Lachlan hits 10 months and an update of family life.

Wow i have been very slack and haven't really done anything for so long on here.

OK so let me see where to start.. OK how about we start with the eldest child first. Emma

My beautiful princess,

She is growing up to be such a beautiful caring child. She has so much love and compassion in her its quite amazing and i must say a little overwhelming for her and me.

Emma is not really in contact with her Father anymore and she actually seems quite fine about the whole thing. Her relationship with Stewart is becoming stronger and of course the bond we share strengthens every day.

We so far have managed to survive this year without any major injuries which is amazing and i am hoping is a sign that her body is strengthing up. The only injury which cause concern was a bad scratch /gouge taken out the surface of her eye by little brother . This caused us a fair bit of concern as it was a serious eye injury and could have ended up with some effects on her vision but thankfully it all healed fine.

My very first attempt( indian Princess)


After much nagging, begging and pleading from Emma I went out and brought some face paints and when we get some spare time i have been trying it out on the kids .

OK so now Hamish.

well he has had a great start to school and we have had no problems with him adjusting.

He has also started playing soccer and is now really starting to get the hang of it, yesterday he had his 5Th game . Stewart has started to take him to soccer and i go and watch the occasional game, i am a bit selfish and i miss not being there with him but it is important that he does something with his Dad so i have had to learn to take a back seat.

This week has been a bit trying with Hamish and i have been getting stressed over little things. This week he managed to misplace 3 things on different days .

I think the fact that his bowels haven't been sorted could be a major part of my stress. He is now on another medication as well as the first lot .. fingers crossed we see some results soon.

Hamish has had a few birthday parties to go to this year and he loves it, after years of watching Emma go off and not being able to he can finally go to parties. Who would have thought our Hamish is a little social butterfly.

Very first soccer game

Winter uniform term 2

OK now onto my little terror the baby of the clan

Lachlan

wow he is 10 months already.

I have been trying to play around on photo shop and do a few bits and pieces, i have managed to make an invite for his 1st birthday party . I will post a pic of this later.

I wanted to do a pic of him and over the top write all the things he is doing now he is 10 months old but i cant seem to get this to work.

We have had one scare with Lachlan and we ended up staying overnight in the Lyell Mac as he had an infection in the skin around the eye, it was quite scary when they told me what it was. I knew he wasn't well but i didn't realise just how unwell he was. Once again we have been very blessed and have come out of it again with no lasting effects.

He now has 6 teeth , is crawling properly sometimes and is walking along the furniture. His favourite spot is to stand up using the window ledge in the lounge and watch the dogs out the back.

He also loves chasing the kids everywhere.

Bron took this great pic of Lachlan at the window ledge( this was the first week he had done it)

I just love this pic of Emma and Lachlan at soccer

I have been going to a scrap booking/card making class on a Monday arvo and have had a great time making things i never thought i could do.

Feb 8th

It has still been stinking hot but has started to cool down today yippee.

Stewart left to go work in Whyalla this morning and i am packing shit, i don't know how i am going to handle the kids on my own.

Well i started off by taking the kids to register Hamish for soccer at the Parafield Gardens Soccer club, my Dad came down with me to have a look around as he has a good history with junior soccer in SA. So with his approval Hamish is now registered to play soccer, it was a great day the club had a BBQ going and had free rides for the kids , a jumpy castle, little merry go round and the sizzler. What was going to be a 15 minute trip turned into a few hours. I was quite relaxed considering i was now on my own as Dad had left .

So here i was with the three kids in a strange environment with people i didn't know, yet we had a good time.

Once we left there we came home to relax for a while, we cooked up some cupcakes and i made a batch of muffins, then it was off to Fremont park for a BBQ teas for my Great Aunties birthday. I cant believe how long it took me to load the kids and unload them at the other end. Mum and Dad meet me there and had fun playing with the kids. It was nice to sit and unwind as i was still dreading the week ahead on my own , i was worried about sleeping in , being late to school, cooking tea and looking after the kids on my own.

Surviving the start of school

So this year my little man Hamish starts school and Emma will be in year 5.

First day of school was the 2/2/09. Hamish had his meet the teacher and find your class morning on the Friday , he was very happy to have a Ethan from kindy in his class. His teacher for this year is Mrs Batty.

Stewart had the morning of work to help me get organised and well deal with the fact Hamish was starting school.

I made their lunches the night before and filled up their drink bottles, in the morning it was just a matter of placing ice packs in with their lunch so as to try and keep them cool in the heat.

I woke the kids up and got them breakfast, then we started with the uniforms and getting Lachlan feed and dressed.

We took a few photos of the kids at home and headed out the door. We got to school and the kids were off. Hamish just wanted to get on the playground something he has been hanging out for. I took Emma over to her class, she was nervous this year she has a new teacher and her little friend is not in her class for the firs time in years.

I walked back around to Hamish and watched him play on the playground and the tears started to come, he just looked so little. I am also so worried how he will fit in at school. Hamish has hyper sensitivity and several times it has been mentioned by GPs and kindy staff that he may have low level aspergers. Hamish likes routine, he doesn't like other children approaching and touching him unless they are his friends. He is also a smart little cookie and can get frustrated with his peers who don't understand his logic. Argh a nightmare.

I didn't need to worry the bell went and Hamish went straight to his class, once in the class he found a seat and was quite happy. We waved goodbye and headed out the door.

All the way home i felt like something was missing, it was my Hamish was staying at school.

Ah he is a big boy now Mum and he has to deal with things on his own now.

I spoke to Hamish teacher yesterday the 3/2/2009. She has already figured him out, she said he is very very intelligent and very teachable. Ahhhhhhh relief. OH and Emma loves her teacher and is happy she has some other friends in her class.

Australia Day weekend

Well not much has happened really. The kids have still been great and haven't really had any arguments these holidays which is a miracle.

Saturday we just spent the day at home, Stewart wanted to get started on his shed so i spent the day cleaning inside. The kids kept cool by playing in the pool. We had a 3rd Birthday party to go to in the afternoon. We headed out for our dear friends daughters birthday in Reynella. I enjoy the long drives as Stew and I actually get a chance to talk on the way.

The kids had a great time at the party and loved playing with the other kids.

Sunday was a bit of a lost day, i managed to get a sleep in, yippee, then we headed to Brother in laws place for a barbie. We had a great time catching up with family who we don't tend to see to often. The kids once again where great and had a good time playing. Lachlan spent the day being passed around and around, he loved it, It was great to get a couple of photos of him with Stewart's family as we really don't have that many. Stewart's Nana is turning 100 this year so we got a few shots of her talking to Lachlan, he is too heavy for her to hold now. I am now planning her letter from the queen and have got the ball rolling for that.

Lachlan, Stewart and great Nana

Hamish, Lachlan and Uncle Paul

This year is going to be a busy one for our family we have my nieces 1st birthday in April, Stewart's Nana birthday in May, Lachlans 1st birthday in July and Stewart's Mum and Dads 50Th wedding anniversary in September. Wow that's a few special occasions in one yr.

Yesterday being Monday the kids veg ed out at home it was just a tad hot to do much so they played PlayStation and cleaned rooms, they also went out the back and cooled down in their little pool. I am sure this is helping them sleep as they aren't really doing to much when they are home during the day.

The kids cooling off in the pool

Tomorrow Emma has a friend coming over to play so she is all excited about that. The weather is a bit of a bummer as i was going to do some things with them this week. Now its too hot to take Lachlan out and about.

A day out at Victor

I had promised the kids I would take them to Victor but i wanted to do stuff that wouldn't cost us the earth.

So off to Victor Harbour we headed. I packed a bag full of snacks and drinks and got the kids bathers and towels organised, the plan was to go and visit the Whale centre at Victor Harbour then play on the playground. Watch the tour down under finish and have a swim and play on the beach if there was enough time we would wander over to Granite Island.

We arrived in Victor just before 11am, a bit later then i wanted but there were lots of road works and bike riders on the way. I didn't realise that before the actual race that there would be races for oldie's and amateur's. Anyway we got there and got a park and all was good.

We went for a walk to go and suss out what was happening. We hung around the finish line for a while but i found out the riders wouldn't finish till around 3pm. Way to long to expect the kids to sit and wait. So off we headed to the whale centre, it was a bugger that i was alone with the kids otherwise one of us would have stayed in the great spot while the other took the kids to do stuff.

Anyway i took the kids into the Whale Centre it was $8 for me and $4 for kids over 5, the old dear at the door said not to pay for Hamish. yippee saved $4. Anyway we walked through and the area isn't really big, but had loads and loads of info, since my kids are whale, shark, fish anything that lives in the ocean crazy they loved it. We went downstairs to the lower level, it was a little darker and down in this area was a shark...and shark cage a Rodney Fox doc was playing on a big screen and had loads of sharks on it. The kids were a little freaked at first, they have become a bit concerned about sharks lately. Anyway after a while they felt comfortable and walked around taking photos and asking me a million questions. In the end it went down well with the kids. Hamish later asked to go back in.

After this we went into Subway and got lunch, then headed over to the finish line again. Our great spot had gone but we found another one where the kids stood right up the front, we sat ourselves down and ate lunch. I feed Lachlan and we just relaxed. Soon the sponsor's came along handing out freebies, we got a hat, blow up clappers and inflatable jerseys. The kids loved these.Hamish especially loved the clapper sticks which make a lovely sound when banged together.

We sat here for a good hour and not once did the kids complain, in fact i hadn't heard them complain all day. After watching the riders and seeing a few with their war wounds from the falls that day we headed to the playground. The playground was great, they have done it up since we were there last. Hamish is a train fanatic so loved the old steam train, and the playground themed as a train, although he equally loved the pirate ship one. Emma played on the swings and spinning things.

Since it was so windy we gave the beach a miss and we ran out of time to go over to granite island, so next time.

Overall I had a great day and so did the kids, they didn't argue, complain whine or whinge all day. The only bad part of the day was Lachlan got sun burnt, how i don't know but he was the only one who did, he was in the pram with a hat sunglasses the cover over and a towel over for shade and shelter from the wind and he still got burnt.

Saved by the shops

Well after a quiet weekend at home basically , the kids were starting to go a little crazy and well basically i was going alot crazy. I needed a break. Emma's friend from school phoned and asked if she could come and play for the day...ah saved. So I sent Emma off for her play date now i just had the two boys to deal with and i must be honest they are the ones that are hard work. We had to head to the shops to buy some birthday presents for the few parties we have this week. I packed the boys in the car which is an effort in itself as Hamish still is so fussy about his socks and shoes, grrrrrrrrrrr at hyper sensitivity . We went to the centre and the boys were really good, we stopped and got an ice cream from maccas for Hamish and continued on our way. He was just starting to get wrestles when we came across a little circus set up in the shops. He sat and watched while Lachlan slept in his pram. The circus was basically some little poodles doing tricks, Hamish enjoyed it. Then we headed home to go get Emma and head to a 2nd Birthday party.

Tuesday Emma again had a visit to her Nana's so once again it was me and the boys. I must say since Lachlan has turned 6 months he has turned into a complete monster.

We drove to drop Emma off and got stopped on the way at the traffic lights as the tour down under went past. The kids liked seeing all the bikes so i think we will go and spectate later in the week.

Once Emma had been dropped off we meet up with my brother and niece for a while then headed to Hollywood shops to grab a few groceries. Hamish by now was just plain fed up. Once again the shops came to the rescue . A free jumpy castle inside the shopping centre brought some fun and relief.

A boring weekend

Well not much has been happening this end of the woods, I have been suffering a major migraine and poor Lachlan is still out of sorts since he had his needles, however i still wanted to try and do something with the kids.

Friday arvo once the weather had cooled down I decided to try out my bike trailer which i got for Christmas. The idea is that Hamish and Emma will ride their bikes to school and i will tow Lochie behind, hmm Hamish has taken a liking to the trailer it seems and thinks been towed along is better then riding his bike. We will see how long that lasts. So anyway I got it out the box and put it all together but the tyres were flat and i couldn't find a bike pump, so i load the kids up in the car and we took a pile of cans and bottles back then dropped off a bag of clothes to the Salvo store, while we were there we had a look through and ended up buying a pile of sesame street books. I had these when i was younger and loved them but Mum gave them away. Anyway we also got a bike pump.

When we got home the kids sat and looked through the books while i pumped up the tyres. In the end we ended up going for a test run, all went well and i was surprised how easy it was to tow behind. Lachlan had a bit of trouble with his little bike helmet, but this was only because he kept trying to eat the harness.

Saturday I had a killer migraine and ended up sleeping most of the day on and off. We went into Bunnings to check out some prices as Stewart is lining the shed, while we where there i sent him off to do that and went and sat down while the kids played on the playground They had some free face painting so the kids were happy and the lady gave them a stamp and a lolly each, phew day saved for the kids.

Sunday I still had my headache so i managed a bit of a lie in. We took Lachlan to get some portraits done, my poor baby is not feeling himself as he didn't really smile once, however we still got some beautiful shots. While we were there Stew found some Christmas trees going out for $8 so he brought 3 of them......... He is planning a big Christmas light show for this Christmas and these are apparently going to be in it somewhere. Stay tuned for that one.