So I sat down

So I sat down to type a post but have come up blank. I can't think of anything to post about. Its not that nothing is happening, I'm really busy of late, its just that its not worth telling everyone about in a blog. The girls are healthy and happy, so are Rodger and I. 


I'm finally becoming more organised though. My house no longer looks like a bomb site. Its actually clean and tidy most days. I think this is due in part to the fact that the girls now share a room and we have turned the third bedroom into a playroom. We try and get them to keep all toys in there instead of from one end of the house to the other. Toys still end up everywhere but its not as bad. I do think some of it is also due to Jasmine being in school five days of the week. Alone, neither girl makes too much mess, but together its about ten times as much as one of them. 


Jas is doing really well at school. Reading at a high level. She brought home a novel from the school library the other week and can read it. Blew me away! Lucy loves that Jas can read well. She goes to her big sister when she wants a story most of the time. I love to watch Jas read to her. Its so sweet. Well, most of the time it is. When they are not trying to kill each other anyways.


Other than that I really have nothing to say. There isn't really any topic of late that I have felt very passionate about. Maybe there is just nothing major going on in the world, or I just haven't noticed. I hope its not the second....

School Holidays

I remember writing these at school. The old "what I did on the Holidays" essay. Jasmine did her first one this week when school went back for term two. Of course in Prep there is less writing and more telling the teacher and then drawing about it but she still did it. So what did we do these school holidays.


Week one:


Jas had her holiday program on Monday and Wednesday. She loved it. It was pretty much just all day after school care for her. She got to play with other kids and have time away from her sister. It was clear on both the Tuesday and the Thursday that being in each others face all time easily becomes a problem. For the most part those days though they played outside. The Tuesday was great. Perfect really. Thursday Lucy gave me a run for my money. She decided that she needed a haircut... with Daddy's whisker trimmers. She now has a little patch of missing hair in the center of her forehead. I think she's going to have to get a fringe in order to help cover it up. I can't seem to style her hair around it to cover it. Following that she also got into my make-up. Eyeshadow all over her chin. I swear that kid is going to make me go grey early. Good Friday they went to Nanna's and boy did we need the break! It was nice to have that break and have the time with Rodger. Saturday we went shopping then went to lunch at Nanna's and got the girls. Easter Sunday we decided to take the girls out. At first we were going to find a nice picnic spot but then we changed our minds and instead took them to Werribee's Open Range Zoo for the day. They loved it. Its such a different experience from the normal Zoo for them. We also found out that on Weekends, Public Holidays and School Holidays kids under 16 are free at all three Zoo's! 


Week two:


Monday was not a great day. Its was Zac's birthday. He would have been four. Needless to say I spent the day wallowing. Tuesday Rodger was back at work. Since she had been good over the weekend I took Jasmine into the Museum for the day. We took the train in. She loved the whole things. Especially the dinosaurs. I think we spent about an hour just looking at them. She was amazed by how big some of them were. So was I! While she was free to get in and I was only cheap, the food prices were sky high! That's where they make their money I think. From food. Wednesday Jasmine again had her holiday program. Lucy spent the day with Nanna and I had a break and some peace and quiet. It was nice. Thursday I took the girls to see a friend. They had a ball playing with her little girls. Jasmine and her eldest get on so well and played so well together. I was shocked at how well behaved Jasmine was actually. She usually tries to be bossy with other kids and last week she wasn't. Friday she had her last day of her holiday program. Lucy and I stayed at home and cleaned. And cleaned and cleaned. When Rodger got home we took Lucy to the park for a little while, then picked Jasmine up. Lucy is so cute playing at the park. She always goes and plays with the water tap. I think that's because that's where the "bad boys" hang out and she's a flirt. Saturday was more cleaning. Boring. Sunday was supposed to be a nice quiet, relaxing day at home. And it was, until Jasmine whacked her head and we had to take her to the Dr's to have it glued. Thank goodness for that glue, otherwise she would have needed stitches and I don't think I would have copped with that.


Hows that for a holiday essay?

Its taken me 10 days

But finally, here it is. A post about Jasmine starting school.


She is a big kid now. Or so she likes to think. Every morning during the week now, we get up, have breakfast and get ready for school. I know Jas isn't really that much older than when she started 10 school days ago, but at times she seems older. She looks so big and all grown up in her uniform. Its amazing to see her at school too. She is so confident in herself. I love when she brings home the work that she has done at school. Its amazing to me to see it.


I love picking her up from school. Its possibly one of my favourite times of day. I love to talk to her about her day on the walk home. Of course a lot of the time her standard answer to "what did you do today" is "I don't know" or "I forget" but with a few more specific questions she is able to tell me all about her day.


She still finishes school earlier than all the bigger kids. Right now its 2 hours early. Starting March 1st though she will be there all day. Last Monday she also started after school care. She came home tired from it but loved it. I love that she loves it. 


Although we are only in the second full week of school so many notices have already come home. Even one asking for money! Oh boy! She will even be doing some cooking in the classroom. I love that! She loves to help cook at home so I think she will really enjoy it in school too. They use it as apart of their maths program. Whoohoo for practical application of lessons!


Here she is all ready to go on her first day!

Wiggle it.

About five years ago, just before Jasmine was born if I remember right, yellow wiggle Greg became yellow wiggle Sam. Greg was ill and needed an indefinite time off to get well again. This past week that time ended and Greg returned to his role as the yellow wiggle.


This has caused somewhat of an uproar in some parenting circle. "oh the children will be confused", "he's only back for the money", "now there is no eye candy in the wiggles". Uh?! What?! Eye Candy?? In a kids entertainment group?? That's a concern?? 


Quite frankly I don't care. The only thing I care about as far as The Wiggles go is that my girls enjoy them. When they saw the news on the TV about Greg/Sam they didn't question it, all they cared was that The Wiggles were on TV. They watch both the older shows and the newer shows and neither seems to care that there is a different yellow Wiggle in the newer ones.


I also don't see where it is relevant how much Sam was or was not paid during the past five years or how much his payout was last week. He was not a founding member of The Wiggles. Why should he get what they get?


And as for them being a money making business? Well of course they are! And they do it darn well too. However, I disagree with the parents that go on and on about being forced to buy Wiggles merchandise. Unless of course they are being home invaded by The Wiggles and forced to except the merchandise. I don't know about many other parents but I have a fantastic word for my girls when they want something and I feel that it is either inappropriate or too expensive. NO! Perhaps some of these parents need to try that at times.


Hi5 changed their line up a while ago too. There was no uproar then. All five of them were replaced with newer, younger models. No care there for the confusion it may cause the kids, not that I think the kids really care. No care there for how much Hi5 was or was not paid by channel 9. So, why the care about The Wiggles??

The Best of 2011

My favourite personal photos from last year...


Jan
Girls at the beach

Feb

Jas's first day at 4 year old Kinder

March

Lucy and yogurt

April

Zac on a Tram

May

Girls eating at their own table

June

Me and the girls at a bonfire

July

Jas at Disney on Ice

August

Lucy being Shirley Temple

September

Girls at The Show

October

Sending a Balloon to Zac

November

For some reason no photos where taken in November

December

Girls on Christmas Eve

Teaching Kids to Hate

I rather dislike the word hate. Yes, I use it but not usually in reference to another person. 


I got into a debate yesterday about whether or not kids are taught to to hate or if its just in built in them. I believe that in most cases it is taught to them by their parents. The debate stemmed from a person claiming that those who choose to raise their kids in less than ideal circumstances are asking for their kids to be bullied by other kids. It was mostly in reference to kids who have same-sex parents. 


I really do believe that this particular brand of hate and bullying does come from the parents at home before the kids even reach school age. Kids generally don't care about how many Mummy or Daddy's another kid had, they tend to like or dislike the other kids based on their own personal likes and dislikes. From what I've seen that usually involves TV shows or certain Barbie dolls.


There will always be bullys at schools. They bullys will always pick on someone, and yes in some cases it will be about sexual orientation of another kids parents. But where does he bully learn this hate and dislike?? At five all Jasmine knows is that babys grow in Mummy's tummy and are then born. In order for her to pick on another kids who may have, lets say two mums, I and/or Rodger would have to teach her that all kids should only have one Mum and one Dad. Then we would have to teach her that anything else is wrong. Which, for clarification neither of us do think that at all. 


As she gets to primary school next year she may learn these things from older kids at school. However, who would be encouraging this thinking? I know the school won't be as they have a very strict anti-bullying policy. It would again fall to us, the parents to reinforce this thinking. Or we could teach her that all families are different, some have two mums or two dads or whatever. 


The sexual orientation of a person should have no bearing on how well they parent or how much they love their kids. 


The best thing we can do as parents in order to stop bullying happening is to teach our kids to accept everyone for who they are regardless of sexual orientation, race, gender, eye colour, hair colour, size ect and to teach them that bullying is wrong.

Technology rocks!

I have a new way of posting! Sort of. Let me explain. As an early birthday present I got
a tablet. An Asus one. It is awesome and I love it. I can play games on it, I can surf the
net and I can download and read the paper on it. Mostly I do use it as an e-reader though.
Tonight I also remembered it has office software on it. Which is what I am using now. I
can now get my thoughts down whever I am. Once done all I have to do is email the file
to myself, copy and paste it, tidy it up and voila, a blog post. I love technology. Typing
on it will take me a while to be as fast as I am on the computer but I'm getting there.


I really love technology and so do my girls. When we just had our phones the girls would
play on them. Now they can also play on the tablets. Not so much at home but when we
are out it is great to have them in case the girls get bored and disruptive. It happens, they
are just little kid.


About a week ago there was an article in the paper about a pizza place in Balwyn that
wants to ban tablets and phones. The owner claims he dislikes seeing kids using them
at the table as meal time is family time. I agree to an extent. Restuarants can be slow.
Hungry kids can be very disruptive to other patrons. Letting your kid play with a phone
or tab for a few minutes while they wait for their meal is hardly taking away quality
family time. As long as they are put away when the meal arrives.


Not long after we got the tabs we took the girls out to dinner. We took them somewhere
family friendly. While waiting for the meal they were happy to colour in with the
provided paper and crayons. They then ate. We did have a bit of a wait between main
and dessert. By this stage the girls had finished the colouring in and were starting to get
bored. Now, we could have left them to jump on the furniture, crawl around on the floor
and disrupt others. Lucy was also trying to eat scraps off the floor. Can you say yuck???
So we got the tabs out. Both girls then happily sat and played on them quietly until
dessert came. Yep, it totally took away from family time. I am, of course, being sarcastic.
Out of a meal that latest 90 minutes the girls had the tabs out for maybe 10 minutes tops.
I, personally cannot see an issue with that. Not only that but where does a resturant owner
get off telling parents how to parent. Guess he wants a restuarant full of misbehaving
bored children who will drive away the rest of his very well off clientele.

Lucy is TWO!

Lucy is now 2. She has been fora month now but she only just had her 2 year nurses
check up today. She now weighs 12kg spot on and is 84 cm long. She was a champ at her appointment. Was happy and performed for the nurse who was very happy with her. Like Jasmine, I think she is pretty amazing.


She has a huge personality for such a little person. She has two favourite toys. Duggie
is a cabbage patch doll dressed as a skunk. She named him Duggie all on her own. Very
clever if you ask me. Her other favourite doll is a Minnie Mouse doll that she got for her
birthday. When Minnie's hand is pushed she records for about 15 seconds then repeats
what she has heard. For her birthday Lucy also got her first bike. She can't peddle yet but is doing a good job of trying. It won't be long and she will be able to.


Her speech is also great. She says more words than I can count. She is able to
communicate her needs to us pretty well. She loves stories and repeats them after you.
She loves to sing as well. You can often catch her singing along with songs on the TV.
She especially loves The Wiggles and their songs.


She has shown some interest in toilet training but thus far has not yet actually done
anything in it. She does prefer to sit on the big toilet than on the potty though. That's
fine by us, it's one less step in the process. We are not pushing the issue right now. I'm
happy to wait until Jasmine is in school full time before really getting into it. It will be
nice though to not have to change nappies anymore. My years of wiping someone elses
bottom are coming to an end and even though I am a little sad she's getting so big I am glad for this fact.

Just nap!

I have a two year old who thinks she is too old for a nap. She rubs her eyes, yawns and happily goes to bed at nap time. However, once she's in bed its like a switch is flipped and she's wide awake again and just wants to play. I can take all the toys out of her bed all I want but she'll just get out of bed and put them right back in there the second I leave the room.


She still needs this nap. She is a total grump without it. I need this nap. I'm a total grump without it. At least she isn't coming out of her room like she does some nights. Hours after going to bed some nights she'll get out of bed and open her bedroom door and want to play in the hallway. 


Jas didn't drop this nap for at least another 12 months and even then she was still having it 2-3 times a week. Its really only been the last twelve months that she hasn't had a nap unless she was sick. I could give in and not put Lucy down for her nap but then, as I said, she becomes a grump and her and Jas just argue about toys for hours. That does not make for a happy afternoon. She spent all morning on the go and playing. She was rubbing her eyes and yawning but still an hour after being put into bed, she's still awake. 


Some days though it will be 3pm before I stop hearing her playing. That is annoying to say the least as the latest I will let her sleep in the day is 4pm. She all she has is an hour which is usually not enough and she is a grump at being woken. 


I guess I'll just keep putting her down for that nap and hoping for the best. At the very least she is getting a little bit of a rest and so am I.

Lucy is Two and more

This post is coming. I just want to wait until her check up with the nurse in about 10 days. 


I've actually had lots of things to say about lots of different things of late, I just haven't had the motivation to sit and type them all out. I think I need to make a time each day, even if its only 10-15 minutes to do so. It might take me a day or two to get a whole post typed out but at least it will help me get back into the groove.

For the first time in three years

For the first time in three years I have allowed myself to feel. And it hurts so much. The flood gates have been opened and I have no way of stopping them. I almost wish I could. I wish I could stop this hurt and this pain. For three years I have bottled this up, only allowing small amounts out at a night in the middle of the night. Now the gates are fully opened and I can't stop them. 


Perhaps if I hadn't listened to certain people and allowed myself to feel. Perhaps if I hadn't have tried to be the person I was before. There is nothing worse than being told that you have changed as a person and that you need to change back to the person you were before you lost your child. Of course I've changed! I don't think I'm better or worse of a person. Just different. I will forever have a great big huge hole in my life. 


I can't keep this inside any longer but I hate feeling this hurt and this pain and not being able to stop it.

Jasmine Turns Five.

Jasmine is now five years old. And she is the most amazing five year old I have ever met. Honestly, I can't believe that she is five. has it really been five years since she was born. In fact its five years today since we bought her home for the first time. Only for one night though as she was so badly jaundiced that she needed to be readmitted for photo therapy.

She was so tiny and now she is so big. She is fully toilet trained both day and more recently night. She can read and write and knows some of her times tables. She is able to form good arguments for things that she wants to do. There are times when are arguments are so good that you just have to let her do whatever it is that she wants to do.

She had a MacDonalds birthday party with some of her Kinder friends on Sunday. She had so much fun. I loved it too. Nice and easy and so clean up. She got some great presents too. Quite a lot of art and craft stuff which is good as she loves doing all sorts of arts and crafts. She got some Barbie stuff too. Since she had kinder on her birthday and then is at work with us afterward, we decided to give her the presents from us on Sunday too. She got a Barbie house, some Barbie clothes and a Barbie plate, cup and bowl set. She loved all of it. She was so excited by it she hit herself in the head. She was just as excited by the giant lady bug pillow pet her grandparents got her. The first two nights she slept with it in the bed with her using it as a pillow. It took up 3/4 of the bed. Last night though she used her normal pillow and just cuddled the pillow pet.

Next weeks is yet another birthday, when Lucy turns 2.

Punishment

Specifically punishing a child. 


All kids are different and so the same approach that works with one child may not always work with the next. However, all kids understand consistency. I fully believe that once you find a punishment stick to it. Be consistent. Follow through.


There are always exceptions the rule. When taking individual kids into consideration you must also consider any medical issues the child may have that may hinder the punishment.


I'm going to be very specific in my example. This is a real example, the illness is real, the situation is real, the punishment is real. No names to protect the innocent.


The illness is question is known as Neurofibromatosis type 1. In short NF1 is a genetic disorder, often caused by a mutation of a gene on chromosome number 17. Cognitive and  learning disabilities can occur with NF1. The most common of the cognitive issues is with perception. Thus a person with NF1 may do things that may seem odd to the rest of us. They may, for example, when asked to clean up after dinner put not only the leftovers in the bin but also all cutlery and crockery used during the meal.


Now say you have a teenage girl who suffers from NF1. She often leaves plates in her bedroom, or places them in her washing hamper. It makes sense to her to place the dirty dishes there. After all, that's where dirty things go. For any normal teenager, this behaviour would be punished. Said teen would be made to clean up after themselves, and/or be grounded. Sounds fair. I have recently come across a woman who feels the best way to deal with this issue is not to aid her daughter in returning the dishes to the kitchen but to fine her a small amount of money per dish. She feels that her child plays on the NF1 and should pay for all mistakes she makes. Like replacing any dishes that may get thrown out.


To me, this just seems cruel. Surely there is a better way to deal with this. She even says that she has tried to punish these sort of things before and her daughter has gotten so depressed about failing to change her behaviour that she has ended up in counselling!


Yes, as parents it is our job to teach our children right from wrong, to punish bad behaviour and reward good, but its not always that black and white. There are many many shades of grey. I fully think that until this woman can see that and ask for help with her child she will continue to set her child up for more failure. Sadly, I know that this poor young lass has had it tough. Her mother has previously kicked her out of the house for drinking. I always thought that when you had kids you took the bad with the good.

Monthly Cross Stitch WIP

After 4 months (28 2011)

After 8 months (August 30 2011)

July 29 2008

We were finally able to bring our baby boy home.

Where is it??

My motivation that is. Have you seen it? When I first started doing this I was really into it. Posting many times a week. Now I'm lucky if I'm posting once a month. Perhaps the novelty wore off? I don't know. We have been rather busy though and that may have something to do with it. 


We are now half way through the year. Jasmine has two terms left of Kinder, then its off to school for her. She is very excited. She does a play group at the school every second week during the term and loves it. She has a grade 6 buddy who comes and does craft activities with her. She is totally in her element there. She loves to draw and colour and make things and so the play group is just perfect for her. I just know that her favourite class in school is going to be Art. Her drawings are getting amazing too. Lots of details. And she's good at drawing. I'm so bad at it that hers are better than mine. On top of developing her art skills she is also now able to read most kids books you hand her. She loves to read and will often read a book to Lucy. As if doing all of that isn't enough she has also decided that she is big enough to no longer wear a pull up over night. We have all lost count now of how many nights in a row she has stayed dry. She really is getting to be a big girl.


Lucy is growing up too. She is now saying so many words I've lost count. Its makes life easier as she is able to communicate a lot more what she wants without a tantrum. However, if she does throw a tantrum watch out. I must admit it is rather funny to watch. She gets so mad so goes all stiff and just just screams. She often gets so stiff she shakes with anger. You can't help but laugh at her doing it. She is such a great eater too. She will eat pretty much anything and loves meat. She devours pork and chicken like its going out of style. Its nice not to have to fight with her to get her to eat. She manages to burn it all off though. Her and Jasmine now play really well together for longer periods of time. Its lovely to watch. Lucy loves Jasmine's Barbies. She is still very much a little girl. She also loves dolls of all kinds and will spend hours kissing and cuddling them. She also loves being read to. Especially when Jasmine does it.


Its amazing to watch them grow and change every single day.

My Baby Girl

Born October 10 2006

Enrolled into Primary School June 1 2010

She got so big so fast.

It has been...

23 days since my last post. And I really can't think of anything I need or want to type right now. Looking for motivation. Ah well, at least it won't be 24 days since my last post.

Where were you when?

There are many many moments in history that will be remembered as a "where were you moment?" For many I was not even born yet. For some I was.


Where were you when the Berlin Wall came down?
Where were you when Mt St Helens erupted?
Where were you when Elvis died?
Where were you when when JFK was shot?
Where were you when when man first walked on the moon?
Where were you when when Kevin Rudd said sorry?
Where were you when when Princess Diana died?
Where were you when when Challenger exploded?
Where were you when the West Gate Bridge collapsed during its build?
Where were you when on December 31st 1999?
Where were you when the earthquake and Tsunami hit Japan?
Where were you when John Lennon was shot?
Where were you when the planes hit the towers?
Where were you when when you heard Bin Laden was dead???

Monthly Cross Stitch WIP

After 3 months (March 28 2011)

After 4 months (April 28 2011)