Breathe

Today Gremlin was at school, Chicken was at kindy, W@dsy was at work and I was home alone with Poppet. I loved it. It wasn't the first time, in fact it has happened twice a week for most of the year.

But today I stopped.

I stopped trying to catch up on laundry and baking and sleep. I stopped feeling guilty about being lazy and not doing enough housework or being a good enough mum. Poppet was screaming at me for no reason and she wouldn't stop.

So I stopped.

I took a deep breath, wheeled her screaming in her high chair to the bathroom and turned on the taps to the bath. She stopped screaming and just watched me. I stripped us both down and we got in. She was calm and happy. She usually hates baths, she spends the whole time trying to get out, normally she has one of her siblings in the bath with her (a parent supervising of course), but today it was me. Today we played in the bath, we giggled, we played with toys, we fed each other blueberries, we just had fun. I had been so busy for so long trying to get everything done I was missing out.

Its time to make myself breathe, accept that I'm not perfect and simply enjoy the amazing life God has given me.

Isn't she just beautiful.

Here we go again

Now that W@dsy and I have decided to stop having kids. Its probably time to get my butt back into shape. I am trying to lose 10kg by the end of the year. This is about the hundredth time I have told myself I am going to lose weight. I'm not a goal orientated person but I'm hoping this will work this time.

Do I have an awesome plan to do this? Am I going to go on some special diet? No I'm just trying to get off my butt more often and exercise and not eat junk food. This sounds like a simple plan, however... I love junk food, soooo much. There are several drive through places on my way to Gremlin's school and they call to me. They call to me I tell you. I am doing okay... so far. I am trying to remember to eat a healthy breakfast and have some healthy snacks and plenty of water on hand for when hunger strikes. I am even considering making myself a sticker chart, so I get a sticker everytime I say no to junk food, at least that way I can see my progress even before the weight comes off.

As for exercise, I posted on facebook asking if any of my friends wanted to be my fitness buddy to let me know. Well, quite a few people replied, so I decided that 3 days a week I would go out to a different location and exercise and invited my friends to join me. I asked them NOT to tell me if they couldn't make it, that way I'd have to go, because I didn't know if anyone would be waiting for me. I don't have a brilliant wet weather plan yet, but I figure for now we can meet at my place and do pushups etc when it rains. I'm one week in and going ok (Still craving burgers and fries). But of course I now have a cold :( I will keep exercising but at a lighter pace until I'm better.

Does anyone have any other brilliant healthy weight loss ideas?

Not-so-schoolmum

Now that Gremlin goes to school, I can now officially call myself a school mum.

I am discovering a whole new world I never knew existed. If you listen to everything you read on the internet you may go insane. There are blogs on how to dress for the school run, lunch box art, fancy name labels and how to organise a homework nook.

I'm a different sort of school mum. I throw on my usual "uniform" of a geeky T-shirt and denim shorts to drop the kids off. I make sure my kids get food in their lunchboxes, if I'm lucky they will even eat all of it. I scrawl the kids names on their things with a pen that keeps rubbing off so I have to do it all over again. I might even remember to occasionally check Gremlin's school bag for notes and homework.

I have also discovered a few things. I love the school holidays. Why? Because it means all my kiddies are home and I get unlimited cuddles of course, but also and rather importantly, I hate the school run. I hate having to get everyone dressed and fed with bags packed at a set time and then in the afternoon doing it all again. Then there is the small talk with other parents while you hang around at the school waiting for your kids to start or finish class.

It's quite funny, you seem to lose your identity when you are a school parent. You meet people and befriend them based on who their kids are. I am no longer Ziva, I am now Gremlin's mum. It took a while but I now have other parent friends at the school, ones who are just as crazy as me.

I will probably get the hang of this school parent thing... in about 18 years when Poppet graduates from high school.

Back on track

After a very long break I am back. I have a really good excuse for my long absence.

I had another baby.

After a really long pregnancy involving being medicated for throwing everything up and then being on insulin for gestational diabetes, I had a beautiful baby girl we have nicknamed "Poppet."

She is now 16 months old and running around everywhere.

My family has had a pretty busy time. Other than gaining a beautiful baby, we have moved twice, gained two dogs, a cat and a housemate with a cat. Gremlin has started school and Chicken is in kindy 2 days a week. Our place is pretty crazy these days but I am loving it.

Even though lots has changed, also a lot hasn't. I am still me, still terrible at housework and getting myself organised, but that's ok.

Now that I am back there will be more posts to follow soon.

Catch ya soon.

Barbies and Beefs

As you may have figured out, I am trying yet again to eat healthier and get my butt back to the gym.

The first hurdle I am trying to get over is the healthy eating thing. I am attempting to copy my daughter's style and snacking on carrots etc. but sometimes I just crave chocolate, what's a girl to do? At the moment I am trying just not to buy chocolate, this plans seems to be working... so far.

My next hurdle is the gym. I have joined a local 24hr gym so that I can go whenever I can organise it, even if it means going after dinner when the kids are asleep, or whenever I can get a babysitter/hubby to watch the kids. Because of the odd times I attend the gym, I've begun to notice a trend in the other clientèle, and have created a little dictionary for you:

Beefs – These guys are your body builders, or simply guys who like the muscley look. Beefs are quite large, they tend to have biceps so large they aren't actually hold their arms at their sides, giving the impression of far too many steroids. They are found at all hours of the day or night. They are usually found in pairs in the evenings and they “spot” each other.

Spotting – When one Beef makes jokes at the expense of another Beef who is lifting weights.

Big Beauties – Generally women, but occasionally men, who for whatever reason are overweight. They are usually accompanied by a personal trainer ( I need me one of those). They work their butts off and you can't help but be proud of them. They are usually seen at crazy hours of the morning, because this is apparently the only time the personal trainers are available.

Barbies – Gorgeous stick figures with hair extensions. These women don't need to attend the gym for fitness reasons but instead use the time to socialise with their friends while hogging the treadmills and flirting with Beefs who probably couldn't satisfy them anyway due the affect of steroids on their manhoods. The gym manager actually has a jar of lollies on hand to help revive Barbies who decide to work out but haven't eaten anything all day.

The Useless Hour – 6pm-ish – This is the time of day when everyone finishes work, ditches office attire and dons their exercise gear and heads to the gym leaving me no weight machines, treadmills or any other equipment to exercise on. :(

The Best Time – 2pm-ish – Most people are at work (except for the occasional Beef) so the machines are usually free. Plus I can usually hide in the corner and not stress about someone seeing me and laughing at how everything wobbles when I run (No-one actually does this, but I am paranoid).

Me - Really needs to actually attend the gym more and exercise rather than sit on my butt on the couch and blog about it

Early Morning Funnies

In the wee hours of the morning our darling son Gremlin woke us, shortly followed by his sister, he decided that he would tell us all about what he learned in Kids Church on Sunday.

Gremlin: Guess what, God fought Goliath
W@dsy: Oh really?
Gremlin: Yeah and He chopped off his head.
W@dsy: Don't you mean David?
Gremlin: Nope, it was God
Chicken: Yeah and then Mummy needs to sticky tape his head back on
Me: ????

Passions

I was talking to a friend the other day about everyone has something we love to do, she loves cooking, W@dsy loves teaching and playing computer games etc.

Then she asked me the big question, what do I like to do?

It stumped me, I actually hadn't really thought about it before.

Sewing was the first thing that came to mind, but now having thought about it a bit more I think that as much as I enjoy sewing, my real passion is helping people. I love being able to do something for someone who needs it whether it be a listening ear, babysitting, or just cooking a meal to make their lives easier. I think that's one of my favourite things about being a stay at home mum, being free to help when needed.

It makes me wonder what Gremlin and Chicken's passions will be.

What's your passion?