January 24, 2014

debrief

Actually I meant THREE months.  So ah... here I am three months later (that last post doesn't count, it's an longstanding entry I scribble the boys' musings to until it's long enough to publish).  In three months plenty has happened, thankfully, there's been reason for my absence.


So Noosa and the triathlon in November last year (which Will participated in, I'm not stupid) was a triumph.  We booked an apartment up at Sunshine Beach which was just right for us.  The kids loved it, asking why we couldn't have a place like that ALL the time (I think it's because it was so tidy).  It was the first holiday in a long long time that felt like a holiday rather than like doing what we do at home but with a different washing machine.  We ate out, giving us a massive rest from the cooking/cleaning doldrums we'd developed, we sat around on the beach, the kids were quite independent, finding things to do on the beach, in the apartment (don't get me wrong, they were massive arse pains too, just interspersed with being excited and enthused beach bums) and I don't know, we just relaxed.  Hugo kind of hated the beach but it didn't matter much, I was happy to walk him around and show him the sights while the boys made Will take them out on their new boogie board again, and again, and again... The triathlon went well, Will made me feel a bit more proud of him than I did before (which was quite a lot) and I thought I might like to do something like a triathlon some day but I didn't say it out loud incase someone was listening and might hold me accountable.

Then, before Christmas, the blue struck again.  It was a difficult time, and I'm not entirely sure what triggered it, but it wasn't my finest hour.  Since then, things have improved significantly thanks in the main to exercise and some herbal supplements that were recommended to me and which seem to have made a difference.  I feel hopeful again and thankful that my husband, who unflinchingly does the work of two parents even on a good day, took it all in his stride and was there for us all.



Christmas itself was good.  Great, even.  Beach time, new bikes, no big travelling or anything to report.  Hugo became more of a little dude than he was before (which is saying something when the little dude is now head honcho of this nuthouse we call home) and the boys reminded themselves after our trip to Noosa earlier in the year (which is when they first suspected it) that they LOVE THE BEACH.  Even Hugo seems pretty happy to dig and splash and chase birdies and squint at the sun.

Of course all this makes me rather apprehensive when I think about going back to England, to live that is, not for a holiday, it's that conversation we keep having, though admittedly it's less often these days.  I mean the kids love it here, they love the beach, the weather, the not wearing shoes, leaving with nothing but a hat and smear of sunscreen.  They love their friends, the beach, the ability to go outside and play pretty much any time they want to.  Of course they could love England and all she has to offer just as much and only being there will tell us that.  More on that financially crippling idea later.

And since Christmas we're now back at work.  I had a pretty sizeable break in the end and it felt good.  Part of the reason for doing that was because big things are happening here this month... like my first born son starting school next week.  School!  We met his teacher, laundered his uniform (inadvertently turning all the whites blue) and put his name in every new bit of school stuff (really, everything) and in just a handful of sleeps, he'll be that kid with the massive hat and oversized backpack, meeting new little dudes and deciding whether he likes this new experience that will span at least the next 12 years.  And I'll need to write about that some other day, because surely it deserves a post all of its own.

And that's it.  Not quite all of it, but the big stuff, although as I said to Will the other day, it's not the big stuff I want on here, at least not JUST the big stuff.  It's good to have that on here, but the big stuff is the stuff you remember, it's the other stuff.  The stuff that seems little but actually isn't, because it's a feeling or a happening or a sound or a taste... not a big thing, but one of the gazillion things that make up this patchwork of nuttiness.  That's the bit that's gone missing lately.  And so while I don't have any resolutions (except maybe to yell at the kids less (failed already)), I would like to get back into the reflecting business and remembering what we eat business and spending a bit of time choosing photos business.  It's all nice time, sitting here, tapping away, musing over photos with Will and then agonising over which to post.  And I reckon the fact that we are now without a telly should help make it happen more than once every three months.  Here's hoping.


overheard (with extra silliness)


('Dad on his bike at the traffic lights on a sunny day' by Ollie.  It has a Quentin Blake quality that I love.)

Will: (after Lolsie lucked out with a piece of chicken that fell off the lunch table) It's raining chicken! Lola's dream scenario. What would your dream rain be?
Me: (without hesitation) red wine!
Will: gin and tonic!
Ollie: bulldozers!
Max: remote controlled hydraulic excavators!

Max: (when he was sitting with the dogs and didn't know I was listening) Ugh Lola... YOU STINK!

Max:  (looking straight up Ollie's nose with a look of absolute disgust)  I can see BOOGERS!  Crusty boogers!  All up in your nose!

Ollie: oh pleeeaase, can someone make me the foooood?!

Ollie: oh look, hugo's walking like a human!

Ollie: oh look mum, hugo's drinking like a little boy!

Max:  (while I was cooking dinner for me and Will after the boys had gone to bed) Can we have what you're having?
Me:  Sure - tomorrow?
Max: it smells like VOMIT
Me: er
Max:  It will taste nice though.  It just smells like vomit.

Max:  (completely seriously) Mum, do the words 'burp' and 'fart' rhyme?

Me: What's your favourite flavour?  
Ollie:  All of them.  All flavours.  In fact all flavours from all countries... but not Greece... I don't like Greece... (thinks for a moment)... What's Greece?
Ollie:  "At kindy, Harry Legg* showed us this trick where you punch yourself in the penis and then say 'ooh, my nuts'." 
(followed by demonstrations and lots of giggling). 
(*apparently that IS his real name)
Ollie (upon hearing Kylie whilst listening to a compilation of music that included Pavement, Joy Division, The Carpenters, Pixies, Red Hot Chillies and Fire Island Pines):  Oh this is the BEST song for doing Lego to (he then rushed over and starting doing Lego)

Hugo:  Hello!


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