The Unterbergers are here!

The Unterbergers used to be the tenants in the house we live in now. When we took over the lease we became friends and have remained in contact (apparently they are the biggest fans of this blog!) and we were thrilled to find out they were moving back to Tassie! We have invited them to stay for a while as they house hunt so we currently have 10 children (7 of whom are under the age of 6) and 4 adults living here....and it doesn't feel crowded! The place is neater and cleaner than it has ever been, the older boys and Jon and Paul did a backyard blitz on Sunday and the garden is looking fantastic! They are still going actually. I have been thrown out of my kitchen for tonight and tea is being cooked for me. The children just have to squeak and there is someone to cuddle or play with at their side. There have been minimal arguments between any of the kids and lots of affection (Erin calls the girls her sisters) and us grown ups sit up far to late chatting.

But the best news, our next door neighbours have offered to look into renting THEIR house to the Unterbergers!! How fantastic is THAT!

Anyway, updates:

Erin:
is sharing her room with two girls at the moment, one her own age and another who is 10 and Erin is conning into doing everything for her. She is thriving on the social atmosphere. Her manners and behaviour has been picking up around the other children. She wanted to do school work yesterday (Sunday) even though it isn't normally something we do on a weekend. She is still doing a brilliant job at that.

Billy:
is insisting on everyone picking him up and reading to him and getting his way more often than not! He keeps climbing into random laps and cuddling. He is thrilled with having two babies in the house (Jemima is almost 5 months old). I am also getting more time to spend with him as someone else has been doing my dishes, laundry, cleaning and gardening for the last couple of days! It is wonderful. He is also spending more time outside as there is always someone willing to take him out to the trampoline or to visit the chooks.

Christopher:
had his head sucked on yesterday by Jemima LOL. He is almost the same size as her! Still my contented little bub. He slept 8 hours the other night! He is still mostly doing 6-7 at least. Having the two babies in the house is just lovely! It is so bizarre to hear him wake up and go to get him only to find someone bringing him to me before I could get there! He is having baths with his brother now and Erin is helping me bath the babies most nights. Billy enjoys poking in Chris' umbilical hernia. I should go and get him weighed and checked etc but the fat rolls tell me that in spite of chucking a third of each feed he is doing just fine!

The house and garden:
have been Unterberger blitzed! Spring means lots of flowers, picnics out on the lawn and watching the birds in the trees. Extra hands means a tidy house and more time for me to sort things that have been on the to-do list for MONTHS!

Jess