Looking good

So I'm all primped and painted, tanned and lovely. Caterina the spray tan girl came around last night and gave Carrie and I a lightly toasted look. It was my first ever spray tan, and I am very happy with it. If only I could come up with an excuse to get it done every week!

I went to bed looking like I had rolled around in the dirt with the boys, and, of course, Austin gave me a few wake up calls through the night. He ended up with his head smushed against my boob, lying in the crook of my arm, for quite some time as we both fell asleep. When we got up this morning, I first noticed that my arm had a big patch of tan missing. Then I looked at his arm...


Then I looked at his face...




Does he remind you of anyone?

I think he looks just like Homer Simpson with his muzzle! Who knows what the photos of him are going to look like tomorrow, lucky his gorgeousness will outshine any strange looking brown patches he might still have!

Power of Pork

Bowen rushed in while I was making lunches for preschool tomorrow, declaring with all the drama that a four year old can muster, that he was "bleeding!"

"What did you do, babe?" I enquired.

"I trod on a stick. I need some cold ham."

Umm, OK. That's not too strange a request considering I was making ham and cheese sandwiches. What was strange was where he put the requested ham...right on his sore foot!

"Would you prefer an ice pack on that Bowie?"

"No, this will do."

Ri-ight.

The ham went with him outside, back in to the kitchen, pressed against his bandaid. Up at the table he sat, the ham gently resting under his foot on the footrest of his Stokke chair.

"Are you going to eat that ham now Bowen?"

"Nope, I'm not finished with it yet!"

Ahh, the healing powers of pork products!

Note: For the record, he didn't eat the ham! He graciously left it on the chair for me to throw out. That's my boy.

Musical Beds

Now that my boys have their own little 'manland' upstairs, containing their bedrooms and very own bathroom (which I still have to clean, so somehow not everyone won with that little arrangement!), every night seems to involve some kind of musical beds.

Riordan changes his mind every sleep. Top bunk, bottom bunk, back to the top. I just ask him now as our pre-bedtime routine. Bowen sometimes enjoys a sleepover in Riordan's room, when he's not luxuriating in his queen size bed, replete with Crusty Demons doona cover. (He's such a man about sleeping in it too. When I sleep in a big bed by myself, I stay on the edge, neatly tucked beneath the blankets. I barely have to make it. When Darren, or either of the boys, sleep in a bed it's straight to the middle, covers pushed to the side or bunched up in the centre, with everything looking like a bomb has hit it in the morning). Just to complicate things further, when Bowen had his extended sleep over at Big Nan's the other week, Riordan slept in his bed!

I'm hoping one day that Austin and Riordan will want to share a room, and that we can turn the 4th bedroom into a study, or storeroom. It's smaller than the others, with no built-in, and I just know that who ever has to sleep in there will think they have the short end of the stick!

We get the house raised back up and stabilised tomorrow, which means that I can start planning the decorating of the boys rooms. I'm thinking really bright citrus colours. I'm not sure about the trim, we have stained timber, but I'm not sure if I want to keep it or not. I change my mind every day. I definitely want new doors (and have to sort that out before I resign from work, *wink wink*) and new carpart, and new built-ins. I'm quite excited about the project, perhaps not the painting itself, but the finished products!

The Aftermath

Preschool went really well. Riordan had a great day, chatted lots to the parents dropping kids off and to the teachers, played lots (apparently "you can tell he's got an older brother"!) and generally fit right in. I was expecting him to dissolve into a puddle of tears when I picked him up, as Bowen used to do no matter how good of a day he had had, but Riordy didn't want to leave! He was very content playing in the tub of rice and weird, grainy looking blue stuff. Which he promptly spilled on the floor in his eagerness to show us.

I had wanted to do some groceries before I picked up my boy, as doing most things with only two little men is usually much easier, especially when one is strapped to my chest. Bowen just really, really wanted to see his little brother, so we grabbed him first. Big mistake. The crying that would have been the result of saying no to Bowie would have been much easier to cope with. They ran riot. The combination of over-tiredness (Riord wouldn't have a sleep at school, the only low point of his day), excitement in seeing his brother and the amazing acoustics (to a two year old) of the shopping centre resulted in them running wild, in a way that they normally never do. I was pretty embarrassed, all the reverse psychology in the world didn't work, and all my efforts to contain them were hampered by Austin hanging, albeit serenely, off my chest! We eventually bought the two essential things that I came in for, and got the flock out of there.

Things didn't improve at home. Riordan was past the point of tiredness that lets you sits quietly; he was manic. The fights and dramas eventually culminated in him weeing, yes, weeing, on the doors that lead downstairs. I hit the roof, took him upstairs for a bath, and gave him one more chance to behave (because I am really a sucker for his long-lashed eyes). He quietly sat on the lounge, watching some drivel on the TV just to calm down. Things got very quiet, and I went for a peep to discover this...




He was absolutely exhausted, and it was only 5.45pm! That's what a big day of playing will do to you. I just left him, knowing that he would probably not surface again. He did stir, and came and sat on my lap for another sook. He flopped to the floor in a huff, got very quiet again and this is how he ended up.

Hmm, love that big stain on the carpet. It's dishwashing liquid, that Riordan helpfully poured all over it. You wouldn't think that something that cleans would stain, would you?

He went to bed for good after that, and didn't surface again until 8 this morning.

Now we get to do it all again next Wednesday!

Another one bites the dust

Riordan is spending his first day at Harold Wheen Preschool. I tried to take a photo to remember this day forever, and to embarrass him when he's older, but he was feeling, umm, 'mischievous'. Bowen, on the other hand, was happy to comply.

I finally managed to ambush Riordan and snap a pic, I'm afraid this is the best I could do!

Riordan was quite happy to go into school, he looked around and started playing a Thomas puzzle. We also saw a couple of kids he used to go to swimming lessons with, so there was a bit of familiarity for him.

Bowen and I went to leave, and that's when things went a little pear-shaped. I said good bye, and he said, "Coming". Ah, sorry babe, this is it for you today! He didn't want to he consoled, but I couldn't hear any screaming from behind the door, so I assume things went OK. I might ring and see how he settled...

So, he's fine. Forgotten all about his mum.

My sister is getting married in a fortnight, and her hen's night was on Saturday. It was pink themed, and while I love the colour pink (the more boys I give birth to the girlier I get) I really wanted to wear my blue dress. I have these hot shoes that I just got and I really wanted to show them off. I kept to the spirit of things and wore a pink top, my skinny jeans and my hot, hot shoes. ( I am trying to post a pic of my shoes but it won't work!!!!!) You'll have to imagine them, very high, very black, a few little studs. Mouth watering.

I rocked up to my fellow bridesmaid's house, Darren in tow (for the bucks night), only to find NO ONE in pink! Just me! Even Carrie was wearing black.

The night was fun, not hugely eventful. We went for dinner, then to Panthers and the whole night I just thought, "Gee, I'm glad I'm not single." I have no idea how I would meet someone today. Probably the same way I met Daz, through a friend of a friend, but there would be no way I would be trawling through nightclubs. I just felt soooo ooooold. Carrie had more than a few squashes while she was out, I was a good girl as I knew Austin was waiting at home for me to feed him at sometime, probably multiple times, through the night.

Darren got home at about 1.30, after catching a taxi from the city. He and the boys had been to a strip club, and quite enjoyed themselves, from all reports! The less I hear about it the better...

A Sense of Relief?

The strangest sensation has come over me today. I was contentedly folding nappies this morning, when I realised that the insatiable urge I once had to try and create a girl child has finally left me! I am totally satisfied with my little XY's, and if a fourth baby was to ever choose to join us, I would probably prefer a boy!

It has been niggling at me for some time now, feelings of jealousy when I see mixed sex families (that's a weird label Sam!), and irritation when people ask if I am 'going back for a girl'. But now, totally gone. I will happily live out my life indulging in my love of all things pink by buying lovely birthday presents for little girl friends, and lots of girly stuff for myself.

Scratching the itch

I'm such a sucker. I've been really slack at following all my favourite blogs, but I just went and had a sneaky peak Averil's and all it made me want to do is write in my own...

I've gone out and gotten myself a job, bizaarely enough. I have no intention of going back to my old work. I'm afraid the doors will have to count themselves in the future. I've enrolled in my conveyancing course, and it starts at the end of the month. I'm a bit nervous about it, and how I'm going to fit it all in. My new job (although I hardly think it could be called that!) is working at game days at CUA stadium, home ground of the Penrith Panthers. I was just looking for something that would get me out and earning some 'flash cash' to put towards all the renovations we want to do around here, and 'Merchandise Attendent' seemed to fit the bill. It's only every fortnight or so, so it's not like every weekend is going to be consumed with work, and quite a few of the games are at night, so there isn't any need to rely on anyone else for childcare.

I also think I've found Riordan a preschool to attend one day a week. The boys are a little like twins at the moment, neither of them knows a life without the other, and miss each other desperately when they aren't together. We started Playgym last week, which my little man took to straight away, but I really think that he needs the chance to interact with other kids without Mummy or Bowen around. I'll have a look around tomorrow and if I like the looks of it I'll pick up an application form.

Toilet training is coming along so well. Today Riordy had his first poo accident for days. He's pulling down his own pants when he wants to go, and then pulls them right back up again! I still remind him if it's been a while, and I think I'll be doing that for some time yet, but something in his brain jus clicked over the past week or so. Even though he's been able to wee when he wants for months and months, before Austin was even born, it's like he's only just started to recognise when he needs to go.

Austin has passed the seven month mark. He's started to crawl, if you could call it that. He does all his baby yoga, plenty of downward dog action and some squats, but the way he actually propels himself forward is so different to his brothers. They both started going backwards first, then gradually, at around 8 months, started properly cross-crawling. Austin kind of throws himself forwards. Imagine a frog, swimming in a creek. Their arms stretch forwards, and their legs come up behind them, kind of in a breaststroke. Replace the frog with a soft, gooey little boy and the creek with some pretty tragic carpet (which I obviously didn't pick) and you might get the idea. It's hilarious, and I've taken plenty of video of it.

Bowen must have needed some alone time last week. The stresses of being an older brother obviously had gotten to him. Thursdays are the boy's usual sleep over night at Nanny's. Friday nights usually see one of them stay over, and this week it was Riordan who desperately wanted to be home with Mummy. Bowen usually can't stay away from me for much longer, so I was expecting him home all day Saturday, but no, he wanted to stay at Big Nanny's still. Even Sunday, when he should have been pining for Mummy, he chose to go grocery shopping with Mum and Nan over coming home! Even then he was asking if Mum was going to work the next day (his little code for asking to stay over) and acting all disappointed when Mum said she was! I have to admit, I felt a little put out that he didn't want to be at home, but I can understand how nice it would have been to have all the attention aimed squarely at him. Maybe I should ask for a sleep over this Thursday...