And it's all over barr the cleaning up!

Like any major celebration, the preparations and planning for Christmas day seem to go on for weeks and then the actual day arrives and departs in what seems like the blink of an eye. I was doing my last minute fruit and vegie shopping on Christmas Eve and I always like to spy on what other shoppers are buying and what behaviours they are exhibiting on the day before Chrissy. It never ceases to amaze me that despite the fact that the shops are shut for only one day, people seem to be overcome with some sort of panic that they may run out of something and will simply not survive without it. I mean afterall, who cannot go a day without pickled herring, or vine leaves soaked in vinegar, or pigs feet in aspic? Never mind that most people would never buy these things as a rule, but come Christmas Eve, it's like they think "well, the shops will be closed tomorrow and I may just need that stuffed sheep intestine in brine to get me through".

As for me, the most exotic thing I attempted to purchase was capers in rock salt, but our local supermarket did not stock these, so I had to settle for capers in vinegar instead. It was for a crust that I made to go on top of some salmon, and I must say, that it was damn delicious.

Christmas day dawned beautifully at our house and because we had some family staying elsewhere, I had to ensure that Tom did not go anywhere near the lounge room, which was by that stage chockers full of presents. We eventually let him loose on the Santa sack, which he thought was just terrific. Biddy also had a decent time of it, pulling things out of her sack, abley helped by daddy.

After the sacks where emptied, we decided that before we opened the rest of the presents, we would let the kids see what was waiting for them outside........

This is Tom's initial reaction............

.............because this is what he saw...................

A swing set and sandpit!!!

Bridie's main present was a little trike that converts from a push stroller to a trike as she grows.

Tom's main present was a big dinosaur that moves and roars (pic to come)

Of course, the day for us is no longer about just Christmas. It is also Bridie's birthday. Mark, Tom and I gave her 2 of those little crystal figurines; a baby's dummy and a small teddy bear. We've decided that each year, we will buy her one to mark her birthday, and it is also something that she can build up a collection of. In amongst all the food that appears at this time of year, I also managed to make a birthday cake and later in the evening when all the extended family was around, we sang 'Happy Birthday'.

As I have said to a number of friends, I simply cannot believe that a year has passed. It seems to have just gone by in the blink of an eye.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRIDGET GRACE!

A change is as good as a holiday...they say!

Just for the Christmas period, I've changed the background of the blog. And don't it look festive??!!

I have been a bit creative today and for the first time in.....I can't think how long.....I managed to do a bit of scrapping. Came together quite quickly, which is good, because I don't have a hellova lot of time at the moment!



The Carols by Candlelight and Santa's workshop that I have been heavily involved in organising, occured on Friday afternoon and evening, and I am pleased to say that with the exception of loosing power at about 3pm (prior to the start, but getting it fixed before everything kicked off), that pretty much things ran smoothly. We were even packed up and home by 11.30pm. After some forecasts of some dodgy weather, we actually ended up with a glorous afternoon which encouraged many families to stick around after seeing Santa, watch the other entertainers we had arranged to perform and also stay for the carols. Because there wasn't much of a break between anything, there wasn't really a chance for people to get bored and leave. My estimate would be that we had inexcess of 2,000 people there - maybe more. There certainly would have been around 1,500 that attended the carols.

On the home front, Bridie cut her 4th tooth the other day and yesterday started crawling properly. Not a lot, but some fairdinkum crawls up on all fours! Just in time for her 1st birthday. Mark and I took both the kids to Geelong for their Santa photos the other day. I thought that Tom was really going to beat his fear of Santa, as he stood patiently in line and watched all the other kids. He even rehearsed to us what he was going to ask Santa for ("a big snapping dinosaur and a doll for Bridgy"), but when it came our turn, he freaked. Again. And so did the little girl.

The photos therefore had to have both Mark and I in them again (I think I now have more photos with Santa as an adult than I ever did as a kid myself!!) and we had to have a number of goes to get at least one where we were all looking at the camera, no kids crying and looking half decent. It wasn't easy! Santa was a real trouper and perhaps due to the fact that we were early and he hadn't been worn out for the day, he was the best Santa I have come across. Seemed to really enjoy meeting the kids and had lots of time for them.

Christmas preparations are about to go into overdrive for me. I have been so focussed on the carols and Santa's workshop, that I haven't really paid too much attention to preparations for the upcoming day. I have been reasonably organised with buying gifts, but I do have some last minute ones to get and I have to 'run the supermarket gauntlet' tomorrow for the grocery items.

Christmas cheer

Ho Ho, Bloody Ho

Found this little number while trying to work out how to change my av on another site. Still haven't worked it out, but think that little Chrissy pics like this are just what I need to get into the festive spirit.

Or what about this one? Fairly apt for this blog I would say!

Getting ready for Christmas

I started taking some Christmas photos yesterday and today. The family ones were taken because we needed something to adorn the front of our family Christmas card. The others were taken just because!

What is it about December?

December is a crazy month for us. Notwithstanding that there is a frenzied approach to the whole festive season and the fact that I become overwhelmed with insane purchasing habits (something that NEVER happens at any other time of the year), it really is a busy month in general.

It starts with the obligatory family Christmas BBQ and just continues on. A quick snapshot of my month looks like this:
1st - daycare, meeting with local paper & start lighting town square with Xmas lights
2nd - continue with Xmas lights & Tom's swimming class
3rd - mum's group meet up, committee meeting in evening
4th - daycare and CFA pre season meeting
5th - travel to Melbourne for obligatory family Xmas BBQ. Stay overnight
6th - family BBQ
7th - travel home. Mum's birthday. Make her dinner
8th - daycare
9th - swimming class. Had a appointment with eye dr which was cancelled
10th - drs appintment for Tom's recurring ear infection
11th - daycare and dentist appointment for me (2 fillings)
12th - Craiglands staff Xmas dinner
13th - family member's 5th birthday party
14th - local CFA brigade's Xmas BBQ
15th - WEDDING ANNIVERSARY!. Also Tom's daycare Xmas concert. Off to Melb for a night with hubby ;)
16th - Travel home and do Xmas shopping on way
17th - a rest day!!!!!
18th - Cockies picnic
19th - Santa's workshop and Carols by Candlelight
20th - clean up house
21st - clean up garden
22nd - food shopping
23rd - nothing scheduled, but you can bet anything, it will not stay free!
24th - more food shopping and reading at Xmas mass. Family coming for Xmas/NYE
25th - Bridie's birthday and Christmas day.

I know that there is more to Dece than just 25 days, but to be honest, by the time we reach the 25th, I really couldn't care less.

As we have family coming for Christmas, I am using them as an excuse to try and get our house into some semblence of order. I seriously doubt that it is going to come off. I secretly would like to think that I could live in one of those houses that you see profiled in Women's Weekly or Vogue. You know the ones, never a thing out of place, no magazines littering the table, no pens cascading out of the too small canister you have them stored in, no drips of butter and jam on the bench from breakfast, no bills, accounts and other mail scattered on the kitchen table, not a speck of dust to be seen, no toys strewn over ever spare inch of floor despite the fact that the person being interviewed has 4 kids. My house will never look like that. EVER. Granted, my house could do with a damn good tidy up and a strict review of the things that are kept, but I am never going to live in the perfect house. And if I were realistic about it, I probably would really want to.

After all, we can never find things after we have a major tidy up!!

1 year old.....almost!

After all the beautiful weather we've had - including days where we have gotten sunburt from some unseasonally hot weather - party day (Saturday) came in terrible. In fact, worse than terrible. The wind completely changed direction and came at us from the south east which meant that the calf shed did little to shield us from the gale force gusts, seeing as it was built to contend with south west winds. But everyone stuck it out, despite complaints about how cold it was, and we had a great time celebrating Bridie's 1st birthday.

For those that have not caught onto the fact, Bridie is not technically 1 year old. In fact, she isn't even technically 11 months old. But the poor little bugger is always going to lose her birthday, so we moved it forward a whole month. And you know, there was no thoughts of her being a Christmas baby. It was simply her day and for all intents and purposes, she was 1 yo.


Me making a speech

The theme was butterflies, and whilst I didn't get any photos of all the decorations, trust me when I say that they looked fabbo. There were heaps of the little blighters stuck around the place, thanks to the Reject Shop and Lincraft!


birthday cake


opening her presents


Animal ark from Aunty Bernie & Uncle Bret


on Dora the Explorer....her present from her godmother Emma

Bridie got some wonderful presents as well, and already we are seeing some sibling rivalry when it comes to playing with them. Of course, in Tom's eyes, they are just a whole mass of new toys that he can play with. Up until now, the vast majority of the toys we have are his and he 'lets' his sister play with them. Particularly the ones he has grown out of. But it isn't sinking in that now Bridie has brand new toys of her own and she has first dibs on them.


My turn! No, it's my turn.

Ahhhh.......the fights over them are starting already!!

Can it get any busier?

This week is a nightmare. The calendar in the kitchen is bulging; I don't have much more room to write on it. I am reduced to writing so small on some days, that I can barely read it. The fact that I tend to write an essay about each event doesn't help either!

Indulge me by letting me start this week with last weekend. We took our cow to the Noorat show. She did really well. She came 2nd in her class again, and also came 7th out of about 17 for interbreed which I was extremely happy with. She was much more relaxed and walked around the arena like a pro. The only hiccup came when the ribbon she won fluttered in her face and she had a mild panic attack. This time, I led her and whilst my arms are still feeling the effects of holding her head up, she made me proud.

The big downside of the show was that she developed mastitis. It is one of the biggest risks you run with taking cows to a show. The problem lies in the fact that you are asking the cow to keep more milk in her udder than she normally would (24hrs against 12 - 14hrs). Even though she coped well at Colac, the extra milk that she made for us for Noorat just tipped the scales. We got onto it straight away and she'll be fine. In fact, she is looking good now.

Monday morning saw us being judged in the Hico Colac Otway On Farm Challenge. This happened at 5.45am and I can assure you, that I did NOT get up for it. I sorted the cows out for drafting; I left Mark to actually host the judges!

Today we had classifiers from Holstein Australia come and classify about 50 odd 2 year old and 10 or so 3 year old cows. I am very pleased to report that we ended up with the majority of them scoring Good Plus or Very Good. The Luckystrike cow that we took to the show classified at VG85. Wonderful stuff.

Swimming was also on this morning....Tom finally relaxed enough to lie on his back in the pool and trust that I was not going to let him go. His skills base in the water has improved dramatically and as a swimmer myself, it makes me very happy to see his confidence level in the pool rising almost on a lesson by lesson basis.

This afternoon, we had a group of Chinese delegates visit the farm. This group was made up mainly of industry reps - those that are involved in the processing side of milk and milk products in China, including the packaging. It is a challenge to host this group (which we do on a yearly basis) because almost none of them speak English, and seeing as we do not speak any dialects of Chinese, we rely 100% on a translater. I feel sorry for him sometimes.

Mark is in Sydney today and tomorrow....gets home at some ungodly hour tomorrow night. He is on the review panel for the Future Dairy programme which is run out of Camden, NSW.

Tomorrow I am off to Warrnambool with the kids to get some party decorations for Bridie's birthday which is on Saturday. Man, this has come around fast. I know that she is really only just coming up 11 months, not 1 year, but I feel this tugging at my heartstrings that the year has blown by too fast and she is now leaving babyhood and entering the mighty toddler phase. Tomorrow afternoon, I have to race back home as I need to finish the BAS for the ATO and get it submitted before we cop a fine. Gulp! Tomorrow night I am attending the presentation dinner for the On Farm Challenge. This time last year, we scooped a number of awards and I missed the whole thing. I was laid up in hospital, heavily pregnant with the beginnings of pre-eclampsia!

Bridie @ 10 months

Thursday is daycare (yay!) and Bridie has to go to the maternal health nurse for her monthly weigh. Fingers crossed she's packed on some pud these last 4 weeks. Keep in mind that at the previous weigh in, she had only put on 10 grams. Shopping later on for food for the party. Thursday night we have a dinner with our silage contractors.......

Phew...are you still with me??

Friday I have a friend coming for morning tea, a doctors visit for Tom as he in complaining about a painful ear (again) and then we have relatives coming to stay for the weekend. We received a phone call today from one of our semen companies asking whether we will submit some progeny test cows for classification.....I had to laugh, because if we had of known earlier, we could have done them this morning with the others. So they need to be pulled out of the herd and classified Friday afternoon.

Saturday is PARTY DAY! At this point I cannot foresee how it is all going to come together, but it will.....I have enough experience in hosting parties to know that it does all work out in the end, depsite me having a bit of a meltdown in the meantime.

And on Sunday, she looked around, saw that it was all good and decided to REST!

Another tooth!

Bridie cut another tooth - her third - today. It is the top left front one and I only found it because she has discovered the joy of grinding her teeth!! Yuk.

I am busy trying to get her 1st birthday invites finished and in the mail. Being a Christmas Day baby, she is always going to suffer with "loosing' her birthday. So to counter this, we have decided to bring her birthday party forward a whole month and this year, we will be celebrating her 1st birthday on November 22nd. I figured that I had oodles of time to prepare, but it has really snuck up on me and now that the show is over, I realised with horror that it is only 2 and a bit weeks away. Gotta get these invites out or no-one will be coming!

Done and dusted...for 2 weeks at least!

In what seems like the blink of an eye, the Colac show is over for another year and our cows have enjoyed yet another outing. I have to admit to feeling rather flat at our results....but coming off winning the Grand Champion, Best Udder (interbreed) and a mirade of other places and awards last year, I guess that unless you can match it, there will tend to be this deflated feeling.

Our battle to find a 'show' cow started way back last year when our big Luckystrike cow failed to get into calf depsite being joined numerous times. This was the cow that we flushed back in August (see previous posts on that). She really is a standout cow and it is such a shame that we couldn't get her back into calf in order to have her in peak milk to take to the show this year. As a 5 yo, she would really have hit her straps and have given many of the cows there a run for their money.

So a few months ago, the search really became frantic when we were short of a older cow for our team line up. We ended up settling on another Luckystrike cow - a junior 3yo - with fantastic udder texture, but still displaying similar faults that many Luckystrike cows have. But she halter broke well and whilst she didn't walk with her head up for me in practice, she performed pretty well for Carl on show day. Her udder truelly was a great sight, however we struck trouble even on Friday night when she stopped drinking for us. She didn't end up taking a drink until about 7am the following morning. The big problem with this, is that if cows don't drink, then they don't make milk, and if they don't make milk, then their udders don't fill out. If their udders don't fill out properly, then they are really in an uphill battle once they step into the show ring.

As the day wore on, she became more settled and ended up drinking well for us. But it came too late for her class. She came 2nd in her class and got 2nd best udder, but I really believe she had the capacity to come 1st. In the overall Holstein class, she improved dramatically and came 4th out of 14 for best udder, and got an honorable mention in the interbreed section for udders.

We will take her to Noorat show in 2 weeks time and hopefully, now she has got some experience under her belt, she will do a lot better. Plus, different judge, different day and a possible change of cows up against her may do something in our favour as well.

The calf and 2yo we took both came 'DFL' (dead ****** last!). I have made the decision that unless we get an absolute cracker of a calf, and one that is born as early as possible in the year, I am not going to bust my britches over getting calves ready. Although, that being said, the calves take less work than the cows and are really not that big an imposition. But still, the halter breaking, the leading, the washing, the clipping.....it does add up. And when our calves are lined up against others......they are just so small. I think you need to be calving in January/February to have something that is going to make the grade in November.

The 2yo we took - a Starsky cow - really only came along because she was already halter broken (she's been to the show every year we have been) and with the exception of washing and clipping, doesn't require any training. However, I am not the one who clips her and now she is becoming a big cow, the time it takes to clip her is rather wasted given that she doesn't really display 'dairyness'. She is a strong cow and is prone to putting too much fat on. On her own, she looks good, but up against the other cows, it is obvious that she is outclassed. She will be another that will probably not make the grade in future.

So some very mixed feelings for me. I guess I also feel guilty for not selecting better cows for Carl to work with. Carl travels a long way to help us out, gives of his time unselfishly, and I feel that in return, I should make sure that the expense of his time is worthwhile. This year, I feel I failed him.

With luck and good management, we might be able to bring our original Luckystrike girl back from the brink and put her back on the circut. But she is going to require a hell of a lot of work and TLC to do that. Time is already marching on for her and if she is still not pregnant, we may be close to missing the boat again next year for her.

But, the upside of the show was that the 3yo Luckystrike (3111) did display some great characteristics and quite possibly next year she will be more of a force to be reckoned with. For the meantime, we are going to take her to Noorat show on the 15th November. This is the first time we will enter a show other than Colac and it will also be the first show I will attend without Carl by my side (and leading the cows). I have to admit to being a tad apprehensive about it and a wee bit nervous. The show circut is a close knit community and I feel very much like a rank outsider. Despite living 4+ hours from here, Carl is very well known amongst the show people in Colac and surrounds and vice versa all due to being involved in it for many many years. When Carl and I step through the doors of the cow shed, people seem to literally descend on him, falling over themselves to talk to him and get his opinion on things. I feel very fortunate and privileged to have him in my corner!

Carl Moon & Craiglands Luckystrike 3111

During the interbreed judging for best udder

On the family front, there has been success and accidents with toilet training. Since starting TTing, Tom has been in undies all day except for arvo nap and nighttime sleep. Mostly he stays dry, but that is largely due to my prompting to go to the toilet. But the #2's have been the issue. On Saturday when I was at the show with the cows, mum was at home minding the kids. At one point in the morning, Tom appears with potty in hand proudly announcing to mum that he has done a poo and now he gets a present! (something I had promised him if he pooed in the toilet). Of course, he had to ring me on my phone, but I was busy so it went to message bank. As a reward, I took him back to the show with me and bought him a show bag and took him for a ride on the ferris wheel.

Mark is currently up in Queensland playing baseball in the Pan Pacific games (which also incorporates the Masters for baseball this year). The team he is playing in is badged "The Braves" (same as Colac), but it is made up of blokes from Colac, Geelong and Bacchus Marsh. From the latest update I have, they have played 2 games and so far won both. They are intending to update the Colac braves website with photos and other stuff from Queensland.

It's coming around fast!

It hit me like a train today. This time next week, we will have the cows in at the show. Bloody hell. I feel a tad out of control with it all...I have a feeling deep down that something isn't done, that I should be better prepared. But everything seems to be coming along nicely. Let's hope it stays that way.

I got a phone call today from Carl Moon - who is the guy from northern Victoria who basically gets the cows looking 100%+ for the show - who tells me that he is judging the Warrnambool show this weekend. Seeing as he is in the neighbourhood, he is going to call in and check out the girls a few days early. This is such good news, because if I have to do anything to get them better prepared, I may be able to squeeze it all in. Carl will be back down our way next Thursday to start clipping cows.

Maybe I'm feeling a bit apprehensive about the show because Mark is not going to be there with us. He is taking off to Queensland next Friday to play baseball in the Australian Masters. He will be gone for about 11 days. And so, just so he doesn't miss out on the experience of taking a cow to the show, I entered the 3yo (Craiglands Luckystrike 3111) in the Noorat show as well!!! Yeah, I'm sure it was words of thanks he was mummbling under his breath. LOL.

As far as what's going on here, we are in full swing of silage making. A number of paddocks have been mown and tedder raked, ready for final raking for the contractors to come in and pick it all up and put it into the silage stacks. It is a very demanding and tense time for everyone here....stuff it up at this point and future fodder for the summer period is potentially ruined. As I write this (at about 11.45pm), Mark is still out on the tractor raking paddocks, trying to work the evening moisture into the grass that got a bit dry over the day today. The forecast is for some hot days ahead of us (up to 30 c) so I reckon everyone is going to be on tenterhooks for a while.

Family-wise, I took Bridie to the maternal health nurse on Thursday for a weigh. After last month's good weight gain, she has again slipped back and has not gained very much at all. She is once again teetering close to falling off the bottom of the growth charts. In the past month she only put on 10 grams, and at almost 10 months weighs 7.1kg. But she eats like a horse (much more that Tom does), is healthy, happy and alert. I admit that I started to get concerned the last time she went through a period of slow weight gain, but we know that she can put on the weight, so I think it is more of a metabolism thing. She is possibly going to be one of those lucky girls that can eat anything and not put on weight. Obviously, she does not get this from my side!

Rex is having some teething issues fitting into our family. LITERALLY. The damn dog chews anything and everything. Must be a terrier thing. The other day it did a poo (!) and there were remenants of a peg in there. Honestly. Tom is very rough with the pup and Rex is very rough back. I have reservations about how this relationship is going to progress.....both are as bad as one another and I'm not really sure who is the worst influence.

On a positive note, Tom has begun toilet training in earnest. Since Thursday, he has been wearing undies for the majority of the time and been going to the potty. This has always been at my prompting, but tonight, in the midst of playing with a friend and Rex, he stopped, ran over to Mark and said he needed to wee. Progress. Today we also had the first poo-in-the-pants episode. I'm pleased to say, that instead of sitting around in them (like he would a nappy), he took himself into his bedroom, climbed up on the change table, took off his trackypants and poo laden undies and then yelled for me to come and fix it up!

Now some of you may balk, wince or even dry retch at the thought of this, but for those of you out there (especially mums) that have gone through the whole toilet training saga, I'm sure you'll agree with me that whilst it really is one of the more disgusting aspects of parenting, these things do make you happy in your heart because you realise that your kids are growing up and developing.

But may I say....I can't wait for it to be over!

And our thoughts turn to.......

barbequeing!!!

Yes, that's right. It's BBQ season. Actually, we BBQ most of the year round, but during spring and summer, we cook a hell of a lot on the hotplate. Our BBQ also has a spit attachment so there is also rotisseire beef, pork and chooks to be had in addition to the usual fare. Yesterday was the first real hot day of the spring season (got to about 31 C) so the notion of cooking meat outside, eating salads and drinking a couple of cold ones just got too much for me! Ahhhhhhh, I love it. And this time of year is perfect, because the flies haven't managed to breed up too much yet. In another month or so, we won't be able to get out the back door for fear of being bombarded by enormous blowflies. The damn flies are constantly going while the sun is up and then when they decide enough is enough, the rotten mozzies start up! Argghhhhhhhh. It's enough to drive you to drink. And it usually does.

So, whilst we have this period of nice weather and low bug numbers, I am going to sit on the verandah, let the kid and dog tear up the garden and enjoy a glass or two of wine while watching hubby tackle the traditional role of BBQ cooker.

Bliss.

Introducing Weraireds Craiglands Rex

He's here! And ain't he just soooooooo cute? We've been getting reports about his progress over the past couple of weeks from the stud owner and also the vet, whom we both use, and both have told us how much of a big boofer Rex is. Apparently he turned out to be the most aggressive of the litter and would only let the other pups eat after he was finished. I was imaging that he was going to be ENORMOUS but really, he is soooooo small. I guess my perspective of animal sizes is a little different seeing as our "babies" (the calves) are so much bigger.

Tom has been waiting for Rex to arrive and actually started to get a bit teary about the fact he wasn't with us yet. 4 weeks is a long time to wait for a 3yo, which was the last time Tom saw him. He was the one that eventually named the dog Rex (oh, ok.....I 'helped' a bit) and with his slight lisp, it sounds quite funny coming out of Tom's mouth.

But he is here now, tearing up the place and battling the overgrown lawn. He is initially allowed to sleep in the laundry until he is a bit older and has acclimatised to the outside a bit more (he has lived all his life in a laundry so far), but I am keen to get him outdoors 100% of the time. And after last night, when he whimpered most of the night, my resolve is now set in cemet!



He is going to be really good for Tom. Tom has never been much of an animal kid, which is strange considering how many we have around here. The most affection he has shown to any of them was our duck (RIP duck). I thought that he was a bit apprehensive about the dogs because our other two (Tottie and Blue, both kelpie X) are quite big in comparison to Tom's size. But even with little dogs - and particuarly those that rush at you - he is VERY wary. And of course, Rex is just so excitable and leaps about. But over the past 24 hours, Tom has started to warm to the pup. So much so, that he has to be supervised lest he loves it to death.

A day of mixed emotions

Yesterday I attended the funeral of our young friend. Yes, of course it was very sad, and it was extremely hard to see that tiny coffin. However, nothing can change the fact that he is no longer with us, and I guess that whilst we must allow oursleves to grieve over the tragic loss of someone so young, we must also move on and be grateful that he came into our lives.

As I mentioned on another website recently, because of Tom's age, he will not remember all of this upset. Beyond the first few swimming lessons when he will no doubt ask where Rueben is, I doubt very much whether he will even give it all another thought. But I will. And I will try to use the whole experience to make me a better person....a better mum. At times, I am too quick to chastise Tom, I sometimes forget that he is in fact only 3yo and cannot be expected to remember everything I say and all the rules we impose. If I've learnt anything from Rueben's death, it is that life is so very precious and it really can be taken away in an instant.

So I am going to enjoy my kids. Be more accepting of their faults. Sure, I'm not going to let them run rings around me and rest assured, there will be a measure of discipline in our house, but I am going to get off his back a bit more. I'm positive that there will come a time in his life when I will find myself chastising him on a regular basis (ie teenage years)........I don't need to be doing it now.

On a brighter note, this week we were judged in the Semex-Holstein Australia on farm challenge. This is where you nominate a number of cows to be judged based on conformation and other physical traits. We submitted 2 cows per class (2yo, 3yo, 4yo, 5yo & mature class). One of our 3yo cows - Craiglands Luckystrike 3111 - came third in her class. This is a great acheivement as the 2 and 3yo classes were very competitive.

When we selected her, and then on the day of judging, she was looking to be a standout cow - one that we would potentially be able to take to the show. This made me inwardly groan as she is a predominately white cow. Lordy.....the washing that is in front of me!!!

Craiglands Luckystrike 3111

A huge thanks goes to Mike Huth of BOS Trading who spent a couple of days with us selecting cows for the on farm challenge. The bugger of it all (for him), is that it was an ABS cow that got up on the day, rather than a BOS one!! We'll see how we go in the Colac on farm challenge in a few weeks time with a BOS PT daughter!

Also this week, Bridie had another trip to the maternal & child health nurse for a weighing. Again, she has put on weight - 210gms - which is great. She now weighs a whopping (not) 7.1kg at 9 months of age. LOL. Yes, she is going to be a petite little thing.

Tragedy and heartbreak

It is with an extremely heavy heart and great sadness that I write this post. Yesterday we received some terrible news - news that no parent wants to get.

A young friend of Thomas' - a kid in our swimming class - died on Saturday afternoon. And it was in the most tragic of circumstances. His mum put him down for a nap in the afternoon and instead of going to sleep, he got himself into a chest that was being used as a toy box in his room. The lid closed and he couldn't get out. He suffocated. He was 3.5yo.

I am trying my best not to think about it, but as a mother of a similar aged boy, it is damn hard not to. I look at Thomas and I just want to hold him close. I have to say, that my sharp tongue retorts towards him and my often short fuse have been held in check over the past 24 hours.

Tom and Rueben spent almost every Tuesday morning together for more than the past 2 years, initially getting used to the water and in latter months, enjoying the beginnings of actual swimming. I have watched this little boy develop from a baby into an active toddler, and I simply cannot fathom that he will no longer be there.

I cannot imagine what the family must be going through and my most deepest sympathies go to his mum and dad and their extended families.

RIP Rueben and may the angels always watch out for you and keep you in their care.

I am now off to hug my kids and tell them how much I love them. Once again, I am reminded of how precious life is.

The milestones continue

At just over 8.5 months of age, Bridie has decided to roll over from back to front! This means that assertion of her independance has been taken to another level and my life with her has changed once again. In the next few days, I imagine that she will become more and more proficient at rolling around and no longer will she remain where I place her. Of course, the frustration that she has encountered in recent months will also largely alleviate as she is able to move herself to where she wants to go, so that is a good thing in my books. And the other benefit is that she will be more mobile to escape her brother who still finds her the ideal target of his often rough affections!

Colac, Colac hear us roar.......

Colac Braves - B Grade Premiers 2008

After a nailbiting and at times sloppy game, the Colac Braves pulled off the clincher of the season by winning the baseball grand final 13 runs to 12 against Ballarat Mounties on Saturday. At the bottom of the 1st dig, the score was 6 to 4 (Ballarat's way)...amazing score seeing as some of the games throughout the season didn't total that much in NINE innings!!! The Braves trailed the whole game and then deep in the 7th innings, when down by 1 run, they managed to bring it all together and score 2 runs to take the lead. I am also happy to say that it was Mark who crossed the plate to take them to the lead.

Unfortunately the seconds did not have such a great outing and they lost their grand final game by 1 run against Corio (11 runs to 10), so there are mixed feelings at the club about the weekend.

Mark however, had a fabulous weekend. Not only did his side win the grand final, but he was also presented with life membership for the Colac Braves. He has been playing with the Braves since their inception and prior to that, with the Colac Demons (which merged with Colac Tigers to become the Braves). This year he also enjoyed his 300th game with the Braves (more games played if you count the Demons' games), so this capped off a great season for him. He didn't however, fair too well on the injury count for the weekend. A bad back due to being cleaned up at home plate while attempting to tag a player out, a badly bruised knee and a large purple/black bruise on his side courtesy of some dodgy pitching, and the usual miriad of scrapes and cuts that go with playing baseball. But to be honest, he doesn't really feel them. He is still just so happy.

Colac Braves' newest life member

"Colac, Colac hear us roar

Colac, Colac watch us
score

We love our women

And we love our beer

Colac, Colac. It's our
year!"

Teething...

Bridie has cut her first tooth. Another milestone. This of course makes breastfeeding become all that more interesting. Sort of like playing with a jack-in-the-box. You know how the blasted toy pops up and scares the hell out of you even though you are half expecting it? Well I think breastfeeding a teething baby is akin to that. You know that at some point that baby is just itching to try out those new teeth and like that damn jack-in-the-box, it always manages to scare the bejeesuz out of you! Oh, and it also hurts.


The new tooth...look closely!

We have hit a stumbling block with the little Miss when it comes to her weight gain though. For a couple of months now, she has only been putting on meagre amounts, and this past month, she has only put on 190gms. This now means she has just about dropped off the bottom of those growth charts. At 8 months old, she only weighs 6.5kg. This is simply unbelievable as she eats like a horse (more than Tom) and has yet to knock back any food. She is already onto lumpy food. We are returning in 2 weeks time, instead of the usual month, to keep a close eye on her weight gain.

Runnin' ragged

A few of us baseball wives decided last week to take our kids to an indoor playground in Geelong in an attempt to run the bejesus out of them! The boys weren't playing baseball today (was supposed to be tomorrow but the other team subsequently pulled out), so it was an ideal opportunity for us to all spend time as families. The playground was called Run M Ragged and I don't know who gets more worn out; the kids or the adults.

The play equipment

Apart from the obvious - the fabbo playground equipment - two things rated very highly in my books. One, the entry cost is only based on kids that are walking - adults & babies are free! A real turn up for the books. Our entry cost was $8.50 (for Thomas) and we spent 4 hours there. And two, the admission fee is for all day. So if you have to leave and want to come back, then you don't pay again to get back in. Wonderful. Truly refreshing to see such value for money. And let me assure you, it really is good value for money. The kids go crazy with delight once they get in there and apart from the occasional crashing into other kids, there is very little that can be the cause of their undoing. In fact, the only tears you may experience all day are the ones that are shed when you are attempting to get the child out of the buidling and into the car. We did.

Mark & Tom

Hannah, Richelle, Mark & Tom ready to descend

At first, Tom needed Daddy's support to get his courage up, but after a couple of goes, there was no turning back for him. I reckon he went up and down that slide about 50 times!

Almost airborne!

High in the sky

On the jumping castle

There is a seperate area for babies and toddlers, not because they are not allowed on the bigger equipment, but more to keep bigger kids out of an area designed for just them. But Tom and his friends Hannah and Kyle, were just as happy (maybe even moreso) to mix it with the bigger kids and the really big kids (aka their dads) on the slides, jumping castle and obsticle course. Even Bridie took a turn at going down the big slide, courtesy of her godfather.

Bridie playing in toddler area

Bridie & Mooka going down the big slide


Tom & Alfie in the toddler area

If you have kids that like mine, just never seem to run out of batteries and you haven't been to one of these playgrounds, I suggest that you drop everything and get to one. Now! Whilst I cannot say that the battle to get them out of there will be easy, the ensuing peace for the rest of the day and evening is truly something to behold.

If it doesn't rain.....

After months of not going anywhere, not doing anything out of the ordinary, seeing the same old faces day in day out, doing the same old thing.....all of a sudden our social calendar is simply bursting! And quite frankly, I am overjoyed by it!

It started with my trip to Sydney to attend the scrapbooking retreat. To paraphrase (and apologies to) Paul Keating, this weekend away was the break I needed to have. I think the whole migraine episode and the subsequent long recovery after it was due in part to simply being overstretched. I was trying to do too much in the small amount of time allocated to me in a day. Starting my days at 4.15am to feed demanding calves and not finishing my days until around midnight was truly attempting to burn the candle at both ends. The weekend was fantastic and I really enjoyed catching up with the ladies that I had befriended last year and meeting new ones this time round. And I also managed to do more work this time too! This layout in particular I quiet like. Having the opportunity to see firsthand other people's work helped me identify and categorise my own work. I would have to say that I definately fit into the "clean and simple" box. My work tends to focus on the photo rather the embellishments and whilst this example doesn't have much journalling, as a rule, I do tend to favour a bit of text on the page. Mind you, this beautiful photo of me at 38+ weeks pregnant with Bridie taken by the ever talented Wal Slow really helps to create a lovely layout.

The following Friday night Mark and I went to Melbourne to watch Melbourne Storm thump Sydney Roosters at Olympic Park. Mark was given 2 tickets to the match which included entry into the Robbie Kearn's Jim Beam Lounge (thankyou Lachie & Bec). Free food and drinks and a fantastic view of the game. Of course, with all that free grog, we simply had to make a night of it and we stayed in Melbourne. Mark was playing baseball the following day, so we hightailed it back to Colac so he could play, but I also had to take Tom to a little friend's 3rd birthday party. The rushing about didn't stop there either as we had a surprise 50th the attend to that night.

This weekend we are off to one of those indoor kids adventure playgrounds with some of the other baseball families, and then the following weekend we are headed back to Melbourne to watch Emma do her deb. Three weeks after that we are back down to Melbourne again to celebrate Bernadette's 50th birthday (which also happens to be medieval themed...sooooo looking forward to that!!). I will scarcely have a moment to draw breath! Before I know it, we'll be celebrating Bridie's first birthday!!

It must also be the season for babies. A friend of mine had a baby boy earlier in the week, another had her 4th baby - her 4th girl! - yesterday and my good friend Lou has just informed me that she is expected #3 early next year!

And on the subject of new life, we have committed to purchasing a puppy. In a first for both Mark and myself, we will be actually spending money on acquiring a pet. In the past, we have both relied on the fact that there are a plethora of animals out there that need a good home and the vast majority of them are being given away. But, as much as it goes against my grain to purchase a dog, I have to admit that it is all quite exciting. Our vet, Mike, has a family tradition of owning Australian terriers. They only have one at a time, and as each one is replaced, the successor is given the same name as those that have come before it. "Tiny". I don't know which version they are up to (maybe v.5??). But we have had the good fortune to see this particular breed in a variety of circumstances and they really are a good temperament dog with kids, whilst at the same time, having a bit of guts about them. I am not a small dog person, but I think that this dog is going to fit very well into life here at Craiglands.

The pups (2 bitches; 2 dogs) were born while I was away in Sydney, and on our way to the rugby, Mark and I called in to see them and possibly decide on which one we would have. Apparently, the pure red ones are rarer, but there was only one black and red one in the litter and I thought that this one was a bit "spesh" so we have decided on taking that one. It is also a dog, which is good. Because they are from a stud and are pure bred, they all get papers. We get to provide a couple of the names for it's papers. Oh Lord...I have a hard enough time trying to name some of the cows, let alone now having to do it for a damn dog! 'Werireds' is the name of the dog stud, and we figure that it should have 'Craiglands' in there somewhere as well. Now we just have to decide on a third name for the papers. Maybe something to do with the Olympics????????

'Thelma' with her brood

Our little man...fits snugly into Mark's hand!