Leibster, take 2

A few weeks ago, Francesca tagged me for another round of Leibster awards, thanks Francesca!

This version of the Leibster award is different to last time:



The rules are:
1. Each person must post 11 facts about themselves.


2. Answer 11 questions the tagger has given you and give 11 questions for the person you tag.


3. Choose 11 people & link them to your post. (They must have 200 followers or less)


4. Tell them you have tagged them.


5. Remember, no tag backs.


Here goes!


11 facts about me:

1. I do my own acrylic nails and MUST have painted toenails at all times


2. I used to be a figure (ice) skater when I was a kid, won a state championship once, and got a second in the nationals in 1988


3. I am a shocking housekeeper, I just cant seem to get on top of the mess in my house. Add toys to the mix and its like a bombsite


4. I don’t really like seafood of any kind. And prawns? Ick. I will occasionally eat a piece of fish if its of the extremely bland variety.


5. I cry at the drop of a hat


6. I can be extremely indecisive at times.


7. I am obsessed about Ancient Rome. Still.


8. I freak out if I have to do something that is “against the rules”. Classic example - one time when I was a little kid, my dad accidentally drove down a street that said “No entry”. And I thought the cops were going to pop out of nowhere and arrest us. For reals.


9. I can come across as very cold and emotionless sometimes. Distant even. But its just that sometimes I have trouble articulating my feelings, and usually I try very hard not to show how I’m really feeling.


10. I’m really bad at maths. I cant even add up two numbers in my head, without a calculator. But English was always my best subject


11. I cant stand it if I don’t know what the time is, I never take my watch off (waterproof Polar) and have a clock in every single room of the house.



Francesca’s questions for me:


1. Does vegemite go in the fridge or the pantry?


In the fridge.  And by the way, Vegemite? Ick! I only buy it for the hubby! Does that make me “UnAustralian”??

2. Today, are you where you thought you'd be ten years ago?


Hmmm, in terms of our house and being on acreage, yes. But I never thought I’d be a stay at home mum of two kids, so no!


3. What is your favourite thing about blogging?


I love connecting with other bloggers and finding out that you are not the only one who feels a certain way.


4. Do you have any quotes you live by, or just favourite quotes?


”You can make excuses, or you can get results – you cant do both”


5. Do you know any foreign languages?


No. Wait – yes, I speak ‘toddler’. Well actually I don’t really speak it, but I can translate it for anyone who doesn’t understand.


6. What's your shoe size? (yes, I was looking at my feet when I thought up this question)


I’m a pretty standard 8.5.


7. Which do you prefer, winter or summer?


Winter by far. Because winter on the Gold Coast isn’t really like winter is it? I mean, today is COLD, and its still like 18 degrees outside. I hate summer, because of the humidity here. When you start sweating the instant you step out of the shower, it sucks.


8. What is your favourite colour?


Hmm, don’t really have one anymore. I like black clothes though!


9. Do you like your name?


Nope – always wanted to be called something else when I was a kid. I went around pretending my name was “Morgan” for a while. Having an unusual name is ok, but I think mine is a bit old fashioned.


10. Do you have any regrets, like, big ones?


Sometimes I think I do, but then I remember that I wouldn’t be the person that I am today without those experiences – and they do say that you learn from your mistakes!


11. Have you ever experienced déja vu?


ALL the time! Especially now that I’m so tired all the time – and apparently tiredness is a big cause of déjà vu, something in your brain not firing properly or something…




Questions for my tagees:


1. Do you love or hate watching the Olympics?


2. Whats your favourite meal?


3. How many countries have you visited?


4. What is your favourite movie?


5. Would you rather be rich, or healthy?


6. Can you play Chess?


7. What is the strangest talent that you have?


8. Can you successfully reverse parallel park? (for the record, I’m crap at it!)


9. Toilet paper – scrunch or fold?


10. When you get dressed, which shoe do you put on first?


11. Do you remember your dreams?






The next part, well its breaking the rules but I dont think I can come up with 11... here goes:

1.  Magda - Life as I see it
2.  Em - Fat girl skinny
3.  Pip - Pips Adventures part 2

Ok thats about all I can come up with, some of the blogs I read have gone private, are non-active at the moment, or are bigger than the 200 followers... sorry!

Whats been happening?

Hey... You know that feeling when you are so completely and utterly exhaustsed that you cant even think straight?  When you are so tired that you stumble out of bed and walk into the door frame instead of shooting through the door opening?  When as soon as the kids are asleep at night, you immediately collapse into your own bed in the vain hope of catching up on some much needed rest?

Yeah thats been me lately.  3 or 4 months of not sleeping are taking its toll.  Zombie - mama. So umm, blogging takes a backseat.

Trying to wean Koby from night feeds now... last night he woke at 11.15pm, I simply resettled him and walked out -- much to his disgust.  But anyway, after a bit of a scream he slept until 7.30 this morning... lets hope we're on a winner. 

I've also booked him in to see a pediatrician in a couple of weeks, to see if we can sort out his tummy/wind issues.

Anyway, what else has been happening?


Anticipating a holiday


Our last holiday was… umm… a couple of days away after our wedding, 3 years ago. Not that I’m complaining, we’ve had a LOT going on these last 3 years and no time for a holiday. Holidays and babies don’t really mix very well, do they?


Some friends of ours are getting married later this year, and have decided to do it in Fiji. Did we want to go help them celebrate? HELL YES!!

I’ve only been overseas once before, when we did our epic European holiday in 2007.

I've also had to jump through hoops to get my passport renewed.  Because I've changed my surname since my last one, so I had to go through the whole application process again.  Except I went and lost my birth certificiate, so I had to reapply for THAT too.  I'm good at complicating things for myself.

Anyway, I’m beyond excited to get away. My heart does little flip-flops every time I think about it. Recently we have decided on our accommodation and have made the booking – yes its really happening.

Without kids.

What? Yes, we’re leaving the kidlets at home with Grandma and Grandad.


Does that make me a bad mother? I’m still wrestling with this one. I alternate between feeling thrilled to have 5 nights of celebrating with friends, 5 mornings of sleeping in, 5 days of doing whatever we want, 5 days of relaxing and being selfish… but that is countered with fears that I'll probably spend 5 days of feeling guilty for leaving them.

I'm really hoping I dont spend 5 days worrying about them.  Oh and I'll worry about the dogs and cat too.  Note to self: stop worrying so much.


Skye will be fine, its Koby, with his sleeping and tummy issues that I’m concerned about. We have 3 months to get him sorted, nothing like a deadline!

Ahhh but what a beautiful reward... oh I can just picture myself relaxing here for a few days, cant you?

 Growing up

My little man is growing up way too fast. He’s sitting on his own, he’s now in a “big boys” forward facing car seat, and just this week he’s starting to be able to hold himself in that crawling position for a few seconds at a time. He wont be a baby for much longer.  I'm trying to savour this baby stage while I still can...

Spoiling the kids


Hubby has a tendency to get carried away with things… this week he’s been inspired to build the kids a mammoth cubby-house and playground area. He designed it on Monday, fine-tuned the design on Tuesday, ordered the timber on Wednesday, got the timber delivered on Friday and this weekend he’s getting stuck into building this massive structure in the backyard. The cubby on its own is 3.6 metres x 3.6 metres…

Once the cubby-house is built, we’ll be adding swings, slippery slide, climbing net, monkey bars, rock-climbing wall, tyre swing, firemans pole, flying fox… oh yes my hubby is just a little bit excited about this!

The cubby takes shape this weekend...

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The other week Francesca tagged me again for a Leibster post-- I haven't had much time to think about it but I will try to get onto that for next week's post.

Until then, enjoy your weekend!

There were 3 in the bed...

My friends and I have noticed a strange phenomenon, in that our first-borns have never really shared our beds with us, but our subsequent babies do it all the time.

Perhaps that is something that is unique to my own set of mama friends, or perhaps its something more common – I don’t know.

But I do know that my little Koby has slept in our bed more often in 7 months than Skye has done in her entire 2.5 years. In fact, I think I’ve only had Skye in our bed once or twice when she was a baby. More to the point, she never really wanted to, and always seemed happier on her own.


Maybe because Koby is the baby? Maybe because when it’s the middle of the night, and he’s crying and upset, I put him into our bed because a) its easier, and b) I don’t want him to wake his sister with his crying.


I was always so terrified to do this with Skye – always worried about SIDS, always worried that I’d roll on her, or that she’d suffocate with a blanket over her face. I still worry about it with Koby, actually I don’t really sleep much myself when he’s in the bed with us, but I still do it.


When Skye was first born, she slept in the basinnette beside the bed for about a week. By then I’d fully realised that I cannot sleep in the same room as a baby, with all their snuffling, wriggling and farting. So she moved straight into her bedroom beside ours.


When Koby was born he spent a grand total of 2 nights in the basinnette beside our bed, before he was moved into Skye’s old bedroom.


So they are both used to being on their own, and we all sleep better that way.


But on Friday night, something spooked my brave little girl and she didn’t want to sleep in her bed that night. When we went to bed I switched on the baby monitor for her room, and immediately heard her whimpering. Not quite crying, but just a very gentle, quiet moan every couple of minutes, a sniffle, a muttered word.


When I went in to check on her, she was sitting up in bed, and instantly its was “mama… can I sleep in your bed?”


And so in she came, along with her pillow, and Panda and Turtle – her beloved stuffed bedtime companions.


And there, nestled between the two of us, she proceeded to wriggle, squirm, sit up, lie down, kick her legs, sigh and fidget for the next hour. It took many repeated warnings and soothing words before she finally gave up and went to sleep… nuzzled into me.


And it was then that I realised that I wasn’t bound to get any sleep myself that night. Squeezed onto about a foot of mattress, I literally had my right shoulder blade, and my right butt cheek hanging off the side of the bed. Plus, its winter, so I’m dressed in my flannel PJ’s, under flannel sheets. With a hot little body curled up into mine. I was sweating and stinking hot!


Hubby later told me that he froze all night, because she hogged all the doona and blankets – and he didn’t want to take them off her in case he woke her.

The things you do.


And I have also now discovered that she flails her arms around in her sleep. I lost count of the number of times she whacked me in the face while she slept on.


I got up twice to Koby that night (in his own bed) and both times when I came back to my bed I discovered that a little toddlers body can take up a whole heap of space when sprawled out, spread-eagle style.


I can tell you, I’d go a long way to avoid having a repeat episode of THAT particular parenting experience!


Do you share your bed with your kids? How do you sleep?