Hello there poppets! / L Plate Mama

You know those mornings when you have the internal discussion with yourself about whether you are well enough to go to work, or not? Your arms are heavy, your throat is sore and croaky, and your head is thudding, but is it really that bad? Would a couple of painkillers and a bit of distraction take the edge off? But what if you are infectious and make everyone else sick? They won't thank you for that.... I didn't realise the weight of this debate when it is about your little one. Although my wee man can now say 'toa' for toast, 'mil' for milk, and 'toot toot' for train, among many other half and almost full words, he hasn’t quite managed "Mum, I'm really not well enough to go to day care today, please stay home and look after me". He had an inner ear infection, was not contagious (the Dr said), and was clingy and whiny but not too bad. In the few months I had been back at work, I'd had to take at least 4 off because my bonny boy def...

What is the name of your local pub? My local is the Bridge. If you live in my motherland it could be something like The Bell and Crown, or the Spinning Wheel? When you hear these names for the first time do you envisage an old brass bell tolling away and a bejeweled regal headpiece, can you picture the spoked circle twirling, do you see a structure crossing a body of water? Take That, Rolling Stones, the Arctic Monkeys, Architects in Helsinki - band names are especially good ones, continued exposure to the names causes them to morph into describing just the band, and the frosty apes and tacky batman bubbled meanings are lost. The expression ‘baby steps’ is commonly used to mean slow but steady progress, watching my little man learn to walk gave me an opportunity to think about this idiom a bit more. Bub started attending family day care a week or so before he took his first steps, his adjustment to his new environment and routine took a while. This can partly be attributed to him on...

When a deadline is looming do you suddenly become obsessed with the tiniest details of something that is not in any way important or useful? Like scrubbing the bathroom grouting when you should be packing for your holiday. Or sorting out your sock draw when you should be finishing that essay. How about using your spare time to make bunting - BUNTING - for your son’s first birthday party when everything else needs doing.... I do not know what possessed me to make bunting. I was going through one of my interior decorating/renovating dream periods, (these little day dreams are good for mulling over when patting and shhssssing Bub to sleep). I fantasize about making over my home, putting a claw foot bath, installing decking and an outdoor kitchen, changing all the blinds... I buy a magazine or two and trawl the internet, get excited over colours and textures and things MATCHING , until the cost of it hits home. Then I realise these dreams are not going to become a reality, and ...

Things change like the wind with a baby. One day Bub happily devours half a banana (not for a while grant you, they're a bit pricey for willy nilly consumption!), the next it is like the taste offends his very being. One morning everyone and everything is worth greeting with double handed waves and beaming smiles, but by the afternoon nothing will warrant the pudgy fist to rise. You hear parents say "... Scotty does so and so"' what they mean is Scotty does so and so today, and maybe he did it yesterday, and maybe even last week. Tomorrow he'll stop and do something completely different, and this will be the new reality. Scotty parents will then be heard espousing this new behavior as the norm. A couple of weeks ago Mr Chops had a rash even google could not identify, so we headed to the doctors. Chops allowed the Doctor to examine him, poke that stick thing in his mouth, pull his arms above his head - he was prodded and poked without the slightest trace of pro...

There is special quality about children that reawakens your sense of joy and wonder in the world. Yesterday my Bub made the short, uncertain steps from baby to toddler. You could see the excitement on his face, so determined to pick up his little pudgy foot and put it infront of the other. And in the microsecond before he lost his balance and toppled forward into my arms, the pure joy of having achieved those two wobbly steps. Congratulations matey! It is such a privilege to see him learn new skills, discover new things, take pleasure in the simple wonderful things that adults take for granted. One of the windows in our front room over looks our little garden and the leaning Norfolk Pine, almost every time Bub looks out this window he smiles “Can you see the tree Bubba? Can you see the branches?”, he reaches out his arms and clenches and unclenches his fist, his main form of communication at the moment bar the baby babble. Bella Dog sneezing always has him in fits of giggles, and h...

Have you ever really wanted something, and really not wanted it at the same time? Maybe a new job; new challenges better money, but you’d have to leave your comfortable routine and your lovely work mates? Maybe moving to a bigger better house, but it’ll cost you more and the commute to work is longer? You want it, but you don’t want it. Like wanting a baby, but not the birth part. I’ve never felt quite as conflicted as the week leading up to my 10 month old Bub and I attending sleep school. We had colds, felt generally miserable and every cuddly co-sleep was bitter sweet. We had been waiting for months for the placement, I knew I had to have assistance to try anymore strategies, especially less ‘gentle’ ones (read leaving Bub to cry). But I didn’t know if I was ready to go cold turkey on night feeds and night cuddles. The morning we were meant to start I had decided Bub was too snotty, and we couldn’t possibly endanger the general welfare of the other baby participants, and their ...

The other week (now several weeks ago...) I attended a sleep talk put on by the maternal child health nurses, it coincided with the wee man's nap time, so I organized a babysitter as I really thought the afternoon would be messy and difficult if I tried to take him along. Leaving the grouchy baby I felt awful, but I knew it was the best thing. Turning up at the community centre the nurse remarked, 'oh you're childless'. Much sleep deprived and full of adrenaline from trying to get there on time, I defensively blurted ' yes, somehow I seem to exist without him and him without me'. Her comment hit a nerve. New mums, maybe all mums are overflowing with guilt. Guilt for anything and everything. But there is something else as I have mentioned before; going out without Bub is weird, sometimes unnerving. I got some great advice when Bub was days old, that it is important to go for a walk, go to the shops etc bub-less so your identity doesn't get too tied up, yo...

Listen!

It’s bedtime, your body and mind are ready and willing for 8 hours of restful slumber. You complete your night time ablutions and tuck yourself into your soft warm bed. A few moments later, you have drifted off into the land of nod, your body rejuvenating, mind unfurling. The morning comes, your alarm clock pulls you from your dreams, and you stretch and yawn and up you get to a new day, with your sleep bank full, body rested, mind recharged. Perhaps it doesn’t work exactly like that for you, maybe thoughts about work are swirling around your mind like a whirlwind when you’re lying in bed, perhaps you’ve an injury or aliment niggling at you, or an argument is replaying in your mind, with all the things you should have said burning on your lips. Perhaps once you have finally drifted off loud neighbours, or the local cats fighting awake you from your slumber preventing you from going back to sleep. Your nights are broken, and the mornings come with your body heavy, limbs aching, eyes b...

The Bub is a heavy little vegemite, approximately 10 kilos of chubby legs, arms, big gorgeous baby head with plump cheeks. At 7 months he doesn't really help to carry himself, he's upright and his fingers may curl around my sleeve but compared to a one year old weighing 10 kilos, he feels as if he's double the weight. I carry him on my right hip, always. Or I did until it lead to my most recent baby related injury. All L plate mamas will tell you their backs hurt, probably their shoulders, and perhaps their wrists too. Looking after a baby, especially a newborn is physical and repetitive. I have found I my right arm is stronger, and better equipped to readjust his weight after Bub sees something he likes and launches his whole being in that direction. This hip jut, arm back and round business lead to 2 of my spinal bones (I was so worn out and brain dead when I went to the physio I couldn’t recall when my vertebra were called) being out of alignment – hence a sore back...

Hello! I’m sorry for the long absence, the boy is more active and demanding now and the opportunities for blogging have been swallowed up by arranging various housey things. I’ve missed blogging, there is so much going on with the daily developments and joyful moments of raising a wee man. Plus the hair-pulling exasperation of ‘why is he not sleeping’! This morning I love him more than ever! He is just so warm and wonderful and clever and amazing. It is such a gift to see the simple pleasure he takes from discovering an air vent for the ducted heating in the floor, the beaming smile he bestows on the dog (or a light fitting which he is especially partial to), the relish with which the nectarine was devoured for his breakfast. Here in our warm home (with freshly painted window frames) with the autumn wind encircling us, I feel very lucky. Bub is now 7 months old. Yesterday we went for lunch with a friend and her lovely 5 year old daughter. The cafe was too small to bring the pram in, ...

On the train to the city, second week in a row. Adventures for the boy and a good outing for me. He loves all the people on the train, the beeping of the doors. His little eyes flutter with the stimulation. At the moment he is still waking up, and the 'stunned mullet' look is adorning his wee face. The pram straps are very good for sucking (I must get around to giving them a good clean). I wanted to write about last night, now please be cautioned, the following is not happy stuff. As I was giving the boy his dream feed, and he was all snuffley and gorgeous and vulnerable it made me think. Not good things to be mulling over directly before bed but I couldn't help feeling for all those babies and very small children in war zones, where the sanctity of sleep is broken by fear and pain and death. The instances where families have bundled their children up and escaped or attempted to escape in the night, fleeing from political or religious persecution. Hushing their precious lo...

In with the new, out with the old.... I’m not much of a Christmas person, however much I try I still seem to be a little bit grumpy on the day. I love Christmas carols, (utterly gutted that I only discovered the Elf channel on the digital radio this week – Christmas carols 24/7! The Other Half was relieved), I love Christmas food, mince pies are a gift from heaven, and in previous years pre-bub I thoroughly enjoyed partaking in a tipple or 4. It’s the key bit of Christmas I struggle with, Family. Christmas can put so much pressure on families; emotional, financial, spiritual. We lost my mum when I was 16, and Christmas after that just highlighted the gaping hole where she should have been. Being so far away from my family now makes the festive season tough, despite the wonderfulness of my partner’s family. Ofcourse this year we had the little man to celebrate Christmas with, not that he had half a clue what was going on. We didn’t get him any presents for Christmas day, having been g...