A Mini Holiday

On the weekend I went away. I was away from my kids and housework for 48 hours. It was a nice break.

It started on Friday night, the person  who I was driving up with got lost on the way to Phillip Island so we stopped and got directions from a service station. After a few wrong turns we finally got there at about 11pm. I was exhausted so I got to my cabin who I was sharing with five other women, set the bed up and went to sleep. I was sleeping on the top bunk so it was freakishly exciting to be so close to the ceiling (i don't know why it just was).

On the Saturday morning I was woken by the voices of the other women in the cabin. I looked at the time. It was 7:10am. I was lying in bed, looking up at the ceiling wondering why I was so close to the ceiling and wondered why there were other voices in the room (voices that were not my kids voices anyway). Then through the fuzziness of my brain i remembered. I was on a camp. I was on the top bunk. It all made sense now. I decided to get up and get dressed.

I went into the dining room and made a coffee, my head was still fuzzy and I was half asleep. Coffee cured me instantly. Then I had some breakfast, it was the first time I had breakfast in ears and it was quite nice (even if it was only cornflakes). I had another coffee and talked with people, thinking about how wonderful it felt to have a conversation and coffee without children interrupting.

Next we all listened to a talk on character and christian ethics. It was very interesting. We then had a wonderful morning tea of chocolate cupcakes and coffee (can you tell I drink a lot of coffee?). We then discussed the talks with a small group of people before lunch.

Lunch was delicious, we had chicken wrap things. I realized then how bad my cooking actually was. After lunch we had some free time. I contemplated doing some of the activities on the camp site but decided not to for the following reasons:

• I really did not feel like waiting in line for my turn
• I did not want to risk an injury
• I was not interested
• going to have coffee with my sister in law sounded like a much better plan

So, my brother dropped us off at the shops a few streets away and we went into a cafe. The cafe seemed to be obsessed with cows (of course it could be because the town we were in is called Cowes). I had a hot chocolate and my sister in law had a chai tea. The hot chocolate was delicious. After our drinks we walked up the street and looked at the shops. I found a gorgeous little fairy bracelet which I got for Tinkerbell.
I soon found a gelati shop. I am quite obsessed with gelati and even though it was cold I got one anyway. It was delicious. We then met up with some other people from the camp and sat with them a while and talked. We decided to look in a bookshop before heading back to the campsite, where I had a lovely afternoon nap.

I woke up for dinner, which we had a lovely lasagne and salad followed by a chocolate bavarian for dessert.
After the dinner we had some games in the gym. I did not participate, because sport and me do not mix. At all. After that we had some supper and had a trivia night. I surprised myself (and I think my brother) about how much I knew about Australian history. Some of us then played a boardgame for a while.

I spent Saturday night with my sister in law and brother at a beach house and woke at about 8am. We then went back to the campsite and listened to another talk on character. We had some morning tea, broke into groups again and then we had lunch, packed up and my brother drove me home (actually my sister in law drove - she is a much better driver then my brother). My weekend away was over. Although there was one negative experience in whole, the weekend was wonderful and I would definitely do it again.

A weekend away

On Friday I am going away for the weekend with my brother, sister in law and a few other people we know (okay, a lot of people, most who I don’t really know). I am going alone. No Fiancee, no kids. No cooking, cleaning or parenting duties. Sounds like heaven doesn’t it?

There is one thing that is hanging over my head as I think about this weekend away, and the kids are not letting me forget it. Guilt. Guilt for leaving my kids behind, guilt for having fun without them. I know that mothers sometimes need a break, need to recharge their batteries and I know the kids are going to be perfectly happy and safe at home with the Fiancee and I know I am doing them no harm by leaving them for two nights. Yet the guilt stays.

I have started to think about what to pack. I am hopeless at packing and I will probably end up leaving it to the last minute and just throw things in a bag at random even though I have thought about what I need for at least a week. This is my list so far:

• 2 pairs pants
• 2 tops
• A warm jumper
• Underwear
• Pajamas
• Swimsuit
• Socks
• Beach towel
• Towel
• My pillow
• Sunglasses
• Some books to read at night
• Money
• Ipod
• Toiletries

So have I missed anything?

I am quite looking forward to this weekend away. It will be at the beautiful Phillip Island, hopefully I will get to see some fairy penguins. I will be eating food that I have not cooked. I think I am looking forward to that the most. I am also looking forward to having a relaxing time with some friends and making new friends. There will be no internet access ( I am sure I can survive a few days without Twitter or Facebook). But knowing me something funny will happen. I will tell you all about it when I return.

Kierri Sackville - The reasons I love her (Work)

I recently got Twitter. I have never really been interested in Twitter before but since I have had it I have been obsessed! I have had Facebook for quite a few years now but Twitter is so much better!

I decided to get Twitter after my favorite Author and Blogger Kerri Sackville  continually talked about it. I have not looked back since. Two of my favorite shows are Ghost Hunters International and Haunting Australia. I was thrilled when Robb Demarest (lead investigator on both shows) Favorited my tweets about the shows. I loved the fact that Kerri Sackville would reply to my tweets to her. I almost fainted when she started following me on twitter!

I am currently waiting for a reply from Kerri on twitter asking if I could tag her in my post. As soon as I sent the message to Her I was convinced she would think I am a crazy stalker. I am full of nerves! I am thinking now that I should not have sent her a message and I could have worded it a lot better. Oh. My. What have I done?

I checked my email. Oh No! Kerri has replied! She said yes! Oh My! And I am pretty sure if she does not think I am a crazy staler yet, when she reads this post she will be sure of it.

For those of you who have not heard of Kerri Sackville (what universe are you living on? Even The Fiancee knows about her – because I have mentioned her a million times to him) She is a very talented and funny writer and blogger. These are the reasons I love her work:

1. She is honest about Motherhood. Which makes me feel a lot better about myself and my children
2. She is honest about anxiety, which I have had for as long as I can remember
3. Her books are hard to put down
4. Her books and blog are hysterically funny and entertaining, sometimes moving and incredibly honest
5. The woman likes nutella

So there is five of the reasons why I love Kerri Sackville. If you have not yet read her blog, go now. It is well worth the read and you will not be disappointed.

A Houseguest...For a few hours anyway

The Fiancee found a possum this morning. He brought it back to the house and I rang Wildlife Victoria because it seemed to be sick. Wildlife Victoria could not come and get it until they found a carer. They told me they were having trouble finding one, So I rang about 20 other wildlife organizations. All of them were busy or did not answer the phone. We were stuck with a possum.

I did a little research and found out information on how to care for it, we gave it some apple and geraniums and put it in a box in a dark, quiet area. It seemed okay for most of the afternoon. It explored a little, had a look at the apple and seemed quite friendly.

Tinkerbell and Pirate Monkey decided to call it Hush from the book Possum Magic. Mate did not like it and refused to come near it, Bubba pointed and waved at it and seemed quite curious. The kids were very excited about having a possum in the house.

The Fiancee went to check on the possum called Hush a while ago. It had died. I realise animals die, especially wildlife when they get stressed. Had we stressed it out? It came as a shock to us that it died, an hour before it had seemed quite lively and didn't seem that sick or injured.

So this was an unexpected Saturday afternoon, I definitely didn't think I would be looking after a possum, or that I would find myself sad when it died.

RIP Hush the Possum who we looked after lovingly for about three hours.

Motherhood - There are no words

Motherhood is hard. All mothers know this. I have heard mothers say that motherhood is easy. I believe these people only have one, very easy child or they have a full-time babysitter. I read all the baby books when I was pregnant with Tinkerbell. They were very helpful with telling me how to swaddle a baby, steralise bottles and change a nappy. What the baby books did not tell me was:

• what to do when you need to be somewhere and your child won't get dressed
• how to interpret toddler speak
• how to explain to a young child why those two men are kissing
• that no matter what you do, your child will tell you they hate you at some point
• that the only meat your child will eat is mince
• that your child will get an american accent from watching american tv shows

I am sure there are more that I have forgotten about or not yet encountered.

I am sure toddlers are in contact with each other and discuss ways to drive their parents crazy. My kids have succeeded many times. I am sure I am loosing my mind some days.

• Mate will ask for an apple. I will get him an apple. He then yells and tells me that apples are "yuck"
• Pirate Monkey will like meat one day and hate it the next
• Tinkerbell loves her brothers one minute and wishes she was an only child the next
• Tinkerbell loves having her own room one day and wants to share with someone the next.

Motherhood. There really are no words for it. You can have every emotion in one day, even in an hour and you can feel like running, screaming from the house. It can be emotionally draining, tough and exhausting. And I wouldn't change it for anything.

An Introduction

I have realized I have been a horrible blogger so far. This has annoyed me greatly. I realized last night that I have not yet introduced myself. This post is an introduction. I will introduce you to myself and my family.

My name is Lynette. I live in Melbourne with my four children Tinkerbell, Pirate Monkey, Mate and Bubba. Obviously these are not their real names. I also live with my fiancee.

Tinkerbell is six years old or as she says six and a half. Because, you know, the half is incredibly important. Pirate Monkey is five, Mate is two and Bubba is one. I told my kids I needed fake names for them for my blog this morning. My older two kids came up with their names themselves. Bubba was easy to come up with because that is what Mate always calls him. Mate proved to be a little more challenging. Tinkerbell and Pirate Monkey offered suggestions. These included:

• Crazy
• Funny clown
• Buzz Lightyear
• Rubber
• Naughty
• Funny alien

None of these suggestions seemed right. I ended up asking my two year old what his name should be. His reply was Mate. I don't think he knew what I was asking but Mate worked.

My kids have completely different personalities. Tinkerbell is a lot like me. Poor girl. She is anxious, high strung and can have a very bad temper. She is also caring, funny and a delight to be around.

Pirate Monkey is the complete opposite of me. He is very laid back, he rarely looses his temper, unlike his sister but when he does it is the meltdown to end all meltdowns. He can tell you everything you ever wanted to know about dinosaurs.

Now we come to Mate. Sigh. Mate is a totally insane toddler. He sings at the top of his lungs (generally the duck song, it's on YouTube, check it out). He has an obsession with ducks and birds (which he calls tweet tweets) and generally asks for chocolate. Mate dances crazily around the house most days and insists on sitting on my lap whenever I am sitting down, even if I am on the toilet.

And now Bubba. Oh Bubba. He is pure delight. Bubba loves walking around the house, talking on his toy mobile and generally trying to put everything he can find into his mouth. Bubba loves smiling and laughing and is quite placid (unless he is teething).

Then there is The Fiancee. He frequently drives me crazy, as I do him. The Fiancee is loving and kind and a wonderful father. He is also very funny. We drive each other crazy, laugh at each other but at the end of the day we love each other, and that is the most important thing.

About Me. What can i say? I love my kids and Fiancee (even if they do drive me crazy on a daily basis), I study from home (I am completing my bachelor's degree in communications) as well as run the household, buy food, attend parent - teacher interviews and the 150 other events that requires parents to be at school, write my blog and spend a lot of time on twitter and Facebook. I also read. I read a lot.

I am also rather obsessed with Grey's Anatomy, particularly Patrick Dempsey and fantasize about him regularly. I do not talk when anything with Patrick Dempsey is on and no one is allowed to talk to me and if you call me I will not answer ( not that I answer my phone at any other time). I am also in love with mint chocolate. I could eat buckets of the stuff.

So that is my family. They constantly drive me crazy, but I love them.

Why I am writing this post at 1am

I am writing this post at 1am. What makes an exhausted mother of four write at 1am? well, I cannot sleep. I got sick of laying down in bed, so now here I am.

There are plenty of reasons why I should be asleep. My kids have school tomorrow, which means I have to get them up, fed, dressed and ready and at school by 8:50am. Which is a very unfair start time. Why can't school start at 10am? 10am I can live with. I am also tired, which is an excellent reason to be asleep, yet I can't seem to fall asleep. My hair is annoying me. I have no idea why, it just is. My nose is annoying me, I think I may be coming down with a cold. If I am coming down with a cold then I need my sleep, but I always seem to get insomnia with a cold. My darling 2 yo is going to come and jump on the bed until I get up at some really early hour of the morning. This is why I need sleep.

I could always put the TV on and fall asleep on the couch, but when I do try that normally I find something on TV interesting and do not fall asleep, which defeats the purpose. I am definitely not going to lie on the couch without the TV on. I might as well lay on my bed.

I could read a book until I fall asleep but that will wake my fiancee and then he will be grumpy. It is easier to not wake him. I could read in the lounge but that is nowhere near as satisfying as reading in bed. I don't know why, it just isn't.

So, I need to figure out why I can't sleep. Then I may get a few hours of slumber before the kids wake me demanding breakfast, milk and other demanding almost impossible requests before I have my morning coffee.

Mothers, The PTA and everything in between

I was approached by one of the mothers at school, while picking up my son on Friday. Normally I am happy to make small talk with other parents but have no desire to become good friends with them. I am sure they are nice people but I just do not get that spark when I talk to them, most of them ignore me anyway. This does not bother me.

This mother, I had overheard a few times, telling other people about her perfect husband, perfect children, perfect house and perfect cleaner and babysitter. This woman always makes sure people know that her life is perfect. Good for her.

This mother asked me for a coffee sometime next week so she could discuss with me how I could become more involved with the school and help with the parents association and fundraising. While I respect those parents that do these sort of things, I do not have the time. I politely explained to her that I have four kids, two of which are not yet in school, I study and I have a household to run, shopping to do and you know, twitter and Facebook to check. This mother suggested I put my two younger kids in childcare, not study, hire a cleaner and get someone else to do my shopping.

Her reply annoyed me greatly, Firstly, If I choose to not put my children in daycare, I am entitled to that choice, If I choose to study then that is my right and not everyone can afford a cleaner 7 days a week and not everyone has the luxury of asking someone else to do their grocery shopping.

Sure, I could put my two youngest children in childcare but if I did that I would be more likely to catch up on laundry, the dishes or sleeping. I am studying to gain a degree in communications. I believe study is important and do not believe I should give it up to help at the school. I cannot afford a cleaner, and as much as I would love one, that is not a possibility for me. Sure I could do my shopping online, but in the past that has ended in failure (when you ask for toddler nappies, newborn nappies will not be a good substitute coles online).

So, now that I have refused to help, and according to this mother but my own selfishness before my children, I am made to feel guilty. This is not okay with me. Not every parent has the time to help out at school. If a parent does have the time, that is great. Other parents need to realise not every mother or father is in the same position as them. These parents, who do not have the time to help out should not be made to feel guilty about it.

I had a dream....

I had a dream last night. I dream most nights actually so there was nothing new there, the thing about this dream is, well, I've been thinking about it all day. It was very strange and I cannot work out the reasoning behind the details of the dream.

My dream started off with me in a train (fairly normal since that is how I travel), When the train stops at a station (as trains do) who should walk on and sit down right next to me? Patrick Dempsey! We start having a conversation that is going quite well and then he asks me to go have coffee with him, of course I agree. We find a nice coffee shop in the city and talk for hours and hours before exchanging contact details. That is when I woke up.

Now some details in this dream concerned me.
1. If Patrick Dempsey was in Australia i really do not think he would catch a train. He would most likely have drivers driving him around everywhere.

2. Patrick Dempsey does not live in Australia, so meeting Him on a train is very unlikely.

3. I do not know where I was going. This concerns Me. Surely if i was on a train I would need to know where to get off the train. I do not like the idea of jumping on a train for the fun of it, with nowhere in particular to go.

4. The train was extremely clean and sterile. Anyone who has ever been on public transport knows this is not the case.

5. If Patrick Dempsey sat next to me on a train I am more likely to faint then actually be able to put together a sentence. Besides my kids would interrupt me whenever I tried to say anything anyway.

6. Speaking of kids, Where where mine? they were nowhere to be seen in the dream. That does not seem likely.

7. Anyone who knows Me would know I would not be capable of having an interesting, fluent conversation with anyone, let alone Patrick Dempsey

8. I can think of a lot more fun things to do with Patrick Dempsey then having coffee. you know, like sex. (yes, I know I have a partner, I am very happy with him. But he would forgive me because it is Patrick Dempsey)

9. I can never remember my phone number and I constantly forget to take my mobile with me so the best I would be able to do is give Patrick Dempsey my parents phone number, I doubt they would approve of this.

So with this information I have decided that my dreams make no sense whatsoever. Now if only Patrick Dempsey had taken me to a hotel room.......

Lice, lice and more lice

It has hit. The lice infestation. My darling almost 7 year old daughter came home from school with lice. It is horrible. Those tiny little critters just seem to multiply by the minute. So, yesterday afternoon, I treated her hair.
First she did not like the smell. I don't blame her, the smell is awful. Then she asked me what the foam did to the lice. This is where i totally messed up. I told her the foam killed the lice. She started to cry. She said they were animals and we don't kill animals because they are our friends. I spent the next 20 minutes telling her that it was okay to kill head lice because they are not really our friends and are quite annoying.
Then she had to wash the foam out. It got in her eyes. She was quite annoyed.
Then came the bit I was dreading, the lice comb. With a lot of tears from both of us I finally had her lice free, until the next time an infestation hits anyway.

The main problem with lice is that some parents do not seem to treat their child's hair. This annoys me a great deal. I have much more fun stuff I could be doing in an evening (you know, such as the dishes, picking up after the kids and folding laundry). So to all parents out there, please please treat your children when they have lice. And for those who do treat their children and are faced with yet another infestation, you have my sympathy.

My kids are driving me insane

Kids drive their mothers insane. Every parent knows this. My kids constantly do things that drive me insane

1. My daughter has fights with friends at school. She tells me she is angry at a friend
 but won't tell me what happened
2. My charming and totally insane toddler will like a song one day then hate it the next.
 The same goes with food, clothing and well, pretty much anything.
3. Mr Prep will tell me i am the best mummy in the whole world one minute then
 hate me the next, his moods also constantly change, he is happy and on top of the
 world one minute then tearful and angry the next.

I have realized that I need time away from them or I will loose my mind completely.
I laugh at myself when I think back to when my daughter was first born. I never wanted
 her out of my sight. Things were so easy (well, you know, easy compared to now).
 I thought I would never be able to part with her. Then my son was born. Things were a
 bit harder then. I started to go a little insane. With my third and fourth child I have completely
 lost my mind. Gone are the days of the simplicity of one child. Now I have four to run after and
have four to drive me insane.

I have decided that they must hold meetings at night, where they work out how to best
drive me insane and have me wanting to run and scream from the house the following day.
With a 6 year old (or as she says six and a half), a five year old, a two year old and an
almost 1 year old, I am surprised I am still alive at the end of the day when I collapse on a
 heap on the couch.

Denise Bulger...A real hero

I often see young teenagers making football stars, movie stars and pop singers into heroes. Yes, these people have talent (well, you know, most of them) and they are good at what they do, but should they be labelled heroes?
There are many, many people in everyday jobs who are heroes. Doctors, nurses, paramedics, police officers and fire fighters to name a few. These people save lives everyday but so many people do not see them as heroes.
Then there are those who go through terrible ordeals and their strength makes them a hero. Denise Bulger is one of them.
I watched a documentary last week of the murder of James Bulger. For those of you who are not familiar with the story, James was two, with his mother at a Liverpool shopping center in Britain and disappeared when his mother took her eyes of him for a few seconds. Two ten year old boys were charged with his abduction and subsequent murder 15 years ago.
I haven't been able to get this documentary out of my head, normally I can watch true crime and it does not bother me the slightest, sure, I feel for the victims and their families, but this particular crime was different. It shocked me, it made me cry, it shook me more then most things do.
Then, James Bulger's mother Denise spoke. I was amazed and how well she has handled this terrible crime. Her son was ripped away from her, murdered at just two years old, by children. Denise is setting up a school for bullied children in James's memory. She is truly an amazing person.

The second part of this crime that was so horrifying was that it was committed by two ten year old boys. I cannot wrap my mind around CHILDREN killing. These two boys ended up locked up for 8 years of a 15 year sentence.They also got new identities when they left prison and they are protected. Now, normally I can understand why a child's identity is protected but in this case I do not. What these two boys did was horrifying. They established in the police interview that these boys knew right from wrong, they knew what they were doing was very wrong but did it anyway. Another question also comes to mind. What had these two boys seen to make them kill a two year old? Generally speaking a ten year old does not think of murdering a toddler, but these boys did. I can only imagine what they have seen or heard to make them do such an unforgivable crime.

This documentary was by far the most horrifying I have seen. My heart goes out to James Bulger's mother and family. Denise is a remarkable woman. A terrible murder would destroy most mother's. Denise has turned James's memory into something great, a school for bullied children. I wish her the best for the future.