Some more pics of my little darlings!

There were so many nice pics taken that day when N's brother was here, I thought I would post some more. I have actually had phone calls about Maisie's hair (oppps)...N insisted we use the GHD on it LOL. It's not permanent, she still has curly hair! We are catching up with Ns family again on the weekend, so I might see if T will take some more hehe.....

Christmas is creeping up, ever so fast.

The last week has been busy, as usual. The last time I updated was after the exam and so much has happened since. I started my unit 'The Making of Australia' and I am now into week three. I am really enjoying, the lectures and readings, I am absorbing the information like a sponge. The tutorial group is great, there is so much discussion and debate going on and out tutor contribution is excellent. I have an essay due in a couple of weeks, and feel this is such a bad time of the year to be doing this, but I will get through, the content is so interesting! I must admit (I am human) I feel so overwhelmed at times, I wonder if I am out of my depth, then I snap my self out of it. In saying that, have I mentioned that I am considering Law??? LOL.....I am going to continue with BA history/politics for now and make my mind up next year. N is encouraging me to drop everything and become a full time student, we are in a position where it is something we could do, as we do not have any financial pressures. It would mean putting off other financial plans for a few years, but in the long run, I think a good move.
Now to the title of my post....(updates on the other people.....I have kind of taken over this blog...all about moi)

Today we went to Sydney to see Poppy's specialist. Her hip has not changed much since our last visit, so she will stay in the brace for another six months. He said she will not be in the brace any longer, as they tend to let nature take it's course beyond eighteen months. He said depending on how the hips are at the next appointment will determine how often he will see her until she is four. I am not a medical person, and do not consult Dr google, so I will take his word for it. I don't want to think beyond the next six months. She is not in any pain, and does not know any different, she has had three months out of it in her short life. I am not disappointed by this result, I am happy that she has not needed surgery and is being treated now, not in say, two years time.

Another thing he picked up (now she is walking) is the crocked bones between her ankle and knee. I have no idea of the medical term for the bone LOL (he did say), but basically when she was in utero she must have been in the same position for most of the time (which makes sense given the hip problems). If you could imagine the foetal position with the legs crossed over together at the front of her chest. So the bones have grown in a rounded shape (not straight). So when she walks her feet go in and her legs are very wide (which the brace contributes to). As she grows and stops wearing a nappy, her feet will turn in more. She should grow out of it as the bones grow., he is going to keep an eye on it though. Another case of, things could be worse....I actually saw a baby there today, who 'looked' terminally ill :(...he was very weak, very, very ill....I realise how lucky I am to have four beautiful healthy girls to put to bed each night.

School wraps up this week, so the girls are very excited. We are heading up north for Christmas, so I have limited the amount of presents, not that they ever get much anyway. I had put a wooden kitchen on lay buy during the year, which is far too bulky to take up, so I have told them that N and I have bought them a special Christmas present (from us) to pick up on Friday, their last day :)....it has given them something to look forward to, and come in handy for me as a bribe tool hahaha.

We have been busy attending school concerts and Christmas parties, which has been fun. The twins teacher is seriously the female version of Mr G from Summer Heights High....trying to get a bunch of five year old to perform the Christmas play was hilarious. I could have filmed her and made a comedy.....she needed to lighten up and not take it so seriously LOL. Anyway, the play was excellent and entertaining.

N is off to Sydney tomorrow to attend his work group Christmas party....I am jealous!!! Oh, well, I'll be back at work next year, and be able to attend my own....speaking of which, I am counting down the days to our little Sydney getaway!!!!! I will get this essay done while we are at N's for Christmas, so I can relax in Sydney. I have a picture of the place we are staying in Double Bay sitting here on my computer to keep me motivated and drool.....

Bring on the kid free days, swims, wine, food, some cricket (perhaps more time in the members bar) and shopping of course ;)

Till next time,
Belinda

P.S
Thank you for the comments Ziz...it's nice to know you're reading :)

What a week....

This last week was very busy for N and I.....it was the last huge week of the year for him, in what has just been a massive year!!!! He may travel between now and the new year, but it will not be as intense as things have been. Kind of a little breathing space :)

I had my exam on Friday, so spent most nights preparing. There was no cramming as such, as I had paced it out pretty well. I feel I did OK in the exam, I never stopped writing, but probably should have spent less time on the short answer questions and more on the reading review at he end. The reading review was rather hilarious considering the last week in federal politics, it was comparing research on education with the opinions of Julia Gillard, Kevin Rudd and Brendan Nelson! It was funny considering a phone conversation I had with one of N's colleagues this week ;) Overall it was a very enjoyable exam ;)

We have had a very relaxing weekend. I really love this time of the year, the warm days, lazy afternoon sleeps, sitting outside watching the girls play and having friends around! We had a Christmas BBQ on Saturday night with N's family as we will be away over Christmas. N's brother took the most amazing photos of the girls, some of which I have included. So if you're reading this, thank you :)

Fa, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la.....

It's that time of the year again....where is time going! I love Christmas, my parents always gave us the best Christmas, I seriously thought I was the luckiest kid in the world, I remember my brother would be so overwhelmed on Christmas morning, he often shed a tear. Our family holiday after Christmas was also very special, when I reflect back on my childhood, I begin to realise just how lucky we were. My parents had a holiday house on the coast, we had many friends down there, and plenty of family and friends who would pop in and stay for a few days over the period of six weeks, those days were carefree and fun. How things have changed now....I can't imagine holiday homes for the average 'working family' would be very common, nor would a trip away for six weeks every Christmas. While our girls are growing up in a home filled with love and parents who adore each other, we don't go on family holidays....we go up to my parents from time to time, but that is not the same. Perhaps in future years we will :) But then again, you don't want to try to live in the past and try to do the same things you did as a child, it can often end out in disappointment. I think if we were to ever get a holiday house, or caravan, I would not go back to the place we went growing up....it would just not be the same. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I think it's best to create our own memories as a family, new memories!

So, the old tree went up today....the girls were most excited and begged me all morning to start. I like many other mum's wanted to give the house a really good clean before we started! Sorry there are no pics of Maisie....I forgot to take some of her.

The girls are five, but act like a pair of old ladies!

I have to either laugh or cry at times when it comes to my twin daughters. The way they carry on together, anyone would think they were a couple of eighty year old ladies sitting in a bingo hall, add to the mix Maisie. I wanted to share this pic I took the other day, they had swimming lessons through the school and were most excited!!! I think the pic speaks for itself ;)

Study, stress and a little plug!

Before I start...my word for the day is 'temporary'...I shall come back and explain that some day soon ;)

Things sure are busy around here in the lead up to Christmas. We have parties and concerts to attend in the coming weeks, which will be fun. And hopefully Poppy will get the all clear for her hips. We have an appointment at Westmead mid December, we haven't worked out if we will take a break from then until Christmas...N is unsure with work at this point :) I will be happy if I get my few days 'away' from the kids...we plan to use our SCG membership and spend some time in Sydney alone. I want to go shopping, swim down at Bondi, eat out and drink lots of wine! And maybe watch a little cricket (or read a book).

It certainly has been a great year for us, but extremely busy. I have been reflecting on it a lot in the last week, whilst I drive the car, or sit here procrastinating :) In summary I am so happy right now!

However.......

I am in the process of preparing for an exam to be held next Friday..I have no idea if I'm doing enough. This unit sure has been a great learning experience, the essays and weekly work all seemed to flow. I love to write, so even though my essay topics were bland and boning I still enjoyed the process. The exam is another thing, I think it will take a few goes at it before I start to feel comfortable with the process. My office is currently a mass of papers, coffee cups, large pieces of cardboard sheets with my crazy mind maps outlining the unit week by week (I have a strange way of doing things). I am one to thrive on stress, but this stress is different! Anyway, by next Friday I will have entered the unknown zone and will be able to report back ;) Did I mention that my next unit starts next week too LOL.....

Business has been busy, it was this time last year leading up to Christmas. There is always more that I would like to have done, but then again there is always next year. I am finding a new motivation for it all as we are having a back end makeover...it is needed and I am looking forward to seeing the results.

I want to finish off this boring post with a plug for my friend Tea!!!

http://www.babblebaby.com.au/magazine/work-20/2008/11/the-accidental-entrepreneur.html

A new handbag for me......

It was my birthday the other day and my mum gave me some money. I decided to get a pair of shoes and a new handbag. The shoes were easy because I knew what I wanted....it was a great surprise when they scanned for much less than the original price...gotta love all these sales with the world financial crisis, well it is one good thing to come out of it, right? **opps**

So I decided to buy a new handbag with the remaining money, the same afternoon that I bought the shoes I dragged all four girls around the shopping centre to no avail....actually we lost Poppy's beloved dummy chain with the two dummies attached, which I talked about in an earlier post hehe.

Today I decided to venture out once again, I had some ideas of what I wanted, I prefer red and brown bags, preferably with no 'brand' showing...for example, 'Jag' urgh! I found a perfect bag, but it had this 'Jag' badge on it! I actually found this one in the first shop Jess and I went into. Of course there were plenty of perfect bags but they had a price tag of $500 plus....unfortunately that was price was not in my budget this time ;) Even though Nick has a business bag worth more nah, nah, nah :)

So Jess and I wondered from shop to shop, looking, looking **sigh**. I promised Jess a 'treat' at the end of our trip, so that was making the adventure more bearable. I actually like to take one of the older girls shopping with me, as I feel naked going on my own. So we walked around Civic, inside and outside in the freezing cold (can someone please remind me that we are a week off summer).....

I think we wondered around for about three hours and I had given up! We were on our way to get something for Jess from Michel's Patisserie, but decided to pop into Target on our way there. We walked down to the bag section and would you believe, there was the most perfect red medium sized bag sitting right there in front of me. The original price was $40, which is pretty cheap, but it had been marked down to $12!!!! I still have money left, I might buy a book LOL.......

Who would have thought!

Perhaps next year Nick can buy me the $500 bag ;)