Much to Mark's horror.........

........Biddy is increasingly becoming a horsey girl! Ha ha ha. Whilst I wouldn't say that Mark is anti horses, he certainly can live without them in his life. So to have a daughter that seems to speak, breathe and live horses (even whilst not actually owning one), is just wrong in his books!

Fortunately for us, Mark's sister Libby does own horses and amongst them, a pony that is small enough for Biddy to ride (and add to that, it is lucky she lives almost next door). Back in May, we all went to Lib's place for afternoon tea on Mothers Day. Most of the little kids got a quick ride on the pony. Biddy spoke of nothing else for about a month. About 2 weeks ago, she again started banging on about riding the horse at Libby's, so I arranged a ride for her.

This may be the start of all things horsey for us.....but doesn't she look so pleased with herself? Brings joy to my heart!

The small things

I am feeling a bit happy today and it is all to do with a lump of wood. Yes, you read that right. Wood. Well, I think it's wood. Wood veneer at least. It is my new desk that actually is not really new.

Medium length version of the story is; when Mark renovated this house many years ago, a very small office was created off the front entranceway. Over the years, and with me now on the scene, it has become the office for EVERYTHING....studies, CFA, farm bookwork, entertainment and most recently, my Graceful Impressions office. We moved the farm stuff to another new office 2 years ago now, but the small alcove I have now taken ownership of, never got an overhaul. Old filing cabinets full of stuff we never use, an old student desk with drawers of stuff that haven't seen the light of day in YEARS, more technological equipment than a Dick Smith store trying to vie for room on the desk with my craft stuff......it just wasn't working.

About 12 months ago, I bit the bullet and bought a new desk with a return. 12 MONTHS AGO. I finally got fed up waiting for Mark to put it into the office, so mum and I cleaned it all out 2 weeks ago, stacking everything in the entranceway. As expected, Mark got sick of maneuvering around said stacks and decided he would put my desk together today. I don't think he realised just how long it would take him, but it is done now.

It is a very tight fit, but everything does fit nicely. In fact, there is little space for flies, dirt and small offcuts of paper to accumulate under furniture which will be refreshing! So now I just have to bring everything from the entranceway back to the office and find a nice spot for it.

As the title of the blog says, small things.........!!

In just 6 short months.....

Mark and I took Tom (and the girls) to St Mary's primary school in Colac for a walk through today. We put in an application a few weeks back for Tom to start prep and received a phone call last week informing us that he had been accepted into their prep class next year. Neither Mark nor I had actually been to the school, so before officially accepting the offer, we decided to have a visit and see the surrounds, the kids that are there and meet some of the teachers. It was really to get an overall impression and to see if it "felt" right for us and our family. Because let's face it...we have the girls to go through as well in a few years time.

I was so impressed with the school. St Mary's is a small school - only about 230 students all up - but it is big enough that the kids get to experience a range of opportunities. Like many schools here in Colac, St Mary's has recently benefited from a building stimulus package and is now sporting a new multipurpose room, library and grade 5/6 rooms.

The feel of the place fits in with our own family's values. It is nice to have something certain for Tom's (and Biddy's and Bella's) foreseeable future in the education sector. But oh my Lord.....off to school!!!! This has all just come around so fast. One minute he was a baby, the next we are discussing schools. This is the first step towards independence, towards not needing me all the time and it is scary as hell (for me!). And between you and me, I think a few tears will be shed over it all!

So.....look out St Mary's, here we come!

Thankyou

In this day and age, many congratulations are expressed "virtually" - that is, I mean that you tend to receive 'happy birthday', 'condolences' and 'congratulations' via the web, email or text messaging.

When we welcomed Bella into our lives, we received well wishes from many people in just these ways. Of course, we also received the "old fashioned" cards as well, which are great because you can hold onto these and cherish them in years to come.

For those that sent cards, we sent them this "thankyou" card. For those of you that sent well wishes via the internet, this is loaded on here for you. Thanks!

In Good Hands

It has been so long since I have been able to sit down and do a scrapbook layout. I was fortunate (and privileged) to be asked to run a class for some customers of mine this weekend at Port Fairy. These gals escaped to a seaside villa to do a spot of creating for the entire weekend. I took some stuff to scrap as well, along with what I was teaching them, but after all the yakking I did, I only got this one layout done. But it is a start and the first I have done for little Bella.

This picture was taken the other night right before she was to have a bath. I wanted to capture the size of Mark's hands in relation to her entire size. It is not the most perfect of photos, but I love it. I printed it out on some canvas paper that I bought at Aldi (of all places) ages ago, and it made the whole thing look quite "arty" in real life!

Five weeks!

How can it already be 5 weeks since little Bella joined us? Here are some more updated pics of the little girl. Little is kinda the operative word, because although she was the heaviest one born of the three kids, she is rapidly becoming the lightest as the weeks pass. I don't think that it is that she is not putting weight on, rather the other two piled it on quickly. Mind you, to look at them today, they are both lightweights compared to others of the same age. Tom was weighed last week and is just 18kg and Biddy was weighed 2 weeks ago and she is 12.8kg.

This is Bella having her very first shower. We have introduced all our kids to the shower from a very early age (around 4 weeks) and we have found that we have never had a problem with them getting under the water as the years go on. I myself, was terrified of the shower right up until I was about 2+ when my aunty (unknowingly) put me in the shower and I held my breath till I almost passed out!

This shot was taken outside Colac Area Health right after we went for a newborn hearing screening. Unfortunately, the machine broke down just before we got there, so it turned out to be a non event, but Bella was so settled and comfy in her capsule, I couldn't resist taking a few snaps of her in the carpark!

Asleep after a hard day! Actually, asleep after awake time of almost 2 hours (which is a long time for her!). It is difficult to sleep when big brother and sister insist on wanting holds and giving continual kisses.

News on other children; Tom and Bid are on the up and up as far as the throat infections go. In fact, you'd never know anything was wrong with either of them. Tom had a follow up session to a speech pathologist today (first one was last week) which came about due to some pre-screening at kinder back in April. Turns out, his results show he is in the upper level of the normal range. So this means his often poor concentration span and borderline listening skills are just that; not concentrating and not listening. Sigh. Something to work on.

On Monday I called in to one of the Catholic primary schools to pick up a pre-register form for school next year. Lucky I did, because they are making a decision tomorrow!! Apparently, because this particular school gets quite a lot of enquiries, they don't have to advertise their enrollment (they have to turn prospective students away). However, I met with the principal and she told me that because we are Catholics and we live in the parish, we will be accepted. Phew! I guess it doesn't hurt that I volunteer at church for readings throughout the year and mum is also on a couple of the committees and is also a special minister. And we have another 2 kids coming through the system in years to come as well. But not to count our chickens.....we will have to wait to officially be told whether we are in or not.

Finally, to sign off with....I actually sat down and pulled out some of my old stash in order to make MIL a birthday card. Cripes, but I have a HEAP of patterned paper tucked away! I am teaching a class in a couple of weeks at a mini retreat and I intend to also use the time to square away a few unfinished layouts that I have here (namely Tom and Biddy's birth layouts!). But here is the card I made.....turned out ok, I think!

Sickies in the house

Oh good grief.

Things didn't turn out all that well for Tom on his birthday. In fact, Biddy started it all on party day (Sunday) when she was simply flat out with a high temp and feeling ordinary and missed the entire party. The fact that 10 other children and equivalent number of adults where all making raucous noise right outside her bedroom door and she DIDN'T STIR, reflects how sick she was. Monday morning she wakes up with no voice and trying to tell me that her throat was sore. A quick peak and I discover lots of pus! Yuk. A trip to the drs and on antibiotics pronto.

Then on Tuesday morning (birthday day), Tom wakes up ok and I bundle him off to holiday programme with Biddy. But at 12pm pickup, I'm informed that he had been a bit out of sorts and prone to bursting into tears and wanting to go home for some of the morning (VERY unlike him). No food touched at La Porchettas but still appearing to be ok. But during his trip to the movies with his dad to see Toy Story 3, he became very upset at one point of the film suggesting he was out of sorts. A check of the temp at home (38 deg) confirmed he was coming down with something.

Wednesday morning, he opens his gob and I see the same pus pattern that Biddy displayed 2 mornings earlier. So another trip to the drs to get him on antibiotics.

The strongest one of the kids so far is the 4 week old! But then she is getting all the good stuff from her mum!!

I have to admit to feeling a little torn about the kids being sick. One part of me simply wants to take their sickness away and make everything all better, and the other (wicked) part of me loves the fact that they are motionless, quiet, sleepy and compliant. In fact, they are angel children! But no, really, I hate it when they are sick. They are just so.......unlike THEM! They are not my kids unless they are tearing up the place, creating havoc and generally getting into trouble!

Fast forward though to today and the antis have done their work and both kids are back to normal. And I am back to yelling at them, pulling my hair out and keeping the Viva paper towel company in business by cleaning up all manner of spills and messes.

The three of them! (Bella @ 4wks)