Christmas 2008

Well the Christmas celebrations are over with for another year. Its creeps up on us so quickly and then leaves with the same haste.

Christmas Eve was spent wearing out the kids to that they had a nice early night. Kinda went to plan except as I was putting Grace to bed, I fell asleep too! Oops. I had been busy making all the desserts for Christmas day and was feeling rather sick from eating all the leftover melted chocolate.

Before the kids went to bed we excitedly put out all the food and drinks for Santa and the reindeer's. Santa was given a cup of milk and biscuits, and the reindeer's had a container of oats which was put beside the dogs water bowl in case they wanted a drink too. We also left out a special key for Santa to get in seen as how we don't have a chimney.

We then all opened up one present each, a big coincidence don't you think that all the presents were new pj's! I have done this every year - it's a nice tradition and makes us all look kinda respectable come the morning. I try to get Christmassy ones but they were sold out early. Xav got a cute red pair with silky boxers to match Daddies and Grace got a pink ballerina nightie. I just recycled a new pair that I had bought ages ago.

I spent the rest of the night wrapping presents (I love doing this!) and watching the carols on Tv. Duane was beside me busily trying to put together the wooden kitchen and muttering about next year not buying anything that needed to be assembled. I only heard a few swear words and saw I mistake - so all in all success. The presents were piled high under the tree, all bright and shiny. Everything looked perfect. About 11.30pm we heard little footsteps coming down the hall, Duane bolted and intercepted sleepy Grace who he took into our bed and they both crashed out. I took a few photos, ate the bikkies, tipped out the milk and then joined them for the night.

~~Before~~

~~Before~~

~~After~~

As it happens every morning now, Duane & I were up before the kids. I snuck outside to make the Santa prints from the front gate to the front door, then scattered the reindeer food around. The chooks were out and thought that I was sprinkling food around for them, so they hastily gobbled most of it up!

Grandma and Poppy turned up at 6am, then Grace stumbled out of bed not much after. She was a little unsure why they were here so early and also what all the excited faces were for. We shuffled her outside and showed her the Santa prints, and also pointed out the mess that the reindeer's had made with the food. She was a little shocked, she kept rubbing her tired eyes and looking again - not quite sure what she was seeing. Xav woke about then so after getting him up, Grace took him outside and relayed everything we had said to him. She was starting to comprehend it all now and was excitedly saying, "Santa's been, Santa's been"





We all headed inside and her eyes nearly pooped out of her head when she saw all the presents piled up high. We turned on the carols and then Duane played Santa, handing out all the presents. The children were both extremely spoilt, but everything that they got was perfect. I had given strict instructions and also present suggestions to the in-laws, and I was glad to see that they followed them! Probably sounds horrible, but if I hadn't of, we would of ended up with a bunch of plasticky, break-in-an-instant crap. Grace got a beautiful purple and white wooden truck with horse trailer attached, pretend coffee machine, pretend kettle, pretend mixer and some little wind up toys. Xav was given a skittle set, bath alphabet, wooden truck, wooden peg/hammer thing and also the wind up toys. Xav loves the hammer/peg thing. He spent so much time banging all the pegs in and then flipping it over and starting again. At one stage he banged it so hard that the head fell of the hammer - It was all glued back on though and he went again!

Then came the unveiling of the big present - a wooden kitchen. This was a joint present for both of them, and it was a hit! They spent most of the morning pretending to make us coffees and cooking up a storm. Xav obsessively put things in one cupboard, walked away, then went running back to change it all around again. It's such a beautiful kitchen and plenty of room for them both to play. There old plastic one has been shifted outside in the cubby house. They're allowed to put water on that one, so they get out there making sloppy sand-pies and cooking them up!

The kids also got lots of other lovely presents from Santa. Toothbrushes, undies and lots of books. Grace got a set of working lights for her dolls house and also a family of wooden dolls that fit the house perfectly. From us they were given some games to share - domino's, lucky ducks, beetle and uno. Nanny bought them both the game twister and also a torch each. Both of these were a hit, especially the torches. We have played a kiddy friendly version of twisted already and they both love spinning the wheel and jumping on whatever colour come up.

Probably the highlight for Grace was the lip gloss and nail polish that Santa has promised her. Grace had developed a terrible habit of chewing her nails down to nothing, sometime making them bleed. I promised her that Santa would bring her some polish if she stopped biting them, and it worked - she stopped! So then I had the task of traipsing everywhere looking for polish that was safe and tame enough for a 3 y/o. I ended up finding some light barely-there nude polish with a touch of glitter that was both formaldehyde and talon free. I remembered at the last minute though that Avon do a great nail polish, so I might order some of that too. Grace loved having her fingers and toes all sparkly and shiny - she's such a girly-girl! The lipgloss was just a sunscreen one, but she loves it!

Murray and Trudy then turned up for breakfast. I was given a beautiful pot filled with planted herbs - and also strict instructions to water it! Grace was given a scented baby doll, a gorgeous top & shorts set and the last 2 books that she needed to complete her, "When I'm feeling........" book set. Xav got a beautiful wooden abacus that he loves spinning the letters on.

Duane was surprised with a new 4 burner BBQ, complete with hood and wok on the side from his parents. Funny thing was it is the exact bbq that we had bought for them! Very nice and I can't wait to try it out soon. I already have my lovely early Christmas present - my gorgeous camera.

We then enjoyed a lovely breakfast of pancakes with fresh mango, pineapple and berries all piled high with ice-cream, cream and maple syrup.

After breakfast Xav had a snooze and I put the finishing touches on my contribution to the big lunch meal - desserts!

We then headed over to Amanda's house and settled in to watch the present exchange. Grace and Xav were once again spoilt. Grace was given a new Cd & book from the Truets, a card game from the Cahills and a little dolly from the Ryans. Xav was given an "In the night garden" book & t-shirt from the Truets, a toy camera from the Cahills and a ball from the Ryans.

Lunch was then layed out on the table for everyone to fill up on. There was a beautiful apricot and macadamia stuffed roast Turkey, roast chicken and perfectly roasted vegetables. It was the first year that we have had a kiddy table set up. They each ate little bites of food as they alternated between sitting nicely and running around crazily. All the adults ate way too much then retired to the deck to work up an appetite for dessert.

I had the nerve racking task of deciding on and making all the dessert. I was very nervous about as it's always the much anticipated finale to any meal. I knew that pavlova was generally a hit, and trifle is a Christmas staple so these 2 were definates. I then found a recipe for rocky road ice-cream which looked and sounded delicious.

I'd never made pavlova before and obviously didn't beat it for as long as I should have as it stayed flat and spread out all over the tray. I am a great improviser though (hubby is often scared when I say that I've "improvised"!) so I whipped up some cream, slapped it on the top with some raspberries and kiwi fruit and rolled it up like a swiss roll. Looked a bit dodgy but come serving time I topped it with more cream, bananas, kiwi fruit raspberries and chocolate. It still looked a bit bleurgh, but tasted delicious!

I also made a summer berry trifle that was laden with blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, jelly soaked sponge cake, custard and cream. Very easy to make and looked great. The ice-cream cake was also really yummy and going by the fact there was not much left over, it must have been all right. I had also made about 40 little Christmas cake balls that had been dipped in chocolate and topped with white chocolate and jaffas - apparently supossed to look like Christmas puddings. Mine didn't really but tasted magnificent - huge hit!

After lazing around for another few hours, it was time to head home to have a play with all the new toys.

An unorthodox game of twister was a perfect end to a perfect Christmas day.

Christmas 2008 was filled with the 4 f's - family, friends, fun & food. Just how it should be!

3 year olds are funny creatures

Yes funny little things 3 year olds are.

Sometimes funny "Ha, Ha" and sometimes "Get out of my sight before I pack up your things and donate you to charity" funny. We get a good balance of the 2.

Here's 3 of my favourite:

#1
Guilt trip? Probably the start of many.

"So, you have air-con in your room, and there's one in the lounge. Why don't I have one in MY room? It's so hot, I can't even use a blanket"
Yes, this is straight from the 3 y/o's mouth, not sure if she really wanted the air-con or was just using it as an excuse to come into our room. I promise that her room was not hot, it was all drama.

#2
Admittedly this was after traipsing around the shops right in the middle of the Christmas chaos. I was shopping alone with the 2 kidlets, #1 was driving me nuts with her constant whining and demanding that she needed everything that she saw. I got sick of it and told her to stop whinging as it was driving Mummy insane.

The response, "But I wanna whinge, I like whinging" Great. Then she went on and on and on and on about how she liked whinging - whinging about whinging, perfect. Music to my ears.

And lastly after being asked if she could draw me a lovely picture at school, I was promptly told the following, "I'll draw a picture for Daddy, you can go buy one from the shops". Seems I'm not worthy of her precious scribbles. Can't wait until I am elevated to "Daddy" status, in the childrens eyes that man can do no wrong - EVER.

Update on the TT

Xav is still being a "big" boy and using the toilet for most wees and nearly all of his poos. He's not got to the stage of telling me he wants to go (although he has a few times) but I can tell mostly when he needs to go, so I pop him on the toilet and he wees. I still can't believe it every time I see my baby propped up on the toilet, doing wees. When he does do an accident he comes and tells me, so that's a good sign that he is acknowledging it.

For the last 3 days he has been in undies at home (Grace's old pink Dora ones - very feminine!) and he loves wearing them instead of his nappy. I still put him in a nappy for his day sleeps, although he didn't want me taking off his undies today so I put his nappy over the top. I just went to check on Xav in his cot and he had taken off his nappy and just laying in his undies. Very cute. I love his little bottom in undies and can't help smacking it whenever he passes by.

Over the last month Xav has had a major explosion with his talking and comprehension. He has added many words to his vocabulary and using them all in the proper context. If he gets hurt he rubs the sore spot saying "Ouch, Owies." If he gets stuck somewhere he yells out "Stuck, Stuck" Wanting us to either remove him from or one of his toys from the offending place. Lots of other words too. Up, Bubba (he calls himself this), Grandma, smack (no doubt learnt this from me as I am constantly smacking his cute bottom), top, nap-nap, duck, book, door, nose and eyes. We were driving past the school the other day when he started shouting, "School, school" I couldn't believe it.

There are plenty of other words that he has learnt, but I can't remember right now. It's not the amount of words that is blowing us away, it is is comprehension. He understands soooo much and can follow complication instructions. For example I was sitting on the toilet the other day and there was no loo paper. I asked Xav to open the cupboard and get me out a roll, and he did. I can't remember if Grace understood this much at this age, maybe she did?

On another note I have nearly completed all my Christmas shopping. I braved the shops with the kids yesterday which meant I got absolutely nothing done. They are great when we go shopping but it's so busy this time of the year and pushing a pram through the crowds is not my idea of fun. So to finish everything off I ventured out ALONE last night. It was great and I pretty much had every shop to myself as it was so quiet. I picked up the rest of the kids stuff and I think they are going to love it. I can't wait for Christmas morning to see their excited faces as they rip the wrapping paper and discover all the goodies. I've just got to get a few more stocking things and then I'm done. I swear next year I am going to start early and have all my Christmas shopping before December. I know, we all say this every year and it never happens.

I has a horrible nights sleep last night. I woke at about 1am with a really biting, aching back pain. It slowly moved around to my stomach and I was seriously thinking that I was having a phantom labour. I got up and walked around for a bit, but then my stomach lurched and everything came up. After a few talks with the porcelain bowl I was feeling better and it was all over. So not really sure what was happening, maybe something I ate? Actually now that I think about it the only thing that I ate differently from everyone else was some sugar free lollies. It was most definately them, I've reacted to the fake sugar before - same thing stomach cramps and vomiting. That'll teach me to raid the cupboard looking for something naughty and end up eating the left over cake decorating lollies! Feeling better today, although a little weak. Lucky Duane will be home soon cause the kids must be sick of their Mum lazing around not playing with them.

Probably jumping the gun BUT....

I know he is waaayyyyy too early to even be thinking about toilet training BUT when they show signs your meant to run with it right?

So for the last few weeks Xav has been giving me lots of hints that he may be over the nappies. Taking them off - preferring to run around showing off his nudie bum all the time. Being very interested in Grace or I going to the toilet and always trying to pry our legs apart so he could see what all the fuss was about.

So Friday afternoon I asked him if he would like to go to the toilet. I took him in and perched him up there on the toilet insert - he looked so tiny, his little legs dangling in front. I went off to get him a book, thinking that we were in for a long stay to catch anything.

I came back to see his eyes all red and his forehead scrunched - it was his definate poo face! Sure enough after he had got off there was a poo in there. I screamed with excitement, so proud of my little boy. He was equally excited and kept pointing into the toilet saying, "Poo, Poo" He got to flush the toilets for his efforts and also the so exciting job of hand washing (the boy has an addiction to it!) He was also the proud bearer of a sticker for a job well done.

I really thought that it was a fluke and maybe I had just timed it perfectly. Then today I took his morning nappy off and let him run around nudie. I asked him if he wanted to go to the toilet, he nodded and looked excited so I took him in. He sat there for a bit whilst Grace and I encouraged him. Then I heard a little tinkle - He was weeing!!!! OMG that is just soooo exciting!!!

Ok, I was still thinking fluke, timing etc. Then after an hour or so I asked him if he wanted to go again, this time he said "No", but I took him anyway. After a minute or so another wee.

Gosh, I just can't believe that my little boy is doing wees AND poos in the big toilet. I know that we are a probably a far way off toilet training being he is only 17 months, but I think I'll give it a go and see what happens.

Grace started toilet training at about 22 months, and was done virtually in a week. I remember that she wanted to go to the toilet around the time that Xav was born, but it all just seemed a little difficult then so I didn't try her.

So I'm not going to get ahead of myself here, but I am still excited that he had a little success.

Guess who's getting some undies in his stocking this year????!!!!

Paparazzi Mum

I'm loving my new camera. Poor kids are getting their retina's burnt out though, constantly having a camera shoved in their faces.

Too bad. Mummy needs the memories.

Be careful what you wish for....

It's nearly 6am and I am sitting her at the computer enjoying my morning cuppa - all alone.

Both kids are still in bed, sound asleep.
Xav is in his cot and Grace snuck into my bed at about 4am.

I should be enjoying it right? I mean now that Xav has weaned he sleeps from about 7pm-6.30am (or sometimes 7am) every single night without making a peep. I should be loving the interrupted sleep and the early morning alone time that I used to crave. Sleeping all night just with the husband, not a squirmy toddler - should be bliss hey?

Well I miss it. I miss waking up to an inquisitive poke on the nose, or my face being cradled my chubby toddler hands. I miss stirring through the night and noticing that my baby was in with us, all snuggled up to either Mummy or Daddy. I miss the morning snuggles in our bed(well minus Daddy cause he gets up at 4.30am to get ready for work!). Grace would usually stagger on in from about 5am onwards, her and I then would have cuddles until Xav woke. We'd all then have groups hugs - laughing, giggling and rolling around on the bed.

This usually went on for a half hour or so, so then it was time for our morning group stretch. We'd gather at the end of our bed and line up in front of the mirror. We'd then start our morning stretching routine, the kids all watching me intently and following along.

I don't get any of that anymore. It's so quiet and alone as I wait for the kids to wake up.

Santa came early.....

Well I must have been very good this year as Santa has come nice and early and been very, very generous.

I am now the very proud owner of a fancy new camera. Not just any camera either, a Canon 400D - digital SLR.

I have the old film version and used to love playing with it. However since the introduction of point and shoot digital cameras, I haven't used it. Now I dont trust myself with a film camera, I'd waste too much money on film and processing for crappy photos. No excuse now though, well except that I am still to work out what all the buttons do!

I got it at a super bargain too. After checking it out in every single shop on the coast the cheapest I could get it for was $939, which was mates rates from Duane's cousin. I was happy with that price, but me being the tight bum that I am was hoping to get it for cheaper. I called Myer, as I had a $200 gift voucher to use there so thought that would bring the $$ down a bit. It must have been my lucky day because they only had 1 left, and it was on clearance for $745!!!!!!

After clearing it with the husband I sped in to pick it up! It is absolutely gorgeous, all shiny and black and full of promise of beautiful photos. It comes with 2 lenses, one everyday one and the other which is paparazzi style. I also got a bonus camera bag for it, but that will take a few weeks to get. My old lenses also fit it, so that's also a bonus.

I have had a play and taken a few good pic's already. I know that I have to learn how to use it in full manual to take advantage of how brilliant it is. Dependant on what I do next year (I find out on the 15th January yay or nay) I want to do a photography course. Grace is a perfect subject, Xav is not. She will sit there for ages, posing and playing up to the camera. Xav on the other hand has to be shot in "action" mode, the whirlwind just does not sit still.