Winter Fun

 In a concerted effort to avoid cabin fever during the winter school holidays, we braved the frigid wind on Tuesday and ventured out to the playground. We had one thing in our favour, the sun was shining. We played for an hour. I chased Mr Darcy around the soccer oval, taking photos as we went. We had fun.

I'm still yet to achieve the photo shoot I want, the girls continue to insist on choosing clothes that aren't particularly photo worthy. Charlotte has worn a Rapunzel costume for the better part of two days now. She even wore it to the supermarket...with her red coat on over the top. She looked liked a confused character. Little Red Meets Rapunzel. Adorable.

The weather has turned even more bitterly cold, the kids were nearly frozen solid after we walked the 3 blocks to the supermarket today. We came home and snuggled and did some fun indoor activities.

I certainly am hoping for a return to winter sunshine before school goes back, they all need a bit of outdoor adventuring every day, Darcy especially. (Partly for my sanity, but mostly for them to burn off some energy and not spend the whole day bickering)...that's no fun.

 

Cindy..

 

 

 

Broken

She fell off her scooter a week ago...

She has a buckle fracture of her right wrist...

 

 

It was about 4.30 on Friday afternoon last week when I heard a scream from her, not an unusual occurrence...she ran inside telling me she had fallen off her scooter and landed on her arm.

I gave her 5 minutes to calm down while I held her and then we talked about going to the hospital. I rang her Dad and told him to meet us there after work.

We went straight into triage, where they gave her a dose of panadol, and then off we went to x-ray. Looked like we were in for a long wait, the ER was full of people. She found one of her school friends. They went off to the playground.

She was throwing cushions around, being silly, not in any apparent pain. After an hour I was fed up and told her we were leaving. She agreed.

We headed over to "that Scottish restaurant" for dinner. She hurt it again on the playground there, so we went home so she could sit calmly for a while.

She seemed fine on Saturday morning. No complaints. We packed her off for a sleepover at her Gran and Grumbles that night.

Sunday morning she complained that her wrist was still sore. It was swollen and her fingers were fat. Off we went to the ER again. Only 2 people waiting this time.

The doctor came out to us, I told her we already had x-rays done. She went off to review them. I was confident she would come back and say it was just a sprain.

Another half hour and the doctor came back to tell me that it was indeed broken.

I felt horrendous. I had failed my daughter.

She was fitted with a fibreglass slab and a bandage. She needs to wear it for 3 to 4 weeks.

We have a appointment on Christmas Eve with the Orthopedic Surgeon to make sure it is healing properly.

She has coped quite will with it so far. In fact I don't think it has restricted her much at all. Except that she maybe splashes less in the bath.

It's a good thing that school has finished, it being her right arm and all.

 

It's so difficult to know when she is being genuine, and I feel bad that I didn't trust her enough to stay at the ER and wait for the x-ray results. Live and learn I guess.

 

Cindy..

I'm so behind...

in posting to this blog. Busy busy busy...

 

Sophias school had a book character walkathon fundraiser about three weeks ago now.

I tried to talk her into going as Alice in Wonderland, but she insisted on Rapunzel. So, I got to work and whipped up her dress based on Disneys Movie Rapunzel.

She loved it. (I was quite pleased with the end result too:)

 

I went up to school and walked four laps around with Sophia and her little entourage...all holding hands and trying to get away from a little Harry Potter and his out of control wand.

I may have got a little sunburnt, even though I was decked out with hat and sunscreen.

 



 

 Not to be left out, Charlotte dressed up as Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz. Cute. Only missing her ruby slippers. Pink ones will suffice.

 

 

We all returned later for a little mini fete. Popcorn and gingerbread and fairy floss. Sophia had the best time throwing wet sponges at one of the grade six boys. We purchased tiny little water pistols and nail polish.

 

We all had the opportunity to hang out in Sophias classroom and watch a movie.

Then we headed home and filled our water pistols and all got very very wet playing in the backyard with them.

 

What a fun day.

 

Cindy..

Sad News and a catch up

I was hoping to be able to share with you all a plethora of divine wedding photos.

Unfortuantley, things didn't go to plan.

I was in the middle of making up some cute little last minute photo props the night before the big day when the phone rang. It was the brides brother...informing me that it had been called off. My first thoughts of course where with the bride. I was upset and worried for her. Something obviously had gone wrong for her to make such a huge decision.

 

I had geared myself up and I was completely ready for my first wedding shoot. It's really difficult to explain my emotions about it all. I was disappointed for myself, but I was also concerned about my friend. My confidence has taken a little bit of a battering.  I didn't even touch my fully prepared camera gear for a week. I felt like a caged lion, with the need to get out there and take photos...of anyone other than my children. I guess that is frustration.

 

Anyway, life goes on. I hope that my bride and groom can work things out. I am certainly thinking of them.

 

 

So with nothing to do on a Saturday, Sam off work and a lovely babysitter arranged for the kiddos in the evening...what were we to do?? Go out for dinner of course...Just the two of us. That's something we haven't done in I don't know how long. Too long. It's difficult to have a date night here. We had a lovely couple of hours, and we were home in time to get the kids to bed and have a few glasses of wine with our lovely friend.

 

That was a few weeks ago now, and I have had a birthday in the meantime...thirty-seven...with three kids...how did that happen??

 

I think I like being closer to forty. I'm not worried about hitting that milestone. I am relatively happy with my life at the moment. Wonderful partner, three beautiful children, a house, a job, fantastic parents.

 

It was AFL Grands Final Day on my birthday, and the Hawks lost. That didn't go down so well in this household. Although I do think I yelled at the television quiet a bit more than Sam. Maybe I was worried about him being grumpy face for a week. Or maybe it's because I have kind of adopted the Hawks, considering how badly Melbourne are doing. Circumstance made for an interesting birthday.

 

To make up for this, we headed down to Geelong for a nice leisurely stroll around the Mill Market. (interspersed with the complaining of two small girls..I'm hungry, I'm bored, can we go now, I want to go on the carousel, this is taking for...ever!!). I saw so many things I would love to own, but alas the budget is very very tight at the moment...maybe after Christmas I'll ditch the loved ones and make a day of it alone, dragging a trailer behind me.

 

We eventually made it to the carousel, followed by ice-cream for lunch (oh! the horror). A stroll along the waterfront, watched the sea helicopter take off and land, then made our way home...with a bucket of coffee.

It all made for a lovely birthday...thank you to my people :)

Wow! That's was a jumbled up ramble...congratulations if you made it to here!! I will endeavour to update my blog more often, but I have been fairly busy with work and school holiday activities. In fact I should be working right now. Back to the sewing machine for me!! Talk to you again soon.

Cindy.

10 minutes...

Ten minutes was all we could manage out in the cold spring weather.  

Charlotte was the one who said "mummy can we please go now"...

At least it was ten minutes of fun. 

First Haircut

Finally, we decided that the crazy Einstein hair was just too much for a little boy.

Even though those curls are beautiful...they had to go. It was frizz city at the back.

I wasn't prepared to buzz it myself...how was I going to take photos and operate the clippers at the same time?

He sat in the chair all by himself without even a whimper of protest.

I must tell you, this a boy who LOVES to have his hair brushed at home. He's first in line after a bath to be groomed. So I guess it's no surprise that he didn't object.

 

It took me a good two or three days to get used to him with much less hair. Every time I turned around I looked at him I got a mini shock...is that my boy??

Now that I am used to it, I think it looks great. I doubt that we will ever let it get as long as it was again.

Now I wish the weather would be kind so I can take the little munchkin into the great outdoors for some photos and some fun.

Cindy.

Happy Six Sweetpea!!

This sweet girl turned SIX on the 26th of June...I know I'm a bit slack in posting.

Wasn't prepared for the crazy birthday party competition with Prep Mums, so we decided to forgoe the party this year. A little morning tea cake celebration at Gran and Grumbles with her cousins, was deemed satisfactory.

Her birthday was on a Tuesday, so she had chocolate cupcakes at school. It was strange not to spend her birthday with her.

Nanna and Pa came to visit after school. Her birthday present from them was a little torturous (for ME not her). Anxious I was. She had her ears pierced finally...she's only been asking since she was four!

She was amazingly calm...barely even flinched.

Gran and Grumbles also visited after school bearing gifts.

She also finally got the DS she has been asking for...much smurfanallia...some clothes and books.

One very happy and exhausted SIX year old.

Cars!!

What could be more fun than tipping an entire bucket of cars upside down?



Friday in Photos

Student Free Day

Wagged Kinder

Short drive to Geelong

Beautiful Sunny Day

A Ride on the Carousel

Fish and Chips for Lunch

Time on the Playground

Walk along the Beach

Run up and down a Hill (multiple times)

Strawberry Milkshake and Iced Coffee

Drive Home

Sleeping Children

BLISS

This Girl

I was just taking a few shots to check the light in the girls bedroom...

She is starting to come around to the whole idea of posing for me...

I converted to black and white

...this photo took my breath away.

A Week Of...

Sickness, School, Photos, Doctors Visits, Working, Creating, Laughing, Crying, Driving, Worrying.

It all started on Wednesday night, after a frustrating day at work all I wanted was to get a good night sleep. Darcy thanked me for working by waking up every hour during the night. I get it baby, you missed me, but EVERY HOUR! Then I heard Charlotte making strange noises at 3am. She vomited all over herself in bed. Cleaned that up. She was sick all day Thursday. Mr Pixies headed off the the football on Saturday night. We had a cruisey Sunday. Darcy coughed so hard on Monday he vomited, took him to the doctor, what a waste of time that was. Sorry can't do anything for him. He suffered with gastro all of Monday. Took the kids over to the park in an attempt to get some nice photos for Mothers Day. Didn't really go as planned. Work on Wednesday. Nice little break from the kids. Come home to find that Sophia now has Gastro. She threw up all Wednesday night and stayed home from school Thursday. Darcy again thanked me for going to work by waking every hour from eight until midnight. Got him up and watched the Nascars at Talledega on the TV. He slept better after a little one on one Mummy time. House looks like a bomb hit it. Don't even know where to start cleaning. Kids constantly arguing. Trying to find my Zen. Sometimes it's difficult to find the silver lining.

I know I do a lot of complaining on this blog. It's just my nature I guess. It's my "Princess Bitch Face"!

I prefer to read about reality instead of the saccharine sweet crap that alot of people post about. Some people would have you believe that their lives are perfect. They like to blog only about the good parts of their lives. I like to blog about the everyday! It is for this reason that I have dramatically culled the list of blogs I read. I like a dose of reality, I don't need to be made to feel like I don't measure up. I don't need to feel that if I don't enjoy my kids 24/7 I am a bad parent. It's an Illusion.



The Very Latest Fashion?

I guess that's what you have to endure when you have two big sisters...future hairstylists to the stars?? I think NOT!

Hoping to be back with more to say in the not too distant future.

Cindy..

Wordless Wednesday

4 months

At four months he is...

rolling both directions

sleeping terribly

distracted while breastfeeding

sitting up momentarily by himself

bouncing when held in a standing position

recovering from a nasty cold

grabbing everything within reach

mouthing everything

fighting being swaddled

catnapping

"talking"...such cute noises

six and a half kilos

wearing mostly 00 clothes

drooling...this boy can soak a t-sirt through in a matter of minutes

loving attention from his sisters

loving getting out and about

staying awake longer between sleeps

growing way too fast

being a pill

being a delight

asleep on me at 12:30pm following waking up screaming (immunisations??)

Time for bed....zzzzz

Cindy

Wordless Wednesday

Cindyx

Oh My!! Too Soon

My little man rolled from his back to his tummy.

He wasn't happy about it..

He's been out of sorts for the last couple of days...lots of crying, not feeding to sleep, only wanting to feed when he's truly hungry (hello full boobs), only happy when being held constantly....sigh 

I put him on the floor for just a minute to do something and he threw himself over effortlessly..What The! Not once but twice. That's a week earlier than his sister rolled...and I thought she was early.

Stop moving so fast little fella...you need to be my baby for a while yet.

Cindyxx

3 months

Wow!! How quickly 3 months goes by.

I looked at him today and thought "he doesn't look like a tiny baby anymore"

Well, he was never really tiny...but you know what I mean.

He's lost that new look.

His eyes are focused, his cheeks are full, his skin is smooth, his hair is growing.

At 3 months he is

Growing rapidly

Feeding 4 hourly

Sleeping in the family bed

Waking at least twice in the night for a feed

Catnapping

Giggling

Smiling

Drooling

Likes his new mode of transport

Being smothered with love by his sisters

Asleep on me right now

Loving nappy free time

Happy to lay on his play mat...for a little while

Adores his Pa

Grasping things and bringing them to his mouth

Still being swaddled

Rolling from tummy to back

Trying to roll from back to front

Loving to shower with mummy or daddy

It makes me sad that he is growing so quickly...and I really miss this

but it fills me with joy that he is learning and changing and engaging.

Life with 3 is hectic and sometimes chaotic, but I wouldn't change it for the world.

Cindy xx

Road Trip Easter

Expectations Exceeded...

The little man was an absolute dream in the car...there and back.

He did however wake up the neighbours at 4:30am...but I made no apologies for him.

The girls had great fun on a very very cold Easter Sunday morning...hunting for eggs around the caravan and tent...

They gathered their share of an obscene amount of chocolate eggs...

All in all the trip went far better than I anticipated...even with a sick Miss C and an unsettled Mr D.

We did all come home with a nasty cough and sleep deprivation and a sugar buzz...but it's worth it to enjoy Easter with family.

Bring on Easter 2012.

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday