I guess it was to be expected.......

Well, sadly for me, I have not escaped from Miss 3 and Mr 2's gastro bug. And there I was commending myself on a cast-iron constitution.

I feel yucky.

A Dodgey Decision?

Today I just felt like having somebody do anything for me, so when Miss 3 asked if she could cut my hair, I said 'yes'. I'm sure she was as shocked as you are! There were quite a few snips, and a few large clumps fell out. I guess I can just be thankful that I have quite wavy, long hair and so the empty spaces aren't that noticeable!

It did feel good to have her play with my hair though........

Anyone who knows me knows that I am a sucker for any kind of pampering. Brush my hair?..... oh, yes, please. Foot massage?......... yep, don't stop. I am extremely lucky that Miss 3 has worked out that a delaying tactic that always works to give her at least another ten minutes out of bed is to brush my hair. When she decides to go all out with the spray and the clips I am in heaven. (I don't even care when the comb gets caught and she yanks!!! It all feels good......)

I am thrilled that Mr 2 has already realised Mummy loves it when he brooomms his cars all over me. I am wondering at what age I can enrol both kids in a massage course. Is 6 too young?

Handy Hint Number 10: When your kid starts hitting or being rough, take their hand and gently use it to caress your face, making pleasant ooohing and aahing sounds and also saying 'gentle, gentle'. Whenever I say the word 'gentle' now, Mr 2 starts caressing something!

(BTW for those who would like a quick update on Mr 2's health; he spewed last night but is definitely on the improve, and his sample from his nappy - lovely! - revealed him to have rotavirus, a nasty gastro bug)

Miss 3 Helps Mummy and why not to buy a washer/dryer

Miss 3 is an incredibly helpful child. I can ask her to do pretty much any household chore and she has got it covered. (Yes, I might have to go over the areas she has vacuumed, but she does a pretty good job). She is particularly handy with hanging washing on the rack. It's got to the point that I can say 'Can you please hang the washing for me?' and she gets it out of washing machine and hangs it all. (Guys, guys, before you freak out at the thought of a 3 year old precariously leaning into a washing machine to get the washing out, I will reassure you that we have a front loader!!!)

Handy Hint Number 8: DO NOT buy a combination washer/dryer. They may seem like a brilliant idea, but they are a painful product invented by someone who has never actually had to do any washing and drying.

OK, I can tell there are some of you who would like an explanation of the above hint. The first time I required the services of a dryer up here I had to wash my sheets and mattress protector urgently before going to bed. There had been a slight accident (NOT FROM ME - for the love!!!!!) Anyway, I put the load on and washed it and came back to put it onto dry and realised you had to press 'Dry' before you washed. ARRGGGGHHHHHHhhhhh! So I had to wash it again and press dry - I pressed 2 hours drying, thinking that would be plenty. Alas NO! After 4 hours (yes that's how long the stupid machine takes to wash/dry) I took out the mattress protector and sheets to discover they were still quite wet. Do you think you can just put them in to dry for another little space of time????? NO. So, I had to start the machine again, from scratch, and wash again and then dry. You could possibly think that would be the end of the story..... well, have you ever known me to tell a short story??!!!! Anyway, the machine unbalances - it makes a funny beeping noise for about 5 seconds - and if you don't get to the machine and re-balance everything within 5 minutes, the machine turns itself off and you have to, you got it......START FROM SCRATCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You can't put a load on at night, because Murphy's Law or something must compel it to unbalance, no matter how balanced it was! Anyway my sheets and mattress protector were extremely clean after being washed 4 TIMES! And that is part of why I do not recommend combined washer/dryers. (If you want more info, feel free to contact me, cause I could go on at length about how bad they are!!!)

Anyway, back to Miss 3 and her help. She is actually pretty good at washing the dishes, dusting, and can even cook! If Mr 2 hurts himself, she runs to him and cradles him in her arms while yelling out 'Mum, quick! He needs you!' Yesterday I was using a dustpan and broom in kitchen, and Miss 3 came in and said 'Mum, well done. You've done a really good job!' (I wonder who she's copying!) And that brings me to:

Handy Hint Number 9: The earlier you get your kids doing chores the better! Make it seem like something fun, and then praise them heaps, and accept it might not be up to your brilliant standards at first, but it will get there eventually!

It would be easy to forget how young Miss 3 is, because she's so capable and helpful, but she is definitely still only 3. The other day when asked by a tradesman what she wanted to be when she grew up, she answered very seriously: 'A duck. I want to go quack, quack, quack.'

I love her.

Swimming in Vomit

Well, Wednesday is a very special day for Miss 3. It's her swimming lessons and nothing will stop her attending (well, actually, I guess that's not true, but you know what I mean). Mr 2 was a bit sick still and had succumbed to the dreaded diarrohea, but he was in good spirits and I was prepared (I thought) for all eventualities and off we went.

Handy Hint Number 3: If your child has diarrohea dress him/her in thick tracksuits cause it might soak some of it up before it leaks onto car seats, and your hip.

Unfortunately it was 34 degrees out, and Mr 2 was wearing thin little cotton shorts. Sigh.......

Swimming lessons were great. Miss 3 swam for the first time by herself. The penny dropped and off she went. Very cool!!! Although I didn't actually realise what had happened for a moment due to being slightly distracted by Mr 2.

Sadly, Mr 2 was not having such a great time. In the 30 minute lesson he got worse very quickly. He lay limp and pale on the grass as his little tummy cramped, and I changed nappy after nappy.

Handy Hint Number 4: Be discreet changing nappies and don't let other mothers see your child has diarrohea at a public swimming pool.

Handy Hint Number 5: Always have a couple of plastic bags with your nappy changing stuff. And a change of clothing for you...... and a change of clothing for him and...... oh.... for the love!....... there are just somethings that you can never be prepared for.

The lesson finished and I hustled Miss 3 out quickly, and headed for the exit....... and Ba Boom...... Mr 2 did a massive spew.... and kept on going. He was a very poor little creature.

Handy Hint Number 6: If your child is spewing, try and hold him horizontally out from you so spew doesn't fall on his legs, your legs, your skirt, or your feet. Ummmm.....and try to remember which way the wind is coming from. (Whoops....)

We drove home and had to stop once when I realised Mr 2 was gearing up for another spew. I managed to save the car from being covered in it by draping Miss 3's towel over Mr 2's front, and we only got a twince on the car seat straps, all down Mr 2's top and sadly all down the side of my face and one side of my hair (well I was leaning in holding him and comforting him and it was slightly projectile... I'm sure my mother is reading this and saying 'Too much information').

Anyway we drove off again, came home and hopped in a nice long cleansing shower. Bliss.

Handy Hint Number 7: Don't open every window in the car when driving home with spew in your long hair, as it tends to blow it into your mouth.

To those of you without children, please don't let the above account put you off having them. They are a joy..... mostly..... and they're not always sick!

Howdy and welcome to my first ever blog!

Well, here it is. My own little way to keep the rest of the world posted on the ups and down of my life. I'm sure you were all waiting for this with bated breath ;) .......... so.......... where to begin? For those of you who don't know me, I am 36 (hey, only just....) and I have a 3 year old daughter and 2 year old son. They are an amazing gift from God and the bestest best thing in my life. I am sure my blog will turn into part love letter to them....... awwwww shucks........ plus part helpful handy tips for looking after kids, plus, hopefully, part just fun for people to read!

To my dear friends who read this, if it is completely lame and I should give up on embracing any kind of cyber technology, please let me know!

Well this week I have been juggling completing my final university assignment of the year with two sick children. I have discovered that there is a relationship between urgency of assignment and sickness of kids. Basically the more urgent the assignment is, the sicker the kids will be. This can also correlate to sleep - the more you stay up late doing all-nighters to finish aforesaid assignment, the more the kids will be awake crying and miserable in those few fleeting hours you are in fact trying to sleep.

Handy Hint Number 1: Do not leave assignments to the last minute.

On Tuesday morning I woke at 2am to work on assignment and the sun started coming up at 4.30am - and while it was beautiful, I would appreciate it far more at say 6am. Mr 2 was so unsettled all night. Frankly if someone was singing lullabies to me, rocking me in their arms, and giving me a foot massage, I would very happily be able to fall asleep, but, alas, he was up and running around at 5am which would have put an intense dampener on my hopes of finishing my assignment, if not for the fact that I dropped my mouse on the floor at about 4.45am and broke it. Yes, you read correctly........ broke it! What are the odds?!

So the morning went like this:
4.45am - Mouse breaks and bang wakes Mr 2 who was restlessly sleeping on couch
5am - Mr 2 is wide awake and running around
5.30am - Miss 3 is up at 5.30am and complaining of feeling sick
6.30am - Feed kids breakfast - and feeling good about being efficient mother who is able to juggle many things. (Now I come to think of it I'm not sure why I was feeling efficient, prob because the kids were having breakfast so early!!!)
7.00am - Miss 3 spews up entire breakfast
7.10am I jump in shower with kids, and hop out and get dressed. I dash around cleaning up while making a couple of phone calls - still feeling like a reasonably good mother.
7.something - Go to get kids out of shower and they are squished against wall shivering cause all hot water has gone. Mr 2 repeating over and over "I cold..... I cold"
8am - Feel like a bad, bad mother. Not efficient at all. Cruel in fact. Don't tell DOCS.

Handy Hint Number 2: Pride goeth before a fall. You are not, oddly enough, efficient if your kids become icecubes.