All In a Mornings Work

By 8am this morning, I had already been confronted with the following questions to answer!

1. Why are there 30/31 days in the month?
2. Why are they building that building just there?

Luckily for me they asked these just as I was about to get out of the car to enter work, so I happily put them off with the answer for now and said I would get back to them!

Nearly Time

Nearly time for what you may ask?
Nearly time for my first born's birthday.
How do I know.....?

1. He is now at the age where he knows it is coming up and so keeps reminding us.
2. The date of course
3. The magnolia trees are in bloom.

Odd thing to associate I know, but a week or 2 before I had Ben, I remember we took a walk around the neighbourhood and I happened to notice all the magnolia trees were in full bloom.
Now you can't miss magnolia trees when they are out as they are a burst of colourful flowers with no leaves on the trees.

Today when walking to the car at the end of the working day, I noticed all the trees in the street and it reminded me that of course it is Ben's birthday all too soon.
I will take the camera to work tomorrow and get a picture of the trees on the way home, because I have just checked google images and there were not many good pictures to show you of the trees.

Have a great Friday

New Challenge

Like I need anymore challenges in my life at present!
Over here she has taken part in a challenge to post 31 pictures over 31 days, in other words a picture a day for all of August.
Now on investigating further I have totally missed the ball with doing this during August but thought I might set myself the challenge for September or October (before you mention it I know there are only 30 days in September!)

Anyway, will think about this and see what I come up with, either of the months will be fine and I hope you might join me......

School Update

Alex started school at the beginning of June, so is now comfortably into the 2nd half of this complete term at school.
It is going well, he seems happy enough, although he mentions often that no one will play with him. Not too worried about this as I know this will all change soon as he gets more confident in his surroundings.
I also know that he has gone into a class where half the kids have been in this class since January when school started, so he will find his feet soon and then there will be no worries, I hope.

Today we had his 5yr old assessment feedback with the teachers (he has 2 teachers as his class is bigger than normal size, 25 kids I think, so 2 to control them all) anyway, he has been tested in his numbers, writing, reading, understanding of speaking and basic skills.
Things like can he write his name? He passed this
Does he know his full name, address and telephone number? He passed this although he missed a name out of his name as he has so many (1st name 2 middle names and surname! I know a lot, just don't ask although Ben is the same, what were we thinking!?)
He was ok with his writing and good with his remembering sentences that were read to him. He knows most of his alphabet and can do basic number work. Struggles after about number 20 but having only been at school for 8 weeks has done very well already.

Overall he is doing great. Having a little trouble conforming in the class but things are getting better.
Are we worried about him at school?
Not at all, he is a bright child and just has to learn to control things and do as he is being asked.

Funny, he actually reminds me of my brother. My brother is only 2 yrs younger than me, but I remember a lot about how Iain was when he was younger and Alex reminds me of him all the time. His whole attitude is just like Iain's, I know he knows how to do things he just can't be bothered! He is smart but can't be bothered to apply himself.
Oh help, if I am saying this now when he is only 5 what will it be like when he is 13?

Ok now I think I need to go and lie down before I shock myself too much and start hyperventilating!

Mother's

A reminder that all mum's are human and going through exactly the same things as everyone else!

MOTHERS

Real Mothers don't eat quiche;
They don't have time to make it.
Real Mothers know that their kitchen utensils
Are probably in the sandbox.

Real Mothers often have sticky floors,
Filthy ovens and happy kids.
Real Mothers know that dried play dough
Doesn't come out of carpets.

Real Mothers don't want to know what
The vacuum just sucked up...
Real Mothers sometimes ask 'Why me?'
And get their answer when a little
Voice says, 'Because I love you best.'

Real Mothers know that a child's growth
Is not measured by height or years or grade...
It is marked by the progression of Mummy to Mum to Mother.....

The Images of Mother

4 YEARS OF AGE - My Mummy can do anything!
8 YEARS OF AGE - My Mum knows a lot! A whole lot!
12 YEARS OF AGE - My Mother doesn’t know everything!
14 YEARS OF AGE - My Mother? She wouldn’t have a clue.
16 YEARS OF AGE - Mother? She's so five minutes ago.
18 YEARS OF AGE - That old woman? She's way out of date!
25 YEARS OF AGE - Well, she might know a little bit about it!
35 YEARS OF AGE - Before we decide, let's get Mum's opinion.
45 YEARS OF AGE - Wonder what Mum would have thought about it?
65 YEARS OF AGE - Wish I could talk it over with Mum.

I forget all this when things get out of hand, but then when I read it again I remember that we are all only human and that everyone goes through this, we are not alone.

Not All Lost

Thankfully all is not lost.
I have actually put pen to paper/ fingers to keyboard, even if it is only 200 words out of 2000.
The block is clearing and there is some light available.
I can't say this won't happen again with the next essay or paper, because with it being distant learning I know there is a huge chance it will.
I am still the first to admit that distant learning and myself just do not play nicely together, we fight and bicker and happily throw our toys at each other!

Yesterday was the past
Today is the present
And as for tomorrow? ........We will just have to wait and see!

Thanks for all the kind words and thoughts.
Nice to get encouragement from some unexpected places.

I Quit

All I have accomplished today is the desire to QUIT.
Quit study that is, not life or work!

Last week I managed until 2pm before I have a major breakdown, unfortunately this week it only got to 10.30am.
I kicked, screamed, swore, yelled, cried  and generally lost it. My notes flew across the study and I walked stormed out of the room slamming the door behind me.

I am in a very low dark place at present and know that this is not rational thinking, but my emotions are on the edge and everytime I think about what is involved and how the hell am I going to achieve it more tears well up and threaten to flow.

I don't know if I am making this harder on myself or whether it really is this hard? But it is just not coming together. I have spent the last 4 Wednesdays going round and round in circles. I don't know whether I am missing the point or whether this is the whole point!
I am in week either 6 or 7 now and my first essay of 2000 words is due next week. Sadly I do not even have 3 words let alone any evidence to back up anything I want to write. The subjects are just not sinking in, I don't seem to be grasping an understanding of the whole thing and if I have to look for one more resource I think the computer will get it!
The course tutor has said to stopping looking for resources and to just write something down, but when you are struggling to understand the subject it is difficult to write anything. The 1st essay is in 4 parts and I am still only just trying to digest part 1, so I can't even move forward onto part 2 because otherwise it seems like a whole waste of the time I have just spent.
I don't seem to have taken any steps forward in the weeks since I started the study, I just seem to have gone backwards the whole way, way back actually.
I knew from the start of this adventure that me and distance learning just did not meet in the middle, I knew this was going to happen but had to start the ball rolling to see if it was achieveable because this was the only option available!

To say I am struggling is an understatement, I am lost, I don't know where to turn, what to look for, even how to find it. I seem to be wasting a lot of time trying to find a resource to only find that that one was of no use what so ever and have to start all over again.
I have the ability to access online databases, but am hitting brick walls there. I have the library at the hospital but limited time to get there but it takes time to go there and I am finding I realise I need something from there and then end up taking an hour out of my study time to manage to get the one resource which again then in turn turns out to be something that really has no relevance at all.
It has got to be easier than this, it has got to be a little simpler than this, it can't be this hard?

I know why I am attempting this study, I know what the end goal is, so please I don't need to be preached to about 'just think what you are working towards, just think about how you will feel when you achieve the end goal?' I know all that, don't think for a second it doesn't run through my head all the time. That is part of what makes this so frustrating, knowing that to a point this is my only option to achieve the goal I want, that is what makes it so hard, I know there is no other way.

I don't want to quit, I know that one of the papers I have coming up next year will be fun, I even think I may do it in the first semester next year instead of the 2nd because I know I will get through it and love it. But at the moment I have a very large black cloud hanging above me and I can't see my way out of it to even get to the end of this paper let alone move on to something else!

Further Tooth Update

A week later and we have still not been visited by the Tooth Fairy.
Not sure if he has forgotten or if this is all part of his plan, although he was sick Sunday and Monday, so probably has forgotten about it!

The last I heard, Alex had suggested to him about writing a letter and asking the Tooth Fairy if he could keep his tooth!
I will enquire tonight about what is happening.
Although the $2 is still sat in my purse patiently waiting to be issued.

Will keep you posted.

Tooth Update

Unfortunately Ben is a very caring old soul who doesn't like change and gets attached to things very easily. (He cried the other evening because I had to throw out a toothbrush! he has had many so far, so not sure why he got attached to this one?)
He got all upset at the thought of putting his tooth under his pillow and letting the Tooth Fairy take it away.
Seems he isn't quite ready to let it go yet!

We explained that the Tooth Fairy only takes teeth that are placed under the pillow so if he leaves it on his bedside cabinet until he is ready for her to have it, then that is fine by us.

We will see how this goes, if by the weekend it is still there, then I may suggest to him that if he wants to keep it then we could look at writing a letter to the Tooth Fairy explaining that because it is his first tooth he would like to keep it.

This morning he got up and his tooth was still where he left it. He explained to me that he wasn't ready for her to have it yet, he wants it. I told him, no problem, when he is ready she will hopefully visit.

Wibble Wobble

Push pull
Jiggle joggle
Poke flick
Wibble wobble

Ben has had his first tooth come out today whilst at school
It has been wobbling for a few weeks now but suddenly had that final wibble and out it popped, although like always, I think an apple was involved!

So tonight he has gone to bed with it under his pillow anxiously waiting to see what the Tooth Fairy may leave for him.

As for the Tooth Fairy, I am not in touch with todays market price of teeth?
Seems $2 is the going rate according to all my friends on Facebook.
So I may up the anty for the first tooth and make it $3 as a special thing seeing as it is the 1st, but then stick to either $1-2 for all others after that. (Just have to remember what I did so I do the same for Alex when his turn comes round!)

According to Alex, the Tooth Fairy lives in the sky, she knows when you have a wobbly tooth and she comes to collect it at night. They keep them apparently but he couldn't tell us what they actually do with them!

I love the innocence of children, makes my day

e-Books & My Wishes

A little behind the time, New Zealand has just recently launched the Kobo, an e-book device.

You can only buy it in one store in NZ and it is through their website that you can down load the books. You do still have the ability to download to your PC as well.

Steve mentioned the other day, as we were packing to go to Auckland, that I could do with a Kobo, as I packed the library 3 large books into the bag.
So whilst in Auckland I sought one out and had a play.
It was nice, the concept was good and the size and weight was reasonable for what it is, although there were one or two features I didn't like.

The other evening Steve was on the computer and happened to come across the Kindle, the more world wide version of the Kobo.

Unfortunately to begin with it is not available in NZ as a hand held device, although you can download to your PC.

Upon further reading I decided I actually liked this device, it is actually going to hit NZ shores at the end of August. But unlike the NZ Kobo, this has a better selection of material available for it online.

I have also seen the ipad.

Now this gives me the ability to have Kindle on it, which I think is a good thing as then the device is actually used for other things and not just reading a book.

However I do also wish to have something else and that is a laptop computer.

As I am currently undertaking some new study I wish to have something a little more portable and user friendly than my PC at home in the study. I will also find it useful for my work when all is completed.
The boys are starting to take more of an interest in the computer too, even if it is just to play games on, I believe it is not long before we are going to have to consider another PC at home, I feel a laptop would be a suitable solution.

It would fit with the family in that we could have it to take with us when going places and I do like the ability to be able to do computer work in someother place than the study.

I would be able to have Kindle or Kobo on there and although it is bigger and bulkier than either the Kobo or Kindle, I like the fact it has multi functions that would make the device more financially viable.
We would get more use out of the laptop for the $1200 we would be spending than we would from the $299 for the Kobo or the $300 odd for the Kindle or even $800 for the ipad.

If I was suddenly given the ability to obtain any of the above then I would choose the laptop, I am a reader but not enough that I feel I need a device especially for it, when I can have a laptop and still use the programme but get some much more use from it.

Although if money was no object then I would go for the ipad and the laptop, but then who wouldn't?

Sleeping

Sleeping is something special in this house, if it is not the snoring that keeps me awake then it is one of the boys wandering into our room in the night.

Alex has been doing this for a while and has also been going to bed in the evenings in his brother's bed, with him!

When questioned further about why, he came up with this answer "I don't like sleeping on my own, I get lonely"
Wouldn't be so bad, but he shares a room with Ben already and their beds are all of 2m apart, if that.

Grandma in her ultimate wisdom came up with a solution for this problem, which I have mentioned before.
Her solution was to suggest pushing their beds next to each other. That way he would be more or less sleeping next to his brother but in his own bed.
So we tried it and would you believe it has worked.
People are not walking around in the middle of the night as much now.
However their room does look very weird when you first walk in, with these 2 single beds pushed together in the middle of the room!

But if it keeps everyone sleeping in the correct places at night, then I am happy to try anything!

Time Out

This is a type of punishment that we happily use in this house, although this time it was me getting "Time Out"
Steve had a conference to attend up in Auckalnd and I managed to go with him.
Grandma came and looked after the boys for us for 3 days, which was great.

He did ask me why I wanted to go, as he mentioned that he would be out at the conference for all the days, but that was exactly the reason, time all to myself.

Steve left me in Auckalnd at 8am on Monday and I saw him again at 5.30pm that evening. I managed to have lunch at my old hospital and catch up with old friends.
I enjoyed a pleasant walk back to the hospital and got to read a magazine for an hour before I met him at the evening drinks.
Tuesday was pretty much the same. He left at 8.30am and this time I didn't see him until 9.30pm.
I had lunch with a friend, did some shopping for Steve and then had dinner with my best friend.

By the time we got home on Wednesday evening I had had a great time. No one asking me for juice or food, no one wanting anything from me at all.
Seeing as Ben's habit at present is to sit in the lounge watching tv with Steve, and then to climb over Steve to come and find me to ask me to get him something. He will even come outside to the garage or upstairs to find me just to ask for a drink!
Go figure!!

So life is back to normal now, work and school, school and work, it goes on and on and one day ticks on into the next.