My list of things I don’t need right now:
– Chanbe had a temperature last night and was generally miserable, so neither of us got any sleep. Barely keeping my eyes open right now.
– An obstetrician at the hospital has ordered another glucose test to rule out gestational diabetes, even though the first one I had came back clear. The test takes 2.5 hours and you have to drink this disgusting sugar drink and get blood taken 3 times. Cos I have so much time to spare right now.
– I have a rash on my neck that has come out of nowhere and is itchy.
– I’m still getting pains in my guts that stop me in my tracks and force me to lie down.
To do:
– Keep packing boxes. (just keep packing, just keep packing)
– Attend my last mother’s group tomorrow (heartbreaking)
– Pick up trailer from Albury
– Buy a sexy dress for the Rural Clinical School graduation dinner on Saturday night in Ballarat
– Plan Chanbe’s 2nd birthday party
Up until yesterday I was feeling like I was being productive and really getting stuff done. Today, I’m yet to achieve anything and just want to go back to bed. Maybe I should do just that and try and have a productive afternoon and evening. Hubs get back tomorrow evening after his boys camping trip (he’s having a great time) which will take the pressure off somewhat.
This time next week we’ll be on the road. So much to do before then…
Random photo for your viewing pleasure.
I’ve been a bit absent from regular blogging lately, and I fear this trend will continue for the next few weeks months. We are in the midst of planning and packing and (sadly) counting down the days til we leave Wang (18). We are fitting lots of socialising in which has been lovely. We headed to Melbourne last weekend to farewell our “med friends” – this group of people have really made the last 4 years of our lives somewhat amazing, and they will always hold a VERY special place in our hearts. I know that we will certainly keep in touch over the years to come.
And as yesterday was Hubs’ last day of medicine (he has 2 days of exams next week and then that’s really it!!) we have had a few end-of-med dinners and lunches to attend which has been great. The one we went to on Thursday night was a thank you from the students to the Doctors and teaching staff, and I offered to make some baked goods to hand out as a thank you. I decided to make truffles, as I’d never made them before and it’s always a great idea to try something new when you are making presents for 20 people. (Ahem.) Thankfully, they turned out beautifully:
And everyone was very thankful which was lovely. I made the little boards out of cardboard wrapped in alfoil, and stuck the patties down with melted chocolate. I was worried about them melting but I believe they stayed intact. I made over 100 of these little friggers!
This coming week:
– tonight I’m making lamb shanks as an end-of-uni treat for Hubs
– tomorrow we’re doing a bit of local sight-seeing and maybe catching a bit of the Wangaratta Jazz Festival (I can hear it from our house)
– Monday night we’re having 6 people over for dinner + Revenge episodes (yes I’m hooked. Don’t judge.)
– Tuesday we are going to the local races for Melbourne Cup Day (like last year)
– Wednesday Mum and Dad arrive and Hubs heads to Shepparton for his exams til Friday
– Thursday I’m hosting Mums group at my house for the last time (boo)
– Friday Hubs and I will hopefully go out to dinner to celebrate the real end of Hubs’ medical degree!!
– Saturday we are having a garage sale
So, you know, enough to keep us busy. I’ve been having a bit of anxiety lately, most likely centred around getting ready for the big move, and am just trying to be aware of it, acknowledge it, and not let it manifest itself in crazy ways. I know we’ll get there. We always do 🙂
Anyone remember that song from their childhood? No? Just me? Oh well. I had it playing in my head one sunny afternoon last week when we were invited to our friend’s farm to visit some baby goats. When I say baby goats, I mean baby goats. 4 of them were less than 24 hours old! I cannot tell you how much I love living in the country. I mean, where else would you get a phone call on a Wednesday afternoon, inviting you to give baby goats a cuddle and a pat?
We are currently spending as much time outside, when the weather permits. It’s finally nice enough to pick flowers:
No, mousse, not moose. (Weirdo.) And I’m not talking about the kind of velvety, light, fluffy mousse that would normally appear in this household on a whim of my Hubs. I’m talking about the kind of mousse that you ruin because you overcook the custard, and it becomes hard and thick and gluggy. Delicious, but not quite right. That kind of mousse. Hubs’ solution? Well, Hubs’ solution to most of life’s problems: dip it in chocolate! (Life can get messy around here!)
This is probably the most unappealing photo I could have taken of these delightful treats, as I had just taken them out of the freezer, so sorry about that. I rolled them into balls (yes, that was the consistency) and put them in the freezer for a bit, then dipped them in melted 70% dark chocolate. The one at the front left, I dipped in whole and the chocolate set quickly and thickly around the mousse, so for the rest of them I just used a spoon to drizzle the chocolate liberally over them. They were super rich, but super delish! A fail made into a success I’d say!
My second baking venture for the week was in aid of using the up 5 egg whites (after only using the yokes for the mousse) and since strawberries are cheap as at the moment, a soufflé was on the cards. I served these babies up for dessert with friends on Thursday night, after serving a very tasty Guinness Stew for dinner. I’ll let the photos tell you a bit more!
They looked SO impressive and were very light and fluffy and delicious. I actually forgot to put in half of the sugar, so they weren’t too unhealthy (only 1/4 cup of sugar in the whole recipe) and it really didn’t need it to be honest. They were a real hit!
And for the trifecta, I’ve just pulled a dozen scones out of the oven to take to mums group this arvo. Hubs had a hankering the other day, so you know, 2 birds. Luckily they look amazing, so I won’t need to dip anything in chocolate 🙂 The recipe I use is super quick and easy (3 cups SR Flour, 1 cup lemonade, 1 cup cream; stir with a knife, add fruit bits if you like, cook in hot oven – about 220C for 12 minutes) and are great for when people pop in to say hi. Or when I pop out to say hi! Which I’m about to do. Laters!
The only food that Chanbe ever really asks us for is good stuff.
Agogo (avocado)
Jrrbrr (strawberries)
Ap (apple)
Brit (bread – that he helps himself to from the freezer, and eats it frozen)
Banana (banana) (duh)
My friend gave him a Malteser the other day (she asked if she could which I appreciated, but I really don’t mind since he never gets to eat that sort of thing normally.) He bit half of it off, ate that bit, and gave the other half to me. That felt pretty good actually. If only I had the same willpower 🙂
I don’t mean to sound self-righteous, or as if I’m a brilliant parent, I just like the fact that our son likes good food. It also really motivates me to eat healthy foods in front of him, to set a good example. There’s plenty of time for him to get stuck into the sweeter things in the cupboard!
It took quite a while for us to get Chanbe into some semblance of a routine around his sleeping habits. As I’ve mentioned before, the first year of Chanbe’s life was filled with constant battles around bedtime, and 2-3 hourly wake-ups every night until he was just over 1 year old. We worked very hard to make his bedtime a more enjoyable experience, and by March this year, we were at the stage where we could say “ni-night” or “nap time”, give him a kiss and cuddle, put him in his cot, and walk out of the room. We would hear noises sometimes but they were joyful noises of our son being content, talking himself to sleep.
It was bliss. Correction. It is bliss. For the last week, the little guy has not been 100%, with temperatures and general crankiness around the clock. And the last 3 nights, he has not wanted to go to sleep in his own bed. No matter what we did, no amount of encouragement would persuade him otherwise. So he has been sleeping with us. And I use the term “sleeping” very loosely. He’s been sleeping okay, but we haven’t. And I don’t want this to continue. I don’t want this to become a habit. I don’t want all of our hard work to go down the drain. I don’t want to go back to the nightly battles.
I know that when he is unwell, we have to make some allowances, but when you’re in the moment – when he’s been crying screaming for half an hour every time you leave him in his cot; when I’m in tears because I feel like he’s never going to sleep again; when Hubs has to take him for an hour long walk to get him to sleep just a little bit (which we haven’t done in I don’t know how long) – it’s hard to get perspective. I know that he’s out of his routine, but I also know that it’s not the end of the world. I know that once he starts to feel better, he’ll be happier in his own cot. I just don’t know how long that will take him. And I have to be okay with that. I need to let go just a little bit. Deeeeeeep breaths Wifey, deep breaths.
Chanbe in a happier mood. Actually, this was at lunch time today. It’s not all bad 🙂
Thank you for your suggestions for my baker’s block last week! There are a few recipes that I will be trying, maybe even today! I ended up going with this chocolate sponge cake recipe. I had never made a sponge cake before, and apparently duck eggs are the bees knees for sponges. Something simple that I could jazz up. The idea was to make a “slab” and cut squares and put cream and strawberries on top. Which I did. So I went to work, starting off with these beauties.
I had to beat until soft peaks formed. I don’t know if it’s baby brain, or the fact that it’s been quite a long time since I’ve baked, but I used the mixing attachment instead of the whisking attachment on my Kenwood. It took almost 20 minutes for those soft peaks to form. Oops.
I also didn’t have any caster sugar – I only ever buy brown sugar – so I blitzed that in the food processor to make it nice and fine. I then had to sift the dry ingredients 3 times and then add them to the egg mixture. The problem was, the corn flour made the dry ingredients sticky and clumpy, and when you add the dry to the wet, you’re not supposed to overmix it. But it was really hard to get it all mixed through!
I chucked it in my pan and into the oven, and played the waiting game. It looked a bit lumpy, but I hoped for the best.
And I got it! So it seemed… When I took it out of the oven it looked like this:
So anyway, it was kind of a success and kind of a failure at the same time. We are having people over 2 more nights this week, and one of them is gluten-free so I think I’ll try this jaffa cake that my friend suggested, and use it as part of a trifle since Hubs LOVES trifle and you know, I love Hubs.
Hubs and Chanbe and I are on our way to becoming a family of 4 🙂 I’m not quite 14 weeks pregnant, and check out this belly!!
Here I am wearing the same top in my first pregnancy. Except that in this photo, I was 20 weeks pregnant…
I heard that in subsequent pregnancies, you show a lot earlier, but this is ridiculous! Ha ha. Anyway, everything is going very well. The first trimester coincided with some of the hardest weeks/months of my life, but I’m feeling much better now. Chanbe and I have all but recovered from our nasty colds, and we are enjoying the gorgeous sunshine that Brisbane has to offer. My diary is filling up nicely with catch-ups, and the grandparents are loving having us (Chanbe) around.
So there you have it! The next lot of big news I’ll be sharing will be the location of Hubs’ internship next year, which we will find out in the next 2 weeks. Let the fun begin!