Category Archives: Family

More (and Less) Teeth

Gap-tooth-boy
Teeth are still a big topic of interest around these parts. Current status as follows:

Kid #1: One gap, three more wobblies.
Kid #2: Two grey wobblies 🙁 (I’m still harbouring mother-guilt over that particular event)
Kid #3: One tooth arrived two weeks ago(!), another one on the way (favourite chew-toy = my chin)

There’s been a noticeable lack of creativity ’round these parts lately. I’m sure the lingering mother-guilt has something to do with that. I was “busy” sewing when Niamh took that fateful leap. It doesn’t matter that I’d told her dozens of times not to jump in that spot – this time, I didn’t stop her, so hello! self-blame. Gah.

It’s been a helluva week, too. I had a spot of single-parenting while Dermot was in Sydney for work (earning myself a few brownie points towards wiping out that mummy-guilt). A discovery of the parasitic variety (necessitating trips to chemist and laundromat and noIdonotwanttotalkaboutit. Ew.) Several too-early starts thanks to the smallest boy and his impending second tooth…

Aaaand. A punctured tyre yesterday morning as I dropped Finn off at school. D’oh! As I lowered the window to wave goodbye, I heard a certain kind of ‘thwack thwack thwack’ noise that you just know cannot be good. I stopped the car and found a dirty great big screw sticking out of one of the rear tyres. Hoping the continued presence of said screw would prevent the tyre from letting down immediately, I drove straight to the nearest shopping centre with an auto centre. They were super-dooper busy, but graciously let me queue-jump, and repaired it straightaway while we nicked off to feed the caffeine habit I seem to have acquired lately. (Can’t imagine why!)

But. My good temper will be restored momentarily. We are off! Today is the last day of term, and tomorrow we are going away, la la la. We (ok, mostly I) have been counting sleeps for the last three weeks, let me tell you. We are heading beachfront for three days and then mountainside for three more, just to get ourselves a well-rounded holiday. See you on the flipside 🙂

ETA: Forgot… I did manage to get to the Northside Makers coffee-crafternoon last Sunday (see if you can spot Rohan and I at that link 🙂 ) where I managed, oh, about 4 rows of crochet on a face cloth (simple squares crochet out of a bamboo/cotton mix are divine as face cloths, you should definitely give them a go). Margaret calls me a ‘multitasking wonder’. Hahahahahaha!

The Teeth that Nearly Weren’t

Sheesh! My girl. My wants-to-be-a-doctor-girl-princess-nurse-cowgirl-hippityhop girl. She’ll do anything for a bit of excitement, that one.

Right around the just-before-dinner-time-when-everyone-is-distracted time last night, Niamh decided to get from point A (armchair) to point B (blanket box) teeth-first. Owwww. There was blood, and tears and pain, but no missing teeth, and no wobbly ones, so we thought she might have escaped serious damage (let’s face it, this is not the first mouth injury Niamh has sustained – been there, done that). But this morning the swelling and angle of her top teeth suggested otherwise, so it was off to the dentist for us.

NiamhsDiary01

The good news is that even though the teeth have been shifted, it’s not enough for major concern – they aren’t back behind the bottom teeth, so they might even move back into position over time. The wait-and-see bit is that the dentist can’t tell us whether there has been root/nerve damage – so the teeth might still turn grey if there has. Or even have to be extracted. The thought of which makes me cry a little inside 🙁

So there’s been a bit of artwork distraction therapy this afternoon. And some dentist role-playing with the stuffed-toy collection, naturally. She’ll probably want to be a doctor-girl-princess-nurse-cowgirl-hippityhop-dentist now, I expect.

NiamhsDiary02

NiamhsDiary03

How cute is my smiley-face belly in “Mum with Niamh in her tummy”?!

Random Venting

Much has been said, (or at least implied) about one of our major craft stores, but right now, I’m still seething about our little experience in the other one today. I have to vent, or I might burst!

I was dithering about with wool and bits and bobs, when all of a sudden Niamh decided she had to go to the toilet, now. As kids do. (I swear three year olds have a bladder timer set to go off at the most inconvenient times.)

So we rushed through the checkout process, and asked the ever so friendly and helpful employee if they might have a toilet we could use. No, we don’t, sorry. And no, she didn’t know where the nearest one might be either. Hmmm. I wondered whether all the employees might have to drive home each time nature called.

I thought we might be able to get home in time, but no, that apparently was not to be, so I tried convincing Niamh to have a nappy put on (our cloth nappies are multi-size, so even though Rohan is only 4 months old, they’re so adjustable that they would still fit Niamh at 3). She was almost ok with that, but then broke down in tears once it was on and she faced the thought of actually weeing in a nappy. Don’t blame her, really. So I decided it was worth one last try, and took her back into the store, where I asked (same employee) politely: “I have a fairly distraught little girl here, are you sure we can’t use your staff toilet?”

Whereupon (because there were other customers and another staff member nearby, presumably) she said sweetly “Oh, did you want to use the toilet?”

At which point I wanted to stab her eyes out with the DPNs I just bought.

Other staff member showed us the way. Turns out there were not only three staff toilets, but one (unsigned) for public use. Why would the first girl lie about it in the first place? How incredibly rude of her. Or perhaps just lazy because she didn’t want to show us the way? I am completely bamboozled (coincidentally very similar to the name of the yarn I bought, and now wish I hadn’t!).

Friday Mornings

Friday mornings are fast becoming one of my favourite times of the week. A mini-break, if you will. I drop Finn off at school, Niamh off at occasional care, then race home and get Rohan down for his morning kip. Then I get a whole 45 minutes in which I can do anything I like without interruption! Ok, so this usually just means shower, have breakfast, and catch up on some blogs/tweets, but still. We take our little slices of me-time where we can get them, hey?

Once Rohan is up and fed, then we sit around making faces at one another, and omnomnomming on those cheeks for a while before we have to pick Niamh up again. (Or you know, doing something more productive. Only can’t remember what. Maybe it is just the omnomnomming!)

Rohan3m1wRohan3m1w02Rohan3m1w03Rohan3m1w04Rohan3m1w05

Oh yeah. Such a tough guy!

And if you think I’m showing you gratuitous baby shots just to distract you from the lack of a finished knitting project… well, I can neither confirm nor deny 😛

(But it won’t be too long now, promise. I cast off at midnight last night!)

My Creative Space

…has a glue gun in it this week. Any crafting involving a hot glue gun is awesome, if you ask me 🙂

Creative Space July 23

Niamh is the queen of cheesy grins at the moment. Another cheesy grin for the camera darling?

Niamh July 23

There we go.

We’ve been making peg-dolls today (don’t worry, I was at the helm of the glue gun). Here’s us: Niamh on the left, I in the middle, and Rohan on the right:

Peg Dolls July 23

Rohan watched (in another lovely hand-knit by my mum). He wasn’t all that excited by peg dolls, to be honest.

Rohan July 23

(I’m pretty sure he’s storing extra food in those cheeks for later!)

More creative spaces to be found over at Kirsty’s place

Siblingness

AuntieC

This is my little sister. This photograph was taken not long after she arrived off the red-eye flight from Perth – she met Rohan for the first time on collapsing into bed with he and I for a brief shut-eye before the other two woke up and jumped all over her. (All that to explain why they all look like such ragamuffins – though honestly my kids always look like ragamuffins. Anyone know how I can get Finn to stop chewing on his damn necklines?!)

There are three years and eight months between she and I. Almost the same gap as between Finn and Niamh. When we were kids, we fought like demons about everything. I seem to remember getting in trouble a lot for things that she did, though I’m sure there were times when the opposite was true. There have been some pretty dreadful arguments even now we’re (supposedly) adults. The worst time was when we attempted to share a house together. It’s probably lucky Dermot was around or we may not have come out of that one intact. Our relationship remains rollercoaster-like, but we do (mostly!) love each other. My kids adore her, and I love that. Living on opposite sides of the country is possibly a good thing though :giggle:

I’m also living on the other side of the experience now… Finn and Niamh are as bad as my sister and I were. Maybe worse? There are times of wonderful playing-togetherness, but it tends to fall apart in the end, because Finn likes to set rules and then police them, whereas Niamh likes to set different tules and then completely and utterly ignore all of the rules!

Since Rohan was born there has been a subtle positive shift in the brother-sister dynamics – there is a little bit more of an ‘us and him’ feeling. But I wonder how that’s going to all play out once he’s a bit older and wanting to join in with the big kids.

I’m experiencing sudden empathy for my mother, and wondering how I can help these two grow into a better relationship. Parts of the school break were hard. I never wanted to be that parent who breathed a huge sigh of relief when term started, but I have to admit, yesterday I did just that. We all seem to do better when these two spend a significant part of the day apart from each other.

My Creative Space

The knitting. Also Mixtape. Chucked on the passenger seat of the car in the vain hope that kids might all fall asleep, post Museum-visit, and I might sneak in a row or three. Ha!
Creative Space July 9

But look. The knitting… it grows!

I’m enjoying the knitting, actually. I’ve even knitted in public(!) and I don’t think I attracted a single strange look. The friend I was with even assumed I actually knew what I was doing(!) I’m quite pleased, and fairly convinced I’ll see it through to the end. Meanwhile, what unfinished quilt?! La la la, I can’t hear you :giggle:

Museum Kids

We did have a nice morning, despite the very busy-ness of the Museum. We met up with Marita and her gorgeous girls. Finn and Niamh were the best behaved they’ve been all holidays. Keeping them both within my sight while tending to a very wiiiide-awake-but-grumpy-and-will-not-bloody-go-to-sleep baby was a wee bit of a challenge though. I realised it was the first time I’d attempted such an outing with three children. And I’m still intact, hurrah!

Museum Babe

More spaces over at Kirsty’s place.

Life Looks Better When…

…on Monday, you take off with a baby, a ball of wool yarn, and a crochet hook, and go chill out with a bunch of crafty Owls for cheese and cider night.

…on Tuesday, you manage to purge five whole bags of kid’s clothes, shoes and books from the house (hurrah!), and come home from the op-shop with a very special purple spangled magician’s jacket for the dressups chest. (Girl child then wears the bling out to the post- and medicare offices, to the amusement of all).

…you forget what you did on Wednesday and Thursday, but that’s okay, they were probably boring days!

…on Friday, you head out to meet another bunch of lovely crafty girls for tea and cakes. (let’s not talk about the fact that on Friday I left the house without the nappy bag! Thank you Lara for bailing me out… twice!) Thank you to super-dooper Nikki M for hosting, and to Tania, Cathy, Louise, Lara, Cath, Jodie, Gina, Anna, Lara, Teegan, Margaret, Cathy, Nikki, Liz, Sandra, Fi, Ann Marie and Nikki (did I miss anyone!?) for the good time.

…on Saturday, you breakfast out on pancakes with a gorgeous family (well, mine, anyway 🙂 ), find a spangly top hat to go with spangly magician’s jacket, dress up the girl child and go a-partying (heck does that girl know how to party!) Come home, exhausted, and bum out on the couch with teh Internets until some ungodly hour.

…and on at least two of those nights, you manage to get some decent ess-el-ee-ee-pee. (Ssssh. Don’t say the ess-word out loud!)

Life looks better.

Censored

It is now official. Too many people I know read this blog. I am now officially self-censoring. Do you think it’s strange that it’s easier to discuss certain things with complete strangers than with friends and family? Anyway. That’s me. Strange. So I’m not going to have a big old whiney rant, because all you out there who know me would just tell me to pull my socks up and get over myself. (Probably with good reason!) So let’s just have a picture from today, before today turned to shit.

Finn… and Finn:
FinnandFinn
(photo credit: Dermot)

Now. I would like a do-over on June please. And maybe also May. And some sleep (a lot of sleep). And no more family diseases for the rest of the year.

It’s only fair.

PS. Dear Brown Owls and Owlets who we met at the Aquarium today: We did have a lovely time, honestly. 🙂 Thanks to Pip and to Suze for organizing the excursion.

PPS. Dear New Readers: I don’t usually use bad words on my blog. Much :giggle:

No Creative Space

There was no creative space for me yesterday, and here’s why:

Blah Day

Finn was (and is still) home with an ear infection. It was a doozy – his temp reached 39.6°C in the afternoon before the antibiotics kicked in, he couldn’t hear a thing, and his balance was so off that I had to hold onto him whenever he tried to walk. I’m always thankful for our GP – I have never been unable to get a same-day appointment as long as I ring first thing in the morning. This time we got to be the ones going in the back entrance, masked up (well, Finn was) into temporary ‘quarantine’, since even though I was certain it was an ear infection, Finn matched two of the symptoms for swine flu (fever, sore throat), so our clinic was taking necessary precautions. Fun.

Also, Rohan picked yesterday to sleep nowhere except on my shoulder, and Niamh… well, let’s just say that Niamh is not used to playing third fiddle. And she’s three. So yeah. Fun and games for all. I may have self-medicated with chocolate. A bit.

Finn’s on the improve today (though he’s still hard of hearing, which is proving… frustrating), and should have bounced back enough to make it to the Aquarium on Sunday to meet his feathered namesake!

So in lieu of anything crafty by me (and I’m beginning to think I may never craft again!), here’s a couple of snaps of things made by others, for Rohan:

The knitted blankie seen in the last post (and here) was made by my knitter-extraordinaire mother. As was this Baby Surprise jacket:
Rohan 3 Weeks
(Mum (mostly) doesn’t follow patterns, she just looks at a piece and figures out how it’s done. In her head! Crazy talent!)

Rohan was 3 weeks old in that pic – he’s long outgrown that gorgeous jumper. He has a bunch of other knits from Mum that I should devote an entire post to, really. I love, love, love the blankie, it is getting a lot of use.

Then there’s this very cute appliqued onesie from Claire, which he is about to grow out of any day now (it is killing me how fast this kid is growing!)
Onesie from Claire
It’s so nice to have some things made just for number three 🙂