Just Nicky

Friday May 16, 2008

Got up and dressed.
Said goodbye to Mark.
Got Leila out of bed and changed her nappy.
Made breakfast for the kids with Finn’s help.
Fed Leila.
Dressed Leila and changed a pooey nappy.
Helped Finn get dressed.
Prepared Finn’s kinder snacks.
Took Finn to kinder.
Came home and put Leila in her room to play (the door is open).
Made breakfast and sat at the computer to read and blog.
Gave Leila some morning tea.
Put a load of washing in.
Made an attempt at cleaning up the toys on the loungeroom floor. Didn’t really work with the baby ‘helping’.
Picked Finn up from kinder.
Gave Leila a bottle and put her to bed.
Hung the clean washing out and put some more in.
Helped Finn play with Cosmo.
Made lunch for Finn and I.
Helped Finn eat the contents of the lolly bag that came home from kinder.
Hung out the next load of washing and put some more in.
Found a shepherd’s pie recipe I could mangle for dinner.
Sat at the computer looking for more useful recipes.
Got Leila out of bed and gave her lunch.
Did some more washing.
Cleaned up the toys in the loungeroom with Finn’s help and put some different ones out.
Prepared the shepherd’s pie and put it in the fridge.
Brought in some dry washing and put it away.
Preheat the oven and put the pie in.
Gave the kids’ some yoghurt to keep them going until dinner was ready.
Served up dinner and fed Leila.
Brought in the rest of the washing off the line before it rained.
Fed dogs and cats and put the chook to bed.
Put Leila into pjs and sleeping bag.
Gave her a bottle, had a cuddle in front of the telly and put her to bed.
Finished putting Leila’s cardi together.
Talked to Rhonda and The Mavis on the phone while choosing buttons for the cardi.
Watched the second half of the second Austen Powers movie while sewing the buttons on.
Went to bed.

Thursday May 15, 2008

Leila woke sometime in the early hours. I didn’t get up. Mark did.
Got up when Finn came in to ask me to hunt for and remove a spider from his room.
Got dressed.
Had a look for the spider. Didn’t find it.
Got Leila out of bed, changed her nappy and dressed her.
Made the kids’ breakfast.
Fed Leila.
Got Finn dressed and made snacks for kinder.
Put Finn’s hearing aids on.
Made Leila’s bottles for childcare.
Took Finn to kinder.
Had a chat to his teacher about an issue with a couple of other boys and told her that Finn may scream if he sees a bug after yesterday’s ant attack.
Had a chat to the kinder fundraising officer and another committee member.
Took Leila to childcare.
Came home and made some toast and tea for breakfast.
Sat in front of the computer to eat while reading and blogging.
Sorted out some kinder stuff.
Made a phone call to the council re: kinder.
Called the doctor and made an appointment for Leila.
Went back to kinder to do some stuff and pick up Finn.
Took Finn to the aquarium shop to buy plants for our tanks.
Came home and put the plants in the tanks. Somehow managed to break the filter on the big tank.
Had lunch.
Read some blogs while Finn played on the other computer.
Took Finn to swimming.
Came home and put the nappies I washed this morning on the clothes horse (should have remembered to hang them out earlier).
Cleaned up dog poo. There’s never any shortage with two dogs.
Put Finn’s swimming gear in the washing machine.
Went to the supermarket to pick up a few bits and pieces. Bought far more than I intended to.
Picked Leila up from childcare on the way home.
Got home and brought the children and groceries in.
Unpacked the groceries.
Went outside to put the chook to bed.
Came inside to find that Finn had had another poo accident. Quite cross about that.
Got him cleaned up. Told him to go and play in his room until his dad got home - I needed a break from him.
Sorted and put away some of the kids’ clean washing that was left out from yesterday.
Mark got home and (unfortunately) asked the wrong question at the wrong moment and got snapped at.
Made carbonara for dinner.
Fed Leila.
Apologised to Mark.
Changed Leila’s nappy and put her pyjamas and sleeping bag on.
Gave Leila her bottle and had a little cuddle before putting her to bed.
Apologised to Mark again.
Sat down at the computer.
Went to bed.

Wednesday May 14, 2008

Finn came in sometime between 4 and 5am with his pillow and blankey bear.
Cuddled with him in our bed for a while.
Tried to go back to sleep with him there.
Took him back to his own bed.
Took me back to bed.
Got up when Finn came to see me shortly after Mark went to work.
Got dressed.
Got Leila out of bed, changed her nappy and dressed her.
Made breakfast for both kids.
Fed Leila.
Helped Finn get dressed.
Made my breakfast and sat at the computer to read and blog while eating.
Changed a pooey nappy for Leila.
Went back to the computer.
Put a load of washing in.
Went back to the computer.
Gave Leila a bottle.
Did some puzzles with Finn.
Changed another pooey nappy for Leila.
Had morning tea with the kids (rice cakes with peanut butter).
Put Leila to bed.
Took the clean washing out of the washing machine and put another load in.
Went outside with Finn to hang the washing.
Brought in dry washing off the line.
Cleaned up dog poo.
Raked up leaves and put them in the compost bin.
Raked up food scraps etc. in the chook’s yard and added them to the compost.
Stirred it all up.
Took second load of washing out of the machine and hung it out.
Came inside to phaff at the computer for a while.
Got Leila out of bed and changed her nappy.
Phaffed on the computer again for a little while.
Made lunch for the kids.
Peeled and cored some old apples and put them in the microwave to cook.
Had my lunch.
Cleaned up a poo accident for Finn.
Got screamed at by Finn because I wouldn’t let him play on the computer again today.
Talked to the kinder committee fundraising officer about advertising something in the local paper.
Rescued Finn from some vicious ants. Got screamed at again while I tried to locate the ant that was biting him.
Talked to the kinder committee fundraising officer about the correct spelling of the word ‘fort’ for the kinder newsletter.
Took the kids to Werribee zoo.
Wandered around the zoo.
Came home.
Brought in some of the dry washing.
Cleaned up another poo accident for Finn.
Prepared Leila’s dinner (a jar of baby food).
Told Mark about the afternoon while he fed Leila.
Mixed up some cooked apples and yoghurt for Leila.
Told Mark some more about the afternoon while he gave Leila her dessert.
Sat at the computer while Mark and Finn went out to get pizza for dinner.
Cleaned up Finn’s cup of water that Leila had got off the table and was trying to drink.
Sat at the computer again.
Had dinner.
Warmed up Leila’s bottle and put her into her pyjamas and sleeping bag (with help from Mark).
Gave Leila her bottle and had a bit of cuddle in front of the telly.
Put Leila to bed.
Sat at the computer doing some bits and pieces for kinder.
Watched some telly while attaching the first sleeve of Leila’s cardi.
Went to bed.

Tuesday May 13, 2008

Got up just after midnight because Leila was crying.
Changed her nappy.
Put a new sheet on her bed and put her in a clean sleeping bag because the others were covered in baby snot and tears.
Gave her a bottle and had a little cuddle.
Put Leila back to bed.
Put me back to bed.
Got up around 6am to let dogs out.
Brought dogs in and put them back to bed.
Put me back to bed.
Got up at 7am and got dressed.
Helped Finn let the chook out and feed her.
Made some toast and a cup of tea for breakfast and sat at the computer to eat it while browsing.
Got Leila up and changed her nappy.
Put a load of Leila’s clothes, sleeping bags and sheets in the washing machine.
Gave Leila her breakfast.
Dressed Leila.
Took Leila to childcare.
Hung out the washing.
Made a cup of tea and sat down at the computer to phaff a bit.
Had a long shower (naughty water waster!) and blow dried my hair.
Had lunch with Finn.
Got Finn’s snacks ready for kinder.
Took Finn to kinder.
Came back for the thingy to attach to Finn’s hearing aid for his FM unit.
Took the hearing aid thingy back to kinder and got caught up talking to some committee people.
Went and saw the shrink.
Came home to eat a rice cake, put on a jumper and go to the toilet.
Picked Finn up.
Picked Leila up.
Made dinner for kids (jar of baby food for Leila and instant macaroni and cheese for Finn).
Fed Leila.
Ate dinner cooked by Mark.
Put the chook to bed.
Brought in Leila’s sleeping bags and sheet from the clothesline and put them in the dryer.
Called cats in and fed them.
Fed dogs.
Undressed Leila for her bath.
Dressed Leila after her bath.
Gave Leila her bedtime bottle and had a cuddle.
Put Leila to bed.
Watched some telly while finishing the second sleeve of a cardi for Leila.
Sewed the shoulder seams on the cardi.
Helped Mark with the dishes.
Yelled at the dogs.
Sat at the computer to update this entry.
Yelled at dogs some more.
Played on the computer a bit more.
Went to bed.

Cruel to be kind

Yesterday my chiropractor joked that he was being cruel to be kind to me as he manipulated my right hip. It certainly hurt like hell at the time, but I felt much better afterwards.

This morning I woke up in a heap of pain again. I initially considered asking Mark to stay home to look after me, but after walking around a little things started to loosen up and now I’m feeling much better. Still sore, which is to be expected after the fairly forceful manipulation I had yesterday, but moving freely.

The only thing which is really uncomfortable is sitting still so I’m going to have to stay on the move a bit today.

Monday May 12, 2008

Let the chook out and fed her.
Got the baby up and gave her breakfast.
Hung two loads of washing done last night.
Cleaned up dog poo. Must remember to clean the bottom of one of my runners.
Made my breakfast and sat in front of the computer to eat it and write blog entries.
Changed a pooey nappy for Leila.
Took clean nappies out of the washing machine and put a load of towels in.
Hung the nappies on the line.
Made some more toast to munch while sitting at the computer making a new reward chart for Finn.
At the same time made Leila a paracetamol-laced bottle. She’s feeling a bit off after immunisations on Saturday.
Sat at the computer to update this entry and start on that chart.
Made 3 reward charts - for different purposes.
Changed Leila again and put her to bed. Hoping she’ll sleep for a couple of hours - she needs it.
Laminated 2 of the charts back to back in the one sleeve and put them up in Finns’ room.
Put the third chart up in the kitchen.
Emptied the disposable nappy bin.
Hung the towels out and put one last load of washing in. The sun is coming out so the washing might actually dry today.
Made a cup of tea (3rd for the day) and sat at the computer to update this entry and do some idle browsing.
Browsed for longer than I intended (as usual).
Had a quick shower and changed clothes. Don’t like to go out in public with baby snot on me.
Got Leila out of bed. She slept for just over 2 hours.
Changed Leila’s nappy and dressed her.
Made sandwiches for the kids and I for lunch.
Took Finn to kinder.
Came home and hung the last load of washing.
Went to the chiropractor.
Walked for half an hour after seeing the chiro. Usually I only walk for 10 minutes or so.
Came home, changed Leila’s nappy, gave her a bottle, made myself a cup of tea and sat at the computer.
Picked up Finn.
Came home and changed another pooey nappy.
Brought in some of the washing.
The nappies were still damp so I put them on the clothes horse under a heating vent.
Put some of Finn’s clothes in the dryer.
Put away Finn’s and Leila’s clean clothes and the dry towels.
Took food scraps and old potatoes down to the chook. Saw a mouse disappear under the chook house and resisted the urge to try to dig the little buggers out.
Ate dinner cooked by Mark. Tried to feed Leila and failed.
Prepared agenda for the kinder committee meeting.
Fed cats.
Fed dogs.
Put the chook to bed.
Went to the kinder committee meeting.
Came home.
Had a cup of tea and played on the computer.
Watched some telly.

Welcome to my week

Mark and I were talking about being industrious last night. I don’t feel like I get much done generally, but he says that I get heaps done. While I would like to be able to take his word for it, I just can’t. I don’t know whether this is because I have an erroneous belief that I’m lazy or whether I really am lazy.

To help me work out which it is I’ve decided to post a list of what I do each day for the next 7 days. This should enable me to see what I do with my time and, hopefully, I’ll have a better idea of whether I really am industrious or not.

I could do this on a piece of paper or in a journal that only I will see, or I could put it on our kitchen whiteboard where only the family will see. By putting it on the blog I’m hoping to keep myself honest. Putting it in a public place where I know at least a few people will see it should reduce any temptation to either embellish or edit. Believe me, I’m not looking for congratulations or validation. This is actually a pretty embarrassing exercise for me, but I think (hope) it will be a useful thing to do.

So here we go…

Hand me Down my Walkin’ Shoes April 30, 2008

I recently had a bit of a brainwave about getting out and about and doing some exercise. I tend to need a reason to exercise so I’ve found one. Fun Runs! or Walks really. I’ve signed us up as a family/team for three: The Mothers Day Classic, the MS Walk and Fun Run and Run Melbourne.

The latter two have fundraising pages here and here. I’m not asking for sponsorship, though, since that’s not why we’re doing them and the registration fees were expensive
enough.

One day I’d like to take this one on. I need to tell Mark about these three first …

Putting the puzzle pieces together September 26, 2006

When I saw Matt the chiropractor yesterday he explained that the spot right at the top of my neck where it goes out of alignment is not only responsible for the headaches and migraines I get, but also affects a bundle of nerves to do with balance, spacial sense, etc. and would be having a lot to do with the dizziness and nausea I’ve been feeling. We agreed that I should come in and see him as soon as I feel bad, rather than waiting a couple of days as I tend to do to see if it will resolve itself, because it won’t. I’m also moving my regular appointments from monthly to 3 weekly - not a huge difference but it will help.

There was also a letter waiting for me from the Royal Women’s when we got home today explaining that the blood test they did last week showed that my iron level is low. The same thing happened around this time last year and was resolved by taking some iron tablets. I’d been putting my tiredness down to the pregnancy but, once I take that out of the equation, it’s obvious that my iron levels have dropped. The letter recommended taking iron tablets for the next 3 months or until I stop breast feeding. I think I’ll opt for the latter. They only cost $3 or $4 a month and you can’t overdose on iron (what you don’t use is passed), so I prefer to go for safe, rather than sorry on this one.

While it’s a bit disappointing to see that I need iron supplements again (and a little worrying since one of my sisters has been dealing with chronic iron deficiency for the last 12 months), it’s really good to know that there is a solution for my tiredness. I had started to wonder whether I was going to feel this way for the next 6 months and it wasn’t a pleasant prospect.

With these pieces of the puzzle in place I’m feeling much more positive about keeping myself going and being in a good state by the time the baby is born.

What the doctor said February 28, 2006

My trip to the doctor yesterday did yield the information that I have fluid in my left ear. Although she said it didn’t look infected, she gave me antibiotics to thin it & make it drain. I wouldn’t normally take them unless I was feeling really crap but I’m uncomfortable enough to feel the need this time.