When husbands help

January 20, 2016 / Renae / Leave a comment

In case you missed the news, Hubs is off for 3 weeks on study leave. Having him at home for this study can be tricky, as I can’t really help myself – if I know he’s there, I’ll offer him endless cups of tea or interrupt him for “just a sec” which is infuriating I’m sure when you’re in the study zone. So I’ve been trying very hard to just leave the house with the kids as much as possible.

The wonderful thing is, Hubs has been getting up with the kids in the morning and doing the breakfast shift while I catch a few more precious zzzz’s. But this morning, thing went a bit awry.

When you’re on your own most mornings from 7am, you get into certain routines with the kids; routines that are essential for getting out the ~~damn~~ door in the morning. On a kindy morning, this means getting up around 6am, having brekky together, cleaning up, packing lunches (if I haven’t done it the night before) (I never do it the night before. Wait… I think I did it once and thought “I should do 1this all the time!), packing kindy bags and heading out the door by 8am. Most of the time, we do it pretty well, but this morning was a disaster.

Hubs offered to walk the kids to kindy, but there was a lot more stuffing around and they didn’t set off until 8:30am, by which time Chance had started building something with his Lego and made it very clear that he did not want to go to kindy today.

After trying to negotiate, be understanding, talk about all the great things he would get to do, there was no budging him. Then the screaming and wailing and gnashing of teeth began.

It was not a smooth drop-off to say the least. Thankfully I got the “it’s all good” text half an hour later. This is what happens when we stray from the routine people!!

Happy birthday to me

January 20, 2016 / Renae / Leave a comment

Birthdays are funny things as an adult. Chance was getting very confused as to why there weren’t a dozen huge presents to open, since that’s his recollection of his last birthday I suppose. But for us adults, at least in our household, birthdays go a little something like this.

Breakfast in bed. Hubs makes killer poached eggs and bacon. A great way to start the day.

A bit of bling from Hubs and the kids. This piece is called a “sphere of life”.

We headed out mid-morning to hit some op-shops together as a family. I hit the jackpot with a dress and skirt, both $6 and both brand new with the tags still on them! The kids got a little something each, and Hubs found a couple of things we’d been looking for for a while.

45 minutes of peace to enjoy a hot coffee and some brownie with home made ice cream and NOT SHARE ANY OF IT! Do not underestimate how amazing this time was for me. And excuse that huge pile of old guttering – they are picking that up tomorrow.

I was also spoilt with a surprise cake from my neighbour, and some friends came over with their kids in the afternoon to share it. So so lovely.

An easy dinner for the kids.

Cute kiddies in the tub. It’s getting a bit squeezy in there these days I gotta say…

A special dinner for Hubs and I. Even though I cooked these creamy garlic prawns on rice, topped with basil from our garden, myself, it was still a big treat. Plus I love cooking if it’s the only thing I’m doing at that exact time.

Accompanied by my absolute favourite sparkling white at the moment.

So even though Chance was disappointed with the lack of wrapped presents, all in all it was a lovely day. Hubs and I are saving our celebrating until we get to Melbourne. Then, look out!

A day in the life

January 10, 2016 / Renae / 2 Comments

I didn’t plan to do this, but today I found myself whipping out my camera (read: phone) to take photos of nothing in particular and it turned into a bit of a day in the life of a (somewhat bored) stay at home mum. Enjoy!

Hard to see here but I was trying to get a photo of what Quinn dressed herself in this morning – fairy dress from Aunty Heather, brown shorts and black boots.

Then off to the Sunday markets for some fresh fruit and veges. Chance has decided lately that he is camera shy. Unlike Darby.

After that it was back home and while Darby napped, we cracked on with a bit of Lego Technic.

Things went a bit pear shaped when Darby woke up and C & Q were acting up a bit. I retreated to my bed with my baby for some cuddles and chuckles and also had a bit of a pity cry. Then it was selfie time.

See the puffy eyes? And of course Chanbe & Quinndy wanted in on the action.

I may have allowed myself a small smirk at this point and tried to turn it around. Next up was lunch and more playing, after which Darby went down for his big sleep (lucky thing) and the kids wanted to do some painting. Why not, I thought!

Then Chance all of a sudden remembered that we still had to build a model aeroplane which he gets to do whenever he sleeps in his big boy bed all night long. Let me clarify – I get to make it and he gets to play with it. The instructions assume a lot more talent than I possess but I must say I’m getting better with each one! This was today’s creation:

Impressed? He was too. It was then time to clean up the Duplo that was scattered everywhere but we ended up just playing with it for an hour. And I decorated the kids toy boxes with the day’s artwork. From this:

To this!

In the mean time, you could find Quinn walking around with her brown shorts and no top on, (“just like Dadda”) messy hair, talking on “her” phone making big business deals.

And Darby was just, you know, TAKING HIS FIRST STEPS!!!!! I did get a video of it but it goes for 2 minutes and it’s not actually that good but it was SO EXCITING! He did it for Hubs as soon as he got home from work which was lovely too.

And this is pretty much what things look like around here once Hubs gets home:

And after they have had their fill of mango, they are clearly not interested in the lovely dinner I have prepared for yet another evening and I am left wondering “why do I bother???” But then I remind myself that they filled up on mangoes and not chocolate so I get over it.

And then it may be time for stories.

The best part of the day? Has to be what’s waiting for me once the kids are in bed, asleep:

No not that! It’s this! Our neighbour makes the most amazing cheesecakes and he dropped off some leftovers.

Oooh yeah. So incredible and so needed after another “normal” day for me. I’m in a bit of a new year funk at the moment that I’m trying to shift out of. Hoping I get around to doing a few big things on my list this week. I hope you enjoyed your day 🙂

Can somebody give me an ommm?

January 7, 2016 / Renae / 2 Comments

I am getting back into yoga this year to benefit my head and my heart and I had my first beginner’s class on Tuesday night. I promised my sister in law I would go twice a week for a month to give it a really good go. I went to a restorative session tonight accidentally, thinking it was the “all levels” class. This entailed maybe 10 poses/stretches all being held for 3-5 minutes each.

A few years ago I would have been bored and annoyed that I was wasting my time and money when I could “easily do this at home for free”. (Ha!) But tonight, I embraced the peace. I’m finally starting to get it; to function at my best and wear all of my hats every day, I need to invest in me. And that doesn’t always have to mean doing something. Tonight I was still and reflective and appreciative of the calm around me.

It’s funny because, as per my blog post earlier today, I have had a lot of energy after my big sleep overnight. I got heaps done and I spent a lot of time just playing with the kids. Chance played with his (Dadda’s) Lego for around three hours today. Three! My point is, I wasn’t frazzled or stressed going into the class and I still feel like I got so much out of it.

The other thing is, I categorically know that there’s no way I would EVER put aside an hour for myself to mediate and stretch, nor would my darling children be able to leave me alone for that long. God love them.

So I’m feeling extremely indulgent at the moment, what with my two fit mum’s classes a week and now two yoga classes. Hubs assures me that he’s happy to support my outrageous lifestyle. I might hay have to cut back my latte-sipping a bit!

A five hour block

January 7, 2016 / Renae / Leave a comment

Last night it happened.

It’s been, at a guess, months since I had five hours of uninterrupted sleep. Months I tell you. And I gotta say, today I feel like a million bucks. Never in my wildest childless dreams would I ever have considered a 5 hour stretch of sleep something to celebrate. And then, as a bonus, after tending to Darby (still in the process of weaning!) I got another two or so hours. And it was all in the comfort of our king size bed with just Hubs and I, as Chanbe stayed in his big boy bed all night long.

The phrase “fresh as a daisy” springs to mind.

It got me thinking, what else I could achieve in an uninterrupted five hour block. This is what I’ve come up with:

I could unpack from our Christmas holiday and find a place for everything;

I could tidy my whole house, vacuum and mop the floors;

I could write a meal plan for a whole month and shop for it;

I could bake up a storm and cook up a bunch of meals to freeze;

I could hit up all of the op shops in town;

I could meet a friend for a movie and a meal;

I could get a good start on the photo books I’ve been wanting to print out;

I could build a LOT of Lego;

I could watch 7 episodes of Nashville;

I could get all my paperwork ready for the four weddings I have booked so far this year;

I could ring around and set up some meetings with builders about our renovations;

I could have another sleep.

Oh I could go on but this is just off the top of my head. Five hours may not seem like much but oh the things I could achieve!

2015: The year of the unwritten blog posts

December 31, 2015 / Renae / Leave a comment

There have been heaps. Okay, at least a dozen blog posts that I’ve written in my head but never gotten around to posting here this year. Of course there have been a few in years gone by as well, but there has definitely been less activity around here than I was hoping for for the year.

But I digress. It’s been an interesting year. After being miserable in Mount Isa and being diagnosed with depression half way through 2014, I figured 2015 could only be an improvement. And I was right.

We started the year with a bang, by buying our first house and then getting caught in Rockhampton’s first cyclone in 50 odd years.

We headed to Victoria for 2 weddings, one in Feb and a family affair in March. I had been looking forward to that week for 6 months and it did not disappoint!

Our very dear friends visited in April and had a baby girl while staying with us. I know, right? A lot happened in April, actually.

May brought a lot of self-awareness and in turn, the start of some serious self-love. It paved the way for quite an overhaul of body and soul, and it’s also when I started my twice-weekly fit mums class.

We had Darby-doo’s Baptism in June (that I blogged about in September!) and then visitors stayed with us afterwards. It also saw me write this blog post about my dear Hubs.

In July, I joined facebook. It’s been interesting. We also had our nieces stay with us for a week, and I never got around to blogging about it, even though I’ve written the post “I love how they love him” in my head a hundred times. Stay tuned.

We really got into outdoor cooking this year and entertained the neighbours with various delicacies.

I wrote this post in September about being busy that seemed to resonate with a few of you. It also saw me coming out of a bit of a foggy haze. I feel like there were a lot of these posts, both published and not, this year. I’m hoping there will be more action around this in the new year.

In October I shared some “after/current” pics of this year’s hard work so far.

November was a bit light on around here. I started a new monthly post of 10 things on the 10th as well.

And then it was December, and we were in full birthday party swing.

And yeah, it’s now the last day of December, and this is my view for the afternoon.

Unfortunately my poor 101 in 1001 has been very badly neglected this year, and with only 2 months to go until the challenge is over, I’ve gone through the list and picked out the following things I aim to achieve:

011 – Go to a driving range and hit some balls

026 – Do something kind for Hubs every day for a month

033 – Write 20 letters to people (15 to go!)

038 – Go to a Roller Derby

060 – Make pierogi 5 times – 1 more to go!

066 – grow some herbs!

074 – Have my old blog turned into a book

086 – Celebrate my 1000th blog post – 12 posts to go

095 – send a secret to Post Secret

I’ll be updating my 101 in 1001 page in the next few days as it is so horrendously outdated, and I do want to go over my successfully completed items.

So that was the year. It was a bit light on in some areas, but full on in others. I’ve decided to write some ideas for how I want 2016 to look for me, and I look forward to smashing some more goals around my health and fitness.

Won’t you join me?

The Happy-haps

December 18, 2015 / Renae / 2 Comments

And there goes another week without blogging. Sheesh! So what’s been happening? Well this time last week I was stressed up to my eyeballs trying to decide whether to drive to Brisbane, or fly, or stay in Rockhampton for Christmas because my poor little brain wasn’t coping with it all! The short story is, I ended up booking flights for the kids and I, using frequent flyer points (for the win!), flying in tomorrow evening. Mum had already booked to come up on Thursday (yesterday) to drive back with us today which was the original plan.

So then at the gym on Tuesday, I put my back out. My damn sciatica is playing up again, so Wednesday was spent flat on my back on pain killers. I gotta say, it was nice to have a break for the day, but I could have done without the pain!

And then, as per our original plan, mum arrived yesterday to save the day! Or at least, to save me from the washing pile. So we are getting prepared for our flight at 5pm tomorrow and we are all very excited. We are sad to be leaving Hubs behind to study, but you know, that’s the way it goes.

Here’s our last week in pictures:

We finally got a new roof! May get a better picture for you.

Chance has been making some epic Lego vehicles all by himself!

Been reading a lot of Strangers in Paradise while resting my back.

It’s well and truly mango season!

I’m really excited about heading to Brisbane for Christmas. It’s going to be the first time all the great-grand children on my mum’s side of the family will be all together! Photo ops! See you soon everyone!

Happy birthday boys

December 10, 2015 / Renae / Leave a comment

We celebrated Chance’s 5th and Darby’s 1st birthday last weekend, and what a celebration it was. There was meat. A lot of meat. And kids. Many many kids. But the thing that there was the most of, was presents. So. Many. Presents. Chance was absolutely beside himself! Thanks to everyone who was able to come along to celebrate our boys birthdays!!

My beautiful big 5 year old boy. A number 5 racecar track cake as requested.

Gran & Darby in their matching party shirts.

My beautiful family. I’m feeling so lucky right now.

The obligatory cake-eating photo. You can see Chance’s here and Quinn’s here.

Chanbe offering the cupcakes around, and sneaking a few in here and there.

My little Darby-doo. Thank you for being our little spark of joy every single day. No matter what adult-related-rubbish is getting me down, I just have to look at you and everything is okay in the world. You love to get down and boogie just like your Mama, and I hope you never lose that desire to move to the beat. Our little angel.

And Chancey-pants how you make me smile. You are so inquisitive and really are starting to work things out for yourself. I need to remember that you’re not a baby anymore, and that everyday you are looking to learn something new. Help me to remember to be curious as well, and remind me to have fun more often and not be so serious. You inspire me to ask why. Never stop asking why, my dear boy.

What’s the happy-haps?

November 25, 2015 / Renae / Leave a comment

A friend warned me about this. Her words went something like

“Make sure you keep blogging even though you’ve joined facebook.”

“Of course I will!” Was my reply.

But I have been somewhat neglectful of this space. To be honest, I’ve really found our lack of decent computer set-up partly to blame. We don’t have a PC set up this year that I can just plonk myself down in front of, and start typing. I do most of my blogging on our Surface Pro laptop thingy, but by the time I find it, realise the battery is dead, plug it in to the charger at the desk, scrounge around for the keyboard and mouse to plug in, the effort is a bit off-putting.

The last 6 months have been a bit of a blur to be honest, and the next 2 months aren’t going to slow down for me either. You see, Chanbe turns 5 on Friday. I’ll let that sink in for a minute, but it can’t be that long since this happened. My darling first born has put in an order for a Dusty Crophopper cake, which I’ll do my best for.

Remember this? This is Chance at about 2 months old.

And this is Chance at almost 60 months old 🙂

HOW DOES THIS HAPPEN!!!!!!!!!!!??????????????

And 10 days after Chance turns 5, my baby Darby-doo turns 1. I was feeding him today, and just soaking it all in. He may well be our last baby, and I’ll stop breastfeeding him soon, and that makes me sad because I’ve loved feeding my babies. I’m going to miss this post-feed contented look.

And this is Darbs at around 2 months as well.

My boys are so delightful. They absolutely adore each other.

They’re going to be such great pals when they’re older, I’m sure of it.

As well as 2 birthdays, I’m also doing my first wedding expo on Sunday (so nervous!!), we have 2 kindy break-ups (it has begun), I’m ankle-deep in my Christmas card making (I only started a few days ago when inspiration struck! I was going to forgo them this year, but I once I got going, there was no stopping me!) my parents are coming up for a week (so many yays), there are 2 end of year hospital functions to attend (one of them is a child-free all day catamaran cruise around Great Keppel Island. So. Excited.) and then we’ll be heading south for Christmas. I’m so excited to be having Christmas in Brisbane! My mum’s side of the family will almost all be there and it’s been years since we’ve had Christmas day with them.

So yeah, another random post for you to ponder over. I don’t even know how to end it, so I just did.

Wadda-heck?

October 26, 2015 / Renae / Leave a comment

… as Chanbe would say.

Since when can you email from an aeroplane? Hubs hit the skies on an A380 last night and a few hours later I got an email telling me he’d flown over Rocky and Mount Isa and was currently over Sri Lanka!

Seriously! I was so excited! I hadn’t expected to hear from him until he landed in London, which will be in less than an hour by the way. We’ve been sending little snippets of our day/flight which has been nice. He told me about his fritata and vodka and orange for breakfast, I told him the boys woke up at 5am; he told me about his beef something-or-other for lunch, I told him the kids were starting to get feral; he sent the following snippet:

No one to talk to in a crowded airport. Sitting jam packed next to people with ear buds in.
There is a couple with a four month old who have been to Spain and new Zealand. They told me it’s easy to travel with kids! And I told the person next to me that my name is Joe 🙂

And I responded with a smug “traveling with a 4-month-old is very different to traveling with kids.”

Anyway you get the drift. It’s been nice having that connection with him in this time. AND I was just chatting with a friend in line and she said “gotta go – I’m on a plane on the way to Spain.”

Seriously!? So freaking cool!

This post was going to be about the horrendous day I had with the kids today. I jotted down a bunch of notes when they went to bed, but I just don’t have the emotional energy to deal with that at the moment. I feel like a completely horrible mum after today’s efforts, yet the kids still hugged me and kissed me and told me they love me as I was tucking them in.

I guess one horrible day doesn’t ruin all the wonderful days. Kind of like when you eat well most of the time and then have a splurge. It doesn’t make a difference, as long as you move on, don’t dwell on it, and don’t let it happen often.

It’s the moving on and not dwelling that I may find challenging. But tomorrow is a new day and I have lots of things planned so the kids won’t have time to be little so-and-so’s and I can focus on the positives for the day. And now I’m thoroughly exhausted so I’m off to bed.

Tomorrow is a new day.

Tomorrow is a new day…