OK so i just recently reconnected with a high school friend and i wanted to show her some pics of what i've been doing over the past few years so here are some pics. Enjoy!

Wedding day - 26th April 2003

8 mths pregnant with Ethan. Jan 2004

Ethan born 17th Feb 2004 weighing 9lbs.

Ethan now

October 2006 - 37 weeks pregnant with Nicholas. He was born 2 weeks later. I was HUGE!

Nicholas born 12th October 2006 weighing 9lbs 6.5oz. Very easy birth considering how big he was. lol

Nicholas now - he'll grow some hair eventually. lol

Both boys - Christmas Day 2007

Us

My hair is short now though...it looks something like this

Scrap happy!

Everyone knows that scrapbooking is of the devil right? First you get lured in because you like your photos to look all pretty. Then you start discovering stores all over town that have cool scrapbooking supplies that you just have to check out and which you inevitably spend hundreds of dollars in. Sucked in i tell you! And don't get me started on the sales! Actually i usually only buy stuff if they are on sale because otherwise they are usually as dear as poison. I've spent a few years scrapbooking now and then. I love making cards and invitations mostly although i have started Ethans scrapbook. Yeah, i've done like 3 or 4 pages. *cough* loser *cough*. The kid is 4 next month and i've only done that much. sheesh, i'm lame.

Anyhow then a friend....who we'll call Kristie...because thats her name, introduced me to digital scrapbooking. Holy addiction Batman! It's so easy - download some templates, download some free kits and whala! scrapbook page!!
Well it does take a bit more effort on my part but it's super fun and addictive. So in the last couple of weeks i've done what it took me a couple of years to do by hand, you know with real paper and stuff. lol I'm in love although i'm guessing that eventually i'm going to run out of free downloads and i'm going to have to pay up.

I think i have to credit the people who i got the downloads from before i go and post them on here, so i'll figure that out and then post them.

A Happy New Year

Last year was the year from hell. I never thought it would end but it did and i'm glad. We had a great Christmas and a very uneventful New Years. We have a few exciting events planned for this year -

1. Ethans' birthday is next month. He's 4. How did my baby get to be 4??? He's growing up waaaay too fast, he's already acting like a teenager, how am i going to cope when he actually becomes one?!
2. Our 5th wedding anniversary in April - 5 whole years. wow.
3. Our trip to the US in September!!! I'm HUGELY excited about this. HUGELY!!
4. My 30th Birthday in October. Yes, i'm quietly freaking out at the thought of turning 30 but then again so is dh since he won't be married to a young chicky babe anymore. lol I am hoping to have a big party. You are all invited of course ;)

Oh and sometime in the next year i hope to have another baby. I don't know when. I'm not in a hurry really but yeah, sometime soon before i get too old and wrinkly would be nice.

One years old today!!!!



My stats

Age: 12 months
Weight: 8.8kgs
Heights: 72cm
Hair colour: Blonde
Eye colour: Blue
Complextion: Fair

My favourite activity: Walking, climbing, playing chase, eating, playing in the garden
My least favourite activity: sleeping
My favourite foods: banana, yoghurt, spaghetti bolognase, chicken, potato, chocolate
My least favourite food: olives
My favourite drink: breastmilk and water
Most exciting thing i've done this year: Went to a Brisbane Lions AFL match.
Things i've learned this year: smiling, rolling over, sitting up, crawling, walking, wrapping my mummy and daddy around my little finger.

Happy Birthday Nicholas!!!

I'm baaack!!

I'm sure noone reads my blog anymore and thats fine, i guess. It was always nice to see comments and people stopping by in the early days when i used to blog regularly and i had something to say. I guess there is a season for everything and i think i maybe ready to come back from the dead, so to speak.

Alot has happened since June when i blogged last time. I guess i will just go over the main points of interest....

1. My baby is walking. Nicholas turns 1 later this month and i can't believe it. He's the most gorgeous thing ever, though he gets sick alot. So different from Ethan. They are like night and day.

2. I finally got a wedding ring. It's about time my dh made an honest woman out of me ;)

3. I got 3rd in a photographic competition. For this photo -


I was pretty darn excited i can tell you. I won a $100 store credit, which i bought photo frames with.

4. My garden is growing. I have lettuce, carrots, peas, onions, brussel sprouts, capsicum and a pumpkin growing. I'm so pleased with my efforts and i'm looking forward to harvesting!! oh well, i grew radishes and harvested them but they didn't grow very big. We don't have a lot of water so i think thats the reason.

5. My dh got a promotion. YAY!!!

6. Ethan is completely toilet trained including nights. BIG relief i can tell you(pardon the pun ;)). I am loving not having to buy 2 lots of nappies.

7. It's springtime!!! I love spring. All the flowers are out and the air just smells wonderful. But it's getting hot. Which i don't really like that much.

8. I got my drivers license. Yep, finally at the grand old age of 28 years 11 months. It took me 3 flippin' times to get it though. And i'm not sure how many weird looks i got when i said i wanted to try for my LEARNERS...at least 6 i think. So i'm old, get used to it! I can't drive by myself yet....i have to drive supervised for a year. So dh has a whole year to teach me. Maybe he should take out the life insurance i've been bugging him about.

9. I'm clucky. I don't mind admitting it. Everytime i see a newborn baby i whine to dh that 'i want another baaaabyyyyyyyyy' and then pout. Oh well, next year maybe when i've had a full night sleep and can't remember what morning sickness is like.

10. I've lost heaps of weight this year. Ok so not HEAPS heaps but like 8kg heaps. Still at least 5 or 6 or 7 to go. When i finally do it i'll post my before and after pics so the whole world can see what a huge fatty i was and what a hot babe i am at the end. ;) ahhhh yeah, right. lol

I'll be back to blog more often. When something exciting happens. :)

Sorry, who would have thought that having 2 kids would take up so much time. I rarely have time for blogging anymore.

Peek-a-boo!!


Photo Sharing - Upload Video - Video Sharing - Share Photos

I feel a little overwhelmed but at the same time relief. We have moved house. Just another rental but a better one. That is the relief. I am so happy with this house. It is nice and pleasant to live in. Since i have to be at home 24/7 i should at least get to live somewhere nice, right? Moving has been a hassel though. Real Estates are the pits. And it looks like we won't get all our bond back because we put holes in the lino when we were moving our ruddy big heavy glass dining table. Stupid thing. We bought a new one and gave the old one to Vinnies. We have had a few hassels with our new place - blocked pipes, running toilet and i can't use the laundry tubs yet...should be fixed soon i hope. Oh yeah.....and the plumber said he couldn't find our house(after waiting for him to come for 2 flippin weeks).....then turned up at 7pm to fix the blocked sewage pipes. That was yesterday after i noticed a horrible smell coming from the vent out the back. ewwwww.

Our house is still a mess but i'm getting to it a bit at a time. Its hard when you have a clingy baby that cries everytime i put him down or leaves his sight. Luckily my mum has been coming over and helping out heaps. She takes the kids and amuses them while i do some work. Still doesn't look like i've done anything at the end of the day....slowly slowly though. I will do it! Eventually. This century. Maybe.

My babies are growing up

Our video camera just came back from repairs so i was watching our old videos from when Ethan was a baby. Its amazing how much he's grown and changed. I mean he is 3 afterall. lol but it just amazes me. The baby on the screen just doesn't seem to be the same little terror i now have. He was so cute with his little black mullet hair-do and dimples. Thankfully he no longer has a mullet and its no longer black. I do miss those dimples though. Of course he's still as cheeky as hell but sometimes in an annoying 3 year old way instead of a cute baby way. lol

Nicholas is growing up too. He's 5mths old in a few days. 5 MONTHS! wow it just seems like yesterday that i found out i was pregnant. It was actually 1 year ago on the 17th February that i found out i was pregnant. He was both a planned baby and a surprise. I guess i can have my cake and eat it too. He's just the most precious thing ever.

I love my boys so much. I don't know what life would be like without them.

I hate screaming kids. At the moment i have 2 of them. Ethan is screaming because he's upset with me for putting him in his room and just because he can and Nicholas is upset because he is tired and i want him to go to sleep but he doesn't want to.

Makes me want to crawl in a hole.

Comet McNaught

My dh took some photos of the comet. This is the pick of the bunch i reckon.

Pentax MZ60, Sigma 28-80 Lens @ 28mm, 4 minutes @ F3.5, Konica 100ASA Film.

If you want to see some more:

http://tinyurl.com/3bdns2

Because i love my husband and i love his talent i thought i would showcase it a bit. My husband LOVES photography so much so that we just spent over $80 on getting a heap of slide film developed.

Here's some of my faves from over the years......

And some b&w....

More later......

Christmas is over for another year.....

For some reason in the past few years i haven't looked forward to Christmas. Just seems like the magic was gone and its always so damn hot its hard to enjoy. The only good thing about it was eating as much as i like guilt-free.

But having kids has rekindled the magic just a little for me. Last year i was so excited for Ethan to be able to open his present and actually enjoy it since he was 22mths old. But, he was struck down with tonsilitis just before Christmas and hardly had the strength to stand let alone open his presents. We ended up having to take him back to an after hours dr on Boxing Day just as all our family was arriving for Christmas celebrations at our house. Add that to the heat(about 37C in the house) and you have a pretty crappy Christmas.

This year i wanted it to be different. I was hoping for a cooler temp since we have been having unseasonally cold weather(Victoria actually had a white Christmas!!) and Ethan was showing no signs of being sick. We decided to have Christmas at my sisters place about 1 1/2 hours East of here. We divided up the food and other things to bring amoungst ourselves and planned on having a relaxing day just veging out and eating...as you do. So thats what we did. We got up at 7am and mum came over and we opened pressies. The look on Ethans face as he opened each present was priceless. I'm so glad he wasn't sick and he was able to enjoy it all. The weather was nice and actually I've been wearing winter pjs for the last week or so. lol He loved his 'toss 'pute' or in english that translates to 'Thomas Computer' he got a Thomas and Friends Laptop off daddy. He LOVES it.

He also got a bike and Wiggles helmet. A hobby horse off Granma and a few other Thomas things, oh and a Wiggles sun hat from granma too. He's got spoiled this year. Nicholas got a couple of cute things. But I guess when your 11 weeks old you don't really care. lol

We had bacon and eggs for breakfast then made our way down to my sisters.

IT WAS HOT!!!!!

It was 32C and muggy. I didn't want to get out of the car that was sitting at a nice comfortable 20C. After lunch we decided it was way too hot and went to invade her inlaws. They have a/c and a pool. Score!

So other then the heat it was a good day. Here's some pics -

And these are possums.....just in case you didn't know. Very special christmas possums. Ok so not really, they were outside my sisters house on the power lines. I think they're cute!

Merry Christmas!!!

Hope everyone has and is having a great Christmas. I will have exciting anicdotes and pics to follow later. ;) maybe.... lol

You know, i knew that artistic talent ran in the family. My dad was an excellent painter, my brother is an excellent sketcher, my uncle paints and has had exhibitions. I used to paint and draw but don't have time anymore....i was kinda OK...the more i did it the better i was...pity I've almost lost my talent. BUT it pleases me to see my son Ethan is displaying the same talent.



At the moment he has a slight obsession with snowmen. I have no idea why but he loves them. he likes to draw them on the chalk board. Here's an example of some of his work - i drew the 2 round circles of the snowman's body he did the rest:




Its nice to see that this snowman is anatomically correct - he has boobs and a belly button and boy bits. No, that's is not a third leg. And if your wondering about that thing floating above his head - that's his hat.
My child is a genius.

You know i think us Australians are a little crazy. Not crazy-psycho, crazy-weird. Last night we went looking at Christmas lights. There is a funeral home that does a killer display(pardon the pun) every year. Its the best in town i reakon. Other then the gorgeous displays they have free plum pudding with custard, tea and coffee. They also have a sausage sizzle and drinks that you can buy. What a way to rake in the business.....lights AND food. Donations are welcome and all money goes to some suicide prevention fund(which my dh finds funny - can you guess why??lol) Anyhow this year they added something else.....FREE ice cream!!!! You can guarantee i will go anywhere there is free ice cream.

This would generally be a great idea considering we do celebrate Christmas in summer but this year our weather has been weird. So much for global warming - we have been having cold days sprinkled amoungst very hot days. Last night it was cold. It was windy. We had the heater on in our car. We had jackets on!!! Outside temp was 13 degrees celsius. I know, not mega cold but c'mon its summer!!!

We get to the funeral home and make our way to the entrance...its cold, its windy. I was wishing i had a scarf and gloves......we walk pass the ice cream van.....'would you like a free ice cream???' someone asks me......'YES!!!!!' of course i want a free ice cream, its not like its winter or anything. Its summer, of course i want to eat ice cream!!!!!

It was damn good too. Free food tastes so much better then food i've had to pay for, wouldn't you agree???

Here's a pic of me and Ethan in front of the winter display...complete with fake snow. Please excuse the painful look on my face. 12kgs sitting on your legs is difficult when your off balance to start with and i was talking to dh too at the time. lol

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

As i was getting a little bored with my blog i thought some christmas cheer might be nice and i will revamp my entire blog in the new year...maybe when i've got some more time!!!

Things i've re-learned since becoming a mum second time round...

* sleep is important for controlling my mood
* sleep is something i need
* sleep makes me happy
* i love my bed

That is all.

Yesterday was Nicholas' blessing day. So I bought him a cute little outfit and some family came over. It was a really nice blessing....of course i cried(how can a mother NOT!?) and he cried through it all too. lol
We planned on some family photos, which i was looking forward to taking. That didn't happen! We came home and had a nice lunch which i had stressed over (yes, on fast sunday but too bad, i was having a luncheon and that was that) we talked and by the time photos were remembered everyone had changed out of there church clothes. damn. So we didn't get any family photos. So these are the only photos i have of Nicholas on his blessing day and in his cute little blessing outfit.



He looks like he has a big nose in this pic...he doesn't really. His cuteness just doesn't come across that well on camera. lol

And a pic of my boys asleep on our bed...just for good measure.


Hopefully we will take some family pics soon!!!

Things i've learned this week

I'm being a copy cat today - thanks Emily ;)

1. I don't do well without sleep - I knew this was coming, of course i did but seriously can anyone function on 4-5 hours sleep a night?? why aren't babies born with the ability to sleep for 8 hours at night??

2. I also don't do well with having a splitting head ache for 4 freakin days! - enough already, i'm over it. It hurts and i'm cranky.

3. My dh is an idiot - last night he ate a habanero chilli to see how hot it was. It was very hot. Then i had to listen to him complain for the next hour about how hot it was. I could have told him that and i've never even eaten one before. He suggested that that he was being brave or couragous for eating it...ummm no, you were just being stupid.

4. Thompsons Pharmacy Wind Mixture for windy babies is a life saver - This stuff ought to be given to every new mother!! Seriously a miracle cure and the best stuff i have ever used....beats Gripe Water hands down!

5. Turning 28 kinda sucks - my dh lovingly reminded me that i'm no longer in my mid-20's, i'm now in my LATE 20's. In other words - old. I feel old. My birthday was on Halloween btw which is kinda cool...or it would be if we celebrated it more here.

When your tired...you'll sleep just about anywhere.....

Ethan doesn't always think he needs a nap in the daytime. Actually sometimes he doesn't think he needs one at night either but thats a whole other story. So instead of calling it a 'nap' i tell him he needs to go to his room for a 'rest'. Totally different thing. He goes in there and plays with his toys and if he is tired he will usually go to sleep. I give him an hour and a half of 'rest' time then he can come out. He does the usual crying...fake crying mind you. The 'i'm just going to pretend you've cut out my heart' type crying that doesn't work at all on me. Then he decides, well thats not working so i'll just play...which he does....then he goes into sneeky mode. The 'i'll see if mummy is really watching' mode and tries to sneek out into the living room. At first he'll peak around the corner and i'll see him of course and tell him to go back to his room.....he runs away and then tries again. I ignore him. Then he starts on the army crawl....on his belly trying to sneek into the living room. You see i usually sit at the computer while he is napping and there is the couch between the computer and the door...so he thinks if he gets low enough i can't see him. ahhhh yeah in a perfect world maybe.
Most times i tell him to get back to his room...he looks up in surprise and wonder at how i managed to see him despite his army crawling. He will go back to his room where he either comes out to try again and again until his 1 1/2 hours is up or he will play some more or go to sleep.
Today though....it was just too much for him and this is what i found in the doorway of the living room....


And yes, that is a half naked doll and some black pasta tongs....but also works well as a pillow. No army man would go anywhere without them, right?

Introducing.......

Nicholas Patrick, born 12th October 2006 at 10.17am. Weighing 4270gms and measuring 55cm long.

See this little boy...doesn't he just look so innocent? So unassuming? So perfect? Don't let that fool you.

Behind that cutsey smile is a little boy who likes to hit and punch and shout. Ahhh yes, like most 2 1/2 year olds he has a problem with sharing.

My sister and her 4 kids are up visting for 2 weeks. Thankfully they are staying at our mums house and not mine(I would have been insane by now if that was the case) My sisters kids are aged 7, 5, 2 1/2 and 1. The 2 youngest(both girls) are the main issues. You see...well they like to play with things and touch his things and touch his Granma too. Big no-no in Ethans book!! How dare they! But trust me his cousins can give as much as they can take...so my sister and i have spent the last week trying to stop our kids from killing and/or maiming each other. Just 1 week to go. I love having my sister up but Ethan has been on the 'naughty spot' so many times i swear i might just have to make him stay there all day! I can't believe how he acts with them around. It's driving me nuts!!!

Tip for the day : do NOT go looking at display homes with 5 children in tow!

The Nesting Instinct

What on earth is this thing? Seriously, i don't think i had it with my first son. I can't remember wanting to clean everything...maybe i did have it and just didn't notice. But this time i've noticed. This morning i woke up and did the usual routine - pee, eat, iron dh work clothes, get Ethan installed on either the 'pute or the tv and then collapse while the wooziness takes over me. While in this woozy state this morning i realised that my house was a complete and utter mess and it would be criminal to go off to the hospital to birth my baby with the house in such a state. Even worse would be my dh coming home from the hospital after said birthing to a dirty and messy house!

When your 36 weeks pregnant you will know that it isn't easy to bend down and you get tired easily. I also seem to lose my breath when i bend over aswell, so it's slow progress to do anything. Thankfully my mum rang up this morning and she said she wasn't doing anything today and did she want me to come over. YES!!!!
So we have spend the morning cleaning and de-messing the house. It looks a darn side better, let me tell you!

But you know what perplexes me? I read somewhere that the 'nesting instinct' comes from the male side. Men having a nesting instinct???? WTH??? Ok maybe some men are like that...but seriously, who would have thought that. Its usually the women who are clean freaks.....
My dh for example.......the house can look like a tornado hit it and he wouldn't even notice...there could be dead animals in the house and he wouldn't even notice. I pity my daughter(if i ever have one) because she's not going to get any 'nesting instinct' from her father!

Confessions of an addict.....

Hi, my name is Andrea and i have a problem. I'm addicted to dying my hair.
My problem started when i was about 14. The lure of dye that only cost $3 was too much for this little black duck. Plus my big sister and future sister-in-law was all into it aswell so hey, you can't fight that.
It started out with temporary dyes. You know, the wash out in 6 washes ones. Then it advanced to much more permanent dyes. My sister also succumed to the dreaded 'streakers cap'. We have a very lovely pic of her posing with it on. Then came the ultimate. Me going completely blonde. I did this stupid thing when i was 16 and in year 12. One day i was a brunette/red head(depending on what i'd done with it lately) and suddenly i was a brassy blonde. Brassy being an understatement considering my sister did it and you know, she was no hairdresser. lol
That lasted until after graduation and i had lovely regrowth for that......i'd show you a pic but they are all downstairs in a box somewhere and then i would have to scan it.....too much hassle right now.
I got sick of the blonde and went back to being a brunette.

When i left home at the age of 19 i was still to set foot into a hair salon and get my hair done properly, though i had ventured to getting it cut by a professional.
Once i had a job and could afford it i went to a salon and had it dyed properly for the first time in my life. It was fabulous! Though the cut and colour did cost me $160 it was worth every penny.
I continued my movie star life style of getting my hair 'done' until i got married. After i had Ethan i decided i needed a pick-me-up and went and had it done. My dh almost had a fit at how much it cost...he didn't realise it costs that much. I have had it done a couple of more times but the guilt is just too much...spending that much on myself and i have yet to find a salon as great as the one i used to go to when i was single. So i have returned to doing it myself and i think i'm actually quite good at it. And it only costs me about $15 for the dye and up to $20 for a cut.

Yesterday i dyed it again. Now its a dark brown and will stay that way until after bubs is born. I am planning on getting it cut too for the warmer weather.
My dh and i actually have a deal. He loses 10kgs and i will go blonde (done professionally of course.....blonde and home jobs just don't go ;) He's supposed to do it by Christmas......yesterday he had to choose a smaller notch in his belt. Guess i'm going to be blonde soon......not that it bothers me......i'll probably be 'dying' to dye my hair again soon.

We've lost 3 famous Australians this week. Things happen in 3's right? On Monday it was Steve Irwin and Colin Thiele and today Peter Brock. Isn't it weird how you just never expect things like that to happen and yet everyday people are dying. I guess celebrities just seem to be able to live forever and its always a shock.....unless their known druggos or something like that.

I just wanted to touch on and reminisce about my association with Austraila Zoo. Of course i didn't know Steve Irwin, but I have been many many times to the zoo. When i was a kid it was run by his father. We lived only 1 town away from it and would go regularly. Back then it was called The Australian Reptile Park(i think) lol we used to just call it The Reptile Park and it was small and didn't have many vistors. When you went in the front door the small entry area was filled with speciman jars and spiders in those perspect blocks. It was kinda creepy and cool at the same time. The park wasn't very big and there weren't that many animals. I remember the snakes and that there was a big carved wooden crocodile out the front(i believe its the same one they now have inside).
We moved away from the area when i was 12 and sometime after that Steve took over and it became Australia Zoo. We have been twice since it became 'famous'. We first went when i was about 5mths pregnant with Ethan....it was November and it was hot! I think that day i almost passed out. But other then that it was great! Heres a pic of me and a kangaroo:

The next time we went was this year for Ethans 2nd Birthday in February. It was hot(again...please remind me never to go there again anytime from October to March)
Here's Ethan and Dh on a ride:

And Ethan and I taking a tour of the park...Ethans wearing Koala ears. lol


Its a great zoo....but you know what it will be missing now? The excitment that comes with wondering if Steve will be there the day you go.

Something too cute not to share.....


Photo Sharing - Upload Video - Video Sharing

7 weeks to go!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Can you believe it??? I bet you probably can. lol 9 months seems like such a long time...especially in the first trimester when all you do is puke and sleep and feel like absolute crap. But yep, 7 measley weeks to go. I can't wait! I've finally done some preparation and have almost packed my hospital bag. The hospital booklet says to have it packed by 34 weeks, which is next week. It seems crazy that i could have my baby in as little as 4 weeks, considering 37 weeks is considered full term. I can't wait to have him out and i can't wait to be able to bend over without any pain......actually i would be happy to be just able to bend over ;)

Dh and i are having a slight dilema. Baby names. As you know we are having a boy. Which is great but we already have a boy so we already used the name we love on him. hmmmm so how do you pick another favourite? Very tough. I'm 30 weeks pregnant so we have had 12 weeks to pick a name and still have 10 week to go. BUT i am having real trouble feeling a bond with this baby. Its weird actually. It feel like it will never happen, like i'm not going to have a baby. I didn't feel like i did when i was pregnant with Ethan. Anyhow i thought that maybe it has a little to do with the fact we haven't named him yet. So last night, we got serious. We wrote down some names we each liked. For the first name we just wanted one we both liked and for the middle name we are using a name from my side of the family and this is what we came up with......please vote which one you like the best!!

Dhs fav first names -

Seamus
Patrick

Dhs fav middle names -

Cyril
Patrick
(yeah you can tell he has thought about this alot, huh? )

My fav first names -

Shamus(just different spelling to dhs)
Nicholas
Erik
Tobias
Silas
Sebastian
Reuben

My fav middle names -

Wentworth
Patrick

I didn't realise it was going to be so hard to choose!!

ahhh blogger how i do loath thee....seriously, whats up with not being able to post pics?? It's really annoying me, so much so that i went looking else where to set up a blog.......anyone know any good FREE places??

I'm feeling cranky today. So its time for another list:

I'm thankful for......

*Rain! We need it desperately and it has rained off and on all week.

*My 'new' couch. We bought a 3 seater and 2 recliners off my sister and bil and it is fab-u-lous.

*Sleeping toddlers. Ethan slept through last night til 8.30am (although he didn't go to sleep until like 11pm) and the night before he slept through til 5am before coming to our bed then going back to sleep until mid morning. Oh and he's finally gone off to sleep now for his day time nap....he seems to be resisting those but i still need them!!!

*Ice cream and cheesecake to eat when i feel cranky

*Warmer weather. I generally love cold weather but this year i'm just not feeling the love. I'm so ready for it to be spring.

*Tax time!!! and the chance to pay off our debt and buy some maternity clothes! YAY!!!!

*My sister for giving Ethan a bag of hand-me-down winter clothes from her 2 boys. She just saved me heaps of money!

*My Dh for calling me from work just to say hi (even though i was cranky at him for calling at naptime)

*The Library - if i didn't have books to read i think i would be going mad. It saves my sanity, seriously.

The good, the bad, the ugly and the funny....

My experiences from the last few days:

The good: I decided to actually make a proper effort in toilet training Ethan and so i got the potty out this morning and he did 4 wees in it!!!

The bad: the 3 really big wees that he didn't do in the potty(he's such a piddle pot, seriously he wee'd 7 times in the space of like 2 hours), getting told i must be having a big baby because my tummy is poking out so much( please tell me i'm not THAT big!), stupid telemarketer that wouldn't take no for an answer so i told him i was going to hang up now and then did.

The ugly: Trying to stop Ethan from throwing around a wee soaked tissue that he put in his potty....and getting it on me. ewwwwwwwwwwwwww

The funny: At Enrichment on Thursday night we were talking about funerals and wills and basically being prepared. We had a Funeral Director come and talk to us about funerals and in the middle of his presentation Ethan stood up on the seat next to me, threw his hands in the air and said(very loudly) "Hooray!!!!" Lucky he's cute. ;)

Isn't Photoshop wonderful! I just took some pics of my big ol' belly to play around with photshop to see what cool things i could do. Please don't laugh if your a professional....this is just me playing around to de-stress!!!

The original:

Now for the cool stuff!:

you know its winter when.......

You get out of bed at 7.45am and its colder in your kitchen then it is in your refrigerator. Yep, that was this morning. The thermometer read 4 degrees celcius and i checked the fridge and its set at 5 degrees. It was a balmy 6 degrees in our living room. We also found this on our windscreen at 8.50am when we went off to church.














Big deal, you may say. Well it is to us considering what part of the country we live in! lol

Randomness

Isn't blogger block horrible. I feel like i've fallen off the blogger world but i will try and get back on. Please fogive me.
But i would like to address the few ideas suggested to me by my loyal fans, aka those who gave me suggestions. lol

Favourite colour - my favourite colour is red. I wrote about it a little while back. But my fav colour used to be purple, then changed it because every one seemed to like purple and i wanted something different so i changed it to a colour that no one i knew liked - red. Thankfully red is a great colour!

First Kiss - This is kinda embarrassing, well embarrassing because its a little sad. lol I had my first kiss when i was 23 years old. Yes, i know, i'm a late bloomer but some things just can't be helped. The first person i kissed is my dh. It was on our second date. Right by a waterfall. I thought it was gross but more pleasant with practice. ;) It was also right after our first kiss that dh told me he loved me.

Baby names - oh boy. This is a toughie. Since we already have a boy its hard because we already picked the one name that we love. So now we have to pick the second best and how does someone do that?! We did narrow it down to either Nicholas or Isaac. But i've gone of Isaac and dh tells me this morning that he's gone off Nicholas.....so i guess now we don't have any names!!!! We are thinking maybe we should just call him '#2' or 'Ethan the second'. What do you think?? ;)

Free time - I seem to have a lot of this in varying degrees. Once my housework is done then i don't have alot to do. I am not involved with any community activities, my ds is not in school so no school commitments. I do spend more time then i should on the computer though lately that has been hampered(good thing too) by my ds who doesn't like me on here unless he is on here too. I introduced him to a kids website that he loves, so unless that is on he hates me being near the computer....which means.....less computer time for me and more time for something else.
I play alot with my ds. Since he has noone else to play with, i'm it! I also love to sew. I am trying to get my quota of maternity clothes up. I love making maternity skirts!! I've made 4 so far and i'm always on the lookout for cheap fabric so i can make some more.
I also love to read and am trying to read more church related material to increase my spirituality.
So at the moment that is what i'm doing with my free time - playing, sewing and reading....oh and computer stuff ;)

So i'm stumped. I have blog block. Nothing of note is coming to mind. I really do lead such a boring life that i'm tempted to make stuff up for the hell of it.
Please, if there is anything you would like to know about me, ask. I will be happy to blog about it......

Battle of the bulge

Heres those belly pics i promised...if blogger loves me today.

5/6 weeks: No i'm not showing...thats my normal belly. yikes!!


11 weeks: Sorry for the dodgey pic.


16 weeks:


20 weeks:


22 weeks and currently the size of a small country.

As i stepped on the scales this morning and my eyes popped at how much weight i have suddenly gained i thought i would blog about it. Since there is nothing else in my life right now that is even remotely interesting- my pregnancy seems the only thing worth talking about...and even thats a stretch.
I am 22 weeks now. Just over half way and offically wanting it to be October already. I don't really enjoy being pregnant but its a means to an end, so to speak. What i really want is the baby at the end and not 9 mths of being sick, sore, hormonal, fat and tired. But since there really is not other way to go about it considering i am able to bare my own children thats just what is going on.
My dh and I started the ttc(trying to concieve) process in May 05. I figured that since our first baby was conceived so quickly(5 weeks after we got married) that this next baby would be just as easy. In the grand scheme of things the time it took was not much but still i was impatient. It took us 7 mths to get 2 of those little pinks lines to appear on the preg test. Unfortunately 8.5 wks into it we lost that baby. I was determined to try again as soon as possible but of course wait a month or so as per the drs orders. I got pregnant again 3 weeks later. Oooops and EEEKKK how did that happen???? Oh well, nevermind. We found out this wonderful thing after i threw up my breaky the morning of ours sons 2nd birthday. We went out and i bought a test and lo and behold, those 2 little pinks lines again.

I was about 5 wks....imagine i was walking around for a week without even knowing i was pregnant!! Any ttcer will know that it just plain wrong! You test before your period is due....and sometimes to really torture yourself, as early as 10 days past ovulation!
But nevertheless i was pregnant. I was shocked. My legs started shaking and i had to sit down. I started crying. My dh just smiled and said he wasn't surprised.
Those first several weeks were not only hard due to my paranoia about having another miscarriage but i spent them puking my guts up and spending alot of time in bed. There really is nothing worse. I'd rather give birth 10 times over then have morning sickness. That lasted until 16 weeks, though here i am at 22wks and still throwing up in the mornings. ick ick ick.

Even though i spent 11 weeks sick as a dog i still only lost 1kg. Whats up with that??? I would have liked to have lost at least 5! If i'm going to be sick i want it to have some benefit. But luckily my weight gaining didn't start until somewhere between 17-20wks(though i was having to wear my fat clothes from 8wks). I have gained a total of 5.5kgs. 2.5 of those have been in the last 2 weeks! I'm pretty happy with that all up though. Could be worse. lol

I've been having all the normal pregnancy complaints. Well not all of them but you know, the muscle pain and trouble bending down. The worst is the hip pain. And surprisingly i'm not as hormonal as i was with my first pregnancy.....my dh might not agree but i'm not crying every 2 seconds like i was then, except for Sunday when i had a mini emotional breakdown at church thanks to my dh.

I was going to post some pics of my belly progress but blogger is being sucky and won't let me :p I'll post them when blogger fixes itself.

A Favourite Childhood Toy

Ahhhh where to start. I had a couple of favourite toys. Of course the ones i really really wanted - like Barbie High Heel shoes and a Pound Puppy, i never got.
But this was my favourite:

My Child - my sister and i got My Child dolls. We came home from school one day and there they were! We were super excited. She named hers Kerrie and i named mine Servine(yeah, i know..WTH!!) Kerrie was blonde and had green eyes and Servine was a brunette with blue eyes. We loved them. They were our babies. We took them shopping. They ate dinner with us. They played outside with us. They went to my mums work with us when we went with her. They wore real nappies(not fake doll ones). Mum made clothes for them. We did their hair. We gave them baths. They were real to us!
I still have Servine. But i feel a little sad. She no longer looks clean and nice. Her lips and cheeks have lost their nice pink colour. Her hair is a little worse for wear(note: doll hair doesn't grow back after you cut it) and it needs a good wash. She now lives in Ethans toy box aswell to add insult to injury. Maybe if i have a little girl i can polish her up some!

Mission....possible

Check out the hair man(and the new Wiggles pjs)!




I seriously cut like 3 inches off it!

Thanks Lei! I've been tagged.....though i think i've done this before.

7 things I want to do before I die:
Go to Paris
Go to the US
Go to Gracelands while in the US
Buy a wedding ring
Get my drivers license
See my children grow up
Buy a house

7 things I cannot do:
Drive a car
Sing well
Eat oysters(ew ew ew)
Remember what my dh said to me when he proposed
Stay upset with my dh for too long
Scrapbook very good
A rubics cube ;)

7 things that attracted me to my spouse:
Since we met in a chat room - his nickname ;) lol
His height
His sense of humour
His beautiful hands
His perfect nose
The fact that he was established ie. had a car and a job and he was an adult ;)
His ability to flirt really well! lol

7 things I say often:
'Ethan!!!!!!!'
'I love you'
'Ready, ready, GO!!!'
'Daddy's home!'
'yes, dear' ;)
'your deluded' - to my dh
'damn'


7 "authors" I Love (changed from books - see why below):
I don't take much notice of the authors when i read books but i do love Maeve Binchey.

7 Movies I Could Watch Over and Over:
Napoleon Dynamite - and i do because for some reason its one of Ethans favourites. lol
Dirty Dancing
The Dish
The Castle
Strictly Ballroom
Pride and Prejudice
Jurassic Park

How to give a 2 year old a haircut.....

1. Get out your instruments of tortue..ahh i mean haircutting.














2. Make sure the child is sitting down.
3. Take 'before' photo:














4. Try again for a better pic. One that is in focus and your child doesn't looked stoned:

5. Give up trying to get a good picture.
6. Spray water on hair and comb.
7. Try and cut hair while 2 year old is moving his head back and forth at random intervals.
8. Figure this is enough hair cut for the moment:

9. Wait a few minutes until your child is distracted by eating rice bubbles to try again.
10. Realise that your child is smarter then you thought because he can eat and protest against getting his hair cut at the same time:


11. Decide that little boys look much cuter with long, shaggy hair.