Box-monster

A hundred years ago when I lived in a share house in Kew, we would sometimes partake of a little wine from a cardboard cask, which Chloe called Boxmonster. As in, "Would you like a Vegemite glass of Boxmonster?"

Now we have a new kind of Boxmonster in our lives.

Tell the governemnt what you think about their internet censorship plans

This shiny flashing thing lets you sign a petition that opposes the government's plans for centralised internet censorship:

Frittata for infants

I an trying to replicate Chrissy's yummy spinach-filled frittata that my girls gobbled last week.

Hazel and the bowl

Hazel likes porridge well enough, but when it's supplied in a metal bowl, her cup of happiness overflows. She had a shower after this effort.

For 10 bonus points: Can you spot Ivy hiding in the background?

Hazel really really likes V8 juice

Ivy wants some too but then is not keen.

A new chapter in my blog... Dagging Round Darebin

As I walk around the streets of Preston, I see a lot of sights that deserve an audience. Here is a topiary garden on Murray Rd,



Along the front fence, there is a series of topiary birds. I think they are swans. This one is a two-headed swan. Nuff said.

We need a financial advisor

We are good with saving and paying off loans, but not with investing. If you have a good financial advisor that you can recommend, let me know. It would help if they were in our quadrant of Melbourne.

Went to the zoo yesterday

It was FULL of other people with prams (how inconsiderate), and because it's school holidays it was FULL of everyone else as well. Then it rained. Then Ivy fell asleep in the car on the way home, then she got a fever.

Apart from that, we liked the baboons (bright red bums are amusing) and the meerkats (little fluffy things napping in a pile are endearing).

Poor Ivy probably caught the fever from our cleaner who came on Friday and was still sick despite her saying that she was not. Sigh. She clearly needed the money cos she had not worked all week due to being sick. Sigh. Ivy is doing fine today, and Panadol helped last night, so we are hoping that was the worst of it.

In other news, the pottying is progressing nicely. Ivy's nappy is often dry after a nap, and she wees in the potty when I pop her on. Do you want to hear about the poo situation? I'm not sure that I should just keep banging on about poos in pots, because I'm starting to realise that not everyone wants these details. Mum, you can ring up for details whenever you like.

Might go to the zoo today

The girls will probably like the butterflies, and maybe the monkeys. Not sure what else will interest them.

It will be a bit of a production. Though, they are up for longer now (3-4 hours at a time) so we have time to get there, osberve some beasts, and then dash home again.

How bad is this stove?

Very bad. I think this is the worst it has been. I had a pea soup disaster. Are you glad that my phone can blog again? I like the immediacy. I can inflict this bad stove on the world RIGHT NOW.



LATE ADDITION: A close-up so you can see just how bad it was:

Foot n mouth

Did I already blog this?

How efficient is that bustle! She sure moves along doesn't she.

Hazel programs the dishwasher

She knows that when the dishwasher is on, the Pause button makes a nice noise.

The child lock does not work 8-|

Back to two naps a day

The One Nap Per Day experiment is over. We were all ragged around the edges, and it became crystal clear that none of us is ready for the girls to have one nap a day.

For the next few days, I will have to go back to watching for their tired signs, to work out what mind of nap pattern they need. Yesterday their morning nap was 9.30 - 11.15. Today Hazel would not sleep until 10.30. I hope they settle down and get regular again.

Last week when the girls had their unsynchronised day, Trudi took Hazel to Safeway, where Hazel ate a Vita Weat in a trolley:

Trudi rang me to talk about how much Hazel was enjoying the trolley, and I heard a nasty gagging sound, so Trudi hung up.

Hazel had indeed gagged on her bikky, and threw up into Trudi's cupped hands. So that was nice.

I can blog from my phone again

Couldn't for a while. Been a right bother to set it up again. I hope you are grateful.

Day of unsynchronised naps

Ivy napped in the car on the way to our swimming lesson. I woke her just before the lesson started, so we dashed in and leaped into the pool.

Hazel napped in the car on the way back. I managed to transfer her to bed where she had a good sleep.

Ivy went to bed about half an hour after Hazel got up.

Trudi and Hazel are off at the shops, and I'm here while Ivy sleeps. Round and round and round... I hope they get to see each other for a bit this afternoon. Mum is probably coming over. I think we will play in the back yard. Trudi just mowed, so the girls won't get tangled in the undergrowth.

This morning we went to a 10am swimming lesson, which is much earlier than our usual lesson, because of our new napping pattern (which we are not keeping to today anyway). The 10am class includes older kids who have been doing these lessons for longer, so our girls did a lot of new things today.

For a while, Trudi will take Ivy when it's time for them to swim underwater. I have got myself into a stressy state about it - Ivy often complains about going underwater, and it seems that she is feeding off my tension and vice versa. Hazel does fine with me, and Ivy does fine with Trudi, so hopefully we will both calm down in time.

I have been reading about gentle discipline. Will have to work out what is applicable for twins.

Just another day

A very nice day, too!

They slept pretty well last night, considering thee both have colds. After a few crappy nights, it was good to get some blocks of uninterrupted sleep. There were some shouts in the night, but no need for me to go in and settle. Of course when I hear the shout I still pop straight out of bed and start lurching around the room (the night before last I barrelled straight into our cupboard door, and then I woke up). Poor Trudi usually wakes up before I do, then has to endure me hurling myself around the place.

Hazel has been waking at 6 lately, which is pretty civilised. Ivy usually sleeps on for a bit, unless Hazel woke her with her happy squeals.

This morning we went to the market, and no-one stopped us to ask inane questions ("Are they really twins, are you sure?"). Afterwards, at home, we had a snack of grilled cheese on toast, plus avocado, banana and pear, then their bottles, then off to bed for their big nap. Today I tried putting Ivy down ten minutes before Hazel, so if either of them wakes after 40 minutes, it won't also be the other one's 40-minute stirring period. We will see. I hope Hazel can sleep for 2 hours. Ivy seems to sleep for 3 hours (another reason for her to go down earlier).

A banal day, with an associated banal blog post.

Last night we had a Red Rooster chicken for dinner, so now I am making stock from the carcass, and we'll have chicken risotto with the leftover meat. The house smells of Red Rooster Redux.

Hey we have a new mattress! It is latex and was expensive, and it's very soft and cosy. The old mattress was getting saggy, but it was also too hard. Hard and saggy is a nasty combo. What we have now is soft and supportive.

I'm doing OK on my lower dose of happy pills. Im taking half a pill per day, and I'm a bit more bitchy than usual. As Carol kindly suggested, this is probably my real self making a reappearance.

I am going to go chop up stuff for tonight's dinner, because I am such a good housewife. Goodbye, enormous fanbase!

Porridge Punk and the Maths Teacher

Doesn't that sound like a great name for a band...

Porridge Punk has spiky hair because she rubbed porridge in it during breakfast, and then when I pulled her bib up over her head her hair got vertical.

The Maths Teacher has naturally maths-teacher-y hair, but the V-neck button-up shirt is my fault. At least she is having fun...

No more happy pills

Yay! The doctor agrees that I don't need them any more. She says that I am on a low dose, so I could just stop taking them one day. However, to reduce the chance of me having a bad few days, she recommends that I take half a pill a day for a few days, then stop.

So that's that.

After the doctor appt, I walked to the market, and we got a few things (popadums, lentils, mushrooms. Gues what we hare having for dinner tomorrow...) and then the summery weather stopped and the heavens opened. I had dressed the girls in really lightweight pants, sunhats and t-shirts, so I jammed their thin jackets on and ran for the bus. We all got a bit wet, but as my colleague Mike said bracingly to his friend Martin, we're not made of sugar!

We got a bit wet and a bit cold, but no harm done.

The girls went to bed at 6:40 tonight. The nap in the middle of the day was disappointingly short, so the girls were pretty fractious this arvo, but other than that, it all went swimmingly.

If we keep to this new pattern, it means that we can go out in the mornings. The local library has story time at 10.30 every morning, and we can go to the Saturday morning music group that the Anges take Olive & Toby to. We'll probably need a different swimming class though.

I am off to have a swim now. The doctor reminded me that exercise has been shown to be as effective as anti-depressants and/or therapy for mild depression.

12:26 Hazel awakens

And shouts loudly so that Ivy wakes too. I patted Ivy back to sleep, but Hazel is still in there shouting and being annoyed.

So it looks like Ivy will have a nice long nap, and Hazel her usual hour and twenty minutes. Oh well.

I will get Hazel up soon I think. I had hoped that she might calm down and drop off, but I don't think so any more.

Nap at 11:10am

I've just put the girls in bed... Hazel fell asleep immediately. Ivy is quiet, so maybe she did too. I hope they have a good sleep.

Hazel was at the end of her tether. Interestingly, Ivy coped better.

Yesterday I had my last session with my psychologist. We agreed that I am all good now and don't need to see her any more. I'm a lot like my old self again. I don't think I'll ever go back to being my old self again - in fact, I can hardly remember her! But, I'm happy and resilient again. For example, i can only imagine how these changes to the girls' sleep patterns would have thrown me into despair a few months ago.

Today I have an appointment with a new GP (my old one is off having a baby - so selfish), to see whether I need to be on the antidepressants any more. I think I am fine and don't need them, so we'll see what she says.

i have heard that you need to come off antidepressants carefully. not sure what happens if you don;t Though I did have a nasty day a week or so after I started taking them. I felt ill and migraine-y, which turns out to be the feeling of the drug reaching a certain level in my body. Hope it doesn't have to be like that again.

The appointment is for 2pm, which is in the middle of the girls' old afternoon nap. It would be great if they slept for a couple of hours now. She said wistfully.

10:16 am and they are playing happily

After a tired patch, the girls have found their second wind. While I was out of the room, they pulled out a big alphabet picture book and have been looking at it together. I love to see their heads together as they point to the pictures.

Changes

AGAIN!

Hazel has had five days in a row with no afternoon sleep. For two of those days, Ivy has also gone without. I have tried various combinations of putting them down at different times, later than usual, after a bottle, blah, blah, none of it makes a difference. I think she does not want that nap.

However it means that they are exhausted by 5.30pm, and have to go to bed at 6pm, which leads to some fairly early wake-ups. I am actually looking forward to the daylight savings change-over. It will mean that the girls are going to bed at 7 and getting up at 6.30 - quite civilised really.

Although they are not having an afternoon nap, they are still having their morning nap. They are tired and ready to sleep, and they have a nice long nap 9.30-11am. Today I am going to see if I can distract them and make that nap happen later. It would be great for them to have a good long middle-of-the-day nap, so that their afternoons are less desperate.

They are running races up and down the house. Off I go to giggle at them.