Self Storage

We are 9 days into rainy school holidays and there is only so many board games I can take.
I don't know what to do with myself, let alone the kids. We are literally climbing the walls in here.

        

I'm craving some space, some order, a little quiet corner all to myself....just for a short while

AND THEN......I drove past the this: 

Do you think I could interpret that literally? I'd only need a small room, and just for a day or two.

Do you have cabin fever?

With Love

Liv xo

The Horn (worthy of a capital letter)

I was reasonably lucky with my skin as teenager only ever getting the odd chocolate pimple here and there, but the fright of it and the rule don't ever squeeze a pimple, let it run its course never sat right with me. I could never watch it grow, turn red and angry until the volcano sported a nice little yellow puss ball and then leave it there for the rest of civilisation to cringe over. Nope, I always squeezed.

So yesterday with a friend to visit and pride to keep intact I squeezed the heck out of one little zit and the next thing you know I have a whopping lopsided rhino oozing white blood cells off the side of my shnoz.
You know you have gone too far when you scrap away half the skin on your nose and then a scab forms, don't you?!
No amount of foundation was ever going to cover this monster up.
So I gave my girlfriend my left cheek, which was weird b/c it should be the right but she would have taken out the tip of the horn....eek. Then I tried to make a joke of it but the truth is, it was no laughing matter. It wasn't just a blemish, it was a flaming stigma.

The last time this happened we were in Fiji and in retrospect I could have worn an itsy-bitsy-tiny-winy-yellow-polked-dot-bikini and no one would ever have noticed that I had stretch marks and was sporting an extra few kgs of Christmas pud...this tropical pimple was festy and out there. It was right where Cindy Crawford's mole is positioned so for a very short moment I thought perhaps everyone would think it was just that, but hubby brought me crashing back to reality with an "oh my goodness darl, that is so disgusting." So with my tropical zit killing the holiday romance and my full piece cossie equally as unappealing I took my ugly self into the water and snorkelled (undetected) for a few days. And guess what, salt water works a treat, within a few days the little sucker was gone and I could resume sexy wife in a not so sexy onesie in the hammock.

Ever had one of those pimples?
I always worry for the bride-to-bes, that would be my worst nightmare. It's one of the first things I check for when they come down the isle. Is that rude or just caring? I always bring my foundation just incase I find one poor bride tarred by the angry pimple stick.

Anyway, it's time to face reality again, I have to attend 2 kids parties today and so I must begin the process of cover-up! After much discussion yesterday with my girlfriend she shared a little (big) secret: wear the biggest and boldest jewellery you own, it will make the pimple look small. Thanks Bri x

Enjoy another rainy day of winter holidays folks (anyone as sick of it as I am?)

With Love
Liv xo

Cousins make memories

Mucking around with "the cousins" makes up a HUGE chunk of my childhood memories. Playing in the cattle crush at Pop's farm, dodging GI and GG the bulls on the motorbikes, swimming in the duck poo infested dam with boogie boards, building forts in the bush, skiing holidays at 'The Lodge', noise, fights, laughter and mischief.....over and over again.
We have all gone in different directions, some of us married others still footloose and fancy free, but the thought of another family wedding fills us all with excitement- the chance to be young again with "the cousins". This December we will all be together again!

It's those memories that make me fill my kids days with as much cousin time as our busy lives allow. Yesterday we did a swap, I got the girls + 1 fella and I sent the big boys off to boy camp in the mountains. I was expecting a few days of pink and dollies and craft...but after 5 days of rain all they wanted to do was run outside. Fine by me!

cubby

making lemonade

We met up this afternoon to do the swap again and the boys were back where they always are:

I probably ate far too much of this yumminess (my sister is an amazing cook, i didn't get that gene)

We are meeting up with these guys again in a few days and "the other cousins"  next week. 

It's what dreams are made of.

With Love

Liv xo

State of Origin. 1/1. Game on.

After the first game my confidence was up and so I decided to invite one very passionate Queenslander and his New South Welsh wife to join our two littlies in support of the Maroons (if you missed my first post about S of O I mentioned that my big boys were born in NSW and the two little ones in QLD- so we are split even).

Sadly however, and with our tail between our legs we concede another defeat to the Toads on their home turf.
We haven't won many up there, but the last one we did win, we were there to witness it and it was sweet. Very sweet.

So at one a piece now, bring on game 3.

There was about as much joy and confidence in that game as there was in our political leaders last night. Equally as disappointing but I think the political game was perhaps a click ahead in the entertainment stakes. What a shambles. Comical even. 

We are deeply concerned for Kevin and Julia's lovechild though. 

With Love

Liv xo

Unconditional Love

Today was day 5 of rainy winter holidays, and determined not to have another day of climbing the walls, we hit the public pool.
What I like to call,  unconditional love. Know the one?

It was heated but not quite burn your bottom in the shower heated. It was more like the temperature of the shower when the hot water runs out and the shivering begins. It was cold. But with my 4 kids and 2 spares under my care, I got in.
I reckon I shivered off the 2 kilos of chocolate brownie I ate this morning. In retrospect a good thing.

We lasted about an hour, half of which was spent telling the boys to stop imitating the oldies doing water aerobics in the next lane and the other half mopping up Henry's blood.
I was politely entertaining some boring conversation about scuba diving with a chatty American when Henry flew through the air and landed on my head. The teeth through tongue scenario we mother's know too well, or is that just me?
Once again we were stealth, inconspicuous and welcome visitors. not.

What kind of unconditional love to do you throw around?
- The rainy footy sideline is a good one.
- Mopping up vomit at 2, 3 and 4am is another.
- Sharing the choc froth on your cappuccino every. single. day.
- Changing wet bedsheets every day for a month.
- The 10pm project-needs-to-be-finished-by-the-morning
- Going to the shops with 4 hungry children
- Going to the BMX bike track when you have the flu
- Playing hide and seek outside on a cold and windy day
- Agreeing to play monopoly when the last episode of Downton Abby is airing.

Being a mum means putting yourself last, and believe me, I struggle with it daily.
I wonder what tomorrow will bring.

With Love
Liv xo

Should hubby have access to my Facebook?

That is the question.
Of late my husband has taken to posting my Facebook 'status update', but it's not the typical hacked husband status like : 'I am the luckiest woman in the world' or 'My husband is hotter than Brad Pitt' or 'I think my hubby will get lucky tonight'. Nope.

I HAVE WORMS.

He thought it would be funny.
Are you laughing?
The first I knew of it was a friend texted my mobile and said "where are you? where is Paul? You might want to check Facebook"...from the muttley laugh coming from the lounge room I knew he was up to something.

I got so many responses, and not just on Facebook. Friends I've bumped into at the supermarket, the doctors surgery and the footy sideline have all mentioned my worms. And what is worse I had to justify it and then explain that actually I don't have worms. But of course everyone thinks you're lying and that hubby is a champion for going public on an otherwise private itch!

The whole 'worm' saga started a few weeks back when we were going through the calendar (a free agricultural/gardening calendar we received in the post last December). For 6 months I have never noticed the little slogan each passing month shares, but this month hubby found it particularly funny and decided to send it anonymously to a bunch of friends via text:
Keep your worm farm in a cool and shady location where possible. Worms like dark, moist conditions.

He sat back that mundane wednesday night, and waited for the replies. beep beep. beep beep.
He laughed himself silly. Some knew exactly who it was and responded with equally stupid comments. Some had no idea who it was and what it meant. Others simply said "ok".
So without so much as a single consideration of the ramifications, he took his worm jokes further afield and my Facebook page copped the 2nd instalments of his humour.

He promises not to do it again, but the smirk tells another story. I'm worried.

Liv x
(and just for the record, I don't have worms)

kids were here

Last month,  I fell in love with the idea of the "kids were here" project.  Its a collaborative project involving lots of different photographers sharing their view of what life with children looks like.  You can read more here. 

“When I first began this project, I thought it would be fun to document the every day messes my children make.  As the weeks have passed, this project has really become so much more than that.

It’s not really about messes at all, but about the stories they tell.  It’s about traces of childhood I see throughout my home on a daily basis. It’s about the love we share together.  It’s about living and being…creating, making, learning and trying.   This project leaves me a beautiful story each month of the reminders that Kids are here now…and the time, well, its all too fleeting, isn’t it?   We all need to embrace these moments and just live them too; because they really are the best moments of life.”  -Ginger Unzueta

Of course I had to join in too.

Most of those involved in the project took photos over a month or more but I scored all of mine in less than 24hrs. What is that saying? Busy and messy little people live here!

(manderins in the bath?!?!)

Henry: "a wocket" (rocket)

Sometimes the mess can be overwhelming, but 'the kids were here' project has made me realise, I'm not alone. 

kwhbadge.jpg

With Love

Liv xo

A bush date with my girl

When I was a kid at school there was a family with 9 children and to give each of her kids a bit of attention the mum would take each of them out of school for one day every term. Just one on one.
I've always thought it was a lovely idea...not the taking them out of school, by hook or by crook mine don't get days off (unless they are bleeding to death) but we try to find the time in other ways.
Today it was me and Pink Dot in the bush.

Last weekend Hubby took the boys into the bush to build a fort (apparently the first of many for cross wars!) so it was our mission to find it. We succeeded and continued on for a hour or so.

If you have really good eyes you might be able to spot Buz in red jeans and a blue jumper. Smack bang in the middle of the pic. He was screaming out to see if we were ok.

That's our house on the other side of the valley. 

Anyway, It was a lovely date, full of adventure, slipping and sliding, prickles and sticks, worry about snakes and creepies (hubby just rolled his eyes and said "its winter"), and A LOT of talking and singing.

Do you manage to squeeze in some one on one time with your little beans? Where do you go?

With Love

Liv xo

Bittersweet

This week has been bittersweet.
On thursday I visited friend who this week gave birth to her daughter at 27 weeks. She didn't make it. And then last night, less than 24 hours later, I got the news that another friend gave birth to her gorgeous, chunky and healthy son.
What an emotional ride I've had. I cried on the doorstep of the first and squealed down the phone line of the second.

Mr Chunky's mum said "Just smelling him and listening to him yabber in my ear is so heavenly....nothing on earth comes anywhere near this."
Oh how true are her words, I can't wait for a snuggle. Bringing a new little life into the world is absolutely amazing. Nothing comes close, she's right. I remember all four births vividly. They all played out differently, one on my back, one epidural, one in the shower and one on the floor. All painful. All beautiful. And the feeling of loosing one is the antithesis of this experience. I've felt that pain too.

Ever had a miscarriage?
I have. It's devastating. I miscarried very early on in my pregnancy but I loved that little person with my whole being. I named her and pray to her all the time. I always think of how life would have been with her in it, what she'd look like, what her little voice would sound like. But knowing that Little H would not be here if my angel had gone to term makes me realise that her short little life in my belly had a purpose.  Even typing this I've got tears welling up.

When I miscarried I was shocked at the number of women who wanted to talk about their own experience. At least half of them cried recalling their story. It's a life lost and a mother's love runs so deep. That's why I think I lost it on my friends doorstep the other day, you never forget.

O dear, I probably shouldn't have written this post with a room full of boys between me and the tissue box.
Maybe I should borrow my scarf and let this one lie for a bit.
To be continued......one day........maybe..........maybe not.

woowzers I was JUST about to sign off and my big boy came in (like literally 1 minute ago) and said:
Mike: "Mum what is puberty?"
(thank goodness I didn't have the light on, just the shine from the screen)
Me: "well....it's.....arr.....um.....remember the other day you were talking about a boys voice going squeaky at school? well that's puberty."
Mike:"so it's metamorphosis?"
Me: "Yeah I suppose. What are you watching in there?"
Mike: "Footy"
Me: "Hmmmm....ok. Darl?"

Well that conversation certainly dried the eyes.
But it's over and out for me, I think my emotional tank needs a rest.

With Love
Liv xo

God has a funny sense of humour.

As a kid I always vowed to have girls first. My 2 sisters and I came along before our brothers and I think/hope we took a significant work load off mum. So I begged God for girls first when I became a mother. What did I get, 2 big beautiful boys, then a princess, then another fella.

God obviously thought it would be funny to watch me parent 3 boys.

Over the years we've had our fair share of split chins, split eyes, fractured fingers, an ambo ride, cuts, blood, bruises, tears, tussles, tricks, ticks, mud and mayhem....nothing too serious, YET!

But it's all the little things boys love to do that I'm sure keeps God amused daily. 

This week it was 'scare mum with the spider trick.' It went on and on and on...

I've already thrown it in the bin twice and it keeps reappearing, so I'm thinking of putting an end to it today with one big scare on their end. Where do you think I should hide it?

Biscuit tin?

Shower?

Footy boots? (but then which kid, they were all culprits!)

But then again I'm always saying "two wrongs don't make a right". Should I throw the bloody thing in the neighbours bin this time.... but I don't want them to get a fright.  Arrhhh what to do?

BOYS BOYS BOYS

Have you ever heard Garth Brook's #1 hit (1990) "Some of God's greatest gifts are unanswered prayers" ?

It's a beautiful song, I think about it a lot.  My prayer for girls first was unanswered b/c the Big Guy knew I needed these fellas in my life early, and then threw another little one on the end to keep things fresh.

They test me daily, have me in tears often and fits of laughter always!

I adore my boys, spiders and all. 

 (but i'm sure glad He gave me a little pink dot too)

With Love

Liv x