Make Me Over!

I am a mummy in desperate need of a makeover! Dont get me wrong, i'm not all grungy and slovenly or anything, i'm just really tired of being the mum who throws her hair back in a ponytail everyday. Its not because i dont have time to do my hair ( though, of course, that may change a little when Miss Jelly finally arrives.... ) - even on days when i have hours to do my hair i still throw it up in a ponytail or a bun 99% of the time.

Not that there is anything wrong with a ponytail mind you - its just that since finding out i'm having a girl i've had this idea in my mind that i need to embrace my femininity more. Like if i'm going to be raising a girl, and being an example of womanhood to her, it might be nice to make just a bit more effort than i do now. Not that i want to be one of these mums you see out who have perfectly coiffed hair and a perfectly made up face either ( hell, we all know they did not just wake up like that, and frankly i do not have an hour or two to devote to my hair and makeup ). I just want something relatively easy, but not as lazy as a ponytail everyday.
                           

Maybe something like these cool mums....

So - i've decided the only way to force myself to make more of an effort is to cut my hair. I'm thinking i'm going to go for a bit of a choppy bob ( which i've had before, when growing out a pixie cut ) . I'll have to make an extra 10 minutes in my morning to straighten it, but i can always pin pieces back, or wear a headband or scarf, or leave it wavy to have different looks. I've booked myself a hair appointment for Saturday of the long weekend ( so i can be nice and new for my school reunion drinks that evening! ) so i have a week and bit left to ponder it some more and make the final decision.

So - is it just me or did anyone else out there feel like they needed/wanted to embrace their feminine side more when they found themselves with a daughter?

Winter Warmers

This one is a big " help me! " for all you avid home cooks out there. I'm not quite sure that i'm "Masterchef " material, but i do enjoy cooking. I like being able to get in the kitchen and throw some ingredients together that will provide a healthy, hearty meal for my family. Not that it HAS to be this way, but being a good cook helps me to feel like a good mum too - maybe its the old fashioned notion of the mum looking after her family through food, i dont know. All i know is that i feel like a good wife and mother after i've eaten something delicious that i've made in my kitchen ( though it doesnt stop me sometimes eating something delicious thats been made in my local fish shops kitchen ).

Seeing as though we're starting to come into the colder weather, its the time of year i look to eat warm, hearty food. Things like a nice Thai or Indian curry, beef stroganoff, apricot chicken, or a big warm stew with lots of vegies and some crusty French bread. Its even better if i can throw it all in a slow cooker, and let the ingredients work their delicious magic while i do other things that need doing ( like going to work, or playing with Flynn ). And this year i'm hoping to experiement a little by taking some of the lighter recipes i enjoy cooking and " winter - ing " them up. Like turning a tomato pesto chicken recipe into a nice pie or pasty, eaten with a serve of mash.

So here's where you guys come in - whats your favourite hearty, winter meal? You dont need to give me an exact recipe ( unless you want to ), just enough of a name or description that i could Google up something tasty. Think of it like a virtual cookbook for a hungry pregnant lady!

BabyMoon Rising....

I know that regular transmission hasnt exactly resumed around here yet, but i just thought i'd let you know i wont be posting tomorrow afternoon..... because we're off on our babymoon!

Because Mick and I are now running our own business, and the only truck driver that we have is Mick himself, its pretty much impossible for him to take annual leave. ( Except at Christmas - we'll shut down between Christmas Eve and New Year, as is traditional in our industry ). Long story short i thought because we cant take extended periods of leave, we need to take any opportunity we can to just get out of town and do something.... even if we have to create those opportunities ourselves. So i did a bit of internet surfing, and decided that this weekend would be a great weekend to take ourselves - minus Flynn - off for a quick weekend getaway!

We're roadtripping it down to Sydney tomorrow evening after work ( which means a 5 hr drive in the dark - we'll probably get there sometime around 10pm ... ). Saturday morning we'll head to Homebush for the Baby and Toddler Expo which, although we dont really intend to purchase anything major, i'm kind of secretly excited about having a stickybeak at. Then its a train ride into the city in the afternoon because i've booked a tour on the back of a Harley Davidson trike for the two of us. I'm actually really looking forward to it and have been assured that yes, they will have motorcycle jackets to fit over my expanding baby bump! I wanted to find an activity that was more for Mick, but that we could enjoy together, so i'm hoping he loves it. Its a one hour ride from The Rocks, through the city , out to Bondi and back again.

Of course, we'll take the opportunity to go out for a nice dinner ( though no drinks for me of course ) and Sunday morning we'll do a quick tour of the shops and have a late breakfast with Micks aunt and uncle before we roadtrip it back to DubVegas. So its not a long break by any means, but it will be enough to get me by until #1) Miss Jelly makes her arrival sometime in August and #2) until we can get away somewhere around the Christmas break with a by-then 3yr old Flynn (!) and a roughly 4 mth old baby girl!

A ( Mothers Day ) Weekend By The Numbers

1 - block of chocolate included in my Mothers Day present. Cadburys new " Marvellous Creations " Popping Candy flavour ( which is, by the way, awesome! )

4 - number of times i shared some with Flynn, who knew exactly where i had it and kept going " 'Scuse me Mum? I want some! " with the biggest grin on his face.

6 - loads of washing done over Saturday and Sunday. It would have only been 4 but i had to do 2 rewashes because the stupid bloody dog keeps pulling stuff of the clothesline. He's still only a pup, and i love him, but if he doesnt stop stealing washing i'm going have to kill him!

10 - combined total of books i bought at two different book sales. 9 of them were picture books for Flynn, and the other was a novel for myself. Not exactly sure when i'll get around to reading it tho - it might just have to make a nice addition to my bookshelf for now.

60 - minutes i spent snoozing on the lounge on Mothers Day afternoon. Flynn and Daddy went off into the new playroom to play trucks ( and Mick tuned Flynns radio into a live football game ) while i drifted in and out of a nice, restful, nana nap.

3 - number of dvds i tried in our dvd player before i came to the sad conclusion that it has died in the arse. No Mothers Day afternoon spent watching " That 70's Show " for me. Boo to that!

2 - number of tv shows Mick and I watched after the lovely chicken tikka curry he made for dinner : " Modern Family " and " New Girl ". ( For the record, Schmidt cracks me and Jess and Nick just need to hurry up and get it together already! ). After that we perused the tv guide, found out there was nothing much else worth watching ( Masterchef just isnt doing it for me this year ), so we turned the telly off and had a chat and went to bed early instead...

562 - approximate number of times that Little Jelly kicked me in the belly button/bladder/ribs to make her presence known over the course of Mothers Day. Its nice to know she's going ok in there but getting super-Ninja kicked all day long isnt exactly the most comfortable of presents!

Waddle, Waddle, Waddle, Yeah!

Oh yes, you better believe it - at 24 weeks pregant I am well and truely getting my pregnant lady waddle on. I dont feel like my bump is overly huge yet but for some reason i find myself with a much sorer back and achier hips than when i was pregnant with Flynn... the combined effect of which is a nice little duck-like waddle.

Truth be told this is kind of a rant post. I dont mind waddling so much - its pretty much inevitable with pregnancy and actually helps other people to realise i'm not just getting chunky, i'm actually cooking a small human being in there. No, its the back ache that is really getting me down. I dont remember having an especially sore back until maybe the last few weeks of pregnancy the first time around. But this time? The burning, aching sensation up the right hand side of my back is enough to make me want to cry. Being right handed i of course do everything with my right hand and over-reaching/stretching with that arm is causing me to be in pain by the middle of the day. So far i've found that if i can lie down and rest on that side it feels better - but unless my employers let me install a daybed in the kitchen that isnt exactly an option at work.

So i guess the only thing this little pregnant duck can do is put up with it. Possibly with the help of some Panadol. Ooh - or i can possibly cross my fingers that Mick and Flynn get me a massage gift certificate for Mothers Day. Either way, i think the daily pain might be here to stay for roughly the next 100 days ( countdown til my due date is on! ) and i'll just have to live with it - although, as with all things pregnancy related, i reserve my right to have a whinge!

Adevntures in World Touring and Big Boy Rooms

I've always found that if i had things on my calendar to look forward to it makes the boring/slow/unmotivated down days a bit easier to bare. " So today i feel like balling my eyes out? So  what - next week i'm on holiday! ". You know, that type of thing. Well, yesterday was one of those " loking forward to " days because Flynn and I were lucky enough to have tickets to see " Elmo's World Tour " !

Sure, it may not sound overly exciting an activity for a grown up but truth be told i WAS really looking forward to it. I've loved " Sesame Street " since i was a little girl and i'm so glad that Flynn has inherited that same love of all things Muppet/Jim Henson related. So when i found out they were bringing an Elmo show to our local theatre i made sure i got two tickets - and front row at that!

Flynn loved it - he spent at least the first 15 minutes waving to all the characters ( its a wonder his little arm didnt fall off he was flapping it that hard! ), and had great fun dancing, laughing and participating in the show when the characters called for it. And i loved being able to see him all lit up by something so special - i was almost brough to tears by huge his smile was, and how his little eyes widened in wonder at every new aspect of the show. I'm so glad we were able to go, and only wish that maybe next time something like that comes to town Daddy is able to come with us and share in it too!

And after all the excitement of Elmo, i ahd the somewhat more adult excitement of being finally able to put Flynns new " big boy " room together! The garage-to-bedroom/playroom conversion was completed by the carpet layers while we were at the Elmo show, so when we got home i got busy moving him in. Aside from a lunch and a dinner break, i literally spent 7 hrs yesterday builing flatpack furniture, setting it up, and moving all the toys and books from loungeroom and old bedroom to the new one. I have to say by 8:30pm last night was completely and utterly exhausted - methinks this pregnant lady took on too much for one day! - but it was well worth to be able to put him to sleep in his cool new room and snuggle down into my own bed to watch " Revenge " in peace!

 Its still missing the finishing touches of decor/wall art but an extra living space we have in our duplex now, but it is ready in plenty of time for Miss Jelly's arrival into the world! ( Which, of course, means my next project is getting Flynns old room ready for the baby ). So my big important question for the day - who do you think is going to get shot on the beach in the " Revenge " season finale?

Imagine It

One thing i really love about Flynn now that he is growing up is his growing imagination. He's 2 and 4 mths now, and it seems like everyday he's expanding the way he plays by imagining bigger and better things.

One day we were eating dinner and he had his sipper cup and his fork, waving them around above his head - or, according to him " Mum - they flying up in space! ". The next week he was making wriggly movements with his forefinger and introducing himself as " Mr Worm " or " Mr Snake " ( which would always get a giggle from him when i mock screamed at the snake in my house ). The past week though its been all about firemen. Every truck he owns is a " fire truck " and Fireman Flynn and Fireman Daddy and Fireman Pop have been out to numerous rescues to "make people safe ". I dont miss out either... sometimes i'm just back at the fire station, or on a good day i get to be Ambulance Lady Mummy. ( Mind you, every fireman or paramedic he has is a block from his Megablocks set - he doesnt own any action figures yet so he's even using his imagination to humanise a block! )


love indulging his little fantasies - i'm quite happy to be a red Duplo block paramedic, or to lace my thumbs together to turn into Mrs Butterfly. I love to ask him questions and giggle at his imagined scenarios: " Did Fireman Daddy to go a rescue? " once got a " No Mum - he getting a sam-widge for his lunch ". I cant wait to see what else he comes up with as he gets older, and whether a big imagination translates into a love of creative writing like it did with me.


Me? I always played " boyfriend/girlfriend " with my Barbie dolls, or took my Cabbage Patch dolls on trips to the beach. I dreamed about being an paedatrician when i grew up ( until i realised i'm not overly fond of either copious amounts of blood, or of study ) and imagined myself travelling the world. Even at 27 years old, i think theres plenty of imagination left in this old girl yet!


How about you? Were you a head-in-the-clouds imaginative type of kid?