Tuesday, January 15, 2008

I don't know how you do it

Spent the morning looking after 6 kids, all under 5. Then managed to get rid of 2 just after lunch, so had 4 til 6pm. Just got my mental 2yr old off to bed, hoping she is asleep now!

Wow. I've agreed to look after my friend's 2 boys for a couple of months as she is going back to work. Originally, her hubby was finishing his job end of January, and he was going to stay home and be a house husband. Yeah, right! Bless him, he's a lovely guy, but he really has no clue how hard it is to run a household and look after 2 kids. Anyway, he's wussed out and got another job starting beginning of Feb. Meanwhile, my friend got herself a job early, assuming she's be at work for at least 6 months, and could finally give hubby an idea of how much she actually does around the house (he is inclined to think she's lazy if the washing isn't done, or if the dinner isn't ready). This one is a contract til mid March, and she's expecting bub number 3 at the end of this year, so she'll stop when this contract's up. In the mean time, I'm minding the boys.

Today it was OK, the 4 of them get on fine, and they all keep each other amused, but my neighbours kids (who are ALWAYS wanting to come and play, I mean ALWAYS. From the minute I open the door in the morning, til after I put the baby to bed in the evening) came over for the morning. Now I can send them home anytime really, but I let them stay til lunchtime to see how I coped. I coped. But I lost my rag at my poor hubby who was trying to make helpful suggestions - !!

Tomorrow, I will only let them come over for an hour or so, and I'm not giving them lunch!

So now it's 10 to 9 at night, the 2 yr old is still awake cos she keeps getting up to go to the toilet. I have a mountain of dishes to do and a garden to tidy. So much for getting to bed early!

Thursday, January 10, 2008

A few snatched minutes

Just managed to get both babies off to sleep after a coffee group, and Tareka is out fishing with a mate from the UK, so I have a couple of minutes to catch up.

Things are slowly getting back to normal after all the excitement of Christmas and Mapera is back into her normal routine without too much trouble. She is also almost toilet trained! We've been out with no nappy on a couple of times and she is learning to tell me when she needs to go, or taking herself to the loo if she knows where it is. I reckon we'll have it cracked before the end of the month!

Monday we did a big day trip to Miranda Hot Springs and I forgot to top up my sunscreen, so I am a bit burned. I've been slathering on the cold cream, and I don't seem to be peeling yet, so I think I've rescued it. I'm not taking any chances again though, so it's shirts with collars and long sleeves til I've completely healed.

Tuesday my boxing training started up again, but our trainer couldn't make it, so I opened the gym up for him and managed to do a solid 30 minutes of tai-bo style cardio before I collapsed! Ah well, I've been lazy for a month, so I reckon I can do an hour tonight. Weight seems to be slowly decreasing, and I am trying to watch the food intake. It does help being hot, so I'm not feeling hungry, I'm drinking a lot more water and I'm out and about more.

My projects are ticking over, and I've just had another batch of arty photos printed, so I'm going to try framing them ready for the stall. The woolly hats are also still being made, just taking a bit longer about it.
I really should be writing thank you letters for the girls' Christmas presents, but I keep getting distracted when I sit down at the computer! At least it means I've managed a new blog post for those of you interested enough to read it!

Kaitereo continues to develop very quickly, she had learned how to roll from her back to her front already and she's kicking her legs trying to move. She's started going round in circles on her tummy, so I reckon she may crawl sooner than Mapera did. Mapera is a little angel, she is getting very good at patiently explaining what she wants, instead of having a tantrum, but tiredness or hunger seems to override that.


I was intending to get onto starting my website this month, in order to sell stock in between markets, but my friend Liz is going back to work for a few months, and I've agreed to look after her 2 boys full time, so I will have even less time during the day to do anything. I'm also waiting to hear from Black Magic Tackle about doing piece work for them, which I will need to do training for, so it looks like the website will get put back again!

We're also expecting another influx of visitors at the end of the month, so I can't see me getting anything extra done for a long time!