Next year I'll do things different...

Is what I say every year. And every year it is a few days before Christmas and I am still running around getting 'last minutes things' of all sorts. Sticky-tape is always top of the list as the kids go through it like water here. I find sticky tape everywhere, it drives me batty. On the table, on the chairs, on the windows, on the desk, on my laptop, on shoes, not to mention all the gorgeous artwork it is helping to stay up on the Walls, doors and windows.

I went out today, uh, yes, Christmas eve, I know, I know. Just me and bubs in the wrap. I thought it would be easy. Get in, grab the few things, get out. Nope. My first gripe of insane shopping on Christmas eve is girls clothes. Pink, pink, pink, pink, and oh wow is that a dab of peach? nope, light pink. Since when did pink become the only colour a girl can wear? Last I checked there was more colours than pink. Red, green, blue, purple, orange, yellow, all such lovely vibrant colours just waiting to be made into clothes for all to wear. If anyone has any links to colourful, bright clothes that don't stereotype please let me know. And if anyone reading this works for a manufacturer of children's clothing, please, please, I beg you, enough with the pink already!!!
Next grip is shorts for girls. Id it that hard to make shorts for girls that are not "short-short" I don't know about other parents but I for one do not want my child's butt hanging out the bottom of her shorts, Call me crazy but I like a 4 year old to dress like a 4 year old. I'd have something to say about shorts that short even if she was a teenager, and no doubt I will. But for now she is a young girl, and I prefer to dress her in sensible clothes that allow her to play and run around as she loves doing.

Another gripe (I did say there were several, lol) is people pushing in line when they KNOW you were there first! They made eye contact with you as they walked towards you and stood next to you!
Why? are you that rude that you can't wait an extra few minutes while the PERSON WHO WAS THERE FIRST gets served. Yes, it happened to me, withing a minute of me being asked if I was next and I said and ushered towards another woman who was there before me.
Bah to you man who after spitting out what he wanted before I could say hey I was first, then avoided eye contact with me. I am sure he felt the daggers shooting from my eyes into his head.
But it's Christmas, got to think lovely, nice thoughts. Yeah, whatever.

Final gripe (I promise!) is sales assistants, or are they called sales clerks, or cashier, or shop assistant? I can't keep up with all the PC terms nowadays. You are there solely to 'assist' buyers in their purchases. What? you didn't realise that was part of the job? You thought you just had to stand behind the counter and chat to your friend about who is seeing who and what party you are going to, been to or want to go to and who you will be meeting up with? Well, strap yourself in because I have so much more!! Another part of your job is to smile and greet the customer. Remember the customer? the person buying goods at the store you are working for? It is the customers purchase that keeps the store running, and it's a smashing idea to be as helpful as you can to said customer, as they may well be so chuffed with your helpfulness and politeness that they will come back, and even tell your friends.
What? I lost you at PC?

Arrgghhhhh. Several stores I went into today the 'person working there' just looked as they couldn't be bothered. Yes, I know it's Christmas and it's busy, blah, but really is it that hard to say Hello?

There were some good things about shopping today, so don't get me wrong and think I am boo hooing everything, lol In one store the assistant was wonderful. She seemed quite smitten with bubba, who was more interested in trying to grab at everything as I walked past. The woman was happy, cheerful and actually asked me if I needed any help! I know, if it weren't for the baby I may have fainted. I did buy something gorgeous from the store and will definitely be back. They have such lovely candles and holders there. And they smell good too, the candles I mean.

So my point? Next year I want to have all my shopping done before December begins. It is a challenge I have set before and am yet to fulfill. And, like I say every year.... next year it will be different!

It is now 3:10am on Christmas morning! All presents wrapped, house moderately cleaned and I am ready for bed!
Have a wonderful day everyone! See you again really soon, I promise.

A wonderful weekend, in pictures no less

Sweet Harriet, best friends with my bubba. They may only be 10 months old but they have been friends their whole lives, even before they were earthside.

This past weekend we had the pleasure of the company of a gorgeous little family. Their oldest (an currently only, but there are several to come :) ) was loved and doted on by us all. I have a feeling our bubba breathed a sigh of relief to see her siblings smothering, ahem, I mean caring for another bubba, giving her a break, lol

The two bubbas having an hysterical time laughing at my 2 year old playing peek-a-boo through the window. It was so cute to see our bubba sharing in a moment that happens so often in our house when one of the older children escape. Bubba will crawl straight to the window as she knows they will be there, to make her laugh and squeal. I can never get tired of watching my children laugh and play.

Playing with the curtains. They are quite tasty apparently, all the bubbas love to taste them when they come to visit.

My eldest and his new little playmate. I loved watching how lovely he was with both bubbas. He wanted to go home with our friends. I could have said yes, as I do have some more children to spare, but we would miss him terribly.

Despite a few over gentle whacks, hair pulls and pinches the moment caught here was actually affection. My bubba was patting her little friend. Not sure why, guess it's a baby thing.

Our bubba showing her friend how to play with a toy she normally is not really interested in, lol But you know how it goes, as soon as someone else goes near a toy, the other child wants it!

I love the look on Harriets face here, so cute!

I am sure they all enjoyed the peace and quiet at their house, after the what can be at times ear piercing loudness of our house. Loud, crazy, noisy, but also loving, laughter and fun.

We hope we have not scared our friends, and that they will come back soon!

Caught me by surprise

Those of you with more than the 'average' amount of children can share my frustration I am sure when you are out and about with the whole family.
I lost count 2 children ago at the comments from strangers. Yes, strangers, people who do not know me or my family, have never met us let alone every laid eyes on us before.

Many, many comments have been flung our way. Some jokingly, some with a laugh, some in a sarcastic tone, some quite rude. They all seem to meld together over time.
"Don't you have a TV?" "You've got your hands full" "Don't tell me you're pregnant and already have 4?!" (That one stung. How sad must ones life be to say something nasty like that)
"one, two, three, four....." (this one I find very odd. They are clearly counting in their heads as I can see them nod their head as they look at each child. Should I congratulate them on counting to five? Adding that they can now count almost as well as my 2 year old?)

I have my good days and my bad days. Most of the time I shrug it off. After all, comments that come from others tell me about them and the kind of person they are. I don't need to be told I am crazy, or must have rocks in my head. I don't, and am not. People saying things like that tells me that they cannot see the bright side of life.
They see 5 children and think of fighting, screaming, struggling, not coping with their own 2, let alone any more.
I see 5 children and think of laughter, kisses and cuddles, snuggling together to read a book, playing in the back yard together, helping each other, always having someone there to talk to or play with... I could go on.
Don't get me wrong there are times when it is crazy around here. Moments when I long to go for a walk on my own and have quiet. It is just part of the whole package that is our family, just like any family. You can tell my focus, from the title of this blog.

Then, when you think you have heard it all, something strange happens. It is so rare that you feel light headed as it catches you off guard. A few seconds go by as you compute what has happened. Did she? Was that? Then you smile, someone said something lovely about your family.
A few weeks ago we headed of to a shopping centre. All 7 of us. We needed to buy a few things and so off we all went.

I took a deep breath as we walked into the entrance, thinking to myself to just focus on keeping us together and not look at other people. 10 seconds in the door a woman, I'd say in her 60's stopped and looked at us all. As we walked closer to her she smiled and said "What a beautiful family you have, how lucky you are"

I stopped, in shock, my brain focusing on every word before it hit me. A compliment, she said something nice. Hold me so I don't fall!
Hub and I smiled back at her and said thank you so much, and that we think the same.
I kept smiling for the rest of our shopping trip. It is so heart warming to have someone else see our family the way we do. To see the good in having a larger then norm family, rather than focusing on (what they perceive as) negatives.

Then a week later we were out walking, the kids on their bikes as we walked up to the supermarket. Bubs was on my back in the wrap. She loves it, and so do I.
A woman was walking towards us and took note of the children flying by her on the bikes. Then she us, and bubs on my back and smiled saying "Oh and you have a bubby all snug on your back too. Wow, that is just great, such a lovely big family"
Again we smiled and said thank you. It really does warm the heart to hear nice comments.

So if you are out and about and see a large family, please don't hesitate to smile and tell them how wonderful their family is. You really will make their day. And you never know, it may be me and mine.

Ten months young

Sweet baby girl, you seem insistent on growing like a weed. I can't keep up! It is impossible to look at you and not smile. Even when we are having a melt down, I am still so happy that you joined our family. OK, well, maybe I could do without the screaming in my ear and yanking of my hair when you being carried on my back, but really, they are small drops in the ocean of you.

You have changed so much in the last month. You are crawling so fast, and always with a determined look on your face. I love it. I will run around the corner and hide and you will call out for me and start crawling, and find me. I will smile and say "You found me" and you will sit up and clap your hands, laughing. This game never wears you out. You could do it for hours if I didn't have to rescue your siblings from eachother now and then.

At the moment you are crawling after your siblings. I wonder if you have mastered crawling so quickly because you want to follow them and they move much faster than you. You can go so fast, your legs trying to go fast to keep up. You like to crawl on your hands and feet, with your body in the air. It is very cute, and reminds me of when your sister and brothers crawled the same way.

I love watching as you grow, often reminding me about one of the other children. Memories that have faded over the years. Where once crawling was a big deal with them, nowadays we are amongst Lego, Star Wars, Indy, and not to mention all the burping, that while funny to them, drives me crazy.

A couple of times in the last week you have been standing and then let go of what you were holding on to. The longest was about 20 seconds. It is very cute to watch as you let go, then stand there, then you look at your feet, realising and drop to the floor again. I know what this means, and I am torn between being excited as you move towards walking, and wanting you to slow down, no need to grow so fast. You have the rest of your life to walk. But I know in no time at all you will be running off outside with your siblings, yelling back "Bye Mumma" without turning around. *sigh*

I want to remember everything about you. But I know so many snippets of how you are right now will fade over time. I take solace in the fact that you have all of us taking pictures of you, almost every day. Every few nights I check the camera and there is more photos of you taken by your siblings. Half your face, an eye, the back of your head, your feet, some of them blurry, but all taken with love and in a wonderful moment shared between you all.

As I have said every month, they adore you. Sometimes they love you a bit too much, with hugs and kisses, even when you are squealing and pushing them away. They include you as much as possible in their games. Even when they do their conga line. Your oldest brother will hold you, the others behind him, and you go around the house together laughing and saying "Conga, conga, conga"

Even outside they will jump around, make faces and run around, making you laugh. If I could ask for one thing, it would be the bond you all share stays strong as you grow. While you all have your moments, you do get along very well, and look out for eachother, especially the baby.

You, sweet baby only need to cry out once and you have several people all running over to you, seeing if you are ok.

They can hear you when you wake in the morning and love coming in to our ed to say good morning. You smile and laugh at them as you whack their faces and they pretend to squeal. It is one of your favourite games to play, along with dropping things and having someone pick it up for you, and then you dropping it again. You think it is hilarious, and so do I, as thankfully I am not the one doing it with you! Yay for older siblings sharing the fun.

You have discovered, in the last week, where the pots and pans are, and how to get into them. You love making lots of noise with them, and squinting your eyes from the loudness you are making. Of course then your siblings come over to join you and wow, what a racket!

I am yet to buy you a baby book. I did think about not getting one, as I have milestones and funny moments here, but, your siblings all have them, so I will get you one too. I have written less in each baby book. I understand now when others told me before I had children, How their first baby had everything written in. Then each baby that joined the family had less and less.

I remember telling Hub that I would not do that. How horrible for the younger children! I would make sure I wrote in all of them!

Then I had children, and realised time flies by so quickly, it's hard to keep up. I hope you don't mind that your book will have quite a few places with "Mummy and Daddy were busy running after all the kids and can't remember exactly when this happened. But is was Summer, they know that much"

I do hold many memories, and thankfully there are others in our little family who remember many wonderful moments and will share them with you too. That is one part of our large-ish family I love. So many people making and sharing memories together. Holding precious memories about the younger children, to share with them in years to come.

I do hope so much that you will grow up with wonderful memories of our family, the laughter, tenderness of your siblings towards you, and mostly that even in the crazy moments there is so much love in our house.

Now I just need to remember that when I am being yelled at because you are messing up your siblings game/toy/work in a few years. Something tells me though, that they won't be too phased about it.

Last but not least, your smile. It truly melts my heart. I love that I can be so frazzled, tired and just want to explode, and then you put your arms up for me to pick you up. I sigh, pick you up and you whack my face and smile, your tongue curling and sticking out a it in the corner of your mouth. Who could not smile at that! Then you will grab my face at open your mouth and try to chomp on my nose or cheek, I will pretend to be afraid 'Oh no help me' and you laugh and bounce around on my hip, your hands waiving around, trying to whack me or pull my hair.

I love it.

Protective, even in my dreams

This post is for Hubby. I didn't get a chance to tell him this morning while he got ready to work, as I was sleeping soundly with a gorgeous babe in my arms.

I dream the most weird dreams. Don't we all!
Last night was no exception. My dream was one of those that seems all over the place. Little spurts of things happening at once.The main part I remember is Hubby hopping on a bus, and me waving good by, just before getting in my car, right hand drive (? We have left hand drive here, but oh well) and as I did a man came up to my car reached in and grabbed my parking ticket. Saying something like "you don't need this anymore"
I get out and say "Give me back my ticket" then he comes back yelling and screaming at me. I was very frightened, and tried to get back in the car but he would let me.
Then all of a sudden Hubby is there and grabs the guy and throws him aside.

Then I woke up to a baby slapping my tummy like a drum and giggling.

Yes, weird dreams. I know some people believe dreams have meanings and interpretations. I wonder what that dream meant?

While you are at it, maybe tell me why one dream I had years ago was about me going to get a drink from the fridge, that happened to on the road in the middle of the street. Yup, weird alright!
Tell me your weird dreams, make me feel better :)