" garden pack, including a lawn mower, wheelbarrow, outdoor tools, watering can etcc. Suits him well as he loves to be outdoors :) On the weekend we had his little family party, not many people, just the usual family. It's so hard to beleive it was 12 months ago.

Before I post some photos and video I thought I'd post Jake's birth story as I wrote it in a forum when he was 8 days old :)

Jake was due on the 16th March and as my other two children had both arrived on their EDD's I was expecting him to as well. The 16th came........and went. I felt nothing, occasional BH, occasional plevic pain but nothing regular and nothing that felt it was doing any good! On the 17th (as I was in a right mood, lol) my sister and Mum decided to come for a visit and take me out for lunch, nothing fancy just a salad roll sitting next to the river. So we did that, had a nice chat, had a drink and then they dropped me home. As I had the house to myself for a while I realised I hadn't felt Jake (Bubbles as he was then known!) move that day at all, not even when I'd indulged in a cold fizzy drink for lunch. I laid on the couch and did some poking and prodding but still nothing. DH and the kids arrived home with a bottle of Coke in tow, I tried that but still nothing. It made me nervous!! So feeling a little silly but still scared I called the Birth Centre. The lovely midwife suggested I come in and get monitored, just in case, and at the very least to make me feel better. So DH and I made the drive in, got checked and all was well, Jake was just lazy. Phew! At that point the MW offered to do a stretch and sweep if I wanted, no guaratees of course but she said it may help. We decided to give it a go. As she was doing it she told me I was 2-3cm dialated and that if need be later on it would be possible to break my waters, which came as a relief to know something had been happening and at the very least I would just end up having my waters broken and not a full-on induction of little Bubbles decided to hang in there. So S &S done we headed home. When we were home I went to the loo and found a bloody show, no surprises though after the S & S so I didn't get excited as I still wasn't having any real pains. Went to bed and didn't sleep a wink as I was waiting for any sign of labour. Finally dropped off about 2am, woke at 3am with my first contraction. Next one was 5 mins away. After only 4 of them I told DH we needed to head to the hospital as after my last labour progressed quickly from 5mins to 2mins I didn't want to get caught out. So we headed off about 4am, and at the time the contractions were only period pain type. I felt a little silly heading off so soon but by the time we were halfway there the contractions intensified and I knew we were right to have left so soon! Got to the hospital, were lucky enough to get the lovely Birth Centre Birth Suite. We went in, I walked around for a bit, ran a bath and hopped in there for a little while but soon hopped out when contractions were down to 2-3mins and I felt a little pressure as well. I hopped on the bed and the contractions became a little irregular, sometimes 2-3mins, sometimes 5mins, sometimes huge ones, sometimes little ones. What made it really weird was I always knew one was coming because I would start to shake before one started, then once it was over I would stop until the next one began. My waters still hadn't broken either. It was then (about 6am) my MW told DH he should go move the car to the carpark and not to dally!! I hated having him gone and I got really worried at one point when she said to me "I hope he makes it back!". I got all hopeful too at this point that Bubbles would arrive really quickly. Time went on and I kept labouring, it felt like forever! I had no urge to push and it was worrying me. So I asked her to check what was going on. She checked and told me I had a little of the cervix still there, like a little lip. She could push it back but it needed to recede itself. This worried me as my first DS's birth I had the same thing and he ended up being a ventouse delivery because of it. Luckily after a couple more contractions it receded and I felt the urge to push. At about this point my waters decided to break and came out with this massive pop and went flying out onto the bed. Very bizarre as I'd never had my waters break before! After quite a few pushes (he was not as easy as my DD!!) I finally felt his head coming down and then heard the news that his hair could be seen. A couple more pushes and he was crowning. The MW wanted me to touch his head but I couldn't move, I tense up heaps during labour! I just wanted him out! A couple of little pushes and his head popped out, I felt him turning and then his shoulders slid out! Bubbles had arrived!! So, Jacob Daniel was born at 7:50am 18th March 2008. His weight was 6lb11oz (3075g), length 49cm and HC 35cm. He was welcomed into the world, placed on my tummy skin to skin and attatched to the breast for a suck. After a while when his cord had stopped pulsating it was clamped and DH cut the cord. Our final addition to the family was here and we are complete! All in all it was a 5 hour labour (well 4hrs 50mins!) but in all honesty this one felt like forever! We had no pain relief, no tears, nothing.

Happy Birthday my Baby! xxx

A new addition!!

2009-03-11T21:44:00.003+11:00

On February 22nd (just hours before he would share a birthday with Aunty Noni and Chloe) little L made his way into the world, much to the delight of Uncle Stephen and Aunty Ange. He kept Mummy and Daddy waiting an extra week, and after an entrance that was a little stressful to all little L arrived!! YAY!!! After a few hiccups Mum and Bub were released from hospital and are doing well :) On the weekend we were all lucky enough to meet the new addition to the family and he is just beautiful!! So soft and squishy and newborn.........awwwwwww!!! Chloe was just smitten, she was so pleased she got to do up a snap on his suit ;) Jake wasn't too sure what to think of him, although he did take a liking to little L's rocker, lol. No pics though sorry people :)

So congratulations Stephen and Ange, little L is just wonderful!!

xxx

Chloe's Birthday

2009-03-11T21:21:00.003+11:00

February 23rd saw our Princess turn 4. OMG.....4!!! She also wanted her birthday at the 'beach house' so we headed down for the weekend for her party there. All she wanted for her birthday was a vacuum cleaner....I know....go figure!! Anna and Jarrah bought her one and she loves it! Although Jake loves it more...... lol.

A successful treasure hunt in her pretty party Princess dress.

Another lovely cake made by Nanny, although Aunty Hay decorated this one ;)

Chloe on her actual birthday. We decided to do cupcakes :)

A close up of my very first piping job, not bad I don't think!!

Veggie Patch

2009-03-11T20:57:00.002+11:00

While he was on holidays hubby finally took my hint and dug me out a veggie patch :) The kids love helping outside and getting their hands dirty. Jake also enjoys a ride in the wheelbarrow, lol. My little farmer even continued digging up the garden when Dad was at work ;)

Stay at Cremorne

2009-03-11T20:36:00.002+11:00

As I mentioned before, we stayed at the shack for about a week. Would have loved it to be longer but anyway :) So here are a few quick pics of the beach which we are so lucky to have right at our front door ;) The first two were taken at the lagoon, and the last ones at the beach. It's gorgeous and we are SO lucky. In the very last pic you can see hubby and Chloe heading up to the stairs leading to our place.

Ben's Birthday

2009-03-11T20:25:00.004+11:00

On the 2nd January my biggest baby turned 5!!! eeeeek! His request was to have it at the 'beach house' so we did. From Mum and Dad he got a rather large Bumblebee Transformer, an Animatronic one. Very cool but nearly too cool to play with at the moment in case it gets broken! He had a cake on his actual birthday, and then a proper special birthday cake made by Nanny for his party with family :)

Slack again!! Back to the town of Lower Crackpot

2009-03-11T19:57:00.003+11:00

My baby will be 1 next week :( So I thought i'd better post all the stuff I'd been meaning to, and Ben and Chloe's birthdays before Jake's rolls around too. So here are the remaining photos from our visit to Tasmazia, and this the the town of Lower Crackpot ;)

Benji's first day at Kinder

2009-02-16T10:54:00.003+11:00

So here we are. My biggest baby started school this morning. He was fine, not excited at all......really he was worrying me about how blaze he was about it all!! He was ok, hung his bag up, and went outside to play with a "bye Mum!!".

Crap I'm slack

2009-02-12T16:36:00.002+11:00

I'm sorry, I was going to post more and haven't again.

I just uploaded some videos onto Facebook and realised I could embed them here so I'm gonna give that a shot.

Sheffield Stay

2009-02-01T19:01:00.006+11:00

Hubby had holidays over the Christmas break so seeing as we'd made the trip to Sheffield anyway we stayed for a few extra days. Ben had seen adverts on TV for Tazmazia and the town of Lower Crackpot, which is just outside of Sheffield in the Promised Land (yes it's a REAL place name :)), and wanted to go. Hubby and I had been years ago but we didn't get far as it started to rain which really dampened the whole experience, literally. So we headed out to the Promised Land with Nanny and Pa in tow :) Some of the photos are less than flattering but add to the context ;) Oh and on some of the photos you might need to open them to read the writing on the signs.

This time around it had changed heaps. All through the main maze were all these little signposts with witty sayings on them. They were fun to read but also let you know when you'd already been somewhere!

Also in the maze are smaller mazes, and little extras like a treasure chest, styes to climb over, holes in the bushes and doors. Another fun little twist to come across was the Crackpot Correction Centre and a little area called Cubby Town full of witty little cubby houses.

On the far side of the main maze is the town of Lower Crackpot, which is a town built to 1/5th scale and is quite funny.

We mananged to complete a couple of the mazes but the kids ran out of steam and patience so we called it a day. It was great fun though, excellent for the kiddies!

While we were in Sheffield we got to spend time seeing friends which was really nice. The kids have a ball playing together and I get to have a face-to-face chat instead of a phone chat :) Hubby was put to work doing some bale carting which I think he actually really enjoyed. He is a hard worker anyway but I think he really enjoyed spending some time helping out a mate.

Jake really took off with his walking while we were there, he was walking more and crawling less, it was really good for him to do that while Nanny and Pa and everyone got the chance to see him do it.

I'll post the pics of Lower Crackpot tomorrow, it's taken me ages to get these ones up :)

xxx

Catch up time

2009-02-01T18:53:00.002+11:00

Ok so I've been meaning to update our summer so far since Christmas. As you can see it hasn't happened. So I'm going to list here all the things I want to blog about just to jog my memory and keep track ;) here goes:

Sheffield stay
Ben's Birthday
Stay at the shack
New videos
Veggie patch
Wedding (and dress disaster!)
Jake's new milestones
and other stuff I have pics of on my camera, just not sure what at the moment!

no excuses now........ :P

A great day in history

2009-01-21T07:43:00.002+11:00

Been watching the inauguration today?? I have. How exciting! Such a time full of hope, promise and new beginnings. I love that Obama is so young for a President. I love that he is the first black President of the USA. I love that he is so accessible to everyone, and everyone can identify with him. I love that he does stuff like thank the wait staff at the beginning of his speech at his Presidential lunch. I think it truly is the dawning of a new day.

Christmas

2009-01-19T15:34:00.003+11:00

We had a lovely Christmas. We spent it at Sheffield this year and it was so nice to just stay in one place the whole day and not have to pack up and go anywhere. It was beautiful weather and we ate on the deck outside. Kids got spoilt :) Santa bought Ben and Chloe a camera each and seeing as I didn't get any pictures myself I'm going to use theirs. Their cameras are kiddy ones so the resolution isn't fantastic and neither is their steadiness :)

Pa and Jake, Christmas morning.

Aunty Naomi and Chloe.

Ben doing woodwork under the table on the deck.

Jake sitting with Aunty Naomi amidst all the commotion :)

Ben peeking out of Jake's house given to him by Santa.

To be honest I think the kids do a pretty good job to taking photos. Some of them are a little blurry and over exposed from being too close to the flash but not too bad for their age!

While we were there we nicked over to Uncle Stephen and Aunty Ange's to have a look at their Nursery which will be in use in about 4 weeks!!! :D It's so gorgeous, all repainted and decorated with Winnie The Pooh stuff. I think the kids were blown away by the toy stash that was in the wardrobe though, lol. Lucky little buggers got to test out a few of bubby Lucas' toys before he even arrives! The toy testers agree that they are in good working order for him though ;)

Look! No training wheels!!

2009-01-18T15:20:00.003+11:00

A few weeks ago Dad took the training wheels off Ben's bike. He crashed. LOTS. After we were home from all our visiting at Christmas and he had turned the magical number 5 he wanted another turn. So Dad took the wheels off again and this is the result!! One very proud boy :D

And it all goes belly up.......

2009-01-08T11:22:00.002+11:00

Grrrrrr I am SO angry and upset at the moment.

In short the house fell through. Well our finance did. I have no idea how we got from "You've been conditionally approved, just gotta get the paperwork and sign" to nothing. Basically the bank cocked-up and didn't keep us informed, kept putting in applications that were wrong (unbeknownst to us) and ended up with a loan that could be approved but we couldn't provide the paperwork for.

If they'd kept us in the loop all the time it wouldn't have gotten so far. ARGH!!!!

So my advice to anyone looking to buy, harrass your bank/lender until you have something in writing from them. Our biggest mistake was taking the Mobile Lender's word for things when in reality the facts and figures were different. We went from a fairly informal meeting at home with a Mobile Lender to them putting in our application for a Home Loan. BIG MISTAKE. We should have met with them again before they submitted our application.

Live and learn I guess.

Really peeved and angry and annoyed that all our plans have gone down the drain, I'd love to blame somebody......anybody......but I guess there is no one person to blame. Reality is we need to get our butts into gear and get organised financially otherwise we will never own our own home.

I keep hearing that it's all for a reason and that something better will come along, and I know that it will. But it doesn't help much right now either. For now the dream has been crushed and only time will repair it I guess. Time to wallow in some self pity before picking up and moving on.

Oh.....Happy New Year too :) will post Christmas and Ben's B'day piccies next week.

xxx

Merry Christmas to all :)

2008-12-23T14:07:00.002+11:00

Merry Christmas to all and a Happy New Year :D

We will head off on our drive up to Sheffield tomorrow so thought I should pop in and post a Xmas post. Will have tons of piccies after Xmas.

Take care all and enjoy time with your loved ones.

xxx

HBC and tedious vacuuming

2008-12-17T20:49:00.002+11:00

So, I gave back Mel's MeiTai on Monday but not before I got in a go at a High Back Carry (HBC). I'd never managed to get Jake that high before and it was heaps more comfy. Yes, I look like cr@p, had a terrible night beforehand.

And here is a picture Ben took of Jake while I was vacuuming. He does this the whole way around the house, and for anyone who has been to my house, it's a BIG house. It takes FOREVER. If I pull the vacuum too hard, too far, too fast he falls over. The other kids were frightened of the vacuum but not Jake.

Wombat Stew

2008-12-17T20:24:00.004+11:00

MMMMmmmmmm! Ben and Chloe made some "Wombat Stew" outside today and here are some pics of Jake enjoying that stew. And no Hayley, I didn't actually let him eat it :P (Not you Robbo ;) )Oh I should add too this was AFTER he'd already dumped his hat into it.

See the bike basket? This is what he was putting all the floaties into, lol.

My Avatar

2008-12-13T10:35:00.004+11:00

I think I've figured out how to 'steal' my Avatar off BellyBelly :) BellyBelly is an online forum I've been a part of for a long time now, and paid members get their own Avatar. I've just had mine redesigned to include Jake as an older baby and I love it :) I love how smokin' I look, LOL :D

Help the homeless

2008-12-13T08:20:00.002+11:00

I got this link from Mel's blog. It seems legit, can't hurt, costs nothing but can help give a less fortunate person a bit of sunshine in their day. Check it out. It's through Mission Australia.

Transform Homelessness

Sunny days outside

2008-12-11T21:21:00.001+11:00

When we get a sunny day it's nice to go outside and play :)

Fluffy Mail!!

2008-12-11T20:03:00.003+11:00

So I finally got off layby some nappies I'd had going since July!! I haven't posted much about MCN. It's still going well, I love it, just got no need to buy so much anymore. I think I've bought wisely and most of my stash is either OSFM or will fit Jake until he toilet trains, going on his current weight!!

My 5 BBH Magicalls and one of my BerryPlush

BerryPlush

LouLou Nappies AIO's - 2 Minkee Red, Print Cars and Blue Fleece with matching singlets

Night Nappies

MeiTai

2008-12-11T15:57:00.002+11:00

So I borrowed this MT off Mel :) We swapped for a while. I'd been thinking about one cos the Hug-a-Bub just doesn't suit Jake anymore, he's too old. I really do like the MT for it's compact size and Jake loves to ride in it. I do struggle with getting him into a Back Carry position though, my arms are just too short to twist the ties around behind his back. With more practise it could be ok, but I think i need to look into other options too. Maybe a wrap...he does love the Back Carry position.

The Back Carry

The Hip Carry (sorry about the blurry pic, Benji took it ;))

BBQ at Franklin

2008-12-11T15:47:00.004+11:00

A couple of weekends ago when we had a break in the weather we took the family out for a BBQ and a play at a park at Franklin on the river. They have a great little bike track around the playground so the kids took their bikes. Behind the kids in the photos is The Petty Sessions Resaurant.....SOOOOOO YUM :)

We did it!

2008-12-11T15:38:00.002+11:00

My biggest news first....we've bought a house! :) Well we've signed a contract anyway, assuming all the paperwork gets done and goes through ok we should be in our own home by the end of January. We made a big decision and decided to move to a whole new area, because the houses there are much cheaper than they are in the Huon Valley. Although we would ideally love to find a house here to buy, it just wasn't happening so we made a move on New Norfolk. It won't be so bad, it is closer to Mum and slightly closer to everyone up North. Plus hubbies Uncle and Aunt live there too so we won't be totally alone :) I'm really quite bummed that Ben won't be attending the school I had wanted him to, but I'll just have to get over that. This is the house here.

Other than that, the breaking news is that Jake took his very first two steps alone last night :) He is just 8 days shy of 9 months. It was pure accident, he didn't realise he wasn't being held. the last couple of days he's been working on standing alone, keeping his balance. One minute he's on the floor and the next he gets himself up on his knees, then one knee and then slowly stands up! When he gets wobbly he squats a little until he gets his balance. So cute to see :) I give him the two weeks until Xmas to be walking much more. I was gonna save this pic as I'm sending it to some of you in Xmas cards but I just have to share.....

Oh dear lord.......

2008-11-28T07:47:00.003+11:00

We get up in the morning, I take Jake's nappy off and if it's not freezing I let him have a little nappy free time. Occasionally we get a little wee, sometimes a poo. This morning was a doozy........

And yes, that's our TV remote *vomit*. How do I clean that????? Must be bodily fuids day today, so far (and it's 7:50am) we;ve had one blood nose, three accidents and Jake's excellent efforts. It's going to be a looooooong day *sigh*.

Jake walking

2008-11-26T07:43:00.004+11:00

so here is the video we got last night. It's actually the second time he did it, the first we didn't have the camera, lol. Sorry for it being sideways, I wasn't thinking when taking it. He's so quick I just wanted it on camera!

xx

Today is the day

2008-11-26T07:30:00.001+11:00

today is the day for updating my blog. I have been so slack and never actually get around to posting. Now Jake has started walking at 8 months and I need to get you all up to date! He just started to push a trolley along last night but I don't think it will be too long before he's walking alone. Maybe by Christmas? Anyway, stay tuned, I'm going to get off my butt and post piccies and videos.

xxx

Aha!

2008-11-06T17:27:00.002+11:00

So.....I am pleased to have a diagnoses of Jake's 'down-there' problem. And he's not allergic, YAY!

After having antibiotic cream and then oral antibiotics, nothing had changed. The Dr thought it was an infection. BUT after getting a second opinion from a male Dr (who I suspect was little more sypathetic, lol) it seems Jake has Phimoses....which means his foreskin is too tight, resulting in redness and infection :( Poor little man. So we have been referred to the Royal and are waiting on an appointment. Dr seems to think it is likely it will be recommended he is circumscised, which seems to make sense. I've heard of steroid creams but in a way I'd be glad to just get him done so it's not a problem anymore for sure. It will be so nice to not see him like that and to occasionally have to feel his foreskin off the nappy......OUCH!

So hooray for no allergies. Not looking forward to an op still but if it's for the best I'll have to get over it :) Better now than later right?

xxx

I am a slacker.....

2008-10-28T20:29:00.002+11:00

But hear me out. I had a CRAZY week last week!!

It all started with me finally deciding to sign into MySpace, only to find a message from my cousin. This was a total blow out as my family haven't heard from my Uncle or cousins for years. So I replied and we've all gotten back in touch again which is so lovely :) It was all very exciting while it was happening, first we found them all on MySpace, then facebook!! Yay for the internet world!! So it's been fantastic to hear that they are all well and happy :) Sad news is my Aunty passed away earlier this year, which was a terrible thing to learn, but they are all pulling together and coping really well which is nice to hear. I can't believe how much my cousins have all grown up, it's scary!! I know I'm getting older but I don't think of them as getting older too. They are all growing into fine young people :)

Although hubby is away for work at the moment I have been busy meeting with mortgage brokers and banks to see what our position is towards buying our first home. It seems with a little help we will be able to, which is VERY exciting, but it's just a matter of finding something we can afford....which is not so exciting. It's hard! So almost two weeks in I'm over house hunting already.

We have had a trip to the ER one night with Jake. Luckily Hayley was staying with us that night so I could leave the kids with her. All is ok, just croup which resulted in Jake being unable to breathe properly. Of course he perked up in the hospital. You can never be too careful when they are little though. Oh and I got sick myself last week, tummy bug. First time in ages. Luckily it was Show Day here so Mum came down and took care of us all. :) Gotta love my Mum!

And finally, my baby is still growing too fast :( He is 7 months now and is pulling himself up to standing on everything. Here are some pics, just cos I can ;)

Allergic?

2008-10-09T14:01:00.002+11:00

I think (after almost 7 months!) Jake may be allergic to his microfleece liners in his nappies. I use these as they help keep the nappies a little cleaner and they act as a stay-dry liner by soaking the moisture through to the cloth below leaving his bott all nice and dry. BUT he seems to constantly get these sores (only one at a time) on his manhood. I thought maybe it was rubbing but after putting a thread out on Nappycino it seems this happens to others and it is most likely a reaction to the microfleece. Now they never seem to worry him at all or get infected but for the sake of hygiene and aesthetics we won't be using these anymore. Two days in sposies sees it all cleared up. I do have some bamboo velour single boosters which I picked up cheaply ages ago on clearance so i'll use those as liners and see how we go. :) Being natural fibres they shouldn't irritate him.

Hubby is off to the coast for work next week. Home on weekends, but this will be for probably a month. Should be ok as i'm not pregnant this time but Ben will test me! That child has just had a two hour tantie over picking up some stuff he tipped out.....he THINKS he's gotten out of it but he WILL be doing it before the day is over!

Old friends

2008-10-06T20:53:00.002+11:00

After a crappy start to the day where anything that could go wrong did (and that includes Jake trying to eat his own poo!!) I had a lovely visit from two of my oldest school friends, Rach and her little one Toby, and Mandi and her newborn Noah.

We always try to catch up (along with Ess) at least once a month and although they are busy days it's so nice to get among familiar friends and just chat about EVERYTHING. I can't even explain how I feel but it was SO good to be able to talk about stuff I never thought I'd be able to talk about with anyone, I feel a little bit lighter. And I feel so lucky to still have friends like this after all these years. Even though we haven't always been in contact it's so comforting to know that after this long we can still just hang out and chat without fear of judgement.

I didn't get any pics of the kiddies again, but I will have to next time. Apart from little Noah they never stay still long enough!

A rare moment......

2008-10-04T20:29:00.002+10:00

After our afternoon rest time the other day I caught Jacob and Chloe having a little snuggle watching TV. This is usual for several reasons:

1. Jacob never usually stays still unless he is feeding or sleeping.

2. Jacob usually doesn't like Chloe being so close because she can't stop herself from getting in his face and upsetting him.

3. Jake never watches TV.

So nice to see though :D Jake has really started crawling properly, on all fours. And he's getting fast too!

My Imaginative Man :)

2008-10-04T20:17:00.003+10:00

Here is Ben's 'truck' he made the other morning :)

And this morning he told me he was a 'recording artist' hehehe playing Jake's toy that plays music :D Oh and he's wearing Dad's old footy jumper ;)

Do I Look Pretty Mummy??

2008-10-04T20:07:00.001+10:00

Chloe did her own hair the other day. I had to have a little chuckle to myself as she looked up at me and asked innocently "Do I look pretty Mummy?" HAhahaha! :) Too cute.....how could I say no??

Oh the disappointment.......

2008-09-28T11:12:00.004+10:00

Well.

Yesterday was the Grand Final and we were all geared up and ready to watch Geelong win a back-to-back premiership. Hmm.....didn't happen.

BUT, the kids had a great morning, they were very excited. We had painted posters during the week which they stuck up in the front windows and put streamers on the front fence. The boys dressed in their Geelong gear while Chloe just dressed up pretty ;)

I feel like banging my head on a brick wall, i just got a call from the Primary School i did my internship at asking me if I was available for relief. This is the second time they've called and I've had to say no :( I haven't even done my Teacher's Registration because I know I wouldn't have anyone to look after the kids and I can't be 'on-call'. I'm not sure if I could leave Jake for a whole day either, with breast feeding I would find it hard to express enough to leave him for a day, and I don't plan to wean him until 12 months. I feel torn because I am enjoying being at home with Jake and the kids (I went back to work by the time Ben and Chloe were 4 months old) but times like this i am reminded of how much I am looking forward to finally getting into teaching. I should just be very grateful I can be at home and enjoy my time here because it will go by so fast. :)

Starting to really think about and tick over how we can go about getting ourselves a house.....not sure about the how though, lol. Our chances of saving a deposit are very slim. I know we would struggle but I also feel that we could do it, and if we don't bite the bullet soon I'm worried another boom will hit and it will be out of reach then.

We'll see what happens and comes up :)

Daddy and Chloe

2008-09-22T18:26:00.003+10:00

Chloe and Daddy had a lovely time playing in the garden the other afternoon when it was gorgeous and sunny. Chloe was cooking while Daddy provided the ingredients (grass and sand!).

And here is Chloe and Daddy having a Sunday afternoon siesta in the loungeroom :)

Bright bums!

2008-09-22T17:36:00.003+10:00

Here's a better pic of Jake's turquoise Itti Bitti D'Lish and his rainbow baby legs.

And here's my boy on all fours, this is when he rocks and rocks and rocks :)

Zack and Jake

2008-09-22T16:50:00.001+10:00

Jake just LOVES Zack, he will watch and chase him for hours :)

Videos

2008-09-22T16:07:00.002+10:00

I've been taking lots of videos over the last week or two just as Jake has started crawling. He's growing and learning so fast I thought I should get some video of it. Here is the first video, of his first attempts at commando crawling, he'd been doing this for a couple of days when I recorded this.

Happy half-birthday Jakie!

2008-09-18T22:39:00.001+10:00

I'm going to follow Robbo's lead and post about Jake's half-birthday. He is 6 months old today. How time flies!! I can't believe my last little baby is already this old :( His latest tricks are getting on all fours (like he is going to crawl) and rocking....like he'll take off any minute. He is also a smoochy boy, loves smooching anyone who will smooch him, he gets these real lovey-dovey eyes and gives you a lovely open mouthed dribbly kiss complete with a little "ahhhhh!". :D So cute. So Happy half-birthday my man.....lets hope the next 6 months go slower!

xxx

Jake's a clever little fellow!!

2008-09-11T07:42:00.003+10:00

Sorry about the blur...he's too fast! He sat there for a good 5 minutes!

Munching on some vegemite toast....

Jake and Chloe helping me with the washing :)

It's a bit dark but Jakes blue Itty Bitty D'lish.....MMMM so soft!

On Tuesday, Jake both sat for a good about of time alone AND took his first crawling attempts. He's started commando crawling, and his main prey is power cords! Not so safe!

We have all been sick with colds/flu this week so not much happening here. Nappy hunting is going ok, it is extremely frustrating, some are just TOO hard! I have a layby at Lou Lou Nappies at the moment, with a couple of Night Nappies and a couple of cute nappy and singlet sets for when it warms up.

xxx

Pa's Toys

2008-09-04T18:49:00.003+10:00

Here is a pic of all the toys the kids clever Pa makes for them. They are very spoilt! He is a very clever Pa as he makes them all from an image in his head, no patterns!

It's raining, it's pouring.....

2008-09-02T09:47:00.002+10:00

Ben on Nanny's front lawn

Jake desperately chewing on Ben's Geelong drink bottle.

yes it is....absolutely bucketing down. A great day to just sit in front of the fire and read a book with a good glass of red.....LOL, not in this house! It's pretty quiet so far, kids are at daycare and Jake is in bed. So I thought I'd blog a couple of photos. Sarah took these at Mum's the other weekend. She has a lovely camera...I really need to work on a new one myself, ours is just too old now.

The GDUNH has started and boy is it frustrating! I'm so tempted to spend all day nappy hunting but I won't. It's so tempting to buy so much too, but truth is Jake doesn't need any nappies at the moment. I'm liking AIO's at the moment, so I'm looking into more of those, but I'm looking for OSFM AIO's so I'm only buying them once, and not again when he grows out of them.

Not much else to report I don't think, same old, same old here. Better go get on with cleaning up while i can.

xxx

GNDNH starts tomorrow!!

2008-08-31T09:38:00.002+10:00

Wooo!! I'm so excited! The Great Down Under Nappy Hunt starts tomorrow and it's my first hunt, I can't wait. The idea is to follow a list of online nappy stores and find the nappy icon on each site. There are prizes to be won and also of course the opportunity to visit many sites I would never have otherwise come across (bring on the shopping....lol). I'm very excited.....eeeek!

today is a gorgeous sunny day, it's so warm I have the back door wide open. the kids are outside helping Daddy load up some stuff on to the ute to take to the tip and Jake is in bed so I'm on a mission to start clearing out the crap or so to speak. The house is is desperate need of a massive spring clean, there is just so much clutter. I've done Chloe's and mine clothes, now I'm onto toy boxes in preparation for the Christmas/Birthday onslaught. I've made the decision to be totally ruthless, no point keeping that toy we bought for Ben's 1st birthday that is now broken ;). Lotsa baby clothes to go too, they are so outdated and most were hand-me-downs to Ben.

Ok I'm off....wish me luck!

xxx

Mummy and Jake

2008-08-29T15:46:00.003+10:00

Can you believe Jake is 5 months old?!!! I can't, it's flown by :( He's now rolling all over the floor (much to the kids disgust) and getting into all sorts of places. Three meals a day, chewing up rusks, grabbing at everything....where did my baby go? Breastfeeding is still going really well, I'm so glad I don't have to make up any more formula bottles :D. So here's a little pic from this morning when Jake and I were taking happy snaps. I think it's a half decent one of me at least, and as you can see Jake is trying to grab the camera.

Thank god the day is nearly over.....

2008-08-26T21:11:00.003+10:00

Had an interesting day today. All was going ok, had a not-so-pleasant check up for my IUD, and headed into the hospital for some baby love from Noah and his Mummy. He is the cutest baby ever!! Had a lovely visit (forgot photos sorry!), got very clucky again, saw my wonderful Lactation Consultant and gave her a little thankyou card. Jake and i got back into the car and about 200m down the road, BAM!! I get into an accident. Nothing serious, just paint and dents but dammit!! And it turned out to be my fault. I was in the wrong lane.

Luckily yesterday was tons better, I got to catch up with Rae and Essie at Rae's new house. It was a really lovely place, I was very envious! ;) Toby is almost 2, and little Minol is looking fabulous after his surgery. He and Jake are so oblivious to one another, it's so funny! The kids LOVE Rae's cooking and Chloe ate up all her yummy lasagne for lunch and then we all tucked into some awesome Hedgehog slice. YUM! Ben and Chloe love it when they know Rae is doing sweets! I've got some pics of little Minol and Jake, they aren't great ones but you can see the boyz :P

Ramblings

2008-08-24T20:58:00.002+10:00

No pics this time guys, sorry. Just my thoughts.

Having a few problems with Benji lately. Something seems to be worrying him I just have no idea what. He's bursting into tears for nothing, is worrying about silly little things and is just REALLY out of character. I dunno what it is but it breaks my heart to see him like it. So sad and scared for no apparent reason. *sigh* What do I do?

We all got together yesterday at Mum's to clean out her garage so Hayley has room to put her crap when she moves back down in a few weeks. It was interesting to say the least! Mark found his lovely bone collection (which also included a lambs tail and some other type of tail!), Hayley found some toys she couldn't part with and I......I found some of my old High School letters. LOL, what a crack up! I even found some from a special friend who was in N.Z at the time......;) and I also found the ones DH used to send me all those years ago. Including THE letter, the break up letter he once sent me. Didn't work too well obviously! I'll be keeping that one for future reference, lol.

Got some lovely Itty Bitty's in the mail Friday, so beautiful. Will have to take pics and post them. They are seconds, but I haven't worked out why yet. Point is they are so lush I could just stroke Jake's butt all day! :D

What else.......umm.....oh I've been trying to knit too! All inspired by Robbo, mind you I've got a looooong way to go before I can do anything recognisable! I've managed about 15 rows of 5 stitches so far, not intended to be anything, just an experiment to see if I can not drop the stitches. So far so good. :P

I have a friend in the hospital at the moment having a baby. Well I hope so!! :) She was being induced yesterday arvo.....so here's hoping it's soon!

xxx

Bath Time!

2008-08-18T20:26:00.003+10:00

The bath time pics are like the token baby pictures in our house. Each of the kids has a nice bath time picture taken when they are around 3-4 months old. Jake is 4 months in these so seeing as he's just turned 5 months old today they are a little old. But you can still see my spunky boy :) And yes...his ears are a little sticky-outtie, it's from my side of the family :P.

Our trip to Sheffield

2008-08-14T21:22:00.002+10:00

We took a trip to the NW to Sheffield to catch up with friends and family. I need to get some pics of all the wooden toys the kids have scored off their Pa. He does the most amazing job! Anyway here is Ben and Chloe (and Dad) having a kick of the footy at half time.

And here are all the kids! Chloe, Kirstie, Jeremy, Jake and Ben. Kirstie and Jeremy and the children of good friends of ours. Jeremy will be 10 soon and Kirstie is 4. They all play so well together. Ben idolises Jeremy!

Crazy photos

2008-08-14T21:15:00.003+10:00

Here are my crazy babies, always up for a crazy
photo or two. Ben is the resident photographer
more often than not taking photos of himself..lol.
Just as well Santa is looking at a Kids Digital
Camera for these two.....

Sunday Mornings

2008-08-14T21:01:00.002+10:00

On a Saturday and Sunday morning hubby likes to read the paper.......with no interruptions! LOL...what a joke, as if! So here is a pic of hubby sharing the weekend paper with Jake.

Nappy stash

2008-08-14T20:30:00.006+10:00

BumGenius Pockets. See the snaps on the front rise? That's how you adjust the nappy to fit bubs. The white on is set on the largest setting and the yellow on the smallest. The microfibre inserts are above and below, the top one is set on the smallest setting and the bottom one on the middle setting.

BG's again....open. See the hidden opening at the top? That's where you stuff in the inserts. :)

Bamboo Cute Tooshies with side snaps.....oh so soft!

Inside of the Cute Tooshies, the snap in booster which you tri-fold.

Left: BBH (Baby BeeHinds Hemp). Right: BBB (Baby BeeHinds Bamboo) Top and Bottom: Small and Large Snap in boosters.

BBH Wool Covers, inside is a tri-fold bamboo booster which I lay between the nappy and cover for extra absorbency. I use a BBB nappy and a cover and booster for an overnight nappy.

BBH PUL cover (in orange) and the bamboo booster tri-folded inside a BBH Wool cover.

I have had these photos for a while, I just keep forgetting to post them. I am really happy with my stash at the moment, I'm just waiting for some bigger fleece covers from Maz-a-licious to come. I now have 6 of my home-made Wee Wekas, 4 Cute Tooshies and 4 BBB (Baby BeeHinds Bamboo) and 4 BBH (Baby BeeHinds Hemp). These are my fitteds, which need waterproof covers over the top. I love these for value for money because they are OSFA, so will last Jake until he is out of nappies. I picked up a few of them on the Buy For Baby website which sells second-hand nappies.

My covers are serving me well! I am still using my BBH PUL and Wool wraps (in small), I am still able to use my Maz-a-licious blue dots minky cover and for when I have to I have some other fleece covers which I have pics of. I love the print on these covers ( I bought them off ebay) but I don't like the cut.....Maz-a-licious have a much better cut! I am also still using my Bummis PUL wraps. I bought most of these when Jake was a newborn so I'm pleased they are still being used.

Now that Jake is getting bigger I am using more AIO's (All-In-Ones) which are just that.....all-in-one! No nappy then cover.....just a nappy you put on and off you go. Great for babysitters and Dads! The big downfall for these here is Tassie is the drying times (as you can't pull the pieces out and dry them separately). The only TRUE AIO's I have are 2 BBH Magicalls and one Bitty D'Lish (oh so lush!!! I have to post a pic of this one, I looooove this one!!!). HOWEVER, I am in love with AI2's (All-In-Two's) and the wonderful Pocket Nappy. These both have the absorbent layer that you remove when you wash it so it has a faster drying time. For Pocket Nappies I have a Greenkids, 3 BumGenius', and one Baby Kanga. I only have pics of the BG's but the concept is all the same. These are also OSFA so great value for money. I actually bought the BG's for Chloe when she was still in nappies. My AI2's I bought for Ben actually in the hopes they would work on him overnight (he is STILL in night naps...) but they didn't contain the wee. So I have 2 Dragonfly Magiks which I will post pics of later too.....these are really great trim little nappies, even if they do come from the US.

Chopsticks!

2008-08-14T20:07:00.004+10:00

Somehow or rather the kids discovered Chopsticks. We found some at the supermarket and the just had to test out the "Chinese Sticks" on some noodles.

Quick Update

2008-08-12T21:01:00.002+10:00

Ok so I have been absent for a long time now! First my pc died, and then I changed ISP so it's been a while. I have all these ideas for posts but I am yet to install all the gear I need to upload my photos etc. Hubby has a couple of days holidays so I hope to get it all up and running soon. We have been very busy, and now Jake is almost 5 months old! He is rolling over and eating Weetbix for brekkie and a big bowl of veggies for tea. We have also been busy relactating......it has taken us around 8 weeks but we have gone from no milk and having around 800ml formula a day to only needing around 150ml formula a day. Apparantly this is quiet a feat and not many people achieve it so I'm quite proud to say we have. Would have been much easier to just keep BF in the first place....but you live and learn. Hope to catch you all up soon.

xxx

Bubbles

2008-06-28T18:44:00.002+10:00

This is Jake's little custom tee that Ess made for Jake when he was born. Before Jake was Jake, he was Bubbles :D

We are Geelong!

2008-06-28T18:21:00.004+10:00

These are our little Cats supporters.

Jake chatting with Daddy

2008-06-21T17:43:00.003+10:00

Thanks to Sarah's wonderful idea of using youtube I was able to upload the video of Jake talking to Daddy a couple of weeks ago.

Jake is 3 months and look at what he can do......

2008-06-19T09:55:00.003+10:00

Jake was 3 months old yesterday and he finally decided to hold his head up! YAY! I laid him on his tum to put some moisturiser on him after his bath and he didn't cry but held up his head! Sorry about the orange pics...I was too concerned with snapping the pics and didn't turn the heat lamp off.

Home grown footy field

2008-06-19T08:26:00.003+10:00

My resourceful and clever hubby made a mini footy field on the weekend for the kids to play on. The clever man watered down some paint and used the air compressor to mark out a boundary and some goal squares. He's such a kid at heart, I'm sure it was as much for his pleasure as the kids!

One set of goals (plus a hole by Zack!)

Other set of goals.

Ben and Chloe building a wall in front of the goals to stop Dad getting goals!

Awwww.....so cute! :D

2008-06-12T20:36:00.004+10:00

I think the flash was just a little too much!

I have been working on getting Jake to go to sleep in his cot lately, instead of falling asleep in his bouncer. Clever little man is doing really well at it, as long as the kids STAY AWAY! So after taking a lovely pic of him sitting up in his cot, I snuggled him in and left him and came back to this:

More pics of my gorg boy!

2008-06-08T21:37:00.003+10:00

I had the most beautiful video of Jake having a chat to Daddy while the kids are away but it seems too big to post :( I'll have to work out how to make it smaller. For now these are some more pics of my boy, having a little 'nappy-free' time on his new rug Nanny made for him.

This one is a little blurry as it is close. :)

THE nappy

2008-06-07T20:19:00.005+10:00

This is the nappy I am going to make more of. Again it's not exactly pretty, made from an old towel but it does the job! It's made from the Wee Weka free nappy pattern and I'm pretty much sold on this one. It is quite long in the rise but fits beautifully when I fold the rise down which means it will (hopefully!) be a nappy to fit Jake for a long time. I have also been busy making little wipes (smaller than a facewasher...these are just TOO big at the moment) from old towels and an old flannelette blanket. These work great as the rougher towelling side is great for wiping off the poo and the flannel side is nice and smooth to finish off. I've also been making my own wipes solution from water, oil, baby bath and honey. Smells SO good and gives Jake a nice smooth bum while also helping his little eczema type problems we have. See how lovely and chubby my bub is getting? lol Makes a difference when he has a full tum! Little Jake is now almost 12 weeks old....where has the time gone?

Happy Snaps

2008-05-27T09:47:00.003+10:00

I went in to check on Jake in bed and this is what I found! All smiles! lol

And this is a pic of Jake in his Hug-A-Bub wrap. Best damn thing I EVER bought!

Chloe's Crash!

2008-05-25T21:04:00.006+10:00

Last week Chloe had a rather spectacular crash in the hallway. It was one of those accidents where I was really too scared to look and see the damage! Luckily she got out of it realtively unscathed...it could have been SO much worse! She was being a silly bugger in the hallway (we have floorboards) with her favourite plastic cup when she tripped over the skateboard (which belongs in the middle of the hallway of course!) and smashed the cup in her face. The cup is all smashed now in pieces and she really is lucky it didn't cut her more. Although she looked rather interesting for a few days......lol. The photos just don't do justice to the beautiful array of colours in her bruising!

The morning after......

A couple of days after.....

And the second has made it......

2008-05-25T20:13:00.004+10:00

I'm so slack on this blogging....it took me a week to get back here. I've got some nappy shots, so bear with me!

My first homemade nappy turned out ok, as you know but it kinda fell apart in the wash *blush*. I guess that's what you get when you use flanelette that's already pretty worn out! As it was based on a Pookey Pockets Quickdry Newborn I took some pics of these also so you get the idea. These nappies are fitteds, with no snaps or hook and loop, so they are Snappied. They still need a waterproof cover over the top ;)

And here is my nappy over the top of one of the Pookey Pockets. Not a bad job if I say so myself!

You can see in the first pic that the flannelette frayed away from the edge in one spot. So DD's 'baby' doll has inherited this nappy. But that's ok, onwards and upwards! I cut out another nappy the other night, this time from old jammies that aren't quite so thin! So we'll see how that one goes once I get a chance to sew it. I need to get onto it though as Jake has hit the 5kg mark at 10 weeks old and these cute little numbers really don't fit so well anymore. I'm so glad I have my stash of prefolds to fall back on, and I have 6 small size covers of various brands which are only really just starting to fit and get a good seal now. So my tip here would be, definitely make sure you have prefolds in your stash somewhere, they really are handy!

The first blog

2008-05-18T14:21:00.006+10:00

My first blog and here it is. I don't know that I have anything terribly interesting to offer but needed a place to share my joy of MCN with. For those of you who have no idea what I am talking about, it is Modern Cloth Nappies. I am in love with and addicted to fluff....it is true. I'm only sorry it took me until the last bub to discover it. Now all my MCN efforts and stashes will go to waste.... :( BUT bub is a mere 8 weeks old so I have many joyous months ahead of me discovering more about MCN....YAY!!! Other than MCN I intend to blog about my everyday life based here at home with the kidlets. These are my babies...

Ben (4), Jacob and Chloe (3).

The last few days I have been taking a few snaps of the fluff I have accumulated thus far. I received last week some Maz-a-licious fleece covers which are just gorgeous and excellently priced too!

Funky little pirates....

Oh so soft blue dot minkee....

And bright green swirly minkee!

Yesterday (with a LOT of help from Mum!) I actually sewed my first fitted nappy.....WHOOOT! For anyone who knows me at all, they will know how challenged I am at such activities. So, this is a huge achievement for me. I made it from my own pattern, based on a Pookey Pockets Quick Dry Newborn nappy and it worked! Needs a bit of adaptation along the back, needs to be higher as it would not contain any poo-splosions but on the whole not a bad first effort! I made it from an old towel for the outer, bamboo fleece for the hidden inner and old flannelette jammies for the inner. Figured I'd best use recycled materials for the experimental phase! Will post pics next time.

Hoping to have a crack at making some more soon, I just need to get the time. Quite a joke really in my house.....I can dream though.

Home Is Where The Heart Is

Get with it woman!!

It's been a year!!

Jake turns 2!!!

It's not MY birthday, it's Judy's!!

A pearl from my TV viewing last night

In the words of Mumma Bear.....

a bad post

Mission Complete! - Take 2

Having problems with this editor.....

Mission Complete!

So....I need a new profile pic

Just ramblings....

Oh the slackness!!!

New blogs

Our Princess

Maz-a-licious fluff

Mei Tai

New bath

Quick catch up

didn't work at all!

Another tester....

*sigh*

Drowning

Test

Our little helper :)

trouble with videos

My cups!!!

Maz-a-licious fluff

Big boy in a big bed

My beautiful boy

How the veggie patch grows

Visit from Nanny Mac

Our baby turns 1 :(

A new addition!!

Chloe's Birthday

Veggie Patch

Stay at Cremorne

Ben's Birthday

Slack again!! Back to the town of Lower Crackpot

Benji's first day at Kinder

Crap I'm slack

Sheffield Stay

Catch up time

A great day in history

Christmas

Look! No training wheels!!

And it all goes belly up.......

Merry Christmas to all :)

HBC and tedious vacuuming

Wombat Stew

My Avatar

Help the homeless

Sunny days outside

Fluffy Mail!!

MeiTai

BBQ at Franklin

We did it!

Oh dear lord.......

Jake walking

Today is the day

Aha!

I am a slacker.....

Allergic?

Old friends

A rare moment......

My Imaginative Man :)

Do I Look Pretty Mummy??

Oh the disappointment.......

Daddy and Chloe

Bright bums!

Zack and Jake

More Video

Videos

Happy half-birthday Jakie!

Jake's a clever little fellow!!

Pa's Toys

It's raining, it's pouring.....

GNDNH starts tomorrow!!

Mummy and Jake

sigh