Almost 2 and all about Mikey

Since Master Mikey is about to turn 2 I decided that this post would be dedicated to him and share some random facts about him as I did when it was master 5 birthday.

Mikey's daddy chose his name when I was about 4 months pregnant and we both fell in love with it. From then on we refered to him as Michael when he was born the name fit him perfectly.

Michael has had 1 hair cut in his entire 2 years, he has the most amazing loong blond curly hair and we intend to keep growing it...and yes I do get told what a pretty little girl I have but we don't mind.

He was by far the easiest and shortest labour and delivery I have had (3 hours from start to finish)

I found out I was pregnant with Mikey whilst at Hillsong ( A christian conference my old church attends in Sydney) We were so excited that by then end of the day about 100 people knew.. all before our families!

Mikey's latest trick is to look very cute and hum when he is in trouble, I am not sure what made him start doing this but it is very funny and as soon as I say his name if I am correcting him or if he goes into our office which he knows he isn't allowed in he will hum when he sees me and looks very innocent, it is very hard to be cross when he does this, and I think he has worked this out.

Michael is VERY affectionate and protective of his little sister, we were all worried he would be very jealous of her given there is only 12 months between them but he loves her to bits and pats her like a dog saying "my bubba"

He loves the night garden...I do not,

Mikey has pooped more times in the bath then the 3 other children put together...seriously he does it like once a fortnight and it is really gross and then he cries "yuck yuck" well don't poop in the bath then!!!!

Mikey loves to draw and we need to be very careful about leaving anything he can draw with lying about as he will draw on the walls, t.v or carpet, currently our lounge room wall has black texta all over it mixed with red pencil and some eyeliner pencil,..nice job buddy.

He is very much an out doors boy and will spend hours playing outside with his toy car, or in the cubby house both of which are very much loves of his life. He also enjoys the parks nearby and as we walk or drive past one he will shout out "go play go play" it is adorable.

Michael gave us a huge scare when he was a couple weeks old, he was diagnosed with have low muscle tone,it took a long time for him to be strong enough to gain weight and strengthen up but as of his 12 month check in with his paediatrician he has developed normal muscle tone and is a strong healthy boy.

Michael has the sweetest most easy going personality out of all 4 of our children, he would be the most relaxed. He is incredibly loved by his family and extended family friends. Mikey has a great giggle, gives wonderful hugs and is a huge blessing to our family.

Little man as you head toward your 2nd birthday know that you are loved, your family adore you for the wonderful unique and special little boy you are. I thank God for your presence in my life,darling son you are loved.

Lovely Bugs is born.

Ever since I got my sewing machine a couple years ago friends and strangers have commented to me about things I make especially the toys and blankets I have made for the babies, I often get told you should start a business or you should sell those,...so after much encouragement from my husband and friends "LOVELY BUGS" handmade toys and goods has been born. This is the name I have chosen to use for my goodies as you all know I love ladybugs things. I have been thinking of diving in and doing this for a while but wanted to have some stock ready to go.
Now this may totally turn out to be a wasted venture and completely suck but I figure you never know till you try and I love being creative and making things so this will give me the opportunity to do so, and if it fails well you'll all be getting hand made gifts for your birthdays and your children's birthdays. My motivation for doing this is not money, anyone who knows me well will already know this. I simply love to sew and create things and this is giving me motivation and a positive and productive outlet to do so.

My kids and I are totally hooked on taggies..(blankets, balls and toys with ribbons on them) and I have made a variety of these in different colours and sizes. I also make children's tutu's, crinkle toys (toys that make that lovely scrunchy noise baby's love so much) and very cute head bands. Library bags and toiletry bags, loofa's and wheat (heat) bags in different sizes and colours for males and females. I am currently working on a facebook page for Lovely bugs should be up and running tomorrow at some point the page will have more photo's and information. So check it out if you wanna.

Megan says: Oh you're just a SAHM? I don't think so!

Most of you have seen the name Meegs or Megan on my blog she is my best buddy and a love of my life, yesterday she wrote and posted a very inspiring piece of writing on FB given Meegs doesn't blog (yet) I decided to high jack her writing and post it here. It is really an awesome piece and I felt it must be shared with others. It expresses Meegs thoughts and views on being a stay at home mum, a role that is incredibly important, so here it is enjoy and be inspired!!

Oh you're just a SAHM? I don't think so!

Recently i have felt that my "status" in society has been questioned. I know I know, here goes another stay at home mum having a rant about how people think less of her! But seriously SAHM does not stand for Stay at home Moron!
Why do some people think that because i choose to stay at home, and am very blessed to be in the situation that its a choice, that my brain has gone AWOL and I have no idea what is happening in the "real" world?
Why do they think that I can't hold a decent conversation without reverting to baby talk?
Why can I not have a valid opinion on a topic?
Why do they think that my life revolves only around my children and cooking and cleaning.


Yes, my children are my focus literally 24 hrs a day. But working mum's focus on their children 24 hrs a day too. Usually they are working to provide for their children. I am not saying that I am any better or worse than working mums. I myself have been a working mum and its bloody hard!

But just because I stay at home I still think and choose and try to better myself and broaden my horizons so to speak!

And here's a statement that is very hard to admit too sometimes. I like being a SAHM! Shock horror, i said it! Not because I'm lazy, definitely not, but because I like being able to take my kids to school, pick them up, help with homework, do reading at school and be with my toddler all day.
I have the choice to do that and i relish that!


Here's something else that's a bit shocking to some, i breastfeed my toddler! How very hippy of me! And I enjoy it, its our special time together 1st thing in the morning and just before bed. Just him and I, relaxing together, one on one. If you think there is no benefit to it for him or me so be it. I don't really care! If you don't agree, okay, your choice. if you don't like me for it, that's okay too! I'll just grow my own people, cos i can do that! LOL

I like my husband being the head of my home! I don't want that responsibility thank you very much! We discuss everything together and make our decisions together but if there was to be a title as such, he can have it!

However my kids aren't the only thing I have in my life. I have family that I love dearly and like to spend time with. I have AMAZING friends in my life, some with kids, some without, some married, some single, some old, some young. I am friends with people who work , stay at home, have religious beliefs, are atheists, are gay and straight. I don't care what you do or don't do, I don't judge you, that's not my place, if i like you its for you!


My integrity has been questioned recently too. Through this trying time I have realised a few things that have been a long time coming.
I AM a decent person
I AM forgiving
I AM a good friend/ daughter/ granddaughter/
I am strong enough to stand up for what i believe in! WOOHOO!
I can admit when i was wrong and am willing to listen to others opinions on matters that are important to them or me.
I am not faultless and I am not intending to sound that way. I am after all only human! But I am willing to admit my mistakes.



Anyway, that is my vent for today!
If you have read this, thank you for taking the time to do so!

Peter's first day at "big school" 2010

Peter had his first day of big school last week. He started on Thursday and unfortunately it was not a great start. He began the morning very excited all happy smiles ready to go to preps and meet some new friends and see his teacher Miss H again. Daddy drove Mummy Peter and the two bubba's up to the school dropping us of at the front car park with 10 minutes till bell time having previously been told that the prep grades would be starting at 9am along with the rest of the grades. As it turned out there was some miss-communication between staff and admin and school for preps didn't actually start till 9:30am, this messed with us a bit because mummy had the babies to contend with as well as an emotional 5 year old for the next half an hour.
We passed the time with a wonder rounds the playground and a couple of rice crackers I had stashed in the pram (thank god!!) Finally the big moment arrived ,the classroom door opened and out stepped a complete stranger!!!! Peter looked at me and I back at him as we listened to an announcement saying Miss H was not well and unable to be at school today...as you can imagine this did not go down well with the parents or students and Peter built up his tantrum from a level 5 to a full blown level 10!!!! Once I got him inside the classroom and we had his bag and hat on its hook I got him seated on the mat with the other children and with the help of the teachers aid I managed to de-tangle myself from him and leave him crying, yes I felt like a crappy mother but I also knew that within 2 minutes of my leaving he would of stopped and settled a lot better then if I had stayed there..(which is exactly what happened) As I walked the short distance home I asked God to watch over my boy and to help me be calm. It began to rain just as we reached the house and continued to do so for most of the day. I felt very sad for the preppies who had been looking forward to starting school with their teacher ready for a big adventure and the teacher was away and now it was raining spoiling any chance of outside play for them. When I picked my very tired boy up at the end of the day he was excited to tell me about what he had done and handed me his newsletters like a very grown up boy *sigh* gone was my baby and replaced was a big boy who had bravely taken his first steps towards the very long years of schooling ahead. I was very proud of him.
This afternoon as we prepare for the school week ahead packing lunch boxes and ironing uniforms I am really hoping and praying for a much better start to the school week for Peter and all the other preps in his grade. Thankfully Miss H will be back on Monday and I know Peter is very excited to see her again. Thanks to all on Facebook for your good wishes for Peter he really like being read out your messages.

Having it all..so over rated!!

After having an in depth conversation with my bestie Meegs about our roles as wives and woman I came to the conclusion that as a woman I really don't want to "have it all." Now I realise this particular blog entry may get the feminists up in arms and that's okay discussion is healthy as long as it stays friendly :-) My personal opinion is that this modern version of aggressive womanhood has not really done a whole lot help the advancement of woman, we still have to work harder then a man to achieve the same kind of status or perks in the work place.. because as woman we are still seen as the weaker sex and need to prove ourselves worthy of the same position as a male the burning of bra's certainly didn't change that all it did was make our boobs hang low. Now I am not by any means an expert on any sort of feminism culture or history so please don't start slinging mud at me or my blog this is just my opinion, thoughts and feeling you don't have to agree. But I kinda feel like some aspects of the feminist movement have made things a little harder on woman, the demands of a stay at home mother are incredibly tough in this role mothers are: teachers, care givers, comforters, cooks, cleaners, gardeners, entertainment providers, makers of craft activities etc etc we shape and mold the life and minds of our children..who are adults in the making this is a huge responsibility, and in my opinion one that is not given enough validation or recognition. However this is seen by many as not enough and that a career outside the home is also required to make our role as woman complete. So we strive so hard to have it all.

Having it all is an expression I have heard used a lot in lots of different contexts. As woman we seem to think we can "have it all" the career, the kids, run a home as well as social commitments. Well I don't want to have it all at least not the worldly view or ideals of what having it all entails. I watch my Darling husband struggle to spread his time equally with a demanding job, 4 children, a wife, social commitments and church obligations and it is not easy. Not all commitments are able to be honored and someone or something often misses out. I want to be the type of mother who makes promises to her children and keeps them not having to change their schedule around as other things arise which seem to take importance over their needs. No career path, job offer or social commitment will ever come before the needs of my children and husband. I want to be the type of friend who doesn't cancel on her buddies because of "work" and I want to be the type of Christian who can come before God with an open heart and a clear mind not all weighed down with more responsibility and "stuff" in my life that I don't need to complete me as a woman.

Sure as a working mum we can out source the house work and ironing have a cleaning person come do the house chores and hire a nanny or stick the children in childcare if we choose to go to work but then that's cheating in my books we really aren't having it all, we are paying people to have it for us. I don't believe children who are in childcare full time receive the love, attention or benefits that children who are at home with their parent/s do, and if the government got off their arses and realised how much work actually goes into raising children and made some sort of financial contribution to household incomes then perhaps more mums who want to stay home but are not able to due to loss of income could do so. When I had my eldest child there was no option for me I was a single mum and had to work to support my child so she was put into childcare full time and I worked spending little time with her in the mornings as we prepared for the work day and evenings we were both tired and it was dinner, bath and bed. Malinda turned out to have a hearing problem and developmental delays but these went unnoticed by a busy and tired working mum and childcare centre staff not equipped at detecting such things.

Call me old fashioned or even stupid but I still want my husband to open the door for me, to defend me in a fight, help me kill spiders when they come any where near me, and treat me like a princess. That's not to say I don't have opinions on things and I am certainly not backwards in coming forwards to express those ( as you can see) but I also have no problem submitting to the authority God has placed on my husbands shoulders as a man, leader and head of our house, NO I am NOT a doormat but a supportive partner. David and I partner in our married life parenting our tribe as a team, however the running of the house is my responsibility just as the role of financial provider for our family is David's. While I want and need my husbands support in my various undertakings I don't want him to be a doormat either, support is one thing but I want my man to be a man. I am not interested in having a partner who has no back bone and no opinions of his own. Belittling, swearing at or gossiping salaciously about our men doesn't make us stronger woman, I think it makes you weaker, is disrespectful and low class. Working things out as a team however and maintaining a healthy respect for each others contributions to the marriage/relationship and loving our similarities and differences I feel is a more reasonable approach to married life.

I am happy and content spending my days breastfeeding my daughter, singing songs and doing craft with my children, giving the house a tidy through (some days better then others) and making yummy meals for us as a family at the end of the day.These are the things that fulfill me as a woman and are my version of having it all. Yes I like some quiet me time and sometimes the hours till bedtime get counted down from about 10am but it is certainly not the end of the world if I don't always get that time on my own or if the kids refuse to go to bed when I think they should... however it would be the end of the world if I had to miss out on watching the loves of my life grow and develop into awesome young people and then adults for the sake of a career that someone else thought I should have.

School holiday fun...who needs money!!

So school holidays have officially ended with term 1 starting up tomorrow. Usually I am very happy to see the end of the holidays with 6 weeks on my own with 4 children it is usually a difficult time in trying to keep them all entertained and happy. In the past I have dragged them round all over then place in an attempt to keep the masses happy... children's shows, the movies, shopping trips, special lunches and dvd hiring, not much time had been spent really playing at home or at a park as this is seen as boring. But this year with the expense of Christmas for 4 children plus 3 family birthdays in January and the returning of school for one child and the starting of school for another our cash resources have been a little light and so trips out and about have not happened much these school holidays.
Now here's the kicker...the children actually didn't mind it!!! I am left pondering if my shelling out loads of cash in the past to keep them tribe happy on holidays was a big waste of money hhmmmm.

This year we have had some great family fun just hanging out at home. Spending very minimal amounts of money yet the children have had a blast. One afternoon was spent blowing soap bubbles which was awesome. It was amazing to hear the shrieks and giggles as the 2 older children blew bubbles and Mikey (almost 2) ran around trying to catch them ( also eat them and pop them) I was very surprised at how long they actually spent doing this as in the past outside activity's usually lose their appeal within 5 minutes, but this went on for nearly 2 hours.

We have had several visits to Ballam park and also to our local parks, we are very fortunate as where we live there are 3 different parks all with about 5 to 7 minutes walk from our house. On one of our Ballam park trips we met up with Megan and her 3 boys for a play and some morning tea. It was an awesome morning not to hot and as usual the children all got on beautifully. After the park my 4 cherubs and I walked up to Karingal Hub and we were treated to a free Ninja Turtles concert/show which was a huge hit with the 2 boys but not so popular with Malinda who is 10 and so NOT into Ninja Turtles.

We have also been a bit more social in our hosting skills and have had several friends around for morning tea and of course playing!! One morning was spent with Jo and her 3 little ladies Molly, Lucy and Ruby. Peter and Molly are betrothed and very in love so they always relish time spent together. This visit started out as a morning tea catch up be we ended up eating hot chippies in the park and having an awesome time on the swings and sea saws near our place it was a wonderful day.

We have spent time with my gorgeous Goddaughter Iris who I got to babysit one day...this is a rare treat as Miss Iris is usually very attached to her mummy so I felt honoured that she was so excited about coming to have a play for the day at my house. She enjoyed spending time with my children, lunch, trying out Mikey's cot and also a bubble bath at the end of the day, I really loved having her for the day.
So apart from park trips the kids have enjoyed using up a bucket of chalk on the driveway..now this can get a little aggro as Mikey loves to scribble and draw anywhere...including over the "awesome designs" of the 5 and 10 year old so directing him away from their art work and into a space for his own was a bit tricky and in the end the older 2 children realised it n unreachable goal to shoo him away and allowed their work to be enhanced by Mikey's creativity. Again this was a very cheap activity and one that the kiddies did every couple of days with great joy and enthusiasm.... our driveway remains covered in chalked up hopscotches and the beautiful creations my cherubs came up with. (Just a tid bit...watching my very uncoordinated 5 year old try and hopscotch was a highlight of my day..it was hilarious but I kept the giggles in, in an attempt to continue to encourage him to be active and not glued to the t.v) As you can see the children got on really well together had lots of fun playing/drawing with the chalk. It really warmed my heart to watch them all play together at home and actually enjoy and want to spend time together...for those of you who have kids we all know that some times this isn't the case especially with Malinda who likes lots of personal space..and Peter likes to right up in that space can often be a source of friction.

We also celebrated Peter's 5th birthday whilst on school holidays and he enjoyed a visit from his buddy Seth and my bestie Meegs, Nanny L dropped in and we had cake when Hubby got home from work. Again we were fairly low key with this some time at home and a homemade chocolate cake. Malinda and Peter spent the morning drawing together and having birthday cuddles it was awesome and very touching to again see them getting on so well. Malinda and Peter also enjoyed having sleep overs at Uncle Adam and Aunty Pam's place (my big brother and his wife) spending time with their cousins and also had their cousins sleep over at our house. Which makes for crowded, loud delicious fun!! Over all I would have to say this has been the best school holidays yet and whilst I am very excited for my 2 eldest cherubs to be starting school this week I will miss them loads.

My 31st and best birthday ever!!!

I have to say that this has probably been one of if not the most memorable birthday I have had in ages. A huge part of the thanks goes to my best friends Megan and Sue who kicked off my birthday celebrations a couple days before the actual day with a surprise ambush to the beauty salon where I was treated to a massage, facial, manicure and pedicure,...it was awesome!!!

Saturday night I decided to have a few friends around for some Chinese food and of course a selection of vampire movies to watch. We decided to dress up for the occasion given that we are all vampire addicts some dressed in goth and others got right into the mood complete with fake blood and fangs!!

The best dressed on the night had to be Sue who put on a black wig covered herself in bite marks and blood and came as a fang banger from the True Blood book and t.v series, she looked freaking awesome!! 2nd place went to Kat who looked absolutely sensational in her Goth get up, Kat you are so gorgeous girl!

It was a fantastic night complete with "blood" drinking...which was really vodka and raspberry..but in the spirit of fun and make believe....

We all enjoyed a fantastic Chinese meal (which hubby shouted for us) and I had also made some red and chocolate cupcakes for after the meal which were super yummy if I do say so myself.

All in all I would have to say I had a fantastic night I got some fabulous presents including The lovely bones book and lots of Lindt chocolate which is my favorite. The girls insisted on singing happy birthday to me (how embarrassing) and then it was Twilight time. Followed by an episode of True blood for the 2 remaining die hard vampire fans hehehe.

Since we were still partying at Midnight and the clocked had ticked over to my official birthday Hubby thought I could have one of my birthday presents which was the first season of The Big Bang Theory on DVD SO COOL!!!

The night was heaps and heaps of fun, filled with lots of laughter, friendship, chocolate and vampires.I could not of asked for a better birthday present then being able to spend time with my good friends stuffing our faces and watching vampire movies. Thanks heaps to Megan, Sue, Sarah, Kat and Sascha, you all helped to make my 31st birthday special and loads of fun I will never forget it. Also a big thanks to hubby who footed the bill for the evening and helped with the preparation and clean up, I love you.

Sunday morning I was treated to brunch at Vada cafe with David and the kids some more pressies from the family and a visit to my mum's who had baked a sensationally yummy cake for me... a work of art really and I am so bummed I didn't have my camera but it was a huge choc banana cake covered in fresh cream chopped banana's and crushed flake bad for the diet YES but oh so yummy!!! Thanks mum. I have completed the day with some wondering through the shops and some family time at home. Thank you again to everyone for your birthday messages,calls and sms and for helping to make this the best birthday ever, I feel loved, blessed and very spoilt.