Monday, March 28, 2011

ooohhhhh

I'm having a baby.. within the week.

Now for the back story. Went to the hospital today for my appointment, saw Dr Butt again (she's really nice, shame about the name) I've seen her three times now, and she remembered my story, which is lovely. We discussed my medical issues - RLS, insomnia, reflux and generally being 39 weeks preggers. She took my BP, which has remained consistent for the entire pregnancy 115/70 (or there abouts), she measured my tummy which is perfectly proportional to my gestational stage, listened to the heart beat.

That appeared to be that.

She asked if I had any other questions.... Yes, actually I do, how far along do "they" let you go before intervening.

Hmmm she said, 41.5weeks which is 10 days over!

OMG, NO. Margie is here already, I can't still be two weeks away, she'll be home by then.

I recall Kellie telling me recently that "they" don't do inductions on women who have had C-sections as its too harsh on the scar. Dr Butt disagreed, yes we do inductions and quite frequently. There is the option of an Atad catheter to dilate the cervix, mechanical "breaking of the waters", prostoglandins (which she advised against as once its there they can't undo it) and oxytocin drip. She dashed off to consult with the consultant who said yes he's happy to authorise an induction via Atad catheter at term!

Which means Sunday!
This Sunday!!

I have to call the delivery suite at 2pm on Sunday (unless baby is already here) and they will organise for me to come in for the catheter, can go home with it if I wish, or stay. Up to me, maybe.

So that means the Storer's will have a new son by the 4th April.

Saturday, March 26, 2011

A seriously awesome junior football club.

We had a committee get together tonight and it was great. There were at least 9 families (maybe more), heaps of kids and it was just awesome (maybe I'm watching too much of How I Met Your Mother).

First was a meeting which took a little more than an hour and solved lots of niggly issues, and will get lots of equipment.

Then the BBQ went on, I wasn't hungry so didn't eat dinner, but there were lovely salads, meats, bread etc.

Ryan was chillaxed most of the time, the Becks have a very steep home and lots of edges which could be fell off, so he was held most of the time, he played the piano for a bit (not yet musical)/

Managed to chat to some new and old friends. Everyone was enquiring how I was going and were shocked to hear only a week to go.

Made the most amazing desserts - Tiramisu and a jelly/fruit/custard thing. They should be all polished off now. Very proud of my tiramisu, a bit fiddly to make the cream but easy easy easy. Not a cook thing, just an assemble.

Got home close to 9.20pm, changed Ryan's nappy whilst he was asleep and hopefully he'll been down for count until the morning. Poor little fella is teething and is currently cutting molars :(

Tomorrow is a trial game for AFL starting at 8.30am (for Jamie), I will probably go closer to Mark's start time, then head out to the airport to pick up my mother- in-law, who I am actually really looking forward to seeing. Will be nice to have a helper around the house. Not ones that sit on the computer.

Will have to do a vacuum int he morning, but am 90% prepared. Was very shocked to see a 4 week old baby this evening, she was SO tiny and is now the size Ryan was when he was born! Holy shit newborn babies are small.

Really wish I had my camera this evening, would have been nice to have some photographic memories of such a nice night.

Good night, hopefully will report that I have had this baby soon. 39 weeks is plenty cooked enough.

Friday, March 25, 2011

School days



After weeks of stressing out about everything to do with this blasted Science Assignment, I give the result... can you see that in the second picture - 55/60.

How that mark has increased a certain 12 almost 13 year old boy's confidence. Its allowed him to think that with just a little bit of effort, he can achieve what is required and a whole lot more. The pressure I put on him to use his own words, not to copy, has paid off. He's proud of himself.

A facebook friend - Hannah - said she was marking high school assignments last night and actually wrote on one child's work, "I have google too"

Trying to instil in him a bit of self respect. He is much better behaved at football, he was one of the "bad" kids, not listening, but got some positive feedback from his coach on Wednesday has made him feel good about himself.

That is what my dearest son needed - PRAISE.

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

What's in my bag.

All my favourite blogs are doing this, and as I don't have a single independent thought, I'm doing it too.


As you can plainly see, I don't actually have a handbag. I try, but there isn't much point in carrying two bags, my main bag in the "nappy bag".

  • So I carry around changes of clothes for Ryan,
  • bibs,
  • nappies, wipes and nappy sacks for the stinkies.
  • I also have some discarded wipes (I hope they were for sticky fingers),
  • a spoon,
  • a pen,
  • a packet of cheese and crackers (Ryan uses the crackers as an implement to get the cheese, he does not eat the crackers),
  • a packet of Rennie!
  • Of course there are some receipts... why do I hold onto receipts.
  • Also my purse and
  • iPhone

Something I must rectify... in my purse there is a photo of Mark when he was in year one at school. He's all teeny with no front teeth. Hmmm.... will put a photo of my three boys in there in the next couple of weeks.

Relaxing and waiting.




Bub slept in until 8am, Mark woke me at 7:30 and I didn't get up, he said "please get up, I want to talk to you", talk to me here darling (like Florence Nightingale, I'm holding court on my bed), and he did. Funny kid, he has an excursion on Friday to the Stockton Sand dunes for sand boarding (bloody fun) and he told me today that they are doing more than just sand boarding, they will be on a 4WD bus and then to the aquatic centre, well duh... I read the note. Trying to get him to read stuff is like pulling teeth.

I read last night of a blogger who is giving up Facebook for Lent... couldn't do it, well maybe I could, but don't want to do it. I should be on it less. I like that I don't Farmville any more, but commenting on status updates is my addiction.

Mamamia.com.au is down this morning, but its just come back online. Phew...
"ALL children need is to know that they are loved" is first line of the article, should be nice I hope. It was by Catherine Deveny, whom I normally can't stand, she has a stand-up show called "God is Bullshit", gee ain't that nice! But this bit of parenting advice is pure gold. Kids don't need their own room, every toy that hits the shelf, they can eat Weetbix for dinner occasionally... but the main thing they need to know is that they are loved. Awww.

Our plan of getting our business to rank better in Google, and then make us more money has made Jamie interested in this baby blog, Facebook and well not quite Twitter, but maybe. He is really working on Search Engine Optimisation. Takes a lot of time, but seems to be worth it.

Pregnancy related news - namuch. My feet have swollen to epic proportions but that makes the RLS not be so bad. Twinges in my abdo all the time, but not labour, heightened anxiety, very low threshold to aggravation. Poor Mark is bearing the brunt of it. He doesn't listen to me! He thinks its funny when Ryan falls over (which in a way, it is funny), so he'll push him, or trip him, or grab a leg, so that he has to fall over. I say to stop, and Mark pretends not to hear, so I say stop then I yell.
Last night Ryan found a small glass on the floor, and was walking with it, holding it carefully. I had my eye on him, next thing I saw that Mark had Ryan's ankle, "don't hurt him or make him fall" I said. Next thing over he goes! I speak for a reason, he could hurt himself. Oh I didn't mean to make him fall. UTTER BULLCRAP. So I yell again, and Mark does the pathetic "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to"

I think Mark thinks I'm just riding him, being mean, but I want a calm happy household that doesn't yell, and I'm the yeller! I know its b/c I'm stressed, but don't know how to de-stress at the moment.

The thought of labour is scaring me, what if we have a problem again? What if I can't contact Jamie? What if it happens really quickly? What if this baby dies? How will i cope with two babies? What if he's not healthy? See all these what ifs? I'm sick of being in constant ache (its not pain, but ache), I want to have him today, I'm super stressed. PLEASE let this baby come today.

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Something New

Did you notice the new layout? I like the colours, and our banner ad? Pretty swish isn't it?

So if you, or ANYONE you know needs a website, please think of our lovely, helpful, business MyNetHost. It is run by the most enthusiastic webhoster in the universe (yes my dearest husband).

Interesting stuff from today:
Ryan decided he would take his nappy off whilst in bed, and the peed all over his bed. HMMMMM.... not happy with this development, maybe I had it on too tight? Or he was just lying there awake for too long, needed something to do, so decided undoing the tabs was just the ticket.

Mark slept in! So I had to drive him for the first time this year. Traffic is awful between here and Waratah. He said his bus gets stuck in a traffic jam most mornings, there needs to be traffic lights at that corner I'm talking about... corner of Blue Gum Road and the one that goes to Wallsend, its a road I travel on almost daily, but have no idea what its called.

Far too tired, going to lie down.

Saturday, March 19, 2011

Thoughts

Can I say I don't really have any.

Too nervous about the impending birth of my third son - just love saying that.

So world events of this year have been pretty bloody awful.

Floods in SE Queensland - towns destroyed by a wall of water, about 20 people killed and a huge clean up, which includes fixing so many roads.

Cyclone Yasi in FNQ - again towns destroyed by fierce winds and rain. Supposedly the buildings were quite "up" to the cyclone, not many destroyed, but heaps of vegetation gone. Strange that one of the hardest hit towns was Tully - where I used to live. When I lived there, I was at the caravan park and would have blown away. Bizarre.

Christchurch Earthquake - lovely beautiful Christchurch. The whole town is destroyed and is still rumbling. Scores killed - around 200. Again the clean-up is immense.


Japan's Earthquake, Tsunami and Nuclear Disaster - ahhhh. The pictures have been amazing, a wall of water destroying EVERYTHING in its wake. This ones death toll is closer to 10-15,000 The fear of the nuclear fallout is tremendous all over the world, no one really believes the Japanese government and there are too many opinions from "nuclear experts" about what is going on. Quite scary.

So what is next?

Still out of sorts.

Feeling very "wrong" the last couple of days.

Very sensitive to everything.

Feeling lost, grumpy, argumentative, achy, tired and generally not myself.






The labour (now technically known as pre-labour) stopped around 11pm last night. Went from 4 - 11 and was bearable. Now just waiting for the next round.

Going to eat something today. I have avoided food like products, relying more on cereal that last couple of days, that might help. Tonight we are having "Honey Mustard Chicken" one of my families favourites. Might do it with pasta. Had a "spare" cake in the freezer and have turned it into dessert, have made it a SORRY cake. Even wrote sorry on the top, that's how guilty I'm feeling for the last few days.

Friday, March 18, 2011

I have a feeling

That my labour is starting. Just the prelim stages at present.


Aching across my abdomen.
Feeling nauseas.
Ache across my lower back.
Needing to pee.
Comes and goes.











UGH

And I'll leave it at that.

Crap day.

Thursday, March 17, 2011

We have a walker!

Its a little bit controversial, but Ryan is walking. Toddling maybe, falling over a lot.
My poor little boy is just a little bit short and fat, I think his tummy is a bit big which makes him front heavy and tips him over. He wants to walk, the face says that emphatically. He had walked around the kitchen, and toddled off on me at one point. But this is when I got the camera out "I'm not a performing monkey mummy" fair enough.

In other news, I have found out that "gah gah gah guuuullaaaa" means "I have done a poo and I will NOT come to you so you can change me"

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Baking disasters and things that are just a little weird.

This is purely baking related.

My cakes are sinking. Quite depressing. I think my oven is the wrong temperature, but after talking to my mum the other day, maybe its too much butter.

I have made the best chocolate cake since I was a little girl, its super easy, no butter or eggs so don't need to be organised (ie soften butter) before starting. One day I left out the baking powder and wondered why it didn't rise.

Mark once made a cake and put 2/3 cup of bicarb soda rather than 2-3 tsp (I think that was what he did) it was completely inedible. UGGGHHH.

Mum made two batches of cupcakes recently that completely sunk, she put in 500g of butter rather than what the recipe said 250g. But to do it twice !!!

My horror stories are all sinking disasters. Need to go to baking school to find my flaw.

I can't decorate for peanuts. Friends of mine make wonderful pretty decorated cupcakes, when I ask what sort of cake it is... oh some packet mix! That doesn't count! Packet cakes taste awful and normal cakes are easy, there really is no excuse.

Now for the little bit weird.
I follow a blog, I won't tell you which one. But the writer is a baker, she has a shop that she bakes daily for. She did not do an apprenticeship for anything like that, but decided one day that she enjoyed baking, was able to have a shop and would combine the two. BUT what I find completely odd, is she doesn't do stuff from scratch, today she is talking about a pie that she's made. Buy some puff pastry and some pie filling and cook! I would never blog about a dessert that purely came from packets, at least stew your own fruit! Earlier in the year she was discussing pumpkin pie in much the same way, tinned pumpkin pie mix... I put a comment about how you would roast your own pumpkin and she replied saying umm never done it, but I guess what you are saying is correct. Must excuse her a little bit, she is only 24, so I have 14 years more life experience. But don't call yourself a "baker" if you don't do basics, say you are someone who enjoying cooking.

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Brain at 37.5 weeks pregnant


Source:

I was originally looking for a pregnant brain picture, but they weren't very good. Mushy peas was another concept I had.

I'm starting to get a little nervous now. I'm experiencing "tightening" across my abdomen almost daily. Quite tight! Also, under the "bump" is getting uncomfortable, especially when I've been sitting and then stand up.

A big problem is I'm not comfortable on a chair, prefer to sit on the floor, then getting up from the floor is challenging. Oh well, hopefully only two more weeks.



Mark and I were watching an old episode of Family Ties last night. The one from just before the above picture. It was the episode where Elise goes into labour with Andy (the baby). She spends a bit of time with each kid talking about how special it is to have a baby and how lucky they are blah blah blah. Her talk with Alex (the wonderful Michael J Fox, or as Mark calls him, Marty McFly) is lovely. He says that he'll stand by her and help. I then asked Mark what he'd do if I went into labour right now (Jamie was at a meeting) he so thoughtfully replied "I don't need to see anything like that, I'll call an ambulance" I suggested that we might wait for a while, he could rub my back.... he wasn't too keen on being involved at all.

Bubby is rolling around again right this second. He doesn't have too much room any more. I'm sure he's going to be lovely. I'm getting quite excited. Love the idea of having 3 boys. Still quite unsure of names. I'm pretty sure its going to be A*, but it could be B** or C***. Need to get Jamie to concentrate and have a conversation.

Sounds like middle boy is waking up. He was very lovely this morning. He's full of fun. Didn't want to walk this morning, but last night didn't want to crawl. His walking style sucks... but is oh so cute.



* Not telling yet
** Still not telling
*** Letters are not indicative of what the name starts with, just the first three letters of the alphabet ;)

Whiplash


Thankfully not a car accident.

Mark's attitude and behaviour. It is as changeable as ... I was going to say the weather but as its consistently hot here, that's not gonna work. Lets just say its changeable.

He even approached me this morning with 10 minutes to go before the bus arrived to say "I might just finish off my history homework" so with an explanation of what chronological means and why the centuries are called what they are, homework got finished. The HUGE science assignment got finished last night - its due on Wednesday. His music assignment was handed in early.

He's pleasant, co-operative and really really wants money! If that's his driving influence, I don't particularly care. I'm not giving him more pocket money than he deserves, but am happy to pay it if the chores are done.

* I know I've used this pic before, but its so cute.*

Sunday, March 13, 2011

When looking for a housekeeper

You want a good looking housekeeper, preferably one who is topless and handy. I give you the most gorgeous vacuumer one could ask for.






His standing and walking are quite amazing now. He will gladly walk about 6 steps rather than go down and crawl. His standing is very steady and can be out in the middle. He is very steady when walking holding hands, a little wobbly when not holding hands, but will do it.



Here is one of him eating a whole slice of bread. The size of it made me laugh, he did quite well, he sure enjoys his bread.




This is the fellas mucking around. Jamie was trying to get Ryan to sit on Mark's head. They were all killing themselves laughing that it didn't work too well.

Something cute

I have a cute niece, don't see her much at all. She lives over 1000km away. Hence not seeing her much. In the last year she has developed some verbal skills that she didn't have before. All of a sudden she has started to talk a little bit. According to Jo she's really good, according to mum, its a challenge to understand. But one thing is really clear, when I ring on the phone, I get to talk to Sheena, she says

**Hello Christy**

Sort of a kwisty pronunciation, but bloody brilliant. The rest of the convo is mainly me asking questions and Sheena answering "yeah"

Saturday, March 12, 2011

Much better today.

After the DRAMA of Wednesday, the rest of the week has been pretty good.

Ryan is teething, there is a molar coming through, so he's a bit miserable.

Mark has been weirdly delightful. He had yesterday off school due to a 'corked thigh' obtained from the athletics carnival. In the morning he mentioned that he could not do long division, he didn't get it. So we set about teaching him how to do it. When its broken down into 8 steps, its actually quite easy. Over time, the steps will "melt" into each other, but at the moment, we are suggesting that he do each step individually to show the teacher he understands the working out. There were lots of tears, but eventually he was smiling from ear to ear, quite proud of himself. Our suggestion in the future would be to ask the teacher after class that he hasn't understood and would like to understand - pixie points.

Yesterday, Jamie ran a cricket match for his work colleagues. It was great, a lovely spot in Stockton. I took the boys along, Ryan walks everywhere as long as someone holds his hand. He was FILTHY. But enjoyed himself. I believe Jamie's team won.

I had a pretty major Braxton Hicks contraction when I was at the petrol station. There is a long walk from the front door to the counter and it was pretty obvious that I was experiencing some "pregnancy related", I assured the girl behind the counter, that it wasn't labour, but it was a bit painful. I breathed my way through it and it was over. The shopkeeper looked terrified and said "please don't let anything happen, I'll faint", it turns out she herself is 8 weeks pregnant with her first and I think my episode was a bit confronting for her.

Slept well, I seem to have to pee every hour, so that is a hindrance.

Got the vacumming done this morning.

Dishes are done.

Washing is done - need to hang it out.

Jamie is flying his chopper.

Mark is youtubing.

Ryan is sleeping.

I'm going to organise the spare room (oops I mean my almost newborn son's room) but before he can move in, it has to be a spare room due to the fact that Grandmothers are coming! There are still 3 suitcases in there and I have no idea what to do with them.

This afternoon is PROJECT GARAGE TIDY so the remaining three doors of the kitchen can be painted. Might try and convince him to repaint the bathroom cabinets with the same paint - if there is enough. The doors themselves are ok, just need a lick of paint, to tide them over for a couple more years.

Thursday, March 10, 2011

More challenges of raising children.

Once again, this involves my extremely handsome eldest son. This is more for me, as a diary entry, but feel free to read if you want.

Yesterday was the commencement of football training. Mark does not particularly enjoy football, he is quite good at it though. Mark (as I've mentioned before) does not particularly like anything, maybe with the exception of his iPhone.

So yesterday Mark and his mate M came to our place together. I'm unsure of my position about M anymore, he was gorgeous last year, polite, friendly and generally nice. He has become much more worldly now. Mark says he is at his friends place very often, they spent most of the school holidays at the pool - as far as I can tell unsupervised. These are 12 year old boys? I don't get it. But anyway, M said hello to me and that was about it. They came out here to use the computer, I did a couple of spring in visits to make sure it was appropriate - must remember to check the history on my profile. They were just Facebooking another boy from school. Anyway I think Mark feels this boy is super cool... and needs his approval.

Jamie arrives home, Mark refuses to feed the dogs or check the balls to see if they are pumped up (note: Jamie already mad at Mark) because he has a friend over. When they finally arrive home from training around 7pm. I could hear the yelling in the car. When they come inside:
J: Tell mum what you did?
M: silence
It turns out, one of Mark's team mates B came to Jamie after the training to chat, Jamie was talking up the team, saying there are some real guns this year, ready to play their hardest. B then said "if only the kids wouldn't muck up at training, it makes it so hard" he's talking about Mark, M and C (a very wayward chap, who is quite charismatic). Mark was refusing to do what his coach asked, he didn't want to do a lap, or do sprints... or it seems do anything.

The coaching has changed this year, Ross is the coach of the U14s and not Jamie (he's coaching the littlies U10 - a very disciplined team). Ross has the hard job. These boys are in puberty, several challenging children, and attitude like nothing else. The boy mentioned above C, is the worst offender, if he was the only challenge it is a HUGE challenge. Ross does not need Mark helping C out by mucking up. And blah blah blah on it went.

We'd made a deal with Mark only a week or so ago, that if he tries his hardest, he can have an XBOX 360. Jamie said one more training session like that and the deal is off the table. Mark then made the face and I said to him "don't you dare say you don't care" and there was a little smirk, yes that was exactly what the face meant.

Then I added to it... if the back answering and disrespectfulness continues at football, he will lose his iPhone - forever, not just a week. OMG! That is kicking him where it hurts. He said something along the lines of ok.

This morning I asked what he thought about our discussion last night. He said it wasn't fair that I was taking his iPhone away from him. I told him I have no such intention and it was completely up to him. All he has to do is concentrate for 1.5hours twice a week, so what his coach asks of him and try his hardest. As long as he doesn't muck up, he keeps his phone! Easy, its good parenting.

I was then told, "No mum, its actually really bad parenting" I love it when he says that. Like he knows!

************

Anyway we all made up soon after, Ryan gave us all cuddles. This was extremely cute.

He was laughing and crawling around like a maniac, I called him over and put my arms out "Ryan come for a cuddle", a HUGE smile came over his face and he crawled over, climbed up and gave me a cuddle and a kiss. Marko then sat onto the floor about 5 Ryan steps away from me and put his arms out, he stretched his arms out and walked over to give Mark a big cuddle and maybe a kiss, then Jamie arrived and did the same thing, and he gave his dad a big cuddle. Then it was back to me. Some of it he walked, some he crawled. But man it was cute.

Wednesday, March 09, 2011

Namuch...

Today is going to be boring. That is good though. Excitement at this stage means labour, I'm not quite ready.

Making tons of sandwiches for Mark's lunches.

Making chicken salad / potato salad for tea.

Felt the need for more balls in the ball pit. Ryan has an awesome ball pit given to him by Arron, Tara and Chelsey. Trouble is there was only about 20 balls, which through natural selection (otherwise known as Mark throwing them around) has reduced to about 10, that is quite boring. So today, I went to KMart and purchased another

100 more

Probably a stupid thing to do, but he loves his ball pit. More tidying up for me.


Today is also the commencement of the junior football season. Training today!
Goodbye to all spare time. Hopefully I'll feel the desire to go as well. Quite lonely here at home.

Tuesday, March 08, 2011

Not ready for bed

Have just put Ryan to bed.
He's crying, probably not quite ready.

Our lives are far too busy.
Last night, Jamie had indoor cricket as a fill in.
Tonight, Jamie had to collect something for football, then going to play indoor cricket.
Wednesday, commencement of football training.
Thursday, he's on the books to work for G2U.
Friday, has a work social outdoor cricket match and presumably football training.
Saturday, I was going to a Tupperware party, but its been postponed.
Sunday, Jamie and probably Mark are playing a fund-raising golf game, and on call for G2U.

Somehow in between all of this, he has to run his business, work, talk to me and spend time with the kiddies.

Hope we don't have the baby this week.

Trainwrecks.

Not literally. Thankfully I know of no train accidents from overnight. I'm talking human train-wrecks. My current tv obsession is:

HOARDERS
People who have let their lives be out of control and stuff gets piled up. Its a mental illness to do with compulsive shopping and not being able to get "stuff" go. It makes for amazing tv. Several of the people on the show have lost custody of their children until their house is fixed and they can make no inroads into it themselves, so their get professional help. At least this show takes a stab at rehabilitation of the hoarder, there is no point in just "cleaning / clearing it up" as it doesn't solve the problem. There is a home in Bondi, the owners have hoarding issues and the council have cleaned it 14 times in 17 years... have they fixed the problem? You can read about it here. I like that Hoarders allows the hoarder some control, so they can help themselves.

2. Lindsay Lohan / Britney Spears
These two girls are proof that you don't put your child into show business. Too much too soon. Feel they are above normality. Both have problems with drugs and possibly mental illness (if my gossip mags are to be believed). I feel the *media* is hounding them for a suicide. They excitement that would follow a suicide attempt or better still a successful one is more than they could stand. This is a situation that I call "pushing into a corner until they kill themselves" Awful, just awful. Especially that Britney has children.

3. Now for the latest one: Charlie Sheen.
Eww and doesn't he look awful in this picture from TMZ. BTW, I love TMZ. I had such a crush on Charlie as a teenager. I was fully on the Sheen brother's bandwagon. Emilio Esteves was cute, but Charlie... better. I watched Young Guns and ummm can't remember other stuff. Never did watch Wall Street, or the war movie he was in. I liked Emilio's style of films better. Now he's gone down the alcoholic, drugs, sex, violence and delusions of grandeur. Are they delusions? He's had 10 years in Two and a Half Men where he's getting paid more money than anyone else in Hollywood to play, what is essentially himself. The character even has his name. Jon Cryer's character has a different name, but Charlie is Charlie. His character isn't even likable. He uses women, rude to his family, drinks and smirks. He doesn't even appear to work, I believe the character is a jingle writer. I've watched the show, I do enjoy Jon Cryer's character, more funny and interesting, but mainly watch it because nothing else is on. Can't have Mark watch it, would need to explain too many things. Now we are just waiting for the suicide..... Oh of course, he has at least 5 children.... gotta share those dodgy genes around.

****************************

On a little side note: my computer spell checker is now saying "movie" is spelled wrong. Its suggestions are MOVE, MOVING, MOVABLE, SOVIET, MONIES. Weird eh?

Monday, March 07, 2011

Do you think its true?

Read this...

I don't believe it. I reckon its a girl making up a story to make her life more exciting. Anyway its a intruiging read that is for sure.

How about one with photos... for a change?

My two gorgeous boys, Mark was watching telly and Ryan was in a relaxed post sleep state, so they sat on the sofa together. Pretty cute eh?


Today I'm baking some cinnamon scrolls. They are something I've been wanting to make for.... years actually. I've got the dough in the breadmaker at the moment, that should take about 1.5 hours, then I roll it out, fill it, let it rise and the bake in time for Marko to devour for afternoon tea.

I've had a huge "nesting" weekend, as I mentioned earlier. Yesterday was a bit of a continuation of it. Mark had a birthday party Nerf War which he really enjoyed (and so did Jamie), Ryan and I hung out in the play ground part of the park with Terese and he was delightfully self sufficient. Crawling all over the place, only tried to eat one gumnut. He was so good.

I'm pretty bad at my photo taking at the moment, the photos are all blurry and that is quite depressing, its a fully automatic digi camera, so why are they blurry. My feelings are I'm not doing the "half press" due to time constraints, my subject keeps moving, hence they are dark.




"I'll look after your iPhone for you Mum"
He's obsessed with that thing (aren't we all?), he can put the music on, look through the photos... clever nerdy chap.

Testing out his little brother's new cot. This is a loaner from the lovely Laura, she originally forgot to give us the metal rails that let the side go up and down, so we fashioned some from some we had here (sometimes it pays to be married to a hoarder, oops I mean storer.) Anyway Ryan showed us that the lighter weight metal was indeed not good enough and we have since got the correct poles.






Mr Independent. I want to feed myself. Here he is eating some tuna casserole with mashed potato. It was quite clean. I helped scoop the food onto the spoon, and he held the bowl and the spoon. He really enjoyed this casserole too.. super easy for those who want to try it.

Super easy, super yum tuna bake.
1 large tin of tuna, drained.
1 tin of tomatoes with onion and capsicum.
3 tbsp sweet chilli sauce
1 cup breadcrumbs
Any "dying" vegies in your fridge or alternatively some frozen veg.
Mix all together and top with mashed potato.
Bake until hot - I guessed, a little over half an hour at 200. This was enough for my family to have 2 meals from. And everyone liked it, which is often a challenge.

Sunday, March 06, 2011

Cured myself

Finally my boys came home around 3:30ish....

So I picked myself out of my doldrums and went about fixing stuff.

I vacuumed all of the front half of the house, completely dusted my room.
Picked everything up off the floor from the front half of the house - no mean feat when 8 months pregnant.

There is a decent "pile" on the spare bed, where do I put three suitcases??? Will fix this with the fellas tomorrow.

The lounge room gets done regularly.

Cleaned the benches and table in the kitchen.

Did 4 loads of washing and hung them out.

Ate a healthy dinner.

All that needs doing now is the floor swept and mopped! This is going to be huge challenge. Everyone hates sweeping in this house. I really want a swivel sweeper to pick up the shit that the middle boy drops, and I'm sure the youngest will follow suit in about 10 months time!

Picture - just because I can. Mark is doing an assignment for music and he chose Bon Jovi "because my mum likes and knows a lot about them" He did the worst presentation with his writing and I shall be making him rewrite it tomorrow with some effort this time, but here is the picture "we" chose. Its from the fan photos on their official website.

Saturday, March 05, 2011

Crappy Day

I don't want to be negative, but I feel all alone.

Jamie is extremely busy, don't fully agree with what he's doing, but he's entitled to do it.

Mark is so disagreeable and if I should show that I'm annoyed with it, he puts on the whiniest of voices and its drama central. We're butting heads like nothing else. If I say black - he says white. Has to say NO to everything. Whatever I suggest is wrong wrong wrong. I'm very frustrated by this.

Ryan is clingy, doesn't want to be cuddled, but be held whilst I stand up, a sitting down hold does not suffice. He doesn't want to be held by Jamie if he know I'm around. As lovely as it is that he loves me... I'm exhausted.

I have so much housework to do. The state the carpet is in, makes it need a vacuum about twice a week now. It NEVER looks nice, it never will look nice. It needs to be ripped up and replaced.

My bathroom is disintegrating, the bench is falling apart, the sink and bath need either replacing or resurfacing. The shower is in awful condition and it just won't clean.

The floor in the office is falling apart.

If you look at everything from about knee height its ok. Some cornices are still in need of finishing.

I'm really low today.

I think Jamie and I need (really NEED) a date night together, no children. Just need to find a babysitter for that, feel I can't ask people.. but know that I can.

Self esteem at an all time low I think.

Very uncomfortable, my back is aching, my knees and ankles are aching, I'm tired and down in the dumps.....

Will report back tomorrow with a sunnier disposition.

Ooops

in the immortal words of Britney Spears

Ooops I did it again.

Dipping my toes into Twitter. After reading mamamia's report on social networking this week, people fall into three distinct categories

Facebookers
Twitterers
Those steadfastly against both.

I'm category #1 for sure. Not very sure if i want to do it, but I am. Actually I shouldn't. Maybe I'll decide for sure that I won't. OK going back to delete it again. I need to be more focussed on real life, not cyber life. If i have more to say, its going on the blog.

Friday, March 04, 2011

Shopping

and Christy are not really friends.

I want to be like a real girl and enjoy shopping. But to enjoy shopping I think you have to buy stuff and I just can't.

It was suggested by a work colleague to go to Pulp for shoes. I'm not buying shoes at the moment due to oedema, but for after the baby is born, I'd like some winter boots to wear to make me feel cool. (I was going to link in their website, but OMG they don't have one.) Anyway this friend said their prices were pretty good and they often have buy one get one half price sales. Well the cheapest I saw was $79 and the boots that I would have liked were $140. I just can't do that.

I don't know how my weight loss will go post baby#3 so looking at clothes is a loss. I would like to dress cool-y like Rachel, but feel I will look like mutton dressed up as lamb. Rachel is a good 10 years younger than me. I have never been a thrifter, I'm not a sewer (to re-style stuff that is a bit too old fashioned). I'd love to wear dresses but never have. I've never been a thin person, my boys are not supportive of any change in my style (that's the husband included). But I think I'll try. I'm sick of the boring clothes I wear. They are not flattering, not interesting and yes they are comfortable, sometimes they are just plain embarrassing.

Just because I'm a stay at home mother for the time being, doesn't mean I can't look nice. This is gong to be a challenge, but one I hope I can fulfil.

Critters

As most would know, we are the owners of two dogs. We got Charlie (the lab) as

a puppy back in 2001. The reason: I've been totally phobic of dogs my whole life, it stemmed from when I was about 2yrs old and was bitten by a dog at a house where mum was babysitting, I was also scratched by a German Shepherd when i was 6. These two incidences, coupled with my parents dislike of dogs compounded on me to be point of phobia. I would prefer to walk down the middle of a street rather than next to fences in case there was a dog. This is a trait I still possess. I won't walk down new streets without being on guard. I will definitely never walk the dogs down a new street just in case there is another dog to bark at us. It was a scary childhood, living in fear of a dog attack.

When Mark was about 3 years old. He was very jumpy around dogs. He wouldn't go up to dogs, something I encouraged because of the danger of the animals. Jamie told me this is ridiculous, he can't grow up like this, LIKE YOU! So with encouragement I agreed to get a puppy, and the nicest dog I could think of was a lab. She was adorable, I was a little wary to start with, so was Mark. Started by looking through the glass sliding doors and ended up snoozing together. Lots of photos of his early childhood - when we lived in Tullamarine of Mark and Charlie together. Then we moved to Newcastle, got a rental which didn't allow dogs inside. Poor things have been outside dogs ever since.... So how did we end up with two dogs. In my new grad year, one of the nurses I worked with had a biggish dog that was lovely and they were moving to a small apartment in Sydney and couldn't keep Skye. I knew Charlie was lonely with us either at work or at school, so we quickly adopted Skye and he's been in our family for almost 7 years now. They are both quite middle aged in their temperament, which is good for us. They are great at being a doorbell and letting me know when it is 5pm (Charlie starts barking for food). Once these two leave our family, I will not have another dog. It prevents you from going on holidays, and we are just not pet people the way others are.

I'm not really fond of any animal, small things scare the bejesus out of me. Mice, lizards, bugs and this week we even had a frog in the back yard. There was a turtle in my driveway once, I called animal rescue (should the dogs attack it) and they said to pick it up and take it to the Wetland Centre... no bloody way am I picking up a turtle. I don't touch animals. Cats I don't care for. Our friend's son wanted me to pat their cat... ummm no thanks. Ferrets - ick.



Chickens scare me, but I want them for eggs when I get my farmlet along with some sheep or goats. They can be ignored and fed each day. I don't need to feel guilty if I don't walk or play with them.

Thursday, March 03, 2011

The R Word

Do you know what it is?



Do you think it's offensive?



Retard or retarded.



I can't stand when I hear it. There is a girl at work who uses it in jest about herself quite frequently. I wish I had told her my feelings about the word. Can't eliminate a word if people don't know there is an issue with it.

There is a big push in America to eradicate the R word. Today is "the day". I had written a big post about it earlier, and when trying to download the graphic the computer froze and I lost it.

Unfortunately I say the F word a bit. But its not denigrating someone's intelligence. I'd never say the N word either - cos it just doesn't make sense. How completely alike Mark and Daniel are (Mark is pure white and Daniel is almost a blue/black) but they are both just boys... Sheena has issues, I'm not saying she doesn't. This is the most inspired piece of writing here, I will send it off to Jocelyn, for her to read. For those who don't click, its a blog that I follow about a woman who's older sister has Down Syndrome and she has adopted a daughter also with Down Syndrome. She is talking about her sister's limitations and where she excels. Its heart-warming. I'd love to be part of a solution.

Take a pledge to NEVER use the R word, or better still..... just never say it.

Wednesday, March 02, 2011

Other stuff from my life

Interesting day...

1. I've pretty much decided to attempt a VBAC. I'm very comfortable with this decision now. It will mean that I can recover quickly (supposedly), still drive and go to the appointments. The doctors have agreed that I can have an epidural quite early in the labour. Now my main problem will be convincing the midwives that I need one. So surprised with myself.

2. Ryan walked a bit more today. He went from the laundry to the computer desk. Jamie was rolling backwards on the computer chair encouraging him to keep on walking.

3. Mark is much MUCH MUCH improved. He's been in bed before 9.30 for the last two nights, he's doing his homework, eating his dinner and being polite. I'm quite confused. But am seriously liking the new Mark.

The highs and lows of Centrelink

A totally necessary evil. Very happy to have them on board for my Paid Parental Leave.

As some may know, I filled in the online form for PPL, at the end it said that I had to take my Proof of Citizenship to the Wallsend office of Centrelink.

Let me get this straight (whilst I hang my head in shame for some of it), I have been on the dole, single parent pension, baby bonus, child care allowance and probably some family tax benefit somewhere along the line since about 1997 (the earliest I can remember). I had to show complete proof of identity when I first applied.

I have had the same Customer Reference Number, I have updated my details whenever necessary.

So why, when applying for PPL do I need to bundle up my toddler, get in the car and drive to Centrelink to show a form that most likely they have seen before. Even the dude behind the desk, said "well this doesn't make much sense, but I'll photocopy it anyway" He was almost going to ask for the original when I had a fully certified copy. I have been an Australian Citizen since 1984. Never changed, probably never will. Just a strange over the top system.

Oh and hooray, I have to go back with proof of birth to actually start getting my money. Gee I hope I can send someone for that!

Tuesday, March 01, 2011

Teaching

I didn't do teaching at university because I don't think I'm much of a teacher. I have taught new nurses, student nurses and new graduates, most of them say I'm pretty good. I don't personally think so, but as long as they do hey?

But I've noticed I'm doing a LOT of teaching at home this year. To an almost 13 year old boy. I'm terribly disappointed in the primary school, no research skills were taught, barely any homework set that actually required thinking. Yes the worksheets came home, but anyone can sit and do a worksheet, something that required thinking is what was lacking.


Now we're in high school!

Bring on the first assignment about Science. Choose a famous scientist from the list (I've never heard of any of them) and write about their life. He was quite able to do that independently. He has a lot of trouble rewriting sentences into his own words, he feels its perfectly ok to plagiarise - not a concept he's familiar with yet - but I'm teaching it. Part two is choose a field of science and define it, how has it advanced mankind and how has it hindered it, and write about three famous scientists from that field. Well we decided to go to the library last night and his infomation gathering skills (were in a word) crap. Panic is what set in, he read two lines and then breathlessly told me, "I've forgotten it all, its all hopeless."
I said "read it again",
"no use mum, I'll just forget again."
So there I was in the middle of the public library reading out stuff from an encyclopaedia. We got quite a bit done, thankfully its not due until the 16th March. I said to him "This is what I expect you to do tomorrow, work on the next problem using the internet" I hope it works without me having to sit next to him prompting each word. Hoping there is a little bit of independent thought.

Next area of teaching is: self control.

We're withholding his pocket money, well banking it, otherwise money falls through his fingers like water. He has no concept of delayed gratification, what is really needed and what is something for a wishlist. He is begging for an airsoft machine gun at the moment, the thing looks bloody realistic and once he gets it, he won't use it. Same as all the Nerf guns. But the one he wants, see above is very realistic and completely unnecessary. I don't' what this type of thing in my house, supposedly the one he wants is on sale at $7US, so what type of shit is it? I think I'll bite the bullet and say completely no. Maybe we'll have to take him to a firing range for his birthday this year, I suggested it for Christmas, but Jamie said no.

Also sleep. He is so resistant to bed. He knows he has to be in bed at 9.30, but he waits until 9.30 for someone to tell him to have a shower, to which he replies he's too tired and just wants to go to bed. I yell, he has a shower, doesn't get into bed until 9.50 and doesn't get to sleep until after 10pm. This morning he told me he's sooooo tired and wants to have the day off to sleep. So I said "Why do you not go to bed on time, why don't' you listen to your body?"
I asked him who he was trying to impress, I said maybe if he had a friend over, it makes sense to be cool and stay up late, but is he trying to impress me or Jamie? I went to bed at 8.30 last night (mainly cos I have a really interesting book) as I was tired, I asked him if he thought I was uncool b/c of this. He agreed it was quite sensible and he said he'd try and listen to his body. Hopefully he'll be in bed by 8.30 tonight. He's still only 12.75 years old, not the 17 year old he thinks he is.