Night Antics

Why am I tired?

10pm ish - fell asleep while watching Britain's youngest boozers (yes quality television and to make matters worse the reception was terrible!)

12.27am - was awakened by Madeleine squawking from her bedroom.

12.37am - stumbled out of bed trying not to open my eyes. I give her 10 mins to try and get her to settle.

12.38am - made bottle - cursing myself for not making some up before going to bed.

12.39am - gave Madeleine her bottle - presume it was Madeleine as I still was not opening my eyes.

12.47am - awoken again by the sweet sounds of my baby.

12.51am - entered babies lair.

12.51am - overcome by the smell of poo.

12.52am - retrieved child and changed nappy. Child not happy with poo and not happy without poo!

12.54am - realised that said child was not going to be returned to bed once she had her clutches into her mother.

12.55am - snuggled up back in bed with child who fell asleep within seconds.

1.07am - kicked Wayne for snoring.

1.56am - Trelise's door opens and she emerges and climbs into her parents bed.

1.57am - Trelise discovers one of her sisters - a bit of screaming follows.

1.58am - a hurried attempt is made to move sister over so Trelise can be in her preferred position. Fingers are crossed that shrieks have not been enough to wake the only remaining child asleep.

2.10am - Trelise complains that baby is pulling her hair.

2.11am - mother replies that baby is asleep and therefore cannot pull hair.

2.25am - kicked Wayne for snoring.

2.45am - Trelise decides that position is no longer optimal and she should instead be on the other side of her mother.

2.46am - mother moans but reluctantly complies.

3.23am - Madeleine stirs and decides it's time to play.

3.26am - all hope of Madeleine sleeping is lost and mother is worried that child will throw herself off the side of the bed.

3.27am - returns happy playing baby to her cot and hopes the fall out is not bad.

3.28am - all is surprisingly calm and mother returns to bed.

3.45am - Juliette wakes and decides to call for her mother repeatably.

3.48am - mother decides that it's her father that Juliette really wants.

3.49am - kicks father who complains but does get up. Father would like it emphasised here that he did get up!

7.30am - mother is surprised that it's time to get up and is not looking forward to facing the day!

Ballet Disaster

Trelise is currently obsessed with ballet. She often is found carrying her ballet bag containing her shoes, leotard and skirt around the house looking for an opportunity to put it on. She breaks into dance at least a couple of times a day and asks often if today is the day she goes to ballet.

For the past week it's been raining and raining and raining. When we arrived at the ballet studio yesterday we found the lovely Miss Natalie sectioning off part of the studio where the roof was leaking. She did a good job with buckets and towels. I must say I've never seen anyone stretch like that while mopping up water. I was most impressed!

I did notice that the ceiling tile was discolored from the water leak it had crumbled where most of the water had come through. Anyway the lesson started and all the girls were happily trotting along. About halfway through there was an almightly crash as the ceiling tile fell down. After a short break in the lesson where the rest of the tile was removed the class carried on. Trelise was happy looking at how the tile was being removed and was playing with the other girls in her class.

Minutes later I went to retrieve Juliette who had made her way out in the hallway and when I came back I noticed that something was wrong with Trelise. She was hanging her head. Her behaviour yesterday was erratic so I presumed that Miss Natalie had to tell her off. She didn't pull herself out of her sulk and then ran out crying. Outside she refused to tell me what was wrong and wouldn't go back in. After some prodding she said she was scared because the roof fell down. After the lesson finished I asked Miss Natalie what happened and she didn't realise anything was wrong until she heard me comfort Trelise after she had left. She hadn't had to tell her off and didn't notice anything else that had gone on.

She is still saying that she doesn't want to go back and that's she's scared. It makes me sad because I know how much she loves ballet. I don't want to make her do it but I don't think it's right just to give up an activity in the middle of a term. What would you do?

Wordless Wednesday - The Hunter

And we have walking!

Last night Juliette decided to take her first steps!

She managed 4 or 5 in a row! She is so cute as she is just a little button toddling around!

Search Engine

I've discovered the option on my stat counter that lets me know the keywords people have used to find my blog.

There are bound to be some pretty disappointed people! As you would expect Wayne and Jocasta is the most popular but we have some notable exceptions!

princess madeline body pictures - I'm sure our Princess Madeleine wasn't what they were thinking!

my son won't wear shorts - as my child doesn't wear clothes either I'm of no help!

where can i get rid of my unwanted clothes - I have no idea maybe at an op shop as they tend to like unwanted clothes!

world peas layout - ??????

and my personal favourite

nits on my legs - !!!!!!!

Peas in the Pod Party

What better way to celebrate identical twins birthday than a peas in the pod party!

Sadly the weather wasn't the best here being really cold (around 6 degrees) and wet but we managed to cram into our house and everyone had a good time!

We had a green theme throughout the house. We blew the balloons up on Friday night and sadly about half of them did not survive the night! Wayne put pictures of the girls from throughout the year throughout the house so everyone could clearly see how much they have grown and changed.


Here's the cake - a pea pod of course! Maddie and Jules both had a taste and pronounced it mighty fine!




Cutting the cake and singing Happy Birthday to the birthday girls



I'm still in a little bit of shock that my girls are actually 1!

Happy Birthday Little Lion and Roo Roo!

Happy Birthday Madeleine and Juliette

My wee girls are one!

I'm finding it hard to believe that they have come from this



to that in just one year!




We have Juliette our little adventurer who is always on the go. Will tell you quite strongly if she doesn't like something or it's unfair. Jules often makes a little roaring sound so I call her my little lion.

Madeleine is our little love bug. She likes nothing better than to sit and have love and cuddles on Mummy. Maddie is just the sweetest little girl.

Madeleine and Juliette - Happy Birthday - We love you so much!

Wordless Wednesday

The State of the Nation

It's been a while!

Wii love has taken over our lives! I over did it on Monday and could hardly move yesterday! I was only slightly sore and then Wayne brought home another Wii remote so we could play boxing together. My determination to win meant that I put everything I had into a match together. It wasn't long until I realised that it might not have been a good idea!

Jules is now totally over her virus - thankfully in time for her birthday on Saturday. Party planning is now in full swing! We are surprisingly under control. I am taking advantage of an decorating making offer at a multiple birth meeting on Thursday night. I don't think they realise the insanity of a Oliver birthday but they soon will! I'm making a slideshow of photo's of the girls first year. I didn't realise how much the neonatal stay affected me but found wading through our photo's emotionally hard going.

We have started to crack down on Trelise's diet. Snacks and biscuits have crept up to a point where that's pretty much all she will eat. Yesterday was successful and she actually ate most of her dinner. I won't lie there was some begging, pleading, crying and then screaming!

Dora the Explorer live was on Saturday and both Trelise and Wayne throughly enjoyed themselves. Wayne more than Trelise I believe! The merchandise tent seemed to have exploded as they walked by so our house is now stocked with all things Dora! Madeleine and Juliette have discovered that the Dora wand is a useful weapon and that trying to eat the Dora balloon gets a fantastic reaction from Trelise (it's a metallic balloon not the plain rubber ones which would be a chocking hazard if they were eaten!)

Watch this space for birthday pictures!

Wii Finally Got One!

Finally the Wii is back in stock here so yesterday we added one to our family along with Wii Fit.

It's brilliant and I've been having so much fun exercising. Not to keen on my fit age however 57!!!!!! Being the obsessive person I am I've retaken the test quite a few times (5) and I'm now down to 36! I've also learnt that Wii fitting at 11pm at night probably means I won't be able to get to sleep!

Before we go and increase our Wii library those of you with Wii's can you let me know what titles you love and which ones aren't so good.

Driving Miss Lisi.

My child is the ultimate back seat driver! She screams if I go a way she doesn't like! She is able to direct me to her favourite places (namely Junglerama, the pool and the zoo!). Often I have requests to speed up or slow down. From the back also comes timely reminders to stop for traffic lights ahead.

Yesterday however I was late and I was having one of those days. You know the days where you have to give way to everyone and it seems to be forever until it's your turn to go. As I approached one of our local intersections the light changed to orange and instead of slowing down I sped up. From the back a little voice said "you could have stopped"

Trelise was lucky enough to go to a play of Puss n Boots yesterday (the reason I was rushing) and was taken to the play in one of her teachers cars. On the way home I asked her how Christine's driving was. She said "ok" so I asked if she drove to fast or to slow? and she said "no but I did ask her if she was looking where she was going!"

I'm sure she gets it from Wayne!!!

Wordless Wednesday

Spray - The return!

We all headed to Spray in the weekend for a swim after such a great time on Monday. The babies had a good time discovering the spray nozzles and got a bit of a fright when things unexpectedly sprayed them!



Here's some pictures of the entire pool complex. I'm so in love with this pool as a kiddie destination as it has so much to occupy everyone and the water is so lovely and warm. The first picture is of the toddler pool which is pretty shallow and lets Maddie and Jules crawl around it without any problems. The second picture is of the big pool which Trelise loves. There are water cannons and water flies from everywhere!



Our visit this time wasn't that successful as Miss Juliette wasn't her usual bouncy into everything self. The reason became apparent yesterday with the appearance of spots all over her little body and face. A not so quick visit to the Doctor has a diagnosis of a virus. Not so quick as we waited for 2 hours to be seen - so much for heading to the urgent medical centre rather than my usual doctor!

Why my carpet needs to be shampooed again!

I should know better than to leave baby food unattended. I placed it out of the way but apparently not far enough! On my return this is what I found with no culprits in sight!

Instead here they are fleeing from the scene of the crime!

I believe Juliette is the main offender as the following pictures show Madeleine obviously had her head down when the bowl was flipped!

Viper

Look what I've been reduced to!!!

In an effort to save the digital television card from being yanked out repeatably making watching anything virtually impossible while Maddie and Jules are around. They like to grab it and then wave it around like a trophy. Licking the card is also popular and just for everyone's information a licked card usually comes up as unknown card until you clean it!

Who says McDonald's toys aren't helpful!

What goes up must come down

Yes Monday was to good to be true. Today is the opposite - whining, moaning and nagging. I canceled our fun zoo outing and brought the troops home early.

I am now refusing to be called Mum. That happens if you use what should be a term of endearment as a form of torture by repeating it every 2 seconds - I am kind and letting her use Jo not the harder to pronounce Jocasta! I've banished Trelise to her room - I can't call it timeout as that would presume that she is coming out and as of now I'm not sure she is.

The babies are lovely - fighting over a spoon as you do - but lovely!

Supermother!

I do feel like supermother today!

First the troops and I headed out to storytime at our local library. We all had a great time and had no bad behaviour from anyone! Then a quick trip home where Mads and Jules took a quick nap.

We then headed out to the mechanic where my car was finally fixed. I've been driving without a warrant for ages waiting for a part to be delivered from Singapore. While the car was being fixed the girls and I headed for a family restaurant that I generally don't go to but it had an indoor playground and it was raining! We had lunch and Trelise had a great time running around the playground with some random boys she befriended. We headed back to the mechanic's to pick up the car to find they had also fixed my bumper at no charge that I had unfortunately pulled off while visiting a friend a few weeks ago. I didn't ask them but they obviously felt that my car was disgraceful driving around looking like it's been in a rally or something!



Then we headed to our local pool for a swim. Yes I took all three for a swim by myself. To be fair our local pool has an amazing toddler swimming area and it's pretty much crawling depth. We had a fantastic time. Trelise found some girls to play with and the babies and I just crawled around splashing. By the time we left 2 hours had passed and I had some very very tired girls!

100th Post

My 100th Post!

Who would have thought 100 random facts about myself would be so hard!


1. Wayne and I have been together for 13 years, married for 8.

2. I've never lived anywhere apart from Wellington, New Zealand

3. I've visited 31 countries

4. If I could holiday anywhere I would go to France or China

5. I collect Effiel Towers

6. I have a BCA majoring in Marketing from Victoria University

7. I left school early and took a while before finding my feet

8. I'm a really good receptionist but I hate it!

9. I was a PA to the CEO of Wellington City Council before I had Trelise

10. Losing 60 pounds a couple of years ago is one of my biggest achievements

11. I only have 1 filling in my teeth

12. I was teased a lot at school for my skin colour - I don't tan

13. I have size 5-6 feet and can shop in the children sizes

14. My cat is 15 years old

15. I love animals and cry when ever animal cruelty comes on TV

16. Passing cyclists while driving terrifies me

17. I decorated Trelise's room totally myself

18. I love french fries

19. I like my bacon microwaved - not grilled

20. I watch far to much TV

21. I'm so sick of changing nappies

22. I'm very proud of my girls

23. I did ballet for years as a child

24. I have two silblings and I'm the eldest

25. There is 16 years difference in age between me and my sister Chloe

26. I love living in New Zealand but wish it wasn't so cold and it had an Ikea

27. My first trip overseas was to Bali and I wanted to go home on about day number 2. I did change my mind!

28. Wayne and I traveled around Europe for 6 months sleeping in a car for most of it

29. We decided on Madeleine and Juliette's name's over lunch at a Belgian cafe

30. We decided that the first baby out was to be called Madeleine and the second Juliette then changed our minds and named the bigger one Madeleine and the smaller Juliette. It didn't matter as both ways had the same outcome

31. I like drinking Berroca and Diet Coke together

32. I take things to heart

33. I'm able to feel guilty about just about anything

34. I eat far to much salt

35. I hate washing dishes

36. I can't spell to save myself

37. I develop little obsessions which seem to take over my life - like collecting plastic animals for Trelise!

38. I wish we had more outdoor living

39. I'm looking forward to going back to work part-time when the girls get older

40. I used to spend hours and hours doing my nails now it's the last thing I do

41. I need to do a home disaster kit but I keep putting it off

42. We collect fridge magnets from anywhere we go on holiday

43. I don't like spicy food

44. My favourite wine is Chardonnay

45. I once watched the entire first season of Kath and Kim in 1 day and I think it changed my personality forever!

46. I really need a holiday and would love to spend a couple of weeks lounging around a Pacific Island. I'm not really fussy which one!

47. I've been friends with Sarah Jane my whole life

48. I think I'm really lucky to have a few close friends

49. Sometimes I regret getting Carlos. Now is one of those times as he is barking like a maniac in the hallway

50. I didn't learn to drive until I was 25

51. I used to love gardening but haven't since having children

52. I watch Shortland Street pretty much every night

53. I think Julian McMahon from Nip/Tuck is extremely sexy but I have to tape the show as I tend to fall asleep in it

54. I'm making Chicken Curry for dinner tonight

55. I love skiing but can only go fast and have no turning ability. I have a story that I will blog about one day.

56. Every time I try and dye my hair blonde and home I go a color like Fanta. You would think I would have only tried this once!

57. I'm more of a cat person than a dog person.

58. I've just talked Wayne out of getting chickens!

59. I have a fascination with guinea pigs and if they weren't so much work I might be tempted to add to our animal family

60. I don't wear gloss lipstick because I hate my hair sticking to my lips in the wind

61. I wanted to be a pilot growing up

62. I feel sad that my children won't have the same freedom in childhood that I had growing up

63. I only like trim milk

64. I can't reach our clothes line so I have to put everything into the dryer

65. I need to get out more by myself

66. I can see lions out my lounge window

67. I would rather be cold than to hot

68. I want to take a photography class

69. As a teenager my favourite show was 21 Jump Street - Go Johnny Depp!

70. I was obsessed by George Michael as a teenager

71. I still know all the words of all of George Michael's songs

72. My first favourite band was A-ha

73. I don't like peanut butter or tomato sauce

74. I refuse to buy food products made in China

75. My hair has got more frizzy and out of control with each pregnancy

76. I don't like rudeness

77. I have difficulty hearing with background noise

78. I don't enjoy watersports

79. I enjoy doing yoga

80. I can completely turn my tongue upside down

81. I spend far to much time on the internet

82. I like doing arts and crafts

83. I love the living channel

84. I'm right handed

85. I prefer instant coffee over plunger

86. I'm allergic to many perfumes

87. My ipod has Britney Spears, The Cult, Bon Jovi and Dora the Explorer on it

88. I once won a $300 pair of sunglasses by catching a red ping pong ball

89. My first car was a 1982 Honda Civic - the super Civic

90. The only bone I've ever broken is a finger I slammed in a car door

91. I pick my hairs split ends off when I'm nervous, stressed or bored

92. I'm short so it's always hard to find trousers that are the right length

93. I don't own any socks - I borrow Wayne's!

94. I no longer wear high heels because I think it looks slapperish pushing a double buggy

95. I bribe my child to tell me she loves me

96. Dirty Dancing is my favourite movie

97. I gave up smoking just over 4 years ago

98. I love amusement parks and dream of visiting Disneyland

99. Marion Keyes is my favourite author

100. My family is the most important thing in my life


Phew - that's all folks!

Pathwords

I've just beaten Kath in Pathwords!!!

I'm very excited as I've never even come close before - spelling has never been my strong point!!!

* Pathwords is a facebook game where you make words out of a grid

It's a truly disgusting day here in Wellington today. It's really cold, really wet and really windy. I've already been annoyed as when I came back from dropping Trelise at creche I found a glazier had parked in front of our garage. Didn't seem to matter about the yellow broken lines, the garage or the fact that it wasn't even the house he was working at. I rang the 0800 number of his van and bollocked the operator. What can I say I was cross! I can't get both girls out of the car on the street as one side is a steep bank and as the weather is so terrible I didn't want one out in it while retrieving the other so I had to wait until he moved his van. He comes up just as I had given up and was about to get my buggy out to transport them down to the house and not even a sorry!

Batteries

You know when you buy a toy and to put the batteries in you have to go and find a little screwdriver and wrestle with the whole thing to make it work all time the swearing at children who make toy manufacturers go to such lengths to secure their batteries.

If anyone has wondered what type of children do such a thing I can answer that.

MINE!!!