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I think there should be a National Toddler Day where toddlers can do whatever they want - just for one day, so they can see that really they need boundaries and rules set for them to make their life easier.

I have become very aware of the boundaries and rules that are constantly given to Miss Maisie and she has started to come back with “why not?”. I am not ready for this next stage of parenting yet - I dont have all the answers nor the brain power to source them at this time.

Another thing that I am not ready for is that Tali has to copy everything that Maisie does - everything. Lets just say that meal times at our house are very funny at the moment and its hard to laugh on the inside all the time…

Latest ultrasound picture from 37 weeks.

We had this ultrasound taken yesterday with the great news that there are no signs of any skeletal dysplasia and the bone shape appears normal with the small bones still measuring about 4 weeks behind.

The Doctor that did the scan was awesome - she was able to clearly explain everything and was more than helpful. We think the baby has the same nose as Tali from this picture!

has been the question that I have asked myself on a number of occasions about topics regarding personal issues and things that the kids do or my wonderings about certain things. What will people say or think about what is written is the first thing that comes to my mind - which after 28 years, I really shouldnt worry about. So, this is a part of what has been going on with us over the past few months..

After our 20 week ultrasound that sounded and looked fine, we were told that #3 had “delayed growth of the femur and humerus bones”. I learnt this as I was leaving a clinic appointment by the midwife announcing in front of a full waiting room of people that “there is a problem with the scan”. I, naturally being dramatic, went straight home and “googled” what she had told me. Every single listing came up with reference to Down Syndrome with the short bones being a soft marker. To say I was shocked is an understatement. I sat on the floor and cried for my baby and more selfishly cried for myself.

The hospital said that we needed to see a specialist, which we drove to Canberra for. They confirmed the growth was delayed - it was measuring 4 weeks behind the rest of the measurements of the baby. The professor told us that it could be 1 of 6 different things - some bone problems, it would just resolve itself, down syndrome or it could just be a short baby. They offered for us to have an amnio test done, which would determine if the baby had down syndrome or not - but we declined. There was no other testing that they could do to figure out what the problem might be, so we began a waiting game that has seen some days become a lot longer than other days.

It has taken me almost 20 weeks to try and get my head around what will happen if the baby is born with anything “different” from all the other babies born every day. The pressure that society puts on babies being “healthy & perfect” is unfair and this is really the first time I have ever thought about it. I always just assumed that everything would be fine. The unknown stuff is the hardest stuff to try and get your head around - because we feel that we have the right and the power to be able to “know” everything and try and correct it if it seems like its not “normal”.

I have always found it hard to leave things in Gods perfect hands - but this last 20 weeks has really taught me that there is nothing that I can do and whatever the outcome, it doesnt matter. Everyone is born differently, raised differently, taught differently and loved differently. All that we can do is pray for the strength to be the best parents that we can be and pray for and love all of our children unconditionally.

Our baby will be born in a few weeks time and will be a precious gift from God no matter what.

Its been two weeks today since we moved to Albury and we have a house that only has a few full boxes left! We have had a move around of furniture in the main living/dining area already, but I think that we are finally starting to feel like this is our home now and it doesnt feel so weird.

We have all had a great week:

Enjoying a couple of Pizzas from Sugar Shack - they were awesome and well priced for cheap Tuesday.

Cade has enjoyed riding & running out to his new office and having a dishwasher at home finally!

I have enjoyed being able to start to catch up with family and friends and not do hardly any packing/unpacking (we had to get the hospital bag packed…)

Maisie had a fun trip to the Library to see Grandma Carole at work and get a library card and has had fun times visiting people and exploring all the new parks around town. She also enjoys the fact that she can reach the door handles and light switches here (something she couldnt do in our old house) and it now takes us a little longer in the evenings to get her to stay in her bed!

Talia has stepped up in the walking department and turned into Miss Walkatron - finally decided that walking is better than crawling! She loves just doing laps of the house showing off her new skills to anyone who will watch. She also rocked out at Toddler Time at the Library on Wednesday - she had the most fun out of all the kids that were there and she was the youngest.

And last but not least - #3 is still cooking nicely, we are down to 3 weeks to go but still hoping that it decides to stay warm and cozy inside for a little bit longer than that, we have a scan and a doctors appointment next week to get to.

We have so much to explore as its been a long time since we lived here and so much has changed, so we look forward to doing that over the next few months.

Maisie learnt these 2 games at Sunday School on the weekend (yeah, not much to do with Jesus, I know). As you can see, we are not too strict on the ‘official’ rules.

Duck, Duck, Goose!

What’s the time Mr Wolf?

And here’s something just to embarress Talia when she’s older - believe it or not, this is how she ’smiles’.

When we were kids, we used to have an ongoing battle at the start of each swimming season to see who would be first in the Grandma and Grandpas pool.  Although it was never talked about openly (apart from the back seat of the yellow bus), we were usually upset if one of our cousins beat us in - and we would vow to do better the next year.

The other day the girls and I were visiting the Great Grandparents (Mary & Bert as Maisie calls them…) and it was quite warm so we thought that we would just “put our feet in” in the pool to see how the water was feeling. It ended up with Maisie nude and Tali in her nappy and Grandma having to jump in the water to try and keep them on the steps.

The next time we arrived Maisie greeted them both with “I put my feet in the pool maybe?”, again ending in a full swimming session. So, I can proudly say to my siblings - we were first in the pool this year, but it looks like we wont be able to go back to the “put our feet in” now!

Well, here we are - back in town.

Its been a crazy week, but we seem to be getting unpacked slowly and also trying to catch up with people whilst at the same time keep the girls in their normal routines and get used to their “new house”.

We now have to figure out all our shopping and doctoring and everything else that goes on when you move some where new. We also have about 5 weeks left until #3 is due, unless it decides to come either early or late.. At least we have a name, a bed and a car seat now!

Not impressed with the services of Debbie Farrer from Farrer Cleaning Services.

Having vacated our home in Wagga to move to Albury, we contacted Farrer Cleaning Services to do some cleaning for us. They were to pick up the keys from our rental agent, clean the bathroom and kitchen, and return the keys to our agent by this morning, so that our new tenants could sign the lease and pick up the keys this afternoon.

This morning they contacted the agent to tell them they had been cleaning our house till 3am (!) and could not return the keys till this afternoon.

We called Farrer Cleaning Services and were told that she spent 12 hours cleaning our kitchen and bathroom. Not having any experience with domestic cleaning services, I called her back to query the time spent, and what she had actually cleaned that took soo long.

Debbie gave me a verbal barrage and then hung up on me. Yes, hung up on me. What a way to treat a customer. I called her straight back. She gave me another barrage and then hung up on me.

We called our rental agent and were informed that Debbie Farrer was now refusing to give the agent our house keys back until we paid the bill. Given that it was almost 3pm, and our new tenants were expecting to pick up the keys at 4pm, what were we to do?

Stay tuned for the next installment.

The lesson so far is clear - whatever you do, don’t use Farrer Cleaning Services.

I am not one that really understands all the carbon footprints that we are making and the positions our country on global warming or how driving greener cars really makes a difference and all these “new ways” of trying to make the world a better cleaner safer place.

I signed up to get our electricity turned on at the new house and the company offered a special deal of using “green power” instead of “black power” at only a $1.00 more a week in which I would be saving the environment by using the “green power” and somehow offsetting  70% of my carbon footprint.

So, I thought about it and said yes, I would be happy to sorce my “green power” from windmills and other environmentally friendly things and then when she was done connecting both the gas and electricity I said “So, will my gas and electricity bill come on the same bill because they are now both thru the same company” and she said “umm, no they wont they will come as separate bills”. So I asked “Well, can I have them emailed to me” and she said “ummm, no, they will come in the mail”.

Back in my day saving the amount of paper that we used seemed like an important thing to do and recycle recycle recycle was the message that we got drummed into us, but now it looks like there are “better” ways of making the world a better place - and it comes at a cost of $1.00 per week…

So, we are moving this week and I have had an interesting time trying to change our address. Everyone seems to have it listed as something different.

Here is where we are at:

Actual Address = Norris Park

RTA, NAB, NRMA = Albury

Origin Gas, Albury Council = Glenroy

Origin Electric = Lavington

Fun times!