A Work In Progress

Members of my family: Chad, Grace. Flynn, Penzance, Tui Things members of my family or their friends (I'm looking at you Flynn and Grace), have spilled on my carpet: Milk, wee, coffee, poo, dead things, fur balls, chocolate, vomit For a fun game, guess who spilt which item. Answers at bottom of page. I am seriously about to disown them all and make them all live in the back yard. Either that or go buy a rug that combines the colours of all those items so no one notices the stains. Answers Chad: Chocolate Grace and Friends: Milk Flynn and Friends: Coffee (over enthusiastic tail near coffee cup), vomit and poo Penzance: Pee, fur balls and dead things Tui: Dead things

Last night, Chad and I left Grace in the very capable hands of my sister and headed out for dinner. We picked a local restaurant that I like. I was keen to go there as they had just finished a long over due renovation and I wanted to see the decor and the new menu. Well the decor was definitely an improvement, but I really understood what my brother in law and sister meant when they talk about unresolved concepts in design. It looked pretty good, trying to mix the age of the building with modern touches but parts of it just didn't work, or were "almost right", but didn't quite go together. The new menu seemed to show that the direction now was more everyday food. Gone were the scallops, duck and such, replaced with more bistro fare  Nothing wrong with that, but given the prices were still $35 for mains level, I assumed a gourmet twist. I was wrong. I ordered the squid rings for entree. The waitress asked if I wanted the entree before my main.....ummm, yeah, I'm wa...

At last I captured a smile!! I did have to do a lot of singing and dancing to get the smile, but I got it!!!!

Hmmmmm. Seriously though, she was having fun. Just never seem to capture the smiles in pictures!! She does have an adorable frown though.

Eight hours!!!! I'm lying here awake because I'm simultaneous happy for the long sleep and the hope it becomes a regular occurrence, worried she is okay and not wanting to drop back sleep myself as I know she must wake soon. Maybe I should get up and shower while I have the time? This is all very strange. To think, three months ago I would never have considered getting up at 4:30am just so I can get ahead on my day.

Recently I found out my friends baby has a generic condition which is incredibly rare. From reading her blog I see the emotional rollercoaster she and her partner have been on over the past year and I can also see the love and dedication to the cheeky little boy who is blessing their lives. Every mother has dreams for her child. It starts before they are born and as we meet our precious bundle, our dreams for them develop and change. As I get to know Grace, I worry about more specific things. She is a serious little girl, will she carry the weight of the world on her shoulders like her Mum? Will she be shy? How can I help her be brave? It feels at times overwhelming. I can only imagine the added layer of stress for parents of a child with a disability or health issue. And yet I also know that the strength of a parent can be incredible. When putting the child first, you can do anything. I also know the joy that your child brings you through a smile, a coo or a look, quickly cancels out ...

I don't want to brag, but I'm on a roll with my dinners this week. Chicken and cous cous, a stir fry and tonight meatballs. Beats three nights of cereal, which would have been what I was eating two years ago.....

Hi Grace, Mum here. I'm just lying in bed, listening to you in the bassinet next to me as you settle back to sleep after a feed. You slept for six hours tonight, well done!! I'm proud of how you are growing. So at ten weeks old, what do I know about you? I know you are a serious and sensitive wee soul, who loves cuddles and chatting with me. You love bath time, and kicking your adorably strong legs. You don't give smiles up easily, but when you do, they melt my heart. You like your hair being brushed and stroked and you play with it to soothe yourself. You talk with your hands and hate to be swaddled. You love kisses and like me to hold your hand as you settle into sleep. I sing "Goodnight Sweetheart" to you every day, and you like it....sometimes. You make me laugh and at times, make me cry when I think you are unhappy. I'll change the world for you baby girl if I can and fight off lions and tigers and bears if you need me to. Sleep well. Kisses and cuddles a...

Completely "rational" conversation between Chad and I. To be fair, I was hungry at the time of this conversation, and I'm not good at rational conversations when I'm hungry. Me: (After Chad has handed me a bottle for Grace's feed) You've put this teet in incorrectly. Chad: No I haven't. Me: Yes you have. Chad: Is the bottle leaking? Me: No. Chad: Then it's not in incorrectly. Me: It's wrong. Chad: (Sigh) Why is it wrong? Me: Well we have two types of bottles, the ones with the round lids and the ones with the squarish lids. And they each have their own teets. You have to use the round teets with the round lids and the more square teets with the square lids. And the square lids also have that weird round thing that you have to use or else they leak. Chad: Yep, I know that. Me: Well why did you use the wrong lid? Chad: (sigh..followed by slight smile) I didn't. Me: Then why is the flippy thing not pulled through? Chad: ???? Me: Get me another rou...

1. Wake Mum up early by crying for food. 2. Keep crying while she hurries to prepare bottle. Make it sound like you haven't been fed for hours! Extra points if you can muster up some tears. 3. Fall sound asleep as soon as bottle is ready. 4. Smile in sleep as it's really funny to mess with Mum in the morning. 5. Extra for experts: If she tries to put you back to your bed so she can sleep, go back to step 1.

.....tries to take photo, forgets to turn flash off.......

I returned from being upstairs making coffee. Chad and Grace were snuggled in bed. It was pretty clear to me as soon as I walked in that Grace had pooed. Chad however denied knowledge of this. I strongly suspect that Chad knew she had pooed but was pretending not to do he didn't have to change her........

*assumes Flynn's doggy ancestors had a similar attitude to reptiles that he has.

Morning spent at mummy's work. Exhausting being this adorable! Grace was so good and only did a couple of cries at lunch. I do miss my work crew, I have a great job and work with some lovely people. Was nice to hear how everyone is and to show off my wee girl.

1. Don't cry, mummy just needs to go the bathroom before she feeds you. 2. Please don't put your feet in your dirty nappy while I change you, it makes a mess. 3. How about we try to spit up on this cloth and not down my back. 4. Gosh that scream is loud, how about we agree you have wind and try get a burp up in silence. 5. What a lovely bath we had and now in nice clean clothes. Lets try not to spit up on them for at least an hour.

Just wrote a "To Do" list. That was a mistake. Now need to add extra item to list, which is to stop stressing about "To Do" list. The irony is, the time I spend writing lists and then stressing about the lists would probably be better spent actually doing those things that are on the lists.

Today I had my coffee group over. A very cool group of women and their babies. Grace and I had fun, although Grace slept through a significant portion of it. When I signed up to antenatal classes, I was a bit cynical. I knew the classes would not really be my thing, but I stuck it out because everyone said that the coffee group that forms from the classes is worth it. And they are right. Most of my friends have kids, but it was some time ago that they were babies. My friends have been wonderful but there is something to be said about being able to talk with women whose kids are the same age. My group is very supportive and very open. We share feelings, advice, humor and it is awesome to have some cool chicks who are experiencing the same thing at the same time. So thank you ladies for being you. Also, you guys are great bakers, those chocolate muffins today were great. Way better than my store bought cookies!!

For the last couple of weeks we have several "unofficial" smiles. I say unofficial as they are the ones done in sleep, or done not looking directly at anyone. My Mum reported a smile two weeks ago but sadly it was undocumented. This weekend we got an official smile, with witnesses, directed at a person, and even recorded on camera. And who was the lucky person? Was it her Mum who gets up and feeds her, tackles dirty nappies and loses feeling in her arms trying to rock her to sleep? Or her Dad, who is spat up on regularly, does copious loads of washing and is chief bath giver? Nope. It was Chad's Mum. Now from Grace's perspective, that is damn smart. Grandparents are the ones who give presents and treats. Well played Grace, well played. Mum and Dad would quite like a smile though. Just saying.

Chad decided that we should create hand and foot moulds to remember how small Grace is. On one hand, that sounds kinda sweet. On the other hand, it sounds kinda hard. Being the lovely partner I am, I ordered a mould kit. The directions to create a mould of your child's hand involves sticking it an alginate mix and then filling that with plaster. Sounds simple, until you try and manoeuvre a small child and get them to stay still enough for the alginate to set. As I have learnt, babies are never still, even in sleep. It also looks like you are inflicting some sort of mob punishment on your child involving concrete shoes. There is a moment of panic when you go to remove your child's hand or foot and it feels like it is stuck. Luckily some wiggling allows it to be gently removed. Grace slept through the whole process unaware that get parents where going from giggling to panicking at each step. And the results? Well I can't decide if they are cute, or creepy. What defini...

So, I'm feeding Grace. It's 2:30am. I do a mid feed burp and she spits up, missing the cloth on my shoulder, covering me with milk. She then bursts into tears. "Oh Grace, don't cry" I say. "I'm the one who should be crying......over spilt milk...." At which point Chad and I burst out laughing. Grace, however, did not get the joke.

Grace was weighed by Plunket today, she is just shy of 10 pounds (4.5kg) at eight weeks old. I was 10 pounds when I was born!! Hats off to my mother for that. Grace has been grizzly the last week and a half. Started with her having her injections and then I think has merged into a growth spurt as she is so hungry. As a result Chad and I have been pretty shattered. Still no smiles from Grace, but I know she will smile when she is ready. She does roll her eyes at the antics of her Mum and Dad, and I swear I've seen her do the L for loser sign on her forehead with her hand while looking at me....cheeky monkey. I'm trying to get into routines with play and sleep but I find it hard to get everything done. Definitely still have my learner plates on when it comes to motherhood. It feels one step forward, two steps back at times. But I must count my blessings. Family, friends, and a partner who loves me so much. He praises my efforts and sees value in what I do. He picks me up when...

"I feel like I've been hit by something very hard" God that was a long night.