Charmzy's Blog

The year so far

2010-03-24T13:31:00.000+11:00

I keep meaning to come back and blog some more and for some reason it never happens but lately I have found myself thinking about it more and more so now I have decided while I have a few spare moments that I will do an entry. Who knows if I will continue updating regularly or not come back for another few months but I am here now so here goes.

It is the end of March already, that means the year is disappearing faster than I can keep up. Natashas first birthday is fast approaching and organisations for her birthday party are well underway.

Some updates on the children -

Natasha at 10.5 months is crawling around, has 7 teeth and more coming through, is starting to pull up on furniture and can rattle off about 8 words now. She is very petite but absolutely adorable!

Savannah is fast approaching her 4th birthday and is doing 4 yr old kinder this year despite her age only being for 3 yr old they put her up as the kinder felt she was too advanced for 3 yr old. She is a clever cookie but has regressed a bit this year trying to come to terms with her new role in the family as 'second youngest' not 'youngest'. She went along to a try out day for calisthenics but decided for herself that shes not interested just yet.

Isobella is fast approaching her 5th birthday and is Hannah Monatana MAD! She is also doing 4 yr old kinder and next year is off to school (and VERY excited about this). Bella started Calisthenics and absolutely loves it and is doing so well! She loves to perform for people whether that be showing off her latest calisthenics moves, dancing or singing. She can be a little shy but it doesn't take much now to get her to come out of her shell.

Zach is in grade TWO! He is doing so well and adores his teacher this year which is fantastic! He loves Maths and his love for it shows well as he is incredible good at it! All of his teachers are amazed at his skill level, he is very quick with his numbers and working sums out. He is keen to start basketball next term and we have enrolled him in Auskick too so hopefully that turns out well for him.

Alex is in grade THREE! He too is doing incredibly well, it is of no surprise that his reading level has recently been assessed at the level of a year 7 despite him being at the start of grade 3! He is a very clever boy and hopefully we can get him some more extenstion work so he doesn't get bored at school. Alex has recently started Cadets run by St John Ambulance and is enjoying it very much, he comments almost every day that he 'wishes he had cadets every day'.

As for Steve, he is about to start a new job and can't wait to finish up at the current one. I have to say it will be good to see the back of this current job as all its done is stress him (and me) out for the last year or so! The new job brings with it some great opportunities so hopefully all goes well with his transition and whatnot.

For me I'd have to say theres not a whole lot to report, between school / kinder and extra curricular activities the kids are keeping me busier than ever. Steve and I considered for a while the idea of me returning to work but in the end we decided for the tiny little financial gain it would have, it is not worth the detriment to our family and as we have always agreed having me as a SAHM until at LEAST the youngest child begins school is something important to us, we have decided keeping things as they are is best for us. Having said that I am interested in finding something to either study from home or embarking on a business from home although as yet my ideas are very small. 'From little things, big things grow' though so hopefully something will come of it.

I guess that is the basics for now, if I end up coming back soon I can go into a bit more detail :)

So much to write

2009-11-26T20:45:00.000+11:00

Where do I start?

I have been slack since getting home from Perth, I haven't even updated my blog about my holiday! So I guess I should start with that and go from there.

My holiday was fantastic, not only did I get to meet up with some of the most awesome women ever but I got to do a LOT of shopping too! I was so worried about the flight over to perth, worried about breastfeeding on the plane, worried about not having enough room to feed comfortably, worried that tashys ears would hurt etc etc but all of it was for no reason because it couldn't have gone any better!

Firstly although I wasn't fortunate enough to have a spare seat next to me, I WAS fortunate enough to be seated with a MIDWIFE!! How fantastic is that! We chatted most of the flight and I really regret not getting some contact details for her as she was absolutely lovely! Obviously sitting next to her, when it came time to feed I had no problems with feeling uncomfortable! It was fantastic. She was so so lovely :D

In perth it was rush rush rush the first day. I caught a Taxi to Kristi's place and met her and her family and then at 9.30am Kristie came over to take photos of tash (AWESOME photos! she is a fantastic photographer, I only wish she wasn't so far away so she could do pics of my whole family!). At 11.30 we went to a great park with a volcano that spurts out water from the top and I got to meet up with the rest of the 'Jugs' girls! So nice to finally meet them!

The next day Kristi took me to Carousel and I picked up a baby capsule for Tori to use, which came in handy as I borrowed it for Tash while I was over there! Then we did some shopping! We actually did quite a bit of shopping while I was there, Kristi also took me to harbourtown and I was so excited as I found some basketball shorts for steve in not only the right colour but the right size too! I have been looking for well over a year for new shorts for him with no such luck so I was quite excited about this!! I got a few christmas pressies and birthday pressies and 'just because' pressies for the kids too, I was very happy with my purchases!

When I came home I was once again SO nervous about the flight but for what? Princess Natasha went to sleep before we had taken off and did not wake up until AFTER we landed!!!! Can you believe it? What more could I want???

I was so glad to be back home and see my family even if I did have such a great time, I had never had even a night away from Steve so it was a bit hard being away from him!!

I got back on Alexs birthday so that was exciting too, I love birthdays! Alex was rapt with his presents, he'd been asking for a hotwheels 'colour blaster' set for months and months and I was so excited to see him open it, his reaction was priceless he was over the moon :D I also got him a set of books called 'The undys' which is about a father and son, well he read all 4 books before the weekend was over! He reads so fast!! :o   He's well into the harry potter series now!

On November 22nd we had the boys joint birthday party, we had egg and spoon races as well as sack races and I think its safe to say all the children had a brilliant time. The boys got some lovely presents too and although we are still tring to find homes for all their new things they are both very pleased with this!

Then the 23rd was Zachs 7th Birthday and of course as I write this I get teary again because it doesn't matter how many years go by and how much I think about it I just can't get over how far my little man has come. I am so proud of him! He is a little fighter! We STILL have issues that relate back to prematurity but my he has come such a long way from the night he was born!   Anyway enough on that or I'll end up a babbling mess again lol

Zach got his first CD player for his birthday and the nickelodean kids choice CD, he was SO excited with this which I was very relieved about as I wasn't sure he'd be too into it. Unfortunately my music taste has rubbed off a little bit too much as out of the 20 tracks he just keeps putting on P!NK funhouse again.. and again... and again...

Anyway Natasha is now 6.5 months old, can you believe it.. it really truly goes way too fast! She has just recently been able to reach the ground when shes in her jumperoo and so now she bounces away all the time, it is SO cute! We put her jolly jumper musical mat underneath and it encourages her to jumps o much as she loves the noises that it makes! I really need to get some video footage of it, its just gorgeous! I am still just as much in awe of her as I was the day I had her! She is just incredible! All of them are!

I will update a bit more on everything else soon I think this is more than long enough lol

Tomorrow is the day!

2009-11-04T16:01:00.000+11:00

I can't believe its here already, tomorrow Natasha and I go to perth!

I am so nervous and excited!

I'm excited to meet my internet friends (at long last) and excited to be seeing britney in concert (OMG!)

But I'm so nervous about the flight with Natasha and being away from Steve for so long and the kids and even my friends whom I almost never go 5 whole days without seeing lol And what if Tori has her baby while I'm gone??? I've told her she has to keep her legs crossed, shes my bestest friend I can't miss being there as soon as she has her little princess!

Anyway it is ONLY 5 days and will probably fly by way too fast but I've got butterflies thinking about it!

Early night tonight as I have to get up at 3am in order to be at the airport by 5 for 6am flight :o omg!

Everything is packed, my new nappy bag arrived today and I can't believe how much space there is in it, its wonderful and exactly what I needed to be taking away. Was such a relief when the postie knocked on the door as I was beginning to think I was going to need to duck up to baby bunting and buy another one if this one hadn't have arrived in time! Crisis avoided thankfully!

This morning the 3 girls and I went to the shops and got a few last minute things for me, thankfully they were wonderfully behaved. I tried out my baby carrier again and now that I've mastered putting it on its BRILLIANT! I carried tash for an hour with no problems and she was very comfy and secure. So absolute 5 stars for my Close baby carrier!

Mum will be here in an hour, shes staying over tonight so shes here for the kids while steve takes me to the airport which is lovely of her! Bella and Savannah are VERY excited that nanny is sleeping over!

I've got a few more last minute things to organise before I go but then thats it I'm all sorted! Fantastic!

So no blog entries for a week while I'm holidaying but when I come back I've got to update this on my family planner that I made and a few other things, as well as my holiday and BRITNEY concert of course!

So please wish Tash and I well on our flights, travelling with a bub is a bit daunting! I've done it before with Zach when he was only a month older and it was a BAD EXPERIENCE (he cried the entire flight there and back ARGH)

Pettiskirt princesses

2009-11-02T21:50:00.000+11:00

Isobella and Savannah had their pettiskirts on again today (of course!) and as soon as Bella put hers on she started begging me to take some photos of her in it lol So I thought I'd share some :)

November already! Birthdays and BRITNEY!

2009-11-01T21:24:00.000+11:00

I can't believe its November already!

We have such a busy month this month!!!

On the 5th I fly out to perth, 7th I see Britney, 10th I come home just after midnight and its Alex's 8th Birthday. 23rd is Zachs 7th birthday. Then we've got the boys bowling birthday party to squeeze in and hoping to get to the lil aussie prems picnic on the 22nd! This month is very exciting too as my best friend Tori will be having her second child! :)   Can't wait to meet her new little princess!!

I'm just about all packed for my holiday already, today I have spent the day cleaning and sortnig my house and getting ready for going away. I had to put a bed back into Natashas room as my mum is staying over Wednesday night so she can be here for the other children while Steve takes me to the airport early thursday morning.   This meant a lot of rearranging in Tashs room as it was kind of full already lol I got there eventually though, its not completely finished yet but just about!

Steve actually helped me with some housework today, can hardly believe he did it so willingly, good job hun! The bathrooms and toilets are sparkling. The kitchen is too. Just have to finish puttng some washing away before bed and I'm done for the day. Tuesday is Melbourne Cup day so Steve and all the kids will be home, we are going to sort out the front room and our room then too, I think we have a lot of culling to do. Its incredible how fast you accumulate things isn't it!! especially with a large family! With Christmas and the boys birthdays just around the corner we really need to have this done before I go away!!

Update on the 'progress' of my close baby carrier - We're getting there, its a LOT trickier than I thought it would be to get used to and get her in it properly but I'm hoping with practice that will get easier! I've watched the DVD now and that definitely helped but I'm still in awe of how fast and easy they get it on and it just looks right, mine never seems to look right on lol   I'll get there eventually I guess, I must!

I got a nappy bag off ebay which the lady selling it express posted to me on Saturday so I'm hoping it will arrive tomorrow so I can have that packed and organised too. I still haven't decided if I'm taking my DSLR with me, I think it will depend if it fits in the nappy bag with everything else I NEED to take, if not it just won't come and I'll take my digital camera instead. I'm not TOO fussed as I am a bit worried about it getting damaged even if it is on my hand luggage!

Rob and Claire came to visit today which was nice, Robs been working in Adelaide so we don't get to see them very often. Always nice to have a catch up and it was a bit of a destraction from housework too!

I've finished my family planner and Steve is going to print it out for me tomorrow (fingers crossed) and then I can get it bound tomorrow afternoon. Its all ready to go and I can't wait to start using it with all the effort I have put into creating it!!!

I had better go finish off my tidying so I can hop into bed and give tash her last feed! And speaking of the gorgeous girl, heres a new grumpy but oh so cute pic :D

Close baby carrier

2009-10-30T19:34:00.001+11:00

Well I am one very happy mummy!

Since going to the casey cloth expo earlier in the month I've had my eye on a baby carrier called the "close baby carrier". I really should have just bought it when I saw it but of course I decided to think about it a bit first as I already have an Ergo Baby Carrier.

Well I thought bout it but decided I wanted to try a few different ones on first so at the baby expo middle of the month I tried on every one I could get my hands on and as I wanted to take one on holiday with me I purchased a babasling (which I've had before for zach and bella but got rid of a while ago). The babasling is good for quick trips but it really wasn't giving me the secure feeling I need to have in order to travel on my own to perth with tash and all my luggage, I constantly felt like I had to have a hand free to help support her so now thats just for quick trips to the shop.

So I decided about a week ago that I DEFINITELY wanted a close baby carrier, I emailed a website that stocks them and asked if they would be able to express post for me so I could be sure it would be here in time.. 5 days go by and I still had no heard from them so I searched and searched and finally discovered that it was ozbabytrends.com.au that was at the cloth expo. So I got in touch with my local consultant and success she had one I could try and a few different colours for me to choose from too. However she lived in drouin and was going on holiday so it was today or no carrier for my holiday!

So this morning Steve, the 3 girls and I drove all the way out to drouin just to get my baby carrier!!!

I haven't worn it much so far but I am loving it, yes it was a bit trickier than I thought and I do think the pictures are a bit leading as when its on it doesnt look as 'neat' as in the pictures especially not with a small baby like tash! But after a few goes I have started to get the hang of it and am very pleased with my purchase, so long as its pulled in nice and tight it is very secure and I don't get that have to have a hand free feeling which is good!

Anyway, very excited about my purchase and looking forward to trying it out some more over the weekend, hopefully I can be an expert at using it by the time I go away on Thursday!

Heres a picture of the one that I got (same colour)

As for my holiday, I am feeling a bit nervous about going away. Nervous about the flight with Tash and about being away from Steve and the kids for so long! I have never had time away from steve like this before, I think the last entire night I had away from him was the night before we got married lol Now I'm going to have 4 whole nights, 5 whole days away from him :o :( I'm going to miss him!!!

I am very excited too though, I can't wait to meet my 'net friends' and make them real life friends :D Kristie is doing photographs of natasha and I'm very excited about that! Oh and of course seeing Britney in concert!! I keep forgetting about that bit lol

Faking sickies and my new DSLR!!

2009-10-23T20:27:00.000+11:00

Todays been such a crazy day, poor little Natasha has only recently managed to go down for a sleep and let me tell you she was not impressed with me for having her out and about so much today! She just wanted to be wrapped up nice and tight and put to bed!

So firstly I picked up my Digital SLR today, I am absolutely rapt with it. It is fantastic and hopefully tomorrow I'll have uploaded some of my first photos that I took with it! Of course they're just on auto as I have NO IDEA how to use manual but give me time and I will master it! Hopefully I can find a short course to teach me the basics, or find someone with some good first hand knowledge they can share with me!! So exciting having a new 'toy' to play with! Can't wait to scrapbook with all my great new pics! No more blurry action shots! lol

Anyway the interesting my part of my day came in the form of a phonecall I recieved shortly after lunch from the boys school, it was Ailsa in the sickbay asking me to come and collect Alex as he was complaining of tummy pains. Fair enough, off I went to collect him but as soon as I walked in something striked me as odd with him... he didn't have his sick look at all!

So my suspicions arose straight away and on the drive home he was mucking around with zach, giggling and carrying on and I thought there is no way he is sick!

I got home and sent him to bed to rest and he started carrying on straight away about how he wanted to rest on the couch not in bed. I insisted he go to bed and I called school to speak to Ailsa. I asked Aisla if she had any reason to suspect that he was not telling the truth and Ailsa said no she didn't but it was only her 2nd day in sickbay so she wasn't good at picking the ones faking it yet and she suggested if I felt he was fine to bring him back to school. I told her I'd give him 10-15 minutes to see how he went.

Well 5 minutes passed and out comes alex telling me he now feels fine and wants to hop up! I don't think so mister! I told him to get his schoolbah and I took him back to school. By the time I'd signed him back in and got him to his class there was just under an hour left of school for the day but I'm hoping we got the message across that faking sickies is not on!

I went and spoke to his teacher about it after school and thankfully she had managed to have a few words with him about it and sus out WHY he had faked it. It turns out all week when I've been hassling to do his homework and making excuses as to why he can't do it, hes managed to get by without doing any and its due today so he did not want to be there when he knew it needed to be handed in. Also he has lost his hat and the sunsmart policy is no hat, no play so he was unable to play with his friends at lunch time so was feeling a bit miserable.

Regardless of the reasons behind it I can tell you I was far from impressed! Thankfully Haylee was over today so I could leave the 3 little ones with her while I did this running around but usually it would have meant dragging them out with me and for what?! If he was actually sick I would not mind in the slightest but to fake it.. GRR!!!

I had a chat to him after school about this and Steve will follow it up tomorrow!

So there you go a day in the life of a school mum lol The joys hey?

PBC Expo and my first DSLR!

2009-10-18T14:17:00.004+11:00

Friday was day 1 of the melbourne Pregnancy, Babies and Children expo and also marked my 8th year attending the expo.

Unfortunately it was also the first year I have left there disappointed. I found many of the stallholders rude, unhelpful and uninterested in making sales. A few items I had researched before going there and was sure I wanted to purchase but had a few questions first... each time the stall holder was clearly not interested in selling there goods and wouldn't give me the time of day so I ended up walking away without making a purchase. There loss I guess! One that annoyed me quite a lot was the woman at the Woombie stall, I went there on the saturday as well and was ignored just as much and had even convinced Steve how great the item would be for Natasha but the woman put me off purchasing it by not giving me the time of day so we left the stall empty handed!

On a positive note I did get some great buys. Natasha ended up with her first Noo outfit in the form of a Ladybug outfit (as pictured below!)and she looks ADORABLE in it! I also reknewed my subscribtion to wondertime magazine, bought a babasling to take on holiday next month and stocked up on baby food too.

Today has been a mixture of a day, it started out fantastically as Steve and I went shopping and he ever so kindly purchased for me my very first DSLR. I got a Canon 1000D with twin image stabilizing lenses and I got it in a pack with UV filters, Extreme 8GB SD card, Carry case and of course the extended warranty!

The downer on that is I can't actually pick it up until Tuesday as they didn't have them in stock, its all paid for though and the guy promised to call me the moment they arrive so I can go pick it up and he can show me how to use it lol

I am SO very excited about this!! I have wanted a SLR for quite some time now and can't wait to learn how to use it on manual! It will make scrapping a lot more fun too!

Anyway once we got back Steve had to go to the other side of the city for a business meeting. It wasn't meant to take long but ended up taking the whole day and he didn't get home until dinner time! The kids really needed to get out of the house a bit more today, by the end of the afternoon they really were going stir crazy and I ended up kicking them out the back for an hour so they could burn off some more energy. They had been playing in and out all day but they were way too hyped up for inside time!

Right now I am uploading pics of MCN's that I want to sell and then I'm going to jump in bed and watch a movie! Steve is on early shift this week which means I will be up early too as his alarm wakes natasha up nice and early (Yawn)

I did it!

2009-10-14T15:12:00.003+11:00

Well I think I have anyway... learnt to put photos on here that is! Isn't it sad, its probably a very simple task and I've only just learnt here. So watch out, now I can do pictures this will be so much more fun!

For starters here is Natasha yesterday on her '5 month birthday' giving me yet another great big smiley :)

Yep it has worked! Isn't she gorgeous? So yesterday was a very exciting day for both natasha and I as not only was my baby girl 5 months old but it also means we have been breastfeeding for 5 months! I'm so excited to have made it this far! I really hope we make it to 12 months!

Anyway I must make this a short entry as its time for me to go get the boys from school. Will post again shortly!

Another month has passed

2009-10-06T22:30:00.002+11:00

Its October already, the year is nearing an end already!

Since my last blog natasha has learnt to roll both ways, shes started solids (loves her apples), is just about to reach the 5 month mark for breastfeeding.. woohoo! In general shes going fantastically! Shes only a petite thing but shes still growing, just slowly especially compared to the other girls!

Savannah has been going through a stubborn streak, asserting her independence and not wanting to chip in around the house. We are slowly breaking this though and shes going back to nice friendly helpful little girl!

Isobella is going through a stage of making sure EVERYONE knows she is older, bigger and most importantly very DIFFERENT to savannah. 'What colour cup is savannah having' 'pink' 'fine I dont want pink I want blue' 'where is savannah sitting' 'fine I'll sit on the other side' 'I'm 4 and shes only 3..' you get the idea lol Sometimes they love each other, other times its like they want to kill each other. Zach and Alex were much the same at 3 and 4 but thankfully they lived through it so I'm sure the girls will too! And Isobella I'm sorry for Savannahs not going anywhere and as different as you are you're always going to share your birthdays, nothing you can do about that one!

Zachs maths is just incredible, he is just so good with numbers! On the school holidays I took the kids to a footy clinic at the shops and they were scoring for prizes and Zach was adding it all up as each contestant had a go and calling them out to the judge... the judge kept calling him 'the litte mathematician' it was very cute! Zach actually came 2nd in the comp too so he was rapt about that and won himself some cool prizes including a footy which I wouldn't be surprised if hes been sleeping with it, he loves it that much!

Alex just spent a week at his mums house and it was funny because usually it takes a bit for him to settle back in but this time his response to being home was almost like 'thank GOD I'm back home'. He shares a room with his 3 yr old sister and apparently she had woken him up much earlier than he wanted every day he was there! Once he returned home the boys had a LOT of catching up to do so they were quite unseperable the first 24 hours! I missed him so much while he was gone so I was very glad I got a big cuddle when he got back home!!!!

Steve is working hard as always, his work is being a bit of a PITA at the moment but what can you do hey? He works so hard for them and all there clients adore him but his work doesn't value there employees whatsoever!!

Tomorrow night Steve and I are going to see the black eyed peas concert which will be great! My mum is staying over and minding all the kids for me! I have only ever left Natasha with Steve before so I am feeling QUITE anxious about this!!! I'm sure she will be fine but can't help the nerves lol

Theres only one month until I go to perth, I can't wait! Its just natasha and I that are going and I'm so excited! We will be gone for 5 days!! :)

Anyway thats all for now!

Crazy day

2009-08-19T20:44:00.002+10:00

Today has been SO hectic!

This morning steve did the school run while I stayed home feeding tash, a benefit of him being on late shift this week is mummy gets a sleep in and can laze around a bit! Its GREAT!

Just after 9 my friend Haylee came over with her 2 daughters, Bella ADORES her elder daughter Caitlin and all 4 girls play so well together. Haylee bought her SLR camera with her so I could have a play as I am wanting to buy one so I can take my own decent pics of the kids and learn how to do it manually! That might take a while though!!

They ended up staying for lunch and when they left Bella and Savannah fell asleep on the couch watching Napolean! My phone didn't stop ringing though and before I knew it, it was time for the school run and I was rushing around like a mad woman!

I got to school with 5 minutes to spare and I swear I got THE furtherest parking spot I possibly could as the oval I park at was jam packed already. I got the 3 girls out the car and the bell went as I stepped down. ARGH! We raced around to the gate just in time for Alex to walk out, thankfully we caught him as he was headed in the opposite direction to me to the spot I normally park and with tash in my arms I didn't feel like chasing him down lol A few minutes later Zach came out, o m g every day I get a big smile when I see bella and sav greet the boys after school. Today was no exception. they run to them like they havent seen them for a year and theres always big hugs! I wonder how much longer the boys will respond nicely to this for??? Hopefully a few more years at least because it is SO nice to see!

Unforunately the niceties don't last long. Zach started having a tantrum over god knows what and THREW HIS HOMEWORK ON THE GROUND. I firmly told him pick it up or you're not getting in the car with us, amazingly he listened and did so but not without grumping and carrying on the whole way home. So he got sent to his room.

Well about 5 mintes after we got home my friend Tracey and her son Zach (who is Zachs age) and daughter Jayde (who goes to kindy with bella) came over for a play. It was chaos! I don't know why but when ever they come over ALL the kids get so hyped up and its an absolute mad house here!

I invited them to stay for dinner so set about that, we just had chicken stirfry and I did cauliflower bake. For dessert I made a triple batch of Butterscotch self saucing pudding, the kids were rapt. Not sure a sugary dessert was the best way to go about things though!

I can't even explain how much noiser my house is with Tracey and her kids over, don't get me wrong I love it and I have them over for dinner about once a week now but something about having them over makes all 6 of them (my big 4 and her 2) ALL go crazy! Poor little natasha tries to have a feed and lies there looking at me like 'omg mum is the house going to fall down or something' lol

So they left about 7.45, much later than I normally have my kids in bed so I rush rush rushed to get things tidied up and get them into bed but we managed to and the house doesnt look like a bomb site anymore at least.

Its nearly 9 so steve should be home in about half an hour, hopefully! I just need to fold some laundry and I'm done for the night! Tash has her dream feed due in about 30 minutes and then early nightfor me!

Tomorrow pumpkin patch has there VIP 20% off sale... I'm going with Haylee and can't wait, only a slight PP addict :o I need to get natasha a summer wardrobe as she has very little to grow into! I hope I guess her size right, shes only a little dot still!

Anyway I best be off and get onto this laundry pile!

Another home day

2009-08-17T21:05:00.002+10:00

Today I had another home day, except the school run of course.

This morning Jess came over with her 2 gorgeous daughters and growing bump! It was really nice to see them and although the girls all took a bit to warm to one another I do think they had a good time! Hope they come back soon or we catch up with them at there place!

I am SO torn about when to start trying for another bub, part of me wants to start trying now but I'm so scared of the risks with the csection and whatnot. Another part of me wants 2.5 - 3yr gap again as honestly its just so EASY with tash this time as the other kids are all so much older. Okay realistically 5 kids in 7 years is clearly not spaced out too much but the gap between sav and tash just makes it light work compared to when sav was born 12 months after bella and the other two were only 3 and 4.

How do I decide when is right? I guess I'll probably just know again won't I? If I'm not sure yet, then now isnt the time!

Anyway this week steve is on late shift 12.30 - 9pm, its just after 9 so he should be home any minute. His dinner is waiting for him, nothing special just spag bol tonight and dessert is in the oven, I just whipped up a butterscotch self saucing pudding. Yum!

Alex snuck his DS again today and not only did he sneak it but he took it to school, which I've discussed with his teacher previously that that is NOT on, ever so she has confiscated it for a week and alex doesn't know it yet but when it comes back home, its gone for good. He is not getting it back period. I know I haven't written about this in here at all but this has been going on for nearly 2 months now him sneaking it out of our bedroom and defying his punishments for doing so again and again and nothing is working as it is he is not meant to be getting it back until the end of september but he snuck it AGAIN so today Steve agreed its gone for good. We will keep it for 6 months at 'poppys' house in his cupboard and then probably sell it. Honestly its not worth the hassle having it here. Zachs one is going to go on a holiday to poppys for a month or so too, I do feel a bit mean about that as Zach hasn't been sneaking it but otherwise we just can't stop Alex. When Zachs comes back, if Alex sneaks Zachs one then we will be selling Alexs. Flat out gone FOREVER with no chance of getting it back.

This is just insane, its absolutely done my head in trying to figure out different ways to deal with this when nothing so far has worked. Yesterday we made him pair all the socks as he had snuck it again, it took nearly 2 hours and he HATED it and I thought becauseI kept explaining to him WHY he was having to do it (punishment for sneaking DS.. again) that it would sway him from reoffending but alas within hours of doing that he must have taken it AGAIN!

Thats not the only thing hes been up to lately that we're not impressed with either but it certainly is the icing on the cake and just keeps making it all worse when he keeps reoffending!! Enough is enough!!

Tomorrow is Tashy day! Bella and Savannah have kinder and the boys have school so its just Tash and I. Steve doesnt start work until lunchtime so I'm hoping we can go look through some display homes. We won't be moving for at least a year or two but I still haven't even found a house I like thats appropriate so have to keep looking. I want 6 bedrooms, large WIR as per my last post about our clothing solutions, large laundry, large kitchen and plenty of room in the dining area so we can all fit in nicely. I know I'm probably asking for a bit much but there has to be something out there to suit a large family!!! Oh and I don't want to have to build a 60sq house to get all that, if houses used to be 16sq and fit 4 bedrooms, i should be able to get 6bedrooms in around the 30-35sq mark easy. Atm we have 27sq with 4 bedrooms but we do have wasted space in this house!

Anyway best be off get another load of washing done before hubby gets home

Large family wardrobe solutions!

2009-08-16T21:14:00.003+10:00

Well the kids are all long in bed and the housework is done for the evening but I have a few moments before I jump into bed myself and I felt like blogging again.

I really need to learn to put pictures on here as I have so many I want to share!

Recently I got sick to death of the clothes situation in my house, anyone with a large family would understand... the washing is endless but younger children like to create twice as much washing as is actually needed so I set about rearranging how our clothing works in the house.

First I culled! Do they really need 20 pairs of pants each, NO WAY. Do the boys really need 20 tshirts when they're at school 5 days a week... NO! So I bagged up all that was old/ratty/didn't fit/didnt like/excess clothing and gave it to friends and charity!

Then I emptied out my wardrobe, omg before I started you couldnt even walk in there it was SO full of 'stuff'

then I culled stuff that was useless from there too, found better more practical storage spaces for things and then the important bit, I put eVERYONES clothes in there. Its divided into sections:
Natasha has one section of hanging space and a large set of drawers
Bella and Savannah have one section of hanging space and a large set of drawers
Zach and Alex have one section of hanging space and a small set of drawers each
Steve has a section of hanging space and a large set of drawers in our bedroom
I have a section of hanging space and a large set of drawers in our bedroom also

In the girls room they now have NO CLOTHES and in the boys they have school uniforms, pyjamas and underwear. Nothing else.

O M G I swear its halved my laundry time, if not made it even shorter than that. No more searching through the girls clothes on there bedroom floor thinking is it clean? is it dirty? Same for the boys room. No more rewashing clean clothes cos I can't tell if its clean or dirty! Which also means no more drying all those clothes and folding them and putting them away again and again only for them to be worn once and then washed half a dozen times before its worn again :S Its so easy now! Putting it away is a breeze as it all goes in the same place, no more wandering around the house room to room to put things away. It really saves SO much time!

I LOVE IT! I guess you can tell that as I'm blogging about it lol

Anything that saves me time is a blessing though, we have 5 kids I need to be as organised as I can. Being organised keeps it all together here!

If I can figure out how to share pictures, ill put some up of our 'new wardrobe' it is great! Oh and everything that was in there originally fit back in and I still have loads of storage space! And the kids rooms have more space too now as they dont have drawers in there! :D

2009-08-16T09:57:00.002+10:00

Yesterday we took the kids to Scienceworks with Christie and her kids. Steve and Christie went and checked out the Star Wars exhibition while me and the kids played outside. They all had a ball. The inside exhibition in scienceworks has changed since we were there a few months ago which was great for the kids, meant loads of new fun things to do. We were there a few hours but still didn't manage to get upstairs lol

There is SO much to do there, I love it! The kids are dying to go to the planetarium again I think we will have to make a special trip over there just for that or its never going to happen because we run out of time!

I only got half a dozen pictures and then my camera died unfortunately, dont you hate that, it happens all the time... I forget to charge it until the last minute and then the batteries run out as soon as I go out.

Friday night Christie, Bronwyn and I went to see P!NK, wow she is so incredible (and HOT), it was the second time I've seen the show but the first time for them. I'm so glad I went again, there was heaps more trapeze stuff this time around and it was just awesome it really was!

Today we are having a home day, I dont plan on going out at all. Its way too windy and horrible out there to bother venturing out, I'm snuggled up with my blanket at the moment but not for long as I'm about to start housework.. fun fun fun. The boys are doing some crafty things on the table behind me, the girls are playing 'mums and dads' and natasha is in her swing next to me just about asleep : )

This week Steve is on late shift which is 12.30 - 9pm, I hate this shift it feels like hes not home at all. Thats life though! It is nice having him home in the mornings though and if we're organised we have time to go out in the morning unfortunately the boys miss out as they are at school though!

I should stop procrastinating and go do some housework....

Family day out

2009-08-02T20:10:00.002+10:00

So today we took the kids to A MAze'n things at phillip island. Christie called this morning asking if we wanted to go, lovely of her to think of us. I'm so glad we went as we all had such a wonderful day!!

I took a tonne of pics and put them on my facebook but still havent figured out how to put pics on here so it has to stay pictureless for now lol

On the way back we stopped at the chocolate factory, mmm yummy! We didn't do the tour, I think its more adult suited than young children suited so we will have to go back another time if we can escape with out the kids for a day and do it then :)

Phillip island is great, the kids did so well on the drive.. its just over an hour but no whinging of 'we're bored' for a change because theres so much to see on the way!!! We have a nice list of outings we want to do down that way now! The boys loved the look of the pirate mini golf and the girls got so excited by the giant worm (just as I did when I was a little girl and we'd drive down to woolamai to visit my aunt hehe)

I have had SUCH a great weekend!! I am loving being able to get out and about so easily again, my pregnancy was SO restrictive and then csect recovery but now I'm BACK and its GREAT!

We got our first family of 7 pic today too, very exciting. As usual impossible to get everyone looking and smiling though so bellas in daddys arms having a sulk but we are ALL in the pic hooray!!!

Its been forever and a day..

2009-08-01T23:53:00.002+10:00

But I decided to start blogging again.

So lets start with the most important bit first..

Natasha Aquita (A-kee-ta) joined our family on May 13th 2009 weighing in at a petite 6lb3oz and 46cm now with a headfull of dark hair and big blue eyes!! :) She is currently 11.5 weeks, 4.2kg and absolutely perfect! Shes a dream baby, my first to breastfeed (SO PROUD and loving not having to express for every feed!!!), she sleeps great, smiles all the time and the whole family is ga ga for her!

I will have to figure out how to put pictures on here so I can share her lol Shes just perfect!

My pregnancy was remarkably good comapred to all my previous ones. I ended up having insulin dependant gestational diabetes again but I didnt have ANY blood pressure problems.. no pre-eclampsia, no pregnancy induced hypertension.. isnt that incredible! After having PE twice and PIH once I then went on to have a BP problem free pregnancy. Unforunately it wasn't all good news, my csect didnt go so great and I ended up with a 2 inch hole in my bladder. It took quite some time to heal but thankfully it has all healed properly but definitely caused some extra problems and made recovery a bit harder!!!

Zach and Alex recently got there mid year school reports, both absolutely glowing! So proud of both of them! Both excelling in their own areas... Alex in english, Zach in maths! Super duper effort from them both!!!

Bella and Sav are thoroughly enjoying kinder, not sure how Sav will cope with bella going to 4 yr old kinder next year however but I'm sure she will settle in. They are both so in love with tashy, they have to be involved in everything with her and smother her with cuddles and kisses!

In June I went to P!NKs concert with amanda, it was awesome but of course we didnt expect any less. She is SO hot!! :o lol

July 28th, only 4 days ago.. Steve and I celebrated our 2nd wedding anniversary and he surprised me with tickets to see Black Eyed Peas concert on October 7th.. I can't wait!!

TODAY - -- for one more minute only.. is my 24th birthday, seriously feeling so old now! Anyway last night Mana, amanda and I went to girlbar at the prince of wales. Absolutely love it, can't wait for next month lol Today Tori, Haylee and I went to DFO moorabin for some shopping fun, omg I seriously need to be banned from pumpkin patch lol Its a shockng addiction!!! :o I've had a great bday!!

In November the 7 of us are flying to perth for a week, on Nov 7th I'm going to see Britney in concert with Kristi, so very excited!! I can't wait to go back to perth I havent been since 2003 and miss it so much! I love it over there!!!

So thats the big stuff of late, I'll get back to random day to day stuff soon :D

Preggy blog Nearly 21 weeks!! :)

2009-01-13T15:46:00.002+11:00

For anyone reading heres a link to my pregnancy blog as I'm updating that one now instead of this :D Too much to do more than one :)

http://babycrowd.com/jr/online/mummycharmzy/

:D

Almost 12 weeks!

2008-11-10T20:30:00.003+11:00

Well on Thursday I'll be 12 weeks and its about time I updated! I can't believe how little I've been blogging because usually I'm hooked lol

Today is Alexs 7th birthday!! Yes 7 already, where does the time go?!?! We got him a DS Lite, 3 games (spongebob, spyro and TMNT), set of paul jennings books and a set of classic novels too. He was pretty impressed :) We did his birthday dinner last night with MIL, FIL, SIL and her 2 daughters as well and had a good night. Tonight we had a BBQ just us which was lovely too :)

Wednesday is my first hospital appointment and I'm a bit nervous about it actually, I cant believe im almost 12 weeks and its my FIRST hospital appointment. With all my other pregnancys by this point I'd be having my 3rd or 4th appointment, I guess its because I'm no longer a 'young mum' I was 17 for Zach, 19 for bella and 20 for Sav... so now at 23 I guess I dont need the same care anymore?! I'm mostlyyy nervous about the fact that because I am too old for the young womens clinic means no more midwifes, only senior OBs because I'm high risk... which to me means I'm going to freak out even more at hospital because the OBs are so bloody harsh, blunt, in/out etc no time to explain things, no thinking abuot how it all makes me feel etc with all the other kids I would see the scary obs and then go see my lovely friendly midwife and she would explain it all to me and reassure me!!

So can someone tell me how it works for a 'normal' high risk pregnancy (meaning not a 'under 21' pregnancy) I get stressed enough at the hospital because every time i go things seem to go wrong for me but the midwifes would always help reassure me...... can I get through this without there support?! Can you tell I'm anxious?

Anyway...

TODAY Zach got student of the week for the second time this year, how super dooper is that :D I am SO proud of my little man!!! He has gone up TWO reading levels in TWO WEEKS!!! So now hes on par and should be fine for grade one, we were thinking he wasn't going to be at an appropriate level by the end of the year but now he not only got to that level but PASSED IT!! GO ZACH! His writing is improving a lot too and so is his behaviour, way to go zach :D

The girls are both doing really well also, sav is just SO cute the things she says are hilarious. Bella and her have this practiced convo that they like performing for people and it goes like this:
B: what does cat say
S: meowwwwww
B: What does dog say
S: WOOF WOOF
B: What does donkey say
S: HEE HAW HEE HAW
B: what does shrek say?
S: SHREK SAYS GET OUT DONKEY

lol its sooo cute :D

Ohhhhhh since I posted last we went on our lovely family holiday to Noosa for a week, it was GREAT! We took the kids to Dreamworld and they had a ball! Unfortunately for Zach as hes quite a bit under 110cm he was unable to go on most rides but he still had fun! Alex got to go on a lot though as hes nearly 130 hehe so Kathleen and he had a great time on some of the bigger kids rides :) We are planning on going up again in about 3 years so the girls will be old enough to go on some rides and the boys will enjoy it too. In the mean time steve and I are hoping to duck up there by ourselves next year (well with baby in tow but not the rest of the kids... SHHHH dont tell them lol)

We've had the new car for a few weeks now, well its hardly a car its a bus through and through. I LOVE it. We had a Hiace while we were in QLD and I am SO glad we got the transit over it, yes its a tank but its so much more suitable. The hiace is just like a big people mover ie. not much space just seats. The transit is a bus... so plenttyyyy of space in it and in the 'boot'. Its surprisingly easy to drive too, I cant say it doesnt scare me a bit still though and I absolutely LOVE rear parking sensors even if they do play tricks on me sometimes and beep when nothing is there!!!!!

The boys birthday party is on Saturday and they've got 14 school friends coming and about 10 friends from out of school.... add to that the masses of family and OUR friends coming its going to be quite some do lol They are very excited!

Sunday we've got a street BBQ too which I'm really looking forward to as being in a new estate we still don't know all our neighbours that well and it will be good for the kids to get to know the ones down the road a bit more! I must say there is one house in the street that I hope DOESNT come to the BBQ... I feel so old saying this but its a house full of 'young people' by this I mean they're probably all my age but act about 12... no 'older people' there and no children so no one to pull them in line and no one to take responsibility for so they just do as they please which doesnt necessarily please the rest of us!

Anyway time for me to get going, I will endeavour to update this more regularly now!

8 weeks :)

2008-10-16T14:46:00.003+11:00

8 Weeks today!

I haven't updated for a fortnight now so not sure where to start and this will probably be all over the place.

Kid wise - Zach got over the chicken pox but his scars are still healing and will be for at least a month I imagine, he got it pretty bad! Bella got a VERY mild dose of chicken pox and Sav got a medium dose of it but both of theres is all cleared up now. Alex didn't get it but thats probably because he's already had it.

Zach OT wise no news so far, school has had all the forms but I have not heard back from them or from SCOPE so will wait until we come back from holiday and then get onto that. Zach seems to have calmed down a bit lately, not fantastic but a lot better than he was even everyone has been commenting on it which is good. He went up to level 3-5 in reading at school too so now all he has to do is become confident at reading that level by the end of the year and his reading level will be 'where it should be' for a prep. Not fantastic but enough to get him by. I imagine if he goes up to grade 1 that he will start reading recovery next year.

Alex, not much to report. We have a new care arrangement with his mother so he goes to her place Thurs - Sun every second week so still 6 days a month and the rest of the time he is with us. I was FAR from impressed when her partner picked him up 15 mins LATE both dayslast week and left the poor kid waiting with no idea what was going on when he was already anxious enough about the new arrangement. Very annoyed and disappointed with them over this and quite upset for poor Alex. They tried to use excuses of 'we cant help it if the babies get dirty nappies as its time to leave' but well big deal i have kids too and you just have to leave earlier to allow time for that kind of thing. Take responsibility!! ARGH

Bella little miss she is, a bit too addicted to TV for my liking but is slowly easing off with it and exploring things more. I realised last night that her and sav almost never play with toys, definitely not like the boys who both still love there toys. Bella is at the age shes always righta bout everything.

Sav is always exploring everything. She wont sit still she is constantly on the go and is getting into the defiant stage now where its her way or no way.. or so she thinks. She is a very good girl most of the time though and even with her defiance will mostly still listen to me. Shes been using the toilet a fair bit lately too so hopefully she will be toilet trained in the next few months.. I say the next few months because shes not quite ready but is slowly getting the hang of it.

Pregnancy wise nothing to report, im meant to go back for my next scan now but im waiting til we get back from holiday so theres more to see on the scan. Given it costs so much I want to see more than a blob lol The nausea has set in and basically when I'm not eating I feel ill so im trying to eat smaller more frequent meals. I've never had this before and I'm not enjoying it! I'm still very very exhausted and have been going to sleep around 9.30 most nights which for me is about 3 hours earlier than normal and shows how tired I must be lol I struggle to even make it to that time most nights!!

Car news... tonight or tomorrow we trade in the chrysler and get a Transit 12 seater minibus :D We signed the papers last week but changeover will be today or tomorrow... very exciting. I'll take pics once we get it. We got rear parking sensors installed and 5 more anchor points for the kids (so it will have 9 anchor points) and we will get some new car seats tonight for them too :)

Tomorrow is the parents babies children expo and I can't wait! I will write more about that after the event though.

I have loads more to write about but can't think of any of it now, pregnancy brain has already set in and I am SO forgetful. I'll endeavour to come back in the next day or two and update more but I'm going to the expo all 3 days so it may not happen that quickly :D

6 weeks!!!

2008-10-03T21:23:00.002+10:00

Well its been a week since I updated and I had my scan last friday and apparently was only 5w then so 6w now! I have to have another scan in a week or so to confirm my EDD but right now its looking like may 29/30 :)

I was having cramping for about 10 days but its all gone now and I'm feeling much more comfortable with the pregnancy. I get nauseas every day around 4:30 - 5pm and some other times through the day but thats the main bit and I'm exhausted and ohhh so emotional, I cry over anything and everything (Like missing a phone call lol)

today we went shopping and I bought babies first outfits.. a winnie the pooh romper with singlet and hat and another winnie the pooh set with singlet suit, hat and bib and 2 wondersuits one aqua and one lemon :D:D Its so exciting :D

I am booked in to hospital Nov 12th is my first appt so only a month to go.

As for the kids.. where do I start so you knew Zach had chicken pox well in the last few days Bella came out with it and then Savannah did too, savs got it moderately bad but bellas is only very mild. My poor kids!!!!!!!!! :(

Alex has gone to his mums for the week but he comes back in 2 days andI cant wait:D

Zachs had a pretty good school holidays considering the ifrst half he couldnt really do anything. Last night he stayed at grandmas and today he and kathleen went to a playcentre in hawthorn and had a ball. He stayed at nannys house earlier in the week and baked a whole heap of muffins and went to a birthday party :D

Theres only 20 days until we go on our family holiday, I am so excited and so are the kids. Zach is officially counting down now. He is doubly excited because he knows he gets his DS Lite (as does Alex) the day we leave so a few weeks BEFORE there birthdays.. lucky boys! I got the DS's yesterday and a few games for them but still need to find the ben10 game for zach and a cars one :)

Today I officially became Mrs Charmaine Ch..... yes i went into BDM got my official marriage certificate and then trudged over to Vic roads and changed my name on my licence :D About time, we've been married over a year now hehe

Anyway time to go as steve and i are about to watch a movie :D

2008-09-25T11:01:00.002+10:00

Yesterday I saw the antenatal gp and all went really well. Tomorrow I'm booked in for a dating scan, I had heapsss of blood taken yesterday to check my immunity to everything under the son etc He said hes willing to take me on for my pregnancy care but only until things get risky and then I'll get handed over to monash. I still need to book in with monash and thats underway now and he said they will probably want to see me at monash a few times too.

I went to dads and did some more washing this morning and I took the kids to a park they havent been to before. They were really good until it was time to go and then zach did his nut and is still in a feral mood now. He is really testing me at the moment!!!

Last night I slept horribly, I tossed and turned all night. This morning I woke up feeling so ill it wasnt until I ate that I felt a bit better but still not crash hot! I am not sure if its pregnancy related or not though. I've got hayfever pretty bad which isnt helping either tho and I can't take anything for it!

Mum bought Sav home yesterday and she stayed for a while which was nice :)

Steve and the boys went to see Wall-e last night, it was a late night but they all seemed to have enjoyed themselves which is good! :D

Kids are currently eating from the fruit tray, it works so well to just cut up fruit onto a platter for them and serve it like that.. they all sit so niecly and eat it together and it calms them down etc

Time for me to go start getting lunch ready anyway :)

2008-09-23T16:02:00.002+10:00

Tomorrow at 1:10pm I'm seeing Antenatal GP to get the preadmission stuff sent to Monash so I can get booked in! I'm hoping to either get another BT to check levels are rising or go in for a scan to check dates to :)

Bella is being so funny with it... one minute shes all excited theres a baby in mummys tummy then she will lift up my top and get very annoyed and tell me to stop tricking her cos there is no baby there lol

Last night bella and sav both just came over and rubbed my belly though when they had been talking about there being a baby in there... veryyyy cute :D

Today we all went to mums place for a few hours and Savannah has stayed there for some one on one nanny time! Alex comes home from grandmas tonight so right now only 2 kids home and one is watching a movie, other is playing ps2... its very quiet!!

Steve will be home from work in a few minutes too :)

Theres only a few weeks until the melbourne pbc expo, this is my first one for 6 years that I'll be pregnant at, I've had 2 with newborns tho cos the girls were only 3 months old when it was on for them... anyway im excited although I am even if im not pregnant but this ones more exciting.. at last years one my MC was VERY raw and I was very emotional and broke down at the premmie stand... I don't handle seeing isoletes very well STILL but im hoping I'm stronger this year and pregnancy hormones don't get the better of me too!

All my parenting mag subscriptions have run out also so I get to renew them at the expo like always :D

I got Alex some books today I got a few paul jennings ones and a few classic stories all from the post office but im going to put them away as his birthday is just around the corner! I also went to the bunyip and garfield op shops and got a few books for him from there and for the other kids as well but mostly ones for him as he is very much only interested in novels or encyclopedias now no more picture books, long over those lol

Oh another cute bella thing is she found her book 'theres a house inside my mummy' and got SO excited she came and showed me and told me 'LOOK ITS LIKE YOUR TUMMY' unforunately it my tummy looks anything like the one in the book its NOTHING to do with there being a baby in there lol

time to cook dinner now :)

:D:D I'm having a babyyyy

2008-09-21T15:52:00.002+10:00

Wellll today we went and told the ILs.. dad had zach for us cos hes still contagious and the rest of us went over to there place.. we got the other 3 to each give them a little 'baby' present wrapped up and when they opened it SIL started squealing and they all congratulated us. FIL said 'now we have to worry about you for the next 9 months' I said 'well not quite 9 months' hehe :)

Anyway Zach is struggling with the CP he is just covered in spots the poor thing. He has been SO great and not scratched them at all though which is just incredible I think!!

Alex was meant to have a sleepover last night but we didnt let him go incase hes carrying CP!

Bella and Sav have been really good lately and both dont stop talking about mummy having a baby in her tummy and they constantly pretend they have a baby in there tummy too. When bella saw a dummy before she asked whos it is and I said 'its for the baby' and she goes 'what baby' and I said the one in my tummy and she laughed SO hard and goes 'mummy hows it gonna get the dummy when its in your tummy?' hehehe

We went to The baby Gallery in clayton today too and I had another look at the viaggio capsule and I am 100% on it now as it holds up to 13kg so bub can go straight from that into MR2. Had a look at the 60/40 too and think im going to get one of them as the capsule clips into it and also clips into my P3 and skate! So absolutely perfectttttttttt :)

We also went and had a chat to steves friend who owns a caryard and it looks like we might have our new minibus sooner than expected... possibly in the next MONTH!! We are definitely going to get a transit now, they're on diesel so more economical and we can get one with about 40,000km for under 30K and then we're trading in 2 cars so should get a decent price :) I wonder how long it will take me to get used to it! No more underground parking and no more drive through lmao

Okay time for me to go tidy up a bit

:)

I'm PREGNANT

2008-09-19T22:53:00.003+10:00

YES ITS OFFICIAL

Blood test results are in, my doctor called me at 5:30 and told me the fantastic news
HCG level 56 he said thats consistent with for far along i am by my LMP so due date staying at 23rd May 2009 making me 5 weeks pregnant :D

OMG

Now I have a million thoughts rushing through my head.. is it a boy or a girl is the biggest one lol

I've told my parents, both were rapt. I text my sister and told her and she called me up sooo excited. I text tori and amanda and amanda called me up screaming into my ear... everyone is so happy for me.

Steve is rapt, he is sooo much more relieved now we have the BT results, he was definitely apprehensive cos he was worried. I can't imagine how excited hes going to be when we have a scan!!

Unfortunately we already have a worry though.. Zachs come down with the chicken pox and I have never had them before!! My doc wants me to call Monash on monday and speak to someone there about it as they will kow more than him about what to do now. He said they will probably 'book me in' now rather than wait til 8-12 weeks like normal (I'm high risk so was always going to be booked in rather early)

Anyway poor zaccy with his chicken pox!! The poor boy doesnt get a break hes only one week post op :( :(

The girls are well, both asleep of course.. both know we are having a baby and savs response was to run around saying 'mummy got baby in her tummyyyyyy' and bellas was to put a ball up her top and say she had a baby in HER tummy..

actually that reminds me I got the call from the doctor when steve was on his way home already.. I basically paced the floor waiting for him and I grabbed sav and started saying to her 'mummys got a baby in her tummy' and I asked her to tell daddy so we opened the front door and I said to her 'sav have u got something to tell daddy?' and she looked at him all excited and then grabbed my tummy and said 'MUMMY GOT BABY IN HER TUMMY' it was sooooooo sweet, then we all had a cuddle :)

We told Alex and told him its a secret for now and he told me he wants another brother hehe

Zach hasnt been told yet as he is at grans until the morning!

Tomorrow we are taking the kids to the museum and dad is coming along too, I cant wait :D

Sunday we are telling the IL's.. I went out and bought a dummy, nappy pins and booties and im going to wrap them individually and give one each to MIL, FIL and SIL and get them to open it together hehe

I'm SOOOOOOOOOO happyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy :D:D

BT done results tomorrow hopefully!

2008-09-18T15:09:00.006+10:00

I've had my BT now, this time tomorrow I should have the results!!! *fingers crossed* I'm feeling a bit more relaxed now its done but still stressed lol

How much has this consumed me?? I havent been writing about anything else.. I have to go now but ill update on kids and whatnot shortly :)

BFP update 19/9/08 more to come

2008-09-18T15:09:00.005+10:00

I tested using a crystal clear test this morning and positive started showing within 30 seconds which was more promising but what wasnt promising was its still really faint, much fainter than my test i pictured below and its stressing me out big time.

I am booked in for blood tests in 40 mins but im told I could be waiting til TUESDAY for results :o :o I pray they will fast track them for me cos I cannot wait that long :(

Steves a bit apprehensive atm, not wanting to get mine or his hopes up until its confirmed and even when the BT comes back so long as it is positive I know him and I think he will remain apprehensive until we have our first scan which doesnt help relax me at all!!!

Anyway I better go get these 3 little girls organised, I've got amanda coming with me to mind the girls while im actually getting the BT done because my girls would probably freak out seeing it done lol Wish me luck!!

BFP Update for 18/9/08

2008-09-18T15:09:00.003+10:00

I retested this morning on two tests because I didnt think the first one was working as normally they start changing colour a bit but it didnt so I used the second one..

anyway within 4-5 mins on both they came up with a very faint positive (fainter than originally test)

Either way thats 4 tests with BFP lines now so it has to be the real deal doesnt it?

Now to decide whether or not I should got for BT now when obv HCG levels are quite low.. or wait a week and go then?!?!?!

Any advice?

Another faint BFP 17/9/08

2008-09-17T20:36:00.002+10:00

I retested this arvo and got another faint bfp (fainter than one pictured) on another brand test.

I'm retesting in the morning and prayng for a darker line and then ill go for blood tests tomorrow arvo if all goes to plan!!

wish me luck!!!!

come onnnn #5!!!

BFP 16/9/08 TBC

2008-09-17T14:10:00.003+10:00

Last night I got a BFP on a pregnosis test, it was faint but its there. I've asked on FNF and EB and most seem to think its the real deal but having read many reviews now on the pregnosis tests and many saying they got false bfps I am soooooo paranoid its not going to be for real.

I have wanted this for so long now I just pray to god it is

Crissty has kindly offered to bring me another test over, how lovely of her! I am going to retest in the morning so PLEASE PLEASE wish me well anyone that reads this!!

We want another bubba to join our family more than anything else and its been 20 months of TTC and nearly a year since we M/C. It would just be the greatest thing ever if our wish comes true!!

I am so consumed by this at the moment, I'm trying to prepare myself for the best and worst situations but is there really any way to prepare? I don't actually think there is! Self talk might drive me insane before its confirmed either way.

As for the other kids, Zach has gone to stay at grans until friday or saturday. Alex is at school for another hour or so. Bella is asleep on the couch, so cute :) Sav is asleep in her cot and Caitlyn (bonus child) is asleep in portacot in the boys room. Its a very peaceful house right now and I should be cleaning up but I am just too edgy right now lol

I just added the pic to the test for all to see! Let me know what you think please!!

time to go and try to think about other things for a while lol

TTC emotions

2008-09-14T17:20:00.005+10:00

Just needed to write some stuff down thats getting to me right now. All this TTC stuff is bloody hard. Right now I'm having a 'moment' because I just had a look at a birthday list for all the kids on a forum that I go on and it just made me really sad to see it in writing how many babies have been born since we started TTC. I know thats so self centred and its great that all of these family have had bubs and all its just hard especially when some have had 2 babies in the time and we're still not pregnant with one.

I keep putting off seeing the FS because I'm so scared and I just dont want to go down that road.. I guess I feel like 'why should I have to..my body worked fine for convieving all the other kids why cant it just do its job now'

I'm just so sad :( Sav is 2y3m and not getting any younger. Shes just about toilet trained, shes been in a bed for 3 months half the time she doesnt even want help dressing her anymore and shes getting more and more adament that she will walk when we are out not go in the pram... my baby is growing up!!! :( :(

I do love watching her grow up and gain all this independance but it does make the ache in my heart grow a little bit bigger every time we turn the page on one of the baby chapters.

Anyway onto other things for a bit..

Alex has come home from the weekend at his mums place in an okay mood.. was FAR from impressed that after being explained where abouts zach had his operation that when they get in a dispute earlier Alex proceeds to kick him between the legs.. Zach screamed SO bad and took ages to calm down :( I know Zach was at fault too but omg the poor kid is 2 days post op hes sore enough as it is :(

Last night we had some family and friends over for a BBQ which was really nice, lots of yummy food and good company :D Tori and Raiden even made the journey over which was lovely, we got to plan our trip to the melbourne show a bit more as we are heading there on thursday and I have to go to births deaths and marriages on the way to formally change my surname to steves and also get savs birth certifcate.

Costly trip that will be as its nearly $90 to change my name and as I have to change savs from hyphenated to not hyphenated its going to cost $90 for hers... then I still have to do Zachs and Bellas!! Argh!! Ah well will be good when its all done as the 6 of us will finally have the same surname.. as it is at the moment Zach and I have dads surname, Bella and Sav have hyphenated mine-steve surname and then steve and alex have his surname!! Crazyness lol

I got some pics of the kids playing with coloured water before, they were having great fun tipping it out and using paint brushes to paint the ground etc. Steve attached the slide to the swing set for the first time today.. we havent been able to because the girls werent able to climb up it and go down safely but they are able to now so at last the kids get to use it! we've had the swing set for 2 years now!!

As ive been cleaning and organising every room lately I have a whole heap of clothes and stuff to sell so I'm going to be doing a big clear out over the coming weeks and then use the money to get the big montessori order from malaysia I'm dying to get. They've put it all aside for me I just have to come up with the money now and then I'll pretty much have all the montessori stuff I need for the next few years to educate the kids :)

Anyway time to go feed these kids and get them bathed and into bed. Have more to write so might be back later although last time I said that it never happened lol

Zach had his surgery today

2008-09-12T21:45:00.001+10:00

Zach had his surgery today

We arrived at 7am and he started acting up big time as soon as we got in there andwithout steve there to back me up it was not enjoyable. We got taken up to the ward and by about 9am steve got there and he started to calm down... he had not stepped foot into his room before then he was just running away from me and hiding throughout the hospital not to mention screaming the place down.

finally they came and bought a PSP for him to play with and omg this was like a miracle drug lol he calmed down nearly 100% and played games with daddy. then he took his meds with no problems (sedatives and painkillers) but they came for him too fast so the sedatives hadnt taken affect..

however with the psp he went into pre-op FINE and started to get a bit scared but the psp helped as bribary and he was just so brave..

we went into theatre and he wanted to climb onto the table himself but he was a wobbling giggling mess and couldnt do it so we had to help him.. he was SO funny I kept thinking how much he was reminding me of when he was a baby but then he just started acting drunk from the meds poor kid

anyway he let us gas him NO problems cos he had the psp but he made the surgeon promise not to take the psp anywhere lol

the surgery went well, they had to do more than expected because they were higher than they thought so hes got 2 cuts in his groin and 2 small ones in his scrotum but all should be fine.

because of the meds he didnt wake up for AGES after surgery, they were starting to get a bit worried as usually the meds dont last that long but he just wouldnt wake up... after about 2 hours with some poking and prodding he started to come too so was taken back to ward.. it took another 2 or so hours for him to wake again though but he had a drink, took some meds and had a little bit of sandwhich so we were allowed home

the staff were INCREDIBLE this time, one nurse in particular Dion was just an angel, she stayed back 20 mins after her finishing time because Zach had been really upset about 'strangers' and he warmed up to her but he woke up just as her shift finished so he started getting a bit upset, she stayed and did his obs and explained things a bit more and she gave him a certificate for bravey which he is VERY proud of!!

The starlight foundation came around with clown doctors but zach was asleep still so they left him a balloon dog and a funny wig and he got a teddy bear and an activity pack too.. so spoilt because we got him ben10 dvd and ben10 ps2 games lmao

anway enough rambling, hes doing really well and is playing ps2 already haha I'm sooooo proud of him. In the car on te way home he said to me 'im so sorry for running away from you mummy I was just very scared and worried' awwww

Surgery tomorrow

2008-09-11T21:41:00.005+10:00

Tomorrow Zachs having his surgery! I am feeling quite anxious about it but thankfully he is coping pretty well. He is still a bit clingy and says he doesnt want to sleep alone tonight which is VERY unlike him so if he wants to hop in bed with us I won't be saying no. Poor little man.

Mum came this morning and looked after the 3 girls for me so I could go and do my grocery shopping. As mines off the road I had to borrow her car! Then she came back and looked after them again while I did the school run, Zach and alex both had friends over after school so it was rather chaotic. Mum took the girls with her around 4pm and then bron came and picked up cait, tyson and took alex home for a sleepover so suddenly it was just me zach and thomas left... so peaceful!! The boys just played computer until 6pm when thomas was picked up and not long afterwards steve got home.

Steve, Zach and I went to Fountain Gate and we got zach a DVD for when he wakes up from surgery tomorrow.. he chose a ben10 movie of course. Then the spoilt boy found a ps2 game for 1/2 price... guess what it was??? ben 10 of course.. anyway for $30 we thought why not and got it for him and Alex to share, he was absolutely stokeddddddd!!!!!

Mum called to say savs excema has really flared up, my poor little girl :( I hate hearing that kind of thing when I'm not there to make it better for her. Mum said shes beens cratching at it lots too which really worries me because she has NEVER scratched her excema before and shes had it for about a year now. Also I dont know whats caused it as she hasn't had any of the normal things that make it flare up. i really need to get her allergy tested :(

The occupational therapist finally called me back today and we booked Zach in for his assessment its in the second week of school holidays. They're going to do the full assessment then right a report and a plan for me to work with at home and a plan for zachs class teacher and thennnn decide if they think he needs OT, they are pretty sure he will. They want him to see his paed again also for a full developmental assessment as from what they've heard and what his teacher has said they too think he is developmentally delayed. ALSO they want him assessed for some behavioural thing.. I dont know what.. but they think there is a reason behind his behaviour issues not just 'a misbehaving child' so another assessment. AND he needs his eyes retested AND his teacher wants him tested for some sensory delay I'm not sure what exactly but basically they all want loads of testing done with him but they assure me he wont know its testing he will just think hes playing games and whatnot and they will be observing and taking notes etc. Either way it worries me, my poor little man!!I just hope after all this they help him and if they do decide theres problems then LET HIM REPEAT PREP... I will be insisting he does if there are any concerns although they keep telling me he wont be able to as hes not far enough behind, personally I think thats just insane

anyway I've rambled enough on that for now I'm trying to unwind before bed as we have to leave 6:30ish in the morning, great fun hey lol

6 weeks til QLD :)

Montessori, TTC, Zach surgery and more

2008-09-10T12:56:00.003+10:00

I have been so busy lately. I haven't really been coping so great with having Caitlyn so much.. its really getting challenging. Leaving the house is basically impossible, I do not have enough hands for three 2-3 year olds. Its different when I had a 3,2,0 because the 'baby' is easily contained iykwim but god help anyone that has a child and then 12 months later has twins because basically thats what im dealing iwth 5 days a week from 6am and it is bloody hard work. Caitlyn is no where near sav is developmentally and that is more frequently making me really frustrated because simpkle things like getting dressed, getting in her carseat by herself etc.. she can't do and I'm not used to doing EVERYTHING for my kids anymore as they are all so independant.

Anyway its only for another few weeks until bron starts work and then she will probably go into childcare.

Montessori update.. I have finished reading my first montessori book from front to back and omg what an eye opening read it was. I gained so much knowledge and understanding from it and got loads of great ideas of things to do with the kids. I've been trying to find another book on it but so far no luck except amazon but I was hoping to find something in australia.. think today ill bite the bullet and just order the ones from amazon and have to wait a cpl of weeks til they arrive *CRIES* We have still been doing loads of montessori based activities and it is just so great watching the girls learning. Dads just about done the number rods and next im going to get him to do a set of red rods and then sand paper letters on masonite. Oh hes done the frames already I just need to finish them off with the fabric/zips/buttons etc that I want on there, cant wait to get the girls using them they will love it I'm sure!

Today I went to the cranbourne baby shop on station st, I love it in there. I got some new shorts for zach for summer and some boardies for now and bella had an accident so needed new pants as I dont expect that kind of thing now as shes so great with her toilet training! I also got a cpl of blues clues todays 'salt n pepper' 'paprika' and hrmm soap? I guess soap is called soap but I cant remember lol

Anyway WOW... I JUST got the letter in the mail saying Zachs surgery is FRIDAY.. thanks for the notice!! :S I have just done my ring around organising mum to mind the girls, talking to his teacher and the school counsellor about it, calling the hospital to confirm and then to check that he will be okay for our holiday still, let all the family and close friends know... etc omgggggggg I'm so stressed :S I hope hes okay, my poor little man has been through so much!!

Okay I'll keep updating for now... today I also went to bunnings and I got the girls a tub for water play and a couple of jugs. I got some larger plastic bowls too cos Alex is definitely beyond the child sized bowl option now but im not ready to give breakables as the girls still get to them sometimes and I dont want anyone hurting themselves OR the ongoing costs of replacing them and its not cheap. We had some dramas while we were there.. its brilliant they have a play area but not so brilliant when you're usually fantastically toilet trained daughter has an accident in the middle of the play area :S :S oh no!! it wasn't fun, trust me! She was screaming cos she was wet, then cait wouldn't walk with me, sav screamed cos she couldnt go in the trolley etc etc it was a nightmare! Thankfully we did manage to get out oft here in one piece

hrm so what else can I update on..

My pram obsession.. so I sold my twin pram with toddler seat and yesterday I got a new twin stroller off ebay but guess what.. i dont like it so it will be going soon. Okay to elaborate on that so I don't sound like a total nut.. the seats are REALLY small so much I could not recline it with sav in it because she doesnt fit... even sitting up shes squished :S Its really not practical and having seen the lady who sold its children I think she sold it for the same reason I will be! It would be great for babies/young toddlers but not 17kg buddhas like mine!! So my twin pram hunt continues.

I didn't use OPK's this month so really dont have much idea when AF is due and its really frustrating me because I want to know when I can test lmao Of course as usual I'm not too positive but I am hopeful and hope is all I have now!! We have been TTC for 1y8m now, isnt it about time something works!! Anyway I do think I have about a week to go but not reallyyy sure its CD 26 atm and I think I have about a week to go with this cycle but can't be sure!

Alright I'll leave it there for now I'm sure I have more to write though so I'll prob do another entry later on

2008-09-07T00:16:00.002+10:00

Ah busy day today. I set about sorting out my laundry today, I spent a good 4-5 hours on it but its really paid off, it looks great (if I say so my self) I labelled the shelves too so hopefully when steve puts washing away he will put it away in the right spot and also it should motivate me to keep it neater!

I also cleaned out my wardrobe of any clothes I havent worn in the last 12-18 months and got steve to go through his so now my boot is full ready for an op shop trip in the morning.

Friday I did a lot of running around.. first I went to Ferntree Gully to pick up my biggg learning ladder order, then I went to Ringwood and picked up tori and raiden and they came to doncaster with me to get a heap of educational toys for the kids... I'll talk more about them another day lots of its montessori based stuff hehe Then back to ringwood to drop tori home before heading back home to Cranbourne and getting Zach from school. Alex has gone to his mums for the weekend so didn't need to get him!! All in all a very busy day but a great day all the same :)

Then Last night I went to amandas place and we went to cranbourne shops for a bit then back to her place and had a good giggling girls night lol

Today Steve worked and as I said I did my laundry, Tracey came over with her kids for a bit which kept mine entertained for a while also. Zach played hotwheels on the computer for a while and they all played outside a lot.. LOVING this nice weather.

We went to IL's for dinner tonight for fathers day and also to say goodbye to Alicia who returns home to london on mondaY!! :( :( Had a great night though, talked a lot about our upcoming holiday and also played a card game 'may I' which was good too :)

Tomorrow its fathers day and Alex will be home at 10am, then dads coming over at 11am for a bbq lunch... then heading in to Ikea and then to IL's again if we have enough time for alicias farewell party thingo lol

Anyway nearly 12:30am which means time for me to sign off and get some sleep

goodnight :D

2008-09-03T22:24:00.002+10:00

today for the most part was a very good day. Victoria came over with baby raiden for the whole day which was awesome and Haylee came over with Belinda and Caitlyn for a couple of hours too which was lovely :D

Tori was awesome company as always, I am so glad to have her as a friend! I wish she lives closer, I love that eastlink has made the drive shorter but still if she was only 5 minutes away i'd probably see her every day not just once every one to two weeks hehe

Raiden is walking a lot now, he is sooooo super duper cute! :D

tori and I are going to melb show on show day, I'm only going to take sav with me this year though as she will still sleep in the pram if she gets tired but bella won't lol I'm hoping Amanda will come with us too!

Today bron was late getting caitlyn, didn't pick her up until 5pm and she forgot to tell me i didnt have to get tyson from school so I sent zach and alex out searching for him for 20 mins which was in fact a wild goose chase as he was not at school.. we eventually found this out when I sent alex to the office to check and they told him he'd already been signed out... arghhhhhhhhhhh

Tomorrow I'm having cait and tyson from just after 7am :o :o :o I'm never reallyyy awake then, like im awake but not functioning awake.. goodluck to me having the 6 kids to deal with at that hour.. my 4 at least know what mummy is like that early lmao

Dads decided to brave it and me, dad and the 3 girls are going to botanical gardens (cranbourne) to see the australia gardens... should be fun although a bit daunting, I hope the girls behave lol I'm sure ill come home with happy snaps (dads a bit camera mad) to share on here from it.

Activity wise with the girls today I did pegging, counting with the glass pebbles, they played with the actual pebbles (raiden did too and he threw them on the tiles so hard some of them smashed.. whoopsies), we did some colour matching with the paint thingys from bunnings, read, sang, danced and played outside a while too. Oh they did drawings on the blackboard too... I nearly got caitlyn to do a circle yay :D

Zach did pegs after school and used the glass pebbles for counting and then him and alex made lovely fathers day pictures for steve :)

A new week begins

2008-08-31T19:20:00.004+10:00

here they are our 2 spunky boys school photos... sorry they are sideways, cant be bothered turning them around yet as I'm used to using photobucket which is very easy to turn them lol

Anyway today we havent don't a lot... went to Cranbourne Park S.C and did some shopping, had to get a usb card reader thingy for the camera as we lost the other one when we moved my computer desk from the formal lounge to the living area... not quite sure HOW it got lost but it did!

Tomorrow Alex begins his second week of the school swimming program, hes looking forward to that a lot! Zach starts the following week.

Last night we went to Titanic as I mentioned we were last entry well for what we paid I really don't think it was worth it. The 'show' lasted about 30 mintes and didn't start untila bout 9:30 and having arrived at 6:30 it really dragged on. The food - well it was 'ok' but nothing fantastic and all the men were still quite hungry as it isnt much of a meal. I certainly won't be reccommending it to anyone NOR returning. We paid $80 per person + drinks and from November its going up to $125 per person... really not worth it!!!! Especially when hunchbax does a FULL on show and 3 course meal (again not fantastic meal but still) and on ebay I've paid on average $10 per person for the meal and show and had a brilliant night every time!! Yes its a different 'class' but still! The only good thing about Titanic was because we went first class women had to wear Evening Gowns and men had to wear suit and tie so it was nice to have a reason to get all dressed up.

Anyway we got home around 12:30pm and I was asleep within minutes of arriving home. We got the kids back around 9:30 this morning except Alex who came home from his mums just after 3pm.

Tomorrow Carly is coming over for lunch with elijah. I have caitlyn every day for the next cpl of weeks too so lots of kids in the house! Tori is coming over thursday too yay :)

Dads nearly done my number rods for montessori, I might take some pictures over the next few days of the activities we have been doing to share with everyone :) I can't wait to have the number rods to incorporate into our edu play :)

Tomorrow i have to book zach in for his OT and get his glasses repaired as he broke them at Hollys house last night.

Tonight I really need to get stuck into some cleaning having had a busy weekend its got away from me although I did start earlier so not tooooo much to do now!

2008-08-30T13:36:00.003+10:00

Thursday and Friday I've had dramas getting Zach into school and without going into it all we tihnk it stems from his time off for his surgeries etc. Due to these problems I had a meeting with his teacher after school on friday and she told me she thinks he is developmentally delayed. She gaveme a referral to get him into Occupational Therapy and wants a full assessment done again to see where he is at. I was shattered all over again, we've been through this all before as Zach was first assessed as DD at just 10 months old. At 2 he had another major assessment and was put at nearly 12 monhs behind and at 3.5 they told me he had caught up... by 4.5 in time for school entry they told me he was ADVANCED in most areas.. now suddenly he's nearly 6 and they're saying hes up to a year behind. I don't understand it :( My little man is such a fighter, hes gone through so much already I just don't feel its fair he has so many more battles to get through!!

Anyway onto some other tihngs for now.. right now I'm eating pancakes for lunch which steve made.. yummmooooooo. For breakfast he made me bacon and eggs too.. spoilt aren't I?

Bellas eating pancakes at the moment, Zachs in time out, Sav is asleep and Alex is at his mums until tomorrow at 3pm

Tonight Zachs staying at Hollys house for the first time and Bella and Sav are staying at dads because Steve and I are going to titanic ( http://www.titanic.com.au/html/home.html ) wit Mum + Ken, Bec + Billy, Matt + Laura, Auny Anne + Gino and not sure who else lol It should be a great night! Formal attire too so I'm wearing my black and pink dress again that I wore for te first time last weekend to the masquerade party

Ken just bought us down a new dining table, its an 8 seater square one and I love it!! It fits the space so much nicer than our old oval 6 seater which has now gone to a new home :)

This morning the 5 of us met Dad at bunnings and we got wood and paint to make number rods (montessori) and some wood to make frames for clothing practice pieces so with zips, buttons, ribbon to tie etc on it. Dads going to make it for me, gives him sometihng to do.. hopefully it will be ready in the next few days!

Ok I guess thats enough for now I better get going

2008-08-28T13:53:00.002+10:00

Today I took the 3 girls (bella, sav, cait) to fountain gate to do some shopping. Its the first time I've had THOSE 3 in the new triple pram and lets just say it wasn't a good experience :S I need an adventure buggy twin with top mounted toddler seat, I REALLY do :S THey fought the whole time, they hit, kicked, pulled hair etc.. my 2 have NEVER fought like that before it was horrible and Caitlyn wouldnt stop even well after my 2 had. With this in mind I really didn't get much done!!

Tomorrow is Caits birthday, she will be 2. I've got her pooh 'heffalump' movie on dvd, a heffalump book and a pumpkin patch jacket. I will probably get a toy tonight too but not sure what. I have her for the day again tomorrow cos bron has school so I want to do something special for her but not sure what as yet!

Right now all the girls are asleep so its lovely and peaceful!

Last night we had Rod, Trish, Alicia, christie and the girls over for dinner. It was lovely :D I used my slow cooker and did chicken wings for dinner and then butterscotch self saucing pudding for dessert.. yummo :D alicia spent the day with me yesterday too which was really nice, isobella got on really well with her and even lay on her tummy while they watched a movie.. it was so sweet especially because isobella doesnt normally attach to well to other people especially those she doesnt know (given that alicia lives in london and has only seen bella once in the last 2 years and that was at our wedding 14 months ago)

I have been slack with my housework today but such is life, I did heaps yesterday and I'm just exhausted right now so it can wait for later!

I've just ordered a Math-u-see set of blocks, primer and alpha student packs and parent packs too.. I'm going to start working on that a bit more with the Bella and Zach mostly and I guess Sav will probably want to join in also so she can play with the blocks while we do some work :) i think they will all get a lot out of it and if Alex is interested I'll order him some harder packs in a couple of weeks :) I love the hands on approach that it gives!

I'm really impressed with the changes I've seen in all the kids, especially Zach and Isobella over thelast few weeks. I took away most of there plastic rubbishy toys and replaced it with all the things I've talked about in previous entries (and some more) and they are getting really good at packing up after themselves, using there manners more etc.. I've been spending LOTS more time doing activities with them too, i always read a lot to them and I sang and played games but I guess I do more with them but at the same time do less.. I sit backa lot more now and let them discover things themselves rather than do it for them or show them every step of the way. Its lovely watching them figure it all out themselves but sometimes as a mummy it can be hard to do that.. I often want to jump in and show them how its done but thats not what learnings all about so I'm trying my hardest to let them learn themselves :D

Alex had scouts last night and he seemed to really enjoy himself. friday night I've got a scouts meeting but not sure I can attend it just yet, it will depend if steve is working or not! Oh wow thats tomorrow night, gosh the weeks fly by don't they.. its thursday afternoon already!!!

Best go start on SOME housework so it doesnt build up too much...

2008-08-26T19:29:00.003+10:00

today I used a few of the things I bought for the kids yesterday...

Polished pebbles - these entertained Sav, Bella, Cait and Zach for at least 30 minutes. Zach and Bella sat there touching them and using lots of great descriptive words like: smooth, rough, bumpy, cold, small, big etc they talked about the colours of them and what the shapes looked like. Cait and Sav stacked them up and rolled them around and felt the different textures. It was great watching thme play with it.. I tried not to interrupt them but I did give them some more descriptive words.

Pegs on box - this has been constantly used all day by each of them including Alex. Zach likes the pattern cards I made to match up, Sav likes plucking them off the box and putting them back in, Bella likes putting them around the box and alex likes making a 'house' out of them.

Tube + ping pong balls - another hit that they just keep going back to but they have fought over it a bit. I've got 8 balls out but only one tube so only really good to share between 2 not 4... they enjoy rolling the ball through the tube resting against the couch and the boys experimented with different angles to roll it down

Glass pebbles - zachs the only one whos got these out so far... he has counted them all (theres 163 of them) and he wrote down every number from 1 to 163 in the process. He struggled to begin with trying to remmeber what number he was up to when he was counting so I suggested he write it down.. I explained to group them then write the number but he misunderstood and wrote down every one... when he was at about 20 I realised this but thought it was good practice writing the numbers so I let him go.. needless to say by the time he finished he was exhausted lol

Shells- bella was the only one to get these out and it only lasted a few minutes because I interrupted her to have a snack... naughty mummy.. she was enjoying the different textures of them though and wasnt TOO sure what they were so I think we need a beach trip again very soon so she can get a better understanding of it!

Anyway thats all we did today with the new stuff... though lots of other things too of course hehe

The kids are all in bed now and steves at his anger management course thing for another hour or two so peaceful times here.

Tomorrow my SIL (from london) is coming to spend the day with me and the kids and then the IL's are coming over for dinner too, should be a great day! I think we're going to go out to lunch with bron tomorrow too.

I ended up having Cait twice today.. from 8:30am - noon and then from 5pm - 7pm because tyson had karate and bron didnt want to take her so dropped her off here. I was looking forward to spending the arvo with bron today but she had other things to do so couldnt stay... then tomorrow I was going to spend the day with her (her only non study day atm) but now SIL is coming so only going to see her a bit! Ah welllll :)

Anyway best be off and tidy up some while I have peace

Choosing which path to take for bella bee

2008-08-26T09:46:00.003+10:00

I am so confused right now as to which path I should chose for Isobella.
I would love for her to go to a montessori preschool but it seems I have left it to late as she is 3 already and should have started already but now it means waiting list and she probably won't get in.

We have always been set on her doing a 3 year old kinder or 3 year old kinder equivilant but now it comes to it nothing else seems to cut it.

I have implented some montessori method at home and it seems to be working really well for her so I am THINKING about skipping the whole 3 year old kinder thing now and just focusing more on things at home and perhaps put her in occasional care 3 hours once a week so she gets used to be away from me for a short time.

why does it have to be so hard?!

I dont like our community kinders so they're out and the boys did 3 and 4 yr old kinder through an ABC childcare centre which was great. I loved the lifesmart curriculum and the boys thrived on it so basically if I'm going to go down the kinder/childcare road that will be it. Steve thinks I should put her in once or twice a week at an ABC and then do montessori based activities at home but I'm still not sure about that. Why put her in uncessarily?

If theres no space at the montessori when she is 4 when I will more than likely be putting her into the ABC then but for now its not essential so Im leaning towards keeping her home.

I could also get her into gymbaroo or kindy gym or something along those lines to get her socialising a bit more too.... its not that she doesnt get socialised a lot being in a large family and I babysit most days of the week and we always have friends over etc but to get her seperating from me a bit more and socialising with children outside of her 'safe zone' I guess thats the point.

Ah so much rambling, I am just confused and needed to write it down and later I'll read back through and I have a feeling I have actually decided what I think is best in this ramblings... :S

Anyway.. I don't think I wrote that I decided not to sell my gorgeous Skate (I'll add pictures of it later its stunning) and I did end up buying a new pram.. a valco twin runabout with toddler seat so when I babysit I can leave the house again lol Its great, I used it yesterday and omg life is sooo much easier with it, I don't know how I managed without a twin pram for so long.. Isobellas been a darling so she normally walks everywhere but with Caitlyn and Sav.. argghhhhhh lol

Time to go play with the kids some more!

Masquerade party, Footy and still got sick kids!!

2008-08-26T08:50:00.002+10:00

So I've already dropped the ball it seems as I havent updated for 5 days now! Boy do I have a lot to write so lets get started.

Friday: Nothing too special, Zach went back to school but Alex was still home sick. Zach bought home his first ever school photos and omg he looks so spunky! Friday night we had dinner at Brons place and steve had to work so stew went too.. bron and I watched an episode of the L word and then I bought the kids home.

Saturday Morning: The 6 of us went into Dandenong to try to find Steve a mask for that night, we eventually found one but then when we got home we discovered we were missing Savannahs precious blankie.. so Steve had to go back to Dandenong to get it.. thank GOD it was still sitting on the park bench where she left it!

Saturday afternoon: Mum and Ken came and picked up the girls and then steve took the boys to dads and went and got his hair cut... apparently he was going to get all his long hair cut off but the barber he liked wasnt open so he didn't. However he did come home and shaved off his mo and goatie for the first time EVER!! Reow! Looks SOOO much younger, gosh he has a baby face I never knew about lol

Saturday night: RODS 50th!! Omg greatest night, I got all dressed up as a princess with my prince charming.. everyone seemed to like my dress which was good hehe I had the most awesome night! I got to chat to Lisa a bit for the first time.. I actually don't think I had ever met her before but anyway she was really nice. I even got steve to dance a bit!! I just can't express what an incredible night it was.. second only to my wedding hehe :D We stumbled home around 4:30am

Sunday: Got woken up around 10am when Ken bought Bella and Sav back... then we decided we were going to the footy so got dad to bring the boys home and got ourselves organised. Went to IL's and picked up Rod and then headed into telstra dome via st kilda on the way. Trish was at the footy already with some other people and so was alicia but we werent sitting with either of them. It was my first footy game ever and it was st kilda playing adelaide... st kilda killed them. the atmosphere was great, I'll definitely go again even if I'm not a footy fan lol

We had pizza for dinner at rod and trishs and then headed home for a relatively early night.. soo exhausted.

Monday: At last both the boys were back at school and I didnt have caitlyn so bella, sav and I went to bunnings and got a few bits and pieces for me to do more montessori based activities with them and also some things for zach to improve his fine motor skills.. if anyone reads this and needs some ideas for encouraging the development of fine motor skills just ask cos I know a heap and having done the activities myself I know how beneficial they are!

After that we headed in Cranbourne and got a few bits and pieces in there before heading home so the girls could have there naps :)

Last night I went BACK to bunnings to get more bits and pieces for the kids... I think its my new favourite store lmao

Now its Tuesday.. Zachariah is home from school sick again so I'm even more grateful I got things done yesterday! I've got Caitlyn here as well but only for a cpl of hours as brons gone to Eden. when she gets back not sure what we will do.. probably watch a movie knowing us lol

Anyway thats where I'm at now... I had the most incredible weekend :D

2008-08-21T11:14:00.003+10:00

The kids are ALL home today, Zach got a fever last night and Alexs croup still isn't great and I've got Caitlyn here as well. right now they're all sitting down eating a tray of sandwhiches. I must remember to feed myself at some stage today!

Last night we went to theIL's for Rods 50th andddd Alicia flew in from London last night :) Sooo good to see her! :) I had a great night! When we got home it was about midnight though and still had housework to do so didnt get to bed until 2 and now with all 5 kidlets here running around I am absolutely exhausted lol

I'm about to bake some slices and cookies for the kids, I need to stock up for there school lunches. I think I'm going to make a weetbix slice and chocolate rough for them as well as the usual choc chip cookies lol

My gorgeous Skate is on ebay at the moment, I only put it on for $1300 or BIN $1375 but I'm honestly hoping it doesnt sell, I love it sooo much! I wish I had more use for it! Its stunning! I HAVE to buy a twin pram soon though, I must I mustttttt!!! I'm stlil not convinced what type though!

I'm looking into montessori preschools for isobella and leaning more and more towards sending her to one over a mainstream kinder set up. Steve says its fine for preschool but he doesnt want her doing her schooling there at this stage, I wonder if she does preschool there if he will change his mind in the future? I guess it depends how she goes with it as I dont plan on her doing her schooling there yet but I'm hopeful it will turn out really well and she will continue there. I have always been interested in looking for alternatives for my kids which will give them the best and its never a clearcut decision that can be made the same for all the kids, each one needs to be thought about seperately and assessed. For example, when the time comes home schooling could still be an option for Isobella or Savannah it just depends on what they're like, how they learn best and what suits them best.

Anyway kids have finished eating so I better go

A busy night

2008-08-20T11:39:00.002+10:00

Last night was a busy one.. first as soon as steve got home from work he had to leave again to go to his group thing. Then as soon as he got home bron was calling asking me to go around to her place so I went and we watched a few episodes of the L word.

Around 1am steve calls saying listen to this.. alexs breathing didnt sound great and he had developed a croupy cough. By 1:30 steve was calling again saying he thought he should take him to hospital so I went home and steve and alex left

They got home a few hours later and alex has predemix to take now. Poor boy! He came home breathing a lot better but still not fantastic.

This morning when he woke up he told Zach he had been to hospital and Zach didnt believe him lol it was quite cute hearing there little discussion about whether or not he actually went for a moment there I thought even Alex was doubting if he had really been anyway during the night hehe :D

Alex is doing much better today, still sick but nothing compared to how he was when we took him to hospital.

Right now its nearly 12 and the kids and I are about to go to brons for the afternoon. After that we're off to the IL's for FIL's 50th birthday!!

Anyway better get going before Bron watches too much L word without me!!!

Prams and Sick kids...

2008-08-19T09:14:00.003+10:00

Alex is home from school sick today, hes got a cough and sore throat. Just gave him some more medi so hopefully he'll be able to relax a bit and have some sleep!

Last night we tried to sort out our holiday money a bit more after finding out yesterday that due to steves hecs debt we no longer her his tax return or FTB supplements both of which were going to be the most part of our holiday budget. Anyway its mostly sorted now just have to start booking things I guess, theres only 9 weeks to go!

I've decided to sell my gorgeous new pram.. the SKATE I will be sooo sad to see it go but its not practical for Savannah and I need a twin pram for when I've got caitlyn as I mind her 3-4 days a week and its reallyyyyyyyy not practical with all the girls so young. I think I'll get a MBUD and MBU then when we have another bub I can just get a carry cot for it and I'm all set.. I'll need a toddler board too for Isobella though but thats no problem :)

I am so addicted to prams, I don't know why but I love them lol

Tomorrow is Rod (FIL) 50th so we are going there for dinner, Alex will have to miss scouts for the second week running. Tomorrow night will be great but probably a late night for the kids so might have to get them to go to sleep there!

The girls want to play outside so I had best be off now...

Peaceful

2008-08-18T12:10:00.002+10:00

Its nap time!!

Savannah and Caitlyn are both asleep and Isobella is doing a puzzle while she watches a movie :)

The girls did some drawing on the blackboard and then I decided to get the textas out for them so put paper on the easel and let them go crazy.. hrmmm well it ended up with caitlyn drawing on herself and the tiles, bella drawing on her arms and sav sucking on the textas... fun stuff lol Bella did draw her first 'person' ever though, very proud :D

I haven't got any more housework done, slack mummy.. I did another load of washing but mostly that was put on so the girls clothes don't get stained with the textas :S hrmmm

Steve called before he chased up his tax return but they're getting back to him because cache said we should have the refund by now... but we don't! :S I hope we get it soooonnnn! I want to put most of it away for our holiday as that is getting closer and closer!

I don't actually have anything worthy to write about at the moment I just felt like writing something! I knew it would take no time for me to be addicted to blogging again! I've missed it!!!

Is having 4 children really that 'hard'

2008-08-18T09:44:00.003+10:00

I just replied to a thread on a parenting forum about whether or not I find it hard having 4 children. I didnt want to blabber on in the thread too much so thought I'd just right about it here.

When Savannah was born I had a 0m, 12 month, 3.5y and 4.5 yr olds and yep for the first 6 months it was VERY hard. The sleepless nights, isobella wasnt walking yet, Zach was still behind developmentally and not toilet trained so I had 3 in fulltime nappies. Getting to kinder on time almost never happened we were lucky to arrive 10:30-11am most of the time.

When Sav started sleeping through and isobella started walking things did get a bit easier. By the time Savannah was 6 months and bella was confidently walking and starting to gain some independance thimngs got a lot easier.

Alex started school when Savannah was 7 months and isobella was 19 months, this was hard because both girls were well established in there napping routines which both coincided with school pickup time! It was a nightmare trying to get to alexs class with 2 cranky babies and often a cranky 4 yr old Zach who had also had his nap interrupted. By mid year when the weather went horrid I decided I was going to do something I had never thouht I would, I left the 3 kids in the car strapped in there carseats and as soon as the bell went I ran to alexs class and grabbed him and then back to the car. I was gojne for about 5 minutes each time and could see the car the whole time but I still felt like the worlds worst mother for doing it. I couldnt keep getting them out and dragging them through the rain though in the horrid moods they were in.

At one stage nearing the time I started leaving them in the car for those few minutes I was trying to cross the road with savannah in the pram, isobella holding my hand on one side and zach holding the pram on the other when in the middle of the road isobella dropped to the floor and started having a tantrum... with a car coming i had no choice but to grab her arm and basically drag her off the road one handed and pushing the pram with the other and as soon as i grbbed her I felt her arm pop out of the socket... it was already lose as it had happened twice and I knew when i grabbed her it would happen but there wasnt much choice in the matter. Another mum saw what hd happened and offered to mind zach and sav while I ran in and got alex and then we rushed off to the doctors to get her arm put back in!! It was a HORRIBLE experience and also made the decision to leave them in the car easier!

So after this stage had passed it all started to get easier. The boys began to get more independant and so did the girls.

Now sav is 2, bella is 3, Zach is 5 and alex is 6 and it is quite easy. They can all help out.. the elder 3 can dress themselves, the boys can get there own breakfast and drinks for themselves. They can all pack up after themselves. The boys put there own washing away and help put there sisters away. Zach helps with vaccuuming. It just runs a lot more smoothly!

Yes it can be chaotic but I dont think its hard. Some days I'd say its terribly hard but then I think I had more of 'those days' when Ionly had one child!

So despite my ramblings on how hard it was the fisrt 6 months... right now its not too hard and I absolutely love it, wouldnt change it for anytihng in the world and cant wait to have another bubba~!

I dont doubt over the coming years I'm going to have challenges to face and times I think its all too hard but at the end of the day its worth it! :)

Morning mayhem

2008-08-18T08:55:00.002+10:00

No morning is ever really smoothly run in this house, though I'm not sure it is in anyone elses house either.. always chaotic!

I woke up feeling like a trainwreck again, after some nurofen and sipping on a warm drink has helped a bit.. argh where did this illness come from?! I hope the kids don't get it, so far all good but for how long!

I have a fair bit of housework to catch up on since spending the weekend snuggled up in bed so far I'm getting through it at a reasonable pace.

Sav is sitting on my lap at the moment making it difficult to type mornings and evenings shes quite cuddly but the rest of the day shes her boisterous self!

Bron took the boys to school for me today because I was running late, I dont know how time got away from me so badly! One minute its 8:15, next its 8:50.. bron is there and I'm still not out the door when the boys should be at school already! I think she would have got them there just before the bell, hopefully anyway! I have to get more organised in the mornings and try to get them there for 8:45 to give them enough time to get to there class and then have 10 mins before school starts to settle in and whatnot!

Anyway time for me to go spend some time with the girls

Lost teeth and new arrivals!

2008-08-17T19:19:00.004+10:00

Alex has just hit his head on the bed and knocked a tooth out for the SECOND time in under a week!! Apparently he tripped over this time and banged his head and out fell the tooth.. it wasnt that wobbly though so he must have knocked it pretty hard! Poor boy! I told him he must just want more money from the tooth fairy lol

Kristi had her new bubby today, Chardonnay, gorgeous name! I havent seen any pics of her yet but can't wait to :)

The kids have just gone to bed and as I'm having an energy spurt for the first time I've started catching up on some housework and I'm about to get tomorrow nights dinner started so I dont need to worry about it tomorrow in case I'm feeling horrible again!

Zachs class is going on an excursion to traffic school tomorrow but as Zach was meant to have his surgery on friday he went on thursday with a different class. I hope hes not too upset tomorrow when he realises he has to spend the day in another class. We're told his surgery will be rescheduled for 3-4 weeks time but I'm thinking we will have to postpone it further as we are having our first family holiday in october to the gold coast and he would only be 3 weeks post surgery when we go and that would mean he cant go on any rides or anything so wouldnt be much fun! It can wait and wont cause any problems so I think postponing it will be the best option!

I better go while I've got this energy spurt still :)

I'm blogging?!

2008-08-17T17:44:00.002+10:00

I've been thinking about starting a new blog for a a while now, I first started blogging about 7 years ago and constantly updated that one until I fell pregnant with Savannah.. then I had a pregnancy blog that I updated too many times a day to count and when Sav was born I just stopped blogging! Its been 2 years now with no blog and I have missed it! Time to start anew.

I find starting a new blog makes me think back over the past few years of whats happened and I could give a big speel on it all but why bother... if anyone actually reads this I'm sure you'll pick up the basics as I go along.. I'm bound to become addicted to this really quickly.

So lets start in the present..

Right now I'm sick. It seems I've got the flu, my glands are swollen, my throat is so sore, I'm feverish and just want to sleep sleep sleep. Yesterday morning I woke up and thought I was coming down with something and by last night I knew I was right. I HATE being sick. I'm glad its the weekend so steve has been home to help with the kids but tomorrow won't be fun babysitting caitlyn, doing school run and entertaining bella and sav whilst feeling like this! Thats life though!

Zach and Alex are playing duplo next to me at the moment and bella and sav are fighting over something just behind them! Steve is cooking dinner for himself and the kids, Im definitely not feeling up to eating.

Dad came over today and did some weeding which was nice of him. The weathers been shocking lately or he would have come last weekend to do some. Steve helped him too, it made a big difference, the backyard looks heaps better already.

I'm beginning to think I'm a walking 'party plan' target... learning ladder are trying to recruit me at the moment because I bought most of there books over the last 12 months and I'm passionate about my kids reading etc Mary kay is also trying, im not sure why.. I'm not even that keen on there products and they know that lol Add to that last year I did tupperware for a couple of months.. that was a nightmare and a waste of time! hrmmm I dont think I'm the right person for the job personally and I like being a stay at home mum!

Anyway for a first entry Ive rambled enough, i guess thats all my blog will be though, ramblings of my life!