Wordless Wednesday ~ Grandparents 50th Anniversary~

Loo is out of Nappies!!

So here I was stressing that my little Loo, who has only recently decided to start potty training again would struggle with the trip to the Gold Coast. I battled with the idea of keeping her nappy free for the trip and having accidents that may cause her to regress, or putting her in a nappy which could have the same result. I chose to attempt nappy free and am so glad I did! Not only did she make the trip accident free, but she woke every morning we were in QLD with a dry nappy!

Since we have been home I kept her in a night nappy for 5 more nights, each one dry! I am absolutely stoked! I was so worried when she went backwards in her training to begin with and was beginning to wonder when she would be ready to try again. Well she knew when she was ready and has been successful since :)

Proud of you Loo xoxo

We had a blast...

Our trip to the Gold Coast with our Neighbours was fantastic! We had a slow start, Woodi, the kids and I are quite used to the trek to the Gold Coast and usually achieve the trip in 8hrs.... This time however the trip was a bit longer taking 11.5 hours, which I guess is to be expected traveling with a family that also have 3 kids that aren't used to the trek. I'm proud to say that Loo made the (extended) trip nappy and accident free, I was stressing for no reason :)

It was great catching up with our Gold Coast Family and the kids are always so excited to see each other and to get big hugs and kisses off Nanna, Poppy and their Aunties and Uncles. As always we sat up for hours chatting, catching up and having a good laugh.

The next day we went & joined our neighbours and spent the day at Seaworld, despite the disappointment of half the park being closed for maintenance we had a great day! The kids paired up, stuck together and behaved so well. The shows were fun and interesting as always, the weather fantastic and the company even better.

Our next day was a day of relaxation spent around the pool at the neighbours holiday complex, the weather was beautiful and the pool was heated! Friends, drinks, swimming, BBQ, fun and sunshine, you couldn't ask for a better day!!

For our 3rd day we once again joined our neighbours and went to Movie World. It was another a fabulous day with so much more for the kids to do and they had an absolute ball!! I was so proud of all six girls, they paired up again and were beautifully behaved. It was so much fun watching their faces on the rides and during the many shows and performances.

We spent the rest of the week catching up with our Qld family and getting to know it's newest member - our little nephew Lachy :)

We're off to the Gold Coast

Images from www.myfun.com.au

We have been planning a trip away with our next door neighbors and were tossing up between traveling to Dubbo and going to Western Plains Zoo or going North and doing the Gold Coast Theme Parks. The Gold Coast won hands down in the end and we have all been excitedly planning for the past two months. For us the Gold Coast is a wonderful choice because we will spend the weekend doing the theme park thing with the neighbors then stay on for the rest of the week to catch up with all our much greatly missed QLD family!! We also get free accommodation which has allowed us to be able to splurge on the 3 park passes for our visit.
 We leave at 4am in the morning..... provided the neighbors and our little family get out of bed and in the car on time, a mission for all of us! Our plan is to put the girls in the car in their Pj's with our fingers crossed they will go back to sleep (don't know who I'm trying to kid) and then we will have our first stop for breakky around 7.30. We were going to buy like we always do on our road trips to QLD but I decided to pack some cereal, buy some disposable bowls and spoons and a small carton of milk that will fit in our little car fridge/esky. I have bought some grapes, muesli bars, chips, lollies, poppers, cans of drink and some rolls for when we stop for lunch. Hopefully I have the food for travel covered and have saved us a considerable amount of money!
 I am almost packed (one of my least favorite jobs), the kids bags are in the car and I have their Pj's and change of clothes ready. I am just waiting for a load of washing to dry to finish off packing my clothes, as usual Woodi has left his packing for when he gets home from work tonight because it only ever takes him 5 minutes with very little thought or effort - the complete opposite to me!!
 This will be the first time in years we are driving to the Gold Coast during the day, we usually leave late afternoon so that the girls will sleep most of the way. I am hoping that the assortment of DVD's, the girls travel activity packs and the food will make the trip a relatively smooth one. I'm a bit undecided as to what to do with Loo and her potty training. She has been doing fantastic with no accidents for about a month now, and I'm wondering how much of a challenge the trip will be for her. I don't want to put a nappy on her and the potty training go backward. But I also don't want her to be devastated over any accidents, especially if the urge comes at a time we are unable to pull over.... I guess all we can do is give it a go and we'll know for the way home whether a nappy will be needed or not. one of those Huggies disposable change mats would be real handy right now!
 For Woodi and I, I have made several MP3 Cd's for the car, one is music we both enjoy, one with Josh's music and one with mine - you know the one you put on when he is sleeping so he doesn't have to put up with it and vice versa. My sister in-laws always like my travel CD's and usually copy or keep them, so it's always a fun challenge to make them with music that I think is new for them or that they will like, we'll see how I did when we get up there. Well I'm planning on taking lots of photos and having lots of fun so I can post it all here.... So excited, wish I could click my fingers and be on our way with everything successfully packed and a nice clean house to come back to!

Images from www.myfun.com.au

For crying out loud! SIT DOWN!

It was Father's Day on Sunday, a day that used to be one of my least favorite... having to spend the day away from the one man who has always been a father to me to celebrate the one man who has never known how.

But since marrying this amazing husband of mine and him providing me with the 3 most precious gifts in my life (other than himself), Fathers Day has a new and wonderful place in my life.... To celebrate the man who gave me my 3 gorgeous girls and is the BEST father possible to them all. He is such an amazing Dad and my girls are extremely blessed to have such a happy, funny, loving, caring, hands on dad.

So the girls wake up and I spring out of bed (not something I do on a weekend lol) eager to give this wonder dad a sleep in and breakfast in bed. Despite my best efforts to keep his 3 excited cherubs out of our room and waking him up.... they manage to do just that. I'm up to my elbows in dishes from our dinner guests the night before and out comes hubby and grabs a tea towel!!! "Uh-uh" I tell him, "it's Fathers Day!! Go and lay down". He argues with me that he feels bad and he should have done them the night before yadda, yadda and I tell him it doesn't bother me at all - It's Fathers Day!

Moo starts telling him he isn't allowed to do ANYTHING because it's Fathers Day and that means he has to sit down and let Mummy do it - You go Moo! And then Boo pipes up with well it's Fathers Day and that means Daddy gets to do WHATEVER he wants to and proceeds to tell him he can do the dishes if he wants to - he of course gives Boo a high 5! What is wrong with this man?? It's Fathers Day, he gets to lay in bed and get breakky and gifts brought in to him - "Go and sit down!!!"

I get through the dishes and start making him a big breakky with hash browns and all, Loo decides she needs to go potty. I practically have to bowl Woodi over to stop him from taking her!! "Sit down, I can do it! It's Fathers Day!!" I get back in the kitchen and he is standing there tea towel in hand like a dear in the headlights!! "For crying out loud, will you go and SIT DOWN!!!". I manage to side track him by telling the girls (who are absolutely hanging) they can give daddy his gifts :o) It was perfect, just as he had finished unwrapping I had his big Breakky ready!

This husband of mine is an amazing partner in life and a wonderful father, but he just doesn't know how to sit down and be pampered, never thought I would complain about him being so damn helpful! We had a few more struggles over him letting me do things for him, but as the day went on and we were out for a family BBQ where the beers were flowing it became easier :o)

It was a beautiful day, well spent with great company and yummy food! I hope all the other wonderful Dad's out there had a Fathers Day they deserve.

Spring is in the Hair

I have been wanting to get my hair done for ages!!! I can't remember the last time I went to the hairdressers..... I think it was when I went to visit family in QLD last, which was this time last year! I always plan to go and budget for it and then something comes up and out the window it goes!!

Well I finally got there!! I took my print outs of style and colour I had been looking at and discussed them with the hairdresser I was assigned and I am stoked!! It was so nice to go to a salon I have never been to before and be happy with the hairdresser, my hair and the whole experience!!

The whole team was lovely, they couldn't believe how much hair I have - it's really thick but doesn't really look it! After my (1st) cut and the swept my hair into a pile it looked like enough to make a wig..... or two! Having my hair so short and light is such an amazingly freeing experience. It is so weird running my fingers through it, it feels like there's nothing really there! When it came time to colour we were a little nervous about the results because I had been dying at home using packets from the supermarket.... but hadn't done so for the last 3 months or more so I had a huge regrowth section, which makes it hard for the colour to come out even all over.
I went from being a blackish red all over to getting a full head of foils all over and my regrowth coloured to match the rest of my hair. Once it was washed, dried then straightened it was cut again  & the length went from below my shoulder blades to above my shoulders - A huge change!! And all the ladies working there were so kind and excited about the whole experience for me and loved the outcome as much as I did!!

It was so nice to spend the morning being pampered, reading magazines, having m hair played with - which I LOVE, getting m hair washed, treated and a head massage all while laying on a comfy massage lounge that also   gives out heat..... I am definitely going to try my best to keep my appointment in six weeks time mmmmm!

So I am light and fresh just like spring :o)

Here is a photo, not the greatest shot! I will have to post another when I am all dolled up and have spent an hour styling it lol

Dear Blogger

Father Blogger, it has been 13 days since my last confession blog post (geez it feels like months, especiall coming back to this new blogger interface!!). I have been avoiding you and all things related, I have withdrawn from this world and it has left me feeling a little empty and a little on the outer, but mostly has been really good for me. I have wanted to confess post everyday and have felt guilty when I couldn't bring myself to.... there has been something stopping me. Like a block, a wall... something I just haven't been able to get past. But today I have had some clarity and have pushed past the road block and it's a little un-nerving and exciting all at once.

Confessing Blogging for me started out as a way of coping with my feelings, by writing about them they weren't left floating around like a viscous whirlpool in my at times extremely fragile and overflowing mind. When I started this blog it was to have a blog that was separate from a depression journal and used to celebrate my family and our life together, to document all the good, bad, funny, sad, crazy and mundane things we experience together. Then it became more, through blogger and twitter I started connecting with other Mums and bloggers and following their life stories and got swept into instagram, pinterest, google+, all very addictive. I slowly started down the track of gaining followers and flogging my blog and loving it, but of course with this came a lot of of thinking about what my readers think and may or may not be interested in reading.

When I chose to end a friendship with someone in "real" life for very "real" reasons, things turned very sour. This friend was also involved in all of the above and it turned from something we enjoyed sharing to something that started being used as a weapon. A means of attacking me, spreading lies and turning a private, personal and painful experience into a public slamming. I did my best not to retaliate or turn my blog into a playground for counter attacks, I didn't even bother to defend myself against the cruel lies, or snide comments on other blogs aimed at me. I tried not to let myself be bothered by the comments and support this person was receiving for my false crimes.... but it did bother me because these people were my online friends too, people I had grown to like, respect and admire. And although I didn't know these people personally or in "real" life, it still hurt, because through blogging and the sharing of our lives it feels as though we do know them.

My blog soon came to feel not "real", the things I wrote weren't in any way fake..... but I felt I wasn't able to write about all the things I was feeling and experiencing and wanted to write about. The appeal of blogging and sharing photo's and statuses about my life just disappeared. The thought of someone reading about the things our family are doing, planning to do, and going through and using that against me just became too much. So I stopped. I am hoping that it has been long enough for the interest to have faded away, for this sticky chapter to be over and for me to be able to blog as I feel and experience.

For now I will be focusing on blogging about my family and our life without worrying about what any audience may think, just doing this for myself. Hopefully I will get back into the things I love (reading other blogs, commenting, participating in my fave link-ups, using my blog's facebook page and interacting again) in the not too distant future.

Love Moodi Mumma xoxo