Anzac Day

To many, today is just another public holiday where people get a day off work, but for others it's a day of remembering those who fought for us and Australia.

It's a day to remember old mates, loved ones and all the diggers whose lives were lost fighting in warzone countries, whether it be in Gallipoli, Africa, Palestine, Papua New Guinea, Vietnam, Afghanistan or Iraq.

My grandfather, my Dad's dad, fought in WWI as a Lance Corporal within the 12th Australian Light Horse Regiment, then served as a Sergeant in WWII.  He was one of the lucky ones and made it back home.

I thought I'd share some photos that were taken by him when he was on assignment during WWI.

Unfortunately I never got to meet him or my grandmother as they both died years before I was born.

Dad doesn't speak about him very much, so I have been finding out bits and pieces from one of my cousins who is also interested in our family history. About five years ago I found copies of old war records and other information on the Australian War Memorial website, which my husband and I found fascinating. It included his application papers, transfer papers, dental records, nominal rolls, and copies of medical reports etc.

To this day we're uncertain whether my grandfather was apart of the "Light Horse charge" of Beersheba. To read that he could have possibly been there when this event occured is awe-inspiring. My cousin, my Dad's brother's daughter, has copies of all my grandfathers medals, photos and war diary's, which one day I hope to read.

While I may never know who he was or what he was like, to know he is an Anzac will always make me proud.

"They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old.
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning,
We will remember them."

Lest we forget.

Little Easter bag project

Today I am putting together a little Easter project for Popette and her two cousins who are coming over Easter Saturday for a BBQ. I am organising a little Easter Egg hunt, which will be Popette's first...we haven't celebrated Easter the last two years as we thought she was too young...she didn't even try chocolate until she turned 2...I know I'm a terrible Mummy! Well I've got to enjoy it before I don't have any left for myself!

To collect the Easter eggs, I thought I'd get them to make a personalised Easter egg bag using a plain brown sandwich bag...saves you buying the specialty bags that shops are selling.

I have created a blank bunny face which the kids can decorate to their liking...I'm giving them some pom-poms to use for the nose, pipe cleaners for the whiskers, boggle eyes, coloured pencils etc.

Here is a quick example of a bag I created, it's very plain,
but you can decorate it as much or as little as you like :-)

If you would like to create a "bunny" bag, here is a list of what you need:

All you need is:

• Brown sandwich bag
• A sheet of white A4 paper
• A lead pencil
• Black marker
• Scissors
• Glue
• Pom-poms
• Pipe cleaners
• Stick-on boggle eyes
• Coloured pencils

Plus anything else your kids would like to use to decorate their bags: i.e. cotton wool balls, glitter, stickers, coloured paper, crayons, textas etc.

Friends on Facebook

I know I've touched on this subject once before so I hope I'm not repeating myself.

I had a good look at my friends list on Facebook this morning....I don't have a huge amount of "Friends" (unlike some people I know who like to have a competition to see how many friends they can hook up to) I have 41.....some are family and relatives, some are old school friends I have found on Facebook (one thing it's good for!), some are old work colleagues, some are friends I've met since becoming a Mum, and some are
old friends I've known for years.

How many friends do you have on Facebook? Do you consider them 'real' friends, or people you haven't seen for a long time (i.e old school friends), ex and current work colleagues, or people you've met recently and said "Are you on Facebook" and then become their friend.

If I was to count on my hand how many are truly my friends, I would probably count 5 or 6 at the most...isn't that funny how we consider people 'friends' but in our time of need, we'd probably only rely on a small few to be there for us. I know it's not quantity but quality of friends that counts...so it doesn't bother me too much that I don't have a big group of friends.....in any case, when would I find the time to catch up with any of them..especially when I have my own family to look after.

I know a few people who have said "If you need anything give me a call", or "If you want to drop "Popette" over to my place so you can go to the Drs, let me know"...etc. etc. But then I wonder how good are they at keeping their promise, is it something that people just say to make them look nice or do they generally mean it?

Being a Stay-at-Home Mum does your head in at times, as you seem to have more time to dwell on these sort of things, then worrying about deadlines or getting your work or projects completed. I know what I would rather be stressing about....give me a project anyday!

For a while now, I've been having issues with certain people in my Mums group...e.g where they'll invite other Mums over to their house for a catch-up, BBQ etc, but not include me or if I instigate a catch-up, they will always say they can't make it for whatever reason. I've got nothing against the Mums and I generally like them, but sometimes I get the feeling that they don't like me, and I wonder what it is that I've done wrong. I don't know if its because we're different in ages, so the younger ones see each other more often and get along better, or if it's something else. I don't know about you, but I can't stand people who 'backstab' other people, or are nice to your face one minute then completely rude the next.

I don't know whether to keep catching up with these people or break all contact and find another group (maybe a Playgroup) for my daughter and I to join and meet new people....what do you think?

Maybe it's just me, maybe I don't trust people as well as I thought I did. But then again, I have been 'burnt' over the years by people I have thought were my friends. (See I told you it's doing my head in!!). Then again, I am pregnant, so maybe all the emotions mixed in with my raging hormones isn't helping....hmmmmm.

I guess I have to think about it this way.....who are my friends that I can trust to tell my darkest secret to, and who are those friends (might not be the name to call them, maybe acquaintances?) who I currently have something in common with and catch up with, because of my current circumstances (e.g I'm a Mum).

Do you regard these sort of people as acquaintances or friends?

My artwork

Here is a link to some pictures of recent artwork I have completed, My artwork, as published on Flickr.
Over time, I will update my album to show new pieces of artwork.

For as long as I can remember I've always had a passion for art, especially drawing. Last year I started attending "Drawing & Painting" class once a week, at my local community college, so I could get back into something creative, and give myself some "me" time, which I was seriously missing as a Stay-at-home Mum.

Unfortunately, I am not a commissioned artist, and only do my art as a hobby.

I am happy for you to refer to my artwork and link back to this page, however please note that all my artwork is subject to copyright (2011).

I hope you like it. :-)

My love hate relationship with my TV

At the moment I'm having a love/hate relationship with my TV. One minute I love it, as it pre-occupies my daughter for a little while, and gives Mummy sometime to get some cleaning done, have a shower or just time to sit down and relax.

I love it, as I can record the shows I like to watch, ie. "Grey's Anatomy", "Desperate Housewives", and "Private Practice" or anything else that grabs my fancy....last night it was the Finale of My Kitchen Rules!!!

Then on the other hand I hate it.

I hate it when I see my daughter look at it all zombie like and start worrying that she watches too much TV.....especially when she starts remembering characters names or theme songs to some of the shows!

I hate it that she knows how to turn the TV on using the remote.

I hate it that it's so friggin addictive, and that when you are feeling like crap and don't have any motivation to do anything that you plonk yourself on the lounge and watch whatever show is on.

I really don't want "Popette" to be brought up in front of the TV. I think back to my childhold and can remember the amount of TV I watched, which was a lot, and think that I should of got out of the house more, played with friends more, got into a team sport or did something other than watch the darn box. Maybe if I did I would have enjoyed my childhood more? Hmmm.....

I also worry that she's getting too much entertainment from the TV....she loves Play School (got to admit so do I....I would love to work in their craft room!), Sesame Street, and anything with "The Wiggles", and of course In the Night Garden....but lately she's been starting to watch a lot of other shows as well. I've tried limiting the time in the morning, and turning the TV off until later in the afternoon when Play School comes
on. But lately with being unwell and not feeling very energetic or motivated, I've kinda of let the TV taken over.

A friend of mine (who has no children) once joked about the TV babysitting my daughter, and while it hurt a bit, yes I guess it does at times. Thinking back to when I was childless....its probably something I would of joked about to one of my friends who had kids at the time. Of course I didn't understand how hard it was to keep them entertained or think of things to amuse them for more than a minute.

What to do, what to do...I try and entertain "Popette" with creative things such as drawing, colouring in, painting, or stickers...but that only seems to last a while then she gets sick of it....or I get sick of it, especially painting, as she gets it all over her hands and everywhere else! She does loves it when we sit together and paint, draw pictures, stickers or play blocks.

When the weather is nice we'll go for a walk or for a trip to the park, but when its on the miserable side and cold, I prefer to stay in.

Sometimes we'll catch up with friends for a playdate, go to Mums group or go somewhere like Lollipops playland. On a Tuesday we go to music lessons, which she loves, but that's only for 1/2 hour...and at the moment is on break for school holidays. And there's always little trips to the shops or a cafe.

I'm thinking of joining a playgroup next term so she gets to know some other little friends.....and so it gets us out of the house. I find when we are at home she gets a bit clingy with me, apart from it driving me crazy, I'm concerned that she'll become a bit of an introvert (like her Mummy) and not want to interract with other kids.

For a 2 year old, she's pretty good at entertaining herself. Sometimes I'll find her sitting on the lounge or floor looking through her books or playing with her teddies and dollies in her pop-up tent. Or she'll be pushing one of her teddies around in her little stroller that we bought her for Christmas.

I feel so guilty when I don't sit down and play with her, or when I need to take a little break as I've been with her all day and can't take it anymore.....don't know how I'm going to cope with 2 of them!!

Do your kids watch TV? What sort of things do you do to entertain them?

News

Hello fellow readers!!

Well for today's blog I have some news to share with you....you see, I'm pregnant!

I am now 14 weeks and 1 day so officially over the 1st trimester...hooray!! First trimester wasn't very kind to me, I had lots of early bleeding on & off for a few weeks so had to take it easy and rest. It was quite a stressful/emotional time for me, as I wasn't sure how things would go with bub. So I have been holding off in announcing it on my blog, as I wanted to make sure everything was ok with bubs.

I had to have numerous ultrasounds done to check that bub was ok, and that I wasn't having an ectopic pregnancy or there wasn't something else going on.....and yes there is only one!!! At 8 weeks I had an ultrasound which found a small haemorrhage, which was a little scary. I was told by the radiologist to rest and take it easy as the embryo doesn't like an unstable environment and that I shouldn't do anything strenuous otherwise I could jeopardise the baby. Thankfully the bleeding stopped at 11 weeks and the haemorrhage has absorbed into the placenta.

For a few weeks there I was housebound which drove me crazy. After what the radiologist told me, I was scared of over-doing it with "Popette" so decided to take it easy until I was closer to the 12 week mark. I didn't want to risk the bleeding getting worse, or losing the baby so limited the amount of lifting and bending over that I did, which is hard with a 2 year old wanting your attention and to be picked up! It also meant that outings with "Popette" were few and far between, she had a couple playdates with a friend at our house which was nice....it was good to have some "Adult" company as well, as I hadn't been able to attend Mums group or take "Popette" to her music class.

Luckily my wonderful hubby was able to take some time off work, and was also allowed to work from home for a couple weeks so he could help look after "Popette", which included taking her to music class, swimming lessons and a little friends birthday party.

I had my 12 week scan done two weeks ago and was told that the result was low risk so am very happy. I'm just hoping the rest of the pregnancy goes smoothly.

I am so relieved to be finally over the 1st trimester, and hoping that I can enjoy the rest of my pregnancy..... even when I get really really big and can't stand it anymore.....which is something I didn't experience with my first child as she was born at 29 weeks gestation.....but that's another story for another time!

Popette's Big Day Out!

Today we went and saw "The Wiggles" 20th Anniversary show live in concert. It was both mine and "Popette's" first ever time seeing them perform in concert....and what a concert it was!! We had a great time singing, clapping and dancing away. I think I was more excited about it then she was. ;-)


Ringo and Sam

I was so excited for her, as she's been loving them a lot lately. Whenever we're in the car it'll be "Wiggles On", so hubby and I have to turn her Wiggles CD on. Then the other day I was in Target, and she piped up from her stroller "Wiggles On"....I guess she didn't like the music that was playing!  She knows all the guys names, Sam is her favourite, and of course Dorothy, Wags, Henry and Captain Feathersword (who she calls Captain Sword).

Anthony, Wags & Henry

Popette watching the show

I didn't think we'd get to see them this time round. When I originally called I got told that both concerts had sold out. Luckily I didn't give up hope and after calling back a couple times, I finally scored two tickets that someone cancelled at the last minute.  The seats were awesome, they were 6 rows from the front, and up so close to them. It was great for Popette as she could make each one out. She got very excited when she saw her favourite, Sam, walk past us to collect roses for Dorothy...unfortunately he couldn't hear her little cries of "Sam" beyond all the other noise.  When Dorothy the Dinosaur, her second favourite, came out on stage she was even more excited, crying "Dorothy"....she loves the Ballerina's and watching them and Dorothy dance around on stage.

Dorothy

They sang a lot of her favourite songs, e.g. Hot Pop Popcorn, Getting Strong, Follow the Leader, Rock-a-bye Bear, Do the Monkey, Shimmy shake, Twinkle Twinkle, Hot Potato and Fruit Salad to name a few. It was gorgeous seeing her sing-a-long to some of the words and watching her try to imitate them dancing and moving her arms to the beat of the music.

Rock-a-bye your bear

All in all it was a great day out for the little miss. I thought she would have tuckered herself out after watching The Wiggles and having lunch out with Mummy, but noooo.... she was way too excited when she got home, and instead of going to sleep, played, sung and chatted excitedly in her cot. I think she was telling her "Upsy Daisy" and "Iggle Piggle" dolls all about the great day out she had with Mummy.

Fruit salad

Quackers!

Bye Wiggles, see you next time!

I'm hoping she sleeps well tonight. :-)