a Beer, a Whine and The Spirit

I used to really love talking on the phone. Then I became an adult, and now 80% of my talk time is with people I'd rather not be talking to. These people are not my family, or my friends. They are customer service (I use the term loosely) representatives and I'm sick of them. I know I can do most of my business on line, which I do, but there are some things that need to be discussed, and it leaves me reeling.

I've just spent an hour and a half of my precious "Chanbe asleep time" on the phone to 4 different organisations for various reasons, and now I'm feeling like nothing has been achieved. Yeuch. I sometimes get sick of being an adult, and all the responsibilities that come with it. I'm sick of dealing with Centrelink and credit card companies and and and...

And I'm very lucky that I am able to make a phone call and sort something out so "easily" most of the time. Hmph. Must be Monday.

On a different note, I tried to take Chanbe swimming at the local pool (indoor) this morning, and he would not have a bar of it! He got as far as ankle-deep with me right by his side, and just stood there, crying, saying "no? no? no?" in the very cute way he does. No amount of splashing or encouragement would change his mind. You know what this means? I'm going to have to go in with him. Time to psych myself up for t-o-g-s!

Posted by Renae at 1:52 PM Comments

The only food that Chanbe ever really asks us for is good stuff.

Agogo (avocado)
Jrrbrr (strawberries)
Ap (apple)
Brit (bread - that he helps himself to from the freezer, and eats it frozen)
Banana (banana) (duh)

My friend gave him a Malteser the other day (she asked if she could which I appreciated, but I really don't mind since he never gets to eat that sort of thing normally.) He bit half of it off, ate that bit, and gave the other half to me. That felt pretty good actually. If only I had the same willpower :-)

I don't mean to sound self-righteous, or as if I'm a brilliant parent, I just like the fact that our son likes good food. It also really motivates me to eat healthy foods in front of him, to set a good example. There's plenty of time for him to get stuck into the sweeter things in the cupboard!

Posted by Renae at 7:39 PM Comments

Today is Sunday, the start of a new week. Thank goodness. We've had a bit of a rough time with Chanbe this week, with 8 sleepless nights in a row, a trip to emergency on Tuesday, and a general out-of-routine feeling for all. Each night from Thursday week ago, I kept thinking "this has to be the worst of it. Tomorrow he'll feel better and tomorrow night we will sleep." This didn't happen until the following Thursday - his (and our) first full night sleep in a week. Every other night, he spent a solid 3 hours coughing, and the rest of the night thrashing around in our bed. It's so hard to see your child unwell and not be able to do anything about it. I had taken him to the doctor twice, and was told that it was just "post-viral". I'm not doubting the diagnosis, but that cough was just so horrible, and by Tuesday, I felt like something needed to be done, so we went off to the hospital in the hopes of seeing a pediatrician.

We were given some medication to hopefully help, and sent home with a bit of hope. The next 2 days and nights were still no good, but by Thursday afternoon, he had started to settle down a bit (which probably would have happened without the meds, really). Thursday night was bliss, and Friday he had a great day at childcare while I raced around to appointments I had postponed from Tuesday, including my 20week scan for baby number 2. I know, a really original name. Any suggestions? Hubs just suggested "second Chance" :-) Anyway, that scan went wonderfully well and (insert cute baby nick-name here) is growing beautifully. I'm glad I didn't wear mascara as I got rather teary watching this little person on the screen for an hour. So amazing how much you can see in those scans. (And no, we are not finding out the sex.)

And yesterday ended our rough week beautifully, as we had a dozen people over for a BBQ and it was fantastic. The weather was BRILLIANT!!!!!! Friday? 13 degrees max, windy, overcast and miserable? Today? Overcast but warm. But yesterday? Absolute bliss - up to 22 degrees and sunny with no clouds and no wind. T-shirts and boardies weather my friends. Hubs gave me a big sleep in today (he's the best) and a cooked brekky when I dragged myself out of bed at 9am (again, the best) and we are now just lazing around, doing a bit of tidying up, and just enjoying a quiet Sunday at home.

I feel it's going to be a gooooood week!

Posted by Renae at 12:43 PM Comments

It took quite a while for us to get Chanbe into some semblance of a routine around his sleeping habits. As I've mentioned before, the first year of Chanbe's life was filled with constant battles around bedtime, and 2-3 hourly wake-ups every night until he was just over 1 year old. We worked very hard to make his bedtime a more enjoyable experience, and by March this year, we were at the stage where we could say "ni-night" or "nap time", give him a kiss and cuddle, put him in his cot, and walk out of the room. We would hear noises sometimes but they were joyful noises of our son being content, talking himself to sleep.

It was bliss. Correction. It is bliss. For the last week, the little guy has not been 100%, with temperatures and general crankiness around the clock. And the last 3 nights, he has not wanted to go to sleep in his own bed. No matter what we did, no amount of encouragement would persuade him otherwise. So he has been sleeping with us. And I use the term "sleeping" very loosely. He's been sleeping okay, but we haven't. And I don't want this to continue. I don't want this to become a habit. I don't want all of our hard work to go down the drain. I don't want to go back to the nightly battles.

I know that when he is unwell, we have to make some allowances, but when you're in the moment - when he's been crying screaming for half an hour every time you leave him in his cot; when I'm in tears because I feel like he's never going to sleep again; when Hubs has to take him for an hour long walk to get him to sleep just a little bit (which we haven't done in I don't know how long) - it's hard to get perspective. I know that he's out of his routine, but I also know that it's not the end of the world. I know that once he starts to feel better, he'll be happier in his own cot. I just don't know how long that will take him. And I have to be okay with that. I need to let go just a little bit. Deeeeeeep breaths Wifey, deep breaths.

Chanbe in a happier mood. Actually, this was at lunch time today. It's not all bad :-)

Posted by Renae at 6:27 PM Comments

There. I said it. You know what I do like? The idea of yoga. I love the thought of stretching and feeling calm, relaxed and focussed, which are three things I rarely allow myself to feel, particularly all at once. Hubs and I did a 10 week yoga course 2 years ago, when I was pregnant with Chanbe, and we actually quite liked it. I liked the instructor - she wasn't too hippy - and I really felt my flexibility improving, even though each week the moves would become a little more awkward.

But my friend invited me along to a yoga class the other night and I thought "why not!?" Why not? Where to do I start? The class went from 6:15-8:00pm, which you might think is great! I really got my money's worth, right? Wellllllllll. Not exactly. The first 45 minutes we did 3 different yoga "sequences", 2 of which the instructor didn't want me doing because I'm pregnant. There are 2 of us in the class who are pregnant, and she didn't offer any real alternative, other than "stand up and breathe while lifting your arms up and down." In my class 2 years ago, the instructor would always have an "alternative routine" for me, and anyone who wanted, to do, which I really appreciated. It made me feel like I was still a part of the class instead of "the big pregnant lady who can't do downward facing dog."

So that was the first 45 minutes. And what did we do for the next hour? We breathed. We sensed the air flowing through our nostrils and into our lungs. The 2 pregnant ladies were told to "feel the air make its way down to your womb, where your baby is growing." For an hour. Some of you may think this sounds amazing, but all I could think about was "I paid money for someone to talk to me about my nostrils??" Clearly, I missed the point of it all. Or rather, I get the point (dedicating time in your life to be still and present and focussed) but I just don't enjoy it.

I've gotten to a stage in my life where I don't feel like I have to pretend to like something because it's good for me, or it's cultural (like arthouse movies - BORING!) so I'm sticking with I don't like yoga. At least for now.

Posted by Renae at 9:47 AM Comments

Thank you for your suggestions for my baker's block last week! There are a few recipes that I will be trying, maybe even today! I ended up going with this chocolate sponge cake recipe. I had never made a sponge cake before, and apparently duck eggs are the bees knees for sponges. Something simple that I could jazz up. The idea was to make a "slab" and cut squares and put cream and strawberries on top. Which I did.  So I went to work, starting off with these beauties.

I had to beat until soft peaks formed. I don't know if it's baby brain, or the fact that it's been quite a long time since I've baked, but I used the mixing attachment instead of the whisking attachment on my Kenwood. It took almost 20 minutes for those soft peaks to form. Oops.

I also didn't have any caster sugar - I only ever buy brown sugar - so I blitzed that in the food processor to make it nice and fine. I then had to sift the dry ingredients 3 times and then add them to the egg mixture. The problem was, the corn flour made the dry ingredients sticky and clumpy, and when you add the dry to the wet, you're not supposed to overmix it. But it was really hard to get it all mixed through!


I chucked it in my pan and into the oven, and played the waiting game. It looked a bit lumpy, but I hoped for the best.


And I got it! So it seemed... When I took it out of the oven it looked like this:

So anyway, it was kind of a success and kind of a failure at the same time. We are having people over 2 more nights this week, and one of them is gluten-free so I think I'll try this jaffa cake that my friend suggested, and use it as part of a trifle since Hubs LOVES trifle and you know, I love Hubs.

Posted by Renae at 10:01 AM Comments

I've lost my baking mojo. I used to get so excited about finding new recipes and choosing which one to try that week, or going back to old favourites. But lately, the thought of baking makes me feel ho-hum. It could be the constant distraction I know I'd get from Chanbe, but maybe I just need some new inspiration. I've poured over 3 recipe books, as well as my folder of loose recipes that I've printed out over the years, and nothing is exciting me that much.

And the reason I want to be excited about baking is, not only do I have mum's group this arvo that I'd like to take something along to, but we are also having people over for dinner tonight (more med students). They are bringing the main course and I said I'd do nibblies and dessert. And I'm kind of known around the med student traps for my baking, particularly chocolate-filled baking, so you know, no pressure or anything. So I'd really like to make something that would suit both occasions. Oh, and I've been given 10 fresh duck eggs from our friend's farm, and duck eggs are supposed to be great to bake with.

A couple that have somewhat tickled my fancy are:

1. Chocolate orange tea bread (a new recipe to me - it just sounds a bit boring, but it does make 2 "loaves" which would be helpful)
2. Rolled sugar cookies (an old favourite but VERY time consuming)
3. Some sort of chocolate sponge cake.

Help?????

Posted by Renae at 9:32 AM Comments

We've been back home (in Wang, just in case you get confused about where we live. I know I do...) for a week now, and we're slowly getting back into our little groove. Life is just looking up and up at the moment, and is continuing that trend which is unbelievably good for my soul. This is what I have spent the last solid half hour enjoying:

Leftover lasagne, a huge salad, a tall glass of water, and the internet. Oh, and a sleeping toddler. This is me time. This is time to catch up on my google reader, respond to emails, read about "Your Pregnancy: Week 18" and lust after my dream pram. I've had such a great week so far, and it's just going to get better. I hit the gym yesterday for some cardio while Chance had a great day in care, even sleeping for over an hour which meant he was a happy little camper when I picked him up!

Last night we got right back into having friends over for dinner which was really lovely. They were meant to come over for dinner tonight but their tutorials got switched (they're both studying with Hubs) so they were free last night instead, which I only found out at 4:30 in the afternoon, but I had everything I needed for lasagne and salad and garlic bread so we went ahead with that. Hubs came home and tidied our bomb-site of a house (I just didn't have it in me!) while I made dinner. I hadn't planned anything for dessert other than "something with strawberries" as they were on special at Coles for $1.60/punnet (I may have bought 6 punnets... and I may be planning on buying more today...) so instead of my usual choc-dipped strawberries, we had do-your-own strawberries dipped in chocolate.

Seriously, if you want an entertaining dessert, this is it. I melted a bowl of 70% dark chocolate and placed it in the middle of the table next to a huge bowl of the biggest strawberries in the punnets. And handed out napkins and little forks. It was the messiest, funniest dessert I've ever had. There was melted chocolate on chins, on fingers, and all over the strawberries, that got dropped in the bowl more than once. It was just hilarious, so much so that I was worried I was going to laugh chocolate and strawberries out of my nose.

The verdict? Maybe next time I'll use smaller strawberries. But an absolute winner FOR SURE! Super easy, delicious, and a great source of entertainment for all.

Posted by Renae at 1:21 PM Comments