crazy times!

It's all been happening!!!

Last Sunday our church took the vote to become a Satellite Church of Salt. So we now will be a campus of Salt Church. It's a good thing - resources will be shared and we will be run by people who know how to successfully run a church (as a business).
The Senior Pastor of Salt took Daz aside and asked him to be on the Salt board - and he accepted! So Daz had his first meeting this week.

Daz started his new job this week as well and so far he's settling in well. He hasn't got into the product yet so it's all early days and learning curves at this point.

We also finished building our veggie patch last weekend (FINALLY!!) and this weekend we planted it out with strawberries, spinach, thyme, rosemary, parsley, leeks, parsnips, basil and tomatoes. So I can't wait to reap the rewards of this labour in about 16 weeks time! LOL.

It's so satisfying finishing projects off - though strictly speaking it isn't finished yet, Daz needs to finish building the fence around it to keep the kids and the dog off to give the poor plants a small chance at survival.

Not sure what our next project is, maybe redo the drive way?? Who knows!?

We are planning to go away the first week of June with some friends. Daz will have a fishing friend and I won't be lonely when he goes off to catch me some squid and crabs! The friends have 3 kids too all similar ages to each other so it's going to be lots of fun for all of us.

We caught up with these friends (Robynne and Trevor) twice this weekend. They all came round for tea on Friday night, then Robynne was making a roast chook and invited us to their place tonight (Sunday night). Robynne makes THE best roast chicken I have ever tasted. It's just divine!!! So we quickly accepted that invitation. Would have rocks in our head to say no! LOL

We have a Worship Service coming up for Church next weekend and a board lunch, it's ANZAC day so we will also be working on projects as well as remembering our fallen soldiers of course.

Mop has been a right royal social butterfly - she attended a birthday party this week - the birthday girl was someone she knew from school and I didn't know the parents or anything so it was a first for us. When I got there, I felt a bit of the odd one out, because all the Mum's and kids were part of a mother's group and knew each other that way. But they quickly included me in the conversations and were so friendly. I was invited to join their group and they took my number down so they can call me to come to their next meet. How kind of them!! I definately will be going along to that. One lady who is a bit older than me, was very encouraging about me going to study. She's an Ecologist - very fascinating lady.
Mop also had her cousin over to play for most of a day last week - Emma. The girls had a wonderful time, and messed up the bedroom so they could tidy it up again.... ok WEIRD!! LOL. Apparently Emma was so worn out, she took two days to recover! LOL.

School holidays started this week and Mop misses being with her school friends. She is happy to play lots and home, but I think she gets bored when E goes down for a nap. She has been really good this last week, and has been helpful and a real joy.
E has been pure sunshine as well. Only one meltdown this week and that was because he was tired and hungry. He's so affectionate and is really warming up to people he doesn't know very well. He's a real blokey boy - he is happy around other men and will hover around them and want to do blokey things with them. This doesn't bother me in the slightest. It's natural for them to want to be around men and their influence. (Also their strong arms to lift him up to touch the roof!)
Milly is growing up so fast. She is divine. So good!! She's too good. Yesterday I was planting stuff in the veggie garden and forgot all about Milly - then I suddenly remembered, dashed inside and she was crying - she had been crying for some time. Evil Mummy moment!! I felt so guilty.
Her only imperfection is that she is not sleeping too well and wakes up from a few times a night to every half hour. I am tired and really wish I could sleep through. She refuses to sleep in her cot and will only sleep in the porta-cot in our room. I am trying to fill her cot up with my "smell" by putting worn shirts in there to stink it up. I'll keep trying. But so far it hasn't worked. She can't sleep next to me forever...

Anyway this is the latest shot I have of her.... AWWWWW



The best Bad Mother moment was when E somehow managed to get the baby Panadol from the back of the bench, get the child proof cap off and drink some. Thankfully the amount he drank was minute in the grand scheme of things and he was ok. I was so mad at him and myself - I had to put him in his room for a while because I wanted to scream at him. Poor kid - he was just being a boy. I was so mad at myself!! Well now the baby Panadol is in the top shelf where he can't possibly reach unless he has Inspector Gadget legs.

Anyway it's late and I am off to bed.

G'night!

Finally! A moment!!

Hello everybody! The Gypsy folk are home again. We had a wonderful time on our holiday, and I will copy and paste my holiday journal afterwards.

We are all well.

Milly - 4 months old now. Smiling, laughing, sits strongly and her legs are very strong. Still feeding her myself which is a huge accomplishment - there were times I thought she was finishing up with me. Thankfully I have Donna and Sue, my very own Lactation Support Network! :)

E - Having more meltdowns lately, but I figure Ehh.. he's two. He's just exercising his freedom of speech. When he isn't melting down he is so sweet and lovely. He is the president of Mum's fan club. He adores her - and he LOVES it when he is to go to Nanny's place. He is talking alot more now and singing songs. So cute!! My favourites are "Smooze me!" (Excuse me) "Good manners!" (when someone or him says please and thankyou)

Mop - back into school and getting ready to launch into a transistion program for Primary School. She loves her friends and has a best friend now. I hope she settles into PS just as well and makes friends fast. Mop has shot up and is a very tall girl with legs up to her ears! Doesn't get THAT from her Mummy!

Daz - it's his last day of work tomorrow and then he starts up with another company on Monday. I have high hopes that the new company will appreciate his skills and talents and offer him opportunities and job satisfaction.

Me - same ol. I've been tired because for 3 nights Milly has been waking up every half hour. Last night, praise be, she slept all night and I feel human again!!

I'll put pictures in later, because I only have an hour and a half until I need to pick Mop up from school and I have at least 3 days worth of housework to do.

Here's my journal!

12th March
Today we got up at ungodly hours of the morning – ok 7ish and headed off into the sunrise towards Broken Hill. It was a pretty uneventful day. The kids travelled well – enjoying their new toys and new DVD players. The caravan park in BH had a pool so we all went swimming – it was stinking hot and so it was nice to cool our hot, tired bodies. Milly wasn’t that impressed with her first swim.
E refused to go to sleep so I ended up bringing him into my bed to sleep. I pity his wife to be. He throws himself around, arms whacking me in the head and little legs being draped over my back. I ended up crawling into bed with Daz until he took pity on me and moved him into his own bed.

13th march
Today we got up again very early and headed towards Bourke. Today because of lack of sleep, E was a right royal pain in the bum. He was snotty, grotty, snarly, cranky and manky. Not fun at all. And because I had very little sleep (I had a nightmare) we were both not happy campers.
We arrived in Bourke at the most wonderful caravan park. The place was practically empty and we enjoyed the space and their lovely pool. Caitlin was very brave and moved away from the edge with her floaty on her back and started to swim. I was so proud of her. E decided that his ring wasn’t so bad afterall and chose to get into it on his own and enjoyed kicking his legs and cooling off.

14th March
Today we drove to Charleville. I used to live there about 10 years ago, so it was good to see all the changes that have happened. The town looks relatively unscathed from all the flooding that happened 2-3 months ago. It’s all lush and green – unlike home which is dry and dead. We desperately need a good rain-fall!!
We met up with Amy, a friend of mine and I introduced her to my beautiful baby girl and the kids had a blast outside climbing up and down the stairs, swinging on the gates (that Amy taught them to do!) and running around the HUGE backyard. We had a pizza dinner from the new pizza shop and then head back to the caravan park for an early night.
The kids went to sleep really quickly so all in all it was a good night.

15th March
Today we drove a whopping 800 and something kms to Brisbane. We actually made excellent time. We arrived in Brisbane early evening. The scenery on this stretch is amazing. It’s never boring because it’s so changing. Daz and I played guess the crops. The crop growing is extending further and further west, which means we had more fun trying to guess!
Our arrival in Brisbane was just wonderful. We are staying with my best friend Bec and her husband Nick. Bec’s sister Cat (my bridesmaid – and practically like a sister) so we are having lots of fun. Cat is newly engaged to marry a cute dude from Bali. They are just waiting on his fiance’s visa.

16th March
Urrgh, how much sleep can I function on?? I had a huge attack of vertigo, which means I was laying in bed and it felt like I was on a boat in the middle of a rough ocean. I got motion sickness and threw up during the night. Milly was waking up every hour for some reason too and needing resettling. In the end I woke Daz up to take over so I could sleep. I got 3 hours.
We went to church with Bec and Nick which was really nice. It is a huge church with lots of kids and families. It was nice when Mop talked at the top of her lungs – no one cared. Because all the kids were!
The afternoon was a nice relaxing afternoon, doing nothing in particular.

17th March
How delightful waking up to the rain falling! It rained today – and it was just perfect. Somewhat humid – but it was soooo fun getting caught in a torrential downpour at the Big Pineapple. I quickly covered E up with the sun shade in his pram, and Bec, Mop Daz and I huddled under our boot door. E got mildly wet the rest of us were somewhat damp for a while.
We visited the Big Pineapple and The Ginger Factory. The BP was ok, not much to look at, though Mop liked climbing to the top of the pineapple. Oh and their Parfaits were to DIE for! Caitlin was eyeing off the pineapple special, so Aunty Bec spoiled her and they bought one. We all had some, since it was soooo huge. For a photo op, I even pretended to feed some to Milly – and will sit back and watch the perfect mother’s brigade tut and carry on. Ok so I was feeling rather mischevious!
The Ginger Factory was absolutely WONDERFUL!! Their shop has so much stuff – I even found the PERFECT handbag – which I really wanted, but I didn’t want to outright ask for. You know, guilt and all that. Anyway – we went on a tour of the factory and it was so interesting! Then we had a tasting session and all I can say is YUMMMM…. Daz and I bought all the ginger products that they used in their cooking and will be attempting to make the delicious samples ourselves.
We went on a train ride around the factory through all the lush rainforesty gardens. It was sooo beautiful. It was 3:30pm by the time we got out and we headed straight home
We got home quite late, and the kids were bone tired. So it was a matter of feeding, bathing and bedding and then we had a pretty laid back evening playing games. We played Articulate. Nick, Cat and I were the winning team! *victory dance*

18th March
Today was a good day. We did some shopping in a huge mall, and then headed to the Golden Circle factory, where we stocked up on a years worth of canned pineapple and other cheap stuff produced in that factory.

19th March
Today we went to Sea World. We were there practically all day, but we still didn’t see everything. Never mind, I guess as the kids get older we will be able to do more, and move at a faster pace. I guess when they are 10-12 years old, they will want to miss the Sesame Beach!
There was a water part of Sesame Beach where Elmo’s space ship shot water out all over the place, giving the kids a safe and great place to cool off. Milly even got a few splashes in. Then Daz took Mop on a few rides. I stayed with E and Milly near Elmo’s space ship. We watched a water ski show which was pretty impressive. We gave the Sesame St show a miss because Daz checked it out before and felt that Mop and E would be bored with it – and E being bored is not a good thing for anyone!!
We all enjoyed the touching pools – which are small rock pools which give us a chance to feel various sea creatures. We touched starfish, sea urchins and sea cucumbers. Caitlin was a bit apprehensive but E got totally into it. He was surprisingly gentle and loved touching these bizarre creatures.
Then we went underground to view the shark tanks. We were there for ages. Elijah was mesmerized! I have never seen him be so quiet and in awe of anything like that. He usually gets impatient when we stay still. Caitlin kept busy referring to the fish charts and trying to find the corresponding fish. I love aquariums like that and was happy to just stay there for hours! The coral, the rays, the sharks, the colorful fish. It was just beautiful.
E had about 3 major meltdowns because he is incredibly tired. But apart from that it was a great day and we came home tired but stoked with the day.
Daz had a boys night out with Nick and they went to watch a documentary on Apollo stuff which sounds really interesting. I stayed home with Bec and Cat and put the kids to bed and watched a girlie movie and ate chocolate.

20th March
Today we decided to head to South Bank – which was a bit disappointing because the Aquativitie section wasn’t going. That was the best part of the whole place! Oh well – then it poured with rain so we headed back home.
That night Bec, Cat and I headed out for a night in the shopping center for a girlie night. I got a stack of cosmetics and a pair of new jeans. Then we headed to a coffee place for a drink and a chat. It was loads of fun. Oh and I’ve started drinking wine again which is just wonderful – after the last feed of course.

21st March
Good Friday – we decided to take the kids to the park for a play. Then we headed to Sizzlers for a late lunch. Now fellow Adelaidians, don’t get jealous… but I ate cheese bread, salads and yummy apricot and white chocolate pudding. The kids loved it.
We pulled out the PS2 – and played Buzz and Singstar. You should hear Cat belt out a tune – especially Working Class Man – she makes you laugh so hard you have tears running down your legs. 

22nd March
Today we shopped all day. For business attire for Daz since he needs it in his new job. He looks mighty fine in his new threads. Bec and Cat took Mop off my hands and they had her all day – they painted and went shopping. All kids were absolutely stuffed come bedtime – so they screamed and carried on until they were shoved into bed.

23rd March
Today was our last day in Brisbane. We spent it down at Calloundra – we swam in the public pool – well actually the kids and Daz did. It was cold and I was busy feeding Milly. The kids had a ball!! Very lovely afternoon. We went to McCafe for a coffee and let the kids play on the equipment. I was so proud of my kids. E managed to climb all the way to the top of the equipment and Daz had to climb up after him when it was time to come home. Mop handled a bully child very well and firmly. I chuckled to myself and then left them to it. No need for me to intervene.
Bec, Nick, Cat, Daz and I all talked about the possibility of going to either Bali or Samoa for next Easter together. I personally think Bali would be great because Cat’s fiance’ is from Bali and he would be a great tour guide, and know when we are being ripped off etc. And they could catch up with their family as well. Oh and for once I would love to have a relaxing holiday – no cooking, cleaning, get a massage down on the beach, shopping, temples, volcanoes, and all sorts of other things.

24th March
Today we spent the whole day driving to Musswellbrook. We arrived at gone 10pm, Nige helped us back the caravan in, a quick catch up with Leash and then we all fell into bed, exhausted.
25th March
Today we went to the Hunter Valley Gardens. I swear that place is heaven on earth! It is just divine! The kids were pretty tired from their late night, but they managed to get around the place alright. It’s too hard to describe, but believe me, it’s a beautiful place. The kids got to touch, smell and run about and enjoy the great outdoors.
That evening, we played games with Leash and Nige. I was secretly impressed with Nige – the stuff he knows!?? Amazing… We all had a great time!
26th March
Today we went shopping, then stopped into Maccas for lunch, where Nige met up with us. The kids played on the equipment while we gasbagged. Then Leash took the kids off my hands for an hour or two while Daz and I went to our favourite winery. Yum yum YUM!! I love Arrowfield Wines. Best wine EVER!!
That night Leash, Daz and I belted out some tunes on Singstar, then when Nige came home from his meeting, we played Buzz and ate an icecream cake I made.
27th March
We left Muswellbrook and headed to Canberra. We stopped in on a winery that do fruit wines. Yum!! We bought a few then headed on. I could taste the pineapple wine for ages. YUMM!!
We arrived in Canberra fairly early in the evening, and we stayed at Ann and Marc’s. They have such a lovely home. We gasbagged all night and then I had a pretty bad sleep because Milly kept waking up. I ended up bringing her into bed with me where she had a huge chat at the top of her lungs.
28th March
We spent the morning with Ann and Marc, the kids got to play with their girls and they had a good time. Then we took our caravan to the park we were staying at and headed off to see Glen and Bee (Darren’s best man). They were such gracious hosts, and gave us afternoon tea. Bee whisked the kids into the veggie garden and showed them how to pick cherry tomatoes. The kids absolutely loved their garden. Elijah picked and ate (which they didn’t mind because they had too many as it was!) I am convinced that the kids will love a veggie garden of their own, so we have bumped that project to first in line when we get home.
Then we went to Craig and Christie’s for dessert. It was lovely to catch up with them and Mop was stoked to catch up with their daughter. Craig revved Elijah up and tackled him and tickled him and I have never seen Elijah laugh so much.

29th March
Today we drove to Balranald. Nothing eventful happened. I drove through the Hay Plain… BOOOORING!! It was a nice caravan park and we ate chicken and chip dinner by the river.

30th March
Today we drove home.