Three Ring Circus

Wow. I am truly blessed to be part of this community.

It is so giving and encouraging.

For a socially inept person, like me, someone who is clumsy and not confident in a crowd, getting positive comments and feedback really boosts the morale and does alot for the self esteem.

This week I have been gifted with four awards.

 

The first two are from the amazing Michelle at In The Life Of A Child. Michelle is having a terrible time of it at the moment with illness and trips to the emergency room, so I thank her from the bottom of my heart for thinking of me.

I have to give the friendship award to Trish at My Little Drummer Boys and Tracey at Why Bother because they have always been there for me but I also want to give it to my XBox man. His blog is a great read. It is a threadbare look at a male’s journey into trying to conceive. It is often funny, sometimes heartbreaking but always honest.

I am giving it to Veronica at Sleepless nights even though she has already been awarded this,she’ll just have a double up! I’m going to give it to Kim at Frog Ponds Rock too.

Both Veronica and Kim always find the time to comment on my posts.

The Christmas Spirit award easily goes to Kelley at Magneto Bold Too and to MamaLee at Full Plate.

Note: This award is a little different… It’s actually a flash movie, so click here to get the code so you can post the award on your blog and pass it on.

Thankyou ladies for keeping the season merry and bright!

Speaking of Kelley at Magneto Bold Too.  she has been very busy.

It is a new award that she and her daughter created, called the <3 . You can read all about it here.

If you haven’t been over to Kelley’s blog yet - GO! What are you waiting for? I’m sure she is the only blogger you will ever meet who dresses up like a Ninja for her readers!

I am awarding this to Kate from Picklebums, Karen from Pediascribe, Michelle from In the life of a child, and Jennifer from Playgroups are no place for children  I love all of these blogs for different reasons.

Just tonight I received this award from Veronica at Sleepless Nights.

Veronica is amazing! A wonderful blogger and a brilliant Mummy to her revolution leader baby Amy.

I would like to give this award to Mrs Chicken from Chicken and Cheese. Her posts are a wealth of emotions, another who blogs with her heart on her sleeve and also to Laura at Adventures in Juggling. I love reading about the rich tapestry of her life.

Thank you to all of you. It’s so nice to feel loved!

In the spirit of the season…

A big thank you to all my new friends out there in the Aussie Community.

This idea originally came from Sue.

Stay tuned for the International linky love Christmas (coming to a blog near you).

 

T’was the night before Christmas,

And all through the house,

You could hear the blogger typing and clicking her mouse.

She wanted to sho - ow how much she did care,

So she sent linky love into the blo - og - esphere.

 

There is Trish and Tracey, who give her new life,

Mountainmama and Kelley (who is always in strife)!

She loves to read Kim and  Ka - ate and Joh,

Three Aussie chi - icks who go with the flow.

 

Me - eg and Snoskred have taught her so much,

Abou - out Community and keeping in touch.

Cellobella and Karen, Leigh and Megan too,

Their writing lifts you u - up when yo - ou are blue.

 

Veronica, with Amy has slee - eepless nights,

A ki - indred spirit in sleep deprived writes.

Mad Goat Lady and Kate and their animal friends,

Kee - eeps this mum from going around the bend.

 

Andrew and Kim are grea - eat new reads,

Julia has two blogs that fill my prem baby needs.

Thank you Aussie blog friends, may you season be bright,

Happy Christmas to all and to all a blog filled night!

I have had severe internet withdrawal for the last three days.

We had a storm. There was thunder and scary blue lightening.

The lightening blew up my phone line. It blew up my modem and it melted the insides of my laptop, and my computer.

Lucky for me I posted my last November post early and lucky for me my husband is a computer nerd. What? It’s true.

This evening I have the internet back and my blog and my comments (of which I crave for I have very little adult company and as much as I love them, listening to the gentle (and sometimes not so gentle) babbling of the toddlers, is not adult conversation).

I have my lovely winged monkeyboy (Fly my pretty, fly. Bring back the girl and her little dog too) slave husband to thank for saving my sanity.

Briefly;

The party was a success, even though it was pouring with rain. Ivy and Noah had a great time.

They got lots of bootie (thank you every one).

I’m glad it’s over. I’m so tired.

We are currently putting up our Christmas tree.

Bring it on!

I know this blog is taking a long time to load for alot of you out there.

I’m so sorry and I really do thank you for your patience when it takes ages to load.

We can’t work out why. I’m not really sure what to do about it, other than take all of my bits and pieces off, including my beloved blogroll and stop posting photos. *SIGH*

Now I am going to tax it some more by using You Tube.

Apologies in advance.

 

This is part of a new bloggy theme, started by Sarcastic Mom.

Here are some of my favourite photos for this week;

 Ivy and Noah 23 and 3/4 months old

 Sisters

Spring in the Hunter Valley

Naturegirl and Shrekboy

A stack of kids!

I see this alot on some of the blogs I frequent;

Ass Hat.

What is an ass hat?

Can some one tell me?

Is it a bonnet worn by a donkey? Is it some sort of outer wear that you place over your backside? Literally a beanie for you bum?

Can someone please explain.

The gorgeous Childlife from In The Eyes Of A Child has bestowed upon me this award!

It is an award that was started by Chrissy at Chrissy’s This and That to honour wonderful women and was inspired by a post that her husband wrote about her.

I am truly honoured. Thank you.

If you haven’t had a read of Childlife’s blog, you should pop on over. She is a wonderful writer and her posts can make you laugh out loud, leave you in tears or have you thinking about things for days. One of my favourites! Also an amazing wonder woman!

There are lots of wonderful women out there, whose blogs I have come across. All of them wonder women in their own right. How do you choose?

The very first one who comes to mind is my friend Trish over at My Little Drummer Boys. She has overcome so much and she really is so amazing and generous and kind, in real life and online.

The next wonder woman is Mountainmama over at Careful What You Wish For. Again, another inspirational lady who takes life as it comes and appreciates all she has been given. She is a gifted writer as well.

Finally, Megan at Imagine If. I don’t know Megan very well at all but I love her blog and what her writing represents. I’m not sure what her life has seen but I do know that her want to make Child Protection one of our most important issues stirs alot of emotions in me.

I was reading an interesting post by Dr Rob the other day. He was speculating the possibility of doctors and patients being friends and, in that context, disclosing information when having a particularly bad day. He wondered why patient’s asked how he was and attempted to probe into his life outside of his practice. He noted that he felt uncomfortable being dishonest and telling his patients that his life was fine, if it was not but in giving any personal information about himself  asked if that was crossing the line of professionalism.

I haven’t been able to shake this post for several days and have been going through it in my head.

Now, I know I have had a go at our paed for speaking about his hectic week, when mine was falling apart at the seams. I am willing to concede that I was stressed at the time and clearly feeling selfish and sorry for myself. As is usually the case when you are trying to contact a doctor.

I’m sorry for that, I am, because when I thought about it, I would much rather know if the twins’ paed is feeling out of sorts, so I know where we stand. 

I responded to Dr Rob’s post. I said that I knew when our paed was not feeling great because of his body language, his concentration levels and his ability to elaborate on things without being prompted.

Having thought about it, obsessively, for the last 48 hours, I have come to the conclusion that his disclosure of his difficulties and struggle to balance his professional and his home life means alot to me. It kind of puts us on even ground. Makes him human.

I know that we are not friends. We do not socialise but we do have a relationship. We talk. I am very open and honest about how I feel about doctors (he laughts it off). I have to say, I have come to feel comfortable with him, like an old slipper, really. I will question him if I am not sure about what he is proposing and I have sometimes challenged him too (I said sometimes, Mary, Tracey). I am one of the people who ask how he is and, I guess, I do like to get an honest response.

After all, he knows all about my babies. He knows my obstetric history, he knows our family and genetic history. He knows about my parent acopia and he has phoned me in the middle of complete and utter breakdown and listened as I bawled down the phone without hanging up in fear. The other day he saw me in the hospital, in trackies and a spew/snot/tear stained t - shirt with my hair like a birds nest and dark circles of worry under my red rimmed, tear filled eyes.

Now I don’t know about you but there are only a few men who have seen me that way… and he is one of the three on my list.

So to hear a bit about his life seems to balance things out.

This brings me to Andrew. The doctor who was there when William was born and was also the doctor who I trusted with the birth of Ivy and Noah. Things were weird between us for a while. After everything we went through together with William, I considered us friends. We spoke as friends. We shared things that friends would. He knew how I was feeling at a time when I was really bad at letting them show. If we were in town, we would drop in to see him. I have worked with him too as a midwife and we have shared a continuing ‘friendship’ through our work.

When I came to him pregnant with Ivy and Noah we instantly changed back to the professional relationship of doctor and patient. I hated it and all my trust in him evaporated because I thought we were friends and he was clearly not reciprocating. It was getting close to d - day and I was not sure I wanted Andrew to care for me any more because I felt he was putting up a fascade, not being honest with me.

Until there was an intervention by our mutual friend, Carolyn, and Andrew and I actually talked. The relief was instant (for both of us, I think). Things have been ok since and we have been able to find some balance.

Again, with Andrew, we don’t really socialise but I still feel that we are friends; because of what we went through together, because of what I have disclosed to him. So, our relationship is different again from that of the paediatrician. I appreciate him immensely.

What do you think? Is it possible to be friends with a doctor?  Does it change things too much? Should we keep our distance and not ask how our doctor is feeling, want to get to know them in the same way that they know about our lives?

For me, those questions have definately been food for thought.

Just on a side note; I suppose I’m thinking alot about this because I am going to read William’s and my hospital notes today with Andrew and straight after that we have Ivy’s sleep study interview…

 

Misc Mum, Karen, my super - blogging hero has tagged me for a meme!

I am the new meme queen around these parts, me thinks.

Here are the instructions:

Link to the person that tagged you, and post the rules on your blog.

Share 7 random and/or weird facts about yourself.

Tag 7 random people at the end of your post, and include links to their blogs.

Let each person know that they’ve been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

 

So here we go; 7 random and/or weird facts about me.

 

1. My name was supposed to be Shirley, or something equally 70’s -  esque but my father renamed me after the 1972 September issue’s Playboy centrefold. I must say, I don’t think I lived up to his standards at all. If I was supposed to turn out like my namesake, I think he was sorely disappointed.

2. I can chomp out the tune of Baa Baa Black Sheep by gnashing my teeth together and shaping my mouth in different ways. (Well? It did say weird, I’m giving you weird).

3. I’m in the genetic group of people who’s second toe is longer than my first. This supposedly means I listen to my heart before I listen to my head.

4. I have phone phobia. I have real trouble phoning anyone and sometimes I struggle with picking the phone up when it is ringing. This started just after William died and is a weird little quirk that I am having trouble shaking.

5. When I was little I had a recurring dream that a funnel web spider was chasing me and no matter what I threw on top of it, it would always just throw it off, re - inflate and continue the pursuit.

6. The first birth I attended was that of my dog’s. Mosby birthed four puppies, the second of which was breech. I helped to ease the pup’s head out (and he survived)!

7.  At 35 years of age I can still do the front/back splits to the floor. I can also hold my heel in my hand and extend my leg fully to behind my ear. Although it is getting harder.

Now I have to tag 7 people, which is almost harder than having to think of 7 random facts. (My husband would beg to differ)!

Careful What You Wish For’s Mountainmama

Veronica from Sleepless Nights. Right back at ya, baby!

Mama Lee from Full Plate.

In The Life Of A Child’s Childlife

Joh Blogs from Because I Can.

The very funny X - Box 4 Nappy Rash man.

Mad Goat Lady, whose last couple of posts have been very thought provoking.

The lovely Veronica from Sleepless Nights has tagged me for a meme! These challenges are reasonably new to me, so forgive me if I still get excited.

The Big Eight

8 Things I Am Passionate About

1. My children, husband and family. I feel very strongly about this. Keeping connections. making sure they know how much I love and appreciate them.

2. Midwifery/ babies/ holistic care and providing women with the best birth possible.

3. Blogging (obviously).

4. Aquiring the best healthcare for the children. At this stage, especially Ivy.

5. When I have a chance to do it, I am passionate about scrapbooking.

6. Teaching the kids about good choices and bad ones and how these will effect their lives.

7. Ice cream. Yep. Love it. I am (sadly) on hiatus from it at the moment - husband imposed. That doesn’t mean I don’t beg for it everytime I have a conversation with him. It is my depression busting food, my food I turn to when everything else is crap. Yum.

8. Spending as much time with my mum that I can and letting her know how much she means to me.

8 Things I Want To Do Before I Die

1. Go to Fiji.

2. Go in a hot air balloon

3. Go to Europe

4. Open a free outreach antenatal service for women. A place where they can come for a cuppa, a check up, a chat. A place to come when they feel scared, alone, worried. A place for other women to connect to each other and share their experiences. Somewhere that will compliment their choice of care, be it midwife based or doctor based

5. See my children happy and healthy.

6. Meet my grandchildren and have a good relationship with them

7. Do my Masters

8. Meet up and spend time with (whether it be here or whether we travel to the U.S.) Liz and her family.

8 Things I Say Often (at the moment)

1. "No! Not Hairy Maclary again!"

2. "Look at this mess!"

3. "No jumpy jumpy on the bed!"

4. "Can we please have a different book? Mummy’s tired of reading Hairy Maclary."

5. "Poo! Stinky!"

6. "Behave yourselves or I’ll have to ring Santa."

7. "I can’t read Hairy maclary, he’s gone on holidays."

8. "I love you"

8 Books I Have Read RecentlyBet you can’t guess!

1. Hairy Maclary and Zachary Quack.

2. Hairy Maclary and Scatter Cat.

3. Hairy Maclary’s Catterwaul Caper.

4. The Five Love Languages of Children (yes, it is an adult’s book).

5. Edward the Emu.

6. Underpants Do’s and Don’ts (don’t ask, it’s supposed to be a children’s book).

7. Hug.

8. Hairy Maclary From Donaldson’s Dairy.

8 Things That Attract Me To My Best Friends

1. Something in common

2. Someone I can talk to in good times and bad

3. A good sense of humour. Maybe a little bit of craziness in there too

4. There is something about them that I am not (usually confident)

gee, this is hard…

5. Accepts me the way I am

6. Doesn’t expect a tidy house when they come over

7. Doesn’t tidy up when I come over

8. Likes (or at least pretends to like) children

8 Songs I Could Listen To Over And Over

1. Send In The Clowns (okay, now you know). Pretty weird, hey? I don’t know who the original singers are.

2. My Man, Cheryl Crowe

3. Godspeed -Dixie Chicks

4. Ordinary Boy -Vanessa Carlton

5. Hallelujah -Rufus Wainwright

6. It Is You -Dana Glover

7. Arms Of The Angels -Sarah McLaughlan

8. Is Forever Enough? -Dixie Chicks

8 People Who Should Totally Do This Meme

Sadly, all the people who I would have tagged have already done this so I’ll put it out there for anyone who’d like to take part. I know a bit of a cop out. Sorry.

Edited to add; I tag Tracey from Why Bother . (She cried when she wasn’t tagged).

After a few horrible days in the hospital Ivy is home. Re-intergration into the house has not been smooth but we’ll get there. Thank you to everyone who sent their well wishes. It meant alot and helped us to get through.

I know I am a little behind but I need to do a little bit of house keeping.

The 1st of November marked the beginning of NoBloPoMo, which I am taking part in. I haven’t quite worked out everything yet but I do know I’m supposed to post every day of November! So far so good, even if I did have to get the technical consultant/new sub editor to post for me.

The 1st of November also marked our official countdown to Ivy and Noah’s second birthday, which falls on the 30th.

It is one of our busiest months with dance concerts, camps away, end of school activities and that all important lead up to Christmas.

Today is David’s mum’s birthday! Happy Birthday Grandma, hope you have a wonderful day!

Now, back to our regular program!

The lovely Leigh and the equally lovely Meg have compiled a list of the top 50 Australian women bloggers and I am on it!!

I have to say that I am so honoured to be there. Amongst some of the most amazing bloggers.

I started blogging in March this year as a ‘time out for mum’ project because I couldn’t get to my scrapbooking without losing half of it to the babies own creative attempts and it has gone from there. I love it.

What I love more are the communities out there who come together and support one another. It is nice to see our Aussie community blossoming as well. If you are an Australian blogger and you want to be a part of it all you can join us here.

Without sounding too soppy, I wanted to say thank you to the people who take the time to read my ramblings. Some of you leave the most heartfelt, honest comments that truly make my day. Also, to all of you who are writing as well. I get real joy from reading everyone’s different experiences of this life.