Blondie - 100 words?! wow! Alexande would probably have about 7 'clock' being his new one. At the moment, I find it hard to imagine him talking!

seepi- probably good that you are at home plus, it is friday and the rest of the team is probably winding down anyway!

Sarina - similar thing happened to me in Italy. I was carrying groceries home and 'regular' tampon overflowed, sending blood flooding down my leg into my shoes.... I thought it was funny... ish! only because I was in sight of my house!

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

so. tired. just had a 30min sleep but should go wake the kids up seeings its 4.43
i actually feel spew manty i'm so tired.
slap me across the head will someone?! i have no reason (other than pg) to be so bloody tired.

have scrapbooking tonight but think i'll leave at 10.30

Ali I think pregnancy is enough excuse, last night I fell asleep on the couch at 8pm! Went to bed at 8:30 and slept until 6:45.

Cassi - that is an amazing sleep, he must really need it.

Ellangel - I've changed Claudia's routine a bit lately too, lunch at 11:30, bed at 12 and then usually 2 hours of sleep.

Melanie - The words have really come rapidly of late. I haven't counted exactly but she says about 6 colours, 4 shapes, 10 animals + 4 or 5 sounds, at least 10 different foods, names for about 10 people (and 3 Night Garden characters ), then there's clothes, body parts, and miscellaneous things like hot, wet, sit, up, down, walk, bike, trike, walk, car, plane, sand, bath. Only a month ago I thought she was a fair way behind a few of her MG friends but she seems to have a new word or name every day at the moment.

Wow Sharon that was really clever of Holli. Maybe a new teacher will help the swimming problem.

I think today must just be the day for tiredness I am shattered, which has seriously reduced my tolerance for naughty behaviour such as throwing Kaidyn got a big yelling and is confined to his room at the moment, that was after he had trashed the toy room and refused to clean it. So today we have donated lots of toys to the St Vinnies bin and the garbage bin. I have a rule you get 3 warnings and anything left on the floor goes into the bin, usually I just want him to start cleaning up and will help but today he refused to help so bye bye toys. Aren't you guys lucky you aren't my kids!

Sleeping - Niamh usually only sleeps around an hour a day! Gets up at 6am and goes to bed around 7pm. I wish she would sleep more. But then Kaidyn is up singing in his room till after 8pm (we finishe the bed routine by 7) and up by 5am. We have put a timer in his room with a light and he is now only allowed to get out of his bed unless he is going to the toilet until the light goes on. We had a positive result this morning as he was quiet until 6.30 when the light turned on.

Blondie - I even undercleaned today! By that I mean I moved the furniture and cleaned under it!

Oh dear Sarina and MelJas - that sounds terrible the last time that happened to me was when I was pregnant with Niamh. Sarina maybe I should stop the pill for a while and see if that helps I was originally put on it when I was 16 as I was silly and was not eating and periods stopped.

OH I hope DH is not home too late tonight there was some sort of drinks and BBQ this evening at his work. I need some respite!

blondie yeah but you're in the first trimester when it feels like you've been hit by a bus. that tiredness is awful. maybe i'm just having a more tired than normal patch at the moment.

key well i think its good you follow thru with your threats!
what if they leave out new or expensive toys do you still donate them? or hide them and get them out another time?

oh Ali! You poor thing. Yes, constant jetlag, it feels like hey? You will get some energy back soon, surely.
Hope you get some rest over the weekend.

Sarina - oh yuck, you poor love. That has not happened to me since in highschool. How very embarassing and what is AF doing showing up on a weekend away? LOL

Key - my thoughts are with you with your AF troubles. That sounds very annoying and also a little worrying.

Ali- We don't really have any expensive toys 90% of ours are hand downs from the neighbours or friends but if there happens to be any "good" toys hanging around I slip those away. Generally though throwing any toys away is enough to teach a lesson! We were going to have a clear out soon anyway as I am sure the party tomorrow will generate more!

just a quick one as I can smell my dinner is ready so no time for personals

Sharon - do you need to have an abn (or be GST registered) to sell melaleuca?

Blondie - same here with words, N will repeat to the best of his ability what we say, usually the last word of a sentence and we have quite a few 2 word phrases now as well. I find it incredible how quickly they pick it up. Not many words yet? Once they start they are super quick at it!

Jots - not sure on ABN but you don't need to be GST registered until you earn over 50 or 75K annually.

Ali - hoping you find some energy soon.

great question Jots!
I am not at the moment, however we DO have an ABN due to the partnership DH and I are in with his work.
I asked around and everyone who joins Mela tends to tick NO to the ABN side of things until they see their business picking up and growing and they work out that that is in fact what they want to do and then they register later, giving all the past spending and earning to their accountant.

I am keeping track of everything in a book and will definitely give all info to our accountant and seek his advice next tax year about it all. Hope that answers your question and hope you dont work for the ATD~~ LOL

pizza, wine, gelato and DVD are here !!! I have been waiting for this all day

does anyone else have PIZZA CAPERS in their state!?? I hope so, they are the best in the world!

Sharon, I just looked up their website, one in NSW, Tweed Heads.. Enjoy!

LOL Cassi. Means they are making their way down the coast.

Words Ivy has a few - probably five at most - but she jabbers away all day. Just this last week she seems to have a spurt and is imitating words much more easily.

Ali I don't know how you can stay up til 10.30, did you manage? I would be thinking of bed by 9.30pm... you're not that far from trimester III, perhaps it's time to slow down already?

Blondie re first trimester tiredness: at my first round of bloods it was found that my iron levels were borderline. Found out at 10w and started to take a (cheap) supplement, felt immediately better. Wish I'd know earlier! I'd been taking a PG vitamin but obviously needed more.

Cassi Ivy had a four hour nap yesterday as well - I couldn't believe my luck. It was the combined effect of short daytime nap the day before, followed by an early wake-up yesterday. I'm glad she had the long nap as she needed her energy to terrorise a cafe (see below re curry night).

Tampon/pad malfunctions fortunately I've never had these, hope I never do! Yuck!

Ellangel what dvd did you watch? And were the pizza/gelato up to scratch? Sounds like a great night in.

Curry night was nice last night, was in a local touristy cafe but they'd really dressed it up for the evening. Was a buffet with about five curries and rice, pappadums, a few salads, raita, chutneys and a simple desert. Raita is curry's best friend in my book! Snuck in a glass of wine and between the three of us (me, DH, mum) we kept Ivy entertained. She was exhausted by the time we left (8.30pm) after having walked around, through, across the cafe about 100 times.

What a night here One of those unexplained shockers where Claudia was up screaming and/or kicking and squirming for over 2 hours. She has swimming this morning so I had to wake her up at 7:45 (and DH!) would've loved to let her sleep. Prior to all the drama, we watched Gone Baby Gone on DVD, what a depressing movie!

Ellangel - pizza for us here too! Never heard of Pizza Capers, we love our local Snell Grove Pizza. We had a Snell Sesame Special (pretty much the lot with a sesame crust) and La Gustosa - tomato, egg, bacon and onion, very greasy but delicious!

Key - I think you do the right thing sticking to your guns with Kaidyn, fair enough if he doesn't do the right thing he knows there will be consequences.

Bellygood - I ended up on iron supps while pregnant with Claudia so might have to start taking them this time too. I did have my iron checked after the m/c and it was fine then.

AF malfunctions - I've had them before too. Most recent was actually in Perth, we'd gone out for a walk, ended up grocery shopping and out much longer than expected so poor tampon was overflowing, I could feel the leakage and was walking awkwardly the whole way home trying to prevent stained shorts. Not good at all. You'd think by my age I would be smart enough to wear a liner just in case.

hi guys

bellygood yeah i left my friends at 1030, so i was in bed by 11, and then up at 7.30 well actually got out of bed at 8. but awake at 7.30 when DD woke and I heard her on monitor. so i'm getting enough sleep.
AND i'm taking iron supps 3x a wk but today i still feel zonked.
another thing i've noticed is the fluid retention already in my legs and my face feels really puffy. I had preeclampsia with Amelia and then high BP with Oliver so i'm hoping its not that again. I dont think so but will ask OB about it next visit. BP has been fine so far. with Amelia i looked like Bert Newton. my face (as well has legs, feet hands etc) was HUMUNGOUS!

blondie hmmm i wonder what was up with miss claudia last night? hope tonight is better.

key well thats good that most is hand me downs. and yeah i bet you get heaps more from the party. Hope the party goes well!

sarina/tampon malfunctions I had this at school when i was in yr 7 or 8. not long after i first got period. went on my school uniform. it was terrible. made me one paranoid person since then.

Long weekend here this weekend. yipeeeeeeeeee

morning did not sleep well and Velvet was up twice
AF: what is with all the problems? My cycle finished on wednesday nothing thurs or fri but woke up this morning blood, what is with that???
BLONDIE I agree normally use a panty liner but I was in bathers so didn't as we were swimming prior.
I remember my mum going through menopause and had horrible gushing periods out of no where, she had to always take changes of underwear and pants with her Things we women go through......

WORDS: Velvet has come leaps and bounds this last 2 weeks. She points to omething you tell her the word and she repeats it back to you.
Her favourite atm is 'bag, aif ballet (meaning Faith ) Aif school, aif chair, I think she is a little sister obsessed and plane, points to the sky every time she hears one
But not into animals really says, duck, dog, cow, prefers objects and body parts
My CHN told me they are either active learning like climbing, walking etc or interlectual learing to speak, draw, look at books, but never do both together, they master one then switch to the other

IMMUNISATION: Just book both girls in for wed morning. Faith has 2 needles for 4years and Velvet the chicken pox vac, should be fun NOT!

MORE BABIES: I was thinking yesterday that if I really wanted another and was happy with the house/finances compromise I should give myself the goal of finally loosing the last 5 kgs to get back to my married weight.
I figure if I want it bad enough I will 'starve/diet' to get there and then I can TTC
I would like bub born in first half of the year so that would give me 6 months to loose the weight and fall PG that is a challenge!
Don't know if I can do it. I think I will need drastic exercise and lettuce eating to achieve it.
BUT I would then hopefully only be half the weight full term PG as I put on 13kg last time and not as bad to loose back to my current weight that I am happy with (65kg) WDYT???

KEY: great job on the toys we sort of do this too. DH took away faiths tv for 2 days this week as her attitude towards me has been terrible. The back chat and 'I don't want to' screaming at me has had me climbing the walls.

BEAGLE: I hope DH is going ok and you are coping. Please give me a call if you want to vent/chat

TODAY: off to a 2nd birthday at the zoo this morning oops in an hour best go get ready. DH had to work so going alone with girls - hate that
THen tonight have our first school function FUndraiser for A/C for the new art building, picnic on school oval with 'Mucky Ducky Bush Band' you have to buy your food there to raise the money. Should be good to meet everyone but that will be a lot of names to remember

I mostly go on my own to parties on weekends Sarina, even if DH is around, or I just take Ella, depending whose party it is anyway. Dh is a lot less social than I am and we figure he may as well stay home and do something constructive.

Well swimming this morning was for Holli at 10am and then Ella at 11am. I was so surprised. Holli was a different child...NO tears or whingeing...was a happy little baby enjoying every bit of it. Mustve been the teacher. Who knows?
Ella is doing so well - will be moving up a class soon.

Blondie - wonder what was up with Claudia? Holli woke at 2am and I went in there and went to put her dummy in and she said "drink"...gave her some water and she went back to sleep.

Sarina - as long as you are 'healthy' when you start TTC...after having starved yourself! A friend of mine went the whole hog and did Tony Ferguson and lost a stack of weight and could not fall pg after that. IYKWIM?

Back from the zoo, where is everyone????

Thread killer sharon

Sorry...didnt mean it.
Hope the zoo was fun!

Thanks Sharon - I didn't know you could apply later.

we have had a weird day today. Jasmine didn't wake till 7:40am (really late for her) and then when I went in to get her I found she had thrown up at some point during the night (and rolled in it like a dog ) it obviously didn't distress her at all as she must have gone straight back to sleep there was no crying during the night at all. It was really dry to so she was likely lying in it all night (yukk). She isn't sick though as she ate as normal today. Random but it freaked me out a bit as who knows what could have happened. I think I will start to check on her before I go to bed.

Went off to feed the ducks today as well and Jasmine is finally getting the hang of it she threw some of the bread today rather than eacting it all and my favourite part of the day was wehn DH put together my sewing table so I can now get back to it. I wanted to do something tonight but I don't have anything uct out yet so I need to do the boring cutting bit first . Might get the cutting past and on to the sewing tonight but more than likely it will be tomorrow.

gtg and sew - I am so excited (sad isn't it )

hey clazza i see you down there - what did your friend end up calling her little girl?
and how did the christenig go? did they like the gift?

jots and blondie how's the weather you girls are having today?! saw on the news

jots on the spew, that is a bit gross isn't it, but she obviously wasnt upset by it.
even if you had checked before you went ot bed she could have vomited an hour later. so who knows.
I do check on the kids at about 1030 before we go to bed, and a few times in the last couple of wks Oliver has done a poo. and not been bothered by it at all! and thankfully gone back to sleep easily after being changed.

Hi ladies

Had a busy day today doing some shopping this morning and then looking a tiles and retaining wall blocks this afternoon. we have progress clean fill has been organised for a fortnights time. So hopefully the slab will be down by mid April.

Key - When I was looking for a job 8 years ago it was the sort of industry where you are waiting for people to basically retire. So I guess I will assess when I am looking to get back into the work force but hopefully that won't be for awhile.

Blondie - Its hard on the b/f. I think though if you are still enjoying it continue. Claudia may self wean as the pregnancy continues. Me personally I hope to continue until J decides to self wean. If that means tandem feeding then I am ok with that. (for now anyway LOL)

Jotsmum - Oh dear poor Jasmine. YUCKO! Enjoy your sewing definitely not sad beeing exciting about it being setup.

Blondie - Hope Claudia has a better night tonight.

This also happened to me except I was in yr10 or 11.

Jots we all just had a stomach bug that had Ivy vomiting once or twice but us vomiting for a day (DH for two). It's a norovirus
http://access.health.qld.gov.au/hid/Infect...orovirus_fs.asp
And it's spread like wildfire up here. Just letting you know that if it's one of these, don't be surprised if Jasmine only has a mild touch but you and DH end up driving the porcelain bus! It is SO contagious, really amazing how it's torn thru eg childcare, playgroup. Not many have avoided it! Thank goodness it's only a 24hr thing...

Goodness me I have reached a new level of exhaustion my house has been cleaned then trashed and is now clean again! And boy did we go through some food! I have a no lolly rule at parties we are going to be the dorky family! But the "lolly" bags are always filled either with toys and dried fruit or last year books so that I think makes up for it. Party food for kids that is low in sugar and saturated fat is really tough!

Kaidyn had a great day and has a whole new range of toys and art supplies!

Sarina - this new attitude must be part of being four! Kaidyn is back chatting lots and is so aggressive in his tone of voice so we are entering manners bootcamp!

Blondie - I hope you have a better night this evening. I do think my sticking to the guns is working today when he was not following rules I told him that we would give presents to children who have no toys and he pulled himself right into line. I had a very strict irish upbringing so I know no different except we use positive methods rather than the traditional irish method of a clip over the ear!

Jots - Yuck I hope she does not get sick. High level clinical positions here are the same as your field. You need to start at the bottom and then wait for retirement or death to get anywhere! The health reform proposed by Rudd will make changes with that though as positions will be performance reviewed, could be positive change.

On the subject of health reform it is causing a stir in the healthcare world but it is positive in nature many of the different unions and bodies are coming together to support the change, my email inbox is getting a battering!

Sharon - That is a great turn of events at swimming hope that keeps up.

Ali - On the subject of weather I think here in perth we are going the opposite of troppo in 3 months we have 0.2mm of rain I would love to see some!

Well I think I shall sleep!

Morning. Much better night here. I'd agreed with DH it was his turn in the middle of the night if Claudia woke again, so of course she didn't . We had another quiet one at home hiding from the rain, watched Disturbia on TV which surprisingly wasn't bad. Yesterday arvo we went looking at kitchens, now have a good idea of what we want to do but we're debating whether it's worth forking out extra for stone benchtops. Anyone have opinions? There are two considerations for the whole thing - what we want to live with for the next 5-10 years, and what will help resale value, because we know we don't want to be here forever. While we were out the storm hit, it was CRAZY! Out of nowhere a pitch black sky, massive hail storms, and on the way home flooded roads everywhere. A bit of a roof leak in our sunroom but not too bad.

Ali - I hope you're not in for another Bert Newton episode, doesn't sound pleasant!

Sarina - too cute Velvet's obsession with 'Aif' . Claudia yesterday got into the word grandma, I think she says it for both Grandma and Grandpa, as I was preparing dinner it was "Gamma Gamma Gamma Gamma Gamma Gamma PETE" over and over (Pete is BIL). Losing weight before TTC is a nice idea but I think provided you are not too overweight to start with (which you most definitely aren't!) there's no reason why you need to wait. I've heard of a lot of women who are above their ideal weight, if they eat healthily throughout pregnancy won't gain much anyway.

Jots - hope Jasmine is OK and it was just a one-off, maybe just something she ate didn't agree with her? Great that you are back into the sewing, what are you working on?

Triny- I had the same attitude towards BFing as you until I had the m/c, I thought I was up for BFing right throughout pregnancy and even try tandem. Now I don't think I am cut out for it and I am so stressed about having a healthy pregnancy that has become a higher priority than continued BFing.

Key - glad to hear the party went well . Lolly bags are often so gross I don't blame you for banning them. I am certainly not against sugar and fat but I think when I get to the party bag stage I will try to make my own home-made treats rather than buy lollies.

Still raining here today, but I'm hoping to get out for a swim and then have to do more study. Still have to watch the week's movie (Hitchcock's Shadow of a Doubt) and do an online quiz. Tomorrow we have mothers group in the morning and I will be busy all afternoon watching the Oscars so must get as much done today as possible.