HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!!!! Oh and a BIG Happy Birthday to my Mum today too..

Well its officially 2011. 

And i hope 2011 is as fantastic as 2010 was.

Greta is in her cot snoozing and Miles is in the pool with his Daddy - which i just got out of and am currently dripping dry :)

Its also my Mums birthday on New Years Day and the family have a big lunch for her and get together usually so im missing that ::

but feeling ok cos my parents come out to visit next month for 3 weeks :)

Miles' has offically been potty trained for 24 hours lol, well no accidents in that amout of time anyway so thats good - although im not risking it and am leaving him at  home for the next couple of days.

Odd looking on FB and seeing all my family and friends in the UK getting ready to go out and celebrate NYE and its already NYD here - weird.

Well its 40 degrees here in sydney today so I will leave you with some photos of us over the last few days enjoying this heat.

And so the potty training continues!

With a little success afer not a single pee in the potty yesterday, we have had 4 today.  We have also introduced a rewards chart as i think he was getting a bit over it yesterday and thoughts what the point - so 3 stickers and he gets a reward.. which is some bubbles that we have up on  a high shelf so he can see it at all times and he gets to play with it for a little while before it goes away again till the next time he gets 3 stickers on his chart.

Greta has been playing outside in Miles' cubby house.  We have moved it around and now have the outdoor setting over by the dining room and the cuppy house and sand pit over by the playroom door so she keeps wandering out and plays in the cubby house - she uses it more often than Miles does! He will only go outside if i am out with him where as Greta will happily wander in and out - its almost like she is indoors as the layout of the house means that we have huge doors off the playroom that go straight out to the patio area and thats where the cubby and sant pit are.  So she likes to wander out and play in the cubby house.  Also keeps eating my strawberries which are there too! So none of us get a chance as she wanders outside and eats them as soon as they are red!  She wanders back in with red stains around her face lol.  I can't tell her off though  she is still a baby and she doesn't understand.  I actually decided to attempt it the other day.  i was holding her and she hit me in the face so in a firm voice i said "NO" and i sat her down on the floor and OMG the flood gates opened and tears streamed down her face and i had to pick her up and cuddle her - sucked in i know! But i don't think i will be saying anything in a firm voice to her for  a while - i just cant yet!
She's too little and adorable - and really what does telling her off achieve - it just means she will cry and be more sensitive to me snapping at her and i dont want that.  I dont want her to be afraid of me i want to be fair with her not for her to get used to hearing me snap at her - so no more telling off till she is old enough - once was more than enough lol im a wuss i know!  But she is a baby, she needs a positive role model to show her how to behave and all she does is cuddle and kiss her dolls which of course she is getting from me, all i do is kiss and cuddle her so she is role playing the same with her dolls :)
Nope no telling off yet for a while i think.

With Miles i think i snap too often, I see him getting a little agressive with his toys and realise he is role playing my/Jonathans snapping at him so we need to stick to the gently explaining what he has done wrong and sitting him on his bed for 3 minutes.  Snappy and shouting doesn't achieve anything.. ok ive had a good talking to myself now, i feel better  - back to potty training - with NO snapping at him!! lots and lots of praise and no snapping.

Had a tea party with Greta yesterday, so sweet she was pouring the tea and dipping in the tea bags and then pretending to drink it - also made a cup for her brother - too cute.

We had a swim after Greta's 4 hour nap! it was so hot yesterday and is the same today, or hotter i think.. 40 degrees on Saturday! YIKES and we have no air con :(

Ok best go do some housework while the princess sleeps.


Oh and happy new yrs eve :)

Jonathan is working and wont be home till 8 or 9 pm i imagine as is normal 5 days a week at the moment - so single mum mode all week every week for me!

x

Toilet Training Miles

day 3 and i never thought id say this but we have had 2 wee's in the potty!!!

The first he kinda looked like he was going to do something but wasnt sure - so i sat himm on the potty and he sat there and said nope its not coming and got up then a minute or 2 later he started to wee on the floor so i moved as to stick the potty under him and he stopped weeing mid flow!  i stuck the potty under him and he sat down and a couple seconds later he peed!!

He was SO happy with himself, i had bought him a pressie - just a bottle of bubbles and i handed them to him and he was so excited and blowing bubbles and then i was blowing them and he was jumping up and popping them.. then it was about 40 minutes from the pee on the potty and he suddenly stopped and went over to his potty and sat - i asked if he wanted to do a pee and he said yes but its not comming.. then he got up and again a few seconds later he did a couple of dribbles and then sat on his potty all by himself and peed again!!

SO i think its the start of him getting used to the feeling of peeing and im sure we have a long way to go but he is at least getting used to how it feels to pee.

We also ventured out to the shops to get some bread from the bakery and he asked for his undies on not a nappy - we were only gone for about 40 mins but no peeing.. so all good :)

He asked to go to the toilet in the supermarket, but when we got inside and he saw it was a full size toilet he was a bit scared and said he'd wait till we get home... which he did!

jonathan tracked down a book i had recommended - Gina Fords Potty training in a week!  But of course he left it sat on his desk at work!

Erm what else........

Went up the park for a Mums group get together.  That was nice but Miles really was totally out of his comfort zone in a large group and just stood on his own or sat on my knee - i feel so sad for him when he stuggles in a crowd as i went through the same and its hard - i just hope we can help him through it, i see him watching his friends and just not be able to join in with them unless he is one on one with them - so sad :(

Also had a swim in the pool with Miles, that thing is a God send i love our pool!! So glad we moved to this house just because of that - i loved the old house too and it was asthetically more appealing than this place but the pool just sets this house apart its a God send in this heat and just to entertian the kids and have fun with them.  i think we would have put one in the other house eventually, but most likely one of those crappy above ground things and i hate those things.. also put the kids to bed and hopped in there after they had nodded off to sleep - ahhh great way to relax, i feel all cool and relaxed now - just have to wait for the hubby to come home and have dinner then going to tidy the play room that Greta single handedly trashed!

A couple new toys arrived from friends in the UK for the kids - a little guitar for Miles that he LOVES as its like his Daddy's guitar :)

Ok thats it.  Just hanging around home tomorrow... was going to head to Bondi but want to continue with the potty training.

xx

Christmas

Was AWESOME!!!

I'm not sure what we did this year that made it so much better than every other year - i mean this yr jonathan has a job he isnt too thrilled with, ive just started back at work and hating it, we have no family at all around us so it was just the 4 of us but perhaps that was it, that the kids are older so its not just like jonathan and me on our own perhaps cos we have 2 little ones that are talkative and have little personalities it makes us feel less lonely.  And usually on Christmas day we drive down to Bondi and see all the cars out and abotu driving to and from each sets of parents houses and that makes us feel sad as we have no-ones to go round to its just the 2 of us but this year we stayed home all day as they kids just wanted to play in the pool and play with their toys  - im not what the reason was really  but either way, this year we had the BEST day :)

We also have the BBQ down pat as most years we have struggles with the food side of things.  Both growing up in the UK where its usually snowing we usually have the traditional northern hemisphere roast turkey and vegies .. but its ususally hot we dont enjoy it.  Well since we moved house we bought a BBQ and have been cooking up a storm with that and have got pretty good at what we like to eat on the BBQ and ive got good at the home made marinades and also the salads and what the kids will eat - well Greta will eat anything lol but Miles is a bit more fussy .. like his Daddy!.  So this yr for the first time we just went to the fish markets and got a whole snapper, some prawns and some scallops and i J cooked them on the BBQ, i then made  a salad and a potato salad and we set it all out on the table outside, stick the overhead fan on to keep flies away and then all got stuck in and it was so yummy!! I then had a chocolate log id bought from a local pattiserie and we ate that afterwards.. it was so yummy!  The only thing i will change next yr is i would like to make my own choccy log - perhaps becoming a tradition type of thing that i make it.. but ill perfect that over this yr so its perfect for Xmas day..

Then we all jumped in the pool - well Greta had a nap. she slept for abotu 6 hours all up on Chrissy day for her naps.. she likes to sleep but i think the day of pressie openings, swimming in the pool and the heat knocked her out!

Then we hug out and played with the kids pressies before jumping in the pool just before the kids bedtime again :)

Boxing day: headed to Bondi and spent the afternon on the beach and after having lunch - it was raining north where we are but east where bondi is it was a glorious day.

Yesterday was Jonathans birthday - 38!! Yikes! And only 5 yrs older than me.. i feel old being married to al almost 40 yr old lol but i am only 5yrs behind! We went out to dinner last night at a local italian restaurant which was just lovely.. He chose to hang out at home during the day and watch the cricket - which i indungled him in as he NEVER watches TV so it was a first.. he was thrilled that the Brits are winning, im torn - my kids are Australian and ive lived here most of my adult life - yeah i grew up in the UK and sound English but since i got married and moved out of my parents home we emigrated out here almost straight away so my adult life has been lived in Australia .. As J is 5 yrs older he did the uni and then buying his own house in the UK so he feels more English.. plus all his friends out here are English and he seems to employ english people for his assitants where as i have gone out of my way to hang out with Aussies and make friends with them - i could have joined a local English peoples club but on purpose i chose to stay away from it and now have a grat bunch of aussie friends - so i dunno im torn - i think ill just side with which ever team wins lol.

So today i think we are staying home and trying to potty train Miles - oh thats a post in itself will come back to that one!

Tomorrow all of Mums group are getting together at the park for a Christmas party  - so looking forward to that.  Will be lovely for Miles to hang out with all his friends.

Jonathan is back at work tomorrow , thursday and half a day on Friday and then off for 3 days and i think we are heading on a boat trip over next weekend.

Anyway enough babbling.. If anyone does read this i hope you all had as nice a Christmas as we have, and thats really saying something as we had the most lovely Christmas that i recall in a long time :)

Oh i forgot to say, i got an ipod and cook book from J :) and he got some cufflinks and a cup the kids had drawn on and hand printed themselves in a ceramics store.

Some pics of our llovely Christmas:

Its Christmas Eve!!

Im like a big kid i know lol

LOVE christmas, and Jonathan is so miserable around Christmas time so its great to have Miles around who is also excited, makes it rub off on me more and i have someone to share it with this year.

Well its been great this year - normally there is such a big build up to this one day and then its all over so fast its like - wow all that effort for one little, blink and you'll miss it, day lol.

But this year Miles is old enough to understand it. And ive not really done too much this year.  Nomally i go out and buy the pressies and stress about having to drag the kids around the shops, then get home and spent hours wrapping them all up - well this year from early November i started to buy a gift or 2 a week and get them ready wrapped by the company.. so for a couple of months now presents have been arriving at my door, all i do is pop it under the tree :) i cant even remember half of what ive bought, it'll be a suprise for me too lol.. ive even bought family and friends gifts online and had them delivered to their house all ready wrapped - fantasitc!
So ive just sat back and its all happened this year - the only thing i did was go to the supermarket for the big shop on Wednesday and did the fish markets yesterday.  But that wasnt even that bad as ive done my food shopping on-line for the past month or so, so it was actually nice to go out to the shops.

SO a stress free Christmas here - which hopefully means it will be a lovely day as so little effort went into it so we wont have such huge expectations of it.

We'll open presents all have breakfast then sit around the tree and open presents.. then we will light up the BBQ an have a feast of fish and salads at lunch time.
Then we will most likely jump in the pool and have a splash around in there.
Then later about 3pm we will drive down to Bondi - as we do EVERY year and have done since we emigrated here 10yrs ago.
Then we will stroll along the beach and end up with a pizza in one of the cafe's that are pretty much ALWAYS open.

One of these days it will be nice to do this with amily as of course its just the 4 of us.. perhaps we will get the family to come over and visit one Christmas.

Well Miles has been quite naughty yesterday, no idea what got into her, he is usually my good little man - Greta is the stroppy, tantrum throwing, basing things against her head/on the floor in frustration child!
SO i took some stickers of him i had bought for him and i put him to bed without a story... so see how he goes today - but if he is naughty again, Christmas will be postponed till boxing day - i reafuse to have a naughty child.  Greta is fair enough as she is far too young to understand discipline just yet but Miles at 3.5yrs old is cerainly old enough to control his temper and frsutration.

All for now - i have a day of folding colthes and ironing to do! Oh and a trip to the park in there somewhere.

J i sof course workign but assures me he will be home early- erm yeah right!

x

Eczema

Got my princess diagnosed with eczema yesterday :( her little legs are arms and feet and a few other spots incl her privates are SO SO sore.. seh keeps screathcing. 

So anyway i was told to get some cortisone cream and also a few girls from FB told me to stop using J&J, well i used it for Miles and he has never had problems but Greta has had little sore spots on and off for a few months now - most likely the J&J not helping with all the chemicals in it.  So anyway i got some MooGoo, which is chemical free.  so will use that from now on. 

I put the cortisone on yesterday and i got her up this morning and i checked it and i would say its a good 25% better. 

Another tip from a mum who has a little girl who suffered terribly with it is to kepe it moist/damp  and put heaps of cream on - and also steroids are good for eczema anyway so i decided to go with that and the improvement is fantastic!! SO happy!  So once this is cleared up and her skin appears to be free i will get some  aqueous cream i think its called to lather on her and keep her skin moist. Just got to treat it first, and then try to keep it away. Hoping she grows out of it.

Im also wondering if its started up as i changed washing powders??? I used to use surf and used it for years but it never got the stains out, and i threw so many clothes away that i couldn't get the stains out of.  So Jonathan googled it and read about some reasearch some scientists did and apparently Omo was the best.  so i swapped to that about  a month ago - pretty much when the Eczema got worse!

Also will make sure her clothes are nice and soft.  I always put her bonds suits and towels in the dryer so they are soft as the washing line makes them rough.. but i will be extra careful.

Erm in other news.....

Didn't go to the zoo yesterday.  my friends still went and we called over to one of their hosues after our shopping trip and she said she had JUST got home!! it was 4.15om so im glad we didnt go now as we had so much to do and wouldnt have got any of it done.

Still got to go to post office today to post a present off to the UK, yes i know it wont get there in time now but at least it will be on its way.  Also got to pick up  the chocolate log i ordered fro the patisserie and go to the fish markets for a nice big peice of fish and some prawns and perhaps some scallops too.

Might go to the deli for some potato salad too although i saw a yummy recipe i want to try to make my own.. but ive ran out of time so that will have to wait to experiment with that.

Also need to make some Christmas cupcakes with Miles and a trifle for Jonathan.

Have to return the kids books to the library and get a few more for them and do the housework and have so much washing to do.
Phew tired thinking about it all!

Well i think Greta has gone to sleep now so will go and load the diswasher and get myself ready to head up to the library with the kdis.

x

Pressies for Mummy :)

Hahaha, after complaining a few days ago on FB that all the pressies under the tree were for the kids and Jonathan - well today i got a $100 gift card from my boss for Myer :)
So excited - it can be used in Coles as well but i REFUSE to allow it go on food - i claim it all for me!

My parents gave me $500 for Christmas and it just got swallowed up with bills etc so i want this $100 all for me :)

I plan on buying an ipod with it - i know i have an iPhone but i really want a little iPod shuffle, just a chap $40 one that i can use jsut for music and it can lived on the speakers all the time, as im always fiddling with my oiPhone, as it Miles - he plays pre-shcooler puzzles on it.  SO it never lasts a single song never mind anything else.

Also want the Julie Goodwin cook book - i know sad, mummy style present but its who i am now so all good :)

J took the kids to the Wiggles play centre today and actually managed well with them and enjoyed himself - not planning on becoming a house hubby i dont think anytime soon!  haha - but then its not likely to happen as im more a $60 P/A earner not a $200k earner like DH - plus he LOVES work too and i love to stay home with the kidlets - not enjoying being back at work 3 days a week but will see how we go in the new year - i can always jack it if i just cant manage without them! God how sad do i sound its only 3 days a week lol

Actually had a good chat to Miles yesterday and he told me he loves going over to his friends house and likes her coming over to our house but DOES NOT like day care!
SO we had him being looked after (and Greta too) but my friend one day a week and day care the other 2 days - so we have now swapped this around and we have my friend looking after them 2 days a week and them going to day care for 1 day.  She is a nanny but i think they just need that 1 day at day care as Miles is in the pre-shcool room now and they are teaching him to write etc and i just think their nany will play and cuddle them but not be so big on the enducation side - which is pretty much the same as if they were home with me, so thats good,... its like them being home with me for those 2 days and then they can go and have a little imput from a day care/preshcool type environment the othe 1 day.. then of course 2 days a week i am home with them and then also the 2 days for the weekend both jonathan and i are home with them.

SO they are now doing:

Monday home with mummy
Tuesday Nanny at my friends house
Wednesday home with mummy
Thursday day care
Friday nanny at our house

Miss them terribly when im at work the 3 days so see how we go next yr, although they are both fine on the nanny days as they get to hang out with their friends (their nanny has 2 girls the same age as Miles and Greta who we have known since Miles was born) but i just miss them - so might end up jacking it if i cant cope - but i promised jonathan id give it a try for at least 6 months!! YIKES!

Ok thought id do another list as its changed a bit -

Monday - home - we went to Rhodes shopping centre for last minute shopping
Tuesday - Wiggles play centre with daddy for Xmas party
Wednesday - Zoo with some friends - inc their nanny!!
Thursday - the big food shop!
Friday - house work and getting ready for Xmas
Sat  - XMAS !!! usually have a BBQ and then head to Bondi for a pizza on the beach for dinner :) our family tradition
Sun - hanging out at home
monday - Jonathans birthday he'll be 38.. GOod makes me feel old as he is only 5yrs older than me!
We have the babysitter booked and are going out for dinner.
Tuesday jonathan back at work :(
Wednesday - Mums group party in the park!!!
Thursday - J at work ]
Friday J at work and NYE.. we usualy sit up and watch the 9pm fireworks then fall asleep before the midnight ones haha - pre kids we would head into the city to watch the fireworks but havent in 4 yrs now since i wa pd with Miles.

Ok ill stop there! will do a new list next week.

hmm what else - oh my friend called over yesterday and i was till in my PJ's !! she brought some pressies for the kids and Greta sat there and opened Miles'up!! i hav tried to re wrap it best i could, but i dont have any wrapping paper myself so it will have to do - he doesnt seem to have noticed - see what he says on Saturday when he gets to unwrap it and sees its torn!

Oh and baby news.. another one of the girls from Greta's EB group are pregnant Awwwww, so so happy for her as she's been trying for  a while and its hard everyone around you is pregnant when you want to be so badly - i remember when i lost my first baby at 9 weeks and J's friends wife announced she was pregnant just a few days after i had my D&C.. feels like EVERYONE is pregnant which of course isnt true but it feels that way.  Then when i got pregnat after Miles and lost that baby at 14 weeks, that same friend of j's again announced she wa pregant with her 2nd!
Anyway im just very happy for her... and am more than happy to live the pregnancies thorough other mums non lol - im so done at 2! Im loving seeing my 2 grow up together and play together, i dont want to add another into the mix, i dont feel i can wiht Miles he is SO clingy and needy of my time, i dont have time for a 3rd baby with him, which is cool im fine with that.  Greta is so much more independant than Miles is - even at less than half his age.  Its so lovely watching them gorw and play together.  And someone else has to go through the 40 weeks of morning sickness! as i had!! and babies born upside down - as both mine were!! and tiny babies - as again mine were.. and worrying about them being small.. but they were both healty just small.  I think Greta spent so much fof her time in the womb growing her hair and forgot to grow herself lol she has a CRAZY amount of hair - its beautiful though i love it.

Ok anyway happy for the pregnant lady ad never going back there myself haha!

Thats about it - i have a toy BBQ of Miles'to make up! so all for now.

x

Bon jovi concert last night

Freaking Awsome!

All i have to say

x

Shopping FINALLY done take 2!

Well i thought i was done then Miles anounces he wants an Airplane and a helicopter!  Normally id assume that he was just saying things off the top of his head but he does have a slight obsession with planes and helicopters - our family holidays for him are all about the plane ride, as soon as we get to the airport he is all excited and loves the whole flight.. we even flew 21 hours to the UK with him and he LOVED every second of it!  He was an absolute star ... and when we arrived, shattered and over it, Miles just wanted to hop back on the plane and do some more flying lol!

So anyway stupid of me not to think of it myself i guess, but anyway we got up and headed straight over to the Early Learning Centre and purchased BOTH! well they were on special so i thought why not! 

Oh and Miles' Charlie and Lola dolls arrived from my sister in the UK - cant wait to see is face when he gets them, he is Charlie and Lola OBSESSED!

SO i THINK im all done now. 

Jonathans birthday pressie arrived today too.  So i got Miles to draw a picture on a piece of paper and we used that as the wrapping paper to make it a little something from me (the actual gift) and a little something form the kid (the wrapping paper).

Took the kids to the little playcentre the shopping centre has and Greta just crawled off an played with the othe babies and tried to climb the ladders and just had a ball and didnt worry where Mummy was - Miles would only go in the opening of the play area and insisted i stand right there next to him and hold his hand! My clingy child and my care free child lol Funny that the 3yr old is the clingy one and the baby is the carefree wandering off one.  Miles would NEVER have wondered off like that at Greta's age - he doesnt even do it now at 3 and almost a half yrs! Which is ok as ive never worried about him wondering off and getting lost but means he never goes off by himself and therefore can not really play very much as he always has a hand in mine and therefore cant go and do things like play in the climbing frames as Mummy would have to go in with him which isnt really possible as im too big to fit as most are kiddy sized!

The good thing is thought that cos he sees Greta wandering off, he will go and stray a little further over to Greta and then back to Mummy and over to Greta again and cos she is little and can wander further in the play area than Mummy it means he feels safe and secure as one of his family members is close by so he gets to play a little more :)  so great really that Greta is a little more adventerous, it helps Miles no end..
So although she wanders off ALL the time, im so happy she is happy to do that as it helps Miles to have a little more independence.

Ok so list for this week.

Monday - Home and shopping, finishing off last bits.
tuesday - Wiggles panto at the wiggles centre
Wednesday - Zoo with friends / The big Food shop!! And a craft activity at the local shops - making crackers
Thursday - kids are off to day care
Firiday - Xmas eve!  home day, cleaning and preparing for Christmas.

Jonathan is working every day this week except tomorrow when he is taking the kids to the Wiggles Panto - see how he goes, he has NEVER taken both kids out of the house together on his own!  Or looked after them both for a full day as he will be doing tomorrow.. actually he has looked after Miles for about 3 days on his own i think in total... so Miles is mosst confused that Daddy is looking after the tomorrow and keeps saying No Mummy do it!

i did cook a meal for tomorrow night and have put it in the fridge so he doesnt have to do that!

Who knows he might actually enjoy it lol - yeah right!

x

Feeling better today

I think the trouble is when i drop the kdis at daycare i feel bad as they are upset when i drop them of and they dont want to be there and i dont want to leave them somewhere they dont want to be and im worrried about them not having one on one care all day..

So on the other 2 days a week when i drop them off at my friends house (their nanny's house)  Miles goes running inside and jumps on the lounge next to his little friend (they are the same age) and Greta goes crawling into the playroom with her other daughter who is the same age as Greta and they are so happy... and it makes me happy to know they are getting one on one care and also Greta and Heidi are going to the same school so its great they are haging out together now too..  I just wish they could go to their nanny for 2 days and day care for the 1 day instead of the other way around - but Jonathan wont have it :(
Manily as she is more expensive.. and no rebate.  SO kinda pointless me working for hardly any money.

Also im so unsettled at my job, it will ok when i settle in, its just that i dont know what im doing and i hate new environments, - i was in my last job for 5yrs and i 'nested' and no one here is willing to give me anywork as they are too busy to train me, so im sitting there for 8 hours with pretty much NOTHING to do its so so boring!
I hope it improves after the Xmas break - really need a workload it just sucks! 

They did say when they took me on that everyone will be clinging to their work and wont want to hand it over to me and i have try and praise it off them - but how can i do that when i dont know what im praising!

ARGHHHHHH...

least the kids had a good day.  baked gingerbread men and Greta had a good sleep :) fantastic.

Must work on the hubby to see if i can get him to agree to 2 nanny days and 1 day care day.

SO Wiggles concert tomorrow.

Bon Jovi concert on Sunday.

x

Not a good day today.

I just missed my babies and didnt see the point of being at work all day to earn less than half my wage as the rest will go to nany/daycare.. when they kids are in school thats fine, as i will be working to pay for them to be educated but to loose more than half my wage on care for them when i dont even want them in care seems insane!

SO just missing them terrible today and not in a happy place - want to stay home with my babies and not work till they are at school but fighting Jonathan over it is too hard.

:(

Will come back and post when im feeling better, just sad and in an un-happy, i miss my babies place at the moment.

ETA - jonathan didn't get the Ernst and Young job he went for the interview for.. if he had got it that would be an extra $50,000  yr so i wouldnt have to have worked - so so so gutted about that.  He got down to the final 3, then they decided to just offer 1 guy a 2nd interview, the  guy had more experience than Jonathan, so we can't blame them, but still so very gutted as that would mean i wouldnt have to work and leave my babies.

Ok still sad, so going to mope more...

x

x

Work yesterday

SO first day at my new job yesterday.  After deciding to start on the 10th jan they decided they wanted me to do a few days here and there before Christmas just to set up my new dexk and meet all the other office staff and get all my log-ins for the computer systems etc and have a look at the systems they use so and have a little go of it so its not all that new to me when i start in Jan, so i agreed. The Nanny has agreed to look after Miles & Greta so all good there.

So they went round yesterday and had a BALL at her house - her daughter actually cried when we took them home as she wanted them to stay and play! SO i think they will have such fun together.

Still undecided about Miles.  He is meant to be going to Pre-school on  a Friday with a friend of ours little girl, who is his friend... but i think having mummy out of the home for 3 days a week and him going there may be too much - i''ll be home with them on a Monday and a Wednesday every week but when i work on the Friday Miles was going to go to Preschool, while the nanny looked after Greta, but i think it might be a bit much for him as he will be at day dare with Greta on a tues & Thurs, so on the friday i wanted them both to stay together with the nanny ... but we will trail it for a few weeks and see if he enjoys it - if not then he can always stay home with the nanny or go over to her house - we will jig it a bit and see how we go.. if its too much for him to do to day care on a tues and a thurs and preschool on a fri then we will drop the preschool adn leave him home with the nanny and Greta and of course her 2 little ones so they can all play together - that way its more like he is in his own home and is just having fun playing with his friends rather than a tiring day at preschool.

Anyway went to Playgroup Xmas party today and the kids didn't really enjoy it.  it was in the Etamogah pub, so no area for Greta to crawl around so had to stick her in a high chair.. The play area was way too hot and right in the sun so couldnt play on that, so Miles just sat on the bench next to me, which was outdoors and we were so so hot... then the food came which was nuggets and chips so great for Miles but of course not something i want to feed Greta so she had a some food luckily id thought to stick in my bag...so we left after an hour or so anyway.  It was just so hot there, not the weather for being outdoors.

i grew some tomatoes myself YAY ME!!! :)  and i have heaps more that are green and going to be ready soon.  My zucchini and cucumber re either still in bud or are tiny, so not sure whats going on there.  onions and carrots stalks are huge and fat so i think they are going well.

So work tomorrow!

Oh a cute pic of the kids playing together in the playroom at home:

x

Last few days update

Ok so on Sunday we went to Carols by Candlelight  - the first one i have ever been to and LOVED it... it was just on the oval behind our house, so just a 5 mintute stroll but the kids loved it - and so did Jonathan, amazing! He usually HATES things like that - i had one of those canvas chairs i took along and jonathan was having a go at me saying i can't belive you bought that,  can't believe youre taking it with us - blah blah blah... and of course i get the to find EVERYONE has one - even the kids.. i took a picnic blanket for the kids to sit on. So jonathan was standing there saying he wishes he did have one after all as he just had to stand up hahah told him!
He enjoyed it so much he even poped to the bottle-o and bought a 6 pack of beers! I was in shock, he sat there and ate a hotdog and drank his beers and i think he even smiled a couple times lol!!

So we said next yr we'd head to the Carols in Sydney - result!!

Kids LOVED the fireworks too.. first time they had ever seen them... so that was great.

Spent the rest of the weekend hanging around the pool and swimming and splashing about.. great fun.

Today we went to the library pantomime and the kids loved that too.  Miles even had his photo taken with Santa haha! Must confess to NOt being a fan of the whole Santa photo thing .. i have no idea why parents drag their kids to these shopping centres and stick them on Santas'knee when they are scared and they spend ages trying to distract them so they dont cry , just so they can get a photo!!! insane, its for the parents not for the kids and why the heck would you do that to yorur kid??? Just so you can show off your cheesy photo - that you scared your kid to get.. madness! and even worse when you dress your kid up to get the photo.. very very tacky.. Miles LOVES santa but just wants to stand a way away and wave at him.. never in a million years would i make him go sit on his knee - and i would never even consider it for Greta, she has no clue who the heck he is so whats the point in doing that.. just dont get it.

Ok so that was that really.

Tomorrow im off to work so the kids are going to their nanny, who is actually going to a Christmas party so is taking Miles and Greta along too so thats worked out well, they'll have a ball im sure and get to see Santa and get a gift each too - winner!

All for now, best go pack up their bags for the nanny tomorrow - i actually had to go buy a back for Greta as she didnt have one, so i got her a hot pink Barbie bag :)

Oh and i forgot this weeks list:

Monday - pantomime
Tuesday - working
Wednesday - playgroup /  food shopping
Thursday - working, kids are going to day care together
Friday  - working, kids are staying home and the nanny is coming over to watch them.

x

Miles' Christmas Party

Just a few pics from Miles' party:

We also handed Greta over to a couple of the carers for a cuddle - she is terribly clingy and usually screams the place down when Mummy or Daddy aren't holding her so i was stressed about that but she was totalyl fine, smiled and smiled... fantastic - so im a little less stressed at leaving her now!

Miles' favourite carer is so excited at getting his baby sister to look after 2 days a week - she was taking photos of him all night, i think he's her favourite too!

Then we went and had a drive past the houses with the crazy lights on down the road from us.  The kids aren't usually out past 5pm when we have dinner and then bath and bed but as we were out late anyway as the party didn't finish till 8.30pm we took the chance to drive around and show the kids the lights - mainly Miles the lights as Greta wasn't too fussed about them - a picture of our neighbours house:

Loving the kids at the age they are now.  Miles at 3 gets so much and understands about Christmas and we read stories and and books and he understands the meaning its such a great age - he is past the terrible 2's stage and can now control his temper/frustraion and he just gets things so much more than 6 months ago - can have a great little conversation with him.

Greta too is at a great age - not yet quite into the terrible 2's although she does throw some fantastic tantrums and throws her tiny body on the floor and squeals, but its still in the cute stage.  Also she likes to make us laugh and is fascinated by simple things like flicking through a magazine, putting toys into a basket and pulling them out again - and over and over again - so so sweet.  And is of course as cuddly as her big brother - always cuddling and kissing ehr dolls and throwing herelf at us for a cuddle. very cute ages indeed :)

x

Story time and then Playgroup hand over!

Ok so slightly busy day today as i am taking the kids up to Christmas story time at the libraby, and then 2 mins down the road to have handover at Playgroup - popping up to the ladies house so she can show me what i need to do.

Then i really want to get J's chrissy pressie from the kids but have to head out to Crows Nest for that so niot sure if i will make it this afternoon!

The house is ferral too so need to do something with it!

Ok best go get a shower - busy day.

Fantastic day with 2 fantastic children :)

Im feeling rather honoured today at being the Mummy of 2 fantastic children.. how did little ol' be get so blessed to have such great little people to be Mummy too - adorable, smart, funny, cuddly little people.

Had a great time at playgroup.  Wet out for lunch, then home and put Greta to bed.  She slept for close to 4 hours - which gave me som great 1 on 1 time with my little guy :) we swam in the pool, sang songs and then snuggled up in bed at watched a movie .. lovely lovely day.

Then Greta woke so we had dinner and then bathed them and put Miles to bed - of course Greta wasnt tired at their usual bedtime 6.30pm so i took her into Miles' room and read hmi his bedtime story while Greta sat on the floor and flicked through Miles'  books... then took Greta back out for half an hour for a snuggle on my knee and a little queit time to wind down for bed - then off she went to bed at 7pm..

A funny picture of Greta after her bath and having her hair towel dried lol:

Such a great day :)

Jonathan is working late - as ever, trying to earn a bit extra cash while he can.. nice to have a bit of alone time as he hates TV so grumbles when i switch it on - so its nice to wit down after a day looking after the kids an relax in front of mind numbing TV lol.

Also have an idea for a Christmas pressie for Jonathan - just have to try and figure it out now...

x

Hot hot hot

So HOT today, 31 degrees i think it is - just waiting to make sure Greta is asleep then going to hop in the pool with Miles to try and cool down.

Nice morning at playgroup and next week is the Chrimbo party at a local pub so that should be fun.

Went out for lunch with the kids after playgroup and bought a couple of bits from Aldi, ooooh and  a yummy chocolate mud cake which i melted in the microwave for 30 seconds and then ate - yum!! I found my cup of tea from this morning in the microwave lol i never get to drink a cuppa with the kids to look after - i never seem to get a second to myself, so always end up sticking in the microwave to warm up then forget about it!

Anyway, Miles is watching a Movie - i should do something but i did so much yesterday.. well i ironed and thats a lot for me lol!

Just got to put the shopping away... should go do that before i hop in the pool.

x

No Swimming Today

We decided that Jonathan would take Miles to his swimming class as he gets terribly clingy to me and just screams for me the entire lesson - We thought he was doing it on purpose at first as a protest to me not getting in the water with him as i used to in his baby class but now im pretty sure its just his seperation anxiety kicking in.  However when Jonathan takes him he joins in the class and has a ball so decided its best for Daddy to take him.

Jonathan has an interview for a major role today that he didnt want to try to change the day of - actually he did try to change it so he could take his little man swimming :) but the only other time they could see him was when he had other work commitments so he had to stick to the original time.

SO anyway so as not to set Miles back by me taking him, decided to ask Miles what he'd like to do and he said he'd like to go swimming with Daddy - i explained Daddy has to work so Mummy can take him, but he said no he doesnt want to go with Mummy.. fair enough - i wasnt sure about taking him anyway so will leave it this week and J can take him next week as per normal.

So we just had playgroup on today - making Christmas stockings, should be fun.

Was going to go into Sydney to see the new library Jonathan has built but he said he will take us over the Christmas break.

Sorted out the 2 days of day care for M & G, the day care centre called to say its all sorted and they each have a place - so all good :)
x

Craft - Egg carton bus

Forgot to say, i did craft project with the kids today.

Got an egg carton and painted it.  While it dried we jumped in the pool and had a play and a swim.

Then hopped out and sat in the sun drying and cut out pictures from a magazine and stuck them on like they were passengers on the bus... we had Mickey Mouse and Oprah as the driver!!

Anyway Miles then played all afternoon with it, putting his Little People in it and pretending it was a bus, then opening it ad getting the Little People out and off they went shopping or wherever lol - he loved it.

A picture of his 'bus'.

x

Jonathans Interview

Yep he's getting in on the act too haha - he has an interview in the morning for Ernst and Young.  Still has the Vietnam one in the pipeline but that wont kick in till jan now so waiting till the nearyear to hear about that.

Im the meantime he has an interview in the morning and its a major role - its looking after all their properties in SE aisa and Australia and NZ - so lots of travelling, which is great as he LOVES to travel for work and its great for us too we get lots and lots of frequent flyer points for our holidays :)

his current role with the city of sydney is the only role he has had since i met him him that he hasnt travelled for and its driving him up the wall.

So watch this space ....

Ok, i have a huge pile of ironing to do so best get on and iron blurghhhh.

x

Child care sorted

SO i start work on the 10th jan.

So this is how the week will run:

Monday - i will be home with the kids.
Tuesday - day care together 8am-5pm
Wednesday - i will be home with the kids
Thursday - day care together 8am - 5pm
Friday - Miles will go to pre-school and Greta will have a nanny come over to our house to care for her.

SO thats the plan so far.  So Greta is only out of the house for 2 days a week.  She knows the nanny as well as its my friend and we hang out together most weeks - she also has a daughter the same age as Greta and they are signed up to go to the same school together - Pymble Ladies College. Will be nice for her to have a little friend to play with and also be in her own house.

Miles is signed on for pre-school  - he will go with Fre's little girl - his best friend.. will see if 3 days out of the hosue is too much for him.  If its is then fair enough he can stay home on a Friday with Greta and the nanny.

See how it all goes.  Im trying to reduce the number of days they are out of the house and in a daycare.  SO 2 days it is.  if it seems to be too much then we can have them go to the nanny 2 days a week and day care for just 1 day.  Id have had the nanny come look after them at our house every day if i could its just that she has another job to do on Thursday in Mosman.  She can do the Tuesday but not till 9,30am so we said we would try out day care for 2 days and her for 1 day and see how we go with that for a start before we switch & swap it about to suit us all the best .. and if it all goes to pot then i will just quit my job and resume being home with the kids.  They are the most important things after all.  I actually think Greta will be ok in day care and with the nanny, she's much more outgoing than Miles and not as clingy - although compared to a regular baby she is extrememly clingy! But a world away from how clingy Miles is.  Miles is really my issue, i want to make sure he is ok and doesn't withdraw into himself more - so i will keep an eye on him.

Kinda looking forward to getting back to work, even if only 3 days a week - but gutted about leaving the kids :(

My babies:

Weekend away :) Lemon Tree Passage/Anna Bay & Stockton Beach

So Jonathan came home on Friday night and said lets go away for the weekend on a driving trip :)


Its something we used to do ALL the time, like every other weekend before we had kids - but our kids aren't great in the car, i can count on 1 hand the times the both of them together have fallen asleep in the car - so we have flying to go on holidays or going like 40 mins down the road to the beach and staying there! which is quite limiting and funny as we go to the beach most weeks so to go and stay in a hotel like 40 mins down the road is a bit silly - but when the kids arent great in the car cos mainly the dont sleep its quite limiting and we just love to go on holidays.. we get cabin fever if we dont go once every 3 months on average so wher as before kids we'd dake off on a driving trip or head off on a plane somewhere but now of course we have limited funds so the plane - which is the easiest option and Miles LOVES going on planes .. but we cant afford to go tripping off every 3 months so we also used to go on driving trips - well we thought this weekend as we were both desperate for a trip away - yes i know the last time we went was only in Sept when we flew up to Cairns for a wedding and before that July when we went to Thailand and the UK - but that was 3 and 6 months ago - ok so i know not that long but we LOVE holidays :) Hence the reason we emigrated to Australia - for 2 pomes its like being on holiday every day with this weather and pool in the back yard - ok im going off course here badly..

So we decided to put the kids in the car and go for a weekend away as we have limited funds we couldnt afford flights, anywhere nice on the northern beaches which is 40 mins away was out of our price range at present.  So we decided to just go for it and jump in the car and drive north as it'd be hotter up north and Miles had asked to go to the beach for a couple of days so that meant we had to stay close to the coast - so decided on a spot called Lemon Tree Passage which had a bush walk to look for koala's and is right on the river and a 20 minute drive to a stunning beach that you can also drive on - we love 4 wheel driving but havent done it since the kdis were born of course cos not very safe to do with kids in the car but thought a drive down the beach would be safe enough!

SO off we go - we sent off on Saturday morning, decided to let Greta have her morning nap at home then set off after that - so come 12pm off we go - thought she might have her 2nd nap in the car (haha, yeah right!) so we all had lunch at home and put the kids in the car- put a big esky in the middle with snacks and drinks for us all and off we went - piccie:

3 hours later we arrive - neither kid had slept at all! can you believe we had driven for 3 hours straight and both wide away!!!! but amazingly they were so good.. they played with a few toys i packed and read books together and Miles found a ball and they threw that between the 2 of them and wer just fine - and here was J and i avoiding long car trips as we know the 2 of them dont sleep and they were fine, awake but fine! So thats opened up a whole new holiday world to us :)

As for the trip it was great, we bush walked, played and drove on the beach, had BBQ dinner and breakfast and a yummy pub lunch.

Then back home on Sunday night - oh and we sent off at 3pm and would you believe BOTH kids fell asleep 5 mins into the return trip and slept for the entire 3 hours!!!!

Anyway a FANTASTIC weekend away, LOVED it and it opened the door for us for more road trips as the kids were great and it was so cheap too.

A few pics: