An update

It's been a rough few days - and nights. Poor little Milly is cutting her two top teeth. Last night she screamed from 7-11pm, then from 1-3am. I ended up rocking her to sleep. I tried walking her around outside (she preferred to look at the lights and the police helicopter that was circling around) I tried everything. It was a hard night and I am exhausted.
She's been really clingy as well. It's kinda nice because she wants me. She has been a "Mum-mum" girl alot. She just wants to be with me. Kinda makes it tricky cooking dinner with a Milly Moo on my hip. :)
I can tell she's in pain, she's not her happy little self. I've never heard her cry so much. Poor cherub.

What better way to soothe her gums than to sink your teeth into your brother's apple?? Poor boy nipped off to the toilet and while he was gone, Milly quickly climbed up to the table and swiped it.





I've been exhausted for a while. I stopped sleeping well when Daz got sick, and it's been just bad since then. I'm tired, cranky - and I think yesterday I hit the end of my tether when I wanted to pick my whinging son up and chuck him over to the pitbull terrier in the neighbours yard. Poor kid. Didn't have a very good Mummy day yesterday.
A plus is that we started the ball rolling in getting him enrolled in Montessori. He'll have one or two mornings a week playing with other kids and not wandering around, whinging, whining and missing Mop. Mummy isn't very fun to play with - he'd rather be bossed around by Mop. LOL

His toilet training is going really well. Poo's all in the toilet and probably a wee accident once every couple of days. I'm thrilled with how well he is going - and the savings of money spent on nappies!! WOOT!!
I am getting frustrated with his lack of trying to dress himself. It's a battle every day to get him to help get dressed. Though today I saw he put his own jocks on without him screaming "STUCK!" before he even put a foot in a leg hole! He often walks around with no jocks or pants on because he wants me to dress him all the time. Sorry bud, not going to happen. So independant in some areas and totally not in others.

Me, well I am really excited. I have a friend who is going to give me a Yummy Mummy make over. Help me stop looking like a daggy ol bag and give me some style and some tips on what to wear. Ziz is a very classy lady - and I am so thrilled she can pass on some of her tips to me! She is very clever and has worked out my style and what my body shape will look good in. Very very clever lady. Funny thing is that she lives in Melbourne, so she'll be working her magic via webcam. *giggle* Gotta love modern technology.

I've been working on my E-book - which will be a Yearly Organiser - trying to get it out for 1st December. I am working so hard and am really happy with how it's going so far.

We got an invitation to Daz's work Christmas party. It's a family affair which is lovely. It's apparently very kid orientated so that's lovely, and Santa gives each of the kids a present too which is nice. Not sure how I am going to explain this guy to E - Mop has already expressed scorn about Santa and how he isn't real. LOL I quickly explained that he is real to other kids and that she shouldn't tell anyone he isn't real - let them discover that on their own, otherwise she will ruin their Christmas.

Mop is getting very excited about Christmas. She is doing alot of Christmas activities in school and she's got the countdown thing happening. She's her mother's daughter!!

Ok well I better head off... I need some shut-eye.

I've been tagged!!

Little White Dove has tagged me! I haven't been tagged in a while so this should be fun!

The Rules:

1. Link to the person who tagged you.
2. List 5 things that could make your life very different should it come true.
3. Tag 5 other people.


1. If I went back to work now, I would desperately miss my babies and would be utterly miserable without them. As much as I am getting a bit sick of being at home all the time, I would miss the Milly cuddles and kisses, Sir E's constant "What you doin?" and his giggles. I would miss the school holidays with Mop chattering on and playing all sorts of wonderful games. I would miss the sounds of "In the night garden" in the morning - as much as that show annoys me. But, you gotta do what you gotta do eh?

2. If I didn't choose to be a Beauty Therapist - a job I would never go back to now, I would never have met my husband. I was his make up artist in a musical that he was in.

3. If I didn't become a Christian 14 years ago I wouldn't be here. My life would either be over or extremely miserable. I wouldn't be the person that I am today. I am glad that I live this life and would not change anything about it.

4. If I could go back in time, I would change the way I spoke to my Mum as a horrible, nasty hurting teen. My biggest regret in my life is how terribly I treated her. She doesn't hold it against me and she loves me so much, but I still regret that.

5. If I won a million dollars, I would pay of my mortgage and give the rest away. There are so many that need help in this world, and I would like to make a difference in their lives.


Right, now for my 5 people I tag!!

Donna
Jac
Gail - there ya are Gail - a bit of a nudge to get blogging again!!
Melissa
Mel

It's just not our day.

Last night the drains packed up. Literally. We had water running down our hall way. Water ankle deep in the shower. It just wouldn't drain away. The toilets don't flush well. I pity the plumber when he gets here. LOL
I had to shower at Mum's this morning, because I didn't want to cause a flood. Ah well. Lucky Mum didn't mind.

So we now await the plumber. Hopefully he can sort it out asap.

Yesterday I had a horrible Mummy moment. It was 2:30pm - I thought to myself, "right in half an hour I need to go pick up Mop." Then I got engrossed in hunting around for some scrapping stuff for my brother and SIL's Christmas present. WELL... 3:36 pm I look at the clock again and scream in horror! I run out the door, screeched up the road and run into the school, absolutely mortified!! I find Mop sitting folornly in the front office.
She saw me come in and jumped off the chair, relief in her face - "Mummy!! I didn't think you were coming!!" she said to me. I wanted to cry. I felt so bad. I was terribly late. Half an hour late!! Mop understood what happened and didn't hold it against me. Later that afternoon when we went food shopping, we ran into Mop's teacher. Mop explained why I was late and seemed to think it rather funny. I was so embarressed and really upset about it. That won't be happening again any time soon!! I am watching the clock now as we speak - 2:53pm - I need to leave in 7 minutes.

Last night Milly woke up crying. Today we discovered why. Her two front teeth have broken through her gums and they are finally out. Thank goodness. Her nappy rash has been horrible. That will clear up now her teeth are out.

E is not well. He is off to the doctors this afternoon with DH who is also as crook as a dog. E seems to have an ear infection. He's flat, moody, grumpy and yesterday he didn't want to walk around, he wanted to be carried. Oh and he snuggled up on me for a cuddle and a rock - twice!! He hasn't done that in ages. It's kinda nice when he is all snuggly.
DH has some horrible virus, which knocked him out for 2 days. I've never known a person to sleep for 2 days and 2 nights. Poor little/big guys.

I need to leave in 4 minutes.

I'm doing really well with Christmas preparations. If you check out my craft blog you will see what I am up to and what is being made. Pete and Deb's clock is mostly made, just need embellishments.

I went to Gawler with Mum yesterday and guess what we found? A quilting store!! I was in heaven!! They have beautiful fabrics that I can't wait to get my hands on. First things first - Christmas present making and E's quilt.

Right, I need to go.

Catchya later

Nanny is the best!

Look at Milly smoodging my Mum would you?? Just moments before Mum had walked in the door, and Milly saw her and crawled as fast as her little arms and legs could move straight towards her. Then started "cuddling" her Nanny.

Nanny is also the best because Mop has been not doing her bookwork very neatly at school and also has been in a right strop and been speaking rudely and disrespectfully to me. So... we are using the incentive of going to Nanny's for a play day if she can do her book work neatly. Today her bookwork was excellent. :) And if she is well behaved all well then Nanny will take her to BB's for a "coffee" - so far I haven't heard one word of rudeness or narkiness. Ahhh I love blackmail.

Another progress report

E's toilet training is going well. He had a few accidents today - but none yesterday. But a big breakthrough - he pooped in the toilet!!! YAY!!! He was so proud of himself! He even sat himself on the toilet to go, without me helping him!! He's really getting the hang of it!

As I told Donna, I'm being a good parent by offering jelly beans for poops. They are beans - which are vegetables. LOL

Christmas shopping is well underway. I have most of the kids stockings finished which is great - that means they are sorted for this year. :) Fun fun!!

Progress report....

Well I am settling back into life slowly. I am enjoying being relaxed and doing things as I do them - and not killing myself to get them done. We are unpacked, the clothes are washed and life is resuming as usual. I plan to go on a shopping trip with Mum tomorrow - the poor old girl was sick the whole time I was away so didn't get out much.

We are on day 3 of E's toilet training and I am really happy with how he is going. After the rough start on Friday, we have had 2 accidents since then. One yesterday - which was at the shops and I think because he didn't know where he could go to the toilet. And today he pooped in his pants, because he is scared of pooing in the toilet. He says when he needs to go and runs straight there. This is brilliant!! I guess my ignorance of training and the pressure I felt from certain people wondering why she wasn't trained at 6 months old made it a hard and long job.

We went to Big Dub and bought E some Bob and Thomas jocks. He is very proud of them. I caught him today at nap time getting them all out of his drawer and lining them all up. Very cute.

Mop starts school again tomorrow - term 4. She's excited. She no longer has Wednesdays off so it will be full time school for the girl.

Milly Moo is going to be the death of me. At 10 months old she is a climber. She pulls herself up on furniture - and starts doing the splits because she is slipping - but will she let go?? NOOOO... LOL She chucks a fit if you don't let her climb all over the couch and try and launch herself off. Silly girl... but ever so cute.

Well I better go... :)

Toilet training has commenced

As of 10am this morning, E will no longer be wearing nappies during the day (unless he needs to while we are out) and is now the proud wearer of jocks/training pants.

We have a sticker chart, a Zoo Poo book and a box of jelly beans to reward the poos.

So far today this is how it went:

1. Full wee in his pants
2. Half a poo in his pants - finished the rest in the toilet, and was horrified with the mess.
3. 10 seconds after a new pair of pants, he weed again.
4. A dribble in his pants and a rush to the toilet
5. No dribble in his pants, and a "Mummy, Toilet!" and rushed off.

Will see how it progresses...
I remember it took AGES for Mop to toilet train so no hopes of having him trained by the end of the week or anything. LOL

Bye bye Magna

God is very good and gracious to us. We have been freaking out for a while, with the threat of losing our home being very real to us. 2 weeks before the deadline and drastic action, our prayers have been answered.

A man rang yesterday about our car - but since I was out bush with no reception, I couldn't speak to him until this morning. He came to see the car tonight. He took it around the block. He opened his wallet and made an offer. We tried to get him $500 higher - but only suceeded with $200. Never mind. We were just so greatful to sell the car and survive. Shook hands, he handed over a deposit and drove on home.

I was chatting to his wife while the test drive was happening, and we were doing the Mum chats and talking about "stuff". The cost of living came up and she complained about the cost of groceries and making ends meet. I commented that we struggle with that too.

Anyway, about an hour later my phone rings. It's the guy who is buying our car. His wife had a chat to him I think - he felt terrible for talking us down and wanted to give us the amount we asked for.

My jaw literally dropped to my chest and I almost choked. WHAT?? I tried to tell him that we were happy with the deal we made - but he insisted on giving us the full amount.

We are just so blessed!!

Home again!

SATURDAY
Today we left Adelaide at the most ungodly hour of 5am. The kids were excited about getting up while the sun was still in bed. We hit the road towards our first stop for the night – Coober Pedy.
On our way, we hit some pretty strong winds, which reduced our fuel economy drastically!! We ended up doing about a third of the kms on a full tank than what we could do! Not happy jan!! Thankfully God heard our prayers and the last leg, where we were petrified we wouldn’t make it to the next town on a tank of petrol, was much better – the wind died down a bit and we made it!
We set up camp in coober pedy, and boy what a dust bowl that place is!! No water anywhere, and soooo ugly too!! Holes all over the place, mines etc. Oh well... I don’t have to live there thankfully!!

SUNDAY
Today we left a bit later than we planned, because our travelling companions had never packed up camp before, so were running a bit behind. We made great time however and arrived in Alice Springs around sunset. It’s so lovely and warm here. We set up camp and enjoyed the warm balmy evening with a glass of chilled white. Mmmmm.



MONDAY
We spent the morning at Desert Park – and it was lots of fun. We learned so much about the desert and saw lots of cool plants, flowers and animals. It was a great way to wear out the kids!!






That evening, we headed over to a friend of mine’s place – Kim and Kevin. I met Kim many years ago on a parenting forum (EB)and we have been chatting and interacting online ever since. Kevin cooked the most amazing steak I have ever had. And we enjoyed some belly aching laughs. Then Kevin bought out his amazing dessert – a banana pudding with butterscotch sauce. YUMMM!!! More laughs, more chatting. The night flew by. The kids played well with Kim’s girls. I believe Mop even scored a friendship jewel – which she is thrilled about.

TUESDAY
Souvineer shopping in the morning, and we spent the afternoon at the Telegraph Station. It’s bizarre – a beautiful lush, shady, cool area in the middle of a hot, dry desert!! The kids had a great time playing ball, playing in the drink fountain and having a picnic lunch. We went back to the caravan park for a swim and a relaxing evening.

WEDNESDAY
Happy Birthday to Luke – who is the son of our travel buddies. He turned the big 14 today. We went out to the West Macdonald Ranges and saw some cool stuff. We saw Simpson’s Gap – which was this huge river bed in the middle of a gorge thing. Was really quite spectacular. Then we went to Ellery Creek – which again was a beautiful waterhole. The kids wanted to go swimming but were a bit frightened by the sudden depth and also the extreme cold was a bit off putting to Mop.
Lindsay dared me to hop in by saying if I did, she would. And me not wanting to pass up a dare started stripping off and jumped in. Lindsey and I were crazy!! It was soooo cold. I lost feeling in my body, but it was so refreshing. (said in the way that Miss Bingley says “Miss Eliza, may I convince you to take a turn about the room with me. It’s seeeew refreshing!) Milly, poor baby was very hot and grouchy, so I got out and immediately picked her up, wet and cold. She snuggled into me and settled down quite a bit and cooled down lots too!





We also went to a spectacular gorge with another water hole. That one wasn’t as nice as the Ellery Creek one, but Elijah loved splashing around with Daddy, and Milly sat on the very edge splashing and enjoying the deep shade the gorge provided.



We then followed Nick to a 4wd track and tried our hand at 4WDing. To be honest, it wasn’t that hairy – it was like driving around the tracks on Tyrone. There was one kinda eek moment when we were going up a hill and I was excellerating but not going anywhere! LOL

We then went back to town to have dinner to celebrate Luke’s birthday. I didn’t see this, but while I was walking down Todd Mall, I had my hand bag on my shoulder, and holding Mop and E’s hands. Daz was a small distance away. Nick and Lindsey were walking a fair way behind us, and watched these 2 youths on bikes size me up and edge up to me, they looked around to see if anyone was watching, then saw Nick behind them, so they bolted. Nick reckons they thought I was an easy target – what would I have done, protected my kids or protected my handbag. Nick knows alot about criminal behaviour. He has some family that are crooks, and he sees that stuff. Glad I was ignorant about it at the time. I won’t be walking down Todd mall again in the dark. That’s crazy stuff. What low life would pick a woman with kids as an easy target?? They might have been surprised and found a furious Mama Bear turning on them.

THURSDAY
Today we headed off to Uluru. We arrived mid-afternoon and have been delighted with the place. It’s such a nice campground. We decided to stay an extra day so we can enjoy and relax more. We went to Ayres Rock to watch the sunset but were bitterly disappointed. Clouds spoiled the show. Got some great photos of the sunset though!!





FRIDAY
Today we slept in, then mosied on down to the Olgas to check them out. It was a hot day, so I stayed with Milly in the car with the engine running, while Daz took Mop and E for a walk into the gorge. Ummm... 1 ½ hours later they reappeared, dirty, grimy, sweaty but very choofed with themselves. Elijah had a wonderful time exploring and was free to do whatever he liked. He likes that.







We relaxed the afternoon away, and waited for the sunset – which again was another no show. We took the kids swimming after dinner for a little while and the water was lovely and warm and the kids had a wonderful time. Wore them out good and proper for dinner.
Down at the pool we had a little breakthrough. E started having a tantrum because we were leaving, and he wanted to stay and swim. He started to scream and I tried to explain the pool was closing for the night – and he kept getting more upset. So I calmly said that if he wanted to swim again the next day, then he has to stop screaming and be a good boy and come back to the caravan. He stopped immediately and apologised. No further incident. Normally I would have had to drag him out screaming and kicking and having a huge meltdown.

SATURDAY
We finally got to the Uluru Cultural center where we learned about the Aboriginal stories that surround the big rock. We looked in the souvenir shop and art gallery. Then we headed down to the store and topped up our groceries. I never expected a full supermarket in the middle of the dessert!!
Lindsay made us a delicious lunch – a Tuna Pasta Salad – which I will be making in the future. It’s absolutely divine! The kids wolfed it down too!
We basically relaxed all afternoon, and readied ourselves for the sunset – our last chance to see it and a dinner down at the resort. We chose one that sounded family friendly – since the kids ate free.
We headed down to the rock – and right before the sunset a HUGE cloud went in front of the cloud, blocking our final chance to see the spectacular colors. I was pretty disappointed. Oh well – I guess I will have to go back another year. Perhaps when the kids are older and can do more of the hikes.





We went to the resteraunt where we were going to have dinner – and were horrified it was $47 per head. So we made the executive decision to go back to the supermarket and have a BBQ. I think we spent less than $47 for a feast!!

SUNDAY
Today we packed up the caravan and headed straight out to Kings Canyon. Our campsite overlooks the beautiful canyon. I was a little concerned about the warning signs about dingoes all over the place. I warned Caitlin, and she decided to spend her time indoors and out of reach. LOL.
We took the kids down to the pool for a swim as the glow of the sunset lit up the Canyon. Very pretty!
Later that evening I nipped off to the toilet, I came out and there was a dingo rolling around on the grass 1.5 meters away from me. Then I saw the rest of them, scouring through the camp looking for food. I must say the thought of wild dogs in my camp doesn’t thrill me.

MONDAY
Today was another very restful and wonderful day. This morning we did the King’s Creek hike which the kids loved doing. It took us about 35 minutes to get to the center of the Canyon where we saw some beautiful cliff faces. It was a lovely walk and I took lots of pics. On the way back E wasn’t so happy, he must have been tired, because he kept falling over and hurting himself. He has cuts and brusies all over his arms and legs! We decided to give the Kathleen Springs Hike a miss because of Mr E’s temper.















We spent the afternoon resting and relaxing. Then that evening headed over to the boardwalk to see the sunset on the Canyon. We weren’t disappointed this time!
I was absolutely mortified that evening when I left Milly strapped in her pram outside of the caravan while I nipped in to grab her towel so I could bath her. I hear a knock at the door – a member of staff came to warn me about the Dingoes... and how they can rip apart prams to get what they want. I was horrified! Milly was not left unattended again mind you!
Mop came down with the dreaded virus that our travelling companions have had. She had a bad night, restless with fever and just generally unwell.

TUESDAY
Today we spent the day travelling to Coober Pedy. Nothing exciting happened – apart from seeing a Dingo fossicking through people’s camping stuff for food. I was glad to get away from those dingoes I must admit. Now we are in Coober Pedy and alot colder!!
We have some money issues – mainly to do with the leasing company and having to pay out of our pocket for fuel. If they company doesn’t pay us overnight, we will have to leave a day earlier, which is no big deal in the grand scheme of things.

WEDNESDAY
10am – no money in the account. So we went home.
Some wonderful things happened while we were on the road.
There was a limit we exceeded on our Star Card – which is bizarre, so we couldn’t pay for petrol. Daz checked the bank balance again and lo and behold the money was there from the leasing company! PHEW!
While Daz was in KFC getting our dinner, he saw that the Reserve Bank of Australia dropped interest rates by 1%. This is excellent news!!
And I got a message from a man very interested in our car and wanted to make a time to come see it. Totally good news!
We arrived home at gone 9pm – the kids were showered, bedded, we showered and hopped into bed. It was a long day but a good one.

Now begins all the washing and unpacking!