Monday, August 29, 2011

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.

Thursday, August 25, 2011

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?

Monday, August 22, 2011

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.



Sunday, August 21, 2011

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.