Happy Birthday AJ...

Today you are 4!

Wow! How did that happen? My gorgeous little girl is growing up quickly. Too quickly. Right before my very eyes. Everytime I turn around and really look at you, it seems you have grown taller, or smarter, or more confident, or prettier. You start school next year and I know I'm going to miss you being here during the day.

You entertain your little sister and you are soooo patient with her. Except, of course, when you bit her the other day for ruining your toy scene. But, you felt so bad afterwards. You knew you had done something nasty and were so very sorry.

You love, love, love your animals. You would let them all in to sleep in your room if you could. You won't walk past your cat without stopping to give her a pat. Or the dogs for that matter. You miss your other cat, that went on holidays. We can honestly say we don't know what happened to her. She left the house one day and didn't come back. Which is nice for you, I guess, to believe that she is on some fantastic adventure.

You love your friends. So much so that you make believe they are here when you haven't seen them in a couple of days.

And you sing. You LOVE singing. You even make up your own songs. I am amazed at your song writing ability. You even know to add in a chorus and, even a bridge? How do you know that? I love your interpretation of songs and how, sometimes, if the word isn't clear you add something in that is straight from a 4 year old's vocabulary. Like the Ben Lee song, Apple Candy when you sing, Apple Kenny because it just makes more sense to you. Or Pink's song that says "go away come back" and you think it says "don't wake up Mac". I love that!

You are such an old soul. Everybody tells me how great you are and how smart you are and how gorgeous and funny you are and how well-behaved you are. And I must say I agree (well, not so much with the well-behaved comment because you are really naughty when you want to be - Mac says you are a street angel, house devil like all good Geminis). You have a remarkable wit for one so young. You know when to pull out the funny stuff. Boy, you make us laugh sometimes. Actually I'm not sure this blog would be updated as often if you didn't say the things that you do.

And you have an uncanny ability to get over stuff just like your Dad. You guys can have a fight and 5 minutes later you are both laughing together. It's weird but good but leaves my head spinning. I'm trying to learn how you do that but it's hard. I think I'm getting better at it though. You don't let me stay angry for too long and I love that because life's too short to stay angry.

And yet, I still feel a pang of guilt sometimes for how badly I coped with you when you were little. Sooo much bad advice and so much sleep deprivation and I'm sorry. I'm sorry for resenting you. I'm sorry for crying so much. I'm sorry for all the times I said you were a naughty baby. I'm sorry for being so cranky. I'm sorry I didn't enjoy our time together more. I'm so thankful I still have time because I know how important that is now.

And now you're 4 and there are no do-overs and I hope I have made up more than enough for that first year of ours together. We are great friends, you and I. I love hanging out with you (mot of the time). I hope that we will always be friends.

Happy Birthday baby girl. I hope all your dreams come true.

A Tale of 2 Girls...

So we're hanging out in the kitchen last night while dinner is cooking. Lovely feast that it was, frozen fish and pasta packet. Talk about culinary treats!

Daddy & AJ are discussing Snow White when Daddy decides to rattle off the speel about "hair black as ebony, lips red as the rose....."

AJ pipes up and says "No Daddy, it doesn't say hair black as Emily!" Bwahahahaha.

See how easy it is for a chinese whisper to go astray?

The Wind of Change...

Soooo, now that I have shed some of the *ahem* 24kgs I put on when pregnant with Schmoo I thought it was time to invest in some new items of clothing.

Of course, as is always the way, one thing lead to another and it was decided that the fashion statement I was aiming for was that of the 1920's-50's. Not hard to do at the moment considering most of these fashions have made a comeback this season.

Kinda annoying in the sense that I've always liked this era but now that I want to dress like it, every other bloody person on the face of the earth (okay so that's exaggeration) is gonna look like me.

But nooooooooo.....

And this is why. Today I have returned from a Mini Charm School courtesy of my good friend Miss E. Here is the result of a big day of makeup and hairdos.

It's all in the do....

We are in preparation for the Wintersun Swing Ball in 3 weeks time. She took a few more shots of me that are far nicer but I won't let her email them to me yet because I don't want CJ knowing what we're doing for my hair on the night.

Team that with a lovely flowing dress and cardigan and you have yourself a person who has stepped straight out of the 1940's.

The big problem is remembering that you look like this when driving home instead of wondering why on earth people are staring at you and getting all paranoid that maybe you have some left over smeared stuff on your face from your baby!

When $20 just isn't enough....

So, the other day DD1 and DH were discussing how much they love each other and it went something like this....

DD1: Daddy?
DH: Yes AJ.
DD1: I love you.
DH: Really? How much?
DD1: 20 bucks!

We have lots of sayings to add on to how much we love each other. There are, just to name a few:

* a bunch of Sundays.
* infinity + 12
* all the stars in the sky
* to the moon and beyond and back again

Anyway, this morning I think I may have got change from my $20 because, after my head stopped spinning, I realised that my 3 year old is driving me completely and utterly INSANE!

Top that with no sleep, because the Schmoo is teething and has been out of sorts, and you have one whacked out mumma who, just by catching you look sideways at her, is going to rant! That's right. This morning, I ranted. I sounded like my mother. *shudder*

It was tragic. I feel so ridiculous now but, in that moment, when AJ was refusing to wear something without sparkles to kindy and started having a tanty, all I could do was join her and throw her clothes out the bedroom door.

And I'm supposed to be the adult. How do they know just how to find that little button that says "raving lunatic" and then just keep on pressing it until you really are?

The worst part about all of this is that she really couldn't have given a rats about the situation and just sat there looking at me, dumbfounded almost, wondering if she needed to call ghostbusters or a priest I expect!

And, then it dawned on me......

Why am I considering a 3rd???