I never do these memes that go around, but for some reason I am inspired to do this one... :)
1. I like cooking a little more now that I'm married. Still not real inspired about main meals, but getting better at my baking and desserts. I have made two pavlovas in the last two months - and both worked out!
2. Budgeting is my "thing", and I check my spreadsheet probably once a day. Is that slightly obsessive? I love it when the car registration renewal arrives in the mail... and I find that we have just the right amount in the car rego column.
3. I think I have the cutest baby in the world, (pics next time, I promise!) and I love being her mummy, (mostly).
4. Going on from no. 3: being a mother has taught me so many things already - in just 8 months! I shudder to think what I'll have learned in 8 years if I keep going at this rate.
5. And leading on from no. 4: I haven't actually learned all the lessons and passed all the tests that God as provided for me on the mummy-front... I continually slip up and fail. What I'm working on at the moment? Learning to be more flexible and easy-going. There must be a balance, somewhere. :)
6. I am finding this little exercise quite hard - I don't think there ARE 12 random things about me! Perhaps I am just a boring person.
7. A clean house makes me supremely happy. I don't even mind the cleaning part, but I find it difficult when I can't get more than 2 minutes of a job done at a time. I tend to be pretty disgusted in myself when the only thing I have to show at the end of the day, is that I've actually managed to have a shower.
8. I like chocolate more than I should, and give in to temptation in this regard too regularly. I saw a mug today in Officeworks, which said "I can resist anything, except temptation"... that about sums up my relationship with chocolate.
9. There are only so many times I can laugh about being vomited on in
one day. (Hence I have given myself a two week break from trying solids
with Anthea again.)
10. My family are some of my favourite people to hang out with, especially my sister. :) I'm so thankful that we live close enough to be able to visit each other quite easily.
11. My husband wears an enormous, red tartan, adult-sized wondersuit (all-in-one suit) to bed in winter. I guess that's not really a random fact about me, is it. Well I have to sleep in the same bed as it, so I'm counting it as one.
12. I find it hard to start from scratch in the the friend-department, as we are doing at the moment in our new church. We have decided to try to make more of an effort to get to know people there, and have invited one couple over for dessert on Friday night, and another for lunch on Sunday. I'm half scared, half excited. It's quite cool though, getting to know these people as "Alastair and Carla", not with them already knowing one of us and having to get to know the other. :)
There, I did it! :)
Sunday, April 29, 2012
Saturday, April 28, 2012
Where does time go?
Goodness gracious me, we have been so busy! I feel like every post I do, that's all I say, but it's true! I've got to make a few changes I think. Well, one change has already happened - I had my final assessment for the Community Pharmacy course last Friday, so now, the pressure is off! Hopefully, the next thing I hear from them is receiving the certificate and transcript in the post! :) So that is definitely a weight off my shoulders, I was quite nervous about Friday, but my trainer was lovely and it all went very well. Another change I want to make is to do shorter posts more often. And not just "I'm so busy, this is what happened this week" kind of posts. I want to write the sort of things that people like to read... glimpses into the hearts and lives of myself and my family... the little things that make us happy... and that sort of thing.
We are having a quiet weekend... it's been a long time coming. Today I vacuumed and dusted, and it was good to restore a bit of order in this place. I took the blankets out of a blanket box, and put toys in it instead - which means they're more accessible and we can get them out to play with more often. They're the noise-making, interactive type, which Anthea has just started to like. She can now sit on the floor and bang on her little piano toy - it's so cute to watch. Uncle Lachlan was pleased to see that she's already started playing. :)
The last weekend in March was very special, as our dear friends the Careys came down from Queensland and stayed with my parents, so we were thrilled to be able to spend some time with them during their time here. It had been probably 18 months since we'd last seen them, and we loved being able to introduce them to Anthea! Andrea also came up with her kids - so it was almost like old times! If Lauren and her family had been able to be there, it would have been just perfect, but never mind, another time. :) Andrea was a big encouragement to me as a new mother too... gently helping me to troubleshoot some of my fears and dramas regarding Anthea's routine, and challenging me to chill out about it a bit more. Which was perfect timing and JUST what I needed. :) Oh and I'm so thrilled, she's just started blogging - I've been telling her that she should for ages. :)
I've started going to the ladies bible study at our new church - well, I've been twice. :) I like that it has a broad age-group... from grandmothers down to young single women. And there are thoughtful, heart-felt discussions to be had. I have made a new friend too, the lovely Jade. She is a year younger than me, and is married with a 3.5 month old baby boy named Eli - the only other baby at church. I had her over for morning tea last week, and apologised for not having the floor vacuumed before she arrived... and she laughed at me! "Oh Carla, I never vacuum! You shouldn't have worried!" :) She's a more laid back than me, and I think we'll balance each other out... I have good feelings about our friendship. :)
Easter was a busy weekend too... we went to visit my grandparents in Manly, for the first time since Annie's birth! How terrible is that?! We've seen them a several times, but hadn't actually made the effort to do the trip just to see them. They seemed to really appreciate the visit, and I was quite impressed with how easy-going they were and how well they managed having us and a baby. :) Meaghan stayed overnight on Easter Sunday, to help me on the Monday to prepare for having friends and family over for dinner for Alastair's 34th birthday. (I cannot believe that my husband is 34!!!) We don't have much room in our house, so we had our little party out under Jim's carport, which he cleaned up beautifully for us in the days beforehand. Joel and Katherine stayed over that night, for the first time, and that was lots of fun. They got to have morning-cuddles-in-bed with Annie too... :)
That Tuesday I threw caution to the wind, and decided to head up to the Sydney Royal Easter Show with friends for the day. At first I wasn't sure if the idea was brave or stupid, but it turns out that it was brave - and it was actually REALLY good for me to realise that I could do something like that with Anthea, and that her getting a bit out of routine isn't the end of the world. She seemed to handle it really well, was a bit tired the next day, but overall, it was quite a liberating experience. Oh, I also discovered that I no longer get a thrill out of scary rides - they just don't do it for me any more. So that's good to know.
13th-16th April we flew to Melbourne for the weekend... just for fun. Mum, Dad and Meaghan came too, and we had a ball - mostly. One of the days I got food poisoning, and had an horrendous afternoon at the factory outlet centre - getting to know the toilets there quite well. It was just awful. I had to feed Anthea on a seat outside the toilet with Meaghan beside me, so that at any point I could give Annie to her and run in. :( I found Willow Tree figurines half price, and the maternity bras I paid $60 for early last year, I found for $28, so they were a few bargains. Other than that though, the trip taught us a few lessons... that a holiday with a baby is very different to a holiday as a couple - not bad different, just different different... and as the parents, we were more tired than we expected, so the sight-seeing we'd planned was just hard work.... not bargaining for a half hour here or there for feeds... and stuff like that. On the whole though, it was good. Anthea flew really well, and slept in the pram when we were out during the day, but unfortunately didn't enjoy seeing Carlton play Collingwood at the MCG - she and I spent most of the time in the parents' room.
So those are the major things that have been going on... but there are lots of little things too, such as making a vegie garden and planting out lots of seedlings; watching Annie learn to play with her toys; getting her first Pixifoto done (with the voucher from the Bounty Bag - yay!); and her first tooth coming through just the day before yesterday! :) She's growing up so quickly - I can't believe she'll be 8 months on Monday!
Before I go, just for a laugh: Alastair took Annie out this afternoon for a couple of hours so that I could get some stuff done. I sent him a message while he was away, to say that I'd thought of cooking spaghetti bolognaise for tea, and did he have any other suggestions, but that McDonalds, Caesar's (chicken burgers), or burritos would not be considered. The message I got back? "You took all three of my suggestions and broke them into shards and stabbed me in the heart with them." :P And you thought *I* was a drama queen. :)
Next time, I want to post photos, do the 12 Random Things meme that the girls have been doing, and also I want to write about Facebook and how I'm doing it differently now, and how much better it is. :)
I'd better go, Anthea's just woken again....
We are having a quiet weekend... it's been a long time coming. Today I vacuumed and dusted, and it was good to restore a bit of order in this place. I took the blankets out of a blanket box, and put toys in it instead - which means they're more accessible and we can get them out to play with more often. They're the noise-making, interactive type, which Anthea has just started to like. She can now sit on the floor and bang on her little piano toy - it's so cute to watch. Uncle Lachlan was pleased to see that she's already started playing. :)
The last weekend in March was very special, as our dear friends the Careys came down from Queensland and stayed with my parents, so we were thrilled to be able to spend some time with them during their time here. It had been probably 18 months since we'd last seen them, and we loved being able to introduce them to Anthea! Andrea also came up with her kids - so it was almost like old times! If Lauren and her family had been able to be there, it would have been just perfect, but never mind, another time. :) Andrea was a big encouragement to me as a new mother too... gently helping me to troubleshoot some of my fears and dramas regarding Anthea's routine, and challenging me to chill out about it a bit more. Which was perfect timing and JUST what I needed. :) Oh and I'm so thrilled, she's just started blogging - I've been telling her that she should for ages. :)
I've started going to the ladies bible study at our new church - well, I've been twice. :) I like that it has a broad age-group... from grandmothers down to young single women. And there are thoughtful, heart-felt discussions to be had. I have made a new friend too, the lovely Jade. She is a year younger than me, and is married with a 3.5 month old baby boy named Eli - the only other baby at church. I had her over for morning tea last week, and apologised for not having the floor vacuumed before she arrived... and she laughed at me! "Oh Carla, I never vacuum! You shouldn't have worried!" :) She's a more laid back than me, and I think we'll balance each other out... I have good feelings about our friendship. :)
Easter was a busy weekend too... we went to visit my grandparents in Manly, for the first time since Annie's birth! How terrible is that?! We've seen them a several times, but hadn't actually made the effort to do the trip just to see them. They seemed to really appreciate the visit, and I was quite impressed with how easy-going they were and how well they managed having us and a baby. :) Meaghan stayed overnight on Easter Sunday, to help me on the Monday to prepare for having friends and family over for dinner for Alastair's 34th birthday. (I cannot believe that my husband is 34!!!) We don't have much room in our house, so we had our little party out under Jim's carport, which he cleaned up beautifully for us in the days beforehand. Joel and Katherine stayed over that night, for the first time, and that was lots of fun. They got to have morning-cuddles-in-bed with Annie too... :)
That Tuesday I threw caution to the wind, and decided to head up to the Sydney Royal Easter Show with friends for the day. At first I wasn't sure if the idea was brave or stupid, but it turns out that it was brave - and it was actually REALLY good for me to realise that I could do something like that with Anthea, and that her getting a bit out of routine isn't the end of the world. She seemed to handle it really well, was a bit tired the next day, but overall, it was quite a liberating experience. Oh, I also discovered that I no longer get a thrill out of scary rides - they just don't do it for me any more. So that's good to know.
13th-16th April we flew to Melbourne for the weekend... just for fun. Mum, Dad and Meaghan came too, and we had a ball - mostly. One of the days I got food poisoning, and had an horrendous afternoon at the factory outlet centre - getting to know the toilets there quite well. It was just awful. I had to feed Anthea on a seat outside the toilet with Meaghan beside me, so that at any point I could give Annie to her and run in. :( I found Willow Tree figurines half price, and the maternity bras I paid $60 for early last year, I found for $28, so they were a few bargains. Other than that though, the trip taught us a few lessons... that a holiday with a baby is very different to a holiday as a couple - not bad different, just different different... and as the parents, we were more tired than we expected, so the sight-seeing we'd planned was just hard work.... not bargaining for a half hour here or there for feeds... and stuff like that. On the whole though, it was good. Anthea flew really well, and slept in the pram when we were out during the day, but unfortunately didn't enjoy seeing Carlton play Collingwood at the MCG - she and I spent most of the time in the parents' room.
So those are the major things that have been going on... but there are lots of little things too, such as making a vegie garden and planting out lots of seedlings; watching Annie learn to play with her toys; getting her first Pixifoto done (with the voucher from the Bounty Bag - yay!); and her first tooth coming through just the day before yesterday! :) She's growing up so quickly - I can't believe she'll be 8 months on Monday!
Before I go, just for a laugh: Alastair took Annie out this afternoon for a couple of hours so that I could get some stuff done. I sent him a message while he was away, to say that I'd thought of cooking spaghetti bolognaise for tea, and did he have any other suggestions, but that McDonalds, Caesar's (chicken burgers), or burritos would not be considered. The message I got back? "You took all three of my suggestions and broke them into shards and stabbed me in the heart with them." :P And you thought *I* was a drama queen. :)
Next time, I want to post photos, do the 12 Random Things meme that the girls have been doing, and also I want to write about Facebook and how I'm doing it differently now, and how much better it is. :)
I'd better go, Anthea's just woken again....
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Out of the fog
Ahh... cup of tea in hand, baby in bed for her afternoon nap... it's an overcast, cool day, our dinner (casserole) is in the slow cooker, and I actually have time to feel cosy and blog. :)
This week has been good so far. It started with being encouraged at church by the lovely early childhood nurse at church, to just do what I think is the right thing to do as far as Anthea is concerned. My cherub has, for the last two weeks, been quite out of sorts, not sleeping through the night (argh! she's slept through since she was about 6 weeks old - what's happened?!?!), and I've been a bit disillusioned with the whole Joy of being a Mummy. I thought maybe she was hungry, surely that's why she was waking in the night! If I could just get her to eat some food, we'd be okay again - right? Not right. She wasn't interested, and I was getting frustrated trying to force it in. I'd also been told that by 6 months, babies should be on about a 4-hourly routine, so I was trying to change her routine too. TMI, we used to say... Too Much Information. I think that's what can so easily happen to new mummies, when we feel out of our depth and that we don't know enough, we second-guess everything and then just trying anything that might work. And there are so many sources of information and advice.... so it can all get very confusing. Plus, we seem to have been through another layer of skin on my nipples this week - excruciating. No fun at all. How does that happen, after the baby has been feeding with no worries for months?!?!
So anyhow, Monday morning saw me start Annie back on her 3-hourly routine with no solids. I put her to bed when I saw her tired signs and knew she was tired, even if she hadn't been up as long as she "should have been". She had three good sleeps that day. I gave her a dream-feed on Sunday and Monday nights. Tuesday I was also fairly strict with her, put her to bed when I thought I should, and didn't offer solids. By her 9pm feed on Tuesday night, I had decided to skip the dream-feed... and she slept through til 7am. I was so ridiculously pleased with myself... it had worked! I knew what was best for her, because I am her mummy! And the Joy came back. :)
I guess that may be one reason I feel like I've come out of the fog. For some reason, looking back over the time since Anthea has been born, the whole lot feels like a fog... but now, looking forward, it's like the sun has come out and I'm optimistic about what lies ahead - I can do it! In God's strength and with Alastair's help, of course. But even though the day is dreary, I'm not just moping about, getting bogged in monotony... I'm doing things and striking them off my To Do List! :) Last night I even did the ironing while Alastair was at bible study. :)
Tuesday was our 2nd wedding anniversary, so that was pretty exciting. :) We went out for dinner to the local Indian restaurant, and it was really yummy. Anthea came too... we strapped her little seat to the chair and she chewed on a rusk... and some teaspoons... and a napkin... and was very good for her first time in a restaurant. :) We dressed her up all pretty too, so everyone thought she was just a little darling. :) We have decided (at this stage - it may change, but for now), that since Alastair's family has been through the trauma and horror of divorce, that we want our anniversary to be a special occasion that our whole family (even though it's little at the moment) looks forward to and celebrates together - the fact that the mummy and the daddy love each other is a special gift, and it's a gift that not every family has. We can go out for dinner as a couple at other times, but feel that this is a really important thing for our kids to be aware of, and to celebrate with us!
Yesterday, Annie and I visited an elderly friend, whom I know from my pharmacy assistant days - oh so long ago! :) I had only been to see her when Anthea was quite small, so she was thrilled to see how much she's grown. Mrs. Woollard is a beautiful 88-year-old Christian... one of those people that it doesn't matter what she's talking about, she will always find somewhere to insert a "the Lord is so good to me, I don't know what I'd do without Him!", or an "I'm so very blessed", as she tells me how she was praying for all 15 of her great-grandchildren before I arrived, asking God to bless them, to keep them, and to bring them to Himself. She is frustrated by a little bit of memory loss since a recent flu she had, but was asking about how Alastair is, and how our church is going.... just a shining light she is. I always feel warmed by her presence.
This week I've also.... (drumroll please)... cleaned my house! :) Yay! Well, nearly. I haven't cleaned the kitchen sink or changed the sheets... but the rest is done! I am nearly delirious with excitement, because as of this morning, my basin is clean at the same time as my shower! Cleaning the shower is one of my least favourite jobs... made even less favourite when the baby starts to scream in the middle of the job.... and the absolute WORST part of it is getting the hair and gunk out of the grate on the drain - that bit always makes me heave. :( Made all the worse, of course, because I am losing so much hair at the moment - I'm going to be bald soon, I just know it...
Speaking of hair - I went and got a haircut. :) It's up to my shoulders, with a fair bit of layering, and now that I'm used to it, it's okay. :) I just needed a bit of a change - and I've been wearing it out with just a headband, so that makes me feel different and that is nice. :)
The other exciting thing is that I've finally finished my Community Pharmacy workbooks!!! Maybe that is also part of why the fog seems to have lifted - I no longer have that hanging over me... it was such a burden! It's not completely finished, I still have a last appointment with my trainer (not til mid-April) to finalise the last of everything, but the study part of it is done, and that's the main exciting thing. :)
Okay, so this is very long and maybe not everyone was interested in all that. :P I think I was writing it as much for myself though, so not to worry. Next time I'll have to post some more photos... OH, THERE WAS ANOTHER EXCITING THING! I nearly forgot!!! Anthea can sit up now!!!! On her own! :) It was pretty special to witness that. :) She's gone from size 0 Bonds wondersuits to size 1 this week too.... mmmm.... :) my chubby bubby.
This week has been good so far. It started with being encouraged at church by the lovely early childhood nurse at church, to just do what I think is the right thing to do as far as Anthea is concerned. My cherub has, for the last two weeks, been quite out of sorts, not sleeping through the night (argh! she's slept through since she was about 6 weeks old - what's happened?!?!), and I've been a bit disillusioned with the whole Joy of being a Mummy. I thought maybe she was hungry, surely that's why she was waking in the night! If I could just get her to eat some food, we'd be okay again - right? Not right. She wasn't interested, and I was getting frustrated trying to force it in. I'd also been told that by 6 months, babies should be on about a 4-hourly routine, so I was trying to change her routine too. TMI, we used to say... Too Much Information. I think that's what can so easily happen to new mummies, when we feel out of our depth and that we don't know enough, we second-guess everything and then just trying anything that might work. And there are so many sources of information and advice.... so it can all get very confusing. Plus, we seem to have been through another layer of skin on my nipples this week - excruciating. No fun at all. How does that happen, after the baby has been feeding with no worries for months?!?!
So anyhow, Monday morning saw me start Annie back on her 3-hourly routine with no solids. I put her to bed when I saw her tired signs and knew she was tired, even if she hadn't been up as long as she "should have been". She had three good sleeps that day. I gave her a dream-feed on Sunday and Monday nights. Tuesday I was also fairly strict with her, put her to bed when I thought I should, and didn't offer solids. By her 9pm feed on Tuesday night, I had decided to skip the dream-feed... and she slept through til 7am. I was so ridiculously pleased with myself... it had worked! I knew what was best for her, because I am her mummy! And the Joy came back. :)
I guess that may be one reason I feel like I've come out of the fog. For some reason, looking back over the time since Anthea has been born, the whole lot feels like a fog... but now, looking forward, it's like the sun has come out and I'm optimistic about what lies ahead - I can do it! In God's strength and with Alastair's help, of course. But even though the day is dreary, I'm not just moping about, getting bogged in monotony... I'm doing things and striking them off my To Do List! :) Last night I even did the ironing while Alastair was at bible study. :)
Tuesday was our 2nd wedding anniversary, so that was pretty exciting. :) We went out for dinner to the local Indian restaurant, and it was really yummy. Anthea came too... we strapped her little seat to the chair and she chewed on a rusk... and some teaspoons... and a napkin... and was very good for her first time in a restaurant. :) We dressed her up all pretty too, so everyone thought she was just a little darling. :) We have decided (at this stage - it may change, but for now), that since Alastair's family has been through the trauma and horror of divorce, that we want our anniversary to be a special occasion that our whole family (even though it's little at the moment) looks forward to and celebrates together - the fact that the mummy and the daddy love each other is a special gift, and it's a gift that not every family has. We can go out for dinner as a couple at other times, but feel that this is a really important thing for our kids to be aware of, and to celebrate with us!
Yesterday, Annie and I visited an elderly friend, whom I know from my pharmacy assistant days - oh so long ago! :) I had only been to see her when Anthea was quite small, so she was thrilled to see how much she's grown. Mrs. Woollard is a beautiful 88-year-old Christian... one of those people that it doesn't matter what she's talking about, she will always find somewhere to insert a "the Lord is so good to me, I don't know what I'd do without Him!", or an "I'm so very blessed", as she tells me how she was praying for all 15 of her great-grandchildren before I arrived, asking God to bless them, to keep them, and to bring them to Himself. She is frustrated by a little bit of memory loss since a recent flu she had, but was asking about how Alastair is, and how our church is going.... just a shining light she is. I always feel warmed by her presence.
This week I've also.... (drumroll please)... cleaned my house! :) Yay! Well, nearly. I haven't cleaned the kitchen sink or changed the sheets... but the rest is done! I am nearly delirious with excitement, because as of this morning, my basin is clean at the same time as my shower! Cleaning the shower is one of my least favourite jobs... made even less favourite when the baby starts to scream in the middle of the job.... and the absolute WORST part of it is getting the hair and gunk out of the grate on the drain - that bit always makes me heave. :( Made all the worse, of course, because I am losing so much hair at the moment - I'm going to be bald soon, I just know it...
Speaking of hair - I went and got a haircut. :) It's up to my shoulders, with a fair bit of layering, and now that I'm used to it, it's okay. :) I just needed a bit of a change - and I've been wearing it out with just a headband, so that makes me feel different and that is nice. :)
The other exciting thing is that I've finally finished my Community Pharmacy workbooks!!! Maybe that is also part of why the fog seems to have lifted - I no longer have that hanging over me... it was such a burden! It's not completely finished, I still have a last appointment with my trainer (not til mid-April) to finalise the last of everything, but the study part of it is done, and that's the main exciting thing. :)
Okay, so this is very long and maybe not everyone was interested in all that. :P I think I was writing it as much for myself though, so not to worry. Next time I'll have to post some more photos... OH, THERE WAS ANOTHER EXCITING THING! I nearly forgot!!! Anthea can sit up now!!!! On her own! :) It was pretty special to witness that. :) She's gone from size 0 Bonds wondersuits to size 1 this week too.... mmmm.... :) my chubby bubby.
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Point form to recap...
So my last post was on the 29th of February, and now here it is the 22nd of March... oh well, you know what they say about time flying... :)
To recap on the whole month is proving a bit of a daunting task, as is evidenced by my procrastinating about blogging, lest I don't have enough time to do a good job on it! So I think I'll just put down a few points about what's been going on.
To recap on the whole month is proving a bit of a daunting task, as is evidenced by my procrastinating about blogging, lest I don't have enough time to do a good job on it! So I think I'll just put down a few points about what's been going on.
- The beginning of March saw me find some wardrobes on eBay, and Alastair and Dad going over to North Sydney to pick them up! Since we've lived here, we have only had a small rack to hang things on, and it just always seems dusty and untidy to me, so this has been a wonderful blessing - being able to iron clothes and hang them in a wardrobe is a luxury! :)
- We celebrated Alastair's Dad's birthday on the 5th of March.... it was a Monday, so we went around after work with a cake and pressies to surprise him.... much to his disgust, unfortunately. It went down like a ton of bricks, and made me feel wretched and awful. :(
- During that next week I suffered from a bad neck/shoulder/back problem... probably brought on by my very healthy daughter. :) We turned her car seat around so she now faces forwards, to hopefully reduce the strain on me as it was very hard to lift her over the straps while she was rear-facing. I went to the osteopath and that helped a bit.
- The next weekend we spent a lovely couple of days with our dear friends the Axelbys, and Anthea got to meet lots of new friends. :) We thoroughly enjoyed our time with these beautiful people, drinking lots of tea, talking, watching movies, talking, drinking tea... you get the picture. :)
- On the Sunday of that weekend, we were able to arrange to catch-up with the lovely Hornsey family, for a picnic in Canberra! It was great to be able to spend time with them, and for Alastair to get to know them better. Their Daniel and our Anthea are two months apart (he's older), and it was sweet to see our babies together. :)
- So after a weekend like that, the next week was a bit of a write-off. :P Anthea had begun being quite unsettled before we went away, and didn't get back to normal during that next week.... which made me quite anxious and wondering what on earth I was doing wrong. I even rang Tresillian to ask for advice. She wasn't interested in the solids I was trying to feed her, and she was waking several times through the night. It wasn't until last Sunday at church, that I was greatly encouraged by talking to a lady who is an Early Childhood Nurse (or whatever they call them now), who told me just to go with my gut and do what I thought was best. Since then, I've gone back to my fairly strict routine, and when I feel that she's tired, I put her to bed. It's worked wonders, and our happy baby is back! :)
- During last week, we also made wills - having not done that before. Alastair has been doing some IT work for a lawyer who is setting up his own firm down here, and so when Alastair asked about how much wills cost and how do we go about sorting one out, he said he's been really impressed with Alastair's work, and that he'd like to do them for us for nothing!
- Last Saturday afternoon I was able to catch up with two old friends from my FGYO days, neither of whom had met Anthea yet, so that was special and we had a lovely time.
And then we get to this week.... that's another post, I think.
And a cup of tea... :)
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Blessed to have a healthy baby
On Monday I took Anthea for her 6-month check-up.
She is on the 75th percentile for head circumference and length, and, weighing in at 9kg, is on the 97th percentile for weight. Yay for chubby bubbies! :)
The Doctor asked me what I was feeding her, and I said that she's breastfed, and that in the last week I'd been trying to introduce a little bit of stewed apple - but that Annie just doesn't seem to be interested. She told me not to worry about pushing the solids just yet "as she's clearly not starving!" :P
Here are a few photos I took this morning... I love babies in Bonds wondersuits - so given the cool rainy weather I took the opportunity to put her in one today... and then had to take pictures. :)
And who doesn't think babies in Jolly Jumpers are cute?!?!
She is on the 75th percentile for head circumference and length, and, weighing in at 9kg, is on the 97th percentile for weight. Yay for chubby bubbies! :)
The Doctor asked me what I was feeding her, and I said that she's breastfed, and that in the last week I'd been trying to introduce a little bit of stewed apple - but that Annie just doesn't seem to be interested. She told me not to worry about pushing the solids just yet "as she's clearly not starving!" :P
Here are a few photos I took this morning... I love babies in Bonds wondersuits - so given the cool rainy weather I took the opportunity to put her in one today... and then had to take pictures. :)
She loves sitting in the highchair, looking around:
And is getting better at sitting up...
...though not at smiling for the camera!
I think her favourite thing to do is to stand up... assisted of course!
Then she caught me taking the photo!
And is getting better at sitting up...
...though not at smiling for the camera!
I think her favourite thing to do is to stand up... assisted of course!
Then she caught me taking the photo!
And who doesn't think babies in Jolly Jumpers are cute?!?!
Thursday, February 23, 2012
Very very blessed are we...
You know, I think we may indeed be one of the most blessed families in the world.
We have a beautiful landlord named Jim. He is about to turn 82, and is one of the most amazing, kind, gentle, thoughtful, considerate, generous, clever, wonderful Christian men that we have ever met.
For starters: he is renting his granny flat to us at a minimal rate, (which enabled us to pay off the $25,000 debt Alastair brought into our marriage just days before our first anniversary). Minimal, as in, we'd be hard-pressed to find a motel for a night, for what he charges us for a week. He does all the lawns and gardening, saying "you've got enough to think about with your little girl" whenever we offer any sort of practical help. And those two things are only the beginning of his kindness to us. It would take me a year to write everything he does to make our lives easier... we are just constantly blown away by his servant-heart...
Anyhow, yesterday, would you believe it... he installed an air conditioning unit upstairs for us! Whenever it gets above about 25 degrees outside, it becomes stiflingly hot up there, and the only room that is up there, is our bedroom (where Annie sleeps too). A few weeks ago, Alastair went and talked to Jim, to ask if we might be able to put a little portable air conditioner up there or something, because Anthea was finding it hard to sleep... and lo-and-behold, this is what he came up with!
I keep thanking him, but he doesn't want to hear about it. :) I guess I just want to say that even though sometimes I complain about living in a tiny two-room granny flat, that we are so infinitely blessed... God's love is constantly being shown to us by this grandfather-figure at the other end of the hallway. May God bless you Jim, a thousand-fold!
We have a beautiful landlord named Jim. He is about to turn 82, and is one of the most amazing, kind, gentle, thoughtful, considerate, generous, clever, wonderful Christian men that we have ever met.
For starters: he is renting his granny flat to us at a minimal rate, (which enabled us to pay off the $25,000 debt Alastair brought into our marriage just days before our first anniversary). Minimal, as in, we'd be hard-pressed to find a motel for a night, for what he charges us for a week. He does all the lawns and gardening, saying "you've got enough to think about with your little girl" whenever we offer any sort of practical help. And those two things are only the beginning of his kindness to us. It would take me a year to write everything he does to make our lives easier... we are just constantly blown away by his servant-heart...
Anyhow, yesterday, would you believe it... he installed an air conditioning unit upstairs for us! Whenever it gets above about 25 degrees outside, it becomes stiflingly hot up there, and the only room that is up there, is our bedroom (where Annie sleeps too). A few weeks ago, Alastair went and talked to Jim, to ask if we might be able to put a little portable air conditioner up there or something, because Anthea was finding it hard to sleep... and lo-and-behold, this is what he came up with!
I keep thanking him, but he doesn't want to hear about it. :) I guess I just want to say that even though sometimes I complain about living in a tiny two-room granny flat, that we are so infinitely blessed... God's love is constantly being shown to us by this grandfather-figure at the other end of the hallway. May God bless you Jim, a thousand-fold!
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
PS to last post
Oh, I was going to add... the other thing that set me on edge on Saturday night was that a friend of my parents assumed I was pregnant and started talking about it with me, asking how I was going with the second pregnancy! :( I think that's really rude. Just sayin'.
Monday, February 20, 2012
The things we do...
Here I am, less than a week since I last blogged - go me! :)
The rest of last week was fairly straightforward... at home on Wednesday... shopping on Thursday... mothers' group and the completion of another workbook on Friday (only 3 to go now!).
Then along came Saturday. It was just a monster-big day. Lovely, but enormous.
It started Friday night really, Anthea woke every hour through the night. So that wasn't a great start to the weekend. Meaghan came and stayed the night on Friday so that she could come down to Murrumbateman/Yass with us on Saturday. We left at 8.30am, stopped at Sutton Forest at 9.30, and got to Aunty Heather's (Murrumbateman) at about 11.30. Had a lovely lunch and afternoon with them, even though Annie didn't sleep much. At about 5pm we went to a birthday party (combined 50th/25th for mother/daughter friends) in Yass. It was great to see so many of our friends in the one place; many of them hadn't yet met Anthea! But it was hideously hot, and she wouldn't feed and wouldn't settle, so unfortunately I found it rather stressful and overwhelming. We left at about 10pm and headed home, arriving just after midnight. Annie was good on the way home - slept most of the way. But once we were home she just wouldn't settle until after 2am.... and I had a bit of a meltdown. :(
If the beautiful family who threw said party read this, I want them to know that it was a lovely celebration, and it was absolutely nothing they did or didn't do that made it work out like this for me... thank you for inviting us! It was just me and where I'm at just now... hopefully I will learn to handle these situations better in the future and be better company! Or maybe big get-togethers just aren't our thing at the moment...
Yesterday, (Sunday) we just had a quite day, which was really good. Anthea was still a bit tired and grumpy, but last night she slept from 8.30pm til 4am when I put her dummy in, then slept til 7.15 when I fed her and put her straight back down and she woke just after 10am! Today she has slept a lot too, and she is much happier. :)
Some really nice things though: at the party we were able to sit with friends whom we hadn't seen for nearly a year... and both of us have welcomed new babies since that time! Also, I met two lovely women who have been following my blog for a while without me knowing. And, for one miniscule split second, I felt a tiny weeny bit famous - isn't it only famous people (like Danielle Carey) who have Amazing Unknowns read their stuff? :) Anyhow, it was so lovely to meet them, and to learn that they like reading about even the little things that I blab about here. :)
The rest of last week was fairly straightforward... at home on Wednesday... shopping on Thursday... mothers' group and the completion of another workbook on Friday (only 3 to go now!).
Then along came Saturday. It was just a monster-big day. Lovely, but enormous.
It started Friday night really, Anthea woke every hour through the night. So that wasn't a great start to the weekend. Meaghan came and stayed the night on Friday so that she could come down to Murrumbateman/Yass with us on Saturday. We left at 8.30am, stopped at Sutton Forest at 9.30, and got to Aunty Heather's (Murrumbateman) at about 11.30. Had a lovely lunch and afternoon with them, even though Annie didn't sleep much. At about 5pm we went to a birthday party (combined 50th/25th for mother/daughter friends) in Yass. It was great to see so many of our friends in the one place; many of them hadn't yet met Anthea! But it was hideously hot, and she wouldn't feed and wouldn't settle, so unfortunately I found it rather stressful and overwhelming. We left at about 10pm and headed home, arriving just after midnight. Annie was good on the way home - slept most of the way. But once we were home she just wouldn't settle until after 2am.... and I had a bit of a meltdown. :(
If the beautiful family who threw said party read this, I want them to know that it was a lovely celebration, and it was absolutely nothing they did or didn't do that made it work out like this for me... thank you for inviting us! It was just me and where I'm at just now... hopefully I will learn to handle these situations better in the future and be better company! Or maybe big get-togethers just aren't our thing at the moment...
Yesterday, (Sunday) we just had a quite day, which was really good. Anthea was still a bit tired and grumpy, but last night she slept from 8.30pm til 4am when I put her dummy in, then slept til 7.15 when I fed her and put her straight back down and she woke just after 10am! Today she has slept a lot too, and she is much happier. :)
Some really nice things though: at the party we were able to sit with friends whom we hadn't seen for nearly a year... and both of us have welcomed new babies since that time! Also, I met two lovely women who have been following my blog for a while without me knowing. And, for one miniscule split second, I felt a tiny weeny bit famous - isn't it only famous people (like Danielle Carey) who have Amazing Unknowns read their stuff? :) Anyhow, it was so lovely to meet them, and to learn that they like reading about even the little things that I blab about here. :)
And now.... photos! These are the most recent, but certainly not the most flattering:
Ready for the party, but looking like a dag. (Thanks Aunty Meaghan! Did you take a nice one?)
Sporting the new running shoes... courtesy of Aunty Meaghan!
Annie just wants to stand up all the time - her legs are so strong!
Reading "Good Puppy" in the highchair
And this is today, helping me with my workbooks. :) She'd just woken up from a lovely, long, afternoon sleep, and Mum was down helping me so she took a photo. :)
Ready for the party, but looking like a dag. (Thanks Aunty Meaghan! Did you take a nice one?)
Sporting the new running shoes... courtesy of Aunty Meaghan!
Annie just wants to stand up all the time - her legs are so strong!
Reading "Good Puppy" in the highchair
And this is today, helping me with my workbooks. :) She'd just woken up from a lovely, long, afternoon sleep, and Mum was down helping me so she took a photo. :)
And lastly to Amanda: yes, everything in my brain seems to be poo-related at the moment. Ahhh the joys... :P Yes, as I type we're waiting on the three-day poo again.... :)
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
A bit of an update
At the moment, here in Wollongong, it just doesn't seem to stop raining. Apparently, the average rainfall in February is 150mm, but we've already had over 170mm and we're only halfway through! So I've been struggling with getting the washing done (our laundry is outside - in the rain!), and, once it's done, I've been finding it hard to get it dry! Especially with the cloth nappies and everything.
I've also discovered that it is extremely difficult to do the groceries in the rain with a baby. So I've just not been going out. Which, I think, led to me almost going crazy last week - stuck in a tiny granny flat, wet (and smelly - after a day of sitting there and just not getting dry) washing on the clothes horse filling up the "lounge room".... I was just so over it.
But this week things are looking brighter. I guess everyone has their ups and downs... last week was really a bit of a down for me. Poor Alastair helped me over my little meltdown - he's getting quite good at that. :)
Okay. Whinge over.
Since my last post, I have actually completed nearly 6 of the last 10 workbooks for the Community Pharmacy course! So that is exciting. My mum has been coming down to help out with Anthea once or twice a week in order to give me a bit of time to concentrate on my work, which has been great. Yesterday she even cleaned my laundry from top to bottom while she was here - like seriously, she even washed the door!!! :)
At the end of last year, we left Keiraview Uniting Church. It was kind of sad to leave our friends behind, but I spose that the ones we keep up with outside of church are the "real" ones - and there are a few of those. :) Then we had a couple of weeks off, and have, for the last three or four Sundays, been attending the Wollongong Christian Reformed Church. And we have been really enjoying it - good solid teaching, friendly people... just what we need! :) We are now in the process of becoming members there.
What else...? Um... oh, Alastair is four weeks into an eight-week Liver Cleanse Diet. He's doing really well and has lost quite a few kilos now (I forget how many). Eating more salads and heavy brown bread has been good for me too - obviously while I'm breastfeeding I'm not dieting, but the healthier eating certainly isn't doing me any harm. I am just hungry all the time though, so need to cook myself something with a bit of meat or add some cheese... just to bulk the meal up a bit. :P
Anthea is still growing well, and she'll be 6 months in a couple of weeks - I think I'll start her on solids soon. She is such a funny little thing... chewing everything and dribbling constantly. I really hope she's not going to be one of those kids that has to wear a bib til they're 3 because of the dribbling thing though... :P Not quite sitting up on her own, but happy to sit in the highchair and watch everything that's going on. She's just started to laugh when we do blow-fishes on her tummy too, it's so cute. :) She also likes having drinks from my drink bottle, but I think she back-washes a lot, ew. :P Most of this year she has only been pooing once every three days, but every so often it seems there's a bit of a back-log of poo, and we get one a day for a few days in a row. It doesn't bother her, so I guess everything's fine!
She's just woken up, so I'll finish here. Photos next time! :)
I've also discovered that it is extremely difficult to do the groceries in the rain with a baby. So I've just not been going out. Which, I think, led to me almost going crazy last week - stuck in a tiny granny flat, wet (and smelly - after a day of sitting there and just not getting dry) washing on the clothes horse filling up the "lounge room".... I was just so over it.
But this week things are looking brighter. I guess everyone has their ups and downs... last week was really a bit of a down for me. Poor Alastair helped me over my little meltdown - he's getting quite good at that. :)
Okay. Whinge over.
Since my last post, I have actually completed nearly 6 of the last 10 workbooks for the Community Pharmacy course! So that is exciting. My mum has been coming down to help out with Anthea once or twice a week in order to give me a bit of time to concentrate on my work, which has been great. Yesterday she even cleaned my laundry from top to bottom while she was here - like seriously, she even washed the door!!! :)
At the end of last year, we left Keiraview Uniting Church. It was kind of sad to leave our friends behind, but I spose that the ones we keep up with outside of church are the "real" ones - and there are a few of those. :) Then we had a couple of weeks off, and have, for the last three or four Sundays, been attending the Wollongong Christian Reformed Church. And we have been really enjoying it - good solid teaching, friendly people... just what we need! :) We are now in the process of becoming members there.
What else...? Um... oh, Alastair is four weeks into an eight-week Liver Cleanse Diet. He's doing really well and has lost quite a few kilos now (I forget how many). Eating more salads and heavy brown bread has been good for me too - obviously while I'm breastfeeding I'm not dieting, but the healthier eating certainly isn't doing me any harm. I am just hungry all the time though, so need to cook myself something with a bit of meat or add some cheese... just to bulk the meal up a bit. :P
Anthea is still growing well, and she'll be 6 months in a couple of weeks - I think I'll start her on solids soon. She is such a funny little thing... chewing everything and dribbling constantly. I really hope she's not going to be one of those kids that has to wear a bib til they're 3 because of the dribbling thing though... :P Not quite sitting up on her own, but happy to sit in the highchair and watch everything that's going on. She's just started to laugh when we do blow-fishes on her tummy too, it's so cute. :) She also likes having drinks from my drink bottle, but I think she back-washes a lot, ew. :P Most of this year she has only been pooing once every three days, but every so often it seems there's a bit of a back-log of poo, and we get one a day for a few days in a row. It doesn't bother her, so I guess everything's fine!
She's just woken up, so I'll finish here. Photos next time! :)
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