To my little boy...

You're not as little as I remember you.  Once upon a time, you were only 54.5cm long, weighed a fraction more than 4kg, and barely ever opened your eyes.  It seems, without me even noticing, you've grown and developed into this walking, talking little man, with your own ideas about the world.  I have loved watching you this past year, and I know that with each one that passes, I am only going to love you more.

When I brought you home, I didn't know what to do with you.  If you weren't asleep, I got nervous, wondering what I'd done wrong.  But then, the awake times started to get longer, the sleep times shorter and more scheduled, and I grew to know you and anticipate the times we could spend together.  I fell in love with you completely, so much that I thought my heart may explode.

I remember when you first slept in your cot, in another room.  I was nervous, and I missed you, but I had to be strong.  Turned out, you loved your big bed - much more than the little bassinet I had beside my bed.  You liked to sleep on your tummy and spread out your arms and legs.  The bassinet was cramping your style...  :o)  

You were 17 weeks old when your first teeth came through - two of them at the bottom.  That was a challenge, for both of us.  I was so thrilled for you, and proud at my little "early achiever".  You had been so sick with pain and fever from those wretched things, so when they made their appearance, we all breathed a little sigh of relief for you.  I hated not being able to take the pain for you.  But, look at you now!  One year old, and have your first molar.  You handled it like a pro.. You're completely awesome. :o)

You began to roll over at about 5 months.  I couldn't believe how clever you were.  I was so excited, I must have captured you on camera about a thousand times!  As someone once said to me, you were the most photographed child in history... you probably still are.  It was only a couple of months later, you started to crawl.  You were so keen to get moving, you used to caterpillar crawl around our tiny townhouse's kitchen.  I wondered if you'd get the hang of "four-point crawling".. and you did, eventually.  You're still crawling mostly, with a little attempt at walking thrown in here and there.  

You talk to me, you copy me on the phone, you point and use sign language to tell me what you want.  You get into so much mischief, and you love it.  You have an incredible sense of humour, and I don't know when you learnt it, but you know how to share a laugh with us... :o)  

I watch you now and wonder what happened to my sleepy little newborn, who used to fall asleep in my arms and stay there for hours on end...  I never thought I'd say it, but I miss you being so small and fragile, so delicate and dependent.  In the same breath, I love seeing you grow and develop and learn new things.  Every day you get a little stronger, a little smarter, a little more incredible - sometimes I can hardly believe my eyes.  

I love you, my handsome little boy, you are my world.  I could burst - I am so filled with adoration for you.  I wish that every person in the world could experience that feeling, the undeniable pang of unconditional love.  It's only been one year, and in the scheme of things, that's not much.  But you have made my life so much more special, so much more full, so incredibly wonderful in your short life, and I cannot wait to see what you have in store for the future.  

I love you, my baby boy. 

Mum. xo 

Brrrrrrrrrr!

It's so COLD!!  But, I believe I predicted the big freeze... The other day, Sunday to be a little more precise, I was enjoying lunch with family and friends, sweltering in the humidity that was melting me, one drop of perspiration at a time.  I stated in that moment:  "I'll bet this is the last hurrah of heat before the weather turns drastically and freezes us all into another ice age."  That's what I said.  Turns out, I was RIGHT.  Not that it really matters now, I guess...

All of that aside, I just wanted to blog and tell you that I have nothing to tell you.  That may be inaccurate, since I just wasted a minute or two of your life with my "cold weather prediction" story.  But I guess, other than that, I don't have all that much to say.  Sadly for you, I happen to be a rambler, so I'll end up putting on some music and tapping my fingers and somehow a blog post will appear, right before my eyes.  Sucks to be you... :oP

Eli has been teething, again, still, more, etc.  He's got these enormous dark grey spots on his gums where his first bottom molars are going to pop up.  He's not really at the age where he should have them, but hey, he kinda needs them.  He's a meat eater (as I mentioned in a very recent post, I do recall).  He wants to have a crack at just about any food, so molars will definitely come in handy for that.  Not so great for the furniture he chews on, but I guess that's a small price to pay for a sane child who can eat an entire steak for breakfast...

In other news, I recently put an amazingly gorgeous decal on the wall of my bedroom.... I posted that one on Facebook, so many will have seen it, but for those who haven't, it's awesome.  It took me AGES to do, cutting out all the bits individually, and sticking them on in the right spots according to the picture on the box.  It was heaps of fun though, and surprisingly simple.  I'm always a little bit nervous about putting something like that on the walls, in case it doesn't come off, or if I stick it up the wrong way it won't look as good as the display -- but this one did!!  It was easy, and looks fantastic.  I really have to get into the whole decorating thing.. you know, pick a colour and go for it.  It's really fun!!

See, I told you I'd think of something....

I must scoot off though, I think I hear my baby crying... (sorry, no life lessons or big advice today.. you'll have to fend for yourself this time! hehe)

A. xo

Munchkin of the hour:

- Posted from Lola the iPhone

Just for kicks!

I wanna meet my readers (the ones I don't know especially!) ... So, if you drop by (even if I know you already...), please leave a comment and tell me your name and where you're from!!

I've had visitors across my blog from all over America, Australia, and a couple in Europe!  I'm thrilled that so many people are enjoying my blog.. ! :o)

Sending sleepy dust for all the mummies and daddies out there, as well as perhaps some good fortune for the rest of you...

A. xo

One for me, one for you.

Last night I slept more soundly than I have in weeks.  I think I even heard Eli wake up, but can't be sure.  I've put that down to an oddly real dream...  I woke up this morning to Eli yelling out at me.. it was pretty clear he had been for a little while, I was just too soundly asleep to notice! Oops... hehe  He's fine though.  Always seems to make it through, despite my mismanagement of things occasionally.  


Currently, he's sitting at his highchair, watching "In The Night Garden", eating grapes.  Don't ask me why, but he LOVES grapes.  This love affair with the little green orb started while out shopping.  Mum grabs a tiny bunch of grapes still on the stems and he eats them while we do our groceries.  If he's a really good boy - which he always is - he gets a cheerio.  My husband hates that he gets a cheerio... says they're full of rubbish.  I agree, they are, but I figure that one a week isn't going to hurt him, when as a child I used to have them slightly more frequently than that.  I turned out alright... :o)


I used to be a complete nazi with the food Eli would eat.  I'm really not so much anymore.  He's decided he likes meat.  A lot.  He loves cold roast chicken, steak, lamb, roast pork, anything really.  Sausages he can take or leave, but bacon and eggs is one of his faves.  It's kinda bizarre... I would never have fed him meat. I would've made a little vego out of him.  That's only for health reasons, not because I feel that eating animals is inhumane.  If you think about it, it kinda is, but I tend not to think about it, so it doesn't bother me.  Another thing I was determined not to give him was chocolate.  When I say "determined", I really mean that when he was a newborn, so fresh, clean, and perfect, I had decided that later on I wouldn't give it to him.  It's just another example of how much I didn't know...  If your kid is watching you eat chocolate, as you enjoy its rich, creamy, velvety flavour explosion, you're going to share.  As much as you're going to want to have the stick to not give it to them, you're going to want them to love it just as much as you are in that moment.  And they will.  :o)  After that, they know what it is, and what they're missing, so they're going to pester you for more, every time you eat it in front of them.  So begins what we'll refer to as "The Chocolate - Eating Continuum." 


I don't remember when I relaxed my laws on eating.  I guess it was some time in there when Eli was being a monster and I gave him something to quieten him down.  Maybe it was after he fell and hurt himself, or hit his head on something... I can't remember... All I know is that I did.  I'm not completely stupid, mind you.  I learnt my lesson after a crappy few days with him.  He'd had an inordinately large amount of unhealthy foods, and I realised that if he doesn't eat correctly, (I knew this, but had never experienced it first hand, ie. with MY child..) he turns into a MAJOR pain in the butt.  He cries heaps, is prone to the dreaded tanty, won't sleep, and is just plain old peeved.  That was a great lesson to learn, since I felt a little invincible to the deadly "preservative and sugar overload".. 


Anyway...


That's it from me for a little while... Until next time... :o)


A. xo

Happily ever after!

I'm back.. This time, hopefully with less drama than last time.  :o)

I will apologise to all my readers for a very dramatic blog post...  It shall not be happening again, I pray.  To any who missed it, well, nevermind.  I'm sure there'll be other controversy along the way.  The post in question has been deleted, so you can stop scrolling down looking for it.  It attracted far too much negative attention, even though it wasn't meant to.  So it's gone.

Now for something upbeat, and positive!

My cat has returned!  When we moved, I sent him here with my dad, who looked after him well enough.  Gibby, the cat, decided it was a cool new place to go exploring, but forgot to leave a crumb trail, and subsequently got lost.  It's been almost 3 months since he went missing.  Yup.  3 months...

Yesterday, I got a call from the local RSPCA (animal shelter to all creatures great and small!) and they informed me that they had found my cat!!  So, I went in to see if it was him, and lo and behold, the cat that never dies, the unkillable kitty, was there meowing at me to take him home!

I'm still in shock.  This cat is seriously invincible.  I thought for sure he'd been killed by a car or had tried to trot all the way back to Brisbane with only 3 legs.  You see, Gibby has been hit by cars, or at least wounded by something of the sort, 3 times.  The last time he came home with a broken leg, which is why he only has 3 left.  Mind you, he doesn't seem to notice the lack of a limb.  He's just as quick as he was before (once he got his balance right - that was funny to watch..) and he's just as mean to the neighbourhood dogs.  One woman was walking her dalmation down our street once, when she started screaming out at Gibby to "leave her dog alone".... needless to say, I nearly wet myself laughing at her...

Anyway, back to the story... When he disappeared this time, I just figured he'd used up all 9 lives.  Instead, he managed to stay alive, living on someone's roof 2 blocks away from the place he'd run away from, more than likely scavenging food where he could, including but not limited to birds, I'm sure.  He's a legend.....

So that's pretty cool... my cat who I thought was gone forever, is back.  He's living in the shed for a while, so that he knows this is home and doesn't try to go back to his roof dwelling.  I fear that if he runs away again, I'm not going to pay the $110 to get him out.... OUCH!!  It's almost like you're posting bail for a prisoner....

If you have a pet, particularly a kitty cat, go pat it.  If you don't, go borrow your neighbour's! :o)

Have fun!

A. xo

LATEST NEWS: Mummy's Motivation Lowest in Weeks!

Yup.  That's right.  I'm feeling slack....

Over the last 4 or 5 weeks I've been "dieting" (should be called live-it-ing so it doesn't sound as bad...) and have successfully lost almost 6 kgs.  

>_<  yippeeee!!

I'm stoked, you should know, but I cannot seem to keep up the focus and motivation in the last few days.  I think it's a mixture of really really wanting to eat chocolate, as well as feeling a heck of a lot better about myself.

Perhaps my self image is a little off, but in the opposite to normal direction.  You see, normally, I'd look in the mirror and do a little vomit in my mouth, but lately I feel like a goddess!  I am aware, however, that I am no goddess, but you get what I mean.

I am so pleased with my "new" - technically old - look that I kinda feel like I can stop and enjoy it for a bit.  Problem is, if I know myself the way I think I do, stop too long and I'll not only put the weight back on, but I'll probably keep that stupid distorted self image and think I still look grand once I've stacked it back where it was.

But at least I can eat chocolate >> right??

Where's the commando when I need him?  I'm sure he'd smash me into shape.  Or possibly he'd just make me cry....

Note to self:  Never get fat enough to go on Biggest Loser and be smashed by the commando...  

I think perhaps that's all the motivation I need...

Have a safe break this Easter weekend, and be sure not to over-indulge in life's pleasantries (((such as CHOCOLATE!!)))

A. xo

The baby in the phone.

- Posted from Lola the iPhone

When words just won't do...

- Posted from Lola the iPhone