Pesty pests!

Living in Sydney I've accepted that there will be cockroaches, and larger than large ones at that, but the pest level in our house has just hit crazy status I think!

First there was a cockroach when we had our mothers group here. God knows what the other mum's thought! Anyway I tried to catch it quietly but it disappeared under the TV unit so I thought it was gone for now and I could wrangle hubby into catching it later. Obviously the cockroach had different ideas!! To cut a long story short, it ended up with 3 of my Mum friends chasing this nasty beast all around the lounge room as it jumped in nappy bags, crawled under children and flew at the toy box. Thank God someone finally got it. I was devastatingly embarrassed but also amazed at the worlds fastest cockroach!

As if that was bad enough......

That same night, after all the kids were asleep and I just sat on the lounge ready to veg out in front of bad TV, I hear, scratch, scratch, scratch from above my head. I must admit I'd heard this noise before and assumed it was a possum or the neighbours cat on our roof. For some reason tonight though I actually look up, where we have stained glass panels that are like skylights. There with it's long whiskers and beady little eyes...... A RAT!! Staring down at me like "Hey lady, what the hell are you doing in my place!"

AAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHH!! Dirty, dirty RAT!

I did my best to convince my husband to get up there with a shovel and WHACK it with a shovel but he wasn't quite up to the challenge apparently. Of course there's not actually enough room to swing a shovel, but I was desperate.

I'm very pleased to report though that in the days since, hubby has put Ratsak in the roof and the scratching has ended. However, after the scratching came the smell. The smell I could live with though because when we lifted up the skylight there was my little housemate, Rodney the Rat, dead as doornail, VICTORY!! Now the smell AND the rat are gone and it's back to just me and the cockies.

Aah the serenity.........

The Emergence of the Daytime Dad

Of course there has always been stay at home Dad's and I have seen them out and about before, but all of a sudden there are more and more of them. Is it the economic climate or are guys just feeling more comfortable in taking on the role of the primary carer?

This week my Daytime Daddyometer was running hot!

Tuesday - At least 10 Dad's with kids at swimming lessons if not more

Wednesday - doing my weekly shops at every shop I saw 2 or 3 Dad's with a trolley load of kids and groceries

Thursday - driving home from the shops I saw 8 Dad's pushing prams in the 10 minute drive home!

And they kept on popping up everywhere! These were not Dad's in suits or in their work gear at lunch, these were obviously stay at home Daytime Daddy's or maybe Dad's on their day off.

It's actually happening right inside my own little house too.

My Hubby was retrenched on his first day back from paternity leave after the birth of Baby 0.6, great timing huh?! 

Anyway he is now working from home trying to kick start his own business. It is tough financially, but on the other hand it is brilliant having him home as a help some times. More than that it is excellent for him to spend the extra time with both kids, not to mention get a glimpse into the ever "thrilling" day to day life of a stay at home Mum.

So I'm glad to see these extra Dad's and hope it means they are getting the quality time with their kids. Hopefully they're not struggling too much if it's a result of being retrenched or something else just as tough. It might be time to start a Dad's group in our area I think.

Are you seeing these Daytime Dad's popping up more and more in your area? Or is your husband being a Daytime Dad? Tell us your story? Does it work for you?

Super Mum - NOT NORMAL!!!

So whilst browsing through the internet, looking for websites that offer advice from other mums, I found "Beyond the Baby". It's quite a beautiful site although a lot of the links have no information in them - Toddlers, Little Children.

I did however stumble upon the little gem below..... Now be warned if you are a mum like me, who just does what needs to be done to get through the day and maybe gets to vacuum under the lounge once or twice a year, be prepared. This woman calls herself "Super Organiser Mum" and they may just be an understatement. You only need to look at the photos and read a few lines here and there to get the idea!

http://www.beyondthebaby.com.au/superorganisermum/

I mean no disrespect to her and if I'm honest I'm probably a little jealous of her life, but the level of perfection is ridiculous. The scrapbooking ok, she has the time obviously but scroll down to see her FAQ's on laundry!! She includes photos of her laundry and well, I think she lives in a display home, OR has a housekeeper. It gets better when she shows you a picture of the meal she made for another family, tagged with a beautifully hand made card and ribbon. Super Organiser Mum is going to do this once a month, BLESS!!

I'm sorry, but this woman is the reason people have such high expectations of mothers and why the "normal" Mum's like me feel like failures half of the time.


From me to my kids - I'm sorry I didn't scrapbook all your artwork but I kept them on the wall for months and only took them down when the Blu-Tac wore off.

From me to my friends and family - I'm sorry I don't cook meals for you and hand deliver them with sweet little notes, but beans on toast just doesn't travel well.

And well about my laundry....... here it is. I just haven't quite got around to labeling everything.