Today's agenda

I was very good this morning. When the alarm went off I didn't tell Kevin to turn it off even though I was very tired and cold and didn't really want to get out of bed. I got up an went to the pool. It took me ages to swim the 2.5kms today but I did it. Hannah had woken not long after I left so Kevin gave her a bottle. I am very lucky that he is so supportive and doesn't complain that he had to get up to feed her. After my shower I had to express (gosh it is hard to swim when you are full of milk because it tingles so much) and Hollie and Jessica tried to help. I don't know how they think they can help but they do and it is annoying but I just feel like they want to be part of Hannah so I let them help me push the handle.

Today I have heaps of housework to do. Oh joy. Hopefully if I get it all done I can go to town and do the shopping so that the girls can have a rest after lunch and we'll go to the pool after Playschool. Hannah is crying and wants a feed so I have to go and deal with that then it's washing, vacuuming, mopping, cleaning mirrors, bathroom and toilet, ironing and sorting out the kids clothes. They are all out of their current sizes and into the next size so I have to put clothes in bags and take more clothes out and trying to do that with "help" is not easy.

This is not a good photo but it is exactly how Jessica looks every time you tell her to smile for the camera. It's so cute but could you just be "normal" for once so I could take your beautiful smile?

Crying has started again. I'm really going this time.

Just something new

These have been sitting in my work-in-progress folder for over a year. I thought I'd better finish them because the photos and the selected papers have been there for a long time.

Hollie's first time on the "sippy side" as she used to call it. It was a chance for her to have some time with Mum and Dad alone before Daddy flew back to Longreach (we were staying with the in-laws waiting to move to Longreach, Kevin was already here). Her love of "sippy sides" hasn't changed except she can pronounce it properly now.

I'm glad that I got these two finished. It means that I have a few less unfinished projects which is always satisfying.

The other new announcement is I swam 3kms today. My darling husband has set me a challenge. To swim 225km by the end of August. Why 225kms? Because my winter memership cost $225 and I didn't sign up until the season was well underway so I don't really have that long to get the 225kms done. I'm also going away for over 3 weeks so I have to get cracking and put in a few long swims. My usual 2kms won't cut it now. It has to be over 2kms every swim and I can't miss a day. Thanks for the challenge Kevin. It's going to be hard but it will mean that I have to go and be very committed even though it is so cold in the morning when I get out. I still have 203.5km to go!!! Wish me luck.

Motherhood

Sometimes I think this is so easy, being a mother is wonderful and so fulfilling so it's easy. Tonight and thus this morning was not one of those moments. Last night I was awake every hour for one of the kids which resulted in me being so very tired this morning. So when the alarm went off at 5:45am to go to the pool I just couldn't do it and now of course I am feeling so slack. But it took me until nearly 9am when a friend came around to wake up. My eyes are still sore and it's nearly 12pm!!! The kids are tired from lack of sleep. I'm tired from lack of sleep. It reallly doesn'tmake a good combination and I have to get all the jobs done.

Here is a moment of motherhood that I delight in though. Check this photo out. Isn't it just so cute? This is Jessica falling asleep while drawing. It is these really cute times and when they are just so adorable that your hart just swells. It was just so funny because 3o seconds prior to this photo her and Hollie had been having a fight over a pink texta and then Hollie left to play another game and Jessica fell asleep. What dear things children are. God made them so sweet so we could stand the tantrums and the teenage years. They are truly wonderful and I'm so glad I'm a mum even though it is really ard work.

Mother's Day Afternoon Tea

I am a mother, first and foremost, and a wife second. Then comes me, for me. I love being a mother and a wife and sometimes there is time for me. Today was one of those days. I was able to leave the three kids at home with Kevin and go to the Mother's Day afternoon tea to raise money for the local kindy. Our table were dressed as fairies. We had a wonderful time. Isn't it good to get out and not talk about the kids or worry about them? I so lucky that I have such a hands on husband that I don't have to worry how he'll cope with the kids. I was able to go the whole 4 hours, yes 4 hours for afternoon tea, without thinking about the kids (too much). How nice it was to have time to focus on me. To laugh, to talk (and not be interupted), to feel like a human being that isn't attached to children. Make no mistake, I love them dearly but sometimes it seems that all I am is a mother and while that is wonderful and very fulfilling, it is also very draining and sometimes makes me feel like I want something else. Today was the something else. Today was my day to recharge. To feel young. To just be me. Not a mother or a wife or a cleaner or a negotiator or a slave. Just me. It was wonderful even if it was a little bit selfish.
I will upload photos of us as fairies and me with my shower cap prize. Next time I better win something better than a shower cap. It will make a lovely addition to the dress-up box.

ANZAC Day

What a wonderful day ANZAC Day is. It is so fantastic to see all the young people out in support of our diggers. We went this morning. Kevin marched with the school and I waited at the park for the parade to come to the park. The girls were pretty good but by the time the service started they were itching to do something and the lure of the park became too much. I ended up supervising the older girls on the swings and the slippery slide while Kevin held Hannah.

The reality of a newborn has finally set in. I have finally started to feel the tiredness of a newborn. I also haven’t been going to bed early enough and to add to that the hormones of post labour, I’m well and truly tired but Kevin let me have a sleep today which was good. It didn’t make me feel any better but at least I got a few extra hours sleep which he didn’t get.

Of course Kevin had to watch Essendon play Collingwood today so the girls got decked out in their Bombers gear. A bit cute and I’ve resigned myself to the fact that they are all going to be Bombers supporters even though Jessica is supposed to be a Lions supporter like me. I could get some really good pages with the three in black and red. Poor me. I’ll be all alone in my blue, maroon and yellow.

The best way

Often the best thing to do is the hardest. Why is that? Is is a test to see if we can do what is the best? And if it is so hard to the heart, is it really the best thing for you even though it is right? I guess only time will tell.

Now we are five

Hannah Grevillea Knight was born at 2353 on the 18th of March. It was a wonderful birth and I am glad that I had the opportunity to have a natural birth after the shock of a C Section with Jessica. I can't believe that Hannah is already 4 weeks old tonight! She has grown so much and no longer looks like a new born.

The girls love her so much. They always want to hold her and help me with her which is great because it is a bit of a work load having 3 kids under 3. I am very happy with how the girls and I have coped with Hannah's arrival. I seem to be managing better than I thought I would. I thought it would be very difficult with the three of them and it is at times. When they are all crying at the same time or we have to go somewhere and noone is cooperating but Hannah seems to have fitted into the family well and we seem to have done a good job preparing the girls for the reality of having a new baby in the house.

I have started exercising again although not as regularly as I would like but anything is better than nothing. I am already back to my pre-pregnancy weight but I'd like to maintain my fitness and get rid of some of the extra kilos from being too heavy during the pregnancy with Hollie. Tomorrow I'd like to start swimming again. I need to get into a routine before it gets too cold and also before Kevin finishes his holidays. Otherwise it will be the June holidays and I won't have done any swimming.

I've also started scrapping again which is good. A good time for me to do something for myself if Hannah doesn't wake for a feed when I'm half was through something which is usually the case. Here is a layout I've completed. There are another few that are half done because they have been interupted by a crying baby but at least I am making time to do some scrapping and I am actually getting them finished.