Oh where to start, where to start?!!!! I have been in the light for a little while now, but I still keep pinching myself with excitement that I am, in fact, out of toddlerville. Really – I have been in the trenches for the past 11 years.
Gee it feels good too! It creeps up on you and before you know it and without even thinking about it you don’t have to wipe a bum. You don’t have to put a nappy on – or buy nappies by the truckload for that matter. You don’t have to dress anyone but yourself. You don’t have to open doors or put shoes on little people because guess what… he can do it himself! Oh the joy. You don’t have to conduct an all day playgroup because he plays lego non stop and is even using the instruction books. You can jump in the car with your husband and go out into the paddock without a care in the world because ALL OF THE KIDS ARE AT SCHOOL!!!!!!!!!!! Do you even know how excited I am to say that. Ok, so Clancy is only there on Mon/Wed/Fri but that is all I need. It makes such a difference.
Now don’t get me wrong, I know how lucky I am just to have happy, healthy kids but sheesh…. after 11 years if feels so bloody good. I am not going to lie to you – I don’t do babies/toddlers very well at all (in case you didn’t guess already) and I am really enjoying the boys now that they are older. Tom will be 12 at the end of this year and will probably be as tall as me before then. Harry will be 10 in August and is as carefree as ever. As for Clancy….. well he will be 5 in July! Yep – 5!!!!!! Yay. I can do 5+! I really can.
Now what are the five things I am loving the most?
- No more cots or baby furniture
No nappy holders, no port-a-cot taking up room in the back of my car every time we go somewhere. No setting up the bloody thing when we get to our destination. No need to pack sheets, and blankets and all that crap. He can get himself in and out of bed and make it each morning!!! Who’d have thought. - No more prams or strollers
Thank the lord. Oh you have no idea how good it feels to just type that. We have been out of cots and strollers for quite a while now but I have only just really thought about it. I can’t even remember the last time we needed the stroller. More room in the back of my car. No getting him in and out of the stroller. So good! - No more nappies – EVER EVER EVER AGAIN!!!!
Yippppppeeeeeeeee. We have been out of nappies for ages now, I am thinking a year has gone by, he doesn’t need me at all for any toilet help, thank you very much! I don’t have to dish out all of that money on those big boxes of Huggies. This also means there is a whole lot more room in my car when I go to town for the important stuff… like… wine!
- Packing is so much easier…
I can’t believe how easy it is to pack for town now. No need to worry about remembering this that and the other, all the boys need is one bag each and the bigger boys can pack their bags themselves. Boys don’t need much – shorts and tee’s and they are good to go. I don’t have to remember the formula or the bottles or the dummies. I don’t need special food for the trip, just a sandwich will do. I don’t need the steriliser or the bottle brush. No need to worry about wraps and bibs either or wipes for that matter. Although wipes always come in handy no matter how old your children are. I do always have some on hand. - He can feed himself!
Oh boy, how good is it when you don’t have to put them in a highchair and spoon feed them anymore. Don’t get me wrong he has been out of a highchair for a long long time now. But they are all just eating really well now. I really did hate those highchair days. Am I the only one who feels this way about toddlerville? Surely not.
Anyway, life is good. I have 3 happy, healthy boys who can do things for themselves and I am well and truly out of the trenches. To those of you who are in the thick of the trenches… stay strong. Most of you are probably loving it, but I am sorry – I was not one of them. Clancy is loving life too, non stop lego building when he is not at school.
He can also ride his little bike really well now, so he is on the move. Off he goes… peddling over to the kitchen to help Rach cook biscuits, which she often asks him to do. He can peddle anywhere, very independent indeed. He has his own wheels now – the world is his oyster.
Clancy still loves rocking his special #everydaystyle – and he totally pulls it off too. What we are looking at here is a pair of hawaiian board shorts & a pyjama top teamed with a pair of hand-me-down cowboy boots – without socks of course! I have no doubt that he thinks it is ok to wear a pj top during the day given that he doesn’t actually wear one to bed, so in his eyes it isn’t even a pj top, it is just a top. Oh and lets not forget the cowboy hat and lamington on his face. What a life he has. Not a care in the world I tell you.
So tell me – are you on my wave or do you just love toddlerville? Are you in the thick of port-a-cots, prams, highchairs and nappies?
We are off to Camooweal tomorrow for the annual Cricket Weekend. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend what ever it is that you have planned.
Happy Friday!
I’ve just bundled up our baby stuff for my brother & sister-in-law. I can’t wait to have it out our house – it takes up so much space!
Safe travels to Camooweal.
A xx
Isn’t it such a good feeling! De-cluttering at its best!!! Have a great weekend. 🙂
Well my babies are 21 & 18 this year so I’ve been out of the trenches for a while. But they are still your babies, no matter what the age. For example, eldest baby came off his bike and dislocated his shoulder and I wanted to rush off to the hospital to hold his hand. I didn’t (he has a prefecture capable girlfriend to do that) but the urge was strong.
One of the many good things about having almost grown ups is being able to have child free weekends so we are off to Mt Buller for the long weekend. Enjoy the cricket!
Oh I can imagine Judy! You were strong though. Enjoy your weekend – how exciting!!!
My son will be 24 in June, so I finished toddlerville many years ago, so thanks for the walk down memory lane.
I’m not a fan of cricket either but I never say no to a weekend away; so I’m sure you will have lots of fun and hopefully you get to enjoy a Japanese Slipper or two!!!
We have a wedding and then I’m spending the public holiday stitching and prepping for an exam; yup total party animals 🙂
Oh I know – how boring is cricket!!!! I will enjoy a cold Chardy though for sure! Enjoy the wedding and happy exam prep!!!
We all loved those precious years when there little but NOW time to move on to the next stage of life , enjoy every moment as they will be off to boarding school before you know it. Safe travels to Camooweal Miss chardy.
Yes, when you are in the thick of it you think you will never be out but all of a sudden you are done… turns out it doesn’t last forever! Thanks Barbie. You have a great weekend too. 🙂
Thanks for the toddler era memories. Such a parallel to my Tom. I love the Lego photos ( I noted the helicopter on top of the truck) and the bike photos – the joy of independence and travel! Thanks also for your ‘mother’ contribution during Toms time at Mittiebah.
Cheers Miss Chardy and Mr Chardy.
Hello there Raelee… so lovely to hear from you!!! I only just noticed the chopper on top of the truck when I looked at the photo, he just loves building choppers all day long. 🙂
Still in the thick of it, 8 years of under 2s in our house! I want to burn the high chairs when we are done. Youngest is only 11 months so it’s a bit longer. In trenches for me but I delight in hearing stories from the other side!! You give me hope 🙂
Oh yes – there is hope. How many do you have Lou? Hang in there. And yes to burning the highchairs, ha ha ha ha, I am so hearing you.
I’m still deeply in the trenches (5, 3, 21 months) but there are glimpses of light with the older two! Hoorah to you! Enjoy X
Hang in there Erin, at least yours are all pretty evenly spread – I was in the light back in 2010, and then – BAM – I found out I was pregnant with a surprise number 3 baby. You will be out the other side soon.
Oh wow that Lego! And yes I do agree that it’s nice they can be independent but they were also a bit more easy to control, well mine were. Or maybe wine has just faded my memory!!!! xxx
Ha ha ha ha, yes…. not sure if wine has faded my memory too.
You are my sister from another mister Miss Chards! My youngest turns 5 in July too so much of this rang true for me. We have done well haven’t we, to get this far? Might need to crack out a chards next time we catch up in fact! x
Oh can we … please!!!! Doesn’t it feel good… 5 soon! We are on the other side sister! So bloody good it isn’t even funny. xx
Hi Danielle, I was sooo looking forward to reading this blog because when I saw it on fb the heading just said ‘5 things I love about kissing’ haha I still enjoyed it
Ha ha ha ha, hope it wasn’t too disappointing then, ha ha ha ha. Too funny!!!
Its a great feeling when we can finally be ridded of all the baby gear and the kids start to become independent of their mother. I think that I will be sad though when my eldest goes to high school. We wish the toddlers years to go very fast but not for them to grow up so quickly!
Have a great time at the cricket. My husband and Tom would be in their element with bush cricket. Sounds like a fun social weekend with friends. We are off to one of the local country shows in our area with the kids on Sunday and dawn service and Anzac march on Monday with the school.
Oh fantastic, have fun at the show… my poor boys miss out on shows, poor deprived little buggers. The only show they have ever been to is the Brookfield Show down in Brisbane when we were down there one year when they were really little. They still remember the circus that was there. Enjoy your weekend.
Hmmmmm, it sure does all go very fast once they turn 5 I guess. That is true. I reckon the first 4 years feel like an eternity.
I’m still in the trenches. Please send wine. Only another 4 years till Phoebe turns 5. But I love living vicariously through you. xxx
Ha ha ha ha, but it is all ok because yours are not strung out over 11 years!!!! (ok so mine were strung out over 7 years but we are now up to 11 and I only just feel human again). At least you have yours all over and done with together! Don’t make my mistake! xxx
Oh Chards,
Finally you write about something I have some clue about well you know my three survived toddlerville so I am guessing somehow I had some idea!
I was so pleased to see the back of toddlerville! The determination of a toddler (or toddler twins) matched with the exhaustion of a stay at home mum is never a good combination.
I found myself longing for babies throughout the toddler years! While we don’t need cots, prams, nappies etc the amount of “stuff” and clothing my daughters take for a night can border on ridiculousness! So it isn’t always less, though I imagine it might be with three boys instead of one boy and two girls because our teen would take one change of clothes and two pairs of undies for a week if I let him!
Enjoy the cricket weekend! My entire family except me plays (including the girls!), both my boys have played on the SCG and Bradman oval this year.
Kit xoxo
Oh seriously Kit, you should have seen Harry’s bag today, I swear he could have fit the whole lot into a tiny back pack. Seriously!!! Tom would have had a bit more, because he is a bit more fussy, but still, it wouldn’t have been much. I have no idea how you coped with twins, I was flat out with one at a time. I am hearing you about wishing you had babies again during the toddler years – at least when they are babies they don’t move, back chat or ask questions… you just feed them, change their nappies and put them to bed. Have a great weekend. 🙂
Miss Chards I am really in a mist of green envy!!!!! I have a few years left of that trench 😱 Its seems forever since I started with eldest now eight and youngest 1…….but I believe you when you say there’s a light at the end of that tunnel but it can’t come soon enough haha
My number 4 is proving to be a HUGE handful so I’m quietly hoping the nappy days will end sooner for him than it did the others 🙏🏼 but yes I’m very over the pram, port a cot and extra ‘stuff’ that is needed to just have a life away from home….with school commitments it seems we are on the road all the time (that’s another chapter of my life that will take forever to end, especially since I’m the one one in the school room!)
I would love to be able to jump in the ute with hubby (without kids in tow) and go for a drive about the place, my time will come I’m sure.
Thanks for the chuckle always love reading and relating to your world
Sal 😊🍸👍🏼
Sal…. your time WILL come!!! It really will. Just remember it took me 11 years…. so you still have a few to go and you have an extra kid. Although they do say that 4 is better than 3 and I am starting to think they are right. So hang in there. I really do have no idea how you are even still sane… 4 kids… middle of nowhere and teaching them yourself!!!! HANG.IN.THERE!!!! You will be in the light soon, trust me!!! (ok so don’t trust me… because:teaching own kids…hmmm). I should get Mrs Savvy B to do a blog post for all of you Mum’s out there who are teaching your own kids, she would make you all feel so much better about yourselves… 🙂
3 kids 4 and under….. longing for the day to be out of the trenches… no one else to blame though aye! have the case of wine already in the pantry for when stop breastfeeding the last one who is 9months currently…. that will make it approx. 3 years between drinks for me – reckon I will cope lots better in the trenches when can have that glass of wine to comfort me! hahahaha
Oh Chell…. 3 under 4, go you!!! Hang in there, the wine is waiting!!!
I am slowly starting to peek over the trenches, with two boys aged 4 and 2. We have ridded ourselves of the cot and the highchair, but I am still changing nappies with Mr 2, and Mr 4 overnight. I am still full time entertainment coordinator, spend all day trying to interpret what a whinging toddler (of the whinging!!) wants, and I run around doing kinder drop offs, going to playgroups, and spending oh so much time (so much time) at the park and playgrounds trying to wear the boys out in hope of a good nights sleep (why won’t Mr 2 sleep????). But but we are presently deciding on a school for Mr 4 for next year, and a kinder for Mr 2, which means I am beginning to wonder what next for me though, as I have chosen to stay at home until now. Do I leap back into the crazy city commute/gruelling 9-5 office job, which in my opinion is WAY harder than wrangling little kids, or what?? Interesting times.
Very exciting to be rid of the cot and change table, won’t be much longer and you can say goodbye to the nappies too. Good luck with the planning for next year!