Chocolate Cake Banana Bites.

Today I’ve been totally spoilt!!! I got a sleep in, a REAL sleep in. I woke up to my arm on tomato toast.

Glen had brought me in acappuccino and my favorite tomato on toast an hour or so before. It was cold and soggy but he’d made it for me! I ate it anyway. The coffee was past it, but the thought was so lovely!

I walked out to find he’d washed the dishes given the kids weeties, toast and a healthy fruit salad for break fast AND that they’d just had cheese on crackers, banana, sultanas for morning tea. (I didn’t wake until 11am! I CAN NOT remember when I’ve EVER been in bed til that late, but I so badly needed it.)

He was also in the process of peeling potatoes, making jelly and had already taken meat out for dinner, I was a little confused with the timing and combination of things he was doing but then he explained we are having a BBQ. He made potato salad, deviled eggs, and a delicious looking trifle!

I was left feeling quite useless, but he was happy and proud of his efforts. (and yes they were ‘efforts’ it’s nice sometimes for dads to put in ‘effort’ for just one day, appreciates mummies a little more I think…)

So thank you to Glen!

Anyway he had some left over sponge that I asked if I could have and at first I thought about having another go at cake pops. BUT on second thought I remembered how bad my last ones were and really I wanted to ‘invent’ something new. I made the chocolate icing as normal, milk, butter, icing mixture and cocoa powder then crumbled the cake into it. I used the mixer to get it smoother and finer.

Now what???

I was going to pull out my mini muffin pans and make mini bake free cakes topped with fresh summer fruits.

hmmmm…..upon searching my pantry……I must have thrown out my baby pans…:(

Ok, well Maybe I’ll make the cake balls but put three on the skewer instead of just one…..I know, THREE!!…*gasp* who ever would have thought of that?…then roll them into little rainbow glitter sprinkles.

….darn it! I must have chucked out my left over sprinkles too, planning to buy fresh ones, argh…I don’t have any skewers left anyway *sigh*

Ok well I’ll cut weet bix into thirds and spread it onto them. OMG! chocolate spread!! Who would ever thought of that?!?!?

*open the cupboard*…….nutella screamed in my face….”IDIOT!”

Ok fine…..So I have some cake mixture….*insert absent minded grab banana and peel whilst thinking sooo hard*…hmm..what will I make?…..*insert dip banana and take a bite*….

OH. MY. GOD!

Ok!….

Thats how you make Chocolate Cake Banana Bites!

Buddy Robert Moves!

I am blatantly ignoring all household chores to delivery this important news!

Buddy can crawl!

Technically it’s drag/pushing. But he’s moving forward! For a while now he’s been able to move all over a room, rolling back and forth and going backwards. He hasn’t been able to go forward to specifically get to something. Last night he moved about a metre across our bedroom floor to grab dads iPhone…typical!

This morning he’s been dragging him self all over the place with purpose and determination AND in a forward motion!

I didn’t have the impatient excitement of a baby doing ‘new things’ with Buddy. I had always been so excited and tried to encourage my girls to sit, crawl, and walk. But with Buddy I wanted to savour the babyness. Let it drag out and watch it all lazily unfold.

I told myself prior to having him that ‘boys develop slower.’ Usually hitting milestones just that bit later than the majority of girls. I didn’t want to feel like something was ‘wrong’ with him or that he wasn’t ‘up to speed’ if he took longer than I was used to with certain things. I just expected that he would develop at a slower rate and prepared myself for it.

BUT Buddy has done everything quicker than all my intelligent little girls!

(I am assuming that it means he will be a genius) He’s just always been so aware, so determined, yet calm and peaceful right to his core.

He really is the perfect baby. And of course I am bias, but I mean I’ve got four other children, worked with children, know plenty of people WITH children and in comparison (which we should never do) he really IS just so darn perfect!

I will give him this little bit of glory, let him bask in his mummy’s blatant bragging!

I am so proud right now, he’s so special to me. I’m not sure if it is a side effect of coming close to loosing him as a tiny baby, being confined to isolation for over a week in hospital together or if it is that he is my one and only boy or maybe it is a combination of both or maybe it’s just because he is mine, all mine, full stop. (Probably the last as my girls make me proud everyday too!)

Anyway Buddy can move, my baby is getting bigger. I’m so happy and excited and proud and he’ll be getting extra hugstoday!

I think we’ll celebrate in some way.

Go little Bud!

The world is yours to drag yourself over!

The key to being a happy mother.

Ok I so I don’t actually know what one thing is key to making a mother happy. I am inclined to think it is probably different for every single one.

But for me, its frame of mind.

While we all love and adore the little humans we grew within our own bodies, treasure them, and think they are perfect, it is sometimes easy to fall into the ‘what about me?’ habit.

To be happier sometimes we need to ‘forget about me.’

Not forever just just ‘for now.’

Theres this thing that happens when we have kids, where people used to care about how WE are, if WE are happy, if WE are receiving enough attention, care and love. But the very minute a baby is born there is a switch. People begin to think things like ‘stop complaining’ ‘you’re so slefish’ ‘get over it’ and ‘toughen up’ when we make mention of OUR sleepless nights, OUR boredom, OUR pains over a teething child, and OUR lack of happiness.

And after all, you’ve got a beautiful child, why would’nt you be happy???

And it isn’t that you’re not happy with your child, it’s your unhappy with the switch. And really its not something you ever thought about pre-child. The change from once being the ‘important’one. I think it happens to all of us at varying levels, depending on how we were before pregnancy and babies.

So frame of mind.

My way of thinking is that ‘YES I AM VERY IMPORTANT.’

BUT…….

I must act like I am not.

Think – important.

Act- unimportant.

So what does that mean and how does it work? Well….My actions must put my children’s needs before my own. THEY need food, THEY need sleep. THEY need entertainment-maybe not need, but everything goes smoother when they’re happy, so…… yes ‘need.’- I cut out all thoughts of ‘I don’t want to right now.’

For example, I may be totally exhausted and tired, just dozed off to sleep and then all of a sudden you hear that ‘Mum?…Mummy……’ (you know the one…) I USED to think ‘omg, really?…why now?…’and get that frustrated feeling, slowly drag myself out of bed, stumble to the ‘noisy’ one and hurry to get them back to sleep. Now I don’t allow myself to think those things. I get up, see to my kids, give them an extra hug, ask if they’d like a drink….get back into bed and try again. There will always be time.

I can sleep tomorrow. Or the day after that. My baby needs me and what’s more important than that? I eventually get some sleep, it will happen and I need not frustrate myself now. Carrying frustration around on your shoulders is a very heavy burden to bear and tends to lead to resentment. And it just goes downhill from there. I may not want to get up up each morning and would love to sleep in, BUT I am needed. So I hop up, make the toast, grab a coffee and chat quietly with my kids while I try to wake up.

The way we THINK is a massive part of how we ACT.

Something my father used to tell me when I was younger was that “No child chose to be here. The parents chose that. Your child owes you nothing and YOU owe your child everything.” I’m not talking about clothes and toys either. But time, attention and love.

He also used to say “you must drop everything if your kids need you. Listen to them now. Not later.”

And my grandmother used to say “With every child you have, you become less important. Your are not first anymore, you come second after your first, third after your second….” and so on.

I’m pretty far down our food chain as I’ve found that husbands and partners tend to be somewhere around first too. Over time I’ve kind of blended those little bits of information into my own version.

Dinner time for us is the best way for me to describe it. I dish out dinner for all my kids first. Then Glen and then I serve myself what ever is left. I take the plates to the table in the same order as well. Molly and Violet get their plates and drink of water first, then Sophie and Bella, then Glen. I will then take my plate to the table and feed Buddy who sits in his chair next to me. If I have to wait until he’s done to get my first mouthful….so be it.

So literally I am at the bottom of our food chain. The ACT of making sure all my children are happy and fed is me putting them first. Making sure I ate at all is THINKING that I am important…. that last sentence is quite depressing! Just know it wasn’t meant to sound like that!! I mean that I am important and need food too, but my children are first priority. I am priority, just not ‘up there’ on the list…did I just make it worse?

Anywho….

Every child born has needs. LOTS of them. We do become second the moment we have a baby, we are just that little bit less important. Our baby needs us in every way shape and form. We are their very life force, without us they could not and would not survive. Which in turn makes us VERY important.

THINK like that. WE are so desperately important to our child’s very life that we must sometimes put ourselves first, in order to be the best possible mother for THEM. Perhaps not first but to squish right in there, make a tad bit of room and fight for our right to be ‘looked after’ too. WE must get some sleep in oder to perform properly day in day out. WE must eat right and healthy to last as long as possible for the welfare of our kids. WE must get some time to ourselves to recuperate and breathe and get a bit of happiness. Happiness that comes from being a PERSON not just a parent.

You also need to know which of your rights are worth fighting for. I commented on a friend’s status last night which got me thinking for ages. Last year I made the decision to stop watching neighbours.

I know it doesn’t sound like a big deal, but when you think about the fact that I’ve been watching it since I was a breast-fed bub on the lounge with my mum, and that I loved Carl and Susan like they were my imaginary adopted parents…well you see that I LOVED the show, it was like a part of my life. A daily thing I committed myself to, a ritual.

Plus it is the only thing I ever watched on tv….

The stress and frustration it caused me calling out ‘SHHHHH, be quiet for just a minute!….What did they just say? Wait until the adds to talk. No I’m not getting you a drink this very second, just wait two secs….” got unbearable…..I began thinking things like “How come I can’t just watch this ONE half hour show? Do I really ask for a lot? Just leave me alone for 5 seconds!!! What about ME???” I was cranky and annoyed and upset that I was so unimportant.

So I gave up neighbours.

And I actually don’t mind as much as I thought I would. A tv show was not really in the scheme of things, important, it didn’t help me be a better mother (I’m telling myself that…)It just wasn’t worth fighting for.

On the other hand…my weekly ‘time out’ IS so worth fighting for. If I didn’t physically pick up the car keys, hand bag and start heading for the door, I doubt Glen would ‘suggest’ that I go out for a couple of hours alone. It isn’t something I would even THINK about giving up for the sake of my mind frame.

Thats MY time and I’m keeping it. It is important to me, and it is important to the way I parent. It may only be a couple of hours but I come back having MISSED my kids, feeling fresh and renewed and ready for another week.

I don’t always get this time EVERY week, but I know I haven’t fought hard enough if I miss out on it. I’ve also learned that I can MAKE time for myself. I make sure my kids are all snuggled up and sleeping by quarter to 8 at the latest. The ACT of having a good bed time is vital to their behaviour the next day and is good for them in general. But it also means that I get some quiet time each night. I THINK that’s good for me too, my time.

Having a good routine is good for them, but also makes my job a whole lot easier.

So THINK important. ACT unimportant.

Our kids must always come first. Above all else it is our responsiblity to care and love and nurture them. They are ours and they do NEED us. We must ACT like they do.

We’re big and ugly enough to look after ourselves now, our parents did they best they could with us and now it is our turn to be there for our children.

One day they will be grown and probably not want any interference from us at all. We’ll be the ones banging on their doors to let us in, the ones HOPING they’ll interrupt our favorite shows with a mere phone call. We will beg they let THEIR own children stay with us so we can now ‘appreciate’ all the things we may not have with our own.

One day we won’t be ‘needed’ so let’s make the most of it.

Hug your baby 5 minutes longer; your bladder control will be better.

Read just one more story; 10 minutes less sleep can’t kill.

Stare at your sleeping angel just a moment more; your tummy can’t growl any louder.

Skip neighbours just one more night because laughing with your kids is better than hushing them.

Well it’s helped make me a happier mum.

What makes you happy???

Craft quickie

Bored cranky kids? Well distress no longer! I’m here today to tell you about a quick activity. Easy to whip up, easy enough for little hands.
All you need is ;
1 and a half cups of plain flour.
Half a cup of table salt.
Two thirds a cup chilled water and…
One tablespoon vegetable oil.
Mix together in a bowl, move dough to a floured bench to knead. Add a few drips of food colour if desired. I’ve used pink for my girls. Blue for buddy.
Roll out between two sheets of baking paper then press chosen body part into it. Use a chop stick or something similar to create a hole if you’d like to hang it afterwards.
Place in the oven at 120 degrees for a minimum of two and a half hours. Longer if its thicker.

Now to wait for buddy to wake so I can capture his little prints for ever!!!

Have fun today!

School!

School is going back today, its Bella’s first day of year five and Sophie’s first day ever. They are both excited. I’m nervous. Sophie hasn’t even spent a single day in pre school or day care. I’m going to miss her so much. I can’t even describe how proud I am of them both.
Now to get the tribe organised to make the trek to school. Only 3 kids at home for me today. What ever will I do?
I wonder how violet will go too. It’s her first day as ring leader of the house bound gang. This may not be pretty. I think I’ll cry!!!

Skin Deep.

I’m in a bit of a snippy mood today…Again I’ll blame it on a lack of sleep. In order to NOT write a post about a topic I am VERY passionate about which is single motherhood, and the way people percieve single mums sometimes…..I am instead going to write about make-up, or beauty regimes or whatever the going name is….

I decided to share my ‘stuff’…the stuff I use if I am going to use ‘stuff’ the make-up I wear if going anywhere special. I also wanted to share what I do with my skin and my children’s. Personally I think I have horrible skin, but my sister begs to differ saying whilst it’s not entirely perfect a lot of people would be happy to have skin like mine.

Nice of her to say!

I had horrible pimples and break outs when I was a teen. The only thing I ever found to help was garlic. An actual clove of garlic peeled and sliced to expose the juices then rubbed directly on my skin, while I smelt weird, my skin cleared up. Now a days I will exfoliate maybe every 3rd night with my chosen face scrub stuff in the shower and on the off nights I still use my abrasive body washer….thingy?….I like exfoliating! I also use it before I apply make-up. I exfoliate, pat dry then use moisturiser. The moisturiser in the picture is the stuff I am using at the moment. I don’t like it however, I thought it’d be great as I really like the exfoliating scrub in the same brand, but I don’t. It doesn’t feel right….

I then brush on my mineral powder, use a bit of the pale eye shadow to highlight cheekbones and some blush and mascara (which are missing…GIRLS?!…..my mascara has been with me for 5 years now. It’s dry and clumpy and I LOVE it. I can not use any other. My eyes begin to water and carry on.) I like to use the medium brown eyeshadow over the entire lid, then the darker one on the inside corners and above the outside upper crease…then the pale again just below my eyebrows to make them do that ‘pop’ thing everyone talks about.

Nicole always laughs but I honeslty feel like I look like a drag queen when I wear make-up. I don’t know why, maybe I’m just not used to it but it makes me look foreign to myself.

The BEST thing I have ever done for my skin is the grape seed oil. I use it at night just before bed, I pour about a 10 cent pice sized bit into my hands rub together then smear on my face, over lips and everything. I would say that is the one thing I love most, I wake up all smooth and fresh.

Cheap and in the cooking isle….

My anti-smell team….Michum is an awesome brand, I’ve even converted Glen to the men’s version and he won’t use anything else now. I have a paranoia about smelling odd and with this on I always feel confident…I am beginning to sound like a commercial. And no, I’m not getting paid for this!

The little red bottle is precious to me.

Rose. I’ve always loved the idea of smelling like an old English rose, and this is the only thing that can match what I was searching for. I guard it with my life and only allow my girls one drop behind each ear. It always gets comments. I also have a weird thing where I’d like the scent to be something my kids will one day recognise and think of me when they smell it. I may not be here one day but a simple sweet-smelling rose may spark their memory of me.

Some day.

So this is my team.

I keep the vaseline and rose oil in my hand bag. Vaso is the best lip gloss/lip balm ever. Put it over lippy for a pretty gloss too, or mix it WITH the lipstick to make lighter glossier shades.

Use it on chaffing, nappy rash…..priceless stuff.

But now that brings me to what I use on my kids. You’ve seen my meagre collection. I don’t use anything regularly on my kids. I’ve come to the conclusion that the more chemicals and ‘cleansing’ products we use actually destroys the natural oils and interferes with the way our body works, if my kids want to do that to themselves later on, so be it. But for now while I’m in charge I’ll try to avoid it. I’ll use a natural oil on my baby’s skin for massage like the grape seed, it also helps with cradle cap and the dry skin little newbies get in their joint areas. I wash their hair with shampoos maybe once a week. Bella now that she’s older washes her hair just about every night as do I. But the smaller kids just get a soaking and a scrub without any kind of product. Their hair is healthy and shiny. Sophie when she was younger suffered from mild eczema so I used Alpha Keri oil in her bath and then the Alpha Keri cream afterwards, it cleared up almost right away, if I ever needed to use anything on their skin that’s the brand I’d go for. Buddy has a bottle of Johnson’s baby shampoo conditioner which I use as a bubble bath. Basically because I LOVE the smell of it. I’ll put a squirt in as the bath fills then use a washer to rub his head over. But only twice a week.

Another awesome ‘beauty’ product I love is cornflour. You know how baby’s get moisture rash under their chubby necks sometimes? Or even a bit red around the nappy area? Smother them with cornflour. It draws all moisture away.  They look like a little cake baby but thats cute! I’d put it on my baby after a bath of a night, under armpits, necks, tubby leg rolls and around their bum, next morning any hint of redness was gone.

Try it, it’s good…

Its even good for chaffing and I have used it in my hair to draw away oils leaving it light and fluffy and nice and shiny. No perfumes, chemicals or anything else added and better yet its less that a dollar in supermarkets.

Need to settle your baby? A nice warm tub with a few sprigs of lavender. It’s calming qualities work wonders and the smell is sooo nice.

Anyway.

I feel I have blabbered on long enough to cool down from the words I was going to write…..I’m off now to dye my hair!….Some chemicals are ok…..

Might even paint all our toe nails 😉

Tech freaks

On our way to grocery shop. It amazes me how things have changed. Watching movies, playing game thingys. Granted we have an hours drive to actually get to where we shop, but I remember as a kid we would be content with the passing scenery! The girls do not believe glen and I when we tell them we didn’t have those kinds of things as kids. I think they may even pity us a little. I wonder what I’d be like now if I’d had stuff like that available at home and on the move. Probably a boring drone with no life experience!
Do you think removing some technology from our kids lives would hinder or help them?
I think their imaginations may develop better for it. What say you?

Multitasking??

Hide the scissors!

Testing out blogging from my phone. Violets cute new fringe, she ( or one of her sisters, I’m yet to get the full story…) Took to cutting her own hair,

You know those days?

Today has been ‘one of those days’ it’s hot, and I’m tired and I really didn’t want to do a thing, yet as a mum…there’s a never-ending list of things that MUST be done.

Well as a human in general there’s a never-ending list of things that MUST be done but just a tad more so when you’re not only responsible for your own life but of all those little ones you created.

I got not one wink of sleep last night. My boobs were aching. The last couple of weeks Buddy has been fussing massively, getting distracted from his feed the moment anyone does anything that he thinks may be slightly interesting, even if someone speaks!…He’ll yank his head around while STILL attached so he can get a better look, squirming and wriggling to get a better view. Yes I hear you…’go find a nice quiet spot to sit and feed him.’ NOT possible with 4 others running around. AND ‘teething’ on my nipples, and really it is just about as unpleasant as it sounds. He’s down to night feeds now and sadly, slowly weaning himself. I’m feeling a bit rejected. Anyway, they were full and hurting badly, I lay awake WISHING he’d wake up so I could tuck him in bed with me to feed him. Finally at 1am he did. Just as he latched on and I almost felt a little better… Violet began screaming. After trying to wake Glen got me nowhere I detached Buddy and went to her. She’d had a nightmare about ants, she’s a borderline ant phobic. Sophie was sitting in bed crying because she couldn’t sleep because of Violet, dobbing on her for having a nightmare. After explaining to Sophie in the early hours that it wasn’t right to smack someone for having a bad dream and settling her back down, I grabbed Violet and made her a bed in my room and snuggled her up.

I went to get Buddy back on my painful boob only to find him out to it. Snoring. I tried waving his meal under his nose to no avail. I tried poking him in the face with his meal, to no avail. I jiggled his meal forcibly in his face…..STILL to no avail. *sigh* So I lay on my back, front throbbing waiting for sleep to just take me away.

Then our little ‘lovely’ dogs began to bark. Just when I’d had enough and went to get up and yell at them….they’d stop. 5 minutes later they’d begin again. Frussssst…….rate…..ING!!!

I finally did get up and yell at them, depressingly I walked out to see the glimmer of a ‘beautiful new day’ on the horizon…(if you didn’t catch the sarcasm, well it was thick just back there…<——)

I am used to not sleeping the night through, I rarely…no, never do but last night I WANTED to sleep so badly. But anyway, that was the night that set me up for this day.

We did our 2nd trip in 2 days to the dump….yay, such an enjoyable family outing. Actually I really don’t mind, it amazes me the things people throw out. If it were not illegal I probably would be one of those trash pile climbers searching for interesting treasures to take home, polish up and turn into something new and interesting. I cleaned, entertained the kiddies, facebooked which is now ridiculously easy with my newer phone -not a good thing- I chatted to my sister some.

We spent the afternoon watching Swiss Family Robinson for the 2nd time in 2 days while making anklets and bracelets and necklaces for each other. My kids would never have allowed me a nap so a nice lazy ‘sit on my bum’ type activity was just what I needed…..then again I physically cannot sleep during daylight hours anyway….

Right now I’m so tired, I’ve fixed Bella’s fringe which finally grew long enough for me to do something with it. Did I tell you that story??? One morning I went to put her hair up for school and I was shocked to find a practically bald spot right at the front above her left eye! At first I thought maybe it’d fallen out…then the realisation that Bella at 10 years old….had cut her own hair?! Why, oh why would she do that???

It was bald, like someone had shaved it. She cried as she told me she wanted a fringe and thought she could do it.

I was angry but decided she was bound to end up punished enough when other people saw it and mentioned it, so I didn’t say anything. As confused and perplexed as I was, I let it slide. I did buy her some headbands with massive flowers on them to try and disguise the spot.

She was stuck with the nickname Spike for a couple of weeks too.

Just THAT was punishment enough. She go red, and giggle. Shake her head and mutter ‘shut up…’ as she walked away.

I remember being like that as a kid….getting an awesome idea and thinking to myself, ‘yep I can TOTALLY do that…and do it awesomely.’ Only to try and fail horribly.

I think she’s learnt her lesson.

Her fringe now is cute and pretty and actually looks like it is meant to be there. I also cut Violet’s so that the chunk SHE hacked off looks like it was done on purpose too.

Then Glen’s hair….

He asked for a hair cut. Sure. The clippers wouldn’t work so I put them down and called the hair dresser to fit him in tomorrow. He walked out of the bathroom while I was on the phone making the appointment with a big chunk shaved at the front, a pair of scissors in hand and some random short bits through it, where he’d taken it upon himself to chop away.

“12.30pm ok Mam?” The reception girl asked…

……*eye roll*….”Nevermind. Thank you.” *Click* (phone was put down a little heavy…)

He could NOT be seen like that. Not even at the hairdressers. So I had no choice but to use ‘our’ bikini trimmer to do his entire head. I say ‘ours’ because while technically it belongs to me, I never use it. Glen however finds it a handy facial hair trimmer…giving him that neat yet rugged look. And  if he’s man enough to use a metallic purple bikini trimmer on his face, then hey;….why not?

Anyway, where was I? Tired…thats right. I wouldn’t mind some sleep.

(p.s whats the go with the Biggest loser trainers being naked in the ad??…)

I’ve set my alarm for 9pm. See the problem isn’t waking up as I do that quiet regularly. It’s getting to sleep that’s the problem. I’m getting into the terrible habit of not actually settling into bed for sleep until past 10.30pm every single night, laying there for a good couple of hours planning the next day, thinking over the one we’ve just had and mentally ‘working’ on projects while I physically can not. Then to wake 6ish every morning?…..WITH multiple wake up calls during that period?…

I needed to set an alarm to GO to sleep. I doubt it will work. Once my angels are in bed I get caught up doing MY stuff. Stuff I just don’t feel comfortable doing when the kids are up, or things they wouldn’t be interested in, or things they wouldn’t be able to participate in.

I really should be asleep now. Feeling tired is just hard. I get frustrated easily. I don’t put in any effort what so ever to be ‘nice’ to Glen. I figure he’s a big boy, and if I only have enough energy for the kids then he will survive. Perhaps thats why I was a bit ‘short’ with the whole hair cut thing today. I couldn’t be bothered to think hard on anything, I don’t want to do any kind of strenuous type things.

I’ll do what I MUST on days like this but it is exhausting.

See right now, the house is quiet….it’s cooled down. I’m sitting in the lounge room at our over sized dining table, right up in one corner leaning against the wall, lights off and bar the glow from my baby laptop, the corners of the room fade into nothing….the fan’s whirring and the neighbours sprinkler sounds like an overgrown cricket cricking. Slight breeze…oh car drives by….My eyes are heavy, but I just don’t WANT to close them now. This is MY time.

I LOVE MY time.

No need to converse….I feel like it’s ok to be OUT of the kitchen and feel confident that no one will ask me for a drink or snack. And god help Glen if he does!!!

I feel like I’ve finished another shift. A pretty darn successful one considering how I was feeling. I’m winding down…

Well I guess I should head off on that note, Glen’s just informed he that he and Buddy are watching swamp people….and I wouldn’t want to miss that!!……:P

Ahhh….being a mum. I couldn’t imagine ‘working’ anywhere more exhausting yet satisfying. We’re pretty tough us mums, 24 hours, 7 days a week and never are we anyones priority. Our sleep, or lack of concerns no one except us. We clean because we think it makes us better mums when really the two are entirely separate. We bake, we prepare meals, we wash clothes and ‘do crafts’ We plan activities and we read books….and yes, all is important if you want to think it is.

AS LONG as we put ourselves first just every now and again to make sure WE have the energy and the right frame of mind to keep carrying on day after day. This parenting ‘job’ is the most committed we’re ever going to be to anything, and the crappest we’ll ever be paid. We’re rewarded daily (we keep telling ourselves that…) with smiles and laughter which makes the vomit and pooh easier to handle.

If we don’t demand some ‘time out’ and set ourselves ‘alarms’ to do things like sleep then the whole workplace is going to, suck….really it will.

So I’m off, my alarm will be going off shortly and I’m putting my foot down, well rather my head.

In order to turn up to my ‘shift’ tomorrow I’ll need a  good night.

(Then again I’ll be there regardless…..let’s just there is no moral for tonight’s post.)

Sweet dreams mums!

yagerbabies.wordpress.com turns ONE!

Today 12 months ago, I published my very first post and funnily enough I called it ‘Should I really be blogging this’? It explained my dilemma at the fact that I am sometimes too honest, the fact that I write far better than I speak and that I knew I’d be open and say things that perhaps people either wouldn’t want to hear or that I just shouldn’t be saying.

My question has been answered though.

YES, I really should be blogging this. This blog has helped shape me. And shape others. It’s opened doors for me that I never thought would. It has inspired me and inspired others. It has started to become the most treasured thing I have for my children. Some day, in the future I’ll print the whole lot and give it too them when I am no longer capable of writing it. But then again by then they’ll probably have audio internet. The words and pictures I’ve collected for my kids has become priceless to me. The knowledge that my kids will learn more about me as an adult women from this blog makes me strive to be open and honest and just say whatever I think and feel. I know I have gotten on people’s nerves, possibly offended some, I know I have made some laugh and made some cry.

I can’t say I regret it.

Those who like what I say and do come back for more, those who don’t close the window and carry on with their merry lives. Though there are those who are passionate about NOT liking me who read this too….and thas ok, your welcome here too.

At the end of the day I have nothing to hide from my children and they are the audience I hope to engage someday.

A whole year…..

I am totally amazed that I’ve been doing this regularly for an entire year! And really it’s been a big year; for me, my family and for this blog.

In this year I found out I was pregnant with my one and only son and really that was probably one of the best highlights. I sobbed like an idiot that day, smiled while staring off into the distance for hours. It also exhausted me. I’d never realised how badly I’d wanted my little boy. Even before I knew having a baby boy was possible.

A boy… 🙂

We started to learn Italian. I also looked into palmistry.

We hibernated. We read. We painted.

Sophie turned 4, Violet turned 3, Molly turned 2, and Bella made it to double digits! TEN I still can’t get over it. I turned 27, Glen turned 29. But that isn’t too exciting…

Molly was toilet trained. we gained two pets Sweedie and Bones.

We visited family in June/July to get married and give birth to Buddy.

Got Married; Had my boy. (Well the other way around. Buddy Robert was born early hours of the 19th of June, Glen and I cut the cord then tied the knot later in the day.)

Buddy got sick and we nearly lost him.

He got better.

AND he got BIGGER!

We lost Glen’s pop at the amazing age of 102.

We made the newspaper 3 times this year.

When Buddy decided to arrive on our wedding day we made front page.

Sadly when Buddy got sick with whooping-cough we made 5th page to let parents know that the risks involved in immunisation are nothing compared to what may happen if your child is not immunised. Not only is your own child at higher risk, but if they come in contact with the elderly or very young they can pass things on.

Yager Babies blog made 3rd page!

Blog featured in a newspaper within 10 months? I take that as a good sign of things to come.

I began making dolls and making recycled clothing from well, clothes…..we’ve painted, we’ve begun 2 writing books, tried my hand at carving maple wood into spoons?….designed tattoos for others, created a line of kid’s play clothes, tried roller derby, made jewellery, perfume, worked on my photography….

we’ve dabbled. And yes I mean ‘we’ my girls do and try everything I have.

When I asked Glen what we did this year he answered ‘We bought a bigger tv, we went to Coffs Harbour (which Sophie provided the answer for,….then he put on ear muffs.)’ He had a big year…obviously 😉 tv was a highlight for him.

men

????

We’ve fought, cried, smiled and laughed.

Buddy grew teeth! I had my nose pierced.

Most importantly….

We lived.

I’ve learnt SOOOO much this past year.

So much about myself, about life and my family.

I know that family is the MOST important thing. I know everyone says it but I mean it in the sense that I cannot live without them, I want my kids to be raised by me AND my family, I think for them to have a little network of totally trustworthy adults to inspire them is priceless. I don’t want to ‘hog’ them and keep them from learning the valuble lessons others can offer.

My goals for this year to come are to spend more lazy time with my kids and family. BE there with them, laying in the grass watching the clouds not hanging the washing while they do it. Trying not to rush and ‘get things done.’ A huge goal is to GET HOME to be with family, so I can cook for them, laugh with them, just be around them.

If there was anything I ever wanted to tell people via my blog?

PLEASE cherish those around you. Those who love you and need you, those who just want you. There are sooooo, so, soooo many stupid things we worry ourselves over like, who has the nicest shoes, I wish I had more money (what for? shoes?) Understand that no matter the shoes we wear, no matter how much money we have….if someone loves you they just do.

People are what make us rich, people make us feel whole. (Those who are genuine and not life sucking weirdos that is…) I hope you can tell the difference.

Anyway…a whole year…

I’ve made friends, lost some, each one has sat on the sill of small windows in my life and influenced me in small and large ways, taught me more about myself and about people and the way we work.

This whole year has been a big lesson.

(I also learned I can blog from my mobile, so I’ll be trying that out, mini posts while on the move!)

I’d like to give a MASSIVE thank you to everyone who reads Yager Babies, everyone who has emailed me, commented, everyone who has shared their own stories with me and everyone who has shared my tears and smiles. Thanks to anyone who has shared Yager Babies with others. Thank you to my supportive family. Thank you to Glen for dealing with late nights I’ve spent on this blog and the blabbering I’m sure he has no interest in. I could not have come as far as I have without you. I still can’t believe there are people interested in the things I’ve shared.

But again I thank you so much!

Happy Birthday blog!

OH and finally, I’m taking ownership of my blog, no longer yagerbabies.wordpress.com…..

just…

yagerbabies.com!

CHEERS to a new year of growing to come.

xoxoxo