Farewell 2011

I'm taking time out from being Miss Social with the parentals, to post my last blog entry for 2011.  Ooooooh, 2012 is only a few hours away!  It has definitely been a year of ups and downs, with big events happening and new friends made (love you long time Mah Julie, Kate "Kittehllama", Tracey, Karen and Melski), and old friendships made even stronger.  Realising how resilient I truly can be was a highlight, although it came from a low point. I also missed seeing Breaking Dawn, although judging by the reviews I didn't miss much! 

Anywho, writing about 2011 would have me here all night, so instead I've decided to post photos to show a snapshot of our 2011.

So, here is TPP 2011 'It's A Wrap' Edition.

From nine months of hyperemesis, multiple growth scans, and a belly...

... to the perfect, amazing arrival of my darling Molly earthside!

The 4th Birthday of Princess Delaney, who loves to dance and sing.

The 9th Birthday of my big beautiful Princess Maddison, who is personality plus!

While Princess Georgia celebrated her 2nd birthday in style!

Moving to Perth, and catching up with best friends!

As well as friends who have been around since they were both in utero!

Fulfilling an item on my bucket list (if only we had met Matt Moran *sigh*)

Watching my brother Mr S get married!

Visits from my Mum, my Nana and my Mother in Law!

Losing our beloved Aries...

Welcoming my teddybear Flynn for my 30th birthday....

As well as Miss Suki kitty, who has helped heal broken hearts.

Lots of fun!

Stella becoming an angel.

Christmas with my girls, Mr J, and some of our best friends!

A new car (oooooh!)

 Princess Molly growing!

And finally, seeing in 2011 at the foreshore.

I will hopefully get a chance to write about my dreams and wishes for 2012 tomorrow.  In the meantime, I wish everyone love, light and happiness for the following year!

Twas the night before Christmas...

I'm missing my family, but making memories for Molly's First Christmas is oh so special.  Tomorrow will be spent waking early and opening presents, having a picnic at the beach with some of our best friends, and eagerly awaiting the arrival of my wonderful parents!  I have that excited tingling in my belly that only Christmas brings, and can't wait for Mr J and I to fill up Santa sacks once the girls are in bed.  

Here's a little snapshot into our Christmas Eve thus far....

Missing my family (and choosing a coke with my brothers name on it!)

Exchanging presents with friends

Loving her Pillow Pet

Hanging with Mrs H

My beautiful big girl (who no longer believes in Santa *sob*)

More Pillow Pet love

Muffin asking for a present

Spending time with Perth friends, who are our psuedofamily over here

 Mr J's brofriend, Mr K!

 Special pats for Stormy

Suki's first Christmas as part of our family 

 Making Santa sacks

Come on Christmas!!

What's important?

Life is too short to worry about the texta marks on the walls.  Sure, scrub them off.  But they were drawn in excitement by a child discovering the wonders of their hand motions whilst grasping a pen or crayon.

Life is too short to mourn the lack of sleep that parenthood brings.  Yes, it is painful.  But every second you hold your child is a blessing, even if it is at 3am in the morning.

Life is too short to regret the past.  To regret mistakes.  To wonder if you're travelling the right path.  As long as you live life to its fullest, and are content.

You might be wondering what lead to this entry.

Last night, sweet Stella decided she was too tired to keep fighting.  She slipped away peacefully.  I can't imagine the pain that her parents are going through.  I can't say that I understand.

What I can say is that Stella has taught me to never take for granted what I have.  When Molly wakes me up at night, it's okay.  Because I can hold her close, hold her in my arms and kiss her cheeks and rock her until she falls back asleep.

When Georgia shares our bed, it's okay.  Because she feels safe when she has a hand resting on me, and as her mama I want her to feel protected from whatever life has in store for her.

When Delaney is cranky, it's okay.  Because she has a voice, and feelings.  She wants to be heard, and understood.  As her mama, right now, I understand her the best.

When Maddison sings loudly, oh so loudly, it's okay.  Because singing makes her happy.  All I want is for my princesses to feel joy in their hearts.

It is all okay.  Because Mr J and I are so blessed.  Life is so fragile, so quick, and you don't ever know what the future will bring.  Tonight as I cry for Stella, for her parents and her brother, I am reminded of how much these little people love us, as much as we love them.  They truly steal your heart, your life, and your sanity.

But you wouldn't have it any other way.  

Hold your loved ones close, and blow a kiss to the heavens for Stella.

(Donations to the Australian Mitochondrial Disease Foundation can be made here. )

Oh Christmas Tree....

What a fun Saturday we had!

Yesterday morning was spent taking the PP for their Santa photo, which was a success (as you can see)! Woot!   Then due to our old Christmas tree running away, we trekked through KMart and Target to try find another one.  KMart were all sold out, Target had a few ridiculously priced ones left.  So we drove down to Bunnings to see if they had any real ones, where they tried to sell us something called a 'Woollybush.'

"I'm in your garden, pretending to be a Christmas tree!"

No thanks.  We arrived home deflated, after Mr J repeatedly informing me that I'd waited too long, blah blah blah.  A call to BigW revealed they had some left, so we started the drive to Cockburn [insert Mr J giggling like a schoolgirl here, even though it's pronounced COE-burn].

After taking the wrong exit and an encounter with a stowaway wasp, a "REAL XMAS TREES" sign caught my eye.  So, after a split second decision, we veered away from our destination and followed the signs all the way to a Christmas tree farm.  It was quite busy, and we realised how unprepared we were for a real tree when we took note of the utes and trailers, and roof racks.  But, it doesn't hurt to look right?!

We were greeted by some lovely people, who gave us a cart and a saw, and we started traipsing through the trees.  Delaney decided the ones on the edge weren't quite what we were looking for, so we ended up the middle of the field.  Finally, we saw it.  A beautiful tree, calling out to us! We circled it several times, decided this was 'the one', and Mr J proceeded to cut it down.  Then we loaded it onto our cart, and proudly dragged it away to be paid for.  Mr J had convinced me that it would fit in the boot of the car...... we drove home with about a quarter of it hanging out of the boot, and the boot tied down with an old jumper.  Classy!

Anyway, we now have our Christmas tree! It's perfect, and the kingdom smells like Christmas!

Mr J making sure it's all purdyful!

Our carnivalesque (aka gaudy) tree! (angelhair has since been removed, noooo!)

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Merry Christmas from The Princess Posse!

Tiny ramblings

Hellooo followers and nosey people!  How are you on this fine Summer day?!

It's been a pretty uneventful week in the kingdom, save two sick princesses (Maddison and Georgia) and a king who escaped the walls for a day of duty (work schmerk!).  Although, I am very proud of myself! My laptop has been overheating, and switching itself off randomly.  So last night under the supervision and guidance of Mr J, I pulled it apart, dusted off the inside and cleaned out the fan, and put it back together again! Magic! Except for the fact that a toddler sat on the screen, and snapped the hinge doovalacky!  I guess the life of a foldable, portable computer is fraught with perils.  I emailed my dad (IT guru dude), expecting him to be all "Omg IT skills must be fully genetic, you have mad skills!" But instead I got, "Does it still work?!" Ye of little faith indeed! Yes it does still work, albeit with a screen that's hanging on by a thread.  But I am writing this entry on it.  So ner!

Otherwise, not much else has been happening.  I'm contemplating whether Mr J and I want to take the PP for their Santa photos this weekend.  It scares me.  I think all the Stranger Danger education has paid off, but at what cost?! The loss of our annual photo? Anyway, we shall take the risk and hopefully I can report back that we were successful in obtaining a photo that can be displayed both by us and their proud grandparents.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas, argh!

21 days until Christmas. O. M. G.

Things will be done differently this year.  We're staying home!  No stacking parcels around protesting children in the car like a game of Tetris gone awry.  No dreading anticipating the next family disagreement, which adds a bit of colour to the day.  No turkey grabs, no crackling incidents, no stress!

However, before my family gets narky at my apparent relief, I will miss seeing you guys!  I'll miss Pop handing out the pressies, seeing people's reactions when they open their gifts, the traditional Christmas spread (om nom nom!).  This is the first Christmas where the morning won't been spent with my parents, and I will be feeling that on the 25th of December.  Instead, our morning will be spent celebrating Christmas just with the PP as they open their gifts.  It's Molly's first Christmas, and I'm sure the wrapping paper will be more exciting than anything!  Instead of ham and turkey and roast veggies, we'll be having a seafood bbq with some dear friends at the beach.  The kids will be able to swim, and us bigguns will be able to relax!

I'm about halfway through my Christmas shopping.  I'm losing momentum.  I'm so proud of the things I've already bought (especially for my eldest cousin, from the girls!), but I'm at the part of my list where I'm struggling to think of what to buy people.  Vouchers are tempting, but they're so boring!  Clothes have the potential to offend the recipient (ask Mr J about my birthday!), and CDs and DVDs are soooo 2000.  My parade of parcels coming through the door is dwindling (I can hear Mr J cheering), and I have a nice pile of bits and bobs that require me to wrap them artfully.  I might have to get Mr J to do it: after all, the man sews and irons better than me (thank you Navy!).

We also need to purchase a new tree.  Ours went walkabouts on our big move, how you lose a tree I have no idea.  Maybe someone felt sorry for it, or maybe it followed someone home.  Maybe it was scared of being dressed yet again in a sparkly, gaudy array of baubles and tinsel that would put any mardi gras participant to shame.  Either way, we're going out next weekend to bring home a new tree that will fill a corner of the loungeroom, and spread it's branches lovingly over a pile of beautifully wrapped presents that will inevitably be chewed on by Miss Eden kitty as they have been the past two years.  The furries are themselves receiving a gift from Mel at Furry Fascination, sad when I've organised their gifts before some of my family members!  But I still have 21 days, right?!

Better get shuffling!

Attempting to catch up

Sorry, I've been slack.  I had my darling Mum staying with us for a few days, and thus TPP was neglected.  I will try catch you up on our shennanigans while the three big princesses are colouring in, and the smallest is pretending to sleep.

As I said above, my Mum visited for a couple of days after she finished her work commitments.  This lead to a hobble around the city on my broken foot, and Mum standing in line in excitement at the Nespresso bar to buy pods.  I couldn't believe the line of people waiting to purchase varying flavours of caffeine goodness! I must be missing something by not being a coffee indulger.

Otherwise, it's been life as usual here in the kingdom of pink.  As Christmas draws closer, I'm asked repeatedly by Delaney if Santa is coming tonight.  We saw Santa at the local shops today, where Delaney climbed the stage when she saw the big bowl of sugary bribery.  She gained confidence and even told Santa what she wanted for Christmas.  I casually leaned in so I could get some sort of idea, however Delaney proceeded to tell Santa that she wanted "Something awesome" in her stocking.  That was it. Something awesome?! Way to help your parents out Laney!  When it came time for Georgia's turn, she nodded when Santa asked if she'd been a good girl, and when asked what she wanted, replied "Da!" Translations would be appreciated.

Maddison won the monthly Literacy Award at school, and came away with a big certificate and a book.  I'm very proud of my big girl!  Not so proud of Molly, whose current mission in life is to render her mama into a barely functioning zombie.  Attempts to resettle her during the night are met with protests, smiles, babbling, and limb flailing.  As you do.  I've tried offering her free to good home, but people have the smarts!

It might be time to join the Nespresso conga line.

Let's get this out of the way.

One of the things that drives Mr J batty, is that I often care too much what other people think.  I will fight for my girls and unleash the mama bear if anyone gets between my cubs and I, but when it comes to defending myself then I'm more likely to try keep everyone else happy at my own expense (it's probably the result of being bullied throughout high school, thanks for the lingering effects guys).

I've spent a good two years sharing some things only with my nearest and dearest.  As you do.  However, why should I be ashamed?  If people are going to judge me, then they're not who I thought they were.

I've survived Antenatal and Postnatal Depression.  Yes, some of you may have had an inkling.  But only a few people actually asked me if I was okay.  During my pregnancy with Molly, I kept an anonymous blog which I shared with only a few people.  You can see it HERE.  You might notice that I stopped blogging about a month before Molly's arrival.  I did that because I was scared.  Oh so scared.  Scared of her arriving safely, and how I would feel.  Well for those who I haven't shared my birth story with, it went perfectly! Painful yes! But peaceful, and so different to Georgia's arrival. Mr J, and my Mum, and my beautiful friend Kara helped make this possible, as well as an amazing midwifery team throughout my pregnancy and labour. There was a moment when everything became better.  When all my anxiety and fears slipped away.  Would you like to see it?!

There! Right there is the moment that my Molly made everything okay! (Well, there's another photo before this one, but I didn't want to traumatise anyone with pictures of her umbilical cord! Thank you my amazing Kara for capturing her arrival!)

Since that moment, I've felt great!  I don't feel the black dog lurking, just occasional simmers of anxiety when I'm tired.  But I did it!  I beat AND and PND!  I'm not ashamed anymore. I'm proud.

Greetings and Salutations

Hello, and welcome to my little corner of the World Wide Web (apart from Facebook, that is!).  I created this blog in order to share the daily happenings of the Powwow family with those who actually care, and those who are just plain old nosey! I can't promise that this will be an exciting blog, or even a well kept blog.  What I can promise is lots of photos of our shennanigans, mucho rambling, and sharing the trials and tribulations of raising our girls.