Is there anything sweeter than hearing your baby sleeping in his bassinet beside you, snoring softly? Julius is making the loveliest content sleeping sounds I think I’ve ever heard.
Hubs is on my other side, finally asleep and breathing softly. He has the flu and has been pretty miserable today. He hardly ever gets sick but this has not been a great year for him – I think this is about his 4th sick day this year! And considering that I think he had only taken a grand total of 10 (5 in a row because of shingles) since starting with Qld Health in 2013, it’s a lot for him. Get better soon honey.
And it’s official – we are heading to Toowoomba in 2018. I’m very excited about it but also sad to be leaving and stressed about getting all the house stuff finished before we leave! Eep!
Signing off for the night, listening to sweet sleepy sounds xx
I’m not sure when it started, but every time Mum comes to visit, she takes the kids up to Mount Morgan. Over the school holidays, the kids were keen to go up again. so I took them up for my first solo adventure with four kids. They have their little routine they do when they are up there. First stop, the railway museum. They watch a 10 minute film about how the railway was built to cart gold from the mines down the mountain.
Then they hop on the old trains for a bit of a play.
Then I was directed to the Mount Morgan bakery to grab pies to take out to the playground at the dam.
Quinn showed off her mad pie-eating skills. She eats the top off then proceeds to eat the rest. It’s a sight to behold! I was a little nervous about the solo-parenting, but it went well. Apart from Darby running away from me from the toilet block, with no pants on, back to the playground, past a couple of dozen people. Yeah, that was fun.
We then headed back to the Railway Museum for an ice cream before heading home. And when Mum was here this past week, they did it all again. They must have been up there 6 times in the last year and it never gets old!
I’m not going to lie. I was a little nervous about my first afternoon and evening flying solo. But as Hubs left for work at 3:20pm and wished me luck, I said “aaaaah it’s only 4 hours til bed time!” And that actually made me feel better!
Thankfully Jules is a pretty cruisey baby, but there were a few times where there was a lot going on and he would start up as well. He’s pretty easily pleased (cuddles and boob) so we made it through without too much drama.
We even got crafty!
Dinner went well with all three of them liking and eating their tacos, and bath time was smooth easy too. Julius wanted to be part of story time so I had all four of them listening in. I wish I had a photo of that. It felt nice.
I made sure I was taking a lot of mindful deep breaths and using a calm voice when things got a little hairy. If I felt myself getting worked up I was able to walk away for a minute to regroup. I was pretty proud of this, as today I wasn’t so in control of my emotions. But I guess when you have backup in the form of your husband, you can lose your sh*t a bit and know he will be there to help pick up the pieces. When you’re flying solo, you just gotta deal.
And since I had a hot dinner sitting on my lap and a glass of wine poured by 7:45pm I think I dealt pretty well.
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!
Okay so obviously that’s not the actual name of where we went today, but it’s what Hubs affectionately called Emu Park’s “Festival of the Winds”. There were kites galore!
Apparently it wasn’t “windy enough” for the really big kites.
But the kids didn’t seem to mind.
Yes my kids are adorable in their “town hats”. Watching the kites was just lovely. Being with my family and enjoying the kids excitement makes my heart burst.
But.
I was a bit hesitant about going along to the festival, and when we arrived I knew the reason. Well, the three reasons: expensive rides, rubbish toys, and overpriced food. And my kids wanted it all. It’s not that Hubs and I don’t like having fun, it’s that we’ve forgotten how to.
No wait, that’s not right.
It’s that our idea of fun doesn’t necessarily match up with what our kids think is fun. Fighting crowds to buy tickets to go on dodgem cars? Um no thanks. Spending $5 on a single duck game where all the toys you can win are complete crap? No again from me! All Quinn wanted to do was get her face painted, have a slushie cup and get a whirly-wind toy. I could get behind those things. And Chance wanted a toy of some description, a slushie cup and a ride. And I could get behind two of those things.
Hubs and I had a discussion and decided that he would stay with Darby and watch the kites on the beach while I took the older two back into the mosh pit.
We found the toys (with a bit of drama), bought the slushie cups, but we couldn’t for the life of us find the face painting stall. And I had decided there was no way I was lining up for ride tickets. So of course the kids were disappointed!
I don’t know. I think ever since we moved away from city life I just hate crowds so much! And I feel like no matter what we get the kids, there will always be something else they want as well. It’s just a constant negotiation that I don’t feel is worthwhile.
Perhaps when they are older and have their own money to spend on whatever they like, it will be easier. But I guess that creates a bunch of challenges in itself.
Look the day was fine, there were actually no tears, and at least the kids were happy with their toys.
But.
Give me a nice shady creek for the kids to play in, a packed lunch, a drink or two, and a few other families around and I’ll show you my idea of a great family day out.
What an interesting beast. Two people meet, they lust after one another, they fall in love, they can’t imagine ever being angered or pissed off by this person, they get married and WHAM! Reality hits. And it bites.
Now obviously this scenario isn’t true for all couples. Obviously some couples piss each other off much earlier than that.
When Hubs and I got together I remember (and now cringe) genuinely looking at my friends who had been in long term relationships and who were now in that comfortable stage and thinking “I’m so glad we are different.” (Sorry guys!) But here’s the kicker. We’re not. Hubs pisses me off all the time and, I know it’s hard to believe, but I’m no picnic to live with either.
And I totally get why marriages don’t last. (Freudian slip there – I actually typed “laugh” instead of last! Oh boy…) Marriage is haaaaaaaaaard work and unless you are both 100% committed, you’ve got no chance. It’s impossible for both parties to be 100% committed all the time, at the same time as well so I guess there’s just always got to be some desire and commitment to stay together.
And it’s the little things isn’t it? The day to day stuff that, if you don’t accept, will drive you out the door.
Take right now for instance. There is something that Hubs is doing right now that should have already been done but he didn’t want to do earlier and now there is a deadline (9am tomorrow) that is has to be done by. But pointing this out to him adds absolutely no value to our marriage. He knows it. I know it. To say anything would be petty and piss him off. So instead, I’ve done all my evening jobs, poured him an ice cold cider (it’s a laboring job he’s doing for our ensuite) and am drowning out the noise of the compact drill with the sound of satisfaction for taking the high road. And Adele.
It’s something I’m working on – not pointing out his flaws. I used to do it a lot, thinking I was being helpful by suggesting ways he could be more organised or be more tidy. And it’s something he’s never really done to me. I’m hopelessly flawed but he doesn’t try to fix me. He delights in my quirks because they make me who I am.
So in the grand scheme of things, tonight’s quirk matters not. What matters is how we deal with it. And the best way? Every time? Hands down?
Is with kindness. Good old fashioned, sometimes over the top kindness. On that note I might go and see if he needs another cider.
It has taken me a really long time to truly embrace meal planning. I knew in theory that it was a good idea but I didn’t like the idea of being so restricted. Well I’m pleased to say that it has been great and has delivered everything it promised – less stress around the 5pm mark, no thinking about coming up with a meal idea at 4pm and realising I don’t have all the ingredients. Plus we are definitely eating better.
Speaking of delivering, I also finally gave online shopping with Woollies a go. I spent about half an hour ordering on Thursday and opted for delivery today. Oh my gosh what a game changer. I always said things like “I like picking my own fruit and veg and I like to get the reduced to clear bargains.”
Stuff that. I like to not have to haul groceries in and out of the car and up the stairs twice a week. Yes, they brought them up the stairs for goodness sake! I may never go to the shops again people!
I also signed up for unlimited deliveries for six months so mid week top up shops are covered.
Apart from all the plastic bags (I normally bring my own reusable bags) I give it two thumbs up!
Oh wow. You know when you have little expectation of something (little as opposed to low) and you are just blown away by it!? I love when that happens. Those little surprises in life make me happy, especially when they also make my kids happy.
I took the kids to Rocky’s Brick Event this morning, along with a babysitter to help out, and it was one of the best things I’ve ever taken the kids to.
The reasons for my expectation level, is due to this event that we went to last year. Looking back, I can’t believe how little I wrote about it! I think that’s quite telling. As I did mention, I was hoping that there would be more interactive things for the kids, other than the trays of bricks at the end. That’s where this event was different.
The displays were AMAZING and had heaps of moving parts.
Retro train set! Wooooo wooooooooooo!
There was SO much Star Wars Lego. My kids were so excited.
See?
We were among the first to arrive to beat the crowds (which was my plan) and it was great as it meant I could put Darby in the stroller (he took some convincing!!) and he could still see everything without other people getting in the way. By the time we left, there were crowds 3 or 4 people deep at each display so it would have been impossible for him to see. He loved it!
So busy!
There were probably about 40?? displays, but this was my favourite by far.
I couldn’t stop watching it! So amazing.
After seeing all the displays, there were a bunch of tables for building Lego! And not just any Lego; the kids could build their own train carriage to be put on the back of a running train! The kids thought this was so awesome. Here’s Chance and Quinn’s efforts (the 2 end carriages). (Gotta love Quinn’s comment at the end!!)
There was a staff member there the whole time, taking carriages off and putting new ones on to go for a spin. All the kids were so proud of their creations being shown off like that.
And that’s not all! There were a few towers like this with heaps of different shaped Lego for kids to make their names. Quinny had some help, but Chance did his all by himself. Such a great idea.
Sooooo much Lego. Almost as much as our collection at home!
And of course, because I’m a massive softy, I couldn’t not buy the kids some Lego to take home. I had told them not to ask me to buy any, and they honoured that, so I surprised them at the end. Of course they wanted to go straight home to build it.
Quinn chose Cinderella (quite fitting, as one of her nick-names is Quinderella) and Chance chose the Ambulance rescue plane.
We were only there for an hour and a half, and if it wasn’t so crowded, I would have loved to go back and look at the displays again, but it was just too crazy and the kids were ready to leave. I’m glad I had our friend there to help with Darby as I didn’t want to just keep him in the stroller the whole time. There was a Duplo table for him to play at while the kids were building their creations, but he was more interested in running around.
I think the biggest difference between this expo and the last one, was this was really aimed at kids. The one in Brisbane was more about showing the design side of things, and showing off creations, which were really impressive, but not that exciting for kids after about 10 minutes. This one was all about showing what you could do with Lego and really encouraging kids’ participation and creativity. 10 thumbs up from this crew. Will definitely keep an eye out for more events in the future!
