As I sit to write this I am so sad to realise it is my first ever post on this blog about our beautiful girls Matilda and Quinn.  Maybe one day I'll go back and fill in some gaps but just in case I don't it's time to make a few notes.

These crazy girls of ours sure have tipped our lives upside down.  It has been the biggest challenge of my parenting so far.  I guess it sort of goes without saying that having 2 babies at once and jumping up to a family of 6 would come with some difficulties but WOW you really couldn't even imagine.

I know this time will be over so quickly and in a flash I'll have 4 teenagers and a whole new set of parenting hurdles to overcome.  I try so hard to appreciate them and their little gorgeous faces and all of the little quirks each of them have.  I try to record it in my mind and remember it all but it's already starting to fade.

I didn't record the dates that the girls rolled over, or stood or walked or cut their first teeth.  Does it matter?  I don't think so.  It's not because their milestones mean any less to me - I have cherished them just the same.  I just do not have the time to be all things to everyone anymore.

I'm happy - really happy.  My life is full of love.  I am also tired and exhausted, so tired some days I feel like I wont be able to make it to the end of the day.   Rob works so hard too and we are often like ships in the night. We're a great team though and these kids of ours are all doing so well and we are really proud and blessed.

Today Matilda said her first 'sentence'.  As we waved rob off to work she said 'Bye Bye Dad'  it was so bloody cute it motivated me to jump on here and note it down.

Our gorgeous Quinn doesn't say much but she understands everything that we say to her so no doubt she'll start saying all sorts of words any day now.  We have a bit of a laugh because she mainly talks in grunts and growls so we sometimes call her 'Chewbaca'  (Her words are Mum, Dad, Duck, Tilda)

Matilda can say Mum, Dad, Nanna, Noah, Harpy, Goggie,  Cat, Duck, Byebye, Seeya, Flower, Plane, Shoe, Milk and makes a few animal sounds.

Off to actually spend a minute with my husband now, Hopefully talk again really soon.

Baby De Roach Blogspot Revival

Kirsty and I thought we might try to revive our babyderoach blog. We started it with banjo before Facebook was popular, now I'm sick of all the advertising on FB, but still want the best bit - storybooking our life and 4 babies!  This photo was from a crazy day exploring Avon Valley camp sites :)

 

'Me Time'

Today is my third consecutive Wednesday I have been kid free from about 9am until 3.30pm.

When I had Noah my father-in-law made a decision that he wanted to be an involved and regular fixture in his grand children's lives and he decided to semi-retire to make it happen.  As soon as it was possible he showed up and took Noah away for a special one-on-one 'Pa Day' every week.  Only 6 months later my sister-in-law added another grandson to the mix and he too got his day in the sun with Pa.  As the boys got older and easier to handle their days with Pa merged so that they were also getting some quality cousin bonding time too.  Then along came Finn's baby sister Beth and then our beautiful Harper. John certainly had his hands full now and depending on school schedules had various combinations of 2 or 3 of them and then 4 in the school holidays.

When the twins came along I never really thought much about Pa Day.  I figured 8 years later John had probably done his dash and would appreciate some free time now that he'd seen the 4 big kids through to their school years.  As the end of last year approached though the news came that once school started he would like to take Matilda and Quinn for their turn.  I was gobsmacked.  Two babies - was he mad?  I can barely cope most days and it has certainly been a daunting prospect for most people to even babysit for a couple of hours here and there - let alone committing to 9 hours every week.

But here we are week 3 and in he comes at 8am on a Wednesday morning full of enthusiasm and takes those precious girls away.  On alternate weeks he even takes Harper too.  He genuinely loves it.  Sure he's tired at the end of the day but he's always full of smiles and reports how wonderful his day has been.

It's an amazing blessing for me of course - a chance to take a moment to get some shit done or take some time out or drink a hot cup of coffee.  The best thing is John does it because he wants to, of course I benefit, but that's not what it's about.  It's a no guilt, no strings attached kid free day and I bloody love it.