Really: it's been THAT long?

Quick hello, can't believe it's been a year and a half since I was here. Sorry about that. I've missed you all, and hopefully in the next week or so will get to your blogs and have a catch up.I'm hoping and praying that I find all of you well and happy but law of probability says that might not be possible,but my fingers are crossed .

I got so busy after the twins arrived, I spent the first four months 3 nights a week at my daughters helping as her hubby works shift work.I'd taken on a babysitting job ,closer to her home than mine,so it saved petrol and helped out everywhere ,but,of course  I still have RA and so it started to catch up on me, so when we went on holidays to Bali  for a few weeks,  I quit the babysitting and Gemma coped on her own ,so I only went over on a call out basis, if mum sick or a bubba sick kind of thing.



Then Chloe and Jess borrowed for and bought our local video store and a little house , then we had Xmas,then I turned 50...yeah, you read that right, not impressed, but thats' life.  Danny met Aimee, who is the ONE , we love her to bits too.We volunteered to hand raise Gemma's boxer puppies (fading puppy syndrome)which took up over 3 months ..... then the  twins 1st birthday, a few ups and downs with arthritis ,Les's hip replacement, a family wedding...and here I am . Time has just flown and in that time, I've lacked motivation to do work on my media course and actually write,even in here,so I stayed away. Hopefully we can pick up where we left off, and fingers crossed I find some motivation and some things to write about. Perhaps I need a suggestion box !!


I'll leave you with some pics from the past 18 months.

Piper Leslie 1 Year !!!

Dominic Lawrence 1st Birthday 

OMG nanny turned  50!!!

Aimee and Danny

some of us at my 50th ,Chloe Gemma, Me, Jessie and Danny, Code on the end is a friend 

                                                                          The little family

                                                                         















Its been a blast!!!

They're here,They're here,They're here

They're here,They're here,They're here,They're here,They're here,They're here!!!!

The twins were due to be born by Cesarean yesterday the  15th!!! BUT they were born last Thursday on the  7th June :)

 They have their own birthday, as it seems they  missed all the significant other birthdays in the family :)

Sorry, you have all been waiting for the other shoe to drop!! Gemma had some early labour and had to stay at Canberra Hospital for a month, that's 2 hours away for us and longer for them,so Aaron and I made a tag team of staying with her as he had to work. She was allowed home for 2 weeks but had to go back at 36 weeks.We also had to move house for them..another story... the week before the Cesarean and we only had a window of opportunity of 2 days.....the Wed and Thursday.On Tuesday I took Gemma in for her ultrasound and she had stay until the ceasar,I stayed overnight and came back to help with the move on Wed. We moved most of it and decided to regroup and move the rest on Thursday........you know where this is going? right?

On Wed night about midnight I get a shaky call from Gemma, "Mum I think my water just broke.."

 "Is it gusshing/ 

 "yes"

" i'ts broke"

"can you ring Aaron ,if I ring he'll panic"

"ok"

Long story short...ened... Aaron had his phone on silent while it charged but fell asleep, we were all dog tired after moving, the men had worked and moved furniture as well.

 Don't panic Gemma,  but can she ring Leah...Shane will get go get  him to ring,....

.Leahs phone on silent.....BAHHHH..... 

Don't panic Gemma!!! 

We decided to go over and bang on Leahs door at 1.30 in the morning, she is almost as pregnant with twins too, she rings Benny the friend Aaron is staying with as his house has no furniture and 

she tells him

 "Gemma's water broke, Gem's parents are coming to get you" 

.PSHHHFHHHSHSHSHSHS white noise after WATERBROKE ..

so he gets in the car and heads for Leah's as we head to him.We didn't pass him.... Back to Leah's .......He says " :can I drive/"NO get in the back" (it's his car) At some point he would have to drive as he gets terrible motion sickness, but for now....NO....

FForward a  2 and half hour drive........we get to the hospital gate just as  Gemma rings "how far away are you ,it's hurting"  we drop Aaron off at the maternity doors and go park the car and make our way up to delivery. While we were finding Aaron, Gemma had WALKED in the cold over to the hospital, its not far but its cold and she was leaking!! but she didn't want to dial 8 and have everyone rush over when it was just her water .....

Anyhoo I digress, after a visit with Gemma and Aaron,Les and I went over to the residence to get some shuteye, (and give them a bit of time together)just got tucked in when Gemma rang, to tell us to get back over as they were going to ceasar her now instead of waiting until day shift,as her contractions had ramped up and the Doctor was there and would do it now.>>

at 6.30 and 6.32 am Gemma and Aarons  babies were born, mum and bubs healthy.

PIPER LESLIE 5lb1

DOMINIC LAWRENCE 5lb

Ready or not  here they come

1st good look in recovery

 only in the crib for warmth

a few hours old

GRANDIES!!

Nanny with Piper

ME..NANNY.. with Piper, this is a few days later, I look less frazzled!,my hair is brushed!!!

New Babies are not just about the new parents and the mothers mother .....there are many parts of the birth story and excitement surrounding  new birth

Aunty Chloe could not wait and had cancelled Supanova!!!!

Proud Aunty Jess ..she was all bubbly

 This is Aarons mum Heather or .... now.....GRAMS

Aunty Emma, so proud ...
how her purse ended up in my bag? both purple, someone must have put two and  two together and got purple!!! it ended her shopping spree...but she held BABIES!!

Gemma took this adorable photo

the beautiful family 

 I leave you with my favourite pic of  Piper and Dominic 

xxx

M=Motherhood

M=Motherhood

Nearly there. This pic was taken about 2 weeks ago at 34 weeks. At 30 weeks Gemma had some early labour and was transferred to  Canberra Hospital, they gave her medication to stop it and the babies the steroid injections for their lungs just in case. It settled over 24hours but she had to say there for  4 weeks until our country hospital could cope if she went into labour as she is having a C/S. Baby boy is stting in her pelvis like a hammock bum down and baby girl is lying straight across the top with  their heads  together.
We have tentative date of  37 weeks, 2 weeks at the most. Not long now, but sooo long for her, they are so heavy. My sister made it look easy when she had her pair and Gemma has too, even though it's so uncomfortable, she's done really well. The youtube twin mums we had been following mostly had lot's of problems and didn't look much like themselves anymore after 30 weeks! Her friend with the other McTwins has also landed in hospital ,she is 7 weeks behind Gem, not sure how long she will have to stay in  and she has 2 children to juggle as well.



2 WEEKS!!

I can't wait and hard to believe I will be a grandma. It doesn't seem that long ago I was waiting for my own babies.

I had my adopted niece Rhi here for a few days a few weeks ago, she lost her job suddenly and was devastated, so it wasn't the best trip for her, but it was lovely to have her here. She's not much fussed at being like her mum, but some things are uncanny and I had a dejavu moment!! I'll tell her she got her mums good bits like her sense of fun.

I'm the first in the group of old schoolchildren that have found each other on facebook to be a granny, but the others are not far behind me, with one of them also expecting twin grandchildren.
It has been so lovely to share in this with my first best friend from kindergarten all those years ago. It was surreal and a special moment to have her be a part of Gemma's wedding and now she's been crocheting furiously and making cot sheets. Kez has medical problems ,like my own, chronic bits that ebb and wane and so it was a monumental train trip for her to get down here to stay here a few days. I took her off to see the Wombat  statue,pretty much the only thing in Wombat  really...We befuddled Les with our giggling over the ridiculous and  entertained Gemma at the hospital.
She bought me the BEST poncho. I haven't owned one of these since I was 9 , but as Kez says, if you can't refuse to get out of  bed you take the bed with you...

L=Life

Life
It get's in the way of blogging.
I WAS on a roll!!
Gemma had some prem labour, went to the local hospital and they transferred her to Canberra, it all settled down with the meds and she now has steroid cover for the bubbies lungs. she is 32 weeks tomorrow,hoping to cook them for at least another 2.It's hard being 2 hours from your new husband. In fact I remember uttering these exact words in tears" but we've never had a night apart" ...now it's "Yay I get the TV to myself all night ", but seriously it is hard for them, esp with the worry of prem labour and the extra cost of petrol in the back and forth as Aaron has to go work.

running out of room

Other news, not so good: My niece Rhi,  the hyper aspy, was sacked from her job!!! She brought in a CRS worker to help her keep her job because of an issue, a meeting was held to make reasonable workplace adjustments a month ago and there have been no issues since, then bang ,on Friday, instant dismissal with a letter, 2 weeks pay and  a here's your hat there's the door. I am soooo ropable.She's on a bus right now coming down to me for a hug and we will work on an anti discrimination claim. I don't normally swear but FAAAAAAAAARK. sorry .

On another note,Les decided to try and make a barbed wire ball....nooo not to keep the kids out of the garden ! It's actually up on a column. I have horrid memories of this stuff from when Gemma was 3 and literally ran into a barbed wire fence...shudder. So up and out of the way, by the time they are tall enough to touch it ,they will be old enough to know better.

It's bigger than it looks

He's spraying it with salt water to get it rusty.

Seriously, he saved over $300 doing it himself.........wanna buy one??? haha

k-keepsakes

Keepsakes are such a personal thing, a reminder, a memory,something special in time ,place and person.

Too many and they become fears, anxiety that losing the article means losing the memory and it turns to hoarding.

I'm not a true hoarder , there is a clear path through my home, but I confess to boxes of ...stuff...memories. Some from my childhood and some from my childrens.

Not that long ago we were renovating and had to find somewhere(the dining room...sigh) for the boxes and accumulated.."stuff".I went through it,some of it was sellable, things we had bought to use for the house but changed our minds or bought something else when the original couldn't be found. Some of the stuff belonged to the kids and has been given back and other bits were ..well..rubbish... exit 6 boxes. I figure if I hadn't looked for or needed the paperwork in 10 years then I didn't need it....3 boxes ..gone!! So now we are down to Christmas decorations/tree/lights, a few paintings and frames left from the gallery and the odd few things still belonging to the kids...and my keepsakes.

I have kept a few things from each of the kids, things they made at school or at  home for the christmas tree. No Easter bonnets ,they were huge,elaborate things that fell apart and/or got eaten .
My keys still hang on a key hangery thing that Danny made in preschool and gave me for mothers day. My china cabinet is chockas full of keepsakes. The cigars given for our firsborn. The small gifts given for each of them as babies, ceramic booties and crochet slippers, a vest I knitted for one,another  a cardigan and another a  teddy bear. My wedding bouquet and my bridesmaid bouquet for my middle sisters wedding that I didn't attend as I was in hospital having lost a baby. A collection of $2 shop resin bears that the children would buy for me for Christmas with their $2  for each gift Christmas spending money.

Little 18th and 21st plastic silver keys, markers of the occasions, one a party event at" home" and the other as a newly wed at my inlaws with a simple cupcake.

The wedding champagne glasses I took my first sip from as a married woman,A hip to toe plaster cast from our toddlers broken leg. Netball trophy's from when I was a child, an embroidered apron from Les's great great aunt, his mothers wedding ring, his signed  wooden 21st key .
I have nothing of my mums in there, she had her own cabinet much the same as mine and the things are packed away ,safe, at his home. My Nonna used to collect bonbonaire from every wedding she went to , at my wedding she was the only one we gave one to! She must have had 100 of these little lacy pretty thankyous. When she passed I asked my uncle about them, but he had thrown them away, they were just dust collectors to him,to the 9 grandchildren they were part of the fabric of our childhood ,as Nonna would go to each one in the cabinet and show us whose wedding it belonged to with a photo of the bride and groom, every time we visited.
For a long time nothing had been added to the cabinet other than dust, the kids no longer draw special pictures,make cards or bring home merit certificates. But with Gemma's wedding came a few new keepsakes and I know I will have to make room for things from my grandchildren. So my next job is to get in there take it all out, sort it, dust it, probably have a little tear over some things and then put it all back leaving  room for the new memories.

J=Jokes

I can't tell a joke, I stumble mumble, forget things and generally stuff it up,so that they are unfunny.

Here's a couple I could not tell to save my life but I reckon are funny and so you don't have to suffer me skipping lines and forgetting and starting again 3 times and telling you where its funny before I finish...I've written them down.



One day,waiting in line for lunch ,Pete says to Dave behind him, "My elbow hurts like hell. I think I might go see a doctor."

"Nahh, a doctor'll cost you heaps,you don't have to spend that much," Mike replies. "There's computer at the chemist up the street . Just piss in a jar  and the computer'll tell you what's wrong with you and tell you what to do. It takes ten seconds and costs ten bucks...waaaay cheaper than the quack."

So Pete pee's in a little jar and takes it to the chemist. He puts in ten dollars,  the computer lights up and asks for the urine sample. He pours the pee  into the slot . Ten seconds later, the computer spits out a printout: You have tennis elbow. Soak your arm in warm water and avoid heavy activity. It will improve in two weeks.

At home he was thinking about it and  while he thought it was amazing ,he began wondering if the computer could be fooled.So, he mixed some tap water, a bit of poop  from his dog,hair samples from his wife and daughter, and masturbated into the mixture for good measure.

Pete hurries back to the chemist, eager to check the results. Heputs in his ten bucks, pours in his concoction, and awaits the results.

The computer prints the following:

1. Your tap water is too hard. Get a water softener.
2. Your dog has ringworm. Bathe him with anti-fungal shampoo.
3. Your daughter has a cocaine habit. Get her into rehab.
4. Your wife is pregnant...twin girls. They aren't yours. Get a lawyer.
5. If you don't stop playing with yourself, your elbow will never get better.

A young man  walks into a Department Store carrying a help wanted sign. He states, "I'd like to apply for the job, please!"

The store owner replies, "Do you have any experience selling Tooth Brushes?"

"Nope!" .

"Well OK," says the owner, "I'm in a hurry so I'll give you a shot. I'll be back at closing." And he leaves.

At closing the store owner comes back and asks, "How many tooth brushes did you sell?"

: "I sold one tooth bruth"

"Just ONE?" exclaims the owner, "That will never do. Let's see how well you do tomorrow, I'll be back at closing"

The next day at closing time the owner shows up at the store and asks  how many tooth brushes he sold that day.
the reply, "I sold one Tooth Bruth."

The owner is very upset at this news and says, "One tooth brush is not enough, I'm afraid I'll have to let you go."

 "Oh No, please don't let me go. Give me one more chance, I gno I can do better."

So the owner gives him one more day and leaves.

The next day the owner returns to his store only to find hundreds of empty tooth brush crates laying all over. He turns to the man and says, "Holy cow! How many Tooth Brushes did you sell ?"

The young man replies, "I sold three thoushand three hundred and thirty three Tooth Brushes!"

"My, how on earth did you do that?" replies the store owner.

"Well you see," , "I went out into the mall and thet up this table, and on one side I put some chips, and on the other side I put thome dips. Then I put a big sign behind the table that read: 'Free Chips & Dips.' Then the people they came and first they picked up a chip then they dipped it in the dip and then they ate it."

"Is that it?" replied the owner.

"Well no," , "after they ate it they would say, 'Hey this stuff tastes like shit!' and  I would saay, 'It is, ... wanna buy a Tooth Bruth?!?!?!?'"

I've found a new form of funny that I think is hilarious ,the autocorrect fails, some of them crack me up,here's a few:

I found this the other day , its dog texts to his owner...hilarious.... bat dog and zombie pigeon.......

BOOM BOOM

I=intuition

Intuition... when you just know it!!!

It's the thing that makes you turn around while driving, to see that your child is choking on something,or sneaking a peek at them to see why it's too quiet , to find every item of clothing from their wardrobes and drawers is on the floor along with every single toy.

The gut feeling that no matter how cheap this item is, it's going to fall apart  5 mins after you use it or  wear it out.


 I was on the phone to my Dad a while back, while looking at google maps to see if I could find the remains  of the old slab house my mum grew up in and asked dad what the number of the house was. He couldn't remember. It was one of those places you just knew where it was, and went there, didn't send letters to it. While I was talking a  number popped into my head....63, I said to Dad I thought Mum had given me the number, he laughed and said he thought it was , but not sure. Months later while going through and album Dad had brought down to me, in it there was a photo of Aunt Liz's hut...there was the number printed underneath 67...,Pop's place was 2 doors back making it number 63...thanks Mum !!!

For some people its a judge of character  and that can either be good or bad. I know people who seem to draw people who "need" them. And then get walked over, but they don't see that coming. Other people can spot a conman/woman at 30 paces.

I  was recently at  a McDonalds sitting at one of those windows that butt out from side of the entrance, so that I was able to watch a dog that had been tied to a table leg while the owner got a coffee . His reactions to people were fascinating. Most people he took an interest in, some more than others, he would lift his head and sniff, or just watch people with interest. It didn't appear to have anything to do with food, he didn't look hungry at all and some people weren't carrying food.
This one man , he had been sitting at the back with his wife,smoking away while having his food , and decided to leave. There was nothing untoward just to look at him, he looked a little like an old  "hippy farmer." As he walked past, I watched the dog ...shrink. It sort of closed up and shrank back, not looking at the man at all. I had seen the dog ignore some people or just raise one eyebrow and not be bothered with their smell, but this person he obviously did not like. It creeped me out.

Have you had any moments of great or small intuition?