The house is so empty!

And CLEAN! It's had the Unterberger treatment inside and out and I am trying to maintain it My biggest thing is trying to finish (and clean up)one thing before moving on to the next - scary concept for a bubble head who is distracted by shiny things! We have skipped a week because things have been a little full on around here. Jon has had a nasty tummy bug which has laid him out for a bit. I have had to keep my priorities straight and concentrate on the real world rather than spending time on here!

Erin:
is doing great. She is really on the 'helping mummy' band wagon at the moment. We have semi-regular "apron time" where we don our aprons and clean or cook together. She is also learning to dry and put away dishes. We've been given a DVD of Charlotte's Web and I just started reading the book to her last night. We are reading chapter three tonight after tea. She was a bit terrified last night when thunder hit just after the lights went out while she was in the bath. She can now tell you though, that thunder is just a hot cloud and a cold cloud bumping together. She is still afraid of smoke coming out of the smoke alarm and coming into her room at night and hurting her. This is from an add that she saw about six months ago where smoky hands came into a little girls room - it was a reminder to check the battery in the smoke alarm. To this day, however, she sleeps under the sheet or doona and just the other day she mentioned the whole thing in a prayer again. This has just firmed our decision to be VERY careful about what our kids watch on TV!

Billy:
got his 18 month jab yesterday and didn't even flinch! The Dr looked at his bandy legs and pigeon toes and told me they are nothing to worry about (of course, they didn't look HALF as bad when we were there!) and the nurse complemented me on my well behaved children who sat on the floor with their hands folded when not being seen :) It is great when we can fake it in public! LOL We have decided to teach Billy to actually talk because he CAN talk, he's just in such a rush to say things nobody can understand what he is saying. So before getting a drink he is encouraged to say "Dink peass Mama" (Drink please Mama) etc. The other day we knelt down for prayer and lo and behold a little voice pipes up "Deeer Desus"! With some encouragement he said "Deeer Desus, Peasss bess Daeeee Amen" (Dear Jesus Please bless Daddy Amen). He now blesses the whole family, including Christopher! I look forward to this new-found verbosity cutting down on the frustration of not being able to make himself understood.

Christopher:
DID squeek when he got his jabs yesterday! He was not happy and it is the most upset I have ever seen him in his short life! It was heart breaking to see actually. But he is growing well, eating well and is generally the happiest baby ever to exist! He's still sleeping 7-10 hours a night. His eyes are brown now and we are getting even more grins and giggles. He has had a bit of a rash on his face and torso but that is fading at the moment. Nothing to worry about, just a bit red and rough and blotchy but disappeared as fast as it appeared.

House:
Is surprisingly good at the moment! I did something I don't normally do today and employed the square babysitter for a couple of hours while I got the kitchen sorted (with going out and Jon being sick yesterday I didn't get my usual evening clean up done). But I was then able to sit and play with the kids without worrying about the state of the house. My study is actually usable at the moment - now to find a moment to use it!

The garden:
is beautiful! The roses are out and the scent fills the garden as I peg out the washing. Our vegetable seedlings are doing well and we have even had a few BBQ's on the front verandah. The green house has seedlings growing in it instead of weeds! Although something is eating them a bit at the moment, not sure what. The cooch grass needs to be weeded out constantly and we need to get some more of our seedlings planted, but other than that we are doing great!


Jess