Change again...

... no I'm not changing my blog template again! :P

But since it's pretty much certain (unless God has an evil sense of humor) that we are finished our family, it's time to make some changes. Our home has been set up the way it has been, pretty much, since it was just Daz and I. But we are finding with three kids, this isn't working. Formal spaces are never used, the kids only have room in their bedroom for their toys - which doesn't work when EJ and Milly both want to be with me while they play. EJ has a huge train track, that he can't play with because his bedroom is too small, and the living room is tiny as well - so he can't play with it.

So we are going to do a big change around.

When it's all done, I'll show pictures. But that's what is the plan.

Also, since EJ is getting to be less needy during the day, I have time and energy to start "purging". I've been tossing out stuff left right and center. I haven't been able to do it for a few years now because it was just too hard with a screaming boy and a tired Mama.

I've been having a ball, tossing out old stuff - ready to go to op-shops. My walk in robe has never looked so empty! Since there are no more babies, my home doesn't have to be "baby friendly" and we can now start making it more "family friendly".

At the moment my formal lounge is a dumping ground - anything that is going to the opshop is being dumped in there. We have bags and boxes all over the place! I'm not finished yet - but I reckon the room will be full to the brim of stuff to go.

Anyway... so that's what I am doing.

Say what???

Guess what??

You will never guess... so I'll just tell you shall I?

My Twitter account has been suspended. Yes. My statements of "I'm cleaning out my walk in robe" has offended the Twitter Bugs.... :P

I've fired off an email and I'm waiting to get it back. So if you are following and are wondering what happened... THAT'S what happened.

It's funny isn't it? My Twitter account lasted me less than 12 hours.

CLASSIC!!!

I'm tweeting!

Yes, that's right. I am tweeting. Twittering.

I can't promise that I'll be very exciting. I will just be putting random thoughts in and where I am at right now. If any of my readers twitter, please leave me a link in the comments so I can follow you! I only follow two people so far. :) Always looking for more!

So if you want to follow along - click the button in the side bar that says FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER!! :)

Ummm.....

"Mummy your bottom is shrinking.... it's not as fat now"

~Mop~

Thanks sweetheart.... I think.

I'm set!

"Mummy, when you are old, and you can't walk anymore. I'm going to look after you and cook you tea."

~Mop~

No old peoples home for me! WOOT!

:)

She has a serious case of the clumps!

Half an hour ago, I got a call from Mop's school office....
"Mrs Skipper, Mop has headlice."
I was horrified. I'm pretty vigilant about checking her head every morning while putting her hair up for the day. My skin and scalp began to crawl. Blaaahh.... head lice!

Oh well.. it would be our first case. I knew of an effective remedy - Gail has told me about it. I began to make mental notes... right i need to clean her pillow, change her bedding, clean all the brushes, chuck out all her hair ties she has used, vacuum her mattress, wash her hats.....

I arrived at the school - grabbed Caitlin - and off we went home. I look one look in her hair and....

... LAUGHED.

I must have sprayed her hairspray too close this morning. She had clumps of hair spray in her hair - leaving white flecks in her hair - looking alot like lice eggs. The "eggs" all crumbled as I began to brush her thick hair. I inspected her head anyway just to double check.

She is now standing next to me, reading her school reader, her thick long hair hanging down her back - lice free.

It all begins again....

... Uni that is.

My semester starts today. I got all my course info over the weekend - including details of assignments and what's expected of me.

I just want to say - I LOVE TECHNOLOGY! I got my text books as E-books, so I can read them on my computer. :) Happy days!!! Cheaper and less clutter - win win!!
This subject has a lot of assessment. Something due every 2 weeks, I have a minor paper, major paper, Creative presentation (piece of cake!!) and a research paper to do, not to mention 2 textbooks to read with lectures and tutorials. So my nose will be to the grindstone that's for sure!

Hard work? Yes. Excited? VERY!!!

Happy Birthday Mum!

I would like to introduce to you, THE most amazing woman on the planet.



This is my Mum. This woman has been to hell and back, multiple times - but yet she can still smile, still be positive and refuses to allow her life experiences dictate how she lives her life. This woman has to be the wisest person on the planet and inputs so much into my life. She encourages me, spurs me on, helps me, and most definitely loves me. She is a dear woman and I am such a blessed person to have her blood in my veins and her heart in my hands.

I love you Mum. Happy 50th birthday, old bag. :P

I am thankful.

I'm thankful.

I am thankful for the encouragement and kind words from friends who see my need and actually do something about it, instead of pretending it's not happening. I am not Superskipper. I am not Superwoman. I may be organised and capable, but I do crumble too and struggle. I do not always have it together and I am greatful for the friends in my life who actually recognise that and stand with me to hold me up while I get myself together.



I'm thankful for the friends who speak life and love into me - and are walking beside me through this journey. "You are doing a great job.", "Hang in there.", "I'm praying for you." - I can see who my true friends are - the ones who are now pouring into my life - as I have poured into theirs in the past.

I'm greatful for friends who don't make my life all about them - and try and compete to see who has it worse. I'm greatful for the people in my life who don't add their stories on top of my sharing - in the attitude of "I have it much worse than you." - even though they have no idea. I'm greatful for the friends who understand, who accomodate, who try to walk a mile in my shoes and then instead of just sympathising and saying "there there" - they actually DO something to try and help. Through this journey - it's apparent who really cares about me and who doesn't give a rats.



Today I got a letter in my mailbox. A kind card written by a dear lady and friend who is in our old church. In a nut shell she wrote such life giving words - pure encouragement and cheering us on. Also in her card, she enclosed a gift voucher for a clothing store - JUST FOR ME! On the front it said "Just for once, it's all about you!"

That was love and understanding - wrapped to fit in an envelope, but when it was opened it exploded all over the place, reaching the deepest part of my heart. I am greatful for that lady. I hope I can be as an amazing person as she is one day. I hope I can be an amazing friend - as she is to me.

Today I'm feeling a bit fragile. Hormones and life sometimes don't mix. Tomorrow I'll be better. But today I am going enjoy the love and kindness and just be happy and greatful I have so many incredible people around me who actually care.

... and tomorrow, I'm going shopping! :)

Thank you!

To my Bloggy friends,
Thanks so much for the support, kind words and advice that you offered after my last blog post. I'm happy to say that I am not feeling so overwhelmed now. I am trying to do something with Mop everyday now, whether it be having a quiet chat to her on our own, getting her to feel special and helping me with tasks like cooking dinner etc. We are reading "The Naughtiest Girl in the School" by Enid Blyton - a book I loved as a child - together.
The Social Worker I see from CFP says I need to clone myself - so I can do everything - but since that isn't possible - I just need to do the best I can. And that's what I am going to do.. the very best I can.

So thanks alot for the care. I really do appreciate it.

xx Skipper

If I had a superpower...

I am totally going to love this BLOG THIS challenge!! I have a confession to make... as I am going to sleep each night - I go to a place in my mind call "Skipper's World" - this is where all things are possible. This is a place where my mind slows down and forgets about the day - and the day coming up. I need to force my mind to think on other things, other than what I don't want to forget to do tomorrow, or dwell on stresses and worries.

So.. I go to Skipper's world. I have been stranded on a desert island - and I managed quite well until help came. I have been a billionaire - and changed the world with my wealth. Lots and lots of dreams and scenarios - but my current world is - my superpower. So I've had alot of time to think about this and what I would do with it.


If I has a superpower - it would be the power of invisibility.



How this power works is that I simply will myself to be invisible - and anything I touched and willed it to be invisible, would become so. Understand?
I would touch my husband and children and will them to be invisible with me...



... so we could step on a plane, and fly to Europe. We wouldn't need tickets, passports or visas. We would simply hop on the flight, find a spare seat, and fly to wherever we wanted. We could go and visit such wonderful places, all under the cloak of invisibility. We could visit museums, art galleries, famous landmarks, not so famous landmarks, take in the scenery. We could become visible again when we needed to eat somewhere - but other than that, we could be completely unseen to the rest of the world.



I would like to kiss my husband under the Eifel Tower, walk through the Arc de Triomphe, touch Stonehenge (which I believe is now fenced off due to vandalism), waltz through Buckingham Palace - and see if the Queen ever farts or picks her nose. Greece, Italy, Switzerland, Germany - all such wonderful places - with so many things to see... and I would see them all - and very inexpensively - with the people so dear to me.








Each night I would find a posh hotel to sleep in - with a penthouse suite that was vacant for the night - and sleep in absolute luxury - having a huge bubble bath in a tub the size of a small swimming pool.



If I was invisible, I could visit my best friend Bec any weekend I wanted to. Just hop on a plane, go see her, hang out with her - then go home again.

If I was invisible, I could sneak into the bank, unobserved, and I would get rid of the mortgage debt of all the dear people in my life.



If I was invisible I could go to the movies whenever I pleased, I could go shopping in my PJ's and slippers. I could nip over the road to my neighbours house, while they were at work and watch Foxtel on their TV, using their A/C. I could go into amazing restraunts and nip into the kitchen and watch how chefs create such amazing masterpieces.



I could go to book stores, and drag in a display beanbag from Myers and just read books without even having to buy them. I could go to basketball games with my husband and sit on the very front row.

When my kids are in school - I could go hang out with Daz at work - I am not allowed to be on the premises - but they would never know if I was invisible.

I could sit in on conversations - and no one would know I was there.



I could hear who was bitching about who. I know it's not nice, and totally goes against my beliefs - but if I was into revenge - it would be so cool to go through some people's homes with stink bombs - and let them off, one by one. I could smear invisible pilchards all over the ceiling. Let them live in a stench!! I could slash the tires of the neighbour's car who keeps parking illegally and that almost creates accidents. I could go watch the domestic arguments that keep happening over in the neighbour's house - and make the person who swears slip over on their backsides. (I'm over hearing their fights and arguments.)

I could go and visit the rich and famous - and find out what their lives are really like - what THEY are really like. I want to visit Vince Vaughn first. I love him... so funny! I could visit poor countries, and take the poor children who are in orphanages out - and give them to families who can take care of them and who want them. Bye bye stupid governments and all the beurecratical rubbish.

I could help police with their crime investigations. I could help them solve crimes and put horrible, nasty crims behind bars. I could help in army inteligence. I could help make this world a better place by helping remove the people who make it so terrible.




There are so many things I could do. And having the power of invisibility would be absolutely awesome! Of course I would want to use my superpower for good, not evil. I would be SUPER SKIP! I like it!!

Testing Testing... 1. 2. 3

Yesterday at E's psych appointment, I was put in a nice room - with soft comfy lounges - with some magazines and was told to put my feet up. E needed to be away from me for his testing. Apparently something about the results not being as accurate when I'm in the room. They needed me to be close, since he had only met the psychologist once before - and he was still sizing her up as he entered the room where he usually has his speech sessions. His speechie was on hand - as someone familiar to him - and he started the first of his assessments. This one was an intellectual assesment.

So I kicked off my shoes, grabbed an 8 year old trashy mag... yes... 8 years old.... back when Brad and Jen were still together! I curled up on the couch and flicked through - regretting not bringing my glasses so I could actually read it! When I was done with the mags, I looked at the clock. He'd been in there 1 hour and 10 minutes. I could hear him talking to the psych - and playing different things. So I pulled out my PDA and started reading Pride and Prejudice that I had on file. The speechie came in and was marvelling at EJ's attention span. She said usually most kids cope for about 10 minutes then need a break - he had been going the entire time! EJ finished the test from start to end - instead of over 2-3 weeks. :) Nice job son!

Speechie and Psych came in afterwards to chat about how he went. They seemed very positive about it all.

EJ must have had a marvelous time with the Psych, because that night he was still raving about his time with her and what he did. He told Daddy all about it. Then this morning he asked if we were going to go back and play with them again today.

Too cute!

How to balance it all?

This afternoon Mop's teacher had a chat to me - regarding Mop's easy tears. It's been happening over the last month or so - she just cries really easily. If she feels any hint of a negative emotion, she cries. It's like she can't recognise emotion or doesn't know how to deal with it and so she just cries.
Her teacher has said that if this doesn't improve by end of the term, she is going to put Mop back in year 1 because she doesn't feel she is emotionally ready for year 1.

I felt terrible.

Poor kid.

I explained what is going on at home and the massive upheaval we have had recently. I explained that I spend so much time on EJ - trying to help him, trying to make his life better... and in the meantime I screw up and Mop ends up a blubbering mess. I'm struggling to balance everything. The teacher was very understanding, and I guess it's up for review a bit later in the term.

I'm feeling another wave of pressure. I feel like I'm drowning again. I am trying so hard and now I feel like I'm failing. I keep getting told what a good mother I am - by EJ's professionals. "You are such a good Mum - you are trying so hard to help him..." yeah... and in the meantime my other child is suffering emotionally. She never complains. She never demands. She gets dissapointed, because when EJ has a bad day, we have to cancel whatever plans we have made. Mop sacrifices a lot for her brother. She hardly ever cries, complains and states that it's not fair. Poor kid.... I've neglected her terribly.



I asked her today about why she cries all the time, she said "I'm just upset and sad" - I asked her why, and she shrugged. I asked her "Do you get upset because EJ gets so much of our time?". Her lip wobbled, tears threatened to spill... again... "I get very sad."

I need to get this right. I have one shot at parenting and doing it well. I need to do something to balance our lives more. I need to do something....

I'll figure it out. I just hope my kids come out of this, relatively unscathed. Thankfully I see the parenting social worker on Thursday. She'll help me.

2nd Tooth - GONE

 

Need I say more?

She looks so grown up with missing teeth and new teeth growing in it's place.