Sunday Snapshot

Couldn't help it...

I know I said I wouldn't be back...

But I had to share this little cutie with everyone...

Chillin' in the wheelbarra'

You can't see his shirt properly but it's brand new today (and "off white" already). This is what is on it.

Wolf had seen these shirts but we couldn't find them in a kids size. Any images we found to use to make our own I didn't really like... people on fire... people with limbs missing... not what I really wanted my kids to wear but I did like the idea of the shirt. It seemed suitable for my daredevil copycats. So I designed my own. I am quite pleased with it, especially that I got them finished at 7:30 this morning in time to let them wear their new shirts for church... it's not often we have white shirts that are still white so church seemed like a good place to take a white shirt. That and when Wolf told one of the other men at church that he was thinking of these shirts for the boys the man then came straight up to me and started telling me that I HAD to make them. So the boys made sure they showed him their new shirts, he loved them! I'd be happy to share the design if you ask I just want know where it's going, it is an original image that I created.

We went to the bookfest (big second hand charity book sale) today. I have my babies in October and they put the bookfest on the weekend before. I decide that hey, lets not go to a bookfest 9 months pregnant, we'll have a baby in August to fit around it (okay, not really) and guess what... they move the bookfest. Today was the last day though so unless you wanted trashy romance novels or computing books that were up to date a mere 10 years ago you were pretty much out of luck. Next time, if we can't get there till the last day then I think we'll skip it. We did however get three books for wolf for a whopping $2.70! Bargain.

No, Wolf didn't buy trashy romance novels or out of date computing books, he found some sci-fi rubbish that he likes... just thought I should clarify that point.

So, on the eve of Peach Blossom's birth, this is what my belly looks like... I should have taken the photo at lunch time when PB was right up high and sticking straight out. Even to me, this doesn't look bigger than the last one I showed at 35 weeks.

SO CLOSE!!!

At my baby shower breakfast this morning a lovely friend decided to make me break out in a cold sweat and start to hyperventilate... she informed me that it was only 48 hours to go... it gets REALLY real when you realise that counting in hours is actually an option.

We have three car seats crammed across the back seat of our car which the Ambo man wasn't happy about but was more willing to go with it when I let him know that it is a very temporary measure and when we have a bigger car soon we'll be back to get them moved across. Dragon learnt the hard way that there is no room between the seats and the doors anymore when he got his finger stuck there this afternoon. Three car seats... that made it even more real on Friday.

I have one simple goal for our stay in hospital... that Peach Blossom will NOT get kicked out of the nursery. You know, like my other two children have. They wheel them back in the wee hours of the morning saying something like "we needed to bring him back to your room because Master Lion was keeping the other babies awake, he doesn't need a feed, he's just chatty". I then mumble something incoherent to acknowledge that I realise my baby is back under my care and go back to sleep until it DOES need a feed. After all, these are my last precious hours of sleep for the next 12 months, no need to go disturbing myself too much.

I have the bassinet set up and sheets on it and all now. I sort of packed my hospital bag today. I packed Peach Blossom's nappy bag. Mine has everything I need except things I am still using... like clothes... and iPod... can't forget the iPod. I have terry nappies folded waiting for a tiny little baby butt to put in them, I have some tiny little clothes waiting for a tiny little body, I have muslin wraps waiting to do some baby origami. I have two disposable nappies... left over from nearly three years ago... I'm not holding my breath that they will hold anything much in but I'm sure I can convince someone to grab a new packet at some point. The kid is all set. I hadn't bought any baby bath yet and we are running low on wipes but guess what... they were in the wonderful hamper that my sweet friends gave me this morning. Along with all sorts of yummy stuff for our bodies (mine and PB's) and yummy stuff for our mouths (mine and Wolfs... if he's lucky). There was also this...

That's right folks... an animal print all-in-one nappy! I'm thinking it's giraffe... but I am probably wrong, all I can tell you is it isn't zebra print... my brain is feeling a bit fuddled tonight.

I have added a countdown in the top right corner (it looks messy but I couldn't be bothered fiddling with it to get it looking nice) so that you can figure out when 6am Monday morning falls in whatever time zone you reside in (Mrs Nurse Boy). I'm assuming it will stay counting down to my time zone because that would make sense.

Tell you what... I wish I was able to sleep this relaxed...

I thought he was so sweet just chillin' in his sleep. He has a big band aid on his chin to stop him scratching/licking at his school sore type thing on his chin. He was on antibiotics for his wog he had last week and I didn't particularly want to get him more antibiotics for what we were assuming was a school sore so we wanted to give gentler remedies a try first. The pharmacist suggested an antiseptic cream... I couldn't find any of the three tubes I have around here. I could find a bottle of Dettol. It was gonna hurt, diluted or not. I was almost in tears thinking about putting it on his lip. I needed to put a good spin on it... I wanted to explain that it might hurt because it was doing something good fighting the germs in his sore. Fumbling through the explanation we struck gold... Antiseptic Army Men... fighting Baddy Germ Men. He thought it was great and was thrilled with having such a heated battle raging on his bottom lip. The best thing is it looks like those Antiseptic Army Men are winning the battle and we will have our sweet little lips back to normal soon... except for the big red blotchy bits where he was allergic to the band aid stickiness. Oh well, you can't win them all.

Speaking of not winning them all... no one is winning the name discussion around here. I thought it was all picked and ready but apparently not. So, any suggestions? I think we only need a middle name but I'm just not sure anymore. Here's hoping I don't have to be knocked out completely for any reason because Wolf will name this kid from some weird mythology stories... he's threatened to do it... he reckons he'll even fill out all the official paperwork while I'm still knocked out and post it off before I know what's happened. I think I may even believe him.

If you need something else to pray for please pray that my back (and the rest of me, but mostly my back) will stop aching for a bit between now and when I go in so that I can have some restful sleep and some non-painful cuddles with my little men. They are getting upset at not being allowed to cuddle on my lap (it's been sore for a couple of days now) and that then upsets me because I know I'll have to be REALLY careful once I have a big wound to watch out for so I want to take advantage of all their cuddles now and it's just one big frustration for us around here.

So... I doubt I'll be back on here before the big day. I will read your comments though and see what names you like ☺ I am not getting a chance to even read anyone else posts at the moment so I'll have lots to catch up on next week when I have computer access again... I'll probably get sent home on Thursday or Friday morning from what I can figure out... but I reckon I might be a little bit distracted with another bundle of cuteness around here.

Putting a kid through Uni...

Not one of our children of course. Just one of the random kids that work at our favourite Maccas. And may I pause there to say I realise that saying "favourite maccas" is an oxymoron, it's kinda like talking about "my favourite trip to the school dental van" or "our families favourite bout of gastro" but I am talking about the one round the corner from Wolf's work that we frequent most often. With our current hectic, crazy, insane, busy, disorganised lifestyle we have been frequenting our favourite maccas far too often. This was made obvious to me yesterday when Ruby the drive thru chick (yes, I do know her name... your point is???) commented on the fact that I didn't have my kids in the car. Now, I did have two empty car seats in the back. I do have toys strewn across the entire interior of the car. It was obvious that I was driving a car that usually ferries children and I was driving it alone. But I know that was not what she meant... because last time we went through the drive through, when Dragon wouldn't say hello back to her she said "it's okay, I know you're the shy one". You'd think that would have tipped me off then.

I have been seeing Ruby at this particular maccas since I was in highschool. One of my friends worked there and when we were all hanging out there she would often come and chat to us all but I was pretty sure I was incognito for a few years... and I don't look *exactly* the same... and I am pretty sure she sees about a gazillion people go through the drive thru each week. So I think we may need to cut back. I hope Ruby doesn't miss us too much...

Over the last month or so I am sure that we have paid for the education or a couple of drinking binges for at least one of their maccas minions. Time to cut them off, it is now that we end our fry fixation. Let them leave the nest of our burger bender and spread their wings. I want to work in a hamburger hangup and mcnugget mcneed but my brain can't focus on alliteration for that long.

Who needs a bed?

I had my pre-admission appointment for the hospital this morning. It was for 10:30 and I turned up early hoping that I might get seen early and get out early... no such luck, I didn't get in till 11:00. I was her third appointment for the day... her first had been late to arrive, this made the second late to start and that chick apparently had so many questions the couldn't get through them all. Then in I wander... after her apologies and explanation about her lateness her first question was "is this your first child?" my answer "nope, third"... the look of relief on her face was priceless. We flew through the paperwork, she talked fast for all the stuff that she has to tell me because I've heard it all before, we got to the end, "any questions?" she asks... "nope" I reply. By 11:15 I had left her office, found my way through the rabbit warren that is hospital hallways to a toilet and found my way back out to my car and was leaving. One more appointment to go before this baby comes... car seat fitting at the ambos tomorrow. Oh, and my babyshower breakfast on Saturday morning. For the girls at church we do a full-on baby shower for their first baby in the church hall with all the women from church. After that we do a coffee date of some sort with just the other young mums, very low key and relaxed. For me, that will be breakfast on Saturday at my favourite little cafe near here... I'm looking forward to it!

Have you heard the one about the chicken?

Oh dear... PLEASE, no one ask my two year old what a chicken says... apparently he can't say "cl", he replaces it with an "f" sound... at least he flaps his wings really cutely to distract you.  Sometimes he does say "buck, buck, buck" though.

I just gave the boys a Timtam for dessert... they were on a REALLY good special at Woolworths today so I kinda bought a couple of packets.  Lion was hesitating over which one to pick and I got cranky and told him "they're all the same, just pick one!"  Then I felt terrible immediately... I don't eat the first Timtam in the pack.  I don't know why, I just don't.  I will if it's the last one left but I will start my pack at the second Timtam... it's just the way I roll... I probably should follow my own advice.

I got into the baby's room again today... There is now a useable change table (facing the right way and all) and all the baby clothes are sorted and the whites are all washed and sunbleached and beautiful!  Wanna see them...

And just because there's nothing quite like tiny little baby clothes hanging on the clothes line...

Really, there is nothing like it, getting all fresh and white in the afternoon sun...

LOVE LOVE LOVE IT...

...can you tell???

That's not just newborn size whites, you can probably tell from the size difference of some of the clothes, I think they probably go up to about 8 or 9 months.  We actually have never had all that many newborn size clothes because it seemed silly to me when they grow out of them in a few weeks!  We have had a few good outfits for going out in but around the house it's singlets or "just a bit too big".  We have collected more newborn stuff with each kid though... I realised today that some of this stuff is going to be doing it's 6th baby!  Waste not want not in this family!  Cheetah and Little Bear, Cousin Wilbie and Lion and Dragon have all had a shot at some of these things!  They are all still white for the most part.  It is frustrating to find stuff -that you KNOW was put away clean and fresh- when you get it out has stains that have developed while it has been stored.  I guess that's our climate up here, the tiniest residue of ick stuck in the fabric will grow and develop quite happily with the damp warmth we have for 364 days of the year.  Tomorrow it's the lights, darks and bedding getting washed.

I also got the sling washed and all the coverings for the bassinet and the beautiful crocheted blanket my grandma made when I was expecting Lion.  She was so apologetic that it was a new pattern and she didn't realise it was going to be so huge but it turned out to be just what we needed!

I took it into hospital with me and when the aircon was super cool at night I would get up to feed and I would wrap it around me and around my tiny little Lion and we would both be nice and cozy and comfy.  I took it in again when I had my little Dragon and was so thankful for it again and now it's freshly washed and ready for me to take in again to wrap up my little Peach Blossom and me for the late night feeds.  It is a buttery yellow colour but my camera was insisting I use the flash (I can usually turn it off manually but it just wouldn't today) and I have no editing stuff to fix the colours...

I just paused to put the boys into bed... I know, you noticed didn't you?  We are working through a kids bible that is simple bible stories but all told so that it flows from one story to the next.  Our story tonight was the fulfilment of God's promise to Abraham through his son Isaac and then Isaac's son Jacob and then Jacob's 12 sons...  It then told the story of Joseph being sold into slavery in Egypt.  I stopped at this point because I wanted to check if the kids knew what a slave was.  They didn't so I explained that it was someone who was forced to work very hard for someone else for no pay.  Lion looked up at me horrified, he put his hands tenderly on my face and earnestly told me "But we pay you, Mummy"... Well, I guess at least he realises that I work very hard.

We also had to dose Lion with his antibiotics again... I'm not sure if I'll make the 5 days... EVERY SINGLE TIME I give him a dose Dragon starts begging for medicine too.  He chucks a tanty and cries and screams and sobs that he "just want some medicine".  Poor Lion would give it up if he could, I am sure he doesn't want to be taking it three times a day.

Anyway, tonight... I am folding... not even cute little baby clothes can make that into a fun job.

8 Days to go...

Does that scare anyone else??? No, just me?? I wonder why that is?

*****

Dragon was asking to go outside and I told him that he needs to give me his "precious gems" from his pocket so they don't get lost outside. His reply... "But I will just gaze at them in the sun and see how pretty they sparkle!"

Sure enough he went and sat in the sun and gazed at his precious gems and exclaimed at how beautifully they sparkled and came back inside.

*****

L: Um, I think I will just go visit one of my girlfriends.

MMcT: Oh?

L: Yeah, I will just go out and visit CLNG.

MMcT: Um, how about that waits till daddy gets home and he can keep an eye on you out there.

L: Or how about CLNG comes for a sleepover!

MMcT: Oh, I don't think she's really old enough to go for sleepovers just yet.

I know it's all innocent but hearing "girlfriend" and "sleepover" in the same conversation kinda freaked me out a bit!

*****

I considered naming this post "Why my insanity is not called nesting" but thought I would just quietly share that one... I consider nesting to be the uncontrollable urge to clean... and I do not have that at all, I am managing to control, far more than I should, any urges to clean. I also figured that it is usually doing stuff to get ready for baby... that is something else I am not doing... I am getting ready to not be able to do anything, I don't want my husband to be using my name as a naughty word because I have made it impossible for him to do what he needs to do while I can't. Working on the baby's room is still somewhere on the to-do list.

Would you like to see what our baby room looks like... you would? shhhh, it's a secret I am not sharing with ANYONE. I close the door when we have visitors so no one sees it... it's kind of messy at the moment...

AAAhhhahahahahahahahaha.... complete with pictures of another family on the sweet little table. No, sadly that is not what our baby room will look like when we bring Peach Blossom home. Hopefully it wont look like this either...

Unfortunately though that is what it looks like now. SHHHHHHhhh, don't tell anyone. It didn't look that bad before the workmen needed room to install the air con but it had kind of become the junk room and the shelves on the wall needed to come down (along with all the stuff on them) to make room for the air con and all the furniture needed to be packed against one side and it's just one of those messes that you don't want to deal with. Under that big old fit ball under the window is the bassinet. That will be easy to get out and with that is all the smallest of the baby clothes. I reckon one load through the washing machine should have them done and that's pretty much what I HAVE to get done before this baby comes home. I have been trying to figure out how all this stuff has qualified for "baby's room" status. I think I have figured it out.

Baby #1. Still plenty of room in the house, spare room and office are separate rooms so we consolidate into one and NOTHING BUT THE BABY STUFF goes in the baby's room.

Baby #2. Office moves to the garage and spare room is no longer an option. Kid #1 has their own room and Baby #2 has their own room. But in the shake up things have been displaced and now need to be put somewhere. You have realised that Baby #1 didn't use the entire room, he was only little after all and was in there to sleep, drink and get his bottom changed. That leaves a lot of room that can store stuff.

Baby #3 is on the way so kid #1 & #2 are crammed into one room which displaces MORE stuff, you have also accumulated more stuff and hand-me-downs in waiting need to be stored somewhere and toys for the in-between stages need to be stored somewhere and really, you probably did over estimate how much room a baby needs so it all goes into the baby's room.

Baby #3 is 11 days away from being born and you start to wonder if perhaps you hadn't overestimated how much room a baby needs after all.

I'm not sure what my plan of attack for that room is yet but most likely it will involve putting stuff in boxes to stack in a corner and ignore until later. My first job will be to clean off the recliner so I can at least be comfortable while I sort it out.

I figured if I was nesting I would have a sorted and cleaned baby's room with cot ready made and covered with a dust sheet and clothes ready in the drawers (I did that for baby #1) and be moving on to scrubbing walls and re-caulking the tiles and stuff (didn't do that for baby #1)... not doing what I should have done while I was far more capable and now it's just out of desperation to not see the house fall down around me that I am cleaning.

I am also trying to keep up with something a friend is doing... throwing out/donating 10 things every day in August. I must admit, some days I do, some days I don't. Usually though on the days I do get my 10 things the number swells to WELL above the 10. If it sounds like a good idea to you, give it a go for even just a week, it feels really good. If you need a place to get started look in the drawers and cabinets in your bathroom! I had 10 things in less than 5 minutes and HEAPS more space. Hmmm, I wonder if I can find 10 things in that baby's room...

I'll let you know... if I ever find my way back out!

*****

I started this post a few days ago after everyone seemed to think I was nesting and I was pretty sure a nesting woman would have at least made sure she had somewhere to put her newborn when it comes home in less than two weeks. Anyway, I then couldn't post it because I was too horrified to show what the baby's room looked like without having made any progress on it. I now have made some progress and have all the furniture roughly where I think I want it this time (although admittedly I wasn't paying much attention and the change table is facing the wrong way thus rendering it almost unusable... you know, once I get all the junk off it that is currently rendering it completely unusable).

I was relieved to discover most of the hand-me-downs I have just stashed quickly aside are folded and all ready to be sorted into sizes and put in the boxes under Lion's bed. The rest of it is still a HUGE job but little by little I'll get it done. The last urgent job that I need to do in the rest of the house is finish sorting the boys toys I have moved from the playroom out to the garage so that the car can be pulled back into the garage.

*****

Last random bit for this post... We got the boys checked for swine flu today. I was looking back at photos from when I was pregnant with Dragon and thought Lion and I looked TERRIBLE. Then I remembered my knack for getting sick in the final weeks... about 2 weeks to go while pregnant with Lion I got a mild gastro bug. About 2 weeks to go while pregnant with Dragon both Lion and I got a not-so-mild gastro bug... REALLY not so mild in my poor little Lion. I was determined we would all be healthy this time. NO GASTRO! and guess what... no one has gastro... thankfully no one has swine flu either. But we are dropping like flies... First Lion, then Dragon, then me, now Wolf. I am pretty much better. Wolf has a mancold so he's at death's door. Lion is battling a horrible cough but not swine flu and Dragon, well, it's hard to say. He certainly has a cough but it often gets better and worse at convenient times so it's hard to pick what's real and what's not. Lion is on antibiotics but the Doc didn't think Dragon needed them, Wolf is on over the counter meds and I am just plain going crazy.

So tonight I put my 3 sick boys to bed at 8:00 and I have had a lovely quiet house to myself. Now we only have to get through the next 8 days gastro free and I will be one happy Mummy McTavish!

I love daddy.

Lion and Dragon trying to get the remote figured out on the camera...

I really miss daddy.






I love daddy and I really miss him.






I miss daddy.






I really love daddy.







I miss daddy and I really love him.







This is all so very sweet... and I love his daddy and I miss his daddy but guess what... I'm not sure if I can handle hearing this ad nauseum until his daddy comes home tomorrow afternoon.




This has been Lion's response to daddy's weekend away.




Dragon's response has been to become more clingy and needy than he normally is.




More cuddly I can handle, clingy and needy is totally different.




I had my most freaky pregnant dream yet, I think it was brought on by the fact that Wolf wasn't here. This one was even pregnancy related. I gave birth! I did make sure I went over with Wolf what would happen if I went into labour while he was away (even though I realised this was incredibly unlikely) and the dream was so unrealistic but I still lay awake for half an hour afterwards waiting for a contraction. Thankfully that didn't happen. The dream though was weird. I had a 20 minute labour on the side of a very public indoor pool and gave birth to twins when I was only expecting one. Then I woke up in a panic so I can't go any further than that. This is something that I wonder about often... not that I will have twins that I didn't know I was expecting but it happened to my friends mum and I have always wondered how you would handle that surprise... you get everything ready for your one baby and you go into labour and get to hospital and the midwife informs you that you will be having twins today. This was before ultrasounds so I get the impression it happened a bit more then. Anyway, her mum survived and my friend and her sister turned out reasonably normal (Hi C, ☺ ).

So I have never had a dream before where I gave birth (to a human baby) but last night I had two babies!



We'll see what I dream about tonight...




For now I will go and cuddle my boys and listen a few more times to the "I love daddy, I miss daddy" symphony and try not to cry because it's so sweet.

We don't wanna...

be on an airplane today.

Oh boy... Mummy had to come up with some similar trick ploy scheme fun naptime activity and quickly! We all had a late night (second day this week) and I needed them to have a slightly early nap because I have an appointment right when nap time would usually be wrapping up. We read a Tonka book for their story. If you have boys and don't have any Tonka books you are missing out! They help silly mums learn the differences between all the machines (it's a steep learning curve for me) and the added bonus is that you can read just the left hand pages and the book still makes sense and is heaps shorter! So back to what I was saying... we read a Tonka book and I thought I could get away with letting them pick which machine they wanted to be and then they had to close their eyes and sleep while they went along the assembly line to be made into that machine and they would wake up as a bulldozer and a forklift. It wasn't soooo successful, but still not the dramatics that an early nap usually brings (usually I don't even try, I let them skip their naps on those sort of days but with a late night it couldn't be skipped, they were beat and getting crankier by the second).

I will warn you here that this post is spanning a day. It has been written in little bits and pieces so sorry if it's a bit confusing.

I am taking them with me to the bank for my appointment... with a container of food and a pen each and some paper... and maybe some gaffer tape. I was told it would be a quick appointment so I figure this way it guarantees it doesn't it? This lady isn't going to want them in there any longer than she has to, they are good boys for this sort of thing (they amaze me with their good behaviour usually) but everyone has their limits. I'll probably bribe them with some nice healthy McDonald's shakes if they are really good.

I must remember to chug some tonic water tonight before bed. I feel like I've run a marathon but only with one of my calves. I think I woke up four or five times last night with cramps in that calf muscle, it's very sore and tired today. I actually liked drinking tonic water this pregnancy and have needed it less than with the other two. I had a glass a night while pregnant with Lion and I had to mix so much cordial into it so I could stand it. With dragon I needed a glass a night as well but I managed to just chug it down fast. This time I don't mind the taste of it (yet normal water is tasting yucky???) but I have had relatively few cramps. Until last night I guess.

The boys were amazingly brilliantly behaved at the bank this afternoon. The lady we spoke to commented on their behaviour right away when we walked into her office (she had seen them waiting for about 10 minutes outside being really good) and she got them out some pictures to colour in. Then when we left she was so impressed with their wonderful behaviour that she gave them each a set of colouring pencils and a money box. Woohoo boys!!! Very proud of my boys behaviour!

The boys were playing out on the patio this afternoon colouring it in with chalk. All of a sudden I hear..."Look at me, I'm a ball, someone, throw me"... "or kick me". It's just one of those things that you need to check on. Sure enough Dragon was laying on his back on the concrete, knees pulled to his chest, hands over his eyes acting very ball-like. Thankfully Lion didn't take him up on the offer of a kick. Unfortunately he didn't stay long enough for me to take a photo and wouldn't do it a second time. I can't help but think that he didn't quite think through the repercussions of his quest for ball-likeness.

I'll leave you with an insight into our marriage. I know Wolf loves me because he sends me sweet emails from work during the day. Usually inspired by things that have happened over his day. Sweet things like this fake email from his "publishing company". I reckon he has a career in book cover design, I know I saw this and straight away wanted to buy it!

Hi Guys,

Just thought you may be interested in this new release from my new publishing company.

He sent it around to a few folk in the other shops/head office but had to be careful because he was pretty sure that some of the managers might have not taken it as a joke and tried to order a carton lot!

His inspiration came from a customer coming in asking "Do you have a face like a potato". YES REALLY!!! Eventually it turned out the customer wanted a book called "Face like a Potato". Wolf questioned him as to whether it was possibly "FAITH like Potatoes" that he was after he insisted that no, it was FACE like a potato. Wolf showed him "Faith like Potatoes" anyway and he conceded that yes, that was the right book and purchased it.

Another weekend...

another to-do list hardly touched.

I managed to get the dishwasher to run a couple of times, I kept the family fed, I put the washing machine on once, no one went naked, no one starved, no one got injured... not seriously anyway.

I did manage to achieve one thing that has been on the list for a while and needed to be done soon... like within the next 5 weeks. Since that list item was an arty-farty belly shot and after 5 weeks my belly will be more saggy-baggy than arty-farty.


It was a bit of a challenge. Since I had to do it myself. The editing took less time than the shoot. Not really happy with the shots I got as many of them were out of focus since I was using the remote for the camera and not quite able to see exactly where it was pointing or focusing but this was my favourite that was in focus so it was the one I played with.

So with 5 weeks to go from tomorrow things are getting even freakier... Baby's room - not at all ready for a baby. Mummy's brain - not at all ready for a baby. Baby's clothes - not at all ready for a baby. Daddy's brain - not at all ready for a baby. Big brothers - well, they are probably the most prepared of all... that's kinda scary in itself.

Apart from being so totally in love with this little bundle that is growing so quickly I am getting heartburn more frequently, getting more hardcore braxton hicks - perhaps I should write him another letter, getting more and more scary dreams.

The latest scary dream was so scary that I'm not sure I should share it... really, it had me freaked and I keep thinking about it all day every day since... it keeps coming back to me at the most inopportune times... freaking me out... making me nervous... making me itchy.

Yes, my latest freaky pregnant dream was that I had nits. LOTS of nits. My head was crawling with lice, I could see them on my pillow, I keep thinking about them and getting itchy, I am itchy now just writing this. I might go check my head AGAIN.

Pregnancy, parks, girly movies and John Calvin.

I have so much to get done.  But I'm blogging instead.  Pregnancy hormones are getting the best of me lately.  I am not a nice person to be around.  At the start of this pregnancy I noticed that the censor function of my brain was either not functioning or was taking too long to kick in and I was at a high risk of saying the things that you are supposed to keep in your own head.  Once it was noted, I just had to analyse everything a bit more carefully before I let it come out... "is this something I would have said 6 months ago?"

Problem is, now the censor function is still not working properly but I am also getting very intolerant.  With Wolf, with the boys, with everyone.  So now, I am not caring if I say those things that I should censor.  I know it's not me and I will return to normal but I am turning into a grumpy old woman.  I am getting cranky at my kids so easily, I am getting frustrated with Wolf doing things that are just what he does every other day of the year but for some reason they are really annoying at the moment.  I know he is being incredibly patient with me right now, he'd probably like to put me in a cupboard and only take me back out after the first month of new baby hormones has passed.  Thing is I am being a martyr and thinking well so he should be patient with me because I am being patient with him because he's done this and this and this and this and it's all just me feeding my crankypants brain.  I can recognise it and I am apologising to him and to the boys for my stupidity over and over but I just wish I could switch it off.

On the cute side of it though, Dragon seems to have learnt something...  This morning the boys and I were having a heated discussion about eating a banana and going down for a nap.  They insisted they should have lunch (only 2 hours after breakfast) and not have to have a nap.  Mummy got cranky after they kept disagreeing with me and refusing to cooperate and eventually when things settled down I explained that they just needed to do as mummy asked and not fight it.

MMcT:  "Do you know why mummy tells you to do these things?"

Dragon: "Not perfect"

So if he has picked up anything from the crazy hormonal mummy it's that she's not perfect.  Still I was more after the "mummy knows best" or "mummy wants what's best for you" type answer.

Our holiday away has ended up being a lot shorter than expected.  $$$ played a big part in that but we managed to find a place that was in Cairns instead of Atherton but was only $80 a night for the 4 of us!!!  Then the card that we needed to use to pay wasn't the one with the money in it so by the time I had fixed that up for some reason the price had gone up $10 a night and they only had rooms left with 4 single beds instead of a double and 2 single.  Oh well, it's cheap, we'll have our own little kitchenette, we will still be able to get up to Atherton and Kuranda, we are just going for 3 nights instead of 4 or 5 like I thought we would and we are not in some secluded little bungalow somewhere like I really wanted.  Still, it's a holiday!!!!!  (see, I'm not totally a crankypants).

The council has re-done at great expense the park over the road from Grannysaurus' house.  It WAS a really little kid friendly park with ramps and slides and swings and stuff.  So they tore that out and they spent heaps of money on a lawsuit waiting to happen!  It's got gravel paths that are on quite a steep slope, the climbing frame looks like it was designed by someone that didn't realise kids under 10 ever used playgrounds.  Lion (unprompted) told us that he didn't think it was as good as the old playground.  Dragon could only use one piece of the play equipment and Lion needed close supervision on all but one piece.  There is no slide, no swings, still only one gazebo and is just generally dodgy.  But the day they took the construction fence down we went across to try it out.  I didn't want to get the other kids there in the photos so I got mostly rubbish photos but here's a couple of my cute little monsters...

 

Monkey boy hanging from the climbing frame.

The cutest cop in town.

Did you know that yesterday it was 500 years since John Calvin was born?  I know, that just changed your life!  Anyway, our church is having a "Calvin Conference" this weekend.  Wolf is there this afternoon and tonight we are both going to the dinner to listen to the speaker.  The boys are going to Aunty Chimera's (which they are very excited about) and Wolf and I are heading off to enjoy a nice meal and a bit of learnin'.  I am a bit worried.  At first I was excited because it is Indian for dinner!  YUM.  Then I started thinking about that and realised that it is NOT going to be good for my heartburn.  I'll have the Rennies with me and hope that I survive.

Oh, and remember these friends, with their girly girl movie taste?  Well I had lunch with them on Friday and one was SOOOO excited... Her box set of "Dr Quinn Medicine Woman" DVD's had turned up... ALL 45 OF THEM!!!!  I tuned out of the conversation for a bit when that came up.

Today's the day the teddy bears have their...

HAIRCUTS!!!!!

Lion, Dragon and I all had haircuts today... two of us at the 'airdressa' and one the back patio sitting on a kitchen chair with a booster seat made of phone books... I got mine done at the hairdresser so you can let me know which of the boys you think I sheared at home.

The boys were fighting so bad yesterday... if they weren't strapped in their car seats they would have been slingin' fists at each other! So what was it over? I hear you ask... Who loves cousin Cheetah more. Seriously. I thought that maybe they thought he was the only boy cousin since we don't see cousin Dragon much so I reminded them they have two boy cousins and although I'm glad they love Cheetah so much there's no need to fight over him and of course I should have expected the results... they started fighting over who loves cousin Dragon the most. Fun times. I hope Cheetah and Dragon are feeling very loved right now.

Aunty Mum-me however, I am sorry to say they didn't want to ring you to sing happy birthday, they didn't want to do a video of singing it to send you, they didn't even want to sing it to you... they did, however, sing happy birthday over and over again to the scented candle that was on our table for dinner. Not related to birthday candles, no confusion at all... the song went "Happy birthday to you, candle. Happy birthday to you, candle". But Happy Birthday from all of us. I am guessing you would probably rather I sang to the candle instead of you since I don't sing well at the best of times and now my head is all clogged up too.

Yep, that's right... remember this... "it turns out mine wasn't a cold"... from yesterday. Yeah well, being used as a human hanky for a week will make you catch a cold. My kids have been randomly wiping snot on me and my clothes and all that sort of ickyness since they got this so I should have known it was only a matter of time. I am loving my homeopathic cold stuff. Other than the fact that it's all I'm allowed to take when I'm pregnant, it actually works better than the regular cold and flu treatments. The gem of the human hanky performances came this morning. Dragon was on my lap watching TV and he turned to face me, grabbed my head with his hands and came in close to tell me something... he started to talk and I am going to assume that he was about to tell me he loves me because that somehow makes me feel better about the whole thing but I'll never know because he never finished... he coughed on me... about 3 inches from my face... I got the breeze... and all the green lugies... all over my face, in my mouth, EVERYWHERE! YUCK.

I made the boys some hankies out of flannelet last winter (with our last major bout of colds) so that their little noses didn't get too raw from all the blowing. I didn't hem them though so that they were completely soft and nice but unfortunately that has meant they didn't really survive very well. I trundled off to spotlight yesterday to buy some more flannelet and I couldn't find any remnants like last year so I looked in the full priced stuff and I found this...

Isn't it cute? It's been hard to get Dragon to blow his nose on anything other than me. He'll happily pick it all day long and just in case you are wondering, hands that have played in the dirt all day at camp + fingers constantly up the nose = black boogers. I thought having the nice soft hanky would work. He still didn't want to blow it. Until the pirates started taunting him and teasing him that they didn't think he could get his boogers on their heads... He rose to the challenge and boogered them good. Of course we have to look at our boogers to make sure they got the pirates and we have to look at our brothers boogers to make sure he got the pirates but hey, the more that goes on the pirates the less that goes on me. Wolf says I should photoshop in a big green snotty booger on the hanky picture but I thought that might be just a bit too far.

I have a friend that thinks she's funny. She is on the blogroll "if on a winters night a traveller". For my birthday this week she got me "iPod and iTunes for Dummies". I came straight home and read it. She knows me too well. I also got a cake at playgroup because my other friend (who sometimes comments as "Kate" or "Aunty Wilbie") was on morning tea and made a really yummy cake with the help of little Wilbie.

My favourite present was Wolf shaving off his prickly beard for me! YAY! I probably kissed him more in the first two days after shaving it than in the months he's been growing it... I hope that was incentive enough to keep it gone! He also got me a Best of Simon and Garfunkel CD which is making drowning out the boys fights in the back of the car over their cousins so much more pleasant. Problem is without my computer which has my iTunes on it I can't get it onto my iPod... The book didn't solve all my problems!

My belly is at the "moves by it's self" stage. Not the little kicks that are only noticeable if you actually have your hand on my belly, it's the ones that make my belly dance with no outside assistance and are noticeable by the general public now. That's not to say that the general public hasn't occasionally put their creepy hands on my belly but now they can see that YES THERE IS A BABY IN THERE without actually touching me. I don't mind friends touching my belly, that's fine. It's the creepy old men in the shops that give it a rub for good-luck or the weird chicks that think it's perfectly okay to poke it and exclaim "oh, you're like a little lollipop aren't you" or "I bet that's going to be a big one" seriously ladies, you don't even know how far along I am, I could be 2 weeks overdue and scared that I am going to have a teeny tiny baby and you have just said the most insensitive thing to me or I could just be totally normal for my dates (which I am) and you are just wanting to touch me for some weird reason so you say the first brainless thing that pops into your head as a way to justify contact.

This last one is from ages ago but I keep forgetting to blog it... I am starting to wonder if Dragon might be getting a little too into his Bob the Builder when I went to kiss him goodnight and I heard him mumble in his sleep "resueresueresue"... "what was that sweetie?" I whisper... "reduce, reuse, recycle, reduce, reuse, recycle". I just remembered that now because he is singing Happy Birthday in his sleep, no, Aunty Mum-me, not to you this time either:(

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MUM-ME!

oh, and I did Lion's hair at home... Dragon begs to go to the 'airdressa' and Lion cannot stand it! I usually let Lion miss every second haircut but when I turned up at kindy this morning to a sign saying there had been a headlice incident I decided I'd just do it at home this afternoon. If I have to go searching through it for nits I'd rather there was less to search through.

Peach Blossom Update

Dear Mr Braxton Hicks,

They are not painless and you'd better be thankful I can't get to you (mostly because you're dead) because I'm sick of these stupid things already (it's been about a day but I still have WEEKS left).





I know I shouldn't blame you because something has your name but REALLY, I'm pretty sure you had a hand in naming them, WHY would you name something that women don't like after yourself? Now if you had discovered something good then sure, name if after yourself so that women like you by association. But instead you strike fear into the wombs of first time mums, you just annoy other pregnant women as they try to go about their business with their lady bits running off and doing their own thing and you just make me cranky. "Usually painless", bah humbug, I've never had a painless one yet.





Contorted in discomfort,


Mummy McTavish

************

In other pregnancy news... Nothing has changed except my girth. 25 weeks tomorrow. Next OB appointment is on Friday and he'll send me for my icky glucose test and some other blood work then. 5 weeks till I have my pre-admission appointment at the hospital where we do the birth plan. Mine is pretty straightforward... "I come in, you chop me open, you take my baby out and you give it back to me all cleaned up." I need to get a tour of the new hospital though so I'll book that then and I'll get my first Bounty Bag of freebies :) My leg cramps have gone for now which is nice, with the other two bubs from about 20 weeks I was having about 300ml of tonic water each night before bed or I would wake up with every muscle from my toes to my armpits contorted and tangled in pain. I had about a week and a half of that and it seems to have gone for a bit YAY.





We are getting LOTS of kicks, Peach Blossom is very particular about how I should sleep and sit and stand and how much I should eat and insists that I go to the toilet every 30seconds or it'll give me a big old belt in the bladder. It's just as active as Lion and Dragon were at this point so I'm expecting another little carbon copy when we meet this one.





I am starting to prepare my mind for another reflux baby, I have no reason to believe this one will be free from it. I am trying to remember everything we did so that I can put it into place BEFORE we have a problem instead of being in tears and thinking "oh, that's right, such and such worked last time". I have decided I will speak to the pediatrician while I am still in hospital instead of ringing her in tears 3 weeks in to tell her I can't make it to the 6 week appointment and neither can my sweet little baby. I will find out what course of action we will take while I am still in the hospital and just pray that we will have a reflux free baby and never have to use our action plan. I DO NOT want to medicate again and I think what we learnt with Lion meant that Dragon managed with over the counter stuff instead of the prescription medicine like my poor Lion had to deal with. So we will now have 2 babies worth of knowledge plus what Chimera learnt with Little Bear to put into action to keep this one free from reflux. I really don't want to watch another of my babies go through such horrible discomfort again.

*************

On another note...


Cousin Wilbie has to go into hospital for an operation on Monday. Something is wrong and has been for a while and it could be something simple to fix but it could be something trickier and nastier. They have done all the tests and now the only way to know for sure is to go and have a look. It's "only" day surgery but still more than a 1 year old needs. Please pray that it is all taken care of on Monday and he will have no lasting problems from this. His mummy would also like prayer for the bit where he has to fast for the WHOLE morning. The boy likes his food!


Cousin Wilbie is the cutest 1 year old boy on the face of the earth! I know you may think otherwise (if you happen to have a 1 year old boy of your own) but you'll just have to deal with it. This photo was from a while ago but all the recent shots are on the 2 broken computers. This was cousin Wilbie's interpretation of "green day" at playgroup on the day we did Lion and Dragon's "green day" photo shoot that makes up the blog header. He's one of those kids that you just need a cuddle from whenever you see them! He's so darn cute! Thank goodness he likes to give me cuddles (most of the time).

Stuff

Oh Boy, hormones are having fun with me today...

I started crying today watching Cars. You know, the movie. Lion and Dragon wanted to watch it and once I got the dishwasher on and dinner to the point where it had to sit until Wolf came home. So I sat down to watch what is usually a funny movie with the boys. I think I may have seen it a few too many times when I was in the kitchen cleaning and I was anticipating some of my favourite lines. Anyway, the boys were in top form, turns out Dragon didn't want to watch Cars so he repeatedly annoyed Lion to the point where they were screaming at each other when to resolve the situation all Lion had to do was call me to set Dragon straight. So it was a really quite a touching little scene in our lounge room and I can completely understand how I would be holding back tears when McQueen is pushing The King across the line because "The King should finish his last race" uh, tearing up again...

Actually I started crying a couple of times, I just cant' remember what the other time was.

My dinner ended up on the not so clean floor tonight and I ate it anyway. Not right off the floor, I put it up on my plate again. My plate that didn't break when it hit the tiles. My replaceable plate that didn't breat but chipped the stuck to the floor cant be replaced real easily tile. But what horrified me more than chipping the tile was the fact that I had not wanted to waste my yummy bit of chicken so much that I had picked it up of the floor and ate it. I think 4 1/2 years of living with grotty little boys has started to rub off on me.

Lion was getting a rave review from one of his kindy teachers today. He and another kid made a pirate ship out of the blocks. Not a little pirate ship, one that was longer than they are tall. A completely symmetrical pirate ship. That is very unlike my little haphazard little man. His teachers reckon when it comes to construction type activities he often places himself in the leadership role but in other activities he is quite happy to go along with someone else taking control. I hope he keeps that skill. I like that he can be a leader if it's called for but can accept the leadership of his peers. So proud of my little man.

So to finish here are some biscuits the boys and I made about a week ago. I know, I know, ours are totally rockin' compared to those ones on the recipe card ;)

It's a........

BABY

I know, I'm funny aren't I? Well, Lion thinks I'm having a woodpecker... mmmhmmm... I don't know where he got that from either.

So anyway, I kinda get confused with people I'm not related to flashing about their ultrasound photos... all babies look the same in those things. They don't even really look like babies. If you have twins or more in there then hey, I'll have a look if you're showing... or if you really do have a woodpecker I'd be just as interested as the rest of the world but generally, sorry, I'm not going to get all gooey over an alien looking creature in a fuzzy out of focus photo. But for the family who I EXPECT to get all gooey over OUR alien looking creature in this fuzzy out of focus photo here it is....

That's it's massive head (as my little bobble-headed babies are known for) with it's arm up protecting it's true identity (perhaps it is a woodpecker). AND THAT'S THE UMBILICAL CORD! You don't think I'd be that careless do you?

Peach Blossom Update

Figured I should do a pregnancy update for the family that reads this since it's a new little grandie/nephew/niece or whatever they may want to know what's going on...

We have our BIG scan on Wednesday. Usually at 18-20 weeks I am bucking the trend and going at 21 1/2 weeks (with the assurance from a ultrasound performing friend that it is perfectly okay since the doc just said "before your next visit") I'm pretty sure they'll do one of those weird ones where you get to see the baby in 3D as well as doing all the normal measurements and checks and stuff.

We are at 21 weeks today so we are into the downward slope, I have my next OB appointment on Friday.

Morning sickness has been coming back slowly but it seems to have hit again with a vengeance the last couple of days with dizzy spells and nausea. YAY. Still at least I got a bigger than 2 week break this time unlike with Lion and Dragon.

Plenty of kicking happening. Wolf can now feel the kicks but the boys aren't patient enough to wait for a kick. Dragon sticks his finger in my belly button then pulls it out screaming telling me that Spiker bit him. Have I said that the boys are sure we will call this baby Spiker? Yeah, I'm not so thrilled with that name but we haven't come up with any better alternatives yet so it's still in the running.

I keep meaning to get a pregnant photo where you can actually see my "fat fat fatty belly" as my darling boys call it. Still even if I had taken one it would have been on one of the dodgy computers right now anyway.

So, we still don't know what flavour baby we are having but we are probably not going to tell anyone when we find out anyway.

I think that's all as far as updating goes, I'll see if I can get some computer time later in the week to update on the two appointments once we have had them.

♪I've got that Hippo feeling♬

I know I portray on here that I am so close to perfect it's scary (stop that snickering) but I thought I would share with you that even I have my moments...

Today I went shopping in my nice new maternity top (that still looks like a bit of a swag but it's better than nothing). I was feeling less like a hippo and more like a normal (rather round) person. I got home after an hour or so shopping, picking Lion up from kindy, BEING SEEN IN PUBLIC BY LOTS OF PEOPLE, I was eating my dinner when I felt something scratching my back... you guessed it, I still had the tag attached to the shirt, and I'm pretty sure the fluro yellow "SALE" tag if not the ENTIRE tag was visible through the fabric. Oh well, I'm back to that hippo feeling.

Now it's back to your not so regularly and not at all scheduled posts.

Since it's been Easter the boys and I have been singing the Colin Buchanan song "He Died Upon the Cross" a fair bit. The other day we got into a bit of a discussion about the song. Here's the lyrics as best I can remember them...

He died upon the cross.
He died upon the cross.
He died upon the cross.
For me, for me, for, just for me.

One day when I was lost,
He died upon the cross,
He died upon the cross,
For me, for me, for, just for me.

They laid him in the grave,
They laid him in the grave,
They laid him in the grave,
For me, for me, for, just for me.

One day when I was lost,
He died upon the cross,
He died upon the cross,
For me, for me, for, just for me.

He rose up from the dead,
He rose up from the dead,
He rose up from the dead,
For me, for me, for, just for me.

One day when I was lost,
He died upon the cross,
He died upon the cross,
For me, for me, for, just for me.

He's coming back again,
He's coming back again,
He's coming back again,
For me, for me, for, just for me.

So, all the questions started flowing...

"Mummy, what's a grave?" So we had discussed the tomb where they put Jesus body but there was no connection between Jesus death and any other death. It's the first time I have been thankful that my kids have experienced death. I was able to explain what happens with someone body after they die because Lion still remembers his Great-great-grandma's funeral. So we went through the special wooden box at the front of the church was for holding her body because she didn't need it anymore, then we went to a place called a cemetery and there was a big hole dug in the ground and they lowered the special box into the hole and they covered it all up and then it wasn't just a hole in the ground it was a grave. A grave is where someones body is buried after they die because they don't need their body anymore. But sometimes it's not a hole in the ground, for Jesus body they had a big hole in a rock with a giant stone to cover the entrance to the hole, usually we call that a tomb, it's a type of grave. They didn't realise Jesus would still be using his body for a little bit longer so they put him in a grave because they thought he was going to stay dead.

Dragon sings "Laid in grave, Jesus still need 'is body, laid in grave, for me, for me, for me, for me, for me, for me, for me, for me,..."

Lion asks why it says we are lost. So then I explain it's not talking about being lost on a street like mummy sometimes gets lost when we are looking for a new place, or being lost in the shops when you can't find your mummy or daddy but it means when we aren't friends with Jesus we are lost. Jesus died for us even though we weren't his friends because he knew that was the only way that he could make us his forever friends.

Dragon sings "one daaaay when I was looooost in the shops, Jesus died on the croooooss for me, for me, for me, for me, for me, for me, for me,..."

So a few more deep questions came out that I can't remember now. It was lovely, I am wondering however, if we'll need to have the same discussion again in a year or so to clear it all up for Dragon again.

Mind if I complain a little?

My boys are growing up. Wolf only realised on Sunday night that Lion is full time at school for prep next year. Dragon REALLY wants to go to kindy and I told him he will go next year (because mummy can't let go of him sooner than that) and Wolf asked if I was thinking just one day a week and would it be a day that Lion went and I had to inform him that Lion would in fact be at school EVERY DAY next year. *sniff, sob, hang on while I compose myself again* "Oh", says Wolf. Yep, that's how I feel too. "Oh".

Now, to designers of maternity clothes... If I MUST wear a tent to cover my ever expanding girth please can you make it more like one of those cute little tents that the trendy campers use and not something resembling a Drover's swag? PLEASE?

To Ernest Hillier - making chocolate does not a chocolatier make. That name is reserved for companies (is calling them artists taking it too far?) that make stuff that tastes GOOD, tasting like chocolate would be a start. Your bunnies taste yucky and I will no longer be snatching little pieces of my sons bunny each time I open the fridge door. Thankfully we have a fridge full of real chocolate so I will not be forced to stop my consumption all together.

It's not all complaining today... I did mention to Lion this morning that I was going to stop him from growing up and put him back in nappies and in a cot so he would stay little and he looked a little shocked till her found his "out"...

"But Mum, I still give you kisses!"

and he planted a big one on my cheek. I think I'll let him grow up after all.

Of Lipstick and Chocolate

This afternoon I had the thought "No, it's mean to get the video camera out to record your two year old crying his heart out because he cant find your lipstick (chapstick) sobbing "lipdik do-do-done" (lipstick gone)"




I regret that thought.




Pregnant hormones make you forget weird things...

Like forgetting how on earth the dried mixed herbs ended up in the fridge when you are sure you remember getting it out of the cupboard and putting it in the bag you needed to take to your cooking demonstration 2 days earlier. Although not being able to find it when you got to the cooking demo should have given you a hint that something was wrong.

Like forgetting that last night you got the last of a packet of chocolate out of the fridge with the last of the peanut butter balls to help you watch Scrubs and then ate the peanut butter balls and left the chocolate sitting there. Finding your four year old sitting on the couch COVERED in chocolate and holding the empty packet when you woke up this morning should have given you a hint that something was wrong there too.

Yep, happens to everybody.


Thanks to Jonny's Mummy for making me think about peanut butter balls constantly since her post until I figured out how to make them on the weekend.

It's the hormones

It's the pregnant hormones that made me burst into tears when Eternal Flame by the Bangles came on the radio. TOTALLY THE HORMONES!

It's the hormones that made me burst into tears when I saw the Huggies ad that made me remember that the Huggies ad used to make me cry when I was pregnant with Dragon. TOTALLY THE HORMONES!

It's the hormones that made me burst into tears when I saw a duckling because I remembered the tissue ad with the duckling on it that I cried over when I was pregnant with Lion. TOTALLY THE HORMONES!

It's the hormones that made me burst into tears when I ran out of Gouda cheese yesterday. TOTALLY THE HORMONES!

It's the hormones that made me burst into tears when Lion said "It's so lovely that all the butterflies have come to play in our garden to make my sore foot better". TOTALLY THE HORMONES!

It's the hormones that made me burst into tears at 3am when I realised that I didn't have anything ready for dinner that night. TOTALLY THE HORMONES! (because it wasn't like I had 15 hours to come up with something was it?)

It's the hormones that made me burst into tears when the really yummy truss tomatoes were even cheaper than regular tomatoes. TOTALLY THE HORMONES!

Okay, do we all have that clear??? TOTALLY THE HORMONES!