For the love of teddy bears

I adore teddy bears and still have one or two from my childhood.  (It makes it easy for the kids on Mother’s Day!)  To my husband’s despair, I have given that love to my kids as well.  Between us, we have quite a few now. 

My youngest’s favourite is her Pooh, such a cute and cuddle one!  Exactly the right size and shape to squeeze.  He was a gift from a friend on her birthday.  She is totally nuts about Winnie the Pooh!

I gave my younger son this teddy bear one night to calm him after he had a nightmare.  He promptly named him Crocodile Bear.

Crocolide Bear has become a little worn, but he is still loved!

My oldest’s favourite is Monkey, a small monkey my sister gave him as a baby.  I haven’t been able to find his hiding spot.  My son has had to battle for his favourite every time he got another sibling.  They all love him to bits.  So now Monkey is in hiding from the younger two.  Poor thing even has a patch on his bum from where the dog got hold of him (stolen right out of bed!)  The second favourite is this little dragon, Caesar. 

My defence for having too many teddies?  One day I can pass them along to the grandkids!

Scooter issues

My son begged us for a scooter for his birthday.  He was so excited to ride it to school.  Then, quickly, the interest seemed to start fading. 
“Please Mom, can I ride my bike?”

At first we weren’t so keen, since the boys would have to cross busy roads on their own (can you see me trying to jog along pushing a pram or carrying a toddler on my back?  I would jiggle out of my clothes!)  Then I discovered a shortcut – I followed some other parents who were also walking to school!  We walk the kids to the park, then the boys ride the rest of the way to school. 

And my daughter became the big winner!

She commandeered the scooter for herself!  She now wakes up in the mornings, asking for it.  We have a long play in the park after the boys have left us for school.  When we get home, she rides it up and down the corridor.

Sometimes things just work out perfectly!

PS you can see the bandage on her left leg.  She is healing well for a toddler who doesn’t keep her leg still.  Hopefully by next weekend it will be closed and we can go swimming again.

My Story in Photos: Places I Love

This week’s challenge at I Heart Faces is a little more challenging and took quite a bit of thought on my part.  There aren’t many romantic places we can go with kids aged 2 to 11.  I do love being with the whole family together though.  Our days are just great!

From walking to school in the morning…

(looking at flowers along the way)

to discovering a (flatter) shortcut home.

The added bonus of the shortcut is that the kids don’t have to cross any unsupervised roads to get to school.  Now they cycle to school and the youngest and I wait for them in the park in the afternoons.

 

There are the days we go swimming, then visit the library afterwards

then driving home exhausted and hungry, but quite content with our life now.

We have truly been blessed!

See some more stories on the website:

Catching the moon for homework

First assignment our lecturer gave was to shoot the moon.  And what a moon it was last night!

This image is layered, since the moon just becomes a white blob when you expose to get the clouds. 

Took the photo when I got to the car, half asleep, but I just had to wake up for this.

Back to school

With the start of school, my evening classes have started again.  I travel by train now that we stay further out of the city.  It was my first trip on my own.

The building inside Flinders Street Station is still old, which I love.  I have a 20 minute wait for my train, so I had a little time to explore and take some photos.

Leaving class, it was just after sunset.  I got the most gorgeous reward.  The sky was just amazing!

 

Scary to think that in winter, sunset is when I arrive at class, three hours earlier…  Daylight savings gets me confused!

Sunrise

This morning’s sunrise had spectacular colours again.

 

Took my daughter to the doctor to have the stitches checked early this morning.   Healing well, though there will be some scarring.  The ER doctor had unfortunately not pulled the wound closed everywhere.  Hopefully it will heal soon.  Until then, she gets carried around a lot. 

I will make another post today, just trying to catch up on the never-ending housework today!

A Garfield Monday

Today was the first day back at school for the boys.  It started relatively well, considering.  Hubby had to see a client, so he took the car.  And then forgot his mobile phone at home.  Not too much of a worry, usually he can Skype me from the clients’ offices.

We made it to school on time (though I was halfway down the street before I realised I forgot my shoes) and the kids seemed to settle into their new classes really well.  (My oldest was off to class so fast, his teacher had to send him back to say goodbye.)

On the way back, my daughter and I made a detour at the park.  She loves running up and down the steps.

At home I started to unpack some of the boxes still left from the move.  Couldn't chat to hubby since he wasn’t on Skype for some reason. Then I heard the scream…

Seems there was a piece of broken glass from a frame in the bottom of the box.  Somehow she had cut her whole knee open with it.  So there I was, stuck at home, no way to get to hubby and I couldn’t remember where I had put the first aid kit.  All worked out in the end. Got hold of a colleague of hubby’s to track him down.  Phoned a neighbour to get us to hospital after I bandaged her leg. She got some stiches, though the swelling was a bit much, so she  has to see the doctor later this week again because they couldn’t close it all.

Mom and dad are totally freaked out and struggling to focus and sit still.  Little one is quite happy, though no-one is allowed near her leg (the injections made her scream more than the cut).  Any way for me to skip next Monday?

Well, I better fetch the kids from school.  I will have to carry her in the backpack until her leg heals.  Carrying a 20kg child 1.2km twice a day will help me lose weight, right?

 

PS sorry if this post is very frazzled and incoherent. I usually cope a bit better under these kinds of circumstances.  Too many things went wrong all at once today.