The grunt years

Many years ago I gave birth to a gorgeous baby boy. He was the light of my life, he always had something interesting (well he thought it interesting) to share with me, he laughed a lot, he even thought I was funny. He loved hanging out with me, he like to bring his friends home to meet me.

Recently that boy went missing. In his room there is another boy who lives there, he answers almost all enquiries with a grunt or meh or whatev', and heaven forbid his friends coming to our house, or even meeting us. All the experts say that I can expect this boy to live in my boy's room for about two or three years, then my old boy will in all likelihood come back.

Universe, if you are listening, I am praying for patience. Really. Praying. Hard !! I long for the day when I ask "how was your day Mate?" and get more than a grunt in reply ;)

Nobody warns you about teenagers when you decide to have a baby, I guess if they did people might be less interested in the whole affair :)

Foto Friday

It was my birthday a few weeks ago, and Hayley decided that to make it a special occasion she needed to put on a pretty dress, and make sure that I had music to listen to. She happily played Happy Birthday, then moved through her small repetoire. So sweet!

Typing wounded

Hmm and I thought it would be a good idea to get the kids to cook one night each during the week. It appeals to my laziness to be able to sit back and play on the internet while supervising dinner being cooked. What a shame the reality doesn't line up with the fantasy ;)

Last night it was Kels turn to cook, but she still requires more hands on help, so I was slicing veggies using a Zyliss slicer and I managed to slice off a part of my finger too - ouch!! It was quite a deep slice, although nothing requiring stitches, but painful nonetheless.

Also bad was the fact that even though I was slicing a zuchini when the incident occurred, just prior to that I was slicing an onion, and of course I didn't rinse the onion juices off before starting on the zuchini. Man that smarts....

Then to add insult to injury this morning while making my bed my fingernail snagged in the blanket as I was snapping it tight and ripped off and flew accross the room. Both injuries on my right hand, both stupid and avoidable, and both hurt more than they should given how small fingers actually are.

Bummer :(

12 years

xxx

She's back

and she loved every minute of it!

and I am so happy to have her home :)

Time flies... too fast

Yesterday she was just a little tacker toddling around the house, always underfoot, today she left me for five whole days to go on school camp...

A little whinge

Why is it that the school sends home a letter telling me my daughter is to receive a special award on presentation day, and that due to lack of space in the school hall could parents consider that Years K to 2 will receive their awards in the first half of the assembly which starts at 9.30am, and years 3-6 will receive awards in the second half of the assembly due to finish at 11.00am (try 11.45am), that they then present in this order K, 5, 6 ... ???

Irritated? who me? Absolutely.

After six years at this school this is her first "big" award and she has worked so hard for it - and I MISSED IT when I arrived at 10.05am, then I got to watch all of years 2,3, and 4 receive their awards in the second half of the assembly - who cares!

So cranky about this!

Think I will go pour a G&T

Eleven

Its the worst kind of unfair, to be so excited about your approaching birthday, to be so looking forward to it, then on the day to just feel so lousy you cant really enjoy it.

Poor little sweet pea just couldn't muster up much enthusiasm for anything today. Happy birthday sweet girl. I hope you feel better in the morning, and we will have all of your birthday specialties again when you are up to it xxx

Right now ...

you are changing from day to day.
you like to make us both a hot drink after the girls go to bed.
you are spending a lot of time reading car magazines, and playing car racing games on the wii and computer.
you like to tell your sisters what to do.
you will eat anything that catches your eye... make that everything that catches your eye.
you are taller than me.
you are taller than Aunty Nessa (she is so peeved).
you play your electric guitar more than your acoustic.
your voice is almost broken.
you use too much of my expensive hair paste.
you dont want to have your hair cut too short.
you are not enjoying football as much as you used to.
you need to wear your glasses more often.
you love to tease me.
you get "grown up" jokes more often.
you ride your bike to and from school (when you dont have a flat tyre).
you are not very good at completing your homework.
you are very very good at maths.
you think English lessons are a waste of time.
you like reading the same books as me.
you like listening to Fallout Boy and Nickleback.
your best friend is Tom.
you will be 14 in three months.
you wear size 10 shoes.

Love you kid xxx

From the peanut gallery

Last night while sweating and huffing my way through a workout video I heard this gem from my 13 year old

"looks like you didn't get the six pack gene mum"

Wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry, but in the end what can you do but laugh!

Slow down

You my son are growing up just way too fast. You are officially taller than me now, you have had bigger feet for ages, and your hands are bigger than mine too. At 13 I can see glimpes of the man you are becoming, but I dont mind if you take things a bit slower, take a bit longer to grow up, its OK really xxx

First words

out of his mouth when I picked him up from the bus stop;

"High school is so much better than primary school"


Sigh... thank God!

He had a fantastic day, has hooked up again with his best friend from three years back who moved schools, and is totally looking forward to what the rest of the term has to bring.

School for the little girls went really well too. I will sleep well tonight.

PS to Brandi, thanks for your comments, but maybe I better not post again for a few weeks now, cant get too regular here after all ;-) lol.

High School Student

I thought these things were supposed to get easier as time went by, but it seems I was wrong. Last night was a long night for me, I lay awake for ages thinking (I am trying to convince myself I wasn't worrying) about my son's first day of high school.

This morning I felt very similar to the way I felt when he first started kindergarten, apprehensive, excited, and hugely aware of just how much I love this child. Every year he is becoming that little bit more independent, which, lets face it, is one of my goals as a parent, to raise independent, strong, happy individuals, but that directly correlates to me having less control over the circumstances surrounding him.

This is supposed to be good right? Maybe I am just a control freak lol.

I wanted to tell him everything I could about how to deal with the things that may pop up today, I wanted to go to school with him, and sit with him all day and make sure things were good for him, but I knew I couldn't, it was time for me to let go a bit and let him take these steps for himself.

Thankfully none of my fears were transferred to him, he was slightly nervous, but mostly just totally looking forward to it. He set his alarm last night, his bag was packed, he was up on time this morning, ate his breakfast, and got himself ready to go, he took total responsibility for everything he needed to do.

I am so proud of him, and I am praying that he gets off the bus this afternoon with a smile on his face, and that his first day of high school is a positive experience.

Runners Up

Thanks for the good vibes for my son's football grand final. Unfortunately they were not the best team on the day. They were beaten by a better side, but they could all hold their heads up at the end of the day for the effort they put in.

The proudest moment of the day for me was seconds after the final whistle blew, I knew my son was disappointed, but he turned straight to the boy he was playing against and held out his hand to say congratulations, then continued around the field and shook hands with every other boy on the opposing team.

I am not sure quite how I managed it, but I somehow did something right with that one ;-) Man I love that kid!

Ah I remember

I am not very good at doing stuff like housework, I hate ironing, folding, washing dishes etc just like most people I guess. But unfortunately as a mother of three and wife of one, and tolerater of a furry friend I have no choice, I have to do it. So in order to take my mind off how much I don't want to do it I usually have some form of entertainment going at the same time, music, dvd, television, or a long conversation on the telephone.

I had been watching Sex & the City on dvd, because I am the only woman in the western world it seems who didn't watch it on the TV the first time around. I tried, but I just couldn't get into it. Gotta tell you I am loving it now, and wondering what was wrong with me when I first watched it, but that's a story for another day.

Anyway the dvd store was all out of S&TC last week, so I had to find something else. My gorgeous, beloved, beautiful sister gave me the first season of Greys Anatomy on dvd for my birthday last year, and of course I have watched it, but it was a while ago, so I slipped the first disk in while I was ironing the other night.

Ah... I remember. That's why I will watch the next season even though, as I commented a while back, I thought I was losing the love for it. I have even found I like Meredith again, because I was really starting to dislike her, And Christina, undiluted and ambitious, before she put herself under Burkes thumb.

Cant wait to do more ironing so I can sink into it again. Um, maybe... some people iron underpants don't they? and sheets, and towels... I'll have the flattest stuff in the neighbourhood lol.

And a quick last note - Number one son's AFL team made the Grand Finals this year, they play this Saturday at 9.15am, so if anyone has some luck to spare, please send it to his team, because they are going to need it! Keep your fingers crossed for me.

xxx

Those pics I was promising

A few posts back I mentioned pictures, and because I am stuffed today, I will just give you a picture post rather than trying to think of coherent sentences ;-)


Lovingly hand made invitations to my baby's birthday party (slapped together after nearly a bottle of wine, I was lucky they had the right details on them lol)

My "baby" posing with the party food in her brand new party dress (Thanks Grandma!)and a lovely necklace made for her by her big sister. We had fairy bread, cupcakes, popcorn, party pies, sausage rolls, freddo frogs, m and m's, and a yummy chocolate cake with yellow icing - her choice, and these really cool little butterflies made of icing that you can get in the supermarket, made by Greens. YUM. She had the time of her life.

The manchurians pears lining the street where I go for my daily walk. They were all in blossom two weeks ago, now it looks like there is snow on the ground where all the petals have fallen. We have just planted one of these trees in our back yard, I cant wait till it gets as big as these, probably only have to wait about ten years lol.

The path leading back to our house. Its really nice to live in a place that feels like the country, but with all of the good things a city has to offer as well.

Just one of the 133 photos my middle child took of our dog a few weekends ago when she had custody of my camera.

xx

That's my boy

A couple of posts ago I briefly mentioned my son was sitting an exam for acceptance into the selective stream at our local high school.

I am so happy to say we got his test results and he has been offered a place. I am so proud of him. His results were awesome, the average was 54 percent, and he finished with 75 percent. This is a university set, and marked exam which covers all students in NSW. The most interesting part is that he didn't even finish answering all of the questions as he ran out of time, so he did really well with the ones he did answer.

Very happy news for our household.

Feeling better now

Thanks so much for your kind words, it helped me feel a little more normal and a little less neurotic lol to know there are other people who understand those feelings. Its funny the power of putting your thoughts out there though, once they are out of my head and in writing it allows me to stop stressing over the thoughts relentlessly, and just get on with things.

This morning I took him to the bus, all of his mates were waiting for him, he was really excited, and his teachers were all acting so normally it was easy to let go. A sign of how much closer he is to being a teenager was the fact that he grudgingly hugged me goodbye, rather than giving a heartfelt hug, but I guess a guy has to keep face in front of his mates ;-)

All of the excitement of the morning rubbed off on me a bit too, I could feel it in the air, I dont think too many of them got a good nights sleep last night, all too busy anticipating the big day. I am just glad that I wont have to spend the next four hours on the bus with them - I'd need a va1ium after that for sure!

The weekend here was really laid back, and we had RAIN! I had forgotten how lovely it was to stay inside with a good book while the rain slides down the windows outside.

Today I am volunteering in my daughters kindergarten class. I have twenty two cute little kits all made up on my scrapping desk, and KE are making Mothers Day cards after lunch today. I tried to keep the design really simple, but still cute, so hopefully they will like it. My daughter is really excited about me coming in to her classroom, so at least one of my children still wants to be known to me in public lol.

Better go now, I have lots of blog reading to catch up on before I head out. Will post pictures tomorrow of the cards we make today.

Cheers

Anxiety

You know that feeling... tight chest, rapid breathing, rolling stomach, quicksilver thoughts, and that general feeling of not feeling right?

I cant seem to shake it this week. I have spend ages each night struggling with it before falling asleep, then it is there again when I wake for just a split second before the morning mayhem starts. My son is going to school camp next Monday. He will be gone for five days and four nights. That is the longest he has ever been away from home, ever. And I am not coping with it quite as well as I thought I would.

Up until now each time he has stayed away from home he has been only a few streets away, or with his grandparents. This time he will be two hours drive away, with people I dont know, and with a couple of teachers from his school and his friends.

He is so excited, and I wish that I could share that with him, but its so hard letting go, he's my first born.

I know its stupid to get this anxious about it, and I know kids do this all the time, and they have a great time, and they come home safely, and I am being a big wuss, so feel free to tell me to take a deep breath and get a grip, because I have been saying the same thing to myself all week :) and if you feel so inclined send out a thought to the universe that my boy has the best time at camp and comes home safely. Thanks.

Chocolatey Goodness

I know that this is probably a little out of place on a blog used primarily to journal about my weight loss, but how could I resist! My youngest daughter received a cook book from Santa, she loves cooking and is often in the kitchen helping me at tea time even though she is only 5. So today was her first chance to choose a recipe from her new book and do some cooking. Of course she choose something primarily made of chocolate and saturated fat, but it looks pretty good, and the smell while it was cooking - heaven.... sorry just had to wipe the drool off the keyboard. Thankfully the kids will make short work of this one so I wont be tempted for too long ;-)

OK one good motherly deed for the day done two to go lol