Well, its been over a year - much, much over a year - and how things have changed. Two children are now three, work (outside the home) is no more, and even beyond these obvious changes my life has changed in many, many ways.
I have wanted to resurrect this blog for some time now - I am finding that now that I am at home full time I often want to download a little, and have more good stuff to share! I am still an avid reader of several regular blogs, and am always on the lookout for new ones, so want to get amongst it again. It seems like so much to update on so I'll just give the basics and then pick up where I left off as it were.
I left work in April 2009 to stay at home full time - this has been a good decision in every way except financial. We are okay financially, but I would be lying if I said we didn't miss my income. However, in EVERY other way it has been the best thing I have done, or we have done. My friendships have expanded, my community involvement and awareness have expanded, I am now more involved in church life, and I know my kids better. And, a scary thought I have been having lately is that if I had not left work and had just taken mat leave, I would be heading back to work in 2 weeks!
The other big thing is the arrival of baby number 3 - a beautiful little girl - on August 15. Having the opportunity to be at home with her and to know that there is no mat leave end date looming has been such a great experience that I never had with each of the boys. I love it. Having said that, being at home with the three of them is certainly a challenge.
Anyway, its good to be back.
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Grace
An exchange overheard yesterday between Action Man (2 years 10 months) and Flipper (1 year 9 months) while playing together with puzzles on the floor.
Action Man: 'Ma (he has called him Flipper 'Ma' since he was born, we're not sure why) you need to say Grace before we play puzzles'
Both boys immediately bow their heads.
Action Man: 'Dear God, thankyou for the lovely puzzles. Amen. You have to say Amen Ma'.
Flipper: 'Amen'.
It made me laugh.
Action Man: 'Ma (he has called him Flipper 'Ma' since he was born, we're not sure why) you need to say Grace before we play puzzles'
Both boys immediately bow their heads.
Action Man: 'Dear God, thankyou for the lovely puzzles. Amen. You have to say Amen Ma'.
Flipper: 'Amen'.
It made me laugh.
Boys and dirt
What is it with boys and dirt? Or is it just my boys and dirt? They are obsessed with it, they find it, it finds them. I just don't get it.
As one of two daughters of a fastidiously clean (and I really mean fastidiously clean) mother, dirt is just not something I have had a lot to do with in my daily life. I don't mean that to sound like I am some sort of princess - what I mean is that I inherited (albeit a watered down version) my mother's liking and tendency towards cleanliness and order, I work in an office, and as a general rule I don't tend to come across many opportunities to get dirty. The dirt I am referring to is not just the ordinary scruffiness of little boys, I am referring to seeing a patch of dirt, a garden bed, a pot plant, a bit of mud, and moving immediately towards it and covering themselves with it. They love it, and do it without fail.
It is true that at the moment they have opportunities to get amongst the dirt thing all around them - we have a relatively new patch of lawn that we have recently top-dressed, we have a new sandpit for them to play in which results in sand everywhere, we have relatively new garden beds, and our local park has recently developed a very large, dry mound of dirt right near the children's playground - but the gravitation towards it just amazes me.
As one of two daughters of a fastidiously clean (and I really mean fastidiously clean) mother, dirt is just not something I have had a lot to do with in my daily life. I don't mean that to sound like I am some sort of princess - what I mean is that I inherited (albeit a watered down version) my mother's liking and tendency towards cleanliness and order, I work in an office, and as a general rule I don't tend to come across many opportunities to get dirty. The dirt I am referring to is not just the ordinary scruffiness of little boys, I am referring to seeing a patch of dirt, a garden bed, a pot plant, a bit of mud, and moving immediately towards it and covering themselves with it. They love it, and do it without fail.
It is true that at the moment they have opportunities to get amongst the dirt thing all around them - we have a relatively new patch of lawn that we have recently top-dressed, we have a new sandpit for them to play in which results in sand everywhere, we have relatively new garden beds, and our local park has recently developed a very large, dry mound of dirt right near the children's playground - but the gravitation towards it just amazes me.
Monday, September 22, 2008
Copycat
As a 'ps' to my previous post, a new development is the insistence of the 20 month old Flipper that he be allowed to wear underpants over the top of his nappy, and his exclamation of 'wow' every time he puts them on after his nappy is changed.
Cute.
Cute.
Thursday, September 18, 2008
My grown up boy
Had to share this.
I mentioned a little while ago about the stop-start progress we are having with Action Man (now 2 years and 10 months old) and toilet training. My approach has been decidedly lazy, hoping that he would catch on himself, but giving him encouragement, etc etc. Since announcing a few months ago that he no longer wanted to wear nappies, and after two weeks of underpants wearing then lapsing into day to day decisions as to whether to wear a nappy or underpants, we have simply been 'going with the flow' (pardon the pun).
Anyway, yesterday saw significant progress. He had been in underpants all day, no accidents (admittedly, the underpants days had started to outweigh the nappy days, but trips to the toilet had to always be instigated by me or Hubby). I was cleaning up after our little craft session - they had made 'lollipops' from painted paper and paddle pop sticks - when I noticed he had disappeared. A quick search of the house indicated that he was in the bathroom on the toilet. After being told 'Mummy,go away. I'm doing a wee by self', I lurked around the corner and saw him do said wee, flush the toilet, get up on the toilet seat to reach the sink and wash and dry his hands, put his underpants and tracksuit pants back on (albeit the tracksuit pants were on backwards, but who cares?) then come out and announce his triumph.
This has since happened a few times today.
Am cautiously excited, but not counting my toilet training chickens. My baby is growing up!
I mentioned a little while ago about the stop-start progress we are having with Action Man (now 2 years and 10 months old) and toilet training. My approach has been decidedly lazy, hoping that he would catch on himself, but giving him encouragement, etc etc. Since announcing a few months ago that he no longer wanted to wear nappies, and after two weeks of underpants wearing then lapsing into day to day decisions as to whether to wear a nappy or underpants, we have simply been 'going with the flow' (pardon the pun).
Anyway, yesterday saw significant progress. He had been in underpants all day, no accidents (admittedly, the underpants days had started to outweigh the nappy days, but trips to the toilet had to always be instigated by me or Hubby). I was cleaning up after our little craft session - they had made 'lollipops' from painted paper and paddle pop sticks - when I noticed he had disappeared. A quick search of the house indicated that he was in the bathroom on the toilet. After being told 'Mummy,go away. I'm doing a wee by self', I lurked around the corner and saw him do said wee, flush the toilet, get up on the toilet seat to reach the sink and wash and dry his hands, put his underpants and tracksuit pants back on (albeit the tracksuit pants were on backwards, but who cares?) then come out and announce his triumph.
This has since happened a few times today.
Am cautiously excited, but not counting my toilet training chickens. My baby is growing up!
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Feeling useless
Am now at home and it is lovely - I am still at the stage where I am tickled pink and get a little thrill at things like being able to roll over in bed without pain, lie on the couch and watch tv, and get up and go to the toilet when I need to - small things as they say!
But, the current state of my back has left me in an unusual predicament in that I am pretty much good for nothing, but not completely incapacitated, so am in this middle ground of being of no use to anyone in particular, but not so bad that I'm bed bound. Its difficult in its own way.
What I mean is this - I can't go to work because I can't drive and can't sit for more than 10 - 15 mins or so at a time, I can't look after the boys by myself because I can't (or shouldn't be - am being a little naughty in this respect) lift them, carry them, wrestle them into their clothes, get down on the floor and play with them, get them in or out of bed, etc etc. But, I am also not bed bound - I don't need to be, nor is it good for me, to lie down all day. So I'm left in this middle ground sort of place, wandering around like a lost soul, generally feeling like I'm getting in the way.
Don't get me wrong - this is not a complaint, and I am so appreciative and aware of how far I have come, but its all a bit weird.
But, the current state of my back has left me in an unusual predicament in that I am pretty much good for nothing, but not completely incapacitated, so am in this middle ground of being of no use to anyone in particular, but not so bad that I'm bed bound. Its difficult in its own way.
What I mean is this - I can't go to work because I can't drive and can't sit for more than 10 - 15 mins or so at a time, I can't look after the boys by myself because I can't (or shouldn't be - am being a little naughty in this respect) lift them, carry them, wrestle them into their clothes, get down on the floor and play with them, get them in or out of bed, etc etc. But, I am also not bed bound - I don't need to be, nor is it good for me, to lie down all day. So I'm left in this middle ground sort of place, wandering around like a lost soul, generally feeling like I'm getting in the way.
Don't get me wrong - this is not a complaint, and I am so appreciative and aware of how far I have come, but its all a bit weird.
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Hospital post
Hubby asked me this morning why I have not yet done a hospital post ( I have been here since last Wednesday midnight when we finally gave in to my incapacitation and excruciating back spasms and called an ambulance). My immediate answer was that I was too bored and had nothing to say - and there is something in that - tomorrow will mark 2 weeks of forced absolute inactivity which up until now I thought would be heaven, but has been anything but! It also has been the case that up until Tuesday I was so doped out on painkillers, muscle relaxants etc ( I had quite an extreme reaction to them on Tuesday so the medication was changed) and couldn't do much but lie in bed on my back, so opportunities to post have been minimal. Just on that though, I have managed to log into emails every day for work and keep things on track, so maybe its just that my priorities are a little off!
But, being here has given me time to do some thinking - nothing terribly profound I must say, but just thinking about how things I have done and my lifestyle have got me into this predicament, and how the lifestyle of others on my ward have led us all here.
I'm not being self-flagellating here - I am realistic about how this happened - a sporting injury 15 years ago, which left my back compromised but hasn't really bothered me for about 10 or so years, two pregnancies in 13 months which left my core abdominal muscles shot to pieces so my back was doing all the work when I moved, lifted etc, and chasing around, lifting and carrying two small boys. The combination of the above was not looking good for my back, but I would be naive to say that I wasn't aware of the potential problem, didn't get warning signs of pain in my back which I ignored, and hadn't been shown back and core strengthening exercises that I just hadn't been doing.
So, now that I have seen the worst (or as close to the worst as I want to get) of back injury, I have new resolve to get my back strong so that this does not happen again. I have been doing hydro-therapy in the hospital pool all week which has been great, and has got me up and walking around again, able to shower myself etc. I still can't sit for long periods and it will be some time before I can do that, bending is still difficult, and I won't be able to lift the boys for some time, but there has been definite progress and I am heading home tomorrow. I have an appointment with my physio next week to develop a program that I will follow to get these musles strong and I am committed to following it.
Why this is also of importance to me, is that Hubby and I had decided to try for another baby about now. As a result of my injury this will need to wait - I do not want to put additional pressure on my fragile back until it is strong again.
I have missed my boys so much while being in here, and can't wait to get home to them. I feel like a kid at Christmas counting the sleeps till tomorrow!
But, being here has given me time to do some thinking - nothing terribly profound I must say, but just thinking about how things I have done and my lifestyle have got me into this predicament, and how the lifestyle of others on my ward have led us all here.
I'm not being self-flagellating here - I am realistic about how this happened - a sporting injury 15 years ago, which left my back compromised but hasn't really bothered me for about 10 or so years, two pregnancies in 13 months which left my core abdominal muscles shot to pieces so my back was doing all the work when I moved, lifted etc, and chasing around, lifting and carrying two small boys. The combination of the above was not looking good for my back, but I would be naive to say that I wasn't aware of the potential problem, didn't get warning signs of pain in my back which I ignored, and hadn't been shown back and core strengthening exercises that I just hadn't been doing.
So, now that I have seen the worst (or as close to the worst as I want to get) of back injury, I have new resolve to get my back strong so that this does not happen again. I have been doing hydro-therapy in the hospital pool all week which has been great, and has got me up and walking around again, able to shower myself etc. I still can't sit for long periods and it will be some time before I can do that, bending is still difficult, and I won't be able to lift the boys for some time, but there has been definite progress and I am heading home tomorrow. I have an appointment with my physio next week to develop a program that I will follow to get these musles strong and I am committed to following it.
Why this is also of importance to me, is that Hubby and I had decided to try for another baby about now. As a result of my injury this will need to wait - I do not want to put additional pressure on my fragile back until it is strong again.
I have missed my boys so much while being in here, and can't wait to get home to them. I feel like a kid at Christmas counting the sleeps till tomorrow!
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