Thankful Thursday - The Zany Edition

Deciding what to write about for today’s Thankful Thursday post was pretty much a no brainer. You see nine years ago today I became a mum of two. That’s right, today is my dear little Zany’s ninth birthday.

This was taken back in March when we were in Pemberton, Zany would wake up every morning
and the first thing she wanted to do was feed the birds that hung around. She has an amazing way with
animals and at this stage says she wants to be a vet when she grows up

Over the last week or so I have found myself staring at her wondering how it is that she is actually nine. It really does only seem like yesterday that I was calling the midwife to let her know that the baby was on the way. Not any time soon mind you but definitely on the way.

It was a Sunday morning, about ten I think. The midwife, Josie, was already at the hospital and told me to take my time. Since she was already there she would get a room and set it up for me. I had been hoping to have a water birth. Though back then the public hospital would only let the birthing pools be used for pain relief, birthing, whenever possible, was to occur out of the water.

By the time Mr Awesome and I dropped Lovely off at my parents and arrived at the hospital, dear Josie had well and truly set up my room. That woman was beyond amazing and to this day I am thankful she was there for me.

We walked to a dimly lit room with candles gently glowing and the sound of Enya wafting through. It was all so perfect.

The hospital was relatively close to the ocean with the maternity ward positioned on a floor high enough to see the sea. While I may not be able to remember whether it is the sixth or eighth floor I do remember looking out the window and out across the water and being mesmerised by what looked like shimmering diamonds.

After a relatively short labor, around four hours I guess, my beautiful little Zany was earthed and in my arms. 

Now nine years later I am still blessed to be in the presence of an amazing little person. My baby has grown into a young girl who is kind, thoughtful and caring. She so often puts the needs of others before her own. Though there is always a point where she says no more and takes what she needs as well. 

She has a fabulous sense of humour and a laugh that is infectious. A radiant smile that can instantly lift me.

Of an afternoon when I pick her up from school she will break out into a run the moment she spots me. Smile on her face and arms out wide, engulfing me the moment she is within reach. It is without a doubt one of my most favourite times of the day. A blatant reminder of how blessed I am to be a part of her life.

I can only hope the next nine years are as wonderful as the last. I am so thankful that I get to call this precious soul my girl.

Other random things I am thankful for this week

• having my first unsupervised and paid day at work
• making awesome pumpkin soup
• as I crawled into bed Wednesday night remembering I had left said pumpkin soup on the stove and not yet written this post and getting up and writing this post while eating said soup
• the kindest and supportive comments over on Rhianna Writes
• a day that was just warm enough to wear shorts, the novelty of jeans has gone
• steaming hot showers

What about you? What are you thankful for this week? Join in with a blog post or just comment below

An InLinkz Link-up

Thankful Thursday

The brain is a funny thing sometimes. Like how all week long as various things happen to me, my brain thinks "Oh that would be a great inclusion for Thankful Thursday this week" Then when it actually comes time to write the post it goes blank.

Completely and utterly blank. Unable to think of a single thing that could make the post readable. Which then sends me into a bit of a tizz because the reality of life is that I have an abundance of things to be thankful for.

My life is an incredibly blessed one.

I get to spend each and every day with the man of my dreams, the love of my life, my one and only. We have three amazing daughters who are beautiful inside and out. We are somehow able to survive (some would say comfortably) on only one wage in one of the most beautiful places in Australia. I could not be more happier about our decision to stop and stay in the South West for a bit.

And while all of that is something to be incredibly thankful for, and I most certainly am, it is not something that makes for great reading week in and week out.

So what else am I thankful for?

This week I am thankful that Zany did such a great job in her class performance at assembly. After just five weeks of ukulele lessons she was able to play two songs. One of which is right up there on my most favourite songs list. Mind you I can't help but wonder if Tom Dooley is really the most appropriate song for nine year olds to sing given it is all about a man who will soon be hanging from a tree. The other song, Mary Mack, made my heart swell as well as it took me straight back to my own school days.

I am thankful that this school has so many opportunities for the girls. There is a music teacher, a performing arts teacher, sports teachers, specialised language teachers, art teacher, as well as class the classroom teachers. All of whom seem to be talented, kind and caring.

Monday is a public holiday here and I am super thankful for that. Hopefully the weather will be lovely and we will get to go camping for a night or two. As freezing as it may be I love the idea of sleeping out under the stars. I do miss it so.

Last night was game one of State of Origin. I am thankful that it was shown live on free to air here, given this is quite possibly the least rugby league state in Australia I wondered whether it would be shown. Not only am I thankful it was but thankfully my team was the winner and great game was had.

My final thanks for today is for the fact that Lovely realises the importance of being a part of a team and being committed to that team. Her hockey team played last night meaning that she would miss most of the big game, much to her disappointment I might add. Despite this she still went and played.

So what about you? What are you thankful for?

An InLinkz Link-up

Days five to eleven

Day five.

So my writing every day has not exactly gone to plan. Which I am sure does not actually come as a surprise to anyone who knows me even a little.

It is currently day six and I have just written up day four. Clearly not all that much of a tragedy but I had expected to fall behind a bit later than this.

Crazily though as much as it has only been a day or two without writing I can barely recall exactly what we have done. Obviously my mind has had no troubles settling into holiday mode. In fact I have struggled to even recall what day it is.

View of Kununurra from a lookout just outside of town

Day Eleven.

So it’s been a while between drinks (posts). The whole writing every day thing has turned out to be a bit beyond my capabilities. When last we met it was day six and I was catching up on days four and five. Though I only got as far as a few paragraphs into day five before I was forced to make small talk with the mothers of some kids that Zany had befriended. Yes I know forced sounds a bit harsh but sometimes I feel that the whole human interaction thing to be a bit exhausting. 

On this particular occasion Zany had decided that she wanted to go back to the swimming pool with a boy that she had met there earlier in the day when Mr A had given me a bit of shush time and taken the girls for a swim. Despite just having settled down for some writing time I reluctantly agreed to escort her. I figured that could take the lappy down there and kill two birds with the one stone.

As it turned out that when we got there my mind went blanker than blank and I was unable to recall any events from the previous days. Though there were a small series of events that unnerved me  as I was setting myself up that may have had something to do with it. 

Things like when I dragged the plastic table over to the shade it lost two of it’s legs which meant it then became unbalanced. Which would not have been such an issue if I wasn’t juggling the lappy and a plastic cup of cider all while wearing a big floppy hat that greatly reduced my eyesight. Needless to say I managed to lose half my drink and a small amount of pride as I was certain that all in the area were watching and highly amused.

It just so happened the women that I was *forced* talk to (because despite trying to write I was the only that had been able to regularly keep track of where the children where hiding) were actually quite lovely and at various stages of adventures similar to ours. We ended hanging out at one of their vans later that afternoon to exchange tales and I was pleasantly reminded that despite being exhausting the whole human interaction thing was more often than not quite worth the effort.

Zany clearly does not share my feelings on making new friends and meeting people as she is constantly putting herself out there and chatting to anyone that will listen or pay her the slightest bit of attention. Teapot is much the same though a little slower of the mark and has told me a few times that she is actually a little shy. This is also short lived and before long you would thing she has known her new friends forever. When we left our campsite this morning she actually got a tad upset about the prospect of not seeing her friends, the kids from the next site over again.

Lovely on the other hand would not talk to a stranger if her life depended on it. The other night her and I went to an information night that was held at the station where we were staying. Halfway through this lovely young man child came and asked if the empty seat next to her was taken. Based on the look on her face I thought she was going to hyperventilate. Smiling at him I shook my head and told him he was welcome to sit with us.

Before long he started trying to make some small talk about how long we had been there for and what we had done that day. Turns out he had seen us during our gorge walk earlier that day. In order to break the uncomfortable silence that followed each question I felt obliged to answer. Lovely told me afterwards she didn’t feel the need to answer because I got in first but I really doubt that was the case. I joked me needing to leave the moment he sat down and the look in her eyes was one of pure fear.

Though truth be told gorgeous young boys from Switzerland are not really the friends I want to encourage her to be making. But that is probably just the over protective mother in me wanting to preserve my child's innocence forever coming out. While I didn’t find our his age he did seem a few years older than her and obviously a lot more confident and probably experienced if you know what I mean.

For now though I must leave it here. The sun has begun it’s descent and dinner needs to be cooked. 

Snapshots of Us Week 3

As I mentioned last week I love the idea of making sure I take at least one photo of the girls each and every week, just linking in with Practising Simplicity's The 52 Project didn't feel right. There was something about all those children's faces on the link up screen that didn't sit well with me. Especially as it was clearly not a community that shared some comment love.

After much thought and consideration I have finally come up with a way round it. I am just going off and doing my own thing. So I give to you Snapshots of Us. 

It has been a week of torrential downpours here so when the sun decided to shine we made the most of it and jumped on our bikes and head down to the foreshore for a fish 'n' chip lunch and a play at the playground.

Teapot going round and round and round

 Zany, also going round and round

And you guessed it, Lovely, going round and round

Me and Mr Awesome, not going round and round

Snapshots of Us Week 1

It is ridiculously early here. And by that I mean just gone 5.30. Which alright, is not quite stupid o'clock but it is not far from it especially for a Sunday.

I have been awake for over an hour, there was a little person (Zany) who decided that my bed was far more comfortable than her own. Which she is incredibly right about. It is. I know because I tried laying in it after she invaded mine. Mental note to look for an online bedding company to sponsor me. 

Anyway, here I am gleefully in front of my beloved Mac surrounded by silence. Save for the old gently breeze and left over rain drops from the last monsoonal downpour.

As I began wondering through my various feeds seeing who had posted what since last I dropped in I came across Karen's post for today. I too have often thought of trying to keep track of regular snap shots but for whatever reason (probably my laziness) it just never happens.

Amazingly this week saw me snapping a few shots of the girls while we were checking out the big waves on the jetty. Which means I am able to join in this week with Practising Simplicity's The 52 Project

Zany looking out to sea to see how far she could not see

Lovely, contemplating whether she has what it takes to be a model

Teapot, just doing what she does, making my heart melt

 I am still contemplating whether I will go back and post for weeks one and two of the project. It is not like I am adverse to back dating posts if the need arises. Particularly if it encourages me to complete a challenge. Either way I hope I remember to take a few snaps so I will be back next week.