Well ,after a few weeks of searching brisbane and toowoomba for a home, (who knew you couldnt rent anything in either area for 270 a week unless it was falling apart?) We ended up moving to hervey bay and living in my mothers loungeroom for two hellish weeks. I mean, there were fifteen damn people living there. And my mother, the queen of deception showed that actually hadnt turned into a real parent in the past few years, jsut got better at pretending. Yes, she even tried to break me and Brian up. Nice mum huh?

The last straw was when we were leaving her place, first, a glass door was blown shut by the wind anda glass panel in it smashed, and she wanted us to replace it, although it was her 17 year old son who had been using the door, and second, she was looking after Liam while we loaded the trailer up . He does not like my mum at all, and probably for good reason, so far he has been an excellent judge of character. I todl mum if he got too upset to send him downstairs to me again. I was surprised that we managed to get everything in the trailer without him coming down to me.

 I went up to get him. and he is on the couch next to my mum sobbing his poor little eyes out, and they are red and swollen, so he had been crying for a while. I asked how long he had been crying, and mum said the whole time. She then said she decided he neededto get used to her and her kids and so decided to keep him there anyway. I was furious. I told her that what she had done was basically child abuse and i was not happy. He didnt leave my side for days, the poor thing.

the other thing that annoyed me was my little sister deciding that she was sucha fantastic parent that she should be telling me how to raise my children. well considering my sister's child was 1 at the time, still ate tinned baby food, only drank from a bottle, and only milk, and still needed a dummy and be wrapped to go to sleep, i dont think i was wanting her advice. her great parenting methods include giving children a dose of paracetemol AND nurofen, even if they are jsut grumpy.  Nice work. I dont condone drugging children because they are more difficult than oyu would like. Kids have bad days too! and my mother decided that 37.1 was a high grade fever and that liam should be rushed to the hospital annoyed me too. she is a thermometer jockey. as soon as a kid is cranky, the thermomenter comes out. Her and my sister are a pretty awful combination. Mum actually said to me the next day that if i didnt take him to the doctor that she would. We really considered living in our car instead of her house.

We found a place VERY quickly, and its lovely. it has a deck and a front verandah, as well as a nice yard for the boys. Liam has taken to romping around and loves it outside. The town really is lovely, its certainly not the southbank we are used to, but the beach is nice (no sand at our end!) and the parks a re beautiful. but the major downfalls- no BIgW (half hour drive), no KMart (about an hour - 2 hours depending on traffic), no Hungry Jacks, no KFC and the PizzaHut also recently closed.

AS it was pouring down rain both times we were moving (highways closed and all) we all got quite a nasty cold- and 5 week old Kody ended up with Bronchiolitis. He could barely breath through the coughing and blocked nose.

After all this we had problems getting our phone connected, heaven knows why but it cost a fortune. (actually we had someone come and repair it AGAIN as it stuffed up our internet connection yesterday). problems getting our net connecte,d I still havent received Kody's birth certificate.

My study kinda went down the drain big time. My GPA dropped massively and i only JUST passed a few of my subjects with a dismal 50%. This semester should hopefully be much better.

LIam is fantastic, drawing up a storm with texta's and on the computer. He actually started his drawing phase one morning whiler we were sleeping in and decided our walls were rather bare and decorated most of the blank spots on our walls with different coloured textas. According to Montessori's theory nothing you cna do will stop him form drawing as he is sensitive to it and the only way to pass the phase is to encourage it. Not on the walls of course, but we always havea mass of papers and pens available when we go to bed, and no more drawing on the walls since. some lovely pictures though! He has also started using phrases, and can say just about anything you ask him to, and can count to four! I didnt teach him this, his favourite naptime song counts sheep. Whenever he laughs he ssays 'funny' afterwards, and soemtimes adds a bit to it eg. "funny, in car" when laughing in the car. So cute. He also says love mum, love kody, love dad etc. "im stuck" and 'Im free" is also another cute one.

He is such an awesome brother. He helps change Kody's nappy, gets upset if he cant personally give you a clean one and put the dirty one in the bin, has to transport the bottle from one parent to the other, must help feed, and constant cuddles and kisses, as well as conversations. he adores his little Kody, and all you have to say is Kody needs help! and he is off to give him his dummy, cover him with the blankie again and lay down with him, patting his hair and saying all better!. Never been more proud of them.

Kody is now four months old, and weighs an incredibly low 4.1 kg. hes gotten longer, and his cheeks have filled out a bit, but he just isnt plumping up. His ribs are still visable :< The doctors arent concerned as he is hydrated and very alert and happy, but it still worries me a little. He currently has a gastro bug thats gonig around and we just came back from the hospital. A bit concenred it will make him lose more weight ( he lsota bit when he had bronchiolitis).

My sister had her second child on Friday, Kye David, and he weighed a nice big 3.7 kg. he is already bigger and chubbier than Kody, and I did not like my family comparing Kye to Kody one little bit. Each are their own child and as such should not be compared to anyone but themselves.

Brian hasnt had the best luck lately either. As we all know, he was only recently qualified as a personal trainer before we had tyo move. well there is absolutely no work for personal trainers in a beach town full of retired old people. His chronic fatigue and carpal tunnel make him unsuitable for the trades positions( only jobs going around here). He has been a greatr stay at home dad and looked after the boys while I was on prac and had a blast. We have now discovered he has arthritis in his ankle, which kinda makes his personal training career impossible now. He is trying to enrol in university for next year, to study a Bachelor of IT with a double major, the first in Gaming and Creative technolgies, and the scond in Multimedia.

We had been playing an awesome online RPG (my first!) called Tales of Pirates, but we arequitting this weekend in order to be better parents and spend more time with our children. We have made some lovely friends and had some great fun in this game and reccomend it to anyone with a little bit too much spare time on their hands (warning- it is very addictive. it is also free, but has an item mall, which you can buy items with real money (isnt really expensive). these items are only availabe in mall but are not necessary to play the game. it really is good. there is a lot to do.  But enough about silly games!

This last semester I have really learnt alot about myself, both as a parent, and as an early childhood teacher/educator. These insights have really motivated me to get through this as quickly as possible and be with children. My oqwn children are the most perfect angels you could imagine, (btw, did i mention Liam is nearly potty trained?) but I want to make a difference in the world, help other children who's parents DONT know what I know, make the world a bit more fun for a few more years, instead of 5 year old kids having a pathological view of the world. I really have realised just how passionate about kids I am, and I really cant wait to get started. I have taken a casual position with ABC centres in my area, mainly for the experience but also to try and releive some of this financial pressure, as in this place it is easier for me to get a job than it is for Brian. He cant wait to get back to Brisbane.

All of these stories in the news lately have just made me feel absolutely terrible, and some have actually had me in tears. Okay, yes I get carried away, and i might care jsut a little toooo much, but someone has to. How is it possible that in our country, in surburban melbourne, a 9 year old girl can STARVE to death? She weighed less than my toddler. its outrageous, and I cant help but wonder what on earth her parents really were doing.  The little boy found in a suitcase in the pond! how dreadful! The baby that diead because it had been beaten, and his 6 year old brother found restrained in a cot in the garage. again what on earth were they thinking! I admit, as a parent, i too make mistakes! i am not condemning anyone here, but i dont beleive the normal mistakes every parent will make from time to time include such severe neglect and or abuse! I bawled my eyes out when I read about the 3 year old that was basically ignored at the hospital E.D after being transferred there with a suspected twisted bowel. 24 hours this poor boy screamed in pain with his poor parents being bale to do nothing. When they finally did an ultrasound they couldnt see anything due to the buildup of gases in his tummy. that poor little boy died three hours later.

Yes our hospital is disgusting, and we all know that the department of child protection or whatever is doing much lesss than they need to be, but i beleive its getting worse, despite all the negative media and promises that its being fixed.

But with this election around the corner, i feel a change in the air, a VERY long awaited change, and hopefull promises are lived up to.

I am looking forward to my anniversay on sunday (2) and my birthday soon after, as well as Liams 2nd bday in january followed by brians in february. xmas should be nice this year, Having lunch at my mums (i wish i didnt have to) but mainly just us keeping to ourselves. Our first christmas alone really! our first christmas we had brians sister living with us, last year we flew to cairns to be with hsi family. This year I just want to enjoy what we have, and what matters most.

Anyway, thats my rant!