Old News

I am gathering documents to apply for British citizenship for Princess and King, and at one point I needed to list all the times I was out of the UK between 2002 and 2006. Who can remember that kind of thing offhand?! Not me!

So I logged into an ancient email account and went through some emails from my previous life. I found the info I was looking for, and I also found a window into the life of Saffa Chick 15 years ago. Quite fascinating. I've copied all my email newsletters into this blog to share - get a glass of wine it will suck you in for ages!

I was so young! Partying so hard! Kissing frogs! Hopping jobs! Travelling! Wow, no wonder I get homesick for that time and place sometimes.

I was also taken aback at how chatty my newletters were. Not unlike how chatty this blog used to be when I started it - I've lost my mojo somewhere along the way.

Perhaps I should start writing newsletters again? Facebook just isn't the same.

Whoo it's been a while!

I haven't been blogging lately.

My relationship funk, which started back in Feb last year, finally overcame me recently. I was also repeatedly ill with pretty bad colds, I put on loads of weight (I comfort eat), and it all dragged me down and under and I finally reached the end of my tether.

On the surface everything looked fine though, and Milord was completely taken by surprise a few days ago when I detoured our drive home to a pub for a TALK. A very overdue TALK perhaps, as we haven't ever thrashed out the events of last February. I thought I could just move on, but it didn't happen...

Anyway, the TALK went really well! So well that I feel silly for putting it off for so long.

The cloud of gloom at home has lifted, Milord is more involved with the kids and more affectionate with me, and he says his mood at work has even improved!

During my funk both kids had birthdays! Princess is 5 and King is 3.
We held a party at a local indoor playground in the Pirate Room. All the kids had an absolute ball.
I made Rainbow Cupcakes! I'll blog about that separately...
Friends came from Sydney and stayed for the weekend, and their son and Princess had a Sleepover in her room.

I have also started work on a major project as part of a team working clear on the other side of Canberra. It's keeping me very busy, and blogging isn't possible!

I will try not to disappear for long again though, now that my world is so much better.

Back on Track?

So, I've been a bit sick this winter. Three rather severe colds one after another have not been fun.

Being ill means I don't go to the gym. I don't stick to my diet. Aaaaand I comfort eat junk (and wine) too!

My Fat Jeans are too tight. *eeep*

I feel okay now, and it is time to get back on track! Follow weightwatchers. Cut back on the wine. Stop the snacks. Back to the gym!

I lost half a kilo last week - another half and I'll be back in my Fat Jeans. Then 8kg more to drop the extra dress size I have been carrying around since I had my kids. If I stick to my guns I could do this in 16 weeks... so maybe Christmas? That would be the most awesome present to myself!

It's perfectly do-able. I just need to keep on track!

Snow!

I have had 3 colds back to back and it is all I can do to drag myself to work and back... bleah.

In other news - we live an hour from the snow! It tends to melt within a day or two, but a few weekends back the timing was right and the kids saw snow for the first time.

They thought it was awesome!!!!

Even away from the snow it has been rather chilly. The temp drops below freezing most nights, and on the weekend there was frost in the shadows and ice on puddles at midday.

We don't mind, as we have a very cosy house and central heating. Cars are heated, offices are heated and daycare is heated. It's a lot like a UK winter really, except that the sun comes out most days.

Bonfire Night!

Last weekend friends of ours with kids the same age as mine were staying with family on a large property just an hour away. They invited us to stay over for a bonfire night, so along we went.

It was a cold, dry weekend. The kids all played together and had fun investigating the chicken run and the cow poo and the piles of fallen leaves. (You have to look quite hard for autumn leaves in Australia as the native trees don't shed their leaves. Luckily the property had several large oak trees which dropped lots of leaves)

The bonfire was in a field not to far from the house. It was huge!

We lit it at sunset - 6pmish - and various friends and family and neighbours came along too bearing food and wine. What a spectacular sight, and lovely and hot on a freezing night.

The kids went to bed rather late, and Milord came to bed at 1am after a lot of red wine around the fire with the boys. Of course little kids don't actually sleep in no matter how late they go to bed, so we were up at dawn. We cooked breakfast for the household and then Milord drove us home with a monster hangover.

By early afternoon I was the only one awake! King still naps anyway, Milord took himself to bed and Princess fell asleep watching a movie. I stretched out on the couch with my book and a glass of wine. Ah, the serenity!

How to dislodge an object from your toddler's nose

Yesterday we had a lazy start, then took the kids to the dinosaur museum and then to the pub for lunch. When we got home we set up some telly for them to watch, I did some laundry, and then I sat down to relax with my book and a glass of wine. On the floor at my feet was a tiny cylindrical piece of black plastic, probably broken off a toy - I picked it up and put it on the coffee table.

King came past. "What's that, Mummy?" "It's rubbish baby, will you put it in the bin please?" "Okay Mummy".

Shortly thereafter he gave a howl of pain. "Ow! My nose!" "Did you put that black thing up your nose?" "Yeah!" "Oh, King, you idiot."

We lay him on the kitchen counter and peered up his nostril with a torch. Yup, something black up there, beyond where I was comfortable poking tweezers. I left Milord in charge of Princess and the kid's dinner and off King and I went to the hospital.

One great thing about Canberra, the ER is just about empty on a Sunday afternoon! We were seen within minutes. The first doctor thought she could use forceps to get the piece of plastic, but the senior doctor felt that King was too little and that he would struggle and probably force the damn thing in deeper.

Then the senior doctor suggested trying something I'd never heard of: I took a huge breath and placed my mouth over King's, like I was trying to resuscitate him. I blocked his clear nostril and blew hard into his mouth. It was surprisingly awkward, but luckily King found it funny to have Mummy blowing into his mouth. On our sixth attempt there was a sudden wet explosion across my cheek - the piece of plastic was out, along with quite a lot of snot!

We were on our way home almost immediately. What a relief - the next step would have been sedation (and because King was eating biscuits in the car on the way to hospital we'd have had to wait 2 hours first too). We got home in time for King to have a proper dinner and bath before bedtime, and I had my well-deserved glass of wine at last!

Easter 2014

Over Easter we all went to the coast, to a small town called Vincentia on Jervis Bay. It's a 3 hour drive due east from home. We hired a holiday home just minutes from the beach and spent a week building sandcastles and paddling and taking long walks on the white sand.

We couldn't really afford it, but it was a much needed break...

(We don't usually dress King in bright pink, but his swimming shirt died the week before we left so he ended up wearing Princess' spare shirt!)

Weight and Fitness

I don't mention my weight much anymore in this blog. Mainly because even I am bored with hearing myself whinge about how the post-baby fat Just. Doesn't. Go. Away!

I haven't given up. I'm still attempting weightwatchers during the week (although we're on a diet holiday right now because Sis is visiting) and still going to the gym regularly (2 to 3 times a week).

I'm getting back into jogging on top of the spin classes I usually do. At the gym, because I just don't have that sort of time when I'm home...

2 weeks ago I ran 5km in 42 minutes.
1 week ago I ran 5km in 41 minutes.
Today I ran 5km in 39 minutes.

My goal is to run 5km in 30 minutes. That's 6 min/km, and that's how fast I used to be able to run 5km before I had kids. When I was a dress size smaller. Surely that level of fitness will bring me back to that dress size? Surely?!

*sigh*

A couple of weeks ago I went through all my boxes and pulled out all my size 12s (If you are an American reader that's like an 8). I'm currently size 16. I can't believe I used to fit in those clothes - they're tiny! I haven't fitted in them since my first year of being in Australia - a husband who loves food and wine and a less active lifestyle blew me into size 14 quite quickly. That was 7 years ago and those clothes have followed me in boxes from house to house...

I have given up on seeing size 12 again. I sent most items to charity and gave a box of really lovely things to a skinny woman at work. I think she is shocked to have my old clothes fit her so well!

I have not given up on size 14. I will not give up! One of these days the exercise has to start making a difference, and the other 90% of my wardrobe will be wearable again.

Oh, and I'm currently 76kg.

A Day in the Life of the Saffa Chick

2am. Something wakes me. Maybe Milord snoring, maybe a squawk through the baby monitor. I yawn, visit the loo, and walk the length of the house to check on the kids. In our next house I hope the master bedroom is closer to the other bedrooms - this would be perfect if I had teens, but it doesn't work for toddlers! I tuck both kids back under their covers and go back to bed. Luckily I am good at going back to sleep.

6:31am. Princess has a special clock in her room that shows a sun when she is allowed to get up. The sun shows at 6:30am on a work day. If she has been waiting for it then she arrives at my bedside within moments! I either hear her coming or jump out of my skin when she says "Good morning, Mummy!" right next to my head. I remove her nappy (she is not night trained yet, although we keep trying) and she climbs into bed between Milord and me for a cuddle.

7am. My alarm goes off and I go to have a shower. Mom has a shower at about the same time in the other bathroom, which generally disturbs King so Milord gets him up too.

7:30am. I am showered, dressed and have done my makeup with a little help from Princess. King has usually visited carrying his bunnies to say "Goo morni, Mummy!" and wandered off again. I tidy the bedroom then head to the living room for a coffee while Milord hits the shower. Mum is dressed too and has a cup of tea. We give the kids water, turn on iPads, select the kiddie TV channel and discuss groceries and dinner menus.

7:50am. Milord is dressed and ready to go. We gather up laptops and lunches and head to the door. Mom and both kids see us off with kisses and waves, which is very nice. Some days Milord rides a bicycle to work (then comes home with me with the bike in the back of the car) and some days we drive in together and he drops me off on the way to his office.

8:20am. I walk into my office. There are usually a couple of folk in before me - we are slightly flexible on working hours. I make another coffee, check my email, and settle into the work day. I have a muesli bar for breakfast, and there is a huge bowl of fruit on my desk for snacking throughout the day.

12pm. I walk briskly to the gym, change, do a workout, shower and walk back to the office. This all takes more than an hour but I work more hours than I am paid for so I don't care. Heat up a low-calorie microwave meal and eat it at my desk.

6pm. Let me out of here! The aircon goes off at 5pm in the office so by the time I leave the room is warm and stuffy and I have had enough. Step outside in the fresh air to find Milord waiting for me.

6:30pm. Home. Big greetings from the kids who are in the middle of bathtime with Mom. Pour a glass of wine.

7pm. The mad bedtime ritual of teeth cleaning, last wees, nappies on and bedtime stories. Lullabies. Last kisses, last sips of water, last hunt for a toy wanted in bed. At least one tantrum.

7:30pm. The kids are playing in their room. Another glass of wine. Either pitch in with cooking dinner or chat with the cook or watch the evening news.

8pm. Dinnertime. We watch something on TV. More wine. Maybe some fruit after the meal.

9pm. Stop the wine! Switch to water.

9:45pm. Get the kids up for a wee. Change nappies if necessary. Tuck them back in and remove any hard toys from their beds.

10pm. Clean teeth, wash face, into bed. Read my Kindle for a little while then switch it off and snuggle down...

Catchup

Where does the time go?!

1. I had a birthday! Mom and Milord gave me a new Kindle, which is practically an iPad these days. All I wanted was a book that glowed in the dark so that I could read in bed without my bloke moaning... now a have a very sexy tablet too.


2. I love being able to read in bed again.


3. My birthday fell on a public holiday that only exists in my new state. Awesome.


4. Several friends have made the trip to see us lately. We have great friends.


5. My raise kicked in at the end of Feb - woohoo! Our improved circumstances mean that we get less childcare benefit and the increase in daycare costs just swallowed my whole raise. Fuckit.


6. My sister is here from South Africa for a visit. It is her first overseas trip since she was 9. It has rained for all but 3 days of her trip so far.


7. The kids think their Aunty is great because she is happy to play for hours.


8. Princess has definitely emerged from the Terrible stage and is a sweet, polite, chatty little lady again. King has taken her place in Terrible-land. We look forward to getting him back in about a year.


9. Being at work all day means I hardly see my kids. But it also means I don't see many tantrums either!


10. Autumn is here. The trees are turning colour, the mornings are crisp, and our heating has started coming on automatically in the early hours.


11. My recently-returned-from-maternity-leave co-worker has nowhere to go to express breastmilk except a toilet cubicle. I feel bad for her, and I absolutely cannot use the other cubicle while she's at it!


12. We are about to consolidate our credit card debt into our mortgage. We are so lucky to still have our Sydney house! Thank you to Milord's Mum whose bequest let us buy it in the first place, my Dad's bequest which let us hang onto it, and my most generous Aunt who covered a few payments.


13. This coming Friday is my 6th wedding anniversary.


14. Next week I write the test to become an Australian citizen!