We’re there!

(WARNING: THIS POST CONTAINS WORDS DESCRIBING THINGS RELATING TO PARENTING.:) haha, well, you’ve been warned!)

One thing I always said to myself when it came to toilet training was that I am just not a fan of forcing something upon my children. With Melodie, it went really quickly once she really wanted to, but up until she was ready, nothing much happened. I remember having her in childcare at that point, and pretty much all of the other kids were toilet trained. They told me she should be out of nappies ‘by now’, which made me feel as if I had failed at some point. After having spoken to my mum, who has worked for many years in childcare centres in Norway, with my Grandmother doing the same thing for so many years before retiring, I was reassured that that was utter nonsense, and there is no such thing as ‘too late toilet training.’ She was only two and a bit at that stage. The next time they raised the issue, I confidently told them: “No, we are not putting any pressure on her, she is a child. She will be fine.” And fine she was. Only a few weeks after having turned three, she also turned her back on the nappy and the dummy.

Now it is Sophias turn. She, like Melodie, has been put on the potty or the toilet occasionally over the last year, and she has every now and then gotten lucky. But she has had no interest in actually doing it. She has simply been happy in the nappy. Fair enough. But last weekend she had taken it off for a swim in the pool, and she came racing in to go to the toilet. And since then, she has only worn a handful of them. This week, we went to the show to buy her first undies, and she proudly showed them to everyone in the shops.

Today Simon and I got to see that we are actually there with her now. Of course, she is completely dry, but today she told us that she did NOT need nappies anymore. We tried to put one on her for a long drive in the car, and she simply refused! That’s when we knew she was there. There’s no way back!

A thing pretty much only parents see the value of…:) Still, very proud!

Xxx,

Line

JUNE

Well, what can I say? I’ve been rather absent lately, and I don’t know if anyone cares, but I am sorry. Our internet has not been up to scratch, and my proper want to write has been redirected elsewhere. But I’m here today!

What’s been happening?

Well, it has been an interesting month, to say the least. It started out with Simon flying over to Canberra for a week for a seminar at the same time as Melodie had her swimming week with school. I came to watch her swim every day to assist with her diabetes management, and she had a blast. She is usually quite scared, but had no problems at all in the water that week. Maybe her friends being there with her made the difference? Unfortunately, Simons week away ended on a sad note when a family member passed away, but luckily he managed to say goodbye.

Hanging out-photos

At the end of the first week of June, I had decided to go to an auditon for a musical. I went in for a group audition only first, but changed my mind and asked for a solo audition as well. I wouldn’t normally audition for a bigger part unless I feel it is ‘totally me’ (with the odd exception of course), but I am very happy I went back, as I didn’t feel the group audition showed much of myself. Two days later I got the call from the director offering me a role in the ensemble plus some minor parts (which means I am involved more than I’ve been in almost ten years, SO much excitement!:D). The musical is called BIG, and is based on the Tom Hanks movie by the same name. We are doing 8 shows in October, and I am stoked to be back in the stage-game again!:D Seriously, I am over the moon!

We went to the hospital with Melodie to talk to some of her diabetes carers, as we had some trouble on the last visit, and sometimes doing the in-between appointments really help. The nurse really helped us understand some things and she praised us for the job we are doing and have been doing and reassured us we are the top of the range when it comes to dealing with the disease. We left there feeling really good about our efforts, and it proves resilience and persistence are the most important key-words when dealing with it!

Later that same week, I went to NSW to visit my sister. I got tickets to fly there as my birthday present, and of course I booked in the week when they had a noise-ban and everyone were studying for their exams, but we had a great time anyway. It was awesome to be back in NSW, and it still feels like home. I do wish I could have had even more time so I could have gone down south to visit all of the beautiful people who I love down there, but I just couldn’t get it to work. I did manage to catch up with one friend, which was SO good, but next time I’ll have to find time for more! The highlight of my trip there happened on Sunday, though. Something I have dreamt of since the very first time I performed on stage (well, except for as a kid) and sang a song from Les Miserables, have been to see that very show live. And you may not understand, but for a girl from the tiny town where I am from, that was such a massive dream when I was little. Even though I had never seen it, I knew it was my favourite. Crazy, I know, how could it be? I know the songs, the story and the characters, but never had I seen it. Until now. My make-up was ruined by the end of it, it was so incredible I cried almost the whole show. They were fantastic. I loved it. At the end of the show, I talked my sister into walking up to the stage to see it closely. We were sitting a fair way back, so we had to wait for people to walk out before we could go down there, but once there, it was so magical. I didn’t end up touching anything, although I was close! What a fantastic job the conductor (he is probably called musical director, actually) does in that show, as there are NO breaks! So, after some selfies and photos taken together with posters and stuff, we headed home, happy to be alive.

A uni visit – where My sister was being chased by ducks!

A classy drink before the show<3

As this was my first time EVER being away from the little ones (and I did splendidly, might I add) I couldn’t wait to see them again when I went back. I missed them a lot, but not enough to cry and let it ruin my trip. And I’m not even sure if they even noticed me being gone! Usually, when Simon is gone for a few days, Ricky turns sour on him, as if to say “You left me, now I am mad at you”, but I got none of that, thankfully.

I came home to a busy week, though, Simon spent the week painting our other house, which had new tenants moving in at the end of the week, so him and his nephew were marathon-painting all the rooms of the house bar one.

The little ones have been loving their Kindergym sessions!
On the weekend we decided to take the children to a wildlife park up in the mountains. We’d never been there before, but we are definitely going back there! It was such a great park for the children (and us) with so many amazing animals. There were an abundance of monkeys (one for you, Mamma!), Dingos for Melodie and lots of opportunities to pet both natives and farm animals. The Dingos were a highlight as they came up close enough so we could pet them, but I also loved the Mandarin Duck and the Kangaroo Island Kangaroos. Watching Ricky and Sophia both cuddle and feed the Wallabies was such a great moment. The park is called Gorge Wildlife Park and we are definitely going back!

  

Aah, those funny meerkats! 

After a few busy weeks at the beginning of the month, things slowed down a bit and has returned to ‘normal’ again. But school holidays are upon us now, and I’m sure the girls will have some great experiences. Jasmine is here the first week and we will get a visit from my sister in the second week – Bring the action:D

Simon with his birthday present yesterday – and Sophia’s first hair cut!

Well, this was a post full of “This is what we have done” – but hey, that’s what the crowd (aka my family) wants!

Xxx,

Line

That girl was made for walking…

…and that’s just what she did!

Wow! It’s been a long time coming, she is now 16 months and one day old – and she took her first tiny little steps today! I managed to get the camera working for her step number 6 and 7 so I might show you one day, if it is of any interest.

When Melodie was 15 months, I wrote this song to her;

And I was just thinking today I should rewrite it for Ricky, as she has waited even longer than Melodie to take those first steps, and then she did it! So maybe I’ll do just that, record it again and make one for her, but for now I won’t.

She has spent so much time the last month and a half just standing up. She has quite a good balance, and she can stand up on the middle of the floor for minutes at a time, and then she sits down as she is bored. But today – TODAY was the day for her steps. Proud moments right there. She is no longer a baby!

Of course, we had to go buy her her first pair of shoes. God knows how many pairs of shoes in her size we actually have lying around, but her very first pair had to be a new one. We got her a fancy pair of bright orange ones, and she wore them in the shop before we paid for them. Because I had to take them off while paying for them, she threw a proper tantrum and was not happy until she had her new shoes back. Such a funny little one.

When we came home, a little late, she put on a walking show for daddy. Equipped with her new, bright shoes on her tiny feet she walked and walked out the front of the house, with everyone cheering her on. You could see she was proud as, and at the end she fell down, laughing and laughing her head off.  

 The other kids have had a tradition of getting a rocking horse when they learned to walk. Melodie got an actual horse, and Sophia got an airplane. We looked for one for Ricky, but only found one sort which seemed that it was not good quality, so we decided against it. I’m about to google and find out where else we can get one around here.

SO excited and happy now, we’ve waited for this for a long time! Well done, RickyTick!

XXX,

Line