My baby (not really, he's 18 months now!) is having his first sleepover at Nanny's house tonight. I'm so excited. Probably because he woke us at 5am this morning and could not be tricked into having another snooze, so breakfast was at 5:40am instead of the usual 6:30-7am. But not tomorrow, sonny jim. Ha ha!
I do believe that with your children you have to be 'ready' to do something, like leaving them with others for the first time, pushing their limits and your own trying by something new. Others will encourage and push you to do things- my Mum was all set for us to go to a large family gathering at a restaurant when he was 2 weeks old, which I was not doing at all. And I was glad we didn't go because I wasn't ready to tackle that scenario. But with this sleepover I am totally ready. I thought to myself this morning that I will feel no guilt at all leaving someone else to cope with him for one night and morning. So I must be ready. Because if there's one thing I am it's a guilt ridden mother. Especially about leaving him. But he so loves it with my family and he sleeps most of the night, so what is there to worry about?
Now if only we had a bathtub to luxuriate in, my evening would have been perfect.....And for sure I'll be awake by 6:30am anyway, but ooohh, not having to get up is a secret thrill. And not being woken up by the sound of someone whining and grizzling is another secret pleasure. And I'm saving the good parts of the paper to read with my hot cup of tea at breakfast. Without having to sing Wiggles or Bananas tunes. Oh, the life I miss!
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Thursday, September 25, 2008
my decree
My kitchen has disappeared, temporarily. We are building a new one this weekend, but the plumbing comes first, then cabinets, then life goes on.
What shocked me was how much I had crammed into my second and third drawers in the short time we have lived here. I chucked out so much detritus, and it has only accumulated in three months! I knew I was cramming stuff in there, but I couldn't see why, and then I had to unload it all and voila! All was clear.
You must do this too. Go to that drawer that you just keep stuffing crap into, even if it's your socks or undies drawer, and pull it out. Find out why it's so full, and free yourself. I reckon I'm going to do this at least twice a year from now on. Because amongst the detritus there was gold too.........
What shocked me was how much I had crammed into my second and third drawers in the short time we have lived here. I chucked out so much detritus, and it has only accumulated in three months! I knew I was cramming stuff in there, but I couldn't see why, and then I had to unload it all and voila! All was clear.
You must do this too. Go to that drawer that you just keep stuffing crap into, even if it's your socks or undies drawer, and pull it out. Find out why it's so full, and free yourself. I reckon I'm going to do this at least twice a year from now on. Because amongst the detritus there was gold too.........
the organic thing
On the 5th Sept the government announced compulsory unit pricing in all supermarkets. Hooray! Those of you who follow this blog closely will know that I am a huge advocate of this price labelling system, which I have seen around Europe and the UK but thought we'd never get here, such is our retailers dislike of competition and fairness for consumers...
And, as with the way of the world, you put something out there and the universe sends something back. Since announcing our push towards organic life I have found two great articles concerning this matter. One from our brilliant friends at Choice, surveying and reviewing organic foods. This was very interesting reading. I loved finding that I don't have to watch out for potatoes and that we should all watch out for our information sources. The UK/European research does not always apply directly to us, since we have different rules and circumstances, especially concerning production of meat.
The other was this article from my beloved Guardian.
It's a bit of homework for you if you are interested.
Monday, September 22, 2008
Overdue
Thank-you, kind friends, for checking in and sticking with me! I hate starting off with apologies, but nearly two months since a post is just unforgivable. I am sorry to have neglected my duties as a blogger and have resolved again to try harder. In reference to the last post, we got sicker before we got better, there was much blubbering on the couch before we recovered. I found rejuvenation through acupuncture, which has helped immensely both with my sciatica and chesty cold. I think I'm the best that can be expected one month from my next due date. I feel much, much better, and am my mobile, agile self again.
Trying a bit harder at blogging involves squeezing more from my day and at this stage that seems like a huge task. My list of 'must do's' is as long as my arm including 'clear out and set up the baby's room', 'organise self for hospital stay and G for sleep-overs at Nanny's house,' along with the dumb things that I've let slide like changing addresses after we moved, cancelling redundant bank accounts, tax and related book-keeeping chores. No small tasks these, and yet the time to do it just escapes me.
I can't see why, since G, my darling, 18month old first born has adjusted to daylight savings before it's actually begun, and is now waking at 6am. I preferred it when he woke at 7. We were able to trick him by resettling him in our bed and getting another hour of peace. Not so any more. He's awake, he's hungry and he will not lie still. Up we get. By 9am it feels like the day is half over, when it's only just begun, and we still have 2 hours until sleep time (of one hour only, argh!), and then another six or so hours to fill. But by the time we do morning things, go to the library/pool/toy library/food shopping, snack, sleep, lunch, play, wake Dad and prepare dinner, it's 4:30, I'm knackered and it's time to wind up for the day. It is a relentless day, without relief.
But the upshot of early rising and my feeling better is that we have been spending quality morning time in the garden. G loves to 'help' and we have the makings of good vege patch and many, many strawberries coming this summer. We have put in a forest of aloe along the shady side of the house, and are hoping that they will love the crappy, dry soil and conditions there. My compost is humming, our lemon trees have taken root for future years of joy and I am very happy about it all. Just waiting to put in the tomatoes and basil, but we'll have to accomplish that post-new baby.
Another hurdle we've faced during my two month blogging hiatus was my Dad being diagnosed with cancer in his tongue and jaw (no, he's not a smoker, actually, just unlucky). Well, Mum and Dad's life has become a circus of hospital and specialist appointments with day long stints in waiting rooms and Dad is just home from almost a month in hospital after an horrific operation to remove the cancer and repair his mouth. He is not the man we sent in there. That man was mobile, agile, vibrant and just had a callous on his tongue that bothered him a bit. The new Dad looks like he was hit by a truck, bewildered by everything that's happened in the past month alone, and having actually survived this unbelievable operation, is now facing radiation therapy and chemo to finish all this business off, we hope and pray.
We've had to adjust to this life quickly. I went from having them as the other main carers for G to being a part of their care-sharing regime (one of my sister's is intellectually disabled, lives at home and needs a certain level of supervision most of the time, and my grand-mother is 82 and living alone with degrees of success.) Helping with this, where we could, was not an issue, at all, as family is family, of course, you know.
In terms of my life, it just means I've had less time to get to that 'must do' list, and much less time to blog. Furthermore, my mother-in-law, another helper for me, has just jetted off to Europe for six weeks.
Oh, and I decided that I must have to kitchen finished before the baby comes, so this weekend we are demolishing the cabinets and building new, shiny flatpack ones, chiselling the tiles off the walls, doing the electrics, and having a dishwasher installed. I suppose it's one less thing on the 'to do' list. It means that other stuff isn't getting done since I'm emptying and storing the existing cabinets of their contents, holding panels for drilling and generally fretting about whether or not we can pull it off. We have limited DIY experience and this project is an expensive one to cut your teeth on!
So, well, that's us in an short update. There will be more, and sooner than later, so stay with me!
Trying a bit harder at blogging involves squeezing more from my day and at this stage that seems like a huge task. My list of 'must do's' is as long as my arm including 'clear out and set up the baby's room', 'organise self for hospital stay and G for sleep-overs at Nanny's house,' along with the dumb things that I've let slide like changing addresses after we moved, cancelling redundant bank accounts, tax and related book-keeeping chores. No small tasks these, and yet the time to do it just escapes me.
I can't see why, since G, my darling, 18month old first born has adjusted to daylight savings before it's actually begun, and is now waking at 6am. I preferred it when he woke at 7. We were able to trick him by resettling him in our bed and getting another hour of peace. Not so any more. He's awake, he's hungry and he will not lie still. Up we get. By 9am it feels like the day is half over, when it's only just begun, and we still have 2 hours until sleep time (of one hour only, argh!), and then another six or so hours to fill. But by the time we do morning things, go to the library/pool/toy library/food shopping, snack, sleep, lunch, play, wake Dad and prepare dinner, it's 4:30, I'm knackered and it's time to wind up for the day. It is a relentless day, without relief.
But the upshot of early rising and my feeling better is that we have been spending quality morning time in the garden. G loves to 'help' and we have the makings of good vege patch and many, many strawberries coming this summer. We have put in a forest of aloe along the shady side of the house, and are hoping that they will love the crappy, dry soil and conditions there. My compost is humming, our lemon trees have taken root for future years of joy and I am very happy about it all. Just waiting to put in the tomatoes and basil, but we'll have to accomplish that post-new baby.
Another hurdle we've faced during my two month blogging hiatus was my Dad being diagnosed with cancer in his tongue and jaw (no, he's not a smoker, actually, just unlucky). Well, Mum and Dad's life has become a circus of hospital and specialist appointments with day long stints in waiting rooms and Dad is just home from almost a month in hospital after an horrific operation to remove the cancer and repair his mouth. He is not the man we sent in there. That man was mobile, agile, vibrant and just had a callous on his tongue that bothered him a bit. The new Dad looks like he was hit by a truck, bewildered by everything that's happened in the past month alone, and having actually survived this unbelievable operation, is now facing radiation therapy and chemo to finish all this business off, we hope and pray.
We've had to adjust to this life quickly. I went from having them as the other main carers for G to being a part of their care-sharing regime (one of my sister's is intellectually disabled, lives at home and needs a certain level of supervision most of the time, and my grand-mother is 82 and living alone with degrees of success.) Helping with this, where we could, was not an issue, at all, as family is family, of course, you know.
In terms of my life, it just means I've had less time to get to that 'must do' list, and much less time to blog. Furthermore, my mother-in-law, another helper for me, has just jetted off to Europe for six weeks.
Oh, and I decided that I must have to kitchen finished before the baby comes, so this weekend we are demolishing the cabinets and building new, shiny flatpack ones, chiselling the tiles off the walls, doing the electrics, and having a dishwasher installed. I suppose it's one less thing on the 'to do' list. It means that other stuff isn't getting done since I'm emptying and storing the existing cabinets of their contents, holding panels for drilling and generally fretting about whether or not we can pull it off. We have limited DIY experience and this project is an expensive one to cut your teeth on!
So, well, that's us in an short update. There will be more, and sooner than later, so stay with me!
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