Sleep deprived and losing it

A new beginning

2010-06-25T16:04:00.000+10:00

Life is changing and its all for the good, I am interviewing at the moment for a full time position close to home. The Princess is more than ready for childcare (she waved goodbye to me when I went for an interview and didn't get upset once when left with a friend for 5 hours!) and I am more than ready to hit the workforce!

I've been diagnosed with Graves disease and have to avoid getting preggers for a while so we decided that I'd go back to work. The plan was for part-time but the jobs available are all in the afternoon in the city and it just wouldn't work for us. There is no part-time work close to home so I started looking at full-time and found the perfect job. An organisation that is an employer of choice for women, RDO's and a 10 min bus ride from my house!

I had my 2nd interview today so have fingers and toes crossed!

Who knows with a new job I may rediscover my blogging mojo and post more often!!!

xx

Google Analytics always good for a giggle

2010-06-05T14:27:00.000+10:00

And I have to ad that I went through and looked at what traffic sources came here to this wee blog and someone searching for "perky melons" spent a whole 4.5 minutes on this here site! I hope he / she wasn't too disappointed in the fact that the only mention is how much I miss mine!

x

I've been busy

2010-06-05T14:10:00.001+10:00

Hi

I have been really busy with the Princesses birthday, wow she is two now!!! And I have been setting up here and here!

I shall be starting another blog on the latter and hope to get to it more often, so I shall keep you posted.

xx

Argh

2010-05-18T19:54:00.000+10:00

I have all these posts in my head but I either run out of time to write them or just plain forget, so ...

I shall return once I manage to capture the words and get them into a coherent format!

x

Twins?

2010-03-22T13:59:00.000+11:00

No thank you very much!

Why?

Well I am currently looking after another toddler, Master A, same age as the Princess. They get on very well and have even been known to get into bed together (my bed, whilst simultaneously emptying the soil out of my pot plant), they hold hands and are very cute together.

Its Master A's first time away from his Mum other than family and we only had two episodes of tears, the first 1/2 an hour after his Mum left and the second when I went to the loo! Both only lasted a few minutes and he has generally been awesome.

Then came the Princesses sleep time, unfortunately Master A didn't like her crying so kept coming into her room to check on her, make sure I wasn't doing anything bad I think! Take 3 and got the Princess asleep on my lap and successfully in her cot before turning my attention to Master A.

I have to say he was far easier than I thought, 5 laps of the hallway in the pram, passed out, transferred onto the fold out kiddie couch on the floor and he is still out.

You'd think I'd go twins, bah easy, after this success. But no they tested my patience awake (see previous post re irritability!), throwing their food on the floor, jumping and climbing where they weren't supposed to, and being cheeky!

Deep breaths. And now they both look like angels. My hat is off to Mum's with multiples, hell even Mums with 2 kids or more!

And the Slack Blogger Award goes to...

2010-03-20T15:36:00.003+11:00

Me? Really? Of course I thought it may have been me, but oh ... (insert worst speech award, or No 1 'Gwyneth' moment here).

Yeah I'm slack, and I decided you could have a taste of what would be my theatrics as an intro what with it being Awards season and all, as well as the fact that there are a lot of blogging awards flying round the interwebs these days!

So how are you? Me, why ~~I'm tired, cranky, irritable, sick,~~ buckets of sunshine, thank you for asking :)

No I'm not really. I had a meltdown at the Doctors last week and would you believe it, it wasn't over the Princess's ~~refusal to sleep in her own bed like any normal small person should~~ sleep deprivation. He mentioned the C word. As in 'it could be', well he actually said 'there is a small as in less than 2% chance, that it might be', but my ~~voices~~ brain started screaming at me, OMFG, OMFG, OMFG! Which led to a small sob, then flood of tears when the Doctor noticed and told me I'd be ok. ( My Doctor is nice, lovely, but I really missed the Dr I had for 25 years at the point, familiarity and all that - oh yeah and he'd tell me to stop being over dramatic!).

Its ok, let your breath out. I'm fine. Still a wee bit emotional but there is no cancer, hooray! (I typed that with a Capital C, and went back and changed it - take that cancer). So what is wrong with me? I'm still waiting to find out, my thyroid is going gangbusters though, apparently, well maybe the Dr and the Radiologist used other words that involved things like 'hyper' and 'toxicosis'. So I may have a auto-immune disease that will have me taking a pill everyday for the rest of the world and slowly morphing into one of those people who have to put away money each week to fill their prescriptions once every 3 months.

What they said....
Hyperthroidism or Thyrotosicosis (real words used by the way): (Nah don't panic, Dr Google isn't involved. Tests done by my GP & Radiologist with referral to Mr Endocrinologist happening), so...

Symptoms (Don't worry I'll just give you the fun ones, ~~no icky bodily functions like diarrhoea to be mentioned.~~ Crap. Sorry)

Tiredness (So I can't blame the Princess for all of it)
Insomnia (Great, so when you want to sleep, are allowed to sleep, you cant)
Irritability (See points one and two, you'd be pissed too)
Inability to gain weight but increased appetite (Woohoo, the bonus feature! At least there is a plus with this)

Potential Causes:
Graves disease, bacterial infection (ruled out through blood test), cancer (ruled out through ultrasound), Hashimoto's disease.

Now out of the two possible real causes I'd rather have Hashimoto's, I don't know anything about either disease ~~and frankly can't be arsed reading about either until they tell me~~ as I'd rather wait to get the medical diagnosis first, but doesn't Hashimoto's sound cool? Like the reason you've got it is due to riding a SuperBike too fast round a sushi train and got 'kapowed' by a samurai...

Kapow image from unkown, Karate man image from freesamuraisudoku.com

When not all is as it seems

2010-03-04T13:43:00.000+11:00

It seems as I get sleep deprived again (not sure if it ever stopped) that my mind dwells on certain instances in my life. Things that never used to bother me now captivate my thoughts and things that used to bother me cease to exist.

Friends are a funny subject, there are friends I have had forever and friends that are new, friends I lost touch with only to be reacquainted with and wondering why we lost touch in the first place. Then there are the friends who are lost by distance or choice.

One of the things on my mind is those friends I've lost, not by choice, sure some are on Facebook but its not the same.

Moving countries was a huge eye-opener for me, as it really showed who my friends were, the ones who made an effort to keep in touch. Yes it works both ways and some of those lost friends I reconnected with on my last trip to NZ. But I do occasionally lament the end of some friendships.

In my zombie like state I ponder the good times we had together and then with a clarity that only comes after a good sleep realise that no matter if that friendship had lasted it would had to have evolved , I have matured *ahem* with age (the same as a good wine) and my circumstances have definitely changed.

So not sure I'm not sure what the point of this post is, maybe I've just realised that I am a grown up now, have different responsibilities and there are some things I can't change nor do I want to.

So a 'hurrah' to friends old, new, virtual, past and yet to be made, thanks for the impact you have made on my life, you've helped shape me to be the person I am and regardless of whether we are in contact or not, thank you.

Abbey and friend at the park

Chubby and the Cheeks...

2010-02-27T11:46:00.000+11:00

Ok I'm still mad, not as mad as I was more of a simmering state than the seething mess I was last week. Why? Well hold on tight...

Friends of mine recently had a gorgeous wee bub whom we went to visit in hospital, whilst there we noticed the new Dad had a nasty rash. Nothing to strange in that as he suffers a great deal from eczema and as you know I can relate, well Abbey can. Turns out he had shingles. That didn't make me mad, that broke my heart. Can you imagine not being able to hold your newborn? I can't and he couldn't. He could gaze at her lovingly from across the room, I cried when they told me, well when I was off the phone as the new Mummy was teary and I didn't need to add to her hormones. But I digress...

A week later the Princess had two spots on her face, she has had the chicken pox vaccine but we thought we'd get her checked out anyway as she had been off her food. Cue visit to the local Doctors.

Our local Doctors are lovely, you can see anyone and it is a wonderful multi-cultural mix with some rather gorgeous young English doctors that make you want to become a hypochondriac so you can flash them your boobs. Digressing again, sorry.

We saw a new South African Doctor and discussed rugby (as you do) well he talked to Mr P about it, Mr P handballed to me as usual! Why do men assume that the man is the one into sport?

Anyhow the spots were insect bites nothing to worry about, he told us how he gets quite exciting about shingles as it is a fascinating disease (sigh - well he is a Doctor). Then we moved onto the food issue...

He gave us a talk about childhood obesity and how children eat too many snacks etc and that the Princess had probably developed a sweet tooth (no denying that) but then... he had the absolute gall to look at the Princess and without so much as weighing her, seeing how tall she is, even looking at her belly, he pronounced...

'She's chubby, you need to watch her food intake'. EXCUSE ME?! I was stunned so any comment, comeback, ~~slap to the forehead,~~ I usually would have given passed me by. For one of the very few times in my life I was speechless. Tears welled in my eyes as I thought what a nerve this man had. How dare he foster body image issues onto my daughter (well me) now when she is only 21 months old. We smiled and did the pleasantries and left. We got in the car and I was 'WTF'!

We got home and I raced to the ~~bible~~ blue book (Maternal and Child Health provided diary of your child's well being and guidelines). I then measured the princesses height and stuck her on the scales. Went back to the book and graphed her... She is between the 50 and 60th percentiles. That means she is a perfect weight and height for her age.

Granted she has full cheeks but if that Doctor had actually done some doctoring and measured and weighed her rather than making an assessment based on looking at her he may have changed his mind.

I asked another Doctor this week when I went in for an unrelated matter, his opinion 'No, she's perfect. You have a beautiful and healthy wee girl'. So there.

The wee miss catching raindrops during a storm, photo was taken the same week we went to the Doctor!

Still sleep deprived but I think I'm well past losing it...

2010-02-13T12:09:00.000+11:00

So the Princess still doesn't like sleep. Unfortunately whilst on holiday being by myself I co-slept, well from about midnight onwards anyway. Co-slept is a silly word for it as really who sleeps when you have a small persons feet in your face who decides the best way to wake you is to sit on your chest with her hand at your throat? Or to attempt to put your glasses on as that's what Mama does when she wakes (and that's why I now have a broken pair).

Anyway, the pattern has continued since we have been home, I do attempt the resettling but when she wakes every 15 minutes there really is only so much standing over a cot shushing one can do!

The Princess loves 'ni ni's', so much she wants to go to her cot constantly for ni ni's with her baby. 'How fantastic', I hear you exclaim, 'so clever knowing she wants to go to bed'. Yes she is but no not really. As its all pretend, when its is actually time for a sleep or evening bedtime, I'm pretty sure that the residents two suburbs over can hear the wailing and screaming that accompanies this.

Ugh.

So I continue on, slurring my words as if I've had a bottle of wine at 9am. Not getting anything done. But I tell you this when she wakes and licks you (her kiss), smiles with a twinkle in her eyes and says 'Mama' it makes you go a bit gooey and think 'well it won't last forever'. Will it?

I should be doing housework...

2010-02-13T11:55:00.000+11:00

But I thought I should come back to my poor neglected blog and its followers and update you!

I can't believe we are half way through February already, time has flown past. So here is my updates, bullet point style so I don't swamp you with too many details!

Holidays, hurrah! The princess (my new name for the wee one!) and I took off to NZ back in early December and spent a wonderful two week getting to know her cousins (my side) and family before Mr P joined us. He was a bit hurt when she didn't run to him with open arms at the airport but she was rather stunned to see him! Needless to say within an hour Mama wasn't getting a look in! Then we had another week with my family (and of course Christmas) where the Princess got spoilt and had fun before heading up to the East Coast of NZ for 3 weeks with her other cousins and family. It was fantastic and made us pine for home (our native country and not our adopted one!).
The Princess! She is changing rapidly, everyday a new word, new imaginative play and just great fun to be around. She was more excited with everyone else opening presents at Christmas and did a lot of 'oohhh,' and 'wow' watching. She found the adjustment back to just her and her Mama hard as she had her cousins, Grandparents, Aunties and Uncles around almost 24/7. Lots of play dates has fixed that!
Online. You may notice I have been absent from Twitter. I decided to delete my account as I spent more time on there than playing with the Princess. Easy choice really! I had to delete a lot of blogs from my Reader and so I could skip to the ones I love, no offence but after 6 weeks away I had a lot of catching up to do! A bit gutted that Whoa Mamma has stopped blogging as she is one of my favs.
Working. I have picked up some part-time, well 1/2 an hour a day, work for some friends company. Its mind-numbing stuff but extra money always helps. I've also taken up Avon and am on my 2nd campaign. It takes time and I'm not expecting to become a millionaire as there are (like any business) ongoing running costs, so a little pocket money every 3 weeks will certainly help.
My big ideas! Oh so many of them! Baby steps and hopefully I'll be able to gloat and link to my glorious achievements soon!

I hope you all had a fantastic holiday season and 'hi'!

Note the pasta in the Princess's hair! Taken in December 09

Sickness and good spirits

2009-11-20T13:48:00.000+11:00

Well Abbey is sick again, this time with a virus which has given her a runny nose and cough. Poor thing was getting very distressed at night, not fun when the Doctor tells you its because she can't breathe. So I did the right thing and got saline nose drops.

Today, well today we have a rash. Nasty looking thing with pus. Its not the 'pox' which is good as she is getting vaccinated for that next week (hello money from government). It doesn't appear to be itchy and the Doc tells me its is viral. Great. Hopefully she is better next week so we can do all the fun things she's missed out on this week. The good thing is she is still so very happy, sleepy and cuddly but happy.

Oh yeah, if your child has a rash, DONT GOOGLE IT!!!

Rules I should note before leaving the house on a hot day..

2009-11-19T14:31:00.000+11:00

Rule #1 - If I wish to wear shorts and bare my white lily-white so white they are almost blue legs, I should stop and look to see if I have shaved them so the 3 days of growth does not contrast so much against said blue. It is like placing a big hairy spider on a white background, can someone say 'stands out'. Ah bless those construction workers and their very good eyesight.

Rule #2 - If I don't wish for people to call my little girl a boy, it is best I do not put her in a blue singlet, regardless of how cute she looks or that her red pants and shoes are covered in flowers.

Rule #3 - When it is 35 degrees outside, it is best not to buy ice-creams in a box thinking they won't melt on the 15 min walk home.

Rule #4 - You cannot tweet, text message, push the pram and shoo flies at the same time.

Don't park or ride on the footpath

2009-11-19T08:41:00.000+11:00

The suburb I live in is relatively new, therefore there is lots of new houses going up everywhere, yes fabulous for the economy but the pram pusher not so much.

Everytime I take Abbey out I feel I am taking both our lives in my hands. Why? Well because tradesmen, home occupants have no concept of the fact that are footpath is for walking on, not parking your friggin car/van/truck. I've lost count of the number of times I have had to push the pram out onto the road because I simply have no where else to go. It really pisses me off! Oh and the gates, you know the big fence gates that they use to shield a building site from the public, well they are often left wide open, that's right blocking the footpath.

I've lost all patience with them and have been known to scold (yes scold I am my Mother!) builders, for forcing me onto the road.

So if you are a homeowner/renter/tradesperson for fucks sake don't park on the footpath!

Yeah and a special mention to the lazy arsed posties who no longer do their rounds on foot but rather on the comfort of a motorbike, I have right of way as you are a motorised vehicle on the footpath. Force me onto an embankment, road, wet grass area again and I'll push you off your bike.

And again if you try to tell me you didn't see me coming postman let me show you again the colour of my pram, I swear its brighter than a safety vest.

Hello Sunshine

2009-11-10T14:27:00.000+11:00

I can't get over this heat. Already its been hitting 35 here, my cooling is in overdrive and I have had a hot and sweaty child fall asleep on me several times.

I'm loving the sunshine though, it makes such a difference to your whole mood when it is out. I took some photos of a friend and her family on Sunday at the most magnificent kiddies park on Sunday. As you can see by the below photo, Abbey had a great time with a pole (not worried, not worried!). We had to leave when it started to get really hot and went back to the friends for a BBQ lunch. And joy of all joys Abbey has got hayfever on top of her eczema flaring due to the heat. Poor thing looked awful, her eye was all puffy and weeping and her nose was running. Thankfully it seems to have only been the one day but we have stayed indoors since. Cabin fever is at an all time high so thank god we have music tomorrow, even if it is only a half hour out of the house.

Abbey is talking non-stop, most of the time we have no idea what she is saying apart from the odd 'shoe' thrown in! She has great manners and says 'thank you' everytime we give her something. That in itself is a display of how clever she is as we always said 'Ta'! However if she does say thank you, you must say 'Good Girl' in return otherwise you get the look of death and she blurts 'goo gul' at you! Stroppy should have been her middle name!

Alfie, our cat, was found at our old house. He had gone a bit feral having been missing for almost 5 days but we managed to settle him and he hung around for another week and a half before taking off again. This time we haven't had any luck finding him at the old house so we have given them our contact details and are just hoping he comes back.

And it is only 27 sleeps until I get to go home for Christmas. Hurrah!!!

(image sourced from commons.wikimedia.org)

Sultanas and Rugs

2009-10-31T15:21:00.000+11:00

I'd like to introduce you to my rug, now don't be rude, I am of course referring to my fairly new floor covering. She (things of beauty that are soft and luxurious are usually female apparently) caught my eye on an auction house site whilst I was looking for something to keep the wee cherubs bum from getting cold in the family room during winter. Her description stated 'Ultra thick Hand knotted woollen shag rug. Over 4 cm thick!. This rug was completely made by hand by the meticulous Indian craftsmen from Northern Bhadoi. Design is an absolute stunner!' and with that I was sold, she is chocolate in colour (of course) and so so soft underfoot. But like any good woman can point out her own faults, I shall on behalf of the rug...

4cm thick hides a lot of crumbs
Hand knotted shag comes apart especially when used by cat to sharpen claws
shag moults more than the cat does so I find balls of chocolate brown fluff in corners of the house
Cat fur sticks to shag and is rather obvious when the cat has ginger and white fur
The meticulous craftsmenship also makes for a heavy rug that cannot simply be draped over ones washing line and have the crap beaten out of it be gently whacking it with a wooden spoon or such object so the dust and crumbs fall out.
And finally my favourite, sultana's play hide and seek with you in the warm depths of her 4cm goodness.

The cherub loves sultanas, although she does not eat them. She lovingly puts them in her mouth, sucks on them before blowing them out of her mouth in full raspberry effect. This is due to the fact that she empties the entire box of sultana's on to the rug first. So each sultana goes into her mouth with a little bit of rug everytime.
I attempted to create a picnic type scenario for her, where I would lay out a table cloth and she could eat on there, nope the little shit wee angel, lifted the corners of the table cloth so she could deposit the sultanas underneath.

Once she has finished with the sultanas she wanders off leaving me to pick them up, that is if I can find them all.

So you have the rug... (note exactly the same as ours but ours is slightly larger)

(image from Grays which is where we bought our rug, our house is not 'quite' as tidy)

Mixed with the cherub...

Some good ol' Sultana's

Image from 18 Rabbits, if you can find their Granola anywhere it is delicious!

Just as an FYI, I found 22 in all. They are now banned unless she is in her high chair or at someone elses house with a nice thick rug so they can scrounge around on the ground for an hour playgroup.

Sleeping like a baby

2009-10-27T08:06:00.000+11:00

You know I now hate that saying, 'Sleeping like a baby' as you know in my case it meant 45 minutes at a time! Sleeping like a toddler, now that should have been ok. We had the gastro a couple of weeks back which put a dent in the sleeping through arrangements (yes I spoke to her and we had a deal!) and then she went back to sleeping through. Hurrah!

Then the tooth fairy decided this was obviously way too much sleep for me and decided that Abbey should have 3 molars and an eye tooth cut through. So nice of her. I'm so glad we don't remember our teeth coming through, the molars look like they hurt. A lot.

And then (yes just like Ginsu knives there's more), she got a cold. A headcold. You know, the ones where you cant breathe through your nose so you sleep with your mouth open and the drool running onto your pillow, no, just me admitting that one then?

Poor baby, she's snoring like her Daddy and drooling so much she went through 3 t-shirts yesterday.
I'm hoping she gets better soon.
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Its sunny here, the weather has been stunning. We have been able to play outside lots. Fresh air does wonders for your soul.

We don't have much of a garden, due to the water restrictions, most of our garden is stones. Abbey doesn't mind, she loves digging them up and putting them down the drain, in the pot plant, in the bottom of the gnome. I don't think we would have realised how sad it is to have no lawn if it wasn't pointed out. She's so happy just being able to play out there. She doesn't eat the stones either which is a good thing as I'm pretty sure Alfie (our cat) was using it as a really big litter box.

In other news, Alfie went missing. He disappeared on Tuesday night and we found him at our old house on Saturday. Clever boy getting all the way to our old house.

So he's indoors for a while as he's a bit scared and hasn't been eating well so his bowel habits have been, well best unsaid.

We think he must have been out visiting the neighbours cats and got spooked by something or someone as we'd been at our new place for over 5 weeks when he vanished. We kept him inside for 2 weeks when we first moved and then we let him come and go during the day and kept him at night. So for 3 weeks he was coming back so we don't think he just ran away.

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Did I mention Abbey is talking? She has even more words, and can identify sheep with 'Baaa', Dogs with 'woof woof' but most importantly she bought me my flip flops/thongs/jandals the other day and said ... 'Shoe', ah bless she really is taking after me!

Having one of those days...

2009-10-20T14:29:00.000+11:00

I'm having one of those days, don't worry its a good day. You know the days when everything goes right? Well so far anyway, I'm waiting for the shit to hit the fan. Not that I know what it will be it just seems destined to happen. Everything can't go right all day or can it?

Its been a glorious day here, sun shining, birds singing, Abbey giggling. I even got domesticated and made pikelets, apple ones. They could have done with more apple, but scrummy nonetheless and Abbey scoffed 3, good sign!

I even volunteered some of my time to Cate who is currently putting plans in the works for doing some fantastic things for children in Indonesia. Oh yeah, and she is a mum of 9!

And I got a mention on Brenda's blog.

So all in all things are going swimmingly here, I'm even doing my Christmas Cards so they are ready to post before I head across the shores to celebrate the Yuletide festivities with my family.

How's your day?

(There was going to be a photo but Blogger is taking ages, but hell if that's the only thing to go wrong - woohoo!)

Oh yeah, please don't jinx me, please don't jinx me, please don't jinx me!

Hi

2009-10-18T09:55:00.000+11:00

Apologies again. I think i shall set the expectation now that I will blog maybe once a week, then I won't feel so bad when things get crazy around here!

What's going on here, well...

I spent 3 days trying to get 'the shot' of Abbey to enter her in the Bonds Baby Search, only to go to upload the photo and find I'd missed the deadline! So here for you now I present one of my favourites!

Her two current favourite things, her reflection and shoes!

In other happenings I have discovered that my new (well hand me downs) jeans have given me that phenomena, you know the one, plumbers crack, builders butt, whatever you wish to call it. me, well I find it just plain annoying. I am thinking of investing in some Nana Knickers so I don't expose my arse to the world.

I've also decided to get off said butt and do something with my photography. The photos I take of Abbey are just point and shoot, but my friends hound me to do something as they love the photos I have taken of their wee ones. So I am just offering my services via word-of-mouth until after Christmas and then I will look at starting as a fully fledged, AIP member! I've been getting permission from those who I've already taken shots of their children to put them up on a website to showcase my work. Obviously I will keep you all posted once this is done.

I'm still working on the other idea, who knew it would be so hard to find a piece of metal?!

And the winner is...

2009-10-13T11:37:00.000+11:00

Wow I've just received my first ever blog award - One Lovely Blog Award!

So, here's how it works: Accept the award, post it on your blog together with the name of the person who has granted the award, and his or her blog link. Pass the award to 15 other blogs that you’ve newly discovered. Remember to contact the bloggers to let them know they have been chosen for this award.

I recieved this from Joni, over at Profiled, please check out her blog. Its lovely. I'm not going to do the whole thing just share with you some of my current favourite blogs instead. If I've missed anyone I do apologise. If I follow your blog, I do for a reason!

Here they are...

MummyTime - Whilst dealing with panic attacks, she takes comfort in knowing her hubby has a cute tushie!
Life and Other Crises - She thinks her husband might be gay, she has frizzy uncontrollable hair. Enough said.
So Now What - Ever wondered how to approach noisy neighbours, eggs could do the trick, but Hot Potato works best!
Not Drowing, Mothering - Ever wondered in there was a witch in the toilet? what about an Admin Ninja?
Sleepless Nights - She's got new girls in her family, and they are gorgeous. She's also going through a hell of a time with the gluten test.

Please add a comment with any blogs you think I'll love too...

I'm here!

2009-10-12T14:15:00.000+11:00

Hi all

Well its busy here in our wee home. School holidays are over and we're back into all the activities. Abbey is now trying to run everywhere and I've nicknamed her the 'seagull' as regardless of whether she has eaten she will stand next to someone eating, waiting for them to offer her more food! Very cute although i do worry people will think I don't feed her!

We were at the local shops recently and had just finished groceries, Mr P went off to finish a chore so we stood by Donut King waiting. Next to us a Mum and daughter (who looked about 7) were having a milkshake and a donut. Abbey goes over, hands behind her back, tummy puffed out, head to one side and says 'Helloooo'! They said all the right things and Abbey took this as an invitation to climb on the spare chair at their booth and try and take a milkshake!

Note that when she says 'hello' its pronounced 'Hell - ohhhhhh', as if she has just caught someone doing something really naughty!

As for me, I'm working on an idea. I'm very excited about it and just need to find all the right bits and pieces to make a mock-up before I progress and spill the beans!

No sickness but lots of shoes...

2009-09-30T08:46:00.000+10:00

So the wee one is on the road to recovery, thankfully it only lasted 36 hours. Such a nasty bug gastro, especially when it hits someone so young and they don't understand why they feel so bad or that they can't communicate that to you. However, I knew Abbey was better when she went back into her wardrobe for her shoes. Yes, my darling daughter has taken after me and developed a wee thing for shoes.

She started walking about 4 weeks ago now and already has 12 pairs (including two pairs of boot slippers). I cant help myself, they are so cute, teeny weeny mary-janes or trainers (sneakers, runners whatever you want to call them!). There are only two pairs currently too big the rest are for now, yes I colour coordinate her shoes to her outfit!

Me, I own about 20 pairs. This has dwindled significantly since I moved here. Back in NZ my shoes took up most of my wardrobe. I'd hate to think how many I had but I know it was more than 20! The problem I have now is that I spend my time in flats or trainers, even barefoot (at home peoples at home). I miss wearing heels, I'm only 5"2 (yes Mum not 4"0!) so my heels were part of me as much as part of my wardrobe.

My boots are a current favourite, gorgeous knee-high black boots with a buckle round the ankle. A little heel, so I can push the pram and not fall over on any of the building site mess I walk past everyday. I'd love to tell you I have Michael Korrs, Manolo Blahnik or Jimmy Choo in my wardrobe but alas at last count the majority are Novo. This you see is the downfall of small feet. They are childlike, so small I once almost purchased a pair of trainers, only to have the girl at the counter point out to me that they said 'weebok' not Reebok. That could have been embarassing.

So I shall leave you with a picture of my latest purchase for the wee Miss, aren't they just gorgeous ...

Sickness

2009-09-29T10:45:00.000+10:00

So I thought we were there with sleep, I knew that teething or sickness would be an issue when it arose, I just didn't expect it to happen so quickly!

Abbey did her first full nights sleep without waking on Friday night and guess what, yip, she got sick yesterday. Fan-f'ing-tastic. So last night I spent the night getting kicked in the head, pushed out of the way, rolled on and at one point she even tried to lie across my head. So did I sleep, not much, no.

She's doing okay today though, she's eaten and is on her 2nd nap as I think she's as buggered as I am. As for me, I don't nap. Never have, and realistically I don't think I ever will. Waking up from a nap for me is like waking up with the world's worst hangover. I'm past that.

Don't worry about me though, we'll get back on track, I'm staying positive that this is just a glitch and tonight she will sleep the entire night in her cot. Fingers crossed.

Things I love and want!

2009-09-28T10:30:00.005+10:00

Ok so maybe I need to change the name of this blog but you know, don't want to jinx myself and have to bribe Brenda to get the sleep fairy back!

I thought I'd share with you something I have discovered that I love! For any NZ girlies, its like the 'best bag ever' (Outrageous Fortune!), I want!

It can be found over at Floozy along with a myriad of over gorgeous products!

yay for floozies!

Quick update

2009-09-26T06:14:00.003+10:00

I've used up all my data allowance attempting to download an update to my phone which keeps failing (great) so just a quick post to let you all know that...

ABBEY SLEPT THROUGH!!! Sorry for yelling but you know this is a major breakthrough! On Thursday night she woke once and then last night not at all. So we are holding the sleep fairy hostage (sorry Mummytime) by getting her too drunk to fly anywhere so she can prove that she's fixed the small ones sleep issues once and for all! I don't mind the occasional bad night and expect it with teething and illnesses, but not every night like it has been.

I was told that once she hit 18 months or started walking, that it problems with sleep would start to go. She's just gone 16 months and has been walking for about 3 weeks. Woohoo, I might just celebrate tonight with my 2 glasses of wine!

x

Needing sleep.

2009-09-24T09:29:00.005+10:00

I'm here again, I've had a crap few days with little to no sleep. Abbey's eczema flared again just in time for her follow-up visit at the Royal Children's Hospital. Unfortunately a flare-up also means worse sleep than usual. No 6 hour stints for me, she has been waking every 2-3 hours, sometimes even every 45 minutes. Paul's been great helping where he can but it doesn't help when he goes in and she cries out 'Mama, Mama' Mama', sad for him and less sleep for me.

We've tried sleeping in her room, that just made it worse. I refuse to co-sleep with her again as even though we both get sleep, I just need her in her cot. I need her in her cot so I don't get kicked in the head, chest, head-butted and so I can have some sleep time-out.

A friend told me to get Paul to go to her more, nice in theory but for a myriad of reasons its just not viable. The main reason is that he drives for 45 minutes to and from work and operates large machinery, and I want him home safe every day. So I bear the brunt of the sleeplessness. I don't want/need pity, I just need sleep.

I went to the pharmacy yesterday and enquired about Phernergan, unfortunately due to her eczema its not a good idea, which was backed up by the Doctor at RCH. A side effect of this drug is dermatitis, something you just don't want to occur in a toddler who is already suffering eczema. Thank god for Twitter though, one of the lovely ladies suggested I try 'Calm' a homeopathic remedy, so I shall pick some up today and give it a go.

I'm not yet at the point of so tired that I'll put us in danger, but I'm close.

I'm here

2009-09-16T13:45:00.004+10:00

Hi!
I know slack aren't I! Again so many excuses but my main one is I have moved house. Well Paul moved us, but I did help a little bit.

The new place is fantastic, lots of room and the 'formal' lounge is now a playroom which Abbey is loving. Unfortunately our cat, Alfie, has taken up residence in the linen cupboard and is refusing to budge apart from when I am putting Abbey down for a sleep at which time he thinks it is opportune to meow very loudly at her door. Ah well, one more week and he'll be allowed outside.

So apologies for the lack of posts and tweeting but hopefully (internet connection prevailing) I'll be back up and running from now on!

x

Disclaimer: Of course the above picture is not of my new house, do you really think I'm that silly? Also if I had a house like that I'd have one of the 'help' blog for me and wouldn't have gone awol! Seriously though it is apparently one of John McCain's mansions and is on the market. Check out Wonkette for the story.

Its a sad sad day...

2009-09-02T20:16:00.004+10:00

I better put a disclaimer on this one, if you are easily offended by parts of the female anatomy... STOP. Go back, use that arrow by the address bar, go to the next blog, for godsake what ARE you doing? Don't read on, don't post comments, go, go, GO!

Today is a sad day. Today is the day I had my epiphany. A realisation if you will.

I have lost my boobs.

Not lost as in 'can't find them in my handbag' (yes my handbag does need clearing out). No lost as in they've shrunk. Never again (well maybe when/if I get pregnant with child number 2) shall they be magnificent orbs of glory. Ok so maybe that's a wee exaggeration, but they were magnificent!

I was always a 'chesty' girl with perky melons which defied gravity, passed the pencil test with ease and could spin a CD. Weight came and went from my small frame (5'2 Mum, 5'2 not 4'0) but never did my ta tas diminish.

Then came my pregnancy and 'oh my word' did they grow. Up 2 cups they went. Resplendent they were. And. Again. I was worried they wouldn't stop and I'd literally push Jordan off the face of the earth. But they did. Full of milky goodness for the wee one and tauntingly glorious for the other half who could not come near them.

Then I began to wean the wee one and the beauty upon my chest began to fade, ever so slowly. Starting with the left, for Abbey decided she was a right-sided girl only. My twins were now lop-sided, or fraternal if you like.

So I stopped one night having been bitten 3 times on the breast and not in a good way. Smallfry was weaned, hurrah! My bouncing fun-bags would be restored to all their rightful glory.

Or so I thought. I now have these;

'Scuse me as I go wipe my tears and throw my bras in the trash ...

What do I do all day?

2009-09-02T13:31:00.001+10:00

I received this via email and although I only have the one child I thought this was GOLD!

What do you do all day??

A man came home from work and found his three children outside, still in their pyjamas, playing in the mud, with empty food boxes and 20 wrappers strewn all around the front yard.

The door of his wife's car was open, and so was the front door to the house and there was no sign of the dog. Proceeding into the entry, he found an even bigger mess. A lamp had been knocked over, and the throw rug was wadded against one wall.

In the front room the TV was loudly blaring a cartoon channel, and the family room was strewn with toys and various items of clothing.

In the kitchen, dishes filled the sink, breakfast food was spilled on
the counter, the fridge door was open wide, dog food was spilled on the floor a broken glass lay under the table, and a small pile of sand was spread by the back door.

He quickly headed up the stairs, stepping over toys and more piles of
clothes, looking for his wife. He was worried she might be ill, or that
something serious had happened.

He was met with a small trickle of water as it made its way out the
bathroom door.

As he peered inside he found wet towels, scummy soap and more toys
strewn over the floor.

Miles of toilet paper lay in a heap and toothpaste had been smeared over the mirror and walls.

As he rushed to the bedroom, he found his wife still curled up in the
bed in her pyjamas, reading a novel.

She looked up at him, smiled, and asked how his day went.

He looked at her bewildered and asked, 'What happened here today?'

She again smiled and answered, 'You know every day when you come home from work and you ask me what in the world I do all day?'

Yes,' was his incredulous reply.

She answered, 'Well, today I didn't do it.'

Weekend goodness

2009-08-27T09:01:00.008+10:00

This past weekend we went away to Balnarring Beach on the Mornington Peninsula in Victoria. We go away every year for the weekend to celebrate our Surrogate Nan's birthday. The surrogate family (Paul's brother-in-law's family!) are all there, all 13 adults and 4 kids this year! We hire a house and indulge and its fabulous.

The house was deemed to be a little spooky with lots of cupboards and doors locked and hidden away behind furniture. There was a door to under the house in one of the rooms, I presume to access wood that would have be stored under the house in times gone by. I rationalised a lot of these locked doors and cupboards as I am known to be a big scaredy cat. However there was one door at the top of the stairs I couldn't rationalise. It had no step to the door. It had no door handle. There was an angel door adjacent to the door. Spooky? Yes, very.

The house (view from the back gardens)

Anyway the little miss had a wonderful time playing with all the family, and she even slept well. All her regular naps and even managed a 5 hour stint at night - progress! We didn't do much as Abbey had her naps at inopportune times, but it didn't matter.

So here are some of the photos we took...

Sunset view from the 2nd storey deck

The beach about 100m from the house

Me and Abbey having fun outside (of course she smiles in all the other photos!).

What I covet

2009-08-26T14:01:00.011+10:00

Ok so I have been very slack, oh yes I have so many excuses to give you as to why I haven't blogged but instead I'll share my wish list.

blog this has challenges and this time it is 'Do people think you're hard to buy for or are you constantly dropping hints? What's on your ultimate gift list? If you were to write a list of 5 things that would be on the list of perfect presents for your next birthday what would they be? Would it be a particular thing or anything from a particular store/shop? An
experience or something with pretty bows? Practical or whimsical?'

So the folllowing are the 5 things on my wish list...

A trip home, home is good, home is family, home is where I am not although we're not planning on going home for a good for a while, a trip home would be a nice gift.

A fine bottle of plonk, something I would never buy myself, something I could share with my Mum and Sisters too.

Another child. Although not quite yet please as I really want to make my sister's wedding in the Cook Islands without having to bribe my Doctor to let me on the plane in case I have the child there.

Smiles. I can't get enough of them. Especially from my wee one and her Dad.

Time. I never seem to have enough of it. God help me when I rejoin the workforce!

And lastly my most coveted item at the moment. Sleep. A solid 8 hours of it, with Abbey in her own cot doing the same although if she could have 12 hours I'd be eternally grateful.

Ok so that's 6 but if they could give me the bottle of Moet on the plane would that count as one gift?

Disclaimer - this is a current wish list only should anyone attempt to bribe me with any of the above please note I have the ability to veto one or all of the above especially if I haven't had my morning coffee.

Negativity vs. Positivity take 2

2009-08-14T09:17:00.003+10:00

Because I've worked out how to do this, here is the link to Mummytime's post on 'Are you wearing a pair of blogger-coloured glasses?' Check her out, she's funny!

Empty pram

2009-08-14T08:34:00.007+10:00

Well the gorgeous and funny Kerri Sackville had a blog post on Supermarket Etiquette and I made a comment so to elaborate on that I thought I'd post about the day I had an empty pram...

I took Abbey to occasional care so I could get groceries and clean the house. (Abbey is terrified of the vacuum cleaner, not sure why as I used to clean around her bassinet when she was asleep but there you have it, she sits in a corner and sobs or wakes up screaming). Anyway after I dropped her off I proceeded to get the groceries with an empty pram. Why? well I don't drive (shh I get enough grief from my family about being 35 without a licence - I have my learners, its a start) so I had to walk to the shops, luckily the daycare is in the same place. So with empty pram filled up with groceries I proceeded to the check-out, I'd only had one comment prior to the check-out and that was another Mum commenting on what a 'sensible idea'!

At the check-out I unloaded everything and smiled and did the usual pleasantries with the Lady behind the counter. I told her I didn't need bags and started putting everything back into the pram. It wasn't until I got to the 24 can pack of Coke and put that in that the Lady looked at me in sheer horror and asked if 'the baby had enough room'. I was so tempted to say 'it's ok she's used to it' or 'bubs is really really small' but instead I just informed her that the pram was empty, while she had a large sigh of relief it made me wonder bow many knuckleheads actually did put their groceries on top of their baby whilst they lay in a pram?

After that brief and amusing encounter I trotted off home to unpack & clean. A couple of hours later empty pram and I went back to pick up Abbey. On the way I was walking behind a group of school kids (who must of had lunch passes of course). One of the young men in the group did a double take at me and my empty pram before exclaiming loudly to his friends that I *shock,horror* was pushing an empty pram. Well who could resist that opening, so I gasped, ran to the front of the pram and exclaimed (a lot louder than him) 'oh fuck! I've done it again!' then with a nonchalant shrug of my shoulders 'Ahh well, I'm sure she'll be okay'. And with that kept walking past them with a big smirk, wondering if he'd realise that I was joking or whether he'd dob in that short lady with the really bright lime green pram to the DHS?

The pram in question (old photo) you can see that I'm not joking about the lime green...

Home

2009-08-13T08:53:00.010+10:00

(image from www.wellington.govt.nz)

Isn't that just beautiful? I can't wait to go home at Christmas, home being New Zealand. Even though I have lived in Australia for over 8 years, NZ is home and probably always will be.

Now don't get me wrong, I love Australia, hell I wouldn't be here if I didn't, but there is something about the beautiful greenery, lakes and the people that tugs at the heartstrings everytime something about NZ comes on the TV. I am a certified sook, I cry during our national anthem and get goosebumps everytime the All Blacks perform the haka!

So here are some of my pictures of home....

This is a favourite, who would've thought you could get a picture of a shag?

Negativity vs Positivity

2009-08-12T14:05:00.004+10:00

Hi again, aren't I good, another post!

I've been thinking about this a lot over the past few weeks after the gorgeous @Mummytime wondered if our virtual selves were better than the real ones. I'm thinking mine is probably worse. Why? I'm a list girl so here goes...
1. I feel I whine on Twitter and my Blog (see previous post about being sick!).
2. If something gives me the shits, I'm more likely to post about it than if something makes me happy.

Ok so my list only extends to 2 things, but they are BIG things in my books!

Why am I posting this dribble I hear you ask yourself as you sip your nice hot cuppa (ha ha I hear you say if you're a parent)? Well because in the 'real world' I don't think I'm super negative, sure I moan and whine when things don't tend to go my way or are inherently unfair but I'm pretty sure we all do that (any 'Saints' out there?).

I love to see the positive side of things, cup half full type of thing. If the positive is funny then that's even better.

For example Abbey's sleep, I think at the moment it could possibly be the worse its ever been. She goes down at 6.30pm and wakes 2 hourly until we go to bed at which time we inevitably give up and take her with us. This alone would cause by MCH Nurse to have an absolute fit but it works. But quite frankly if it works then that's what we will do.

Yes we will go back to getting her in her own bed but we are going away in a weeks time, so we don't want to force the issue only to have our weekend turn to crap due to no sleep! The positive side of the endless waking? Cuddles and kisses. She rolls into me in the middle of the night and spoons me, ok so technically it might not be spooning as she isn't that tall but its close and her back is pressed into my chest. When she wakes at 5am she turns her head to me and gives me a big wet kiss (collective 'awww' is appropriate here), she then rolls back and repeats the kiss several times. I end up with a sodden face, dribble in my eyes and down my chin (hers not mine) but I wouldn't have it any other way.

So I apologise if you are on the receiving end of a whine, moan 'get it of my chest' post or tweet, its not really what I'm like but you know the online world is an extremely forgiving and understanding one, which is probably why I'm addicted.

Tina Turner in the making

2009-08-11T14:59:00.007+10:00

Ok so I'm a crap blogger, but I have so many excuses...
1. We had photos taken of the house to go up on the real estate website, so I had to clean, clean, clean.
2. Due to the house going up for auction I spend all my time on websites looking for somewhere to live.
3. I've been sick
4. Abbey's been sick
5. Did I mention I've been sick
6. The computers is upstairs, I spend my life downstairs
7. I've been sick

And on that note I'm still sick, so please send me some virtual chicken soup and sympathy please. In the meantime, whilst cleaning out our crap we discovered a wig amongst the Christmas decorations (don't ask me why) so meet out little Tina Turner...

And just for good measure (she's a poser that's for sure);

(please excuse poor quality of photos but "someone" has been playing with my camera and I didn't have time to adjust all the settings before she pulled the wig off!).

My name is not 2 syllables long...

2009-08-04T08:15:00.006+10:00

This is a pet hate, okay, maybe not so much the 'pet' but I HATE IT. Got it? My name is Vanessa. Thats Va-ness-a, not Van-ness-a, not Ve-ness-a or Ven-ness-a or god forbid Vi-nee-sa (yes I have been called that, and even had it spelt that way too).

Now don't get me wrong, I don't mind my name being shortened but please if you are going to abbreviate my name can you at least use the abbreviation I do?
I had someone tell me that their abridged version of my name was a nickname, how can something be a 'nickname' if only one person calls you that? It's their 'pet name' for you not a nickname. My nicknames have background to them. A story to tell, usually funny, more often than not involving some degree of gutter humour. I have a friend called Stork, that's right Stork, just like that lovely bird that delivers babies. He's not a Doctor or a Nurse, in fact he's not even in the medical profession, and last time I knew he didn't have any children either. His nickname stems from a funny incident in his school years and the name stuck. You can call his work and ask for Stork and they will put you through. In the sport I met him through not a lot of people know his real name. I love that!

Another peeve is when people call me Vaness. Just the first 6 letters of my name. People if you are going to go to the trouble of saying almost all of my name, can you do a kiwi impression and add an 'ay' on the end but leave out the 'y'.

But the ultimate loathing of all the things I get called is saved for one. One word, two syllables that makes me cringe. There are only a few people that can get away with calling me this and one was my Pop, sadly he passed away back in 97. Other people who have (or still do) called me this do it to goad me. They know I don't like it, they know that it irritates the hell out of me. But they call me it anyway. Some have called me it for so long now that it no longer bothers me. I don't really hear it, selective hearing you see.

That is why I call Abbey, Abbey. No shortening of her name. My poor little sister had her name shortened by us as a child and she hated it. I will let Abbey decide when she is older if she'd like her name shortened, and if so what she'd like me to call her. Til then she's Abbey, angel, bubba girl, beautiful girl.

Oh yeah that name I hate, its Nessie. What did you picture with Nessie? I picture a lake with two bumps sticking out or an 85 year old Nana.

Roomy? Really?

2009-07-30T14:18:00.004+10:00

Ok so we have decided that buying is not really a viable option for us as;
1. We want to build and that takes a minimum of 18 weeks,
2. We found out the auction is on the 5th of September,
3. I haven't started my job yet and its uncertain as to when I will be starting,
4. We don't want to jump into the property ownership without knowing exactly what we want and if we can get what we want for the right price.

So we have commenced scouring the websites for rental properties that fit the long list of requirements we have!

I found a property today that seemed to tick all the boxes, so I rang the Real Estate and the Rental Agent was going to be there in 20 minutes. So I hurriedly wiped the tomato sauce of Abbey's face and whisked her away in the pram to the house for rent.

Met the agent and as we went in she exclaimed 'This house is roomy, the master bedroom is nice and big and you can see the other rooms are a decent size also'. Ok, great I thought until I walked into the master bedroom. It was probably 2/3rds of the size of our current room. Hmmm keep walking, open plan lounge and kitchen, in total the same size as our current lounge, the rest of the bedrooms are tiny, the same size as Abbey's room now, which is a converted study. So I have come to the conclusion that when she said it was 'roomy' that she actually meant it had a lot of rooms, either that or she resides in a shoebox.

Ahh humour

2009-07-29T14:51:00.005+10:00

If you don't have a sense of humour then I suggest this post isn't for you. I love bad jokes, dirty jokes, vulgar jokes and some of my best have come from my Mother and my Mother-in-Law. The following suggested 'sayings' came from the latter, it was emailed as a picture so hopefully it comes through okay...

And my personal favourite just for the internet...

Motherhood

2009-07-28T08:37:00.007+10:00

I got emailed this by about 5 people when I became a mum so I thought I'd share it, but before I do the above photo is one of my favourites even though Abbey's eczema is quite bad (not as bad as it got though), her eyes are penetrating, she still gives me that look too ...

Before I was a Mum
I slept as late as I wanted and never worried about how late I got into bed. I brushed my hair and my teeth everyday.

Before I was a Mum
I cleaned my house each day. I never tripped over toys or forgot words to a lullaby. I didn't worry whether or not my plants were poisonous. I never thought about immunisations.

Before I was a Mum
I had never been puked on - pooped on - spit on - chewed on, or peed on. I had complete control of my mind and my thoughts. I slept all night.

Before I was a Mum
I never held down a screaming child so that doctors could do tests...or give shots. I never looked into teary eyes and cried. I never got gloriously happy over a simple grin. I never sat up late hours at night watching a baby sleep.

Before I was a Mum
I never held a sleeping baby just because I didn't want to put it down. I never felt my heart break into a million pieces when I couldn't stop the hurt. I never knew that something so small could affect my life so much. I never knew that I could love someone so much. I never knew I would love being a Mum.

Before I was a Mum
I didn't know the feeling of having my heart outside my body. I didn't know how special it could feel to feed a hungry baby. I didn't know that bond between a mother and her child. I didn't know that something so small could make me feel so important.

Before I was a Mum
I had never gotten up in the middle of the night every 10 minutes to make sure all was okay. I had never known the warmth, the joy, the love, the heartache, the wonderment or the satisfaction of being a Mum.

I didn't know I was capable of feeling so much...before I was a Mum.

Books

2009-07-27T09:25:00.005+10:00

I've noticed some of the lovely ladies whose blogs I follow have posted about books recently. It made me think of the last time I read a book. It was over 6 months ago on holiday and that make me a little bit sad as I used to be a book worm. Mum used to take books out of the library and we would devour them. I left over 500 books in NZ when I moved to Australia. I was a collector of Pyschological Thrillers.
Now I have the Harry Potter series (yes I am a big kid we've established that previously) and a few other books I have picked up here and there.
My most treasured books in my possession are the Noddy series. The originals, you know Big Ears and Noddy sharing a bath and a bed, and of course there is the Golliwogs or whatever PC name they are given now.
They aren't in the best condition so I am giving (trusting is probably a better word) them to Paul and see if he can get them rebound for me. That way I can pass them on to Abbey when she is over her phase of tearing pages and eating them (she is a book worm too but literally devours them). I hope she will love them as much as I do.

Laughter...

2009-07-26T10:29:00.005+10:00

It's really annoying me. It is. It's one of those things that just plays over and over in my mind. What is it?
This blog. That's what.
I have been reading other blogs and they amuse me, make me laugh until I snort, and sometimes, unfortunately, that snort is accompanied by coffee coming out my nose. But I digress, the reason this blog is annoying me as I long to be witty and amusing like the other ones I read. I used to think I was witty and amusing but maybe I'm not. Maybe like my dancing it disappeared with Abbey's arrival. Maybe I just over-think things.

I like to laugh, love to laugh. Abbey has just started to giggle. She thinks I'm amusing even when we are just playing a game of 'Hey'. The game is just that, I say 'Hey' and she giggles. Bless her, it doesn't take much.

I laughed last night. Paul and I were watching a DVD series of Outrageous Fortune (love that show!) and he put in the series 2 disc, I told him that we were up to series 4 and we'd seen this one. But noooo and then he told me I'd didn't tell him. I did. I repeated that I did and that perhaps (just perhaps) he wasn't listening. Like most 'arguments' we have this discussion was accompanied by giggling (yes we're 5 years old), he then decided to tell me that perhaps I was speaking another language, well I did, I told him in ENGLISH!

Laughter. Its great isn't it. Although I keep looking at the word 'laughter' and thinking I've spelt it wrong.

Abbeys post

2009-07-24T15:28:00.004+10:00

She is desperate to type so here goes ...

tv .jikekekd; uljojpi pio ioyh piohhhhh;h aaf wiok

ydyhy5652ko rojni vot.rgrguibeuieirfl,rihrtjirt frt

Ok so I'm a bit worried that her first 'word' was TV but I'll deal with that later..

My little blogger

I wish I had wine

2009-07-22T19:57:00.006+10:00

I do miss the olden days, but only because there was normally wine in my fridge. I do enjoy the odd tipple and in my past life, pre-child, I did topple over in many occasions from far too much tipple. So I thought I would share a couple of my favourite photos of me from when I had overindulged....

This was from Grape Grazing, we had made it to the last winery. Just after this photo was taken I asked the nearby policeman if they would 'arrest me' for a photo. They did, not my Mothers proudest moment but it was a great laugh at the time.

This was taken at the World Cup Rugby Semi-Finals between NZ and South Africa, I'm actually pointing to the scoreboard. I'd scored free tickets through work courtesy of Visa, so they were fantastic seats. There was a policeman involved in this night too although I just had a photo, no cuffs involved.
after we left the game, we headed home, Paul had to go to the bathroom so left me on a street corner and told me to wait there. I did. He didn't come back. He had my phone. I asked a stranger to borrow theirs, I was quite upset, Paul answered from across the street at the spot he'd designated. we continued on. Waiting at the lights I proceeded to fall face first onto the pavement "look Ma no hands", why I did not attempt to break my fall is beyond me. I cut myself or so I thought, we jumped in a cab and went home. Just a minor cut as I shoved a plaster on it. Not so much a minor cut when I woke up, Dr told me I should have had at least 5 stitches and my jaw was dislocated. Ouch. I now have a scar in memory of that wonderful evening. Oh and did I mention I was wearing trainers? Yip FLAT SOLED SHOES! Ah well live and learn.
So maybe its a good thing I don't have my wine rack stocked?

Cuddles

2009-07-22T08:26:00.003+10:00

I'm getting more cuddles at the moment and they are snuggly ones. Is there anything nicer than when your baby first puts their arm around you or tucks their legs around you? I'm weaning Abbey at the moment and whilst it is incredibly hard on both of us, I think we are both enjoying the cuddles. She wraps her little around my waist, puts her head on my shoulder and gently 'deeleedelees' (translation 'tickles') my neck. Its something that almost makes up for the moment when she looks at me with tear soaked face and wide eyes as if to to say 'why aren't your boobs out?'...

to rent or buy

2009-07-20T20:10:00.002+10:00

Our lovely landlords (also good friends) popped round yesterday and let us know that they will again be putting the house on the market. Argh! Its not really a surprise as we knew it would happen as we moved it to look after the house for them to get it ready for selling back in 07, we didn't count on me getting pregnant or the house not selling. So 2 years later here we go again. I'm not looking forward to it this time, especially open homes with a toddler. Last time it was tolerable, I was pregnant and the house was tidy. The real estate agent on the other hand was the sort of person that made you want to yell 'Dickhead' everytime you saw him. This man felt he had the right to a) comment on how my 'waddle' was progressing everytime he came around, b) turn up 15 minutes late for Open for Inspections c) PUT HIS HAND ON MY BELLY! Sorry but that last one needed a yell. and that was just our issues, our poor landlords had even more. Needles to say they wont be using that mob this time round and neither will we.

Now we have a conundrum do we take advantage of the first home owners grant and delve into the property market or do we continue to rent? If we buy we need to go full finance which is something I wanted to avoid, but the current grant makes up for what would have been a deposit.

So thats where we are at looking into finance, scouring rental properties and weighing up our options. This time we will move regardless of whether the house sells as we dont want to be going through this every couple of years!

My 6 Loves

2009-07-15T13:49:00.006+10:00

Ok so the gorgeous Mummytime tagged me and now I'm 'it' so I need to post my 6 Loves and after my last post of 'Guilts' and 'A Rant' it is probably a bit nicer...

So lets begin
1. I have to state the obvious here, my number 1 love is shared by Paul and Abbey. so 1a)
Paul is my partner, my better half and sometimes my worse half. I am so incredibly lucky to have met a man like him (yes he will probably read this!). But really he is, so if your stomach turns at ramblings of professed love click the arrow above, you know the one its by the website address!
Anyway about Paul: He cares about me, 'ta da' no surprises there, but he Cares with a capital C. He used to worry when I'd walk home in the rain (insert witch joke here), he has cancelled boys trips and / or rushed home to be with me if somethings happened to me, however trivial it may seem later. So he's not the best at compliments, he gets 'the look' when I give him an opening, but I don't need compliments when everything he does proves his love. I love that his sense of humour matches mine, we both love a good fart joke and still giggle like pre-pubescent children when its minus the joke.
I love that he works hard so I don't have to and that he understands when I am too tired to do housework, or anything for that matter except care for Abbey. which brings me to Abbey. 1b) I've always loved children, but I never realised how much love (yip cliche) that you could feel when looking down at a small person you have created. Abbey's favourite thing at the moment is to turn away from me as I breastfeed her and then turn her head up to me to give me kisses. Nothing beats that not even a good nights sleep! I could go on and on here but will move on to the next 5 instead.
2. My family. My family all live in NZ, across the ditch from me. I miss them everyday and even more so now that I have nieces (2 of them), a nephew and Abbey. That doesn't mean I'm going to pack up and move back home just yet though (sorry Mum). I have two amazing sisters and they both gave me the most gorgeous nieces and nephew! Mum and I have a great relationship and some of my best jokes come from her (even the time I told the naked man joke in front of a nun aged 7, sorry) and she is always there for us, regardless. Dad is the best father any child could wish to have. Mum and Dad traipsed around NZ for the most part of my early teens to support me in my chosen sport. The greatest thing is his unconditional love and that I am his child regardless of the fact I don't share his genes. So to thank him I had Abbey on his birthday!
3. Friends, I love my friends, both those from my childhood who have remained in my life and the new ones I have made. I love the fact that some of my girlfriends and I can not speak for over 6 months and then its like we saw each other the day before. Or when we can sit in complete silence and walk away thinking it was the best conversation we ever had.
4. Hugs. Love em'. Simple. Whether its a child or someone you hardly know saying thanks. The best of them all are Bear Hugs.
5. Chocolate. Can you believe I used to have chocolate sitting in my fridge for months?! I was the child that still had Easter eggs in October (and refused to share them). Now, well lets just say that there were a couple of Family Blocks in my shopping on Friday and yesterday Paul asked if he should pick some more up on his way home!
6. Sleep. I miss it, I used to only function after 10 hours. Now I (barely) function on 4-5.
So there you go my 6 loves. Now I'm supposed to Tag the blogs I love, but alas everyone else has beaten me to it so... if you are reading this then tag you're it...

Mothers Guilt

2009-07-14T11:45:00.003+10:00

There is a news article doing the rounds of some bloke (yes thats right a man) who thinks that woman should have drug free births. Great another thing to add to the list of Mothers Guilt. So I thought I would share with you just some of the things on my list...
1. Pregnancy. I HATED being pregnant. That's right HATED. And the worst part of my guilt is that I had a trouble free pregnancy. I felt mildly nauseous for a few weeks and had the obligatory pains when ribs shifted or when SuMo (as Abbey was known) stuck her bub up into my sternum but other than that it was trouble free. Now don't get me wrong, I LOVED the fact that I was pregnant. I loved rubbing my belly several times a day, and my heart skipped a beat at every Doctors visit and swelled with love when I heard her heartbeat or when she kicked me. Even those incredibly annoying hiccups caused me unbridled joy. I just hated being uncomfortable, not owning my body, not being able to sleep comfortably etc... So Guilt stage 1 and I wasn't 'technically' entitled to a Mothers Day gift yet.
2. Labour. I had drugs, yes all of them on offer during labour. I was induced and someone 'forgot' to turn down the drugs to kick start my contractions. So not only did I have my own contractions set in but also the drug-induced ones giving me a double whammy. Now for any medicos out there reading this, this may not be true but they did forget to turn the machine down and thats what it felt like. So I went from 'this is ok' to Linda Blair in the Exorcist. No I'm not joking, at one point my darling partner, Paul actually laughed at me, such was the contortion of face and body. I actually believed that thrashing about on the bed would ease the pain. Wrong. So I tried the gas, instant nausea, then Pethidine, instant sleep interspersed by being woken by agonising pain, all the while Paul is holding my hands telling me just to get past the top point of the pain. Supportive, yes, helpful, no. So I asked for the epidural, well begged really. I had 4or 5 (or 10) contractions while they tried to insert the needle. I don't remember the conversation with the Anaethetist but I did tell him I loved him, then quickly apologised to Paul. Then relief, Abbey arrived without fuss while I made my 'pushing face'. If you haven't experienced being numb from the waist down and told to push, close your eyes and pretend now, that face there the one you are making now.
So where was I, guilt that's right, I had a drug-filled birth and loved it, I'm planning on calling the Anaethetist to meet me at the hospital first when I go for number 2.
3. Labour again. Abbey arrived in 4 hours and 13 minutes. I'd been dilated for a week, hence the induction. Why do I feel guilty? What woman who has heard the horror stories of friends and family doesn't feel guilty when things go well and more importantly quickly. We've all heard of friends and family in labour for more than 24 hours. Enough said.
4. Post-natal. Abbey was left cold for 20 minutes. She was placed under the heater to bring up her body temp. Unfortunately they forgot to turn the heater on. Technically this wasn't my fault but do I feel guilty about it. Of course.
5. Drugs. Again. In my hurry to get the epidural, i didn't ask about the tape on my back. My hospital records showed I was allergic to plaster. Plaster, not tape. I am allergic to tape. So on the Thursday (I had Abbey on a Tuesday) I asked Paul what was on my back as it was itchy. His response 'You haven't noticed?' with an incredulous look on his face. Well no, thats why I asked. Looked in the mirror to see a lovely red raised, blistery outline of the epidural tape. Fab. Called the nurses, they called my ObGyn, on to anti-histamine. Abbey, two days old, slept through the night of course as they make you drowsy. Phenergan. If only I could use it now.
6. Eczema. Its atopic. That means its in the genes. That means I gave it to her. That means that she has a 99.99% chance of developing asthma or hay fever. Sure I could blame the maternal/paternal line but its my genes she got, a diluted version of theirs granted but they are mine.
7. Sleep. Abbey doesn't. Simple. The guilt comes as I breastfeed her to sleep. She does not know how to fall asleep on her own. I'd like to swap the breast with some Phenergan. Please.

Ok so I'm sure I could add to this but for now I'll just have 7 Guilts on my list and 507 in my head.

A Rant

2009-07-10T12:03:00.004+10:00

Never before has a topic (or single person) infuriated me more than the Stay at Home Mothers (SAHM) vs. working mothers, and it’s not because I think one is better than the other. More one (maybe 2) woman's comments on a well read blog set my blood pressure to high and my teeth to clench. This woman, who I will not name as I have resorted to childish measures on Twitter and am now over it,does not have children but made the following comments:
"Staying at home is definitely easier than going to work AND looking after children. If you can afford it, good on you. You get to escape daily, mandatory commute in any weather, not ever seeing sunlight, the relentless grind of fixed schedules, performance anxiety, the requirement to continuously educate yourself in your chosen field...Whatever way you look at it, satisfying physical work around the house is not as draining as 12 hour working days. Note that all the working ladies still have their chores waiting for them at home." For the record not all mothers work 12 hour days, as they need to collect their children from school, care etc. I have friends who are mothers who choose to work and some who have to, good on them as it is what works for them. But as I pointed out this woman does NOT have kids! Unfortunately her quotes about us SAHM's not having a brain and being lazy was deleted so here's my 2 cents...

I am a SAHM and soon to be a part-time working mother. Why? Because I'd like Paul to be able to spend more time at home rather than feeling he needs to work overtime to support us. It’s a choice for me to work and I'd rather help with income so he can spend precious moments with Abbey and also so we can enjoy a holiday at Christmas to see our families.

As a mother the only difference I can really see between me and those who work full-time (whether by choice or necessity) is that I have more one-on-one time with my daughter. I don’t know if that time is more quality than the time working mothers get with their children. Why? Because I am not in their house 24/7, I can't see how they relate to their kids and nor can anyone see how I interact with Abbey. I have a brain, a rather active one, and I am using it to its full capacity when staying at home or out in the workforce. The only thing that has changed is the conversation. In my working career I often felt like the people I worked with were children and now instead of treating adults like children, I'm treating my daughter like a child but in a 'good way'!

One of the main reasons I became a SAHM is Abbey's eczema. To see your child smiling at you through bloody sores on their face, mittens covered in blood is something I will live with for the rest of my life. It is making me teary just remembering it and typing this. Eczema is a nasty affliction and Abbey's is atopic, that means it’s genetic. Great, another thing to add to my Mothers Guilt. Aside from the actual physical presence of eczema, it also has other characteristics, such as night waking. Think about it, you'd wake too if you were itchy and uncomfortable. So I get up to Abbey several times a night and she is breast fed, I tried controlled crying, only be told by the Specialist it was cruel due to the night waking, again more guilt.

Paul and I talked about me working, and as he pointed out at the time I could barely function around the house, how the hell was I going to be able to work? If you know me you know I am a pedantic worker, bordering on anal and a perfectionist. I don't like things to be half-arsed. So being sleep-deprived in a work situation was not going to benefit anyone, although looking back on my 20's I seemed to cope just fine! To give you an indication of how zombie like I was (I've become 'conditioned'), I once walked across a street with Abbey in her pram after I heard the 'clicking' of the green man. The problem was I was at a t-intersection and it wasn't my green man. Somehow there was no traffic, only a car far enough away for me to cross without incident, well not quite, I was verbally abused my the occupants in the car. The worst part is I didn't realise what I'd done until a woman at the other side of the lights pointed out that the lights were green. When you take a breath and the 'ding' goes off as to what just happened, I sobbed all the way home.

And as a SAHM I'm NOT lazy, just because it may seem that I have more time in my day doesn't make me lazier than mothers that work. My day is full.

My only grievance in this argument is those women (and sometimes) men who haven’t experienced parenthood who feel the need to comment on this debate, you haven’t experienced the wonders of being a parent so you cannot justify your arguments however sound they may be in your own head.

And lastly to all the Mums and Dad’s out there, whether you are working fulltime, part-time, from home, out of an office, in a field, or like me are at home, I raise my glass to you and thank you for raising my daughters future boyfriend (‘s? gawd), husband, best friend, team mates, Doctor, Nurse, Hairdresser, Garbage Collector, Teacher and my future grandchildren’s possible childcare workers!

So You Think You Can Dance

2009-07-03T08:53:00.006+10:00

So you think you can dance huh? Are you a parent? If you are then the answer to that is more than likely a resounding no (unless you are Madonna and then well parenting skills are another debate). Did you ever look at your parents dancing and cringe? Yip, I did and now Paul and I have worked out that its our fault.

I used to bounce like Beyonce, "poppin' it like its hot as it always 'got hot in here' when I was on the dance floor. I was the white woman who could "jump, jump, everybody',ok so maybe I'm talking myself up here but I could dance.

Now Paul and I find ourselves doing the hip turn and 'wiggly fingers', why? Well cos thats how Abbey dances and we encourage her to the point that we look like that scary washing machine that sold on TradeMe during a nasty spin cycle.

In teaching Abbey to move to music, we've losing a part of us, the ability to be coordinated, legs go one way, arms another. So maybe Abbey shaking her head isn't a dance move after all maybe its a 'Noooooo not again'?

So I've lost my rhythm, not sure where I left it, perhaps in Frances Perry House. I might ring the midwife and see if shes found it cos I'd really like it back, please.

Perceptive little bugger

2009-07-01T09:26:00.006+10:00

Ok so I keep meaning to do another post but everytime I go to come upstairs and type on the raggedy old computer, Abbey wakes, she throws a tantrum, she only wants her Mummy. Oh and its not just when I want to come onto the computer, its when I want to cook or clean (she's scared of the vacuum cleaner, but thats another story).

People keep telling me babies are perceptive, they know when you are going out, need time out, are dropping them off at childcare or just need them to sleep. I agree Abbey is perceptive but she also some sort of inbuilt mechanism that is purposely designed to make me go stark raving bonkers...

Right, 4 hours have passed since I started this so where was I? Ahh Abbey's radar of anything that Mummy is going to do that could possibly involve something nice. Hot cup of coffee anyone? Yes I see you nodding, thinking back when the last time you had a hot cup of coffee and managed to drink it will it was still hot.

Anyway I'm sure at one stage I will be able to go 'off radar' until then my dear Abbey you will be an only child.

Oh I'm so new to this...

2009-06-23T07:05:00.000+10:00

Ok here I am, this is going to be much at Mr P's chagrin (and @mummytime & @badmummy's delight), I now have a blog. So welcome if you are reading this, I promise to try to be entertaining although what I regard is entertaining you may find boring, ,mindless drivel. So if you are of the latter than I suggest you b*gger off and find another blog to read as I am a sleep-deprived mother who has more than enough on her plate to worry about than entertaining you, yes you, you know I'm talking to you.

So about me, well I am a Mummy to an adorable wee angel who I shall occasionally refer to as "the ever wakeful one" . Abbey turned the big ONE a month ago and much to my displeasure is still not sleeping through the night (for you purists out there, no she does not even manage the '6' hours).

She developed eczema on her face at age 3 months and thus the wakeful pattern started. No one warned me in 'mummy preschool' that to have a child with eczema was tantamount to having a newborn over and over (and over ... you get the picture) again. Her current torture pattern (move over CIA, she's waaay better at this) is to wake 2 hourly from midnight, then at 4am its playtime. So imagine having almost 10kgs on top of you at this pre-dawn hour, going 'deeleedley, diddle, deeleedeelee' its enough to make you reach for the whisky but alas I am still breastfeeding (sucker I hear you all say).

Reading the above you might mutter out loud, it will pass, or my Mother's favourite 'She'll go to school at 5' to you I say, well I cant as I disabled adult content on this blog.

So anyway its my birthday today, I'm halfway to 70 and all I want (no fancy paper or bow required) is a full nights sleep, seriously is it too much to ask?