Social butterfly

 Last night's surprise was absolutely fantastic, and something I would never have guessed!! But we'll get to that later. Let's just say that actually getting to last night was ummm.....busy! I had a very strict timeline to stick to yesterday if I were to be on time for my big surprise. Obviously, motivation levels were pretty high!
I was a bit thrown out by Thursday night, as I was tutoring and this meant I lost an entire evening to get 'stuff' done. So yesterday morning I threw the kids in the car, dropped Phoebe and Jack at kinder and school, and the Mouse and I herbed our way to my cleaning job. Considering I had a curious one-year-old in tow, I reckon I did pretty well completing my work in the allotted time - I must admit, I was not the world's greatest mother yesterday morning. Mais spent a little bit of time in the pram, eating her morning tea and watching me wield the Spray'n'Wipe; she got acquainted with new, noisy toys in the portacot while I mopped; and she fell asleep in the pram watching the dogs outside through the back door while I finished up. Aw, bless!

We arrived home in time to plonk Mais in her highchair, and she ate her lunch while I cooked the kids' dinner, ate a sandwich and did a load of washing. By the time I had showered, pegged out the washing, cleaned up the Mouse, and tidied the house, I was ready for a nap...but then it was time to go to the hairdresser's. I had (foolishly) booked myself a blow-wave at a time I thought would be school-pick-up-friendly, because I was so excited about our night out, and I wanted to look a bit better than my normal fuzzy self.

And once again, my lovely hair stylist, Whitney, used more magic than Harry Potter and turned my mousy ponytail into a sleek, swishy mane (which I was sooooooo grateful for when I saw where we were having dinner!!!!!) Maisie sat in the pram watching the salon with huge eyes, occasionally grinning winsomely at the male hairdressers (clever girl). Phoebe got picked up from kinder early; Jack was collected from school more swiftly than usual; Phoebe was deposited at ballet with Miss Annette; and I arrived home in time to greet the beautiful, the wonderful, the delightful, Agatha - or as the kids call her, Aunty Aggie.

I think I threw instructions and pyjamas and the location of the Panadol at poor Agg before Christian and I flew out the door (without our passports, so there went that option...). I still had no idea where we were going, so when we pulled up at Riva in St.Kilda, I couldn't believe my luck. I had always wanted to dine there - apparently it's a gorgeous restaurant. We were meeting some friends (identity a closely guarded secret!) who had not yet arrived, so we sat out on the deck, in the sun, nursing a glass of bubbly...and I didn't need to wonder what the poor people were doing - they were having a rather lovely evening!!!!!!!!

It turned out that my sneaky, beautiful hubby had paired up with my lovely friend Bec's sneaky, beautiful hubby, and they had hatched a cunning plan which involved a surprise dinner at Riva, followed by Tim Minchin's comedy show. Not only that, but Tim Minchin was doing his gig backed by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra - how cool is that?? Now, you know I would have been happy to sit with the cool people at Riva all night (and in fact, I have asked for just that for my birthday which is coming up - I will be 26. Again. Stop sniggering.), however we had a show to go to. So after a delectable meal we shuffled off to find a car park somewhere near the Palais - not so easy at 7:30 on a Friday night.

When Tim Minchin hit the stage around 8pm, it was a light-show extravaganza - the orchestra in full force, and Tim Minchin on fire. That man is so funny, and so satirical, you feel quite wicked laughing at some of his jokes. But I must say, he hit the nail on the head with the song about sending a baby to sleep - and that's all I'm going to say about that!!!! It was a brilliant show, and I couldn't believe that I had been lucky enough to be treated to such a wonderful night out.

We arrived home at midnight, to be greeted by a tidy house, washed dishes, two fast-asleep-and-dreaming big kids, and one very wide awake baby. Aggie had managed to feed and pyjama our three without any hassles, and had them all asleep at a very respectable hour. (What I want to know is, when does she want to be our nanny?? Full-time??) Unfortunately the Mouse woke up screaming after a few hours, and was not having any of Aggie's attempts to calm her. She only cried on and off, but had no intentions of going back to sleep. Maisie was waiting, ever so adorably, for Mummy to come home to give her some boob. She was sitting in Agg's lap when we came in, and she didn't leap screaming into my arms. Instead, she kept up a little patter of chatter for about half an hour, which eventually turned into shrieks of joy when we let the dog in. As soon as she began to feed though - boom. Eyelids closed. Show over (until 6am. Bugger.)

And this morning? Well, after five hours sleep I was a little rough around the edges. Thank goodness I only had one glass of champers last night - I couldn't have handled anything more than a hangover induced by too much fun!! I would have been more than happy to bum around the house today, but as usual our social calendar was full-to-bursting! And so, a pirate-themed birthday party for one of Jack's mates was on the agenda for today, and I must say it was a very pleasant way to spend the day. I was also too busy to remember how tired I was, so hip hip hooray for fifth birthday parties!!! Tonight, we are off to visit our gorgeous Wild friends  - the kids are uber-excited to see Sunny and Flancy's new puppies (and I'm a bit keen to see if of the puppies will "choose" me, rendering it impossible to say no...)

And so, only a few hours after kicking off my tiara and dancing shoes, we're off again...if you didn't know me, you might think I had a social life!!!!!