Friday, March 27, 2009

Under the Doona

Having a Bed Day today, to catch up from another frantic fews weeks and let the body have some R & R. So I thought I should do a bit of a blog catch up, seeing I have absolutely no excuse!

I am a little alarmed that it is the end of March, which should take a lot longer to arrive at than it has this year. This means were are at least at the end of our of birthday season here, which starts at the end of October and rolls steadily to March - with my own day nicely isolated away in July! 

I cannot believe my "puppy" will have a birthday of her own in around 3 weeks! She is such a gorgeous dog - she was at the front of the queue for cute genes and stops people everywhere she goes. I really must take some new photos of her (let alone scrap some!) but time just slips through my fingers. Scrapbooking has altogether taken a back seat, despite my best wishes: my mojo has just fluttered away and even when I make time with myself, it isn't the creative flow I am used to, which makes me sad. I still immerse myself in scrapping culture online and in magazines etc and just hope it will return soon. There is obviously a reason and I must be content knowing that, even if I have no inkling what it could be!

My paid-work life continues to give me such satisfaction, I pinch myself to make sure it is really, truly real! The opening of our Breastfeeding Centre in October seems to have been a catalyst for all sorts of karma falling in to place and the feeling you get from being there is tangible. It is a place I love to be and it seems others do too, which has me stoked. We are achieving so much already off our list of dreams and more opportunities just keep opening up. We are very blessed.

On the home front, I have it on good authority that I no longer have any "children", as they are now all officially adults. Nice to know that when I trip over their stuff LOL! Our crowded nest continues to function far more effectively than you would imagine and even the addition of a new (Melissa's) car has not proven too challenging to accomodate. We have resolved one of our household dilemmas by resuming having our meat/Fruit & veg delivered, with the addition of bread and milk, and that means the masses are eating better despite the revolving front door. You know, I have heard that our house is actually "unpeopled" at times, however it is so rare and random, a burglar could never count on it!!!

My latest obession is my new Blackberry Bold, which I LURVE already! My poor old PDA was dragging me down having to haul it and my Motorola phone everywhere I went and I decided to just bite the bullet and streamline. With the added benefits of a real keyboard (so I can SMS back now!) and the ability to email, access Facebook and all else that assists my abilities to function, I am very happy. I did compare the iPhone with the BB Bold and all I really discovered is they each have pros and cons and neither camp will recommend the enemy! I went for the BB because I like a real keyboard, not a touch screen. And once the "little " hiccup with Telstra's set up is resolved, I will be online-on-the-road, which will make my chiropractor happy as I won't need to haul my faithful laptop quite so much.

Speaking of Facebook - I did say it was dangerous and boy - is it ever! With over 700 Friends, it is a communication dream for someone like me and I am having so much fun catching up with old friends and making new ones. And now I am on Twitter as well - there is no hope! I am doomed to be attached to the internet forever!

Oh, and lest you think I spend every moment online, I am really enjoying my two yoga classes each week and can feel the improvement in my body. AND I have been taking swimming lessons once a week for two months and am making progress on my non-existant Freestyle technique, which stalled with a primary school hissy fit almost 40  years ago! My ego is boosted discovering I am a very good and very fast backstroker and once I get this Freestyle thing conquered, I hope to be able to swim regularly for exercise.

And this is the last week of restricted dog access on the beach for "summer" so Molly and I will be walking there even more! All this combined with better eating and I feel a new wardrobe coming on to fit the new, lean me :) who has been swaddled in a rounder me in recent years!

So there is me, in a nutshell - which is a good place for a nut, really :)

Monday, March 9, 2009

Quarter Century


Twenty five years ago right now, my life changed forever.

In a moment, I moved into the role of mother.

Today Melissa is celebrating her 25th birthday and I am reflecting on that life-changing moment. Up until then, like most pregnant women, I had focussed on Having a Baby!!! I was "fully prepared", which meant I had read all the pregnancy, child birth and parenting books on the library shelves (twice), I had all the "necessities" as proscribed in those texts, I had completed my antenatal classes and packed my hospital bag. I had even gotten my head around the last-minute (37 weeks)shift from natual birth to elective caeserean.

I really believed we were all set!

Isn't it the biggest joke of all - letting expectant first-time mothers lull themseleves into a state of preparedness? As if anything could prepare you for the cataclismic shift about to occur in your life. A change which has absolutely nothing to do with 3 dozen whiter-than-white cloth nappies!

You see, I am still recovering from that shock that hits with more power than any earthquake, cyclone or bushfire and leaves such long-lasting after effects. The laughable suggestion that the umbilical cord is severed soon after birth, when all mothers know it is a magical connection that lasts for eternity, stretching but never breaking as your infant becomes toddler, child becomes teenager and hurtles into life as an adult - all while you were briefly blinking the tears of joy from your eyes.

Mothering really is a career of a lifetime.