Knights In The Castle

Christmas is Done and Dusted

2011-12-28T22:42:00.001+10:00

On Christmas Eve we went to Mass, put the presents under the tree, left treats out for Santa and his reindeer and put the girls to bed. We were well prepared but relieved to go to sleep that night.

My mother-in-law made this wonderful Christmas cake which the kids helped decorate. This was cut up for Santa.

Our wonderful Christmas celebrations started early with stockings being looked through and then the mountains of presents being opened. This year we gave the kids two presents each and a share trampoline. The got a mountain of presents because there are 4 of them and they each gave the others a present.

The house was cleaned and the food prepared before our first lot of guests arrived at 10:30am. It was fantastic to have my nephew, a strapping lad of 23, share our day too. The next lot of guests arrived at 11:30 and we began handing out presents. It was a very hectic time with 13 people in our library. Being the memory keeper that I am I had a little stress out that I wouldn't be able to know who gave the kids what gifts. I received some lovely and very thoughtful gifts, probably the most special was a gift voucher from my in-laws for a clothing store because I have lots a lot of centimetres and don't have many clothes which fit. My sister and her Mum arrived and she went out with the kids on the trampoline. Lots of bouncing occurred today.

Lunch as a simple BBQ, with the guests bringing something to share. I was reflecting on the day last night and thought the table was rather crowded, everyone had to squeeze past each other and I thought we may need a different set up next time we host Christmas but then I realised that it is actually part of Christmas. Lots of people crowded in one place, lots of noise, lots of food. A little bit of discomfort is not too hard to deal with. Apart from the wonderful company, the best part of the day would have been the desserts. I'm a sucker for good food. Mrs Granny Weymouth always brings the trifle which it is delicious. Everyone brings something to share; salad, dessert or nibbles. It's great. Little stress and so much fun.

Cousins. Isn't he a wonderful young man?

Gran with Princess Aurora with the lilac flowers she got for Christmas.

Kevin's loot.

Lisa's first Christmas loot. That doesn't include presents she got before Christmas. We only gave her one of those presents!

Packing up the tree to get ready for Lisa's birthday on the 31st

My Aunt and Uncle, cousin and her kids, my brother and my new sister in law and their kids. Kevin had to stay home and look after a sick Lisa. It was great to get everyone together. I'm so glad everyone traveled to see us. It's a great place to meet up at as there is plenty of space for the kids and enough chairs for the adults.

The Big Move

2011-12-21T16:59:00.000+10:00

We arrived here on Sunday and showed the girls where we were going to live. Kevin carried Lisa through the door as he had done with each Knight girl as he had brought them into our home.

The removalists arrived on Monday with a container bursting at the seams with our belongings. We unpacked the beds and enough kitchen things to make a meal.

Lisa's first night in the Castle

We didn't waste much time settling in. On Tuesday we set up the Christmas tree and the lights. The kids loved finally being able to get into Christmas.

Almost all of the boxes have been unpacked. We still have some boxes stored at Kevin and Pauline's house which we are yet to pick up or if we have picked them up we have not yet unpacked and sorted through. There are years of school resources which will most likely get chucked. Don't suppose I'll be needing those any time soon. There is still the scrapbooking room to unpack. Gosh so much to do. At least our room, the kids room and the kitchen is unpacked except those boxes from the in-laws.

We had a lot of rain for the first week we were here so it made unpacking the perfect job to be doing. It also made us have to mow quite a few times in the first 2 weeks.

The kids seem to have settled in really well. Hollie has her school uniform, a class number, a teacher and books ordered for next year. Jessica has checked out the kindy we'll be sending her to and seems to like it. All is left to do is contact mainly music and find a playgroup to attend. Maybe I should just start my own with the people I know around here?

Kevin has been allocated a school where one of his mates teaches, has all of his trains in the one spot, has his shed back and is planning his first train club meeting.

Me? I'm just hoping everything is clean and tidy enough for our guests in 4 sleeps time. I can do it. I really can. I can make this home presentable in 3 days. NOT. Family and friends are just going to have to put up with it aren't they. Well the least they could do would be to keep quiet about how messy, disorganised and unclean it is but I'm sure everyone will be so glad we're back they won't notice the mess. I won't be able to fix it up by Sunday that's for sure. My scrapbooking room won't be finished but that is ok. Kevin has erected the shelving system for it so I have started unpacking. I'm so excited to have my own space. Close the door on the projects and the kids can't destroy them. I'm so lucky and so excited.

We have already spent a lot of time in the garden pulling out unwanted plants and pruning, even breaking a pair of secateurs in the process. This morning I spent 1 and 1/2 hrs in the garden pruning and pulling before heading to the shops. Upon my return I returned to the garden to prune, pull and dig the horrible weed out of the gardens. We had hired a trailer to collect the last of our large items from the in-laws yesterday and were still in possession of it today so it was loaded up with garden waste. It was a 5x7 cage trailer and it was full. It was 10:30 before I finally stopped. What a morning and there is still so much to do. The next thing to bring back from the in-laws is the mattock to dig out all of the plants we have cut back. It is looking a little bare but we think it is best to start with a fresh look.

A date with my darling husband

2011-10-29T18:37:00.000+10:00

It's not often as a mother of 4 very young children that I get the opportunity to have a date with my husband. Well this week I had two. Two!. One was just in our loungeroom. But we shared a meal. Just the two of us. We had candles. We had music. We had children in their room and we had adult conversation. Oh the joy of just us two.

The next night we had a date away from the house. We went on the river cruise. It is a tourist boat which has a sunset cruise, nibbles on board, a camp meal and a bush poet, dessert, tea and damper. I had wanted to go on this since we arrived in Longreach but we just kept having kids and it all seemed too hard until my friend Deb insisted we go on it. It is closing down of the season and we were lucky enough to get tickets on the last trip. I'm so glad we did. It left at 4.50pm which of course with young children is not a good time but Deb insisted it would be ok. We had a wonderful time. We even got the top deck for the sunset. You have no idea how wonderful it is to be away from the kids to spend time with adults and that one you love unless it happens so rarely as it does with us. It was fabulous to spend the evening with Kevin.

The Thomson Belle our cruise vessel.

It was an extremely hot day. At 2:30pm it was 39.2C which is almost 100F.

We had to wear these beautiful necklaces to give us access to the top deck. Only 3 tourists allowed at the top at any time.

Only an outback sunset looks like that. It's simple beautiful.

If you get the chance to come out to Longreach this cruise is a must. If you get the chance to spend an evening alone with the one you love, do it.

Pregnancy

2011-10-12T12:32:00.000+10:00

One of my friends today told me she was pregnant. I was so excited for her. Happy for her news, happy for the joy it would bring her family however it made the think of all the things I hate about pregnancy. I remember with my first pregnancy my Mum told me to enjoy every moment of it because it is over so quickly and it is a miracle. Well, every time I threw up during that first pregnancy, which was all day and night for 18 weeks, I said, "Yes, this is a miracle. Thoroughly enjoyable." Women are designed to forget what it is like. No sane women would let a man near her again if she truly remembered what it was like.

We are still deciding, no I think we have decided, to have another baby. Yes, that means throwing up again for 18 weeks, sleepless nights during the pregnancy, 2-3 hourly feeds for 4-6 weeks, complete and utter exhaustion, teething and everything else that comes with having a baby. If you're a mother you'll know what I'm talking about. If you aren't, you think you understand but really you have no idea. So with all of that, why would I think having another baby is worth it?

A life of joy with the new baby and watching them grow up. You can't actually put it into words. There aren't enough mushy words to describe how it feels to be a mother. I used to think I didn't have enough room in my heart to love more than one but the more I've had the more my heart has grown and the more love I have in it. My children are just amazing. Sure they drive me nuts and I feel like running away sometimes. Who doesn't? I am still learning how to be a mum. These kids challenge me every day. They test my patience. They make me wonder what I'm doing. They smile and look up for a cuddle and everything seems ok. I hear them tell their friends how wonderful their Daddy is and my heart melts. I just love being a mum. I don't think I'll ever do anything as important as be their mum. No. I know I won't. I know that it is what I'm meant to do. I know I am good at it. Usually I'm good at it. They have taught me so much about the world and about myself. I can't imagine what my life would be like without them. I am truly blessed.

So yes, I will go again. 9 months is exceptionally short in a lifetime of joy and happiness. And this time, my last time, I will savour every moment.

Sad news

2011-10-06T19:46:00.000+10:00

My sister's sister-in-law died yesterday at the age of 21 from dengue fever. I am so sadden by this even though I have never met her. I feel for my sister and her family. I cannot imagine what it feels like. She was so young and had her whole life ahead of her.
Junaid is returning home to be with his family where 2 other members are ill. He has missed the funeral as, according to Islamic tradition, the body is buried as soon as possible after death. She only survived for a few short hours upon admission to hospital. She was on a hand held ventilator during her final hours. We really don't appreciate how lucky we are living in a country which has such a great health system. Where anyone can get state of the art medical treatment when ever and where ever they need it. We are so fortunate. I have not had a negative experience with our health system so I can't understand why people complain about it and compared to what others go through, ours is perfect.

On a health kick

2011-10-03T09:44:00.000+10:00

I did my first session with the personal trainer this morning. I didn't realise how unfit I was until she put me through the paces. I cannot believe after all that walking all through winter that I have lost so much fitness. In 5mins on the treadmill I ran 900m so I can still run. It's the weight bearing activities that are my challenge. Everything with my arms is very difficult and that has to do with my shoulder injury and the lack of work they do. I can only improve from here.
My aim is to loose 7kgs so I can get my holiday without the kids. Now just to find someone to have the kids. One of my friends here offered to have the kids, she is a mother of 4 herself, but I don't think I will have got within my BMI before I leave.
Kevin is also on a health kick because he wants to purchase EuroStar which he can as soon as he gets in his BMI. Kevin has already lost 1kg this week. So unfair but good on him. We have decided not to purchase any treat foods until our Christmas celebrations. We have also decided we won't eat any food unless we have to prepare it or have it prepared for us ie. by each other or if we are lucky enough to get to go out to dinner.
One of my biggest problems is getting to bed early. One of my main goals is to get to bed by 10:30pm. That won't and hasn't guaranteed I actually get to sleep early but I have so start somewhere. Right? I have been a night owl my whole life so it is difficult to change this habit. There are two main downsides to staying up late. Firstly I don't want to get up in the morning and then it makes it difficult to deal with the kids. Secondly, I eat at 10-11pm which is not conducive to loosing weight. For the last 5 days I have not eaten after 8pm. I have been drinking a lot of water in an attempt to ward off hunger pains but it doesn't seem to be working.
My workout routine will look like this:
Mon- PT 6-7am
Tues- walking 6-7am
aqua aerobic 6:30-7:30pm
Wed- PT 6-7am
Thurs- walking 6-7am
aqua aerobic 6:30-7:30pm
Fri- walking 6-7am
Sat- 1/2hr swim
Sun- rest day
A pretty full schedule. Isn't it lucky I have such a fantastic husband who supports me.
Stay tuned for some photos and an update on how I'm going.

The holidays

2011-09-16T21:54:00.000+10:00

Yay. It's the holidays now. It felt so good to only have to drop Jessica to kindy today. The state school had a student free day. The girls and I walked to kindy, we gave a train demonstration (the kids had been interested in trains and I offered to bring in some of Kevin's trains to show them. We played trains for about half and hour.), spent time with the girls at home doing puzzles, colouring in and playing dolls. It was a great way to start the holidays. Now if only Lisa would sleep through tonight I might be able to feel normal in the morning.

Here are a few photos of our week.

We went to the RM William's Muster on Sunday. Instead of watching the crazy men and women ride horses, Jessica and Hannah dug in the dirt.

After a terrible night awake with Lisa I found her like this under the coffee table. No wonder she was awake most of the night. Anyone want a kiss? I certainly didn't. She is such a mobile baby at the moment. I don't think it will be long before she crawls. There is a lot of scooting backwards which is why she was under the coffee table and a lot of rocking on all fours. She's cute just not in this picture.

Hollie's class had a picnic in the park with the other classes with year 1 students in it. They modeled their costumes and then had a variety of games. I love the look on Hollie's face here. It made me want to jump in a sack and have a race too.

After nights and nights of not sleep I thought I would give Lisa a formula bottle. I thought, like with the other 3, my milk was drying up or wasn't enough for her. She didn't sleep through so no more formula just yet. I look reasonable happy about it but I was crying on the inside. All I could think was, "If she's my last baby, it's too soon."

I think Daddy's going to have to buy a gun. They are just so beautiful. Daddy took these just before dinner yesterday. Hollie looks so tired but still so beautiful. Not that I'm biased or anything.

Hollie is such a helpful (most of the time) big sister. She cut up kiwi fruit for Hannah and herself and they enjoyed it on the veranda. I love the way she takes responsibility for her sisters and is usually willing to help them. You're growing up too fast missy.

Another Longreach kindy kid

2011-09-06T13:44:00.001+10:00

Here are some photos I meant to post back in term one. Jessica didn't get to start kindy until half way through the term because there weren't any places left. She had to wait until someone dropped out of kindy for her to get a place. We were delighted to recieve a phone call offering Jessica a spot at kindy. She didn't understand to start with because we'd spent close to 6 months telling her she wouldn't get to be a kindy kid this year but by the end of the day she understood that she would finally get to be a Longreach kindy kid and there would be no more hoping.
On her first day she didn't want her photo taken. I was a little sad. I wanted one of those posed kindy shots to put in her scrapbook. She wouldn't have a bar of it though. She was so excited to be a Longreach kindy kid, she barely said goodbye to us before taking part in the class. She didn't have any dramas and fitted in really well even though everyone else has been there for 6 weeks. She fitted in so well the teacher and the teacher aide had to keep reminding themselves that it was her first day/week and she didn't know all the rules and routines. It helps if your big sister was a kindy kid the year before.

Here are a few photos of her first day. First lot are her hiding from the camera. The second lot are her arriving at kindy.

MCN- Modern Cloth Nappies

2011-09-05T14:01:00.000+10:00

I have bought two brands of MCNs and have been happy with both brands. I have bought Hippybottomus last year and used them with Hannah and now with Lisa. I recently purchased Spunky Bums. These have been fantastic so far.

So just a little bit about my nappy habits before I begin.

I wash my nappies at night and hang them out to dry so they have all night drying time in case I need to use them early-ish in the morning. I usually wait until I have only a few nappies left before I wash that way if they don't dry overnight I still have a few to use until they dry. I have 12 pocket nappies. These dry really quickly. I have a huge supply of boosters that if I need a nappy that has been on the line over night and the boosters aren't dry (They take a while because they are 4 layers of cloth stitched together.) I have enough boosters to be able to get me through. I have all-in-ones and pocket nappies. The all-in-ones are pocket nappies too, they just have a booster sewn into them. I often add a booster too that why I don't get leaks. In the pocket nappies I generally put two boosters in. My girls have been big wee-ers during the day. I've only even had leaks when I have left it too long to change a nappy and that can happen with disposables anyway.

When I take them off the line I put the insert/s in because then when I'm trying to find a nappy I don't have to stress about the nappy being in pieces when what you really want is a quick change. When I get upstairs (if I have time and I'm not making dinner or dealing with a fight) I put the liners in otherwise the nappy would go on with no liner and result in more work for me. I then stack the folded nappy, complete with liner in the cupboard next to the change table.

I have recently started dry pailing my nappies. That is when you clean off the nappy of any soiled parts and give it a quick wash with pure soap if necessary, then dump the nappy into a bucket. I was a little unsure of this method when I first read about it. I thought it would result in really stinky nappies but it hasn't so far. I keep adding nappies to the bucket, with the booster taken out, until the bucket is full or I'm in desperate need of nappies. Then the whole process starts again.

The following nappies are all-in-ones. These are from Spunky Bums. See link earlier in post.

I have a selection of all-in-ones. I have velcro ones, 2 rows of clips and 1 row of clips. Probably my favourite is the nappies with the two rows of clips because they seem to be the most versatile. These would fit a baby from birth to toilet training. The velcro ones go on just like a disposable. Just fasten the two flaps. These are fantastic for Dads because they just go on. No stress or worry about getting the clips right and they are time savers. Sorry Kevin. I know you hate it when women bag men. And the ladies know I have a wonderful husband. This is for the "other" Dads.

This is one of the one row clip all-in-one nappies I have. I haven't had a leak from them yet but they seem to gap a little on the side which I can foresee problems in the future with a more active child.

This is an all-in-one nappy showing the pocket opening for the extra booster. You can't really see the sewn in booster and the booster.

You can kind of see the stitching in this nappy. This is the all-in-one.

The two clip all-in-one nappies. I think to start with people are a little unsure of the clips and where to clip the different parts for different sized babies.

The following nappies are pocket nappies from Hippybottomus. These have one row of clips all the way along the top and and second row on each side to about the half way point. The placement of these clips are excellent. I have been very happy with the clips and the elastic around the legs. I would suggest two boosters though.

Everyone should give MCN a go because they will save you heaps of money and save the environment too.

Menu plan and family fun times

2011-08-31T17:10:00.001+10:00

What's on the menu at your house this week? In order to help me be prepared I've gone back to my weekly planning of meals.
Monday - beef Stir Fry
Tuesday- lasagna
Wednesday - crumbed steak
Thursday - Rissoles and vegies
Friday - mac cheese
Saturday- Pizza
Sunday- roast
I braved the shops today for a huge shop. We spend so much money at the super market every week. I am glad we have girls. Can you imagine the food bill for 4 teenage boys? Yesterday I went in for 2 items. Hannah entered the shop crying as did Lisa although I was carrying her so it wasn't so much of a drama. Hannah ended up having a lie on the floor tantrum. I was carrying two babies, a huge packet of mince and trying to make sure Jessica was staying with me. My mood was impaired due to lack of sleep. I'd slept on the couch with Lisa and had my best sleep from 6:30 until 7:15am. The poor little darling is teething and hasn't been coping well at night. It is amazing people have more than one kid when they have to deal with a teething baby. Oh gosh I hope this tooth comes soon. I don't cope well on no sleep. Oh, how I am looking forward to late night shopping or just shops that are open past 5pm. Needless to say I didn't have a terribly wonderful time at IGA yesterday which lead to my less than impressed mood for the rest of the afternoon. Sometimes I want to throw myself on the floor and have a tantrum. If only that would make me feel better.
So enough whinging and carrying on. Kids will be kids. Right?
Here are some super cute moments in our family life at the moment.

This play station was given to us by a friend of ours. All our kids have loved it. We don't know what it's called. We call it the roundy-roundy because the seat swivels around. Lisa had been so tired and just wouldn't go to sleep. I went to put the clothes away and found her asleep. How can anyone sleep like this? Even after 4 kids I am still amazed at the positions they get themselves into to sleep. Stupid me decided to move her to a more comfy location and woke her up.

I had promised the girls that if one of them got all ticks on their job charts for a week I would buy them a paint set. Luckily for me I'd bought one during the Target toy sales. Hollie, yes shock, horror, was the one who got all ticks first. She had to wait until the weekend to be able to use the paints though. Here is Hannah having a little paint. Thanks for painting the a/c pipe too Hannah.

Now you want to see something super cute? What about a toddler who's stripped off and only wearing a backpack? Here is Hannah at playgroup after she'd played in THAT water fountain AGAIN, had got her clothes wet and then decided she was too wet for clothes. I don't understand how kids can play in water then when they've finished decide they don't like the feeling of wetness. What is with that?

The following lot of photos were taken yesterday. The days have been really quite hot although the mornings are still quite cold. Lisa started off in a tracksuit and finished in just her nappy. I was a little surprised at how chubby she has become. I knew she was the chubbiest of my little ones but I guess because it has been so cold we haven't really got to see all those gorgeous little chubby rolls. They are so beautiful. Not so sure about the funny facial expressions though.

I know it seems as thought the other children don't exists because this post is all about the two little babies. I will endeavour to post about the others next time. I do realise I haven't even posted pics of Jessica's birthday yet. I will leave you with some cute photos of Hannah I took while she was reading a book.

Busy Holidays

2011-07-10T20:31:00.001+10:00

The holidays were very busy. We've had the last 3 days to recover. To sleep in, to slob about, to try to get the kids back to normal after the excitement of Gran and Puff-puff and Nanny. It was great to have everyone here for the holidays. The kids don't get to see their grandparents very often so it makes it even more special.

I've been wondering where my jolly jumpers are. Yes, that's right I had more than two. Couldn't find them. Went to Vinnies and they had this one. Lisa, as you can see, loves it. Pretty good $2.

The first time Mum came to visit us in 2008 she found out you could go to the Ilfracombe pool for free and as the pool here in Longreach was under repair/refurbishment the girls hadn't been to the pool since we'd moved. Hollie was just over two years old and she remembers that Nanny took her to the pool and asked if she could take them again. Yes, in the middle of winter we took Lisa for her first swim. It is an artesian spa so it was fairly warm, just like a kid's bath minus the wee. Lisa loved her first swim. Kevin took photos because he didn't want to deal with the cold upon getting out. Lucky him.

Tomorrow we start back slowing into the real routine of life. I don't know how Lisa is going to cope with her favourite person being away all day. She has been very spoilt for the last two weeks. Kevin starts back on a student free day before the rest of us get into school, kindy, playgroup and mainly music again for another term.

I'm also looking forward to Hollie starting Auskick this term. I hope it's on because she's been looking forward to it all year. We are also starting the girls in swimming lesson again in preparation for the summer. It's going to be another busy term. Kevin said last year at Hollie's birthday it would be the last holidays he has until June. Well he didn't really get one and the next few holidays will be even more full on with a trip to Brisbane in September and a move to Brisbane in December. At least he gets them as holidays and the kids get to see their Dad a lot. Can't imagine what it would be like with a 9-5 job.

Birthday girl

2011-07-02T17:06:00.000+10:00

Hollie turned 5 on Wednesday. I still can't believe she is five. I know all mothers say it but where has all the time gone?
We had a very relaxing day. The kids didn't even wake us up for presents. They watched Mary Poppins instead. Such a treat to be able to watch tv hey?

Our family routine for birthdays is presents in our bed. A kiss from Jessica with her present for Hollie. A kiss from Hannah with her present.

Hollie's favourite present was the colouring/craft set we gave her. She spent most of her birthday colouring in.

Gran and Grandpuff arrived with more presents. One from them and one from Great Granny Weymouth.

We had Hollie's cake for morning tea along with a little party food. Hollie and I had made the cake the day before and Hollie decorated it.

In the afternoon it was off to one of her school friend's birthday party. Hamish is born on the same day but he is a year older. He even gave Hollie a present and she was lucky enough to win a game of freeze and received a prize of crayons and a colouring in book. Perfect. They sent her home with party bags for all the girls. This is the dress she wore to the party. It was a gift from Hannah.

The week before at school we took these cakes for Hamish and Hollie to celebrate with their friends. They will always have their birthdays in the holidays so we thought it was a good idea to allow them to celebrate with their friends at school. Miss O thought so too.

Jessica's last few days

2011-06-15T12:08:00.001+10:00

On Monday we had a bit of a terrible day with Jessica. It was the Queen's Birthday long weekend here so Kevin was home to make the girls' breakfasts. As a treat on the weekend Kevin will colour the porridge for the girls. He grabbed a different container of food dye on Monday. We paid for it later in the afternoon.

Jessica as a 20 month old had a reaction to strawberry milks and on Monday we had a repeat of those reactions. Our poor little girl was possessed. That's what it seemed like. She was crying uncontrollably, rubbing her feet together, hitting the ground, screaming, kicking the floor. This went on for almost 3 hours in total. This is totally unlike Jessica. I was so distressed. My heart was aching. What it is about being a Mum that you just can't turn off, that you feel that pain? I was on the verge of tears. I couldn't take it anymore. Kevin went to the pantry and looked at the ingredients in the two different food colouring containers. We will be steering clear of colouring 122 from now on. Kevin threw the contents down the sink. Meanwhile Jessica had fallen asleep in the position below, just like the last time she had this reaction. My poor, poor little girl.

Sometimes motherhood can be so challenging. What am I talking about? It is ALWAYS challenging. Challenging but also the most rewarding and meaningful thing I'll ever do. How wonderful is Jessica? This morning when I said I needed to vacuum the floor - with my silly, dodgy, still unfixed vacuum cleaner- I asked Jessica and Hannah to clean the lounge room floor. Jessica worked very hard until the floor was clean. She didn't have to be reminded what was expected. I didn't have to get cross. She did the job and encouraged Hannah to keep picking things up in a nice voice. Oh, how lovely is that?

It makes me feel great. Makes up for the way I left Hollie at school this morning but that is another story. I'll leave that one for tomorrow.

Thanks for stopping by.

Here's to parents

2011-06-02T14:31:00.001+10:00

You know being a parent is one of the hardest things you’ll ever have to do. I don’t care what anybody says, it is simply hard. Staying at home all day with young children is absolutely the hardest thing I’ve ever done. It is also the most rewarding thing I’ve ever done. People often say to me, “How do you do it? How do you manage with 4 kids?” I don’t know how I do it. I do it because there isn’t any other choice. As a mother you just do what you have to do.

A friend of mine had twins recently. Now there’s someone who you can say, “How do you do it?” to. I am totally amazed by her. She is feeding both of them and because they are small she has had to feed them more often. She is a first time Mum. Can you imagine the shock she would have had bringing them home? Can you remember the feeling of being overwhelmed when you brought your first baby home? Can remember the advice and the feeling of failure because you weren’t doing what was expected? The conflicting advice? (And I am guilty of giving unsolicited advice too. Sorry.) The goo - ing and gaa – ing that occurred when you first had the baby only to end when you really needed someone to help, to give you 10 minutes to have a shower or an hour to have a sleep? The complete tiredness from breastfeeding. (Those people who say breast feeding isn’t draining surely had someone else supply the milk. It’s not only the getting up during the night but the physical drain of having to produce that milk.) So tired you can’t think properly? You remember that? I’ve got no idea how my friend is doing it. Logically I know. She’s doing because she has to but even after 4 babies I don’t know I could handle it, that I’d know what to do. It amazes me what she is doing. I don’t even think she’s given a formula bottle in desperation. She is truly wonderful. She must be so tired and so drained. I want to tell her it’ll get better but I don’t want to lie. It gets better but then the next problem will present itself.

Motherhood involves constant learning. I just don’t seem to be able to master it. Every one of my kids are different and they have each required different responses to situations. Hannah responds well to having her face in the corner of the naughty corner whereas Hollie is punished enough by just having to sit in it. Don’t send Jessica to her room as she enjoys the time alone in her bed too much. With the end of every phase of parenthood comes the beginning of the next phase with its own challenges. It is a wonderful experience this motherhood thing but gosh it’s hard. Some days when Kevin walks through the door after a hard day of being a high school teacher, I’d give anything to be the one in the work clothes but not this week.

On Tuesday I had to take Lisa to the hospital to get her cough and wheeze checked out. She hasn’t been feeding well. Her feeds have been short and the frequency has stayed the same. She’s lost weight which is a little scary. It may just be the different scales but 1.1kgs in 2 weeks is not good. 1.1 kgs is too big a difference for it to be the scales too. They have put her on antibiotics! I’ve never had a baby on medicine before. They also said her wheeze sounds like an asthma wheeze but they won’t diagnose that until they are 3 years old. She is worse in the mornings and evenings. The cold chill makes the wheeze louder. I’m just glad it was me there with her. My poor little baby.

So here’s to Mums and Dads everywhere. I hope you are all having a wonderful week and rejoicing in your wonderful and not-so-wonderful children. Here’s hoping you have wonderful friends like me, who looked after my kids and my ring ins while I took Lisa to the hospital and who provided morning tea and lots of chatting and mother talk this morning and made everything in life seem ok. Thanks. I don’t know what I would do without the knowledge that what I'm going through is normal, what my kids are doing is normal.

Here is Hollie last week performing her shark song on parade. She was fantastic. I'm glad I'm the Mum who stays home so I'm able to attend all of her school events. I'd hate to miss it because I'm working. Poor Kevin always misses out. I'm a very lucky lady.

Who wants to be a parent?

2011-05-26T14:25:00.000+10:00

I have been feeling very overwhelmed all day. All week and probably for a little longer to be honest. I feel as though I'm constantly chasing my tail. My house looks like a bomb site CONSTANTLY, I'm cranky, I'm tired and I feel as though there is no time for me. I know I'm a Mum. I know this is my life at the moment but is there an end?
I swore at the washing machine today and then realised how irrational I was being and cried. Admittedly I did feel better after I'd cried a little but I didn't have time to cry either because I had to get Jessica to kindy and Hollie and the girls from next door to school. I don't know what's wrong with me. I don't know why it's all become too much all of a sudden.
The ladies at playgroup were quite shocked by my attitude today because I was obviously not coping with life all that well this morning. I think I usually have everything under control and this week or these last few weeks everything has become a bit much and they noticed. One of the suggestions was my lack of exercise. I had a Lletz procedure done last week and the gyno said no exercise for a month. I think he was being a little over cautious but I don't want to be out of action for longer because of my stupidity in over doing it too. Having got into the swing of exercise it's really difficult not to exercise. I also know I operate a lot better if I am able to have some time to myself every day before the family gets up and in my face as children usually do in the mornings when they are demanding breakfast and there is the hustle and bustle of getting everyone ready for school and kindy. I haven't had that time for over a week now. Maybe the ladies have a point.

During some down time today I read this post and decided it is kind of ok my house looks horrible. My kids have a lovely life. We have lots of laughs and cuddles and so many good times together. That's truly a positive.

I mean look at this photo. Cheesy grin I know but she was having fun with me out in our yard one afternoon recently. This makes it all ok.

But then you get this.

Hannah pulling every item of clothing out of her cupboard. No point ironing her clothes. Look at all the wasted time I spent ironing that pile of mess.

And the fights we have to have to get her to sleep in clothes in winter for her to just take them off again when she gets to bed.

Then this. Isn't that the cutest little Lions girl you ever did see?

And this is why we have so many dramas with Hannah. She is one cheeky little monkey. Don't you just love that grin?

Then you get the firsts like this.

Hollie's first athletics carnival. She hasn't quite mastered her mother's running style. She came last in this sprint. She spent the first half of the race looking around at all her friends. 2nd last for the youngest kid at school. I'm so proud of her though. She had a heap of fun too.

Then came the ball games.

So much fun.

Then came the high jump. Not really following in my footsteps but that's ok. Look at her face. Pure joy. That's what I want to see.

So there is joy in this thing called parenting. It's just that sometimes it's a little hard to remember the good. A simple look through the photos on the computer will always help.

A Birthday to celebrate

2011-04-22T20:45:00.000+10:00

It was Kevin's birthday yesterday. We had a very lovely relaxing day. I made his favourite dinner a sponge cake. This year I also picked his present all by myself. I got him a barrometer. He loves it and keeps checking the temperature because that's pretty much all that changes around here. Here are some pics of our day.

Unwrapping his locomotive from the girls. A Farish B1.

We always do presents in our bed. Jessica is giving Lisa a cuddle.

The sponge I made for him.

Hannah enjoyed the food as always. These are her Tim Tam hands.

Jessica and I played on the floor and Kevin took some photos of us. She blows me away with her beauty.

Lisa found the day very exhausting and fell asleep on the floor.

There are a few photos taken of Hollie but they aren't very good. I'm glad Kevin had a lovely day. I love sharing his birthday with him.

Wonderful Weather

2011-04-08T18:58:00.000+10:00

Here are a few photos of the family taken last weekend. It has finally cooled down enough to go outside and enjoy being outside without feeling as though you're going to melt. I love this time of year althogh the mornings are getting a little chilly but it heats up quickly but only reaches the high 20s or low 30s. It is just lovely.

I can't wait to get back into my blog. Really going to make an effort. Gosh I say that a lot don't I?

I bought this out door setting for the kids years ago from Vinnies and they have had so much use.

Hollie enjoying a swing.

The beautiful girls in their hair towels.

Grandpuff with his youngest and eldest granddaughters.

My exercise

2011-03-19T20:11:00.003+10:00

Bootcamp had its last session this morning. Now what to do?

I need to have some kind of committment to keep it all up. I find getting to the gym quite difficult. Oh I can't imagine why with 4 kids? A friend told me about this site The Rage Within and I was thinking of giving it a go. I thought it was quite achievable. I mean who can't do 50 elevated push-ups a day? Well me probably with my shoulder but I can easily crank out 23 normal boy push ups without any problem. Feeling pumped and I want to keep it up.

Prior to the commencement of bootcamp

After the first session. Not the best photo of me but one which indicates how hard I worked.

After 6 weeks of hard yakka this is the result. A fitter, stronger, healthier me.

Only 3.5kgs lost but you should feel those muscles. Here's to a fitter, stronger, healthier, happier body.

Another week begins

2011-02-20T15:58:00.000+10:00

We have been so hectic since school started. Not only are there my 4 kids to look after but I've also taken on Ted and Rosie for a four hours on Monday and Tuesday each week and picking up and dropping off of the neighbours' kids every day except Monday and Tuesday mornings. Once all these responsibilities are taken care of there isn't much time left in the day.

Hollie has been extremely tired because of her energetic learning days and so have Kevin and I. We at least don't cry at the drop of a hat but then maybe we should. It's probably better than being grumpy. It isn't just the tiredness from school. Hollie has attended two parties this week which adds to the red eyes.

Here is a shot of Hollie and Kevin having their Sunday sleep. Hollie who hasn't had a regular day time sleep since she was 18 months old has one every Saturday and Sunday.

Jessica has taken to climbing the tree in the back yard. I took these photos of her the other day after she had climbed quite high.

I think she is just beautiful and really think her kindness is visible in those stunning eyes of hers.

Hollie's first day of school

2011-01-24T12:37:00.000+10:00

There were no tantrums this morning, hardly any complaints and I even got to hang up a load of washing and put another one on before going off to Hollie's first day of school.

She wasn't very nervous. I didn't cry. I didn't have time. I had to drop Kevin back at school because he wanted to be there for parade because his year 12s start today. I hope she has a good day and enjoys herself.

I wanted a photo of all the girls together so I can do a page over the years to show the kids growing up.

Soon it begins

2011-01-22T13:24:00.000+10:00

I am in preparation mode for the return to school as many are but this time I don't just have my darling husabdn going back to work I have my eldest starting Prep! I guess I'm lucky as there isn't much to do. Uniforms were purchased last year, bag given as a Christmas gift and school books paid for as part of the school levy. I don't hae to buy and cover books which is a blessing I just have to mentally prepare myself for the beginning of the end. Well it actually started last year when she went off to kindy but now she is away from me for more hours of waking time than she is with me. That is scary for me. It was hard enough all the little saying and behaviours she brought home from kindy I can't even imagine what it's going to be like in the coming years.
I am very happy too though. She is so excited and has been since she turned 4. For some reason she had it in her head that when she turned 4 she would be going to school so the count down has been on. I am excited for her and excited also to be able to spend more one-on-one time with the other girls. Hollie is the lime light hogger of the family so it will be fantastic to spend the time with the others.
I'll let you all know how the first day goes, how I cope with the routine of school drop offs and pick ups and I'll let you know if I cry.

So much news

2011-01-17T22:02:00.000+10:00

Since November (the last time I updated) so much has happened.

1. School finished so Kevin has spent time looking after me, letting me sleep in, chasing kids around, rousing on kids (and giving me a break from it), cooking dinners ( I have cooked a total of 3 meals since the beginning of December) and generally being the best husband and Daddy in the world.

2. Christmas was celebrated and is a distant memory now. I was 10 days overdue on Christmas day and kept hoping I wouldn't go into labour. We had a very quiet day with just our small family, the 5 of us. We didn't go over board on food but ate a lot of desserts.

3. Baby Lisa Lily was born at 1342 on the 31st of December weighing 7lb 9oz in the world's (my world) shortest labour. 2 1/2hours from the time the put the drip in. Oh how much energy did I have after that! Wow. Very quick.

Lisa's baptism with Fr Jordan and proxy Godparents Gran and Grandpuff.

Hollie is such a big help with Lisa.

4. On the 7th of January we flew to Brisbane so Lisa could meet the families and be baptised. Kevin also attended a PD while we were there which was the other main reason for us going.

5. I celebrated my 29th birthday.

6. During our time in Brisbane the floods hit. We went and had a look at the fast flowing Brisbane River. Amazing! We saw pontoons floating down the river. It was so fast. Our prayers are with the people who lost family and friends in the disaster and to those people whose property was damaged or destroyed. Mum's place took a battering and her roads are in very poor condition. We spent a few hours helping her shift rocks and repair the road before returning to Brisbane to celebrate our wedding anniversary.

Lisa's Godparents Matthew and Zoe.

Now it's back to reality and the adventure of 2011 begins. Tonight we got back on the bikes and rode for 30mins. Next week we start school and a hectic life.
Until next time. Thanks for looking.

My little gardener

2010-11-12T15:09:00.000+10:00

Hollie seems to have a very green thumb. For the last 2 years we have bought bare rooted roses and grown them in pots. We buy them online and it is Kevin's job to tend to them every afternoon. Hollie helps him and this year has become very interested in gardening herself.

She even found seed pods in the yard and germinated them, planted them out and now we are the proud owners of these 4 tree seedling that I don't know what we are going to do with. I didn't think they'd survive the germination process let alone the planting out.

Here is Hollie with her seedlings.

Yesterday Hollie found her first red strawberry. She was so excited and said it was the most delicious strawberry she had every had. How cute.

At kindy they are also growing plants. Hollie's seddling is one of the biggest in the class. Everyday she shows me how much bigger it has grown. Yesterday when we were at Crazy Clarke's she wanted to buy more seeds to grow. She has been collecting the seeds off the lettuce plants to sow next season. She has a lot of patience for a girl of nearly 4 1/2. We are very proud of her.

An ultrasound

2010-07-25T15:53:00.000+10:00

On Friday we went for the 19 week ultrasound. We were most relieved everything was ok. Unfortunately we didn't get a good picture of the face and there wasn't a chance to get a head and body shot like the others have. They couldn't get the hands because it had hands on head or hands on chest. It is head down. Face down. Very difficult for them to get measurements but at least everything is progressing well and NORMAL.

This is as good as it got for head and body.

3D profile. The umbilical cord is in front of its nose.

Another 3D.

Its feet.

Maybe I have time now

2010-04-28T14:52:00.000+10:00

Maybe I have time to upload some pics and talk about what I've been doing lately. My MIL has gone home, Jessica is watching a Playschool DVD and Hannah is desing up as Dorothy the Dinosaur so I may just have a few minutes to update.

This is a very bad picture of the locusts which destroyed this tree. There were hundreds of them in this tree. Possibly thousands. Time will tell if it will recover.

Heading to Brisbane for Creative Block, me with the Scrappy Tech team. What a wonderful few days away.

I got to meet up with my Mum for dinner. It was lovely to see her even if it was only for a short while.

About to board the Brisbane Eye. It was a funny time. Thanks for the ear lick Heidi.

Packed and ready to go home. Pity I didn't have a bag big enough to take all my projects, make and takes and shopping. Ah, that's what Father-in-laws are for.

And in the bottom of one of the borrowed bags (which was mine, I'd just left it in Brisbane at their house) I found my engagement ring!! It had been lost for 3 months.

I arrived home to a sick househould. Here is Jessica sleeping in our bed trying to recover.

Kevin with his birthday cake chosen by Jessica. Can you guess by the colour of the icing?

I'm sure now that the house has returned to normal that I'll be able to update a little more reguarly. I must away now. There is too much fighting. Peace and Mummy time over.

Easter Saturday

2010-04-03T22:47:00.000+10:00

This is the result of a long, long, long day. Here Jessica went to bed after the day we had today. She had been in trouble many times for mucking around in her room and not sleeping. This sleep was meant to make her well behaved and happy during the long Easter Mass tonight.

What a day today. We got up, had the last of the hot cross buns and loaded the kids in the pram, Hollie on her bike and we went to town. Hollie rode all the way!!! That's 1.7kms for a nearly 4 year old. Pretty good I reckon. We thought ahead and took a dog lead to attach to the bike for the homeward bound journey and Kevin towed her for part of the way.

After the street parade we came home and headed for Ilfracombe. There was another street parade and market stalls. A free jumping castle, face painting and rides in the Cob and Co. coach. The girls enjoyed the jumping castle and Hollie patiently waited in line for the face painting for 10 minutes to get her face done while Jessica just walked straight to the painter as there was no-one else in line by that time.

Home for sleeps (a very rare thing in this house), then a movie and dinner before baths and Mass. Hannah cried, no screamed the whole time during Mass and Kevin or I missed out. Kevin eventually taking her for a drive in the car to get her to sleep. She cried for 20 mins in the car while he drove her around Longreach. There aren't many places to drive to in Longreach, just lappies of town.

After the eventful day Hollie still wasn't asleep at 9:30pm!!! Tomorrow will be better when they are charged full on chocolate. Yeah sure.

My baby is one now

2010-03-22T12:42:00.000+10:00

Birthday girl.

On Thursday my baby girl turned one. Gosh I can still remember how I felt just after she was born. Wow the time has gone so quickly. It's quite scary actually. It has been a truely wonderful year with her. She has been such a good baby.It is delightful to see her grow. She has just started to get some real attitude about her too. She doesn't like it when people take things off her, eat food and not share it, go somewhere she wants to go and she lets you know about it too. Kevin said over the weekend that he will be glad when she can talk because at least she can let us know what she wants. Unfortunately when that happens they let you know about everything. LOL.

Hannah in her party dress.

We celebrated Hannah's birthday with presents in the morning before Kevin went to work. We didn't go to playgroup because Hollie and I were sick. Jessica and I made the cupcakes for Hannah and they didn't burn which is a first for this oven. Hollie and Gan made the icing. When Kevin got home from school we had the cakes and the happy birthday song and tucked into the cupcakes. Unfortunately Hannah burnt her finger on the flame of the candle but when she was given the cake to destroy she was fine.

Hollie the princess had to put a good dress on for Hannah's party. This is the dress Caileigh wore to be our flower girl when we were married. Jessica, not such a princess, just wore a normal play dress because it was "pretty with flowers on it". They looked so cute all standing and dancing while holding hands. Poor Hannah can't keep up though.

A new Car

2010-03-14T14:33:00.000+10:00

We bought a new car on Thursday. How exitig. It's an IMAX. The car that we've been looking at getting for when we are a family of 6. It meets all our requirements, except for looking cool. It has 8 seats, a big boot and drives well. We're not in the market for a new car because we don't have a 4th kid on the way but we now have enough room for 3 more children. Let's hope we don't need it for that reason.

Unfortunately it's in Brisbane until the end of June when the in-laws come out for Hollie's birthday. It is too far to travel to bring it back. We are wanting our Commodore to be in Brisbane so we need to swap the cars over. The current plan is the in-laws will drive the new car up and the old one back in June but gosh that is so long to wait. SO I'm a little sad that I won't get to see the car pass through 20,000km on the odometre. I would have loved to drive it into Longreach. Drive it home. But I have to deal with that. I just can't wait to drive it.

No pictures yet. I may be able to upload one if my mother-in-law took a photo of it and has it on her camera.

Diet and exercise

2010-03-03T19:40:00.001+10:00

The diet, salad and tuna for luch most days and an increase in vegies for dinner, and the swimming and aqua aeorbics don't seem to be working. Initially I lost a lot of weight. 3kgs in 3 weeks but I have since put on weight and no I don't think the fat is turning into muscle that happened a long time ago. I have no idea what's going on. I don't feel heavier, in fact my clothes are baggy and I'm feeling really good except being a little tired from late nights and all the exercise. I did have a lady at aqua the other night, who hasn't seen me in a while, say that I looked really good and toned around the shoulders and my chin/neck area looked more trim. That was a lovely compliment because I don't know her apart from aqua classes so she was in no need for her to be polite as women often are. Maybe I am doing something right. It just sucks to put on weight when you're putting in all this effort.

Organisations

2010-03-02T15:52:00.000+10:00

As it is with most organisations, a few people do most of the work. I am the tresurer of our local Playgroup and also do a lot of other other running of the Playgroup. A lot of organising, a lot of the cleaning, a lot of the buying, a lot of doing activities with the kids.

I always say that you should give a busy person a job because you'll know it'll get done. I'm also the kind of person who just gets in and does it because usually I don't mind and I know it'll get done. I don't mind but at the same time I don't understand how people can sit around and not do.

It is very rare that I am not involved in the cleaning of the Playgroup shed and it is usually because the kids need to get home to sleep. I don't know how many times I've vacuumed the floor with Hannah crawling behind me crying or being held by one of the people who never vacuumes. There have also been numerous times where I have vacuumed and mopped and when I've finally closed the shed there has been noone there. Yes. This is a whinge because I guess I'm sick of being one of the few.

On a lighter note, we did have a good time at Playgroup today. Heidi brought playdough and so did I so we had two different colours which is always good. We discussed many of the issues of Playgroup such as the cleaning and it was decided that I should write an email reminding people of their shared responsibilities and to call a meeting of interested people. One of the problems is that there is no committe so it is difficult to make decisions because it is more of a consultation process which takes far longer than a meeting would. I have proposed a meeting after dinner out somewhere. That's a good idea right?

Here is a photo of Hannah at Playgroup a few weeks ago.

Non-date date

2010-02-02T10:13:00.001+10:00

What a stupid thing to do a layout about. This sign. But the sign is very important to Kevin and I. It's a silly photo. Not very well taken and most people would look at this and ask why take a photo of a sign let alone do a layout about it. It was the place where Kevin and I went on our first date. It was a date according to him but just somewhere to meet to me. It wasn't a date to me but he did ask me to marry him then so it might as well have been a date.

I'm going through my scrapping folds and uploading layouts I have completed but not posted anywhere. Then I'm deleting the photos so stay tuned for more layouts.

Rain, rain and more rain

2010-02-01T14:20:00.000+10:00

It was meant to stop raining today. The low was supposed to have moved south. The worst of it is over I guess as the winds have died down and the rain isn't as heavy. It's just that set in, constant drizzle rain you get here. The kids are a bit stir crazy because they haven't been outside much in days. They have energy to burn and they are burning it by talking, harrassing me and being crazy lunatics in the lounge room. Oh for a day a sunshine to be able to do my washing too. The weekend was definately one of those weekends you wished you didn't have kids. It was snuggle in bed, read a book, watch a movie weekend. But not to be and I wouldn't swap it but you know those weekends.
This was the yard yesterday. It is even more full of water today. We'll have to take a drive out to the river this afternoon to see how much it has risen since yesterday. The shops are out of bread because the road is cut. I couldn't supplies from the newsagent because the road is cut. Maybe this flood will have more effect on us than last years.

Until next time. Thanks for stopping by.

Ultrasound photos

2010-01-31T19:56:00.000+10:00

This ultrasound pic is from when Hannah was in my tummy as the girls call it. It was a bit difficult to do this layout considering everything that has happened but it has been on my "to-do" list for over a year now and I thought there's no time like the present so I just got in a did it. I've been off the scrapping wagon for a while. I've had to pocus my attention to other things. Naturally, considering the circumstances but now that renovating has ceased and we have returned to normal life I can get back into it. This was completed using my stash and these were all left overs from other LOs. The journaling came straight out of my journal I kept on Hannah's pregnancy. I have kept one for each of the kids and have even managed to finish Kathryn's even though hers ended differently. I think they will be valuable for the kids to read when and if they are mothers one day.
Thanks for stopping by.

Having friends

2010-01-27T23:17:00.000+10:00

I feel so blessed to have the friends I do. I don't have many but the ones I have are gems. Last night I had t go to Jillian's to order some photos. I have no idea why my computer wouldn't let me process the order. We had a bit of a chat about my darling baby and how I'm coping. Gosh it is so difficult to put into words. I don't even know why I try to do it. There are too many mixed emotions when dealing with something like this. I'd just like to point out that I'm ok. I'm doing much better than I thought I would and I'm content with life at the moment. I actually guess there isn't much to say at all. I guess friends know what's going on.

Today I left the kids at Jillian's (again, and left them crying, again) while I went to IGA. There I ran into Leesa. Thanks Leesa for your questions and your support.

Hollie and Jessica got home from Jilly's and were asking me about Kathryn. They wanted to know they didn't get to see her in the memorial garden, when we were going to have another baby and could I please ask God for a boy baby this time. At times I don't think Jessica is coping very well. She still gets angry when people talk about babies and yells that our baby is dead. They can both remember too well when I was pregnant with Hannah. The poor dears.

Here's some photos of the lovely girls.

What a start to the year

2010-01-22T13:50:00.001+10:00

We have had such an eventful start to the year. We spent the first 3 weeks of the year renovating our house for (hopefully) new tennants. What started as, "We're not going to paint this room," ended in "We have to completely renovate these two rooms."

Here's the story:

We were going to leave the sunroom unpainted but I decided the wall paper strip should come off which ended up taking paint off so we had to sand to paint the room. The guy who owned the house before us had used ply, plaster board and whatever else as the walls. He had also filled a crack in the ply with plaster so that when Kevin went to sand the wall the plaster fell out; then he took a chunk out of the plaster board wall too, not knowing it was there. So he had to take down those two panels. We decided then to turn the sunroom into the 4th bedroom. Where we put the hole in the wall for the door was written, "Was a door is no more." Kevin wanted to add "is once more". The two rooms were finished.

Half way through the renovation.

In amongst all this we went to the hospital to have our routine 13 week check up for the "new baby" as the kids call it. We spent half an hour doing all the paper work with the midwife then I got on the bed for the examination. She couldn't find the heart beat. She brought in a portable ultrasound machine (which was a bit dodgy) and still couldn't find it. So she booked us into have a proper ultrasound. Luckily they could see us straight away. We went through all of this with the 3 kids. Can you imagine how restless the kids were after all this time in the hospital? And they were so excited because we had told them we were going to hear the baby's heart beat. The sonographer couldn't find the heart beat either. Our baby had died at 10 weeks. As you can imagine it was devastating news.

We were told to come back in on Monday to have it sorted. Needless to say we were in a state of shock for the weekend. My Mum had already spent 2 days helping us paint but I called her and asked her to come again. The kids stayed at home with Pauline while we went to the hospital on Monday. We arrived at 9am and left after 8pm!!! What a day. They kept the remains to be cremated. I have no idea how they cremate something that doesn't have bones yet but anyway that's what they said they were doing with our baby.

All of our children were born in the same room of the birth suite except Jessica who was born in the operating theatre but we laboured in the same room before the C Section. Jessica and baby Kathryn were "born" in the same operating theatre and I recovered in the same maternity ward room with both of them too. We are glad we discovered Kathryn's death before we returned to Longreach. At least they were all born in the same hospital.

This is the photo taken of the 5 of us before we went to hospital to have Kathryn removed. We have taken a photo like this of the family before we have gone into hospital to have the next child. I thought I should do it again because I was actually going into hospital to have Kathryn and I didn't want to devalue her life even if it was only short.

We orgainised with our local parish priest to say Mass for our baby in our front yard the following day. We called her Kathryn Poppy Knight (she has the same initials as Kevin Paul Knight - who was going to be Kathrine had he not been Kevin. Poppy is because all the girls (including me!) have flowers in their names) on the basis that we have 3 girls already we assumed this one would be a girl too. I guess we'll find out one day when we get to meet her. Maybe he will greet us and asked why we named him Kathryn instead of Kevin. We felt so much better after Mass. The act of a proper send off really helped us. It didn't help the kids but it did help us. What helped the kids was going to the memorial garden at the hospital. I'm such a chicken. I left all the hard stuff to Kevin. He did the explaining to the girls in the garden.

The house got finished (kind of) and we returned to Longreach. It is absolutely beautiful. So green and lush from the rains. The whole drive up here was green. The explorers must have come through at a time like this. Why else would you think it was a good place to run sheep and cattle? The midges don't encourage anything!

Advent Candles

2009-12-04T14:45:00.001+10:00

This year we decided to start educating our children a little more about our beliefs. I had read an article which spoke of the importance of religious traditions. This was our attempt at establishing one for our family. Last Sunday, the first Sunday of Advent, we lit the first candle after Kevin read a story from the girls' bible.
They enjoy these candles on the table. Hollie and Daddy had to make a special trip to the shop to buy the wreath, well two infact, so we were ready in time. I was the slack mother who didn't get around to making one.
At least our girls know the reason for this silly season although today when Hollie was talking to my Dad, who is in hospital right now, on the phone and he asked what she was doing for Christmas, her response was, "Getting presents." I guess that is a typical response for a three year old.

Advent Calendar

2009-12-04T14:04:00.000+10:00

Here is my Advent Calendar. Well it is actually a Christmas calendar because it doesn't start when Advent starts it starts on the 1st of December. This was supposed to be finished for last year but I ran out of time and paper and BG's Figgy Pudding paper is old news and thus hard to come by. Some of the newer boxes were completed using BG's latest range (name escape me right now) but they work well together so that's ok.
The boxes were cut on my craft robo and very minimally embellished. I've used velcro on the backs of the boxes for extra strength and so the littlest one can find what's in the box too. These photos were taken at night so they are pretty dodgy but you still get the idea. I am happy with the way it turned out. The Christmas title is temporary, for this year anyway, and of course the 2009 will change in 2010 which is nearly here. How crazy is that?

Some more layouts

2009-11-23T13:30:00.000+10:00

Sketch LO for Young Scrap Birds Cyber Crop

2009-10-30T14:25:00.000+10:00

I rotated the sketch from the cyber crop over at Young Scrap Birds to create this layout. This was a murder mystery dinner where we had to dress in the roll of the person we were to be. I was a doctor and I'm not sure what Kevin was. We played brother and sister though. Ryan organised the whole thing. I didn't really want to go as Jessica was only a month old at the time and I was tired. The main reason was because I didn't know what to expect at the murder mystery dinner and I was shy. Yes that's right me. I ended up having a really good time though.
I enjoyed using this sketch and I enjoyed doing this challenge. I wouldn't have thought to scrap this picture if it wasn't that everyone else was scrapping costumes. THe journaling square was made by Amanda Dobbs as part of our berrylicious swap on OzSwapTillYouDrop yahoo group. Thanks Amanda.

2009-10-26T22:43:00.000+10:00

Some layouts for your viewing pleasure

2009-10-26T19:56:00.000+10:00

This layout uses the sketch from the October sketch at Scrapbooking Memories forum.

This technique on the journaling block was the faux silk using tissue paper and stamps I learnt over at 123scrapbook. I made a card with it and thought this left over bit suited the colours of the layout really well.

New teeth and a chipped tooth

2009-10-26T13:22:00.000+10:00

We have been dealing with teething children for almost 3 years now. One seems to get new teeth and goes out of teething as the other enters. I guess that's the price I have to pay for having kids so close together. Hannah 3rd tooth popped through yesterday and the 4th one today so thank God that is over for a while. Hopefully it will mean more sleep for all concerned.

This is Hannah at Playgroup with a funny hat on before her teeth were big and visible.

Jessica is also teething. Trying to get those 2 year old molars through. She has one through so we are just waiting for the other 3 to come now. SO she's getting teeth but she lost a part of her front tooth when she chipped it at the pool on Saturday. I only knew it was chipped because I saw the bit of tooth in her mouth and like the true scrapbooker I am I picked out the piece of tooth to scrap and then I gave her a cuddle. Poor little thing she had blood coming from gum of the broken tooth.

Here is Jessica eating ice cream at the Longreach Club when Mum was here. This was right before she tipped the bowl up and drank the remaining runny ice cream.

Hollie has all her teeth now until she's four. Then the unfortunate thing is they start to fall out.

This is Hollie is the hat at Playgroup too. Isn't she just beautiful?

I am hoping to follow later today with a few LOs I've recently completed. I just hope the kids think it's ok for Mummy to have Mummy time. We'll see.

Visit from Mum

2009-10-07T23:08:00.000+10:00

Kevin's away on a school trip to Canberra for a week so Mum came to help me out with the kids. It's been so good having her here and so good for the kids to connect with her. It's a shame Jessica is in the terrible twos and doesn't want help from anyone let alone Nanny.

I haven't done any scrapping for weeks and I really want to get back into it but seem to have lost my mojo. I feel inspired and then as soon as I sit down to do anything scrapping related. Must just be tired from being away and being sick. I'm itching to do something. Probably need to log onto some challenges.

Here are some photos of the recent dust storms in SE Queensland. These were from while we were away visiting Mum. This is in the Mary Valley. This dust came from Longreach. From my current home to my old family home. Pretty dusty hey. You can imagine what my house in Longreach was like after I left the toilet window open. You can still taste the dust in the air in the house. Yuck.

Wahoo it's the weekend

2009-09-11T18:32:00.000+10:00

I don't know who looks forward to the weekend more. Me or my working husband. I sure he does. I know he does but I DO. I love it when Kevin is home. Gosh it is so nice to be able to walk past him and give him a cuddle. It's so nice to have him around. Have him close to the girls. Close to help me out if I need him.

Our first crop

2009-09-05T12:54:00.000+10:00

Last night we hd ou first crop. Jilly and I organised to use the local high school (thanks to my darling husband) for a crop once a month. It started last night with four of us. It will grow and grow or so we hope. I guess the best part is sharing ideas. I didn't get much done because Hannah was sore with her teeth. I didn't want to leave her home as she has been such a sooky, Mummy's girl of late. My aim was to get 3 pages done and I didn't even get one done!!! Oh well next time.
I'm off to make princess crowns for my girls.

Kaisercraft pp

2009-09-02T13:10:00.004+10:00

Here is the latest page using the sketch on Young Scrap Birds forum. This was another 30 min page. I'm getting good at them. Not that the pageis brillant but all the info has been included and it's another memory and photo done.

I'm also including a card I made for the September Sketch on the Scrapbooking Memories forum. This is for a lady in OzSwapTillYouDrop yahoo group who has had some sad news recently.

7 Layouts in a weekend

2009-08-23T13:33:00.005+10:00

Here are the other layouts I have done this weekend.

3 Layouts in 90 Minutes

2009-08-23T10:12:00.004+10:00

This was a challenge on the Scrapbooking Memories forum. Here are my efforts in 90 minutes.

A card and a birthday

2009-08-14T13:54:00.004+10:00

Jessica turned 2 yesterday. Where did the time go? I bet everyone says that as their children have another birthday but really what happened to that time?

I decorated 2 cakes for her. One for Playgroup and the other to have here at home. Dorothy the Dinosaur is her favourite so that's what we put on her cake. Not at all what I wanted but it did the job. As Kevin said, everyone that matters knew what it was. Everyone under 5. She liked it so that is all that matters to me. She had a wonderful day and was so exhausted but was too tired to go to bed. (They are supposed to be having a sleep now to compensate for yesterday but all they've done is played and now they are up and really really grumpy.) All three girls were up during the night so I was not a happy camper. Yes camper for real as I am camped out in the lounge room while the out laws are staying. (Hi Mum) I also made Jessica's card. Wasn't a little girly card but it did have roses on it for Jessica Rose.

My latest LO

2009-08-04T15:15:00.002+10:00

A New Goal

2009-07-20T09:50:00.003+10:00

I've decided that my new goal with my scrapping this year is to end the year with now pages in my work-in-progress folder. Let's see if I can manage that. I'd better get off the computer, attend to the crying kid, finish the housework then start work on my pages in my folder.

Wish me luck.

Getting some scrapping done

2009-07-19T20:15:00.005+10:00

I have been scrapping almost every night for 3 weeks now. I'm getting good at quick layouts thanks to the inspiration of one of the ladies in the class at the scrapbooking show. She said she does most of her layouts in half an hour!!!! What a challenge. I've managed to do two 30 minute or under layouts in 2 days. I guess it's good. The quality might not be the best but the memories are recorded and that's the main thing. Right??

Here are two of my recent layouts. Yes, I know. I still haven't worked out the camera yet. Need lessons. Hint, hint.

Some layouts

2009-07-13T14:31:00.000+10:00

This is the page done in half an hour. I included the shell that Jessica found at the beach.

I really need to get better at photographing my layouts because my photos don't really do them justice but it is better than not having them at all.

I really wish I could put these photos in a better order. The upload thingy is really annoying me.

It's back to work

2009-07-13T10:50:00.000+10:00

Well the school holidays ended today for me. Kevin went back to work. Boo hoo!!! This means my holiday ha ended too. This means there is no one to help me during the day. No one to send the kids to when I want 5 mins peace. Oh holidays are so good. Now the real routine of life begins. I started well this morning (even though I didn't go for a swim) with the vacuuming, washing, dishes and the usual morning routine of making beds,cleaning kids room etc. Now I just have to clean the bathroom an toilet and Mondays jobs are done. I was going to brave the walk to town this morning but I got up too late and now it is too hot so I drove and got the shopping. I even bought a pie for Kevin and dropped it off to work for him. I'm a great wife I know.
So the kids are now settled down in front of the computer and Hannah is trying to go to sleep I might try to photograph some of my layouts so I can post them. I'm doing the 20 layouts from my stash challenge on the Scrapbooking Memories forum. I've completed my first 20. Now I'm doing it all again using my supplies from the scrapbooking show (and the rest of my stash). I've already done 4 of 20. Last night I got a layout done in under half an hour!!! It's nothing special but it is done and another memory is recorded. Will hopefully upload some today. Better get this girl off to sleep.

It's time for a cuppa

2009-07-09T19:15:00.000+10:00

It's that time again. Since I got home from Brisbane it always seems time for a cuppa. Kevin says it's because he missed my wonderful cups of tea so much that he's trying to make up for it. For me it gives me an excuse to stop for a few minutes. It's time for a cuppa because the kids are in bed without any excuses, crying or complaining and they are asleep!!!! Oh the joys of motherhood sometimes.
It's cuppa time then scrap time and I'm going to bed early tonight. You hear? Early. None of this going to bed at 2am then being awake until 3am to get a baby back to sleep. Early, early, early. Did you get that? Maybe if I say it enough I might actually do it for a change. Then again maybe not.

Finally home

2009-06-29T17:05:00.000+10:00

After nearly a month away I'm home. It is a wonderful feeling to be in my own space and the kids are feeling the same way. We arrived yesterday at about 3:3opm after 13 hours of travel time. It was a long drive. We should be getting used to it by now but Kevin and I were just so tired it made the drive difficult. All were very relieved to get out of the car.

Today my little girl turned 3. We didn't do much. We had presents and then her friend arrived for a short 20 minute visit before driving to Rockhampton with her family. We got patty cakes from the bakery and ate them in the park. We played around at home. Jeremy and his Mum visited and brought another present. We played outside with the dogs. Had Hollie's favourite dinner, pasta, and then had her birthday cake. It was a very lovely day even if we were all so tired.

I will upload some of my work once I get a little more time. I am currently completing a challenge on the Scrapbooking Memories Forum to use my stash to complete 20 layouts before I buy again. I have already bought again but that is only because I planned the trip away to attend the Scrapbooking and Papercraft show in Brisbane and living so far away from shops I had to use the opportunity to buy up big. I have not used my new purchases though so I am trying hard to get through this challenge so I can dig into my goodies.

Day at Barcy

2009-05-31T20:25:00.000+10:00

For all of you that aren't local, not that I really am yet, but Barcy is Barcaldine, just over 100kms from Longreach. We went to Barcy today to go to Mass. Yes, that's right, we drove over 100kms to attend Mass. And I think that technically means I didn't have to go because I travelled so far but out here 100kms is nothing. They were having Confirmations and First Holy Communions too, which we didn't know about. To my amazement they were dressed traditionally and the girls even wore veils!! How sweet.

We also went to the Folk Musuem there because they were running their little garden railway. Jessica had a ball. Hollie not so much even though she is into trains more than Jessica. It was the noise of the lawn mower motor in the train that Hollie didn't like. Here are some photos of our day and a layout I did for the sketch challenge on SBM forum.

HMITM

2009-05-30T20:33:00.000+10:00

Here's a layout I created for the HMITM challenge #107. It drove me nuts because I actually created this layout about our third wedding anniversary and got the journaling done in 25 words as specified in the challenge the went to print the photo off and the photo I thought I was going o use was actually for Valentine's Day!!! not our wedding anniversary. I don't have a photo of our wedding anniversary. And to make it worse, before I went to print the photo off I wrote a wrong word in the journaling so I had to cut the inside of the journal block out and had to re-write and re-stick it then I found out about the photo. So then I had to come up with another photo that I could use the title and design with. I found this one I've been wanting to do of my first wedding anniversary but the 3 was a rub-on and I couldn't get it off. Luckily I could get off years and was able to replace it with days. It worked out ok in the end but I was nearly crying there for a while. It all came together so easily and quickly initially that of course something had to go wrong. Check out the challenge on the How Much Is Too Much? blog.

http://hmitm.blogspot.com/

Under 8s Day

2009-05-28T12:51:00.000+10:00

Today we went to the Longreach State School for the Under 8s Day. There were heaps of kids there and lots of activities for everyone to do. The girls had heaps of fun. Jessica was a little overwhelmed to start with and Hollie wanted to go home when the emergency services cars arrived and the kids were allowed to turn on the sirens and honk the horns. Hollie was scared. Poor thing. We had to make playdough because Playgroup supplied the playdough activity. We made purple, Carley made pink and Trish made blue so when all the colours got mixed together as it does when kids play with it (I mean who else is going to play with it? Adults?) it made purple instead of brown or muck. Good thinking Trish.

Cyber crop

2009-05-24T22:10:00.001+10:00

This weekend I participated in the Scrapbooking Memories Cyber crop. I got 5 layouts done. I'm not overly impressed with any of them but they all meet the set criteria so I guess I'm happy with that. I'm also happy that I got another 5 done. It's 5 more stories I've told and I had a great time doing it too.
Sister love challenge was set by Bella to create a layout with the following criteria:
Use die-cut cardstock as the base - buy a ready-made shape or cut one out yourself
Use only black and white paper or cardstock colours
Use photos that make a strong connection between the past and the present
Use button clusters to accentuate journaling.

Watch your smile bloom was a challenge from Buzz and Bloom.
The challenge is to create a layout using hot pink, orange, polka dots and use either ‘buzz’ or ‘bloom’ in your title

Outside was a challenge by Kaisercraft was to use the sketch. I was lucky enough to have Kaisercraft patterned paper.
The others were sketch challenges too. I liked the sketch challenges as they weren’t so challenging but the challenge of the others was also very rewarding.

Anyway, enjoy. I’m off to bed so I can get up and swim 3kms in the morning. How exciting. Well it is. It is so good to clear my head and feel like I’ve done something by 7am but it is just the thought of getting out of bed at 5:45am in the freezing cold I don’t like. And 120 laps is rather daunting. 102 laps this afternoon!! I’m going well. My size 14 jeans don’t fit any more. That’s a bonus.

2009-05-20T14:08:00.000+10:00

The photo for 2 months old.

Bad Mummy

2009-05-20T12:50:00.000+10:00

Sometimes I just feel like such a bad Mum. Hannah was 2 months old two days ago and the only photo I took of her was one of her asleep at night time. I didn't even realise that she was 2 months old.
Yesterday I locked Jessica in her room for throwing a tantrum because she wanted to watch a movie and not eat her lunch and because she wouldn't stay in the naughty corner. Eventually she came and ate her lunch but I did feel bad about locking her in her room. Me bad Mum.
Today is much better though (except I have a screaming hungry kids on my front right now). Must go so I'm not a bad Mum again.

Today's agenda

2009-05-18T09:22:00.000+10:00

I was very good this morning. When the alarm went off I didn't tell Kevin to turn it off even though I was very tired and cold and didn't really want to get out of bed. I got up an went to the pool. It took me ages to swim the 2.5kms today but I did it. Hannah had woken not long after I left so Kevin gave her a bottle. I am very lucky that he is so supportive and doesn't complain that he had to get up to feed her. After my shower I had to express (gosh it is hard to swim when you are full of milk because it tingles so much) and Hollie and Jessica tried to help. I don't know how they think they can help but they do and it is annoying but I just feel like they want to be part of Hannah so I let them help me push the handle.

Today I have heaps of housework to do. Oh joy. Hopefully if I get it all done I can go to town and do the shopping so that the girls can have a rest after lunch and we'll go to the pool after Playschool. Hannah is crying and wants a feed so I have to go and deal with that then it's washing, vacuuming, mopping, cleaning mirrors, bathroom and toilet, ironing and sorting out the kids clothes. They are all out of their current sizes and into the next size so I have to put clothes in bags and take more clothes out and trying to do that with "help" is not easy.

This is not a good photo but it is exactly how Jessica looks every time you tell her to smile for the camera. It's so cute but could you just be "normal" for once so I could take your beautiful smile?

Crying has started again. I'm really going this time.

Just something new

2009-05-16T15:39:00.000+10:00

These have been sitting in my work-in-progress folder for over a year. I thought I'd better finish them because the photos and the selected papers have been there for a long time.

Hollie's first time on the "sippy side" as she used to call it. It was a chance for her to have some time with Mum and Dad alone before Daddy flew back to Longreach (we were staying with the in-laws waiting to move to Longreach, Kevin was already here). Her love of "sippy sides" hasn't changed except she can pronounce it properly now.

I'm glad that I got these two finished. It means that I have a few less unfinished projects which is always satisfying.

The other new announcement is I swam 3kms today. My darling husband has set me a challenge. To swim 225km by the end of August. Why 225kms? Because my winter memership cost $225 and I didn't sign up until the season was well underway so I don't really have that long to get the 225kms done. I'm also going away for over 3 weeks so I have to get cracking and put in a few long swims. My usual 2kms won't cut it now. It has to be over 2kms every swim and I can't miss a day. Thanks for the challenge Kevin. It's going to be hard but it will mean that I have to go and be very committed even though it is so cold in the morning when I get out. I still have 203.5km to go!!! Wish me luck.

Motherhood

2009-05-13T11:15:00.000+10:00

Sometimes I think this is so easy, being a mother is wonderful and so fulfilling so it's easy. Tonight and thus this morning was not one of those moments. Last night I was awake every hour for one of the kids which resulted in me being so very tired this morning. So when the alarm went off at 5:45am to go to the pool I just couldn't do it and now of course I am feeling so slack. But it took me until nearly 9am when a friend came around to wake up. My eyes are still sore and it's nearly 12pm!!! The kids are tired from lack of sleep. I'm tired from lack of sleep. It reallly doesn'tmake a good combination and I have to get all the jobs done.

Here is a moment of motherhood that I delight in though. Check this photo out. Isn't it just so cute? This is Jessica falling asleep while drawing. It is these really cute times and when they are just so adorable that your hart just swells. It was just so funny because 3o seconds prior to this photo her and Hollie had been having a fight over a pink texta and then Hollie left to play another game and Jessica fell asleep. What dear things children are. God made them so sweet so we could stand the tantrums and the teenage years. They are truly wonderful and I'm so glad I'm a mum even though it is really ard work.

Mother's Day Afternoon Tea

2009-05-09T21:54:00.000+10:00

I am a mother, first and foremost, and a wife second. Then comes me, for me. I love being a mother and a wife and sometimes there is time for me. Today was one of those days. I was able to leave the three kids at home with Kevin and go to the Mother's Day afternoon tea to raise money for the local kindy. Our table were dressed as fairies. We had a wonderful time. Isn't it good to get out and not talk about the kids or worry about them? I so lucky that I have such a hands on husband that I don't have to worry how he'll cope with the kids. I was able to go the whole 4 hours, yes 4 hours for afternoon tea, without thinking about the kids (too much). How nice it was to have time to focus on me. To laugh, to talk (and not be interupted), to feel like a human being that isn't attached to children. Make no mistake, I love them dearly but sometimes it seems that all I am is a mother and while that is wonderful and very fulfilling, it is also very draining and sometimes makes me feel like I want something else. Today was the something else. Today was my day to recharge. To feel young. To just be me. Not a mother or a wife or a cleaner or a negotiator or a slave. Just me. It was wonderful even if it was a little bit selfish.
I will upload photos of us as fairies and me with my shower cap prize. Next time I better win something better than a shower cap. It will make a lovely addition to the dress-up box.

ANZAC Day

2009-04-25T16:15:00.000+10:00

What a wonderful day ANZAC Day is. It is so fantastic to see all the young people out in support of our diggers. We went this morning. Kevin marched with the school and I waited at the park for the parade to come to the park. The girls were pretty good but by the time the service started they were itching to do something and the lure of the park became too much. I ended up supervising the older girls on the swings and the slippery slide while Kevin held Hannah.

The reality of a newborn has finally set in. I have finally started to feel the tiredness of a newborn. I also haven’t been going to bed early enough and to add to that the hormones of post labour, I’m well and truly tired but Kevin let me have a sleep today which was good. It didn’t make me feel any better but at least I got a few extra hours sleep which he didn’t get.

Of course Kevin had to watch Essendon play Collingwood today so the girls got decked out in their Bombers gear. A bit cute and I’ve resigned myself to the fact that they are all going to be Bombers supporters even though Jessica is supposed to be a Lions supporter like me. I could get some really good pages with the three in black and red. Poor me. I’ll be all alone in my blue, maroon and yellow.

The best way

2009-04-18T11:25:00.001+10:00

Often the best thing to do is the hardest. Why is that? Is is a test to see if we can do what is the best? And if it is so hard to the heart, is it really the best thing for you even though it is right? I guess only time will tell.

Now we are five

2009-04-15T14:03:00.000+10:00

Hannah Grevillea Knight was born at 2353 on the 18th of March. It was a wonderful birth and I am glad that I had the opportunity to have a natural birth after the shock of a C Section with Jessica. I can't believe that Hannah is already 4 weeks old tonight! She has grown so much and no longer looks like a new born.

The girls love her so much. They always want to hold her and help me with her which is great because it is a bit of a work load having 3 kids under 3. I am very happy with how the girls and I have coped with Hannah's arrival. I seem to be managing better than I thought I would. I thought it would be very difficult with the three of them and it is at times. When they are all crying at the same time or we have to go somewhere and noone is cooperating but Hannah seems to have fitted into the family well and we seem to have done a good job preparing the girls for the reality of having a new baby in the house.

I have started exercising again although not as regularly as I would like but anything is better than nothing. I am already back to my pre-pregnancy weight but I'd like to maintain my fitness and get rid of some of the extra kilos from being too heavy during the pregnancy with Hollie. Tomorrow I'd like to start swimming again. I need to get into a routine before it gets too cold and also before Kevin finishes his holidays. Otherwise it will be the June holidays and I won't have done any swimming.

I've also started scrapping again which is good. A good time for me to do something for myself if Hannah doesn't wake for a feed when I'm half was through something which is usually the case. Here is a layout I've completed. There are another few that are half done because they have been interupted by a crying baby but at least I am making time to do some scrapping and I am actually getting them finished.

What to do now they're not here?

2009-02-12T09:18:00.000+10:00

I spend so much of my time doing things for the girls and they have just left on a long drive to Brisbane and now I don't know what to do with myself. I spend so much of my time wishing for 5 minutes peace and now that I have it the house feels so quiet and empty. Talk about being ungrateful. I miss them already and hope they will be safe on the trip. This is the first time that I have ever been more than 20 minutes from them both and they have not been with either Kevin or myself. And yes, I know that I am being a sook but it is so far to drive and I've been praying that nothing happens to them on the trip. It's not like I don't trust Kevin's dad but these are my babies. This is possibly the last photo of the 4 of us. The next time Kevin is with the girls there will be 5 of us. Not long to go now, 3 and a bit weeks.

Jessica came in to give us a cuddle this morning as she does every morning and just wouldn't let us go. She's too young to understand but she knew that something was happening today. When Hollie came in she too just cuddled and cuddled but she knows that she won't see us for a few days. As I cuddled Jessica this morning I cried as she lent against my shoulder. I couldn't help it. At least I didn't cry in front of the in-laws or as the girls were leaving. Gosh I miss them already.

I now have 3, almost 4, days to do as I please but what is that? I have a heap of scrapping that I'd like to do but I sat at my table just before and couldn't get the urge. I just looked blankly at everything in front of me and didn't know what to do. I guess I will read a book soon try to find the enthusiaism to do some scrapping or some housework.

Sisterly love

2009-01-30T20:35:00.000+10:00

My little sister, or should I say my younger sister because she is way taller than me, and I just had a sister chat. It is nice to be able to be close to her even though we are so far away. I guess it is good for her too to have someone other than her friends to talk to. It feels good that she trusts me with her secrets and is so loving for a teenager. I hope that my girls have the same kind of relationship when they are older.

Yesterday I snapped some pictures of the girls together. Hollie wanted to hold Jessica even though Jessica is far too big to be held. They had a lovely cuddle together and it was just so sweet. If only they could stay still long enough for some good photos. They simply adore eachother. It makes all the hard work of being a mother worthwhile.

The sound of mowing

2009-01-12T18:17:00.000+10:00

It seems to be such an Aussie thing; the sound of a mower on a summer's evening. My darling hubby is mowing now. The rain has made the grass so long and there hasn't been much dry weather to be able to get the mower out. I love the smell of freshly cut grass. I love the way a nicely mowen lawn looks. It seems to make everyhing look fresh and it gives me such a good feeling. Such a feeling of satisfaction even if I wasn't the one doing the job.
Oh it is the simple things that bring me such a good feeling and sense of fulfillment. I guess that is the whole point to life, enjoying the small things and the goodness you have been given and I have been truely blessed.

The monsoon is here

2009-01-05T09:34:00.000+10:00

It is raining here in the outback. We have had rain since Friday. It looks like it will be here for a while yet. While I welcome the rain because the heat and my pregnancy didn't mix too well, I am struggling a bit with what to do with the kids. They are fed up with being inside and I can completely understand. Jessica wants to escape all the time and while they have enjoyed splashing in the puddles outside it rained most of yesterday and there wasn't time to get out and splash. Today, hooray, the library is open so that will be a trip to town and something else apart from the lounge room. Hollie is obsessed with the T.V. so we are limiting that to playschool of a morning and an afternoon. We are planning on buying the kids some gumboots today if we can find anywhere in town that sells them that small.

This is our first wet season here. It will be an amazing sight to fly over all the green grass when I go to Brisbane to have the baby. A very different sight to the usually dry, wheat coloured grasses we usually drive past on our way to the big smoke. I want to take a drive out to the river today to have a look and take some photos. If it really is a wet season and the river floods it will be good to have some photos before it does. Always the scrapbooker.

Is it nesting?

2009-01-04T10:25:00.000+10:00

I'm due in 9 weeks!!! Wow time has flown. I can't believe it is so close. My darling hubby thinks that I'm nesting alredy because I am in the middle of completing a total reorganisation of all my scrapbooking supplies and equipment. It is a total re-do. I must admit that I have never really had a system or anyting formal. I have just bought supplies and put them with other like supplies. Now I have a uniform system with standard size boxes for certain things and I am feeling so much better about my space. The next thing is to do all the hard tidying up. You know the bit that you get too and it's almost a case of giving up or throwing it all out. That's where I am at the moment. I also have to get a new desk and bookcase but that has to wait until one of hubby's friends returns from holidays so we can use her ute. I'm so excited.
So I don't think it's nesting. I think it is using my time effectively because with three kids under 3 and hubby back at work I won't have the time to do this kind of mamoth job. Just wait til I wash all the baby clothes, then you'll know I'm nesting.

It's just been one of those days

2008-11-19T12:46:00.000+10:00

So much is hapening in my life at the moment but at the same time not much is happening. Being a stay at home Mum life is pretty much the same day in day out, week in week out but at the moment I am preparing for something big. I start work again in 2 weeks. It is in Brisbane which means that I have to pack up the family and travel down. It is only 2 weeks worth of work but I haven't workedfor 18 months. I also haven't worked so far away from 'home' ever. Not only is it in Brisbane but I also have to prepare for having a baby in March. I also have to go to Brisbane to have the baby because I can't have it here. My best friend, Pru, is also having a baby around the same time as I am and that means giving her back all of her baby things that she gave me 3 years ago when I was preparing to have Hollie. That is another reason I have been so busy. I have had to sort and organise all the baby stuff so that I can take it with me this trip because by the time I get down to have my baby, Pru will already have had hers so she'll need the baby stuff.
I have been very busy with swaps too. I am doing a calendar swap and a secret sister swap which are so exciting but a lot of work at the same time and this morning just as I was putting the last one together, I came into the office to find something only to return to find Hollie putting glitter all over the last calendar. I was so angry and before I said anything she knew that she was in trouble so she started crying which of course woke Jessica. I was so upset that I cried too. It wasn't until I stopped and thought about it that I was able to fix it. Well sort of.
I then went to town to do some shopping and was getting in the car to drive to IGA and the car wouldn't start! And it was starting to rain! Helpless me rang Kevin who came and saved the day. I wasn't looking forward to a 1.7km walk in the rain with a two and a half year old walking along whilst I pushed Jessica in the pram. Luckily for me Kevin was on a spare and was able to save me. How lucky am I?

Another birthday gone

2008-09-03T13:33:00.000+10:00

Jessica was one a few weeks ago. The in-laws were here for the week so it was good that Jessica got a bit of a party eve though she won't be able to remember it. Hollie got her a big red ball from the money out of her piggy bank and it has proved to be the favourite birthday present. Hollie knows that it is Jessica's ball but she still wants to play with it all the time. It's good, it keeps the both amused even if it does bring numerous fights.

Jessica is still my baby (even though she is now one and looking less and less like a baby every day) until the next one arrives in March but my how she is growing. She has just started to take a few steps so it won't be long until she's running around with Hollie and then I'll know about being run off my feet! It is just delightful watching them grow. Jessica is speak a lot more now and Hollie just never stops (and she's very good if I do say so myself). In the last week she has learnt the alphabet! and she's just two. Gosh I'm not proud or anything am I?

We are going to Brisbane in a few weeks to visit everyone and for Kevin to attend conference. It is a long drive and I'm going to be glad to get home after two weeks away. It really takes it out of me being away with the girls for so long. It will be good for the girls to see their old friends and to reconnect with the people down there. We don't want them to forget them while we are out here.

Count down to another birthday

2008-07-13T12:41:00.000+10:00

It's now on. The count down to Jessica's birthday. Yes it is 4 weeks away but I can't believe that it has come around so quickly. She is one in 4 weeks!!! My little baby, my baby no longer. She is becoming very grown up. She said, "bot-bot" today for the first time clearly and everyday she expands her vocabulary. She is doing more and more and I look at her and my heart just fills with joy. What a precious little thing she is.
I was hoping to have her first year album completed by September, one month after her first birthday but I don't see that happening. Too much to do, not enough time or money to get it done. I was meant to get a whole heap of photos printed off while we were in Brisbane over the holidays but I ran out of time or didn't plan my time well enough. Oh well. There is plenty to do.
Now I am off to try to get tired and sick Hollie off to sleep for a little while and hopefully have a sleep myself.

Mum's Home!!!!

2008-06-26T12:06:00.000+10:00

Isn't it funny that she can be gone so many months and be on the other side of the world and everything seems ok because I know that it is difficult to get to her. Mum came home on Sunday and I just want to see her. I am at least 1200kms away from her and it is difficult to get to her but she is here. She is in Australia!! It's the first time since September 2007. She has missed out on so much grandchild time with our kids. I'm so glad that Mum got to spend the time with Fuchsia and Azaan but now that she is back I just want her to be with my kids. I feel like a little kid myself. I feel as though I'm home sick!! Crazy isn't it?
We are leaving for the long long drive on Monday morning after we have Hollie's birthday here on Sunday. Hollie is so excited about her "Happy Birthday" and we have a count down claendar on the wall. All she wants is cake and candles. I can't believe that she is two already and poor Mum has missed out on half her life. At least now they'll have time to reconnect and spend some lovely Nanny/granddaughter time together.
Not looking forward to the drive but am very much looking forward to what's at the other end.

Training the trainer

2008-05-08T14:11:00.000+10:00

They always say that dogs are a reflection of their parents/owners. Most people also say that about children. I'm not sure about children because they have a very definate mind of their own but it is true for dogs. I must be a very bad dog parent and some what of a bad human parent.

Dog 1, Toby, jumps the fence all the time and we don't see him for half a day. Dog 2, Buddy, doesn't understand simple things like stay or drop and won't fetch the ball and today got out and ran away as I was leaving for playgroup. Luckily for me he only went to the place across the road but would not come when called. Toby is now either, tied up, inside, in the "cubby" or under the house. Buddy at least is too short to jump the fence. I don't know what I'm going to do. Build a higher fence and do lots and lots of training.

Jessica, daughter 2, is not sleeping through a 9 months. Kevin and I are sick of it. We are both exhausted and need some sleep. We have been attempting a no feed in the middle of the night thing and just keep caving in. We need to stick to it so that she learns. We are bad trainers. Lazy trainers. Tired trainers. It is no excuse and I guess that is why people end up having 2 or 3 year olds that don't sleep through because they keep attending to them and giving them what they want, making the rely on having the feed or the cuddle or the rocking. It is hard but must be done.

Here are a few of my lastest creations

2008-05-02T15:53:00.000+10:00

I have been very slack lately with my scrapbooking but here are a few that I have done in the last few weeks.

New people, new places, new faces

2008-05-01T12:31:00.000+10:00

We have been here 3 weeks today. Longreach is a nice small town. It has everything that you could need and I am very happy here. Everything is close. We hardly use the car so we are getting enough exercise and we are also doing exercise at night.

I have been to the local Playgroup for the last few times. It is good to meet other people and spend some time with people other than the kids. It is hard though. I think it will take a long time to make friends here. The people are all lovely and most of the people at the Playgroup know the isolation of being here. Know how hard it is tomake friends. I guess also I have never had to try to make friends with kids. It is a lot easier hen you don't have kids because you've got more time.

I guess it takes a while to get use to things being different. I am really happy with the house here. I am happy with the way that the girls have settled in. I am happy being at home so much and I guess that I am kin of happy to be isolated. To spend so much time with my family. I guess that it is not really that much different for me. Apart from my friends and Kevin's Mum there isn't really anything different for me. My Mum has been overseas for over a year now so it doesn't really feel that I'm moving away from her. My life hasn't changed much. The kids are my life now. The house is my life now. I spend time with them trying to make them into good people. What else does a Mum do? I guess that apart from the weekly visits to Emma and the access to Kevin's Mum things are the same for me. I like it here. It's small and quiet and gives us the chance to get ahead in life.

On the move

2008-02-29T10:23:00.000+10:00

Well the family is on the move!!! We didn't think that we would be doing this for a number of years to come. We are moving a long way from everyone and everything we know. We are happy to have a permanent job but are nervous about the move. Nervous about having to go somewhere so far from everyone, somewhere that's hard to get to, somewhere that's far from support networks. It is just a big shock. Something we didn't plan but when opprtunity knocks, what can you do? We are going to be apart for a month while I finalise things here and Kevin works up there. That is also nerve racking but people cope all the time with all kinds of adversity and we will be fine but it is a huge shift in our lifestyles and our mind sets from two days ago. Two days ago we thought we would be living here for another five years. On Wednesday Kevin rang to inquire about the job and last night they rang to say he could have the job and how quickly could he start. So he starts in 10 days!!! We have to go to Melbourne next weekend so there isn't much point him going up there next week to come back on Friday for the Melbourne trip.
Gosh what a change!!

Using my scraps

2008-02-27T12:24:00.000+10:00

Using my scraps is one of my challenges and New Year's Resoltions. I created a mini album for Ann, Kevin's sister, about her visit to Queensland in January. From the scraps I created two pages.

It is a great thing to do and it means that I don't have packets and packets of scraps that I might use one day. I feel really good about it because it's not wasting paper and it makes me complete quick pages. I guess that it is more about getting the memories down and preserved than creating amazing layouts. I don't want an over crowded page. I want the photos and the journaling to be the most important thing. Also because of the kids I don't have a lot of time. I need to create layouts quickly because if I have to put them away, it is really hard to get back to them. This way I can do that and ue all the beautiful papers and not waste a whole heap of paper or kept a whole heap of scraps or half used paper.

Here are some of the things I have created.

Sleepless nights

2008-02-19T13:17:00.000+10:00

I'm not getting much sleep lately because Jessica is waking all the time. About every three hours. Sometimes more frequently. It is really difficult to stay calm and alert during the day because I am so exhausted. I just don't seem to have enough milk or it isn't satisfying her enough. We have increased her solids but that still isn't helping. She isn't taking a bottle either so that is making it even harder. She just won't suck the bottle so I don't know what to do. She has been waking like this for 6 nights!! She will sleep if I let her suckle but wakes if I take her off and just doesn't seem satisfied. It feels like I have a new born without the hormonal high of having a new born. It is very difficult but she is a joy during the day.

Today I spent 1 hour trying to give her a bottle. Holding it in her mouth and trying to get her to drink but she didn't. In 1 hour she only had 40mL. Gosh. I don't know how I'm going to get her to take the bottle. I don't know how I'm going to last longer at night or get her to have the bottle. I will just have to keep trying.

Got to go get the washing off the line before it rains.
Sampai jumpa

An adventureous soul

2008-02-12T10:21:00.000+10:00

It is a rainy day and although the rain is needed I just want it to stop. Hollie wants to go outside all the time and I've had to lock all the doors because in the last week she has been able to reach them by standing on her tippy toes! Yesterday while Kevin and I were gardening in the front yard and I was prunning out on the footpath, I turn to see this little naked girl standing on the footpath! I thought that she had climbed out over the gate which was scary enough but then I realised that she had actually opened the gate!!!! So no more playing in the front yard unattended or keenly watched until we get a lock on the gate. She is so independent and so keen to learn everything. She just wants to be outside all the time which is a really good thing except on days lik today or on days when I can't attend to her every need.

Friday meeting with Emma

2008-02-08T16:19:00.000+10:00

After a few weeks break from our usual Friday meetings, Emma and I got together again today. Jack and Hollie were shy with eachother for the first time in their lives. It was quite strange but they also played very well with eachother too. Hollie is such a bossy boots and Jack always shares with her which is really nice. Hollie actually had a sleep there today too which was good because it was while Jack was asleep and we were able to spendsome time with the babies. It is difficult to get one-on-one with the little ones because Hollie and Jack are so demanding of time. I am just so glad that we got to do it together, have babies at the same time and share the joys of motherhood together. It has also been a really good thing to keep up th Friday visits as it gives us a break from the usual at home and allows us to realise that we are normal and the kids are normal too.

Hollie has now gone off with Kevin to Gran and Grandpuff's for the night and Kevin has train club which is leaving me with Jessica and uninterupted scrapping time!!! What's the bet that Jessica doesn't let me have that time that I want (and need as I have so many projects that I need to finish). Murphy's Law hey. She is currently asleep on the floor next to me after having a long time at crawling practise. She is going to crawl soon or it looks that way at least.

I feel a little strange with Hollie going off for a sleep over. I feel a bit empty. Strange isn't it? You would think that I would be very happy to be having some time by myself and time with Jessica but it just feels like something is missing and it is. Kevin and Pauline are bringing her back tomorrow which will mean that Kevin (mine) and I will be able to get some work done tomorrow morning before we have to get things organised for lunch. Hollie was so excited about going off to spend the night at Gran and Grandpuff's. She didn't even get upset that I wasn't going in the car. I don't know why I'm so sad. It's not like it's the first time she has had a sleep over. My baby is growing up.
Sampai jumpa,
Amity

A scrapping Knight

2008-01-28T22:50:00.001+10:00

Kylie & I had a scrapping night tonight and hopefully it will be a regular thing because at least it forces me to scrap and to have imput from other people. It is also nice to get out and talk to others as well.
Unfortunately I only got half a l.o. done even though it was a double. I am fast falling behind my weekly quota so I better get cracking nd finish off some of the ones that I have half done this year. I have only one complete l.o. for the year and I should have 4 by the end of the week. I have a lot more than 4 half complete ones I just have to sit down and do the title, journal or print the photo so that I can have the l.o. completed. I achieved my aim last year so I need to keep it up again this year. Hopefully I can better it.
Great night. I just arrived home. The dogs have been fed, Kevin's in bed and I just have to express and then brush my teeth and ready for bed, hopefully by 11:30pm.

January 2008

2008-01-27T22:07:00.001+10:00

Rebel without a clue

2008-01-27T21:54:00.000+10:00

This is a layout I created as part of one of my online groups OzSwap for my BOM (Book Of Me). The challenge was to create a layout about a bad hair day or a fashion woops. These photos of me were taken in my teenage years and were definate woops. The stupid things we do when we are young. Live and learn hey.

I also used one of the challenges on UKScrappers to complete the lo. I am fulfilling my New Year's resolutions by doing it as well because I used papers from my stash and I scrapped about myself.

A start

2008-01-27T20:28:00.000+10:00

A new year a new thing to do. I have other blogs but I thought that I would start a new one. The end of the month is almost here and Kevin is going back to work on Tuesday (he is a teacher) and I have enjoyed having him home so much that I am going to miss him. I know that Hollie will miss him the most but will actually be quite good about it because she knows that Dad goes to work and will say really cute things like, "Dad in car at work" which is amazing for a 19 month old. Well I think so. I am so proud of her.

So I start again at being at home alone with the kids. It has been so good to have Kevin around for the extra support but it is amazing how you can handle things on your own. So the girls and I will have to get used to this new part of the year and get used to the new routine and the tired Kevin when he gets home from work and isn't really ready for Hollie who will want him to play with her straight away and won't understand that you need to unwind. Oh to be little once more.

Well that is all for me now but there will be plenty more posts in the near future. I have to go to continue with my scrapping in the allotted 1 hour a night. We have to schedule our hobby time or we just don't get it. Kevin is in the shed right now. My hour started 6 mins ago.
Sampai jumpa