Day 91 - Laundry

A month late, and still needing some minor cosmetic touches, here is the picture of my laundry. I will have to take a photo in the day time, as the light in the room throws a yellow tinge to the otherwise grey walls. The second picture gives a much better idea of the colour. I was quite proud of my effort in fixing the holes in the wall, and finally choosing a colour for the doors. As anyone who knows me when I was 16, knows picking colours is not my forte. I have to say having the laundry pretty much done is a nice feeling, especially in the lead up to the extension.

Day 90 - Banana's

Until I had Maddie I thought that every child likes banana's. It was a huge shock to me that Maddie wouldn't eat them but I persisted for a while and under sufferance if she was hungry enough she ate them. Once Maddie realised that she would get more food if she didn't eat what was offered she went back to refusing them, only eating them occasionally for Mum and Karyn.
Holly, Levi and Jake visited us today and after a play, Levi asked for what I think was a banana, so I handed him one. Of course what other people have Maddie wants, so she too had a banana, and almost ate the whole thing.. Kids!

Day 89 - Tired Cuddles

It seems Maddie is getting teeth, for there is no other explanation for her behaviour over the past 24 hours, unless she is getting sick, and I sure hope she isn't. Madam woke last night at 330, and spent the rest of the night in my arms, giving me a bear hug while she dozed. Sitting in the chair, attempting to sleep, bought back many memories of when Maddie was tiny, as that was often how we slept while she had reflux. After a bad nights sleep, at kinder-gym this morning, Maddie was very quiet and actually sat still for most of the group parts of the session. Normally she tries to escape the room, or runs to another parent she knows for a cuddle before darting back. Unfortunately Maddie's day sleep was short lived and she spent the afternoon crying while Abbey tried to play with her so that I could do some housework. This photo was just before we went to dinner, where again Maddie sat quietly reserving her energy for a crazy racing spree after we ate. Do you think she was tired and wanted to sit on some ones lap?

Day 88 - Silly Mistakes

Since having Maddie I have become so much more forgetful, then adding overtired into the equation today, made for not fun times for Nathan. After picking Maddie up from Karyn's tonight after I finished work, we had a quick play, pinched a ball and came home. It wasn't until I pulled into the driveway that I visualised my keys sitting under the counter at work. Thinking that I surely picked them up, I checked the centre console, but it wasn't to be, they were not there. Nathan and Mark had gone to the slot car track for half an hour of racing and Nathan was very disappointed to get my call that he needed to come home so we could get in. Maddie did love climbing through the car and trying to put seat belts on though.

Day 87 - A Sudden Downpour

Today's photo will have to be uploaded tomorrow, as I can not for the life of me find where I put the camera. Hopefully its in the study, and as little Matt has just headed to bed I cant zip in and check. I think I better check back outside before I go to bed just in case I left it out there. OH NO its just started raining heavily again. Gosh I hope its in the study!

With the crazily heavy downpour we had for about 15 minutes I was terrified that the shed would flood and the rain would come through the roof. I put the bucket in place and crossed my fingers and fantastically no water came through. As Maddie and I have been digging in the driveway to prepare it for turf the shed didn't flood either, which is a relief. It came close though! the photos are taken about and hour and a half after the rain finished, I cant believe how much water there was!


Tonight Amy was going to stay the night, but as she had Dad's car, she had his house keys so she didn't end up staying. As she was unprepared to stay we were going to run to the supermarket to get some necessities. Nathan volunteered to go with his helpful shopper Matt, needless to say there were a lot of laughs from Matt, Amy and I, and some embarrassing moments for Nathan. He is a good Man trying to buy new underwear for Amy.

Day 86 - Tree Escapades

After a visit to the doctor early this morning Nathan was feeling sad and sorry when I left for work at 930 this morning. When I came home tonight I discovered a huge branch laying on our nature strip and thought to myself he cant be that bad if he got the chainsaw out to trim this giant tree. Turns out that a truck got stuck when it parked in our driveway today to deliver a parcel 2 doors up.

Nathan called the council to come help out the truck driver and they sent around a man and a notepad, not very helpful! The police even swung by for a look as the truck as you can see was stuck blocking the road. Luckily people had come to fix the neighbours leaky roof so they were able to help free the truck.

I am running so late tonight as I just met part of MYOB. It seems easy, we will have to wait to see how many errors Kerrie finds tomorrow.

Day 85 - Nathan's Photo

Today Nathan took Maddie to the airport open show where she had her first face painting done. Apparently Nathan had to keep her still part of the time otherwise she sat fairly still for the face painter. While I slaved away at work serving tonnes of customers with our 20% off boots sale, he was out having fun. It was pretty fun watching Maddie's reaction when I showed her, her reflection in the mirror, when I got home as she had forgotten it. Nathan let Maddie go on the jumping castle and this time she got off herself which I am sure was a relief to him. With his back wound still open his movement is fairly limited as he is in a fair amount of pain.

Day 84 - Dress Up Torture

This afternoon I decided to put the little top - dress thing Dad bought on his first trip to China on Maddie. She wasn't too thrilled playing dress ups, but I did get a few good photos of her. If only she hadn't have stepped closer to me as I was taking this one, where she was standing before hand would have made the perfect picture.

Day 83 - Serious

Today Dad popped in after his trip to China last week to say hello. Maddie as always was happy to see him, and loved the shoes he bought her so much that she refused to take them off all morning. Usually Maddie changes shoes more times than I do in a day. Maddie jammed herself in between the couch and her ball pit to sit on her little couch today to watch some TV when she was getting tired. I love how serious she looked when I tried to convince her to say cheese while I was taking the photo, she didn't want a bar of it.
I have discovered that when Maddie and I have stay at home in our PJ's days, she sleeps much better, today she slept for over 2.5 hours and woke up full of cuddles. If only everyday we could hang around the house and not get dressed.

Day 82 - Hoarding

Inspired by an SMS from Leah of Simon's deodorant collection, I decided to take a photo of some of Nathans shirts. In all the time that I have known Nathan I have always thought that he has too many clothes, and today I proved myself right. In this photo there are 71 shirts hanging in this section of the wardrobe, there is also at least 15 in the ironing pile and another 28 in two of his wardrobe draws. If that's not the most out of anyone that I know, then I will be very surprised. Hopefully I can convince Nathan to get rid of some as it is so hard putting them away after I iron them!

Day 81 - A Mums Moment

Tonight I thought that Maddie needed me to go in to resettle her about half an hour after I got home from Aquacise. It turns out she was grizzling while still asleep as she couldn't find her dummy. I have to say passed out on her back with her arms swinging around looking for the dummy was one of the cutest things I have seen. Maddie couldn't be delayed long enough to bath her tonight and I forgot to take her hair out before I put her down as she was so tired. Maddie refused a day sleep again today, only dozing off when Nathan bought her home. This meant a 10 minute sleep all day, so she was very cranky to be woken and we had to  really convince her to eat dinner, then off to bed quickly as she was so miserable. I had forgotten to take a photo today, so here one is of Maddie asleep, again!

Day 80 - A Funny Face

Maddie and I were outside with the cats this afternoon so I thought I would take some photos. Maddie can now say cat clearly and loves telling me when they are out. I have no idea what she was saying when I took this photo though. Diesel seems to love Maddie so they just followed each other around the back yard for half an hour today while I was with the other two.

Day 79 - Official Business

Today I officially handed in my resignation as store manager to my wonderful boss Penny. I thought I was going to keep my composure and not cry but I came undone towards the end of the conversation and had a good cry. I opened the Canberra store in September 2008 and put a lot of effort into setting it up, and running it until pregnancy with Maddie forced me to slow down. I went back as a casual just under a year after going on maternity leave, and returned as a part time manager mid October last year. I still have 5 weeks to go, with my finish date being ANZAC day, so I hope some of my favourite customers come in for a visit so I can let them know. I wonder if I will still have a shoe habit after I finish, especially seeing as we are building more cupboards that I can fill with them. These are one of the pairs that I purchased today, I cant quite get the right colour in the picture, the red is a bit deeper than they are coming out.

Day 78 - Last minute photo

Normal Sunday today = full day at work, and a forgotten photo. I took this one of Maddie as I put her down tonight. Hopefully we have a better night tonight, not that I got up to her last night, but I was still awake the whole time.

Day 77 - My Beautiful Girl

I took loads of photos of Maddie this morning as she was so quiet and still. I don't know if it was the antihistamine I gave her at half past one this morning as she was so itchy, or if she was just off colour but she was only happy when I was sitting down in Nathan's chair watching her. It wasn't until Nathan came home at almost 12 that she perked back up.

Tonight we took Maddie to the WOW car park to watch skyfire, it seemed a lot smaller. Unfortunately she was tired, and isn't a fan of sitting still so she didn't enjoy it as much as I had hoped. It was nice to do something different though.

Day 76 - Helicopters

Today we did our Friday walk around Lake Burley Griffin and after we finished the Navy was practising stunts for tomorrow nights skyfire. It was pretty awesome to watch except for right at the start when they came a little too close for comfort right over our heads. Poor Maddie didn't have much sleep but she was very excited to see the choppers go past. When we went to play in the shade after they had finished the chopper show, the cannons went off, which scared Maddie enough that she had to come and give me a huge cuddle. The boys, Hunter and Hugh didn't seem too fussed by the bangs, but Grace wasn't a fan either.

I cant believe I have had over 1000 views on my blog, that is unreal!

Day 75 - Awwww

What an eventful day today has been! This morning we went to Kindergym, which was swarming with other parents and kids and overwhelmed Maddie enough that she actually sat down when she was supposed to. Then home for a sleep which is when I took this photo before going to sign the loan papers for the extension. Its official, we are in even more debt now, but exciting in an absolutely terrifying way. I took the photos to send for the plans, but forgot to scan the old plans, today and while I was at work I did a moderate re-merchandise with the hopes of the DFO back in receivership news hitting for the weekend. I was super excited to have our junk Thursday dinner tonight and instead of schnitzel we went to Maccas out at Majura park. The girls had a great play and the Big Mac was YUMMO! although it has made me feel sick. Despite all the stress with Mothers Group falling out, I had a pretty good day.

Day 74 - Elsie's Trampoline

The Kelly's from across the road are painting their play room at the moment as part of their renovations and asked if Maddie wanted to borrow Elsie's trampoline for a little while. Nathan bought it over last night but kept it hidden outside as it was Maddie's bedtime. Today I remembered it was out there so I put it in the middle of the lounge room for her to find, and it didn't take long. Maddie jumped on it for about 15 minutes straight then needed a rest so she hopped off and walked around to the front to take a seat on it. Maybe she thought I would take it back as she hovered near it, or sat on it for about an hour while I made a huge mess starting to sort out her toys. Tomorrow's goal, on top of work at Sandler, Kinder gym, the house bits that the architect needs and some M&G bookwork is to finish sorting out the lounge room so that tomorrow Nathan doesn't come home to a bombsite.

I usually remember to take multiple photos in the day to get one for my blog, but this is the one and only shot for the day. Its so blurry when taken on my phone.

Day 73 - Maddie

Today was one of those days that neither Maddie or I seemed to want to be awake. Miss Maddie was so quiet this morning I had to keep checking she was still playing and not asleep on the floor. Not that she has ever fallen asleep on the floor before, but there is a first for everything. Maddie loves getting my headbands out of the bathroom drawers and playing with them, she doesn't like them in her hair though, rather she wears them like they are a necklace. She particularly likes this silver one, and once its on she makes a wolf whistling sound. Recently she has started to go into the media cupboard, which for so long she had ignored, and today pulled out both wii remotes to use as phones. It is so funny watching her talk into them and nod as though she is getting an answer. Hopefully I can get it on video before she grown out of it.

Day 72 - Bedroom

Finally put a new cover on our doona today, after 6 years of having the same dark grey or black one, it is nice to get some colour and girlie into the bedroom. I went to check out the Myer Tuggeranong closing down sale on the second last day and got it at a bargain price. It was a shame that the store was almost completely empty by the time I got over there.

It looks like Nathan got to the leaking roof quickly enough that I wont have to re-paint it which is such a relief, I hate painting the ceilings. All that the bedroom needs to be finished is another gloss coat, clean up and Nathan's drawers from Ikea being put together. We haven't decided whether to open up our bedroom into another living area, put in concertina doors to it can still be closed off, or leave it as it is at this stage. All this renovation talk is getting very exciting!

Day 71 - Artwork

Tonight when we got home from dinner with Mark and Karyn I was greeted with this lovely artwork that Maddie did today. I hid the bath crayons since the last time she drew in the bathroom, but not in the bath, but somehow she got hold of one today. As you can see Maddie had a great time drawing on the stairs for the spa with her green crayon. Its a shame I have to wash it off, its cute!

Day 70 - A New Computer

Big isn't it! I am sitting here doing my blog on the new computer trying to move further away from the screen. Our study is our junk room, so once its all cleared out I think I will have to sit on the futon behind me to use this monitor until I adjust. I had to actually turn the monitor away to take this photo, it was just too bright. I can not believe how fast this thing goes! WOW! and its on the wireless network still, I assume possibly incorrectly that the Internet will be faster once I hook it up directly. I set the computer up tonight, after it had some things installed on it today for me to do some bookwork for M&G, there is just one problem, I still have a cord left that I cant find a home for. Oh and that funky hide-my-mess folder under my phone there, it has oodles of information we are going to need for extending. EXCITING!

Day 69 - Cats

Today Maddie and I spent some time putting new cat beds and a scratching pole in half of the cat cage. Maddie loved playing in it, and refused to get out, she also really liked harassing the cats once they decided they wanted to be in there too. I was really impressed by how Diesel coped with Maddie being rough with him, usually he bites anyone who isn't me. It seemed strange to me that all three cats stayed in the back yard and hopped back in the cage voluntarily. Normally I have to attempt to catch them, or wait until they get hungry and come knocking on the front door.

Day 68 - I Love Thursdays

I don't know if it is because Thursday's are my first day off for the week, because I get a few hours to do housework without an attachment, or, if it is because its schnitzel night but I really LOVE Thursday's.

Today Maddie and I went in to check out the WOW sight and sound administrators sale and picked up a new land line phone set, went to kinder gym and ran a few errands all before 11am. This left the rest of the day to relax, hang out, play and clean. After Abbey finishes school she comes to watch Maddie for a couple of hours while I clean the bathroom and attempt to get other things accomplished. As I like to over bleach the bathroom, I much prefer cleaning it during the day so it can air, but I need to know Maddie is entertained and won't try to help. Despite Abbey feeding her smarties, sultanas and an apple and playing with all her toys with her in an attempt to keep her happy, Maddie only lasted about an hour and a half before she felt it necessary to start to get cranky. She did like to lay on her leg though and pretend to go to sleep.

Day 67 - Maddies Wings

When Leah, Simon and Grace went to the Canberra Show they picked up a Dorothy show bag for Maddie. I have gradually been bringing things out of it as she loses interest in the other things and finally got the wings out today. As Leah had said it took Grace a few wears to get used to them I thought that Maddie would be the same, but she took straight to them. I foolishly put them on Maddie at the time she was due to go for her nap, which resulted in a very stompy tantrum.

Maddie loves playing with jewellery already and says whoooo woooo when she puts something on. With the wings and wand though she said 'Pretty'. Her words seem to be really developing at the moment.

Day 66 - Clean Up

This morning Maddie and I spent some time in the yard again cleaning up after the 2012 flooding of the back yard. Maddie loves being able to play outside, especially after being cooped up inside all week last week, and today decided that she had to help me clean up. When I swept, Maddie decided she needed to, so I started to collect bark to throw in the bin, but she decided that was a better job for her. One of the things we are going to do to minimise future damage from the rain, is to turf the centre of the driveway so bark and sand will stop running in and blocking the only way the water can escape. Clearing the bark away is what Maddie and I are working on this week, weather permitting and next week we might work on digging the ground out enough to bring in the turf. I am very hopeful that with this cooler weather the turf will be easier to maintain for the first two stressful weeks of keeping it alive.

Day 65 - Morisett Bridge

As someone forgot the invoicing books for work this morning I had 16 missed calls to go in and drop them off. This travelling in peak hour traffic meant that I missed the Jerrabomberra PND walk which I was looking forward to. To compensate for this Maddie and I went for a little walk to see how the flood water had damaged things this time. I had expected the little bridge to be open this morning and was very surprised and excited to see it was still underwater. The poor people at the caravan park were sweeping away debris as I walked past, and most of their sites were empty as a lot of people are camping at the showgrounds. As we were walking down the road towards the water Maddie shouted WOW, I love how she uses that word.

Day 64 - Sandler Adventures

These day's a normal Sunday for me revolves around a full day at work. Today was a little more adventurous than most work days as I had a little adrenaline hit cause by deterring a shop lifter. The poor lady was popping some boots in her bag as I walked out of the backroom, WOW did she jump high! Thankfully she put the boots back before she left, still gave me the shakes though. A good friend of mine, once followed a couple of shop lifters out of her shop and into a mall, to get back the items taken from her store. She got the first persons takings back, but when she caught up with the second persons she was headbutted so hard she was knocked out in the middle of the mall and had the things she had regained taken back. INSANE!

With all of the rain happening in the area at the moment, poor DFO has sprung some new leaks. We are always grateful that there is not one in our store, but today there was one very close to the lease line. In the letter S, you can see the roof, which is lined by something that looks like aluminium foil, it seems, that like our house the water gets in, and finds a hole to escape through.

Day 63 - Maddie's Pyjamas

When Amy was little Mum had her own business selling baby clothes. These days she doesn't seem to sew often but Maddie still reaps the benefit of her skills. I love the sleep-suits that Mum makes as they are so much easier than snaps especially in the middle of the night and now they make Maddie seem younger than she is. Tonight's one is still a little bit long for her, but it should help to keep her warm tonight as the temperature has really dropped again this week. I am pretty sure that Maddie's, Auntie Kylie has a sleep suit in the same fabric as well.  Yes she can make them in adult sizes, and they are very comfortable. Mum has even had special orders for them from one of the naval ships, that would be an unusual sight to see.

Maddie slept through 6 times in February, which is a new record. We are hoping for 8 this month, but that will depend on if we can get the clothes, blanket and temperature situation correct, every time the season changes I have no idea what to dress her in.

Day 62 - A Day of Rest

Maddie and I spent the day chilling out at home in our pyjamas today having loads of cuddles. Maddie had a terrible night last night and spent most of the night kicking and headbutting us in our bed, which was not helping get the rest I need to get well and get my voice back. When I asked Maddie several times throughout the day if she wanted to get dressed she kept telling me no and running away, which was pretty funny. While I sorted out her room, she decided to put all of her teddies in the cot, then asked to get in and almost buried herself in them. Finally she threw them all out, sat down on the floor and told one of the toy dogs to sit. It is amazing how much she has learnt these last few days. Maddie now asks "whats that" says yeah and tells her toys to sit.

Day 61 - Exhausting Day

With all the rain we have had, I woke up this morning a little nervous about the afternoons rain. Maddie and I went to kinder gym for the first time with Leah and Grace and Maddie thought it was pretty good, especially when I wasn't holding onto her trying to stop her from running away. As I am still unwell I found it hard to project my voice well to talk to people, and I found that I was more tired than Maddie after it. When we got home and I put her down for a sleep I did my first trip outside to try save the shed.The shed flooded in December 2010 just before Maddie's christening, which was a massive clean up and as I laid all the carpet squares I thought I would try just about anything to prevent it happening again. I managed to keep the drain cleared and water under control until the last time I went out there just before going to schnitzel night with the Morgans, when it proceeded to pour down and the drain couldn't cope anymore. At this stage the shed isn't too bad, but it will need some clean up work and drying out next week.
I really need to get out more, as the river rising is something that really excites me. In the third picture you can see what we looked at while we had dinner. The footpath is completely under the water there, and the reeds started to go under as we were eating.