Blogger's block

I feel like I need to apologise, but I've no doubt you'll all forgive me anyway.  I have a bunch of excuses (starting work, trying to keep my house somewhat clean and orderly, computer dying and it's trickier on the laptop or tablet, Christmas, New Year....) but really, they're just excuses.

Reality is that I have "blogger's block".

I don't feel like I have anything to say that anyone would want to read, and when I do, I don't have the time or energy to put it together (hopefully coherently).

So, let's see if we can break the block by writing this little apology.  Actually, it's not really an apology, given that it's my blog and I can write whenever I want.  But I guess it is an apology in the sense that I know that when I read a blog regularly, I miss it when they take a break, so I apologise if you've missed me.

Okay, let's see if we can break the block by giving a quick recap of what's been happening around here then.

I finally started work at one of the big Australian banks and finally, after two full weeks, managed to balance at the end of the day without having to re-count and re-check all of my work.  I literally did a dance!

Working full-time for two weeks was great and really hard.  It was awesome to be working again - spending so much time around adults, learning, and using my head all the time.  And it was hard not being around my Little Big Fella, trying to keep my house up to scratch, trying to fulfill the commitments I'd made as a non-worker, sitting almost all day, trying to get plenty of sleep and keep up with my workout program.

There were Christmas parties and birthday parties, often on the same day!

And, of course, there was Christmas!

My grandparents were going to join us this year but unfortunately that didn't work out.  But we had a great day!  The Little Big Fella got way too many presents, again!  And we had a fun time playing with all of them :-D

The Big Fella had a sleep in the afternoon (he'd done a string of night shifts with very little sleep in between) and I got a little down, I think because I'm used to Christmas day being full of people.

In the evening we visited some friends.  They'd gotten together with others in their street to hire a blow up waterslide and the Little Big Fella had a good go on it.  There were a few drinks and lots of laughs.  It was a great, relaxing way to end the day.

Boxing Day saw us follow a tradition that began early in our marriage, with Lord of the Rings, actually.  The Big Fella, the Little Big Fella and I went and saw the Hobbit at the cinema, 2 hours away.  It was expensive, and mildly frustrating a couple of times, but I think it's definitely a tradition we'll continue whenever possible.

The days between then and now have been very quiet and homely.  We've caught up with a couple of friends who've remained in town, been to the local pool, avoided the few shops that are near (and all of the ones further away!), practiced on my scooter and the Little Big Fella on his little motorbike, put up our pool and hidden away in the airconditioning from the high 30s to 45 degree days, and slept our way into the New Year.

Do you remember last New Year where I mentioned that I don't like it?  Here's the link if you want to look it up.  I actually happened to wake up 15 minutes before midnight this year and during that time I remembered some of the really bad New Year's Eve "parties" I've been to.

One included being at church (not the bad part - I loved going to church and spending time with the people around me who I considered my family), where the guest speaker actually continued speaking through the countdown to the New Year!

Then there were others (probably most of them really) where, possibly because there was no alcohol involved, we were trying to stay awake until midnight so we could count down, yell "Happy New Year" and go home to bed.

But this year I've added another reason to not like New Year.  And I suspect there will be plenty of people who disagree with me, which is absolutely your prerogative.

Many people seem to think that just because we've changed the number that we write to designate the year, their life will change... without them doing anything differently.  Then they whinge their way through the year, get to the other end and complain about what a horrible year it was and how they can't wait for the new year to begin.

Ummmm, sorry folks, that's not the way it works!

If you want your life to change in any way, big or small, you have to make a change!  Whether it's a new year or not!  And change is hard!  Which is why you haven't done it yet.  And, not only change for a minute or a day, but consistently!  And that sometimes feels impossible!!!

Anyway, I guess I'm off on a tangent, but I guess that means I'm cured of "blogger's block"!

I had a quick look back through my 2013 posts, just to see what I've recorded about our year for you.

• We've had chickens,
• been flooded in,
• the Little Big Fella started kindy and turned 4,
• our house has been painted and we have new furniture,
• we've played with friends,
• the Little Big Fella has spent a lot of time in superhero costumes,
• I joined the CWA and was Treasurer for our playgroup,
• the Easter Bunny and Santa visited, as did my brother, and the Big Fella's parents,
• we visited our old town a few times,
• I rolled our car and we got a brand new one,
• the Little Big Fella and I flew to Melbourne,
• I went to my first "real" concert and P!nk was AWESOME!
• I got a 2nd and 3rd in the state CWA photo competition,
• we went to the local race day,
• I've (possibly excessively) considered various aspects of parenting,
• I cut my hair short (again),
• the Big Fella and I exchanged rings in a private (and moving) ceremony... in our car,
• I've gotten back into papercrafts with some of my friends,
• the Little Big Fella played his first sport (soccer),
• we went to the May Day Fair, and the school fair,
• we've been fishing and swimming and backyard camping,
• we've attempted a sleepover with the Little Big Fella's best friend,
• the Little Big Fella finally worked out how to ride his motorbike by himself,
• I've raised the concept of letting men be manly,
• the Little Big Fella gave some of his face-skin to the concrete, and shared his hand with a knife (thankfully not needing stitches),
• I had some bad days and some bad weeks,
• the Little Big Fella had his first visit to the dentist,
• we had backyard fires and front yard fires, and fires at friends' houses,
• the Little Big Fella played with (manufactured) snow for the first time ever,
• we got airconditioning in our living area!
• the Big Fella turned 40,
• we got a shipping container/workshop,
• the Little Big Fella learned how to teatowel fight,
• we did Halloween again, and ate too many sweets,
• I had a girl's night in,
• I re-learned how to tie balloons and got to do it at two different events,
• the Big Fella and I lost weight, and the Big Fella's kidney health has moved back to the "normal" range,
• we've been to local footy games,
• I ran my first ever fundraiser, and it was a success!
• I've found a million reasons throughout the year to be thankful for my friends and family,
• I totally got into the Christmas spirit in the lead up to Christmas,
• we've had LOTS of fun times with friends at the park, at playgroup, at their houses, at our house,
• we've laughed, a lot,
• the Little Big Fella had his Prep Transition days, and loved them,
• we've spent plenty of time splashing around in water,
• the Little Big Fella and I have done a fair bit of cooking,
• and I've returned to being ScooterShell.

No wonder I've felt so tired these last few weeks!!!!  That was a really big year, with lots of fun times.

Now take a deep breath because 2014 is going to have lots of big moments in it too!  The Little Big Fella is starting real school, we're going to Melbourne in March (as a family), in May (possibly just me) and September (just the Big Fella), I'll be getting my full motorbike license, there'll be birthdays and parties and playtimes and homework and events and competitions and Halloween and Christmas and work and love.  Put that together with whatever "deep" thoughts I dump on y'all, as well as all the random things that you never expect or plan for...

Can I go to sleep now?

Damn you, hormones!

We had a wonderful day today.  We took a drive to our nearest "big" town, did some shopping, had a lovely lunch then came home and spent the afternoon/evening with friends.

That's if you take out the damn hormones that side-swiped me today!

I got up this morning and did my workout.  No worries.

Got ready and we drove to town.  No worries.

Got there at pretty much the exact time we wanted to.  No worries.

Started looking at a new mobile phone for me (my contract is about to end).  No worries.

Went to Big W and picked up almost everything on my list.  So far, so good.

Went to the other phone company to look at mobiles.  The Big Fella took off to do check out some stuff and left the Little Big Fella with me.

No worries.

Until 10 or 15 minutes later when the Little Big Fella wasn't getting enough attention and started jumping all over the place and whatever else, scattering all coherent thoughts and causing my stress levels to rise.

Okay.  Finished up the conversation, having got the info I needed and headed to the next place on my list.

The Big Fella catches up with us and asks a question about the phone place and I nearly tore his head off.  What the???

I apologise, explain what happened and we move on.

For the rest of our time in town I was on the edge and every little thing the Little Big Fella did just about drove me nuts.

We did have a nice lunch though.

When we got back home, we unpacked then headed to our friend's place to chill out.  After about half an hour I was daydreaming of sleeping on the grass and feeling sick in the stomach.

I ended up coming home and trying to sleep but had a very restless nap.  I'm pretty sure I was having nightmares but I can't remember.  Eventually gave up, got up (still feeling completely wrecked and sick), watered the plants, fed the dogs and prepared some dinner then took it back to our friend's place.

Had a lovely dinner with them then came home.  The Fellas went straight to bed and now I'm nearly sleepy enough to join them.

I just hate it when my hormones attack me and ruin what would have been an awesome day.  And even though I spent the whole time fighting them, I just wasn't winning at all.

Bleuch!

Melbourne trip - Part II

Before we came on this trip, I did a bit of research online.  I wanted to make sure that the Little Big Fella would have a great time, and that the whole trip wasn't taken up with me hanging out with my family and friends while he was bored.  I also wanted to have a few ideas of things to do with other people - because sometimes having an unusual experience together is as much or more fun than just catching up.

So our first day in Melbourne included a trip to ScienceWorks with my brother and best friend.  It's a hands-on science musuem where you can learn about all kinds of science-y things by playing with them.

We picked up my brother (and met his housemate), then my friend, then drove to the other side of the city.

When we got there I realised I'd made a silly misjudgment - it was school holidays!!!  There were people everywhere!!!!  We had to park in the overflow parking lot and line up outside to get in!  The air was icy cold (although it was quite lovely in the sun).  And guess who had to use the bathroom right then!!!

Sheesh!  What a great start!!!

Thankfully all was sorted and we got inside (where it was comfortably warm) and started checking the place out.

First stop, electricity!

Then, into the house area.  This photo is where you could watch how sound waves work.

Of course, you have to take photos in wonky mirrors!

This was one of the Little Big Fella's favourite part of the "house".  It's the hose of a giant vacuum cleaner.  You could run through to the other end, where you found yourself inside the main part of a vacuum cleaner.  They had dust and bugs and coins and junk hanging all over the place to make it feel "right" ;-)

Incidentally, his other favourite part of the house was where you could make the fleas jump.  No comment!

We eventually moved from the "house" to the "sports" area.  There was a "sports" sign made of concrete and the Little Big Fella (a.k.a. Batman today) climbed all over it for ages!

Once inside the sports area, the Big Fella and my brother found this exhibit.  The idea was to press the start button (low for kids, high for adults).  The lights on the buttons would then flash and you had to press it as fast as you could.  A different button would then light up.  You had to hit as many as you could in 30 seconds.  We all had a turn, but we had to keep dragging the Little Big Fella away to look at other things!

Like this canoe.

We all tested our grip strength at one station, and how much weight we could pull sitting down with our feet against the wall.  There were a few ball-based skills test, and the Little Big Fella and I raced against Kathy Freeman (unsurprisingly, she won!).

My bro then helped the Little Big Fella have a go on a climbing wall.

We decided it was time for lunch, so we headed outside (brrrr!).  My friend saved us seats in the little amphitheater, because there was a circus show starting soon, while I got food for us and my brother took the Little Big Fella to the playground area to run off a bit more energy.

The circus performers were really good!  The show was informative, funny and very entertaining.  The girl balanced things on her chin - a juggling club, a bottle of wine, a hat stand!  The guy did most of the clown-like roles, but also walked across a bunch of wine bottles without knocking them over.  They both did juggling (together and separately) and some balancing tricks together.

I guess what I enjoyed most about it, was that they really involved the audience - not just by having a dad participate, but they got us engaged with what they were doing; laughing at their jokes, joining in, and following instructions.  Considering that the major portion of the audience were children, they were very clever!

We had a little time to kill so the Little Big Fella had a short play on the playground, then we went into the lightning show.  To be honest, I didn't enjoy this as much as I thought I would.  There were some great demonstrations - creating an instant cloud in a bottle, using static electricity, and making lightning inside the large cage - but it wasn't particularly entertaining and I got rather cold and uncomfortable.

It was getting late-ish in the afternoon, so we decided to skip the upstairs part of the museum (which is a pity, because I'm lead to believe there's a digger up there!).  We took a couple of goofy photos then it was time to head home.

Unfortunately, we hit peak hour traffic so it took a while to get through the city and out to our suburbs.  We were all a bit tired by then so it was great to get "home" and have dinner with my parents (gotta love the slow cooker!), before bathing the Little Big Fella and heading off to bed.

Baths at Nanna and Granddad's became a highlight of each day for the Little Big Fella... but that's a story for another post!  ;-)

What do you DO all day???

Okay, we've had our little rant about giving the guys a break and letting them be men.  Now it's time for the stay-at-home mums.

Before I had the Little Big Fella, I wondered what stay-at-home mums did.  I mean, it doesn't take that long to clean the house, does it?  I could do it in a couple of hours on the weekend, after a full week at work, no worries!

And babies sleep so much!  What on earth could mums do all day???

Although I kind of knew that it wasn't as easy as it seemed, I had quite a delusional concept of life at home, looking after the kids.  I expected it to be pretty cruisey, and that keeping the house in immaculate condition, providing hours of educational entertainment for my child/ren and cooking wonderful, nutritional meals, all on a tight budget (obviously required because I wouldn't be working) would be a cinch!

Ha!

(Yes, that was definitely an Edna Krabapple impersonation!)

Turns out that being an at-home mum isn't as cruisey as it seemed (how's that for understatement, mums???).

Let's start with that new baby.  Yeah, the one that takes an hour to feed, burp and change their nappy, then is ready to start again two hours later.  Do that 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, for say... a few months, and tell me how you're keeping it together.  Oh!  And have you been to the bathroom today?  Lucky you!  Had a shower this week?

So baby finally gets into some semblance of a routine, and you're getting a combined total of 8 hours sleep a night (seriously, that feels like being on speed!).  But now baby is starting to move!  All of a sudden, all those "trinkets" (read: CDs) aren't safe where they've been living, so the house suddenly gets a makeover.

Because, as much as you thought you'd just teach your child/ren not to touch, it turns out that saying "no" every 5 seconds is really annoying, and you actually need to do other things (like use the facilities, or cook dinner).

And because baby won't stay where you put him/her, and baby likes to put everything in their mouth, you feel the need to clean the floor after every meal, and several extra times a day if it rains (how does grass get inside when it rains, when no one has even been outside???).

And now baby is a toddler.  They toddle over to the massive bookshelf and try to climb it.  They toddle outside and attempt to navigate the stairs.  They toddle around the side of the house and climb the lattice until they're higher than your head (hello my gorgeous nephew!!!!).

So you're attempting to keep your child/ren alive, whilst still trying to use the loo and/or cook dinner (mothers develop an incredible ability to do multiple things by this time).

Meanwhile, you're attempting to keep the house somewhere near liveable (you gave up immaculate the day your child was born!), and trying not to drown under Mount Washmore.

I thought that when the Little Big Fella went to kindy, I'd have some time to myself.  Apparently I was still deluded.

Let me give you an example of a fairly typical day at this point in our lives:

I get up at 6 and start putting the dishes away to help myself fully wake up.  I make my breakfast, and the Little Big Fella's, then after we've eaten I clean up.  Then it's downstairs for about 20 minutes for my workout.  The Little Big Fella watches a bit of TV, or sometimes comes down and talks to me, or tries to workout with me (always entertaining).

Then it's back upstairs to shower, dress, and do the last minute things before we officially start the day.  I also dress the Little Big Fella (normally takes about 10 minutes because he has issues with "focusing" - I'm starting to think that toys in the bedroom is a bad idea).

Most days it would now be time to head out somewhere - kindy, or playgroup, or just to go check the mail.  The rest of the morning is my most productive time and includes a selection of the following:

• food shopping (How can two small words equal such a big task???  Drive to the shop, no worries.  Select the food, yeah, okay.  Go through the register, starting to get stressed out if I have the Little Big Fella with me.  Drive home, okay.  Drag the bags upstairs.  Put everything away, whilst being hassled about everything from putting on a superhero suit, to eating something, to watching a movie, to visiting friends, to going to the park...)
• clothes washing (Again, two small words that equal a big job)
• vacuuming
• mopping
• putting stuff away (There's always plenty of that to do, even though we've downsized so much and have such a little house)
• dishes
• food preparation (I try to prepare a bunch of things at the start of the week so that I have easy food on-hand)
• changing the bedding
• cleaning the bathroom
• putting more stuff away (I told you, there's always plenty of this to do!)
• more dishes
• whipper snipping and mowing (because of the Big Fella's hours, I end up doing this about half the time.)
• cleaning the car, inside and out
• feeding the dogs
• washing and flea-treating the dogs
• putting stuff away downstairs or outside

Now, if you separate those tasks out to the days of the week, they don't seem like that big a deal, right?  But now add a pre-schooler with no siblings. A pre-schooler who is really getting ready for big school.  A pre-schooler who is starting to get bored at home!

Now we need to add in the millions of requests and interruptions!  Things like those listed in the food shopping note - superhero costumes (at least 4 changes every day, sometimes 4 in 15 minutes!), movies, friends, food, drink, toilet assistance (some of those costumes can be tricky!), can we go to the park?  Can we visit my friend?  Can we go to the toy store?  Can I have something to eat (literally every 5 minutes when he's having a growth spurt)? I want to watch Batman.  I want to look at costumes (online, mind you!).  Mum, I'm hungry.

Are you annoyed yet?  Try having that as the constant soundtrack to your day for a few days.  How about a couple of months?  And then try to get something done.  Try going to the bathroom and being interrupted by a pre-schooler who needs the only toilet in the house and can't go on the grass because he needs to do...

Yeah, we won't finish that sentence.

Well!  We've made it to lunch time!  Congratulations!!!!  Now we get to have the "I don't want that" conversation (which will be repeated at dinner time).  It generally goes with the "I've made it for you and that's what you're having" soundtrack.

Now, considering that we're modern-day mothers, we also think it's important to attempt to educate our children and provide them with rich, learning experiences.  Because "good" mums do arts and crafts with their kids, and cook with them, and teach them their letters and numbers before they go to school, and sing songs, and read books, and play.  And then we also want them to socialise (and, yes, we want to get a break from it all too).

If we're lucky (and no, I'm not anymore) our child/ren will have an afternoon nap and we'll get a bit of time to sit down without being jumped on or demanded of, or catch up with a few people on Facebook, or read a bit of a book, or catch up on the housework that needs doing that didn't get done this morning.

Late afternoon, for us, is often outside.  It normally includes me taking the washing off the line, while the Little Big Fella plays in his sandpit or with the dogs, or jumps on his trampoline, or plays with the little girl next door.  Often it will include a ride to the park to play with whoever is there, while the mums have a chat.

Then it's home to prepare dinner.  For most mums this is a stressful time of day.  You're attempting to make a nutritious meal for your family, but being interrupted, or "helped", or it might just be that everyone has run out of patience for the day.

Dinner, because it's so nutritious, will probably include the "I don't like that" conversation with at least one person.

Then it's time to have a shower or bath and put the lovely little munchkin/s to bed.  I'm super lucky in this one because the Little Big Fella enjoys his shower, and when he's tired, he's happy to go to bed (in fact, he's grumpy if there's not a bed to go to).

But even with this "dream" child, there's the inevitable nights where he'll be up and down, or calling for me to "come sit with me, Mummy", or just not tired and can't fall asleep.

And then, even though he sleeps through the night, there's the nights where illness or bad dreams interrupt sleep.

See, being a mum isn't "hard" per se.  But being on call, 24/7 is.  And even when someone else is looking after your child/ren, you still wonder about them: How are they going?  Are they having fun?  Are they behaving?  Have they made friends?  Should I really have let him go to kindy today, because he had a bit of a runny nose?  Is he going to be too hot/cold?  Will he be okay with those pants, because they have a zip?

And our expectations of ourselves are often ridiculously high.

So, when you come into the home of a stay-at-home mum, and the floors aren't quite clean, there's dishes all over the sink, toys scattered everywhere, and people looking a little disheveled, don't think "what do you do all day?".  Because it's possible that it hasn't been the best day, and said mum already feels like a failure right now.

Or she's decided that today is about spending time with her kids, rather than making the house "presentable".

Or maybe she just decided that she needed a "mental health" day, and the TV has been on all day so she could read, or spend some time on Facebook, or maybe, just maybe, go to the bathroom in peace ;-)

Initiation

There are some rites of passage and experiences that are really important for kids to go through.  And some of them preferably involve their Dad!

Today the Big Fella drove us up to the nearby tablelands and from there to a waterfall.  We had to walk the 1.8kms (about 1.1 miles) from the carpark down to the waterfall, which also included 240 steep steps right before you arrive at the falls.

But I suspect you'll agree that it was worth the walk!

When we got to the falls, we jumped straight in, then almost jumped straight back out!!!!  It was COLD!!!  But we braved it and had a play and a splash around.  Here's me and the Little Big Fella mucking around:

And here's the Big Fella :-)

After a bite of lunch, we decided that it was time to initiate the Little Big Fella in the art of rock-hopping!  Unsurprisingly, he loved it :-D  Almost too much actually!  At one stage he was "exploring" rather near to the edge of a cliff and didn't understand when we told him to stay away.  When I tried to explain it he ended up crying and wouldn't be consoled for the next 5 minutes (exasperating to say the least!).

After a bit more swimming and rock hopping, we started the climb back up the hill.  Let me tell you, despite my current exercise regime I felt the burn by the top of those 240 steps!!!  And no, Melbournians, I don't believe I'll be attempting the 1000 steps when I'm next visiting!

We then endured the rest of the walk with the Little Big Fella whingeing and whining like you wouldn't believe!!!  He didn't want to walk, he wanted to be carried.  But he's getting too big to be carried everywhere and neither of us had enough energy to walk and carry him up the hill.

So we walked and I tried to distract the Little Big Fella with talk of visiting family in the next little while, and what kindy will be like next year and so on. Eventually we reached the carpark and everyone was happy again :-)

The next door neighbours' girls had an initiation tonight as well.  The Little Big Fella was outside talking to them while we were preparing dinner and so on, when suddenly the he comes racing upstairs looking for Daddy.  They'd found a toad and had to deal with it!

So Daddy went downstairs and found his golf club.  The toad jumped through the fence so he taught the girls how to "dispatch" it.  I wonder what their parents think about that?  Being Queenslanders, I suspect they won't mind as cane toads are an introduced pest species that kill native wildlife, but still... you just never know!!!

A whirlwind visit

I got a phone call from the Big Fella just after 4am.  "I'll be home in about 10 minutes."  So began our whirlwind visit to our previous home town.

This bit needs to be read at fast speed, all in one breath.  Imagine you're reading a speedy race story to a toddler.  Ready?  Go!

Pack the last bits, get the Little Big Fella up and in the car, drive 7 hours, shopping, visiting my Grandparents, sleep, visit SuperCarer, shop, Grandparent's for lunch, clothes shopping and arvo tea with sister, dinner at Grandparent's, sleep, a million errands and shops, Grandparent's for lunch, visiting for the arvo, everyone at Grandparent's for dinner, sleep, pack everything up, breakfast, drive 7 hours home, Little Big Fella to bed, SLEEP!

How'd you do?  Did you make it in one breath???

We had an awesome time and it felt like a holiday... maybe a holiday on speed?  It was great to catch up with my family and a couple of friends (never enough time for that though!).

Here's the slower version of the week:

We left our place on Monday morning, after having had the Big Fella's Aunt and Uncle stay on Saturday night.  They live in France and are having a wonderfully long holiday, including several months in Australia.  We were lucky enough to be the first family they stayed with here :-)  We had a wonderful time with them and have received an emphatically enthusiastic invitation to come and stay with them!

We got a photo of me and the Big Fellas, a first in a couple of years I think:

Yep, time for a couple of good photos of us I guess!

I won't put our photo of them on my blog because I didn't ask their permission.  But if any family members would like to see, e-mail or Facebook me and I'll send it to you :-)

After the phone call on Monday morning, I got up and got myself and the rest of our things ready.  Just before 5 I woke the Little Big Fella and told him it was time to go to Poppy's house - he was up in a blink!  Then it was into the car and off we go!

The Big Fella had worked all night and by the time we got to the first town he was ready for a break.  So I jumped in the driver's seat.  I'd only had about 4 hours of sleep myself, so 2 hours down the road I realised I'd started phasing out and did a little swerve.

I pulled over at the next little bit off the side of the road.

It's SO easy to keep pushing yourself when you're driving.  Or maybe it's just me?  But to pull over, get out of the car and walk around it a few times makes such a difference!!!  I grabbed something to eat as well and I'm pretty sure that helped too.

There were heaps of roadworks on the way down, which meant a lot of stopping.  For some reason, this particularly irks the Big Fella, although it doesn't tend to bother me a huge amount.

We got into town around midday and did a quick spot of shopping before heading to my grandparents' place where we would be staying.  I was really tired by this time, but I love being with my family!  And it is really awesome to see the Little Big Fella and Poppy together.  They adore each other and I really hope my little boy gets to remember how much, and that it's not just about the tractors he gets to ride, the playground or playing golf.

On Tuesday we got to spend the morning with SuperCarer, while the Big Fella went to the dentist.  For some reason SuperCarer and I really hit it off from the start and we became friends, so hanging out there for the morning was awesome for both me and the Little Big Fella.

My nephews and the Little Big Fella's other good friend were there for the morning so it was one big playtime!

The Little Big Fella playing with his cousins in the sandpit.

When it comes to food, these two are peas in a pod!  It's ALL about the food ;-D

It was funny watching the Little Big Fella playing in SuperCarer's yard because he's so obviously taller than the last time I watched him play there!  And taller than the other boys.

When I said "10 minutes then we have to go", the Little Big Fella's friend said to me, "I don't want him to go!  I miss him!".  They'd had such a fun time together and it really was sad to have to say goodbye.

After a bit of food shopping (gosh I miss the selection, quality and prices we had there!), I dropped the Little Big Fella back at my grandparents' with the Big Fella.  Incidentally, we'd come down so that the Big Fella could get a root canal done, but there was a slight miscommunication and they couldn't do it without a preparatory appointment. So it looks like we'll just have to go back, probably before Christmas... darn!!! ;-)

I'd planned to have lunch and spend the afternoon shopping with my sister, but she'd come down really unwell the night before.  So I did a bit of shopping on my own.  My first purchase was a new belt, because I was down to the second last hole on mine and the tail end was hanging out everywhere!!!  Gotta tell ya, that feels awesome!

Part way through the afternoon I got a call from my sister saying she was feeling slightly better and should we meet up for a coffee and a bit more shopping?  Of course we should!!!

Have I mentioned that I love my family?  I must be hormonal tonight because I've been tear-ing up as I've been writing this post and preparing the photos.  My sister and I are only 14 months apart and almost always shared a bedroom.  As you'd expect, we fought a bit but we've mostly been best friends.  I think adulthood has put a bit of a dampener on that, but I miss her like crazy (and my other siblings too, by the way).  So I thoroughly enjoyed spending the afternoon with her.

Know what else I enjoyed?  Trying on clothes and, instead of deciding if they'd do, I got to decide if I actually liked them because they looked good on me!  It was literally the most fun I've had clothes shopping in years!

I went back to my grandparents' place where the Big Fella made Thai green curry with squid and prawns.  It was SO yummy!!!

While we were at my grandparents' place I read books to the Little Big Fella at bedtime, which I haven't done much at home for a while.  We both really enjoyed it, and I think he went to sleep better as well.  I think I'd like to re-implement that at home!

By Wednesday I was tired!  For some reason I didn't sleep well in my grandparents' bed and had weird dreams at the end of the night too.

The Fellas and I spent the morning running errands around town.  We had 9 stops to make!  Now, anyone who doesn't have a toddler, 9 stops is a bit of a pain but no big deal, right?  Add a toddler and it becomes... stressful.  After about 4 stops the Big Fella was getting a little angsty so we tried to short-cut as many stops as we could and only get the necessary person/people out of the car at each stop.

One thing we did pick up was a smoking BBQ, which the Big Fella is awfully excited about.  It is a wood/coal fired BBQ but it also has a smoking box off to the side, so you can cook your meat with hot smoke rather than direct heat.  Given the Big Fella's inclination towards salamis, hams and other cured meats, it's no surprise he's excited by this too.

I was a bit worried by this stage though.  We'd bought a fair bit of stuff and I wasn't sure we'd be able to get it all home, even in our awesome ute!  Never fear, the Big Fella will find a way :-)

The afternoon was taken up with visiting.  We dropped the Big Fella off at his old work shed, then the Little Big Fella and I went and visited some friends at that end of town.  We had a taste of Whoopie Pies for the first time.  They were okay but I'm not sure that I'd be super excited about them.

It's SO good to catch up with friends.  Even though I was exhausted, I felt somewhat invigorated by my visit.  You know, new friends are great, but old friends are priceless!

We got back to my grandparents' place just before my sister and nephews arrived.  Yet again, there was a lot of running!!!  My sister had brought the boys' bikes and one for the Little Big Fella and they had a ball riding around and later playing footy with my brother-in-law.

Of course, being boys and cousins, there had to be a moment of silliness ;-)

We had pizza and white chocolate caramel mudcake for dinner, as well as lovely conversation.  Oh!  And before that we had a beautiful sunset, looking out over the sugar cane fields:

And I can't resist adding these photos too:

My Poppy

My Nanna

My hubby :-)

Eventually we had to put three tired boys to bed (and the adults) so my sister, brother-in-law and nephews headed home.  Sigh.  I'll miss them.

Thursday morning we got up and packed up, had a lovely breakfast then hit the road.  We decided to take the back roads home and it was a lovely trip!  The Little Big Fella had a good sleep, and I'd bought him a new DVD so he was quite content in the back seat.

We didn't get home until just after 5pm because of a couple of extra stops.  I was feeling really tired and a bit ill.  My body hasn't had much in the way of wheat products, or much fat I guess, for eight weeks and it was seriously reacting to the pizza and mudcake I'd enjoyed the night before :-(  And I'd pulled a muscle in my shoulder/neck when moving shopping in from the car on Wednesday too.  All in all, I felt pretty shocking.

Anyway, we unpacked the car and fed the Little Big Fella (neither of us were interested in eating), then put him to bed.  After a lovely hot shower I was gone too!  Although the Big Fella slept great at my grandparents' place, I thoroughly enjoyed my own bed again.

There's no place like home!

Request denied!

Before I had my son, I pretty much took it for granted that I could sleep whenever I wanted to.  If I went to bed at 10:30, I'd probably be asleep by 11 and it would be unusual for me to wake up before my alarm at, say, 7.  Eight hours sleep, pretty much guaranteed.


Even now that the Little Big Fella mostly sleeps through, it's unusual for me to get an uninterrupted night of sleep.  Add any illness, change in weather, odd food, over-full bladders, and a shift working husband, and the likelihood of a full night of sleep is pretty low.


It feels like I have to fill out a request form every night before I go to bed: Please can I have a full night of sleep?


Request denied!


And, of course, every time you're most desperate for a big sleep it won't happen.


The Little Big Fella has been sick this week with a cold, so he's been coughing and crying, and (this is a little odd) wetting his bed.  Then, surprise, surprise, I came down with it yesterday afternoon.


By the time we ate dinner at 6pm, I was just about falling asleep at the table.  The Big Fella was already at work so I couldn't just slink off to bed.


I went and had a hot shower while the Little Big Fella finished eating then showered him and put him to bed.  He didn't fall asleep until about 8:30.


Request denied!


I went to bed and guess what!  I couldn't go to sleep!!!  Gah!!!!!


I think I finally fell asleep a bit after 9 and got 3 glorious hours of deep sleep.


Request denied!


About midnight all the dogs in the neighbourhood started barking, ours included.  I yelled at them to go to sleep but they ignored me, which normally means something is in the yard.  So I drag my sorry self out of bed and put a warm jacket on because I know it's cold outside.


The dogs are still barking so I yell at them and they come to me, hoping to be allowed inside.


Request denied!


Then I see a couple of people hanging out across the road next to the horse paddock.  Thanks very much folks.


Eventually they move on and the dogs stop trying to bark.


When I go inside I realise the Big Fella will be home from work soon so when I get back in bed, my brain won't let me sleep because it's too busy listening out for him.


Request denied!


Eventually I hear him come home and fall into deep sleep again... until he comes to bed an hour or so later and is absolutely frozen!  The house was fairly cool and he sat on the couch watching the Olympics for a while, without turning on the heater or putting a blanket over him.  So I was awake for another half hour or so trying to warm him up.  In hindsight, I should have sent him off for a hot shower or hot water bottle!!! ;-)


Asleep again?


Request denied!


The Little Big Fella wakes up with a nightmare at about 4am, then gets a nice coughing fit going on because he was crying.  I'm not allowed to leave or give him anything to try to stop the coughing so I get the spare doona and wrap myself up because I'm cold by this stage.  Eventually he falls asleep (about 45 minutes later) and I'm allowed to go back to bed, which by this time is cold.


Sleep?  Request denied!


I lay there for at least half an hour trying to warm myself and my side of the bed up before finally falling asleep again for a couple of hours.


So, I'm putting in my request early today.  I have a really good reason to need sleep tonight!  I've looked after myself all day and I just need a good sleep to help my body repair itself.  Please???

All partied out

I'm feeling a little partied out tonight.


After our big days on Wednesday and Thursday, the Little Big Fella and I spent most of Friday morning on the couch, just veging out together.  Normally he gets a bit antsy and is ready to play after being quiet for about an hour, but he was quite happy just sitting there with me so I'm guessing he was ready for a slow morning too.


We spent a bit of time in the afternoon at the park and that evening headed to the local pub for dinner.  The Big Fella was a little put out, I think, that when we were there I caught up with a couple of the girls - he thinks I have a massive social life... and he's kind of right!


Saturday the Big Fella worked until about midday, so the Little Big Fella and I headed to the next town to do some shopping.  We'd attempted to make chocolate mousse the afternoon before and it hadn't worked, so I was collecting the ingredients to try again.


That afternoon the Little Big Fella had been invited to a 5th birthday party.  We rocked up and there were kids everywhere!!!  A quick headcount by a friend said there were at least 30 kids there, and apparently some had not attended!  That's a big party for a 5 year old!


The Little Big Fella wanted to go on the swing (as he always does if there's one around) so I went and gave him a push.  Soon I was juggling three swings, stopping them after a bit and helping kids swing across the monkey bars at the top, then pushing a new lot of kids on the swings.  If I'd pulled some balloon animals out of my pocket I reckon I could have charged as the entertainment for the afternoon ;-p


After the cake and such, we had to race home to help finish preparing for our dinner guests.  The Big Fella was having a second attempt at making the chocolate mousse and so far all was going well.  Okay, that's not quite true.  He added some rum essence to the melted chocolate and it went almost solid again!  Frustrated, he returned it to the stove to try to re-melt the chocolate. Eventually it did so he took it off to cool a little before adding the eggs.  After adding the egg yolks it looked like it was starting to go bad again so he folded in the whites and... success!  It looked (and tasted) like mousse!  The last step was to add a cup of lightly whipped cream.  Unfortunately he missed the "lightly whipped" part of that instruction and tipped the liquid cream in.  He told me it didn't look right and asked me to read the recipe for him.  As soon as I said "lightly whipped" he collapsed on to the floor, completely frustrated!  I stepped away from the dishes and looked in the bowl and decided I could probably tip off most of the cream, whip it a bit then try adding it back.  It worked and the mousse was saved!  Hooray!


Our guests arrived and the Little Big Fella went absolutely hyper!  He insisted on showing them his bedroom and telling him about everything that was happening (including the knife in his hand story).  Thankfully he showered and went to bed after the main meal.


The Big Fella is a great cook you know!  He made a delicious potato/carrot/pumpkin/sweet potato soup with a little cream, thyme and fresh nutmeg and it was so lovely!  The mains were lamb shanks, which were lovely but not quite as lovely as some that he's done before.  And the mousse turned out to be absolutely delicious, especially with some cream and berries! I am a seriously lucky woman to be married to that man!


We had a really enjoyable evening, sitting around and chatting.  Although the guys talked trains for a little while, it was a pleasant way to spend a few hours and I'm looking forward to doing it again.


This morning the Big Fella was at work again but the Little Big Fella and I went next door for a baby shower.  I must have been warm after my workout and shower because as soon as I got there, I realised I was going to be cold! After about 20 minutes I snuck back home and got changed, and I felt so much better for it :-D


As you do at baby showers and such, we played several games.  My little bit of competitiveness... jumped out and reared its ugly head!!!  We played one game where everyone was given a nappy (diaper) pin and if you caught someone crossing their legs or arms, or saying "baby" or the shower-ee's name, you could take their pin.  Yep, I turned out to be a horrible little monster, pouncing on unsuspecting ladies with shouts of "give me your pin"!  Okay, that's a mild exaggeration... but only just.  Happily, I won that game :-D


I also won the dummy (pacifier) spit :-D


It was a great morning!  The kids all played well together, the ladies had a good time, and the shower-ee didn't look quite so tired as she has recently so I think she was having fun too.  And I was stoked when she liked the gift of coupons I gave her - for things like babysitting, massage, housekeeping, shop runs, venting sessions etc.  Now to ensure she uses them...


After the shower I took the Little Big Fella home, gave him some solid, non-sugary food, heated some leftovers for my lunch and sat down for 5 minutes, realising that I was actually quite tired.  Sure enough, the Big Fella calls.


"Honey, I need you to come down to the pub."


"What for?"


"You need to bring the jerky down."


"Really?"


"I'm not kidding, we need it."


I sat there for another 5 minutes, willing my body to get itself together and get up.  Eventually I got there, packed a couple of things in my bag, got the Little Big Fella all set up with his bike and we rode/walked to the pub.  I met a few people that the Big Fella works with; names I've heard, and some I hadn't.  He seemed very relaxed and happy, which made me happy too.


The Little Big Fella was ready to go to the park pretty quickly so we said our goodbyes and headed back.  I'd left my picnic blanket on the fence of the park on the way past (I love our small town!) so spread it out while the Little Big Fella started riding around the skate park and playing.


By this stage, I was tired!  I just needed to lay down for 5 or 10 minutes.  So I did!  I lay down on my picnic blanket, in the sun, listening to my son happily riding around, and had a little doze.  I can't tell you how good it was to have those 5 or 10 minutes!  I revived much more than you'd think was possible!


After a little while some of our other friends turned up and we spent the next few hours hanging out at the park, kids happily playing, mums happily chatting.  I really enjoy that you can get out of your house and go to the park here and it's pretty likely that someone else will turn up and you can have a chat, vent if you're having one of those kinds of days, or just socialise and feel that connection with other people in your community.  I'm sure I've said it before, but it's a definite strength of this place.


When it started getting cool we all headed home and did the evening routine. The Big Fella slept on the couch - he has a little catching up to do I think.  The Little Big Fella went to bed really easily, but unfortunately had too much to drink this afternoon and has already had a bed and pj's change.  He goes to bed with a nappy and then wakes to use the loo, struggling to get the nappy out of the way, but if I agree to leave the nappy off...  Oh well!  He'll get there eventually.


I'm hoping to get an hour or so tomorrow to go through the paperwork and phone calls that need dealing with in the office tomorrow.  We also have our first house inspection this week, so I want to make sure the house is relatively neat and tidy (and the yard isn't completely toddler and puppy trashed).  Other than that, there's no major plans for the coming week.  Let's see how it turns out hey?