Tag Archives: Love

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 15

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It’s my birthday week! Woo Hoo! There has been a whole heap of listing, my actual birthday, some brace free time, family catch ups and an Ikea building day… what more could a girl want?

You know its going to be a good birthday week when it starts with an alpaca themed gift… including a matching alpaca wool alpacas with your alpaca loving sister. This was apparently meant to appease our desire for real alpacas at my dad’s place, but I think it has probably just fanned the flame.

On Monday we celebrated my actual birthday with brunch at the Hatter and the Hare, which is brunch winner and a half and then spent the afternoon enjoying my gifts… making way for the new cabinets because we are renovating the laundry and building my new compost bin. Dave thinks these might actually be the worst presents he has ever brought me, but I am very excited about both. We also learnt that Isaac really likes fire.

I have always really liked the idea of composting, but had never really done anything about it until now, so we will see how it goes. The laundry reno is also something that I have been wanting to do for a very very very long time. Our current laundry set up is just not very practical, there is limited storage, we can’t fit both the dryer and the washing machine in there… which really just seems silly. The reason we have decided that it’s time now now though, is not just because I would like a prettier and more practical one. It is also going to give us a lot more space to store all the things we don’t want Isaac to be pulling out of the kitchen, laundry and bathroom cupboards, like our cleaning products and medications. Last week we ordered all of the cabinets which meant that this week we could pick up them up and start assembling. We managed to get all the cupboards in and attached to walls and floor and now we just need to finish the bench and splash back and get some plumbing assistance… which is actually a lot, but I feel like we’ve made quite a bit of progress pulling the old laundry out and making the cabinets.

Birthdays are also a good reason to catch up with people, and this birthday was no different, After Sunday nights birthday dinner we also went out for dinner with Mum and Andy and spent the day at the park with my Brother, Sister in law, Nephew and Brother in law, thanks to the school holidays and some annual leave. It’s going to be a lot of fun having park dates with those guys as the boys get older.

Isaac and I also got to cross some pretty big things off our lists this week too. On Sunday, I didn’t express any breastmilk for the first time since Isaac was born… I have officially hung up the pump and crossed no. 88 off my list. Now that it is finished I am both a little bit sad that it is over, but also totally relieved that is done and that I never have to look at the pump again… well at least for a while. I am also really proud of how long I was able to stick it out for. As a mum of a preemie, there isn’t actually too much you can do for your bub while they are in NICU and but expressing is one… so while it’s probably not the way I would have imagined feeding my baby… it worked and I am very thankful that I was able to do it for as long as I did.

On Tuesday the three of us went back to the hospital with Isaac for some appointments, but also took the opportunity to take a gift up to NICU, to thank the staff for all that they did to help all three of us survive the first three months of Isaac’s life. The team up there on level 5 at the Monash Children’s Hospital are incredible, they are not only excellent at their jobs, but they are also kind & compassionate and they take you and your baby in your most vulnerable space and make you feel like things are going to be ok and that you are safe. I am convinced that they are actually angels living on earth

30 things before 31

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Somehow it is my birthday again tomorrow… a whole year has apparently gone by since I last wrote a post like this.  But this birthday feels different and I am not really sure why… usually I start my birthday blogs talking about how I don’t really feel ready to switch over to the next age… but this year I just don’t really feel that fussed about it, which is really strange.  It is super odd… since I was 17, I have had a love hate relationship with birthdays, but now as I turn 31… it suddenly doesn’t feel like such a big deal.  Maybe I have finally grown up? Maybe I am still in denial about being 30 at all… but either way its nice not to be upset about it.

Each year I like to take just a minute (although it seems to be getting longer as I add more and more years) to stop and reflect on how the past year has shaped who I am now.  Things that I have loved, learned or just lived during year 30… 30 of them, before 30 becomes 31 tomorrow.

  1. 30 wasn’t so bad… it happened and the sky didn’t fall, I didn’t fall apart… in fact it was kinda nice
  2. I finally feel like an adult… I know I have been one for a long time now, but I feel like I am actually living an adult life now… trying to save money, considering my long term health, fixing things at home and being more comfortable in my skin.
  3. My body is my body… it’s far from perfect, but it’s done some pretty great things, it may never be the body I want, but it’s the body I am most comfortable in.
  4. Sometimes the things you fear the most, aren’t the things you should have been worried about
  5. It turns out my boys like to come fast and very very early… neither traits they get from me
  6. We live in a country that is incredibly blessed with amazing health care and hospitals
  7. There is a place for coffee in my life, and after years of being an exclusive tea drinker… I am now partial to the latte… I would imagine it’s the sleep deprivation.
  8. Even when you think you have had all you can take… there is usually more, and you learn you are stronger still.
  9. God is good, all the time… and his plans are better, even when you think yours a pretty great.
  10. Isaac is the toughest kid I have ever met
  11. I will do anything to hear a baby giggle, especially if it is my baby
  12. Best laid plans are now a pie in the sky kind of goal… yet I continue to make them anyway
  13. I like making improvements on my house… but the greatest home improvements are when everything has a place in the room in which it belongs… it turns out I am a house micro manager
  14. Banana bread is from heaven
  15. Babies are hard to take selfies with
  16. Motherhood means getting to join a gang of incredible women who you can talk to about anything even if you’ve never met before
  17. You can sit in the same chair all day every day for months if it is with the ones you love
  18. Babies grow fast, sometimes they only wear clothes once, although you can get so much joy from putting a child in a seasonal costume.
  19. Tiny face-washers save many things at many times
  20. Life goes fast… you should always celebrate the small things
  21. Turkish delight milkshakes and pink donuts will forever be sacred
  22. People are good more often they are not, and we are surrounded by so many people who love us and truely do want us to thrive and succeed
  23. Being a mum is better than I could have ever comprehended, although it comes with its own bag of guilt and expectations that I am continually trying to work through and balance
  24. Breastmilk is magic… not just for the baby, but for the mum who can offer nothing else to a baby in NICU… even long after they have left… although not pumping today for the first time in 8 and bit months was acutally really nice.
  25. I am married to the most patient, servant hearted man I have ever met… he has kept us going, kept us fed and kept the house functional… he is also an epic dad and has actually been doing the majority (like at least 85%) of the overnight feeds solo.
  26. I can’t stop crying… everything pulls at my heart strings.  This week I cry at every happy story at the commonwealth games… so many tears it is embarrassing… and don’t you dare show my a picture of a baby in hospital, I will not cope.
  27. I am looking forward to a year of not being pregnant and eating all of the foods (in moderation of course)
  28. I am pretty sure I am addicted to my phone and social media… maybe 31 is the year to get this under control because real life is definitely more satisfying.
  29. Hail does a lot more damage than I had realised….
  30. Even though I am further away from a lot of the goals I had over the last couple of years, I feel like I am simplifying and making way for other goals which somehow now seem more significant, even though they wouldn’t have previously made the cut… I think this is another sign that maybe I have just started growing up.

Thanks 30, you have certainly been another challenging year, but you have also brought a lot of joy and wonder, lets hope 31 is just as joyful, but less dramatic… I feel like my 30s could be my best years yet.

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!

Our Curious Life: Week 13

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You know a week is going to be good when it starts with Brady Bunch Dinner and ends with a public holiday and a trip to the beach! That, my friends, is how to week!

This week we have spent a lot of time with family… Starting with Dinner at Dad and Naz’s with all the siblings, partners and bonus siblings… just like the Brady Bunch… hence Brady Bunch Dinner. We had a visit from Nanna to deliver the cutest mustard cardigan you have ever seen and ended with Good Friday Lunch with Dave’s Dad, Sister and Brother-in-law.

We also got the best milestone every… our first giggles… and I tell you there is not much I wouldn’t do to hear more of Isaac’s little chuckle.

This week also sees the end of March… but not quite the beginning of April… so you just the month worth of pictures… but you’ll have to wait until next week to see Isaac tick over another month milestone…

On Thursday I also ordered my first box of ‘Who gives a crap’ toilet paper… This year I have been thinking a little more about the things that I buy and the waste they make… so in addition to my Thankyou nappies and wipes which we love and which help mothers in less fortunate countries… I have decided that it’s time to give some recycled toilet paper that helps build toilets a go… so hopefully they will arrive next week… I’ll let you know how we go!

Oh and seeing as it’s today… Happy Easter… at the George’s we are very glad that Jesus is risen…

Our Curious Life: Week 12

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Week 12 has been very similar to all the other weeks we have had recently… appointments, big band gigs and coffee dates… so rather than bore you with all the details I will just give you a couple of highlights.

On Sunday Isaac got to wear some clothes that once belonged to Dave… and he looked more like Dave than he ever had before…

On Wednesday we celebrated Nanna’s birthday…

And yesterday Isaac got all dressed up in his hawthorn gear and I couldn’t have been prouder…

Oh and scarily… we did a tour of a kinda… he is way to little to be thinking about kinda… but that’s the kind of world we live in folks!

Our Curious Life: Week 11

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Long weekends are great! I am pretty sure that everyone already knows that… but I think it is worth repeating. This week started they way the last one ended… down at Inverloch for the long weekend… It was a pretty quite week as far as the George household goes but there were a couple of highlights worth mentioning… but I thought for something different I would just use some pictures…

Here is our last two days in Inverloch…

The middle of our week…

And the most beautiful part of our week, Claire and Dan’s wedding…

Good job week 11

Our Curious Life: Week 10

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Week 10 has been MASSIVE… listing, family fun, MASSIVE…

On Sunday Dave, Isaac and I participated in our first fun run for the year (no. 38 on the list), the Monash Children’s Hospital walk at Jells Park and for some unknown reason I decided we should sign up for the 10km… which is much further than I have walked for over a year and a bit… I think I when we were signing up, I had had grand plans of a glorious Parkrun return that would have been in full swing weeks before and that if we were going to do a fun run we should push ourselves… so 10km it had to be.  We made it, just… I might have been a bit slow for the rest of the week, but we made it… and Isaac was pretty proud of himself.  It was also nice to give back to the hospital that has given us so much.

We also finished the week with more things being crossed of the list, we are currently down at Inverloch for the long weekend with the Salvo Big Band for the Inverloch Jazz Festival and being in Inverloch is no. 9 on the list and I touched the ocean (no. 95) when we took Isaac down to the beach for the first time.  In fact I even went for a swim.  I am not sure Isaac loved it, but he didn’t hate it… which I think for a babies first trip to the beach is a win.  It also crossed no. 19 of Isaac’s List.

Between our listing expeditions on the weekends we spent a lot of time back the hospital for follow up appointments, physios, respitatory teams, and neonatologists.  We also went back to the Maternal Child Health Nurse.  We also had lunch with Grandma Meg which is also fun.

Oh and last week we reached the magic time in parenthood when Isaac started sleeping through the night (no. 15 on his list)… but in fear of jinxing it I kept it to this week to tell you all… it’s magic.

Our Curious Life: Week 9

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Let me tell you about week 9… just like all of the other weeks this year week 9 was a busy one. We started with a Teddy Bear’s picnic at Rippon Lea estate, where I got to sing a couple of numbers with the Salvo Big Band and Isaac and I got to brunch with Annie and then hang out with Auntie Ness and Grandad while Daddy played the rest of the charts. I also got to dress Isaac up in all his teddy bear themed clothes and he looked super cute.

This week actually had a lot of catch ups over food… we had dinner with Anna and Jed, Morning Tea with Hollie and Smith, and lunch with Nana and Great Auntie Lorraine.

We also did some boring tasks for future fun things… we applied for a passport for Isaac and I got my renewed… now were are all set to go on an adventure… hopefully soon…

Incredibly week 9 also brings us to the end of Feb… which seems ridiculous, but it is true… but just in case you missed a bit, here is what our month of Feb looked like in photos…

Finishing Feb also meant I was able to cross no. 21 off the list ‘Go without games on my phone for at least 2 months’ which was much harder than I care to admit… but has been good for my brain, and an important reminder that my time is precious and that I get to choose how I use it… but that if I am really honest with myself, as much as I love a good game on my phone, there are lots of better things I can do with my time.

Oh and… Isaac is now 7 moths old… and a total spunk! At 7 months he still loves to smile and is quite the crowd pleaser when we go out. He has also discovered that his hands are delicious. He loves a compliment and still thinks that splashing Daddy during bath time is the best thing ever. We are still slowly weaning down off his Oxygen and he is mastering his hip brace, in fact he has the best cowboy stance I have ever seen!  Isaac you are a superstar!

 

Our Curious Life: Week 6

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Wow… week 6, what the heck? How did we get here? To be honest as I sit down to type this I can’t remember what we did this week… maybe we can work it out together.

This week was also filled with friends, we had lunch with my work bestie and her partner and super cute little girl, we caught up with some of my high school besties and we caught up with my mum and avoided the heat with a day at the shops.  We walked a lot, including a return to parkrun yesterday… which felt much earlier than I remembered, but it was good to be back nevertheless. and we had a lot of appointments.

On Monday night I went back to choir… which in the craziness of 2017 never got mentioned.  It’s a choir that was formed out of  a one off performance I was part of to celebrate a teacher at my high school.  Since then it has become a legit thing and I was attending weekly until I ended up in hospital before Isaac was born.  So going back this week feels pretty great.  Plus it fills me with all the school nerd feels!  At choir I also received a copy of some family photos we had taken by the lovely Georgia from Allegro Photography. Which means no. 6 can now be officially crossed off the list.  The photos turned out so beautifully… thanks Georgia.

This week Isaac also got good reports from the physio, dietitian and the respiratory team… so good in fact we are off day time oxygen!  AMAZING!!!  It is so strange not to have him attached to the tank and I think it is going to take some adjusting on my part to trust him without it.  Dave and I have done a few little outings to help me get used to the idea… but it has been 6 months of life with oxygen… it will take time.  It is so fun though being able to walk away from the pram, the bassinet, the car… everything without having to worry about where the cord is.  He is free… well at least during the day.  Seriously… yesterday we left the pram in the car while we attended a first birthday party… we just had us, Isaac and the nappy bag… so so so strange.

We also re-attempted story time, although we went to a different library and with some buddies and it was so much better… library story time is back on the list of things we like to do… as long as we have a buddy and a coffee date booked for after.

Turns out week 6 was quite eventful… bring on week 7.