Sorry to vent to you all, but we are still having trouble settling back into Perth. Josh won't go to ANYONE, he won't even let anyone touch him, so we are not getting much of a break and I am so sick of living out of a suitcase and the kids being so unsettled. Thankfully we have FINALLY found a house, although it is far from ideal, and we can move in a week. We are close to family now, but I am finding that we are not getting a lot of help. Mum won't look after Josh because he just screams, and although DH is away atm, no one is offering to help out and we are on our own again. We may as well be in Warrnambool where we had a fantastic babysitter who was really good with Josh, and wonderful friends. I knew it would be hard to settle back in after two years away but atm I am finding myself feeling alone and sad. I am sure it will pass.
Michelle - I think of you a lot but right now with my DH away again, I find myself thinking of you constantly. I have no idea how you do it your own, and with THREE kids, not just two, and they are such happy, lovely children. You should be very proud of the wonderful job that you are doing. I am proud of you too!!
Bek - I feel for you soooo much hun. You give so much of yourself to your kids that after a few years, you forget yourself. I am finding myself having these feelings and I have only been a mum for almost three years, yet already I can't remember who I used to be. I am glad that you are making some changes to your life, and I love hearing you sound so enthusiastic about your new business venture.
Kel - so sorry we didn't get to catch up, I sooo wanted to see you. CK is still complaining of a tummy ache but doesn't seem to have gotten really sick thank goodness. She would only sleep with me last night and took ages to get off to sleep, but she is eating again today so I am hoping it was just a 24 hour thing. The last thing we all need right now is illness - the last few weeks have been awful trying to settle in and find somewhere to live. I can't believe how close your house is to ours!! I am not sure if you will know it, but the place we are renting is the white house on the corner on a big block with a hideous white statue out the front behind a big security gate. The house is interesting to say the least and is on three levels which will drive me crazy with Josh trying to climb and having stair gates everywhere, but at least it is big, a great location and they accepted our pets. Times like these make owning a border collie a little difficult!! I hope you have had a lovely trip and I look forward to seeing you next time!!
Jayne - how is the apartment hunting going? And I have been meaning to ask - where is Banjo??
Spring - great to hear from you! What is it with the early tantrums? Josh has started this too and I thought I had another year to go before the tantrums!! It sounds like you have a lot on your plate at the moment with work and the kids. I don't know how you manage it! I hope the iron and B12 helps
Hi to everyone else, sorry for a fly by post, but I am not in the best frame of mind. Will pop in later when I am feeling a little more positive.
It took me so long to enter that last posts that heaps more posts were made in the meantime! Jayne, best of luck with apartment hunting, I hope you find something perfect soon. And Michelle - good luck at the dentist! I hate dentists too.
Lee - good on you for getting a new massage client. If only I were closer, I would be booking you in all the time!
BW - FWIW, we have had similar dummy issues. After A LOT of effort, we finally have DD down to only having a dummy at night and if she wants to go to sleep in the car or pram, but it is still a constant battle. I am going to leave it a while longer before trying to get it off her at night, but right now I just don't have the strength! You are right in saying that it will be gone before school starts, so there is no need to worry, and at times that dummy is a godsend!! Good luck hun.
mako - I was wondering the same thing as Jayne but wasn't sure if I should say anything or not... got my fingers crossed for you!
MAKO _ So sorry darl, I wasn't sure if I should mention it, the last thing I wanted to do was upset you, but I had to be honest, when I read your post it was the first thing I thought of. I apologise..........
BUN _ Oh sweets, I'm so sorry to hear that you're not getting any help, I really am. What happens if your mum just persists with Josh? Is he 'outta sight, outta mind' with you? Or he just screams the ENTIRE time? I know that Claudia used to scream if somebody was trying to do things with her & I was there, but if I was gone, she would be fine? I'm surprised that your mum isn't being so helpful, I remember you raving about her to me! What a shame. Especially as now you have moved back, you're questioning why. That sucks! Well, you know that Josh LOVES me, so you can always come across to Qingdao & I'll happily send you off to Zara while I play with Josh & Catherine. lol I'm glad to hear that you have found a house, at least that stops you living out a suitcase & you can start being a family & getting back into a routine. Pity the house is a shocker, but it's a start! It's only upwards from here. Oh & Banjo is 'boarding' with my MIL. He was meant to go to my bestie's as she lives on a property, but a few weeks before we left, her Golden really laid into & bit another dog. Banjo being a pup wouldn't leave Max alone & I would have hated for that to happen to Banjo. So he's at my MIL's keeping her Lab company. He has fitted in beautifully & he gets a walk every morning & a swim in the afternoon. My MIL is so energetic so it's really worked famously. The only thing I found was that I was OTT with brushing him & his coat always looked fabulous (not being a snob, just keeping it real) & she isn't brushing him as much. I had to cut a few dready's out his coat over Christmas & I bought her a new slicker brush to try make things a bit simpler. I'm not overly fussed though, I can sort that out when we get him back. The main thing is he is loved & fed & kept busy. I have to admit, I do really pine for him. Banjo was such a big part of our lives. Claudia draws a picture of Banjo nearly every day at school & constantly asks. She even talks to him on Skype. He knew over Christmas who he belonged to though, we took him everywhere with us. I couldn't say goodbye to him the night we left again though. I know that sounds dumb, he's just a dog, but he's just MY dog....... Our cat Pokey will be a whole new story though. He is living at Alan's grandmothers house who is getting older every year & has certainly taken a big shine to him, I think it would be cruel to take him off a lovely old lady - but we'll see. Pokey really belonged to Jess, I bought him for her & she LOVES that cat, OMG she is as OTT with the cat as I am with Banjo. Whilst I love Pokey too, I'm not as crushed. lol
BW _ If the dummy is stressing you, I say get rid of it, if it's not that much of a big deal, let it stick around a bit longer. Michelle is SO on the money, you either take it off them when they can't ask for it or you wait until you can bargain with them. While Jess had a dummy, I took it off her when she was 12 months old, but she STILL has a cuddle-toy & she is 6. So you could really say that's a dummy of sorts. It's her security item. Same with Claudia - she never had a dummy but she has one of those pooh bear comforter things. A pooh bear attached to a lil blanket thing & that's her comfort, but she isn't as worried as Jess is. If you check FB I'm sure that majority of Jess' pictures, there is Piggy somewhere there. Usually tucked under her armpit. The whole family is attached to Piggy, my sister talks to Piggy on Skype! It's hilarious.
MICHELLE _ Is it too early to start counting the sleeps??????????
LEE - 3kg in 3 weeks? That's awesome! WTG! What a great achievement! I'm so jealous!!!! I am in a serious plateau - mentally & physcially. I just can't get back on that wagon. You are inspiring me though............ Oh & nice work for the kids waking up Flynn. Have I told you before how much I love the name Remy? I love it!
SPRING _ Of course you are spesh, you are so spesh to me. I luffs you so much! What do you mean 'am still' fat? You must have 'got' fat since Melbs because I didn't think you were fat. Yes, yes, I would be so excited to see you in Sydney in July.
BEK _ How's the training?
JANIE _ Where for art thou?
LISA _ How you feeling today Chook?
WILLOW _ You must be wading at the beach........... J E A L O U S.
DEB _ Thinking of you my love.
AFM - Well today hasn't been AS cold, so we went rollerskating down at Marina City. Then Zara has a fabulous sale on & I got 2 beautiful lil outfits for my new niece for Easter & the kids some skivvy type tops to wear under their uniform. Then off to Maccas for lunch which I am proud to say I didn't eat & then the kids were being so good I let them get a nail polish each. So guess I'm painting nails after rest time. Alan is at work all day today then a work dinner tonight, so we are just chilling at home. The girls need a traditional Chinese outfit to wear for their Chinese New Year Spring Festival Performance at school next Friday, so I might venture out again later to find something. Also have an appointment at 10 tomorrow morning to view more apartments, so wish me luck we find a beauty.
This is going to be scrambled because I am on the main comp with no privacy and Im too tired to read back through the posts (sorry!)
Jayne; I hope you have some luck with a new apartment soon.
Bun; Im sorry its been a bit difficult settling back into home. I found that myself with moving back to Sydney after being away so long.
BW; Im of the just-take-it-away kind of thinking when it comes to thinks like dummies etc so I took J and R's away when they were around 15mths old and the next baby was born. Thankfully S never took to the dummy so I didnt have to figure out what Id do without the 'new baby' line of thought. If you think he may want to hold onto it forever then maybe it would be better to just take it away and negate the stress for awhile (sort of like ripping off a bandaid), if you think with a bit more 'growing up' you can reason it away then I guess leave him be.
Lee; yay for a happy client!
Spring; so glad to see you back around the traps
AFM Im knackered from working all this week but thankfully no shifts til wednesday week (and Im a tad bit happy about that!). Dh goes back to work on monday and then will spent most of the next 2 months away. J goes back to preschool 3 days a week next week. Trying to get all this assessment stuff sorted out for R (I always mega stress when things involve $$$ *sigh*). I also need a dentist visit, I cracked a tooth while earlyish pregnant with S (half of it is completely missing), then the emergency stop gap came away when he was about 1 week old so they did another emergency stop gap til I could get in for a ridiculously expensive series of root canals then whatever they thought they might do to fix the actual tooth but obviously it never happened. Finally 2 years later the stop gap has worn away and its giving me grief. So now when my pay goes in the bank Im going to have to spend it on the dentist. They can just yank the bloody thing, its only a molar and I have all my wisdom teeth so I wont technically be missing any teeth. Dh says late this year I can get an implant put in if I really want too.
Im also silently freaking out about the deployment. Its creeping ever closer and Ive suddenly started to stress and worry and panic about all sorts of horrible things. We've still got so much to organise and no set in stone date to work by yet. Plus the next 2 months of him being away doing various things (and getting to go back to Townsville which sucks because I wanna go too ) Plus work and babysitting arrangements for work shifts; plus starting Uni. Plus itchy feet about getting our posting orders so I can plan ahead.......................
I'll end it there before I selfishly whinge anymore. Hopefully sometime this week I can get some more personals done.
Jayne - No beach today. And really it's not a beach, beach as such. It's a bay so sand but no waves which honestly, I prefer for the kids. Thanks for giving it to me straight about Zumba. I think I'll just give it a crack and see how I go? Everything else I'm coming up with doesn't work for some reason and I've already put on 2kg Also, hoping I make a friend or two?? A girl can hope.
Mako - Looking forward to our first catch up next week! Sorry to hear you're feeling a bit down. You and I will make a great pair.
Lee - 3kg is great! I was getting all excited about giving c25k a go but then I remembered my PT sessions at the gym. Anything that involved running was painful. My PT thought it was because of my scarring and adhesions from my surgeries. Shocking stitches on my left side to the point I'd just have to stop. So, so frustrating. So I'm not sure it will be the answer for me. Hope that bubble doesn't burst.
Bun - Oh babe, I'm hearing you. Not exactly the same situation, but trying to settle in to a new house is hard on the kids and hard on Mummy! D has been HORRID and spends a LOT of time whinging at my feet or being carried around on my hip. It started about 2 weeks ago and is doing MY.HEAD.IN!!! I keep hoping it will pass as he becomes familiar and comfortable with his new surroundings, but no such luck. I went and got my hair done today and DH said he was fine the whole time. As soon as he sees me, it all starts again! I also have no one up here to mind the kids for me and today is really the first break I've had since before Christmas. And it was only 2 hours The cracks are starting to show. I hope things settle for you soon and Josh is a lot happier for it. Maybe you could try to find another babysitter if that worked for you and your family aren't exactly tripping over themselves to help? I might have to resort to that too as DH starts shift work soon and I would like to have something that resembles a life! LOL Will see how we go.
Spring You've been missed. I understand at least on the sleep deprivation level. I remember all too well what it was like those 10 months with L. D was so much better and we didn't have any major issues but as you know, he still didn't sleep through till after 12 months. Give the night weaning a go. It's what finally worked here and it really was not anywhere near as hard as I thought it would be. After two or three nights he started sleeping MUCH longer blocks and within a week he started sleeping through. Not every night like clockwork but within a few weeks it became more normal than not and now it is very rare for him to wake at night at all. I really wish I'd tried it earlier! I would love to see you in July, I think it's been about 2 years now?!
Michelle - Good luck with the dentist...am sure you've seen a LOT worse in your time Glad you sorted out the babysitting help. I am constantly thinking of you and amazed by you
As for me...not so great today. Like I said, the kids have been full on and I haven't had a break for weeks and being here, I'm not likely to get one (man, that must sound pathetic to you Michelle, I am aware of that). BUT school starts back again soon and my big boy is starting preschool too! So we can all hold hands on their first days! LOL He was going to go two days but we just can't afford the fees (preschool places are very limited here and the fees are expensive) so he will start with one day and hopefully we'll build it to two in time. I was hoping to get him to the only proper 'preschool' here in town (which is a 5 min walk from our house) but they have very limited places, only 20 children a day for our whole area which is not a lot! So I put him on the waiting list as soon as DH was offered the job here but was told it's unlikely he'll get a spot. So he's at the big daycare centre which is about 15 min drive out of town. We've done a visit and he loved it so hopefully it will all be good. He is excited and asks every day if we are going to preschool! So on his preschool days I'll only have one at home - that's going to be very strange! But will give me a chance to run errands, probably do the shopping etc.
Am loving living here but as I said to DH last night - I feel like I've been on a holiday and having a great time but I'm ready to go home now. Except this is 'home' It's hard to explain. I guess I'm missing my friends (not that I had a lot left in Sydney) and familiar surroundings. I knew it would be a big adjustment and I know it will take a while to get settled in. I actually enjoy having the kids home during school holidays but now I'm looking forward to school going back so we can all get into our new routine and hopefully get out and about more and meet some people.
I have found a hairdresser though! I was over at the local shops and saw a salon that looked really cool, it's called Black Cat Hair and has sort of a retro 50s vibe about it. Right up my alley. The first time I went in I spoke to an older lady about getting a colour etc. I liked the feel of the place so I took the boys to get their hair cut there a few days later and there was a different hairdresser there, the owner of the salon. OMG, I have a new lady crush! She is uber funky, fire engine red hair, tattooed sleeves, cool in bucketloads! Her daughter was there and it was one of the little girls we'd been playing with on our preschool visit. She is cute as a button and she remembered us straight away. I was so excited and made an appt for myself for today. I was going to get her to do a funky new cut but decided to play it safe because I'm still undecided about the big chop. So just got a colour and a thick blonde foil put in underneath for a bit of fun. We're going to do it red or purple next time! So far, so good. She did a great job on the colour, so will go and get a trim in a few weeks time and see how I'm feeling about the big chop.
Anyway, have probably bored you with my ramblings but yanno, I'm a bit lonely and have no one to talk to! LOL
Last edited by Willow; January 22nd, 2011 at 07:31 PM.
BW - Just re-read your post. Do you 'know' that Sam has a speech delay, as in you've had a professional assess him or you're just aware his speech isn't that of other littlies his age? I am positive D has a speech delay and am (slowly with the move etc) trying to organise to have his speech and most likely his hearing assessed. He failed his hearing screening at birth twice until they finally passed him third time around (only in one ear from memory, will have to check the paperwork again and see what that says), so it does play on my mind despite him appearing to hear us fine, being able to follow instructions, respond appropriately when we speak to him etc.
) Plus work and babysitting arrangements for work shifts; plus starting Uni. Plus itchy feet about getting our posting orders so I can plan ahead.......................
The cracks are starting to show. I hope things settle for you soon and Josh is a lot happier for it. Maybe you could try to find another babysitter if that worked for you and your family aren't exactly tripping over themselves to help? I might have to resort to that too as DH starts shift work soon and I would like to have something that resembles a life! LOL Will see how we go.
Glad you sorted out the babysitting help. I am constantly thinking of you and amazed by you 
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