Ten on Ten - September 2011

Joining Rebekah from A little Sunshine today.
Saturday is our day of jobs: laundry, cleaning, gardening, etc. We found the occasional moment to enjoy family-time.


Dancing on the deck after breakfast.


Walking the dogs




Having a bounce




I spotted a mouse above the pond! HELP!




Collecting eggs



Washed Audrey's hair - what a challenge!




Took Tommy to see the Smurfs (his second viewing)

Audrey napping




Picked veggies for dinner from Tommy's veggie garden


Playing in the tree-house with Audrey

Week 3: Interview

Linking up with Cherish your cherubs' Naomi's project for a third week. This week's task was to interview our little cherubs. First, I asked Thomas some questions about his life and my mothering skills. Then, Thomas and I judged how Audrey would answer the same questions. Here is a brief summary:

Thomas is feeling good about his life at the moment; he is happy with everything he knows, has and does. He especially enjoys spending time with his family, going on trips together and playing games with sister. He loves seeing his friends at school and playing soccer. He reckons I am doing a great job as a mum because I let him do a lot of things, like soccer and swimming and all the sports he feels like doing. I am especially amazing for having Audrey. When asked what I should do better, more or less, he had a long think about it and concluded I should bounce on the trampoline more often.

Audrey is content as long as she gets her regular dose of vegemite sandwiches. Being with her brother, mum and dad is what makes her happy, especially when we all dance, laugh and sing together. I think she is pretty pleased with my mothering-skills, although she would probably love to be home with me more often and she sometimes thinks I spend too much time on the computer (hint: she closes the laptop on me quite often).

Have a great day,
An

Happy Father's Day

Throwing heads back in laughter - Alan and the kids in March. Time to take a more recent photo today.

Remember

Week 2 of the Cherish your Cherubs-project and this week we remember.

The moment I have chosen to remember, is the day Audrey was first taken out of the oxygen at five days old. For years, Tommy had been looking forward to his 'sister'. (Never once did he imagine he might have a brother! )

But when the day finally arrived and Audrey was brought into the world by Cesarean, nothing was like he had expected: his sister was in the Special care nursery, he had to wash his hands and ring a bell before visiting her, he was not to touch her as she was behind glass. He would stand there and look at her for several hours each day.

When Audrey was 5 days old, she was breathing a little on her own, and we were asked if we wanted to take her out for a few minutes. This is when this photo was taken: he got his dream - to hold his little sister.

Looking at the photo, it is a significant moment for me: it was the first time we dared to hope that all was going to be alright. And seeing the pride and happiness on Tommy's face, brings back those positive emotions we were experiencing at the time.

Cherish your cherubs - week 1: Recording

This blog post is part of Naomi's from Seven Cherubs-project. Click here to find out more.

Thomas – 7 years, 5 months and 25 days.

*He is my special man, who knows what I am thinking sometimes before I do. He is genuinely kind and inherently good. He is responsible, intelligent and funny. And wise beyond his years.
*Loves soccer, swimming, the Smurfs and his sister.
*Likes Spongebob, Mario Bros., Superheroes, AC/DC, Masterchef and Merlin. He has taken a recent interest in Harry Potter.
*Suffers from severe Monday-itis.
*Talks a LOT – even in his sleep.
*Loves his hair, but had it cut this week when told he looked like Justin Bieber.
*Sells chickens and guinea-pigs.

*Wants to be a chef, a mathematician, an architect, a rock star, a doctor and a superhero. Judging on his debating skills, I think he might be a lawyer.
*Hates vegemite and meat. Loves chocolate (Belgian) and fruit.
*Has an itch to travel and explore: he cannot wait to go to London, with Perth and Tasmania also on his ‘to-see-list’.


Audrey –22 months, 23 days.

*Audrey is the little princess our family has always wanted and her health seems to have stabilised after two years of asthma-attacks and lung-infections.

*She is determined, intelligent, adorable and stubborn. Loves to cuddle. Hates the camera (which is something I am not accustomed to)
*The most beautiful, funny and entertaining girl for 22 hours of the day. She needs one whole hour to wake up in the morning and one hour to fall asleep at night.

*Loves yaya (her name for Thomas), toast (and we love the way she says it) with vegemite, Mary-cake, books and animals.
*Is crazy about the Wiggles, whom she calls ‘Anthony and Greg’ (our DVDs are pre-Sam).
*Has one dozen babies (dolls, teddies, etc) whom she cares for.
*Sings all the time: Row your boat, rock-a-bye-your-bear or Three little ducks.
*Stays home with me on Mondays and goes to day care two days/week and to Mary’s two days.
*Is crazy about shoes and dresses. Wears bright colours very well.
*Has the most amazing hair, but screams every week when it is time to wash it.
*Says ‘please’ and ‘thank you’...

Spring clean-up

It’s that time of year again – Spring clean-up. And, here ,it means the kids’ wardrobes need sorting out. This is when my pile of empty nappy-boxes comes in handy. One box of too-small-for-Tommy-but-not-worth-keeping-for-Audrey, one box of too-small-for-Tommy-and-may-come-in-handy-for-Audrey, one box of too-small-for-Audrey-straight-to-lifeline, one box of cute-little-Audrey-clothes-I-cannot-bare-to-part-with-yet.

And here’s the rub! WHAT do you keep FOR-EVER!??? Next year, I will look through this box and halve its size, until I have maybe 1 piece left. There is the cute little outfit Aunty Katrien got in St-Tropez

before I even knew I was having a girl, but I was already calling my unborn child Charlotte. (We have such confidence in our gut instinct in my family! And we change our mind about baby names more often than other humans!) Will I ever part with that? At the moment, I think not!

Tommy had this gorgeous jumper (cashmere, I think, and 150 Euros!) that I will treasure forever. And his first Birkenstocks! Will I ever let Audrey wear them? Undecided as of yet. By the time she fits them, something new will have come our way.

And then, there are those nice (but not great) size 10-dresses I keep in the back of MY wardrobe. They went out of fashion 8 years ago. I am sure I never want to be seen in them again, but I will keep them for yet another year, just in case, maybe, this is the year they will fit me again. And that thought is just too exhilarating.

Time for chocolate!

Vorige week zijn we naar de Gold Coast gegaan en hebben we ons allemaal super-geamuseerd in Dreamworld!