bibimBUBBA

Baek-il - It's a Korean Thing

2011-08-29T01:54:00.000+10:00

Last weekend, we celebrated Charlie's baptism, as well as his baek-il, or 100 Days Birthday.

The boys with their respective godmothers, my dear and darling best friends, Jill & Nikki

Ergo Heart2Heart Infant Insert - A Review

2011-07-22T16:00:00.000+10:00

About eighteen months ago, I reviewed my beloved Ergo. I didn't start using my Ergo, however, until Alex was about six months old, so I hadn't a use for the Infant Insert. So, with Charlie, I was glad to have an excuse to try it out. Which also gives me an excuse to write another review. I'll also add in my "Ergo After Two Years of Use" review at the end.

The Heart2Heart Infant Insert has me in two minds. I love my Ergo, and I know I need the Insert to be able to carry my infant in it, but besides that, it doesn't inspire a great level of enthusiasm or excitement. It serves it purpose, which is great. It does have a few downfalls, however.

It would be absolutely useless to use in the Australian Summer. It's the middle of a relatively chilly Winter at present, and I still find Charlie getting quite warm after being in the Insert. It is wonderful that he is nice and rugged up from the elements in the Insert, but there is no way I could use it in any warmer weather. (It's presently around 15 degrees Celsius on average). I was actually given the Insert by a friend for a baby shower present. She had originally bought it for herself for her baby born in August, but tried it once and found it terribly hot. So she popped it back in the package for my Winter baby.

I found the Insert a little challenging to use to begin with. Even with the instructions, I couldn't figure out where my little one's legs and feet were supposed to go. After the second or third try, though, it became second nature. However, I am also very comfortable and practised in putting on and taking off my Ergo, so I would imagine it might take a little longer to get used to for Ergo virgins.

I love how soft and cosy the material is, and Charlie looks super cute all wrapped up in it. I don't presently have a photo of the Infant Insert in use, but will add one as soon as Husband provides one.

Another issue is that you really need a surface to lay your baby on to be able to put bub into the Insert, and then the Ergo. Usually I have the car's front passenger seat, but today, after feeding Charlie at the shopping centre, I had to look around for something to put Charlie down on before I could get going. Not really a big deal, but just a little extra bit of inconvenient. The Ergo carrier by itself is much more convenient to get baby in and out of.

I also have to compare the Infant Insert with my other alternative baby carrier - the Sleepy Wrap. My sister lent me hers, and I just cannot use it. Perhaps, like the Ergo, it takes practice, but Charlie seems to hate it also. He seems much more comfortable in the Infant Insert. The Sleepy Wrap (or other jersey material alternatives) is impossible to wear in public, unless I happen to have put it on before I left the house. Otherwise, one has jersey material all over the dirty carpark while you attempt to tie it around you, with toddler and infant both screaming. Not so fun. I would generally use the Sleepy Wrap at home, and the Ergo out and about.

So on to my "Two Years Later" update of the Ergo. I still love it. My enthusiasm has spread among friends and family, and several have bought their own. My sister borrowed mine while I was pregnant, and was loathe to return it. I had to metaphorically bitch-fight her for it, and she went to buy her own straight after.

As predicted, my maroon colour has faded a tad, but the actual carrier is in fantastic shape, especially considering the work-out it's had. I carried 18 month old Alex around New Zealand in it. My other sister carried her (admittedly small) four year old in it. I carried 16kg thirty month old Alex in it the other day, which by the way, was a fantastic bum exercise.

One thing I've found is that the Ergo is fantastic for getting kids to sleep. Even carrying Alex in it last week, he seemed to be struggling to keep his eyes open after a while, even though it was ten in the morning. Pre-pregnancy, it was a sure-fire way to get Alex to sleep, particularly while travelling. My four year old nephew couldn't even resist the urge to nap when he was on my sister's back.

One unfortunate aspect of the Ergo carrier I have is the short waist band. This wasn't a problem pre-Charlie, but I unfortunately have an extra 15kg to lose post pregnancy, and there is no way I could wear the Ergo with the regular waist band. The thing is, even with the extra 15kg, I'm not humungus. I believe the newer models do have a longer waistband, so one doesn't need to purchase the "fat extender", as I like to call it. Thankfully, my sister had bought the "fat extender", so she passed it along to me. Perhaps I've deceived myself in how fat I've actually become, but I would have thought the regular waist band would suffice.

So here's the summary of the Heart2Heart Infant Insert:

The Good:

- Lovely soft material
- Super cosy in Winter
- The seat feels supportive and appropriate for newborns

The Bad:

- Completely useless for use in warmer climates
- Takes practice to get bub's position right
- Need a surface to lay bub on to put him in or out of the Ergo
- I find the neck support is not fabulous unless I keep adjusting the Insert under the Ergo straps

To be honest, I can't wait until Charlie is big enough that we don't need to use it any more. It's necessary, and I want to be able to use my Ergo, but it's kind of a pain in the bum. So, on my arbitrary ratings scale, I give it a 5/10. And those five points are only because it allows me to use my Ergo.

New Photos

2011-07-16T15:58:00.003+10:00

Not-So-Meningococcal

2011-07-16T15:51:00.003+10:00

So last weekend, we had our first major health scare with either of our boys. Although it wasn't too scary. Our little Charlie Bear, who is now nine weeks old, was suspected of having meningococcal meningitis, and was rewarded with a two day hospital stay. He wasn't sick, it was all due to a dodgy looking rash on his leg, but shout out to the John Hunter for taking every precaution with our baby.

Our friends, Jill & Rob and their two little girls, and Nikki, were over for dinner last Saturday night, so we could celebrate Rob finishing his internship and Nikki handing in the first draft of her masters thesis. We had barely eaten dinner when I was changing Charlie, and I spotted a purply rash on his leg. It hadn't been there when I'd last changed him, and it looked "not right". I brought him out to show John, and he said we'd just wait and see how it went in the morning. I showed Jill and Rob, and we did the "glass test". Usually, a rash will disappear if you press on it - this rash didn't. I still wasn't hugely concerned, as Charlie looked completely healthy, but the more I looked at it and thought about how dangerous meningococcal can be, I started to panic, as did John.

We decided to take him up to the hospital, expecting to be told everything was fine, and to be back in half an hour. Thankfully, our darling friends could stay with Alex and put him to bed until we got home. As we were walking to our car, I remembered our next door neighbour is a doctor, so we quickly ducked in. He looked at Charlie and said he looked fine, but it wouldn't hurt to get him checked out at the hospital.

As soon as we showed up at the emergency room and said our almost-nine week old had a non-blanching rash, they took us straight back into a room, and a paediatric doctor looked at him. Yet again, he said the rash is a concern, but he looks healthy, so most likely isn't meningococcal, but to take blood just in case.

So we got taken back into a pretty scary area, where they stripped off our bub, attached three heart monitor sticky things, a blood oxygen monitor to his foot, and then put a cannula in. I wish no one the agony of watching their tiny baby screaming while they get a needle shoved in their hand. Particularly when the first try didn't work and they had to try again in the other hand. Unpleasant, to the say the least.

The doctor was undecided about whether to give him antibiotics to cover all bases, but told us we'd most likely be here overnight for observation in any case. John called his parents to go and pick up Alex so our friends could go home, and we were ushered to the paediatric emergency room, where we sat and slept for the next five hours.

Finally, the paediatrician came, looked at his rash and again was very concerned, but put at ease by the fact he was laying there smiling. She wanted to play it safe, so Charlie was given a dose of antibiotics via his cannula, and we were taken to a ward at about 4:30am. There were no beds left in paediatrics, so we had to stay in the adolescent ward. There was a pull-out bed, thankfully, but only one of us could stay. I, having the boobs, won, and John headed home for a few hours of rest.

So we were pretty much stuck in Charlie's room, as he had to be isolated, and couldn't really have visitors, just in case. All of the doctors and nurses kept telling us they didn't think it was meningococcal, but they had to take the precaution. Another paediatrician saw Charlie about lunchtime, and decided he needed another dose of antibiotics at 3am the next morning, so another night in hospital was in order.

The meningococcal bacteria takes 48 hours to culture, so we couldn't get an answer until the next day, in any case. The doctors told us that it was most likely some random virus that was causing the rash, or some other bacteria, but the rash was starting to clear up, either of its own accord or because of the antibiotics.

I know I shouldn't say this, but I was so bored for the entire time we were in hospital. We could barely leave the room, Charlie was asleep for most of the time, and they didn't turn our tv on until the Sunday afternoon. I did many a crossword and sudoku. I probably wouldn't have been as bored if I hadn't guessed Charlie was completely fine and meningococcal free. But it was terrible being away from Alex for such a long time, and it was, quite frankly, incredibly boring.

Thankfully, on Monday, we were given permission to go home by Overly Officious Know-It-All Murse (we took to naming each of the nurses - he was our least favourite). The final meningococcal test wouldn't be complete until that night, but he'd had two doses of the antibiotics, so on the small chance the final test was positive, he wouldn't be infectious, and we'd just have to come back up to the hospital for more antibiotics.

So good to be home with both of my boys. The final test was of course negative. Charlie seems none the worse, other than two little bruises for the needles on his hands. Alex has been absolutely feral all week, possibly due to being separated from me and John for three nights. Hopefully that will stop soon. I have not had a fun week...

I am, however, very thankful, to be home with my two healthy little men.

Six months later...

2011-07-06T22:05:00.000+10:00

So six months have passed...

We're now a family of four.

John has settled in at his new job, and absolutely loves it. Must love public service jobs.

It's our four year wedding anniversary tomorrow. That has gone particularly fast. We're celebrating on Friday instead of tomorrow, with a seafood bonanza. I'm going to go to the fisherman's co-op and buy scallops, and prawns, and oysters, and we'll cook them ourselves. If either of us could be bothered, we'd get some salmon and have some sashimi, but neither of us want to cut it up, or clean up the mess for that matter...

Alex is growing into such a lovely little man. He has his two and a half year old moments, which usually involve lots of high pitched screaming when things don't go his way, but he's generally pretty good. His speech is still not fabulous, but he can now count up to 20, or 30 with a little help, recognises numbers written up to 10 or so, can recognise almost every letter of the alphabet, knows all of his colours and shapes, and can recognise his name written down, so that's pretty cool. He's obsessed with Cars, and Lightning McQueen. He carries his Lightning McQueen car around with him everywhere, including bed. We've had some success toilet-training for the past week and a half, and he actually asks to go to the potty when he's wearing undies. Other days, he hates wearing undies and chucks a tanty if I don't put a nappy on, but I figure he won't be in nappies forever...

He's also starting lots of activities next term. Tuesdays, we're going back to playgroup. Fridays, we still do music at the Conservatorium. Saturdays, he's starting Korean language school, and Sundays, he does swimming lessons. I feel like we're hot-housing the poor child, but he loves doing different activities. He hasn't tried the Korean language classes yet, but hopefully we'll both learn a few words. We also have his name down for a spot at a day care or preschool as soon as possible, which I think he will love when he eventually gets a place.

Charlie is growing well, and is already well over 5kg at eight weeks. We're almost out of 000s and into 00s. He's absolutely gorgeous and so very placid. He has the cutest smile, and is starting to laugh and have little cooing chats with you. We're in the midst of planning his baptism in a month or two, which will also coincide with his 100 days birthday. He sleeps like an angel, and feeds like an angel. It feels so much easier this time. Probably because I know what I'm doing... I'm much better at sticking with the "feed, play, sleep" routine, and recognising tired signs. I've realised how set in having a routine I've become. I really need to relax a bit, I think.

Charlie Xavier

2011-07-06T21:24:00.002+10:00

Our gorgeous little man, Charlie Xavier, was born on 11 May, at 4:20pm, weighing 3.7kg, and 52cm long.

Charlie had been very quiet in my tummy for the few days before. The day before, I'd had my midwife visit and mentioned that he hadn't been moving much, if at all, and she popped me on the monitor, and of course, Charlie, started kicking again. My midwife, Susie, saw how uncomfortable I was and offered me a stretch and sweep, which I happily accepted. It did nothing really, that I noticed, but later that day, I felt a gush, which I chose to ignore, because that's what I do. There was definitely some dodgy looking discharge in my undies, which I chose to ignore, attributing it to the stretch and sweep.

Charlie didn't move all day, except for one big kick at dinner that night, and by 3am, I'd barely slept. I was worried about Charlie not moving, and was increasingly disturbed by the ongoing discharge. I started googling, which is always a stellar idea at 3am, and convinced myself my waters had broken, and they were meconium stained.

I woke John and asked if we should call Susie, which he agreed we should. Susie told us to come up to this hospital just to check things out. So we called John's mum to come over to look after Alex, and got to the hospital about 4am. When Susie arrived, she popped me on the monitor, and of course, Charlie started moving again, and checked out the discharge situation, which she agreed definitely looked like my waters had broken, and were in fact meconium stained. My blood pressure was also up to 140/90.

A "junior doctor" came in to check, and we agreed that I should be induced as soon as possible, so she set about popping a cannula in my arm. I've had cannulas before, but apparently the one you need when you're being induced is the size of a frigging hose, and hurts like a bandit to put in. Miss Junior Doctor had two goes, and eventually got the hose in, took some blood, then went to consult with her supervising doctor.

A few minutes later, Supervising Doctor came in and said, no she didn't think my waters had broken, the baby is moving on the monitor, so I didn't need to be induced, I can go home, and to come back in two days to get my blood pressure checked. Basically, I'm healthy, the baby is healthy, there was no reason to induce. We just had to wait around for an hour or two for the blood test results, to make sure everything was all good. Two hours later, around 10am, they removed the cannula and we were on our way.

About five seconds after paying $10 for parking, Susie called and asked if we'd left yet. The senior obstetrician had looked at my file and wanted to review it before I left. By this time, there was absolutely no parking, so we had to drive around the hospital for 15 minutes before Susie called and asked me to come back up to the delivery suite. The senior obstetrician had decided that I was full term, I'm healthy, the baby's healthy, there was no reason NOT to induce. Research shows that in cases of stillbirth, the mother has felt the bub stop moving in the 24 to 48 hours prior, so they decided to avoid a potential law suit and induce me.

John couldn't find a park, so he had to drop me off, and then ended up driving back to his mum's, and she drove him back. As soon as she got there, they broke my waters, which was somewhat disgusting. Turns out they hadn't broken before, and were not meconium stained...

Anyway, contractions kicked in after that. John and I went for a walk and grabbed some banana bread and gatorade, and went back up to the delivery suite after an hour, waiting for labour to establish. Two hours later, contractions were still quite irregular, so I had to have another cannula put in, which also took another two tries, and had the synctoconin drip.

I know that walking around and being active is better for bringing on labour, and getting bub downwards, but by that point I was totally exhausted, and really only had the energy to lie on the bed, and ride out the contractions. They got more and more regular, but still not intense enough, so the midwife kept pumping up the drip.

A few hours later, I was no longer able to breathe through the contractions, and was in intense pain. A lot more intense than my contractions with Alex. I could only really cry through them, which is so pathetic. The midwife did an internal and said I was only seven cm dilated. It felt like two contractions later, I needed to push. I had no choice but to push. I didn't even realise I was pushing out the baby. The two midwives kept trying to get me to turn onto all fours or kneel, but I was in so much pain, I could only roll on to my side.

Ten minutes later, our little muffin was born. He went straight onto my chest, covered in all matter of bodily fluids, and was so gorgeous. Exactly like his big brother. It was almost like deja vu.

I had the oxytocin injection to hurry up birthing the placenta, and a few minutes later, we had a lotus birth. Apparently. Our midwife was slightly authoritarian (not Susie, she'd had to go home earlier), and made John cut the cord. Charlie attached and started feeding straight away, which was a relief after the breastfeeding hell I had with Alex.

About 20 hours later, we took our new little man home, and he's been an angel ever since. Alex adores him. He rarely cries. He settles himself to sleep. He feeds so easily. He's even started only waking once during the night. He settles himself to sleep at about 7 or 7:30, wakes at about 3 for feed, then wakes at about 6. It's freaking awesome.

So now our little family is settling in. It's pretty easy so far, but I'm prepared for the wheels to fall off at any point, and that's ok...

Happy New Year!

2011-01-02T00:47:00.001+11:00

So there are three minutes left of the first day of the first month of 2011. John and I have been a couple for six years today. Three minutes until Alex's 2nd birthday.

We've had an intense few weeks. My Pop passed away last week. It was hardly a shock, being his recent hospitalisation, but so sad nonetheless, particularly for my beautiful Nanna. He has been quite sick for a while, probably a lot sicker than he let on, and after a fall at home, he was admitted to hospital with blood pressure of 85/80. Within a few days, it was pretty clear he wasn't going to be leaving the hospital. A few days before he passed away, Mum called and said he didn't have much time left. Dad called us even later that night to say they didn't expect him to last the night. He did, of course, and John and I went down the next afternoon to veritably say our goodbyes.

I think I was prepared for the worst more than others, considering the updates we had been receiving, so I wasn't too shocked to see his appearance, barely conscious. He could barely talk, but he seemed fairly lucid when we were there. He wasn't able to eat at the point, however, and wasn't attached to a drip, so it was a matter of time until he slowly fell into a coma and slipped away. Two days, two days before Christmas, he did.

To be honest, I didn't cry until the funeral. I think I was prepared for it to happen for a while, it was almost a relief that he was at peace finally. We spent Christmas day and Boxing day with our family, doing the best we could to support each other. Nanna is obviously devastated. My Mum, my aunts, my uncles, my cousins, aren't much better.

My Nan and Pop and their four kids...

This was my third funeral, and quite different to the others. My first was Baby Lucas, which was completely devastating on a different level. We had no real memories of interacting with Baby Lucas, but were grieving lost possibilities for our friends' darling little boy. We had a lifetime of memories of Pop, but his death after such a long illness and a full and happy life was sad in a different way.

We'll all miss him, and I'm so sad that Alex won't get to know his great-grandfather better, or that Pop never got to meet his next great-grandson.

Besides the above, I finally adjusted to being the Mummy of two little boys, and am quite looking forward to it all now. I still have the occasional pang, but as we get closer and my belly gets bigger, I am much more excited. One unfortunate thing is that the placenta is at the front of my belly, which means I rarely feel any kicks from bub. I enjoy the few that come through though. Still, I'm only 21 weeks now, so I imagine even with the placenta at the front, I'll start feeling more kicks soon.

We had Day One of Alex's 2nd birthday celebrations today. I really couldn't be bothered organising a birthday party for Alex this year, and John and I decided his next big birthday party can be when he turns five. So instead, we somehow ended up with three different celebrations, which probably add up to the same amount of work one big one would have... We celebrated with my family today, at Mum and Dad's house, with a swim in the pool. Very appreciated in the 39 degree heat today. I just made a simple butter cake with ready-made icing, and an edible Thomas the Tank Engine thing on top. Lazy, but delicious and efficient.

Tomorrow we have afternoon tea in King Edward Park with our friends, and all associated children. I haven't organised a thing for that yet, but luckily, we have a few things left over from today that can be taken. The next day, we're celebrating with John's family, probably at their house. John's hoping to organise some sashimi, which is great for the pregnant lady. I expect a big plate of sashimi to be included in the hamper I expect to be prepared for me post-birth of this baby.

We had a nice quiet New Years Eve last night. We had been invited to two different gatherings, but due to Alex, decided to stay home. My sister Kel is up this week, so she ended up joining us, and we played Scrabble until midnight, and ate chocolate. Not very exciting, but enjoyable, regardless.

I'm looking forward to catching up with our friends tomorrow, especially my dear Nikki, Alex's godmummy. We seem to have a co-ordination issue when it comes to seeing each other, but we do seem to manage a catch-up at least every two months or so. Two of our friends are also expecting their first baby about three or four weeks before this little one is due, also a boy, which will be lovely. We have developed a lovely little "mothers group" of sorts now, and have a set time of catching up and letting our kids "play". Amber and Alex are the eldest, at two, then Luke, almost one, Tahlia, seven months, and Lily, at four months. It's easy to get caught up in your own life with little ones, and it's easy to go a long time without seeing good friends. Even though we've all known each other for yonks (Jill and I were housemates for two years, as well as each other's bridesmaids), unless we set a time, we can go weeks or even months without seeing each other. Plus, it's lovely to see our children grow up together, and talk about all of the delightful ups and downs of motherhood.

So I'm well and truly into Alex's birthday now, so I should go to bed so I can actually get up and organise and cook tomorrow morning. I just keep thinking, ooh, two years ago today, I was in labour, but didn't realise... Gosh I hope it's like that again this time.

2010-12-15T14:48:00.000+11:00

So we had our scan this morning. It's a little brother for Alex. I know I should be over the moon that our baby is healthy and all in one piece. But I'm devastated. I can't stop crying. I can't believe I'm never going to have a daughter. This is my family. Me and my three boys. No adorable pink dresses in this house. No baby ballet lessons. No taking my daughter wedding dress shopping. Picking out a formal dress. No fairy wings. I've put aside one of my old dolls in the hope we'd have a girl, and now I just feel like throwing it in the bin.

I am insanely jealous of both of my sisters and my friends that have little girls right now. I just finished sewing a Christmas dress for my niece, and am so envious that I'll never get to sew one for my own baby girl.

When I got home, I thought I can just put on some trashy tv and zone out, but I'm up to season of Friends where Ross and Rachel have a GIRL, Gilmore Girls would just be cruel to watch. Every show has some reminder that I'll never have a girl.

Being the good Christian girl that I am, I started praying for a daughter as soon as I gave birth to Alex. I prayed every day, every time I thought about it, for eighteen months. I keep trying to tell myself that God obviously wants me to be the mother of boys for some reason, and considering how much I prayed and still got the other, it must be a pretty special reason. It just doesn't give me any comfort right now.

I want to feel excited about this baby. When Alex wakes up from his nap, we'll go to the shops and I'll buy the cutest boy outfit I can find.

I knew I would be disappointed if I found out it was a boy, I just didn't expect to feel this bad. I figured I'd be a little sad for half an hour, then back to excited. Granted it's only been five hours, but I've pretty much been in tears for four and a half of those. My head hurts. I'm dreading people's comments. People telling me I should be grateful he's healthy. Of course I am. I'm not stupid, I know how lucky we are to have one healthy child, let alone another on the way. Anything anyone could say to me is just going to break my heart at the moment, whether they're trying to make me feel better or not. I don't want to talk to or see anyone except John and Alex.

The annoying thing is that we did everything we could to get a girl. I did the "girl diet", the timing, anything we could think of. John suggested we don't rule out having a third, but I figure being that we did everything "girlish" this time and still got a boy, there's no point trying again. Besides, I would only ever have a third if it was the right thing for my family, and I was happy to have either gender, and that wouldn't be the case. We've always said two kids. My whole life, I assumed they would be girls.

Yeeaccchhhh, I now have to prepare myself for acting super excited to everyone that asks what we're having. Maybe I'll just tell people we didn't find out so they don't say anything.

I know I'll feel better soon. I just need to vent. Nothing anyone says will make me feel better at the moment, I just need time to feel better by myself. I know as soon as the baby's born, I won't be able to imagine him any other way, and I can't wait for that. For now, I'll just avoid anything baby girl related, and try and get in the spirit of some beautiful baby boy nesting. Maybe go through some of Alex's old clothes and photos, and remember how lucky I am.

Stupid early mornings...

2010-12-15T05:48:00.000+11:00

So far some reason when I'm pregnant, I wake up ridiculously early in the morning and can't go back to sleep. It's presently 5:20am and I've already been up for an hour. Not cool...

I'm quite excited, we have our morphology scan this morning, and we can finally find out if this bub is a boy or a girl. I'll be honest and say I have my heart set on a girl. I've already warned those closest to me that if the scan does reveal another boy, I will be disappointed, I will cry, and I'll need a little while to adjust to the idea that I'll never have a daughter. It doesn't mean that I would love said boy any less, it's just a matter of readjusting how you pictured your life.

When I picture having a family with John and two boys, I feel a little lonely. I remember growing up as one of three girls, and even though we did fight (and still do), we used to have so much fun together. And even though Mum and I didn't get along while I was a teenager, we still had our moments that made it worth it. And we're so close now, I think it makes up for it. I found a picture not long ago of Mum and Kel doing each other's hair, and it made me realise how much I would miss having that "girly" relationship within my own family. I am in many respects the girliest girl, and the thought of having a life revolving around sport, cars, dirt, noise, blue, testosterone, and so forth... it feels lonely.

Having said that, I do actually like some sport, I love how noisy Alex is, and how much fun I have with him, and two such little creatures would still be divine. Who's to say that a "girly" relationship would develop with my daughter? She might hate pink. She might hate ballet. She might hate everything that I love doing. She might never want to get married or have children. In either case, girl or boy, I'll love this child more than anything.

Other interesting happenings... John got a new job! His last day at his present work is next week, the day before Christmas eve, then he has a month off to spend with us, then starting new job late January. His new job has a 40 hour week, with NO OVERTIME, and if he does do any, he actually gets paid for it. And handsomely. Perfect for him. Even now he's winding down at his job, and not having to bring work home every night, and work weekends, he said he's starting to feel the tension dissipate. 'Twill be nice to have a happy non-stressed husband again.

The thing that impresses me about his job hunting is how employable my husband is. His recruitment agent tells him he's one of the most marketable accountants around. And he hasn't even finished studying. Even though he was the last "interviewee" for this job, he still managed to get it, even though it asked for someone with their CA or CPA. He's just so good at his job. It impresses me.

He also managed to pull another distinction out of his ass for his last module for his CPA. He's now halfway through, with no fails. The man's a wonder. This current exam took place while working 60-70 hour weeks, having done a half-assed three days of study, taking care of me with morning sickness, and his toddler. And he still managed to get a distinction.

Should probably try and rest before Alex wakes up...

The Family Update

2010-11-09T00:01:00.001+11:00

Sooo, I'm a slacker who couldn't be bothered writing anything for ages. So here's what's been happening in the family of late...

We're expecting bub #2! Due date is presently 11 May next year, but I think it may a few days earlier than that. We had a nuchal translucency scan last week, and everything was great. So comforting to go to that twelve week scan and see a heart beat. We'd ended up having a dating scan around six weeks, due to some crazy cycles, but we couldn't see much back then. My belly has already grown quite noticeably, so I was also fairly sure things were still growing quite well. Disturbing as it is to have an obvious baby belly at nine or ten weeks, let alone fourteen.

I haven't particularly enjoyed this pregnancy much thus far, but things are turning around now. My morning sickness was much milder this time around than with Alex. I only really vomited twice from morning sickness, as opposed to chucking up in the basin in the bathroom at work every morning. I never seemed to make it to the toilet... I did pick up a horrid cold about a fortnight ago which has made me start vomiting daily again, but it's not so much morning sickness as an abundance of phlegm that motivates my presently sensitive gag reflex.

However, the constant nausea and tiredness really took it out of me. The tiredness is still getting me, but that's probably due to having an almost-two-year-old more than anything. I started feeling sick around the four week mark, and it was demoralising to have my dating scan and be given a date four days later than I'd predicted. That meant four extra days of feeling like that. I almost cried at the time. Morning sickness got me down to the point where I had no joy or excitement about being pregnant. I was terrified half the time of something going wrong, physically drained and just miserable. I wouldn't go so far as to say prenatal depression, but it wouldn't have been far off it. I knew I'd feel chirpier once I had a bit of energy back, and glad to say, since last Thursday, I'm almost back to me. Much more excited about having another baby now.

Not that I have changed my mind as to this being our last baby. Boy or girl, I'm not doing this again.

We see our midwife for the first time tomorrow, so looking forward to that. We liked our midwife with Alex, but she doesn't do the group midwife program anymore, so we have someone new. We're not too fussed, as long as she isn't too tree-hugging, as some of the other group midwives tended to be.

I was actually keen to use an OB and go to the private hospital this time around, mostly due to my Dad's povvo experience at the John Hunter, where they made him wait three days for an operation, without any food or water in that time. His veins were collapsing by the time they were trying to put a drip in so he didn't, you know, die and stuff. The doctors were basically begging us to go to the media so they could draw attention to the administration problems there, but I guess Mum & Dad couldn't be bothered after he finally got his operations. (He needed two in the end because they left him for so long.)

Anyway, John wasn't too keen on the private system being that we had such a positive experience with Alex, so we're going through the birthing centre, using the group midwifery system, where we see the same midwife the whole way through, and she will (theoretically) be there to deliver the baby. We still get a private room at the John Hunter anyway, so not too fussed on the accommodation. Alex's birth was so easy, drug-free and positive, I can only hope it's the same this time.

Besides pregnancy stuff, things have been pretty busy around here. John has been absolutely flat-out with his work the last few months, after being promoted to business analyst, but still doing financial accountant role at the same time until they find someone to replace him. He literally works almost every day, including weekends, until 11pm. The past few months have been tough on both of us, with my morning sickness and his excessive work hours, we haven't had time to be there much for each other. We got through it though. I'm at least feeling human enough to clean the house and cook dinner now, so he doesn't have to come home after a hard day to a pig-sty, a miserable wife and a hungry son.

Alex is growing up fast. Almost two. We started toilet-training today. I guess. I have no idea what I'm doing. I don't know if Alex is quite ready yet, so I'm not being too hardcore about it. He wore undies for the first time today anyway. He sat on the toilet a few times, but he didn't quite hit the toilet with the wee. He did hit the floor once, the high chair twice, and his nappy during his nap. But I guess we have to start somewhere. Maybe I should google how on earth I'm supposed to toilet train a boy.

His speech hasn't progressed a huge amount, but John and I noticed the other week that some words he has trouble with, he actually inhales rather than exhales, so we're going to make an appointment to see our lovely nurse at our GP and possibly get a referral to a speech pathologist. He understands almost everything you say now. When he feels like it. When Mummy says "sit on your bottom" when he's running along the lounge, sometimes, he doesn't quite get that one... Much more fun to run to the corner giggling at Mummy.

He's a good boy though. Very few hissy fits. His major one is when we go to Westfield, and he finds his way into Kid Central where they have a Thomas the Tank Engine set up, which he'll happily play with for hours if we let him, but as soon as we try to leave to store, he chucks a gigantic tanty. Kind of embarrassing. Luckily, if you then head up the top floor of Borders with the kids books, it distracts him enough to calm him down.

Through some kind of osmosis, he now loves anything Thomas, even though he only saw the show for the first time last week. He sleeps with a Thomas shape sorter until I take it out after he falls asleep, but then when he wakes up in the morning, he cries out for it again. He was obsessed with a pink car for a week or two, but John's glad he's moved on now.

So I'm sure other stuff has been happening, but my burst of energy has depleted and it's time to sleep!

Our NZ Trip

2010-11-08T22:53:00.001+11:00

So John and I both turned 30 this year. Horrifying in itself that our twenties have gone, but as an amazing 30th present to us, John's parents gave us a trip to NZ! We didn't have a huge amount of time, with John's work, and we were concerned about extended travelling with Alex at just over 18 months, so we went on a six day trip to the North Island in July. It was absolutely amazing, beautiful, and exhausting. Mostly due to Alex lack of willingness to sleep in any bed besides his cot. Which meant he shared a bed with John and me for the week, and we sang Rock a Bye Baby over and over until 10pm, after which John and I feel asleep while Alex was still up.

We still got to see quite a lot, obviously not as much as we would have without Alex. We spent most of the time based in Rotarua, then two nights in Auckland. Auckland was disappointing. Kind of a poor man's Sydney. Without the bridge. Or anything to see or do.

Rotarua, on the other hand, was a great pick. It is basically the centre of Maori culture, as well as basically built on geothermal land. We also went to the glow-worm caves from there, which we all loved. So amazing to sit in a boat silently floating in a pitch black cave with thousands of tiny glow-worms twinkling above you. Until they tell you it's actually the excrement of the insects that actually glows. But still...

So photos...

We got to Auckland fairly late on the first day. I'd actually had a job interview the day before down in Sydney, so we stayed the night at my aunt's house, and my cousin Lisa skipped uni to take up to the airport in the morning. Four hour flight was a great length for Alex's first flight. Took us a while to find the hire car and fit Alex's car seat in the torrential rain (would it be that much of a hassle for the hire company to do this for you??). Alex was pretty good on the plane. He'd had an ear infection the week before so we'd worried about his ears, but he was fine. Planes are "birrs", so he was quite fascinated by the airport. Drove the three hours-ish to Rotarua, checked in to the apartment, which, by the way, was fabulous for what we were paying. Probably because it was about 100 m from the thermal village and absolutely reeked as soon as you walked out the door.

Geothermal activity means sulfur. Sulfur smells like rotten eggs. Every time I walked out the door, it seemed to slap me across the face. John adjusted apparently. We did, however, refer to Rotarua as "where the Earth farts".

First day in Rotarua, we went to Lady Knox geyser. Twas quite the geyser.

Then to some mud pools.

We tried our first of several unsuccessful attempts at the local cuisine that night. Perhaps we were just unlucky, but we found the food in Rotarua was shite. To put it politely. The best meals we had were meals from the supermarket prepared in our apartment.

Next day, we started with a tour of Whakarewarewa, which was the thermal village up the street from our apartments. That was pretty amazing. It's a living thermal village, which means the native Maori inhabitants still live there. The tour guide didn't actually live in the village but was a descendant of the tribe. It was kind of weird to tour around people's actual houses, but they seemed to not mind. Most of them seemed to be involved in the "touristy" side of the village, performing in the cultural show (everyone loves a haka), and the like.

The tour guide explained the village such that the village is the "house" of the people living there, and their individual houses were their bedrooms. Cooking, washing, cleaning, eating, were all done in communal areas. The thermal waters were used for power, for their cooking, and for bathing. The waters were amazingly blue and clear. And 100 degrees Celsius. We ate our lunch there, eating some food that had been cooked in the thermal waters. (And a coke).

That afternoon, we thermalled it up again and went to the Polynesian Spa. That was awesome. We decided to splash out a bit, and paid for a private deluxe spa for half an hour, and it was divine. We had this amazing view over Lake Rotarua, and could swim in the nud if we wanted to. I hired swimmers (who packs swimmers for NZ in July), but did end up going in the nud. You only live once. Alex absolutely loved this as well, with the bath-warm water in the open air, swimming with Mummy & Daddy, and birds flying overhead. Probably our favourite activity of the trip.

Next day was Glow-Worm Cave day. We went through the Ruakuri cave, as well as the actual glow-worm cave. Ruakuri cave had glow-worms also, but not quite like the other one. Ruakuri had amazing cave formations, and started Alex's favourite saying of the trip "Ooh, wow!". He wasn't overly keen on the caves to start with, when the first thing we did was go into a pitch black cavern, where the guide got everyone to shout at the top of their lungs. It took about ten minutes to get Alex to stop screaming. But after that, he was happy, checking out the stalactites and the like, in the Ergo on Daddy's back. Hard to get decent photos in the Ruakuri cave, and we weren't allowed to in the other glow-worm cave.

Next day was our favourite activity, although we had to say goodbye to Rotarua. We went on a tour of the Hobbiton site from Lord of the Rings, which is presently being rebuilt for the filming of the Hobbit. We had to sign confidentiality agreements to go on the tour, and am not supposed to publish photos, but I can show ones that don't give away movie secrets...

This was our favourite activity, mainly because we like the movies, and it was just so interesting seeing how and where they filmed Hobbiton scenes from LOTR, and also the rebuilding that was happening. And the countryside was storybook beautiful.

Our hotel room in Auckland was right near the airport, and while we were paying about as much per night as what we did for our gorgeous apartment in Rotarua, it was quite skanky. We actually had a nice meal in Auckland though, at a beautiful Thai restaurant. We missed our nice food. Alex enjoyed throwing rice all over their lovely restaurant, but luckily he's cute, so the waitresses didn't seem to mind.

Our last NZ day, we spent the day exploring Auckland. Actually we spent most of the time at the Sky Tower. Alex loved it up there, we had another great meal at the buffet restaurant up there, and it was raining, so our options were limited in any case.

Then we had nothing else to do. So we caught a ferry over to Devonport. It was cute. Kind of reminded me of Darby Street, except obviously over a larger space. And less cafes.

Had another nice dinner downstairs back at the Sky Tower, then back to the hotel to pack! Early flight home in the morning... Alex was great again. He got a little tetchy not far from the airport, but we could see boats in the water by then, so they kept him amused.

So it was an altogether lovely trip. I think we all had a great time, even though John and I came back more exhausted than ever. My lovely cousin Lisa picked us up at the airport in the morning again, probably voluntarily missing uni again. Slacker.

But shout out to John's parents for our amazing trip! We would never have bothered organising anything ourselves, even though we haven't been away since our honeymoon, except for the occasional weekend to Canberra. Not quite the same...

Lazy sod...

2010-06-12T00:41:00.000+10:00

I knew I'd get lazy. And will continue to be by only posting my favourite most recent photos I've taken...

A Day at the Beach

2010-04-27T13:53:00.000+10:00

I finally took Alex for a play at the beach the other day, which was quite overdue, considering we live an easy ten minute drive from some spectacular beaches. He quite enjoyed playing (and eating) in the sand, and enjoyed playing in the water's edge until he looked up and saw big scary waves crashing. And I enjoyed taking some photos. Although Alex refuses to look up at the camera anymore, so I have a lot of lovely photos of Alex looking down...

Easter Family Fun

2010-04-07T13:36:00.000+10:00

Easter just passed, and we spent the long weekend down in Canberra, with what turned out to be a bit of a family reunion. It feels weird to say reunion, because it doesn't feel as though it's that long in between the times we get together with the family, but the older we get, the harder it is. Growing up, we saw our aunts, uncles, cousins and Mum's parents (Nanna & Poppa) quite often, particularly after we moved within a 2 hour radius of them. As we got older, we saw them less, and now our much younger cousins are getting older, it's even less. I sometimes only see them twice a year at present, which I find quite sad.

Regardless, we all congregated in Canberra on the weekend for my little niece Madeleine's Naming Ceremony, for which I am her Godmother, along with Kel and my brother-in-law's sister. It was also my gorgeous Nanna's 87th birthday, so we had a little celebration for that too. We all had such a fantastic time together, and my dear old Nanna was so touched that we took the time to celebrate with her. Her memory is not what it was, and she did actually think it was her birthday the next day, but that's okay. My uncle made a comment at one point that it's pretty rare that you can get 35 or so family members together who can have a drink and a meal and get along like a house on fire, which made me realise how lucky I am to have a great extended family. I feel a bit sad for John that almost his entire family is in Korea, and he missed out growing up with cousins and the like.

It makes me feel quite determined to ensure we spend more time with Alex's cousins, so he doesn't miss out on what I have.

One amusing incident for the weekend has nothing to do with family, but my darling husband taking Alex for breakfast so I could catch up with my sister Kel (we hadn't seen each other for five months). His only fear was an exploding poo issue. And sure enough, it happened. He took him to the Parents' Room to change him, but it was apparently so disgusting, John actually threw up in the sink, as well as ending up with poo on his shirt. He ended up having to go and buy a new shirt to wear... He always said poos make him feel sick, now I believe him.

So here are a few photos I took on the weekend, which I think are particularly lovely. There are more to "develop", but John's in his "busy work week" this week, so it could take a while...

Me and my big sisters, Kel and Dell (with Madeleine in the Sleepy Wrap)

My Nanna and Uncle Nigel, during his birthday speech to her.

Madeleine

Alex, looking a little soft-focussy

One of my beautiful nieces, Erin

Two of my cousins, Lisa & Lizzy

Brother Max Combi bibs - A Review

2010-03-20T20:51:00.000+11:00

We reached a point not long ago where it became very clear that some kind of food collection function was required at the end of Alex's bib. To be honest, there wasn't really a wide range to choose from as far as crumb-catching-bibs go, but I decided to give Brother Max a try.

The basic Brother Max bib set comes with the catcher, and three bib attachments. I did like the look of the bibs; the bib attachments are made of soft white cotton (with a waterproof backing), each with either a red, orange or blue edging, and the orange scoopy attachment looked quite funky also. I was a little put off with paying $23ish for the pack. However the only other bibs with catchers I could find worked out to be marginally more expensive per bib anyway.

I particularly like having the cloth part around the neck, rather than having the whole bib as plastic. I can't imagine it would be nice having a plastic bib attached to your neck every time you ate. I am also a big fan of being able to put the cotton bib part in the dryer. One of the few pitfalls with these bibs though, is that they seem to stain like nothing else. I guess one should expect that with a white bib, but it is annoying having to constantly soak them to get the stains out. The majority of the time, the stains don't come out anyway. I have a banana stain on Alex's blue-edged bib from the first time I used it that has lasted through several soaking with no signs of going anywhere.

I am also a huge fan of how "nappy-bag-friendly" these bibs are. You can attach a bib to the catcher, roll it up, do up the buttons, and you end up with this cute little package that fits nicely in your bag. Also great for after use - if there is mess, it can be contained in the catcher. Fantastic for my little Grot-Bag, who manages to smoosh everything he eats.

You can also buy extra bib attachments, should the need arise, however these are still quite pricey. We generally only use this bib for lunch and dinner, so we can usually go through a day or two without running out. I have been known to reuse a cloth attachment for dinner after lunch if Alex hasn't completely covered it in banana, ricotta or avocado. We have run out a few times when I have been a bit lackadaisical with the washing, so I have been tempted to buy the extra cloth bib pack.

So to sum up:

The Good

fabulous at actually catching food, therefore meeting their purpose
nappy bag friendly
easy-to-clean orange catcher attachment
very nice looking

The Bad

The cloth part stains very easily and requires a lot of soaking to keep white
A little pricey

I would say, though, that they are probably worth the money. In essence, they work. They are great for when you're out and about (see Alex's sushi photo). I wouldn't say I love them, because they're a bib and still largely utilitarian to me, but they are cute and have made eating out with Alex less of a nightmare. I give them a 8.5/10.

Out & About with Alex

2010-03-17T22:03:00.005+11:00

Just a few not-great-quality-but-cute photos I've taken on my iPhone while we've been out and about lately...

Enjoying his first babycino from Gloria Jeans. Wasn't a huge fan...

He fell asleep on me right at the start of Read & Rhyme last week - which began a week where he fell asleep at every activity we went to.

His first sushi - loved it!

Loved this car while we were shopping with Alex's Nanna the other day.

Pfft, how wrong one can be...

2010-03-16T12:45:00.003+11:00

Okay, so the last time I wrote, I was under the impression that as my son had slept through the night for two whole nights in a row, he was now "fixed". I was wrong. The night I wrote that, he was awake for about three hours, from one until four. It's all very random now. We do occasionally have a night where he sort-of sleeps through the night, but they are few and far between. Most of the time, he wakes at least once. Some nights, he'll wake up three or four times, and for hours at a time. I'm back to being incredibly frustrated.

Breastfeeding is still sort of happening, but we have the approach now that he only gets it when he asks for it. When he wakes during the night, I'll give him a feed to go back to sleep, but that seems to be the only time. I question how much milk he's really getting anyway, but if it gets him to sleep, awesome!

Besides that, we are joining lots of different activities to make sure Alex gets worn out during the day. Every second Monday, we go to Storytime at the ABC shop, one Tuesday a month, we go to Read & Rhyme at the library, every Wednesday, we go to Mainly Music, every Thursday is Kindergym (but we haven't made it to that yet), and music lessons at the Conservatorium every Friday. And in between that, I go to the gym two mornings a week and Alex goes to the creche, which always tires him out. On the odd chance we don't have an activity planned, I take him to the park and make him run off some energy there...

It does seem to help. He always sleeps well during the day now. It's so easy for his midday nap. Give him a quick cuddle, sing a quick song, and his eyes are almost asleep before his head touches the bed. Not like at night time, where it usually takes about an hour of screaming, singing, shh-ing, rocking, stroking, and whatever else we're attempting that week.

Alex is getting ever more confident with his walking now. He was previously only walking from one object to another, but will now walk quite freely on his own. It is a slow process, however, as he feels a need to step on any part of the footpath that is a slightly different colour, or is a different texture. Which means that when we are shopping at Westfield, he has to stand on every red Westfield sticker he sees on the floor. And when we're outside, he has to stand on every leaf. While I'm usually happy to indulge, if we're in a rush, putting him in the Ergo is often the quickest option...

He attempts to say a lot more words these days, and is getting slightly more recognisable with his pronunciation. His favourite words at the moment at "click" and "kick", which sound pretty much the same, but are quite cute. It's actually more of a throat-clearing sound than the words, but at least he's trying.

John has started his second CPA module, although again, his study is fairly minimal thus far. He struggles with the motivation a lot. Plus he think he always knows in the back of his mind that he can pass with minimal effort.

We have had many a car issue lately. John's Fiesta suffered some flash food damage and was written off, so we bought a second-hand Alfa Romeo 159 two weeks ago. 'Tis lovely, and it's nice having two cars that the family can go out in. However, last Friday, John had a bit of a scary incident in the Alfa, where the accelerator got a mind of its own, and started speeding up as John took off from traffic lights. Luckily, he managed to slam the brakes on, which slowed it down enough that he could turn into a side street near his work, then he managed to get it into neutral, and with the motor roaring, turned it off in the middle of the street. My hands go cold thinking what could have happened if there happened to be more traffic on the road, or there wasn't a side street to turn into.

So, the Alfa is currently sitting at his work waiting to be towed back to the dealer in Sydney, and we're back to one car for a while. I hope they can fix it; I was starting to really appreciate the lovely leather seats, and the light that comes on under the passenger door at night so you know what you're stepping into, and the automatic rain-sensing wipers, and just the general Italian craftsmanship.

I can only hope it does work out, I don't think I could handle another car purchasing research adventure like we had with the Alfa...

Oh Heavenly...

2010-02-26T19:59:00.005+11:00

Oh the wonder of a child that sleeps through the night for two nights in a row! I feel we have finally turned a corner in the life of our precious boy. As mentioned previously, we haven't been sleeping well lately. Say, for the past fourteen months. Things had been particularly horrid of late, with night waking up to four or five times, only sleeping in our bed, needing to be fed to sleep. We have all been exhausted, and to be honest, a little stroppy.

A few weeks ago, John was (creepily, if you ask me) watching Alex sleep one night, and noticed that he was often hitting his head and limbs on the sides of the cot, which then woke him up. We decided to look into cot bumpers, somewhat trepidatiously on my part, due to the big no-no they have from SIDS and Kids. Nonetheless, I couldn't be convinced to part with $100 for a piece of foam that barely covered two sides of the cot. I hence decided to sew my own...

This was ambitious for me, being that my last sewing efforts were in year eight home ec, and they were, quite frankly, shite. However, a cot bumper proved to be quite straight-forward, even without a pattern. Stay tuned for my how-to guide and photos of the end result.

Anyway, the cot bumpers are almost done, except for some prettying up I need to finish, and they have been a revolution. I put them in his cot on Wednesday, and that night, he slept through the night for the first time since he was about two months old (when he slept through the night twice in a row). And again, last night, he slept through. I barely know what to do with myself.

Of course, we have also made some other changes which I'm sure have been of assistance. We've recently switched to one sleep a day, instead of two. I no longer breastfeed him at night; he now enjoys a cup of milk. I read to him and sing a few songs before we head to his cot. We have started telling him that it's "almost sleepy time" an hour beforehand. We try not to hype him up too close to bed time (Daddy's mostly to blame for this...).

So life feels so easy right now. I know I shouldn't count my chickens or eggs or anything yet, but I can't help it.

The sad part is that I have now inadvertently completely weaned Alex from breastfeeding! I meant to have John take a picture of him feeding before we reached this point, but it has kind of happened without me realising. I believe we have gone about two or three days without a breastfeed now, but as I said, it kind of happened without me realising, so I can't remember when I last fed him.

I will miss that special bond we had, but onto the next phase, I guess. On a bonus note, no more nanna bras! I actually fit into my old bras again, and as a result of losing about six kilos in the last two months, I actually fit into my pre-pregnancy clothes. Woohoo! I still have another kilo until I'm pre-Alex weight, and would still like to lose another seven after that, but happy with the hard work paying off right now.

So hoping tonight will be another fabulous night's sleep!

Up on my high horse...

2010-02-08T10:00:00.005+11:00

I've been reading a lot in the media of late about encouraging mothers to breastfeed longer, which then brings out a whole bunch of people saying, "I tried, but breastfeeding didn't work for me". The uppity-judgemental part of me can't help but say "slacker". While breastfeeding is such a natural action, it is challenging, but it shocked me to read that only 14% of babies are breastfed at six months. Fourteen percent!! Do people not understand how vital breastmilk is to their child?? How could anyone give their tiny baby something made in a lab instead of the wonderful nutritious milk your body was designed to give them??

So that's my judgemental side. I know every mother has her reasons for using formula, be it returning to work (valid), illness (valid), lack of education (read a pamphlet, bogan), or just pure laziness (see previous comment). I just can't believe more mothers aren't listening to the WHO breastfeeding recommendations. Crazy.

I've been breastfeeding Alex for over thirteen months now, and I do feel the pressure to wean him. People tell me I've done a "great job" to breastfeed as long as I have. That makes me wonder why it's such an achievement. I see it as a purely biological need that I provide for my son. I don't see it as anything special. Baby need food. I have breast that provides food. I give food to baby. That's not to say it hasn't been difficult to keep feeding him sometimes. The first six weeks sucked. I hated that I needed to use a nipple shield, and I guess if I didn't feel the importance of breastfeeding, I may have given up and given him formula. Actually, the thought of giving up never occurred to me, as much as I did end up in tears from time to time.

However after Alex and I both hit our stride, it was fine. We have had a down patch a while ago with the biting, but even that has passed now. I really do understand that some people need to use formula, and I really don't judge them (well, some of them), particularly after bubs are over six months. I just don't think I'm doing anything unusual by continuing to breastfeed.

A family friend (who had given up breastfeeding early and switched to formula) was trying to encourage me a while ago to go to formula so I could regain my independence. That left me thoroughly flummoxed. I gave birth to my child, I am wholly responsible for his well-being. People, including my darling husband, often tell me I should take a break from Alex occasionally. If I had wanted an accessory that I could pass off to someone whenever I was tired, bored, and whatever, I would have gotten a dog. My child's well-being is so much more important to me than my "independence".

My Mummy raised the three of us girls on farms with no family support, and complete isolation. She didn't have the option of "taking a break". While I appreciate the times when I can leave Alex with John or his grandparents, and go shopping by myself, or go out for a nice dinner, I don't see my son as a burden, and I never feel like I need a break from him. Taking care of him, and providing him breastmilk, is my job, and a job I love.

That being said, there does need to be more education for women before they have a child to prepare them for the hard slog that breastfeeding can be. I was chatting with a friend a while ago who is in the midst of research for her PhD on post-natal depression, who said that every single mother she has spoken to, some who had suffered PND and some not, felt like a failure at some point due to breastfeeding. We're led to believe that it is a "natural" process, so it really is shocking to discover it takes hard work, pain, dedication, bleeding nipples, a complete loss of dignity, and the ability to sort through the crap every single person tries to tell you about the "right way to breastfeed".

I think I was shown about fifty different ways to breastfeed before we'd even left the hospital, and none of them worked. I had, however, a sister who used to be a counsellor for the ABA, and who had had her own troubles establishing feeding, so I was pretty prepared for most of it, and knew if I could just get through the horrid phase, it would be okay. I was still in tears by the night we got home from the hospital, because I couldn't feed my son properly.

While I was prepared for the pain and discomfort, it was still disappointing that my body wouldn’t do what it was supposed to. Particularly when I developed mastitis when Alex was two weeks old. I almost felt like a failure that I was too sick to get up and look after my son, and felt the fact I had mastitis was my fault for not being able to breastfeed properly.

I have a little problem that I don’t like to be told how to do things. I like to get it right the first time, and I take it personally when someone gives me advice, however well-meaning it may be. I hence took it personally when the lactation specialist we were seeing gave me a pile of literature on mastitis, and reading through it, I was clearly doing a lot of the things one was not supposed to do. I couldn’t help but feel judged. Of course, one might argue that the information may have been handier before I started to develop the mastitis.

After all of that, I can imagine how easy it would be for someone to quit when the going gets tough. And of course there are people where breastfeeding is so traumatic that it is detrimental to their mental health. I just can’t help wondering that if only there was more education then breastfeeding for more than a few weeks or months wouldn’t be considered a rarity.

Rainbow BB Modern Cloth Nappies - A Review

2010-02-07T22:09:00.008+11:00

As discussed previously, we had started to get a bit fed up with Alex's flagrant squandering of his nappies, and the cost therein involved, so we have decided to try something different. Our only two options were a) Modern Cloth Nappies, or b) Elimination Communication (EC). We chose option a. Somehow the idea of holding Alex over a sink every time he looked like he might need to "go" didn't sound too appealing. He makes enough mess with a nappy on, let alone if we let him go "free-range".

So our next decision was which Modern Cloth Nappy to try.

I decided to scour the internet. I discovered that Modern Cloth Nappies are outrageously expensive. I read that one could expect to spend around $1,000 for a full supply of nappies. I got that the investment meant you saved around $2,000 over the life of your baby's nappy-wearing life, but yeesh.

I did find on Ebay, however, Modern Cloth Nappies made in Hong Kong, which were about $12 each. The brand is Rainbow BB, but I believe there are a few other types made by the same company with different brand names. You could even get quite a large number for about $100 or so. We decided to buy one and trial it for a while, and then make a decision. Our trial nappy cost about $13, with free postage and handling, and only took a few days to arrive.

Rainbow BB nappies have an outer water-proof layer, an inner lining of polar fleece, and require inserts. Having not seen that many MCNs, I wasn't sure what to expect, but looking at it, it reminded me of swimmers. We ordered a red nappy, so I'm sure that didn't help. They are also one-size-fits-all, which was another drawing point for me, as we would want to use them on our future children.

We used the trial nappy every day for over a month, and washed it every day, including night wears. For night use, you simply pop two inserts into the pouch. We had one or two leaks in that month, mostly when I had left the nappy on for a tad too long, and it had filled up, so to speak. I was concerned about the poo issue, but as Alex is eating a lot of solids, his poos are also quite solid, so it was barely a hassle to shake poos in the toilet and flush.

So we decided to order enough to replace the disposables. We ordered 17, with 17 inserts, for about $100 including postage and handling. They were, again, quite quick to arrive.

I did however fall asleep before we had selected which colours we would like, and so John had picked. Picking point number one is the colours. Some are good. Some are not. "Apple green" appears fluoro green on the website, and is. We also received some white, dark green, blue and purple, which were mostly okay. If I had my choice, we would have ordered some yellow, more white and blue, less red, less dark green, and no apple green.

Regardless of the colour, we started using them straight away. My first issue was getting the insert in properly so they didn't leak. It does take practice, and a bit of time. After each wash, it did take me at least half an hour to go through put the inserts in, but now I have the hang of it, it doesn’t take long at all. Once they are in, I've found they're really just like using disposables. I have them all ready to go under Alex's change table, and after they have been used, I just pop them into a pail with a lid ready to be washed.

On a disgusting note though, Alex has been a bit sick on and off the last few weeks, and we have unfortunately had a whole pile of runny poos happening. As I’m going, I’m figuring out different ways of dealing with the cleaning issue. To start with I used to try and get as much in the toilet as possible, and wipe the rest off with toilet paper, however, there was still quite a lot of residue. My new technique is to take them out the back and hose the damn thing down onto the grass. So much easier, so much less disgusting, and no residue left. I still can’t help dreading getting newborn poos off the nappy, especially when I think back to some of Alex's "number threes".

My other issue is the pail of used nappies. The instructions on the website clearly say this is how one should store used nappies until washed. However, every time I open the pail to put a new nappy in, it absolutely reeks. I wash the bucket and lid every morning when I wash the nappies, but my word, it's not a pretty smell. I sometimes put a piece of cotton wool with a drop of Nilodor in there, which helps, but I keep thinking maybe I'm doing something wrong? No one else has mentioned the revolting smell in the nappy bucket.

New technique is to soak. A lot of people say not to soak MCNs in Napisan as it degrades the elasticity. I don’t care, I really just find it less disgusting than having a bucket of stinky nappies in my son’s room. The pail is now in the laundry, I wash every two days or so. I just think it’s a lot more hygienic to soak.

I thought having to wash nappies every day would be a bit of a drag, but it really doesn't worry me. If it's a wet day, I just pop the nappies into the dryer on the Delicate setting, which is normally enough to dry the nappy, then put the inserts in a normal setting. The sun does do a wonderful job of bleaching though, and I do prefer to just hang them on the line. I can also normally go two days without washing before I'm at the lower end of the nappies. These days, every two days is more likely.

I have found them to be fairly useless for Alex at night time. Even with double inserts, they will leak by morning. We now use disposables every night. Makes life easier.

I also frequently use disposables when going out, but it depends on how long I'm going out for, and what the facilities are like. When I do need to change an MCN while out, I don't find it that much more difficult than a disposable. I have a few zip-lock bags in my nappy bag; the MCNs fit very neatly in one, with no smell. I have not had to deal with a poo in public though, thankfully.

I do find that if the insert is not in correctly, they will leak, but that’s really just up to me to make sure it’s okay before it’s used.

As far as the cost, if we used Rainbow BBs exclusively for a month, we would make our money back. As we do use disposables at night and sometimes during the day, maybe two or three months. I'm pretty happy with that saving.

I had read that the elastic sometimes stretches on the legs of the Rainbow BBs, however I haven't had that problem as yet. Even if I did, a little bit of elastic replacement would hardly break the bank.

So far, I'm pretty happy with the nappies. While I'm hardly the most environmentally conscious of people, it does also feel good to not be contributing to landfill. Before, we HAD to have our bin emptied every week, as it would be absolutely full of stinky nappies. Now we could probably go a fortnight and it wouldn't matter that we'd forgotten to put our bin out for emptying.

So, the Rainbow BB summary:

The Good

very very cost effective, particularly compared to other MCNs
quick drying
quick to put on and off baby, just like a disposable
one-size-fits-all option
cut down on garbage

The Bad

some colours are quite ugly
stinky storage bucket
not overly effective for night-time use

In general, these nappies are not as “cute” as most of the other MCNs on the market. If you are looking for an MCN to impress your friends with this is probably not a good choice. However, if you are looking to save a bit of money, and save on landfill, this is a great choice. I give these nappies a 7.5/10.

He can walk!

2010-02-07T21:28:00.000+11:00

Yes, Alex has finally started walking! He has been able to walk quite confidently holding only one hand for a few weeks now, so we knew it wasn't far away, and lo and behold, the other night he finally let go of the lounge and started walking. He's still a little wobbly, and quite often falls forward, but our little boy is definitely not a baby anymore.

The funniest thing is that he keeps clapping himself as soon as he lets go, probably copying us clapping him, but it's quite cute. He frequently loses his balance due to his clapping.

He hasn't progressed much with his speech in the last week or so, but his favourite word is still "go". He loves to shout it when we're stopped at the traffic lights and they turn green, or any time we see anything with Diego on it. His other favourite word is "gone", usually coupled with his hands turned out, and usually straight after throwing his cup/sandwich/dinner onto the floor from his high chair. He is working on "bird", "grandma/grandpa", "pop" and "nan", but at the moment, they're really only recognisable by us.

We're still struggling with sleep, but the last few nights haven't been too bad. The last two nights, he only work once or twice before ten pm, but then slept through until morning. And, shock horror, we didn't have the usual two hour screaming episode before he went to sleep tonight. I feel so much more relaxed right now. I still haven't slept the last few nights, even if he has. I think my brain and body are still constantly on edge, waiting for him to start crying.

We have also realised that one of the reasons he does wake up is because he hits his head on the side or end of the cot. So we have decided to invest in a cot bumper. I want to get one to hopefully help with his sleeping, and potential head injuries, but part of me still has the "cot bumpers are evil" message ringing out, even though they are allegedly safe for over twelve month olds. I guess I need to decide if I can let those fears go, or if I want him to continue getting his limbs stuck in the side of the cot, or constantly bumping his noggin.

I might need to do some more research!

Welcome to the world, Madeleine Rose!

2010-01-18T09:09:00.004+11:00

Here are some photos John took of our brand new niece over the weekend at one week old. She's the teeniest baby I've ever seen, born over three weeks early and weighing 2.7kg.

With her Mummy, my beautiful sister

Beautiful dimples

Cuddles with her Auntie Jo

So teeny she almost fitted in the palm of my hand...

A Year in the Life of Alex

2010-01-11T12:57:00.004+11:00

Alex's life so far:

12 Week Scan - June 2008

1 January 2009, the day before Alex was born.

Alexander Ethan, brand new at 1:50pm, 2 January 2009, weighing 3.7kg.

Three months - he used to smile and laugh in his sleep

Six Months - his chubbiest

Nine Months - first walk on the beach

Twelve Months

Happy Birthday to Alex!

2010-01-11T09:10:00.005+11:00

Ahh, it's been so long since I've updated. The whole Christmas bonanza is one excuse, followed closely by Alex's first birthday. It's been a very fun few weeks.

Alex's first Christmas was fairly quiet. We had intended on travelling down to Canberra with my family, but John injured his back which made extended car travel out of the question. We did have a lovely Christmas Eve lunch and dinner with John's family, which included much seafood. John was in charge of cooking, so we lined up with the hundred of others in the morning at the fish market, and ended up with a live mud-crab among other goods. Christmas day was very quiet. Alex opened the few presents we (and Santa) had for him, then I did some washing, and John had a nap. But it was lovely having a nice quiet day with just the three of us.

Followed a week later by Alex's first birthday. We had a really lovely party at John's parents' house, with lots of family and friends there. I needlessly spent the week before baking goods that didn't get eaten. Alex was extremely spoiled, gift-wise. We incorporated a little bit of Korean tradition as well. There is a small ceremony where the child is placed in front of a few items that represent different "futures" for the child, and whichever the child touches first is their future. We selected our own "futures" for Alex, being a soccer player (soccer ball), accountant (calculator), doctor (stethoscope), international finance (a $5 note) and a couch potato (remote control). Knowing how much Alex loves remotes, we weren't shocked that he headed straight for the couch potato option. John did a "do-over" though, where Alex picked the soccer ball, to his Daddy's delight.

The Diego cake - decorated by John

Jungle animal patty cakes (slightly smooshed by car ride)

With his cousins Zoe & Erin

While all of his presents were cool, this car from the Cliftons was particularly awesome. It was handmade by some guy at Morpeth. Although Alex hasn't quite gotten the hang of riding on it yet...

Besides Christmas and birthdays, our new niece was born the other day, three weeks early! Madeleine Rose, weighing 2.7kg, a full kilo less than Alex newborn. We're off to Canberra this weekend for our first cuddles.

Alex now has his fifth tooth, and I'm guessing the sixth isn't far away either. The teething would explain his extreme lack of sleeping of late, but now that it's through, it hasn't helped that much.

He has also started to balance for a few seconds while standing, so we feel those first steps aren't too far away!

John got his results back from his first CPA module, and from a weekend of half-assed study, managed to get a distinction and be in the top ten percent of candidates. Nerd. (But very proud of him.)

Feels like there should be so much more to update... The new year is here, and as with all new years, John and I are possessed with a great desire to clean and rearrange the house, and exercise regularly. I have actually been going to the gym almost every day, and am on target to meet my goal weight in a few months time. In theory. The house is getting there...

Good night, sweet prince, and may flights of angels sing thee to thy rest...

2009-12-28T22:39:00.003+11:00

Alex has never been a tremendous sleeper. He has only slept through the night possibly three times in the last twelve months. Compared to other babies, though, I wouldn't consider him a problem sleeper. Until recently.

Up until three weeks ago, I felt like we had hit our stride. Alex was having two good naps during the day, settling himself to sleep at night at about seven pm, waking at eleven for a quick breastfeed, and then sleeping through until about seven am. It was fantastic. And then, all of a sudden, he stopped settling himself to sleep at night. He has been waking and refusing to go back to sleep for hours on end. Waking up at four-thirty or five am, and staying awake.

It's not just waking though. When he wakes, he screams hysterically. After he is picked up, he will generally fall asleep, but will wake up and resume screaming as soon as he is returned to his cot. We have also developed the technique of gently tickling or stroking his tummy or back and singing Christmas carols. This sometimes works, but more often than not, he wakes as soon as you leave the room.

I can only hope this is a phase. A phase that disappears very, very soon.

There is nothing worse than having your child scream and cry and refuse to sleep, and having no solution to deal with the situation. In today's society, we're used to the "quick fix". There is, however, no magic solution to your baby not sleeping properly. There is no switch you can flick. And quite often, when you do find something that works, within a week, it stops working and you have to find something new.

It's frustrating, exhausting, debilitating. It is incredibly confronting to be in your child's room at two in the morning, and fighting the temptation to throw them out the window. Anyone who has spent hours, sleep deprived, with a baby who just won't stop crying, and who won't sleep, could tell you that they begin to understand how someone could shake a baby. Sometimes you just need to put your baby down screaming, leave the room, get a drink, and give yourself a break before you go back.

A lot of mothers, particularly those who are successful in their career, find the sleep issue difficult. When they're used to being able to control what happens in their world, succeeding at everything they try, and then all of a sudden, this little person doesn't do "what they're supposed to". This can be really hard to deal with for some mums. And dads. It's almost as if you've failed.

I remember joking with Kel a few weeks ago that I needed to return my little one. His sleep function is faulty. Surely there's some kind of warranty for defects?

All I can take from this, though, is that it's a reminder that this little baby is a little person, and they will do what they want to do, and sleep when they want to sleep, and you cannot control that. It's a reminder of how amazing it is that not that long ago, this little individual was nothing more than biology, and now they have their own personality.

There has to be some positive that comes from sleep deprivation...

Santa Claus is coming to town

2009-12-01T09:40:00.003+11:00

[standing outside a jewellers discussing what to buy Chandler's girlfriend for her birthday]
Chandler: I want to get her something serious.
Joey: You want to get her something serious, get her one of those.. ah.. barium enemas. Those are dead serious, and you know she'll never get one for herself.
Chandler: Look, I'm going in here and you don't buy me anything ever.

It's almost Christmas time! It's Alex's first Christmas, although he did score a few presents in utero last year. We went to get Alex's picture taken with Santa last weekend, which involved waiting in line for an hour and a half for the following result.

It's so much more fun having Christmas with children around. I always felt when we were growing up that Christmas just wasn't as fun without my younger cousins around, showing us what Santa brought for them, and just generally bringing the joy that children do when they're excited and all hepped up on sugar.

While we are yet to put up the Christmas tree this year, I am getting much more in the spirit than I have in the last few years. We're heading out to the vineyards for their Carols in the Gardens this weekend, and I do have Alex's Santa outfit ready to go. I love taking Alex through the shopping centres and showing him all of the lights, and Santas, and the general Christmas-a-rama.

It does bring to mind, however, how we're going to treat the "Santa" going forward. John is all for being up-front and telling him that Santa isn't real. I can see his point, but on the other side, Santa is such a fun part of being a child. I had two big sisters, so I don't think I ever really believed Santa was real, but I still pretended I did. I wrote the letter to the North Pole, we left out the milk & cookies, and had a pillow-case full of presents next to my bed in the morning. In fact, Santa still left presents next to my bed until I was about 19 or 20, and even after that, he was polite enough to leave some under the Christmas tree.

I have read research that says the children whose parents keep up the Santa pretence often feel a sense of disillusionment and betrayal when they eventually find out. It also brings to mind an un-named, incredibly innocent and somewhat precious sister-in-law who found her parents putting her Santa presents out when she was young, so they told her that Santa had in fact died, so they were taking over his role for her. She was devastated, but never actually discovered Santa wasn't real.

Fast forward to her moving to Australia and car-pooling to work with her brother-in-law, my darling husband, who, after hearing her sadness that Santa died, proceeded to tell her that Santa had not died, he just didn't go to Korea because they don't keep the Sabbath holy. My sweet sister-in-law didn't pick up on John's sarcasm, and was so excited about Santa being real, that when she got home she rang her Mum in Korea to tell her how excited she was, and how she couldn't wait to have children so Santa would bring presents, especially now her English was good enough that she could speak to Santa when she met him. No one had to heart to tell her the truth for such a long time. There's nothing worse than finding out about Santa when you're 23.

So I'm sure there's a balance somewhere in between letting your children be children, but not letting them feel betrayed at the lies when they discover the truth. I'm not sure what we'll tell Alex, but we have a few years before he really "gets" Santa anyway, so I guess we'll work out a story before then.

What's New

2009-11-04T15:39:00.001+11:00

Dr. Zoidberg: I want the tactile pleasure in cutting him here... [points his claw at Fry's neck]... in the gonads.
Fry: [to crowd] Shhhhhh. Nobody correct him.

So a new week, and three new entries on the one day... As expected, my "blog" was well neglected for the last two weeks or so. I'm actually surprised it didn't take two months before I bothered writing anything again. Here's my catch-up from the past two weeks or so.

John had his first CPA exam. He may have passed. He doesn't know. We don't find out until January. I hope he has learnt his lesson and will actually study for future subjects.

On a high note, this does mean we can do things as a family without feeling that guilt that you feel when you know you should be studying but you're not. I spent the whole of my extremely long academic career feeling that feeling, and I don't enjoy feeling it on behalf of other people now as well.

We do intend on visiting Blackbutt soon, now Alex is starting to be interested in animals. He seems to like dogs, but cats still freak him out a little. Which is fine by me.

Alex has started cruising around the furniture like a bandit, and now has a variety of tiny bruises and scratches up his legs to show for it. He tends to get a little ambitious sometimes, which inevitably leads to a hard fall to the bottom, or even worse, a big knock on the head on the floor boards. He has now discovered he can easily stand up in his cot, after somehow wiggling out of his sleeping bag. Quite cute when you go in and he's happily just standing up smiling at you when you walk in the door.

I can't believe he's ten months old already. I'm starting to think about plans for the First Birthday Party. I know the first birthday is a pretty important occasion in the Korean culture, so we probably will make it a slightly bigger deal than we would otherwise. I want to do the Korean traditions, like dressing him up in the hanbuk, and laying out a table of items that Alex chooses from to show his future. I've already picked the cake I'll make. It just sucks that it's at New Years and lots of people won't be able to come. Poor Alex will have to live with that happening for the rest of his youth.

That's about it... It's now 4pm, and Alex has been asleep for four hours. I feel I'll have to wake him now or he'll never sleep tonight.

The Ergo Baby Carrier - a Review

2009-11-04T14:33:00.001+11:00

I've never really written a review before (except under duress at school), so I thought I'd start with something I actually liked as my first go.

Up front, I'm saying I LOVE my Ergo baby carrier. For the first six months or so, we were using the Baby Bjorn that we inherited off Kel & Jason. It had its merits, but I couldn't really tell you them, because I physically couldn't use it. John was fine with it. Alex loved being in it. However, carrying 9.5kg all on your shoulders did not work for me. I used it once when Alex was 6 months old (and 9.5kg) to run into the shops for 10 minutes. It took me 3 days, constant headaches, and intense shoulder massages before I felt normal again.

I first saw the Ergo baby carrier while shopping with Mum and the sisters, and Kel tried it on. When we got home, I did a little research and I couldn't find anything negative about it. Everyone loved their Ergo. So, having convinced John it would be awesome to have one, we ended up having to drive to the 'Fd to actually purchase one. They are quite in demand.

We ended up going with the maroon standard model. Personally I would have preferred the canvas colour, but John wasn't a fan. The colour would be my first picking point. If I had my time again, I definitely wouldn't get the maroon colour. It fades like anything. I spoke to a lady wearing a maroon Ergo in David Jones a few weeks ago, and while hers was about 6 months older than mine, it looked worn. I think the canvas colour would probably hide that level of wear and tear a little better.

Anyway, the thing that works best about the Ergo is the bit that wraps around your waist. This is where the weight is carried. The first time I tried it on with my little 10kg Beef Cake in it, I could barely feel his weight on my shoulders.

There are three carry positions, two of which do require watching the instructional video to get the hang of, but you have the option of front, side or back. It took a few days to get used to putting him in to the front carry position, but it was intuitive enough. To be honest, I still find putting him on my back a little challenging, but I can do it fairly easily at home. I haven't really attempted it when out by myself though. I haven't felt a need to use the side position, but maybe as he gets older, this might be of use.

One of the few negatives is that there isn't an option to have bub facing forward with the Ergo, and Alex loves facing forwards. He isn't unhappy facing me the whole time though, and I guess when bub is on your back, they probably have more of a chance to look around.

I have also found that Alex gets very hot if he falls asleep in the Ergo. There is a hood you can place over bub's head when he or she falls asleep, which looks a little odd at first, but it is effective, and the baby really can breathe... It does require you to dislocate your shoulders just a little if bub falls asleep on your back and you want to put the hood over his head (highly recommended). Alex hates waking up with the hood over his head, but hey, who wouldn't. He also tends to have a sweaty head after he wakes up also. However, I don't think would change if he fell asleep in any other baby carrier. Body heat is body heat.

The Ergo has absolutely made a world of difference to my every day life. Alex used to hate being in the pram, which made shopping crap. He would scream for the entire time, but as he was so heavy, I couldn't carry him, and then had to endure strangers informing me that my son must be hungry and that I should feed him. I can now easily chuck him in the Ergo as soon as he starts fussing, which also leads to the fun shopping game of "poke mummy in the face".

I can also pop Alex on my back while I cook dinner in the afternoon, which is normally the time when he is at his fussiest, and saves me having to put Go Diego Go on to entertain him.

To carry a newborn, you also require the extra Infant Support, which is an extra $35 or so, but as we get got ours when Alex was well past the infant stage, I couldn't tell you how this works. We do intend on using it for our next bub, so we'll see how it goes then.

So to summarise:

The Good Stuff

Can carry up to a 4 year old without causing permanent internal damage
Choice of carry positions
Reasonably intuitive to use in the front-carry position
Very comfortable to wear
Has an in-built pocket if you only wanted to carry your mobile and some money around
Has a hook at the top of the shoulder should you wish to hang a toy for bub to play with
Can breastfeed bub discreetly on the go in the front-carry position (as long as you have an appropriate outfit)

The Bad Stuff

Can be a little hot
Using the hood when bub is on your back requires the flexibility of Romanian gymnast
Our colour (maroon) tends to show wear and tear
A little more expensive than other baby carriers

I still can't understand how the Baby Bjorn is as popular as it is, when it distinctly blows.

Another good thing about the Ergo is that it's a great conversation starter. It seems to be the rule that if you see someone else wearing an Ergo, you must then stop and discuss how fabulous it is. Or even a delighted "oh, snap!" at the other person as you pass to show your Ergo pride.

So don't get sucked into the Baby Bjorn farce. The Ergo is worth absolutely every cent. On my brand new (somewhat arbitrary) rating scale, I give it a 9.5/10.

The Organic Yuppie Yummy Mummy

2009-11-04T13:40:00.000+11:00

Women dress alike all over the world: they dress to be annoying to other women. - Elsa Schiaparelli

In my mummyhood, I've started to notice a new sub-group of Mummies. The best way to describe them is, as in the above title, the Organic Yuppie Yummy Mummy. Here's how to spot one of these:

They tend to reside in the inner city.
Their husband or partner works as a fairly well-paid professional
Both are well-educated, and the child is involved in a variety of activities from a young age
They, and their child, are dressed head to toe in labels
When not in labels, the child is dressed head to toe in organic bamboo clothing
Their child eats nothing but organic food stuffs
Their child wears organic bamboo Modern Cloth Nappies
Pram is either Bugaboo, Phil&Ted, Mountain Buggy, or similar higher-end model
There may or may not be an air of pretentiousness

I could go on, but I'm sure you get the picture.

I have noticed these mummies for a while now, but it was at Alex's music class that I really noticed the trend. In amongst the Chanel thongs, the gorgeous maxi-dresses, the cutie in pink Ralph Lauren sneakers, the perfect hair, the stunning tans, I started to feel a little intimidated. Luckily I had dressed up a little for the first class, and Alex was in a cute outfit. I started to get the feeling that yes, Alex and I were going to have to start dressing well for every week...

The Organic Yuppie Yummy Mummy is an unexpected mix. Almost an urban hippy, while embracing blatant consumerism. It is fashionable these days to only use organic products, be it food or nappies, but at the same time, only the most expensive organic products will do. Being seen to be doing the organic thing. I can't help cringing whenever I hear a mum, with a huge sense of pride, telling how they only use such and such brand because it's "organic". I question what the baby actually gets out of it.

It actually reminds me of a South Park episode where Kyle's father bought a hybrid car, which leads the family to move to San Fransisco, after Randy tells Gerald that he has become so smug he loves the smell of his own farts. Once in San Fransisco, Kyle's family are among other like-minded folk, who, mid-conversation, fart, bend over and inhale before resuming their conversation. If you can draw the parallel.

It's not just the organic products though. It's the high-end products that many parents feel a need to purchase, even though there is generally no advantage using that product over the less fashionable brand.

On one level, I'm a little jealous. I wish I was pushing the Bugaboo pram. I wish I had a wardrobe that wasn't filled with cheap $10 shirts from Valley Girl, or wherever was having a sale. I was glad I'd left our pram in the car that day, and that Alex wasn't wearing his slightly tattered hand-me-down shoes. I wish I could justify the expense of $40 each for the lovely organic bamboo MCNs. I wish I could tan effectively. I wish I was an organic yuppie yummy mummy.

On the other hand, it almost appears to me that the mums that must have the "must have" items almost treat their baby as a fashion accessory. Their baby must be wearing the "right" clothes, their fashionable nappy bag must be hanging from their stylish pram.

While I have no qualms with following fashions for yourself, I do question the practicality of some of these purchases for children. I like to have brand names too. I just don't see the point with brand names for children. They don't appreciate that they're wearing a Leona Edminston dress when they're 14 months old. They'd be just as happy wearing a five dollar onesie from Big W. To me, it's as simple as styling your child as a fashion accessory for yourself. An extra handbag, if you will.

I mentioned to John the other week how I wished we could have had a Bugaboo pram, and he reminded me the reason we got our pram was because we wanted a sturdy pram we would jog with, which neither the Stokke or Bugaboo options lend themselves too. I'm glad I have my husband to give me a sense of reality.

I don't really hold it against anyone who has the funds, and buys what they buy because they honestly believe it meets their needs. It's when people who don't have the funds think they must have these items when things aren't so great. I think celebrity worship is to blame in part, particularly after the latest wave of celebrity babies hitting the streets. We know Angelina, Naomi and Nicole are using particular products, and damn it, we want it too. Regardless of the fact that these celebrity mums have a slightly larger income than the average mum around here, deep down, we just want to do what the cool kids are doing.

I know it doesn't really matter though, and Alex is doing fine without any bamboo clothing. I'm still spending the next few days picking out what to wear to the next music class though.

So this is a blog...

2009-10-22T09:22:00.002+11:00

Quote for the Day:

"Eh, it's a long story involving my son, a rum cake, and a low counter. Suffice to say, it turns out that, at first, it's... it's endearing to watch them bounce off of the walls, but man... you take your eyes off them for one second... and bam! They got a bucket on their head, and they're plowing right through your brand new flat screen TV." - Dr Cox

I hadn't heard of a "blog" until last year. All of a sudden, everyone was like "ooh, check out my blog", "ooh, did you see XX's blog?", etc. I was pretty keen to not jump on the bandwagon, with a minimal care factor. However, now my darling husband has his own blog re our son and headphones, and I can always use more ways to avoid doing housework, I decided to dip my toe in the bandwagon... (get it?)

So what to write about? I have few veritable interests, besides music, movies, a little bit of photography, and of course my family and friends. So I guess I can write about them. Most importantly, my boys. So I might document our life, plus chuck in a few random reviews while I'm at it. Never reviewed anything before, but with the amount of baby products we have been using, and experimenting with, I think I can think of a few things to say about them...

So about me. I'm 29, have been married to my husband John for about 2 and a bit years, and we have a gorgeous son, Alex, who is almost 10 months old. John and I were in the same year at high school, have been best friends since we were 20, then housemates since we were 23, a couple since we were 24, then married when we were 26.

About John: he's 6 foot, Korean, music lover, headphone addict, "tech-savvy" (i.e. huge nerd), incredibly intelligent yet academically lazy, commercial accountant, CPA studying, lover of fine food, amazing guitar player, basketballer, football mad, Liverpool supporter, smiles all the time, and has impeccable taste in movies.

Me: generally average. I'm a stay-at-home mum. I have 2 & 1/2 degrees - my BA (in psychology), 1/2 an early childhood degree, and my B. Commerce degree. I am an accountant (when working). I love music and play piano. I have a mum & a dad, two big sisters, who I adore, two nieces, one nephew, and another niece or nephew due in early February (I know which, but not allowed to say).

I don't like watching too much TV, but I am a big fan of the TV in general. My current favourites list is Gilmore Girls ("they talk so fast, but they talk from the heart"), Scrubs, Seinfeld, Heroes (just started watching season one, and am so addicted), Buffy (perennial favourite), Futurama... Movies are also a great time waster, but with our little A-man around, I tend to stick more to the 40 minute length options than the 2 hour movies. My current all-time favourite list includes The Royal Tennenbaums, Garden State, The Departed, movies of the Kevin Smith oeuvre, Juno... Need to start watching some new stuff.

So anyway, what's happening at this juncture in our lives...

John is a few days away from his first CPA exam, which I can only assume he hopes will be similar to the review quiz at the end of Go Diego Go, with the amount of study he's done. I cannot wait for him to finish this subject, so we can enjoy doing stuff without feeling guilty about him not studying.

Alex's two front top teeth have cut through! Much less painful than when the bottom two came through. He has been a little cross the last week or so, but hey, who hasn't. He does look super cute with just the bottom two teeth. I'm sure the top two won't take away from the cuteness though.

We're in the midst of seeing if we want to switch to cloth nappies instead of disposables. We're currently spending about $20 a week or so on disposables, which is fairly outrageous. We've so far purchased one MCN (Modern Cloth Nappy) from Ebay, from Hong Kong, and are giving that a trial before we buy any others. Once we've finished our rigorous testing regime, that may be my first review. The cost of MCNs is also a little outrageous ($35 for a nappy!!), but I guess they do work out much cheaper in the long run. Plus we can use them for our next bubba also.

Hmm, what else... I have a five year plan. My lovely friend Jillbert inspired me with her five month plan a few months ago, but I got a little carried away and made a five year plan instead. By December, I was supposed to have lost 7kg, and we were supposed to have made the backyard presentable. Okay, we still have two months, but neither goal is really coming to fruition as yet.

I've been "chubby" for a while now, but I was reasonably happy with my weight before I was pregnant with Alex, but have kind of sadly plateaued at my post-birth weight since Alex was born. Not cool. I have a gym membership I haven't used for a few weeks, but have started trying to go for a 2 km walk every day, and quit the snacking... Somehow I feel I'll need to do something a little more intensive to reach my goal in 2 months though.

Anyway, enough about me. Alex is up from his nap now, so back into Mummy-mode...