Ella, you make me laugh

We packed up the Christmas tree yesterday and got rid of the mountain of cardboard from all the toys that the kids were given on Christmas day.  All evidence of Christmas is now gone (apart from the extra 3 kg's I've put on!) and we're ready to start the new year.  

While we were packing everything away we came across a box of Christmas crackers with two lonely left over bonbons inside.  Ella and I popped them both since there was no use in keeping them until next year and we got a blue and a red paper crown, a pencil sharpener and a tiny deck of cards and two lame jokes which I am sure have been in high rotation in bonbons since 1982.

I read my joke to Ella and asked her to tell me what her piece of paper said (she actually had the joke in the pic above but of course she can't read).  She looked at me square in the eyes nodding her head and said "mama, umm (thinking for a second), it says Ella can eat some brownies".  We made some chocolate brownies on Christmas eve and she was pestering me morning, noon and night to eat them but I kept on telling her no because she'd been eating far too much crappy food over the holiday.   I could not stop laughing at her serious looking little face, and then she cracked up too.  I can't believe the sense of humour this little girl has.  She's not even two and a half yet!

I had to give her a brownie for her creativity.  My goodness the things that come out of her mouth make me laugh.

Christmas Twenty Thirteen

 

(These strawberries provided many laughs on the day - the pic in the magazine my mum saw
looked so cute, but these look like they should be on a website similar to cake wrecks!)

 I've pretty much been in a self induced food coma since Christmas day.  A week has almost passed and I can't say that I've done all that much at all which has kind of been nice.

We had a really fun Christmas day.  Ella was so excited about it and seeing her face when she came downstairs first thing in the morning and saw that Santa had been absolutely made my day.  She smiled and laughed with glee when she saw that the cookies we left out for Santa were gone, as was the carrot that we left for Rudolph, then when we went back inside to the Christmas tree and she saw her My Little Pony from Santa her eyes were so wide and she just looked completely astonished.

Lucas, although he's too young to understand what Christmas is, was also his usual happy self.  He squealed and gurgled as he ripped open the paper surrounding his presents.  His favourite by far was the Christmas bear that Santa brought him.  He clutched that thing and laughed so joyously for most of the morning.

We had a delicious lunch at our house with my family.  We usually have Christmas at mum and dad's place but since we had just had our pergola put up, we thought it might be nice to have it at our place for a change.  We roasted a turducken and dad baked a ham.  It all tasted so good but there is nothing quite like mum's roast on Christmas day so I think I will hand the reigns back over to her next year.

In the afternoon we went to Tim's parents house and had fun opening our Kris Kringle presents.  It was so nice to watch Ella playing with her cousins. And again, everyone cooed over Lucas because all he does is smile and everyone instantly falls in love with him as soon as he flashes his little gums.

Our kids were absolutely spoiled by both sides of the family.  On boxing day we unpacked all their toys and it looked as though our living room was part of the Fischer Price warehouse.  Nanna and Pa bought Ella a princess castle which I put together for her (many blisters on my hands later...) and I think that was her favourite present.  She's really good at playing by herself and using her imagination so I love standing near her door listening to her as she plays with the princesses and hear her little conversations.

Since then we haven't done a great deal.  We went up the coast one day which was really nice and relaxing and other than that we've just been pottering around the house eating left over ham and reading books we got for Christmas.  I've been trying to do a major declutter so that I start off the new year on the right foot.  It's NYE tomorrow and I can't believe how quickly the year has passed.  We won't be going out again this year.  Instead we'll cook a nice meal for dinner and enjoy family time and have an early night so that we can go to the beach early on New Years day to start off our new year.

2012 was a good year for us for so many reasons, but of course, by far the best part was our family expanding as we welcomed baby Lucas.  What a gift he is.  I'm really optimistic for 2014, I've got lots of plans which I will work hard to make come to fruition and I'm really excited for the challenge.

Twas the night before Christmas...

It's Christmas eve and it's been hectic around here to say the least but I've decided to forget about my to do list and relax for the rest of the night - what's not done, will stay that way and that's ok.  All the important things are done, ie kids presents are wrapped under the tree, the cookies which Ella baked this afternoon and milk that we set outside for Santa have been eaten and drunk and the carrot for Rudolph has been sufficiently nibbled.

While doing some Christmas shopping the other day I suddenly felt completely overwhelmed.  I was in Target and had an armful of things and I stopped and looked down and thought to myself, do I really need half of this stuff?  The answer was no.  I had been completely sucked in by the sales and mark downs, and the pretty things, and the popular things, which I really have absolutely no need for, nor do my kids.  I actually put everything down in a pile and left the shops thinking that I really needed to reevaluate what I was doing.  I don't need to spend money on meaningless 'stuff', that's not what Christmas is about.

When I got home I told mum about my thoughts and we started talking about Christmas when she grew up.  She was the youngest of 10 children in a very poor family in Mauritius.  Each year for Christmas her mother would turn an old light bulb into a doll for the girls in the family.  She would hand paint a face onto the bulb and put crepe paper around the neck of the bulb to make a dress.  Mum said that she was always so proud of her dolls and would carry them around the house so very carefully with a huge smile on her face and I thought that was beautiful.

I significantly cut back on the gifts that I bought this year.  We bought an easel for Ella as well as some little stocking stuffer gifts like undies (we are able to tackle toilet training in the new year), colouring books and a couple of small toys and Lucas will be getting a toy monkey and a cute wooden alligator with wheels.  I also decided that I would make them both a gift this year.  I made Lucas a dream catcher to hang above his bed, and a mobile for Ella's bedroom.  I'd love to start a tradition of making a gift for them each year.

Ella asked Santa for a pony for Christmas, in fact she first mentioned it months ago.  I was happy to see that My Little Pony's are back!  I had many during my childhood and I'm sure mum has kept some so I will have to dig them up for Ella at some stage.  I made a trip to the Build a Bear Workshop the other day and was happy to see that they had a My Little Pony toy there that was perfect for Ella.  As I lined up to have the pony stuffed I was watching the little girl in front of me as she saw her bear coming to life.  She was so excited and it was so lovely to watch as she was asked to pick out a heart for her bear from a tub, hold it in her hands, rub her hands together, make a wish, kiss the heart and then insert it into the bear.  When it came to my turn I was surprised that they asked me to do the same thing (I thought it was just for the kids) and I have to admit that when they asked me to make a wish I became surprisingly sentimental as I thought of an appropriate wish to bestow on the pony for Ella.  My eyes actually started to well up a little bit.  Don't worry, when I told Tim, he laughed and told me he thought I was crazy too.  I can't wait to see her face this morning when she sees her pony.

Lucas obviously has no idea about Christmas yet but Santa has bought him a Midi Buck Racing Car that I am hoping he will be able to keep as a keepsake from his first Christmas for many years to come.

My family are coming over for lunch tomorrow and then we are going over to Tim's parents place in the evening.  I'm really looking forward to spending time with the people we love.  After all, that's what Christmas is about.  Not just giving and receiving 'stuff'.

Orientation day for Ella

For a long time Tim and I have been talking about sending Ella to daycare a couple of days a week for a number of reasons, 1) to give my mum a break from looking after her while I was working three days a week, 2) she's a very intelligent little girl and is always on the go and I just don't feel like I am challenging her enough in activities that we do each day, particularly when I have Lucas who relies on me still so much, and 3) so I can have some time to get things done around the house because this place has gone to shit lately!  Plus it will give me an opportunity to spend some time with Lucas one on one which we haven't had much of a chance to do really.

A few months ago we got a letter to say that she had been accepted into a great local daycare centre for two days per week starting early next year.  I organised some orientation days, put them in my calendar and pushed the idea of her going to 'school' as she calls it to the back of my head because as much as I am excited for her and know that she will thrive in this environment, I'm just not really loving the idea that she's going to be away from me and in the care of somebody else - a stranger really.

The days have rolled around quickly and we've been talking a lot about how she will be going to school soon and she was super excited.  When I first visited there to have a look around she left my side basically the minute we walked through the doors, happy to look around and play on her own while I talked to the teachers.  I was happy that she was so comfortable there and on the way home she couldn't stop gushing about how she had seen a cow, and a sheep, and chickens, and a sand pit, and cars to drive in, and a vegetable garden and...  I knew she was going to love it.

We packed her bag this morning with a hat, her water bottle and a spare change of clothes and as she put her backpack on I nearly died from cuteness overload.  When we got there and walked through the doors, the centre director was there waiting for her and gave her a big hello and I immediately felt a little more at ease.  Ella briefly looked at her and then proceeded to go straight to her classroom, on her own.  The director was very impressed by her independence.  I walked into her classroom and met her teacher and was then encouraged to leave to see how she would react.  I felt like I was going to burst into tears but didn't want to upset her when she was clearly so happy and not a bit worried so I said a quick goodbye, gave her a big kiss and told her I'd be back later to take her home.

I was then taken to the room where I assume all the mums are taken to do their ugly cry as they realise that their baby is all grown up.  Orientation was only for an hour (yes, I realise how pathetic it sounds that I was so upset about the whole thing when she was only going to be out of my sight for an hour, but that hour symbolised so much more than that) and I sat there looking at the clock wondering if she was ok or if she was in there crying because she wanted her mama.

The hour passed painfully slowly but sure enough one of the teacher's brought her back to me, with her oversized backpack on and told me that she had done so well.  She didn't once cry and was happy to play in the classroom as well as spend time outside in the sand pit and get into all sorts of mischief.  We had a quick chat and then she left us, ready for us to go home.  Ella had different ideas though, she did not want to go home!  I was gutted and relieved all at the same time. "I don't want to go home mama!" she yelled as I tried to take her hand and lead her to the car.  Eventually I had to pick her up kicking and crying to get her into the car.  Not even the lure of going home to nanny and Lucas made her change her mind, she was adamant she wanted to stay. I assume that most children they see cry when they are left at day care on their own for the first time, but not my Ella, she cried because she didn't want to go home!

I strapped her into her car seat and she kept on with the not wanting to go home talk.  "I want to go back to school mama!" was then followed by "I'm sad mama...  I think I need a lolly pop to make me feel better."  We got home and she rushed inside to see Nanny and tell her all about her morning.  Nanny later confessed to me that she burst into tears when we drove away as the reality that Ella was really growing up (and quickly) hit her, just as I had been sucker punched too.

She has one more orientation in a fortnight and then as of the start of the new year, she will be into the full swing of things two days a week.  God knows what I'll be like when I have to actually leave her for that first full day!

Watching her grow is such a bitter sweet thing.

MUSE

The last concert I went to was to see U2 back in 2007!  I haven't been to a single live music event since then... yes, I really am that boring.  I'm not even going to use my kids as the excuse.

I had a brief obsession with the song 'Madness' when it first came out last year and then slowly started listening to other MUSE songs and realised that I actually really liked them.  When they released tour dates and on chatting with my best friend who was also a fan, we decided we'd buy tickets.

I must admit that they had slipped off my playlist for a while until I realised that the concert was only a week away and I thought I'd better start listening to other songs from their new album so I actually knew some of the songs that they would perform.  We thought that we had tickets in the seated area but when we arrived we realised that we were actually in the standing section.  There was an eclectic mix of people there, young, old, die hard fans, try hard die hard fans (like us! ha ha) and so on.

The moment the set came into place for the start of the concert I knew I was going to love it.  The atmosphere was amazing, the set and lighting was awesome, Matt Bellamy was brilliant (I never realised what a talented musician he was, playing the guitar insanely well, and also the piano) and I had the best time.  I actually knew a lot more songs than I realised.  We even danced and jumped up and down to the songs just like the young folk did!  The show seemed to go on forever (in a good way) and I loved every minute of it.  

I left wondering why I didn't go to more live music events and so have vowed that next year I will make an effort to go to more concerts.  Tim and I had ummed and ahhed about going to see The National play in February next year, a band we both really like. For a relatively unknown band in Australia we thought the tickets were a little pricey and so weren't really sure if we were that keen to go, and soon enough we forgot all about it.  But when I woke up this morning still on my high from seeing MUSE, I jumped on the computer and bought tickets immediately to see them and am going to give them to Tim for Christmas.  Two birds, one stone!

A visit to Santa

Last year we were not successful in getting a photo of Ella with Santa.  She was absolutely petrified of him.  I even bought a Santa suit home from work and thought that perhaps if Tim put it on and she recognised his voice, she might be more inclined to go to him.... I was wrong.

This year we started talking about Santa early on in the piece.  I didn't force it upon her but casually started talking about and reading books about Santa and Christmas and each time she got a little more excited.  I was excited that she was 'understanding' a bit about Christmas and Santa because for kids it is such a magical time but I must admit I was actually dreading having to take the kids to get their photo taken as I had envisaged having to wait in a queue for way too long with hundreds of screaming babies and impatient children.  To try to avoid this I dressed the kids up super early one weekday morning and left for the shops in hope that we would be the first in the queue.  We weren't quite first in queue when we got there but there were only two other families in front of us so we didn't have to wait too long.  We watched as other children sat on Santa's lap, most of whom cried, and I quietly prayed that Ella wouldn't throw a tantrum when we went up to Santa's sleigh.

Soon it was our turn and Santa ushered us up to his sleigh.  Since she was so excited when we had talked and read about Santa I thought she would have gone nuts when we actually saw him in the flesh but as we walked up I could tell immediately that she wasn't that comfortable about the situation by the way she hid behind my dress.  The Santa was lovely and tried to reassure her but she just kept her eyes straight ahead and avoided any eye contact with the man in the red suit and held my hand tightly.  I had to sit with her in the sleigh because there was no way that she was going to allow me to leave her with Santa on her own.  Lucas on the other hand just sat there smiling the whole time as per usual.  After a few attempts to get Ella to laugh the photographer took some shots and I was pleasantly surprised by them.  I think the pictures are perfect, except that daddy is not in the shot but we both agreed that going on a weekend would be a nightmare with the crowds and neither of us were up for that.

Santa asked her what she would like for christmas but again, he got the no eye contact and silent treatment.  I told her that I would let him know that she had been a very good girl and would like a pony.  Yikes, how am I going to pull that one off??

Today was a good day

It was 27 degrees, the sun was shining and the sky was a brilliant blue with not a cloud in sight.  We pulled out our Christmas tree and all the decorations and Ella and I decorated it together while Lucas was asleep upstairs oblivious to us loudly singing Jingle Bells over and over at Ella's request.  Christmas this year is even more special as Ella is starting to understand a little bit more about it and the excitement on her face when we mention Santa is something else.  It was so nice to decorate the tree together, although I never realised how territorial I was over the decorating until having to decorate with a two year old!  I'm a bit anal with the placement of all the ornaments it seems.

Poppy brought Ella her very own Christmas tree from the farm so she decorated it just the way she wanted.  I love the smell of fresh pine trees but unfortunately the smell makes Tim's hayfever play up terribly so we have to keep her tree outside and then we have a fake one inside.

After decorating the tree we spent the afternoon playing in the sun and eating watermelon and to top it off daddy was home early to play with the kids.  Tim just started a new job last week and he finishes now at 4.30pm and so is home by 5pm each day now instead of 6.30-7pm.  It's amazing how much a difference that makes.  Tim can actually play with the kids after work instead of just kissing them good night.  He helps with the bathing and we have dinner at a reasonable hour and can actually relax and talk to one another after dinner instead of rushing around trying to get our things done before going to bed.

We've finished dinner, the dishwasher is stacked, the house is tidy (relatively), the kids went to sleep without a peep (for the first night in I don't know how long) and I'm about to sit down with a cup of tea and some Ben & Jerry's.  It's the simple things, as they say.

A trip to the farm

Our neighbours let us know a few weeks ago that they would be having a big birthday party on the weekend which was most likely going to be loud and since they know we have babies they wanted to warn us so that we could make arrangements or at least be prepared for babies who couldn't sleep.  We decided at short notice that we would go to the farm for the weekend to get away.  Mum and dad were happy to have us along and to spend time with the grand babies, and we were excited to get out of the city.  It was set to rain all weekend anyway so we decided we'd prefer to sit next to a cozy fire in the drizzly weather rather than at home.

Ella left early on friday afternoon with nanny and poppy and Tim, Lucas and I set off later that evening when Tim finished work.  It was pouring with rain the whole way up, a stark contrast to seeing the bush fires that raged through the area a few weeks ago on the news.  Despite the rain we still had a lovely relaxing weekend.  We didn't do a great deal at all other than eat and enjoy each other's company.  Just what the doctor ordered.

(Crossing the creek.  Poppy had to dive off the log to avoid falling in the creek a few seconds after he got Ella safely to the other side.  We all had a good laugh at his agility.)

Lucas' first try on solids!

Smores!