Spitting the Dummy!

I cant believe that it is 2 days until Christmas! I am mostly organised, well the kidlets have their pressies anyway! We have got a trampoline for them as their main present, Which Grace is so excited about!

We went to the Christmas carols at Coomera last Sunday night. The highlight for Grace was that she got her first pony ride! She was so excited and absolutely loved it! She held on by herself and wasn’t scared at all! We all enjoyed the carols, but by about 7pm the kids were ready for bed so we headed off!

~Grace's first pony ride~

They were both worn out from swimming early at Whitewater world! Grace has learnt to walk to the top of the waterslide by herself and put herself on. Duane catches her at the bottom...she loves it! Xavier and I mainly sit in the shallow water, he loves kicking around and splashing! We all have so much fun there...it will be a great place to cool off in summer!

We had mothers group on Wednesday. Grace was in full swing pushing Cooper and Malia about. She is fine when I am constantly reminding her to be gentle, but as soon as I stop watching her she starts again. I have been trying to tell her that they don’t like that, and they just want cuddles. She starts cuddling for a bit...but the pushing starts again too. I am just finding it so hard to keep near her all the time, especially if Xavier needs attention too. She has also been giving him lots of little “love taps!” I think that I will have to introduce time out.

So we went to Harvey Norman yesterday to have photos with Santa. Grace was a little scared but we managed to get a few good ones with all of us and also one with just Xavier and Grace. We have been talking to her about giving her dummies to Santa and he will bring her a “bouncy”. So we talked about it all day yesterday telling her that Santa needed the dummies to give to the sick babies. She seemed to understand that we were going to see santa to give him the dummies, and she would be getting a bouncy! So today we collected all the dummies then wrapped them up in a zip lock bag! We decorated them with lots of pretty ribbon! We all got ready and then went to visit Santa. I thought that it would be a good idea to go before her morning sleep, a bit of a trial run to see how tonight would go! So we headed off with Grace in her seat clutching her dummies. She kept on chatting about giving them to santa for the sick babies. She was happy and giggling, and I couldn’t help but feel like I was just about to break her heart. She absolutely adores her dummies and loves them to go to sleep. She has about 5 and usually has one in her mouth and the rest in her hands. She loves rubbing the rubber end into her eyes and all over her face as she is falling asleep! I felt bad for taking this little comfort from her, but I also think that it is the right thing as she is starting to get a little obsessed with them.

Once we got there she carried them in, whilst I went ahead and worded up santa! I gave him the “Glow Pooh bear” that he was to give Grace in exchange for the dummies. I also mentioned about the trampoline....He seemed a little worried and asked if we were definitely getting one for her!! Duane bought her up to Santa and at first she was a little hesitant. I think that was mainly because she was a little scared of him! They had a little chat then she handed them over and he handed her back her toy! She opened it up and seemed very excited about it! I was quietly confidant that she was going to be ok! But I guess the real test will be bed time!

~Giving dummy's to Santa~

She asked for them a few times in the car, but then she fell asleep on the way home! Duane put her into bed, she went off fine but then woke about 1 hour later. She woke up asking for her dummies, I reminded her of what happened. She started crying and getting a little upset. She went and layed on our bed with her glow baby and we had a little chat about it all. I showed her the photos on the camera of her handing the dummies to Santa. She has a few little cries but then seemed to be fine.

We went looking at Christmas lights tonight, but unfortunately we were too early and no lights were on! Xavier fell asleep in the car at about 5.30 and Grace went off at about 6.30pm. We put her into bed when we got home and haven’t’ heard from her since (its 9.30pm) Let’s hope that she has a good night! She asked a few times about them, but then she would say “Sick, babies, Santa, dummies!”

15th December 2007

I have been so slack with writing...so I will endeavour to catch up now and stay on top of it!

Ok Xavier is starting to sleep better of a night now. We had a couple of nights where he was waking every 2 hours. I think that this is a combination of a few things. He sleeps on his tummy now and has also started to get up onto his knees. NOOOOOOO I am not ready for my little baby to be moving already! But it seems that he is a determined little fellow and I wouldn’t be surprised if he is soon crawling! He is so strong and spends most of his awake time on the floor in his tummy. He loves reaching out for things and trys his hardest to get to it. He reaches and stretches and wriggles his way over to it! We are going to have to be super careful with things on the ground, especially grace’s stuff. Xavier has already poked himself on the face with a pencil and gagged on a piece of paper that he chewed up! He is such a happy little boy. He mainly spends his awake time playing on his tummy and watching Grace. He has been sleeping on his tummy and is now having longer naps during the day. A typical day for Xavier is wake at about 5.30am, bed 7.30am sleep until 9am, sleep at 10.30am and then wake at about 12 noon. He then has another sleep sometime in the afternoon. He goes to sleep really easily most of the time, sometimes just needs a little pat on the bum!
His teeth look so close to cutting! I wonder if he will be like his big sister and get them at 5 months! I guess we will find out next week!!

Grace is just growing and learning too quickly for me to keep up! Her language skills are just booming and she is confidently venturing into little sentences. It’s so cute having a conversation with her! She answers properly and her manners are just gorgeous! She say’s “No thank-you” and “Yes please”.

Better days

Well things are better!!
I just had a rough day last week. I think that is was a combination of Grace’s behaviour and Xavier only having cat naps all day! Grace has started pushing and hitting Xavier. It seems to happen if we stop paying attention to her. I am trying to praise her lots when she is being good (which is alot of the time) but then she will just go up to him and give him a whack! She looks at me when she does it. I have been putting her away from us and then paying lots of attention to Xavier. She usually whinges for a bit. I then tell her what she has done and that we don’t do that, and then she apologises! It’s very cute when she says “sorry Xavier”, but I have to refrain from laughing! She says it is such a sickly sweet sarcastic voice!!

I love my little boy so much! He is learning so many new things and seems to be growing up so fast! He is has been reaching out and grabbing things for a while now! I love it when he grabs my face with 2 hands....love it! He constantly plays on his tummy now. Once I put him on the ground he flips over to his tummy and stays there! He can move around on his belly, mainly going around in circles

I Quit!

I QUIT!!

I hereby tender my resignation as Mummy! I am sick of the crap associated with this job! The conditions are appalling and I am over it! The hours are too long and there seems to be no flexibility in reducing them. The position is tedious, mundane and sometimes stressful, however the wage is crapola!

I am supervisor to 2, and they need to be sacked ASAP!! They don’t listen to any instructions, they constantly need to be reminded of things and are hopeless at using their own initiative.

Everything has to be repeated 50 times and even then they don’t seem to comprehend. Unless of course it is something that they want and then it seems they understand completely! Selective hearing is not a strength that we as a company should allow.

They are constantly presenting themselves in an unprofessional manner, one even has been turning up nude....this is so against company policy! I can accept it in the office, but they are starting to also do this on “sales calls”.

I am sure that the companies insurance will not cover their antics either. Surely it’s not too hard to just sit there and do the job??? No they instead want to be on the desk, swinging on the chair or eating the pencils....all the time yelling out to me! Maybe they think that I approve of their behaviour?? Nope and this will be reflected on their performance appraisals, which will be out on the 25th December.

My “business partner” has become more like a silent partner over the last few days. He says that he is “networking”....on the golf course.

Ok...it seems I can't quit so back to "pushing Grace on the bloody swing"

Grace's 2nd birthday

We had such a lovely day yesterday for Grace’s birthday. Duane had the day off work, so it was nice to spend the day together as a family. We had put Grace’s bike together the night before, not without a bit of swearing and muttering!

We had a lovely nights sleep, with Mr X only waking for a quick boobie call overnight! Grace woke unusually early at 5.30am (she has been sleeping in until about 6.30am) It was very cute because she woke up and layed in bed calling out to “daddy, daddy” Duane went and got her out of bed and bought her into our bed for a cuddle!!

It was lovely to have her in there in the morning as we haven’t; done it for a while! Duane has been playing golf and working early of a weekend! After Xavier woke we took Grace out to the lounge to open her presents. We had placed blankets over her bike. She thought it was a bit odd and started to take the blankets off. I thought that she would have shown a little more enthusiasm, but she kinda went a little coy and shy! Maybe she was still half-asleep!! She shyly played with the bike, but we couldn’t take it outside as it was raining!

We gave her the present from Nanny, a Hi 5 backpack and singlet! This was a hit, as is anything at the moment with her beloved hi 5 on it!! Daddy took her down to the shops to get the “birthday paper” He has been collecting one every special occasion for the kids! They came home for a play and then grandma came over and we went to the play centre! It was the first time that we had been to one and Grace had so much fun! She got to play in the ball pit, go through the tunnel, go on the jumping castle, down the slide, played with the car slippery dip and had a great time!! She even got to go on the carousel, which was a real hit! We ordered her the cutest little “babycino” which was basically a very weak hot chocolate filled up with lots of froth! I think that she enjoyed the “look” involved with drinking it more than the drink itself!

~Enjoying her first "baby-cino"~

We then came home for a group nap!! Mummy and grandma made some scones for afternoon tea, and one to use as a birthday cake! Poppy came around and we had scones with jam & cream and savoury scones out the back! We all sung happy birthday to Grace!!

Grace was so tired by the end of her big day! I didn’t really get a chance to sit down and let it all sink in! I am probably still in denial that my little girl is now 2. Before she went to bed we read over her birth story and looked at the photos of her birth. I have such fond memories of that time!

She is my firstborn, the first child that I have experienced all the beautiful moments with. I love her dearly and am excited about beginning the next chapter of her life! She really is growing into such a beautiful soul. She is so outgoing, passionate, loving and sweet. I can’t believe that 2 years ago she was just my helpless little newborn who relied on me for everything! It just amazes me that she is so independent now, there are so many things that she can do by herself! She even can take herself to the toilet now!!

Happy 2nd Birthday Grace!

Happy Birthday my beautiful girl!!

I can’t believe that it was 2 years go since you came into the world. Your birth was such an amazing experience and one of the highlights of my life! I was in awe that your Daddy and I had created this gorgeous little person!

Its now 2 years into your life and you have grown up so much! You are talking so well, and it seems today you have increased your language 2 fold! You are starting to put little sentences together, like “Mummy’s car”, “see you later” and lots of others! You have just started saying Crocodile, and the way you say it is just so adorable. You say “croc-or-rile”!

You can jump high and can go up and down steps easily. You love to climb and can climb on to the swings and swing yourself...but you much prefer us out there with you! You toilet trained very easily and have only had night nappies for the last 10 days! I am so proud of you as you take yourself of to the toilet!

You love playing with Daddy! It’s so lovely to see the 2 of you playing and running around outside! You love it when he crawls and pretends to chase you!

You love kicking a ball and can catch if it is thrown slowly and close.

You are a wonderful sleeper and love going to bed! I can’t say “nigh, nighs” without you wanting to go to your bed!! You sleep in a toddler bed, but we think that you might need a big bed soon! You have been hitting you head on the side of the bed and the other night you were kneeling beside the bed with only your head on it! You go to bed at about 6.30 of a night! You have a cup of milk, cuddles and kisses with Mummy and Daddy, and then Daddy takes you up to bed! You always like to say goodnight to the puppies on the way to bed!

26th November 2007

Well Grace has been in undies now for the last week. She has only had a few accidents at home, no accidents when we are out!! She is going so well and always asks to go to the toilet when she needs to. Today she even got up on the toilet by herself and did a wee. I am just praising her now and not using any “toy” rewards like I was. It all seems so easy and i guess i am waiting for it all to fall apart! I really hope this is it though and i am fairly confident that it is! Yey....no more Grace nappies....just stinky Xavier’s!!

Xavier is just being more and more adorable every day! I am absolutely mesmerized by him! He is just so happy all the time and giggles at everything. Nicole and I took the boys shopping today. It was great to get out toddler free! Xavier is so good in the pram he just looks around until he gets tired then just drops off to sleep! He is still waking of a night at about 2am. I have just been giving him a quick feed and he goes back to bed easily. I think that he might be waking as he is not getting enough milk during the day....which leads me to my next subject!

I am fairly sure that Xavier is going to be a messy eater when he starts solids! If his breastfeeding antics are anything to go by! He latches on, has a few sucks then starts going crazy on my boob! He does this funny thing where he bury’s his head in my boobs and kinda blows a raspberry! I think that it has something to do with my letdown....but is it really necessary Mr Xavier? I come out of the ordeal with milk everywhere and my nipple being exposed to everyone! He also is very distracted during feeds now. Its like there is too much fun happening and he wants to be a part of it! He either laughs at me when he is feeding or gawks around at everyone else. I think that this is part of the reason that he is waking for a night feed. He doesn’t seem to be getting enough during the day! I would try and resettle him but his little tummy rumbles, so i just give him a quick feed and he goes back to sleep!

Well my beautiful first born baby is turning 2 tomorrow. I can’t believe that this time last year I was starting my labour that would bring this beautiful soul into the world. At 7pm the contractions started, just as Duane has dished me up a generous serving of ice-cream, ice magic and walnuts!
We have had so much fun together over the last 2 years, and I am looking forward to the next phase of her life! I’ll write a bit more about how I am feeling tomorrow! We are going to have a lovely family day...maybe go to the beach if it is a nice day! We have bought her a bike...which I am sure she will be super excited about!