Just what I needed..

The night before last I went to bed in a huff. Job did something that annoyed me so I took myself and the baby off to our room and closed the door behind me without even saying goodnight to the kids. I can't remember exactly what it was that set me off....All I know is that I had a gross overeaction and chucked a hissy fit for nothing :)
Unfortunately (for Job) I was still off the next morning. I couldn't put my finger on why I was being a grump and I couldn't seem to help myself. It was nearly time for me to take Sisi to pre kinder. I really didn't feel like going. I didn't want to spend an hour with other people when all I wanted to do was throw pillows really hard at something (or maybe someone..;) and have a good sook!
Job doesn't like it when I'm quiet and withdrawn. He suggested we skip pre kinder and go out somewhere fun instead. The gloomy feeling I was experiencing started to lift immediately and when he offered to take us to the gorge for a nice walk and some lunch, it just about vanished! Then my heart sank a little as I realised that we couldn't go. I wouldn't have enough time to get back to school for lunch and do Lani's insulin. After a discussion and some nudging from Job, I went to school and asked Lani's teacher if she would mind supervising Lani as she gave herself her dose. She was happy to oblige and so our day was now free :)
Job knows I love to get out of the house and one of our favourite places to spend time is at the Launceston Gorge. I still believe it is one of the most beautiful places in the world - not that I have seen any of the world outside of Australia and parts of NZ, but anyway....
We arrived and Teancum was hungry (he's always hungry) Job took Sisi to the park while I fed bub in the car and consequently began my day at the gorge with baby spew all down my front.

It was such a beautiful day, perfect weather. The perfect setting for me to unload all my problems onto my husbands shoulders. I thought it only fair since some of the problems were him :)

                                       We left Sisi to babysit while we walked and talked

                                          We had a nice lunch - and even went back for seconds.

 

We watched a male peacock as he showed off to a couple of female peacocks

 

We had lots of fun, walking, playing and hanging out together.

     I wished I had a pair of rollerblades when I saw the empty pool. How much fun would that be??!

                                       It was the perfect day. So nice to have a small break.

I came home happy as larry and have been ever since. One of my dear friends from Melbourne - Bronwen, called that night (last night) just to top of a lovely day. It was so nice to chat to her.

                   I am grateful for my hubby who knows you can't be grumpy at the gorge :)

A month on....and some fame!

I think this last month has been the longest one of my life. The days and nights seem to last for ages, like one continuous cylce that is always the same. Feed and settle the baby, tend to Lani, feed the baby some more, tend to Lani, resettle the baby, binge on double coated chocolate tim tams ;) tend to the other kids...look at all the mess and convince myself that it doesn't bother me, feed the baby again...and again.

I wouldn't change my life, I love my chunky baby and I would do anything for Lani. It's just that life is a little different at the moment than I thought it would be. The hardest part of this last month has been the times when Lani has been angry at me. I try not to take it personally and I know most of the emotion she is experiencing is beyond her control, but it is still disheartening when she throws mega tantrums. They are nearly always directed at me. I am hoping that when we have her diet and blood glucose levels more stablised that her moods wont swing so intensly.

 I just want her to be a happy little girl. 

 

A couple of weeks ago, Lani had a check up with Sam, her diabetes educator. Sam checked her fingers (where she does her pricks)

And had a look at her tummy to make sure we have been giving the injections correctly. Lani laughed when she drew a 'no-go' zone over her belly button.

 

While Sam spoke with Job and I, Lani kept herself busy. She doesn't mind having diabetes, but she is hoping not to have needles forever and she is tired of finger pricking already!



 

We were fortunate that the day of our appointment the Prime Minister was in town. She was here to officially open the wellness building which includes the diabetes centre (I think!) Sam arranged for Lani to meet her. We sat upstairs for a few minutes in the foyer before it started getting busy.

   ..And then she arrived. She shook Lanis hand and then asked Lani about her baby brother (who decided he wanted to have a feed right then in front of all the cameras)

The Premier and Health Minister were there too.

Job and I have no idea who the man in the middle is?!

 

After our brief but exciting encounter, we headed back downstairs to finish chatting.

 

Sam - always a professional :)



 We even bumped into a weird podiatrist!

 

Once we'd finshed at the hospital, I was eager to get to the Clarks to pick up Sisi. I told Nettie that we wouldn't be too long, but we were held up a little by Julia Gillard (sheesh!) When I arrived, I found Nettie and Sisi outside in the hammock. Sisi was feeling tired by that stage so they lay outside together in the sun. Sisi absolutely adores Nettie and wont go to Primary on Sundays without her.

Nettie told me they had lots of fun together, baking cookies and playing. I dont think Sisi wanted to come home. I can see why:)

 

It was funny when the boys arrived home from school that afternoon. They didn't believe Lani when she told them who she had met that day. After we showed them the photos, they kept saying "I wish I had diabetes so I could meet the Prime Minister." At school the next day, some of Lani friends told her they'd seen her on the news.

 

During the appointment that morning, Sam gave Lani some skins to put on her injection pens.

She loves the new look (and showed her friends the next day at school)

 

Today we received a suprise package from my dear friend Kristy who posted a present for Teancum. Inside the package was a small gift for Lani. She was so excited to open it and loves her new clips, tatoos and pretend nails. I wanted to include a picture of the little note that was attached but the camera we're borrowing (ours suffered a tumble out of the car) needs a charger. I just got these two photos of Lani before the battery ran out. The cute note reads: 'For Lani....because she's so brave and strong! Lots of Love, the Pitmans.'  - Thanks Kristy xx

I love this photo taken a few days ago,  I can see that she has put the weight back on over this last month. I love her cute little chunky face :)

 

So...

 

Now that we have featured in the paper (a story about blogs) met the Prime Minister and been on National Television, we are feeling pretty famous :) We may even be able to spare you a signature.....if you ask nicely ;)

 

Before and After

We've all seen the classic before and after shots. I decided to do one of my own, as I finally had my hair cut today.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

My hair is so limp and 'blah.' I'm going to get some sort of product next time I'm at the shops so I can mess and dirty it up more - and next time I'll have more cut off!

The things I know

I am fourteen weeks old today.

Mum hasn't taken photos of me for the past three weeks because she has been busy with Lani. I thought there should be a blog all about me though since I have been doing a lot of growing in the past 3 months and although I am only little, there is a lot that I know....

       ...for example, I know my name is 'big beautiful boy' because that's what mum always calls me.

I know that the cot in mum and dads bedroom is purely for decoration. There are much better places to sleep....

                     I know that the pictures on the wall next to my change table are my friends...

 

I know that fists are made for sucking, even when they taste a bit funny!

 

I know that no matter where I am, Benny will find me...

I know that if mum leaves me on the floor too long that the boys will make me an honourary member of taekwondo and teach me how to punch.....

.....and make me play Mario Kart

....and plonk me in front of the laptop to watch movies....

 

I know that despite what mum thinks about tummy time being good for me, I'm not a big fan

I know that no matter how long mum spends burping me that I will wait until I'm on someones shoulder to have a good spew down their back. I get extra points too when it lands on the carpet.

I know daddy loves me because he likes to nibbe on my cheeks

I know that I am the boss of my meal times and I can feed whenever I like - even when its freezing cold, in the middle of a dog park. Mum doesn't mind nudging the nosey dogs away with her feet. Or yesterday when we met the Prime minister at the hospital and I decided I wanted to feed on National television. I bet mum didn't mind at all!

I know that being 'naughty' is a very good thing. When I wake up at night, and call out for lots of feeds during the day mum calls me a naughty baby. She smiles and kisses me when she says it - so it must be a good thing...

I know there will always be someone at home who will give me a cuddle...

I know I can mess up a perfectly good photo whenever I feel like it.

I know that its much better to be awake then asleep. All the good stuff happens when I'm up.

                         I know that Sisi sometimes seems a little bit rough. But I don't mind....

 

....and most importantly, I know just the face to pull when mum is completely exhausted. I'm pretty sure I have her wrapped around my cute little finger!

Basketball buddies

Our favourite thing about living on our street is watching our kids play with the other neighbourhood kids. Two of JJ's good buddies are a stones throw away. Actually JJ has really great friends.....Benny, Lani and Sisi think they are their friends too :) One night during family home evening, Sisi was naming each family member and saying "I love mummy.........and daddy.............and JJ........etc etc. She named everyone except for Teancum (who at the time was a couple of days off being born) We tried prompting her, telling her there was one more person. She thought for a second and said "...and I love Louis!"
Louis lives a couple of doors down and is in JJ's class at school. The boys started playing basketball outside Louis's house. They would play for ages, sometimes going into the evening and I would have to call them in after dark to get ready for bed. My boys enjoyed it so much that JJ asked for a basketball ring and stand for his birthday. Now the kids have two places to play ball. Often some of the other boys from school visit and join in.
I love listening to my kids play outside. The neighbourhood kids have now moved from our tree in the front yard, to the basketball ring in the driveway. The only downside for me is when Benny is out there at 6.30am shooting hoops. Its not so bad that he's out there possibly waking up the neighbours, its that everytime he misses the backboard, it hits our bedroom wall (right above where my head is) with a loud 'thud!'
So anyway, Job came up with the idea of the boys forming a team and maybe playing in a junior competition for fun. We dropped in to our local ymca, and were told the boys could play in the under 10's on Fridays after school. They also have training afternoons on Mondays. JJ and Benny started training on Mondays and a couple of weeks later the team was formed. They played their first game last Friday. Here's a snippet of all the boys:

They wanted to wear hot pink t shirts for their uniform but unfortunately Job couldn't find any. All the parents agreed they looked pretty spunky in the grey :)
Jared and Benny are two years younger than the other four boys. Benny was cute to watch. I saw him executing what Job and him have been practicing in the driveway. Eachtime he received the ball, he stopped, pivited and looked for somewhere to throw it. Sometimes he looked for too long and the ref had to call jump ball :)

 JJ spent the first half getting a feel for the game. He played really well, doing his best to get to the ball. I was mostly impressed with how well he played defence.

                                                     All the boys played really well.

               They played fair. The ball was shared evenly among all of them - as was the bench :)

                                       I found myself yelling out "great pass!" many times

     Sometimes my boys hold back a little when they try something new, but JJ didn't hold back at all 

                                        ....and Benny thorougly enjoyed himself :)

    Louis played a great game, bringing the ball down the court many times. I like his 'Jordan' tongue
    impressions ;)

  The coach watched in anticipation from the sidelines, sub-ing the boys on and off. The boys always
  knew where to find him, they just looked for the flurescent shoes ;)

                                                                Halftime game stategies!

                                                   Good to see Benny is listening!

                                                                The cheersquad

             I think it was in the second half where the boys scored the most points. It was in this half
             that JJ really picked up his game. I enjoyed watching him as his confidence grew.

So our boys ended up wining their first game. Benny was stoked and kept saying "I can't believe we won, I thought we were going to loose!" He was shocked for a good hour or so after the game had ended.  I think I can speak not only for my sons, but for all the boys when I say that they enjoyed the sensation of playing together as a team for the first time over the satisfaction of winning. Watching them playing together so well got me all fired up and wanting to jump on the court with them. I was so proud of all of them. I definitely agree with Cindy, we should get a mums team together sometime. Maybe in a year or so when I'm fit enough! ;)
After the game, the ref got the teams together to give eachother - and the ref, three cheers each.

 .
                                                        Then it was high fives all round

                                                            A very cute little spectator

 
                                       Some even cuter spectators...................and the kids :)

Good on you JJ for playing with a bung eye, and sorry I thought you were faking it. I got distracted by daddys shoes but I can see now that you did get a knock to your face. I'm such a supportive mum!