Green thumb

I decided to try my hand at a little weeding in our garden (actually jungle) yesterday.  We are moving house  next weekend and want to leave our yard tidier than it currently is.  For those who haven't seen our front yard, its insane.  We are on a slope and we don't have grass, just weeds and shoots and what I think is the odd plant or two.
I was going to do some on Monday but then I realised that we own absolutely no gardening tools whatsoever so I postponed til yesterday instead.
I headed outside armed with some sheers, a weed fork thing, and a weird mini rake thing that I liked the look of and even if it wasn't for raking leaves, it certainly did the trick just fine.  It's wasn't until I was all ready for action that I realised there were several things working against me.

1. I don't have the faintest idea about gardening.
2. I can't tell the difference between weeds and plants.
3. I can't bend my back so it makes bending down on a slope very hard.
4. I have a ten second attention span for activities I have zero interest in.

I decided to start simple and pull a few weeks and loose bark from around a rather sturdy looking little palm tree looking plant. As I was pulling the dead bark off the base, I must have pulled a little hard because I pulled the ENTIRE plant out of the ground.  As I stood with this tree, roots and soil dangling in my hand, I must have looked like a guilty child who knew they had done something wrong.  So I checked around me and threw it down the little cliff next to our house where no one would  find it.

I gave up on that part of the yard and moved on to a different section near our stairs.  Our stairs are rather deadly at the moment as these weird vines have grown out from the garden and if you aren't careful, your feet can get caught in them as you go up/down the steps.  I grabbed a bunch of these vines that were beginning to take over their part of the yard and tugged.  As I tugged, more and more of them lifted up from under the dirt.  They were springing up from everywhere and I was having to move back further and further away to keep pulling on them......until they all snapped suddenly sending me stumbling backwards flat onto my butt.

Feeling a little embarrassed, I started pruning some overgrown branches.  With each snip, I kept feeling what I was sure was baby spiders flying around my head.  I waved my arms over my head each time to get rid of them to find nothing was there.  It took me a good few repetitions of my  'dance move' to realise it was just tiny tiny little leaves flying off the branches.

By this point I looked both sides of me to see if any neighbours were watching as I must have been making quite the fool of myself.  According to my watch, barely any time had passed.   I stood back to assess my handiwork to realise it didn't look any different at all.

So I threw down my tools and went inside for some brussel sprouts and a block of chocolate. Not together of course.

Not lost

I remember being young and whilst at the shop being desperate to get to the toy aisle. The toy aisle is the ONLY aisle that matters when you are young. Except for the lolly aisle, but thankfully those kind shop people are clearly in the business of making the shopping trip easier for kids as there is always a selection of lollies/gum/chocolate right by the registers. This makes it much easier as kids can save their whining for the toy aisle knowing they will eventually HAVE to pass some sort of sugar when they leave.
Once we made it to the toy section, there was a need to play with absolutely every toy you could as you may not get your hands on it again any time soon. I loved the Polly Pockets, My Little Pony, Doctor Dreadful Kits, ANY kind of slime, Trolls, and of course Itty Bitty Bins (how a bin became a popular toy is beyond me!).
I remember being so engrossed and hearing Mum say it was time to leave to finish our shopping but deciding that one minute longer wouldn't hurt - I will just catch up!

Being a child often means you have no concept of how long a minute actually is, and I can quite clearly recall the feeling of running to catch up and finding I had no idea which direction my Mum and siblings went. That sudden feeling of realisation that you were lost was horrible!

Tony has many little fears, and being lost is one of them. If we say we are leaving, he hurries and comes with us straight away. I think I have only lost Tony once in KMart and by lost I mean he was the aisle beside me and didn't know I had moved on. I'm sure those four seconds were some of the worst of his life ;o)

I lose Carter regularly....or perhaps more accurately he loses me regularly! I will suddenly turn around and he is gone. For a rather portly little fellow he is surprisingly fast.

This happened a little while back when my Mum was over visiting. Carter wandered off in Tuggerah shopping centre and I went after him. Mum was with Tony and when Mum realised Carter and I were gone, she asked Tony if he had seen me. Tony knew exactly where I was. He showed Mum where I went and told her;

"I always know where Mum is".

Poor boy probably has to with me always running off after our little runner :o) Whenever we finally have searched the shop and find young Carter, a sense of relief rushes in.

The thing is, when I tell him we were worried, he gives a blank face and asks why. Having to state the obvious and tell we were worried because he was lost and we couldn't find him, he will tell me;

"I'm not lost Mum, I am going for a walk".

Although at the time, this always seems a little insane to me, I can see the logic now. Carter isn't lost - he knows exactly where he is going. But from my perspective, he is lost and doesn't even know it.

I know people like this, and sometimes I am one probably even one of them. I may think I have it all under control and am heading in a good direction, but maybe there are others looking at me thinking;

"She is lost and doesn't even know it".

Mothers Day

Being a Mother is the most bitter-sweet experience I have had in life. Every stage of being a parent has had it's pros and it's cons. Right from the get-go, there is the rush of excitement when you learn you have a little person joining your family, but along with such joyful news comes exhaustion and morning sickness (if you didn't get morning sickness - I hate you).

As the weeks and months pass, there is fun in watching your growing belly and those first movements, and there is the frustration at not fitting into your clothes and those crazy hormones!

Needless to say childbirth is one of the most joyous moments in life, but it takes tremendous work and pain to get there. But once your baby is here and you lock your eyes on theirs, there is no question as to whether or not they were worth such pain. There is no doubt you would endure such pain again to protect your child.

My days with a newborn felt like we were in a bubble. Just my little family and me. Although all sweet and fluffy, that bubble has something missing - sleep.

As the months pass, crawling and walking come and bring new excitement and awe, as well as the continual chasing and following.

With each stage though, I have been the centre of my children's universe. Each accomplishment of theirs they wanted to share with me. When they were hurt or sick, a cuddle from Mummy makes it better. It was impossible to go to sleep without being tucked in by Mummy. I was wanted and needed physically and emotionally all day every day.

Now my babies are 6 and 4. When Tony became more independent, I had Carter as a baby who still relied on me so heavily so the independence was welcomed. Carter is really enjoying doing things by himself. When he goes to the toilet, it is my instinct to help him with his pants, but he quickly shuts the door after himself and tells me;

"Mummy, I need my space".

As of late, this has progressed. When Carter wants to demonstrate his independence, he says to me;

"No Mum, I don't need you."

I have to admit this hit me a little hard. I know part of my job as a parent is to help my children grow into independent people, but I thought I had more time til I heard this phrase.

I'm not too cut though, because I know that even as an adult I still need my Mum - it's just not in the same way. I don't need her to wake me up, wash my hair, cut my food, or drive me around. But I still need her. I need her advice whether it's trivial or important. I need to call her when I am happy or have good news or just to share a silly joke I have heard. Hearing her voice when I'm having a bad day perks me up instantly. She lives further away now, but it's ok, phone contact does the job just fine.

Age has not taken away my need of my Mum, so I hope my boys will still be needing me in 20 years time. I hope they will need me in the way I need my Mum, still as a parent, but also as a friend.

My boys have made being a Mother a joy and I am so proud to have them call me Mum.

I am equally proud to be the daughter of my Mum - Happy Mother's Day Mum from your favorite daughter ;o)

And of course my lovely mother-in-law - Happy Mother's Day from your favorite daughter-in-law (I had the first grandchildren so I HAVE to ALWAYS be the favourite) xxx

You're the one that I want

I have always loved the movie Grease.  My siblings and I played the record (giant black CD looking thing for the younger generation) over and over and over.  Even as a younger girl, I always had a bit of a thing for John Travolta.  Anthony didn't want to be Danny, he preferred Kenickie.

But come on......

No competition right?

Carter agrees with me.  He just recently started telling me he is "Danny".  Sometimes I am "Sandy".  

I busted him standing on our kitchen bench a few weeks back with his pyjama top open like a jacket and he was singing and dancing "Grease Lightning", complete with his jacket spinning on his arm and being thrown across the kitchen.  If only I had caught him on camera!

Today he wanted to watch some songs from Grease on YouTube.  I love watching his face while he watches - he is so absorbed in it.  I put on "You're the One that I Want" and tried to film him without him realising.  I LOVE watching his face when the transformed Sandy comes on screen....just before I am busted with the camera.  

Such a boy!!

Drama drama drama

I have heard this saying many times;

"Life with children is never dull."

Whilst pregnant, people would tell me this, but it was generally coupled with advice to make the most of my sleep now as I apparently wasn't going to be getting much later.  Although I'm sure it is all well-meaning, putting fear and dread into a soon-to-be-mother didn't seem all that kind to me.  That baby was coming, and I was going to be learning the sleep thing soon enough, just let me be blissfully ignorant til then!

It's true though, life is never dull with children, but it isn't always the way I expected.  Nothing is boring with children.   It's wonderful!  Every single day, without fail, my children say or do something that cracks me up and  their quirky little sense of humour makes me adore them all over again.

Children make the simplest, most mundane tasks, such a the school run, an absolute joy.

Yesterday as we drove home after picking up Tony from school, us adults were discussing the unnecessary drama that we sometimes bring into our lives and how irritating it can be.

Tony is a man of MANY questions and jumped in with;

"Hey Mum, what's drama?"

To which I replied;

"Umm..it's really silly, like when people make a big fuss over something and make it so much more difficult than it needs to be. It can be very annoying."

Poor Tony looked horrified and gasped and said;

"Oh no! Next week we have to go into Mr. Booth's class at school and guess what we have to do....DRAMA!"