Sick days and Gratitude

It has been a seriously crazy week and a half here.

Firstly we had Sarah and Hannah come down with the flu and 4 days later Olivia and Jessica catch it.  It was a shocking flu!  Olivia and Jessica were hit particularly bad.  None of my kids have never been so sick before!  The annoying thing was that just when they were starting to look like they were on the mend their temperatures would shoot up again well into the 39s.

Last Monday morning was the worst I have experienced and I was right on the edge of my seat wanting to take Olivia to hospital.  I knew that if I could get her temperature down she would be ok, but it was early and we had to wait for the chemist to open to buy more panadol.  Olivia was hallucinating and seeing all sorts of things in the room.  We can laugh now about the things she was saying but at the time it was scary.

At one point Olivia was telling off Sarah for being in her way of the TV - we had neither a TV or Sarah in the room!  Other things she said was "I don't know how Daddy can balance on the roof", and "look at the big rings on the wall", "wow, look at the big snake mummy", and "I have ants on my socks!" Once we got some panadol into her it was only about 5-10 minutes until she was making sense again (and I was a shakey nervous wreck!)

Anyway, since seeing this quote a few months ago I began a gratitude journal - just one line a day.

And since there is always, always, always something to be grateful for, here's what I wrote last week:


-  It's only the flu
-  Mum and Dad calling several times a day to check on the girls.
-  Our awesome family doctor who understands and communicates well.
-  Downton Abbey (Thanks Kylee!)
-  For panadol, neurofen and vicks
-  Mel's lemon meringue blessing
-  Good old family favourite Honey Rissoles and ice-skating in the city
-  Josh's helpfulness
-  A pastor not concerned with popularity but our salvation
-  The smell of Coco Chanel perfume throughout the house since Jess broke the bottle on the tiles!

So if you're looking for me this week - I'll be disinfecting everything :)

Have a wonderful week!

Holiday Plans

We are so excited around here about the school holidays!  We've only just now finished breakfast and are getting dressed!  We all love slow mornings!

The older girls have each chosen two goals for the school holidays.  Sarah would like to learn to knit and do hairstyling and Hannah would also like to learn to knit and ride a bike.

Sarah is making good progress on her Granddad's scarf!  She's quite a good knitter and quite quick too.  I can knit but unfortunately I do not know how to fix her mistakes so I will be heading over to grandmas so she can teach me!

The girls also have goals to get better at something.  Sarah is working on her maths each day in a Maths Mentals book and Hannah would like to ready for Naplan next year and is working through a Naplan exam book.

I also have a goal, which I have wanted to learn since my first year of uni!  I'm going to learn how to make our own pasta!  So far I've found this recipe and this video so I'm hoping it will work!  If you have any tips for making your own pasta I'd love to know!

Tomorrow is Sarah's birthday so we will be heading out to the city to get her a new outfit! 


I hope you have a wonderful week!

Lullabies

When Sarah was a baby I wanted to have a special lullaby that I always sung to her, and all my children.  I remembered this one from 'Lady and the Tramp' - one of my favourite childhood movies.  I watched the movie and wrote down the words.  I don't even know if Youtube was around in 2002!

I have sung this song to all of the girls and they all love it!



Another lullaby we sang for Sarah was Rock-a-bye Baby but Josh changed the words to:

Rock-a-bye Baby, sofly to sleep,
When the moon shines, we'll hear not a peep,
When the dawn breaks the baby will stir,
And sunshine and morning, come to greet her.

I  love lullabys and have quite a collection of bedtime songs on my playlist that I play.  Here are some of our favourites that we sing:
I can sing a rainbow
Go to sleep now little one (Ballnina Bambino),
Warm little Kitty
Flow Through Me
Brahms Lullaby

I'd love to hear your favourite lullaby!

Bedtime prayers

Every night without fail we say bedtime prayers.  Usually I go from one room to another beginning with Olivia, then Hannah, then Sarah.  I love bedtime prayers for so many reasons and I'm not looking forward to the day my children decide that they are too old for me to kneel beside their bed and pray.  Having said that, maintaining such a routine can also be frustrating at times.  At this stage in life, the girls refuse to go to sleep without their prayer.  It's those days when I'm so tired that I just wish they would put themselves to sleep and say their own prayers, but somehow I manage to pick myself up and follow through.

Bedtime prayers are different with each child.  With Olivia I kneel beside her as she lays.  She melts my heart every night!  Her prayers always begin the same - word for word.  She says:

"Dear Jesus,
Thank you for wonderdul world and
Thank you for this wonderdul day."

She will then pray for her cousin Lachlan and his family, for preschool and anything else that has been on her mind.  When she's finished I say "Jesus loves you, Olivia" and she will look up with the cutest, melt-your-heart smile and voice and say "I love you too Jesus."  This often leads on to a little conversation about Jesus and that he's watching over her as she sleeps.  It's such a beautiful moment.

Next is Hannah.  Hannah is my super routine girl.  She has to be laying in her bed while I hug her in a particular way as I kneel beside her.  I pray first and must pray for at least 5 things or it's too short (Hannah will say). I always begin by praying out loud and thanking him for something specific she has done that day or something to do with her character.  For example, thank you Jesus for sending me this angel.  Thank you that she was so willing to help set the table and is such a hard worker.  She always squeezes me a bit tighter right then!  I love it!  It's such a beautiful way of showing Hannah how much I'm thankful for her.  After I finish Hannah will say her prayer.  We then have about 3 big hugs, a few kisses each and she will go off to sleep quickly.

Next on to Sarah!  Sarah is changing at the moment and is so keen to grow up, but I still see glimpses of the little girl in her.  I pray for Sarah much the same as Hannah but Sarah will say a quick prayer.  Sarah's will always include, "put the angels at the doors, the windows and every entrance" and will finish with "oh, and forgive me for my sins."  Sarah will then want me to linger beside her as she tells me how lucky she is to have me.  She always asks for a song and sometimes I sing her a lullaby (with funny little inserst about her) or a church song like 'flow through me'.

Bedtime prayers can very often be a near-perfect ending to a much less than perfect day.  It's such a good time to thank God for them while they're listening and to pray for some of the things we're working on.  I'll often ask God to give them strength not to lie or not to follow the wrong crowd.  This is also a perfect time where the girls will open up and talk about things that are bothering them.  I know this a time the girls will never forget and will then go on to do with their children.

And just to include some photos, I found these on my iphone.  I think they're very clever!  

I'd love to hear if you have a bedtime routine.

Pushing the limits

Have I mentioned what a rascal this girl is?  We're going through a difficult phase at the moment.  I've never really had a problem with her behaviour before, but right now her stubborn side is shining through!

This morning Olivia had forgotten to put her shoes on.  That wasn't a major problem because we wait about 10 min between dropping the older girls off and waiting for Olivia's class to start where I could help her put her shoes and socks on in the car.  When we got to school I found she had picked up two right feet of some similar shoes.  We had about 5 min so I quickly drove home, grabbed the matching foot and an extra pair incase they were getting a bit small.  Sure enough they were too small so I put the spare pair on.

Would she wear them?  No way!

We had a melt down!  She was not going to school anymore.  I tried everything.  The sweet talk, the cranky voice, promises of this and that if she'd let me go without screaming.  I stayed for an extra 10 min hoping she'd settle.  No way!

In the end I took Olivia home, got her the pair of shoes she wanted and took her back to school as happy as Larry.

Who knows if I did the right thing...

Who knows if I'm going to have to do it again...

I'm just happy that she was finally happy to go to school!

But I can't be cross with her because by the time I pick her up she will have totally forgotten about it!

On another note this same little girl turns me to mush every evening she she prays!  She's even started blowing kisses to Jesus which make me want to squeeze her tight and hope she never grows up!

Lots of tears.

We got through two days of preschool with no tears.  I did not expect Olivia to let me go on either day but she did very well.

Today was different.  I tried to do all the right things before I left and warn her that it would time for me to leave soon.  She would not let me go.  The assistant picked her up and carried her away, all the while I'm thinking surely it doesn't have to be this way, I could stay and leave when she's more settled.

Olivia screamed.

I had no idea of the horrible feeling you have when you leave a screaming child at preschool.  My heart is aching.  I feel like I just want to go back and get her but I know it wont help.  It doesn't help that it's her birthday today and I would have really preferred to spend the day with her anyway.

Olivia saw me at the gate and apparently kept breaking free and running to the gate.

Olivia is very stubborn.  No amount of coaxing or bribing will get her to give in.

I rang the school and gave them some tips.  She's best left alone, even ignored, and she will slowly, very slowly, join the group on her own.

It gives me a bit of comfort knowing that her cousin is there with her.  I also told the school Hannah may be able to come down in her playtime and help settle her but I don't know if that may make things worse.

I will ring the school again in about 30 min and then hopefully be able to set my mind on some lovely things such as making this cake.  I bought this cupcake stand especially for it!

I hope my icing comes out nice and glossy like that!

Happy Birthday my big 4 year old!

Lonely girl...

What is it about Hannah that makes her think she always has to have someone to play with? Is it to do with her being the middle girl? Before Sarah went to school they were always playing together, last year Hannah played with the neighbour and now, if Olivia's asleep and Sarah's off somewhere she's always asking for someone to come over or to go somewhere. This is happening every day at the moment!
She has found a solution though - retail therapy. Today she said if she could go to the shops and buy something she'd be ok! They start young!

Things that make me smile today :)

(in no particular order)

My garden is looking really nice - especially the roses :)

My peony rose has over 10 flowers :)

No frost since I planted the tomatoes - so far so good :)

I'm over my addiction to blogs and cute websites :)

Hannah thinks white bread tastes like play-doh and refused to eat a white bread sandwich :)

We had been (innocently) driving around in an un-registered car for 3 weeks and didn't have an accident or get caught :)

My little Olivia is just the sweetest little baby - I could eat her up :)

Picking Mum up on Friday with Olivia in a dress I made while she was away :)

The little girl next door (who is like another sister to the girls) plays with Hannah most days :)

Sarah's has had vita-britz three mornings in a row and eaten it quickly without complaining :)

A new magazine I bought yesterday :)
(can't remember the name and I left it on Olivia's change table- not worth waking her up for)

Waving good-bye to my little kindy girl who's SO excited about her excursion today, Heidi picking her up at the stairs and getting a goldfish after school :)

I'm feeling on top of housework and looking forward to a great week :)

What am I doing today?

"What I do today is
important because I
am exchanging a day
of my life for it"

I just stumbled across this quote in my journal as I was planning my day and it has caused me to stop and reevaluate. Each moment is valuable and ultimately at the end of today I would like to be able to say I have had a 'good' day, have achieved something and have no regrets. My plan to make my day more profitable is to...

work a little harder,
pray a little longer,
hug a little tighter,
eat a little wiser,speak a little kinder,
and blogsurf a little less :)

May you have a day with no regrets :)

Sending down roots.

Jer 17:8 For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.

I'm inspired by this scripture in recent days. I think of the 'sending down roots' to represent our daily devotion with God - our prayer, bible reading and studying of the Word. Now that I'm staying home full time, I find that the organisation of my time suffers. I can move things around, do them later or even do them tomorrow if I please. Fitting into this category is also my devotion time. I am inspired by this scripture to make a constant time and place (every day) where I can send down my roots. For me, in this season, it seems to be 11am. If I'm out, I'm not going to stress about it, but that will be my time. I'll set the timer on my mobile to remind me each day and I will hold to it. I'll be having a cuppa with Jesus :)

Although I do not have turmoil in my life, I do not know what the day, week and months ahead will bring. If I enter a drought or if the heat comes against me I can be confident that I have sent down my roots and will not cease from yielding fruit.

Terrific and Torturous!

Here's a thought running through my head as I go about my usual Monday chores of getting the house back in order.

~

The world is full of women blindsided
by the unceasing demands of motherhood,
still flabbergasted by how a
job can be terrific and torturous.
Anna Quindlen~

How true! I've heard of people trying to decide on the salary a mother should receive due to the many 'hats' she must wear throughout any one (24 hour) day...chef, teacher, nurse, house keeper, property manager, taxi, social worker, shift worker... the list goes on!! Some times I feel like I'm literally going insane trying to do all the above and sometimes at the same time! But really, there are some things that money can't buy! Whilst the task is daunting, and at times 'torturous' how wonderful it is to watch them play or sleep, to be the only one they want when they're hurting, to be told you're their favourite Mummy, the sloppy kisses and the greetings when they run into our arms. I'll clean toilets, wash clothes and sweep up crumbs for that :) It's priceless!

Shoes!!!

Shoes... shoes.... shoes!!!

Does anyone else have a problem with shoes. I could probably count about 10 pairs of shoes lying around the house at anyone time - gumboots, sneakers, slippers, church shoes, thongs, everyday shoes, booties, school shoes.......shoes.... shoes SHOES!!

I tell you honestly that nothing drives me more crazy than shoes everywhere. This was until now.... I can't promise that they wont continue to drive me batty, but I do have a solution that might just take the edge of the frustration - a bit like a pethidine shot :)

I'm gonna pray.... sound strange?

I'm going to pray for the person who wears that shoe. Let me give you an example - as I put away Missy's school shoes I will say a quick prayer that God will help her while she's at school, when I find Hubby's slippers I will pray that God will give him rest and that our home would be a haven for him. When I find gumboots I will pray for their health and physical well being.... etc. get the drift?

I can't totally take the credit for this idea as I remember reading something similar somewhere a few years back - before shoes became a problem, but I'm willing to give it a go.

Busy kids = Happy Mum

I asked the children today which of the activities they would like to do in the holiday. After announcing each activity I got a big YEAH! Only 5 I insisted - they managed to twist my arm for 6 :) I'm going to attempt to update our family blog each day with the details.

Tuesday: Cooking
Wednesday: Safari
Thursday: Questacon
Friday: Painting canvases for their rooms. I love Becky Higgins' idea shown in the photo below.
I may have to get two canvases each - one for my idea, another for theirs :)Monday: Make a cubby
Tuesday: Picnic at the park.

So far it seems doable and I can still get some things done. Tomorrow's plan is to get caught up on my massive pile of ironing and finish off my cherub's wall canvases. I will post up a picture of my artistic attempt tomorrow *cringe!*