Love your neighbour

Every family should have a family with kids the same age next door. We even have a secret gate in the back of our fences which allows a flow of boys (2 of ours and 2 our theirs) between the two gardens. Its brilliant. Especially good for the 4.30pm time when mums energy levels are flagging and boys energy levels are exploding. 30 mins hardcore playing/distraction is just what is required to get the dinner going and last those few minutes until drinkees.

(Even better is if the mums are compatible drinking buddies! I admit, I like the occasional sanity injected glass of wine on the occasional 4pm afternoon!)

Big Brother is particularly enjoying the neighbours. Several times a day he scales the wooden fortress-like fence and leans over the hedge to regail our (very patient) neighbour with stories and updates on our lives on this side of the fence. Yesterday I called him for lunch and he yelled out - "Gotta go have my medicine for my itchy bum!"

Too much information, me thinks.....

Meanwhile our wee girl (WG) is growing fast. Yesterday she rolled over by herself and managed to puke over one edge of the kick mat and pee over the other! She was most chuffed.

I dont have much time so..

here are my latest time saving techniques....

I now make myself two cups of tea at a time - I never get time to get back to the pot for a second, and this trick has greatly increased my fluid intake! Two lukewarm cups of tea scattered around the house - much better than nothing!

Ive started leaving a pair of shoes for each of the boys in the car. They are not great shoe wearers, and often after a monumental struggle to locate 6 individual but similar looking shoes and 2 bootees (thats just footwear for just a simple trip down the road) they usually have removed them by the time we arrive at our destination. This way, I know we havent forgotten footwear, and the boys put their own shoes on enroute.

We are sock free souls. (My idea of a pair of socks is two socks, regardless of small details such as colour or pattern. As family laundress, my coping strategy for adult socks is I only buy 2 types : black business type every day socks and white ankley sports socks. Much easier to find pairs.) And dont even get me started on newborn socks. My washing machine like to eat one of each pair that it processes.

Time flies when threes a crowd!

Or something like that....three is certainly a crowd, but it is a lovely one. I am really enjoying the other dimension that another person brings to our family, and sometimes get just blown away by how blessed we are. Its busy, to be sure, but so is any family - one child, two children, six children, life is chaos for all mums and we are master jugglers.

The weeks are flying by, and I have been really enjoying listening to the boys as their conversations grow and their minds whizz away at a millions miles an hour.
Little brother especially seems to have grown so much since he passed on the mantle of baby of the family. He's a thinker that one, to be sure.
I found a book the other day that had been ripped and was asking in my growliest voice for someone to own up - 'who broke this lovely book?'
'It wasnt me' big brother said with the innocence of an angel.
'It wasnt me,' little brother parroted immediately. Then he thought about it for a second and announced with a grin ' It broke by itself'.

During our wee girls christening service, we had just all shook hands and said 'Peace be with you' to all around us when he pipes up in his loudest voice -'I want a PIECE!'

When reading to him a line 'the cars flew past' from his Bear in a Cave book, he looked puzzled then interupted with - 'But cars can't fly. Actually, cars have wheels. Actually.' We discussed the fact that planes fly and cars drive, but when they go fast its like they are flying... he reluctantly accepted it. Later he interrupted me again with another thought - 'You are really good at reading this book, Mummy'.