November 17, 2014

12 weeks

12 weeks is an eternity. Especially when you're in a state of paranoia. Wishing hoping praying that everything is as it should be. I was convinced I had number of pregnancy complications/conditions.. Had all the symptoms Wikipedia described. Thankfully Dr Google was wrong... This time. 
Checking the pregnancy app every day to find that yet again the baby is still the size of a kidney bean.. Not big enough! I thought having a toddler would make this period of time fly! It hasn't. Same worried,sick,delirious 12 weeks as the first time. 


I don't want to be mean by sharing this picture but I was really jealous when I saw this lady. I wanted to be pushed around, munching on a giant block of cheese and have a supply of Cheezits in the trunk during that period of time. I would have been as happy as a clam.  She's probably at Disneyland too, happiest place on earth just to escalate my jealousy. 

                                             


I struggled with smells again this time. I deliberately stopped using my perfume incase I developed a hatered. Cooking was out of the question. I stopped making Boston's omlette in the morning and tried poaching.. When that failed (picture below) I started making oatmeal again which we both enjoy. 

                                    

I was living in Vancouver during the worst weeks. Since I often feel bad about my cooking prowess.. I thought I'd pop on a boat over to Granville Island Markets and buy some yummy dinners. Bad move. I bought steak and lamb skewers covered in a potent marinade. Only then I realized my husband was on night shoots all week so the meat just sat in the fridge and made me ill everytime I had to
open it. I didn't have the heart to throw it out so I cooked it all with a tea towel tied around my head. I'd hoped cooking it would take the edge off the smell. It didn't, so it sat in the fridge again.. Killing me slowly. It was the lambs revenge. Being in a hotel didn't help. I told my BFF my tortuous tale and she couldn't understand why I wasn't just getting room service every night. So from then on.. I did and it was wonderful. My husband kindly paid the bill on checkout and never mentioned how enormous it was. We lived there for 1 month. 

Thankfully now I'm in a much better state. I no longer get to tear point about having to unload the dishwasher and sort the cutlery. It's a roller coaster. I wish I was cooler but I'm not. I was really mean during early pregnancy last time. I was a lot nicer this time. I still have my friends and haven't hit anyone with anything so that's a positive. 

Here's to a happy healthy pregnancy round two!!  Please! 🙏 

November 07, 2014

One Year of Motherhood - Part One



Boston has survived a whole year of us being his parents. He's survived my cooking so far... We barely survived my cooking before he came along so I had to pick up my game. I make risotto now so it's getting quite advanced. Seriously, I have never understood people when they say cooking relaxes them.. it's the most stressful part of my day.. burning things trying to selvage them takes up a lot of energy. I've had to buy a whole new set of pots and pans as a result of my kitchen nightmares! Anyway back on track. I feel very accomplished having a one year old who seems to be thriving very well. He's happy, which makes me happy! He loves pigs,cars and Mickey Mouse. A strange array of loves. 

I bought him some new clothes recently and I got the same kick as when I buy myself clothes but I didn't have to experience the discouragement and inconvenience of trying anything on. I was worried boys clothes wouldn't be fun to shop for but they are awesome! Every now and then I jealously glance over at the girls section and see some ridiculously adorable things... one day. 

I survived his first vomit. It was his gift to me on my birthday. We were out to dinner and it happened during the only 2 minutes I was alone with him all day. My husband went to get him some yoghurt from the convenience store because he was acting unusually fussy. I decided to take him outside for some fresh air. As soon as I stepped foot outside he barfed all over the footpath and down my arm.. I remained calm and maintained my grip. I'd been dreading this day since he was born. This was no "baby" vomit. It was human. I didn't eat anything for the next two days in fear I would contract the virus. It was only a one off and I still love him. 

He hasn't reached the stage where he's destroying things just yet. (Apart from numerous gauges to my face) Although he got milk all over my ipad .. it must have seeped into the cover so now every time I open it, it smells like one of those stinky people who don't dry their clothes properly. It's quite gross. I also caught him hiding play-doh in one of my UGG boots which would have been disastrous/annoying. Whenever I'm missing things they're always in the bath or bin. I was dreading the day he learned to open the toilet seat, it happened and thankfully nothing of value went in accept his HANDS. These shallow toilets in America are awful! 

There have been moments of extreme tiredness throughout the year. This is usually my own fault.. Candy Crushing until the early hours has been an issue. When we got stuck on a level I unfortunately downloaded Pet Rescue. So now there's two late night gaming vices. (Not to be a bragasaurus but we're up to level 259). Boston goes to bed at 7pm so I have no excuses. I wish I could go to bed early but it's just not me. When he wakes up at 6:30am I always regret not having gone to bed earlier but oh well. We're Watching Friday Night Lights at the moment too (I know 10 years late) which has compounded the problem. We end up watching 2 hours of it a night. I love Riggins. Paige is all about Serasen but no.. It's Riggins all the way. 

I'm starting "I Quit Sugar" an 8 week sugar free regime. I'm in utter shock that I'm doing this as sugar is one of the top 5 things I live for. It's been an every meal thing forever. I even have dessert after lunch. Breakfast usually IS a dessert of sorts. So this along with a lack of sleep could be lethal. I'm pushing through though because I have stopped breast feeding which has been my diet and exercise for the past year. I've eaten anything and everything... but now since I'm not getting rid of those extra milk calories I've noticed an unwelcome change. I find myself buying croissants "For Boston" and....then we "share" it.. and by share you can guess what happens.. this sort of behaviour is not on. I don't anticipate I'll last long but it's worth trying.. It's actually my second attempt at it.

Word wise at 12 months he was sticking to D words. Dog, Dad and Duck. He could also moo & quack and make various other animal sounds. We're Game of Thrones fans and we taught him to ROAR when we ask "What does Khaleesi's dragon say?" soo advanced. My Mum follows a little asian baby on Instagram and jokingly told me he's the same age as Boston and can say "Rocket". Well let's be honest.. I'm not about to try and compete with that.. Asians are inherently intelligent.. they are born with high IQ's and awesome hair.

Walking happened at 15 months. I'm very late in posting this as he's actually 16months now!  I thought once he started cruising around the furniture at 7 months he'd just take off from there but no. He was getting around A LOT faster crawling so that was his favourite mode. I'm stoked that he's walking now because his hands won't get so gross. 

I'm writing this post in two parts so you don't get too bored with my ramblings.. well done if you made it this far! Will post part 2 tomorrow! Here's some pics. 



Day One





 Here is an example of one of my kitchen nightmares. I was making stew which rapidly turned into a stir-fry. I went out for a walk while it "simmered" ;(



Six months with Dad, Nanny & Aunty Paige 
                                   


My Valentine 8 Months


12 Months


He went though a scrunchy face smile phase


Boston's first birthday party.



In Croatia!






In Scotland at Stirling Castle with Aunty Paige
15 months



Helmsley Castle on my fateful birthday weekend

xox









November 03, 2014

Dubrovnik Croatia

In August we travelled to Dubrovnik Croatia. It's one of those places I never thought I would go but after seeing some beautiful pictures as I scrolled through Pinterest I was convinced that this should be our next destination! (proof you should continue to while away your hours on Pinterest as it could direct the course of your life!)

Dubrovnik is wonderful place to visit. It's an awesome ancient city to explore and offers the most beautiful clear waters in the world. Travelling here with my one year old was no problems at all. The city is pretty stroller friendly although there are a lot of stairs.  It's important you walk the city walls to capture the beautiful views of the city and it's surrounds. You won't want to take your stroller but you can leave it at the bottom where you buy the tickets and either carry bub or use a carrier. It's best to do the walk early in the morning or at dusk as during the day in Summer it's probably too hot to have a baby out in the heat. We tried to go early but by 10am it's already pretty hot! It takes an hour so pace yourself! There are little rest stops and places you can buy fresh orange juice and water along the way in the event you need a break! I'm making it sound like it's Everest... It's not.

I've become a lover of pebble beaches! Growing up in Australia we're told we have the most beautiful beaches in the world which I still believe we do BUT if you have issues with sand getting into every nook then you should seek out the pebble beaches of Europe! Yes you may look like an 80 year old as your hobble down to the waters edge with a grimaced face but with water so clear and beautiful you will quickly forget the pain you experienced to get there. As the days went on out feet got tougher and we were running to the sea like Pamela Anderson.

We stayed at the Valamar President Dubrovnik hotel which was stunning. It has it's own private beach which was perfect. It's about a 15 minute bus ride into Old Town and the bus stop is right outside the hotel. We took a day trip from Old town to Lokrum Island. I recommend this highly as it's a quick ferry trip and the island is full of Peacocks which my son loved. You can rent bikes (we didn't) to explore the island fully. We just walked to the other side and swam in a beautful water hole that had a cool little cave then walked over to the sea and swam there too and sun bathed on the rocks then took in some shade in the park. Really worth a visit. 

Dubrovnik is somewhere I would definitely revisit. That's saying a lot because I usually like to explore new places! Croatia is a beautiful country filled with beautiful people. Thank you!