In the noughties

I; became a teenager, stayed out all night, made new friends, had my first kiss, went overseas, learned to drive, performed, fell in love, laughed, went to university, got my first car, survived high school, got my first job, became a follower of Jesus Christ, cried (many, many times), moved out of home, got engaged, moved away from home, gained weight, got my first dog, learned many things about the world (not all of them good), bought a house, got married, had my first plane trip, lost my temper (numerous times), missed my family, got my first credit card, moved back home, had my first operation, lost touch with old friends, found a vocation, lost weight, gained a new family, started my own family, had a baby(!), lost my grandmother, learned lots of things about myself, loved.... lived.

I don't always do a New Year's resolution. But this year I am going to join the millions of other people around the world and make a resolution to lose weight. I want to get back into my healthy weight range so I have about 20kg to lose. I really want to stick to this, and as part of it am making a resolution to exercise for at least 30 minutes a day 6 days a week

I am also making a resolution this year, to not only be a Christian, but to be more like Christ. And I am also making a resolution to pray every single day for Shane's family. Since I really do believe that prayer is an incredibly powerful weapon- and this is such an important thing, I am committing to this. Because it is just devastating to think of the lack of faith that people- my family!- have. I am also committing to pray each day for Georgie and for Shane, because I know the power of a praying wife and mother.

post christmas post :)

Christmas is over- and that is good. We spent this year's Christmas with Shane's family. We take it in turns each year which is the fairest way to do it I think. I find Christmas with Shane's family a little odd, because they just do the whole day differently to the way I have always done it with my family. I think I'm also just really used to Christmas with so many people. But I'm getting used to a quiet Christmas and in a way, it's nice.... at least you can hear yourself think! It gets a little full-on sometimes with my family!

We have been staying with Shane's family for over a week now because it has rained, and rained and rained and now our state has flooded- badly. Many of the roads have been cut for about 5 days and will probably cut for a few more yet. We just would like to go home! However, our house is not flooded, our town in not flooded, and we are not stuck in a hall or in a car somewhere- so I really cannot complain!

It's been a good Christmas really, it was lovely that we spent time with Shane's sister, as she had a little girl this year too, Cassi, who is only a month older than Georgie. It's really nice that we have cousins so close in age- it's very cute to watch the little girls playing- and getting spoiled rotten by their grandparents! I'm sure Christmas will get a lot more fun once those girls grow up!

Christmas Day was pretty nice. Shane and Georgie and I went for a walk, then we had a nice breakfast and then Shane, George and I went to church and that was really good. Then we came home and opened presents, and I did a fair bit of cooking. I made bacon and sage stuffed roast pork- which was super yummy even if I say so myself. For dessert we had mango coconut roll and chocolate bread and butter pudding- which was pretty good, especially considering I just made the bread and butter pudding up as I went along! Then the afternoon was spent just chilling.

It was a nice day and I'm pretty sure Georgie enjoyed herself- her first Christmas! She was so much more interested in the paper than the presents! But at the same time, it wasn't Christmas (if that makes sense?).

In my mind, Christmas is all about Jesus- even though I know that Christmas originally had nothing to do with Jesus and was a pagan festival that the Catholics stole... but still, it's a good opportunity to honour the baby Jesus and worship the gift God gave us. And even though we went to church- it just didn't really feel like that. But it was Christmas and it's done.

Anyway don't mind me, I'm tired and a bit tense. It's really late and I'm exhausted but just enjoying some down time with nobody else around. Georgie is sleeping peacefully (even though her teeth are driving her nuts!) and I'm just relishing the quiet. No photos to show as I don't have the camera cord.

But anyway, happy birthday Jesus. God, I really am grateful that you gave us your son- a baby- to save us. I think I understand and appreciate that gift even more now. I don't know how you gave a child to the world to crucify- but I am so glad you did, so that I could be free. And Jesus, I just pray that you would touch the hearts of Shane's family, that they might know the truth and the truth would set them free.

And then there was Georgie

I was going to wait until her first birthday to write the story of how Georgie came into the world, but I was thinking about it the other day and I can already feel pieces of the day slipping away so I thought I'd write the post now while I can still remember it all well (mostly).

Georgina was born on a cold winter's day. About a week before we traveled down and stayed in the city because we were going to have her there in a private hospital. We went down when I was 38 weeks pregnant. I'd had a pretty good pregnancy, my only real trouble being my back. My pelvis went out a lot so I went to the physio weekly to put it back in... fortunately this is only a pregnancy related condition- I'm so glad it got better afterward!

So yeah, Shane and I went down at 38 weeks and he stayed with me for a few days (and he was sick- poor boy!) and then Mum and Dad came down and stayed with me when Shane had to go back to work. He'd only been back home one day and I had my 39 week appointment on a Tuesday at the Doctor's. We went in and my blood pressure had gone up a fair bit (something that also happened to Mum during her first pregnancy) so I was admitted into the hospital for overnight observation. By that point I was starting to get a little bit worried.... I've never been good with surprises- and that was definitely an unexpected change of plans!

So I spent a horribly uncomfortable night hooked up to the monitor- and I had the light on the whole night.... unfortunately my admitting midwife had turned it on for the first round of nightly obs and I didn't realise I could turn it off! Plus I was a little worried... so that wasn't a great night!

The next morning (Wednesday) the Doctor came to see me, and decided that he wanted to induce me because he wasn't happy with my blood pressure- I was not thrilled! He was talking about inducing me the following Monday, but then he decided, "No, let's get that baby out today!" Cue frantic phone call to Shane to get his behind back here Now!

So they used some inducing Gel- which wasn't terribly nice and discovered that the baby was lying posterior (fun for me!) then Mum and I went for a walk round the hospital. The whole day was spent walking and I started getting little doing-nothing contractions. (apparently you were quite happy in there Miss Georgina!) In the afternoon, Shane arrived and we went to the labour ward to get more gel in with a nasty midwife who told me that I was not in labour even though the contractions were getting closer and stronger and then told me I would probably not have the baby until the next day. (She was very, very nasty) I was a bit stressed and tired by then since I was all set to have the baby- like I said before I'm not a plan changer! However I had to be that night! So then mum stayed the night with me since Shane was a bit knackered and still pretty sick and they ended up giving me a shot of pethadine to help me sleep.

The next morning (Thursday) I went up to the birthing suite and Shane was back up early but he was really sick. So they gave me more induction gel which really started getting the contractions going, but I was not dialating hardly at all, only a measly 2 centimeters! Mum went home to bed and my sister Jenny, (who is a nurse and happened to be up with her family for holidays) came to stay with me while Mum slept and Shane went to the doctors... It was all fun and games my friends- I'm telling you! They gave me more pethadine and I tried to nap, but was feeling pretty exhausted by then and man those contractions were starting to hurt! and my back was getting really bad! and another mean midwife tried to send Jenny home but she didn't get her way :)

Then Shane came back and he had a throat infection and was feeling pretty icky and I was moving around heaps and getting lots of back rubs because I was not happy! and then the Doctor arrived. He wanted to break my waters because I still wasn't doing much dilating and he also wanted to give me an epidural since I was pretty tired by then and he didn't think I'd be able to last that thing out unless I had one... so we decided to go the epidural. So I had a shower (hot water helps lots) and the anesthesiologist came and gave me the shot and oh, was it good!

So then I was feeling much better and rested a while, and I don't even really remember the Dr breaking my waters. Then Mum came back and Mum and Jenny and Shane all talked and I just kinda lay there not feeling too bad compared to my earlier owchies! And then a nice midwife came on with another nice student midwife (Thank you God!) and the midwife announced that I had diallated to 7cm and maybe I was going to have this baby today after all- and we were all woohoo! and the nice midwife let Mum and Jenny and Shane stay which was very nice of her seeing as how I was only supposed to have 2 people at the very most. Then things started getting a bit confused, I think my epidural went funny because my blood pressure dropped and I threw up, but then they fixed it with a bowl-somethingorrather. Then I was at 10cm and things really started happening!

They rang the Doctor and it hurt! and I was sick again, and then I had to start pushing but I didn't think it was time to push yet- but I had to, and apparently I was very quiet during the process but everything seemed so loud in my head and then the Doctor arrived and Georgie was being a little difficult and not in quite the right position and she was kind of stuck and I remember crying out "It's not going to happen! I can't do it! " and I think it must have been taking too long and the Dr decided that the baby might have been in a bit of distress so the he decided the baby needed out Now! So he ended up using the vacuum on her little head.

And then, it was there! The baby was there! And I remember saying "It's a boy!" because all her girl bit were swollen- and mum saying, "No it's a girl!" and I remember holding her for a second and then they took her away to see how she did on the apgar test and I couldn't hear her cry and I was frantically asking "Is she breathing?!" but she was fine! and Shane and I were crying and laughing and looking at each other and it was so amazing and weird and wow! And then I held her and she was My Baby! All mine! And I remember being so in love but so terrified and it was one of the best moments of my life.

Georgina and her Mummy.

Daddy (with a mask on so he wouldn't make her sick) and his little girl.




Beautiful girl. Born 7 pounds 3 ounces.

Her poor head where the suction cup hurt her!


Daddy giving her her first bath.



Myself, Mum, Jenny and Georgie.



All set to go home!




First night in her own bed

Georgie, I am so glad God gave you to us. I love you so very much.

These are a few of my favourite things...

The other day I watched 'The Holiday' and I think it has to be my favourite Christmas movie. I think I love it so much because of the soundtrack. There's something about the music that just gets me, you know? Hanz Zimmer is an incredibly talented composer. It's just so beautiful!

In Georgie news- she is 6 months in weeks now, but probably only really 5 and a half months. She is sitting up a little, but very wobbly! She is also so desperate to crawl! She's pushing herself around a lot but she gets incredibly frustrated when she can't get to where she wants to go. Her new favourite pastime is chewing paper, Christmas paper especially! I've really got to watch her now because if I don't catch her quick enough, paper becomes a huge slobbery choking hazard.

Yesterday I stumbled across this blog. It's really worth a read. The little girl, Amber is adorable, and it's just so amazing to read their journey with her. She has health problems and will be lucky to see her tenth birthday. But it's an incredible read, and her mother's faith is very inspirational. It's a story I hope I never forget, but I'm sure I will. It's funny, I wish it wasn't so easy to forget the important things... but at the same time, that ability we have to forget things we wish we would remember is also the same ability that helps a parent smile again after they have lost a child, or helps a child with a horrible past grow to become a happy adult- and I really wouldn't wish that away.

Anyway, today has been terribly busy (which is to be expected the weekend before Christmas) and this post has taken me all day to write and I am so exhausted! So it's off to bed now!

I'll end with more beautiful music, this is one of my favourite songs, done by the Vitamin string quartet who do their own version of many beautiful songs. This is 'A Bittersweet Symphony' by 'The Verve', I walked down the aisle to Shane with this song playing.

the story about the bald frog with the wig

I was updating my profile and ran into a new random question, which was The children are waiting! Please tell them the story about the bald frog with the wig: and the story I wrote was a bit too long to fit into my profile, so here it is.

Once upon a time there was a Frog.


Now this frog was a bit of an odd frog, he didn't think he made a very good frog, so he decided he wanted to be a Monkey. First he ran into the Toad.
"Hello Toad!" He said.
"Hello Frog!" Toad called back.
"Oh, I'm not a frog anymore" said the Frog. "I'm a monkey."
"Well then you should be eating a banana then, that way everyone would know you were a monkey" the toad replied. So the frog went and got a banana.

Next he ran into the bird. "Hello bird!" called the frog.
"Hello frog!" said the bird.
"Oh I'm not a frog anymore" the frog said. "I'm a monkey".
"Oh." said the bird. "Well maybe you should be hanging in a tree then, so that we can see that you're a monkey, because monkeys hang in trees."
'That's true!' thought the frog, so, banana in hand, the frog went and hung in a tree.


In the tree he met a lizard. "Hello Lizard!" cried the frog.
"Hello frog!" called the lizard, "Why are you in a tree with a banana?"
"Because I'm not a frog anymore. I'm a monkey!" replied the frog.
"Well if you want to look more like a monkey why don't you get some hair? Everyone knows monkeys have hair!" said the Lizard.
"He's right!" Said the frog. So he went and bought himself a wig.

Then, banana in hand, wig on head, he went to hang in a tree. He saw a monkey. "Hello fellow monkey!" He cried.
"Fellow monkey? What are you on about frog?" The monkey said.
"I've decided that I'm not a frog anymore," replied the frog. "I'm a monkey"
The monkey said . "Why?"
"Well because I don't think I make a very good frog." answered the frog.
"Now listen here frog," said the monkey. "I can call myself a bird until I'm blue in the face, and can even dress up like one. But If I jump out of this tree do you think I'll fly?"
"Well.. probably not" said the frog.
"Exactly. Now you can call yourself a monkey if you want, but God made you a frog. So instead of trying to be monkey, why don't you go out and be the best frog you can be?"

So the frog got rid of his wig, (which was really itchy anyway) gave the monkey his banana, (which he didn't really like either) and got out of the tree (which was a good thing because he was scared of heights). And then he went off to be a fabulously fantastic frog.

Now I really am going to go do the folding, I swear!

Ha Ha! Found the camera!

So I finally found the camera (or to be more accurate, started looking for the camera and remembered where I put it). And then after about 10 minutes of searching high and low for the silly cord that connects the camera to the computer I went downstairs to get Shane. And then wouldn't you know it?... as soon as he sighed in a very long-suffering way and came upstairs, I found it! :) Shane just patted me on the head, sighed again and went back downstairs to the shed to make somethingoranother. I think I must posses a wonderful gene or something in me, because I can make my husband and my father sigh in the exact same way.

But anyway! Here's a picture of her royal cuteness and the tongue!



It's out all the time lately! When that tongue's out you know she's happy! I haven't yet taken a photo of the sunnies on her yet- but that will come!

Now I'm off to go do this



Before this

Wakes up.

Oh how I really hate folding! Seriously, I would rather clean the bathroom than fold... in fact I would rather do almost anything than fold! Isn't it funny how most people just have that one horrible housework-y job that they detest? However, I have a husband who seems to wear an awful lot of clothes, a child who likes to poop on an awful lot of clothes, and an unfortunate tendency to ignore the folding in the hope that it will go away (it never does) until it reaches horrifyingly large proportions. See you on the other side!



And another cute photo for good measure :) They are really good friends now! Do you know how many attempts it takes to get a dog and a baby to look at the camera at the same time?



14. :)

Not too much going on at the moment- just gearing up for Christmas. I've done almost all the Christmas shopping, we just have to get a present for Shane's Dad, and I need help with that one! Boys are so hard to shop for! Mind you, in saying that, I think I married the easiest man to shop for ever! Because Shane has so many interests you can always think of something to get him.... he loves music and plays the bass, ukulele, piano, drums and guitar, with the bass being his first and main instrument and the rest being ones he is picking up and learning along the way. He also loves computers and design- he's constantly getting calls from somebody asking for help with their computer, and he designed our church's website this year. He also loves gardening and is starting our veggie garden, plus he is very interested in all things Biblical. He listens to Chuck Missler and Chuck Smith an awful lot, especially when he's driving, and he loves reading biblical commentaries and historical commentaries. He's currently reading about Josephus, who was a historian around the time of Jesus. So yeah! It's a very talented and interesting guy I married! The only problem is that, most of of the time, what Shane wants is very expensinve! For his birthday this year he got the ukelele, which wasn't very cheap. For Christmas he wants this Bible software, Logos- it's not as expensive as many other things he's wanted, but it's still over $200... so we'll see.

It's funny because here's me currently thinking, ' I really need a hobby!'- just so I have something else outside of housework and children and cooking. It'd be nice to have something permanent to do, that I could do and look back on and go- "I did this. It has been completed and I do not have to go back and do it again tomorrow!" But I'm really not into knitting or sewing... I love the idea of knitting and sewing, but when it comes to the actually knitting and sewing- I'm just not there! I broke my mum's sewing machine once by getting it all tangled.

This year I've decided I want to try a bit of Christmas baking. I thought it would be really nice to do some cooking and give that as presents for some people who we love- but to try to keep the cost down. We have so many people who we would love to give presents to, but it gets so expensive, where do you draw that line? Plus, my family is pretty big, we had about 20 people to shop for this year with both of our families- and it's nice to give presents to friends as well- so hopefully the baking goes well!

In Georgie news- we are getting teeth and it is SO not fun! I said to Shane the other day that I would seriously prefer to be pregnant for another 3 months and have her come out with teeth- man it would be good! The poor darling is doing okay, but she just doesn't cope that well with pain... but fortunately this is only a season. And one day when we are worrying about boyfriends and friends and the like, I'm sure I'll look back on the teething with longing!

She's getting super cute lately. She has this little habit where she poked her tongue out- so funny! She's also getting really interested in our dog, Chloe. She was on the couch with me on my lap, and Chloe was next to us last night, and Georgie started leaning over and as soon as she started touching Chloe she started giggling- it was so funny! Then Shane started playing fetch with Chloe and it was just so hilarious watching Georgie's face- she really loves that puppy! I have taken some cute photos of her poking out her tongue, and there are also some funny ones of her with some sunglasses on, but I just can't find the camera at the moment- so hopefully next time I'll put those photos up!