Category: 250 in 2017

I am committing to writing 250 posts in 2017. It was going to be 365 but I think that’s a little ambitious…

A day of rest

/ Renae / Leave a comment

I was struck down with something overnight which hit me hard this morning and I ended up spending the day in bed. I can’t remember the last time I had to do that. By some crazy luck Hubs had the day off so he could look after myself and the kids (and did a seriously wonderful job too) and now I’m just trying to bounce back.

I don’t think it’s pregnancy-related but I made the call to the hospital just in case. They reassured me that it sounded viral but to feel free to come up and get checked any time. I opted to rest in bed. I even had some company for a bit of it which is always sweet.

My back and pelvis and groin are all super loose and crazy sore. It’s gotta be a sign right! The end is near! Bring it on I say!

Confession time

/ Renae / Leave a comment

My name is Renae and I’m a compulsive entertainer.

Entertaining, dinner parties and BBQs were a huge part of my childhood. In a sense I’ve been entertaining my whole life. (Just ask my parents. Badoom ching!) I just can’t help it. The need to have people over on a regular basis is in my blood. It’s genetic. And Hubs shares and encourages this passion.

Two weeks ago though, I put my foot down with Hubs. “No more dinner parties for the time being. I’m nearly 40 weeks pregnant and I need a break! We can have people over but we’re ordering pizza. Because even a simple BBQ equates to preparation and cleaning up and I’m done for now!” That’s what I told him. And I meant it I swear!

So Thursday rolls around and Hubs says “I have a three day weekend. Want to fire up the BBQ Saturday night?”

And what do I say?

“Sure sounds good. Might as well invite the neighbours over. Oh and (insert several more people here.) Nothing fancy. Just burgers.”

Except I decided to make home made bread rolls. Because I can’t help myself.

And I made a special trip to Woollies because I had a hankering for yummy cheese. Because I can’t help myself.

And we invited a few more people who didn’t end up coming (8 in fact) so we “only” had 7 adults and 6 kids.

But that’s it. I swear. I’m done. We had a great night and we can take a break on a high.

Unless I can’t help myself…

Bambi is not a hit in this house

/ Renae / Leave a comment

We’ve been introducing the kids to classic Disney lately and although we’ve had some winners (Snow White, Pinocchio) Bambi has not faired so well tonight. Quinn gave up after half an hour and went to bed; Darby keeps asking if it’s finished; and Frith fell asleep on the couch not long into it which left me to explain to Chance what happened to Bambi’s Mum, as well as the fight scene between Bambi and the other buck over Faline.

I don’t think it will be getting much air time after tonight.

May the Fourth

/ Renae / Leave a comment

Unless I go into labour and have my baby in less than 2.5 hours, I shan’t be having a Star Wars baby. Which is fine. But it would have been kind of cool right?

I’m in a funny place at the moment. I’m surrounded by things to do yet have absolutely nothing to do. I have no good book to read; I have no awesome TV show that I’m dying to watch the next episode of; I have no sewing space even if I did have a sewing project (mending things doesn’t count); and our photos still aren’t connected to our computer so photo books are out also.

I read a saying a little while ago that said Only boring people get bored. Well consider me the most boring person in Rockhampton right now. It doesn’t help that I have no energy to do much even if I could find something to get excited about.

I think I’m just in a holding pattern at the moment. I’m excited about the baby arriving soon and I’m actually very well prepared. It’s just a matter of waiting now. And as Hubs can attest to, patience isn’t exactly a strong point of mine.

Maybe I should just go to bed.

Happy Star Wars Day! And May the Fourth be with you.

Labour intensive

/ Renae / Leave a comment

I’ve never actually gone into what they call spontaneous labour so it’s kind of funny to me that, even after having three kids, I don’t know what going into labour naturally feels like. If this was my first baby I would have thought I was in labour a few times by now, with the crazy aches and pains and other stuff that need not be mentioned on the blog. But as it is, I’m sitting pretty at 39 weeks and the baby isn’t budging. Moving yes. But not in an outward-bound direction.

Which is okay because a) Hubs doesn’t have time off work until towards the end of May; b) I’m still waiting on something for the baby capsule and c) we don’t have a boy’s name agreed on. So yeah, as per usual at 39 weeks pregnant I’m still not prepared.

I used to be organised. Ask anyone. Having kids either makes you more organised or you just lower your standards and do what your need to do to get through the day. I’m living the latter at the moment and we’re doing just fine.

Due one week tomorrow. Assuming I’ll be induced two weeks tomorrow. We shall see!

Another day, another playground

/ Renae / Leave a comment

Oh the joys of the playground visit. I mean don’t you just love it? I always thought that as a parent I would love taking my kids to playgrounds. It’s like free babysitting, right?

Wrong.

It turns out that the humble playground can, as well as bringing out the best in my children, bring out the worst in them. And in me. The constant requests of “can you push me on the swing?” The complaints of sand in eyes. The tantrums and disagreements with other people’s kids. The repeated asking for snacks and water. The judgement from other mums if I check my phone for too long. The panic I feel when I look up to do a head count and can’t find Darby. (In fairness, if the playground isn’t gated I don’t let him out of my sight.)

Also in fairness, this kind of trip to the playground doesn’t happen too often. Mostly my kids have a good time and can amuse themselves for up to two hours. They make friends with other kids there and have a great time.

We discovered a new playground today that had some of my favourite features: It was fully fenced; it was nowhere near a road,  it had a bench seat inside the fence, there were public toilets (though by some miracle we didn’t have to visit them even once!); it was very quiet and had all the favourite pieces of equipment; it was very shady. We were there for nearly two hours and the kids had a blast.

There were a few other kids here at various stages but we had the place to ourselves for the final half hour. Thankfully it was a very successful playground trip. We’ll be coming back to this one for sure!

He was a scooter boy

/ Renae / Leave a comment

Had an awesome-sauce morning of scooting and biking at the local school. Such fun and so much cuteness. Yes that is my (current) youngest at almost two-and-a-half. Definitely not a baby anymore. Just ask him.

Prep time is over

/ Renae / Leave a comment

Good bye Gran. See you in a couple of weeks!

I definitely feel more prepared than a week ago which was exactly the point of having Mum here for the week. That and the kids absolutely adore having their Gran here. Predictably, one of the first things Darby asked when he saw Gran was “where’s Grumpy?” Thankfully they will both be back in a couple of weeks for baby go-time.

There is definitely something conforting about having your mum around, isn’t there? It’s like “it’s okay everybody. There’s a real adult here to do some proper adulting. She knows what she’s doing. We can all relax.”

So it’s back to doing my own washing and folding and parenting now. The break was nice thanks Mum. See you soon xxx