Monday, August 23, 2010

A few funny things...

I have been wanting to post silly things but I haven't had any to post...now that is not to say that I never do anything silly but I haven't really had any funny, silly moments. But all of a sudden I have had a few happen all at the same time.

Ok, first silly thing. It is 4 in the morning and I am making my baby a bottle of formula when I realise that the first scoop of stuff I put in the bottle was a scoop of sugar (which was open next to the bottle of formula - should tidy up before I go to bed LOL)! It was funny even though Ben had to wait longer for his bottle.

Next silly thing. My husband and I would like to go to bed at the same time but it doesn't happen often. The other night I was going to go to bed at the same time as him but was stuck doing something interesting on the computer and when I got to bed the cat had taken my place in the crook of his neck!!! Too late Leanne.

Another silly thing. This is a long term silly thing. When I first met my friend Sarah I could not understand her passion for op shopping. I used to be amazed at what she could get for the price but whenever I went (which was not often and for only a short amount of time) I could only see rubbish and the place smelt like old ladies...But now, finally after 3 1/2 years I am CONVERTED! I am addicted to op shopping so much so that will op shop first to buy clolthes for my girls before traditional shopping. Finally converted and now I am losing my op shopping partner to Queensland.

Another one...being house proud and vacuuming and mopping before my visitors come for an evening and then having to do it again after the visitors leave!

Thinking I could have chocolate/ice cream and coke in the house and not eat it all up!

Putting the ironing board away and thinking it was all done when three more loads of washing were lining up to be dried, folded, ironed and put away!

Getting showered and dressed before I fed Benjamin and spending the day with dried weetbix on me from a breakfast sneeze!

And lastly...I was making quiche for tea a couple of nights ago with a recipe I know off by heart but for some reason it wasn't setting in the oven. I realised that I had put a whole tub of cream in the quiche instead of half a tub...I managed to save the day by spooning the mix in to muffin tins and bake on their own. It turned out ok.

So there are a few silly things I have done lately.

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Trying to nap with kids!

Hmmm, it is only 10am and my silly thing has already been ticked off! Trying to nap with three kids in the house.

Ben wakes at about 7 and is ready to go back to sleep at about 8.30. He is not the best sleeper at night and I was awake with him for about an hour and a half last night.

So this morning when he was ready to go back to bed and the girls were asking me to put the tv on I decided to say yes and take advantage of what might be an hour of quiet to try and get 40 minutes of sleep.

Well what a silly idea! Ben has gone down like a champ but my girls who normally stick like glue to the tv when I let them have it on have been restless and wanted a hundred things off me so no sleep for me and now Ben is still asleep, Jess is quietly (what the???) watching a movie and Emily is setting up a game for her and I to play.

I guess I shall just have to wait until 10 tonight to go back to sleep and do it all again....sob, sob, sob.

Chasing the (almost) impossible



My mum had to make an emergency dash to Melbourne to get a re-entry visa because she is going to England next month and is still a British National (even though she has lived here a long time!).

When Nanna Leah comes to visit she ALWAYS brings presents for the kids. This time my mother wanted to buy the girls something called a zhu zhu pet. I had never even heard of these toys until yesterday morning.

My mum had been telling me how popular these toys were and that they sold out quickly and were hard to get but I didn't believe that we would have this problem in Melbourne. How wrong I was!

We popped in to the huge Big W in the city but they were all out of stock and not sure when they would get more in. I picked up something else that I thought the girls would like but mum suggested we try another store on our way home.

I was thinking of heading to Eastland but decided Doncaster might be better. We walked in to Big W and there was ONE zhu zhu guinea pig. It wasn't really a very cute one but it was a zhu zhu pet. This lead us to believe that more were available. I knew we had another Big W at Eastland and I called them to hold one for me but they were out and they advised that we would be hard pressed to get one as even the manufacturer was out of stock!

Isn't it just the way that we always want what we can't have? Just when my mum had decided we would have to settle on something else I felt something inside me click in to overdrive and the desire to purchase these toys (well, mum purchase them!) became greater than good reason!

I then started to call toy stores or stores that sold toys and the story was always the same - out of stock. After about 12 phone calls (really not kidding - I checked my phone log!) I was almost ready to give up but I spotted the sign for Croydon and decided to call one last toy store.

Imagine how surprised we were to find they had two in stock? And not just two in stock but two pretty ones in stock, one pink and one yellow. We told them to hold them and zoomed off to collect them with great joy!

It turned out that this store was also out of stock but a lone box had been misplaced in the store room and only recently discovered and these were the last two in the lost box.

When we came home and gave the toys to the girls we expected them to REALLY, REALLY love them because of all the effort we had gone to buy them. We were not disappointed and I can see exactly why they are sold out and so popular. The girls love them.

Thursday, August 5, 2010

Inspired by the theme!

Kym has been my blogging inspiration. I have been enjoying reading her monthly-themed blogs. But when the new month started and there was no new theme or blog entries from Kym and I felt a bit cheated.

Obviously I was not the only one and harrah Kym is now blogging on a new theme, "The Silly Things I Do". I am going to try to blog on this theme. This is the sort of honest revelation that I love....

To start I would love to share something silly that my mother-in-law did recently when she was visiting.

Mum went off grocery shopping for me which was a wonderful gift as I hate grocery shopping. When she came home she eagerly sprayed her room and the bathroom with glen 20 to kill some cold germs her lovely husband was trying to share with her. She then went on to put the rest of the groceries away (she really is wonderful!) and all of a sudden let out a small scream and ran back to her bedroom. She then came out of the room muttering, "stupid, stupid, stupid, that is one off the most stupid things I have ever done"! It turns out she had mixed up two of the items on the grocery list, the green glen 20 spray and a green can of spray olive oil! The bathroom and bedroom were sticky with olive oil spray but at least our frypans weren't slippery with glen 20 spray.

While I don't want this sort of mishap happening in my life every day I do hope this is the sort of funny, annoying, silly things I will fill my blog with this month.

Monday, July 26, 2010

Love when inspiration strikes

This afternoon I had no idea what to make for tea and then suddenly I came up with a plan...Honey Soy Garlic stir fry with "chicken" pieces from the quorn range. I just had to take a pic of all the fantastic vegetables...It was yum.


Sunday, July 25, 2010

Breast is best?


Ask any expert, read any parenting book and you have to agree that there is no denying the fact that breast is best. But is breast best when your 7 month old decides to totally reject one side so you end up looking like a lop sided Dolly Parton?

If you were to ask me how long I would be feeding my baby boy for, the answer would have been, 12 months. Did I think that I would wean him at 7 months? The short answer is, no and the long answer is that he kind of made the decision himself.

When my first born entered the world I was determined to feed her in the way that God intended but then she was born just over a week early at 5lb 2oz with undiagnosed IUGR (basically this just means failure to thrive in the womb due to a dodgy placenta). This meant that she had to enter special care until she was a decent weight and feeding independently (without a tube).

After the wonderful public system sent me home without my baby (she had to stay in special care for over a week but I was only allowed to stay for two days!) I was desperate to do anything to get her home. However, her sucking reflex was very poor which meant she had to be tube fed with formula and expressed breast milk to help her gain weight quickly.

At that stage if you asked me how I intended to feed my daughter, the answer was, anyway that will get her home quickly! In the end she put on weight very quickly which lead to her sucking reflex becoming stronger and finally she came home and was a fully breast fed baby for the next 14 months.

When my second child was born she was a breastfeeding natural. She latched on straight after birth and continued to feed for over an hour. The truth of the matter is that we wanted her to stop feeding because she hadn’t even been weighed yet! This early success meant she was a fully breastfed baby until just over 12 months.

Then Benjamin was born with IUGR, 4 weeks early by emergency c-section at a low birth weight (the same as his eldest sister in fact!) and I was sure he would have all the same feeding issues as Emily. But he came out of the womb and was a vigorous feeder (painfully so!!!) and I thought that was that.

But as I said before, he started to reject me about a month ago and I really wasn’t sure what to do. I was on the cusp of hiring an electric pump to increase my supply and flow when all of a sudden I just decided it was too hard and weaned him off the one remaining boob!

How did I feel after he took the bottle that first time? I have to confess that I felt guilty, I felt some grief, I felt some pain at the thought of the cost and I also felt like a failure. Should I have tried harder, done more, not given up?

The truth is that when I was first out at the shops feeding him with the bottle I just wanted to yell out to everyone, “He rejected me! I would still be feeding him! I breastfed my other two children for over 12 months! Don’t judge me!” etc, etc, etc…

And then I watched my dear husband feeding his son. How did I feel? You are expecting me to say that this tugged on my heart strings and made me feel all gooey inside but the truth of the matter is that the first emotion I felt then was RELIEF followed by FREEDOM!!!

I have just finished feeding my son. It is the middle of the night. I have held him close in much the same way as I did when he was breastfeeding. I have had great eye contact the whole time. He has held my hand and smiled at me while I am feeding him his bottle. He has finished and cuddled in for a few minutes until I get up and put him back to bed.

So now, how do I feel? The truth is that I feel exactly the same way I did when I was breastfeeding him; that it is the middle of the night and I wish I was still sleeping!!! No, just kidding!

I enjoy that quiet, sleepy night feed when bubs isn’t trying to look at everything and big sisters aren’t trying to get his attention (or mine) and he is blissfully staring up at me in adoration and I just know that I am supplying all his needs in the way man intended – via bottle. I can’t complain. He is happy and so am I.

Infrequent friends...

Do you have friends that you don’t see very often? Do you have friends who live in the same state and city as you but you still don’t see very often? Do you have friends who you haven’t really spent much time with but would love to spend more time with? We do.

Yesterday we had the joy of visiting another church with the Lilydale Adventist Academy Choir. Lynden is a member of the stage band (yes, band camp nerd alert!!!). The highlight of this visit for me was going to be catching up with some friends that we never get to see and who we wish we could see more of.

And so, earlier in the week I sent a Facebook message to said friends to alert them to the fact that we were heading their way. When I sent the message I was worried it sounded like we were fishing for a lunch invite but at the same time I was hoping that they would see the post, know we were coming and invite us to lunch so we could spend time together. Message read, received and invite sent and we had lunch together.

It was such a lovely afternoon! The kids played with their daughter and were so blissfully happy. We enjoyed great conversation, lots of laughs and lots of yummy food.

Our hosts have a pet snake which Em thought was very exciting (so did I!) and we spent lots of time “cuddling” it.



I wonder if when God invented Sabbath he had afternoons like this in mind? I sure hope so because they are fantastic. I wish we lived closer to these friends and could spend more time with them.

They know who they are and we will be returning the favour and inviting you our way very soon!

Saturday, July 24, 2010

Conquering Coeliac's Disease


Last year we were faced with the scary prospect that Emily might have something wrong with her. That she might have some sort of syndrome or disorder. In fact, my doctor had referred me to a specialist to check for dwarfism.

I kind of laughed about the whole dwarfism idea but deep down I was worried that the referral and visit to the specialists at the Royal Children’s Hospital would reveal something nasty and life threatening.

Why were we worried, why did we go to the doctor and seek that referral? If you have seen my two beautiful daughters (who are 21 months apart in age) you would agree that they could be mistaken for twins. I am constantly stopped in the shops and asked if they are twins. Sometimes when Em sees an adult at the shops staring at her and her sister she will automatically say “we aren’t twins, she’s three and I’m five”.

When you look at my girls you can see that they are related but what people also see is that they are pretty much the same size. This is one of the things that lead us to the doctors. Emily is quite petite and very small for her age.

The main reason we went to the doctors was the fact that Emily, who at this stage was 4 years old, had never had a firm number two in her life. I went to the doctors because I was sick of wiping my 4 year old’s but!

After the first visit we were sent off for a blood test that was going to check all sorts of things but the most worrying screen was for chromosomal disorders. I carried a small niggle in the back of my mind that something could be wrong, she is going to have some nasty disorder that is going to affect her whole life, she is never going to grow any bigger, she is never going to be able to wipe her own bottom!

We had an appointment to go back to the hospital in a month’s time. We had been informed that if it was something serious, we would get a phone call before that time. As the days ticked by I started to feel some relief because we hadn’t had a phone call and then about a week before we were due to go back to the hospital for the results, we received a phone call from the paediatrician.

I was sitting at my desk at work when my mobile rang. I hurriedly answered it and heard, “This is Dr Robyn from the Royal Children’s Hospital” and honestly, my heart stopped or skipped a beat or did something to make me feel funny and then I felt this white heat spread over my whole body. Oh no, the hospital is ringing me! It must be bad.

And then she says, “We have the results back from Emily’s tests and it looks like it is Coeliac’s Disease”. The doctor then talked for a bit more but honestly, I wasn’t listening, I have to say that all I was feeling at that stage was relief! I was so pleased it wasn’t some awful disorder. It was the best possible result (after not having anything wrong and just being petite with runny poos!!).

Now, 12 months on we have had the formal diagnosis and have been feeding Emily a gluten free diet for six months. We have been very strict with Em’s diet because feeding a coeliac is the same as feeding someone with a dairy allergy. While some coeliac’s don’t have a visible reaction, lots of damage is done to their insides when they have gluten and that has to be avoided.

We have seen some changes in Em, she is growing more quickly and yes, she now has firm number twos! We have just been back to the RCH for follow up blood test results. I have been waiting for these test results. These results will reveal the truth.

Have we been strict enough? Do we need to do separate cheese, separate margarine, stop getting hot chips from our favourite place that cooks crumbed fish in the same oil as the chips, do we have to stop feeding her foods that contain the warning “may contain traces of gluten”? We have already made so many changes; do we have to make more?

But the results were fantastic - normal! Hooray, we have conquered it, we are doing the right things and her body is working the way it should. She is no longer anaemic and her iron stores are good. I can’t tell you how much of a relief it is.

Well done my brave Emily! There are times when you will have to sacrifice and be sad because there are things you can’t have but you are healthy and growing because of it.

Friday, July 2, 2010

Musical Beds

Picture the scene: It is 7.13pm. All three kids are in bed, asleep. The kitchen is clean and the debris of the day has been put back where it belongs.

What do you do on a Friday night at 7.13pm when all the above has been achieved? Well, I don't know what other people do but I know that Lynden and I (being the parents of three small children, the workers of one demanding job and one home business and the owners of a house that required never ending attention) go to bed to read and sleep!

After being asleep for a few minutes (at about 7.30) Benjamin starts to cry. He has a bad cold and is unwell. Lynden gets up to settle him while I snuggle deeper under the covers.

Over the next hour I get up a couple of times to settle him and finally after the fourth time getting up, I realise I am going to have to put Benjamin in bed with us just so we can get some sleep.

There was a problem though. I CANNOT sleep with my kids in the bed. I am one of those people who HATE it! But I came up with an ingenious plan…I decided to slide the spare bed in Ben’s room up against the cot so I could just reach my hand out and pat him every time he woke.

Later in the night, Jess came to visit our room and when she realised mummy wasn’t in it, she decided to take my place.

At 2.30 (when I was up getting more medicine for Ben and refilling the humidifier), Lynden put Jess back in her bed.

In the early hours of the morning, Em came to visit our room for something and when she realised mummy wasn’t in the bed, she hopped in.

By the time morning came all the girls in the house had slept in another bed at some time during the night. I can tell you that while the others slept, I didn’t!!! So tired…

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Just like mummy

I love school holidays. It means Lynden is home and we are all together. It also means that at times I might have some one on one time with one of my big kids while the other one is off with Dad somewhere.

Today Jessica and I had some time to just hang out together. It is a taste of what life will be like next year when her big sister Em, is at school and Ben, asleep.

Jessica is my shadow child. She likes to be near you and doing things beside you all the time. She doesn't have to be entertained by you, just near you. So when I sat at the bench to have a cup of jo today, of course she wanted one too. So cute!

And then there were six!



Last weekend the amount of children in our house doubled. No, we did not all of a sudden pull a "Brangelina" and procure three adopted children out of thin air. The additions came about because our very good friends asked us to babysit their three boys while they went away.

Why is it that when we babysit other people's children we give them the best of ourselves and when it comes to our own children, they often get the cranky leftovers?

It amazes me how much patience I can have for someone else's children. They can ask endless questions and they are all answered with a smile. They can ask for food ten times a day and I am happy to oblige. They can ask for me to put this together/take this apart/stick this here/help me there and I am happy to do it every time.

It amazes me that I sat down with everyone at lunch when often I am still standing at the bench cleaning, making the next round or doing who knows what while the rest of my family sit down and eat lunch together.

It amazes me that I could play games and read books endlessly when I am quick to get it over with when doing it with my own children.

I will admit that I was nervous about having six kids in the house but the weekend was lovely. I took the time to play with the boys and thus with my kids. I took the time to make special morning and afternoon tea that they all enjoyed. I took the time to sit and chat with them all which was fun.

I also enjoyed watching my wonderful husband give and give and give of himself. He is a fantastic father and was a really super adoptive father to the boys over the weekend. He tirelessly played xbox and board games and took the kids swimming for hours and then spent a couple of hours putting together our massive Thomas train set with five "helpers". He has the patience of a saint!

This would have been a very hard time if the three boys in question weren't such lovely, well brought up boys. Their parents should be very proud of them. Their parenting efforts made having them in our house a joy.

It's an honour to be entrusted with someone else's children. I really hope they went home feeling loved and cared for and a part of our family.

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Mamma, change your attitude!

My kids really like music and they have some exposure to music with Lynden and I leading song worship at church sometimes, Daddy playing guitar, trumpet and French horn, Grandpa playing violin and Grandma playing piano.

The girls have been learning about various instruments with Lynden via general chit-chat and they have been desperate to go to a concert.

And so that is how I found myself sitting in a busy auditorium with three kids watching The Advent Brass Band perform last Saturday night.

I must confess that when Lynden told me he wanted to take the girls to the concert I wasn't very keen. I actually wanted to shelve that idea in the "one day" file and never really think about it again! My lack of interest stemmed from the thought of trying to keeping three kiddies happy in a concert hall where others have paid good money to sit and enjoy a concert. It sounded like the night from hell to me. I would have used Benjamin as an excuse to stay home part of Em's excitement was the fact that we were all going as a family.

Because I attended with such a negative vibe, the night was going as I expected. Benjamin was squirmy and cranky as he wanted to be asleep in his cot, Jessica kept dropping things and I was having to find things in the dark and Emily kept asking question after question. I felt frazzled and annoyed!

During the 2nd half I found myself beginning to relax. Ben and Jess fell asleep and Emily's questions lessened and I really started to enjoy the performance.

On the drive home I was thinking about my attitude. I had originally wanted to put the whole event in the "too hard" basket but my wonderful husband wanted to embrace the idea and create a great memory and learning experience for our kids (must be the teacher in him).

Thursday, June 17, 2010

Never alone!


I really struggle being a mother. I am not some hard-core career woman who is missing her job because when I used to work full-time I dreamt of the day I would be a full-time stay at home mother. So why do I struggle so much?

The truth is that I am really a loner. I learnt when I was living in a share house with six other people in London that I really like my own company.

Even as a new bride I liked my alone time. Lynden used to go out on Wednesday nights to a band thing and I used to look forward to that night. It was one night a week I could veg out and do whatever I wanted alone!

So the struggle for me as a mother is that I am rarely alone. This has been the biggest shock of mothering to me. When it was just the two girls I did have some alone time but now with a baby in the house again these moments are few and far between.

At lunch today I had a baby in the highchair crying out for food, Emily asking me to get her something and Jessica making loud noises about something too and all while I was trying to get three different meals ready (one baby meal, one gluten free meal and one normal meal for Jess). I felt very frazzled and told Emily she had to learn to be patient.

Sarah, my very wise friend, calmly proceeded to ask Emily a set of questions.

Sarah, "Emily, are you a big girl?"
Emily, "Yes"
Sarah, "Can you do things all by yourself?"
Emily, "Yes"
Sarah, "Can Benjamin do things all by himself?"
Emily, "No"
Sarah, "So do you think mummy has to do things for Ben sometimes before she can do the things you want her to do for you?"
Emily, "Yes, because Ben can't do them himself"
Sarah, "That's right, and because you are big do you think you could get down and get that thing by yourself"

And then Emily did get down and help herself as she should have probably done in the first place. Now why didn't I think of that? Why didn't I come up with that lesson? The truth is that I didn't want to teach a lesson, I just wanted quiet and peace and to be alone at that very moment...

I know I am a good mother and I know my kiddies love me and that we get through the day quite well most of the time but I think I will always struggle with the lack of alone time and the severe lack of head space.

One day my kids will be all grown up and I will have that precious alone time that I currently crave in abundance. I am sure I will look back on this picture with longing and wonder where did the time go.

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Butter wouldn't melt...


I am currently reading this fantastic book called, "A pressure cooker saved my life" by Juanita Phillips. In it she talks about the exhaustion caused by a new baby and broken sleep.

In fact, she says that sleep deprivation was an approved torture technique used in Guantanamo Bay but the rules (rules for torture - who knew?) were that the tortured detainee must be allowed four consecutive hours of sleep every 24 hours.

Oh man, that is more hours of sleep in a row than I get at present!!

This morning when I woke up after another night of too little sleep I had decided to call this blog entry, "The tortured sleep".

Obviously I didn't.

Last night I stayed up a bit too late doing my own thing after the kiddies were all in bed. Just as I turned out the light Ben started to cry. I went and settled him and after about half an hour the house was totally quiet again and I could relax and finally fell asleep.

Not long later (1:06am according to Lynden's bedside clock) I was woken up by Benjamin again. After feeding him I took myself back to bed again hoping to sleep until morning.

A bit longer later (4:26am - Lynden's clock) and I was up again to a crying baby. He didn't want to settle so I decided to bring him in to our bed to see if we could both go back to sleep together.

Finally at a bit before 5am Ben was placed back in his bed and I went back in to a light sleep until morning.

It is now 5:00pm and I still feel so tired...While Ben hasn't been his 100% happy self you can see from this picture that the night really hasn't affected him too badly. Hence, the blog title!

Here's hoping for a better night's sleep tonight.

PS. What do I do on Thursdays? Anything I want to (that needs doing, that Ben will let me do etc..).

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Hide the scissors!

I have been trying to decide if I will do the picture a day challenge or just a random daily posting from the day...I think at present it will be random postings with a picture if appropriate!

Emily and I have been discussing getting her hair cut. She has very fine hair but she also has a lot of it so it gets very knotty and is a nightmare to comb and style (ask Sarah, she will tell you this is true!). After much discussion the decision was made, Em would get a bob!

Jess' hair is very different from Ems. Her hair is thick and curly and yes does get knotty but the knots can hide in the curls so not much has to be done to make her hair look nice. I have tried on two separate occasions to get Jess' hair trimmed but both times have ended in tears with very little hair cut!

Today both girls were keen so off we went.

Emily had her cut to the tune of, "When is it going to be my turn, the hairdresser has been cutting her hair all day!". Em finished with a lovely layered bob and then it was Jessica's turn.

I had prepped the hairdresser that it might be a sit and pike-out situation but no, Jess was ready for a haircut. She loves her hair and loves her curls but when the hairdresser had finished trimming her hair the waterworks started.

Not just waterworks! Kicking and screaming also ensued.

"I WANT MY HAIR SHORT, I WANT MY HAIR LIKE EMILY'S, I DON'T WANT CURLS, I WANT MY HAIR SHORT!!!"

I am so sad because Jessica's hair long is lovely and Emily's hair short is lovely. Why can't she be happy being different from her sister?

After bodily removing Jess from the hairdressers and placing her on her bed at home (all the while to the screamed exclamations typed earlier) and 40 minutes of tantruming later, Jessica came out of her room and apologised for her behaviour.

At the end of the day she still wants her hair cut short but has agreed to wait a while and see if she still feels the same. She will hate having her hair short, I just know it!

The long and short of it is (sorry about the pun but it was out there so I had to do it!!) that mummy has already made the decision and she is NOT getting her hair cut short but she doesn't need to know that....I have already been around the house and gathered every last pair of scissors and put them up high just in case she decides to take matters into her own hands.

My Emily looks so grown up with her new haircut and best of all, she loves it! Here's a picture.



What fun it is to share the "exciting" happenings of my day with whoever is out there reading this!

I live for Tuesdays and Thursdays!

Finally, I have created a blog! Kym, you are the inspiration.

I have a confession to make. I live for Tuesdays and Thursdays. Once upon a time BC (before children) I used to live for the weekend but now AC (yes, after children) I live for Tuesdays and Thursdays as they are the days my beautiful girls go to childcare.

Do they go to childcare because I work? Hmmm, how to answer that? I don't leave my home to go to a place of work that pays me a wage but I do run a home, look after three kids and a cat and run a small business from home but that isn't why they go to childcare.

The simple truth (and I have decided that this will be a blog of truth) is that my children go to childcare so I can have a break. They don't need it for socialisation or education etc but they need to go so I stay sane.

The truth is, I am a better mother because they go.

What do I do on Tuesdays? I will tell you what I do on Thursdays when Thursday comes - stay tuned. Well today I changed my stale sheets and I confess they were overdue. I washed three loads of washing, folded and put away two loads of washing, vacuumed and mopped the floors, cooked two meals (tonight's and tomorrow nights), did some Belly Beat work (check out my business ), met my favourite girls for coffee (Sarah and Fiona), did some shopping and of course fed and played with my baby boy.

But today I did something I have never done on a Tuesday before.

Today I had a massage!

It was bliss. Sarah came over while Benjamin was having his nap and I went off and had a one hour massage. One hour of total peace and quiet. One hour of total relaxation. One hour totally to myself. One whole hour...

I wish I could say this will become a regular Tuesday thing (like the mopping and meeting the girls for coffee) but I can't see that happening. However, it was the highlight of my day and such a wonderful treat.