Silly Nursery Rhymes

Now that my girls are a little older and less likely to sleep the hours away while we travel it's getting harder to have drama less car trips. This means the hubs and I have to start getting creative to stop the whinging and tantrums in their tracks.

Unfortunately neither of us have really come to terms with this change yet and with my organisational skills in some kind of questionable limbo while we're bunking at my mum's we often hop in the car for long trips highly unprepared.

This is true of our most recent return South to mow the lawn and do general tidy up/pack up over the weekend. The trip down was smooth and event free, however the trip home was horrendous as all three tired, cranky children became bored and simply 'over it'.

Both girls love to sing and have a thing about stars, so after some time I asked who could sing me Twinkle Twinkle which led to James sharing his rendition; "twinkle twinkle little star how I wonder where I left my bra." 

That was simply hilarious and led to much time spent singing inappropriately altered nursery rhymes. Here are some of my favourites:

"Old mcDonald had a fart, with a fart here and a fart there" -Ellie

"On that farm he had a toilet, with a flush here" - Ellie

"Twinkle twinkle star, you're a good girl" - Kahlei


"Bra bra black sheep have you any bras"- James (surprised?)

I learned a few things during our little sing-a-long. Firstly, Ellie loves toilet humour. Everything is fart this, poo that and a toilet for good measure. Secondly, James is obsessed with bras and still doesn't know any words to any rhymes and lastly, Kahlei is just too sweet for words.

What do you do to entertain the kiddies on long car trips?

Today I am Grateful for the Park

At the moment, James is so very tired. With moving, sickness and his new job it's been a tough few weeks for him. I have worried about the lack of time he's been spending with the children. Kahlei has been having some real attitude with him, which I think is because of that. So, I've been quite worried. I am a worrier like that.

So, this morning we all went to the park together and the girls played with Daddy. They had a blast. I felt choked up from time to time to see them all playing together so happily.

James ended our play exhausted, of course (welcome to my life), but I think it was so good for all of them.

Today, I am also grateful for Tweetdeck and that fact that I finally figured it out so that I could set up my #ausblogcon_pityparty column and try to stay away from being bombarded with happy tweets from conference goers. Although, from time to time, I did pop in to see what I was missing out on.

What are you grateful for today?
Visit Maxabella Loves... for more Grateful posts.

Things My Kids Have Taught Me

Today Jasper is 9 weeks old and tomorrow will mark 3 years, 5 months since Ellie made her entrance into the world and this Mumma was born, so I thought it about time I shared the important lessons my children have taught me thus far. The things you don't get told before that first bub blesses you with their presence.

Without further ado, things my children have taught me (in no particular order);

1. Everything tastes better if it has been dunked in your drink first or your drink has been tipped in your plate
2. Things taste even better, best even, if you roll it in the dirt
3. Good jokes never, ever go out of style and never lose their appeal (High five, mirror Case)
4. Having a sister (or two) is the best
5. Having a brother is pretty cool, too. Except his peanuts. They're gross
6. You have to be careful what you say early on, swears are picked up much quicker than anything else - 'aw, cwap' may be funny the first time, not so much the times after that
7. Favourite movies MUST be watched to death, until a new favourite is found
8. Farts are funny. Yours, mine, hers. And it's okay to ask perfect strangers if they just farted
9. Tiny noses and chubby cheeks are totally, ridiculously and additively kissable
10. If Mumma is sick and needs sleep and rest then bubs won't sleep a wink. Pretty sure it's some kind of rule
11. Cleaning is futile. Two little whirl winds follow me around and undo whatever I have just done - in half the time it took me to do it
12. Daddy is entirely too interesting and demands all night-time-sitting-on-the-couch-feeds attention. So much so that any bub will forget to actually suckle, but will not forget to whinge that they're not being fed
13. Children have an inbuilt playground radar
14. Three year olds have amazing memories. Especially on things you don't want them to remember
15. Stupid noisy toys need to be played with all day everyday until they 'disappear'
16. There's a transition stage between nappies and being toilet trained, where some toddlers change their own nappies. Gotta love thinking they're asleep only to go in and discover poo everywhere
17. If you can use it they can do it better, learn it faster and before long they're teaching you how your phone works
18. Today's favourite meal is tomorrow's food aversion
19. Colour coordination is the key - Ellie is pink, Kahlei has been dubbed green and Jasper, blue (all by Ellie)
20. If you're three and you have a two year old sister, you are automatically the boss. You can put her to bed, take her dummy, give her a time out and she will not think anything of it
21. "Cuddles make you better." Ellie tells me this when I look down or have a bad day. So true

These are but a few memorable life lessons I have learnt. I know there's still so much more they will enlighten me on.


What have your kids taught you lately?

"Gonna be Home Late"

I hate those words. That dreaded sentence which always seems to come when I am at my worst. When they're at their worst and when all I want is for James to come home early and take the girls out of the house for an hour or so, giving Jasper a chance to nap uninterrupted and me a moments peace. It's always the way. 

The long days are always, always the ones I want cut short. Like today, with me having barely any voice, a pounding headache and a earache that's kicking my butt and Ellie having an hour and a half melt down over a three minute time out. Jasper having trouble settling and Kahlei getting into as much mischief as humanly possible. I would catch myself looking longingly at the clock only to realise my count-down could not begin.

And I do count-down. Every day. On the bad days, I watch those hands move slowly around the face of the clock and will James to come home soon to take someone off my hands, to give me a moments silence. To hold the baby, who's cried all day or play with the toddler who hasn't let up for a single moment. Or to just hold me and be my shoulder to cry on. On the good days I watch for the moment when I will finally have some adult conversation and companionship.

Tonight, I am watching the first of Oprah's Australian shows alone, which James and I were so looking forward to watching together and I was lamenting the fact that he's not here.

As I put Ellie to bed, she looked out the window and said "I'm worried Daddy's not coming home." Bless her. As I explained that Daddy, would in fact be coming home and would sneak in to tuck her in and kiss her on the head I realised just how lucky I was. He may not be home just yet, he might be missing our 'date', but he will be home.

And for that I am so very grateful.

{52 Weeks} Week 2: 'Out'

I often lament the amount of time I get to spend outside of the house, so tonight when Ellie decided chicken burgers were the must have meal (I don't know why...she doesn't eat burgers) James sent her and I out to get the necessary ingredients.

It amuses me that James thinks sending me out on little errands at times (with a child in tow) will be enough to abate my desire to get out - with or without the children.

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