Hiya! It’s Mister C and Me…

Hello… Well, isn’t the rain glorious at present? I got a shock when we heard it for the first-time days ago. I had to sit up and look around and think what the sound actually was, as it’s been many months (not as long as other communities mind you- not good…) since we all last heard such a lovely sound- of RAIN! Mister C, the girls and I, ran outside barefoot and jumped around in the rain; it was so refreshing on our faces and the suffering garden looked happy soaking every inch up too! Let’s hope all the rain distinguishes the remaining nasty bush fires; our thoughts are still with the communities affected by no power and loss of precious animals and stock (our hearts go out to all) …

Moving right along… Back to 2014 (nearly done), busy weeks flew by, we headed into the Winter months and celebrated our dear Widy’s (eldest daughter) 10th Birthday. It was a fun disco (hair and nails too) party with lots of friends over (and lots of laughter and screaming too!). Husband noted… “Party on Saturday for Widy was great. Memories: picture each time the door-bell rang, the girls and Mister C went running to the door. At twenty-one months, with a determined look on his face, as if he had to know who it was; it became his job to open the door, running in his cute toddler running style.”

So, as I had mentioned in previous blogs about our giant move to another state, Husband and I couldn’t agree on things, particularly where to live. Lots of discussions (some semi-heated, Husband did admit to being difficult with the idea of change) on finalising plans to rent out our current home, where to live, which school and daycare to attend etc. I agree, it was a lot to think about, to plan and organise; but knowing me, I was up for the challenge!… Husband commented… ” I could not sleep for worry about change. Anyway, we have come to an agreement where to roughly live, so I don’t have to drive too far, more like 45 mins than over an hour to work. We both recognised, like many couples, the ‘seven-year mark’ thing can be a tough time.”… Husband calls out… “Yes, it can be tough to be told (we had agreed!) you are moving in six months about 95 km away from your workplace; but this was well over 5 years ago now; all things considered, I am very happy we moved!” Husband wanted privacy and peace with an acreage away from city ‘suburbia’, which we finally did achieve three years ago. (Thanks, Husband for all the commuting you have done and are going to do this year, we appreciate it! Love you T.J.L!).

As you can imagine, in order to move across states (over 100 km away), we had to do lots of sorting out of property we needed, versus property we didn’t. Lots of banter with the family over items that were dearly loved and wanted to be kept (let that joy spark!), while items that could be tossed in the big skip bin, we had arranged; other items could be given away to friends and ‘the Salvos’ (managed to get rid of a large old sofa, book case, tables and bed which was great). I recall the girls excitedly sitting on the couch with Mister C, talking about the upcoming move. They were giggling about which house they were going to live in; the agreement was (all were nodding and smiling) it had to have a large spiral stair-case in it with a big blue pool! I also recall Mister C, running into his room and coming back out with as many of his toys he could carry, saying, “Keep, Mummy, keep.” Then a few minutes later, Mister C, would run into one the girl’s rooms and pull out their items and drag them out saying, “Take Mummy, take; no good!”…

Apart from all that work, we had to organise our place to be rented out (was our final decision I think?). So, we had met up with the same agent who sold us the house years earlier, were professional and keen to help (fees and returns were good too- thanks!). To think we had to have an ‘open-house’ inspection to rent the property was strange, but I guess a necessary event to do? Date set, in between Uni and nursing work; I performed crazy ‘Mum-speed’ actions, making light work of cleaning up and shoving items into cupboards and under beds, an hour before inspection time. Packed up kids (Husband was working late) and off we drove to Maccas for a well-earned ‘Big-mac’ (nuggets for the kids) and fizzy drink! (I was popular that evening). Fortunately, we only had to do one official ‘open-house’, as we had several applications to peruse through, finally agreeing on a nice (professional) single Dad with two children family. (I have to mention that years later, we ended up selling the house to this tenant; it was the easiest sale settlement we have ever experienced-thank goodness for small mercies, thanks G.B!). Husband calls out… “Well the guy got our house for about 40K less than the real estate agent said it was worth, so I think he was the one thanking small mercies!”

So, things were progressing along nicely. We had found a charming two-story place to rent (little did we know about its eerie charm), luckily for the kids, it did have a large stair-case, but no pool sadly (one win was better than none!); organising the application the following week. We heard from the agent about three days later, which was very prompt; arranging to meet in the town centre the following week. The same day mind you, I went for my casual job interview at the Base Hospital there. I was nervous but excited to meet staff, the interview (I think) went well on the day (obviously, I did get the job!); but was relieved it was over (interviews are always bit stressful with putting yourself out there in a new town). I recall asking Husband to take day off work, so he could watch Mister C, in order for me to attend the interview; while killing two birds with one stone (bad saying isn’t it?), and sign the rental lease the same day too (good to be organised I say!).

A big list of to-do jobs was stuck on the fridge (with everything else important, including the cute pics of kids); I was madly ticking things off, as we had set the moving date to early January 2015 (sensibly in between break from school and Uni). It was a good step forward I thought, with most of the important jobs to do ticked off. The thought of moving away and starting a fresh (a ‘tree change’ we were calling it!) was very exciting to us (maybe not some others-sorry!). Thankfully, we found a great day-care centre for Mister C to attend two days per week, while I was at Uni (was going to have to commute the last year, but it was nearly over!) I managed to ring around a few local schools, putting in an application to one on the North-side, and heard back within the same week that the girls had been accepted (super happy!). Widy (eldest daughter) was to repeat year four, mainly due to her mild delay and time needed (was usually six months behind most children, due to being born very premature) to catch up on her processing and learning. This had been a difficult decision to make, after Husband and I met with the (current) school counsellor and Specialist. It was agreed to give Widy the time she needed to catch up (now in year nine and doing so well!) Super proud of our girl, she is a very bright and caring person (love you O.G.S!).

In between the chaos and busyness, Mister C turned the big happy TWO! A very busy red-head indeed was our zany, Mister C. He always made us smile, even when he had puled out all the items in the kitchen cupboards and then on to the bathroom. I recall one time, it was quiet and I looked around to see where Mister C had gone to, only to find him watching the toilet bowl in our en-suite bathroom. I said, “What you doing there Mister C?”. He giggled and pointed into the toilet and ran off. I looked in wonder and to my dismay, he had put all the rolls of toilet paper in the bowl and had been watching it magically swell up! (Of course, we moved the toilet paper up higher after that event). Husband recalls… “Geez! Yesterday, I think Mister C sucked most of the liquid out of a ‘Fluro’ highlighter, he had found on the dining table! I had to tell Wife, and we monitored him for most of the evening. He seemed okay this am, hungry as usual, he is crazy!”…

Anyway, we celebrated Mister C’s day with going to visit Daddy at his work for lunch. It was a fun day, Mister C opened his gifts in the morning, his sweet Aunt (Hiya C.M) I recall, gave him this loud, blue, crazy fluff ball and he loved it! (The noise was so loud, I eventually packed it away in one of the boxes and didn’t actually find it for several months later…). Husband commented, ” Hmm, just realised, I regretfully will have to start referring to Mister C as a two-year old instead of a one-year old now. Well my big birthday boy two-year old and Mummy came to visit me at work today! One of those precious memories that will stay with me always, is him chasing me around the big meeting room smiling and laughing.”… The evening was spent chasing Mister C around the house with the girls, playing ‘hide and seek’ and eating white ‘mud’ cake (the only cake Mister C will completely eat to this day- usually only part of the icing on everything else).

A word from Mister C…

Mister C called out many times in the day, “I’m bored, there’s nothing to do!”… I said, “Yes there is, why don’t you ask Big Sis to play with you, and build a giant cubby house downstairs? Don’t forget to get some snacks too?” Mister C grumbled, then nodded and said, “Okay, Mum, but what if she says NO! to me?” “Why don’t you go try asking nicely?”… Later on, I heard lots of happy giggling and laughter coming from the downstairs rumpus room. Mister C in bed at story time that night said, “Mum, I really like playing with Sis, she was nice to me, as I was too. I’m glad I had some-one to play with! It’s good, while we can’t go outside much with the smoke everywhere.”…

Stay tuned…

I wanted to share some exciting news… I have found a layout designer to assist us with our first book layout; I am over half way with the illustrations for the book too. So … We are nearly there (hopefully) with self-publishing soon…

Mister C has another unexpected procedure in hospital and moving mayhem…Our house to be rented out floods, not only that but twice! (second time not as bad), within days of it due to be rented…. We settle into our new house and completely new surroundings (where’s ‘Coles’ again Husband?!). Mister C joins a new day-care group and the girls start their new school…