I have only ever wanted to have two children. Preferably of the same sex. I have all of that now. I found pregnancy really hard both times and was so glad to have it over and done with after Wombat. Yet now that Wombat is nearly a year old (less than two weeks to go!), I find myself wanting another baby.
I had a chat with Thunder Maker about it the other day and he got rather excited. He has never made any secret of the fact that he would love to have three children, but he was happy enough to stop because that was what I wanted.
I think part of my desire to have another baby stems from the fact that Wombat is now at the age that Seagull was when we first decided that we would start trying for another baby sooner rather than later. We ended up waiting another couple of months so that I wouldn't be pregnant at my sister-in-law's wedding. I suppose it just feels natural to me to be considering having another baby at this point in time.
I know that now is really not a good time to seriously be considering adding to my family. We are moving in about 8 weeks time, I am doing three subjects over summer term so that I can continue to study part time and still finish second year in one year. For that matter, I have to finish uni, full stop. Then there is the practical consideration of not having a car that is capable of holding three car seats and not being able to afford to buy one that does. I drive a hatchback and Thunder Maker drives a dual cab ute.
Even if all of that wasn't an issue, Wombat still breastfeeds at night and I have lactation induced amenorrhoea. That means I don't ovulate. I'll just back quietly away now before you all have a chance to sharpen your pitchforks and aim them in my direction. Anyway, even if I was really keen to have another baby right now, I can't.
To be honest, with all of my long term plans, I'm not really sure where I would find time to fit having another baby into the scheme. That's probably not the best way of expressing it, but the way I see it, I already have two beautiful healthy children. I will hopefully finish uni by the end of 2013, then I want to start putting my degree to good use, so I will need to be working for at least a year to qualify for maternity leave.
I wonder if leaving it that long would be a good idea, given that Seagull and Wombat would be 6 and 4 respectively before we even started trying again. Also, Thunder Maker is 12 years older than me which would make him 43. I wonder if that is asking too much of him.
Anyway, Thunder Maker and I came to the conclusion that we are open to the idea of having another baby, but we are not going to actively consider or pursue it at any point in the foreseeable future.
Sunday, 16 October 2011
Saturday, 8 October 2011
Have you missed me?
Hi, missed me? I know there's been a lot of tumbleweed gathering in this little corner of the blogosphere lately. What can I say, life got in the way. Between being back at work, looking after my family, studying three subjects for uni this sememster, going to residential school for uni, and organising our move for the end of the year, things have been very hectic. On the upside, I have now done two of my uni exams and my last one is on Monday morning. So long first year! Don't let the door hit your backside on the way out!
Of course, never being one to do things by halves, I decided to check the uni handbook just on the off-chance they'd be offering any of my second year subjects over the summer term. They are! I have enrolled to do three subjects over summer term. This way I can finish second year in the same amount of time as a full time student. Mind you, I realised that the handbook for next year has been released and upon checking it discovered that one of the subjects I've enrolled in is now down as a third year subject instead of a second year subject. Meh. No biggie.
I like the look of the newer subject offerings for my course, but I really wish CQU would just leave it alone for a while and stop changing my subject offerings every single year. On the plus side, at least they are striving to improve their courses. On the minus side, it makes it harder for me to keep up and work out what I actually need to do.
The kids are doing really well at the moment. Wombat started walking the other week. Bang on 11 months. Seagull didn't start walking until he was about 14 months and while I was expecting Wombat to walk earlier than Seagull did, I wasn't expecting it quite so soon. In saying that, Wombat absolutely adores Seagull (and it is very much reciprocated) and just wants to be able to follow him around. He always has the biggest smile on his face whenever he staggers around the lounge room.
Seagull is being a typical two (and 3/4) year old. He's always been fairly headstrong and he is at that age where it has been intensified 100-fold. He is getting better as his language skills develop but I am so over the constant squealing, yelling and whinging. Seagull does come out with some pearlers though. Last night I was getting the boys ready for bed and went to look for Seagull's pyjamas. He yelled out after me "No jamies, Mummy! I want chocolate!"
Thunder Maker is enjoying being at home with the boys. It has been great to see the bond between him and the boys become a closer one. I come home on most days at lunchtime to breastfeed Wombat. His little face lights up when he sees me and he bobs up and down on the spot, huffing and puffing until I pick him up, take him to the lounge and offer him a feed.
A few weeks ago I talked Thunder Maker into going out for lunch on a Saturday. I'm really glad I pushed the issue, because someone who knew him from when he was in the RAAF approached him and asked him what he was doing with himself at the moment. When Thunder Maker said that he is a stay-at-home Dad, he asked him if he would be interested in doing some training development work for a company that he is starting up. Thunder Maker was very keen on the idea. The bloke got back to him on Thursday afternoon and asked if he was still interested and organised a meeting for yesterday.
Thunder Maker went to the meeting yesterday and was very happy with what was offered. He is going to be able to work from home and he doesn't even need to be living in our current location, so will be able to work from home for this bloke's company when we move at the end of the year. We're still not sure what the work load is going to be like, as it is going to be on a contract basis, but Thunder Maker is feeling very optimistic about it. Even if it isn't a full time load, hopefully Thunder Maker will be able to pick up other contracts that enable him to work from home.
Anyway, that's a snapshot of what has been happening in my life over the last few months. I hope to be bringing you more tales of shenannigans and Seagull Gold quotes on a more regular basis.
Of course, never being one to do things by halves, I decided to check the uni handbook just on the off-chance they'd be offering any of my second year subjects over the summer term. They are! I have enrolled to do three subjects over summer term. This way I can finish second year in the same amount of time as a full time student. Mind you, I realised that the handbook for next year has been released and upon checking it discovered that one of the subjects I've enrolled in is now down as a third year subject instead of a second year subject. Meh. No biggie.
I like the look of the newer subject offerings for my course, but I really wish CQU would just leave it alone for a while and stop changing my subject offerings every single year. On the plus side, at least they are striving to improve their courses. On the minus side, it makes it harder for me to keep up and work out what I actually need to do.
The kids are doing really well at the moment. Wombat started walking the other week. Bang on 11 months. Seagull didn't start walking until he was about 14 months and while I was expecting Wombat to walk earlier than Seagull did, I wasn't expecting it quite so soon. In saying that, Wombat absolutely adores Seagull (and it is very much reciprocated) and just wants to be able to follow him around. He always has the biggest smile on his face whenever he staggers around the lounge room.
Seagull is being a typical two (and 3/4) year old. He's always been fairly headstrong and he is at that age where it has been intensified 100-fold. He is getting better as his language skills develop but I am so over the constant squealing, yelling and whinging. Seagull does come out with some pearlers though. Last night I was getting the boys ready for bed and went to look for Seagull's pyjamas. He yelled out after me "No jamies, Mummy! I want chocolate!"
Thunder Maker is enjoying being at home with the boys. It has been great to see the bond between him and the boys become a closer one. I come home on most days at lunchtime to breastfeed Wombat. His little face lights up when he sees me and he bobs up and down on the spot, huffing and puffing until I pick him up, take him to the lounge and offer him a feed.
A few weeks ago I talked Thunder Maker into going out for lunch on a Saturday. I'm really glad I pushed the issue, because someone who knew him from when he was in the RAAF approached him and asked him what he was doing with himself at the moment. When Thunder Maker said that he is a stay-at-home Dad, he asked him if he would be interested in doing some training development work for a company that he is starting up. Thunder Maker was very keen on the idea. The bloke got back to him on Thursday afternoon and asked if he was still interested and organised a meeting for yesterday.
Thunder Maker went to the meeting yesterday and was very happy with what was offered. He is going to be able to work from home and he doesn't even need to be living in our current location, so will be able to work from home for this bloke's company when we move at the end of the year. We're still not sure what the work load is going to be like, as it is going to be on a contract basis, but Thunder Maker is feeling very optimistic about it. Even if it isn't a full time load, hopefully Thunder Maker will be able to pick up other contracts that enable him to work from home.
Anyway, that's a snapshot of what has been happening in my life over the last few months. I hope to be bringing you more tales of shenannigans and Seagull Gold quotes on a more regular basis.
Monday, 8 August 2011
The Bastard Swing Set From Hell
A while ago, I saw an awesome swing set on sale. I decided that it would be a good idea to get it, given that the only outdoor play equipment I have for Seagull is his Zoom Bike (a plastic tricycle) and a big Tonka truck that his Godmother gave him for his second birthday. I put down a deposit on it, made another payment a fortnight later, then promptly forgot about it.
I finally got around to paying off the remainder last week and set about putting it up. I'm normally pretty good at putting things together and figured that it would take me an hour at most to put together. Yeah, I'll bet you know where this is going. I slightly overestimated my own abilities somewhat.
For a start, it required three ring spanners in the only three sizes that I couldn't find amonst my assortedrandom collection of tools. I found a shifter and a pair of pliers and got to work.
The shifter is a cheap piece of shit and I was constantly having to adjust the damn thing. It took me about an hour just to get the two halves of the top bar of the frame together with the leg supports on either end. As I tried to get the legs in place, the screws that were meant to hold it to the leg supports kept stripping. I ended up going to the local hardware store to buy a pack of screws. I also bought me 2 x 11mm ring spanners while I was there.
I got home, went to use the screws and realised that I'd bought the wrong size, so I had to go back to the hardware store to exchange them for the right size. With the right size screws finally procured, I was finally able to finish putting the frame together.
The first two swings went together easily enough. I also put the trapesze together, but stashed it in my tool box and put up a baby swing for Wombat in its place. With dusk not far off, I only had the lawn swing left to put together. Easy, I thought. I was wrong. The instructions had been fairly average up to this point, but left a lot to the imagination for this last swing. All I wanted was to get the bastard set finished off before dark so the kids would have something to play on when I went back to work. The swing just didn't want to go together straight.
Finally, it was nearly dark and the swing finally decided to cooperate. At last, the bastard swing set from hell was complete. You want to know what the really funny thing about all of this is? Seagull gets afraid of the swings when they are moving. He is happy to sit on the lawn swing, but he screams his head off the instant one of us tries to swing it for him.
I finally got around to paying off the remainder last week and set about putting it up. I'm normally pretty good at putting things together and figured that it would take me an hour at most to put together. Yeah, I'll bet you know where this is going. I slightly overestimated my own abilities somewhat.
For a start, it required three ring spanners in the only three sizes that I couldn't find amonst my assortedrandom collection of tools. I found a shifter and a pair of pliers and got to work.
The shifter is a cheap piece of shit and I was constantly having to adjust the damn thing. It took me about an hour just to get the two halves of the top bar of the frame together with the leg supports on either end. As I tried to get the legs in place, the screws that were meant to hold it to the leg supports kept stripping. I ended up going to the local hardware store to buy a pack of screws. I also bought me 2 x 11mm ring spanners while I was there.
I got home, went to use the screws and realised that I'd bought the wrong size, so I had to go back to the hardware store to exchange them for the right size. With the right size screws finally procured, I was finally able to finish putting the frame together.
The first two swings went together easily enough. I also put the trapesze together, but stashed it in my tool box and put up a baby swing for Wombat in its place. With dusk not far off, I only had the lawn swing left to put together. Easy, I thought. I was wrong. The instructions had been fairly average up to this point, but left a lot to the imagination for this last swing. All I wanted was to get the bastard set finished off before dark so the kids would have something to play on when I went back to work. The swing just didn't want to go together straight.
Finally, it was nearly dark and the swing finally decided to cooperate. At last, the bastard swing set from hell was complete. You want to know what the really funny thing about all of this is? Seagull gets afraid of the swings when they are moving. He is happy to sit on the lawn swing, but he screams his head off the instant one of us tries to swing it for him.
Saturday, 6 August 2011
My Breastfeeding Journey
To be honest, the fact that it is World Breastfeeding Week had kind of slipped my mind until I saw Holly Homemaker's post. Now that it is back on my radar, I figure that I should do a post about my breastfeeding journey.
At some stage in the first hour after Seagull's birth, my breastfeeding journey started. The midwife who had been with me when I gave birth asked me if I wanted to feed him. I said yes, so she attached him to the breast for me. I was a bit overwhelmed by everything, but I remember thinking "How the hell did she just attach him and how am I supposed to do that again later?" Seagull fed a few more times that evening and I remember having to buzz for help because I didn't know what to do. His last feed for the night, he finally managed to attach himself and I was so excited.
I can't remember if Seagull woke for a feed a few hours later (I think he did), but I most certainly remember being woken at 1am by a midwife who told me that Seagull's blood sugar and body temperature were low and she wanted to take him to the nursery to warm him up and give him formula. I burst into tears and said that I didn't want Seagull to have formula. She assured me that it would get his blood sugar up more quickly than breastfeeding, so I very reluctantly agreed. In hindsight, I really wish I had refused, but Seagull was my first baby, he was less than 12 hours old, I was exhausted after having 24 hours of contractions before he was born and I didn't know any better.
I woke up at 5:30am and immediately felt lost that Seagull wasn't in the room with me. I went to the nurses desk and asked if I could go see Seagull. The midwife said yes, so I went down to the nursery. The midwife there said that they were about to feed him again and as they were going to insert a nasogastric tube to do it, I should probably leave as it is quite distressing for a parent to watch. Feeling rather lost, I went back to bed.
I woke again at 7am and was determined that Seagull was going to come back to my room with me. The midwife at the nursery was happy to let him leave by this time. Thunder Maker came to visit and we all spent some time as a family. Seagull was sleeping peacefully. Later, one of the midwives who had been with me through my labour started shift and asked how long it had been since Seagull had fed. I realised that it had been 7 hours ago. He had been asleep all that time. When the midwife looked at him, she commented that Seagull looked jaundiced.
We tried to wake Seagull for a feed. He was too sleepy to attach. It was suggested that I hand express colostrum while a student midwife sucked it up into a syringe to feed Seagull. It rapidly became apparent that I had a lot of colostrum, so it was suggested by one of the midwives that Seagull be given another bottle of formula, just to get something into him while I used a breast pump to express colostrum for his feed.
At every feed after that, we attempted to get Seagull to breastfeed to no avail. After each failed attempt, a midwife would feed Seagull the expressed colostrum while I expressed some more for the next feed. I was getting between 80mL and 120mL of colostrum each time I expressed.
Despite all of this, I was determined that I was going to be going home breastfeeding Seagull. Fortunately, on our last night in hospital, there was a wonderful midwife on the graveyard shift. They were short staffed, but she was determined that we were going to get Seagull feeding from the breast. For nearly an hour, she sat down with me in between seeing other new mums and worked with me to get Seagull breastfeeding. Finally, she suggested using a nipple shield. For the first time in three days, I was able to breastfeed Seagull. It wasn't how I envisaged going home, but at least I wasn't still expressing.
For five weeks, I was using nipple shields to breastfeed Seagull. During a feed in the middle of the night, Seagull ripped the nipple shield off and attached himself to the breast. His attachment was all wrong, but I didn't care at that point. Turns out I should have. My nipples became so sore after a couple of days. Particularly the right one. It was inverted, but it was at about this time that Seagull's vaccum cleaner-like suction ripped the tendons holding the nipple in. It became so intensely painful to feed him from that side. To top it all off, I developed mastitis in that breast.
I asked the local lactation consultant for advice because I knew I needed to empty the breast, but it was too painful to feed Seagull from that breast due to the soreness of my nipple. She suggested only feeding Seagull on that side for one of every three feeds and use a breast pump to empty it for the other feeds. After a few days, the nipple healed, the mastitis cleared and things finally became easier. We had finally figured out the best way to help Seagull attach.
I have to share a funny story at this point. Seagull was very boob-obsessed during the duration of the time he breastfed for. One evening when he was about three months old, I was sitting on the lounge next to Thunder Maker, getting ready to feed Seagull. Thunder Maker got a bit excited at the sight of my exposed breast and gave the side of it a rub. Seagull flashed him the biggest death stare. Even once he was attached to the breast, he continuted to give him greasy looks for the next 10 minutes as he fed.
Seagull weaned when he was a bit over 16 months. I was not long into the second trimester of my pregnancy with Wombat and I sensed that he wasn't as into it as he was previously. I decided to go with the "never offer, never refuse" approach and he was asking for feeds about a week apart. One day he tried to attach and couldn't remember how to do it properly. I tried attaching him myself a few times and it didn't work, so I decided that that was it.
When Wombat was born, things were a lot easier. He started looking around for a feed about an hour after he was born. With a bit of positioning help from me, Wombat latched on perfectly for his first feed. This time, I didn't need any help with breastfeeding and it felt good.
Within the first couple of weeks at home, Wombat was throwing up a lot after feeds. We were having to change him and all his bedding each time it happened. I couldn't understand why it was happening because I was making sure that I burped him after feeds. When Wombat was about two weeks old, we had an appointment with a maternal and child health nurse who is also a lactation consultant. I had to feed Wombat during the appointment, and while I was feeding him, I commented on all the vomiting. She noticed that Wombat pulled off when my let-down occurred and she said that my milk ejection reflex looked like it was too strong for Wombat to keep up with. She advised pulling him off and burping him several times during a feed so that he didn't get a massive build-up of wind. Once I started doing that, Wombat stopped throwing up after feeds.
Wombat is now nine months old and is still feeding well. I love cuddling his chubby little body up to me and looking into his eyes as he feeds. Wombat is going through a phase where he likes to do acrobatics as he feeds, so we're coming up with some rather inventive feeding positions at the moment. I'm looking forward to him weaning himself in his own time. I feel so blessed to have had such a beautiful breastfeeding journey with both of my boys.
At some stage in the first hour after Seagull's birth, my breastfeeding journey started. The midwife who had been with me when I gave birth asked me if I wanted to feed him. I said yes, so she attached him to the breast for me. I was a bit overwhelmed by everything, but I remember thinking "How the hell did she just attach him and how am I supposed to do that again later?" Seagull fed a few more times that evening and I remember having to buzz for help because I didn't know what to do. His last feed for the night, he finally managed to attach himself and I was so excited.
I can't remember if Seagull woke for a feed a few hours later (I think he did), but I most certainly remember being woken at 1am by a midwife who told me that Seagull's blood sugar and body temperature were low and she wanted to take him to the nursery to warm him up and give him formula. I burst into tears and said that I didn't want Seagull to have formula. She assured me that it would get his blood sugar up more quickly than breastfeeding, so I very reluctantly agreed. In hindsight, I really wish I had refused, but Seagull was my first baby, he was less than 12 hours old, I was exhausted after having 24 hours of contractions before he was born and I didn't know any better.
I woke up at 5:30am and immediately felt lost that Seagull wasn't in the room with me. I went to the nurses desk and asked if I could go see Seagull. The midwife said yes, so I went down to the nursery. The midwife there said that they were about to feed him again and as they were going to insert a nasogastric tube to do it, I should probably leave as it is quite distressing for a parent to watch. Feeling rather lost, I went back to bed.
I woke again at 7am and was determined that Seagull was going to come back to my room with me. The midwife at the nursery was happy to let him leave by this time. Thunder Maker came to visit and we all spent some time as a family. Seagull was sleeping peacefully. Later, one of the midwives who had been with me through my labour started shift and asked how long it had been since Seagull had fed. I realised that it had been 7 hours ago. He had been asleep all that time. When the midwife looked at him, she commented that Seagull looked jaundiced.
We tried to wake Seagull for a feed. He was too sleepy to attach. It was suggested that I hand express colostrum while a student midwife sucked it up into a syringe to feed Seagull. It rapidly became apparent that I had a lot of colostrum, so it was suggested by one of the midwives that Seagull be given another bottle of formula, just to get something into him while I used a breast pump to express colostrum for his feed.
At every feed after that, we attempted to get Seagull to breastfeed to no avail. After each failed attempt, a midwife would feed Seagull the expressed colostrum while I expressed some more for the next feed. I was getting between 80mL and 120mL of colostrum each time I expressed.
Despite all of this, I was determined that I was going to be going home breastfeeding Seagull. Fortunately, on our last night in hospital, there was a wonderful midwife on the graveyard shift. They were short staffed, but she was determined that we were going to get Seagull feeding from the breast. For nearly an hour, she sat down with me in between seeing other new mums and worked with me to get Seagull breastfeeding. Finally, she suggested using a nipple shield. For the first time in three days, I was able to breastfeed Seagull. It wasn't how I envisaged going home, but at least I wasn't still expressing.
For five weeks, I was using nipple shields to breastfeed Seagull. During a feed in the middle of the night, Seagull ripped the nipple shield off and attached himself to the breast. His attachment was all wrong, but I didn't care at that point. Turns out I should have. My nipples became so sore after a couple of days. Particularly the right one. It was inverted, but it was at about this time that Seagull's vaccum cleaner-like suction ripped the tendons holding the nipple in. It became so intensely painful to feed him from that side. To top it all off, I developed mastitis in that breast.
I asked the local lactation consultant for advice because I knew I needed to empty the breast, but it was too painful to feed Seagull from that breast due to the soreness of my nipple. She suggested only feeding Seagull on that side for one of every three feeds and use a breast pump to empty it for the other feeds. After a few days, the nipple healed, the mastitis cleared and things finally became easier. We had finally figured out the best way to help Seagull attach.
I have to share a funny story at this point. Seagull was very boob-obsessed during the duration of the time he breastfed for. One evening when he was about three months old, I was sitting on the lounge next to Thunder Maker, getting ready to feed Seagull. Thunder Maker got a bit excited at the sight of my exposed breast and gave the side of it a rub. Seagull flashed him the biggest death stare. Even once he was attached to the breast, he continuted to give him greasy looks for the next 10 minutes as he fed.
Seagull weaned when he was a bit over 16 months. I was not long into the second trimester of my pregnancy with Wombat and I sensed that he wasn't as into it as he was previously. I decided to go with the "never offer, never refuse" approach and he was asking for feeds about a week apart. One day he tried to attach and couldn't remember how to do it properly. I tried attaching him myself a few times and it didn't work, so I decided that that was it.
When Wombat was born, things were a lot easier. He started looking around for a feed about an hour after he was born. With a bit of positioning help from me, Wombat latched on perfectly for his first feed. This time, I didn't need any help with breastfeeding and it felt good.
Within the first couple of weeks at home, Wombat was throwing up a lot after feeds. We were having to change him and all his bedding each time it happened. I couldn't understand why it was happening because I was making sure that I burped him after feeds. When Wombat was about two weeks old, we had an appointment with a maternal and child health nurse who is also a lactation consultant. I had to feed Wombat during the appointment, and while I was feeding him, I commented on all the vomiting. She noticed that Wombat pulled off when my let-down occurred and she said that my milk ejection reflex looked like it was too strong for Wombat to keep up with. She advised pulling him off and burping him several times during a feed so that he didn't get a massive build-up of wind. Once I started doing that, Wombat stopped throwing up after feeds.
Wombat is now nine months old and is still feeding well. I love cuddling his chubby little body up to me and looking into his eyes as he feeds. Wombat is going through a phase where he likes to do acrobatics as he feeds, so we're coming up with some rather inventive feeding positions at the moment. I'm looking forward to him weaning himself in his own time. I feel so blessed to have had such a beautiful breastfeeding journey with both of my boys.
Wednesday, 27 July 2011
Revisiting My Blogging Past: My 7 Links
I was recently tagged by Rachel from Because I said so! in a post of hers. I was rather excited by this for two reasons. The first is that someone tagged me, I must be one of the cool kids. The second is that the concept behind being tagged sounds like a fun one. My 7 Links was started by TripBase, which is a travel blog. Basically, I get to revisit seven of my previous posts and tell you all why they they are special to me. At the end I'll tag five more bloggers so they can share the love too.
My most beautiful post: I don't know that any of my posts are particularly beautifully written, but the one that comes most from the heart is Things I love about my kids. I don't consider myself to be particularly maternal, and it was actually something I was worried about when I was pregnant with Seagull. That's why it's particularly nice to remember all the little things I love about Seagull and Wombat.
My most popular post: This was actually my first ever post, Where did my train go? People must have liked reading about the continuation of my baby brain. I need to remember more of those moments and blog about them, seeing as people seem to like reading about my mother moment-induced stuff-ups. :)
My most controversial post: I don't go in for controversy, so I'm just nominating a random post for this one. Why pancakes have eggs in them was written when I was feeling frustrated at not having any eggs in the house to make pancakes with for lunch. I actually tried another variation of eggless pancakes the other day and they were just as crap. Oh, and I just noticed a typo in that post. Oops, my bad.
My most helpful post: I don't set out to write helpful posts as such, but I would have to nominate Baby-Led Weaning for this link. I didn't even know it was an option when weaning Seagull and I think it's nice when people talk about things that are different to the mainstream that have worked for them. It's working really well with Wombat - he really loves being able to feed himself and loves to eye off Seagull's food.
A post whose success surprised me: This is probably my first post, but as I've already nominated it for another link, I'll go with My Parenting Fail. Seagull got two of his fingers stuck past the second knuckles in the kitchen sink the other week while I was feeding Wombat. You'll have to read the post for more details.
A post I feel didn't get the attention it deserved: This would have to be A poem. Thunder Maker wrote this poem for me one day and kindly agreed to my request to put it up on my blog. Thunder Maker wrote a lot of poems when we first met. Some were about me/us, but he was going through a rough patch at the time and writing poems was his way of coping and working through it. He hasn't written any for ages, so I was really touched when he wrote that poem for me just because he could.
The post I'm most proud of: I have to nominate two posts for this one, purely because I can't favour one child over the other. These are Birth of the Seagull and Birth of the Wombat. The proudest moments in my life were immediately after the births of my boys, so it stands to reason that these are the posts I am most proud of.
Now to nominate five lucky bloggers:
Glowless from Where's My Glow
Georgia from Parental Parody
Tara from Our Whirlwind Adventures...
Jocelyn from Life As Mummy Max
Jacqui from CRAP Mamma
Make sure you go and check out all these awesome mummy bloggers.
My most beautiful post: I don't know that any of my posts are particularly beautifully written, but the one that comes most from the heart is Things I love about my kids. I don't consider myself to be particularly maternal, and it was actually something I was worried about when I was pregnant with Seagull. That's why it's particularly nice to remember all the little things I love about Seagull and Wombat.
My most popular post: This was actually my first ever post, Where did my train go? People must have liked reading about the continuation of my baby brain. I need to remember more of those moments and blog about them, seeing as people seem to like reading about my mother moment-induced stuff-ups. :)
My most controversial post: I don't go in for controversy, so I'm just nominating a random post for this one. Why pancakes have eggs in them was written when I was feeling frustrated at not having any eggs in the house to make pancakes with for lunch. I actually tried another variation of eggless pancakes the other day and they were just as crap. Oh, and I just noticed a typo in that post. Oops, my bad.
My most helpful post: I don't set out to write helpful posts as such, but I would have to nominate Baby-Led Weaning for this link. I didn't even know it was an option when weaning Seagull and I think it's nice when people talk about things that are different to the mainstream that have worked for them. It's working really well with Wombat - he really loves being able to feed himself and loves to eye off Seagull's food.
A post whose success surprised me: This is probably my first post, but as I've already nominated it for another link, I'll go with My Parenting Fail. Seagull got two of his fingers stuck past the second knuckles in the kitchen sink the other week while I was feeding Wombat. You'll have to read the post for more details.
A post I feel didn't get the attention it deserved: This would have to be A poem. Thunder Maker wrote this poem for me one day and kindly agreed to my request to put it up on my blog. Thunder Maker wrote a lot of poems when we first met. Some were about me/us, but he was going through a rough patch at the time and writing poems was his way of coping and working through it. He hasn't written any for ages, so I was really touched when he wrote that poem for me just because he could.
The post I'm most proud of: I have to nominate two posts for this one, purely because I can't favour one child over the other. These are Birth of the Seagull and Birth of the Wombat. The proudest moments in my life were immediately after the births of my boys, so it stands to reason that these are the posts I am most proud of.
Now to nominate five lucky bloggers:
Glowless from Where's My Glow
Georgia from Parental Parody
Tara from Our Whirlwind Adventures...
Jocelyn from Life As Mummy Max
Jacqui from CRAP Mamma
Make sure you go and check out all these awesome mummy bloggers.
Tuesday, 26 July 2011
Return to Work
I just under two weeks I will be returning to work. This is not the way we had planned things. Our plan had been for me to take 12 months maternity leave, then resign so I could stay at home to look after the boys and complete my uni degree. Given that Thunder Maker's job doesn't pay very well, it was probably always a bit of a pipe dream. In saying that, he had a job he was happy in and while he was happy, I was prepared to do without a lot of things to keep him happy.
About four months ago, the organisation that Thunder Maker works for merged with a larger organisation. It effectively became a takeover and the poo hit the fan very quickly. I'm not going to go into all that was wrong, because that would fill up quite a few blog entries that would be better written by Thunder Maker. Suffice to say that the beginning of the end happened when they changed his working location from our home town to one nearly an hour away. This is costing us 15% of his total fortnightly income.
Thunder Maker has spent quite a while looking for a new job, but nothing has presented itself. Thunder Maker is very picky when it comes to applying for jobs, but even when I looked at job ads for him, I just couldn't find anything that fits his skill set. We were starting to get pretty desperate.
Nearly two weeks ago, I got a phone call from my career manager. I knew I was due for a posting next year. I've actually been due for a posting for the last three years, but have managed to drag out my time in our current location by having babies/going on maternity leave. This was the main reason I had planned to resign. We both really like our current location and neither of us really wanted to leave.
My career manager offered me the posting I have always wanted. It's really close to my Dad, my extended family on both sides (my Mum is originally from that area as well, but moved away after her and Dad divorced) and is only a couple of hours away from Thunder Maker's family.
In light of the fact that we decided to accept the posting, it made more sense for me to finish my maternity leave early so that Thunder Maker could resign and become the stay at home parent for the rest of the year. After all, my job pays more than his.
I thought I'd be sad at not getting to spend as long at home with Wombat as I did with Seagull, and even when I did return to work after having Seagull, I went back part time for the first six months. Yes, a part of me is sad, but mainly I'm excited. I think knowing that Thunder Maker is going to be at home with the boys makes it a lot easier.
Now, I've toyed about whether I should reveal a particular something about myself for a while. It is one of the reasons I chose to blog anonymously. To be honest though, I don't think I can blog about my current situation without revealing it and blogging is helping me to get my head around the massive life changes we have decided on.
If you haven't figured it out from some of the language I've used in some of my posts recently, this one in particular, I am a serving member of the ADF. The RAAF, to be precise.
I really love my job, but thought for ages that it would be better for my family if I got out so that they could have locational stability. To be honest though, I've always been a lot more pragmatic than Thunder Maker (he is the dreamer). He is the one looking for the perfect everything, whereas I'm more concerned with keeping a roof over our heads, clothes on our backs and food in our bellies.
At the moment, it makes a lot more sense for me to stick with a job I love that pays well in order to ensure my family is provided for. It's going to be really sad to leave the house we bought four years ago and have brought two newborn babies home to, but I'm feeling really positive about the future.
About four months ago, the organisation that Thunder Maker works for merged with a larger organisation. It effectively became a takeover and the poo hit the fan very quickly. I'm not going to go into all that was wrong, because that would fill up quite a few blog entries that would be better written by Thunder Maker. Suffice to say that the beginning of the end happened when they changed his working location from our home town to one nearly an hour away. This is costing us 15% of his total fortnightly income.
Thunder Maker has spent quite a while looking for a new job, but nothing has presented itself. Thunder Maker is very picky when it comes to applying for jobs, but even when I looked at job ads for him, I just couldn't find anything that fits his skill set. We were starting to get pretty desperate.
Nearly two weeks ago, I got a phone call from my career manager. I knew I was due for a posting next year. I've actually been due for a posting for the last three years, but have managed to drag out my time in our current location by having babies/going on maternity leave. This was the main reason I had planned to resign. We both really like our current location and neither of us really wanted to leave.
My career manager offered me the posting I have always wanted. It's really close to my Dad, my extended family on both sides (my Mum is originally from that area as well, but moved away after her and Dad divorced) and is only a couple of hours away from Thunder Maker's family.
In light of the fact that we decided to accept the posting, it made more sense for me to finish my maternity leave early so that Thunder Maker could resign and become the stay at home parent for the rest of the year. After all, my job pays more than his.
I thought I'd be sad at not getting to spend as long at home with Wombat as I did with Seagull, and even when I did return to work after having Seagull, I went back part time for the first six months. Yes, a part of me is sad, but mainly I'm excited. I think knowing that Thunder Maker is going to be at home with the boys makes it a lot easier.
Now, I've toyed about whether I should reveal a particular something about myself for a while. It is one of the reasons I chose to blog anonymously. To be honest though, I don't think I can blog about my current situation without revealing it and blogging is helping me to get my head around the massive life changes we have decided on.
If you haven't figured it out from some of the language I've used in some of my posts recently, this one in particular, I am a serving member of the ADF. The RAAF, to be precise.
I really love my job, but thought for ages that it would be better for my family if I got out so that they could have locational stability. To be honest though, I've always been a lot more pragmatic than Thunder Maker (he is the dreamer). He is the one looking for the perfect everything, whereas I'm more concerned with keeping a roof over our heads, clothes on our backs and food in our bellies.
At the moment, it makes a lot more sense for me to stick with a job I love that pays well in order to ensure my family is provided for. It's going to be really sad to leave the house we bought four years ago and have brought two newborn babies home to, but I'm feeling really positive about the future.
The Fun Weekend That Was
I had such a big weekend that it has taken me this long to get around to blogging about it. It wasn't a particularly good one, either.
I had big plans for the weekend. They involved getting several loads of backed-up washing done (it's been raining lots over the past couple of weeks) and getting my removal inventory done so I could put in my application for removal. Because I'm organised like that.
Thunder Maker's band had a gig on Saturday night. It was the 50th birthday party of one of the band members. We were all going to go, but I realised at the last minute (Saturday afternoon) that unless they had a raised performance area that 2 year olds can't climb, that the band was going to have themselves a new drummer by the name of Seagull. In light of this, I decided to stay home with the boys.
My first inkling that something wasn't right was when I was talking to my Dad on the phone. I had a headache, so I went and grabbed a glass of water. By the time we finished talking, my tummy felt a bit funny. Sometimes it does that when I'm hungry. I was feeling lazy, so I made toast for us all. I only got through one slice before I realised that I was feeling sick, not hungry. I thought it would be a good idea for us all to get an early night and hopefully I would sleep it off.
Alas, it was not to be. I'd just got both of the boys ready for bed when I felt the overwhelming urge to dash for the toilet. With business taken care of, I got some water into me and crawled into bed. Where Wombat proceeded to crawl over me, using me as a platform for his nocturnal acrobatics whilst having a feed. Of course, he would only fall asleep while laying across my torso. Having an 11kg baby sleep across your torso is uncomfortable at the best of times, let alone when you've just been heaving your guts up.
Once Wombat was finally asleep, I needed to make another dash to the toilet, where both ends decided to let go in unison. I did the only thing one can do in that situation - sat on the toilet and ditched the contents out of the bin beside the toilet very quickly. I was cursing the fact that this had to happen on one of the rare nights Thunder Maker was out, of all nights. I crawled back into bed and tried to get warm.
My night was broken by the delerium of my fever and Wombat's acrobatics. At some point, I had a split second of lucidity and thought that Wombat was probably cutting a tooth. Great. Later, I woke up as Thunder Maker snuck into our room very quietly and realised that I'd actually managed to get some sleep in. I told him about my evening and asked for some lemonade. Thankfully, we had a small bottle in the cupboard. I hooked in gratefully and went back to sleep.
In the morning, Wombat was a much happier chappy. He was grinning away, proudly showing me his new tooth. In a strange way, it made the absolute crapfullness of the previous night worth it.
Thunder Maker was kind enough to take the boys off my hands the next day to give me a chance to lay around in bed and recover.
I had big plans for the weekend. They involved getting several loads of backed-up washing done (it's been raining lots over the past couple of weeks) and getting my removal inventory done so I could put in my application for removal. Because I'm organised like that.
Thunder Maker's band had a gig on Saturday night. It was the 50th birthday party of one of the band members. We were all going to go, but I realised at the last minute (Saturday afternoon) that unless they had a raised performance area that 2 year olds can't climb, that the band was going to have themselves a new drummer by the name of Seagull. In light of this, I decided to stay home with the boys.
My first inkling that something wasn't right was when I was talking to my Dad on the phone. I had a headache, so I went and grabbed a glass of water. By the time we finished talking, my tummy felt a bit funny. Sometimes it does that when I'm hungry. I was feeling lazy, so I made toast for us all. I only got through one slice before I realised that I was feeling sick, not hungry. I thought it would be a good idea for us all to get an early night and hopefully I would sleep it off.
Alas, it was not to be. I'd just got both of the boys ready for bed when I felt the overwhelming urge to dash for the toilet. With business taken care of, I got some water into me and crawled into bed. Where Wombat proceeded to crawl over me, using me as a platform for his nocturnal acrobatics whilst having a feed. Of course, he would only fall asleep while laying across my torso. Having an 11kg baby sleep across your torso is uncomfortable at the best of times, let alone when you've just been heaving your guts up.
Once Wombat was finally asleep, I needed to make another dash to the toilet, where both ends decided to let go in unison. I did the only thing one can do in that situation - sat on the toilet and ditched the contents out of the bin beside the toilet very quickly. I was cursing the fact that this had to happen on one of the rare nights Thunder Maker was out, of all nights. I crawled back into bed and tried to get warm.
My night was broken by the delerium of my fever and Wombat's acrobatics. At some point, I had a split second of lucidity and thought that Wombat was probably cutting a tooth. Great. Later, I woke up as Thunder Maker snuck into our room very quietly and realised that I'd actually managed to get some sleep in. I told him about my evening and asked for some lemonade. Thankfully, we had a small bottle in the cupboard. I hooked in gratefully and went back to sleep.
In the morning, Wombat was a much happier chappy. He was grinning away, proudly showing me his new tooth. In a strange way, it made the absolute crapfullness of the previous night worth it.
Thunder Maker was kind enough to take the boys off my hands the next day to give me a chance to lay around in bed and recover.
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