(PS. This photo is a couple of weeks old. Those teeth you can barely make out are much bigger now!)
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The Longest Time
Q. What does an dyslexic, agnostic, insomniac do?
A. Lies awake at night wondering if there really is a dog.
Heh. I felt the need for an icebreaker – you know, it’s been so long and all, we probably need to get to know one another all over again. That’s been one of my favourite (clean) jokes ever since I learned what all those big words meant!
For those who have asked after my wellbeing, rest assured, I’m fine, just tired, and for the last while, not inclined to blog. There are only so many times I can write “Niamh still not sleeping, Mel still a complete zombie, oh woe is me”, and only so many times you want to read about it! But hey… just for good measure, here’s one more 🙂 …
It has got to the point where I am only hearing two things from friends/family/complete strangers about babies and sleeping – either their babies slept through from about the 6-8 week mark (that used to be me), or, they didn’t sleep through until about two. No inbetween – why is there no damn inbetween!!! Where are all the babies who sleep through from about six months? (Which, incidentally, Niamh turned, just a short week ago.) The cumulative effect of six months of this on my psyche is not great 😥 I’m completely unsurprised by studies showing links between infant sleep issues and post-partum depression. And I feel completely ashamed of the smugness I once felt as a new mother of a baby who slept. How lucky I was!
To give Niamh some credit… there was a week, not so long ago, that she had only one wake a night (around 3-4 am) per night on five out of seven nights. That was awesome! True to form though, she backtracked. She does that.
Aside from the sleep issues, things have been super busy. November on the calendar was even more cram-packed than December, which is unusual. The weekend away I spoke of in my last post was bliss. The sheer silence of being away in the country with no electronic buzz (not even a television) is wonderful.
We were away again the following weekend (it was a much noisier, much more chaotic weekend), and then the weekend after that there was a state election to go vote in, a family 21st birthday party to attend, and a lovely Sunday brunch with friends for me. Then… oh jeez, I can’t even remember, everything seems so long ago. There have been a couple of trips to the zoo – once was for the FOTZ (Friends Of The Zoo) Christmas party, which was lots of fun; and a trip to the Werribee open-range zoo. There’ve been some great days to swim, and others to stay inside away from the blazing sun. And yet another (November 15) which was so ridiculously cold it snowed in some areas of the state – in November – in Australia! Most unfortunately for us, that day was also Finn’s pre-school excursion day. We rugged up and went to spend some time on the farm, but by heck we were cold!
(Sadly, those same areas which received snow not a month ago, are currently ablaze in a scary start to the bushfire season.)
Gosh, this got kind of rambly, didn’t it? Anyway, the point was, I just wanted to let you know I’m here, and even, despite all of the above, managing to do a few stitchy things and crafty things, even some dyeing (though my Pay-it-forward-ees will probably have to wait until after Christmas to receive their goodies.) I’ve actually enjoyed my unplanned, unannounced hiatus from blogging, but hopefully I’ll be back a bit sooner next time, and possibly even with some pics.
Oh, oh, oh, and btw… here are those all important ‘milestone’-y things – Niamh popped out a couple of teeth on November 16, and she is also… wait for it… crawling 😮 A full month before Finn did!
(Maybe that’s why she doesn’t sleep… too busy being active.)
More Strawberry Trials
Looks lonely, doesn’t it? Following ‘the bird incident‘, we netted our strawberries… only to then come face to ugly face with an infestation of slaters. Who apparently lurve strawberries almost as much as Finn. Grrrr. I’m beginning to feel the same way about organic gardening as I do about natural birth. It’s all good in theory, but when it comes down to the crunch, gimme the drugs! It’s a struggle, and I’m not sure I have the energy to keep it up this year. Birds are eating or destroying seeds and seedlings almost as fast as we can get them in, and when the birds can’t get them, you can be sure something else can.
Very occasionally, we get to profit from our efforts. If I’m quick, I get to eat some fresh peas before Finn gobbles the lot. Or a strawberry (I had to place this one safely out of reach to get a photograph for you 🙂 ).
This time tomorrow (or slightly earlier, in fact), I hope to be kicking back in a spa bath with a glass of champagne (just the one, mind you… still breastfeeding)! We’re going away for the weekend to celebrate our sixth wedding anniversary. It’s not quite as romantic as it sounds though, since we’re taking the kids, and we’re just going to my mum’s ‘spare house’ (it’s kind of their holiday house, but it’s only 15 minutes away from their actual home!) Regardless, it should be fun, and most importantly, there’s no internet access, no land-line, and not even any mobile coverage (for our particular carrier anyway). Bliss!
So I’ll see you on the other side of the weekend. Have a wonderful one 🙂
Moving To Timbuktu
Yes, it’s true. I’m running away to Timbuktu, just like Alexander. How do people deal with more than two small children? How? How is it done? I didn’t even have a great deal to get done today, but by early-afternoon I had a grumpy, too-long-awake Niamh, and a grumpy, not-very-well Finn. Trying to time things ‘just so’ is very difficult, and when ‘things’ include a visit to the dentist (Finn’s first), well, that’s just an extra added bonus :yuk:
The short story: he survived, she survived, not so sure about me :giggle: For the successful dentist visit, I bought Finn a new book (this is known as ‘bringing out the big guns’ – promise of a new book is enough to elicit good behaviour from him under the toughest of circumstances!) I had bought the book ahead of time, but it could not have been more apt: Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day is a wonderful book, and I’m glad we finally own it.
Finn, unlike Alexander (and Emma), has beautiful teeth and no cavities. Hooray for that!
A Whole Lot of Cranky
It’s 7am. I am half dressed, have already been spit-upon twice… no, three times this morning, Niamh woke up several times again last night, and I made the mistake of weighing myself this morning. Yesterday was the day I didn’t get out of my pyjamas until 5pm. (I knew there’d eventually be one of those – one could wonder why I bothered changing at all once it got that late – I certainly do!) This ‘4-month sleep regression’, if that is what it is, is kicking my butt. Tell me, how is it fair to regress from something you were never actually any good at? I was just starting to think maybe I was doing okay, even though Niamh was mostly still getting up twice a night. I was starting to handle it. Now? Not so much.
All of that, though, is not the main cause of this morning’s irritation. This is the big one…
A BIRD HAS STOLEN THE FIRST RIPENED STRAWBERRY FROM MY GARDEN!
Buggeration, that just really ticks me off. Now I have to go and find nets or something to put over the plants. What’s really annoying is the darn bird didn’t even bother to finish the fruit – it left a manky chewed up half-a-berry still hanging off the plant. I had planned on letting Finn pick that strawberry today. Lucky I didn’t tell him about it, hey?
Milestones
One year ago today, I discovered I was pregnant with ‘Small’. Today, I watched that same small baby rolling over and giggling with delight. It was wonderful.
She learned to roll over yesterday, after struggling and struggling to get there for several days. I had made the mistake of thinking she would go from tummy to back first, but when I finally figured out she looked like going the other way, I started putting her on her back again, and over she went. When she did, I lay there chatting with her for a few moments, then reached around for the telephone to call OtherHalf and let him know. In the two seconds my back was turned, she flipped over onto her back again! Mobile baby – scary :giggle: Today she’s been perfecting the roll with nappy on – a cloth nappy presents a slightly bigger obstacle than a bare bottom!
Finn acheived his own milestone yesterday as well. We’ve been putting off night toilet-training for ages now, but on Tuesday night we found ourselves unexpectedly out of pull-ups, so undies for bedtime it was (I couldn’t be bothered going out to buy more at that time of night, plus I’ve been getting irritated by the expense of them and was planning to look for a cloth alternative anyway). Anyway, surprise of surprises, he had a dry bed yesterday morning. Whoohoo! Unfortunately we weren’t so lucky the second night, but we’re on the way now.
We made a wonderful discovery last night. I decided I was in the mood for sushi for dinner, so Google found us a great little takeaway sushi place about ten minutes away. They make up sensational platters for a very decent price, so we came home with a small party platter of nigiri and made gluttons of ourselves (all three of us – Finn loves sushi too). Yum. Topped off with chocolate cake courtesy of OtherHalf, it was a most excellent birthday meal 🙂
Discovering the Camera
Finn has been taking a huge interest in the digital camera lately. Digital is great for kids – there’s instant gratification, and they can take as many pictures as they like. So, what does a three year old boy take photos of when given the chance? Well, himself, of course!
I also love this image he took of trees in silhouette, taken in a nearby bush reserve.
Things I Know Today
- If you try and feed yourself at the same time as you are feeding the baby, you will end up with crumbs in your bra. (Or soy sauce on the baby, if you happen to be eating sushi!) 😳
- If you try using reverse psychology often enough on a 3 year old, they will turn the tables on you – Finn’s favourite phrase has progressed from ‘Look at me, look at me’ (Bart Simpson, anyone?) to ‘Don’t look at me, don’t look at me’ :giggle:
- I am up too late, but it was worth it :drink: 😆 G’night!
Comments Off on Things I Know Today
Posted in Family, General Ramblings, The Kids
Tagged baby, toddler psychology
On the Farm
I’ve been feeling kind of… isolated?… displaced?… bereft?… something, these last weeks. It’s due to a combination of things, not least the increased difficulty of getting out and about with two kiddos. But I’ve come to realise that I’m really missing where we used to live. We’ve been here ten days shy of a year, and I’ve never quite found my groove – probably because I’ve been either pregnant and exhausted, or sleep-deprived and exhausted, that entire time.
It’s not like this is an unpleasant place to live, it really isn’t. But I miss the wonderful local shops where the staff knew our faces, if not our names, the kid-friendly cafes where we could while away a sunny morning or lazy afternoon, the wonderful bookshop…
Anyway. This place just doesn’t have quite the same atmosphere and energy about it. But it is not without benefits. Yesterday, we took off to a community/educational farm not far from here and spent a few hours puttering about.
We found a shady place for our lunch…
Met some of the residents…
Explored the community vegie patches (which put great shame to ours 😳 )…
Did some of this…
And some of this…
It was very peaceful (at least until the splinter incident, which was traumatic for all involved, but Finn most of all). A very nice way to spend the first 30 degree day of the season.
A Story in 8 Pictures
(a.k.a ‘Gratuitous baby shots’ 🙂 Enjoy!)
PS. There may have been some editorial license taken regarding the order of the pictures. Maybe :giggle: