Tag Archives: Friends

2019 List Update… Autumn Edition

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Ok round 2… List update here we go… strap in…

March

Once we hit March, our listing adventures slowed down a little, but we still crossed off 4 things… I splurged with a brunch alone and blogged at my old favourite cafe which was no. 68… but I already blogged about that here, and while I thought I might get a few more weeks to do more blogging brunches, I was mistaken as in March I also returned to school to do some relief teaching, no. 7 which was an end to my bonus child free days (completed: 15/03).

When looking up things to pop on my list this year I came across a recommendation for the dragon’s eggs in Kallista so I added it to the list and on a sunny weekend Dave, Isaac and I went for a trek through the bush to find them. It turned out to be quite a trek too as we took a wrong turn very early on and what should have been a 300m walk ended up being a 7km loop, but it was an adventure and we did find the nests… to be honest, they were actually quite hard to find and a little underwhelming after 7km… but we found them and that is all no. 46 on the list required (completed: 16/03).

Our last March list activity was no. 81, have a picnic (completed: 15/03). With daylight savings coming to an end, we decided to make the most of the light, the warmth and the oval across the road and have a fish and chip picnic… judging by our faces in the list picture… it was a success!

April

April was also a mildly successful listing month… we crossed off another 4 things… No. 9, my 50th parkrun, which you can read about here. We also crossed off our third zoo for the year venturing out to Werribee open range zoo, which was super fun and crossed no. 4 off the list (completed: 11/04). I have always had a love hate relationship with the zoo… I had bad date there as a teenager and until now when I have thought about going to the zoo it has always come with a uuuuggghhhh feeling… but going to the zoo with kids is totally different. We took Isaac to the zoo for the first time last year and he loved it and the older he gets the more he loves it. It’s nice to be able to watch him take the lead and decide what he wants to see, plus now that Dave and I are members… and we have been to all three all the trips from this point on are free… and a good day out. Welcome back to my life zoo trips.

This month we also started our brief, but enjoyable love affair with Hello Fresh! I love things that are all ready to go, and I love not having to decide what to eat… so Hello Fresh was a winner for us… but eventually we got sick of it… and it’s pretty expensive, but I now that we’ve tried it, we can keep it in the back of our minds as a back up for whenever we need it again, thanks no. 94 (completed: 08/04)

In April I also went to my only footy match for the year (no. 26, completed: 22/04)… Hawks v Geelong for Easter Monday, I always forget how much I enjoy going to the footy… but I can’t tell if it’s just catching up with my Aunite Barb because we spend a lot of the game just chatting.

May

In May I managed to cross another 4 things off the list… consistency seems to be the flavour of the list this year. I finally volunteered at park run… no.44, which you can read about here, and I took myself out for a cup of tea at Robinsons bookstore at the Glen and it was lovely. While I was there I read… although I read on my kindle which felt a little bit like a slap in the face for a bookstore, but what can you do… I am a messing person and I didn’t want to get food or tea on a book. I love bookstores… but I love bookstores with cafes even more… no. 79 done and dusted (completed: 08/05)

I don’t think it’s a surprise that I am a hard core trekie…. ok, maybe not hard core, hard core, but I do love star trek. Since finishing Next Gen last year I have watched all of Star Trek Enterprise and all of Star Trek Voyager, leaving me with Deep Space Nine and the original series, both of which I have now also finished… I told you, I love it! But all no. 29 asked for was deep space nine (completed: 09/05) so it’s done and some! I do now have a fairly large Star Trek shaped hole in my life, so if you know of a good series I should commit to, let me know.

May also gave me the single greatest renovation to our house… completing no. 86 (completed 12/05) we got a bath and it is great… I mean sure it’s mostly for Isaac and he also loves it… but I don’t think he appreciates it like I do… I also love the bath caddy we got for it… bath reading, or Netflixing with a drink… brilliant, sure my Diet Coke isn’t as fancy as the wine in the picture on the box, but it’s still pretty great.

Ok… so that was autumn… time for another break in writing… hopefully it’s not too long before I write up winter…

It’s time for a List update… Part 1.

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It’s not often that I find myself sitting in a cafe alone twice in the one week, but when you have a free hour and the baby is hanging out with Daddy, you seize the moment with all that you have… when I told Dave I had a bonus hour his response was go and write a blog somewhere, so that’s what I am doing…

That was 4 months ago… and then life happened… as it always does, but it’s time to get back on the blogging horse and do a massive list update. I find these hard to write despite having the content already… its hard to write them in a way that keeps things interesting… but I will do my best… are you ready?

Its the beginning of August which means we are now well over half way through 2019 and seeing as this blog is taking me forever to write I have decided that I am going to release it in parts… because some blog is better than none… So… 2019’s list… well so far in 2019 I have crossed 34 things off the list… just over a third… but I’ve only blogged about 3, so here are the rest…

January

January was a good month for the list… we crossed of 7 things:

My bestie was home for Christmas and so we walked, no. 50 (completed: 08/01), and I went to the movies with her to see Mary Poppins Returns, no. 96 (completed: 02/01).

We purchased a standing desk for our home office, and while I am still working out the best system to get the right balance of standing and sitting, I can now ‘work on my feet’ as requested by no. 88 (completed 07/01), and I love it. It helps break up my tasks and it gives me a reason to move a little more while I work. Although apparently I still don’t move very much even when I am standing… sometimes I can stand for an hour to work, but it’s not enough movement for my watch to register that I have stood… we’ll add this to the list of things I am working on.

I am proud to say that I have finally finished the bible plan I started two years ago… to read the bible in a year… it may have taken me well over 2 years, but it’s done and no. 65 (completed 24/01) is crossed off. It’s also the first time I have read through the entire bible front to back… I am glad that the pressure of the plan is gone, but also that I have read the whole bible… it’s a good book.

On a fun afternoon with Pheebs, Isaac and I made our own play doh.. although Isaac wasn’t as impressed as Pheebs and I were, but that was no. 27 (completed 25/01),

At the end of January, as Isaac started to try some longer days at childcare I went back to the pool and swam some laps, no. 30 (completed 29/01). This was seriously good, I am going to try and do some more of this in 2019… there is something very calming about the quiet of the water and the regularity of the laps… it’s good for the soul… and the body.

The other January list item was my baby brother’s wedding… but I already blogged about that here.

February

Feb was another good month for listing… in fact it was just as good as January because we crossed off another 7 things…

I’m not sure if its the same need for me to know things that brought about my interest in brids… but I have also taken to looking at things and thinking… I could do that… or I can fix that… so here enters no. 80 learn a new skill (completed 03/02), I am becoming a sewing wizz… well that may be an overstatement, but I am getting better at it.  In Feb I learnt how to do a ladder stitch which I used to fix the lining of my hand bag which had given way after some misuse on my behalf.  Since then I have repaired the same bag twice more, fixed a soft toy of Isaac’s and managed to preserve Josh in the Curious George plush that we brought and that held him just before we said goodbye. I had been umming and ahhing about getting this professionally done, and even though it took a long time, I am now glad I waited and that I was able to do it myself.

In the same vain as no. 80, no. 08 ‘Use my sewing machine’ (completed 10/02) is also crossed off… although rather than repair works this was mostly to help me also cross of no. 12 ‘Finish Isaac’s Quiet book’ off the list too (completed 28/02). Isaac’s quiet book has been a labour of love… it’s taken me a lot longer than I thought it would, but it has already had a lot of use… it’s basically a felt book full of felt activities that don’t make any noise, but in theory keep him occupied and quiet at church… or other places that require children to keep it down for any length of time… although it doesn’t keep him as quiet as I would have hoped… we’ll work on that bit.

Isaac started finally started his swimming lessons this year and I got my first chance to hop in the pool with him on the 21st which meant we were able to cross no. 53 off the list. In fact it’s been a big month for my mum list items… we also crossed off no. 33 ‘Be ok with Isaac going to childcare’ too… I am not sure if I will ever be totally comfortable… but I think ok is an accurate description right now.

The last item I was able to cross of the list in Feb was no. 100… ‘Listen to at least one audiobook’ (completed 27/02). Before having Isaac to listen to a lot of audiobooks… but I have found this much harder to do sharing my car with little ears as my book choices aren’t always baby friendly… but this one, ‘Stronger than the Struggle’by Havilah Cunnington was… I am hoping to find some more… or maybe when he is a bit older we can pick them together… but to be honest I am probably going to stick with my usually super safe ‘Stuff You Should Know’ podcast for now (which by the way is a ripper… you should totally listen to it too).

Ok… so that’s the first two months of the year… and it’s taken me months to finish this far… so I think it would be a good idea to take a break here and post it… so that you can catch up… while I attempt to start writing the next update… hopefully that one will take less time… but we will see.

31 things before 32

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It’s that time of year again, the night before my birthday… and today like most years I have spent some of the day reflecting… I’m not sure what it is about birthdays, but they always a good time to take stock of the year that was, the things that I have learnt and the ways I have grown. So just like the last couple of years, I’ve popped it into a little list… a list of 31 things to be thankful for, to acknowledge or just remember before I turn 32 tomorrow.

  1. So far my 30s are great… tough and exciting, but somehow much more satisfying.
  2. The coffee thing was just the sleep deprivation… I am back on full time tea.
  3. I really like being outside… I often forget this though… I should make a point to remember because it is good for my body and my soul.
  4. When I listen to my own dietetic advice… it works…
  5. Finding the balance between working and being a good mum and wife is hard, it’s hard on my brain and hard on my heart, but the more I do it, the more I get used to it… but it’s not really easier.
  6. I really enjoy music… listening to it and being part of it.
  7. Watching kids learn things we take for granted is the best… how the world works, what things do and how to use their muscles and brains.. I could watch Isaac work out life forever…
  8. It’s important to be deliberate about including people in your life… if you aren’t they will disappear. Make time for the ones you love.
  9. Birds are actually pretty amazing… I still don’t want to touch them, but I like to know what they are.
  10. Making time for reading is also really good for my heart and my soul
  11. Stats, facts and competitions, even if they are just with myself make me achieve more in a moment than I do without the push.
  12. Being deliberate about family time has to be a priority… Dave and Isaac are my most important people and making memories with them is the best way to spend my free time.
  13. Exercise and learning are addictive
  14. Play centres are dirty… and they set off all my germ phobias, but they are fun and Isaac loves them so we will keep going.
  15. Swimming laps can clear the mind and bring clarity… but it does come with an epic google eye ring.
  16. I am much handier with a needle and thread than I ever thought I could or would be.
  17. Cuddles from Isaac are the greatest gift.
  18. I am so thankful for those who have gone before me who have fought for justice so that I don’t have to.
  19. Time passes quickly, writing things down as they happen is the best way to remember and savour them.
  20. I still love the Langham and everything about it.
  21. Traveling with a baby is both easier and harder… I am much less stressed about having the things I need and much more stressed about everything else.
  22. Grandparents are lifesavers that make the world spin.
  23. Sometimes it is impossible to say thank you enough.
  24. I will never stop listing.
  25. I am still surprised by how strong my body is and the more I push it, the stronger it gets.
  26. I value quiet time more than I ever thought I would… silence is magic to my ears
  27. Distance is nothing between besties, but it doesn’t make it any less exciting when you find out she will be home soon enough
  28. I am still more attached to my phone than I would like… but I think I am getting better with it slowly
  29. If I just exercise in the morning, it will be over and done with and I won’t have to think about it again for the rest of the day… I should do this
  30. I have more than I need, I always have… I need to take time to remember this often.
  31. The hard bits of life make you appreciate the sweet bits all the more.

Here we go 32… lets do this.

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 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.

Big Bands and Brisbane

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Um… excuse me… but did you know Brisbane is beautiful? Seriously it is amazing… and that’s not just my frosted Melbourne heart talking. 23degrees in winter, beautiful buildings, incredible public spaces and it’s so clean. I love Melbourne, but Brisbane, it turns out is pretty great.

Dave, Isaac and I have just spent the long weekend up in Brisbane with the Salvo Big Band, Dave playing his Alto Sax (and a little bit of Clarinet) and me singing. We also had my Mum come up with us to help us take care of Isaac when both Dave and I were needed in the band… she was a total life saver. This trip not only crossed number 8 off Isaac’s list but it was also my first proper band tour. Previously I had travelled with the band to Sweden for the Salvation Army’s World Youth Convention in 2010 where the band performed but we also attended the convention. Since then we have missed a couple of trips due to our untimely trips into hospital, so in the lead up to this weekend I had been playing it very safe… determined not to end up missing out again.

The weekend was full on, with back to back gigs, but just like any camp or trip when you get to spend more time with people than you usually would it was also wonderful. There is something really nice about seeing people all day everyday, experiencing new places and events with them and getting to share your gifts and talents in combination with theirs and present them to people for the first time.

I find it really hard to write blogs like this without it quickly becoming my dreaded grade 5 journal piece… so in an attempt to avoid that I have summed it up into 5 little highlights… 5 might seem like a lot, but it was actually pretty hard to do.

1. Catch ups with family
I am lucky enough to be part of a big family… my mum is one of 6 kids and for as long as I can remember I have had at least one uncle/auntie living interstate or overseas. My Uncle Ken and Auntie Marg live in Brisbane, so it was the perfect opportunity to have a quick catch up between sets.

2. Singing in public 

Before our first performance on Saturday morning I hadn’t really given my role in the band a lot of thought. I had spent the week worrying about what I needed to take for myself and for Isaac. What the days would look like and what I needed to have ready for mum so that taking care of Isaac would be as easy as possible. I hadn’t thought about what I would be doing or where it would be happening from a personal performance perspective. I love to sing, really love to sing… and I love to sing with the Big Band, but I am often very quick to dismiss my contribution. I am not a trained singer as such, but have spent my life singing in church. Getting up in front of people I know and singing is usually more daunting that singing in front of those I don’t know… but when you put me out in the open… that’s another kettle of fish. Our first gig was in Queen Street Mall, right in the heart of Brisbane CBD. We performed after the Navy Band which made me a little more nervous than I would have liked, but I got up there and I sang, and more importantly I held my own. At the end of the weekend, after I had sung in the city, at a concert Fassifern, sung and lead worship at Carindale Salvation army and performed at both Westfield Garden City and Nudgee Secondary College, I was reminded that even just getting up to talk at many of these places is a huge deal for lots of people, for lots of reasons. Being able to sing, and sing well, is huge. I didn’t sing it all perfectly, and thankfully in jazz you can get away with some of that, but even just the fact that I had the courage to perform in such a public place is pretty amazing… and to my amazement, people seemed to enjoy it… I am pretty chuffed.

3. Isaac
 and his Nanna
Where do I start with this? A couple of months before we left my mum made a through away comment about coming to Brisbane with us to help with Isaac… Dave and I heard her and thought that actually that would be really helpful and rang her to find out if she was serious. Turns out she was… so up to QLD she came and my goodness me, was it great to have her there. One thing about having a baby that I haven’t quite adapted to yet is the fact that they need someone with them all the time… which means on a trip like this if Dave and I are both performing we need someone to look after him, or one of us doesn’t perform. Believe it or not, I can get very distracted by people, especially when I am in performance mode… which is not ideal when your husband is packing up his instruments and you are supposed to parenting. But having mum with us to fill the gaps, and more, was beyond amazing. Plus it was really nice to watch Isaac and her together… Isaac really loves his Nanna.

4. Nudgee College
NudgeeOn our final day of the trip the band spent some time at St Joseph’s Nudgee College. While we were we put on a concert and workshop for the grade 5 students. In the workshop the instrumental musicians from the band were dispersed through the schools grade 5 band to help them learn the new jazz techniques they were learning. It was so nice… actually I think pure joy is a better description to hear the difference in the band and watch the faces of the students as they achieved things they didn’t think they would be able to. Watching kids learn is one of my all time favourite things to do… wonder is an incredible gift.

5. Remembering why  

This weekend has also been a really good reminder as to why I am in the big band. The Salvo Big Band has a really unique opportunity to meet people in places that other salvo groups may not be able to go. To witness and bring the gift of music to people from all walks of life and to share in worship with corps and salvationists in places and in a style that is different from the everyday. The Band’s purpose is to shine light… and that’s what I think we have done this weekend… shone light, in both dark places and light places, but still light.


So that was my long weekend… now I need some sleep… well at least I can hope for sleep… I still have to parent 🙂

A Time to Weep and a Time to Laugh

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Today is a pretty special day… well tonight really… tonight is a really special night, because tonight Dave and I dedicated Isaac back to Jesus.

For those unfamiliar with what a dedication is, it is similar to a child being baptised of christened in other churches. In the Salvos we have babies dedicated and it is actually a ceremony more about the parents than the child. Tonight Dave and I had the opportunity to publicly acknowledge the miracle that Isaac is and God’s provision and guidance through our journey so far. And we promised to do our best by Jesus and Isaac in how we raise him.

For me, tonight was also the end of one chapter and the beginning of the next. When Josh died, we had some of the elements of the dedication included in his funeral. Which is tricky because lots of the parts that we weren’t able to include were promises for the future which was a constant reminder of what we weren’t going to be able to do for him. We know that he is with Jesus, but having lived through losing him, for much of Isaac’s first 7 weeks, and even every now and then, still, I fear that we won’t get to keep Isaac earth side either. Isaac is thriving and doing all the right things, but in the back of my mind there is still a chance we might not get to keep him despite the prophecy that he is our keeper. I know that I will probably have some anxiety around this for a long time to come, and I think some of it is just because I am a mum… and mums worry… but it is something that I need to keep under control… something that I need to learn to trust with… and I think that tonight is the starting point.

Tonight’s dedication, being able to celebrate his life and to hope and make promises about his future in some strange way feels like we made it. We made it past the point we made with Josh. Which I know we did ages ago in an earthly, he’s alive, sense… but it feels like the scary chapter of ‘will he or won’t he’ is finally finished and a new chapter of parenting and Isaac growing has begun. That now we are back on the normal path and doing what we should have always been able to do. It almost feels like a fresh start. I think this has been helped by the fact that we are slowly reducing the amount of appointments we have to attend and the oxygen seems to be the last hurdle to jump… and even that hurdle is different and feels achievable with time, but there is also a real peace to this new season…

During the dedication Bram used a passage from Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 which says:

There is a time for everything,
 and a season for every activity under the heavens:
a time to be born and a time to die,
 a time to plant and a time to uproot,
a time to kill and a time to heal,
 a time to tear down and a time to build,
a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance,
a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
 a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
a time to search and a time to give up,
 a time to keep and a time to throw away,
a time to tear and a time to mend,
 a time to be silent and a time to speak,
a time to love and a time to hate,
 a time for war and a time for peace.

For us, Joshua was our time to weep and our time to mourn, and I truly believe that Isaac is our time to laugh and our time to dance… after all laughter is in his name.

So tonight was not only special… but a time to start over, to claim the promises we have been given and a time to rejoice and hope for what’s to come.

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…