Now, where was I?

Ok lots to report so I will do it in point form to avoid a really long post.

*  Matilda is now rolling. She started on Friday and has not stopped since. She also said her first word on Friday and it was MUM!.

*  She will be starting solids tonight if I get organised.  MMMMM rice cereal (Yuk).

*  We spent Friday at a friends house. Meant to pop in for a couple of hours for play and ended up there all day.  There were 6 boys aged 5 and under. It got a little hectic but they all had fun.  Riley was so tired when we got home he feel asleep on the floor, something he very very rarely does

*  On Saturday Steve went dirt bike riding up at Warburton so the kids and I had a day at home. Started to watch the Grand Final GO CATS!!! (dont panic I am still Collingwood through and through) but it got sooo boring I gave up halfway through and just came back to watch the end 

*  Steve actually took some video of him and his mates riding on Saturday, now I really will worry when he is out there, the hills they go up are so steep!

*  Will have some exciting news to report regarding Steve and a possible job change. Will tell more when its finalised. 

*  Today we went to the Melbourne Steam Museum on Ferntree Gully Road. The boys had a ride on a small steam train and got to see alot of the machinery in action.  They thought it was fantastic as they are such “boys” boys and just love anything with wheels and noise and big diggers and rollers etc etc.

*  Went to Spotlight today to get some new curtains for the bedroom but find it impossible to leave without a few scrapping supplies, oooops. 

*  Its now less than 3 weeks till my parents get home, it has just gone so quickly.

*  Hoping to catch up with lots of people during the second week of the holidays. Weather should be OK for some of it too.

 That will do for now

Helen xxxxx

???WHY???

Why do I feel the need to sit up until midnight every night when I know that Tillys new routine means she will be up at 6am??? . Seems to be my habit for this week and I am feeling soooo tired now. Maybe its because Steve has been working heaps and I have been busy every night so far so its really the only time we get to see each other.

Having a bit of a nothing day today. Yesterday I caught up on some housework but today we are all unsettled which means no much is getting done.  Baking a Chocolate and Banana cake at the moment. Its even a real cake and not out of a packet!. I managed to forget to put in the melted butter (I left it in the microwave) so that got added after it had been in the oven 5 minutes so not sure how it will turn out. That is why I usually go the packet option!!!! I will blame my lack of sleep for that.

I got the “bubbles” out for the boys on Tuesday. It was fun for a little while until Riley spilt his and then Declan gave him what was left of his bottle and then he spilt that and then Declan got upset………. I am finding that Riley is at a really difficult age at the moment and even a simple and fun time turns into an argument between him and Declan.

Will post more  another time, cake is finished, Tilly has woken and kitchen looks like a bomb has gone off in it.

Helen xxxxx 

Tilly update

Tilly had her check up with MCH on Monday and she is doing great. She has put on an average of 300gms a week since starting on formula and is back to being in the top 50% range for her age.  I can see how much happier and alert she is. It is nice to know that I did the right thing for her sake even if I was not ready to stop BFeeding.

Helen xxxxx

Its only day 2!.

of the holidays and I am already exhausted!!!.  The weekend was crazy crazy crazy .  Steve had to work for most of it and I had heaps to catch up on so had to do most of it with 3 kids in tow.  On Sunday we helped Logan celebrate his 1st birthday.  It was so much fun, the kiddies had a bawl. Even Matilda got in on the action.

Last night it was Gracies turn. Again Steve was working so missed out on the fun.  She turned 3 and the lucky girl got a HUGE tramampoline (as Homer would say). I forgot how much fun they can be. We arrived home last night with 3 very tired, over fed and over bounced children. Thanks Jo, Rich, Duncan and Sharon for the great parties.  Looks like its our turn next with Rileys party.

Oh and mum you will be glad to know that you are out of a job. As you can imagine without you around the washing needing to be folded is growing daily but luckily Declan is on the job. He keeps telling me when the pile is getting too big and then helps out by folding his and Rileys clothes. He does a good job too.

Today we are going to catch up with everyone from Playgroup, then Matilda goes to MCH for a weigh-in to make sure she is putting enough weight on (no problem there I can assure you). I also have 2 Tupperware parties to attend in 2 nights so its definately all go!.

To finish off, here is a little pic of Matilda who is 5 months old today, Yay for Tilly. She still has not rolled but is very chatty and full of smiles for us.

Hope you all have a good week.

Helen xxxxx

PS Mum and Dad – James Bartel from Geelong won the Brownlow by heaps!. Ablett was not even close. Geelong also won the VFL Premiership so it looks as though its going to be a very good week for all you Cats fans. Dont worry Mum our turn will come though there is talk that Didak will be leaving Collingwood, not happy with that news at all!.

Another Week Gone.

Here we are at the end of another hectic and crazy week.  The boys have both been off this week. It started with Declan on Monday afternoon, he put himself to bed at 5pm with a sore tummy and then woke at 7pm with a temperature. By the next day he was better though just not interested in food at all. Then it was Rileys turn. He too came down with a temperature and spent most of Wednesday in bed asleep. Wednesday evening I took Declan swimming and left Steve with Riley and Tilly.  Boy was I the lucky one. Riley decided that this would be a good time to be sick all over the couch and poor Steve.  By the time I got home most the mess was gone but Riley was not improving and we had a rough night with him. He was sick again in the morning but thankfully that was the last of it and now they are both much better.

I was suppose to meet with Declans speech therapist yesterday but had to cancel due to Riley not being well. I did manage to have a quick chat with her on the phone though and she said that Declan has improved so much over the last couple of months that she too feels he is ready for school next year. She was the one originally advising me NOT to send him but said she is just so pleased with all the hard work he is putting in. I am now totally at peace about school next year. (She was my last hurdle, I was not quite sure how to tell her I was sending him against her recommendation).

Took the kiddies to the “Rocket Park” today to get them out of the house and to burn off some of that excess energy.  Gee it was windy and a bit chilly. We were there about 5 minutes when Riley tripped and hurt his chin, again.  Took a little while to calm him down but then he had fun. Declan made some new friends within about 2 minutes and that was him sorted for the morning.

Also I had a lovely chat with Riley this morning whilst he was getting dressed. He was telling me all about the clothes he was putting on and I said “Riley, are you cute?” to which he replied “I’m not cute, I’m Batman!”. It was such a male response!. The boys really dont like it if I call them cute, they prefer to be groovy (or Batman).

I am out tonight with some mums from Playgroup. We are heading to MOODS in Berwick for some cake, coffee (or in my case Coke) and a chat/gossip in peace. Wont be a late one though as I plan to be home for the second half of the footy  GO COLLINGWOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.  I will be completely shocked if we do win tonight.  I feel that Geelong and just way too good this year.  But I must say I am just so proud of the boys for getting this far and I think the next few years look very promising for us Collingwood fans.

Off to do some housework now (hahahahahahaha)

Have a great weekend 

Helen xxxxx

Its still growing.

The kiddies and I headed to Mum and Dads to feed the roses whilst they are away.  Of course I had two wonderful helpers (well actually 3 because Tilly slept in the pram the whole time which was a BIG help!).  Now that spring is in full swing everything is growing like crazy.  The first Roses are in bloom , the grapevine is coming to life and lemons are starting to appear on the tree again.  

 

I am off to a seminar tonight with Steve Biddulph on “Raising Boys”. Should be informative and will hopefully show me that my loud, over the top boys are completely normal!.

Helen xxxxx

Only 34 sleeps….

until my Mum and Dad get home, YAY!!.  Still coming to terms with the fact that we are over half way through September already. Where has this year gone?.

Friday night was sleepover night for the boys again. This time they got to sleep in Declans room. After a little chatting and running around Declan drifted off to sleep but Riley,  well lets just say he kept the party going!. After a few quick trips to his own bedroom to retrieve toys he managed to cover his bed and most of Declans with bears, cars, books etc etc.  After many trips in to tell him to go to sleep he then started with the delay tactics, I need to go to the toilet, I feel sick I need a bucket. It was close to 10pm before he finally went to sleep.   

Today I managed to get to the local market without any boys, just Tilly and myself.  I picked up a few new plants for the front garden then headed home to mow the lawns and help Steve with sorting out the shed, though my fear of spiders stops me from being too much help. 

We also tried Declan on his bike with no training wheels. (Note the bald back tyre from all the burnouts he does, thanks Steve for showing him that little trick)

He is still not quite sure on the whole balancing thing but we will keep at it and see how he goes.

I also snapped this really nice photo of Steve and Riley. Of course as Riley is only 2 he does not understand that he is too small to ride a mountain bike but he gave it a good shot.

Tilly is sleeping well at the moment (touch wood). She is really drinking 200ml per feed now which is helping. Last night she went to bed at 5:30 in the evening and woke at 7 this morning!. And Steve got up to do that feed so I didnt get out of bed until 8 o’clock!. My body went into shock!. Hope she keeps it up.

Loving the rain this evening, hope it keeps up all night.

Will love ya and leave ya. I have 2 boys that really need to go to bed.

Helen xxxxx

Cheap labour.

I hope it lasts. I had a little helper whilst doing some housework yesterday. Riley actually did a really good job considering he is only 2.  Might have to start giving the boys specific chores every week.

 Miss Matilda decided to sleep 12.5 hours last night which was a wonderful treat.  I am starting to feel that she is ready to start solids. Will try and hold off for another week or two until she is atleast 5 months. Finally her two bottom teeth are through but now her top gums are looking red and swollen so I guess the next two are on their way.

I finally took delivery today of the new IKEA catalogue. YAY.  Will have a read tonight in between watching Collingwood, hopefully they play like they did last week.  

 

Here is a picture of Declan, just to be fair.

Not much else to report, hope  you have a good weekend.

Helen

A very big announcement….

and no I am not changing my blog title to “and now there are six!” 

Ok, so after much deliberation and talking and meeting with anyone who would listen to me, Steve and I have decided that DECLAN IS GOING TO SCHOOL NEXT YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!.

We are just so glad that a decision has been made, it was driving us both nuts!. We have been pretty sure for a little while that he would be attending but after he was seen by the PSFO at Kinder yesterday we are now certain that we are making the right decision. She told us that she saw no reason to hold him back and that we would probably do more harm than good (socially) keeping him in Kinder for another year.  As long as we are aware that he will need the extra help and support and continue with speech therapy then he will be fine.  This has been the opinion of most the people I have spoken to on this matter with the exception of his Speech Therapist though she too is coming around to the idea.

I was told yesterday that Mothers know best and If I believe he is ready then he is ready.  Wow now I really must get organised and start ordering uniforms etc.  So far he has had 2 orientation sessions in the playground at school and next term he starts attending for 1 hour at a time in the classroom. He is very excited as you can imagine. 

 Thanks to everyone for listening to me waffle on about this subject and thanks for your honest opinions.

Helen xxxxx

PS Just a little reminder about my Tupperware party on Thursday night at 7:15.  Hope to see you there.

Good Old Collingwood Forever…..

Well mum we won!!!!. We beat Sydney by 38 points and played a fantastic game with Rocca kicking 6 goals straight WooHoo.  (sorry Jane). We now get to play West Coast in Perth. They have a few injury concerns, including no Ben Cousins who did his hammy on Friday night (Oh you might not know, he came back to play after his stint in rehab). We have a chance to beat them which as you know means we will get the wobbles big time.  Oh well atleast the season is not over yet. Still no word if Buckley is going to continue playing next year so each game could be his last

Dad, Geelong play later today 

Helen xxxxx