Day 152 - My Little Nutter

Maddie is certainly becoming more adventurous with trying new things, and today at kinder gym was no exception, with Maddie taking a very keen interest in putting the scarves over her head. Leah and myself were made to join in but Grace wasn't interested in having one on, and then Maddie decided that she needed to wear every single one. It was definitely cute, but very strange. After Kinder Gym we went to Leah's and Graces house for a play with Hugh, Hunter and Grace, where the kids played really well together and Maddie showed her unusual ways of going down the slide. She has decided that she can now try to run down the slide, and thankfully doesn't get too upset when she slips. The last picture in my collage is of Hugh pushing Maddie around in Graces car, they both love it!

Day 151 - Trains

While at Ikea we picked up a train set and expansion set for Maddie. I have always wanted her to have a train but Nathan was originally against the idea, this was when she was much smaller, and probably unable to use it. I am a little disappointed that all of the wood used wasn't the same, so I am thinking of staining it, but that would mean erasing Maddie's 'art' work that was applied almost instantly when I wasn't paying enough attention. Maddie sure does seem to love it, so much so that last night she wouldn't go to bed until she had played with it and then waved goodnight to the trains.

Day 150 - Booking

Today I spent way too much time on the computer, iPad and my phone searching for the right holiday for us. We have decided to go away before Maddie is two to take advantage of her flying free. I wish we had of done it more often! Picture is a mobile phone screen shot of the pool at the Shangri-la where we will be going to stay. I am looking forward to being warm, although a little nervous about the flight with Maddie, and meeting her lactose free needs.

Day 149 - Goals

In true nagging style, today I raised the topic of tasks I really wanted Nathan to do over the next few weekends. My comment was greeted with a very helpful, possibly sarcastic comment from either Nathan or Simon that it would be easier if us women wrote out a list so that they could plan their weekends in advance. This is just some of Nathan's list of goals I have set for him. I very much doubt that he thinks that it was easier to have a list set out for him.

Day 148 - Ikea

A super early start of 6.15 is how we greeted today, and amazingly we all managed to get ourselves ready and out the door by 7.03 to start our trip to Ikea. We met the Morgans for breakfast at Goulburn, which must have been laced with sedatives as Maddie slept the rest of the way to Sydney. When we drove past Ikea it seemed like we were going to be taken out by a giant plane coming into land, which stunned us enough to not notice the giant Ikea building and then miss the second entry. At least that is the excuse we will go with, rather than Nathans navigational skills.

Ikea was awesome, and for the most part the girls were perfectly behaved the whole time we were there. Maddie did get ratty when she wanted out of the trolley, to be fed and right at the end when she had just had enough. I am super excited by my umbrella purchase, so I will have to get back onto nagging Nathan to finish the paving so I can set it up.. Thank you Simon for bringing it back for us!

Before we departed on what seemed like the longest trip home ever, we went to the park and ovals on Princes Highway to let the girls run for a while. Maddie ignored me when she ventured too far away, not showing any sign of hearing me when I called her which was a little worrying. I will definitely have to keep an eye on that, but otherwise she managed to convince some older girls to play ball with her and had a great time playing with Grace. I think my favourite memory from today would have to be when Maddie pretended to fall over and Grace went to help her up. Maddie would not get up without Graces hand, and Grace helping was very cute!

I think Maddie was very happy to be home in her bed as she rolled straight over to cuddle her bear when I put her down tonight, and hasn't stirred since. I am totally exhausted so I am hopeful for a good nights sleep too!

Day 147 - Nathan's Progress

While Maddie and I had a nap this afternoon Nathan got to work on the paver's. He made quite a lot of progress today and I love his idea of putting in a drain to have some of the water that collects there run into the bottom of our yard! It's nearly finished!! It will be lovely to sit out there under my patio heater while Maddie plays, and it will be a great place to observe Nathan's progress on the extension. 

Day 146 - A Long Day

Maddie was not herself today, choosing to spend most of her day curled up under the doona or a blanket, rather than playing and dancing. We had a fantastic tantrum moment this afternoon when I wouldn't hand over a dummy and I tried to make Maddie use her words. I think she was just tired from getting up way too early. I love how she put a sock over bears eyes before her own tonight. As I'm writing this Maddie is asleep in my arms, it looks like we are in for a long night. Hopefully we can get back on track with her sleeping through, which she did 9 times in early April, before the eye teeth started to come through. 

Day 145 - Kinder Gym

Today Maddie and I actually started to get back into our routine. This morning we went to kinder gym where Maddie had a great time jumping on the trampoline and stabbing a foam egg. She did seem to spend more time with Leah today, while I played with Grace, which after being stuck at home with me for so long is no surprise.

While Abbey was here we went to council to discuss our house plans with planning and development and Maddie was super well behaved playing quietly while I tried to concentrate on all the information I was being told. It was so much easier having someone else there to watch Maddie while I talked development applications, and the council man was so helpful.

Finally we went back to schnitty night after a two week break with us being too sick the last two weeks. Unfortunately Miss Maddie was super tired and cranky at dinner and had more tantrums than she did when we left M&G after having lunch with Nathan. It looks like the terrible twos are starting, although I am really hoping that it is just that she is tired that is causing the tantrums.

Day 144 - Fright Night!

After living here for over 6 years, the ovens timer, that I never thought worked went off at 12.42 last night. As I am still coughing a lot I've been snoozing on the couch to stop waking Maddie and Nathan up, which meant that the alarm really startled me. Once I had calmed the jitters I lay back down on the couch only to have one of Maddie's toys go off about a minute later. After jumping 6 feet in the air and checking the house did only have people in it that should be here I finally settled back to sleep at about 2am. I sure wish I wasn't so jumpy!

Day 143 - COTD

I spent way too much time chasing great buys on catch of the day today. I have to say their flash sale sucks as I didn't catch anything, and neither did the faster Morgan's! I suspect there is going to be some very nasty correspondence from cranky customers for them tomorrow. I did have fun though

Day 142 - Fish

Maddie has taken to drawing a lot more lately and having us help as well. This morning she was stuck on fish, I assume because mum was drawing her some last night. When she drew this she pointed to it and said fish before scribbling all over it.

Day 141 - A New Experience

Tonight we went to red salt for Adam's and Amy's birthday dinner. The service was not spectacular but the food was OK. Maddie seemed to really enjoy the experience of dipping her bread. It's a shame she went overboard with the oil!

Day 140 - Nathan's New Car

Nathan finally bought his new car home last night, so he has been very eager to go out for a drive. Maddie and I had a look in it this afternoon. Gosh it's big. It's a shame they have to have the stinky new car smell, it gives me a headache.

Day 139 - Spoilt

This morning I was spoilt with a lovely sleep in until 830 after Maddie had a whopping 13.5 hours sleep with only one wake up at 7 for a bottle. This meant super racing around this morning to get ready to meet Karyn for a shop at Costco. Maddie always ends up with something Karyn buys for her when we shop there, which is OK with us as it goes back to their place for when Maddie visits but today Maddie insisted that the cool sleep over bear came home with us. She did fall asleep with it while we unpacked the trolley in the car park, and then had almost a 3 hour nap at home with it. Maddie made Nathan read her bedtime story to both her and the bear before taking him off to sleep with her. Very cute but he is way too big to be practical.

Day 138 - Thursday

I discovered today that despite all the talk about it being schnitzel night that I hadn't realised it was in fact Thursday. At 310 Tucker started barking and someone came thought the gates scaring the life out of me. Turns out is was one miss Abbey coming for her play with Maddie, while I do housework. At the moment I have pneumonia so not only did I not do housework but I also didn't get schnitty! No wonder I don't know what day it is.

Day 137 - Amazing

Every now and then I seem to forget just how quickly Maddie learns. Tonight she surprised me twice, firstly she grabbed the pencil sharpener off the bench and proceeded to try sharpen one of her triangular pencils. When she realised it wasn't working she grabbed a thinner one and sharpened it. Then while we were eating soft shelled tacos for dinner, rather than have her meal separated on a plate she grabbed a piece of bread and topped before trying to wrap it up to eat. It is amazing how fast she learns!

Day 136 - Teething

Maddie has had three of her eye teeth come through in the last 8 days, and I suspect the the fourth is not far behind. Yesterday and today she has been unhappy and very quiet, dribbling a lot and wanting to chew on things, her dermatitis has really flared up also. It seems all of the teething toys that we have purchased for her in the last 21 months have been for nothing, as she prefers this toothbrush over anything else.

It's 11.05 pm and I have just had to go into Maddie as she was crying, I hope this doesn't mean we are in for a bad night. Nathan has been getting up a lot more often than I have for the last few months and as he is sick as well, I should let him rest and recover, but I am sick too!

Day 135 - In Over My Head

I worked up the impatience this morning to install the new router as our old computer and router was giving us so much trouble. 5 hours later I had the Internet working properly (I think) but none of our other bits and pieces were communicating. I have learnt that anything like is this definitely beyond my capabilities and to leave it to experts next time. Thankfully Leah volunteered Simon's help and a few hours later everything is talking. Thank you Simon!

Day 134 - Mothers Day

For my second Mothers Day I had an almost perfectly behaved Maddie, a nice lunch cooked by Nathan, a delicious dessert made by mum and of course was given my patio heater. Unfortunately Nathan and I still aren't 100% so the paver's weren't finished today which means that the patio heater can't go to its home yet, but another 24 paver's went down.

Day 133 - Paving

I really underestimated the time and effort required to relay the paver's that we ripped up two weeks ago. That was just before we all got sick, and today we only achieved laying 4 rows. By we I mean Chris from across the road and a little bit of Nathan. I've been named the quality control inspector as I commented that 2, no 4, oh wait 6 are wonky and need to be pulled back up. I think Nathan wanted to me to go inside after that. I am hoping that we can finish them tomorrow so I can use the Patio heater that I asked for, for Mothers Day.
Apparently spending the afternoon outside was too much as I'm burnt and have a monstrous headache. The closest I've come to a migraine since getting pregnant with Maddie. It was only a couple of days ago that I was almost bragging to mum that I haven't had one in over two years.

Day 132 - Plans 2.

The only photo I took today was a screen shot of the 2nd round of house plans for the extension. I contemplated taking a photo of my movie ticket as its such a rare occurrence that I go, but I left it in the car and it's way to cold to go out there unnecessarily.

The house plans are pretty awesome and I think close to what we want.. Maybe.. It's really hard to imagine..

Day 131 - A Day Out

Maddie and I had almost the whole day out socialising today, which was great after being stuck at home sick for almost a fortnight. We started at Kinder gym, where Maddie decided that "Jack's candlesticks" would be better to wear as a hat, than to jump over. I do wonder if her favourite part of Kinder gym is getting her stamps at the end though. Then home for what seemed like the quickest nap ever, before going to Rodney's for lunch with Grandma. Maddie has gotten very independent and a lot better at climbing recently, so she was able to show off her new skills at the park there. After some quick shopping at Bunnings for 'pink to white' ceiling paint and to look at the patio heaters we went to meet Grace, Leah and Simon at a park I haven't been to before in Letchworth. Wow is all I could say as we were walking up to the park, I don't think I have seen a playground like it before. The girls had a great play, and really tested the limits physically, with Maddie hanging on the slide with one arm making Simon race to her while I tried to work out whether to keep watching Grace climb or try get to Maddie. I'm sure that's a memory I will hold on to for a long time. Its a shame none of us had our cameras pointed at the time as it really would have made an awesome photo.

Day 130 - Shopping

After swimming today I thought I would go check out Majura park shopping centre. Well that was my intention, I walked in spotted Big W and looked in there then went to Toys R Us where is all went south. Since finding out I was having Maddie only once have I been into Toys R Us and walked out without buying anything. That was not today as I spotted all of the outdoor toys. As Maddie is not much of a climber I thought it was time we helped her to learn and build some upper body strength so we got her a small climbing thing with a slide. She loves it!
The first time took her about 5 minutes to climb up and get down the slide, which was way too fast and she landed on the grass on her back.. The second time was shorter but she still flew off the end. The third time she was up quickly and landed on her bottom and clapped. From then it seemed she aimed to land on her feet. Gosh she learns quick!

Day 129 - Stuck

When I was in the study earlier today checking my emails I heard Maddie start to cry. Thinking she had hurt herself I raced to her to find that she had just gotten stuck getting into a container with a teddy. Was too funny not to laugh and take a photo.

Day 128 - Box

Being anti hoarding means that every bin day I make sure that the bin goes out as full as I can get it. So today Maddie and I chucked out anything unnecessary in her room. As the box was getting low we unpacked the Nappies and Maddie thought it would be good to use for her teddies. That kept her entertained for about 5 minutes when she must have realised she would fit, so with a lot of difficulty, in she jumped. We then spent the next half hour racing around the house, with Maddie in the box and me pushing and pulling her around. Maddie now says bump after we kept hitting the change in floor level from the kitchen to entry. My back sure will be glad to put the box in the recycling bin when she goes to bed as we have been using it all afternoon.

Day 127 - The Worlds Suckiest Paint

Despite getting sick on the night I started to paint the lounge room and still being sick I have tried to finish the ceiling in here. When I went to buy paint for the ceiling at bunnings I was suckered into "One Coat" by British Paints. Now I'm normally a fan of that brand of paint, having done the entry with it years ago but I have to say, this stuff sucks! I applied primer to prepare the ceiling after it had work done to it, and then Nathan put on the first coat of paint. (This should be where i blame
Nathan for the messy pot, but I am the messy painter..) It dried splotchy which I assumed was his dodgy painting skills and avoidance of me making him do anymore. I applied coat two which I know was done as close I perfectly as I could and it's now streaky. So now I am totally frustrated, filled with hatred for painting ceilings I'm going to go get pink to white again and hope I don't have to do more than three coats.
Moral of the story. Don't buy this paint and don't be so lazy Cassie!!

Day 126 - Eye Teeth

After what seems like months of waiting through cranky teething symptoms, one of Maddie's eye teeth has finally broken through the gums. Maddie was a bit out of sorts today, so I suspect another one is not far behind and I really hope it hurries up. As Nathan and I are sick we had a PJ day today, and hung around the house all day which Maddie seemed to really enjoy. She spent a large part of it curled up with me on the couch or in bed and apparently spent ages on Nathan's lap this morning watching TV while I slept in.

Day 125 - Cooking

With this household sick with various degrees of colds we have stayed away from any social interaction. Today we actually ventured out to the supermarket, which I think was the highlight of Maddie's and my day. I decided to cook Nathan's favourite for dinner and while we were there I noticed the Zymil lactose free cream so we grabbed some of that to try custard tarts. Nathan enjoyed his satay chicken, and Maddie scoffed her mini tart. I also made Anzac biscuits for me, but I think they turned out a bit too dry. For someone that doesn't cook I sure seem to be doing a bit of it lately.

Day 124 - Treasure

After 2 weeks and 6 days, someone coming through the gates in the middle of the night and a lot of hunting I finally found my house keys. We have never had a day messier than today starting with Maddie tipping most of a carton of milk out. I have to say I've never been more glad of a mess than when I found the keys.

Day 123 - Weight

Tonight I managed to get a quick photo of Maddie standing on the scales and I have to say I rushed to look at her weight before I even thought to take a photo. Maddie had such slow weight gain until she turned one, and I am still finding it hard to shake the obsession with her weight now she is 21 months old, and catching up to the other girls her age. Maddie is now above the 25th percentile for her weight, which is a huge improvement on her skinniest moment on the 5th percentile when she was 14 months old, as well as the scary 5-10% when she was tiny.

Day 122 - Dessert

Seeing as Dad was coming for dinner and I was not working before hand I thought I would make an effort to actually cook tonight. So I spent the whole afternoon in the kitchen. OK so that's an exaggeration, a roast isn't exactly hard, but it was so tasty! I also whipped up vanilla bean gelato on pavlova nests with mint aero for dessert.. Yummo!