Category: NaBloPoMo#4

The last day

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Yibbeda yibbeda. That’s all folks. It’s been a fun month, and I’ve enjoyed the challenge of writing every day. Some days I’ve really looked forward to sitting down and writing, other days it’s been a bit hard, but it’s been good being accountable to you folk out there, waiting every day for a post to be published 🙂

So what have I achieved in my month of “recharge and reset”?

I did a lot of walking. Even though the frequency dropped off a bit in the last week or so, whenever there was a choice between staying home on the couch, or heading outdoors, I was almost always able to get myself moving.

I got a lot of sleep. Like, a sleep-in til almost 9am almost every day. Thanks Mum.

I crossed off 2 things on my 101 in 1001 days – this Nablopomo, and not chewing my nails for a month. They look totally amazing and I’m not going back. Hubs and I had a weekend away together and I also started a few as well, like painting my nails and getting a lot done towards my new blog. I didn’t do so well on the stretching, but it’s more of a priority now as my pregnancy advances.

I wrote every day for a month. Woo! And I don’t think I whinged too much. I hope.

I have been nourished and fulfilled by my wonderful family and beautiful supportive friends. I feel motivated and energised for our return to Mount Isa, and can’t wait to just be with Hubs again. I’ve really missed him.

So. One more sleep-in, an early morning for our flight back Sunday, and it’s back to reality and full-time parenting. And it’s going to be great 🙂

The big move

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No, I don’t have any news about us moving next year. Not yet, anyway. I’m talking about my brother and his partner – they are making the move to Melbourne! Kate is heading down in less than 2 weeks, and Kris is following in around October as he has commitments up here until then. I’m so excited for them. They are very “Melbourne” people in my opinion and I think (I know) they are going to love it down there. And it makes me want to move back there even more!

Hubs has The Alfred (in Melbs) as his #1 hospital for next year and even though we’re trying not to get our hopes up too much, we are really really keen to get back down there. For a number of reasons – the weather not being one of them mind you! It’s close to all my girls in Wang for starters, and we have quite a few friends in Melbourne who are in the same “life stage” as us – having kids, start of med careers – so it would be nice to be around familiar people with similar priorities and focus.

Plus, it’s Melbourne. We love Melbourne. I wasn’t sure I’d ever want to return there with kids and live in the burbs, but the thought of it really excites me, especially now that K & K are going to be there for a while.

But like I say, not getting our hopes up… (yeah, right…)

The end is nigh

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I can’t believe my Nablopomo is almost at an end! Since my first post was on the 7th of May, my final post will be the 6th of June. That works, right? And, um, that’s Friday. It’s been quite a challenge posting everyday, and not just resorting to photos (too much). I’ve enjoyed the extra writing, and finding things to talk about even when not much is going on. I have a couple of things planned to write about for the next 2 days, but nothing for today really. I just read over that first post and remember the feeling I had when writing it. I felt tired but optimistic that the following month would be a nice, Wifey-focused month. And it definitely has been that. It’s been really lovely and I have had so much time to myself as well as with family and friends which is what I wanted and needed.

My parents have had an amazing time, as usual, with the kids, and I love how familiar Chanbe and Quindy are with them. I do often wonder what it would be like living in the same city as my parents full-time, but I don’t dwell on this. I know the time they have with the kids is so special and that I get just as spoilt when we stay here, so I chose to enjoy what we have, not wish for something that may or may not be “better”.

It’s also put me in a better frame of mind for our return to Mount Isa on Sunday. I just want to get home to Hubs and even though I know things aren’t going to be dramatically different, I have a few strategies to cope a bit better this time around.

2 more posts and 4 sleeps to go 🙂

The tale of the rug and the frog

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I’m not exactly sure how, but little Quindy has a ruggie. And it’s too cute. It’s just a muslin wrap that I bought in a 3 pack that she took a fancy to about 6 months ago and now it’s her thing. She grabs it and the thumb goes in. If I hear her go upstairs to her bedroom and start yelling, I can be pretty sure she’s at her cot trying to reach her rug, which Chanbe will often help her out with.

And then came the frog. Again, we have plenty of stuffed toys hanging around, but there was something special about “Froggy”. It was actually a toy that was given to Chanbe as a baby but he was never really interested… until now of course!

It’s lovely when my kids can be so easily pleased. It’s a reminder that sometimes all you need is a little comfort and something familiar to be happy.

The photo shoot

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I’d better warn you now that I’m not actually going to show you any photos from “the photo shoot” I had today. I know. What a tease. But I can assure you that you will see at least one of the photos very soon 🙂 This is all part of my new blog that is currently being thought out and put together. To say I’m excited would be a crazy understatement. Today was a lot of fun and I was proud of how I can look at the photos and feel good about myself. I’m not too concerned about the extra squishy bits here and there; instead I can look at the photos and know that my body can do a lot, and is doing a lot for me right now, and that I rely on it every second of every day. And that it’s doing a pretty damn fine job.

I’m slowly learning, after so many years, that I have to be happy with how I am “now” if I am to be the best I can be. Yes I’d like to lose some weight, but that’s because I want to be able to move more without feeling out of breath; I want to (ready for the cliche?) keep up with my kids; I want to feel more confident in less clothes. But in the mean time, I’m getting to be more happy with just being me. If nothing changed for the next 10 years, I want to be able to be happy with that.

I’m getting there, slowly.

The day that nearly didn’t have a blog post

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I’m happily exhausted. It has been a bumper weekend of driving around and catching up. So much quality time has been spent with friends and family; the kids have had a blast and went to sleep immediately; and I’m about to hit the pillow also. I’ve just spent the last hour online booking flights (ie spending more money) and researching Marriage Celebrant professional development options. I’m more confused now than when I started, which suggests to me it’s time to go to bed.

On another positive note, we sold the falcon today! (Which just reminded me to log in and remove the online ad!!) We’re going to miss the old girl, but I’m very happy to have it out of our hands and on it’s way to new adventures. Hubs and I are discussing possibilities for our next car which is always fun and exciting. Especially when we dream, and disregard any budgets or practicality. I’m pretty keen for a family van and Hubs is certainly a van man, so he’s doing a lot of the research into it. But mostly it just entails us pointing out cars as we drive around and passing judgement. Which is always fun.

So that’s me done for the weekend. Only 1 more week and I’m back with Hubs again in Mount Isa. I’m really missing him now – 5 weeks is too long to spend away from home. Hubs is home and I miss home.

Ni-night.

The weekend in Gympie

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This trip to Brisbane is all about me recharging and resetting. It’s about spending as much time with “my people” as I can, so I can return to Mount Isa full of positive energy and motivation. So when I contacted my friends Luke and Henna about a visit to their home in Gympie, I was delighted that they offered for us to stay the night and really make a weekend of it.

They also suggested that I invite a mutual friend and her family along for brunch and really make a weekend out of it! So that’s what’s happening tomorrow morning. This afternoon was spentwith our 2 eldest (they have a 4 year old daughter) playing nicely (as well as that age group does!) And Quindy bossing their youngest (they have a 9 month old son) around and trying to do all the fun things the big kids were doing, as well as sneaking bites of play dough while I wasn’t looking.

When I was growing up, Gympie was always the town where we stopped on our way to holiday along the Burrum River, near Hervey Bay. We would pull into the Tram Car Bakery for a pie or sweet pastry, a coffee (or milkshake for us kids) and a toilet stop, then we were off again. I really don’t know much else about the town or what is had to offer, but my friends are enjoying their time here for now.

So the kids are all in bed, almost asleep, and it’s nearly time for more catching up over hot cups of tea. I love a good old reminisce. I’ve mentioned before that I’m a bit of a sentimental fool.

We might even swing by the bakery tomorrow on our way out of town 😉

The sleepy kids

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Oh my heart. On our way home from wherever we went yesterday (what? We’ve been doing A LOT!) I turned around from the passenger seat to see this. My little possums super sleepy after a big day. Ah. Now I remember – we went over to the family house at Kelvin Grove so I could sort out some of my things, as Mum and Dad are looking at selling the house in the not-too-distant future. Then we popped in to Mum’s work on the way home to say hi to a friend. A big day and a nice relaxing drive home before peak hour traffic.
Of course as soon as we got home they were full of beans and asking Gran and Grumpy to take them down to the beach. They were very nicely tired out and went to sleep rather happily and a little earlier than usual. 
In the frustrating, upsetting times, it does me well to remember these moments. 

The reunion

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I’ve just spent 15 minutes scouring my blog for a photo of our lovely friends from Townsville and I couldn’t find a thing! I know I’ve taken lots of photos, intending to blog about them, and the only post I can find that I have mentioned them is this one! Maz and Hubs worked together and we met her and her husband and 2 year old son, Jarrah (now 3, far right) in the first week of Hubs’ internship. Maz was also very pregnant, due about a month after I was. We were immediately drawn to them for so many reasons. Basically, they were just awesome, and shared lots of the same ideas as us. (Does that make us awesome too? Welllll……)
Anyway, they were in a very similar position as us in that they had no family and only a couple of friends in Townsville as they had moved from Perth so we found ourselves spending a lot of time together. Chanbe and Jarrah had a bit of a rocky relationship, with Chanbe asserting a bit too much dominance over his friend, but after a while, that calmed down a bit. And when Quindy and Alyx were born only a month apart, it was lovely to watch them grow together. Maz and I got along like old friends, and Haz and Hubs could spend hours talking about cars, BBQs and stuff bought at garage sales. 
We really did have such a great time with them, and it was hard saying goodbye when we finally left for Mount Isa. They opened their house to us so many times, including for Chanbe’s 3rd birthday party, and when we were homeless for a couple of weeks between moves. We are very lucky to have met them and still keep in regular contact with them.
So when I found out that Maz and the kids were going to be in Brisbane the same time as us, we organised a catch up at Southbank. That’s where the above photo was taken. The 4 of them played so beautifully together, and it made us miss our time together even more! I’m so glad we had the opportunity to catch up, and we hope our paths keep crossing over the years to come.

The birthday week

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I’m sure I’ve shared with you here that years ago, my Dad decided that he would no longer celebrate his birthday on just one day, instead declaring a “birthday week” which would include the days before and after his birthday as well. So being his birthday yesterday, we had people over for dinner last night. Today we had birthday cake with the kids, and tomorrow we are making him birthday breakfast.

I love that my Dad’s only wish for his birthday was to have his kids and grandkids around, and we were very happy to help out with that. He gets so much pleasure from having Chanbe and Quindy around, and I’m so pleased we were here to celebrate with him. They love their Grumpy so much!

Happy birthday Dad. I hope I am as happy and blessed as you are when I hit your age 😉