WHOOPIE PIES

Today, I'm trying something very very new (to me). Its an old Amish recipe called Whoopie Pie. So far so good. The batter is pretty yum.

I'm about to put 4" circles of batter onto my pan and get 6 cooking.

That step has worked well. Hmm, not enough batter, will only end up with 6 pies :( The second batch are in the oven as I type. They sure spread a lot eh?


Have to wait for them to cool before I can "fill" them with the marshmallow filling. Am rediculously excited about this baking process and am very disappointed there aren't more.

This is the marshmallow fluff icing/filling. Very very sticky stuff. And delicious.






Taste test... soon.

A highly irregular new problem.

I don't know how this problem started, I had solved it for several years. Only doing the barest of essentials... what is it that I speak of?
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IRONING



As I said, the only stuff I used to iron was my uniform tops. Everything else was left to iron itself once worn.

Now Jamie's work t-shirts have all died and have been replace with Hard Yakka shirts, these need ironing. Mark has several "cool" t-shirts which look so much better when ironed, even little Ryan's t-shirts look nicer when ironed, and of course my uniforms and the tea towels which I just can't help doing. So each week I have a large basket of ironing to do. I tend to do it whilst watching a good murder mystery (ie any night of the week). Then the house becomes a chinese laundry for a few hours as I hang up shirts all over the place.

Source of photo here

Pressure

Who is this pressure coming from?

ME.

I don't want to go back to work after this baby is born, maybe not until he goes to school. I don't know how to achieve this.

I don't know if we can afford child care if I do go back to work.

I really want to move back to Melbourne, I've made my opinion known to lots of people, but now I don't feel like that is going to happen, so I feel like I've lost. Not sure exactly what I've lost, but if I go back to work at the John Hunter I'm sure it will be with my tail between my legs.

Still not feeling well, feel super guilty that I'm taking drugs to sleep. The worst part is the drugs didn't work last night, so today I'm foggy as well and sleep deprived.

Sub-Tropical Summer

Now this is what I'm talking about.

Warm and muggy in the morning, then an afternoon thunderstorm complete with hail. We loved it. I think I even saw lightening touch the road outside my house.

Ryan was engrossed in it. I tried to take a photo of him looking out the window at the rain, but then he caught me with technology in my hand and had to leave his window spot and attack me. He did jump a bit at some of the thunder, but then that makes sense cos it was REALLY LOUD.

Wonder how my dearest eldest boy is going at camp. I'm not usually a worrier, but he seemed so vulnerable this morning. Sitting looking lonely all by himself. He even gave me a kiss goodbye - was not expecting that. I thought he'd have a big posse of kids that he hung with.. but no. Will chat with him on the weekend. I wonder if they were in the middle of the lagoon canoeing or on a long hike when the storm hit. Certainly will make for interesting stories when he gets home............. tomorrow.

Must get some jobs done, I've been quite melancholy today and have done bugger all.

Pre-camp Jitters.

Mark is off to his first high school camp. Its only in Glenrock Lagoon, in Kahibah. Which I think is kind of funny, as its only 20 minutes away. Its an overnight excursion, where they have to take everything, including a sleeping mat and a "mess kit". So thankfully it was only $40.

Young Mark has no sense of urgency, none at all. I suggested we pack on Sunday evening, the reply was a filthy look and that's just stupid. So yesterday after school, I said "lets pack" and that was greeted well. So we packed, luckily I went through it, he only had 2 t shirts and they had asked for 4, the same with shorts. I ironed his name on everything that would stay still for me. I wasn't letting his have Jamie's mag torch, so he doesn't have a torch, otherwise he's got everything. We told him to leave his iPhone at home, I was expecting this to be ignored, but thankfully he has left it at home. The note said no electronic devices, I'm sure he'll be the only one without an iPod type thing.

So off to school this morning with so many year sevens and a handful of parents. I managed to have a nice conversation with the deputy principal, who I said I hope we never get to know. She was lovely and new to the school, she said it has a fabulous vibe, they have meetings all the time about the children - something that would be rebelled against at other high schools, but its the norm here - she said of course they have their troublemakers, but its shifting. They are working hard at improving the culture of the school. So happy that I chose that school, I know its probably the same at all schools, but I really like the uniform too.

Valentine's Day Recap

It was a doozy.

Jamie left at 5.40am as usual. I had not slept.. ok maybe I dozed, but no sleep. Ryan woke at 6am for his milk and then I put him back to bed, this did not work, but thankfully he just talked to himself. Mark up at 7am, insisting I get up also. Dragged myself out of bed and achieved the morning tasks.

Ryan was not himself yesterday, we feel molars are coming through.. pain. So he was a bit of a sookylala, and I put him back to bed and he slept until 10:30am, maybe even eleven. I dozed in that time.

We needed car parts, the engine of our Commodore "dropped" not sure how this happens, but maybe the baking heat of the past two weeks sped up the perishing process of the rubber boots holding it in place (that's what I think and I'm sticking to it) anyway quite dangerous to drive, so it was at Rocket's house waiting for me to order these "boots". When Jamie finally rang to tell me what to ask for, Auto1's response was "what size boot do you need"... oh shit! I don't know, Jamie didn't know, Rod didn't know. Sorry Jamie this is a job you need to work out for yourself, so after about 10 phone calls, of which 5 of them, Ryan was screaming! I gave up on car parts.

Around 12:30, time to head to Rebecca's house so she could babysit my little dude whilst I was at my antenatal appointment. It doesn't really feel fair to drag a 14 month old baby to a hospital to sit in his pram and be quiet. Ryan doesn't quite know the meaning of quiet at the moment, he's discovered his voice and likes to use it - loudly - to tell long intricate stories of complete babble.

Got to Metford, settled in Ryan, who I believe spent the afternoon driving his Buzz spaceship and laughing at Wilson - their white fluffly dog, Bella - the husky - was kept outside much to her disgust!

Appointment went really well. Had a lovely GP/gynae specialist who believed me and was willing to help me. My reflux is bad, I'm now on ranitidine bd. My sleeping sux (as you know) she has given me temazepam.... and I got 7 hours sleep last night. Jamie was a little upset that I wasn't able to say goodbye to him this morning (as I was in my induced coma). Spoke with the head of the department about my Caesarean, he thinks its quite reasonable. I'm booked for a 3 or 4D scan on Friday to look at the umbilical cord to make sure their are no early knots, to ease my anxiety over this. Quite looking forward to seeing the littlest Mr Storer in three days time. I hope Jamie is able to attend this appointment - going against my earlier argument that hospitals are no place for babies. Below is a self portrait of me at 33 weeks preggers!


Anyway, I quick dash out of the hospital, collected Mark at home on my way back to Metford to get Ryan. Then got a phone call from Jamie, get some brake fluid and meet me at Rocket's house to give him a car key. No worries mate. R fell asleep in the car and we went in and had a cup of tea. Then to Jesmond to get my drugs, home. Sat down for 5 minutes. Then Jamie came home and I had to drive him to Hexham to his helicopter meeting (yes you read that correctly) he is in a helicopter club, and they want him to build their website (hopefully for free membership, but that remains to be seen). He didn't get home until almost 10.30pm.

I think I got a Valentine's kiss from him.



Driving included: Home (Shortland) - Metford - New Lambton - Shortland - Metford - Tomago - Jesmond - Shortland - Hexham - Shortland. Maybe I didn't need the sleeping pill.... utter exhaustion might have done it.

CSTDIDWF: Ryan

Cute Stuff They Do I Don't Wanna Forget...

Thanks Courtney for the cool title :)

My munchikin commencing his walking career. He hasn't done it much, but will take a few faltering steps when coerced. I'm so lucky that his first steps were captured on our video as I was at work at the time. Might have to send Mark to cinematographer school though, pretty crap job of a momentous occasion.

Climbing on and off his Buzz Spaceship is pretty cool. He can manoeuvre those legs pretty easily these days.

Looking into boxes. We got a long "poster" style box the other week, he was putting his balls into it and then peeking to see if they'd gone in. Terribly cute. Yesterday at the Baker's house they had an old air-conditioner box with a door cut out. He crawled in, sat up and then shut the door, very proud of our little man.

Opening doors - not necessarily good, but clever. Quite frustrating actually. Must get more door locks :(

Eating corn on the cob last night... loved it. He look so confident, like he'd been doing it his whole life (makes me wish I'd left him a little more corn - oops) he also enjoyed his portion of the lamb chop, as my mum says "not a little baby any more"


Another not necessarily cute, but clever, he lets me know when he's finished his food by throwing it off the edge! Messy but thoughtful.

Yesterday was the best laugh, I was listening to an 80s radio station and "The Final Countdown" by Europe came on, well I ding/sing along to the whole song, being a headbanger in my teenage years.. so I did and quite loud, he found the "nahh nahh na-na-na-na" of the intro hilarious and was cracking himself up laughing. He also laughs heaps at Mark over silly faces.

Chasey is fun, especially when he stops and looks around - and as his crawling is very good, its not efficient - so we catch up.

Dive bombing into his ball pit, thank you Arron and Tara for that ballpit, best present ever!

The sad, pathetic life of Christy

I'm feeling ick. Lots of problems at the moment... (time for another list)

1. RLS - bad
2. Can't sleep because of #1
3. Anxiety because of #1
4. Sore ear - I'm pretty sure its a bite, skin started peeling off today
5. Top of right foot hurts
6. Lower abdo and upper left thigh pain, actually a little more like groin pain, should I call the delivery suite? (Reminding me a little of the labour from Ryan)
7. A sense of general heaviness
8. Puffy feet
9. Reflux
10. Slight nausea

Ok, that is more than enough. I'm really tired and want to sleep, but the fear of going to my bedroom is overwhelming. How do I turn off the thoughts??????????

Sore Ear

Ok this is getting pathetic.

The top of my ear hurts, its all red, no cuts that Jamie can see. At least its my left for love ear, I think I'd get paranoid if it was my right ear (right for spite).

I can't bake anymore. My cupcakes failed last night. They all sunk :(
Failed profiteroles.
Failed Mars Bar slice.

Quite depressing really.

My Footy Club is Awesome.

A slight side bar to start with: I love the word awesome, I'm sure it comes from two parts of my life, its truly a Christian word, and I still consider myself a Christian and more obviously its from "How I Met Your Mother" where quite cool people use awesome a lot. I've taken to using it again.

But back to the topic at hand. My footy club "Wallsend Junior AFL Club" is seriously awesome. The committee is full of really motivated people. Something that Jamie and I are not. Our president Jason is brilliant, he's on the ball, excellent letter writer, excellent thinker, a bit of a stress head but gets the job done. Maybe that's why he's wanted to step down as president for the past 3 years without success.

Next come Russ and Sharyn. Talk about motivated, they have called all the schools in the area to confirm they have flyers about our registration day this afternoon. They also put a lot of thought into what's needed. Russ practices with his kids and local kids, he plans his training sessions and generally worries about how the club is going to fare.

Jamie goes with the flow, he doesn't really instigate anything, will help out, do what is required, but a leader... umm not really. I'm not a big fan of getting involved either. Quite happy to have an excuse this year. BABIES.

Life when you are 32 weeks pregnant

32 weeks sounds a long way through, but there are 8 weeks left, that is 2 months! In reality of life, two months is a long time, but when you get closer to 40 (ok I do have 3 years) time moves quickly.

Good things that have happened this week:

• The heat went away (but its coming back)
• Work is good
• I'm going to have a kickass Tupperware party on Friday - its only Tuesday and I have 7 confirmed guests... only have comfy seating for 5.. will have to bring the kitchen chairs in.
• I've made two slices
• I've made the bed two days in a row.
• Two less mice are in the world.

Now for the bad stuff:

• Restless Leg Syndrome and insomnia. Words fail me how awful this is.
• Ryan got heat rash and is feeling poorly, off his food (which he is completely hopeless with at the best of times) and more importantly slow with his milk.
• Mark isn't listening and I feel like a banshee, threatening him is the only thing working.
  
• Mark is not really talking to me, unless he wants something, he finds it funny to scare me, trick me, push me to my limits. And this boy was wonderful last week.
• Jamie is sooo busy, I miss him. He is working on his boat, helicopter, computer or second computer job as well as working full time. Sometimes I feel we are tag team wrestlers, hand slap as one takes over the babysitting duty. When I get home from work its his cue to go out, and a bit vice versa.
• Lack of interest in cooking.
• Two failed baking jobs yesterday, I wanted to make profiteroles and forgot to put the eggs in, hence they didn't rise, I know they needed eggs, but just omitted them, waste of time, energy and ingredients.

Ahhh don't you just love a list. Quite obsessed with them. Mark's mate Mads is coming after school due to a footy training day, so Mark has requested I clear the kitchen bench, and could I "try to be a bit nicer"... I replied "if you do be a bit nicer"
Humph, will see how we go..

Well that was just a bit crap

I was expecting a nice link, but alas no. This is the photo I wanted on the previous post. How cute is that, its a McCall's pattern and no, I don't sew, but have sent the link to my mother. My son's have no where to wear such a costume, so I don't really want her to make it. But its oh so cute. Imagine my little Ryan in that, or new bubba.... awww

Its cooler, had a gorgeous cool change this afternoon. So excited that I almost hugged a patient!

Ryan has heat rash from his baby man boobs to his chin :(

The big fellas are over "fixing" the boat.

I'm dizzy.

I have reflux and don't like it.

Feeling hot hot hot

I hate summer. I hate heat. I don't like getting too hot in winter either, not a fan of the electric blanket on overnight (Jamie is though).

This last week has been horrendous.
40 - 38 - 39 - 41 - 37 - tomorrow is due to be 42 and Sunday is 36 followed allegedly by a cool change around midday. Those figures might not be 100% correct, but bloody freaking close enough.

I'm 7 months pregnant, I don't do heat ordinarily, but this is just so much worse.

My RLS is shocking, I'm so tired and unable to do anything, because I can't leave the lounge room where the A/C is. Life, quite frankly, sucks at the moment. So I'm watching 18 hours of tv a day.. my brain is turning to mush. My house is going down the toilet.

There are floods, cyclones, ice storms, riots and wars all over the world. But all I care about is that is effing HOT and I want it to rain and loose some of this hotness.

In other news....

• Mark thinks high school has been marvellous so far. He's loving it.
• Had a GTT yesterday, will look up my results tomorrow.
• Jamie's new (second) job with Geeks2U is going really good.
• Ryan is going good, he babbles so much, he has half hour long stories - just wish I knew what it was all about.
• Sheena started special school today, still waiting to hear how it went.
• Mum got the all clear on her blood tests, and is being referred to an orthopaedic dude for more advice about her strange shaped back.
• Toby is starting his toilet training, I didn't hear the tinkle, but he does it.
• Only have 11 shifts of work to go before I start maternity leave and get to meet my new little fella.

Too many thoughts

I jokingly said on Facebook last night. I need a pensive. A pensive is a type of bird bath that you put all of your extra thoughts into, so you don't need to hold onto them all. I think it would be a good idea if such a thing really existed.

So what is it I'm thinking about:

The birth of my next baby, due in two months time. I want a c-section and it appears the powers that be at the hospital are quite happy to let me do that. The doc I saw yesterday is actually a GP with an advanced interested in obstetrics - so much so that he helps run the clinic - he raised an interesting point with me. Are you finished your family after this baby? Well yes I am. I have said all along that 3 is enough, I won't be going back to "try for a girl", I don't want to have to think about a new car to transport 4 children, the cost associated with 4 children, the car seats, the bedrooms, the school fees, sport fees, toys... well to be totally honest I'm done. I suggested to Jamie recently that he go for a vasectomy (didn't get a favourable response). Anyway this doctor suggestion a tubal ligation, its not something I thought about, mainly because I didn't' think they did it any more. It totally makes sense. No need to worry about contraception, no suprise baby at 45 when I think I'm hitting menopause. Plus my belly is already open (that was Jamie's comment, no need for me to have an operation). Anyone out there in blogland had a Tubal Ligation, any fors or againsts?

High School.

Its such a big day. Mark starts high school today.

He's organised (as much as Mark can be), and already at school. I made him catch the bus, feel a little guilty about that, but if it doesn't start on day #1, I know he'll be at me to drive him all the time. He was the first person on his bus, but the route starts only 500m from our place.

He set his alarm (on his iPhone of course) and was up at 7.10am, washed his face, brushed his teeth, did his hair, got dressed in his very handsome uniform. He didn't have breakfast due to extreme nervousness, but he's not a breakfast at home kind of guy. I packed his lunch - a roast beef, lettuce and chutney sandwich, an LCM bar, an apple and a flask of water, I froze half of it last night so it would be cold. Its burning hot here today, top of 36, so he'll be all sweaty when he gets home.


We went a little early to the bus stop - about 20 mins early - so had to wait. Ryan and I waited until the bus came, we waved, wished him good luck, and blew him kisses (luckily he was the only one on the bus at this point)


I'm so sorry that I won't be home when he gets home today. I have a clinic appointment at the hospital at 2.15 and to be honest, I think school finishes at 2.15 on Mondays - so the teachers can do their planning meetings or some such bullshit. So I will have some afternoon tea set out for him. Then I can be ready for when we get home to have my ears talked off (I hope!)

Everyone, fingers crossed that he gets "good" kids in his class, that he won't be seduced by the naughty kids and that he makes really great friends that are interested in school, have nice parents and are not bitchy :)))

The things that irritate me about Facebook.

The following are a bunch of status updates that I'm busting to make, but it would be a little too obvious if I did.

By declaring your undying love for your b/f g/f in every update, it doesn't make it any more real.
I have one cousin in particular who writes his undying love in every single update he does. Why does he do this, he lives with her, she is pregnant with his child, I'm sure he tells her all the time. By making me read it every day, makes me not quite believe it. Also the others who say "love you Bob" and then the next week is "Love you Andy" and so forth... its not love when you've been dating for a week.. truly its not love. Give me your update without the bullshit.

There is no need for excessive swearing in your updates.
I do appreciate a well placed "fuck" for emphasis, but all the time is just unnecessary. I have blocked people for excessive swearing.

Asking people to "text your cell" is just plain desperate. Please stop.
Again the cousins, every update saying I'm bored TTC... if you are bored text a friend, don't ask people to text you. If you want to chat to someone, chat to them, begging everyone (usually with over 1000 friends) on your list to TTC sounds pathetic.

Ahhh that feels better. Sorry if you are one of those who do this, but it drives me crazy. Appears to only be 2nd cousins from Canada... I could unfriend them.... might do it. They do send me crazy.

This is from a while ago. Thought there was a lack of photos

Easter 2010, Ryan sleeping in Grandpa's cradle. He was so tiny back then. This was from a time when he didn't move... ahhh the bliss...

Just call me Mr Chocolate. Mark was most impressed with his Easter stash of chocolate..

Oh so tragic

My boys were playing together tonight. It is such a sweet sight, an almost 13 year old wrestling with a 13 month old. They are gorgeous together.

I love my boys, I love the Mark who came home today. He's been nice, talkative, playful and not too bossy.

So do you want to know the tragedy?

When Ryan really laughs... he snorts!

Just like his mama, I feel for the boy. But its so cute to hear a baby snort from laughing too much.

Happy

I slept last night, not early on, but from 1am. All thanks to Polaramine. My new favourite drug. The RLS was really bad, but who cares, the sedative effect of this (totally safe for pregnancy) drug was wonderful. The girl at the chemist said that I would have a hangover effect.. yes I do, but I don't care. I feel slightly alive.

Shame about the heat, its due to be 36 here today and possibly 42 tomorrow. HOLY CRAP how will I cope, how will Ryan cope? I get to go to work in the afternoon, so that will be good - yay for A/C.

Oh my package is in the air. My dad just called and dear little Mark is on the plane, he said "he looks so small amongst all the adults" but a bloke that used to go to their church is on the plane too... My two boys will be together in just over an hour.

I had better get ready to go then.

I love my family, really looking forward to when we are 5, must pack my hospital bag just in case.

Restless Leg Syndrome

This condition appears to be taking over my life again. I've talked about it here and here. So I might be rehashing a bit.

I'm aching from head to toe. I have serious aches happening in my thighs, hips, shins and calves at the moment. Earlier today it was in my biceps and back.
I can't sit still. I'm cramping up (in my legs) almost constantly and to a small extent those dark thoughts are creeping back.

My worry is extreme exhaustion. I have babies to care for, the one growing inside of me I worry for as I'm getting tempted to resort to drugs. I know he's almost fully grown, but doesn't need to stress of drugs to hamper his development. I don't know of a doctor that will take me seriously.

This is NOT pregnancy related RLS, but this is freaking serious RLS that I've had since I was 17 years old.

It started off slowly, a minor ache in my lower leg (we called it the "heebie jeebies"), could be redirected with a hot bath and a panadol.

It steadily became worse over the years, I didn't get it everyday, but was aware of their being something odd about my legs and sleeping.

When we moved to Newcastle it became something that I needed to see a doctor about. From old blog posts, I think it would have been about 2004-2005 that I first went to a doctor about my RLS and how it was affecting my sleep. I was given sleeping tablets and sent to a neurologist Dr Burton. He gave me electrical conductive tests and I can't remember what else. Fast forward a couple more years, have seen a respiratory/sleep disorder specialist, another neurologist (Dr Lechner-Scott), had sleep studies, EEG, blood tests all which report I have idiopathic RLS - which means of unknown origin. Genetics tells me that because my nan and mum both have mild versions, I have it from them! Thanks ladies.

So after years of

• powerful benzodiazepines,
  
• antidepressants,
  
• antianxiety,
  
• Parkinsonian,
  
• epileptic,
  
• long acting morphine,
• neuropathic pain deviators,
  
• vitamins,
  
• minerals,
  
• old wives tales,
  
• copious amounts of bath water,
  
• wine,
  
• panadol, and
  
• food.

I'm at a total loss what to do. I'm completely exhausted, frightened of going to bed (what's the point I'll just lie there awake), feelings of worthlessness and hopelessness. Its an illness/condition that no one can see, people don't believe it (sorry Jamie you are in this category). Lots of people think they have it, but have those people kept a small stash of Clonazepam for when it all gets too much and it just might be easier to be dead (don't worry people stash has been disposed of now and I don't have these strong feelings anymore... but they do appear to be creeping back - hence this post).

I don't want advice, I just want to put my feelings out there, maybe use this blog as a pensieve to remove nasty and debilitating thoughts from my head.

I'm a woman, I can change my mind.

Totally changed my mind about quilting. I shall keep it as a hobby I'll do later. Quite silly to start something when I'll soon have a toddler and a newborn to keep me busy. I'd only start it and then feel guilty about not finishing it.

Today was Anti-D injection. This is because I somehow got the quite rare blood group of B negative. I know I went thru it with mum and dad and neither of them are BNeg, so I'm unique. It also means 3 needles during EACH pregnancy - I think.

I recall after Mark was born, after 8 hours of labour and an emergency C-section that my arm hurt. I found this very odd, why would my arm hurt if I just gave birth to a baby.... ahhhh Anti-D.

Questions...

I want to dye....
my wedding dress. I will never wear it as a white (with black embellishments) dress and it is my wedding dress. But to be completely truthful, its a $35 Kmart maternity sundress and would be quite practical in my current condition.

So my question to you is... what colour should I dye it?

I would like either subtle shade of blue, pink or green. Please vote at the side which one you think. I'm happy to accept other ideas. Don't like the idea of a bright colour... cos I know I just wouldn't wear it.

Quilting

I'm planning on visiting a quilt shop tomorrow. Its been a fantasy of mine for a while to sew a quilt. I love them. Might just start with appliqué for a couple of Ryan's plain tshirts.

I'll check with Jamie his theory on me taking a beginners class.... We are in desperate need of a new doona cover, maybe I could make one. But when I look at blogs on quilts, I get terribly confused. Joyce has inspired me to make a pillowcase, so I need to buy some fabric for that. Pillowcases can't be hard, plus how satisfying to make them yourself.... very excited actually.

Wish me luck. Have to take Ryan for his 12 month needles today :(
Poor little chap hasn't had the best of luck health wise for that past few weeks, so this will make him all the more poorly. Hopefully that means I get good cuddles tonight.

Marko is having a good time with my parents in Phillip Island... no flooding there, or in Nathalia - phew.

Confession Time.

I have a terrible confession. To scared to tell the majority of people on Facebook so I'll leave it to my little mostly unread blog.

We don't have a family picture yet. We don't have a single photo of Jamie, Ryan and I. None of Jamie, Mark, Ryan and I. How dreadful is that? He is 13.5 months old.

I have a feeling our first family photo will now include the person known as "New Baby"

How did this happen? Maybe a day in the NICU when we should have taken post delivery shots. No Christmas photos, no birthday family photos.

It really does not help that Jamie and I are totally un-photogenic. Our kids look so great on film - we don't!

That is my confession. Will attempt to rectify this asap.

Hot

That is a profound title for a post isn't it?

I'm hot. I don't cope to well being hot.

I'm 29 weeks pregnant to boot, which raises my internal temperature.

Jamie says I'm becoming very boring because I just keep whining about the heat.

Well once the heat gets turned off, I'll stop whining.

Had a lovely visit from Kathryn and Eoin today. He's a dear little boy, hard to believe he's only 3 months, must be the hair, he looks quite grown up. Ryan did the thing that bigger babies do, whack and try to put the dummy in. But he kept missing and tried to shove the thing in his eye or cheek. Eoin didn't seem to mind (and thankfully either did his mother)

Our electricity went off today for 2 hours. I live with ceiling fans, I don't think I could live without them to be honest. So two hours sans fans was a challenge. Thank you Energy Australia for restoring my power :)))

Just a bit scared.

Please allow me to get all serious for a moment.
I know it is possible. But how can you love all your children the same?

Mark was the centre of my universe for 11 years... solely him. I adore him (he shits me, but I adore him), I love that we can talk, share stuff, be silly together, and I totally understand him.

Ryan is the most amazing baby that anyone could wish for. He is so placid, interested, cheeky, easy going and totally gorgeous. I can't believe how much I love him. I love that he's the "spitting image" of his father (a more good looking version - sorry Jamie). He's turning into a little nerd, he obsessed with the telephone, remote controls, and any button he's not allowed to touch - as I rescue the computer from being turned off (again). I love how he plays with his mobile (the ones babies lie underneath when they are small) but now looks at the back and moves the switches.

So how do I fit another little boy into my heart? I know that I will... but it seem so impossible, don't you think? Everything I have ever read said that your heart expands to the number of children you have.

Strange time of year

Today has been quite emotional. I'll start close to home and then branch out.

Today is the day that Mark flies off to Melbourne for his Christmas holiday with my parents. It keeps their relationship close and gives Jamie and I a break. Seeing him walk out the doors at Newcastle airport and onto the plane is always a bit emotional. Today Mark was a total stress head. He badly wanted to put The Simpson's Movie onto his iPhone and it wouldn't work. He cracked it, he was loud, bossy, rude and that makes me happy for him to leave. Then I feel guilty... oh the cycle of it.

Ryan is going to miss him so much. They have played together so beautifully for the past three weeks. Most of Ryan's waking moments are with Mark in the room (or Mark throwing toys at his head!!) Mark is going to miss Ryan heaps too. He's certain he will start walking in this fortnight, something he is sad to miss. Not really sure if it will happen, well it has to happen at some point doesn't it?

I do love having Mark around. He is quite useful if nothing else. But the house should be tidier, we'll definitely save some money. I won't have the constant "but I only want" comments coming every three seconds. Oh and we'll be able to watch the news!

A perfect segue to my next point. EMOTIONAL floods. How can the world be like this. There was huge wall of water that descended on Toowoomba and the surrounding areas yesterday. Over 100mm of rain fell in a very short period of time which caused flash flooding. Watching the news has been the most amazing thing. HUGE brown rivers bouncing cars around like they are made of plastic - not a 2ton 4wd. There are 8 confirmed dead and many others missing. It is so terrifying. Pictures of people sitting on their roofs with water (brown murky disgusting water) everywhere. How it will smell, how will these people cope. Felt at a complete loss this morning, just wanted to watch the news.. but we had to watch Prank Patrol (granted it was a good prank) and the freaking Simpsons. No photos today. I will post some soon... maybe ;)

Questions

As always I stole this from another blog.

Why did you create the blog?

When we moved I wanted to share photos of our life up here. Not sure exactly when I started it, but that was the motivation, sort of a sharing my scrapbooking and life away from my family.

What kind of blogs do you follow?
Some scrapbooking, baking but mostly families who have children with Down Syndrome. I find them so inspirational. The two I follow most closely now have adopted their children, makes it all the more inspirational.

Favourite makeup brand?

Who gives a flying f***, oops thats not what you want to hear, I'd love to be a makeup girl, but I'm not.

Favourite clothing brand?
I hate shopping for clothes with passion. I hate my figure (when its not pregnant), and detest looking in the mirror. Hand me downs are my favourite brand.

Your indispensable makeup product?
I want to use moisturiser everyday. My mother has gorgeous skin and has blessed me with great skin, but as I'm now 37 I should try a little harder to make it last a bit longer.

Your favourite colour?
I love pink, but tend to wear grey, black and white.

Your perfume?
Deodorant - not a perfume girl.

Your favourite film?
Hmm... I always say "She's Having a Baby", but its a little dated now. I love Monsters Inc. I'm more of a tv person, love my 1hr murder dramas.

What country would you like to visit and why?
Currently its America. I'm quite obsessed.

Make the last question and answer to yourself
What trait do you wish you had? Organisation. Looking at my messy house with clutter everywhere, I want it GONE.

Feeling Great

After the shittiest NYE almost in history. New Years Day was wonderful.

The shift at work was really great, I worked with Leonnie, Kelly and Amber. I like working with them, our patients were nice and it was all very friendly.

Came home from work and everyone was in a good mood. We laughed, the baby made us all laugh, he's so busy. He was crawling along the hallway holding Mark's torch (as you do!) and then stopped, looked into his room and in he trotted. It looks so funny, making little decisions... "I'll go in here now" when I finally got in to check on him, he was standing up next to his change table organising stuff. He had his ample belly leaning against the furniture and had a tube of nappy rash cream in each hand... and a slightly guilty look on his face.


Had a nice tea as a family, even had dessert. Then we decided to go to the beach. Its been a stinker of a couple of days... 35deg. So bundled into the car and went to Newcastle Beach. Marko went for a swim at twilight - there were about 20 people in swimming - and J,R and I just put our feet in. Ryan thought it was marvellous, whenever Marko went out of sight he yelled "BAAA" (which we believe is Ryan name for Mark) and started laughing.

This reminds me of our dogs when we go to to the beach. Charlie is a swimmer, Skye is not. Charlie heads out into the surf and Skye stays on the shore barking, we are positive he is says "Charlie, come back, its not safe in there". Finally when he can't take it anymore Skye heads out into the water to save Charlie and then they both swim back. Its very sweet (if not a little noisy).

The weather at the beach was LOVELY, a nice cooling breeze, the water was quite cold but everything was still very warm. It was nice to people watch the young beautiful people in bikinis playing volleyball (Mark said "look people are playing Monopoly" poor kid has too many of his mothers genes).

Once home, put the gorgeous boy to bed. We then "buzzed" Mark's hair. Please don't judge us but we have unfortunately had a nit problem for a couple of years. I treat it, they come back, I don't treat and they stay, I comb and comb and comb, treat and treat and treat Mark's hair. But as he likes his hair quite long as its nice and curly, it gives the nits and lice somewhere to feed. Anywho, I found one in Ryan's hair... I told Mark that's it, the only way to rid the horrible little insects is to get rid of his hair. So off it came last night. So far its a #5, but there are still longer bits as the buzzer lost power. I hope to convince him that a #3 would be better, make sure there are NO eggs left. It'll be a nice feeling to be finally nit free. BTW, I got Ryan's out without any issues - there was only one egg.

Here is a photo of my trip to Sydney to see Bon Jovi. I went with Terese and it was marvellous. There were a few songs I didn't know, but the atmosphere was great. Loved it, loved it, loved it.

Day One

Happy New Year!

I'm so totally NOT a Happy New Year person. I think its stupid. You are forced to stay awake until midnight so you can watch fireworks (for us on the telly) and to be completely honest, fireworks are boring and a complete waste of money - in my humble opinion. I don't wish people "Happy New Year", its not my thing.

Gosh, such a sour puss.

Just spent the day at work, I really enjoyed work today. My patients were nice, I was flirted with (we won't count that he was 86 years old, deaf as a door post and almost blind to boot), enjoyed who I was working with. Makes it all very pleasurable.

Coming home was nice, got a lovely response from my men. Mark is now on the computer, Ryan is attempting a nap and Jamie is perfecting the nap.

Today is HOT. My computer says its 30 degrees, but it feels closer to.... 36. Bloody hot, not helped that I have turned into an incubator to what appears to be a big baby. I'm very pregnant at the moment, I expect I have 3 months (12 weeks) to go. My official due date is 3 April 2011, but am expecting to deliver on about 30 March. I have an appointment with an obstetrician middle of next week, should be interesting, I've NEVER seen a fully qualified obs before, I've had two babies and only ever seen registrars! How odd eh?

Post Christmas Wrap Up

We had an awesome Christmas.

I was not expecting this.

It was "just us", just our little foursome, one of whom barely eats.

Mark was so excited, he woke up the first time at 5:30am and I sent him back to bed. At 6:30 he came in, I can't wait any longer, we could hear that Ryan was awake (he was doing his normal chatting to himself whilst in the cot), our challenge would be to wake Jamie. I managed to get him up by stating that in 3-7 years times when Marko is in the full throws of teenage-hood the little boys will be waking him up early in excitement to open Christmas presents, so this year is Mark's payback... seemed to work. All I know is that for the next 12 or so years, we will have a 5-6am Christmas morning! (oh help me now, I'll be nearly 50!)

Our sad Christmas tree looked very full underneath. We have had it protected by the playpen as Ryan is a bit of a destroyer and since his birthday, he has worked out how to open presents.

Mark got a good stash of presents.

• A Simpson's Scene it DVD game
• Statue of "The Stig"
• Lollies
• iTunes gift card (that he was a bit confused about but then became evident why)
• A wallet
• A big Nerf gun - the latest craze; and
  
• His own iPhone.

He is beside himself about the iPhone, we have not got a SIM card for it, will wait and see really how necessary it is for a 12 year old to have a mobile phone in this day and age. The iPhone is really and iPod Touch which phone availability. I don't' think it has left his side (hand) since he got it. We pimped it with a bright green cover, so it doesn't look the same as mine, and he's been downloading lots of apps for it.

Ryan, well, just had a birthday, so it was a bit harder for him. But he got a truck, some Thomas trains, a flip out couch, a blankie and some clothes. (I'm sure there was other stuff, but its 5am and I need to go back to bed)

Jamie and I got food! Jamie gave me a Kenwood Patissier Kitchen Aid which is a lovely retro bright red. I was beside myself with excitement and have been baking up a storm. Jamie had purchased himself a remote controlled helicopter towards the end of the year, so that was considered his present.

Lunch was good, I cooked my first turkey... still not the biggest fan of turkey, so will hopefully not bother next year, but then again, I might get swept up in the emotion of Christmas again. One where I'm the mum to three boys and hopefully living in Melbourne again ;)

Will post some photos in the *real* morning.

Justice according to a 12 yo.

I have only "sort of" following the story of Keli Lane murdering her daughter Tegan, you can read a 7.30 Report story about it here.

This morning during the news, they reported that Keli will be spending Christmas in jail because she was found guilty of the murder yesterday.

Mark then said "Oh that's sad, she'll in jail for Christmas"
Me: "But she murdered her baby daughter"
Mark: "But that was in 1994!"
Me: "It doesn't matter how long ago...."

He then lost interest in the conversation and went back to playing with his baby brother.

BUT, isn't that interesting. If something happens 14 years ago, he doesn't think she should be punished. Or is it that he doesn't understand what the report was saying and only heard "jail for Christmas" I just found it quite fascinating.

WOW Thanks.

What an awesome bunch of girlies I know. I shall be implementing some of these ideas over the next few months.

Today we're in our 24th week of pregnancy. Time seems to be standing still, but racing along at the same time.

Ryan turned one last week - he's a boy with a mission, that mission is standing!
Mark is emotional, but quite good considering.
Jamie is worrying me though - he's sick so much, need to convince him to see a doctor. He needs a new job, I'm positive its related to anxiety over his current job and bad nutrition which I can't convince him to fix.

I need help!

Advice time please.

My dearest son, Mark, is now 12.5 years old. It appears he is in the midst of puberty.
Check out the photos.... this one was from one year ago - probably to the day - he is a boy, young fresh and innocent!

This one is from a couple of weeks ago, the face shape has changed, he is bigger, his feet have become flippers! You know what I mean.

My problem is constantly asking for stuff and saying no to everything. Yes I'm aware this is quite normal, but how does one deal with it.

EVERY single day, he says "I don't want a shower", and it truly is every single day. Mark is a sweater, he has the beginnings of acne. I want him to take pride in himself, being clean, nice smelling and caring for his skin. In the bathroom, we have lots of different cleansers for pimple prone skin.. he is still fighting using it. I've explained that he's not doing it for me, but for his own self esteem. He is a very good looking boy, he doesn't need acne, if it comes despite us trying well that is one thing, but not trying at all is failure. His hair is always greasy and his skin is sticky from sweat. It doesn't seem to bother him, but we're a modern family and have access to clean water and it is cultural to have daily showers. Why does he fight this. At 6.45am this morning he came into my room and whispered in my ear, not fully checking if I was awake... "Oh mum, I don't want a shower this morning ok?"
So we have a fight at 6.45am.. yes that's a nice way to start ones day.

Other issue is money and shopping.
He has no concept of money and its worth. We haven't done pocket money, not really sure why, but it hasn't' worked for us. I must admit, I spoiled him as a younger kid, when we went shopping, I'd get him a Matchbox car, they were only $3 and it was a nice thing to do. Now his tastes have changed. Its Nerf guns he wants. "This one is only $20 mum, its really cheap", "This one is only $50 and its really rare" and of course I say no. Then he stomps off, then he gets in my face and asks over and over and over and over again. So I have to say no over and over etc... well you get the picture. So then it changes to oh seems I can't have a Nerf gun, can I have a coke, a chocolate bar, a movie, a new pair of shoes, a hat, a ball, a donut, a book (oooh mum you want me to read) and it continues until I get so cross I nearly cry. So instead of saying "no" once, I have said it 15 times and he's almost crying and so am I.
We often discuss that its not fair to ask for things all the time, that we have a limited income and will soon have three kids. He understands that and then the comment "If I be good for this trip and don't ask for anything, can I have a clear **insert whatever blasted thing he wants**"

HOW DO I RESPOND TO THIS?

I'm 23 weeks pregnant, someone who can't cope in heat, and its hot, I have a small baby, I don't sleep very well, I get worn out. He wears me down, sometimes I give in, probably too often which is why he keeps it up. But my last comment makes the most sense. If I spend $20 on something for Mark each time we go out (which he seems to expect, and no I don't indulge him that often) when Ryan and the new baby are bigger that is $60... we can't afford that, no one can. Its totally wrong to indulge that much anyway, I'm aware of that.

My mother has suggested that we start giving him an allowance and all his indulgences he has to pay for himself. That makes sense, what is a good figure for allowance? We plan to give him a prepaid phone for Christmas, one for him to text his friends and call me, so that will be about $30 every two months... that is my expectation. I can see that being a huge battle when the credit runs out.

We also have issues with extreme screen time, he will be on the computer from the minute he walks in the door until he goes to bed given the choice. That is 6 hours!!! I have to drag him away to do his chores which are a really basic feed the dogs and empty the dishwasher daily. Mow the lawn and generally help out when asked. But its such a chore.

Ok I'm going to stop now, I really need help, Mark is living with us for at least the next 5 years, we have to live in a way that doesn't require me to yell... cos that doesn't work either.

An update.

Its been a while, but if you want to really know what is going on in my life, I live on Facebook.

Bored

Not too bored really. Just alone.
Baby is asleep - he only had one nap today, so went to bed early.
Mark and Jamie have gone to the Newcastle Regional AFL Award night.

I've done a lot blog surfing (a fabulous time waster), some include Pudge and Zippy, Josie and Sarah. These are all based on babies/adults with Down Syndrome. The first two are babies who have been adopted and they just make me cry, they've been through the AV fistula repair, gastrostomy tubes and hospital visits. The other one about Sarah, is a 21 year old woman living a full and interesting life. Makes me go all mushy.

Ryan updates: he's on the move, not crawling, but definitely not staying put. He can roll, reach, stretch and wriggle to get where he wants to go. Its not very far, but can be annoying. Our home is not nearly childproofed yet. That is happening over the next two weeks. He nearly reached far enough to get a saw tonight!! How would I explain that to the ED?

Back at work tomorrow. I really enjoy work now. Still not a huge fan of morning shift - I really HATE showering people. But lots happens and I lurve the people I work with.

Jamie has managed to get next week off, which will be marvellous for the renovation. My in-laws are coming and they are a huge help when it comes to stuff like that. Hopefully this means my kitchen will be finished - including the walls being painted! Maybe even the hallway will be painted too (I think we started to prepare the hallway about three years ago), its so shit, but we don't notice it anymore.

Things I want/love

Once again, thanks to Elsie for the idea for this post:

1. I want this decal - can be got from here. My plan is to put this on the wall above our coffee machine (should we ever actually get it)

2. Coffee Machine: It is for our birthday present, for both Jamie and I. We're both totally in love with lattes at the moment. Can't get enough of them. But they are quite expensive, we decided to put a big up front cost and get a machine, but Jamie is "looking" on Ebay. Of course that one is far too expensive, but you get the idea.

3. Pretty cupcake papers. I will to get these at some point, still going with the plain and boring ones from the supermarket at the moment. These ones come from The Cupcake Courier.


4. Special baking. I made a fancy 4 layer lemon cake for my dad's birthday. Very impressed with the taste and the look of it.

Colds

We all have colds. I'm not a fan.


In other news, we have a new website which has videos on it.

www.miitube.net

So far, it only has Mark and Ryan. But really that is all you want to see.

Ryan has 2 teeth now, he's attempting to talk. "dadadadada" and well not much else.

Its really cold. There was snow of the Barrington Tops and the wind is blowing from that direction. BRRR

Gluten Free Banana Cake

2 cups rice flour

3 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

250g butter

1 1/4 cups sugar (I used 1/4c brown sugar and a cup of white sugar)

23 oz bananas (I use 3 average sized ones)

4 large eggs

4 tbsp icing sugar

1 tbsp lemon juice

Preheat oven to 350

Sift flours with baking powder and salt (yeah right, I never sift)

Beat the butter, sugar and bananas together until smooth and then briefly stir in the eggs.

Stir this into the flour mixture until blended.

Pour into a large loaf pan and bake for about 1 - 1 1/4 hours or until a skewer comes out clean and the cake is just firm.

Cool for 10 minutes and then mix the sugar with the lemon juice and drizzle over the top. (I like it lemony so I use more lemon juice)

That's all there is to it!

This cake is lemony and moist and delicious, and will keep well for several days. Even if you have no problem with gluten, you should try this fantastic recipe.

New Obsessions

Not really new as such, but more pronounced.

I love baking and to some extent... cooking.

Over the last couple of weeks I have made:
Hedgehog (was told that I was worth marrying just for the hedgehog - not by Jamie)
Chocolate Cake
Sultana Cake
Banana Bread

Last night for dinner I made a delicious beef roast with a mustard crust - which appears to be our favourite. I want to try a pot roast, or one done in the slow cooker.
Tonight is Potato and Leek soup which I've done in the slow cooker, looks amazing (for potato soup!)
I search the internet for my recipes, really must stop buying cook books, but its a hobby in itself.

Whilst I've been writing this, I have RUINED a whole pot of Ryan's food. Half a pumpkin has been burned :((

TIRED

Yep that is me. TIRED. The darling baby boy is sleeping through the night, but I'm not. I wake every hour, thrash around, get up, reorganise the doona (Jamie is a very annoying cocoon sleeper, so I lose my doona)

On a sidebar... lose/loose its really had to know what one to use. The same with bought and brought, so I usually rewrite sentences to include purchase so I don't make an idiot of myself.

I'm up to working 4 days a week and am finding it very hard. I worry all the time how Jamie is coping with Ryan. Jamie doesn't "get" the routine yet.

Mark has been ok, not as rude as last week. Might stem from the fact I've barely seen him. Looking forward to doing something together today. Hopefully it won't just be housework.

Tweenies

How do you deal with your tween?

Mark turned 12 last week. He had a fabulous day, lots of presents, food he wanted, centre of attention. Just the way he likes it. He was amazingly lovely.

Today, I got the "other" Mark, the one I'd prefer to call Kram (the anti-Mark).

Kram is awful. Disrespectful. Rude. Disobedient. Smelly. Messy. Tired. Grumpy.

Case in point: Last night was the final performance of StarStruck which is a big song and dance show for approx 3000 kids from the entire Hunter region. Mark is not a singer or a dancer, but I think saw it as a way to get out of school and experience something different (ok I'll give him the benefit of the doubt). The evening performances finish at 10pm, I had to collect him at 10:15pm then its home to bed. Last night I had to bring his friend Mads as well as we all do football on Sunday mornings. Everyone thought it would just be easier if he stayed over. Makes sense. But having a friend over - who is a thoroughly delightful although a little worldly boy - brings out Kram. When I suggested that it was 11.15 and they should go to bed. I got the "WHY?" we can stay up until 1am without any problems. He was in my face saying WHY WHY WHY. I stuck to my guns.. they were in bed and fast asleep by 11.40. These boys were TIRED. But for Kram to listen I had to turn into a banshee and I don't like that. That is not my personality. I had to threaten to hit him. I have taken away all his computer/tv/scooter privileges for today. But as I said "until tomorrow" I got the shrug with "I don't care" comment.

They both had trouble waking up (surprise surprise) and then pretty much refused to get ready for a pretty important football match. Jamie likes to leave at 8am, at 8:10 Kram was still fussing around. But it all happened and they have left. Ryan isn't so well, so I'm staying at home.

I asked Jamie for some back up and got "that's how he treats me at football training"

I don't know what to do. I know he's a good kid, I see the good kid. What changes him and how do I deal with it?

Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

Not the start I was expecting.

Well I've returned to work. It was easy, comfortable and good. I liked who I worked with, the first two days weren't too difficult... different story for Saturday, but due to confidentiality laws.. best keep that story to myself (but ARRGGHHHH just about covers it)

So how wasn't it like I was expecting?
Firstly little Ryan was sick, so no childcare. Jamie stayed home with him. Up until this day, Jamie had "parented" Ryan for a maximum of 3 hours by himself. Thursday was a 9.5hr day with a sickie. Ryan is a good sickie though, he spends most of his time sleeping. Jamie coped beautifully. Friday I was on afternoon shift, my original plan had me leave for work at 1pm and Mark arrives home to help at 3.30pm. Mark spent the night at a friends house, so no helper. I still left at 1pm, after work went to my friends house and didn't get home until midnight then was due back at work the next morning. Jamie is a wonderful dad. I hope I won't sell him short anymore. He does a great job.

Saturday was BUSY. After work I had to collect Mark from Damien's house, met that family, had a cup of tea. Then home, get changed cos Jamie and I were out to dinner. We went to the "Figtree" restaurant in Mayfield. Its really yummy. 8 courses of mostly meat followed by dessert. Had a glass of wine, which looked like 20ml in the bottom of a giant glass. I know there was more in there, but the glass was so massive. Our boys were babysat by Terese.

Stressed out.

Yep that is me. Completely stressed. Can't achieve anything. Feeling very inadequate.

I'm going back to work tomorrow. This is a good thing, I have been a bit lonely whilst on Maternity Leave. I think the last two months have been better, sort of been forcing myself onto people and that is a good thing. I love football season, I love the community of the football club. I really miss them in summer. I'm worried about how I'll fit into an adult environment again, worried about the dynamics of the place, worried about how Jamie will cope with Mark and Ryan on his own, worried about money, worried about lack of money, worried about food, worried about cleaning, worried about health. What am I doing to combat this worry? Nothing. Certainly am not facing it.

SHIT Ryan is due to have needles today and he's sick as! Will wait until next week then.

Just four

FOUR JOBS YOU'VE HAD IN YOUR LIFE

1. Registered Nurse - well duh, only ever worked at John Hunter, hope to experience a Melbourne hospital before too long
2. Phlebotomist - otherwise known as a blood collector. It was an easy job, sometimes busy, but generally just stabbing people in the arm.
3. Microbiologist - well a couple of rungs below, I was actually a "Medical Laboratory Technician", I worked sorting pathology samples, looking at body fluids under the microscope and putting them onto agar plates to see if any microorganisms would grow - BORING
4. Courier - again with blood (do you see my career theme?)

FOUR MOVIES YOU COULD WATCH OVER AND OVER

1.She's having a baby
2. The holiday
3. The castle
4. Monsters Inc

FOUR CITIES YOU'VE LIVED IN

1. Newcastle, Australia
2. Melbourne, Australia
3. Chalk River, Canada
4. Lahr, Germany

FOUR TV SHOWS YOU LOVE TO WATCH

1. All Saints - LOVING the repeats, as I am only a recent convert. Don't try to talk to me between 2 and 3pm.
2. Glee - I wish I could sing.
3. Law and Order franchise, they are all good, a little too serious, but good.
4. The Good Wife - where is this show going, its twisty and turny, which I love.

FOUR PLACES YOU'VE BEEN ON VACATION

1. Europe - its a right of passage for all young Aussies - I went for the first time when I was 20, I actually turned 21 on the last day of my tour (was in 4 countries for my 21st birthday, Netherlands, Belgium, France and England)
2. NZ
3. Tasmania
4. Perth

FOUR WEBSITES YOU VISIT DAILY

1. Facebook.
2. Mamamia
3. Elsie Flannagan's website - A Beautiful Mess
4. Twitter - I'm a recent convert and its another massive time waster, I'm learning heaps about politics and its great for "event tv" such as the Logies, Underbelly, Masterchef.. all the good stuff.

FOUR OF YOUR FAVORITE FOODS

1. Chocolate of any description
2. Peanut butter sandwiches
3. Ice cream
4. Cake

FOUR SCHOOLS YOU'VE ATTENDED

1. Templestowe Valley Primary
2. Banyule High School
3. RMIT Tafe - Associate Diploma in Applied Science (Medical Laboratory)
4. RMIT University - Bachelor of Nursing

FOUR THINGS IN YOUR ROOM

1. Dust
2. Comfy bed
3. Tissues
4. Big arsed TV which is supposed to be hanging in my kitchen.

(Please note, this is an image found on Google, my room is not quite that dusty)

FOUR THINGS YOU ARE WEARING RIGHT NOW

1. Jeans
2. Red long sleeved t shirt
3. My work cardigan cos its just a bit cold
4. Black shoes

FOUR PLACES I'D RATHER BE RIGHT NOW

1. Bed.
2. Cruising
3. Skiing
4. Melbourne (in our own home, which would mean we had moved)

A day in the life

I don't know what i want to blog about today. All I know is I don't want to mop the kitchen floor.

Jamie and Ryan have been sick. Jamie is ok now, back at work but still says he has the flu, heaven help us if he ever does get the flu.

Ryan on the other hand is pretty sick, he only has a cold, but its so yucky. The little man is coughing a lot and is quite hoarse - which is pretty funny when the only voice you have is a cry. His cry has become very pitiful. But I think he's turned a corner and is getting much better now. He is "snotting" all over the place, mainly my shoulder - nice.

A tale of a freeway

On the 12th April, it was almost two weeks ago now, we had a very eventful day.

We'd gone down to Victoria to visit the family. Let Ryan meet his rellies on Jamie's side and spend a bit more time with grandparents and cousins. The four of us drove all the way to the farm after Jamie finished work on the Thursday before Good Friday. We left Newcastle at 1.30pm, and arrived in Nathalia at approx 1am. It is a very long boring drive. The worst part is the roadworks on the "other side" of Sydney. Ryan did really well on the trip, he had a hissy fit around 7-8pm and Mark didn't cope too well with his screaming, but then he settled down and went to sleep again. We were pretty tired, but thankfully at midnight there is "The Challenge" on ABC radio, so we did a family competition on who would get the most questions right. Hahaha I won! We arrived at Jamie's parents house just at the end of the quiz. We had a lovely couple of days at their home. Connie, Paul and Toby were there as well and we always have a great time with them. Ryan didn't cope too well with the change of scenery, he became very clingy to me, crying if anyone else wanted a cuddle - unless they were taking him outside to see the chooks, then he was happy. Easter was nice, Mark got HEAPS of chocolate, as he is the only grandkid who eats chocolate yet. Gran and Grandpa came over for a visit, as did Aunty Mary and her daughter/grandsons. It was amazing to see those boys again, the twins were about 2 years old the last time I saw them, which I think was at Leigh's 21st. Obviously they are now 10!!!!

Drove down to Melbourne on Easter Sunday, we stayed at my parents home. Its always lovely to be there, everything is in the "right place".

We had a nice BBQ on Easter Monday, we caught up with Drew, Kelly and Taylor, Warren and finally met Kellie's family, Jeremy, Madelyn and Alyssa. Had to protect my littlest man from the crazy older woman (Alyssa who doesn't know her own strength yet, she is only a year old).

Jamie had to leave on Monday night as he had to go back to work. The boys and I stayed on for another week. We met up with Kirsty on Tuesday, looked after Roy on Wednesday, Jo and Sheena, Connie and Toby came over of Thursday. Mum and Dad returned on Friday. We went to Seymour on Saturday to meet up with Gran, Grandpa, Margie and Frank. Jo and Roy came over on Sunday after church, Mark and Dad went to the football. PHEW no wonder I was tired, it is tiring just writing that.

Monday morning we left EARLY about 6:30am to head off home. My dad was soooo nice to agree to drive up to Newcastle with us. We thought it was worth it just to drive through, stopping to feed Ryan (and ourselves) along the way. We made fantastic time. Not sure where we stopped for morning tea, but it was quite chilly. We had lunch at the famous "Dog on the Tuckerbox". Got out the picnic rug and let Ryan have some tummytime, got the cutest photo. I'll add it in tomorrow. Back in the car. Stopped at the rest stop next to the Belangalo State Forest, creepy, its where the Backpacker Murderer did his killings. Ryan seriously slept for the whole time.. he was so good.

Around 4pm we hit the outskirts of Sydney and finally I'd run out of stuff to talk about. So on the M7 freeway we decided to find a radio station to listen to. Trust me this is easier said than done as our car radio is no longer backlit so you have to guess what station you are on. I did quite easily find ABC Sydney, the first thing we heard was the traffic report - there was an accident on the F3 and it would be best to avoid it. Hmm the F3 is the only way I know between Sydney and Newcastle. Around 4:30pm I rang Jamie to ask if he knew of another way as I was having a spot of bother working out how to figure it out on the GPS, he suggested the Old Pacific Hwy and gave some directions. The traffic reporters went on to say that two trucks had collided at 12:30pm, one of the trucks was wedged under the other which was a full petrol tanker(!). They needed to decant the petrol before they were willing to attempt pulling them apart. Why had this not happened yet? It was now 4 hours after the accident. Supposedly what happened was a decanting truck was sent, but it was the wrong style, so they had to call for another one, but it had to come from Sydney which was the direction of what was becoming a terrible/horrendous traffic jam. We were rerouted around some old twisty roads until we got to the Old Pacific Hwy. There was traffic everywhere and it was getting dark. Ryan needed his next feed, so we pulled into a side street and I fed him. He didn't resettle too well, so Mark went into the front seat with my dad and I sat in the back with Ryan, he screamed for quite a long time - my dad says half an hour, I say an hour and a half. It took us 2 and a half hours to travel 10km. We kept listening to the ABC, got ourselves involved in another quiz, sort of felt like we were involved in a history making event. We saw cars where the driver was reading, car dancing, all the callers to the quiz were stuck in the jam. Mark got VERY stressed especially as the estimated arrival time kept pushing closer to midnight (please keep in mind we started this drive at 6.30am). The radio kept on saying "when are they going to open the con". All of a sudden I remembered that I have Twitter on my phone, it was going crazy @kkenealy tweets saying "OPEN THE CONTRAFLOW" surprisingly enough it was opened at 8:30pm and traffic started flowing, we got onto the F3 actually I don't' know which time. We finally started driving at a reasonable speed. We urgently needed to stop of the twin servos just before Newcastle as we needed to pee and we were starving - now it was 10:30 and my dad is the type of man who eats between 5:30 and 6:30 and we hadn't eaten!! Maccas had a line up of at least 40 people. So we decided to just keep driving, and finally got home at about 11pm.

ARRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH what a day.
It superseeded almost everything else of the previous week.