Evolution of a joke

My 5yr old son told me a joke today....
"Why did the banana cross the road?"
Don't know, why?
"Because he wanted to go to the toilet and there was no toilet on that side of the road, so he ran across uh, no, um, he WALKED slowly across because you don't run across roads and then a truck came along and crashed into his banana peel"
Cue raucous laughter from 5yr old!  It's a shaky start but I'm sure they'll improve :)

Cured!

Well, it appears I have found a cure for my sleepwalking- trying to capture it on film! Since the night I decided to try and film my sleepwalking, I have stayed put in my bed, with no sign of leaping out and sprinting down the hall. I could be jumping the gun a bit, after all it's only been a week or less, but I hope I'm right! And, if I'm not, then lets see what hilarious footage I provide :)
Stay tuned.

Sleepwalking Psycho

That's what my husband calls me. And rightly so, sometimes.

A little history... I haven't always slept walked as often or as vigorously as I do now. Like most people, I have vague memories as a child of finding myself out of my bedroom, wandering about for no obvious reason and mum (or dad) telling me to go back to bed. But that was about it, until I went travelling in my mid 20's.

I remember travelling to Germany with a girl (Lisa) who I'd only recently met (as flatmates)and staying in a 6 person room at a hostel, in 1997. I slept on the top bunk and Lisa was on the bottom. There were 4 other people occupying the other bunks in the room who we didn't know. I woke up with a vague memory of me clambering around the bed sometime overnight. Lisa informed me (between fits of laughter) that I had been yelling and was frantically trying to find the 'way out'. As I said, thank goodness I was on the top bunk, otherwise I may have found the 'way out' and god knows where I would have ended up.
After that,over the next year there were a few instances here and there where I was told or have memories of sleepwalking but things didn't get really interesting BA.... Before Africa.
BA- I started taking an antimalarial medication called LARIAM. I read the little info book prior to taking it, warning me of the possible side effects. I wasn't too bothered when I read "can cause exacerbation of sleep disturbances if prone to sleep disturbances". How bad could it be...
Lets just say, things started getting interesting BA (especially once I started the Lariam), but got totally amped up once I was there.
We spent 5 weeks touring Africa in a group of about 18. We camped in Nature Reserves, in crowed campsites, beside the truck in the dirt and everywhere in between. Lisa and I shared a tent. Poor Lisa. There wasn't a night that went by where I didn't scream the place down and attempt a frantic escape out of the tent. Lisa describes one particular night by saying "If I ever wondered what someone being murdered sounded like, now I know". Poor Lisa.
Since then, my 'sleep disturbances' (haha) have been on average 2-3 times a week (even when pregnant!). So, between having 3 young children and a sleep disorder, I get very little quality sleep! But we (my long suffering husband & and I) are learning to live with it and now find it pretty funny. So much so, we've decided to try and catch some of my nocturnal ventures on camera. I'll be sure to let you know what we capture and if I'm feeling brave I might even share. Might as well. And if you've got a funny or embarrassing sleepwalking tale, please, share it with me!!

The funny things kids say......

I was in the kitchen the other day and my eldest son (5yrs old) was in the play room watching Postman Pat (yes, bad parent allowing my child to watch tv!). He had a one-way conversation with me (semi yelling so I could hear!) that went like this......
Will: "Muuuuuuum"
Me: "Yes?"
Will "How do babies grow in your tummy?"
Me: pause, about to repeat standard 'seed that grows' answer....
Will: Without waiting for response "Ohh, I know! It grows from a seed into a baby."
Me: Smile, pleased that he remembered previous converations we had had, thinking that that was the end of the 'discussion' (as it usually was)...
Will: "Muuuum. How does the seed get in there?"
Me: Thinking to myself 'well that question was bound to happen one day hahaha' but what the hell am I going to say!?
Will: Again, not waiting for a response (to my relief hehe) "Ohhhhhhhh, I know! The POSTMAN brings it there!"
Me: Almost have to dial 000 as I've nearly colapsed with (quiet) laughter!!!!!!!!!

He sounded quite proud that he worked it out 'all by himself' hehe One for the 21st speech I think ;-)

Life unplanned

Things have been happening lately and I wonder why they happen. Well, from a common-sense view I know why they happen, but from my hearts view I just can't understand it. A friend's husband had a motorbike accident and is now fighting for his life in ICU. A relative has had to say goodbye to her baby, born too soon to survive. A mystery illness is plaguing a colleagues daughter and she is unable to care for her 1yr old baby.

When things like these happen, it's like I've been slapped and have woken up to my life. All of a sudden I'm far more aware of my own, and my families mortality and it makes me nervous. I realise we can't go through life thinking 'what if' and 'imagine if' BUT, it shakes me up enough to realise that sometimes I go through life without putting in much of an effort. I don't tell people I love them often enough, I get too 'busy' to make that call to a friend and I don't say how I feel when I need to.

To make matters worse, I watched a movie last night in which a child was murdered. Called 'The Lovely Bones', it was not an enjoyable experience. It left me disturbed and my mind ticking. Before I went to bed, I kissed each of my children more than once and watched them sleeping for longer than a moment.

Life really is so so precious.

Farewell Powderfinger...

I'm rediscovering Powderfinger, just as they head into retirement. I've always loved their music, they were my staple when I lived in Kal but I've neglected them over the last few years so it's time for a reunion!!
One of the few Aussie bands to have lasted the distance with their integrity intact.
Thanks Powderfinger, YOU ROCK!!

I really wish I was at this gig RIGHT NOW....

MORE Powderfinger.....

I love this song and the clip is amazing.
Enjoy.........

Sunday market day

I went to the Capel Fest market day this morning and it was great! Took the whole family and meandered trough the various stalls and exhibits. I found some funky hippy-type wide legged pants that are sooooo comfy I just had to have them! The boys had a train ride and got a couple of little toys from a lucky dip. The weather was a bit hot & cold, but not too bad.

Whilst the boys were on the train, I took Miss M (12.5months old) for a walk in the double pram to hush her as she was tired and grizzling and really needed a sleep. I wasn't particularly phased by her crying, as I knew the cause and the remedy. So I just wandered along browsing the stalls and talking to her. As I pushed her along she'd be quiet, then grizzle a bit the have a louder cry then back to a grizzle and quiet but nothing too bothersome, or so I thought.
Well, honestly, there were people looking at her like they'd never heard a baby cry before! Truly. They'd stop, and turn around just to see where the noise was coming from. They'd look at her, then me, then they'd turn around and wander off mumbling. How rude. Did you want me to apologise for my crying baby making noise outside where there are far more annoying things like cigarette smoke and yapping dogs? Or do you think I should be doing more to hush her? It got me a little annoyed at the time because I hate it when people look at you as a parent with THAT look. Thankfully it didn't bother me too much and Miss M crashed out on her Daddy's shoulder and all was quiet!
So next time you hear a baby or child cry, resist the urge to turn around a look. Really, why do you need to see who's crying? It's not going to change your day, but it sure can affect that mother or father's day, especially if you're the 10th person to have a look.

Back to it

I'm baaaack! It's been a while since I've blogged so I'm a bit out of the groove! I'm always thinking "Ohh!, I'll blog about that later..." but never seem to get there, a common side-effect of having 3 young children amongst other things. So here is a condensed update of the last couple of months!

It's been a busy couple of months. My mini-break to Sydney with husband, minus children was fantastic. We caught up with friends from the UK and did a heap of sightseeing on the other days. We ate out, stayed up late and had uninterrupted conversations by the bucket load. Of course I missed the kids, but not enough to wish I was home or they were with us! Time away is essential I've realised.

The day before we left it was our daughters 1st birthday. It was just a small get-together and a chance for M to rip open a few pressies! I know everyone always says 'how fast they grow' and whatnot but really, this past year has gone SO fast. Probably seems that way because I'm watching my very last baby grow and I know that this stage or that stage will never be repeated. I always have a pang in my heart when I realise that but I know we've got a lifetime of new experiences to look forward to!

The races (Ladies Day) were great, though most of the girls I was with said it was not as good as last year! Just my luck! I FINALLY get a leave pass from Motherhood and I'm a year too late haha. Oh well, I enjoyed myself though my feet were definitely NOT enjoying themselves in the heels I was wearing. Small price to pay for a day out with the girls I think.

TREE SAGA CONTINUES.... but at least it's been chopped down (it took a few weeks!) Our insurance Co is talking to the school's insurance Co about who is paying our excess on the repair bill (~$500). As my husband said, dropping our child at school shouldn't cost us $500, especially when the school has admitted liability. A boring saga but one that continues.

I'm still going to Bootcamp (& enjoying it!) but my last day is next week BooHoo. I'm heading back to work in a few weeks and need to take a break from it until we work out how everything will fit (juggling my work, M's work, kindy,daycare,swimming,shopping blah blah)Hopefully I'll be able to get back into it soon.

Next week my eldest son has his tonsils and adenoids out! We didn't have to wait 6 months after all, and after seeing the specialist, he was booked into hospital for the following week! I'm glad it'll all be over before the winter coughs and colds hit.

So that's about it for now, plus, this has taken me 4 attempts to complete so I'm done trying!

Slack!

Oops, it's been almost a month since I've blogged! Better get my butt into gear and write asap, just not tonight! Too tired..... will explain later ;)

Tree UPDATE

The dangerous tree is still standing! It's so hard to believe that the school can't speed up the 'process' that will see such a hazardous tree cut down. I received a call from the school Principle who told me that they have submitted all the paperwork and photo's, so now we're waiting for a decision from someone (again) that the tree needs to go. There is hazard tape all around the tree, cordoning it off from the kids, but really, is a bit of yellow tape going to stop a curious child? Crazy stuff. I'll keep you posted.

Just my luck!

So, I was dropping W at kindy this morning.... finally found a car park after doing a few laps. Went in with W to the kindy room and stayed about 10 mins and then said our goodbyes. I was walking back to the car and had to look twice at what I saw. A tree branch had fallen from a massive tree on the school grounds and landed on the front of my car, and the car next to me.It was as long as my car and bushy enough to block me from getting in the drivers side door. "Just my luck" I thought. It was big and heavy enough to put a big dent in my bonnet and front panel and bend all the headlight casing. But I got off lightly! The car belonging to the poor people next to me was undriveable. The rear window was gone and the roof stoved in.
The school staff were helpful, took photo's etc and then told me that they had reported this tree before as it has previously dropped branches. HELLOOOO? This is a tree on SCHOOL GROUND, in fact, it resides within the pre-primary playground! WHY is it still standing? Surely they must be as concerned as me about the potential to injure or even kill a child? Apparently it has been previously deemed 'unsafe' by Treesafe, yet it's still there.
Thank god no one was injured. They assured me that the tree would be gone by the end of the day.

I've been a bit slack with the 'ol blogging. To tell the truth, I haven't had much interesting stuff to write about (do I ever? hehee). But alas, here I am again banging on about, well, not much really!
This week was a busy week in our household, as it was in most families I'm sure! Swimming lessons began again for 2 of our children, W went to his first ever day at Kindy on Fri, N increased his daycare from 1 to 2 days, our front yard was paved with recycled bricks (finally), and W had his Xray in preparation for his ENT appt. Throw in all the other day to day stuff and there's not much 'down time'!
Our R&R will be our 3 day trip to Sydney at the end of Feb. A spur of the moment trip to catch up with some old friends from the UK who we haven't seen in 5 years. I can't wait! We're leaving the kids at home with their grandmothers, something we've never done before (leave them over night) and I'm just a little nervous. It's not that I don't trust the grandies 100%, it's more what happens if A,B or C happen? Actually to be honest I think my husband is fretting way more than me about being so far away! I'm sure as time draws nearer I'll be the same. And just to tug on the heart strings a bit more, it's our daughters 1st birthday the day before we leave.

Then the week after we get back, I'm off to Stakes Day at the local races with a bunch of girls. I was so gutted to find out that I wouldn't be able to make it to 'Cup Day', so a good friend invited me along to Ladies Day with a heap of her work (& other) friends. I'm so excited, which could prove to be dangerous on an 'all inclusive' day out.... I can feel my liver quivering with fear.

So, the coming month will be a flurry of list-making, food stockpiling, birthday prepping,cake making (maybe..), packing and exercising (to fit into my race dress haha). This will be the most fun I've had in ages! I know, to some of you this rates LOW on your excitement scale, but remember that for the last 5 or so years my excitement scale has been a bit warped. Until now, I'd probably rate 'W ate some corn without gagging' right up there with 'Going out to dinner' as equal Numero Uno's for exciting events in my life! See where I'm going with this....? A trip over East AND a week later a day of drinking and gambling is OFF THE SCALE! Sad but true heheeee

Health Care, good & not so good

I've had 2 dealings with the health care industry in the last day that couldn't be more different!

Yesterday I took our eldest son (4.5 yrs) to the doctor for his sleep apnoea. He has always been a snorer, but over the last couple of months we have noticed his breathing is completely obstructed for up to 20 secs a time, multiple times each minute. This means he is not getting any oxygen whilst obstructed and so is prevented from going into a deep sleep because he keeps waking up gasping. He's also showing signs of being unusually tired when he wakes up in the morning. Anywayyyyyyy, we got a referral to an ENT consultant, and so begins my whinge....
I dropped the referral in to the ENT doctors office, where his receptionist informed me that, as it (the referral) looked 'standard' it would likely be 6 months before I could get an APPOINTMENT to see the specialist. Apparently the doctor personally evaluates all referrals and decides on who should have an appointment and when. Totally understandable and I realise that there are far more urgent cases than ours, but, 6 MONTHS! It goes to show how totally inadequate our resources for specialist health care are where we live, and why so many people head to the city 2 hrs away for treatment.

My second encounter with the health care industry was today when I took my 11 month old daughter to the Accident & Emergency Dept at our local hospital. She had slipped and put her top 2 teeth through her tongue, leaving a long gaping hole. It had stopped bleeding and she wasn't particularly bothered by it, but I was concerned of the possible infection risk so thought I'd get it checked out.
We went to the Triage nurse desk (1st point of call in A&E) and explained the problem. The nurse took one look at it and said that it wouldn't be sutured as it wasn't severe enough, though she would check with the doctor straight away to save us waiting and to then be told the same thing. 5 mins later another nurse came and had a look at M's tongue and said the same thing. She said that even when a tongue is almost cut through and bits hanging off (her words!) that they are reluctant to suture (for obvious reasons, the tongue is VERY difficult to sew!) but again, she would check with a doctor. I said that I thought that would be the case and not to worry about a doctors opinion. So we left after about 15 minutes total!
How different those 2 experiences were! On one hand I'm told it will be months and months before my son can be seen by a specialist, let alone treated and on the other hand my daughter is seen, assessed and discharged in a public hospital dept within minutes.

School preparation or lack thereof

I can't believe my eldest son starts kindy in 2 weeks! And I also can't believe how unorganised I am for the whole thing. It (being unorganised) is making me feel like a bad mother. I was always going to be one of these mums who has all the 'i' 's dotted and t's crossed well before my baby started school for the first time. So what happened?! Why didn't I get my bum into gear and get everything sorted. I could make all kinds of excuses, but really they're pretty lame. Especially when this is my first ever child embarking on a life changing journey and I've done pretty much nothing. A friend visited recently and was asking W about school. She has young children, one who started kindy last year. W told her all about his new drink bottle and lunch box, so she excitedly asked him what else he has bought for school? New shoes? He shook his head. New books? He shook his head. A new uniform? Again he shook his head. Thankfully she took the cue and stopped asking, saving me further embarrassment.
Ok, well I've got his book list filled (pencils,crayons etc), bought 2 shirts in school colours, got a backpack and grabbed a lunch box & drink bottle on a spur of the moment, but THAT'S IT. I always imagined that I'd take my child on a shopping day out so he could excitedly choose all things needed for school. But no, I grabbed things on a whim whenever I remembered and then showed him later when I got home. Of course, he was SO excited with each presentation of school-related item, but I felt guilty as hell that it was all bought last minute and without ceremony.
Thankfully, W loves the things I've bought him and doesn't realise that they don't match or that he should have been with me to choose them. The innocence of a 4 year old! Maybe when he eventually does the big move to Year One I will be the Mum I always thought I would be.

'To Do' list

We had someone come around today to measure up and give us a quote on having wardrobes built into our bedroom. We've been in this house for 4 years and we STILL don't have proper wardrobe space. I should mention that our house is 98 years old, so there are no 'mod cons' like built-in robes! Needless to say I'm very excited about having built in wardrobes!

Now that we're getting the ball rolling on the wardrobe front, it makes me think about what else needs doing to our 'old girl' (aka house). I'm a bit of a list-maker (what woman isn't though!), so I've started a list...

• Front courtyard paved with recycled brick (this one's in motion, tho slow motion)
• Rear & side fence painted
• Front rooms re-carpeted
• Cupboards built in baby's room
• Whole interior of house re-painted
• Upstairs balustrade installed
• Upstairs bathroom installed
• Carpet and skirting boards fitted upstairs
• Limestone fence built around property

Well, that's a start. I'll check back at the end of the year and see how far we've got on ticking things off! Mind you, I might have to start buying lotto tickets because it aint going to be cheap!