OK, here I am. Belly has popped out and we are officially 1/4 of the way there. To others, I look fat, to Jon and I, I look pregnant (well, he has to say that doesn't he?) Still not quite as big as I was with Billy, but that may be because I am not having chocolate milk several times a day like I was with him! It may also be having 2 kids to run around after and still feeding Billy at least 4 times a day. Jon and I are both getting the feeling that this one is a girl, but we truly and honestly don't mind either way. The news has well and truly escaped with most people being at least polite to my face and a few people even getting excited and happy for us! There have been a couple of negative or silly comments, but they tend to back off once I snarl and look like I will chew of a random limb (pregnancy hormones, I can't help it!)

Erin:
is a real little lady now with a fantastic imagination. She was playing with her blocks yesterday and apparently they were sheep and farmers and the sheep were eating their lunch. Very cute! She helped me put together a gift for a friend of mine named Sheree and keeps talking about "Aunty Sugary" - can't quite get her mouth around "Sheree"

Billy:
is huge and going non-stop. I think teeth are on the way as he has been off the show the last two days or so and drooled blood twice after bumping his gums. He is pretty much sleeping through the night now with only the occasional wake up where he gets a cuddle and put back to bed with his bear, sometimes a little top up feed if I feel he needs it.

The house:
is whimpering under the wrath of my nesting which has kicked in big time. As usual, the kitchen looks like a bomb has hit it with jam making and various cooking projects pretty much always on the go. I comfort myself that it is always FRESH mess, I just mess it up as soon as I clean it. I have moved all the furniture in the kids room and cleaned underneath and cleaned the windows, walls and ceiling. I removed some blutac that was on the ceiling from the previous tenants and found holes drilled in the ceiling under (above? covered by) the blutac. Lovely I am sure! I also moved all the furniture except the bed and chest of drawers in Jon and my rooms and did the same thing. I am planning to re-organise wardrobes today, next week the study is the grand project so watch out!

The Garden:
is suffering a bit through neglect and lack of water - I've been a bit slack - but we still picked enough cherry tomatoes last night to fill a mixing bowl and another large bowl of black russians and Romas. Oh, and if you want pears, come and get them....PLEASE! I have two plum trees with large yellow plums that are just about ripe and my peach tree is almost ready as well.

Craft:

The only craft has been Erin's jacket. I have made a BIT of progress!

Jess

The Lady Bug Cake

Pre-smarties

Yes, I know it is orange, but it is hard to make white icing red! It just goes pink, no matter how much cochineal you use. So we had an orange lady bug with smarties for spots.

After Erin put on the smarties
Didn't she do a great job??

Erin watching the sparkler feelers!

We have had our first people through to look at the house to buy. What a painful experience that was! It felt yucky to have someone opening my cupboards (even wardrobes) and taking digitial photos without even asking first. The agent made an effort to be polite, but shot himself in the foot by calling me "Tanya" persistently and referring to Erin (who was dressed in denim overalls with flowers embroidered all over the front) as my little boy more than once! If these people buy, they will want to move in December/January so I shouldn't complain - that gives us until BB (belly bubba) is 3 or 4 months old.

Erin:
is 2 and a half now! We had a ladybird cake with sparklers and smarties for spots. I will put up photos later. We had a ball decorating and eating it. Erin is now having 'reading time' every night as she goes to bed. I pop her into bed after teeth, toilet, stories, Bible story and prayer time and set the timer for about 15 minutes and then I leave the light on until the timer goes off and a stack of books on her bed to read. When the timer goes off I take the books away, she takes three deep breaths (oxygen can be a seditive and learning to control her breathing now will help if she ever develops asthma) and then I turn the light off. I started this because she was reading until all hours with the light comming in her door (apple doesn't fall far from the tree!) so we needed a lights out time.

Billy:
has tooth number 6 and is sleeping through until 5am. I have a feeling he will drop the 5am feed soon too, he may just be waking because that is when my alarm goes off and that disturbs him. Although sometimes he doesn't wake until 5:30 or 6am. He goes straight back to sleep anyway. He has 1 hr nap at 10am and a 2-3 hour nap at 2pm as well. I used to leave him in bed until midday in a bid to get him to have 2, 2 hour naps. But he was just playing quietly in his cot and I found that if I get him up and let him play actively he will sleep better in the afternoon and then sleep better at night.

The house:
is a bit chaotic at the moment. We had to buy a brand new freezer this week! Our new/second hand freezer only lasted a few weeks then died on us! So we blew the budget entirely and bought an upright freezer that has drawers, which will make organising food a lot easier. We (or should I say Jon) have been bottling and stewing pears. We do most of it together, but Jon is very enthusiastic about the garden and garden produce at the moment so I am happy to follow his lead for a bit. The pears aren't quite as exciting to me as the purple gage plums (we have a year's supply of jam from them!) but it will be great to have bottled pears to use through the year. I hurt my neck on Monday morning just climbing back into bed. I don't know what I did, but Jon had to stay home from work for the day and take care of me and the kids! I am a lot better, but it still hurts and it nearly killed me to mop the floor today. So things have deteriorated a little, which makes potential buyers looking at the house even less enjoyable :(

The garden:
is producing well! Black russian tomatoes are amazingly delicious, as are our cherry tomatoes (we get at least half a dozen a day of them!) and we ate our first Roma tomatoes on Tuesday. A lot of things are going to seed now, but the capsicum and chillis are ripening, the corn is forming ears and we have enough pears and blackberries to keep us going for quite some time! Our sunflowers also have big buds on them which is getting exciting to watch!

Craft:
is being thought about lots. I almost can't wait for winter when things slow down in the garden so I can get back into the craft. I have several baby beenies to knit and I can't knit with Billy awake, it is just too difficult with him playing with the yarn and needles. Unfortunately, if I sit for any length of time when he is asleep, I am soon asleep too!

Jess

Oh, Okay, I will tell you the good news too!!

We have three tickers now!!










So far pregnancy has been treating me fairly well, just a bit tired and moody at time with a constant background of mild sea-sickness (Poor Beloved Hubby had to make his own lunch this morning as I just couldn't face doing it!). Other than that, I feel fit as a fiddle and am REALLY enjoying anticipating another addition to our family. I was packing away some of Billy's outgrown clothes yesterday and felt giddily happy at the thought of another baby using them in a few short months. The possibility of moving has gone back into perspective for me after sulking for a few days. At the end of the day, if we have to move while I am heavily pregnant or with a newborn, it will not be the end of the world. We have happy, healthy children and each other. I am sure if we move, it will be a positive move for our family. And we're already saving for removalists!!

Good news and bad news

Well, I have bad news and good news but you are only getting the bad news for now I am afraid! The owners are selling. The real estate agent showed himself to be completely ignorant of tenancy law when he showed up ten minutes after leaving a message on my mobile to take photos of the house, so I have politely reminded him that I specifically requested 24 hours notice. He replied "Oh, I'll try next time" so I checked the actual Tenancy Act and he is required to give 24 hours notice in writing, 48 hours if intending to bring perspective buyers through. I will be letting him know this, and the $5,000 fine for each time he fails to give proper notification! I am willing to assist him in a polite manner if he respects the fact that it may be the land-lord's house, but it is OUR home.

Erin:
has a cold (as do Billy and I) but is very happy and chirpy none-the-less. She misses her Nanny and Poppy after spending the weekend getting thoroughly spoilt and doted on. She and her cousin Breah played so beautifully! They are both fantastic little girls. Her molars seem like they are through and we are now getting *some* Poos in the Potty! It has been a long, slow road but there is a glimmer of hope. She is becoming so helpful around the house, already an expert duster, gopher and picker-up-er-er. She does her chores with very little prompting after the first instruction and almost dresses herself as I dress Billy. I am so proud of her independence and self motivation. Some may think I am 'making' her grow up too fast, but I feel she gains so much self esteem from doing stuff for herself. My feeling is the children who are left to fill in their own time with little direction are forced to grow up quicker as they often involve themselves in things that are not age appropriate (i.e. violent tv shows), often using deception to hide it from their parents. Children who are allowed to accompany and assist Mummy and are given age appropriate 'jobs' are allowed to be little children much longer - anyway, off the soap box now!


Billy:
is working on tooth number 6! He is also crawling very, very fast and walking around furniture AND standing unassisted for about 3 or 4 second before hitting the deck. He is sporting the appropriate amount of bruising for a little boy of his active nature and has to be told about 50 times a day not to climb on the entertainment unit or the heater - both of which are extraordinarily interesting for some reason! His sleeping pattern was greatly disturbed for a few days as tooth number 5 made an appearence (a few nights only going 1 or 2 hours at a time) but once the tooth was through we applied a little 'tough love' and he has gone back to 4-5 hours over night. I was contemplating pushing him to go more, but then this cold hit so not yet.

The house:
is ever so slowly getting organised with the laundry under control and my new home management book finally finished and printed. I haven't been sticking to it well today and the last couple of days actually because I have been sick and tired, but even so the laundry is up to date and tea was in the crock pot last night for my Beloved Hubby when he came home to get tools to go fix the car so he could eat and run and I even managed to vacuum and reload the dishwasher today in spite of sleeping on the couch most of the morning.

The garden:
is amazing, we have picked cucumber and capsicum and a few cherry tomatoes. There is so much just waiting to ripen! We have picked a few peaches and pears. The peaches on the tree that got all the TLC are still all green but they are quite big. The sunflowers are budding and we even have a sweet pea flower or two! I am disinclined to do too much around the garden when it may well be that we have to move again this year, but I still love my garden!

Craft:
has been only the pink jacket and sadly, not much of that. I am just finding it hard to make the time with so much else going on. I WILL get back to it though.

Jess

Summer days are lovely, summer rain is better!

We got a decent rain over the weekend which was fantastic! It cooled things off a bit and wet the garden down.

Erin:
is getting her 2 year old molars, which explains the increased appearance of the 'diva tiara' over the last few days/weeks. She has still managed to be quite a good girl considering. She is excellent at getting breakfast ready in the morning for both of us. Yesterday she even tried pouring cornflakes with only minimal wastage.

Billy:
has 4 teeth now and is getting pretty determined to work out this walking bizzo. He bit me on the nose today, twice and deliberately instigates and plays games of peek-a-boo. I think tooth number 5 is on its way. He is waking a fair bit over night these last two or three nights. When I go in he is standing at the end of the cot and jumps up and down when he sees me. I think he may possibly be a little spoilt!

The house:
is still in need of a bit of a de-clutter, but the garden glut is still taking most of my 'free' time! Crawling babies are good motivation to keep things up off the floor though.

The garden:
looks amazing, I need to take more photos. The tomato plants are now over 6 foot tall and I picked our first 2 ripe cherry tomatoes today. Fresh lettuce every day and snacking on peas straight off the bush. The pears are starting to ripen and a tinge of colour is hitting the prune plums although the purple gauges are now finished. I made a pie, 5 jars of jam and about a litre of stewed plums to freeze last night just out of the purple gauges. The apples on the apple tree are starting to turn red, the cucumber and zucchini are flowering as are the potatoes and nasturtiums. The passion fruit only needs to ripen too. It is just flat out!

Craft:
Erin is starting to get excited about her pink jacket as I start on the third panel. I held it up to her to see if it is the right size on Friday and she was besotted with it. She did ask me to make her a matching hat, but I said I would get back to her on that one!

Jess

Erin Quote

Mummy: OK, it is time to brush your teeth, use the potty and head off to bed.

Erin: Actually Mummy, it isn't technically night time.


I guess it wasn't dark so she had a point LOL

Almost forgot....

THIS is what Billy has been up to!!

I'm here still and alive! Cooking plums!!

Well it has been AGES but I will just jump back in!

Erin:
is just lovely as always. Last night I asked her "Where do you think we are going tomorrow?" She replied "The Promised Land!" (church was the answer I was looking for!) There is a fabulous picture of her covered in dirt and blackberry juice in the album. She is loving the summer harvest! But more about that in the garden section. She is growing into quite the young lady now and is starting to wrap her head around being modest and not flashing her knickers to the world when she is in a dress or skirt. She is very creative telling me big long stories about the world! She has picked up a habit of controdicting people which is not very endearing ("The sky is Blue Erin" "Nooooo, the sky is not Blue!") But it is made up for with the lovely manners she is developing and the wonderful, vibrant, energetic, enthusiastic little girl that is Erin!

Billy:
is on the move. Not walking on his own yet - but I do say yet! I really wasn't prepared for this quite yet! He is just on the go from the minute he wakes up to the minute he goes to sleep. He now pulls himself up to standing in his cot and hangs over the top to talk to Erin. It is adorable to see him with Grizz. I looked over the other day to see her laying with her head in his lap as he pulled her ears. She just takes anything from the kids! He is eating like nothing I have ever seen, polished off two jars of baby food when we went out to tea last night! He also 'sang' at the top of his lungs to entertain the other diners.

The house:
is gradually improving. I have *almost* found my study with the new shelves and filing cabnet that Jon bought over Christmas. I have been cooking madly with the glut of fruit we have had - plum jam, stewed plums, plum pie. I am also going to attempt canning some fruit, just for something different! I have taken to getting up early (5am-ish) to pack Jon a lunch and have some 'me' time before the kids wake up. It is amazing how full that time has gotten and I still don't have the house immaculate!

The garden:
is growing like nobody's business! Tomato plants almost 6 foot tall (had to start training the tops horozontally because the stakes weren't high enough!) Fresh lettuce every day, peas straight off the plant (snow peas and sugar peas) and PLUMS! Lots of Plums. My favourites are the Purple Gage Plums from the back of the yard, the taste like nectar from the gods!!!

Craft:
Have been too busy with other matters at the moment, but will get back into it soon, I have too many projects not to!

Jess

hi!

I haven't got time for a 'real' update today as I am still getting things in order after the holiday season and Billy has his immunisation this afternoon, but I just wanted to let you know I am still alive and direct you to the photo album for Christmas photos. Particularly the photos of Billy CRAWLING and STANDING UP!!

We are harvesting about a 2 litre container full of plums every second day at the moment (would probably be every day if I went out!) and Erin is almost constantly purple with blackberry juice. It is all good here - except the landlord got the place valued yesterday which makes me uneasy.....

Anyway, I will get to this properly at a later date (possibly next week)