*space reserved for intelligent sounding title*

It's been a while.

Over a week, in fact.

Since I've blogged.

Now I do realise that you don't all sit by your computers waiting for me to upload the next post... but for some reason I feel like I must apologise, so I am sorry if you were sitting waiting for an update on my children's cuteness.

They were being cute... I just wasn't capable of stringing sentences together to get the point across.

So, here is a quick rundown on what's been happening around here.  Time to fill in the family, journal our current issues so I can look back and see what we have survived, share our craziness... hold on tight.

Lion has continued to go to school.  We have only had one day where he tried to get clingy.  I showed him the hands of the classroom clock and told him when the little hand is on the 3, I will be waiting outside for him.  That was all he needed and he was off to join his class.  He is having fun tracing-writing and is actually enjoying being forced to do art/craft and even painted me a picture yesterday (that we couldn't take home yet but I CAN'T WAIT).  He took Bruce (his shark puppet) for morning sharing yesterday and did the whole thing without talking.  Bruce talked of course, Lion didn't.  I bet that gave his teacher a great insight into the crazy mind of that kid.  We are looking to buy him a cheap two wheel scooter for the walk to and from school because he is totally worn out by the afternoon and I can get to the classroom in about 5 minutes and it takes 15 or so to walk back to Grannysaurus' house as he drags his feet, moans that he is "SOOOOOO worn out", runs to chase away a bird, whinges that his feet are tired, dances around chatting to a girls from our church that he sees most afternoons, tells me that i need to carry him because he can't take another step... yeah, I reckon he'll be fine on a scooter... if he learns to lift his head up and look where he is going instead of at the front wheel.

He is obviously having some troubles with school though, even if it's just over-tiredness.  He has been having CRAZY nightmares.  Climbing into our bed and so totally freaked out that he cannot be convinced to go back into his own bed.  Last night was the first night for AGES that he didn't have one.  When he was younger he had night terrors, I prayed so often that they would go away.  They were horrible for me, I would hear the sounds, the whimpers, the restlessness before I went to bed and I would know... 2am I would be woken by screaming.  Sure enough, 2am he would be screaming/crying/sobbing/chattering away in a totally freaked out manner/ whatever.  I would cuddle him, sing to him, pray in his ear, whisper that I love him, tell him he's okay and eventually he would stop.  Just like that.  Suddenly.  He'd look at me confused, tell me he's tired and go back to sleep.  He had no idea they happened.  I however would lay awake wondering if tonight would be a night with multiple terrors or if that was the only one this time.  Wondering what was causing them.  Wondering if something was happening that we didn't know about.  Over time we found some great techniques and eventually they got less and less and finally they stopped.  They were replaced with nightmares... that he does remember... that make him afraid to go back to sleep.  Now it's not just me that is missing sleep, it's my baby getting frightened by things that I can't stop, my baby is missing (sometimes hours of) sleep during the night because of these horrible dreams.  We are tired, worn out, OVER IT.  So this morning I woke up and realised that he had made it through the night... I didn't point it out, I don't want to make him think about nightmares if he isn't already.  If the topic comes up at bedtime (which I'm pretty certain it will) I'll let him know he did it and he can do it again. 

Dragon has been kept quite busy but is still finding time to push the limits.  It seems like it's only on the days when he knows that there is no negotiation and we HAVE to go here or there or that he CAN NOT go with Grannysaurus that he decides to throw a spanner in the works and dig in his heels to do whatever he can't do.  Every day that I am flexible, he decides to be flexible too... fun times.  He does however put some sunshine in some everyday activities like going to the toilet.  EVERY time after he does a wee he comes out of the toilet with his shorts still around his ankles and waddles around "I am walkin' like a penguin"... I love the way he says penguin.  Last week he had a meltdown at Playgroup that I have never seen the likes of before and I hope to never see again.  It was horrific.  You know how sometimes someone is obviously having a rubbish day with kids going crazy and you'd love to help but there is really nothing you can do other than be thankful it's not you with the child that is being a total embarrassment?  Yeah, well that was me with that kid last week.  His name was Dragon and he couldn't have the particular bike he thought he was entitled to and so he chucked a stink.  Then he couldn't' get himself out of it and I had nothing else I could do other than put him on one of the benches outside and assume that eventually he would get over it and join in playing again.  His friend J-Mac was sad because Dragon didn't play with him the whole time.  Dragon was too involved in his "little" meltdown to notice.  We had a BIG talk later about how to deal with those situations and discussed how he could have made better decisions and that night I was dumbfounded.  Lion had something he wanted... I saw his hand raised to strike... he started to swing... he dropped his hand in his lap... "Um, Lion, when you have finished, please may I have a turn?"  WHAT THE????  You mean some of this is actually getting through???  Oh boy did we make a big deal about that good decision.

Monkey... he had put on 400grams at his appointment on Monday.  That kept the doctor happy and he was happy for me to just go see Dr Jenny about his weight and not have multiple appointments over the same thing.  That afternoon he did a 399g poop... okay, I didn't actually weigh it but it was huge.  I had him in the bouncer and I was in the kitchen making my lunch.  He started sooking and I talked to him and called out to him and he got worse and was crying and I was just trying to finish my sandwich making and I sang to him and called to him and finished up and went in there.  The poor kid had a poo-explosion and it was oozing and he'd wiped the back of his hand in it and smeared it all over his clothes and his cheek and he was not happy.  Yet another fine parenting moment from Mummy McTavish.  So, sandwich in the fridge, baby in the bath... crisis fixed.  I think we may have weaned him off his medicine too soon because for the last month I have been getting somewhere between 2 and 3 hours sleep a night... and that is broken sleep.  So the night before last I whipped out the Infant Gaviscon.  I mixed it up, poured it into a bottle and prayed like crazy that this might just work.  He didn't take all 30ml but he got a lot into him (mostly from me squeezing the teat to shoot it into his mouth☺) and then when he went to sleep not long after he stayed asleep... for three hours... then he fed and went back to sleep FOR THREE MORE HOURS!  Last night wasn't so successful but it was better than things have been.  I tried some formula in a bottle again and he drank some of it, probably only about 30ml though.  Still, I'm not worried, he looks healthy, he's running the same track that his brothers did, he's on the charts - it's not like he's fallen off the bottom and he's been a lot more settled during the day.  We will be moving on to solids in the next few weeks though... how can my baby be old enough to have solids?????  His current measurements are Weight - 6.4kg (about 10th percentile), Length - 63.5cm (10th), Head circumference - 45cm (95th percentile)... my baby bobblehead.

Sleep deprivation has meant that there are no photos.  NONE.  I must change that.