Witching Hour (s)

Oh 4pm to 8pm what a horrible beast you are. Harper seems to also hate this time. Which kind of sucks because Daisy also isn't at her *ahem* best this time of the night. And it's hard to stop the momentum of the Daisy dinner/bath/bed train to breastfeed constantly. What can I say I am new to all of this and am still learning how it all works. At frankly, at the moment, I suck at this time.

I have managed a small solution.

See that fabric wrapped around me? Harper is in it. It is a legitimate sling. Stylish too. And it works. Well right now it works, soon enough she will be too big for it. But right now? Perfect. She sleeps while I cook dinner, do baths, get dressed for bed and do books and bedtime. Hopefully soon enough she will be happy to join in the fun that is witching hour (s) and won't that be fun!

New favourites

I thought I used to love weekends. But now? I LOVE weekends. LOVE them. With a passion of a thousand burning suns LOVE. I think it's the whole 2 kid thing. By Friday afternoon I am DESPERATE for Rob to come home and be around for 2 whole days. I completely abuse him when he is around - making sure Daisy goes to him for everything, feeding and burping Harper then handing her over to him to settle and get to sleep. Making sure I get sleep ins. The lot. And so far he just takes it on. Thanks Rob you are a star. Honestly.

This weekend was no exception to the above. It was fabulous. I got to rest and Rob got to work! Friday afternoon I looked after 2 of my nieces for my brother and sister in law who were off to a wedding. 4 children I hear you say? Madness? Quattro mum extraordinaire? Yes. Yes and yes. I had 4 girls under 4 in my care for a number of hours. I think I did quite well. I also don't know how people can possibly have more than 2 children. You could say I was more than a little frazzled by the time we got home Friday night.

The rest of the weekend was spent eating. Saturday we had some friends over for dinner which was great. Especially great was seeing the joy a lamb cutlet can bring a 1 year old. They are the ultimate meat lolly pops - I remember Daise being completely taken with the bone for an hour or more. Not sure what is going on with Rob's face in the photo? Perhaps he has gone mad from being overworked? Perhaps...and yes, yes that is a stokke high chair that I was sitting on while eating dinner. What can I say - toddlers and music chairs.

Last night we had a quick dinner at my Mum's place and another late night for Daisy. This morning she looks like she had the biggest bender - my task for the day will be to make sure she gets rest and plenty of it. Last night she got to bed at 9.30pm and was up before 5am this morn...the festive party season has well and truly begun!

ALSO...this week my little sis arrives back from London. I am beyond excited aboout it. Only a few more sleeps to go now. Yipeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Famous!

I got a very funny email from my little sis a few days ago and just had to share. She has been living over in the UK for almost 5 years and gets back (for good) in just a few days time! I am SO excited to have her and her beautiful boyfriend home for good. It will be brilliant.

Anyway, I digress. Anyone who has foxtel (Australian cable TV) and has the Lifestyle Food Channel will know all about Market Kitchen. I love the show and my Mum and Step Dad are particular fans. So Lucy (little sis) and Chris (her chef boyfriend) and Bridget (bestie) went to the taping of the Christmas Special (!) a few days ago. I could retell the email but thought it was so funny the way it was I had to share. Her email reads as follows...

"Well get ready to be proud of us…we took ourselves off to Market Kitchen this morning. They put us in the front row and of course they picked our table to give comments on the food as we are all so ridiculously good looking.

And what did we get to taste??…PORK. With CRACKLE. So what did I say in my comment…How much I love crackle…and the word lovely about oh 5 times. All this with a camera 5 cms from my face. (and probably some pork fat dribbling down my chin)

Chris followed nicely with a comment on how the ginger cut through the fat of the pork (we were both impressed with his comment and ability to remain calm in front of the camera without biting his nails)

Then Bridget (in her gorgeous Chanel glasses which the make up artist loved mind you) made a great comment on the sage and ginger combination.

All in all - we were brilliant. I am surprised they let us leave the building without offering us a job. They kept moving us around the room so we were in full view of the camera (best to avoid having to film the oldies and the horse like women in the audience) so there will be plenty of action of us when we watch it. It is due to be aired in the UK on the 9th of Dec (I think?) so we must tape all episodes to make sure we don't miss our 5 mins of fame.

Wish you could have had a chance to do it when you were here - you would have LOVED it - but we thought of you and you can enjoy watching us there anyway. Now the important part - which one our comments will they show?!?!? I'm sure my retarded 'lovely, oh lovely, lovely' comment will find itself on the cutting room floor!! Only time will tell."

I CANNOT wait to see it - will be sure to let you know when it airs in Australia and if I can get my hands on a clip of it, I will put it up here. Market Kitchen AND pork with crackle? Oh my...

24 sleeps...

....until we get up to the farm for our Christmas break. I am literally (thanks RZ) hanging out for this Christmas break which will be almost 2 weeks in total. We are heading up to Rob's Dads farm up the North Coast which is magnificent. I can't wait to spend many days in a row with Rob. For him to spend many days in a row with his girls. For him to get to know Harper. For Daisy to have some time off going to school. To spend time with Rob's dad and step mum and step grandmother. To breathe in fresh country air. To walk down to the river and fish. To play croquet in the late afternoon sunshine. To celebrate our first Christmas with our newest little lady. To eat fabulous food. To experiment and cook new meals myself. To drink french champagne on New Years Eve. To spend some time with my little sis up there who has been away for almost 5 years. And to swim in THAT pool.

Did I say I can't wait?

One month old

Goodness me Miss Harper Lulu you are 1 month old today!

It feels both like yesterday that you came home, and also like you have been here forever. You are such a good little girl, sleeping at long stretches for your Mumma in the night, eating like a piglet, burping like a champion and then doing it all over again. Doesn't seem like much of a day to your sister, but it's what you need. And love right now. Oh, and let's not forget the pooing. Oh my stars the pooing! There have been many explosions, and when you go, you certainly do not do so like a lady. It's quite embarrassing really. But you do get it out, and that's the main thing.

We have started to get a few smiles here and there, but ALWAYS one for your sister. Each and every time she comes and talks to you, or sings to you, you give her a smile. It is the sweetest thing and just reaffirms to me that the best thing we will ever give your sister is you. You also roll your eyes at her (well not quite literally but I can see if you could do that, you would). And I completely understand, she can sometimes be quite a piece of work.

Your sister completely adores you. She helps me so much with changing nappies and bathing and entertaining you while I rush off to the bathroom (or something equally as glamorous). Sure she has attempted to kick you more than once since you arrived, she is forever attempting to shove a dummy down your throat (which you are SO not interested in) and is always squeezing your arms and legs a little too hard just to see what will happen (which is that you generally smile at her and I generally yell at her). She sings to you, tells you to shush and laughs at you. I am SO glad that you guys have each other. Sisters are the best. I know, I have 2.

Keep growing little buddha. Little nuggey. We can't wait for you to wake up to the world a little more over the next months. Know that we all love you. So much. You perfect little lady.

Maintenance

Why is it that you always seem to have to do everything for the general running of life all at the one time? The last 2 days has seen me being the busiest of bees - getting paperwork done, having men come in and fix bits and pieces around the house, doing shopping, gets cars serviced...I am exhausted (and broke!)

BUT...I do have that lovely old feeling of having got 'stuff done'. Not to mention some newly installed fans keeping me cool, a non-leaking gas connection, a new screen door about to be installed, a car soon to be fixed, a house that has been sprayed for creepy crawlies and cupboards full of food. It does feel good.

Rob has also been super busy and working very hard so I haven't seen much of him. This afternoon he gets to film the cast of the show at the Arias (Australian music awards night thingy) for the show and will be working late (again). It is quite a juggle to get 2 kids organised at night and something I am still getting used to. I think the having to sit and breastfeed while toddler runs around, or wants dinner, or is in the bath at the same time the hardest...am sure it will get easier with practice and no doubts there will be plenty of that for me in the future.

To say I am looking forward to the weekend is an understatement. Bring it on. C'mon. Let's go! And to my friends in the US of A I wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving! See what did I tell you? I am crossing stuff off lists and getting stuff done!

Tell me why...I don't like Mondays

Great song. And oh so true for me these days. I thought that when I wasn't working that I would LOVE Mondays. No work. Lounging about at home. Oh yes, except I didn't think of the whole 2 kids thing in that fantasy.

You know how Tuesdays are known as "cheap arse Tuesday"? Where you get cheap movie tickets? And then Fridays are awesome because they are Friday and the weekend? Well, I am renaming Mondays as "feral, hormonal Daisy Mondays". Because for about the 3rd week in a row I had me a hormonal, feral 2 year old on my hands. I had another repeat performance of NOT talking to me for about 2 hours and just giving me the evil eye because, I, oh you know, EXIST. Then when she decided to start to talk to me again she would only say NO. And loudly scream it at me. And then Harper decided that she wouldn't sleep over 40 mins. All day.

I get it. It was a hot weekend. It's bound to happen at least one day a week. Daisy was tired and cranky (to say the least) and Harper was just plain over tired. It was a looooong day. There will be many more to come I know, but it was a long day.

But then Tuesday came around. Daisy trotted out the door to daycare. Harper slept. And my cleaner came. And now all is right with the world.

Until next Monday that is.

Baby it's hot

Writing about the weather can be a bore and I am sure anyone that lives on the East Coast of Australia over the past week has complained about it already...but...IT WAS HOT this weekend. Yesterday was revolting. 41 degrees (which I think converts to around 106 F) which is about 15 degrees hotter than I would like.

We spent both days mostly inside. In the dark. With fans blaring but still...it was hot. Last night was SO nasty I had to get up and have a cold shower in the middle of the night, and when the cool change eventually came through it was sweet relief.

The next few days are meant to be cooler and showery and I cannot wait for them. I have every window and door open hoping to cool down the double bricks of our little terrace. I have newly purchased ceiling fans ready for the electrician to install today or tomorrow, and I will be chasing up the air con people to get ours fixed. And soon. Ready for the next onslaught. I think it's going to be one long, hot summer.

Cousins

Growing up I was lucky enough to have 16 (!) first cousins. Gotta love how catholics can breed no? Every couple of weekends was spent seeing one or the other family and I am proud to say that I am still good friends with many of them. Family lunches were spent hanging out with the other kids, playing, watching bad 80's horror films in rooms with all the blinds shut, fighting, stealing your uncles ciggies, playing spotlight with a torch, telling ghost stories and laughing. As you got older there were chances to hook up with their friends at 18th's or 21st - the cousin connection was a good thing.

There is nothing quite like the bond you have with other kids that are family. You live different lives, live in different parts of the same city, go to different schools and have different social circles and yet are the same and somehow so different. Your parents being the same (siblings) and yet having different takes on things/values/beliefs which lead to differences between each family. And that's what I think is the very best thing about cousins. The sameness and the differences. Does that make sense? We had some great family holidays together with cousins from both my Dad and Mum's side of the family where it would be chaos - kids everywhere - but we would just have the BEST time because we would all be together, having fun and never having a chance to be bored. It was organised chaos and those are the best memories I have when I think back to my childhood.

I hope my girls feel the same about all their cousins in the future. They already have so much fun when they are together now that I am certain it will be the case. We so enjoy spending time with all our brothers and sisters on both sides of the family that I know they won't have a chance to not have fun together because like it or not, they will be spending time together.

And despite differences in where you grow up, whether it be different states or suburbs some things are just universal. Like the love of dressing up as princesses. Or watching DVD's while the adults eat lunch and sit around and natter for hours at a time. Or sitting around and drawing together, or working on some concerts for the post lunch/dinner adult entertainment.




And to all my cousins (& aunties etc) who read this now. I love youse all.

3

Missy Miss (as Daisy has named her) is 3 weeks old today. I feel both amazed at how quickly time has gone, but also fatigued by the time, how each day is now a 24 hour day split into 3/4 hour feeds that make the day seem sooooo very long. Has it only been 3 weeks? Surely not...

I am finding it hard to look beyond the immediate now. To see that soon enough time will just fly by and I will have this proper babe, and not a newborn. That not long after that I will have a chubba bubba that will laugh and sit up and crawl. I know logically that this will happen, but I think the sleep deprivation makes you feel like THIS will be like THIS forever and I will have to feed for hours at a time FOREVER. Ah tiredness can make things seem so endless...

Having said all that, she really is a great little girl, and we are VERY lucky with how well she has adapted to life on the outside. She is eating and sleeping well and hardly ever cries only if something is really pissing her off (I think her sister was far more fussy at the same age). Yesterday we had a visit from the early childhood nurse at home who came to check she was growing and putting on weight etc. I was SO pleased to see that she had put on 770 grams since we left the hospital (always pleasing to a mother to know her milk is doing some good and that all the middle of the night feeds are doing the right thing). She was on track in every department which was great news, and it proved that things do indeed change, move on, grow. And on a day like yesterday I think I needed to be reminded of that.

Also, yesterday morning, I awoke with the signs of the DREADED mastitis. I thought I was doing so well this time around - the nipples (too much info?!) were in good shape, she was draining each breast with each feed etc but Sunday night she slept for her longest stretch (7.30pm until 2.30am) so I was engorged and in pain. When she didn't really drain it properly at the 2.30am feed I was in agony by 6.30am. I pumped and thought I had nailed it - but alas the dreaded redness appeared a few hours later. I hotfooted it to the GP and got me some antibiotics so I hope I have knocked it on the head once and for all. This whole episode has left me feeling a little BLAH with a side of SIGH as I thought that I was doing so well this time, and somehow it makes me feel a little silly that I have allowed it to happen again - but I know that I should be over it soon enough and there is NO way I am headed to the disaster of a breast abscess that I had last time, so I will just try to suck it up and move on.

Today and tomorrow Daisy is off at daycare (am I allowed to say a very large WOOOO HOOOOO?!!!) so I plan on making the most of the time without her around. I plan on catching up on bad TV, sleeping as much as I can, and making sure this mastitis stays under control.