Cut throat world

I have had my first experience of what parenting life has to come for me, and I hated it. This morning we went to the puppet show and Easter egg hunt and the public library. Puppet show was fun. I nursed Rosie and Henry sat quietly watching on my lap. Then came the 'fun'. Henry was in the under 3s age group and despite the librarians giving the parents a talking to before the puppet show about letting the kids have fun, the parents felt the need to go with the kids to look for eggs. Its not like it is in England, there was no hiding of eggs. There was a maybe 5 m square patch of grass with eggs spread out, so when the parents (often mum and dad) of about 50 children descended on this tiny patch of grass it was manic. Poor Henry wandered into this mess of adults and spun round in a circle as all the eggs disappeared. He looked horrified and thankfully someone put one in his basket and then so did some one else. Two of his eggs were filled with bubble gum, like Im going to let him eat that, and one was a Reeses egg, which he devoured. The librarian took a photo, so check out the Oxford Library Facebook page if you want to see. Why couldn't the parents let the kids just have fun? You aren't going to lose your kid in a tiny square area of open grass in front of the library, oh wait, unless there are tons of adults in there too. Disgusted, along with a few friends, we have organised our own Easter egg hunt Sunday that will actually be fun for the kids.

The fun is in finding the eggs and seeing whats inside, so when we got home I filled a few with some of Henry's favourite things and he had a great time. He got so excited to open the eggs. So I decided thats how we would eat lunch! If it was small, it went inside an egg for 'lunch'; blueberries, grapes, peanuts, pistachios, cheese cubes, crackers, blackberries, then on to the fun stuff; raisins and white chocolate chips. He had fun eating lunch that way!

He ran into my room at 610am this morning, rather a shock to the system. Rosie was unimpressed to be woken up so early (still asleep from 10pm feeding!). I was also unamused. I think something is up, preventing him from sleeping well, as he is currently screaming the house down instead of napping.

Yesterday was our day to go to the park, and go to the park we did, regardless of the rain! Then after nap time we splashed in the puddles...

Back to (our new) normal

Just in case you were worried about me after last night, which was in fact awful, I thought Id let you know that things were back to our new normal again tonight. I also got a little brave and instead of holding him while I cooked, I tried distracting him with something else. When he started repeating his mantra, "mummy, mummy, mummy", in that whiney tone, I took him by the hand and walked him over to the toy room (thankfully my dinner was rather hands off at this point) and got out a puzzle for him to play with and it worked, for a little while. I then gave him something new that he hadnt had the pleasure of playing with before - the two smaller bowls that sit in the food processer. These were a real hit and he carried them round with him everywhere.

He didnt eat any of our delicious dinner (spinach and pea pasta with Salmon - ridiculously health but oh so delicious!) but he didnt scream at all while I ate. After I had finished eating and he was given his milk, he threw it on the floor. I picked it up once and after the second time he threw it on the floor I told him that it was gone now. He did have a little cry, but I informed him that mummy didnt pick up the things we threw on the floor, particularly not so heavily pregnant, so in the future, he had best not throw it on the floor. He seemed reasonably satisified, at least he didnt cry for the milk. I then did the dishes while he occupied himself quietly.

He had a nice bath where I didnt have to perform a small play with the piggies, which gets a little old when you cant think of anything to talk about with two rubber piggies. I actually looked at his back most of the time as he was turned around shoveling water into the cup.

He happily brushed his teeth and then we had a huge development! Henry peed in the toilet!!! Every night he gets three chances to climb up his stool and I tell him to go pee. Tonight he got four chances and on the last one, he actually went! He found it so funny that he was peeing in the toilet, so maybe he will be excited to do it tomorrow night too!

We read some books together, curled up on our bed and he peacefully went to bed. I even asked him for a kiss on the way to his bedroom, at which he usually shakes his head, well tonight he leaned in and gave me several kisses with a smile!

Now this is what I was looking for last night!!! Im still going to treat myself to a decaf vanilla chai latte with 5 marshmallows, because, lets face it, I deserve it!

Then I will begin laundry, clean the bathroom and mop the floors. All in anticipation of our much awaited arrival tomorrow night... our Papa comes home after almost two weeks camping out in the Bush in Australia! I have yet to ask him if he saw a kangaroo! Its actually the longest time period that we havent spoken to each other in our 8+ years together. I am so ready for a manly hug!

Goofy kid

It was an ugly day for me, so I thought Id post some funny pictures.

Having recently consented to giving up cycling for exercise (several dogs ran out to 'greet' me on my last ride because of the cooler weather), but still wanting to enjoy my hour alone three days a week, I turned to jogging today. Im going to clarify that I said, JOGGING (not running). It was a lovely jog in the mid-day sun with bright blue, almost autumnal skies, but not quite, since it was still over 80F! Then I tripped, on nothing at all. Nothing at all. Thankfully, wearing sunglasses, I was able to cry the next 5 minutes down the road without anybody noticing. Well that is, unless they looked at the blood pouring out of both of my knees and my hand, thankfully the left hand. I did complete the rest of my 50 minute jog, having stopped crying (reasonably) quickly. So now, with a swollen twisted ankle, a gash out of my left thumb (which is going to be a bi-tch to heal because of its location - cant even tie my own hair up), a huge divot out of my right knee, a graze on my left knee and a serious feeling of self-pity, I wonder what the next 20 weeks has in store for me if I cant get outside and exercise... its going to be a grim winter. Id take being huge through the summer with the outdoor pool right there at my finger tips over a winter of feeling like a beached whale, most likely in her husbands clothes with no physical activity except workout dvds, any day. I love being pregnant, but I HATE not being able to exercise, and Im not an overly nice person to live with without exercise, so please all of you, pity my wonderful husband. It cant be time to be stuck with walking already, not with as much energy as I have and not with this beautiful weather.

Nearly there!

Tonight H was running around the house behind his walker, as he loves to do in the evenings (only the evenings mind you, he wont play with it at any other time of the day!), when he stopped, let go, turned around and walked off! 6 steps later he face planted, but then he got back up, grabbed the walker and took off again.

Letters from our readers...

"Consider this a formal complaint. When you started your blog you were peeved no-one seemed to read it. Now we are all hooked you have put three entries on since April - this is simply not good enough. We would like more long term commitment. We are growing old, we can only look forward to living vicariously (look it up!) and therefore you should take your responsibilities seriously. Don't make excuses about work, child, moving house, exercising, cleaning, laundry, gardening, shopping, socialising, spending time with husband or other inconsequential activities - prioritise!"


Well reader, I apologise, and to anyone else that may feel this way. I had no intention of leaving you bored at home, alone, I have just allowed life to take over... So here is what we have been up to lately...

1. We bought a house! Yes, we are moving down town! Danny wanted a newer house where nothing would go wrong. We bought a 1960s gem that needs everything replacing, he just found black mould and Im sure the paint is full of lead. On the upside, we get to totally re-model and get everything the way we want it, we will be living 5 minutes walk from the children's park, the skate park (because you just know Henry will be a dare devil when he is older), the public library and all of the schools. We are a 20 minute stroll from the square and all the fun stuff that comes along with that.

2. We accepted an offer on our house! 18 days was what it took. Unfortunately the inspection has apparently come back with a list of small things to fix so we just need to think about how much we want this sale to go through and how much we are willing to pay for it.

3. We got new jobs! In the fall we start working for an International private consultancy firm called Cardno Entrix, doing pretty much what we do now, just a much more stressful job for much more moola. Nothing for nothing eh.

As if that's not enough, Henry is every growing, of course! He is crawling at lightening speed and has decided he needs to eat his dinner with a fork (that he yields) and drink from a regular glass (only). Our beautifully behaved wee-bern has turned into a naughty little devil, almost over night. It took us three nights in a row (apparently at the end of the day we are tired and less quick to notice) to realise that we were getting played at dinner time. He would have a fit until I picked him up and let him finish his dinner sitting on my lap. As soon as we realised that it was the third night in a row that I was covered in food because he was sitting on my lap, we ceased allowing him to sit on my lap and so dinner time now results in screaming and an all out tantrum within 5 minutes. After 5 more minutes he stops crying because he realises we arent going to do anything about it. Poor little man, yeah right. He knows exactly what he is doing. He is sort of self-weaning, which is probably good because I wouldnt have the heart to forcefully wean him Im sure. Some days he does not nurse at all, sometimes once or twice. We enjoy going to the City pool most of our days together. Henry thinks he can swim un-aided, which means you have to constantly have your wits about you, and putting his head under water is no problem at all. In fact he sits on the edge of the pool and dives in so that I have to catch him as he goes under. I have had to work several weeks of full time lately and that has not been nice since we havent got to spend much time together, but I told my boss that I couldnt do it anymore.

So we are currently in-undated with re-modelling decisions. Constantly packing more boxes up and thus living in a shell, basically. We have bought some of our appliances, which while fun ordering exactly what you want, was not nice when you look at the total bill! Trying to get through each day making progress but stopping to enjoy play time with our little man and squeezing some sleep in there somewhere. I look forward to coming to some agreements on the inspection findings and closing August 1st. Please please please buy our house crazy lady from Tuscaloosa.

Oh, and I know what living vicariously means. Im not 5 mum! And thanks for the 'complaint' it really made me laugh today!

Bottle me up

Well the first two attempted bottle feedings have been a complete disaster and mummy is starting to panic about the first week back at work, which is just over a week away. Oh dear.

Parental lessons learned the hard way so far... If you ever want to feed your baby from a bottle, make sure and start at least the odd bottle from the beginning because starting it at 11 weeks old ain't gonna happen!

We have no choice but to keep trying, but it is excruciating. Henry is such a happy young man, rarely ever crying - mostly just when you stick him in a car seat for more than 30 minutes - but the hour and a half of trying to get him to eat from a bottle to date, has brought nothing but all out screams and tears. I have purchased a new bottle that looks like the real thing but it is a week away, so until then, we try with the three different ones we have and just try to ignore the screams of our sweet baby.

Tomorrow we drive to Gulf Shores to take Henry on his first beach vacation. If you read the last paragraph, you will remember that he HATES being in a car seat for extended periods of time, so the 7 hour journey to the coast is going to be interesting tomorrow. Im hoping that going to the Grove to party all day has worn him out and that he will sleep most of tomorrow, making the journey bearable. Otherwise we will all be sporting headphones!