Category: baby

My life is a cliche

/ Renae / 1 Comment

I’ve started writing this post half a dozen times and it never seems quite right, so I’m just going to dive in and see what eventuates. In case you missed the news, I gave birth to a little baby boy, Chance Harry, 10 days ago, and ever since then, I’ve just been living in cliche world. I don’t know why, but I thought I’d be the exception to many of the “rules” of parenting in the early days. But no. I’m just like everyone else. Let me give you some examples of the thoughts and feelings that have been going on inside my head:

– I’ve used the term “they don’t call it labour for nothing you know” more than once. So cliche.

– I was told on day one to expect the “three day blues” on day three and, still being pumped up on adrenaline and hormones, I was all like “naaaaah, that won’t happen to me! Look at me! I’m fine! I love being a Mum. How could I possibly get the blues??” Almost to the hour, the three day blues struck me down and I’ve been crying on and off every couple of days since. Fun! And so cliche.

– For the first 2 days after we got home, I had to check on Chance every 2 minutes. My friend sent me an email (you know who you are) saying he bets that’s what I’d be doing and he was right. Dammit!!! And how did he know? Cos that’s what every new parent does. So cliche.

– I think I have the cutest, most beautiful baby in the world and I can lose an hour just watching him sleep. So cliche.

– The house looks like a bomb hit it. I don’t know why, but I thought I’d avoid a lot of the chaos of bringing a new baby home. Gosh I was really and truly kidding myself on that one. So cliche.

– I’m convinced that Chance smiles at us and that he’s not simply passing wind. So cliche.

So there you have it. I finally understand what parents mean when they say “it’s different when it’s your own kid.” I used to feel sorry for mums who had to duck out to change their baby’s nappy or breastfeed or console their crying baby, but now I get it. It’s not a chore – it’s an absolute honour. Now I get it – your priorities do change. Now I get it – Hubs and I are just loving being parents and everything that comes with it. I know it’s early days, and we have already had a couple of really rough nights, but all I need to do is look into our baby’s eyes and know how blessed we are, and know that no matter what, everything will be okay cos we are a part of an amazing family.

So cliche. And loving it.

Keeping occupied

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So while we play the waiting game, Mum and Dad and I have been getting out and about (while poor poor Hubs is stuck doing work – make sure you give him lots of sympathy for his very very hard life! I love you honey!! 🙂 We headed out to Mt Beauty and Bright on Saturday and had a lovely time visiting wineries and breweries. Oh yes, those lemon, lime and bitters sure were something else! Obviously I let Dad do the beer tasting (okay okay, I had a couple of little sips) and Mum partook in a glass of wine. It was nice being out and about, and they even took me on a few bumpy roads to try and “start things off”. Alas, to no avail.

Dad with the first lot of tastings at Sweetwater – this was actually quite disappointing as the beers were mostly flat and not very cold. But if it makes a good story…

Next up, Dad tried a spot of fly fishing
But only managed to catch a couple of foxy ladies 😉
We then stumbled upon the Bright Brewery – this was much more impressive, with better beers (on tap) and a sampler tray with tasting notes. Mum took over driving after this place… 
We had a lovely day out and about, listening to old road trip tapes (The Bushwackers, Bullamakanka, Supertramp, Pink Floyd) and with Dad falling asleep in the back of the car on the way home. The weather was glorious and the company, wonderful as always. Hopefully Hubs will have time to join us on the next trip!

The Due Date

/ Renae / 4 Comments

Today is my due date, which, in pregnancy terms means diddly-squat since only 5% of babies are born on their due date. But you just never know. There’s still 13 hours left in the day. I’m still fairly comfortable in general, though it’s going to be 31 degrees every day this week which may test my patience a little I’m sure. I do feel as though I’ve gotten to the “okay I’m ready now” phase without quite being at the “ohmygoodness-get-this-thing-out-of-my-belly” phase. The thing I keep thinking about is that the longer he/she stays in residence at casa de Mamafoot, he/she is getting bigger. And as many of you know, Hubs and I aren’t the shortest of people (don’t even get me started on our brothers who both stand 6 foot 6 inches!!) so it wouldn’t at all surprise me if Littlefoot comes out 3 feet tall with a boot size of 10. Hey! I’ve felt those kicks!!

So in answer to your texts and emails and phone calls and comments (thanks so much for the love!) no, we don’t have an outside baby as yet. But we are ready…

Self portraits, belly shots, and new hair

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I decided to get my hair done last week, since I won’t have a lot of free time once Littlefoot joins us in the outside world. I haven’t dyed my hair in almost 18 months, and was in need of a bit of a cut, so I got the works done. And I feel like a million bucks! I found a great hairdresser who uses natural hair dyes with no amonia, and who did exactly what I asked for and didn’t charge an absolute fortune – they are just so hard to find! I’ll certainly be going back to her (eventually). I think it’s hilarious that It’s only taken me 30 years (okay, 15 years of actually trying) to find a hair style that I really like and that I know pretty much exactly what to ask for when I walk into a hair salon. Getting the hairdresser to actually do what you ask for is another thing, so that’s why I was so excited about this one!

I also decided to try my hand at some self-portrait belly shots – this is harder than it looks! I got a couple of okay ones, but would like to practice the whole self-portrait thing a bit more and learn how to frame a bit better. Oh, and a nice mirror would actually help I’m sure. The first 2 are my attempts. The next 2 are the belly shots Hubs took of me just before we went out to dinner with Mum and Dad at Rinaldo’s (delish!!) last week.

From the front

And the side
From up high
And down low (too slow! ha ha ha ha)
We’re really enjoying using our new camera. It’s a sony something-or-other and it’s great for not only pointing and shooting (my kind of photography) but you (read: Hubs) can do lots of other cool things with it as well. I’m sure I’ll be able to explain what those things are some day, but for the time being, I’m just happy to use it in auto mode, much to Hubs’ horror! Hee hee!

Baby swap meet

/ Renae / 2 Comments

No, this was not an opportunity to swap your baby for someone else’s (Hubs). It was actually a Baby Bazaar but Hubs referred to it as a swap meet. Friends of ours, whose baby is due 2 weeks after Littlefoot, told us about this event so we went along with them last Saturday. And it was so great! A whole lot of pre-loved baby stuff in excellent condition at excellent prices! And the best thing is, they hold it every 3 months, so you don’t have to “stock up” on stuff that you won’t need for another 6 months cos it’ll be there next time you go!

They had everything from cots, prams, change tables and high chairs, to baby clothes, wraps and toys, to maternity wear and books. We spent a bit of time wandering around and then made a few purchases – I bought some maternity tops for $4 and $5 each and Baby Love – a book that was highly recommended to me which I’ve been looking for, second-hand, for a while. $5!! BARGAIN! And for Hubs we bought a pirate bean bag and a wooden block puzzle. Actually, the puzzle was free cos there’s a piece missing, which is funny as it’s an alphabet puzzle. So Littlefoot will grow up wondering about this letter “G” that everyone is talking about. 🙂 Luckily the names we have chosen don’t contain that letter. Hee hee! How’s that for a useless hint for you!

So we spent a bit over an hour there and met up with another couple and their 6-month-old boy who were friends of our friends. We then went to lunch all together and had a great time.

Hubs wanted to take a photo of me on this bench, so how could I say no?

It was such a beautiful day that we decided to head home via the Beechworth Celtic Festival. The weather really was amazing and warm so we had some delicious ice cream and a nice wander around. (This was after we’d eaten most of it.)

There was some Irish music and dancing, to be sure
And of course, a Pipe Band – they were awesome!! 
Update: our friends due 2 weeks after Littlefoot had a baby boy at 3am this morning! I believe everything is going well – can’t wait to meet the little guy!

Our mammoth long weekend – days 1 & 2

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Well it’s a good thing I have all this energy at the moment, as the 6-day-weekend we just had was not for the faint-hearted! It began on Thursday when we drove the kombi from Wang to Melbourne just after lunch, arriving around afternoon tea time to catch up with the staff at Newman College. It was really nice to see everyone and catch up on all their news, and to share my growing bump with them.

We then headed over to our friend’s place where Hubs and our friends headed out to a photography exhibition while I looked after their 2 & 4 year old sons and their neighbour’s 3 year old daughter. We had a great time in the bath (clearly that was the kids, not me) and had some dinner and then had lots of stories. I had them all in bed by 8pm and was commended for my “baby whispering”! I guess I just wore them all out with all those exciting stories!

We were up at 6am Friday for our 9am flight from Avalon. We drove the kombi to the airport hassle-free and the plane left basically on time. We arrived in Brizzie just after 10am (thanks to daylight savings) and headed over to Nanny and Grandpa’s for a spot of lunch. It was lovely to see them as usual and so good to have yummy Nanny food again! And she was very happy to see us, though she couldn’t help herself and told me I shouldn’t be flying now that I am a “big lady”. 🙂

A snap from lunch:

We then headed to St Andrew’s Uniting Church in town, the location of a very memorable day in December almost 3 years ago, for the wedding rehearsal for “Brisbane’s Wedding of the Year”. Hubs rehearsed walking the lovely bride down the aisle,

and it was a pretty typical wedding rehearsal, other than the pregnant lady sitting in the 3rd row having a little cry. Yes. At the rehearsal. You got something to say about that? I knew that the following day I would have to a) wear water-proof mascara and b) take extra tissues.

We had kept the evening plan-free just in case of a pre-wedding dinner, so when the bride and groom decided to just have a quiet night in, we arranged for Hubs’ Mum, sister and kids to come on over for dinner at my parent’s place. In the mean time, we hung around town for a bit and grabbed a coffee and just chilled out together. It was really lovely being back in our old stomping ground and enjoying the lovely warm weather. We were talking about who we might run in to, as is inevitable whilst in Brisbane. And sure enough, on our way to the rendezvous point to meet my Mum for our lift home, we ran into very good friends of mine and their 6 month old daughter whom I hadn’t met yet!

She. Was. Divine. And her dear parents were very lucky that I’m about to pop out one of our own, or I may have run off with their little cherub. I actually had tears of joy and awe at this gorgeous little girl (seeing a hormonal pattern here people??) I simply had to get some shots with her.

The lovely Henna and the gorgeous little baby Iida

It was SO nice to see our friends and have a little catch up! We headed back to Mum and Dad’s for a feast of seafood marinara and carbonara pasta and Nanny’s apple pie for dessert. And of course, we had to play with the lego as well.

Lego time!
And we had to take some fun photos! Mine’s the biggest!!

And our friend Ian popped over around dessert time as well, so that was another bonus! So that was the first 2 days of our awesome weekend – and they were the most restful days! So much more to come…

I’ve still got it

/ Renae / 2 Comments

Yesterday we went to Brisbane’s “wedding of the year” (blog post to come) and I don’t like to brag, but Hubs and I shook our groove thing on the dancefloor at the reception for almost 2 hours with only a few drink/toilet/not-our-kind-of-music breaks. Let me remind you, ladies and gents, that I’m 37 weeks pregnant AND I was wearing heels. Heels people! I was pretty impressed with my efforts to be honest. I’ve been a little nervous about losing energy at times when energy is needed, but my Duracel batteries just kept going and going – from 6:30am when I woke up (not on purpose – my body clock was being a pain) til my head hit the pillow at 2:35am this morning (we decided it would be fun to go to our friend’s Halloween party after we left the wedding last night – totally worth it!)

Needless to say I cannot WAIT to get into bed tonight as I’m sure it’s going to be the best night’s sleep I’ve had in a week. And maybe, just maybe I’m not going to have as much trouble with the upcoming sleep-deprivation as I thought I might?! (One can hope!)