Category: Stuff

I swear they’re in it together

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Why is it that when one of my kids is being an absolute angel, the other is being a complete pain in the neck? I’m referring to my two older kids here, and it’s like they decide between them who is going to play nice and who is going to try and push me off the edge.

This morning, Chance was the one who was driving me absolutely bananas and Quinn was being a perfect child; she was helping me tidy up for the cleaner and she pretty much did everything on her own. Chance, it seems, had decided that being six is boring, so it was like I had two two-year-olds on my hands, with him and Darby doing their best to be as silly as possible.

I’ve really be trying to let the kids be silly without me getting cranky at them; to just let them be kids. But being a boring old grown-up really gets in the way of this! I let the boys do their thing for as long as I could handle it, and then the nagging to get ready for school kicked up a notch.

My Mum tells me that when my brother and I were young, it seemed the only time we got along was when we were ganging up on her. Sorry about that Mum. I’m getting my own back now though!

2 months old

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So yeah it’s been a bit quiet around here on the old blog, and now two posts in one day! I even missed a 10 things on the 10th post which made me rather sad! You could say I’ve been a little busy around here staring into these eyes.

Can you blame me? I just get lost in that face of his. Especially because I’m trying my very hardest to make booby-time strictly phone-free. Most days I’m pretty good at it.

Mum is coming up for a week on Thursday and we are all excited about this. I’m planning on heading out to a party with Hubs on Saturday night after I’ve put all four kids to bed, and leaving Mum with a bottle of expressed milk for Jules if he wakes up. I’ve started trying it on him so hopefully all will be fine by then!

And if not I’ll only be 10 minutes away. Good old Rocky.

So I’ll leave it there. 2 months old. Just like that.

Suits and Savvy B

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Just enjoying another solo parenting win with some Suits and wine. I love Suits – is there a better opening theme song? Scrubs is pretty awesome too. But the Greenback Boogie always gets me clicking my fingers and Harvey Specter puts a spring in one’s step ?

Another day, another playground

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Oh the joys of the playground visit. I mean don’t you just love it? I always thought that as a parent I would love taking my kids to playgrounds. It’s like free babysitting, right?

Wrong.

It turns out that the humble playground can, as well as bringing out the best in my children, bring out the worst in them. And in me. The constant requests of “can you push me on the swing?” The complaints of sand in eyes. The tantrums and disagreements with other people’s kids. The repeated asking for snacks and water. The judgement from other mums if I check my phone for too long. The panic I feel when I look up to do a head count and can’t find Darby. (In fairness, if the playground isn’t gated I don’t let him out of my sight.)

Also in fairness, this kind of trip to the playground doesn’t happen too often. Mostly my kids have a good time and can amuse themselves for up to two hours. They make friends with other kids there and have a great time.

We discovered a new playground today that had some of my favourite features: It was fully fenced; it was nowhere near a road,  it had a bench seat inside the fence, there were public toilets (though by some miracle we didn’t have to visit them even once!); it was very quiet and had all the favourite pieces of equipment; it was very shady. We were there for nearly two hours and the kids had a blast.

There were a few other kids here at various stages but we had the place to ourselves for the final half hour. Thankfully it was a very successful playground trip. We’ll be coming back to this one for sure!

He was a scooter boy

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Had an awesome-sauce morning of scooting and biking at the local school. Such fun and so much cuteness. Yes that is my (current) youngest at almost two-and-a-half. Definitely not a baby anymore. Just ask him.

Two hours

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From blah to goddess.

Remember this pedi I had in Sydney? This is what it looked like five weeks later, aka yesterday.

Now I don’t know what the heck was is in shellac they used but damn it lasted well. What didn’t last was the smooth supple feet, so when my dear friend Sarah gave me a voucher for some pre-baby pampering I knew a spa pedi was on top of my list. Oh joy of joys I feel like such a queen after a good pedi a gorgeous colour.

Not to mention a desperately needed eyebrow wax.  Thanks a million Sarah. I honestly feel like a million bucks.

It owes me nothing

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This is my dishwasher

I’d say we bought it two years ago but we actually acquired it through a Gumtree ad. For nothing. In fact I think the “seller” may have even dropped it off to us. We were advised that it should work once the control panel was fixed. Challenge accepted by Hubs and we had a working dishwasher.

It also needed a thorough clean out that thankfully I was not involved in. Apparently it was a little gross but it did the trick!

Guys this dishwasher is awesome. If you’ve ever come to stay, you will have been treated to my raving about its awesomeness. The heat that this thing produces means everything comes up sparkling clean. Either that or melted – some things just aren’t meant to go in the bottom rack.

It does have its quirks. You have to use a toothpick to turn it on and choose the cycle. There were screws in place as buttons but they have since fallen out, and to be honest the toothpick gives it a child-proof function that I like. Because Darby likes buttons.

Unfortunately it is is starting to play up a little. The latch is broken so now I have to use sticky tape to close it for each wash.

And it sometimes comes up with an F4 error which, after a Google search is something to do with the temperature. The troubleshooting for it? Switch it off and on again and it should work. It does.

I’ll be so sad when it does eventually die. If it lasts the rest of the year it will be a miracle! Maybe I should start keeping an eye out on Gumtree for our next bargain…

It’s not over yet

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I believe we are feeling the after effects of cyclone Debbie and boy is it crazy. I mean it’s not Marcia crazy, but being in our own house makes it a bit more nerve wracking. I’m just grateful for our new roof and windows! This is what we are currently experiencing.

Again, I’m very grateful that we didn’t cop the brunt of it (poor Airlie Beach!) but this rain is relentless! It’s been pretty much pouring on and off since Monday with more on the way tomorrow.

And don’t even get me started on the mozzies. Ugh. When it clears up on Friday we’ll know about it! In the mean time I promise I will try to enjoy the sound of the rain on our roof as I go to sleep, be thankful for the lush green grass, and try not to curse too much when it pours at school pick up time.

Nearly got away with it

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We went to Yeppoon today with my friend and her three kids as both of our husbands were working, and you know, safety in numbers. The weather forecast wasn’t great but we were determined. The first couple of hours looked a lot like this

Threatening but nothing much happening

The kids had an awesome time at the water park. It was a little more stressful for me than usual as I lost Darby 3 times – little bugger is doing runners and exploring as he pleases which had me on red alert the whole time!

And just as we were settling in to lunch the rains finally came down

Darby was safely tucked away in the stroller (where I had put him to stop him running away from me!)

In one of the slight lulls in rain we decided to make a dash for the car. The lull didn’t last long and we ended up getting completely drenched. It was pretty funny.

Look I’m not going to lie. I had contemplated just staying home all day with the kids and watching movies but I’m glad we got out and about. We all do better after we’ve been out of the house for the morning and we had a great afternoon and evening to start the week off well.

Hope your Sunday was a good one too.