My Little Brother - The Little Shit!

Mark - Mark was mum and dad's biggest baby and was the only one that was born with dark hair. There was 15 months between Mark & I so we pretty much did everything together as children we even got the same things except his toys/items were black or blue and mine always pink.  Most Christmas mornings would start with my face being tapped, it would be Mark, informing me Santa had been, he even did this to me a few years ago except this time Santa hadn't been, nor had Mark made it to bed, let’s just say he was in fine form, we had a mid-morning flight home to catch and his big sister had her cranky pants on.

One of the things Mark & I loved to do when we were little, was make tunnels in the hay barn, I really don't know how we did this now, the barn was full of hay bales and somehow we would shift them so we could crawl through to the end and back, we even created our own little houses.  I can't recall if we played games but I know one thing, we liked to smoke the hay and Mark always seemed to have the lighter.

During the winter we would help our beloved Grandfather feed the cows, which we loved to do.  One year Grandfather had made a new carryall, I didn't like it as it would rock side to side and looked like it was going to come off, Mark always assured me it wouldn't "she'll be right" he'd say, not long after, we were feeding the cows one dark morning, we were about to start pushing the hay off then the next thing I heard was Mark yelling at me to "JUMP", of course I was always a bit slow, and the next thing I knew everything was on top of me with cows coming my way.  Mark screamed out to Grandfather numerous times, he was a tad deaf and finally got him to stop, he then raced to free me.  Once we got home to get ready for school I told Mark not to tell mum & dad as I was worried they would not let us feed the cows and sure enough he didn't, until years later.  Mark and Grandfather did a lot together especially after our dear Nan passed, Mark would always go to Grandfathers after school, although Grandfather could get ABC at his house so I think there was a motive.

Our favourite place to holiday was, and always will be, is Saltwater River, from babies we would camp with mum's entire family on the foreshore in front of Ma & Pa's.  On Mark's first camping trip he slept the best he ever had since coming home from hospital, as soon as we returned home Mark became the night owl again, which I think now shows that Mark was destined for the outdoors and the night life.  As we got a little bigger and over dad taking us to brush our teeth in the saltwater, dad bought our $2 shack.  Mum and dad in the double bed and us four children top and tailing on 2 single mattresses.  Mark and I were generally the first to rise and off we'd go to hang out with our cousins Andrew and Scott, although Mark and Andrew at times would ditch Scott and I, they thought they were a bit too cool for us.  We would build cubbies, swim rain, hail or shine, fish, ride our bikes to the coal mines, we even went as far as the sand dunes and into Nubeena one time.  When it came time to leave, Mark would always kick up a fuss, he even did this as an adult, just one more night he'd say, he would try and find another way home, which sometimes he succeeded.

In recent years my brother Wade & his gorgeous partner Kate moved back to Tasmania, I think Mark was in his element to have one of his brothers living back home to take fishing and to have many drunken shenanigans with.  Last Christmas our eldest brother Grant & Co made the trek down for a holiday, it was such a beautiful sight to see Mark arranging to take his brothers fishing and to bring home a feast for us all to eat.  I will ever be so grateful for this time that Mark got to share with his whole family one last time.

I was always so proud to say Mark was a diver, especially when I moved to Brisbane.  I loved to boast that he could get scallops, abalone, salmon, crayfish, etc.  Just the other week I took orders from some of my work colleagues of what they would like me to bring back after Christmas.

When something bad happens in life I always try to find a positive because I believe that if you focus on the negative, then the negative becomes you, so the only positive I could find is that Mark is not alone he is with his:-
- Grandparents Nan & Grandfather Little talking angus cows and eating biscuits,
- Pop Adams who will tickle his back,
- Uncle Robert “Mr Fix It” - he always fixed our things,
- his beloved Aunty Bronwyn who will protect her boy,
- cousins Glenn & McKayla to run amok,
- Mr Glover to go shooting with
- and mates Crackers, Damien Direen and brother David.

Baby brother I will always love you and forever be your big bossy sister.  May you rest in peace and never be forgotten, our lives will never be the same but your spirit will be with us always xx

Rolling

We recently decided it was time for Jaz to start sleeping in her cot, she probably should have been in there ages ago but the bassinet we have is so cool and on wheels which gave us the option to move her from room to room if Craig needed to be on the computer. As soon as we put Jaz in her cot she relised she had room to move BUT as soon as she rolled over and got tired of being on her belly her cranky pants were straight on. The first morning she did it we heard this almighty scream, I don't think I have ever jumped out of bed and ran to her so fast, it scared the absolute hell out of me. I rolled her back over and went back to bed, according to my time it was not time for her to get up, however Jaz had other ideas. After a few attempts to roll her back over hoping she would go back to sleep it was a no go so I put the precious one in bed with me (dad was getting up for work) and back to sleep she went. When I tried to put her down for her day sleeps it was a pain, she would roll over and scream, so I put in two big pillows each side to stop her from rolling and then would remove them once I knew she was asleep. It was becoming apparent that I needed to find a solution - fast....so onto good ole Google (if you don't know the answer, just Google it :-)) and I found these anti roll pillows in a store on the south side. Jaz and I set off the next day and purchased "the solution" which worked for a while. I woke up this morning to find that the solution is no longer, our little wriggle pot has found a way to get out of it, but this time there was no screaming, she finally worked out to put her head to the side - "genius"...hehe

Jaz's sleeping bag is a little gross, she likes to suck on the arms of it......

Exercise

I had my first day back at the gym yesterday after more than 12months off and boy am I sore!!! I can't believe how much my fitness level has gone down. I thought I'll start with a step class and finish off by doing the pump class afterwards!! It was quite clear within the first 5 minutes of the step class that it was a tad ambitious to try and do 2 classes, I was so exhausted. My step started off with 2 blocks under each side and finished with none. But there was one upside of starting back at the gym, the daycare ladies said Jaz can come back anytime.....hope that lasts :-). When we got home I decided I better do those dreaded sit-ups which Jaz thought was hilarious, either I looked completely stupid or she thought I was playing a game, I'm thinking "completely stupid". I have also started playing netball 2 mornings a week which is great, Jaz gets to play with the other kiddies while mum tries to run around. Running! well I've attempted a couple which were not so good, I think the first run I managed 1km and the second one I ran a bit over 2km. So it seems I have a lot of work to do to get back in the swing of things, but it's a start and it's also nice to have a little bit of normality back into my life!!

Hanging with Alby

clearly I'm a fan of Bonds ;-)

Time Out

I recently had 2 nights away in Sydney with my besties and it was just what I needed. Some people may think it's selfish but for me I really needed some mummy time out. I originally only booked to go for 1 night as I wasn't sure at the time I booked this little trip what sort of baby I would have, plus I planned to breastfeed and not having Nanny D and Gran close by to help look after Jaz while Craig worked it might be not possible to go for 2 nights. Anyhow since we have returned from Tasmania after the Christmas break it's been pretty much just Jaz and I during the day so cabin fever was setting in BAD. When she was first born we had a constant flow of visitors, literally, at one time there were 9 of us and I loved it!! So to go from being surrounded by people to no one it's quite isolating. The day before I was to fly down to Sydney I had spoken to my brother and said that I really wished I could go for the 2 nights but it wasn't possible as my wonderful sister in-law Keryn had taken a day off work to look after Jaz (I can't thank her enough) and Craig had to take the next day off, and with him being so busy I didn't think it was possible for him to take another day off so I wiped that thought from my mind. Craig comes home that night and says he is really hoping he doesn't have to work on Saturday, well did my ears prick up, I was straight onto him and asked if he didn't have to work Saturday would he mind if I changed my flights to go for 2 nights? Which he said "of course not", then I was like no I won't and blah blah blah, this went on for a while until he was going to change the flight himself, I think just to shut me up :-) plus he had noticed I'd been a little down, so I changed my return flight. I wasn't sure how I would feel leaving Jaz for the first time, Keryn took me to the airport, I gave Jaz a kiss and off I went. I got to Sydney and wanted to call to see if Jaz was ok but thought Keryn will call me if something is wrong plus I knew she was in great hands so I put the phone back in my bag and took my time off seriously, bit of shopping with the girls then back to the hotel for a rest (i.e. have a few beers and get all hypo, as you do when on these sorts of trips) before going to see ROXETTE. I got a phone call from Keryn in the afternoon telling me she had slept for 3 hrs and not one tear had been shed for her mum, this made me feel so much more happier knowing that she was fine. When the little trip was getting close to an end I said to the girls I had a bad feeling, I think I was worried that I hadn't missed Jaz and maybe I had, had a little bit too much fun, but as soon as I got off that plane and raced out to the pick up area jumped in the back seat and set eyes on my baby girl I knew instantly I had missed her, however she hadn't missed me in return, she had been quite happy to hang with her auntie and dad - talk about ripped off she was supposed to be pining for me :-).

Jaz is finally in her cot bit overdue - she sometimes gets her legs stuck!

mummy went a bit nuts with the bubbles