The Dummy - Is it gone?

~~Last photo I have of Xav with his dummy~~

I think that my little boy has ditched the dummy. All by himself.

It's kinda come out of the blue, so I'm a little shocked and unsure whether it will last or not. My fingers are crossed that it is the end of sucking on latex for Xav, however I'm keeping a spare one hidden in my bedside table just in case he gets upset later tonight.

We spent the day at the mall, trying to find the perfect birthday present for Duane who turns the big 36 tomorrow. I'm hoping that the random phone catologues and constant talk of how his phone is breaking was obvious hit dropping, cause I've splurged and bought him a new one. Our local phone guy (friend of a friend!) even knew exactly the one he wanted when I went in, saying Duane was in the previuos week drooling over it. So I'm sure he'll be happy come present unwrapping time tomorrow.

So we spent the day wandering around. It was suppossed to be a quick trip (yeah right, we were there for 6 hours!!!) and we were plannng on being home by lunch time for the kids to rest, but time got the better of us and before I knew it it was 1pm and Xav was starting to fade. I fished around in my handbag and found a lonely dummy, he layed down in the pram and fell asleep. He only ever has his dummy for sleep time, but it is something that he is very attached to and always guarantees him going to sleep instantly.

Once he woke I took him to the toilet, where he accidentally dropped the dummy into the toilet. I got the gross job of fishing it out with giant wads of toilet paper, yuck! Xav wasn't upset, but he decided the best place for the germ covered thing was straight into the bin and promptly dumped it in there quite happily.

I explained to him that he wont have a dummy now, even at nighttime and he was fine with that.
Fast forward to bedtime tonight and he was still ok with being tucked up in bed with only his blankie and Iggle, not even asking for his num-num. I was so shocked, expecting tears and lots of protesting. Seems my little baby is growing up though, and no longer needs a piece of plastic to suck on as he goes off to sleep.

He slept all night, only waking once at 10pm for a quick drink of water. There were no tears, protests or demands for his dummy. I couldn't believe it, I was fully expecting a long night of comforting a small boy as he mourned for his beloved dummy.

So, after the easy night I was a bit unsure how the day sleep would go. He asked a few times for his dummy, but after talking about what had happened to it and how it was in the bin - he was fine. Once again, no tears as he headed off to sleep clutching his blankie. One funny thing now though, where he used to lay down quietly and drift off to sleep, he now sings VERY loudly as he winds down. I guess he can now, his mouth is no longer plugged up!

So far, it looks like this is going to be a dream run to ditching the dummy. I'm just a little unsure how easy he is going to sleep when he are out and about now? He is a great sleeper and has a wonderful ability to sleep wherever and whenever. He'll sleep in the corner on the floor, any ones bed, in the pram and even in the bottom of the trolley. As long as he has his dummy and blankie, he'll nod off anywhere. I'm certain part of the reason he does this as since about 12 months I've kept his dummy as just something special for when he goes to sleep, he's not been allowed to have it apart from then. I've done this for a few reasons. First one being my own silly reason of not liking to see toddlers wandering around with dummies in and not wanting that for my kids. Secondly, I'm aware of the speech and dental problems that can happen with prolonged and extended use of the dummy and didn't want to contribute to Xav's already noticeable lisp. I know that the dummy is a comfort thing too though, and I never want to deny my children comfort, I just would prefer to give hugs, kisses or blankie than plug them up. Of course, I had no qualms with plugging up a comfort sucking baby, dummies are a godsend for an unsettled bubs with a strong sucking reflex - plenty of times a dummy was used to pacify ! I just think that there are other more age appropriate ways of settling an upset toddler, but I guess I'm contradictory cause I didn't mind him having it at bedtime.........Anywho....

Blankie is no doubt going to take top position as most favourite item now, and I have no problem in Xav carting blankie wherever he wants and whenever he wants. Most of the time he is happy for blankie to stay on his bed and go in for a cuddle and regroup every now and then, but we have had the occasional day where blankie has joined us for a trip to a friends house or in the car!

I'm never going to make him get rid of blankie, my little boy cuddling and patting his blankie is one of the most endearing and sweet things about him. Of course if blankie survives into the teenage years, I might have to whisper into his ear that it's not appropriate to be taking it along on dates.........

I'm a lifer.....

Yay! I've finally gotten to my goal weight and maintained it for 6 weeks, so last night I received lifetime membership with WW!! The best part of that for me the scrooge, is actually that I don't have to pay anymore! Oh, and of course now I'm in a healthy weight range, feel better, can fit back into clothes etc - lots of bonus's!

Ok, so I haven't been that fantastic of actually staying at my goal weight, but WW are happy as long as you stay 2 kg either side of it and I'm just sneaking in by 1kg.

My WW goal weight is 66kg, and I'm exactly 67kg. I don't think that's too bad considering I've been very slack lately, especially around Christmas/New Year and camping. There have definitely been lots of splurges and times of just forgetting about points counting and gorging on my favourite foods. Lots of yummy dark chocolate, the BEST calamari and chips ever, a few sneaky squirts of ice-magic on the low fat ice-cream and plenty of celebratory cake. I do know that I am making better choices most of the time, so I'm fine with these minor indiscretions!

I'm happy where I am now though. I'm going to have a little break and just aim to maintain and then in a few weeks have another go at loosing a few more kgs. I'd love to say that I'll spend some time working on the muffin top I have perfected, but right now the motivation is not there. Hopefully It'll come soon....

Decisions, decisions....

I've calmed down a little bit after my big disappointment, I'm even starting to see some alternatives and positives coming out of the situation. Only if I imagine really, really hard though.

Except, when I sit and think about how much I want to get stuck straight into Midwifery subjects, following women through their pregnancy journey and watching slick little babies meeting their parents for the very first time. It's then that the eyes start leaking and I start getting upset about the path I have to take.

Anyway, I've decided to put Nursing at Griffith down as a preference for the second round. I'm not deleting Midwifery, just in case, but I'm accepting that studying nursing for the first year is my only realistic option. If I can complete the whole year and just pass, I'll get a rank of 93 which puts me in with a fighting chance of transferring over to Mid next year. Also I would get credit for 4 of the subjects, which would come straight off my Mid degree when I transferred.

Also, I'm not feeling too upset about actually having to finish the while nursing degree, if I don't get a transfer over to Mid. I'll just have to suck it up for 3 years (or could even be fast tracked to 2.5years) and I'd then go on to do a post grad in Midwifery. I'd then get paid for that last year as a student Midwife and at the end of it all I'd be a RN and RM, which would give me more money and more opportunities. See, not too bad at all. If you ignore the fact over those 3 years I could potenntially be wiping bottoms and feeding people, and they wont be newborns.....

Now I just have to wait and see if I get a place for nursing. The cut off for that is around 68, so I should get in unless all the places are already taken. I've had a chat to the uni, and they are confidant that I'll have no worries, but I'm not accepting that until I get a formal offer. I'm slightly kicking myself now that I didn't originally put nursing down as a option, as by the time I get my offer all the good timetables will be taken and I'll probably be stuck with all the scraps spread over 5 days. Either way it shouldn't be too bad. Nursing is a lot cruisier than Mid, so it'll allow me to ease into uni life with all the boring nursing subjects, before getting into the more interesting ones next year.

So now, I wait until the 4th Feb. Still praying that I get a very late offer for Midwifery, but grateful for a place in nursing.

And, for all my child bearing friends I just have 1 favour to ask. I'd like you to refrain from any baby-making relations until at least July. That'll give me enough time to start up as a student midwife and be able to palpate your bellies. Deal?

It sucks!

Well I was obsessively checking the Qtac website last night, after a tip off that the offers would be out early, finally there was something new to look at.

Unfortunately we can not offer you a position in your first preference.

My stomach dropped and I fought to hold back the tears. How did I not get in? I did think that if I did get in in would be only just, but I really thought that my score of 89 would be competitive enough. Apparently not.

Why? Why? Why?

A million things ran through my head as I tried to see the positive of not getting an offer. I can't. This is the course I want. Not nursing and Not midwifery in Brisbane. There is no positive spin I can put on not getting an offer.

I've been on the phone all day trying to work out my options. First up I called Qtac, and was advised that 90 and above got in. I MISSED OUT BY ONE DAMN POINT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Then after talking to the person in charge of the degree I was informed that over 900 people had put it down in their preferences, that is just an unbelievable amount of people to be competing with. Also, because the course can be done mostly externally, there were so many rural and out of states applicants.

I'm stuck and have no idea what to do. I have a few options, but at the moment NONE of them sound even remotely close to what I want.

Firstly, I could change my preference to Midwifery at ACU Brisbane (you know, the one I rejected last year!) and at least then I'd be on the Midwifery journey and hopefully get awesome results and be able to transfer to Griffith next year. The cons of that are the expense of travelling, the time needed for travelling, maybe not getting into Griffith next year and being stuck doing my whole degree in Brisbane.

There is also the option of Southern Cross Uni at Tweed, they also do the Bach of Mid. It's not a fantastic course though, and it involves full time blocks of clinical which would be a nightmare trying to organise kids around. Its also a lot of at uni time, with not much flexibility for external study. Thing is, I'm not even sure I'd get in there now as even though I'm above the cut off, it all depends if there are any places left.

Second option is to change a preference to Griffith Nursing, and do really well and hopefully get an internal transfer into Midwifery next year. This option would be quite easy, in that yes I would be doing full-time uni but it would be close to home and not have all the follow through requirements that Mid has. Cons of this are that I DON'T WANT TO DO NURSING and what if I don't get a transfer and get stuck finishing a nursing degree that I am not motivated with?

Last option is to just not do anything again this year and apply for Griffith next year. I'm trying to work out from the selectors what I could do to improve my chances of next year. This is a bit of a gamble, as what if I don't get in again? If I was to do this I'd have to be 100% with one of the above options, but then I'd be kicking myself if I didn't get in and I could have at least started this year.

I really don't know what to do. I've spent the day going over and over everything, and calling ever contact I have at Griffith hoping for a sympathy place. I've got the person in charge of selection calling me back tomorrow with a yay or nay as to whether second round offers will be made. She didn't sound too hopeful today when I spoke to her that it would be happening, but maybe luck will fall on my side and someone will drop out and I'll get a place. Fat chance.

The nervous wait......

Tomorrow is the official day for the major round offer for Uni. I know last year the offers were released the night before at about 9.30pm, so I'm hoping that the same will happen this year and I will be put out of my misery. My stomach is a knot of nerves and I'm all jittery, just waiting for a computer to spit out the news.

I'm so damn nervous about the result, whichever way it goes. Either I get into my first preference of Bach of Midwifery at Griffith and I'm happy but scared about studying and working with 2 small kids, but knowing that in the long term it will work out perfectly. It'll be hard, but manageable.

On the other hand, I could miss out on a spot and be left wondering what the hell I do for the next year. I'm so ready to be starting something for ME, and although another year at home with the kids is not too bad an alternative, I just want to get stuck into something NOW.

If waiting for the e-mail to come through to say that offers have been made, then I'll no doubt be too anxious to even check Qtac. I know that although my ranking is quite high, it still might not be competitive enough. There are only 50 places being offered, and I've been told about 500 applicants. I also know that there is an allocation of places that have to go to mature age and an amount that have to go to school leavers. I'm just hoping that a lot of those applicants have other courses as their first preference and I scrap in. Only 1 place has been given out in the early round offer, and that applicant had the highest score possible, ter 99. So, it is very competitive but I don't mind taking spot number 50, JUST GIVE ME A DAMN SPOT!!!!

If I do get in, there is so much that I have to organise in the next 2 weeks. Needles to be jabbed, police checks to be done, blue cards to get and to do the CPR course. Thank goodness, my Mum is coming up tonight and will be able to help me out with the kids whilst I'm (hopefully) running around getting everything done.

So, by tomorrow morning I'll either be chucking the biggest adult tantrum around or whooping it up in Office works in a flurry of post-it notes and cool stationary.

But right now, I'm off to pick my Mum up from the airport. The kids are beside themself with excitement and I can't wait to spend the next 3 and a bit weeks with my Mum. Nothing quite like having your Mum around.

Wish me luck.......

PAD #10

PAD #10
Originally uploaded by kirstenpenney

Xav at 2.5 years, teeing off at one of Australia's finest Golf Courses.

We'd spent Sunday afternoon up at Duane's work. Duane normally takes them up every Sunday by himself, but I tagged along this time, in the hope of getting some photos.

The kids practised their putting on the green and smashing their drivers at the range. After driving around in a cart to look for some kangaroos and other animals, we headed into the clubhouse for babycinnos.

Xav is amazing with his golf, he makes it look to simple with his relaxed approach and ability to never miss. He plays with real clubs that Poppy has cut down for him, and even when his little arms are drooping from fatigue, he keeps on hitting away.

They have never actually played on the course, but today was a very special day. The both got to tee off on the first. Xav nailed his straight down the middle - a perfect shot! Grace was a little unlucky, and after 3 practise swings finally connected enough to dribble the ball forward, just.

I'm sure there will be plenty of wonderful weekends spent enjoying the beautiful surroundings of the Golf Course.

Pad #9

Pad #9
Originally uploaded by kirstenpenney

A lovely Saturday morning spent at the beach.

I HATE taking my camera to the beach, always nervous that sand or water will work its way in. I also find it really hard, because of the glare, to check photos and change settings at the beach. So I only took a few shots, and this would be my favourite.

Grace spent the whole time zooming around, Xav is a bit wary of the waves so he stays nice and close to daddy and the dogs just ran around excited! So this photo has all that!

The dogs were absolutely exhausted in the car ride home, so quiet that at one stage Daune pulled over so we could check they were still breathing. BC (before children) we used to take the dogs to the beach every week, but since having the kids they have only had a few visits. It's only in the last year that we have felt comfortable watching 2 kids and 2 dogs, so hopefully there will be more beach visits for everyone.

The beach trip was followed up with an ice-cream on the way home, a wash for the dogs and a big sleep together for the humans.