Park life

We are starting to see some sunshine again around here. We have been enjoying some beautiful walks and I have been loving discovering secret little areas in our neighbourhood. I have found a number of parks only accessible by lane ways, hidden behind houses. They are so sweet with little park benches, some swings and slides and sometimes an old fashioned sandpit. I've never seen anyone in these parks so it is a great place to let the dog loose without worrying she will disturb anyone. I love a meet up with a fellow mama and have found this website www.acoffeeinthepark.com very useful. It has been put together by a couple of Perth parents who have created a resource for other parents wanting to know where to find great playgrounds and a decent coffee at the same time.

Hope you are able to enjoy some sunshine wherever you are.

6 months today

miss s is 24 weeks today which makes her exactly 6 months!! I am more in love than ever. Over the past month miss s has become uber-interactive. She has started to clearly respond to her name and loves playing games. I love making her laugh and miss s loves to make me laugh too. It is a big giggly love-in fest at our place. miss s has started to sleep through the night or only wake up once at around 3am - thank the lord/ goddess/ gaia/ whoever (I'm just grateful). She does love her milk and is feeding even more during the day recently. We've tried solids last week due to the increase in feeding but miss s can take it or leave it at this point. She is very efficient and feeds quickly and then wants to be up and away, no long cuddles for mum. miss s loves being held up on her feet so she can dance and is particularly fond of "swoops" (being flung around like superman!), it makes her do huge belly laughs. miss s's favourite things are showers with mum, morning bed cuddles with dad, looking at the trees outside, touching the bush near the mailbox on our way to getting in the car (every time!)rolling and making people laugh. She looks like her dad from her nose up and me from her nose down (including a dimple on her chin) but her smile is all her own.

During the past six months, I have learnt a lot. That time actually does slow down when you are sleep deprived and it all gets too much. The words from other kind mums "this will pass" doesn't actually help at all when you are in the thick of it. I do get it now though as just when you think it can't get any worse, it does but luckily when you think you can't go any further, things start to improve. Hindsight makes it seem pass quickly. When miss s was about 6 weeks old, I was missing my old lifestyle (work mates, pay packet, freedom to do whatever I liked without having to plan every activity). I was doing one of those 2.30am feeds. miss s always feeds half asleep which is great as she goes back done to sleep without a fuss but waking every two hours and feeding in the darkness was sometimes a bit lonely. my mind would race and i would think to myself, can I keep doing this (for some reason, i thought she would feed every two hours for the first 12 months - all my previous reading seemed to have fallen out of my head). miss s gave me a fleeting smile whilst feeding. it lit up her entire face and i was instantly happy. i remember thinking, i have a whole lifetime of these moments. i think it was then i started to embrace my new life with a daughter. I don't think I'm a "natural" mother but I am enjoying motherhood more and more every day. I'm so glad I got to meet my miss sienna mae.

yep

Sugar withdrawal sucks. Can't remember where I found this but I like it.

daily change

My weight has slowly been creeping back up lately...oh who am I kidding? Its been going up since Sienna was about a month old! I am feeling really sluggish, unhealthy and pissed off I can't fit into any of my clothes. I've fallen into some bad habits, eating BBQ shapes and having lots of snacky things instead of proper meals. The icecream and chocolate doesn't help either. About twelve months before I fell pregnant, I decided I needed to feel better so I gave my eating a total overhaul. I like to cook and it used to feel really lovely to make delicious meals for mr k. I think I used him as a bit of an excuse to make BIG, uber yummy (read lots of butter!) meals for him as he was so appreciative. When I decided to make some changes, I announced to mr k that I was going HARD CORE and that my health was my first priority. That I would also prepare him the same meal but to prepare himself for hardship.I did not want to HEAR ANY COMPLAINTS. mr k said something like "whatever" and off I went, telling him how hard it was going to be and that I needed to "look after me". mr k smiled a bit and probably wondered if I could keep it up (have I mentioned how much I lurve icecream).
I experimented a little and found that nutritonally dense and low carb style of eating suited me.
Who knew? I felt terrific. Both mr k and I felt a heap better. Mentally we also felt much more alert. For me it was hard work to start off with. To eat well I had to be organised otherwise I would skip breakfast, skip lunch and then start to wolf down food on my way home from work aided with copius amounts of diet coke.
Some days with miss s are very easy and we swan around. Other days it is full on with her and I am lucky to remember to grab whatever is in the pantry and munch them down (usually the aforementioned BBQ shapes). To avoid these pitfalls I have started making my lunch the night before so it is ready to go the next day. This way, if I decide to go out I can take it with me or have it on hand while watching Twin Peaks (my current favourite box set) while Sienna scoots around on the rug. Today I'm having smoked chicken salad and cherries (woolies has some from America at the moment and although I normally don't buy out of season stuff or even stuff from outside of Australia, these are just toooo good!). I style it up in a lunch box so it looks yummy and it acts as a bit of portion control too. I'll take some pictures and post up soon. I'm looking forward to feeling physically better and mentally a bit better about being a bit more sensible with my health.

Winter beach

Today we were supposed to go to the zoo but the weather peaked a day early. Yesterday was a beautiful sunshine-y winter's day. miss s woke a couple of times during the night and each time I listened to the weather outside. Even at 4.30am, it was quiet and calm and I thought the rain might be delayed. But sure enough, at 7.30am the storm came. I prepared for a day at home. Became inspired. Made sandwiches and a thermos of hot soup, picked up my girlfriend and her 10 day old babe and we went to the beach, sat in the car and ate our lunch watching the wild waves. Two babes snoozing in the back of a cozy car. A lovely day.

Didn't take my camera but it sort of looked like this. (image from google images - http://whereswestport.blogspot.com/)

For Fifi

who is moving to Perth. Thought you might like this.

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I did it.

Yes, I've become one of those people. I bought matching shoes for the two of us for next Summer. I actually wanted to get different colours but they weren't available so "shiny yellow" it is for both of us. Might have to buy another pair just so we are not too naff. I'll have to see if I am brave enough to wear them at the same time. I seem to do a lot of posts on shoes but I couldn't resist this one...such a bargain for both!!