My favourite vampire romances

Now I'm not (fully) ashamed to admit that I am a romance novel fan.  I was a historical romance reader for a long while and then I discovered paranormal romances.  Sherilyn Kenyon's Dark Hunter series and Weres was a favourite for ages, I ended up buying Acheron when it came out and I really did like that book - though the ending was a bit too easy I thought.  The pain and suffering in that book.... was like woah, over the top romance tragedy drama that I had not read before.

Then I decided to try the Christine Feehan series, and I read the first few and I was hooked.  Admittedly the first book wasn't THAT good, but some of the scenes were rather hot.  And then as the books went on they got better.  The later stories were my favourites, even though lots of people panned them.  I totally LOVED Dark Slayer, another tragedy of a love story where love is the cure for all hurts.  And the suffering the two of them had... I think I've read it about 20 times already.  Lucky I have it on my phone - great for long cases at work.  Dark Celebration (which was a Christmas one) was not too tacky, it had lots of characters in it and had some working of the main story line in it.  The whole everyone cooking for Christmas was the tackiest part of it though.  Dark Possession was one I really liked, the heroine in it turned out to be a werewolf but didn't know it, and both the hero and heroine were changed by the blood exchange.  And the heroine was black!

Last night I finally got around to reading Breaking Dawn, I had been cruising along reading it rather slowly and then suddenly Bella was pregnant... and I was like WOAH.  And then the next bit was written from Jake's perspective and he imprinted on Bella's baby and I was like... omg I can't stop reading now!  The Volturi are coming!

First time at the pool

Nanny M took the kids to the pool yesterday, their first time to the pool!  I had bought a swimsuit for Erika and hats for both of them, but Nanny M got some swim nappies for Julian (which I think would just be nappies that hold everything inside).  And they had a great time!  Here is a picture of my babies at the pool!

Trying to help critters

I dropped the kids off at Nanny M's and the cat had a little bird in its mouth.  Nanny M and I were trying to grab the cat to get the bird out but he kept running away.  I think the bird was alive to start but after the cat put it down a few times and picked it up it was looking floppy and lifeless.  I managed to corner the cat next to the garage and grab it by the scruff of its neck and Nanny M pried the baby bird out of its mouth, but the bird was dead, so we put it in the trash.  Poor hatchling.  I'm just glad it wasn't an endangered bird.

Then I was at hospital and I was walking along the corridor near the inner courtyard and I saw a lizard scampering around near the edges - it must have wandered inside and gotten trapped.  It was about 15cm long and I tried to encourage him to run towards the door but he kept hiding behind a pole.  I knelt down to try to catch him so I could take him outside, but he ran away again and then I stood up and banged my head on the railing - ow!  After that I lost interest in trying to rescue the poor trapped lizard!

Pudging up

I think I have to cut back on those fast food dinners and lunches.  I'm getting a real pot belly with muffin top now happening and I might have to do some *gasp* exercise, or even worse!  Cut back on some of those junkie foods.

I guess that means no more donuts for breakfast, KFC for lunch and pizza for dinner...

Ok so my diet of moderation starts today, and I will start doing some casual walking around the area where I live with the kids in tow, and hopefully that will get some incidental exercise happening.  I know it's not much but I have to start slowly somewhere.

With Christmas coming I think it best if I start now...

Flimsy gates = bobsled down the stairs!

On Monday I was going upstairs taking the kids for a shower and I was carrying the laundry too.  Erika got up the stairs first and was playing with the gate, then I got up and walked to my room door to put the laundry down and go back and get Julian.  When I turned around, Erika was standing and playing on the gate and the next thing you know the gate came off the wall and fell down the stairs.  Poor Erika was terrified!  And I was scared thinking Julian was about to wiped out by the gate as it fell down the stairs!  Erika ended up with just a bump and a bruise on her head and arm and I cuddled her for a while why she had a big cry.

The on Tuesday Julian fell down the stairs, landing on his shoulder then his head and ended up with a bleeding nose.

I just hope DOCS don't find out haha!

Should I take the plunge and start night training?

I am wondering if I should start the night time training again for wees for Erika.  She wakes up with a wet nappy so I'm wondering if I should just take her to the toilet at midnight before I go to bed.  I did try that for a little while but I then she started waking up at night - I'm wondering now thinking about it whether that was her wanting to go to the toilet because I'd started alerting her to needing to go.

Well it's so hot now that I think I'll start it again.  With any luck we'll not need night nappies anymore.  I wish we could go back to the days where Erika had a dry nappy at night.  It's been ages since she could do that.

I think that being dark in her room really does affect her going to the toilet.  I bet that she is scared to go out of her room because it's dark.

How reading women's magazines at work can bring you down....

I picked up the November 2010 issue of Marie Claire to read at work today and instead of perusing the latest styles of swimsuits (which unfortunately with my post-2-children figure consisting of pot belly and saggy boobs won't suit me!) I end up reading all these sad and dreadful stories - not unlike picking up the newspaper.

The first depressing story is about a Brazilian soccer player who had a lover brutally murdered because she refused to abort a pregnancy after a one night stand with him.  She was chopped into pieces and fed to some dogs after days of beatings and torture.  The poor baby boy, growing up knowing that his biological father did that to his mother.... ugh.

The second depressing story was about life for people after the China earthquake in Sichuan province where whole families were lost.  It was the story of 2 survivors, both of which lost their families in the quake.  The man lost his wife and 7 year old son, the woman her fiance.  There were lots of stories about how the school collapsed and all the children died... in a country where 1 child policy stands and your only child was killed, how can one read that as a parent and shudder to think if that had been yourself and your children?  Anyway, the story was that these 2 people deciding to form a family together, and that lots of widows and widowers from the Sichuan earthquake did the same thing.

The third story was about Generation Z.  About how children these days have little attention in classrooms, have tantrums and are generally indulgent and very me me me.  And this is all the fault of the parents.  Because we cocoon our children and shield them from sadness and failure (eg by no longer giving Fs, or ensuring that every child gets a ribbon in a race, not just for the 1st 2nd 3rd) they cannot deal with failure and expect everything.  After reading that article I'm trying to think how I can prevent my children from being like that.  The last thing I need is 2 indulgent teenagers who want me to subject to their every whim.  Hopefully with continued discipline and instilling in the kids the ability to save for things they want and give praise where praise is due then I can hopefully get some well adjusted kids out of the toddlers I have now.

Christmas presents for the kids

Hubby has said no toys for the kids this year, he thinks they have too many toys.  A lot of the toys aren't given by me, so I think that's a bit unfair!

So here's a list of things

Bilibo
Zoobies
Peepo (book by the Each peach pear plum people)

Planning for the big trip next year April/May

I've got the big trip planned for next April/May.  On May 7 my sister is getting married in Las Vegas, and on May 14-17 is the ANZCA ASM in Hong Kong.  So, there is a big trip planned.  Since I thought it would be good for the kids to go to Taiwan whilst I'm in Hong Kong, I thought that we would all fly together from Australia to Taiwan, stay there a few days, then fly from Taiwan to Las Vegas, stay there for 10 days or so, then fly back to Taiwan, where I will leave the family and I will stay in Hong Kong for my conference.

So... the debate is whether to leave Julian in Taiwan whilst we go to Vegas.  I initially suggested it because hubby was very distressed about the thought of taking the kids to Vegas.  I think it's just too hard for him.  However, having kids doesn't mean that it's going to be easy and after some thought I decided that it would be better for us to take Julian with us.  His mother isn't in the best of health and she's there looking after her own mother (hubby's grandmother) who is unwell.  So having Julian there who can be awake all night and crying and being difficult could be stressful for her.  Though hubby says that she wants to do it, I am not convinced because she has not shown particular interest in helping with the children when we needed someone to help, nor has she come back from Taiwan to see the children, even for Julian's first birthday.  She does however see them on Skype which is a plus, but the time that I needed her to come back (December/January) she didn't want to come and help.

So trying to get some travel ideas for the kids.

A friend GT suggested the CARES which is a travel harness that you can take on the plane for kids safety.  It costs about $100 and is a 5 point safety harness approved by many airlines.  Here's a link to the website:

CARES

Then I saw these Zoobies things, they are so cute!  They're a toy, a pillow and a blanket all in one!  I think I might get Erika one for Christmas