Monday 28 September 2015

Taking stock: September 2015.

So, I'm going to try to get some structure and consistency happening here. My goal is to 'take stock' at the end of each month. Unless I forget. Then it'll be when I remember and have time. 

It's been a quiet month or so really. We've had several bouts of sicknesses, nothing serious. And many sleepless nights, which I consider to be very serious. 

My lovely parents came and visited us last week (even though it's really my turn to visit them  I couldn't face a three-hour car trip each way with a screaming toddler). They timed it perfectly to give us the love needed to help me and Little Red get over our respective bugs and sleeplessness. Parenting definitely gives you a new appreciation and love for your own parents.

We also spent some nice time with my boy's family, and his folks babysat while we had a hot date night. Hot date nights are fine in theory, but Little Red always seems to know... and decided to stay up most of the night crying, then wake early to start her day. 

I've also been:
  • Making: The most of quiet time while Little Red naps.
  • Cooking: Banana and coconut cake
  • Drinking: Peppermint tea. Green tea. White tea. My favourite dandy chai. The odd whisky... (In other news, I have evidence that proves Little Red is related to me. She can now say 'tea', and loves drinking it. I think it makes her feel grown up and special. I think tea makes us all feel a little that way, actually. She is also obsessed with visiting the veggie garden each morning and eating snow peas straight off the vine. Case closed.)
  • Reading: This Charming Man (I don’t rate it so far. Most sentences in the first part lack several things that my keen Editor’s eye considers to be vital, like subjects and objects. It grates. Even worse, I find the narrative in my head taking on the same literary 'quirk'. Annoying. I’ll have to visit my local library for another book this week in my continued attempt to avoid reading Buddhism for mothers of young children. Any excuse to visit the library, really).
  • Wanting: Someone else to do all of the work around the house that the cleaner doesn't. I would love a holiday from being a mum/home owner/home occupier. Being a grown up is tiring!
  • Looking: At the leaves sprouting on bare branches around the garden – nature amazes me.
  • Playing: On swings at the park. Little Red is obsessed with swings. It takes me back to when I was a little girl and spent hours after school and on weekends on the swings. There is something quite therapeutic about swinging back and forth, staring at the sky.
  • Deciding: Where to stay on our Christmas holiday… still.
  • Wishing: I didn’t have to go to work tomorrow.
  • Enjoying: The lovely sunny spring day.
  • Waiting: For our Christmas holiday. Two and a half months and counting – yay!
  • Liking: That I’ll be in the city for the next two weeks for work. I’m predicting it’ll be a massive pain organising us to get out the door earlier, but I’ll be sharing an office with a good friend of mine (I’m usually on my lonesome) and can indulge in healthyish vegan raw treats in schmancy city cafes (you don’t get those out in the sticks where my usual workday occurs). I might even hit my boy up for a lunch date or two now he's city based.
  • Wondering: How my gorgeous friend copes with three little kidlets – twin boys (six months old) and a girl (almost 2.5 years old). We had a lovely play date in a nearby park this morning. She’s a (very patient and loving) star. So is her husband.
  • Loving: That Little Red has slept through the past few nights. Recently it's been like having a newborn baby again, with her – and me – up all hours. Actually, it’s been worse than when she was newborn. Add to that various sicknesses and possible teething. Remind me why people have kids again?
  • Pondering: Whether or not to buy a new fridge, and how much longer our old fridge will last (it's got to be at least 20 years old now, and like most ladies of a certain age, is starting to leak). 
  • Considering: My career options/desires. Whether or not to have more cake. (The important things in life.) 
  • Buying: New bathers. Basic black to hide a multitude of (usually chocolate-related) sins.
  • Watching: 800 words. A quirky new Australian drama. It’s nice and light-hearted. Have you been paying attention? is still also getting serious air time. I just watched The Age of Adeline. It's a nice girly film, although the ending was a little weak.
  • Hoping: Little Red warms to eating more solid ‘solid’ food soon. 
  • Marvelling: At how just a year and a bit ago, Little Red was a mini, immobile blob, and now she's literally running around the house by herself, constantly carrying, doing, wanting and saying (that is, yelling) things. The poor cats.
  • Cringing: At The Bachelor/Bachelorette. My boy loves those shows. They make me want to throw something very heavy and sharp at the television. 
  • Needing: A massage. 
  • Questioning: Our ‘need’ for so much stuff.
  • Smelling: Jasmine and wisteria.
  • Wearing: Purple and white happy pants featuring elephants, a black singlet top and light orange cardi. Fashion 101 starts here.
  • Following: This ex-serviceman/Afghanistan veteran and his dog Trigger's big walk around Australia to raise awareness and money for post traumatic stress disorder. Go him! 
  • Noticing: How quickly time is passing. 
  • Knowing: How very, very, very lucky we are. We have safety, security, abundant food, clean running water, electricity, gas, warmth, cooling, beds, gardens, jobs, good free healthcare, travel, friends, family, love. The veritable works. There are so many other people who aren’t as blessed. Especially those fleeing Syria, who are putting it all on the line.
  • Thinking: I need to start ticking more things off my 'To do' list. 
  • Admiring: The lovely gardens in my area at the moment (especially mine). There are so many gorgeous flowers out, the grass is lush green, the bushes and trees are thickening, the bees are buzzing, the air is full of different floral perfumes. It's like a Monet painting, but sharper and more fragrant.
  • Sorting: Out my tax. Better late than never.
  • Getting: More sleep – yay! 
  • Bookmarking: This awesome interview Marie Forleo did with Elizabeth Gilbert (of Eat, pray, love fame).
  • Coveting: Nil.
  • Disliking: Yappy dogs.
  • Opening: Little Red’s first passport – it’s pretty adorable. As a side, she just pipped me at the post for how old she was when she got her first passport. I was almost a year older than her when I got my first passport, or technically joined mum on hers. Red also beat her dad by about 20 years.
  • Giggling: At the two big, fat ducks that just landed most unceremoniously on the deck roof. The roof is clear, so I can see the shape of their big webbed feet waddling along above me. They’re moving to the edge, surveying the landscape, wondering where to go for their next snack. Hopefully it’s into my veggie patch and they sort the snails out.
  • Feeling: A bit sore – I’ve hurt my back. Woe is me!
  • Snacking: See 'Cooking' above – Banana and coconut cake. It's totally addictive. Especially with almond butter and (sugar-free) cherry jam. I may be responsible for eating no less than half of it to date.
  • Helping: My work colleague interview people to fill a vacancy in his team. No matter which side of the fence you're on in an interview, it's always a bit icky. But more so for the person being interviewed, of course. I sit there for the half hour sending the interviewee peace and love, hoping it telepathically takes some of the edge off.   
  • Hearing: The next door neighbours’ inlaws’ dog yapping. Non. Stop. (Peace and love. Peace and love. Peace and love.)

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