LEGO OH

This past weekend, we were brave and spontanoues, well for us.

Last minute we saw something for the brick show (Lego Convention) at the Powerhouse museum in the city. We decided to throw the kids in the car and take our lego lovers in to the museum in the pouring rain.

Three very excited children in the van, one rainy drive into the city, I think my excitement and bravado was wearing off as we parked. We put the youngest in the pram, Lilliana had her harness back pack, and Caiden had some fairly firm intructions on hand holding or holding the side of the pram. We dashed throught the rain up the steps of the powerhouse to see the queeing. OH NO. Some quick movements and we found a membership line moving fast, at that moment I sang my sisters praises for giving us a membership. That line moved quickly in. The children were burning with excitement, not only was there Lego here but wait for it The Wiggles exhibition they loved is also here.

We headed stright into The Wiggles land as that was something they loved last time and as parents we knew only one exit point and lots of hands on activities. Once inside with three free range children the majority of it went very well. No major meltdowns, some anxiety around the crowd (but not all of that came from the kids...) they played and made things and enjoyed the Wiggles.

Out of the Wiggles, back into the pram for Elijah which was no small effort, and on to the first part of the Lego, this is where things got harder. The crowd at the Lego was huge, at one point poor Mick lost Caiden for a moment (he reacalls it as the worst two minutes and the longest) over excitement and fear then lead to our first “break” we headed for the members lounge (again sister membership is awesome) the kids had a moment in an area with one exit point, we had a cup of coffee/tea and the kids had a snack and drink and play, all of us calmed, Caiden had a moment to cry over being lost (my heart broke for him he was so scared it was all over his face) he kept pretty close following that. Energy and coping levels of everyone higher we went back out to Lego land and the crowd, the excitemtn from Caiden was amazing, the excitement from Lilliana at the pink palace and the gardens was amazing, the request from Elijah to take home the Lego yellow submarine far from amazing, Eli attempting to bargain over it, “mum I have the shirt”, “dad has the song” “It will fit in the pram” even less amazing!

We lasted allot longer out this time we had a good hold on Caiden and he on us for most of it and Lilliana was just in awe of all the Lego, Eli spent too much time looking for bits he could grab....

Insert another break and we then went back to finish off the Lego area! Then time to head out as we are leaving we see a lego play room..........LEGO LEGO LEGO! All three kids who had been soing so well really did not do so well in here. There were really not enough Lego in there for the amount of kids so they were sharing...yay..to be honest they all tried hard to share but it was not really going to work out for the best so we called it and tried to move on not with out coaxing, soothing, bribing, usual parent tactics!

Lazy parenting lead us to china town for an early, cheap dinner. Lots of yumminess on the table Eli picked his one dish he liked and ate that Lilliana picked about three different things and Caiden our champion eater ate everything placed on the table, it was a messy but enjoyable dinner.

The drive home was silent, three sleeping children, quick transfer into the house pajamas and at 6.30pm all tucked into bed to dream of Lego.....

Which we have heard about for almost a week

Fitting it all in

Fitting it all in

In this parenting world where life is full of appointments and there are multiple children, comes the question of needs. Three children all with such individual needs and personalities, how as parents do we give all of the children what they require?

As parents we strive hard to fill the core needs, feeding, bathing, so on as parents of kids with additional needs these jobs become harder, feeding can be fraught with issues, bath time another mine field. Then we add on the additional needs and what the requirements are. For us currently it is ensuring that all appointments are logged and kept, it is fitting in all of the recommended activities, keeping up with the mountains of paperwork that this all generates, creating systems and further structure. Working hard at keeping up with social activates to grow new skills and maintain old ones.

Often we also have to make decisions on what systems best suits the individual need.

 Making core decisions on what type of treatment we will seek. How we can maintain this treatment format/style in our lives. These decisions keep multiplying. Now with a third child travelling down the pathway we pause to look at his needs and requirements for right now, and format a plan. This plan has to fit with two other plans.

Somewhere in this as I parent I have to work my plan around all of this chaos, my work schedule, (which is as flexible as a brick) and currently I am pushing harder than before for a social life, a life outside my work and my family, something to help keep me sane. Then the other parent also to find a happy medium to fit in parenting and paid employment, and some semblance of a social life.

At present my mind is stuck on the idea of who’s need is greater this thought simply terrifies me. How can I place one Child's need over another, how do I rank this. There is no simple guide on how to do this. People I talk to the standard response is “do as much as you can” “only do what you are capable of”. I often feel I am not capable of any of this, how do I co ordinate services for three children, how do I ensure I work enough to pay the bills, yet get enough actual “real” time with my children. I don’t want to be the mum that just did therapy, or the mum who was so stressed, or simply the working mum.

For the most part I enjoy being with my children, I love they have such individual personalities, they are a joy to spend time with, but there is the flip side, the meltdowns to poor coping skills that side of it not as much on the enjoyment front! To be honest it challenges me it challenges my patience and my skills, my mothering skills and my mental health skills at times.

in our household we have the added pressure of which parents's work commitments rank above the other, in our houslhold we are both trying to work and parent, which is further pressure as there is no clear lines.

IT feels like we are constantly trying to fit so much in, not just into our lives but the things we hold in our heads. As parents we often wonder at how much the heart can hold, as a mother of four children I am often suprised how great our capacity for love is. I wish that my capacity to do it all was bigger!

For now we are swimming (or drowning, depending on the day) along with the "just do as much as you can" and attempting to push the guilt further away.

My beautiful children......