#MyThreeWords

Together You Rise

Stay strong, pull together, and help each other up. You're in our thoughts Oklahoma.

Dear Tully, Aged 9 Months

• Dear Miss Tully,

  
  

  

  
  

  
  

  I know it is cliche but oh, how the time flies.... 9 months already! My memory isnt the best, but i'm sure the months never flew by so quickly when your brother was a baby. But here we are, and you're 9 months old, and getting cheekier and chubbier by the minute. Grandma says you are chubby the same way i was... that is, you are entirely squishable, with beautiful chubby baby rolls on your legs that are just begging to be tickled and squeezed. Plus you have that cute chubby baby bottom or, as Flynn likes to call it, ' squishy bum '. And dont you love to show it off - even though its coming into winter and is starting to get quite chilly, when it comes time to strip down for a bath you get a giggle on. You stand up on those chubby legs and shake your little booty, giggling and squealing until everyone in the room laughs right along with you. In fact, watching your baby version of 'rump shaking ' is one of my favourite parts of the day ( insert smiley face here ).

  
  

  Aside from loving your nudie/bath time, you get a real kick out of standing up. Someone helps you pull yourself up onto a peice of furniture and you stand there proudly, stomping your feet up and down, trying to decide whether you should take a few steps sideways or not. Despite that indecision, you have managed to cruise once or twice, and you have even taken one small step towards me without holding on to anything. However, even though soooo many people tell me you should be, you still dont crawl, though in the past week or so you have developed a funny little bum slide thing that helps you move around ( albeit quite slowly ). I'm not sure that you'll ever crawl - you never liked your tummy time, and though you'll lie down and play quietly for a few minutes at a time now, you still crack the poos and squeal eventually, the same way you did as a newborn.

  
  

  You're also a foodie in the making - you will pretty much try anything you are offered, and i couldnt name a food  that you have outrightly rejected. You have learned that when someone offers you something, you say ' ta' - and though i am proud of you using your manners, it is quite amusing watching you lean towards others peoples food, opening and closing your hand, demanding 'ta!ta!TA! '. The big grin, complete with two bottom teeth, that we get when we share our food with you makes the sharing well worth it though. Those two little teeth cut through somewhere around Easter but its only now that they've popped up high enough for us to see when you smile...and, i have to say, they've only made you exponentially cuter!

  
  

  I'm a little sorry to say that your near perfect sleeping has gone down hill a little, but i think we can blame moving house for that. However tired i may be sometimes, i'm trying to focus on all the awesome things your achieving - the standing, the bum sliding, the learning to clap and to wave bye-bye; your burgeoning vocabulary ( we have 'bub', 'mum', 'dad', 'pop', 'poo', 'go' and 'ta' down pat ); and the sweet little personality you're developing. Sure you scream like a pterodactyl when you feel people aren't paying you enough attention ( earning you the nickname " Tully-dactyl " ) but you are also quite free with your smiles, your snuggles and will happily burble at almost anybody. In short, Daddy, Flynn and I think you are just a little bit awesome-sauce.

  Now, lets just see if the next 3 months go as fast as the last 3 - and then we'll no doubt have a smiley, cheeky, chubby one year old on our hands!

  Love you Muffins,

  Your Mama Bear
  
  Tuesdays? Play along with IBOT at EssentiallyJess!

  
  

What Is Going On Here?!

You know what I heard today? A school crossing guard in Melbourne was banned from giving the kids he 'guards ' high fives. Too dangerous or some such crap. And last week Flynns daycare 'mum' told me they cant use toilet paper rolls for craft as its unhygienic, and egg cartons can't be used in case kids are allergic to eggs. ( Looks like Flynn will have to do the 'banned' crafts at home ). I mean.... What in the actual crap is this country coming to?

No high fives. Half the stuff we used to do craft with is banned. No blowing out candles on a birthday cake in case of germs. No cartwheels in the playground and no gumboots at playgroup in case the kids trip over. Trust me - my son is 3 years old - he does not need to be wearing gum boots to trip over!

I'm kind of worried what all these ridiculous rules are going to do to do not just to our children, but our society. When will all this government sanctioned ( or, at the very least, rules from a governing authoritarian body ) nonsense going to stop? They are taking all the fun out of....well...everything! At this point I think I may encourage my son to rebel against these so called 'rules' just so he gets the chance to live a little!

Is it just me? Are there ridiculously over-the-top rules and regulations that you just can't wrap your head around?

Playing along with EssentiallyJess for IBOT!

Mondays - Who Needs Them?

• Seriously - nobody actually likes Mondays do they? I've come to find that if i'm going to run across a crazy customer or patient, they come in on a Monday; that my colleagues and I do a lot more whinging on a Monday ( so much so i've taken to calling it Ranty Pants Monday ); and lets not forget the fact that Monday heralds the start of the working and school week. Boo! So did it really suprise me when Mick rang this morning to say he'd had a slight mishap with one of our work vehicles and smashed a window? No, not really - it is Monday after all!

  
  

  Ok, no - Mondays arent always that bad, but a smashed window your van isnt exactly the greatest way to start the week. Plus, it was raining, which is always a downer. But i wasnt going to let this particular Monday get one over on me. Oh no, not this little black duck! I turned this particular manic Monday on its head : seeing as my husband was no longer going to work ( after all, you cant be expected to drive a four hour round trip with a busted out window in the rain... ) i decided to invite him on a lunchdate. A CHILD-FREE lunchdate, which we very rarely get to have. And it was lovely - just a basic bistro meal and a stroll in the rain, just the two of us.

  

  That's my husband - he's a sexy bitch!

  
  

  
  

  So thankyou, Monday, May the 13th, for getting all your crappy Monday-ness out of the way early on and giving me the opportunity to make the most out of a bad situation !

  
  

  
  

18/52 - Show Time!

Tully - Raaaaah!

Flynn - piloting a 'bumper boat ' at the show

• This weekend we took the kids to the annual Dubbo Show, for a few rides, some extremely expensive hot chips and a bit of fun. Tully, of course, is not old enough yet to have any idea whats going on, but at 3 and half years old Flynn is old enough to be entranced by the lights, the sounds and the shouts of the carneys.

  
  

  He went on the dodgem cars with Daddy ( or, as Flynn calls them, the ' bumpy cars ' ), took three rides on the giant slide with me and rode the inflatable boats all by himself. He was very pleased with himself, steering around the little inflatable pond with one hand, smile a mile wide, as happy as a pig in mud. Of course, what made him even happier was being able to pick a show bag. Showbags seemed to have changed a bit since i was little ( all i can remember is really cheap toys and lollies that were almost guaranteed to rot your teeth ) but after a bit of discussion and a few changes of mind, Flynn settled on a Thomas the Tank Engine bag which came with a backpack, lunchbox and a rewards chart.

  
  

  Which, of course, is actually a score for me - relatively cheap new gear to take to daycare and a sticker chart that i didnt have to spend forever drawing up myself!

  
  

Yelling Never Helps

• I had the misfortune of receiving a phone call at work today, in regards to a complaint about service in the branch where i work. Not that i'm in charge of that type of thing, but when i delved a little deeper to figure out what this persons issue might be i discovered that said complainer had made a colleague of mine cry last week. Why? Because he yelled at her - he stood in the branch and ranted and raved at a junior employee who has no control over anything. A-hole. So, after passing his complaint on to management who actually CAN help him, and me relating stories of other crazy clients to my poor colleague, I have decided to post this very helpful little list. Please find following top 5 tips on how to make a complaint. Nicely. Without making anyone cry.

  
  

  

  
  

  
  

  1. Yelling never helps - seriously, i dont know why people think yelling at customer service staff is going to solve anything. We aren't deaf, and a lot of the time you are yelling at someone who doesnt have the authority to do what you want them to do. Plus, yelling only pisses us off and makes us less inclined to go out of our way to help you. Even if you dont have much nice to say, keeping your voice at a normal speaking level is a much calmer way to go about things.

  
  

  2. Try and use people's proper names - or should i say, DON'T be condescending. For example, my name is Amy. Please do not repeatedly refer to me as 'love', 'sweetheart', or 'girlie'. I may be a mere woman, but i am not a doormat. If you makes you feel like a big man to yell ' Listen here girlie! ' in my face you sir are a chauvenistic pig!

  
  

  3. Make sure you actually have grounds for a complaint - that is, please dont come in going off your chops about something completely minor that is a common occurence and can be easily fixed, or something tha you perceive to be entirely unfair but really is completely within the realms of normal trade. By all means, ask the question if need be but do it nicely - coming in, pointing fingers and ranting and raving, only makes you look like a goose.

  
  

  4. Don't shoot the messenger - most people on the retail shop floor are just underlings. Very few of us actually have any say in whether you can have a refund, or an exchange of goods or a written letter of apology ( or whatever it is that you're after ). If you really must go off your rocker because you are that angry/annoyed/disgruntled, then please save any and all yelling for higher management, who are better equipped to deal with it, and have the authority to boot you off the property before you make someone cry.

  
  

  5. The customer is not always right - i'm sorry  but sometimes you just aren't. I dont know who first sprouted that line but it isnt an actual rule. There are actual rules ( the Department of Fair Trade can help you with those ) but just because you are the customer and you say something does not automatically make it right. If it turns out you are wrong, please just be gracious enough to accept that and move on. An apology to the junior colleague you made cry might be nice, but if you cant put your big kid underpants on and say sorry, then please just sulk out without any further fuss.

  
  

  P.S Consumers, and retail staff of the world - you're welcome!

  
  

ReCapturing That Natural High

• Last Tuesday night i took my first yoga class in almost 4 years. I havent been to one since i was pregnant with Flynn ( though i have been trying to practice at home, however sporadically that may be ) but before falling pregnant i considered myself a total yogi. ( Not quite the in the tradtional transcendental meditation/contortionist sense though ). I loved my twice weekly yoga classes - in fact, i loved them so much i had enquired into training as a yoga teacher. I had spoken to my instructor and had looked at various teacher training programs and was just in the process of saving some cash when i fell pregnant. Suffice to say, over the past 4 years i have really missed a regular practice, so when a friend of mine told me about a class she was interested in taking, i jumped at the chance to go along with her.

  
  

  

  
  

  
  

  I'll admit to being a little nervous before the class started - would i still be as flexible as i used to be? Would i remember what the poses were called or would i have to follow along like a total newbie? Would my muscles remember the correct postures for each pose? I got to the venue a little early, rolled out my mat and gave myself some time to stretch before the class actually started. It turned out to only be a small class - just the teacher, myself and 6 others - and unbeknownst to me, it was a 'power ' yoga class. I balked a little on the inside... what had i got myself in for?

  
  

  I needn't have worried .... it was freaking fantastic! Yes, the whole 'power' aspect was new to me ( its more of a cardio based workout than traditional hatha or iyengar practice ) but i knew every pose as the teacher was doing them and was able to keep up to her pace without keeling over, dead and sweaty. Plus, i had a certain amount of 'muscle memory ' and was able to snap into relatively correct posture for each pose and had a much better degree of flexibility than i thought i would.

  
  

  So - go me! I'm so glad that i was able to find the cash to pay for the class ( which had stopped me from getting back into regular practice sooner ) and also that i was brave enough to throw myself back into it, especially in a class of people i wasnt familiar with. I cannot wait to finish at work today so that i can quickly grab the kids from daycare, dash home, change, wolf down a quick snack, and head off for another class!

  
  

  Is there an activity you would love to take up again? Maybe something you did previously, but various circumstances have held you back? Or something you'd love to start?
  
  Playing along again with IBOT over at EssentiallyJess  !

  
  

When In Doubt....

.... Post an E-Card!

Because seriously, I do like talking to you lot about me and mine, I'm just so tuckered out tonight that I don't really have anything to say. I've done a bazillion loads of washing today, and done last months invoices from start to finish ( print, sort, fold, stuff ) and cooked tea for 7. Right now, my brain is just not functioning well enough to write anything too in depth. So, when you're wanting to post to your blog but you doubt you can get out anything vaguely coherent.... Post an E-Card!