mr wrigglebot » family

Temptation

amy — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 02:34:19 +0000

I have discovered how totally controversial finding out the gender of your unborn child is.
I always thought it was something you did or didn’t do without a whole heap of thought. But, now that the envelope has sat on our kitchen bench we have been in turmoil over all the reasons why we should or should not open it to reveal our baby’s sex.
Of course, it doesn’t matter to us. A brother or sister for Milla or another daughter or a son for us -either way, we would be ecstatic. Our only wish with particular emphasis more so now after what we’ve been through, is for happy, healthy children.

My husband and I had a conversation that went around and around and there seemed to be equal reasons for finding out and not finding out. I decided after an hour of circular conversation that it was time for action. I told hubby to come to bed with either ‘yes’ (to open) or ‘no’ (to burn) written on a piece of paper.
We jumped into bed and with sheepish smiles we counted up to 3 and opened simultaneously. Mine said ‘no’, his said ‘yes’ and we hadn’t even decided on a solution to a stalemate. We laughed and decided that since it was 11pm we wouldn’t be able to sleep from excitement if we did open it anyway.

When he returned home from work the next day the circular discussion continued. Again, it was time for action because the longer we left it, the more tempting that envelope became.
We finally came to the conclusion that we loved the surprise element when Milla came into the world and would like to experience that again. We made a cuppa while Milla happily played and when we returned with our drinks, there was Milla holding the torn envelope in her pudgy hand and the piece of paper in the other. It was as clear as day what was written there. She obviously couldn’t wait until his or her birthday and had ultimately made the decision for us.
And we are so thrilled.

Summertime fun.

chelle — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 06:01:26 +0000

It is beginning to feel a lot like summer here which is beautiful. The kids are wanting to be outside all the time which has the added benefit of leaving my house with fewer toys scattered around. They still insist that I be outside with them most of the time but who really minds in beautiful weather like this.

I thought I would share a couple of things we have done that entertained the kids for hours. We painted rocks, here is a picture.

The best thing we did though was letting them loose with spray bottles, they only cost about a dollar from the supermarket, and they loved them. First they sprayed the garden, then themselves and then each other. At this point I felt I had to step in as Squirm was getting soaked and Wrigglebot was still dry so I got my own bottle and we had a girls versus boy battle, needless to say I won which should surprise nobody.

If anyone has any other ideas for summertime fun around home, please let me know.

Snow survival

amy — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 06:18:48 +0000

Well, all that stress of our snow trip was, as usual, a waste of time. We were warm, we stayed dry, Milla was well and had no issues with her ears up the mountain – and although it did snow – we weren’t snowed in! Actually in truth we had a quality family holiday.
We had hot chocolate by the open fires, a play in the snow, and long walks around the snow covered town.
The whole time, Milla had her eyes wide trying to take in every ounce of this miraculous new environment.
Each time we stepped out of our cabin, Milla would smile and laugh at her surroundings, every now and then looking up at me as if to say,”Wow mum, can you believe this place?”
I’ve learnt my lesson…as hard as it is getting out of your comfort zone, especially with baby and all the paraphenalia in tow, and as exhausting as it is getting a little out of routine, it is most definitely worth it for all your child gets from a new life experience – no matter what age they are.

No encouragement needed to make a snow angel

Snow Trip.

amy — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 02:22:34 +0000

We are off to the snow tomorrow morning. It will be our longest car trip and the very first holiday to the winter wonderland with baby.
I am incredibly nervous about the whole thing which is strange because the prospect of a holiday brought about nothing but excitement pre-baby. I just see it as a whole lot of work and a whole lot of stress now and I know I really must change my attitude. I am worrying about the smallest of things but worrying nonetheless. Will there be change facilities at the venue? What about a microwave to heat Milla’s food? What if it snows and we get trapped inside? Milla might get sick and her ears may hurt with the altitude change!
This is all coming from someone who once looked at everything in life as a fantastic adventure and thought that the best times were those when things went horribly wrong and you could laugh about them later on – like when my sister’s windscreen wipers stopped working when driving through a terrible storm on the way to a wedding – and having to tie string to each one and pull them alternatively just so we could continue driving and we wouldn’t be late. Or, when we went cross country skiing, took a wrong turn, and ended up skiing in the dark until the patrol came to pick us up (thanking our lucky stars we took enough scroggin to keep the energy levels up!). The list goes on and on.
If anything like that happened now, with baby, I’d be devastated and would probably cry when reflecting on our holiday away, not laugh.
So, after packing for three days, checking and re-checking that I have everything and trying to change my outlook on the venture, we are all ready to go…wish me luck!

Puppy Love

amy — Fri, 15 May 2009 06:42:27 +0000

My husband and I travelled far and wide to find the perfect dog and it just so happened that the day we put our deposit down for our beautiful pure bred German Shepherd, we discovered we were pregnant with Milla.
Weeks later when we went to pick him up and take him home, I asked the breeders if they were child friendly dogs. They assured us that they were and explained that their dogs taught their children how to walk, and were incredibly protective and gentle.

So, eighteen months later here we are with an 8 month old and a 40kg ball of fur. I am happy to report that Milla and Sonny are like two peas in a pod and although I would never leave them alone, I am able to lay Milla next to Sonny and he gently pulls her in for a closer snuggle. It is an amazing thing to watch. Sonny is also incredibly tolerant as Milla pulls at his fur and sticks her fingers up his wet nose.
He is a gentle giant but he is also so protective that it is now becoming quite an issue.

Yesterday we took Sonny to the vet for his routine check up and Milla was in her element – so many animals to see and grab. Sonny on the other hand turned into a disturbed psychopath and growled and barked at any animal that tried to come near. His protective instinct came into play – so strongly that the vet advised us to return to dog obedience for socialisation. We were horrified.

We decided that Sonny was just looking after our baby the only way he knew how, and although it was a little scary and a lot humiliating seeing such a big dog react like that, it was kind of reassuring too.
It’s almost like our little Milla has three parents: Mummy (the Dragon), Daddy (the Knight) and Sonny (the gigantic, hairy brute).

Mummy the Dragon, Daddy the Knight.

amy — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 02:24:42 +0000

Since my husband has been on holidays, things have really gotten out of control in the household. Milla’s routine is completely out of sync with human kind, the house is a pigsty as many odd jobs have been started and are incomplete, and my exercise regime has been replaced with leisurely walks to the cafe for coffee and cake.
The most difficult thing of all has been Milla’s ruined schedule. I had finally found myself with a routine once again – and a lovely routine it was too. I was enjoying 4 hourly feeds, happy and varied play times, decent naps in the day (Milla, not me sadly) followed by a huge 11 hour uninterrupted slumber overnight. I became so used to doing it all on my own as my husband would usually be at work, and while I have been grateful to have someone around to share the load, it has also been quite a challenge.

I have found myself to be a human yo-yo of late. When I put Milla down for her naps, she will cry (as she always has to have the last word!) and in comes daddy to rescue her. I put her down again, she cries, and in comes daddy to rescue her. I had words with the knight in shining armour and they were not very nice words either. I didn’t want to be ‘that’ kind of mother/wife… you know, the ones that are never happy with how the father/husband does things – but I had no choice. Thankfully, things were patched up in that department fairly swiftly.

I had to be ‘that’ kind of mother/wife again when Milla returned from her nappy change with poo up her back. I suggested that an outfit change may be necessary and off they went. When they returned (and I must add now that I still don’t know how it was actually possible), Milla had a fresh jumpsuit on but it was upside down and inside out. The neckline gaped where the press studs weren’t done up, her hands were covered where the feet should have been, and her feet were hanging uncomfortably out of the arm holes! I was certain that he had this one meticulously planned out to see what my reaction would be. So, this time I bit my tongue.
I think that surely a little normality will return to the household once again…at least I am hopeful!

Life is a Musical.

amy — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 10:14:41 +0000

I realised today how often I sing to Milla and I came to the conclusion that I may well sing more words in a day than speak them. I then spent the rest of the day quietly observing how often my husband sang to Milla, and he too appeared to sing more than speak. Unhealthy.
Our singing is not just your every day lullabies either, but fictitious songs like: “Eat Your Yummy Carrots, Yum, Yum, Yum,” to the horrific tune of She’ll be Coming ‘Round the Mountain” and worse still: “Wow, What a Big Poo” to the tune of “Where is Thumbkin?” and instead of ‘here I am’ it’s ‘ew, ew, ew.’ Despicable, I know!
I must say though, she doesn’t complain. Quite the opposite really – as soon as we start our melody, her whole face lights up and she actually starts to do a little bouncing, rocking jig.
Still, we will have to tone it down (pardon the pun) and not act too surprised when her first words come out as a sing-song.

A Trip to the Museum.

chelle — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 05:19:21 +0000

We had thought that the kids would enjoy a trip to the museum, particularly as there is a new dinosaur exhibition and you all know about my children’s fascination with dinosaurs. So off we went. It wasn’t until we were walking around trying to weave our way through the crowds that I realised what an odd place a museum is. There are dinosaur bones and bugs speared with pins, squashed butterflies and horses in glass cases. Needless to say Wrigglebot was completely overwhelmed and scared and who can blame him really. It really is a house of horror.

The highlight of his day was probably a model boat and the park that we went to afterwards. I’m thinking we will wait a while for our next trip to the museum and perhaps next time we won’t go during school holidays, maybe instead we will go to the zoo which has live animals which aren’t speared with pins.

library loonies.

amy — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 00:32:27 +0000

For a while now, I’ve been taking my little one to the Story Time sessions at the local library. We both love it. Milla is highly amused by the various props Serena pulls out of her red velvet bag, and I get to be the nutty mother who sings and dances to the lullabies we sing.
Admittedly, I am an extrovert. I’m not embarrassed to sing and dance in front of people I don’t know, or people I do, for that matter. So each week when the sessions run, I find it incredibly hard to understand why other mothers sit immobile with mouths shut and wonder why their children are losing interest. One mother, new to the session stared at me in disbelief and then left half way through the session (and with 5 years of singing training, I’m fairly sure it wasn’t my poor performance). I should add here that I am not the only nutty mother…thankfully others put on quite a show too.
Last week I persuaded my husband to take Milla to Story Time during his holiday break. It didn’t take much to convince him to go as he too is an extrovert and takes pleasure in being a fool to humour others – this is not always a good thing.
When he arrived, he sat Milla on the floor with the other babies and looked around the group. Serena and the other mothers all looked at him as though he had two heads. Serena even had the nerve to ask if he was in the right place! He assured them strongly that he was, and that he would do his best to sing in tune. And that he did…he was so entertaining in fact that instead of people leaving, he pulled in quite a crowd. Oh to be a fly on the wall.
When I returned with Milla in tow, the mums (and even the babies) appeared to be quite disappointed to see me.

A new kind of normal.

chelle — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 03:22:05 +0000

To my children our family is the most normal in the world. It is the only family that they really know, we are the only parents they have and so our little home is their world and the way the world should be. That being so I am always conscious of what things my little cherubs are picking up from our world and regarding as normal. For example; it is completely acceptable to walk around in odd socks but it is not acceptable to leave the table before everybody is finished. It is completely acceptable to have a bath every second day but it is not acceptable to sleep with socks on. These are the types of things that they learn, not by us teaching them but just by them being a part of our family.

Husband works from home and so when he ‘goes to work’ he goes into his study and sits in front of a computer. Wrigglebot decided that he wanted to ‘go work’ so he pulled a chair next to Husband, who obligingly turned on a paint program on the spare computer for Wrigglebot. ‘No, me work,’ Wrigglebot exclaimed and so a word processor had to be on and he began to type, this was work. So for Wrigglebot now work is going into Daddy’s office and typing on the computer. Husband cooks dinner every day, Wrigglebot’s Pop cooks dinner when we go over there, so now it is normal for the man to do the cooking.

In many different ways each day we are creating a new normal, a new reference point for our kids to navigate the world with and while that is exciting it is also a scary thought. I have two more years before Wrigglebot has a greater connection to other people through kinder and school, two more years to further establish a new normal. A new normal of creativity and caring, a new normal of fun and learning, a new normal of respect and cleanliness (sounds silly but cleanliness would be nice.) Come to think of it maybe this new normal is more of an old normal, the normal of my grandparents, that wouldn’t be so bad, except for the husband working out of the home and the wife doing the cooking and the house being spotless and more children.Â No, actually our normal is nothing like my grandparents normal, thank goodness!