Birthday festival Part 1 of 3 - Poppet

April always feels a lot like Christmas in our house.  With two birthdays in succession to celebrate, everytime there is a knock on the door and it's the postman with a parcel, the excitement and anticipation from the kids builds just like it does in December. 

We had decided early on that this year we wouldn't do big birthday parties with all their friends.  Last years effort was enough to put us off and take a break for a year.  Instead we told the kids on their birthday it would be a special day all about them and they could do and eat whatever they wanted for their day.  As their birthdays this year fell on weekdays, we also said on the weekend we'd take them to a cupcake cafe and they could pick a birthday cupcake of any flavour and have a milkshake.

Milly's special birthday breakfast request - butter on toast.

Milly's birthday morning started, naturally, with opening her presents.  This is a tricky part of the day.  While we are all excited for Milly and she is excited too, poor Henry gets teary and pouts through the present opening ceremony, upset that he has to wait a day for his presents.  Milly was really sweet and considerate and asked him if he'd like to open one of her presents.  She even let Buster open a present too.  Milly likes to take her time opening her presents and carefully looks at each one and talks about it before moving onto the next.

After compiling a birthday list of almost 20 items (mainly all different Barbie dolls), the night before her birthday she said "what I really want for my birthday is a pink unicorn".  Glad we got that right.

A postal delivery brings more presents.  I think the smile says it all.

The special request of nori rolls for her birthday dinner...

 

... and a chocolate bavarian cake for her birthday dessert.

Football season

With the change of season comes the change of sporting activities.  This year there will be three of us playing soccer during the autumn/winter months.  Henry, Michael and me.  Michael will be playing on Friday nights, Henry will be playing on Saturday mornings, and I'll be playing on Sunday mornings.  Our weekends will be taken up with sweaty shirts, stinky shin pads, muddy socks, and in mine and Michael's cases, aching bones, sore muscles and plenty of bruises.

Henry's team trains once a week, my team trains twice a week, and Michael's team.....well let's just say they at least warm up before each match.





Cold mornings here we come.

The only time Buster stops running around or onto the field is when the oranges come out at half time.

Easter

Good Friday morning and it's hot cross buns for everyone.

Easter Sunday.  Come and find me!

Someone's found some eggs.

Someone else has found some too.

The hunters and gatherers show off their loot.

Eggs for breakfasts - hold the soliders.

Henry and his doppelganger.  You pick - the egg or Michael?

Happy Easter.

You know

I know you are waiting on a blog posting of our Easter weekend, but until I've got a spare hour to put it together, here is something else.

It's school holiday time and Michael has taken some annual leave to spend time with me and the kids.  When I was out shopping I saw a pack of Uno cards, and with such fond memories of playing it as a kid I popped it in the trolley thinking it would make a great game to play as a family.

I wasn't sure if the kids would grasp all the different action cards and rules but they proved me wrong, and I really must learn not to underestimate their abilities.  Milly is quite strategic when she plays and quietly goes about getting rid of her cards.  Before you know it she's calling "Uno" and the game is over.  Henry loves all the action cards, especially the Wild Cards.  He gets disappointed if the hand he is dealt doesn't have at least two action cards in it.

This card game has given us some great family time together.  The kids are really enjoying it and want to play everyday.  We've had lots of laughs (some tears when we don't win) and plenty of fun.

i-not

Here is me and Boo on our laptops.  Henry is in the background watching a movie on his DVD player.  Add to this a wii (which we only got at Christmas) and that is about as technologically advanced as we get in our household.  Don't get me wrong, I'm not anti technology.  I love being able to access the internet, connect with family and friends via email, make use of software applications, and even publish this blog.  It has certainly made aspects of my life easier.  But I haven't been drawn in to having a smart phone, an ipod, an ipad or whatever is the latest gadget doing big business.  In fact the more advances made with technology the more I feel we are losing touch with our humanity.  I'd really like to see the world slow down a bit and get back to basics.  While we now have the immediacy in communicating with each other, it no longer seems personal.  For example, when was the last time you received a birthday card in the mail?  These days most people just send a text message or birthday wishes on Facebook.  So, let me ask another question.  When was the last time you wrote a letter or a card and posted it?  While I realise my children will grow up in a world bursting with new technology and gadgets, one thing I always have them do is make their own birthday cards for family and friends.  They write in the cards, draw pictures or paste pictures on the front, do all the decorating themselves.  It helps them to learn about celebrating other people's lifes and creates something personal for the recipient.  It's getting back to basics.

Party time

It's come the time when all our friends are turning 40 and celebrating in style with a lavish party.  This has seen us attend a few exciting and fancy parties in Sydney lately, leaving the kids behind with Nanoo so we can be merry and endure our hangovers sans enfants.

One recent party was Austin Powers themed.  Check out our outfits.

Would the real Mustafa please stand up!

Ready to go-go dance the night away.

Things Milly says #1

I thought I might start regularly posting some of the things Milly says, as a way of recording them so I don't forget.  She has a funny way with words.  This is what she said to me last night.

Milly:  Mum, I love you more than I hate everyone else in the whole world!

Mister

Looking back over the blog in recent months, our little Mister Henry hasn't had much coverage.  I try to even it out, but with him at school he's not around to photograph and photos of him doing his homework or playing the Wii are really not that interesting.  So with not much else going on in Henry's life (until soccer season starts) it was very exciting when he got a big award at the school assembly. 

Our boy is really growing up.  We've had to let him go a bit as he's finding his independence and it is hard at times when I just want to cuddle him and still have him as my little boy.  Every now and then (and they are getting fewer) he'll want to snuggle and have me stroke his face or hair, and I savour it as much as I can.  He'll be seven years old next month.  We are so proud of him and the little mister he is becoming.

The material girl

Our Miss Milly loves to get dressed up.  It's not uncommon for her to change her outfit a couple of times a day to suit her mood or whatever activity she has planned for herself.  One night when I went to tuck her in bed she proudly showed off three outfits she had put together and was deciding upon to wear the next day.  Each outfit was layed out on her bed and styled with shoes, a hat, jewellery, a bag and curiously a matching DVD.

The jogging or exercise outfit.

All dressed up for a ball.

Can't remember what this one is called, but she's at least wearing 8 different things at once.

She calls this one her ballerina angel dress up or sometimes her ice skating outfit.

Other than playing dress ups, Milly also loves colouring in.  She'll happily colour in on her own but sometimes she likes someone to colour in with.  She likes to chat while she colours and she likes to tell you how she wants you to colour.  My favourite is when she says encouraging things about my colouring in ability.  She'll let me know if she likes the colours I've chosen, if my colouring in is neat enough, or she'll simply say "that's beautiful Mum, but mine's the bestest".  Michael was lucky enough to do some colouring in with Milly one day.  The photo below isn't very clear but I can tell you he selected some nice colours and coloured in very neatly.

"Mines betterer than yours Dadda."

Scarface

A sad and sorry Boo.

Poor little Boo.  He's had a mishap. 

Me, Milly and Buster were parked outside a friends house, ready for a playdate with Mother's Group.  It was pouring with rain, so I unstrapped the kids from their car seats whilst I was still in the car.  I've gotten out and started heading round to the kerbside of the car to get Milly and Buster out and I hear Buster screaming.  Milly had opened her car door and jumped out and Buster had followed.  Only he fell and landed head first into the gutter that was raging with water.  When he got up screaming his face was covered with blood and he was soaking wet.

After getting over my normal panic and paralysis reaction, I picked him up and rushed inside.  After we cleaned up Buster's face we saw that he had a deep little cut to his forehead.  Head wounds like to bleed, so face washers were at the ready to try and stop the blood.  He also had a graze on his head, nose and above his lip.  He'd stopped crying by this stage and had a very sad and sorry look on his face.  I think he was in a shock.  I know I was, and am very thankful one of the mums in my Mother's Group is a nurse with a level head and took charge of the situation.  She offered to go to the chemist and get some steri strips, which are thin adhesive strips which can be used to close small wounds.  I thought it was a deep enough cut that he might need a stitch or two.  In hindsight, I should have trusted the professional.

I decided to rush off to the hospital to get him checked out.  You know what traffic is like when you're in a hurry..........it is slow moving.  It was even slower moving given how much rain was coming down.  I was driving just as cautiously as everyone else on the road, with my precious cargo strapped in his car seat and looking a little confused and still very sad and sorry for himself.  Michael was working from home, so I dropped Milly off and Michael gave me a blanket and a change of clothes for Buster.

I drove around the hospital for 30 minutes.  There was not one car spot available.  I went into the two separate parking stations and lapped them twice.  I was getting so frustrated and by this stage a little teary as well.  I even exchanged words with the parking toll booth guy, asking him what I can do, where can I park, look at my poor child etc etc.  The parking toll booth guy just shrugged.  Aaarrgghhh!!!!!!

I then decided to ditch the hospital and head straight to my medical practice.  Again more parking problems, but at least I found a spot, even it was a little walk.  I hadn't had time to change Buster into some dry clothes and I was also soaking wet from holding him and walking in the rain.  With Buster wrapped in a blanket and cradled in my arms I presented him to the medical practice receptionist who said yes she could get Buster seen by a doctor but it would be a wait (because I didn't have an appointment).  I looked around the waiting room and it was half full with senior citizens.  So we waited an hour and watched as each senior citizen was called by a doctor and five minutes later were out again with their prescriptions filled.  I can't deny I was feeling a little pissed of that the older generation and their refill prescriptions were getting priority over a child with a cut head and banged up face.  After waiting one hour we saw a doctor who had a good look at the wound, cleaned it up and sent us to the practice nurse who put steri-strips on the cut.



Day 2 and a nice little scab is forming.

When we finally got home I collapsed on the lounge and finally exhaled.  By this time Buster was also back to his normal happy self and was busy looking for his next object to jump from.

As for Milly, well she originally denied that she had opened the car door.  She has been spoken to previously numerous times that she is not to get out of the car herself and wait for me or Michael to get her out.  However, one of the mums from Mother's Group had witnessed Milly open the car and get out first.  On cross examination Milly now admits she opened the car door and doesn't like anyone talking about the incident to her or hearing us tell anyone else.  She didn't get in trouble, it was an accident, but hopefully now she will adhere to why we like to get the kids out of the car and the dangers of doing it themselves.

The Wee Man

"Mmm, charming!" I can hear you say.  Yes, there is nothing more lovely than a photo of a toilet, I'd agree.  "And what's that thing on your toilet?" I also hear you ask.  Well, it's a Wee Man.  A toilet training urinal just for boys.  How does it work?  It clips onto the front of the toilet, allowing small boys to urinate while standing up un-aided - just like Dad.  Once a small boy's mission is completed, you just tip the urinal backwards allowing the wee to fall into the toilet. 

A good friend passed this on to us when we had Henry, and he used it a little when he started toilet training.  He quickly moved on to standing on a small step and weeing straight into the toilet, but Buster is a wee man (ie a small man) and he's just a little too wee (ie small) to stand on a step and reach the toilet.

We hadn't planned on starting toilet training yet.  We needed to do a bit of reading as a refresher, as it has been a while - in fact it has been since Henry.  We didn't need to train Milly, she wasn't interested and refused.  In typical Milly style, she decided when she was ready and just toilet trained herself.

It all came about when we were getting Buster ready for his bath and he kept saying "toilet now, I go toilet now".  So out of storage we found the Wee Man and set it up.  Buster is a very observant child and he stood in front of it knowing what to do..... but nothing happened.  Two days after setting up the Wee Man, Michael was getting Buster's bath ready and he turned around to find Buster had in fact done a wee in the Wee Man by himself.  So very proud.  He has since followed this up with another successful wee, but that is as far as we have taken it.  Only at bathtime do we encourage him.  I'm not really sure that he knows when he wants to do a wee, he certainly never tells us when he's doing a poo.  But I can assure you, we will be celebrating with pride when we say goodbye to nappies. 

Until then, Buster remains our wee little man.

Back to school

The 2012 school year has begun and it didn't quite start off with the bang we were expecting.  This year Henry is in Year 1.  Returning to school after the long Christmas school holidays, we thought he would be excited to see his friends again.  Instead, first day back he was quite teary and wouldn't get out of the car.  Bless him, he said he was scared.  The anxiety of the first day back and knowing his best friend was still on holiday and he would be in a class with different kids was a bit much.  After much coaxing and almost begging, I got him out of the car and in through the school gates.  He clung to me until the bell rang, and once it had sounded a different Henry emerged.  It was the Henry from last year who was happy to be back at school and he confidently went to sit in his class line ready for assembly.  Phew, what a relief!

Then it was my turn to be anxious.  It turns out Henry was being put in a composite class with Kindergarten kids.  It is a class made up of 10 kids from Year 1 and 10 kids from Kindergarten.  My first thought was why is Henry back in a class with kinders.  He got an excellent school report last year and is a high achiever.  I recognised some of the other Year 1 kids in his class and knew they weren't underachievers either.  His teacher held an information morning for us parents to learn about what to expect during the year and she explained the kids were specifically chosen for the composite class because they were independent workers. 

School has only been back a couple of weeks and Henry is already blossoming.  I think he sees himself as a bit of a role model to the kinders in his class, and why not, he is a great kid. 

Milly is also back at preschool.  This year she is attending three days a week and is in a room of 20 kids where the focus is on school readiness.  She is super keen to start school and could have started this year.  We decided to hold her back a year because although she is socially ready, starting school isn't about surviving, it's about thriving.  Emotionally, she could do with another year at home.

Milly's lunchbox and snack bag.  She likes a love letter in her lunchbox and her snack bag to be decorated differently each day.

And what of Buster?..... well he is at home with me.  Three days a week he now has me to himself.  He'll start preschool next year and then I'll be free for a couple of days a week.  I won't know what to do with myself.  Oh yes, I do..... I'll just enjoy some peace and quiet.

 

Happy 'Stralia Day

Australia Day - a national public holiday.  Here are some snaps taken that day.

Queen of the night

For me to go away for one night takes a lot of coordination.  It is such a rare thing for me to do that I only do it in exceptional circumstances.  When PJ Harvey announces a few concert dates in Sydney, I classify this as an exceptional circumstance.

For me to attend the concert required Michael to change is working days from home, and my Mum to look after all three children for two half days.  I'm so grateful to them that they could do it.

I caught an afternoon train down to Sydney and met up with my brother Corin after work.  He was coming to the show with me.  Corin took me out for a beer and then to dinner at a yummy Japanese noodle place.  We had a good catch up and a laugh and then it was on to the show.

I've seen PJ Harvey play four times (wish she would tour Australia more often).  Each concert has been different.  The last time I saw her she played at the Sydney Opera House with no other muscian's on stage.  Just her and a dozen instruments and she even had a little chat with the audience.  The time before that she had a band of three behind her and it was much more like a rock concert.  She was animated and danced about the stage.  This time it was different again.

The stage was blackened out with spotlights on her three piece band and a spotlight on PJ.  She was only visible in the spotlight when she sang and when she stopped singing would walk out of the spotlight.  She didn't say a word to the audience until she introduced the band at the start of the encore and that was basically it.  It was a very theatrical concert.  More like a performance piece than a rock gig.  The staging suited the material she was performing.  It was eerie, dramatic and I thought she was mesmerising. 

After the concert it was back to Corin and Yin's place.  When I woke up the next morning I got to have cuddles with my gorgeous nephew Casper, who was excited to show me his toys and tell me stories.  Then it was a bus into the big smoke and back on a train heading north for home.

Christmas - Part 4 of 4

Another three hour drive and this time we crossed the NSW border into Queensland.  Destination this time was Toowoomba to stay with Michael's sister Libby, her husband Michael, and their three children Aisling (9), Rory (7), and Ciara (5).  The last time we all saw each other was Christmas 2008 when they came to us in Newcastle.  It was a long overdue catch up, a great chance for the cousins to all play together, as well as their first meeting of Buster.

Within the first few hours of our arrival there was an incident.  The type that stops a parent's heart.  The kids were keen to get in the pool, Michael had gone off to get changed into his swimmers and I went down to the pool with the kids to supervise.  Buster was still fully clothed and just wanted to continue his fascination with dangerously teetering on the pool edges, throwing in all the pool toys.  This was his kind of fun.  I was already on high alert watching him, when Michael entered the pool area.  Then Buster picked up a pool noodle and stepped too close to the edge to throw it and fell in.  A split second of panic and fear from me thinking "this is it, this is how kids die the silent death of drowning, my Buster is going to die".  I screamed "Buster" and before I knew it had jumped in the pool fully clothed to save him.  Michael had also dived in and come up holding Buster who was a little shaken and crying, but breathing and ok nontheless.  It all happened within seconds and I was in shock for a while.  Buster on the other hand was fine and wanted to continue throwing things in the pool.  Michael put him in his swimmers and Libby gave him a life vest, and Buster continued his holiday happily throwing things in the pool, and us slightly less nervous if he fell in again - which miraciously he didn't.  I went to bed that night insisting Buster sleep with us so I could feel closer to my little man.

I think it is fair to say that the cousins all got on very well.  Buster loved the extra attention he was getting and played up to it.  He is a cheeky little rascal and needs no encouragement, but it was truly wonderful watching the kids playing together.  I never experienced growing up with my cousins who all live overseas, and I don't want that for my children.  I want them to have a strong sense of family and their extended family and be close.

Rory.

The artists Milly and Ciara.

Swing set.

We celebrated New Year in Toowoomba.  Well sort of.  It was a funny old night.  The town was putting on fireworks at 7.30pm.  Henry didn't feel well and had gone to bed before 5.00pm.  The two Michael's had had a couple of beers and me a glass or two of wine, so all unable to drive.  My Michael volunteered to stay behind to watch over Henry and put Buster to bed.  Libby's Michael also stayed at home.  So me, Lib, Milly, Ciara, Rory and Aisling went to the fireworks.  Ciara had a little meltdown over which shoes to wear, and Milly then had a meltdown about getting in the car and having to sit in a child seat.  I couldn't get over how similar in personalities and temperament Milly and Ciara were. 

We almost didn't make it to the fireworks on time, but found a park just as the fireworks had started.  I have to say it was a great display.  Firework after firework was let off.  They just kept going and going and going.  They didn't have any flashy fireworks, but what they had they had plenty of.

Then it was back home and trying to stay awake to bring in the New Year.....and no one did.  Me and Libby were in bed before 9.30pm, and neither of the boys made it to midnight either.  Yes we are a bunch of sad old farts!  On the plus side, when we woke up early the next morning to the sounds of children, none of us had a hangover.

The nail bar.  The girls and Buster get their nails painted.  Buster chose a hot pink colour for his first day and then black for the next.

 

Three gorgeous girls.

I was so relaxed by this point in our holiday I had forgotten about getting family photos.  Which is a shame because I really would have liked one of all the cousins together.

We had such a great time in Toowoomba.  It really is a beautiful city and again we were spoilt by our hosts.  Big thank you to Libby and Michael for having us.  Thank you to Aisling for giving up her room to Henry and Milly, as well as being a great helper wrangling the kids.

From Toowoomba it was a very, very long drive to Coffs Harbour where we stayed the night with my Dad and Tracey and then headed home to Newcastle the next day.  It was a fantastic holiday with lots of great memories created.

Now we are back at home, the car has been unpacked, everything has been put back in it's place.  The kids are busy playing with their Christmas presents and Michael has another day of holiday before he returns to work.  Before long Henry will be back at school starting Year 1 and Milly will be at preschool three days a week.  It doesn't take long and time really does fly by, which is why it's important to stop and take time out. 

Happy New Year everyone and wishing you all a terrific 2012!