Warning: Malfunction

I had one of those moments this morning where one small event leads to another and then another and then another.

It all started to unravel while I was in the shower when Samuel (2) hit Ryan (nearly 5) on the head with a broom handle. There was a loud protest but no tears so it wasn’t very hard.  I think it was an accident but I can’t be sure. Emma (9) came to the rescue with a bag of frozen peas to ice the sore head. I was receiving regular updates through the bathroom door, and I was dutifully shouting instructions back at them like this “LEAVE EACH OTHER ALONE! For goodness SAKE!”

So when I was informed that “Sam is stealing the peas!” I shouted back “EMMA! PUT THE PEAS BACK IN THE FREEZER!”

Apparently he got them back out because after my shower I found a kilogram of peas now defrosted and tipped all over the lounge floor, quite evenly spread from one room to the next. They were too soggy to vacuum, so I swept them into a pile. This is some of them:

While this was happening I asked Ryan to get the vacuum cleaner, and he had trouble plugging it in. Ben (7) came to his aid but not before accidentally leaning on the book shelf and tipping it resulting in this:

So when I heard a glass smash on the drive way  just a few moments later, I kind of flipped out.

Because there was a barefoot two year old to consider, I stopped cleaning up the peas to get to the glass, all the while letting rip with sighs, and groans, and the ranting began. “You’ve got to be joking, this is Ridiculous! Just stop it! Stop making messes! All of you! How can you make so much mess in such a short time? I’m sick of cleaning up disasters around here. I just can’t believe you guys!”

Glass done and onto the peas: “I can’t believe this…why didn’t you guys stop him and take the peas away!What the heck is going on around here?” I was quite focussed on my little rant and cleaning up as fast as possible in case something else happened…but I gradually became aware than Emma had placed something down on the carpet and was slowly, with head down leaving the room. Backwards. Strange. Then I saw this:

 I was completely undone and the rant dissolved away into unbridled laughter. I love these kids who are so wise and funny and light hearted. They don’t take life too seriously. Who cares really about peas on the carpet!?

The pages came from this book called M.O.M.  - Mom Operating Manual by Doreen Cronin, that Emma has taken out from the library this week.

The kind of conversations that go on around here

Ryan (3): MUM! Help put my pants on!

Me: You can do it.

Ryan: I can’t do it.

Me: Why did you take them off?

Ryan: Ben took them off.

Ben: He told me to take them off!

Me: Ryan, why did you ask Ben to take your pants off?

Ryan: Mum! Help put my pants on!

I put the pants on Again. I swear he is trying to find things for me to do. (He can do it. I caved and did it for him to bring an end to the insanity.)

Apparently I Rule

It says so on the fridge!

7 Quick Takes Friday

1.

I am seriously considering hiring a home help. I’d really like a live in fairy who is unobtrusive, doesn’t notice when I shout at the kids and can handle me being grumpy from time to time, but we are not really in a position to have someone live with us, and can’t afford to pay them. SO, I’m considering employing someone for 2-4 hours a week to pop in and help with whatever needs to be done. Duties will include babysitting so I can pop out, or general household duties. I’d also like them to do an occasional activity with the children or come with us on an outing as an extra pair of hands. She will be kind of like a nanny, but hopefully will become an extended family member. As we have no family here at all, our kids could really do with an aunty :) (I’m so excited about this….I have someone in mind. Just have to see if it works out)

2.

I’m currently on an emotional roller coaster. Pregnancy is fun isn’t it? I cry a lot lately. It’s getting boring.

3.

We are going on a summer holiday!! Yipee!  I can’t wait. Some lovely friends of our live in the Coromandel and are going away overseas to visit family over Christmas. They have offered us use of their house in this beautiful beautiful part of New Zealand. What a treat. I’m so excited about getting away from the city and resting up before our baby is born.

4.

E7 is doing her end of year Ballet performance this weekend. She’s in two shows. They are doing scenes from The Little Mermaid, and dancing to my favourite song, Under the Sea. So cute. They will be dressed in little blue flowy things and are making up the sea itself with their movements while Ariel and some other mermaids dance with them.

5.

R2 is starting to toilet train himself. I didn’t really think I’d bother until summer really sets in and was going to wait until baby was here, but he’s gone ahead and ditched nappies during the day. We’ve had surprisingly few accidents and it seems to be going along quite well except for the fact that he keeps taking off his pants and peeing outside on the deck, or on the grass. Just like a little puppy he is in more ways than one. Adorable but a lot of work.

6.

I have made myself an awesome budget. I’m so proud of myself and it’s going to be so helpful because I never know where I’m at with spending and whether there is going to be money there when we need it. I have taken my weekly housekeeping budget and divided it up into common expenses (e.g food, clothes, gifts, home ware, entertainment etc.) and projected an amount for each for the year. I’ve also set it up so that if I under spend this week, the surplus is divided across the year as extra money per week. This is very motivating. Conversely, if I over spend for the week, the rest of the weeks for the whole year will reflect that. It’s a great challenge to stay under budget because just small savings per week add up to quite a bit by the end of the year. It is easy to adapt to anyone’s needs so if anyone want a copy let me know…I should be able to upload it for you to download.

7.

The sun is shining. It’s a beautiful blue skied day and not too hot. Off to see the midwife, taking the kiddies with me. Lord give me grace.

7 Quick Takes hosted by Conversion Diary.

Butterflies and Babies

Spring is in the air today and it’s just the weather to get into the garden. We are going to start a butterfly garden because E6 is wanting to learn all about butterflies this term. A friend gave me some Milkweed seeds (which the caterpillars eat) and some wildflowers (which produce nectar for the butterflies) so today we did some planting. No photos yet because I’m too lazy to upload them…

Oh my gosh I an loving the sun today! So glad winter is coming to an end. I really do love warm sunny days and a blue sky always puts me in a good mood.

Baby in utero is doing fine… growing nicely and kicking around from time to time. I am 17 weeks or so along. What’s that…23 weeks to go! Seems like forever and how much can a body morph in 23 weeks? A heck of a lot actually! I’m so glad the morning sickness phase is over. Right now is a lovley pregnant time for me. I’m neither sick nor the size of a house, so the discomforts are kept to a minimum at the moment. Just little annoyances like my being unable to button my jeans so they are always falling down, but not quite ready for the maternity pants. ehehe

The children are still fascinated by the whole pregnant thing and we’ve had interesting discussions about all sorts of things like where my food goes…”Does it go straight into the baby’s tummy mum?’ It was quite cool being able to explain to the all about the placenta and the umbilical cord and the amazingness of foetal circulation! Love it! Fourth time around and I still find the whole thing fascinating!

Loved

My man loves me,

my kiddies love me,

and that is enough for today.

D woke me this morning with toast and coffee.  He does this from time to time so while I appreciated it, I didn’t think much of it. Only later when he said “Happy Mother’s Day” did I realise he was making an extra effort. Never mind that he was a day early! Hee hee! Loved.

Right not he’s taken the kids out because they want to buy me presents. I’m not really fussed if they do or don’t buy me presents, as long as if they do it comes from their heart and not a pressured obligation to do so. Just as they left B4 comes flying out of the car and shouts “I STILL WANT TO COME WITH YOU DAD, BUT I JUST WANT TO GIVE MUM A KISS!!!” He came and gave me a big hug and a kiss and says “I love you so much Mum”. Loved.

This morning E6 woke up not feeling well and came into bed with me while I had my coffee. We chatted and cuddled together and I so enjoyed my time with her. She’s such a treasure and I’m so lucky that she wants to be with me. Loved.

R2 is just 2, so his love is of a different kind. Before they left he gave me a long hug and sat on my lap. Then a high-five! and out the door. Loved.

Thanks God.

Around the World

Carien at She Laughs At the Days tagged me for this around the world meme. I’m supposed to post  5 favourite things about being a mum. Just a few things that have come to mind….there are a thousand wonderful things about being a parent though…

1) Getting to revisit childhood. Love playing with playdough, swinging at the park and reading great picture books.

2) Having a reasonably good excuse for my house never being completely tidy.

3) Something to laugh about every single day. Kids really do love to laugh!

4) Spontaneous expressions of love from my children touch my heart in a way nothing else can.

5) Seeing my kids learn.

Now to tag some people. 4maze in New Zealand because I’ve never tagged her for anything, Monica of Transplanting Me in Thailand, Katie at The Journey in Uganda, because even if she doesn’t participate you should go and check out her blog anyway…she’s amother on a completely different scale!

The throw-upping is all fishened

My little B4 (can’t believe he’s 4!) woke in the night and after taking himself to the toilet lay down on the floor and whimpered to me…”Mummy, I have a sore tummy”. I got him settled back to bed and a few minutes later he called me again “I wanted to say something to you.” I came and he said “Good night Mum. I love you”.

So, I settled myself back to bed and a little later he called and cried. “I think I’m going to throw up”. Awwww…..so I run to get a bowl and yes indeed he did throw up poor little chap. (I was so proud of him for being able to tell me in time to get a bowl and he didn’t throw up all over the bed….)

His Dad heard the retching and came to help, and my sweet little boy looked up at his Dad in between heaves and said all forlorn
“Dad….I’m throw-upping !”

Awww, my heart turns to mush at his sweet, cuteness. How did I get so lucky?

(Why did I found this sweet and cute in the midst of vomit, I have no idea…just never want to remember these moments with little people)

PS. He’s ok now. No more throw-upping. He’s all fishened. That’s another one of B4′s words. Hope I never forget how it sounds when he says it.

Chicken Pox is a nasty horrible little virus

I suppose you’re all really fond of me by now. You know….Absence makes the heart grow fonder..yada yada..

I’m still here…just fell off the blogging wagon for a bit so to speak. All of my kids have recently had chicken pox. I’m not sure if it was better or worse that they didn’t get it all at the same time. It has meant that our quarantine had been longer, and I’m a bit starved for adult company and sick of the walls of this house. But, at least it wasn’t too hard going looking after them. (Except for yesterday)

E5 got it in the first week of the school holidays. Actually the first day of the holidays so that put a swift end to her sleep over and play with lots of friends plans. She had a mild dose and didn’t suffer too badly. She was such a brave girl throughout and tried so hard not to scratch. She did well…and was always a cheerful patient.

B3 got his spots exactly 18 days after his sister. He was also very brave. He was slightly worse than his sister, but still well enough to be up and playing. SO like him, he didn’t want his photo taken, so I had to sneak this.

Oh, but poor poor baby R. 2 weeks after B3, he too got the pox. This is day 2:

This is how we spent most of Thursday…in my arms with teddy. Tears and snot if I dared go to the toilet.

Cheerful moments were few and far between, but we made the most of them.

And yesterday was utterly horrible.

He was not a happy camper. Neither was I. He’d been awake until 2:30 am the night before and again at 6am and after starting his day at 8am didn’t sleep a wink until 4:30pm for about an hour. He was up until 10pm last night. Poor poor baby. So miserable. Lots of crying. I camped out in his room last night. (On The FLOOR! Yes, on the actual floor because I was oh so clever and moved the spare bed to the other room and one of the kids was sleeping on it! It wasn’t too bad really…I did have a pillow and a duvet. When I tried to leave him sleeping to sneak into my bed in the middle of the night, he woke and screamed loudly for me to stay. Grrr….how do they do that!?)

Today is not much better. He’s hopefully (fingers and toes and eyes and arms and legs crossed and holding breath and touching wood) sleeping right now. It’s been quiet in his room for about 5 minutes so far. If he does, I’m off to read a story to the big kids and try to plough my way way through the mess that has accumulated the past 2 days.

Favourite Things

I asked my kids some of their favourite things.

“Hey B3, what’s your favourite…?“

Colour? white

Food? noodles

Drink? Juice

Friend? E5

Toy? train set

Story? Thomas, Thomas and Thomas the train

Dad? Daddy

Mum? Erin

“Hey E5, what’s your favourite…?”

Colour? Rainbow

Food? Pizza

Drink? Coke

Friend? Caleb….and Corban, Annalyse and Katherine

Toy? fairies

Story? Princesses and Fairy Godmothers

Dad? Dad (giggle)

Mum? YOU!

Just a moment in time….love my kiddies.