Swimming was a HUGE success

So Miles has been going to swimming class since he was 3 months old, once a week.. he LOVES swimmng so much and is fantastic at it, he should have been born with fins i swear, he just loves loves loves water - a big reason we bought a house with a pool and already this year he has been in it a zillion times :)

Now the problem lies in the fact he has extreme seperation anxiety - or is super clingy, either way all was going great until it came time to move him up from Water babies class to Tadpoles - only difference being that Mummy no longer gets in the water but sits at the side - cue Miles's horrendous screaming "Mummy, Mummy, Muummmmmmmmmmmmy" for the ENTIRE 30 minute class! Oh my God its been a battle, we have been back into water babies for a few months after it just got too hard hearing the screaming and totally lost for an answer to help him adjust having me sitting at the side of the pool with my feet dangling in and holding his hand - although he usually stands there clinging onto my leg saying mummy Mummy over and over and over for 30 mintues solid -  anyway i couldnt stand it any longer and took him back into waterbabies where i get in the water with him.  Did that for another 3 months till he turned 3yrs old then tried him again in the Tadpoles, this time i made sure he had the instructor he had had all the time in Water babies, as he tends to cling to familar people and isnt good with strangers - well he is fine with strangers if mummy is there but not if mummy is sitting 10cms away or so.. yes that close bit still a million miles away to Miles!

Anyway he started back in Tadpoles in August when he turned 3 and 3 months, for the first time today he only screamed for the first 6 or 7 minutes of the class - oh i could have cried with joy! He had the biggest grin on his face and was loving it. Which is so frustrating as i know he loves to swim and loves all the songs and activities they do in the pool as well as the actual learing to swim its just because of his seperation issues.  So it was jsut pure joy to see him so happy and having fun.  I was at there with this stupid grin on my face for 3o minutes! but i was so pleased for him.

He joined in for most of the things but a few of the activities - it was only the 3 of them, Teacher, Miles and another little girl - they went to sing ring-a-rosies and he wouldnt join in so the teacher and little girl did it and Miles just stood to the side and watched  - which kills me as i can see on his face he is just dying to join in but its like something is stopping him, which is the same as me as i child i would be the one standing on the corner of a room looking at the groud while all the kids played and i longed to join in but just 'couldn't' I just feel so bad that i've passed that awful gene or whatever it is onto my poor baby.. id give anything to make him feel comfortable to join in.

Anyway, major success with swimming so thats fantastic.

Then we went to the Wiggles Playcentre with a neighbour and her little boy and another friend and her 2 little girls.  All the kids were playing in the paly area together and the mums were chatting over a coffee - something ive never been able to do as Miles wont go off and play by himself or with his friends so off i go into the play centre to stand there looking like a right prat with all these little kids running around playing and Miles playing too - he will happily play just as long as im only a short distance away .  Anyway one of the mums asked if she could hold Greta while i stood with Miles in the play area, as i was trying to juggle playing with miles and cary Greta as there was no where to put her down - but of course Greta very much like her big brother wont let anyone other than mummy and sometimes daddy hold her and went hysterical - shaking violently and screaming 'Mama, Mama" hmm this sounds all too familiar!
So im standing there in the paly area surounded by kids holding Greta!
But then to my utter shock, Miles followed one of his friends up to the top of a ladder and then of course realised that Mummy is down on the ground and not at the side of him so started screaming Mummy Mummy... oh great so i now had to climb up there to get him with Greta either in my arms or put her on the floor wehre she'd  scream and shake! ARGGHHHH .. well i managed to talk him back down the ladder so all good.

Then Dorothy the dinosaur came out and Miles threw himself at her and gave her the biggest cuddle it was so cute!

Picture below - Miles, Lauren & Caitlin

We will go back there again soon it was fantastic - i can't believe its only half an hour away and i havent been more.

So a pretty good day all in all. I have an interview for a job for a couple of hours - will no doubt be back to report on that.

Job interview post poned

Till tomorrow at 4.30pm - the guy im meeting had to dash off to something else so wont get there in time so we post poned till tomorrow (wednesday). Which is good as im feeling a bit lazy today for some reason.

Ok best get on, have a curry to cook from scratch for dinner YIKES!

x

Library

ok so i fanally made it up to the local library - its so great up there is a tiny little on but has great book and we go to the baby bounce class there with Greta and the story time with Miles.

Anyway i sat down and the kids wondered around the selected books and brought them over to me and i read them then they either chose to put them in our bag to bring home or took them back to the shelf.. although Greta didnt quite get it and kept bringing books to me ad giggling then going off and choosing another one etc etc... so i ended up spending half an hour picking up all her discarded books lol but she had  a ball and the lady who works there is great and says to just let her crawl around its fine.

So we came home and they sat in their playroom and read their books for a good hour or so before Greta went down for her 2nd nap of the day after devouring a cup of milk each. i love that my kids are book worms.  They get it from me, i could read all day long every day - these days it takes me a good 5 - 7 days to get through a book... My book shelves are so full we need to buy another book shelf i think. All the shelves are full of my books i cant bear throwing any out, ive given a few to people to borrow and never had the mback though of course grrrrr- im terribly attached to things - as is Miles, Greta on the other hand doesnt really have anything she is attached too.. she loves a couple of her dolls, 2 in particular but i think if she lost either of them she'd not even notice - where as Miles wouldnt sleep until we found it.. well i know he wouldnt as we have misplaced Teddy on more than one occasion.. anyway i guess they get their book worm -ness from me as jonathan has probably read about a dozen books in the 11 yrs i've known him! And a good half of them are travel guides - he LOVES travel guide books and generally reads them over and over again.. hmm there is another post about our travels. Anyway a photo of Miles and his Teddy and one of my book!

x

A New Dolly for Greta!

Ok so Library trip postponed as Greta decided she couldn't keep her eyes opened and crawled into her bedroom, knelt up against her cot and yelled Mama Mama.. in i go and see her sitting there rubbing her eyes - so she's now fast asleep and the trip is postponed till she wakes up... honestly sleeping beauty, i tell ya she could sleep the whole day away!

New Dolly - My parents send a cheque for the kids for birthdays and Christmas' so this year for Greta's 1st brithday i got her a doll in a cradle with a blanket for her from my parents - however there was some issue with the supplier and it only just arrived yesterday!! it was her birthday 5 weeks ago!! But no matter, she loves it and has spent all morning taking the doll out of the cradle and holding it in her arms and cuddling it whilst patting its bottom lol.  Miles who is a very ordered child and likes everything in its place gets very cross that the doll isn't in its rightful place .. ie the cradle with the blanket over it and cna be heard over and over again saying "No Gweta the  baby is tired and wants to go to sleep in its cot" Too cute - a couple of piccies.

I put Greta to bed and went into the playroom to have a little tidy after Greta had been through there like a whirlwind! i found it all in order however as Miles had got there first and put everything back in its place (LOVE my neat freak son) and i also found he had hidden the doll in her cradle behind a toy - no doubt so Greta cant find it and pull the doll and blanket out again hahah... such great fun watching the 2 of them together - they are so totally different yet adore each other.

x

Off to the library

Well our busy week suddenly became not so busy!

Which is great as its forecast a lovely hot week and weeked so we can splash around in the pool :)

So we are heading to the library today to return Miles' books and get a few more for him.. might head to Story Time while there too, he loves that - just hard to keep Greta from crawling all over the place while we are there...! but i don't suppose that matters.

We were meeting up with my friend Fre and her little ones today but she has to go into hospital to have a small procedure, bless her. 

im currently in love with this room and plan on doing a similar room for Greta when she is older.. she is of course still in her cot, which is Miles old cot - i adore the cot, its a Boori sleigh cot and is stunning, only trouble is its dark wood, i decided when i had Miles as he was a boy id get all dark wood and if i were to have a girl id get all white - well of course i had a boy first so i got all dark wood - liitle consideration to what my 2nd baby would be and of course i had a girl and wanted an all white room - stereotypical i know! Anyway she has a dark wood and bright pink room! but when she outgrows her cot and we put it away for grandchildren  - thats the plan, i cant bare selling it its too beautiful and of course has bite marks etc of the kids so its quite special too.. anyway i plan on doing a room like above.
I love interior design, we recently renovated our new house and i loved picking all the new items - think it loks pretty good.. All a bit hard as i wanted to do a bit of a girly style but Jonathan refused to life in a pink and frilly house haha - anyway i got my 1 white room! The family room is white so im happy.

Hmm speaking of design etc im also loving this table and buffet, although i cant justify a new one just yet, ours is abotu 4 yrs old and is in perfect condition.. only trouble is the quality of the wood is very poor and you can make an indent into it by simply pressing hard on it - so that was fine before kids and J and i would just be genlte with it but with 2 kids now its not an ideal table... but as i said i cant really justify a new one just yet - but this is the one i will get when i do update  - LOVE it and of course im getting a bit more white into the house haha - i keep saying to Jonathan that he is now outnumbered, there is 2 girls and 2 boys in the house but there is also Amber the cat who is of course a girl!

Hmmm this blog is turning into a mish mash of thoughts... i start off with one idea for the post and end up going totally off on another subject - perhaps reflects the state of my brain haha - Jonathan always says he can never keep up with me i flit from one thing to another all the time with no warning and then back again!  never a dull moment anyway :)

Ok well its after 8 so best get the kids dressed and myself showered and dressed and then off to the library.

x

Job interview!!

Whooo hoo i have another one! tomorrow in a Gloria jeans of all places.. Oh not that id be working in a Gloria jeans - Noooooo, its just where the guy has chosen to meet me for a coffee and interview! its walking distance almost form my house - the guy who is interviewing me lives in Glenhaven too so he said he'd pop in for a coffee on his way home from work - winner! so i dont have to travel too far for the interview which is good as i have to get jonathan to come home early from work (again) im sure he is sick of me.

i didnt get the other job i went for the interview for last week - sad as i REALLY wanted it, but good as i REALLY dont want to leave Greta in day care 2 days a week. 

The lead up to the interview i was actualyl having nightmares about leaving Greta, awful things like she vanished and someone stole her and alsorts which im sure was just my silly brain trying to deal with having to leave her - ive never left her, only with Jonathan for a very short time.  I still have HUGE guilt about putting Miles in day care 3 days a week when i went back to work after i had him.. i know he was only 6 months old and Greta will be 13 months + but sitll i find it hard to leave them - probably more so as we have no family in Australia so its just the 4 of us all the time so neither of the kids have been over to visit grandparents or anything like that as there is no-one for them to visit over here.. anyway im waffling but im excited again about this interview but scared to death of having to put my 2 little ones in day care the 2 days a week that id work.. although we have been thinking about a nanny which im liking the idea of as the kids would be in their own home,... hmm see what happens with the interview first i guess.  I do kinda crave going back to work and having that brain stimulation, the kids are more physically draining i guess where as work iw more mentally.. i do crave sitting in a nice quiete office with a stack invoices to pay.. ahhh lovely, no kids for miles! But i just wish i could have Greta and Miles sitting on the end of my desk haha!

Anyway see what this interview brings tomorrow!

x

First post

Hi,

Ok so im Mandy, mummy to a 3yr old boy Miles and a 1yr old girl Greta, wife to Jonathan who works in the city (Sydney) so its just the kids and i on a day to day basis - doing the rounds of activities and playdates...

Well im feeling like i should start a blog just to document the lives of myself and the kids - they grow up so fast and ive never been a diary writter so - see how we go keeping this up to date!

So just a list of acctivities we have on this week:
Monday - Music class, playdate in the park for all the babies from EB turning 1
Tuesday - playdate with our friends Fre, Niamh and Tadhg
Wednesday - Swimming class & Playgroup
thursday - a trip into Sydney
Friday - Daycare for Miles, Just Greta and i home.. housework day!!

Ok so just somewhere to keep a list of all we get upto during the day - and no doubt a few whinges from me now and again haha!

So today we have been to Miles'music class.. grrrr annoying again.. half of the class he joins in and has a whale of a time dancing and singing then its just like a switch goes and he tilts his head to the side and stares at the floor and WILL NOT join in or even acknowledge my or anyones existance so i dont know how to deal with him when he does that - so i just join in myself in the hope that he will see its fun and come back and join in... i most likely look like a total prat dancing and singing with all the other kids while all the mums are chatting at the side of the room - ahhh story of my life as a mum of a clingy child, clingy in the extreme as ive neve been able to chat with the mums while my kids play as Miles just hold onto my leg and wont go off on his own....although he has got a little better of late - i think its as ive been trying to encourage him.. ive been reading a lot about it and trying to ensure he knows he has solid base in Mummy and i'll always be there and he can go off and play and if he feel insecure i'll be there if he wants to come back and he has been going off a little more on his own of late - so i think its working.
Anyway back to music class.. he just goes into what is veyr like a trance then all of a sudden snaps out of it its bizarre and comes and just joins in again - i cant understand it.  Anyway so that was hit and miss (same as ever).

Then we went to Olympic park and had a play and a feast with the other babies from Greta's EB group, that was great fun an miles played at the park - something he would NEVER have done 3 months ago - so im thinking his extreme clinginess may be easing a little .. which is just in time for Greta's to kick in haha - no rest for poor Mummy.  Greta is so bad at the moment even Jonathan (Daddy) Daddy can't pick her up as she screams and shakes and going into a sort of fit its awful - so id say they both have Extreme seperation anxiety.. but now ive learnd how to deal with it a little with Miles i hope i can help Greta more easily.

So then we had a great time at the park, Miles loved eating all the snacks everyone brought and then he built a tower of blocks with the babies. Greta had fun crawling around.

Then we drove him and popped Greta in her cot and Miles and i jumped in the pool at home - it was heaven.. cooled us off.

Ok best go start dinner, its 4pm! Greta has been in bed since abotu 1pm i think it was.. that girl can sleep!!
Spicy meatballs and pasta yummmmmm!

xx