Tag Archives: Curious Life

Our Curious Life: Week 49

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Far out… how is the year almost done, and how the heck am I still so behind on these blogs… these were supposed to be an easier way to keep the blog up to date… but it would appear that more often than not other things have taken my time. Anyway, somehow here we are at week 49… what have we done?

Well despite this week only starting on the 2nd of December Christmas is in full swing at the George house. This week Isaac and I attended the annual Ladies night out, Isaac was our special guest, due to the fact that he is not a lady and I sung with the Grammarian Singers Christmas Concert. This is the first year in many that I have been caroling, so to speak, and while it looks different to the caroling that I used to do it has made this December feel a lot more like Christmas.

We’ve also had some non Christmas fun, we started the week with brunch to celebrate Meg’s birthday and a stroll through the botanical gardens. We celebrated Ann’s birthday on Saturday and right in the middle of the week we had out finally Thrive group for the year. We love our thrive group and they have been such an important part of our village. We also had a follow up sleep study for Isaac and you will be please to know that this time I remembered my pillow.

Oh and in a desperate attempt to finish this years list Isaac and I went to a mums and bubs session at the movies… which was not super successful… turns out Isaac does not care to watch a big TV… he would rather just crawl around on the floor. Ideally we would have done this earlier in the year, but it has actually has been very difficult to find a cinema that shows movies that aren’t super adult at their mums and bubs sessions. If we wanted to see action flicks or 50 shades of grey we would have been set, but I just couldn’t bring myself to take a baby with me. So, if any people that run the scheduling for cinemas… maybe stick with PG movies… or chick flics… leave the others for date night.

No Photos this week… too much to do, not enough time…

Our Curious Life: Week 26

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The last week of June has brought the Georges another quiet week at home, which has been nice… We have been doing some more slow cooking, some more sitting and rolling practice, some more walks and some learning on how to contribute to the house and still have some balance for fun things too.

There are 4 things though that have made this week different to other weeks…

1. Delicious Brunch and New Cafes… On Saturday I was able to catch up with Rachel and Pheebs and try a new delicious cafe.

2. Tuxedo Lunches… I didn’t know this was a thing, but apparently it is and Dave and Isaac had one while I was at brunch… honestly these is nothing cuter than a baby in a tux… or more attractive than your husband in a tux.. coming home to both of these things was quite a shock… but a good one… seriously check them out…

3. Who give a crap… the George’s do… so I mentioned these guys back in week 13… which was the end of March… a long long long time ago… anyway, back in week 13, we ordered our first box of who gives a crap toilet paper… you can check them out here… and this week we ordered our second box because it has taken us almost 4months to get through… I am not sure what kind of magic is in these toilet rolls that makes them last so long, but it is really nice not to have to be buying toilet paper all the time and helping the world a little all at the same time…

4. Couch to 5k… I have started running again… Dave managed to fix our treadmill that lives in the garage so now I can go for a run without having to worry about what Isaac will do… at the moment he is too little still to run with the pram… and I can’t leave him at home while I go.  Anyway, last week I started and because I didn’t want to jinx it… I waited until now to talk about it… but these are the first runs I have done since the beginning of last year… and even then there weren’t many… It feels like a lot longer… and really there were only a couple of run runs… as in not walks… since before I was pregnant with Joshua. On Friday I even ran outside by myself… which for someone who seems to take the whole house out with her at the moment was very strange to do… just me, my iPod and that’s it… and boy did it feel good…. and it crosses no. 12 off the list…

Oh… and it turns out June is another month that finishes on a Saturday… so you will once again have to wait for Isaac’s to tick over his next month milestone and just enjoy the month of pictures…

Our Curious Life: Week 25

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Every now and then, I think I am finally getting the hang of this parenting thing… I get through a few days in a row nailing the feeds, doing some exercise and even attempting some domestic life tasks during the middle of the day nap, that I am slowly learning how to make happen… and then comes a day that completely destroys the illusion of control… there are tears from Isaac and from me… there is no routine, no order and the house looks like a small hurricane has been through it as all the of the attempts for peace… toys, food, milk are scattered through every room of the house.  That was week 25.

It has been my third week in a row without an appointment… and it is very very very strange.  I suddenly have so much more time at home… I don’t seem to be rushing from one place to another… and although there have been times where I have felt isolated and a little lonely, for the most part it has felt empowering.  I feel like I can actually get on top of some of the things I need to do.  I have time to make food for Isaac and for Dave and I, I have time to go for long walks with Isaac, I have time to sit down and blog, because I had time to do the chores, so I don’t need to feel guilty about it.  I have also realised that for me, the secret to not getting lonely when I have a day or a few days at home, is to make sure I’ve planned for it… that I know it is coming.  That I have chosen to be at home… because if I am not ready for it, I hate it and that is when things fall apart… but when I plan for it… it’s the best.

In a strange way, now that I have been at home a bit more, I am beginning to feel like I am actually on maternity leave.  I am actually able to start working out how to mum and live…  I am finally finding my feet.  Before this point, I had been waiting for something… which I guess, now that it is here, is just time… time for me to choose what to do with.  Time to enjoy Isaac and not just survive between appointments.  Time to choose who we see and actually be able to offer to do things and go places without having to work out where to fit it in… This is what I had imagined it would be like when I was still pregnant with Isaac, and even though it will be a much shorter period than I would have liked, I am glad we made it to this point before I have to go back to work.

So what have we been doing with our gift of time? Well, Dave and I cleaned out the study, so that I have my desk back, which I means I can sit here and type in a fun purpose built space just for me, rather than on the couch where I get immediately distracted.  I finally used my slow cooker.  We were given the slow cooker as a wedding present over 7 years ago… Dave has used it… but this is the first time I have… and I love it… I am a slow cooker convert.  I have even started googling the best way to tackle some condensation mold we have on some window sills.  I have also been contributing a little more with all the other household chores… and even though it’s never my first instinct.  I like the feeling of accomplishing the tasks and the clean house it leaves behind… especially now that I am spending a lot more time here.

This week we also used the last of the frozen breastmilk… I stopped expressing back in April, but thanks to a period of greater supply than demand while Isaac was in hospital, we were able to stockpile.  At one stage we had three freezers full of the liquid gold as it is often called.  But, now it has all been used.  The last bits were spread out over a number of months as Isaac only has the breastmilk when we are at home… and previously we hadn’t been home all that much… but now it’s over to solids and formula.  I am a bit sad that it is all gone.  It felt like it would last forever… but I am thankful that I was able to be able to make it and that he tolerated it… the female body is pretty gross… I mean great… it’s totally great!

We also farewelled Matt and Fee at their final service at Hobson’s Bay corps before they move.  Isaac and I caught up with my high school buddies and their kiddies, and I was reminded how blessed I am to be able to call this group of crazy strong women my friends.  We had dinner at Dave’s mum’s and I thoroughly enjoyed watching Isaac with his Grandma and Grandpa, Auntie Ness and Uncle Hugh… family is so so so good.  We practiced our sitting and rolling and I can finally say Isaac can both sit (no. 22 on his list) and roll*… (*at least in one direction).  And on Saturday morning Dave, Isaac and I tackled ArtVo at the Docklands… which is made by some supper supper clever people.  It is something that I have wanted to do for a while, thanks to all the fun photos I have seen on other peoples social media… so we finally made it out there and it didn’t disappoint… it was great and we have so many fun photos from it.  Plus it is now off the list.

So there you go… that’s week 25.

 

Our Curious Life: Week 24

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Hello week 24, and thank you! You have been just what I needed. After getting back from Brisbane on Monday, I think it is safe to say that we were all stuffed! So this week has thankfully been very low key… I have been trying not to go out too much so that Isaac can sleep in his own bed during the day and we can focus on getting our solid meals in… three of them plus his milk feeds.

It’s been really nice to be a bit of a homebody… something I didn’t really expect. When I found myself in a similar situation last week, I found it all a little disconcerting. Having nothing planned felt uncomfortable, but this week it has been refreshing and restoring. I feel a little more on top of my motherhood list… the food situation seems to be improving and I am getting the hang of a couple of regular naps and I’m trying to make the most of Isaac’s awake time rather than just spending it wondering if he should be having a nap. One of the benefits of the big weekend has been a tired little boy, so the naps have been a little longer this week which has meant I have had some time to try and catch up on some blogging, which has also been wonderful.

But we haven’t spent the whole week at home, we also did a couple of fun things. On Thursday and Friday Isaac and I checked out the updated Glen shopping centre… firstly with mother’s group and then with my mum. After mother’s group on Thursday night Isaac and I went to the brand new woollies to grab some food for dinner, I also decided that despite having a loaded up pram with Isaac and the groceries I had already gathered, I could indeed manage a slab of diet coke as well, seeing as though they were on sale. When I made it to self serve to pay I started with the coke so that I could put it down ready to carry to the car once I had organised everything else. As I swung the slab up to the scanner, the side feel out and cans went everywhere. Some busted open creating small puddles of diet coke and showering Isaac and I in a fine diet coke mist… he thought it was hilarious… I was mortified and quickly asked someone to come and help… we went back and got a more secure box and thankfully made it home without another incident… but it wasn’t quite the quick shopping experience I had expected. But as a fun side effect, now every time Dave or I make the noise of a fizzing can Isaac giggles.

We also had dinner with two lots of very good friends, one as a goodbye, and the other as a welcome home. On Friday, we had dinner with our friends Rachel and Dustin… their’s was the welcome home as they have just returned from a holiday. We had such a nice night, delicious food, great company and an open fire… perfect for a freezing cold Melbourne Friday night.  Earlier in the week, on Tuesday, we had dinner with our friends Matt and Fee before they head over to Canada for a couple of years for work. Matt and Fee have been friends of ours for a very long time. In fact, I think Fee might have been one of the first people I confessed my love of Dave to when I was still a teenager, so it seems appropriate that she was the one that conducted our Wedding a few years later. They are the type of friends that keep you accountable and check in to make sure you are spiritually on track. Every time I hang out with them I come away thinking about how intentional I am in my faith and devotions and what I need/want to be doing better in that area of my life. Every time we hang out with them there is also a lot of laughing, they are super fun. This visit was no different, and while it might be the last one we will have on this side of the world for a while, I know that the distance and the change in chapter won’t really change our friendship. We will miss them a lot, but the world doesn’t seem that small any more thanks to the power of the internet (which I still think is kind of magic).

On Saturday we used some gold class vouchers to go to the movies and because it was an unplanned adventure, we took Isaac with us. We saw Incredibles 2, which means that Isaac and I, both got to cross seeing a Disney movie with each other off our lists (no. 17 on Isaac’s list and no. 71 on mine). He was a dream, watching at least half (the beginning and then end) and having a nice nap in the middle… seriously this kid is a superstar! I also crossed no. 1 off my list this week, using my time at home to conquer folding fitted sheets… so far I have only attempted Isaac’s cot and bassinet sheets, but they are still fitted and I feel like I have done enough that I could transfer my new skills over to a real size fitted sheet!

Thanks week 24 for letting us breathe again.

Our Curious Life: Week 23

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Ok… so this blog is going up a little last because we spent the long weekend in Brisbane (which you can read about here)… and really it’s just filling in the gaps between two big weekends, the long one… and Isaac’s dedication the Sunday before (which you can read about here)… which really just leaves Monday – Thursday… So let me tell you about that.

This week has been pretty much just recovering from the dedication on Sunday and planning for heading up to Brisbane… both of which have taken much more brain power than I thought they would. But the good news is we were pretty much recovered and ready to go by the time Friday came around. Although on Friday itself, I did find myself feeling a little worked up and anxious about making it to the airport and getting on the flight with all of our stuff.

For the first time in a very long time we didn’t have much planned for the week. Which turned out to be a blessing. At the start of the week I found myself feeling a bit lost, but we used the week to work on our routine, eating solids, rolling, sitting and the dreaded tummy time. We also rugged up and did some more walking where I got to test out my new sneakers (thanks fit pig). I decided to get my home puree game back on… well at least attempt it again and we have started trying to convince Isaac his food doesn’t have to be pureed… we had limited success which improved slightly with the addition of the mesh food sucking sock thing that seem to be all the rage. We had a surprise dinner with Pa, Uncle Darcy and Auntie Grace and on Thursday I also leveled up in my motherhood skills by wearing Isaac in the Baby Bjorn while I did some grocery shopping, shopping is a lot easier when you are hands free.

So what started and ended as a big week, gave me some pretty nice down time in the middle… thanks week 23.

Our Curious Life: Week 22

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Um… May is over… and this year is flying… seriously flying… I wish there was a way to make time slow down, more so now then ever before. Of course there are some times I wish it would speed up… you know, like when Isaac is losing his mind… but on the whole getting Got to put the brakes on a just a little would be welcomed. I don’t know whether it’s having a small person… or just getting older, but I am really learning the truth of the saying ‘the days are long, but the years are short’… whoever said that is a wise wise person.

This is what May looked like at the George’s…

The last week of May and the first two days of June were spent mostly shopping… shopping for food and outfits for Isaac’s dedication, shopping for sneakers with my fit pig money and shopping for taps for our recently renovated laundry… which isn’t finished yet… hence no reveal… but it will happen… eventually… hopefully after the school holidays.

We also spent a lot of time walking… trying to get fit, but mostly trying to justify the amount of money I was about to spend on sneakers. I have very expensive and specific sneaker taste! And we practiced our selfie game… I think Isaac is getting pretty good at it.

On Friday we experienced the mother of all poopsplosions while Mum and I were at eastland and I was very very thankful to have mum there to assist in the clean up… but I guess these are just the experiences that you have to have at least once when parenting.

We finished the week with a very cold big band rehearsal ready for our weekend away next weekend… and I decided it was finally safe enough to cross no. 8 of my list… because Isaac is still sleeping though like a champion, so I think it is finally safe to admit that I am sleeping through the night.  Oh and Isaac finally tried the Jolly Jumper he got for Christmas and he loves it!

Oh and just like every other end of the month blog so far… we get to celebrate Isaac being another month older… Isaac is now 10months old and he is very cheeky. He is very tolerant of Dave and I and all of the things that we take him to, but he also knows exactly what he wants and he isn’t afraid to tell us, very very loudly. He loves to talk and sing, and we are just so very very proud of him.

 

Our Curious Life: Week 21

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Alright… I am super behind on these and I will catch up because I am a structure lover and adamant rule follower so they will all need to be there eventually… and right now I don’t even know what week we are up to, but right now I am waiting for an appointment for Isaac and he is asleep in his pram so I am blogging in the foyer. But never fear, by the time I push post I will have worked out what week we are up to, and you will already know because it will have been the title of this blog….

UPDATE: The moment I finished the above paragraph… he woke up, and while happy to entertain himself in the pram… apparently it isn’t a good look to ‘be constantly on your phone’ with your child watching… I was about to write that I am at home and he is asleep again… but that’s a lie… I gotta go again…

UPDATE 2: I am yet another week behind… because I started this blog last week… but this week I have found my diary surprisingly empty, and poor little Isaac has a cold so he is having a bonus snooze… But right now I am feeling productive because I have just whipped up 2 slice bases for the choir concert tomorrow night, ready for the chocolate later tonight which will double as a delicious dessert when I get to lick the bowl. I have made my self a coffee, popped some worship music on… and now I am tempting fate by sitting down with my computer to try and smash out at least one blog… please please please.

Right now it is Tuesday the 29th of May… so rather than me attempting to tell you about this week… while it would be on time, would also be a guess seeing as the week has only just started… so let me tell you about last week… week 21…

Week 21 (see now that I know what week it is I am going to use it all the time!) saw the return of some exercise motivation (last week was a bit of a ride off after a pretty good start the week before). To date I have been eating like I have been breastfeeding, which I am no longer doing… and I have been a little restricted on the types of exercise I can do… my body is not quite the same as it was before 2 pregnancies… but a couple of weeks ago I started a mums and bubs exercise group and I have decided that I can definitely walk… surely I can walk… so that’s what we have been doing… Well Isaac rides in comfort and I walk and this week we have walked with lots of people… my mum, my sister-in-law, my friend Rachel, Dave and Dex. I have also decided that even though I might not always feel like it, actually getting out each day for some exercise is a good example to set and a good habit for Isaac and I to have together. PLUS… the fit pig is back (no. 59)… and I desperately need new sneakers… so I have to exercise, exercise, exercise earn some extra cash and buy the sneakers… On Friday we did our first solo walk for the week and the weather was glorious! There is a lake hidden about a 1km and a bit from our house which is so beautiful and every time I walk up there I am taken back by this little slice of perfection hidden in Knox. We should walk up to the lake more often…

This week has also been full of appointments, and this week we have had some wins and some loses… well not loses, just not wins. The ‘not win’ is that the Oxygen stays for a little bit longer… but the ‘win’ is that the hip brace is off… all the time… and it is great! Although, it turns out, that without the brace on Isaac is much longer in the bassinet which means he may soon have to go into his own room, and I am not sure I am really ready for that… I have decided that I am most definitely a clingy parent… maybe even a helicopter… Anyway… to celebrate being about to leave the hip brace off Dave and I decided to reenact a clip we had both been tagged in on Facebook. The clip with the baby with helium balloons attached to their limbs having the time of its life. We got the balloons and the baby… and a small amount of enjoyment from Isaac… he didn’t really understand what the heck we were doing… but the celebration was there… kind of… in our hearts anyway.

What else happened… We also visited my Gran in hospital who, thankfully appears to be on the mend which is such an incredible miracle and answer to prayer. We fixed the blind in our bedroom so now there is artificial light AND day light! Which is such a silly small thing, but it is so nice to be able to look out the window. Oo and we went to a park party for Isaac’s Auntie Hannah where we were able to catch up with Dave’s family… all of them!

So there you go… that’s week 21…. and ironically, even though it is finished and ready to publish… the internet is down at our place… so it has to wait a little longer…

Our Curious Life: Week 20

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Week 20 has been intense… not a constant, full on intense… just an undercurrent of lots happening. It started with Mother’s Day… this Mother’s day wasn’t my first mother’s day but in many ways it felt like it. This time last year we had one angle in heaven and baby Isaac secretly growing. Last year we spent the day telling our mum’s about our new little one on the way, and to be honest it was a nice distraction from the reality of the day. I found it hard to feel like a mum when Josh wasn’t there… I received lots of well wishes but for most of the day I just wanted to pretend that I wasn’t a mum, because it was easier and I didn’t feel like I was. I know that having a baby earth side doesn’t make me any more of a mum now, but last year I just felt like a bit of a fraud… like I was celebrating a day that wasn’t really for me. This year it felt a whole lot more real… being able to carry Isaac around, almost like a badge of honour on the day.  It was such a different experience from before. We had brunch together, I got thrown up on a few times, and we had dinner with my mum.  Isaac also made some Keepsake for His Grandma, Nanna and Nanna Naz.

Monday was Dave and I’s 7th wedding anniversary… 7 years… and so much adventure. It’s crazy to think that we are still only really at the beginning and there will be hopefully many more lots of 7years to come. I have told you all many times how wonderful Dave is and it is still true. Marrying him is still the best decision I have ever made and the last 2 years have just proved this over and over again. On Monday we received some pretty scary news that my Grandmother was very very unwell and that she needed a miracle, so instead of meeting him for lunch at school, he came home in his lunch break and played with Isaac so that I could have moment to myself, shower and work out what to do next. Over the last 7 years I have truely learnt the meaning of many of the vows that we made 7 years ago… in sickness and in health, in good times and in bad… he is my go to, my best friend, my greatest supporter and the love of my life.

So all that happened in the first 2 days of week 20… the rest of the week remained busy… with a undercurrent of anxiety and fear that I couldn’t quite shake… but we did make time for some fun things, like ramping up our efforts on getting Isaac to try solids… I still haven’t mastered my home cooking yet and everything that I do make for Isaac is usually rejected in a generous display of fake gaging… so I am thanking Jesus for pre-made baby food at the moment because he loves it… well most of it… we will work on the home made stuff once he progresses past the puree stage. We also took a trip to costco which is always fun. We had a couple of appointments for Isaac and the biggest small thing we did this week was get the light fixed in our bedroom. We broke the light fitting when we tried to upgrade it… and while Dave was in Mt Gambier I broke the blockout blind and it has been stuck fully down… so our room has been very dark for what feels like forever… but has really only been a week and a bit… but now the light is fixed and it is magical… such a simple thing… so much joy… now we just have to get the blind fixed.

We finished the week with a 6km walk which was a fundraiser for World Vision held at Dave’s School. Why 6km… because that’s the average distance people in the developing world walk for water that is usually contaminated… While we weren’t so great with the fundraising ourselves the school did a great job and our registration fees provided clean water for one person each which is pretty great. We walked 6km so they wouldn’t have to anymore. It’s only a small thing, but again it brings a heck of a lot of joy to me… and the person with clean water.

Oh and Isaac graduated from the capsule to a real car seat… which doesn’t sound like a big deal, but it means my tiny baby isn’t so tiny anymore.

So we made it through week 20… let’s hope week 21 is a little lighter on the soul.

Our Curious Life: Week 19

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Hello week 19…. and welcome home Davo. Over the weekend Dave was away with school, but on Sunday he returned and both Isaac and I were alive, fed and clean… which for my first weekend solo parenting is a pretty great achievement. We finished our solo parenting weekend today with a catch up with Auntie Ness and dropping almost everything we had brought with us to church on to the floor at some stage during the service.

Week 19 felt busy, with a mixture of appointments and catch ups… I was beginning to forget what it was like to fit all these medical appointments into one week, in fact, it feels like a long time since we have had a week quite like this one. Isaac and I spent the night at the hospital on Monday with a surprise sleep study opportunity, and I was reminded that you should always take your own pillow to a hospital… hospital pillows are so crunchy especially when you are trying to stay quite so the baby gets a good night sleep so he can show everyone how great he is doing. Isaac had his eyes tested and they are perfect which is great news for a baby that has spent his whole life on Oxygen.. (fun fact: Stevie Wonder has Retinopathy of Prematurity… which means he is blind because the oxygen he was exposed to as a premature baby). We made use of some beautiful weather to do some family walks and we also had our latest Maternal Child Health Appointment.  Amazingly Isaac is now on the charts for his actual age and not just his corrected age! What a champion.

We brunched with my friends from Uni, Claire and Flic and we also got to meet Baby Jaylen when we caught up with Julia. He is super super cute and Julia is a super mum!

This week I also got my haircut… which might not seem like a big deal but this will be the third time since Josh passed away… so basically every 6months, and just like my last haircut, it was a gift from my mum. I love getting my hair cut and coloured but I find it hard to justify spending money on myself on things that are such a luxury when we are down to one income and there are some many other things we should be spending our money on. Thankfully it’s a pretty great practical gift and my mum is super generous. So thanks to her I feel like a new woman again.

We finished this week with a celebratory lunch for Ness’ birthday and early Mother’s day celebration with Dave’s Mum… it was delicious and Dave and Isaac wore matching outfits… because why the heck not.

 

Our Curious Life: Week 14

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Oh Man I love Easter… for so many reasons… including the family time and holidays that come with it. We spent the long weekend down at Inverloch which is always a great way to spend a long weekend… seriously how can you go wrong? We did lots of nothing and just got to hang out together, which is it’s own kind of magic.

This week we have also quickly embraced life with Daddy home. I used to hate the school holidays, mostly because I was jealous that I still had to work… but now they are the best, Dave is home… which means there is company and help, a pretty neat combo.

We ordered all of the things that we need for our laundry reno from Ikea… its so close now I can almost taste it and I am so excited.

On Friday we got to hang out with Auntie Ness, she is the best!  And yesterday… I crossed something off my list and I am still not quite sure how I feel about it… but yesterday I crossed no. 64 off the list… I wore a real bra… as in not a maternity bra… it even had underwire… I know, outrageous.

So there you go… week 14…

Oh and I almost forgot… Sunday was the 1st of April which means Isaac is 8months old… he is tough, funny and super stubborn and these new little giggles are just the greatest!