No structure

/ Renae / 2 Comments

I often find myself in a bit of a tizz. I feel overwhelmed by my tasks and can’t get my head around what to prioritise. When this happens, I end up doing one, or all of the following:

– I sit around watching Chanbe play (which is a lovely way to pass the time)
– I flit about from room to room, and look at what has to be done but not actually do anything
– I eat chocolate or chocolate-related goodies
– I pick a fight with Hubs about how I do everything around the house, even though it isn’t true, but you know, whatever
– I blog
– I play words with friends
– I watch the minutes pass by and get annoyed that I’m not one of those people who can just get in and get stuff done without complaining/procrastinating

And I know what needs to be done. I know what needs to change. We need a routine. We need structure. We need to do regular things on regular days at regular times so I can feel balanced and, for want of a (much) better phrase, “in control”.

So what does a routine and structure look like for us? At the moment, Hubs doesn’t really have regular hours and days that he is at the hospital, as he is in study time; Chanbe and I have mothers group (yes we still meet every week!) on a Thursday afternoon; I have decided on Tuesday and Friday mornings for Chanbe to be in care so I can go to the gym and do things around the house; I want to do some regular sewing and crafting; I want to take Chance for a walk and play in the park most afternoons (weather permitting) to get us both out of the house and to get my foot moving again; I want to go to our fruit and veg lady each Friday; I want us to go to Church each Sunday morning; I want regular “alone time” with Hubs.

That’s not too much to ask, is it? The problem (read: my excuse) is that we have so many interruptions in the next 3 months that I don’t see the point in initiating such a routine. But I know it will benefit us if I do. So, starting Wedneday week (we are away next week and the following weekend, back that Tuesday), I will try and get some sort of structure to our week happening. I may even make up a chart. Oooooh I do love a good chart!

Wish me luck!

Happy Friday!

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Here are a couple of videos to give you a giggle on your Friday afternoon.

First of all, introducing the one. The only. Chandini!

And next we have Chanbe telling us about all the animal noises he has been learning lately.

Have a great weekend, and if you’re in the Brisvegas region next week, I might see you round.

Haircuts: 2 for the price of 1!

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Both of my boys recently had haircuts, and boy do they look dapper. Yes, dapper.

First, it was Chanbe’s turn. My friend from mother’s group is a (damn fine) hairdresser, and cuts all of the kids hair in our group which is very nice of her. Chanbe didn’t think so, but he got through it a bit better than the first time. He had this gorgeous little curl at the back of his hair that I just couldn’t part with, so we put in a little piggy tail and snipped it off for safe keeping!

Before: 
(starting to look like a bevan)

This little piggy went to market:
(and this little piggy didn’t make it home!)
After:
See? Dapper.
(This photo was actually taken this morning, after an overnight low of -1 and frost)
Then it was Hubs’ turn for his 6-monthly haircut, courtesy of yours truly.
Here he is before:
And after: (dapper)
Don’t I have 2 of the most handsome boys around?

A day for mums

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Today is Mothers Day (in Australia), and what a day it has been so far. Last year, I got very spoilt with a beautiful Kenwood mixer, and since that was my first mothers day, I figured things would be a bit more low-key this year. But then, I remembered who I’m married to…

I woke up to the sounds of our little man, who is the reason we celebrate mothers day in our house, and went in to bring him to our bed for some cuddles. He wasn’t in a particularly cuddly mood, so Hubs got up with him around 6:45am (neither of us are morning people) while I turned over and promptly went back to sleep. At 9am I awoke to the smells of another delicious breakfast being cooked for me (Hubs actually cooks me breakfast at least once a week anyway!) and a hot cup of tea sitting on my bedside table.

I came out to the living area and was greeted with cuddles and presents!! What better way to start the day?!

Even though we are on a pretty tight budget at the moment, Hubs kind of ignored that for the greater good (my extreme excitement and happiness!) and surprised me with:

Oh yeeeeeeaaaaahhhhhh….
I can’t even begin to tell you how much this excites me! Now when I’m pretending to host my own cooking show as I’m making dinner, I have the right equipment! 🙂 I have wanted a Chasseur pot for a little while now, but could never justify the expense in our current financial situation. But Hubs could! YAY! I was ready to get up for breakfast, when I saw these notes in the bottom of the pot:

There’s a trainer at our gym who looks SO much like Luke Wilson it’s ridiculous! I’ve been struggling a bit these last few months with my broken foot, and have been feeling pretty down about my body etc, and I told Hubs a couple of weeks that I really would love some personal training sessions. So that was present number 2! I’m so excited about this, and have already booked in 2 sessions for this week.
Surely that was everything?? But no. As I was walking to the breakfast table, I saw these:
The one on the right (remember it?) is almost life-size! And our wedding shot is just gorgeous. I may not have a wedding album yet, but this is a great substitute for the time being!
I was exhausted with excitement even before sitting down for my favourite breakfast (poached eggs, bacon, spinach, tomatoes and toast). After said delicious breakfast, Hubs and Uncle Ben (down for a visit this weekend) took Chanbe outside to do some more manly work, and here I am lazing about, reading blogs, listening to Adele and Paul Simon, and loving the fact that the house is a mess but I don’t have to clean it up! (That will be a job for Tuesday 🙂
Happy Mothers Day, to all the mothers out there reading this, and particularly to my Mum, who has not only been indescribably helpful these past few months, but who has taught me so much about how to be a great mum to our little guy. And to Hubs’ Mum, who is such a great role model and inspiration to us. We wish we could see you more, Ma, but we know that it’s all about quality, not quantity. We can’t wait to catch up with you both next week.
Thank you Chanbe and Hubs for another beautiful Mothers Day. You sure do spoil me rotten and I love you both so much.

“Time for bed”

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Those 3 words used to conjure up images of gnashing teeth and serious screams (except when it was about me going to bed.) I’ve mentioned the trouble we had with Chanbe’s sleeping habits before, and I just kept saying that if we had a routine, things would be better.

Enter broken foot.

When I was lying on the floor in KMart, after hearing an audible crack come from my foot as I fell, I just kept thinking “this is the worst thing that could possibly happen right now.” But you know what? It turned out pretty darn well. Yes, I had to have a cast and a boot and/or be on crutches for the better part of 3 months, but this gave Chanbe a time to settle in to a house for more than a week or 2 at a time. And it has done wonders for his sleeping. More than I could ever have imagined.

Now when bed time comes around, one of us takes him to his cot, puts music on, lies him down and says “sleepy time” and, this is the best bit, WE JUST WALK OUT OF THE ROOM!!! No more patting to sleep, no more tears (most of the time anyway) and often, even if he doesn’t go to sleep straight away, we can hear him talking to himself and amusing himself until he can’t keep his eyes open. And get this. At night he’ll sleep from 7pm (ish) til 6:30am (ish). Yes. We have one of those kids now! It is absolute bliss and it also means we can have dinner at a reasonable hour now.

So, as it turns out, breaking my foot was the best thing for our little guy. Let’s hope I don’t need to break anything else for toilet training…

Back in business

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Our internet finally got connected yesterday (woo hoo!) after almost 3 weeks of being off-line. Apart from our phones. And the Library. And Hubs’ work. But it’s different to just being able to sit anywhere in the house (hooray for wireless!) and surfing/blogging/paying bills/emailing to my heart’s content. My neck didn’t cause me too much grief and it was all better within about 5 days, thankfully. We are still unpacking but the end is nigh. These bookshelves that Hubs made really helped!!

Pretty gorgeous hey!? So I spent yesterday filling the middle and top shelf, and I’m now left wondering what to do with the bottom shelf. It might work nicely as a little desk for Chanbe actually. And who says unpacking has to be hard and boring? (Excuse the sound – that’s me laughing hysterically…)
So we’ve had some fun over the last few weeks as well as working very hard. We have a very busy few months coming up, with going down to Melbourne for a weekend, then I’ll head up to Brisbane for a week for a wee holiday and a couple of celebrations while Hubs stays home to study, then he’ll head to Shep for a while for exams, then we’re taking a trip over to Adelaide in July to visit friends which I’m REALLY looking forward to! And lots in between! So much for staying put for a while. *sigh* At least we love our house. 
More pics to come!

You’ve GOT to be kiddng me

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Mum and Dad left less than an hour ago and you wouldn’t believe it, but I just put my neck out. Do you know how long it’s been since I put my neck out? No, neither do I, which trends to suggest it’s been quite a long time.

And just to add a bit of irony, I was about to call the gym to book Chanbe in for childcare next week so I could ease my way back in by doing some laps in the pool. Something that’s quite hard to do when I can’t turn my head.

To say I’m a little frustrated and annoyed would be an understatement, but the fact that I love love love our new house, and that we’re back in Wang is certainly cushioning the blow somewhat.

Stay tuned for some VERY happy snaps from the last 2 weeks!

Happy days

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I’m so so so tired. But so very happy. We are still unpacking our new house but we have made a real dent and I really think we’ll be done by the end of the weekend. And then we can just relax and really enjoy our time here. It has been pretty amazing having Mum and Dad around to help, especially since I’m still hobbling on my foot, and thankfully Hubs has been around a lot to help with the unpacking and setting up. We still have a few pieces of furniture to buy, but things are going well.

I went to mothers group today which was so great, and have volunteered to host next week at our place. Exciting!

We’ll hopefully get back on line next week (I’m currently using Mum’s “dongle”) and hope to be back to regular blogging, with photos, very soon.

On the home stretch

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On Sunday we headed to Lakes Entrance for the day, to get out of the house and to have a look around. It was quite a cool day, but the sun came out enough to keep it enjoyable.

It was just SO BUSY! We had fish and chips for lunch (when in Rome!), took a walk along one of the lakes and then hit the playground for some action. It was quite a lovely day.

Monday’s weather was absolutely miserable. A cold front was coming up from Antarctica and the combination of wind and rain and low temps meant we stayed inside all day long with the heater on. (Remember, just 3 days earlier we had the air con on! Gotta LOVE Victoria!) The sun came out at about 5pm so we took Chance out for a little runaround before dinner. He did pretty well but he was going crazy by the end of the day.

Tuesday we set off around 11am to stay with more rellies in Melbourne for the night which was really lovely as well. And then we popped in to Wang on Wednesday on our way back to MB to visit Hubs and sign our lease. It was a glorious day so we had lunch in the park which Chance played in the playground. Of course it was lovely to see Hubs and give him some encouragement.

We arrived back in MB at dinnertime and were all pretty exhausted. We are really really looking forward to moving in to our new place, but it has been lovely to visit with family and friends in the mean time!