Gratitude Project - 6th November

It's been another glorious day today.

Mr M headed out of town for work that will see him away overnight - there is always an element of excitement when he goes; I get to veg in front of whatever I want on the telly and I don't have to cook if I don't want to! :)

My gratitudes for today:

1. Watching the boys play with their cousins and some new kids today, at a birthday party. Apart from my brother- and sister-in-law, I knew no one else at the party and I decided to enjoy watching the kids. It was wonderful to see them interacting with the other children and to see Mac being an awesome big brother, watching out for Warrie. I don't think the smile left my face the whole time we were there.

2. Hay fever tablets. I don't usually have hay fever, but this year (this weekend in particular!) it has been almost unbearable. I finally admitted defeat and had a tablet... oh my goodness, the relief has been blissful!!

3. An evening on my own. After a pretty busy weekend, I got the boys to bed a bit earlier than usual tonight and made the most of a husband free night - a delicious dinner (which did include some cooking), a glass of wine and some trashy tv!

I hope you all have had a great day - feel free to share a highlight, I'd love to know what makes your weekends special!

Gratitude Project - 5th November

It's been a gloriously sunny (if windy!) day; which meant I powered through three loads of washing - a gratitude in itself!!

We've had a great mix of a lazy and productive day: t-ball with the kids, a delicious hour or so of reading in blissful peace and then an afternoon of playing in the backyard and cleaning the house.

All in all, it's been an awesome Saturday!

Things I'm grateful for today:

1. Having found such a lovely baseball club for my boys to be a part of. Their coach is a young guy with no kids, and he is so awesome with them all! And Mac and Warrie both adore him and talk about Coach Tim all the time. There's no pressure for them to perform, its all about learning the game and having fun - for all us newbie parents as well as the kids!

2. Being able to read my book with a cuppa and some toast in peace. After t-ball, the boys were vegged out in front of the telly with Mr M (who snoozed) and I retired to my bedroom with my book and read and read and read! The tea and toast was a delightful bonus!

3. Unexpected dinner with my in-laws. I have always loved Mr M's family like my own, and I feel very lucky to have a great relationship with his parents. Good company + yummy food + a couple of glasses of wine = a wonderful evening (especially as there was no cleaning up for me to do afterwards!)

I hope you've all had a great start to the weekend! Was there a stand out moment for you today?

Gratitude Project - 3rd November

Around this time of year, I start to flag... it's like I've been happy, cheerful, bubbly and funny (well, I think so at any rate hahaha!) for the last 10 months and I just don't have the energy to maintain the charade any more. It doesn't help that the end of the year is the also one of the busiest times at work.

Anyone else feel this way?

It seems exceptionally unfair that this happens just as I should be full of joy and energy in the lead up to Christmas!

That being said, it's not all doom and gloom! Despite my general world weariness and a desire to be on holiday (only 7 weeks to go!), I'm actually starting to feel a bit excited for the festive season... Mr M is pretty happy, as I am normally a bit "bah, humbug" about the whole Christmas thing. I put it down to the kids - I just want to make the day as magical as I remember it being in my childhood.

Anyhoo - on to my gratitudes for today:

1. A lunchtime run in the glorious sunshine! With summer just around the corner, I'm enjoying the ability to still run in a temperature that won't melt me :)

2. Watching my Boys play t-ball. I'm thrilled to have found a sport that they both enjoy, not to mention are good at! We have training on a Thursday evening, and afterwards Mac and Warrie love to watch the senior team in their training session - they've only been playing for six-weeks, but already they look up to those guys... it's so cute to watch.

3. Etsy; I love the virtual window shopping!! Currently I am indulging myself some cross stitch, and am readying to embark on the thrills of embroidery... that doesn't sound too "old" does it??? hehehe
I can literally spend hours scrolling through kits, patterns and finished products. My favourites are the modern ones - I've finished two Christmas designs, and I am on the search for something new to get my teeth into.
When I think about my lack of interest in anything crafty this time last year and I see how far I've come. Now THAT'S something to be grateful for!

So tell me - what's being going on with you? What has made you grateful today?

xx

Gratitude Project- 1st November

October was Mental Health month in Australia. My workplace offered a number of workshops/events during the month; I signed up for the four-week Mindfullness Meditation.

I got a lot out of it; I love meditating, but just never have the time.... scratch that: I don't make the time for it. Which is pretty silly, given how much I enjoy it!

At the end of the last session, we were taking about gratitude and the documented benefits it has in ones life when practised daily. I should know, it's worked for me too.

So in an effort to reclaim some long term happiness benefits, I've decided to start the Gratitude Project again:

1. I'm grateful for the ability to move my body, and to enjoy a gym class... even (especially??!) if I know I'll be sore tomorrow. 

2. I'm grateful for technology, so I can see pictures of my Mum enjoying her holiday with my brother and his family.

3. I'm grateful for giggling kisses with Mac and Warrie at bedtime - I hope they never grow out of it! (or at least take their time, before deciding that it/I'm uncool!)

I hope you'll join me in my quest for making my own happyness (obvs you'll be making your own, not necessarily adding to mine! Altho' I won't lie: I'd be stoked if you did join in!). Let me know in the comments something that you've been grateful for today

xx

Gratitude Project 18 - 20 April 2015

What a lovely weekend we had!

Mr M was working on Saturday, so I had Mac and Warrie all to myself. After a morning of chores around the house, I took them out for the afternoon.

After running around a playground for nearly two hours, I decided it was type for this mamma to go home and have a cuppa.

As I was strapping Warrie into his seat, Mac piped up with "Mummy, can we go to IKEA and play in the ball pit?". Unable to think of a valid excuse not to go, we headed over to IKEA and proceeded to wait for 45-minutes to get them into the one-hour free child care. Then I headed upstairs for a cup of tea and cake; I fully intended on working on a project I have, but ended up spending the time reading a book! It was such bliss.

Yesterday, we had a film crew at our house for a short film that Mr M is working on. I took the boys to a playcentre to meet with a girlfriend and her boys. Five hours of non-stop running around later, I headed home to find the crew still there. With two more scenes to film, I was delighted to be able to watch Mr M in cameraman mode for the first time ever.

{Mr M, doing his thang!}

It was utterly fascinating to be behind the scenes and see how the magic of the silver screen is made.

Today was a wet and miserable day, which of course meant that all the crazy people were out on the road to work.
After a shocking commute, I got out of the car only to realise that the umbrella was not in the car as I had assumed... and to top it all off, I discovered that my shoes have a hole in them, so I ended up with wet feet!
Oh well, if that is the worst thing I have to endure today, then I am a very lucky girl!

So the things I have been grateful for this weekend:

1. Spending some awesome time with my baby boys at the playground. They must have gone down that slide 50 time each - easily! Warrie crashed in the car before we made it home, so I put him straight to bed and then had a wonderful one-on-one cuddle with Mac. Which we both enjoyed. Those boys are the light of my heart.

2. My physio. I have some weird nerve/muscle/skeletal pain going on in my shoulder and neck. Whilst it hurts being manipulated, the kazillion cracks she got out of my back at the end of the session made it all worth it!

3. Mr M. I don't tell him often enough how grateful I am for him. I just always assume that he knows, but I want him to know know. Ya know? So not only will I put it out here, so the whole world can see how thankful I am for my amazeballs husband, I'm going to tell him to his face. And then I am going to give him the biggest cuddle ever!!

How was your weekend? Do you have a hole in your shoes? What was one of the biggest highlights of your weekend?

Friday Feels - 29 August

Well it's been a few of the most stressful weeks of my life - not even the week leading up to my wedding was as bad!!

But it seems as though the worst is behind me; the situation has been somewhat diffused by a mediated discussion and I can finally move on.

However this experience has left me with a somewhat bitter taste towards my work... but I'm taking it as an absolute motivator to push me into finding what it is that is meaningful and fills me with passion and excitement.

I have some ideas, but I won't jinx anything just yet. Sorry to be so frustratingly vague :)

Instead, I'll just jump right into my Friday Feels!

Hearing: I think I've mentioned it before, but Spotify has a Throwback Thursday playlist that I follow - today it was trowing back to 1984, so much awesomeness! Then this song came on:



This song is the anthem of my Mum, my brother and I.
I have such vivid memories of hearing/watching it on MTV and the three of us dancing like loons around the room. Good times :)

Seeing: The sun!! Sydney has had so much rain the last couple of weeks, and then the sun finally made an appearance yesterday - it was so blissful to walk without an umbrella!

Tasting: Every now and then, my step-dad and I get together for lunch and pig out on Hungry Jacks. This week we indulged in a double whopper meal, and it was delicious!!

Smelling: Spring. It's definitely in the air, Mr M was complaining about having an itchy nose today! Only days to go until we are a whole season closer to summer!!

Touching: The baby soft skin on my boys faces. Warrie is shedding his baby fat like it's going out of fashion, and his chubby cheeks are turning into the cheeks of a proper little boy.
I miss their baby faces something fierce... but I love watching them grow into wonderful boys, complete with fart humour, light sabers made from used toilet rolls, and grotty faces.

How has your week been? What song reminds you of dancing around the room as a child?

My first ever guest post!

A while back my beautiful friend Trishie, from Under Lock and Key, asked me if I would like to write about my decision on returning to work after the birth of Mac and Warrie, and I jumped at the chance!

So here it is, my first ever guest post!!

I didn't know that it had gone live - an issue with my phone meant that I had been basically uncontactable (is that even a word!?!) for over a week.

I also had a work issue crop up from left field at the end of last week, and have been feeling pretty less than ordinary the last few days.

But today, Trishie called me for a general chit chat and it boosted my mood ten fold... seriously, this lady has the best laugh and she know just what to say to cheer me up!

Just before we finished the call, she asked me if I had seen the post and read the comments that her readers had left. I told her no, but promised that I would as soon as we finished our conversation.

Boy am I glad that I did!

The response from her readers was overwhelming; so supportive and lovely. They boosted my confidence and lifted my soul - something that I didn't even realise I needed until I read the comments.

A number of people thanked me for my honesty in the post, and that's something that I am very proud of.

When I had my boys, I promised myself that I would always be honest about parenting - I saw (and experienced!) first hand, the mothers who would only tell people the "good stuff" about parenting... you know, how it is all sunshine and unicorns.

{image from here}

Yes it is an amazing and wonderful journey and I don't ever want to be without my kids - but you had better believe that there are moments (sometimes whole days!) where I would like nothing more than to be childless, to have the freedom (and the money!) to travel, or go out for a nice meal, or have actual conversations with people.

But let me tell you something else... when I pick them up from daycare, after a day spent in the office and up to an hour in peak hour traffic - there is NOTHING in this universe that is more restorative than my little boys running towards me, with their arms outstretched and their hearts on their faces, shouting "MUMMY!" and giving me the biggest bear hug imaginable

It's a cliche for a reason.... They really do make it all worthwhile.

Are you a parent? Do work, or are you a stay at home parent? What do your children (or nieces, nephews, grandchildren) do that makes everything worthwhile?

Gratitude Project - 3rd April

Just so you know, the assumption for my gratitude list is that I am always grateful for my two healthy, adorable, rambunctious, funny, irritating, happy, loving boys. Every day. No matter how much they tick me off, or make me long for the days when I could afford nice clothes/shoes...

Yes I can imagine life without them; but I don't want to ever be without them.

They might make me want to punch walls with their constant "Mummy. Mummy. Mummy. Mummy." But then something like this happens:

Today was Mac's swimming lesson, so I dropped Warrie off at day care before hand. As we were walking in, he stops, looks over his shoulder and says, "Where Mac? Mac gone?"

"Yes darling, Mac has a swimming lesson. He'll be back in a little while."

Cue a devastated face, tears and clutching my leg from my normally very independent little boy.

After swimming, as I pulled back up outside the centre, I turn to get Mac out of the car. He has a very sad expression. "Sweetheart, what's wrong!?"

"Mummy, I miss Warrie. Can I give him a cuddle when I go in?"

My heart melts with the love these to boys have for each other. And I know that I am blessed to have them.

And so it is a given that at the very way far top of my gratitude list is my two boys.

{Seriously, these kids break my heart with their gorgeousness. Every. Single. Day}

So, apart from my babies, the things I am grateful for today are:

1. Running with my bestie today. Well run-walking really, and mostly lots of chatting :)  We've decided to make it a weekly thing, and I'm already looking forward to next week!

2. My slow cooker; so little effort for so much delicious reward!!

3. A decent TV series. A few of my favourite shows are: Rake, The Moodys, Offspring, Walking Dead, The Spoils of Babylon. 

I am currently obsessed with the show Vikings... Ragnar Lothbrok (Travis Fimmel) really floats my boat. 

We don't watch a lot of TV (mostly because there's never anything good on!) but thanks to Mr M, we're up to date with this fab series, and I am loving it!

What's your current favourite tv show? Do you have any recommendations?

Gratitude project - 22nd to 27th February

Sorry for the five days of silence - I was spending some wonderful time with my brother and his drop dead gorgeous family! And then I was back at work, trying to catch up before I have the next two weeks off to properly spend time with my bro...

I've been a bit narky the last few days. I'm not sure why, maybe it's a little "relapse"?? All I know is that poor Mr M and the kids can seem to do nothing right at the moment, and it makes me feel worse because I know that what I am perceiving as their "bad" behavior is all in my head.
I feel like I am so angry at everything and everyone on the inside, whilst at the same time having arguments with myself to clarify what it is that I can really be angry with and what it is that my brain is making up.

Meanwhile, on the outside I am trying desperately to make everyone think that I'm all ok. GAAAHHHH! It's freaking exhausting!

~~~~~*****~~~~~*****~~~~~

I have five days of gratitude to catch up on. Rather than list 15 things (three for each day), I am just going to do a short blanket list to cover what I have been grateful for. Let's face it, for most of that time I was with my brother, and I am so immensely grateful for that time with him that it probably counts for at least ten of the items I am grateful for :)

So, things I am thankful for:

1. My brother. Two and a half years (almost) since I last saw him... As small as the world can seem with the magic of the internet and Skype and Facetime, nothing, not a single damn things, is as wonderful as the physical person in front of you. Being able to see the subtle body language during a conversation, to see the laughter lines around eyes, to just cuddle him because I can.
I tell you what, someone was really looking out for me when they were dishing out brothers. I got the best one.

2. My nephews. Oh. Emm. Gee. Cutest kids ever! So clever and gorgeous, and cuddly and funny. Watching my two boys playing with their cousins was a sight that filled my heart with joy. I cannot wait for two weeks of watching them :)

3. Two days away from work. Well I think you can all understand why I'd be grateful for that! (apart from prattling on again about hanging with my bro!)

4. Mr M. He's been home poorly for the last two days with a nasty cough (it makes working on a TV set very difficult!). And he hasn't done a thing around the house; which has contributed to my feelings of anger, no doubt. But he has been very good about giving me space in the evenings. He's not hassling me, he's just loving me from a distance whilst I scowl my way through the evening. And then he holds me tight in bed without saying a word.

5. Running in the rain. Normally I avoid running if it's already raining before I leave. But today, I did it. And I got soaked! But I was running with a bestie, and we were having a wonderful child free catch up whilst exercising - it was brilliant! :)

I think that'll do for now. You guys get the gist - I'm so happy to see my bro, that everything else I am thankful for is a bonus :)

What have you been up to these last few days? What has jumped out at you as something to be truly grateful for?

It's a gusher!

Not my cupboard, but possibly it's twin! :)

I'm supposed to be cleaning out my tupperware cupboard... there's years of random plastic things in there - with and without lids!

But here I am; Newbie is asleep, and rather than sit on the kitchen floor, I've decided to make the most of the quiet time.
What can I say, Procrastination is my middle name!  :)

Today Newbie is 8-weeks old.
The other day, the Little Monster described him as a happy and smiling baby to his daycare ladies, and he was 100% right.

Sure Newbie cries, and I often wonder what on earth for - he's been fed, changed, burped, cuddled, swaddled, etc, etc, etc... But generally he is a happy, smiley baby.
And he is {mostly!} a chillaxed baby, which I put down to Husband and I being much more relaxed this time around. I don't panic the moment he cries, and I don't freak out when he won't go to sleep when he's "supposed" to.

Newbie has been less of an intrusion on Husband and I's "couple time"; and I don't mean that we are doing the horizontal mambo all the time!
Rather, we are able to see past each other as just a "mother" or a "father" - we can still see each other as an individual, as the person who the we fell in love with.
For me, when the Little Monster came along my world was so intensely rocked that I just didn't know how to be anything other than Mummy, let alone to be "me" again or a lover ... I certainly couldn't imagine how Husband would ever see me as a sex bomb again!

Then there was the factor of loving someone other than Husband... The shock of an unconditional love that was so intense, right from the get-go. I still get that heady, vertigo like feeling when I look at my Little Monster; and I feel exactly the same for Newbie

One of my biggest fears during this pregnancy was how on earth I would be able to love another child the way I love the Little Monster. Parents with more than one child would tell me "You just do, there is the space for it", but without explaining how there was that space... and it really didn't put my mind at ease.

Then Newbie arrived. It's like suddenly my heart is the size of the universe... unfathomable and never ending. And I realised that I SO have the capacity to love more than one child  :)

It still amazes me, this crazy little thing called love; and the capacity the heart has for such different types of love...
For example, I LOVE chocolate. But that is such a feeble version of the love I have for my (and Husbands) family. Which in turn is a vastly different kind of love for my Husband; whom I love and adore with every fiber of my being.

But the love I have for my little boys.... it's overwhelming, it's soul defining, it's pretty much indescribable and bigger than I could ever find the words for.

All I can say is, I am one lucky lady to have such amazing love in my life  :)

{images from here and here}