best + worst....

something i'm copying from mamamia, reflecting on the week that was and thinking about it properly as to what the good and bad stuff was....

worst 1: the agent forgot my birthday. overall he didn't, as he did organise a weekend away to celebrate mine and bug's birthdays. however on the actual day, he forgot. until i'd cried to mum (cos, among other things, the day was pretty crappy) and she text him and he realised he'd forgotten. oops....

worst 2: migraine on monday. it was horrible. drugs weren't helping. a massage didn't help. all cos it was a stress-induced one which meant my muscles were so tight. not. fun. at. all. ugh.

worst 3: after not getting to the gym for over a week (i was being lazy) i was all set to go on tuesday, the day of my birthday. and then on the way to daycare to drop bubble off, bug throws up. in my car. not once. not twice. three times! poor bug :( of course, once i got her cleaned up she was fine! but it did mean i missed the gym. so that was another reason my birthday day was pretty crappy.

worst 4: my heart rate monitor died! such a first world problem i know. thankfully the agent has allowed me his to use. still gotta send mine off to get it fixed. it told me i burnt 702 calories in pump. hahahahahaha i sooooooo wish!!!!! in a normal pump class i'd do 300 or so. today i did 411. i'd maybe do 700 in an attack or step class. hrm, you are so wrong! off to the repairs doctor for you!

best 1: it was my birthday! so many people wrote on my wall on faebook. i really doubt any of them would have known it was my birthday had facebook not told them! but that's ok, i felt the birthday love! the agent gave my some gorgeous flowers which are still blooming, and blooming marvellous, downstairs. i got a few phone calls, and some money which i will put towards a ring from tiffany & co. 

best 2: it was bug's second birthday! she went to daycare and had a great day - painting, playing outside, eating her birthday cupcakes with her sister and her friends. the photos were gorgeous! can't believe it was her second birthday already!

best 3: my mum arrived on wednesday, and we went to max brenner's for afternoon tea! yum yum - waffles + strawberries + bananas+ ice cream + melted chocolate = OH. MY. GOSH. YUM!!!!

best 4: wednesday night the agent took me out for dinner and a movie. we had thai and then saw 'friends with benefits'. it was hilarious!  and the food at the thai restaurant was delicious. 

best 5: i got to the gym wednesday, thursday and friday. damn near died on friday doing step! marchella is a great instructor - i always seem to burn more calories in her classes! 

best 6: going away for the weekend with the agent, bubble, bug and my mum. we went to the blue mountains, rode the scenic railway train, the cable car and the sky car. bubble loves the aboriginal story of the three sisters. we stayed at the fairmont on saturday night and didn't get to use the pool unfortunately. i've asked the agent if we could perhaps go back there for a weekend before lbm3 is born, in december hopefully when it's warmer and take full advantage of the pool! on sunday we went to jenolan caves which was awesome. i've never been there. we did the basic cave walk, which was enough for me. the few times we had to bend over got a little difficult, and my tummy is not big at all! the agent has already said we aren't going back there till our children are much older...he had bug in the back carrier for a while but again, with the bending, it was difficult for him and she protested quite a bit!! we took her out after a while and she did really well walking up the steps and staying close to us. in all, a fantastic weekened. it was so nice for us to all be away together, and having my mum there was an added bonus as she was an extra set of the hands and the girls love her!

birthdays!!

today was my baby girl bug's SECOND birthday!!!!

the day before that was MY birthday....but soooo not telling you how old i am hehehe!!

and the agent forgot it was my birthday yesterday, but that's a whole other post.

my little munchkin bug got presents this morning; took cupcakes to daycare to share with her friends; did painting (which of course involved more pain on her than the paper!) and played with her sister; and also got to see her ma-maa (my mum) which involved more presents!!

i realised tonight i felt a bit sad, as i've hardly seen bug all day. i do know she had a fantastic day, which makes me smile! and after yesterday, i sorta needed a day on my own, to be able to do my own thing.

i've just gotten home from dinner and a movie with the agent....his way of making up for what happened.....i didn't want him to feel guilty. just wanted him to know it had hurt, and it hurt me more than i'd originally thought.

so happy birthday to me, and happy birthday to my gorgeous 2 year old, who changed my life and calmed it down a lot with her arrival. love her to bits, my little snuggle-pot!

goals for the coming week

i have ollie in my head singing his days of the week song! damn you nick jr!

the agent is starting to rub off on me.....oh man that sounds a bit odd!

anyway, he likes to set himself goals for the weeks. things to achieve. i'm not sure why exactly, however i totally get it. i like seeing items crossed off any list i make, be it a to-do list or a shopping list.

so, to help me have a better week than the one that is finishing today, i am going to make myself a list of goals i wish to achieve. not that there is anything wrong with the week that has just passed, heck i drove the girls and myself up to my parents place and back on my own - 1200kms all up! i just didn't do a lot of the stuff i would like to do and get done each week.

so, here goes. in no particular order....

1. exercise. everyday except saturday. tomorrow i'll be getting the agent to kick my ass into gear. he is training for the sydney to 'gong bike ride and will be doing his own training in the morning. i'm going to make damn sure i get to use my treadmill, or even escape and go to the gym. as for during the week, i'll be going and doing the gym classes i love every single time i can when they are on and the creche is open.

2. plan a budget with the agent. he is forever saying we need to do this, yet that is as far as we get. this week, it all changes!

3. my mum arrives on wednesday, so i'll be making sure the bathrooms are clean, the spare room is presentable (and i can only say presentable, as it's more a storage room with a bed at times!) and the house is just generally clean. this means a lot of cleaning will have to happen monday and tuesday, which is made a bit more challenging as i have children both those days. however, i will make do and get it done at night if i have to!

4. work out a meal plan and stick to it! even if it is just for dinners, the meal i struggle to most with. i love breakfast and have no problem eating it. special k and fresh strawberries. yum yum. tomorrow will be a treat though, after my run. a big bowl of fruit salad and harris farm yoghurt. mmm-mmmmm! anyway, dinner we struggle with. i end up in cooking 2 sometimes 3 times. once for the girls, then myself and then scott when he arrives home. so i really need to work out some meals that all of us will eat. again difficult cos this pregnancy has really messed up taste buds and tummy!

5. spend the last 2 hours the girls are awake relaxing with them and focusing everything on them. too often lately it seems we rush thru the last hour before bed. we used to read every night after they were dressed. not so much any more. so this week, i want to make sure they are in bed by a certain time - 7 or 7:30pm and that i or the agent (or my mum, seeing she'll be here) read to them. they love being read to, and since i did begin getting back in to reading each night, bug's speech had begun to improve. ok, there will be 2 nights this week that they won't be in bed that early - monday and wednesday as that's the night the creche at my gym is open so we'll be there!

6. get the agent to clean up his damn floordrobe! argh! so annoying that i can't see the carpet on his side of the bed for all the clothes he dumps on the floor!

7. buy some more plastic tubs to put clothes in to. i would have so much space in my cupboard if i got rid of all the jeans in there that don't fit me at the moment! and my drawers. so many summer tops that won't be getting worn this year that can go away in to storage and give me more room for other clothes!

8. move the plastic tubs that are full down in to the garage. they do not need to be in the house any more!!!

9. get my car cleaned! it is filthy - food crumbs from the girls eating in it, and covered in dust from the parent's driveway. i had it cleaned a couple of weeks ago, but nope needs it again already!

10. catch up with some of the girls from my mums group. been a couple of weeks since i saw some of them, and even longer since i saw one particular lovely lady. so really need to see them - girls get to play and i get some sanity!

11. download latest episode of true blood season 4 and watch it. i LOVE true blood. it's my monday night indulgence.

12. enjoy mine and bug's birthdays! i keep forgetting it's my birthday on tuesday! i am remembering it's bug's on wednesday tho! need to organise a cake for her to take to daycare. her first birthday to be celebrated at daycare! i can think of a few things i'd like for my birthday....

13. write a list and hand it to the agent. he was looking at a fancy-schmancy teapot in david jones on thursday night, and was asking me if i like drinking tea....i don't really. have tried to but can't seem to get the taste for it! to which i said 'how's about you buy me something for my birthday that i'd like to have, not something you'd like me to have? huh?!' he just smiled.....to me tea is simply for me to dunk my biscuits in before i eat them!

that's about all i can think of now, and miss bubble is needing to be out of my room!

this post is a work in progress. and each time i complete something from the above post, i'll be blogging about it!!!

baby wipes

aldi baby wipes

before i was a mum, i don't think i'd even heard of a little item called 'baby wipes'.

however that all changed very very quickly after the arrival of miss bubble, nearly 3.5 years ago.

we quickly worked out missy had sensitive skin and had to be careful, not picky tho, about which wipes we used on her tushy. no perfume, not too thick as those thick buggers are hard to hold against baby's skin and wipe stuff away at the same time....and none of the cheap, no-name ones. they felt like sandpaper.

by the time miss bug had arrived we'd moved on to the brilliant aldi wipes. these suckers are da bomb!

so, nearly 3.5 years in to parenting i have discovered that baby wipes are an extremely useful piece of equipment.

some of the uses i have found are:

1. wiping children's bottoms

2. wiping children's hands/face/feet/arms/legs

3. wiping down high chair trays. both our high chairs at home and ones in public restaurants

4. wiping down leather lounges. i have no idea how good this is for the leather, however it stops the agent having a hissy fit if he sees yoghurt/crumbs or the like on his beloved leather lounge.

5. wiping down the girls chalk board so they can start drawing all over again

6. getting dirty marks off the floor. saves me getting the mop out to clean one tiny dirty tile - woopa!!

7. wiping down the interior of my car

8. wiping down the front of the fridge....finger prints + stainless steel = unsightly smears

so there is a reason they are called 'wipes' after all - very good at wiping things!

i think once we decide no more kids, it may be hard to stop buying wipes!!!

10 reasons i'm smiling big big smiles.....

yesterday was a day that had me feeling pretty darn fantastic and happy and grateful for a bunch of things.

here's 10 things i jotted down that really had my heart singing!

1. seeing 'little baby matthews #3' during our 20 week scan

we saw lbm3 stretch it's legs out, move it's arms.....aaahhhhh makes my heart melt. i love how even though this is baby #3, the scans are still exciting, seeing baby move on the screen is still such a thrill. i'm starting to feel the movement a bit more too! 

2. memories of the weekend at mum and dad's

the girls and i went up for 3 days to my parent's farm, which also happens to be the place i grew up. it wasn't as cold as i'd expected it to be given it's winter. the girls absolutely love tess the puppy. i must admit i fell in love with the little brown fluff-ball too! avril even learnt 2 new words - 'cup-cakes' and 'nake'....yes, my girls saw red-belly black snakes whilst out driving with mum and dad feeding the cattle. yes, snakes. in the middle of freakin' winter!! argh!

3. the mechanic got the job in broken hill!

my brother applied for a job with CAT in broken hill a few weeks ago. he drove out there for an interview and since then they've had him doing medicals, police checks, and physio checks. they also called all of his referees yet never actually said he had the job. until yesterday! he starts in septemeber. i'm so excited for him! yes he'll be a long long way away, but he's living out his dreams and is happy. power to ya mechanic.

4. my amazing husband 

been going thru some icky family issues for the past couple of months. my husband has been amazing through it all. even though he does not agree with how i have handled some things, he is supporting me in what i am deciding to do. he's also very helpful with our girls when i'm feeling too tired or the nausea from being pregnant decides it's time to play. he's looked after our girls a couple of times on his own on days he should be at work when i've just wanted sleep and quiet cos of the blasted headaches i get when pregnant. thankfully they're not coming around as often! just thinking of how amazing my man is as a husband and a friend and how he is with our girls really makes me smile. so lucky!

5. fantastic health

so far this winter, all i've had to deal with is chunky coughs and runny noses from the girls. the agent got a cold the weekend we went to my parents and i've been really lucky and hardly been unwell. compared to last year, it's awesome! last year bug was unwell from the end of april till september with a constant runny nose, cough and ear infections in both ears. they were never bad ear infections, just constantly there. poor little thing. however this year, nothing. nada! i do think that if we come down with something, we'll come down hard!

6. the rain

that's the country girl in me. i know how important the rain is. it rained on and off yesterday, and was raining last night when i went to bed. i love listening to the rain as i fall asleep. i tried really hard last night to just concentrate on the sound of the rain however i think i fell asleep too quickly to really appreciate the sound properly!

7. my girls

i love them to bits. even though they drive me bananas a fair bit of the time, there is so much love, laughter and happy memories in those 2 little people. they constantly amaze me - bubble with how grown up she is and bug with the new words she comes out with. and they're so much fun! they play together the majority of the time really really well. as my mum said 'they'll be best of friends......and probably worst of enemies!' yup, when they clash, the clash bad. already!

8. LBM#3 being perfect

we saw my obstetrician after the 20 week scan yesterday and she said everything is going perfectly. baby's measurements are perfect and everything is good with me too. she even tried to see lbm3's sex, but said the cord was between it's legs so she had no idea. not that i want to know! surprise till the end for me thanks!

9. my iPod

it was playing a great selection of songs one after the other. it was awesome! made doing housework a whole lot more bearable!

10. the weekend is near!

2 more days and the agent will be home for the day, or most of! the agent does not work sundays and so we've already planned that he'll do a bike ride in the morning and then we'll get stuck in to cleaning the house. i'm also planning that once the agent has done his bike ride i'm going to the c25k twice on the treadmill. and i don't mind a day at home. the agent has said he was have a couple of appointments to do, and that's fine. so long as he tells me about them prior to sunday i can cope with his working on his day off!

wellll

been a while since i posted!

i'm pregnant! woo! go me! 18 weeks today. due january 7 2012!

what a date to be due. one of my best friends from school's birthday!

3 days after the agent's birthday.

11 days early from this date is around christmas. please don't come then baby! argh! do not want an 'xmas baby'! but given both the girls were 11 days early from the due date my doctor gave me, this one may very well be early too! whoops......

nearly half-way there! my tummy sorta went 'pop' during the past week! but i just loot faaaaaaat at the moment haha! my normal clothes are getting a bit too tight for comfort, and the maternity clothes i have are for the wrong season. it's been sooooo warm here the past week, and it's only the first week of august - one full month of winter left still, and i've been walking around in shorts!

i'm still exercising, which is really important to me. really want to keep it up throughout the whole pregnancy if i can. so far so good, bit sluggish last week. however i'm hoping to get out for a walk/jog tomorrow morning weather permitting. if not, i'll use the treadmill at home!

off to read my book while my girls have a nap. may even have one myself!