FINALLY!

I can post pictures of my babes in their big kid beds! This was after naptime late last week and they were both completely knackered!





Nothing more to say right now, have been trying to scrap all afternoon and it's just not working for me! I hate this kind of day, it's very frustrating.

Why Am I Blogging.....


...when I should be in bed!?!? I could be tucked up all toasty warm in my bed but no I am sitting here passing time while I wait for an email to arrive. I'm giving it 10 minutes and then I am off!
I have spent the evening sorting through baby clothes to sell off as they are seriously taking over the house. If anyone recalls we started Operation House De-Clutter back in January, let's just say after a great start we stalled a bit but are now trying to get back on track again.
The baby stuff needs to go, no matter how heart breaking it is everytime a piece of my babies goes out the door I just know I can't keep it all. I need the room so we can keep the kids!

Last week finished up a bit rubbish as my head cold flared up again and on Friday I was so ill. I was very lucky Mum was up for best part of the day, I wandered down to the shops hoping the fresh air would do me good but it made me worse as the heating was up super high in the shops and it made me feel awful and snuffly. When I got home I put the twins to bed and had a nap while Mum did all my ironing. When I woke up I picked Ab up from school but had a really bad headache which fast became a migraine, so by 4.45pm I took another dose of strong medication and headed back to bed..I didn't wake up until 6pm! By that time Mum had cooked dinner, fed the twins and emptied the dishwasher for me. I was feeling quite a bit better by then and even managed to eat..by 8pm I was feeling pretty normal again!
I hate that I suffer migraines, they really drain me and the best medication that I take makes me really drowsy and not very capable of looking after the kids so I usually try to hold off taking it when Gareth isn't home to watch the kids...luckily Mum was with me Friday!
Have had a quiet weekend, got loads of washing done Saturday and then did some kit/paper pack previews in the afternoon.
Gareth and I watched "Saw" as well after kids were in bed...gave me the woobers!!! It was a good movie though, I love when you just don't see the twist at the end coming..and that is all I will say, oh and that it is a bit gruesome but not as bad as I thought.
Twins are still doing great in their beds, in fact it is now no harder to put them to bed then it was to put them in their cots, they stay in fine so far..except naptimes but even that is getting better.
Anyhow speaking of beds..I'm off..no email has arrived so it will have to wait until morning now!

Night #3 of Big Beds

So far so good really. Last night they went to bed on time and slept right through the night until I woke them this morning at 7.30am to get Abbey to school, and tonight they again went down with no more dramas then they were when they were in cots! Scar often needs a second settle down before she goes off to sleep so we are still doing that with her where we go and just double check she is all tucked in etc and then she drifts off.
Naptimes are a bit more challenging. Yesterday was their first nap in their beds and I was in and out of their room until almost 2pm until they went to sleep after being told off several times. Today Joe was great and stayed in bed despite talking for a while (very common with those two at naptime) but Scarlett got out of bed to have a tantrum on the floor. I left her to it for several minutes during which time Joe fell asleep and I went back in and Scar had a hug and then climbed nicely into bed and to sleep also. Never ceases to amaze me what a great sleeper Joe is, he can fall asleep no matter how noisy it is!
I've been a bit off-colour since yesterday, sore throat and snuffles but nothing too dreadful and the throat is much less sore today so hoping the designing I wanted to do this week will start to fall into place and happen for me. In the meantime I managed to scrap two pages today but still can't get anything to upload to my blog for some reason..anyone else having probs??

The Morning After The Night Before

Well I was hoping to add some pics this morning but I still can't seem to upload any photos and haven't been able to for about a week now! When I can get them up I will.
I am very excited to say the first night in beds went really well, and I can only hope it continues that way. Scar woke up at just before 3am, and I could hear her crying a little so went down to check on her. She often wakes in the night for a little moment of crying and settles herself within a minute or so usually but I thought I should check on her. I was surprised to find her standing on the other side of the closed door and and she had put the bedroom light on too..thank heavens Joe didn't wake despite the fact his head is right next to the door! I turned the light off, tucked her back in and she went straight back to sleep. I eventually went down and woke them at 8am (yeah yeah I know..why would anyone in their right minds wake sleeping toddlers?? I hear that ALL the time) but if I don't I know they won't settle for their naps later in the day, and I *need* them to nap so I can recharge my batteries too!
Today's big job will be stopping them from bouncing all over the beds all day, and trying to re-structure their room a bit to give them maximum space to play and storage. We do have big drawers to slide under their beds but didn't bother doing it last night as it was getting late and we just wanted them in bed but when G gets home later he can give me a hand with it all.
Hope to get some designing done today too..we'll see!
I took some great photos of Joe yesterday. Maybe not great in the sense of amazing perfect photos but great in the way the he was enjoying playing up for the camera which he doesn't do that often anymore. G's mum recently made a comment to us about the photos we send them and Joe is not often smiling which is funny as he is a very happy boy..maybe he's just a bit sick of the camera in his face?? I got a nice shot or two of Scarlett too so there may be som escrapping on the agenda at some point today if the designing doesn't happen for me.
Oh well, time to get out of my PJ's! I love not having to get up for school!

So Far, So Good

Let's hope I don't jinx myself here. Well the twins beds arrived this morning, and once we finally got dinner out the way we set to work taking down the cots and putting the beds together.
Eventually got the twins all snuggled into bed at around 9.25pm, we went back in there once as Joe was trying tell us something...but it's now been quiet for about 25 minutes! I am pretty sure they are asleep! I am hoping the fact they had a late night will help them sleep through.
I will upload pics of them tomorrow in their new beds but Scar in particular was very excited. She barely finished her milk before yelling "Let's Go" and running off to bed.
It was pretty sad taking down the cots, knowing that there most likely will never be anymore babies for us, and at the same time it was exciting to be putting the baby phase behind us and moving forward as a family to being able to do things more easily. Simple trips to the shops without strollers, holidays without having to organize accommodation with huge bedrooms for two portacots, getting rid of baby bottles...means we can get out and about more easily and that I am definitely looking forward to!
Anyway am going to sneak off to bed now and hope the twins sleep through until a reasonable hour in the morning. Ab has no school tomorrow so I can snooze until my twosome awaken!
Fingers crossed for a peaceful night.

The Best Sound In The World

Better than all my fave songs,better than the sound of rain on a hot day, better than the creak of the bed as I crawl into it after a loooong day and better than my kids saying "I love you"......yep, the best sound in the world is hearing G giggling like a maniac to something funny he is watching on TV *sigh* I know where my kids get their "adorable" gene from.
Nothing melts my heart more than that sound.

Conversation Award of the Day goes to.......Scarlett.

Me: Poppy, can you put your slippers away for me please?
Scar: No
G: Scarlett, can you put you slippers away?
Scar: Sure!

...and she promptly does it.

Hmmm.....

What exactly happened to Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday this week? Surely it can't really be Friday already?

Well I have been reasonably busy this last week. Monday I actually scrapped a page, and not only that but I LOVE how it came out for such a simple page. If only I could actually upload the picture of it to show you all but it doesn't seem to want to load up!

Tuesday and Wednesday I made some new papers which have turned out really well (in my opinion) I still have a lot to learn but am starting to finally achieve the looks I am going for which is hugely satisfying.

Yesterday I did a couple of bits and pieces for myself that I can't go into but again, I learned something new and feel proud of my achievements. I love learning how to do new stuff and even better if I don't have to bother other people to learn it.

On another front we are expecting a delivery of beds sometime on Monday which is pretty damn exciting. We took Joe and Scarlett out to Spotlight last night so they could choose their new quilt covers..Joe picked out a "Nemo" design and Scarlett saw "Dora The Explorer" and that was it..she was not letting go! I can't wait to tuck them in their big beds and see how that goes. I don't have to get up early next morning either as Ab has no school so it will be okay if it's a rough night at least. I plan to take the cots away too as apart from the fact they won't fit 2 cots and 2 beds in their room I think if they see the cots they will want to go back and forth between them and never quite settle on where they want to sleep. Well, that's my theory and we will see how it goes, it worked well for Abbey. Wish us luck!

It's Been How Long?

Well I didn't mean to go missing in action but I guess the good news is I was getting some stuff done instead of procrastinating as usual! Last week was a busy one and Mothers Day came racing up far too quickly.

As you can see I did my Mum a LO for Mothers Day of my 3 kids over the course of their young lives. It's been fun to see how much they do or don't look like each other as they age, and nope as you can see Abbey never had blonde hair like the twins!
We had a very busy day Saturday starting at the Dr's on Saturday for my poor injured foot from way back. It seems to be a muscular strain and nurofen is the medication of choice which seems to be giving loads of relief!
We also went shopping at Harvey Norman's but G has already blogged about that so you can read all that here at G's blog. I think we won't be eating for a looong time after that shopping trip!

Actually G covered Mothers Day pretty much in that post too so not much more I can blog about..other than the fact the kids got me a new Dover clip art CD-ROM for my gift so looking forward to getting back to some designing now that a few other projects are all finished!

Twins have been super ratbags the last few days but hoping it is not going to last much longer and considering what I have heard other multiples getting up to I am getting away very lighly indeed..even if it doesn't feel it!

Just A Quickie

Thought I had best do an update though not a lot happening here..just a lot of trying to scrap but not a lot of mojo happening..argh! Working on a LO for my Mum at the moment which I have been having all kinds of issues with but I am at least on the right track with it now, though progress is slow..maybe I am just being too picky about what I am trying to do.
I did finally sort out my brush issues (no thanks to someone who still hasn't bothered to email me) but with much help from the amazing Annette and a great tutorial..I made my own brush which did the job well enough. Actually I made two brushes and I can see they will get a lot of use from now on!
Ab had a concert last night, she is in the Junior Choir at her school and they sang the song "Hard Knock Life" from the movie Annie. It was pretty adorable and it's great to see Ab's confidence building more and more each time she performs. My biggest peeve of the night was the auditorium was freeeeezing...and as such I had to leave about halfway through the show or I would have died of hypothermia! I tried to stick it out to see a few more acts after Abbey's group but I was shivering so much I couldn't last any longer..incidentally the guy to my left was huddled up even with a big jumper on and G was pretty cold too so it wasn't just me!
Anyhow off to snuggle up in my nice warm bed..aaaah!

A Child-Free Shopping Trip

I am exhausted! We set out from home at 8.40am thhis morning to head to Bunkers which is the other side of the city from us, to order the twins beds..I can't wait to get them but have to wait 2 weeks for them to be made, stained and delivered. I guess that gives me time to sort their room out properly and take them to buy quilt covers too.
We then headed to the brand new IKEA near Adelaide Airport. I swear I was like a kid in the candy shop with the stupidest grin on my face before we even walked through the front doors. I have long heard stories of the amazing IKEA stores, but we didn't have one in Adelaide until April 20, so it's been a huge build up. Funnily enough the only thing I bought was a wooden photo frame which will be given to my Mum for Mothers Day next week, with a LO in it that I haven't even done yet...ooops!
They had some great stuff there though and I think once we get this house sorted out properly we will go down and pick up some more things.
We then headed around the corner to Harbour Town, a shopping precinct of factory direct outlets which opened a couple of years ago but we haven't ever been there. I wasn't that impressed to be honest, the prices were not that amazing at all but I did buy a top each for Ab and Joe in Pumpkin Patch.
We then headed back towards home and stopped to do the weekly grocery shopping, I had fancied going for a drink and some cake but was just waaay too tired. I'd also hurt my foot a few weeks ago playing indoor soccer in the family area with G and it's still not right so it was getting far too painful to walk about on. I am going to have to bite the bullet and get to a Dr soon about it.
Anyhow all up a nice day but looking forward now to getting the kids in bed and watching some TV. I have way too much scrapping to do really but still have my brush issue to sort out which is really bothering me so I think a night off will do me good...or so I hope!

It's Friday!

Which means that I have my gorgeous G home with me for the next couple of days which is always something that cheers me up.
Take a peek to the right and you will send my brand new blog toy of the moment..a slideshow which is proudly displaying some of my more recent LO's. I think it looks quite nice and I look forward to tinkering with it some more over the weekend but as dinner is cooking at the moment I can't blog too long. Chicken enchiladas..YUM!
Spent a frustrating day trying to sort out a brush issue I am having. It's too long to explain here right now but all I can say is one email from the right person and all will be sorted. Otherwise I need to find a way to make a replica brush...yikes!
Fab weekend planned with loads of child-free shopping involved..will report back in tomorrow!

A Little Bit Of Silliness!

Feeling better about things in general today and even managed to get back to a little designing! A brand new paper pack I think it is..not sure it will be an actual kit as such so will just see how it progresses. The colours are nice and bright and that alone is cheering me up no end!
We have also organised to go bed shopping again this weekend so hopefully by the end of Saturday we should have beds on their way.

Anyhow I was tagged in a strange way today..this one requires you to "start up your iPod or your music player of choice, put it on random and then use the next song title as the answer to each question":


How does the world see you?
Hit Me With Your Rhythmn Stick - Ian Dury and the Blockheads

Will I have a happy life?
We Can Work It Out -Heather Nova

What do my friends really think of me?
Someday,Someway - The Jeff Healey Band

Do people secretly lust after me?
Anyone Else - Susanna Hoffs

How can I make myself happy?
Stuck In A Rut - The Darkness

What should I do with my life?
Scar Tissue - Red Hot Chilli Peppers

Will I ever have children?
Walking Down The Street - The Bangles

What is some good advice for me?
Burn To Shine - Ben Harper

How will I be remembered?
Riding With The King - Eric Clapton and BB King

What is my signature song?
Brat - Magic Dirt

What do I think my current theme song is?
All For Believing - Missy Higgins

What does everyone else think my current theme song is?
Keep on Growing - Sheryl Crow

What song will play at my funeral?
Don't Let Your Chance Go By - The Jeff Healey Band

What type of men/women do I like?
Fuckin' Up - The Almighty

What is my day going to be like?
Parallel Universe -Red Hot Chilli Peppers

Note to all: I used G's Itunes as I don't have my own MP3 player or anything else with a shuffle function!

So in the grand tradition of tagging someone else I choose to tag Amanda, Skipper and Heather!

5 Things I Am Grateful For Today

Okay my blog has been far too negative the last few days so time to re-adjust my attitude and stop letting things that I can't change get to me. So before I head to bed here are 5 things I am grateful for today...

1. We didn't get rained on walking to or from school
2. That my Mum gave me a block of Turkish Delight chocolate I could eat while watching "Survivor"
3. That G can make me laugh until my sides hurt
4. I have an awesome Auntie who I can talk to about anything, anytime
5. The sight of Scarlett hugging her Uncle which melted my heart today.

A Long, Hard Day

Today was Nan's funeral and even now some 6-7 hours later I am just still not sure how I feel about it all. Part of me is really glad it's over but part of me is almost angry at what a stupid send-off she got. The service just didn't have any flow to it, didn't seem to give any insight into the woman that my nana was and just seemed to completely lack any warmth. Anyone who didn't know my Nana beforehand would not be any closer to having a clue who she was from attending that service.
On the better side I am just bursting with pride at my children's behaviour during the service. Against my wishes we sat in the front row with no way of making a discreet exit if the twins were to start getting loud. I needn't have worried, they were so angelic it was like they knew they were supposed to be quiet. Scarlett sat nestled between my Mum and brother and Joe sat on my lap, they didn't try to jump up or run around, they didn't squeal or chatter too much. They just sat, listened, watched and looked around at the sea of faces behind them. They all three came with me to place a bunch of orchids on nana's coffin , Joe carried them up and I lifted him and he put them down so gently on top. Our little man looked so proud of himself.
More than anything today, they were the ones that got me through.

On a final note, during the service there was a prayer for those others in the world grieving for loved ones today, Annette I thought of you and sent you extra thoughts and hoped that your day was a beautiful one despite your family's heartache.