Well, we have been in Darwin, the girls and I. Brenton went to Cairns at the same time for a Wedding which I knew would be a raucous reunion for him and all of his mates. So off we went to Darwin, 3 months since we booked the tickets and I can't believe it has come and gone. My friend who lives there is like a sister to me so we went and stayed with her and her family. It was a lovely break from my reality. We went out to the markets, (Parap, Palmerston and Mindil Beach) and didn't really do much else. We did go to another friend from schools' place at Humpty Doo, which was fabulous. We had a BBQ and Mia went swimming in thier pool and it was just lovely to catch up with the people who I am close with and have been close with when I was younger!
While we were there, Territory Day was celebrated, which means FIREWORKS!! I was abit excited, I love them and was hoping to get some good photos. Lexi wasn't too fussed by them but Mia was so she stayed inside with the tele on VERY LOUD! We had the fireworks in the above photo x 2 plus also about half again! It was great fun! Fireworks were going off all over the place. We just let them off in the street where my friend lives, it is a pity that some people don't do the right thing... it's the same with so many things, people will always be divided over these things.

I was determined to get a photo of Mia on Mindil Beach with the sunset, it was packed out and the kids were almost over being there... But I took a fair few which I really like! And we left before the sun went down, would have like a few photos of the sun half down, but I had Lexi strapped to me, and we were warm and Mia was tired! But I am glad that we got these sunset photos as the sun sets over land in these parts...

here are my entries for a CJ journal I'm involved in, this one is about your pregnancy and birth experiences. I just have't been around much to scrap and I am behind with this one, but have really enjoyed the process so far. I have my journalling to do on the births of the girls.. but that won't take me long to do.


Brenton (DH) is in hospital for the second night now, he came home from work in pain Friday lunchtime and could hardly walk. At first the Dr thought he had gout and gave him some tablets to take on Friday, but by Sat lunch time it was a lot worse, I sort of knew that he would be admitted to hospital, as his ankle had blown right up and was sooo red. I was looking for a red line up his leg but thankfully it was just in the one place. So now he is on IV fluids and two lots of IV anti-biotics every few hours. I hope he has improved tommorow, I really want him home. It was a novelty last night, but now just want him better and home. Let's see what tommorow brings.

I discovered a little tooth popping through in Lexi's bottom gum this morning, I knew that they were on thier way as her gum definition had changed and she has been a bit unsettled. Not crying or anything, but not sleeping much during the day in the last few days, and also waking up for a comfort drink a half hour after she had gome down for the night and also up twice last night for drinks... Anyway, she is coping very well with it and if that is all that she has to put up with, well I'm happy. My little bubba is growing up and it makes me sad. I don't want her to NOT grow up, but it happens so quickly. She is also being offered 3 solid meals a day, she doesn't always want them, she seems to prefer really pureed baby food, nothing with any texture at all... but the good thing is that I weighed her at the hospital while I was there with Brenton and she has put on over 300g in 2 weeks.. Which she hasn't done for a long time. So that is a good thing for her.

Mia is a button pusher at the moment, she is testing me. I am not patient enough with her and I know it. I have been reading some books so that I can learn how to handle myself better with her but sometimes I also think her ears are painted on. I sometimes wonder who is worse though, her or me!! I'm a parenting work in progress... ever evolving.
But Mia is a beautiful little girl, she loves me to lay down with her at night before she goes to sleep and have talks. And they are really special, and I find out all sorts of things that go on in her head that I wouldn't find out in the conversations of everyday. And it is a special time for us. I am making more of an effort to do this with her more often, days fly past but I think if we have a special connecting time it will be good for us. Mia must love me as she told me tonight that I was her favourite, I said that I know she loves us both the same...
She loves to draw, scrapbook, colour in, play with her barbies (and the barbies have some serious conversations let me tell you) paint, ride her bike around the backyard, watch movies, listen to music and play her DS. She is bored easily and sometimes gets in a mood where she wants me to produce 'something new to play with' magically... I love her to death...

We ordered some furtniture from IKEA during the week, and I can't wait to get it.. Bit excited about that one, been in the pipeline for so long, am so pleased that we are finally getting our tele cabinet thingy and the expedit to store scrapbooking stash in... Yippee... Although if you have any tips on sorting and storing your stash, please share.



Well, that's enough rambling I think, don't you!
xxx

My little Lexi Lou...
We had a cardiology checkup for Lexi on the 12th of June, unbelievable but it had been 3 months since her last visit.
It was an uneventful visit, she is on the small side, but we know that.
She has been going so well.
And she still will, but after her echo, we were told that she has a narrowing in her artery, and that more surgery may be on the cards in a year or two. I felt my heart drop.
Had our baby not been through enough?
So, an appointment in October will tell us if it has gotten any worse. I am worried of course. I just CAN NOT think about the prospect of more surgery for her so for now I'm not going to even think about it. So, we will keep an eye on her for fatigue which is out of character and enjoy our little girl. I need to do some more research into it all, and contact Terry (cardiologist) for info in layman's terms....

No scrapping, have so much going on at the moment, I want to but just can't get to it.
I have CJ's to do so that will be all I'll be doing or think I can manage ATM.

Thanks for visiting....
x

My girlies and I the Friday before last, I got Brenton to take this photo just before he went out to his friends house. I love getting in my PJ's early sometimes. Mia had been snotty and coughing for a few days and Lexi had just started with her cold, I had a shocking night with her this night. The poor little thing just could not settle, she was struggling that's for sure. On the Saturday I went right out and bought her a little heater for her room and a vaporiser. I didn't think that it could possibly make much difference but the steam in the air really does work when they are snuffly. I asked Brenton to zoom in on us, but he struggles sometimes with the camera and instructions!! lol!

Little Lou Lou asleep in here rocker in her room, she looked so cute I had to take a photo or five of her and of course woke her up! It was worth it!

Mia having a random play in her room. She makes such a mess in there, you would swear there were 5 kids in there with her! At least she is getting better at cleaning up, as long as she has help mind you! Lucy, the sore on her head is from Kindy, she stood up under a tree and scratched her forehead which in itself wasn't so bad, but then she has picked it quite a few times and made a big mess of it. She did the same thing last year. It drives me crazy, but she says she can't stop it and she likes it!!!!! Far Out!! Anyway, it has just about gone again now, so I'm hoping she doesn't make it shocking again!

Mia and I have been talking about making a fairy garden for ages now, so finally we did it during the week. We hunted and gathered things around the place, Christmas Decoration for the circle, a fairy bubble bath top, old starfish big and small, some sequins and some old flower scrapbooking embellishments. Mia keeps saying the fairies haven't visited but I tell her we would never know if they have... I tell her they might come and dance around and leave again!

Lucy sent us some beautiful little gifts this week, here is Lexi in her bib, I LOVE IT!! Not long after this Lexi had pureed vegies all over it and her!! She is starting solids, it's not my favourite thing to do. I can't wait until she gets the hang of it! She seems to think her food is good for blowing bubbles with, so it gets sprayed everywhere!! So there ends up dots of food from her toes up to her arms!!

I scrapped yesterday afternoon/last night, which was good. The above LO is a pic from a previous post, it is nothing like I thought it would look like and I made a big mistake that I needed to cover up, hence the big sticker in the top right corner, but you get that! Mia loved it so that's good enough for me!

This LO is for CCG #124, I have been abit slack with the scrapping. Sick kids, sick me, and now I am going away on Thursday for 8 days then home for 8 days then to Darwin with my girls for 7 nights. So, I won't have alot of time for scrapping by the time I pack and unpack and then pack again.... My enthusiasm waxes and wanes for scrapping. I am feeling enthused at the moment, the new Embellished site is going and it's fab, great challenges, great chickies over there. I just wish my mojo was present at all times. The one of Lexi just isn't fabulous, but again, I'm sure she will love it when she gets old enough to read!!! I need a pen that writes on photos.....

Hope all is well out there!!!
xx

Little Miss Lexi with her cute little outfit on! She looks like some kind of pink giraffe with it on. I took Lexi to Mia's kindy drop off with it on and we got a fair few comments on how cute she is, which is nice, you like people to think your baby is cute!! LOL!!

The week before last we had our VERY ugly tiles ripped up and replaced with floating floors. It was a pricey experience BUT with Lexi going to be crawling in a few months, I didn't want her to be picking up bits of grout that were cracking up and also tiny bits of tiles too. They were very hard to keep clean as they just didn't look clean even when you had just mopped them. I was moaning about them no end, as my friends can tell you.

The hallway after having the tiles 'cracked' off the floor. I was very excited by this sight!

And after, before we had our furniture back in. I still can't believe that we have this floor now! It's funny though, that people can't wait to tell you bad things about them, that they are hard to keep clean etc,etc... but the truth is, the quote to replace the floors with tiles again was $4000 more... And really I am very happy with the look of the floors...

I was reading the latest CK and they had a pretty comprehensive article about Mums, and a few different LO's so I got inspired to take some photos of myself and the girlies.... I will have to try again as Mia wasn't very co-operative, but we got a couple that I liked. I am thinking though that I need a trip to Channel 7's TEN YEARS YOUNGER IN TEN DAYS!! I have the worst frown lines in between my eyes, maybe as I frown too much... A little botox there would sort things out, and one of those eyelifts would be good too...but I've always had saggy eyelids... I'd never actually do it though, but it's funny to think about! I really like that show, it's amazing what they do to the couples.. I am really happy with the overall package of me, a little motivation wouldn't go astray, but I am a bit lazy, lol!!

Of course a photo can't capture it, but Lexi was doing that sucking thing that babies do in thier sleep in this photo, I love it!! Her hair is as wild as ever, and only getting longer... But no haircut for her, not yet anyway!

We have a vegie patch going at the moment, I am really enjoying watching the seedling pop up out of dirt, and then transplanting them to the patch! This is a tiny baby zucchini growing, we have quite a few, and I love zucchini. I'm looking forward to stuffed zucchini flowers... I have a couple of friends lined up to try them too. It's something I've always wanted to make!

This a broad bean plant seen through the top of the plastic 2ltr drink bottles I have over them to protect them until they get a bit bigger. It worked really well, we just cut the bottoms off and they serve as a mini glasshouse for the baby plants. We are currently growing cucumbers, zucchinis, peas, broadbeans, carrots, corn, beetroot, a giant pumpkin (will keep you posted on that one, the pumpkins should be massive) and we also have a few herbs, parsley, basil, coriander and dill. Oh and a few sunflowers too... Keeps me occupied and it's a fun thing to do. It's lovely to be able to say to Mia, 'come and have a look at how much this has grown' or 'have a look at this zucchini flower!'

Only one LO to show, haven't scrapped much at all in the last 2 weeks, which gets to me, but having the floors done, we decided to move my scrap area, as it was right by the flont door and quite a messy entrance to our house. I just need to get re-organised with all of my stash and it looks like I'll be back scrapping at the kitchen table which I don't love but oh well. I have a few CJ's here to do and I really enjoy doing the CCG challenges too, so had better sort out that stash soon! Our spare room is a very scary mess at the moment, I have all kinds of things in there that need to be sorted out. I'll get there.

Mia has woken up with a shocking cough and a horrible nose, and I'm going to keep her home from Kindy today, which she won't like, but I don't really want her to breathe on other kids, and she needs to rest. I knew that she would get sick though, as she spent alot of time on Saturday with one of her friends who had been ill and had a nose only a mother should wipe!! But you can't protect them from colds so you just let it run it's course!!

Lexi has been sleeping a little better, except of course for last night, she was awake again for quite a while at about 2 am til about 4am... It's allright though, she is just a baby and it won't last forever... (I HOPE)

Hope to be back early next week with some scrapping to show!!
xx

My entry in Renae's CJ, for the Life Experiences swap on the forum. I think all of my entries are more than likely going to be about Lexi's journey, it has come back and hit me with some force this past few weeks. I think that I haven't really de-briefed to anyone. I talk about it of course, but really really had a good let out, no, I haven't. And coupled with Lexi being so so unsettled, it made it all seem so much more full-on I guess. I am fine, it just all seemed to be getting on top of me for a bit there, but am happy to say I am feeling alot better now... more about that later in the post...

My LO for CCG #121, I missed last weeks challenge which I was shirty about but it just did not happen... I am really enjoying the colours, it is a fun thing to do... and I have gotten some really nice feedback which has lifted me quite abit too.. Go and see for yourself if you haven't already!

Little Lou Lou on the weekend, she looks quite chubby here. We went to Pt Augusta for one night and shopped (yippee) and spent some time with my in-laws who met us there, as it's about half way for both of us! I find it hilarious that Woolies excites me as much as it does. They have so much more variety than ours, alot more choice all around and to be honest, I'm jealous!! Anyway, I got yummy flavours of my favourite yoghurt and a dip that I just wanted to get! I'll sit down and eat the lot this week!!

The playground near where we stayed, Mia loved it, and it was a really good one too. We saw some people from Lincoln there that we recognised, which was nice, I like to see familiar faces even if I have no hope of remembering thier names... Oops! I am very bad with names and birthdays....

Lexi all rugged up in Pt Augusta... She just looks so cute!!


Those of you who read my blog would know that I have been having problems settling Lexi. I was really at my wits end with it all. I felt like I had no idea what she wanted and it was becoming a hit and miss affair. Sometimes she would fall asleep at the boob, sometimes not, sometimes she would fall asleep while being rocked, sometimes not... all the while she was VERY upset. I felt like I just did not know what was happening with her.... and that I did not know her at all! Also she was waking for up to 2 and a half hours in the middle of the night. I am taking my girls for a holiday to Darwin in 7 weeks and was wondering how the hell I would cope with her, and how our friends would cope with this baby who screamed until she finally gave in!
On Friday I went to Big W in Pt Augusta and bought Tizzie Hall's book, Save Our Sleep, and thoroughly read it last night after she finally gave in and went to sleep. Well today, things were put into practice and I feel like we are finally on the right track. AMAZING! The first sleep it didn't really work, but I went back over a few things in the book and the next sleep, I put her to bed, wrapped up and lay a wrap next to her face so she could feel it and rub her face against it if she liked... And it turns out she likes it, not a peep out of her at her 1 o'clock sleep and again tonight when I popped her into bed at 7pm!

7PM!!!!

She has NEVER gone to bed at that hour, and quietly, settling herself off to sleep! I am one happy Mumma right now, I feel as though we all might be a bit happier, not least of all Lexi who must have been sick of it all too!! I had the most wonderful chat with one of my old friends in Pt Lincoln who I let it all out to and she suggested it, and I'm so glad she did.... Look out, I might be back on the scrapping bandwagon in full force if I once again have my evenings to myself!!!

Long rant, but it's as much for me to look back on too!!

Hope you had a Happy Mothers Day! Brenton was home and I'm always happier when he's around and we had a great day just hanging out as a family! I love it when we are all together.. Especially since he has just finished a stint of working 13 days straight, mostly 13 hour days by the time he got back home again. So, a day like this is treasured!!

xxx

Mia 'helping' me make Banana Cake, it is the easiest recipe, and extra yum with thick cream cheese icing on top....
You just mix altogether
8oz S.R. flour, 4oz butter or marg (which I didn't melt, it was softened for a bit beforehand), 4oz sugar, 2 eggs, vanilla essence, 2 mashed ripe Bananas, 1 tsp of bi-carb soda dissolved in milk.
And that's it, mix it all together, bung in a greased cake pan and bake in a moderate oven for 40-45 mins. I cooked this one about 160 degrees for a bit longer as my oven gets too hot and crisps the outside of things before the inside is done.... Yum and a quick and easy cake to whip up. And the so bad it's so good icing is small block philly cheese at room temp, 1 tbs butter, 2 cups icing sugar and some vanilla...

The end product, which didn't last very long in this house!! delish!

A few weeks ago I noticed that my Aloe Vera plant out the front was starting to shot a big spear like thing out of it and now it is flowering, I have never had an Aloe Vera plant flower before so of course I had to take a dozen photos of it!!

These connector textas have given Mia alot of joy lately... She loves them. She has been playing with empty toilet rolls and empty paper towell rolls, and they are her 'people' and she makes cages out of the textas for them... On Thursday, she just played for hours with them! And it was actually raining most of the day here so it was good for her to amuse herself for so long!

I've started to read Lexi some books. She loves it. She seems to really look at the pictures. I can remember buying this book when Mia was a baby and we were broke and we couldn't really afford to buy it but I did anyway, and Mia loved it and we read it to her for a long time and now Lexi is getting to use it, so really am glad I did buy it all those years ago!

Cute bubba after her bath the other night, whe sure is growing fast, getting her 4 month immunisations done today which I'm not looking forward to but she coped really well with her 2 month ones so hope it's the same this time round..

My girlies having a cuddle... The little horsey that they have in thier arms is what Brenton and I bought Lexi while we were in Melbourne. I just thought it was so cute and in intensive care they used it to prop up her limbs at different times while she was recovering after her operation. Some Nurses didn't like the babies having soft toys around them probably for the germ factor, but most were more than happy to let us have them near her. And Liz, if you happen to read this post, hope you are going well, and I think of you often!!! xxxx

Latest LO for Color Combos Galore #119. I have struggled to scrap this week, Lexi has been a bit of a challenge to get to sleep of an evening, think it's time for her to go in her cot. It makes me sad but I really think the time has come... I swore black and blue that I would not rock her like I did Mia and I'm finding myself having to do just that. We will see what happens in the next few days.

What did your babies do while they were getting off to sleep, do I need to give her a comfort blanket or some such thing. I think she is way too young for controlled crying and I'm not a fan of it anyway, but really would love to hear what you may have done with your babies!!

Anyway, it has been working for me to scrap during the day while she is asleep, but I find it hard to scrap if I know that the floors need to be cleaned or other stuff like that. I just need to start thinking that it is something I enjoy and to just sit for an hour or so and just scrap!!

Hope you had a great weekend...
xxx

New hairdo, made my photo B&W so as to try and hide the cold sore on my lip and the pimple on my cheek!! lol. It is quite dark underneath and really quite a lot shorter than it was, and I am really happy. It involved a change of hairdresser like I mentioned in an earlier post but the new one picked up what I was putting down about how I would like my hair.... She has a new regular customer!!! A happy one!

Smiley Miss Lexi, just gorgeous in this pic, she is sitting on her Dad's lap and somehow looks so much more grown up than she looks IRL. The little sweetheart has been a bit hard to settle lately, I am a pretty tired Mumma right now. She was being so beautiful to me and settling ultra easy and sleeping ALL night waking only for a quick feed on both sides once in the night and then going straight back to sleep! But not at the moment... we will get there!

Mia had a friend over playing on Monday and while they were in her room making a huge mess I took the opportunity to take Lexi and pop her on my bed to take some photos of her without Mia, as she always has to be in the scene aswell. I love this photo, she looks so serious and I love her little hands that are clasped.

Mia asleep the other night with Lumpy! She got him when she was born from her Aunty Nelly and Uncle Michael. He comes out every so often and becomes her favourite again. At the moment he has been with her nearly every night. Mia, bless her, has been pushing my buttons lately like you wouldn't beleive. My patience is not what it should be, but she is being a bit difficult... I wonder if I'm giving her enough attention but we DO do lots of things together everyday so not sure. A phase I suppose, which it all is anyway. She is a beautiful little girl, just having a few moments. Yesterday everything that happened was followed with an 'OH MY GOD' like when she tried the icing for our cake that we made, 'Oh My God Mum, this icing is yummy' I tried to tell her that it's not good to walk around saying that... continuously!! Anyway, it's all part of being a parent, it's just not all sunshine and that's the truth!!!

My entry for Em's CJ on SBM forum. I went a bit overboard with the paint, but I kind of like it anyway. It was posted yesterday. It will be good to get my CJ back just to see all the entries.. Can't wait, but I guess it will be later on in the year..

The new Color Combos Galore challenge is up, I love the colours. I'll be trying to do it this week. Tried to pick out some papers and photos last night, Lexi was a fair bit unsettled so didn't get very far, but the first challenge I did last week got some really nice comments on it in the gallery, which was really very encouraging. ai don't think I have an eye for balance and all that stuff on my LO's so I can never really tell if it 'looks' balanced. And at the end of the day all my pages are just for my girls so it doesn't really matter anyway, but it WAS very nice to have the lovely comments!!

NEWSFLASH!!!
I just went and put Lexi into her bed as she was tired and ready for a sleep and this time she just took her dummy and settled quickly... This has not happened for 6 days, I have had to resort to either rocking her to sleep in her little chair or feeding her to sleep. This is a little breakthrough for us right now!! Yippee!!

Anyway, once again, a ramble of a post, but that's me, a chatterbox!!
Leave me a message if you visit!!
xxx