Home

On 30th June 2005, Andrew and I officially owned (in partnership with the bank) 700 square metres of relatively flat land on the side of a mountain. It had a view to Magnetic Island, Castle Hill and to the airport. We sat on our piece of dirt (with an undeterminable amount of rock under foot) and enjoyed the sea breeze, dreaming of the future.

Just over 4 months later, we moved all of our possessions that survived the latest cull into 4 walls that was just a house at the time... but would later become our home.

We sat on our deck, enjoying a wine, the breeze, the view and each other's company. And continued to dream of our future. We decided this was where we would grow old (probably the hangover of moving 65 thousand boxes was still too fresh in our minds).

Fast forward 9 years and our home has seen many friendships develop, numerous dinner parties, bottles of wine and beer consumed, a proposal on bended knee in the kitchen, a hens party, a baby shower, arguments, tears and make-ups. Our home saw me close the door for the last time as a Lo Giudice and open the door for the first time the next day as a Corney. Our home saw us become first-time parents, struggling for weeks in the early hours of the morning with a baby who cried a lot and slept little. It saw many other firsts - first smile, first poo-splosion that rocketed across the room, first step, first tumble off the back deck, first 'drinking out of the dogs water bowl' and first gecko poo consumed. First day of daycare, first day home as a family of four, first day of school. And our home has been the backdrop for a million memories in between. We've seen the front garden planted and pulled out so many times. We've seen kids 'artwork' lovingly drawn on the walls (grrrr). We've seen laughter at bathtime with bubbles going everywhere. Milk being splattered across the floor. Snuggles with kids on the couch. Weetbix cementing itself in every nook and cranny. And many bedtime stories and kisses.

And lately, we've seen our home receive a mini-makeover as it became the subject of intense conversation. Our family home is only days away from being put on the market. There are plans underfoot in the Corney household for big changes. Good changes. But in with the change, we will have to leave our home.

I have so much emotion invested in this home and I'm not ready to say good-bye just yet but the inevitable is just around the corner (with an optimistic view of selling our house in a depressed market). And once sold, our home will once again become a house... waiting to create new memories for a new family by becoming their home....

Day 1 - done

I survived day 1 of the challenge without being so hungry I felt the need to gnaw my arm off and I managed to work through the barriers that stopped me from getting off my butt and exercising in the past.

The meal suggestions were easy to make, easy to plan for (very important!) and delicious. Baked eggs for breakfast, a wrap for lunch, and BBQ steak and slaw for dinner. Husband is not a fan of cabbage and his eyes nearly fell out of his head when he saw how much 'slaw' ended up on his plate at dinner. None-the-less, he ate it all and politely declined the offer of having me make some for lunch today.

My biggest challenge was the exercise plan. I was surprised to see so much... ah... well, so much exercise for a beginner. But you know, you have to start somewhere and the results aren't going to come from being a couch potato. My run time of 6.52 mins for 1km put me in the intermediate exercise category but I've started off in beginner. Surprisingly, in following MB's exercise workout on the 12WBT page, I was able to switch comfortably between beginner and intermediate exercises. Ski jump - no probs. Boxing, running, core exercises - okay. But anything where I have to go from standing to jumping to the ground like burpees = struggle city. So there's something to work on.

Made it through the 50 min+ session without needing to call an ambulance so that was a positive sign. Lachie was a great motivator, standing next to me and telling me I was doing a good job.. and occasionally telling me 'that looks hard!'. He obviously worked up a sweat doing the supporter thing because every 5 minutes he got up to get a drink saying 'this is hard work, I'm so thirsty.' Ahhhh kids.

Bring on day 2!

Today I ran... and I might do it again!

Today I ran. I ran a whole kilometre. And I didn't stop once during that time. It might not seem like a big deal to most of the population out there but for me, a non-runner and non-exerciser, it was huge. The last time I came close to running 1km without stopping would have been when I was at school running the 800m on sports day.

I didn't get up and decide to just run 1km. It was a pre-season task in the Michelle Bridges 12WBT. I've signed up and it all officially starts tomorrow. Today I did my measurements - how many push-ups in a minute, how long I could plank, wall sit test (should have done that before I ran - ow, my legs!) and a stretch test. There is lots of room for improvement and I'm excited :)

Back to my run. I surprised even myself by getting to 1km on my first go. I was looking at the Map my Run app on my phone, trying to jog and hit the 'distance' button on the screen to see where I was at and suddenly it zipped from 800m where I had been last time I looked to 1.1km. Woohoo! So it's a start. And like the other times, room for improvement.

My next mini-goal is to be able to run 1.5km without stopping, then 2km.

My goal this time next year is to run 10km in the Townsville Running Festival.

Here goes nothing!

My intense weekly hour

Every Friday I have a day at home with the boys. It means no paid work but it's hardly a day off. Most weeks the day is filled with appointments for one child or another or both if I'm super lucky! Doctors appointments, specialist, hair cuts and on the rare occasion we get to have a play date.

First up each Friday though is our session with Hear and Say for Will. 8am every Friday. Which means on my first weekend day, we have to have breakfast done, all kids dressed, mummy dressed, kitchen cleaned and the Hear and Say activities sorted, all by 8am. Our sessions are via Skype and they are intense. Every. Single. Week.

One week I plan our session with the therapist and the following week we go through the activities with Will.

The planning weeks are intense. The boys need to entertain themselves for a whole hour while I have one on one time with the therapist. It's a lot to expect of them and it's hard because we really don't have anyone here to help us out. They fight a lot (including the hair pulling, kicking, punching type of fighting - all over a toy airplane or a train). They come in and out asking for food / drinks / to go to the toilet / to change the channel on the tv / to dob in their brother for stealing / playing unfairly / punching etc. You get the drift. But this planning session is important as I get to give the therapist an overview of Will's progress with his development and we plan activities for our next session.

The lesson weeks are also intense. It's a whole hour that Will needs to be strapped in his high chair (which he hates) and we sit in front of the computer, Skyping the therapist. We follow a set plan each week, starting with a hearing check, then a story and then activities that aid and develop his language and listening skills. As it's via Skype, I basically have to run the lesson on my own although the therapist is on the other side of the computer, helping things along. Some days Will has meltdowns because he hates being cooped up in the chair; he doesn't want to do an activity we have planned; he doesn't want to end an activity we've been doing for the past 15 mins or he just wants to stop the whole thing. Other weeks he's great and we have such fun sessions. Mostly during the lesson, Lach has to entertain himself which is hard because he can hear what we're doing. I have found that if I involve him, he uses the words Will needs to say. It's lovely he wants to be involved and wants to help but just for that hour, it adds a different element to our lessons.

Today we sat at the kitchen table and did lots of activities based on 'around the home' language - sitting at the table, having a bath, cleaning up etc. We had a bit more room to move and by using my tablet I was able to move the 'Skype' session to where Will was. The lesson ended with us rolling around the deck on Will's wagon with Will, his teddy and sometimes Lachie all being pulled around by me while I held the tablet in front of me so that our therapist could still be involved.

Every Friday at 9am I need a nap. But I know the lessons are worth it, even though they are just a lot of work for me. Will's speech and language development has come a long way and we're so grateful. At his last assessment he was on par with an average 18 month old with normal hearing. If we weren't doing these sessions, he most certainly wouldn't have been at that level. Andrew and I have been given wonderful tools from Hear and Say on how to encourage and develop Will's language. Every day, we put these into practise so that Will sees it as a daily part of his life, not just a fortnightly session.

Grateful post

I am grateful my mum had the patience to teach me to sew when I was younger. Over the next 20 years I didn't do too much but this {limited} knowledge is certainly coming in handy as a mum. 

My plan is that this pile of fabric plus my sewing machine skills will lead to a superhero cape for Lachlan. Wish me luck!

Grateful post

I am grateful my husband loves ginger, garlic, lime, coriander and chilli as much as I do. This was dinner and it was superb!

"Summer part 2"