Lest We Forget

Today, is ANZAC Day.

I, along with our nation, will be taking time out to remember those men and women who went to war and did not return home to their loved ones. We should also take a time to think of those who were injured in the line of duty, our media often skims over these people and they do not get the recognition that they deserve.

Whether you agree with these wars or not, I am sure we can all agree that no body deserves to lose a family member to them.

To read more on the ANZAC Day tradition, click here. It's not just about delicious biscuits.

Anyway, I for one am glad that this one came home safely. 

She's gone feral.

5 Minutes back and I had a seriously feral child on my hands. 

I am typing this from a staff lounge at one of The Husbands offices and she was screaming bloody murder with a freaking smile on her face, just for the sake of it. 

She was fed, burped, clean, warm and not tired. 

Now she is just playing quietly - she put on a show for the clients trying to have serious meetings obviously.  

It's pouring so I couldn't even take her outside to shoosh her and give everyone some peace. Work places really are not for babies I suppose.

I have a feeling that there will never be a baby allowed in here again. EVER. 

I do like to set the bar high for bad baby visits though, so at least we succeeded in that. 

We trekked to Moama last week and you better believe that I was squealing WE ARE CROSSING THE BORDER!!!! when the time came.

I'm not sure why I was so excited exactly, but you know what they say - Small things, small minds.

We went to a beautiful wedding of a family friend who we have known forever and ever. 

We stayed in cabins which were like something you would see in a horror movie, but there was no murders to take place thankfully. If someone broke in I think I would have been the first to be killed though as I was on the window side and I am pretty sure that the person closest to the door or window always gets killed first.

The wedding started at 4PM and we arrived at 3:30 so everyone was scrambling to get ready.  At 3:58 we piled into the car, Nelly strapped in tight, me practically sitting on my mums lap, squealed out of the hotel drive way and noticed a wedding in the park directly opposite us.

Yeah, you guessed it. The wedding was literally 20m away from our front door. 

Somebody used whereis on their phone and said it was 1km but no, it wasn't. 

It took longer to park the car than it would have taken to walk. 

After the ceremony, Mum and I dashed to Target as I was in agony in my heels (I had ran into the legs of our bed bench that morning and my toe was black and would not bend) and I am going to admit that I ran in with no shoes on and bought a pair of $9 flat shoes. 

My outfit was already crap so no love loss.

I also had my hair blow dried at a really popular Bendigo salon, I won't mention it though. 

It was not great in my opinion.

For $61 I expect more. Come on, I am on a strict budget these days!!

My brother Lucas actually said "Look at your mum hair, couldn't you have at least done it? You've let yourself go" and to that I retorted "At least I still have all my hair". 

Take that Luc-Ass. I hope you are reading!! 

Anyway, at about 10pm it was time to feed Nelly so Mum and I left the reception room at the Moama Bowling Club in search to find somewhere to feed her. As there was no where available we headed towards some big leather couches in an empty section of the venue when a staff member ran up to us and said "You have to leave. There is a bar near here so no children allowed". I asked her if it was in case Nelly walked to the bar and ordered a vodka, neat, and someone served her? She didn't appreciate my humor but shooed us out. 

I had to feed her on a plastic chair in the bathroom. 

Okay lady, if that is your policy then fair enough but maybe your venue should supply somewhere a bit more comfortable for those with infants. 

I wasn't going to flop my boob out for anyone to see and be offended by, I am a discreet person but I guess that is just how the cookie crumbles these days. 

Rant over. Maybe not a big deal but it still annoyed me. 

I used to have one coffee every few months, and not feel bad about adding in 3 sugars to make it enjoyable but these days I am averaging 2 coffees per week and lets be honest here, I still don't feel bad about having 3 sugars.

Poached eggs are amazing. 

I have never been able to master them and would like to hear your secrets on how to make them work.

I have to eat pretty quickly these days. 

My friend Claire gave me this kit at my baby shower and I thought I would give it a crack yesterday. 

I probably should have done it at birth, and am slightly kicking myself now.

It was near impossible to get Nelly to unclench her fists, she really did not want a bar of it so the hands are a bit of a fail but at least the feet turned out okay. 

Perhaps this beanie is a tad too big for her head, which is in the 75th percentile. Takes after her dad.

Before I had Nelly I always said that I would not give my child a dummy.

Well stuff that for a joke. Got a grizzly baby and you have tried every other method to calm them down? Shove a dummy in their mouth and voila. 

We do only give it to her in emergency situations but it is still fantastic. 

People say "Oh but your baby will have bad teeth" but they obviously don't realise that she is destined for braces anyway - click here if you wish to see what my teeth were like before braces, but I do warn you - it ain't a pretty sight. 

So, do you give your kid a dummy? Did you have a dummy? At least you can take away a dummy, not like a thumb!

How is this little munchkin seriously over a month old? Impossible. 

Do you like her latest look? The George Costanza hair do is in full force. Completely bald on top. 

Bald like an egg I tell you.

In other boring news, I walked 6km in the rain on Monday. I need to get a car already.

It's not raining in this photo but you better believe that it rained seconds later.

At least walking will help shift the baby weight. 

We headed to the Maternal Child Health Nurse and happily, Nelly had put on 430g in a week so her lack of weight gain the week before was definitely due to her being unwell. I'm so glad she is back on track. 

The Club

I headed back to our apartment last week on a mission to find clothes that would fit me and see me through the colder days and to find my runners.

I left empty handed.

No matter what I tried on, it just didn't work. What fit my stomach and hips didn't fit my boobs and vice versa. I finally went and got some new nursing bras and was sized at an F cup. Terrifying, I know.

If they get any bigger I am screwed.

Sweet, sweet memories of taking lift selfies. 

My glasses are pretty much glued to my face these days, I swear pregnancy made my eyesight worse.

The beautiful flowers keep on coming, with this particular bunch being from my friend Beetroot who came to visit young Nelly, and instigated a raised eyebrow from my neighbour who no doubt thought I was up to no good having a young man come over during the day bearing beautiful flowers.

We have been partaking in road trips with The Husband who travels here and there for work, he clearly can't keep himself away from his girls as he quite likes the company, and decided to venture a little further and visit my mum on my brothers new farm.

As you can see, mum is quick to baby snatch Nelly, only handing her back when it is time to feed.

Nelly loved roaming the farm with her Nana and Zena. 

As you can see, Zena is also excited. 

I'm dead excited to go yabbying and spot some turtles in this dam.

I have been pretty MIA lately on the blogging front, but it's a bit hard to blog about being home with my sick baby wearing clothes that are stained with breast milk without turning people off in droves. Nobody wants to see that selfie, that much I know for sure.

I headed to the maternal health nurse last Monday only to be told that Nelly had only put on 40g which was a big difference to the 540g from the previous week that earned gold stars all round.

She had been unsettled with a blocked nose, and was constantly pulling away from the breast so we knew that something was wrong, but hearing that she had put on so little weight really did break my heart into a thousand pieces. 

As soon as I walked out, I burst into tears at the thought that she had been going hungry and there was nothing I could do about it.

A trip to the GP that night confirmed that her throat was red and sore which had in turn lead to her not wanting to eat. It's no surprise that she was sick, as The Husband and I both had the flu, but it didn't make it any easier for me to handle. 

I'm not going to lie, I sat in the car and cried to The Husband, Mum and Cat and asked them how they knew it wasn't my fault and would she be okay?

Thankfully she is on the mend now, but now I know what my mum meant when she said "when you are a mother you will know what worry is". 

I love her face in these photo, she cracks me up something shocking.

Nelly is wearing Bonds leggings and a Target top. 

My acne is reappearing at a rapid rate (I clearly need to be pregnant 24/7 so that I have good skin), and it appears that Nelly is truly my child as she has developed a nasty case of baby acne. 

It looks so painful but they tell me that it's not bothering her in the least.

Her skin was so pure and clear in the above photo, now she looks like she has the chicken pox my poor baby.

What To Expect.

I'm going to start this post with a warning, no matter how many books you read - you will not know what to expect until it is happening to you.

No books can prepare you for some of the weird shit that happens during pregnancy and beyond.

Anyway, What To Expect (US Site here) contacted me and have given me the following three books for give away!

I know that some of my readers will have zilcho interest in this giveaway as they are at different stages in life and to those I apologise!

I used the What To Expect iPhone app and checked it's updates religiously and was beyond excited when the fruit or vegetable changed. 

When I first downloaded the app, it said 'The baby is as big as a: sesame seed' and I thought it was huge, I wasn't prepared for the pumpkin and watermelon which was to come along!

If you would like to take your chance at winning one of the above books, please leave a comment and let me know which you book you are interested in!

I will draw the three winners at some stage next week! The books will be sent to you directly from WTE so make sure that I can contact you if you are the winner.

 

Tuesday

I took this snap on Saturday at Leahs baby shower.
Nelly was dead set annoyed to be taken out of her car seat and I captured her best Grumpy Cat impersonation perfectly.

I had complete Baby Brain when buying this card as I forgot to grab the envelope, but at least I remembered to write in it! 

After the baby shower I headed home to bake a cake as we were having a few friends around for drinks, but once I got home I realised that I was lacking the energy to even measure out ingredients so I called it quits. 

It was nice to sit outside as during Summer we would walk out there and be eaten alive by mosquitoes but they appear to have headed north for the Winter.

Our outdoor setting is a cheapie from Masters but I love it! 

 

As you can see, there were not any home cooked treats to be dished up to our guests, purely easy to serve stuff. You better believe that there were also party pies and sausage rolls to be consumed. 

Nelly was really unsettled so I spent half the night trying to feed her, clean her, rock her to sleep and then having to pick her up again as she screamed the house down. 

The possum family came to visit whilst we were outside, walking past casually and checking us out.

Those things have no fear.

Speaking of no fear, this is Caesar my mums new cat. 

She got him from the pound and her reasoning behind choosing him was that he was the meanest cat in there and hissed at her when she got close. I guess somebody has to love the under cat.

Caesar is apparently the new rodent and snake expert on the farm. 

We have finally gotten around to putting globes in our lamps, which are coming in handy now thanks to the possum chewing through our wiring.

I was sitting on the couch at 2am feeding Nelly when I heard thumping directly above my head and within minutes the lights were flickering and then went out.  I then heard the possum gallivant away.

I am having de ja vu. Have I already told you this story?

Nelly loves me even with my frizzy hair, dark circles and pimples returning. Love is blind my dear.

The days are all muddled up in my head so hopefully today is actually Tuesday.

The dreaded shopping trip.

So, I am sick of wearing the same 5 dresses over and over and over again.

It was bad enough that I only fit a few dresses towards the end of my pregnancy, but the fact that 98% of my wardrobe is still packed up at our apartment just makes it so much worse.

As the cold weather approaches, I have had to switch from wearing my nighties around the house to wearing tracksuit pants and pajama bottoms. 

The fact that these are all that fit me is irrelevant. 

Anyway, I headed out to Southland to try and buy some pants.

I don't know why, as I have never really liked wearing pants in the first place and I can't comprehend why I thought it would be okay to try pants on with a big belly only two weeks after popping a kid out but sometimes my mind does crazy things which I just cannot explain.

I went to all the chain store brands as I didn't want to spend much as I am hoping to lose a good amount of weight in good time, but the fluorescent lighting, 3 angle mirrors and the prospect of laying on the floor to get a zipper done up were all too much for me and I left in tears.

I came home and told The Husband that shopping was no longer fun, he told me not to beat myself up about it after all my uterus is still huge but it didn't help.

Do you see what I am wearing in the above photo (and the angle of the photo with Nelly covering my belly makes me look much skinnier haha) - I am wearing leggings as pants. Yes. I know. 

I even left the house in them. I cannot believe it either.

Sigh. 

Nelly leaves the house in leggings and looks adorable, her mum not so much.

I am going to go and find my old wardrobe in the apartment and see what dresses I can jam myself into or at least get some nice exercise wear so I can become one of those mums.  

I went out for all day breakfast with Leah from The Secret Life of a Chef's Wife on Thursday, Leah is 37 weeks pregnant and I am so excited that our kiddies can grow up together!

We headed to 8 Days Cafe on High Street, Armadale.

I had been craving a runny egg my whole pregnancy so ordered one poached egg with toasted sourdough and blueberry & ricotta hotcakes with maple caramel & vanilla bean parfait. 

Unfortunately, they forgot to bring me my hotcakes but after asking for them they turned up eventually and they were freaking delicious. 

As you can see, my 'diet' is yet to start. 

A few months back and I had never heard of Alimrose Designs, but then I got two of their gorgeous soft toys from Little Boo-Teek and now my friend Susan has given Nelly this one! 

I love them all, they are so different and adorable. 

Hello

I really don't have much to post about, even though now is the dream posting time - nothing else to do whilst the kid sleeps.

I am going to a baby shower tomorrow which is bound to be awesome so that will be good posting material next week!

Here is Nelly demonstrating her best side eye at one week old. 

And showing Miranda Kerr a thing or two about winking, only Nelly isn't at the end of the Victoria's Secret runway.

We went for a little day trip to Point Lonsdale last week as The Husband had to visit a client so whilst he brought home the bacon, we trekked down the main street and stopped at a cafe for a giant muffin and fruit juice.

As soon as it was time for us to leave and go and pick The Husband up, the rain started pelting down and of course I didn't have the pram rain cover (great mum, I know) so tied a blanket to the opening of the pram and ran for my life in the rain. 

Nelly got into the car without a drop of water touching her but my hair was definitely ruined, not that it was good in the first place but still. 

The Husband stays up with Nelly from about 9 - 12 or whenever she wants her next feed and I sleep during that period so have embraced pumping a bottle of breast milk just in case. 

We had to top her up with formula whilst in the hospital until my milk came in so she is pretty good with the bottle but we don't give her the bottle more than once a day (if that) at this stage. 

I'm like a cow, milking my udders.

Received lots of beautiful bunches of flowers...

I miss being in hospital. It was like a holiday for us both with the three course meals and constant offers of tea, coffee and snacks. 

Take away the constant hustle of the nurses, the wailing infants to be heard down the corridor and the poking and prodding and it really was a holiday. 

Our home is full of beautiful pink roses at the moment, the front bunch are from Cotton Socks and the back bunch are from my friend Lara and her family. 

Needless to say, the house smells fantastic. 

I've been making big bowls of fruit salad to snack on throughout the day, but my fruit salad is is never as good as my mums, it's like the spaghetti bolognese secret ingredient incident all over again - there must be some trick that she isn't telling me.

What do other people eat for snacks and lunch? I am not very inventive and eat the same thing over and over again until it makes me sick to look at it. When I was younger I would eat toast with grated cheese in it all day every day and now the thought makes me gag, but I can eat non-grated cheese in toast just fine. 

In other exciting news, we have a possum problem. 

Not only do they (we have spotted the family all crawling along the back fence in a possum convoy) eat my plants but they crash around on the roof putting the fear of God into me in the middle of the night thinking that we are being robbed and nibble on our wiring which has caused numerous lighting issues. 

They keep me awake more than Nelly does. 

As I really have nothing to blog about, I leave you with another photo of my spawn. 

I need to go and find something to blog about, like my trip to buy pants that left me in tears but I'll save that for the next post.