It’s the middle of the night and I’m wide awake in my quiet, dark house. It’s our first night at home in two weeks after a camping trip away. It’s weird. The thing about camping is that it’s hard work sometimes. There’s no electricity. There’s no wifi. Sometimes there’s not even any mobile phone reception. Do you know how hard it was to watch a short video clip someone sent me or to get a second to watch some Instagram stories?? It was hard to keep our phones charged. We had to rely on the car battery or the battery we were using to power the fridge. The Engel fridge…
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R U OK Day 2018.
It’s RUOK day today. It’s a reminder to us all that we should be checking in with the people we know and care about (or even someone we don’t know if it seems important at the time) and asking how they are doing all year ’round. It’s a time to open up a conversation about how to do that and what steps to take when somebody replies with a big fat NOPE. Or even what to do if they say they’re FINE but everything else says they’re not. I want to be really honest about my year so far. It has been amazing but I have not always felt OK.…
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Who the hell goes camping with a baby? Us. We do.
Holy shit. We’re doing it. We’re going camping soon. For the first time in 2 years! And the first time with an 8 month old baby (the Little Mister was 14 months old the first time we took him). We are finally starting to feel like we might just somehow, miraculously pull this off. We’ve bought some new supplies, made a crapload of lists and it’s been very exciting chatting with our friends about it (there’s going to be a massive group of us)! It could not be coming at a better time and I am thanking past Kez (and our friends who invited us) for this big time! At…
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Flexible.
OK. So I am obsessed with asking myself if I’m teaching my baby to be ‘flexible’ enough. No, I am not talking about teeny tiny baby yoga. I am talking about breaking routine just enough that she becomes adaptable and as easy going as possible, in order to make our lives easier and her potential future anxiety less intrusive on her short little life. For example, having her get used to exploring places she’s never been (by ‘exploring’ I mean being taken there against her will because she’s a little baby and can’t decide jack shit). Or by having her accept that sometimes we’ll go out at night time and…
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Happy List #51: The Little Things.
Sometimes when parenting a baby, it’s the little things that can make you happy. Here are some of the things that give me joy these days. Sundays On Sundays, I get to sleep in. Until at least 7am. Because my husband is not riding his bike or working and he is able to help out. He has to get up early anyway to do some more work stuff from home which sucks but he has no choice and he gets it done. I also get to shower without being screamed at by a very small human. You see, during the week I am not one of those mums who doesn’t…
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{From the Vault} We can’t control everything and I’m OK with that.
I wrote this post in 2014 and it sat in my drafts folder until now – the Little Mister was 2 years old. The first sentence kind of makes me laugh because I know it wasn’t always that easy (still isn’t!), but I still agree that we need to shake off the pressure we are made to feel because we can’t control everything. Life is messy. Kids will do what they will do – they’re their own crazy little people. Especially toddlers! We can provide them with the best environment to grow and thrive but sometimes it doesn’t quite go to plan. That doesn’t mean we’ve done a bad job x I…
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{From the Vault} Just wait until you have kids! Said no Kez ever.
I just found this post in my drafts folder – dated October, 2013 (the Little Mister was almost 2). I think it’s still relevant now – especially as I’ve experienced quite the journey with secondary infertility. I have occasionally heard the words, “At least you only have one child. I have (insert plural number here). Just wait until you experience it!” as a way of telling me that I have it easier and have no idea. Sure, I probably do have it easier in some ways – I definitely have it easier than someone who wants so badly to become a parent but cannot. But I’d also argue that the…
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Inside the brain of a parent who wants to run away to the circus.
Seriously. Right now I am feeling the fatigue of being the parent to a 4 year old who is testing boundaries and going through big life changes which bring about new anxieties. This can often mean some acting out or regressive behaviours. I am a pretty compassionate being, a fairly patient parent and of course I love the little ratbag to pieces, but I’d be lying if I said that right now I am not considering googling the nearest touring circuses to see if they’d like a new clown (I can do the ‘bumbling idiot’ routine quite well when I’m tired – I’d be an asset). I figure a circus would be…
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The evolution of my relationship with make-up.
I have spent most of the past two weeks make up free. Partly because I really didn’t get out much, partly laziness and also because towards the end of that period, I realised that my foundation had run out. I couldn’t tell because some of it was stuck up the insides of the bottle and I couldn’t see through it, to determine that I was running low. Damn, lying bottle of foundation. My skin has been dry. Not flaky dry, but just parched. The pores on my nose have seen better days. God, I’m attractive. Now, this has been a slightly dire situation, but I’ve found that the 31…
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All ‘growed’ up.
I don’t know where the time has gone. I really don’t. But the Little Mister is hurtling towards 4 years old at a frightening rate. Just the other day he ticked over 3 years and 8 months old. It sounds SO much older than 3 and a half. SO MUCH OLDER. It has been a fun age (mostly). He’s getting so much more of a sense of independence and his confidence has been growing. This has made things a little bit easier for his parents too! He can sit still for longer (he’s going to his first ever movie at the cinema on the weekend – so exciting) and the…
