Mr Sensitive

People who know my husband might laugh hysterically if I said that he is sensitive. Mr G is well-known for his up-front-ness, his talent for boldness, his ability to speak his mind. He's not really the sort who goes around tip-toeing.

He is the most honest person I know. He may stomp on feelings with his bluntness from time to time, but he would never turn around and stick a knife in your back (so to speak). He is not two-faced, he isn't a fake or pretend-nice. What you see is what you get. And he's always the first person to apologise. If he knows he's said or done the wrong thing, he'll always man-up and make peace. And he really does care about people. So I say, in that way - he is sensitive.

As coach of our son's football team, it's a tough balancing act. He doesn't want to appear to be favouring our Dash when it comes to handing out trophies. But neither does he want to overlook our boy's achievements.

It was just such a quandry that Coach Dad found himself in, on Saturday. The team played great in their second ever match, coming away with another win, 2-0. Dash scored a great goal and set up another one with an awesome cross.

But there were other great efforts being made as well. The defense was solid and the other team never even looked like scoring. Player of the Day was hard to call.

In the end Mr G decided he'd give the award to an outstanding defender... but knowing how hard our boy had played, Coach Dad warned him of his decision before-hand.

Dash swallowed the news in silence. There were no outbursts or displays of temper from him. Just silence. Silence in the car on the way home. Silence as he sloped off to his room and shut the door. His disappointment was thick in the air, yet he held it together.

Friends called in for morning tea after the match, and while we were all sitting around Mr G called Dash into the lounge, who stood there with his head hanging down.

Then Coach Dad made this announcement: "Today was a tough call. I really wanted to give my son the trophy for Player of the Day, but the other lad just edged him out. However, in recognition of his excellent play, awesome effort and great attitude, I want to present this Award to.... Dash!"

From behind his back Coach Dad pulled out a little gold plastic trophy and presented it to his now-beaming son.

I have no idea where he got it from. All I know is that his act of acknowledgement (in front of our visitors) made a world of difference to that kid, who skipped off happily to play - his disappointment erased in a moment.

When Coach Dad went to tuck in our little football star last night, he found the little gold trophy clutched in his fist. Precious.

See what I mean? Sensitive.

The Climb

We woke up to sound of a little girl singing in her bedroom.
Bleary-eyed from broken sleep, Mr G muttered to me, "Now that's the sound of a happy child..."
She was singing Miley Cyrus - what else but The Climb?

Can I admit here to you in the safety of my little blog that I actually love that song? The lyrics speak to me and when I hear my daughter singing it at the top of her lungs first thing in the morning, it makes me feel happy.

She doesn't always get the words exactly right, but she sure is enthusiastic (and sings in a very cute American accent)...

I can almost see it, those dreams I'm dreamin'
There's a voice inside my head sayin', you'll never reach it.

It's been a while since we did a proper family outing on a Saturday. We've gotten a bit lazy and apathetic on weekends, but Miss Fab is always begging for us to do things "as a family". Yesterday afternoon (after a busy morning of football and friends for brunch) she came up with the idea of going to Clip'n'Climb, an indoor climbing centre for kids. Why not? we thought. We even found a 2-for-1 voucher.

But ohhhhh, I'm gonna be strong
Just keep pushin' on

Oh the excitement. What a fabulous place - it was like a climbing Cave of Wonders. The tether ropes are counter-weighted, so they actually help pull the kids up, and coming down is half the fun.

There's always gonna be another mountain
I'm always gonna want to make it move

I strapped Miss Fab into her harness while Mr G buckled up Dash and juggled the Scrag (who just wanted to get climbing too).

The first wall the kids attempted was colourful backlit bricks. Dash scurried up and swung down grinning. Miss Fab (a regular spider monkey) bounced excitedly on the spot waiting for her turn.

As she climbed up, we stood below cheering her on, until we realised that she was... sobbing??! But still... climbing???!! She was about 3/4 of the way up the wall, terrified but still keeping on going.

There's always gonna be an uphill battle
Sometimes I'm gonna have to lose

"Come back, honey, let go, just come down..." I called. She returned to earth and crumpled in a tearful heap. I unclipped my baby girl and cuddled her while she sobbed, "I don't want to do this anymore, I want to go home..."

The floor manager saw our plight and hurried over offering a jar of sweeties. He spoke to her about just climbing as high as she felt comfortable and then coming back down...

She wiped off her tears but was still unconvinced. I suggested that we just have a walk around and see if there was anything that took her fancy to have a go at, which she relucantly agreed to.

Aint about how fast I get there
Aint about what's waiting on the other side
It's The Climb.

We explored the place, with Miss Fab rejecting plenty of colourful and imaginative climbing options... until she spotted a rope ladder. This one looked do-able. She climbed a few rungs, looking back to me for reassurance. A couple more, then she dropped back to earth, smiling. "That was easy," she said.

And tried again. And again. And again. Going a little higher each time, she regained her confidence so much that before long she made it all the way to the top.

This time when she landed, she hugged me and hugged me, laughing, "This is so fun mama! I love it! Let's try something else!"

It's all about, it's all about The Climb

And that was that. For the rest of our time she used that strategy: Climbing as far as she was comfortable, then come back to safety. Try again and go a little further. Keep going and eventually reach the top.

Before we left she even surpassed her big brother and made it all the way to the top of the green pillars - inspiring him to go again and climb higher too.

There's a lesson there, isn't there??

Keep the faith... Keep the faith
Keep climbing, keep moving

Whatever it is that scares us, whatever we need to conquer, we can take a few little steps... a few more... retreat to safety then try again. All we have to do is keep trying and we'll get there.

And we may even wake up one morning, singing...



It's all about, it's all about the Climb.

Bookish

This is a quick post to try and inspire me to get going on some more pages for our Book (the one I'm writing with Rebecca). I've been off the boil for the last few weeks but really want to get moving on it again.

(You can click on the pages to see them larger)

The Book now has a title. It may not be the ultimate final one, but we think this says what the Book is all about...

LOVING LIFE... with Kids

It is a book for mothers. The Book will be filled with all our best creative ideas for parties, celebrations and family fun (Rebecca is the Queen of theme dinners, and my original inspiration for the kids birthdays I do). And since we are not the be-all and end-all of cool ideas, we'll be including other mums' great ideas as well. You may just get invited to let us include your birthday parties or theme dinners in the Book...! (Have something you think we'd be interested in?? Email us greatfun4kids@live.com)

The Book will be Real. No stage-managed photo-shoots-with-mini-models in sight. All real photos. With Behind the Scenes stories as well. Tell it like it is... with humour.

The style will be chatty and informal, friendly. Almost an ideas scrapbook but also more than that.

It will share both our journeys - through depression (me) and divorce (her). It will share what helps us, inspires us, what works. It will be full of our funny errors and embarrassing stuff-ups. It will be encouraging, funny, honest and colourful.

We feel that so many Birthday Party or Ideas books are so beautiful and clever, but almost unattainable by most of us. This will be a book full of real ideas, tested on actual scallywag children!

Now I just need to get a few more pages done so I can print up a mock-up and try to find a publisher.
We think it's going to be great. Now we just hope that someone else (with a publishing company) will agree with us.

What do you think? Does our Book sound like one you'd like to have?

On Days Like These...

...I am thankful for Artists. Artists who make pictures for their mummies that read: "I Love My Mum". A picture like that really helps.

...I am thankful for Neighbours. Neighbours who say, "Sure I'll take the kids with me to school." Neighbours like that really help.

...I am thankful for Friends. Friends who squeeze coffee into a really busy day. Friends like that really help.

...I am thankful for Txts. Txts that say, "Lets go walkin 2moro mrning afta skul dropoffs". Having stuff to look forward to really helps.

...I am thankful for a Husband. A husband who gets up and changes the toddler's nappy so I can have an extra 20 minutes sleep. A husband who goes to work so I can be at home. So on days like these I can find a way to get through. With friends. And coffee. And Neighbours. And txts. And husbands.

...And I am thankful to God. Thankful that even though I have days like these (where my brain ceases to work, where every small noise is like torture, where I am a ticking bomb, where it is all too much) he has filled my life with so many blessings that I can get through.

And still be thankful.

She's Glowing RED

Here's my photo entry in the RAW(e) photo competition over at Sailor & Co. Click here to join in...

This weeks theme is RED and I have scoured my achives for "red" photos... this is the one that stood out to me. It's my mum with her birthday cake - isn't she just glowing red?

The photo was taken in December when we got to spend Christmas with Mum and Dad and spoil them rotten. Mum is going through a hard time right now, and I'm wishing she could live closer so I could spoil her more often. I spent last night making her a cool-as photo book for Mothers Day (thinking it was this Sunday) only to realise that I was a week early. Duh! Oh well, better than being late eh?

I don't expect this photo is really a potential prize-winner but I like it anyway.

The Rules:

Do not edit your photo.
It must be straight out of the camera!
Don't link up until you post your photo (and link to the actual post not your entire blog)
It must fit the theme, which is RED this week!


Join in the competition (it's fun)... and Good Luck to ya!

Loving... NOT Loving: Kids

Of course you know that I am ALWAYS loving my kids. Just thought I'd clear that up before I got started. But you know there are some things that come with having kids that I am not loving so much.

For instance...

NITS. I am Definitely NOT Loving Nits.
Do you call them that where you come from? Cooties? Lice? Ugh. Whatever you call them the mere mention of them starts me itching. I've managed pretty well to avoid too many infestations. I bought a RobiComb (a battery powered nit zapper) as insurance. Totally useless. Then I spotted some little white cling-ons in Miss Fab's hair. Instantly I felt itchy. My scalp crawled. Off to the chemist I went and bought some Nit Shampoo. We were de-nitted quick smart. The boys are all clear. But I never found one single creepy crawly even after much combing of mine and Miss Fab's hair. Still,  you can't deny the itching. And better safe than sorry. Sigh. I hate those darn things.

CRUMBS. Wherever I go, crumbs! I vacuum, I sweep, I wipe. Two seconds later the crumbs are back. Ugh. NOT Loving crumbs. The birds can have them.

ENDLESS BITS OF PAPER. Everywhere. My kids are both scribblers. Miss Fab likes to draw pictures of herself and her friends. And me and her. And flowers and butterflies. Which I DO actually love.

Dash draws endless diagrams of football pitches, marking out player positions and listing down endless Premier League teams. That's fine. But then... they just leave their darn bits of paper discarded all over the house.

Under beds, behind chairs, all over the floor, in my bedroom... next to my bed!! I am not loving that at all. And I feel slightly guilty when I quietly scoop up the abandoned bits of paper and stash them in the recycle bin. What???!! Am I s'posed to hold onto every darn scribble for ever??? Not loving the residual guilt of being an art recycler.

MY SHORT FUSE. Not loving that at all. I don't want to be Grouchy Mummy. But lately I've had such a very short fuse. I've been tired and nauseous and sweaty and headachey... (don't worry I'm not, you know. I did a test. Or two.) Anyway to put it simply I have been feeling like total crap.

I've just been wanting to hide away in my own private (bloggy) world so I don't have to deal with... the noise. The squabbling. The complaining. The endless demands. Oh the guilt! That just makes me feel so much worse!

I'm getting some blood tests done (have to wait a few weeks for optimum conditions) but until then I will just have to soldier on and try not to transform into the Incredible Hulk Mum at the slightest provocation. I think the ear plugs will be making a re-appearance. Sigh.

All that being said.... on the brighter side of life, I can't deny...

...how utterly much I love my children.

I'm sure I would totally leap in front of a bus for any one of them. But most days don't require any bus-leaping. Just after-school snacks, homework & readers, changing pooey bums, playing choo choos, picking up stray hot wheels and hair clips, dinner-cooking, teeth-cleaning and bedtime prayers. Some days that all feels like a lot.

But the snuggles? LOVING those. They are like air in my lungs.

The slobbery kisses? LOVE them. Won't even wipe off the toddler drool.

My daughter holding my hand all the way walking to school because my hip ached and she wanted to help me?? Priceless. My heart was bursting, even as I limped.

My big seven-year-old boy wanting to lie in bed after dark and listen to stories about my life? The stuff of dreams.

So yes. I am LOVING my kids. Even on the sucky days. Even on the Hulk days. And I'm learning to switch off the computer before they get home so I can give them my full attention.

Because they are the best kids. And they deserve my best too.

Followy Commenty Design Giveaway

Here is a bit of shameless self-promotion. I want to practise my writing on you. I have dreams of becoming a writer. To that end, I want lots of feedback... and lots of people reading my writings.

I also like designing things. I am a Photoshop Freak. Do you like my blog-look? I made it myself. Interested in a header re-design for your blog? I can make you one. Here's how...

I'm having a Giveaway (seems to be the season).
Here's what you must do to enter:

• Become a follower (if you aren't already)
• Leave me a comment on this post telling me what kind of new header style you would love for your blog and why you need one.
• That's it!

The giveaway will run for 8 days... until Tuesday 4th May, 5.00pm NZ Time.
I will draw out TWO names from all the commenters.

• One winner will be randomly drawn.
• The other will be the idea that I think is the coolest for a new header.

I will post the winners on Wednesday 5th May. May the commenting and following begin...