Backyard Treasures.

Had a brain wave that I needed the lawn mowed; I have been avoiding all contact with the backyard, I new it was bad. Today I accidently ventured out to freak and NEED it done ASAP… it was above my knees in places!!!

I convinced eldest DS to do part of it; if I do the yard, I use a push along mower, but apparently when males do the lawn, they find a ride-on mower! Geez if I had a ride on I might be able to do it myself.
A ride-on was found at Nonna’s home; eldest DS drove it up through the paddock, this was met with screaming from youngest DS who thinks it was sent to eat him… screams from another that it is UNFAIR how J always gets to ride the bike ha-ha (tell her it is a mower, and get my most loved word… ‘Whatever’ as an answer)

I’m just about ready to say where to start, and I see a toy, go down to get it… and see another toy… and some shoes… and socks… and a bucket… and pegs and lunches. Yep the sandwiches that I declared I’m NOT making anymore were in the yard/ grass. ; All sorts of stuff!

We do a junk hunt, and I’m not feeling real happy (Youngest DS was very upset about this… I got LOTS of ‘Are you happy?’) We collect 4 piles of stuff.

1 pile is washing that I now have to rewash!
1 pile was dishes, mainly lunch boxes, and chock buckets, but adds t-spoons and cups just to top it off.
1 pile was toys, stuff that IS meant to be out side… but NOT hidden in the grass.
The last pile was Brocken toys, and bits of brick, wood and pavers.

I had the 4 elder children helping me (and youngest DS following, wanting me happy). All were complaining how they DIDN’T do this, it WASN'T them… I was getting quiet mad and fed up, giving them sarcastic comments telling them they must have, because I didn’t put all the stuff out there, and the fairy sure as hell can’t be blamed! Etc

We get the wheelie bin to throw out the last pile and DD 6 years comes outside, she was so upset.
Apparently we have ruined her treasure hunt game!!!… As she was storming off she made it clear that she now has to hide all the treasures again! ROFL

Had to laugh… what else could you do. :)

My children are the ONLY ones in their school that have to….

My children are the ONLY ones in their school that have to….

….do jobs... Apparently!

I am over how the children do jack crap to help out… I’m their mum yes, slave no.
To rectify this issue I wrote a job chart. Jobs aren’t foreign to the children, they do them, but I thought the chart would help them know exactly what is expected, and decrease their complaining how it is unfair because such and such never does anything, and how they do it all.

Apparently this job chart is worse than getting shot by a firing squad, worse than being thrown into a lion’s pit; both are things that are more appealing to them than what is on the dreaded chart.
DD 10 years was sobbing, saying she wished she had a new family and that this family isn’t a family but a slave camp. DS 13 was quick to agree and suggested he move out to Nonna’s, as he is NOT doing that ‘sucky shit’, and feels that if he didn’t make the specific mess… why should he clean it; NOT that he does clean the specific mess he makes, if you look into his bedroom there is proof that he really wants to be a pig, as a human wouldn’t find the simple task of cleaning 1 room that hard.

I hear your concerns about what is on this chart…if you ask the kids – EVERYTHING, but in reality it is between 3 and 5 jobs each (assuming you count them as jobs) each, depending on age. Tavanna and Taivian share their jobs, and are happy to do them… Washing hunt, bottle hunt and try neaten their bedroom.

Maison has 4 jobs, and LOVES the chart as he often gets blackmailed via the older kids, so he thinks it is great he knows what he has to do – Dry half the dishwasher stuff, open blinds, coat hanger hunt and neaten the room he is in.

Apparently the younger 3 are SOOOO lucky and the next 2 up want to swap jobs as it now becomes unfair… age shouldn’t change expectations, and they know I just hate them cause of how hard their jobs are!

DD 10… the one that wants to change families now; - dry half the dishwasher stuff – OMG why did SHE get THAT, she HATES doing that and would rather do ANYTHING else in the world (apart from her other 3 jobs) Her other jobs… put away towels, wipe under 1 side of the bench and wipe the vanity top. As you can see, I truly missed my calling, a slave driver is what I’m destined to be.

DS 13, normally he gets out of most things as he exhausts me and I get to the point where I can’t be stuffed fighting, regarding the jobs - he wants to move out… or ring DH to complain (Like that will help) His jobs are chook bucket kept OK, if it is full he gets to throw it to the chooks… NOT the whole bucket... just what is in it. Yard duty, and this really isn’t a job, as he will ride his bike or go to the park, but it sounded good and it was away from me , picking up the pegs that grow in the grass under the line. I say they grow, because they are always there; not on the wire! The BAD one is cleaning up the breakfast bits and pieces, put away the stuff everyone got out, rinse the dishes and wipe the bench.
What is so hard about this…? EVERYTHING… according to him *sigh*

Eldest DD isn’t to bad, and she got a couple of ‘real’ jobs, like hanging a load of washing, taking the bins out, ironing 10 items every 2nd day and doing her sisters hair. (The mega curly hair that is a mattered ball of fuzz each morning)

I’m seriously thinking of writing a new chart… one that is more age based… they could do the same number of jobs as their age! ha-ha
If I must hear them complain about it, might as well give them something to actually complain about! ;)

Lucky for them I can’t be stuffed, but I’m not giving up on what I’ve written, and personally feel it isn’t expecting much at all.

Zamirahs Baptism

Finally we have succeeded in getting our 7th child Baptised. This might sound easy, but the more children we have, the harder things like this are to organise. In part because we lack the motivation we once had… Not sure where it went, but somewhere between the 3rd and 4th child the newness, and excitement of occasions was replaced with a realistic daunting enlightenment that occasions are money sucking days that disappear in the blink of an eye, and that no matter how hard you try, you can not make everyone happy.
Our aim is to just get through the day and hope for the best, and surprisingly this is working relatively well.
The lead up is tremendously time-consuming, at times stressful, but the day is gone super fast, and with each baptism you know the things that didn’t work well previously, so human nature is to tweak theses issues aiming to illuminate all negative moments.
This is actually impossible, unless you take out 90% of the guests, including some of our own children … Don’t get me wrong, all the people we invite are important to us and our children, but they aren’t all necessarily going to be important in a positive way to each other ;)
Overall, with the diverse selection of family and friends we have, the day went really well.

We woke to a beautiful 14 degree day, black skies, gale winds, bucketing rain; a typical Albany day. The plus we had over other people was that we were all really ill, and had high temperatures. To us, it felt like a pleasant day of about 24 degrees with a slight breeze.
Zamirah was amazing, I really thought she would scream the church down; temperamental should have been her middle name, but unpredictably she was brilliant! We gave her nurofen for her soaring temperature, and it mellowed her just enough that she was alert, but not making a scene.

It is both hard and easy to pick godparents, we have found that in a strange way the child picks them for us, as each child has a connection that you can only hope, but not guarantee. We have tried to not have immediate family fulfil this role, as an Aunt or Uncle will always be part of the child’s life regardless. We have been so lucky with each set, and regardless of where life takes us, we have made it clear what we expect and feel very blessed that they understand and make the effort with their godchild consistently.

We momentarily entertained the thought the godparents had decided to pull out, as both the godmother and godfather were slightly late! We were getting ready to do a godparent hunt, and drag them to fulfil their duties, but they arrived ready to commit to this lifetime responsibility.
The priest was wonderful, and was happy to wait till we were ready, and made the whole ceremony work for us.
I think we had more children in the church than adults, and this always helps keep the day in perspective.

Once the formalities were over, we all went back to the motel to celebrate getting through another family occasion, welcoming the godparents into our immediate family, and officially celebrate Zamirah into the catholic family.

Thankyou to everyone that helped make this day another memorable occasion.

Warning… BIG whinge!

This last week I’ve had sick kids, 5 of them… some are/ were really sick. I even rang the heath direct line I was so over it all, and anyone that knows me is aware that unless we are literally dyeing, I don’t seek help… ever! Geez, if I did rush for help with as many children as I have, I might as well camp out in the casualty waiting room for months at a time.

Add to this, I’m also really sick, I can’t remember the last time I was knocked about so hard from a stupid virus.
I want to crawl into a hole and not come out until the children and I are better, unfortunately the universe is against me, and I have to apparently keep going as mums don’t get sick!
If we do get sick (and I’m proving that we CAN get sick) we still have to do everything as before.
I’m failing this commandment, if you look about all you can see is mess upon mess upon mess… WHY did the kids have to get this ill? To make it worse our dog got baited on the weekend and died, this has caused a large amount of tears and distress among the family, and we are organising a baptism for our 7th child… this weekend! Actually we were organising it… now I’m hoping it will just miraculously happen on its own, as I can’t be stuffed doing anything for it.
Z was the worst, she would cough so much she would stop breathing and just look at you with panic till she lurched another breath just when I’m ready to call 000. I actually think she has finally turned the corner, as her temp isn’t sitting on 39.5 anymore… but she is still whinging all day!
I wish she would rest, cause then I might be able to watch cartoons with the other sick kids and rest, but no, she wants to scream/ whinge, cry all day and night. I WANT SLEEP.
Eldest DD is also unwell, and this is like the straw that broke the camels back, I need her to be well if I’m not as she is my helper… unfortunately she is useless when ill (as we all are) and I’m getting even more tired of it all.

On a plus, we wont need to spend much on the groceries this week, and we are all looking a lot more in shape after loosing a bit of flab :)

Well I’m off to crawl into my box again, (and pick up Miss Z who is still whinging :( ) I WILL be better by Sunday, and a lot brighter next time I blog

Playschool concert.

If it was left up to me, I wouldn’t have even realised playschool was visiting town, but I’m blessed to have some amazing friends that know I live in a cave, and they let me know the big things that are happening.
Youngest DS loves 3 programs, Diego, Dora and Playschool, we couldn’t miss this!
Had to cancel youngest DD needles… after all what is more important… immunisation or a kiddie concert ;) (We have rescheduled the needles)
This truly was an amazing day… sun was shinning, it was warm, not much wind: anyone who knows Albany realises that this is a rarity.
I had organised vaguely to meet my friend at the pool, and walk over to the PCYC… The general idea was that one of us would ring/ text, but this was not an option as I still had no phone after flushing it.
After parking, and getting Z and T out, I promptly put them back in. The 500 meter walk from the pool to the concert venue was as wet as a swamp, and we would have possibly drowned making the crossing.
As it was only 45 minutes till the concert, getting a park close was not going to happen, hence why I’m still in awe about how beautiful the day was! It was a really nice walk, as we were walking towards the assembly area, I did briefly think about making more effort to go walking; but it was only a thought, and unlikely to eventuate LOL
Finally we catch up with my friend…
(OMG I’m a terrible friend, I’m surprised I still have friends… note to self… pay her back for the tickets).

We got great seats (on the floor) and the concert began… it made my week, watching my friends DD and Mr T was so uplifting, they looked like real little groupies, dancing and joining in any interactive parts.
The only slight negative was when Mr T got smashed in the head with a shoe from another groupie standing behind him. He was a bit shocked, and it took a few minutes for him to come out of the daze. Who would have thought a playschool concert could get so aggressive. Oh they had a no camera/ video or pram policy… we did snap a quick shot after the concert had ended though :)

We spent money at the gift shop, and got a humpty dumpty, that Mr T insists on calling his humpy. Now we have one more thing to find each night for him to sleep with.

Fathers day

DH tells me on every occasion throughout the year that gifting isn’t a ‘him’ thing. I always get upset, as I am a gift giver; makes me happy, as does receiving, but DH is wearing me down to realise that it is easier not to bother.
The older children have also become hard, and don’t make much effort, it still hurts, but I can’t keep fighting a loosing battle.

DD in pre-primary is still optimistic about gifts, and made him an assortment of things over the last week, this included something she cooked a week or more ago in class. I’m sure it wouldn’t have been 100% safe to consume, it wasn’t kept in the fridge, but she was so proud that he had to try a bit! It was brown and as hard as cement, the spoon wouldn’t pierce it at all, and it looked similar to a brown cement brick, according to DD it was a moist yummy chocolate pudding. Looking at DH face, it was anything but.
Miss T also made numerous drawings and cards. DH does try to pretend to enjoy this, but you can tell he isn’t really into it when he attempts to throw out a special picture of him fishing, thinking it is rubbish/ wrapping paper!
I ask Miss T why she drew daddy fishing, and she tells us that she had to draw something daddy loves doing, she did 3 pictures, but 2 weren’t what the teacher wanted, apparently drawing him sleeping or working wasn’t the ‘fun’ thing the teacher had in mind. LOL

Personally I think that fathers’ and mothers’ day should be a day opposite to the usual; if you are a stay at home parent, with the children you should have a kid free day, and if you are away from the kids each day, you should spend the day with them.
For my DH Fathers day should mean he gets all 7 kids, and has them with him for the day, after all the name fathers’ day implies that it is THEIR day to be the father - hands on. ;)
With this in mind, father’s day wasn’t how it should have been, but seeing the younger children’s joy at celebrating how much they love him, made this an OK day regardless. :)

Positive thinking was a failure (Tuesday)

Get up and think; Today will be a wonderful day, boy was I kidding myself! It has taken me till now to gather enough energy to even think about blogging it.

Have had a lot on lately, the stress of day to day stuff keeps mounting, so I decided the power of ‘positive thinking’ would help.
The lack of sleep was a little hard to shake off, but the positive spin on this was I got a LOT of cuddles from bub… all night.
Make a coffee, to find we have no milk…. or sugar - yes I need to go shopping, decide that this is great for my diet that I’m yet to consistently start.
Start making lunch for the kids, and we have no margarine, and only 2 apples for 5 school kids, notice that the fridge is leaking and that I forgot to turn on the dishwasher at bedtime last night.
My positive thinking is dwindling rapidly with screams from the children that the gas has run out and we have no hot water. I guess the positive there is that for once it didn’t run out when I was in the shower! :)
Youngest is tired, her determination to not sleep at night results in a grumpy little princess all day, and her screams are at the very least consistent. She might be a rock star in years to come with such powerful lungs.


I had a couple of meetings at the high school, but I must talk a foreign language, as I felt they didn’t understand the questions I asked, and I left more confused than I arrived. Positive here was I agree with DD that this teacher is in a world of her own; always nice to have something in common with your teens :)
Come home, and go to the toilet… (yes I know, TMI)… but this is where my day went down the drain… my mobile phone drops out of my pocket as I stand and flushes away!
Toys DON’T flush, food that you don’t like DOESN”T flush, Toilet rolls DON’T flush, but mobiles DO!
All my contacts, photos, music, and cool messages GONE! To make it worse, I haven’t saved any numbers anywhere else, they were ALL just in my phone… (So if I did have your number… I don’t now)
Positive… Hmmm … NOTHING, there is NO positive to flushing a phone! Now I pay out for a plan I can’t use, I don’t know if I should scream or cry, bub is screaming, and this time I can really relate to her feeling of frustration.
Have a couple more school meetings that were no more informative than the 1st, and do all the running about we regularly do after school.
I’m sure every idiot driver was out as I got stuck behind a few; if there is a big gap, you can GO… you will never get a gap where you can see no cars at all. Very frustrating when you are on a time limit.
Mentally and emotionally exhausted I decide to get take away for tea, and we go to Maccas, order , go home, and we start eating to realise they forgot the meat in the burgers! HOW do you forget the main part of a burger is beyond me! I couldn’t be stuffed fixing this issue, any other day and I would have rang them, but this day… I just wanted it to be over.
This was a day that I don’t wish to repeat… I don’t feel positive thinking worked as well as the literature implies,
Do you think if I tried the power of negative thinking my day would be better LOL

Moving rooms Part 2; Vacuums suck.

Upon arriving home I was exhausted, I had hoped the magical cleaning fairy had completed the room swaps, and was disappointed to find IMO a worse mess than when I left. I obviously got a visit from our special ‘Mess it up’ fairy!
Kids were very excited, my friend agreed to come back at 6, so we got pizza had a drink, and psyched our self to MOVE stuff!
It really was an effort, as soon as I thought about going down that end of the house, all my energy drained away and I felt like crawling into bed.
Get the vacuum out, start to suck up the sand pit, unfortunately there isn’t just the dust in the air, but smoke also; how dare the vacuum die again! My name should be ‘Kill it’ Not Karma; I have a death power for all electrical things, no matter what brand, or what product, if it runs on power it will die.
After ‘resting’ the vacuum then trying it again (yes I have a death wish) we got more smoke, plus a weird noise coming from the machine, we decide to try the spare one in the garage. After setting it up, I remember why it is a spare one; it doesn’t work! It sounds like a vacuum, looks like a vacuum, but it doesn’t SUCK… vacuums should suck… literally, not metaphorically!
I decide to give up on this idea; I want to get the carpets washed anyway. ;)
We spend forever getting the rest of the debris out of the old room and into the new, organising as we go, the enthusiasm from the kids lasted about 10 minutes and they went missing, preferring to play board games down the other end of the house. Thank god, as they were slowing down a time-consuming process, my plan was to ditch anything I couldn’t find a home for, or was messy, or too little, or paper; their plan was to KEEP the lot no matter what, apparently that bit of screwed up paper with a bit of scribble is their most precious important item in the whole world!
I had made a huge deal to youngest DS about moving rooms and sharing with his brother, so that was the next stage, get his stuff moved in.
ANYTHING after the horror bed was going to be easy, so we attack his cot and dismantle it in no time; we put it back together as a bed. After all he is 3, and he really shouldn’t still be in a cot.
Finally that room is DONE, we call the children but DS is unsure about his ‘bed’, we compromise and remake the cot, with one side missing, and a bed roll rail. He’s pleased, and I’m happy one room is done so a couple of kids can go to bed.
Realising it is after 10pm, my friend and her children go home, and the night just disappears with cleaning, sorting, moving, arranging and thinking WHY did I start this!?

the finished room!!!

Moving the rooms (Part 1)

If we only had 2 or 3 children, we would have a large house… 7 children and it is feeling like a shoe box… OK OK… it might be a boot box, either way, it isn’t feeling huge.
I decided that I wanted to reshuffle the children, and in my mind it had to be done now; Not tomorrow, or next week… now!
WHAT an idiot I was, I must have been suffering some horrid mental condition that made me oblivious to how hard this was to be! If I had any inkling on what the task entailed I would have just sent one off to boarding school. ;)
The plan was…
Move eldest DS out of the large bedroom into the smallest one
Move middle DS out of the smallest bedroom into the largest room
Move youngest DS out from the room he shares with Miss T, and into the largest one with his brother.
SOUNDS easy, but IMO it sounds easy to keep the house clean, or get all the washing done every day… reality is generally the opposite!

1st I had to get all the stuff out of the big bedroom into the centre of the house, this gave me a false sense of achievement… wasn’t that hard, didn’t take that long.
Then I started with the bed in Mr M’s room…. NEVER EVER EVER get one of those beds with cupboards under it if you plan on moving it… 4 hours… Yes you heard right, 4 hours it took myself and one of my best friends to move it 7 meters! I haven’t seen my friend in weeks, but called her to help me with this impossible task, once I realised there was NO way I could do it alone… not sure if I’m going to win friend of the year LOL
Do you think the bed would fit through the door…? NOOOOO, if we ever build again, I want double doors on EVERY room! (That might have helped.)
We conclude we had to take the bed apart, an axe would have made it a lot quicker, and less frustrating, but we had an Alan key and screwdriver.
The screws were special ones that are easy enough to get in, virtually impossible to get out, I thought a good ‘tap’ might help and it DID come out… pity it came out from the wrong side. Yep I pulled that screw out via a smashed hole, in my defence it wasn’t ever going to come out the way it went in.
We finally got the monstrosity of a bed practically flat packed, and shuffle it to the next room, it was so heavy, I would have found it easier to change a tyre on a 4wheel drive!
We get it IN the room, feeling rather over it, and realise we have to remember how to assemble it back together. That bed is NEVER leaving this room ever…. If we move it will be sold with the house. :)
The bit I broke had to be fixed; we hunted about the house for something, anything to ‘fix’ it. Found some weird tan glue looking stuff in a big tube, and smeared that all over it, not sure it did anything, but it smelt good :)
Finally we got the bed made, and stood back to look at our craftsmanship, to realise it isn’t where I want it! It was our irritation at the bed that gave us the strength to shove it to the correct spot!
The rest of the house looked like a war zone, we had moved stuff everywhere, add to this dust… lots and lots of dust, we could of built sand castles, I have no idea where it all came from… I do clean… honest!
Of course now it was school pick up… I leave the house in an absolute mess knowing I won’t be back till 6pm, Arghhhh

Assembly dog

Went to assembly today, as Mr M’s class were hosting it, I’ve never felt so on edge and nervous at an assembly in my life!
I got there early so I could get a ‘good’ seat before all the other parents hogged them, I’m sure some parents THINK they have a seat reserved just for them… NOT true… 1st in best served IMO… I got a great seat near the wall, with Miss Z whom was starving. There is NO-WAY Z will ever be a jockey, can cross that future job off the list, not looking promising to be a ballerina either… unless it is to play a cute little elephant ;)
Back to the topic… the stressful assembly…

All the children had a part; Mr M’s part was a dog…. No words, all he had to do was walk out, across the stage at the appropriate time. I know this doesn’t sound hard, but Mr M is my child with huge anxiety issues, and he nearly refused to get out the car on arriving to school, he actually looked like he was on deaths bed… his face was red and blotchy from screaming/ crying and he had a body tremor that made him look really ill, and if he did talk he sounded like he was going to vomit.
I was the meanest most horrible nasty mother in the whole wide world and that included alien worlds we haven’t found yet! It was a safe assumption I wasn’t feeling the love.
After making him go to his classroom, telling him that he had to go to class even if he wasn’t doing the assembly, I’m proud to say he pulled it together and got dressed in his dog costume, and went to the hall.
The play was fantastic… surprisingly, (Often they are cute yes…. But not fantastic) Mr M’s part was getting closer and I honestly thought I’d either faint or burst into tears with my own anxiety on how he would go….
His part came…
Nothing… blank stage… The narrator says the cue again…
Nothing :(
Miss Z must be able to feel the tension and starts to whinge… loud, and they continue on.
I can see Mr M and his teacher in the side wings, but they continue on, about 3 minutes later they try again, and he came out!!!! He was rather fast, head down and straight to his spot… but he did it, I was/ am so proud. :)
I was also proud of the child narrating it…. How amazing that an 8 year old new to try again, and give him another chance.
After school Mr M was so proud of himself to hear him talk you would think he was the star of the show.
In my eyes he was, so he wasn’t really wrong :)

Happy half one day!

Zamirah is 6 months today… OMG where has the time gone? I don’t LOOK like I’ve slept away the 6 months. The dark rings under my eyes and the haggard look I’m sporting shows I have been awake, but it feels as though I’ve skipped it.

It feels like yesterday that I was complaining that the pregnancy was going FOREVER… WHY does a pregnancy feel an eternity, but the 1st year of our babies life passes in a blink…? NOT fair… another conspiracy to add to the list.

Miss Z obviously didn’t give a hoot about her half 1 day… she actually had a fairly terrible day, lots of crying and vomiting (Reflux) Maybe she also felt it went too fast.

I made a big effort and got a heap of photos… had all the windows wide open, so the neighbourhood could see me jumping about like a lunatic trying to get her to look happy, (oh for the light as well…)
Miss Z has an amazing talent of smiling just after I click. I got very fit, as it took a lot of clicks. I got a few nice shots in the end, but was utterly exhausted from the effort. … *Pats self on back for exercising*

We all celebrated after tea by having baby tin food banana custard, I know, ewwwww but they all wanted to celebrate, and this was the way they decided we were to do it.
I don’t think Miss S liked it much, she sounded like she was going to vomit. The other children ALL wanted her one, but she wouldn’t have a bar of it… it was hers, and she wanted it… strange girl, she will eat something that makes her dry retch when she doesn’t have to, but if I cook something, (and she hasn’t dry retched) apparently she CAN’T eat it cause she will be sick.

As always… the celebration got cut short when eldest son realised it wasn’t ALL about him…*sigh* the joys of many children :)

Miss Z eating

Are you happy?

Theses 3 words… in this order make me want to scream!
I hear them day after day…. Hour after hour…. At least once every 5 minutes… and
NO I’m NOT happy if you keep asking me this. I WAS happy - but it is wearing thin.
Can’t say that though, I must say… ‘Yes I’m happy’ *ARGH*

Youngest DS has a very high pitched, weird sounding voice, it really is like nothing I’ve ever heard before, and peoples happiness is EXTREMELY important to him… maybe more important than Diego. ;) He must know if you are happy, and if you aren’t he will keep asking with no rest,-
‘Are you happy?’
‘Are you happ-ppyy?’
‘Are you happ-pppyyy?’ It gets more screechy each time as he starts to become quiet upset about your well being.
He is unrelenting, my Mr persistent, until you give in and say yes.

So, when I next see you… DON’T ask if I’m happy….
I can’t win the battle with DS; And I hate not winning, so I may just take you asking about my happiness as an opportunity say NO… and get away with it ROFL ;) :)

Picking paint

The elder 3 children are lucky, they get their own rooms. The younger 4 are about to share, much to their disgust.
We've had to reshuffle a bit, and thought it would be a good opportunity to repaint the room that the 2 younger boys will go into.
I left the colour choice up to the older of the 2, and found he can not make a decision easily.
It has taken just over a month for him to eventually decide on the final colour…
1st he wanted black; I didn’t really want black, so told him his younger brother hated black. (It worked)… he moved onto red… Fire engine red! I know M better than he knows himself, red would freak him out. I got a red blanket and put it on the wall; he started to cry instantly… Red was out.

Now we settle on on Army green. We go to get the army green, and just as we start talking to the man…. He changes his mind….
How will he see his army men if his room is the same??… *sigh*

We make a breakthrough though and decide it WILL be green…. Just not sure what shade.

I get ALL the green paint samples in green, add a couple of blue cause I like them, each night we make a rule that it has to be halved.
Finally last night we are down to two….. The decision is made…

Marine BLUE!

(It is in the tin… bought… no changing now)

Fun Run

Who came up for the name of this activity… must have either been a super fit person, or a freak with a bizarre sense of fun.
I know I personally don’t find ANY type of running ‘fun’ let alone round and round a boring oval.

Today we had the fun run at one of the schools… my children aren’t really into the whole run for fun idea, (take after me I guess)
They CAN run if I want them to hang washing… or clean their rooms… just not for fun.

I see eldest DS limping around the kitchen. I ask what is wrong (Not clicking about the day) He tells me how he must have kicked it in his sleep because it is so painful…, he can hardly walk, let alone run.
Alarm bells start ringing, I feel I’ve forgotten something, actually I know I’ve forgotten something, I hate that feeling, and it happens at LEAST once a day.
DS then asks for a note to get out of sport, as it is SOOOO bad.
Ahhhhh… finally it dawns on me.

FUN RUN!!!

I should be happy he wanted a note, and wasn’t planning on just waging it :)
Today I just couldn’t be bothered, so against my better judgement I wrote the note.

… Fast forward to after school….

Ask how his day was, and DS is really angry, after a lot of communication I didn’t understand… (Teen talk is a LOT of guess work if you aren’t a teen)

He lost the note on the way to school and had to do the fun run ha-ha-ha

I top it off by innocently asking him…

“Was it fun?”
:)

Anxiety…. What NOT to do

Don’t loose the forms… don’t change the rules… don’t have any surprises… don’t expect to reason… don’t loose the forms.

Yep, the main one for me to remember this week is don’t loose the bloody forms!

DS 9 years has always suffered from anxiety, as a family we adapted to help avoid triggers unnecessarily. It can be annoying all the pre-warning we have to go through, but generally we all do OK …. So who stuffed up?

ME!!!! Lost the forms.

We have just been accepted into a hospital ran anxiety course for 9 weeks, started last week. (It is for DS, not me… I think I’m past the stage where help will work ;))
We got a few forms to fill out at home; they are really hard, I did have them before I lost them because I was contemplating putting a big question mark near each question. (Maybe I unconsciously on purpose lost them so I didn’t feel an idiot!) Who can remember when a child sat, or said their first word? I know he was late, But NFI what his exact age he was. I don’t only have a 1 or 2 children, I get confused what one did what when, AND... WTF is with the questions that can be interpretated 5 ways and depending on the day you can have all the possible answers.... but you can only mark 1...

I honestly don’t know what I did with them, unless I sent them to Perth with the forms I had to fill out for a different child. Health places assume if they send a form out you will know WHAT child it is for… NOT TRUE… I have 3 that have extra needs, and all the forms look the same, (PUT THE CHILDS NAME ON THE FORM BEFORE you send it… health profession people) This would help stressed, sleep deprived parents get it right ;)
I was going to get new forms; unfortunately M realised and started to panic, SOMETIMES you can talk him through it, explain it is OK. Not this time… After a long day at school, and him stressing about going to this course, he was already on edge.
From the moment he realised I didn’t have the forms you could see his whole body demeanour change, and NO WAY was he going to participate in anything at all, he reverts into him self… then gets sad…. Cries/ shakes then explodes… after this he attempts to hide… generally under something like a chair etc.

We are attending this to HELP his issues,
Attempting to give him some coping strategies…. Not make him worse.

I think Mother of the day award goes to me! #1

Let’s hope next week is better. :)

WAKE UP!!!! - our morning

Some people wake happy, and thrilled to start a new day…. Others have to get dragged out of bed, looking like they haven’t slept, not cheerful at all.
Our family is the later… we are NOT morning people; it doesn’t highlight our shinning personalities. ;)

This morning was no exception. 1st I oversleep. Bub is meant to be my alarm clock, and she did a great job of getting me up at, 2.00am, and 5.40am, but she failed at the 7am. I really should have stayed up from 6am. I was tired and thought, won’t sleep, just rest my eyes! Pity my brain didn’t understand that idea and put me into the deepest slumber I had all night.
7.40am I jolt up and think OH NO. The house is super quiet, NOT GOOD!
Run into the kids rooms, eldest DD thinks it is Sunday, when I tell her it is Wednesday, it is my fault that the day changed. (Geez I also wishing it was Sunday, I’m good, but not so amazing I can change days on this planet purely to piss my kids off LOL)
DD 10 years decides she is sick, really sick, her tummy aches, and her head, oh her fingers throbbing too, if I didn’t walk off I’m sure every other body part she could list was also in pain.
Eldest DS gets breakfast ready. As the fake sick child comes out he pretends to spit in her bowl, NOW we are ALL awake! It sounds like a murder is happening in our kitchen; this at least entices the rest of the kids out of bed. Everyone wants to see a good sibling fight. :)
They wake bub, and she is starving, it isn’t like she is fading away. Apparently she must feel like she hasn’t eaten for days. I still find it amazing that such a little person can make such a colossal noise!
After getting DD a fresh bowl, and telling DS that it is NOT OK to spit or pretend to spit, we finally get some food into the tribe.

After food, most are slightly better, and we can start catching up, so we can start this new day.

Capsule to car seat

Today was the day…. My baby is getting upgraded from the capsule to a car seat!

I’m impressed we kept her in the capsule for as long as we did…. She isn’t exactly a small baby…. More like a Buddha, and it was becoming a tight squashy fit.

Getting the capsule out of the car was straight forward….. Organising the seat she can now use wasn’t!

I didn’t want to get a new seat, so thought DS 3 years could go in the good booster, and bub could have his old car seat. This boy won’t give up anything of his without a temper tantrum meltdown…. No way on Earth was he giving HIS car seat to his sister, but he was happy to take the good booster from his older sister….
Apparently he wants both.

I wanted to wash the cover…. He sat in the laundry and whinged, then he had to go to daycare. :)
I love Tuesdays, my day where I get a few hours with 1 child.

I cleaned the seat, removed food scraps…. How we got food scraps in the car seat perplexes me, we have a NO food policy in the car.
Maybe the elves or fairies put it there!

Car seat cover goes through the drier, and I stretch it on…. It must have slightly shrunk, it was a LOT easier getting it off. Who made the seat covers? Why not make the openings where the buckles fit bigger?! My hands look like I have frost bite from squeezing into areas only midget hands had a hope in hell of fitting, to twist off buckles to thread through from the opposite direction.
Trust me when I tell you that replacing the car seat cover is harder and more painful than it should be!
I THOUGHT about putting her in it with no cover, she has got a lot of padding LOL…. But decided that it might be a tad mean;

Put her in it to set up the straps, she must feel very special, as she is smiling and is looking very cute. I tighten the strap, and BARF…. Big reflux vomit over the clean car seat!
I must admit, MOST got on her…. But I still thought NOOOOO !!!! And WHY???

I can’t wait till this girl gets over her mass vomiting, I don’t even change my outfit anymore, wipe the worst off, rub it in, add a spray and forget about it…. I don’t have enough clothes to get changed each time… the 1 thing she rarely gets is her bib…. Her reflux is the projectile type…. Smart girl… get everything, and everyone else. :)

I now have to add the car seat to the car, have an hour before school pick up.
My baby is growing up!

before...
.

her new seat! (DS old one) got it in the car!!!!

Swimming at the pool

I tell myself I make the children attend swimming lessons for fitness and self esteem, but in reality it is so I can feel more confident they won’t drown.

Truth is, This is a load of bull… I never learnt to swim and haven’t drowned… really teaching the children to swim gives them more confidence, maybe false confidence, so increases their chances of drowning!

OMG I’m setting my children up to drown…. ;)

This entire ramble is because we have just got back from the pool.

Each Monday I psych myself to deal with the time between school pick up and leaving the pool…. It is a stressful couple of hours, I’ve organised it so I only have 6 children to oversee… (Happy about this… 1 less can make a BIG difference)

Pre-Primary finishes at 3.05pm, the rest of the school finishes later…. Don’t know the exact time… 3.10? 3.15? When ever it finishes, It doesn’t finish soon enough!
By the time we get the year 4, pre-primary, 3year old and baby in the car it never gives me enough time to get to the other school to collect the other 2 girls. 7km feels like 70 when you know you are running late!
From there it is about 3 or 4 km to get to the pool. And swimming lessons for 2 of the children start at 3.30!
Yep, we have about 10 minutes at the most to get it all done, my yr 4 child generally picks Monday to get held back, I swear it is a conspiracy! (Today he got out on time yay)

We are that frazzled looking family that always appears 5 minutes after the lesson has started, with very grumpy children…. Trying to finish of the basics as we walk in such as hair/ goggles… head count.
Kids can disappear like magic between the car and the swimming lesson point!

Finally 2 are with their swimming instructor. The 5 year old is giving the teacher death stares, and I over hear the teacher ask her if she WANTS to try get her head under, Miss T defiantly says NO! That is that, she was asked, she answered, in her mind lesson is over.
I pretend not to hear this as I want to get the rest organised, so walk off leaving the teacher to attempt to win a battle she has already lost by asking what Miss T "wants".

Glance over to the other child in lessons… *Proud moment* he is actually swimming!

A and S both have swim-club, they pretty much organise themselves and join in (late as that also starts at 3.30)
Miss Z is starving, I swear this baby is a bottomless pit… thinks she is always starving at the most impractical times.
3yr old is desperate to splash in the baby pool. Clothes/ bathers, he doesn’t see any difference. *sigh* Convince him to get changed into his bathers, after he already got in fully dressed. Bub is REALLY starved now, Sit on the side feeding Z, whilst trying to get eye contact with Miss T to glare at her. I think she knows I’m trying to do this and looks everywhere other than at me.
4pm, this lesson is over!!! Time get Miss S out of swim club and into her lesson. Today this worked well, it often doesn’t though.
Miss T and Mr M both go and play in the middle pool, I try not to look too much at them, each time I do I want to scream at them to stop something. Miss T now has a head of WET hair, she CAN get her head under…. Just not for the teacher!

Bub vomits, reflux is something I feel should have been given to other peoples babies, we don’t have time for reflux ;)

As usual the lifeguards have words to me about Mr T in the baby pool. He gets a wrist band that I translate to….
‘Child has crap mother who won’t get in with him…. HIGH RISK’
Apparently I have to get IN with him in the baby pool…. Ummmm… Not happening… each week we have the same discussion…. I’m one of the few mums that are right at the side! Grrr… anyway, DS at least now loves his wrist band… the 1st 2 times he had a melt down over it…. I’ve convinced him it is a special present :)

4.30pm, Lessons are over for today, Swim-club is winding up….

We can go!!!!!

Sometimes we brave the showers etc… not today though, the hour and a half felt like an eternity. We round up the drowned looking tribe, wrap in mass towels, load up like pack horses… … and leave.

YAY…. Another Monday pool afternoon done!:)

Teens and babies...

Today reminded me of many other days… people see what they want to see :)

It wasn’t the best day…. At home we had a house full of grumpy people…. (Over tired was the reason, we had a video night…. But suggesting anyone might be tired…. Gets a rather negative response! )
We had to get out of the house… prior to leaving there were a few arguments… a fair bit of yelling and on this particular day…. No help at all….

We went to the park, strangers are intrigued that we have so many children; you always get the looks… and more often than not get approached.
Typically once they find out that 7 are ours it is followed by many questions…. Including how old are they…..?
After listing all the ages…. I often get told how it must be soooo easy, as I have teens to help with the babies!

OMG…. Can you tell most of these people DON’T have Teens… When do Teens willingly help with anything… let alone a baby!

The only reason they came to the park is because I won’t let them stay at home….

Teens and babies are like humans and aliens…. If you look quick enough you may THINK they are the same species…. They do have similar characteristics…. Both communicate with grunts and facial expressions, both don’t sleep well, both think the world revolves around them…. Don’t be fooled…. They aren’t the same type of species AT ALL!

All that help I apparently get, is fantastic….. If it happened!

Typically if you ask for help, you have a few standard comebacks
- I’m not the mum….
- Why should I?
And the best means they might help…but it is a double sided sword… and they often use absurd things they know you will say no to…. Such as,
- Only if I can have 50 bucks, or go to Japan…. Or get a laptop. LOL... (ummmm no.)

Generally this basic request for help results in full on arguments, tears, door slams and lots of screaming….. Occasionally it results in help…. :)

... It must be this occasional time that the people I chat with are referring to….

The best song ever!

As soon as I heard David Cooks voice I new Id love anything he did.... Cant wait to get his CD once it is released!

Pre Shopping

Needed food... we might all fade away with out FOOD....

I've worked out that starving children don't get lethargic from lack of nutrients... they get full on, boisterous and complain flat out!
Starving to a child isn't what it is to an adult either... starving is the feeling they get when the fridge is only half full and they THINK another child got something they missed out on....

I wanted to get out the house so thought a shopping trip would be do-able....

It is never a snap decision either..... from the moment we decided to go shopping.... the dynamics of the house change... doesn't matter that everyone agrees that shopping is what we WANT to do.... to look at us get ready... you would think I'm forcing them to dive into a snake infested pit!

I glance at the children....OMG... whose children are they! I swear they looked better this morning.... but somewhere in the last 3 hours.... they were replaced with what I'm looking at.

1 has brushed her hair with something very static..... looks like a mad woman.... add to that .... she thought wearing her sisters lipstick as eyeshadow was very fetching.

1 lost his shoe.... he had them on only half an hour ago.... but no matter how many eyes are looking.... that shoe is gone.... apparently the dog might of ate it (Our dog gets the blame for a LOT of things) DS suggests that he wear odd shoes.... as he still has another odd one in his room.... *sigh*

1 has a wobbly tooth.... I know, I know... WTF has a tooth got to do with shopping.... 'Nothing' is the short answer..... but if you go out... you do your teeth.... and how can you do your teeth if you have a wobbly tooth!??? The suggestion of NOT doing her teeth was met with loud crying about how SHE is the ONLY ONE that isn't aloud to do her teeth ROFL

Finally we get all hair/ shoes and children dressed... without lipstick eyeshadow and attempt to leave....
Where are the keys???!!!! ..... I always loose the keys.... I have a spot they SHOULD go..... but often they aren't in it.
Find keys..... and start getting children in the car.... bub starts to cry.... Change a nappy, make a bottle, beg a sibling to feed her in the car and finally we are off!

We get out of the drive way... down the road.... and bub vomits.... NO sick rag..... we forgot it.... turn around go home......

Run in to get a sick rag..... and change vomit soaked child.... get a new bottle cause bub is still starving.... ( a real type of starving compared to her older siblings)
Get back in the car , 2 children are crying.... no good asking why.... will get about 10 stories.... no-one ever does anything wrong... according to them....

We are off.... really off.... we get to the shopping center....

That in itself is an achievement!