Anyway, it might take a few days for me to complete this entry, but you get the idea. If you’re up for a taste of Mexico, head to Gladesville!

First I ran to the kitchen, nope oven off, phew! Then started from one room to the next wondering what it could be. When I arrived at Gigi’s room I found the culprit.

The newly bought bedside lamp we’d gotten for Nana’s visit last year, was burned unrecognisable. Sitting their on the bedside table along with paper and Fitzroy, TJ’s first toy given by Gran and Granddad at birth. Both the toy and paper weren’t fully burnt. The curtain was also burned but not fully. Sitting right next to a mattress and more paper. The bedside table has a burnt top but didn’t ruin it or warp it or anything.

We were truly blessed. It had even put itself out. We don’t have contents insurance. Not my choice lets just say.

This last week I was paying our car insurances and she said did I want some house insurance I said well I would my hubby not so much. She said how about I send out a quote anyway, and maybe I could broach it once more. I said sure sounds good.

Now after this event, I am going ahead regardless. That said, Toby agreed.

Do you want to know how it got started?

Well, we just got ourselves a whole lot closer to what we had. It’s not exactly the same, and it has a few more bells and whistles that we probably don’t need, and the driver and passenger door are much more chunky, and there’s woodgrain throughout (yuck), but it has plenty of the nice things we really liked, and which the Volvo simply cannot provide. With the arrival of Rocky, the Volvo suddenly felt much more cramped (to me anyway), so I became adamant that we needed to swap to something else.

1) We like the siliding doors since that prevents the kids from opening their doors onto other cars. We also like the fact that usually the sliding doors are remote.

2) We like leather seats. The Volvo had this, true, but we also like the ability to recline the seats. That the Volvo did not do at all, only the front two, but nothing for the 2nd and 3rd rows.

3) Adjustable height seatbelts. Probably sounds minor, but it’s nice to have when the seatbelt is not hitting your shoulder in the right place.

4) Folding seats. The Volvo folded down flat in the back and this was good. The new car, all of the seats fold down, to create a large bay which would probably accomodate 2 full size couches.

5) Tow bar. The Volvo has a weak transmission, and because of this, it’s not a good idea to tow anything with it. Now that we have a tow bar on our new car, we’ll eventually get a trailer, and anything else we can stick on there, like a bike rack.

Need less to say I am super excited about our new car, even if it screams “soccer mom” I don’t care. I was reading recently in the book ‘All Marketers are Liars’, Seth Godin says the minivan is a very good practical car, despite the stigma that many people have associated with it – and I agree. And my Uncle Mike would agree. I remember being surprised by his choice of vehicle when he visited our family in 1992 driving a simple Dodge Caravan, and he was only a single guy (still is).

So there’s the picture. It’s a Chrysler Grand Voyager Limited.

In Australia this car is classed as a luxury car, and as such, if we bought this baby new, it would be an extra $1,000 in tax since only rich people would buy it, and another grand wouldn’t make any difference to them. Interesting side note, they now only import the diesel version as of 2010. This one is a 2008 back when you could still get a V6 and this car is a V6. Again, it does have a few bells and whistles that we probably don’t need, like automatic folding rear seats, DVD players for 2nd and 3rd row, cordless headphones, window shades for all the back windows, sunroof, self adjusting suspension for towing, alloy wheels, and the list goes on.

Here’s the strange bit though. We’ve bought this car privately (a little nerve racking, since you never really know who you’re dealing with) and it’s been quite a process to get the loan (not too bad really and a good interest rate thanks to some very nice people at the Credit Union) and then a process to get the money to the right place with the other family. As of right now, their lending company has not released the car, so the owner agreed to drive it here, but didn’t leave the keys. He’ll send the keys when the lending company gives the a-ok. Why wasn’t the check made out to the lending company in the first place? That’s a very good question. Strangely enough, when the CU did the title search, it came up as no encumberances, i.e. the lending company didn’t come up as the lien holder, so the check was made out to the seller only.

Whew what a hassle. But it’s only a few more days.

Then we get to be the seller. Anyone want a well cared for Volvo XC90??

TJ wanted a Tiger cake this year and so I thought I’d best get this done the night before so as not to be stressed. Well it turned out to be a long night after the first cake I cooked didn’t rise enough. So I started again and thankfully second time lucky. Come 4.30am I was just about done other than the licorice details.

He was very excited as by the time he woke up I was just finishing it off, he was very happy with it.

I had planned for Elijah TJ’s best friend from Kindy to come over and I planned to take them to Featherdale Wildlife Park for the day. I also smartly made sure to have a helping hand with me for things like toilet stops etc…. Natalie a friend from church gladly helped me out which was lovely of her. So 5 kids and us before long headed to the park. We had a nice time, got to feed wombats, kangaroo’s, emu’s, goats and sheep. I saw my first alive Tasmanian Devil, yep all the rest were road kill.

After Featherdale Park we headed home just as Gran and Granddad showed up to spend the afternoon evening with TJ for his birthday. We had a nice evening and he was happy to be spoilt for the day.

TJ got some lovely presents, lego’s from Uncle Gregg and Aunty Mel, Toby and he have been enjoying doing that together. A cow pillow pet from Gran and Granddad, a Ben 10 toothbrush from Aunty Nicky and 2 Ben 10 toys. A lucky boy. He also got some emails from his family in the US and Columbia.

Oh and when Toby got home he said the cake tasted good as well as looking good, thanks honey.

The plan was for me to relax all day, but come afternoon we decided to take a trip to Parramatta and buy me a guitar for my birthday. It was my birthday request. I sold mine when I moved to the States and hadn’t had one since. I figured now was a good time to bring the guitar back into mine and now into my kids lives.

Whilst waiting to pick up my guitar I started getting contractions. at 3:30pm 4mins apart lasting for 1 minute. When we got home I called the hospital to ask what they want me to do, since my waters hadn’t broken. They said dear you don’t want your waters to break being your 5th child. I said ok so we headed into the hospital.  After being there for not long my contractions got closer 2 mins apart and by 6:20pm my waters broke. No chance of crossing my legs now

At 8:14pm Rocky had arrived.

He weighed 8lbs 4 oz. Length was 53cms long. Head circumference was 34.5cms. Rocky is our largest and heaviest child to date.

Some features we’ve observed. He has Granddad Frater ears, and the Frater chin. He has Toby’s nose and feet. He has sandy blonde hair and very blonde eye lashes and eye brows, looks to be a blue eyed baby. Looks like he might have a wave to his hair.  And broad hands?

Gran and Aunty Nicky arrived not long afterward to welcome him into the world and into the family. Yep the one born here in Sydney, was the one they missed the exit of.

I need to find a picture of Aunty Nicky, surely we have one somewhere.

Rocky has been shown lots of love his first week. Nana,TJ, Gigi, and William came first thing in the morning. Granddad and Uncle Gregg came to visit at the hospital and Jacqui. Then during the week we had the Wilson’s, Tucker’s and Gomez’s all come visit. Aunty Mel and Brooke, Uncle Seth, Louise, Jonathan and Lucy and my visiting teacher Lisa Pelayo.

Rocky welcome to our family.

The kids are all besotted with him.

Headed home.