Okay! So I have never blogged before. Does that even make sense? I have no idea!! Anyway, if I was going to start blogging (as I guess I am) then I would blog about my favourite topic - raising my children. Why don't I just start with my day and give you an example of what a day in my life is like.
First of all I must tell you that I have 4 beautiful children. They are 8, 6, 4 and 11 months old. They keep me busy, especially when my husband is away for work!!
Today began around 6.45am with my little baby girl waking and chatting in her cot. I tried to sleep for a bit longer, but babies (as you would know) are not like alarm clocks that you can turn off and wait till later. I went and got her and bought her back to my bed where she had a good milk feed. I encouraged her to lie down with me (no such luck) so realised it was time to start my day. I put her in the playpen and noticed my other 3 kiddies were already up. Saying a quick goodmorning I ducked into the shower to try and wake myself up. Then of course you have the normal morning routine. The beds are made, the rooms are tidied, washing is put on (or the washing from the day before is pulled out of the machine - whoops!) then breakfast begins. There is cereal, toast and juice and no - it is not always as calm and easy as it sounds. The breakfast spills all over the floor; the baby is waiting to be fed; two of the kids are fighting over whos turn it is to collect the chicken eggs; the washing up from last night needs to be done and oh yes - you need to eat as well. So I feed the baby and feed myself at the same time, mediate the squabbles, complain about the mess, talk about the (basic) plan for the day and move on to teeth brushing and getting dressed.
I always call my mum every morning just to say a quick hello and share with her the doings of her grandchildren! I look forward to this call and I know she does too. She always answers the phone in the same way - like she is not sure who it could possibly be! I like that. After the phone call (which is made while washing the dishes!) I dress the baby who has now crawled somewhere she has not supposed to and is trying to eat the dog biscuits again I herd the children into the car - proud that I am making it out by 9.30am. We head into town and need to do a bit of shoe shopping (it's been a while). My 6 year old trend setter is adament she wants these black pair of shoes which I think are a waste of money as they will not fit her for long enough and the wear and tear will show too quickly. I put them back, turn around to help my 8 year old, ask my 4 year old to take the baby for a walk around the shop and turn back to see my 6 year old back with that box with the black shoes! This goes on a bit until I realise this is a battle I do not want to fight (I usually do not give in so easily) but need another pair of shoes anyway to get the 2nd pair half price. We buy 6 pairs of shoes and move onto shop number two.
After all the shopping we walk to the library for some borrowing time. I even get a chance to borrow a couple of books on AUSLAN which I am trying to learn at the moment. I sit down with my 4 year old (while my baby sleeps) and pick up some early readers for him to try. He is ecstatic when he realises that he can "Read" them (after me and a lot of repetition!) My 6 year old has met a friend (suprise, surprise) and they are reading together at a table while my 8 year old has chosen 9 books about horses and a book about "what to do in certain situations" (after a little encouraging from me). We go to the (very unhelpful) front desk ladies who look at me like I am interrupting their conversation. So I am new at this library - I am used to having the computer to go and check out books and not have to "disrupt" the people supposedly there to help!
The children and I go home ready for the afternoon. My daughter has a speech to write, I still need to get out that washing, I need to do a bit of tidying before the baby finds something to choke on from the older childrens' collection and oops! I forgot lunch....! Somehow we get through the afternoon unscathed and things are going okay. I even got time for a nap during my baby's afternoon sleep time. Very rare these days but welcomed nonetheless. Only problem is now I am still wide awake. The day did continue (of course) but I better end it there. It is 11pm and my two middle children have probably now both wet the bed because I should have taken them to the toilet at 10.30 (I can't wait till their bed wetting phase is over!) Oh well, more washing to put on for tomorrow.
I guess the best part of the day (and this day was fairly calm for us!) was when we were sitting down for dinner outside and my 6 year said in a loud and proud voice " What a great family we have" and that my fellow bloggers is why it is all worth it. With that goodnight as my children do not understand day light savings so tomorrow I will be up at 5.45am ready to start again xxxxx
