Out of the mouths of babes

A conversation between Hamish and Alastair yesterday, prompted by Hamish cuddling the wooden toy lizard we gave him for Christmas... which has lost all its legs...

H: Look at my lizard!
A: He's got no legs! He's a snake now!
H: No, he's still a lizard.
A: Yes, he'll always be a lizard in his heart.
H: (all forlorn) But his heart is broken...
A: (laughing) What happened to his legs?
H: (looking around for inspiration) Um... he grew out of them.

:)

On being a mummy...

Donna has gone away for a week, so Alastair and I are part of the team taking shifts to look after Mairead and Hamish. We've taken the first (and longest) shift - 5:30AM Wednesday to 5:30PM Friday. It is currently 1:45pm Friday. Just under 4 hours to go. :) They are going to their grandparents' house tonight and tomorrow night, then we're doing Sunday afternoon to Monday morning. Then the other grandparents are doing Monday night to Tuesday night (when Donna gets home). My goodness it's full on being a stand-in parent! I wouldn't say it's hard, but it is full on and very constant. Mairead is a fiesty almost-7-year-old, and Hamish is an adorable almost-3, (we're talking in the next couple of weeks for both of them), and they play well together... most of the time. Hamish is also toilet training - part time. Which means he's toilet training when he feels like it. :P Ohmygoodness - I am fully in awe of people who have toilet trained children now! It's such hard work! Yesterday afternoon he went through FOUR sets of undies in an hour... and STILL no wee in the potty!!! Grrr!!! And Mairead crawled into bed with us at 2:30 this morning - what is WITH that?!?!?! She wriggled, and hogged my pillow until I decided she was going back to her bed... carried her in and lay with her until she stopped crying and fell back asleep.... then stumbled back to my bed.

And now I'm sick with a bad cold. My nose is blocked but won't stop running, and I have a headache. But life goes on. :( Meaghan came down and helped me with stuff this morning which was lovely. Anyhow, the fourth load of washing has just finished... I'd better go and hang it out so the kids have something to wear over the weekend... especially Hamish, seeing as he wee'd in practically every pair of trousers he owns yesterday...

(Have I remembered everything, Alastair? Please comment if I haven't... xoxo)

Stuff...

Whoever knew that becoming a couple in a legal capacity was such a long, time consuming, drawn out process! You can change your name at the ATO with just a phonecall, (no marriage certificate or anything), but to put your wife on your NRMA policies/greenslip/whatever, it takes about a dozen phonecalls and hours on hold waiting for "the next available operator". I've got my new driver's license... yesterday we went to Medicare to change my name and get new cards which have each other on them... and we opened a joint bank account. Man, it's all so complicated!

I started back teaching two weeks ago. Always after some time off, I think that teaching is too hard and that I can't do it anymore... but then I get there on the first day and remember that it's okay. :) It's good to be earning money again too.

Speaking of money - I've been working on our budget, and last payday we put it into practice. Yay... sort of. :P We're needing to be quite careful with our spending. I'm getting used to having to shop fortnightly (my mum shopped weekly), but also, I have to remember that I'm not doing the shopping for mum for a family of 5 anymore - I'm shopping for Alastair and I, and we don't need as much food as a family does. Nor do we have space for it. :P Buying two packets of frozen vegies for $6 just because they're on special may not be the greatest idea... because we can't get through them, and only have a little freezer! Yesterday I just went shopping, but when I got home and unpacked it, I couldn't shut the freezer door. I forgot that mum and dad have a chest freezer that the overflow goes into... :P

So lots of learning going on here.

Last weekend we went up to Gilgandra to visit Joel and Katherine for the long weekend. It was really nice (except for the bed!) and we had a great time. :)

Now Alastair is awake and he's made me a cup of tea. :) We're going to snuggle up and watch a movie. Later on, we're going to the footy - go Swans! What a way to spend a Saturday. :)