he's got good taste!

This precious child started eating solids today.

This precious child was very keen to help.

Monty boy loved his pear and egg yolk. He's been grabbing our spoons and reaching for our drinks, so we are away with solids! I think Nic liked the reaction on my face more than Monty's..

We also put up the Christmas tree today. V. excited kiddos. V. excited mama because I can use the old line, "be nice.. Santa is watching!"

off to school again?

Have been a touch pre-occupied since we've been back from the beach.. I have signed up for my Optimum Birth Course to become a qualified doula!
Doula? you say??
yes a doula - a independently hired birth support person.

I am passionate about birth and the spirituality of it. I had 2 very ordinary "hospital run" births and then one very magical birth on MY terms. I birthed my beautiful boy - nobody told me how to do it. I had a doula and she was a plethora of knowledge and support. I would under no circumstances birth again without a doula, and specifically Michelle. 

I will be naming my doula business none other than

Birth with Soul

what do you reckon?

Home again..

We are home again.
The air con angels have been here to fix my machine.
Have a mountain of washing to do (where does it all come from??!!)
...and we're starting, "no more nappies" for Gretta. She's got new hairclips and lollypops for rewards.  Yet to produce any goods, but she cant keep them all in there!
Got a bit of Christmas shopping done and visited with Nic's parents. Here's little miss with her Nanny. This is the ONLY picture I took for the last week!

outta prison

It is crazy hot here.


42+ degrees. I am melting.
We are just about to finish AI this morning and then
we are escaping to the beach.
Head me east and throw me in the ocean, please dear Husband.
The air con has been on the brink of destruction and
not holding it's ground.
Off for a holiday with the Out-laws before they fly back to
God's Country (NZ)

bovine lovin'

Umm. I have something to share with you.

Here is our forecast for the next week from the Elders website:

39°C (today. my car just registered 44 on my kindy pick-up drive)
42°C
41°C
42°C
42°C
42°C
40°C

and here in the big smoke of Toobeah we are usually about 2 degree's hotter than Goondiwindi.

but that's not the bit that I want to share with you...

The aforementioned forecast is for the specific time that I will be shoved in a small tin box with two other people and two large other girls of the bovine kind Artificially Inseminating.

Yes, that's right, I'm a bovine lady of love - with my arm shoved right up the clacker of 600 cows on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

Torture you say? - I think so.

My Sunday creations..
I needed a quick create project and these turned out to be just the ticket! The bibs were about $5 for a pack of 8 at Spotlight a while back and I just added their bits and pieces. My Monty will look adorable in them soon. Solids start in about a week or so!

bloomin heart

Do you know what makes my heart bloom?
When Gretta or Baxter look me in the eyes and with their sweet little voice say,
"I lubb you in the werld"
(translation- I love you in the world)
Baxter started this saying a little while ago and now the pink one has picked up on it and has said it twice to me already today. She must know that I am needing a bit of that.

I also LOURVE the way that my little man's chunky little bod feels under a slim cotton onesie.
Yummo.

not handling it well - not well at all!

 I had a look at Soule mama's blog this morning describing a fantastic disfunctional day and nodded the whole way thru it.

When I finished I discovered that Gretta thought that Baxter needed more toys in the bathtub. He was in the tub after a poo accident, and a very bumpy morning that was just aggrivating me.

She proceeded to carry toys from the toyroom to the tub and I turned to see her just as she dumped the board game out and threw the lid in. Fun.

I cleaned that up to discover the 2nd poo explosion from Monty. He was in the jolly jumper and I wont describe it any more than he was jumping in it. Gretta's was next - the aftermath of having a tummy bug.

We're totally out of sync.

I am really struggling to make it all okay here. My frustrations for living here are endless and very hard to cope with day in and day out. Let alone the fact that it is yucky hot outside every day and I have to rouse on the kids in order for them to play outside and even that only lasts for about 10 minutes.

So here we are. The four of us stuck in our little house that we were only meant to be in for 3 months. We are coming up on 2 years now.

So, what do you do when life is in upheaval and you're feeling sad?

Bake cupcakes of course! Devils food to be exact from Martha Stewart.

The cupcakes turned out pretty, but not terribly outstanding. If I'm spending calories and indulging I love a RICH DARK chocolate cupcake - therefore when the Mr. gets home with thickened cream I will be making a chocolate ganache to top them with.

This is the cupcake inspector.

We ended up just dealing with the flys up our nose and taking a short walk to the yards. Gretta whinged the whole way, but the big boy and the little boy and the mommy enjoyed getting out of the house tremendously.

And then we'll do it all again tomorrow. Stuck inside. Wishing for our change to come.

Saucy cuddle

Okay, so our Poppy Doll is all ready to go to Mirabel (complete with flowers in her hair). Monty has enjoyed his cuddles with her and thinks she's pretty saucy, but she is off to give some love to a well deserved little girl.

And.. Little wonder I'm feeling a bit off - just realized it's Friday the 13th!

and for a girl...

She's finished! Our lovely little Poppy doll for Mirabel!
I am umming and ahhhing about a flower for her hair especially after seeing Leonie's - and for the simple fact that we are big fans of hairclips around here!

I am lapping up these silly little sounds and goofy grins at the moment. He started to roll over this week. No more leaving him on the bed (bad mommy!)..

... further proof that we are big hairclip fans around here. I made this owlie clip for Gretta when I was waiting for Monty to arrive at the coast. She's only just started to ask for it. The poor little possum has been erupting at both ends with a case of the vomits. Hope she doesn't share! With that an unlikely option, we have loaded ourselves up on good doses of fermented Cod Liver Oil and Olive leaf.

The big boy had a big night out with Daddy the other evening and caught our dinner! I snapped this photo as he started getting worried about daddy cleaning the fish. He loved eating them and is looking forward to his next outing (I think they're going out again tonight).

cheep cheep

spring has sprung! we found this cute little fella under our hen today much to Gretta's delight.
v. cute - hope it ends up with some brothers and sisters as the rooster got a much longer neck 2 weeks ago due to the 4 a.m. alarm clock. Sleep deprivation is a form of torture!

i'm a woman obsessed

I cant figure out how to cleverly put this little youtube window up for the song, but I love this new band (not sure how "new" but they're new to me!)
here's the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLJf9qJHR3E
P.S. Mom - you won't like it - dont bother!

but watch out - this band might make you obsess too.

Thanks Two Little Banshees for the introduction and Triple J (which I cannot get out here 7 million miles from anything).

Love it. Love it. Love it.

Inconvenience

Isn't it terribly inconvenient when a large appliance breaks down?
I was really thinking that lastnight as I was

standing on the back of the ute
in my jammies
bear-hugging a spare fridge
bouncing over the black dirt from the donga
by moonlight
at 1 in the morning.

Good times. Bloody fridge.

skye's announcement

The better part of yesterday had me perfecting Skye's announcement for my dear friend Emily. I hope she likes them. They are wrapped up ready to take to Kindy tomorrow. Cant believe the weekend is almost over again! Am I correct in that it is now NOVEMBER? I must have missed part of this year, surely.

for a boy...

Ahhh.. a day of creation! Here's the first one:

I started with the gifted fabric from Leonie and my Grandmother's shears...

and after a bit of sewing (and feeding Monty) we have this:

a little pencil roll for a little guy.
I will be donating it to Pip's Mirabele Foundation Project. If you haven't heard - check it out!

It feels good to make something for a little somebody that has had a rough go. I especially wanted to start by making something for a boy - because girlie things are so much more prevalant than boy things.  Then I read the directions..... I always read the directions AFTER I complete a project.. and they are wanting "plushies." Not to worry - I am making a plushie too and will include the pencil roll for them to give away as they please.

There's been a lot of "create" in my day today.. will share later....

housework getting on top of you?

Holy Crap this makes me laugh.
Thanks pottymouthmama for sharing it.

seeing red

we've had a beetrooty morning..

the gatherer

the helpers (please note the dinosaur working overtime - thanks Meggy Rose for the mail day surprise!)

kitchen helper hard at work tin-foiling..

caught red-handed

and ready to enjoy in a few weeks.

I couldn't find a recipie that suited me so I merged the info and came up with this:

Cut fresh beetroot's stems to about 1" and wash mud off

bake in al foil for about 2 hours on 150-180 till soft but firm

Chuck 1/4 part water and 3/4 part vinegar (I used Organic Apple Cider Vinegar and Organic Balsalmic into a crockpot with:

15 cardomom pods and 15 whole cloves and a teaspoon of allspice

add 4 tablespoons of rapadura or palm sugar

let it mull together while beetroot is cooking.

take out of foil to cool a bit then peel skin and slice.

put in sterilized jars and top with the brine.

add a saucy label and voila!

Where has Gretta been spending a lot of her time lateley?

This Child -
We have just returned home from a under 8's day at a local school. Let me just say that it wasn't terribly enjoyable - I think it is nearly 40 degrees outside - My car reckons it's 43 already.
So we've established that is was hot. Throw my relatively shy kids in a big crowd of kids with big people trying to make them enjoy a project and that is my definition of a very un-fun day.
We pulled the pin and left a bit early. Trying to just make it to the car with a crying baby, a tearful 3 1/2 year old and a very GRUMPY mommy and girl.

The baloon flew off the pram. Gretta and I chased it and caught it. I was stomping back to the pram to continue to the car and my little angel stands square in the middle of the road and looks up at the sky with a dirty, dirty face on.

"NO!" she yelled with a screech.

"Dont take Baxty's baloon! You are a very Naughty wind!" It stomps its feet and wags it's finger.

"If you do that again - you are going to Time Out!"

It will definately be an Icy Pole afternoon.

Monty boy's birth story

Monty James
20 July 2009 12:17 p.m.

....Forty one weeks, six days... and COUNTING!!!

It was a funny evening at our unit on the Currumbin Coast. We had lost a set of keys to the unit that enabled us to get our car out of the underground parking space. Panic set in. Searched for over an hour and then found them in the door. Whew. Okay - off to bed. I was coming up to 5 weeks from being away from home and my nerves were a little shattered on waiting for this baby.

But wait! Why isn’t the toilet flushing? Oh crap. Literally. On the floor, flooding the laundry. CANNOT get it unstuck. One of the toddlers had put an entire roll of TP in after a #2. Joy. Okay - 11:30 after a lot of mopping up and much wretching - off to bed.

I had held out so long to go naturally. My previous 2 were induced/waters ruptured. I had decided that if I didn’t go naturally, I would have my waters broken the next morning. Niggle Niggle pains came and went. Hmm they were starting to be a bit regular! I woke nic sometime after 1 a.m. with regular contractions 8 minutes apart. He was excited.

I rang my wonderful doula, Michelle sometime around 2ish and she drove up with her daughter. Eliza hopped into our bed to look after B&G while we were at the hospital. We were standing around the kitchen bench timing my contractions till 5 minutes. We decided to go to the hospital.

I had a big one before we got into the car and off we went. None in the car. A mild one in the parking lot. None in the lift, etc. They had fizzled. I think I was so excited to have gone into labour naturally that I disrupted the process! The 3 of us found a comfortableish place to have a sleep and the contractions kept coming but were fairly unpredictable.

I rested a bit and in the morning my lovely, quiet, gentle OBGYN walked in at 8 a.m. and ruptured my membranes. Out came the green liquor. Not to panic. My lovely midwife Sally strapped me up to a mobile monitor and away I went.

My contractions came on thick and fast - I got into the tub. It was lovely to relax in in-between contractions and I got up and buried my head into a pillow during. I was fairly quiet except for a few grumpy “F’s” And then I began to tell all of them that I was not going to do this. Get away from me. I don’t want to do this. Umm - yeah you are.

My hypnobirthing preparation that Michelle introduced to me was incredibly helpful. I wanted my 25 ways to awaken your birth power. It brought me back to calm.

After a contraction, I lifted my head and told Michelle that I had made sandwiches and put them in the fridge for the kids. She chuckled and said very calmly - “thanks Amy.”

I realized that I was probably in transition - so I reached down and told them that I felt my baby’s head. I needed a change and the Midwife wanted me to get out of the tub to have a look. I stood up and that was when I glazed over and went into a different world. A contraction came and I clinged onto Nic and let myself go into it. That was powerful. I was quiet and calm and let go to my body.

I got out of the tub and leaned over on a chair for only one or two more contractions then I knew we were close and my body worked hard. I remember sweating but not feeling hot. I remember people in the room, but I didn’t see them or hear them clearly. I wanted strong loud music. “High” by James Blunt, “Khe Sahn” by Jimmy Barnes played and it sounded so good.

“Little Angel” by Nitty Gritty Dirt Band was playing and my baby’s head came. One more push and he slithered out. I knew I had done it, but it took a moment for me to “come to.” They said, “Its a boy!” and I turned around and said, “are you sure??” Umm, yep - look at the hardware!

He was divine and I was incredibly proud of myself. I had done what I used to think I couldn’t do. I was so empowered.

I hoped up on the bed and gently pushed for the placenta. No worries - no synthetic hormones. How awesome was that??!

He was so perfect. He needed a bath, but he was so peaceful and perfect.