Day 3 of solo parenting (Thursday Oct 3rd)

Hi darling,

Today has come to a close and I must say, it was a really lovely day.  :)

Firstly, both kids woke at not long after 7am and nothing extraordinary had happened over night (just the usual feed from Miss E).  So, I was feeling pretty good.  :)

I got through the milk feed and both kid's breakfasts and then put Eliza down not long before Nicole and Charlie arrived.  Nicole 'babysat' while I had a shower (much needed!) and then we had a nice play date.  Harvey was being a little bit of a terror at times and I had a few serious conversations with him....  it's the hangover from childcare.  Sadly, his nap didn't go well, either - so with only 1 hour sleep under his belt (due to coughing), he was also a bit of a terror in the arvo.  Natalie (who came to visit for the arvo) commented at dinner that even though he may have not been 100% delightful - his version of terrible is no way near as bad as she sees other toddlers behave...  So, I'm forever grateful that he's generally a really good kid.  On that note - I was mentioning to Emily that I'm not putting him into Gymbaroo classes this term given that he's often the worst student there - jumping out of the circle into the middle and refusing to come back...  She said - 'oh it must just be here (meaning at home) because he's really one of the best behaved at Treehouse'.  Maybe I judge him too harshly at times....I'm not sure.  Hmmm...

Natalie arrived about 1:30 and we had a lovely afternoon of chats, mars bar slice, a trip to the park and then she stayed to help get the kids ready for bed (including dinner, bath, book etc).  I put on some spag bol for her and I and Paul also joined us after work.  They left at around 9pm...it was really nice.

So, I'm now just downloading to you as I watch a bit of Biggest Loser enjoying a glass of red and two Twinkies.  :)

I had a call from Nicky Martin today and she's going to come around here after the kids have gone to bed tomorrow night to enjoy a bottle of red and some girly chat.  I thought that was seriously nice of her!  We've never really done any girl:girl catch ups sans hubbies... I don't think.  She's such a lovely and giving person!  It made me really think about myself and I wonder if I do enough to be kind to others....?  I would like to be more like that.  I am going to make an effort to reach out to be kind to other people a bit more...  I know that I have a lot of thoughts of doing that sort of thing, but often they just stay as thoughts....

So... Corina came today and because there was a little less house for her to clean, I had her iron 5 of your shirts.  I think you'll be wanting to re-iron some of them.  Maybe she felt rushed.  ;)

Other little tid-bits from today:

 - I watched a little girl go down the big slide today on her own.  I asked her mum how old she was and she turns 2 tomorrow....  Instantly I wondered if I try to protect Harvey too much.  I mentioned to her that I've never let Harvey go down the big one on his own (although, I know he's close to being able).  She asked if he was my only child (as if that explained it), I mentioned not my only, but my first.  The little girl was going down on her tummy, so Harvey copied and off he went!  No problemo!  But - it was certainly a slow-slide day today.... but yeah, he's fine...and growing up.  :)
- Eliza had two good naps today: 1x 2 hour and 1 where we woke her at the 2hr20m mark.  She denied us of the 3rd short nap before dinner so was little Miss cranky pants before bedtime (like serious crying), but I was really happy that she got two decent naps today!  It feels like forever (albeit 2 days) since she's done that....
- My RRR transition coach rang me today at just before 5pm to discuss the process.  She's going to now call me back at 1:30pm tomorrow to properly chat, although she mentioned that she'd received an email from Rebecca (GM) saying that I'd like to opt for leaving the bank.  So, I take it that that won't be a problem.  I'll let you know more tomorrow.
- Your sis looks lovely and pregnant, but still waiting to really pop yet...  She's feeling less nausea though - which is good.  20 weeks tomorrow.

I think that's about it.  I don't have any pics of today, sadly...  I'll take some tomorrow.  I plan to head down to see Dad....  I'm sad to screw with Eliza's morning nap again, but I know seeing him is important.

Oh - and here's my sizes:

Jeans - 28 waist, 30 length if you can get it...  I'd love some smart dark jeans - skinny fit, but not the super-skinny ones....  BTW - Size 28 is my pre-pregnancy jean size, so if you're feeling generous I'd love some slightly bigger ones to wear now while I'm adjusting??  Size 29 would do it.  :)

Tops - Size 'small' if it's a looser T-shirt fit.  'Medium' if it's figure hugging.  The T-shirts that I have from Gap are size Medium and are bigger than I would like.  I must have slimmed a bit.  Remember that my boobs are HUGE...

Skirts/dresses etc...  Size US 6 should do it.  Size 8 would be too big, but size 6 will still be a bit tight at the moment.  I don't think there are any size 7s out there, but if there are, that would be what I am.

For my birthday - I would love a calorie burning fitness watch.  Ie - the one that tells you how many calories you've burned in a session.  I also mentioned this to your sis, though...

For the kids - I'm only buying Harvey Size 3.  So, any summer gear would be size 3 and for winter gear, I guess you could do size 3, still?  Or even size 4??  But I'm not sure about that....

For Eliza - she's a size 00 or 0 for summer.  And Size 1 for winter stuff. (next year).

It would be great to get Harvey a new GAP hoodie and trackie dacks...  the nice ones that are thicker with fleece on the inner.  Eliza has a GAP hoodie and jean dress.  For her, some nice summer dresses (from anywhere - not just GAP) in the 6-12 month size (0), and if they have some jumper dresses for winter (long sleeves in a knit) in a size 1.  And maybe some GAP jeans for her in size 1...can be blue and/or pattern or different colour that may look cute.  Maybe a couple of pairs of jarmies for Harvey in size 3.  Not onsies as they are too challenging with toilet training.  Maybe a nice hat or cap for him too?

Hope you're having a great time!!  Let me know if you have time to skype tomorrow....
Love you.
xx

DAY 2

Eliza woke at 3am.... *yawn*.  Seems to be getting earlier and earlier..  :(  But, I then slept until 7:30am, when the electricians arrived.  I managed to get Harv's to childcare at 9:30am and after distracting him with the Guinea Pigs, I was able to get away.

The electricians have done their thing and so the house has been full of people and full of crap again and Eliza has only had two tiny sleeps all day.  I'm exhausted and can't wait for it to all be over so that I can get back to normal routine stuff...  I have the big entertainment unit stuck here, though, so it's making me feel claustraphobic.

Emily is over again tonight and then I have gym....  Thursday will be busy - Play date with Nicole and Charlie, then your sister is coming over in the arvo....  Then....rest.....Might visit Dad on the Friday.  Sigh...

Harvey seemed to manage child care a lot better today.  No calls to collect him.  But - only a 45 min sleep.....  I got him fed and into bed at 6:30pm and Emily arrived, so I had her read him a story.  He seemed to be a little suspicious - but I just kept telling him that 'Mummy will be back later'/'Mummy always comes back, doesn't she?'  He went off to sleep still nearly an hour after he went to bed, though.  So far, no crazy wake ups.

Gym class tonight was amazing!  A serious, serious workout.  I wonder how many calories I burned.  I even had to slack of in a couple of sections just to re-coup.  But, I did smash the sprinting section....  It's held in quite a big gym room so we did sprints up and down.  The instructor is amazing.  She's the sister of the instructor that I had last week.....  both are really beautiful and super strong and lithe.  I would imagine they have dancer backgrounds...  I'm a bit in awe of them!  :)

It is seriously freezing here.  12 degrees when I got out of the gym.  I'm currently snuggled up on the couch writing this...having a hot milo and wearing your puffer vest.  :)

There are many reasons for me to miss you today - I miss being able to talk to you about my day, and about yours....  and I miss sharing the Harvey and Eliza moments with you.  And I miss having a cuddle when you get home.

Here are some other reasons:
- Bin day  ;-)  I forgot to put them out last night in all the stress of Harvey's crazy wake ups
- I seemed to have busted the electric gate when I had it on manual.  I was concerned that I wouldn't be able to get the car out today because it would only only half-way!!  My immediate thought was that I needed to trouble shoot it with you to work it out..  but I managed to fix it!  Hooray!
- I feel like I may have made some less-than-amazing decisions regarding some of the power point things.  It was a bit too much for me to manage, at times...in between managing the kids, so I rushed a few.
- I cooked steak for dinner tonight.  Eye Fillet.  I suck at cooking steak, in general, don't I.  I guess it wasn't too bad, but it was a little rare for me...but I still ate it.  I wish you had have cooked it perfectly for me.  :)  Harvey and I eat together now while you're away.  5pm steak dinner tonight with mash, green beans and carrots.  He wasn't too interested in much apart from the mash.  I think he was just too tired.  I've put a portion of that same meal into a puree for Eliza tomorrow!  Makes me feel really gross seeing meat and veg all pureed up, but that's what we're supposed to do!  yuck.  ;)

Harvey misses you a lot, too.  He's regularly asking after you.  "It's getting a bit dark, Daddy home soon?"  No darling, but we can call Daddy tomorrow in the morning....  '"Call Daddy??" Not, now darling, we can call him in the morning when you wake up.  "Awww, no call Daddy."

"Daddy back soon?" Daddy is on his holidays, Harvey....  when he comes home we'll have a big "PARTY!" Yes, we'll have a big party.  :)

"Oh, Daddy's red racing car!"  "Daddy home?"  No, darling.... Daddy is on his holidays.

Day 1 of Solo Parenting

Dear Daddy/hubby/best friend,

We thought that we'd write this little blog to keep you in the loop of what we get up to while you're away.  You can log in here and let us know how you're getting on, too, if you like...

Day 1 - so after being without power from midnight, it finally came back on at 9:10am just before I lost my mind..  and at the same time there was a knock at the door and the guys from Almara Cabinets were here to do all the wardrobe, bookshelves, cupboard and entertainment unit installs.  I soon realised after showing the blokes around, that I needed to still clear some space for them in the back room where the entertainment unit needed to go.  I pulled all the toys out etc, the existing coffee table, pulled back the carpet and pushed back a couch and let them get into the space.  Feeding Harvey and Eliza both of their brekkies at the same time....

I knew I needed to get these kids out of here!  It was getting very noisy - doors banging, drills, hammering, sawing etc... and no where for Harvey to safely seek adventure.  He did get a bit of fun from going out to his new 'dig sand' that Daddy bought him!  But...it started to rain, so that put an end to that.  And it was also blowing a gale.  So, I packed a picnic lunch for both kids and myself and I worked hard to give instructions to the cabinet makers (and answer their questions too) and still pack the kids up ready to leave.  Eliza was getting very fussy from needing to nap.

Some quick executive decisions came about from the cabinet maker's & electrician's questions in the process:

- did we want them to pull the existing corner cupboard out?  Ah yes....  apparently that wasn't on the instructions and would normally cost $200... but they seem to have rolled that into the job now.
- the guys didn't know about filling in the 'gap' between the dining room and formal lounge - but that was rectified quickly.
- the front wardrobe was to be covering one of two of the rooms power points - we ended up just keeping the power points in the cupboard without removing them.  The other set of power points looked like they would be inside the drawers to the left of the fireplace, but have ended up just being outside of them which is good.  I asked to get a third set put in a usable place where Harvey might have a lamp table - but it seems a bit hard.  They would have to cut into the flooring in the attic...so I've stalled on that idea until we know that we desperately need them there (ie - until we set up Harvey's room properly).
- The heating vent under the left hand set of drawers in Harvey's room is covered by the drawers (as you know).  He added some slits into the wood baseboard there so that the heating can still flow out!  I thought that was a great idea by him.  Phew.  He said that heating duct heat wouldn't warp the timber.
- Power points in the entertainment unit area on the wall near the clothes line are now covered over by the unit.  Hope that's ok??  Seems as though we didn't need to transfer the telephone point to the right of the unit either.....but it's done now.
- Have had 3 x external LED down lights added along the eaves of the house near the veggie patch.  There is a two-way switch for them so that you can turn on via the front or rear of the house.  They spent ages trying to get the electric cords down near the back door so that we could use the same set of switches there (was going to use the old pond switch), but they couldn't get the cords through.  Tried for ages, so we've had to put an additional one there next to the white cabinet on that wall.  Seems like we've gone power point crazy now, but otherwise we'd have had to put them near the dinner table and that doesn't seem practical when leaving via the back door to double back to turn the outside lights on.  Oh well.. it's not perfect, but it's done.  The other end of the two-way switch is near the front door on the right.  It couldn't be placed on the timber work.  Old school lighting in there.
- We need to book in the painting via purpaint.  I need to get their contact details from Alama offices, I think.  Did we decide on a colour/finish??  Do you want me to get that sorted before you return or wait for you?
- The 'down/up' light in the garden has been fixed... it was a pretty difficult affair, actually.  I had to help.  ;-)  It was a combo of landscaping and electrical work....  I just need to work a bit hard to bury it a bit more...

(the above is a collection of questions/comments from Tues and Wed)

So, I took the kids to your parent's house and put Eliza down in the cot while Harvey and I had lunch.  Eliza woke after one cycle (no surprise), so I got her up and put Harvey down for his nap at just before 1pm.  After only waking at 9am, I guess he wasn't tired enough?  I gave up at 2pm and put them back in the car and headed home.  With the entertainment unit getting banged into place, there wasn't going to be any sleep time for Harvey.  I'd booked Emily to come and help with the kids from 6:30-9pm Tues and Wed this week and next, so I just got them both fed and bathed and ready for bed...  Threw them down at 7pm and I headed out to gym class at 7:30pm - he was still awake....

Emily said that he slept for 20 mins and woke screaming...  When I got home he was still screaming and it took a lot to calm him down.  I think he's dealing with separation anxiety stuff.  Me leaving him with Emily upset him, and so did you leaving on an airplane...

He woke at 1am screaming again and it took a couple of re-settles to get him to let me leave.

This morning, Harvey wanted to 'call Daddy'...  so cute.  I do really want to get some time on the phone for him..  I think it will help.

xx

Here's the fill in wall from the dining room's perspective..  I keep going through the kitchen and opening the dining room door to sneak through to the front of the house when the kids are sleeping - forgetting that we can't get through there anymore!  :)

Here's the left hand side drawer and shelving.  If you can enlarge this pic, you'll see the vent at the centre bottom that the guy put in to let the heat flow through.

This is the right hand side shelving unit.  The guy actually cut the skirting from the left hand side and transferred it to here because it had been removed when the other corner cupboard was put in.  Clever!

The wardrobe - you can hardly see it, but the powerpoint is against the lower right hand side against the wall.

Excuse the mess!  Looks good, yeah?

Here's the fill in wall from Harvey's room perspective.  It is held in place relatively lightly with only angled nails.  He reckons if we pushed hard against it, it will pop out.  Which will be good when we want to remove it, but we also need to protect it from crazy toddlers.  It will be the bed head, so that will help.

Inside the hall cupboard.  It's a little uglier than I expected, but I guess it has to be...  to be able to fit in inside the original cupboard.

 Here's a shot of the entertainment unit.  It looks really good and it's been cleaned up a bit since I took this photo.  I've fed the cords through and there's now a powerpoint behind the telly.  That telly is SOOO heavy!  I tranferred it to there last night when Harvey wanted to watch telly and I realised that there was no way to get it happening unless I moved it to that antenna point!  Lucky I'm strong.  ;)

This cheeky monkey has been flirting with all the tradies....