My life. My loves. My laughs.
It’s been raining a lot in Sydney this last week. This summer sure has been unusual. I’m hoping that the weather clears up a bit early next week because Angus is starting preschool on Monday and I want it to be a sunny, cheerful day for him! I know – preschool? Where has the time gone?
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It is Monday morning. I’m driving Angus to the speech therapist.
Me: “Would you like to have a babycino at the cafe afterwards?”
Angus: “Sometimes I have a babycino with marshmallows but today I’m having a milkshake.”
* * *
Angus and I are on the way to a birthday party.
Angus: “Mummy, I like you…today.”
* * *
It is 2am in the morning. Rick and I wake up to the sound of Angus screaming in his room.
Rick goes in to investigate.
Rick: “Angus, what’s wrong?”
Angus: “Daddy, I can’t get penguin to go to sleep!”
Rick: “Okay. Let’s put him on the pillow. He can sleep there.”
Angus: “Is he awake?”
Rick: “No.”
Angus: “Can you check?”
Rick: “Penguin, are you awake?” Silence. “He’s quiet, so he’s asleep.”
Angus: “Put him on his back, daddy!”
Rick: “Okay, he’s on his back now. Go to sleep Angus.”
Angus: “Goodnight daddy.”
* * *
It is Sunday morning, and I’m trying to park our Discovery at church.
Angus: “Mummy, you have to park between the two white lines.”
* * *
It is Thursday evening, and I’m a bit upset with Rick for messing up one of the kitchen drawers.
Angus watches as I leave the room.
Angus: “Daddy, can you do the right thing to make mummy happy?”*
*Rick would like me to point out that he usually does. Tis true. He usually does.
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You know it cannot end well when your three year old wakes you up with the words, “There’s wet egg in our bedroom.”
Sure enough, upon arriving at the scene of the crime, Rick and I shockingly discovered that Angus had not only transported a carton of eggs from the kitchen but he’d also managed to crack every single one onto some sort of surface. There was egg on the carpet, on the skirting boards, on the wall, on Pete’s sheets, on Pete’s sleeping bag and… on Pete’s face.
I dare not even try to imagine what they were trying to do. (Who needs to eat a nice cooked meal for dinner when you can gorge yourself on raw egg in the morning?)
Start of the day? Not so good.
End of the day?
Sitting on the floor of our bedroom, admiring the bright red nail polish on my toes.
Life is indeed colourful – in every single way.
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It’s an hour after normal bedtime, and Rick is desperately trying to get through the bedtime routine with books, songs and prayers.
Angus, however, has other things on his mind:
“Daddy, daddy, daddy… You are wearing a black suit and a red flower. And mummy is wearing a white dress. And you are married. It was your wedding. And you are talking to someone. Pa and Nan took the picture off the coffee table and we looked at it. And then we put it back. And Ben (Rick’s best mate and best man) is behind you in the picture. And he has a black suit too, and a red flower too. Daddy, daddy, daddy… I’m really tired.”
And to think we were once worried he would never speak.
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You know your spouse is obsessed with Land Rovers if:
You know it’s serious when:
Despite my tendency to poke fun at my dear husband, I must confess that I’ve actually become quite fond of our Land Rover Discovery. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a pain and a half to get in and out of for a short Asian female like myself, but I genuinely enjoy driving it (though possibly not parking it) and we really do have a lot of fun in it.
Like when we drove to the middle of nowhere back in July, disembarked and spent our family time exploring a little known fire trail. It was completely spontaneous, unplanned and almost uneventful, but it was somehow just lots of fun. (Plus, the boot of our Discovery seriously does lend itself to being the best portable nappy changing table ever, which is handy when you have three kids in nappies.)
What car is your better half obsessed with?
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It is night-time. I notice that the boys’ bedroom light is on. Again.
I am not pleased.
I go into their room, give Angus the sternest look I can muster and flick the light switch off.
Me: “Don’t turn the light on again, okay Angus? Do you understand?”
Angus: “I think so mummy.”
* * *
In the car. I’m trying to explain to Angus why he is not to push Pete again.
Me: “It is not loving to push other people. And Pete is your brother. So please don’t push him again, okay? Angus?”
Pause.
Angus: “I’m a good pusher, mummy!”
* * *
Several moments later…
Angus: “My favorite toy is a Land Rover.”
* * *
Outside. Somewhere.
Me: “Oh my goodness!”
Angus: “Oh my goodness!”
Me: “Oh. My. Goodness.”
* * *
Lunchtime. I am trying to convince Pete to stop pouring milk all over himself.
Me: “Listen to me Pete!”
Angus: “Listen to me too, Pete!”
Me: “Pete, listen to mummy!”
Angus: “Pete, listen to Angus!”
* * *
Me: “How did you take off Pete’s sleeping bag?”
Angus: “I undo the button, undo the zip and take it off!”
* * *
Morning. I am still in bed. My blindfolds are still on.
Angus runs in. I feel little hands trying to take my blindfolds off.
Angus: “Mummy, it’s time to wake up because it’s not night time anymore.”
* * *
Me: “Have you done a big poo?”
Angus: “I need to go to daddy.”
Me: “Yes you do. Go now.”
(Linking up with Mon’s joy packets!)
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Today I am very tired.
So tired that all I had energy for this morning was to sit on the couch with Jamie on my lap as I watched Angus and Pete systematically take out all their toys from their hiding places (okay, slight exaggeration, but it sure looked like all the toys were out and partying).
Occasionally I tried to interact with them, and no, I didn’t forget to feed them, but mostly I was Zombie Mummy. Never heard of that term before? Look it up. You’ll see my photo.
Currently they are all asleep and Zombie Mummy here is just hoping that maybe they will all remain in said state until their Super Dad returns home from his conference and dons his super hero cape once more.
Anyway, these photos were snapped back in summer earlier this year. It was after our lunch at the Awaba cafe in Balmoral, and Angus had wanted to play on the beach. So Rick rolled up his pants and led him onto the sand and out towards the water while Pete and I watched on from a bench (little Jamie was still in utero).
I love seeing Rick and Angus together like this. Theirs is a special and unique bond that can never be broken.
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Yesterday morning as I was drying my hair, Angus sat quietly on our bed and watched me.
As I packed away the hair dryer and turned around to look at him, he said, “Your hair is beautiful, mummy.”
We then lay on the bed side by side for some time as he held my hair in his hand.
“I’m playing with your hair, mummy.”
“Yes you are, little man.”
Such are the moments in the day that make me smile – both inside and out.
Is there anything more beautiful than being a mum?
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Welcome to point form Fridays, my friends!
1) I got jabbed pretty badly today by a pathologist. Not once. Not twice. But three times. The third time hurt so much I think I almost said a bad word in my head.
2) Rick made me the most divine hot chocolate (with pink marshmallows) earlier in the week and since then I have been in love. (With both man and drink.)
3) Pete now says “stop” and “shop.” Future possible occupations: traffic controller, retailer or poet.
4) I found out about Pottermore this morning! Awesomeness.
5) This is not why I’m wearing the owl pendant above.
6) At dinner on Tuesday night, Angus said, “Mummy has big bum and baby penguin (his toy) has small bum.”
7) He also said, “Mummy has big tummy and baby penguin has small tummy.”
8) Clearly mummy wins since big is better than small, right?
9) I’ve started updating Cameron’s blog again.
10) It is 10.15pm and I still need to cook dinner.
Happy weekend everybody!
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So after four cups of caffeine between the seven of us (you do the maths), we did eventually go and see the animals.
In no particular order, we covered koalas, giraffes, lions, a stripy tiger (tautology?), an ostrich (very fleetingly), gorilla, elephants, a sleeping bear, monkeys, zebras, tropical birds and kangaroos (also sleeping).
And in case you can’t tell the mammals apart in the photos…
1) Lion
2) Giraffes
3) Koala (can you see the little guy?)
4) Rick and Pete (in backpack)
5) None
6) Tiger
7) Peter
8) None
Angus had the best time running around with Nan (who is fitter than all the rest of us combined). The only animal he didn’t see was the bear, because he refused to go into “the bear cave.” Rick’s mum worked out later that it was because of the scary bear that chases the happy family in ‘We’re going on a bear hunt.’ I love how insightful my mother-in-law is and I love how my little boy can put two and two together.
Personally, I was quite taken with the giraffes. They seemed so – novel. Almost cartoonish. Like they’d been lifted straight out of some children’s book. Yup, if I’d won the door prize and had the option of taking an animal home with me, it would’ve been one of the giraffes.
And yes, the answer to my little quiz is five Mason boys. Good work, you guys.
(Hopefully my very kind father-in-law won’t mind that I’ve just referred to him as a ‘boy’ in the blogosphere…)
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