Boobage September 28, 2007

I have always been pretty well endowed – I think I was wearing a C- cup when I was about 16.  Before I got pregnant I was a DD cup.  They were big enough that I had issues finding shirts that  wouldn’t gape but not so big that they were the bane of my life. I have the awkward issue of being a 12 -14 on my top but being a 16 – 18 around me bust.  Since being pregnant my boobs have gone up a size – and its an increase that has made a huge difference.  All of a sudden I can’t even find ‘nice’ maternity bras in my size.  Last weekend my best friend and I went shopping for evening dresses to wear for a gala dinner this weekend – pretty much every dress I tried on fitted perfectly but was too small across the bust – If they did fit around the boobage then it was too big every where else.  

 I am still breastfeeding – but usually only morning and night – and when the Young Man is really grizzly.   But the boobs still feel like they are carrying a litre or two of milk.  It’s not until I accidentally catch a glimpse of myself in the bathroom mirror as I get out of the shower that I realise how huge they are. Most pregnancy books talk about your boobs actually shrinking after breastfeeding but  somehow I don’t think that’s going to happen to me.    I am destined to have big ones and that’s the way its going to be.  Most times I don’t mind them ( and the Adman loves them ALL THE TIME!)     but its times like trying to find the perfect dress – or sexy underwear that doesn’t look like something your grandma would wear ( think 2 inch wide straps)  that I begin to despair. 

The other thing that I laugh about is when my friends  who have next to no boobs tell me that I am so lucky to have ‘ample supply’.  I don’t think they realise how difficult it can really be.  At least when you are small breasted you can rely on the wonderbra to add that cleavage.  There’s no magic bra that can magically make you look two bra sizes smaller ( well one that actually works anyway!).

So anyway the upshot of the dress hunting was that after 5 hours I found a dress that was suitable ( in black of course to aid with the slimming).  When I say suitable I really mean that it will be suitable after I stitch the cleavage area a little higher and  when I put it on I will be safety pinning it to my strapless bra to ensure it stays where it’s meant to.

Its the little things that make a difference September 24, 2007

I have always been someone who loves my sleep.   I love nothing more than snuggling down  and basking in the joy of slumber.  The idea of an afternoon nap on a sunny day  is a real  thrill to me (liek I ever get to enjoy that now!!).  

But one of the things about sleep is having the conditions right to have a good one.    I am one of those people who once I hear a noise I just can’t ignore it.    The Adman isn’t allowed to leave his watch in our bedroom as  I can hear is quietly ticking away while I am trying to get to sleep.    When we holiday with friends I always make sure that we can sleep in the bedroom as far away as possible from every one else as two of our friends are chronic snorers.   Even the Adman  can be a hindrance to me getting to sleep – it sounds petty but sometimes he breathes so loudly (and squeakily  – damn allergies)  that there is no way I can switch off and go to sleep.

Since the Young Man was born the need to a good sleep has gone from being a nice thing to being a necessity.  If I don’t get at least 8 hours and suffer the next day (which at the moment starts at around 5.30). 

This is where the best invention in the world comes in.  Something that I now can’t seem to love without.  EAR PLUGS

 The times when its one of those nights when  every single noise is keeping  me up I just  grab my ear plugs and  shove them in.   In an instance I have  the silence I crave when I need to get to sleep.  And those mornings when the Young Man wakes and is kicking off ( but not at all upset) I just grab my ear plugs again  and doze until its his actual wake up time.

 So there ends my ode to the humble ear plugs  – its silly  but I really can’t live without them!!  What can’t you live without?

Friday is recipe day. September 21, 2007

Most nights I cook dinner – mainly because I like doing it and I can also because I get a meal to the table in under 30 minutes – whereas the Adman usually takes  anywhere between 1 -2 hours to cook.  The Adman is a great cook but he just doesn’t  have the skills to be quick about it.  Last night   I made the yummiest pasta dish ever – and it took exactly 10 minutes to prepare, cook and serve.   Its the kind of recipe that you can change depending on whats in your fridge or who you are cooking for. For some reason kids seem to like it too – perhaps because of the bright green appearance?

 Pesto Pasta

-Pasta  – any variety

-pesto ( a good 2-3 tablespoons)

-plain Greek yogurt or sour cream (a good 2 -3 tablespoons)

 -mushrooms, sliced

-Sun dried tomatoes sliced

-bacon  cut into small pieces.

Place pasta in large pot and cook

While pasta is cooking fry the mushrooms and bacon until cook and the bacon is a bit crispy

Add the sundried tomatoes, pesto and sour cream/yogurt

Stir and pour over the drained pasta

SERVE

Spring has sprung September 18, 2007

Awhile ago I wrote about how I had the winter blues  and I was feeling pretty down.  The last few days has seen the weather get a whole lot warmer and  the days  begin to get longer.   During the weekend we did some gardening and tidied up the vege garden and planted all my flower gardens out.  My increasing enthusiasm for gardening is a sure sign that  summer is on the way.

I have come to the realisation that a lot of my moods are based on the weather.  During winter I feel lethargic and blase about everything to do with being healthy but as soon as  the sun starts shining a bit more I get more motivated and  generally feel happier in myself. 

I know that spring means summer is just around the corner and that means swimming.  There is nothing like the motivation of being seen in your swimmers to get you exercising and losing that last 8 kilos (yes I still have those same eight kilos to lose!!).   My goal is to be back to my pre-pregnancy wieght by Christmas – just in time to pig out over the festive season.  If i stop eating salt and vinegar chips on a regular basis and actually start exercising three times a week as opposed to just  thinking about it  – I know I can do it.

In other exciting news my son has decided that sleep is over-rated and he only needs  around 40 minutes of sleep during the day. On one hand I should be happy that he sleeps for 12 hours at night without waking and if that means he doesn’t sleep during the day then so be it  – but on the other hand its nice to have a bit of time out during the day. Esp since I am meant to do at least 3 hours of work from home each day and if I don’t get it done during the day I end up having to do it once the Young Man has gone to bed – cutting into my ‘quality time’ with the Adman.

You would think that with all the crawling he is doing he would need extra sleep during the day but I guess my baby is just one of those babies who just don’t sleep during the day.

I took this photo yesterday  and just afterwards the Young Man decided to flip off the chair – luckily I was practising what I preach and was right there so while he got to experience the joy of flipping through the air he didn’t land with a thud on the floor.

This photo does scare me a tad as he looks so much older than his seven months.

Cat love September 18, 2007

The first present I ever gave my husband was a cat.  Her name is Jess and she is still a member of our family.  She was our baby before we even thought about having babies.  Jess  (named after postman pat’s black and white cat) is one of those cats who thinks that we all live to serve her.  She will sit where she wants and demand to be feed when ever she has the desire.

When the Young Man was born Jess showed no interest in  him what-so-ever – and we were pleased with that – at least we didn’t have to worry about her ending up in his cot.  But since the Young Man has got more mobile he has begun to notice Jess.  Of course this seems to impress Jess and often when the Young Man is on the floor she will hop off what ever chair she has been lounging on and will go and sit next to him.  This elicits a big grin from the Young Man who automatically sticks his hand out and grabs  a handful of Jess.  When this first happened I was petrified, thinking she would scratch him or even bite him.  But she sits there placidly with  a grimace on her face and lets him  try and shove some of her fur in his mouth.   When she does get sick of being Young Man handled she will just get up and head back to her perch.

Calling out ‘Puss Puss’ will  cause the Young Man to erupt into giggles and Jess is a great diversion when trying to feed him.   All I need to do is ask “where is the puss?’ and he  laughs which means I can shove another spoonful of food down his gullet.  Who would have thought a cat could be such a useful baby feeding tool.

‘I luff him but he gets on my nerves sometimes – especially when he tries to stuff my tail in his mouth’

Birth Stories September 11, 2007

When I was pregnant with the Young Man one of the things I loved to do was read people’s birth stories.  In fact that’s kind of how I got into the whole blogging thing.  Anyway the thing I loved about all the birth stories were that they were all different.  No birth was the same.  Some of the stories were horrendous and made me want to cross my legs and wish that the Young Man could miraculously appear – others were wonderful and sounded like the births we all dreamed about.

One of the things that I noticed about all the birth stories were the ‘tone’ they were written in.  Some  stories sounded like the Mother had only just survived and death was imminent throughout labour  -others were upbeat even though a c-section  eventuated and the baby was distressed.

When I think about my ‘birth story’  I think of it in positive terms.  There were some parts of it that weren’t the greatest and in hindsight it would have been nice if forceps didn’t have to be used ( therefore eliminating the black eye the Young Man wore for the first week of his life) and it would have been even greater if it hadn’t taken almost 1 1/2 hours to stitch me back up (I am grateful that the surgeon took his time though as everything down there is perfect!) and I didn’t get to hold the Young Man until that was all over.   But over all it one of the most wonderful experiences I have had.   Especially since the end result was a healthy baby who has just thrived.   

One of the reasons I haven’t written  my birth story down for prosperity is because I don’t really know how to say it.  Should I write about how my midwife and husband  discussed all the ‘gory’ births they have experienced all night?  Should I write about how it felt to have my va-jayjay so stretched that I felt like it was about to snap?

Nadine has posted her birth story of her brand new daughter Lucine – and its a great story – just the right amount of detail  that when you get to the end you feel satisifed that you know what happened and you are glad it turned out all right.  But even better than her ‘birth story’ post is the post afterwards - all the stuff she forgot to include in her  birth story – you know the bits about weeing on her socks, those dreaded haemoroids etc etc.  I think she was wise in leaving those details out of Lucine’s birth story – If I had been googling for birth stories and come across that I don’t know what I would have done!!

WTF September 9, 2007

This morning was one of those mornings when the Young Man  is soooooooo tired that he doesn’t want to go to sleep.  I laid him down in his cot and went off to hang out the washing.  Ten minutes later he was still kicking off  so I went in to check on him.   And there he was -sitting up.  Yes that’s right sitting up.  I had left him lying down and although  I like to think my boy is pretty advanced for his age I def wasn’t expecting that.  The look on his face was priceless  – as to say  ‘See Mum , sleep is so overrated -  when I don’t sleep I get to do things like this!’.

For the last week or so he has been doing a combo of commando crawling and rolling to get around  -now he is  getting up on all fours and doing jerky little bunny hops.

eeek!! my boy is growing up.  And now  his before and after shots of his (almost non-exisitent) haircut.

BEFORE

Yes – even I admit that his hair was too long

AFTER

“Mum got my hair cut  but luckily I still look cute”

And another photo just for good measure

Its been ten years…. September 8, 2007

Just over ten years ago I met the Adman.  For me it definitely wasn’t love at first sight but after much wooing I fell in love with the man I hope to spend the rest of my life with. 

 Its been over 3650 days since we first met.

Its been a decade since he first smiled at me.

In those ten years we have had lots of good times but also some bad.  I like to think that the bad times have made us appreciate the good times even more.  I know that living with me is sometimes hard ( hey aren’t those words to a song?)  and the Adman puts up with so much crap from me that sometimes I wonder why he is still here.  When I ask him  why he still loves me even though I am such a bee-arch his reply is always that I make him happy and I help him to be the person he wants to be. 

 For me the reasons are exactly the same.  He puts me in my place when I need to be put and he provides me with all the support and love I need.

Just once has he broken my heart  and although it was one of the worst times of my lives I know that our marriage is far better now than it was before and I also know that it will never happen again.

He isn’t the kind of husband that will bring me home flowers or buy me a present ‘just because’  but he is the kind of husband who gives me so much more.  

 He gets me.

He understands that I am scared of making new friends. He understands that under the bravado is a person who is so shy that she will make excuses to not go somewhere and he understands that I won’t always be happy but that I’m  okay.

Here’s to another few decades together.

Home Alone September 6, 2007

Last weekend we travelled home for a friends 30th birthday.  As my Mum is currently tripping around Europe  there was a small issue with Babysitting.  Usually when we are at home its the only time we can go out as my Mum can look after the Young Man.  This time we had something to we really wanted to go but it was totally impractical to take the Young Man ( it started at 7 and he is in bed at 6.30 and there was no way in hell I was going to break his fantastic night routine).  The Adman asked a very good family friend if they would look after the Young Man and they were pleased to – so was I until I realised that Adman had asked if they would look after him for the WHOLE night.

I immediately began freaking out.  I knew that in theory it would be fine as the Young Man sleeps 6.30 – 6.30 and very rarely wakes and when he does he just needs to be tucked back in and he will go back to sleep. 

But what about me…?  I would come home from the party and not be able to go and check on him.  I wouldn’t be able to stand by his cot and smile at how gorgeous he is.

I made all the excuses under the sun as to why I didn’t think it was a good idea – he wasn’t used to having a bottle when he woke up,  he has been teething and that might wake him up in the night,  he might miss his mum and cry all night ( yeah right!).  But after a stern talking to from the Adman I realised that everything would be fine and if it wasn’t then they would ring me and I could go around there  (After all Anita has had four children of her own and they all seem to have survived and grown up to be lovely girls).

So after the Young Man had his dinner and bath I took him around there.   He was all smiles and happily had his last feed and snuggled down to sleep.  Anita shooed me out the door and I went to the party – where of course I had a lovely time although I was constantly thinking about the Young Man and checking my cell every five minutes.

We got home at 3am and when I rang Anita at 7 .30 to see how things were I was very surprised to hear that he had just woken up and was happily having his bottle.  This caused me to have a small heart attack  as ‘my little boy didn’t even need me’.   But that fear was soon dispelled as whenI arrived and walked in to the lounge the Young Man saw me, smiled his big goofy smile and reached his arms up for me.   He still loved me!!!

That snuggle was the best snuggle ever and made me just melt ( and yes there were a few tears but I kept them well hidden).  

So the Young Man  survived the night and so did I – but somehow I don’t think I will be doing it again anytime soon  as I like being able to go in and check in on boy.

Lucked Out September 5, 2007

I had the official phone call yesterday to say that I didn’t get the job.  I wasn’t surprised with that outcome as during my interview I discussed with the Manager the fact that I wanted the position to be based elsewhere.  She told me that she had already discussed the issue with her Manager and he was not willing to move the position.  So when the phonecall came it just confirmed what I already knew. 

I actually thought I would be more bummed out than I am but I guess  its because I ‘know’ that something else(much better) is just around the corner for me.  In fact just yesterday a job was advertised that I am really keen on so I know that there are going to be some opportunities coming up.

In much more interesting news the Young Man got his haircut in the weekend.  I have taken photos but truth be told you can’t actually tell that he has had a cut.  For once the hairdresser listened to me when I said I just wanted it trimmed very lightly.  When I got back the Adman asked me why I had chickened out and not got it cut – he only believed me when I showed him that the ‘rats tail’ was gone!.