Ros Davidson, Independent Stampin' Up!® demonstrator, Melbourne, Australia

Holiday pics

Finally a post about our trip to the Gold Coast... I have been so busy since we came back. I said to my mum, I need a holiday at home without the kids to get everthing done!

1. One of the many rides Nat went on at Movieworld and Dreamworld. I went on a couple, but after the tower of terror, Nat said I looked "white" and sounded it too, so I kept my rides to gentler ones after that.

2. A tiger climbing up a tree at Dreamworld. So many photos of the tiger demonstrations.

3. Me and "Austin Powers" at Movieworld. One of the few characters we saw that we could get close enough for photos with. We went on the Monday and it was jammed packed compared to Dreamworld on the Sunday. Hardley any waiting in line for rides etc.

4. View from Q1 observation deck, level 77! It is the highest residential tower in the world.

5. View from our room at Q1 on level 22 at night time.

6. Nat and I up on the Q1 observation deck. This lady kindly offered to take our photo so we happily posed!

7. Nat on the vomitron just before the ride started. The ride doesn't live up to it's name thank goodness!

Just a quick peak at some photos from the trip. We arrived up at the Gold Coast on the Friday and as soon as we got to our hotel, it was pelting down with rain and hail (great start) but that was the only rain that we had whilst there. Did some grocery shopping for dinner and brekkie etc. and relaxed for the rest of the night (I was in bed at 8pm because I woke up at 2am Friday morning and hadn't slept since!)

Saturday was my sister's bf's 21st birthday so we hired a car, took the boys to a shooting joint, I went to a scrapbook store and took my sister shopping. Well, that was the plan. The boys had finished shooting by the time we were looking for a car park at the shopping centre so we went and picked them up and back to the shops. For 2 boys who didn't want to go shopping, the certainly did a great job of spending money on clothes and shoes for themselves! Dee and I didn't buy anything. We went to Hard Rock for dinner (Melbourne is so much better!) and then to the casino for a little flutter! (Nat won 47-1 on the big wheel, woo hoo and I was doing great at roulette until he started losing my money!)

Sunday we went to Dreamworld. Tried to have a look at the big brother house but we couldn't get near it. Nor buy tickets for the show, (the ticket booth wasn't even open at any time!)

Monday was at Movieworld (2 theme parks in 2 days was so tiring but they were closed for most of Tuesday) so we had no other choice.

Tuesday was spent vegging due to the public holiday and charging a 15% public holiday surcharge on food and drinks! Nat and I did go up to the observation deck that night though. $35 for 2 drinks, one cocktail and one spirit on the rocks!

Wednesday check out of the hotel and kill time before our flight home. Nat I did a fair bit of walking and this was when he went on the vomitron. Flew home, peak hour traffic to drive in, get to my mum's and all the kids had huge big smiles for us when we arrived!

My trip in a nutshell. I loved having a break without the kids and we have decided to take them up there when Drew is 120cm tall... Odd time it probably seems, but that is the minium height restriction for most "older" rides so this way, no one misses out unless they don't want a ride.

So much house duties to attend to. Ready need to make a mother's day present for MIL, and a whole bunch of cards.

Cheers,
Ros

Home again...

Just a quick post before bed. I haven't had a read chance to look through the photos on the camera properly yet but here is one of us five before the kids went to childcare on Friday. Didn't have time to set the camera up properly so it was one of those hold and shoot kind of photos.

So many things to do but had to clear the backlog of e-mails etc. before it was going to drive me crazy! We had a great time on the Gold Coast, missed the kids but enjoyed having an adult holiday too. We kept saying things that the kids would say just so we felt like we weren't missing them as much.

More tomorrow with pics from the trip.
Ros.

Can't sleep...

I can't sleep, there is too many things running around my head to do after the kids are dropped off at childcare later this morning. The kids woke me up for milk (Josh's crying woke Nikki up) and now I am the only one still up! I figured I may as well get up and do a couple of things that are quite if I can't sleep anyway. I needed to come online to get my stores list that I want to try and visit whilst away. My mum needed me to make a mini album for her MIL for her 80th birthday next week. She is going to London for her birthday so I had to get this done before we left. No stress whilst doing it, yay! Very simple and not my usual style but then Betty (mum's MIL) is so not a scrapbooker so it had to be what I call my "boring" style. (I would upload pics, but blogger isn't playing nice.... damm you)

All from me for now and hopefully I can go to bed and get some more sleep now I have managed to get a couple of things done.

Cheers,
Ros

Holiday!

Off to the Gold Coast tomorrow (can't wait) without the kids! How spoilt will I be? I will be able to have a whole uninterrupted nights sleep in over 3 years! Woo hoo... I will miss my little ones, but I seriously need a break!

Since blogger is playing nice today, I can show you what the colours of my layout of Nikki in SM really look like!
My little happy girl. I did this layout as part of the Tsnaumi workshop on ASC. It was a class Kim Archer did and I gave her credit in my layout etc. but SM decided not to print that. Why is that?

I dropped of my latest DT stuff the other day and do you think I took photos of all of it... I only got a photo of the layout I did using some American Crafts paper (so if you are reading this Wendy, can you please take photos of my cards and e-mail them to me?) The layout is of Nikki (again) and the words she could say at 16 months. (I like the fact that it doesn't have any photos on it, and is my second at doing this! Quite a challenge actually.) I did one of Josh at the same age and was determined to do one for Nikki aswell to see if they had many words in common etc. I will do one for Drewie when the time comes around... Still got ages to go (at the moment!)

My New's Year's resolution (one of them) was to scrap a layout a week. Lately, I am not doing so good. Maybe I will catch up but I have been doing mini books, class kits, cards etc... LOL, holidays don't help either they just give me more photos to scrap!

Cheers all and I will be back mid next week with lots of photos I hope!

Ros

Easter pics & SM...

A post with some easter pics and photos of the kiddies I took on Sunday. Some of them with their cousin too and my SIL... Terrible group shot but the only one there is of all of them.

My little easter bunny. At least one child wasn't hyper on chocolate!

Look at the concentration on his face! Like a 2 year is hardly ever that still... Of course it had something to do with the chocolate!

I love these natural looking (smiling) photos of Kris and Callum ( Nat's sister and nephew.) Callum usually has a very cheesey grin and rabbit ears behind someone's head or something like that... As a 7 year old boy would (and sometimes even older!)

My baby is 6 months old today. I didn't realise until my sister mentioned it but with cooking dinner and dealing with the kids alone (Nat was at work today) I didn't get a chance to take any photos of Drewie like I did for Josh and Nikki when thye were 6 months. Mum took heaps of the kids she said when she watched them today while I was at work so I am hoping there will be some good ones of Drew. I am planning on taking some photos tomorrow after childcare when I am finally home from work... Damm BAS, need to do it early because of my holiday. Yuck!

My issue of SM came today (with my Nikki layout in it, yay!) and I also got CK April and my Cards mag from the US. I was really disappointed with the colours in the mag of my Nikki layout. It looks a little more like this! Well, I would post it but blogger isn't playing nice anymore.

Off to create a birthday present for my mum's MIL who turns 80 next week... Nothing like late notice, thanks mum!

Cheers,
Ros

Sooo tired....

I really need to go to bed early especially when Nat is working night shift... LOL, do I ever? Hell no. I was working on some DT stuff last night and got sucked in and before I knew it, it was nearly 11pm. Not a real good night with the kids, but not a horrible one either. Drew is not well, he is only drinking half his bottle (at each feed and having about 6 hours between each feed), not eating solids and has diarrhoea. Yuck! Nikki isn't 100% either. She was awake at 6am (due to Josh going in and playing in her room) and was back in bed by 7.30am. She hasn't eaten breakfast and at nearly 9.30am is still asleep... Something is not right there but only time will tell. It seems as if it is the begining of the season of "sickness"... Quite a few people aren't well.

My class went well at Paper Doll... LOL, it was pretty easy since I knew everyone there, 2 people I am on the design team with and my MIL... I have uploaded the pics of the mini book, (full of motherhood quotes) but of course I didn't take the pictures before I stuck them into the mini book. LOL, that would be too organised!

The quotes used in the mini book are as below. This is to be my mother's day present for my mum... I've used photos of mum and I (some with my siblings) over the years... My orginal intention was the do a mini book with grandmother quotes, I discovered that I don't have any any photos of mum and Drew (must fix that!) and the quotes seemed to be too old... Does that make sense? Most of the grandmother quotes implied like white hair etc.... LOL, the quotes are more appropriate for my grandmother not my kids grandmother!

QUOTES...
Of all the rights of women, the greatest is to be a mother.
- LIN YUTANG

Of course I can do anything, I’m a mother.
- UNKNOWN

A mother is she who can take the place of all others but whose place no one else can take.
- CARDINAL MERMILLOD

A mother’s love perceives no impossibilities.
- CORNELIA PADDOCK

There is nothing wrong with the world that a sensible woman could not settle in an afternoon.
- JEAN GIRAUDOUX

Being a mother means that your heart is no longer yours; it wanders wherever your children do.
- UNKNOWN

Be kind to the woman for they make up half the population… and are the mothers of the other half.
- UNKNOWN

Youth fades; love drops; the leaves of friendship fall: A mother’s secret love outlives them all.
- OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES

In mothering, if you do it right, you work yourself out of a job.
- KAREN H TYLER

I best be off. The kids are running a muck and it has taken me forever to write this post with all the stoping and starting etc. and uploading all the pics (I should have resized them all first!)

I hope everyone has a happy and safe Easter and enjoy the break... I have work to do... Damm stocktake. Light at the end of the tunnel I guess, on Friday Nat and I are leaving for a mini break on the Gold Coast (with no kids!) Our 2nd holiday ever without children... LOL, the first one was before we even had kids....

Cheers,
Ros.

P.S. On the final page of the mini book it says

"This book is to celebrate motherhood...

Happy Mother's Day Chook!

Love always,
Ros"

And yes, I do call my mum 'chook' it is something I started years ago and has stuck... Nat calls her Nanna Anna chook... LOL, and you know the only person who "hates" the name chook, is my dad... The funniest thing is my parents are divorced.... When he gets annoyed about it, I ask if I should be calling him the "old cock" and it soon sorts him out and shuts him up! LOL!!!

Childcare...

Okay, so no post for a while... Well, I have been feeling crappy, still not 100%, (as I type this...) but getting on with life still. Back at work yesterday, considering quitting as the stress is driving me insane and thinking of trying to make more money out of craft.... *Hmmm, need to think this through some more and plant the money tree in the backyard first* I'd love to make some more money out of submitting and teaching but only time will tell.

I had childcare ring me on Tuesday last week (whilst I was on the way to the doctors) saying that with our permission, they would like to get Josh assessed. His behaviour more than anything... Rhonda (childcare director) said she had been having problems with Josh for sometime (first major time we had heard about it) and thought someone outside of the centre could offer some different solutions to Josh when he is misbehaving as distraction and other techniques aren't working.

This was not what I needed when I was struggling to breathe but anyhow. On Wednesday Josh was rotten at childcare but I think the anesetic (sp.) was screwing up his system and since he hadn't eaten from 7am to 4.30pm on Tuesday (and the first thing Nat gave him was Mc Donalds....) he was all out of whack. Josh slept for 4.5 hours during the day on Thursday and was much better at childcare on Friday. Since Wednesday's performance at childcare (didn't like getting a note in his communication book saying see Rhonda or Annie (room leader) before leaving... and then me getting the phone call at home about rotten behaviour as Nat picked up the kids) we have been cutting out or reducing sugar out of Josh's diet.
It is a bit of a process of elimination at the moment, but he stole a homemade biscuit out of the pantry the other morning before breakfast and was hyper after eating it until he had milk later on, he finally settled down. Another time when he had jam on his toast, he had a similar reaction. I have found that by not allowing him snacks others than fruit, cheese and dry biccies etc. he is much better. I think I need to get him tested for hypoglocemia though. At least then I would know if it is that, or if he has a problem with things with added sugar...

Teaching my first class tonight at Paper Doll, getting excited and have nearly finished putting my kits together (just waiting on some stock to come in this morning, then all done.) Have to work first today before the class so I am hoping that will fly by.

Gotta go and go to work to do pays etc, before all the major interruptions start happening.

Cheers,
Ros

Update

First, I want to thank everyone for all the good vibes and wishes. I was back at the doctors today for another check up and I now know I don't have pneumonia. I saw a different doctor this time as I couldn't get back into see the same one and she thought I might have gall stones. $184, an ultrasound and an hour waiting for the report I was back at the doctors again to be told, "No, you don't have gallstones!"

I checked out pleurisy on the net and I swear it seems like what I have but the doctor thinks I have a muscular skeletor thingie. I have been told to stop taking my antibiotics (good thing since they were making me vomit) and see how I go and use Panadine Forte for the pain and Nurofen or Voltarin to reduce the swelling.

I spent all morning in bed, and it feels like the rest of the afternoon at the doctor's etc and am quite tired now. I'll end this here and update you more on my dramas with Josh at childcare tomorrow.

Ros

Down and out... - long post

Yesterday Josh was due to have his eye operated one (which he did) but not without millions of other dramas during the day. He is now fine and at childcare with a mildly red eye (and no eye patch as the bugger won’t leave it on!)

Yesterday I woke up at 3am with back pain, thinking I had slept funny. I added another pillow to the bed and went back to sleep until the alarm went off at 6am (to make Josh breaky before having to fast for his op.) I could hardly move and was having trouble breathing so I thought a shower would help with all the pain etc. No such luck. I had a shower and tried to take some Ventolin but even that would help as I couldn’t breath in hard enough to take it.

I decided to call my MIL for a massage (as she is a massage therapist) so off I went there after dropping the kids at my mum’s house (she was going to mind the younger 2 while I took Josh off for his day surgery.) I couldn’t even lay down on the massage table as I was hardly breathing at all when I laid down. My MIL thought I had broken or cracked a rib so it was off to the local doctors. I picked up Josh from my mum’s and called Nat to meet me at the doctors (he was at home sleeping due to having to work night shift). At the doctor’s my breathing was getting worse and worse and I was nearly going to have to have oxygen but got in to see the doctor who gave me a shot of pethidine. Ahhhh that was bliss and made it so much easier to breathe and I was almost pain free. I had to go to Frankston hospital as she thought I might have a blood clot. After sitting at Frankston Hospital (on their very uncomfortable emergency department beds) with a shot of morphine after a while things we starting to feel a little better (breathing wise) only pain wise was getting worse. I had a chest x-ray and blood tests which all came up clear. The doctor gave me 2 lots of antibiotics and panadine forte and said you can go home and we think you are either getting pleurisy or pneumonia. Take it easy and you will get worse before you’ll get better…

I came home to a house full of people (as all my siblings and mum and her partner and my grandmother) we over to celebrate my SILs and sisters birthdays. (I wasn’t very good company and went and rested in bed.) My kids were playing up when I was at the hospital both Nikki and Drew are teething and Josh was acting up since he didn’t get to have a lot of “Nanna” time (since he had to come with me to the doc’s and for his op.) and mum was cooking dinner for like 10 people. She was glad when we got home as at least it was “the parents! and Nat was going to be far more helpful than everyone else here. My sister was packing her stuff to move out, my grandmother is too old to chase after the kids too much, I have no idea what mum’s partner was doing and my brother and SIL didn’t turn up until after we got home (so much for them arriving at 6pm!)

Anyway, that is enough from me, aside from resting as required, I have class samples and note to prepare for my class at PDSB next week. Since I can’t do everything I won’t hardly get any cards done for the card submission due next Wednesday… Something has to give and I think my health is far more important!

Sorry this is such a long post and I hope you are not totally bored now!
Ros

Funny story...

Nat wanted to go to the toilet and Josh said “It’s okay Daddy (Natty as he calls him) use this one” (referring to the toilet in the main house not in our ensuite). Nat did his thing and Josh watched and when he was finished Josh said “Yay, Natty get chocolate!”

LOL, Josh was getting a little chocolate or lolly when he was going to the toilet so it was quite funny that he thought it worked for Nat as well!

Had to post this before I forgot as Josh did or said something that was worth sharing and it escaped me!

Bye!