229 + 125 Weeks

Ugh, what a sleep deprived week!  I think Arley got Carmie's bug from last week, as he has been rotten to the core!  Of course I realised days later, so never thought to give him medicine.  He has also been waking up at night and crying out, as he has lost his second last wubby (dummy/pacifier), so is down to one (from seven).  He now has five broken ones, and one good one, so if that goes missing in the night, we're done for.  It is about time he got rid of them all together, but I just can't bring myself to go through it yet.  So, I am exhausted, and sick too, as it seems he passed Carmen's bug on to me :(

But, the good news is that Lolo and Dida came back from Thailand this week.  The kids were so excited to see them again.  And it wasn't just because of the presents they brought back with them.  They also brought down my cousin's dog who we have just adopted.  She is six years old and called Maggie, except Carmen has insisted we change her name to Bella, so Bella it is.  She is a real sweetheart, and only a little bit naughty so far.  She seems to like our bed and couches better than her own bed, and today when I went out, she jumped up and pulled two bags of doggy treats down off the table, chewed through the bags and ate most of them.  She has settled in very well though, and the kids love having a dog around.  Jeff and I are pretty happy about it too.

The kids are still keeping up with their swimming lessons, and they are both doing really well.  Carmie has always been a fish, but Arley has been hopeless, until now.  He has always lashed out at his teachers, and he could never lie back to try to float because of his lying down issues.  But for the past two weeks, he has been brilliant, comparatively speaking!  He loves his swim teacher now, and he loves to try to float, and we even got a very spasmodic few kicks out of him too.  This is really big, because for over a year he has been a very cranky, screaming, hitting lump in the pool.  Anyway, here is a short video of Carmie swimming:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFFdncElib0

We did some baking this weekend, and the kids got to lick the icing off the mixers.

Backyard fun

 Lolo gave Carmie a rainbow dress

 Waiting for the doggy surprise

228 + 124 Weeks

I have Carmie home sick from school right now.  She did a half day on Wednesday and came home with a tummy ache, and has been sick with various illnesses for the past two days too :(  There is some virus going around, and apparently she has it.  We have both been up since 4am, and she has an ear ache, but she seems in good spirits at least.  I sent Arley off to school yesterday and today, as he was being so mean to Carmie, it was making her feel worse!  He is back in screaming mode, but only if Jeff or Carmie come close to his toys.  Then we get a lot of, "NO!  That's MY train track!!"  It was a fairly tough week, as the weather has been cold, rainy and windy (until yesterday when the heatwave started).  We did get the kids out to the Mollymook park over the weekend when the sun came out for an hour, and it appears everyone else did the same, because the kids had lots of their friends there to play with.  It was a brief outing though.  Little Arley went through a minor phase of only wanting to eat his food in tea-party form, so I have since hidden Carmie's Dora tea set, because it was quite arduous cutting up his sandwiches into tiny little sandwiches.  And pasta was a bit messy (not that he ate any of the pasta anyway), and I thought one little boy should only eat so many grapes and raisins. Carmie opted not to go to gymnastics this week (it would have been her fourth class), and decided to start ballet instead.  We thought this was fantastic, as she wears a ballet outfit every chance she gets, and at least once a day makes me watch her do ballet (hmmmm, very reminiscent of my childhood, Georgia....).  She went to her first ballet class, and afterwards she told me that ballet was boring, there was nothing to do because all they had was a stage, and could she go back to gymnastics please?  So funny.

I got yet another painting commission yesterday, which is awesome, although I am a little disheartened, as I had Carmie in my studio this week, and I like her abstract art better than my own!  Lessons learned from a 4 year old!

Here are some videos from this week:

Arley and Mum

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0Dk8yG_M98

Arley being grumpy Arley.  This is fairly standard behaviour when it comes to Arley and his dad.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VodNRrlVTpA

Carmie reading

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2wILhUQVaw

Heading to the park

Another tea party meal

Carmie's first and only ballet class

Carmie's better-than-mine abstract

Arley channelling Uncle Sting

227 + 123 Weeks

We didn't get many photos this week, as it was a rainy weekend, and I spent Sunday at the gallery.  The kids seem to like their home time now that they spend 4 days a week at school.  The kids have been great.  Arley is actually getting sweeter - fewer tantrums, more talking, less hitting.  He still won't eat dinner, unless it is hot chips, but today for breakfast he had three bowls of muesli, a pancake with maple syrup, two cups of oat milk and a cup of apple juice.  Growth spurt maybe?  He is not even close to being toilet trained, but in an effort to get him started, we bought him a Thomas the Tank potty seat, which he sits on before bath time but has never actually used.  Carmie is reading a lot, she knows all her 'sight words', and is doing really well with the simple first reader books.  She likes to sit and do 'work sheets' in the morning, where she practices her writing.  She still loves her arts and crafts and this week is very into 'decorating' a cardboard box.  Fun times.

I had a fantastic week as far as painting sales go.  I had a big daddy sale off my website, and then I sold three paintings in three days from my show at Tallwood restaurant, and then just yesterday I sold a small painting to the owner of Tallwood, and today I spoke to the big daddy buyer who has commissioned me to do a 4' x 6' painting for his new restaurant in Melbourne.  Can't beat that!

Potty training, kind of  :)  He's wearing his new favourite shirt, Carmie's bunny shirt.

 Carmie likes painting abstracts like her mum

226 + 122 Weeks

We had a happy week with a fairly stress-free weekend.  It was Halloween this past Saturday, and Carmie asked to go Trick or Treating (her first time).  Sadly it was raining, but when we saw other kids and parents out, we were game.  It's not quite the same here as it is in the States, as not many people do it, so you actually have to drive your kids around looking for houses that are decorated for Halloween.  This isn't so much fun when you have to get two kids in and out of car seats in the rain!  But we soldiered on, and the kids had a blast.  

This weekend we also went to the park around the corner, and Carmie went to a birthday party.  On Sunday we went down to Mollymook Beach and park, and we had ice cream, as Carmie completed her sticker chart for not calling out at night for 14 days (she has been able to do this for years, but she goes through stages when she regresses, and she was in one).  She chose as her prise to take everyone for ice cream, and then she proceeded to steal my ice cream and eat it too.  She is still a sweetie, and is getting very grown up.  She has started reading, and is reading the basic first reader books on her own.  We are very excited about it, and can't wait until she can pick up a book and read it to herself for entertainment.  Arley is still a little pain in the butt, but as long as he has his trains and tracks to play with, he is fairly content.  He still isn't fond of his dad very much, but he is getting better, and he even has moments when he laments Jeff going off to work, and Arley has been much more affectionate with him lately.  Arley still gets very cross and thows things, but it is mostly because we can't understand what he is saying.  He talks in complete sentences, but they are not very clear, so it can be challenging.  He's getting there.  As for Jeff and I, we finally got to start organising the garage this week, which is our final unpacking chore.  It is not quite finished, but almost there, and I can't wait for it to be done so that our move is finally complete!  I'm never moving again!

 All dressed for Halloween, except that I didn't tell him he was dressed up, as he never would have allowed it.  He just thought cowboy chaps and vest were regular attire.  He refused to wear the hat though :(

 Trick or treat!

 This is what you get when you ask the kids to pose together for a photo.

 Arley's 'poses' are the best!

 Arley refused to eat ice cream and demanded hot chips instead.

 "Sure, I'll hang out with Dad."

 "Mum, where the hell are you going??"