For the love of Dance!

I guess I could ask you all what you think of the Blogger update, but I don't really know myself yet. It certainly tells me more at first glance but I might need to explore a little further before I actually have an opinion on the update.

This week has been so much fun.

Jaz started dancing this week - I mean, technically she has been 'dancing' since before she could walk. She would sit and rock and sway and throw her arms about with abandon any time she heard anything that resembled music. But this week Jaz went to her first dance class and it was love at first step!

in her pink leotard and floaty skirt my nearly four year old walked straight into class, without her usual shyness and proceeded to follow all instructions from her gorgeous dance instructor. Or is she a teacher? I dont know. I never did dancing. This is all very new to me.

I remember when I was pregnant with Jaz. I had very firm ideas about how my children were not going to be prgrammed to the hilt, they would not be enrolled in all these extra curricular activities like so many kids are these days. Pfft. I didn't count on over a year of "Muuuummmm, but when can I do dancing? When? How old do I have to be? Do I have to be a school girl? Can I go now? Muuuuum I want to do dancing! Puhhhhleeeze" Yeah, I didn't see that coming. At least not yet. I thought that would start around the time school did. Silly disillusioned Mumma!!!

I eventually relented and told her that after the wedding was done and we came home from Bali I would look into dance classes. Well no sooner had we touched down at Tullamarine, driven home and had a nap than Jaz woke up and asked if she could go to dancing now. It was time.

So earlier this week along we trotted. And look at how adorable she looked

Just sooo excited!

Kayde's on the move

Well, it has been a long time coming...
Not that 16 months to the day is old to start walking.
It's actually smack bang average (but we wont tell Kayde that - he thinks he's rather clever, oh and so do we).
It's just that he has been crawling since he was 6 months old.
That's 10 whole months of crawling!
He's very good at it though and very very fast.
He can climb, and can ride most things with wheels, even scooters!!!
For some time now Kayde has stood up and launched himself onto anything soft, pillows, washing piles, beds, you name it, the boy can jump and fling himself around like nothing I have seen before.
More recently and much to my astonishment he has even been standing unsupported, picking up soccer balls, basketballs etc and throwing them, without losing balance!
How he could manage all this and still refuse to take a step was completely and utterly beyond me.
It didn't bother me. Not in the slightest. It just astounded me that he could achieve so much without taking those first shaky steps.
I had begun to think it was entirely possible he was walking behind closed doors.
Waiting until he knew I couldn't see him and running around the place! Cheeky little man...
But yesterday I caught a glimpse as he shakily shuffled his feet, and managed two steps before grabbing onto the nearest stable object.
He looked so proud of himself and I was so proud of him, then Jaz squeeled, not realising I was watching, "Mum, mum mum mum, he walked! Kayde walked! Good boy!!! You are sooo clever". Pride all round.
Now the chase begins, I am afraid from now on I may never catch him. I guess I had better pull out my running shoes and whack on a sports bra - coz, well, you know...
So now for the next stage, chasing a boiterous toddler and keeping up with an active pre-schooler. Fun times ahead.

A challenging morning?

You know how you have those days... you know... the ones where you think, "no, no, no, not again! What else can possibly go wrong?" and it is usually right about then that your rhetorical question is answered. Rather loudly. You know, so you know to never ever ask that question again.

It was one of those days folks.

It started off pretty ordinarily really.

Get up
Get the kids some toast
Open laptop to check emails and of course see what happened in the world in the few short hours I was asleep by scrolling down my Facebook news feed. (just for the record, someone couldn't sleep, someone else was apparently "very drunk lol lol lol "(but managed to access their FB account and type perfectly - pfft), oh and of course someone decided I wanted to wake up to a dozen or so YouTube clips of their favourite obscure band on the news feed - delete delete delete)

So Jaz was playing little people and singing a made up song to the tune of Frere Jacques, all made up songs are sung to the tune of Frere Jacques and Kayde was busy crawling around and climbing and exploring and throwing things and making banging sounds.

"Mum, Kayde smells bad"

without looking up from coffee, breakfast, laptop "oh, ok hun, thank you for telling Mummy, I'll fix him in a tic"

approximately one minute passes

"Mum, Kayde has poo on him, Mum it's everywhere ewwwww"

At this point every swear word in the universe was rolling around in my head and threatening to escape via my mouth.

I look up to see Kayde sitting on top of the play table, playfully splashing in a big pile of *ahem* poop. The chair he has used to climb onto the table was covered in a thick layer of the putrid stuff, he was splashing it onto the wall, it was up his arms, in his hair... yep... nice...

I grabbed him and ran him to the bathroom, rinsed him off and ran him a bath. Dried and clothed I strapped locked secured popped him into the high chair and gave him his morning tea and a sippy cup of milk to keep him restrained occupied while I had the joyous task of cleaning the table, chair, wall, floor - you know, the entire room!

As I just finished throwing the soiled clothes into the washing machine and the house smelled oof pine o clean I once again hear Jaz call out to me:

"Muuuummm, Kayde's making a big mess again!"

What could he possibly be doing now???? He's in his high chair!

Milk. The milk was everywhere! The valve had come out of the 'spill proof' sippy cup and there was milk everywhere. Kayde was once again splashing in it. On the high chair tray was a big milky mess and it had been flung for several feet. Splattering curtains and bench tops, carpets (despite the presence of a spill mat beneath the high chair) and there was some dripping down the walls too, oh and of course Kayde was dripping from head to toe! How much do those darned sippy cups hold? What? Was it like Mary Poppins carpet bag? Did it have no limits?

*SIGH*

I once again cleaned up and opened up the back door and encouraged the kids to play outside for a while and burn off some energy. All was good as I pottered around and cleaned the house, hung out some washing and organised to go to a meeting for my new business.

I brought the kids back inside and cleaned them up. I put a third outfit on Kayde and got Jaz re-dressed (apparently sandpit play involves partially undressing and completely covering all clothing in wet sand). Once this was done I decided I deserved a loo break myself. Big mistake! Huge!

Jaz appeared at the toilet door with a worried look on her face.

"Mum, I dropped the puffer wheats (Honey Wheats are 'puffer wheats' in our house)"

"Did you have milk on them?"

"No, I was putting them away. The box went on the floor"

"So you just dropped the box on the floor and some spilled?"

"Yeah"

"No worries mate, Mummy will clean them up when I come out ok?"

Sure... that would have worked a treat... But when I got to the kitchen (and I am wishing I had taken a photo but I didn't) what I found would have been entertaining if it was anyone elses child. But it wasn't. It was Kayde.
The entire contents of the bulk box of cereal was on the kitchen floor and Kayde was in the middle, laying on them and rolling around while laughing and shoving his cute pudgy fists, full of 'puffer wheats' into his mouth. He resembled a rum ball that had been rolled in coconut. He was covered in 'puffer wheats' from head to toe. Literally. They were stuck to his hair, all over his clothes and I even found some caught in between his toes!!!

After changing him for a fourth time I had to leave the rest of the mess and head to my meeting. I ran late. For my first business meeting. And when I told them I had had a bit of a challenging morning I really don't think they realised, just how much of an understatement that was!

What do you consider a challenging morning with your gorgeous little people?

Our Wedding - My top 11 moments

1.  Getting ready with 'my'girls'. An hour long massage and a pedicure. Drinks. Lunch. A lot of laughter and the groomsmen continually checking up on us and being astounded at how calm and chilled out the bridal party were.

2. That little bit of cheekiness that went on with the bridesmaids attire

3. My children looking so darned adorable and behaving completely impeccably

4. Being walked down the isle by my Dad. Chatting with him as we walked. Such a special moment.

5. Being overcome with emotion during the ceremony and really 'feeling' what we were saying. It was something I didn't really expect to happen (even though everyone told me it would).

6. The amazing job the Melasti did of decorating and being able to watch them work on the alter and wedding monument for more than 24 hours prior to the big event. The excitement of the staff was fantastic.

7. The Reception venue blowing me away by capturing perfectly, everything I asked of them. Through online communications and language barriers they couldn't have done a better job. Just perfect!

8. My fabulous brother as the MC announcing our arrival but announcing me using my maiden name by mistake. Quite funny

9. Watching the kids all dancing together and then sharing a dance with my beautiful daughter. She was mesmerised by the whole affair and the joy I had dancing with her was wonderful

10. My maid of honour not only catching the bouquet but following up with several laps of honour and high fiving everyone as she ran past.

11. Finally becoming Mrs D. We have a family name and Sal you are right. It really is amazing, no one else matters while you stand there and say your vows, you told me but it was someting I had to experience to appreciate. So special!

There were so many more moments that just made the wedding what it was. One of my favourite things was being able to spend so much quality time in a place we love with people who mean the world to us. How special did we feel to have nearly 50 people join us for our wedding in Bali? Truly blessed.

And now, some pics to satisfy all the ooohhhhing and ahhhhing you want to do.

The Baddest Blogger

Can I even call myself a blogger?
The most difficult thing about establishing a blog is deciding what to write about. When you first start out you have so many ideas, directions, rules blah blah blah...
There are a few things I did when I started that if I could change I most definitely would.
I love the idea of a completely anonymous blog. One where I can speak my mind about absolutely anything without the fear of repurcussion. Oh the things I would say....
But alas. I do not have an anonymous blog. I have The Motherism. A lovely little blog that is in dire need of love, attention and a makeover. So tomorrow I will work on that.
For today I am going to let you in on a little secret... I finally have my blogging sorted. The Motherism shall return to what she was always supposed to be. A place for me to record my memories of motherhood as they are being formed. Something to look back on and enjoy. Something that I may one day print out and hand down to Jaz if and when she decides to start her own family.
Yes - that's something I can do.
I cannot promise I will share everything. Just the things I want to remember. Those little moments too special to just let slip by. After all. Memories are what we leave behind. Our legacy.

That said, I guess I should really catch you up on where we are at right now...

"Yo!!! Mrs. D!!!"

This was shouted out not long after Craig and I said our 'I do's' and I must admit, I am quite fond of my new nickname. Though in all reality, a whole new name is something that takes a bit of getting used to. I mean I have had 32 years to grow accustomed to my 'Maiden' name. This new name is going to take some getting used to.

Referring to Craig as my husband is also proving more challenging than I had imagined. I keep saying partner (after 11 years together it is a hard habit to break) but I admit that every time I refer to my husband (even if it's to a complete stranger) I cannot help but grin like a complete maniac! I have a husband... It's kind of weird. I feel almost like I am playing 'grown ups'. It feels a little surreal and I almost expect people to say 'what?!' "Your husband???? ha ha ha ha ha' as though I have told some big lie and they can see that I am not grown up at all... But they don't. I somehow think I might look my real age, even though I don't feel it.

I'll tell you all about the wedding tomorrow. That needs a post all of it's own. A treasure trove of memories and maybe even some photos. Maybe.

Jaz has changed in the last few days. Over the past few months, Jaz's behavious has ben *ahem* challenging. We have heard lots of "No, I don't want to!" and we have had many many tantrums, hitting and stomping of feet. But in the past few days, I have no idea why, but I have my gorgeous, kind, funny, caring, loving girl back. She kisses me and cuddles me and hates to ake me angry. When I ask her to do something she says ' ok Mummy' and gives me a big smile. I am so very thankful to have my happy girl back. I don't know what was making her so miserable but I am very glad she is happy again.

Kayde is STILL not walking. I am absolutely convinced he can walk. I think he even does it when no ones watching. Seriously, that boy is into everything. He is a master climber. He can crawl faster than I have ever seen a baby crawl and he can not only ride a scoot-along bike but he can back the trailer attached to it!!! I watched this evening as he stood up, unassisted, picked up a bouncing hoppy thingy almost as big as him and threw it! And he has everyone convinced that he isn't walking yet.... I think he not only secretly walks but he runs.... You can't fool me kiddo!

Jaz is currently completely obsessed with Ballet and Kayde is still obsessed with Boobs... I wonder how that will change over the coming years ;)

That's it for now.

Thanks for bearing with me,

Mrs D.

Jaz - Mummy's helper.

Jaz is growing up so fast! She really is a great helper. Just the other day, while I was on the phone to my wonderful friend Robba she made herself a sandwhich.

While she was doing so, Kayde decided to follow her and grizzle at her till she made him a snack too.

She came out of the kitchen, showed me her sandwhich and said 'don't worry, I got Kayde a snack too'. As I was on the phone I told her she was a good girl and it took me a moment to realise that she hadn't said she got kayde a sandwhich but that she'd gotten him a 'snack'. Hmmm - and he was still in the kitchen, being very quiet!

I figured I should go and have a look and see what she had prepared for him as a snack. Here's what I found:

Yep, she had popped a spoon into a jar of promite and handed it over. Brilliant!

It's days like these

Today was one of those days that are filled with lots of wonderful little nothings that add up to a happy day. A little like a rainbow after the storm.

Over the past few weeks I have felt challenged, by housework, myself and certain behaviours that have been developing.

After implementing a few changes to how we do what we do this week I have noticed some significant changes and I think we are thriving within our new boundaries and routines.

Today saw Kayde undertake his first drawing attempt. Until today all he has seen drawing implements as are potential food - particularly chalk which he is weirdly drawn to eating. But today he picked up a pencil and a piece of paper and scribbled till his little heart was content, he laughed and bopped up and down in his seat as he is prone to doing and scrunched the paper around the pencil and seemed fit to keep going until the paper and pencil was confiscated by Jaz who decided he was finished. Kayde started to grizzle and Jaz tried to soothe him by handing him a different pencil and paper, the momentum had been broken and the grizzling was growing so we moved on quickly.

Jaz and Kayde played outside while I watched on, Kayde played in the Autumn leaves, throwing them over himself and eating them and Jaz took to the withered veggie patch with a little plastic spade proclaiming she was digging for buried treasure.

After eating a nice early lunch, after story and sleep time for Kayde and story time for Jaz I secretly watched her play with her ponies on her bookshelf while she was supposed to be resting.

We had a fabulous surprise lunchtime visit from Maddy who is always most welcome! Jaz told Maddy all about 'stuff' and Kayde had big cuddles, just perfect.

After Maddy's visit we set about going for a nice long walk and bike ride. Jaz rode ahead, stopping at each power pole to wait for Kayde and I to catch up. She went so fast on her balance bike that the front wheel wobbled, her helmet skewed off centre and she squealed whooooo and then came to a halt at each pole, straightening her helmet, regaining composure and waiting for Kayde and I to catch up before zooming off again.

After racing each other so excitedly to the next power pole that we ran straight past our street, we returned home, warm from the walk and the too brief burst of sunshine, we came home and headed outside - I hung washing while I watched Jaz and Kayde climb on their play equipment, run and crawl and climb and play. They dug for more buried treasure together and even played a game of 'gardening' apparently this involved Kayde sitting still, being a seed, while Jaz tipped spades of dirt onto the top of his head so that he could grow. Hmmmmm. Needless to say I put a stop to that game - after I had stopped for a moment to relish the simplicity of their game and how much they both seemed to be enjoying it.

While holding Kayde for one of his many cuddles he looked over to Jaz and said over and over again. Sisisisis. It's definitely a case of love. And it's mutual, though so is the frustration and annoyance at each other. They really are falling into their roles of brother and sister. Neither can do anything without the other joining in, disrupting, wrecking, loving.

During their free play time today I was most amused to watch Kayde follow Jaz everywhere, watching everything she did while she kept looking over her shoulder and calling to him 'c'mon kid, follow me kid'.

They have amused me all day and yet they did nothing other than be kids. Maybe it was the brief burst of sunshine, maybe it was having a lovely visit from my Mum, maybe it was finally feeling in control of my role at home or maybe it was just a lovely lovely day! Whatever it was, I wish I could bottle it.

Boof turns One

Today one year ago I was sitting in a hospital bed - anxiously awaiting the arrival of my baby boy.

Back then I did not know that he would;

• have a wicked sense of humour
• feed an insatiable hunger
• have an energy that requires no sleep
• love his sister more than anything
• be able to melt my heart with the most gorgeous smile
• climb anything and everything before he turned one
• crawl by six months
• ride scoot along bikes by 10 months
• push boxes over to things to climb and reach by 10 months
• show no interest in walking - yet.
• have four teeth - the top two with a few mil gap and two more fangs on their way down at his first birthday
• enjoy pulling hair and laughing at the reaction


• Be up before 6am to enjoy his birthday presents and then return to slumberland at 8 to recharge for his Birthday!

Happy Birthday 'my boof' Kayde xoxoxoxo

Doggy Do!

My dog is driving me friggin mental!

Sorry but there really is no other way to put it. Actually there is, it's not just my dog, Craigs dog is also doing my head in!

Uh Oh! Sorry you tuned in? Don't be, the rant will be over before you know it.

We have two Staffys that live with us. Sash is about 14 years old and Taz (yes, I do know how silly it was to name my daughter Jaz when we already had a dog named Taz but we loved the name ok?) is about 6 years old.

Sash, until recently has been a beautifully behaved girl, doing everything she is told, never bothering BBQ visitors for morsels, gentle with kids and kind and loving.

Recently, however, she has become a complete mess. I think she is going a little senile, and though that's not her fault, it really is painful! She needs to go to the loo no less than a half dozen times a night and needs to sleep with a night light on. I think her hearing has gone and she gets a bit disorientated in the dark?

Sash and her senility aside, Taz is the current cuprit - determined to make my blood boil. She is scratching incessantly at the back door, wanting to come in. You would think that after 6 years she would know that she is not coming in while she is making that racket! But no! The noise (and boy is it noisy!) persists.

Taz is not the brightest dog, nor is she the best behaved. Taz actually flunked out of puppy school. I have trained other dogs and never before have I failed to get a dog to pass basic training. Taz, well, she is a whole nother story!
Taz is a houdini dog - mastering the art of escape and having cost us thousands (yes thousands) of dollars in fines and pound release fees. We now pop rivet colourbond to all pailing fences and secure other areas with pool fencing to keep her in. Extreme? maybe, but it works.
Taz has a bit of OCD. She licks her foot - all the time. There is nothing wrong with it. We have had it checked, time and time again. It's just one of her neurotic tendencies.
Taz is scared of the rain, wind and of course thunderstorms. So basically unless it is a perfectly still night without fireworks then Taz will cry and whimper unless cozied up next to a big tough human!
Taz tries to walk along things, balancing... and falls off.
Taz stopped growing at 6 months old and has remained the size she was as a puppy permanently.
Why do we love her?
Taz gets dressed up as fairies and doctors and balerinas, she is adorned in necklaces, sunglasses and tiaras and wags her tail the whole time.
She has been used as a step ladder, been fed chalk and play dough and had a grape shoved unceremoniously up her nostril and she was still wagging her tail with her whole body wag she does whenever she is around kids. She wags so hard she falls down sometimes.
Taz - though she may drive me to the nuthouse - is a gorgeous girl with a big heart and even larger amount of patience. She is the percfect companion to a child. A childs first best friend.
If only I could convince both our fur kids to not wake me up, I may have a chance at a full nights sleep - one of these days.

The Boy Can Climb

When Kayde started crawling at the tender age of 6 months I thought I was really in for it. By my estimation, this meant he would most likely be running through the house causing all sorts of mayhem by about 10 months. Wow, was I wrong!

In 9 days Kayde will be 1. Despite the fact that I cannot believe my baby will celebrate his first birthday already (I plan on dwelling on that fact later in the week), I also find it hard to believe he is still showing no interest in walking.

Don't get me wrong, he is not developmentally challenged and I am not disappointed at his ability to delay this huge milestone. You see he keeps me on my toes in other ways...

Kayde can climb, not only that but he can scoot as well.

Although not yet showing much interest in walking, Kayde will happily cruise around the furniture - something he has been doing for months now. He will spot a box or toy that may be used as a climbing aid, push it to wherever he desires to be and start climbing. The couch is usually his spot of choice, he happily clambers up and romps around before laying tummy down, head resting in hands to watch what is going on around him - or to get a good view of a particularly riveting episode of Play School, Jaz's current favourite.

Climbing aside, Kayde also keeps me on my toes with his scooting.I imagine you are wondering what on earth I am yapping about. Well you know those scoot along toys/bikes that often double as a walking stabiliser in the early days? He loves them. On he climbs and off he goes, I mean seriously, why walk when you can ride everywhere right?

So having mastered climbing and scooting it came as no real surprise when a few days ago he crawled up to his Bouncing Zebra, climbed on and started bopping up and down. He just never stops!!! I really am noticing the difference between having a quiet, placid little girl to having a boisterous, climbing, scooting, bouncing boy!

I think what amazes me the most though is how obvious it is that in the nature vs nurture debate, nature has a way of getting them started.

In the way of toys, we mostly have dolls and other traditionally girlie toys owing to the fact that Jaz came along first and so most of the toys in the house are hers (though along with Christmas came an abundance of trucks and the like for Kayde) - yet Kayde will hunt out the cars (even if it's the barbie car) and zoom it along the ground saying VBBRRRMMMMM as he does it. He has not been taught to do this, he just does it and it's adorable but it really does show that there are just some things that come naturally, whether nurtured or not.

Jaz on the other hand, though she loves motorbikes and diggers and Thomas the Tank Engine - is fascinated by dancing. Always wanting to show me her 'ballet' dances (she doesn't do ballet, but hey! what a girl cannot learn from Angelina Ballerina......) Jaz loves to dance and will sing a song to dance to if the music is lacking. Jaz loves to play 'families' and her favourite treat is to have her nails painted (ok, some of that has been nurtured lol). But my point is how very different two children can already be - even before their first birthday has been celebrated, when raised by the same parents, with the same values and essentially the same environment.

I feel very blessed to have two completely different but equally engaging, entertaining, loving, funny children to celebrate each and every day.

Now to come to terms with my 'baby' turning ONE!!!! Oh the melodrama!!!

Tim Tam Trouble

There were Tim Tams in the fridge.

That is until I ducked outside to do the dreaded pooperscoop.

Jaz came out

"Kayde said he wanted a chocolate biscuit so I gived him one. They are way beterer than Teddy Bear biscuits"

Apparently Kayde agreed.

Out the front door...

My children have some quirky new habits forming. One is quite gorgeous, the other, though mildly amusing at times, needs to be nipped in the bud.

Kayde, now 11 months has a fascination with putting things on his head. It started with hats and headphones which was quite acceptable and in some cases down right adorable, don't you think?

He has now progressed to popping pretty much anything he can balance on his head - mostly clothes, cloths, facewashers, cushions and dolls but he saves the best for meal times when his bowl, plate and cup always find their way onto his head! Cute cute cute boy!

Now onto the somewhat amusing but also a little troubling habit our gorgeous girl Jaz has developed.

Let me set the scene just a little...

My Mum and Dad have two dogs, since all the kids have moved out it appears the dogs have replaced us somewhat. they sit on the couch, sleep on the bed and basically do as they please. I am not denying they are cute, cuddly and fun but they do have a tendency to lick the little people like they are a lollypop coated in sherbert!

Last week the kids and I were visiting my parents. I was reading a magazine on the couch, Kayde was napping and Dad was reading the paper. Jaz was running around the house, in the door, out the door and so on and so forth, I saw her kneel down, pushing the larger of the two dogs away and telling it off (have I mentioned I have an insanely bossy little girl on my hands? That's for another post) Anyway, off she ran, through the house, both dogs hot on her heels enjoying the play.

I noticed it had gone quiet a moment before Jaz appeared behind Dad.

"Pa Trev?"

"Yes Jaz"

"You better go find your dogs"

I immediately knew what she had done and jumped up. Dad looked at me and I asked Jaz...

"Jaz, did you let the dogs out the front door?"

"Yup" *butter wouldn't melt smile*

Arghhhh!!!!! These dogs are not only pampered, they have no sense - none - zilch. And are notorious for bolting out the front door and down the road (Thankfully Mum and Dad live in a very quiet town)

Pa Trev gently told Jaz "That was a bit naughty Jazzy"

"Yup" *cheeky grin*

The dogs were located and returned back only a few minutes later but that was not the bit that really made me laugh.

When my mum (known to the kids as Maddy) got home we told her what had happened (I admit, I already found the situation a touch amusing due to understanding Jaz's reasons for letting the dogs out) but this really took the cake.

Mum said to Jaz "Well, did Mummy tell you it might make Maddy mad?"

Jaz tilted her head to the side, raised her palms in the air in front of her as if explaining something to a simpleton "Well they was astracting me!"

Mum stifled a laugh and asked "they were distracting you?"

Big sigh from Jaz "Yes, they was astracting me" *Huff*

Well, as amusing as that was, we tried very hard not to let her see that! It was explained to her that the dogs may have become lost and that would have upset Maddy and Pa greatly. that understood I thought this had been nipped in the bud.

Until this morning...

As I lay in bed, Craigs car zooming off in the distance, I was just getting up when Jaz came into the bedroom.

"Mum?"

"Yes Jaz?"

"Will Kayde get lost out the front?" Asked with a grain of hope I am almost certain

I jumped out of bed, flew out the front door (Thank goodness there were no neighbours out there) and gathered Kayde from his new playspot in the middle of our carport!!!

JAZ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That was very naughty. (I may have told her that someone may have thought he looked like a cute baby and taken them to keep at their house - maybe) About an hour later after being very quiet, Jaz came to me of her own volition, apologised and said she would not put Kayde out the front door again.

Darn tootin' you wont!!! That door is now deadlocked!

Kids

What Tired Feels Like

There are times in my life where I thought I was tired.
There were my younger days, where I would work, get changed, go out, party and go straight to work the next day - after a few days of repeasting this cycle, catching a few short sleeps here and there it was time to colapse in a heap and sleep an entire day away. That was not tired.
There were the days I worked 16 hour days 6 days a week, maintained a reasonable body shape by attending the gym 5 days a week and went out three nights a week. That was not tired.

Nowadays - now, I am tired...

Some parents come home from hospital with their little bundle of pink, sweet smelling, soft skinned, snuggly sleepy, milk drunk goodness and the little darlings sleep from 7pm till 7am from the moment they arrive home. I hate those Mothers (not really but I'm too tired to diferrentiate between hatred and jelousy).

Others have those same darling soft, snuggly, wriggly, sweet smelling, milk drunk bundles with just one little difference. They do not sleep. People tell you that waking for night feeds is difficult. It's not really. You put bubs down, you get a few hours sleep, you get up to said crying bundle, feed them, return them to their bed and you head back into slumberland.

Having a baby that 'feeds' every two hours round the clock for the first three months of its life - that is hard. Completely worthwhile but hard.

Having an older child who sleep walks or sleep talks as well as a baby who is not a great sleeper is hard.

When the baby is nearly one and is still waking at least twice (bare minimum) between the hours of 9pm and 6am and the older child also wakes at least once, that is HARD!!!

Now add in a dog who is 15 and has become scared of the dark because she has gone deaf so spends most of the night fussing, another dog who is scared of the rain so whenever it starts raining she starts howling.

NOW THAT IS HARD

Now are you keeping up with  me? Here's where we are at:

An infant who wakes regularly through the night (lots)
A pre schooler who sleep talks and wakes during the night
A dog who is scared of the dark (stop laughing)
and A dog who is scared of the rain (seriously, stop laughing now)

It has been over 12 months since I have had a good nights sleep. In fact sleep has somewhat evaded me for the past 12 months, instead I drift in and out of consciousness wondering who will be next to need me.

So let me tell you what tired feels like.
My head feels so heavy it might just fall right off my shoulders
It feels like there is sand in my eyes and if I blink I am scared my eyelids may not re-open
My hands shake a little bit, I am not sure whether it is in anticipation of bed time or from the caffeine I need to consume just to stay upright
When I am talking, the wrong sounds just spill right out of my mouth
I feel a little nauseus but I also want to eat everything in sight at the same time. Preferably food laden with sugar and fat and completely nutrtionally empty calories, I think this is also a way of maintaining a state of wakefulness but is certainly not helping my weight loss because I am so lethargic that the mere thought of excersize fills me with dread.
The worst part is that as soon as my children go to sleep I know I should head directly to bed. Do not pass go, do not collect $200 but it does not happen.
Why not?
Because by the time I have cleaned and cooked, bathed children and read the bedtime stories I am over tired. So overtired I am in fact wired. Delerious with sleep deprivation, unable to complete any tasks requiring me to use my brain and yet unable to sleep as I am continually thinking of all the tasks I need to complete that do require me using my brain.
Wow, talk about a Merry Go Round on overdrive!
So, you, you who has been partying all night or working a little too hard. Don't talk to me about tired until you too have gone over a year without sleeping for any longer that 4 hours at a time (and that has only happened twice!) It is not that I am a nastty person who is unwilling to acknowledge that you too may have issues, it's just that I am too darned tired to really give a crap.
So instead of complaining - go and get me a coffee.
Thank you

All before 9am!!!

This week is going to be a long one!

This morning I started my day at 3am with a teething bubby who had a temp and was quite sad :(

I hunted out the baby panadol, trying not to wake the rest of the household - too late - Sash had seen me and decided to assert herself as my protector, dashing across the back deck and barking to scare away the boogey men!!! Thank Sash. Taz decided to get up and have a look at what was going on, just to let me know that she too would spook the boogey men she gave a quiet little bark (no need to alert the dreaded boogey men to her presence too much!)

All that barking was enough to cause a stir in Jaz's bedroom. I held my breath. And held onto the sad baby and tried not to drop the medicine box I was removing from the top of the fridge with my spare hand. Jaz settled, gave a cough and a sigh and all was quiet - except the deep grumbly snore resonating from deep within my bedroom.

Panadol located and measured I administered the magic elixir and plopped onto the couch to give a comforting feed. Just as my sad, unwell, teething baby started to nod back off to sleep the panadol (otherwise referred to in our house as baby speed) kicked in. Eyes opened wide and a gurgly, milky grin appeared. 'No bubby, sleep time' It was about this time a big raspberry was blown in my direction with addictively giggly laughing following. *sigh* Welcome to Monday I thought to myself...

A half hour of lolling around on the couch, trying not to doze off and trying to keep the now alert and active baby from climbing down from the couch to play I decided he was going back to bed - awake or not. To my surprise I climbed back into bed shortly before 4am without any hysterics from Kaydes room.

It was at about 4.30 that Jaz decided to wake up and call out from her room. What was it she wanted? Not Mum, no. not Dad, no. "Muuuummmm, I wanna watch my shows". I responded a little more tersely than I had initially anticipated with a gravelly growl, "Go back to sleep - you cannot watch the telly in the middle of the night!" I don't really know what happened next as I think I fell comatose back onto the pillow.

5am and Kayde woke back up, sad again though not feeling too warm thank goodness. I sleep walked to his room, retrieved him from his cot and returned to my bed, nursing him back to sleep just so I could get a few more minutes myself.

Next thing I know I am woken at 6am by the pooling vomit soaking through my top and a happy gurgling little boy climbing over me trying to get to the snoring man next to me!

"Mum, you awake now, can I watch my shows?" Jaz was curled up on the recliner in the lounge. Had she been there since 4.30? Shit I hope not!!!! Oh well, I breathed a sigh resignation and flicked the telly onto ABC. thank goodness for ABC!

I wiped myself as free of vomit (just milky thankfully) as I could muster through my fog of sleep deprivation (did I mention I only went to bed at 11 after Kaydes late feed?) and plopped onto the couch. The vomity baby (sorry, Kayde) seemed quite thrilled with himself as he played and Jaz was most happy watching the telly so I just sat and tried to stay awake - at least I think I stayed awake. I didn't even get up to make Craig lunch or see him off - just sat - mesmerised by my own ability to exist with such little sleep.

I eventually got up and turned on the coffee machine, went to the fridge for milk and on a whim had a sniff before pouring - gag blergh gag - sour milk - lucky I didn't vomit myself!!! So it was off to the shops for milk and bread.

I piled both kids into the car and discussed with Jaz what I expected from her. She was to stay with me (no running off) and not touch anything, no getting herself things and no whinging. She agreed and I told her she could have a flavoured milk drink if she was a good girl and followed those rules. She gave a big smile and said 'sure I will' (her favourite response at the moment). I can't believe I actually felt confident we were going to have an incident free trip to the supermarket.

Ok, you can stop laughing now. I know it was naive of me....

So, groceries complete and Jaz reasonably well behaved I purchased the prized banana flavoured calciyum. All seemed well... Too well, I should have known better.

On the way out we stopped at the bakery for a loaf of bread. "Mum, I want a treat"

me - Jaz you, have a milk drink, c'mon and we'll hop in the car and go and have breakfast
Jaz - No, but Mum, I really want a lollie ice cream (you know the meringue things in the cone?)
Me - Jaz, c'mon mate, you have been good, don't spoil it, let's go.
Jaz - tears burning her eyes, But Muuuuuummmmm I said I want a lollie ice cream!!!!
Me - Jaz, no! Lollies are not a breakfast food and you are not behaving by yelling at me
Jaz - feet stomping, tears rolling Mummmm I want a lollie icecream
Me - Ok, bye Jaz, Kayde and Mummy are going home now - said while walking away
Jaz - Screaming, wailing, arms flailing about - 'Noooooo I want a lollie ice cream, I want a lollie ice cream, I want a lollie ice cream......
Me - Well I wanted a little girl who behaves herself, looks like neither of us is getting what we want are we? (OK, probably not the most appropriate response to give a three year old but hey - give me a few hours sleep and I may come up with something more age appropriate and conducive to the situation)

Following the full blown 'bertie beetle' style tanti Jaz point blank refused to get in the car so after several warnings and counting to three I picked her up and put her in - Jaz yelled, screamed and told me off - you should not do that!!! I said I did not want to get in the car!

I believe my response was something along the lines of "tough"

Holy Moly It was about 8 o'clock - Welcome to Monday

The Important Things in Life

What is important to some is not necessarily important to others. As I type this I am thinking of what is important to each member of my family.

I myself find the health and well being of my family at the top of my priority list. Things such as safety, healthy eating, keeping a clean house - theses things are very important to me. As is the happiness of my family. I love to see my beautiful children laugh and play, being happy and healthy. That is important to me.

Craig is focused on providing for us all, providing security, strength and a stable home. Also important to him are the weekends where he gets to have fun with his family. I love him for that. he doesn't look forward to the weekends so he can go out drinking, go down the pub or head off on a boys weekend (though I have no doubt he does look forward to doing these things too). He looks forward to taking Jaz to the park, taking us all to the beach or just out for the day. Sometimes we cannot wait till the weekend and have a midweek picnic dinner or head to the shops just to wander around and get an ice cream for the kids (and me, ohhh how I do love ice cream).

Kayde only has a few things that are important to him. Mummy and Boobies, Daddy and Jaz.
boobies rate number one in Kayde's importance ranking. 5.45am this morning it was booby time... And next to mummy snuggled up close is where he stayed until Daddy left for work shortly after 7.30!

If Mummy goes away for any longer than about 10 seconds he starts yelling and trying to find her. If he cannot find her, crying ensues, quickly followed by hysterics and even vomiting! Jaz is also very important to Kayde, he follows her around, a little like that little jumping dog in the Looney Tunes cartoons.... If she dares close a door between him and her a tantrum soon follows - especially when she is cheeky enough to close the glass sliding door, trapping him inside while she plays on the other side of it! Kayde also loves pulling Jaz's hair and 'sharing' everything she has or wants - Jaz is not so thrilled about this!

Next on Kayde's list is Daddy, when daddy comes home from work you can hear Kaydes hands slap on the ground and his little legs scootin across the floor as he makes a mad crawl for the front door. He just loves his dad, blowing raspberries on him and giving big gummy laughs at every opportunity.

What is important to Jaz is a whole nother board game - Pre Schoolers have a whole different take on the world and what is important!

6am (after getting up 15 minutes earlier to drag Kayde into my bed for an early morning feed and cuddle)

Jaz "Mum! Mum! Muuuuuum!" (calling from her bed)
Me "Yes Jaz?" (calling back from under my snugly warm doona while feeding Kayde)
Jaz "Mum it's important, come in here, please come in here noooowwwww"
Me "No, you come in here" (clearly not very obliging at this time of the morning am I?)
Jaz "But you HAVE to come here"
Me "whhhyyyyyy?" (major whining voice used here - who is the child again?)
Jaz "But Mum, there's a shadow and it's in my room! There really is!!!" (excited voice not scared)
Me "Umm, cool!!!??? But that's ok, I will have a look at it later ok?"
Jaz "no Mummy, it's important! There really is a shadow in my room!"

Clearly we have different ideas of important - especially first thing in the morning. Also important to Jaz is singing songs, all sorts of songs, songs that she has learnt and songs about what she is currently doing. Many songs come with dances, dancing is very important to Jaz. As are all her favourite things, from her favourite show (whatever is on that I will let her watch) to her favourite toy (whichever one she is playing with at the time).

Importance differs from person to person. I guess as my children are of the utmost importance to me then so too are shadows and dancing and songs and hair pulling :) Oh the lovely things in life.

Brain Overload

At the moment my brain is on complete overload!!!

Wedding, children, website, housework, wedding, weightloss, webiste, children, what was I doing again???

So I am just a little preoccupied - it is no wonder then that this week alone I have had a three year old who has drawn in texta on the (thankfully glass) back door, a baby who was found scrubbing the loo and himself with the dunny brush (eeeewwww gross) and  a fiance who has come home to complete mayhem most evenings!

But achievements are coming thick and fast...

The Website has been launched albeit with very limited information and pics but hey... it's a start. Check me out on http://www.milkncookies.info/

The wedding organising is well under way after a somewhat stressful glitch last week. The venue haas now been changed but it is costing us thousands of dollars less with the ceremony having a more casual/cruisy vibe much more suited to my gorgeous fiance's tastes... and the reception being held on a highly sought after roof top venue overlooking the beach! Yay!!!

My children are as gorgeous as ever. Jaz is loving 3 year old Kinder so much that she keeps asking when she can go to school!!! So I went and purchased some 'work' books for ages 3-5 and we spend between 10 and 30 minutes a day on them depending on the activity, her mood and my patience... We call it her school work and she absolutely loves it. It is quality time spent together and I am constantly impressed by the concepts she understands, it is a constant reminder to me not to underestimate her abilities.
Kayde is saying a lot more and is  sleeping a little bit better. His vocabulary now consists of Mummum, dadda, bubbub, the ocassional Ta, and when he knows he shouldn't do something or wants to tell his sister off there is nahhh ah ah ah.

The housework is the bain of my existence at the moment, I am struggling to get on top of it but i will...

And my favourite news of the week..... drumroll please.... I am FINALLY under 100kgs. As of this morning!!!!! For the first time in quite a few years!!!! YAY

Ok, I am off to put a tired little man down for a nap, get a coffee and watch playschool with Jaz

Summin it up

Arghhhhh writers block, writers block, writers block. Well not so much writers block as too many subjects to choose from.

Do you want to hear how the wedding plans are coming along?
Our mission to turn our family into one of those healthy types... you know, the type that go and DO something instead of watch telly in the evenings?
Maybe you would like to hear all about Jaz and her love of singing and dancing and driving mummy bonkers with her selective hearing and gorgeous butter wouldn't melt smile?
Or perhaps you would like to hear all about Kayde, his love of water, headbutting inanimate objects and insistence on pulling his sisters hair and laughing at the aftermath?

I guess the only thing to do is sum it up for you;

The wedding is booked, flights booked and accommodation booked. We are getting the invites sorted and should have them out by the end of the month and I simply refuse to shop for a dress until I have lost more weight! Look out Bali here we come!!! Again...

Craig and I have been working out on a treadmill loaned to us by some really lovely friends, he has been doing strength training and I have been dancing around the house like a nutter, we have started going to the pool as a family once a week in addition to Jaz's swimming lessons and endeavour to be active instead of sedentary, we have had days at the Zoo, walked, ridden bikes, visited the beach and taken to having regular picnics for dinner. I think we are all loving life just that bit more! Oh and I have lost nearly 7 kilos since the beginning of the year - Yay me!

I never get sick of telling anyone who will listen just how gorgeous my beautiful children are. I am one of THOSE mothers, you know the ones. They talk about nothing other than their kids, that's me... And quite frankly I don't care. I am their Mummy and I am darned proud of it!

At the moment Jaz has been practicing getting away with basically not doing as she's told. Craig and I both find it all insanely frustrating but have to stifle our giggles when she then cocks her head to the side and puts on what can only be described as an intentionally 'butter wouldn't melt' smile and simply states "but i not want to". Jaz loves dressing herself, wearing jewellery, dancing on tippy toes, singing songs, bossing her brother and helping mummy. Jaz loves going to creche, telling us that she wants to go and play with her friends. She has returned to swimming lessons too, where she is getting better all the time and makes me so proud when she achieves something new such as quickly ducking under the water to retrieve something without stopping to remember that she 'not like' going under the water.

I pretty much summed Kayde up in the first paragraph. He is growing up way too quickly, his favourite thing to do is pull Jaz's hair and laugh when she squeals, this is closely followed by his love of headbutting things, particularly windows and walls, doors and floors... I am not sure what he is trying to achieve but it must be something great! Oh and he is one major water baby... We had him in the pool for over an hour today and he didn't even begin to grizzle. When I hold him at the waist he flaps his arms, splashing wildly while simultaneously pushing off with his legs froggy style.

See what I mean?
Too much to choose from and this is just the tip of the iceberg.

I mean, there's also the whole 3 year old Kinder debacle, don't even get me started on that one, or do... Oh I don't know.
What about the decision of where we would like to settle before Jaz starts school in two years (seems like a long way off but it really really isn't).
Or there's the fact that the only thing stopping me from launching my new blog is the fact that I just cannot decide on a name for it that reflects the 'feel' of the blog, catches your attention and isn't a total cliche! I even know EXACTLY what to write for that one!

It's coming...

I promise it really is on it's way, the new blog that is!!! While I am learning how to create the exact site that I want I am also busy writing writing writing and finding inspiration (OK, reading lots of fun and wonderful blogs).

While I am endeavouring to do all of this I am left with the Mummy guilts... I think we all know what I am talking about. That feeling that instead of doing whatever it is that we are doing we should be playing with our children, reading stories, playing hide and seek and learning the alphabet, we should probably also be keeping the house looking reasonable an operating smoothly. Instead, the princess is watching Umi Zoomi quietly, in a pajama top and nothing else (not because I wont dress her but because she throws a tanti if I try to and says she doesn't want pants on *sigh*) who am I to argue? Then there is Mr 9mth old who's latest party trick is to approach anything and everything and headbutt it. He seems to love the reaction he gets from 'living things' such as parents and his sister and likes the sound it makes when he headbutts solid things such as windows, doors and walls! Hmmmm

While undertaking my research and writing i thought I would try and teach Jaz to clean her own room (just picking up toys from the floor and placing them in the toy box) but I have discovered that teaching a three year old to clean their room is somewhat akin to teaching a cat to do party tricks. I am sure it is possible but not for me and certainly not without a hulluva lotta repetition and reward!!!!

Anyway, the point of my ramblings is that I am sticking to it, it is definitely coming, stay tuned...

Classic Jaz

After listening to Mum and Dad talking about dinner on the hands free while in the car:

Jaz: in a slightly horrified but also very interested tone: "Are we having snake for dinner?"

Mum: "No bub, we are having steak for dinner" stifles giggle

Jaz: "What's steak?"

Mum: "Meat" Mum looks in the rear vision to see a very puzzled look on Jaz's face. (to understand this you may first need to know that to Jaz, all meat is called chicken, except fish which is called salmon, unless you are having fish and chips in which case it is called fish. Get it? No? Us either)

Anyway...

Mum: "kind of like chicken but different"

Jaz now in a very understanding tone and nodding "Ohhh like Penguin?"

Mum laughing uproariously: "Well a chicken is somewhat like a penguin but different I guess, but no, we are not having Penguin for dinner, we are having steak."

Jaz: "Penguins flap their wings in the water like a butterfly."

Mum: "ummm ok"

Jaz: "I can flap my wings in the water like a butterfly penguin too, can't I Mum?"

Mum: "ummmm, yes, yes you can bub"

Stick it!

I have come to a realisation that many other people are most likely aware of... I just cannot seem to stick with things...

OK, that's not exactly a revelation, anyone who knows me would be aware of that fact, it's just that I have never really given a great deal of thought as to WHY I find it difficult to focus on things and see them through. It is not so much that I am an instant gratification junky (though I do like projects that I can finish relatively quickly - uh oh, maybe I am). It is more that I have so many interests, so many varying things I like to focus my energies on that it seems almost impossible to stick to just one. But doing more than one is often just not feasible, especially when raising a family... oh who am I kidding? I was like this long before starting a family!

So, I can either continue like this, not finishing things I start. Proclaiming that I am going to do something only to get sidetracked and start a new venture before really getting stuck into the previous or... hang on I'll get to the 'or' in a tic.

You see, to some on the outside I guess it may appear that I am lazy, that I don't see things through because I cannot be bothered. but you see that couldn't be further from the truth. It is because there is so much I want to do that I jump from one thing to another before I can even get stuck into the idea I had previously.

OK, I can hear you saying 'SO WHAT?!' yeah, I agree, not really all that interesting of an observation but wait there's more... and it's not a set of steak knifes either, here is the 'or'...

OR I can do something about it, so...

I am going to start something and stick with it. The challenge I had was finding something I could stick with, something where my other interests, thoughts, imaginings, day dreams and so forth would not interfere but may instead actually benefit the undertaking of this task. What is this new venture????

I am going to blog and not 'The Daily Motherism' type of blog. The type you come back to, again and again and again. Not necessarily because it is funny, though it will be, not because you know me and want to be kind and read, though I hope you do... But because it will have a truly eclectic mix of all things of interest to me and hopefully to a bunch of other people too.

It will contain random snippets of information that float around in my head because I am able to learn and retain random things but cannot for love nor money remember my times tables.

An example:
How to make clear ice blocks - use boiled water, this will ensure your ice cubes are crystal clear, no fog or cracks, just perfect ice cubes. Seriously... who needs to know such random *ahem* crap. Well I seem to retain irrelevant information like this on a regular basis, so I will share it in a section just for random, uselessly useful info.

Further to my random ramblings I will have sections on kids, courtesy and etiquette (my pet peeve is people who appear to have lost their manners somewhere), recipes, craft projects, weight loss, great reads and... well, the list just goes on and on.

You see this does not fight my scatterbrained approach to life, it embraces it, relishes it revels in it, like a pig rolling in mud or a kid wearing gumboots jumping in puddles. It may not make sense when you say it but it works!!! At least I hope it will... Stay tuned... I have a lot of research, reading and writing as well as planning and creating that needs to take place. I hope by saying it out loud that this is something I will stick with and actually create... Wish me luck. xo

Family Ties

A few days ago I had the amazing opportunity to meet a cousin I had only met once before when I was very very young. You see I have three cousins who all live in the US. My Uncle also lived in the US until he passed away last year. I met my Uncle when I was young also but not since, though I have always felt as though I knew him from the stories I was told by my Dad. Uncle Kenny was older than Dad by quite a bit and moved overseas before Dad started his family. I have always known I had family overseas and being as family orientated as I am have always wanted to know more about them, often asking questions and paying particular attention to everything I was ever told about them.

The beauty of the Internet and in particular sites such as Facebook is that they can allow you to connect with people you may otherwise never get to meet but definitely should. Over the last 12 months or so I have communicated via the net with all three of my US cousins, with a lot of communication between myself and one cousin in particular, Michelle. When I heard that Michelle was coming to Australia with the intention of simply seeing and getting to know some family I was instantly excited. After a few emails backwards and forwards it was settled that Michelle and her husband Gary would venture down to my Mum and Dads with my two Aunts (one of whom they were staying with during their trip) on Friday and stay the night at my parents home in Somers.

On Friday I not only got the pleasure of seeing my Aunts who I see far too sporadically but I also met Michelle in person. Not to sound too 'airy fairy' but I felt an almost immediate connection. I could have sat and talked with her for hours, she was just one of those people who makes you feel instantly comfortable. I cannot describe the feeling other than instant comfort and acceptance. Maybe it is because we are family and it is ingrained into us to have a connection or maybe she is just a very special person who makes everyone feel at ease when they meet her, I don't know.  My only regret is that I will not get to see her more often. We may live on opposite sides of the world but I cannot wait to see her again, to chat, to share stories and ideas (She too is looking at starting a new blog and doing so 'properly') and to get to know each others families.

When I got back from Mum and Dads on Friday I couldn't stop telling Craig how wonderful the day had been and when he later found me researching the cost of flights to Colorado I think he realised that I was serious. Not this year (Wedding, Bali etc etc) and probably not next (will probably still be paying for the wedding lol) but soon, I want to travel to America, I want to spend time getting to know my extended family. Of course we will have to see as much of the US as we can but now more than ever I am determined to get there. And when we do I will hopefully get to meet my entire extended family and build connections that will last the rest of my life

Name Change update

OK, so I have actually decided to keep this blog just as it is but I will be creating a new site for a new, more refined purpose. I will keep you updated on when it is up and running and will be sure to be plugging it relentlessly ;)

Well, I have so many things to chat about... As I am typing this I am watching J tumble from the lounge chair onto one of those flip out couch thingys while singing out 'Mum mum mum watch me, watch meeee'. And as she tumbles she laughs and squeals both at the same time...

I am thinking back over the past few days, to things that I have rambled to myself about (mostly in my head but not always) and that I would like to note, if for no other reason than not wanting to forget them along with so many other things that have long left my memory.

On the weekend we took J and K to the Animal Zoo. Not the zoo, the animal zoo. J has been asking us every day for the past two weeks to take her to see the animals at the animal zoo, singing to us (most things are sung at the moment) that she wants to see the munkeeeez, the eflaaants and the Jeeeraaaaafs... She tells us that her cousin who is the same age as her went to the zoo with his Mummy and Daddy and baby and he has told her all about it. i find this incredibly fascinating. The kids are mostly playing raucously when they are together but I have never really noticed them having much of a 'conversation' as such. Sometimes they say the odd thing to one another such as 'look at me' or 'come with me' and often they yell at each other 'that's MINE, give it Baaaaaack!!!' but never have I heard them just having a chat so finding that he has told her all about the zoo and had her so excited by what he has told her is completely fascinating to me.

Anywho it was off to the Animal Zoo for our little team. It was a beautiful sunny 28 in Melbourne on Saturday, just gorgeous. Really good weather for drying washing, that was something I had lots of due to the terrible drying weather that had graced us over the last fortnight, but I didn't have to worry about that, I, sorry, we were going to the Zoo.

Off we went and there we arrived along with gazillions (no exaggeration there really were gazillions) of other zoo going folk who were also wanting to take advantage of this glorious weather. But that did not hamper our spirits, we arrived in time for lunch, we picnicked, we visited critters and we constantly heard each other saying 'c'mon J, c'mon, you'll get lost, don't go over there, come here, COME HERE, STOP Grrrrr Hmph' But don't worry that didn't dampen our spirits for the day either. J was just being a typical excited three year old. Loving the gardens and the animals and the general excitement of the day.

We took the Phil & Teds so that she could climb into the pusher when her legs got tired but she didn't spend long in there, most of the time was spent on Dads shoulders getting the best view of everything. I love watching her riding all the way up there. It is a special father child activity, a right of passage.

I took lots of photos looking very much like a Japanese tourist, watching most of the goings on through a viewfinder. K slept a majority of the time and spent the rest of the time cooing and laughing at strangers enjoying lots of attention and quiet time gumming Sophie (His Giraffe teether).

We grown ups enjoyed offering J such a special day, I enjoyed walking in the sunshine with someone to share the kid wrangling with and when all was done and dusted I even enjoyed the cruisy drive home as a passenger and a whole 45 minutes of alone time with my family.

Hearing J tell us that her favourite animal was the Efalents (mine was the giraffes) got me to thinking of some of the funnier words and mispronunciations we have had the pleasure of experiencing so far and I thought I would share them with you.

Moogoo (the first oo is pronounced as in book or look and the second as it is spelled 'goo') this is J's name for a mandarin and has been since she was about 16 months old.

Gunzel - otherwise known as Rapunzel

There are many more of course that I am sure I will remember as soon as I hit the 'post' button and then there is the one that a wonderful friend of mine uses all the time since her darling son came up with it. It is 'Toonkynunk' (hope I got that one right) I just love this word and think her son is a complete genius for coming up with such a literary gem!

I must admit we use Moogoo all the time, hardly ever referring to the fruit as a mandarin. J also has her very own word for her privates and since she started using it we do too.

What funny / nonsense words have your treasures come up with that have become family favourites?

Name Change

Not mine, my blog...

A short entry only tonight, not because I don't have a million things to say. Anyone who knows me knows I could chat all night, and day, and then through the next night, all without stopping to catch my breath but tonight I wont go into any of that.

Tonight I just have on my mind the possibility of changing the name of my blog. Despite the fact that I have not been the most diligent blogger I feel that my blog is deserving of a more suitable and appropriately reflective name. As a matter of fact a different look entirely. I really do have a serious case of blog envy and the only remedy is giving my own a makeover. It will be a slow and gradual makeover, following my gradual education on blogging and how to make my blog better.

I have a lot to share, a lot to communicate and a lot to learn and I want my blog to represent the me I want to be. Not the me I was, not even the me I am but the me I am striving to become... Hmmm something to sleep on, what will my new blogs name be? I think I know but will wait until I am sure before I click the change button!

Ciao
xo

Going Bananas

I am not sure but I think I may be living with a family of monkeys not a family of humans. How else can I explain the extraordinary amount of bananas I need to purchase every week?

Just this last week my family has consumed 30 bananas. Maybe we are single handedly (not so sure that's a word but I'm sticking with it) keeping a banana farmer somewhere in business...

It actually became a talking point over a cuppa with a friend when my youngest brother (I have two) popped in and asked if we had acquired a monkey recently... I wondered what he was on about until I turned to see him staring at a reasonable sized bunch of bananas, if only he knew that those had been purchased to replace the pile that had already been consumed.

I really don't think it is just us. Bananas are just so very versatile, they come prepackaged, can be eaten raw or cooked (Mmmmm sauteed in Tia maria or Cointreau or deep fried with a serve of ice cream and maple syrup).

They go great in cakes and muffins, make the best smoothies and work really well as a baby food. What's not to love?

I am certain we will soon see a sharp increase in prices due to the Queensland floods and I distinctly remember the last time banana prices soared. It was around March 2006 when Cyclone Larry hit. I recall a friend of mine giving her son his first taste of banana, it was a real luxury, from memory bananas were approximately $17 per kilo, not bad considering an average banana can easily weigh up to 250g!!!!

I just hope that when prices soar again it is the farmers in QLD or the flood victims who receive a large proportion of the price rise, that they are not paid the same amount as they would usually be paid per kilo and then the retailers try to keep their income the same as it otherwise would be by hiking up prices. I understand the concept of supply and demand and completely accept the need for prices to rise in the wake of such a natural disaster, I just hope that the farmers are looked after too!!!

Now back to my light hearted look at my monkeys  family and their amazing banana consumption.

I would love to know what your family eats, drinks, uses, consumes at some phenomenal rate.

Leave your comments below to share.

Rain rain go away come again another day?

On a day when many of us are glued to our TV screens watching the flood disaster unfold in Queensland and in between crosses to Brisbane we are hearing of wildfires in Western Australia and Flash flooding in New South Wales and Victoria. I feel very lucky to be living in Victoria, in an area where today's weather is muggy and a little uncomfortable with no flooding or fires in sight. I cannot get my washing dry for the humidity and the constant showers and the kids and I are sticky and uncomfortable. Yet I am feeling very lucky to be living safely, not having to worry for the safety of my nearest and dearest (though Jaz did lock herself in the toilet and it took me nearly a half hour to get her out but that doesn't really count as a crises as I knew she would be fine).

Having said this I cannot believe the complaining of those who think we are hard done by with this weather. Oh how dare it rain on school holidays, keeping the kids cooped up indoors!!! If this is the biggest problem you face then I really do think you should consider yourself lucky. I know I do. Then again, for the most part I truly enjoy spending time with my motley lot, though I often feel guilty for short changing them while I do my own thing and leave them to their own devices I feel that it is probably good for children to learn to play creatively and independently. Is it really so awful that you are forced to be in the same space as your school aged children? Or your kindergartners, preschoolers or toddlers? OK, so you are feeling frazzled and maybe you are stuck for ideas on how to keep them entertained, especially if they are 'outdoorsy' kids who would otherwise be out playing in the yard, here are some ideas to help you stay sane...

1. First and foremost - who says they have to stay indoors? It might be raining outside but it is delightfully warm, let them play in the rain, jump in puddles, look for frogs, make mud cakes and all without them freezing in the process. What is the difference between rain and say running through the sprinkler on a hot day (ahhhh those were the days). Forget the rules and encourage some rain play. Grab your camera, find some shelter (I'm worried about the camera not you) and start shooting. Rain looks amazing in photos.

2. OK, so you are not into soggy children, why not make a cubby inside, use some sheets, boxes, furniture, pretty much anything you have handy, help when needed but otherwise let them create their own little hideaway.

3. Make some musical instruments, fill some plastic bottles with rice for maracas, a plastic bowl with baking paper laid over the opening and held taught with a large rubber band, or even a length of wool makes a great drum with a small plastic spoon ideal as the drumstick. If you have a more 'rambunctious' child, go the upturned saucepan and wooden spoon as it is a much sturdier option. Don't forget to make yourself an instrument and sing away.

4. Create an obstacle course, it's OK if you don't have a large room, you can use a hallway or even a range of different rooms, two chair with a broom across them makes a great limbo obstacle, a hula hoop to go through, ribbons laid across the floor to hop skip and jump over, the ideas are endless and will keep kids amused for ages, you can time them or they can do it to music.

5. Speaking of music, remember the days of creating a production to put on for your parents? (or was that just some strange thing our family did?) Anyway, encourage your children to star in their own production, they can wear makeup, dress ups, have their hair done and put on a dance and song for Mum and Dad.

Still think you're hard done by? I didn't think so.