No good deed goes unpunished

June 17, 2015 / Renae / Leave a comment

“Do you have any hobbies?”

“Ummm… what? Yes. Yes I do. Ummm… I’m sure I do!”

Think McFly think!

“I like to walk my kids to kindy?”

Why was the physio asking me this question anyway??* I was here to get my back looked at/fixed, not put on the spot with difficult questions!

You see, last Thursday, I decided it would be a delightful idea to take my children, along with their Poppy, to the Rockhampton show. Which is much like the Ekka but on a much smaller scale, or like the Cloncurry Show, but on a larger scale.

The kids (and Poppy) at the start of the day:

Sidebar – I can’t believe I never got around to blogging about the ‘Curry show! Chanbe raved about that day for months afterwards, and still refers to any kind of show as the Cloncurry show. So cute. Short version: We had an absolute blast at the ‘Curry show. Let me see if I can drag out some photos some time.

But not tonight. Because if I put this post off for even one more day, I fear I won’t write anything for a month. There have been too many intentions and not enough action on this blog lately.

On another sidebar, is it ironic that the laptop we bought is a “Surface Pro (3)” yet I couldn’t find a single clear surface to put it down on to type this post? Much pushing and shoving had to be done first.

Anyway. Back at the ranch.

Oooh it’s game 2 of state of origin tonight! And I don’t seem to give much of a rats. Hmmm… that’s a bit sad (and very un-Queensland of me!)

So yeah, the Rocky show. It was okay. Lots of crappy food, rubbish games that cost a small fortune to play and promised big but delivered little, and of course my little Chanbe wanted to do everything. One thing we did promise was a ride on the dodgem cars, as we had had such a great time on them at the ‘Curry show.

Hence the trip to the physio. I’m getting to old for that sh*t. I think I jarred my back on those stupid cars (it was such fun though!!).

That explains the title, but the point of this post? To get some words onto the screen. Still so much to share – Darby’s lovely baptism weekend with accompanying photos is the main thing. I just need time. And space. Both physical and mental.

Maybe one day…

Oh yeah, and this was how the day ended up. It was home time. And no, we won’t be going back next year…

* I think he was trying to ascertain whether there was something I like to do that might exacerbate the injury, or anything I might need to take some time off from. Is parenting a hobby? 😉

Q: How can it take 45 minutes to walk 1km?

May 25, 2015 / Renae / Leave a comment

A: Because of three kids.

That is literally how long it took us to walk home from picking Quindy up from kindy the other day. Darby and I left home at 2:20pm to walk down to Chanbe’s kindy which is only 650m down the road. Pushing the big pram, this normally takes about 8 minutes. We picked Chanbe up from kindy, and he hopped on his bike that I brought along with us. The whole way to Quindy’s family day care is flat, and Chanbe can really scoot along on his balance bike, so I have to walk quite quickly to keep up. Even so, with all the stoppages, drinks breaks, “my feet hurt can I ride in the pram” stops etc etc etc, the 1.5km can take up to half and hour to complete.

We arrive at Quindy’s kindy (ha ha) and as her educator is giving me a great debrief of the day, the kids play for a bit longer together and the carer has a cuddle with Darby-doo. By the time I put Darby and Quinn in the pram, and get Chance sorted with his helmet, then stop to find Q’s drink bottle, it was about 3:30. The walk home is 1.2km up a bit of a hill.

This is where things start to get ridiculous. Now I have to say off the bat that I’m in no hurry to get home. The longer it takes us, the better as far as I’m concerned. So when Q wants to hop out and walk, I encourage it. and then when C wants to get back in the pram, I say “sure thing buddy”. It’s when they both want to get in, that my back and neck and shoulders let out a whimper. This means I have to strap Darby into the carrier on my front, and push the pram, (18kg) Chance (20kg) and Quinn (10kg) up the small hill. Oh, and Chance and Quinn like to stand up in the pram and try and touch the low hanging trees.

Look, it’s a lot of fun really. Apart from when, 50m from home, Chanbe had a bit of a meltdown – I think he was honestly so tired from a full day of kindy, and riding most of the way home (he was back on his bike at this stage) and he’d just had enough of life really. But we got there in the end, and now that we have a wonderful, glorious, huge backyard, this is what we spend most of our afternoons doing…

I actually have a really cute video of the kids on the tire swing (behind the plane) but I can’t quite get it to work (still getting used to WordPress!) and since then, Hubs put the Red Barron plane bed up as a swing! So. Totally. Awesome.

Happy Mothers Day

May 14, 2015 / Renae / Leave a comment

I’ve been meaning to blog about Mothers Day since Monday, but our computer died and I just haven’t had the inclination to fire up our new laptop (which we coincidentally and fortunately bought two weeks before the death of the PC.)

This year was a bit haphazard in that Hubs was working most of the weekend so things were a bit spread out. I got a nice sleep in and some time to myself (well, just with Darby) on Saturday morning, then Hubs worked most of Saturday arvo/evening. He had to work early Sunday morning, so I just hung out with the kids and made pancakes for us all. Hubs came home around 10am and I was given a few prezzies which was nice. Then most of the household had a rest/sleep/nap/movie time from noon til 3, at which time Hubs had to go back to work. So the kids and I spent the afternoon outdoors and did some painting and lounging about.

Thankfully Hubs didn’t have to work at all on Monday so I got another bit of a sleep in, followed by more presents! And some cuddles in bed.

That was actually Hubs’ first full day off (aka 24 hours) in 3 weeks. Yeah, it’s been full on! We then all went out for brunch and The Giddy Goat, our favourite place in Rocky, and spent the rest of the day just pottering around the house which was actually really really nice. I didn’t want him to go back to work the next day 🙁

Being a Mum to these three monkeys is the most challenging thing I’ve ever done, and will ever do I’m sure. And even though I sometimes miss the days of sleeping in and not having to be responsible for anyone but myself, I wouldn’t change a thing.

Now, I have half an hour before I pick Chanbe and Quindy up from their respective places of care, which begs the question: Coffee, or nap?

Today I’m playing with Lego

May 4, 2015 / Renae / 2 Comments

I decided pretty early on that I’m not adulting today. I just need to play and be with my kids. Or just play, and let the kids do their own thang. So this was my first couple of hours:

I know it’s hard to tell, but this will eventually be a helicopter, if I can find all the damn pieces. But since I “sorted” the Lego a little while ago, I now have to sift through all the pieces to find the parts for each model. From now on, each model will stay on it’s own in a zip-lock bag. I wish I had thought of that a few months ago…

So the washing shan’t be done today. We are eating lots of easy things like crackers and tomato and cheese, fruit and sultanas. I’m just letting the kids dictate the direction of the day, and not worrying about getting adult things done. Just lots of sitting around and just being. I’ll deal with the adult things once the kids are in bed. I’m glad I made the decision this morning, because the only other way today would have gone, is me moping about the house “knowing” I “should” be adulting but not wanting to.

This way, everybody wins.

A big week

March 31, 2015 / Renae / Leave a comment

It’s been great. But I have very few words. There is so much I want to say but my brain is just happy to smile and nod. So I’ll try and upload some photos to share.

Okay. So I tried, but it didn’t work. I’m on my nephew’s MacBook Air and I’m having issues with uploading my photos from my phone.

So I guess I’ll just have to use my brain after all. Okay. Here goes.

We flew down to Melbourne, (Melvin according to Chanbe) all 11 of us, last Thursday, and picked up our hire cars to drive down to Sorrento on the Mornington Peninsula. Our traveling party consists of our family of five, Hubs’ sister and her group of 5, and Hubs’ brother, and we’ve been having a grand old time.

Okay okay. Everyone keeps telling me to suck it up and try harder to upload photos. FINE! I’ll try!

First, there was this guy. On the Tuesday before the Wednesday that we were flying down, I was in an absolute tizz. I dropped a coffee off to Hubs around 11am and he told me to take a deep breath, go home, and play with the kids. I told him I didn’t have time to play with the kids, and he told me I didn’t have time not to play with the kids.

He melts my heart. We had a simply marvelous time building lego and reading stories. I tried not to look at the time and tried not to think of what I needed to do.

Then there was this little cherub:

She just cracks me up. My little Quinndy comes out with the funniest things and she loves her new little jeggings.

And my little Darby-doo.

My little guy who sleeps, eats, and gives me lots and lots of snuggly cuddles.

So I did get around to packing, and I was in a much more calm state when we boarded the plane Wednesday morning. Traveling alone with 3 children was a little daunting, but with my positive attitude, wonderful flight crew, and helpful fellow passengers, the trip was an absolute success. And the kids loved the train from the airport into town.

Dad picked our bags up from the airport, and Mum and I took the kids into town, then onto Hubs’ sister’s house. We spent the night there then all flew down together on Thursday, taking up most of 2 rows. We arrived at our holiday house after 9pm that night – HUGE day – and then spent Friday morning just chilling out. I had booked myself a pedicure and massage for Friday arvo which did not disappoint, while the rest of the gang hit the op shops and got some cracking bargains.

The wedding was absolutely delightful in every way.

Sarah, the bride (Hubs’ cousin) asked me, and many other guests, long ago for photos from our own weddings, and she made placemats out of them:

How cool is that??? We each had a placemat themed with a family members’ or friends wedding. It was such a lovely touch. SO much thought, love and detail went in to the day, and the bride and groom had a great time which at the end of the day, is the main thing. But I just realised that I don’t have a photo of Sarah and Justin on my phone – I was too engrossed in the ceremony.

We’ve had lots of down time and fun time here, including in the pool…

(Not me – are you crazy??)

We head back to Brizzie tomorrow and will all stay over Easter which will be nice. I’ve been really looking forward to this trip for 6 months, and it has met all expectations.

Until I blog again…

Cognitive overload

March 24, 2015 / Renae / Leave a comment

At least I think that’s what Hubs called it. You know how I mentioned life was kicking my butt at the moment? And that it was starting to show? Well the forgotten hairy leg was nothing compared to this doozy. I booked the wrong dates for our flights to come to Brisbane to connect to our flight to Melbourne on Thursday. I booked the tickets from Rocky for tomorrow at 8am instead of Thursday at 8am.

And I was only alerted to the fact when I got a travel update from Virgin telling me about my flight on Wednesday the 25th of March.

When people have told me that they’ve accidentally booked the wrong dates for flights, I’ve always been a bit confused as to how that can happen. There are about 8 different times in the booking process that you can check your dates and other details. I remember booking these flights a couple of weeks ago. I’d ummed and aarrred about them for a few days before we decided to just do it. They were very important flights. I wrote all the details down in my diary. When the confirmation details came through, I didn’t check them, because, you know, how could the dates be wrong??

I know this stuff happens, but it doesn’t usually happy to me. I’m just so completely drained at the moment and I don’t even really know how to recharge. I’m sure the week in Melbourne with some of my favourite people will help. And the couple of weeks after that in Brisbane with two more weddings to attend will also be wonderful.

To add to the excitement, we had organised to have over a dozen people over from Hubs’ work for dinner on Wednesday night. Those plans now have to be changed. Oh, and also, the 8am flight on Thursday is completely booked out.

So it looks like I’ll be getting on the 8am Wednesday flight with the kids and Hubs will join us that evening. Oh joy. A plane trip with 3 children on my own. Talk about draining.

This is all sounding very depressing, but to be honest I’m just to exhausted to be overly bothered by it. I just have to do 3 loads of washing today, pack for us all, and vacuum. And that will be enough.

But really, life is good. I’m really really loving our new house; I like Rockhampton; the kids are just going so well; Darby is sleeping through, only waking for one feed; the house is almost unpacked… there’s so much good stuff going on. I just need some more brain space to enjoy it! 🙂

And now I need to stop stuffing around on the computer (yay! we have the computer set up!) and go and hang out washing and pack. After I finish my coffee, that is…

This is what it has come to

March 20, 2015 / Renae / Leave a comment

I’m organising our Lego into colours. And sizes.

The kids have been “helping” me. Chanbe’s idea of helping is sitting in front of the Lego, looking for all the white pieces, (of which there are 50 right in front of him) and climbing over the lot to pick one piece up from the other side of the pile. Then playing with it.

Quinndy’s idea of helping is this:

That is, tipping out my sorted Lego as she does not agree with my organising systems.

I feel like life is just kicking my butt at the moment. I’m always three steps behind and it’s starting to show. I shaved one leg in the shower today and completely forgot to do the other leg. It feels funny.

I had four coffees yesterday. Four. And the last one was foolishly at 4.10pm. (And it may have been of the Irish variety. Thank you St Pat’s Day!) I generally make it a habit not to have coffee after 3pm and as I was lying in bed awake at 11.45pm last night, I was reminded of why.

Kindy mornings have been hard going with Chanbe insisting he doesn’t want to go to Kindy and getting a bit upset over it. I’ve been trying to keep it light and positive and apart from one fateful morning 2 weeks ago (there was dragging, kicking and screaming) we have managed to get there in the end.

The place is still a bit of a shambles and to add to it, there are 3 baskets of folded clothes that I haven’t put away yet. I’m just not feeling motivated to do anything much at the moment. I mean I LOVE our new house and want it to be a nice place to live but I think I’m just overwhelmed and therfore not getting anything done.

And WordPress is still taking some getting used to. I used to have everything there ready to go with Blogger but now there’s a bit more fiddling around to do. It doesn’t help that we haven’t had a computer set up for a few months and I’ve been doing everything from my phone. It does mean that I have nearly 1000 comments pending, all but one or two of which will be spam. But deleting them on my phone is just too hard. I need to install a spam filter. It’s on the list.

And now it’s time to have a sleep. Maybe I’ll be productive after that…

In the meantime!…

Our photo wall is coming along nicely!

Quinn got “new” bowling shoes ($1 at Vinnies)

Our 3 little monkeys (generally) love having a bath together

And did I mention Darby has found his thumb?

ummm what?

March 10, 2015 / Renae / Leave a comment

It has NOT been that long since I last posted!?? I mean I’ve been thinking about blogging every day. That counts for something doesn’t it?

Too much is happening and my brain is mush. I’ve been unpacking boxes like a mad woman and they’re still not done.

I did do a fun little project today though. I turned this:

Into this!

Which was fun and exciting since I’m not really known around these here parts for having any idea about design! It’s for the kids play room for toys and books.

Anyway I’m seriously falling asleep here. I promise I’ll be back here again sooon!!

Another update

February 23, 2015 / Renae / Leave a comment

We’re in Brisbane.

Mum and the kids and I flew down this evening. Hubs suggested it and i agreed. He and Darby and I are flying to Melbourne this weekend for a wedding so there wasn’t much point in hanging around up there when the was no power.

He is staying with another Doctor we have been friendly with this last month, as he had electricity, being on the same grid as the hospital. We are so grateful for him opening his place to us – we’ve been hanging out there the last 2 days enjoying the air con.

It’s been rather hot up there…

This is me after busting my arse all day yesterday with Dad, getting all of our stuff out of the temp house.

We can’t move in to our new place til the floors are finished and they can’t finish the floors until the electricity is back on!

It’s all very amusing. So if you’re in Brizzie and want to catch up I’ll be here all week. Try the beef. It’s from Rockhampton.

Oh boy

February 21, 2015 / Renae / 2 Comments

Wow. What a day. The cyclone was pretty crazy and a little bit exciting at times. This was our view for the day:

And the rains came down…

We watched as the water rose up in line with our trailer. Thankfully it held on and I believe everything inside remained dry!

Weer lost power very early on and it’s still off. Apparently it will be days if not weeks before it is restored.

And then there’s the new place.

We went over to clean up today. I don’t have the brain space to even think about our next move right now. We’ll just see what tomorrow brings.

It could have been a lot worse.