Day 31 - Eventful

Today was pretty stressful for me, to start with we had the first of the insurance people pop by and decide that the carpet in the shed and garage will be going tomorrow. Then while Maddie was in bed Nathan mentioned that he had chest pains and had to be peer pressured into going to the hospital to get checked out. As Nathan didnt want us going up to the hospital with him Maddie and I spent the afternoon painting each others faces. This face paint is awesome, it is so easy to use, Thank you Leah for bringing it home for us. Nathan's chest all checked out, it looks like it was just a pulled muscle, but it meant that no framing happened tonight and it proved to be a very stressful afternoon.

Day 30 - It Is A Boat

As we plan to put up some of the frames on the extension tomorrow night we have changed dinner for this week to tonight and we went to the Family Food Court in Dickson. I can not believe that it hasn't changed one bit in all the years that it has been since I was there last. I also cant believe that after talking about it for weeks, we actually went there after Simon read a review for it on line, nice to know that I am listened to.

On the way home, we stopped to play at the park near stage 88. Its not very little kid friendly, the slide is super steep and I think you may actually go off the side on it, and all of the climbing equipment is designed for bigger kids, but Leah had fun and the girls had a great run around. The funniest part of the night was discovering Leah's crazy fear of rats when one ran out of the BBQ area to have a look around. Ive never seen anyone move faster and stay on standing on top of something for so long.

This piece of equipment looks like a boat to me, but the other grown ups think that I am crazy and cant see it. No imagination I say!

Day 29 - A Rough Day

Poor Miss Maddie went splat this morning in the bathroom and bumped her eye. It was pretty bad, but thankfully she calmed down quickly when I asked if she wanted to go and play with Grace. Almost the first thing that Maddie wanted to use was the helmet, and she wore it almost the whole time I was there. I wonder if she was thinking it might prevent more bumps to her eye. I left Maddie and went and grabbed some groceries and when I came back she was still crazy over the helmet. I was considering getting one, but it looks like Maddie has an allergy to the straps, so I may have to do some research. The rash on Maddie's Chin, Neck and Cheeks flared right up and were burning hot to touch by the time I went to bed. Nothing her wonder steroid cream can't fix.

Day 28 - Sad Face

So we came home after all, remind me why we did that please... someone?

The trip on the way home was crazy! First we crawled up the mountain and then we parked on the highway about 5ks out side of Braidwood, the traffic was phenomenal. Nathans super long way there would have been a better way to take home, but Nathan didn't want to risk the low bridge being flooded and I would have resisted going that way so we took the highway.

The damage that we sustained is so much worse than we expected especially to the yard. It is so disappointing to see so much mess and to know that we have lost so much. All that work that we put into the pavers is probably for nothing, but we wont know until we lift what looks like 3 inches of bark. The water was strong and high enough that it actually turned one of our hay bales sideways, there is a mark on Mrs Keenan's fence that is at least 50cms high, and the water was up and over the second back step, it is crazy!

The shed went under about 10cms of water, ruining anything on the floor, which sadly includes a few of the baby things, too much technology, tools, all of the exercise equipment and Nathans French pictures that he picked up on his last Europe trip. I spent a fortune getting them framed for him, they certainly tipped us over the edge from being OK with it all, to being upset. If only I didn't pull them down months ago to paint the lounge room, or maybe I should say that I should have put them back up when we decided to wait. Now the fun of dealing with the insurance agency begins, I hope it goes smoothly

Day 27 - Procrastination

O.K so we know that it rained buckets in Canberra and Queanbeyan last night so we have decided that we don't want to come home. Rather than heading home to the disaster that we know awaits us, we decided to spend one more day here. Aside from it being overcast, the weather was awesome so we took Maddie to the beach to make sandcastles, collect shells and look in the rock pools. It was pretty cool showing her the rock pools, and finding some fish, yabbies, crabs and snails. I am pretty sure the highlight for her was collecting shells though, as all she did was ask about them once they were in the back.

Day 26 - Australia Day

Nathan's Nan sent this outfit down for Maddie to wear today and she loves it. Maddie had an awesome day, first at the markets at Mollymook when she got to play in the petting zoo and then helping me to make dinner while Nathan was out drinking with the neighbour.

Happy Australia Day!

Day 25 - Coast Trip

We decided to take the weekend off and head down to Ulladulla for the long weekend after Nathan finished work tonight. Maddie was pretty excited and loved popping her sunglasses on and posing for a photo in Nathans car, which yes, he did dress up with flags. She didn't sleep the whole, incredibly long way down there, and survived the whole trip without a Dummy. Luckily there were lots of things to look at as we took the super long via Tarago. It was nice not having to get stuck in the Canberra traffic on the mountain, but the road was so windy and there was some really slow traffic. Especially when we were stuck behind the horse float that insisted on driving in the middle of the road. It was a pretty trip, but not one I would rush to take again.

Day 24 - Fairies

It seems like the in thing at the moment is getting dressed up, In fact dress up clothes is all that Maddie will wear at the moment. She sure does look cute though and she loves doing a twirl in her dress and showing us how it moves when she dances. It is getting tiring washing the same outfits every night so she can put them back on every day.

Day 23 - Purple Mad

Maddie has favoured purple for a little while, but now she has added dressing like a fairy to her list of favourite things. She seems to be way too purple for my eyes, but she sure was happy.

Maddie had her second swimming lesson in the transition class today, she still isn't listening well, but today was better than last week. Because she can reach the ground in the pool she likes to think she is allowed to do her own thing, and can swim off whenever she likes. We will really have to work on her listening skills, they are pretty bad, and its entirely our fault. Maddie wants, Maddie gets.

Day 22 - 50 Shades of... BLUE

Choosing a colour for the outside of the house is proving a lot more difficult than I ever imagined. While I like the colour Nathan has chosen, I think it is too dark for the whole house, and gosh it looks blue in some light. Today I went to Home Hardware and had 4 sample pots made up of colours that I thought might work after spending hours looking at it yesterday. Much to my disappointment, none of those colours will be used in the rest of the house, the bottom two are way too light, and one throws a lovely purple colour, when i put on the dark grey i thought it was gross but it has grown on me, and the medium grey is just not right according to Nathan. Back to the drawing board I guess, We really need to choose a colour so we can paint before Maddie's air conditioning unit is moved.

Day 21 - Confessions

Thanks to one of our lovely friends and a spunky little app, we now watch for the International Space Station to pass overhead most nights, OK I watch for it, tonight Nathan is asleep. I have always loved the stars and planets, but the last few years I really lost interest in it. Turns out that deep inside I have been harbouring a closet geek who gets a thrill out of being able to find the ISS as it passes, and finding out which stars are which. Tonight's rather shaky picture is of the moon and Jupiter which is bright this time of the year.

While I am already confessing to being a bit of a space geek, I will own up to actually liking my android Nexus 7. As far as the ISS Detector app goes it is way better than the Apple version, and the NASA app, is just awesome. I assume it is on Apple too but I really haven't looked, it just seems easier to keep them all on the one device. I have just downloaded a new app, 'Southern Stars,' once I can find where Android puts it, I will have to take a peek before I head to bed.

I would love to get more into photography this year, and actually take some better pictures, especially of a night time. I think I will need to get a tripod though, as I am just too shaky to take any night time images without one. The photo above is actually the ISS as it passed overhead, It didn't turn out as yellow as I see it, which I have to admit disappoints me a little.

Day 20 - Paint Tester

After napping every chance that I got all weekend I finally got up and achieved one of the tasks on my to do list. I tried out the sample pot of paint that Nathan picked up as the colour that he liked for the outside of the house. I'm not convinced that I like the colour, it seems too dark and it looks too blue to me, although it isn't nearly as blue as this photo makes it look. I will have to look at the Internet to see what I can find out about dark colours as well, as a few people have said that they make the house hotter and look smaller.

Day 19 - Small Steps on the Extension

In order to keep the house as closed and insulated as we can through the whole procedure, Nathan cut, just the edges of the cladding away today in order to expose the frames that we need to join to. I am sure that this meant a longer task for him, but I am so glad that we will be able to keep some of the heat out. The extension is at a stage that I really need to get my butt moving on sorting out Maddie's new room, and it is slowly happening. Today Nathan and Andrew dropped off the bookcase that was in here, I am going to miss it as I loved it, but I am pretty pleased with the space that has now appeared, and it will make it a lot easier to paint.

Day 18 - Technology Upgrade

After having this 'Eye-Fi' card since July or August last year, I thought that it was time that I finally set it up. The idea of it is to share photos between my computer, phone and camera without needing to take the SD card out of the camera.Turns out that it was pretty easy to do the computer side of it, but somehow I don't have it working properly. Oh well, I will have a look at it again in another 6 months.

Day 17 - Scribbles.

Another afternoon working on the extension for Nathan and Mark. Tonight they measured everything to check it was OK and started to draw out where the external wall frames go. It is pretty exciting just to have a few lines and bits of scribble on the sheet flooring as it means that things should go up easily. It even turns out that we have things square, pretty awesome work!

Day 16 - Pretty

I hate feet, I mean really hate feet. I think they are ugly and super gross, I mean they produce almost a cup of sweat a day, how gross is that! With that knowledge it seems crazy that I ran a shoe shop and spent years working as a carer, both of which I find some days I miss.

These feet belong to Simon, yes Simon, and provided a much more interesting photo than that of the Mawson Club or our not so tasty schnitzel we had for dinner. Grace did an awesome job painting those nails.

Day 15 - Sheet Flooring... CHECK

Guess what!!! The Sheet Flooring portion of the extension is complete. Nathan and Mark worked hard tonight after working all day, so now we can check off something else on the long list of work we have to do. We will have to fill in some of the little gaps before we lay down a proper floor, but now we can look at getting the frames up, and the yard empty of all the frames, its very exciting.

Day 14 - Think Before Typing

I completely agree with the concept of using the media and technology to gather information, and I can agree with the emergency services using these services, but this seems so silly. I actually took this photo last night, but I was so interested in how crazy the responses they were getting were that I was watching the post well into the night. Something so vague sure did promote a lot of panic, and a post like this when people are tired I am sure didn't help. All the fire people are doing a wonderful job keeping people safe, but I don't think that this post was very wise.

Day 13 - Mr Potato Head

Mr Potato Head was an awesome last minute addition to Maddie's Christmas presents. Although it took her ages to get around to opening it, she plays with it almost every day. Nathan often gets bombarded with Mr Potato Head when he just wants to sit down and rest, and today was no different. Luckily I think that Nathan has as much fun as she does making up weird and wonderful characters.

Day 12 - Amazing

I have to admit, I am quite the Monarchist and follow the Royal family in the gossips columns way too often. So when this photo showed up on my Facebook wall I had to screen shot it so that I could use it in my Blog. It is certainly the best option of the photos that I took today.

Today my parenting and partnering abilities were really tested when I walked into Maddie's room to tell her to go to sleep and was hit by a wall of stink. Nathan was out bathing Tucker to help him shed some of his Winter coat as it has been coming out in clumps recently and Maddie had decided to paint her cot in her poo, Ah, the joys of motherhood and the wondrous world of poo. I thought our days of being obsessed with where and when Maddie went to the toilet had passed, as the newborn stage passed and she started to gain weight. Boy was I mistaken, although now it is more about avoiding mess than hoping that she was getting enough food.

So today, like every other day, I put Maddie down for a nap and went about cleaning the house, OK I went on the computer, we all know I don't clean. These days she usually plays with her toys and has a chat for a while before actually going to sleep. I can hear every sound that she makes from the study so I was listening for the point that I had to go in and tell her to go to sleep. Today was different. After about 10 minutes, it suddenly went really quiet, so I assumed she was just super tired and fell asleep quickly seeing as she isn't sleeping well at all at the moment. Rather than getting up and checking on her I started to read the paper on line and then suddenly I heard a bang. Worried she had  decided to try escape the cot I raced in, only to find that she was actually kicking the cots side.

There in the cot was Miss Maddie, laying on her pillow clutching her new Peppa Pig toy covered, almost up to her elbows in poo. It was on her chin, her legs, her clothes, her dummy, gosh I'm gagging just writing this part two days later. But the excitement did not stop there. As I looked around the cot, trying to work out how to react, I saw that every part of the cots sides were smeared , all of her bedding smeared, all of her toys had it on them, the change table and anything in reach on that, but the worst was the dummy. All I could think was, did she eat it? So with tears in my eyes from holding back my reaction I threw Maddie, fully clothed into the shower.

Thankfully Maddie was pretty pumped to get up and have a shower, but the real test started here. With just me at home I sent a photo and message to Nathan telling him to hurry up, then I went to undress Maddie. Water and poo, make watery poo that splashes everywhere, note to self, remember that. Needless to say the clean up mission suddenly expanded, to include the entire bathroom, I think I may even need to scrub the ceiling. So while Maddie showered I grabbed an antibacterial wipe and raced into her room, to clean up what I could before coming back to check on her and grab another wipe.

Nathan, Dear, Dear, Nathan arrived home when there was only the middle section of one panel to go. He allowed me to do this part as well seeing as I was already dirty and then proceeded to watch me scramble for the shower. When I started shouting orders for him to start working on the clean up he was less than amused. Nathan did not want to walk into the bathroom for fear of catching Gastro through his feet! Yep that was Nathan's worry. Thankfully he managed to reach in to grab some things with minimal floor contact and got everything moved so he could get Maddie out and dressed.

Oh Parenting, you sure do throw some curve balls into the experience.

Day 11 - Trying New Things

 

Rather than go out for our usual Thursday night dinner this week, we post phoned it until tonight and went and tried the all you can eat buffet at the Queanbeyan Golf Club. There wasn't as much choice as I had expected but it was reasonably priced, the food and venue were good, and the company was awesome. I finally met Claire's husband Matthew, who I was sceptical even existed, and it turns out he isn't made up!

 

Maddie was a bit of a horror at dinner, wait she was all week there is no need to say it was at dinner and it was a more like a lot of a horror. My gosh she is testing some boundaries and my sanity at the moment. When she wasn't pushing Grace around or climbing on top of her she was having a tantrum about sharing the balloon or even worse hitting another girl in the face with it repeatedly. Maddie, Maddie, Maddie, what am I going to do with you?

Day 10 - Another afternoons work

After a long hard day at work, Nathan came home to spend another couple of hours on the flooring of the house with Mark's help - thank you Mark. There is only a little bit more to do and then we can fill the few gaps and start putting the frames up. all of the work left for this step requires loads of cutting so I imagine its actually going to take ages to do, but it will be awesome to have it all done. It is so exciting to be able to see some progress being made.

Day 9 - Withdrawals

 

 

These last few weeks Maddie has become very reliant on her dummy which is not good for her speech, so I am slowly trying to take it back off her. We actually got out of the house this morning and went to the supermarket to get some food that isn't chocolate. This is Maddie's reaction to being made to leave her dummy on the table as we pulled out of the driveway. She was not impressed and kept crying 'Go back Mummy, my Dummy,' it was a long 5 minute drive to woolies. Thankfully she calmed down once we were there with the bribe of buying her some gelato and more icy poles (ice colds). Ah 2 year olds, I would never have imagined the tantrums occurring as often as they actually do, it sure is another sharp learning curve for me.

Day 8 - Lists

I am sure last year that the boys agreed that having a list of what needs doing was better than trying to remember it. Well I made a list and I have to say it was a stupid idea and I hate it! My list never ends and just gets longer and longer, its quite depressing really.

Why is it that you can not take a photo of your computer screen without it turning out all covered in patterns, its really quite annoying. 

Day 7 - Emergency Services

Apparently we are going to experience summer this year and subsequently super high fire danger. I'm impressed that they sent this message out to warn us of the danger, although I'm not so sure I approve of the recorded message that also calls our home phone at 10.30 at night. Fingers crossed it isn't too bad tomorrow.

Day 6 - The First Of Many

The first photo of the extension for 2013, there better be way more to follow, and I better get to use the nail gun at some point.

Today, some progress was made on the extension, despite the temperature peaking at 37.7 degrees. Nathan and Dad worked for a couple of hours securing some extra joists and putting down 5 of the sheets needed in the flooring - Thank you again Dad. It makes our room look like its going to be a pretty good size, and it is exciting to look at it and say that's my bedroom to be. It will be awesome to see it once that existing wall comes down. Its a shame that it did get so hot as they were on a roll with the sheets, but at 11am I thought it was too warm and they didn't come in until 12. Nathan and I also went out there this afternoon and put in a temporary down pipe that was done just in time as we were hit by a crazy amount of rain this afternoon. It looks like I may need to add clearing out a drain to my list of work that I need to do this week. Lists for jobs to be done, what a silly idea!

Day 5 - Something Different

Today we tagged along with Dads, Yan's and Jackie's trip to Wollongong to see the Nan Tien Temple and the Kiama Blowhole. I have been to the temple years ago but couldn't remember much about it and Nathan had never been so it was good to go back and have a look, I do remembering it being bigger though. It was so lovely and peaceful and remarkably well maintained, although we didn't see a single person cleaning or actually doing any work that wasn't specifically related to the visitors praying.

Once we have left there, we went down to Kiama to see the blowhole, both this time and last time I went the blowhole didn't spurt right up into the air like I remember, bit it was still pretty awesome. The Blowhole has always amazed me, although when I was younger I was a little terrified of it as well. With all the accidents that happen there, its probably a good thing I was more scared of it than I was interested in how it works. It turns out that Jackie and Yan have never seen the beach or ocean, so they were excited. That they haven't ever seen it is such a strange concept to me, and I am still amazed by it.








We also went to a little beach in Kiama for Maddie to have a play in the sand, and for Yan and Jackie to actually see a beach. Auntie Dianne took Maddie into wade in the water, which Jackie wandered out to knee depth and Yan tried to only get her toes wet. It was very funny when a wave took her by surprise and she got a bit more wet than planned. The water was freezing cold down there, there was no way I was getting in.

Day 4 - Swimming

It was hot again today, so we headed over to Mum's for a swim with Grace and Leah. Maddie loves the pool normally and with her floaties on she has loads of confidence, so today she went nuts. I swam under the water to get to Grace at the other end of the pool so Maddie decided that she had to do the same when she swam. So now, she takes a big breath in, puts her head under, swims a little then comes up for air. It was so funny to watch her, and crazily enough she just kept doing it. The girls had a blast swimming for ages, but Maddie ended up sun burnt, so the suncream we used is going in the bin. Poor little girl, I feel terrible.

Day 3 - Cranky Pants

It seems that Maddie has woken on the wrong side of the bed today as she is cranky as all buggery. It may also be that her teeth are hurting and that she is running a slight temp that is making her cranky but it does seem like she just woke up unhappy. Maddie was wiping down the furniture, something she usually enjoys doing, when suddenly she decided I was laughing too much, so she told me 'stop that,' threw her wipe, grabbed her dummy and sat on the floor between the chairs. Poor Maddie, I just laughed more, the poor girl just couldn't have some quiet cranky time like she seemed to want.

Day 2 - Chinese

It felt like a busy day to me today, but very little was actually achieved. I've started writing myself lists of things to do, and I have to say, like my list for Nathan, it never really shrinks as when I do cross something off, I add more. Thankfully I didn't have to cook dinner again tonight as we went up to Dad's to have Chinese. Yan spoilt us with 6 different meals to choose from, plus rice, it was delicious and Maddie loved trying out chopsticks.

Day 1 - New Year's Day

I can not believe that we are already in another year, where did 2012 go and how did my little girl get so big, so fast? We have a huge year ahead with the extensions that have to be done and the renovations that we are hoping will be done, so I thought that I may as well take up this project again. I have almost caught up on last years entries after a computer glitch, then I can start the editing and send it off to be printed. I am pretty proud of myself for finishing it, and I know that in years to come it will be awesome to look back on.

Today we have had a lovely quiet, healthy start to the new year, all three of us are well, and enjoying just chilling out with Kim and Jac in the comfort of the air conditioning. It is looking like Summer is actually here this year, which pleases me, although a milder summer would be better for the extension. The only photo I took today is of Maddie, wearing yesterdays dress after Nathan conceded defeat in the dressing game and allowed her to wear it. Maybe this year we can look into starting Maddie on some kind of music, she sure does love her noisy musical toys.